Little Bit of Everything Mama

Video: Declutter the Spice Cabinet

2012-01-07T22:11:00.000-06:00

One mama to another... "What's in your spice cabinet?" Do you even know? My spices were sort of out of control and I had no idea that I had spices in there from 2006. Crazy!! I've been working on an ADD Bootcamp and this was the next project to simplifying my life.

The main idea was to get rid of spices that you don't use or that are old. I got rid of a whole lot of obscure spices that I used once or ones that were way too old to be yummy anymore. Some questions to ask yourself when going through your spice cabinet:

What recipes do I use this in? (off the top of your head, no cheating)
When did I purchase this? If it's older than 1 year (most people say 6 months), I think you should ditch it.

Some ideas for keeping it decluttered:

Challenge yourself to use it up by making those recipes.
If you aren't ready to throw it out, write today's date on it and store it near the others (maybe an empty drawer because you've decluttered so much you actually have empty drawers!). As you use something, you've earned the right to put it back in the cabinet. Revisit the drawer in 3 months. Chunk what's left.

We buy a lot of our spices at a small Mennonite store that carries large amounts. That makes it very difficult for me to use up everything, but I will be more cautious to buy what I really use.

Here's the video on decluttering the spice cabinet. Hopefully it will inspire or help you.

I'm not sure what area I will do next. Praying about that. I did tackle my craft table today just to declutter it. I took a pic before, but I want to take more of the process, so I'll skip that for now. Maybe I'll show you my prayer closet. See... I think these videos are helping me to tackle one area at a time because I can post them here. Maybe... in my mind, I think someone is actually looking forward to the next video and that prompts me to do it. My desk is a mess... maybe I'll do my desk. We'll see. A surprise! Who doesn't like surprises!

What about you - what's your most used spices? Or if you have decluttered, what's the oldest spice you found?

Video: Declutter Plastic Food Storage Containers

2012-01-06T14:30:00.000-06:00

I decided to try something different this time. Some of you may have seen my ultra long dishwashing video (we no longer wash dishes exactly like this) on youtube. A little bird told me that there is also a HILARIOUS blooper video from that. My kiddos were so little that I would NEVER recommend you going to see it RIGHT NOW. They would be too embarrassed and might die of embarrassment and I would not want them to do that.

I put together a slide show of me cleaning out my plastic food storage containers. The background music is a little loud and I hope to do that better next time. I dubbed over with my "how to" stuff to show you that it really wasn't a big or expensive job.

Hope you find something worthwhile on there that you can use in your own kitchen.

Now I'm off to pare down the spices....

2012: Spiritual Goals

2012-01-03T12:48:00.000-06:00

You can hop all over the blogosphere and see everyone talking about making goals, so I'm not going to reiterate any of that here. I thought the best way for me to actually complete some of my goals was to make them and then post them here. Maybe what I will share will be helpful to you or give you some new resources you haven't heard of or thought about.

Personal goals

Would you go days without speaking to your husband? or friend? This is an important area and too often, as moms, people excuse us from our responsibility to have a growing relationship with Christ. How does God teach us more about Himself, speak to us, and grow us - through the reading of His word. Please make this an important part of your day. Don't stay a baby Christian.

I've been reading Disciplines of the Beautiful Woman by Anne Ortlund for several months. What an awesome little gem. Let me share a few of her quotes in this post.

"Everybody knows stories of someone who says, "If I have a normal day, I can get by with one hour of planning and quiet with God. But if I have a very busy day, I need at least two or more."

Okay - let me just say... I need two, every day. All of my days are busy so I have to get up really early. In the last month, since my surgery, I have had a hard time getting up and it has shown. This morning I did it. Praise the Lord - and my time with Him was so sweet! So, yes, I need 2 hours everyday and that means I have to get up by 5am.

Goal #1 - Meet with the Lord daily, waking up by 5am.

Mrs. Ortlund goes on to say:

"Most important, every Christian needs to become a specialist in God! Many of your magazines, books, and papers need to feed your spirit. These lives of ours are to get us ready for eternity, you know! So we must "be diligent [or study, as the King James Version says] to present [ourselves] approved to God as [workmen] who [do] not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth" (2 Tim. 2:15). We need to be knowledgeable women - knowledgeable in doctrine and in Christian world affairs. This world globe has a timetable with it; we need to be alert, discerning the times and living with care.
Submerge as much of your day as you can, to make it your invisible keel, by eliminating less important things. You need time to look into the face of God, time to read and study his Word systematically, time to think and plan for your life, time to praise, time to intercede, time to get wisdom for handling people and for making decisions."

Goal #2 - Daily Bible reading - using the M'Cheyne plan along with D.A. Carson's devotionals. Here is a link to our pastor's blog post about daily Bible reading.
Goal #3 - Morning and evening habit of reading Daily Light on the Daily Path. I have this in the NKJV in a book version, but with this link you can read it free in the ESV.
Goal #4 - Continue Colossians/Philemon study with our ladies at church.
Goal #5 - Lord, Teach Me How to Pray - Kay Arthur. I will start this in mid-February. Prior to that my extra study time will be used to prepare to teach on Colossians 3:1-17 to the ladies at church.

And one more quote from Mrs. Ortlund (this really is an excellent little gem - chocked full):

"What are you papers, your magazines, your books? They tell volumes about whether you're a dawdler, like a sheep nibbling on any tuft of grass that comes along, or whether you're going after's important to you. They represent a quiet part of your life - part of your ship's keel. They should be a reflection of the depths of you."

I would add that they should be a reflection of the woman you want to become. In that vein, I give you my final personal goal.

Goal #6 - Continue non-fiction reading plan. You can see more about that here.

As a family

I think that it is very important to make personal spiritual goals as well as goals as a family. We are keeping our family goals very simple this year and they will add on to what we are already doing (church 3x per week, Sunday school, etc.)

Goal #7 - Usher children to the lunch table with Bibles and ready to listen to Daddy have family Bible study. We will also sing one hymn before prayer and lunch. This particular goal falls more under personal, because I have accepted responsibility for getting the children there, while Pete has accepted responsibility for teaching the hymn and Bible.

Goal #8 - We will have discussions about the sermon with our children following every church service.

Goal #9 - Memorize Westminster Shorter Chatechism. This is a program that our church is starting and we won't complete it in one year. Each quarter there is a section of the catechism (question, answer, and Scripture verses) that we will memorize together as a family, and thusly as a church (whoever wants to participate).

So much for my resolution of shorter posts.... Hope some of this is helpful.

And you? What kind of spiritual goals do you have for yourself this year? Or your family together? Please post in the comments!

Sorry for all the posts

2012-01-02T07:44:00.000-06:00

As I started seeing a jillion emails fly into my inbox, I realized what had happened - and you probably did, too. I was messing around with my blog yesterday trying to get my signature the right size. Finally got that accomplished, though there isn't an easy way to see it complete until you post. Blogger... are you listening?

Then, running on a simplicity theme here, I decided to combine the blog that I had started - Live Life Uncluttered, with my normal blog. I exported, then imported, and ended up with a kajillion new posts -without a clue that it would email them all to you. I'm sorry to flood your in-boxes and I hope you'll stick with me.

My mom emailed me about my little cleaning/decluttering kick (the kajillion imported posts) and wondered how in the world I completed all of that among Thanksgiving, having gallbladder surgery a few days later, then Noelle's birthday (she's 1 already!!!), and Christmas! Nope, not that ambitious - most of these projects were done in the early fall.

Preparing my post for our 2012 Spiritual Goals. Have a blessed day in the Lord!

Family Purpose Statement

2012-01-01T21:02:00.000-06:00

It has been so very long since I posted on here. Almost 3 months. A lot has happened, but I won't digress. One thing I would like to start doing on my blog is keeping up with it. I know that several of you have emailed me and asked "where are you," "why aren't you posting." Usually my posts ended up being so long that I get interrupted several times. Or I am aiming for perfection instead of completion and ended up with nothing. This year I am going to focus on concise posts, practical posts, more frequent posts - and hopefully more pictures. Maybe my iPhone pictures, as uninspiring as they may be, will speak a bit for me.

So, to start 2012 off with a bang, I want to share our family goals and my personal goals. I hope to do that over the coming weeks. For Christmas, my little ones gave me a new book (I asked for it). Organized Simplicity by Tsh Oxenreider. I requested the hardback version, versus the Kindle, because it has charts and such and I wanted to be able to make copies.

One of the very first things that Tsh recommends is making a family purpose statement. I have tried to do this on many ocassions, but it just ended up being my purpose statement instead of one for our whole family. This time, Big P and I took several of the questions that she gives you and talked about them at length. Me being the wordy of the family, compiled it all together and Big P tweaked it with me. She emphasizes how this should be timeless, and not really goal oriented, but values oriented. That took some thinking, prayer, and work. It was a fun project!

Here is our family purpose statement is (this is just an example - you must go through this process yourself to have the desired effect):

We, the Salinas’, believe that our purpose as a family is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

We hope to accomplish this by:

Growing in Christ likeness, purposing to raise godly adults, and ministering to others.
Making our home a place of safety, joy, and peace.
Choosing time together (producing or exploring) over personal entertainment.
Interacting with each other in a spirit of kindness and servitude.
Working to get out of debt and taking care of what we have.

I purchased a document frame at Walmart for $3 and an iron easel for $5. Printed up a copy of our statement with a very cool font - (Jellyka Delicious Cake available free on dafont.com) and boom, here's what I got....

I then printed up a copy to go inside my planner so that I can reference it when we are making plans during the year. Our #1 goal is to stay on track with the things that God has willed us to do and be a part of.

What about you... Have you thought about making a family purpose statement? I'd love to see yours. Please leave a comment below with your statement or link to your blog post about it.

Wishing for a modest middle?

2011-10-14T21:32:00.000-05:00

Found this really cool tank thing through the Life in a Shoe (Kim) blog. I could so use this on a windy day. Even the "around your neck" covers don't cover you in those instances and sweet little 10 month old sweethearts love to take the blanket off. Been there, done that. I want to win one of these amazing little boogers.

Now, I'd not send my husband to this website as their are ladies in modest middles and a bra...just a little warning.

You know - these ladies would make the big big bucks if they had a "modest little middle" - a slimming nursing tank top. Just sayin'.

Decluttered: Linens

2011-10-04T21:28:00.000-05:00

I finished my linens today. Though I'm glad to be done with that, I'm throwing in the towel on the bootcamp. Like I said before, I am cut out for the work that is going to be required to become a minimalist, but I feel like I must have victory over at least one area or I'm not going to be able to keep going. The motivation is not going to come when I open up the middle closet of Pete's office (where the linens are kept). The motivation is not going to come when I open up my junk drawer, since I never open the empty one. Get what I am saying? I'm not feeling very victorious at all because everything, seriously EVERYTHING, is chaotic around my home in terms of clutter. No one room has been tackled. There is no sanctuary to retreat to when I'm feeling completely overwhelmed - even though I have been working on the bootcamp for over a week. So, I'm going back to the beloved CCC - Colossal Clutter Cleanup - an old favorite.

I wanted so badly to love the bootcamp and I'm sure it would work well for someone who has hidden her clutter in drawers and cabinets throughout the house. Tanja is a fun writer and I like her blog topics. But she doesn't have a large family and let's face it, large families do things differently. I don't have my clutter all tucked away neatly. My friend at church does. Apparently she shoves stuff in drawers and closets. Mine sits out (and you saw the closet, so you know it does go deeper).

Anyway, she offers a refund if you aren't satisfied. While I hate to ask for a refund, I did, because honestly the method just wasn't working and $20 was a lot to pay for something that was not going to continue to help me. There is stuff on every flat surface of my house. Yes, I have minimalized junk drawers, personal care items, and socks - but none of those things were in sight anyway.

So, you are tired of hearing why I'm calling it quits on the bootcamp and now I'll reveal my pared down linens.

These are bath towels. Just bath towels. About 10 minutes after taking this photo and dividing everything up I found 5 more in another cabinet - for a total of 34 bath towels. There are 8 of us in the house. I think it's fair to say that we have too many towels. It's no wonder that I have trouble getting the children to reuse them and am constantly washing towels.

That's Brason holding a yardstick. Adding the 5 additional would have made this pile about 1 1/2 yards high.

Pile on the left are towels I am keeping in the house. Pile on the right is for the camper.

Kitchen towels. Pile on the left is for home. Pile on the right is for camper.

I was really perplexed as to how many towels to keep. After reading a couple of blogs about the subject here and here, here are the decisions I came to:

2 towels per person is more than enough. I will wash a load mid-week if necessary. (Funny story. After finally figuring out how many towels we should have I started splitting things up to find that I had various colored towels in pairs. Apparently this had already been decided at one time.)
1 towel per person in the camper is all that we can conceivably dry out each night while we are camping.
7 kitchen towels for the house. I will wash a load mid-week if necessary.
5 kitchen towels for the camper because I seem to use more of them there and they don't dry out as quickly in the smaller quarters.
I had other towels, washcloths, and rags that I sorted through - kept what was needed, donated a few things, and trashed the others.
I'm going to convert all of my kitchen towels to white towels at my next shopping trip. I love bleach. Don't hate me if you don't think I'm being very green or crunchy or whatever.
I will transfer my house kitchen towels to the camper and ditch the camper ones.
Eventually I would like to convert our bath towels to nice white towels. Maybe in January during a white sale or something. This was actually Pete's preference, we have just never done it.

I feel like I have accomplished something. I wish it were more and if I were doing this the CCC way, it would be. We are leaving for a camping trip on Thursday so I'm switching gears to take care of camper stuff and getting ready. I'll be making my CCC plan Thursday. For the record, I could have made it through real bootcamp - as long as they were methodical and organized.

Decluttered: Closet

2011-10-03T23:57:00.000-05:00

Well, I was supposed to go through linens today. I went through a lot of linens, but I had to unearth them from the middle closet first. So, if I'm going to dig it all out, why not go through it. Right? I'm about to be a bootcamp flunkie because I'm not liking it much at all right now. The parts of my house that I actually see are not getting any better while I'm making bigger messes from drawers and closets. Should I push through? Not sure. Really not sure right now. I didn't even make it all the way through the linens since technically that would include towels, washcloths, and kitchen towels. I'll tackle the rest of those tomorrow along with more clothes.

However, I did make it through the middle closet. Now this is just the once over. There are a few more things to get out of there, but this was the major stuff.

Before:

Paige uses this as her closet... the linen closet... the dress up clothes closet... the closet with the door which was removed from another closet...you get the idea. Pete told me he knew it was bad because he kept throwing things in there. Shame! lol

After:

Paige went through all the stuff in that plastic bin on top. To the left of that is the sheets that I am keeping plus one throw blanket. The white bin has most of Paige's shoes in it. She got rid of one pair but the rest she really does wear regularly - even white after labor day! Shame! (I'm shaming a lot of people tonight, huh?) The silver bin has dress up clothes. She cut that in 1/2.

Here's the evidence of what I parted with. I also had one full bag of trash.

You might be wondering what I kept.

We have 5 twin beds, 1 crib, and 1 king. I kept one fitted sheet for each twin plus one extra for accidents. If we have two sick children at one time, they will go on the floor. We don't put flat sheets on the twin beds and haven't for years. I donated them last year, I believe. I kept 3 crib sheets. We go through them more often with leaky diapers and such. Two sets of king sheets. We always tend to change our sheets right before going to bed - which makes it pretty difficult to wash, dry, and replace them. I'm saving myself that headache.
I put fleece tie blankets into the camper - one each for the younger 4 children.
I put a fitted sheet for each bed in the camper plus a blanket for the queen bed.
Actually, I didn't put anything in the camper - I sent the helpers to the camper with the loads. Brason (7) held the flashlight.
I parted with a lot. There was simply too much stuff, evidenced by the pictures!
Josefina stayed as did her clothing. This was a special gift and reminder of the Lord's provisions one Christmas for Paige. It was gifted to us by another family whose daughter had gotten years of use from it. Noelle will get it when she is old enough to take care of it and not brush it's hair. My mother-in-love replaced it's head once. A week later Paige brushed the hair out. I could have died. I'll replace the head soon - I bet they retire her soon.
There are various other bits and pieces in the closet but everything is something we are using or will use - like the lamp up there. I'm going to repurpose that on my nightstand!

My hubby made it through Marine bootcamp. Surely I can do this. I know I can, but not sure if I want to. It's seriously making a bigger mess, I think. Do I need a bigger mess? I'm also missing things, pieces. Like I know there are more dress up clothes and blankets. Ugh, I don't think I want to think about it. Just have to do it for another day. That won't be the end but it will be another day.

Goal for tomorrow: kitchen towels, dishcloths, bath towels, hand towels, washrags, more of my clothes.

Reader Question: Which book?

2011-10-03T12:06:00.000-05:00

I had a question via email from an e-friend who is also following this blog. With her permission, I'm posting her question and my response. I thought it might be helpful to someone else.

From R.I.:

Christine, I have kept up with your journey thus far. I am encouraged! Thank you! My house isn't to terribly cluttered but I have some hot spots that are about to drive me insane! I was looking over both books, the bootcamp and the Joy of Less. Which one do you recommend? I really like the bootcamp "idea" because my mind works like yours does. Reading your post the otherday about the laundry room made me laugh because it was me! To get started did you really need the other books you suggested or would the bootcamp one be sufficient? Thanks Christine!

My response:

The more I’m doing the bootcamp, the more I dislike it – but I’m committed, so I’m moving forward. Here’s an example. Today I’m supposed to work on linens. Well, my linens are buried in a middle closet. I have a huge box of them, but honestly I have to clean out the whole closet to get to them. We have just been washing sheets and putting them back on. Therefore, I don’t intend to keep many of the ones in the closet, but I still have to go through them.

If you think that you could be motivated by my blog, I would just either use the list I am making on my blog or make your own list of things you want to cover each day. I would add days like “cookbooks”, “knick-knacks”, “kids clothes” (she covers kids clutter, but this is not the same thing), etc.

She doesn’t have a big family. I’m not sure if she has any children at all – so this is not a blow to her, just a preference for me. When you are dealing with a family, it is different. If all of my linens were reachable at this point, it would not be a big deal. However, because I’m a clutter bug – they aren’t. That’s the problem! I was talking to my friend at church last night and she is doing the same thing at home, except she is doing it her way with no additional helps. When you are looking for all your school memorabilia to decide what you want to keep, you have to dig through all the various places you have put it to find it – that way you can see what you have and determine what you want to keep.

It is quite possible that you house isn’t anything as bad as mine, so the bootcamp might work fine for you.

However, if I were to pick, I would go with the Joy of Less because she really talks about why you don’t need as much stuff as you think you do (or did) and how to dig it out. I feel like she should have added more rooms, though. And of course anything would need to be tailored if the person had a small family, a large family, retired, etc. The lady that wrote Joy of Less is married with no children – but she has a lot of great ideas in there. She also covers some organizing aspects that the other doesn’t cover. Right now I’m just trying to pare down to the very minimum and then I’ll organize it later, but she talks about having modules and things like that – which I love.

From R.I.:

I kinda did what you're doing as far as paring down goes, a few months ago. However, I feel like I need to do it again. We got rid of probably 50% of our stuff. But like I said there are some hot spots that need some attention. I need to make a plan! Thanks for your honesty on the book, I don't want to spend 20 if I don't have to. I think that having children is HUGE in this. I try to get this done and then have to change diapers, etc. etc. etc. So then I get distracted! HOwever, I know this needs to be done around here because like you, I don't feel peace in my home. Plus, I want my children to be able to take care of their home when it's time! My husband used to have problems with my housekeeping, but not anymore. I have gotten better as far as housekeeping goes (cleanliness), but if I'm cleaning, I'm not decluttering and don't have time! Such a catch 22. So I guess a PLAN is what I need. And the kids will be involved so I will spend time with them! I want the house to be minimal so I actually have time to spend with my children doing fun things and not having to worry about what needs to be "decluttered". AND not feel guilty! Which is satan! UGH! Thanks Christine! I must go plan!

My response:

To that I would say a hearty “amen and amen”. I want to spend more time with my children, too. While I know that peace comes from Jesus, I think that He has given us a perfect example of what we need to live when he depended on the Father for everything. When junk fills my home, I’m not depending on the Father – I’m depending on me. That’s not working out too well.

If you have a Kindle, iPhone, iPad, or are willing to read online, I would do kindle version of the book so that you don’t have to add one more thing to your home right now. Plan, be blessed, and then get into action! J Let me know how it goes as I’d love to hear your progress.

Decluttered: Socks, Shoes, and T-shirts

2011-10-01T22:58:00.000-05:00

I didn't get much done today, but yesterday I did tackle the socks and t-shirts. More on that in a minute. Today I got rid of 2 pairs of shoes (one from me and 1 from Pete) and threw away 1. As in one shoe. I'm not sure where the other is. I haven't been able to unearth it from the closet yet. I guess I'll tackle that when I'm through with the 30 day bootcamp. Looking over the next 20 days or so, I don't think we cover things like: musical instruments, valentine's for next year's valentine's party, or gun gear.

Socks. Wow. Apparently by my own laundry habits (or lack thereof) I've turned my husband into a hoarder.

Before:

After: The bottom right socks are for Winter.

T-shirts. Before: (I basically took 3 drawers out of the dresser and dumped them on our bed)

After:

I threw away 18 shirts and gave away 3. I'm serious. All of this with Pete's permission, of course. He actually picked what he wanted to keep and he didn't pick many.

Over the years we have figured out what we like to wear. He likes white t-shirts with a v-neck. So, he got rid of almost everything else except the ones he likes to wear outside of the house. Then he added Hanes V-neck white tshirts to the grocery list for the next time I go. Why do we keep things in our closet that we don't like to wear? I have no issues purchasing a pack of t-shirts even though he was happy to wear the other ones - because he prefers hanes v-neck. It's the little things in life that make life a little easier. Right?

It's killing me!

2011-09-30T15:56:00.000-05:00

The 30 day bootcamp deal is killing me. Not because I'm not cut out for the work involved. Oh, no! I am. It's just that she is going about it so differently than I ever would - and probably why I have failed with the major decluttering task up until this point.

She has you categorizing things - junk drawer, music CDs, underwear drawer, shoes, etc. And it is quite possible that some people think like this naturally. I'm not one of those people. See... the above assumes that you have all of your music CDs in one spot. Your shoes... in your closet. Your socks... in your sock drawer. I'm not one of those people, either.

The way I would do it is like this:

"Today I am going to declutter the laundry room". I walk into the laundry room with three things. 1) laundry basket (keep), 2) box (giveaway), 3) trash bag (duh!). Starting at one corner of the laundry room I dig through the pile finding a shoe with no match, a folding metal chair we use when guests come over, an old kids apron from Home Depot building days, and some safety swimsuits (you know, the floating kind). I decide to keep three of the 4 because I don't know if we still have the other shoe or not and if we do... why would you get rid of a pair of shoes a younger sibling could wear.

Then I move over to the freezer and discover that everything in there is great but we need to defrost it. I need some towels on the floor to defrost it. I start to sort the towels out of the dirty clothes and discover an overflowing mound of clothes that need to be sorted and washed. I sort the clothes and realize at the bottom of the pile is that shoe. Go back to the laundry room find the original shoe, try it on the owner, and discover it doesn't fit. Try it on the younger sibling. Oh, it will work in about 3 months. Go put the shoe in the closet. Wow. This closet is a mess. What are these dirty clothes doing in here? Grab the clothes, head to the pile. Big pile of towels? Oh, yea - for the freezer. You see?

So, even though it is killing me, I'll keep going with this thing. It seems to be more successful.

However, we don't seem to be dealing with the stuff that is spread out all over the house. We seem to be digging through drawers and cabinets and closets. While it looks like I really am making some headway, all I can see around me is clutter clutter everywhere.

Through all this I am realizing how debilitating clutter really is to me. It is absolutely paralyzing. I was thinking about it today, actually. We have all these bookshelves in our living room. I really love them. I love all the books but sometimes things start coming off the shelves and there is no room to put them back. So the stuff gets put on the floor right next to the bookshelf. No one thinks much of it at the time, but as you probably know, clutter begets clutter and sooner rather than later we have a major malfunction - a large pile.

At this point all I can see IS a pile. I can't see what's in the pile because the pile itself is so overwhelming to me. Totally overwhelming. Like depressing type of overwhelming. In order to escape that feeling, we end up leaving the house and sometimes we come home with more stuff to fix that feeling. It's a horrible vicious cycle.

But the 30 day bootcamp deal is working because it is forcing me to find that junk that I need to find anyway. I had to sort through the entire laundry basket of socks today to find Pete's socks so that I could cull them. I have avoided that dumb sock basket like the plague.

In the process my plan has been altered a bit - or at least added to. I will continue the 30 day plan and then I will go back through the house with The Joy of Less plan - as she goes room by room. I needed it in babysteps because I think the room by room thing would have killed me worse. Technically you can only be killed once, but you get my drift.

Even more profound, I'm seeing how those hoarders end up on TV. I will not end up like that. My thinking has to change. That's why they make them deal with it instead of sending in a crew to pick it all up. They have to see their stuff for what it is and then they have to make changes in their heart and thought process to keep it from getting that way again.

Come, Follow Me

2011-09-29T22:18:00.000-05:00

Matthew 19:21

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

This was so cool, I just had to share. Last night I was reading Miss Minimalist's blog and she had a post on Minimalism and Religion. Now, if you will remember, I said that I felt like a lot of us Christians were missing the boat on some of these issues.

She used the above reference and then several other instances and quotes from other religions. She's not a Christian, however I think she made a very good point.

Jesus was saying here "get rid of the stuff in your life that you have put above Me." That's what I am aiming to do - getting rid of the stuff in my life (excess material possessions and overeating) that has been an idol for far too long.

So, check this out...

This morning I was reading Made to Crave (note to self, go back and update the post about reading disciplines with current book selections) and she cites this exact verse! No joke. See - it's not just about the stuff or the food, it's about putting Him first and not being hindered by our self made idols.

Pretty cool, huh?!

Decluttered: Underwear Drawer

2011-09-29T21:51:00.000-05:00

I try to cull this area down pretty often, but it was on the plan and I'm following the plan... so I did what I was told to do. Paige has been working on laundry so I had warned her to be looking for randomly placed undergarments (read: underwear that was in a load with other things) so that I could go through it all at the same time and see what we were really dealing with. I really should get a handle on this area and put all my undergarments together or something, but I don't - and probably won't.

Here's the before (I have strategically blurred the contents to prevent you from viewing things you shouldn't view, while still giving you an idea of volume of contents):

It doesn't seem like there is a whole lot there, but it's really more than we need and there was plenty to get rid of.

Here's the pile I got rid of. Not bad, eh? Pete was really easy to "co-hearse". All I had to do was ~~twist his arm and threaten to not do laundry~~ ask him what he wanted to keep. (seriously, that's all I had to do - ask him!)

And here's the after (with properly blurred garments):

Now, I will just say that I'm a bit perplexed by Tanja and her list of maximum amounts of items to keep. It made me feel like I was the minimalist in this scenario. Her "good rule of thumb" list includes a maximum of "10 pairs of socks, 5 undershirts, 10 bras, 10 pairs of underwear, and 5 pajamas or nightgowns." Now I'm as behind on laundry as the next lady with 6 kiddos, but seriously? Some minimalists want to only keep 100 items (I'll never be this extreme) and according to this list that would only leave you 60 items to live life on. Hmm.

You will notice a very small amount of socks in the drawer above. I don't wear socks. Even in the winter, I rarely wear socks. I used to wear flip-flops until I realized that I looked extremely odd to everyone else. Hubby works from home and wears boots on Sunday. We share the short socks. I use them when I workout and actually have to wear tennis shoes. And there are more socks than this that just haven't been paired up. I was really feeling against pairing up socks just to go through them and give half of them away. I'll work on that tomorrow as the area to declutter will take me all of 3 seconds. Shoes. I have 4 pair and already know I'm giving away one pair of them because they don't work well when I have to walk to the car on our country driveway.

In fact, I think I'll tackle shoes, socks, and tshirts tomorrow!!!

Decluttered: Personal care items

2011-09-28T17:35:00.000-05:00

Here's what we are dealing with. The down and dirty - or up and clean depending on how you look at it.

Now I did not pull out every bit of everything we have that would be considered personal care. One example would be nail clippers. I didn't pull those out until I looked back over her list. At that point I found out that we had 3 pair of baby nail clippers, 3 pair of regular nail clippers, and 2 pair of toe nail clippers. I decided to cull down to 1 baby pair, 1 toe nail pair, and 2 regular pair.

And it is quite possible that we will not need any hand soap for the next 9 months to a year....

Aveeno lotion... at least a year!

Toothpaste... a few months.

I kept a lot but I put all the extras together into one bin in the laundry room. I donated a few items and trashed a whole 1/2 a bag. It's heavy, too.

Decluttered: Junk Drawers

2011-09-28T08:39:00.000-05:00

I turned them back into their purpose - utility drawers. No junk allowed!

Before:

It's hard to see in this photo, but there is A LOT of stuff here. It filled a large laundry basket. Crazy. I haven't tackled this area in years and I just kept throwing stuff in the drawers when I didn't know what to do with it. In our home, everything does not have a home. But it will...

After:

Yes, that IS an empty drawer you see. Isn't it grand!

Now I did relocate some items that I was not quite ready to part with. I moved a bunch of pencils back to their home in the school area, but for the most part what you don't see was either trashed or donated. I kept so many mechanical pencils and pens.. and permanent markers.. because we really do use them. Until I can get everyone on board with putting back what they get out, we will need this many.

Live Life Uncluttered

2011-09-28T08:17:00.001-05:00

I started a new blog to journal my thoughts and progress on minimizing our stuff down to the necessities and a few extras as well as my journey to declutter excess weight from my body.

You can see it here: livelifeuncluttered.blogspot.com

Purpose for Minimizing

2011-09-28T08:10:00.000-05:00

It looks as if many "minimalists" saying minimalizing (or minimalising, depending on where they are located) instead of minimizing. They mean the same thing but minimalizing would have the context that you want to become a minimalist. While that is the jist of what I am going for, that does not encompass my goal per say. My goal is God driven and I talked about it briefly in a post on my other blog.

Unfortunately I don't know many missionaries, so that didn't take me too far as an example of which to draw from but I am finding minimalism to encompass what I am trying to accomplish. But minimalism comes with its context of new-agey stuff that I'm so not about. Yet, these people have something that a lot of Christians are missing. Not in terms of their eternal life or the reason for their very being, but walking out contentment in a material sort of way. Many of us are missing the boat on this issue.

I needed a little guidance on a how-to get this decluttering thing done. I've read flylady and I'm not talking about a general get rid of some stuff sort of way. I'm talking about the nitty gritty, down and dirty chunk the stuff sort of reality. So with my hobby money this payday I purchased the 30 Day Clutter Bootcamp. That's what I have been working on the past few days. She doesn't got into why to get rid of the stuff so much as to how to get rid of it, breaking things down into baby steps for the easily overwhelmed. That's me!

On day 1 she has you make a master plan. Below you will find my master plan straight from the pages of my iPad. I'm calling it the Master plan, because I'm working for my Master - The Lord Jesus Christ - and the things that I am doing here, I want to be glorifying to Him alone. Maybe some of this will be encouraging to you.

Why:
I want to continue to declutter because the visual chaos is constantly distracting me and I rarely feel peaceful and calm when at home. It seems I am always organizing but really I am just moving piles from here to there. I get rid of a lot but not enough. The idea of living with just what we need is very calming to me - like when we are camping. My biggest life goal is to enjoy every day the Lord has given to me. To have moments of pure laughter and full service to Him.

Assess:
These are my problem areas:

kitchen counter
homemaking supplies - gardening, canning, etc.
cookbooks
photos and memorabilia - not the photos themselves, just 15 shots of the same thing
cleaning products
blankets
scentsy bars
clothes - too many kids clothes
sheet sets
audio cds/ seminars (I decluttered those here)
notebooks
self-help books
curriculum
baby clothes
hair bows
things I want to do "someday" (though someday never comes because I'm constantly visually overwhelmed)
personal care products
first aid items
organization boxes
supplements and medicine cabinet stuff

Visioning:
interjecting something here: this is not and "idealist" sort of mentality. This is about the way I am bent and the things I enjoy.

light colored walls
quilts in each room (and time to quilt)
room for lots of scrapbooks (and time to scrap) for all of us to look at
empty spaces so my eyes can rest somewhere
vintage and lamplighter books
clear kitchen counters with a scentsy warmer on the island
8 mason jars for drinking lined up all in a row on the island
a vase of fresh flowers on the table
laundry room with laundry baskets for dirty clothes
light and airy rooms with natural light filtering in
white refrigerator (we need to replace ours very soon!)
hardwood floors and little to no carpet

Action plan:

I want to declutter 6 days per week; Sundays off to enjoy The Lord's Day & a board game with the kids
My goal is to reduce our stuff by 50-75% depending on the area/category
I would like to be finished with the declutter in 3 months
priority is kitchen, the clothes, closets, music
so I had to give up my priority for actually getting things done because this is not the order that she does things in the book.

Maintenance:

wait on maintenance until decluttering is done
purchase purposefully from now on

Things have to change - they must be different.
Living life simply leads to living life freely.

Decluttered: Music and Audio CDs

2011-09-27T18:48:00.000-05:00

Granted that most of our music is on mp3, but this was a sizable stack and most of it we didn't even listen to. A couple of these are DVDs.

Here's what we got it down to. Then I went through iTunes and deleted the things that we had gotten rid of so there was no illegal duplicating.

We have quite a huge collection of audio seminars and radio shows. Here's the ones we decide to part with. Along with 2 of those CD binder book deals.

Not bad for an hour of work.

Purpose of Blog

2011-09-26T19:35:00.000-05:00

The purpose of this blog is to journal two aspects of my life - 1) the desire to bring my body into obedience to the Lord by releasing 60+ pounds and 2) making our home a place of calmness and clutter free living. Uncluttering my body and home.

Living simply so that I can live freely.

stuff gone for good

2011-09-26T18:14:00.000-05:00

I have many notes started for a book that I intend to write - Minimizing when your Maxed out. I'll not go into that right now. This needs to be a short post so that I can get on with what I am intending to do.

In the last week I have decluttered 2 large van (we have a 12 passenger with the back seat out) of stuff from our house. "What was it," you might ask. I have no idea. I can distinctly remember getting rid of a 12 qt. roaster I used once and a quilt (I scanned it for posterity's sake before sending it on its way). The quilt was given to us by the local quilt guild when our 7 year old had his tubes put in 6+ years ago. It was sweet, but too small for anyone to use.

Here are a few pics of the piles I have made and toted promptly to the van for transferring to the Mercy Closet (at church):

Much of the motivation to rid our home of this large amount of stuff came from this great mini-guide from Simplify 101. Then I started getting really serious and started thinking "minimalism" and bought the book The Joy of Less.

The thing is... I'm so not finished and that is why I have started this blog.

In Him,
Christine

Quilt Reveal: Kimbo's Quilt

2011-09-24T18:50:00.000-05:00

I finally uploaded my camera full of pictures and at the very top of the stack were pictures of my sister's quilt. Well, the quilt was technically a gift for her and Brady - for their wedding. Let's be honest. It was for her, from me. I love Brady but I don't think he gets goo goo gah gah over quilts. I knew my sister would. There are 24 fabrics in here plus the border. Kimbo picked 15 of them via a fat quarter set. It is a full size quilt.

The pattern is: Yellow Brick Road by Terry Atkinson.

Notice the beautiful "heartstrings" quilting. It is a beautiful turquoise thread. I had it longarm quilted by a friend of mine from the quilt guild and notated that information on the label as well.

I used a sew-in colorfast printer fabric for the label. You can design your own and make a sort of pocket that you then can hand sew onto the back of the quilt. I found the tutorial here.

Kimbo and Brady both loved it and it stays on the foot of their bed. I loved making!!!

Life Disciplines: Reading

2011-09-14T06:00:00.041-05:00

A few years ago, I remember my friend, Brandi, trying this idea. I decided to try it without much success. I got bogged down and couldn’t recover. In a recent discussion with Brandi, I realized that she was trying it again. One of the things that she reiterated was that she was not going to get bogged down. If she missed a day, then she just moved on and picked it up again the following week.

All that said - onto the subject of this post.

Reading

Do you have shelves and shelves of books that you want to read but never get to? Possibly you have a mile-long (or close) list of books that have been recommended and you want to check them all out. Maybe you have a burning desire to regularly visit the library for yourself, not just your children.

Therefore we come to the discipline of reading non-fiction books that can be used by the Lord to teach new and practical skills for living while glorifying Him.

I believe that the Bible is the ONLY book that is 100% true and 100% God inspired. I do not feel there is an equal, nor do I feel that there is a book that can accurately and effectively teach as well as the Bible teaches, since the Bible is NOT just literature. That said… I do think that God uses His people to effectively write books that reiterate His truths and give help in practical aspects of living. Likewise, I believe that God uses non-believers to write books that we can read and learn from. We must use discernment in anything we read. Basically books are great, but should never be used above of or in place of God’s Holy Word.

I love this quote from Charlie "Tremendous" Jones - "You are the same today you’ll be in five years except for two things: the people you meet and the books you read." So I say that you should be extra careful of what you spend your time reading!

So, here’s the “how to”. Each day of the week I am reading portions of books; one book each day. Currently I am trying to read 1 chapter in each book, but that may fluctuate depending on the depth of the book and the material it covers. This is done after I have my daily Bible reading and prayer. I am currently in 3 differently Bible studies, so I am spreading those out over the month.

I snagged Brandi’s “days” and I’ll share them here along with the books I am currently reading in each of the categories. These “days”/categories made sense to me. I renamed them to be me-style and added the last one. The links go to amazon, though we usually buy our used books through www.abebooks.com. I like their pricing/shipping structure better.

Monday	Growing in God	Disciplines of a Beautiful Woman
Tuesday	Growing through Marriage	Love Your Husband Love Yourself
Wednesday	Growing through Parenting	When You Feel Like Screaming
Thursday	Growing through Health	~~Thin Within (one “day” per week)~~ Made to Crave *I changed direction here because I just needed something different.
Friday	Growing through Homemaking	From Clutter to Clarity
Saturday	Just Because	Quilted with Love

*I'm not "recommending" these books. I have only read one of them all the way through before and even that one was read at a very different time in my life.

Brandi reminded me that life is not a race and neither does it matter how quickly we get through the books we have on our shelves. Since non-fiction books are general thinking material, I thought this would work out best for me and my ADD brain to not get bogged down and hyper-focused. And I simply must remember to just keep moving past perfectionism.

picture from: http://www.page1book.com/

Disciplines

2011-09-13T21:59:00.000-05:00

I’m reading Disciplines of a Beautiful Woman by Anne Ortlund. This is the next to last paragraph of the first chapter. I loved it and posted it on facebook. It’s so good. Think about it.

“What have I learned in these last six years? That Spirit-motivated disciplines facilitate the Christian walk. Oh, I'm not discounting all the warm feelings along the route, when I've sung Jesus-songs and held hands and the rest. But our sensuous age forgets that feelings come and feelings leave you, but the disciplines of life are what get you to where you want to go.”

So much of what I do or don’t do is based on feelings. I don’t have any really good disciplines. I want to, but I don’t. Or do I really want to? Honestly, probably not. Living based on feelings is easier, but it does not bring glory or honor to God.

Discipline is hard – even more so if you have to discipline yourself or if the Lord has to discipline you. I’m going to try to work on a series about disciplines – either as I come to them in the book or ones I think of on my own or learn about from other people.

It would probably be a good idea to take this as a heeding to continue to teach our children disciplines so that things aren’t so hard on them when they are grown and away from home.

Free Wordart

2011-09-02T11:28:00.000-05:00

I'm going through some old files, cleaning up pictures, simplifying memory life. I came across these and thought I would share them. I think they are probably on this blog somewhere previously - when I was really into digital scrapbooking. But not necessarily easily accessible now. They are yours if you would like them. No need to give credit, I just don't want them to go to waste.

All of them are downloadable through this link: http://www.4shared.com/folder/gQz64jJC/Wordart.html

Letter to a Son

2011-06-25T15:36:00.000-05:00

As promised (to some of my e-friends and IRL friends), I'm posting the letter that my sweet husband wrote to share with my father-in-love's congregation on Father's Day. He wrote this from a position of humility, not one of "arrival". He will fully admit that the very things that he wrote in here, he has either struggled with in the past, or still struggles with, himself. Don't preach this to your husband! If you care to share this with him, do so in a way that honors him as leader and father in your home, so that it may be received well.

Pete introduced this letter as one that he was afraid many men will have to "write" when their children are gone, if not on paper, then definitely in thought.

Dear Son,

I am writing this letter to you today because there are many things I failed to pass on to
you while you were here in my house. I chose not to invest in your life when I had the
chance. Because of this, I have also failed your children. The things I should have
passed on to you should also have been handed down to them. You are at a
disadvantage because I was selfish and did not really love you as much as I told you.
My love for you and the rest of our family was very shallow. I chose to chase dreams
that had no eternal value and really only meant something to me. I called myself a
Christian, but I was only a follower of myself and my own pleasure. Your dreams and
needs were only considered after I took care of my wants. I should have known that
Satan desired to attack and destroy my family.

Mark 3:27 tells me, "But no one can enter the strong man’s house and plunder his
property unless he first binds the strong man, and then he will plunder his house."
I allowed myself to be tied up by Satan. I did not get on my knees daily to ask for the
strength I needed to battle for your life. My foolishness allowed my house to be
plundered. You were taken from me little by little and I did not even seem to care. Oh,
how must have felt when I chose myself over you everyday.

I should have sat down with our family everyday to pray for our families needs. You had
hurts and fears that needed my acknowledgment. I should have been the one taking
your needs to God when you needed direction and comfort. Instead I chose to stay up
late watching grown men play games on a box. A box that brought in more filth than
good to our home. I chose to keep this box in our home rather than to protect you from
temptations that you were not ready for. You were especially not ready to handle them
on your own.

I can still remember the last two times you came to me asking questions about what you
learned in Sunday School. The first time I told you "why don't you go ask your mother,
because she is in charge of all that stuff". The next time I am sure I said "you just need
to go ask your teacher, because they know better than me". Well basically I was telling
you, that they knew God's Word and I really did not have time for that sissy stuff. But
now, I understand that a real man should know his sword better than anyone else. I
should be the one leading our family time in God's Word. I should not have rested till I
was able to help you clearly dissect the truth, so that you had the armor you needed.
As Psalm 127:4 and 5 speaks to me, you should have been "like arrows in the hand of a
warrior, So are the children of one’s youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full
of them; They will not be ashamed When they speak with their enemies in the gate."
You should not have been ashamed when you faced the enemy, and even though you
may have had some fear in your heart, you would have known that God's Word was
hidden in your heart as well. You also would have felt comfort knowing that I was there
to ask for your protection by spending my free time on my knees praying for you.
Instead I chose to work extended hours away from home to pay for my wants instead of
spending time with you. I could have very easily paid for our needs, like a house and
food, without spending that extended amount of time away from you and our family. I
chose to invest in things that I can not even remember right now. But I do remember
seeing you drift away from me. You began to see strangers as your heroes. Those
people that could dunk or throw a football and that had body like a Mac Truck. So where
did your slightly overweight, older and slower father fit in to that hero worship. I didn't.
I should have taught you of real heroes. The fathers that gave their life and their living to
protect and to serve their families. The fathers that spent time with their family instead of
time on the golf course. Or the father that will go on a couple of hours of sleep to make
sure his children do not miss out on a time of spiritual growth, like attending church
together as a family.

I said I would have died for you, but I guess that did not include my living for you. Now
we are here to bury you because I chose temporal things over my living family. Now I
will be the one to raise your son, and I just hope I have learned my lesson.

Please forgive me son.
Your sinful father.

His Robes for Mine

2011-05-17T07:42:00.000-05:00

Have you heard this fairly new hymn? It is amazing. I just love it!! I downloaded it on iTunes for 99 cents and Paige and I have been enjoying singing it. We heard it first at church. Anywhoo, I'm not going to get off on a tangent, but I wanted to share it with you all. If you listen to the tune on the sample from iTunes, you can sing along with just the words. This website even has the sheet music, but I really enjoy singing it with the BJU quartet that I downloaded on iTunes.

Church Works Media

Here are the words:

His robes for mine: O wonderful exchange!
Clothed in my sin, Christ suffered ‘neath God’s rage.
Draped in His righteousness, I’m justified.
In Christ I live, for in my place He died.

Chorus:

I cling to Christ, and marvel at the cost:
Jesus forsaken, God estranged from God.
Bought by such love, my life is not my own.
My praise-my all-shall be for Christ alone.

His robes for mine: what cause have I for dread?
God’s daunting Law Christ mastered in my stead.
Faultless I stand with righteous works not mine,
Saved by my Lord’s vicarious death and life.

His robes for mine: God’s justice is appeased.
Jesus is crushed, and thus the Father’s pleased.
Christ drank God’s wrath on sin, then cried “‘Tis done!”
Sin’s wage is paid; propitiation won.

His robes for mine: such anguish none can know.
Christ, God’s beloved, condemned as though His foe.
He, as though I, accursed and left alone;
I, as though He, embraced and welcomed home!

is God really first?

2011-05-10T08:16:00.001-05:00

I feel completely inadequate to write this post, but since it is so heavily on my heart, I decided to go for it. Hopefully God will use my efforts for His glory. Learning the hard way is... well, hard.

We've all said it. We may have grown up hearing it. When someone asks us about our priorities, we tend to list God first, then husband, children, etc. Chances are that if you grew up in a Christian home or going to church, this was the norm - the "right" answer. But is it true? Is God really first?

As I have started thinking about morning routines and all that I would like to get accomplished in a day, embarking on this whole Maximize Your Mornings commitment - I have taken a hard look at His place in my list of to-dos. For years I have purposed to get up daily and read the Word. I have not always succeeded in that goal and there have been some seriously dry times in my life when I wouldn't even make myself do it. I knew it was the right thing to do, but it seemed like there were so many other things that "had" to get done.

God has used those dry times in my life. I'm not doubting that. Honestly, though, they have been much harder than needed to be and ultimately, were used for one big main goal - to draw me closer to Him, to make me realize my need for Him - for time in His Word, for communion with Him, for praise and honor to Him, for refreshment, fulfillment, and feeding - on Him. So, really, it comes back to spending time with Him. If I would have just obeyed, I'd have had an easier time of it.

I should have listened the first (second, third....) time - but I didn't. My spiritual life grew stagnant and boring. I wasn't growing. I wasn't changing. I wasn't being all that God had called me to be - simply because I wasn't spending time with Him.

Why do we think we can get away with that? At least for any length of time. I mean... sure, there will be days that we don't get in the Word - a day here, a day there. But a week here, a month there - man, we are in for some hard and dry times. Our heart becomes hard. We sin; often times without even knowing it. We are grieving the Holy Spirit.

If God truly has the power that we say He does - why aren't we trying to learn from Him? If He is supposed to be our best friend, why aren't we receiving His phone calls? Since He speaks to us through His word, we should be longing to have that call with Him each day. We'd never ignore a phone call from one of our closest friends. Again - this is me speaking from experience. I have most definitely not arrived. I'm still figuring this stuff out and convicted daily of these very things. When I made His word a real priority in my life, my life started changing; my walk with Him started changing; my family started changing.

I've been reading Elizabeth George's Life Management for Busy Women. (on a side note: I just had a discussion with Big P and the Big kids about the fact that "woman" makes me sound old. I don't feel like a woman. I forget my age - I think I'm still in my 20s.)

If you also want to make God first in your life (for real!), here are some tips Elizabeth shares. You must read her book, though, because I'm not going to elaborate on them much.

Refuse to miss a day. You can use the quiet times calendar I posted. Be faithful in just one thing - spending a portion of your day reading your Bible.
Pray as you approach God's Word - I'm realizing that this doesn't have to be a sit down and pray sort of a prayer. When I get up in the morning, I'm talking to God. I'm going to the restroom and drinking my glass of water and talking to God. I'm thanking Him for the morning that He has allowed me to enjoy and asking that He open my eyes (figuratively and literally at 5 am) to His word and plan for me for the day. I'm certain that this is what is meant by praying without ceasing (1 Thesselonians 5:17). I have another prayer time after I read, but this is to really set the tone for my quiet time.
Consume God's Word in various ways. Listen to teaching on your ipod or DVD. This book was written in 2002, so she is still saying tapes and videos. Some that I love are: Cindy Rushton, Jim Berg, and Nancy Leigh DeMoss. Also check out the Embassy Institute from IBLP. Listen to praise songs and hymns. Ones we love around here are: David Nevue, Serene and Pearl, and Val Halloran.
Find a rhythm or a pattern that fits your lifestyle. Find a time for reading your Bible that fits your lifestyle - but do find it and don't use a busy life as an excuse (her words, not mine. :D). She really stresses time, first time, early time.
Be a woman of one Book - the Book. If you only have time to read one book, make it THE book. "First, make it a rule to read what honors God's standards and glorifies Him." Put away all the magazines and stuff that doesn't edify. Even if it is a Christian book, and you aren't reading the Word regularly, put it away until you get into the habit of spending more time reading His words than others'.
Be accountable. Check this out: "Thomas Edison made it his practice to first announce his intentions on a given project, then get into the laboratory, get busy, and make the announcement become a reality!" Do you have someone that will check in on you? Accountability can be a convictingly (not a word, apparently) good thing!
Beat the family. Seriously - that's what she says. Ha. Get up earlier than your family gets up. See the Maximize Your Mornings challenge to wake up for your children, not to your children.
Teach your children. Have a table time reading and studying God's word. We are just starting this and it is becoming such a blessing! Teach your children to be in their Word. Ingrain this habit in them from childhood. If they can read, they need a quiet time. I highly recommend the Discover 4 Yourself studies for children 8-12 or so.
Purpose to get up. "Surely, any woman with any passion for anything makes sure she gets up to enjoy that passion!"
Aim for more time. Two principles she shares, "Something is better than nothing and Always aim for more."

My prayer for you is that time with God is a priority for you or becomes so. Treasure it. Cherish it. Live it.

pic from: http://blueeyedennis-siempre.blogspot.com/2010_02_01_archive.html

(Surviving) The Curriculum Fair

2011-05-05T08:18:00.000-05:00

Going to a bookfair? Overwhelmed? Make a plan! Here's a great, free planning tool from Donna Young. I'm going solo to the bookfair this year. They have doubled the price for adults since last year. What is up with that? I'd love to send a message that that is ridiculous, but I really want to go - so the message I'm sending is that only 1 of the 4 that normally go is going. So there! (stomping foot on ground). Not sure how effective that will be.

Anyhoo.

(Surviving) The Curriculum Fair

Systems for Sanity: Kitchen Day: Part 1

2011-05-04T17:04:00.000-05:00

Part of the Kitchen Day will be spent focusing on some major kitchen chores. Most of these chores will be weekly and a few of them will be monthly. I sat down with the children this morning and talked about what chores they felt were necessary for a clean kitchen after having made quite a list myself. I was surprised that they actually came up with things I hadn't thought of.

Since creating this file, I have thought of a few more things and added them in pencil (a BIG step for me). I'm including the pdf version and the word version for you to tweak and make your own.

This will look different for you than it does for me. Your husband may have preferences that aren't on our list. You may have preferences that aren't on our list. To each his own - don't get bogged down in looking like someone else.

To start making my home management binder, I printed a sheet with the day of the week and then what area we are focusing on - one for each day/area. Then I am adding things in pencil that I want to accomplish or do that day. I'm printing out chores or meal plans, etc. to go behind each of these days/areas. I can go back and redo things later, make them prettier, update, etc, but the point is to just get them down and in the binder so that we have a reference point to what the week should look like.

When I am feeling like a crazy woman and don't know what "the next thing" is, I can go to the binder and "do the next thing."

When I asked Pete what area he wanted me to focus on, his preference was to streamline meals and meal time. That's what I'm working on so I'm filling in the gaps on my blog in case it is helpful to some of you.

Systems for Sanity: The Weekly Plan

2011-05-04T10:26:00.000-05:00

This won't be news to anyone with a large family, but I'll say it anyway. Kim Benneman of Large Family Logistics blog has written a book with a ton of her years of wisdom and learning; under the same name.

I used to read Kim's blog and then it went away when she was dealing with the premature birth of one of her babies. I never fully implemented her system because I have a hard time reading on the web for long periods of time and I didn't really care for printing out large portions of her blog. I'm a cheapskate with some things.

So glad to have this book. What an incredible investment for our family. I'll save the details for Kim to share with you when you purchase her book, but the jist of it is to have a plan for your week where you are focusing on one area of your home each day. I'm a categorizer by nature so this is perfect for me.

Here is our plan:

Sunday - The Lord's Day
Monday - Laundry Day
Tuesday - Office Day (Planning Day)
Wednesday - Town Day
Thursday - Kitchen Day
Friday - Cleaning Day/Camping/Field trips
Saturday - Garden/Farm Day

More on each area as we go...

Systems for Sanity: Quiet Times: Part 1

2011-05-02T22:43:00.000-05:00

I think I'm going to blog my way through the journey that Pete and I are going on. I figure that the Lord is showing us mighty things and they might be helpful to someone else. Please know that this is going to look different for each person and I expect that you will take direction directly from the Lord and not from me. This is just here if you need a little more inspiration after the Holy Spirit has led you.

Quiet time is a necessary part of a Christian woman's day. This is non-optional and vital for a growing relationship with the Lord.

That said... I am a planner and I like to have a plan for my mornings when I'm expecting to have a wonderful visit with the Lord. I have to make lists when I finally get together with my dear friend Tanya. Likewise I like to come to the Lord in an orderly way - praise, time in the Word, and prayer. I've already been talking about praise and music and I'll get back to blogging about that when I get a clear go-ahead from the Lord.

The idea I am about to share came from Elizabeth George in her book Life Management for Busy Women (excellent book, by the way). It is a Quiet Time Calendar and the idea is that you will fill in the box corresponding with the date each morning during your quiet time. The goal is that you will build a solid line through the months as you meet with the Lord, your very best friend, each morning.

I didn't want to copy it out of the book so I built my own to go in my new 1/2 size binder (purchased for $5 at Mardel). I'm sharing it with you here in Word format and PDF.

Printing on card-stock is ideal because you will (hopefully) be using this 365 times - let's be honest and realistic - 250? And if you happen to be thinking that you don't own 1/2 size paper, you just take your paper fold it in half, lick, fold, lick, tear - the old fashioned way. :)

This is all in conjunction with the Maximize Your Mornings Challenge that Kat just posted. And since I want to encourage you to maximize your mornings in the Word of God, I'm going to bed right now so that I can maximize mine. Night.

home from ATI Regional Conference

2011-04-30T22:14:00.000-05:00

There are not really words to describe how joyful my heart is right now. If I tried, I would fail. Someday I might read this again and think "that just didn't do it," and I would be disappointed that I didn't take more time.

The fact is that I don't have the time to "get it all right" because I'm ready to live it!

Wow! Amazing! Refueled! Refilled! Refreshed! Those are some of the words that come to mind when I think about the past week at the 2011 ATI Regional Conference. God worked amazing things through the speakers and we were so very blessed.

Before we went, we had been warned not to try to do "everything". So I started praying that the Lord would show us just those things that He wanted us to work on right now and over the next year and that somehow all the rest we would just be able to "nod" our heads at - in agreement with but just not feeling the need to go there right now. At this point, I can't even remember what those things were.

The things that we were confronted with filled our hearts with conviction and joy. One might think that those things generally don't go hand in hand, but in the case of the Holy Spirit and the Christian life, that's exactly how it happens. The joy is because you are so excited He is showing you the things that need to change in your life to bring you closer to Himself and to righteousness.

We were busy with sessions from sun-up to sun-down. It was a rigorous week. Honestly, if it had been any different, I'm not sure that we would have learned as much as we did, though I'm totally not overwhelmed.

I hope to process more of my thoughts in the coming weeks and months and share them here. My prayer is that my transparency will be a blessing to those of you who read my blog. I'm far from the perfect wife and mother and sometimes we just need to be honest about that. Another thing I hope to share is systems that Pete and I are going to come up with to make our lives a little less chaotic and a lot more streamlined.

That's just what Pete and I experienced this week. The children all had their own amazing experiences and we have had a chance to talk about what the Lord is speaking to them about. It was truly an amazing week and I saw the Lord do things I never imagined He would.

Be blessed this week as you arise to the High Calling the Lord has prepared your life for.

of music and me...

2011-04-22T08:59:00.002-05:00

After a long time in the Word re-reading Colossians, I decided to try to tackle this music thing... Tackle? Well, not really tackle. So many thoughts run through my mind with music and I'm such a thinker. I love music. I want the music I listen to to (tutu?) make me think.

Music has such strong feelings associated with it - for me, at least. When I think about the music I listened to as a teenager, I cringe. The lyrics are downright awful, but I think it has more to do with the fact that I didn't even realize what I was singing. Satan uses that in my life still. Bringing up past sins, confessed sins, forgiven sins.

I was reminded of my to-do list item of finding some songs for my morning worship when I came across Colossians 3:16...teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs...

Songs have the power to teach. For good and bad; they teach. I want to be taught well, the Truth, the things of Christ.

I figured a good place to start was by making a playlist. That is what you hear on my blog right now - unless you have turned it off. It's down at the very bottom. It's huge and I couldn't make it smaller for some reason. I probably could have if I had spent hours figuring that out, but since I had spent all my time going through song after song, I figured it was better to stop and move on. Rabbit trails - I'm certainly good at them.

What you hear is a collection of songs that I love. Most of them are spiritual. All should make you think. They say a lot about me. Some are from childhood. I have so many memories of my Moma (her spelling. ;)) whisking me around the living room to "Could I have this dance?'

Love the songs of David Nevue, after hearing him on A Holy Experience blog. We now own four of his albums, I think. Big P keeps getting them. :) They really bring sounds of calmness to our home.

Love bluegrass. Love it! Check out Silver Dollar City's Bluegrass and BBQ festival - we went in '08 and '09. We want to go back, but it won't be this year. Smoky Mountain Hymns, Peasall Sisters, etc.

~~Casting Crowns - what do you say? Doctrine filled songs. Discipleship songs. Great songs!~~ *updated 4/24/11 - the Lord has been working on me... some more. I don't want anyone going ballistic on me, so I'll just keep my thoughts to myself for now as I try to figure out what the Lord is telling me.

Everything I Do - Bryan Adams - this was the song we had played at our wedding. Still love it!

When God Made You - Natalie Grant - how could one not love this song? Everything in it is perfectly true about my love!! Oh I love him.

Gotta go squeeze him and kiss him and.... Bye!

pic from: http://warpaintart.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/retro-cassette-tapes-rainbow1.jpg?w=588

Maximize Your Mornings: Your favorite songs of praise

2011-04-19T07:55:00.001-05:00

As I mentioned in a previous post, I want to maximize my mornings by getting up earlier. After clicking on some of the links in my friend Patti's blog, I realized that someone has already figured all of this out - and written a free ebook on it!

I read it last night and decided that I really needed to make a plan and put it into action. One of the first things she recommends is to Select morning worship music. My idea of worship has changed significantly over the last few years. At one time I thought that only praise music was really worship. I have learned to love hymns and the theology that is so clearly presented in them. Because I grew up both Assembly of God and (not traditional hymn singing) Baptist, I don't know a whole lot of hymns. * ~~I do love Casting Crowns because of the doctrine that is part of their lyrics.~~ In the ebook Kat lists several songs she enjoys. I haven't heard of most of these people.

So, leaning towards hymns without knowing many, yet wanting fruitful praise music, I'm sort of at a loss and need help. I must preface here that I do not enjoy me-centered praise music.

I'd love to know what your favorites are. Shoot me some ideas in the comments.

*edited 9/14/11: I forgot to edit this post about my current music preferences. Since many are visiting this specific page each day, I thought it was time to do that. I do believe that much doctrine is present in Casting Crown's music, but I'm a bit leery of the heavy beat and sounds in the music and the repeating words. This is still an area that the Lord is shaping me in. I do not believe that I have the "right" answers, but I know One who does and that is where I get my leading and confirmation. Blessings on your journey.

Picture from: http://www.christianillustrations.net

some pictures of my recent quilting projects

2011-04-19T07:30:00.000-05:00

I mentioned in my last post that I had accomplished some things related to quilting that weren't on my Power of 10 list. A few of those things were Birthday Club blocks or Block of the Month blocks for my fellow guild members. Here's how this works: guild members can sign up for the beginner group or the advanced group - both or none at all. When you sign up you pick a month that you want other's to make your block. You can give them the fabric, the color choices, the pattern or any combination of those - they make the block for you. Looking back I wish I would have chosen something different than I did because I'd prefer something more scrappy. I have no idea what I will actually get back and if I will be able to use them together in a quilt. The colors I picked out were turquoise (or teal) and cherry red - but that is up for interpretation and I'm not sure if I like that quiet yet. We'll see.

But it is fun to try out things that I haven't done before or color combinations that I would never personally choose. Here are some of the recent ones I have done.

This is for our Jr. Guild member, Erica. She provided the zebra fabric and asked that we make a block with any pattern using bright pink and lime green. Do these colors look familiar to some of you from way back?! We called them Hot Pink and Neon Green! Did you have socks like this that you alternated? Or earrings?

This is a log cabin made with pale green and yellow. You can't tell in this picture but the two bottom green rows really are different prints of fabric. These were scraps I had and some that I got from other members. The member requested the colors and pattern.

This guild member is also the coordinator for the beginner groups (there were actually 2 this year - the Pins and Needles). She provided the theme fabric you see in the middle and corners and the others are from my scraps. I used the Antique Tile block pattern that I found on Quilter's Cache because she gave us the choice of what pattern to make. You simply must check out this website - amazing resource.

This is my good friend Jill. She asked me finish the binding on this baby quilt that she had started for her daughter, The Princess. She was having trouble with the slick material going through her machine. I had never worked with this material before so I didn't know what would happen. It worked. It's not great but it is finished and I was glad to help her as she has been such a blessing to me this past year.

This is the front of the notebook I made to house all the patterns for the Block of the Month I am now in with our local quilt shop - Two Sisters Quilt Shoppe. It's called Wildflower Rhapsody and I absolutely LOVE IT! It's lavender, pink, and brown with lots of flowers. I just love love love it!

Now, this may seem like a lot in a short amount of time. You are likely wondering how in the world I got all of this done with 6 children. This has actually been spread out over a couple of months and was just a little here and a little there. I just happened to pull all the pictures together today. I've done a few more of the Birthday Club blocks for quilt guild but the pics are deep deep in my phone somewhere. I'll add to this post if I come across them someday and remember that I did, indeed, post about any of this.

Power of Ten

2011-04-18T19:34:00.000-05:00

Power of 10

1. Valentines table runner (3 hours + 1 hour)

2. ~~Kimbo's stocking~~

3~~. Kimbo's quilt~~

4. Watercolor wall hanging

5. Landon quilt

6. Brason quilt

7. Paige quilt

8. Christian quilt

9. Family tree wall hanging

10. Summer bouquet quilt

Finally - my post about the Power of 10. The Power of Ten, as it relates to quilting, was introduced to me at one of our monthly quilt guild meetings. The concept was really interesting to me because I had heard so many of the ladies talk about all they got done on their Power of 10 list. Our guild got the idea from a local quilt shop - Texas Quiltworks...

...

First, simply find the projects that you are no longer interested in completing and pass them on to someone who would love it as much as you once did.
Second, list “10” projects that you would like to complete. Now remember “Only 10” projects are to be on the list.
Third, begin working on the projects on the list and spend three hours toward completing it.
Fourth, keep a list of projects and the hours worked.
Fifth, once three hours are spent on a project move to the next. A quilter's interest wanes and is usually spent after three hours. Now if a project requires two to four hours it doesn't matter. Simply finish the project. Feel good about finishing it.
Sixth, find another project and add it to the list. Remember, only Ten Projects are your focus.
Seventh, continue to rotate the projects you are working on.
Eighth step is to list the supplies needed to finish your projects.
Ninth would be to shop at Texas Quiltworks for items to finish your projects.
…and Tenth, the ‘Power of Ten‘ becomes reality when you are able to share your project. Be sure to stop by and share your quilt with our staff.

I'm not much of a fabric stasher. I love fabric, but I don't buy a whole lot of fabric. There are a couple of reasons for this. 1) I don't have a place to keep a bunch of fabric 2) I don't have money to spend on random fabric purchases that I'm not sure when I will use 3) I'm afraid I won't buy enough of a particular fabric and when I go to use it, I will need more. Then I would end up stressing out over not having identical fabric and needing it. I'm what quilters would call a "project purchaser". I'm okay with this title... It doesn't hurt my feelings. :) Now, if I fall madly in love with a fabric and have the resources to purchase it (recently I was gifted with quilt gift cards for my birthday), then I will purchase a yard or a fat quarter of it.

Ultimately my purpose in starting the Power of 10 wasn't to allow myself to purchase more fabric, but was to get back to some of those projects that I wanted to do and even started in some cases, but never seemed to get back to.

I printed out my list and have it posted on my wall. I have penciled in various projects that I have completed that weren't part of my Power of 10 but that needed to get done. I'm going to post those pics next.

Go to the Texas Quiltworks website above and search power of 10 and two articles will come up for you to read in full. My opinion is that it is a great system for getting some things done. It can easily transfer into any project that you have - hobby or otherwise - sewing, knitting, crafting, preparation for Christmas, painting (haha). :)

living room/dining room/school room is almost done!

2011-04-18T15:57:00.000-05:00

This process has been an extremely long one. I definitely did not anticipate it taking quite this long to get to the "we are almost done" stage. The only things left to do are:

organize mama/teacher bookcase
purge some of the picture books and put them back in their dishpans
buy and build decor items

I want to be a process person. So not there yet - motherhood and quilting are helping me work on that.

I love the color. I didn't think I would but Big P was right and as soon as the bookshelves were in, the place warmed right up. Oh, I also have to buy some window cleaner - that mirror above the mantle looks horrid. LOL Apparently you just can't improvise and swap out cleaners. Who would've thought? I could just mix up some vinegar and water and spray. Honestly I'm not going to do that. Just sayin...

Anywhoo - here are pics of the dining room/school room portion of the big huge room. I'll take pictures of the other side when it is cleaned. :)

i have no clue...

2011-04-17T00:00:00.000-05:00

...what I am doing on this blog. I want to make it look "me-ish", but that just isn't happening. Hmm, what is "me-ish"? I love roses, pastels, vintage, Little House, The Waltons, quilts, coffee, family (but I'm not putting a picture of another family up there!), clean, shabby chic, rustic.

Yap, still clueless as to how I'm going to decorate my blog. I think the first place I'm going to start is simple - plain and simple. Then maybe I'll go from there. Yea, that sounds good.

Video: 5 Foundational Systems of the Home (Part 1) : Family Support Link Live!

2011-04-14T08:59:00.002-05:00

This was so timely, as Big P and I had just been talking about this very thing. C.15 needs to learn how to do some cooking, but doesn't really "want" to. We'll start off simply. P.almost12 already knows how to cook but she just needs some tweaking and training. This is one of those areas that would be much easier with margin in our lives.

Video: 5 Foundational Systems of the Home (Part 1) : Family Support Link Live!

Thanks to http://atifamily.com/?p=738 for posting this as I don't get on the supportlink website very often.
pic: http://danielromanow.wordpress.com/2009/12/08/get-a-hobby/

Only what's done for Christ will last...

2011-04-14T07:50:00.002-05:00

“Two little lines I heard one day,Traveling along life’s busy way;
Bringing conviction to my heart, And from my mind would not depart;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, yes only one, Soon will its fleeting hours be done;
Then, in ‘that day’ my Lord to meet, And stand before His Judgement seat;
Only one life,’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, the still small voice, Gently pleads for a better choice
Bidding me selfish aims to leave, And to God’s holy will to cleave;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, a few brief years, Each with its burdens, hopes, and fears;
Each with its clays I must fulfill, living for self or in His will;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.

When this bright world would tempt me sore, When Satan would a victory score;
When self would seek to have its way, Then help me Lord with joy to say;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Give me Father, a purpose deep, In joy or sorrow Thy word to keep;
Faithful and true what e’er the strife, Pleasing Thee in my daily life;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Oh let my love with fervor burn, And from the world now let me turn;
Living for Thee, and Thee alone, Bringing Thee pleasure on Thy throne;
Only one life, “twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, yes only one, Now let me say,”Thy will be done”;
And when at last I’ll hear the call, I know I’ll say “twas worth it all”;
Only one life,’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last. ”

— extra stanza —

Only one life, ’twill soon be past,only what’s done for Christ will last.
And when I am dying, how happy I’ll be,if the lamp of my life has been burned out for Thee.

~C.T. Studd

Big P and I are about to start the process of pruning. Pruning is a very hard thing for me. I'm a go-getter and like staying busy. Busyness, however, can be an addiction just like anything else and it has, in many ways, become that for me. I long for the peace-filled days of doing our chores, schoolwork, farm activities, and laughing with my children. Many times they seem very very far off. I know they are possible as that is what God has called us to do. He has equipped us to minister to our children and each other and when the important things crowd out the vital - I feel like my equipment is malfunctioning. There are some things that we feel God has called us to do that just take a large amount of time a couple times per year. It's the things that take a large amount of time all throughout the year and to the detriment of our first calling, that really will sock-it-to-ya.

I think this poem says it all. What things are in our lives that are for Christ? What things do we tend to think we are doing for Christ that we are really doing for ourselves? For our glory? Probably more than in any other season I'm feeling the need to have margin in my day. I think margin is where we laugh the most. The most unhurried, most spontaneous, most peace-filled times are probably in the margin.

This weekend, while at the Texas Rubies Retreat, which I co-coordinate, I had a lot on my mind. A lot. When I was supposed to be listening, I couldn't think about anything but why I don't have margin. Why do I seem bogged down? Why do I seem short-tempered? I decided to make a list of every single thing we are involved in as a family, our children are involved in, and that I am involved in solo. When we first moved here I was so uninvolved in things outside the home. I had the most margin in my day and probably felt the most at rest and completely capable to do everything God has called me to do. What possessed me to fill it up and write in the margin?

Our goal is to raise our children for Christ and to equip them for their highest calling. Why do we get so sidetracked? We also want to be able to minister to those around us in big and little ways that show the love of Christ to them and to the world. Why do we tend to derail... often?

I'm typing up the list I made for both of us to have a copy. We will pray over these things individually and then pray over them together. I think it's going to hurt to prune that tree, but I know the fruit bore will be bigger, tastier, and more refreshing than the fruit we are bearing now.

picture from: http://www.treecrops.org.nz

poem & formatting: http://hockleys.org/2009/05/quote-only-one-life-twill-soon-be-past-poem/

From I'm Becoming Joyful: How a night owl became an early bird

2011-04-13T14:27:00.000-05:00

This is my friend Patti. A couple of weeks ago I asked her about her early waking hours. I noticed the time stamp on the emails she would send to me. Wow. I know she was a student of the Word and was not forfeiting time with the Lord to send emails, so I asked. Sure enough, she goes to bed early and gets up early - just like a wise man... Early to bed, early to rise makes a man happy, healthy, and wise. (something like that). After adding her to my google reader, I found this in her archives. Very cool. I'm game.

This will actually work out great for me because I can go to bed right after reading to the big kids. Pete works nights so it will be quiet in the office for him. In the mornings I always seem to be rushing through my quiet time because I know little ones will be pattering little feet into the office.

Key to all of this will be going to bed early. Even deeper than that will be working hard during the waking hours so that I can crash in the evening and wake up refreshed in the morning.

I'm Becoming Joyful: How a night owl became an early bird

unveiling my sister's quilt

2011-04-04T06:14:00.002-05:00

Finally, after squealing and busting at the seams... Here's what I have been working on. A quilt for my little sister.

I used the yellow brick road pattern based on several recommendations from quilty friends. Kimbo actually picked out the fabric. She didn't know what it was for, though. I sent her a link to the Fat Quarter Shop and said "which one of these do you like best" and she picked it. She had to go through about 75 fat quarter bundles! I coordinated fabric to make up the rest of the FQs since the bundle only came with 15 and I needed 24. I had the blocks done and then... nada. The Texas Rubies retreat has been taking up a large chunk of my time the last week and a half. Co-op before that.

On Friday morning (as in the day before the shower), I laid out all the blocks and started flipping and turning them around and around until I got it balanced and just the way I liked it. My mom came over to get the big kids to take them to her house for the day. She said it in all it's unsewn - spread out on the vacuumed floor - glory. Then I "went to town" and started sewing that afternoon. Big P took 3 of the little ones to the Discovery science museum in Tyler and I started boogieing (that spelling was actually in my word check!). I decided to "chunk" this quilt and see if it came out straighter. It did! I also felt that it went together faster! Recently I listened to a podcast on documenting your quilt - so I asked Pete to take pictures of me sewing it and such. He's become Mr. Photographer ever since I let him switch the Nikon D60 to Auto. Isn't he cute! :D

I wrapped the quilt in a Keurig box. Kimbo wants a Keurig - I wanted to tease her. It worked. But I figured she would like what was in the box more - so it was justified. There were tears. Happy tears. I knew everyone would be giving her stuff she wanted and needed to make their home a happy home (a fed hubby is a happy hubby), but I wanted to give her something that she would LOVE because I love her! I'm excited with the way it turned out and will be taking it to the longarm quilter very soon. We already have a pattern picked out for the quilting:

eeeeeeeeeekkkk

2011-04-01T15:34:00.003-05:00

That's all folks. zzzzip!

i'm busting at the seams...

2011-04-01T10:03:00.001-05:00

to tell you what I am working on. I cannot. Stay tuned, though.

here comes the brides...maids

2011-03-29T22:29:00.000-05:00

My sister posted about me today on her blog. *blush* I love her so much. I'm so very very very excited about her special day coming up rather quickly. Brady is such a wonderful man for her and they are going to have a blessed marriage!

decluttering like a missionary

2011-03-20T21:29:00.001-05:00

I'm pretty strange (or maybe not?) in that I need a visual, some sort of imagery, to really get me going. I need to have a mission that is outside of myself to keep me going in the right direction. Yesterday afternoon, as I was gearing up to declutter, I asked Pete to give me a pep talk. Just some sort of something that I could grab on to and run with and chase the stuff out of the house.

I would definitely not call myself a hoarder, but I tend to collect much more than we need. When I replace things I don't necessarily get rid of the item which I replaced. How many books could one need on parenting? or organizing? or time management? or?? You see what I am saying?

Pete's solution was not quite what I was looking for. He said that I should leave for the weekend and he would get rid of everything. Hmmm... I don't think that's going to work out very well from my side of things.

Here is what I came up with - I'm sure purely related to the fact that I was praying about it and really needed something. Just something!

Declutter like a missionary. That's it.

If I were a missionary, and I am, then I would need to get rid of everything except the bare essentials. Most likely some things would go into storage but we may or may not ever see those things again. Well I am a missionary of sorts. I minister to my husband and children every day. I feel chaotic and stressed when I have too much stuff to look at. I'm very visually sensitive and so are some of my children. Therefore I am going to have to pick the best parenting book (other than the Bible), the best time management book, best organizing book, best board games, best sewing supplies, etc. Those are the things that will really help me in my mission field. Having too much stuff is only going to hinder me and sidetrack me. I get distracted enough all by myself; I don't need any help.

When I say "best", that is relative, you realize. I mean "best" out of what I have. I'm so over having to have the best of everything. Nope. I do my research and buy what I believe will work. I have much to choose from, so I think I'm pretty safe. Haha.

Do you have to put something right in front of you to "see" it? Is it helpful for you to picture your goal in terms of something outside of yourself? Please share in the comments!

National Quilting Day

2011-03-19T13:31:00.002-05:00

Today, March 19th, is apparently National Quilting Day. Am I quilting? No, not really. I did press the first set of blocks in my next big project. Completed my 3 hours on that project and now I am moving to something different - a block for one of the guild members and a co-member of my Needles Birthday Block Club (this is a club where you each person picks a block/fabric, etc. that they want made for their month. You make that block and turn it in. At the end of the guild year, you will have 11 completed blocks plus your own to sew into a quilt). But, I digress...

No, I'm not really quilting today. Instead, I have:

attended a board meeting for co-op.
made salsa for my son's student leadership development event this afternoon.
researched and found a recipe for making your own starch (similar to Mary Ellen's Best Press, which I love).
asked hubby, via text, to buy a small bottle of vodka for above starch - to which he quickly responded via phone to make sure of my purpose for the vodka. Haha.
made above starch using vodka, boiled water, and lemon essential oil. Will post recipe and results later.
and contemplated decluttering sessions in lieu of the painting that needs to be done.

Productive day? Sort of. But I'm not quilting. Although after a 45 minute session of decluttering I believe I'll bust out the 30s fabric and make that block!

Christmas gifts done... for 2010

2011-03-14T15:27:00.001-05:00

Finally. Finished. I decided to make these stockings for my sister and her fiance for their first Christmas together after getting married. That would be Christmas 2011. I got into my annual sewing fest and then Noelle came. I had not finished the stockings when everyone was over for Christmas. I gave them a sneak peak instead. Then I had surgery... Then I stitched them and they were messed up. Then I decided to do them differently than the pattern recommended because frankly the pattern was just goofy and there is no reason that the inside of a stocking needs to have perfect seams. I made a Power of 10 list and this was 2nd on the list. More about the Power of 10 list later. *I finally blogged about here*

So, I finished these up last night and I am so glad they are done. I can now given them to Brady and the future Mrs. Davidson (Kimbo) without guilt that they may have their first Christmas stocking-less. A good friend at church did the embroidery for me. Isn't it beautiful. It's GOLD thread!! The back fabric has the names of Jesus. It is really really nice!

WB #1 - Insights Through Investigation: Missionary Letter

2011-03-13T18:22:00.001-05:00

There seem to be many opportunities for writing when it comes to some of the suggestions on projects for the Wisdom Booklets. That's great because we need more writing opportunities. Hmm, we need more writing. Ha. One of the projects my children did this week was to write to a missionary. My good friend, Jill, had sent me a list from a missionary board that had missionaries from Texas and the people groups they were serving. That really sparked an interest with them because we are from Texas and there was a connection there. I had them read over the documentation that was sent as to how they should be careful what they wrote and not use certain words. Those words are flagged by some government officials. Paige felt like she was in the middle of a mystery novel. They had to write out their email on paper and then we did some editing. Then they typed it up. What a great project. Hopefully they will hear back from the missionaries they wrote. If nothing comes of it, my children are praying for the missionary families and that is a "God" thing. Get it? Good thing. God thing. Get it?

Yap, time to sign off... :)

making God's business our business

2011-03-11T08:23:00.001-06:00

Thought you might like this great quote from Elisabeth Elliot. Kind of goes along with my so busy, too busy post.

"One reason we are so harried and hurried is that we make yesterday and tomorrow our business, when all that legitimately concerns us is today. If we really have too much to do, there are some items on the agenda which God did not put there. Let us submit the list to Him and ask Him to indicate which items we must delete. There is always time to do the will of God. If we are too busy to do that, we are too busy."

~ Elisabeth Elliott ~

My challenge: what do you think?

Unsubscribing from emails - Just do it!

2011-03-10T08:12:00.002-06:00

About every three months or so (sometimes longer) I go crazy and unsubscribe from a ton of daily emails that I get. It's not really spam, either. It's emails that I have signed up to receive and read - yet never do. I never read them. So, I just unsubscribed from 6 *update: 10, different daily emails that I receive. Nothing big really - emails for the Brookshire's daily deal or sales at Children's Place. I'm not a "shopper" (unless you count online and then I can "go to town" - haha. Get it? Go to town! On the computer! ... I'm a dork; I'm already aware.) so to receive random emails about specials from Brookshires today only means that I would have to get school done, load up the van, and drive 30 minutes to Brookshires to buy chicken quarters for $whatever, a pound. Not happening!

So, everyday I delete about 20 emails that I have voluntarily signed up to receive. Why?? Big P is on the computer for a living and he doesn't get as many emails as I do. He laughs at me when he sees how many emails I get a day and I'm deleting 1/2 of them. Apparently this is such a problem that there is a service that you can pay for to take care of it.

My challenge to you (if you receive these unnecessary emails) is to evaluate which ones you actually read and/or act on. Unsubscribe from the rest. The fact is that we live in a technological age where email is the thing. It's the cheaper version of them filling your mailbox with junk mail. Do you (or did you) get irritated with all the junk mail you used to receive? Same thing. No, it's not a waste of good trees, but it is a waste of your precious time. Hitting the delete key takes brain power ladies! You have to make the decision if you are going to delete or read it later. Currently in my inbox, I have 3,226 emails that I haven't deleted, because, for some reason I feel that I have the time to read them. What in the world?!!

I'm imploring you, dear ladies. Take the plunge. Unsubscribe. What is the worst thing that could happen??? You could have less email to read or make decisions on! You may miss out on girls tights for $3 a pair. Oh well. Your time is way more valuable than that.

WB #1 - Insights Through Investigation: Article

2011-03-09T11:02:00.001-06:00

I've been learning a lot about notebooking recently and received this Holy Spirit inspired idea today when we were working in our Wisdom Booklet. We are just now moving onto the other resources outside of the Scripture Meditation, Character Quality, and Theme Song worksheets. Today we talked about why God chose Hebrew for the old testament and Greek for the new testament. A great learning experience. The project we did was list out ways in which sharing the gospel has changed - either been hindered or eased. I asked the big kids to write an article in a newspaper format telling about these changes. If you follow this link, you will be able to have access to the newspaper notebooking pages from Donna Young. Paige is typing hers in the Excel file that Donna offers. Christian is handwriting his. They are even going to include pictures that are on topic with what they wrote. I'm excited to see what they come up with!

Homeschool Notebooking Forms

Free Homeschool Stuff: Donna Young's Homeschool Resources and Printables

2011-03-09T07:52:00.001-06:00

I have been using Donna's site on and off for a couple of years. I find myself coming back to what she has to offer (all for free) again as Big P and I put together school planners for the kiddos. She has put HUNDREDS of hours into these forms and one of the things I love most about her website is how organized it is! It is very intuitive. Have fun exploring it. :)

Donna Young's Homeschool Resources and Printables

Walking Humbly with Thy God

2011-02-24T22:01:00.000-06:00

My good friend and Titus 2 mentor, Barb, sent this to me today. She felt the timing was perfect for the two of us because of all the things that we both have going on. Right on! The timing was perfect. I have been trying so hard to run ahead of myself that I've forgotten that God told me to walk with Him. Take 3 minutes and read the article. It will bless your socks off!

BJU Press Homeschool | Homeschooling from the Heart--One More Step | Homeschool Articles

biggest loser is huge for me

2011-02-19T23:14:00.000-06:00

Last year I started watching Biggest Loser. You can.not. sit on the couch and watch Biggest Loser. I mean, I guess you could, if it was entertainment for you. It's inspiring to me, so I watch it while I'm on the treadmill. That's something I started doing again tonight. I've missed those guys.

Season 11 is on the radar right now and I started from the beginning via Hulu. I walked a pretty slow pace for 45 minutes - finished at 2 miles. To see these people do amazing things at their weight makes me wonder how I can have an excuse to not get to moving. I have 6 reasons to be moving a whole lot! Arthur was 646 pounds before starting the show (he lost 150 before he came on). Six hundred forty six pounds. I think we all have a point where we say "enough is enough". What a daunting task he has ahead of him. Wow.

While I'm glad that I don't have 300 pounds to lose, I have enough of my own to get rid of. I'm glad to be back on track, but I'm keeping in mind that losing this weight is for one reason. For God's glory. Not mine. I can follow Him and pursue Him and the purposes He has for me and that's all I can do. Keeping this in mind is more lasting than a tv show and doesn't break like a treadmill can.

Don't separate Jesus from your daily living. That's my tip for the day. If He really is everything, He can do anything. Do you really believe that what you believe is really real? That's true focus that is everlasting.

Weight Watchers and Breastfeeding: Nursing Moms' Guide to Weight Loss

2011-02-19T12:25:00.000-06:00

I had a friend email and caution me about losing weight while breastfeeding. This is great advice! Since I was going to email her back anyway, I decided to turn it into a blog post on the subject.

Weight Watchers has a specific plan for nursing mothers. The plan is awesome because it is helping me to make much healthier choices for me and my baby girl that I was making before. The Good Health Guidelines set by WW for nursing mothers are even greater, including: more milk, more fruit and veggie servings, more water, and more healthy oils. After the first 3 weeks (the initial period when many people lose the most weight at a time on the plan), WW recommends you lose no more than 1 pound per week. If you are losing more than this, you will need to make adjustments to your PointsPlus values allotment, either online or through your WW meeting leader.

Here is a great article on the subject. Thanks for thinking of me Cassie! :)

Nursing Moms' Guide to Weight Loss

It's a New Day

2011-02-18T08:09:00.000-06:00

I'm starting Weight Watchers online today. I've done Weight Watchers in the past, but when I started making healthy diet changes, weight watcher penalized you for having an avocado or banana - I thought that was WRONG. When I say "penalized", I mean that you had to spend mucho points and the less points choice was the one that won out - OREOS. Weird, but true.

Since I'm in the "very much needing to lose weight" category, I decided to google and see if doing weight watchers on a whole foods diet was possible. Sure enough, I saw that they had made significant changes to the program. My mom is on WW and had mentioned some of the changes, but I guess I didn't realize how big the changes really were.

Knowing that I couldn't make it to another meeting each week, I checked out the online deal. Looks like they have really improved it, too. I'm sure it has something to do with how many people are using the internet and making it their source for social activity. I'm not in that category - I'm a face-to-face kind of girl - but since it would be a 1 hour round trip to a meeting, I'm taking the online route. Big P is going to do this alongside me! His 10% goal is probably a pound, but we'll encourage each other and be on the same track.

Now, let me just say that WW does encourage margarine still. No way dude! I'm a 100% butter fanatic. I'll just use my points when I add that to my oatmeal. No fat free cottage cheese for me, either. No egg whites. I figure if God put it together then He intended for it to be eaten together. I'll continue to research that area. We have a treadmill and lots of land to garden.

Last night I mentioned to my good friend, Jill, that I was starting WW Online today. She wanted in (after she heard the plan changes). Guess what - we are racing to reach our 10% goal. What's at stake? $15 worth of Scentsy (our choice)! I'm in!

I'm really excited! I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to reach the million points I have been given each day. I'm nursing so I get a ton of points. Hmmm. Gotta figure that one out.

Summertime Designs: Cute idea for a Valentine's card

2011-02-09T16:46:00.000-06:00

This idea is adorable. I'm cheap and a bit lazy, I guess. We always buy our valentines after valentine's day for cheap cheap cheap. Yesterday I was at the thrift store and happened upon boxes and boxes of valentines for next year - at 10 cents a box. Can't beat that. But, if you have a little time and know a little about photoshop elements, you can make these adorable cards!

Summertime Designs: Cute idea for a Valentine's card

family picture added

2011-02-09T07:08:00.000-06:00

I finally added a family picture to my blog. Side bar. Scroll down. There it is. It's very impromptu. It was taken at our 2 week midwife visit in December. Better pictures coming in the spring. My sweet sister bought us a family photography session for Christmas from a friend of hers. We are excited to meet with Donna, but we really have to wait until it stops sleeting and freezing around here.

so busy... too busy

2011-02-09T06:56:00.000-06:00

I haven't posted because I'm just so busy. I don't mean that in a martyr way, either. I really am so so so busy. Currently I'm keeping a running list in my "notes" app on my iphone. Yesterday I did as much as I could and left the rest and still went to bed too late. Now, that's just too busy. I should be able to start the day without feeling behind. For crying out loud it is 6:30 in the morning and I have already done some things - nurse the baby and have quiet time with my Lord. Even that feels rushed because I'm so busy.

This weekend I had the opportunity to go a retreat for moms. It is called H.O.M.E. (Heart of Motherhood Enrichment). It's just a small affair compared to some of the big named retreats you hear about, but it was such a God-send. A friend and I co-coordinate the Texas Rubies retreat. We needed to go to this retreat because we don't get to re-treat at our retreat!

While I'd love to share with you everything I learned, but there were 5 women who spoke and I just couldn't take the time to write out all my thoughts right now. RANDOM THOUGHT: Vermont Country Blend in the Keurig is sooo good. Let me tell you one tidbit that is on topic with my blog post. While every single woman touched my heart in a special way, it culminated after hearing a testimony of a lady there. Her sister was wheel-chair bound and had spina bifida and came to know Christ at the age of 27, when the lady testifying was about 10 years old. She talked about their learning together and her sister leading her to Christ and had such fond memories of their time together. When her sister passed away a few years ago, she came across a type of journal entry in the back of her bible. It said something to the effect of "Lord, you have made me a Mary instead of a Martha. Help me to be content with that and always be eager to sit at your feet." I had to refrain myself from a full-out bawl. I was loud, I'm sure, and possibly interrupted the ladies around me. Wow. It hit me like a ton of bricks. Here this joyful woman was wheel chair bound as well as a serious student of the Word and yet, she was seeking to have contentment. The woman giving her testimony of the weekend shared that she tries to remember that when she is rocking a baby and thinking that she needs to be doing 50 other things.

At that point I had to excuse myself to the restroom because I just couldn't hold it any longer. :) As I was heading out I started talking to the Lord. "Lord, please give me one nugget that I can use right now. I want to change so much. I have been convicted of so much this weekend. It is overwhelming to think of all the areas I struggle in. Please give me Your word right now that I can stand on and do."

SIDE NOTE: I have never heard the Lord through the radio or out loud or anything like that. I grew up in a charismatic church but I assure you, that has never happened to me and I can't say for sure it does happen to people. I do know this - God speaks and He does it in different ways. Two words immediately came to mind that morning after I prayed. I mean instantaneously. Ones that were not of me, because I didn't agree with them at the time. They were from the Lord and I know that without any doubt.

Slow Down. Those were the words. Slow. Down. Again, even slower this time because He must know that I don't listen very well and would argue with Him. Although I had gone to the restroom because my bladder was drawing me there, I was glad that's where I was headed because I didn't want to have an all-out cry fest in front of 50 women.

Big P listened intently as I try to summarize everything I had learned and what I had heard from the Lord. He acted like he had been trying to tell me all along. See, I don't listen. :( That's what started my list making. I have too much in my schedule and too much in my head to fully enjoy everything the Lord has called me to. We haven't had much of a chance to figure out everything I do and what I can get rid of but I know I need to get rid of something (or some things!).

Bailing is not an option with some of this stuff and I know that some of it, He truly has called me to do, even though it is "extra curricular". Gotta figure it out. Got to!

$2.65...

2011-01-26T08:26:00.000-06:00

...and a lot of time. That's what it has taken me to fix up my blog. I'm recovering from surgery, so I figure it's okay. I did figure out a lot of stuff in the process. Maybe my Sis will let me play around with her blog? She's getting married. Wonder if we can find something wedding-ish... :)

Still have a ways to go. Need to tweak a pic of our family. We were going to have family pics made this last weekend. It was a Christmas present from my Sis. I ended up with hernia surgery instead. Fun! So, I'll have to put something else up there until we have those made when it gets a little warmer (and prettier).

Also have to work on those categories and get them streamlined.

And I need to add a link to the website where I got this goody - Shabby Miss Jenn's.

Check out the cool post divider! Rad, huh? Just googled on how to make these changes and viola. There are a ton of moms out there figuring out how to tweak their blogs and they post tutorials all the time!

co-op stands for cooperative

2011-01-25T15:20:00.001-06:00

I failed to put all of my titles at the top of my blog because frankly I'm a little embarrassed about all the positions I hold outside of the ones most important in my life. I have learned much about balancing over the last few years. When things begin to fall, I throw out one of the balls and then continue juggling.

One of the things that I'm involved in is a growing homeschool co-op. Co-op is short for cooperative and I believe that is imperative. Things are much more calm this semester as we have more members on our board and things are just falling into place better. There are certain gifts I have and ones that I just don't posses. I'm learning to admit when there are things I just can't do - or can't do easily. I figure that if I really have to sit down and figure it out, it doesn't have a place in my life right now. This is my 2nd semester on the board. I actually took a forced maternity leave at the end of my pregnancy. The president of the co-op, who is also a dear friend, exhorted me to take it easy. Things were really stressful and I was always crying! Not good.

We need more people involved. We are growing, but we are still small - but almost maxed out. That happens when you have many large families - lots of kids, fewer parents. I'm not even "teaching" this semester but am being the "lead teacher" in the nursery with my baby girl. My sweet hubby is teaching a PTX class - Physical Training Extreme. We still need more people to step up. My good friend, Jill, is on the board as well - she is also teaching 2 classes. Most of the teachers are teaching 2 classes, some 3. Still need more!

Anywho, if you are in the "market" for a homeschool co-op, check out ours. If you don't live near here you can go to the main First Class website and, hopefully, find one in your area.

Our Homeschool Co-op

breastmilk for baby acne

2011-01-24T13:22:00.002-06:00

Noelle has, all of a sudden, in the last several days gotten baby acne. It was progressively getting worse. I haven't change diet or soaps. I think it might have been related to medicine or anesthesia or something - only time will tell.

Anywhoo, it was looking pretty yucky. Yet, splotchy, bumps - nasty. This morning I put some breastmilk all over her face after she nursed. Within minutes the redness started going down. When she got up from her nap, the bumps were there but no redness. Reapplied breastmilk after next nursing. Now, about an hour later and there are much fewer bumps. You would think I'd know all the ins and outs of breastmilk, but I'm constantly adding to my repertoire of knowledge concerning this miracle juice. Pink eye, bumps, scrapes, and baby acne. Hmm, what else can it work on?

why i write

2011-01-23T12:44:00.002-06:00

(just a little note about this whole "lowercase letter" thing. I love it. I love the way it looks on titles. Now, in my writing, I try to use correct capitalization, etc, but when I'm writing a title it just looks cool. Maybe it's part of the big "i am second" deal.)

I write and post because I think it gives me accountability. If I stop writing it's likely because I'm not being very productive in my life. Checking that more often would probably help me to stay on track. So, if you haven't seen a post, it's only because I have likely become too busy to post; not necessarily with great things, either. Exceptions to that rule would be the birth of our brand new baby girl, of course.

You will see several changes I'm making to the blog to make it more user friendly. There are a slew of gadgets available on blogger, but I kind of like to stick to the basics. I'm going to clean up my "what i write about" section because the labels are just here there and everywhere and it looks very cluttered. I don't want to spend any money fixing up my blog, so it will be homespun. Since I have enjoy other things more than a bunch of techy stuff, I will likely keep it basics that blogger offers that I can do easily. I prefer to spend my time researching, planning fun things for my children, and quilting.

I'm also going to try to keep my posts shorter. Less time on the computer means more time with my family and more time for enjoying right here, right now. Please don't take offense, you'll have more time to spend with your family, too, if you aren't reading my super long posts. Again, exception to the rule was my post on the birth of my baby girl. What an amazing birth it was.

The beginning of my search

2011-01-23T12:11:00.003-06:00

I'm just going to ramble here for a bit. We joined ATI in November of 2009. One of our biggest reasons for joining was so that we could watch the Basic Seminar on DVD. I didn't ever really anticipate using the Wisdom Booklets because something about them overwhelmed me. Maybe it was because I have done unit studies in the past that required way too much of me with little return on lessons learned. I'm learning that those were done in my strength and without the direction of the Holy Spirit. We did learn many things, but they didn't stick. I saw God orchestrate wonderful "units" but I think we got lost in all the "Discovery learning" and we didn't fully seek God. I didn't fully seek God for direction.

In the last several years the Lord has grown me in many ways; through the size of our family and learning to spend time in His word consistently. I still haven't arrived but I do hunger after His word in a whole new way. I desire a relationship with Him that is true and consistent. I want to pass that on to my children.

When we did think about doing the Wisdom Booklets, I was scared and chickened out of it. A friend recently joined ATI and they are off to a good start with their WB studies. This may sound cheesy, but all of a sudden I felt like I had the courage to do this. Maybe it was the support that I felt that she would provide me. My husband is very supportive, but I'm sure he is just plain tired of the curriculum switching. I am as well, but I just can't seem to see fruit in what we are using and seem to flounder hoping that something will really be the tool we need. I'm looking for something that doesn't require me doing all the work. I want something that has less focus on the academics while helping my children focus on the prize; true success in their lives - Jesus Christ.

So, while recovering from hernia surgery I'm watching all the videos I can on how to use Wisdom Booklets and taking notes and planning. My husband has agreed to let us give this a shot for a month and see how it goes. We are entering new training ground. I desire this for my children's sake and their relationship with the Lord. My sweet husband is fully supportive. He had encouraged me to try the Wisdom Booklets, but I was scared. I really need to heed his gentle promptings more often. He's definitely a Mr. Stead - not a Mr. Commando. Sometimes I feel like I need a Mr. Commando, but I know that it's just the Lord teaching me to listen to my gentle husband and shut my mouth more often.

Noelle's Birth Story

2011-01-22T18:29:00.002-06:00

The amazing birth of Noelle Kathleen

I had a lot of prodromal labor over the weeks before her birth. Some call it false labor. I never will again. There was nothing false about it and every time I experienced a full blown version of it, I thought it was the real thing. We are almost an hour and a half from our midwife and I was so concerned that she wasn't going to get here in time.

On December 13^th, my due date, I knew I wasn't going to have her. I just knew it. I was guessing the 17^th or 18^th. My mom mentioned that she had several things going on Saturday the 18^th, so I was hoping for the 17^th, but it came and went. With all the contractions here and there, I wasn't able to get much sleep in the weeks before Noelle's birth. My midwife recommended taking a Tylenol PM when I knew I needed the rest. I took one on the night of the 17^th and got a lot of sleep.

I woke up on the 18^th to a really hard contraction. This was different than what I had been having and Pete later told me that he knows it must be hard to differentiate the contractions when it has been a while since you've had a baby. I concur! But, this was indeed different. I got out my trusty contraction timer on my iphone. I didn't have another contraction. It seemed every time I got that thing out, the contractions would stop and I was convinced that it was the cause! Then, sure enough, another contraction. Hmm, maybe I would time this after all. About 8 minutes later I had another and I had a record of it on the app!

About this time I woke up Pete because they were about 8 minutes apart, but they were real contractions. Hard contractions. I began to know that this really was it. Fortunately he had gotten a good amount of sleep as well and said he felt rested and ready. I was hungry and told him I was going to get up and cut up a pear. He offered to get up, but my ulterior motivation was to see if the contractions stayed as intense when standing as when lying down and if they sped up any. They did – to 6 ½ minutes and still just as intense but not as much in my back, of course. I had a few bites of the pear. It was refreshing.

The contractions were still coming at this point, but all of a sudden that changed and were about 5 minutes apart. I thought it was time to call the midwife. April had told me that texting generally woke her up and that was a good way to get a hold of her. It's how we had been communicating ever so often, which made Pete laugh a little. He said that midwives were known to be a “get back to the basics” type of lady and the fact that I was texting mine was hilarious to him. April immediately responded and said that they were going to be on their way. She had to go to the birth center to pick up Rebekah, the student midwife that was training under her.

In the meantime I texted my mom and Tanya. I asked my mom to wake my sister and let her know not to post anything on facebook. I wanted to make sure this was the real thing before I let anyone know I was in labor. We have a lot of the same friends and I knew word would spread quickly. If mom hadn't responded quickly I would have called her, but she did respond and would soon be on her way. Tanya's Gramma had been really ill and we knew her death was coming soon. The Lord was preparing us both that she may not be able to attend my birth as we had both hoped, planned, and prayed for. To say that the final decision was disappointing would be putting it lightly, but she really wanted to be there for her mom and I completely understood.

Pete began to fill the tub and the kids started waking up. Christian helped get the boys fed and content while Paige helped prepare things for the midwives arrival and labor and birth. We had been keeping the house in order and the kitchen cleaned up. There wasn't much to do but wait. As I was making trips to the bathroom, the contractions would be very close together – a minute or two and I knew things were progressing quickly. I started to panic a little and texted my midwife that they needed to pick up the pace. She told me to lie down and not get up until they got there. I have a history of going really really fast and it makes things pretty stressful. Pete kept coming to check on me and Paige was close by. As Pete leaned over to check on me at one point I expressed my fears and started crying. I was afraid the midwives wouldn't make it and we would have to deliver the baby by ourselves. He assured me that everything was going to be fine and that we could do it. Paige had been through it three times as had he. He knew everything that was supposed to be done and could get April on speakerphone if need be. I asked him to get my labor book and start reading the verses for fear. He did and I was immediately calmed by his encouragement and his reading of the Scriptures.

My mom and sister showed up. They were shocked because they were there before the midwives and were kind of thinking “Uh Oh, I hope they make it.” They immediately started helping with Christian and the boys. Not too long after, April and Rebekah showed up. I was so relieved. Christian helped them get their things in and April came to check on me. I was a stretchy 4 ½! What???? I thought for sure things were further along than that. The contractions were definitely more intense feeling than that and I was shocked. I went to the bathroom as I had been dying to while they were making me lie down. Again the contractions were right on top of each other.

I moved to the exercise ball that Pete had blown up for me to use before the water. I couldn't get comfortable because it was too stiff but did have 3 contractions while there. I asked April if I could move to the water because I knew it would take off some of the pressure and I would be able to relax more. The thing with the water is it can slow labor down and April wanted to make sure things were progressing before I got in. She said things were definitely steady so I was welcome to anytime. I immediately got in.

Several weeks before labor I had a prodromal labor and that afternoon Pete and I were running errands. I had gone in to Lane Bryant and purchased a tank just for birth. I wanted to be able to be modestly covered during labor so that I could visit with the kids and have pictures that I felt comfortable looking at later. The shirt I got was so perfect. It was long and felt good in the water. So, into the water I went.

The water was the relief I needed. It took much of the pressure out of the contractions so that I was just dealing with each contraction by itself and not the back pain. Contractions were steady 3-4 minutes apart and I was dealing with each one fairly well. Pete was right next to me almost the entire time. He was so awesome, as always, but this time things were different. I had very specifically asked him not to leave. I needed and wanted him there during this amazing time. He has felt it necessary to keep everyone happy, but we had worked together on the birth plan and my sister and mom were doing everything that he usually does. It was so wonderful because the kids were happy with Grandma and Kimbo and they were still able to come in and out and check on me. Emilie and John, Pete's mom and step-dad, showed up not longer later with donuts!!

At this point a donut sounded great. I have a hard time passing up a donut and mom brought me one. Emilie came in to check on me as well, but left pretty quickly. She was so excited but she said that she didn't want to be there when I was having a contraction. Mom had brought me that donut, but the next thing I know I am having another contraction and the donut no longer looks good. I set it down never to return to it. Ha. About this time things are getting really intense and I asked Kimbo to start reading Scripture from the labor book. She gets an explanation about what phase of labor I am in and I smile at her interest in the whole process. She has also been there for 3 of my last 4 births but as she gets older and nearer to child bearing she becomes more interested and that made me happy. As she was reading, she comes to Psalm 36: 5, 7, which reads “Your lovingkindness, O Lord, extends to the heavens, Your faithfulness reaches to the skies. How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.” I ask her to read it again, and again, and again. I found much comfort in that verse.

About this time I remember that I have the Jim Berg CDs from Quieting a Noisy Soul. I ask Pete to put the CD in so that I can listen. I love the mix of the truths that he speaks straight from the word along with the beautiful piano music in the background.

All the while, in the kitchen, Grandma is answering questions that Christian has about the whole birth process. He was really interested; more so than he has ever been before. I thought that was very special and realize how much he is growing up.

After some trouble getting the CD going in the computer, Pete starts it up and it plays through and I ask April to check me to see how far I have dilated. I was at a 7. It had not be long (despite the detail above and what sounds like many many events) and I was pleased realizing that we would be holding our little Christmas blessing very soon. Within a few minutes I have an extremely long contraction. We guessed that it was about three minutes with 3 very distinct waves and I know that I'm quickly coming into transition. I was able to keep up conversation in between contractions up until this point.

Right about this time I realize that things are changing quickly. I'm not longer interested in talking at all, just getting through the next contraction. I wanted all the Scripture reading/playing to stop and wanted the labor playlist music turned up on the ipod. Pete had at some time gone to get his swim trunks and shorts on. He had been sitting at the side of the tub with me leaning on his legs, but that all of a sudden become uncomfortable and I wanted him in the water with me. He was able to get behind me and lean on the tub with me leaning on him. April told him that once he got there he would be kind of stuck. Our original plan was for him to catch the baby, but this would prevent him from doing so. I asked Paige if she would catch. She wanted to, but her finger had been fractured and was in a splint. I told her that I felt like it would be fine to remove and splint and catch the baby. She was excited but a little scared. She tried to put the gloves on but when it moved her finger decided that she couldn't. I told her to wash her hands really well and get ready.

The birth pool was amazing. I was able to lean over the side during contractions with my belly completely submersed in the water. My knees were comfortable with the bottom of the pool inflated and I was as happy as a laboring woman could be. I had come up with a rhythm for contractions – I would hang my hands over the side of the pool with my head resting on the side (on a towel). I would tap my fingers to the rhythm of the contraction, going faster the more intense it became, and slowing down as it went away. It was helping me to stay focused and I realized that I had never done that particular method before. It was sort of amazing to me that I was able to think through these things as they were happening and I came to the conclusion that each natural birth I had, I did something different for working with my body and letting it do what it needed to do. I was praising God that He has given us the ability to do this and that He made our bodies do all of this naturally. The true value of the pool then came when it was time for pushing.

With Pete behind me and Paige, April, and my mom at the other end, I was ready to push. I don't remember much of anything at that point, who was beside me and what sounds were going on in the room. I was tuned into my baby coming out – quickly! Emilie had taken the boys outside to play and I was very glad. Christian was inside and came to check on me with a quick look inside the room. Because of the shirt and the fact that the water covered me completely, I felt comfortable with him in there, but he left very quickly.

I felt like this part would be fast. Because of the fact that I had let my body go into labor naturally and I had not had trouble pushing any of my babies out before Aiden, I knew I could do it and the pressure was very intense. Probably more so than any of my other babies. It occurred to me that my water had never broke. I thought for sure that Noelle would be born in the caul. As best as we can figure, my water broke as I was pushing. Her head came out with 2-3 big pushes. April reminded me to reach down and touch her head; something I always forget to do because I become focused on getting rid of the pain and pressure. I was so glad she did because it is a feeling that is indescribable. I felt her shoulders rotate and I had the uncontrollable urge to push and not stop. I absolutely couldn't stop and April asked if I was having contractions. I wasn't, or at least I didn't think I was, but I had to push and my one and only goal at that point was to get her out NOW. I was making, what seemed to me, a very loud yell. She slipped out easily and Paige reached down, with April's help, and grabbed her baby sister from the water and placed her on my tummy.

All I could say was “my baby, my baby, oh my sweet baby.” She was here! After the months of anticipation and the weeks of contractions here and there. The nights without sleep because of bathroom trips and the trips to the chiropractor because of my hip – she was finally here and it was all so worth it. Every single contraction was a praise to our incredible Father in Heaven for forming a precious being in my womb. She felt so small. She was blue, but she was crying and then she was quiet. My mom commented on how she was so calm and April said she was because she was happy and born at home. She quickly started pinking up and I was mesmerized by her head full of dark hair. As they had lifted her up to my belly, I had seen her little girl parts, but mom kept asking if she was a girl and April tried to look but she was too curled up to see. At the time, I was speechless and couldn't say anything about seeing that she was a girl. Finally they flipped her over to look. I really pushed for about 5 minutes. I had tried to do some pushing before then, but wasn't in a comfortable position and knew it wouldn't be effective.

After Pete got to touch Noelle and we ooed and awwwed over her for a few minutes, I handed her to mom to wrap up and dry her off. We saw that there was a true knot in the cord. She had, at one point, early in the pregnancy flipped herself around and created a knot in the cord. April explained that there is a special jelly that God has placed in the cord to keep it from becoming tight. She checked on me throughout the entire labor and birth. So, we had no fears. Things were peaceful and wonderful.

As Rebekah did her newborn exam, we watched and waited. She was perfect. Her coloring was coming in more by the minute. She was so calm. Pete got to weigh her. He always does that and loves it. She was 9 lb. 2 oz. April had guessed low 8's, but decided that she would no longer guess. Everyone had told me that she looked like she was going to be small. I had spent the entire pregnancy working on my abdomen muscles so that we wouldn't have a repeat like Aiden's birth. So, I carried her really tight in, but she was hiding! She was a big girl. I knew she would be long and I was correct at 21 ½”. I could just tell where she had her feet and how high her hiney was that she would be a long baby.

Less than 5 minutes after she was born, she had her fingers in her mouth and was sucking her thumb! I was glad that we had decided to try pacifiers this time or I might have really been dismayed and intimidated by all that sucking! She is also a very happy baby. She really doesn't cry. She doesn't need to. I know when she is going to be hungry because we decided to try a schedule this time. She is sleeping so peacefully in her bassinet next to our bed. We are in awe that the Lord has blessed us again with another child and the fact that she is a girl is even more amazing. My labor was 5 hours total. Pete was by my side almost the entire time. I needed him there. He was amazing and kept telling me wonderful encouraging things. Birth really draws a husband and wife closer together when he is able to experience it alongside of her. April did comment that I was a pro at this and had it down to a science. I just have learned to let my body do it's thing. If I don't fight against the contractions, they can be effective. I'd be lying if I didn't say it hurt super bad and pushing is HARD work. But within minutes you forget about it and you are holding your sweet babe. It's priceless!

Introducing Our Newest Addition...

2010-12-22T18:57:00.002-06:00

Noelle Kathleen Salinas
Born into our family at home on:
December 18, 2010
@ 10:46 am
9 pounds 2 ounces
21 1/2 inches long

She is an absolutely sweetie! I'm about to go wake her up to nurse, then I want to type out our birth story. It was an amazing birth! Glory to God for our Christmas blessing!

Twelve Days of Homeschool

2010-12-22T18:56:00.000-06:00

Noelle's Quilt

2010-12-04T20:22:00.003-06:00

I decided to go off on my own and away from the Quilter's Academy book. I'm convinced Harriet Hargrave is a perfectionist and, truthfully, I have enough of that struggle in my life already. I don't need encouragement in that area. So, I'm going to finish those quilts I started from the instructions in the book but I'm not sure if I will return to the book itself. The thought of ripping out a seam because it is a 1/16th of an inch off is a bit repulsive and I would never be able to finish a quilt - since I'm not perfect.

A friend at the local quilt shop told me that she always makes "Amish Quilts". Apparently the Amish purposefully work a mistake into every quilt they make, since there was only one Perfect Person on this earth - Jesus Christ. I'm not sure if I can honestly say that I'm working mistakes into the quilt on purpose, but they are there!

Here's my first completed-beginning-to-end-by-me quilt:

Most of the quilt is done in a grid pattern based on a great tutorial I found. Then I really wanted to try my hand at free motion quilting for the snowball blocks. I did purchase Patsy Thompson's DVD while it was on sale because I don't want to have to hire out a long armer for everything I quilt. My first attempt at free motion quilting was making a stencil and trying to follow the chalk lines. Not good. Ugly. Hideous actually. So, I tore out what I had done on that block and I just kind of went off on my own.

I washed it and it puckered up nice and beautiful because I had not prewashed my fabrics. I just love the puckered look of a quilt - and the feel! So, no prewashing for me, except I did prewash the fabrics for the quilt I'm working on now. After spending an hour ironing the fabric back out I decided that wasn't for me!

My Quilty Life

2010-12-04T19:57:00.002-06:00

I shared the testimony below at the shower that my mom, sister, and friend Tanya gave to me to celebrate the coming of our new little girl. I was having trouble staying asleep (as is common in the last part of pregnancy), so after reading my Bible and still being unable to go back to sleep, I got up to sew. As I was sewing the Lord started bringing to mind an amazing picture of what He has done in my life and how much it is like the quilt I was working on. I decided to write it down. I shared it that morning with my sister helping me (unrehearsed) by holding up my various visuals. Since it's been so long since I have posted anything, I thought this might be a good place to give you all an idea of who I am through Christ and the journey He has me on.

I want to show you all what I have been working on lately to get ready for our new little girl.

Some of you don't know me, but you know of me. You bless my heart because you know and love my Mom or Sister.
Many of you I haven't seen since my last baby shower almost 7 years ago.
A few of you know me VERY well and have even seen my babies being born.
But few of you know my testimony. This quilt is an example of my testimony.

Some of you may wonder why in the world we are having our 6^th child and how we got here. You may look at me and think we are either crazy or dumb, but some of you may look at me with admiration and wonder how I do it. It's kind of like a quilt show. If you have ever been to a quilt show, you'll know what I mean. There are some really beautiful quilts there and you wonder how in the world the woman made it, how long it took, etc. Then there are ugly quilts. If we are really honest we can say that there are some really ugly quilts out there and we would never choose them for ourselves. You may look at my quilt and see a beautiful quilt or a really ugly one. The same way you may look at my life and see a family that is welcoming their 6^th child into the world and get warm fuzzy feelings or you may think (or even say) “she could be doing better things with her time,” or “why would anyone choose that life?”

When I was putting this quilt together and I got one row done I wondered if it was going to be one of those that got ugly before pretty. That's the story of my life. I grew up in church my entire life. My mom was diligent to take me to Sunday school and church every Sunday, almost without fail. I didn't know Jesus as my personal Savior until I was 18. My teenage years were REALLY UGLY. When I found out that I was pregnant, I realized the direction my life was headed and knew I couldn't make anything good of it on my own. That is when I came to know Jesus. Then I had my precious first born and married my amazing husband.

When I got about 2 rows into the quilt, it started looking much better, but I did feel like giving up, because it wasn't how I envisioned it. Over the years he has continued to work on me and Pete – all the way to the point where we had given up on having more children because, plain and simple, we were selfish. Motherhood was not as I had envisioned it to be and by golly, I wasn't going to have any more children. As God continued to work on me, He gave me a vision for more children and, overall, for my true calling as a woman. He planted that same desire in Pete's heart as well. He brings us all to a different place and this is where He has brought us.

What you can't see from the front of my quilt is all the loose threads, uneven seams, and pin holes from where I left the pins sitting too long without attention. You can't always see all my faults as a Christian woman, my struggles, our families struggles. You can't see how many seams I un-sewed and re-sewed. You can't know how many times the Lord has literally brought me to my knees to prune me for bigger and better fruit.

See if I would have stopped making my quilt, I wouldn't have known what it could look like. As I have continued to have children, the Lord has worked amazing things in my life and shown me His amazing grace. Because I am busy with my children, I don't have time to get into trouble doing things I shouldn't be doing with my time. My desperate need for His grace in my life allows Him to keep working on me, everyday.

I had a pattern for this quilt, just like I have a Bible. I have to look at the pattern constantly to know what row I am sewing on next or I will get confused. In the same way I have to be in the Word on a daily basis and in constant prayer or I will get confused because the world is telling me something so different than the Lord is telling me. The world is telling me how much easier my life would be if I didn't have a nursing baby or a toddler constantly needing training. The world is lying to me about how uncomplicated things would be if I would just put my teenager on the big yellow bus that comes at 6:41 every morning. If I'm not looking at the Bible, my pattern, I will be lost.

But there is a cost for everything. There is a cost of time in putting together my quilt; in spending time training my children. Sometimes it is very costly. Fortunately, Jesus paid the price for me on Calvary. His blood was shed for me so that I would know true Salvation and be spared from the pit of Hell for the sins that I commit every day. He did the same for you. It's not enough to talk about making a quilt, or talk about being a Christian or to say the right things. It's not enough to buy a quilt from someone else, or to try to earn your Salvation through your parents or your church attendance. You have to make a choice. Once you make the choice to follow Him, He really will lead you – through the good and the bad.

Joshua 24:14-15

14"Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.

15"If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."

But my quilt isn't done; and the Lord isn't through working in my life. He is constantly humbling me and showing me new ways to bring glory to Him. What is the chief end of man? Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever. And my life is full of fabrics and prints I may have not had the guts to choose myself, but as I look at it, I love how it is turning out.

So, you may choose different fabric than I have, or a different pattern. But you know by now this isn't about quilting or having babies, this is about the Lord and His work in our lives – and whether we even know Him or not. This is about a true and personal relationship with Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Choose for yourselves this day!

Quilting: Class 130 - Project 1

2010-07-08T14:06:00.003-05:00

I finished my first quilt top. I love the way it turned out, which is not exactly how the pattern was meant to go. In the book, Harriet suggests that you make an extra set of strips based on your usable fabric length (if the usable fabric length isn't quite enough). I made the extra strips, but didn't need them. This cut into the the fabric I needed from my squares. So, with my sweet hubby's help, we came up with a pattern to replace several of the blue squares with scraps from the other fabric. There are prints on the corners (supposed to be blue squares) and there are 4 green squares in the center (also supposed to be blue squares). His mathematical brain helped me figure out where things needed to go to be symmetrical. Then he laughed and complained that it was too much math. Ha!

I'm very pleased with the way it turned out, but the best part of this quilt is yet to come - THE BORDER!! Unfortunately the border isn't introduced until Class 180. I'm chomping at the bit at having a UFO (UnFinished Object) in my stash already, but I don't want to get ahead of myself since the book is a skill-building book.

My next project is a quilt for L.4. I'm fussy cutting 50 squares of adorable fabric to go into this quilt.

I just finished making up a new schedule for our family so that we can get back on track with our time. Of course we won't follow it to a "T" with times and such, but I'm going to try to get close because our days run much smoother when we do - even if the initial training period is torture!

Here's the quilt (pardon my adorable husband's handsome hands :P ) -

Adventures in Quilting: Class 130 Pre-Project

2010-06-28T00:36:00.000-05:00

I'm almost embarrassed with how long it has been since I've even posted on my blog. I think I must have gotten away from blogging the same time that I got off facebook (for the most part). I just have found myself pretty busy - after all I have a husband 5 children.

Update: We have a baby on the way. I'm almost 16 weeks now. I can't believe that I'm almost 1/2 way through this pregnancy and on our way to see our babe!!

I decided to pare down to one hobby. I have loved sewing for so long, but garments are not my thing anymore. The kids outgrown things so fast that I make something and it gets worn a couple of weeks. It just doesn't have the same "kick" it used to. I've gone back to quilting. I picked up this hobby almost 6 years ago taking a 1 day class and making a table runner at a local quilt shop. I then made another table runner for my mom with different fabric and the same pattern. Never picked it up again.

I'm learning to focus better and not dive into something head first. I don't have to finish a project in a day, which makes it more enjoyable. Still learning....

While working my way through Harriet Hargrave's book Quilter's Academy Vol. 1, I found out what a perfectionist I am. I can tell she is, too, or at least she writes like she is. Maybe she's really writing to those who aren't and she just assumes when people will "get it" that it is good enough. I don't get that very well and almost had a breakdown the other day when I was 1/16" off in one area of my strip. Wah! I emailed a good quilting friend for a pep talk - she almost spit out her drink when she realized what I was fretting over.

Here is my pre-project for Class 130 in the book. This is part of a sampler that will be completed over Volume 1 and 2. This is the center part.

I'm now working on a small quilt for A.2. to sit on while we do schoolwork. Kind of a blanket training quilt. The fabric is adorable! The problem is that it is also one that spans over a long period of time, so I will have most of it done except the border, using a border fabric, which is done towards the end of the book. I am planning to make a quilt for each of my children and then move on to other quilts.

Frugal Tip: Leftover Beans

2010-01-07T09:47:00.003-06:00

I got this idea from a friend of mine recently when we were discussing how I usually purchased canned beans to put in recipes, when the entire meal isn't going to be based around beans. I try to be careful when buying beans because so many of the manufacturers are putting extra ingredients like corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup. Yuck! In my beans?? No thanks!

Melissa said that when she makes a pot of beans she will take the extras and put a cup of them (which happens to be the size of my ladle) into one of the disposable red cups. She then freezes them. When they are completely frozen she removes them and puts them into a gallon zip-lock bag for later use. I learned you need to run the cup under warm water for a few seconds to release the beans. Don't forget to wash and reuse your plastic cups for more beans.

This might be old news to most of you, but it was like a lightbulb moment for me. The thought of soaking and cooking a cup of beans was preposterous! This I can do - and I did! I usually make a plate for Big P that we put in the freezer for a lunch, but I always have lots of beans left - always!

Beans are more than the musical fruit, they are cheap and good eats! My friend Raye Ann, has great ideas for doing lots of different things with beans that are super cheap! Basically any flavor of bean you want, you can add in a tablespoon or two of seasoning. The other day when we had pinto beans, I made them kind of "southwest-ish" by throwing in 2 tbsp. of a steak seasoning that we get from our local Mennonite bakery. It ended up being a little too pica (spicy hot) for my little guys. They would eat it like crazy, stop to drink water or milk, and resume!

Here's to making up a big pot of beans and freezing the leftovers *ching ching*! That could be money dropping into your savings jar or your toasting glasses chiming.

Chief End of Man: Goals Series - Part 2

2010-01-04T07:37:00.006-06:00

I only have one little one awake and he's comfy on the couch. I've been up for almost 2 1/2 hours at this point and think I'll make it until this afternoon before I crash. I've been having trouble getting to sleep. I'm sure it's because I have so much on my mind that I want to do and not enough hours in the day to get it written down. I should definitely start planning my goals for 2011 in December of this year!

The reason I'm sharing my goals on here is mostly for accountability and in hopes that they may spark some ideas in you for your year. We each must seek out God for the goals He has for us, individually. Then we need to speak to our husbands.

You know the cliche - when you fail to plan, you plan to fail. This couldn't be more true for me! I seem to get so much more accomplished when I have a plan, than when I don't; even if I don't accomplish all that is in the plan. Often times I either don't have a map to find my way or I have a map, but I run out of gas! I'd rather run out of gas than not get anywhere at all. But, I'm really trying to prepare to fill the tank so that I don't run out of gas! For those who are fans of The Amazing Race (we haven't watched it in several years due to no television or cable), you have likely seen what happens when the contestants having no clue where they are going? It always seemed to cause a ton of contention with their running mate and they don't end up getting to their destination in a timely manner.

So, here is the first set of my goals for the year. You'll notice that my list is full of resources from other people. These are people that either I, or Pete and I have studied up on and feel have really sought God with their whole hearts and have thusly used their time to write resources that I can spend my time on it.

~~Spiritual~~ Christian Woman Goals (for some reason I really don't like using the word spiritual. I'm sure it has a derogatory connotation for me or something. Makes me think of mysticism.)

This year I would like to:

1. Read the Bible all the way through without stopping

I'm using the chronological plan from www.BibleYear.com. It integrates Job into the reading of Genesis to more closely align the order in which things actually happened.

2. Complete the 3 phases of The Lord's Table Bible study.

Phase I: 60 lessons to help you gain control of your eating habits while learning to look to God for spiritual sustenance
Phase II: 20 lessons of interactive Bible study and fasting
Phase III: 120 lessons containing ongoing biblical instruction on weight loss, as well as mentorship training so you can pass your new found freedom along to others.

3. Remember ACTS of prayer and do it a lot more often through the day.

express ADMIRATION for God
CONFESS my sins
THANK God for...
SUPPLICATION for..
help to serve Him faithfully and glorify Him
Big P
each child individually
extended family
friends/church
other needs as God brings them before me

Books/Studies that I would like to read/do:

Quieting a Noisy Soul by Jim Berg (our ladies are doing this together at church)
Complete Institute for Basic Life Principles Basic, Advanced, and Anger Management seminars via DVD as a family. (we joined as an ATI family in November. One of the benefits is getting these incredible teachings on DVD rental)
So, What's the Difference? by Reidenour
Lies Women Believe and the Truth That Sets Them Free by Nancy Leigh DeMoss
A Hunger for God by John Piper
Your Price is Far Above Rubies a study compiled by Delwyn McAlister (I'll have to start this one when I finish The Lord's Table studies)

The Plan:

Morning quiet times:

ACTS of prayer
Bible reading (assigned per plan)
The Lord's Table study

Afternoons:

Quieting a Noisy Soul study (2 x per week during "free" time)

Sunday evening:

Read goal pages from current book on reading list

As a family we will work on the IBLP Seminars 3x per week at 8pm.

photo from: http://harvestpetaluma.org/255287.ihtml

Birthday Bash(es)

2010-01-03T22:47:00.006-06:00

We have 7 people in our family, and although we don't have the problem of everyone's birthday being in the same month, we have a different issue altogether. The birthdays are spread out over the first 6 months of the year. We have a birthday EVERY month from January to June. This can be good for planning, but eventually you can lose momentum. Come May or June you are pooped and tired of birthdays. I'm just being honest...

So, in an effort to simplify birthdays around here and make each person's birthday extra special, we have come up with a couple of ideas; either learned from someone else, or more recently, thought up on our very own.

A few months ago I found the perfect cake pan for everyone's birthday! I was really hesitant to buy it, because it was $30!!! But, I started thinking that if we used it 7 times in the first year, that was under $5 per person. Using it for 2 years makes it under $2.50 per person and... You get the idea. This will become our new family tradition and I'll have to look on ebay in 20 years to find all my daughters-in-law one of these cake pans because my sons will want them to continue the tradition. My one and only daughter, P10, will, of course, get the original cake pan.
So, instead of being at the mercy of the local convenient store and their supply of snowballs (a tradition we had growing up and one I've kept), we will now have a "cupcake" cake. Each child (or adult) will get to choose their favorite flavor of cake and icing. I'm most definitely using boxed cake mixes and canned icing! Not feeling guilty about it either.

I also picked up a roll of Happy Birthday wrapping paper and a bow tonight. Yes, a (as in 1) bow. It's one of those really nice ribbony ones. I won't even use the peel off self adhesive tab. I'll use tape and stick it on top of the child's gift. It will be recycled. We only give one gift for birthdays anyway. I'm not ~~going~~ planning to reuse the paper!

Each child also gets to chose their birthday breakfast, birthday lunch, and birthday dinner!! For breakfast, most of the time they choose biscuits and chocolate gravy, since we rarely ever have that, except for birthdays.

You don't get the day off school on your birthday, but we may institute that at some point.

Also, my older ones have enjoyed having friends over for the day or afternoon in the last few years where we make homemade pizza and they hang out.

Hope this is helpful. I thought I'd blog about it while it was fresh on my mind as we have the busy birthday season coming up! C will be 14 in January, L will be 4 in February, B will be 6 in March, I will be ~~25 again~~ 33 in April, A will be 2 in April, P will be 11 in May, and Big P will be 38 in June! Hope that non-stick finish can keep up with us! Praising God for all these blessings to bake for!

Chief End of Man: Goals Series - Part 1

2010-01-03T13:50:00.007-06:00

Time to Refocus
Question: What is the chief end of man? Answer: Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever. (The Westminster Shorter Catechism)

This was the basis for the sermon this beautiful, cold Sunday morning. Oh, I love our church. One reason is that you never get to walk away empty handed. Pastor Drake always has a meaty service planned and has continued so, even in the midst of his knee surgery and recovery. This morning was no exception and was FULL of Scripture to open our eyes, that daily we must refocus on God and live every minute for Him.

As I mentioned before, I easily get distracted. Realizing that God has called me to be a multi-faceted kind of woman, I need to make sure that those various areas are glorifying Him. So, in order to not get distracted, to stay on course, I need to make a plan that I can stick to; a plan of variety. It all came together for me this morning, having started last night when I was reading one of Brandi's posts on her goals for the year.

So, here's the plan:

Taking the 7 days of the week (our God is a God of order!) and the 7 areas that He has assigned to me, I will have one area each day that I focus on learning and growing. I will have a reading resource of some sort (ebook, physical book, e-zine, etc.) that I set up on the nightstand. Each night I will read my assigned pages. These are goals and not set in stone. If I'm reading really deep stuff, I don't want to be forced to read 10 pages when I was getting overwhelmed at 6. Sometimes what I read doesn't necessarily fall into a particular category, though. Like when I read the Duggar's book, I didn't get bogged down, but it covered almost all my categories. Don't have a plan what I would do in that case in the future, yet.

Here are my categories and the days currently assigned:

Sunday - Bible Study (this is when I will work on the Bible study that we are doing with the ladies at church)
Monday - Marriage
Tuesday - Motherhood
Wednesday - Homeschool
Thursday - Organization
Friday - Health
Saturday - Finances/Homesteading

Many times people believe that God doesn't care about a particular part of their life. They separate their life into God's area, Work, Home, and Me. Really, God wants to be in EVERY area! It is because of this that I'm particularly careful about what I read in every area and make sure that it is from a Christian worldview. There are some instances that this may not be able to be achieved, but I have found it rare. God is the author of marriage, parenthood, health and homeschooling. I've even found some of the best resources in organization, finances, and homesteading to be written with a Biblical worldview.

These are the areas that I will be setting my goals in, too! And all of them based on what God wants for me to be doing in each area - not what I think is best.

photo from: http://www.pinmin.org/

Smoothie #2

2010-01-02T23:31:00.003-06:00

Healthy Mocha Coffee Smoothie
adapted from: Nancy Walker from her book Healthy Cheap Cooking (I think I got this free from The Old Schoolhouse)

again - copied and pasted from my post on facebook

1 1/4 cups milk (I used whole this morning because I didn't have almond on hand)
1 tbsp cocoa (unsweetened)
1 tbsp instant coffee (you could do it 1/2 caff if you are trying to get off caffeine)...
1/3 tsp stevia (I'm trying to do more stevia and less honey but the taste is hard (I call it a *twang*) for me so I'm working my way up)
2 tsp honey (do the sweetener to your taste)
1 tbsp ground flax seed
Dash of vanilla
Spinach (yes the green stuff. We freeze it fresh - and you want it frozen- use a small amount and work your way up)
1-2 cups ice

Blend everything (except ice) super super good then add ice and reblend.

You could prep your cocoa, coffee, & stevia the night before. Pull out your honey & vanilla too. Don't grind your flax until right before you use it - you could put it in the coffee grinder and have it ready. Just prepare everything you can to aid in quickly putting it together in the morning.

It is incredibly yummy and could really curb your desire to run to starbucks for a $5 coffee. If you have big financial goals, like we do this year, that will help.

~update~ It is possible to put too much spinach in this smoothie!

Smoothie #1

2010-01-02T23:25:00.003-06:00

Hot Pink Breakfast Smoothie
adapted from: Green Smoothie Girl

this is copy and pasted from my post on facebook, so pardon any typos - it's all the iphone's fault *wink*

3/4 cup coconut milk (I got the canned and use 1/2, but I'm going to get the concentrate - this is where my adaptation starts because I wanted a thinner smoothie)
3/4 cup water
1 medium to large carrot - washed, top cut off, but not peeled - cut into 3 pieces - smaller if you don't have a high power blender...
1/2 beet - washed and peeled - cut into smaller pieces depending on your blender
1/4 cup cashews (raw is best)
1/4 cup pitted chopped dates (I use whole pitted)
2 tsp. vanilla
1 tbsp. flax oil (I used lemonade flavor, but whatever you have)
9-12 frozen strawberries

Blend the heck out of everything, except the strawberries. Add the strawberries in last and blend again until smooth.

I also thought that you could swap out the strawberries for a cup of frozen peaches - being brought to mind by the fact that I just ran out of frozen strawberries! LOL

You'll want a thick straw, because this is a thick smoothie. Makes a quart that is very filling! Also gets in 4 servings of fruits and veggies, plus your raw nuts and coconut fatty goodness!

Clutter Clutter Everywhere

2010-01-01T14:35:00.005-06:00

Decluttering...That's one of the many modes I'm in currently, and one of my strongest goals for 2010.

Here's a great post on the subject from Simple Mom. I'm a pile maker myself. I'm loving this blog. It's kind of ironic, because I want to be simple and have even threatened to be a minimalist, and yet my blog is Little Bit of Everything Mama, which suits me very well. Maybe I'll try to find a middle ground this year.

And another good post from Simple Mom. None of this was new information to me, but was a reminder that I need to apply to what actually comes into my home, instead of just what I have currently.

Aha, just the thing I was looking for. Keeping Your Home Clutter-Free!

Currently I'm in the "was breakfast nook - then prayer room - now gym". I've cleaned off the buffet and cleaned it out as well. Just have a few things on the top and it will be clutter-free. I'm so tempted to put something on top of it just to keep it clutter free. Maybe I'll seek out one of those mail organizers or a basket to house things that are going out of the house. I also decluttered the game closet, went through all the games, relocated them, and am now using that space for our bulk toilet paper, paper towels, soaps and cleaners.

Another tactic we are implementing is this labeled box/card system that I read about in Jim-Bob and Michelle Duggar's book "Duggars: 20 and Counting". (here's one of those side notes: This is an incredible book of living a life for God's glory and raising children to do the same). She properly credits Emily Barnes' book Survival for Busy Women, for the idea.

When we were on our way home from our annual Christmas camping trip, I told Big P my plan. Later that afternoon I went to Walmart for the supplies and yesterday I started in on my plan. It's going good, but I better get back to it!

A Place to Bring it all Together

2010-01-01T13:35:00.002-06:00

Happy New Year everyone! Are you excited to see what the Lord has in store for you this year? Are you ready to put your own plans away and follow Him?

This year I've learned more about myself than I ever have in my life. 2009 has been a great year for me, but it hasn't been easy. In certain ways it's been my hardest year yet. Through seeking God and learning more about Him, I've learned my strengths, but also many of my weaknesses. I've learned where I try to take the reigns and don't trust Him fully, and I found grace in His arms as I've repented for those sins.

What I think I've learned a big lesson in is that I don't know anything that I haven't learned from someone else. My children will come to me with some new fact or tiddle and I'll ask where they learned it. Most of the time they can tell me, whether it is in one of their textbooks, a book they read in their spare time, or from a friend at church. The other day, P10, explained to me that she didn't really "learn" it anywhere, but that she figured it out and used deductive reasoning (my words, not hers. LOL) I laughed at the cuteness of it - although I didn't call it "cute", because she's pretty much over that word now. It reminded me of all the times my mom would ask me where I learned something and I just "knew" it. But really I had learned it somewhere.

So, I've decided that for the next year, the focus of my blog will just be to learn from others and pass on what I learn via links to other blogs, articles, and resources. I might add in my own "side note" now and then, but for the most part, I'll just be pointing those that read my blog to other blogs where I'm learning and, by God's grace, growing.

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm sort of flighty. I'm blonde, but I'm not ditzy - just flighty. It's that creative side of me. But it needs to be harnessed! I need to learn to stick something out, to follow through - I need to be diligent!! So, this will also be a way for me to have some accountability.

I need to talk less and listen more. I need to teach less and learn more. In learning, I will be teaching just by my very nature of excitement to pass on things that I learn and am involved in.

I love order, but can't promise that everything will be on topic - although that is an area that I'm going to work on. See, in my mind, most things just kind of swirl together like the steam off a fresh cup of coffee. They mix and mingle to bring forth an amazing aroma of mixed up ideas that make sense to me; but probably only me!

There ya go! That's my focus in a nutshell and just some of the tidbits that God has taught me this year.

Kitchen Learning for Mama

2009-12-23T10:09:00.002-06:00

When it comes to Pecan Sandies - more time in the fridge isn't necessarily better. I left them in overnight, because I was too tired to make them. Not a good idea. When I got them out, they were too hard to roll, so I just kind of "clumped" them together. The second batch was better and easier to roll - which means they are also sticking together better and not crumbling before your eyes.

More is not better when it comes to putting food coloring in the sugar. Paige comes in to the kitchen and said, "Mom, I think you put too much food coloring. It's lumpy and moist!" Thank you Paige! My 10 year old daughter knows more than I do about baking.

More is not better when it comes to letting the Pecan Sandies cool down, so that you can actually touch them and roll them in the moist sugar. Didn't work. They were too cool at that point, or the sugar was too moist. Alas, the microwave to the rescue! Heat those babies up and poof. Uuuh, still didn't work. But at least they are warm enough now to stick to the clean, white, not colored pretty sugar.

Landon comes in 'dying' for a cookie. I put a pretty little cookie on a napkin for him. Cries from the dining room come quickly! "Mommy, my cookie is falling apart," he says. I reply with a gentle, "it's okay, just keep eating it over your napkin." Little pitter patter steps into the kitchen reveal he didn't obey and JUST EAT THE COOKIE! "Mommy, I don't want this cookie anymore," the little ungrateful cutie patootie tells me.

And so are the days of my life.... :) I love them!

Eating Cold Cereal Isn't Sinful!

2009-10-10T07:29:00.004-05:00

I just felt led to share this with those of you who read my blog, in case you might think otherwise - I don't believe eating cold cereal is sinful! Or any food for that matter.

1 Timothy 4:1-5

But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer.

So, if all I had was cold cereal in the house, then that is what we would eat and we would do it with thanksgiving! The same goes for the white flour filled pre-made frozen biscuits that are about to be sitting in my oven! Those will be gratefully received after we have our green smoothies this morning.

As most of you know, I've struggled with my weight for a long time. Up and down went the scales - like a yo-yo! Unfortunately, unlike a yo-yo, the weight never dropped and stayed forever.

(Just put those biscuits in the oven and realized I really need to clean my oven! Something has dropped in there and is burning up! Yuck!)

Back to the weight thing... So many times I have looked for a program, a method, a diet to fix the problem I've had with my weight.

My resent search for information on health wasn't at all related to my desire to lose weight... at first! The true and primary reason that I went searching for a more health-FULL way of eating was because of the very extreme bouts of tiredness I was feeling. I was having a nap everyday, feeling lethargic every morning (before I drank my coffee), having a lull after my coffee until lunch, feeling irritated and just over-all "blah". I knew this could not be how God intended me to feel, considering all the littles I have to keep up with. Hence my search for foods that He truly created for me to eat and have the energy that I need to keep up with all these little blessings.

Yet after I started the challenge, temptation crept in and I thought "hmmm, I could lose a ton of weight if I just followed these steps...". I'm sure that it was spared on by me reading something about someone losing 167 pounds on a raw diet or some such idea. While I don't have anywhere near that much to lose, I'm sure I thought "well, if she could lose that much, I could easily take off what I have."

But as we know from James...

James 1:13-15

Let no one say when he is tempted, "^AC)">I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then ^AD)">when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when ^AE)">sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.

So, while I'm sure I could lose a ton of weight eating only green smoothies and plunging into an all raw diet, eventually, I will indulge my flesh if I'm trying to follow a set of rules; according to Paul.

Colossians 2:20-23

^BA)">If you have died with Christ to the ^BB)">elementary principles of the world, ^BC)">why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to ^BD)">decrees, such as,"Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!" (which all refer ^BE)">to things destined to perish with use)--in accordance with the ^BF)">commandments and teachings of men? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in ^BG)">self-made religion and self-abasement and ^BH)">severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against ^BI)">fleshly indulgence.

That scripture became very real to me this morning when I was reminded of it after feeling led back to The Lord's Table Bible Study from Setting Captives Free (which is a ministry that offers free Bible study course in several areas that keep us in bondage). See, after all the green smoothies that I have drank, I haven't lost any weight. It's because in the afternoon and evening, I indulge my flesh.

I don't need another yoke of slavery...

Galatians 5:1

^A)">It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore ^B)">keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.

...and yet I do believe that God created foods that are BEST for us. So, how do you balance that?

I have to come back to why I was seeking out a more healthful way of eating in the first place - because I was tired, listless, and worn-down (sound like a Vitameatavegamin commercial?). So, based on food alone, I have to know that what I was eating wasn't working and I need to go back to the basics of what God originally created for me to eat.

You might think at this point that I'm talking pre-flood and that we aren't going to eat meat or animal products. Ha! We now have 2 cows grazing pasture on our farm, and I will thankfully partake of the meat our soon-to-be steer, Steak, will produce for us! Our next venture is going to be chickens and I will gladly have my children gathering eggs for us to eat!

But, I also have to remember that we need a balance and moderation and I haven't indulged my flesh just once to end up overweight, but many many times. Green smoothies won't make you lose weight if you are indulging the flesh all afternoon and evening, as I have been. However, green smoothies will give you a ton of energy, while helping you to get in a lot of greens and fruits and helping you to balance out your meals for the rest of the day.

Keep up the green smoothies, but don't be deceived that eating cold cereal will somehow make Jesus love you any less or will give you a magic pill for losing weight. I've honestly never thought that my eating right would somehow win me favor with God. I know that God loves me abundantly and couldn't love me any more or less than He does right now - overweight with a green smoothie in my hand!

p.s. Occasionally Big P will ask me to get some cold cereal as he loves it for a snack and I love to treat my honey to something special like that. :) However, as much as my children love cold cereal and would eat it every morning if I allowed that, they know they are hungry within 20 minutes of eating it and I'm still trying to teach them to have good, healthful eating habits.

Green Smoothie Challenge - Update & Recipes

2009-10-07T14:27:00.002-05:00

So how is the challenge going for those of you who have taken it? Please post in the comments and let me know what you think so far.

Today was Day 10 for me, Day 9 for Big P, and Day 7 for the rest of our crew. We are all seeing amazing results!!

Just to list a couple of them:

Big P and I have had dramatically reduced cravings. I am going to add in an afternoon green smoothie because the cravings tend to creep up on me around 2 in the afternoon.
Not hungry until lunch. With a quart of green smoothie, I don't feel the need to eat anything else for breakfast and I'm not really hungry until lunch time.
The kids aren't needing snacks. They just don't seem to want to snack as much. We have very little processed food in the house right now, and they are running to the fridge for things like grapes or oranges when they do want a snack. These are by my prompting, it's like the greens have gotten in them and the craving that they are having are for things actually good for them. These are essentially the same things that Big P and I are seeing in ourselves.
Reduced trash! You are probably like "what?", but because they aren't snacking as much and I'm not filling up the pantry with processed snacks and foods, there isn't a whole lot of trash going out of our house! Funny, huh?

A few days ago I purchased several young coconuts and have been using those in my smoothies in the morning along with the "Festival Blend" of fruits from Costco. This includes: strawberries, papaya, mango, and pineapple. I'm realizing that this combination of fruits isn't the best for me and is bothering my tongue. The Triple Berry mix from Costco is working out great for Big P and the kids, because it turns your smoothie purple, whereas mine has been VERY GREEN the last couple of days.

I also picked up a little bottle of stevia glycerites. This is supposed to be better than the extract by itself and isn't as concentrated as the extract, in terms of sweetness. I've been adding that to each pitcher of the purple smoothie to sort of round out any sourness from the berries. If you don't have stevia, you could just add a tablespoon of honey.

Here's how much green smoothie my family drank this morning:

Big P: 1 quart
Me: 1 quart
C13: 20 oz. (he's been drinking smoothie then eating a ton of breakfast and getting hungry before lunch, so we up'd his smoothie, which he was in total agreement with)
P10: 1 pint
B5: 1/2 cup (even after 7 days, we are having to "convince" him that he needs his smoothie, but about halfway through his this morning, he seemed to "get it" and started gulping. I had to make him slow down and chew.)
L3: 1 cup (this boy can eat and loves his green smoothie)
A1: 1/4 cup (another one that is taking some convincing, but after spooning it to him for a few mornings, he's slowly getting it.)

A couple of friends have been asking for recipes, so here are a couple:

The Purple Smoothie:

1 frozen banana
1 cup triple berry mix (from costco: blackberries, blueberries, raspberries)
4 frozen strawberries (also from costco)
4 handfuls of spinach (heaping handfuls)
2 cups water
1 dropperful of stevia glycerites

Tropical Island Green Smoothie:

water from 1 young coconut (add water if needed to make it to 2 cups)
meat from same coconut
1/2 frozen banana
1 cup of "festival blend" fruit combo from costco
4 handfuls of spinach

One from a friend:

1 banana
1 orange
1 handful of blueberries
3 handfuls of spinach
2 cups water

Oh, and this morning I found in the fridge 1/2 an orange and a peach that was going to go soon, so I threw those in the blender with some of the smoothies.

Where's the cheapest Blend-Tec?

The cheapest place I have found it is on Life Begins Raw.

So, how many greens are too many?

Well, this may be a bit too much for those of you who don't want to know all the nitty gritty. But, for people like me, this kind of stuff just makes me do a little dance!

Green Smooth Challenge - Part 2

2009-09-30T23:57:00.006-05:00

I've had a few questions that I wanted to address as well as mention a couple of things I didn't in my previous post.

Chew Your Liquids and Drink Your Solids

You might be thinking "What? Yes, she has indeed lost it!", but alas, I have more info to share. When you chew your food really well and mix it with saliva, it starts to breakdown the cell walls of all that raw yumminess and therefore your body can absorb the nutrition and digest it easier. So, make sure you kind of "chew" your smoothie before swallowing it down. I'm not talking using your green smoothie as mouthwash, just a little "chew" then swallow. Don't forget to chew all of your other food really well.

Onto Green Smoothies and Off of Stimulants

I've already talked about the exuberant amount of money that Starbucks has gotten from me in the past, so I don't need to go into that again. Instead, when Big P changed his schedule, we started making coffee at home - "to save money". Ha! We threw our health out the window and soon we were both extremely addicted. I would have 2 large mugs every morning - which was around four 6 oz. cups of coffee! Did you know that you can get addicted with as little as one 6 oz. cup of coffee each morning or two to three 12 oz. cokes (a coke being any carbonated beverage!)?

I decided to ditch the coffee and get onto green smoothies and the last three days have been difficult, which just went to show me how addicted coffee could really be. The first day was okay, the second I spent most of the day "foggy brained", and the third (today) I ended up with a migraine. Big P found some Excedrin Migraine in the cabinet, which I happily took instead of using one of my $75 shots, only to find out that Excedrin Migraine has some caffeine in it. Gee! Big P decided to ditch coffee with me and he has had headaches the last 3 days. We think the end is in sight, though!

This should be an encouragement for you to try the principle of replacement and get onto green smoothies and off stimulants. I'm not sure what the exact numbers are for coffee, but after a coke your immune system is compromised for a complete 30 minutes. In our family, it takes a good week for everyone to get over something once it gets started, so I'm putting my foot down and saying that I will not purchase soft drinks any longer. They were never really a thing for me. I have told my children that if we are at something special, they can make their own decision on those things, but they may end up sick. I'll still nurture them and take care of them, because I'm a mama and that's what I do. :)

Doesn't It Taste Horrible?

To this I will say a big, hearty "NO!!". You can easily make going to green smoothies a easy transition for everyone by adding more fruit than greens. Mixed berries will make a purple smoothie instead of a green one. With a banana, you will have a creamy texture, which we are finding very yummy. You'll want to eventually get to 50/50 on both greens and fruit, but don't push it. Stick with very neutral flavors of greens. Spinach is a great choice and you can get a 2.5 lb. bag of it at Costco for $4.29. That's a whole lot of spinach! You can freeze it, too. It won't make a good salad, but it will be perfect for smoothies. Costco has a large bag of mixed berries, too. It has a very yummy fruit flavor. You'll be shocked at how good it is! And don't forget the power of a opaque cup with a lid!

When Does the Challenge Start?

TODAY! October 1st! Robyn of Green Smoothie Girl recommends a quart of green smoothie per day for adults. She serves her children 1 pint each in the afternoon when they get home from school, before they have another healthy snack. Right now I'm drinking 1 quart and Big P asked me to bump him up from 1 pint to 1 quart, today! Woohoo! I'm going to start my big kids out at 1 cup each and the littles one at 1/2 a cup and slowly increase to 1 pint for the bigs and 1 cup for the littles before breakfast. "Gotta drink your green smoothie before you have some of the yummy ______ (whole wheat pancakes, banana nut muffins, apple oatmeal, etc.) mama made for breakfast!" :)

Water, Water, Water

Drink it! Plain and simple! Half your body weight in ounces, each day. Don't gulp it, sip it. Your body can handle 1 cup every hour and if you don't drink it all at once, your body will use it and you won't be sending most of it into the septic tank. It's pertinent to helping your body flush those toxins.

Doctor Recommends Green Smoothies

I heard from a friend today that she has meningitis, which started as West Nile Virus. Because it is viral, there isn't a whole lot that her doctor can do for her right now. He suggested prayer, rest, and nothing but green smoothies. She needs nutrient dense foods right to flush her system and clean her blood. What does that tell you?!

I can't wait to hear from those of you who are doing this! Come on! You can do it! It only takes 21 days to make a habit and a green smoothie is something you can take anywhere.

As a bonus, I will tell you that quart sized jars don't fit well into car cup holders and you might end up with green smoothie running down your console and your husband and oldest son outside helping you clean it all up - so that you can go to Costco and buy more spinach for your green smoothies. A lidded container that fits in your cup holder is best for green smoothies!

Step #1: Green Smoothie Challenge

2009-09-28T13:19:00.006-05:00

I'm sorry it's been so long since I've posted anything. As usual, I'm in an organizing mood and "trying to survive" mode at the same time! I've been extremely exhausted lately. I wish I could attribute it to being pregnant, but I truly don't think that is the case. Lately I've been very convicted about eating habits and have a true desire to shape up my body to be a wonderful dwelling place for the Holy Spirit. In the process, I must teach my children about eating the way that God desires us to. He created all kinds of wonderful fruits and veggies, nuts and seeds for us to eat and yet how many of these do we actually get into our diet?

It doesn't have to be complicated, but I think I have made it much more complicated because I've tried to take our "normal" diet and make it healthy and I just don't think that's the way to go about it. Doing things that way has you purchasing all kinds of processed foods with an "organic" label or paying double the price because this is the "healthy" brand. Soon enough, your pantry may be filled to overflowing with organic/healthy processed foods that are doing no more for you than their conventional counterparts.

Several years ago I was turned onto green smoothies by Serene, Pearl and Vange. That was probably 2005. I tried to make them and even kept it up for a while, but I was eventually turned off because they weren't a regular part of my diet and I was the only one drinking them. It's just not as much fun when no one else is on board. Can I hear an "Amen!"?

As I read through the book of Daniel and contemplated my exhaustion, I knew there had to be a better way. God could not really desire for me to live in a lethargic state with all my littles running around. With the desire for more children but lacking energy to keep up, I started going back to the Bible on the matter, and thus, back to the basics. Even before I purposely went to the Bible on the subject, God was using my quiet time with Him to spark in my heart a desire for eating right.

Searching for a raw granola recipe for a friend, I came upon a site that really caught my eye - www.greensmoothiegirl.com. I'm not hyperlinking yet - so don't go anywhere! Robyn has such GREAT information, that is very sound so far, and very much in line with the Biblical principles I have been searching out. She makes climbing the mountain to a whole foods with 60-80% raw diet, possible. She has "flattened the learning curve" for those that want to massively improve their diets.

Warning: I believe that Robyn may be Mormon. I'm not sure of that, though. She mentions God several times in the portion that I have read, but she also has several references to evolution. Now, I'm stable enough in my beliefs that I can look beyond that to see the truth in what is written, as all truth is God's truth. Evolution is not from God and it is NOT the truth - so I ignore those references. It's a case of "chew the meat and spit out the bones" and in this circumstance there is plenty meat (Truth) with a few bones (Lies). I'm VERY leery of reading anything that is not Biblical and therefore, keep my secular reading down to a VERY MINIMUM.

My plan is to document my journey through the next year as I rejuvenate our family's diet always going back to the Bible and what God says on the matter, while using the 12 steps to Whole Foods plan to get us on track. I'm evening plotting the plan out on the calendar.

Because Robyn offers the 12 Steps to Whole Foods ebook on her website, I'm going to try not repeat information here, but I would like to share a bit about what I learn from all the resources I'm reading right now. I'm also reading: Serene Allison's Rejuvenate Your Life!, Renee Ellison's booklet Turbo-Charged Nutrition for Peak Performance Kids, and Stormie Omartian's Greater Health God's Way.

So onto more good stuff...

We all know that we need more greens in our diet and yet how much salad can one actually eat in a day. The serving sizes that the government recommends are really hilarious when it comes to veggies; as a 2" piece of cucumber is considered a "serving".

Anyone can make a green smoothie. I have a bosch blender currently and it is working fine for making my green smoothies. I have to work it a little for frozen fruit, but it's still going. The plan is for us to save and purchase a Blend-Tec HP3A. We used to own a Vita-Mix, but sold it so that I could get a grain mill. The Blend-Tec will do both grains and literally almost anything else you would want to blend and it's the same price as the Vita-Mix.

You want to drink about a quart of green smoothie a day. So, I'm issuing this challenge to you and would love to know who is going to take me up on it. Get your children in on the action. You simply must read what Robyn has to say about getting your children on board - they should not have a choice! You are the parent!!! Renee Ellison says the same exact thing.

1cup of water
lots of spinach or chard - you want to stick with the neutral flavored greens at first
blend the heck out of it for 90 seconds
put in a banana - to make it creamy
add in your fruit

Robyn makes it easy on her youtube video:

So who's in? 30 days! 1 quart a day! 15 servings of raw fruits and greens! Leave me a comment!

picture from: http://www.rawfamily.com

Scripture Memory System & Freebie

2009-08-25T07:57:00.004-05:00

A good friend sent this to me over a year ago, I'm sure. We used a different system last year (spiral bound index cards). While that system was great for what we needed at the time, I think this is going to be so much better. We memorize Scripture together as a family, and pretty much all memorize the same Scipture verses. A friend also mentioned that she is going to alter this system a bit and color code the cards for each family member so that they just have one box. I love this idea!

Basically you have a box where you will keep index cards with Scripture written on them. A card is studied daily until you can say it together. Then it is moved behind one of the various tabs where it is studied on an: Odd day, Even day, Day of the Week, then ultimately once per month. Sonya of Simply Charlotte Mason put it together and describes it best.

We memorized James 1 last year, and started on James 2. I want my children to keep these verses fresh in their mind. Time is limited, so I decided to type them out on the index cards instead. I formatted the file for 3x5 cards and have included it here for those that want it. You can then add more verses that you want to memorize.

Scrapbooking the Simple Way

2009-08-12T08:55:00.003-05:00

A friend of mine from high school (found via facebook) saw that I was an avid scrapbooker. She emailed me to ask how to get started. She had many questions and just wanted to get started inexpensively and easily. She was clearly overwhelmed with all the choices there are now. I was scared to answer her at first. It's been so very long since I taught scrapbooking classes. So much of what I do now is just second nature and I wasn't sure I could formulate it into words. As I started typing, it just came flowing out and I gave her hints and tips that have taken me years to learn. I'm a digital scrapbooker now, but occassionally I pull out the paper scrapbooks and enjoy scrapbooking with P10. As I was typing, my mind was flooded with the memories of my beginning scrapbooking days, scrapbooking friends, and scrapbooking get togethers. What fun we had!

At the end, I thought "hey, this is pretty good!" and thought it might be helpful to some of the people that follow my blog, but aren't current scrapbookers.

So, here it is, in it's very raw form:

Jenny,

Sorry this is so late in coming....

Okay, the jist of it is, if you want to keep this an affordable hobby, you have to simplify. Ditch the idea of using ribbon - unless you want to tie it in your hair! LOL

Before I was a digital scrapbooker, I didn't use 3-D products at all. They bulk up your albums and that is not a good thing. They are pricey, and they cause you to spend way too much time putting a page together.

First, I want to recommend the book Photo Freedom. You can find it on Amazon and sometimes Barnes & Noble. This will really help you to see your pictures and not be overwhelmed with thinking you have to get them all into scrapbooks. Not gonna happen, so don't sweat it! You have more important things to do - like take care of your family and scrapbook! LOL

You want good albums - this is your most important investment. I would recommend Creative Memories albums and pages. Everything else can be purchased elsewhere although CM does have good products. They also USED to promote the idea of simplicity, but I think they have really gotten away from that.

This is my favorite adhesive:
http://www.funkyplaygrounddesigns.com/store/product.php?productid=940&cat=35&page=1

But in truth, anything that is acid free from Walmart works fine. Also the liquid mono-adhesive is really great! http://www.funkyplaygrounddesigns.com/store/product.php?productid=989&cat=35&page=1

You can find these things at Hobby Lobby.

Paper and stickers - stick to acid free and you'll be happier if you get something that looks good to you and you don't just buy something because it matches your theme. So, if you are scrapbooking a circus page and you find circus stickers, but you don't LOVE them, don't use them - don't buy them! Instead, find some bright geometric shapes or something, because you are more likely to use them and like that page later than if you just used the tacky stickers because they had a clown on them! Make sense?

Copying is the NAME OF THE GAME in scrapbooking. There is no reason you have to pull out all the stops and try to be creative here. Your son will love looking at his scrapbook if you actually put it together and he won't care how "plain" it is, or what you used on it. Don't sweat it. Grab a copy of a scrapbooking magazine at Hobby Lobby or B&N. Find a layout you like. If it is of a little girl's first birthday, but you have pictures of your son's first camping trip, you look at the general layout of the page - where she placed the pictures, where she placed the paper and stickers and you use what you have and place it similar to where she did.

When you get better at "scraplifting" you can flip that page on it's side and use it as a guide that way - giving you a completely different look.

And if you have a local scrapbook store or creative memories consultant, there is nothing more fun than gathering together with some friends and putting some pages together. They are there to help you if you get stuck - which you won't if you read above and take my advice - and it's just fun to show off your creations and have everyone oooh and ahhh.

I have put together about 20 scrapbooks over the last 9 1/2 years and I can truly say that your child will find so much joy in seeing those pictures.

Now, I'm just going to touch a little bit on journaling... DO IT! That's where you write about the picture. Here are a few simple prompts to get your mind to going when you look at the pictures. Who? When? Where? Why? When you get more comfortable writing you can say how you were feeling that day or "It was such a bittersweet day to see him graduate from Kindergarten. I was excited he was growing into a big boy, but I was sad it was happening so quickly." You also don't need to write about every single picture. If you are putting a page together of some time ya'll spent at the playground, it will be OBVIOUS that he is sliding or he is swinging, etc. On this type of thing I would focus on writing something like: DeSoto Creative Playground September 2009 The truth of the matter is that I needed a break from the house, so we packed up a lunch and headed to the playground. It was a nice break for both of us. He played while I sat down on the bench to read xyz.

It doesn't need to be hard! Really! Just get started and you will see. Don't let perfectionism creep in either. You don't need to make prize winning pages or write novels. These books are for you and your family. If you make it too hard, you won't do it and that would be sad. :(

I hope this helps you get started. Let me know if you have any more questions and thanks for giving me the opportunity to share about something I really love!

Your old (and getting older!) friend,
Christine

photo: http://www.vclib.org/img2/GR_scrapbook.jpg

Book: Breastfeeding and Fertility

2009-07-16T09:39:00.005-05:00

My mama would say that I've been a "readin' fool" lately. I just finished Breastfeeding and Fertility by Jenny Silliman last night.

I haven't met Jenny, but I know we would become fast friends if I did. Well, I may just hush and listen to her talk. She reminds me of a young Nancy Campbell. In fact, she quotes Nancy several times in the book.

Jenny's sweet spirit and calming encouragement really resonate in the pages of this book. Along with that, the ending of all 20 chapters has a resounding theme - breastfeeding delays fertility.

In posting this, I fear (okay, probably not the best word, but work with me) that some may think that I nurse my babies to delay fertility. In truth, this is not the case at all. When we decided to leave our family size to the Lord, we did just that and fully believe that God opens and closes the womb. Understanding that, also means understanding that God has designed a woman's body to nurse her babies for, what the world would call, an extended period of time. In the Bible, we see over and over wonderful references to the nursing mother and from further research, we find that babies were generally weaned between 3-5 years. Personally we don't go this long and I have never tandem nursed my babies. Usually about 2/3 of the way through a pregnancy, I will completely wean the youngest one and even this is a very slow process.

Here is how long I have nursed my children: C13 (never nursed :( ), P10 (11 months), B5 (20 months), L3 (22 months), A1 (15 months and going strong!). My cycle has returned at varying stages, but it was very dependent on how I nursed, and still no cycle with A yet.

My last two babies haven't had bottles. My last 3 haven't had pacifiers. My last 4 have all slept with us or close to us. Even with my oldest, before Big P and I got married, C13 would end up in bed with me along with a bottle (that I laboriously had to get up and make in the middle of the night). With my 4th, L3, I ended up starting my cycle at 7 months because I wasn't eating enough to sustain a good milk supply. I had a miscarriage not long after that.

With A1, things have been very different. He would not eat the solid foods I was trying to give him at 8 months, 9 months, 10 months, 11, and yes, even 12 months. At his first birthday he was treated with pudding instead of cake or anything of the like - because he would just gag.

In the midst of my frustration, I cried out to the Lord for Him to show me what to do. He gave me a peace in the midst of my self-created storm. I then went to the bookshelf and picked out Breastfeeding and Fertility. This was merely for breastfeeding encouragement, not the fertility side. Because I was in the middle of several projects, I just read the back cover and was immediately relieved of my frustrations.

The very things I was resenting and rejecting where the very things that God made my body to do, total mothering!

I was freed. No longer would I be concerned with what others thought about my nursing exclusively at his age (12+ months). He is on some solids - up to 2nd baby foods and 3rds on some things, at this point.

Jenny covers everything in this book and at the end has a list of 20 books she recommends on breastfeeding and mothering. Some of the chapters go into forgiveness (asking for forgiveness for not completely mothering at times, forgiving your own mother if she didn't nurse you, etc.), weaning, sleeping and more. Another reason I really I felt like I could relate to Jenny is because she has struggled with being overweight as well. She talks about nutrition, losing weight while nursing, and a small portion on what she has coined as W.E.A.L.T.H.S. (water, exercise, air, light, thoughts, healthy eating, and sleep - that's another post). She even covers, to a small extent, getting things done around the house when you are total mothering - including wearing an ERGO. I love my ERGO, but honestly I haven't worn it much to carry baby around so that I can get things done. Yesterday I strapped A1 on my back and went to town. He was so happy. Oh, and he is walking some for those that think it's absurd that I would carry a baby of his age on my back!

For quite some time I've considered myself a mother who loved all things natural. But accepting what is and completely embracing what God created you to do - those are different things and now I understand that thanks, in part, to this book!

art print from: http://store.encore-editions.com/Artists/Mary_Cassatt.html

Workbox Freebies

2009-07-08T10:50:00.006-05:00

I needed a little break this morning while the 4 oldest were in the pool, so I decided to do a little "mock" digi scrapping that benefited our schooling - since that's the mode I'm in right now.

We will be using workboxes with our oldest 4, including C13, but his will be a means to an end, which I will post about later. Although I feel that the workbox system is WONDERFUL for all homeschoolers, our world runs on paper and digital (planners and such). I think that children should be trained, albeit slowly, into running on the system that the rest of the world runs on (disclaimer: I'm only speaking of the area of workboxes and planners.).

So, after that little rabbit trail, let me return to what I came here for. I made the boy scout workbox numbers for C13 and then just kept going. With her permission, I used Simply Susan's Let's Go Camping kit on all of it, except the red numbers, which come from To Everything A Season. (another rabbit trail here: all of Susan's products are $1 - yes, you read that correctly! ONE DOLLAR!!)

Here we have workbox numbers for a boy scout (hiker boy), a girl scout (hiker girl), camper girl (which has a girl with marshmallows and marshmallows instead of a hatchet), and camper boy (boy with marshmallows and marshmallows instead of a hatchet). Sorry, they are out of order! :( Images are linked to a 4shared folder that will contain all the workbox items I build - christinesworkboxstuff.4shared.com .