Last week, our church had their annual VBS. Each year our church has nearly 1,000 kids who attend. It costs alot of money and time to put on this huge production. Last year, our church made a committment to give 50% of whatever we took in offerings and donations and give it to other various ministries outside of our church. This is the second year and in doing this our church has had to seriously make some big decisions and cut back our budget. This year, we did Backyard Bible Cluband we all had a blast. The theme was serving others means serving Jesus based on Matthew 25 and we did the whole thing in one of my neighbor's backyards. We had 11 kids, ranging from Kindergarten to 5th grade.

In teaching to serve others, our mission was to raise money for Zoe International. The goal was to earn $15 per child for Zoe.  My two decided to do a lemonade stand and charge .25 cents for each cup. The house that hosted our VBS had a huge lemon tree and we all picked lemons and went home and made homemade lemondae.  Yum!!!

Over two afternoons, the kids collected a little over $30 dollars from neighbors, friends and others who just drove by and were kind enough to stop. T poured while AG collected the money. Both kids told the customers that they were doing this to help kids in Thailand have a new life after being rescued from slavery.

I'll post pictures soon.

I know that in other parts of the country, people have snow days. I can imagine them waking up, looking at many feet of snow outside and still more coming down and just staying in all day. They might make a fire in the fireplace, eat pancakes or oatmeal and hot chocolate for breakfast, and enjoy watching movies or playing board games all day. Maybe they even bake cookies for a treat.

Well, we in southern California have such days too. But we call them Sun Days. We woke up early this morning to get as much done as we could and by the time it was 10am, it was 103 outside. Yes, it is not fit for man or beast outside today with the tempeture hits 114. We were supposed to go to a picnic today but we called that off. The kids were disappointed but once they went outside to do morning chores, they quickly agreed that this was no day for a picnic. We have been inside all day with our air conditioning on, playing games and watching movies. Instead of baking cookies, we made homemade lemondade. Nobody feels like doing much. The neighborhood is dead quiet.  After the sun goes down, we will venture out to do a few errands. It's supposed to be another hot one tomorrow. Hopefully Monday it's going to cool down a bit. I hope so. We have VBS next week.

Where we live we have a pretty decent library system. And I take full advantage of it.  We only have so much room for books in our house. If you have been reading my blog for any time, you know I love books. So the library comes in handy, whether I know I just need to use a book just once or if I want to try a book to see if it's "worthy" to take up precious room on my shelves.

I like to cook....most of the time. But I hate sitting down each week trying to figure out what to make that will please the family, stay within the budget, not take up too much time to make, and of course some thing that is heathy. I'm a fan of  the Flylady  system and I follow what works for me.  For quite sometime I have been eyeing  the Saving Dinner cookbook on her site. I wondered if it would help me in planning dinners that fit my criteria. Sure enough, it was at the library. I brought it home, skimmed through it and put it to work.

What I love about the cookbook:

-Everything is done seasonally. I can plan according to the abundant produce thats available in the market that is frequently on sale.

-The called for ingredients are pretty common where we live and not expensive.

-The meals get raves from everybody.

-The prep is easy and include suggestions of what you can do while prepping tonight's meal that will save you time tomorrow.

-The meals are healthy with lots of veggies, lean meat, and whole grains. The recipes are made from scratch, but they don't cost me much time. And since it's not "convenience" food it is less money.

-She plans the menu along with the shopping list of everything that you need for dinner! And if you don't like something, you can swap with something else.

I'm sure I'll still enjoy using my other cookbooks and Everyday Foods subscription. But for those crazy and busy weeks. Saving Dinner is going to save my sanity in the kitchen.

Friday night, when we went to pick up DH at the airport, T started to ask questions. Here is the jest of our conversation:

T: So, Mama, do you ever think that it's possible that Satan will repent of his sins?

Me: (Ok...... deep breath. God, help!) You know, I suppose it is possible. But I don't think it's very likely.

T: Why not? If he was really sorry, would God forgive him?

Me: I think God would forgive him. God is very compassionate and loving. But the Bible also tells us of what will happen to Satan in the end. So I think that God pretty much knows that Satan is not going to change his mind.

T: But he could if he wanted to. Can I pray that he changes his mind?  

Me: Of course you can.

T: Can you imagine if Satan changed his mind and then he stopped tempting us? Do you think we would still sin? Wait....I think we would because we still have a sin nature. But it wouldn't be as much, don't you think?

Me: Yes, probably not as much. You're right, this world would be a much nicer place.

T. Well, I'm going to pray for him.

It was quiet for a few minutes.

T: Mama, I don't think that I should pray for Satan to change his mind.

Me: Why not?

T: Well because if that happend, it would start another another rebellion and a new demon would probably take his place and he might even be worse and it would start a whole another big mess.

It's both amazing and amusing with what goes on in their heads.

A few weeks ago, my mom offered to watch the kids for a week. I thought I couldn't believe my ears!!!! Usually my mom is very willing to watch the kids when I have something to do. But ti's not often that she will offer to take them, let alone for  5 days. But she did. Visions of quietness, organization, and relaxation dance in my head....a homeschool mom's dream come true!!! DH had an upcoming business trip to Chicago planned to I asked my mom to watch the kids during that time. That way it would truly have time to be alone and just reflect on what God wants in my life....and of course organize last year's stuff.

I just finished the break and it was just wonderful. Long enough to get stuff done and still have time to relax. But short enough so that I didn't miss the kids terribly. And I just enjoyed the quietness and the simplicity of it all. I caught up on reading, made plans for next year, organized books and curriculum and just spent sometime with myself and with God.

Thanks Mom for watching my kids!!!!!

So, DH started this new job. It's an actual office job rather than a be in your car driving all day job. And so far he's loving it. We knew we would have to make some changes since he would now have to drive his own car to work and pay for gas. The car is a truck so it's not as kind as many other cars on the gas milage. We did look into selling the truck and buying a more efficient car. But it proved not to be a very good move at this time. So, it's the truck for now.

Gas is so expensive these days so we have done a few things to compensate. DH is brown bagging it. This is saving us maybe $40 a week!!! He would often stop at Starbucks to get his coffee fix and then stop at get something to eat. Now, he's making his own coffee at home and there is a nice coffee machine at his new work and he can have as much coffee as he pleases. And he can eat much more healthy food by brown bagging it. Another thing he does is hypermile . By simply changing the way he drives and going a bit slower  he's saving lots of money for gas. And he now only has to fill up the truck every two weeks!

It's been almost two months since I posted in here and so much has gone on. It's either that I don't blog because I'm not inspired or I don't blog because I'm way too busy. Well, I've just been way too busy. But I hope to start catching up on all of that slowly in small entries rather than one large one.

The newest bit of news around here is that DH got a new job. After 12 years of Verizon and 8 years of going to school, he finally made his career change into finance!!! I'm so excited and proud of him. It's nice to have a DH who is excited about his job and feels like he's doing what he was created to do, help people manage their money and be wise stewards with it.

The kids are doing well. A lost her first tooth tonight! T has his piano recital on Sunday. I'll post more soon.

Just a little funny:

Today T and I were reading an article about how they re-introduced puffins back into Maine. As T was reading ,we discovered that puffins, though they look like penguins are not at all related.

I said, "I always thougth that  puffins were related to pagans. They look so much alike. "

How can it be that we have been married for 15 years????? It seems that it was yesterday and 15 years just sounds so long. But here we are.

We are celebrating by getting away for four days to go to June Lake to ski, snuggle and just enjoy one another's company. DH suprised me on Valentine's Day with a  travel guide that he made himself with 7 different ideas of where to go for our anniversary. Among them were Catalina, Solvang,  Morro Bay, Monterey, San Diego, and even Seattle and then June Lake. I was to choose and though the other destinations would be so fun and romantic, for us nothing beats June Lake for it's views and skiing. On the way in we'll drive up as far as our car will let us to see Mount Whitney and we'll also take some time to go visit Mono Lake and maybe Bodie, an real ghost town. So that's where we are headed. And this is where we are staying:

[url="http://www.doubleeagle.com/"]The Double Eagle[/url]

Nine year old T wrote me this poem this week after I had a difficult and crazy day. I just loved it and thought I'd share it with you.

Would be so nice to win this program.

Rosetta Stone has been the #1 foreign language curriculum among homeschoolers for a while -- next week they are unleashing a brand new curriculum, and you can WIN the *all new* Rosetta Stone Homeschool Version 3… FOR FREE!

This is a $219 program (and believe me it's worth every penny!) and the winner gets to pick from any of these 14 languages: Spanish (Spain or Latin America), English (American or British), Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Irish, Hebrew, or Russian.
This will also include a headset with microphone, and students will participate in lifelike conversations and actually produce language to advance through the program. Rosetta Stone still incorporates listening, reading and writing as well, in addition to speaking. Many homeschoolers requested grammar and vocabulary exercises, and with Rosetta Stone Homeschool Version 3, they're included! For parents, the new Parent Administrative Tools are integrated into the program and allow parents to easily enroll students in any of 12 predetermined lesson plans, monitor student progress, and view and print reports.

To win this most excellent program -- in the language of your choice -- copy these paragraphs and post it in (or as) your next blog post -- then to enter the contest, go to the original contest page HERE: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/JenIG/501132/ and leave a comment with the link showing where you blogged about it. And please make sure the link works to get back to the original contest page when you post it. And good luck! The winner will be picked randomly on March 26, and will be notified thru the link they left to their blog pg. And if you have more than one blog, you can post them and enter those separately for more chances to win. Yay for free stuff!

 We have made these easy and delicious cookies for quite a few years now.  Bring your family into the kitchen and start baking these unique cookies that share the story of Jesus's death, burial and resurrection. He is risen!!!!  You will need your Bible for this activity.

Resurrection Cookies

1 c whole pecans
1 t vinegar
3 egg whites
pinch salt
1 c sugar  
 
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. (this in important - don't wait until you are halfway done with the recipe!)  Place pecans in a zipper bag and let children beat them with a wooden spoon to break into small pieces.  Explain that after Jesus was arrested he was beaten by the Roman soldiers.  
Read John 19:1-3
 
Let each child smell the vinegar.  Put 1 vinegar into mixing bowl. Explain that when Jesus was thirsty on the cross he was given vinegar to drink.   
Read John 19:28-30.
 
Add egg whites to vinegar.  Eggs represent life.  Explain that  Jesus gave His life to give us life.  
Read John 10:10-11.
 
Sprinkle a little salt into each child's hand.  Let them taste it and brush the rest into the bowl.  Explain that this represents the salty tears shed by Jesus' followers, and the bitterness of our own sin.  
Read Luke 23:27.
 
So far the ingredients are not very appetizing.  Add 1 sugar. Explain that the sweetest part of the story is that Jesus died because He loves us He wants us to know and belong to Him.  
Read Ps. 34:8 and John 3:16.
 
Beat with a mixer on high speed for 12 to 15 minutes until stiff peaks are formed.  Explain that the color white represents the purity in God's eyes of those whose sins have been cleansed by Jesus.  
Read Isa.1:18 and John 3:1-3
 
Fold in broken nuts.  Drop by teaspoons onto wax paper covered ookie sheet.  Explain that each mound represents the rocky tomb where Jesus' body was laid.  
Read Matt. 27:57-60.
 
Put the cookie sheet in the oven, close the door and turn the oven OFF. Give each child a piece of tape and seal the oven door.Explain that Jesus' tomb was sealed.  
Read Matt. 27:65-66.
 
GO TO BED! Explain that they may feel sad to leave the cookies in the oven overnight. Jesus' followers were in despair when the tomb was sealed.   
Read John 16:20 and 22.
 
On Easter morning, open the oven and give everyone a cookie. Notice the cracked surface and take a bite. The cookies are hollow!  On the first Easter Jesus' followers were amazed to find the tomb open and empty.  
Read Matt. 28:1-9.
 
HE HAS RISEN!

I knew that during these discussions that we had, I never wanted to be the one to coerce her into praying. I wanted her to come of her own will. Today she went on errands with DH and on the way home she simply said, “Daddy, after you and Mamma put me to bed, I tell Jesus that I want Him to come into my heart and clean all my sins. But I don’t know if He came yet. Can we pray when we get home?” DH said he was so happy and surprised he almost drove off the road. 

They came in and told me this story and then AG ran outside to get T to pray with us. We all laid our hands on AG as she prayed her own prayer. She simply said something like, “Dear Jesus, I’m sorry for my sins. Please come into my heart and clean my sins so I can have a clean heart.” Then each of us took a turn praying for her. 

Ever have a something that you've always wanted to do but never did? Today I finally got to check off one of those things on my list.....whale watching. Yes, I've seen grey whales off the coast in Zuma Beach. But I have always wanted to go on a boat and whale watch.

We went with a few friends from our science club. We are all in a club together reading this awesome book, Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day. We get together once a month to discuss what we read and do experiements.  This science book is so not text book-y. It reads in the first person and is very exciting. I also love the Charlotte Mason approach to it. It's the best science book I have ever come across. Ok, commercial is over!

So today was just beautiful. The last two days, our weather has been warm and clear. Today was the weather chagned, but it was still a great day to go out on the water. So we drove to the harbor and off we went into the Santa Barbara Channel. For about an hour we  saw nothing. Then we saw two grey whales making their way north. We saw them come up numerous times for air and we even got to see them show off their flukes (tail). Even for this California girl, it was a site to behold. But way on the other side of the boat, in the distance was a huge pod of dolphins. They were so numerous. They were feeding and our captain slowly made his way over to them. Suddenly they surrounded the boat,  diving all around us and going under our boat, playing in our wake and surfing off of our bow. It was beautiful and all of us were awestruck. They would twist and turn under the water and we could see their blow holes open and close to breathe.  Then all at once, we saw them....huge humpback whales. It looked to us that they were feeding along with the dolphins and birds. We even saw them lunge with their mouths right open to take huge gulps of sea water. We saw one of them raise her left pectoral fin. They were quite active. We think we were observing a mother and baby. We were able to observe all of this wild life for about 1 1/2 hours before we had to go home.

Here are some pictures. These amazing animals move to fast for my camera and you never know when their going to pop up. So I consider myself lucky to have these.

Humpback Whale is the large one. To the left of the whale is a dolphin.

 Dolphin swimming right next to our boat.

 The feeding frenzy

      My dear great-uncle died early this morning. It has been a long time coming so we were not surprised and maybe even a bit relieved. That may sound awful, but we are pretty sure of where he is at and he had suffered so much since his stroke four years ago.

     Uncle Mario never married or had any children. So my mom and my uncle were like his kids. He took to us as though we were his grandchildren. He worked for Disney and he often would take us to Disneyland. Those are such good memories of the whole extented family going. He would also take us to premiers at Disney Studios when a new movie was about to be released. It was exciting to be one of the first to see a new movie. He always brought over a new coloring book or some Disney t-shirts for us. He loved soccer and horse races, gardening, animals and anything to do with his native Italy. He was a good and dear man and will be missed.

     This morning I told the kids that Uncle Mario had died early this morning. AG looked so sad for about five seconds then she looked up and smiled and said, "Uncle Mario is in Heaven right now! What can we do to celebrate?"

I think it must happen in most moms life. You sign your kid up for something and it ends up being more work for you. I understand this with certain things like piano and scouts but it seems like everything we sign our kids up for, it ends up being much more work on our part than we anticpated.

Our kids are not into a lot. There are piano lessons, Tae Kwon Do, Awana, Scouts and that's it. Ok, I think it's all on perspective. To some parents that list maybe too long and other parents are probably wondering if I'm being a good parent. But this is us right now and our plate is full.

This Saturday T had his first Certificate of Merit in piano. He studied for weeks and of course I make sure he studied for weeks. I gave him the tests and went over the tests. And in the end he got 98 out of 100. Very good!!! We were so happy to be done with it all and to put it behind us.

Then today, both kids had a test for Orange Belt in Tae Kwon Do. This particular school also includes quite a bit of Korean terminalogy. Since I don't speak Korean, I'm learning too. And then there were three kicks on the test, form and blocks and a bunch of other things. Along with piano, Awana, scouts and just regular homeschooling, I have no time to work with Tae Kwon Do with the kids. I mean, I think it's worth it, but it's just too much. So I asked DH to take it over. It was his idea to put them into it anyway. He has been working with them daily and today they both tested 98 out of 100. (There's that score again!) AG actually got a 97 but because she was so enthusiastic about it all, they gave her an extra point!

I'm so proud of both of my kids for working so hard at something and then doing so well. They want to set goals and succeed. As their mom, that pleases me. But it's a lot of input and effort from parents as well. And I think I feel more relieved and happy when it's done than they do.

We homemakers are always looking for a faster and better and sometimes greener way to clean our homes and make them the most comfortable they can be. So I'm going to start posting a favorite product once a week and tell you how I use it and why I like it. Yes, it will be my attempt at my very own commercial!

My first favorite product is my new cleaing rag. But I should say this is the super hero of cleaning rags. It truly lives up to it's name The Ultimate Cloth. Around Christmas time, there was a post on one of my favorite message boards for a free cloth, so of course I signed up. The cloth arrived in the middle of January but I put it aside, how good could this cloth really be?

It really is very good. You dampen it with water and wring it out well and then get to work. So it's very green and uses no cleaning products. It cleans glass and mirrors in a snap, with no streaks. I even cleaned all the inside windows in the house so quickly and then did a dirty  outside window and it came out sparkiling. The cloth cleans all the tooth paste and water marks off the bathroom counter so easily. It makes easy work out of getting fingerprints and mysterious marks off walls and furniture. It erases the hard water stains on my faucets and on my shower doors. Speaking of erasing, it works like those "magic erasers" but it doesn't dissinegrate. It also pulled the grease from the kitchen cupboards,  grease I didn't even know I had.

Besides all it will do, it works very easily. I just dampen it and run around the house, cleaning up dirt  and smudges. I hardly ever have to rinse it out. It keeps going, so I can keep going. And once it gets filthy, you can just toss it into the washer with a bit of bleach, if you want, and it will clean again. Mine is quite stained, but it still works beautifully. I ordered more because this cuts my work in half and I don't use any cleaning products. Cheap and green!

We are in the midst of studying the Califorinia gold rush. My kids have been very enthusiastic about this theme and I find them digging in the back yard, pretending to be miners. Last week we went to the Autry National Center. They have a wonderful field trip especially for kids studying the gold rush, and they even get to pan for gold...fools gold that is.

So last week, along with T and 20 other kids, AG panned for gold. She got a few pieces and all the children were allowed to keep one piece. AG lost her's and she has been talking it ever since. Today she was in the back yard, mining. Suddenly she runs into the house yelling, "Look, Mama. I found real fools gold!!!" What she had found was a small bit of pottery that I had spray painted gold a long time ago. The wind blew it over and the pot cracked and I threw it out. I guess a small golden piece landed in her "claim." She has been so happy about her find of  'real fool's gold" all day.