Shaken

Everything that can be shaken WILL be shaken. 

Do you ever have those times when God is shaking things up in you?  When all of a sudden, your life is like the epicenter of a major earthquake... everything seems unstable and you can't find your footing... and it feels like everything will fall apart?  And didn't you feel fine BEFORE the earthquake started, but during the shaking you felt sort of chaotic inside?  

Maybe I'm the only one who goes through times like those, but I sincerely hope NOT.  

God, in His great mercy, allows things into our lives that will shake us up... on purpose. He sees all the unfinished business in our lives, and He is not willing to leave us incomplete.  He wants to shake out all the junk.  We may scream and cry like little children during the process, but does that stop Him?  Nope.  Like any good dad, Father God is completely unconcerned with our "comfort" while He is molding us and making us into HIS finished product... because He knows how great we're going to be when He's finally done!  He sees the end from the beginning, and He's SO EXCITED to show us ALL that He has planned!!  

Trust His process.  Job said, "though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him."  Though we may feel like we are going to come apart, we're not.  He is keeping us safe... holding us together.

See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain. 

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe,  for our “God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:25-28)

No matter what, we cannot turn away.  We cannot refuse Him.  Our response should always be to hold tighter to Him by spending more time in prayer, more time in the Word. Getting to a place of submission and obedience will help the process along.  We just need to lay down on the Potter's wheel and let God have His way.  

Carpet Beetles & the Infiltration of Sin

One day several months ago, I saw a little black bug on the ceiling in my van.  I didn't know what it was, but it was tiny and motionless... and sort of cute, really.  Considering it harmless, I ignored it.  Over time, I began to see a few more.  Not really realizing what they were, I wondered about it, but again, decided to ignore them.  More time passed, and the kids would occasionally mention seeing a "tick" in the van, but when they described the bug, I knew it wasn't a tick, just some bug.  About the third time this happened, I looked at the bug they were talking about, and it was one of the same little black bugs.  At that time I noticed they were growing in numbers, but still there weren't that many.  I knew at that time that I needed to clean out the van, but being so busy, I put it off.  Again.

Finally, on the afternoon of Thursday, August 23, 2012, the day before I attended the Beautiful Awakening conference at Victory (Lisa Bevere - Lioness Arising), my mom came over to babysit while I went grocery shopping.  After filling a basket at Walmart, I went out to put the groceries in my van.  When I opened the back of the van, sunlight shone on the floor in that area, and it was covered with these tiny black bugs.  Covered.  I looked through the van with new eyes, and finally saw that these little bugs were taking over.  I was disgusted and completely creeped out.  Now instead of thinking of them as harmless, they were "demon bugs"!

I scoured the internet to find out what these pests were and found out they were carpet beetles.  I was alarmed to learn that they are really hard to kill... and almost impossible to get rid of completely.  I read that I could sprinkle borax on the carpet and seats to try to kill the bugs, then vacuum them up.  I got to work immediately!  Praying the whole time for every unseen beetle to die, I took everything out of the van, including the seats, covered everything in borax and let it sit for a little while, then vacuumed those little creeps up.

My biggest fear at that time was that one of those monsters... not so cute anymore... would get into my house.  I took the vacuum bag out while I was still in the garage and threw it away in the outside dumpster, then left the vacuum in the garage for over a week. Steve and I prayed over it before I brought it back in.

I read that a washing machine kills every life-stage of carpet beetle, so I took every blanket, carseat cover, hat, and piece of clothing out of the van and washed and dried it on hot.  I put pillows and anything else that couldn't be washed in the hot dryer and ran it twice in a row.  I was on a mission!

After getting all of that cleaned up and getting rid of every visible bug, I knew I had to watch out for and immediately kill any bug I saw after that.  Over the next two weeks, I carried my version of a carpet beetle haz-mat kit in my van... Kleenex and Ziploc bags. Every time I left the house, I checked the van first.  I would use a Kleenex to pick up the bugs and put them ever-so-carefully into a Ziploc, which I would immediately close tightly and toss in the trash.  I killed close to 100 bugs in that two weeks, but I was diligent and I finally stopped seeing them every day.  Occasionally, one or two pop up... thankfully, they usually fly to the ceiling of the van, so they are easy to spot.  Yesterday was Friday, September 21, 2012... almost one month later... and I spotted and killed another one.

It wasn't long before I realized that the bug infestation was symbolic of what was happening in my life at the time...  

The Lord has been speaking to me in several ways this year about seemingly "little" sins that turn into big problems.  If I had been on top of things, I would have killed the bugs before they infested my van.  If my eyes had been open and aware of my surroundings instead of constantly distracted, I would have noticed one bug turning into ten and taken care of it before they turned into a hundred or more.  They were a disease spreading right under my nose, but I was oblivious.

This very thing has been happening in my own life.  I often choose to be distracted from my life instead of engaged in it.  Because I'm feeling tired, lazy, or I don't want to face problems, I ignore and neglect the issues... and fall into sin.  If I don't act immediately, my life will eventually become infested with strongholds that will knock me off of God's path for my life.  Neglected, sin can turn into deep roots of bitterness that could take me out of the fight permanently.  At the very least, which really is the most important thing of all, this ongoing sin taints my intimacy with the Father.  He can't get His words into me or through me to others without bringing me to a place of repentance before Him.  And He is willing to do that as long as I am willing to submit.  And when I do submit to that process and let Him lead me into repentance, the outcome is sweeter than anything I've experienced with the Lord so far.  There's deeper intimacy, friendship, peace, and joy in those times... and it makes me hungry for more.

Love Not Withheld

"Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!" Psalm 66:20 

Genesis 22.  God instructed Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, his only son whom the Lord had given him.  Abraham, seemingly without question, took his son to the mountains of Moriah to follow God’s command.  When Isaac asked, “Where is the sheep for the burnt offering,” Abraham, who loved his only son deeply and achingly, replied that God would provide the sheep.

I can only imagine Isaac’s reaction when, after he finished building the altar for the sacrifice, Abraham tied Isaac down upon it and reached for his knife.  I cry just thinking about how Abraham was feeling inside to have to see, hear, and feel his son’s fear.  Did Isaac scream out?  The Bible doesn’t say.  One can only guess how old Isaac was at this time, but it's possible he was as young as 5 years old (though more likely he was in his teens.)  I can only imagine Abraham’s physical and emotional struggle as he greatly desired to obey God.  He knew that he must obey the Almighty God who had given him so much, yet the thought of killing Isaac threatened to irreparably shatter Abraham’s heart.

As we know, upon picking up the knife to kill Isaac, the angel of the Lord spoke to Abraham and told him not to touch the boy.  It was a test.  God provided a ram, caught in a thornbush, for Abraham to sacrifice in place of his only, beloved son.  The angel said, “Now I know that you truly fear God.  You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son.”

Here are the next few verses that complete the story:

Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son. Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means “the LORD will provide”). To this day, people still use that name as a proverb: “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.” Then the angel of the LORD called again to Abraham from heaven. “This is what the LORD says: Because you have obeyed me and have not withheld even your son, your only son, I swear by my own name that I will certainly bless you. I will multiply your descendants beyond number, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will conquer the cities of their enemies. And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed—all because you have obeyed me.” (Gen 22:13-18)

Two things come to mind as I think about this scripture.  First, I don’t know God completely.  Of course, it’s impossible for me to know Him fully and deeply because He is Awesome God and I’m only human.  I know a bit about His love for me and others, how He does things, and His direction for my life.  However, it’s hard for me to understand why God would direct Abraham to do this to Isaac.  Didn’t God know what Abraham would do?  Was the test more for Abraham’s benefit?  To teach him something?  Maybe so.  There was no buffer between God and man at that time.  And God is completely perfect, holy, and just.   Abraham may have been building an altar to his son in his heart… and God may have needed Abraham to tear that idol down so he would be useful to Him in the future.  I understand this because Isaac was Abraham’s long-awaited, one-and-only miracle of a son… whom he loved very much.  He was a gift that very well may have taken Abraham’s eyes off of the Lord.  If so, Abraham would have become at least partially blind to the things of God, and possibly completely useless in the long run.  While walking Isaac up the mountain, Abraham would have had to make his choice.  By the time Isaac was on the altar, Abraham would have realized and demolished any false idols of the heart that he had built to his son.  This would have allowed him to obey God completely and wholeheartedly.  And that’s when God stepped in.

That’s one very real possibility.

And maybe it was for my benefit.  For the benefit of all people who would read Genesis 22.  I think this is true because of the second thing that came to mind as I read this scripture….

“You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son.”  Who else did not withhold His only Son? But God took Jesus right to the altar and did sacrifice Him.  And Jesus did die.  There was no other sacrifice provided to take Jesus’ place.  There was only “the Lamb of God who [took] away the sins of the world” (John 1:29).  Because of His deep, profound, aching love for us, God took His Son to the mountain and sacrificed Him for the undeserving masses of humanity.  Sin had come into man’s relationship with his Creator and broken it to pieces.  The Old Testament shows us that it is not possible for us to be worthy of that relationship by our own efforts.  But God wanted a close relationship with us.  He yearned for us to know Him because He made us… He made all of creation for us.  Everything from creation to now has been all about God’s desire to form deep relationships.  More to love.  And for us to love Him back.

So, that’s why God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac on the mountain.  To show us how much He loves us.  And to give us a hint about the future… a foreshadowing of Christ.  I know I’ll never be worthy of that sacrifice, but I want to take part in that deep, intimate relationship God desires to have with me.  If that’s not mind-blowing, I don’t know what is.

Planting

 
Hello, dear friends and family.  I finally worked on my front flower beds.  I yanked out the ancient, overgrown, nasty monkey grass which looked like two giant caterpillars and housed the largest grass spider I've ever seen in real life.  And ants.  So many ants. 

I planted lantana and nandina.  I've got some liriope coming from Mom tomorrow, and I have plans for coreopsis, sweet potato, and purple cone flower.  These are easy, drought/disease tolerant plants that should be hard for me to kill.  And that's important. 

Now, if I'll only remember to keep watering them.  I might have to put it in Google Calendar and schedule repeating reminders that show up in my email.  I have no problem remembering to get online. 

Multiplication Help

I've been thinking this week that I'm so glad I don't have to homeschool on my own.  I'm happy that there are people in the world who are putting curriculum together, or blogging about their unique teaching styles, or coming up with fun ways for kids to learn.  I'm very thankful to know that all the ideas I need are only a click away!

Case in point:  For the last year I've hated the fact that I'm stumped when it comes to teaching my boys the times tables.  Disciplined, consistent repetition of facts is NOT my strong suit.  I'm a go-with-the-flow chick (when I'm not Anxiety Girl), and it's difficult enough to get our regular work done every day with all of life's many distractions.  So, I put on my aforementioned Anxiety Girl cape and stressed about it forever, while trying out my own ways of practicing the facts that simply didn't work for me or my kids.

Then, I recently overheard a friend mention a music cd with multiplication songs on it, and that bit of info stuck with me.  After a little research, I discovered that there are many options for help with teaching the times tables.  There are games, video games, cds, and dvds of all kinds!  I should have thought of that before, but you just don't know what you don't know, ya know? 

The two dvds that I'm planning to buy are:

Link: Times Tales

Link: Schoolhouse Rock

(There's also regular Schoolhouse Rock, which we use for grammar reinforcement.)







I haven't decided on games, yet, but these look good: 

Link: Zoom

Link: Math Games

I haven't found too many online math games that my kids like.  But Learning Planet is fun, and Xtra Math isn't horrible.  If anyone has ideas for online math games, please email them or post in the comments section.  (Thank you!) 

Homeschooling is hard sometimes.  I say take every opportunity to make it easier on yourself, and more enjoyable for your kids.  YES, require them to work hard and meet higher standards, but if you can disguise that as FUN, all the better.  

Summer School

In keeping with my own personal weirdness... and letting that overflow into my daily life... we are starting school back up again in a week.  Yes, we're "supposed" to be on summer break, but because the weather is SO much nicer in April and May, we took a long spring break instead, with Branson vacation included.  I know for sure that we'll school through June and July, amid tons of summer fun and Camp Grandma, and I'm considering schooling through August (and maybe September), then taking a month-long Fall break when the weather cools back down. 

Just because we can. 

I feel so powerful! 

So, here's what we'll be studying starting June 4th.  It's all new material... except Math.  We're continuing Math where we left off in April. 

Mystery of History, Volume 1:  A chronological study that weaves world and bible history together (with geography included), volume 1 begins with Biblical creation and ends with the birth of Christ... and includes great hands-on activities for three age levels!       

Real Science-4-Kids, Chemistry Pre-level 1:  This will only take around 10 weeks to complete, and we can move on to the next set.  It's just a basic introduction to atoms, molecules, chemical reactions, etc., with experiments for reinforcement.   

Learning Language Arts through Literature:  I chose this because it's "a fully integrated language arts program that teaches grammar, reading, spelling, vocabulary, writing mechanics, creative writing, thinking skills and more," and it's literature based.  It's everything I need in one place... except for the readers, which I'll have to get at the library.

We're also supplementing with Sonlight's Grammar Ace package because it comes with a Schoolhouse Rock dvd... couldn't pass it up!

Sonlight's K-level Language Arts and Read-alouds for Sarah... because we have it and that's what I used to teach the boys to read.  She'll move on to something else next year. 

Teaching Textbooks Math:  still.  So far so good.  (Tip: My kinesthetic learner definitely needs to work with me in the workbook before doing the computer lessons.  Otherwise, he forgets a lot.  TT is very auditory/visual.  I'm curious to see how my visual learner does with it this year.)

Sarah will use Horizons Math K, mostly at her own pace.  We sat down with it one day and finished at least 5 lessons. She's so excited! 

Bible:  Cool Devotions for Boys: Gotta Have God, and Five-Minute Devotions for Children.  Also, during dinner we'll use the Kids' Book of Devotions, by Mark Littleton. I haven't found a real Bible program I like for memorization and bible study.  Still looking...

So, friends and family, that's what we'll be up to this summer when we're not playing with friends or swimming in the neighbor's pool.  Looking forward to a great summer session!

Blessing Our Children

Numbers 6:24-26

A month or so ago Steve and I decided we should have a special blessing "ceremony" for our kids in which we would pray for them individually and tell them all the reasons why we love them.   Last week we decided to first have the kids take turns being the special person at dinner time.  I chose Seth to take the first turn, and he was so excited about it!  After praying a blessing over him and the meal, each family member took a few minutes to tell Seth what we love about him.  Among other things, we all mentioned his sweet spirit, smart ideas, and slapstick humor.  His love for reading is unparalleled in our home.  His ability to make anything into a plane, spaceship, or gun is uncanny.  Sarah wished Seth was a glass of water so she could drink him.  Not sure what that means exactly, but it was cute.  You should have seen the glow on Seth's face while he received his blessing.  It lit up the room. 

Next was Sarah's turn.  She gobbled up all the positive attention she received from her parents and siblings, and she acted out every compliment showered upon her.  In our home, Sarah is known for her great dancing, lovely singing of her unique songs, super pretending skills, and her incredible snuggle-ability.  Caleb had quite a bit to say about Sarah, while Seth thought up two things.  (He's a little less verbal than some members of our family... and she's a bit of a five-years-younger thorny thorn for him these days.)  Still, Sarah felt loved.  You could tell by the sweet smile and sparkly eyes. 

Last night was Caleb's turn.  He had been waiting and waiting... very patiently... to hear the word treasures we all had for him.  His spirit soared as we praised him for his gifts of comedy and storytelling, applauded his genius building skills, and admired his artistic ability.  He also reenacted every compliment he received.  Unlike Sarah's, however, his interpretations were more abstract... and hilarious.  After a slow start, Seth's praise of Caleb was virtually unstoppable.  Literally.  Sarah was very focused on his cool clothing... and occasional lack thereof.  You know boys.  You just can't keep 'em dressed for very long.

I can see us easily getting addicted to this blessing our children thing.  Seeing their faces light up and knowing their little hearts are flying high with love, acceptance, and admiration is such an amazing experience for a parent. 

The kids want Steve and me to have turns, and it's important to them that we do, so our turns will be this week.  We're both looking forward to receiving our "special blessings" from them... to allow them to feed our spirits as we have fed theirs.  Just thinking about our blessing times makes me want to go scrunch up and kiss their beautiful little munchkin faces.  Guess I'll go do that now.  Carpe diem.

Homemade Laundry Soap

I jumped on the bandwagon and made my own laundry soap.  It was super easy to make (though a little messy), and so far it seems to work just as well as Tide.  The first batch, which costs around $12 plus the cost of a 5-gallon bucket with lid, makes 5 gallons of concentrate... 10 gallons of laundry soap after it's all said and done.  I have enough of two out of three ingredients to make at least 4 or 5 more batches, so those will only cost around $4 (or less) each (the cost of the 3rd ingredient... a soap bar.) 

I found all the ingredients at Wal-mart, but they are also available at Ace Hardware or online. 

A 100 oz. jug of Tide costs around $12 each... the recipe I used makes 1,280 ounces. That's a huge savings!  (Plus, the homemade version has the added benefit of being mostly all-natural and easier on clothes and skin.)

I used the Duggar's Liquid Laundry Soap recipe.  You can use the Fels Naptha "laundry soap" bar like they recommend, or you can use any other type of soap bar... Ivory, Pure & Natural, etc.  Let me know if you decide to try it!

We love workboxes!

"Workboxes" is a system of homeschooling which allows children to be more independent in their daily studies.  The originator of this system is Sue Patrick, and her ideas have become increasingly popular with homeschoolers across the U.S.  Because the full system is very detailed and in-depth, and requires a great amount of prep work for the teaching parent, it's not a good fit for our family.  However, there is one part we absolutely love!

This.  This is the part we love.

Above is a picture of our workbox "towers."  From left to right, they belong to Seth, Caleb, and Sarah.  In the close up pictures below, you can see that there are numbers stuck to the front of the drawers with Velcro.  When a child finishes his first drawer, he takes the number off the front of the drawer and puts it on the card that sits on top of the tower.  

This is the card that sits on top of Seth's tower.

The next set of pictures shows examples of what things are in the drawers.  The kids are not allowed to take a sticker off of a drawer, marking it "finished," until all books and supplies are back in the drawer. 

 

Below is a tower in progress.  When all the boxes are done, school is done for the day.  No more questions and worries about when we'll be done.  Now everyone knows!

Three down, three to go!

In order to keep the kids motivated to use the workboxes, I also have activity cards that say, "15 minutes on computer," "20 minutes on Wii Fit or Outdoor Challenge," and "Game of your choice with Mom."  Next week I will add other games and surprises for the kids.  My goal is to have a good balance of school work, chores, and fun stuff in our boxes.  So far, so good.

Best upside?  Besides the organization and independent work, the best upside is having everything we need for projects or crafts right in the drawer waiting for us.  No more searching around at the last minute for glue or an extra pair of scissors.  SO time-saving! 

Oh, and this serene homeschool moment is all thanks to workboxes...

 

And so are these happy munchkin faces...

Here's the down side... more prep work for Mom.  In order for this to work properly and be successful, I have to reload the boxes every afternoon or evening.  I can see now that I need to prep everything on the weekends so I can reload them quickly.  Otherwise, it's too time-consuming. 

The parts of the workbox system that we are leaving out include making "centers" (think Science Fair tri-fold displays) to teach concepts or info to the kids.  That would take more time, work, energy, and money than I'm willing or able to give at this time in life... or ever.  Maybe if I could come up with smaller-scale ideas...

Anyway, that's our current gig.  Thanks for reading... and leaving a comment... *hint hint*

Back to Co-op!

Today was the boys' first day back to co-op, and we were all ever so glad to be back!!  They were very happy to see their friends and to get to learn and play with them.  In art class they learned about pointillism and made their own pointillist butterfly pictures with tempera paint and Q-tips...
 

They actually drew and painted half of the butterflies, then folded the paper and pressed on it to make the other half.  Brilliant idea!
 
In Zoology class, the kids learned about insects.  They learned that insects have 3 main body parts, six legs, compound eyes, and an exoskeleton.  For an experiment, the kids tried to drown a cricket, but found out that crickets can close up all their air holes and survive after at least 5 minutes under water!  As a bonus, my kids got to bring home the experiment subjects as PETS!! 

The three containers above house three different crickets... Hopper, Hoppy, and Hoppy McHopperson.  The kids brought all three home in one jar, but decided they each needed to make their own habitats.  We looked up what crickets eat... which just happens to be everything (they're omnivorous)... and the kids put these together.  The only thing I did was punch the air holes and fill up little cricket-sized water bowls.  The dirt, grass, and paper clippings are providing nourishment for the little buggers.  The crickets seem to be doing well, but Caleb accidentally ripped one of the back legs off of his, so we're not sure how long it will survive.

I ended up filling in for another mom who was sick, so I stayed at co-op all day and taught two classes on conflict resolution for kids... based on The Young Peacemaker, by Corlette Sande.  I got to sit in a circle with two groups of around 12 kids and chat with them about different reasons and ways to make "a respectful appeal."  The kids are smart and funny... and silly (right up my alley)... and we had great discussions! 

Where was Sarah, you ask?  Well, little "Sarah May" spent the entire day alone with Grandma.  And there's no telling what kind of trouble those two got into!

"What happens at Grandma's STAYS at Grandma's!!" 

School Week 18

It's finally time to start back to school after our long winter's nap.  I'm not sure we're fully awake, but we took an extra week off, so there's no time to ease into things.  We've got to jump in with both feet so we don't get too far behind.  We have another good week coming up, so I'm sure we won't get too bored.  :)

This week in Circle Time we're reading about... 

Bible - Pharisees, Sadducees, and Parables.  We'll be reading from John, Matthew, and Luke... and a few pages from The Awesome Book of Bible Facts. 

History (Tuesday & Thursday) - The discovery of America; Muslim empires; War & Weapons; and Incas.  Our books this week are A Child's History of the World, and the Usborne Book of World History.

This week we'll get to learn a little about Christopher Columbus... and do a project or craft (or something) about him... when I find one.  I'll post later about what we end up doing. :) 

Science (Wednesday) - A little more about clouds and evaporation.  We'll read two pages from our Weather book, do a "Cloud Craft," and the do the "Water in the Air" activity from Science Activities: Volume 3.  We'll also watch the activity on our Discover & Do Science dvd.

Caleb's jumping up in Reading a bit this week with Green Eggs & Ham, and Seth is going to be SO excited to read Viking Adventure!!  Sarah's school program this week includes Stories from Africa: Jabo's Mystery Box, and some selections from Family Treasury of Little Golden Books and The 20th Century Storybook Treasury... and a few others.  

This week's Read-Aloud is The Apprentice, and we begin A Poke in the I.  I think we'll save those for bedtimes this week.

The kids also have their own Math, Language Arts, and Handwriting programs, but they are too detailed to add here. 

So, those are the facts.  Looking forward to sharing the fun stuff from next week soon!

Overdue Haircuts

Took the boys for haircuts today.  They REALLY needed it.  Here are my shaggy boys... 

 

Of course, they can't take just one normal picture...

And here they are AFTER the wonderful barber cut their bushy hair off... and then I could see their shiny faces.  I guess I could have styled their hair before I took these... 

They hate it (sort of), but I LOVE it!  Plus, it will be another 2 months before they really need another haircut, and that saves me money.  I love that, too.  ;) 

Then, Sarah HAD to get in on the action.  I'll just let these photos speak for themselves...

 

HAAAAAhahahahahahahaha!!!!

January... and oatmeal!

Not my picture, but this is sort of what it looked like.  ;)

Isn't it everyone's goal to blog more in the new year?  It's my goal, too.  Yippee! 

Today I want to share about my lunch.  What did I have for lunch, you ask?  Well, I had steel-cut oats with honey, crunchy apples, and pecans.  Sounds good, huh?  It was SUPERB and super satisfying! 

I used Quaker steel-cut oats, put the oats and the water in the pot at the same time (makes it creamier), and added a little salt.  I got it to boiling, then turned the fire to low, and let it simmer for 25 minutes.  When it was done, I put in a little butter and honey, half an apple, diced, and a couple tablespoons of chopped pecans.  I'm thinking about having this for dinner, too.  It was that good. 

I think next time I'll add cinnamon, and maybe some nutmeg.  Mmmm....   Oh, then maybe I'll try it with banana instead of apple!  So many possibilities!

Next, I'll blog about our new homeschool semester:  in full swing next week!