Blessing to you all! It has been another busy week so far. I'm really enjoying the homeschooling. The kids and I have found our routine (for the most part), and things are clipping along pretty smoothly. Matt's books arrived today (finally!!!), so he will have some adjusting to do, but at least he will be able to jump into our routine fairly easily.I'd like to share, as briefly as I can, something that has really been a blessing to me. Two weeks ago I started a book study using A Woman After God's Own Heart by Elizabeth George. It is a book that I bought several months ago and picked up now and again, but never really "studied". The leader of the study has been kind enough to type out an outline over each five chapter section, and last week we talked about serving our husbands. Now, I love my husband very much, and for the most part, I think I have my priorities straight--God first, then hubby, then kids, then home, then ministries outside of the home, and I strive to be a good wife, but I realized that I had a very worldly attitude toward him.
I had worked outside the home full time for the better part of four years, and during some of that time I was completing my bachelor's degree, so I assumed that I deserved help around the house. Well, it soon became obvious to me that I wasn't going to get it no matter how much I thought I deserved it. Oh, and believe me, I tried everything!! I stopped cleaning, but could only stand that so long. I slammed around the house with my bottom lip hanging on the floor, I begged, all to no avail. So I grudgingly cleaned the house only because I just couldn't stand it anymore. But I wasn't happy about it. Then one day as I was reading this book, I came across a part where she said the home ultimately falls under the care of the woman. Fair or not, it was my God-given responsibility, and it didn't matter if I worked outside the home because it was my choice. So, from that point on I decided that whether I liked it or not, no one was going to care about the house as much as I did, and even if I had to do it alone, I was not going to put myself through the agony of being bitter.
So, I decided not to hold a grudge anymore, and wouldn't you know it--all of the sudden I don't have to ask for help anymore. I start washing the dishes, and Dan is right there helping me dry. So, why the change? Well, I discovered that it had everything to do with my heart condition. When I was grudingly keeping the home in order, I wasn't a very nice person. I'm sure I had daggers in my eyes at times. But now, I joyfully keep my home tidy, I treat Dan with the respect he deserves, and in my opinion, I demonstrate the love of Jesus in a very real way. You know the old saying--actions speak louder than words. And you know what else? I am happy!! I really am. I love being a SAHM and cooking and cleaning and teaching the kids! I feel like I am finally where I belong, and I am so extremely thankful to God for giving me the opportunity to be do this. He is so good to me!
The other day, as Dan sat down to eat his breakfast, I decided to pour him a cup of coffee. I usually think like the world and rationalize that since he is a big boy, he can wait on himself. Well, as I set his coffee cup in front of him, his eyes got really big and he asked if it was for him. A few minutes later he told me that I was turning into a tough act to follow. It took so little to make the man I love so much happy. It is the small stuff that means the most sometimes. What a revelation
Be blessed!!
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What a week!! Well, it's Friday and I can hardly believe how quickly this week went! They never went this fast when I was working
Anyway, the excitment for this week was acquiring a turtle. It all started Wednesday when we were outside looking for insects (our science topic for the week). So we were studying the beetle and spider we had caught in a jar, and all of the sudden my dogs, who were in the middle fo the yard started barking like crazy. The kids ran over to see what was going on, and Ben yelled, "Mom, its a turtle!" Well, I had no idea what to do with the poor, petrified little critter, so we took him into the house and put him in the sink, and I immediately called my hubby and asked him what I should do with it. He told me to take it back to the stream. We live not far from water, but this little guy had to crawl quite a way to get to our backyard. So when he got home I asked if we could keep it for a pet, but after doing some research on the internet, I discovered that it is not a good idea to take them out of the wild. So we took him back to the pond, and Benjamin was heartbroken. The next day out of the blue I had this brilliant idea...let's go to the pet store and see if we can't find him some cute little critter that we could put in Ben's room (something that preferably eats canned food
So we walk into this pet store and they have praise and worship music playing, and it dawns on me that the name of this place is All God's Creatures
We walked to the back of the store, and there they had the cutest baby turtle I had ever seen! Well, actually it was the only baby turtle I had ever seen. I asked the lady about it, and she said she could only sell it to an educator. So I asked, "What about a homeschool educator?", and that is how we acquired our turtle.
We are still trying to find our routine with school. This week was full of interruptions, and as long as I have the Bible study on Thursday mornings, I think we are going to have a rough time. After that we should be okay. We ran around all morning getting turtle supplies today, so this afternoon I am going to give them spelling tests and call it a week.
Oh, and we also got our keyboard Wednesday. We ended up getting a nicer one than we intended to, but for the money we couldn't beat it. April and Ben start piano lessons next Wednesday morning. Matt has guitar lessons on Tuesday mornings, so I think we are going to take those mornings off school and do 3 full days and 2 half days. I hope that will work out. I hope you all had a great week and I wish you as very happy and safe weekend.
Be blessed!!
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Hello everyone!(I just love these smilies!) I feel so blessed today! Can I tell you again how good God is?!! I am reminded of a conversation I had with friends last night on MSN Messenger. We were discussing Bible memory verses (we choose one each week to learn together), and next week's verses came to me last night already
The verses are Lamentations 3:22-23:
The LORD'S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,
For His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.Isn't it nice to know that His mercies are new every morning? It reminds me of a devotional I read a few months ago called "Overdrawing Grace". Basically, what the author was trying to get across is the fact that God gives us enough grace for today. If we worry about tomorrow, or next week, then we are overdrawing our grace account--just like overdrawing your bank account. We don't need to worry about tomorrow. Even Jesus said in Matthew 6:34:
"So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
I think we are so used to borrowing trouble that we fail to see the beauty in each day. Tomorrow is going to get here in due time; we can't stop that from happening. But we can decide today who is going to be in control of tomorrow. We can hold on to the worries and overdraw our grace account, or we can give it to God and let Him worry for us (not that He will, because He sees the future and has no need to worry). Trusting God takes faith. I've said before that I have no trouble believing that God will bless others, but when it comes to believing for a blessing for myself, my faith wavers. But why?
Today I took Matthew to his guitar lesson. Last year every week I would scrape together my money to pay his teacher (he is a 20 year old kid, so I hesitated to ask him if he would take a check). So every week I was hitting someone up for cash or running to the ATM machine (which incidentally is out of the way
). So today I asked him if he would be willing to take a check and if it would be okay for me to pay him for the whole month rather than week by week. His face lit up and he said, "I love you guys!" He had been praying for enough money to buy his new guitar, and he said we were the 3rd family who had done that for him this month. So see, God is in the small stuff! Oh, and incidentally, one of the reasons I feel so blessed today is because Dan and I decided we want to buy a piano keyboard so that April and Benjamin can start taking piano lessons (since they aren't getting music in school this year), but as you know, keyboards are not cheap. Well, I had my heart set on an expensive one. I have this bad habit of rationalizing, saying that "if we are going to get one, we might as well get a nice one", and then it never gets used. Well Friday at my homeschool support group meeting, the mother of one of the ladies in the group stood up and talked about how she gives piano lessons out of her home and she ended by saying that it wasn't necessary to buy a top of the line keyboard--that all that is needed is something to practice on. Unfortunately, I wasn't sure we were going to be able to buy one of the less expensive ones, either, so I just left it in God's hands. I told Him that if we were supposed to do this, then we needed a piano. And I left it at that. I could have run out and financed one, which in the past I would have done because I am not known for my patience. But I didn't this time. And today I got my bonus check from work (my last bit of income), and it was DOUBLE what I had hoped for! We can now go and buy a keyboard with cash! Not an expensive one, mind you, but a decent one. God cares about the small stuff! He is so good, and all He asks is that we trust Him enough to give it over to Him everyday and stop overdrawing our grace accounts.
2 Corinthians 12:9:
And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.His grace is sufficient everyday! Count your blessings today if you haven't, and praise the Lord for his goodness and mercy!
Be blessed!!
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Well, I caught the "frames" bug and decided to update my blog's look. I do like the fact that this layout takes up so much less space. And thanks to my friends Kymmi and Laurie, setting this up was a breeze. Thanks guys!Well, my weekend was less than productive. I spent the vast majority of my time on this stinkin' computer, and I accomplished very little. Well, tomorrow we go back to the new routine, and that will force me to be off here for awhile ;-) My house is in dire need of some attention, so while the kids are doing schoolwork, I will "bless" my home.
Okay, I am too tired to write much tonight, so I will sneak down here tomorrow and post. I hope you all had a great weekend, and I wish for you all a wonderful new week!!
Be blessed!!
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Happy October everyone! I know I'm a little late, but better late than never, right? It has been a good week so far. I've been busy trying to figure out the new routine, I think it is going well :-)Can I just say how awesome our God is?! I have to tell you that this whole week I feel so totally in love with Jesus. He is so good and so faithful and so present in my life. It isn't like lightening struck or anything, but it just seems that at every turn I can see His goodness, or I can see how He is working in someone else's life. He makes it so obvious when He is trying to reinforce something in our lives. For example, I sent a story to some friends the other day. It was a story that I have had in my inbox for months! But for some reason I waited to send it on this particular day, and just by "coincidence", one of my friends had just read this story the day before! And then today I got my verse of the day, which is 1 Peter 1:3. Well, just by coincidence, some friends of mine began reading this section of scripture together, and yesterday I decided I would join them and read it, too. "Coincidence" again? I don't think so! I think that when God wants to teach us something, He makes it clear. We just have to be willing to open our eyes and identify it as coming from Him. This sort of thing happens all the time! I mean literally all the time. God is so faithful and so good!
Today we started the bible study I am hosting in my home. We only had 6 ladies there today because a couple couldn't make it, but I am very excited because my next door neighbor came. She is, in her own terms, a "novice" Christian. She has no mentor, doesn't attend a church, and doesn't get any support at home, so I was so excited to be able to talk to her today after the study about how awesome Jesus is. I know she has the desire to grow in her walk, and I am praying for the opportunity to help her. I am more of an evangelist than a seed waterer. I love to tell people about Jesus. My friend Doralee jokes and says she can just see me standing on a hill telling people to repent, LOL. I just think Jesus is so cool that I want everyone to know Him personally! But after they make the commitment, I am lost. My gift is not for nurturing the fledgling Christian. I can encourage them and lift them up in prayer, but that is the extent of my support. I am not a teacher. (Oh Doraleeeeeeeee.... ::wink::)
Anyway, it has been an exhausting week, so I need to go upstairs and read my 1 Peter assignment and refresh myself spiritually. So with that I will say...
Be blessed!!
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