Walking Faithfully

Snow

2012-01-05T09:12:00.000-08:00

This is what we really need around here.

Snow.

Since we have been home from Afric@ we have had one day of precipitation.

Rain, that is.

And according to friends that was all the rain that has rained since the end of October.

It's getting a little dry.

So.....

We are praying for rain and snow.

I really wouldn't mind a little snow for the kids to play in.

And we would all like to do some snowshoeing this year.

So let is snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Wishes

2012-01-04T11:55:00.000-08:00

Needlework

This is what I wish I was doing. I wish I could ignore all the dusting, vacuuming, laundry, dusting and cooking. I wish I could just sit by the fire and embroider or crochet or practice knitting. I also wouldn't mind doing some sewing. I want to hibernate...by myself.

I love my family and I really would not want to go a day without them. I just wish I had a housekeeper to do all the stuff I don't want to do. All the stuff I feel like I need to do BEFORE I can sit down and do the stuff I want to do.

{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{sigh}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}

Back to reality with the broom, duster and vacuum.

Where Have I Been?

2011-12-28T13:29:00.000-08:00

A view from our veranda.

Where have I been? I finally return to blogging, blog twice and then disappear again!

Well, I've been on the other side of the planet...literally, I've been on the other side of the planet.

On October 28th my husband and I boarded a British Airways flight and began a 10,000 mile journey to Ug@nda, Afric@. Twenty-eight hours later we landed and began a 6 week odyssey to obtain legal guardianship of our third child, a little girl. She is officially eight years old and I will call her Bouncy here in my blog.

Right now I am not ready to delve into a lot of the details of our trip. It really does take a while to process all that I've seen and experienced. We were in a totally different world from our everyday world. We were challenged in ways we had never been challenged before. We grew in ways we never knew we could or would. And now we have a precious little girl that has joined our family. And we are being challenged in all kinds of new ways!

As time goes on I hope to share some of what we experienced and some of the things God is teaching us in this new world of adoption. Truly I never thought it would be something that we would do but God had other plans. Adoption is what He does everyday with each of us and now He is letting us in on that, and showing us His heart.

Well, I really am here today just to check in. I hope and pray each of you are enjoying your Christmas and looking forward to the New Year ahead!

Ordinariness

2011-10-12T12:13:00.000-07:00

~The true test of a person's spiritual life and character is not what he does in the extraordinary moments of life, but what he does during ordinary times when there is nothing tremendous or exiting happening. ~Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

Ordinariness is where life is lived. It is the day to day of life. It is the getting up each morning, doing one's loving duty and the sweetness of the evening with those we love.

There are always events in life in which one's character is revealed. We (I) often think that it's the big events of life that test our (my) character, but I think maybe not always. Might it be that the true testing is in the day to day of life? In the ordinary times?

An event, good or bad, may be the beginning of a time of trial and testing, but I think that it's not the event that is the test.

Paul says in Romans 5:3-5, "And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us."

In my own walk with the Lord it has been the day to day of life after an "event" where I am tested. Can I still get up in the morning? Can I still make the bed? Can I still do the laundry, the dishes, prepare meals, teach my children, love my husband, clean the bathroom, vacuum the floor, do the grocery shopping, teach my children and love my husband?

It is in the ordinariness of life that I lean on Jesus because I have learned that in my own strength I can not carry on. In the ordinariness of life I learn that God is to be trusted and that His burden is light. In the ordinariness of life I learn to walk with God.

And in the ordinariness of life God transforms me (Romans 12:2).

Oswald Chambers says in My Utmost for His Highest (October 12th), [God] has different ways of doing things, and we have to be trained and disciplined in His ways. It was said of Jesus - "He will not fail nor be discouraged..." (Isaiah 42:4) because He never worked from His own individual standpoint, but always worked from the standpoint of His Father. And we must learn to do the same. Spiritual truth is learned through the atmosphere that surrounds us, not through intellectual reasoning. It is God's Spirit that changes the atmosphere of our way of looking at things, and then things begin to be possible which before were impossible."

It is in the day to day things of life that God begins and continues to work in me through His Holy Spirit, changing the atmosphere of my heart and mind, renewing and transforming me. Changing my "me" centeredness to Him centeredness. Changing my dependence on myself to dependence on Him, ultimately leading me to hope in Him, joy in spite of circumstances and a peace that passes understanding.

Hello Again

2011-10-06T16:38:00.000-07:00

After a long time away from blogging I have decided to give it a try again. Before I began though I did some hard thinking about what kind of atmosphere I wanted to create here at Walking Faithfully.

I decided I want it to be a warm, loving and encouraging place to come to. I don't want to spend a lot of time on analyzing or discussing the state of affairs in the world, unless, of course, it is in the course of bringing encouragement and glorifying God. There are plenty of blogs out there that do that sort of thing and do it in a much better way than I ever can. I tend to just get up on a soap box and rant. That is not very warm, loving or encouraging.

Like any place one has been away from for awhile a little dusting and sweeping are required in order to get things liveable again. That's what I've been doing here today. I uploaded a new background and header (which were fun to find and make!) and deleted some old posts that were not in keeping with my new direction in blogging.

I also don't intend to spend a lot of time on the blogging thing. I mainly want to write. I have been in dire need of a creative outlet. At my current season in life I don't really have the time or energy to drag out sewing projects, crocheting projects or any other project for that matter. Blogging is one of those things I can do that does not create a mess or take up space that I will need later so that we can have dinner at the table.

I am also still homeschooling our two children. Legoman, our 15 soon to be 16 year old son, is now in high school and keeping up with his education is a bit of a challenge for me. I also probably worry a little about how well we are doing in covering all the bases for him, yet at the same time I know we will get there and have a sense of accomplishment for a job well done.

Sweetpea, our 10 year old, is an amazing joy! She genuinely loves to learn. She doesn't always love the tasks it may involve but she loves learning! She especially loves her science. We are currently doing Apologia's Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology. Today she made a model of her blood using Karo Syrup, Red Hots, sprinkles and one white Jelly Belly. Our little two year old friend came over today, saw the canning jar full of sugary goodness(?) and wanted to eat it. All I could say to him was, "Yucky!"

'Cuz I'm sure it is...yucky I mean.

We also have some amazing and wonderful things coming up for our family that I hope to share in the not to distant future. For now though they will have to remain a mystery to you dear reader. But if you do think of me and feel led I would surely appreciate your prayers on our family's behalf.

So that is my "hello again". I hope you will come and visit again. Please comment and let me know you stopped by!

Blessings!

"And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the indertance; for you serve the Lord Christ." ~Colossians 3:23-24

Happy Trails

2009-02-12T08:02:00.000-08:00

Well, in case you hadn't noticed...I've more or less quit writing this blog. I've found in the last couple of months that I really don't have any desire to write here. I don't have a lot I want to say. And, as evidenced by my last entry, it's not particularly edifying (in the way I would like it to be).

You see, at this season in my life there are people that require a lot of concentrated attention. Most particularly my children. We homeschool them and blogging is a distraction for me in concentrating on their schooling and on their over all upbringing. Raising them is the most important thing I will do in my life. I don't want to screw it up. Getting distracted by blogging or really anything that averts my attention from them....well for me, that would be a screw up. Truth be told...I'm easily distracted, and it requires extra-ordinary discipline on my part to stay focused on what is really important. For me, in the grand scheme of things, blogging isn't all that important. It's not what God has called me to do.

I'm going to leave this blog up for now. I may perhaps come by every now and then and post something.

One thing I do want to do before I disappear into cyberspace is to say thank you to all the really wonderful gals who have commented here. I would venture to name you all but, even though there are not a lot of you, there are enough that I would feel badly if I missed anyone. And while I'm not going to be writing a blog anymore I imagine I will still be reading them occasionally. And I'll likely comment.

So blessings to you all and thank you for coming by and visiting me!

Happy New Year and The Holiday Travel Hangover

2009-01-03T20:45:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone!

I'm back...and boy what a Christmas and New Year's we had. We traveled....a. lot. I think that it's quite possible that if we had driven in a strait line we would have driven at least halfway across the United States. Yes...that's how much traveling we did.

And we never left that state we live in...now that's not really saying much as we do live in one of the larger states in the Union. But it did make us decide this was the absolutely last year we are doing this.

Traveling, I mean.

We've been married for eighteen years and for those eighteen years we have lived at least five hours and more away from our immediate families. And for eighteen years we have packed ourselves and our gifts up and traveled to see family.

Now don't get me wrong. We love our family. But friends...I would dearly love to stay home for Christmas. Home. The place where I live. Because after eighteen years home isn't where I or my husband grew up.

I could get all sentimental right now about never being able to go home again, or about home being where the heart is, or home being where my husband and kids are. But this is not a Hallmark moment I'm having. I just don't want to travel that much during the holidays anymore.

And sleep in a variety of beds.

And eat at weird hours.

And eat rich food (which tastes really good but doesn't always settle well).

And go to bed too late.

And get up too early.

Because at forty-three...the recovery time is...errr...shall we say a lot slower than it was at twenty-five.

But having said all that we did have a wonderful time with our families, and were blessed in a myriad of ways, not just with presents. I hope to write a little more about that in the next couple of days...I'm still just letting my thoughts and feelings about our Christmas gel a little before I write about them. God showed me some really neat things this year and I'm still thinking on them and processing them in my heart and mind.

So anyway...Hello again! It's good to be back and I hope everyone of you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year's Day!

I Think I'm Going On Hiatus

2008-12-20T21:48:00.000-08:00

Well, as we count down to the big holiday, and Husband, kiddos and I prepare to make our visits to family, I think I am going take a little bloggy break.

I may jump once or twice in the next two weeks to say, "Hi!" if I get the chance.

I hope and pray that you all have a wonderful and blessed Christmas and New Year!

Merry Christmas!!!

Bon Bons and My Lightbulb Moment

2008-12-18T10:51:00.000-08:00

So I've gotten my first batch of Bon Bons dipped and ready to go. Unfortunately I think I'm going to have to do another batch. They are the only thing I'm making this year....however, it just occured to me that I could do a batch of fudge in order to supplement goody gifts and that would be a whole lot easier than making another batch of Bon Bons. Yeah, I think I'll do that.

ANYWAY...as I was saying I just finished dipping my Bon Bons and I had some melted chocolate leftover. I hate to let chocolate go to waste(...that's a mortal sin isn't it?) and I was contemplating what to do with it when I had a light bulb experience.

BING!!!

Dip some marshmallows and plop them down on some graham crackers. Wala! S'mores! And happy children and husband. I drizzled some of the last bits of chocolate over the whole thing. They were absolutely yummy!

So if you have some leftover melted chocolate and some marshmallows and graham crackers hanging around...well these take next to no time to make and they make you look like a gourmet extraordinair.

Oh and by the by...if you are feeling ambitious here is my Coconut Bon Bon recipe! Enjoy!

Coconut Bon Bons

1 large bag of Angel Flake Coconut
1 can of sweetened condensed milk
1 - 2lb. bag of powdered sugar
1 Cup of margarine
1 teaspoon of vanilla
2 Cups of chocolate chips ( I use Nestle Semi-Sweet)
1/3 cube of kitchen parafin (The kind used for sealing jelly sometimes. It can usually be found where canning supplies are in your grocery store.)

In a large mixer, cream together milk and margarine. Add vanilla and coconut. Now slowly add powdered sugar (This can be tedious and messy, I frequently end up mixing in the last of the powdered sugar by hand.) When thoroughly mixed together, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate over night.

The next day cover some cookie sheets with wax or parchment paper. Form coconut mixture into small walnut sized balls and place on cookie sheets. When finished filling a cookie sheet cover and put back into the refrigerator for 2 to 3 hours.

Next comes the dipping. In a double boiler put chocolate chips and parafin. Heat until melted. Prepare surface next to stove top by laying foil or wax paper down. (I use foil.) Now it's time to dip the coconut balls. Plop them gently in the melted chocolate one at a time and use a dinner fork to lift them out and put them on your prepared surface. Allow the bon bons to cool and firm up for several hours. When they are firm, enjoy! Give to your friends to enjoy because this recipe makes about 120 of them!

Lots of Linky Love

2008-12-12T13:01:00.001-08:00

The Lemonade Award

Which recognizes blogs that reveal great attitude and/or gratitude.

I want to thank Robin at Be Still and Know... for honoring me with this little blog award. Robin showed up at my blog last spring on a post for which I received a couple of really ugly comments (that was before I reviewed my comments). She offered me encouragement and consolation and renewed my faith in the blog reading public. And now she's gone and made me blush!

Now, the directions with this award are that I go on and honor some more great blogs that show great attitude and/or gratitude. But like Robin and Skoots1mom before her I'm not going to do the full count. However, here are a few blogs that fit the bill for me.

All Things Bright and Beautiful

Lynn had me when I first saw the name of her blog. She is a faithful wife and mum who writes honestly and openly about her life in England. I love going and finding out what lovely thing she is up to each day.

Red Wellies, Rainbows and Cinnamon Whirls

Tina is a bright ray of sunshine right out of Scottish moors (you do have moors in Scotland, right?). She just went through a kitchen re-do and such a good attitude about it too!

Grace and Glory

Jen is my friend in real life. And everything about her is real. She and her husband have open hearts and an open home. Just go read the wonderful things she is thinking about and praying about!

We Lift Our Eyes Up

Shawna is also my friend in real life. She and I are kindred spirits in so many ways. Her writings are always helpful and challenging. Her latest post is about time management, it offered me not only a challenge but a tool to meet that challenge.

Simply "Jenn"sational

Her "sub-title" kinda says it all, "Because my life needs it's own word." I see a happy, loving, sunshiny person in her blog. She is also real about her life. And she loves to decorate!

Grace for Gayle

I just recently found Gayle via her other blog The Grocery Cart Challenge. She is witty, funny and just has a great attitude about things in general. She also manages to keep her grocery bill to between $200 and $250 a month. She's my hero.

So there are my nominees for The Lemonade Award. I hope you will visit them all real soon.

Now for the rules that go with this little award:

• Nominate at least 10 blogs which show great Attitude and/or Gratitude!
• Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.
• Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
• Share the love and link this post to the person from whom you received your award.

Blessings to everyone who stops by here!

Relieve Some Christmastime Stress

2008-12-11T13:03:00.000-08:00

By now you are probably like me. In the midst of Christmas preparations and in need of a good laugh. Well check out these two sites, lolcats.com and i can has cheezburger then take a look at Son's version. He is very proud of his handiwork. :)

I was laughing out loud at some of the pictures....remember laughter is great stress relief!

A Little Walk Down Memory Lane

2008-12-08T09:01:00.000-08:00

My Mom loves to sew. When I was younger she did a lot more clothes sewing than she does now. Now she is a quilter mainly. Though she has been known to make some clothes for Daughter.

My Mom is also a saver. I think she has saved every pattern she ever bought and the fabric as well. As I dug through boxes under the stairs at my folks house this past Thanksgiving, I was taken on a trip down memory lane. There were fabric scraps that I distinctly remembered from various clothing items either my Mom or I wore.

And let me tell you there were boxes...as in multiple boxes. One could almost classify them by decade, based on the print styles. It was...amusing, because that "I can't believe I wore that" thing comes up.

But, you know, there are styles that are classic...they don't suffer too much in the translation. Especially now when people dress not to conform so much as they do to define who they are. And since I'm kind of a traditional sort of retro sort of girl, and the patterns my Mom had are in my size so I thought, why not use them!

So without further ado let me show you what I found. And this isn't everything. Blogger would only let me post five pictures.

The blouse on the left reminded me of some of the tops you see in the stores right now. Made in a knit fabric I don't think anyone would know the pattern was from 1964. My Mom and I had matching dresses made from the pattern on the right...well her dress was made from that pattern...mine was from a smaller pattern I didn't find. I do remember they were a light pink, double knit polyester fabric. Somewhere there is a picture of us...but that was another hunt.

I don't think my Mom ever made either of the above patterns. The contents to both are still in tact. I could probably make a killing with them on e-bay! They are priced .75 and .85 cents. My how things have changed!

Now the pattern on the right above is one of those classic ones. McCall's classifies it as "Easy, Recommended For Beginners". It is priced at .50 cents U.S., .60 cents in Canada. I think I will actually be using that one. I might even be brave enough to make the one on the right as well...it's not that outdated is it?

More classics, the pants make me think of Laura Petrie (aka: Mary Tyler Moore) in The Dick Van Dyke Show.

I think I will be making both of these as well. The drawings make look dated but really, the styles are simple and, once again, classic.

So there you have it. Well, not ALL of it. Like I said I could only post five pictures on this post. These are just the sewing patterns. I still have to show you the knitting and crocheting stuff I found! But I'm going to save it for another post. :D

You know there are draw backs to saving everything, but in this case I'm really glad my Mom didn't get rid of anything. And she was glad that I will be able to make use of them again. Ooooo, it just makes me all frugally and warm inside!

Walking Faithfully - The Whiner Edition

2008-12-05T07:57:00.003-08:00

So here is how it has been going for me. I have a cold, a UTI and Aunt Flo came to visit (and if you don't know who Aunt Flo is you are either not a woman or you are too young to be reading this).

Yeah, it's been great.

For most of the week I've felt like I've been hit by a Mac truck and left for dead. Daughter has been wanting to decorate the house for Christmas and little by little we've been getting it done. Poor thing, she's so excited and her Mama has been so wiped out.

I actually feel better today. The cold symptoms are subsiding. All I'm left with now is an over abundance of mucus...and I'm running out of tissues....both in the box and on the roll.

I started on some antibiotics for the UTI yesterday. They also gave me a medicine to relieve the symptoms...that was a welcome relief! I've drunk enough cranberry juice this week to support Ocean Spray for the rest of the year. Not to mention water...oy!

And Aunt Flo, she packed up her bags and more or less left yesterday. That was the biggest relief of all.

So....just to let you know, I did find some cool stuff under the stairs at my parents house. I'll get some pictures taken this weekend and post them on Monday. I'm sure I'll be feeling better by then! I hope!

I hope you are all doing well and enjoying your Christmas season. I'm done whining now.

Excuse Me While I Collect My Thoughts

2008-12-02T07:24:00.001-08:00

I'm coming, I'm coming....oh just let me get my thoughts together...excuse me...oh I dropped a page....heh, heh...

Just Writing To Say Hello!!!

2008-11-24T18:38:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone!

I'm hailing to you from somewhere in the lower 48 but for security reasons I can't tell you where! ;)
Specifically we are at my parents where my husband is at this very moment enjoying Monday Night Football in 52" HDTV.

Yeah...he's a happy man.

I can't quite get my thoughts together enough to really write something pithy right now, but maybe that will happen later on this week...maybe...

Right now my parents under stairway closet is calling my name, because somewhere in there are numerous vintage sewing patterns and crochet magazines. I hate to think of them as "vintage" because that would make me somewhat "vintage" as I remember when they were all new. Of course I was only a kid when they were new...still....

Anyway, as you can tell, I can't quite finish a thought and I think I better go answer the siren's call. Hope you are all having a great week!

P.S. I'll try to post some pictures of what I find this week...if not this week then next week when I get home to my own computer!

It's Not A Lot, But It's My Life

2008-11-18T08:15:00.000-08:00

There are so many inspirational blogs out there. Just look at my blog-list and you will see some of the blogs that inspire me. They are blogs about home keeping, child-rearing and walking with the Lord. I love them all. They all are encouraging to me. Sometimes they are sad, sometimes funny and sometimes just, you know, everyday. I love that too. Because sometimes there is really nothing all that exciting to share about life.

You get up, get dressed, take care of what ever your day holds, and go to bed. That may be an over simplification, but you know what I mean.

And I love reading about it. Because there is joy to be found in the everyday things of life. Because that is mostly what life is made of. The everyday.

I mean, let's face it. Cleaning out a chicken coop isn't exactly earth shattering. Stinky maybe, but not earth shattering. Yet that was a part of my otherwise completely ordinary day yesterday. And I loved it.

In it's own way it was fun. Not the kind of fun I imagined when I was sixteen and seventeen years old, but fun in finding out our chickens were stealth. Fun in figuring out how to thwart their egg-hiding efforts. Fun watching them get excited about the new layer of straw we put down in their coop.

Taking joy in the everyday things of life can be hard sometimes, especially if you find yourself yearning for something more seemingly vibrant and exciting. But I have found that when I stopped looking over the fence at my neighbors lawn, or life, or whatever, I am much more content with my own life. Comparing my life to someone elses gets me no-where but depressed.

Jesus had an answer for this sort of thing. This comparing we do. In John 21:21 Peter asks Jesus about the future of John's (the disciple whom Jesus loved) life. Jesus says to Peter in verse 22, "...what is that to you? You follow Me." I just need to do what God has put before me. I don't need to be worrying about or comparing myself to anyone else.

And therein lies the secret to contentment and, dare I say, happiness.

So to quote a famous ant, "It's our lot in life...it's not a lot, but it's our life!"

A Poultry Tale

2008-11-17T13:08:00.000-08:00

It has been awhile since I've given you any news about "The Girls". And yes they are all girls...in fact Josephina, who I was worried might be a Joseph, has turned out to be one of our most prolific layers. I do believe she was one of the first to start laying and she has carried right on with nary a stop since she began.

Nelly too, once the most henpecked of the bunch, and still the bottom of the chicken totem pole, has turned into a prolific layer. We can usually count on these two to give us an egg a day.

But things have been getting cooler here with temperatures dipping down into the low 30's at night. So when we started seeing fewer eggs, even though we were disappointed, we weren't all that surprised. One day we didn't get any. The next day we got three. We just figured that that's how it goes with laying in the colder months.

Oh contrare mes amis.

On Sunday, our dear sweet ~~thief~~ puppy greeted Husband with an egg in her mouth. How...did she get an egg!?!?!? we wanted to know. Husband made a beeline for the chicken coop and found everything secure except for an outside corner of the coop where our little ~~thief~~ puppy had been digging. This seemed to be the only logical place she could have gotten it from, although we were somewhat mystified as to how an egg got on the ground when there are four perfectly good nesting boxes in the coop.

Then this morning my dear little daughter, who loves the chickens more than any of the rest of us, went down to check for eggs and came back with a very dirty one in her hand telling me she had gotten from the ground outside the coop on the same corner that Puppy had been digging. AND one of the chickens was down inside of that corner of the coop under our makeshift floor. The floor is just two pallets stacked on top of one another with a piece of plywood on top.

Well, I decided, I've got to get to the bottom of this. So I pulled out the plywood. There in the corner was Josephina happily sitting on six eggs. We shoo-ed her away and I pulled out the pallets. As I was pulling out the pallets I ran over a seventh egg. Now with those seven, plus the egg puppy found and the egg Daughter found there were nine eggs. They had all been layed by either Josephina or Nelly.

Our two best layers have gone broody on us.

I'm not sure yet what we will do about this. I feel kind of bad for them...wanting chicks and all. For now the flooring is out of the coop, but we will have to put something back in by the end of the day. I'm thinking that we ought to skip the pallets and maybe just lay a few bricks down and put the plywood on top of that. We'll see what husband says when he gets home.

So there you have it...just another ~~pawltry~~...I mean poultry episode in "As The Chicken Turns".

Keep the Main Thing

2008-11-13T08:00:00.000-08:00

Missy over at It's Almost Naptime had a link to this post Was Jesus A Democrat or a Republican? written by Carol of Sheep To The Right and posted at Internet Cafe Devotions.

(Is that enough links for ya: ;D )

I love how it really gets to the main thing...Jesus.

A Living and Breathing Word

2008-11-11T07:59:00.000-08:00

I read, or at least try to read, daily from The One Year Bible. This year I am reading it in the New Living Translation. Personally I have no particular translation loyalties. I do think that certain versions are probably a little more accurate than others....but that is not what this post is about.

What this post is about is that I am so in awe of how the Word of God, from Old Testament through the New Testament is just about God reaching out to us poor sinners. In reading an Old Testament passage juxtapositioned with a New Testament passage everyday it just becomes so clear.

My readings today came from Joshua 3:1 thru 4:24, Luke14:7-35, Psalm 80:1-19 and Proverbs 12:27-28 (yes, for those of you out there who follow along diligently according to the date, I don't...I'm in April...but that's another post).

The Joshua passage is about the people of Israel passing through the Jordan into the Promised Land, the Luke passage is Jesus talking about our priorities and where they ought to lie, the Psalm is a plea for God to show mercy on a sinful nation and Proverb is a comparison between the godly and the lazy. Here are a few verses I highlighted.

Then Joshua told the people, "Purify yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do great wonders among you."J.3:5

Today you will know that the living God is among you. J.3:10

...the Lord of all the earth. J.3:13

He did this so all the nations of the earth might know that the LORD's hand is powerful, and so you might fear the LORD your God forever. J.4:24

For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. L.14:11

But don't begin until you count the cost. L.14:28

Salt is good for seasoning But if it loses its flavor, how do you make it salty again? Flavorless salt is good neither for the soil nor for the manure pile. It is thrown away. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand! L.14:34

Turn us again to yourself, O God of Heaven's Armies. Make Your face shine down upon us. Only then will we be saved. Ps.80:7

Come back, we beg you, O God of Heaven's Armies. Look down from heaven and see our plight. Ps.80:14

The way of the godly leads to life; that path does not lead to death. Pr.12:28

I have only done this sort of thing, where I take the verses that popped out at me and wrote them down together, one other time. I was amazed then and I am amazed now at how God can speak to me in this way....I know I probably shouldn't be, but I am.

God's Word is living and breathing and it is consistent. For those who claim there are contradictions...well I beg to differ. Yes, there are things that are hard to understand. But if I served a God who I could completely understand then he would be no god worth serving. My mind is finite, His is infinite. His ways are not my ways.

What an awesome God I serve.

A Pizza Never Lies

2008-11-06T13:53:00.000-08:00

What Your Pizza Reveals

People may tell you that you have a small appetite... but you aren't under eating. You just aren't a pig.

You aren't particularly picky about pizza. It's so good... how could you be? You fit in best in the Western part of the US.

You like food that's traditional and well crafted. You aren't impressed with "gourmet" foods.

You are dependable, loyal, and conservative with your choices.

You are definitely unique and artistically inclined. You should consider traveling to Prague.

The stereotype that best fits you is guy or girl next door. Hey, there's nothing wrong with being average.

What Does Your Pizza Say About You?

I Wasn't Kidding!

2008-11-05T12:06:00.000-08:00

She looks innocent enough doesn't she? A sweet faced lab with a penchant for cat food and chicken feed, tomatoes and pears. I wasn't joking when I told you she emptied the contents of her stomach on my carpet last night. She really did. And it was all chicken feed that she had snuck into the chicken yard and eaten right out the chicken's feeder while we were at Son's pizza party for his soccer team. When we arrived home from the party and went to lock up the chickens it was already dark (we still haven't gotten used to the time change yet). We hadn't locked up the chickens before we left and I was a little alarmed when we approached their pen and the gate was ajar. I stopped Daughter from going in and went in ahead of her, worried I might find a dead chicken. Thankfully all five biddies were safely snuggled up on their perch in the hen house. Apparently, they themselves are not what my dear sweet puppy were after....no....just their feed.

The problem is, she is one of these dogs with a sensitive stomach. We found this out last Christmas after an episode of throwing up and diarrhea. She's only aloud 3 cups of her own lamb and rice food a day. Apparently she doesn't feel that that's enough.

Little thief.

Anyway, my carpet is mostly recovered. I need to go over the spots one more time and I think that will do it. We are now carefully locking the chicken gate with an extra carabeaner so hopefully there will be no more episodes like last night.

The weather here has done a rather abrupt change...my kids seem surprised by it, but after living where we do for 17 years now I've learned to expect the unexpected. Last week we had a few afternoons in the upper 70's and lower 80's. Today....it is snowing!

Daughter, who earlier was complaining because it was cloudy and gloomy, is now thrilled with the weather and doesn't want the snow to stop. And I must admit that it's a wonder how the same grey skies that gave us rain early this morning suddenly didn't seem so gloomy when the rain turned to snow.

There is a certain odd beauty in snow on a still somewhat leafy tree. And it has made things in the house seem a lot more cozy.

...and in other news...

2008-11-04T23:50:00.000-08:00

It's 11:50pm where I live.

Obama has been elected President of the United States.

I just finished spot cleaning my carpet because my dog ralphed chicken feed on it.

I'm not feeling so well myself.

But I will respect my leaders even if I don't agree with them on most everything.

Who Ya Gonna Serve?

2008-11-04T09:32:00.000-08:00

Well, here it is voting day. Did you wonder, in the midst of primaries, debates and conventions, if we would ever get here? I certainly did.

Yet here we are, Tuesday, November 4th, 2008. Today the voters of the United States will choose a new President. Polls say it will likely not be who I prefer. But I'm going to vote anyway. Why? Because crazy things can happen on election day.

This picture is kind of small, but it is of Harry Truman holding up a newspaper announcing Dewey winning the election when in fact Truman had. AND can you say, "hanging chad"?

So I go out today to cast my ballot.

Even if the candidate of my choosing is not elected I still owe him respect as the leader of our country. And ultimately it is not him I serve. I serve the Lord God, Creator of heaven and earth who sent His only Son to be the Savior of all mankind. And He is sovereign and in control. Whoever is elected has been allowed to be elected by God. "Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgement on themselves." -Romans 13:1-2

That is a hard thing to do. Especially when there are preciouse lives at stake. But this country is unique in that we can change things by voting. Before I vote, I pray, because I want to do the Lord's will, because that is who I serve. Who do you serve?

By the by, I hope this plays alright for you. I had some trouble with it but I think it was because our server was running slow. In a past life I was (and still am to an extent) a Bob Dylan fan. I hope he maintains his relationship with Jesus Christ, but even if he doesn't he wrote a great song here.

Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve....But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. ~Joshua 24:15

Light On A Dark Day

2008-10-31T09:05:00.000-07:00

Today it is overcast and is threatening to rain. We've had a little rain already and we are hoping for more because it has been so very dry here all summer and fall. In spite of the dryness we've enjoyed a beautiful display of God's handiwork with color. I love to take walks this time of year. We go to our local park, pick one of it's many walking trails, enjoy the beauty of the trees, the spicy smell of the woods and pick up acorns along our way.

It would seem that there could be nothing to mar such a beautiful season. However, in my humble estimation, there is just one thing that does. Just one day. I refuse to call it a holiday because there is nothing holy about it. It does not glorify God or honor Him for His handiwork. It is in fact extremely difficult, if not impossible, to find anything redeemable about this day.

If you haven't surmised what day I'm speaking of let me just say, it is halloween.

I do not like this day. I loath to see small children dressed up like axe murders, Dracula with fake blood dripping from the corners of their mouths and ghoulish, ugly creatures. Yes, I know, not all children dress this way but all the same there are enough who do.

In our small town the local elementary schools make a BIG deal out of this day. There are activities and lessons in the morning centered around the themes of halloween. There is a parade in which all the children walk through the downtown area with parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles watching and cheering. And then to top it off they return to their classrooms for candy, cupcakes and juice boxes. Oh, and the children wear their costumes all day at school.

That is just in the schools.

Then there is the house decorating. One home in particular in our town is an advertisement for every yard decoration that's been thought of. The home itself is a beautiful white, two-story home with a wrap around porch, surrounded by lovely grassy lawns and a graceful curving gravel driveway. On Halloween it is turned into a mock graveyard complete with skeletons rising from the earth. From one of it's tall stately trees hangs a life size manikin in a noose. In two of it's large windows, well lit from behind, stand manikins of a vampire and some other scary guy. Greeting trick-or-treaters at the door is a tunnel with the grim reaper at the end. There are other blow up things on and around the house as well. In fact there is so much stuff I couldn't possibly hope to give you full inventory even if I wanted to. In short, its disgusting.

With all the "everyday"evil in the world, you know like, terrorism, murder, abortion, molestations, etc., why do people want to celebrate it? And don't tell me it's "just a fun" day. There may be "innocent" fun aspects of it but it's roots are not. If you talk to law enforcement, firemen and emergency room workers there is very little that's fun about it.

So how does a Christian deal with this day? How have I and my family chosen to deal with this day? Well, we try to be lights. We don't decorate for it but we do pass out candy with some sort of Christian tract or sticker. We try to take opportunities to talk to people about the Light of the world, Jesus. We try to shine as brightly as we can...and on this dark day that is getting darker the light of Jesus is all the brighter.

Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life." ~John 8:12

And as if I don't have enough to do....

2008-10-28T15:35:00.001-07:00

I started another blog.

Yeah call me crazy. Call me nuts. Call me a spendthrift reforming her ways and wanting to blog about it.

I didn't want to make this blog about being frugal, a tightwad...whatever...and I have a lot of ideas about what to post on the frugal subject. I want to keep this place what it is...just a little spot in blog world.

Not that I'm expecting my new blog to light the blog world on fire. It's only one of many blogs out there on the subject of being frugal.

But hey...if I can add anything of value...well at least I'm gonna give it a try.

Soooo, if you would like to you can go over and check things out at Walking Frugally. Yeah I know, it's a brilliant name! HA! Either that or I'm trying to franchise myself...ummm...not. Let's just say, "it came to me."

Perseverance

2008-10-27T11:52:00.000-07:00

Someone once said to me, in regards to walking with the Lord, that you know you must be headed in the right direction if you are getting opposition from the Enemy.

Well, I would say that in the last year and a half or so we have definitely been getting some opposition. There have been slings and arrows wielded in our direction which we have not always handled the way we ought to have. But the thing with testing and trials is that they are meant to grow us and conform us to the image of Christ.

This morning I was reading through my journal and came to this entry. I felt led to share it here and I hope it will be a benefit and/or blessing to you.

Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and, let us run with patience the race that is set before us. ~Hebrews 12:1

The weight that I must lay aside is that of working for acceptance, working for points, working to earn favor with God, working with the thought in the back of my mind that if I'm good enough God will owe me a peaceful, perfect, prosperous life here on earth. And in that lies the sin, the sin of pride, pride that I can in some way do enough or be good enough to tip the scales in my favor.

And when this sad, pathetic formula doesn't work, I move on to my next sin, murmuring and complaining and unbelief. I am no better than the Israelites in the wilderness. It's a wonder that God doesn't just open the earth and swallow me up. It's what I deserve.

This all leads to doubt and despondency. I doubt God is ever going to change things. I fret that he is done with Husband and me. I lose hope. More sin.

This quote from Streams In The Desert has opened my eyes to the spiritual warfare I am, we are encountering:

"The devil has two master tricks. One is to get us discouraged; then for a time at least we can be of no service to others, and so be defeated. The other is to make us doubt, thus breaking the faith link by which we are bound to our Father. Look out! Do not be tricked either way." -G.E.M.

Praise God for His mercy and grace and forgiveness. I am not swallowed up by the earth, I am forgiven.

Praise God for His Holy Spirit who gives me the strength, hope and will power not to succumb to discouragement, despondency and doubt.

Praise God for His Word that gives me truth to cling to when the Enemy is whispering his treacherous lies in my ear.

This season of trial will pass. My prayer is that I will count it all joy, that I will walk closer with Jesus, my Lord, that it's lessons will someday help someone else and that my trust in Him will be ever deeper.

"And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our heart by the Holy Spirit who was given to us." ~Romans 5:3-5

I'm On A Mission!

2008-10-23T11:24:00.000-07:00

I mentioned in my Monday post that I have been thinking a lot about how to spend less money. Of course the obvious solution would to not spend any at all but hey, I have these people living in my house that seem to want to eat. Personally I could easily live off my fat stores but the kiddos haven't got any fat to speak of so...well...I guess I ought to feed them.

So I've been obsessing lately about how to feed this crew with the least amount spent. I've been reading The Tightwad Gazette, (actually it's The Tightwad Gazette III, borrowed from the library, but I am hankering to get the newer edition that includes I, II and III), visiting sites like The Grocery Cart Challenge, $5 Dinners and The Simple Dollar and taking inventory of my own stores and resources. And Tuesday I set about to make a list and a plan to spend as little as possible on a months worth of groceries.

I felt challenged by Gayle at The Grocery Cart Challenge to spend only $50 a week on groceries. From what I've read at her blog this is her goal every week.

Right off the bat my challenge is that I don't shop for groceries on weekly basis. As I mentioned before, in our small town we do not have access to discount grocery anything. In order to get to those stores I needs must travel an hour away. There I will find Costco, Winco, Dollar Tree (at least one that sells more than mac&cheese), and the Grocery Outlet.

My next challenge is that there are a few items that I insist on buying organic. Milk, apples, potatoes, carrots, salad greens all fall into that category.

So I decided I would shoot for about $75 a week. This amount, I decided, would include not only food but household and hygeine items as well.

I am happy to say...I came in at $291.44. Woo Hoo!!! And here is what most of it looks like.

I did not include the Food Saver or the Starbuck's coffee in the total above. One was a special purchase so that we don't waste things we buy in bulk and the other was...well...you know...ummm kinda like a necessary thing...sorta....you know...like medicine.

This isn't all of what I bought, what you don't see are things that needed to get into the freezer right away. But that there is what ya call a whole lotta food. Part of my strategy was to avoid as much convenience foods as possible. I'm trying to make it from scratch. Whatever "it" may be, like baked goods, beans and casserole type stuff. I also shopped the bulk aisle at Winco. For some reason I just thought it had a lot of candy over there. Imagine my surprise when I found everything from dog food to spelt flour tucked away in the corner of the store.

Wow.

Where have I been?

Never mind, don't answer that.

I also went with a sort of spread sheet...well that may be too grand a term for it...I'm one of those people who has never really been able to effectively make a spread sheet. It was more like a price comparison chart. I made a list of most of my usually bought grocery items down the page and then across the top of the page the various stores. Then I took some receipts from the last couple of months and started filling in squares.

Hopefully this gives you an idea of what I'm talking about. I tried to fill in new price comparisons as I went along at the different stores. It was helpful in deciding if I was getting the best deal or not. I missed getting the best deal a couple of times because of specials but on the whole it was a good thing.

The best part of my day though was buying gas. Bet ya haven't heard that from anyone lately! Imagine my delight when I walked into Costco and saw this sign.

I couldn't understand why there wasn't dancing and celebrating right there in front of the sign. In my home town at the begining of the day the cheapest place in town was still $3.43 a gallon. Eighty cents cheaper in "the nearest large town"! Eighty cents people!!!!

And yes, my children were mortified that I was taking a picture of a gas price sign. I told them that they would just have one more story to tell their kids about their crazy mother.

So all in all, I felt it was a pretty successful day hunting down bargains. The real test now will be to see if I can avoid a trip to our local grocery stores for the next month. I have a feeling there may need to be an exception for produce...but we'll see. I do have plenty of frozen and canned stuff on hand.

And I enjoyed the thrill of the hunt, but you know it is always more fun to hunt with other people. So I'm wondering, what sort of things are you doing to "tighten your belt"? What strategies and tools are you using?

Simple Thoughts

2008-10-20T15:12:00.000-07:00

FOR TODAY Monday, October 20, 2008...

Outside my Window...
…it is overcast (okay, partially cloudy) and the trees are turning gorgeous shades of yellow, orange and red.

I am thinking...
… a lot about how we can spend less money and get our debts paid off. I must admit to being slightly obsessed by this at the moment.

From the learning rooms...
…the kiddos actually got going before 9:00 this morning so it was a much less stressful day than usual. I also insisted that written work be done first before reading. This made the day go a lot more smoothly…this made me happy…and when Mama is happy, everyone is happy!

I am thankful for...
…the fact that today is the. last. soccer. game. of. the. season. The last one friends!!! Do you hear my elation? Do you hear the joy in my voice? Hallelujah!!!!

From the kitchen...
…beef barley soup and homemade bread. I think I will also make an apple crisp. We picked the last of our Granny Smith’s on Friday and I need to start using them. I think this will be a perfect meal after our last soccer game.

I am wearing...
…my new jeans rolled up to be capris, a blue floral t-shirt over a long-sleeved white t-shirt, socks and my favorite pair of slippers.

I am reading...
…I have moved on to James Herriott’s Every Living Thing. Did I mention before that I love these books? Tina at Red Wellies, Rainbows and Cinnamon Whirls left me a note telling me she had actually gotten to go see the real Skeldale House. Did I mention I’m a little jealous Tina?

I am hoping...
…that we can have a nice family evening, maybe even play a board game or something after we get home from the last soccer game of the season.

I am creating...
…not much right now.

I am hearing...
…the dishwasher running and my son chopping fat wood for the fire.

Around the house...
…we are still working on finishing up the painting on the outside of the house. Praise God that it has been warm and dry this October, I think if the weather holds we will actually be able to finish it next weekend!

One of my favorite things...
…is time with my hubby. We have been making much more of a concerted effort lately to make sure we get more time alone together.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week...
…I think I now have enough ripe tomatoes to finally make some stewed tomatoes. They are holding up remarkably well in the frig. On Wednesday we will head to the “nearest large town” for some serious grocery shopping, so on Tuesday I will be making my list and checking it twice.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you...

Welcome to my home.

For more entries in the Simple Woman's Daybook head over to The Simple Woman.

Too Many Receipts

2008-10-16T16:57:00.000-07:00

This, my friends, is two months worth of debit receipts which have been hiding out either in my purse, my husband's wallet or a manila envelope I use for storing them until I record them in my check register.

Now please, for those of you who balance your checkbook every month down to the penny, please don't think any less of me because I don't. I have never been able to do that, no matter how hard I tried. I do keep track of my balance by viewing my account regularly on-line and checking what has cleared against what has been hiding out in my purse.

And today, I entered all the receipts into my check register. We have Quicken which also can help you with a budget and generate spending reports for you. I know I do not use this software to it's full potential but one of these days, very soon, I hope to be able to.

Because....today after entering all debits and credits I generated a spending report for groceries and auto fuel.

ouch.

First of all, we have been spending about twice what I thought we were on gas. Of course, these days that's not hard to do. But the reason it surprised me was because I stay home. A lot. However, when I do go out, it's usually to our nearest large town to do grocery shopping. Said large town is approximately 60 miles away. We have a Ford Focus and get anywhere from 28 to 32 miles to the gallon but when gas is close to $4.00 a gallon it all adds up quickly. I am going to start thinking twice about quick trips around the town we live in though. Those miles can add up quickly too.

Our grocery spending was also more than I originally thought. During the Spring and Summer months I wasn't able to make as many trips to "our nearest large town" and so I bought groceries in small quantities from our local markets. Let's just say that while we are blessed to have three supermarkets in a town of 7500 people, they aren't exactly discount markets. We do have a W*lM*rt in town but it's not a Super one and judging from the Super ones I have been in I don't know that I would be inclined to shop for my groceries there anyway.

So how am I going to tackle these two areas? Well that there my friends is a good question. We have pretty well stripped all other areas down to bare bones but we can do some good work in these areas I think.

#1 - less trips anywhere. Period. There are places we can walk to easily and to our health's benefit. Time to get out the walking shoes. (I need to lose ten pounds anyway.)

#2 - make more food from scratch. I have already started to do this. Bread in particular. I haven't done an actual cost breakdown of how much a loaf of homemade bread costs compared to a store bought loaf but I'm willing to wager it's less than the $3.00 a loaf I can expect to pay locally.

#3 - some friends and I are going to start some "co-op" buying. We have yet to work out all the details but when we do I'll let you know how we do. Some things we have considered co-oping include flour, sugar, meat, paper products and other staples. We are also working on a plan to coordinate our garden produce.

#4 - eliminate as many "in between" trips to the local grocery store as possible. This will take a considerable bit more planning on my part to make sure I purchase all that we will need when I make my trip to "the nearest large town".

These are just some initial steps to stem the flow of ~~blood~~ cash from our wallet. Some other resources I plan on utilizing are The Tightwad Gazette, borrowed from the library, of course. And I'm going to be reading a lot more over at this gentleman's blog, The Simple Dollar. I've only just begun to do some reading over there but what I've read so far seems practical and useful.

So what I'm thinking is...if I do less spending (always a good thing) I will have less receipts to enter in my check register. If I have less receipts to enter I might be more inclined to get them entered in a timely fashion and then there will not be a pile like the one in the picture.

Some Simple Thoughts

2008-10-16T00:01:00.000-07:00

I think that this little meme is normally to be done on Mondays. But I was about 400 miles away from my computer on Monday so…well…anyway…I needed something to spur on my thinking and I’m doing it today…

FOR TODAY Thursday, October 16th...

Outside My Window...
…it is dark right now. But the trees are beginning to turn to shades of gold and there is a crispness in the air that makes me think of apples and cinnamon.

I am thinking...
…that there is a lot I’m thinking about these days. More than I can possibly put into words. I think that there is a stage in life when you look all around you and things and people are changing. Children are getting older, parents are getting older, suddenly you realize you aren’t as young as you used to be. This causes me to reflect a lot. What is next in my life? Am I doing a good job raising my children? How can I be a help to my parents?

I am thankful for...
…the fact that I don’t have figure all this out on my own. I have my husband who God has gifted with steadiness and clear thinking. I have my Lord who will guide and direct us both.

From the kitchen...
…ummm, not much too exciting lately. I did make an apple crisp last week. The weather is prompting me to make lots of soups, stews and chili lately. I hope my family doesn’t get tired of them!

I am wearing...
...my yoga pants (can I just say I love these things…they are so comfortable…and I don’t even do yoga!), a t-shirt, a fleece sweatshirt and some socks. Yep. You could definitely call me comfy.

I am creating...
…ideas lately. I hope to be making some Christmas gifts soon.

I am going...
…to hopefully stay home for awhile, at least until Thanksgiving.

I am reading...
…James Herriott’s The Lord God Made Them All. Again. For like the umpteenth time. I first read this series in the ‘80’s when I worked the swing shift as a PBX (switchboard) operator at a hospital.

I am hoping...
…that we will be able finish painting our house before it gets too cold.

I am hearing...
…Jon Courson doing his Wednesday night teaching on-line at KAPL. He is going through Proverbs.

Around the house...
…things are pretty snug for the winter. We have been lighting a fire in the wood stove in the morning to take the chill off.

One of my favorite things...
…is sitting by the woodstove in the morning and doing my devotions and having my coffee. So cozy, such a special time for me.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week…
…mainly to get our schooling caught up and make a batch of stewed tomatoes.

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

...it makes me think of warm family times to come this holiday season and reminds me to be thankful.

Just Thinking Out Loud

2008-10-09T14:52:00.000-07:00

For the last few mornings I've gotten up and made my way to my kitchen only to be faced with three large bowls of tomatoes.

Daunting.

Every day Husband asks me, "Are you going to take care of the tomatoes today?"

I go through my mental list of to-do's and say, "I don't know...depends on how things go."

The bowls of green tomatoes have me less worried than that bowl of red ones. The green ones will take a couple of days to ripen but the red one wants taking care of now.

I have contemplated inviting my dear, pregnant friend over, who currently is having tomato cravings and sitting her down with the bowl and letting her have at it.

This afternoon there will also be grapes and Granny Smith apples joining the entourage of produce.

Now don't get me wrong. I am in no way complaining about my good fortune. I know that later this winter I will be ever so grateful for the "free" produce sitting in lovely jars in my pantry. It's just the energy I know it will require to get it all into those jars AND trying to do school with the kiddos as well.

I think it's the combination of the two, canning and schooling, that I'm finding daunting.

We are also going to celebrate my Father-in-law's 80th birthday this weekend. So that means Saturday is shot as is Sunday. (We will be traveling 8 hours to his home, thank God that gas prices have gone down some this week.)

So here is what I think I will do. We will be traveling home on Monday. I think we will have a "recovery" day on Tuesday and I'll get some of that produce taken care of and then back to school on Wednesday.

Yes...I think that is what I will do.

Thanks so much for coming by and listening to be babble about my tomatoes.

Can't Get That Song Outa My Head

2008-10-06T07:01:00.000-07:00

Ever wake up in the morning with a song looping in your brain? This frequently happens to me. Usually it's a praise song I heard recently or something the kids have been humming.

This morning it was the Beatles.

I haven't listened to a Beatles song in ages. In fact I can't even remember the last time I purposely set out to listen to a Beatles song. (Nothing against the Beatles per se, just haven't listened to them much in the last ten years or so.)

And not just any Beatles song either. No. I woke up with When I'm 64 looping in my brain.

Just so you can join me in my time of ~~madness~~ ~~crisis~~ whatever here is the whole song for you to listen to.

The last half of this segment reminds me of some of the counting clips they used to have on Sesame Street. Hmmmm. Wonder who copied who. Anyway.....

You can think of me today as I go around with this song in my head.

La la la la la, la la la la.........

Sunday Psalm

2008-10-05T08:13:00.000-07:00

The Lord is teaching me these days to rest and trust in Him. To praise Him through my trials. James 1:2-4 says, "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall in various trials, knowing the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing." This is not easy but by His grace others have gone before us and found that it can be done. The following hymn, written by Horatio Spafford, came to me this morning. I thought of the story of how he came to write it and suddenly my trials seemed miniscule in comparison (you can read his story here). Thank you Lord for these sweet words that I can sing today, It Is Well With My Soul.

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,When sorrows like sea billows roll;Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,It is well, it is well, with my soul.

(Refrain)

It is well, with my soul,It is well, with my soul,It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,Let this blest assurance control,That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

Refrain

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!My sin, not in part but the whole,Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

Refrain

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:If Jordan above me shall roll,No pang shall be mine, for in death as in lifeThou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

Refrain

But, Lord, ‘tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,The sky, not the grave, is our goal;Oh trump of the angel! Oh voice of the Lord!Blessèd hope, blessèd rest of my soul!

Refrain

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,Even so, it is well with my soul.

Refrain

Hello Again

2008-10-02T13:56:00.000-07:00

Is anyone still out there? Hello. Hello. Hello.

Well I'm back. At least tentatively. I say tentatively because I have gone back and forth several times about whether to continue blogging or not in the past few weeks.

I like to blog. I like to "go around" and read other blogs, commenting here and there. Frequently a subject will come to mind and I will begin composing a blog entry in my mind...in there it sounds great, pithy, worthy of conversation and comment. When I finally have time to sit down and write I just stare at the screen and wonder what it was I wanted to say. And that's when I don't like to blog. Because then I spend much too much time on it to the detriment of other things I ought to be doing. I walk away from the computer aware that there is laundry I ought to have folded or time I ought to have spent with my kids.

Let me tell you...it is a vicious cycle of enjoyment and guilt.

However, I did decide to give writing my own blog one more shot and see if I can come up with some way of getting all my "pithy" thoughts out of my head before they go wandering off.

heh heh....we'll see what happens.

So anyway...I'm back for now.

I Can't Do It On My Own

2008-08-15T07:41:00.000-07:00

Things here are not just busy....they are a bit disorganized. In fact it's driving me crazy.

I had all these great intentions to get all these projects done around the house this summer...and...well...I had great intentions.

Now, in just a week and a half we start school again. Thankfully I have managed to get our school lives mostly together. You know, books and curriculum ordered and received. I still need to work out a daily schedule and some kind of rubric of expectations for Son.

Can I admit here that I'm feeling just a little...errr....overwhelmed? Not totally overwhelmed, just a little.

I really want to do an excellent, consistent job in educating Son and Daughter. I want to make sure that we cover as many bases as possible and that they will be able to stand on their own two feet when the time comes.

Sigh.

I think that every parent and every homeschooling parent struggles with many of the same feelings and questions I'm struggling with right now. And those are just the parenting concerns.

As a wife and mom I have a whole other list of goals I want to accomplish that concern the running of our home. Housekeeping goals, menu and feeding goals, gardening goals,...the list just goes on and on.

I want to be able to do all things well. I want to have a well oiled machine running here in our home in which the schooling and housekeeping are smoothly integrated. In which the kids recognize and do their part to keep it going.

I see in my minds eye how I want things to look and run and then I look at the reality and there is a minor gulf between the two.

And then....

And then I get down on my knees and I pray and I give it all up to Him. Because I recognize that I'm trying way to hard to do it in my own strength. I'm trying way to hard using my own feeble brain and my weak, weak muscles.

I realize I can't do it on my own.

Again.

This is not the first time I've had this revelation. Oh no. I've had this revelation at least a hundred times in the last year alone. Yet it's a lesson I keep having to go over again and again. Praise the Lord He is patient and willing to teach me again and again.

And since I'm learning my lesson yet again, I have decided to take a blogging break. I know I only manage to post once a week but right now I can't even do that in a timely fashion. So I'm going to give myself a break. One less thing on the plate to worry about, so to speak.

So...for the next six weeks...I'm taking a break from blogging. My idea (I refuse to call it a plan) is to return to the bloggy world around the beginning of October when hopefully things will have returned to some kind of predictable pattern and we are settled in our school routine.

Thank you for continueing to check up on me this summer and I hope that you will come back this fall. I really and truly appreciate every visit and comment I receive from all of you. And thanks for allowing me this time.

I will lift my eyes to the hills -

From whence comes my help?

My help comes from the LORD,

Who made heaven and earth.

Psalm 121:1~2

As The Chicken Turns

2008-08-08T16:18:00.000-07:00

When we last left our lovely flock two new chickens had joined. One was learning the meaning of pecking order and the other was enjoying immediate acceptance. Apparently there was more going on than just mistaken identity.

You see we thought the reason the others accepted the new Barred Rock was because they thought it was the missing bird that Chewy, our dog, had sent off to poultry heaven. Now we're thinking that it may be because she is really a he.

What do you think? Believe me it was no easy trick getting this picture. However, please note the large crest and floppier waddle than his more feminine kin.

He can certainly give you quite the evil eye but he seems to be a really rather docile bird. He has yet to crow but I'm worried it might happen any morning now.

We do have a contingency plan in place for him to go back to his original farm and trade him for a her. I'm putting it off it until we know absolutely, positively for sure though because Daughter gets so attached to all of the birds. She gets big sad eyes whenever I say we will have to relocate "Joseph" aka Josephine to his farm.

Boy am I a soft touch.

But really. We can't keep a rooster here in town. We value our good neighbors.

So what do you think? Have I got a rooster or a hen here? "Joseph" is the bird on the far right. Doesn't his comb look a.lot. bigger than his hen friend standing next to him?

Cockadoodledoo!

Stay Tuned....

2008-08-06T13:48:00.000-07:00

Hi there! Thanks for stopping by and checking in on me today. I'm afraid that I have to postpone a more lengthy entry until tomorrow (Thursday) because I'm not actually at home today. I'm at my dear friend Shawna's house visiting and enjoying her new farm. You can check out some of her pictures here.

So stay tuned or come on by tomorrow sometime and I will have something more to say!

Look Mom! I posted twice this week!

2008-07-31T12:48:00.000-07:00

Soooo, here's what happens when you can't move around on your feet too much. You blog a lot more than usual.

Last week Robin over at Be Still and Know... taged me with this meme

Here are the tag rules:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

So here are six random things about me:

1. I have two places in this world that I dearly would love to visit before I die or the Lord raptures the church. One is the English countryside. I have been in love with England since I was in high school and have devoured many a book that takes place in the English countryside. Specifically I would like to visit Yorkshire where all the James Herriot novels take place and Shrewsbury where the Brother Cadfael stories take place. I want to stay in a little country inn and have a real English country tea. Oh I could go on and on about this but lets just leave it with, I really would like to visit the English countryside someday.

The other place I want to visit is Israel. I want to walk where my Lord walked and see all the places that I've read about in my Bible.

2. When I was thirteen I had a crush on the horse racing jockey Steve Cauthen and wanted to become a jockey myself...just so I could meet him. LOL! The things kids think!

3. If someone told me I HAD to have plastic surgery done but I could pick any part of my body for the remodel I would choose my nose. I have one of those rather heavy Northern European jobbers that are really not all that feminine looking.

4. I love going to Disneyland. I haven't been there in about 20 years but I bring it up every year as a possible vacation destination. The kids are starting to catch the bug too, I think we are wearing Husband down.

5. Even though I handle myself pretty well in front of and around large groups of people I am at heart a rather shy person. There are times when I would happily fade away into the wall paper. I also hate trying to start a conversation with a newly met person. I often can't get past the weather. It's really no reflection on the person, it's really about my own self-conciousness which I've been told is at the heart of shyness.

6. I'm a small town pastor's daughter. I grew up in a fish bowl. I was so happy to go away to college where no one knew who my Dad was or what he did for a living. I loved the anonymity!

Now I live in a small town. Husband is the Youth Leader at our church. God has a sense of humor that's for sure. The fish bowl isn't quite as transparent and it's not the same fish bowl but...I live in it again!

So there you are...six random things about me! Now let's see, who will I tag? Ummm...okay...

Shawna over at We Lift Our Eyes Up

Gina over at Ward and June

Amy over at Sonshine Cottage

Jenn over at Grace and Glory

Frances over at Cherish the Days (aka Woman of Faith)

Linda over at 2nd Cup Of Coffee

...and this little piggy is layed-up.

2008-07-30T10:44:00.000-07:00

I thought I was just going in to have a couple of plantar warts removed. And indeed, I did have them removed. I just didn't know that it would mean being off my feet "as much as possible" for the next week. Or that my foot would still be numb from anesthesia nearly 24 hours later. Or that my little piggies would be so swollen.

I'm not kidding. When I went in for my initial consultation with the podiatrist he told me I would be hobbling around for a couple of days and that would be it. I was thinking a large bandage and a few days wearing flip-flops.

HA!

Not so. Instead my little piggies got wrapped up like they were going to the North Pole and they get to wear this charming piece of footwear when the do get to go hobbling about...which is usually when I need to use the facilities.

Isn't it lovely?

I've learned two things from this little ordeal.

#1 - When you get a wart on the bottom of your foot don't wait thirteen years to have it removed. Just get it taken care of immediatly.

#2 - When you go in to see any doctor to have a procedure done ask a lot of questions. Ask what the worse case scenerio might be. Ask what "hobbling around for a couple of days" looks like to him.

This was not a worse case scenerio...he told me what that was while he carved a crater in my heal....but it was certainly more than I expected.

I hope I haven't grossed you out with all this information. I tried to avoid most of the gorey details. But let's face it...I'm looking for pity. Yes, please pity me and my little piggies! But not too much. I go back in a week for the bandage I first expected and I should be hobbling accordingly after that.

I think I need a nap.

2008-07-23T13:40:00.000-07:00

I'm tired.

I mean to say...it's the middle of the afternoon and I really want to take a nap. However, I have a list of things that I need to get done or nearly done today. Mostly they involve getting things reading for next school year. Specifically they involve getting my carpet in our schoolroom/family room clean.

Monday I rented one of those machines they have at the grocery store and in the time I had allotted I ran the thing over our carpet as many times as I could. However, by the time I was done it was still pulling some pretty dirty water. I quit and hoped for the best. At $28.00 a day I didn't want to rent the machine a second day....besides that I couldn't as I had to make a shopping trek on Tuesday.

I woke up Tuesday morning and saw these awful rusty sort of stains in the high traffic areas of the carpet.

Groooaan....

What to do, what to do?

Buy one of the above. Also known as a Bissell Quicksteamer Model No. 1970. Small but affordable.

I don't need to do the entire floor, just the areas that have that rusty brown stain which hopefully isn't a permanent sort of stain.

Alas...it makes me tired just thinking about it.

Soooooo, instead of doing that today. I ordered our school curriculum. It felt really good to get that task done. It also is a motivator to get the carpet clean and get furniture back into the schoolroom/family room.

Which brings me back to my need for a nap.

Think I'll go take one and see what I can get done after that!

YAAAWWWN....

...and if I were a chicken....

2008-07-18T19:45:00.000-07:00

What type of Mother Hen Are You?
by Montessorimom.com: Educational Resource

As if chickens weren't enough....

2008-07-17T21:09:00.000-07:00

...we bought a pig.

(Okay, I'll let that sink in for a minute.)

Well, we actually bought half a pig.

(I'll let you cogitate on that a moment.)

Alright...let me do some 'splainin.

We went in with another family on a weaner (as in a baby pig that has just been weaned...it has nothing to do with what it might become later) which they are housing. We are helping pay for the feed (they're doing the feeding), and in the fall my husband (not I) will help with the butchering.

For an investment of about $50 or $60 we should end up with about 125 pounds of meat. We will still have to pay the local butcher to smoke some ham and bacon but I'm pretty certain it will still be A LOT less than we would pay for all that meat at the grocer's.

So why would we buy a pig? Well I had to think about that for awhile myself. I am not a big pork eater. However, when an opportunity presents itself for inexpensive food, sometimes you have to take it.

With prices on nearly everything taking such incredible leaps I'm looking for all kinds of ways to save money. Raising our own food seems like a no brainer. In the past what that meant for me was growing a garden. And this year we do have two tomato plants and two struggling squash plants (I think we will be lucky to get anything off of them) but we are already making plans for a much larger and more productive garden next year. And we are now raising animals.

Honestly we are doing more than just planning a garden and raising chickens and a pig, we are rethinking our lifestyle.

It's very easy to go to the grocery store with a list of things I need and pluck them off a shelf , put them in a cart and pay for them. It's somewhat harder to dig around in the dirt...er...soil, make sure everything gets water, isn't eaten by a bug, harvest the produce and find a way to store it for future months (ie. can, freeze or dry it). However, I think it is more satisfying and much less expensive to do so.

The same goes for the pig and the chickens. (Besides that the chickens add a lot of entertainment value.)

Some friends of mine and I have also begun looking at the things we buy out of convenience that we could be making ourselves at home. Soaps and cleaning products have become our target. We are a little bit surprised to find that they are easy to make and much less expensive. Did you know that you can make your own laundry detergent that cleans your clothes just as well as the name brand products for a fraction of the cost? Check it out here at The Family Homestead.

I like the thought that I can stretch our ever shrinking dollar by learning how to make some things myself and also by growing some of our own food. I also think that in many ways it is much more wholesome. I like knowing where my food is coming from and how it has been raised.

I know I've seen this question asked on other blogs but I'm going to go ahead and ask it again. What kinds of things are you doing to stretch your dollar (or pound for my friends across the pond)? Are you making lifestyle changes? Have you bought a pig?

By the way, the picture of the chicken at the beginning of the post is one of our newest editions. Her name is Nellie.

Ummm...

2008-07-16T21:09:00.000-07:00

...today was a little busy. I've got a post in the works for tomorrow!

Whoever coined, "lazy days of summer" hasn't been to my house between June and August.

Time Is Slippery

2008-07-09T06:48:00.000-07:00

Remember last week when I said I wanted to post something pithy about the passage of time and so on. Well, I don't know how pithy this will be but here are some thoughts that I keep having about the passage of time.

I'm having difficulty understanding how quickly time goes by. Do you remember being nine years old and waiting for Christmas to come? I mean it felt like it would never get here. Days upon days, weeks upon weeks....trying to be good, pestering your mother with your wish list, writing to Santa at least three times. Now I look at the calendar and think, "Oh my goodness, Christmas is only sixth months away!"

My father-in-law has a theory about this phenomenon. When you are five a year of your life is only one-fifth of your life. So say you are looking at your life in terms of a pie (I prefer mine to be peach pie thankyou) one-fifth of your life is a pretty big chunk of pie.

Now say you are, oh, forty-three (yeah, that would be me) that pie is now in 43 smaller slices of that same pie and the older you get the smaller the slices get and the faster the years go.

Scary, huh?

The other difficulty that I'm having with this whole time thing is that stuff starts changing. Stuff I don't want to change. Most specifically parents start showing their age. In my mind my Mom and Dad are still young and busy with life. And in many ways they still are. However, my father informed me that he turned 70 this year.

Huh? Well if he's seventy that means I'm....well anyway. My Dad also told me that he made me executor of their living trust (gulp) and that he's looking forward to when my Mom gets to retire. (Retire? Y'all are doing what? Retiring? That's for old people!)

I'm trying to be gracious about this whole time thing and aging and all that but I have to tell you it is a little mind-boggling. I am appreciating more and more passages from the Bible that refer to our lives as being "but a vapor" and that our days are pre-ordained. And I'm thankful that this is not the only life I will live.

This life that I'm living right now is just the beginning, the proving ground for eternal life. Things here are a mixed bag of joy, sadness, elation, pain, happiness and sorrow and as I'm told in Romans 5:3-5, "And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us."

My God is busy molding me and shaping me into His image and whether I view that time as short or long or both it is, in the end, His perfect time.

Fixing

2008-07-02T07:13:00.000-07:00

I am frequently plagued by worry and anxiety. It seems to be my thorn in the flesh. In fact there are times when I feel worried and anxious and I can not pin point what it is I'm worried and anxious about. (This, I think, is related to hormones.) There are other times though that I know all too well what it is I'm stewing over. I prefer these times because then I can easily pick up that worry and hand it over to Jesus.

I sometimes take it back...but He is gracious and always lets me hand it over again.

When I can't pin point the source of my worry I'm learning to just look and fix my eyes on Jesus.

Hebrews 12:2a says, "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus..." in some ways nothing more need be said. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus...and as the song goes "look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace."

All the things of this world that occupy so much of my time and attention, all those things important for carrying on life in this world are put in their proper place when my eyes are on Jesus. They are temporary, fleeting, but a vapor in comparison with the eternity I will live in and with Jesus.

When I fix my eyes on Jesus and things get put in their proper place there is no place for worry or anxiety and His peace that passes understanding floods in.

Fix, look deep into, focus alone upon Jesus. "....the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." ~Hebrews 12:2b-3

I Think Summer Causes Writer's Block

2008-07-01T07:30:00.001-07:00

Summer just doesn't seem to inspire me to write.

Don't get me wrong...I often think, "Oh, I really ought to blog about this!" Whatever "this" is, but when I finally get time to sit down and write I've completely forgotten what it was I wanted to write about.

Maybe I'm just getting old. I did have my forty-third birthday last week. And I was going to blog about that...but didn't. I even made up a little ditty to start it out with...wanna hear it?

Okay, here goes,

Happy Birthday to me

I'm forty-three

Oh Lord have mercy

How can this be?

And then I was going to write something pithy about the passage of time and so on.

Well, that's about as pithy as I got.

I was also going to do a post about the three flats of strawberries I recently picked, froze, dried, pied and jammed. Here's a picture:

Yes, you are right, that is A LOT of strawberries! But it's nice to know we'll be enjoying them in their many new forms for months to come. Unfortunately that's all I have to say about that.

I was also going to post about the rather untimely and violent death of one of our chickens at the paws of our dog.

Yep, she got into the coop and decided to have a snack. By the time we got to the coop (which is now away from the house), which was only a few seconds, one chicken was dead and one had literally flown the coop. The other two were definitely in need of therapy.

Husband took the dead chicken and administered some discipline and then tied it around the dog's neck for the rest of the day. Please don't call PETA on us. This is an effective means of dissuading a dog from eating your egg suppliers. She hasn't even gone within ten feet of the coop since "the incident".

Our chicken that flew the coop did return the next day. We think she may have been roosting in one of the nearby trees until the danger passed.

And that's all I have to say about that.

So...for all eight of you out there still reading my blog and checking in on me...thank you. It's a testimony to your perseverence.

I think I'm going to take a cue from Mary at Keep The Light Shining and post just once a week. At least for the duration of the summer. You can find a new post here every Wednesday...yes, including tomorrow. So at least I now have a goal and you don't have to waste time checking in on me the other days of the week.

Blessings to you all and thanks for still stopping by!

On the fly....

2008-06-26T07:08:00.000-07:00

This is just a quick post to let you all know I'm still here. I've got tons I would like to write about and no time to do it. Does anyone else have this problem?

...because making something makes you feel like you've really done something.

2008-06-18T06:45:00.000-07:00

So I've been home for almost a week. Somehow there always seems to be twice as much to do when I get home from a trip than I ever had before the trip.

One of the things I've been doing is sewing. Sewing an apron to be specific. I mentioned in my last (brief) post that my sister and I have been learning how to draft our own skirt patterns. (That went really well by the way, I just have to complete a few finishing touches to the skirt and then I'll post about it.) Learning how to do that gave me the confidence to make an apron by making a pattern from an apron I already have. I basically gave the old apron a good ironing, folded it in half, layed it out on some freezer paper and traced around it.

Anyway here are the results...
A front view....
A back view....hopefully it gives you an idea of how it ties in the back...
Here is a close up of the tie.....
And what it looks like not tied, layed out flat. The ties go through loops at the side and that is what "cinches" it in at the waste. I love this apron because, believe it or not, it is very flattering to the figure. I also love the scalloped bottom.

Here is a detail of the pocket and the fabric.

And the story behind the fabric is this. It's vintage fabric. I bought it at a yard sale some years ago and there is about five yards of it. (Or at least there was until I made the apron.) It was (until I washed it) a highly polished cotton and only 36" wide. I think the person who originally purchased the fabric must have passed away because there were a lot of household items at this sale. You know, kitchen utensils, linens, table clothes, cloth napkins, serving dishes, that sort of thing. I bought another five yards of material along with this that is of the same vintage. I wish I knew what that vintage was. And I've always wondered what the original owner of the fabric had intended to make with it. A dress perhaps? For herself? For a child?

Well anyway, I made an apron with it. This particular apron is intended for a door prize at a homeschooling mom's retreat I'm going to this weekend. I like it so much though that I think I'm going to make myself one out of the same fabric.

Oh, by the way, did I mention I was on vacation?....

2008-06-11T11:52:00.000-07:00

I have not dissapeared.

I am sort of on vacation. Meaning I am away from home and my regular computer.

I'm visiting my sister and we have been busy learning how to draft our own skirt patterns and then make them. So far so good! I'll post the results when I get home.

Last night we went out for Chinese food and tonight we're going to see Kung Fu Panda. We're "theme-ish" that way.

For a good laugh today check out this. Warning: lots of cuteness and laugh-out-loudness. We've been doing a lot of that here.

WFMW - The "Mom I'm Bored" Edition

2008-06-03T19:51:00.000-07:00

It's Wednesday again and time for another edition of WFMW. Shannon, our venerable host at Rocks In My Dryer has given a theme this week. It is the "Mom, I'm Bored" Edition and she has asked that we share ideas and tips for keeping the kiddos busy this Summer.

Well, I thought about that and I thought about what we were doing. If you have visited me before you may know that we are homeschoolers. (I don't blog about it much because I don't consider myself much of a fount of knowledge in that arena, I usually am busy gleaning ideas from other folks.) I'm discovering that this is much more of a lifestyle than I ever dreamed it would be and that while formal learning (as in books and worksheets) may be suspended for the summer, learning never actually stops. Also there is a lot of learning that goes on that will never come out of book. Learning that develops character.

Romans 5:3&4 say, "And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope."

Work will often produce tribulation, which leads to perseverence, which leads to character. So my idea for this summer is to put my kids to work.

Now before you start thinking that my kids are some sort of twenty-first century Oliver Twists or something, let me assure you that I plan on letting them have plenty of fun too. In fact I hope that they find at least some of the work they do, fun.

So here are some of the work like activities they will be doing:

#1 - There are the chickens, The Girls, as they are sometimes called. They will need daily feeding and water changing. They will need to be let out of their coop every morning and have their saw dust freshened regularly. That will be Daughter's job. Before that the coop needs to be built. Son will be helping with that.

#2 - There is the wood pile. Husband regularly brings home small loads of firewood which the kids help him unload and which Son is responsible to stack.

#3 - There are the gardens, both vegetable and flower. When it finally stops raining here Daughter will be responsible to help water them. She will also have the privelage of helping to harvest them as well. She has already told me that she is looking forward to that! :)

#4 - Are all the regular daily chores they are expected to do like making their beds, keeping their rooms picked up, folding and putting away laundry and cleaning up after themselves when they are finished with a meal. Son will probably also have days in which he will be responsible for getting lunch on the table as I have several projects I hope to be working on.

#5 - And this is really more of a treat for them than work, they are keeping a reading log. All it is is a simple list of the books they complete and the number of pagers read. They are both natural readers so I rarely if ever have to coax them to do this.

#6 - And this really is the fun stuff...Son will spend a week at church camp (definately NOT work for him) and Daughter will take swim lessons and keep up with her piano lessons (oh yes, and a week of Vacation Bible School for her too).

So there you have it. That is how I'm keeping my kiddos busy this summer. And hopefully building their character in having them learn some new skills, faithfully completing their work and hopefully do their best.

And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men... ~Colossians 3:23

For more (fun!) ideas about how to keep your kiddos busy this summer head on over to Rocks In Your Dryer.

Of Yard-Sales, Chickens & Mushrooms

2008-06-02T18:51:00.000-07:00

Well the yard sale, or garage sale, or whatever you want to call it that I spoke about in this post went off pretty well. That is, aside from the fact that when Husband and I opened the garage door to put the tables out at 6:45 AM there were already people standing in our drive-way. Oh, and did I mention we advertised for the sale to start at 7:30AM AND our car was still sitting in the drive-way? We asked them to give us five minutes, which they...didn't...and finally I had to ask one lady to please move out of the way and to please not go in our garage until we put the tables out.

After that things went well. Happily the big items sold and did not have to be stored in the garage again.

Among the items that I wanted to see go were a pair of heart shaped wicker wreaths that you see a picture of below. My friends were cracking up at me as we were pricing things on Friday because I kept telling them little stories behind everything. Finally when I got to the wicker wreaths Jen (from Grace and Glory) said, "Oh...you have got to blog about this!!!!"

So now I will tell you the silly little (and I do mean little) story behind these wreaths.

You see I've had these wreaths for....um....twenty years. I got them at a close out sale a fabric store was having in the town Husband and I met and married in. I always had the intention of doing something with them...you know like putting some dried flower arrangements in them and hanging them on the wall with a pretty ribbon or something. But in never happened. Everytime I would go through my craft things I would think, "This time I'm going to get to those and do something with them."...and...I never did, or have, or whatever. Finally, this time, in my bid to be a little more ruthless I decided to price them and put them on the sale table!

Which I did.

...and I still have them. Yep, that's right. They are now so out of date decor wise, that they did not sell.

On to the chickens.

They are growing and displaying signs of being what they are...chickens. We let them wander around the yard during the day when the dog is at work with Husband. They munch bugs, fight over worms, eat my roses and poo ev.er.y.where. Things in the greenhouse attached to the house are getting very dusty and...errr...poo-y...sooooo the chickens are moving this weekend to new digs further out in the yard. Away from the house. In an enclosed chicken area. Where they can poo to their little hearts' content. I'll post some pictures next week after we have the new coop built and show you what their new place looks like.
We have been amazed at their rate of growth. I never knew chickens grew so fast! Our only concern right now is whether they are hens or roosters. One of them seems to be maturing a little faster than the others in her comb and wattle area. If in fact she is a he, he will have to be moved to our friends place out in the country. We don't want to call any attention to ourselves with a rooster in the suburbs.

Thanks to all the rain and warm temperatures last week, the chickens were able to feast on a delicacy. Mushrooms.

I point you to the picture below as an example of what I found in our yard on Friday. That was the first dry enough day we had had so that I could go out and check on the garden. At first I noticed a mushroom here and there. Then I started really looking at the ground and discovered we had almost as many mushrooms in our lawn as blades of grass.

To say the least, I was a little creeped out. Apparently we have one big fungus among us, lurking just below.

Yuck.

We're supposed to have more rain tomorrow and again later in the week. I'm sure the mushrooms will appreciate it. And so will the chickens.

...because eventually it will stop raining here and be Summer.

2008-05-30T07:54:00.000-07:00

Your Ice Cream Personality:

You like to think of yourself as a fairly modest person. And it's true that you don't talk yourself up... but you're also pretty happy with who you are.

You have a wild reputation, but you're not as wild as you seem. You take risks, but only measured risks.

You are a somewhat open minded person, but deep down you're fairly conservative. You don't like trying new things very much. And if you do find something new you like, you stick with it.

You are a natural multitasker. You feel alive when you're doing more than one thing at a time.

You can be a big dramatic and over the top sometimes. You are bold in every way

The Ice Cream Personality Test

I'm not sure I'm quite like everything said here but there are a few things that are true. Like the multitasking...(you should see my house right now), and being conservative. However, I like to try new things and I'm not so sure I am bold in every way!

Enough-ness

2008-05-27T14:40:00.000-07:00

One's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses. ~Luke 12:15

'Tis the garage sale-ing season and I like to participate in both ends of the deal making...that is I like to go out and hunt down that treasure as much as I like to sell my old stuff and make a little money. I need to qualify my last statement, though, by saying that I'm not one of those die-hard garage salers who are out there every Saturday at the crack of dawn. Really, I only go a couple of times a season and I've learned to go with a mission in mind.

This coming Saturday I am having my own garage sale with a dear friend and neighbor. As I'm preparing for this sale I am being ruthless (or at least trying to be) in cleaning out, purging, getting rid of stuff. I have a couple of questions I ask myself about my stuff.

1. (and this is one that you always see in magazines) Have I used this in the last 6 months to a year? I mean if it's been in storage for that long and I haven't had a need for it, do I really think I'm going to need it in the future?

2. Do I have more than one of this item or do I have a similar item I like better? I mean really, how many cheese graters do you need? Just one, to use when you grate the cheese.

3. Why am I holding on to this item? Is it sentimental? Is it a collectible and I think that I would really post it on ebay? Will I really repair it (if it needs repair)? Sometimes I hold on to things because of the person who gave it to me or because a similar item was appraised highly on The Antiques Roadshow. The trouble is I never look at it and it's just taking up space...in a box...in a garage...with limited storage. And if it's been in my garage for any length of time and still hasn't been repaired then chances are it will never be repaired. At least by me anyway.

These can be awfully hard questions to answer. Our culture does measure our success and value too frequently by the kind of and amount of things we own. We accumulate to show how well we are doing or for memory-sake. But in the end...it's just stuff...and you can't take it with you.

For example: Husband and I were in the garage yesterday pulling out a few things when we came across his Mom's old wooden tennis rackets. I'm not really sure how we ended up with them but they are rather nostalgic looking in their wooden brackets.

"Do you want to keep these?" I asked gently. Knowing that they may have some sentimental value to my husband. He pondered them for a few minutes, I'm sure running through some memories.

"If you want to keep them I'm sure I could think of some kind of nice way to display them for you..."

Finally he said, "No, I don't have any real use for them, I don't want them displayed, they are just taking up space out here and I can't take them with me."

Then there is the concept of enoughness. Recently in Our Daily Bread there was a story about author Calvin Trillin's wife, Alice, who believed that... " 'after a certain level of income, the government would simply take everything.' She thought there should be a limit on how much money people were allowed to keep for themselves. Writing in the The New Yorker, Trillin said of his wife, 'She believed in the priciple of enoughness.' "

While I don't hold with Alice Trillin's particular brand of enoughness I do understand what she is getting at. We mostly don't need all that we have.

So the biggest question I ask myself as I purge or as I go garage sale-ing is this:

4. Do I really need it? Whatever it is. Sometimes the need for an item is because of its usefulness, like a bookshelf. Sometimes the need is emotional, like the pair of soup bowls I bought once because they reminded me of my Grandmother. Sometimes the need is decorative, as in I'm going through a decorative phase that I know is a phase and I don't want to spend a lot of money on it or be emotionally attached to it (thus making it easier to get rid of later).

So there is the concept that my husband holds to of not being able to take it with you and there is the concept of enoughness. Both worthy of my consideration as I both buy and sell.

Having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. ~1Timothy 6:8

Oh, and by the way, here's another use for your cheese grater. Ever get melty cheese stuck to the bristles of your dish cleaner brush? Put a little dish soap on the brush and run it over your cheese grater under hot water. The cheese comes right off the bristles!

For more Works For Me Wednesday tips head on over to Rocks In My Dryer.

...and this is why I'm limping.

2008-05-25T18:25:00.000-07:00

Everydayness

2008-05-20T21:33:00.000-07:00

It has been awhile since I've felt I had anything worthwhile to add to the list at Works For Me Wednesday. However, recently I have been meditating on and trying to put into practice the concept of everydayness and I thought I would share it with you.

What's everydayness? Well for me it is doing some of the basic things we all must do every day. They are things that don't necessarily have to be done every day but are a lot less daunting if they are done every day. If you are any sort of procrastinator you will likely understand what I'm talking about. Or if you have ever, in your entire life, put off doing something, you will understand what I'm talking about. It's that moment when you are wading through the MOUNTAIN of laundry when you realize that if you had only done a little everyday it wouldn't be taking you ALL day to do it.

As a habitual procrastinator this is a big concept for me to get my head wrapped around and lately I've been heard to go around mumbling, "Everydayness, just do a little everyday." as a way to remind myself that it's a lot easier that way.

The following are a few areas I am currently or planning in the near future to implement the concept of everydayness:

Laundry: I know that when you are the Duggars doing laundry everyday is a given. But when you only have a family of four it's usually not as urgent a task. Especially in our day when we have multiple outfits of clothes. However, telling a procrastinator that she doesn't have to do laundry everyday is not a good idea because ~~I'm~~ she's likely to put it off until the last pair of underwear have been worn. So I have been making every effort to do at least one load of laundry every day. Sometimes, if I am really caught up, I will take everything that is in every hamper in the house and do it all together but recently I've just been doing everyone's laundry in rotation. At most, all anyone will have out of their closet and needing to be washed will be three outfits because on the fourth day they will get their laundry done. And then one day a week I do a load of towels and sheets. Do things this way also alleviates a pile up in my rather miniscule laundry area.

Dishes: "Well of course," you say. "dishes get done every day!" But I ask you dishwasher owners out there...do you run it even if it isn't full? I'm not talking about if there is only one plate and a couple of glasses, of course don't run it then...but what if there are four plates, a dozen glasses and mugs, some bowls and silverware and maybe one pan? Wait or wash? I wash. Why? Because it takes a lot less time to unload a dishwasher like that than one that is fully packed. ~~Thus allowing me more time to drink my coffee and blog in the morning.~~

Receipts: I don't keep a paper check registry anymore. In fact I haven't for years. Not since we purchased Quicken. And since I'm using less and less checks the debit receipts really pile up sometimes, because it doesn't seem worth my time to sit down and enter just one receipt. However, like laundry, telling a procrastinator she doesn't have to do something right away is like...like...well like the underwear analogy before. It gets put off. SO, if there have been ANY purchases at all on a particular day I have been trying to enter them. I also miss a lot less and keep better track of our spending this way. I haven't quite mastered this yet as I don't go out and spend money every day (not an everydayness I plan on taking up).

School Records: I don't talk a lot about our homeschooling but it is happening and I'm terrible about keeping up with grading and recording. It gets done...eventually, but it's usually one of the laundry pile moments (notice how everything relates back to the laundry?). Currently I'm working on wrapping up grading for this school year, but as I do so I'm trying to implement some new strategies for keeping up with this next school year. Among those is the concept of everydayness. Do it every day...grade that math, every day.

Devotions: This is an indispensible everydayness for me. It is when I can pour out my heart and renew my strength in my Lord. My time with Him allows for change in my attitude and in my heart. This in turn makes me a much nicer Mommy because I'm not relying solely on myself for patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control (to name just a few). They are fruits that come from His Holy Spirit.

These are just the areas where I am currently applying the everydayness concept in my life and in our home. They happen to be where it is currently most needed. I'm sure as time goes on and these things truly become every day habits I will see that there are other places where it can be applied. Everydayness works for me, maybe it will work for you too. (Especially with that laundry thing.)

For more great tips and ideas head over to Rocks In My Dryer.

Got Milk?

2008-05-19T09:44:00.000-07:00

This is every Oreo lover's dream. Check out this story.

We're Havin' A Heat Wave...

2008-05-18T18:25:00.000-07:00

It's been a little warm here the last few days...as in 95 degrees plus. I refuse to look at the temperature after that because lets face it...hot is hot. This is a little unusual for us this time of year. It's not normally this hot for at least another month.

Heat like this brings out interesting fashion choices in some folks. On Friday the kids and I were at the mall having lunch and people watching. There weren't a lot of people there but the ones who were....were....well interesting.

There was the forty something lady wearing a bikini top under a lacy crocheted vest and sporting a belly button piercing. She should NOT have been showing off that much belly, trust me.

Then there were the myriad of under dressed teenage girls and the old hippies in brand new tie dye from head to foot...I'm serious. Head. to. foot.

I think the one who made me do more than a double take was the young mom pushing a stroller in 4" stiletto heals, a black strapless cocktail dress, and a pony tail. I'm still trying to figure that one out.

I always find people watching a very entertaining activity. I sit and wonder about what these people with wildly different fashion tastes are really like. Why do they dress the way they do? I mean what makes you wear a black cocktail dress in the middle of the day at the mall? With your kids in tow?

I was thinking of making this a post about modesty but for some reason (even though I am sometimes appalled at the public's growing lack of modesty) I find myself more amused at the variety of people and their tastes. I think it is in fact a great tribute to God and His infinite creativity. Apart from being a twin there really are no two people alike. Even if you are a twin or look very similar to a parent or sibling and maybe even share similar tastes there is still going to be something that makes you quite different than them.

I'm glad. I'm glad that there really no two people alike. I am thankful that we are each unique. I pray that every person would know that they are especially fashioned by our loving Father. I pray that I would be able to show that and tell that to people I meet. Even the mom in her cocktail dress and stiletto heals.

I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. ~Psalm 139:14

Friday's Feast - 191

2008-05-16T00:01:00.000-07:00

It's Friday Feast One Hundred and Ninety-One...actually it's only my second but enjoy anyway! *

Appetizer
What is the nearest big city to your home?

The closest million plus city to me is about 6 and a half hours away....*I admit to revising this answer since first posting my Friday Feast...I was a little uncomfortable giving a specific about my location.

Soup
On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how well do you keep secrets?

Other peoples secrets? I would rate myself a 9.8 (hey, I'm not perfect)...my own I tend to be less tight about...I'd give myself a 7 for keeping my own secrets.

Salad
Describe your hair (color, texture, length).

Well it is naturally straight and fine, currently the length just brushes my shoulders...the color? Well, let's just say that it is the natural blonde I was born with...okay but now I have to enhance that...er...a little...heh heh....

Main Course
What kind of driver are you? Courteous? Aggressive? Slow?

I would consider myself a fairly courteous driver. I maintain with the flow of traffic. I sometimes get a little impatient with other drivers but I don't tend to do anything to irritate them...as in I'm not aggressive.

Dessert
When was the last time you had a really bad week?

Last September when I had to tell a friend I wouldn't be able to go on a trip. Plane tickets had already been purchased etc., etc., etc. I felt horrible about it. It made for a really lousy week.

Well thanks for dining with me. Now go check out some of the other feasts going on!

Life At The Speed of Light

2008-05-14T20:19:00.001-07:00

Today was Daughter's seventh birthday. As she smiles at me, one snaggly tooth, hanging on by a thread is all I can see.

Today Son wanted to know if he is taller than me. He is.

How is it that the baby boy I just brought home from the hospital is taller than I am? How is it that his Grandmother now mistakes him for Husband on the telephone?

How is it that the baby girl I just brought home from the hospital is missing teeth and amazes her Sunday School teachers with her reading ability?

When did this all happen?

It seems only yesterday I was wondering when I would ever be done with diapers, ear aches, sippy cups and Winnie-the-Pooh. Today I woke up and found myself explaining how to take care of acne and listening to sound effects from the latest video game.

I miss Winnie-the-Pooh. I miss sippy cups. Okay I don't miss diapers and ear aches all that much but I do miss chubby little fingers patting my cheeks and babies who fit in my lap.

I am proud to see them growing and learning and becoming outstanding people. I love the joie de vivre of Daughter and the dead pan humor of Son. I love watching her go out and take care of the chickens, plant a flower and run to her Daddy when he gets home. I love seeing him work out the next story line for a stop motion short and devour a good book in his tree fort. I can't wait to see where these interests lead and how God will use them for His glory.

I just have to savor it all. I have to take more pictures. I have to write down my memories before I can't remember.

Oh, that it would go just a little slower.

Happy Mother's Day!

2008-05-11T08:19:00.000-07:00

A Christian mother's love contains

A gospel all its own,

Because the King of love has found

Her heart an ample throne.

~Crawford

Whom can find a virtuous wife?

For her worth is far above rubies.

The heart of her husband safely trusts her;

So she will have no lack of gain.

She does him good and not evil

All the days of her life.

~Proverbs 31:10-12

My Grandmother and Mother, virtuous wives and mothers.

Her children rise up and call her blessed;

Her husband also, and he praises her:

"Many daughters have done well,

But you excel them all."

~Proverbs 31:28-29

My brother and sister and I in younger days, when Mom was doing her hardest work for us.

Thank you Mom, we rise up and call you blessed.

(By the way that's my son whom my sister is holding.)

Fiddling Around

2008-05-08T21:10:00.000-07:00

So what do you think of my picture header?

I love vintage pictures...I love this picture....I'm just not sure it's me..ya know?

I'm open to your opinions, just please be kind. :)

And the color...is the color too much?

Maybe I ought to go back to the other....

Oh, can't decide...

Let me know what you think.

Where To Start

2008-05-07T21:27:00.000-07:00

Heth over at From Under The Laundry Pile was mentioning that, when Spring finally bursts out in all its glory, she is hard pressed to stay inside and do inside house chores. I feel much the same way. The warm sun, the smell of rich, moist earth, are like a sirens song, strong and sweet, wooing me to them.

Yesterday I succumbed to that sweet song and began a project that I've been longing to get done since the day we moved into this house four years ago. The weather was perfect, not too hot and not too cool. I even have a tan line arm on my arms. (Note to self: wear sleeveless blouse next time!)

I'm not going to go into too much detail about the project. Basically I've been wanting to reclaim a planting bed from the over grown lawn. It involves digging up sod that's been there for who knows how long, judging from my aching muscles I'd say it's been a. long. while. On the flip side though, the sod is great for my newly established compost pile!

Anyway!....I digress...my point about all of this is that, even though I was enjoying myself outdoors and getting a lot done, I kept thinking about things like laundry, sweeping, vacuuming, dinner, messy bedrooms and dusting. (Not dishes though! I've managed to keep up with the dishes!)

I also kept thinking about all the little projects I need to get done around the house this summer like, painting, reorganizing cupboards, shampooing carpets, reorganizing Daughter's room and preparing for next school year.

Then my thoughts turned to all the projects that need to done on the outside of the house. Painting, building a chicken coop (yep, we changed our minds about that), gardening, stacking wood, etc., etc., etc. I should mention that I do not have to do all this alone, but as keeper of the home I do feel it is my duty to keep things moving along.

Oh where to begin, where to begin, where to begin?

How do I get it all done?

Can I get it all done?

I hadn't really prayed about all this except to send up a quick prayer asking the Lord how I was going to get it all done.

Then this morning I read Heth's blog and was encouraged that I'm not the only one who faces such conundrums.

Finally, the Lord spoke directly and specifically in my morning Bible reading:

Finish your outdoor work and get your fields ready; after that, build your house.

~Proverbs 24:27 (NIV)

That was pretty straight forward... and I was once again in awe of my Lord. He cares so deeply about every aspect of our lives. He cares that I need help in organizing my life and He is faithful to answer when I ask for help. I've probably read that passage more than once or twice in my life and thought nothing of it, but today it was specifically for me.

Wow.

***************************

Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, "This is the way, walk in it." Whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left.

~Isaiah 30:21 (NKJV)

Friday's Feast

2008-05-01T23:25:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my first feast! Enjoy!

Appetizer
What was your favorite cartoon when you were a child?
The Bugs Bunny-Road Runner Hour...beep beep!

Soup
Pretend you are about to get a new pet. Which animal would you pick, and what would you name it?
Well, we just got chickens so I don't really need to pretend. LOL! They are named Elizabeth, Samantha, Molly and Gladys. I named Gladys. Doesn't that sound like an appropriate chicken name?

Salad
On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how much do you enjoy getting all dressed up for a special occasion?
It's about an 8.5 since there are very few special occasions that I need to get dressed up for.

Main Course
What kind of music do you listen to while you drive?
Most often Christian Contemporary, but I also like Blue Grass. On our drive to the Grandparents this Spring I made the kids listen to Vivaldi. Loved it!

Dessert
When was the last time you bought a clock? And in which room did you put it?
About a month ago. It was only $.33 at IKEA. It was battery operated and I planned to use it in my bedroom but it ticked so loud I took the battery out.

Click here for more Feasting!

Relax (ri-laks) v.i.:

2008-04-30T13:25:00.000-07:00

to become less tense,

especially

in nerves and muscles

Chickens and Teeth...Chickenteeth?

2008-04-28T07:54:00.000-07:00

Well the two all consuming events of this past weekend were our acquisition of "The Girls" and my oral surgery. I'm doing pretty well even though I currently look like a chipmunk with one cheek really full. I'll be happy when the swelling goes down. Meanwhile I keep taking my antibiotic and an occasional pain pill. I'll know better when I have finished the antibiotic whether or not it was the infection that was sapping my energy.

Our chickens are a lot more fun to talk about. The Girls, as I have affectionately dubbed them, are proving to be quite entertaining. We have them all set up in a corner of what will eventually be their coop. It's actually a greenhouse that the last owner of the house put up.

But bare with me while I explain the logic of using this old greenhouse as a hen house...chicken coop...whatever you want to call it.

Yes it is attached to the house. We can't actually access it from inside the house...at least not easily, but it is attached to the side of the house and we have a big picture window looking right into it.

This, hopefully, gives you an idea of what I'm talking about. Of course I took this in the morning, and it is a West facing window, so there is a little bit of that silhouette thing going on.

(And yes that is our television and stereo you are looking at. Husband keeps joking that we are going to see if we can get a smaller TV. While the rest of the world is trying to get bigger televisions we are going for smaller. Phbbt!)

Yeah, just call us hillbillies.

Oh yeah, back to the logic of using this as our hen house. Ready for this...drum roll please.

It's already built.

It also already has electrical via a heavy duty extension cord. The hard work is done. We don't have to worry about building anything new and we don't have to worry about how to keep The Girls warm during the winter months. They will either be able to stay warm through solar heat or with a lamp.

We intend them to be "free range" chickens during the summer months. There is plenty of ventilation in the green/hen house as well.

So all that's left to do is make some nesting boxes for them. They should be some pretty happy chickens by the time we're done!

In the meantime we're getting to know them as individuals. Yes, I said individuals. While their personalities are not fully developed yet we can already tell who the head chicken is, who likes to be held, who doesn't and who would really like to escape and explore the vast unknown. (She will definately be getting her wings clipped.)

Now I could go on a little bit more about my teeth but trust me, you don't really want to hear about that. The chickens are way more interesting.

Because this is terribly scientific you know.

2008-04-27T07:16:00.000-07:00

Because I've been known to get a little grouchy without my daily dose and because Linda at 2nd Cup of Coffee had this posted and because I love me a good latte and because I love doing these little quiz things....well here's what my latte says about me. What does your latte say about you?

What Your Latte Says About You

When it comes to what you like, you have your own unique tastes. And people don't really understand them.

You can be quite silly at times, but you know when to buckle down and be serious.

You have a good deal of energy, but you pace yourself. You never burn out too fast.

You're totally addicted to caffeine... but you like to pretend like you aren't!

You are a child at heart, and you don't ever miss the opportunity to do something playful.

You are deep and thoughtful, but you are never withdrawn.

What Does Your Latte Say About You?

Plymouth Poultry

2008-04-24T22:07:00.000-07:00

Allow me to introduce Samantha, Molly, Elizabeth and Gladys.

Plymouth Rock Hens

Because a Chicken is a Wondrous Thing....

2008-04-23T09:47:00.000-07:00

I needed to post something fun because...well...all I've got running around in my brain right now are these really serious subjects having to do with truth, freedom of speech and Ben Stein. That and we are seriously thinking of adding chickens to our way of life.

We were sitting at supper last evening when Husband says, "I really want to keep chickens!"

"Okay!" says I.

"Oh yes Daddy! Please!" says Daughter.

"WHAT?!?!?!" says Son. His main concern was that this would in some way mean more work for him. Which indeed it very well may. He needs more work. He needs to know that work is good. But that's another post.

After supper Husband started surfing the web about chickens. WOW. There is a. lot. of information out there. We found a couple of sites that were interesting. Even if you never want to keep chickens you ought to check these out. The site we actually bookmarked was Keeping Chickens In Your Backyard. We signed up for the newsletter and also received a free on-line book about getting your chickens to lay 200 eggs a day.

I don't really want my chickens to lay 200 eggs a day. But hey...it was free!

I should mention that we live within city limits. From what we've heard from others we can keep four chickens without a rooster. They, of course, would be "pets" and if one happens to die and end up on our dinner table...well...you know... it gave it's life for a good cause.

Well, that's my post on chickens. Don't be surprised if there are more to come.

Because a chicken is a wondrous thing.

Light Can Penetrate A Pillow

2008-04-18T21:54:00.000-07:00

I want to share something I wrote in my prayer journal nearly a year ago. It is still ringing true for me today...in fact maybe even more this week than any other.

My husband is a tree farmer and this is planting season. Each year he plants anywhere from 400,000 to 600,000 trees (He doesn't do this by himself, he has a crew of workers. However, his planting the trees is not the point.) In order for him to take advantage of optimum planting conditions he needs to start the planting at dawn. In order to do that, trees must be picked up from the storage unit and transported out to the woods. In order for all that to happen he needs to get up by 4:00am this time of year and 3:30am as the days get longer.

It's still dark then (in case you were wondering) and he needs to turn on a light so he can see to get ready. So it doesnt' bother me too much I generally put a pillow over my head (yes, I leave an air passage). The amazing thing is that light still penetrates the pillow. I should mention that I have tested this out by sort of pressing the pillow down (not hard, I still gotta breath) to try and block the light out. I should also mention the light isn't an overhead light, it's indirect light coming from the bathroom. It still penetrates my pillow.

Jesus is the light of the world. He can penetrate any darkness. This morning He showed me that with a pillow over my head. We live in a spiritually dark world, and some areas are darker than others. But Jesus can penetrate that darkness. So let your light shine! Even if there is a pillow over someone's heart and mind some light will shine through.

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. ~Matthew 5:16

As I re-read this journal entry today and then read the encouraging comments I received this week here on my blog after a rather...well not nice one, I realized that no matter what, I need to keep shining the light of Jesus.

And Furthermore...

2008-04-14T08:18:00.000-07:00

I posted a little while ago about Oprah and her way out there new age beliefs. If you are in any doubt as to what she is proclaiming this ought to clear it up for you.

Remember, "Jesus said to him, 'I am the way , the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.' " ~John 14:6 It's in the red letters.

My Little Pity Party

2008-04-13T08:33:00.000-07:00

At any given time I have a number of things running around in my brain that I would like to blog about. Of course I rarely, if ever, jot these thoughts down so that I have them handy when I finally get a moment to sit down and post something on my blog. So here I sit this morning with little snippets of thoughts racing through my brain and about 20 minutes of spare time to try and gather them up and write something coherent about them.

Sigh.

So what you get to hear about today is my upcoming oral surgery and all the ramifications thereof.

On April 25th I go to the oral surgeon to be put under and have a tooth worked on. This tooth has been a problem tooth to put it mildly. About three years ago I had a crown put on it. Two years ago it had a root canal done. Yes, that is in reverse order, which ought to tell you something about this tooth. At the time my dentist did the root canal he had a hard time cleaning out one of the roots, though he did his best. Now, it is infected again. It's a sort of low grade infection that doesn't really bother me except that I have been very tired the last few months because my body has been busy fighting this infection.

Finding all this out is actually an answer to prayer. Since the middle of last fall I have been tired and lethargic, as I mentioned. I've been trying everything I can think of with diet and exercise to try and beat this tiredness, to no avail. Of course, I should have been praying about it first but that came rather later. The Lord though, is faithful. He loves and cares for His children and is The Great Physician. At my last teeth cleaning and x-ray session the dentist discovered the infection in this tooth. The Lord then impressed on me that this is partly the answer to my tiredness.

Hallelujah! (Please notice that there is a band of heavenly angels singing that!)

Now one of the things I am really not looking forward to about this whole surgery thing, aside from being put under, is that I'm going to have to take a course of penicillin. As I mentioned in a previous post I have candida issues. Antibiotics are not helpful in this area. Also, being on a candida diet is no easy thing. It is very restrictive, especially for the first couple of weeks. However, having said all of that, I know that going on my candida diet and following it strictly will definetely help in limiting the adverse side effects of taking the penicillin.

Sigh.

So I covet your prayers. Prayers for self control. Prayers to help me remember why sticking to this diet is important. Prayers that everything with the surgery on the tooth goes well. Prayers that my body begins to feel better.

On the up-side of all of this though is the fact that I will more than likely lose 5 pounds rather quickly! Who can complain about that? I'll also be addressing a couple of health issues. Number one is the candida thing, but I also suspect that I may have some gluten issues. (When you are on a candida diet you must also avoid glutens.) So we'll see how I am feeling after all this. I'm hoping that by the end of May I will be feeling markedly better.

Okay, my wah wah session is over. Thanks for listening to me.

God sends His love and His faithfulness. ~Psalm 57:3b (NIV)

Um - yeah - okay

2008-04-08T07:19:00.000-07:00

* UPDATE BELOW

You Are a Dash

Your life is fast paced and varied. You are realistic, down to earth, and very honest.
You're often busy doing something interesting, and what you do changes quickly.

You have many facets to your personality, and you connect them together well.
You have a ton of interests. While some of them are a bit offbeat, they all tie together well.

You friends rely on you to bring novelty and excitement to their lives.
(And while you're the most interesting person they know, they can't help feeling like they don't know you well.)

You excel in: Anything to do with money

You get along best with: the Exclamation Point

What Punctuation Mark Are You?

I'm not sure about this - I'm really not sure about the money thing - Any exclamation points out there?

*UPDATE: This is supposed to say at the top "I am a dash". If I were a punctuation mark that's what I would be - a dash. I'm not really sure how I feel about that - it's so flat - and up in the air.

Yes, I'm still here!

2008-04-07T20:21:00.000-07:00

As you may have noticed I took an unplanned, unexpected, short blogging break. The kiddos and I went South to visit my parents and see that, yes, Spring is coming. We're just two or three weeks behind.

It's very hard to see Spring, spend a few days enjoying Spring and then return to ~~the north pole~~ wintry conditions. Ahhh well, the weather man says it will be warming up this weekend...we'll see.

While we were down in the world of Spring we hit my favorite little used book shop in the world. (I would tell you where it is but then you would know where I live and Husband has asked that I keep that on the QT.) I don't know what the square footage of the shop is but I do know this...it is stacked floor to ceiling with books. There is never enough time to explore them all.

My Dad gave me a little volume that he bought there awhile back called A Book of Courage. It has all sorts of wonderful quotes in it inspiring one to keep up ones courage. It was printed in 1924. It's as charming to look at as it is inspiring to read. Quotes come from such greats as Theodore Roosevelt, Samuel Longfellow, Emerson, Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, to name a few.

This quote (following) was especially inspiring to me at this season in life when I am mothering, teaching, being a wife and doing all the myriad of other things I do to take care of my family.

Let us be content to work
To do the things we can, and not presume
To fret because it's little
~Elizabeth Barrett Browning

I think sometimes I do "fret because it's little". This reminded me that raising and loving my children and loving and taking care of my husband is no little thing. It is what I was made to do and I take joy in that. I take joy in knowing that I am doing exactly what my Lord and Savior wants me to do and that I am smack dab in the middle of His will.

Job Was More Than Patient

2008-03-30T08:41:00.000-07:00

We often use the phrase, "the patience of Job" to refer to someone that endures through a trial. Yes, he is patient. He is patient with his three friends, though I think at times he is about to lose his patience with them and frankly, I would have.

I've been reading the book of Job and I am noticing that Job displays something much more than patience. He displays an utter faith and trust in the justice and mercy of God; in God's complete sovereignty. In the midst of sitting in his ash heap, covered in boils and listening to his less than comforting friends he says these things,

"In His hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind." ~Job 12:10

"To God belong wisdom and power; counsel and understanding are His." ~ Job 12:13

"Though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him;" ~Job 13:15

"Man's days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed." ~Job 14:5

As I continue to walk the path of trial in my life, God is showing me that He is in complete control. He is busy burning off the dross in my life, leading me to the place where I can say with utter conviction, "Though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him."

I Won! I Won! I Won!

2008-03-27T10:56:00.000-07:00

I'm very excited to announce that I won a $50 gift certificate to Christa-Taylor in a drawing that Coralie was having over at her blog Life More Abundantly.

I can hardly believe it...I rarely, if ever win anything that's worth anything. But this is huge for me because I've been looking for....no, desiring to find....no, yearning for a denim skirt. Do you know how hard it is to find a denim skirt for a short little pear shaped, over 40 (but not looking it) woman?

Okay, maybe you don't but let me tell you, it ain't easy! And Christa-Taylor has one! Here it is:

Sorry it's a little "digitally" looking. Don't you just love it?!? I can hardly wait to spend my money. And Christa-Taylor is a great place to spend it. To explain a little about who she is and what she is about I'm going to plagiarize Coralie,

Christa Taylor, a young woman from Washington State, had the same complaint, so she decided to do something about it. Christa-taylor.com features a full line of hip, contemporary, modest clothing. Designed by a young woman for young women, Christa’s clothes are something on which dads and daughters can agree.

Christa-Taylor is a family run company, with Christa’s dad and brothers actively involved in the business, and it is operated with a Christian world view. Taking seriously the command in scripture to support widows and orphans in their distress, Christa sends 5% from every purchase to

Warm Blankets Orphan Care International. Christa calls it “Mission beyond Business,” and it’s yet another reason I am so excited to offer the following giveaway.

I hope you will visit her web site and browse around. She has beautiful things that young and 'not quite as young as I used to be' will like. What I especially like is that they are fashionable and modest. I think that's what helps it transcend the age thing. I am particularly enamored with her skirts. I've been working on expanding my skirt collection for some time and am excited to expand it further.

So a big thank you to Coralie and Christa Taylor! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

P.S. Sorry that the type is so squished together here at the end. Is there someone out there who could explain to me what I can do to keep it from doing this when I mess with the font and alignment?

Spring Reading

2008-03-25T07:49:00.000-07:00

So I'm kinda just lovin' these reading challenges! Katrina over at Callapidder Days is hosting the Spring Reading Thing 2008 and here I am putting in my two cents. I have at least one book left over from the Winter Reading Challenge at A Joyful Heart and a few that I started in the in between time.

So here is my list:

And that's not all! (Of course it may not all get read but one needs to have goals!) I'm also planning on reading these:

Home to Holly Springs by Jan Karon

Raising Maidens of Virtue: A Study of Feminine Loveliness for Mothers and Daughters by Stacy McDonald

Alice In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (This is a read-aloud with my kiddos that we have already started.)

That should keep me plenty busy this Spring. There are, of course, a few that have been read before...in case you hadn't noticed the well worn bindings of the Narnia series. My already in progress books have book marks sticking out the tops. I'm looking forward to each book on my list and I hope that I can read them ALL!

If you want to see more book lists (and there are some good ones out there) be sure to head over to Callapidder Days and check out the Mr. Linky list.

Reflections on Easter, Part 1

2008-03-24T20:04:00.000-07:00

When I was a girl growing up in the church my father pastored, the week between Palm Sunday and Easter was special. Since we were Baptists we didn't call it Holy Week, just Easter Week. I do remember that we had that week off from school and it was called Easter Vacation...not Spring Break...and there were a lot of preparations for celebrating the Resurrection.

It started on Palm Sunday in which I recall the choir entering the from the rear of the sanctuary (as opposed to entering from the sides of the choir loft), waving palm branches and singing a selection from the Easter Cantata. Jesus triumphal entry was also emphasized in Sunday School that day.

Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday usually didn't involve any special church services. But my Mom was busy at home getting our Easter clothes ready, helping us color Easter eggs and making Hot Cross Buns. She also helped make unleavened bread for....

The Maundy Thursday Dinner. I remember what we did at this dinner (I will describe it in a moment) but I never really knew where this tradition derived from until I looked it up on Wikipedia. Essentially it is a commemoration of the Last Supper. I remember that these dinners were solemn and candlelit. We were served family style, by the the deacons and deaconesses, a meal of roast lamb, rice, spinach with vinegar, raisins and dates, a huge bowl of peeled oranges (I always wondered who got the job of peeling all those oranges), unleavened bread and grape juice (remember we were Baptists!). The meal was shared and then communion. There were usually hymns sung at intervals during the evening and one year there was a dramatic presentation of some of the events of Jesus' week of Passion. Sometimes there was a foot washing ceremony. This simple event was probably my favorite part of the whole week, leaving a deep impression in my heart and memory. I haven't celebrated it in years and I truly miss it.

Friday at Noon there was some sort of Good Friday service. Sometimes just our church had one and sometimes there was a community service in which pastors from several different churches in our small town participated. I don't know if stores were actually closed between Noon and 3pm, but I know at one time that was a custom in many towns in our country. My in-laws had to wait to get their marriage license until after 3pm because the court house was closed in observance of Good Friday...that was 1952.

Saturday was spent in final preparations for Sunday. I remember helping my Mom and other ladies in the church, decorate the sanctuary with Easter Lilies. Then we went home for a little play time, a good scrubbing and bed. I'm sure my Mom was busy ironing our new or refurbished Easter clothes and preparing Easter breakfast.

On Sunday Morning my Dad usually participated in the local Ministerial Associations Sunrise Service held in an amphitheater at the area cemetery. When I was in High School and Jr. College I attended a few of these. I hated getting up so early, but I was never disappointed that I went. It is a wondrous thing that our Lord has done for us.

Easter Sunday Morning church service was jubilant! I posted my favorite hymn from those services yesterday and there were others such as "He Lives". My impressions of this day were those of joy, happiness and rejoicing. Jesus won the victory over sin and death and I, yes me, I benefit from that victory. Hallelujah!!!

The culmination of Easter Week was on Easter Sunday Evening when the choir gave their Easter Cantata. When I was in High School I participated in it. It was wonderful.

Fast forward 25 years to now. Easter Vacation has become Spring Break and more often than not it is not even taken during Holy Week. Sometimes it is before, sometimes after. I've not attended any churches in the last 20 years that have had anywhere near the observances my church had when I was growing up and certainly not the Maundy Thursday observance. I haven't attended a Good Friday in several years and they never happen in the middle of the day anymore, usually in the evening. Palm Sunday seems like any other Sunday. There are usually still Easter Lilies and special Sunday morning music on Easter and if you're fortunate a teaching on the Resurrection.

It leaves Easter feeling somewhat....errr flat. I'm not big on ritual and tradition. After all, I grew up in a Baptist church and they don't tend to be big on a lot of ritual. And now I attend a church that has even less ritual than I grew up with. Most of the time this is not a big deal to me. But lately (and by that I mean the last few years) I find myself missing certain Christian observances. Observances like Lent, Holy Week, Advent, and some kind of remembrance of the Ascension. I understand that these observances have been "pushed aside", so to speak, because quite often ritual and tradition have a way of becoming meaningless. But they also have a way of bringing meaning to events and to our lives.

I have some more thoughts on rituals, Christian customs and religious observances but as this is getting to be quite a lengthy post I think I will make it a two parter. To conclude this post I would like to say that I still glory in the Resurrection of my Lord and Savior and all that that means to me, I just wish that it were more of a celebration with my Christian brothers and sisters.

My Favorite Easter Hymn

2008-03-23T17:02:00.000-07:00

Low in the grave He lay

Jesus my Savior

Waiting the coming day

Jesus my Lord

Up from the grave he arose

With a mighty triumph or' His foes

He arose a victor from the dark domain

And He lives forever with His saints to reign

He arose!

Hallelujah!

Christ Arose!

The End of My Winter Reading

2008-03-20T16:19:00.000-07:00

The Winter Reading Challenge over at A Joyful Heart is almost over. She extended it another week because of her own busy schedule and I was grateful because this is the first chance I've had to sit down and write any sort of post.

I feel I did pretty well on my list. Some other books crept in and since I have a tendency to have more than one book going at a time there are a couple on my list still unfinished. I think I've started them all but there are some that still have a chapter or two waiting to be read.

So here below are the books I planned to read with some brief thoughts on their content, enjoyability and/or usefulness.

Passionate Housewives Desperate For God - I thoroughly enjoyed this book and was challenged by it's call to selflessness and servanthood. I wrote a whole post about it here. This is a book I will be definitely picking up again in order to spur me on toward being that Titus 2 woman I really want to be.

The Hermit of Eyton Forest (A Brother Cadfael Mystery) - I must admit to enjoying a good mystery novel. Sit me down in a cozy chair with a steaming mug of coffee and a cozy mystery novel and why, it's sheer bliss. I enjoy this particular series because it is also historical. (Although I don't particularly enjoy historical novels, just ask my Mom. She's been trying to get me to read them for years!) The author, Ellis Peters, writes not only a great mystery but includes insights into the social structure of Medieval England and the civil war that existed at that time in history. (The 1100's.)

The Mysterious Disappearance of Leon (I Mean Noel) - This book is in the "juvenile" section of our library. I picked it up because I had so enjoyed The Westing Game by the same author (Ellen Raskin). They are both labeled mysteries but what they really are are elaborate word puzzles. A great, fun and challenging read.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - I missed this one as a kid. Probably because I saw the movie first which, of course, it bears little resemblance to. (This is why Son can not see the Lord of the Rings trilogy uneil he's read the books.) Even so, I found the book just as delightful as the movie. This was a read-aloud and my kids hated to have me put it down. That's a pretty good vote in favor of it, I think.

Black Ships Before Troy - We are about halfway through this one. It is also a read-aloud. Son is enjoying every minute it. Daughter, at six years old, not so much. This retelling of the Iliad by Homer is quite engaging and readable. (Where, I would like to know, was it when I was slogging through the original in Humanities 101 twenty some years ago?) We actually read the Aenead for Boys and Girls just before this. A little out of order I know. Don't worry, I keep reminding the kids this is the prequil to that.

Archimedes and the Door of Science - WOW! You could do a whole semester of science using this book. We haven't finished it yet but even when it gets a little abstract in talking about geometry the kids have enjoyed it. Each chapter explains in an understandable way just what Archimedes discoveries were and how important they are to us today. I highly recommend this book!

HTML, XHTML & CSS: Visual Quickstart Guide - After the first few chapters this is really a "how to" book. I am not finshed with it yet. It's one of those books that, for myself at least, I need to read and do. I haven't had a lot of time to practice "doing", hence the reading isn't happening either. However, what I've read so far is clear and easy to understand.

Age of Opportunity - This is a must have, must get, must, must use parenting book for parents of pre-teens and teens. Paul David Tripp is the brother of Tedd Tripp who wrote Shepherding A Child's Heart. They must have had some awesome parents. I've been telling friends that Paul's book is the sequel to Tedd's book. It is insightful, convicting and practical. For a more indepth review, check out this over at Amazon.

The Borrower's - I love this book. I loved it as a child and I loved reading it to my children. This was another one they would have been happy if I would have just read it straight through. My daughter spent days looking around our 1970's ranch-style house in search of holes where a Borrower might live. (It's a slab foundation and no holes were forthcoming.) She's now been checking for evidence outside. This is another one I recommend.

The One-Year Bible - Well, what can you say about the most awesome book of all time. I try to read through the Bible using this format every year. I don't follow the January to December format exactly. I usually get back to Genesis sometime in August. So, I've been at it this time since last August. I just finished up Esther in the Old Testament and did you know that the Jews celebrate Purim tomorrow!? God is so awesome in how He arranges our lives. I, of course, am not Jewish and don't celebrate Purim but it was neat to look at the calendar and know what that holiday was that was listed there.

Well, there it is. My winter reading list. So I think having completed five out of nine books is pretty good. Especially when a few were read-alouds to my kids. (Giggle) I would tell you what is on tap for the spring but there is another reading challenge over at Callapidder Days and that means a different post. I hope you enjoyed this and will maybe pick up some of these books!

My Apologies

2008-03-14T15:16:00.001-07:00

Did you ever have something nagging at you to be done and even though you are trying to avoid it (for whatever reason) you simply can not get anything else done until you do that one thing? It may not be a difficult thing, just something you want to avoid or put off.

I have been in that state for a few days.

Actually ever since I wrote the Perilous Women post.

Which I followed up with my "rock - n - roll" post.

I feel as though I have been loud and obnoxious lately. Not at all the woman of strong convictions but gentle words that I want to be. Not at all reflecting a gentle and quiet spirit like I want to reflect. Not at all the Titus 2 woman I long to be.

For this I wish to apologize to you dear reader.

There are a lot of things that I could use as excuses for the tone of my writing lately, but they are just that...excuses. There is no excuse for sounding my mouth off the way I did about Oprah. Don't misunderstand me, I still think her philosophy will lead folks astray from the truth. However, I never stopped to think how she may be just as lost and just as in need of a Savior. And it's easy to target those in the public eye, especially if we don't know them personally.

As to the rock - n - roll post...well...that's just a part of my past. It's amusing to listen to the things we used to listen to and chuckle over the clothes we used to wear and the way we used to style our hair...but not everyone necessarily wants to hear about it. Kind of like watching hours of scenery slides of your neighbor's vacation. (Yaaawwwnn, kinda boring.) And since my nostalgia trip included some kind of obnoxious music...well, I am very sorry.

So that is what I have been putting off lately. A heart felt apology for the tone of my writing. I offer it humbly to you.

Oh For Cryin' Out Loud! Lighten' Up Would Ya!?!

2008-03-13T10:25:00.000-07:00

So after my last couple of posts I thought I needed to post something a little fun. Last night Husband and I were talking about something(what it was is not really pertinant to this post) and I said, "Well, in the immortal words of the Clash, 'Should I stay or should I go now, if I go there will be trouble, if I stay it will be double, O you got to let me know'....and so on and so on I can't remember the rest of the words."

Husbands response was to leave the room and go sit down at the computer.

"Well," I thought. "so much for that!"

The next thing I hear is this....

We had a good time cracking up over that! Then I saw this and insisted we listen to it too.

Of course that brought up the question, "What is a Casbah?" So off we traipsed to Wikipedia and found this definition: The Casbah (French) or as transliterated from Arabic Qasba (from qasba, قصبة, 'citadel') is specifically the citadel of Algiers and the traditional quarter clustered round it. More generally, kasbah denotes the walled citadel of many North African cities and towns. The word made its way into English from French in the late 19th century (the Oxford English Dictionary says 1895), hence its conventional English spelling.

Now, back when that picture at the beginning of this post was taken, NONE of this would have been possible. And can you believe that that sweet little thing sitting next to her brother listened to the Clash? Yes that sweet little thing is me, June of 1983, the year I graduated from High School. Note the braid on the side of my head and the bi-level cut bangs. And how do you like that Izod shirt my brother has on? Oh yeah, and the pearls....I wore pearls with just about everything!

I also listened to this:

That would probably explain the pearls.

My kids think I've absolutely lost it when I go dancing around the house to Rock the Casbah. Not that I do that very often. I asked Son if he didn't realize that I had a whole life before he was born. His response? "I never thought about it before." Daughter just rolled her eyes!

Well, that's all the fun for today! I need to now put my responsible Mommy hat back on, unbraid my side ponytail and take off my pearls.

Maybe I'll rock this town later on....

Sunday Psalm

2008-03-02T08:32:00.000-08:00

TRUSTING

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him,

so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

~Romans 15:13 (NIV)

To You, O LORD, I lift up my soul;

in You I trust, O my God.

do not let me be put to shame,

nor let my enemies triumph over me.

No one whose hope is in you

will be put to shame,...

~Psalm 25:1-3a (NIV)

Trust in the LORD with all your heart

And lean not on your own wnderstanding

In all your ways acknowledge Him

And He shall direct your paths.

~Proverbs 3:5-6 (NKJV)

Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good;

Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!

~Psalm 34:8 (NKJV)

Doing Church

2008-02-27T15:22:00.000-08:00

I've been intrigued lately by a new approach to "doing church". It's called the family integrated church. Have you heard of it? Is this the approach your church takes to worshipping?

My friend Shawna has a post about it at her blog We Lift Our Eyes Up. The Accidental Pastor's Wife has also recently reviewed a book called Family Driven Faith that has generated a lot of good discussion in her comments. I believe the book (I haven't read it yet) talks about the family as being the first place we learn to worship and disciple other believers (ie. our kids).

The idea of the family integrated church, from what I understand, encourages family Bible reading, worship, and prayer all week long at home in preparation for the corporate (I really don't like that term but it will have to suffice for now) body worshipping on Sunday. On Sunday children do not attend Sunday School, the whole family sits together, sings together, hears the Word taught together, takes Communion together, and prays together.

What a concept! Instead of dropping your children off in seperate areas and then going into "adult" worship yourself...you stay together as a family. You hear God's word together as a family. Think about it....I mean really think about it. Instead of trying to discern from a Sunday School coloring page what your child might have heard during Sunday School you know for sure. You can go home as a family, together and discuss it, answer questions, apply the word to your lives, together.

I love the idea. And I would love to see how it is worked out practically because, of course, there are questions. What about babies and toddlers? What about early school agers getting bored? What about (gasp) youth groups? (That's another post and another soap box...youth groups I mean.)

This concept of "doing church" also begs the question, "What is the purpose of the church?" Is it there for unbelievers seeking God or is it there to grow and strengthen people who are already believers? Is Sunday School just a tradition of man? Is it what we see in the early church as described in the book of Acts in the New Testament?

A decade ago there was a lot of talk in philosophical circles, business and in the media about a paradigm shift. The American Heritage Student Dictionary (hey it was handy...we're homeschoolers ya know) defines paradigm as "an example of how something should be done or treated; a model." Is it time for the church to make a paradigm shift? Is this the shift it needs to make? Will it better equip the saints (especially our younger saints) to go out into the world and be salt and light? Will it help give our children the solid foundation of a Biblical world view? Will it help us as parents give them that solid foundation?

I know, I know, your saying to yourself, " Good golly she has a lot of questions! Does she have any answers?"

Uhhh, nope.....no answers. I have opinions. That usually goes without saying...I always have opinions. However, on this occasion I am more interested in hearing your thoughts, opinions, ideas and experiences. So take a look at some of the questions I've asked here and tell me what you think. I only ask that you please be kind and use nice language. (This is, after all, a respectable establishment.)

Sunday Psalm

2008-02-24T08:53:00.000-08:00

Delight yourself also in the LORD,

And He shall give you the desires of your heart.

~Psalm 37:4

Contentment comes when God's will is more important than our wants.

This quote and more on delighting in contentment can be found at Our Daily Bread, January 27, 2008

God bless you today as you seek your delight and contentment in Him.

Reality Check

2008-02-23T14:57:00.000-08:00

I just received my March issue of Better Homes & Gardens magazine.

It really is a lovely magazine. The cover picture is inspiring and spring-y. The colors are lovely. The headlines enticing.

But it also gives me a horrible case of the "I wants".

I want crisp, white cove molding in all the rooms of my house. I want a room with a little nook for a comfy chair, reading lamp and cute little side table. I want silk draperies in my livingroom. I want an outdoor entertaining room. I want a gazebo and a cute little tool shed. I want to be able to find all the ingredients to just one recipe at my local grocers. Oh, and I want brand new cabinetry in my kitchen.

Oh yeah, and I want a beautiful colonial/ranch home with the beautiful yard and woods. And a brand new crossover vehicle with all the bells and whistles.

Honestly. Are these homes for real? Are the people in them really as happy as they seem? And just how much do you have to net a year to afford to live like this? And why is this held up as the norm. As if everyone has the time and money to afford all this stuff? And why do we feel we ought to have it all? Why do we feel entitled?

My friend Jen at Grace and Glory recently wrote a very insightful post about our expectations as Americans and material wealth. It has really gotten me to start examining my own battle with covetousness and what I think I deserve out of this life.

Reading BH&G is really not helpful in this examination process. Neither is watching HGTV or going to my favorite store (um...that would be IKEA). It's really a form of temptation that leads to dissatisfaction with the blessings I have. That then leads to being unthankful. Whoa....we're getting awfully close to sin here.

God has given me soooo much. Much more than I deserve. I mean to say that a generation ago what I have would have been considered to be living at the top of the middle class heap. How much more do I want? He has given me all I need and a little more. For all of that I need to be thankful.

I think I will be letting my subscription to BH&G lapse. I want to be happy with what I have. It may not be all coordinated just so. There may be unfinished spots here and there. But it is all that I need and more.

Beans, beans, that flavorful fruit....

2008-02-20T16:24:00.000-08:00

You didn't really think I was going to finish that little lyric did you? Hee! Hee!

But all jesting aside I just wanted to share a tasty little bean recipe with you that I call Calico Beans. Don't worry no soaking and no crunchy beans. I've taken my bean guru's advice, "Canned beans are cheap!"

So here you go! This is a great side dish for a Mexican themed meal or (as I'm doing tonight) it's a great dish to take to a pot luck.

Calico Beans

1 - 16 oz. can Black Beans

1 - 16 oz. can Navy Beans

1 - 16 oz. can Kidney Beans

2 - 16 oz. cans Pinto Beans

1 white onion chopped

3 cloves garlic minced

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano

1 teaspoon chili powder

Salt to taste

3 Tablespoons Olive Oil

Saute onions and garlic in olive oil for about five minutes or until onions are tender and things are smellin' good then add two cans of beans (your choice which ones) with liquid, drain off the liquid of the rest of the cans of beans. Add seasonings and bring to a boil. Reduce heat so that beans are simmering, let them do that for a couple of hours to allow the flavors to really come out. Yummy, yummy, yummy!

A Few New Things

2008-02-18T14:30:00.001-08:00

I am finding it increasingly difficult to find the amount of time I would like to have to do all the blogging I would like to do. That includes trying to write posts.

That is why they are so far and few between.

I'm trying, don't give up on me!

Anyway....I have found time to add a couple of blogs to my favorites list. These blogs are not only among my favorites but they happen to be written by a couple of my favorite people in-real-life.

Shawna who used to blog As Simple As Two Plus Two shut down that blog and started a new one. It's called We Lift Our Eyes Up and true to her wonderful organizational abilities, it is also well organized. It also promises to be a wealth of information for anything from how to cook beans (she is my bean guru) to homeschooling.

My other dear friend Jen is blogging over at Grace and Glory. She and her husband recently adopted three wonderful kiddos from Liberia. They, along with their brother already in residence are truly a joy to be around.

Both Shawna and Jen have recently written posts that have really challenged my thinking on what Christianity looks like in action. Be sure to go and check them both out!

I have also joined a forum for homeschoolers called Homeschool Hackers. If you scroll down a ways you will see the button there on the left of the page. It's brand new, I think the site just went up today. It promises to be a great place for encouragement and ideas for all you homeschoolers out there. Click on the button and check that out!

Yeah, okay, this wasn't the most inspiring post of all time but I hope you have fun checking out the new stuff.

And please....please....keep visiting!

Roses are Pink....

2008-02-15T14:33:00.000-08:00

Oh yeah...my honey loves me.

The roses are actually a deep pink color even though they appear red here. I love pink roses.

You know, some would say....what a waste of money, but I have to tell you that I love it when my honey shows me love this way. Isn't this why God made roses?

I hope you all had a wonderful Valentines Day.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. -John 3:16

A Call To Serve Selflessly

2008-02-12T07:31:00.000-08:00

Well, I finished a book on my list.

The book I finished (obviously) was Passionate Housewives Desperate for God. It is a book I was more than ready to read and embrace.

This book is a call to service. Biblical service. Service to husbands and service to children. Most importantly service to God. Not only a call to service, but a call to selflessness. A call to follow the example of Jesus Christ. The example of laying down my life for another.

This book was encouraging to me right now because the Lord has been leading me in this very direction for several years now. He's been asking me to follow Him even when those around me may question what I am doing. He's been asking me to follow Him even when folks make valid sounding arguments about not losing myself in others, not being a doormat, about letting others control me. He's been showing me His life and asking me if I could live like that, selflessly, as a servant to His sheep.

I have taken a small step toward that in saying yes. Yes, I can serve others, I can be selfless toward those I love. Toward my husband, toward my children.

It's counter-culture. Even, dare I say it, in the church.

If I say, yes, I can be a servant toward God's sheep and view the sheep as people outside my family that is looked upon as noble. I am sacrificing great things for the the Lord. But wait a minute...what or who am I sacrificing? I am serving the sheep in the neighboring pastures. But what about the sheep in my own pasture? The kids who just want a book read to them, who need to have the safety and security of Mom being close by. What about just tending the pasture to make sure that there are no weeds growing up in it or other plants that can make the sheep ill? What about the husband who is out in the world doing battle and just wants a safe and sane, warm and secure place to come home to?

I can not possibly get into the depth of explanation here, in a short blog posting, of why my focus at this particular time of my life, needs to be my husband and my kids. There are numerous Bible verses I could quote to you (Eph. 5:21-33, Titus 2:3-5, Proverbs 31 are just a few) and arguments that I could make to try and convince you. However, the authors of this book have already done that.

Suffice it to say, I have been called. I have been called to lay down my life for others. I have not been called to go to deepest, darkest Africa. I have not been called to move across the country. I have not been called to even move down the street. I have been called to serve right in my own home, with my own husband, with my own children.

I may not ever get any recognition. I may not get much thanks. But I will know that I have done what God called me to do.

A Winter Challenge

2008-02-02T21:07:00.000-08:00

I usually stumble on things.

I'm not just talking about my own feet here. I mean I'm kind of one of those people who have a tendency not to notice something until I trip over it. Whether that is my own feet or less literally, great ideas and opportunities.

So last Wednesday I was wondering around the Works For Me postings at Rocks in My Dryer and I happened upon a lovely blog called A Joyful Heart . Don't you just love the name...A Joyful Heart. Anyway I love it and it made me want to stay and see what all she had going on over there. Of course one of the first things I noticed was the banner you see here. Winter Reading Challenge.

Now, I have to back track a little here because I need to explain that I not only "stumble" a lot, but I'm also a little slow to catch on sometimes.

When I encountered my first bloggy carnival I was, um, kind of confused. A carnival? On a blog? Where's the ferris wheel? Where's the cotton candy? Where's the sideshow? Then, after "stumbling around" a bit, I got it. It's a gathering. A place to meet others and exchange ideas, encouragement, recipes or ...well anyway....I got it.

So last Fall, as I stumbled around the bloggy world, I noticed at a few blogs there were people participating in a reading challenge. Huh? Didn't get it and moved on.

Then, as I said before, last Wednesday I wandered over to A Joyful Heart and the light bulb went on! I got it. A "carnival" of sorts to challenge myself in my reading, be sort of accountable and also find some great books.

And I've needed some challenging of late. Oh, I've been reading, but it's been mostly fluff. Not that there's anything wrong with that but, just like cotton candy, it's not very filling and you find yourself craving more.

So I made a decision to find some more nourishing fare. And here is what I decided on. Some I have already started. And a couple I'll be reading to my kids. Here it is, my Winter Reading List:

The Hermit of Eyton Forest by Ellis Peters (because I like a good medeivel mystery)

The Borrowers by Mary Norton (this one is for the kiddos)

HTML,XHTML & CSS by Elizabeth Castro (because I'm determined to understand how all this web stuff works and how I can make it work)

The Mysterious Disappearance of Leon(I mean Noel) by Ellen Raskin (I loved The Westing Game by the same author)

Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang by Ian Fleming (I've only ever seen the movie and I wanted to read it to the kids too)

(Not pictured and on order from Amazon):

Black Ships Before Troy by Rosemary Sutcliff (Homer's Illiad for kids; it has 5 - star reviews over at Amazon)

Archimedes and the Door of Science by Jeanne Bendick (this is another one to read to the kids)

(Also on order from Amazon and for ... ahem... growth and developement purposes):

Passionate Housewives Desperate for God by Jennie Chancey and Stacy McDonald (I can hardly wait for this one to come, I've read sooo many good recommendations)

Age of Opportunity: A Biblical Guide to Parenting Teens 2nd Edition by Paul David Tripp (this one is because in about eleven months we will have an official teenager living in our house)

The One-Year Bible by God (I have been reading this since last August so this is a more of a just keep going read)

There it is, what I am going to try and read between now and March 17th. With the weather being what it is in my part of the world that really shouldn't be too hard because it looks like this:

And if I'm lucky and it stops looking so snowy on our roof I'll also have a nice wood stove to sit by while I read. (The man can't put the wood stove in until the snow melts off our roof.) In the meantime I'll curl up underneath my electric blanket and read away the cold winter evenings!

I'b Hobe Wid A Code

2008-01-27T10:19:00.000-08:00

Translation: I'm home with a cold. Mostly I just feel exhausted with it and my throat hurts A LOT but I'm not all that stuffed up.

But that's not why I'm writing.

Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all He has done. If you do this, you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. - Philippians 4:6-7 (NLT)

We made a quick trip to visit my parents this week and as we were sitting at the dinner table Thursday evening, my husband giving thanks, I was overwhelmed with a profound thankfulness for all that I've been blessed with. In that moment I experienced a clarity that I haven't had for awhile. I knew in that moment that I have nothing on this earth to complain about, be depressed about or worry about. I have everything to be thankful for.

Here is my thankful list:

1. Parents who love Jesus Christ and showed me His love from an early age.

2. A husband who loves Jesus Christ, longs to tell others about Him every chance he gets, loves and provides abundantly for me and our children and desires to know Him more and better each day.

3. Two beautiful children. They have their quirks, but over all they are loving and obedient.

4. A roof over my head. A very nice roof with lovely insulated walls and a pleasant interior. Not to mention all the creature comforts stored under the roof.

5. A newer car that is dependable and mostly dent free and money enough to put gas in it. (It also has a six CD/MP3 player in it.)

6. The ability to stay home and teach my children. (Again, thankful for Husband.)

7. And most of all, my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ who loves me enough that He sacrificed Himself so that I can be with Him for all eternity, God my Father who sent His Only Son for that purpose and the Holy Spirit who daily walks with me and gives my those moments of clarity.

This is, of course, not an exhaustive list. But this is the basic list and probably the core list. Being thankful is important, I have soooo much in this world to be thankful for. When I start looking at my life from that perspective it's really hard to worry and complain.

Pruning

2008-01-21T15:16:00.000-08:00

You know, when the Lord decides you need some pruning so that you can do some growing He really doesn't mess around. I've been getting pruned lately. It's been painful, humbling and freeing all at the same time. It has also made me assess my preconceived notions of what valid service to the Lord is.

I think that a lot of us see valid service as being anything that is done in, around or for the benefit of the church. Many times it has a title or lable attached, such as, pastor, Sunday school teacher, elder, deacon, deaconess, Bible study leader, etc, etc, etc. Certainly it is an honor from God if you are in any of those positions...however they are not the only areas of valid service. What about the person who cleans the church every week, or folds and stuffs bulletins, or makes coffee and cookies, or wipes a runny nose, or helps an older person across the parking lot? "Yes, you say. "that's valid service!"

Alright, we agree that those small areas of service are just as much ministry as the more prominent areas. Now, does ministry only take place at the church building? "Well no," you say. "there are those who visit the sick at the hospital, or the person on the prayer chain, or taking a meal to a family in need." Yes, I agree, those are valid service too.

Okay, what about the Mom at home, trying to raise her children to be Godly in a world that is doing everything it can to contridict the Bible and what it teaches? Is that ministry? Is that service? What if that Mom decides not to do church service but simply concentrate on what she has before her at home? Is she still doing ministry? If she chooses not to be at church every time the doors are open is she any less spiritual than the person who is at church every time the doors are open? If what she does is not as obvious to everyone around her is it still ministry? Is it still service?

These are questions that I have been wrestling with lately and here is the conclusion I have come to. (Actually, I have not come to these conclusions on my own...the Lord led me to them, to reinforce His call on my life, for this season of my life.)

Yes.

Yes, it is still ministry and service if I choose to do it in my home and for my husband and children.

And no.

No, I'm not any less spiritual if I don't do it at church. I'm not any less spiritual if I'm not at church every time the doors are open.

So the Lord has been pruning church activities out of my life. It's kinda weird but I like how it is challenging my preconceived notions of what ministry and service are. I'm doing exactly what the Lord has called me to do. To raise my children in the grace and admonition of the Lord.

Deuteronomy 6: 4 - 7 tells me, "Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up."
I'm clinging to these words as I walk this path the Lord has layed before me.

My First Meme

2008-01-17T20:18:00.000-08:00

My friend Shawna sent me this via e-mail. It was a fun Meme and I thought I would share it here and tag a couple of people...hope you don't mind girls. Okay so I tag Gina and Jody... :)

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE ? My middle name is after my Grandma…Doris.

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? I think I teared up yesterday…lately it happens frequently.

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Yep

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? pastrami.

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? Two here, two with the Lord

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Yeah, I think so.

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? not as much as I used to…my kids don’t always get it

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? yep

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? absolutely not

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Honey Bunches of Oats and Corn Pops

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? When they are brand new, then after awhile I get lazy.

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Not as strong as I once thought I was.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? Chocolate Chip and Orange Sherbert ( I know, technically sherbert is not ice cream but it is in the same case at the store.

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? Their clothing style…for some reason that tells me a lot about a person…I think….

15. RED OR PINK? Definitely Pink

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF? My tendency to seek approval of people more than God. I’m dittoing Shawna here…it is an area I’m not too thrilled with in myself.

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My Grandma

18. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? My microfleece jammies and my new Acorn slippers.

19. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? Pizza from Brickhouse(local pizzeria). Oy, I’m full.

20. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Nothing…well except for the drier running.

21. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Periwinkle blue

22. FAVORITE SMELLS? Coffee in the morning, my husband’s cologne, my Dad’s cologne, freshly cut grass, peaches warmed in the sun.

23. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? My husband

24. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? Nascar…hee, hee.

25. HAIR COLOR? Technically, dishwater blonde…out of the bottle, a lovely weave of Ash Blonde and Light Brown.

26. EYE COLOR? Depends on what I’m wearing, could be blue, could be green, could be grey.

27. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Nope. Do I need to? Yep.

28. FAVORITE FOOD? Chocolate…chocolate with peanut butter...or just plain chocolate.

29. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Happy endings, most definitely…I hate being scared for no good reason.

30. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Cars…heh, heh…remember my Nascar answer…heh, heh.

31. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? Lavender

32. SUMMER OR WINTER? SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

33. HUGS OR KISSES? Both!!

34. FAVORITE DESSERT? New York Style Cheesecake

35. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? Visual Quickstart Guide: HTML, XHTML & CSS Sixth Edition and The Cat Who Talked Turkey

36. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? A Mary Engelbreit picture that says “Snap out of it!”

37. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON T.V. LAST NIGHT? Okay, I admit it, American Idol...oh I get soooo embarrased for those people.

38. FAVORITE SOUNDS? Coffee brewing, crickets on a Summer Evening, the sound of a creek running, and piano concertos.

39. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? This one was tough, but I’m an old rock-n-roll girl so I’m going to go with the Stones…once saw them in concert at Candlestick.

40. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? New York City.

41. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? I don’t know that you would call it a talent but I have a good eye for colour.

Let It Snow

2008-01-17T13:10:00.000-08:00

This is this week. Lots of sun. Very cold. Snow is hard and no fun. Nothing is melting.

This was last week. It just kept coming and coming. Daughter loves it. I love how cozy everything feels. When you are inside of course. Husband isn't too wild about the shoveling, but we all like being able to play in the stuff.

Personally, if it's not going to warm up to be Spring, then I wish it would just snow.

Brrrrr.

Sunday Psalm (sort of)

2008-01-13T15:41:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine recently emailed me this little story. It was encouraging to me and I hope it will be to you as well.

Woman and a Fork

There was a young woman who had been diagnosed with a terminal illness and had been given three months to live. So as she was getting her things "in order," she contacted her Pastor and had him come to her house to discuss certain aspects of her final wishes.

She told him which songs she wanted sung at the service, what scriptures she would like read, and what outfit she wanted to be buried in.

Everything was in order and the Pastor was preparing to leave when the young woman suddenly remembered something very important to her.

"There's one more thing," she said excitedly.

"What's that?" came the Pastor's reply.

"This is very important," the young woman continued . "I want to be buried with a fork in my right hand."

The Pastor stood looking at the young woman, not knowing quite what to say.

That surprises you, doesn't it? " the young woman asked.

"Well, to be honest, I'm puzzled by the request," said the Pastor.

The young woman explained. "My grandmother once told me this story, and from that time on I have always tried to pass along its message to those I love and those who are in need of encouragement. In all my years of attending socials and dinners, I always remember that when the dishes of the main course were being cleared, someone would inevitably lean over and say, 'Keep your fork' It was my favorite part because I knew that something better was coming...like velvety chocolate cake or deep-dish apple pie. Something wonderful, and with substance!'

So, I just want people to see me there in that casket with a fork in my hand and I want them to wonder "What's with the fork?" Then I want you to tell them : "Keep your fork, the best is yet to come."

The Pastor's eyes welled up with tears of joy as he hugged the young woman good-bye. He knew this would be one of the last times he would see her before her death. But he also knew that the young woman had a better grasp of heaven than he did. She had a better grasp of what heaven would be like than many people twice her age, with twice as much experience and knowledge. She KNEW that something better was coming.

At the funeral people were walking by the young woman's casket and they saw the cloak she was wearing and the fork placed in her right hand. Over and over, the Pastor heard the question, "What's with the fork?" And over and over he smiled.

During his message, the Pastor told the people of the conversation he had with the young woman shortly before she died. He also told them about the fork and about what it symbolized to her. He told the people how he could not stop thinking about the fork and told them that they probably would not be able to stop thinking about it either.

He was right. So the next time you reach down for your fork let it remind you, ever so gently, that the best is yet to come. Friends are a very rare jewel, indeed. They make you smile and encourage you to succeed. They lend an ear, they share a word of praise, and they always want to open their hearts to us. Show your friends how much you care. Remember to always be there for them, even when you need them more. For you never know when it may be their time to "Keep your fork."

Go Packers!!!

2008-01-12T16:34:00.001-08:00

I admit it...I'm a cheesehead!

And...we won...we won...we won!!!!!!

See ya at the NFC Championship!

Resolutions

2008-01-12T15:45:00.000-08:00

So, did you ever have anything that you knew you really needed to do for your health but totally and completely didn't want to? I mean, you know that you will feel better, sleep better, be happier if you just did this thing?

Well that's where I am at right now. I need to go on a diet. Not just because I need to lose weight (which I do) but because I would be healthier. The thing about the diet I need to go on is that it means taking certain things out of my eating line up...sugar, cheese, mushrooms, anything with vinegar, bread, pasta, white rice and potatoes, anything else with wheat, rye or barley, anything with yeast in it, certain fruits high in molds and funguses AND.....coffee.

You see I have this little problem with candida in my system. Occasionally I have to get REALLY disciplined and limit my foods so that my system can get back in balance. Unfortunately, for me, it's not just a matter of eating some yogurt and taking some probiotics...it's a matter of cleaning up my system. I've gotta stay away from certain foods and take a bunch of different supplements.

I hate it.

I love the results. I usually lose weight and get into clothes I haven't worn in awhile...and right now I have 15 pounds to lose and I am definately pushing the limits of my clothing selection. As in if I don't lose some weight I've got to buy some clothes in the next size...AND I REFUSE TO DO THAT!

So I've almost reconciled myself to this thing. But I've decided to approach it slowly. I'm taking the month of January to get my portion sizes down (I've been eating like a farmhand lately), reduce my sugar intake and start taking a few breads and pastas out. I'm also getting back in the habit of exercising regularly. I also need to start weaning myself off caffeine...grrr. That's the one I am really not looking forward to.

(Whine) I like my coffee....and my creamer. (Pouting)

This is definately going to take some discipline and a lot of prayer.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. -Philippians 4:13

I'm Back...Sort of

2008-01-06T15:36:00.000-08:00

Well, all my decorations are safely put away for the year. I managed to maintain my weight and not gain anything in spite of eating bzillions of calories nearly every day and drinking waaaaay to much coffee. Now I have to lose the five plus pounds I gained between Thanksgiving and Christmas and the ten pounds before that....see so I really am doing quite well in the weight department....heh, heh.

I'm getting slow start on this year. I'm still working on my resolution list but I have managed to get a weeks worth of lesson plans done for the kiddos so we will be starting school bright, if not early, tomorrow morning.

One of my resolutions this year is to practice more structure and good stewardship of my time. This last Fall I found myself spending A LOT of time on the computer to the detriment of other duties and activities. By Christmas time I was feeling very convicted about this and during my break from blogging decided that instead of trying to write a post everyday, I would pick two or three days out of the week to write a post. Hopefully this will also improve the quality of my posts. I will also continue to do my Sunday Psalm posts and I am praying about whether to include a devotional thought with them or not.

So there you have it.

My plan so far for 2008.

Inspiring, isn't it?

I'll be posting some more of my resolutions in the weeks to come. They are really things that I feel the Lord is calling to my attention and asking me to address in my life. And if I learned anything in 2007 it was to obey the Lord and to do it promptly. It is, after all, my desire to glorify Him in all that I do, including in blogging.

Wandering Through My Meanderings

2007-12-29T19:36:00.000-08:00

Hi there!

I thought I'd just check in and say, "Hi!" We finally finished all the Christmas festivities yesterday. It takes us all week as we have our immediate family Christmas at home and then hop in the car the next day and travel to see family in two seperate locations.

It's exhausting.

I haven't had a decent nights sleep in three nights. We were at my FIL's last night. A little noise, a warmer climate and a noisy bed don't make for a restful night. We are now back at my parents house...I think I might score some Tylenol PM from my Mom tonight.

We'll be here for a few more days...the lure of cable television, a 56" screen and HDTV on New Years Day is keeping us here. Husband murmured something about "awesome football" when he decided we would stay.

Personally, I'm all about HGTV and the Rose Parade.

I love the area that my parents live. Husband and I started out here, but within the first six months of marraige moved to an area five hours away for job reasons. I thought it would be for just a couple of years and then we would move back.

HA!

Seventeen years later we are still in the same faraway place.

This has been a real struggle for me emotionally and spiritually of late. I'm not blooming where I'm planted. I really would like to be transplanted. I want to be in a pot right next to my Mom and Dad. As my parents get older this is getting to be a really deep seated desire.

So I pray.

I yearn.

I Google real estate.

I know God works out His plan for our lives in His time. So how come I get so impatient? How do I know that my desires are His desires for me? Why can't I just be content right where I am? How do I know if this discontent is Godly or not? Am I suffering from the grass is greener syndrom?

I keep praying.

I read my Bible.

I walk faithfully...or at least try to.

Such are the meanderings of my mind this time of year. Which is entirely normal for me, but somehow seems more intense this year. Sigh.

I wish I could think of a nice satisfying way to conclude this entry. I feel like I have been all over the map here...thanks for following along. I'll try to be a little more focused next time I write.

A Bloggy Break

2007-12-18T17:58:00.000-08:00

There comes a time in every woman's life when she must admit she can't do it all. I have come to that point. With only a week until Christmas and only half my shopping done I need to cut down on a few things. I decided that blogging would have to be one of them.

Sooooo, I'm going to take a short break from blogging until after Christmas and New Year's Days. Now having said that, I have to admit that I may slip in a post here and there in the next couple of weeks as time allows. So I hope you will check in periodically.

I hope that all of you who take the time to read my little missives have a wonderful Christmas day and a very Happy New Year's day. I also hope that you keep Him at the center of all you do. He is the reason for the season, after all.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
~John 3:16