A Peek Inside

Winter Storm 2012

2012-01-23T18:58:00.000-08:00

I have never experienced a storm like the one we just did in the 34 years I've lived in this state. And the same can be said of my hubby who has lived here 42 years of his life. With that said, I will tell you the journey that we experienced these last 5 days.

Wednesday 1/28: Knew that a snow storm was coming and we were preparing for that. We had cancelled children's choir and AWANA at church that night. The snow had already started the weekend before, but we hadn't really had a large accumulation. We finally did get an accumulation of about 6 inches. At about 8:45 Wednesday evening, the power went out. With the snow coming down outside, it didn't look promising, but I wasn't expecting what happened next.

That evening it kept snowing. I believe that it snowed until sometime Thursday afternoon when the snow turned to frozen rain. By now I had already made 2 pots of coffee on the propane camp stove that we set up outside on the porch. I also cooked us a dinner of scrambled eggs and frozen hash browns that night on the stove in my wonderful cast iron skillets! Thursday evening my hubby told me that he could hear branches falling outside in the dark. It was from the frozen rain weighing down the snow on our trees.

Friday was the day that we really experienced the trees and things falling. When I woke up that morning, there was already evidence of branches down in places. My hubby's car, that we couldn't start to move, almost got hit by one branch that first night. My nephew's car had branches covering the top, but didn't hit the car I think. I went outside Friday morning and could hear branches falling off of trees everywhere. I mean everywhere. Just standing outside for 1 minute you could see at least 5 branches fall and maybe even a tree top or two. The freezing rain continued.

All day Friday when we stepped outside we could hear and see limbs, branches, tree tops and many whole trees just falling all over. It was a weird experience. The big tree out front that worries me in the big wind storms didn't drop that many branches. One it did drop was right behind hubby's car, which was the 2nd close call. After it got dark on Friday night it was very unnerving because we could hear things falling all around us but we couldn't see anything. Sometimes we heard cracks so loud they sounded like gun shots. Some trees fell so close we felt them hit.

It was hard to get the kids to sleep that night. No noise to cover up the sounds of the woods just crumbling around us. All the rest of the day it was falling snowballs, iceballs and branches until the snow melted.

On Saturday we were still cold and tired of being in the dark but thought the worst was over. We went to bed that evening and I told Amanda it should be nice to fall asleep without something to worry about. She agreed. Around 2:30 in the morning we woke to the sounds of a tree hitting the house. The wind was blowing furiously outside. The kids and I were sleeping on the couch in the living room and it sounded like it hit the master bedroom where hubby was. Amanda yelled and started to panic, and we heard hubby say it was ok. We laid back down and I rubbed Amanda's back and hair to block the noise some and calm her down. We saw a bunch of blue lights in the sky and assumed they were transformers blowing. The wind makes me so nervous already, I could hardly take the panic I felt. We prayed so much during these days to keep our worries down.

When I got up on Saturday morning I walked around the house, dodging the gigantic snowballs and iceballs that were melting and falling from the trees, along with branches still. I wanted to see what hit the house. I couldn't find anything. But I did find a huge maple tree in the back yard had fallen over. That surely had to be the sound we heard. It was just so loud it sound to all 3 of us that it hit the house. This was part of a tree that Amanda and I watched the top just fall right off 2 mornings before into our backyard.

There had been several trees that came down in our driveway. A couple took down our power lines. Ruined some fences. The one day the kids and I were sitting on the couch in my living room and we heard branches breaking and turned to see if we could see it. It was branches falling off of the tree in front of my sister-in-law's house. We watched 3 big ones fall right onto her porch roof.

Never in my life. I've never experienced this. I think it was Friday or Saturday night when my nephew borrowed a generator from a friend and we were able to plug in a tv, space heater and a lamp when it was running. It didn't heat us up, but helped take a bit of the chill off. There were several times when we could see our breath in the house. There also were a few times when it was actually warmer outside!

Our power was finally restored today, Monday the 23rd. We were out of power for 5 days and 5 nights. We bundled up every morning, spent much time snuggling under blankets and with cats who also felt the cold. When I finally got to get out of the house and drive around, I couldn't believe the devastation. It looks like a hurricane came through. Tops of trees are gone everywhere. The trees that don't have their leaves are the most noticeable. Especially when you see a bunch of them together and all you see are broken tops.

I am so thankful to my Heavenly Father that he kept us safe through this storm! And my house in one piece!

2011 List of Books I Read

2011-12-29T08:37:00.000-08:00

Miss Wibbs & Molly Cole

2011-11-29T06:41:00.001-08:00

Oh my it's been forever since I've blogged! I have been so busy crocheting and filling orders! I'll have to do a blog post about that soon.

But that's not why I am here this morning. This morning I have a special treat for my readers! An interview with a new children's book author. She also happens to be my aunt! Go check out her Facebook page and "like" it for me, would ya?! Also, check out her website to learn more about her and her book!

So before I say anymore and bore you all so that you're not still reading, I will turn the floor over to Molly Cole and her interview!

1. When did you know that you wanted to write?

I was really young. I loved making up little stories as far back as I can remember. When I was ten, and in fifth grade, was when the passion really started.

2. Tell us about your new book that is coming out.

The book is a children's book called, 'Miss Wibbs'. Miss Wibbs is an older dog that enjoys pushing cans all over her yard, and chasing them. One day she finds a little mouse (uninvited of course), in her favorite can. Marvin the mouse is stubborn, but Miss Wibbs is bigger, and more stubborn. After a battle of wills, a compromise takes seed, and a friendship is born. The book caters more to 3-7 year olds, teaching them compromise, sharing, kindness, and the value of friendship.

3. What inspires you?

People inspire me. Life inspires me. My kids and grandkids inspire me.

4. Many authors have a great support team. Do you have one and can you tell us what you love about them?

Fortunately, my support team is my family, friends, and other published/non-published authors. I love the fact that they're my best reviewers and critics. They are just as excited as I am, and all very encouraging.

5. Any advice for young writers out there looking to get started writing books?

My advise to other your writers, or even older writers, is WRITE! Every day, find time to write. Keep a notebook and pen with you, and when an idea grabs you, write it down. It's important to write what you know. There's no such thing as writer's block. You just have to keep writing.

Her book, Miss Wibbs, is scheduled to be released January 9 of 2012!! How exciting! I can't wait to get a copy to add to our homeschool library!

Over The Top Part III

2011-11-04T00:00:00.000-07:00

The following review is from my friend Carrie that went to the conference with me. Since she loves to write and loves to be heard, we decided it would be fun to include her thoughts since she used the extra ticket that was given to me for the review. I know you'll enjoy her review.....so read on!

Have you ever been in a place in life where you needed something but didn’t know what? One of my favorite movies is “Fools Rush In”. It is completely immoral, but I still love the story, and you know there are several we all have that could fall into that category! (Even “The Little Mermaid”!) ANYWAY…….In the film, Matthew Perry tells Salma Heyak, “You are everything I never knew I always wanted.” It has always stuck with me, isn’t that how so many of us feel about God?
I have found myself at this huge crossroad in life and I have been desperate for a little guidance from God. One of my oldest and closest friends from High School, that I have not really spent time with in far too long was looking for someone to go to the Women of Faith conference with at the Key Arena in Seattle. I thought for sure she would have found someone, so I didn’t even bother to say anything. I know, totally Eyore of me right? Finally, I spoke up and told her I would love to go. I can say, with total confidence, that God had planned just that all along.
Danielle and I picked up right where we left off, as if ____ years had never gone by. I leave the number blank because it scares me to even put it on paper. I honestly had the best time before we even found our seats.
Then the conference began. They kicked it off with a bit of worship and it was beautiful. It was a perfect blend of melody and harmony, accompanied by the Presence of The King of Kings. Then, this little firecracker named, Patsy Clairmont, gets up and begins to share. Being the people watcher that I am, I will say she should stick to blonde and ditch the red hair, but hey, at least she is enjoying it! She tells it exactly like it is and packs a punch! She has such a great God Story, you know the story of what God saved you from? She conquered crippling fear in her life that is very inspiring. To go from being Agoraphobic to speaking on stages across the country is a serious testimony in and of itself.
Then ADHD stepped on stage. He goes by the name Andy Andrews and in Q & A he informed us that his mother did not name him Andrew Andrews. He is an author and once you get past the craziness, he is incredible. He made me nervous, I hate when people even pace, so his speaking style was hard for me. But he had so much to say that spoke to me.
The way that they did lunch was total chaos and the food was not at all worth the wait and frustration. But all in all, the day session was exactly what I never knew I wanted or needed even. Patsy said something that day that is still ringing in my ears. “God gave us a will that is stronger than our emotions. Our emotions don’t have brain cells because they weren’t meant to think.” Remember the crossroad that I referred to? I am still chewing on that one and trying to figure it all out, but now I have peace about it all.
The evening started off with a bang after an overly long break of…. FOREVER! Mandisa rocked the house and Mr. Andy Andrews closed it out with a great, and surprisingly focused message. I really want to read all of his books and have my eye on The Traveler’s Gift to start with. His perspective on everything is so simple, yet profound and everyone could benefit from reading one of his books.
Danielle and I had an old fashioned sleep over at her dad’s house and honestly there was very little sleeping. As exhausted as I was the next day, it was totally worth it and so long overdue! I think that so many women lose sight of how vital friendship is. We were not meant to do life alone and even in the privacy of our own home and family life we can feel alone. There is nothing greater than having a great friend. In today’s society we have slipped into this “facebook friends” interaction between friends. We used to get together for a cup of coffee or talk on the phone to catch up, now we post something on the other’s wall, and we lose touch with the people we care about. As sad as it is, I have totally fallen into that routine. This weekend and conference got me away from just that and it was so refreshing in every way possible.
The next day was awesome! It was a beautiful clear day in Seattle, which everyone knows is something to be cherished. I laughed and cried at the conference on Saturday so much as cliché as that even sounds. Everything said seemed to be exactly what I needed to hear. You know that feeling in church where you swear the Pastor has been reading your mail? Yeah, all weekend. It was poignant and meaningful and thought provoking.

I left the morning session feeling revived and then let’s just say Danielle and I decided to skip the provided lunch. She opted for the over salted and over priced pretzel at the Key Arena and I went to the Food Court for my cold over priced slice of pizza. I am not normally a complainer, especially about food. I worked in the food industry for many years and I am very sympathetic to problems and whatnot in that field. However, if I am going to give an honest review, than I guess I better be honest! We spent the rest of our break walking around and taking some random, abstract photos of Seattle and it’s inhabitants. The Science Center grounds were filled with 20 plus food trucks and I desperately wished I had brought more money. Well, if I am wishing, I am actually wishing I HAD more money to bring! Back to the point though, we had a great time with our conversation and our cameras, taking a look at a beautiful city through a different lens.
The latter part of the day was back to the Arena for more worship, Godly wisdom and a lot more tears and laughter. Selah performed for the second time, I am only mentioning it now, because they didn’t feel noteworthy the first go-round for me. I now am addicted to their song “Unredeemed”. It is precisely where I find myself. It talks about, in my humble opinion, the darkest moments of our lives. Those times when we feel so alone, and afraid. The, “in the midst of the storm” kind of moments. Those are, “the places where grace is soon to be so amazing”……….I cannot get enough of that lyric. I am overwhelmed with gratitude for a grace from God that I am so unworthy of. Andy said something to go along with just that about us not wanting to get what we really deserve. God is just so good, isn’t He? His love is overwhelming and His grace………. That is a sentence that I may never complete.
God showed up for me in a very personal way this weekend. Really, He was always there, I just became very aware of his presence. It was, “everything I never knew I always wanted.” I needed to be filled up with fresh wisdom and worship and insight…..and laughter with a great friend.

Isn't that the truth? Carrie hit on something there really deep when she brought up our relationships with our friends. We both needed that time together. God knew more than we did how much we needed that time. I love U2 Carrie!

Over The Top Part II

2011-11-03T09:38:00.000-07:00

After we returned to the Women of Faith Conference 2011 from lunch we were privileged to hear Patsy Clairmont and Andy Andrews speak more. The session before we took a break for dinner was the Q&A with them.

All of this time, there is a little area next to the stage, it's been sectioned off with chairs inside. So far, no one has used that area except Andy Andrews who kneeled over a chair.

After the Q&A it was time for dinner. Dinner started at 3:30 and the evening session didn't start until 7:00, so we had a few hours to ourselves. We walked to a restaurant that wasn't far from our car. Our mistake was staying there and eating. We should have turned right back around and gone somewhere else. The food was gross, the decor was horrid (Carrie liked the ceiling tho) and the waitresses belonged in a totally different dimension than the one we were in. Especially the new girl.

We were freezing and it was pouring. It was also getting dark and we didn't want to be walking the streets of Seattle at night. So since we had so much time, we sat in the car with the heater on for a while to warm up.

When the evening session started we were warm and cozy in our assigned seats and waiting for the drama to begin. The drama was very real to us! It was about all the different hats that moms wear. Oy, it exhausted me just watching it! The drama was performed by Katharine Everett and she was new to the Women of Faith team. She did a really good job I thought.

We, as moms and wives, do wear soooo many hats! Sometimes we have to wear more than one at a time. And as uncomfortable as that can be, we get it done. Albeit, there are the occasions when we make it through with less hair than we had before, or another layer of enamel ground off our teeth (I'm a teeth clencher when I'm mad). But we make it through! And we're ready for another day of non-stop hurdles.

Now the section that had the chairs in it next to the stage was filled. It was called The Porch. It is where the Women of Faith ladies sit during the conference.

Before our evening concert, we had another session with Andy Andrews. I really enjoyed his speaking and I sincerely hope to see him again.

And then, the concert. We've all been waiting for Mandisa to come out. I liked her since her song My Deliverer came out. And what a doll! She made me giggle and giggle because she was just so cute! Our seats were behind the ladies that sat on the porch, so when there was music going from the praise and worship gals, Mandisa was down there just a dancing! I got pics of that, even though it was from behind, she still was a cutie!!

I enjoyed the concert that Mandisa put on. She is a fabulous performer.

Ok I have to add something here that I didn't like about the music. I didn't like the use of the worldly songs. I just don't think they fit into a Christian conference. The worst was when Mandisa was singing a medley and they were all contemporary music. One song in the medley I was even shocked to hear. It was Beyonce's song All The Single Ladies. I just don't think that fit! I'm sorry, it may be my Baptist views, but it didn't belong.

When the concert was over, we sleepily shuffled out and back to our car. Now the fun part, finding our way out of Seattle and to my dad's house. It took us a bit, but we finally did it.

At my dad's house we got all of our stuff ready for the night and chose where we'd sleep. Then we laid down and talked. We talked and talked. I think it was about 1:30am and I said, "I'm tired." I got up, turned the lights off and laid back down. We kept talking and talking. Before we knew it, it was almost 4:30am and we were still awake! The morning session started at 9am and we were planning on leaving my dad's house at about 7:30-8am.

We didn't move at any great speeds when we did wake up. We took our time and got ready. We made it to the event about 10 min. before the morning session started, so we did pretty good. And for as little sleep as we got, we weren't feeling too bad. Of course, Starbucks coffee and a BAWLS energy drink are good for helping you stay awake too.

Stay tuned for Part III of Over The Top.......

Over The Top Part I

2011-11-02T08:05:00.000-07:00

Where do I begin? As my good friend Shannon would say, or sing actually, "Let's start at the very beginning. That's a very good place to start."

She sings that to me all of the time. It's a good thing that she sings well! ;-)

A good friend from high school went with me to the Women of Faith Conference 2011. We haven't seen each other but for a brief half hour when they visited here, since we graduated from high school. Ok, so I'm not going to tell you exactly how long that's been, let's just say it's been a while. But being with Carrie just brings me back to high school. When we used to drive around in my mustang and sing our hearts out! We were either going to church, youth group, a youth activity or just having fun. My lil sis often joined us on those fun trips.

It's amazing to me to be apart from someone that long and just go right back to where you left off. And that's what we did.

We laughed together so much, which is the most important part of having fun with a friend. Like the time we had just arrived and parked the car in Seattle. We walked halfway to the Key Arena, and Carrie asks me, "Were you supposed to put something in the windshield for parking?"

"NO! I was supposed to PAY!" So we walked back so I could pay. The slot would not accept my money. I tried and tried and tried. We laughed. Then realized that I was putting it in the wrong slot. When we found the right slot, it went in easily. Back to Key Arena.

Walking into the Arena was another challenge for us. The morning started with general seating. Assigned seating didn't start until the evening session. So our toughest decision now was, where should we sit? We chose a spot that was near the front, but not so near that we're craning our necks. It wasn't very far away from our assigned seats, but we couldn't find those yet.

I noticed the cost of food as we walked by. I was a little hungry. But gee willikers it was $6 for a hot dog! I can buy a whole pack of hot dogs for less than that at the store people! It was just ridiculous. A bottle of water was $4. Unbelievable. So I didn't eat. ha ha ha

When we sat down and got to look at the stage, it was beautiful. I really like it. The morning session was only open to the 3 sides. The evening session the curtain in back was down and they used the whole stage. The beautiful light in the middle changed colors. I loved it.

Just a sec, I have a kitten desperately trying to get my attention........

The picture here is of the singing girls. They led us in praise and worship. And did quite a fabulous job. I enjoyed three of them very much. There was one, and I'm not saying who, that I just didn't care to watch sing. But that is my own stupid preference and oddity so I don't need to share.

Patsy Clairmont opened the show. If you've never seen or heard her, you have to! This was my first and I am hooked! What a little spitfire! A sassy little cutie pie! I just want to squeeze her!! I can identify with her on many aspects. I appreciate women who get up in front of millions and can be honest about their own shortcomings. She can do that honestly and hilariously (is that a word?) at the same time! I laughed and cried listening to Patsy.

And then she introduced Andy Andrews.

..........

Let me start by saying this. I really enjoyed him. He had great points and was, shall we say, interesting to watch.

Any of you ever seen Andy Andrews speak? He's an author. Check out his books, they look AWESOME! I really want to read The Traveler's Gift.

Now I'm going to say this. When Andy started speaking, I just about had a panic attack! Seriously. He made me very nervous. The man just would not sit or stand still! At one point, I thought he was going to fall over the hand railing and off the stage!

He made me laugh though! He walked out in the crowd and talked to people. Two of the stage guards were included in his conversation often. It was funny. And he had some really great lines that I took away with me.

Ignorance from principles doesn't keep you safe from those principles.

and this one:

Fear is the misuse of the creative intelligence God gave you.

He also said something that opened my eyes with the relationship between my husband and I. Something that I need to fix. Andy stayed with us all day on Friday. I was blessed by his sessions as much as panicked! :-D

Ok, now it's time for the negative.....lunch. First, the sandwich was just disgusting. And the unorganization of getting our lunch. I felt like a penguin, standing all huddled up in the snow storm. Only we were just slowly pushing through to get our lunch that was a gross sandwich. We only ate our sandwiches because we were so hungry!

Stay tuned for Part II of Over The Top 2011

Hooked On Hope Org

2011-10-10T15:19:00.000-07:00

I took the leap and started my own non-profit organization. Hooked On Hope Oganization blog and Facebook page has been made. You can go like and follow them if you would! I would appreciate it so that I can get the word out. I need some volunteers to help me make some things. '

I am currently sponsoring a local family that had a house fire. I am just about done with what I can do for them with just myself and one other person.

I am also taking custom made orders! I can crochet lots of different things so I'm not limiting myself to just hats or something like that. Although, I am doing hats. Lots of different patterns that I am creating myself! I am so thrilled about this!

This is definitely a leading from God. It has just been blessed since I've started it. It's starting slowly but I've already gotten better results that I expected.

Please go check it out and spread the word! Thanks!!

Just in General

2011-09-30T06:52:00.000-07:00

It's been a week since our fire. Oh, I never told you about the fire did I? I suppose I should before I move on.

Last week, I believe it was Friday morning at almost 1 am, I woke up to my sister-in-law yelling for my husband. She lives right next door to us. I wondered why she was yelling. When I looked out the window, it was really foggy. I thought to myself, that's not right.

I opened the door and she told me that our garage was on fire. I saw the fire then, just starting to lick through the walls of the garage, just feet from where the kids and I were sleeping on the couch in my Living Room. I ran in and woke up Greg and then called 911. I had the kids grab some clothes and get out on the porch away from the garage. Greg started up our lawn hose and sprayed the flames that were crawling up the rafters by then.

Amazingly, he got the flames extinguished before the firemen had to turn on their hoses. It was quite a fire to get it out with our garden hose! I was surprised! I think some of the firemen were too. They jokingly offered Greg a job.

But all jokes aside, it was a horrifying experience. It was all so surreal.

Thankfully, the Lord Jesus was looking out for us. None of us were harmed and the fire was out before too much damage could be done. I have thanked God so many times for helping us and keeping us safe so many times, I can't even tell you how many!

So, moving on....

We all spent some time after that re-imagining the fire and being a little scared of another one. I think that is normal and a process that we would have to go through to react to and healthily get through an event like that. The kids were very scared, but they dealt with it better than the fear of the wind that brought the tree down on our house last Autumn.

Which, by the way, we had some gusts here last week and I was a little nervous.....

Our homeschooling has gone great this week! We have been enjoying everything that we are learning with the exception of English. Stinky doesn't like that subject too well. But we plod through!

We've spent this last week learning more about Julius Caesar and Cleopatra. We are reading the book Cleopatra VII Daughter of the Nile Egypt, 57 B.C. by Kristiana Gregory. This is part of the Scholastic The Royal Diaries Series. These are good books to use as a fun supplement to lessons I think. They are fiction, but based on the real stuff. This is the first book that we've been able to use with History because we are learning History in chronological order and this is the earliest book in the series.

I just love learning about this time period and the Romans. Also the Egyptians. Actually, I just love History!

We just finished yesterday our 5 Senses study in Science. Monday we start Light for Day One of Creation! We are learning the first half of our Science through Creation. This is very exciting to me! We will be doing this study, hopefully, for 3 of our Science years. There are projects for 3 different age groups. The book that I am using is called Science in the Creation Week for grades 2-5.

I just love homeschooling! It is so much fun and so rewarding. I love having my kids here all of the time! I am thankful for this opportunity.

Ascent From Darkness by Michael Leehan

2011-09-23T16:15:00.000-07:00

I think it's something that all Christians wonder about. What would it be like to be under the influence and power of Satan. How dark and dreary that world must be.

Michael Leehan has written a book about his life and Satan worship. He is now a saved man, going to church in the very one that Satan had told him to attack and kill the pastor. Michael writes about his choice to follow Satan and the automatic distance he felt from the God that he didn't believe in when he opened those doors.

This book is written with powerful emotion and stark honesty. Even though the subject and some of the things that I read about are scary, some horrifying, it was a good book to read. It fills that natural curiosity enough that you don't really wonder anymore.

The story of Ascent From Darkness talks about the power and unending love of our Lord Jesus. Jesus has power over Satan and his devils. He always loves us and will gladly forgive us, beckoning us back to Him with open arms.

The appendix included in this book is very interesting material because it is testimonies written by Michael's friends or people that knew of his lifestyle and changes. I think it's interesting to have someone else's outlook on his situation included in the book.

This review is all of my own thoughts and ideas. I received this book to review with my honest opinions from Booksneeze and Thomas Nelson books.

Fall Into Reading 2011 Reading List

2011-09-22T20:48:00.000-07:00

I really love this reading challenge and I have done it for the past 3 years I think. It's a challenge to me to make a list for this short time and try to actually follow it, while following my reading plans for the year.

My list this year is as follows:

Sept 23 - 20

Life in Spite of my by Tricia Goyer
Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business by Barbara Park
A book that starts with K that I haven't found yet.

October

Ascent From Darkness by Michael Leehan
The Mammoth Hunters by Jean M. Auel
A book for my book reviews
Just a Minute (from Edelweiss reader, not sure about the author right now)
Listen (on my Kindle PC)

November

Glorious Appearing by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins
Plains of Passage by Jean M. Auel
A book review
A book review
5 Conversations You Must Have w/Your Daughter (Edelweiss reader)

December

After the Leaves Fall (Kindle PC)
Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze by Elizabeth Foreman Lewis
The Last Jihad by Joel C. Rosenberg
A book Review
Book that starts with X
Book that starts with Z

Go Big by Cory Cotton Book Review

2011-09-20T00:00:00.000-07:00

Before I started reading the book I felt good things about it. For one thing, I liked the design and the lay out of the book. The colors are vibrant on the cover and the inside pages even have a little bit of color to them, even if it is just orange and gray. Six pages into the book and I have to go and check out some of these Dude Perfect videos on YouTube.

And lucky me, I was fortunate enough to find the very first video that they created, which I actually read about in those first 6 pages. And if I do this video embedding thing right, it's here:
<iframe width="560" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/PD6eQY7yCfw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

And I watched and liked this one too:
<iframe width="560" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/0n4tqhBd0h4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

As you read this book you will enjoy hearing about their amazing story of how they started Dude Perfect and the awesome shots they do. I appreciate the fact that Corey is honest about how hard some of these moments were. You can almost imagine yourself there, at each shot that he describes.

If you want to read a book that will inspire you and teach you, this is the book to read! I am glad that I chose this book to review!! I would recommend this book to anyone, not just those looking to start their own business. I think the tips and tricks learned in this book can help a person on any path in life.

I was given this book from Tyndale Books and all I had to do was read it and write this post with my own thoughts and opinions. They are all MY opinions!

Crazy Cat Lady Meets The Sarge and Major

2011-09-13T08:14:00.000-07:00

Yea, I know, I've heard the comments before. I'm going to grow old and become the Crazy Cat Lady.

Our cat family has changed recently. On July 22, I put my cat Solomon outside early in the morning because he wanted out. That was the last I saw of him. It broke my heart. He was my baby kitten! We only had him for a little over a year. He was so special to all of us. He was OUR baby. The whole family spoiled him. I have avoided writing about this so far because I was so sad. I still am. I miss him.

So to appease my wants and desires, my fabulous hubby said that we could get another kitten. He wanted a male kitten for him to name himself. So I told him that was fine, I'd share. But then I found a brother and sister pair and decided, why not take 2? One for each of us! So we did that!

Now we have two cute little gray tabbies. They are adorable! Hubs named his Seargent Gunnery Hathcock. He is pictured here ------------> I decided to be witty and keep the theme going so I actually decided on a name before I got her.

I never do that! I like to meet them and observe them before I choose a name. But I knew what I was choosing this time. It had to go with hubby's theme.

So what is the magical name?

Major Margaret Hot Lips Hoolihan!

And here is the beautiful Mags, Maggie or Mag Pie as I affectionately call her:

I just love kittens! And these two are so cute! We are nursing Gunny back to good health now. I don't know what happened to him, but he had stopped eating and drinking after he was here a day or two. I got him some soft food and Pedialyte and he is doing much better now. He's coming to life! He has been just sleeping and laying around. Poor little guy. I don't know what the problem was. But I am so thankful that Jesus gave me brains and I was able to make him feel better than he felt yesterday.

And just to show them off even more, I have another picture of both of them to post in this post.

Maggie

Gunny

With Book Review by Skye Jethani

2011-09-06T07:47:00.000-07:00

Skye Jethani has broken down our relationships with God. According to him, most people are in one of these categories:Life Under God, Life Over God, Life From God and Life For God.

He explains each of these different ways that we commune with God throughout his book. Jethani also includes illustrations that he has come up with to help those who learn visually and they are added to help you learn yourself or explain to someone else.

One of my favorite quotes that are on the book is by Margaret Feinberg, the author of Spiritual Rhythm. She says:

You can't read this book and not see yourself and others differently!

There are some points in this book that I am not sure that I agree with. And I will admit that there were some times when I was confused on the point that was being made.

The book includes Appendix A and B with some very useful information in those sections! Appendix A is written on communing with God. Appendix B is a discussion section that includes questions for you to discuss with others in a group setting or with a friend. You could also discuss those questions with yourself for further growth if you don't have another person to read it with!

I received this book for free from Booksneeze.com in exchange for my own opinions.

Armageddon by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins

2011-08-29T20:46:00.000-07:00

Wow......

I can hardly believe some of the things that happened in this book!

If you've been reading the books and know exactly what is going on, you don't want to miss this one! Hurry and read it!

The unexpected happens a couple of times that totally impacts the story. It's crazy! I can hardly believe some of what I read. I don't want to give any of it away though!

Let me put it this way:

Some Believers die; Angels appear; Miracles happen; Manna falls from the sky; and so much more!

I would suggest this book to anyone!

Dr. Kevin Leman Books and iPod Giveaway!

2011-08-29T20:34:00.001-07:00

Go here and check this out! I am so excited about this! I love his books! There are great prizes to win. Hurry!!

1st Day of Work

2011-08-22T21:03:00.000-07:00

Today was a messed up day.

I had the schedule all made out. We started out and there was a few glitches, so I fixed them as we went. We were just a few minutes behind, doing just fine. Then BAM!

My Father-in-law calls. He thinks he's split his incision too much and bleeding too much. So he has to have my hubby go over there and fix it. So the kids had to stop schoolwork and pack a lunch and get things packed to take over there. We only have 1 car, so they would have to stay there while I was at work.

I can't even imagine how long their day was.

Nothing was wrong with my Father-in-Law by the way.

So instead of finishing their work while I was gone, schoolwork and housework, they were playing at their grandpa's house. It's a good thing that I only scheduled 4 days of school this week. *giggle*

Tomorrow should be more of a normal day I'm hoping. Hubby and the kids will stay home and do their work. Even he agreed that needed to be done.

My day was easy. I filed, I sorted, I reorganized files and I copied.

New Schedules

2011-08-21T20:31:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: The first 9 paragraphs also appear on my blog Teaching the Christian Way at Home. I have added more to this blog post.

So many things are happening so quickly. So our first week back to school was very messed up. I should have waited to start this coming week.

On Monday, things went pretty good considering that I had been so busy with things that I hadn't had time to get everything ready. But I really wanted to get started, so I did. Little did I know that I would get a phone call that afternoon from someone at the state office offering me a temporary job as an assistant. They wanted to do the interview right away, so it was scheduled for the next afternoon.

On top of all of that, my Father-in-Law was also having surgery to remove an aneurysm that was located in his neck. It had caused a stroke already and was only only about 9% of a blood flow. That surgery was scheduled for Thursday, but he had many appointments before then and my husband was helping him. Our week was pretty much booked up with doctor appointments, surgeries and recoveries.

Tuesday dawned and I was busy most of the day and then went to my job interview. I was given the job. It's only for 3 months and I have no idea what I will be doing except handling paperwork and filing. I am not really looking forward to this, but I have to do it. She wanted me to start the next day, but I told her about the surgery and she agreed to wait and have me come in on Monday.

Needless to say, there was no school done on Tuesday.

Wednesday was pretty much my last day to be horrifically lazy all day for a long time, so I took advantage of it and we didn't do anything but prepare for the surgery the next day. No school was done.

Thursday dawned and we were already on our way to the hospital. We were out of our house at about 6am so it was still dark when we left. We were at the hospital for probably 10 hours and there was no school done on this day.

On Friday we knew that we were heading into the hospital at some point but we didn't know when. I wanted to get a lot of the housework done before I start work tomorrow. I did get a lot accomplished and that was nice. But we didn't do any schoolwork.

We will just finish last week's schoolwork this week and not worry about it. That's the beauty of homeschooling!

So today I have been busy getting my to do list all done so I have less to worry about during the week. I have all of my clothes picked out for each day. I have been preparing the house because I will have less time to clean it. I've prepared the school week. I have also created a schedule for myself and the kids to keep. We have never been able to stick to a schedule....or should I say I have never been able to stick to a schedule. This will be quite a challenge for me. I could certainly use prayers for motivation and to help me keep my schedule.

I will be working Monday through Friday starting at 12pm and ending at 4pm. I'm looking at a 40-50 minute drive each way, maybe more on the way home depending upon traffic that late.

If you're looking for an online calendar to use for you and your family, check out the calendars at Famundo. There were so many options to create the calendar for my needs and to customize it the way that I like. What I especially liked about it was that I could use a different color for each person in the family. It makes it so much easier to do that.

It is 8:27pm now and I want to watch some Big Brother before I head to bed. I've got to get up at 6am tomorrow. I'm growing from Christian Homeschooling Wife and Mom to Christian Homeschooling Working Wife and Mom. Wow....what a mouthful.

Writer's Block Overcomes Imagination

2011-08-09T19:46:00.000-07:00

Ok so I'm failing so far. I just have too much to do. I don't even want to talk about dishes, so let's not go there.

Today my kids picked up a little game called Jr. Pictionary. My sister and I used to have it and play it. They have been playing it all night. Along w/2 other games. Some mystery game and a Disney Princess Jewelry game. Bubba looks cute too by the way with his pretty princess jewelry on.

I have been successful in getting my Living Room picked up and organized. It doubles as our school room. I still need to hang my posters and finish a few things, but it's almost done!

Have you ever tried POM? That pomegranate juice? It's super good! I am just trying it for the first time and nummy!

This is a pretty random blog post tonight. I feel like blogging but I really can't think of a good subject.

So instead of boring you all, I will go ahead and stop now.

The Remnant by Tim LaHaye & Jerry B. Jenkins Book Review

2011-08-08T20:07:00.000-07:00

Talk about action packed! Missiles, fighter jets, sneaking around, darkness, burning sun and so much more! The Remnant is living up to the rest of the series for sure! This is the tenth book in the series. I only have 2 left to read!

The imagination of these two authors is great and awes me. I understand that they get the basic facts from the Bible. But then to be able to see that in real life! That is talent to me. I just love reading their books. It's definitely entertaining.

I only have two more books to finish for my reading challenge!

31 Day Better Myself Challenge Day #6

2011-08-06T20:29:00.000-07:00

Today I got all of the dishes washed but a couple of pans. Unfortunately, I ran out of dish soap before I could finish. I am going to be able to get soap tomorrow morning and still be able to wash dishes tomorrow.

On top of the dishes I cleaned the whole kitchen counters and stovetop. I also tackled the vanity where our library books for school and workboxes for school sit and the bar where the kids eat. So things are really starting to look up in the house. Which is nice. I'm getting caught up on laundry too.

The DirectTV guy came out today. Guess what he told me. He can't find anywhere to put a dish that will get reception. There are trees in the way. So we can't get TV. That is a bummer, but one less bill for me to worry about. Maybe it's time to just invest in more movies that we like. I don't watch much tv, but I do like it sometimes at night when I just want to relax and I'm too tired to read.

Tomorrow I'm only going to Sunday school. The hubby has a shooting tournament to go to and he needs the car. We only have one. I am going to try to get my school room decorated tomorrow. And maybe catching up on more laundry and picking up more of my clutter in the LR.

31 Day Better Myself Challenge Day 3-5 & DirectTV Rant

2011-08-05T21:36:00.000-07:00

Day 3

I was hardly home all day long and didn't have the time or energy to do dishes. Thankfully, there were only a few.

Day 4

I was home part of the day and busy running water and other things so I didn't do the dishes either. Now there's a nice stack.

Day 5

Today I washed almost all of the dishes to catch up from not doing day 3 and 4. It will be so much easier to keep up on the dishes when I don't have to go to Orting every day for a few hours to tend to the garage sale. I think I'll just have my own here at home.

It will be a small garage sale, but oh well. I need to get rid of some of this stuff, and I might as well try to make money while I'm at it.

Tomorrow is the last day that I will be going to the garage sale. When I come home tomorrow afternoon, I'll be taking all of my stuff home w/me. The DirectTV guy is coming over tomorrow to install my dish and DVR.

Speaking of DirectTV, do they even have their act together?

Can you believe this happened to me today? So when I ordered my DirectTV I am given instructions about using a rebate and I have to use it before the installation guy comes out tomorrow. So I try and try on the website and I can't get into my account. After the 2nd day, I try variations in my name to see if she had spelled my name wrong. Nothing was working.

I decided I had better call today to make sure I get it done. The first person I talk to tells me there are 2 problems. One was that my email address wasn't even in my file, so how can I log in with it? Then after she heard my email addy, she asked if that's how I normally spell my last name. My last name was spelled wrong! I knew it! It takes her like 2 times for the computer to actually save my info. After we got it all figured out, I was locked out of my account because I had tried to log in too many times.

She said she'd transfer me to a department that could help me unplug it. The guy that answered the phone said he's the wrong department. "I have no idea why she transferred you to us." he says. So he transfers me to the right department. Then he answers the phone. "What? It transferred you back to me?" Hahaha! He tried it 2 more times to me! The 4th time it transferred to someone who told me that I had a wrong number. I asked what department I had gotten and his reply was, ".....Just another one. You have been transferred wrong and I'm sorry." It was so weird!

So I hung up and called back. I talked to another lady, told her the whole story and she tries to transfer me to someone. I sit on hold forever and finally got tired of it. I decided to just wait until later. I did, and it worked. But what a pain that was!

I'm not too sure I'm gonna be happy w/DirectTV.

Women of Faith Conference 2011

2011-08-03T09:08:00.000-07:00

I am so excited! I have been chosen to blog about the Women of Faith Conference 2011! In return, they are giving me 2 free tickets to go to the conference! How exciting is that?!

I know that Mandisa is there and I have heard some of her songs and I like her.

I can hardly wait! If you are interested in going, you can check the website and see if they are coming to a town near you! Go check out Women of Faith!

Day 2 of 31 Day Better Myself Challenge

2011-08-02T20:44:00.000-07:00

I have washed my dishes once today! Yay for 2 days in a row. I am cooking dinner for the kids now and there's a chance that I will do the rest. I have been so busy running around taking care of things that I have hardly been home to wash dishes.It's been crazy around here for me.

I forgot the rest of what was typed because I accidentally deleted my post while hubby was talking to me. Ugh! It wasn't anything important though.

Check back in tomorrow to find out how day 3 goes!

p.s. I have a migraine and won't be doing anymore dishes.

Day 1 of my 31 Day Better Myself Challenge

2011-08-01T18:47:00.000-07:00

Today I washed the dishes. Once. I just did it, right now. This was such a busy day! I have been running errands, paying bills, stopping at different stores and helped tend to a garage sale at a friends house where they are letting me sell my stuff there also.

So I have washed them once and there is only one load left sitting there. And not even a full one. So if hubby doesn't wait too long for dinner and it's not too late after we're done eating, another load may get washed tonight. I feel good that I got at least one load washed on day one. :-)

The rest of my life is simply not that easy. I am overwhelmed and stressed. But I am hanging in there for one reason. Mother Teresa pretty much summed it up for me,

I always know God won't give me more than I can handle but there are time I wished he didn't trust me so much.

I know He only gives me problems that He knows I am capable of going through. But it seems like they are such heavy burdens on my shoulders.

I tell you this mostly for one reason: Please pray for me. To find peace and relaxation through every trial that I am currently going through and am going to be going through for the next few months. Thank you!

31 Day Better Myself Challenge

2011-07-31T21:09:00.000-07:00

Hello! Sorry I have been MIA for a while besides the occasional book review. I have been so overwhelmed and busy with my life lately.

Tonight I am blogging to start a new project that I want to do. I think they say that after three weeks of doing something it becomes a habit. So-oooooo I was thinking about making some habits. I need to become better at keeping my dishes washed every day. So my challenge for myself is to wash my dishes at least once every day in the month of August.

I say once because on days when I have neck pains, migraines, or I may even be working, it might only be possible for me to wash them once a day.

If anyone feels like joining me please do! I would love to hear about it also.

I think this habit will help me become more organized. Especially since I do need to go find a job. I may find it easier to get things done if they are cleaned up better for myself. After August, I will do another challenge. I'll have made my dishes getting washed a habit and I can start a new one.

Winnie Book #1 Wild Thing Book Review

2011-07-27T08:44:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading this book last night. Winnie by Dandi Daley Mackall is a Christian horse fiction for young readers. The character, Winnie Willis, is a 12 year old lover of horses. She knows her stuff to!

There was one disturbing part that I felt should have been kept out. When Winnie takes a job answering questions about horses through email, she decides to open up to a customer called Hawk. She tells this stranger more than I think she should at 12 years old.

Other than that part, the book was good. I can't say excellent, I have read better horse books. I like that there were Bible verses used in the book and references to how much God loves us.

All in all, this is a book I will keep for my daughter to read. We may even have to get the rest of the series!

Disclaimer: This book was given to me by Tyndale to read and review with my own honest opinion.

A Place Called Blessing Book Review

2011-07-26T20:19:00.000-07:00

This was a GREAT book! Now I have to be careful what I say so I don't spoil anything for anyone who wants to read it. YOU SHOULD TOTALLY READ THIS BOOK!!

One of the best books that I have read in a long time. This story is unbelievable and well written.

A book written to prove each person's worth in this world. God has a purpose for us all. Everything happens for a reason. Most of us don't get to see what happens in the bigger picture. A Place Called Blessing puts that all into perspective.

I definitely recommend this read to EVERYONE!

WHY HAVEN'T YOU READ IT YET?

Disclaimer: This book was given to me to review with my own opinions by BookSneeze.com.

Is the Bible Reliable DVD Review

2011-07-26T19:58:00.000-07:00

I was given a 2 disc DVD called Is the Bible Reliable to review from Tyndale. This was a very interesting study. I really enjoyed it. It was like I was sitting in the classroom learning with those much younger kids. The video is put out by Focus on the Family through their Truth Project.

This was the 2nd in a series, and I definitely want to buy the rest of them! There were 10 sessions on these 2 discs. Included was a study guide. This cute little book fit right into the trendy little box that the DVD and book came in.

Being as these videos are in a college classroom, the instructor definitely taught a lot of historical facts. That is one of my favorite subjects! Mix history in with religion and I'm hooked!

I would recommend this series of DVDs to my friends and family. In fact, I would also recommend this for a teen or adult Bible study group. I am keeping this video to add to my library and can't wait to get the rest!

Love and War by John & Stasi Eldredge Book Review

2011-07-26T19:30:00.000-07:00

I tried really hard to like this book. I just couldn't. It was just way to slow or something for me.

I did find some interesting points in the book. One was that children of divorced families don't fare in life as well as children who grew up with a family intact. But that was a statistic that most people are already aware of I think.

Another interesting point that I liked was this quote:

We want to be able to offer something to our spouses out of a full heart, and not merely bring them our need.

That is always a good reminder to me. I tend to just want want want out of my marriage. I have to remind myself that I have to do some things for him too.

It's not all about me!

That's what I always tell the kids. "It's not all about you!"

I'm sure there are many readers out there that will enjoy this book and use it to help their marriage grow in Christ.

Disclaimer: I received this book free from Waterbrook Press books to read and write my own review. The opinions are all my own and were in no way swayed by anyone or anything but my honest feelings.

Imaginary Jesus by Matt Mikalatos Book Review

2011-07-20T16:31:00.000-07:00

This was a very odd book. The story was very out there for me. There were Jesuses popping up all over the place. Meticulous Jesus, Traditional Jesus, New Age Jesus, Free Will Jesus and lots more. It was all very confusing.

I think that the point of this story is that we need to get to know the REAL Jesus. Not ones that we make up in our mind to fit the image or thoughts that we want. We need to search for Him and only follow that Jesus.

I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone to read though. I think if someone is searching for Jesus, this book would only add to the confusion. There is not a whole lot more I can say about this book.

Disclaimer: I received this book free from Tyndale Books in exchange for my honest review. These thoughts are my own.

Desecration by Tim Lahaye & Jerry B. Jenkins Book Review

2011-06-28T21:15:00.000-07:00

This is book nine of the Left Behind series by authors Tim Layahe and Jerry B. Jenkins. In all there are 12 books. The action and truth packed into these books are so exciting!

Desecration tells the story of the remaining Jews that are still alive after the 3 1/2 years that started the Tribulation period. God, of course, is going to protect the Jews and get them to the land of safety. How this is done is edge-of-your-seat-exciting!

Chaim Rosenzweig is now posing as Micah, and leads the People out of the Antichrist's grasp and into safety. Rayford is flying helicopters and shooting high powered auxiliary that takes his hearing away. I won't be a spoiler and tell you the miraculous way that he gets his hearing back though, you'll have to find that out for yourself. Chloe is bored and tired of being left behind and goes out for her own adventure.

The story opens with the verse that ended The Mark, book eight. Those who have received the mark of the Antichrist suffer from those boils and in places it is funny.

Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, 'Go and pour out the bowls of the wrath of God on the earth.' So the first went and poured out his bowl upon the earth, and a foul and loathsome sore came upon the men who had the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. Revelation 16:1-2

I thoroughly enjoy these books and am anxiously waiting to read the other three!

No He Can't Book Review by Kevin McCullough

2011-06-22T09:34:00.000-07:00

No He Can't by Kevin McCullough

This book had a lot of useful information in it. Many things about Barack Obama that I did not know. After learning those things, it opened my eyes more to the type of man and leader he is. But this post isn't about my opinions of Obama, it's about the book

I have to say I was excited to read a book that told "how Barack Obama is dismantling hope and change". But Kevin McCullough was very negative throughout the whole book. I understand it is a book about what Obama does wrong, but I think it was more the way that McCullough said things. He repeated a lot of stuff too.

It took me a long time to get through this book because of the way that it was written. I wanted to know how Obama was dismantling our country, but this just doesn't seem the right book for me. However I did find some good information in it.

All in all, I don't know if I would recommend this book to someone else. Maybe someone with more political knowledge or more patience with reading governmental subjects.

Disclaimer: This book was given to me to review with my own opinions by BookSneeze.com. My opinion has not been swayed in any way, shape, or form. It's all my own.

Conserve Water While Washing Dishes

2011-05-17T16:50:00.000-07:00

My husband tells me that I wash dishes in the weirdest way. He has never seen anybody wash dishes like I do. I learned this nifty way a couple of years ago by reading a book and it helps to save on water. I have washed dishes like this ever since.

I start with a clear sink and a clean wash cloth. I put my homemade dish soap on my wet dish cloth and a little in the sink and I wash the sink. Then I proceed to wash my rinsed off dishes. I stack them one by one in the clean sink.

When my sink is full, then I can turn on the hot water, rinse them off and set them aside to dry.

If you are lucky enough to have a split sink, you can have both sides washed and emptied, ready to use for clean dishes and rinse them all off. I suppose a lot of it depends on how often you wash your dishes. ;-)

Schoolhouse Expo Scavenger Hunt

2011-05-17T09:38:00.000-07:00

Doesn't that sound like fun? A scavenger hunt?! Oh how I wish I could join! But instead, I'll pass the word along to you and let you join in!

Remember the Schoolhouse Expo that I've been writing about? They are giving more people a chance to win prizes! Even if you are not attending the Schoolhouse Expo, you can play along and have a chance to win something!

Here's the details, go there and sign up and follow all of the rules. There are 3 hunts to join. Scavenger A and B is a hunt through all of the vendors in the vendor hall. College Fair Scavenger Hunt is a hunt through the college vendor booths. Have fun and let me know if you win anything! You have all week long to get this done too!

Schoolhouse Expo Starts TODAY!

2011-05-16T07:46:00.000-07:00

I am so excited!! Wait, let's make that

I AM SO EXCITED!

This morning, in 2 hours and 37 minutes, I will be sitting here attending the Schoolhouse Expo that is hosted by The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. Jealous? I know you are! I would be.

Coming up on the schedule today that I am excited about is a session hosted by Janice Campbell called Multi-Level Teaching and Molly Green Economizers talking about Super Storage and Organizing.

And besides all of the fun of each session and the freebies that are given out. There is also chances to win door prizes! You can check them out here and see which ones appeal the most to you!

I hope to win the getaway at Great Wolf Lodge. We have one right here near us that we have been talking about taking a family vacation to. How awesome would it be to be able to do it for free!? I could also stand it if I won the 2 night stay at Sierra Lodge. ;-)

A couple other prizes that caught my eyes were the comprehensive lesson plans from Veritas Press and the home edition of "The Five Father" by Five Fathers Music. There is so many prizes available! The list seriously astounds me!

Even though the Schoolhouse Expo is sold out, you can still buy the Expo2Go tickets for $19.99 and get all of the audio recordings to listen to at your own leisure. If you want to make sure that you can buy tickets for next year, please "like" Schoolhouse Expo on Facebook to be kept up to date with reminders and what is going on.

And if you already "like" Schoolhouse Expo on Facebook, make sure to stay tuned to them all week for scavenger hunts! There will be three of them. I can't wait to get more information on those!

Praying for Your Future Husband by Robin Jones Gunn & Tricia Goyer Book Review

2011-05-14T18:53:00.000-07:00

Before I start gushing about the book, I want to explain why, as a married woman, I wanted to read it. A couple of years ago, I found a Christian author online named Tricia Goyer. I really don't remember how I found her, but it may have been on Facebook. I just remember that I really liked her, right away.

I waited and waited for the Walmart near my house to get one of her books in. I was looking for Love Finds You in Lonesome Prairie Montana which she wrote with Ocieanna Fleiss. If you're interested in this book, check it out here. I had to go to another Walmart to finally find it. I read that book and just fell in love.

I have been waiting for the chance to get another book that Tricia Goyer wrote, but have not been able to. But here was my chance! I had a chance to pick a book for a review from Multnomah books and one of my options was Praying for Your Future Husband by Tricia Goyer and Robin Jones Gunn. So I grabbed the opportunity!

I also have an 8 year old daughter, who will one day be old enough to read this book and give her the basic principles for praying for her future husband.

Now onto the book gushing:

Praying for Your Future Husband was a book that was very hard to put down! The first night I read 86 pages and stayed awake until nearly 1am trying to read as much as I could. My eyes were so heavy that I thought weights were hanging from my lids.

I'm going to start with the appearance of the book so I can make sure to hit every part!

The cover was very catching and refreshing. The young lady is in a field of wheat(?), soaking in the sun while praying under a blue summer sky. Definitely a book that catches your eye! I also loved the size. It was very light and easy to fit in my purse.

The format and decorations of the inside were also very pleasing to my eye. The pages have feminine touches on them and are extremely inviting. How I would have loved to read this book when I was a young lady. And what good it would have done me!

The book includes 12 chapters of different topics that a young lady can pray for her future husband. I think all of these could also apply to older ladies who are still waiting. The story of each author flowed from chapter to chapter as they touched upon topics such as praying for his heart, praying for protection, praying for strength, praying that he will be a God lover and praying for commitment.

Along with the personal touches that each author adds they have included a list in each chapter. In the chapter Pray He Will Be a God Lover, for example, there is a list telling you exactly how to pray for that, like praying

that both of you will set your hearts and your affections fully on the Lord.

Each chapter also has testimonies from other women and prayers to recite to guide you along your praying journey. At the end of each chapter there are discussion questions that can be answered in a group or used as personal enrichment.

This is a book that I rate with 5 stars and would personally recommend for any single woman, young or old, who are waiting for that special love to come into their life. You can go directly to Tricia Goyer's website to order this book.

I was given this book to review with my honest opinion from Multnomah Books.

31 Days of Cleaning - Day 1 & 2

2011-05-13T23:36:00.000-07:00

There is an great book out by Sarah Mae that you just have to have! It's called 31 Days to Clean Having a Martha House the Mary Way. Go to that link to check it out if you'd like. You can trade a tweet for a chapter, or just break down and pay $4.99 for a whole copy!

So I have started this challenge. I have started later than most, but I'm all good with that because I'm working at my pace anyway.

Last week, I believe it was Thursday, I did Day 1. I wrote my mission statement. I think I will keep that for another blog post though. I still haven't made it pretty like the book says to. But I was thinking of doing that with my PSP. It was very easy for me to get all of the supplies that I would need too because I already had it or make my own. The only thing that I needed to buy to clean with was the lemons.

This evening was Ladies Spring Event at church. I told myself and my girlfriend that I couldn't go until I did my Day 2. That included cleaning the inside of my fridge and freezer. And I did it! I had it all done before it was time to go. And if I do say so myself, it looks really nice! I even took pictures.....

So here is my before fridge and freezer before:

And here is my after pictures:

"Bee" In the Blog Guidebook!

2011-05-13T22:45:00.000-07:00

http://www.justfollowingjesus.com/

I just found this tonight, on another blog, thank you Elizabeth at Just Following Jesus in my Real Life. So I checked the site out and it appears that you can sign up your blog to be in this guidebook of blogs. How cool is that?!

The even neater thing was that if you blog about the Blog Guidebook then you get to put your blog button in the guidebook for free! But it's only a limited offer! So hurry!

Check it out right here. Hurry, don't delay!

Someone needs to hire me to sell stuff.

Schoolhouse Expo is Nearing!

2011-05-13T10:02:00.001-07:00

I am so excited for next week! It starts on the 16th! Only 3 more days!

I have made sure that everyone close to me knows that I will be busy next week, all week. Please don’t disturb me during the Expo! I even made sure that I went to meet my lawyer this week instead of next week so I don’t have to miss anything!

The closer it gets, the more excited I become! Today I downloaded the whole schedule and the other items that were ready for download. Now I just need to find a way to print them all out. I don’t have any ink. Maybe I’ll head down to the library with a pocketful of change.

If you haven’t already bought your tickets and you’d like to hear all of the recordings then you can check out this link and give The Old Schoolhouse Magazine all of your precious info to buy the Expo2Go package! You won’t be sorry! I bought those tickets last year and was still glad that I had. The neat thing about buying all of the sessions this way is that you can listen to them at your convenience. It is $19.99 that is well spent!

How many days until it’s here again?

Month of May

2011-05-04T13:03:00.000-07:00

My calendar is already filling up for the month of May! I can't believe it. I have 5 doctor appointments, 2 meetings, 3 nights of AWANA, a fire station open house, appointment to get cats fixed, a dinner at church and court (if I get to actually go this time).

Then of course, what I've been waiting for for quite a while. The Schoolhouse Expo! It's a homeschool convention that is online during the week of May 16-20. I am so excited!!

Last year, I didn't get to attend the Expo. But I did purchase the Expo to Go tickets! And as a nice little give away, they allowed everyone who had bought Expo to Go tickets to attend the Expo live on Friday. I was ecstatic about that because that was the day that my favorite Christian fiction author, Tricia Goyer, was speaking that day! I learned so much that day and thoroughly enjoyed myself! Greg even took off for the afternoon with the kids for me I believe!

The nice thing about the Expo to Go was that when I received the mp3 files to download, I could listen to them at my own leisure. And I could keep them too after I downloaded them to my computer. I also received the devotions that were done each morning which was a nice bonus!

I hear that the Schoolhouse Expo is already sold out this year! Wow!! But you can still buy the Expo to Go! It's $19.99 and you get access to 40+ sessions, including Devotions with Deb and A Minute with Molly! Believe me, if you are a homeschooling Mom, you don't want to miss this homeschool convention!

If you still need further proof that it is the best online convention and you don't want to miss it, check out the Vendor Hall. From here you can see all of the vendors and click on their links. You may even find some cool freebies!

The Fight of Our Lives Book Review

2011-05-03T18:53:00.000-07:00

I don’t know if it’s just me or what, but the book that I recently read for a review was just not one I could follow. Maybe I would need to be better informed about current events and such and I’d understand this book more. I don’t know.

The Fight of Our Lives by William J. Bennett & Seth Leibsohn sounded like a great book to read. The full title is The Fight of Our Lives Knowing the Enemy, Speaking the Truth & Choosing to Win the War Against Radical Islam.

I wish that I could say that the authors do a good job explaining this subject, but honestly, I didn’t understand much of what I read. I understood parts of the book, but I was so lost that I couldn’t fit it into what I had been reading.

The authors seemed to jump around a lot to me. I am wondering if this book would be better read by someone who has kept up with these issues more than I have. I am sorry to say that I haven’t kept up with it enough to follow.

This book was given to me by Thomas Nelson publishers and Booksneeze.com to read and review in my honest opinion. I was not persuaded to write my post in any way.

History and Heart Ache

2011-05-03T18:17:00.000-07:00

As I sat here on my computer on Sunday night, my TweetDeck updates started flashing like crazy.

Osama Bin Laden is dead.

Wow, I thought. I hurried into the other room and told Greg and his dad. Then I hurried back in here and started searching on the net for more information. I sat here most of the night and watched videos, the live presidential speech and reading different news articles.

What a historic moment that was. This year has already been making history! Earthquakes, tornadoes, shootings, terrorism, bombs and more. Even the Royal Wedding!

I have sat here the past couple of days watching the different comments made by people about this shooting of bin Laden. I am amazed at what some people who are advertising that they are Christians actually say! It just blows my mind away.

I am not writing this post for discussion or debate about this, so I won't even put in my opinion of the matter here.

Monday morning I wake up early. I have to have Kyle to his doctor appointment by 9:15am, it's a 20-25 min.drive, I need to stop and get donuts for breakfast and gas first. I was in a hurry to get to the doctor on time and I was in a hurry to get back home because Greg had a doctor appointment that he needed to get to. We actually did hurry and I got back in time for Greg to leave for his doctor appointment.

But something was amiss when I got home. He should have been waiting for me so he could leave. Instead I found the door unlocked. When I came in, I found his bracelets and knife which he always wears. His pistol and rifle were both where they were supposed to be. There wasn't any note of any kind. His Bible was was misplaced and his meds were all sitting out.

I went next door, his sister lives there and she told me that he might be at the hospital. An ambulance came and took him. So I came back here and called ER and yes, he was there. I was patched through to his room and was able to talk with him. He had been having some bad chest pains and decided to call 911 just in case. He didn't want something to happen and me and the kids walk in the door with him laying there. I went up and sat with him at the hospital while he waited for the test results from x-rays and blood tests done. And EKG was done in the ambulance and another at the ER and they both had good results.

After drawing more blood and going through a CAT scan, they tell us that his heart looks in perfect condition, his lungs sound healthy and clear and they think it's some sort of heartburn or something to do with his esophagus. He made an appointment with is regular doctor and with is internal specialist.

We were at the hospital for a little over 8 hours. It was a long day. I was gone from the house for 11 hours. After we picked up the kids from our friends house who had nicely taken them for me, it was that long. I didn't get to do any housework or schoolwork done because I was gone. I wanted to do school all week this week, so much for that. But I would have rather not done that, than had a hubby that was dead or sick.

Secrets of the Vine by Darlene Marie Wilinson Book Review

2011-04-30T20:08:00.000-07:00

I read a very interesting point in a book today. The book is called Secrets of the Vine by Darlene Marie Wilkinson. Darlene uses the verses from John 15:1-2, 5, and 8 to illustrate God and Jesus relationship to us. In that verse Jesus talks to his disciples about being the Vine and they are the branches. The illustration used in the book was that those verses talk about three different people.

The first person is Jesus, as the Vine. He is the main stem that grows out of the ground and supports the branches. What I found interesting is that the vine doesn’t produce the fruit. The branches do, which is us. Then there is the Vinedresser, who lovingly takes care of each branch without fail or without leaving any behind. That Vinedresser is God.

We, ladies, as Christians, are the branches. It is up to us to produce more and more fruit. That is the point of this book. God wants us to create fruit in abundance, and that in return blesses us in abundance. How do we create fruit? We are creating fruit every time we do something nice for someone else and God gets the glory for it.

Darlene shares 3 secrets in this book, but I am not going to reveal them. You’ll have to buy the book and read it to find out. But what I can reveal is that by reading this book, you will learn how to become closer to God, how to harvest more and more fruit and how much our Father in Heaven loves each and every one of us.

By reading this book you will walk away knowing how to abide with God and know that He tenderly and lovingly wants the best for us. This book is definitely something I would recommend to someone else!

WaterBrook Multnomah Publishers has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book providing that I write a review in my honest opinion. I was not persuaded to write this book review in any way.

The Reason Why by Mark Mittelberg Book Review

2011-04-30T12:00:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wished that you could read a simple, yet thought provoking book about why Christians worship God? Has there ever been a time when you wished that it made just a little bit more sense to you? Or do you have friends who ask you questions, but you aren’t quite sure how to answer them?

Mark Mittelberg has taken the book The Reason Why by Robert A. Laidlaw and rewrote it to update for our times and standards. He took a book that explained “in a thoughtful and accessible way why he [Robert A. Laidlaw] was convinced that faith in God makes sense” and put it into a language that we can understand now! And believe me, you can understand it.

When I chose this book, I was thinking that it would be boring. I know why I follow God, I just trust and believe. But I thought there might be some easy ways in the book for me to explain it to friends who ask me questions that I can’t answer.

The size of the book was a perfect size to fit into my purse! I was actually starting to like it more and more by the way that it looked and felt. I am a HUGE book feeler person. lol Do you know what that is? I like the way that certain books feel in my hands. I have favorite types. This was one of those types that I liked. That’s all the more I will say on that topic, before you all start calling the Wacky Farm to pick me up.

Mark Mittelberg took topics such as “Is There a God?”, “Can the Bible be Trusted?” and “Who Was Jesus and What Was His Purpose?” and created chapters from them. In each chapter he goes into explicit but very simple details. If you don’t understand why you are a Christian after reading this book, then read it again! You will soon understand!

I think one of my favorite parts of the book was near the end where there is a place that explains the decision of Salvation. Mr, Mittelberg than procedes with a prayer to assist those who are ready for that decision. As I said before, this may be something that you need to do yourself, or maybe this can help you help your friend. I want all of my friends to be in Heaven with me. Don’t you?

After I am done with this blog review, I am handing this book to my friend to borrow. She is a newer Christian and has questions. I am sure this book will answer some of those for her! If you or someone you know can benefit from this book, order it from Amazon.com for only $5.99 brand new or lower if you buy a used book today!

Tyndale House Publishers has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book providing that I write a review in my honest opinion. I was not persuaded to write this book review in any way.

The Never Ending Story by Michael Ende

2011-04-29T22:14:00.000-07:00

How many of you remember the movie The Neverending Story? My sister and I used to watch this movie quite a bit. It was one of my favorites. I hadn't watched it in about 20 years, but I pulled it out the other night.

My yearning to watch the movie began when I picked up the book and started reading that. Usually when I read a book that also has a movie, I like to read the book first, all of the way through and then watch the movie. But this time, it had just been too long since I had seen the movie that I couldn't wait.

The book began very much like the movie. Of course, there are a some differences like all books and movies. I was enjoying the book. Not even to the halfway mark though, the book was crawling into new territory. And I mean crawling.

I think there is a reason why the movie only used part of the book! The rest of the book went into this story that was just stranger and stranger. I did not care too much for the rest of the book. I was very glad to see that Atreyu and Falkor were in the story until the end though. But I was disturbed that Artex never came back to life. I always liked Artex.

I am going to keep the book for the kids to read. You never know, they may enjoy the story better than I do. And it will always work for a book to read for a book report! If you'd like to check the book out on your own, click on the click from Amazon on the left.

I did this review because I wanted to. The book is my own that I bought brand new at the bookstore. It was not given to me to review. The opinions are also my own!

Homemaking Help

2011-04-29T11:43:00.000-07:00

Check this out at Homegrown Mom. She has a great blog and now this awesome giveaway!

If you are like myself, and you feel like you just weren't given all the basics for keeping house the right way you may benefit from this. You can benefit even more if you share the information that you learn here with your daughters!

I can't wait to participate in this next month. It is going to run for the 30 days of May. I'm sure a lot of what I learn about cooking, cleaning and more I can pass onto my daughter to give her the abilities to take care of her family and home. There will even be some guest bloggers and the chance now for you to sign up and become a guest blogger yourself!

Resurrection Sunday

2011-04-24T20:44:00.000-07:00

What a wonderful day! A day to rejoice and praise the Lord! He conquered death and lives today! He is my Lord, Kind of Kings and Holy of Holies!

This morning I went to Sunday school and taught the kids in my class about Resurrection Sunday. I took a picture of all of the kids in their Easter best along with the crosses that we made last week. I think they turned out cute!

After Sunday school the kids and I went to church. We sang some beautiful hymns to celebrate and saw a lot of friendly faces. My husband joined us at church today, which he does for every Easter and other special celebrations. Or if I am performing a song with the hand bell choir. Which today was both. I love it when he comes! He even braved it alone today, because he knew that I had to teach Junior church and leave him during the sermon. (He has social anxieties.)

For Junior church I told the same Resurrection story but I made it simpler for the younger kids to understand. We drew pictures today for a friend that moved away to tell them that we miss them and love them. It was the sweetest thing!

After I was home, I pretty much spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing. I took a nap, visited with a friend and finished reading Assassins by Tim Lahaye and Jerry B Jenkins. Book 6 of the Left Behind Series. I am in love with these books! I also picked out the book that I will start tonight and that is The Neverending Story by Michael Ende.

Do you remember that movie? I loved watching the movie. When I saw this book, I didn't know it existed, and I grabbed it up! I couldn't walk past and not buy it! I can hardly wait to read it!! I hope it's better than the movie like books usually are.

What a glorious day! Oh and I can't forget! I hid eggs for the kids. They love doing this yearly ritual. I wanted to hide them outside, but it was raining everytime that I was awake or ready to do it. I waited for a bit.

Tomorrow is Monday. My favorite day of the week. I am hoping that I can get a lot done. I want to finish the Spring cleaning that I started.

Have I said that it is so good to be back online? I missed blogging so much!! Now I can go back to trying to blog daily. I like that goal. Sometimes it is hard to reach, but it gives me a goal.

Before I leave, let me leave you with some Bible verses to think about:

And He strictly warned and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying "The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and the chief priest and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day." Luke 9:21-22

And another:

The Father sent The Son to be The Savior of the World. 1 John 4:14

And a good favorite:

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever shall believeth in Him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16

It's Good to be Back

2011-04-23T09:58:00.000-07:00

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... *note that is a sigh of extreme satisfaction*

I am so glad to finally have my internet service back! I wonder if you've all forgotten about me...

I got my service back yesterday afternoon. I was so excited! The guy who came out to turn the DSL on was my hero of the day!

This morning I sit, sunshine streaming in my window, drinking my steaming mug of green tea with creamy clover honey and decided what better thing to do than blog. I have missed blogging. It was tough being away from Facebook and Blogger. I don't know which was worse? Seeing what others were up to, including my sister who lives all the way across the country from me, or telling others what I was up to.

Now you would think that without internet connection for over 2 mos. that I would have gotten a lot of work done. Well, I didn't. It just gave me more time to read! We have even been pretty lax with school lately.

I have lengthened my reading list considerable this year already. I will have to compare to last year still, but I am happy with my progress. I am currently reading Assassins by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. It is Book 6 of the Left Behind series they wrote. My goal is to read all 12 this year so I am almost half way there! I just love these books too. I get so into the story that I sit and read for hours without realizing how much time has passed.

My oldest daughter just had her birthday on Wednesday. She is now 8. Where does the time go? I can't believe she is that old already! We had a nice little intimate party for her with a couple friends and her grandpa. Nothing big and spectacular this year for birthdays. She chose a Spring cake mix and frosting with Easter egg and flower sugar decorations.

My green van just broke down the other day. On Wednesday to be exact. We were at Walmart. We were so lucky though because I was walking back inside trying to figure out who to call for help (my choices were very very limited) and out is walking one of my best friends at church. She was my hero for the day! She drove me home and I had to leave my van there. We got it home a couple of nights ago and Greg thinks it's the fuel pump. Just like in my white van, remember the episode on the pass that scared us all? So for the moment, we are driving my FIL car until we can fix the green van. It's just always something. Non-stop.

We had a new cat find us. Kyle wanted his very own pet, preferably a cat. Lo and behold, what do I find outside skinnier than skinny and starving for affection? A kitten. About 5 mos old or so. Maybe a little younger. He looks a lot like our other female, Feisty. We often get them mixed up if we don't look close enough. Kyle dubbed this new cat, Jerry. So we now have a Tom and Jerry. I will be posting pictures as soon as I get them all of off my camera.

I'm looking forward to today because it is supposed to be warm today! The warmest it's been since our very cold Summer last year! Lord knows I am waiting for Him to bring me some sunshiney goodness!

Other plans for today include going Easter goody and egg shopping, dying eggs and doing laundry to have clean clothes for church in the morning. We are performing a song for Easter. We as in, the hand bell choir that I play in. We aren't doing anything special for Easter. Just staying home and enjoying the day together as a family after church.

Well for now, I am going to sign out. I have a few things that I want to get done today and I would like to try to finish my book. I have 122 pages left and if given the time to read it, I can finish that within 2 hours. Don't know if I'll be given the time to do it though....

Book Review for 31 Days of Power by Ruth Myers

2011-04-16T15:54:00.000-07:00

31 Days of Power by Ruth Myers left me wanting for more. The front cover of the book says “Learning to Live in Spiritual Victory” and I expected to be taught something. Instead the book was filled with prayers to say for 31 days.

The prayers were good prayers and used Bible verses, but I just expected more information. I am aware that prayers are more powerful when you actually use Bible verses in them. But I was not aware that I was buying 31 days of prayers. I thought it was more like a devotional to help me for a month to learn about Spiritual victory.

The second part of the book talked about the dynamics of warfare as it was so called. But I still found this section lacking. Lots of Bible verses once again, but there wasn’t really extra information that helped to explain the verses.

I read this book for 31 mornings. I couldn’t wait for those 31 mornings to be over though.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the Multnomah Books book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Book Review for Fasting by Scot McKnight

2011-04-16T15:28:00.001-07:00

I found the book Fasting by Scot McKnight to be boring and repetitive. I thought that the author just kept repeating his ideas about fasting over and over but in different ways. I really wanted to like this book, but I couldn’t. I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone. Or for that matter, the other books in the Early Practice Series.

I also thought that the way that the author wrote about this serious issue was almost in a non-serious way. I didn’t glean any helpful information from this book.

The author kept using different of samples of fasting and I didn’t understand his language of fasting as body talk, body grief, body hope and the other weird ways that he put it. I thought his way of explaining the whole subject was very confusing. I had such high hopes for this book and it was just not up to my standards.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

My Review of Three Piece Skillet Set (6.5", 8.5", 10.5")

2011-03-22T12:53:00.001-07:00

Originally submitted at CSN Stores

These pre-seasoned, cast-iron skillets are perfect for easy cooking and fast clean-up. This three-piece set includes a 6.5" round skillet, 8.5" round skillet, and 10.5" round skillet.

Features:

Fast and easy clean-up
Pre-seasoned, cast-iron ...

Cast Iron Skillet Review

By Daintydecker from Home on 3/22/2011

I have recently received a set of cast-iron pans from CSN.com stores to review. The set includes 3 cast iron skillets with varying sizes, a 6.5", an 8.5" and a 10.5". Since receiving these I have been able to use all three skillets numerous times.

The very first thing that I cooked was fried eggs. Well, let me rephrase that, I tried to cook fried eggs. I can't do them very well. Of course, we all like our eggs sunny-side up in my house, and I am not good at making them without breaking the yolks.

So I don't count this first meal because I broke the yolks and messed up my whole family's meal of eggs.

But every other meal that I have cooked in these skillets have turned out wonderful! I want to replace all of my other pans, pots and skillets now with cast iron.

Cleaning them is a breeze! I've only had one meal that stuck so much that it was diffucult to clean and that meal sticks to all of my pans.

I even tried a couple of new meals in these skillets and they turned out great. The only thing that I didn't get to try before my review was baking something in these. The reason I didn't get to was that my element went out in my oven and I haven't been able to replace it.

One of the best parts about this set of cast iron skillets is that it came pre-seasoned. Since I've never owned cast iron before, I had no idea how to season cast iron. With this, I didn't even have to worry about it!

Clean up is easy. I clean it with a clean wash rag and hot water. After it completely dries, I wipe it down with a tiny bit of canola oil and it's done!

CSN gave me these skillets to use for free and keep for writing a review that is my own honest opinion.

(legalese)

Gray Matter by David Levy M.D. Book Review

2011-03-22T12:33:00.000-07:00

Dr. David Levy is a neurosurgeon with a heart full of compassion. He is also a Christian. One day, he decides after some persuasion from God, that he needs to start using the power of prayer in his practice.

The time came for him to pray with his patients before surgery. Levy continued this with every surgery after that. After a time, other people, including himself, noticed a change that came about inside himself. He became more caring and more able to show the love of Jesus in his day to day communications.

One of the things I enjoyed about the book was Dr. Levy’s ability to talk to his patients about their prayer life, forgiveness and if their own spiritual life was in order. Some patients he even was able to help bring their lives closer to God.

Dr. Levy also spends time with each patient. He explains how he believes that healing and successful health have a lot to do with forgiving others, themselves, or in some cases, God.

Having a doctor that prays with you would be a great link to keeping us medically and spiritually healthy. More and more doctors need to practice medicine like Dr. Levy. I wish that I could find one like him!

This book can open many new paths to help your prayer life. I would recommend this book to many people.

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from Tyndale Books for this review. I have not been told to post this review in any way, this is my own opinion.

Avoiding Homeschool Burnout

2011-02-28T13:15:00.000-08:00

Have you ever just hit a wall with homeschooling? Do your kids whine or complain when it's time to do some school work? I think that we've probably all ran into this at some time or another.

I have some simple ideas that you may want to use for avoiding homeschool burnout.

One thing that I have done before was change up our routine. We always start with our Bible reading, and I think that is too important to do first so we can't switch that around. But after that, we can change it up! Instead of doing history next, why not do art? Or instead of just changing the routine you can try something different in your routine. Have your kids jump on one foot while memorizing math problems. Or maybe they can parade around the room while memorizing dates or Bible verses.

Giving the kids a different direction besides just sit at your desk and do your work makes it more fun!

Why not try a picnic outside in the sun and do some school work there?

One of my favorite things to do is to recharge myself. The best way that I have found for that is to attend a homeschool conference of some type. They are so informative! You can not only learn about how to teach your children, but they have lots of fun ways to do it! The guest speaker may have some awesome ideas that will encourage you and your children to do school work. Or even the panel of attendees that chat have great ideas and they share them joyfully with each other. I am of course, talking about an online conference. But there are also great local conferences in many areas!

I am aware of a online homeschool conference that is coming up this year and tickets are even on sale now! The Homeschool Expo is a wonderful conference with many great speakers. I attended a day last year and also bought the Expo2Go that contained the mp3 files so I didn't have to miss when I couldn't attend. If you'd like to join up check this out here http://bit.ly/ExpoGo.

Along with the informative guest speakers that will be attending, there are great freebies that are given out with the purchase of a ticket. For $19.95 you can order the Expo2Go if you can't make it and have access to the freebies and the mp3 recordings. If you are interested in buying a ticket to join for the whole week of conference in May 2011, you can purchase a ticket for $29. But you better hurry because pretty soon it goes up to the regular price of $39!

Friday Fave Five #127

2011-02-18T22:17:00.000-08:00

I love blogging on Friday's and catching up with Susanne over at Living to tell the Story. I also love to reflect back on my week also.

1. Receiving another gift from my Secret Prayer Sister at church. I blogged about this earlier in the week right here.

2. Being able to relax a bit after a stressful week with a friend and make a new bookmark. It's always relaxing to have a cup of tea, a craft and a friend to keep you busy for the night. I was doing that at my friend's house tonight. It's nice. We vent, complain, laugh, joke, tease and just plain enjoy each other.

3. The love and support of people at church. I really would be lonely and lost without my church family. They help me so much. And that extends out to fellow Christians that I don't necessarily attend church with every week. Christian friends are really a blessing to each other. I love having that support system.

4. Lindt Lindor chocolates. Enough said.

5. Being able to spend every day with my children, watch them grow, laugh, play and learn. Bubba learned how to read this past week. We are so proud of him. I love this part. When all of our hard work finally just kinda, falls together. When they really get it.

I hope that you enjoyed this post. If you'd like to read more like it, check out Susanne's blog above.

My Thanks to My Lord

2011-02-17T21:18:00.000-08:00

Today included a few wake up calls for myself. At one point of my day, I was feeling sorry for myself and also worrying. The phone rings, I answer it trying to disguise my voice because I had been crying.

It was a phone call letting me know that I was getting some help. It came just at the right time. Perfect timing? No. Just God's timing. He knew exactly when I needed to hear that phone call. How can He know so much?

Because He is our Creator. God knows all.

He is also trustworthy, true, forgiving and loving. He guides me with a gentle hand, yet loves me with a strong hand that covers me like a shield. He is my fortress, my refuge and my strength. Without Him, I would not be.

Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for everything that you have given me. Thank you for showing me when I need correction. Lord, please fill my heart with love and patience. I know that I can trust in you God and if You are worried about the little birds, I know that you are worried about me. Thank you for taking care of me. Thank you for showing me how to have a strong faith. You are Lord! In Jesus Name, Amen.

What I Loved About Today

2011-02-16T21:34:00.000-08:00

1. We got all of our school work done today.

2. I got to take a nap today!

3. My pastor at church let me borrow books and a movie to teach my kids about dinosaurs from Christian books.

4. I had Lindt Lindor chocolates to eat today from Valentine's day.

5. The kids at AWANA make me smile and laugh.

6. Seeing my pastor's wife and getting a hug and kiss from her.

7. Talking to my sister on the phone even if it was just for a few minutes.

8. Making plans with a girlfriend for tomorrow.

9. Getting M&M's and a little dish from my Secret Prayer Sister. The lid of the dish says "The Joy" in the middle of it and around the outside it says "of the Lord is your strength". I think I'll keep some M&M's in that by my computer. Oh and the M&M's are the Valentine colors!

10. Laughing with Stinky.

11. Laughing with Bubba.

12. Laughing with my hubby.

13. Having a quiet moment to read my Bible.

14. Going to the library with my kids.

What a great day I had! I am so blessed to have this life! I am taking tonight to publicly say:

THANK YOU LORD JESUS FOR EVERYTHING THAT YOU HAVE GIVEN ME!

The Walk by Shaun Alexander Book Review

2011-02-15T17:10:00.000-08:00

“It’s Satan that says you have to be perfect. But God says something different. He says you have to be obedient.”

That quote struck me and stuck with me. It seems a powerful quote. Isn’t that the amazing truth though? God isn’t looking for you to be perfect. He knows that it is impossible. We are human and we can’t do it.

So what can you do to walk closer to God that is not trying to be perfect? Shaun Alexander has those answers in his book, The Walk. Shaun clearly points out the different stages of walking with God. There are five stages and they are: 1. The Unbeliever, 2. The Believer, 3. The Example, 4. The Teacher and 5. The Imparter. Each person falls into one of those stages.

Shaun has outlined in his book what each stage is and how to know if you are there. He reminds us that we must go through the stages starting at the first stage and working our way through to the fifth. We can not be an Unbeliever, and jump to being an Example or Teacher. Each stage must be worked through, according to each person’s own time line.

The Walk is written in a way that you can easily work through your walk with God and understand where you are at each step. It’s not just the walking and God parts, we can’t forget the most important word in that sentence, with.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review. I have not been told to post this review in any way, this is my own opinion.

Bloggerview #2 - Brandy's Brood

2011-02-12T09:53:00.000-08:00

Welcome to another edition of Bloggerview! This week our lovely guest is Brandy over at Brandy's Brood! I met Brandy on Twitter and we became fast friends. So without further ado, here's Brandy! And sorry this took me so long to post Brandy!

1. Tell us a little about yourself.

Hi! I'm Brandy. I'll be turning 30 this year ... and unlike a lot of my high school classmates, I'm NOT freaking about it. I met my husband online in a chat room when I was 18. He was in South Carolina, I was in Michigan. I hopped on a Greyhound when I was 20 to go meet him in person for the first time ... and 2wks later we were married {been married 8 1/2yrs now WooHoo!!}. 15 months later, our 1st daughter was born. She's 7 now and almost done with her 2nd grade homeschool year. Our youngest is 28mo, still nursing once a day, and sleeping in her own bed right next to ours. Being home with my girls is my ideal job, literally. Of course, there are days that Pepsi, a good movie or book, and some prayer is the only thing that gets me through, but still ... lol

2. What is the main purpose of your blog?

It's evolved ... even in the last couple of weeks. I used to mostly write about our family happenings or whatever came off the top of my head. But here lately, I'm wanting each post to have a point. To encourage or challenge or inspire in some way.

3. When you started your blog, what was your ideal goal for it?

Goal? You're supposed to have blogging GOALS??? Why didn't someone tell me?!?!

Ahem, sorry. Yeah, goals. Well ... to take a bit from my answer to question 2: to encourage, challenge, or inspire in some way. Intentional blogging.

4. What would your ideal day consist of?

Well, I would leisurely roll out of bed at the crack of 10, with a hot breakfast waiting for me ... thanks to my fantabulous cook ... and the house would be sparkling clean ... thanks to that maid of mine ... so I might go for a swim, or read a book, or go play with the girls, or ...

Wake up from my dream. Honestly, days like today are ideal. I'm being productive ... the girls are in great moods and getting along great ... things are moving along smoothly and without much bumps in the road {we'll just overlook that moment when our youngest shattered another bowl}. Right now, it would only be better if it was sunshiney and warmer so we could rock some capris and go play in the grass ;-)

5. What blogs do you read that inspire you?

Ann of A Holy Experience
Christin at Joyful Mothering
Laura at 10 Million Miles

Honestly, ANY of the 13 linked in my sidebar ... it's why they're there ;-)

6. Is there anything else that you would like to share? Maybe a testimony, funny story, photo or even a recipe?

I'm drawing a blank here right now, so I guess I'm done lol. Thanks, Danielle! This was fun! :-D

2011-02-11T20:26:00.000-08:00

Well my intentions were to have my pictures edited and stamped before I wrote my post so that I could include some of my pictures. But I am so tired. I have a migraine and neck pain.

I am reading a new book right now called The Walk by Shaun Alexander. It looks like it is a great book so far! I really like the feel of the cover. It has a gritty feel to it that makes it easy and fun to grip.
So I leave you with this. Is anyone ready to have their blog interviewed yet? Come on, don't be shy!

Friends

2011-02-10T21:23:00.000-08:00

It's been an awful past two days. Well, late afternoon today things started to brighten up. But through it all I have friends.

They are praying for me. They are caring for me. I love my friends. They make me smile and cry with the nice things they say and do.

Without friends, life can be bleak. It is a great joy to have friends. And I have them all over the United States!

Thanks Ladies for all of your love and support!

My Baby Girl

2011-02-07T21:06:00.000-08:00

Have I ever told you the story about how my daughter came to be about? Grab a cup of coffee or tea and pull up a chair.

I have been blessed to be given her as a daughter. She has taught me some things about myself. But most importantly, she is my first born and my precious little girl.

My husband and I got married in 1998 because I was pregnant. I was about 5 weeks pregnant. The weekend after we got married we were able to take a little honeymoon to Ocean Shores. It was there that I started spotting. I had a feeling in the pit of my gut what was wrong.

I don't want to tell that story though.

After my miscarriage, we waited the three months to try again. But God had different plans for us. I sometimes wonder if that first pregnancy was just to get us in gear to get married. We were living in sin.

I didn't get pregnant until about five years later. That was a tough five years! I wanted to have a baby. When I finally gave up, I told myself, "God has decided that you aren't to raise children, so just get used to the idea and get over it." (Yea, I know, I have no idea about what God decides, but it sounded good at the time.)

You can probably guess what happened after that. BAM! I was preggers.

Five months into my pregnancy, I can feel that baby moving all of the time. She hardly stopped. It was crazy! I used to call her my little ballerina and my tiny dancer because it felt like she was dancing on my uterus. And it just kept going and going!

When I was in my third trimester, we were able to sit up at night and watch her just roll and roll and roll and roll and roll and roll (I think you get the point) in my stomach. Literally, roll. Not just kick or punch. Roll. She was an acrobatic in-utero baby!

Then she was born. That day my heart knew what it felt like to melt. It took me years to just believe that this was really happening to me. I thought all of the time, this has to be a dream. Something this miraculous and sweet couldn't be happening to me. She was my life.

Because of difficulties when she was born, she had to be in the ICU for babies inside one of those things. I can't for the life of me think of what they are called now. They wouldn't let me hold her as much as I wanted so she could stay at the right temperature. I treasured my nursing times with her so I could marvel at the wrinkly face and puggy nose looking at me.

She ended up having to stay one more night at the hospital than I did. Because I was nursing, and not going to leave her there anyways not matter what they did to me, they let me stay in a little room for new parents whose babies had to stay longer. It was no bigger than a closet, but she didn't know. I remember trying to wrap her in a blanket, swaddling her lovingly. Only for her to push and shove her way out of it in seconds.

In a way it was comical. I showed Greg. "Watch, I'll wrap her up and she'll get out of it." I wondered how I would keep her warm. I still do! She still won't stay covered up and the less clothes she has on, the better.

There has not been another moment in my life like that. She stole my heart from the very beginning. I love my son, and he is my cuddle-bug and my baby. But nothing can take the place of your first born.

Baptized!

2011-02-06T21:39:00.000-08:00

My little girl, my Stinky, is now baptized. She took her public declaration in front of our church family this evening.

I am so proud of her.

After she had dried and changed clothes, we returned to the sanctuary where my little girl was voted into the church as a member. My Stinky is now a member of _____ Community Baptist Church.

I am so proud of her.

I walked her up to the tub to get baptized and video taped the whole thing. I bought her her very own King James Version Bible as a gift. She loved it!

After she had become a member, a friend at church invited her and her family over for dinner. What a joy that is to us! This is just so exciting for me, but I'm trying to keep myself contained. Inside my soul is rejoicing! It is wonderful!

Now we just need to get my baby boy baptized when he's old enough to understand and decide on his own.

I pray that my children never stray from His side. I would love it if you prayed with me for my children. Thanks!

Bloggerview #1 - Phreckle Face Photography

2011-02-05T13:21:00.000-08:00

Welcome to our first Bloggerview!! Today my guest is Casey at Phreckle Face Photography! You can check out her blog here and her Facebook page here!

1. Tell us a little about yourself.

{10 Phreckly Facts about the owner and creator of Phreckle Face Photography}

1) I LOVE THE LORD WITH ALL MY HEART!!
2) I have been married to the LOVE OF MY LIFE for almost 10 years!! This JUNE will mark our BIG 10 anniversary!!
3) We have two Phreckle Face cuties of our own that keep us hopping! They are the inspiration behind Phreckle Face Photography!!!
4) I am a PNW girl at heart!! Always have; Always will be!!!! No matter where the BIG BAD ARMY may take us; the PNW will always be our home!
5) I LOVE COLOR!!!! My fav colors are apple green and obergene
6) I am currently living in San Antonio, Texas. Learning to love the heat!
7) I lived all across the globe. One of my favorite places was our time spent living in Okinawa, Japan.
8) The vast majority of art work in my home is photo art work!!
9) I LOVE..Let's say that again..I LOVE CHOCOLATE!!!!!!!!!!
10) One day when we settle down and are no longer moving around; I would love to make a wallpaper photo wall; inspired by Jinky Art!

2. What is the main purpose of your blog?

Today, the main purpose of my blog would be to share my recent work as well as network with other photographers and vendors that love photography as much as I do. I also like to use it to keep a running record of our adventures across the globe!

3. When you started your blog, what was your ideal goal for it?

I started my Phreckle Face blog to share everything I love about photography! The fabulous thing about the web is the ability to network and share your creativity!!

4. What would your ideal day consist of?

Now and days my ideal day would consist of sleeping in!!!! With two munchkins in school we rarely get to sleep past 6AM!!

5. What blogs do you read that inspire you?

Some of my FAVORITE BLOGS are:

1) http://jinkyart.com.au/blog/
2) http://styleberryblog.com/
3) http://pinkletoesblogstalker.com/

6. Can you give us a little example of some of your work?

Thank you so much Casey! I loved doing this and learning more about you! Isn't her work just beautiful? She has such an artistic touch to her photography, it amazes me! God definitely gave her a talent!

Would you like to participate in Bloggerview? I would love to interview more blogs out there! If so, send me your email address, or leave it in the comments below!

Please be sure everyone to leave a nice comment for Casey too!!

Getting Ready for Baptisms & Birthdays

2011-02-04T17:57:00.000-08:00

My daughter, my Stinky, is getting baptized this Sunday night. I am so proud of her decision! This is the biggest decision of her life and she made the right choice. She had already accepted Jesus as her Savior when she was 5 years old. So we are preparing for that special evening.

I bought her a new Bible. A grown-up Bible. She has her own, but it's NIV and we don't read that at church or in Sunday school. So I bought her a pink and green King James Version bible. I can hardly wait to give it to her! It is all so exciting to me!

She has her bag packed already for the clothes that she will change into after she is baptized. She is definitely a plan-ahead-person.....like me.

Glitter Graphics, Happy Birthday Glitter Graphics

On Tuesday of next week, it's my baby's 6th birthday. My little Bubba. Bubby. He's going to be 6! Did you get that? 6!! I can't believe it! No wonder I'm ready for another baby. He was going to have a friend spend the night tomorrow night, but with me not feeling the greatest, don't know if that will happen now. Maybe we'll have to reschedule for next weekend. Tuesday we will have a little family celebration for him and cook or have what he wants for dinner, within reason. I can't take him out to eat. Unless he uses his Pizza Hut coupon for his Book-It time. Maybe that would be a fun thing to do for lunch sometime this week too!

My children are growing up too fast. Has anyone found a way to slow this down yet? Let me know if they do.

Friday Fave #125

2011-02-04T17:20:00.000-08:00

Welcome to another edition of Friday's Fave 5 hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story. I love doing these every week and actually look forward to it!

My Fave Five this week:

1. Snuggling and cuddling my babies. I love to hold them, smell them, touch them, kiss them, hug them, pat them, snuggle them, cuddle them, pet them, eskimo-kiss them, butterfly-kiss them, tickle them and nibble them. This past week, while Kyle was sick, I got to do one of my favorite things that I miss so much. I got to rock him to sleep. Be still my heart. I have missed that so much. It's one of my favorite things to do with my babies.

2. Getting books in the mail. I love getting all of my books in the mail! Whether they are to review or they are from paperbackswap.com I just get so excited!! This week I received The Walk by Shaun Alexander. I will start reading this one when I am done reading the one that I started last night. It is one that I got from paperbackswap.com. Left Behind by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins.

(There are 3 things that should be in every house IMO: 1. Bible 2. Cats 3. Books)

3. Watching my silly dramatic girl being silly and dramatic. Stinky likes to dance, make up funny songs and jokes. She is a silly funny girl that makes me giggle. I don't know how she comes up with the stuff that she does, but she's hilarious!

4. Winning the ticket to HOTM Homeschool Conference! I was so excited this morning to wake up and find an email from Marsha @ Other Such Happenings blog and find out that I won a ticket to attend the Heart of the Matter Conference on Feb. 21-23! I wanted to attend this so badly, but I could not afford the $15 to buy a ticket! Now I get to for free!! I am so grateful to Marsha!

5. The sunshine was out this week for a couple of days. Around here, in the Evergreen State, we don't get a lot of sun during the winter. It's mostly rain and gray skies. The other day, if you stood directly in the sunshine, you could feel some warmth. Just some. My skin inhaled. It was awesome.

Short but Sweet

2011-02-03T19:56:00.000-08:00

I am running a very low grade fever. I don't feel sick though. I wonder if I am coming down with something. I am awfully tired though. And just feel run down. I think for the rest of the evening I am going to lay down. Maybe watch a movie that I've had from the library for a while but haven't watched yet. Or maybe just sleep. that is what I feel like. If I can get the energy, I might play some Sims 2 tonight. I think my eyes are too tired to read. Hopefully I will feel better tomorrow and can post a real post.

I would appreciate prayers from you who are the praying type! Thanks!

Time's Out

2011-02-02T22:04:00.000-08:00

My time is running out this evening. But I wanted to be sure and post today. There I posted, see ya tomorrow.

Lol!

Ok, so that might not have been that funny. But it's late, and I felt like doing it.

I should have the interview for my guest blogger by tomorrow. I am so excited to be posting that! It should be interesting to read everyone's interviews. I wish some of my readers, who aren't also a friend from church or facebook, would jump on the bloggerview wagon! I have 5 ladies so far who want to participate, but they are all my friends! I want someone that I don't know too well on here too! Come on peeps! Tell others! Sign up! Leave me your info in the comments if you're interested!

My Morning Devotion

2011-02-01T12:16:00.000-08:00

My step-daughter got me a devotional for Christmas called Grace for the Moment Volume 1 by Max Lucado. This morning my devotion was very good and I wanted to share it. I know a lot of people that tend to a greenhouse full of weeds and thorns.

THE GREENHOUSE OF THE HEART

People harvest only what they plant. Galations 6:7

Think for a moment of your heart as a greenhouse....And your heart, like a greenhouse, has to be managed.

Consider for a moment your thoughts as seed. Some thoughts become flowers. Others become weeds. Sow seeds of hope and enjoy optimism. Sow seeds of doubt and expect insecurity....

The proof is everywhere you look. Ever wonder why some people have the Teflon capacity to resist negativism and remain patient, optimistic, and forgiving? Could it be that they have diligently sown seeds of goodness and are enjoying the harvest?

Ever wonder why others have such a sour outlook? Such a gloomy attitude? You would, too, if your heart were a greenhouse of weeds and thorns.

Just Like Jesus

Each day of devotions is a excerpt taken from one of Max Lucado's books.

Sabbath by Dan B. Allender Book Review

2011-01-31T20:40:00.000-08:00

The current book that I am reviewing is Sabbath by Dan B. Allender published by Thomas Nelson. This book is part of The Ancient Practice Series that is "for every Christian seeker who wants more" (quoted from back cover of book). I chose this book to review because I wanted to get the history of this day and how it was and should be celebrated each week.

I was sorely disappointed when I was reading this book. Even though the series is the Ancient Practice Series, Allender never touches on anything ancient that is practiced on the Sabbath. He didn’t actually pinpoint much of anything down.

Allender talks about Sabbath Play and in those three chapters, I had a hard time remembering that we were talking about the Sabbath. I have the feeling that Allender celebrates the Sabbath any way that he wants, and then wrote a book about it to make it seem right. But he confuses me several times.

One certain point that he kept bringing up was Exodus 5:12-15, which is the fourth commandment explaining the Sabbath. But then he goes on to say that we don’t need to be resting on the Sabbath. Well, doesn’t the commandment say we are not to work? How can this be? Well, Allender goes ahead and explains it for us. It is because work is different than labor.

This is not a book that I would recommend to other readers unless they wanted to be more confused than when they started.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

New Online Store Discovered By Me!

2011-01-31T12:01:00.000-08:00

How many of my readers enjoy shopping? How many of you enjoy shopping online? I know that I love both! But shopping online gives you a little more freedom. How you may ask? Well, it allows you to sit on your fanny and shop! You don't have to get dressed, have gas money, or get the kids ready! It's totally convenient and fun! I have been thinking lately about looking into some outside fun for the kids and decided to check out swingsets because we don't have one here. We have lots of room for one though!

So lately I have come across a new site. For some of you it may not be new, but it is to me. I found CSN Stores. They have so many products and stores to shop! It's almost overwhelming! Anyhow, I checked out the swingsets on this site and I can't believe the choices! If my kids saw all of the toys and stuff on there, they'd go nuts!

With so many products to choose from, how can you decide? The list includes the swingsets that I mentioned above and so much more! The prices are great prices and not out of this world. I was also intrigued by the free shipping and 70% off swingsets from Flexible Flyer.

Check it out friends! You may find something there that you've been looking for and haven't found! Follow my link above to check out the swingsets and some other awesome outside fun for this upcoming Spring and Summer!

Bloggerview - 1st Reviewee Chosen!

2011-01-30T08:22:00.000-08:00

As I was shopping yesterday morning with my daughter, I was thinking how neat it would be to do some interviews of my friends and fellow bloggers on my blog! I know that I don't have a huge reader volume, but that's ok, every little bit counts. I appreciate each one of my readers so much, because without you, I'd be typing to myself. I don't need a huge number, just true readers.

Anyhow, I digress, like I said, every little bit counts. Therefore, each and every reader I have that reads the interviews, is that many more than would have read them from their own blog. Get it? lol I think I lost myself in that explanation. You'll catch on...

I have already have my first ~~guinea pig~~ volunteer for the interview and that is my wonderful friend Casey Ray. I had the most delightful time teaching AWANA and Vacation Bible School with Casey. She is a terrific friend and she has a tremendous amount of love for children and Jesus. I am so glad that I got to know her and be her friend in the short amount of time that we worked together. Thank goodness for Facebook though! We can still stay in touch even though she has moved away.

So look for her to make an appearance on my blog this week along with her blog, Phreckle Face Blog. Check her blog out! She is such a creative woman and photographer!

I am so excited for this!!!

If you are one of my readers, and you would like to be an interview-ee for Bloggerview, please leave your blog ling and name in the comments and I will get back to you!

Kids Say the Cutest Things

2011-01-29T19:10:00.000-08:00

Today Stinky said something that just made my heart melt.

We were driving in the car and listening to Third Day's new song, Children of God. After the song was over and we both stopped singing, I was thinking about what the song says and was thankful for Jesus dying for me. Us. The love that He felt and the sacrifice He made.

I had goosebumps.

Then comes this beautiful, sing-song voice in the back.

"Mom, I bet God was smiling and singing along with that song."

Oh the joy of hearing my children worship and praise the Lord.

My Prayer Journal & More

2011-01-29T19:04:00.000-08:00

So last night I put together my prayer journal in my household mommy notebook. I am still trying to come up with my own name for mine. Ever since I made mine the first time, I have had pages printed out for each day of the week. But, I never went back in and put what I do for each day of the week.

Last night I decided that I was going to use those pages for my prayer journal. I wanted to separate my prayer topics into different days of the week. Instead of making a separate page for each day, I just used the ones that I had. I divided my topics up and assigned them a day. This will make it so much easier for me to keep up on my prayers and focus my mind on certain issues or people that I forget.

I also cleaned my desk up yesterday so this morning when I wanted to see my prayers, I had enough room to open up my binder and read my prayer requests. I also wrote my requests in this morning. That is something I still need to do is fill it in. So far, the only parts I've filled in besides the requests I got this morning, is my daily reminder to pray for my Secret Prayer Sister at church.

Stinky and I got up this morning and went on a shopping adventure searching for a diary with a lock and keys. First stop was borders and they had 2. Just 2. Next store was the Dollar Store and they didn't have any either. Into the van and across the intersection to the mall and we hit Office Max and they don't have any. From there we walked to Claire's Boutique and finally! Eureka! First diary we see, Justin Beiber, who Stinky is not head-over-heels-in-love-with (thankfully!) and both are missing lock and key. We kept searching and searching. We finally found a couple, but almost all of them were missing the locks and keys! How crazy! Why just steal that part? Must be that many girls out there who lose their lock and key......

Lucky for me, it didn't take Stinky long to choose the one that she wanted, and both lock and keys were there. She chose a bright pink on that says "Private Property". It also has a puppy on it and markings that look like they were made with a permanent marker saying "i'm cute...but i BITE!" It's cute. Now on this whole search, I was also looking for one for Bubba. He had to stay home, lying on the couch with a fever and a head cold. So I was on the lookout for him with his money in my pocket. I had 3 things to go by:

1. Race cars
2. Orange
3. Locks

So far, I hadn't seen any locking diaries that were suitable for a boy. The only boy diaries, were actually just journal notepads. After we left the mall, I still needed to get dinner so we decided to stop at Walmart and check there while we pick up groceries. There we found a diary for Kyle that we though he'd be happy with and it met 1 out of 3 of his requests. We found a Diary of a Wimpy Kid Do-It_Yourself Book by Jeff Kinney. That's the author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books...duh....This certain book is.....orange!!!
This book is neat!

The front half is filled with different sections that are asking him questions, allowing him to draw his own comic strips, and things like that. Lots of things. The middle has a few pages of colored comic strips written by Greg, the character in the books. The last half is blank pages for him to write whatever he wants. Since he didn't get a lock with it, I gave him an orange rubber band to put around it. He's happy.

While I was at Borders, I was perusing through the calendar sections. The big sign says "Calendars $4.99!" so they could hurry up and sell them. I saw a planner called family_time.mine and I picked it up and checked it out. The months have big boxes to write in and when it breaks it down into weeks the boxes are big there too. That is something I always like in a calendar. The ends of each page are labeled "lists • more lists • crises notes • groceries" and it has perforated edges so you can rip off your list and take it with you if you have to. There are also big cards included for each season to write your schedule on. And it goes by every half hour. Then, of course, they always win me when they include stickers!

The best part was that this planner was included in the clearance sale and it was regularly priced at $17.99!!

This evening, my FIL came over with gifts for Greg and I. He had ordered us iRenew bracelets. I have seen the commercials for this and they look like a rip off to me. But he got it for a gift. So I will wear it.

When he is here.

I did a google search on it to see what it does. Well I find it really strange that the website for these bracelets don't say anything about it at all. And you know they didn't come with any type of instructions. Although my FIL did pay an extra $10 for some recharge stickers. It came with a sheet of holographic stickers, one for each bracelet, but no idea what to do with them. lol Then the other things that came up about iRenew were all bad reviews. They all said it was a scam. I haven't told my FIL.

So I've probably blabbed enough. I want to blog about one more thing this evening but it deserves it's very own post because it's so cute and sweet.

Friday's Fave Five #124

2011-01-28T11:22:00.000-08:00

First I want to start with a prayer request for Susanne @ Living to tell the Story. I don't know what the problem is, but she is at the hospital all night and is going back this morning. She hosts Friday's Fave Five every Friday and is not able to play along this week.

This was a great week. I have my family and my church family. My friends are growing all of the time and I just love my life! So here are my favorite five things from this past week.

1. I got my computer back, which gave me my internet back. I am thankful for that. A friend at church that I went to school with fixed it for me. It was soooo nice! Definitely a blessing from God.

2. All of the blessings from God. There are so many to mention and I could never go into detail. But here's a few names of people or things that were blessings this week to me: Jackie, Amanda, Kyle, Greg, Jim, books, Bible, Kristy, Kristy, April, Solomon, Tom, Feisty, the wild young bald eagle we saw upclose, Graclyn, my Secret Prayer Sister, Kalli, Tracy, no rain! an so much more!!

3. AWANA. Going to AWANA every Wednesday night during the school year is a refreshing way to feed your Spiritual life during the week. Those kids are so much fun and cute! Watching them memorize those verses with their fresh young minds is amazing and encouraging. I love doing this each week.

4. Visiting a new friend. The kids and I went to visit an AWANA mom and child yesterday. She homeschools her little boy and his age is in between Stinky and Bubba. They played outside for hours! It was nice to be able to visit with someone too. We are going to plan more activities and field trips together. I'm excited about this adventure!

5. Books. What would I do with out my books? I just love them! They provide so much entertainment and relaxation. Oh and don't forget the information! Books are the best! The current ones that I am reading is The Faith by Brian Moynahan and I'll be reading this one for a while still. It's a big one! The other book that I am reading is for a book review to do on my blog called Sabbath by Dan B. Allender.

I hope that all of you have found blessings from this past week that you can thank God for. If you would like to share them, add your links or blessings in my comments this week while Susanne is not able to post a linky. I'd love to hear from all of you!

Five Question Friday

2011-01-28T00:00:00.000-08:00

This morning I am linking up with Mamma M. and her blog My Little Life for 5 Question Friday. If you'd like to join up also, click on her blog name above and link up!

This morning's questions are:

1. If you had a $1000 to donate to a charity, which would you choose?
I think I would donate it to the Breast Cancer Society. My MIL had breast cancer and there is a risk that my children will get it. I would like to donate so that maybe there will be a cure if my children do get it and to help others that have it.

2. Snow days: Do you welcome them happily or are they a pain?
Well being that we homeschool, snow days don't matter too much for us. It is a good time for the kids to play outside for a short while and they sure enjoy it.

3. What talent do you wish you had and why?
I wish that I was a better writer because I love to write. I'm not really that great at it.

4. Are you a news/politics/celebrity gossip junkie?
None of the above.

5. What is your favorite cocktail?
When I did drink cocktails, I suppose my favorite was a margarita. The virgin ones are still good too!

The Most Terrifying Moment of My Life so Far

2011-01-26T14:38:00.000-08:00

Don't you hate those days when you just want to write, but can't think of something to write about? It's one of those days for me. I checked out a list online for a journal prompt. I went with the very first one that I could blog about and it was "Name the most terrifying moment of your life so far". So read on if you're interested....I hope that I haven't blogged about this before.

About 5 years ago, I had to go to work because of some issues and problems that my hubby was having. I went to work at my MILs grocery store that she owned with her hubby. It was an IGA grocery store in Renton, Washington. It was a 45-50 minute drive from my house, and that was in good traffic. The nice thing about working for my in-laws was that she worked with me and my schedule.

When I started there I worked in the deli/bakery. It wasn't a hard job but it was challenging. Only one person worked in there during a shift. The store wasn't large enough to have more employees in that area. After I had worked there for a while, I was able to move into the checkstand and be a checker. I still worked in the deli/bakery though.

The store closed at 11pm, but since I had such a drive home my MIL didn't want me there past 8:30. That was the latest shift that didn't close. One evening, I was working up front in the checkstand with another gal who was fairly new. Now I can't think of her name. We'll just call her Jenny to make this easier. Our manager, Jill, was in the back working on things that she needed to do for her shift and closing.

A shorter man appeared in front of my checkstand and yelled that he was robbing the store. My first reaction was, "Yea, right." and I thought it was a kid that worked next door pulling a joke on me. So I laughed. I don't remember laughing but I remember the guy telling me that this wasn't a joke and not funny. Of course, he came to MY checkstand and told me to open the drawer.

He was dressed in a huge purple sweatshirt with a hood on and he had the hood over his head. He also had a bandanna tied around his face with sunglasses over his eyes. His whole face was covered. He told me he had a gun and wouldn't take his hand out of his pocket. I don't think he really had one, but I wasn't going to test him.

When he came behind me and told me to open my drawer, I remember feeling that this can't be happening to me. Then I thought about my kids and Greg. Our cash registers were set up in a way that we could open our own drawers, but we had to enter our number and password. When we logged in, we could choose our password numbers for the day so they were always different.

I couldn't get my drawer open because I was shaking so bad and nervous. The guy told me to hurry up, he said he knew that I could open the drawer myself and he would shoot me if I didn't hurry. I told him that it was difficult to do it correctly when he was yelling at me. I laughed at my bravery and snottiness later. I am still me even when I am afraid.

I finally got my drawer open and the guy took the money out of the register. But he was nervous! And he wasn't smart because all of the big bills were UNDER my cash tray! He left them!

He was so nervous that he didn't hear the other cashier calling for our manager over the intercom. When you picked up our phones, it beeped over the intercom, so she hid her hand and barely lifted the phone and beeped that intercom over and over. The guy was so nervous that he didn't ever hear it! In fact, he looked at her right when she was doing it and told her not to even think about picking up her phone to call for help. That was sorta funny.....later. Not then.

After he took the small bills from my drawer, which was not very much, he took off out of the store. I was quite shook up. Our manager comes strolling up to the front, in no hurry. She thought that Jenny and I were just playing around. The rest of the night was a jumble of nerves, cops, questions and then the drive home.

This experience scared me so bad that I couldn't go back to work. The thought of that guy coming into the store and seeing me, the person he robbed, just creeped me out. He could walk in and just be a regular customer. It was 2 weeks before I even went back into the store, and only to get my paycheck. I have been in car accidents, and even one with my kids, had that tree fall on the house which was terrifying, and some other scary incidences. But I think this tops them all.

Dear Mr. Honker

2011-01-25T16:18:00.000-08:00

Can you believe this? I needed to go to the gas station before I came home so Hubby would have gas for his appointment tomorrow. I have to cross the other lane of traffic to get into the gas station because it is on the left side. I turn my blinker on, slow down and almost stop because there was an on-coming vehicle that I had to wait for. And the guy behind me honks! Yep....he HONKED! I couldn't believe it! I slowed him down a bit and he didn't like it. I wasn't trying to make anyone mad. I just needed to turn. I did everything legally. All of the lights work on the van. I don't know what he was upset about. He must have been in a great hurry. He was going the opposite way of the hospital though.....lol

My 2010 Reading Challenge

2011-01-24T22:10:00.000-08:00

I have chosen a reading challenge for myself this year. Last year my reading challenge was to read 50 books and I read 59. The year before my challenge was to go through the alphabet with book titles. I didn't do that one all of the way. I gave up because I was getting stuck with boring books for Z and O.
This year I decided that I wanted to have another challenge, but I didn't want it to be as difficult as the alphabet thing. I am going to read all of the books in the Left Behind series. I might even stretch it out to the teen series and the new series that goes before they were left behind. It depends on how well I do. Right now it's just the Left Behind series for adults. I have started collecting all of the books from paperbackswap.com and have made it all the way up to book 10 so far. Now I just have to start reading them. I don't know if I'll get to it this month. I am reading 2 books right now.
The first one that I am reading is a pretty heavy book. Literally. It's a 806 page hardback called The Faith: A History of Christianity by Brian Moynahan. I am currently on page 213. I have just started to make a dent in it. It's an interesting book really. The only thing that bothers me is it is written as if I already know the people that I'm reading about. I don't know the majority of them. So I am lost as to whom these people are. But I guess to do a history of Christianity, it would be a huge book to go into more detail than this one does. I don't know when I'll finish this book. I started it January 5, so tomorrow I will have been reading it for 20 days.
Then I needed a book that I understood, doesn't take a lot of concentration to understand or follow and that I enjoy. So I had to choose a fiction by Dean Koontz. Now I know that he's not exactly Christian material reading, but I have always liked his suspense novels. They keep me on the edge of my seat. I have read the first 2 novels in this series so I have to read the third and last to know what happens! I am reading Dean Koontz's Frankenstein Dead and Alive. Oh and what a bummer I just found out. This is not the last of the series. There are 5 book. That means I will not find out the ending until I read the other 2! I will have to do that!
I want to hurry and finish one of these books though because I have a really great book waiting for me to review. I want to read this book and the other books in this series. It's called Sabbath by Dan B. Allender. This book is part of The Ancient Practices Series. The whole series is found here and it even explains it a little. I really want to own this whole series. That is, if they are good. We'll have to wait and see. The next one I would like to read is Fasting and if I hurry, I can get that for a review also!
The Dean Koontz book won't take me long to read because it is so good. Once I sit down to read it I get hooked and read a lot at once. I am almost a third of the way through it now and I haven't been reading it nearly as much as The Faith.
I decided that this year I will not publish my reading list right away and add to it as I go through the year because then by the end of the year, no one sees it. So if you'd like to see the list of books that I read last year, you can go here. This year I will just make a draft of my list and post the whole list at the end of the year. I think I will also do monthly reading lists......maybe with my Amazon widget.....I love to use that on my homeschool blog.
After I finish Sabbath, I can start reading The Left Behind series. I have read books 1-8 before. Or maybe it was up to 6. It was quite a few years ago and I don't remember. I figured it would be best to just start over and refresh my memory anyways. I like to do that when I read a series too far apart. I don't have any book reviews after Sabbath either until I get the other 2 in the mail.
I am reviewing books for 4 companies now. Three of them are for Christian book publishers and the fourth is done on my homeschool blog for The Gabby Moms. I signed up to do that for a whole year and I get something to review every month. This month I reviewed a book by TEACH Magazine called True Treasures. You can check it out here, on my blog Teaching At Home in a Christian Way.
It is currently 10:08pm here at my house. I think that my kids are finally asleep and I can lay down and read the night away. Well, as long as I can stay up I guess.

Life Without Limits by Nick Vujicic Book Review

2011-01-14T12:22:00.001-08:00

Have you ever looked at your life and thought that it was worthless? Have you ever wondered why you are here? Sometimes we need to really take a look at our lives and be thankful for what we have been given and work towards our purpose that God has for us.

In his book, Life Without Limits, Nick Vujicic brings a brand new perspective for all of us. He was born with any arms or legs. You would think that his life would be boring, worthless and not helpful to anyone else.

But Nick took the body that the Lord gave him and turned it into a blessing to God. Nick had every reason to want to end his life. He fought feelings of guilt because he would always need someone to take care of him and help him. He fought feelings of worthlessness because kids at school made fun of him.

Reading Nick’s story should make everyone take stock of their own life. We all have problems and faults. But Nick has overcome that and taken his story around the world to show others the love of the Lord and exactly what He can do for all of us. This book is very powerful and will make you look at your own life and feel ashamed for complaining about the problems that we have now. They are usually nothing in comparison to Nick’s.

Coming Back Stronger by Drew Brees Book Review

2011-01-14T12:01:00.000-08:00

Coming Back Stronger by Drew Brees is a powerful story about Drew and his own comebacks in life. With his faith in God, he knows that he can overcome it all and even reach greater than he had planned.
Have you ever needed that motivational voice telling you that you can overcome an obstacle that you were told you couldn't overcome? Drew Brees found that voice inside himself. He was told that there were things that he couldn't do, but he didn't listen to that. He built himself a professional football career by not giving up.
Brees has a drive that many people in this world need. Not only to help and benefit themselves, but also others.
Brees talks about his fight for becoming a great football player. His struggles brought him to a place where he decided that he would not give up. He also realized that his problems and struggles helped to make him stronger and better prepared for things that he would face in the future.
Drew Brees is a man that looks to God for his accomplishments, awards, achievements and success. He doesn't let anything stop him from reaching his dreams and purpose that God has planned for him.

Oh How I've Missed Thee!

2011-01-01T19:19:00.000-08:00

Since my PC died a few weeks ago, it has been eventful around here. I don't have time to even blog about it all now, so it will save me some blogging topics later on. Right now, I am blogging from my wii. That's right, you understood correctly. My Wii. How strange?! I think it is. I never knew I could get online like this with me Wii. lol But what a pleasant surprise it was!
Unfortunately, on top of everything else that has decided to quit working, my TV was one of them. I had turned it off sometime around 2 or 3 this morning when Stinky had fallen asleep watching tv in bed with me. I tried to turn it on this morning when my sis told me that I could use the wii to get online. Well, it would turn on. So I had to steal the TV out of the kids room, which is just a little bit smaller than mine. But wouldn't you know it, the Wii won't work on it because we don't have a remote to change it to video from TV. So I had to get the 12' tiny Disney Princess TV that I bought Stinky years ago for Christmas. She was 2 so it was 5 years ago. Lol. I have that tiny tv set up on my couch with my Wii there also. It's quite interesting, actually.
I have been crocheting and reading a lot. As well as getting my house in order. It's working well for me! I bought dish drying mats and a new dish drying rack that is chrome instead of the ugly bulky green plastic one I had. It looks much nicer and cleaner up there on the counter. And I also have been keeping up on my dishes all day long so that I don't have a whole pile to do once a day. I have been doing them about 3 times a day and they are keeping up! On top of that, I was finally able to get yeast and flour to make some home made bread in my new bread maker! I am in love with it. I made a loaf for us and a loaf for Jimmy and Jessica (our friends) so far. I want to start another one tonight to take to church for Pastor and Jackie tomorrow. They will both appreciate it and they have done so much for me.
The holidays were good for us. Things went well despite what was going on here and we all were blessed this year.
I have decided that this new year is going to be a year of following the Lord even more closely than I have been. Mostly by doing my duties as a wife and mother. That means that I need to stop feeling like Greg is interupting me when he wants to talk and I am reading. I also need to stop feeling like the kids are bugging me when I am getting work done because they are my babies and they won't be this little forever. I am going to shapen and sharpen my housekeeping skills. I want to keep my house as picked up as possible with 2 kids in the house. Like I said, I have been keeping up on the kitchen and dishes. That has helped me tremendously. Laundry is our next biggest downfall.
I bought some new tubs for the kids to help organize their bedroom more and make it easier to keep it clean. We have seriously re-evaluated the toys also. With such a small bedroom, that is a must!
I am hoping that I will be able to fix my pc soon, because I will not be able to do much school planning on the Wii. I can't use my flash drive with all of my homeschool books and pdf files on it. I can use it at the library though. I think I am going to take a trip there on Monday so that I can do some planning. I didn't want to try and go this past 2 weeks because it was Christmas break and the library is packed with kids. And the favorite place for the kids to hang out? The computers! So I thought I would just wait until Monday and head to the library.
We are experiencing a lot of changes around here and they are mostly for the good! I can't share them all right now but hopefully I can in future posts. I have a couple book reviews to do and I would like to get them done tonight, but I don't know if I will. This wireless connection thing seems pretty testy and doesn't work very well at times. I have not used wireless before so I don't know if this is normal or not.
It is time for me to sign out and get some other things taken care of while I am online. I will be back soon!

On This Day in Christian History by Robert J. Morgan Book Review

2010-12-16T13:28:00.000-08:00

Are you looking for an interesting devotion to read daily that will teach you history and provide Bible verses for your day? Do you need a new fresh light to shine God’s love for you? On This Day in Christian History by Robert J. Morgan is just that devotion for you!
Each day provides a short biography about a saint, or a martyr or even a hero in Christian history. Such amazing facts are given every day that I never knew about. This book provides each day with a new sense of peace from God’s love and delight at having each day to thank Him for.
In the back of the book is an index that is separated by different topic subjects. If you are interested in reading about The Power of the Bible you can look at April 28 and learn as Alexander Smith helped to teach a tiny community of people on an island the message of Christ after finding a Bible to read. Or you may want to know about Marriage and romance and turn to George Mueller and learn about his wife that he felt so blessed to be given by the Lord.
I highly recommend this book for daily reading and have myself been enjoying it each day as I read my Bible.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

If A Tree Falls & You Are Around To Hear It, How Much Noise Does It Make?

2010-11-18T10:09:00.000-08:00

After my post last Monday night, we experienced an experience that I don't think any of us will ever forget! The wind had started to pick up that evening and was blowing many things around outside. It was quite a stormy night.
I have never been a fan of the wind. Since we moved to this area when I was in 3rd grade we've experienced wind storms and we lived in the woods. I remember a couple of storms that were quite bad. Since Greg and I have lived here together we have gone through many many wind storms, we have them every year and we still live in the woods. I hate to listen to the sounds of trees falling in the woods all around us. Especially in the dark. It is so eerie. And the wind seem so loud. It is unsettling to me listening to the wind howling through the night and trees crashing to the leafy grounds.
Well the wind the other night was the most incredible wind that I've ever felt here in my whole life. We had a few gusts that were just LOUD and strong! Shook the house! You could hear it, it wasn't howling then, it was more of a scream that threatened to shatter all of the glass in the house. Then there was The Gust. Greg and I heard it coming. He said that I looked at him and said "Greg?!" like I was really scared, that I don't remember. But I was scared! Then I heard "Moommyy!! Mommmy!" so I went running into the living room where they were sitting on the couch, their eyes as big as saucers.
I heard a horrific sound just then. I believe what I heard was the cracking of the tree as it broke off 25 feet up in the air. Just as I ran through the dining room, I heard THUD THUD and then the sound of what I thought was glass breaking. I ran faster because I knew it happened right behind me. When I got to the kids I turned around and expected to see the tree through the window and my ceiling caved in.
The ceiling was caved in a little and the molding that holds up the paneling on the ceiling of a mobile home was hanging down. There weren't any tree branches or anything inside the house. When I went back in to Greg, he was on the other side of the dining room in his living room (we have 2 living rooms) and he had sat on his couch and watched it all, I asked him where the broken glass was because the window wasn't broken. He thought maybe the wind blew out the window behind him, but we couldn't tell because of the curtains. After a few minutes Greg realized the glass sound I heard was his chandelier. Nothing broke, but the rims shook all around the glass lights and were all messed up.
Greg went outside after a the wind died down a little and assessed the damage. He thought maybe it wasn't real bad, but it was hard to tell. But by now, I am so scared that I want out of here! So we started packing things up to go stay the night at his dads house. Greg called his mom, who is our landlord and his dad to let him know we were coming over, but then his dad lost power.
I was still packing to get outta here for the night and Greg was having second thoughts. I said that we all needed to stop and pray together. Stinky was panicking. Bubba was ok but he wouldn't let go of the lantern in case we lost power. We knelt down and prayed together that the Lord would lead Greg to make the right decision for the family for the night. After he had a moment of reflection and thought, he decided that we should just stay home. His dad didn't have power and he has trees all around his house also. And the chances of something hitting the van while we were driving over there were high also.
I had quite a time settling down the kids. Or I guess mostly Stinky. But I finally did and we laid down on the couch to watch a movie. By this time it was 11:30 I think. We were up until almost 1am.
The next morning I woke up before everyone else, as usual, and decided to go outside and investigate on my own. The first thing that I noticed was that in the woods across from our driveway, 3 trees had fallen down. One was a huge fir that pulled up all of the roots with it! The huge fir in front of my sister-in-law's house next door had dropped a huge limb that took out a few others as it plummeted to the ground. In the back yard I noticed that 2 trees were leaning in the opposite direction of the wind, like maybe a tree fell over there and uprooted them a little, but they are too far back in the woods for me to tell. A limb from a huge tree in back also fell on our tent. That is ok, it was ruined anyways. Greg had it up just for fun.
The side backyard, where the tree fell on the house, was another eerie scene. Bubba's Tonka trucks were back there and 2 of them got ruined. One was totally smashed. There are huge holes in my deck. The gutter was ripped of the house. I can't tell what the damage is to the roof from down here though.
Greg said there was holes in the roof. It is too hard to patch because when they reroofed our house, they didn't take off the existing roof like they should have. So we have to cover it for now. Greg covered it like his roofer cousin taught him. But because the gutter was torn off and there was an opening there, the wind yesterday blew again and the rain blew in under there, we believe. Because yesterday we started to get leaks. We went and bought more stuff to cover it better and a long tarp. The tarp is currently hanging over the edge of the roof so no rain can get back in. And it also hangs over the window. But I'll live with that as long as my roof isn't leaking anymore!
So that is the stress of this week for me. Since Saturday I've been busy with things out of my control. Sick kids, high winds, falling trees, leaky roofs and panic from the kids and I. I have to hide my panic which makes it harder for me too. I don't want the kids to know I'm quite as scared as I am! lol

Juggling

2010-11-15T17:50:00.000-08:00

I have spent the last 3 days taking care of sick children. They job has gotten easier and easier by the day, but not without it's little surprises. We woke up Saturday morning because Greg's friend had called at about 6:20am to see if Greg wanted to go for a ride. Since I had to get up to answer the phone, I figured I might as well stay up even though it's Saturday. Stinky woke up shortly after I did and after a bit told me that she thought she was going to be sick. She had puked before Greg left for his drive.
Bubba woke up. I tried to give Stinky some Pepto-Bismol and as she was sipping it, Bubba said he wanted some. So I told him that he just can't have medicine because his sister was. He told me that his stomach hurt. I didn't believe him, I thought that he was just saying that to get some Pepto.
After a few minutes, Stinky was puking again. She puked pink Pepto all over the blankets and floor. I heard Bubba say "MOM!" and it sounded like he was crying. While Stinky puked into the pan, I looked over my shoulder and there is my poor baby boy puking and crying. I told him to run to the toilet. When Stinky was done heaving I went in to assist Bubba. Then I heard Stinky crying that she was puking again, so I told her to bring her pan into the bathroom with me.
That's pretty much how my day went. Kids puking, towel and blanket washing, changing of clothes and drinking of fluids to keep hydrated. All day they just wanted me to lay down with them. Once Bubba said that "This isn't how I planned to spend my day" and I had to agree with the poor little baby. Stinky had puked all day long. It started at about 10 min. in between each for quite a while. After about an hour it started to slow down until she was down to once an hour. It went that way until early evening. She stopped throwing up when she fell asleep at about 9 or 9:30pm.
Bubba had it much easier. He only threw up 4 times. But felt sick all day long.
Yesterday they both claimed to feel better in the afternoon. We let them get up and play last night a little as long as they were not wild. Then Stinky wakes up this morning, 6:55am and puked. She has felt sick all day. Bubba started complaining of his stomach again later this afternoon.
Not too much has gotten done the last few days. I have gotten some things done here and there. I have kept up on dishes a lot better than usual. I figure I better do that since any day now, I could be sick. This way everything will be clean when I'm sick. See, I'm thinking ahead. I'm a planner.
I finished reading the book that I was reading. I am currently reading my second book that I had planned for December in my Fall Into Reading Book Challenge. I thought that I had almost picked too many for myself to read, even though there were some children and YA books in there. But I guess I was wrong.
I am reading a book right now that is called Let God Be God by Ray C. Stedman. It is a book that deeply explains the book of Job. So far it's very good. I'm only in chapter 3. It's a book that you have to really concentrate on and not something you can just read willy-nilly to pass the time. That is a great thing! It expands the mind!
On the other hand, my mind is currently seeking somewhere to go and relax. So I think I am also going to be reading Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. I have never read this story before and I want to see if it's something we can do for school. I am going to start this after I finish reading the chapter that I am reading in Let God be God.
It's time for me to go and be motherly. My sickly children are hungry. I must go and feed them. Poor little babies.

Not quite ready yet....

2010-11-11T08:41:00.000-08:00

I know that I said I was going to blog about something soon. Well, I'm just not ready yet. I really want to. I know just what I want to say. But I'm not sure that I'm ready to let everyone in on that yet.
So on we go.....Things here are going smoothly along. Besides the temperament of a person I put up with daily. But that is something I have been dealt to deal with and I just do. I try not to let it bother me, along with other things. I am trying to grow in the Lord everyday.
Homeschool, as I've mentioned before, is going great this year! How much fun we have! Yesterday we did a Science experiment to make rain. It was awesome and I will blog about it later on my homeschool blog called Teaching at Home in a Christian Way. As my friend Tawny said on Facebook, "I'm so thankful that we answered the call from God to Homeschool". That is not word for word, but I can't find it to quote it exactly. But it was something along those lines.

I found a new Christian bookstore up here on the hill, about 15 min away in good traffic. In great traffic it would only be about 10! But that never happens on Meridian. So I plan on 15-20 min drive. But the store is great! It's a Christian bookstore (I know I already said that) and thrift. I did see some clothes and such in there but honestly, I just wanted books. lol The name of the store is Love's Treasury. Isn't that a great name? So inviting! The books were so fairly priced that I am going back probably this weekend! I can't wait! They had a large selection of books for homeschool. I mean large.
Speaking of Christian and bookstore. I found a new used book store called A Novel Idea in Puyallup. I went there to meet author Christina Weigand. She found me last year on Facebook because I was signed up to do NaNoWriMo and she lives in Puyallup. At that time, I didn't realize she was in the process of getting a book published! Well she did get that book published and it's called Aaron's Revenge.
I found the bookstore and actually got to meet her. The best part? She gave me a book for free for just making it there (it was quite a feat for me) and signed it. It is the next book that I am going to read. I have to finish White Fang first.

I have a busy day planned today. Trying to get my house all cleaned and ready for the holidays. Decorating is going to be kept at a minimal this year for Fall and Thanksgiving. I don't know where any of my decorations are at the moment and really am not going to try and get them from my garage. I'll save that for Christmas.
And since I have so much to do, I am going to start my work now. And that has to start by stopping my blogging. Oh I hate it when I have to do that. I could just keep on blabbing.

Where Oh Where Has the Blog Author Gone?

2010-11-07T20:11:00.000-08:00

I know....bad me. I've been missing pretty much for a month. I messed up on my NaBloPoMo for October and decided to just give myself a break from the worry of posting. Maybe that was a mistake. But, here I am now! That counts for something, right?
I am busy getting the house all picked up for the holidays. It's been a slow and painstaking job, but I'm getting it done. Now the hardest part is keeping it picked up! That seems to be my downfall. I do well on one room, while another gets messy. I must admit, I am not perfect.
At the end of October I went to the AWANA conference and fully enjoyed myself. It was a great learning experience and send us home with many ideas to implement in our group. One fun activity that I wanted to start was working through the workbook for adults that go along with the workbook for kids. The first book makes me memorize the same amount of verses as Kindergarten Sparkies do. Then I can move into the book that matches the 1st graders and then the 2nd graders. I am making this more fun for the kids by letting them sign my book for me when I say my verses.

We are moving right along with school this year and it is so nice! So far, this is the best school year that we've had. It's been smooth and for the most part they've enjoyed everything that we've learned. I am looking forward to having a break though. In 2 weeks we will then have a week break, during the week of Thanksgiving. I know that seems short, well at least it does to me, but we are only doing school for one week in December. We will have a break for the first week because I may be going to court, and then we will have a Winter Break.
We haven't had the chance to do lapbooks this year. I haven't really been able to find one that I liked for the topics that we have been learning. Right now we are reading Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume together as a read aloud and the kids love this story. Bubba gets so happy to read it. And Stinky has finished 4 chapter books these past few weeks, one of the Charlotte's Web that is a reading level 4. She is definitely my daughter! I am currently getting ready to start book #53 for this year. My goal was to read 50 and I have made it. Obviously.
I have definitely missed blogging. I am hoping that my time and memory will allow me to blog more often like I was before. I have many thoughts and ideas that I want to blog about.
One is a subject that is causing me some sadness in an area of my life. But I want to blog about it so that maybe I can give hope to others that may be in a similar situation. I still am forming thoughts about this though, so I may not blog about it right away.
With those words.....see ya later gator!

The Treasure of God's Word Celebrating 400 Years of the King James Bible

2010-10-28T18:34:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful book to read! It was interesting to learn the history of the King James Versions of the Bible and all of the different changes that it went through.
This book includes Bible verses throughout the book to celebrate. It is divided up by sections and topics. Each section starts with some background of the King James Version Bible. There are Bible verses for the topics of God’s Love, God’s Compassion, God’s Righteousness and God’s Strength. Some of the topics are for us and include Our Salvation, Our Praise and Worship and Our Inheritance.
The book is leather bound and as simple as the cover of the book is, it is still catching to the eye. The pages of the book are beautifully detailed and each heading has artistic calligraphy that brings to life the age and authenticity of the King James Bible.
The Treasure of God’s Word is a great gift for anyone who is interested in learning a little history of the King James Bibles or even for those who are fans of the King James versions. In my opinion, this book should be on a shelf in every Christian home.
Tyndale Publishers has supplied me with a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

A Pastor Prays for his People by Wendell C. Hawley Book Review

2010-10-28T18:18:00.000-07:00

This book is a great book of prayers for Pastors. I wish I was a pastor after receiving this book because of the variety of prayers that are included. In the back of the book you can look up some prayers by topics. There are prayers for Obedience, Deception, Health and different prayers to pray for the church family.
It was written by Wendell C. Hawley who was a pastor and has served in churches most his life.
These prayers would be great to use for the church, but I think a lot of use can be brought to the book by praying these individually.
Bible verses are included in the prayers and that makes the prayers more powerful than they are just as spoken words without using the words that are written by the breath of God.
Broken down by months, this book also includes prayers for different holidays and times of the year. The last chapter also add prayers for weddings, funerals, memorials, church business meetings and more.
I think that this book would be a great gift for any pastor to add to his shelf. I am going to give my copy to my pastor as a gift.
Tyndale Publishers has supplied me with a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

And The Winner Is.....

2010-10-26T08:36:00.000-07:00

Kristy Meyer from the Man Crew won the DVD giveaway and will receive a certificate in the mail for What's in the Bible? Battle for the Promised Land DVD created by Phil Vischer. This giveaway was sponsored by Tyndale Books and in now way influenced my decision for the winner. Thank you for joining the fun!!

Tyndale House Publishers "What's in the Bible? Battle for the Promised Land" Blog Tour Review and Free Giveaway!!

2010-10-24T14:13:00.000-07:00

I am participating in the What's In the Bible?, Battle for the Promised Land blog tour for Tyndale House Publishers. If you'd like more information than what I will provide below, please click on one of those links above to check it out!
When the kids and I received this in the mail, we were so excited! I was curious to see it since it is by the creator of Veggie Tales, Phil Vischer, seen below.

The use of puppets in this video is engaging and funny. Stinky and I did this review together and we let Bubba go ahead and join us. This is a great video to watch as whole family! It answers questions like "Why was it ok for the Israelites to kill the people when they moved into the Promised Land?". And if there is something that the children don't understand, when you watch it as a family you are right there to explain more fully. Or if you don't know the answer yourself, research it together!

There was some cute and catchy songs in the DVD. My favorite was the Historical Books song sung by the pirate. The video to see the song is below:

I had Stinky answer a couple of questions so that she could take part in this review with me.

Q. Did you learn from it?
A. Yes I didn't know there were books called Historical Books.

Q. Did you find it entertaining?
A. Yea, some things were funny.

Q. Would you watch the rest of the movies?
A. No I wouldn't want to.

Q. Who was your favorite character?
A. The pirate because he went up in the hot air balloon and sings. He's also funny.

Now to the fun part of my blog.....and the first ever *GIVE AWAY*!!!! Would you like to win a certificate to get What's in the Bible: Batter for the promised Land for free? If you would, read the rules below:

1. I know most people ask you to follow them on this blog or their twitter accounts, but I'm not all about numbers. But I have to know that you're a real person so you are going to have to follow me publicly so I can check out your blog! I'll let you have the choice, either follow my blog or my Twitter. Whatever your choice is don't forget to let me know! I'm gonna check! My Twitter name is @Daintydecker.

2. Leave a comment below if you'd like to enter and tell me why you'd like to win this video for your family. I will choose the winner on Tuesday morning! Good luck!

October's Illness

2010-10-08T10:12:00.000-07:00

Well October seems to be hard for me to blog so far. On the first when I missed the first day of NaBloPoMo was because of stress and we were gone. Now I missed yesterday...and I think Wednesday. How sad. I was trying so hard. I guess life just caught up with me.

*THE NEXT FEW LINES IS WHINING.*

And now I'm sick which is great. Just great. I hate being sick. And I can't count too much on hubby helping me today because he is sick also. And we all know how sick men are......
I don't know what will get done as far as school today. I'm not really worried about it at all though. Not at all. We are ahead in History. In Math both kids have been working in their workbooks without me telling them to.
So now I am going to sign out. I just needed to write a quick update about what a loser I am on not making a blog everyday this month. There's always next month!

The One Year Choose Your Own Ending Devotions by Pioneer Clubs

2010-10-05T17:28:00.000-07:00

The One Year Choose Your Own Ending Devotions by Pioneer Clubs was not what I expected it to be. I was disappointed by the book actually. The book is supposed to be devotions for kids for each day of the year, which it is. Then it is called the Choose Your Own Endings and that sounds exciting.
Here’s the catch, the stories that you can end yourself are very thin stories. There aren’t enough stories there to catch what is going on to finish the store, in my opinion.
The book has to be for older kids although, even though there wasn’t an age specified on it. But my kids did not understand what to do with the stories.
I was also disappointed because the book says that it goes along with a Pioneer Club program. To get the most out of each devotion it says to use the activity book that goes along with it for the club.
I wouldn’t recommend this book to many people at all. If there children were older and I thought maybe they would enjoy it without the other materials and still be able to build off of the stories, I might.

These are my ideas and in no way influenced by Tyndale. Tyndale House Publishers has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book for my honest review.

God's Promises for Women of Faith by Thomas Nelson Books

2010-10-05T16:56:00.000-07:00

God’s Promises for Women of Faith is a wonderful book for Christian women to have. This book takes Bible verses for woman and uses them in ways that apply to our daily lives. There are topics for women who need help with an area in their life or will show them exactly what God expects in certain areas of their life.
There are topics such as God Helps Women to Grow By....God Comforts Women as They Learn to.... and God Delights in Women Who Are. These topics work for us women, today. In our real lives.
This book has been something that I can pick up when I need a quick refresher to uplift my soul. Or if I am in a hurry in the morning and I don’t have the time to read my Bible chapters then, I can read a few verses from this book in just a few minutes and feel the Lords’ hand guiding me through my day.
I am curious to read the section that talks about financial problems to see the verses that are there to lead me. I have not yet read every single Bible verse for all of the topics. A wonderful book to buy someone as a gift too!

Day #5 No Coffee

2010-10-04T19:26:00.000-07:00

I love to just throw random pictures into my blog. I don't know if there is some rule that your picture has to go with whatever you blog about, but mine don't always.
Here I am, day #5 without coffee and I've survived. Who'd a thought that could happen? I miss it terribly though. I have been waking up ok without it in the morning, but Teeccino just doesn't cut it for creamy roasted goodness in my morning mug. We'll see if I keep drinking that in the morning. I might just drink it in the afternoon. Dunno what I will drink in the morning then.
After the first 3 days there was no headache, and the 3rd day was an extremely mild one. I experienced very mild mood swings. They were pretty easy. And no one else in my family suffered from them! Lucky for them!

I want to take more naps than usual, but that should go away soon. Hopefully.
Today we went back to homeschooling after taking a break last week. It was nice to have a break. I wanted to get a lot done, but between having cramps and then having to catch up when they were gone, not too much housework actually got done. But that's ok with me. I am doing the most important things here and that is worshiping my Lord, taking care of and teaching my children and trying to make my hubby happy.
Tomorrow I think I may have a couple book reviews to do. We'll see....I may do them tonight. It depends....

Blogging w/Sick Kids

2010-10-03T19:28:00.000-07:00

Bubba woke up this morning w/a small fever still. Shortly after he was awake and took a drink of something, he puked it up all over my bed/couch. So I changed the sheets and cleaned him and everything up and he laid back down. I laid down w/him and he went to sleep. After he slept for a few hours he felt better. He has still been a little warm all day, but no more puking. That is good!
Now Stinky is complaining that her throat hurts, which is how Bubba's started on Friday night. She usually fares better than Bubba when she is sick so hopefully it will be faster w/her. Right now they are both drinking chicken broth.
I have felt achy and tired all day. I have taken two naps. I hate to take even one nap, but I just couldn't help it! Everytime I laid down I wanted to read but I couldn't. I just fell asleep. I want to finish this book! It's a short book and it's taking me forever to get through.
I think I figured out why though. This book has a study guide included at the end of each chapter. Well I hate to skip over it, so I try to do it, but it just makes me dread picking up the book. So instead of torturing myself, I'll just read it like I want and skip over the study guides. I am only on chapter 4 of 12! I'm on page 62 out of 204. *sigh* It's a great book though! I just need to sit down and read it.
It is A Busy Woman's Guide to Prayer by Cheri Fuller. I really enjoy it and find it informational. I just have to skip the study guides.
I got all of my plans done for school this week. We are finishing up Egypt and moving on to the Sumerians and the Jewish people. We're still reading about the Israelites and Moses in our Bible lessons and still reading Charlotte's Web for our read aloud. Bubba and I are really going to dive into the alphabet this week.
I'm going to cut this short because I am going to read and try to get rid of this awful heart burn that I've got going on.

Ooops!

2010-10-02T18:41:00.000-07:00

I thought I had posted a blog yesterday morning. It turns out, I didn't. I must have imagine it. That means I already didn't make NaBloPoMo for the month of October. But that doesn't mean I have to stop for the rest of the month either.
Last night we went out to a youth house to watch a concert. It was an old firehouse and it seemed like it was the hangout for quite a few kids. My hubby's best friend has a 16 year old son who taught himself to play guitar. He sings, writes all of the songs and plays rhythm guitar for a band called Shoreline Drive. They have a deal going with Sony right now. I am so excited for them! I just loved watching those energetic boys rocking out last night!
It was the first time in a very long time that my hubby and I were out without the kids. We considered it date night for us!
I will have the pictures to show off tomorrow, but tonight I have to make this short. My Bubba is sick and running a fever. I am tired tired tired and thinking of bed early tonight. I am going to lay down with my book and probably fall asleep. I have to teach Sunday school in the morning and also kids' church. I am going to need my rest.

Day #1with no Coffee - Full Month of Blogs!

2010-09-30T16:48:00.000-07:00

Well I made it. I made it one month of blogging every single day and I made it one day without coffee. My headache now is worse than it has been all day. Ugh.
I did get some things accomplished today and am glad for it. Some things have been picked up the last few days that were just in our way! Now to get rid of it all!
Today FINALLY got up to the temperature that the weatherchannel said it would. Well, that's not true. It didn't get up to it, but it got closer than it has all week. I got 2 loads washed and hung up on the line and hopefully they'll get close by the time evening comes all the way.
The kids and I baked some Pillsbury Spooky Cat cookies today. They are nummy! They sure love doing that. We don't do it much. I hate to cook or bake. The only thing I enjoy in the kitchen is eating. And it's not like those cookies are hard, it's just something I hate. HATE. So I procrastinate it.
My poor hubby didn't marry a Susie-Homemaker. lol
I don't know if I posted this book yet that I am currently reading, but it's pretty good. I haven't had much time to sit and read it so I am still on chapter 2 and page 22. It's called A Busy Woman's Guide to Prayer by Cheri Fuller. I bought this book for only 1 penny on Amazon.com! What a deal! And it was labeled Like New, but I think it's brand new!
I am going to head out now so that I can read it for a few while the hubby is gone with his dad for a drive. I think I'll just ~~tie the kids up~~ put a movie in for the kids for a bit so that I can have some peace and quiet to read in.
Say goodbye to September and hello to October. How can we already be to Christmas again?

Goodbye Coffee

2010-09-29T21:44:00.000-07:00

Doesn't she look happy? Sitting there, drinking her cup of coffee, relaxing. *sigh* Well, today was my last day to have real coffee. I gave all that I had left away and there is not more here. Now when I drink "my coffee" it is Teeccino. Which is all good and well, but I am still going to miss my creamy vanilla coffee. *sigh*

This morning I gave it a shot. I didn't make a pot of coffee when I got up, I made a pot of Teeccino. Teeccino doesn't have caffeine and soon I was feeling it! A headache was slowly taking over. So I gave in and made some coffee. And why not? ~~I've got~~ I had good Starbucks coffee here. I certainly can't waste it! So I knew I just had to get rid of it. I gave it over. Sadly.

So tomorrow I start my no coffee morning. I have already warned the kids that I ~~may~~ will be grumpy. lol I dread the headaches more than the grumpiness. But I will survive through this and live to drink Teeccino! lol

So if you can today, pray a little prayer for me to get through this ordeal. And for my family! From now on, the only caffeine I will get is from chocolate and maybe some teas. I don't have either very often though.