Swing Set Giveaway

Head on over to Shopping with Cents to enter to win a Flexible Flyer Swing Set! 

The swing set is from HayNeedle, valued at $339.98 and comes with an anchor kit.

Completing Him Challenge: Week Five

This week over at Women Living Well the Completing Him Challenge is to make a list of your priorities and then have your husband show you how he would prioritize them. 

This is actually great timing because we were just having a conversation about where things should fall on the priority list... and now I have a reason to corner him on the subject. : ) No, really, he doesn't mind helping and I'm sure he loves that I'm trying to change the focus of my priorities (what husband wouldn't???).

So... the list I came up with looks like this:

• Homeschooling the kids
• Keeping the house clean
• Menu-planning/coupon-clipping
• Cooking homemade meals
• Making improvements on the house

And here is the list that we worked out:

1. Time with the Lord each day. This often gets worked in whenever I get a few seconds (normally eating lunch or during naptime), instead of having a set QUIET time. After talking with the hubby, I can see how everything else will fall out of place if this is not priority #1 with it's very own time. I'm going to start getting up earlier each morning to have some quiet time with God now... THANKS to my hubs for pointing this out! And while time alone with my husband or intimate time should be a high priority, we both think that it already is a high priority and, like all other things, it will continue to be one if this priority is met.
   
   
2. Homeschooling the kids. An obvious priority and one that I need to get back into planning mode for, with the school year looming.
   
   
3. Cooking homemade meals. You would think this is obvious but I often get sidetracked with doing a million other things (hello blog!) and usually have dinner on the table late.
   
   
4. Planning activities for the kids. Another one I need to put more effort into... I get so wound up into projects I have going on that I forget they need outside time or playdates arranged.
   
   
5. Keeping the house clean (a LOT lower than I thought it would be!)
   
   
6. Menu-planning/coupon-clipping. Instead of getting shuffled off the list, my hubby kept this one on - mostly because we've seen the money saving effects that this allows us and that definitely is a priority.
   

What DID get a boot off of the list is making improvements to the house... we have several projects going on right now, the most major being that the kitchen is only half-painted and still has a border and linoleum to pull up. This seems like a big deal to me because I don't want to have a half-finished house when guests come over... but I can also see how the "damage" is superficial and that our home is really clean and in order. So I *guess* I can let it slide while I'm putting all of these things first. Certainly there will be times when everything else is taken care of and it can be done : )

Really enjoyed seeing how my husband would prioritize my day... makes me want to start talking to him now. Joking! But I do see that we need to start talking about more basic things instead of praising things that we don't really agree with... Thanks Courtney!

Learning a lesson I already knew

Romans 5:3-5
And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

I have been meditating on this verse since I found it in my Romans study recently... isn't it nice how God gives us things to comfort us?  

We had several things happen to us in the last few months...

It started with everything going much better than it had been - we had some tight finances before and were unable to fly my stepson here for the summer and were generally just breaking even.

Then everything started getting better... we started planning more renovations on our house and even wanted to put our 5-yr old in a taekwondo class. (this was just the week before everything happened)

But our plans aren't God's plans.

This is what June alone looked like for us...

1. My husband's job was bought out by another company and he was given a HUGE demotion and a HUGE pay DEcrease. And it was either take this offer or be out on the curb with no prospects at all...  so we took the awful offer. And it was awful...
   
   
2. To the point that we're going to have to sell his motorcycle.
   
   
3. This happened while we're trying to pay medical bills from having our son...
   
   
   
   
   
4. Then our *almost* 2 yr old daughter falls out of the grocery cart at WalMart and suffers a concussion. (Yes I'm still kicking myself over this) We were in the hospital for two days just praying over her while my sister (who by a great blessing was visiting) stayed with our other kids at home. I really do believe that God answered prayers and made her well again. But her hospital stay made more medical bills... Don't get me wrong - we're still praising God that she's okay - but bills that are more than my husband's paycheck make even us falter.
   
   
5. And just after she recovers from this, all three of our daughters come down with hand, foot and mouth disease. We practically quarantined our daughters from our 6 wk old son... and, of course, it's the same daughter that had a concussion that has it worst.
   
   
   
   
   
6. And THEN, just as we're getting ready to take my sister to the airport to go home, part of our CEILING caves in (from a clogged HVAC unit that ran over into the ductwork and drowned the ceiling). Yes, that was  another bill and there are still repairs to be made. At this point, I was just... "Really?" My husband and I were seeing this for what it was BY NOW and right after it happened we got on our knees and were praying with everything we had. 

 I think that was what God really wanted from all of this... to bring us closer to Him. Isn't that amazing that He works so actively in our lives??? Looking back on it, I bet He was smiling over how our first reaction was to take each other's hands and drop down to the floor.

Before all of this happened, the memorization verse on my fridge was James 1:2-3:

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations.
Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

But I don't think I was seeing the whole picture... 

Which is why it was like a thunderclap when I read Romans 5:3-5

And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

I have had this hope all along and I just wasn't employing it correctly. When any Christian goes through tribulations, we have the most awesome contender in our corner... and I should have remembered that through everything that happened. I was praying... but it was more of a "woe is me" praying... you know, "Lord, please get us out of this"... instead of "Lord I have faith that you will see us through this."

God will provide for us and He will comfort us.

I have HOPE because of HIM

If you don't know Christ, I pray that you will see that He is the answer to every question. Romans 3:23 For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (not a one of us is good enough for Him). 24 Being justified freely (because we haven't earned it) by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ. 25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation (the price for sins) through faith in his blood (faith in Christ), to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.

Completing Him Challenge: Week Four

I'm a little behind in pretty much everything, to include the Completing Him Challenge over at Women Living Well...

That hasn't stopped me from doing the challenge though - all week long I've been looking at my husband in a new light, taking the time to appreciate every little thing that he does for me.

This week's challenge was to
ADMIRE YOUR  HUSBAND.
So let me tell you a few things about mine...

• He has great ideas. Our finances did not support us celebrating our anniversary the way we wanted to... and when we were going to just look it over altogether, my awesome hubby came up with a great way to celebrate on a VERY tight budget. Often, I'm not able to see a bigger picture and he comes up with very creative ideas.... one of those "complete me" things. : ) I also don't always see things from the right perspective (he says this is because women are emotional and men are practical, lol) like what a particular bible verse means... I love bouncing verses off of him and getting his view - he ALWAYS brings something to the table that I just didn't figure in.
  
  
• He is amazingly selfless. Just last night, I took up too much time getting my daughter's birthday cake decorated - and when it was time to make supper, the baby was hungry... what does my hubby do? Without saying a single word about my misusing my time, he starts peeling potatoes and getting pans out. Speaking of which, I forgot to thank him - I need to call him right now... Also, when he was awarded an Old Navy gift certificate for a workout program his job hosts, did he spend it on himself? Yes. No, just kidding... : ) He handed it over to me and told me to go buy the baby some clothes. When I won a gift card in a giveaway, did he tell me to spend it on the kids or things that we NEED? Nope. He knew I hadn't bought any clothes since before I got pregnant, so he told me to go clothes shopping.
  
  
• He is fiercely protective of our children. He hates the idea of them getting sick (and tries to quarantine them) : ) or being around bad influences. How many people in this world just say "they need to learn what the world is like sometime"... not my hubby - he always has their best interests in mind. Even when I practice home remedies on the kids for things like pink eye, he always has one foot out the door, ready to go to the doctor... : )  (I take it in good humor, I assure you). When my three year old had an allergic reaction to mosquito bites (YES, that can happen!) I was just going to give her benadryl and call it a day, but he took her to the doctor and found out that it was a serious reaction.When that same three year old got a gash on her noggin from falling onto the corner of a chair (if you don't have kids, YES it's like this ALL the time) he drove home from work right away...
  
  
• He is a Command Man. It's really embarrassing to say... but I'm wishy-washy. I was a Staff Sergeant in the Air Force... and I'm wishy-washy. When it comes to directing people around, I'm good. Making decisions... not so good. If you've read Debbie Pearl's Created to be His Helpmeet, you know what a Command Man is. And mine is one. He always has a plan and he knows how to put it in place. He knows how to get somewhere, he knows how to budget for it, he knows how to get us all out the door in time and he's always ready to make a decision on where to go and what to do. If he lets me pick where to eat, it goes something like this... "um... I don't know... maybe here... or there... what do you think?" My standby is usually Sonic when I can't decide. : )
  

Isn't this challenge supposed to be about "Completing Him"?... because all I'm seeing is how he completes me LOL.

Meal Plan.... Muh-Wednesday

I'm SOOO behind. I just now got caught up on housework and birthday prep that I have a few seconds for menu stuff. This is what happens when you sit on your butt for a whole 4-day 4th of July weekend...

Anyhoo - here's what's on the menu. Enjoy!



Monday - homemade pizza

Tuesday - meatball subs  (I did not have bread crumbs or ritz crackers for this... so I used cheezits. And everyone LOVED it. Crazy... I know.)

Wednesday - breakfast burritos

Thursday - chicken kabobs, macaroni, steamed carrots

 Friday - blt & chips

Saturday - bbq ribs, potato salad, corn on the cob

Sunday - leftovers

Monday - loaded baked potatoes, salad

Tuesday - tostados

Wednesday - cinnamon rolls

Thursday - sloppy joes & fries

Friday - spaghetti, garlic bread, salad

Saturday - hot dogs, hamburgers, pasta salad

Sewing a Dora Backpack

I just finished making a Dora backpack for my two year old's birthday and I just have to share!

I looked forever to find one and they don't make soft ones (!) so I tried to find a tutorial and couldn't find one of those either (!)... so I just made it up as I went. That's usually how things go around here. : )

I started by free-handing a pattern on wax paper

Then I cut out the material - four of the pattern above (two in purple and two in the liner material) and one long strip to go in the middle (+ one in the liner material). I also cut out the straps - mine was about four inches wide to have room for folding over so they would be sturdy. The length of the strap will vary by child.


Here's the liner:

Next I sewed the two sides and the middle together, right sides facing. With the liner it's wrong sides facing. Make sure to sew the straps and put them in before sewing the body together. Then I cut out the face pieces from random scraps of fabric - using buttons for the eyes - and sewed them all on with a zig zag stitch. (I'm better at straight lines, so it aint that purty)

Then I put the liner in (right side up), made a small cut on each corner of the backpack, turned down the top of the backpack onto it (folded in once) and sewed all the way around in two lines. The straps may make this thick, depending on fabric, so make sure you're using the right needle... (OPTIONAL: cut a small piece of cardboard to fit in the bottom to stabilize it)

Lastly, I measured the top opening to get the flap dimensions, free-handed the pattern again, cut it out in purple and liner, folded over the purple, sewed, and attached to the backpack.

Voila! (No, it's not ironed - don't judge - I was in a hurry!)

Completing Him Challenge: Week Three

Time for Week Three of the Completing Him Challenge - to join in, go over to Women Living Well.  Over and over again in our lives we have seen the power of prayer.

Recently our daughter was in the hospital for a concussion, experiencing some of the more dangerous symptoms. We asked our family and our entire church to pray and had their affirmation several times that they were still praying... When she was moved to a children's hospital for more intensive testing, after about an hour there she sat up and started laughing, talking, eating, and just became herself again (this was after two days of unresponsive behavior). I have no answer for that but that God answers prayers.

 Challenge: Print this list out and pray through this list daily. Also, do not forget to ask your husband each morning for any specific prayer requests he has for the day.

Prayer changes things - do you believe that? Then let's get started! Here's a list of items you can begin to pray through for your husband (taken from "The Power of a Praying Wife" by Stormie Omartian):

1. His Wife -that's a good place to start right? lol!

2. His Work

3. His Finances

4. His Sexuality

5. His Affections

6. His Temptations

7. His Mind

8. His Fears

9. His Purpose

10. His Choices

11. His Health

12. His Protection

13. His Trials

14. His Integrity

15. His Reputation

16. His Priorities

17. His Relationships

18. His Fatherhood

19. His Past

20. His Attitude

21. His Marriage

22. His Emotions

23. His Walk

24. His Talk

25. His Repentance

26. His Deliverance

27. His Obedience

28. His Self-Image

29. His Faith

30. His Future

Why We Homeschool

 For starters, we're already one of THOSE families... we homeschool, we make our kids say "Yes, Sir/Ma'am," we use cloth diapers, we garden, we don't wear swim suits (or other immodest clothing), we eat mostly homemade meals, our children are breastfed for the first year of life, we teach our children the "old-school" values of discipline and responsibility, we take on the roles of "bread-winner" and "homemaker" ...  and we just plain enjoy it.

Our entry into this way of life started when we were saved by Christ and hopped onto the straight and narrow path to His Kingdom. So I would say that to understand any of this, you have to know that we believe in God, the Trinity, the death of Christ for our sins, the ressurection, salvation through faith alone and that the Bible is the inspired Word of God (and still relevant today).

God's Word tells us that we're not to be of this world (1John2:15-16, 1John5:19) but should stand alone (be a shining light) in our faith. So throw away all preconceptions that you have about any of the things that we do, because those views that you have accumulated are most likely from this world and not from God. Now take a dip into the way God views them.

God has very strong views on children...

• Children are given to us as a gift to watch over
  Psalm 127:3-5 - Behold, children are a gift of the Lord; the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them; they shall not be ashamed when they speak with their enemies in the gates.
  
• But they're STILL God's - we are MERELY stewards
  Ezekiel 16:20-21 You slaughtered My children and offered them up to idols ...
  
• Fathers (as the head of the family) are told to ensure the Christ-like rearing of their children
  Ephesians 6:4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
  
• Teaching your children "when you're able" isn't good enough - you're meant to be with them all day
  Deuteronomy 6:6-9 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: ⁷And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. ⁸And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. ⁹And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.
  
• How can we raise our children in God if we're throwing them in the Lion's Den?
  Jeremiah 10:2a Thus saith the Lord, learn not the way of the heathen.
  Proverbs 13:20 He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.
  I Corinthians 15:33 Be not deceived; bad company corrupts good morals
  James 3:15-17 ⁵This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.¹⁶For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.¹⁷But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
  
• For bringing harm to children (perhaps for throwing them in that Den):
  Matthew 18:6 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
  
• And the rewards for obeying God in how we raise our children:
  II Timothy 3:15-17 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.¹⁶All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:¹⁷That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
  Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

So... if you are a Christian and you believe that the Word of God is completely inspired by Him... how can you scoff at the way God has told us to raise our children? I think at this point I would point back to the verses on living in the world but not of the world.

I know that everyone is not going to agree with me (or God) because "the bible was written a very long time ago for the people of THAT time", "It's just not for US!", "What about SOCIALIZING them???", "There are private schools that teach about God...", and "What would we do without two incomes?!?" If you think any of these things... then you're in the same boat as most of the world. As homeschoolers, we're the fringe society. And we're okay with that.

So let's go the scientific route. I don't think I have the words to express this correctly, so I'll turn it over to the pros.


Public schools were widely established in the U.S. around 1890. Compulsory education was not mandated until the late 1960's. And this is by state - it is not a federal law. (What on EARTH did people do before then?) If you subscribe to Creationism (as opposed to some theory) as we do, then you believe that the world was created around 6000 B.C. So that's 7,960 years of homeschooling. I'm gonna call that a 159/1 win. Boy, don't you feel like the minority now.

"But people were just idiot, savage cavemen!"

Au contraire.


"A considerable number of well-known Americans never went through the twelve-year wringer our kids currently go through, and they turned out all right. George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln? Someone taught them, to be sure, but they were not products of a school system, and not one of them was ever "graduated" from a secondary school. Throughout most of American history, kids generally didn't go to high school, yet the unschooled rose to be admirals, like Farragut; inventors, like Edison; captains of industry like Carnegie and Rockefeller; writers, like Melville and Twain and Conrad; and even scholars, like Margaret Mead. In fact, until pretty recently people who reached the age of thirteen weren't looked upon as children at all. Ariel Durant, who co-wrote an enormous, and very good, multi-volume history of the world with her husband, Will, was happily married at fifteen, and who could reasonably claim that Ariel Durant was an uneducated person? Unschooled, perhaps, but not uneducated." -- John Taylor Gatto

Some of the greatest minds in our history were not sent to a state-provided school and yet we're having a hard time producing minds like them now. *Well, if all of your friends play video games, I guess it's okay if you do too...* If you start by handing the education of your child over to someone else, soon you're giving over the rearing too.

I believe that we've started to confuse state-provided education with a means to success, knowledge, and common sense. 


If graduating from public school is a means of achieving success, why are 61% of high school graduates entering college with only a 27% graduation rate? Because public schools are preparing the students for standardized tests, not for independent thinking (i.e., college). 

According to the National Center for Home Education nearly 80% of homeschooled children achieved individual scores above the national average and 54.7% of the 16,000 homeschoolers achieved individual scores in the top quarter of the population, more than double the number of conventional school students who score in the top quarter.So it's possible to teach children a wide spectrum of information without catering to tests and to still achieve the goal of education. Who knew...

If the scientific information doesn't wow you over, put your mom hat on.

Image Credit   

Do you remember that first day you took your child to daycare or preschool? I do... I took my daughter to daycare and it was just... wrong. My mom instinct was screaming at me that I was doing something against nature and I ignored it. My defenseless little infant was being put into the arms of someone I barely knew or trusted and it. felt. wrong. But I did it anyway, because "that's what everyone else did". I also fed my daughter formula for that same reason. And started her on cereal too early. And let her cry when she only needed some mommy comfort. Somewhere in me, I was screaming to stop the insanity. THAT is the mothering instinct that God equipped us with... and it's why, when we have a newborn, we wake up at night to make sure they're still breathing. Or when the kids get quiet, we run in to check on them. But how are any of these physical dangers different from the danger posed to their mind and spirits?

Why are parents all over the U.S. sending their children into an environment of drugs, violence, bullying, secularism, lazy teaching, sex education, calculator math,  and someone else's values (and the belief that they should teach them to your children). Because the norm now is to be of the world. Everyone else sends their children to a school of the world... why not me too? It DOESN'T MATTER what is "socially acceptable" - we're told to be Christ-like in ALL things, not those that we pick and choose.

So we homeschool our children. I have quiet, one-on-one sessions and they actually learn. I know that they learn something because I'm right there next to them. If they don't learn it, we have all of the time in the world to go over it again. My kids don't compete for attention or get looked over in a crowd of 24. Our day starts off with the Pledge of Allegiance and our first class is Bible Study. We say prayers of thanks for valuable lessons and we take breaks if they need one.


I wasn't educated as a teacher. I'm just a parent. And a Christian. If God told me to do it, then He must have known that all parents could handle it.

Rayovac Twitter Event

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