The Beautiful Blessings of Home - Homeschool Blogger

I am alive........

Sat, 6 Jan 2007 14:16:00 -0600

However, I decided to move my blog over to www.keepingourheartsathome.blogspot.com , so stop on over

24 hour "morning sickness"

Tue, 28 Nov 2006 21:09:00 -0600

I have not been around much lately first due to thanksgiving preparations, now due to my 24-hour "morning sickness".

In my first pregnancy I had NO morning sickness, 2nd- none, 3rd- not really sick just a loss of appetite. Now since Saturday I have had horrible 24-hour "morning sickness". Yes, that is right all day and all night.

I am not throwing up but I am very nauseous. I also feel like I am starving all the time, then I eat and I feel nauseous, then about 5 minutes later I feel starving again !?!?! I woke up last night at 3:00 in the morning and I was sooo hungry so I went downstairs and had a piece of sprouted toast w/ organic peanut butter on it and a glass of kefir. That quenched the hunger slightly but not much.

I am not sure why I feel so horrible. I am taking my SuperMom vitamins, my cod liver oil, drinking Kefir everyday, and I am trying to get to eating as healthy as I would like.

I am barely able to do the basic necessities of keeping my house together. My house needs a good cleaning, I have a mountain of laundry that needs to be folded and ironed, an undecorated Christmas tree in my living room, all my fall decorations still up.

So any way that is why I have not been around as of late

Well, I am going to put the kiddies to bed and lie down on the couch.

My Day

Thu, 16 Nov 2006 16:23:00 -0600

I have gotten quite off track with my cleaning schedule. So I am trying to do some catch up. I want to get all caught up before my pregnancy fatigue sets in. Right now I still have tons of energy and really no symptoms yet (except that my clothes are a little snug). I know that is not going to last long so I am hurrin' up ;-)

So here is what I accomplished today (so far)

Vacuumed kitchen floor
Washed the kitchen floor (on my hands and knees)
Cleaned the downstairs bathroom
Deep cleaned the highchair
Deep cleaned stove top
Organized homeschool bookcase
Cleaned off and wiped down kitchen counters
Washed a load of clothes
Homeschooled the kids
Washed all the dishes

I still need to straighten and vacuum the living room. I also will wash a couple more loads of clothes. I don't have to fix supper because we are having left-over spaghetti, yum!!!

Well I have to go and finish up, so later and can take a break and do some reading.

Another blessing is on the way......

Wed, 15 Nov 2006 16:47:01 -0600

Yay!!! I am pregnant!!! I am so blessed. It never fails to amaze me when I find out I am pregnant, it still always feels like such a miracle.

I have not had much time to post lately, but I wanted to stop in and share the news

My Menu

Tue, 31 Oct 2006 11:28:00 -0600

Since I don't have much time to post today, I thought I would share my menu for the next couple of weeks dinner. We usually eat each meal two nights in a row so I can stretch my meals out this way. It works wonderful!!!

Vegetable Beef Soup (slow cooker)
Lentil Soup
Cream of tomatoe soup w/ tuna sandwiches (on sprouted bread) and salad
Lemon pepper chicken breasts w/ Brown rice and veggies
Fish w/ veggies and baked potatoes
Lasagna w/ salad and garlic bread
Chicken Barley Vegetable soup (slow cooker)
Cream of potatoe soup
Broccoli cheese soup
Meatloaf w/ mashed potatoes and veggies

With all the soups I usually make wholemade rolls. I also have two whole chickens and a roast that I bought because they were on sale. I will add to this list when I figure out what I am making with those. I usually never purchase things that are not on my list but these were really good deals.

Tonight I don't have to cook as we are going over to my mother-in-laws tonight because she is making some of her wonderful tamals. YUM, YUM!!! My favorite

Sleep Sucess!!!

Mon, 30 Oct 2006 12:53:00 -0600

I wanted to say thank you to all the wonderful ladies who gave me the great advice on the sleep problems I was having with my 19 month old. I am very happy to report that she is sleeping through the night !!!!!

I was very surprised at how easy it actually was. Whenever she woke up she would stand up and say "Mama", then I would get up and lay her down and tell her go ni-night. And she would go back to sleep!!! The first night she woke maybe about 4 times, the next night 3 and so on. Now she doesn't wake at all.

I put her to bed at 8:30 and she usually wakes up around 7 or 7:30. (today she woke up at 6:00 due to the time change). It is such a wonderful blessing to have her finally sleeping through the night. I still wake up several times a night out of habit, I think it will take me awhile to get used to the fact that I don't have to wake up

It is such as wonderfully nice day today!!! It is 68 degrees right now, woohooo!!! The kids and I took advantage of the nice weather and took a loooong walk. Then we did school and ate lunch. My 19 month old is napping right now. I decided to let the kids have a little fun in the warm weather before it gets too cold again, so we broke away from the schedule and my dd7 and ds5 are outside playing right now.

Here is my list of some things I still need to get done today:

-Clean the upstairs and downstairs bathrooms

-Wash a load of dishes

-Wash a couple loads of laundry

-Fold and put away two loads of laundry

-Put together my co-op order

Well I best be off to get started on my list, I don't have much time because I have to take my daughter to dance class at 4:00.

A wonderfully awesome FREE e-book!!

Sat, 28 Oct 2006 08:32:00 -0500

Wow, I can't believe it has been 2 1/2 weeks already. Where does time go? I have gotten a lot done and I still have things to finish, but I decided that my break is over :-)

This morning I stopped on over at my sweet friend, Candy's blog, Keeping the Home. I have been anxiously awaiting a "surprise" that she was putting together for all her readers. Well this morning she unveiled her surprise. Wooohoooo!!!! It is an absolutely, wonderfully, awesome (and FREE) e-book called "The Joyful Christian Homemaker". You can download it here for FREE!!! It is excellent!!!!

Candy has been such a blessing to me (and I am sure to many other women). About a 1 1/2 years ago I was searching for something, although I did not know what. I was saved, however, I was not "on track". I came across her website looking for a something to schedule my days (the home management binder). I was so blessed by her website, that was the start of my 100 degree turn around. She would answer any questions I had or even just give me encouragement, she was such a blessing. My walk with the Lord is stronger than it ever has been before, I have learned so much from her.

Candy, I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart. You will never know how much you have inspired me and encouraged me. I thank God very often for bringing you into my life. He is using you in such a beautiful way. Keep up the wonderful ministry that you are doing May God bless you for all you have done and are doing to help other women!!!!

Blog Break

Mon, 9 Oct 2006 19:26:00 -0500

Yes, I am going to take a short (hopefully) break. I have some things that I really need to take care of right now. I feel that if I am not getting everything accomplished (whether it be spiritual or physical) one of the first things to go at this point would be blogging.

Although I really don't spend very much time blogging, I am thinking it about often (hmmm, what should I blog about today).

So I am off for a short break. I will be checking in on my friends once in while though :-)

Is God Judging America?

Sat, 7 Oct 2006 15:53:00 -0500

By Pastor David L. Brown, Ph.D.
Sermon Delivered 9/11/05

Jeremiah 18:1-17

On August 22, 1787, George Mason (1725�1792), Father of the Bill of Rights, made this statement during the debates of the Constitutional Convention �

"As Nations cannot be rewarded or punished in the next world, they must be in this. By an inevitable chain of causes and effects, Providence punishes national sins, by national calamities."

I believe Mason was right! I further believe that for many years God has been slowly withdrawing his hand of blessing on this nation. Now, it seems apparent to me that God has begun to judge this nation. Look at what�s happening to America in recent years. Today is the fourth anniversary for the 9-11 terrorists attack that took the lives of nearly 3000 of people and cost billions of dollars to clean up and repair the damage. Billions more are being appropriated to try to prevent another attack.

Then there was the anthrax scare that took several lives and huge sums of money are being spent to counter more of the same. The Post Master General has said, "The anthrax attack will cost the United States Post Office billions of dollars in lost trade and the implementation of a screening and sanitizing system."

Western wildfires, covering a third of the nation, have destroyed homes and taken the lives of several fire fighters. Again, the cost has been in the billions of dollars and creating untold hardship for thousands of people. Others are seeing floods and mudslides wash away their homes and diminishing their hopes for the future. In other parts of the nation droughts, are drying up crops and incomes. The stock market has dipped to a dangerous and freighting low and causing thousands to lose their life savings and removing much of their income. Last year, 6 hurricanes did billions of dollars of damage to towns in Florida and surrounding states.

Who can forget the latest calamity of biblical proportions -- Hurricane Katrina. I have heard reporters make that statement numerous times over the past the days. To be sure, the devastation is unbelievable and it will be months before we know how many were killed and years before homes and businesses can be rebuilt. But, what you might not have known is that homosexuals had planned a huge Southern Decadence festival� replete with tens of thousands of men and women engaged in public nudity, prostitution, illegal drug use and destructive public S & M sex. According to WorldNetDaily, "Hurricane Katrina walloped New Orleans just two days before the annual homosexual �Southern Decadence� festival was to begin in the town." I ask you. Could it be that God is judging America?

For the first 150 to 175 years, America�s culture had a respect for God, His Commandments, His principles, and for His people (see Psalm 36:1-4). Our government, our courts, our schools and colleges, and our leaders made rulings and decisions based on Biblical principles, but that all started changing about 50 years ago. All of those solid Biblical principles that were the foundation for our Constitution and Bill of Rights, and highly regarded for nearly 200 years are now being maligned, ignored, litigated and judged unconstitutional. The teachings of the Bible are deemed as being unacceptable and even harmful by unbelievers and God haters, and it is increasingly being ruled that it must be excluded in the public forum. The atheists, humanists, hedonists, homosexuals, ET Al harangue that Christians are bigots, hate mongers, homophobic, puritanical and intolerant and must NOT be allowed to express their offensive views in public. These heathens rage that the Bible and its teachings even corrupt the minds of people and make them intolerant of others. (I think Psalm 2 really applies to today). We should be intolerant of sin and evil (Psalm 97:10; 101:3)

Christian friends, when Israel turned away from God, God would send prophets and messengers to worn them to repent from their wicked ways, reject idolatry, and repent of the worship of foreign gods. When they would not heed His messengers there came a time when God would allow them to reap the consequences of their sinful ways, and He would send judgment upon then in various ways. We see this in 2 Kings 17:12-20.

Some Christians are wondering why all these bad things are happening while we have a President who says he is a Christian and reads the Bible regularly. It is certain that President George Bush is much less hostile to Christianity and more in line with Godly issues then Al Gore or John Kerry would have been. By anyone�s estimation his moral character is far beyond that of his predecessor, Bill Clinton. But why is so much bad stuff happening when George W. Bush is President? The liberals would have you believe that it is all George Bush�s fault, when that is not true. Study your Old Testament carefully. As most students of the Bible know, God's judgment comes on a nation years after the crime, in some cases hundreds of years. For instance, God postponed His judgment on the nations of the earth for 120 years in the days of Noah (Genesis 6:3; 1 Peter 3:20).

I believe America has reaped the prosperous harvest because of the Christian seed sown by our Godly forefathers. But, for the last 30-60 years generations have been sowing evolutionism, secular humanism, relativism, amorality, immorality, political correctness, hedonism and Multiculturalism into the culture. The harvest from that seed has been growing up and now we are beginning to reap the harvest. Should we be surprised that God would judge our nation in light of Galatians 6:7-8 "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting."

With this thought in mind, I pose this question to you� Is not America deserving of God�s Judgment? Is America deserving of Judgment?

Consider these facts. According to reports published by Paul Scott's syndicated column, one million two hundred thousand (1,200,000) abortions took place in the United States last year. Even more shocking, is the information that the government financed between 222,000 and 278,000 of these abortions. The Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW) furnished these figures.

I agree with the Baptist preacher E. L. Bynum who said, "I maintain that this (abortion) may be one of the greatest crimes in the annals of human history. This may be a crime so dark, a sin so black, that nothing can stay the hand of God's righteous judgment upon America.�

Let�s consider some other statistics�

Homicide and incarceration are the highest of any industrialized nation. Ten times that of Japan, Sweden, Ireland, and the Netherlands.

Crime increased by 371% since 1960, with Juvenile Crime up 920% since 1985, the highest in the world.

Divorce quadrupled in the last 30 years, making the U.S. the world leader. Divorces among professed Christians are slightly higher than those who do not profess to be Christians.

Teenage pregnancies also quadrupled in the last 30 years (more than a million a year) making the US the Western World leader.

American is the voluntary abortion leader in the world.

America is the illegal drug use leader of the world.

America is the illiteracy world leader among industrialized nations, with our National Educational Standards among the lowest in the world.

While I do not claim to be a prophet, I think that any student of the Scriptures can see that God hand of judgment is moving on America. The proverbial "chickens" are coming home to roost. Because of abortion, homosexuality and many other sins against God, this nation is beginning to reap what it has sown. "Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people." Proverbs 14:34. The "entitlement" attitude, the deplorable drug addiction, appalling alcoholism, the profusion of pornography, widening crime wave, utterly abominable homosexual movement, the push for same sex marriage, and the anti-God, anti-Christ attitude of multitudes in our nation today signal that the nation is RIPE for Judgment. Turn to Psalms 50:22 "Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver." Has the tearing in peaces begun in America? I think it has.

I believe that judgment has begun. Did you hear that they expect natural gas prices to be up as much as 70% this winter? Fuel oil is expected to rise 30% and electricity 15%. These along with the high gasoline prices may soon evaporate the American dream and turn it into a nightmare.

Now back to the question I posed earlier -- Is America deserving of Judgment? The answer is regrettable yes! God will not be mocked!

Do not confuse what I am saying. I believe America is still the greatest nation in the world. However, remember that there was a time when Israel of the Old Testament was also a great nation. That was when they were following the Lord under the leadership of Joshua, David and Solomon. But their greatness crumbled when they decided to ignore God and worship other gods and idols. America is now at that point. In the beginning, our nation respected God, honored His Word, and hated idol worship, and refused to encourage and invite the worship of any religion except that of the Bible. But that is not so today. We are now encouraging and inviting the teaching of Secular Humanism, New Age, Islam, multiculturalism, and various cults in many of our public schools and colleges, all in the name of diversity. The "powers that be" in our country are tolerating and promoting any kind of philosophy or religion at the expense of the true God of the Bible. The Scripture is clear. Exodus 20:3-5 says, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6 And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments."

God's promise to Israel was that blessing would follow them where ever they were if they would continue to obey him. He said in Deuteronomy 28:13 "And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them:" However, He also said if they would "not hearken unto his voice" curses would come upon them and overtake them.

Most of us know the story of Israel well and how they became a "stiff neck people" and paid a heavy for it. Is it possible that our nation is standing where stiff-necked Israel stood (Jeremiah 17:23)? I believe that is where our nation is today. And I believe unless we repent as a nation and turn back to God that we can expect to see more judgment at the hand of God. As believers we must live righteously, evangelize boldly and pray fervently for a revival in our land.

Wierd Story and Sleep Problems

Thu, 5 Oct 2006 15:49:00 -0500

The Sideways Screen

You know the weirdest thing about my screen getting turned sideways yesterday was this: The day before yesterday I read this story about how these people played a trick on their boss and turned everything backwards and upside down, and .....the computer screen sideways. Now when I read this story I thought to myself "That is so weird, I didn't even know you could do that".

So yesterday I am upstairs cleaning the bathroom when my dd7 comes upstairs and says "Mama, your computer screen is sideways" I thought she meant that the whole monitor was broke or something. So I ran down stairs and sure enough it was sideways. Guess who was playing at the computer?? Dd1!!! She climbed on the chair and was playing with the computer. Isn't that the strangest thing???

So.....I know you all are just dying to know how you can turn your screen sideways (in case you want to lay on the floor while on the computer) or upside down (maybe you would like to do a handstand while on the computer) so here it is.....you just press Ctrl+Alt+ the arrow in which ever direction you want your screen to be TADA!!!

Sleep Problems

Since dd1 was born, her sleep habits have been terrible. When she was a month old she would scream from 11:00pm till about 2:00am. Hubby and I would go back and forth, him walking her, me seeing if she wanted to nurse. It was exausting. She finally stopped doing this at about 6 months.

My two oldest were always on a sleep schedule. But with dd1 it was next to impossible to get her to go to sleep in her crib. So I gave up and just let her go to sleep when we did or when she finally passed out ( I know, I know). Same with naps; I couldn't handle the hours of crying in her crib and I ended up letting her fall asleep when she felt like it.

So after allowing a ton of bad habits I finally got frusterated and decided she had to go to sleep when I wanted her too. I started putting her down for a nap at 1:00 and to bed at 9:00. However, she would only sleep for about 30-45 mins for her nap and she would wake up at 6:30am or 7:30am.

For her nap I started leaving her in her crib for 2 hrs even if she woke up before that. She would always fall back to sleep. Now for her naps she almost always sleeps 2 hrs.

Now nightime is still a different story. Although she does go to sleep fine she wakes up to nurse at about 11:30 pm and then I usually bring her in bed to nurse her, that way I can sleep. However, she is waking up about 10 times a night to nurse!!! I know this is waaay to much for a 18 month old. She also kicks us, screams, kicks the covers off ,ect while she is in bed with us. I have tried to put her back in her crib but she just screams and screams. She might drift off to sleep but then wakes again in about 15 mins and starts screaming again, it is horrible.

So I know I have created a monster and now I need to fix it. Any suggestions??? Or should I just let her scream in her crib till she gets the point??? All I know is that I have to do something, hubby and I are desperatly lacking in the sleep department.