Family……..it matters! April 30, 2010

In case you haven’t noticed, one of my favorite things to post on this blog are pictures of my family. ‘The family’ is a very cherished blessing here in The Cain Family home. Each one of us children have acquired a desire for this blessing that God has given us. From the very beginning, my parents have sought to reveal to us the forgotten treasure of ” family” and have pursued to plant a love and affection for the beautiful things within the home. “Family” used to mean something to people and people used to see “Family” as the way God ordained it to be. It used to be recognized as a gift from God and was embraced as a way of godly living. But today, the family has become so removed and so foreign that people look at this gift of “Family” with disdain and hate, and do everything in their power to keep from accepting this God ordained blessing called “The Family.”

(Let me try to explain:) My Daddy and Mommy have laid out and explained to us in detail the true biblical idea of a “Multi-generational vision” for our family, meaning, my Daddy realizes how much ‘what we sow today” will effect not only mine and my siblings generation, but our children and grandchildren…and so on! He is not living with a mind-set to have us children out of the house as soon as we hit the age (18) and with heavy sigh saying, “Well, I hope they succeed out there in that dog-eat-dog world!  No… in fact, he is living with the realization that his children and grandchildren’s foundation is solely rooted in what God’s word teaches us about HIS plan for life.  So, why is family so important for this future vision in my opinion, Because the family is where it starts!

Written by Amanda

We’d love to hear from you…..

Well, we’ve recently opened up our comments section to our blog and we would love to hear from you. Comments relating to your adventures in things like: bread making, homeschooling, children,  recipe you’d like to share with us or just to send us a simple “HELLO” would be nice.

So, won’t you drop us a line and share your thoughts and ideas….It would be great to hear from you!

We'd love to hear from ya'll!

Homemade Laundry Soap… April 28, 2010

For a long time I have been in search of a recipe to make my own laundry soap~with 7 children you can imagine the loads and loads of laundry we can have just after a few days. Well, I finally found one that works!…. I wasn’t sure at first if it would work as efficiently as store bought laundry soap but, (seeing is believing) as they say and YES! It does work. Today, I gathered all my girls around and we made laundry soap, it takes less than 5 minutes to prepare, and the clothes come out very clean and it smells great 😉

Here’s what we used. I’ll list the measurements at the end of the post….

It's really simple to make...here's all you need!

Here’s what you will need:

Borax (20 Mule Team works great)

Washing Soda- (I used Arm and Hammer in the laundry aisle at the grocery store)

1 bar of Fels Naptha Soap or 1 to 2 bars bath soap (you may need 2 bars if you are using a softer bar soap like Dove) I used Dial

1 cheese grate (to grate your bar soap into the power)

1/2 cup (for measuring out your powders)

1 storage container ( I used a jar from an old canister set I had stored away)You could even use an old mason jar…almost anything will do!

Blender- (I combined all my ingredients into the blender to chop down the soap into smaller bits and mix it into your powders)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Step 1- Measure out a 1/2 cup of each of your powders into your container you’ll be storing your soap in-

Step 2- Grate your Fels Naptha Soap or bath bar soap into your powders

Step 3- Pour all your ingredients into the blender and mix until blended well and soap is chunked into smaller bits

Step 4- Pour your mixed ingredients into your container and store in your laundry room.

You will only need 1 tablespoon to each load of laundry! Yes, that’s all, 1 tablespoon. Sounds crazy I know but hey, it works and your laundry comes out smelling so good 🙂

Now, I have heard you can add Oxy-clean to your mixture for really stubborn stains or you can pre-treat the stains with Spray N’ Wash…what ever works best for your needs.

There you have it…Homemade Laundry Soap! Simple, easy, and cheap! You gotta love it….Enjoy!

Some more lovely photos……. April 26, 2010

The Girls……….

Our little Anne of Green Gables......

The trio.....

Sweet as ever........

Enjoying the beauty of spring time......

The trio..........the younger version, but still the same!

A beautiful day for picture taking…..! April 24, 2010

Today was such a bright, pleasantly warm, (if a bit windy) day here in Texas, but then of course with Texas being so flat, hardly a day goes by without a blowing breeze or rushing wind. I personally prefer wind over a still, stale silence, it makes things seem nicely ruffled and fresh. Anyway, wind or not, it was a great day for taking pictures. Photographers usually get a ‘photo snapping’ feeling on days such as this and just can’t wait to capture whatever they see or find attractive! Today, I took some photos of some of my siblings as they played outside this morning. Our lawn is once more green and soft and provided a beautiful back drop. Hope you enjoy………..

Rowen

Russell enjoys some time outside and is interested in every thing he sees......

Robert, such a sweet little brother......

Ryan

'O sweet boyhood days!'

God’s Glory! April 23, 2010

God gave beauty for us to enjoy. I love to look at what He has made for me to enjoy and love, all the days of my life. I will continue to praise Him for what he has made for me!

In Psalms 104:24 it says, “O Lord, how manifold are your works!

In wisdom have you made them all;

the earth is full of your creatures.”

I have been able to see God’s beauty through a monarch butterfly and I would like to show you God’s handiwork! 🙂

How beautiful is that? You tell me!

“Praise the Lord!

Praise God in his sanctuary;

praise him in his mighty heavens!

Praise him for his mighty deeds;

praise him according to his excellent greatness!

Praise him with trumpet sound;

praise him with lute and harp!

Praise him with tambourine and dance;

praise him with strings and pipe!

Praise him with sounding cymbals;

praise him with loud crashing cymbals!

Let every thing that has breath praise the Lord!

PRAISE THE LORD!”

Psalm 150:1-6

The Red Cross: Part 2

The nurses placed the soldiers on pallets where they were cared for.....

Nurse Isabelle tries to cool a soldiers fever with a dampened cloth.....

Nurse Corrie feeds soup to a man with a knee wound.....

Angels upon the battle ground.......

The Red Cross: Part 1…..

Yesterday, we children decided to play Clara Barton and the Red Cross, during the time of the Civil War. We girls acted as Red Cross nurses, who cared for and mended the boys who acted as the wounded soldiers, in our makeshift hospital we erected under our slide in the backyard.

The boys would march into battle, and then afterwards the nurses came with their horse drawn hospital wagon pulled by their steady horses Dick and Carol, who loaded the wounded up and drove them to the hospital.

This game was fun and filled with laughter as we reenacted a part of our nation’s history. The nurses just happened to be good, stout hearted southern women, named Betsie, Isabelle and Corrie. Here are some photos that were taken while the nurses went about their work! Enjoy 🙂

"Take your aim!!"

The battle field.

Administrating help....

Ready to be transfered to the Red Cross headquarters.

"A bit of water to quench your thirst, sir?"

Jake………. the best dog gone dog in the West!! April 20, 2010

Here are some pictures of Jake our dog.

Taken' a rest......

"Can I have a picture?????"

"I'm the new sheriff in town..what seems to be the problem?"

The best way for a dog to get scraps off a table is just to lick it off! YUCK!!!(mommy obviously hasn't seen this photo yet...)

"Sleepin' on the job! So looooong!"

Best Buds….. April 19, 2010

Ever since Russell Joseph’s arrival, so Rowen no longer is the youngest of the family and it is darling to watch how Rowen has adopted the role as ‘big brother’. Rowen is always bringing “Russet” (as Rowen calls him) new toys to play with, acting funny so as to make Russell laugh and he (along with the other boys) is always very concerned about the baby’s well being and whereabouts. Rowen is such a good big brother although he sometimes forgets to keep quiet while Russell is napping or that he is still a little to small to join in on the all fun, and can get a wee bit over boisterous around Russell which doesn’t seem to bother the baby very much-it’s Mommy that worries. 😉

Rowen is always proud to say, “Russet’s my liddle bwodder. Yeah, he is.”

Love you!

Adorable

Russell has a lot of big brothers to look up to.....

"Who him? Oh yeah, he's my liddle bwodder."

"Tell them about the time we......." (We'll save that one for later)