Tammy | Heart of the Matter

July 26, 2010 By Tammy 23 Comments

Once upon a time we had an old Commodore 64 computer which my brother-in-law had given to us for our children to use. That hand-me-down computer entertained my older children with multiple games whenever they earned computer time by doing chores or finishing schoolwork on time. Then one autumn day we made a decision to buy a new computer which would primarily be used to supplement our children’s education. The choice was easily narrowed down to the purchase of our first Mac Performa and the simplicity of using it made it a wonderful addition to our household. The most notable event was when my oldest son who was fifteen years old at the time went through the process of installing the software and hooking up our dial-up 9600 baud modem to the internet. What an adventure awaited us!

However, the challenges of homeschooling during that time plus taking care of baby number seven plus helping my parents as my mom recovered from major surgery allowed me little time to learn much about our computer or the internet. The extent of my usage was limited to occasionally checking a quiet AOL email account.

Until that following summer a mere thirteen years ago.

Finally our schooling routine disappeared as more flexible summer days stretched out in front of us. One afternoon I plopped open a Practical Homeschooling magazine which I had been reading while nursing my baby and slid my rocking chair and sleeping baby over by the computer as I searched on AOL for a message board area which Mary Pride had set up for homeschoolers. Smiling from ear to ear once I found it, I began reading through the different categories available. Any and every possible topic related to homeschooling was available. Then I landed on a category that spoke to my heart. Homeschooling a Houseful. I spent quite a few days “lurking” and getting to know the women through their posts.

During this season of life, I was so limited to being able to engage in relationships outside my home as my days were full from start to finish, but before the start and finish when the baby needed nursing and my household was sleepy, I slowly and steadily began developing friendships with a group of women who had similar life situations as I posted a comment now and then allowing them to get to know me. We all were still in our childbearing years and were often typing one handed as we nursed our babies, cared for large growing families which had their own unique dynamics, talked about the challenges of homeschooling and what curriculums worked the best, shared simple and easy recipes or laundry tips, and gave advice while we prayed for one another as sisters in Christ.

When this message board area closed on AOL, our group tried a couple other message board areas as our families continued to grow older. We stuck together as we began exchanging Christmas cards and family pictures every December, meeting one another whenever we traveled to other states, helping one another when there were needs beyond our means, graduating our homeschooling kids one by one, and laughing heartily or crying sympathetically with one another as our relationships continued to blossom. We worked our way through many controversial topics which came with it learning the “tone” of our discussions through our typed words with a heart for unity which was shown through our apologies when misunderstood.

Seven summers ago we finally landed and have stayed at a place on the internet where a private message board area was set up. Our membership is around 75 to 80 women with about half of them quite active and the others checking in now and then as we’ve busily chatting away accumulating thousands of posts. Life on the internet has also changed and many of us can be found on Facebook as individuals or within the group we set up. Life has also changed within our families as we now share about weddings, grandbabies, books, menopause, aging parents, health issues, and even the topic of homeschooling comes up once in awhile. Although there have been many changes, our friendships have continued to be an incredible blessing deepening through the years and which will continue into eternity as we’re all convinced we’ll have our own little corner in heaven someday.

Internet friendships are not meant to replace or be any kind of substitute for our real life face to face friendships with women, but they can be a wonderful supplemental way of being blessed by other women within friendships where we can share the thousands of words of thoughts on our minds within a given day. The key is finding a healthy balance of time to do this so that you are not taking away from your real life relationships and home life. Message boards are a wonderful way to connect with other women and in particular other homeschooling moms as they offer specific areas to meet similar and distinct needs. Heart of the Matter offers a forum for this purpose as well as The Homeschool Lounge. Take a moment to check them out and meet other women who are also homeschooling. You never know when you might develop a sweet friendship that may allow you to meet face to face someday in the future. Trust me, you won’t run out of words if that happens as the conversation will flow much as it does online. You will be richly blessed by a friendship with a dear sister in Christ and could anything else be closer to the heart of the matter?

Married in 1980 and still living in the same house in a woodsy rural setting, Tammy Dallmann’s homeschooling journey began in the fall of 1987 when her oldest turned six years old. As rather new believers professing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, homeschooling was a way to live out the principles found in Deuteronomy 6:4-9. Through all the challenges of life Tammy has stayed the course growing to a family with nine children who presently range from grade school age to college graduates married with children. Her role has transitioned from learning everything she could about homeschooling to becoming an encourager to others coming along the way. Please visit Tammy at Garden Glimpses.

July 1, 2010 By Tammy Leave a Comment

The final year of homeschooling my current oldest at home seemed to be passing slowly. We talked about future plans, but he couldn’t quite seem to put his finger on his next step. A retake of the ACT in the fall raised his score a few points, yet that didn’t prompt a move forward. Even more surprising was that this particular child who had always been focused, detailed, and timely on all his high school studies and whom I had anticipated making the push to finish his senior year early, which is a definite advantage of homeschooling, only seemed to almost stall with a case of senioritis.

As the last week of May came upon us, like a bolt of lightning on a clear blue sky day he was struck with a plan. Surprisingly the college he was considering was still taking applications for the fall semester and I was prompted to immediately get his transcript in order to be sent in to accompany his online application. Had I mentioned that I was also planting the garden, attempting to finish schooling with his four younger siblings, and preparing for an out of town wedding of his older brother the following week? Let’s just say that it felt like there was a bit of thunder rumbling after Mr. Lightning Bolt struck as I scrambled to hold my umbrella to keep some balance in my life.

No sooner had we unpacked our van from the wedding when his college acceptance letter arrived quickly followed by a huge smile on his face. But that was only the start of the process that felt familiar having been through it before with his older siblings. It was time to get into a college mindset with this son who only weeks before was planning on working at his dad’s business until further notice. Suddenly we needed to get his financial system set up with a checking/savings account, send in his enrollment confirmation check, fill out his college housing application, and begin looking into financial options to fund his college education.

And then another old familiar feeling struck as my mind abruptly realized what was happening. A son had grown up and was leaving home. Oh my! Had I prepared him well enough? Had he learned everything he needs to know to maneuver through the world without me? Would he be able to handle the transition into college life? Had he learned the necessary educational tools to tackle the demands of higher education? Did I need to review laundry details, remind him to take Emergen-C when illness was spreading through the dorms, reexamine budgeting, and give him tips on girls?

Just as suddenly my mind shifted gears as I realized that I needed to bypass all that other stuff as I considered one of those important things to a mother’s heart – the handmade Noah’s ark quilt that had covered his bed since he was a little boy and which matched his brother’s bed quilt since they were in bunk beds at that time. The quilt was worn and torn from much loving and snuggling under through the years. Even if it had been in good shape it would most likely not be traveling to college because it was a little kid’s kind of quilt. Guess I’d have another task to consider this summer as he definitely needed a new quilt to go with him for his dorm bed. A quilt pieced by mom with solid colors or plain designs that was more grown up looking for a young man heading off to college as he added a new piece to his life.. A quilt homemade by mom with a soft border that he could snuggle under after a late night of studying for exams and be reminded that there were people back home that loved him, prayed for him, and were only a phone call away. A quilt sewn by mom with love as I looked back over the struggles and challenges of his growing up years and witnessed God sewing together his strengths and championing his positive characteristics. A quilt hemmed by mom with prayer as my heart released him and his hopes, dreams, and future into the Lord’s faithful hands who will hem them into His purposes.

Yes, when our children hit that all grown up moment it often feels like it happened as suddenly as a lightning bolt and takes our hearts a bit to catch up. Yet their lives within our homes have been steadily pieced and sewn together over the years building a foundation that prepares them for God’s purposes in the future. We can completely trust God as He faithfully continues the process of quilting our child’s life into something beautifully suited for His glory. And isn’t that really the heart of the matter?

May 31, 2010 By Tammy 16 Comments

As you begin homeschooling, there are a host of questions that may be in the back of your mind:

Can I really do this?
Can I really teach my child what he needs to know and give him a proper education?
Can I find the balance between being a mom and a teacher?
Can I keep up with all my other responsibilities?
Can we afford the financial portion of schooling at home?
Can my child be properly socialized?
Can my child still be involved in sports?
And what if I fail?

What if I fail……

That is the BIG question, isn’t it? And it is even bigger when you do fail. Or at least think you’ve failed.

Having graduated my first two children from high school with one going on to complete college and the other completing a tech school, I felt like I could breath a sigh of relief. Yes, homeschooling does work! Look at the success!

Then along came my third child. The one who had the most imaginative creative stories ever. The one who could design magnificent Lego structures, build a fort in the woods, or sketch a funny picture. The one who could recite dialogue or songs from any movie he had ever seen. The one with the wacky sense of humor who was either dressed as a pirate or a military soldier in his younger years. The one who regularly hugged his mother and was loyal to his family and friends. The one who carried around babies, entertained his younger siblings, and connected with every pet. The one who read G.A. Henty late at night. The one who loved God and had a strong love for his country. And when it came to homeschooling, the one who never quite completed his studies from year to year and should have had “Procrastination” as his middle name. For this, my dear reader, is what got him into trouble.

Each year as we finished up our schooling, he always had a bit left to do in a subject or two which we vowed to work on during the summer. And each year that commitment lasted for about a week and then we’d all forget and fully enjoy the short summers where we live and not think about book learning until the end of August.

Then he hit high school and it was a repeat of those grade school years. He’d never quite complete all of his studies leaving a course or two almost done at the end of the school year. We tried a variety of corrective measures, changed studies to accommodate his learning style, and still nothing would motivate him to finish. As he became old enough to work in my husband’s business, his summers were spent working with dad and during the last two years of high school that work seemed to affect his studies in spring and fall as well. He easily became my husband’s right hand man at work as he was responsible, committed, and loved working outdoors.

And there sat some of his high school courses. Uncompleted.

And there sat his mother beating herself up over failure. Completed.

While I was busy thinking about all the things I must have done wrong with this one and how I should have done this or that or the other thing, he was busy doing other things. Things like taking on more responsibility in my husband’s business, getting involved in the youth program at church by working with a group of junior high boys who enjoyed his teaching, and discipling a handful of high school boys he met with weekly. Now living in a house at the other end of town with a friend he’d know since babyhood, each day he’d stop in the house before or after work to give his mom a hug, grab something to eat out of MY fridge, and lovingly tease his siblings a bit.

For awhile I’d remind him to work on finishing up his high school course work during the winter months when work was slow, but it never happened. I then went to the second verse of this tune and suggested that he should consider getting his GED and be done with the schooling chapter of life, and again it didn’t happen.

Then one day I heard the Lord whisper in my ear, “Let go and LOOK.” After wrestling with the Lord using every “but, Lord” excuse I could find, I did what He was asking me. I let go. I looked. And the Lord reminded me of the vision that began our homeschooling years. The vision was not to raise educational geniuses, but to raise children who would grow to love and serve the Lord giving them a solid education in the process. And it was then that I realized that essentially my vision had been accomplished as I witnessed the young man of integrity standing before me. He did love and serve the Lord wholeheartedly, had received a solid education, and thoroughly immersed himself into the things he loved doing. Not only did I let go, I relaxed.

Isn’t it amazing how when we let go of things and give them to the Lord He can then begin working? For it wasn’t long after that when a series of events led my son in a direction that had been placed in his heart a long time ago. He was immediately prompted to go through the GED process which had the requirement of prep courses and then taking the actual test. He breezed through it. Then there were a series of other steps and tests that were necessary for him to accomplish the goal God had instilled in his heart, and he did well with each one. All the ‘i’s were dotted, the ‘t’s crossed, and his name was signed on the dotted line. And a week ago I kissed and hugged this son good-bye as he entered the U.S. Army.

Homeschooling failure? Perhaps the world would say so as the required courses at home weren’t all completed. My heart says the opposite. I’m proud of who this son has grown to be and know that in the days ahead he will continue to be filled with integrity and loyalty as a man who loves his family, loves his country, and loves his Lord. And really, isn’t that the heart of the matter?

Married in 1980 and still living in the same house in a woodsy rural setting, Tammy’s homeschooling journey began in the fall of 1987 when her oldest turned six years old. As rather new believers professing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, homeschooling was a way to live out the principles found in Deuteronomy 6:4-9. Through all the challenges of life Tammy has stayed the course growing to a family with nine children who presently range from preschool age to college graduates married with children. Her role has transitioned from learning everything she could about homeschooling to becoming an encourager to others coming along the way. Please visit Tammy at Garden Glimpses.

May 24, 2010 By Tammy 2 Comments

My girls have been caught up in watching old musicals lately. They don’t watch them just once, but over and over so they learn the songs and then sing the sings over and over. Their singing was enhanced when we discovered soundtracks to musicals in the CD section of our local library. Honestly, I love listening to them sing together whether it’s “Ohhhhhhklahoma…..” or “I can do anything better than you can, I can do anything better than you……” or “How do you solve a problem like Maria…..” as they are even slowly learning some part singing on their own.

Digging through an assortment of movies at our library to find musicals, we often stumble onto some other older movies which may be familiar from my growing up years or may have favorite actors or actresses from that time period. During a recent library visit my browsing led me to a gem of a non-musical movie. The movie primarily caught my eye because a young Hayley Mills was one of the main actresses and we love watching her in the original version of the Parent Trap. The movie is The Trouble with Angels and was filmed back in 1965. The storyline takes place in an all girls boarding school which was run by nuns and follows the adventures of two girls whose friendship grows as they go from one bit of trouble to the next.

I think the first time I watched the movie my eyes were following the two girls, but by the end of the movie I knew who my heart wanted to follow more closely. So, the second time I watched the movie I paid closer attention to the character of Mother Superior who was played by Rosalind Russell. Although the main encounters with this character involve the discipline of the two troublemaking teens, there are glimpses of the attributes of this character throughout the movie. She is often shown alone outdoors as she takes time for meditation. Or she is shown in action by comforting an older woman, helping a student with a sewing project late at night, weeping over the loss of a dear friend, feeding the birds, or encouraging the sisters. It is evident that this character has a healthy balance of spending time alone with God and then living out her faith in often quiet behind-the-scene ways which are quite meaningful as she loves God’s people, even the difficult ones. At the end of the movie you realize that the testimony of her life greatly impacted another character as the character had watchfully “caught” more than was “taught” at the boarding school.

It caused me to ponder what my life looks like to my children. As a homeschool mom, I am home fulltime with my children who have definitely seen the *real* me. Am I seen only as the disciplinarian around home since child training involves so much of that on a daily and hopefully consistent basis? Or do they catch glimpses of my spiritual life and realize its importance to me? Is my faith lived out in behind-the-scenes ways that are meaningful and can be seen as acts of serving others because of God’s love in my life? Do THEY sense that love or am I often too busy trying to keep a handle on life that I am unable to find the time to connect in their individual love languages? And in the end, will the testimony of my life impact their lives by the positive things they’ve watchfully “caught”?

Ahhh, definitely ponderings from a mother’s heart that only God will ever know the answers to as it is His work in their lives which will gracefully cover all my mothering. In the meantime, I need to keep at the task that He has given me as a mother by staying in His Word, drawing on His strength, praying for my children, taking random moments to love them, singing “Rise and shine and give God the glory, glory” in the mornings, and folding my hands with them at nightfall as we thank our Heavenly Father for the day.

Ahhhh, yes, it isn’t always easy mothering my own angels, but I can rely on God’s sufficient grace to get me through the ‘catching” moments of real life and isn’t that really Ahhhh, yes, it isn’t always easy mothering my own angels, but I can rely on God’s sufficient grace to get me through the ‘catching” moments of real life and isn’t that reallythe heart of the matter?

April 19, 2010 By Tammy 2 Comments

Is it because she’s my last one?

Is it because I’ve learned to relax after so many?

Is it because reading really is an exciting kind of activity?

Is it because I’ve watched each one of my children learn to read and having the last one now reach this milestone means there’s need for a celebration ?

Although there aren’t any definite answers to my questions, it won’t stop my excitement from bubbling over with delight! My youngest child is really reading! Yippeeeeeeeee!

On her fifth birthday one of the main things she wanted for her birthday was to learn to read. It was a gift that I couldn’t wrap with ribbons and bows that she could immediately open and enjoy. I’ve learned from the eight who had gone before her that it would be a process that would take time and would happen when the timing was right for her.. Learning letters and sounds and blends and sight words and all the rules doesn’t happen overnight. Quantities of time sitting side by side and gently guiding, leading, showing, and sounding would be necessary. Sometimes it would mean setting everything aside for a bit when that blank look appeared and picking it back up later.

Over a year after she had initially said she wanted to learn to read that spark of interest turned into a glowing lightbulb. The clue came with my youngest when she’d gently put her finger on my lips when I wanted to help her sound out a word as I had done in the past. SHE wanted to sound it out without help. After this happened several times, I told her I would no longer help her with a sound or a word unless she asked for help. Off she went on the challenge of reading a host of words and as she ran into something new, she’d attempt the word and immediately look up to me to see my reaction. My smile and words of encouragement kept her reading more and more as her excitement grew with each new word.

The glowing lightbulb then turned into a bonfire. Not only does she love reading words, but she also loves writing words. She fills notebook pages with random words she can read or types them on the old typewriter or scratches them onto our big chalkboard. Words fill all the corners of her life as she sounds out whatever she sees or asks one of us if you spell a certain word a certain way as she figures out the rhyme and reason of our English language. Of course, sometimes the greatest challenge for the rest of us is explaining all those words that don’t have a rhyme or reason as to why they are spelled or sounded out certain ways.

The bonfire took the next leap into a wildfire of adventure as library visits now mean sitting on the floor, pulling a book off the shelf, and reading. One book after another fills her hands. The words have became more than just words as sentences are flowing and comprehension is developing beyond looking at the pictures.

As we’ve reached this milestone I could float through the house with a song on my lips for days! It is soooo wonderful! All nine of my children are readers and with this gift they can learn about anything and everything for the rest of the their lives. In fact, I almost feel like I could retire now as my main mission has been accomplished.

But wait a minute. My balloon is about to burst and bring me back to earth as there’s one thing I’ve never quite figured out through the years when it comes to reading and my kids. Although they’ve all been exposed to a variety of literary forms through the years, they all tend to gravitate to their own favorite style or type of reading. Could be mysteries. Could be sci-fi. Could be biographies. Could be classics. Could be non-fiction or fiction. Could be a particular author. Could be a number of things, but it seems that once they find their favorite, it’s hard to get them to read anything else when they get older which sets up a battle when they have required reading to do or need to choose from a particular category for a book report. Having a well rounded reader can be the heart of the matter when looking at their overall education, so what are some of your tips for encouraging children to stretch their reading borders?

Married in 1980 and still living in the same house in a woodsy rural setting, Tammy’s homeschooling journey began in the fall of 1987 when her oldest turned six years old. As rather new believers professing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, homeschooling was a way to live out the principles found in Deuteronomy 6:4-9. Through all the challenges of life Tammy has stayed the course growing to a family with nine children who presently range from preschool age to college graduates married with children. Her role has transitioned from learning everything she could about homeschooling to becoming an encourager to others coming along the way. Please visit Tammy at Garden Glimpses.

March 15, 2010 By Tammy 4 Comments

There are beloved subjects and then there are those subjects that are dreaded.

When it comes to working on language arts, spelling seems to fall into one or the other category. Having watched several students through the years tackle learning how to spell words and learn vocabulary, it seems they either get it easily or they struggle with each word. I haven’t found it to be totally reading dependent either, as I’ve seen good readers do poorly with spelling and the slower readers do excellently and visa versa.

Through the years we tried a variety of methods to help learn our spelling words. Writing each word out a zillion times, filling in the blanks with spelling words, crossword puzzles, word searches, word scrambles, and illustrating words.

Perhaps one of the most entertaining ways we’ve learned our spelling lists has been putting those words and vocabulary to practical use by writing letters to older siblings, relatives, or friends.

The first task was to use each word on their list in a sentence. This could result in some very interesting letters at times when there was a common theme of the current spelling list. Perhaps the list of words was about agriculture or medicine or mathematics or foreign words commonly found in our English language. The second task was to use the vocabulary words of the lesson with the definition given in the book, which can vary because words can often be used as different parts of speech. A word can look very different in a sentence when it’s used as a noun, a verb or an adjective.

When you put these two tasks together while attempting to write a letter, the final outcome is some very interesting letters which have stretched your child’s creativity. In fact, interesting would most times be an understatement as the letters tend to be quite humorous as well. There’s nothing like one of these silly sounding yet perfectly spelled letters from home to brighten the day of an older sibling who is a college student in the midst of finals! (and I believe that one of those former college students in our family probably has those letters still tucked away in a box in his home!) Or what about having your child write a letter to their grandparents who are skeptical about this crazy homeschooling stuff you’ve decided to try with their grandchildren? They could be quite impressed by the tone of the letter when your child uses challenging spelling and vocabulary words correctly.

Although my current students would probably enjoy using the letter method for learning spelling words, I’m finding that it’s time to be creative again. These girls are known for being over-the-shoulder Scrabble players every time I’m on Facebook playing my Scrabble games with friends. Since they enjoy this game so much, I’ve been working on making multiple squares of each letter on card stock that could be used on our Scrabble board while playing on the kitchen table. It could be quite a challenge for them to play only spelling words in a game and see who could outscore the other as they also use some math skills while tallying the point values of the letters.

There is no doubt that our English language is abundantly rich with words just waiting to be used.

Creatively learning how to use them enriches our language skills which will help in every subject area we teach our children and isn’t that really the heart of the matter?

February 1, 2010 By Tammy 1 Comment

What is your child wearing today?

There are often many articles written about the benefits of homeschooling, but how many talk about the cost saving benefit of NOT having to purchase a back-to-school wardrobe?

The main requirement in our household has been to start the day dressed. We’ve bent that rule when someone is not feeling well or during the years when mom has been up with a baby all night. Most of the time the requirement is adhered to with an occasional reminder to get out of their jammies. However, the term “get dressed” has meant a variety of things through the younger years of our children which I’m reminded of regularly with our youngest who is six years old. I never know who she’ll be when she comes to the kitchen table in the mornings although it typically involves grandma’s jewelry and dress up clothes.

Through the years there’s been pirates, ballerinas, cowboys, princesses, soldiers, pioneers, and a few Disney characters that have worked on math problems, written stories, or labeled maps at the table next to me. Their dress never caused them to skip a beat in their schooling and when the last book was closed they were free to play. If anything, it most likely increased their creativity and definitely increased my sense of humor.

Although that was a season in their younger years, as they grew older I noticed the benefits in other ways. Without the typical peer pressure of fellow classmates they were allowed to become individuals with their own likes and dislikes. They grew comfortable with who they were while developing a healthy self image. The stress of having to dress a certain way, wear their hair in a certain style, have the newest and best only touched them on the edges as they came into contact with others their age. What instead became more noticeable about my children was not the outside stuff, but the inside stuff. They developed character which was often revealed with their smiles and ease of being with others.

So what’s the key? How do you go from a sparkly princess to a confident daughter of the King or from a swarthy pirate to a mighty warrior in God’s army?

“Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” ~ Deuteronomy 6:5-7

Keeping God’s Word ever before them in all aspects of your daily life helps your children to learn about who God is and how He worked in the lives of people. Common ordinary people filled with imperfections who were used by God for His purposes. The more they know about who God is and His principles for life, the more confident they become of His love and acceptance of who they are as individuals created by Him. They grow from being all dressed up on the outside to having a heart ready and open for Him on the inside. And really, isn’t that the Heart of the Matter?

December 25, 2009 By Tammy Leave a Comment

Over thirteen years ago, someone contacted my husband and I about helping with the Christmas Eve service at church. They wanted to set up a manger scene and were looking for a couple with a baby to walk to the manger in appropriate dress and portray Joseph and Mary while having their baby lie in the manger. Of course, being in a state of sleep deprivation with a new baby in our home while tending to her six siblings made it easy to say “yes”.

We were relieved to have a very easy going baby this time around who completely cooperated with the Christmas Eve service in a darkened church. Lying her in the manger was not a problem at all as she quietly gazed at the lights around her. As I simply pondered my sweet baby, I thought of Mary who had perhaps more intensely pondered her baby. A baby she had heard about when the angel Gabriel appeared to her before she had even married.

“Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” ~ Luke 1:30-33

Could Mary’s heart even grasp the impact her baby would have on the world? Could her human knowledge of kingly reign even come close to realizing that her baby would someday grow up to be known at the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords of the heavens and the earth?

Then consider when the shepherds came to see this baby after an angel had appeared to them in the fields being joined by a company of angels praising God and Mary’s response to their visit.

“So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” ~ Luke 2:16-19

As Mary was treasuring the early moments of her newborn’s life, could she have even imagined that this baby named Jesus would grow up to be a man known as Lord and Savior as He displayed God’s unconditional love by His sacrificial death? A death followed by His glorious resurrection that would provide a way of salvation for those around the world whose greatest need in life was the forgiveness of sins for a repentant heart desiring to draw closer to their Heavenly Father?

If on this Christmas Day you are someone who has never met Jesus, may I encourage you to ponder the baby we remember during this season. You can read about His arrival in the first couple of chapters of the book of Luke in the Holy Bible. Then turn to the next book, John, and read about His life, death, and resurrection which continues to impact the world He created as He offers eternal life to everyone who believes and trusts in Him as their Lord and Savior.

If on this Christmas Day you are someone who is quite familiar with Jesus, may I encourage you to treasure the Son of God we remember during this season. Continue to immerse yourself in His Word stoking the fire of your belief which allows you to live obediently with the help of the Holy Spirit impacting the world around you as you follow Him.

For on this Christmas Day, knowing JESUS truly is the Heart of the Matter……

November 6, 2009 By Tammy 8 Comments

Late summer we were blessed to receive a gardening gift from a neighbor who has a farming business where his main home is located. He handed me a container filled with large bulbs of garlic and explained how they would need to be planted in the fall in order to produce a wonderful crop a year later. Having never planted garlic before, I was very excited! This treasure – yes, we LOVE garlic! – was placed in a cool dry place as we enjoyed an unusually warm and sunny September which extended our gardening season. Finally October arrived with snow to remind us the fall was quickly shortening, so the carrots were canned and the rest of the garden was cleaned out leaving us the perfect gardening spot for planting our garlic.

My youngest and I took our hoes and shovels out to the garden to prepare the soil as we marked out our first row about four to six inches deep for planting. Carefully I took apart several bulbs of garlic with their large cloves and showed her exactly how to place them into the dirt using her little hand to mark the distance between each clove. We covered the row halfway, tossed a little fertilizer on, covered the row the rest of the way gently patting down the soil. Around the little garlic patch went an old wire border fence that would protect this area from my husband the tiller.

When we were all done, my little girl looked up at me and asked when the garlic would be ready to eat. She had such a puzzled look on her face when I told her that we’d be pulling the garlic next fall at the end of the gardening season. Next fall? She thought they’d be ready yet this fall as the “seeds” were so big compared to those tiny seeds we planted in the spring for our vegetables. I opened up one of the unused bulbs of garlic and showed her the thick stem in the center that needed to be formed over the year to give the plant strength and allow it healthy growth. A gardening lesson in patience, perhaps.

A gardening lesson in parenting, indeed!

Parenting isn’t something that happens quickly. When God carefully plants children into our life, as parents we carefully tend them through all their growing years. We water, feed, and cloth them as we take care of their daily needs. Our prayers are for God’s hedge of protection around them as harmful things abound. Regular weeding out of questionable character traits and bad habits is a necessity. God’s “Son”shine is given in regular doses to firmly establish the foundation and center of their lives as God’s Word is not only read and talked about, but encouraged to be applied in their lives as their paths begin taking them further from our gardens. And in God’s perfect timing as they mature into young adults, they are harvested from our gardens to serve God’s purposes wherever He may take them.

Ahhhhh, I remember the early days of parenting thinking that someday all the little shoots about me would be all grown up, leave my garden in the timing God has chosen, and my job would be done. God must have chuckled at my foolishness for He knows parenting never ends. Once a parent, always a parent as adult children continue to seek encouragement, guidance, and prayer support over the years. Oh, and recipes! They are always calling home seeking mom’s recipes!

Parenting isn’t something that happens quickly, therefore to become a hearty gardener for a lifetime it is important to apply many of the same care giving basics into your own life as you have into your child’s life. Make healthy food choices, exercise regularly even if all you can squeeze in is a daily walk a few times up and down the driveway, drink adequate water to stay well hydrated, get sufficient sleep with a power nap when necessary, and above all spend time soaking in God’s Word as well as worshiping Him both as a parent and as a family, Following these essential basics will help your endurance and reduce your stress when going through the sacrificial times of parenting of which there are many. And above all, remember that the ultimate parent, your Heavenly Father, is only a whispered prayer away no matter what is happening in your garden and for me that really is the heart of the matter!

October 8, 2009 By Tammy Leave a Comment

Every August when I’m sweating as I make out our upcoming school calendar schedule, the decision is made to take only a couple of weeks off in December around the holidays because “that’s all we really need for a break”. And every year when December arrives on our household calendar I wonder what I could have been thinking back in August as I’m wishing I had scheduled the ENTIRE month of December OFF. Honestly, I go through this scenario every single year. You’d think I’d learn!

Alas, several years ago after Thanksgiving when I noted that the holidays were swiftly approaching and I had my hands overwhelmingly full, I decided to try something new. Instead of doing an enormous amount of baking, frosting, and decorating over a couple of days right before Christmas, I thought why not spread it out over the days of December before Christmas with a recipe a day? Hopefully it would take the rush out of the holidays and allow us to take more time on specialty cookies.

I wrote out a list of all our favorite holiday recipes and then cruised through various cookbooks – including some small specialty Christmas cookie books – to add some new recipes. This idea was followed through with setting the basic baking ingredients on the kitchen countertop in a neat line so they’d be readily available and making a list of any specialty baking items I’d need to add. And off we went through the month of December schooling for a bit each day and baking a bit during the rest of the day.

Here’s the list of recipes we used that year:

1 – Rainbow Cookies
2 – Gumdrop Cookies
3 – Christmas Candy Cane Cookies
4 – Putzy Poinsettia Cookies
5 – Corny Coconut Cookies
6 – White Chocolate Peppermint Snowdrops
7 – Italian Frosted Cookies
8 – Chewy Chocolate Cookies

9 – Chow Mein Treats
10 – Almond Bars
11 – Lemon Bars
12 – Gingerbread Men
13 – Christmas Eggnog Cookies
14 – Pinwheel Cookies
15 – Spritz Press Cookies
16 – Frosted Sugar Cutter Cookies

17 – Fudge
18 – Neopolitan Cookies
19 – Chocolate Chip Cookies
20 – Grandma’s Anise Cookies
21 – Oatmeal Raisin Bullet Cookies
22 – Chocolate Bugels
23 – Pecan Tassies
24 – Snickerdoodles
25 – OFF – Christmas Day

It was a wonderful variety of sweet treats for our holidays! What a blessing it was to always having a good stock of treats we could draw upon when we needed to take cookies to different events and also bless people with containers of cookies as gifts at the same time. There were plenty of treats for our family to indulge in as well.

Of course, once all the treats are made you may be pondering a bigger question like WHERE do you store all those treats until Christmas time? We live in an area where the climate is cold in December, so I used flat boxes and rubbermaid containers setting them out on our deck where nothing would disturb them and we could easily catch “snitchers”! An upright freezer would work well, too.

So, what are you waiting for this year? Try it! Make a list of family favorites and be sure to add those special recipes that have been handed down through the years by family members. After looking at your list, consider the particular types of cookies that would add variety such as drop cookies, rolled and sliced cookies, shaped cookies, frosted and decorated cookies, bars, and don’t forget the sweetest of treats such as fudge, divinity, or caramels. Cookie resources are endless as you can consult cookbooks on your home shelves, pick up holiday magazines found at every store’s checkout, or do an online search.

Make sure you let your children get involved in this process as they definitely have strong opinions about what it takes to make a great cookie! Look through every recipe for necessary ingredients so nothing is forgotten on your grocery list. Once everything is gathered, grab your apron and get your children busy stirring up some wonderfully sweet memories! There’s nothing children enjoy better than rolling pins, mixing bowls with lickable beaters, and fingers dipped in colored sugars. Add a dash of favorite Christmas music in the background and you’re all set.

Happy baking!

Heart of the Matter

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