I am not a home educator, but am very proud of my daughter, jenn4him, who homeschools my three precious grandchildren. I admire you all. Thank you for being my source of inspiration. May God Bless You, Mama Karen http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mamakaren/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:16:00 -0600 Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:16:00 -0600 "A careless word may kindle strife; A cruel word may wreck a life. A bitter word may hate instill; A brutal word may smite and kill. A gracious word may smooth the way; A joyous word may light the day. A timely word may lessen stress; A loving word may heal and bless." - Author Unkown (taken from "The Power of a Woman's Words" written by Sharon Jaynes)       This is our last evening of bible study and we are having a pitch-in dinner, fellowship, and a little review of where we have  journeyed these past months.  I will miss these ladies very much but hope to stay in touch by email or perhaps bump into them at church. The good news is that Jenn and I are signing up for the next bible study, which starts in January. We even have the passage to be memorized so we are good to go as far as getting an early start.           http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mamakaren/745711/ Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:16:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mamakaren/745711/      Jenn4him, my daughter, and I are attending a Wednesday night Bible study together at church. She has been to many but this is my first,  and I have to say that I am awestruck with wonder at how God's Grace surrounds us ladies as we study from a wonderful book called,  "The Power of a Woman's Words" by Sharon Jaynes. We are also memorizing I Corinthians 13, and I didn't think it possible for me to do with my "over 60 memory issues" but I am. Another new experience for me is praying out loud with another lady, after getting into groups of 2 or 3. I am awkward and not as eloquent as the other ladies but I am doing this too.        From the time spent in Wednesday night Bible study, God is also changing my thoughts and speech.  "Think before speaking" is a new daily mantra. Picture yourself biting down on your tongue holding back words before they fly helter skelter out of your mouth, and cannot be taken back. I love the image.  This week's chapter, from Sharon Jayne's book, is  called "The Potency of Silence." She nailed a bad habit of mine, which I didn't think was gossiping, when she wrote that to say "bless her heart" after  talking about someone was really just sugar coated gossip. Guilty as charged.  But I am trying to stop this before the words get out of my mouth. Remember the tongue biting"?  She suggests that we say, "May I quote you on what you are about to tell me?" to anyone wanting to share "news" or a "concern" about somone else.  I like this.        I am being drawn nearer to the Lord, partly due to this Bible study, attending church, and early morning quiet time spent in the Word, but most importantly because the Lord has opened my DH's eyes and softened his heart, growing us closer to each other. God's plan for us is unfolding and He is working inside both of us daily. No matter what happens to our business, we know that He will take care of us if we follow His plan . We are attending a new members class this Saturday in the hopes of joining the church. Please pray for us.   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mamakaren/743611/ Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:58:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mamakaren/743611/ "Lord, make my words gracious and tender, for tomorrow I may have to eat them!" - Author Unknown Taken from "The Power of a Woman's Words" by Sharon James http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mamakaren/742387/ Thu, 5 Nov 2009 15:08:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mamakaren/742387/               Today is Jenn's birthday, so please visit her blog  and wish her a very happy day. Our hard drive died a few weeks ago and I lost  everything...so, I need to install some software in order to put photos taken yesterday of Jenn's birthday party at our home on my blog. We had a wonderful time, and it filled my heart with so much joy to share time with our lovely daughter and her precious family. She is God's child and great blessing to all who know her.   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mamakaren/737280/ Mon, 19 Oct 2009 06:30:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mamakaren/737280/      Jenn treated me to a yummy birthday dinner last evening at the Texas Roadhouse! DH came too which made the evening doubly special. We were supposed to be attending our Weds. night Bible Study, but we ditched it and had such a great time. Thank you so much, dear daughter!      I felt like a queen all evening. We shared the most humongous, warm brownie birthday dessert ever!!! It  filled a big bowl and was topped with a huge dip of melting vanilla ice cream. DH was ever so good and didn't partake in the dessert. I am proud of his conviction to take care of his diabetes.      Today, I feel pretty full...I am "for sure and for certain" so glad that birthdays only come once a year. If we celebrated everyday, mercy!      I have been AWL on blogging, spending so much more time working at the bakery during the day that in past days. I guess I had lots of time to kill back then, but not now. Our bakery is still struggling...it's in God's hand. Everyday, I place our business burdens at His feet. Only He knows what will be.     I've been reading some Amish books by Beverly Lewis lately and had no idea that Old Order Amish don't believe in salvation through Jesus Christ, that the Books of John are forbidden. Eye opening material. I like their gentle ways though and love certain phrases like, "wonderfully good" and "for sure and for certain."           I need to get back to work.           http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mamakaren/725642/ Thu, 10 Sep 2009 09:16:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mamakaren/725642/      I may need to change the name of my blog from "Living By Faith" to "Busy at Work" as my playtime while I am at the bakery has been cut short since our SIL left the bakery (he worked with us for over 11 yrs.) to work in an accounting firm.While working with us, he wore several different hats and with only one hat to wear now, I'll bet he enjoys his new job. The beauty of his leaving us is that we still have him as our SIL, so it's not like the end of a relationship. More like the beginning of building stronger family bonds. Can you imagine working for your inlaws? It couldn't have been easy for him, but that's water over the proverbial bridge.        His changing jobs now couldn't have come at a better time for me personally. This past winter and spring have been filled with trips to visit my ailing parents and I barely worked 30 hours with all of their emergencies, appointments, moves, and visits. Some weeks I only worked two or three days. Now that they are settled in the nursing home, and seem to be stable healthwise (knock on wood), I plan to visit them once a week on Fridays.       At least that's the plan. Since we mortals aren't really in control of our destinys, it's best to start each new day by asking our Lord for His mercies and blessings, then move about the day with a "plan," subject to change at any given time. I am just greatful for each day's portion alloted me. Each morning I thank God for the coming day, whatever it brings. And, going through some days can feel like walking in minefields, but God is with me even on those days.      Back to the bakery,  we were promised a large loan from a customer who didn't want us to close our bakery doors this past month. We soared with this news! But, of course our customer's parent company had a different idea and no monies are coming to fill our coffers. DH has swung into mega power drive (he's our Super Hero) squeezing worn out "lemons" into lemonaide. His days are FULL and he comes home tired, sleeping in his chair during his favorite TV shows. A biproduct of this is that he is also losing weight.       Along with looking under every rock for an opportunity, he also has turned to the Lord. Can we say a BIG, "Hallelujah?" We have attended church together for the past two Sundays and he has his own private sessions with God now too. Dh realizes that he can't do this by himself, that he needs a Higher Power. I have prayed that he would give this burden to the Lord and it took his facing the eleventh hour of our bakery to make it happen.       We've all  been there. At least I know from past life experiences I have strayed away from the Father but returned during a crisis, realizing I couldn't do it alone. I recently made a vow to God. I know that one shouldn't make vows with God unless we intend to keep them, so this is the first one in a long time. I vowed to love Him forever, to put Him before everyone else in my life. He is first. I'm so content with this vow.           http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mamakaren/718817/ Wed, 19 Aug 2009 13:39:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mamakaren/718817/ Rachel Katherine is 4 lbs. 7 oz. Daddy's little Angel http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mamakaren/712147/ Tue, 28 Jul 2009 12:27:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mamakaren/712147/ Happy 10th Birthday Gracie!!! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mamakaren/709954/ Tue, 21 Jul 2009 10:14:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mamakaren/709954/     Our beautiful granddaughter, Rachel Katherine,  was born unexpectantly yesterday morning.  Emily felt a pain and went to the hospital thinking that she had gallstones. Thank the Lord she did this because preclamsia was threatening baby Rachel due to Emily's very high blood pressure.  Although she arrived 6 weeks early...look how precious she is!  Mommy, daddy, and baby are doing fine. PTL!      Thank you sweet ladies for sending prayers up to the Lord on our behalf. We are meeting with an attorney tomorrow morning to decide if we liquidate or reorganize. My DH is trying everything he knows to save both our business and our personal assests (our home), and I pray that he stays healthy throughout this stressful time. I will post more once we know the outcome of tomorrow's meeting.        Of course, it is all in God's hands. I worry about the loss of income, our home, and healthcare but it has all been decided by our Father in Heaven and I need to be patient, wait for the "open window" of opportunity if in fact He decides to close our current "door."   God is faithful, God shows us nothing but everlasting love, God is just and righteous. Thank you dear Lord for loving us. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mamakaren/709643/ Mon, 20 Jul 2009 11:25:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mamakaren/709643/      This has not been a banner week for us at the bakery.  We usually keep pretty busy producing bakery items for our customers, but this week started with only one order to be filled, which meant that we had to lay off thirty-two employees on Tuesday. Without orders to fill, we cannot pay loans, taxes, rent, and suppliers. We are in a pretty horrible situation right now and can only believe we got snagged by the recession (depression) that is plaguing our sluggish Indiana economy.      This situation makes DH and I feel like failures. We have been in the bakery business for almost twenty-nine years and have survivied several recessions in that time period. In the past three days, we have experienced shame, guilt, loss, and depression. DH, who is known for optimism, is feeling like the bottom has fallen out. But, we love each other and are communicating about how we feel, which helps us stay close during this storm.         We have to consider our options and they are not pretty to look at. The word "bankruptcy" has not entered into our working vocabulary until now. The bank will take our assets, and except for our home, there isn't much to take. We are seeing a lawyer tomorrow to go over what is what. I pray alot. If you think about it, could you send a prayer up to Heaven in our names?       We just received two orders for product.  One from a cutomer that owes us money...if he would pay on time, then maybe we wouldn't be in as much of a mess? It's hard to say. We have a meeting this afternoon with him and don't know how that will come out. My hopes went up to see these orders but they probably aren't enough to dig us out. Our suppliers will want us to pay up front for the ingredients. I'm just a mess with emotions. Shutting down will be so hard.                      http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mamakaren/708542/ Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:00:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mamakaren/708542/