Well, it’s October, and already officially fall, but we’re still experiencing some very warm days. Soon, the temperatures will begin to drop and cooler weather is a time that we begin enjoying soup!

Here is a recipe that’s easy and can be prepared quickly. Also, it’s easy to keep ingredients on hand. I sometimes call it “Can Soup”. We make it often, (with variations) in the fall and winter. Keep these ingredients ready in your pantry to make a quick, high-fiber meal for your family on a cool fall evening.


Taco Soup

1 can Ranch Beans
1 can black beans (rinsed)
1 can corn
1 can white or yellow hominy (optional)
1 can Rotel tomatoes or enchilada sauce
1 zip-lock pre-cooked ground beef (or about 3 cups browned/drained ground beef)
water as needed for the consistency you want

Warm up and serve over brown rice or with tortilla chips.

Variations:

Any beans will work
The hominy adds a nice “meaty” texture—try it!
Any canned tomatoes or tomato sauce will work in place of the Rotel or enchilada sauce.. Add chili powder and cumin 2:1 to season.
Chicken would be good in this, too. Or try it meatless!

Add more cans to increase the volume according to the servings you need to make.

Let me know what you think!

Less Stress!

I’m all about simplicity and no stress! Here are a few things that have helped me through the years.

· have nap times and regular bed times (for your children AND you, if needed!)

· advance preparation for meals and academic lessons

· oldest gets “shotgun”—this has always worked best for our family. I didn’t have to remember whose turn it was! And everyone gets a chance for front seat, eventually.

· nothing is ever divided evenly---not gifts, not privileges, not even time (more on this later)

*give yourself plenty of grace and mercy-- When it’s just not working, take a break. Tell your child, “I just can’t do this anymore right now. Let’s step away from this and come back a little bit later.” (It might be tomorrow, it MIGHT be next week!)


What are some things that make your life less stressful?

Lasting Effects # 4

WORK ETHIC

Wikipedia says, “Work ethic is a set of values based on the moral virtues of hard work and diligence. It is also a belief in moral benefit of work and its ability to enhance character. A work ethic may include being reliable, having initiative or maintaining social skills.”

Sounds like a great thing to teach our children!

I’m not sure if it just happened because there was so much to do around the Meadows’ household, or if it’s something that we really believed in when we began teaching our children, but our kids have grown up knowing how to work. They are really hard workers!

And they’ve reaped blessings in the form of supervisor and managerial positions at an early age. Erin, a dance company director at 20, and a studio manager at 21. Andrew, a shop foreman at 21. Ali, a Super Cuts manager at 19. Anna, an associate youth pastor at 20. Katie had her pharmacy tech license at age 18. We’ll see what happens with the next two, but Kody (almost 15) and Jacob (13) already work with their dad and are able to put in a hard day’s work.

Teach your children to do household chores while they are still very young. Teach them that with maturity comes responsibility. You, and they, will be glad you did when they are older!

Think About It!

Consider the awesome magnitude of this thought. Before time ever began, God chose you for your child and your child for you, complete with his specific birth order, and the specific personality traits geared to train you and him into righteousness! He knew that there would be the greatest opportunity for your child’s heart to be completely turned toward Him by placing him under your care---at just this time in history! Wow! What a concept. It’s monumental. It’s incomprehensible!

Get this into your spirit and the next time life is overwhelming you, or your child is driving you absolutely crazy, consider the ‘bigger’ picture.

It's Not All About Academics

Last week I experienced again what it was like trying to teach older children while caring for young ones at the same time. My grandsons, Kaden, 4 and Will, 2 aren’t ready to sit at the table quietly while we work! So, we tried several things to occupy them while I worked with my boys on their lessons.

· We had special “school time only” toys. A favorite was a box of wooden clothes pins that my grandsons like to clip together to make outlines of roads for their cars.
· We had to work for shorter periods of time, speak a little more loudly, and concentrate harder.
· We had to accept the fact that relationships are more important than anything (even academics) and we just didn’t get everything done that we might have otherwise.

There were a few times I remember Kaden standing on the same chair seat right behind Kody while he was reading. Will was sitting on top of the table while we finished up some science.

It wasn’t a perfect scenario for learning, but we still got most of our work done. And we traded what didn’t get accomplished for lots and lots of hugs!

The take away? I think my boys, 13 and almost 15 learned more by caring for their nephews this week than anything they could have learned from reading a book.

How do you occupy your younger children while teaching your older ones?

Time Out!

Sometimes we all just need a “time out”. Things escalate to a point that is so overwhelming that we just need to stop what we’re doing and regroup. That’s when I usually say, “OK, everyone outside!” Even when it’s cold! Maybe the “time out” is for only a few minutes. Other times we need 30 minutes or more!

If we have to stay in because of weather, “time out” is a time to turn off all noise. No music playing softly in the background, no music practice. Think, QUIET! Even if it only lasts 10 minutes, it’s worth it. It’s a refocusing time. A time for me to gather my thoughts, to send up a quick plea for sanity! And it usually works. (If you don’t have older children to watch the younger ones outdoors, go outside with them. It will refresh you all).

The kids come back in a bit refreshed, ready to get busy. They know Mom means business! Time to get back to work!

What do you do to refocus when things get out of control?

Tighten the Boundaries

I remember a time, maybe even more than one, when Dirk would come in from a hard day at work and find chaos was reigning and we were ALL sitting in the floor crying---even me! It had been a hard day for mom and I wouldn’t be doing too well emotionally. Identify?

Dirk would say, “Robin, you need to pull in the boundaries. You’re letting them get away with too much.” And he would be right. I was being lax in my role as a parent because 1) it was too hard and took too much time 2) I got distracted doing any number of necessary “other” things 3) I didn’t know WHAT to do. You get the idea and the list could go on and on.

But, the point is, I was the responsible one, the adult, the mom. The one in charge of setting the atmosphere for our day.

I began to learn that when things would get overwhelming, I needed to assess the situation and see if I could tighten the boundaries a bit. To capture the runaway noise, disobedience and attitudes before they got out of control. At first, it took longer to get everyone back to understanding what was and was not acceptable behavior, but soon, it took only minor adjustments to return us to a tolerable level of stability. And then there were still those days where Dirk would come in from a hard day at work and find chaos was reigning……

Would “tightening the boundaries” help your day?