Simple Woman's Daybook May 11

FOR TODAY
Outside my window...is gloomy and gray.  The weekend was so beautiful and yesterday and today is not.  I am so ready for more than 2 days of Spring.  I have a feeling that we won't have a good summer.

I am thinking...that I am so happy that my house is clean and picked up, besides the bedrooms.  My children are getting along well this morning and playing nicely so far.  Hubby seems to be in a good mood, which is always good!  Life is good.

I am thankful for...my church family who accepts and loves me as I am; my new van; my children; my husband; my cats; books and my computer.

From the learning rooms...today we need to cover all of our subjects and hopefully tackle 2 lessons in math and phonics.  We are doing our study on birds right now.  It is very exciting for us!  If you'd like to read about our school stuff, you can check out my homeschooling blog called Teaching At Home in a Christian Way.

From the kitchen...My kitchen has been kept clean since Saturday.  There are minimal dishes to wash and that is about it.  We will be having salmon and baked potatoes for dinner tonight I think.

I am wearing...my pajamas.  I slept in this morning and so I am still lounging around drinking my coffee.

I am creating...plans for a science fair for some homeschooling children around in this area.  Mostly children that attend my church and are homeschooled, but someone mentioned inviting some other children I don't know and I think it would be great to spread it out!

I am going...crazy!  lol  No, actually, I'm already there.  I might be heading into town today to cash Greg's check and pay bills, but I'm not sure it will arrive today.

I am reading...a Christian series book called Candle in the Darkness by Lynn Austin.  This is the first book in the Refiner Series.

I am hoping...that today will go smoothly, very little arguing from children, NO fighting with hubby and get some things accomplished.

I am hearing...Stinky hum quietly to herself while making a playhouse in the kitchen, Bubba is talking to me here and there, and the washing machine is running.  Soon I will be hearing my new CD that the kids got me for Mother's Day.

Around the house...most everything is picked up and clean.  Now I need to keep it this way.

One of my favorite things...the sound of happiness and sigh of contentment in my house.

A few plans for the rest of the week: Tomorrow is the awards ceremony for AWANA.  Then I have the summer off.  I enjoy AWANA, but I also enjoy the summers off.  The rest of the week my only plans really is housework and school.  The same as always.  And church and Sunday school on Sunday.

Here is picture for thought I am sharing...

That is my silly Stinky right there, lol.  What a funny girl she is.


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Books I read in 2009

1. A Woman After God's Own Heart by Elizabeth George (2008-1/2/09)
2. The Jesus Chronicles: Mark's Story by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins (12/27/08-1/5/09)
3. A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson (1/5/09-1/10/09)
4. The Fanatic by The Voice of Martyrs (1/8/09-1-10-09)
5. A Woman's Place by Lynn Austin (1/10/09-1/23/09)
6. Tacoma Confidential by Paul LaRosa (1/23/09-1/30/09)
7. Patience: God's Own Name by Patience Turtoe-Sanders (2/21/09-2/28/09)
8. Christ the Lord: Our of Egypt by Anne Rice (3/21/09-3/22/09)
9. A Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne adapted version by Howard J. Schwach (4/3/09)
10. The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren (1/3/09-4/5/09)
11. Sheet Music by Dr. Kevin Leman (4/5/09-4/6/09)
12. Discover Your God Given Gifts by Don & Katie Fortune (1/30/09-2/10/09)
13. Perfect by Judith McNaught (4/4/09-5/24/09)
14. Ben Hur by Lew Wallace adapted version by Marion Leighton (5/24/09-5/26/09)
15. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (5/26/09-6/2/09)
16. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult (6/2/09-6/3/09)
17. The Time Machine by H. G. Wells adapted version by Shirley Bogart (6/4/09-6/5/09)
18. The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain adapted version by Shirley Bogart (6/5/09)
19. Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry (6/6/90)
20. The Husband by Dean Koontz (6/7/09-6/24/09)
21. The Queen of Clean: A Clean for All Seasons by Linda Cobb (1/2/09-6/10/09)
22. The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger (6/27/09-7/12/09)
23. Stormy Misty's Foal by Marguerite Henry (7/13/09)
24. Evidence of Mercy by Terri Blackstock (7/14/09-7/23/09)
25. A Woman's Guide to Spiritual Warfare by Quin Sherrer & Ruthanne Garlock (8/4/09-8/6/09)
26. A World of Art 5th Edition by Henry M. Sayre (8/6/09-8/20-09)
27. The Red Tent by Anita Diamant (8/22/09-9/9/09)
28. A Series of Unfortunate Events The Reptile Room by Lemony Snicket (9/10/09)
29. A Wife After God's Own Heart by Elizabeth George (8/09-9/12/09)
30. The Bible cure by Reginald Cherry, M.D. (12/28/09-12/29/09)
31. A Series of Unfortunate Events The Wide Window by Lemony Snicket (9/14/09)
32. The Power of a Praying Parent by Stormie Omartian (9/14/09-9-17-09)
33. Cesar's Way by Cesar Millan (9/25/09-9/30/09)
34. If Your Dog Could Talk by Bruce Fogle (10/2/09)
35. The Dog's Mind by Bruce Fogle (10/2/09-10/8/09)
36. What Your First Grade Needs to Know edited by E. D. Hirsch, Jr. (10/1/09-10/3/09)
37. The Intelligence of Dogs by Stanley Coren (10/8/09-10/19/09)
38. Be The Pack Leader by Cesar Millan (10/19/09-11/4/09)
39. A History of the Wife by Marilyn Yalom (11/5/09-11/18/09)
40. Glenn Beck's Common Sense by Glenn Beck (11/22/09-12/4/09)
41. Thomas Paine's Common Sense by Thomas Paine (12/4/09-12/5/09)
42. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens adapted by Marion Leighton (12/7/09)
43. Arguing with Idiots by Glenn Beck (12/7/09-12/25/09)
44. A Series of Unfortunate Events The Miserable Mill by Lemony Snicket (12/25/09-12/26/09)
45. A Heart of Purest Gold Compiled by Ellyn Sanna (12/25/09-12/26/09)
46. A Series of Unfortunate Events The Austere Academy by Lemony Snicket (12/26/09-12/27/09)
47. The Bible cure by Reginald Cherry, M.D. (12/28/09-12/29/09)

Friday Follow-April 23, 2010

Welcome to the April 23 Friday Follow celebration hosted by One 2 Try, Hearts Make Families and Midday Escapades! We invite you to join us every Friday to get more blog followers and to follow other interesting blogs. It is all about sharing and having fun.
Here’s how YOU can join the Friday Follow celebration:

• Link up your blog name and URL using the MckLinky below. Only need to add on one blog to be seen on all the blog hops.
• Grab the Friday Follow button and include on your Friday Follow blog post.
• Follow the Friday Follow hostesses listed in the first 3 slots.
• Follow as many other blogs on the linky as you’d like.
• Take a moment to comment on the blogs telling them you’re from Friday Follow.
• Follow back when you get a new follower through Friday Follow.

This list is new each week. The links do not carry over. Please link up each week for new participants to find your blogs. The list is only open to add your blog links on Fridays. It will be visible all week to visit the blogs listed.
As hostesses, we realize the time required to participate in Friday Follow. Due to the overwhelming number of entries each week, we understand everyone, including ourselves, may not be able to follow every blog. To keep it fun, follow what you can at your own pace. We appreciate your understanding and thank you for your continued participation!
Friday Follower of the Week!
Congratulations to Mommy Living the Life of Riley  of the Week! Each week we will randomly draw from all the links, one Friday Follower for the next week’s Friday Follow, and the chosen blog will be placed in the highly coveted number 4 position on the blog hop. We love your participation and want to give back to you! You could be next!

How Can You Know The Bible Is True?

"The Bible was clearly written either by God, good men, or bad men.  Bad men could not have written it, for the Bible is a good book, and fresh waters do not come from a salt fountain; bad men would not have written it, for the Bible strongly condemns sin and sinners, and wicked men would not condemn themselves to hell.  Good men could not have written it, and then deliberately said God wrote it: they would no longer be good men; good men would not have written it for the definite purpose of deception, for good men do not decieve.  Hence, the only one left who could have written it is God."
--Charles Wesley--

Taken from A Firm Foundation by Dr. David H. Peterson

Where are You planning on spending eternity?

Do you know where you will be going when you die?  Do you know how to get to Heaven?  Are you sure YOU are going to Heaven?  What does it mean to be saved and how do you know if you are?

There is one way and only way to get to Heaven.  His name is Jesus.  He died on the cross to save you from your sins.  You are a sinner.  You were born a sinner and you will always be a sinner.  

For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.  Romans 3:23

Once you are ready to admit your sin and that you are a sinner, the next step is praying to the Lord Jesus Christ and accepting him as your Savior.  See here is the thing...God loves us all, we are His creations.  Jesus is God, and He loves us with an everlasting love.  Because of His overflowing love for us He wants us to spend eternity in Heaven with him.  In order for us to do that, we must accept that Jesus loves us, died for us and bore our sins, poured out his blood so that we can have the security of being with him in Heaven forever and ever.  If you would like the assurance of being forever with our Lord in Heaven, repeat this prayer.  (I copied this prayer from Inside The Revolution by Joel C. Rosenberg).

"Lord Jesus, thank You for loving me.  Thank You for haing a wonderful plan and purpose for my life.  I need You today--I know i need You to forgive me for all of my sins.  Thank You for dying on the corss to pay the penalty of my sins.  Thank You for rising again from the dead to prove that You are the Way, the Truth, and the Life and the only way to get to heaven.  Jesus, I confess right now with my mouth that You are the King of kings, and the Lord of lords.  And I velieve in my heart that God raised You from the dead.  And now I open the door of my heart and my life right now.  I receive You as my Savior and Lord.  Thank You for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life.  Please change my life.  Please fill me with your Holy Spirit.  Please take control of my life and make me the kind of person that You want me to be, so that I can serve You and please You forever.  Thank You so much.  I love You, and I want to follow You."
In Jesus name we pray, Amen.

After saying this prayer, you are forever a child of God.  You WILL BE in the House of the Lord, in Heaven with him for eternity.  God does not take back his word and you will go to Heaven.  You have to mean that prayer though, you can't just say it.  You must agree with that prayer with every fiber of your being and every beat of your heart.  You must agree and believe that Jesus died, on the cross, for YOU!

After you become a Christian, please know that your good works will not get you into Heaven.  God wants you to do good, because he desires that.  But doing good will not ensure your place in Heaven.  Jesus sacrifice and your acceptance of it does.

If you have more questions you can ask me.  There is a great book that explains all of the details of becoming a Christian and laying down the foundation of being a Christian.  I am currently reading this book and I am enjoying it.  Great book for new Christians and growing Christians and even mature Christians.

Chelan Camping Trip

What a fantastic and relaxing weekend we had.  It was great and the view that we had was so majestic that you couldn't help but praise God all weekend long!

The drive there was not bad.  The kids fared well.  Kyle didn't start to whine until the last half hour.  I think it was around a 4 hour drive, so that isn't bad.  

I knew that the last 20 minutes of the drive would be on a gravel/dirt road with lots of switchbacks to climb the hill.  "We're on the other side of that hill," is what I was told.  I looked up the hill, and oh my......

Before I go any further, let me tell you that I don't care for heights too much, or small untended roads that are close to the edge.  We started up the hill and I got extremely nervous.  But I didn't want the kids to do that, so I kept my mouth shut.  Boy were we climbing though.  I was kinda apprehensive to see what was on the other side and where we'd be driving.

When we got up to the top, finally, it was beautiful.  You could see forever.  But I was still nervous.  We looked over and could see trailers and a big rock, where we had been told that we were staying, and I thought, "Oh my goodness, is there any flat ground?  It looks like we are going to roll right off that hill!"  

As we came around the corner and up more of a hill, we could see 5 doe staring at us on the ridge of the hill.  It was right up from the trailers where we were going to be staying.  That was quite a welcome!

Then we took a sharp right and went down a steep hill the the trailers.

The cabin that you can see, and all of the junk, belongs to some other guy who built that on their property and wasn't supposed to.  It definitely took away from the beauty of the place.  The trailer that you can see in front of the rock is where Jimmy and Jessica stayed.  You can't see our trailer yet.  We still have another steep hill to drive down.  When we got to the bottom there was a camper and a trailer.  We could stay in either.  We chose the trailer because it was larger.  Some guy who had lived there or something before had shot up I don't know how many bottles of glass and there was glass scattered all over the ground down below.  ALL OVER.  So I spent the whole weekend yelling at the kids to stop running down there and not to sit down and play in the dirt down there.  I have no idea where the nearest hospital was and didn't feel like chancing any glass cuts.  That was definitely one drawback.  Along with the fear of rattlesnakes.  They are definitely there.  Jimmy and Jessica tried to reassure us that they are still hibernating, but we weren't taking any chances.  So the kids had to stay in the dirt only.  No brush walking or rock exploring.

From our campsite, you could see Lake Chelan, miles of the Columbia River, an airport, a dam and lots of mountains and snow.  I took a panoramic picture of the view.  I didn't get it lined up quite right, as you can tell on the road by the big rock, but you get the idea. 

That night we had a small fire down by our campsite and the kids roasted marshmallows.  

The next day the guys and Jessica wanted to go fishing.  So we headed out for a small drive to fish by Chief Joseph Dam.  We made the kids wear their life jackets anytime we were near water so if they happen to fall in, we could get them easier and they would not drown.  The water dropped off pretty quickly there.  
The first place we stopped to fish, their lines were getting caught and no bites.  Actually, the same thing happened at the 2nd place also.  No fish were caught for dinner.  But I got lots of pictures.

Jimmy had bought kites for the kids because it gets so windy up there.  So he had set up 2 of the kites on fishing poles, which the kids loved.  This was the first kite-flying experience for my kids.

I had brought Bible lessons for the kids to do all weekend.  Seana and David loved that!  They want to start going to church with us. The first lesson they learned about Joseph and his coat of many colors.

 That night was a mellow night.  Just hanging out.  Relaxing.  This first picture is looking up the giant rock at night.

The next day we spent the day at camp.  Well, us girls and kids did.  The guys ran around all day doing whatever guys do.  I know guns, targets and running into town for supplies were involved.  I taught the kids another Bible lesson about Joseph being sold as a slave by his brothers.  

The kids had a parade for me also.  Kyle was the Seafair Pirates.  If you don't know what they are, check them out here.  They are in a lot of our parades around here and they really interact with the crowd.  They are so funny.  They even have a pirate ship float that shoots a canon.  It's so loud, but they have it every time!  Some of the pirates drag their swords on the ground and that is what you see Kyle doing with his red light saber.  (ps My Great-uncle was a Seafair Pirate)

Then came the morning that we had to pack up and leave.  Don't you hate that feeling of I-want-to-stay-here-but-I-want-to-go-home?  I do.  I wanted to come home, sleep in my bed (couch) and see my kitty.  But I loved the relaxation there.  And just hanging out.  It is so much easier to clean a trailer!  I picked it up every morning!  lol
So while the adults were packing up that last morning, I had Seana read the last Bible story to the kids.  She read the story about Joesph going to prison.  Then we all loaded up and headed home.

This rock here was a great outlook point.  And we stood on it quite a bit just to look out and down.  It made me really dizzy though to stand here and look off the rock.  Actually, I was dizzy a lot this weekend, lol.  Heights and me just don't go well together.  I am glad that nobody rolled of the hill.  It was flatter than what I expected when we were actually at the trailer.  


On the way home Kyle was eating Doritos and decided to share with Tigger.  You can't tell from the picture of Tigger very well that his mouth and tummy is orange from eating them.  But you can definitely see Kyle's mouth!  I should have gotten a picture of his hands also!  And I snapped a shot of each family member and my seat area.  I was set up for the ride home.  I had my creamer, coffee, coffee mug and book.  lol  I decided to throw in a page from the book that I am reading also.  It's called Inside The Revolution by Joel C. Rosenberg.