Posted By SchoolingServingScoutingByGrace in
Family Life
Okay, I said I would try to share these photos Friday, but my camera battery went dead right after my husband came home Friday and he took a short video of my two year old. So, we had to charge the battery up today. So, here are some photos today!
Here is a recent woodworking project my son completed for scouts. He actually completed that one last weekend, but close enough! Doesn't my son look proud? That aloe vera plant on the back deck behind him came inside this week, as it has turned cold lately.
And here are some of the Operation Christmas Child boxes my daughters packed this week. Below you can see one of my daughters wrapping shoeboxes.
Here are the shoeboxes my children bought gifts for and packed for Operation Christmas Child.
And here is nearly $1500 worth of Trail's End popcorn and trail mix, stacked in our living room ready to be checked off and tagged to be delivered!
And below is what happens when you spend all week at church packing shoeboxes, you sort and deliver BSA Trail's End popcorn, and your husband goes out of town to a conference. Something has to give somewhere, and this week it was laundry getting folded and put away. We finally are caught up just in time to need to wash a few more loads!
So, there is our week in pictures! How was your week?
Sometimes you just need to take some time to pamper yourself. Today, I thought I'd share a few of my more recent pampering favorites:
Fall is here and one of my favorite things about fall is the scents associated with the season - baked goods, spices, etc. I don't always have time to be baking (and I'd weigh about a million pounds if I did!), so I like burning candles to get those yummy-smelling aromas in my house. At a local craft shop, I found a really neat brand of candles that are poured in regular canning jars - what's neat about them is that they all look the same - the jars are covered with a bumpy brownish paint, some gauzy fabric, and a brown paper label. This is cool because you don't have to buy candles based on color anymore - these fit any decor and you don't even see the candle inside. Plus, they are long-burning. Alas, I don't see a brand name listed on it anywhere, so I can't share a link with you (if I had a camera, I'd take a picture).
Another great candle product that I've been enjoying is the Sugar Cookie Soywax pint-sized candle by Homestead Originals. These are available in various sizes and fragrances, are hand-poured by my friend and co-worker, Lisa Barthuly, and smell awesome!
Another awesome product from Homestead Originals is their Handmade Lavender Wheatberry Heating Pad. I ordered mine without the lavender because I'm not a fan of the flowery fragrances, but this thing is just so wonderful! Lately, I've been having a good deal of back pain and this feels so good when I heat it up and put it behind my lower back on the couch. Also, after a long and tiring day, this feels great around my neck! The website recommends using it as a bed-warmer, and I am SO going to be trying that this winter. Talk about some major pampering!
With the cooler weather, comes dry skin. I haven't had much trouble in the past, but this year my hands have been unusually dry (right around the knuckles). Just when I thought I was going to have to break down and purchase an expensive lotion, they started getting better. I had recently opened a new container of dish soap - and it's been a lifesaver. Dawn Hand Renewal has been surprisingly effective. The bottle says that it improves the look and feel of your hands in just 5 days, and I'm here to attest to that fact. It sounds kinda silly to consider dish soap something of a pampering product, but I'm sold on this stuff - it's a miracle worker. On Wednesday, my knuckles were like sandpaper; today they're soft and smooth.
Winter is the time for long, hot bubble baths, so I also ordered some of my favorite bubble bath from Avon. Curling up in a hot tub filled with bubbles, reading a good book, and smelling a yummy candle - sounds pretty great to me.
What are you doing to pamper yourself? Any great products you can recommend to me?
I saw this over on Debbie's blog and it was too good of news not to pass along! We own and love all the previous movies from Sherwood Pictures (Flywheel, Facing the Giants, and Fireproof) - so we'll be anxious to add this new movie to our collection as well. Sounds like it'll be another great one!
The room is done! There is even some furniture moved in already. It came out great, a little bit smaller than we had hoped for, but GREAT none the less... The whole experience was great! The contractor was super GREAT! The workers were great! The project came in $600 under the proposal so we had some additional work done. Our contractor went out of his way to get us deals. He went two counties away to get us bamboo floors that were sitting in a barn ~ the leftovers of a business that had gone under. We got them for $1 a linear foot ... they retailed for over $5 a linear foot. They are perfect!! He also looked our house over and found a few things that were in desperate need of repair and fixed them for almost no cost. Let's put it this way. Part of our home had to be jacked up because of a failing support beam. He did the job for $76 ~ the cost of the beam and a little extra to pay for his helper. The mess was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be .... So, you all want me to stop carrying on about how great it was and let you see the results for yourselves!?!?
Yay! Well, this is all you are getting right now. The big reveal will be just after Christmas. This year we are giving no toys (except stocking stuffers) so that we can decorate the children's bedrooms. I'll show you all the rooms once we have curtains up and such.
In the meantime we will be painting the rest of this room. We decided to paint the floor insted of refinishing the wood becuase it is so costly if you have a professional do it. My dh has refinished two floors in our home, but it was a really grueling project, and they have not held up as well as we would have expected. So for now we will paint this floor instead. We will need to do all of the trim work and no furniture can go on it for a week.
So we haven't done any school in over three weeks. We will pick up were we left off in a few more weeks when Im feeling better. I have been sick all day long for about three weeks so we took a school break. Thank God for homeschooling. I can pick up were we left off and no problem.
Here is a chorus that I really like. It is short but very uplifting (Romans 11:30-32).
How Great is Your Love
by Mark Altrogge
No eye has seen, no ear has heard,
No mind has ever conceived
The glorious things that You have prepared
For everyone who has believed
You brought us near and You called us Your own
And made us joint heirs with Your Son.
Chorus:
How high and how wide,
How deep and how long,
How sweet and how strong is Your love.
How lavish Your grace,
How faithful Your ways,
How great is Your love, oh Lord.
Objects of mercy who should have known wrath
We’re filled with unspeakable joy.
Riches of wisdom, unsearchable wealth,
And the wonder of knowing Your voice.
You are our treasure and our great reward,
Our hope and our glorious King.
Here is another great lapbooking company! There are lapbooks on a variety of subjects such as science, history, math, holiday, preschool, etc. They also offer notebooking pages, unit studies, copywork books, and lapbooking classes.
If you sign up for their newsletter, you can get a free one called an Overview of the 17th Century. We'll be using this next! (Right now we're studying the Renaissance, 1500s.) Check out their website at ajourneythroughlearning.net
For Better For Worse For Keeps Writing and Publishing School
When: Monday, November 30, For Better For Worse For Keeps Writing and Publishing School, Arlington Heights, IL 9:30 - 4:00 Pm (registration begins at 9:15 Am)
Who: You are all cordially invited to the Second For Better For Worse For Keeps Writing and Publishing School, Small enough to know your name, taught by Published Writing Professionals, Bob and Cheryl Moeller. Space is limited to first 90 participants.
Homeschool students, high school sophomore level and above are welcome to attend, with or without a parent.
What: For Better For Worse For Keeps Writing and Publishing School, with topics such as How to get Started, How to Get Published, How to Get an Agent, with lots of question and answer sessions
Where: Arlington Heights Memorial Library, 500 N Dunton Ave, Arlington Heights, Illinois 60004-5966 (Please do not contact the library) Contact for information or R.S.V.P. office@bobandcherylmoeller.com
Cost: Free (A freewill offering will be taken for the For Better For Worse For Keeps Ministries)
Lunch and etc.: On your own at area restaurants in downtown Arlington Heights or bring a sack lunch. Snacks and conference notes are provided. No childcare.
Each participant can submit 1500 words before the conference, to be reviewed by Bob and Cheryl. This can be 1500 words for one article or book, 750 words for two different projects OR 500 words each for three different projects. You can sign up for 60 minute time slot for a personal phone conference, same week as conference with Cheryl.
Teachers are Bob and Cheryl Moeller, married for 30 years, Orchard homeschool parents of six children (one son-in-law), and three lively dogs:
Bob Moeller, D.Min.: Co-founder of For Better For Worse For Keeps Ministries, TV host, radio personality, For Better For Worse For Keeps National Conference Speaker, The Road to “I Do” Single’s Conference Speaker, published author of 8 books, ghost writer for 6 books, wrote over 100 articles for magazines and newspapers such as Focus on the Family, Leadership Journal, Moody Magazine, Christianity Today, Christian Reader, Light and Life, Evangelical Beacon, Standard, Wesleyan Advocate, Marriage Partnership, Christian Courier, David C. Cook Publishing, Wesleyan Publishing House, Standard Publishing, Lifeway Publishing, and many more.
Nationally Published books: For Better For Worse For Keeps (Multnomah 1992), To Have and To Hold (Multnomah), The Stirring (a novel with Thomas Nelson 1995), Love in Action: Healing Conflict in Your Church (Multnomah 1995), AWANA: God’s Miracle (AWANA Press 1998), Marriage Minutes (Moody 1998), For Better For Worse For Keeps (Marriagevine 2006), Marriage Miracle (Harvest 2010)
Cheryl Moeller, M.A.R.: Co-founder of For Better For Worse For Keeps Ministries, literary agent for 11 years,.published author of 3 books with national publishers, self-published five books sold through websites and at conferences, author of articles for various publications including Marriage Partnership and MOPS.org, syndicated humor columnist for 7 online parent websites and magazines, stand up comic, speaker for retreats and conferences, and mom blogger at www.momlaughs.blogspot.com.
Nationally Published books: Marriage Minutes (Moody 1998), For Better For Worse For Keeps (Marriagevine 2006), and Marriage Miracle: (Harvest 2010). Self-Published books: 2 Novels with Curriculum - Baby Saves Christmas and Lexi’s Homeschool Diary, 2 Gift Books - Keep Courting: 100 Ways to Keep Courting After Marriage and Aunt Sarah’s Alaskan Cookbook, Preschool Curriculum – Homeschool Your Preschooler on $1 a Day
My days are never dull as a homeschooling mother of 4 children. This blog contains views of our life, reviews of homeschool curriculum, book reviews, and helpful hints for homeschooling.
