At Last!

Wow! It’s been awhile since I last posted. Everyone must think I fell off the face of the earth. School is done now. It has actually been done for us for a few weeks now and we will start up again the middle of August. I am trying my hardest not to think about school. Now that school is done I am finding myself already wanting to dive into planning for the upcoming year but I promised myself a vacation. My goals are to read a few books and get as many scrapbooking pages done as possible.

We are in the process of moving right now so my free time is spent packing and cleaning. It is all coming to a halt so I will let you know how it turns out. I am glad to be doing this now rather than in the middle of a school year. Hopefully we will be all moved and unpacked just in time to start school again.

Not much has happened the past few months. We are all getting over colds. Some of us the cold is just lingering and doesn’t want to go away. Nice time to get sick when it starts to get nice and warm outside! Mikayla finished up her dance session for the summer and the boys finished up gymnastics and are almost done with softball now. They can’t wait to start up again! Austin is at his dads for the summer. Can you believe he just turned 14? I am getting old. It seems just yesterday, I was bringing him home from the hospital. Well anyway, I just wanted to catch up a bit. Next I need to work on updating my layout and changing a few things. I hope everyone has a great summer and for those of you that are schooling through the summer, I wish I could be joining you but I really need some down time right now.

Toodles,

I decided to quit!

One day I decided to quit…
I quit my job, my relationship, my spirituality… I wanted to quit my life.
I went to the woods to have one last talk with God.
“God”, I said. “Can you give me one good reason not to quit?”
His answer surprised me…
“Look around”, He said. “Do you see the fern and the bamboo?”
“Yes”, I replied.
When I planted the fern and the bamboo seeds, I took very good care of them.
I gave them light. I gave them water.
The fern quickly grew from the earth.
Its brilliant green covered the floor.
Yet nothing came from the bamboo seed.
But I did not quit on the bamboo.
In the second year the Fern grew more vibrant and plentiful.
And again, nothing came from the bamboo seed.
But I did not quit on the bamboo. He said.
“In the third year, there was still nothing from the bamboo seed. But I would not quit. In the fourth year, again, there was nothing from the bamboo seed. “I would not quit.” He said. “Then in the fifth year a tiny sprout emerged from the earth.

Compared to the fern it was seemingly small and insignificant… But just 6 months later the bamboo rose to over 100 feet tall.

It had spent the five years growing roots.

Those roots made it strong and gave it what it needed to survive. I would not give any of my creations a challenge it could not handle.”

He said to me. “Did you know, my child, that all this time you have been struggling, you have actually been growing roots.”

“I would not quit on the bamboo. I will never quit on you. ” Don’t compare yourself to others ..” He said. ” The bamboo had a different purpose than the fern … Yet, they both make the forest beautiful.”

Your time will come, ” God said to me. ” You will rise high! ” How high should I rise?” I asked.

How high will the bamboo rise?” He asked in return.

“As high as it can? ” I questioned.

” Yes. ” He said, “Give me glory by rising as high as you can. “

I left the forest and bring back this story.

I hope these words can help you see that God will never give up on you.

He will never give up on you.

Never regret a day in your life.

Good days give you happiness

Bad days give you experiences;

Both are essential to life.

A happy and meaningful life requires our continuous input and creativity. It does not happen by chance. It happens because of our choices and actions. And each day we are given new opportunities to choose and act and, in doing so, we create our own unique journey.” Keep going…

Happiness keeps you Sweet,
Trials keep you Strong,   Sorrows keep you Human,
Failures keep you humble,  
Success keeps You Glowing,  
but Only God keeps You Going!

What a little girl should be taught~

 *To cook plain wholesome food.

*To make her own clothes.

*To be neat and orderly.

*To care for her own room.

*To learn well the art of housekeeping.

*To care for her person.

*To exercise a quiet reserve in the presence of boys and men.

*That all cheap talk is unbecoming.

*That loose jokes about “beaux” and “lovers” are improper.

*That modesty is a priceless treasure, and will prove her surest protector.

*That her brothers are better escorts than most other young men.

*That her mother is her best companion and counselor.

*That her dress should be plain and not the chief subject of her thoughts or conversation.

*That she should wear only such style of clothing as will cover her person modestly.

*That is is better to be useful than ornamental.

*That there will be time enough to learn fancy work after she has learned to darn stockings. (Huh?)

*That the old rule, “A place for everything and everything in its place,” is a good one.

*That she should dress for health and comfort as well as for appearance.

 

I saw this list of  “What a little girl should be taught” in a book I am reading and thought it was so cute. I hope I am living up to these  with my own little girl. At least the ones that I can understand. Learn to darn stockings?  I don’t know about any of you, but I have no idea what that means. If you know, please share. So many of these, I wish my mother had taught me. If she had, maybe life growing up and even now as a wife and mother would not seem such the challenge that it can be at times. Change is so hard. To learn to be a something when you were shown different your whole life is not an easy task. The earlier we instill values and morals  and Godly character into our children, the easier it will be for them as adults. Not only will there brains and hearts be molded correctly but their habits will have already be ingrained into them. I try to tell my boys as often as I can when they decide they want to complain of doing house work, that their future wives will thank me for it later. I see and hear to often from women how their husbands don’t help out as much as they would like. And I am not only talking about house cleaning. There are alot of men in this world who go to work and come home, plop down in front of the television and expect the wife to wait on them hand and foot. I went to my sisters today to pick my nephew up for Awanas. She was walking around the house cleaning, making comments like ” I wonder what he does all day long?”As she just got home from working all day. My husband leaves all discipline up to me because he is a softy. I don’t like this but I can’t do anything about this. God has to change his heart in His own timing. Until then, this is a stress for me at times. Some men are not good with their hands, mine being one of them. Do you have something in your home that needs fixing and you know it will be there six months from now. Maybe it’s not that our husbands can’t fix things, but that there priorities are in the wrong place. We are all guilty of this. I bet all of us can pick one thing in our life that we don’t like and say “if our parents would have taught us this, then I could do this differently or better.” Alot of my mishaps in my family life always affects someone else. And not for the good either. I hate this! I guess my point in this whole babbling is that I want to invest my 100% time and effort in training my children not only to not touch the hot stove, or put a nail in the light socket, but how to be good neighbors, friends and brothers, sisters, cousins and grandsons. To be good stewards for God in everything they do. And to have a serving heart. Right now they want to serve God and want to serve (help out) mommy with the laundry. But later when they are adults they will be able to do so much more and without the hardship of it because it will be something they have lived their whole lives. I want my children to give first to God and then their family. To have that Godly mindset of “what can I do to help you out today?” If they can live a God fearing life, everything will fall into place. I pray this for them. We as mothers can help the future generations of wives and husbands just by being the mother God calls us to be. What we teach our children is more than likely going to be what they teach their children. So pray dilegently and walk beside God because He will hold your hand and guide you. He will lift you back up on your bad days and tell you to keep striving. It may be hard now, but you will reap the benefits later. You may not see results now, but you will in time.  Press on…..

The Consequences of sin~

*Sin steals your joy (Psalm 51:12)

*Sin removes confidence (1John 3:19-21)

*Sin brings guilt (Psalm 51:3)

*Sin gives satan the upper hand (2Cor 2:9:11)

*Sin quenches God’s Spirit (1Thes 5:19)

*Sin brings physical damage (Psalm 38:1-11,31:10)

*Sin causes an ache in the soul (Psalm 32:3-4)

*Sin breaks Gods heart (Ephesians 4:30)

* Sin opens the door to other sins (Isaiah 30:1)

*Sin breaks fellowship with God (Isaiah 59:1-2)

* Sin produces fear (Proverbs 28:1)

*Sin makes me it’s slave (John 8:34; Romans 6:16)

Ok, so now it is time to get out those bibles and look these verses up for yourselves! Stop making excuses and spend some time with God asking Him to show you which of these areas of your life you are guilty of? If you have time to be on this computer and in front of the television on a daily basis, then you should have time to spend with God on a daily basis. This is something I am guilty of and am trying to change.  Which of the above sins are you guilty of? Go to God with them and repent.

Nile River~

Our school project this week was to finish our model of the Nile river. We wanted to do this project months ago and never got to it. Here are more pictures.

She had to protect her face. The boys were flinging dirt everywhere.

Refiners Fire~

Malachi 3:3 says: “He will sit as a refiner and
purifier of silver.”

This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and
they wondered what this
statement meant about the character and nature of God.

One of the women offered to find out the process of
refining silver and get
back to the group at their next Bible Study.

That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an
appointment to watch
him at work. She didn’t mention anything about the
reason for her interest
beyond her curiosity about the process of refining
Silver.

As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of
silver over the fire and
let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver,
one needed to hold the
silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were
hottest as to burn
away all the impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot
spot; then she thought
again about the verse that says: “He sits as a refiner
and purifier of
silver.” She asked the silversmith if it was true that
he had to sit there
in front of the fire the whole time the silver was
being refined.

The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit
there holding the silver,
but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire
time it was in the
fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the
flames, it would be
destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment, then she asked the
silversmith, “How do
you know when the silver is fully refined?”

He smiled at her and answered, “Oh, that’s easy –
when I see my image in
it.”

If today you are feeling the heat of the fire,
remember that God has his eye
on you and will keep watching you until He sees His
image in you.

 When I read this, my first thoughts were “I get it God“. I am always asking God “when is it going to be better?” “When am I going to have it easy God?” It’s not going to get better. It’s not going to be easy. We live in a fallen world with evil and disaster. And instead of blaming God for giving me such a crappy life with stress and chaos, I need to learn to live with this and learn from the many things He is making me go through. I bring upon my own messes MOST of the time and then sit back and wonder why my life is the way it is. I am burning and it hurts so bad but I am going to have faith that my image will be seen through that silver.

The battle inside~

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about the battle that goes on inside people.

He said, “My son, this battle is between two
wolves that reside inside us all.

One is Evil: It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

The other is Good: It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked of his grandfather, “Which wolf wins?”

The old Cherokee simply replied, “Whichever one you feed.”

Eating more healthy~

Over the past few months I have been being convicted of eating more healthy. Particularly for our lunch, The kids eat a good breakfast which usually consists of cold cereal, bagels and cream cheese, Malt O Meal, eggs with sausage or bacon, french toast or pancakes. For supper it is usually the main course and then I try to have a veggie of some sort or salad and maybe a bread. That is unless we eat out or have frozen pizza. It’s the lunch I am lazy on. I kept saying to myself, if my kids were in public school, they would be eating better than this. Yes, the schools have alot of junk but they have alot of good choices now days to. Even if the kids pass over these good choices, they are still there. Of course I would pick the twinkie over the green beans so why wouldn’t they? And I’m an adult that should know better. Soooo, I am going to try harder to make sure that the kids are eating better for lunch. I am mostly concerned about them not getting enough veggies and fruits. A fast normal lunch here consists of mac and cheese with hot dogs or top raman. Spegettios or raviolis is one to and we have left overs from supper the night before. They are quick and simple but void of enough nutrition. If I give these to the kids, I want to make sure I add a veggie with it or a healthy bread that consists of wheat. I found these trays at Target and they were cute and convenient for our lunches so I picked up a couple. There were pink ones for Mikayla. She loves everything pink.

They look like hot lunch trays. Since we are on the kick of nutrition and eating healthier, I joined Weight Watchers with my sister. Only 2 days in so far but please pray that I will make better eating choices and stick with this. I was on Weight Watchers once before and quit when I was doing so good. I of course gained all the weight back. we took my 7 year old to the E.R. the other night because he was complaining of pain on his right side. I wanted to be safe just in case it was appendicitis. It was just gas pains because Dylan doesn’t go regularly. He hates most veggies so he doesn’t get alot of fiber. There has also been several occasions where Dylan would wake up in the middle of the night or early in the morning and vomit. Then he would be fine for the rest of the day. This would again happen a few weeks later. It has happened 5-6 times. Doctor said it was more than likely because he was blocked up and the feces was putting toxins into his body. I am now sneaking veggies in his food by pureeing them. I really hope and pray that he will become more regular. Please pray for him also.

I absolutely love coloring and putting together file folder games when I have the time to do so. This week Dylan is learning more on counting money and Matthew is learning more on telling time. Dylan says he doesn’t know why he has to work on counting money because he already knows how. He is just whipping through the pages. Next week we are going to go back to adding and subtracting some of the larger numbers and memorizing them. If you like file folder games here is site that has some free ones.

http://www.preschoolprintables.com/filefolder/filefolder.shtml

Fold the sheet the long way in half. On the folded end, start cutting up but don’t cut all the way up or else you will just be cutting the paper into strips. Towards the end when you are almost done cutting,cut all the way up to cut one off to use as the handle when you get the lantern done.

Unfold the paper when you are done putting the cuts into it. Then fold the paper the short way and connect the two sides some how with tape, glue or use the stapler.

Here is Matt taping it up.

Almost done. Now it just needs it handle.

The masterpiece. This is a Chinese Lantern the kids and I made at the library the other day. A home-school mom was teaching on the Chinese culture because she adopted two Chinese girls. We learned alot and had alot of fun. Matt had so much fun, he came home and literally made 15 more of them. He then put them all over the house for decoration. I had to gradually (without him seeing) throw some of them out but it was cute.