I have not done a thing since last Wed.  I am so sorry.  I just could not fit it in.  It has been nice here so on Thurs. and Saturday, and some of Sunday, we were out in the yard, preping for our garden.   Today I had planned a bike ride on my staionary bike, but needed to do a little yard work.  After tilling and moving part of a hill, I was just to tired.  Had rubber arms and ant bites all over my ankles.  I may hop on for a slow ride in a bit, but it is quite possible I may not.  I know I need to I am so easily out of breath these days. 

Well, off to straighten up our homeschool supplies....

If you are wanting to know more about WLW, click on the above button and it will take you where you need to go.

I know I know it is Monday and I forgot to post on Wednesday, but I did want to put last weeks activity up.  Not much, but a little bit.

I know I know it is Monday and I forgot to post on Wednesday, but I did want to put last weeks activity up.  Not much, but a little bit.

My wonderful friend Chasity has graciously set up this linky carnival bloggy thingy called Weightloss Wednesday and I have jumped in with both feet.  I guess the water got a little cold last week and I climbed back out and did nothing, but I jumped back in.  No seriously I have this thing with my tailbone, and riding my bike for 3 days in a row, hurt my bottom and it traveled to my tailbone.  When that thing acts up I cannot walk or stand or even sit for days, so I just stopped and took it easy, I think I may have done yoga once, can't remember, I have slept since then.

*

I don't have a scale, and after visiting my husbands jobsite where they had a medical scale, I won't be getting one anytime soon.  Those things are not made to fly across the room.  3 years ago I was 180, lost down to 130 and have gone back up to 165.  That is about 15 pounds heavier than I thought I was, no wonder I could not breath in my stretch pants.....

*

What I will be doing here is posting my activity, you can also go to www.fitnessmagazine.com and find their progress thingy and enter all your activities and see how many calories you have burned.  I usually don't reccomend these things, but since you can enter things like mopping, vaccuuming, cooking, and such, it is cool and may motivate you to mop just so you can enter it.  That is sad, but hey what ever motivates you, and if that motivates you, I am the same way too!!!

*
Okay so Monday through today.....

Memory Verse: 1 John 4:16 (NIV)

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoeverlives in love lives in God, and God in him.

*

Intro: Sometime "being all you can be" is a challenge. We are
trying to balance being a godly wife, mother, teacher, keeper of the
home, and much more. None of us are perfect and we all struggle in ourown ways with being able to achieve what we feel needs to get done.

*

Assignment: This week I thought we could share what great ways we havefound to help with all we have to do. Besides the obvious getting facedown in front of God, what have you found that works? Have you done agreat bible study that deals with this area? Do you have a certain"thing" that really helps you like a planner or gadget? Do you
have a certain bible verse that just speaks to you and you have it
posted so you see it all the time? Is there a website that is really
valuable to you in this area? What do you do that if someone else
found out about it, they could benefit from it?

*

The slogans Be All That You Can Be & You Make Them Strong, We Make Them Army Strong, have a new meaning to me now. My second child just returned in December from Iraq. He is in the Arkansas National Guard. I used to joke with my older 2 children, telling them that the best thing they could do was to join the Army, as they only way I could get them up was to walk in their room and yell as loud as possible “GET UP!!!”. If I had had a bugle at that time I probably would have played it for them. In fact when my son Mark would leave for church camp or cub scout outings I would put in special instructions, "Yell loudly to wake child up".  The leader would laugh and say surely not, then upon their return would say by day three they were following my instructions......

*

But I digress, I have done several bible studies, watched shows, bought books, you name it I have tried it. Some of it has sunk in, some has fallen by the way side. I am delighted to say that as far as my house keeping goes, I am finally in the “maintain” stage of my life. I have overhauled, flung, cleaned, and cleared until I am finally able to just maintain my house. It is a blessing, and it was also a challenge getting there, but at times I get lazy and like when we get lazy about taking care of our physical body and spiritual self, you start to see things piling up (just like my hips and thighs are doing right now). I just finally started working on me as I worked on the house. There is nothing better to clear the mind or spirit than a good spring cleaning. You can feel that body clutter and spiritual gunk leaving as you clear the cobwebs from the ceiling, and get those corners cleaned out.

*

But in all honesty the one thing that keeps me going, doing what I need to do, like keeping up with the cleaning and the laundry, is the fear of the electricity going out. We live in a rural area, and you never know when someone will decide to finally cut down that half dead tree in their yard and knock out everyone’s power for miles for 2-3 days. Now, if you have more than 3 loads waiting on the day the power goes out, you are in trouble. I mean BIG trouble. Let’s not even mention the dishes. Well ok, let’s do mention the dishes, Joyce Meyer once said, “If you can’t even tackle a sink of dishes, how can you expect God to let you tackle something bigger”. Man, that one line spoke to me. I do have bible verses up, some about washing by the washer, some more from Pr 31 to go up in the kitchen soon, but again, the one thing that keeps me going is the fear of no electricity, we are on a well, so no electricity, no water. Speaking of which, they are cutting down a tree in my front yard that the water company killed 3 years ago when they went through, so I better get the breakfast dishes done.

*

My picture for today is of my little soldier……

I have a wonderful online friend, Chasity, who has bravely started posting her weightloss journey.  Although I only have a small goal to reach, and my trials may not be the same as hers, or yours, I have decided to jump in and journal my progress.  Which should be interesting since I don't have a scale.  I just know that my clothes are tight, and I had to take off my wedding band the other day, either the band or my finger, which woud remove the band, so either way it had to come off. 

*

At my heaviest I was 184, and that was prior to delivering my 4th child.  My heaviest non-pregnant weight was 180, and that was 6 years after giving birth to the same child.  I lost 50 pounds of that, partly do to stress, in fact I lost 20 pounds in 2 weeks.  I went through 2 wardrobes in 2 weeks.  Many people would say wow that is great, anyone in their right mind would know that 20 pounds in 2 weeks is not good.  I could not eat, food would hit the back of my throat and come right back up.  In fact the only thing I could keep down was antiacids, and I was up to a roll a day. 

*

I kept losing and got down to 130, which is about right for someone who is 5'3".  I have since put a few pounds back on, and gone up 2 sizes.  I will measure myself this week and start posting inches instead of pounds, as I don't have a scale, and I don't really worry about pounds, just the jiggly parts.  I like the way Lucille Ball said that she just wished her arms would stop waving when her hands did. 

*

Okay so I am joining in with those who want to be healthy, feel good, and yes let's admit it, look good.  Not Hollywood good, just average will do.  I tell my close friends I would just like to look good in a 2 peice swimsuit, not that I would wear one in public, but maybe some day my husband and I will be on a private beach, just the 2 of us, and well who knows I may wear a 2 piece then.  Well I take that back, I do have one of those tankini's, but then when we go camping, we go camping, and let's face it, it is just not easy to go to the bathroom in the woods in a one piece.  We like to camp near a stream for water, swimming, and well we just like the sound of running water at night.  Well my husband does, I keep wanting to get up, yell at the kids, and turn off the water. 

*

So good luck to everyone else, I look forward to making even more online friends.

*

Valerie Neal

FOR TODAY January 5, 2009...
Outside my window...Cold, wet, and rainy
I am thinking...I am blessed, I have a roof over my head, clothes on my back, and food on my table.
I am thankful for...Heat, running water, electricity and indoor pluming.
From the learning rooms...Medievil times.
From the kitchen...Coffee perking, Pinto Beans cooking.
I am wearing...Work out pants and shirt.
I am creating...Potholders and Window Art.
I am going...To the kitchen to start school.
I am reading...Gonna finish Mansfield Park (really I am).
I am hoping...Miss Amanda will forgive me for not being able to finish Mansfield Park with her.
I am hearing...Fox News, turning it off though.
Around the house...Sleepy children moving slowly.
One of my favorite things...Hot beans & rice on a cold day.
A few plans for the rest of the week:Get back on shcedule.
Here is picture thought I am sharing...

My son, who is now home from Iraq!!!!

Want to join in with Peggy at Simple Woman's Daybook?

 http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/

I had no idea what to write when I sat down to do this.  Then I went to Jacque's blog and read what she had to say.  Just click on the link and read her's, I am not going to try to re-invent the wheel this week, since what I needed was right there.

My praise today is that we made it home to our own little world and I managed to keep my mouth shut when my maternal Grandmother yet again informed me I needed to put my kids in real school so they can get an education.  I get a knot in my stomach each time I think about visiting my family, it is still there, but as I relish being back in my sheltered little world, it will ease.  So, head on over to Jacque's and read her post.

Valerie

Blessings to you, all our friends.

Because this is Thanksgiving week, we don’t want to take you away from your family and preparations. Instead, we offer you, like the Lord offered us, a blessing.

Luke 24:50-52
When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven.Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.

Numbers 6:23-27, ESV
Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them,
“The LORD bless you and keep you;

the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;

the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.”

So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.

Most of the sites I visit have Ideas, freebies, and for sale items.  We used to use a curriculum that came in a complete set.  It was a great curriculum, not having to look for anything and having the lessons planned out was great.  Finances changed this year however, and we had to get creative.  So we are using what we have; books, text books, internet, and a set of encyclopedias that I bought 12 years ago.  We notebook and have started lapbooking and folder learning.  I plan to incorperate all 3 into our learning.  A few of my favorites are,

www.notebookingpages.com
www.holdthatthought.com
www.liveandlearnpress.com
www.historyscribe.com
http://oldfashionededucation.com/
http://www.mainlesson.com/main/displayarticle.php?article=mission
www.spellingcity.com

Each of these have freebies, links, and for sale items (or links to for sale items).

A productive learning area.

Share your favorite scripture in your post.

FOR TODAY November 24, 2008...

Outside my window... The sound of wood being chopped, the dogs playing.

Ps 1
1:1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

4 The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

6 For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.
KJV

Short and simple this week.  Want to be blessed?  Want to be under the wing of His protection?

It is like the old children's hymn says, "Oh be careful little feet where you go".  When we start to walk with sinners, sooner or later we will sit down and then eventualy get comfortable.  Stay away from the counsel of the ungodly. 

Meditate on His word day and night, delight in it.  What constant refreshing?  You must freshen the water by reading the word.  If there is no new word coming in you will become stale, just as a pool of water will get stagnant and stale with no new inflow.  Just as important is outflow, you must have the new flowing in, so you can have some outflow.  If there is nothing going out, it will just keep filling up.  Of course, with the word if you have constant infow, you cannot help but have outflow.

I don't know about anyone else, but I am gonna 'fess up, I am a little stale right now.  I have been focusing on important things true, but not on the most important thing, spending time with my Lord and Savior.  So that is why this one is short, I am headed to spend some time with Him.

If you want to join in with Saturday Psalm & Praise hop on over to Jacque's.

Valerie

What is Friday Show & Tell?  Hop on over to Mary's and see.

I wanted to share with you a project that I have been working on for some time.  In fact all summer and it is still needing attention.  My gardens.  My big vegie garden and my little kitchen garden, that I just expanded.  So instead of re posting, I am just sending you to my little garden blog.  It is my "just for fun" blog, no pressure, no meme's  no carnivals, just my garden.  I mean that is what it is supposed to be, right, just you, the dirt and God and His wonderful creation subduing His creation.  So grab a cup of tea and listen for the birdies and wind chimes, and smell the last little bit of honey suckle mingling with the smoke from our chimney. 

http://rocksinmygarden.blogspot.com/

God bless,
Valerie

Actually it is funny that I stumbled upon this carnival today.  I was elbow deep in a project I had been putting off for about a month.  My son's room.  Is it just me, or is this the typical 12yo boy's idea of what a 12yo boys room should look like?

I mean come on, is this clean?  He said it was.  Am I brain dead?

*

So what did I do?  Well, look and see.

'Nuff said.  Thanks Rebeca for doing this, it was fun!!!  Maybe we could do this once a month or so?

Valerie

Memory Verse: Philippians 4:8

In conclusion, brothers, focus your thoughts on what is true, noble, righteous, pure, lovable or admirable, on some virtue or on something praiseworthy.

I have missed a TWT or 2, but the garden needed to be put to bed for the winter, and the kitchen garden needed some expanding and cleaning, so getting out there and pulling up the dead plants, tilling, expanding, stacking rocks for my water fall in my kitchen garden and transplanting broccoli has drained my energy.  Saturday after the Making memories TAL I went to bed, I had hit a wall.

*

So, for my TWT post I want to share elbow grease in motion with you.  Earlier this year a friend called and said a tree (huge tree) had fallen in their yard and wanted to know if my hubby would help out.  They had insurance and between the tree and some very minor repairs we were paid well over $500 to haul off a tree.  We have a wood burning stove.......  We stoped having the gas man come and fill that huge tank 2 years ago and have not regreted it since.  We use our gas grill year 'round for cooking, and we just were given one that has a side burner too, so I use that often.

*

So to burn off excess steam for my 12yo son and heat the house we are burning that tree. 

*

Here is a picture of my 12yo son burning off excess steam.