Author: Middle Creek Mama

Family

1 year ago. . .

Middle Creek Mama

1 year ago today Kaston was released from Children’s Hospital.

See, the day before he had been in a sledding accident. We loaded up the whole family + two of my best friends and headed to the mountain for a fun day of playing in the snow.

We were only there for a short amount of time before Kaston went flying to the hill and ended up hitting the concrete at the base of a ski lift pole.

I tried everything I could to position myself to catch him, but the ground was odd and there was no good way of knowing which way he was going to go.

We headed home. He vomited. We knew it was a concussion. We headed to the ER.

Mind you, he did cry and he didn’t complain.

Our local ER jumped right into action and got him in for a CT scan, which he even walked himself to. The scan showed our worst fear, a skull fracture and a bleed. There was no way for them to know if it was a brain bleed or blood seeping in from the outside of the skull. So a helicopter was called.

Thankfully there was a helicopter already in the area and got there within 15 minutes.

We watched as they loaded our boy and followed. What took them only 30 minutes, took us 2 hours.

Later, we found out that had it been another 30 minutes later, the helicopter wouldn’t have been able to fly him because of the weather!

My parents were waiting at the hospital for Kaston. They parked near the helicopter pad. I will always be grateful for how Children’s allowed my parents to be with Kaston until we were able to get there. My mom also was able to give them a lot of information, so there wasn’t too much chaos to deal with once we got there.

My mom kept me updated on every test that was done.

By the time we got there, Kaston was in an ICU room and just really hungry and thirsty, but unable to eat or drink because of the vomiting. It was a long night. They wanted to keep an eye on the bleed for any changes.

Around midnight or maybe 1 am, they moved us to another room and his eating restrictions were lifted. He had some jello and a string cheese.

The next morning, once the kitchen was open, he devoured some pancakes and strawberries 🤣

The doctors came in to review things and do their final evaluations and said he was ready to be discharged. Wh

What started out as one of the scariest experiences of my life, turned out okay. We were released before noon and he requested spaghetti for lunch. We stayed with my parents for a few days just in case anything changed and we needed to go back to the hospital.

Brinley was the best big sister through all of this 🥰

Things I learned –

WEAR THE HELMET – I don’t care what is going on, just wear it. I have spent countless sleepless nights, sick to my stomach because I didn’t make him wear one. My guilt and shame is astronomical. And let’s be honest, rough and tough little boys probably need them just when walking around. The day we got home, he tried to do a head stand and jumped off the couch 🙄

CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL IS INCREDIBLE – we don’t live even close to one, but they’re so worth traveling to. In this case, our local ER was wonderful, but that’s not a very common story. If you’re dealing with a kid and think you need an ER and live close enough to Children’s, just go straight there. They’re the best there is.

TRUST YOUR GUT – you know your babies better than anyone, trust that. I had a couple people tell me that Kaston was fine, just knocked the wind out of him. We knew better.

NEVER TAKE YOUR BABIES FOR GRANTED – we have a positive story, it ended better than I could have even imagined. When we heard the words “bleed on the brain” everything seemingly closed in and suddenly I was imagining my life without my sweet boy and I couldn’t take it. We could have lost our boy that day, but Yah saw fit to spare him. He was back to normal so quickly. I know there are so many families out there who didn’t get to leave with their children after terrible accidents. And all I can muster up to say is just don’t take them for granted, live in each moment with them and cherish every second you get with them. We get so caught up in every day life that we don’t usually have time to stop and just be in that moment with them. In those moments, his messy room was not an issue, his leaving the door open on cold days seemed so insignificant…all the things that I had ever been upset about didn’t matter, because all that mattered was getting to see my son again and Paise Yeshuah I did.

And today, I am reminded of all of it. I’m reminded that life is precious and so fragile. I’m reminded that everything could change in the blink of an eye. Like a vapor, all that I love and cherish could be gone. I am reminded that instead of life being completely different amd empty, we got another chance and now a whole year with of craziness and laughs and hugs and snuggles and life with this boy….and for that I am so grateful.

So I encourage you today, and every day, to hold those you love close. Stop letting petty things get in the way of living and loving. These babies are so precious. Go love on them a little extra.

We praise Yah for another year of life with this sweet, crazy, wild boy. We are so grateful he is here with us 🤍

His silly personality is the best and keeps us laughing 🥰🤍
Family

🏝Vacation🏝

Middle Creek Mama

These mountain hillbillies are east bound and down for a few days.

EXUMA. We are headed to Exuma, Bahamas 🇧🇸

We are beyond excited. The kids haven’t slept in days. My nerves are shot and we haven’t even left the house yet 🙃

We are so incredibly blessed to be able to go on this trip. We will meet up with my parents and my brother and sister in law when we get there.

We have a few day trips planned, like fishing and an island hopping excursion, but for the most part, we just want to spend our time relaxing on the beach and snorkeling.

By no means are we good at traveling 🤣 we just haven’t done much of it. But I do have a few tricks up my sleeve.

I cannot wait to share this beautiful adventure!

PS: we would love and appreciate all the prayers for our travels. 🤍🤍🤍

Family

Did you know? 👀

Middle Creek Mama

With the recent harvest of my elk, I wanted to share something with yall. . .

Did you know that elk have ivory?!

They do! There’s not many sources of ivory that are native to North America, but elk have one of them.

They have ivory teeth! But not all of their teeth.

Elk are ruminants, which means they have a ruminant digestive system, have an even number of toes, and don’t have top teeth. . . .except for their ivories.

Some people call them whistlers. Some folks called them buglers. I call them ivories or just elk teeth.

I have quite the collection of teeth from over the years. I think I’ve collected enough of them to practically be a dentist 😋🤣 I’m for hire. I work cheap, but you have to sign a waiver (I’m kidding, mostly).

I’ve seen many pictures of Native women’s dresses adorned with ivories and they’re just so beautiful!

Others use them for jewelry, which is also beautiful. I hope to have a ring made with one of my teeth eventually! But for now, my collection just sits in a bowl 🤣

Elk Ivory

The ivories in the photo are from the cow I harvested last week. Cows have significantly smaller ivories than bulls.

I know some might find it odd, but I love them! Every set of ivories I have remind me of a special hunt and the sacrifice that a beautiful critter made so that I may live.

Family

Elk Down!

Middle Creek Mama
The kids and husband got to accompany on my elk hunt 🥰

December is my favorite month, but not for the reason you’re probably thinking.

We don’t do Christmas, we don’t do trees and lights, or the sweaters and cookies (anymore). . . What I love most about December is cow elk season.

I am not a trophy hunter, though I do have a few heads on the wall (not monsters by any means). I strictly hunt for meat. And friends, if you’ve never had an elk steak in your cake hole, you’ve not truly lived.

This year I was blessed to get a crop deprivation tag from my husband’s grandmother. While the powers that be are trying to make people think the elk herds are suffering here in Southern Colorado, anyone with a pair of functioning eyeballs can see that they’re thriving. Some of the old timers I’ve been blessed to know tell stories about how elk weren’t even in this part of the country until the 80s when the department of wildlife brought in elk from Yellowstone and from the Vermejo in New Mexico, which is actually really close to us as the crow flies.

My husband’s grandpa would talk about how he remembered when the first walk started showing up at their ranch. It was cool to see at first, but now they’re a nuisance.

Anyone who has ever built a fence can attest to just how big of a nuisance they really are. And don’t get me wrong, I LOVE elk. I am still very much that giddy, childlike person in awe of these critters. I will never not exclaim ELK! every time I see one 🤣

But these days we have an entire herd on the ranch. They’re not always there, but when they are, they tear up fences and eat valuable grass that we need for the cattle. And in our part of the world, we just can’t support both cattle. So every year we are given an allotted amount of crop deprivation tags by the game wardens/Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

ANYWAYS. . . I got an elk.

It’s been cold here, so we quartered her and hanged her in the shed out back. I have been chipping away at quarters while my husband has been at work. I also had some wonderful friends come help me this week! We visited and laughed while the kids played and my friend’s husband and I cut away at meat.

My daughter also an amazing helper! She jumps right in and helps trim the dried bits on the outside!

Side by side comparison of a pronghorn shoulder and an elk shoulder! This elk was huge.

It brings me great peace of mind and joy to have all this in my freezers. My family will eat healthy all year long with this!

Here’s a time lapse of my daughter and I working on one quarter of the elk. This was a shoulder. I typically send all shoulder meat to the grinder.

We absolutely love elk meat. We eat it for almost every supper.

We eat more ground meat than anything else, so that’s what we make the most of when butchering.

We ended up with about 25 lbs of tenderize steaks. I have a tenderize that attaches to our grinder. It makes the steaks into cube steaks. We use this for chicken fried elk steak, fajitas, stir fry, and burritos…and whatever else I can think of to throw it in.

We got 4 bags of tenderloins. Elk tenderloin is about as good as it gets. There’s 2 tenderloins on critters. I cut them in half. I like to cook them “whole” rather than sliced into steaks.

We 8 bags of backstrap. Backstraps are the pieces of meat that run along the spine on the “outside” (if that makes sense). Forever, we sliced these into steaks. But one year I was lazy! I cut one into four chunks and tossed them in the freezer. When I cooked one, we fell in love. The way I cooked it, it turned out like prime rib 🤤 it was SO good. So now I also keep these “whole” rather than slicing into steaks.

We saved about 15 lbs of meat for my dad to make brats with. My dad really makes all the best stuff.

This cow was so meaty. She had meat in places I haven’t ever seen on elk before. She had a full on brisket, too! I was able to pull the whole brisket off to also give to my dad. He has it in a brine for corned beef…I mean, corned elk, which he’ll slice for sandwich meat.

I just finished up with vacuum sealing the burger!

We ended up with 70 lbs of ground elk!

We like to mix beef fat into our burger, which also helps to stretch it further. Elk is very lean, so adding some fat into is always a good idea.

I also saved out about 2 lbs of burger for supper tonight! We had frito chili pie 🥰

Now we are packing for a lovely little trip to the Bahamas! Stay tuned for all the shenanigans that ensue with that! 🏝🐷🥥

Do you hunt? Do you butcher/process your own meat? I’d love to hear how your family does it!

Family

Hunting Family

Middle Creek Mama

I am many things. First, I am a sinner saved by the blood of Messiah, whose sacrifice allowed me to be grafted into His family. I am a wife. I am a mother. I’m a homeschool mom. I am a cow chaser and a horse piddle-arounder. I am a guitar player and a gardener and I’m a “why-did-I-just-say-that-weird- thing-er”….but right up there, pretty high on the list, I am a hunter.

I hunt. I grew up hunting. I continue to hunt and teach my kids to hunt, too.

As far back as I remember, hunting was a big deal to my family. Whether it was a day shooting a mess of squirrels or waiting for dad to come home with a whitetail, there was always some form of hunting going on. I even got to spend much of my childhood playing with beagle pups, because chasing rabbits was also of utmost importance.

When we moved to Colorado I got to be more involved. I got to stay at camp while the guys were horseback looking for elk and I got to be part of the butchering process when an animal was down.

Not a hunting trip, but a scouting trip with some wonderful guys, and thats me in the lead. And as I type this, I realize most of the horses and one of the men are no longer with us and I just can’t help but feel immense gratitude for having known them. We miss you dearly, Karsen…and what I wouldn’t given to him my Jughead (horse) back 😭 good horses and good men are hard to come by these days. Cherish them while they’re here.

I remember the day I took my hunter’s safety test and the excitement that filled me. I remember the first time I filled out a hunting license application. Back then they came in the hunting magazines and it was a stressful process 🤣 you know, back before everything was done on the good ol’ world wide interwebs.

The first deer I took was a monster two point by Colorado terminology, but a 4 point in Oklahoma.

Don’t come at me for my orange, it had already been taken off.

My dad and I had been walking in a pasture checking horses when this absolute booner stepped out. My dad let me rest my rifle on his shoulder and that’s that. We took him home and got him in the freezer. That’s a memory that will last as long as I breathe. My first deer and I was hooked. I even took the hair tie out of my braid to secure the tag.

As I grew, I spent countless hours in the woods with my dad.

I’m pulling these photos off an old Facebook page, so they’re not the best quality…nevermind the picmonkey editing days 🤣

My dad and I were inseparable. Turkey every spring, archery, muzzleloader, 1st, 2nd, 3rd seasons in the fall, and December and January cow seasons. We hit as many as we possibly could. We would even break in the fall to head back to Oklahoma for a few wild hogs, a couple whitetail, and a mess of squirrels.

It was mostly good times, except that one time with his bull, but we don’t talk about it, because my feelings are still hurt about that one 💔🤣 I’ll even tell you about the time he had me belly crawl across a pasture full of cactus just to still not be able to get to the elk, but not the bull story 🤣

We put miles on the horses…and we rode some dang good horses. We saw beautiful country. We weathered some good storms. We saw too many elk and deer to count. We ate gas station burritos and polish sausages when we got back to town and would have the best naps when we got back home and would always put on trash tv like Jerry Springer or Maury, finding out the father was always so entertaining 🤣

When we would get a critter down, Mom was always home waiting with a knife to help process it. She may not hunt, but she’s a butchering machine.

My brother was already grown and away with the Army by the time I really got into hunting. However, I’ve got some pretty good stories with him, too. And I pray for many more in the future.

Hunting with my dad helped shape me into who I am…the jury is still out on whether I’m someone worth knowing or not 🤣  but nevertheless, the lessons I learned through all of that time with him gave me immeasurable skills and knowledge.

Not only did I learn the value of working hard to put food on the table, but I learned how to find the food, bring it home, put it up, and prepare it. I learned how to butcher all these animals, which saves me a ton of money now. I can put my own meat in the freezer, without the need for someone else to package it for me.

This isn’t the bull that hurt my feelings, so it’s fine 🤣

These days I don’t hunt much with my dad. Schedules are different. Life is busy.

Instead, I’ve been hunting either alone or with my husband.

My husband and I have gotten into some pretty cool country to hunt. We absolutely love getting away from everything and being in the woods.

Anniversary archery hunt too many years ago ❤️

And now, I get to pass on my love for hunting to my children along with my husband.

This year, I was able to take the kids out with me on my pronghorn doe hunt. They were with me for the whole hunt. They helped me spot her, get ready for a shot, and find her in the field after she was down. Then they got to help with the entire butchering process and now get to eat all that we harvested.

Making pronghorn breakfast sausage!

Hunting is a huge part of our life.

It isn’t about the thrill of the kill, honestly, I hate the killing more and more every year. It isn’t about bragging about antlers. It isn’t even about the number of heads on the wall or in the shed.

It’s about the time spent with my family. It’s about being in the woods and listening to the sounds. If you’ve never taken a nap under an aspen while a bull bugles somewhere in the distance, I don’t feel you’ve truly had a good nap and that saddens me for you 🤣

It’s about having the healthiest, most organic meat on this earth available to feed my family.

It’s about knowing how to take responsibility for myself and get the job done, not relying on people to provide it for me.

It’s about taking time to appreciate all that Yahuah has provided for my family and me. Each animal we are blessed to eat is prayed over and greatly appreciated. We do our best to honor each animal we are provided.

Hunting is a family thing. I am grateful my dad trained me up so that I may continue this lifestyle.

May your aim be true and you steaks be tender ❤️

Family

🥩 Fresh Beef 🥩

Middle Creek Mama

Do you know where your food comes from?

The steers + one open cow grazing at the ranch this summer.

We do!

This steer was born and raised right on my husband’s family ranch. We delivered it to my parents to get him dressed and in the cooler to hang until we are ready to process him. He will hang in the cooler until Thanksgiving time, when we can get back up to my parents’ to help butcher.

All four quarters of the steer hanging in the cooler

My parents started giving my brother and me meat as our holiday gifts. The gift of food is such a huge blessing ❤️ they usually do a couple hogs and a steer (my own family has since decided to avoid pork).

We make a family event of it. We spend a few days together making all the cuts, grinding all the burger, packing, and vacuum sealing.

Everyone gets a knife. Even the kids get in on the processing!

This steer will hang in the cooler for a few weeks. Then we will begin the butchering process. Unfortunately, my brother and his wife won’t be here to help us 😥

I will try to get as much footage and as many photos along the way as I can!

This is something we have absolutely loved doing as a family for years. It has become one of our favorite family get togethers. And the beef we get from it is beyond top notch ❤️

Below are more pictures of the dressing part of all of this. . .so just be aware, in case you don’t want to see the more “gory” side of all of this.

Continue reading “🥩 Fresh Beef 🥩” →
Family

A family who hunts together . . .

Middle Creek Mama

Last week I got to take the kids out with me on an antelope (pronghorn) hunt. My husband was at work, so it was just the three of us. Then later, my brother in law stepped in to help.

The kids were so very excited to get to go on a “real” hunt and it couldn’t have been a better set up for us.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get any field photos with the kids, because that’s just how it goes sometimes. But they were just so stinking cute in their camo!

However, the real fun and work began at home.

Every year we turn our homeschool/room into a butcher shop for all the critters we are blessed to turn into food.

The kids are such great helpers! These antelope are so small, there wasn’t much they could help with when I was cutting on the quarters. But they are both fabulous grinder operators and we decided to gring all of this meat for breakfast sausage. So they got plenty of grind time.

We are so grateful that God provided this delicious, healthy meat for us! We ended up with about 20 lbs of breakfast sausage. Tomorrow, we will vacuum seal all of it up and get it in the freezer 🙂

We find hunting to be the most cost effective way to provide meat for our family. We are blessed to usually get an elk or two and a mule deer every year. We always do all of our own processing/butchering, which also helps to cut down on costs. With a quick price breakdown, we estimated that this little antelope cost us around $2.70 per pound. Again, we made it all into breakfast sausage, minus the baskstraps. Keep in mind that this is organic and grass fed meat (because, you know, they’re wild 🤣). So, when those buzz words start getting added to labels the price sky rockets! We did add in about 5 lbs of beef fat, because these speed goats are so lean. Hunting is just our favorite and best option to keep meat in the freezer. It gives us great opportunities to spend time together and make memories and we get to eat the best and healthiest meat around ❤️

Do you and your family hunt?

Do you butcher your own?

Faith

Christians and Halloween

Middle Creek Mama

Should Christians celebrate or be part of Halloween?

I really feel like this is an easy question to answer. I am 100% firm in my opinion..but I highly stress that this is MY opinion. Take it how you want. Agree or disagree all you want.

This post will step on many toes. I’ve already gotten “in trouble” for my opinion.

Before I start, I want to preface all of this with the fact that in the I have been a Halloween-er to the max. Last year I was smacked about as hard as a person can be smacked by the Holy Spirit. Conviction hit and I was so conflicted, but ultimately decided to proceed with Halloween. My church has a Halloween celebration in the gym, in which members set up their own little stations to hand out candy. . .

Now, I want to leave “my story” there for a bit and jump into scripture. I highly encourage you to dive into your own Bible and read these for yourselves.

1 Corinthians 10:21

Ephesians 5:20

1 John 1:5

3 John 1:11

Leviticus 19:31

Deuteronomy 18:9-12

Philippians 4:4-9

Romans 12:1-2

2 Corinthians 6: 14-7:1

Galatians 5:1

So, from where I’m sitting, God’s Word is straight forward about it. These Scriptures, alone, make a solid case. You can either serve one or the other. And friend, if you’re serving your flesh, you’re not serving God.

We really must ask ourselves these simple questions when it comes to everything we do, “Who is this for?” “Who does this serve?” “Who is getting the honor?” “Is this for God or for myself?” “Does this bring me closer to God?” It really is that simple.

Last year, even with all the conviction laid on me by the Holy Spirit, I decided to participate. I told myself, “Well, the kids will already be out, so I might as well try to sneak some Jesus to them.” The sick feeling in the pit of gut and in my soul, led me to realize it was the wrong decision.

I kept my “station” at the church as Biblically based as possible. I even ordered decorations from Oriental Trading! They’re Christian, right? 😏

I settled on Ezekiel 37, Dry Bones Rattling.

Dry Bones Hear the Word of the LORD! A spooky Bible story! Perfect for Halloween. I even had a very simple skeleton costume. (If you haven’t read this part of Scripture, go read it! It’s an incredible account)

I told every kid that came by that there were skeletons that came back to life in the Bible! A whole army of dead men came back to life! They were intrigued, but they grabbed their candy and moved along and I assume most never gave it another thought. I also assume most of them just thought, “oh hey, Miss Katie is handing out candy, SCORE!” if kids even say “score” anymore. It was probably something like, “bet” or whatever 🤣 my point being, they didn’t care that I kept Scripture in it. All they saw was another person, someone who claims the name of Jesus, celebrating this tradition.

I was sick. Those convictions are no joke. The guilt set in. I was incredibly disappointed in my choice to participate (the convictions got easier to live with, and I eventually forgave myself, but they came rushing right back about 2 months later, if you catch my drift 😉)

I’ve heard all of the excuses. “We miss an opportunity to reach people if we don’t do *something* that night.” “Kids are out anyways, so we might as well be out there with them.” “We have to show people you can still do these things AND keep Jesus at the center of it,” so on and so on.

They’re just excuses. Excuses not based upon sound doctrine at that.

I get it, though. I get that dressing up and gathering candy seems harmless. It really does, on the outside, look like a completely innocent. I get it, I really do. That’s why I spent 7 years putting my kids in the cutest costumes, usually handmade, and walking around our quaint little town, happily gathering candy, visiting with all the other families. They really were some great times. But I have now been shown just how wrong it is.

Maybe you keep the “creepy, spooky, evil” things out of it and opt for cutesy costumes and decorations. Maybe you view it as a great time to witness to people, because they show up on your stoop. Great. But the truth is, the day was founded upon darkness. And spare me with the “Samhain isn’t evil” nonsense. It’s not Biblical. It doesn’t remind us of what Messiah has done, nor does it point to what He will do in the future.

The truth is, we cannot separate these things from their apparent evilness, no matter how much Jesus we sprinkle on top of it. God’s Word tells us that we can no longer walk as Gentiles. What do you think that means? Firstly, what does it mean to walk as a Gentile? What do Gentiles do that God finds so offensive? What do we then have to stop doing when we become adopted into God’s family?

It is plain to see, from His Word, that using the ways of Gentiles, heathens, etc, to worship Him is wrong and disgusting to Him. He wants to be praised and worshipped in the ways He commanded, not through traditions of man. Even if you throw aside all the evil, vile, and downright disgusting history of Halloween, it is still a man-made tradition. Disobedience and traditions of man is why Messiah had to come in the first place.

PS – calling it by a different name, but still doing all the same activities is not a good excuse either.

So tell me, friend, are you still walking in way of the Gentiles? Is your love of Halloween more important than doing things that are righteous in the eyes of our Creator? Do you want to do what’s righteous in the eyes of God? Do you care?

We are beings that were made to worship, and worship we will do, whether we know it or not. What you give your time and thoughts to is a form of worship. If you’re spending time indulging in self and man made traditions, you are not worshipping God. Satan is the god of self worship. He wants you to fall for every false doctrine. He wants you to think the path to righteousness is as wide as you want it to be. He wants you desensitized and blind to evil. He wants you to give in to every fleshly desire you have.

I am judging no one. I pray that this message will come across as informative, rather than judgemental, because I have, in the past, been a HUGE participant in this man made tradition. I refuse to call it a holiday, because in no way, shape, or form is it holy, which is what holiday means. . .holy day.

Everyone is on a path (the path is narrow, but I digress). We all have to seek guidance from the Holy Spirit. We all should be praying and seeking wisdom. We all should be stopping and reflecting on the things we do and why we do them. Satan is going to distract and deceive us at every opportunity. And even moreso, he is targeting children. As parents, we are responsible for our children’s spiritual welfare. Are you inviting unnecessary evil into your children’s lives because you’re too proud to put aside your flesh? I sure did for years. And that is something I will stand accountable for when that day comes.

All I am asking you is to evaluate and really search Scripture and ask God if it’s something you should be involved in. Maybe your time isn’t yet come to receive this truth. But I highly encourage you to at least research and study and not just go with the flow, because you just “love” Halloween..

Christians should not participate in Halloween, period. Beyond that, I find it even more atrocious when churches open their doors on this day. They are not teaching people that we can keep Jesus at the center of anything, they’re giving the impression that we can be saved AND still walk as the ungodly. There is no justification for leading people astray. Yes, Jesus met people where they were, but He did NOT join them in their sins. He told them to turn from it.

Brothers and sisters, I pray that you will study for yourself and have eyes that see and ears that hear the truth rather than just siding with your flesh.

Blessed Elohim,

Your ways are higher than our ways. You are the blessed Almighty, the One whom we seek to please. You know exactly the path You plan and desire for us to be one, but we get so sidetracked. We are so easily deceived. I pray that You will open the eyes, hearts, and minds of everyone. We come to You for guidance and discernment. You alone are worthy of our praise, our time, our living sacrifices. You warned us that the things of this world will distract us and hold us captive. Help us to intentionally call out distractions in our own lives so that we may focus on You. Help us see where we are deceived and get us back on the straight and narrow path You laid for us. Help us to rid our hearts and lives of anything dishonoring and displeasing to You.

I pray this in the blessed name Yeshuah, through the power of the Set-apart Holy Spirit,

Amen 🙏

Homeschool

Back to School!

Middle Creek Mama

Our first day back to homeschool was September 11th. We were all prepared for a beautiful day! We went to bed early to get a good night sleep. Everything was perfect.

And then my son was up ALL NIGHT with leg pains 😭 he cried all night. We tried all the tricks, magnesium lotion, pickle juice, a hot shower, massages, drinking water, walking around, etc. we tried it all. It was an exhausting night, not at all conducive with a great first day of school.

So, my plans to get up early and have everything pinterest worthy didn’t quite work out.

HOWEVER! We had a great day. We woke up to foggy, rainy weather, which is my absolute favorite. We had our electric fireplace going and just enjoyed each other and the new curriculum while cuddled up.

We started out with chocolate chip muffins, mini cupcakes, and tea and hot chocolate!

Then, we dug into our baskets to check out the new curriculum! (And yes, we stayed in our pjs, because it was cold and we wanted to be comfy!)

The kids were both excited and engaged the whole time. We had such a wonderful day. I’d even go as far to say that it was our best first day yet!

The whole first week is done now and we really just had a blast. Just within the first week, K man has learned SO much. He’s already reading simple three letter words! His writing skills have already improved a lot, and his willingness to actually stay engaged has gotten much better! We are using all The Good and The Beautiful Kindergarten curriculum. I am beyond impressed with it!

Bob is using The Good and The Beautiful for Language Arts and the amount she’s already picked up is incredible! We started their Booster C cards earlier this summer to make sure she was ready for this curriculum. Those cards alone boosted her reading confidence tremendously! (No pun intended 🤣)

After we finished our regular curriculum, we sat outside under the awning reading our book for our fall study and drinking more tea and hot chocolate listening to the rain.

It was an incredible day!