Home with Tracy

There are three things I remember from last year's birthday. All of them have to do with loss. First, all of our kids made me paper airplanes with China written on them. We were in the process of adopting Lucas. He was already in my heart and I couldn't wait to hold him in my arms. We were just getting the last paperwork together to finish up our home study and our dossier. I thought it would only be a few more months until I could see him, hold him, love him, comfort him. Second, I received a message from my youngest brother on Facebook. He asked me if it was my birthday or my husband's, since we share a joint Facebook account. I laughed because I always get his birthday and our other brother's birthday mixed up. We message back and forth a few times. It was so sweet. We didn't get to grow up together. I think it was the first time he had ever wished me a happy birthday. Third, I remember that I did not receive a phone call from my grandma to tell me happy bi...

About six months ago I was introduced to a drink called Kombucha. At first, I just liked saying the name because I thought it was funny and I love hearing my kids say it. But after I tried it, I noticed that things were changing. I first noticed that my craving for pop stopped. I went from wanting a pop every day to suddenly not wanting it at all. I also noticed that I wasn't having random upset stomach all the time. It was cleaning up my insides. The dictionary defines Kombucha as - kom·bu·cha   (kom boo cha) n. A lightly sparkling beverage made by fermenting black or green tea and sugar with a culture of various bacteria and yeasts. My biggest stock pot, green tea & black tea.    In order to brew Kombucha at home you will need the following - Kombucha mushroom (scoby) - (I bought my starter kit here. ) Tea (I use green and black) sugar filtered water gallon size jar paper towel/cheesecloth rubber band Large stock pot When ...

I was introduced to Azure Standard about a year ago. I must admit, at first I was a little overwhelmed because I was shopping with a grocery store mentality. I was used to going up and down aisles, searching the sales ads for the best deals and clipping my coupons. I had to change my way to shopping. We started our journey to healthier eating about two years ago. We have slowly made the switch. We now get farm fresh eggs from someone local. We buy lightly pasteurized milk from a farm in Kentucky that does not give their cow hormones or antibiotics and the cows are grass fed. We hardly ever go to the grocery store, instead we meet a big semi trailer in a parking lot to pick up our food. I joke that our children will not know what normal shopping is. We also have a garden and fruit trees and buy from local produce stands on occasion. I feel comfortable buying from Azure Standard because they are a family run business who uses a family run trucking company called Covenant Ranch T...

As a homeschooling mom, I am super excited about Family Time Fitness ' amazing homeschool giveaway running from July 1-31. Ultimate Homeschool Giveaway - Enter For FREE Here (1) GRAND PRIZE DELL 27" Touchscreen All-in-One Computer Microsoft Office 365 Home Premium i5 Intel Processor, 8GB RAM, 1TB Hard Drive, DVD Drive Wireless, Bluetooth Windows 8 64 Bit Microsoft Office 365 Home Premium McAffee 3 Year Live Safe 3 Year Enhanced Support and Accidental Damage Family Time Fitness Platinum Package Pre-Loaded on the device (1) 1st Place Prize Dell XPS 10 Essentials Tablet 10� Screen 32GB Solid State Storage Windows 8 Bluetooth and Wireless Front Facing and Rear Facing Camera Family Time Fitness Platinum Package Pre-Loaded on the device ADDITIONAL PRIZES (500) 1-Year Subscriptions to Home Educating Family Magazine (10) Veggie Tales DVD (1) 1-Year HSLDA Membership (3) $50 Educents Gift Certificates (10) $50 Family Time Fitness Gift...

A year ago I began my adventure in canning. I was nervous and excited all at the same time. What if I didn't can correctly? What if the jars didn't seal correctly? What if I ended up making my family sick? So many questions! I started out canning peaches. I foolishly bought 75 lbs to start. Not a good idea. I should have started with 25 lbs. I was absolutely exhausted by the time I finished and I wasted several because I didn't get take them out of the box and get them processed in time. Lesson learned. After I canned the peaches, I bought more peaches and canned again. I ended up with about 70 quarts last year. With four children, those 70 quarts didn't last long. I ended up rationing them so they would last at least nine months. After I canned both batches of peaches, I started to get some confidence. I canned pickles, green beans, stewed tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, pears, strawberry jam, grape jelly, grape juice, beef broth, chicken broth, black beans,...