A you might have realized if you read my last post I have been fasting. I will share more about that at a later time because it's a long story. But the Lord has shown me many glorious things over this past 7 days and I will break the fast today. I can't believe this is the first time I have really fasted. I will do it again.
I wanted to share one thing in particular that the Lord spoke to me yesterday that is related to our homeschool ...
We were doing art and right now we are using Drawing with Children by Mona Brooks. We're doing warm-up exercises in which Little Buttercup is learning to observe and really look at things. In one of the lessons she is to draw mirror images (by the way, I found great drawing exercises on Donna Young's Young Minds CD ... found on her website!!)
She was having a hard time and I tried to explain to her that her little 6-year-old hands don't quite have the ability yet in their muscles to do such precise work. I then realized that I had been looking over her shoulder the entire time. She doesn't need that from me. I don't do well when I am learning something and I have someone looking over my shoulder, watching every move I make. I've had her under a microscope! I look over her shoulder as she writes, as she does math worksheets, as she draws. She does not need that and it is not good for her.
I might share more personal things the Lord has shown me later .....
6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? ...
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
DCI Founder and Chairman, John Hendricks said, "Steve was a larger than life force. He brought joy and learning about the natural world to millions and millions of people across the globe..." DCI CEO and President, Judith McHale said, "I don't think we will ever get over the loss of Steve Irwin, a human being of enormous heart, irrepressible enthusiasm and dedication to everything he touched."
We love the Crocodile Hunter here ... he cracks us all up and, as someone stated on their blog (sorry I cannot remember right now who said it - it wasn't me, but I agree) he was much smarter than people give him credit for. He was an animated, exciting and devoted man who loved his family ... his passion will be missed.
Father God, please bless his sweet family and draw them to you in this time of great need.
I have bit of free time this a.m.until she wakes up, so I thought I would write about a acouple of things ...
1) I bought a *great* CD online a couple of weeks ago and it is AWESOME!! Are you looking for a really good worshipful CD that you can play during personal prayer/praise/worship time? Or one to play throughout the day in your home? I "met" Steve Sensenig through blogging & commenting on Spunky's site. He and his wife homeschool and a few weeks ago they were featured bloggers here at HSB. He plays the piano (very well!) and has 3 CDs ... who knew?
Anyway, it came in the mail while we were on vacation and was waiting for us when we got home. I promptly put it in the CD player and we have been listening to it ever since. Farm Boy likes to have it playing when he comes home in the evenings. Oh, I didn't mention the one we have is "To Worship You" ... here's the description from the website:
This project includes intimate interpretations of many modern praise-and-worship classics such as "Breathe", "We Bow Down", "Shout to the Lord", "Agnus Dei", and others.
2) I changed over from MicrosoftInternet Explorer & Outlook Express to Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird ... both of which I like tremendously. I've never been one for doing things just because others are, and I'm not the hugest (is that a word?) fan of OE & IE, so why not give Mozilla a try? If you know what you're doing, it's really no big deal (and really, even if you don't ... it's simple!) ... this is justthe internet for crying out loud!
I have found it to be quite interesting to check my site meter about once a week to see where people are visiting from. It's sometimes fascinating to read where people actually live and how they came across this blog from Google searches and other places. So I thought I might post a few referrals that were especially intriguing ...
I have gotten many visit from this post on the FIAR boards re: nature journaling ...hi friends!!
For some reason I have a number of hits from Google image searches for peas ... perhaps because I posted about our garden a few times?
Google searches for "childbirth scriptures" ... when I was preparing to deliver Farmgirl 2 back in December I posted about some wonderful Scripture I had found ... I hope it was helpful to whomever found them here!
Okay ... this one's funny - a Yahoo! search for "david bowie ch ..ch ...changes" ... I do like the song, but I was only referencing it in regards to changes I was making for school ... sorry for the disappointment!!
Funny ... someone was probably rather disappointed when searching Google for "the parable of the lily lesson plans" because somehow they got my site?? I talked about this excellent book once and it got tied to another post about lesson plans ...
Last night, my dear husband took me out to dinner for my birthday. We went to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse (my personal fave!) and then afterward to Ikea (yes ... what a guy that he would wind aroung that huge expanse of home stuff ...). I got some curtains and some frames ... it was late and I was too overwhelmed by everything there to really look at anything else, but I'll be back!
My birthday isn't until tomorrow, but I already received 2 card today from friends at church and one even had $20 inside! We will celebrate my birthday with my family on Tuesday evening and before that on Tuesday afternoon we'll go to lunch with some friends at La Madeleine's. Then later this week my brother-in-law and sister-in-law and their children will be in town and we'll celebrate with my husband's family ...
I am sad ... upset with myself. I have let my heart become a wasteland of pride and arrogance and irritation and disdain.
This morning as I went for my daily walk I didn't wake up my daughter to go with me ... I let her sleep. I needed some time alone with the Lord ...
.....Oh Father God, I need heart surgery! Please fill me with your Spirit, Lord ... fill me with love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self-control! I need You, Lord ... I need you to create a clean heart within me, change my heart, O God, renew a willing & steadfast spirit within me! I'm desperate, Lord, for your mercy and your grace. Help me Lord, it's only You that has the power to change my heart and make all things new.....
This morning I found Elisabeth Elliot's daily devotional (which I promptly signed up to receive by email BTW) and this is what it said (I love the title):
Title: First Be Quiet
Author: Elisabeth Elliot
Our hectic lives involve many changes, and changes require decisions, and decisions must often be made in the midst of a multitude of confusions. We run here and there asking advice. Often we make decisions without sufficient deliberation because we simply haven't time--or so we tell ourselves.
There is a marvelously helpful practice that we usually overlook. It is quietness. Notice how often in the gospels we find Jesus going away alone, even when people needed Him. He deliberately chose solitude. The more hectic our lives become, the more necessary is this quietness. When it is impossible to break away physically to a place of solitude for a day or so in order to think and pray over a hard decision, there is one thing which I think helps--do not speak about the decision to anyone but God for forty-eight hours at least. Just hold it before Him alone. Keep your mouth shut for two days. Pray. Listen. Seek his counsel.
Try this, too--sit before Him for fifteen consecutive minutes in silence, focusing your mind on the words of Psalm 86:11 (NEB), "Guide me, O Lord, that I may be true to thee and follow thy path."
That's it ... I needed to read this today. I need to keep my mouth shut and go before the Lord with some things that I am struggling with right now, praying, listening, seeking the Lord's counsel. And I need to sit before Him and meditate on Psalm 86:11.
I like to look at multiple translations of certain verses at times like this ...
11 Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. NIV
11Teach me Your way, O LORD; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name.
NASB
Train me, God, to walk straight; then I'll follow your true path. Put me together, one heart and mind; then, undivided, I'll worship in joyful fear.
MESSAGE
11Teach me Your way, O Lord, that I may walk and live in Your truth; direct and unite my heart [solely, reverently] to fear and honor Your name.
AMPLIFIED BIBLE
11 Teach me your ways, O LORD, that I may live according to your truth! Grant me purity of heart, that I may honor you.
I like Spunky ... I really do! And one reason is that she keeps us all up to date on the latest idiotic happenings around this crazy nation of ours. Here's the latest - Pray This Never Happens to You. And she's right ... you better pray that it doesn't.
It's about Abraham Cherrix, a 16-year-old young man with Hodgkin's Disease who is fighting for his life ... literally. He wants to pursue "alternative treatment" for his cancer and this is against medical advice. Apparently someone "turned him in" (wonder who that was, hmmmm?) and now the big, bad government of ours has decided that they know better than his parents (and Abraham ... he is 16 mind you)what Abraham needs. The judge in this case ruled that Abraham must undergo the chemo.
I won't rehash the comments made at Spunky's site, but I will post what I commented:
I'm not understanding here what the problem is with alternative therapies??? Years ago Chiropractic treatments were considered weird and alternative ... now they are becoming more & more mainstream.
I, for one, would be one of the first ones to consider alternative therapies if I or my family were diagnosed with a serious disease ... I already do it now when we (rarely) do get sick.
Will I be considered neglectful the next time one of my daughters has an ear infection and I wait it out rather than giving her antibiotics? By the way ... I've never given antibiotics for ear infections and they have always cleared up on their own ... and in our family we have only had to deal with 2 of them. I know ear infections are not the point ... the point is that I choose NOT to go along with the commonly held (although inaccurate according to my research and my doctor - praise God for her!!) view that we must treat treat treat every ailment that comes our way with mainstream medicine.
Again, whether or not alternative therapies are right/wrong work/don't work is really not the point here ... what is the point is that we, as parents seeking the BEST for our families and children MUST MUST MUST have the right and freedom to choose.
Not only is this family (and others) victims of the government with britches that are too big, but I will go so far as to say that they are also victims of the medical establishment. The medical society/establishment/community (call it what you will) is also quite arrogant and damaging in a lot of cases.
Don't misunderstand me ... God has blessed us in many ways through medicine. But doctors are not gods, they are not all-knowing, they are not all-powerful. We give them too much power ... too much authority ... too much weight to their OPINIONS.
So here is what I think the problem is ... PRIDE - ARROGANCE ... coupled with the irrogance of the vast majority of the people in this nation ... those things have led us to where we are.
Tonight my oldest daughter went to Build-a-Bear with her grandparents, and my husband was going to be home late. That left me at home with the baby who was quite cranky tonight. So I gave her a paci and rubbed her tummy and back (always soothes her) and proceeded to turn on a Lifetime Movie. I can't watch them when my daughter is here since she's only 6, nor can I watch them when my husband is here because, well, he's a man.
The movie tonight was Painful Secrets about a teenage girl who abuses herself. Her parents were COMPLETE IDIOTS!!! Hello! "No wonder she hurts herself!" I thought to myself. I'm not making light of self-abuse - that is a serious problem in our society among girls and women. Anyway, while watching the movie I thought it reminded me of an ABC After-School Special ... remember those?
I used to love to watch them ... for some reason. Why??? Was it the melodrama? The wonderful acting? The terrific screenplays? The life lessons? I don't know, but I think they were a lot like Lifetime movies today, only the themes weren't quite so "adult" (no steamy love affairs and such ... although girls did get pregnant in them). If you want to reminisce, someone found an old commercial here.
You can buy ANYTHING today ... even DVDs of After-School Specials! Can you believe that? Who would buy these? Okay .... shhhhhh ... don't tell anyone, but secretly I might just to take myself back to those lazy, carefree days after school eating chips and salsa with my best friend, Crystal, and getting lost in the drama. And the DVD cases look like Trapper Keepers!!
So what happened to cheesy Made-for-TV Movies? As I was thinking about those After-School Specials I also wondered about those silly movies. I still remember a handful of them vividly ... but one that sticks out in my mind was about a girl who wanted to be a model and ended up falling for a lot of junk and becoming a p*rn star and cocaine addict. Do you remember that one? My dad would not let me aspire to modeling after that one!!
Now all we have left is Lifetime ... sometimes USA Network will play a good old TV movie, but it's rare these days.
As Forrest Gump would say, "That's all I've got to say about that."
I really don't know wny I am writing about this. My daughter doesn't want to go to bed because it's storming outside, so I thought I would stay upstairs with her and visit the blogging world .... and so here I am ... I'm leaving now .... goodnight!
I have spent the better part of this morning (or should I say the entire morning) working on my blog (my NEW blog at blogger.com). It's coming along quite nicely and my 6-year-old daughter thinks it is "sooo pretty". She wants me to make one for here now ... we'll see about that, although I think that whatever she has to say would be quite hilarious.
I woke up at 5:45 this a.m. to go walk around the neighborhood and then took a shower and then worked on this blog and checked email and then got the baby up and then fed my children and then got my husband off to work and then played with the baby and then put her down for a nap and then worked on this blog some more and now ... I'm tired! Dontcha like how I wrote that long run-on sentence? It was so that you would get tired of reading it and see just how tired I am now ...
I have to run now before my head explodes from thinking too much ... hey that reminds me:
from Disney's Beauty and the Beast: [singing] Gaston: Lefou, I'm afraid I've been thinking... Lefou: A dangerous pastime. Gaston: I know.
okay, I really should leave now ... see ya later ...
I have decided to keep an alternate running blog at blogger.com ... it is also called "good soil", but it has a different look and feel ... come visit me!
I also have an account with Blogines.com where I can keep track of all my "friends" and their new posts ... the "friends" feature here just isn't adequate IMHO to keep up with posts.
That's all .... :)
~Heather
p.s. some of you guys do not have RSS feeds for whatever reason, or I can't locate them ... if you want me to be able to keep up with you then I need them (Louise, Angela ......)
Ephesians 4:31-32 says "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and railing, be put away from you, with all malice: Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God, in Christ, has forgiven you." (NASB)
and Colossians 3:8 says "But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth" (NASB)
I went to a women's retreat this weekend with my church. It was wonderful ... a much, much needed thing for me! God spoke to me about so many things. But one of the most profound things the Lord spoke to me was not through a speaker, not through a song ... it was through a dear friend as we talked over lunch yesterday.
We shared some things we are going through re: our tempers, our anger. We talked about learning what it is that pushes our buttons. Then she told about something that the Lord has spoke to her about ... Get rid of the buttons!
It was like a lightbulb went off over my head ... That's it! Let's do some heart surgery, Lord ... remove the buttons!I don't even want to have buttons that can be pushed! I'm not sure that I can convey through these written words how God opened my eyes yesterday when she said that!
I am in need of some "heart surgery" to get rid of those buttons and I am in need of spending more time in God's Word, so it looks like I am going to be going "under the knife" ...
For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12 NASB)
So the saying goes. Our oldest DD decided just this week to begin learning to ride her bike wihtout training wheels! She's doing pretty good.
I have a bike and so does my husband. I was going to show you a picture of mine, but I can't find it. It's a Diamondback Topanga and I was so happy when I got it. I had just finished graduate school with my masters degree in counseling and the job market was tough. I saved up my gift $$ and bought 3 things: Birkenstocks, a nice tent and a mountain bike.
The Yellow River Mountain Bike Trail was in my neighborhood, so I rode it just about everyday. I got pretty good and really enjoyed it. I learned so much about biking and would even do my own tune-ups on my bike. My husband (boyfirend at the time) also got into mountain biking and bought a very nice Gary Fisher Hoo Koo E Koo. We rode a lot and were completely into it. Then one day ...
I busted it! Bad! I was going down a small, but sharp, hill and my front tire hit a rock just right so that my bike went one way and I went another. I scraped up the entire right side of my body. I lost my edge ... my confidence. And without confidence you simply cannot mountain bike ... well. They had since closed the back entrance I was using to get to the trail, so it was longer and harder for me to gt there without driving. So that ended my mountain biking life. But I just couldn't let my bike go, even thought it's older now, without suspension and all the latest bells and whistles. My husband also hang onto his. He kept threatening to seel them, but I always gave him "that look".
Tonight my husband got my bike out ... and I got on it. I had forgotten what fun it is to ride a bike. Sounds funny to even write out, but it's true ... it's fun! I have to wait until the baby is one year old to get a baby bike seat, but I think I will get one when I can and we can go together as a family and ride bikes. I don't think I'll do any full-fledged mountain biking again anytime soon (or ever), but it's easy to find beginner trails and forest service roads here and there.
So now I need to go and rest ... my body used muscles it hasn't used in a l o n g time!
flowers from my 6-year-old daughter (she is my little blossoming flower )
a big box of chocolates from my baby girl (she is like a box of chocolates ... you never know know what you're going to get!)
and from my husband I got a bouquet of flowers and .... a trip to
Now, before you you must remember my farm dream! I had fun ... dreaming and dreaming and dreaming ...
And he bought me a sprayer for my garden and the following books:
Country Wisdom and Know How: Everything You Need to Know to Live Off the Land. From Lehman's Catalog:
This oversized book is a complete guide to simple living. Almost 2000 illustrations and photographs describe over 8,000 useful skills including raising animals, cooking, crafts, gardening, health and home. Learn to cook with edible flowers, raise a healthy rabbit, give a good foot massage, or piece a quilt. All the answers to your country-living questions are in this book. The sheer bulk of information it contains is amazing. Includes detailed table of contents, index and appendices.
and
Hobby Farm: Living Your Rural Dream for Pleasure and for Profit. From the author's website:
This is the first book in a new line of books about small farm options for those who are new to the country from the publishers of Hobby Farms Magazine. It will cover moving to the country, gardening and crops, livestock, preserving the harvest, money-making options, and more.
yes, I am dreaming and dreaming and dreaming of a farm ...
land and a small farmhouse and a barn and some chickens and goats, maybe a horse and now I am thinking of also having a family cow ... I read a great article about it at Backwoods Home - Finding, Buying, Milking and Living with the Family Cow.
So now a good friend that I have met over the internet (Hi Michelle!) introduced me to Mary Jane Butters and her FABULOUS Ideabook*Cookbook*Lifebook: for the farmgirl in all of us:
It's a wonderful book full of stories and pictures and ideas and inspiration. I found it at our library the other day. I brought it home and have been eating it up because it is full of delicious stuff!
I joined her Farmgirl Connection to chat with other farmgirls and wannabes about everything from our dream farms to making your own soap to milking cows to finding land ... and more. And I have received such a warm welcome ... I even bought a cute little apron for my dishwashing liquid from Aunt Jenny ... gotta start somewhere, right? Although no one could accuse me of not wanting to be a farmgirl if they saw my kitchen ... I love old antique signs and I have several ... farm fresh milk, fresh bread daily, drink milk, and then two new ones - one says seeds and the other says grow.
So now here I am ... pretending that my lovely home is my farmhouse. That's what I am going to do ... dream and live in the moment as if I were already there. That way I think I won't become discontent with the blessings the Lord has already provided for me.
I even asked my husband last night if I could put up a clothesline .... "After we get our fence" he told me with a smile ... I know all my dreaming makes him smile. Well, we should get our fence the next couple of weeks, so I'll keep you posted on that.
Well, it looks like it might be coming true sooner than I thought!! My husband has afriend that owns 5 1/2 acres about an hour south of here that he needs to sell. How neat is that?! It's near the town of Mansfield, GA (southeast of Covington for my GA friends).
5 1/2 acres! How exciting! We've been talking tonight about learning how to be more self-sufficient ... looks like I should read up on that subject a bit more!
I think it's cool, but I don't want to discourage any visits here because it's annoying ... so is it?
By the way ... the song playing is:
Love Song by Third Day
I've heard it said that a man would climb a mountain Just to be with the one he loves How many times has he broken that promise It has never been done. I've never climbed the highest mountain But I walked the hill of calvary
Just to be with you, I'd do anything There's no price I would not pay Just to be with you, I'd give anything I would give my life away.
I've heard it said that a man would swim the ocean Just to be with the one he loves How may times has he broken that promise It can never be done I've never swam the deepest ocean But I walked upon the raging sea
Just to be with you, I'd do anything There's no price I would not pay Just to be with you, I'd give anything I would give my life away.
I know that you don't understand the fullness of My love How I died upon the cross for your sins And I know that you don't realize how much that I gave you But I promise, I would do it all again.
Just to be with you, I've done everything There's no price I did not pay Just to be with you, I gave everything Yes, I gave my life away.
By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can't see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being. (Romans 1:20 The Message)
I like "The Message" ... sometimes things are worded in such a way that just grabs my attention.
This morning I was reminded that I have not been taking long and thoughtful looks at what God has created ... and I have not been seeing what my eyes can't see - His eternal power and the mystery of His divine being. I use Five in a Row (FIAR), which I love, and just about every month I get an email called "Think on These Things" from the author of FIAR, Jane Claire Lambert. I received the one for April this morning and she writes so beautifully about springtime and God's creation all around ... the changes, the beauty...
I really like the writings of John Eldredge and he talks a lot about enjoying God's creation and wonder of it all. I have been inspired in the past to pay much more attention to God's works all around me. And, yet, I get so caught up in the day-to-day things that I lose sight of such simple things.
It's a picture of the first signs of life in the springtime ... isn't it breathtaking? Right now it is storming outside ... unusual for the early morning, yet it's powerful and also beautiful in its own way.
I am reminded this morning of God's power and majesty and mystery ... and that I should be seeking to find Him in His creation along with His Word ...
In 1999, the top reasons parents gave for having their children homeschooled were: better education at home (48.9%), religious reasons (38.4%), and poor learning environment at school (25.6%).
A study of adults who were home educated found that none were unemployed and none were on welfare, 94% said home education prepared them to be independent persons, 79% said it helped them interact with individuals from different levels of society, and they strongly supported the home education method.
albeit VERY small, still ... a farm would be nice ...
My husband and his friend are members of an extremely nice hunting club not too far from here. Last night we went on a "double date" (sounds so highschool to say that!) with our friends to the Blue Willow Inn for dinner. Beforehand, though, our husbands took us to see the hunting property ... I think they didn't think that we believed how nice it was ... they were right!
It is absolutely gorgeous ... I'm not sure how much land there is, but hundreds of acres. There are 3 separate areas and when we drove down onto one of the areas I had a vision .... of what I want my life to be, that is.
There was a nice house, and a huge oak tree with a tire swing, free-range chickens (this is where we get our eggs), goats, horses, dogs, ducks, a pond and tons of land to explore.
I want that ... a tiny family farm with all those things and a vegetable garden too.
Oh ... and a barn, maybe like this:
and a farmhouse something like this:
I know my husband would absolutely love it ... lots of land with goats and chickens, dogs and ducks, maybe horses and cows, a pond, a creek ... and a huge oak tree with a tire swing right out the front door!
Dreams ...... this is mine I think. One of those dreams that you hold on to for the future ... that you press towards ... this is mine ...................
Rainy Day Michelle just tagged me with the Seven Sevens ... she must know that I am up a lot in the the middle of the night right now ..... these are not in any specific order of priority or preference ....
Seven things to do before I die:
1. Travel all around this country (the USA)
2. Learn to quilt (really well!)
3. Travel to Europe
4. Go on a missions trip to Africa
5. Dive into my artwork (I love to draw and watercolor)
6. Go to Hawaii
7. Watch or help my DH restore a muscle car
Seven things I can not do:
1. Fly an airplane ... DH is a pilot and at one time I was going to learn, but never did
2. Fix a car ... but I would love to know how ... I am a "car girl" and I love muscle cars from the '60s and '70s
3. Seem to stay organized for more than about a week
4. Speak Japanese
5. Play tennis well ... I tried, but no such luck!
6. Drive a manual transmission car ... why learn when I have no need?
7. Cut the grass .... never have done it and hopefully never will!
Seven things that attract me to my husband:
1. His sense of humor
2. His desire to follow after God and pursue Him
3. His ability to DO ANYTHING ... he's one of those people that can just do anything, and do it well on the first try
4. They way he loves our daughters
5. His integrity and that he will not compromise that
6. His ability to juggle our family, his business and being a pastor ... and do that well
7. His love for me ... it is truly unconditional
Seven things I say most often:
1. Yeah, right!
2. Give me a break!
3. Cool!!!!!!!!!!!!
4. Sit down
5. Get off the table
6. I love you!
7. Go get in the bed!
Seven books (or series) that I love:
1. Waking the Dead by John Eldredge
2. Heartfelt Discipline by Clay Clarkson
3. Anything by Beth Moore
4. What the Bible Says About Healthy Living by Rex Russell
5. All of Jim Cymbala's books
6. He's Been Faithful by Carol Cymbala
7. The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
Seven movies I watch over and over again (or would if I had the time)
1. Coal Miner's Daughter (why ... I have no idea ... I just like it!)
2. Grease
3. Wedding Singer (Cracks me up as I was most definitely a child of the '80s)
I just have to share with you all how wonderfult my mom is! I'm so glad she only lives 30 minutes away (although it used to only be 5!). She just left my house ... she has been over here 3 days this week ... all day every day ... cleaning my house for me to help me to get ready for the baby. I mean she is doingthings that NO ONE wants to do ... like cleaning out my closet ... scary as it was!
Next week she plans on coming over and helping me to clean out my pantry and rearrange my cabinets. She has such a servant's heart. She is such a blessing and I am priviledged to call her my mom!
When I have pix to share, I just can't help but share them so here goes ...
First things first ...
We weren't sure what we were going to do last night until my DH decided that he wanted to take her somewhere, so we went to the store yesterday to see what we could find. She decided she wanted to be a butterfly (which was probably the cheapest thing they had ... just the wings we had to buy). I thought we could just use her long sleeve ballet leotard and black tights and black shoes since she picked out this particular set of wings. Little did I know that her long sleeve leotard had been inadvertently thrown away ... she thought she was throwing away her ballet tights with the hole in them and was actually throwing away her good tights and her leotard (nice one by the way) got thrown in also. Needless to say that I was not a happy camper ...
I had to ask forgiveness from the Lord and from DD for my temper tantrum .... I absolutely HATE when I act a fool! (see Proverbs 29:11)
Okay enough of rehashing that! ..... so fast forward .....
Here is DD from last night getting ready to go to the festival at our old church ... she was so excited. I didn't get to go because I am coming down with a cold and being pregnant, well, that's no fun! So DH took DD and they had a blast ...
Here is DD and I before we left for my baby shower last Saturday ... we're dressed in our black and pink
... and I have on my flip flops (they're also black with a pink ribbon) because my feet do not like shoes right now ... what will I do come December?! ....
But the seed on good soil stands for those with an honest and good heart. They hear the message. They keep it in their hearts. They remain faithful and produce a good crop.
The Dirt On Me
I am a husband loving, child adoring, homeschooling, grace-based parenting, nature loving, organic gardening, flip flop wearing, wheat grinding, bread baking, art enjoying, music loving, free thinking, God worshipping, prayer believing, status quo challenging, whole-food eating, home loving, always questioning, truth seeking, Jesus loving, blessing claiming, over analyzing, continually growing, Scripture studying, overcoming, ever wondering Daughter of the King, wife to one wonderful & wacky husband, and mommy to 2 lovely & lively princesses (and a crazy beagle too!)
Little Buttercup = Our oldest Daughter (6 Years old)
Baby Buttercup = Our youngest daughter (10 Months old)
Buttercup = ME
Farm Boy = My Dear Husband
If you don't understand the names "Buttercup" and "Farm Boy" then you simply MUST see The Princess Bride ... our favorite movie!
hi friends!!
I lost my edge ... my confidence. And without confidence you simply cannot mountain bike ... well. They had since closed the back entrance I was using to get to the trail, so it was longer and harder for me to gt there without driving. So that ended my mountain biking life. But I just couldn't let my bike go, even thought it's older now, without suspension and all the latest bells and whistles. My husband also hang onto his. He kept threatening to seel them, but I always gave him "that look". 
)
you must remember 
.... of what I want my life to be, that is.
)
right now ..... these are not in any specific order of priority or preference ....
... scary as it was!
... she thought she was throwing away her ballet tights with the hole in them and was actually throwing away her good tights and her leotard (nice one by the way) got thrown in also. Needless to say that I was not a happy camper ... 
.... I absolutely HATE when I act a fool! (
