Fundraise while you shop!

We are thoroughly enjoying this school year, and our community is growing in so many ways! We are already preparing for next year! An easy way to support our homeschool group is to use our Amazon affiliate link. This link will take you right to Amazon, you can shop, and support our group!!

Click on the link to go to Amazon:

http://amzn.to/2jjLZvR

Love is a little child tucked inside an upside-down laundry hamper.

Flowers!

I am married to a sweet, sweet man, who is almost always available to hold the fort down at home so that I can go for a Ladies Night Out. That generally means that I wouldn't be putting our younger children to bed like I usually do.

The morning after my "night out", CA, my big little man came in our room at 6 o'clock in the morning, arms outstretched, with his hands clutching tiny purple flowers. He had literally just woken up and said in his still sleepy monotone voice, "Flowers. Flowers for Mommy." He then laid his gift on my shoulder and left the room.

So, for this post:

Love is tiny crushed purple flowers given to you by your thoughtful child at 6 o'clock in the morning.

Half our family was gone for a couple nights when JC took M & J out camping with other guys from our church. I was left with CL & CA.

CL really enjoys one-on-one time, and she asked if we could do a puzzle. "Sure!" I said. I like puzzles. :-) So, she excitedly went into our basement, and came back up with a 500 piece puzzle. Let me type that again. A 500 piece puzzle. So, for today's entry of "Love is...":

Love is doing a 500 piece puzzle with your daughter, even if it that puzzle takes over 6 hours to complete.

And, now I want ice cream. 

Love is...

So, my last post on here was two years ago. It's eerily similar to the way I used to journal. Every day, to every week, to once a month, to every day again, to-- two years later, here we are! :-)

What brought me back here was this idea I have. It occurred to me that this blog would be the best place to post it. It's borrowed from the comic strip "Love is..." Sadly, I don't have a better title for this idea. Maybe someone has already done this anyway. Perhaps if another title comes to mind, I'll change it. For now, here's the first entry of what I'm hoping is a lifetime of treasured memories from this God-given blessing called LIFE:

Love is LEGO creations taking up space on your file cabinet where your peace lilly used to be.

I am free

This statement is amazing and wonderful to me. Jesus is looking at a woman who has been shamed after being caught in the act of adultery.  She was going to be killed for it too. 

Imagine having done something you know is horridly wrong. The Savior looks at you. He his holy. He is perfect.  If anyone is to rightfully condemn you, He's that person.  But He doesn't. "Neither do I condemn you."

Oh, forgiveness! Oh grace that is extended in a way that blows my simple mind! 

His statement, however, doesn't stop there. "Go, and from now on sin no more." Repent! Be free! I do not condemn you, now stop being weighed down by sin. 

When I read this I hear Jesus saying, "I love you. I want what is best for you. Go, sin no more. Repent and be free!"

Get lost in His amazing love. 

Do a 180. Repent.

BE FREE.

Grow Group Lesson 2

We have heard about Jesus’ washing His disciples feet before.  We’ve even heard how it’s an encouragement and exhortation to us to serve others humbly, just as He did.  With that in mind, let’s take a look at WHY he served, HOW he served, and WHO he served.

In her book, The Uncommon Woman, Susie Larson gives her thoughts on the moments leading up to the washing of the feet:

"As the dinner hour approached in the upper room, I imagine the disciples glancing around, looking for the slave who would clean their feet in preparation for the feast.  Normally, if no slave was available to do the foot washing, it was customary for one of the guests to volunteer.  Since there was no one who seemed ready to subject himself to the task, I wonder if they considered pulling a young servant from the street to do the duty.  Perhaps they were murmuring among themselves, wondering out loud how long they would have to wait until dinner was served."

WHY He served:

Read John 13:1-3.  Verse 3 starts off with, "Jesus, knowing….." This is important.  Jesus KNEW who He was.   He KNEW what He had.  He KNEW that He had come from God.  The movie Lord of the Rings has the famous quote, “When you know who you are, you know what to do.”  There is something about being identified with Christ, and knowing who we are that frees us from the urge of trying to prove ourselves, and being exalted in the eyes of man.  When your identity is not resting on man’s perception of your performance in your ministry, job, service, etc., but you find your identity resting in Christ, you’ll find freedom. You’ll grab hold of truth.  And sometimes, you’ll actually do whatever is that you do better.

HOW He served:

Now take a look at John 13:4-5.  Susie Larson again gives some thoughts:

"Imagine the jolt they experienced as Jesus got up, tied the servant's towel around His waist, and reached for the basin.  Picture them swallowing hard as they awkwardly scooted back to give Him room.  As Jesus' hands were dirtied from the filth on their feet, their hearts must have melted and any potential pride had to have been swallowed up and replaced by utter humility."

It’s been said before, washing another person’s feet takes true humility.  It is the lowest, most awkward service one could give to another.  I won’t dwell on this question too much, but it is worth asking.  Is there a service or action that God is calling you to do, that you refuse to do, because you feel that you’re “above” that kind of work?  The Creator of the universe washed the feet of some pretty average human beings; we should never feel like we’re “above” ANY kind of work He has called us to.

WHO he served.

Larson continues, "Even while Jesus was washing their feet, He knew in His heart that every one of them would abandon Him at some time that very night." Think about it, He knew that they would all leave Him high and dry in the most agonizing moment of His earthly life!

"Judas abandoned and betrayed Jesus...  Jesus knew that these were the feet of the man who would set in motion the most excruciating, agonizing hours of His life.  Still, He served.  Still, He washed, He rubbed, and He lovingly held the feet of the guilty in His hands.'

Have you ever been/felt betrayed? How did you respond?

Now think of this. Have you ever betrayed Jesus? Left Him? Turned your back on Him?  Have you ever followed man instead of God, “Just this one time?”  How did He respond to you?

Read Jesus' admonition to us in John 13:15 after He washed the disciples feet.  When you think of that person who’s betrayed you, remember that you have most probably at one point or another done the same to God if not worse.  In light of God's wonderful love and response to us in the midst of failure, we are called to respond to our betrayer the way Jesus has responded to us.

"With all my heart I believe that it's not only possible to rise up out of the pain of betrayal and rejection, it's our call, our privilege, and our responsibility as ones who have been redeemed." (Susie Larson)

We will all at some point, if not already, face rejection and or betrayal.  Here are some steps that Larson encourages us to take when going through the "valley of rejection":

Step One: Regularly remind yourself who you are and whose you are in Christ, according to the Word of God (loved, called, accepted, chosen, cherished, and forgiven)!

Step Two:  Pray for your accusers.

Step Three: Forgive your accusers.  This will be like a "hot potato exercise."  You will forgive them today-maybe twenty times-then you'll show up tomorrow to forgive them nineteen times. Eventually the potato will stay up in the air, and you will be free to leave the outcome to the Lord.

Step Four: Thank God for everything good in your life.  During times of rejection you are at great risk of losing perspective and neglecting those who haven't abandoned or betrayed you.

Step Five: Pray for someone who has it tougher than you do.  Write her a note or buy her a gift.  Don't lose sight of the fact that even in tough times, God has called you to be a flow-through account of His blessings.

Step Six: Get some exercise. Working your muscles and forcing your blood to circulate will do great things for your body and mind.  Pray while you exercise.

Step Seven: Get proper rest and then wake up tomorrow morning and begin again with One.

*Much of the material for this lesson has come from Susie Larson's book, The Uncommon Woman.

Grow Group Lesson 1

A few years ago, I did a short study on Leah, Jacob’s wife.  Leah is not someone in the Bible that we would like to be.  She was unloved.  No woman wants to be in that situation.  No woman wants to be unloved.  It is a deep, searing pain to feel unloved.  In the lesson I expounded on how she longed for her husband’s affection, and hoped to win it by having multiple children, even giving her maidservant to have more children for her.  Did her plan work?  Did Jacob love her more than Rachel because of all the children Leah gave him? No.  Man’s love is limited and conditional. Sometimes it is even superficial and fickle.

Now, clearly Leah did not have a say in her situation.  I doubt she wanted to be married to a man who loved another wife.  If anything, she was probably trying to make the best of the awful situation she was in by having a number of children.  “Maybe then he will love me.” she thought.  “Perhaps the children will fill this ache in my heart.”  Now here is where I think it gets interesting when you focus on it for a little bit.  You see God pursuing her with His love, and she in turn continues to pursue her husband’s love.  It’s like an open love triangle.  God, in His beautiful love, saw her situation, and opened her womb.  It seemed as if He was saying, “I see your pain.  I know your heart. I love you.”  Now as we see her name her children, we also get a real good look at what she was thinking.

Genesis 29:31 - Reuben - God has seen; now my husband will love me.

v. 33 - Simeon - God has heard.  No mention of husband here.

v. 34 - Levi - My husband will be attached to me!

v.35 - Judah - I will praise the Lord!

Just as a side note, Rachel has her husband’s love and she is not satisfied.  Unless you receive God’s love you will not be satisfied.

30:9-11 - Leah loses sight again and gets into the competition. - Gad - Good fortune - No mention of God or husband.  Now it seems she’s just focused on beating her sister.

Vs. 12-13 - Asher - Happy am I! Women have called me happy!  - Now it’s just all about her and what other women think of her.

Vs. 17-18 Issachar - God has given me my wages, because I gave my servant to my husband. - This is an interesting statement.  She seems a bit delusional at this point. It’s like she’s saying God rewarded her with another son for giving her servant to her husband.  It also seems to imply that she think God owed  her a son.

Vs. 19-20 Zebulun - God has blessed, now my husband will honor me.

She then stops bearing children.  Now if she hoped that eight sons would surely make her husband love her, she was sorely disappointed.

Genesis 33:1-2 Okay, first of all, what a coward!  This isn’t a “ladies first” kind of situation!  He’s basically saying, “Okay, if they attack us the servants will get killed first, then Leah and the children, then Rachel and the children and then last of all - me.”  Second, and more sobering for Leah, her plan didn’t work.  Her sister Rachel was still smack dab in between her and Jacob.  After all that battling, and all that bearing of children, and all that hoping and waiting, it didn’t make a difference.  He still loved Rachel more.

Michael W. Smith has a beautiful song called “Never been unloved.”  In the song he goes on saying how he’s been unfaithful, unworthy, undesirable, unwilling and so on.  He then shifts into saying that, “but because of You, and all that You’ve been through, I know that I have never been unloved.”

Leah’s situation was definitely sad, heartbreaking even.  But here is the truth of the matter. She was never unloved.  The God of the universe Who created her and everything around her loved her. Not only that, He didn’t wait for her to have a better attitude and come around to loving God first and foremost.  He loved her in the midst of her sorrow and blindness of heart.  He loved her in the midst of her futile love quest with her husband.  Through all this, He gave her multiple “I love you” gifts. Regardless of how she responded to His gift - good, bad, praising, selfish - He loved her.

Now what of all this?

Romans 5:8 says, “but God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

The fact of the matter is that we’re sometimes just like Leah.  We pursue other futile loves.  We look to them to satisfy us and they just will not reciprocate or fulfill like we thought they would.  And in the midst of all our sin and blindness, God loves us.

Or sometimes we get it in our head that because of all the bad things we’ve done, God doesn’t love us anymore.  Or maybe if we do this service or that good thing for God He will love us more. The truth is, no matter what we do or have done or will do, God’s love for us will not change.  It’s worth mentioning again.  God’s love for us will not change.

The idea here is to know, and settle for yourself, and rest in the fact that YOU are loved by God. Unconditionally. Period.  The question is, will you receive it?  Will you be satisfied by it?  Will you know it?

What comes to your mind when you think of the fact that Christ died for you?  He endured pain for you.  He wanted to be with you.

There is a quote from the book Uncommon Woman by Susie Larson.

“To ‘know this love’ is to be so acquainted with Jesus’ affections for you that more than anything else in all the earth you identify yourself as someone who is loved.”

I’ve adopted a couple questions from Kim Walker’s testimony.  This is the woman from Jesus Culture that sings the song, “How He Loves Us.”  Ask Jesus these questions.  Wait for His answer.  Expect His answer.

How much do you love me?
What were You thinking when You created me?

Oh the beauty of knowing the love of God!

Silly Art!

A dear friend gave me a book called, "Discovering Great Artists: Hands-On Art for Children in the Styles of the Great Masters" about almost a year ago.  It's a great book with different art lessons. Each one has a * for the level of difficulty, and it goes from level one to three.

One of the lessons proved to be really fun for my boys and their work even made a nice addition to our kitchen wall.

Here's what we did. (Warning: It gets pretty messy.)

Materials:

six inch pieces of yarn (one for each paint color)

at least 4 paint colors in a bowl (add water if the paint is rather thick), using one bowl per color

large white paper or 4 pieces of paper taped together

cardboard to go under the paper

Set the cardboard on the floor.  Place the paper on top of the cardboard.  Use masking tape to stick the paper to the floor.  Have kids dip the string into the paint of their choice and then, standing up, have them drop the paint-soaked yarn on the paper. SPLAT! They can then remove the yarn from the paper and start again. 

If your children are like mine, this will go on until there is no more paint in any of the bowls.  Once it's dry, you can frame it and display their art!  

I made the mistake of not putting anything underneath the white paper.  Since the boys put gobs and gobs of paint on it, it saturated the paper and stuck to the floor.  Consequentially, as I was carefully trying to peel the paper off the floor, random parts of it ripped.  So I cut out different parts of the art work and placed them into small frames.  

Tada!

My little artists..... :)

Tartar sauce

So one day, we were having I think fish sticks or some other kind of breaded fish when I looked in the pantry and realized (dun dun dun......) - we were out of tartar sauce.  Cue the panic!  How do you eat fish sticks without tartar sauce?  Oh the horror! 


Anyway, I decided to see if the internet had anything to offer.  Sure enough, it had a recipe for homemade tartar sauce!!!!  Long story short, I made it with my own few tweaks and it turned out to be, in my opinion, much better than store bought tartar sauce.  Of course, it was fresh too!


Try it!  You just might like it.  We haven't bought tartar sauce from the store since then. :)  


Tartar sauce recipe:


1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 Tablespoon sweet pickle relish
1 Tablespoon minced onion
1 Tablespoon lemon/lime juice (if you have fresh limes, juice a half lime)
dried parsley to taste
lemon pepper to taste


Mix up all the ingredients and you're done!

Depression

There seem to be as many types of depression as there are causes for it.   After noticing that certain factors brought on depression in me, I was determined to find out what I could do about it.


I had an episode a couple weeks ago that lasted the whole day.  I was crying for no reason and very irritable.  I felt like there was a constant dark cloud over me, just like those depression commercials.  I could feel the tension in my body and spirit.  I was constantly praying the whole day.  I just wanted it to go away.


I talked to one of the pastor's wives on the phone about it.  She said that it's normal, and that a lot of people get depressed.  She also said not to fight it, but just let it run its course.  I thought that was interesting.  I was trying to fight it.  I didn't want to feel that way.  But that was just it.  It was a feeling, and it didn't seem like I could change the way I felt.  I felt hopeless, even though I knew I had hope.


I knew God's truth and held on to His promises.  I didn't have any unconfessed sin in my life.  There was no tragedy or problem in my life that would have caused me to feel so distraught. And yet, I felt distraught.


And so, my research began.  


I've been pregnant four times, get my period and ovulate on a regular basis and I'm presently nursing.  So I know my hormones can get out of wack. That's a factor.  


I also noticed that when the sun hadn't been out for a long period, I felt really gloomy.  That's another factor.


I can't account for all the other times I've felt depressed as it doesn't happen very often,maybe once every 3 months.  But as far as this last episode is concerned, it seemed to be a combination of the sun not being out for about four days, and good old PMS.



So I think I have what is called Seasonal Affective Disorder, complete with its appropriate acronym - SAD. :)  When the sun is not out for a number of days, and the hormones line themselves up just right, I get SAD.


There were three supplements that claimed to help: vitamin D3, vitamin B12 and omega 3.  I asked a homeopathic doctor what he thought would be my best bet.  He said the vitamin D3 would help for the sun-related issue.  The B12 would be good simply for energy and motivation.  The omega 3 was good for me, period.  However, he said to try to get it in its purest form, because the more processed the omega 3 supplement is, the less effective it can be.


So...... I've been taking vitamin D3 (5,000 UI) once a day after breakfast and vitamin B12 (500mcg) once a day after lunch.  I haven't done the omega 3 for now.  It's pretty pricey to get the good kind.  So far, so good for me.  I've felt more energy, and the depressed feeling hasn't come back.  Of course for me, time will tell.  I don't actually get depressed that often, so we'll just have to wait a few months to see what happens. :)


Other practical factors that can help curtail depression are exercise, drinking adequate amounts of water and eating healthy foods.  I do take a regular multivitamin food supplement already, and exercise 3 to 4 times a week on the treadmill for 30 minutes.  I could definitely do better when it comes to drinking water and eating healthy.  Christmas this year has produced quite a bit of chocolate in our household. :)


Well, there you have it.  Hope this information proves useful to you or someone you know.

Ribs

I received this recipe from a dear family friend.  I tried it out a couple nights ago and oh...... it was good! :)


What I loved about this recipe was that it was so easy and the ribs came out teeeeendddderrrrr. 


So hear it is.


Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Take a rack of ribs, or in our case, 7 small slabs of country ribs.  Rub in some bbq sauce into the meat. Wrap the meat with foil, put in a baking pan or roasting pan and bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes.  Bump the heat down to 300 degrees and bake for another 2 1/2 hours.  Take the ribs out of the foil, dumping the grease.  Cover in more bbq sauce.  Place it back in the oven and turn off the heat.  Let it sit for another 10 minutes in the oven.  Serve and enjoy!

Comfort Idols

We all have them. Shopping, eating, TV, internet surfing, sports, facebook (gasp) - the list goes on.  Things that we go to for comfort.  The comfort idols.  I'm tired; I going to binge on chocolate. He hurt my feelings; I'm going shopping. The kids are crazy today; I'm going to plug my face into the computer.


What inevitably happens when we're done with the comfort idol is, it doesn't satisfy.  Oh sure, maybe for that 5 minute sugar high from the chocolate, life seems dandy, but then what?  Back to reality and to feeling the way I did 10 minutes ago.  The problem that I ran away from is still there.


I'm preaching to myself, by the way. 


I was reading Isaiah 55.  In verse 2, "Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?"  Yeah. Why do I do that? 


Verse 6 says, "Seek the Lord." That's right.  The Creator of Life has answers to life. Well, who knew? ;)  At the end of the day, Jesus is all I need.  When faced with the temptation to run to my comfort idol, I can either give in to the temporary satisfaction and subsequent consequences, or I can run to my God for comfort and rest and fulfillment and satisfaction and answers, with no side effects.


Run to Him. Talk to Him. Rest in Him. 


Find comfort in Him.  The idols won't satisfy.

10 10

On days like this where I feel like I'm fighting off sickness, I get antsy at both the thought of needing to rest and needing to get things done.  This is where my "10 10" comes in.


I focus on one project, say washing the dishes, and give 10 minutes to it.  I even set my timer for it. Then, when the timer goes off, I take 10 minutes to relax - read, sit, nap, surf or whatever. Then, I go back to the 10 minutes of washing the dishes until it's done.  Granted, it takes me a long time to finish whatever project I'm on, but eventually it gets done.  Which, in my case, is better than just staring at it. :)


This also works for when I just feel overwhelmed. Eventually what ends up happening is that the 10 10 turns into 15 10 (15 minutes work, 10 minutes rest), or even 30 10. 


Do you have a 10 10 that you do to help get things done little by little?

Homeschooling!

A dear friend recently mentioned that there was a resource website for those doing the Five in a Row curriculum.  I've done it for the past week and it is wonderful!  My boys are really into it.  The nice thing about it is that once you've done all the activities on the website for a particular book, you can then gather all the crafts and projects and turn it into a lapbook. If you're not familiar with it you need to check it out!  Go to www.homeschoolshare.com. Everything is free and oh so detailed!  I'm thinking you could get about a month's worth of lessons from one book alone if you followed all the topics that could spark your child's interest.

If you know of someone who could use this info, pass it on! :)

Cleaning and my baby girl

In the eyes of a cute 2 year old little girl, there are few things more kissable than a freshly polished, streak-free, glass door, window, oven or mirror. :)

LL:  The messy signs of life in my house are much more cherished than a lifeless, spotless house. 

Thank You, Lord.

Surprise!

My husband told our children that he had a surprise for them this Friday.  We're getting some fish which will be the first pet they've ever had.  They're really excited and keep trying to guess what the surprise is.  My oldest son came to me this morning and declared, "Mommy, I'm so excited for Daddy's surprise this Friday! I think it's a brother and sister."

Ha.  That WOULD be a surprise.

Lesson Learned: Children can be so hilarious and dead serious at the same time.

Introduction

The thought of a blog has excited me for quite some time. 

As I've thought about all that God has taught me as a stay-at-home wife and homeschooling mother of four children, many, many lessons have been learned.  Some are practical and simple, like how to clean efficiently (www.flylady.net). Some take a lifetime to learn, like how sin is a waste of time, a waste of life, and that it's effects on those around us have real consequences.

So here we are.  I have an unsatiable desire to learn, and I thought I'd share whatever it is I do learn here.  I pray it is a blessing to others as well.