Laden with stuffing and full of turkey, I lounge as my thoughts now inevitably turn to Advent. Seems a mom can only truly rest from all labor for about 5 seconds before the joyful fullness of life brings on something new to prepare for or work on or at least think about. I did take a nap today, which is a significant, and desperately needed, event for me.

If you search my blog (search box on left side bar) there are some advent resources from last year. Really, the Crawford’s are running on just about empty, fumes actually, so I have little new creative energy and passion to fill new posts for this year. I am going to rely on traditions we have already in place.

Well, that’s what I tell myself so I don’t feel overwhelmed and then once I get going, something new always results. Almost always.

My newest thing lately is to pick a topic from this great book -

which is a catalogue of Bible verses organized under character development topics. Very simply laid out, easy to use with just one or two quick at a glance ideas for activities or ways to communicate the given topic; just the kind of thing the overwhelmed mom needs. So before thanksgiving I picked “respect” and we made a poster with that word at the top. The first day we look up the word in the dictionary and write it under the word. Then each day after as we eat breakfast we add a related Bible verse and review what we have done before. We talk about was to be respectful after reading the Bible verse. I might make up a song for it. Whatever comes to mind. We did the same this week with “thankfulness”.

So that is the extent of my creativity lately, that and the discovery that Hobby Lobby has really cheap easy holiday crafts. I loaded up for $10 bucks and kept us entertained for hours. Why was I so slow to dive into the world of cheap, silly crafts? They are great.

But in truth, I popped on here to share this Anglican Advent website (HT - Michael at the BHT’s “Come to Bethlehem and See“). If I get anything new going for Advent I bet it will be from there.

My dear Tommy has been under a great deal of stress lately and was attacked by another piercing headache last night, just when we ought to be enjoying the Bronco’s game . . .

I put a drop of lavender each on his temples, behind his ears and the back of his neck. Within 5 minutes his headache was totally gone! No kidding! I was even really surprised. Although all the logic and science behind natural remedies makes sense, I still don’t really expect it to work; we are so trained to think in terms of drugs.

Oh, I knew I didn’t want to remember why I shouldn’t love ham and bacon . . . . .

I have not researched into the reliability of this source, but the logic of it seems valid. It is certianly enough for me to try to keep bacon to only when my dh beggs for it. Here is a quote to whet your reading appitite.

A pig’s digestive system-unlike a cow’s-is not designed to filter toxins from its system. These toxins work their way through the pig and are deposited in the animal’s flesh-especially in its fat deposits. The pig itself is actually able to sustain very high levels of toxins in its system. As such, it can eat just about anything. So much so that it has actually been reported that in an effort to keep feed costs down, pig farmers will purchase garbage, such as rotting meat and vegetables from restaurants, to feed their pigs-and the pigs can be sustained on it. However, there is nothing in the pig’s digestive system, or the processing of the meat, that removes these toxins.

Thank you Brandy of Texas Rubies!

I am stoked about this recipe! I had grandiose plans a while back to feed my girls oat porridge everyday. Well, I tride a few times, they never really liked or ate it much and um, neither did I. It was ok. If you were a ranch hand in a Wyoming winter, but for warm Texas it was just too heavy and hot. But, unfortunately, I had bought 50 pounds of oat groats. They have been filling my freezer and shelves in an attempt to keep them fresh until I can slowly use them by having oatmeal two or three times a year . . . So that isn’t going to work and somehow other purchases keep usurping an roller so I could make oat flakes for other uses.

Then I found this recipe which may help solve my 50 lb oat problem. This raw version of oatmeal was really good and all three girls ate it up. I know blueberries are expensive, but it still tastes good without them. You could use any chunks of fruit as a nice topping. This is a slight take on a Cooking Light recipe. I soaked the groats with some whey to try and break the phytates and enzyme inhibitors down a bit more.

1 cup oat groats
2 Tbls. whey
1/2 cup raw goats milk or almond milk
1/4 cup maple syrup or agave nectar
1/2 teas cinnamon
1/4 teas sea salt
1 large apple, peeled and chopped
1 cup blueberries

Place oat groats in a bowl. Cover generously with filtered water and 1 Tbls whey; cover and let stand all day. Drain and rinse; repeat soaking and draining overnight.

Combine soaked oats (rinsed and drained), milk, syrup, cinnamon, and salt in a food processor and process until smooth. Add apple and process until smooth. Serve with berries on top.

Where have I been? Goodness! First it was church music drawing me away from my blog, and then the CD project with Adam and now . . . .

I am getting a horse! Isn’t he handsome?

This isn’t quite as random as it seems. Growing up I rode show hunters and dabbled in dressage. I owned two horses in my teens. College came along and finances forced me to quit. Since settling in marriage and family I have grown to really miss riding, but I figured a day might come later when we could buy a few acres and keep a cheap horse for fun. Maybe.

A family at our church bought a horse for their four girls to ride. They needed a trainer for horse and daughters and I wanted goat’s milk and babysitting so the trade worked out well. I started riding and teaching again, having a marvelous time. (I used to design and teach the horse camps at our show barn.) It is amazing how quickly all my skills are coming back.

Right at about the same time that I started riding again, my Aunt’s “baby boy” whom she raised and trained since he was 2 came up lame, tearing two tendons. Since this is the second tendon tear in 1 year,  they feel that he has to retire from show jumping, even though he won 2 championships at his last show. Seems his legs can’t handle the rigorous work. Did I want to rehab him and see if he could handle being a family horse? Did I want a free 17.1 hand gorgeous thoroughbred to keep and ride for pleasure? Uh, yes!!

So Nakai is coming in about 2 weeks. I found a beautiful hunter/jumper barn nearby that has a nice paddock for him to rehab in. My girls are so excited. They have been playing horse and grooming each other all week. I have been madly scrambling to find an affordable, quality barn to keep him in (there sure are a bunch of yahoo barns out there) and making calls to set up a vet relationship, shipping details, etc. . . He is coming 2000 miles from California.

So he might not do too much of this again,

But he might rehab well enough to do just a few.