Merry Christmas from the Harmon Family!

To family and friends far and wide — we’re grateful for your love and friendship. This video shares some of our family’s memories from 2011. As we look back on 2011 and see all the blessings God has given, we can’t help but be excited for 2012.

We pray God’s best for you in 2012! Merry Christmas!

P.S. This more personal video is not the same as the Christmas video I shared at GNOWFGLINS.

This is our (almost) Christmas eCard. I would have sent it out happily had we not taken family photos yesterday and gotten an official family photo.

In some ways I like this card better than the one we’re sending out. It is more fun, for sure! Except for the picture of Jeff and I (taken at a church potluck) the other pictures are from this past Thursday, when the kids and I decorated the Christmas tree.

Now you might think it looks like a Charlie Brown tree, but keep in mind, this tree came in a pot. We’re going to plant it after Christmas.

He’s been wanting to go bowling with the brothers in this family. So kind of (very) spontaneously we decided to just do it — in celebration of his birthday. Yesterday was the day. Conveniently, it made a great birthday party for which I had to do very little work. Not that I don’t love my son, but less work makes me really happy.

Yesterday morning I baked the sourdough chocolate cakes. The bowling alley took care of the pizzas. Yes *gasp* we ate out and it was not real food. It tasted great though!

And we bowled. Well, the kids did.

I realized that I need to practice hospitality more. The bowling alley provided a table behind our lanes for the food, but did it even occur to me to bring a tablecloth? Nope. I did remember the candles and matches though.

And the winner is….  Abiga/Karen (comment #8)! Congratulations! I’ll give your name and email to Michael. He’ll contact you soon, I’m sure.

Stay Tuned for The Last Pilgrims News

You can keep up with The Last Pilgrims on Facebook (or via TLP website), where author Michael Bunker regularly shares what’s going on with it.

And remember, Mr. Bunker is planning a book bomb (for the full version of the book) on Amazon on November 11, 2011. So if you’re thinking of buying the entire book, please consider doing it on 11/11/11. When people buy a book on the same day, it increases the book’s ranking on Amazon.com, which puts it in front of more readers/shoppers.

Again, here’s the info on The Last Pilgrims book.

Watch the Trailer

About “The Last Pilgrims”

It is 20 years after the collapse, and the Vallenses (an Amish-like “plain people”) living and surviving in Central Texas are under attack by the evil King of Aztlan and his armies. The pacifistic Vallenses are defended by the shadowy Ghost militia and their inspiring leader Phillip – the Ghost – a militant freeman who wages a guerilla war with Aztlan.

Jonathan, Phillip’s oldest friend and the leader of the Vallenses, must lead his people through the dangerous realities of this new world order, while trying to maintain the beliefs and identity of this peaceful people that are slated for destruction by their enemies.

The Last Pilgrims takes history, and casts it into the future, while examining that future in light of the past.

Want to check out the book yourself, for free? You can read the first 12 chapters for free at The Last Pilgrims website. This link may be taken down at any moment, so click over now and download the PDF if you’re interested.

Or you can purchase a print copy of the novella right here for $4.95 (basically the price covers printing). Or… the novella on Kindle is just $1.99.

Manifesto is a big word and probably not suited to what this is. Still, this is what I called it when I wrote it down about four months ago.

Four months ago I was looking at two things: 1) I was about to write a book and would be insanely busy and 2) my life and house needed some serious organization and scheduling. I knew I couldn’t tackle the house/life like I wanted with a book project happening, so…

I made myself a little manifesto of simple do-able goals I could do –  to give me the feeling that I was making progress.

The little things matter, I was pretty sure. So my simple little manifesto is a simple little list of simple little things that make a big, big difference in my outlook.

Here’s what I decided to do. Some are daily and some are not. Some may make you seriously question my sanity and my prior habits, but I’m willing to put it out there if you’re willing to not judge me for it.

• change out of my barn clothes right after the morning milking (instead of later on in the day)
• shower more often and get a hair cut
• eat regularly (I tend to skip meals when I’m busy)
• exercise 2 to 3 times per week
• read for pleasure
• declutter for 10 minutes every day
• give thanks for 5 things each day
• go to bed with a clean(er) kitchen

I have not done them all. I still skip meals and I have not read for pleasure yet. Also, the kitchen is not often clean-clean before bed each night, though it is more tidy overall.

I have been doing the rest of the things pretty regularly. And they made a bigger difference than even I expected. Especially the first one, changing out of my barn clothes sooner rather than later.

What simple little tasks do you give yourself each day to keep your head in the game and your spirits up?

Read all posts in the Project: Live Organized series. This post is shared with Simple Lives Thursday.

Watch the Trailer

About “The Last Pilgrims”

It is 20 years after the collapse, and the Vallenses (an Amish-like “plain people”) living and surviving in Central Texas are under attack by the evil King of Aztlan and his armies. The pacifistic Vallenses are defended by the shadowy Ghost militia and their inspiring leader Phillip – the Ghost – a militant freeman who wages a guerilla war with Aztlan.

Jonathan, Phillip’s oldest friend and the leader of the Vallenses, must lead his people through the dangerous realities of this new world order, while trying to maintain the beliefs and identity of this peaceful people that are slated for destruction by their enemies.

The Last Pilgrims takes history, and casts it into the future, while examining that future in light of the past.

Want to check out the book yourself, for free? You can read the first 12 chapters for free at The Last Pilgrims website. This link may be taken down at any moment, so click over now and download the PDF if you’re interested.

Or you can purchase a print copy of the novella right here for $4.95 (basically the price covers printing). Or… the novella on Kindle is just $1.99.

By the way, the author is planning a book bomb (for the full version of the book) on Amazon on November 11, 2011. So if you’re thinking of buying the entire book, please consider doing it on 11/11/11. When people buy a book on the same day, it increases the book’s ranking on Amazon.com, which puts it in front of more readers/shoppers.

Giveaway: A Kindle!

This giveaway is for a Kindle. Pretty sweet (I wish I had one!). You must be a resident of the United States to win (sorry, everyone else).

To enter the giveaway: “like” The Last Pilgrims on Facebook, then come back here and leave a comment telling me you did. If you’re not on facebook, you can still enter just by leaving a comment. That’s it!

This giveaway starts now and will end next Tuesday, October 4, 2011 at midnight. I’ll announce the winner later next week. Right here.

Remember to “like” The Last Pilgrims on Facebook and also keep in mind the book bomb date of 11/11/11!

This giveaway is sponsored by The Last Pilgrims’ author Michael Bunker. Thank you, Michael! I’m excited about this book and eager to read it myself.

I’m sharing this post in Simple Lives Thursday.

Delegation by Necessity

I’m going to work on organizing what I delegate — so we have a plan. But for now, I am content to reflect on all the things the kids can now do because they’ve had to.

Mikah and Naomi cook dinner on the barbeque. And might I add, they do a fantastic job. Mikah makes the best steaks ever. I love that I can hand over the hamburgers or steaks and anything else we’re grilling (like a foil packet of veggies) — and they just take care of it.

The kids vacuum, dust, do their own laundry, clean bathrooms, do dishes, take care of animals, declutter and tidy for company…. the list goes on.

Haniya has a special gift for being orderly and she quite often straightens the house or my desk or the kitchen … just because she wants to. I think she feels happier when things are orderly. I do as well, so I appreciate dearly her efforts with this.

Naomi takes great, great care of all her animals. She has a snake, rats and fish. She keeps up with cleaning their cages and feeding them. She never forgets to care for them. This was never my job; but I am touched and proud of her for taking responsibility for this herself.

The kids and Jeff took over selecting movies and filling the Netflix queue. Not only is this a big help time-wise, but I’m surprised at how relieved I am not to have the burden of picking movies for the family! Funny how much that task stressed me out. I much prefer sitting down to watch what they’ve all picked.

What’s Next? Planned Delegation

When I first married, I had a regular routine for when things got done. I would clean our whole apartment/duplex/house on one day. Another day I would wash all the laundry and the bedding. Oh, those were the days! Back then, all I did was snuggle babies and keep the house clean. I didn’t cook very much, I didn’t garden, I didn’t blog and I didn’t run a business.

Fifteen years later, life is a little different. I am thinking about and searching for the right way to delegate the chores and work of our household.

We have alot of understood chores. Like the kids know whose turn it is to vacuum. They’ve settled among themselves the barn chores — who feeds the chickens, who fills water tubs, who carries out hay to the goats or the cow. They know who’s up to open and close the gate when we go out. Most of these things they’ve decided because they have a natural desire for structure — and sometimes because they’re far too concerned with fairness.   Other things they’ve settled out of necessity. In any case, it has all helped.

In the meantime and until I figure out how to organize the chores for this stage in our life, we are using a dry erase board magneted to the fridge. It has a space for each day of the week. I’ve found it helpful to write what’s going on for the week out, just simple words like “church”, “errands”, “gardening”, etc. Then the rest of each space fills up with those extra chores that aren’t understood, such as vacuuming, dusting, carrying out garbage, sweeping, etc. This is working for now, but it is still not scheduled far out.

When the kids were younger, we used these chore cards. They worked really well and it was fun for them. Now? Not so fun.

The tool I’m most likely going to use for chore scheduling is my digital calendar. I use iCal (Mac). I’m thinking of adding a chore sub-calendar to it (which syncs with my Google calendar). The details are still fuzzy. Mostly I need to sit down and work on it. I think though that when I get everything input, I’ll be able to print it by the week and tape it up on the fridge, where we’ll all refer to it.

I have questions for you. How do you plan your household chores? What tool(s) do you use? What’s working for you? What’s not?

I shared this in Simple Lives Thursday.

Read all posts in the Project: Live Organized series.

One way to categorize people is by how they react to difficulties or disappointments. Our gut response is either:

1. to look inwardly and heap responsibility for everything on ourselves (saying “I just need to try harder”) –or–
2. to look outwardly and heap responsibility on everyone but ourselves (saying “If only everyone else would ….”)

We can be a blend of these two types, too. And of course, this is a very simplified way of looking at people.

I am mostly type #1 (with a healthy dose of #2 thrown in now and then). I usually think if I just try harder or do better, things will get better. There is truth to this, because I’m not perfect and I can always do better. Yet I can’t do everything and I can’t fix everything. And I certainly can’t fix people.

(By the way, what type are you?)

So while I’ve been contemplating getting my life organized, I try to keep these things in mind:

• I will not be able to fix everything.
• I won’t get my life perfect.
• I will not be able to do it all myself.

This doesn’t prevent me from taking steps to make things better, but I guess what it does is take the pressure off. I will fix what I can fix, and what I can’t, I can’t. I leave the outcome up to the Lord, while promising to do my best.

“Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit” says the Lord.
–Zechariah 4:6

I’m not really a type #2 person, but if I were, this is how I would try to adjust my thinking. My problems aren’t always caused by other people or other things. I have a choice about how I react to every challenge God allows into my life. God gives and God takes away. I will do my best to glorify Him in everything I do and leave the rest of the world in His care, not my judgment. (What do you think about this?)

Regarding Project: Life Oganized or life in general, let’s promise God — whether we’re type #1 or type #2 or a blend — that we will leave the results up to Him while we do our best for His glory. Are you with me?

In addition to my eCourse work, last December we added a milk cow to our homestead. Because of her temperament (irritable), it was no simple thing to add cow milking to my life, not to mention keeping up with the volume of milk and cream coming in and out of the kitchen on a daily basis. Then, about three months ago, I contracted to write a book for a publisher. (I sent in the complete manuscript last Friday and will be working with the editors for a bit more to polish it up.) This added another dimension of stress to my life; first, just to complete the book and test the recipes and second, because I had to put off my desire to re-organize my life. The latter was very hard for me. I like to get to fixing things right away!

Yet — I’m thankful for what the last year and a half, and especially the last three months, have revealed. I learned that God doesn’t want me always working, working, working, working. He doesn’t want me to be the only one in my house who can cook and clean and take care of things. I need to be more diligent in training my children. I learned that I can’t love God, others or myself very well without downtime for rest and reflection. I learned that living under stress makes other things more stressful.

“Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” —Matthew 11:38

As well, I’ve done some personal exploration of my strengths and weaknesses. How revealing! I don’t want to go into all that here, except to mention that I believe God will use what I’m learning to help me improve my relationships with Him and others, and to better manage the tasks He puts in my care.

So, what’s next in this series? In the coming weeks (and for however long it is useful), I will share personal reflections, practical steps I’m taking to schedule and manage my life and household, tools I’m using or discovering to help me manage my household and business, and Lord willing… results!

If you want to follow along, please subscribe to receive new posts (via email or RSS) — we can learn together. I’ll be grateful for your feedback and encouragement will be very appreciated, too.