Today Lizzie had her violin lesson with Mrs. V, who happens to be the best violin teacher ever (and no, we're not biased!). Mrs. V is sweet and smiles a lot. She definitely has the gift of teaching and encouraging. Lizzie has learned so much this year. We especially appreciate all we've learned about emphasizing relaxation techniques. Every Tuesday when we are driving home from lesson, Lizzie thanks me profusely for letting her take lessons.

The other nice thing about Tuesday is that while Lizzie and I are at violin lesson, Maggie is home cooking up a storm! Today she made several different kinds of candies and candy bars. They taste even better than they look! And for dinner she sauteed bok choy and made Party Mashed Potatoes, which are mashed potatoes with dairyfree cheese, bacon and onion. Not low cal! She even made a new version of her best dairyfree nacho cheese which is better than ever. Yummy.

The picture above shows the chocolates she made. The top left looks and tastes like a chocolate crunch bar. The other chocolates have caramel centers, nougat center and graham crackers centers. Normally these chocolates wouldn't be hard to make, but making them dairyfree is particularly tricky!

We bought the molds for Maggie's candy bars and chocolates from Cakes N' Things in Waldorf. They have a wonderful selection. You can also find them online but by the time you add shipping costs, you will pay double. The Waldorf store doesn't have an online website yet.

My Bible verse that I have been meditating on today comes from Psalm 19:14. "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer." I wish everything I said were acceptable to God.

Years ago I used to read a magazine that was written by Quakers. The editor was describing a business meeting he had attended that day with his fellow Quakers. It was a very quiet meeting because the Quakers have a rule that they live by. "Never speak unless you can improve on silence." I was so impressed with that rule, so I googled it to see what I would come up with. I found, "old spanish proverb" "old irish proverb" "ancient chinese proverb" "old danish proverb" "life rule of buddhist monks" etc. It's like I always say, Biblical principles work no matter what culture you come from!

Hope your windows are open and you are enjoying the luscious breeze.

Many blessings ~ Kathie

My hubby belongs to a Barbershop Chorus that meets on Monday evenings. He rushes in from work long enough to grab a bite to eat, then rushes out again and drives out to the highway to get picked up and taken to practice. Then at 10 pm, my children and I walk the 1-mile hike down our dirt road and wait for him to be dropped off at the highway, then we all pile into his little Honda and ride home. It's lots of fun. We sing the whole way. Last night the moon was full and beautiful. It was warm enough that we didn't need to wear sweatshirts. I kept thinking of the last line in a well-known hymn, "the moon shines full at His command and all the stars obey." Yes, God even has command over the majestic moon.

Our Pastor was talking about the sovereignty of God this past Sunday. Ever since, I've been thinking about that and wondering how we as parents can teach our children about God's sovereignty. What pain and sorrow I could have avoided had I learned earlier in life to have the faith that God is in total control in my life. He cares about the small things as well as the big things. But I know that learning to have faith is a step by step process. It is our job as parents to remain faithful in praying for them.

Today Maggie made dinner while I took Lizzie to violin lesson. It was so delicious. Potato gnocchi and meatballs in special sauce. The food disappeared quickly. No leftovers tonight! We ate out on the porch since it was still warm...at least that's what the children said! Once the sun went down behind the trees, I felt the cold.

Anna moved all the fabric out of my sewing room into the basement so we can paint it. That is no small feat since I have too many bolts to count! But my sewing room is in the cellar in our basement and has no windows, making it too dark to cut out fabric. So our project is to paint the walls and add extra ceiling lights. Hopefully we will be rewarded for our efforts. I just hope the fabric doesn't absorb the fumes from the paint.

I hope you had a nice day, too. Sarah has been great helping me with this blog. She sure knows computers. We hope to keep working to make this blog easier for you readers.

Many blessings,

Kathie