Rebirth and Return

June 16, 2015June 15, 2015 / makingofahome / 7 Comments

In the past year and a half, my life’s journey has seen many peaks and valleys. More so than I ever thought to be possible. I have had the privilege of teaching an amazing group of young people who helped me to spread my wings as an educator in ways I never thought possible. I worked with a group of individuals who have compassion and an unshakable will to do what is best for kids day in and day out, and who support one another in a way I have never before seen in a professional setting. And I have experienced hardship and trama that has sent shock waves to the very foundation of my beliefs, and daily impacts the core of who I am.

The crazy thing about life is that there always seems to be something gleaned from the journey itself. Throughout my time away from this blogging space, I feel I have truly found myself. Life’s obstacles have forced me to look at what it is I truly want to do with my life, and do it.

My entire life I strove to not ruffle any feathers. My husband always joked with me that his one worry in marrying me was that I was so incredibly passive, and he feared that throughout my life people would walk all over me. And the fact of the matter is…He was right. I always seemed to find myself sacrificing what I wanted, or what I thought was best, so that everyone around me would stay happy. But something inside of me changed over the corse of the last 18 months. I realized I owe it to myself to do what I think is best. No matter the fall out, if I truly believe in something with every fiber of my being and in the very deepest caverns of my gut, I need to at least give it a try.

So now I find myself at a point in my life in which I have never been. I have abandoned what others think is normal or correct and I plan to pave my own way toward a path I feel will lead myself and my family to places we never dreamt possible. I invite you to come along with me. Welcome back to Making of a Home!

“When you begin taking that road not normally taken—Robert Frost poem—when you begin going a different direction and you find it very rewarding and satisfying, you wake up the next morning and you suddenly say, ‘Well, what else have I been missing out on?’ “ ~Joel Salatin

First Steps

December 31, 2014 / makingofahome / 1 Comment

It has been some time since I have written in this space, and my, I have missed it so. I wanted to stop by and wish each of you a very blessed, happy and healthy new year. May 2015 bring much love into your life, and may your year be filled with new adventures at every turn.

“Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

Living for the Pockets

February 17, 2014February 18, 2014 / makingofahome / 1 Comment

Well friends, it has been almost a month since my last post. When going back to work full time, I had high hopes of still being able to post each day. Now I’m thinking I may have been in the midst of a bit of a crazy streak to think that would be possible. In fact, for a few weeks there I did feel like I was quite the loony lady, and sure I would never again be able to take part in those “homestead-ish” acts that had come to make up so much of my life since I left the workforce in 2009. I felt like I couldn’t balance anything, and found it difficult to stay afloat.

But as always, my husband was there to tell me two things: 1. You are crazy. But not headed down the path to Crazy Town like I thought. He said I was crazy to think just because I had started back to work full time, that I would have to suddenly abandon who I was. 2. Give it a few weeks, and you will soon be able to figure out where to fit in all you love to do: teach, raise our family and keep our suburban homestead afloat.

So I did as he directed. I waited. And low and behold (and as much as I hate to admit it), he was right. I have found those little pockets of time here and there where I can still do those activities I love. In fact, I didn’t even realize I was doing it until I went to download pictures this weekend and discovered that over the course of the past month I had been able to do quite a lot.

But these activities have taken on a different form. Instead of dedicating several hours in the afternoon to crocheting, I sneak in a couple of rows while sitting at tumbling lessons. Rather than having an entire fermenting-day, I whip up a quick batch of yogurt on Saturday mornings with extra milk that is about to expire, and throw together an attempt at water kefir on a Friday night after the girls are asleep.

And I think my favorite part of all has been the ability to interweave these homesteading activities into my classroom. In the midst of a soil composition unit, we started a worm compost bin, and a chemistry assessment turned into a soapmaking lab. And I can’t forget the measurement conversion unit where we went outside to make ice cream in the snow.

The crazy part of this new life of mine has been how I now live for those pockets. Those pockets of time when I can do and share those activities that make me who I am.

I hope you all move into this week, able to find those pockets in which you can do all that you love.

Balance

January 21, 2014 / makingofahome / 3 Comments

So much of being a parent is a balancing act. Each of us who takes on this role knows that in order to be a parent you must find some sort of equal platform between all aspects of life: between wife/husband and parent, between house chores and playing, between health and the occasional treat. These past few weeks I have found myself trying to find this level ground between work and keeping my home as I have been for the past three and a half years. I am not a stranger to working as a teacher while also playing the role of wife, mother and homemaker. I just need to find that place again.

I truly believe that balance is within my grasp, getting closer each day, and hopefully soon I will find myself in a new rhythm of life that will guide me through these newly forming roles. Until that time, I will just keep inching forward, as best I can, searching for harmony between wife, mother, homemaker and teacher.

Thank you for continuing to visit this space, and taking this new journey with me. And great thanks for your kind words of encouragement on this space and outside of it.

May each of you find balance as you move throughout your week.

Some Garden Bling

January 8, 2014January 2, 2014 / makingofahome / 2 Comments

We, like most in the country right now, are experiencing a major cold snap right now. At times like this, it is so hard to imagine that there was a time when our gardens were in bloom, with produce overflowing from baskets resting in the sunlight. Those days of growth and warmth seem so far away at this moment. My family seemed to need a reminder that our time on this Earth is one of rhythm and cycles, and we will once again be back to those times of basking in the warm embrace of spring and summer days.

My girls were given wonderful stepping stone kits for Christmas, so we decided crafting those stones would be a perfect little reminder of the garden goodness to come in only a few short months.

Once completed, the stones were placed in our three-season room that is now filled with empty pots filled with remnants of frozen soil. But we are already imagining the day when those pots are moved outside and filled with the plants that will add beauty and sustenance to our lives. And our little stepping stones will add just that extra little touch of garden glam that every growing space needs.

Christmas Morning Monkey Bread

January 7, 2014January 2, 2014 / makingofahome / 1 Comment

Beginning in December 2006, our first Christmas with children, we started a Christmas morning tradition in our household. Each Christmas morning, after all of the gifts have been unwrapped, we indulge in a gooey and glorious breakfast: monkey bread. I have been making little adjustments to my recipe each year, and I think this year I have finally perfected it. This year’s monkey bread came out with the perfect balance of butter and sugar, wonderfully flakey yet still sticky, and dripping with the perfect amount of sweet glaze. I hope your family enjoys this recipe as much as mine.

Christmas Morning Monkey Bread

(I normally do the following the day before I plan to serve the monkey bread.)

Dissolve 2 tablespoons dry yeast in 1 1/4 cup warm milk.

Beat two eggs in a large bowl, and then add milk/yeast mixture to the beaten eggs. Next add 3 tablespoons sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, and 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour.

Then cut up 6 ounces of softened butter and add it to the bowl. Using your hands, work the butter into the above mixture of ingredients.

Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover with a damp dish towel and allow it to rest until double in size.

After the dough has risen, melt one stick of butter and place the butter into a shallow dish. In another shallow dish, mix together 1 cup brown sugar and 1 tablespoon cinnamon. Roll the dough into 2 tablespoon-sized balls. Dip each ball in the melted butter, then into the sugar and cinnamon mixture. Then place the buttered and sugared balls into a greased and floured bunt pan. Once all the dough balls are in the bunt pan, cover with a damp dish towel and allow to rise until double in size.

(On the day you plan to serve the monkey bread.)

Bake your monkey bread in a 350 degree oven for about 35 minutes. (The time will vary slightly depending on whether or not you are using a ceramic or metal bunt pan.)

While the bread is baking, heat 4 tablespoons butter, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup real maple syrup, 1 tablespoon water and 1 teaspoon cinnamon in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring the mixture to a boil and allow to boil for one minute. Remove from the heat.

Once you remove the monkey bread from the oven, allow it to cool for about 5 minutes. Then invert the pan onto a serving plate to remove the monkey bread. Pour the glaze over the bread. Serve warm. Enjoy!

*A note about all my recipes: I use all organic ingredients, local when available. I use non-homogenized milk, and all of the dairy we use is from animals raised on pasture. I also use oils that are non-GMO verified. All our meat is raised locally on organic feed, and our beef is grass-fed, grass-finished. All our spices and cane sugar are fair-trade certified and purchased through a cooperative.

Our Holiday

January 6, 2014September 1, 2015 / makingofahome / 1 Comment

I hope this past holiday season found you all well, and in a state of food, fun and family bliss. Happily, all our family members remained healthy for the duration of our holiday break, enabling us to truly enjoy each moment of these past two weeks. Here is a bit of those things we enjoyed as 2013 exited, and 2014 began.

Sledding at one of our favorite parks–Rockford Park District’s Aldeen Park.

Enjoying this amazing egg nog hot chocolate recipe by Ashley English.

Taking in the majesty that was our church on Christmas Eve.

Engaging in some fabulous retro games and projects. Can you believe they are now selling these oldies but goodies again? Love it.

Indulging in Ree Drumond’s bacon maple scones from this wonderful cookbook.

Playing in the magical fairy tree house built by Santa’s elves.

Taking in the silence of our backyard on a snowy New Year’s Eve.

Happy New Year, friends. I hope 2014 brings much peace and happiness to all of you.

An Answer

December 20, 2013December 19, 2013 / makingofahome / 3 Comments

If you are a regular visitor to this space, you know that on Fridays I normally post a kairos moment. Today, instead of capturing this moment in a photograph, I would like to share with you a different sort of kairos moment.

When I left teaching three and a half years ago, I exited the profession for the simple fact that I wanted to be home with my girls. I have always felt teaching is a vocation for me, rather than simply a job, and it is a vocation I truly love.

As my youngest nears the age when she will begin kindergarten, and enrolled in school all day, I have been at odds with myself as to what to do when this next step in our lives rolls around. I found myself fighting this internal battle about educating my girls. I adore teaching, and I want to teach them. It just seemed so unnatural to me that I would drop my two little ones off at one school, and I then drive across town and teach an entirely different group of students all day long.

My interior conflict waged on…Do I homeschool the girls so that I can directly educate them each and every day? Do I not go back to teaching full time and just sub in the school where my girls attend? Do I just bite the bullet and drop the girls off each day and head to another teaching job? This debate went on and on. It consumed my thoughts by day, and the differing scenarios played out in my dreams at night. Each evening I prayed that God would give me some sort of small indication of what I should do. What am I ultimately called to do as a teacher?

My answer came to me, not wrapped up in a perfect box, but one that came up rather suddenly. One that will take hard work, drive, and a whole lot of energy. Although what lies ahead of me will be a challenge, I am ready to face it head on because I am fully confident that this is what God is calling me to do. I am called to teach. Teach my girls. At the school in which they attend.

Today I begin a new chapter of my life as the junior high math and science teacher at Cathedral of St. Peter School. Today I will drive to school with both of my girls, see them in passing in the halls, and drive home with them in the afternoon. I will educate their schoolmates, and in a few years they too will sit in those seats, in my classroom, where I will have the chance to educate them for three whole years, in a setting that I absolutely adore and feel that I belong.

Let There Be Light

December 3, 2013December 1, 2013 / makingofahome / 4 Comments

A few months back, my girls and I were thrilled to read “Hand-Dipped Beeswax Candles” by Amber Ek in Taproot Issue 7 :: Gather. The notion of making our very own candles seemed like such fun! The article drummed up memories from my past when I use to make my own hand-dipped candles in middle school while working as a volunteer at Midway Village, an amazing museum with a Victorian village. I remember the experience with such fondness and I wanted my girls to indulge in the experience as well.

So, last Tuesday we ventured to the stove, and with a whole lot of adult supervision, we crafted four pillar candles that later lit our Thanksgiving table. We had such fun that I’m sure candle-making will become an annual crafting experience in our home.

Celebrating

December 2, 2013December 1, 2013 / makingofahome / 2 Comments

As I so often say in this space, Thanksgiving through the New Year is my favorite time of the year. I love the decedent foods that warm your soul, the many adornments that work to embellish even the most drab of locales, and the melodies that seem to interweave their way into my thoughts. But most of all, I cherish the quality time spent in celebration with family and friends that this time of year brings to our lives.

This Thanksgiving was a true celebration of family, which was a much welcomed change over last year’s cold and flu-filled Thanksgiving celebration. And I must say, my favorite part of the day was the spontaneous dance party that broke out in the garage while our frogmore stew was cooking away.

Here is a peak into our weekend of celebrating…