Schools Just Need More Money Right!?

How timely to have seen this documentary trailer on a day when the news came out that 14 of our large metro area's schools FAILED based upon Ohio state's report card grading system.  Let me guess, they need more MONEY!?  $$  How amazing that I can homeschool my child with $500 a year (versus the $13K the school gets per child) and produce a student that scores the highest percentile on standardized testing.  And I don't even have a teacher's degree...  Among many other moms producing the same results.  Don't fall for the failing educational system that isn't built upon God.  Don't stand for yet another teacher strike as they bully their demands and hold your child's education hostage.  Take responsibility and train up your children yourself!




You can visit this link to support this documentary: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/garritthampton/schoolhouse-rocked-the-homeschool-revolution

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Take Care of Your 4 Walls

If you have listened to Dave Ramsey for any amount of time, you have heard about the 4 walls.  He recommends you take care of your 4 walls before anything else - always making sure you have your 4 walls!  What are the 4 walls?

1. Food 
2. Shelter
3. Transportation
4. Clothing

I had always put food and clothing on the back burner in place of other things because those were usually the areas that we could save in.  However, after listening to people's stories and those who didn't tend to these things FIRST, I have changed my thoughts on it.  I wanted to go into detail about each to help you all in case you haven't heard of this before.


1.  Food - this includes enough food for your entire family to live on each month.  I believe it also includes things like toilet paper, soap, etc.  The basics - not extras or luxuries.

2.  Shelter - this includes your housing and utilities.   If you have a mortgage, it also includes your property taxes and homeowner's insurance.  If you don't own a home, it includes rent and renter's insurance.  Then, it also includes electric/gas, water/sewer and garbage and non-luxury phone.

3.  Transportation - This is includes gas, car insurance and maintenance of your vehicle.

4.  Clothing - includes basic clothing needs, such as: clothing, shoes, socks, etc.


Dave Ramsey says to make sure you the 4 walls are funded and paid BEFORE paying anything else, such as credit cards or other debts or non-basic expenses.  Whether you or your husband do the budget, it is a good thing for homekeepers to know these things!

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Just Making It Budget for Family of 4

Times are getting hard for a lot of "former" middle class families, now considered lower class, despite the economy going so well.  I've been reading it and hearing it in various places.  I'm talking about families that are living on one income already without luxuries.  Incomes aren't going up for a lot, though the prices of everything is, especially health care.

I decided to do a no-frills, no government assistance, just-make-it budget for a typical family of 4 on one income to see just what the base salary needs to be.  This family has no debt but the mortgage possibly.  They also have no life insurance, though some say you can get it for $10 a month, which could be easily added in.  

Tithe - $260
Offerings - $50
Housing (rent or mortgage/prop taxes/HO insurance) - $1000
Car Maintenance/Repair Fund - $90
Car Insurance - $50
Gasoline - $150
Home phone - FREE (Google Voice with Obihai)
Cell phone - $25 (Google Project Fi)
Additional Cell phone line - $15
Electric/Gas - $175
Water/Sewer - $30
Garbage - $30
Internet - $50
Food - $350
Necessity items - $50
Clothing - $30

Total:  $2,355/mo - Higher to cover taxes, so $15 an hour needed; $31,200/yr, $2,600/mo

A good wage for a family really needs to be at $15 an hour and no less to just live.  I didn't include health insurance because a lot are already going without.  Families that live at this level, would need to get government assistance for medical if they want to be covered, as it has become too outrageous for almost anyone to afford.

This budget includes no entertainment/fun money, eating out or other things that most of us do.  I suppose you could find a very cheap place to live to lower the housing and provide extra money that way but the norm around the US is about $1K for something decent - whether that is mortgage/taxes/insurance for a home or rent costs.

After seeing this written out, you can see what a lot of people are facing right now.  There are those that will cut out the tithe/offering but they will soon find out that you can't rob God and expect good things to come!  God has never failed in the 19 years I've paid tithe and offerings and never withheld!  It is HIS money to begin with - he lets you have 90%, please don't think your thoughts are higher than what God has established with our finances.


*Leave me a comment sharing your budget or thoughts.  I've hopefully fixed the comments, but I have no idea because some still say theirs doesn't show up.  If you really want to reach me, email me!  ChristianHomekeeper (at) gmail

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New Life - New Everything!

The new hasn't stopped since we stepped out on faith and followed God's leading for our lives.  As soon as we physically stepped foot on the ground here in this area, we felt the Holy Spirit and a strong feeling inside both of us that we had finally arrived in the place we were meant to be.  It was the oddest thing ever but we sure know we are in God's Will!!  I'm still happy, I still love it here - best place I've ever lived before and the whole family is happy here.  We got a new (first) house, a new (first brand new) car.. a new church, new friends - well you get the idea.

It isn't just all that as we are finding out.  We have even had new adventures from traveling to kayaking and being outdoors more!  I really do feel alive again and healthy.  Our daughter has been flying an airplane, our son is a genius (no really, he is) and taught himself piano, multiplication and the list goes on and on.  People at church quiz him all the time about math equations and he is constantly calculating things - a blessing and a curse I suppose.

After having been stagnant for so long and stuck in what wasn't God's Will for us - it is an amazing feeling when you finally, just really have faith and trust GOD.  There is no better place on this earth than the place that God wants you to be - HE knows what you are put on this earth for!  HE knows WHERE you should be better than anyone, amen!?

If we could have gone back in time and just listened to God, we would have been better off.  We would have went to Nashville when we were 22 but oh well - we will never know what might have been and we got a whole lot of experience and lessons in the process.  Suffering has made me a better person!!  I can relate to SO many different people now, I've been there!

I've stepped into some of the roughest parts of town where my color wasn't welcome and witnessed to people at the Lord's leading.  I've watched God touch people and show me what true love really is.  I've seen a church operating with the gifts and freedom of the Spirit allowed to move!  I've seen miracles in person, seen others and even myself healed on the spot while being anointed and watched the youth get in and seek God and receive and be on fire!  I've watched my daughter come alive and stand up many times testifying about what God has done in her and our lives.  I saw my son healed of his speech delay after our first pastor here prayed on him.  Whew... you all, it doesn't stop there!!

I said all that to say this - JUST GO!!  RUN!!  If you are God's child, you WILL hear His Voice!!  It is time to start listening and obeying HIM - go to that city you know He has called you to!  You won't be sorry.

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I Never Lost My Hope, Joy, Faith and Praise!

I loved this song but couldn't say that I've never "lost" my hope, joy, faith and praise but then I began to understand the song as it was meant - never having lost these things completely.  Then, I could sing the song because truly, I never lost my hope, joy, faith and praise no matter what has come my way in life.  God has been faithful and good!

I've lost some good friends
Along life's way
Some loved ones departed
In heaven to stay
But thank God I didn't lose everything
I've lost faith in people
Who said they cared
In the time of my crisis
They were never there
But in my disappointment
In my season of pain
One thing never wavered
One thing never changed

I never lost my hope
I never lost my joy
I never lost my faith
But most of all
I never lost my praise
My praise still here
My praise still here

I've let some blessings
Slip away
And I lost my focus
And went astray
But thank God I didn't lose everything
I lost possessions
That were so dear
I lost some battles
By walking in fear
But in the midst of my struggles
In my season of pain
One thing never wavered
One thing never changed
It never changed

Chorus

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When a Married Woman Works...

What does a married woman do, cause, violate.. when she works on a job?

• Direct disobedience and rebellion to God's Word
• Usurping husband's role of provider and head
• Placing herself under the boss; another man's (or woman's) headship instead of just her husband
• Denies her husband the help he needs from a wife (mothering his children, keeping the home, meals, joyfulness, vitality and needs being met) - she should be all about HIM and helping HIM be successful
• Defies her role as a woman, domestic and feminine
• Abandoning children by not being "there" and available to them
• If she is barren or simply despises having children and chooses barrenness, etc. - then refusing to take in orphans or help the many parent-less children
• Shucking responsibilities of raising and educating/teaching children to someone else
• Causes the Word of God to be blasphemed - giving a place for others to speak evil by her rebellion
• Teaches younger women to rebel and sin against God by her example

Isn't it ironic that the same people that want to say the Old Testament views on women not wearing men's garments doesn't apply today, will be the same people to say women can work based on the Old Testament?  Whatever Fits Me Generation..   It is still an abomination for a woman to wear male garments and there isn't ONE example in the Bible of a woman wearing the male garment of pants!  Proverbs 31 also doesn't say a woman can work on a job outside the home or be the provider - she is a manager of her home and can sell her domestic goods.  It is time to quit believing Satan's lies that you have been listening to and obeying and go back to what is right!  Hell isn't worth wealth, position or your selfishness!

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My Daughter's Test Scores

We haven't done a standardized yearly test since 4th grade.  When I tested my daughter then she was several grades ahead and I just never saw the use of testing every year and it wasn't required.  I decided to go ahead and test and see how she was doing as she is starting high school you all!  Well, she did awesome and I don't know why I ever worried it would turn out any other way - God + Education + Love = Success!

Math was her best subject and always has been so I knew she would do well, however, I didn't know she would do THAT well LOL!  She scored 99th percentile in math and college level!  That is the highest possible score.

English has always been her worst subject and I was just hoping she would actually pass.  Again, I was surprised to see she scored well above average and 11th-12th grade level!  She scored at college level in reading!

God makes the difference!  He WILL bless your homeschool!!

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When God's People Struggle Financially

I wanted to write this after my last post to make sure my readers know that I'm not saying if you do everything like God said, you will not have financial problems.  The rain falls on the just and the unjust the Bible says, but what is different about the Christian that is doing God's will in all areas of their lives, is that you can rest knowing that God will take care of you.  God WILL work it out as you have FAITH for Him to do so!  Faith is the missing piece today in the Christian world, it is sadly, a rarity.

Pray to God for wisdom and knowledge, do you actually ever pray for that?  I started praying for those 2 things several years ago and let me tell you - God delivered, just not in the way I had thought I would gain more of each.  I had to go through some things but came out the better and the wiser.  If you face a financial problem, pray and ask God for wisdom and knowledge about it.  Pray and believe in faith that God will answer.  Don't fret, worry and let anxiety take hold of you - stop, drop and pray!

A lot of our financial problems are really from our own doing.  From medical bills (due to not taking care of our health by eating right and exercising) to not saving money for life's surprises.  Let's face it, admit it and then ask God for mercy!  I've seen God move in my life when it seemed impossible and the debt, mostly from medical bills, seemed insurmountable.  I've had 9 surgeries and 2 children - it wasn't free!  God did amazing things like completely wiping out $26K from a computer that no one at the hospital billing could seem to figure out who did it or how it was taken off, but they said it was someone with administrator privileges and I didn't ask for financial aid!  God can do that! 

Our purpose in life is NOT to be rich or get money.  Our purpose is to do God's Will and live the life He wants for us. He WILL provide our needs!  He will even fulfill our wants as we ask in accordance to His Will.

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Financial Problems or Results of Rebellion?

I keep reading articles and seeing books being written about how bad it is financially right now for Americans.  From the talk of it, it is so bad with the "common family" that they can't help but live on the streets and in vehicles.  They can see why those on drugs, prostitution and other crimes live in these places due to their lifestyle choices, so why can't they see that it is the same for others as well?

Since when do people think they can go against God and His roles for each gender and the family unit and still turn out blessed?  Since when do people think that they can live a life of covetousness and it never come time to pay?  Since when is our mind so skewed that "poor" is when you can't live in a 2500sq ft house with the latest gadgets?

The married woman that works on a job instead of staying home is rebelling against God.  Rebellion IS as the sin of witchcraft!  1 Samuel 15:23  She sold out her place for vain glory and covetousness.  She neglected her husband and children for her own selfishness.  Plain and simple.  Listen ladies - your husband doesn't need a "help meet" who puts on the pants and goes and does the man thing!  He needs a hot meal when he comes from home from work and a clean house and laundry... and children that are actually being raised by their mother!  THAT is a help meet according to the Word of God.  If he needed a man, God would have made him one and sadly today, more and more men are turning to men.  What's the difference?  I mean you dress like a man, work like a man, act and go off at him like a man...  Femininity is far from the modern woman as she roars in dominion over the man and makes him feel like a weakling.

I was looking at a new book about why families can't survive anymore in America.  It talks about the reasons being the high cost of childcare, college being too high cost or the professional struggling after paying so much in college tuition and their jobs not paying enough - to saying it is so dire, they can't even AFFORD to raise children.

Child care isn't needed if the woman does her role.  College is a joke anyway and most college-educated people I know make less than my non-college-educated blue-collar husband.  And as for affording children, sure, people can't afford them that want to be covetous.  Again, plain and simple, their covetousness is their god and their reason for, again, rebelling against His Word of bearing children.

Payday will come - either financially speaking, emotionally, divorce or having children who go into all manner of sin, are on psych drugs or just plain are lazy because they never got what THEY needed - a mother!  Mother-hunger will haunt them their whole lives as they chase after so many things trying to fulfill what they should have gotten growing up from their mother.  Works for fathers too, the father not being there or being there but not being the man and leader - yep, children suffer.  The God-designed family unit is NEEDED and yet so many think they can do it their own way.

America is spoiled.  America needs to live within her means.  America needs to return to God's Word and plan for man, woman and family.  Then, and only then, will we be blessed.


Next Post: When God's People Struggle Financially

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New Dinner & Dessert Recipes - Pics & Video

We tried some new recipes and they were all very good!  I've included the links for you all to try them.  These have become staples now for us.

Dinners

• Chicken & Rice in Instant Pot
• Tamale Pie w/ Cornbread - I did mine on the stove/oven
• Turkey Sausage & Potatoes w/ Gravy
• Crock-pot Mexican Chicken

Desserts

• Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bars
• Fresh Strawberry Yogurt Cake w/ Homemade Whipped Cream 

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Update - Food Budget and Meals

Food Budget
It has been a very long time since I've shared about our food budget and meal plans.  We spend more money on food here in Ohio than we did in Washington and that isn't due to prices, that is due to my daughter eating a ton of food and my son eating almost as much!  Our current food budget is $350 a month and I would really like to get it below $300 but it works for right now.

We do most of our shopping at Aldi.  We didn't have an Aldi in Washington but I had heard about it over the years from others on the East Coast.  We have several in our area of Ohio and not only are the prices very cheap, but the products are mostly natural, without additives, etc.  I also get a few items at Kroger and a handful of items, like toiletries, at Walmart and Amazon.  I shop once a week and I no longer freezer cook, as I explained why in this post.  My Amazon and Walmart orders are shipped, but once in a while I may actually go into Walmart, but I try and stay away because I will find too much at Walmart that we don't really need.

I pay 98 cents a gallon for milk - yep, it is nice and cheap here!  Eggs are 48 cents a dozen and cheese is cheap too.  Potatoes are more expensive than what we paid in Washington, as are apples, but everything else is cheaper here in Ohio.

Meals
I've been using different meals and trying new ones.  I found several that we like from a mom of 8 kids, that only spends $350 for her family (WOWZER!).  Her meals are delicious so far, you can find a lot on her blog.  My favorites from her are the puffed pancake (I add 1/2t cinnamon, tastes like french toast but SO easy to make!!) and chicken stew.

Some of our recent meals:

Macaroni & Cheese with Hot Dog slices - 5qt dish full lasts 2 days
Tacos - I add a can of refried beans to stretch them
Homemade pizza
Chicken Stew
Beans & Rice in Instapot
Baked "Fried" chicken
Cheeseburger Helper
Manicotti
Kielbasa, Potato and Green Beans
Red Beans & Rice with Sausage
Turkey skillet with Green Beans

Our breakfast, lunches and snacks consist of:

Oatmeal
Eggs or egg sandwiches
Puffed Pancakes
Fruit & veggies/hummus
Boiled eggs
Burritos
Chips & Salsa
Trail Mix
PBJ
Yogurt & Granola
Cereal

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Comment Issues

I'm sorry if you have been leaving comments and they are not showing, I currently don't know how to fix this.  It seems like iPhone users are having this problem when they try and leave a comment.  It isn't that I'm not approving your comments, it is that I'm not even receiving them!  I hope to get this fixed soon, in the meantime if you left a comment and it didn't show up, just email me at: christianhomekeeper (at) gmail

*Also, welcome to the new subscribers!  I hope to have some content up soon in the form of podcasts and videos.

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Fly Baby Fly! ✈

My daughter became interested in being a pilot earlier this year.  I had no idea that you can fly solo at 16 and get a pilot's license at 17!  She has no interest in having a "career" but she wants to fly, so we talked about how useful being a pilot would be for the ministry.  You never know, she may marry a missionary and be the one to fly from village to village.  So, we went ahead and let her pursue her passions.

We had a revival and a preacher from California was preaching a powerful message about trading in your ashes for beauty.  He had a bucket of ashes and said quit carrying around what others did to you and then what you may have done.  He then laid a bunch of roses at the altar and said who's going to trade in their ashes?  I was the first one to go balling like a baby but I didn't care!  I picked up my rose and knelt down and gave it all to God!  It was life-changing to say the least.

The next morning was my daughter's graduation flight, she had took flight lessons and was ready to take the controls.  I presented her with my rose that I got the night before to take with her on this flight.  I was beaming and as she took off, I said, "FLY BABY FLY!" 😀  She flew for an hour to another airport and then came back but got to do some maneuvers in the air.  My husband was videoing from the backseat, I was safe on the ground LOL!!

She has been taking high school courses this past year, so I'm the mom of a high-schooler now.  I can't believe how far we have come - it really does seem like we just started this homeschooling journey not too long ago.  Thanks be unto God for His help through the training of our children!

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Podcasts Coming Soon!

I've been working on starting my podcasts up again, some of you may remember when I did them before many years ago.  Technology sure has changed and I'm working on topics and my voice.  I will be having guest speakers as well and up for any recommendations you all may have!  Here are some planned topics:

• Me Too movement series (abuse, recovery help, guest speakers, etc.)
• Home management
• Raising children
• Hot topics - hair, dress, submission
• Finding a Biblical church model (guest speakers)
• Our warfare is spiritual - Satan wants you to think it isn't
• More...

Leave suggestions in comments below or email me.  If you would like to be in a podcast, let me know and what your topic of expertise is.

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Children Learn What They Live

Someone told me about this poem yesterday and I had never heard of it. It was very popular many years ago and it really lays out how we should raise and treat our children.  If every mother would love their children as this poem says, we may not have kids killing one another and all the issues we see today in the schools.  God help us love and care for our own children as He does us!

Children Learn What They Live

By Dorothy Law Nolte

If a child lives with criticism,

he learns to condemn.

If a child lives with hostility,

he learns to fight.

If a child lives with fear,

he learns to be apprehensive.

If a child lives with pity,

he learns to feel sorry for himself.

If a child lives with ridicule,

he learns to be shy.

If a child lives with jealousy,

he learns what envy is.

If a child lives with shame,

he learns to feel guilty.

If a child lives with encouragement,

he learns to be confident.

If a child lives with tolerance,

he learns to be patient.

If a child lives with praise,

he learns to be appreciative.

If a child lives with acceptance,

he learns to love.

If a child lives with approval,

he learns to like himself.

If a child lives with recognition,

he learns that it is good to have a goal.

If a child lives with sharing,

he learns about generosity.

If a child lives with honesty and fairness,

he learns what truth and justice are.

If a child lives with security,

he learns to have faith in himself and in those about him.

If a child lives with friendliness,

he learns that the world is a nice place in which to live.

If you live with serenity,

your child will live with peace of mind.

With what is your child living?

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