Our Thanksgiving Menu

Do you have any foods that you traditionally eat each holiday? Obviously for Thanksgiving we have turkey with all the fixings, but I wanted to take a moment to share our exact menu with you - recipes and all. First, I have to tell you that I LOVE Allrecipes.com. I get all of my recipes there and don't know what I'd do with out it. So a lot of these will just be links - in which case you can click the title of the dish to be taken to the recipe.

Hart House Thanksgiving Menu:

Easy Herb Roasted Turkey

I make this almost exactly as written. I do put it in an oven bag vs a roaster with a lid though. I found this recipe a few years back and it is simply amazing. It comes out as a mouth watering dish that is to die for. If you're not happy with your current turkey cooking method, I highly recommend giving it a try. Plus, it's crazy simple.

Mashed Potatoes and Gravy

I don't think a Thanksgiving meal can be complete without mashed potatoes and gravy - but they are also crazy simple. There are enough things to cook on the stove, that I use instant mashed potatoes and heat them in the microwave as a time/space saver. I do make my own gravy though. I boil the turkey neck and use that broth (and meat) for the gravy base - adding in any extra juice off the turkey if needed. Then I thicken in up with cornstarch. Pretty simple, but really good.

Sweet Potato Casserole

Again, I make this almost exactly as written. The only thing I change is that I use regular margarine (not the fat free stuff). I'll be honest, this is the only sweet potato casserole recipe that I've ever used, but everyone always loves it.

Campbell's Green Bean Casserole

Okay, This is just your basic Green Bean Casserole - but why mess with perfection (especially when I won't be eating it)?

Cranberry Sauce

In the past, I've always bought the canned, jellied cranberry sauce, but I made my own a few weeks ago with this recipe - and it was SOOO GOOD. So I'm making it on my own from now on... although, I may still buy one can of jellied for the kids. They aren't too fond of the whole cranberries in this recipe. I will say that I cooked mine on the stove vs. the microwave method recommended here, but that's the only change I made.

Stuffing

I dislike stuffing, but for the sake of my family I buy a box or two and mix it up. Nothing special, but they insist on appreciate it.

Deviled Eggs

I don't think I can really give you my deviled eggs recipe - as it's very much to taste. Obviously you hard boil the eggs and cut them in half. Mixing the yolks with other ingredients until you're satisfied. We use Miracle Whip, mustard, pickle juice, salt, pepper, and paprika if that helps at all.

Pumpkin Pie

I insist that everyone must eat pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving (except for my old roommate, Nita B. - but she's special so that's okay). It's one of my favorite parts of the meal. I use canned pumpkin and follow the recipe on the can - the only thing I change is that I use half the recommended cloves.

Pecan Pie

I have the best mother-in-law in the world, and she makes these for us with fresh Texas pecans. Yeah... she's awesome. She'll also bring some sort of sweet veggie salad - which are surprisingly good and crazy healthy. I really need to learn how to make them...

And that's it. Pretty simple really, but oh so yummy.

What's on your menu this Thanksgiving? 

Our Veggie Tales Summer Family Movie Night

The newest movie from Veggie Tales made for a great summer family movie night earlier this month. We were sent a free review copy and my kids cheered when it arrived. I think my favorite memory was when our youngest daughter yelled, "FUNNY!" right in my husbands ear near the end of the movie. We were already laughing but that just made it seem even funnier - though I don't remember exactly what had us laughing in the first place. The whole film was chocked full of classic Veggie Tales humor. 

As always, we loved the silly song with Scottish Larry and watched the sing-a-long version repeatedly after the film was over - at least before the kids re-started the movie to watch it all over again - Though, we don't wear kilts here in America... Oh well, my bonnie lies over the ocean.

While the kids laughed and giggled at Bob and Larry and all of their friends, I think the moral of this story was more for the parents. The lesson? To accept your kids for who God made them. But that's not all you'll take away from this movie...

MacLarry and the Stinky Cheese Battle tells the tale of two rival cities who prank eachother. Starting out as a friendship gone bad, there's a sub message about kindness and friendship - I think it's a great way to introduce (or rehash) the topic of bullying to your kids. This has been a hot topic in our home as our younger son has been the victim of bullying and our older son can be a bit of a bully - but he thinks he's just having fun. This movie opens the door to talking about how 'having a little fun' can go wrong and quickly escalate into something more.

The only thing I found wrong with this movie was that the lesson they were trying to teach - That your talents - though different - are special and needed. It was more of the Veggie Tales version of How To Train A Dragon... only with Romans instead of Dragons. MacLarry never really appeared to struggle with his love of inventing - only the fact that his father couldn't accept him for who he was. 

I guess my kids would say another downside worth noting is that the only bonus features on the DVD are the two sing-a-long songs. They always enjoy the games, story books, etc. and this one doesn't have that. It does have printable activities available on the website though, but nothing interactive. But the film itself is AWESOME as always.

You can learn more about this fun film at: http://veggietales.com/maclarry/ it's official release day is tomorrow, though it is already available for pre-order on Amazon.com.

Mother's Day

For me all holiday's are usually hit and miss. Example? On my birthday this year my entire family was sick - thus my children think I'm still a year younger than I really am. We've actually had mock arguments about whether or not I had a birthday this year. I really did - it just passed with no notice.  It's a trend in my life. Once when I was still in elementary school I had a sleep over on my birthday and my sister somehow convinced all of my friends to go sleep in her room - and I wasn't invited. Another year she did makeover's for all of my friends during my Superbowl party - knowing full well that I was allergic to make-up.

So I've come to expect little from holidays. Mother's Day is no different. It started out with me over-sleeping. We had planned to go to church with my in-laws, but their service starts 20 minutes before ours and I can't stand walking in late - which we always do anyway. So at 10:37  when we were finally all ready to go (7 minutes after the service started), I declared that it was too late to go to their church and we detoured to ours. I felt guilty all the way through service about making that selfish decision. 

After church was over we stopped by the store to pick up my Mother-in-law's flowers and cake. While we were there we ran into one of the ladies from my in-laws church. She asked us how my Father-in-law was doing. Mr. Amazing said we were on our way to their house, but when we talked to them earlier in the week they were doing well. So she suggested that we detour to the hospital. He had fallen down the steps at the church that morning after Sunday school and had to go to the ER. Thankfully, other than the concussion, and gash on his head, he is doing well and they were just leaving when we got there. However, he wasn't allowed to eat for 24 hours, so the cake that we bought went un-touched. We had also hoped to take them out to eat, and well... that didn't happen either. All-in-all, I think it would be fair to say that my Mother's Day was 100 times better than my Mother-in-law's. 

We ended up going out to eat without the in-laws. I would have loved to have them there, but we still had a pretty good time. Despite the fact that the restaurant burnt my chicken.

The best part of my day? After we ate Mr. Amazing and the kids took me to the bookstore. They know how nerdy I am :) I got 4 books and a membership card to Books-A-Million - he spoils me. I can't say that it was a great day, but I got new books so it wasn't all bad :)

It's very possible that you might see a post on bookstores vs. shopping online from me sometime soon - but I haven't decided where to post that yet...

The TV Delima

Mr. Amazing has a wonderful job working for the local phone company. They also do internet and television, so we were blessed with free cable. Although I'm not sure "blessed" is the right word. Mr. Amazing and I debated it for several months before I finally caved and let them install our free cable and I still have really mixed feelings about it. 

On the one hand, I love Bubble Guppies. They are so darn cute! Also, we use to live off of library movies, but the local library here doesn't have a huge selection, and none of them are really what I want the kids to be watching. But on the other hand, there are so many things on TV that I don't want my kids exposed to. They all learned the very first day that we would NEVER watch Sponge Bob in this house. If I ever catch them watching it, the TV will be gone within seconds. They have diligently obeyed that rule.

And then there are shows like Max and Ruby. Max is this chubby little rabbit who likes mud pies and is being raised by his big sister, Ruby. Max is a bad little rabbit. He directly disobeys his sister on every show that I've seen, and what does she do? She laughs at his disobedience. At first, I was awed by her kind spirit, but now I'm seeing a different side of it. He continually disobeys because he gets away with it - I mean, wouldn't you? If you knew you didn't have to listen to what your mom/adult in your life said because she'd just laugh if you did it anyway? I might even disobey to get her to laugh. The show is teaching the worst kind of sin. Selfishness and disobedience. 

Admission: I really thought that Ruby was Maxes mom, but apparently they don't have parents, just a grandmother who visits on occasion... I'm not sure if that makes the whole thing better or worse.

Have any of you seen this show? What are your thoughts on it? What shows do you let your children watch on TV?

Childhood Memories

What's your favorite childhood memory?

If you asked me, it would depend on your definition of childhood. When I was 6 and under it was spending time with my grandpa. All my memories with him are great ones. He would take us to the corner store and buy us ice cream and bubble gum. We would visit him at his meat locker and have coffee break with him (you know, 80% milk, 10% sugar, and 10% coffee). We would ride bikes around the town square - him on his adult tricycle and me with my training wheels side-by-side. He was an artist, so we would paint pictures together (or he would make me think I was helping anyways) and watch Bob Ross. He was constantly spouting off this one poem that annoyed me to no end at the time - but I would give anything to remember the words now.

Fast forward to my high school years, my favorite memory would actually be the summer before my junior year in high school. I had the best friend a girl could dream of, we did everything together. She lived 30 miles away, but I would pick her up for Sunday night church and youth group on Wednesdays and we spent a ton of time together. We went swimming in her pond, got my car stuck in the mud on a dirt road, and stayed up all night talking about everything - including my dislike of peas. We were like two peas in a pod - only I liked it.

So all of this reminiscing has made me wonder what my children will remember when they grow up. Will they remember grandparents that would travel any distance just to spend time with them? Family camping trips? The hikes that we use to go on in Colorado? Will their favorite memory be Wednesday night youth group? Reading books together before bed? Or the times when they are free from their parents as I have heard from so many others I've talked to?

I know that I can't control their favorite memories, but I can do my best to make sure that they grow up with good memories. I'm far from the perfect mother, but one of the things I love most about my family is that we know we love each other and God. And that reminds me of a YouTube video by Voddie Baucham called "Creating A Godly Legacy" apparently in the 3 years since I last watched it it has been removed from YouTube - sad - but I was able to pull up the outline in an online search. You can download it here. And then I found the DVD and went ahead and bought it too (I love tax return time).

Riddled Reflections

I have been really struggling lately. Really. It seems like I can't concentrate long enough to be productive at anything. I have been falling behind at work because I can't finish a complete thought. Between the constant "Mom. Mom. Mom," from my children, and the migraine that I have been battling for going on a month, I'm at a loss. It got so bad last week that I was almost ready to quit - just throw away everything that I have worked so hard for, and dreamed of. While any of you who have been reading my blog for a while know, most of my migraines are caused by chronic whiplash that I got several years ago, however, my chiropractor says that this one is probably caused by some stress going on in our family life. He says it is irritating my whiplash and the combination of the two is totally throwing me off my game. In other words, it's not a coincidence that the headaches started at the exact same time as every thing else... imagine that.

So I took the weekend off. I have two major projects due no later than Wednesday, and over a dozen smaller projects that I HAVE to finish up this month, and I took the weekend off... Was that a dumb move? Maybe, but my hope was that stepping away from part of the stress would help my head to stop throbbing - it didn't, but I am thinking just a bit clearer now. I'm confident (well, mostly) that will God's help I will meet all of my deadlines, and the stress in our family life will work itself out to the glory of God.

I guess that I should mention that part of my weekend off was helped along by a dear friend who volunteered to take the kids for a night - all four of them. She didn't get much sleep Saturday night and was ready for a nap when we picked them up on Sunday afternoon, but it was the first night I had had alone with Mr. Amazing since the twins were born (almost 5 years ago!). It was nice. We both had headaches, but it was still nice. Part of my (and him) felt guilty that I took the time off. With the kids gone there was great potential to get a ton done. But stepping back and just taking time to breath... well, that was worth it.

I was looking back, even just two years ago I was allowed lazy days. I didn't work from home back then... I did a lot of volunteer things, but when you volunteer you don't have as much to do, or deadlines with consequences. I spent a lot of time back then cleaning house and studying my Bible. Now I spend a lot of time working, a little time reading my Bible, and I clean a bit too. I thought my house was messy back then, I know it's messy now. But with all of the changes, I wouldn't change where I am for anything. Yes, I would gladly give up the headaches, and would love to have patient children, but despite all of that, I am blessed beyond measure. I have the opportunity to live my dream. No, it isn't easy, but it's worth it.

- I mentioned that with my headache I haven't been able to complete a thought... yeah, I just re-titled this post because I totally set out to write something else. Oops... At least you are a forgiving audience. :)

An Imperfect Parent

I don't know about you, but I am far from perfect - especially when it comes to being a parent. That's why I like the words on the above photo. No matter how much I fail as a mother, God will still provide for my children. Their salvation isn't up to me. Yes, I have been called to be their mother and to teach them in the way they should go, but when I fail, God's grace covers me, and them.

I don't know if you're anything like me, but that's definitely a reminder that I need to hear more often.

I'm linking up with Word-Filled Wednesday over at Internet Cafe Devotions. 

Check it out for more Word-Filled posts by visiting: http://internetcafedevotions.com/

In Memory of C.A.T.

It's a sad night here at our house, but I should probably start my story at 6:30 this morning. 

I had slept in my daughter's room with her, because she had gotten hurt right before bed and wasn't sleeping well. To save myself countless trips up and down the stairs, I caved and stayed with her. At 6:30 in the morning our white cat, C.A.T. woke me up. She was laying in the middle of the room whining for no apparent reason. This in and of itself is not extremely unusual. It usually means that she is out of food, or just want's us to know that she is there - so I blew it off. I got up and got the boys ready for school. Checked her food dish to ensure that it wasn't empty, and forgot all about it. 

About half an hour later, my oldest son came to tell me that there was something wrong with C.A.T.. I remembered the whining and went to check right away. She was in the process of coming down the stairs, but something was definitely wrong. She wasn't using her back legs. With great disapproval from the very self sufficient cat, I picked her up and put her at the bottom of the stairs before going to call my husband. He said that it had happened to her once or twice as a kitten. She had had issues with seizures off and on throughout her life, and sometimes they caused temporary paralysis. This hadn't happened for more years then I can count, but I had witnessed a small seizure last fall, so it made since. He suggested keeping an eye on her, and thought that she would recover within an hour. 

But she didn't. I had to run an errand, and when I got home she was back upstairs. I couldn't bare the thought of her falling her way down them again so I put up a baby gate, brought up some food and water and sat with her until my husband got home. He took her to the vet, but there was a long wait due to a trauma that had came in between the time he called to set up the appointment and the time he arrived. They suggested that he left her, and they would call us when they were able to see her. 

Several hours later we received the call. We went back in only to find out that she had heart disease, and a blood clot was blocking the blood flow to her legs. Much worse, her circulation was so bad that there was nothing that they could do. She wasn't eating or drinking, and they didn't think she would survive much longer. For a cat that appeared so healthy, I almost didn't want to believe them. The only outward sign of illness was her lack of leg movement, but that was pretty major. 

After lots of tears and discussion, we made the difficult decision of letting her go. We didn't want her to suffer any more then she had to, and since there was no way to cure her, the option was to put her down or to let her suffer her way through a painful death on her own. In the end, despite the tears, I know that we made the right decision. Her circulation was so poor that it took about 10 times longer than normal for the sedative to take effect to put her to sleep. She wasn't in any pain that we could tell, but she definitely wasn't happy. 

C.A.T. was my office cat. She liked to lounge on my desk, or stand in front of my computer monitor while I was trying to write. She was very independent and strong willed - evidenced by her climbing two flights of stairs using only her front legs. She didn't like to be petted, but did enjoyed being scratched - and there is a difference and she would let you know if you crossed the line. She liked being in high places. Being upstairs or on top of a shelf always made her happy. She brought me a bird once... I mistakenly told her to let it go, and she obeyed. It took me forever to get that bird out of my kitchen. And of course there was the time that she was trying to drink out of a vase that I had in my desk and knocked it over, soaking everything. She was very much a part of my life, and I will miss her greatly - we all will.

2 Timothy 4:2

Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.

~ 2 Timothy 4:2

I was writing down the above verse earlier, and just as I got to the last part about doing it all with great patience and careful instruction my daughter, who had been doing a lot of playing instead of finishing her supper, knocked over her glass of water. Well, I didn't have great patience, and it certainly wasn't careful instruction that I snapped at her... It's ironic how things like that work. I was writing the verse down because it was so powerful to me, and I really wanted to work at applying it to my life, but even before I finished penning it down, I had already abandoned the message. 

God's Word has so much to say about patience and gentleness, I'm pretty sure that that's because of the fact that sinful human nature is the exact opposite. But the Bible does lead me to believe that it is possible.  So today, I want to ask you: How do you keep your cool? How do you develop great patience and respond with careful instruction instead of with harsh reactions?

Earlier this week I mentioned that I got some new books in the mail, one being "Uprooting Anger" by Robert D. Jones. I'm hoping that that helps with both of those things, because patience seems to be the opposite of angry reactions... 

Any thoughts?

Just Stuff

It's been a busy month so far! After returning from our Spring Break vaca to Texas at the beginning of the month, my mom came to visit us last weekend and just left yesterday. I can hardly believe that it's already mid-April!

Besides all of that, a lot has been going on in regular life too. I'm fighting hard to stay afloat and trusting in the promise that with God all things are possible.

I got 4 new books in the mail this week:

A Gospel Primer by Milton Vincent
Write His Answer by Marlene Bagnull
Uprooting Anger by Robert D. Jones
and Bringing Up Girls by Dr. James Dobson

Yeah, I'm pretty excited about each of them, but have no clue when I will actually get a chance to read them...

I also got a new plant for my office (Mr. Amazing bought it for me... he's pretty awesome like that, he even picked out the coffee cup flower pot):

These flowers are so fragrant that you can smell them all the way in the living room! I love them!!!! 

Okay, besides the new stuff that I've gotten, a lot is going on with work too. I've picked up numerous new clients, and I'm loving it! "Teen Devotionals... for Girls! Vol. 2" is coming out this month. I've started working on a True Beauty book for young girls (more on that later). And I'm working on a couple of other projects as well. I get exhausted just writing about it all... 

But, enough about me! What have you been up to lately? I'd love to hear from you.

Did you know that Melyssa over at Daze of Us just published a book? I interviewed her on my other blog this week if you want to check it out... 

Spring Break Re-Cap

Spring break was AWESOME! I have the best in-laws EVER, and I love Texas. I almost have Mr. Amazing convinced to move there. If he had a job offer in the area, we would be there in a heartbeat (prayers appreciated!). But, we're back in Colorful Colorado now, and I really do love it here too...

We kept our tradition of stopping in Kansas to visit Dorthy's house and the Land of Oz. 

Above is a picture of our little munchkins. :)

And that's a picture of the beautiful Texas sunset that we got to watch as we drove to our finial destination. 

Granny got permission from the neighbors to let the kids jump on their trampoline. This was a hit.

Daddy and Grandpa took the kids fishing. I sat and watched. 

Okay, watching them fish got pretty boring, so I picked up sea shells instead. They were EVERYWHERE.

No one caught anything, but they still had fun... and I have a TON of sea shells :)

We played Frisbee

...and Croquet

...and lots of board games.

On Sunday the kids carried palm branches in at Granny and Grandpa's church.

And we took lots and lots and lots and lots of pictures

Our big happy family

In conclusion. We had the time of our lives, and I wish it never had to end. But, I'm home now, and dreaming of Texas once again. 

Are you thankful for your children?

Well, are you?

Of course most moms will answer yes without even thinking about it, but I want you to actually take a moment and really think about it. When was the last time you told them you were thankful for them? When was the last time that you thanked God for them?

At Bible study a couple of weeks ago, we learned a bit about thankfulness - and I am so thankful! Our fabulous leader posed the question "what does thankfulness look like in your prayers?" and I must admit, I came up lacking in one strong area. You see, I thank God for being God all of the time. I thank Him for my salvation and for my amazing husband... but to be honest, I don't spend a lot of time thanking him for my children.

I really am thankful for the 4 little blessings that God has bestowed upon me, just as I'm sure you really are thankful for yours. I just don't seem to express that thankfulness very often. Our Bible study leader suggested that this is because we are pickers. We tend to pick at people and their shortcomings, rather then spend time cultivating our attitude of gratitude - and she's right (well, at least about me). One of my dear friends and sister in Christ said that we should "pick a little, praise a lot", and I really liked that. Do you think that my anger issues that I spoke about earlier this week could stem from a lack of thankfulness? I do.

So today, my goal is to praise God for my children more than I work on improving them. Every time I catch them being bad, or need to teach them how to do something right, my goal is to also to take a moment to thank God for bringing them into my life and for continuing to shape them into the people that He plans for them to be. Will you join me?

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 

~ Colossians 4:2

Mr. Monday: Spring Break!!!

When you read this Mr. Amazing, myself, our four children, and our dog will all be crammed into our minivan on our way to visit the best in-laws in the world. :D By the time we arrive at our cherished destination that is a good 12 hours away, we will be stiff, sore, and probably a little cranky - but I can't wait!

Even in 12 hour car rides can be stressful (and make me a little car sick) I love them. I love sitting beside my husband with nothing better to do than talk to him. To sit there with my hand in his and the open road before us is one of my favorite times in the world. You see, we live very busy lives, so even though we spend time together every day, it's not the same as the uninterrupted, nothing else to do time that we get on these trips. Last fall when we went to Iowa to see my family, we missed out on that. We were helping a friend move as well, so we took two vehicles. He drove his 4Runner and I drove the van. She took turns riding with each of us, and even drove the van a bit so that I could ride with him for a bit, but it wasn't the same. Even when I was with him we were focused on the fact that our kids were in the van in front of us, and talking about where we were going to stop or switch back, or just a million different things. It wasn't nearly as relaxed of a time as it is when we are traveling alone together. (Please don't get me wrong, I'm very happy that we were able to help our friend move and would do it again in a heart beat. I got to spend some great quality time with her that I hadn't for a while - I just missed the quality time with Mr. Amazing.)

So, pray for us! We should arrive in Texas shortly after supper time tonight... or maybe shortly after bedtime depending on the number of stops that we make.

Ooo! One of our traditional stops is Dorthy's house in Kansas :) We always take pictures of our little munchkins in the land of Oz! Check them out (they are so cute!):

2009

2008

Oh my! Can you believe that we haven't been there since 2009?! Craziness I tell you! Going to Texas use to be an annual thing... I'm thinking that we might have went in 2010, but I forgot my camera... Not sure though. I know we didn't make it last year. :(

What Are You Teaching?

Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.

~Psalm 34:11

This verse is one that I know well, but recently when I was reading it, God used it to convict me. He made me stop and think about the question this verse asks:

Am I teaching my children to fear the Lord, or am I teaching them how to be sinful human beings?

Have you ever stopped to ask yourself that question? I honestly don't think that I have. I have thought about the answer off and on. How I fail to teach them, or how I think I have done well. But never just the question itself. 


Such a powerful question, has multiple answers. Yes, I read my kids the Bible. They love going to church. We pray before meals, and before bed each night. But teaching them about God, isn't the same as teaching them the fear of the Lord. Not even close. One is head knowledge, the other comes from the heart. What is my heart telling them? 


Defiantly a powerful thought to meditate on.

Ministry Month: Mom's In Touch

I cannot tell you how thankful I am for Mom's In Touch International (And for the mom who told me about it a few weeks back!).

The goal of Mom's In Touch is to have a group of mothers praying for every school around the world. Groups of women get together for 1 hour each week, just to pray for the schools that their children go to. There are groups for individual schools, community groups, and groups for homeschooler's. I am just extremely impressed by this ministry!

When praying with MITI(Mom's In Touch International-pronounced Mighty), moms follow the four steps of prayer: Praising God for who He is, Confessing our sins, Thanking God for what He has done (or is doing), and then Interceding for children, schools and MITI.

There isn't a group for the school that the boys go to yet, I am considering starting one if God brings me another mom to pray with. However, for the time being I am praying by myself. So, while it is a rule that what is prayed in a MITI prayer group stays in the prayer group, since I don't have a group yet, I did blog about my first prayer time, you can read that post here. Or if you would like to watch a short video that outlines the group prayer time, here is the one featured on their website:


If you have a child in public school, I cannot recommend this ministry enough! Even if you don't have a child in public school, our kids need all the prayer they can get!

We Cried Today

Today has not been a great day. I had it all planned out so that it would go smoothly, but nothing ever really goes as planned. I got up at 5 so that I would have time to shower and spend some time with God before the kids got up, except the girls both got up at 5:05. And they were cranky. They followed me around whining all morning. Then, when I was helping Alexa with something, Ella went upstairs and woke up her brothers. Who really didn't need to get up at 5:45 on their first day of school. By the time we left I was feeling defeated.

At the school, the heath teacher remembered the boys from when they were there two years ago. She was talking to them, and Ty informed her that he hated homeschooling. It was a smack in the face for me. He has always hated school. He hated public school and he hated homeschooling, I knew that. But just to have him say it aloud to someone who doesn't know the whole story hurt.

Kainen has the same teacher for first grade that Ty had. I'm not thrilled about that. She is super nice, but she doesn't believe in answering questions directly. She want's children to figure things out for themselves. So when the giant elf visited their class and the kids asked if it was real, she wouldn't tell them no. After school when Ty and I went in there because he had told me that she said it was indeed real, she still refused to tell him that it was just someone dressed as an elf. Of course, Ty idolized her and believed her over me.

Ty's new teacher seemed really nice. I liked her. I did find out that the boys will eat breakfast at school, so I don't need to feed them in the morning before we leave. This will let them sleep a little longer, but I will have to re-figure our morning routine and change the checklists that I made and laminated for them.

After meeting the teachers, the boys headed out to the playground, and Ella cried. She didn't understand why she wasn't allowed to stay with her brothers or why they couldn't come home with us. I never thought about how hard this would be for her. Alexa didn't care, but Ella cried, so I cried. We cried and walked back to the van together. Ella cried all the way home, I carried her into the house and she sat on the couch and cried for the next hour. It broke my heart.

After such a stressful morning, I would love nothing more than to take a nap, but with as tired as the girls are, they are refusing to sit still. I'm planning on giving them a bath and hoping that they will lay down after they are clean.

Pray for us. We need it.

No Church on Sunday

What do Sunday's look like at your house? For most Christians, it consists of getting up early, eating a nice breakfast, and heading off to Sunday morning serviced. This is of course followed by a nice lunch, family fun, and then possibly evening services. While my church has yet to begin Sunday evening services, that's what our Sunday's use to look like too. That is, until Mr. Amazing got transferred to a new store. He told his boss that he wanted Sunday's off for church, but in the entire 2 1/2 months that he has been working there, he has yet to have a Sunday off.

While I am all for taking the kids to church even on days that daddy works, we have probably had every variation of the cold and flu possible during that time. Instead of leaving the sickly at home with dad or mom and the rest of the family attending, we are all stuck at home. It's been a sad time, and I am missing my church family deeply. We would have been at church this morning, but 3 of our children got immunizations on Wednesday and are now running fevers, have very runny noses and watery eyes. I was so excited mid-last week when it appeared that we were all healthy, only to have my hopes dashed by the bad reaction to their shots. (Can anyone tell me the point of getting immunizations to keep you from getting sick, if they themselves make you sick?)

So here we sit, at home again on a Sunday. Over the past several weeks I have been thinking of Church alternatives. You know, things you can do on Sunday to worship God, without attending the Church building. I know some families actually do church at home on those days. But my kids aren't old enough for that. However we do play worship music all day. Here are some options if you are ever get stuck with no church on Sunday:

Family Bible Reading- Sit down and read the Bible together. We actually do this every evening, so I haven't done this one yet, but it's always a great starting point.

Bible lesson/craft- A quick online search will pull up tons of free resources for Sunday school teachers that are easily adapted for use at home. We did tons of these when homeschooling, so we have several books and such with ideas as well.

Listen to an online sermon- Most churches have their sermons available online, so pulling up one to listen to even though you aren't in a church is easier than ever. I am not a big fan of Tele-evangelists, and it's unlikely that I would ever recommend watching a sermon on T.V., some churches even have videos of their sermons available on their website.

Watch a Christian movie- Something simple for the kids like watching a Bible story movie can help remind you and the kids that this is a day set apart for worshiping God, even if you are still at home.

Puppet shows- Put together a puppet show of one of your kid's favorite Bible stories. This is a great family activity, that helps teach Bible principles, but also gets the kids involved.

Pray together- Hopefully you do this anyway, but set apart a special time on Sunday's when your at home to pray as a family. Pray for your church family, and for anyone else that might have had to miss church that week. Pray for your pastor, worship team, and anyone else that God lays on your heart.

Those are just a few examples of ways that you can worship God on Sunday's even when you can't make it to church. Do you have any other ideas that you can share with me? I would love to hear about them!

Have a blessed Sunday.

Contentment

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. ~ Philippians 4:12

This Scripture has been on my heart for several days now. What stands out to me the most is that Paul didn't just instantly become content, he had to learn to be content. I think that God is teaching me this, and I must admit that it's not an easy lesson. While I do know what it is to be in need and what it is to have plenty, and I even know the secret of being content. The secret is thankfulness. The secret is choosing to be content, even if situations aren't ideal. It's choosing to be thankful for what you have, instead of wishing things were different.

What does that look like to me? It means:
...being thankful for our pets, even though I don't like caring for them. It's choosing to be thankful for my husband who loves animals, instead of upset about the hair on the rug, the poop in the litter box and the algae in the fish tank.
...being thankful that my children are creative when they make a big mess, instead of feeling putout by it.
...being thankful God made the seasons, even when I have to go out early in the morning and shovel the sidewalk and clean off the car.
...being thankful for my family when I have to clean up the living room, again. It means choosing to be thankful for hungry people when I have to cook dinner, wash the dishes, and go grocery shopping (my least favorite thing to do).
...being thankful for little legs that run and play when I have to mend another pair of pants with holes in the knees.
...being thankful for food to eat, instead of grumbling about the mess in the kitchen, or spilled milk on the floor.
...being thankful for the time with my children when homeschooling them, instead of upset with their poor attitudes about learning.
...being thankful for a house full of love, even when I can't remember the last time I had a full nights sleep, a moment to myself, or a shower without someone banging on the door.

This list could go on and on, but I think you get the point. What does learning to be content look like in your life?

Servant, Wife, Mother

It's funny how easily priorities get mixed up. As a mom of young kids, it's essential to take care of your children. However, I have also found, that if you put your children first in your life, life seems to get completely out of hand, and quick. It seems like every time I look around and see my life in utter chaos, it's because my priorities are mixed up. I'm either thinking about myself too much, or trying to be the perfect parent.

On day's like that, it's good to come back to my target priorities. First and foremost, I need to be a servant of Christ. If my walk with God isn't right, nothing will be. I can't be a good mother, or a good wife, or even a good person if I'm neglecting my heavenly Father.

Likewise, I can't be a good mother to my children if I'm not being a good wife to my husband. My children see the way that my husband and I interact, they see the way that we treat one another. Not only do they mimic that behavior towards each, and us, they will also mimic that behavior in their own marriages years down the road.

Next comes my children. I have no business volunteering for ministry work, if I have not taken care of my children. Someone once said that the biggest mission field you can ever serve in, is your own home. Think about it. If I raise my children to love and honor Christ, then they will go out into the world and share that with others. I can reach more people by properly raising the four of them, then I ever could on my own.

After those three things are in there proper places, then I can use what is left to serve Christ outside of my home. I can use the love that God has given me to serve my community. You might have noticed that I left myself out of that equation. I did that on purpose. The Bible says that we are to die to ourselves. Everything that I do should be for the glory of Christ. Not for myself. The best thing I can do for myself, is to grow closer to God. To give more of myself up, to live for Him.

Bad blogger me

Okay, I'll admit it, I'm a bad blogger. I haven't blogged consistently for months. Here's my excuse: I'm a stay at home, work at home, homeschooling mom, housewife, AND there are still two guys living in my basement. Yes, you remember, the two that asked to stay for a couple of nights back in JULY. Yeah, them. We have asked them to leave several times, but they still haven't found a place to live. This is killing our electric bill, toilet paper expenses, and homeschooling (as they are sleeping in our school room). :( Me no likey! I do like them, they are great guys and I can't wait to get the one guys little boy back into my arms. But I'm ready to have my house back. I use to have a good day laid out. I would get up, spend my quiet time with God, go to the basement to start laundry and work out, then shower and get the kids up. I can't workout upstairs, because you can't jump upstairs. It shakes things. It would also wake up everyone in the house. I do not feel that I should be going down to do laundry while two men, neither of which is my husband are asleep... It's just not right.

Mr. Amazing is being transferred to a new store...again. At this store it sounds like he will have more of a chance to promote, but he's not getting his hopes up. I'm still trying to convince him to move to Texas so I can be neighbors with his mom. :D Okay, that's not the ONLY reason that we are talking about moving to Texas, and it is both of us, not just me. We're prayerfully considering it together, and waiting on God to direct us.

Oh, let's see... Homeschooling. It's not going the way I want it to. The kids (and I) are learning tons, but it's stressful and un-organized. I think I could organize it better, but I want to be back in our school room, and hopefully will be soon, so organizing it has to wait until then, or I will waste a ton of time organizing it twice!

Work is going pretty good. I really enjoy it, I just wish I had more time to get things done. I also have a ton of devotions floating around in my head, but can't find the time to write them down either... I have to prioritize... I have one book on my list to edit. Well, technically 2, but I haven't been sent the 2nd one yet.

Our family has had severe colds for the past week. Alexa and I came down with them on Wednesday, Followed by Kainen and Mr. Amazing on Thursday night, and then Ella Friday. Today Ty's nose has started to run. :( I took the kids to the doctor on Friday, Kainen just has a cold, Alexa has a double ear infection, and Ella has fluid behind one ear. :( I'm feeling tons better than I was on Thursday when Ella cut a chunk of her hair off (although I'm still not 100%).

Today, I cut the kids hair. Ella's hair is really short. I'm not as skilled at cutting hair with scissors as I am with clippers. I mean let's face it, it's a ton easier to buzz hair than it is to cut straight lines on a child that won't sit still... But, I think it turned out pretty good:

I almost cried when I cut it. I loved her hair. :( But, God is teaching me that I can't put her glory in her hair, anymore than I can mine. Hair is part of our external appearance and has nothing to do with our eternal salvation (which I really already knew, but obviously I valued it too much).

Anyway, I'm sure that there is more, but the kids don't think they can leave me alone long enough to write an entire sentence, so I'm just gonna go ahead and post this. Sigh.