GHEA conference...and Mother's Day

Last weekend, we went to Atlanta for a home-school conference. A family in our church requested help for a booth that they were running for the NCFIC. So, we also helped with that. We heard great talks from great talkers. :) We went mostly because there were some really great and well known speakers there: Voddie Baucham, Ken Ham, and Kevin Swanson. We were jumping from talk to talk all day on Friday and Saturday. I really enjoyed Kevin Swanson! I think that he, among some others, is one of my favorite speakers.


Elevator buttons.....very germy! We aren't going to touch those with our hands!! There's a better way....

Charm...charm...charm!

Oh...what fun you can have with a peep-hole. :)

Helping with the booth....


~~~~~
Mother's day
Happy late Mother's Day to all the mom's out there!! For Mother's day, we went to Stone Mountain. What a wonder creation the Lord had made! I have the bestest mom in the world! She is amazing! She serves the family selflessly. :) She adores my Dad and submits willingly. I love her to pieces! :)

"Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her." Prov. 31:28


Mother dearest....

The morning of Mother's day, we wanted to go somewhere for breakfast before heading out to Stone Mountain. We found this cute little local restaurant that was buzzing with hungry people. We figured it was good...it was!

guess who?

Gum anyone? it's free and already broken-in!!! :)

Mother and Father...Mum and Pops....Mama and Dada....Mammy and Papa, Ok so maybe not quite. How about Mom and Dad?!? Yah...that's better.

"I can so do this....where's my superman shirt?" P90X!!!

Hike....hike...and a little bit more. :)

Bella, my faithful ham....Kade, not so much. :)

It was a tough hike alone.....Dad did it with Kade! Yay for Dad!!


Have a great week!
K.K.M.D
Prov. 31:30

Dad's Birthday...

The other day (22nd) was Dad's Birthday. I'm so blessed to have such an awesome Dad. He's amazing, I love him dearly. We celebrated his birthday with a nice little party here at the house.

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Matt. 5:16


turning the big 3-4. :) Actually next year will be the bigger one. :)..because it'll be divisible by 5...lol!

Dad and his girl......

We love you Dad!! May you continue to grow and strengthen in the Lord!


K.K.M.D
Matt. 5:16

Our Saturday....a few Saturdays ago...

Back a few Saturdays ago, some of my Mom's sisters, their little kids and my Grandma came down to visit us. We all went to the Okefenokee swamp. I have no idea who came up with that doozie of a name. :) Anyway, we had lunch out there, took a walk, and pretty much enjoyed our time in the sunshine.

Her little soul is free! :)

...So is theirs! :) Oh boy,they are excited...

Our dear friend

Not quite as enthusiastic in this one. :)

Mom and baby Helena

K-man is so sweet. But, who doesn't like to kiss those fluffy little girl cheeks?!?

little boys burn lots of energy....you can see it in his face. :)

All the grand kids....on my Mom's Mom's side. Well, except for one. :)

There is a bit of an age gap between Dakota and Helena. :) And the boys seem to be taking over...we need a few more girls.

We had a great time.

Hope you have a good week!

K.K.M.D

Romans 5:10

We're moving to.........

I'm sure you've figured it out by now. We are moving to Seoul, South Korea. We received a email telling us that we were chosen for a PCS. The email didn't say where we were going to be sent to. So, Dad and Mom went all the way to base to find out where we were going....because of course we weren't going to rest easy until we did. :) To me personally it doesn't seem quite real...it doesn't feel like we should be moving again. Military life is hard sometimes; to move, be the new person, get to know people, and grow to love them. Then, having to pick up roots again and leave, the cycle goes on. But, military life can be exciting, as well, to live places some people only dream of going, to see sights that are in encyclopedias, and to have a Dad that is serving the country. It can be a growing experience as well....it's a lesson on submission and following, and to be content wherever the military takes you, and grow together as a family in crazy foreign worlds. :) It's going to be sad and devastating, and foreign, but yet...exciting, adventurous, and a new culture....just take every emotion and its opposite and that's how I feel. :) I can't hardly bear the thought of moving from our church family....I just love our church people to pieces. :) I am very glad that we have technology that can help us keep in contact though...and not pony express....(that would take a while) :)

We would appreciate your prayers: that all the paperwork will go through smoothly for command sponsorship, that all the medical stuff will be ok (vaccines...especially Kade's and getting clearance), and that we will get concurrent travel (which means we get to go over there with Dad instead of waiting a while then go over there), and that generally everything will fall into place. Kimchi might be our new favorite food. :)

K.K.M.D

2 Peter 1:4

The Food Stamp Challenge

I am a voracious reader of food and natural living blogs. Mostly, I have them delivered straight to my email box. One of my all time favorites, Modern Alternative Mama issued a challenge today to her readers.

The Food Stamp Challenge.

In 2007, some Congressmen determined the average food stamp recipient received $3 per day per person. They decided to try to feed themselves on such a meager amount. What did they buy? Velveeta, crackers, processed foods and such.

What would you buy? What if you only had $3 per person per day to spend on feeding your family. Could you do it?

Kate at Modern Alternative Mama thinks it can be done......and healthfully as well.

I do too.

So I decided to take the challenge this month. Here are the "rules":



1. You get $90 per month per person in your family.
2. If you are way over or way under this amount, try to reduce your grocery costs by 10% this month.
3. You must make some sort of meal plan...even a rough sketch of just dinners.
4. You must make a shopping list and stick to it as much as possible.
5. You must keep all your reciepts and shopping lists for comparison purposes later.



Ok, so for my family, our "food stamp" allotment would be $540. We regularly budget $600 a month for groceries. This works well, as it is a reduction of $60 or 10% in rule #2.
Meal plan? No problemo. I always make meal plans. I can't function without one.
List and stick to it? Again, no biggie. As a list making freak, this is easy. I make lists of what lists I need.

I am going to apply my last week's grocery shopping adventure to the food stamp challenge. I grocery shop on Wednesdays, so it was only a few days ago.

Here are my main concerns with the challenge:

1. Because my husband is in the military, we have Commissary privileges. The Commissary is often quite a bit cheaper than a regular grocery store. This is to my advantage.

2. I have a very full freezer of good grass fed beef that we bought late last year from Deep River Cattle. I also have dozens of chickens that I bought months ago when my sister in law told me of a great deal she found locally. How do I figure fair market value for these two wonderful deals? I think it is fair to shop from my pantry/freezer. I think Kate at Modern Alternative Mama will be figuring the cost of those items as well to add to her total.

I will post my shopping list and menu for the week in a couple days......plus my reciept from the store. (Oops, I trashed my list not realizing I would need it later. But I do know I stuck to the list for the most part.) I stayed way under my allotment for the week, considering the fact I used staples from my pantry/freezer. AND we are eating healthy, nutritious, yummy meals!

Our trip...

Aren't trips great?!? We just got back from Colorado where we spent some time snowboarding, shopping, hanging out, and walking around cute little towns. :) I had such an awesome time with the family. We visited some friends we knew from Italy in Kansas on the way out there for a rest and little break before finishing up the weary drive. :) On the way home we took a different route through New Mexico and Texas instead of Kansas and Illinois...so that was pretty neat. :)


Yes....superman helps with a 30-some hour drive....

K-man did really good....only a few meltdowns. :)

Gorgeous!! I love mountains....

On top of the world....good times, good times...

Hanging out in the lodge...just about to make a break for the slopes! :)

It was really pretty up there....mountains behind mountains all covered in snow!

Cute little Bella...

What's up Eskimo?

What fashion!! I just love this picture....she looks like a advertisement for a trip around the world! :)

It was really neat the way the edges of the river freezed and snow snowed on top of it...just had to snap a shot while driving by... :)

Charming!

One of the nights we went to a cute little town to check out some snow sculptures. They were really neat. Professional snow sculpting people came in from all over the world to compete with one another. All they could use was hand powered tools like saws, chisels, and hammers.

In Colorado springs. Mom and Dad went to a marriage seminar by Emerson Eggerich (the guy that wrote the Love and Respect book). We hung out with Art's family and the Underwoods(friends from Italy) came out to CO springs as well. They enjoyed the conference. :)

Me and my buddy Jeremy...

Mom and Mrs. Underwood...

bad throw...or was it a bad catch. :) anyway...don't throw your keys to one another...that's all I'm saying :) Dad (the expert key-getter-outer-the-gutter) fished out our friends keys successfully. :)

On top of a volcano in NM...driving home.

Oh yah....the most spectacular snow sculptor....

spectacular!....isn't it cute!

Bella with her Daddy...

Looking a bit rough after the first 20-some hours of the drive. :) It was Valentines day and Dad got each us girls a pretty rose! :)

Family picture....taken by the hood of the truck :)

Oh...I loved it! Snow and mountains are like my favorite thing ever!

Anyway....such awesome country God made!

Have a great week!!

K.K.M.D

Psalms 39:7