Life at my house.....welcome to the adventure! - Homeschool Blogger

teen missions and George Mueller

Wed, 1 Jul 2009 00:07:00 -0500

I guess the two don't necessarily go together. Ever since we read the biography of George Mueller, however, it is like I finally understood that anything is possible with God. George Mueller had amazing faith. He would have a huge need, not tell anyone about it, pray, and see the need answered in an awesome way. The question isn't if I know that God can do anything. The question is, do I REALLY BELIEVE it.

My 17yr old ds and my 14yr old dd have their hearts set on going to Scotland on a mission trip in 3 weeks. We have been working hard to raise the money. We just did a taco dinner fundraiser and it brought in $400 profit. They had to raise $3,600 each to go on this trip. That's over $7000. They only have a total of $2000 left to go between the two of them. Great! Except that they only have 3 weeks left. Even if we had a car wash and made $500 we have no idea how to get the rest. The plane tickets have already been bought...so if they don't raise the rest of the money they lose most of what they have already raised. We paid for their flight to Texas where they go for training first. So...we don't have the money for more. I so know that they need to see this happen. I know this trip will be good for them too...not just the teens they will be ministering too.

So if you are reading this, please pray. Pray for their finances, my/their faith in God providing, and for a safe trip.

And if God touches your heart and you want to help make their trip happen...go to drawandwrite.com and buy a book. We will donate 80% of the sales from our website over the next 3 weeks to their trip.

Carylee

The adventure/experiment continues

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 01:21:00 -0500

I'm sorry that I haven't written for a while. Between travel with my dh job, a huge garden at a friends house, and trying to help my teens raise money for their mission trips, our life has just been too crazy to type!

An update on our little faith experiment: June is almost over and we are still free of government help (except for healthcare). Our grocery budget for 9 of us is around $400 a month...and that includes diapers, etc. But amazingly we are eating fine. We haven't missed the foodstamps at all!

We have been able to add to our food budget a little each month with some money from sales of the books that I have written. We try not to do that too often, but at least God has provided it, not the government! It has been so cool to watch Him work!

New news, my two teens are preparing for a 2 week mission trip to Scotland! They only have a month left and still need to raise over $2000...so prayer would be appreciated!

Carylee

The faith experiment

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 22:11:00 -0500

I have been meaning to type this for over a month, but haven't had time. Even though it is old news here, I feel like God wanted me to share it....so here it goes!

First, some background here. For about a year we have been receiving government help in the form of food stamps. Okay, they don't do stamps anymore, just a credit card like thing. Anyways, we felt bad about it at first, but after talking to some others at church, we felt that it was okay. It has been a blessing and a real help to our budget this year. Especially while my husband was layed off. With 7 kids, they gave us an amazing amount of money, more than we had ever spent on food before.

Recently, my dh has been reading about George Mueller to the kids. It had been affecting both of us deeply. I would be in the laundry room listening and crying!

So, now on with the story.....

We were sitting at our ex-Amish friends' house (just my dh and I, no kids :) ) for prayer. After praying a while , my husband announced that God had been talking to him for a while about something and that he was going to share it even though he hadn't talked with me about it yet (yikes!). He then proceeded to say that he felt that we were suppose to get off our government help. I wanted to yell "no way" or "that's how we eat! "...a response similar to one George Mueller's wife had made at one time. But I found myself saying that I had felt the same thing. Now this was while we were still unemployed...so it was a little scary to say this! So we kept praying. The next day I told God that if this is just our good idea, we didn't want to do it, but if it was from Him, I wanted a sign.

Sign #1....right after I said that, I was driving for about a half hour. EVERY song on the radio station was about TRUSTING God. On the way home they were not. hmmm...could be coincidence. So I asked again.

Sign #2... church the next morning, pastor had us open our Bible and read the passage about God caring for even the sparrow......then he looked right at me and said "Oh yea of little faith!' Yikes. He had no idea what we had been praying about. The only person in church who knew looked at me and mouthed "that was for you!"

By this time I was crying and I felt that I knew what God wanted us to do. We even feel like we need to get off the government healthcare, too....but one step at a time, right? So we took our pastor and wife out to dinner. I asked him when he prepared his sermon. He said " Monday, but God told me to change it this morning!" I then proceeded to tell him our side of the story...as his mouth hit the table! He shared some good reasons for not getting of the government help....but then said, "but by all means, if God is telling you to do something, do it!"

So that was it. So we thought. God must of thought we were a little dense and needed one more sign.

Sign #3...we got home from dinner to a message on our answering machine from an uncle I hardly ever talk to. It seems that a cow of his had tried jumping a fence and broke her leg. If we came up that afternoon and butchered it, we could have all the meat for free! I got off the phone, looked at my husband and started laughing hysterically. God had provided before we even needed it. We had a freezer full of venison...now we had beef too!

So here we are. I called the social worker and told her we were done. She laughed and told me that she doesn't get too many calls these days saying "don't give us your money". So we are on a new adventure. Trusting. Waiting. Wondering what God has in store. But excited. Because we can now say He did it, not the government.

Disclaimer: I am not saying that no one should be on government assistance. I would not put anyone down for doing so. Again, it was a blessing to us in the past. But right now, we feel that God is trying to teach us to trust Him. IT is something that we can't have in our life right now.

Carylee

the adventures of the unemployed

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 20:38:00 -0600

I haven't written much for a while. We have been on a new adventure for awhile.. My husband is a little over half-way through a 40-day lay off. It came as a surprise....but God has been so good. Thankfully we had money saved aside to buy a bigger house....and we hadn't bought it yet.... Also, our church body have really been a blessing. They gave money and food to three families in our church that had been laid off. It was a Great Christmas present. This time-off has been a blessing in many ways. My children are probably going to have a hard time when dad goes back to work! It has been great to hand him a math lesson...or see the house cleaner because he helped!

His dad gave the kids all money for Christmas. The children voted and decided to put their money together so we could go to an indoor waterpark. We are scheduled to go on Sunday! They are soo excited. We only have one little hiccup in the plan... The next part is not for the squeamish....we visited some ex-Amish friends of ours on Sunday. The kids all went sledding and we had a great time. Then on Thursday....we noticed that our 4 year old had nits in her hair! ugh.....the dreaded word....LICE. We had what I considered a bad case of lice exactly 2 years ago after this same child played with the same family at a church potluck. We had NEVER had it before even when I did daycare! We have no proof that it was from them....but considering we haven't been anywhere else, everything has been canceled around here due to the extreme cold....it seems pretty suspicious! Thankfully, we seem to have caught it VERY Quickly. We haven't found any bugs....just nits on her, and no one else. It made us panick, however, as we can't cancel our trip now without losing all our Christmas money! So we have done extreme laundry and everything else we could....and saw nothing today. So if we still see nothing tomorrow we are going on Sunday. Of course we have to keep checking everyone everyday for another week, mostly because I am paranoid! Sigh. We just can't have an uneventful time at our house!

So....what would you do? We love this family. The are excommunicated Amish who are born-again believers. They have 11, soon to be 12 children. They are a lot of fun to be with. BUT.....I just can't bear to hang out with them knowing that we could get lice from them again! How can a person politely ask someone if they have lice b4 they visit? Or am I forever doomed to only visit them when we can be outside in the summer...and constantly tell their children not to pick up my little kids? Ugh, again.

Well.....we are praying that we caught everything soon enough....and that we can still have our fun and NOT lose over $200....something we just can't afford to do with my dh layed off.....and my children would be heart broken over.

Carylee

The Biggest Loser

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 20:30:00 -0600

This is so timely! I was just reading another blog a couple of days ago that was titled the Biggest Loser. She was talking about how she wished to lose weight but nothing seemed to work, and she was imagining herself on the tv show. I was totally relating. I just can't seem to find time to exercise. And I like chocolate, and pop...a little too well, even though I shouldn't! I am only 5'2" and weigh 175 lbs...yikes, I can't believe I put that in print! I guess I have to start somewhere. Here's the whole timeliness of this, though.... Today I discovered that our little town is putting on their own version of The Biggest Loser contest!!!! It will run from Feb. 2-June 1st. The person who loses the highest percentage of their weight wins a one year membership for 2 at our local health club, a Wii, a Wii fit, and a gift certificate that can be used at numerous locations in our town. I am excited to start! Even my kids are excited.....well not about the giving up desserts part! But they are excited about winning a Wii! So, hopefully this will help me stay commited even when we start traveling in March again for my hubbies job.

Carylee

Winter in WI

Thu, 25 Dec 2008 21:57:00 -0600

Merry Christmas!

It has been an interesting few weeks here. I'll try to do a quick version for you!

My husband and I decided to take a hotel night on Thanksgiving night and then went shopping for the children's Christmas presents at 4am the next morning. My mom called us at the hotel to tell us that our youngest was throwing up. Thus began 2 weeks of the stomach flu! Ugh.

Then, the following Monday we learned that my husband would temporarily be layed off for 40 days. We have 7 children.....so this wasn't exciting news... BUT God's timing is perfect. By books have been selling great. Not great enough to replace his income....but still helpful. We had also saved quite a bit of money for a downpayment on a house that we were hoping to buy. We won't be buying anything right now...so at we have that to fall back on. This is probably the first time in our life that we even had money to fall back on! There are at least 4 other families in our small church that have recently been layed off or without work. Our church decided to bless three of them last Sunday (ours included). They collected money and food. It was way more than I could ever have expected. We feel very loved and blessed.

Then I tried to print photo calendars for my parents and my inlaws for Christmas. I hate printers and printer ink. I have had nothing but trouble with it. Needless to say, my mom will be waiting for hers until I talk to the ink company and get some replacement cartridges!

Then our pipes in our main bathroom and laundry room froze 4 days ago....then they burst last night! We are still without laundry or use of the mainfloor bathroom. Can you imagine a family of 9 with no laundry being done for 5 days!!!???? I must have 15 loads. We don't have a laundry mat in our town. It is only 15 minutes away....but it is Christmas! Anyways, I will probably load up all the laundry tomorrow am and try to get it done b4 my brother-in-law and family gets here tomorrow. At least we have 2 other bathrooms up stairs. Thank God for that!

Well, Merry Christmas anyways! I hope you know that no matter what WE are going through, God does not change, nor is He surprised! And Christmas means oh so much more than what is going on around us right now!

Carylee

Black Friday Specials

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 18:40:00 -0600

Check this out! I think it is the best sale for Black Friday yet! The Old Schoolhouse magazine is offering a year subscription for only $7.95!!!!! That is unbelievable! I love this magazine. I plan on renewing my subscription and buying it for a couple of my friends at that price! Old Schoolhouse subscription sale!

The Old Schoolhouse Store also has a cool Black Friday sale going on. The more you spend, the more free items you get! Check it out too! Black Friday Sale

Don't forget, if you are tired off all the toys and junk your kids tend to get for Christmas, you can order a great educational and fun gift for them at drawandwrite.com. We have three titles in our Draw and Write Through History series. Give your children the gift of learning how to draw and learning about history at the same time! And the BEST PART.....you can use the Black Friday sale link above, and order the Draw and Write Through History books from the Old Schoolhouse store! Then you will get FREE shipping and the books will help you earn the free gift specials that they are offering on Black Friday!

Carylee

Shoeboxes, again!!!

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 21:51:00 -0600

My family has been a relay center (drop off site) for Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes for 6 years now. We usually end up collecting around 500-600 shoeboxes from area churches and groups. We then drive them to a collection center in a bigger city, and they truck them to MN for processing. It is such a cool minestry!! Our church has a packing party every year. We all bring whatever items we have bought (school supplies, small toys, toothbrushes, etc) and lay them out on this big buffet table our church has. Then some of us wrap boxes, some bag candy, and we pack the boxes. Our largest amount was two years ago. We packed 80 in about 1 1/2 hours. Last year we did more like 65. When we started this years we thought there would be less. Well....it took longer, more like 3 hours....but we packed 106 boxes! It was soooo exciting. I hope the rest of our collections will be up. If our site gets 2000 boxes dropped off, they will send a semi to get them!! Okay, that is probably too high of expectations. But it would be cool to get 1000.

Check out their website at samaritanspurse.org. There is still time to pack boxes. The official collection week is next week!!

Carylee

Interesting.....

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 21:24:00 -0600

Still on the election.....

A friend of mine was at work taking phone call orders when she got a very interesting call. I got her permission to post this here. I hope this woman is wrong. BUT....again, no matter who you voted for this is INTERESTING. We definitely need to pray for our new president. I pray that God will do some major work in his heart before he even takes his oath.

I had a very interesting call last night at work with a 78-year old lady named Erika from the west coast. She grew up in Germany and for some reason started saying that the new govt. that Obama is trying to initiate is very socialistic and he follows the exact pattern as Hitler did in the 30's. She was so interesting to talk to and she insisted that I take her name and phone number, which I did. I would love to get a group together to talk with her and her husband (retired Navy: WWII, Korean, and Vietnam) Oh the wisdom and knowledge the elderly have is priceless. Erika said that when Hitler started off, the people were economically depressed just like USA and his words mesmerized them. They became "mouth dead" and she gave the German word for it. They thought of Hitler as a "movie star-like image" just like Obama is thought of like a "rock star" image today. She said that the people who listened to Hitler's ideas became brainwashed and anyone who thought otherwise was considered "narrow-minded" and anti-government, anti-change and were ostracized, and the rest is history... The government will take control of health, education, business, housing, etc. Read the history of the Eastern Hemisphere and see what a socialistic government was/is like. It is a dictatorship. We will NOT be a country "of the people, by the people and for the people" any longer. Even our income will not be our own, it will be divided and dolled out to those less fortunate or less willing to work for a living and a huge portion will go back to the government. We will be like surfs that work the land and the government decides where the product and profit goes. Keep in mind, that in a socialistic government, this never affects the upper crust. People will do anything to be at the upper level, even turn on friends and family. It is the middle and lower class that suffer. As for the Govt. Health system, she said to ask a Canadian. Erika told about a friend who sprained her ankle and it took 10 days to see a doctor. The same friend inhaled some Chinese food accidentally and it took days to see a doctor and they kept mistreating or shrugging her off. Finally this friend came to Washington (where Erika lives) to be treated and she now has lung damage from the infection. Those that can afford it come to the US for treatment. Where will we go for a good doctor, even if we could afford it? We will get second-rate doctors and she said a lot would be foreign speaking so you can hardly understand them. As I said, it was a very interesting conversation.

I guess what confuses me the most is that seemingly very intelligent people are for this. But I can’t figure out why? What saddens me even more is the vast number of people, young, old, and of all races, that voted without understanding the objectives of this “new government”. Many that were interviewed voted for O. because he “had a hard life and they could relate to that”. Or many of the younger people even went as far as to say, “he is ‘hot’, of course I will vote for him over that old guy,” or that he is ”young and fresh and will be a nice change”, not even having a clue what the change will entail,"

Sigh. Again, I pray this woman is wrong.... though I have to say that we often don't listen to the wisdom of our elders when we need to. I believe we need to be watching the news and praying. Make sure you call/email on any e-alerts that HSLDA might send your way in the coming year. I am not going to panic....as for me and my house, we will trust in the Lord.....and try to prepare for what may lay ahead.

Also, this same friend posted something polite, but about praying to God, not Allah for the election on her facebook page. A family member of hers said that she would now block her access to her page, because she tollerated people of all faiths and just couldn't have anything against anyone or anyone faith on her page!!!!!! I just can't understand how people in the name of tolerance, can be SO INTOLERANT of those of us who don't agree with them! That double standard just blows me away. That being said....I will try not to talk politics for a while. May God have mercy on our nation, and may we turn our hearts towards Him.

Carylee

Just in....

Tue, 4 Nov 2008 23:31:00 -0600

I just got this emailed to me and decided that I would post it in light of the election:

Top 8 Predictions No Matter Who Wins the Election
1.   God will still have all the answers.
2.   Prayer will still work.
3.   The Holy Spirit will still move.
4.   Love & Forgiveness will still be the point of everything.
5.   God will still pour out blessings upon His faithful people.
6.   The Millennium will still come.
7.   Jesus will still love you.
8. Jesus will still save those who come to Him.
ISN'T IT GREAT TO KNOW WHO IS REALLY IN CHARGE?

God bless.

Carylee