I find it very interesting that one of the two most frequent searches that people do and land on my blog, if only for a short time, is for some form of "love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and mind." (The other is noni or the Beckers.) It makes me wonder if there are a lot of people trying to find that verse or really wonder what it means. Are there a lot of Christians out there wondering about this verse? How do we measure up?
It has been a long time since I added to this list online, but have done so mentally going through my day.
♥ Fans in the window on a summer night.
♥ Pizza night with the family.
♥ Playing games with my children. (Phase 10, Upwords, Skip Bo, and Piffle [a 10,000 game using dice])
♥ Hearing my son playing worship music, by his choice.
♥ Being able to search the internet to find out what to do for my daughter after being stung by a scorpion.
♥ Favor with an acquaintance who helped us with our broken air conditioner and who God gave wisdom in how to fix it.
♥ Learning that I have been eating when I wasn't really hungry; learning to recognize both hunger and full and being able to lose weight eating all the wonderful foods that I love, by making myself behave and not the food.
♥ Watching my children learn this {true hunger and full cues} too.
♥ Sharing the funny parts of a book with my daughter.
♥ Talking with the children about Bible passages that I'm contemplating, and they share their opinions with me.
God is sooo good! We can look at how horrible something is and stay focused on that or we can find something to be grateful about in the midst of the situation. As the scripture says, "IN everything give Him thanks" (I Thes. 5:18). There is an old song that says, in the good times praise His name, even in the bad times do the same, in everything, give the King of kings, all the thanks. I hope that I am living my life in such a way that is bring thanks and praise to God.
I've just been spending some time on AHolyExperience and I must say that I am stirred. I went through a season where I read her blog daily. She inspired me to blog more. The music on her site also stirred me. I requested some of the musician's music for Christmas and love the cd's. I have not read her blog for a few months now, you know, life . . . things got busy. So I just spent a few minutes reading her last several entries and can feel a stirring inside.
She does write in my style, but her words move me. The atmosphere that she creates on her site, stirs me. She gets me to think about things in a different way. I'm not poetic, so I sometimes must work at understanding but it is always worth it. I leave her site with a challenge to see something differently, feel something differently, write differently, and express myself differently.
The other day, I opened "The Message" and knew God was going to meet me in those pages. He did . . . He warned me to watch my mouth (see Eph 5), to bridle my tongue and speak in love. As is generally the case, I had opportunities to practice these instructions during the enxt several days . . . sometimes I did well, and other times I fell into old patterns, but at least I recognized it quicker those times. It is a good thing that God doesn't show us all of our faults at once; I know I couldn't take it. But as He enlightens me, little by little, I'm able to make changes, little by little, and grow and mature and then be ready, once again, for Him to show me the next areas to conquer.
Family has arrived, just as I finished the last paragraph, so I must be finished with what He wanted me to share today. On to a birthday celebration, my firstborn turned 18 yesterday, and FIREWORKS!!! What fun! Have a blessed weekend!
Today in the Homeschool Freebie Friday email from The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, Jamin shared a lot of paper toys links. I noticed that she suggested one that I'd just found a couple of weeks ago for my dd to use with kids she babysits. When she babysits, she takes a book and some kind of toy or craft and some page to color too. Sometimes she even takes some video that goes with it in some way. This helps her have something to do with the kids to keep all of them from getting bored.
She took the book "Puppy On the Farm" and used the Farm Play Set, this is one that Jamin' also found/suggested. There was no puppy in the set so she took one of her little puppies that she got with some Barbie.
Here is a paper "toy" website that I have found in the past. It is by the Canon website and has some really great paper "toys" for the older kids. They have pop-up ABC's that I think I will make for my nieces. I would call a lot of them paper models. They have a lot of animals; dinosaurs and insects are in the science section. I wish they had more US buildings but at least they are not ALL from Japan, they have some from England, France, Spain, Egypt and even India. These could be great when studying other countries, especially with older kids, unless YOU make them for the younger ones to see. They even have a scrapbook section. Go look around; I think you'll find something you like.
I have decided that I absolutely *love* oven and crock pot meals!!!! I can get the majority of a meal in the oven or crock pot in 15 minutes or less. It reminds me of something I read in a Living On A Dime newsletter one time. She said something like, our ancestors would have been frustrated with having to spend 30 minutes to make dinner. Here's an article she wrote about it, from her website.
I've been using some recipes from some wonderful e-books that I have gotten from Sheri Graham and Crystal Paine of biblicalwomanhood.com. I have one of Sheri's in the oven right now...smells so good...Beef and Rice Casserole, for which I used ground turkey instead of ground beef and a couple of chicken bouillon cubes and onion powder instead of onion soup mix, because of my husband's allergy to beef.
Another of Sheri's recipes that I adapted was "Baked Potato Bar". I love this idea. What I did was clean a bunch of potatoes and put them in the crock pot on low for about 4-5 hours. When we were ready to eat, I browned some ground turkey, heated some canned corn, sautéed onions and mushrooms, shredded some mozzarella cheese, and opened a jar of salsa. Set it all on the table and we had a yummy dinner. The leftover potatoes can either be used for hashbrowns the next morning or in another meal (Potato and Kielbasa Skillet, which I got from one of Marilyn Moll's ebooks but am having trouble with her site loading information, so I cannot put it here).
We also had this pasta dish this week and everyone loved it. I'll be on the lookout for more convenient oven and crock pot recipes. Please share your's with me, either recipes or favorite websites.
Wow, time is really flying! My oldest graduates soon. This year is officially over on Friday the 15th, of course, we continue to learn during the summer as well, but in a more "delight directed" way.
I'm planning next year and very excited, once again. We will be using SOW (Student of the Word) again. When the Lord directed me to not use it this year, I was sad in a way and thought we might not be using it any more, ever again, but thankfully, the Lord has directed us there again this year. I'm looking forward to getting deep into the Word with my almost 12yodd. She has done SOW since she was young, but always in a "tag along" type way, as I was teaching more to my boys that are older (by 4 and 6 years), but she learned a lot.
Much has happened since my last posting. My 95 year old Granny in Virginia passed on to be with the Lord. A shock broke on the van and I mean the bolt that holds it in place sheared off! What an interesting 2 weeks it has been. We decided NOT to do a big ceremony for my graduating son, with his consent, and bless him with a couple pricier items that he's been wanting for some time. This was a big relief as the ceremony was set for the 16th of May, right smack dab in the middle of our celebration season (birthdays, special days, and anniversaries) which lasts through Independence Day. So as I said, it has been a very busy couple weeks since my last post.
I'll be posting some of my plans for the new year, concerning our studies. I love that SOW is so flexible and allows you to use whatever resources you desire.
I hope to do some postings about our SOWing this year, as a help to those that are either new to SOW or trying to decide if it is something for them. I hope to post at least once a week.
Have a great day,
Michele ºÜº
I was working on my WDW (weigh down workshop) workbook yesterday, studying the notes listed from the video and looking up the scriptures listed. I came to Mark 12:29-31 when the Holy Spirit began to teach me.
29And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
30And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
31And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
I have been a Christian for 37 years and as you can imagine, I am very familiar with this scripture. I even made a song out of verse 30 for my children when they were little. But yesterday the Lord brought somethings to my attention in order to make some "course corrections" in my life and I wanted to share them with you.
The first thing that He brought to my attention was that this is a commandment and not just any commandment but the FIRST commandment. AND this is from Jesus Himself! So I began to wonder, what would this look like in my life. What would it look like to love the Lord with ALL my heart, ALL my mind, ALL my soul, and ALL my strength? I pondered this for a few moments and then decided to move on to the next verses in the list. The list actually had Romans 8:2, 5-8 but Romans 8:5 hit me.
5For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
It was at this point that I decided to stop and think about my day. I began to specifically think about the evening hours, from dinner until bed. I asked myself how I spend those hours. I realized that my evening hours are spent with my family and entertainment. We are talking about 5 hours every evening. Does that show Mark 12:30? I had to admit that it did not, much to my shame. I was focusing my evening hours on the flesh and not the Spirit. Then Romans 8:8 says that those that are in the flesh cannot please God. Oh! I really want to please God! Needless to say, I have decided to make some changes.
So, with all that in mind, I challenge you to inspect your day. Does it show that you love the Lord with ALL your heart, soul, mind, and strength? Would others see your life and know that you love God by the things you do and the way you spend your time?
I mentioned Noni Juice here before. Well, I have since found that my local Wal-Mart carries Noni pills. They don't work as quickly as the juice works BUT they don't taste like the juice does either. And that's a great thing!
Two of the softgel pills are equivalent to an ounce of juice. When I have really bad menstrual cramps, I will take 4 at one time, which equals 2 ounces of Noni juice. I also like that these Spring Valley Noni Softgels are organic. Because they are softgels, there are more ingredients than JUST the Noni, but it works for me and I don't put off taking it because of any nasty taste.
My how the time flies! I have tried, for the last several months, to limit my online time. I guess I'm being successful because I have not posted here lately. I also have not even read most of the blogs that I was frequenting before.
We had another "conference" at our church last week. We were there from about 8:15 in the morning until after 6:00 each night. Thankfully, we ate all of our meals there (except dh, for whom I made his breakfast and packed his lunch each day). I am on my feet so much during the "conference" weeks, that when I come home I cannot even check my email because I need to sit in my recliner with my feet raised, to keep them from swelling.
This was our 7th "conference" to help out at. In the past I have gained as much as 10 pounds during a 2-week "conference". This time I was determined to keep my weight in check. So, I decided to have only one serving and only one dessert at lunch and dinner. I know that sounds like a lot but believe me, there are scrumptious cookies available to eat all day long, so counting one of those as a dessert really helped me keep myself in check. I managed to only gain 1 pound!!! Whoo hooo!!!! I did have seconds on lasagna night and roast chicken and dressing night but overall, I did well considering there were 3 full meals a day.
We are now looking ahead to the middle of May. My oldest will graduate then and we are planning a personal graduation ceremony/celebration. He said he did not want to part of a "homeschool" graduation with people he didn't know, so we are planning our own. At first I thought it would be very small because we go to a very small church. But in making the guest list, we realized how many people have touched Brian's life. There will be quite a few people invited that we see at the "conferences" several times a year. These people have become very dear to us and definitely a part of Brian's life. We also have a few families that are a part of our homeschool support group that we want to invite as well. A couple of them have large families, which can boost the guest count, if they honor us with attending.
I know this is shorter than my usual posts, but I need to run for now. God bless you!
I cannot believe that it has been almost two months since I have blogged at all. I guess I'll start by giving an update on the dietary changes I talked about last time. In a nutshell, not good. I have not actually counted those calories completely on any day yet. I did do the morning ones for a while but by the time I got to dinner, stopped. I really do think this is a key to losing my weight, at least for a bit.
I tend to do pretty good for breakfast and lunch but come dinner, I end up getting a second serving. I think I need to include more veggies with dinner since veggies are low in calories and the main dish or casserole is usually pretty hefty in calories. For example, we like to have Spaghetti Bake (I'll include the recipe at the end of the post) but since it makes a full 13x9 pan I don't really fix any side dishes to go with it -- bad, I know. I don't really like salads and that seems the best side dish suited to a spaghetti dish, to me. SO, I end up eating another scoop of spaghetti bake since I am feeling like I still want more food, but I probably am not really HUNGRY but just enjoying the taste of the food so much that I WANT more. So, I really NEED to count calories . . . UGH!!!
I'm really enjoying the Devotions for Dieters that I mentioned last time too. She shared one thing that has really hit home with me and helped me for several days, since reading it.
Add some Umph to your Try and you get Triumph!
Another thing she shared was about what we drink with our meals. The information she included that day said that putting cold drinks in our stomach after eating or during eating can lower the temperature of our stomach contents causing the fats to become more solid and slowing down the digestion as well as causing some of the fat to be stored rather than sent through the system. (At least that is how I remember it.) It was suggested that drinking coffee or hot tea with and after a meal would do more to aid in digestion. I haven't done any research on it myself but I have started to drink some hot tea with and after my meals rather than water. But now I am noticing that I'm not getting in nearly as much water as I should be. Ugh! The tea can count for some of my water intake but because it is a diuretic, I really need to be sure to get more water in.
I'm going to have to print out a calendar that I use for exercise accountability. Since I'm not using JUST the Wii Fit, it isn't keeping track of all my exercise because I forget to enter in my Other Activity Credits on the day I do it and I haven't found a way to enter it for previous days without manipulating the Wii's date. It would just be way easier to have a physical calendar to put an X on for exercising. I don't want to use our general family calendar because it is a write-on/wipe-off AND it is on the refrigerator because it is magnetic. I have found that I am motivated by having that visual.
I guess I'll go for now. I have lots of little things I wanted to talk about but I think I'll try to do one post for each one throughout the week instead of putting them all in one big post.
Spaghetti Bake
1 pkg spaghetti, cooked as directed al dente
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
pizza toppings or 1 pound browned ground turkey (or beef)
24 oz. jar spaghetti sauce
8 oz mozzarella cheese (We prefer colby/jack cheese.)
Drain spaghetti and put in a large bowl. Mix in egg and parmesan cheese. Place in a 13x9 dish, which I usually spray with oil spray. Spread on the sauce (I just buy a cheap spaghetti sauce from the store to make this a quick and easy dinner to make.) I then put my ground meat, seasoned with garlic powder and onion powder. Finally sprinkle the grated cheese on top. Bake in a 350º oven for 20-30 minutes. If you just drained your spaghetti and browned your meat, it will only take a few minutes to melt the cheese because it is already heated through.
Sometimes I will brown my meat and freeze it to make a quicker meal later. The other day I boiled my noodles at lunch time and had pre-browned my meat. I made up the whole thing and had it just waiting for my son to put in the oven when it was time. It did take about 30 minutes to heat through and melt the cheese since everything was cold.
It is hard to believe that the holidays are now behind us. We had a wonderful season and I am grateful! But once again it is time for me to buckle down and lose weight. I envy Valerie Bertinelli in that she hasn't made any resolutions about her weight for two years now because she finally lost it all. Of course, if I had someone paying me to lose it, I'd probably have the motivation to do it too. I know . . . losing it for my family, myself, and because that is what God wants me to do should be enough. Unfortunately when I'm tempted to eat something I shouldn't or when I lust for something I that isn't good for me, I have given in and eaten it. I even caught myself the other day doing just that. We had some whole wheat macaroni with cheese on it and some turkey hot dogs. There were some hot dogs leftover and still sitting out. I walked by and picked up one and started eating it. I then said to myself, "I shouldn't be eating this but I am anyway." And then I realized what I just thought and put the uneaten half right back down. It amazes me how strong some habits are.
I've done a lot of thinking about what I should do. I realized that of the 120 pounds I have needed to lose for many years, the only ones that have stayed off are the ones that came off because of a lifestyle change that I made and never returned to. I lost 20 pounds because I stopped drinking diet drinks and sweet tea and started drinking water instead. Of all the "diets" I've done, this is the only thing that I have not undid--I still do not drink diet drinks, regular sodas, or sweet tea except on the rare occasion. So those 20 pounds have never come back--shocking. I guess I need to find some food changes that I will NOT undo. I'm going to have to figure out how to make some of my Christmas goodies more healthy, in order to make it through the holidays and not gain. (Hmmm, healthy peanut butter balls, kiefle, and pretzel candy....I don't know about that.)
I found Let's Do Lunch a couple of years ago. (Be sure to visit the Message Boards if you go to that website.) I lost twenty pounds on that one too but never stayed completely on the plan after the first month or two. I started it in August of 2006 and went off over the holidays and took a while to get completely "legal" on it again. By the next fall, I was determined to stick to the program and even did so over the holidays for the most part but even then I ate a few things that were not allowed on the plan. I'd done a lot of reading on health and nutrition and came to believe that certain things were ok and also realized that I cannot live without pizza--I'm a pizzaholic. (I tried many many things to overcome my pizza craving. I put tomato paste and toppings and low-fat cheese on Corn Thins, I tried the one made with popcorn flour, I tried pizza soup and all helped but none satisfied. I even made it with whole wheat lavash/flat bread and whole wheat tortillas but it just isn't pizza. I love pizza!) Over the last several months, I have strayed from the "plan" and over the holidays, enjoyed eating the candies and sweets that I have limited in the past several years. Bottom line is that I have gained all the weight I lost on LDL.
My teenage boys love LDL and are a bit upset with me for looking for something else. They were chunky, quite chunky, from about 7 years old until 2006 when we found LDL. They lost their weight and have stayed thin. They will eat the sweets and goodies they want when not at home, which is not frequent, but then during the rest of the time they eat mostly on plan. I guess that is why I thought I could make a few changes and still lose weight.
The bottom line for me is portion control. Yes LDL does tell you not to eat when you are not hungry but I have a hard time with that, evidently. Several years ago I did Weigh Down Workshop and that was the problem I had with that one as well.
I bought Sue Gregg's cookbooks a couple of months ago. In the Weight Management book she talks about PRISM. I seriously considered that program because I erroneously thought that it allowed you to eat whole grains. Sue's book has several lists of 1200 calorie menus, using her recipes. No, I do not really like to weigh and measure my food or count calories but I think it is what will help me get portion control. The other thing is that I know I need to have a well balanced food intake and if I don't sit down and make a menu, then I end up eating the same thing every morning and staring at the refrigerator at lunchtime wondering what I will eat, ending up eating too many grains and no veggies or fruits.
Then another thing that I was pondering was those people that I've heard about (and caught a couple on a morning television show) that basically made their own diet and followed it and lost their weight. Why do I feel that I have to follow what works for someone else. I don't do that with homeschooling, why should I do that with weight loss.
So, what have I decided to do? I'm basically doing a 1200 calorie diet. I've got the ingredients for 4 more dinners that I don't know the calorie count for, and yes, I could put it in Mastercook to find out, but I don't feel like doing that. So, I've made up menus using Sue Gregg's cookbooks covering my breakfasts and lunches and then picking up with the dinners after I finish off the ones I already have the ingredients for. So for a few days, I may be eating more than 1200 calories but it will still be less than what I would have eaten otherwise.
Remarkably, Sue's cookbooks go well with LDL. She uses only whole grains, no sugar, and low-fat dairy products (which are occasionals on LDL). She uses fruits and some honey (and some pure maple syrup) for sweeteners. I had one Apple Oat Muffin this morning with a Fruit Smoothie. I've never been much on fruit smoothies but she had it listed on one of her breakfast menus and had a recipe for it, so I decided I'd try it today, since I needed something to go with that one muffin. I'm glad I tried it. I was so full! AND I got in about 3 fruits this morning. Of course, since it was fruit it wore off in time for lunch, for which I was starving. We had our dinner at lunch, since we are all here at that time today. I fixed chili but know that I ate too much of it. That is okay though because I probably won't eat anything else today. If I'm hungry I'll either have a small salad or an orange or popcorn.
I first heard about her cookbooks from Cindy Rushton, then later from The Old Schoolhouse review. I checked out the website and was thrilled to see some sample recipes. We absolutely loved that she has a recipe for pancakes using brown rice and oats! We reduce the amount of salt and baking soda called for though, as our first attempt was way too salty for our liking but the recipe was definitely a keeper!
The other thing I am doing is using my Wii to exercise. We have Wii Sports, Wii Fit, and Active Life Outdoor Challenge. I'll tell you, I break out in a sweat with that last one. When I first started using the Wii Fit, I would make myself do the stretching and strength for at least 15 minutes before doing the aerobics or balance games. I actually got sore! I know, it just proves how out of shape I am.
So there you have it, I am following much of LDL basics, as Roger Troy Wilson, the creator of LDL, has added whole oats and very dark brown rice or wild rice to the allowable list of foods. I heard one nutritionist say that because Ezekiel bread is made with sprouted grains, your body sees it as a vegetable and not a grain, so that furthers my belief that this bread is good for me and I should eat it in moderation. The other thing is that olive oil and coconut oils are good for you. I believe that my calorie limit will ensure that any nuts or whole wheat or other non-LDL food that I eat will not cause me to keep from losing weight. I guess the 1200 calorie limit for me is kinda like a schedule is for our schooling. It seems like it would be like a straight jacket, binding me but instead it is more like a life jacket, freeing me. Left to my own devices I always think I'm hungry, so this should help me. At least I hope it will.
I hesitated writing about this at first preferring to keep my weight loss embarrassment to a minimum. I don't know why I changed my mind. If this helps you at all, please leave me a comment below.
Oh! Another thing I liked about PRISM was that they have a daily devotion that people say really helps. Like Weigh Down Workshop, they address the spiritual side of being overweight and losing weight. I really wanted something like that. Then I realized that I still have my WDW materials, so I should just reuse them. But I wanted something else fresh, new. So, I googled. I found this neat devotional. It is called Devotional for Dieters. It is a Yahoo Group that only sends out messages from the owner, so it is not chatty. I've only been a member for few days now but I really like it. Today she talked about some memory verses she gave before and gave a new one. I'm looking forward to using this on a daily basis. I doubt that I'll use many, if any, of the recipes but that isn't really the reason I joined.
There is another devotional for weight loss available on the web written by a friend of mine. You can find it here. There are 23 devos to enjoy. She wrote these a few years ago and I'm very glad that she still has them available on her website.
I spent a lot of time yesterday making my menu for 9 days. I know I have to get my mind off of the food. This is why diets don't work, many times, because you are constantly thinking about food and it makes your mouth water. Face it, generally if you are overweight it is because you like food, so reading recipes and thinking about food is only going to make you hungry. About 25 years ago my family went on an extended fast, for many reasons. We looked through low-cal recipe books, planning how we were going to eat differently when we came off the fast. This made me hungrier, if that was possible. I don't want to focus on the food but know that I have to spend some time making the menus, since I'm a picky eater and cannot just follow menus someone else created, so that I have a plan that I can follow rather than floundering and eating something I shouldn't, simply because I'm hungry. I intend to try to balance out my "study"/planning time by spending some substantial time in Bible study on the days that I don't need to do menu planning.
One more thing that I am doing to help lose weight is increasing my water intake. As I mentioned earlier, I don't drink sodas of any kind, as a general rule, or sweet tea. I drink distilled water. I must admit that I don't drink a lot of water throughout the day, generally speaking, so I'm trying to get in more water. I've read that you should drink a half ounce of water for every pound you weigh. I'm not getting that much in, that's for sure, but I'm definitely drinking more than I was and intend to continue to increase as I go along. I've also heard that many times the overweight person eats when they are really just thirsty; I think I must have been that way a lot.
I guess I'll close for now. Blessings,
Michele ºÜº
During the month of December, I like to read Christmas books with my children. They are much older now, at 17, 15, and 11, and my voice is very raspy this week, so I'm not getting much reading done. I like to read one of Arnold Ytreeide's three books during the days and weeks before Christmas but with my sore throat (raspiness) and the fact that I was out of town 3 days last week, I have not even started this year's selection Jotham's Journey, the first of the three books. It seems that we won't be reading it this year but that is okay because we are getting in several FUN trips that I posted about earlier.
Besides our outings, we like to make peanut butter balls (also called buckeyes in some places) at my parents' home each year. She used to make them alone and save them for closer to Christmas but we all like to snack on them each week when we visit so we volunteered to come and help her make more. We will go and do this sometime this week, I think. They are very easy to make with a short ingredient list of peanut butter, chocolate, powdered sugar, and butter or margarine. They are a bit messy to make though as the peanut butter mixture tends to cake onto your hands.
Sometimes the kids help out and other times they don't. It doesn't matter though, it is a labor of love. Plus my sister, mom, and I are doing it together and enjoying some good fellowship. When we get done catching up on what all is going on with each other, we will put on one of our many Christmas movies. Mom has quite a collection that she has recorded from television through the years. I may have to post about my favorite Christmas movies later.
In years past, I have done a daily advent with the kids. I thought I had blogged about it before but I cannot find it so I'll tell you about it now. You wrap up a small item for each day of December through Christmas and number then or be sure to keep them in order some way. Each day you let the children open the item and then you share the scripture and how that item relates to the season. I got it from a forum on AOL y-e-a-r-s ago. I couldn't find my copy this year so I looked online and just as I suspected, someone did indeed, have it out there in cyberspace.
My mother started something with us girls, my sisters and I, about a dozen or more years ago. It is something I look forward to every year. Maybe you can adapt it to some special people in your life. My mother takes my sisters and I out to eat and then to see a movie. She pays for it all. She is such a giving person!!! This year Tiffany will be joining us. Mom probably would have let her join us sooner but I thought she should wait until she is older. She is 11 this year and you cannot wait to do EVERYTHING until you are 13, so when asked this year, I said ok. She is very excited. Truth be told, I'm excited too.
We made a candy wreath one year. We liked it but it was made with peppermints and those are NOT my favorite, at all, but I just saw that you could make this with almost any individually wrapped candy. Hmmm, I wonder if I could do it with Hershey Kisses? I actually think we got the idea from another activity we have done in the past, the Advent Calendar.
The Advent Calendar is really neat because it has several things to do each day. It has a recipe, craft, online game, e-card, coloring page and/or activity page every day. It has several of these each day, not necessarily all of them every day. Please preview, as each person is different with what they let their children come in contact with. When my children we very little, we did not do ANY thing with Santa because we did not want to confuse them. Some of the movies with Santa in them now make some very good "arguments" FOR Santa's existence. I never wanted my children to question if Jesus was real because of me telling them about fictional characters. As they got older and could definitely tell the difference between real and make-believe, I have allowed the Santa thing.
Molly has a nice little advent scripture calendar that is nice to have and use. I'm trying to find it on her website but cannot. She gave it as a freebie to newsletter subscribers last year. Basically all you do is write a scripture reference that tells of Christmas (either prophecy or actual events). Then daily you lift the flap with the date on it and read the verse for the day.
I think that is enough of an epistle for one day. I'll go for now. Enjoy your holiday season!
I don't know about you, but I am having a wonderful holiday season!!! I like to plan some kind of memory maker each week throughout December. Now the challenging part is to keep it as economical as possible.
One of our favorite memories was Zoolightful, which was an event at the zoo. They had some nice decorations. But they also had some fun activities. In one of the buildings they had someone dressed up in holiday attire (I don't remember what they were dressed as though) and painted the children's faces. There was another building where they had paper, crayons, and a relief shape for the children to do a rubbing of. Then we went to the cafe, I cannot remember if we had to buy the cookie or if they were included but I think they were included, and they got to decorate a cookie with frosting. We rode the train, which was decorated too. It was a very fun event, unfortunately they have not had it in recent years.
Rhema always has a beautiful light display. We usually go see these. It is a free event. They do sell hot chocolate and what not and I believe that they have a donation box if you can do that. The lights are gorgeous. They have part you can drive through and then part that you can walk through. I love the light covered bridge! This year they said that the lights are set to music. We didn't go anywhere last year, so I am determined to do some things this year! We will be doing this one this week! Whoo hoo!
We did something new this year. It is called the Bethlehem Walk. This is another free even hosted by a local church. They only do it one weekend (Thursday through Sunday) of the year and you have to make reservations even though it is free. When you arrive, you check in with someone dressed in period costume (my extended family went together so I made reservations for 15 but only 11 of us were able to come) and then they take you into a waiting area where they are performing some Christmas carols. We really enjoyed the fun they had with the 12 Days of Christmas as they had a person for each day and had them have some kind of prop for their part.
When it is your group's turn, someone else in costume comes to get you and takes you to another area where you are introduced to the walk. They hand each participant a piece of paper with a name and description of either family members and/or occupation. Then your guide, in our case "Cousin Daniel" comes in and tells us that we are going to Bethlehem to pay our taxes. The next, approximately 45 minutes, is spent walking outside and encountering different aspects of the nativity, from Roman soldiers to angels to arrive at the town of Bethlehem to pay our taxes. Once outside the town, where you can find several snacks, you are time warped to the resurrection. The end of the walk bring you back inside a town area where they have different activities set up and even cookies and hot drinks (cocoa and hot cider). There is a place to make a bookmark stamped in Hebrew, a rag doll, grind some wheat, pet some bunnies, fill out a comment card, sign the guest book and you can leave a donation if you'd like. It is set up very nice and was an enjoyable memory made this year. When I asked my extended family what they thought, all agreed it was very nice and would do it again (all except my dh who really isn't into all of my Christmas memory making but goes along with me--what a dear).
Next week we are going to try another new event for us. We are going to go to the Christmas Kingdom. They are supposed to have over 1000 inflatables ranging in size from 4 ft to 20 ft. Most of it is a drive-thru event BUT there is also an area to walk through that has lights and more inflatables. They also have a carriage ride or hayride both for a fee. This is only their 3rd year but they already have over 1000 inflatables. It should be pretty neat.
I'll post more later about some of the other, smaller things we do throughout the Christmas season since this post has gotten so long. I hope these things will get you to looking around your area for some things you can do to make memories this season!
I take being a friend, very seriously. I do not lightly say that I am someone's friend. I also realize that although I may consider someone MY friend, I may not, necessarily, be their friend. I came to terms with this years ago when I realized that the person that I considered my best friend at the time had someone else that she considered her best friend. At first that hurt a bit but, as I said, I came to terms with it.
Since that time, I have had many friends, to whom I was very close, that were in turn closer to other people but that is okay with me because I had asked God to give me the friends that He wanted me to have. I have tried to be a good friend to all the people that God has put into my life.
With all of that in mind, I think that you may now understand where I am coming from with the rest of what I want to share today. You see, I consider God my friend but I have wondered if He considers me His friend. I have not just wanted to assume that He did because I have learned that it isn't necessarily true. Consequently, I had a hard time singing songs like I am a Friend of God because I just wasn't sure what He thought about it.
Thankfully, He is an awesome friend and He showed me what He thinks, a couple of Sundays ago. I was listening to a pastor in our church preach a very good sermon and in it he had us turn to John 15. I have read this portion of scripture many times before but God wanted to show me something that day and I'm very glad He did. In John 15, Jesus himself tells us what the qualifications are to being a His friend!!! I had never seen it that way before but right there it was. It says:
12 This is My commandment, That you love one another, as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are My friends, if you do whatsoever I command you. 15 Hereafter I call you not servants; for the servant knows not what his lord does; but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of My Father I have made known to you. 16 You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in My name, He may give it you. 17 These things I command you, that you love one another. (KJV er)
Did you see it? He said that if you do whatsoever I command you then you are His friend! And what was it that He was commanding us to do? Love one another!!! I cannot tell you how much these verses set me free! To KNOW that I AM a friend of God really excites me!
I hope that this gives you as much comfort as it has me. May God richly bless you!
I keep hearing that Thanksgiving is the lost holiday, here in the USA, sandwiched in between the getting of lots of candy and the getting of lots of gifts. But I have to tell you that it is not like that for my family and me.
Thanksgiving is the kick-off of our holiday season. It is the beginning of special times with family (my parents, siblings, and their families) and my God. It is a day that we have steeped in much tradition. You see, when I was a child we lived in the same state as my mother's parents and the majority of her 6 siblings and their families. We would get together on Thanksgiving and have a huge feast and time of fellowship. We played games and sang songs (we are a very musical family) and enjoyed being with each other.
When I was in my early teens we moved to another state, the one my father's mother and only sister lives in. Things were much different in that state, if for no other reason than there were a lot less people. Needless to say, Thanksgiving was a much quieter and less active affair. For several years we did go back to the other state for Thanksgiving but things were changing. We realized that we needed to do something to help us enjoy the day more because after an early dinner, watching football just wasn't cutting it for us girls. (I have 2 sisters and no brothers.) My youngest sister and I have learned to like football but that was slow coming for me. Anyway, we girls decided that we would put up our Christmas tree on Thanksgiving. We did this for many years. Then after I got married, we stopped for a while. But when my oldest was a toddler, we started doing it again—I had missed being a part of putting up my mother's tree and the fun we had. I remember clearly the first year that we helped put her tree up after I was married, my husband had borrowed a video recorder from his sister and we recorded it. We had a ball!!! It was sooo fun and my son loved helping.
As the years have passed, we've changed what and how we do things several times as the children have grown, allowing them to help but not requiring it, as their interest has changed. But one thing that remains, we look forward to this wonderful season from the fourth Thursday of November through the first of the new year. Having traditions that you look forward to is what helps change the emphasis from getting to enjoying.
My mom, sister, and I have been Christmas shopping together several times and have so enjoyed getting ready for the holidays. We like to have our shopping done by Thanksgiving. I'll tell you, we have been dog tired when we finish a day of shopping but we have accomplished a lot and enjoyed ourselves too. We are having fun doing it and thus taking away the feeling that it is a chore to be done.
We started hearing Christmas music and the weather turned cooler and I just get the warm fuzzies and eager anticipation of a wonderful time of year. Later I will post about some of our traditions that we enjoy.
I trust that this post will encourage you to look forward to the coming season and not look on with dread of the hustle and bustle. Just like the rest of life, it is what you make it. If you think it will be hectic and frustrating, that is what it will be for you. If you think it will be enjoyable and wonderful, then it will be for you. Yes, there may be difficulties and annoying situations, but if you keep it in perspective, you can find the enjoyable and wonderful parts and focus on that.
I had some good advice some years ago from somewhere online. I was encouraged to stop and think about the season. I was also encouraged to ask my family what they wanted to do. We don't say yes to everything available and make/take time for family (immediate and extended) making enjoyable memories. I encourage you to find out what is important to you and what will make your holidays an enjoyable season and then pursue it.
I find it difficult to believe that it has been 5 weeks since I have written anything here and yet, I completely believe it. This past month has been a whirlwind.
During the first full week of October, we helped out at a "conference" our church had. We help in any way we can. I help in the kitchen with some wonderful ladies, which makes it a delight. My daughter helps out there some as well but also helped babysit the secretary's young children. My boys help in the office and in the a/v booth. My husband comes by each day after work and helps in any way they need him too as well. Needless to say, it is a very busy week. But it is a huge blessing for the kids and I to eat 3 meals a day there and not to cook or grocery shop for home that week. In the past, we have gotten there after most everyone has eaten breakfast and stay until after lunch but this time we stayed pretty much all day, leaving after dinner.
After that week, it takes a few days to recuperate. Then we had this crazy week that started with grocery shopping, and out of the next 9 days, I was only home one of them. We had some fun and some work involved and then some just plain going here and there. It was nice to get back to normal, although it appears that my new normal is a little busier than before.
Because of the busyness of my October, I did NOT get much of my "Mega Memory Month" verses memorized, but I am continuing on. I prayed a lot about what to memorize and almost thought that I was going to do Colossians, but realized that was more pride and "biting off more than I could chew" than anything else. I finally settled on Psalm 91. I've been wanting to memorize this passage for some time and so now I'm working on it.
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God in Him will I trust. Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover you with His feathers and under His wings shall you trust. His truth shall be your shield and buckler. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night nor for the arrow that flies by day, nor for the ???pestilence that walks in darkness, nor for the ____that wastes at noonday. A thousand shall fall at your side and ten thousand.....
OK, so you can see that I've got some of it and you can see where I am working on it now. I will continue to work on this passage until I have it committed to memory. At this time and season in history, I believe it is ever important to hide these truths in my heart. I am also encouraging my children to do the same. You never know what will happen.
It is a shame that I cannot remember all the things I did in that crazy week and a half. Hopefully I wrote it down somewhere, as it really is momentous. LOL! I truly am a homebody.
On a different note, my mother, sister, and I have gone shopping one day each week for the past two weeks and now have the majority of our Christmas shopping done! Whoo Hoo!!! I'm tickled! Of course, since we shop together, we don't generally purchase gifts for each other while we are out and that means we will need at least one more shopping trip on our own. I still have a few stocking stuffers to purchase and my dear husband's gifts, Oh! and a thing or two for my oldest son. Since my oldest son is the one that usually will do Christmas shopping with me, and I have yet to buy his gift, he cannot go with me. So I talked to my sister and she still has her in-laws to buy for yet, so we will probably go together one day this week.
Well, I started this post on Friday and it is now Monday, so I will close for now. Except to say that we are finally making some progress on the addition again. My dh and his brother both had it in their own minds what needed to happen next and neither one was budging. So I impressed upon them both how important it is to me to have those rooms done by Thanksgiving, to which I get laughter, but at least dh gave in and bought the needed supplies his brother wanted to continue working. It is raining and cold today, so nothing is going to happen out there this evening, but I will definitely be cheering them on to keep progressing tomorrow and the rest of the week, except for the day it will be horribly cold, UNLESS they can do something INSIDE....like the ceiling rafters for example.
Well, I really must run now and make dinner. DH will be home soon!
What a wonderful day my 11yodd and I had today! My boys went to work with dh today; since they are both wanting to work with him when they graduate, this is an "early release" program, of sorts; at least that is what we called it when I was in high school YEARS ago.
Anyway, I had the day laid out for us. We would do a modified day of book work because it is the day to "bless our home". (Any Flybabies out there know that what that means is that we clean our house today. Our "home blessing" consists of vacuuming, dusting, cleaning mirrors and front glass door, sweeping and mopping the kitchen and bathroom floors, and cleaning the rest of the bathrooms, as well.) Normally this task is accomplished by the boys, Tiffany, and I all taking a project and getting it done in much less time because many hands make light work. Well, since the boys went with Mike today, that meant Tiffany and I must pick up the slack and get all the home blessing done by ourselves.
So, I'd planned that after the guys got off this morning, we would get dressed, eat breakfast, and then we would read two of the books we are reading for her school time (Pollyanna and Quest at Diamond Peak), an audio from Homeschool Radio Shows, spelling, and a math game. The rest of her school for the day, would be Life Skills of home blessing and making dinner.
Well, we got off to a good start with getting dressed and eating breakfast. We got a little behind then and started reading Pollyanna a little later than I wanted to. We started reading with chapter 7. We were enjoying the story so much that neither of us wanted to stop. We ended up finishing the book; yes, all the way through chapter 32. We really enjoyed ourselves. Those four hours flew by!
I had never read Pollyanna before. Imagine my delight when I discovered that there is a sequel! And yes, I have already put in a request for the book to be put on the hold shelf for us at our local library. I also found that our library system also has the movie. I hope it is good; we'll see, as I have that one requested too.
During our cleaning, we found ourselves playing around with the Glad Game ourselves. This book was a delight! If you have never read it, do, it is a treasure! I'm so glad for homeschooling! I'm enjoying so many books with my children that I never read before. It amazes me that we didn't read some of these when I was in school. But when I really think about it, it doesn't surprise me because these books have some really good character lessons in them. Books like Heidi, A Little Princess, Little Britches, and so many more.
I just finished reading The Chosen with my son. Well not exactly with him but we were both reading it. It was a really good book too. I was glad to discover that it too has a sequel. I love books that I don't have to leave the characters that I have come to love with the end of the book. I also like that these books were written so long ago, so that I don't have to wait for the sequel to be written and published. (hehehe)
We read an article in Girlhood Home Companion yesterday about Precious Memories. In the article, the author was saying that many of her precious memories were of working hard with the family. Tiffany and I talked about it after reading the article and I have decided that what made the "hard work" a precious memory was because it was done with others.
This made me think about work we do. I mentioned to Tiffany that I figured she would probably end up with fond memories of us cooking together because we do that together. But I doubt she will have precious memories of emptying the dishwasher, which happens to be her task and she frequently forgets to do, nor does she enjoy it. Not that she loves cooking with me but she likes it a whole lot more than emptying that dishwasher.
So, today when I knew that we would have to take on the jobs that the boys usually do, as well as what we usually do, I did not just give her more chores. Instead, we worked together and did a good job of cleaning up the living room and preparing dinner. Of course, we do have a bit left to accomplish before our guys come home, but we are taking a well-deserved break right now.
Well, we better get finished, still have a few floors to mop and a few dishes to clean . . . oh, and some bathrooms to clean. At least I can be glad that dinner will be easy, since we did all the prep work.
Blessings,
Michele ºÜº
PS. The pictures have nothing to do with the words on the page. We took them at the aquarium last month and I just love anemone. I think they are beautiful. Anyway, Ann V. inspired me to add pictures even when it isn't directly related to what I am talking about just because they are pretty. (I remember seeing a photo of a bird of paradise on her blog and she was not talking about it. I also remember how much I enjoyed the picture and others, even though they were not depicting something being written about at the moment. They were simply a part of God's beautiful creation and she was sharing it.) So, I hope someone enjoys these.
Today I am feeling very humbled about who I am and what I do. As I have mentioned before, I have been visiting Ann V.'s blog, AHolyExperience for a while now. Today I read about Mega Memory Month on her blog. In truth, I have been wanting to commit some passages to memory and have asked my children to do so as well, but I have not been working toward this at all. So, today when I read about this challenge, I knew that the Lord had directed me to stumble upon it and desired for me to participate.
The Mega Memory Month is actually the inspiration of Ann Kroeker. I had never visited her site before Ann V.'s mentioning it today. I enjoyed visiting it and the blogs of the other participants of the MMM. It was in doing so that I was really humbled. When I first started this blog I had so many thoughts about my studies in the Bible and biblical things but, to be honest, I didn't want people to think that I thought I was something. It is almost as if I failed a test or something, because I have had very little along those lines that I felt like sharing since then. After visiting these dear leadies' blogs, I feel that I really missed it back there in the very beginning when I put a hamper on the things I wanted to share because of being concerned about my image or how people would perceive me. Truth be told, there is much I don't share, so as not to be perceived poorly. And here I thought I wasn't a "people pleaser". What an eye-opener!
So, I am going to participate in the Mega Memory Month but I am going to take this to prayer before starting. I want to memorize exactly what God wants me to memorize, especially since I know that He has led me to do this. So, I may not get my passage memorized by the end of the month, but I will work diligently to get it memorized, whatever it is. AND I will post about it, as I go.
I am thankful for the encouragement of these ladies to take on this challenge, and the majority of them (okay, all but Ann V.) don't know me and have never heard of me before and yet, they have been an encouragement to me. I'm going to pray for these ladies as I begin this venture and throughout the month. I'm so glad that God can lead us and guide us by people that we don't even know in person. So to the 9 participants of MMM, Thank You!!!
I feel as if I have had a course correction and am very thankful to God for His correction. I pray that my blog will be a blessing to you; that has always been my intent. So, if there are some reading this, that have yet to take on the MMM challenge, Come On! Join Us! Leave me a comment to let me know that you too are joining in this endeavor.
For those that aren't into the cleaning aspect of the Holiday Grand Plan, there is another plan, by the same people, for you. Christmas Countdown is a 6-week Christmas planner. It does NOT include the cleaning aspect of the Holiday Grand plan but does help you prepare for a smooth, enjoyable Christmas season. It starts the last week of October and goes through the first week of December.
I'm going to make me a Christmas Preparations Notebook (or section in my Home Notebook). In it I will have both plans (Holiday Grand Plan and Christmas Countdown).
I had every intention of doing the HGP this year but with the rooms we are adding to our home and all that we have to do to get it done by Thanksgiving, I don't see it happening this year. I guess I'll have to do the detailed cleaning after the new year or next spring. Of course, there is still time to do some stuff but I just don't see it happening with the remodeling going on. (Yes, I know it is just an excuse. )
Over on AHolyExperience blog, that I mentioned in my last post, Ann talks about A Thousand Gifts and challenges others to join her in making their own list of 1000 Gifts. She had a statistic quoted that people that keep gratitude journals are 25% happier and have fewer health complaints.
This goes along with one of the "gifts" in the book The Ultimate Gift that I've mentioned before. Here is what I copied from that book on "The Gift of Gratitude".
" . . . When we parted, I asked him why he was always in such good spirits. he told me that one of the great lessons his mother had left him was the legacy of the Golden List.
"He explained to me that every morning before he got up, he would lie in bed—or wherever he had been sleeping—and visualize a golden tablet on which was written ten things in his life he was especially thankful for. He told me that his mother had done that all the days of her life, and that he had never missed a day since she shared the Golden List with him." pg 124
I have heard of many people that write in a "Blessings Journal" or such each night but I think that thinking on these blessings or things for which I am grateful, in the morning, will put me in a more pleasant mood throughout the day.
So, I will start my own list of 1000 Gifts and I will add on as time goes by. Some I may not share, as they may be private but many I will share here. I hope this challenges you to start your own gratitude list.
♥ Jesus (He loves me so much he came, took my poverty, lack, sickness, disease, and sins on Himself, so that I don't have to have any of it and can be with Him forever.)
♥ Family (husband, children, parents, siblings, extended family)
♥ Friends (forever friends, church friends, lifelong friends, homeschooling friends, and internet friends)
♥ The property we live on (9.5 acres way out in the country)
♥ Our home
♥ The new rooms being added onto our home
♥ Vehicles that get us where we need to go without suffocating us in the summer or freezing us out in the winter
♥ The breeze on a beautiful warm day
♥ My computer and internet access
♥ Wonderful giving people on the internet that make homeschooling and learning affordable (in many instances giving things away for free)
Well, I'll stop with that for today. We'll see where this goes. I suspect that I will get a bit more detailed as I go along and those first 10 may turn into 50 or more. :) I have a lot of friends and family to be thankful for.
(Me and my dd, Tiffany on an easy to climb tree limb on vacation in VA in 2007.) These are my ramblings on homeschooling and whatever else comes to mind.
Counting Down
The Holidays are over and I'm not quite ready to start a new count down yet. Maybe I should start a counting up the number of days I've stayed on my "diet".
And that's a great thing!
(I tried many many things to overcome my pizza craving. I put tomato paste and toppings and low-fat cheese on Corn Thins, I tried the one made with popcorn flour, I tried pizza soup and all helped but none satisfied. I even made it with whole wheat lavash/flat bread and whole wheat tortillas but it just isn't pizza. I love pizza!) Over the last several months, I have strayed from the "plan" and over the holidays, enjoyed eating the candies and sweets that I have limited in the past several years. Bottom line is that I have gained all the weight I lost on LDL. 
My boys went to work with dh today; since they are both wanting to work with him when they graduate, this is an "early release" program, of sorts; at least that is what we called it when I was in high school YEARS ago.
We ended up finishing the book; yes, all the way through chapter 32. We really enjoyed ourselves. Those four hours flew by!
When I first started this blog I had so many thoughts about my studies in the Bible and biblical things but, to be honest, I didn't want people to think that I thought I was something. It is almost as if I failed a test or something, because I have had very little along those lines that I felt like sharing since then. After visiting these dear leadies' blogs, I feel that I really missed it back there in the very beginning when I put a hamper on the things I wanted to share because of being concerned about my image or how people would perceive me. Truth be told, there is much I don't share, so as not to be perceived poorly. And here I thought I wasn't a "people pleaser". What an eye-opener!
