Part 5 - Notes from Homekeeping & Homeschooling Book

Chapter 9 - A Hospitable Home

  • Genuine Hospitality - True hospitality consists of who you are and not what you have.  When you are hospitable, you are obedient to the Lord. Romans 12:13  GUEST = Give Graciously, Understand Usual Needs, Educate for Etiquette, Simplify Your System, Take Time
  • Give Graciously - Cultivate a gracious and joyful heart that is focused on others.
  • Understand Usual Needs - Anticipate your guests' requirements.  Plan ahead so you can actually spend time with your guests rather than continually excusing yourself for meal or snack preparations.  Look at your home from your guests' perspectives to understand what they might require for comfort.
  • Educate for Etiquette - Teach children table manners before having guests over.  The most important rule of etiquette is always to think of the other person's needs.  Do what makes someone else comfortable.
  • Simplify Your System - If you keep it simple, you will want to have guests often.  Don't replace the JOY of friends with the JOB of entertaining.
  • Take Time - Show our children a picture of loving others by bringing them into the intimate parts of our life - into our homes.

Chapter 10 - Finishing Well

God is faithful - the outcome is down the road!

  • Our Part - Four principles for finishing well = Pray, Plan, Pool Your Resources and Persevere.
  • Pray - Stay close to God if you want to finish well.
  • Plan - Good planning helps us balance more effectively.
  • Pool Your Resources - Pool your resources with other like-minded home educators.
  • Persevere - God will teach you to make wise use of your precariously short time.  He teaches you to yield to the Holy Spirit, who brings your daily life under control and produces a life that brings honor and glory to Him.  Desire the Lord Himself above everything in your life.


Devotion: Pray for the Lord to draw you back or to draw you closer to Him.  Ask Him to show you the things that are causing you to drift away.

*Base your definition of "success" of homeschooling and homekeeping on the Lord's desires for you!

2 Chronicles 26:3-5
Sixteen years old was Uzziah when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Jecoliah of Jerusalem.
And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah did.
And he sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God: and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him to prosper.

Proverbs 3:3-8
Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:
So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.
Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.
It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.


This concludes all my notes from the book: "Homeschooling at the Speed of Life."

Related: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

Part 4 - Notes from Homekeeping & Homeschooling Book

Chapter 6 - Record-Keeping Made Easy
  • The Big Picture - Overall view of record-keeping - creating and using records.  Your family is not a school and you have no need to duplicate one.  If you overplan and lack flexibility, you will make yourself and your family miserable and accomplish little beyond filling out forms.
  • Plan to Plan - Process of planning: (1) Decide - some clutter questions apply to forms and tools for records: What do I need?  Why do I need it?  Who else needs it?  Make a homeschool mission statement and goal sheet for each year. (2) Document - keep an academic portfolio for each child.  Keep your plan simple and uncomplicated.
  • Setting Up Files - choose where to store records: file cabinet, box, etc.
  • File-a-Plan - set up folders for your files, choose categories for your family.  Appendix B gives a list of possible categories and forms available.
  • Archive - A once-a-year clean-out is necessary to control the volume of useless papers in your files.  The archive is a place for records you don't use frequently but may need in the future.
  • Forms, Files, and a Final Word - Records are a means to an end not the end itself.  Use records as your aid, don't become a slave to the system.
Devotion: God keeps records - generations, Book of Life, etc.  He also told man to record information He wants man to remember - the Bible.

Chapter 7 - Real Life Around the House

Fit school around the family, not family around the school.  Set aside time to better prepare yourself.

  • Special Challenges - There are a lot of books out there on various special challenges in homeschooling; single-parent homeschooling; homeschooling special needs, etc.
  • Real-Life Lessons - She shares a story of how she hardly did any school one year because they were building a house and the lessons she learned from that.  *When special challenges arise, you and your family must adjust while still learning, the children and you.
  • SOS Day - Declare an SOS day (Salvage Our Sanity) when overwelmed with clutter.  It can be hours or even an SOS week or month.  It does save your sanity!
  • Ketchup Day - Institute a Ketchup day (Catch Up) to regroup when you fall behind with normal tasks.  Work on your non-emergency list tasks.
  • EDIT Day - Easy Does It - time of focus; time of mental, physical and emotional regrouping rather than work.  Shop, take a bubble bath and read a book, etc.  Anything to renew your spirit.
  • God's Plans - What God wants us to learn far outweighs what we want our children to learn.  Benefit from flexibility rather than seeing obstacles as diversion from what you really want to do.  You ARE schooling when children learn real life around the house!


Chapter 8 - A Family - Not a School
  • A Family First - God highly regards His special creation - the family.
  • The Stress of Disorganization - Organization helps a family fulfill its mission in life; disorganization is stressful and thus has a negative effect on the family.  It can have a domino effect - Mom isn't organized and that causes stress.  Mom's stress affects the family and home and school suffer and are chaotic.  Family relationships become tense and slowly erode.  The family breaks down and blames the trouble on homeschooling.  Organization is a family responsibility!  Even if you didn't homeschool you would still have stress to deal with - schools and teachers - and disorganization would remain the same.
  • Purposeful Family Life - Stochastic means lacking any definite plan, order, or purpose; depending on or governed by chance.  Stochastic is the opposite of how God designed our families to function.  Disorder diverts us from purposeful family living.
  • Extended Family Relationships
  • Grandparents Can Help - Long list of do's and don'ts for grandparents.

Related: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

It's Your Choice

In a free country like ours, we get to make a lot of choices: where we live, what we buy, how many children we can have, and even what teaching we choose to put our children under.  What do you choose?  You as the parent make the choice on what your child will be taught.  You would think most Christians would choose Godly education right?  However, the majority of those that call themselves Christians have made the CHOICE to place them under false atheistic teaching.  It isn't like we live in a country that comes and takes your child and forces them to be taught about evolution and a God-less history.  We actually have a choice in what our children are taught.

What would you say to God if He asked you why Sally is learning that God did not create her or that God did not make the world?  Any excuse you would say wouldn't hold water with God.  He would look at the facts - you had a choice!  God doesn't think its cute for Sally to learn lies.  God isn't FOR teaching that is against Him.  He is not a Godless school advocate!  Satan is though, so you aren't alone in that choice.  Yet, you chose to let your child be taught in the way of the world and lies and false teaching.  You chose Godless teachers to have the most impressionable hours of your child's day and to mold their mind against anything to do with God!  It was your choice!  You chose Godless education.  You chose atheist teachers.  You chose to let your child learn about homosexuality at the school you chose to put them in.  You chose to brush off all conscience when they came home with a wicked book to read.  You chose that, no one made you do it!

I honestly, don't understand how some can do that in a free country.  We can CHOOSE to train our children in God-filled education.  We can choose to let them be taught the TRUTH and not put them under the false teaching of the world.  We are held accountable for our choices, especially in our choices with children we are supposed to be raising in the fear of the Lord and His ways, not Satan's.  So HOW, how, how - and WHY, why, why - would 'Christians' freely choose to deem God as irrelevant for 8 hours of their child's day?

Then, the child leaves God in later years and the parent is still giving excuses.  My child made their choice, I have done my part.  Really?  You chose to let them be trained in that "way" and you were fine with them learning falsehood and lies.  Your child chose to trust you by trusting the teachers you put over them and those teachers taught them the world is where its at.  Those teachers taught them that success is in the world.  The child went in the "way" it was taught, so why would we be surprised?

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6

Over the years I've heard the above verse twisted around so many ways, but it means what it means.  Notice, there is a WAY the child should go.  Is the WAY the road to the world, evolution and Godless learning?  Well, if you trained the child in that WAY, then they won't depart from it.  However, that is not the WAY God was talking about.  What is considered 'greatness' and 'success' in this world is nothing to God.  His path is the road less taken and few there be that actually find it!

What do you choose for your child?  It is time we really think on why we are doing what we are doing and especially on the way we choose for our children and their minds.  We will be held accountable for our choices and some may have everlasting consequences.  Does God agree with your teaching choice?  Would he advocate your child's learning?  Is it Godly, wholesome and truthful?  If not, then why are you allowing it?  It's your choice!

Part 3 - Notes from Homekeeping & Homeschooling Book

Chapter 4 - Teaching Children Life Skills

It's easier to do the chores ourselves than take twice as long to teach a child again to do it.  You teach your children's minds, but you train their will, which is more difficult.

  • It Begins with You - If you have weaknesses in homemaking skills, diligently continue to improve those areas.  Children learn discipline when they see you exhibit discipline in your life.  Focus shouldn't be more on the chore but on the character that mastering and completing the chore builds into their lives.  Your children will quickly catch your attitudes.
  • Life Skills - If I don't teach ____, will the lack of that knowledge be harmful or a hindrance to them later in life?  How can learning this skill be a vehicle to teaching a greater character lesson?
  • Functional Neatness - It is worth the investment of time to teach children chores.  When children do simple chores, they learn to think in an orderly way.  Not only praise them for the good job, praise them also for the character trait they display.
  • Simple Rules - Simple rules are more effective and are easier to maintain while teaching a skill or habit to children.  Make a few simple and enforceable rules necessary to operate your home.  Give a penalty for violating a rule.
  • Gaining Cooperation - The difficult part is sticking to the rules.  Follow-up to see if child did chore and did it correctly.  Work time/Study time/Play time.  Give child good instruction on how to do a job.
  • Your Child's Room - Simple and enforceable rules also apply for child's room.  Clearly define a clean for them.  List the things you plan to inspect and post in their room.  A chore chart provides accountability for children.
  • The Makeover - Apply clutter principles to child's room.  Use a box to store excess toys and rotate every few months.  Makeover the child's room.
  • Dads Can Help
  • Maintenance Training - Continue to teach good habits.  Establish pickups and cleanups as a part of your child's regular routine.
  • Time & Priorities - Include children in discussions of family priorities.  Help them understand that changing goals occasionally is normal.  Experience teaches your children a great deal about priorities and about life.  Allow them room to make poor choices about time and priorities and then let them suffer the consequences.
  • Record-Keeping and Finances - Give child a calendar to record lesson times and dates, music practice, appointments, etc.
  • Precept Upon Precept - You must teach over and over.

Chapter 5 - Paper By the Pile

  • Under the Pile - The more you assign convenient places for your paper and other things, the less you will pile those things.
  • Types of Paper - Don't view paper as one category, view its as different categories.
  • Paper Questions - 1.  What do I really need?  2.  Why do I need it?  3.  Who else needs it?
  • Paper Guidelines - Clutter principles apply to paper as well.
  1. Retrieve It - If you aren't able to retrieve paper, it is of no value to you.
  2. Deal With Mail - Open mail daily near a trash can, paper shredder or paper recycling bin.  Use a designated box or container for mail.
  3. Create a Central Center for Paper - create a work center for most of your paper.
  4. File It.  Don't Pile It - The quicker you deal with papers, the less digging out you will have to do.
  5. Control Paper - Be cautious about ways you produce or receive more paper.  Make deliberate choices about what to keep and what you can replace later.
  • F Sharp Paper Routing System - this is a temporary routing system.
F - File It
S - Send It
H - Hold It
A - Answer It
R - Read It
P - Pay It
  1. F-File It - papers you must file or store.
  2. S-Send It - items you need to send or give to someone outside of your home.
  3. H-Hold It - papers like invoices that need to be held temporarily and then filed or discarded.
  4. A-Answer It - items that need your response or requires action.
  5. R-Read It - items that you need to read; keep a container by a chair with these items and/or read-a-louds.  Clean out every 3-4 months.
  6. P-Pay It - bills to pay
  • Personalizing the System - Have easy access to your file system.  You can color-code each category.  Don't complicate system, keep it simple and you will more likely use it.  Make an action or hot folder for urgent things.  If you make a lot of calls, have a special calls folder.  You can have a different folder for each member of the family.
  • Consistency & Persistence - Set a goal of 10-15 minutes a day to deal with paper.  Gain control of incoming paper and gradually deal with accumulated papers.

Related: Part 1, Part 2

Part 2 - Notes from Homekeeping & Homeschooling Book

Chapter 3 - Clutter, Clutter Everywhere and Not a Spot to Think
Things are only useful when they don't hinder relationships with people and when they help you enjoy and serve the people around you.
  • Balance - Clutter is the largest reason you and your family can't clean quickly or well.  It slows you down and drains energy and joy from your life.
  • Clutter Quiz - 18 question quiz; #18: If the Lord called you home today, would you be horrified if your spouse accepted help from friends, relatives, or especially your mother-in-law to sort through your things?
  • Functional Neatness - A comfortable place between (1) an obsessive neatness demanded by a mother who doesn't allow for a mess of any kind and is overworked trying to maintain that standard, and (2) slovenly conduct by family members.  *Neat enough to be peaceful and messy enough to be happy.  Everyone in the family functions better.
  • The Good News - There's a difference between destructive, chaotic clutter and happy messes.  Hobbies and living life are happy messes or creative messes.  Know the difference between clutter/junk and happy messes.  Creative messes are temporary or useful.
  • Junk Journey - List areas that need attention, number by priority or check them off as you complete them.
  • Small is Better - If your overwhelmed, choose one small area first to give you momentum.  Finish one area before moving onto the next.
  • Gather Containers - Plastic bins hold small items and look neater.
  • Don't Rearrange - Start with an empty space clean it, wipe it, wash it, vacuum it, etc.  A clean slate helps to end clutter effectively.
  • Decisions, Decisions, Decisions - Decision-making is the most difficult part of decluttering.
  • Sort, Sort, Sort - Use three containers: Necessary, Nice and Never.  Store nice items in area's outside your home's usual daily traffic areas.  Nice = Special or occasion items; Annually; Christmas decorations, etc.
  • Location, Location, Location - Put items in a place that is near where you frequently use it.  Put a game cabinet/shelf where you normally play them.
  • Dispensations & Exceptions - Luke 12:15; PASS box = Parting is Sweet Sorrow; Give items time and then see if you use them or still want them later.
  • Saving Sentiments - Take a picture of things that are hard to get rid of; picture saves valuable space.  For homeschool projects and special things, have a display table and agree on time to display items.  Take a picture of child with project/creation, etc.  Use an art folder or box for child's special papers or drawings.
  • Wise Warning from the Word - Easier to keep a home clutter free than it is to make it clutter free.

Luke 12:13-34
1 Timothy 6:6-8

Related: Part 1 Notes

Part 1 - Notes from Homekeeping & Homeschooling Book

I started reading "Homeschooling at the Speed of Life" by Marilyn Rockett today and I love it!  I'm only in the second chapter but wanted to share my notes with you all as I go along.  I'm finding the book just what I was needing and looking for.  It incorporates God into the home management equation and doesn't leave him out, like so many other authors do.  The scriptures are from a version of a Bible that I've never even heard of, so I keep my KJV handy to look them up.  God has already touched my heart in many areas reading this today!  This book will help you manage your home with homeschooling, but I think any homekeeper could glean wisdom from this book.  The book comes with a CD that has lots of printables for some of the things she talks about in the book!

You can see a preview of the book here.

* We are not striving for a "perfect" home but rather a "God-honoring" home.

Organization is making your life work for you
by bringing the dailiness of life under control
through yielding to the Holy Spirit
concerning the wise use of your time

Chapter 1 - Foundation for Organization
6 Principles
  1. God's Design
  2. God's Plans - God planned even to the smallest detail; creation; tabernacle, etc.
  3. God's Image - When we fail to plan and we don't use our time wisely, our frustration rises from the chaos and confusion, but it also comes from the fact that we are disharmonious with the way God designed us.
  4. God's Command - God commands us to plan.  Doing what we want and how we want all the time, leads to traps of our own making: disorder, lack of productivity and costly price for unwise choices.  God instructs us to do things decently and in order, because that reflects who He is.  Chaos doesn't please Him.  A wise heart knows the proper time and procedure. (Ecc. 8:5b-6a)
  5. God's Provision - God provides for us through plans - His and ours.
  6. God's Lessons - Trust God's plan; Trust God to teach us to determine the wisest use of our time.  Yield to the Holy Spirit for choices.
Chapter 2 - Real-Life Home Management
Ordinary people think merely of spending time.  Great people think of using it. - Author Unknown
  1. People and Things - People are more important than things, but things out of control hinder our relationships with people.
  2. Establish Priorities - write out family mission statement with what the family decides are the priorities, then evaluate each new activity whether it will fit.
  3. Set Goals & Plan Ahead - The resourceful woman foresees potential problems before they occur and takes action to prevent those problems.  Make a list of things I want to change, then set a goal and a plan to reach that goal.
  4. Keep It Simple Sweetie (KISS) - establish a simple basic routine based on a predictable sequence.  Assess each room with a paper divided into four sections: Daily, Weekly, Monthly and Annually (or Seasonally).
  5. Write Things Down - make a list with four columns: Errands, To-Do, Projects and Non-Emergency Tasks
  6. Begin Small - face the things that trouble you the most.  One step at a time.
  7. Deal with Clutter - clutter not only affects the aesthetics but also the emotional, spiritual and physical aspects of your life.
  8. Don't Compare - Learning from others is a positive; comparing yourself to others is detrimental.  Has the urgent crowded out the important in your busyness?
  9. Be Flexible and Trust God - Distractions happen; expect them!  God will guide you.  The things that come up in your life aren't surprises to God.
  10. Sloooow Down and Say No - There is no cure for over-commitment short of amputation of unnecessary activities.  Align your choices with your priorities.  *Raising and teaching your children is the most important, long-reaching mission you'll accomplish with your life; and God has called you to that task.
  11. Take Time for the Lord and for Rest - You have to plan the time for God and for rest.  Mothers need rest and refreshment in order to serve their families.  If you are too busy to meditate on Scripture and to pray, you are out of balance.
  12. A Mother's Job Description - always adjusting trifles.  Real life brings pressure for the difficult job of managing a home while home educating, and you must continually adjust and start again.
  13. Persevere - Learn from mistakes and move forward towards your goal.
This was from the second point above but it was such a powerful statement in the book and one I totally agree with, that I wanted to bring your attention to it more. 
The resourceful woman foresees potential problems before they occur and takes action to prevent those problems.

Exercising Temperance

I've spent a lot of time realizing that I've made food an idol - I turn to it before I turn to God and that is wrong! Will there be more people in hell over gluttony than other, seemingly gross sins?  Makes you think.  I'm not saying that all obese people are sinning, I'm just realizing in myself that I sometimes turn to food for comfort instead of God and I occasionally eat to excess.  I guess that is a public confession of my faults.  I didn't get 40 pounds overweight from exercising temperance!


Php 3:19  Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.

The scripture is in the context of referring to the enemies of the cross.  The part where it says "whose God is their belly" really makes you think.  It could be talking about the sensual appetites of the flesh and it very well could be referring to self-indulgence (gluttony) and those that worship food and their appetites.  Then in Romans 16:18, the Bible talks about serving your own belly.  Have you ever really thought on that?

Here is Henry's commentary on the verse:

Whose God is their belly. They minded nothing but their sensual appetites. A wretched idol it is, and a scandal for any, but especially for Christians, to sacrifice the favour of God, the peace of their conscience, and their eternal happiness to it. Gluttons and drunkards make a god of their belly, and all their care is to please it and make provision for it. The same observance which good people give to God epicures give to their appetites.

In the Christian world, not much attention is given to gluttony, as most don't want to define it because they may be guilty of it, but we should:

Gluttony - excess of eating or drinking; greedy or excessive indulgence

So when I eat the whole pie, isn't that excess of eating?  Or is it also when I eat 2 slices, which is more than I need?  Why do we think that we are never gluttonous and since when can we decide what is excess and what is not?  It is, what it is.  We can't get around it, gluttony is a sin, just as adultery is.  Gluttony brings with it consequences - obesity, knee/back/joint problems from holding excess weight, organ problems from excess fat pushing against them, heart problems because it has to beat faster the larger you are, and on and on.

If we can't control our eating and always eat to excess, we need to ask forgiveness and then start exercising temperance; self control, which is a fruit of the Spirit of God living in us.

Homekeeping Skills to Learn

Being a homekeeper isn't just not working outside of the home, its having a job at home!  We are managers of our homes and just like our husbands need to keep up with their skills and add new ones to make themselves better, we do as well.  In a perfect world, every young woman would enter a marriage with a wealth of homekeeping skills that her mother taught her.  However, today we have a society where mothers, even mothers that were homekeepers, are not teaching their daughters skills that matter.

My mother worked and didn't have or take the time to teach me homekeeping skills.  I didn't know how to cook, do laundry, clean and definitely not any of the extra skills like sewing or canning.  When I got married, I didn't even know how to boil an egg!  That was just 11 years ago and I've spent the past 11 years teaching myself.  Think of how much time of my life I could have saved, had those skills been taught to me as a daughter, because my mom knew how to sew, can, garden and many other skills.  Not only do I want to prepare my daughter fully for the homekeeping role, but I also want to help other women out there who read this blog.  I want to save you time by sharing what I've learned and am learning, in hopes to make you a better homekeeper.

There are a list of skills that I want to accomplish.  You can be an unskillful homekeeper all your life or you can develop these skills and be more efficient in your homes and be able to teach your daughters.
  1. Cooking/Baking - this isn't involving processed, boxed food, this is talking about real cooking.  The first few years of my marriage, I was a Hamburger Helper Queen.  I finally taught myself how to cook and then, in the past few years how to cook healthfully.
  2. Homemade Foods - this is really a sub-category of the above.  Once you understand how to cook and bake, you should learn how to make things homemade.  This also falls into the sixth category below of health because homemade is just better than processed junk!  Learn to make bread, condiments, homemade snacks and desserts.  Not only will you save your money while developing a skill, you will benefit you and your family's health!
  3. Cleaning - believe it or not, this is a skill!  Everyone has their level of cleanliness but how to clean is a skill you need to learn.  How to mop, vacuum, disinfect, etc.
  4. Time Management - this is probably the best skill to learn because even if you knew all of the skills, if you can't manage your time, your life will be chaotic.
  5. Meal-Planning - learn how to make a meal plan and menu.  Don't just haphazardly try to figure out dinner at 4pm!  Be prepared weeks in advance and rotate meals to suit your family's preferences.
  6. Purchasing Goods - you need to understand how to purchase goods - food, clothing, furniture, etc.  Learn the skill of shopping wisely for all the purchases for your home.  Use a list, or else, you may find yourself forgetting things or buying too much.
  7. Teaching - you may be wondering why I have teaching here, well EVERY mother is a HOMEschool teacher.  You should be teaching your kid daily the skills of life, but most importantly the Bible!  Learning how to teach to your child at each stage is crucial!  If you can't reach them, believe me, someone else will.
  8. Health - you need to know how to have proper health for yourself, your husband and your children.  Read, read, read!  Don't just depend on a medical professional for your family's health, know what to do in an emergency and illness' that don't require a visit to the clinic.
  9. Gardening - learn how to garden.  Not only will you be able to give your family the best possible nutrition from fresh produce you grew and save money, but its therapeutic and eases stress.  It's also a great science lesson to teach your children about plants.
  10. Make-Your-Own - learn how to make your own cleaners, beauty products, tinctures, laundry detergent, etc.
  11. Organizing/Decorating - decorating provides a place of pleasure and comfort and organizing saves time and sanity!
  12. Hosting - learn how to be a good host!  As Christians, we should all be hospitable but as homekeepers, we should also learn how to treat our guests.

This list is of skills I plan on learning or mastering over the next few years:
  1. Sewing
  2. Canning
  3. Crafting
  4. Alternative Therapies/Herbs 
  5. Soap-Making
  6. Quilting

Look What the Lord Has Done!

He healed my body!!  I had a scare this past weekend with severe pain in my lower back/abdominal region and my pelvic area.  The pelvic pain started the Tuesday before this past weekend and lasted four days and then the back/abdominal pain came late Saturday night.  By Sunday, it was really bad and I went to the walk-in clinic at our doctor's office.  The doctor thought it may be appendicitis and if the pain got worse, I had to go to the ER right away and they don't take any chances - they just open you up and take out your appendix.  She also thought maybe it could be cysts or complications with polyps in my colon I had a few years ago.

I kept asking God........why!?  why!? why!?  It seems that my whole life has been one crazy medical issue after another and I didn't understand why my youth had to spent in such a way.  I guess I started feeling sorry myself lol.  Then I thought, as I have many times, that maybe God is judging me or something from something I did in the past.  That is the devil though - he loves to make us feel like we deserve illness and disease.  I was pretty down.  So I started reminding myself of all the MANY times God has healed me and all the things He has blessed me with and I started praising God!

I wasn't going to church that Sunday night, if anything I thought I was going to go to the ER to have my appendix removed because the pain had increased and I was nauseous.  However, with about 20 minutes before we had to leave, I popped up out of bed and went to church.  I was in pain as the service begin and then the Spirit of God started moving and others started shouting and dancing.  I wanted to, I felt it but there was a nagging thought that if I did I might have the appendix rupture right there.  Well, I told God that I was in His house and I'm in His hands!!  I started dancing and praising God!  Then after we sat down, the pain was pretty bad and the thought came that I shouldn't have done that.  I kept shooting down these thoughts - satan - and trusting God.

At altar call, I prayed so hard and told God I wasn't letting go till He touched me!  I felt God touch me!!  The pain went away!!  Then on the way out, my husband came up from the altar and said to me "Bev, God healed you!"  I've never seen him so full of faith and there was no doubting in his words, he was telling me I was healed, thus saith the Lord.  He told me he felt God touch me, even though he was at the altar and I was in my pew, he felt it and he knew.  WOW!

On the way home, I started having pain again.  I asked my husband why I was having pain, he told me just to keep having faith that God touched me and I did.  Then on Tuesday, the pain got worse but I kept shooting down the doubts and praising God.  I had my ultrasound yesterday and got the results today.  Turns out, it wasn't appendicitis but it was a cyst on my ovary.  However - the best news - the cyst had somehow collapsed recently!!  I know when it collapsed - it collapsed Sunday night as I was praying and God touched me!!  He did it!!  Praise the Lord!!

So now, all is well and the doctor/nurse was excited too and said my pain should go away because the problem is gone.  The only one not excited by this news is satan - he really wanted me down, he is trying to prevent my life and goals from happening but he can't stop God!!  God is a healer and I'm sharing this with you all to encourage you in faith and to uplift the name of the Lord!!!

Frugal Tips from Readers

I did say this would be anonymous, so if you left your name, I didn't include it because I wasn't sure if you wanted it posted on here or not.

  1. You can use any older looking vegetables, carrot peels, onion peels, celery tops, potato peels, etc when making soup stock.  I love making stock because nothing goes to waste! Many times I will store a bag of peelings in the freezer from other dishes that can be thrown in for the stock.    Have stale bread?  Make bread crumbs, croutons, or ribollita (a Tuscon style soup using veggie scraps and stale bread).  Turn a bar of soap into liquid hand soap.  Make your own cleaners and laundry detergent.  Use your local library for books, newspapers, magazines, DVDs, games, and even some educational toys.  Do a clothing and toy swap with friends for your children.  Find free entertainment: library, local colleges, community events/festivals, church functions, invite friends over for a meal and games.  Eat less meat.  Every 6 months I do a pantry challenge where I refuse to go grocery shopping for 2-4 weeks.  All meals must be made from food we already have.  This helps eliminate expired or freezer burned food and it saves us money too.  My biggest ones:  stay at home, make and stick to my budget, and be thankful for what I have.
  2. Hi Bev, Here are some things I do to save money around our home.  I try to only use the dryer for bedding and towels.  The rest I hang dry in our upstairs office.  It saves us money and adds water to the air when the house is dry in the winter.  I also try really hard to not use paper towels in the kitchen.  I use white wash cloths I keep in a basket on the counter and encourage my family to use one of them before reaching for a paper towel.  I make our laundry detergent as well and use vinegar as a fabric softener for our towels.  I also make some household cleaners, such as an all purpose cleaner (vinegar, water and tea tree oil) and a glass cleaner (vinegar, rubbing alcohol and water).  It took me a while to get used to the vinegar smell and fortunately the smell dissipates quickly!  I also make dishwasher detergent from Borax and baking soda. I am a former Starbucks fan.  I buy flavored creamers and add it to my own coffee and take it in a commuter mug.  Speaking of coffee, I do brew more than once a day.  I save the grounds in the filter and when I make another serving, I add 1 tablespoon of fresh grounds to the old and brew with fresh cold water.  It saves money on coffee and filters and I notice absolutely NO difference in taste reusing the grounds.   Another way I save money is by giving home haircuts to my hubby, son and daughter.  Last year alone we saved over $400.00 on haircuts!  It was intimidating at first, especially cutting my hubby's hair (he is protective of his locks, lol), but once I got the hang of it, it was easy! My hubby's dress shirts were $1.75 each to send to the dry cleaner.  I wash them here at home and press them while the kids are playing.  It feels good to know I'm saving my hubby money on this! I try to make homemade bread as often as I can.  Sometimes it is not always possible when our schedule is especially hectic, but it makes the house smell so yummy and I know it is cheaper, not to mention healthier than store bought.  That's all I can think of right now.  I look forward to seeing what other ladies say, especially about saving at the grocery store!
  3. save the ends of your fresh veggies, egg shells, onion papers (the brown papery stuff on the outside) and most other "scraps" you'd normally throw out in the freezer in a gallon sized freezer bag.  Once full, boil in a pot with some salt, garlic, pepper and onion powder.  Makes a SUPER nutritious vegetable stock.   You can even add some unflavored gelatin to this to give it a little heavier "mouth feel".  When cleaning, the only things that are truly needed are a good scrub brush, good dishsoap, baking soda and vinegar.  You can get almost anything out by mixing a combination of ingredients.    Diapering costs around $4000 from birth to potty training  (more if you have a "slow learner"!) and the best way is to learn to sew or have a friend who sews make you cloth diapers.  A free pattern can be downloaded called Rita's Rump Pattern and the cloth can be washed repeatedly!    there are times when spending a little more money will save you much more in the long run.  Realizing how to decipher that is the key.  If you can make it yourself, do it (IF it'll be cheaper).  If it'll be smart to invest slightly more to reap better benefits then do that.  For example, spending an extra $20 per tire will run you more expensive in the short-term but tends to save you money in the long-run.  Same concept with the "green" lightbulbs.    Collecting rain water (if your space allows) will help your garden and your pocketbook!  You'll collect water that would otherwise be "wasted" causing you to have to spend money to water your garden.  Instead, get a food-grade barrel and collect rain water and roof run-off water in it.  You can even make a compost tea to help feed and nourish your garden!  (compost is another issue that will help you save money AND recycle!)  There are various free videos on youtube that will help with both issues.
  4. I save bits and pieces from meals to make soup. I keep a plastic container in my freezer and if I have spoonful of veggies I would use in soup(corn,beans,corrots,peas,etc) or a small piece meat I will put it in the container.After a few weeks there is a pretty good mixture.When the container gets full it's time for soup.All I need to add is maybe a couple of cans of tomatoes. It's almost like a free meal. It's alot better than throwing it in the trash.  
  5. My frugal tip is have a plan. Plan for you meals, and shopping lists.  This is the most helpful tip I have. If I don't have a plan and list for my weekly shopping then I will spend twice as much and wander around a store putting things in my cart that I don't need.  We didn't get to garden this year and Farmer's Markets are hard for us to go to. So, I stock up on fresh produce that is easy to be frozen. I wash it up and cut and freeze all sorts of things. I love pullinf out strawberries, bluberries, and fresh peppers in the middle of winter to snack on.
  6. During my lunch hour at work, I go to a site that matches coupons to the sale ad from our local grocery store.  I copy and paste the whole list to a word document and delete all the entries I am not interested in.  I print this out and then write in any other items I need to get (or type) and also write out my meal plan for that week that corresponds to what I can get cheap that week.  This way I can get my shopping list and meal plan done quickly.
  7. Instead of using baby wipes each nappy change, you can use paper towels and water, (i use the recycled paper ones), not only is it cheaper to use paper towels but its better for nappy rash than using wipes with fragrances and chemicals.

Dear House and Child

Dear House and Child,

Do I take more joy in keeping you dear house
Or do I take more joy in putting you aside for you dear child
Do you dear house and your cleanness so clean
Shine better to all of what is really seen
A child neglected
A dish not in the sink
Which do I want more what is seen or unseen

On the floor with you dear child making memories to last
Or do I choose you dear house to remember from my past
Another book to read to you dear child helps you feel a mother's love
Another day forsaking you dear house to help my child make it above

Oh what do I choose
Oh who do I love most
You dear house or you dear child
I can't place first you both

I've made my choice
For this I know
A dirty house will only show
You dear child who I want to know
I have priorities - God, husband, child, and then the rest
And you dear house are not the best

*I just started writing down feelings from my heart today as my house is dirty but my child is not neglected.  In the course I'm taking for homeschooling, one of the disadvantages is a messy house.  This year I choose my child over the house.  I won't regret the time with her and my house won't regret time without me!  I remember my mom cleaning and cleaning in her time off work but she had hardly anytime for me.  She regrets that and so do I.  I would have much rather had a dirty home and a mother that was there!  

Children and Sleep

I've gotten a lot of questions over the years ranging from parents wondering why their child has behavior problems, doesn't perform well in school or seems agitated and unable to concentrate a lot.  One of the first things I ask is how much do they sleep?  A lot of times that is the problem - the child doesn't get enough sleep. Sleep is so vital for children and adults.  If I don't get past 7 hours of sleep, I don't perform well or feel well and I get sick more.  I've found that when I have good sleep habits, I don't get sick as often, I feel great and accomplish a lot and I'm not grumpy.  The same goes for our children.

I was reading an article on Dr. Weil today about this and then saw the National Sleep Foundation has a list of how many hours children need.  You can find it here:

http://www.sleepfoundation.org/article/sleep-topics/children-and-sleep

When my daughter was 3 months old, she was sleeping 12 hours every night and then 2-3 hours of naps throughout the day.  I did something similar to the Ferber method and it taught her to self-soothe to return to sleep and not be dependent on us to fall back asleep.  It worked within 5 days and from then on, she never has had sleep problems and didn't cry when I put her in the crib at bedtime and she didn't wake up during the night crying.  She also didn't get sick at all until she was 2 years old.  I contribute that to her getting enough sleep every night.  When a lot of other parents were having sick babies and dealing with ear infections and babies up at all hours of the night, I wasn't.  Looking back now, I really believe it was mostly because she was getting the sleep she needed.

Naps generally are not needed for children from age 4 and on and that is about the time Katie stopped needing naps as well.  She continued to sleep 12 hours a night until she was about 5 and now only needs 10-11 hours of sleep a night, which is the recommended sleep for children ages 5-12.

If you have a child with learning or behavioral problems or is sickly more than average, first look at how much sleep they are getting.  It does make a difference!

Shouting From the Hilltops!!!!!!

Normally our daughter is in children's church but since our church had a conference in St. Louis recently, she came to "big" church with us.  The past 6 months she has been talking about salvation, crying about wanting to go to Heaven and asking lots of questions.  This past Thursday night before church I showed her again Romans 10:9 and explained on the resurrection.  Then we went to church and the associate pastor preached about the resurrection and Katie was paying attention.

Then came altar call and my husband and I knelt at our pew to pray but Katie was still standing.  She asked me if we were going to the altar and I said no.  Then she asked if we could go again and I said no, my husband then told her no and with the most sincere eyes that were starting to water, she said, "But, I want to pray for salvation!"

My husband went with her and she prayed for salvation!!!!!!!!  I was crying of course!  It was awesome and then I thought of the scripture on how it is the PREACHING of the Word that saves, so she needed to be in "big" church to hear the preacher!

I've prayed while she was in my womb and then at night while she was sleeping as she has grown up.  Her salvation was of the utmost importance for me as nothing else really matters does it?  If Jesus came back tonight to take us home, Katie would go too!  How sweet your sleep is when you see your child love Jesus like you love Jesus!!

Satan has been upset ever since Thursday night as he has attacked our family left and right, but I want to let him know that he can't have my child, she isn't for sale!!!!  I will continue to train her up in the way she should go and instill a Godly view of the world in her life and pray she keeps God foremost in her life!

3 John 1:4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.
Matt. 18:3  And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.  
Matt. 19:13  Then were there brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands on them, and pray: and the disciples rebuked them.
Matt. 19:14  But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven

More American Than Christian?

“We’re not raising a man who happens to be biologically capable of having children. We’re raising a woman, a wife, a mother…’it sounds so radical!’ Yea, it probably does. You know why?’ Cause we’re a lot more American than we are Christian. We do the same thing everybody else does. And most times in the exact same way. After step A you take step B. Why? ‘Cause everybody does it, and if you don’t, you’re messin’ things up. Keep your prosperity in check. There’s a whole lot of women out there who have bought the lie that says you can have it all, and the fact of the matter is, you cannot. And you were never meant to. Nor were men. There is a role for us to play, you weren’t designed to have it all.

But here’s what I’m wondering: why would anyone who has been given the incredible gift and privilege of being able to bear and grow in them a life - 9 months – why? Why? To have a symbiotic relationship between your body and theirs; between your heartbeat and theirs. That’s why. So that they know your smell. So that they know everything about you. Why do they come here and the first thing they desperately need to do is nurse? So that from your breast they look into your eyes. Why? ‘Cause God designed you to nurture them. And you know what our culture says, that’s not good enough. You need to go share Adam’s curse ’cause Eve’s curse is not enough for you. That’s what our world says. And our world says as soon as you can, you rip that baby from you and hire somebody else to do what God created you to do instead. That’s what our world says. God says, ‘I’ve given you to this man to be his suitable helper.’ What does our world say? Well, let him go find somebody’s else’s wife to be his right arm, and then you be the right arm of some other man. That’s what our world says.

When we have the greatest gift, the greatest calling, and the greatest opportunity in the world, because the hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world…There is nothing more beautiful, nothing more powerful, nothing more precious than authentic, strong, submissive womanhood, and there is nothing that is in shorter supply, except, authentic, strong, passionate, protecting, providing manhood. And as a result our houses are not order, they are in complete disarray. And we are raising men who are weak and have not been given permission to stand up and lead their homes, and women who are unprotected and completely dissatisfied because somebody told them they could have it all, and rather than enjoy and embrace this incredible powerful gift of womanhood and motherhood, that instead they should go out and share Adam’s curse and pay somebody else to do the menial job, the menial task, of raising and nurturing their children. God help us. Don’t buy the lie.” ~ Voddie Baucham, Getting Our Houses in Order (Part 2 of ‘The Children of Ceasar’)

I Know "Her".........

Years ago when I first became a Christian and got married, I had anticipated having children.  Upon voicing this, I was told that I would go to hell if I had a child because my husband was called to preach and a child would hinder his ministry.  (He was told he was called at that time but God is the only one who has the power to call and he will tell us if we are!)  This was tragic for me as I had always desired children, but upon hearing it from someone I trusted, I submitted and tried to quell the desire inside me for three years.  It was many nights of crying and forcing myself into submission because this must be what God wants I thought.  Then, we started learning that a lot of things we were taught by that individual were not correct.  Up came the hope that maybe I could have a child without risking my eternal future or "hindering" things.

So, I asked the question and was covered in sympathy as the pastor told me that I would NOT go to hell for having a child and it had nothing to do with hindering my husband or the ministry.  However, I couldn't even trust his answer, I didn't trust anyone anymore.  One night while sitting on my couch, I asked God to just show me someway or somehow that it was ok and that I could let go of the fear of "putting a child before God."  It was then that I felt the Holy Spirit and as I remember it, started crying and this verse jumped out at me on the page:

For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him. ~Genesis 18:19

I knew beyond any doubts that God was giving me His blessing to conceive.  God KNEW me!  God knew that I would raise children up in His ways and to do His will!  It was so moving for me and something I haven't forgotten.  No man or woman could ever tell you different, once you've had an experience like that!

After receiving that from the Lord, we made an appointment with my OB-GYN doctor to find out what we needed to do to prepare for pregnancy.  What happened next shook my world up again.  I was told that I may actually be sterile and even if I could conceive, it would probably take about two years.  I was devastated and hurt.  I called out to God, questioning all this as He had just given us His blessing for children and I couldn't understand this.  We tried anyway but I didn't believe I would get pregnant.

A preacher came to preach a revival at our church weeks later.  He was preaching a message so strong about how God was saying "TRUST ME!"  He said it over and over and God reached down and squeezed my heart so strong.  As he preached, I felt that I was pregnant, the baby was inside me at that moment and as the preacher echoed the words, "TRUST ME," I decided to trust God that I was.  After that, I shared with his wife about how I was believing I was pregnant, even though the doctors told me it was most likely not probable.  She seemed sincerely happy for me as she saw my bright eyes of desire for a child.

I was pregnant!  I had actually been 5 weeks pregnant already and we had conceived the first time we tried, despite the doctor's dismal outlook.  During that message from God of "TRUST ME," I was pregnant!  Katie was in my belly all that time and all I had to do was trust completely in God and not man, not a doctor, not anyone but God.

God had given me a blessing!  That is why I'm so adamant in my standing up for women desiring children and those that may try and stop God's blessings.  I'm here to tell you today that God wants to bless you!  Give it to God and TRUST HIM!

A Change of Heart

The past few weeks have been some of the hardest of my life and a time or two, I had wanted to request prayer even on this blog for my husband and I.  However, through all of it, God was showing me that I needed to stand more steadfast than I have ever stood before!  There is so much He has taught me and I feel like I've taken some giant steps in God this past week than I have in a long time.  I just wanted to share and you might not understand because I'm not giving the whole story of what was involved but maybe you can relate in some way:

  1. Not to care what he said/she said - you know its mostly SHE said LOL.  Come on ladies, women are emotional and some act like children when they get their feelings hurt.
  2. Stand up to others about their criticism when needed - not in a harsh, critical way but rather telling them for example "Hey, I get it that homeschool isn't your thing, so you can please stop reminding me every time you see me?  If you can't keep it to yourself, maybe we shouldn't hang out anymore." or "Can you just stop talking about how you are doing more for God because you are preventing children?  I get it that you don't share my views so its probably best you don't talk about it when you around me." 
  3. Stand up to others that are busybodies - simply start saying that is none of your business.
  4. Tell the devil to shut up more!! - I think a lot of times I let what others say to me or about me get to me too much and I'm going to start telling the devil to shut up more!  When comments or insults are made against you or something you do, you know its the devil trying to get to you, don't let him!
  5. Stand alone if need be - my husband and I are learning that God wants us to just stand for our convictions, even if it means alone sometimes and to lay low, so to speak, and let God handle it.  I think this may be my greatest victory lately - realizing that God called me to homeschool, that I'm one of the nutty KJV only's, I won't take an abortion pill to keep God's blessings away and that I don't care what others say or think about that.  I would rather go overboard for God than come up short.  I learned that God gave us these convictions and he wants us to keep them, no matter who insults, ridicules or doesn't agree - we are steadfast and not wavering for ANYONE.  Anyone can stand with a group, but who can stand when you are seemingly the only one holding onto a certain conviction?  Will you stand with Jesus or will you cower to the crowd?  An amazing test for us and I'm glad to say we're passing it, thanks to Jesus!
  6. Pray more for my enemies - for those that think a certain way about me, criticize me and treat me unfairly - I'm going to start praying more for them.
  7. Stop analyzing others - you may not get this one but all through my life I realized from not only what I know about myself but from those that have known me well have said - I'm a left-brainer!  I have a strong analytical mind, I understand a lot of times more than the average person but it has become a problem for me.  I honestly see some people's situations clearly and solutions but I have to realize they don't and my brain is better spent on my own family and life.  Out of wanting to help a friend, I've gotten met with defensiveness and that is when I realized - its time to stop trying to help everyone see what I do.  A man of God was the last to tell me this about myself and after hearing my husband and parents say it for years, I finally accepted that I was different than most.  Now, I'm on a road to learning how to understand right-brain dominant people and let my friends have their problems and flaws, without analyzing it and showing them how to fix it.  I will reserve that for those that ASK me too lol. ;-)
  8. Let things roll off like water off a duck's back - I tend to analyze as I said above, which is good for things in my life but not for things that others say that hurt.  I need to learn the skill of, as soon as I hear it, to let it roll off of me like water off a duck's back.  Tell the devil to go away, pray to God for help and pray in the Holy Spirit for strength.  Then if it comes back in my mind later, to shoot it down again and do the 3 steps above.  I'm sure I could figure out a lot of things from analyzing what someone said to hurt me but what does it profit but more hurt to me?  It's time to let things go......

I'm sure there will be more, but for now I'm learning more about my mind and the left-brain dominance that has pervaded me most of my life.  I'm so thankful to the man of God that actually came out and said it because he made me feel that I'm not some problem, but rather that I don't use the same of the brain that most people do lol.  If only my prior pastors would have said this in my life, I may have had this breakthrough years ago but I suppose through it all - I learned to trust in Jesus!  Now, I'm on a new road to understanding myself more and realizing others don't analyze like I do, they don't see things like I do and they probably won't care that I'm left-brain dominant!  My husband does though, he knows me so well and once we started reading about my mind, he knew and I knew that was me!  

I also prayed for God to give me something to do to distract me lately from all that is going on and He did!  I'm partaking in one of the largest cases in our state and I can't say much more but God answered my prayer and its something that a left-brain dominant, analytical mind is perfect for! ;-)

Learning to Stand Alone

I had received 2 free issues of Home School Enrichment magazine and I'm finding so much quality material that I'm actually highlighting a lot.  They have been such a blessing to me for encouragement in this offensive lifestyle of homeschooling but there are also things in there for the non-homeschooler.

One of the articles was, "Raising Kids to Stand Alone."  It is something that a lot of modern parents seem to forget to teach their children and is the cause of compromise, not only in parents and children, but in the church as well.  If we never learn to stand alone, we will cave into the norm or the crowd.  If we never teach our children, they will follow suit.  I like how the author of the article talks about rare people and gives us 4 categories:

  1. Rare Person #1 - born-again believer in Jesus Christ.
  2. Rare Person #2 - born-again believer in Jesus Christ who knows WHAT he believes.  Too few Christians today are able to explain to others what they believe in critical areas of life.
  3. Rare Person #3 - born-again believer in Jesus Christ who knows what he believes AND is willing to stand up for it.
  4. The Rarest of Them All - born-again believer in Jesus Christ who knows what he believes, is willing to stand up for what he believes, AND is willing to STAND ALONE if necessary!

He talks about how truth often walks alone and I think of Jesus and His lonely road that He had to take when all forsook Him.  Most Christians are the top 3, but few are the kind that will stand alone when necessary in the face of compromise.  It isn't a "popular" place to be, but it is one that Christ understands and will reward you for as He sees you stand when tested.  Sadly, a lot of people would rather man have a good opinion of them more than stand alone.  We had some friends that their main purpose was to look "good" in a leader's eyes and I guess after so many years of that idol, they got tired of it and are no longer with us today.  Whose fault is it?  They chose to get man's approval for a time but only to their destruction.

"Standing alone is the heritage of those who know they have a superior way of life."

"Men that have moved the world are men that the world could not move."

The last few quotes are from the last section of the article about preparing our kids to stand alone:

"Do your children know your standards and values in key areas of life?  Do they know the rules about where they can go and what they can do?  Are the rules spelled out clearly, or are they vague and unclear?"

"Talk with your children about how they should respond when friends and other people they're with try to pressure them into doing something they know isn't right."

"..make sure that we as parents, are being a good example in this area."

"If our children watch us compromise our principles under pressure, the lesson they learn in that situation will undermine everything else we try to teach them."

Tribute to Homeschooling Parents

The son of the creators of Doorposts (from what I understand) wrote this to his parents:



Thank you, Daddy and Mama, for purposing to teach us at home, for following through, and for pouring out your lives for us. You have been faithful to the calling God put before you.

Thank you for reading the Bible to us every day.

Thank you for reading us hundreds of books.

Thank you for choosing to build a family library instead of buying new cars, expensive home decor, or big boy toys.

Thank you for staying up late correcting our schoolwork.

Thank you for helping us with math problems (even when you couldn't remember how to do them either). Benjamin turned out an engineer, so I think you did okay.

Thank you for turning off the computer and making us play outside.

Thank you for feeding our interests and fanning the flames of "delight-directed study."  We learned LOTS about history and about God's creation without knowing it was part of "school."

Thank you for investing in our music lessons.

Thank you for allowing us to make messes (and for teaching us to clean them up).

Thank you for sorting through curriculum each year to find what worked best for us.

Thank you for writing our curriculum when you couldn't find what you needed. God has used your work to serve many other families.

Thank you for pointing us to other godly men and women for more advice and training when you'd given all you could give.

Thank you, Daddy, for doing cool stuff with us like falling trees and building fences, and for teaching me how computers work.

Thank you, Mama, for teaching each of us to write well. That must have been hard.

Thank you for not giving up.

And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. - Galatians 6:9 KJV

Quotes on Friends and Enemies

These days flattery wins friends, truth begets hatred. - Terence

If you allow men to use you for your own purposes, they will use you for theirs. - Aesop

I'm not even going to get mad anymore. I'm just going to learn to expect the lowest out of the people I thought the highest of. - Anonymous

It is far better to be alone, than to be in bad company. - George Washington

That you may retain your self-respect, it is better to displease the people by doing what you know is right, than to temporarily please them by doing what you know is wrong. - William J.H. Boetcker

The true hypocrite is the one who ceases to perceive his deception, the one who lies with sincerity. - Andre Gide

False friends are like our shadow, keeping close to us while we walk in the “sunshine”, but leaving us when we cross into the “shade”.

In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. -Martin Luther King Jr.

Never explain yourself. Your friends don't need it and your enemies won't believe it. - Belgicia Howell

I discovered who were my real friends. I just wished that wasn't the way I had to discover. - Anonymous

The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because they are generally the same people.

If you want to make enemies, try to change something.

I wish all my enemies a long life…so they can see me succeed in life!

The noblest revenge is to forgive.

Enemies can be our worst nightmare but could be our best mentor.

The face of the enemy frightens me only when I see how much it resembles me.

Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake. - Napoleon Bonaparte

Remember, always give your best. Never get discouraged. Never be petty. Always remember, others may hate you. But those who hate you don't win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself. - Richard Nixon

Memories of Mom

Remember when in this post, I made the suggestion to ask your child to draw what they remember you doing most?  Well, I was a bit hesitant myself in asking my child because I was afraid of what she might draw lol.  I took the plunge too and then cried when I saw what her memories of me are:



That is Katie and I in the kitchen, she is on the stool cooking and I'm holding her hand she said.  I'm not sure why I look like Tammy Faye LOL but I don't wear any makeup hahah.  =0

She said if something happened to me and I was gone, she would remember me teaching her how to cook and us smiling and having fun.  This is what I was hoping for, these are the memories I want her to have!  Sometimes we feel so inadequate in ourselves as mothers because of our many failures and flaws but it is good to know that God can make up the difference!

I Could........

Women that love their children like this that they will even homeschool being a single mother, really inspire me!  I say kudos to these women and the love that is shown by their actions!

This is a poem I came across today from a single homeschooling mother and it was so touching:


I COULD…
I could send her to school,
And from 8:00-3:00 have no clue…
How many times she laughed,
How many times she learned,
How many times she questioned,
How many times she understood,
How many times she wanted more information,
How many times she bounced in her chair from excitement,
How many times she was proud of something she did.
I could send her to school and she could get her exercise and sunshine,
In 20 minute doses, if…she had on the right shoes, and no one misbehaved and everyone was quiet.
I could send her to school
And let her eat the processed high fat, low nutrition fare they feed millions of children a day,
if she had enough time to eat and didn’t talk too loud and if no one grabbed her food.
Or…..
I could homeschool her

by Karen Cagle

God-Called Blessings Now Burdens to the Modern Woman

Has anyone watched this documentary?  I saw the trailer and read this article and it makes sense.  Here are some quotes from the article:
 
"..the most important factor is a culture (including Hollywood, the news media and academia) that tells people that children are a burden, rather than a joy; that pushes an ego-driven, live-for-the-moment ethic; a culture that tells us that contentment comes from careers, love, friendship, pets, possessions, travel, personal growth - anything and everything except family and children. It's a culture that can look at Sarah Palin and her beautiful family and ask why she had to have 5 children and why she didn't abort her child with Downs syndrome."

That really just sums it up huh?  What truth!  My husband and I were talking tonight about those today that actually seek to be barren.  Why not just pray "God please make me barren" "God I don't want these blessings called children, please spare me!"?   Instead of begging God to open their womb - the modern woman begs to be barren or finds some way to get the same effect and if one slips through, oh that's ok - we can just kill it now with the state funded abortion procedure.  

Then the women that want a lot of kids or actually even just one.......are ridiculed and called names because they are weird!  I get it all the time when I tell people I've always wanted at least 5 kids.  They look at you like you are some alien from another planet.  Most people don't know that I was unable to have children until I sought God with tears and sadness and asked him to open my womb!  He did!!  The first time after I prayed that we had tried, I conceived!  My daughter is a blessing and a miracle from my Lord!  I want however many God wants to bless us with and hope there is more.

It is probably a good thing that some women are not reproducing.  Take for instance the feminist's.  They flaunt their barrenness and say how good they got it without kids.  I say, it is probably good they are not making offspring - wouldn't you agree?  Less children raised with that mindset the better I guess you could say.  However, even raised with that mindset there is hope, this famous feminist's daughter came out years later against her own Mother, you can read about that here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1021293/How-mothers-fanatical-feminist-views-tore-apart-daughter-The-Color-Purple-author.html Here are some quotes from her 'testimony':

"Then there is the issue of not having children. Even now, I meet women in their 30s who are ambivalent about having a family. They say things like: 'I'd like a child. If it happens, it happens.' I tell them: 'Go home and get on with it because your window of opportunity is very small.' As I know only too well. Then I meet women in their 40s who are devastated because they spent two decades working on a PhD or becoming a partner in a law firm, and they missed out on having a family. Thanks to the feminist movement, they discounted their biological clocks. They've missed the opportunity and they're bereft. Feminism has betrayed an entire generation of women into childlessness. It is devastating."

Notice how she sums it up at the end:

"I am my own woman and I have discovered what really matters  -  a happy family."

You can also read how a Feminist Pioneer now says traditional family works best here: http://www.christianhomekeeping.com/2009/05/feminist-pioneer-says-traditional.html

Related: The Blessing of Abortion

Satan-Inspired Per-Version Bibles

Is God not capable of providing the English-speaking people a version of His Word that is correct in its entirety?  Are any of the many versions today inspired?  Is there no inspired version?  Do we just have to pick and choose?  If one Bible says homosexuality isn't so bad but the KJV condemns it, do we pick and choose which we like better?  Is it really ok if some verses are only different by a few words?  Did God inspire all the versions?

I'm here to tell you today that the 1611 King James Version of the Bible is the authoritative, inspired, Word of God!  How do you come to this conclusion?  Well, there are many factors involved but the main one is that God Himself bears witness with the KJV and there is power in its words that other versions have none of.  It is the only one in the English language that is correctly based of the original Hebrew and Greek and has NO errors of God's Words and meanings.  God truly inspired the translation of King James.

". . . ye have PERVERTED the words of the living God. . ."
Jeremiah 23:36



Here are many of the factors proving this is the inspired Bible for the English language:

  1. God is capable of giving us ONE translation that is Holy and Inspired.  The Spirit of Christ in you will enable you to understand the Bible God inspired for you.  
  2. Every English version compared to the KJV shows their heresy as they are FULL of error.  They take out the virgin birth, deny the deity of Jesus and are inspired by Satan himself.  They deny the very doctrines that God established and therefore they can not be God's Word, they are counterfeits.
  3. Every other version doesn't say we are washed in Christ's blood!  http://www.av1611.org/wash.html  
  4. The NIV removes the blood that is our redemption The KJV reads, "In whom we have redemption THROUGH HIS BLOOD, even the forgiveness of sins:" The NIV reads, "In whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."
  5. The NIV does not condemn homosexuality - it is the ultimate non-offensive version for homosexuals as they are only offenders and the word sodomite is taken out altogether.
  6. The NIV doesn't condemn Satan to hell, only to the grave - ISAIAH 14:15: The King James Bible condemns Lucifer to hell: "Yet thou shalt be brought down to HELL . . ." The NIV does NOT condemn Lucifer to HELL! The NIV reads, "But you are brought down to the GRAVE. . ." We all go to the GRAVE! Why doesn't the NIV want Satan in hell?
  7. We could go on for weeks of all the heresies and errors in all these other versions but the KJV is clearly the only inspired Word of God as it contains no error from the originals.

God didn't inspire Bibles that leave out the blood and the virgin birth.  God didn't inspire versions that change Lucifer's name in the Old Testament to Morning Star, which is Christ's name in Revelation.  If all these other versions have such extreme error, then you can see that Satan is the inspiration of those versions.  

If you still don't think its serious enough, there is further reading that I don't think anyone can read without seeing the truth:

Resources FULL of proof of the error of these perverted translations:

Jack Hyles excellent sermon on "Get Your Stinkin' Feet Out of My Drinkin' Water!":

Training Daughters To Be Keepers OUT of the Home?

God had touched my heart in a recent ladies prayer meeting concerning my daughter.  I thought she needs to be in Girl Scouts and then found out that was a godless organization now thanks to James Dobson coming out against it.  Then I came across American Heritage Girls and thought this was it!  However, there were some things they did (dances, swimming, worldly "Christian" music) that I just didn't agree with.

So I started praying and asking God what I should put my daughter in and He asked me why I felt I needed to?  She interacts with other Christian families' children 5 times a week at church and then attends music lessons once a week in a house full of 6 kids that she plays with after the lessons - why does she need more "social" time!?  It was clear to me as I had hit roadblocks in enrolling my daughter in more "outings" that God wanted me to teach her to be content with church, prayer meeting and homeschool activities and not training her to be out of the house so much.  After all, I'm training up a homekeeper not a gadabout!

Look around you, so many women that claim to be homekeepers are everything but!  They are out of the house so much that they bring a reproach and blasphemy to the gospel by their idleness and going about from house to house being busybodies.  They aren't help meets to their husbands, they are quite the opposite as they tear down their home with their idleness.  Homemade dinner is the last thing on their mind - its all about convenience so she can hang out with yet another busybody or some even stay at home but are not keeping the home because they are full of idleness on the internet and social 'networking'.  Anything to get her out of her house and her husband and children visually suffer!

Why, would I want to train my daughter to be out of the house too?  She isn't going to be in social groups as a grown woman, she is going to be busy with her husband, children and home and church and prayer meeting is ENOUGH time outside the home.  If I spend more than 2 days outside my home during the weekdays, I don't get my responsibilities done.  So why would I seek ways, excuses and places to go to take myself away from the one place I'm called by God to be in?  I shouldn't and don't and neither will I teach my daughter thus.

My daughter loves being home as I remind her this is her calling as she becomes a woman and she must give her all to it.  If I don't live it before her I count myself as a waste.  However, if I live it before her, I'm a benefit and she will forever remember my testimony!
She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. ~Pro 31:27-28

Father Forgets

Listen, son; I am saying this as you lie asleep, one little paw crumpled under your cheek and the blond curls stickily wet on your damp forehead. I have stolen into your room alone. Just a few minutes ago, as I sat reading my paper in the library, a stifling wave of remorse swept over me. Guiltily I came to your bedside.

There are things I was thinking, son: I had been cross to you. I scolded you as you were dressing for school because you gave your face merely a dab with a towel. I took you to task for not cleaning your shoes. I called out angrily when you threw some of your things on the floor.

At breakfast I found fault, too. You spilled things. You gulped down your food. You put your elbows on the table. You spread butter too thick on your bread. And as you started off to play and I made for my train, you turned and waved a hand and called, "Goodbye, Daddy!" and I frowned, and said in reply, "Hold your shoulders back!"

Then it began all over again in the late afternoon. As I came Up the road, I spied you, down on your knees, playing marbles. There were holes in your stockings. I humiliated you before you boyfriends by marching you ahead of me to the house. Stockings were expensive - and if you had to buy them you would be more careful! Imagine that, son, from a father!

Do you remember, later, when I was reading in the library, how you came in timidly, with a sort of hurt look in your eyes? When I glanced up over my paper, impatient at the interruption, you hesitated at the door. "What is it you want?" I snapped.

You said nothing, but ran across in one tempestuous plunge, and threw your arms around my neck and kissed me, and your small arms tightened with an affection that God had set blooming in your heart and which even neglect could not wither. And then you were gone, pattering up the stairs.

Well, son, it was shortly afterwards that my paper slipped from my hands and a terrible sickening fear came over me. What has habit been doing to me? The habit of finding fault, of reprimanding - this was my reward to your for being a boy. It was not that I did not love you; it was that I expected too much of youth. I was measuring you by the yardstick of my own years.

And there was so much that was good and fine and true in your character. The little heart of you was as big as the dawn itself over the wide hills. This was shown by your spontaneous impulse to rush in and kiss me good night. Nothing else matters tonight, son. I have come to your bedside in the darkness, and I have knelt there, ashamed!

It is a feeble atonement; I know you would not understand these things if I told them to you during your waking hours. But tomorrow I will be a real daddy! I will chum with you, and suffer when you suffer, and laugh when you laugh. I will bite my tongue when impatient words come. I will keep saying as if it were a ritual: "He is nothing but a boy - a little boy!"

I am afraid I have visualized you as a man. Yet as I see you now, son, crumpled and weary in your cot, I see that you are still a baby. Yesterday you were in your mother's arms, your head on her shoulder. I have asked too much, too much.

by W. Livingston Larned

Busy With the Wrong Things

Everyone gets 24 hours each day.  Some do SO much in those 24 hours and others waste and squander those 24 hours.  What do you do?  Are you redeeming the time and doing those things that are needful and top priority?  Or rather are you doing things that really have no value on your priority list but have choked out the needful things in your life?

What if we, as women, all stopped and evaluated our time?  What would we find?  Would we find hours spent online reading, playing games, facebooking/twittering and other things that consume our time?  Are those things that you value?  Name them and make a list of what you do online and ask yourself how those things benefit you and your family.  Are they helping you become a better person?  Are they replacing what really matters in your life?  Does God and the family have to go on the back-burner because you just have to read another Facebook update?  Just who is really your God; your idol; the one you worship the most?

I refuse to let the computer and the internet take place of God and my responsibilities.  When I don't spend time in God's word daily and prayer talking to Him and I haven't given myself to my family's needs - what is taking my time?  Every now and then I've learned to stop myself and re-evaluate my life and my priorities.  Normally, if I find I don't have time to make something homemade, all I have to do is look at what I'm doing with my time and see what I'm putting before giving a wonderful, healthy homemade meal to my family.  I have counted at times, reading blogs or other time wasters online more important than God and my family because I gave my time to them more.  That is not acceptable in my life!

If you were to ask your child or children to draw a picture of what they remember you doing most, what would it be?  Would it be you in the kitchen in an apron whipping up something special for your family?  Would it be you teaching your child or playing with them?  Or would it rather be you sitting down at your computer?  Why not ask your child to draw that picture of what they see you doing the most of?  It just may be a turning point for your life.

What kind of legacy are we leaving behind to be remembered of?  What do you have to SHOW for your life?  What are your skills, talents and things you have accomplished in your life?  What will your children, husband and family and friends say about you when you die?  Will you be remembered as a mother devoted to her family or will you be remembered as a woman who all she ever did was sit around and do nothing?  What kind of legacy do you want to leave behind?

We can be so busy with the wrong things and I've not only seen it in my life but others.  Some are so busy that they tell me they don't have time to teach their children, they don't have time to make homemade products and they don't have time to keep their house clean.  I'm wondering - what in the world are they doing with their time!? How can I and many, many others homeschool for hours a day, make homemade meals, keep our house clean and still find time to learn new things when they can't do even one of those?  There is nothing "special" about me or others that do such, we all have the same hours in a day.  The answer is simply that they are busy with the wrong things.

I just put this on our Motivated Mentality blog, it is an old post but one that is worth repeating:


Father,

Help me take an honest look at what legacy I'm leaving behind.

Will anyone be different because of the way I've lived my life?

Will anyone be closer to you because of the way I've used my time?

Will someone have eternal life because I've introduced them to Jesus?

Will anyone have hope because of seeing Jesus in me?

Father, the older I get (and the more loved ones who leave this life)the more I realize how short my time is.

I don't want to waste this precious life You've given me.

I know I will stand before You someday and will be accountable for how I used the time You gave me.

I don't want to wait for someday. Show me now, while I still have time to readjust my priorities.

Is too much of my time spent on collecting things that won't even be a thought a hundred years from now?

Do I waste hours on needless worry, guilt and fear?

Am I listening too much to the temptations of this world or do I recognize them quickly and move on?

What portions of my day are spent on loving You, on serving others in Your love, or on myself?

Am I spiritually balanced?

Will you be pleased with the way I'm spending my life?

Am I keeping my focus on You?

Help my legacy be a life which points to a joyful life with You, so it will last long after everyone has forgotten who I am.

Author Unknown