Any of you that have followed my blog for long have known my on going struggle with whether or not Christians should receive welfare.  Specifically, I have struggled with whether or not I should be in the system.  There is a myriad of voices around me with opinions.  The bottom line is that the only opinion that counts is Gods.

Several months ago, I finally, after much prayer, came to a point of resolve about this.  I just realized I never shared it here with all of you.

If I were married to an unbelieving husband, he would be my provider.  As long as he was willing to stay and did not ask me to do anything in violation of God’s word, I would be obliged to stay.  There would always be the chance that by my words and example of faith, that he might come to Christ.

The Lord spoke to my heart about the fact that I had married the government when I went into the system.  It was not His best choice for me, but I lacked faith and was disobedient, unwilling to trust Him totally.  Until God closes the door and ends our benefits, I am to remain where I am, for this season.  This is God’s provision for my family.  He wants me to stop struggling and trying so hard to do it on my own and to simply rest in Him. 

In all of this, the Lord has answered my prayer for a full-time ministry from home.  In my home state the welfare system requires that you be working, looking for work, going to school or volunteering in order to be eligible for benefits.  My state homeschool organization qualifies as an acceptable organization to volunteer for.  I can work to support homeschooling, ministering to others, while homeschooling  my children.  It also has given me the opportunity to go back to school and do the necessary work to complete my teaching certificate, not so much for me to be able to seek full time employment, but so that I can do assessments for homeschooling families.  There is a seeming lack of homeschool friendly certified teachers in our state.  I hear horror stories every year about teachers that did assessments, but really didn’t understand what they were doing or reviewing.  The Lord is opening up an amazing door there for me to have an ongoing ministry to homeschooling families, because who understands it better than someone who is doing it every day.

It is my prayer that this season in our life may be coming to an end.  It’s going to require a lot more faith and trust than I have now.  It’s also going to require contentment with what the Lord provides.  It is going to require caring more about the Lord and His leading than what people around me think of what I’m doing.  I can’t do it alone.  It will only be by His grace and for His glory that we will succeed. 

I should add an end note here, that while we have less financial support than every before in our homeschooling, we are able to do so much more with it.  It is the kind of thing that only God could do.

Blessings, MaggieRaye

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Save In Piggybacking

In all the changes that I have made this year I have been learning the importance of "piggybacking".  Piggybacking is when you butt one thing after the other and save because it is already heated up.  For example... to dry one load of laundry after the other and save because the dryer is already heated up.  Another way I have piggybacked my savings is when I roast my coffee beans.  I roast what I need for that week...one batch after the other. A third way that I can think of right off the bat is piggybacking while baking or cooking with the oven.  Get the biggest bang for your buck by baking several things together and right after the other.  In the winter time it is also a nice way to raise the temperature a little in your house.  I guess you can say it is like multi-tasking your energy use and save.   .

Now to join in the fun of Tightwad Tuesday....

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  Link your TWT post click on MckLinky and give exact the URL of your post.   (each Tuesday that  you join in on the fun)  

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example of a URL ...

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Canadagirl/693425/

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  Now go ahead link and read and comment on all these other's wonderful TWT's. 

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 Lets save our pennies, nickles, dimes, and dollars  together !

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"There are only a few big ways to save money but there are many small ways ....that all adds up."

     How is everyone with presentations? I have always been terrible at it. My DW Traci is great at presentations and hosting seminars. Now we humor ourselves at home with a little play acting along with our read-alouds. We have allways wondered how our DC would do in front of an audience. The field trip group that we are joined with now gave us this opportunity. Once a month they have a oral book presentation. They do an oral report on a book they are reading or a subject matter of their choice. I am impressed with the different mediums or ways they bring out their reports.

     All the DC were a little nervous at first, but now they are doing great. I have seen poster boards, home made picture books, clip art with oral reports, and library books with oral reports. These presentations have helped the DC tremendously. They do a fantastic job with the timing and expression of their work before an audience.

     Field trips, park days, and home visitations are a great way for homeschoolers to meet and make friends. Support your local HSing groups.

Elton