Yellow Fever

Jeremiah and I went to the doctor today to discuss travel medicine. We got our yellow fever shots and a prescription for anti-diar. medication. Once we have more details on our travel dates we will call him and get a prescription for malaria meds.

Homeschooling again

We pulled K. out of school today. I feel a bit sad, since she seemed to enjoy it so much at the beginning. As months passed and especially after our parent/teacher conference, I have had a feeling things were not working out as well as we hoped.

K. is behind her peers in reading. She is reading, but not at the level expected. Which meant she was pulled out of class to have a special class for her and another boy. This was hard on her but great at the same time. She thrived on the one on one instruction, but felt bad for being singled out. She had a hard time sitting still and completing her work. Her teacher was not very positive during all the times I had interacted with her. I had volunteered in class several times and had several meetings with her. She just was not very compassionate or understanding about K's situation (being in school for the first time).

I did not have intentions of homeschooling again this year even though we were experiencing these issues. I thought we would just work through them. I wanted to teach my children that quitting was not something we do when things get rough. Until K. approached us during the month of December complaining about going to school. Then the vision problems came along. She got her first pair of glasses this summer. She is far sided and her prescription is quite strong. I was surprised that we had noticed any problems prior to this year. Last month she went for a six week check up after patching her right eye. The doctor said her vision was getting worse! How could that be? We rescheduled another appointment and will check again later this month. I am sure this was effecting her classroom behavior and performance. The school nurse even sent home a note from a screening: right eye 20/60 left eye 20/100 WITH GLASSES ON! The test was performed two times.

There was also some anxiety K. has had the last year. She acts out in several ways. But I think the worst part was some disturbing current events in our area that has effected my husband's line of work. This has really troubled sweet K. in a horrible way. She will stay up late waiting for her daddy to come home, making sure he arrives safely. He will tuck her in and every night she'll ask questions involving his day. If he has to work late, K. will make up every excuse in the book to not go to bed.

We told K. we would all pray about homeschooling again during winter break. We decided last weekend to withdraw her from classes. This morning I called the school. I went in to drop off school books she had and ran into the principal. She and I had a pleasant conversation about what was going on and she offered her help in however they can.

Today I have three children and home, and K. was able to focus and complete about 10 worksheets in an hour! It's break time now and she's having a great time with the boys.

Natural cleaners

My friend emailed me this list of natural cleaners. Thanks!

Weed killer: Did you know that dumping vinegar on weeds instead of chemical weed killer will do the same job without poisoning the ground and getting into our water systems? It will.

I have also dumped boiling water on weeds, instead of letting the water go down the drain when straining pasta.

Toilet cleaner: Rather than using the chlorine-laden can of toilet scrubbing powders, take a pint or quart size canning jar, fill 3/4 full of baking soda, put a straw down the middle of the jar into the baking soda, and pour about 20 drops of lemon essential oil (or tea tree, lavender, or orange) into the hole the straw made. Put the lid on and shake, then take a small nail and punch about five decent-size holes in it. You have your own 'shaker' of cleaner that contains NO CHLORINE and works even better!

Antibacterial all-purpose cleaner: Mix 20 drops lavender essential oil with 1 cup water in a spray bottle.

Dishwasher detergent/stainless steel cleanser: Mix 1 cup baking soda and 1/2 cup borax in a plastic sealed container. Be sure to label!

Drain cleaner: Pour 1/4 to 1/2 cup baking soda down the drain and follow up with a thorough rinse with boiling hot water.

Glass cleaner: A solution of equal parts water and vinegar in a spray bottle - it works great.

Powdered Laundry Detergent:
1 Cup Grated Fels Naptha Soap equals ½ a bar (usually with the regular body soaps)
1/2 Cup Washing Soda or baking soda (buy at a bulk store for cheap, 12 lbs about $5)
1/2 Cup Borax
For light load, use 1 tablespoon. For heavy or heavily soiled load, use 2 tablespoons. For really dirty clothes add ¼ cup extra borax to the load. For whites add ¼ cup baking soda.

Fingerprinting appointment

We finally got our notification in the mail for USCIS fingerprinting! It will be on Jan 14th. I am glad it is not too far off. I hope they can expedite approval after they have our prints.

No news lately from Uganda. Praying we will hear from someone this coming week.

I have been very thrifty lately. You can read about it on my other site if you like.

Spending less

I have thought about how I was going to keep track of my food budget to share with you. I might have broken down how much I spent on each meal, or how much I spent each day. I figured it was be way too much work to keep up. So, I am just going to budget spending $400 a month. Some weeks I may spend more that $100, some weeks less. I have to admit we did a bit of stocking up, not really on purpose. Last week we heard a friend was selling a 1/4 grassfed organic beef. We bought it for $200, making the price about $2.50 a pound. I also made a trip to Costco and spent $100. I went BEFORE the start of the year, but we are eating food I bought from there now. So how do I count that? I think I will just keep track of all I have spent in Jan. 2010. It will make things much easier.

Yesterday I made bread with my bread machine, using ingredients I had in the pantry. I made soup with ingredients in the freezer, fridge and pantry. I actually used dried beans! (I used to use canned, much more expensive) I did use some of the tortilla chips (3 lb bag!) I bought from Costco to crumble on top.

This morning I made oatmeal for breakfast. I think we will be eating a lot of that in the coming year. I cooked it in the rice cooker; what a great way to do it! I put in 4 cups of water and 2 cups of oats. It was ready in 20 minutes and had a more creamy consistency. We are having leftover taco soup for lunch (I also froze some for later). I will be throwing some beef in the slow cooker and we'll have some beef and broccoli with rice for dinner. Yum.

I came across this site for cheap cooking ideas.

Also, I switched to cloth diapers ONLY. I refuse to buy disposable again. I should hopefully only have six months or less of diapers so this is do able. I haven't bought diapers in over a month! We also are using cloth napkins and rags instead of paper towels. I am planning on making my own laundry detergent again. I made the Duggar's recipe in the past. I didn't like the way it separated. It worked well though. If anyone knows of a better recipe please let me know!

Birthday Boy...

Soon, little S. will turn two. He is such a crack up! He's a handful, demanding and challenging. But at the same time he brings us such joy! We are so thankful to have S. in our lives.

2010 Goals

This year I have some big ambitions...I can't see what the Lord has planned for us!

• This is the year I will finally get in shape and reach my goal weight.
• We are starting our grocery challenge: $100 a week.
• Spend more time reading the bible and praying.
• We pray we can travel to Africa in the next few months to bring home our daughter.
• Be better stewards of the money God has blessed us with.
• Use my time more wisely.