Month in Review, Cause It's Been Great

June 2013 has been an incredibly fulfilling month for me, and I think for at least a couple of my children. I turned 39 at the start of the month, and the next day, my sister-in-law had a baby girl, so that was awesome. It was just 2 weeks after my sister had her first baby. JOY!

My niece graduated high school and the next day, we went to the annual homeschool Convention, which is always enjoyable. The day after that, my daughter danced for the last time with her current school (Irish Step) and did a fantastic job. I'm not just saying that, she is a gifted dancer and the sound of Irish hardshoe dancing thrills my soul!

We got to hold 2 church services at the assisted living we serve at instead of 1, and it was our turn to help clean our church. Love these opportunities!

With it being VBS this month, we had training a few nights and with doing VBS, we were at church a LOT. This was super fun--the kids all LOVED it. We go to a church that is close to our home and has a couple hundred families at the most. It is so warming to get to know the people more and to have opportunities to serve alongside them. It is more satisfying than anything else I can think of right now. I love being there. The last 2 nights we were there until nearly 11 pm. Being with people serious about the Lord and who understand the times we live in is satisfying beyond measure. God has been good to give us this church where we are fed.

Father's Day was fun this year, you'll see a post soon featuring what my husband asked for as his gift. I've since mastered fried chicken, finally, and am thrilled. I made some the other night at 10 pm. A huge thanks to Adam Holland!

My oldest was able to start serving in the nursery at church this month and she is so happy. I'm glad to see it.

My new A.R.T. doctor is good and helping, my foot/leg/hip/back problem is improving SO MUCH. I can almost envision running again one day, though I'll probably just walk. I hope to go 2 miles without pain this summer, maybe more. I was sad to see my former doc move to Ohio and had been nervous to try a new guy, but he is great.

I painted our daughters' bedroom and after almost 2 containers of spackle, the walls really look nice, so much better than the BRIGHT yellow that came with the house. It feels good that more rooms have decent walls than not on the top floor of our home. I'm excited to finally be a competent painter...it's taken 14 yrs and 3 houses, but practice and Benjamin Moore have paid off finally!

We've started buying new furniture for our girls. My husband got one new bed assembled and the nightstands, plus a closet organizer installed. The girls reduced what they own by a LOT; I'm very proud of them. Before the end of July, their room will be completely redone. It's needed it and we're all looking forward to it being finished.

I am more than halfway finished my big personal project for the summer--cleaning out this one closet in our lowest level, which means going through 18 yrs of schoolwork and pulling out just a few things that matter. I'd spent time putting the kids work in to binders...I saved AWANA awards (no more!), swim lesson records (no more!), every worksheet and workbook (no more!), CC projects, spelling sheets, history notes...no more to all of it. I'm giving my kids the gift of freedom from clutter when I die. I know papers can be a reminder to us, but I'm trying to change how we all think to this--'you can swim, so clearly, you learned how at some point', you are a Christian and various programs helped you along the way--what is important is to memorize Scripture and serve the Lord, not how many times you received clubber of the month...I've saved writing and drawing, sweet little notes and a few special cards, but nearly all school related work is gone.

I am DETERMINED to have this whole house organized and to have space on bookshelves and in cabinets. Each year I tackle something new, and this year's projects are big. I want to glorify God in my home and not have a disaster as our health fails in later years, so I'm setting systems in place now.

All our cassette tapes...well, they've been tossed for the most part. It was hard, but our van can't play them and I've got most of what I want on CD or MP3, like the rest of the world. Soon all the VHS will probably follow suit, yes, I've still got some!

Finally, I've cooked and frozen a lot of food for next week and am totally excited for our menu: poppy-seed chicken, sour beef, tacos, lasagna, morning glory muffins, pancakes that get a maple/cream cheese filling, meatballs (gifted to us, yum!), and french toast sticks.

We've been home together nearly all month, except for the trip to see the babies, which was also a highlight. Just the kids and I did that and it was fantastic to see all the sisters and get to sleep over. We've all really enjoyed pulling inward and just being together, with only seeing a friend a time or two. It's so much nicer than running around like crazy and being separated a lot.

All in all, a wonderful month.

P.S. I nearly forgot, I've lost 7.6 lbs on top of it all! Yay for barely eating and staying SUPER active. Not sure how this will be sustained when I'm again sitting all day at the dining room table doing school :P, but I'm enjoying it now.

I hope your summer is all you've wanted it to be!

Apostate Watch-Arnold Murray Shepherd's Chapel 4

Please avoid Shepherd's Chapel. It is unsound and Arnold Murray is a false prophet. Take time to watch these videos on You Tube.

Why am I sharing this? As a Christian it is my duty to expose heresy and try to help people realize the truth that will actually set them free. Cults imprison and rob people of a life full of peace and wholeness.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wNPQ--AJws

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xBPsL5ELoU

To God be the Glory~

ACL

Tossing School Work

This is a summer of reducing our household paper weight by about 500 lbs I hope. So far I've emptied 10 binders, several the 3 inch variety, and 2 bankers boxes. The picture above shows the closet that was completely full before starting.

A few years ago I admired an older friends schoolwork keepsakes. She put together scrapbooks with photos and samples of work, but I'm not much of a picture printer, so I just put together books of their work with a few pictures from award ceremonies added in.

The idea of keeping the kids work (pretty much ALL of it) seemed fine until we were out of space. I've got one closet dedicated to the keeping of the work, and last year there was not a spot for their papers, so it became clear a change was needed. Having had our mom's die already, we understand the burden of a lot of stuff to deal with upon our demise. I also recall the lackluster feeling of inheriting random baby/child items that belonged to my husband when we were married. Baby shower keepsakes only matter to the mom-to-be, folks :). It was fun to see the pattern of the plates at the shower for my husband when he was yet to be born, but I really didn't need to. Likewise, those AWANA Cubbie books don't mean anything to the kids years later, nor do the awards...or all their math pages, or CC work. I've finally realized that the learning we're doing matters in the MIND, and we don't need a paper trail to prove anything. I've got test results and kids that can multiply when they are supposed to be able to--end of story!

So, while my girls reduce what is in their room by half, I am working hard at getting rid of all old school work AND teacher resources I'm not using. What is the point of all those old TOOL notes which I never read or refer to?? No point, say I! Be gone notebook pages talking about learning styles!

How about you? Is this a summer to lose weight in the house?

When It's Time to Die

I spent some time today with an elderly friend who is quite sick with bronchitis. She is a sweet woman who is amazingly independent given her age of 92. Something I like about her is her opinions and honesty, for example, I was cutting up a chicken breast (bone in) for her today so I could cook it, and she showed me just how to cut the meat. We discussed leaving the right amount of skin on for flavor, and she didn't want to waste the bone/rib portion since a little meat that is too small to cut can be eaten when cooked. I was sharing with her about boneless tenderloins, which would be great since cutting is hard on her at this point, but she didn't miss a beat in sharing that all her meat has to come with a bone! I loved it, a woman who knows what tastes better and is healthier. The marrow in bones is full of nutrition and will produce the best soups as well as impart vitamins/minerals to the meat when cooking. At least that is my understanding about it :).

This friend is ready to be with the Lord; we talk about it and how great it will be. We lament the culture of today and talk of how hard it is to look at my kids, for example, and what they have coming in this country as they age. It is blessed to be nearer the Lord than starting out in some regards. It doesn't sound pleasant, but it was since we see the issue the same.

So what I wanted to write about is that when it's nearer my time to die, assuming it's not going to be sudden like from a car crash, I hope I care about cooking and am able to. I hope I can see all the little clocks around my home that need batteries (if I happen to have such items). This friend of mine is remarkably quick minded even though her 90th birthday was a couple of years ago. She loves our pastor, as do I, and loves to grow in her understanding of Jesus Christ. She's a grateful women, fun to talk with. I hope to be like that even now, but especially when I'm ailing. Growing old gracefully comes from living a grace-filled life, so at least I can try to practice now. :)

Opportunity to Support Christian Companies

I like Tyson because their chicken is natural, so that is an easy one. I like Chick Fil A because their food tastes good and it seems healthier than other options, plus the establishments are clean and the workers, friendly.

Anyway, this is a neat little list:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/big-u-s--companies-you-might-not-know-are-religious-175228053.html

YouTube Safety

I just saw how to put safe mode on YouTube and thought I'd pass it along. Just scroll down to the bottom of the page and you'll see a little button regarding 'safety'. If you want to lock your preference, you do need to sign up with a Google account. I didn't realize this would turn in to yet ANOTHER email address, but alas, here I have a new one that I will never ever use. It is just for this one account. You do have to change the setting for every browser on your computer.

For the record, Bsecure will block YouTube entirely if I want it to, but we enjoy nice Christian music on there from time to time so I keep it unblocked.

Would You Want to Marry You?

It is interesting that as children age and grow their needs change, and as their needs change, the family dynamic changes. It seems to me that as these changes occur, regardless of who or what is driving them, prioritization by Mom needs to happen.



For example, is it a season where the kids need to get involved in their own activities, for whatever reason; or is it a season when you really need home school support? Maybe it's a time when everyone needs new or more friends, or you need to focus on bringing in money somehow. Your house could be unglorifying to God (is that even a word?? you know what I mean!) or your family has ailments that have gone unaddressed for far too long...or maybe your relationship with Christ and ministry needs beefing up. The list could go on and on, my point is, are we spending time really praying and evaluating what our families need each year, or do we just do whatever we've been doing, living with the same problems or concerns we've lived with? Do we 'manage our homes' or do we roll with the constant flow of chaos?

Every home needs a manager, just like a family needs a leader. It is a sad state when a woman denies her God-given responsibility to manage her home. Before her, God has clearly set a mission field; she doesn't have to go out looking for a place to serve! Her family, which dwells in the house she is charged with keeping, is there to be managed. Where does that husband go for reprieve? Where does the family growth occur? Where does she spend most of the hours of her day? Far too often, women sin by focusing on themselves and what they want and need, rather than the needs of their family. Far too often, women fail in training the children so that life is always in a state of turmoil with loose ends flowing freely like a sink left on. This chaos carries over to when Dad comes home at night and is reflected in the mess the house is in. It doesn't have to be this way.



It can be tough to pull in the reigns and get serious about getting our homes and children in order. It should be tough, we were made for work. Somehow Christians are buying in to the mentality that work is bad and responsibility isn't fulfilling. This is a lie from Hell if you ask me. Today I heard the results of a survey which asked what the primary responsibility of the dad in the home is, and emotional guidance rated above financially providing. Of course, in the 60's we know this result would be far different. Who do people think will provide now? The government. Where is the personal responsibility people? Be proud to be responsible; it is a privilege to be considered ABLE: able by God, and able by our husbands. Our example will be what our children do and what our grandchildren grow up with.

Mother's, let's raise organized, capable daughters that our friend's godly sons deserve...daughters that terrific men will want to marry. Let's raise polite, hard-working sons that meek and godly girls will want to marry...girls that come from homes where the mother lovingly submitted to the father while she sacrificially served her family.



Do we keep our home and lives running in a way that will bless our daughters when the time comes for them to marry? Do we keep our home and life running in a way that allows our husband to relax and rejoice in the wife of his youth when he returns from work (particularly if he is the only provider)? Do we as wives/mothers praise and point out that what we have comes from God through the man of the house? Are we building him up in front of the kids, setting an example for the type of spouse they should be/desire? Are we taking time to really provide what our children need from year to year, or are we setting arbitrary goals that make us feel good while ignoring things God has specifically outlined for us to do (whether by principle or practice)?

Excuses are more numerous than the stars in the sky, ladies. I've heard them all, and so have you. The bottom line is, what are we doing with the time God has given us? Are we bringing glory to Him as we carefully examine what our family needs in the coming year or are we thinking of ourselves and reaping that less-than-awesome rewards?



As our youth pastor says, let's be 'saved, set apart, and serving!' as we strive in excellence.

Ann

Being Useful

It can be so fulfilling when someone needs our help or asks our input, don't you think? It can be equally painful if someone doesn't ask for our help in their time of need. We can feel like they didn't think we had anything to offer, which is hurtful when we really want to be a blessing.


Just remember, when those times come where you feel like you could have really been a help but that help wasn't asked for, God knows how you feel. He wants our focus to be on glorifying Him, so getting our thoughts off ourselves is key to getting over the disappointment. It is likely that at some point in the future, your assistance will be sought. Rejoice in that!