Thankful Thursdays #2

Happy Thanksgiving! This will be my tribute to Thanksgiving. I will list 5 things that I am thankful for today. These are the big things since it's a thankful day!!

1) I am thankful today for our country. We are so very blessed to live in America, land of the free, and home of the brave. This is a priviledge.

2) I am thankful for all of the service men and women who have served our country over the years. Because of each of them, this country is what it is. Let's never take that for granted!

3) I am thankful that God sent His only son to die for my sins (and yours too!). What an amazing act of love this was. I cannot even understand it, but I'm thankful.

4) I am thankful for my family. Having a large family is challenging at times, but I love each and every member of my family. I am thankful for all of the joys that you bring into my life.

5) I am thankful for my friends. You are the ones who support me and love me and make me laugh! God never wanted us to be alone, and I'm glad He chose to give me YOU as my friend.

That's my list of the 5 things I'm thanking God for this holiday season! If you'd like to join us today, or in the future, for Thankful Thursdays, just copy the html in my sidebar (under the Thankful Thursday picture) and join in!

Have a blessed Thanksgiving! I'll be back to my regular blogging on Monday! Until then, I'll miss you. :)

Thankful Journal

Happy Thanksgiving week to my wonderful readers!

I was visiting Cheryl Barker's blog and she had the best idea! She is suggesting that you create a Thankful Journal and write something in it every night. It doesn't have to be the big things (although that would work, too) but you just think of the little things that happen during the day. For example, I could put how my son took a shower in my bathroom and as he was walking to his room he said, "Go look at the mirror, Mom, I left you a note." When I went into the bathroom, he had been using his finger to draw into the steam the words, "I love my Mom!" little treasures! You get the idea.

Anyhow, I was so intrigued by the idea that I've gone out and bought inexpensive notebooks for my kids to decorate, and then we will all begin to use a daily thankful journal. For more details, please visit her post, HERE.

I will be back for Thankful Thursdays tomorrow, but then I'm taking a break until Monday. Be blessed, and happy journaling!

Balancing Act

Ever feel like you don't have enough time in the day to complete everything? I think this is a struggle for all of us from time to time. In raising my family, I'm finding that there are so many good things to get involved in. There's sports, horseback riding, music lessons, dance lessons, home school co-ops, church work, volunteering, friends and family! Good grief, no wonder so many of us are burned out!



With six children, I am amazed at the pressure that's out there to let them get involved in all of these different activities. But you know, if my kids each got involved in a separate event, I'd be running at least six times a week! That's just too much time out and about.

There is a fine line that we must walk in today's fast paced society. God wants us to use our talents for His glory, but we need to be acutely aware of His timing. I've been struggling to find that balance lately. But with God's help, and a willing heart, I know I will find that balance.

Proverbs 11:1 A false balance is an abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight.

Guilty As Charged

It was a normal school day at our house. I was sitting at the homeschool table with my school aged children, and my 3 year old was playing by herself. Unannounced to me, she wandered into her big sisters room and got into trouble.

When her sister finally went into her room she came out to report that someone had taken four pieces of her chewing gum. Since all of the other children had been with me, we knew there could only be one person guilty. When she sought out my 3 year old to ask her if she did it, her response was, "NO".

A few minutes later, when my 10 year old went to put on her shoes, she came out hysterically laughing. We asked her what was so funny, and she said, "look, someone put chewed up gum in my shoes!"

Knowing who the guilty party was, we now had the evidence we needed to do some disciplining! She denied it until we showed her the shoes with the gum inside.

Oh how I could relate to this. How many times have I sinned and thought, no one saw me so I don't need to confess to it. However, God sees all things and in due time the evidence usually surfaces to charge us as guilty. Thankfully, we have the blood of Jesus to wash us clean and take our guilt away.

After all of this, there was reconciliation, and I cleaned out the shoes - good as new. LOL!!

Object Lesson #3

So tonight we had an unusual dinner. Can you spot what's wrong on the dinner plate? If you said green rice, you'd be right! We were supposed to make something green in our meal. We instructed the kids to just eat dinner as usual and then we would have our object lesson.

They were quite curious about the green rice, I even had one child who couldn't eat it! Then one child finished her supper first. Without much ado, my hubby just handed her a small bag of candy and instructed her to eat it, but not share it.

This didn't go over so well. She was so concerned that she kept trying to share it, but we told her "no". :)

Now the lesson. The green food was supposed to represent being green with envy. We talked at length about the definition of envy. My scholarly son said, "are you talking about coveting, Dad?" He clearly needs things taught to him in the king james version! LOL!

After real examples of envy we moved on to Bible characters who struggled with envy, and the terrible outcomes, of course.

Then the hard part came, to discuss ways to avoid envy. We decided that being content with the things we already have is the best way, but to pray about it when we feel tempted, is another good way.

Proverbs 14:30 A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.

* OK Ladies, I have the name of the book (There are actually 2) Bashed Burritos, Green Eggs...and other indoor/outdoor devotionals you can do with your kids. By, Tim and Cheryl Shoemaker. I'll keep posting these on Friday's but feel free to buy the book and let us know how they work with your families!

Thankful Thursdays

I am so excited to announce that today is the first Thankful Thursday! I've been working through some stress in my own life and the Lord has led me to being thankful, or grateful for the little things. Yes we are all thankful for the big things. But I need to remember to be grateful for even the smallest of things.

Each Thursday, I am going to list 5 things that I am thankful for. I hope that you will decide to join me (just copy the html under my button on the side bar) and list what five things you are thankful for each Thursday.

Here we go, this week I am thankful for:

1) My mother. She has been such an amazing mentor to me over the years. And specifically, this week, she has helped me to be happy in my own skin. I love you Mom!

2) Snow! We love snow, but living in Virginia, we don't see much of it. This week it snowed, just a bit, and it brought back laughter and excitement into our day.

3) My house. I love being in my home. It is modest, yet it meets all of our needs! It is warm and cozy in the winter, and I even have a lovely fire place that we all enjoy.

4) My poodles. I have 2 toy poodles and they are just pleasant dogs. Rex, my white poodle (the other one is black) knows when I'm upset and he'll just stare at me until I pet him and tell him I'm ok. I'm telling you, it's the little things that count!

5) Fall. I just love the change of seasons, autumn being my favorite. I enjoy watching the leaves turning into an array of warm colors. I love watching them fall from the trees, and I really think it's fun to listen to the crunch as I walk through them.

Well, there's my list of things that I am grateful to you for, God! Thank you for all of the pleasures in my life. You've spared no detail in making my life a wonderful life.

If you are thankful today, I encourage you to copy my button (in my sidebar) and tell everyone the five things you are thankful for this week. Then come back here and leave me a comment so I can come and share in your gratefulness. :)

Happy in My Own Skin

On Monday I blogged about being a type "B" person and how I wanted advice on how to bring out the the type "A" in me. The funny thing was that I had more type "A"'s leave me a comment than type "B". Thank you for all of the responses. I loved reading each one of them!

I woke up this morning just feeling like this was an impossible task. I am a round peg and I cannot be squeezed into a square slot. I thought how God doesn't make mistakes and how He made some of us to be type "A" and some to be type "B". Then it hit me, the world puts a lot of pressure on us to become type "A" people. The world says we have to be driven to accomplish many things. The world demands we all be the same, fit into the same mold. But that's not how God works!

God created each one of us to be unique and different. Get to know a set of identical twins and you'll see that they even have differences in their personalitites. God does want us to accomplish things and do His will, but we are going to go about getting there in different ways.

I've thrown aside my minute-by-minute schedule (it was so pretty with a rainbow of colors), and I've adapted to a type "B" way of scheduling. I have made a list of all the things that need to be done, and then I sit down and do them. If I get side tracked for a few minutes (like writing this post), not to worry, becasue when I''m done here I'll be back to working on my list.

The irony is that I don't care if I mark off my list (that might make it messy!) I just know when I've completed the first thing than I move on to the next, and so on. Each day I will create a new list and that works well for me. I've also found that a block of time works better for me than an exact time. It's more flexible and as a type "B" I need flexible!

For example, we were finishing up some schooling this morning when we got a phone call (yes we answer the phone during school!) the person on the other end of the phone said, "IT"S SNOWING"!!! Of course, at the mention of snow in November in Virginia, we all ran screaming out the door to take in the wonder of it all! It was short lived and after about 20 minutes, we were all freezing cold and ready to go back in and finish up our work. If I had been on a specific time frame I would have been stressed out, but since I just knew the task that needed to be completed, I could feel no condemnation as I got the chore finished after playing in the snow.

So, if you're one of my "A" friends, stop rolling your eyes! If you're one of my "B" friends, lets celebrate being who we are because God doesn't want us to be what we are not. :)

PS. Think about it, Moses, was clearly a type "B", he was happy tending sheep in the fields and didn't need the leadership role. He even wanted his brother to take charge, although God wanted Moses to lead. So, that said, type "B" people can certainly lead, they just need to be pushed a bit. :)

Bringing out the type A in me

Last week was a very productive week for me. I was able to get away with my hubby and have a time of refreshing with the Lord. During that time I knew that I needed to become more organized. You see, I am a type "B" person.

Here is the difference between type "A" people and type "B" people:

Type A = A temperament marked by excessive competitiveness and ambition, an obsession with accomplishing tasks quickly, little time for self-reflection, and a strong need to control situations.

Type B = A form of behavior associated with people who appear free of hostility and aggression and who lack a compulsion to meet deadlines, are not highly competitive at work or play, and have a lower risk of heart attack.

It is interesting to note that the Type "A" people are often unable to relax and just smell the roses (something I enjoy doing!).

It's not that I want to become something that I am not. I just need to realize that us type "B" girls need some structure and committment if we hope to accomplish all of the things that need to be accomplished.

The funny thing is that I have added lots of color and graphics to my lists (my husband's are just black and white) LOL! I just know that if I'm supposed to look over a goals list several times daily, it had better be pretty! LOL!!

How about you, ladies? If you are a type "B" personality, tell me how you handle staying on task and getting things accomplished.

Object Lesson #2

If you've been following my postings you'll know that my husband has started teaching our kids object lessons on a weekly basis. Last week he used toothpaste to show them how easily harsh words can come out of our mouths, but how it is impossible to take them back. Feel free to read about it HERE if you missed it.

This weeks lesson started with a raw egg. Each child had a piece of paper marked
15
30
45
60
and it kept going until 3 minutes. Then he put the egg in a glass bowl in the microwave. While they watched he turned it on and set it for 3 minutes. Each new time frame would come and they would write what happened. Nothing happened until after 1 min. 30 seconds. Then, all of a sudden, BOOM! The egg exploded. My kids about jumped out of their skin! LOL!!

Now came the lesson. The egg represents our hearts and the microwave is sin in our lives. When we sin, often nothing happens. That usually leads to another sin, and another. We think we're ok, and then suddenly, BOOM! We explode and our hearts become a mess!

Proverbs 14:16 A wise one fears and departs from evil, but the fool rages and is sure.

Proverbs 14:27 The fear of Jehovah is a fountain of life to turn aside from the snares of death.

Psalms 34:14 Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.

The Art of Gratitude

I was visiting my friend's blog this morning over at Streams of Living Water and I just loved her post. She listed five things that she is grateful for today.

I'm trying to make sure that my daily outlook on life is a positive one and a grateful one. If I keep up with thoughts of thankfulness than there isn't any room for negative thoughts, right? At least that's the theory behind it.

Anyhow, God loves a grateful heart, so here's a list of the five things that I am thankful for TODAY:

1) I'm grateful that today I am sitting in a beach house overlooking the ocean. No distractions, just a refreshing time for me and my God. I've so enjoyed His presence this week! (I'm here with my hubby and the kids are with relatives.)

2) I'm grateful that we can learn so much from God's creation. (See yesterday's post on Turtle Tuesdays.)

3) I'm thankful for my loving husband. He accepts me as I am, flaws and all, and just loves me with a Godlike love. I'm thankful that he always supports me and encourages me.

4) I'm thankful for my relatives who stepped in when I was feeling stressed out and they just dropped everything to join forces to watch the kids and many animals in order for my hubby and I to get away and find inner peace again.

5) I'm thankful for my children who are sacrificing having their mom and dad there for a few days because they love us enough to know we need this time away in order to be better parents.

We're at #5 already! I have so much more to list, I was just getting started. Ok, maybe I'll have to make this a routine post. Thankful Thursdays..... I like the sound of it. Hey Edie, could you make me a button for that?

I hope you all are thankful for the many good things around you today! I love you all, my readers and encourager's. My life is so much more rich and full of grace because of each of you.

Psalm 67:5 Let the peoples give thanks to You, O God; let all the peoples praise You.

James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning.

Turtle Tuesday

Over the past few weeks, I've been spending my Tuesday's over at Bhisgirls place. She does a really fun Turtle Tuesday's post each week. Last week she even had her turtle get involved in the election process - Go McCain!


So, a few weeks ago, after reading her Turtle Tuesday post and then Edie's link I got a phone call that there was a turtle on our driveway. What a coincidence that was. So, being curious as to what God was doing, I decided to take my crew for a walk to play with the turtle. :)


We had fun with the little guy and my animal lover held him. At first he didn't seem to care about all the attention. Then, he seemed to be feeling a bit shy and he retreated into his shell. We pondered all of this and decided that he had a plan, or a mission he was on and we were distrating him. Kind of like our lives in Christ and the world distracting us. We need to learn to shut out the world when we realize it is keeping us from our calling!


Then we just left him alone and stared at him for a few minutes. At some point, he came out of his shell and no matter which direction we turned him in (yes we were antagonizing him) he would turn around and march into the correct direction. He never lost sight of his objective! Oh how we need to be that way in Christ as well.

The final observation was made by my son. He said that clearly turtles are slow to anger. :) Loving Turtle Tuesdays!

Friends

Today I want to tell you about a very special friend that I have in my life. Her name is Chatty Kelly (well, that's her bloggy name). Kelly and I have been friends for a very long time (14 or 15 years-Kelly would know!).

When we first met, we were both working in the corporate headquarters of a large retail corporation. We became friends quickly and soon were eating lunch together daily! We also sent IM's to each other constantly and still managed to be excellent at our positions. Then she got promoted to work for the CEO and the IM's stopped. We did continue the lunches. :)

Our friendship changed once again when I had my first baby and stayed home. What a lonely time that was for me! After the birth of my second child, Kelly gave birth to her first and began staying at home.

It was challenging to transition our friendship from corporate to home and we didn't get together all that often. Over the years we've tried to keep in touch, and whenever we're together it's as if no time has passed since our last meeting.

In the Spring of this year Kelly encouraged me to start writing with her (blogging). God was giving me a new calling on my life and He knew I would need my precious friend, Kelly by my side. We went to She Speaks! writers conference together and had a blast!

Now we're both writing and submitting articles and the best part is that we are getting together much more frequently. Kelly is one of my biggest "cheerleaders" when it comes to writing and I am so grateful for her.

I want to toot her horn a bit and say that her first published article is in the November issue of the P31 magazine (If you don't have a copy, buy one quick!). I am so proud of Kelly for using the talents that God has given her.

Real friends are a gift from God. He has given me many friends and I am thankful for all of them. But today, I want to praise God for my friend, Kelly! She brings joy and encouragement and love into my life. What a treasure.


This picture was taken last week when we decided to have our portraits taken professionally for our future web pages. It's always more fun to do things with a friend!

Saturday Humor

Some of you may have noticed that I have a new profile picture. There was even a comment about my new haircut (see picture) so I thought I would tell you all my haircut story.

With six kids and a busy schedule, I have trouble making and keeping hair appointments at the "nicer" hair salons. So, in order to at least keep up with the latest trends, I just go to (ok, get ready to cringe) the hair cuttery when I get a window of opportunity.

On my most recent trip there, I decided to get a hairdo change. I wanted my hair to be on the short side in the back and a little longer in the front. I got the new do and loved it, hubby approved as well which was very important.

When it came time for my first trim of the new do, I went back to the same salon. This time I had a cute little Asian woman who didn't speak much English. I told her to trim it.

She said, "yust a little?"
I said, "yea, please just take off a little"

Then the cutting began and I noticed more than a little falling to the ground! After she was done, she reached for the mirror and said to me, "I took a lot off, more stylish!"

What! More stylish! What was she thinking!

Well, the damage was done so I kindly paid for her services and went home. Surprisingly, my husband loves it! I guess it really was more stylish! LOL!

Object Lesson #1

Raising children can be quite challenging! They go through seasons in their lives and once they are out of the toddler stage it's all about explaining things to them and giving them a moral reason why. This is sometimes easier said than done.

My husband has discovered a book (he won't tell me the title yet) that our pastor referred to him, and in the book are lots of practical object lessons. He has committed to teaching his family a new object lesson each week. I wanted to share the first one with you.

Object lesson #1 starts off with a table covered in newspaper. Then you have the kids sit down and they are each given a brand new tube of toothpaste (from the dollar tree, of course). My husband pulled out a $100 bill and said, "the first person to complete this task can have this $100 bill". This motivates the kids to listen and get ready to win!

The first step is to ask the kids to see who can be the first one to squeeze all of the toothpaste out of the toothpaste tubes. They start screaming and squeezing and laughing! It doesn't take long at all before they have all completed the first task.

The second, and final task, is to see who can be the first one to put all of the toothpaste back into the tubes!!! They really started squeeling and laughing and trying EVERYTHING they could to get that toothpaste back into the tubes. After 20 minutes or so, my husband calls time and no one has succeeded.

Then comes the moral, just like the toothpaste, hurtful words seem to flow freely out of our mouths. Just like the toothpaste, once they come out, you cannot take them back.

Proverbs 17:27 He that hath knowledge spareth his words: and a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit.

Celebration

I love to write, and in doing so, I believe that I am following a calling that God has placed on my life. The calling is to encourage others in their faith.

We need encouragement in every area of our lives. I wanted to pass on a little encouragement to those of you who write.

I receive a monthly magazine called, Christian Communicator. This is a very good magazine and I highly recommend it. In the October issue, there was an article titled, "Preparing for Submission", by Nancy L. Sanders. After going over some basic tips for your article, she says to SUBMIT IT! While that seems obvious, it's a very scary thing to do.

I have submitted 6 articles now. The first one was a "no", and the next one was a "yes"!! I am still waiting to hear on the other four. I've been doing something wrong, though. I've been waiting until I receive a "yes" to celebrate. In her article, Nancy says that once you've submitted the article to CELEBRATE!

Here's what she says, "After you send the manuscript, rejoice. You answered the call God placed on your heart to write this manuscript from beginning to end. You didn't hide your talent by burying the finished piece in your computer. No, you submitted it! You did the best you knew how to do in this season of life, and that's all God asks of you. Spend time rejoicing with the Lord."

She then suggests to kneel and pray, dance for joy, or shout in victory!

So my sweet writer friends, when you finish the article and submit it, that's the time to celebrate!

Election Day

Today is election day, 2008! What a privilege to be able to go to the polls without fear of being hurt or killed for our individual beliefs.

I took a break from traditional schooling today to teach my kids about the election process. We do a little reading and then make a hands on craft to put into a "lap book". Hopefully when we're done they will have something to keep and refer back to for years to come. If you don't feel like being creative, I highly recommend buying a pre-made kit from "In The Hands of A Child".

While we were studying, I discovered something that I had overlooked. I've always called our country a Democracy, but that's not true! In fact, it is a Republic Nation. Let me explain:

The founding fathers and framers of the Constitution were completely opposed to our country being a Democracy. Here are the definitions:

Democracy - People do have the right to elect their leaders, but power is given to the government to to grant and remove privileges from the people without their consent.

Republic - A Republic protects the rights of its citizens and elected leaders may not pass laws removing those rights without consent from the people. In a Republic, the government is all about protecting our rights.

Of course, there are more differences but this is it in a nutshell. Our founding fathers held firmly to the belief that people have certain inalienable rights, not privileges, given to them by their Creator. This is why we live in a Republic, not a Democracy!

Ladies, what year did it become legal for women to vote?

The answer is on the comment page! :)

If you haven't done so, GO VOTE!! It's a privilege and right that was brought about through much pain and toil.

Just Like You

My kids are so amazing. Each one is unique and different and this is reason to just marvel at God's plan for creation.

The other morning I was drinking my morning glass of milk (actually rice milk) and taking my vitamins when I noticed that my youngest (3yo) Tiffany was standing next to me with her glass of milk. The funny thing was that every time I took another vitamin and placed it into my mouth, she would "pretend" to grab a vitamin and put it into her mouth. So sweet and innocent at this age, they completely want to be like you.

Now another child, an older sibling, was having trouble completing all their schoolwork on a daily basis. This child is struggling with focusing and completing all that is required. I've been praying about how to encourage and motivate this child. I feel that they aren't making best use of their time each day.

It was during one of my times with the Lord that He said, "are you imitating proper time management for your child?" OUCH!! This isn't about me, it's about my child, right?? WRONG!

Have you ever noticed that the word child appears nowhere in the word PARENTING? Instead the word PARENT is stuck in the middle. God was showing me that if there is an issue with a child, look no further than Mom or Dad to find out if they are properly modeling right behaving for them.

I have some serious planning to do this weekend to prepare for Monday morning. I'll be getting up when my alarm clock goes off and I'll be making the best use of my time so that I can "model" proper behavior for my precious child. May they follow suit!