You started blogging when?

So I took a peek back at my old blog to remember when I posted my first blog post…April 2006!! Almost 7 years ago! Yikes!

My kids were this little once!

One of my very first posts was about our cookie making activity from using the Mystery of History curriculum. I find this very interesting because Kelsey and I are going through Volume One again this year, although I don’t believe we made the Joseph coat cookies this time.

A lot has happened since that first set of blog posts: my kids are 7 years older (and so am I!), Matthew has graduated from our homeschool and is working full time now, and Kelsey is my only student. Over a year ago, I moved my blog to Blogger and just a couple of months ago, to WordPress.com. And over the last 2 years, not only do I blog about my family and some of our daily happenings in our little corner of the world, but our experiences with Compassion have taken a front seat on my blog.

My blogging goals are posted for this year on my About page. On that page, you can also find links to some of the posts that were popular on my Blogger blog before I moved it over to WordPress.com. There is also a link to the Compassion website and a link to a Pinterest board with letter writing ideas for your Compassion sponsored kids. If you haven’t taken a peek at my About page yet, you might just learn a little more about me with the random facts I have listed.

My friend, Kendra, over at Preschoolers and Peace has been helping me with some great tips and encouragement as I begin to be more intentional about my blogging. She has a lot of great information to share, so be sure to visit her blog today.

So, if you are a blogger, how long have you been blogging?

My continuing education…so to speak

“No one can get an education, for of necessity education is a continuing process.”

-Louis L’Amour

I love to read!

We have books in almost every room in our home, and I am usually reading at least three books at any given time. I have always loved to read. I was the one who would get in trouble for reading past my bedtime with a flashlight. The flashlight would be taken away, but that didn’t stop my. I would sit by window and dream of living with Laura Ingalls out on the prairie…

A few years ago, I was reading a blog post of a friend of mine where she talked about a commonplace book. In this particular blog post, Cheryl talks about the importance of investing in ourselves as wives and moms to be reading good books to encourage us to continue in this path we have chosen to follow.

I have now filled up two composition journals with quotes and Bible verses that have spoken to me over these past few years. I was just thinking today what a gift these will be for my daughter when she is old enough to become a wife and mother.

Have you read any good books lately?

Do you see anything wrong with this picture?

There isn’t anything wrong with this picture, is there?

 

A Bible opened up to Luke 2, the story of Jesus’ birth.

 

Nativity pieces.

 

Advent wreath and candles.

 

But wait, the candles are the wrong color, aren’t they?

 

In the past, this really would have bothered me, the wrong color candles. There is ‘suppose to be’ 3 purple candles, one pink candle, and one white candle in the center.

 

My first-born, type-A tendencies would put me on a quest each year before Christmas trying to find the ‘right’ color candles. But you know what I have begun to realize over the last few years? Jesus doesn’t really care what color the candles are. He wants us to take the time during this season of advent to reflect on the miracle of His birth. He is the Savior of our world. That should be the focus of my worship to Him, not the color of my candles.

 

 

Take the time

We live in a very busy world.

 

We have instant everything.

 

We get impatient when we have to wait.

 

One of my favorite Bible verses is Psalm 46:10.

 

“Be still and know that I am God.”

 

Be still.

 

When was the last time that you were still?

 

The children that we sponsor through Compassion want us to be still.

 

They want us to take the time to pray for them.

 

They want us to take the time to write to them.

 

 

 

They want us to take the time to send them encouraging words.

 

They want us to take the time to share our prayer requests with them.

 

They want us to take the time to share about our daily lives with them.

 

They want us to tell them about the hope they can have in Jesus.

 

The letters we write to our Compassion kids can be the ‘hope in the darkness‘.

 

Please take the time to read about Marco.

 

 

Will you take the time to write to your Compassion sponsored child today?

 

 

 

 

Making time to be a blessing

Today was yet one more day that we put away the books and did some ‘home ec’. This time, Kelsey and I gathered up some art projects, some reading books, and some cookie dough and headed over to the house of a young couple from our church. Right now this couple is taking care of two of their neices while their mom and dad are out of the country taking care of arrangements to adopt and bring home their new little brother. Due to some circumstances beyond everyone’s control, the girls will be staying a little bit longer than anyone anticipated with aunt and uncle, who already have three young children of their own.

It is times like these that I am so thankful we have been homeschooling and I am working toward the other end of our homeschooling journey. Book work has its place, but when we can take time from that book work and bless a young family, it just warms my heart. The girls were all so excited when we arrived!

There are many things our kids can do to be a blessing in our communities: rake a neighbor’s yard, help to prepare a meal for a new mom and her family, be a mommy’s helper, help in the nursery at church, make cards for soldier’s serving overseas, etc.

What types of service projects do you and your family do in your area?

Learner, Belief, Input, Achiever, Intellection

A few weeks ago, Shaun Groves had a blog post about Strength Finder 2.0. The title of his post made me want to read more: “One Thing That Made Me a Better Husband, Parent & Worker”. Being the book person that I am, I went ahead and ordered the book. Because I am usually working through quite a stack of books at any one time, the book has been in my pile until just a couple of days ago.

At first glance, the book is a little intimidating. After all, it is 174 pages, which depending on the content can take a few days to get through. But in reality, you only read about 30 pages, then you open a little packet in the back of the book which contains a code for you to be able to take the Strength Finder ‘test’ online.

Once you have taken the test and received your results, the web site generates a report for you with your Top 5 Strengths of which mine were: Learner, Belief, Input, Achiever, and Intellection. Part 2 of the book is the application part for your list of strengths. In all, there are 34 strength themes. Each strength theme contains a description, as well as, Ideas for Action and Working With Others that have that theme as a strength.

Now, I need to spend a little more time reading through each of the themes, but what are my initial thoughts on my results?
Learner: Oh yeah, I love to learn things!
Belief: The Bible is my guide!
Input: I love to read about new topics!
Achiever: I really do like to accomplish tasks!
Intellection: I do enjoy my time alone to think through things!

So what about you? Have you taken the Strength Finder test? What were your results?

My plans?…or God’s plans?

I am a planner…I like to make lists…I like to plan the route of my errands…I really like when things fall into place.

Notice that each one of those phrases begins with ‘I’. That’s right, my plans! Before I gave my life to Jesus, I was a corporate world climbing young women. There was always a plan and it was my plan.

I still like to plan, and even though God’s plan are bigger than our plans, we still need to plan. The thing is, I need to allow God’s plans to change the route of my plans.

I had big plans of getting a lot of sewing done today. We have a big Civil War event coming up, and even though these shirts are almost done

I was hoping to work on a couple more sewing projects

another set of drawers and a couple of petticoats, and

a skirt and top for Kelsey, but as ‘luck’ would have it this morning…

my trusty sewing machine is not working properly. So…I decided to switch gears and work on something that I might be able to finish with little time and effort.

When we were out running errands yesterday, I picked up these flowers because I had seen a cute idea on Pinterest.

We have a few of these bottles on hand because of another idea I saw on Pinterest (that I actually still need to finish for someone!)

 

 

I pulled out some jute and that bag of messy spanish moss

 

 

After I filled the bottles with some of the spanish moss and tied a bow around the bottles, I cut up the flowers with my wire cutters (don’t try this with scissors, it will just be too frustrating!)

 

 

Add some flowers to each bottle and I now have a simple, colorful centerpiece for my table!

 

Does this change the fact that my sewing machine isn’t working properly and I may not be able to finish my planned sewing projects? No, but it does help to put things into perspective. The world is not going to fall apart if these sewing projects don’t get finished. Slowing down this morning has given me a chance to reflect on His everlasting goodness in my life. He does not want me to worry about things of this life, He wants me to spend more time remembering His promises to me.

 

My take on ‘The Hunger Games’ movie

Yesterday, I went with Matthew to go see ‘The Hunger Games’ movie. He has read all of the books, and I have not. Due to some reviews I had read about the books and the movies, I felt that his dad or I should be along to watch the movie in order to have some discussion about the movie afterwards.

I did not enjoy the movie…

Here are some of the reasons why I did not enjoy the movie:

1. Government control over children – this was really disturbing to me and reminds me of what is happening to a lot of our children in the public school system. How could any parent allow their child to be ‘reaped’ for the sake of the government? I know this is part of the plot line of the book, but we are already seeing the government take too many liberties with our children. The children belong to their parents, not the government.

2. Children killing other children – when did this become entertainment? Don’t we see enough of this going on around the country that this needs to be part of what ‘entertains’ our children? What exactly does this teach our children? For the sake of the game, it is all right to kill other people?

3. Adults manipulating for their pleasure – during the ‘game’ portion of the movie when the children are roaming around the ‘game board’, I couldn’t believe the manipulation that was going on by the adults who were ‘controlling’ the outcome of the game, basically so people would watch. This really bothered me, especially when their manipulation caused the death of some of the children.

I know that many people like to read these types of books and watch these types of movies simply to be entertained, but where do we draw the line.

Thankfully, the movie and its plot/theme were the subject of a long discussion last night. Sometimes, we need to discern ourselves whether these are the types of movies/books we want to watch/read. Just because ‘all of our friends’ are reading the books or watching the movies does not mean that we need to jump on the bandwagon.

I don’t write this post to judge what other families have decided about the books and the movies. I write this post as an observer who has a different view which may not be popular. My view may be different than yours, and that is okay.