Hearts in Service

We got together with our friends, Stephanie & Juan, for our monthly ethnic meal and it was my turn to cook. We started this about a year ago and it's been so much fun. We pick a country and if it's your turn to cook, you make it start to finish from scratch. It was my turn and I made food from India. The children helped me and in the past I've had them look up facts and things about the country we are doing. However, this time I just ran out of time. Of course, I forgot to take many pictures but I thought I'd share the menu. Curried dahl Indian chicken curry Couscous Naan with Chatpata Chana Dip Tomato/cucumber salad Rice pudding It was a feast and I ate too much which is also why I now have acid reflux and why I'm posting at 3:00 a.m. :-)

Isaiah 51: 12-16 (New Living Translation)- "I, yes I, am the one who comforts you. So why are you afraid of mere humans, who wither like the grass and disappear? Yet you have forgotten the Lord, your Creator, the one who stretched out the sky like a canopy and laid the foundations of the earth. Will you remain in constant dread of human oppressors? Will you continue to fear the anger of your enemies? Where is their fury and anger now? It is gone! Soon all you captives will be released! Imprisonment, starvation, and death will not be your fate! For I am the Lord your God, who stirs up the sea, causing its waves to roar. My name is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. And I have put my words in your mouth and hidden you safely in my hand. I stretched out[d] the sky like a canopy and laid the foundations of the earth. I am the one who says to Israel, ‘You are my people!’" I've been really wrestling with some things in my life lately and thought I would talk about it a bit this morni

I've been working on putting together a devotional on loving our husbands for a ladies luncheon. In trying to find verses related to that, I was struck by an observation. There are a couple of verses that command men on how to be a good husband but there are a multitude of verses that address our role as wives. The Bible seems skewed in our direction. Does that mean that the Bible was written by men in a patriarchal society? I don't think so. I think that perhaps we have more power as women than we realize. Our obedience to scripture and the way we act towards our husbands is directly related to the way they behave as husbands. For example, so many women complain that their husbands won't lead their families. Yet, they nag and complain and bully them. They are always telling them what to do. If the wife would only be quiet, be respectful, and allow their man the opportunity to lead they might be surprised at his willingness to step up and lead! That doesn't mean t

We have a ladies luncheon each month at church and take turns hosting it. It's my turn in February and the luncheon falls on Valentine's Day. I wanted to do something special so I made invitation cards with a Valentine's theme. Here are a few of them. For some reason the pictures didn't turn out great, but you get the general idea. I only have a few more to do. It is really kind of a relaxing way to spend a half hour or so.

Well, today is my 47th birthday. It's hard to believe in just 3 years I'll be 50 because I still feel about 20 years old. I wanted to share one of my gifts because I think they are beautiful. A lady in our church stopped by this afternoon with some handmade goodies. She made me 2 hot pads and a dish towel. An apron. Isn't it cute? And lastly, a table runner. Close up. I have the whole apple theme going on in my kitchen now. Overall, I've had a pretty good day. We haven't really done anything special because of church and small group tonight but after you get to a certain age, birthdays are kind of overrated!

We are finishing up the first half of our English curriculum, Lightning Literature: Early American Literature: Early to Mid-19th Century and have finished it by studying Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The boys were to write a poem that was 4 stanzas long and with 4 lines per stanza on a historical event. The poem also had to have a constant rhyme scheme and meter. Stephen wrote his poem on the revolutionary war and I think he did a pretty good job. The Revolutionary War Red coats are marching, marching up a hill, All of the townsfolk can see them near their sill. Everyone's fearful, fearful indeed, Hoping their loved ones can sprout a courageous seed. The war is starting with a thrill, And everyone is ready with a frightful chill. Now if you were there you would see, The marching of the enemy and how scary it would be. The first gunshot finally rang out, And every soldier was running all about. The redcoats have won the first battle, But the next one it will be them who will receiv

Thank you for all your suggestions regarding what to do with the little wooden apples and rolling pins. I actually ended up doing two crafts with them. I made a swag for the wall. Close-up. I also made a wreath by gluing them to a grapevine wreath I already had. On top of that, I made two more dish cloths this week. I think it was a very productive week. I find that if I just spend 30 minutes here and there throughout the week I get quite a bit accomplished.

Nathan struggles everyday of his life with his learning disabilities. He really can grasp different concepts very well but the mechanics of reading, writing, spelling and math are so difficult. He reads at about a 5th grade level and his writing and spelling skills are much, much lower. For math, we've been using Math-U-See and while I love the program and he loves it and is learning, he fails almost every test. It's okay because it's just part of his learning disability and he usually fails them because of recall issues. He'll set up the problems great and understands how to set them up but will make mistakes in multiplying or adding or something like that. Using a calculator for tests has helped some but his test scores range from 30s to 60s. Anyway, he was so excited and proud of himself because he finally made it into the pre-algebra book in MUS. This is far beyond what he would get in p.s. In the high school special education classes in public school, they only d

Someone gave me a box of these little wooden rolling pins and apples. I think they are cute and I would love to use them. The problem is that I'm coming up blank. Most of them have wire threaded through them. Some have the wire only on one side. Some have the wire threaded through both sides. I was thinking of using them to make a wreath but they are not hanging properly. The only thing I could think of was to remove the wire and just hot glue them to the wreath. Does anyone have any other ideas of what to do with these?

Emily seemed off today and sure enough, she had a fever by late this afternoon. I just went to check on her and this is how I found her. Poor kid! I know what I'm going to be doing tomorrow.

I looked out the window this morning to check the temperature and we have a -4F reading! Brrrrr!!!!!!!!!!! I looked at the other window pane and noticed the most beautiful sight. The ice had formed a pattern on the pane. It looked like perfectly etched jewels in the window. The only thing that could of caused this was the hand of God and I was reminded of Job 38:29-30 - "From whose womb comes the ice? Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens when the waters become hard as stone,when the surface of the deep is frozen?" Isn't His creation beautiful?

I've had a very productive week in the craft department. I made Emily a dress. I'm not thrilled with it. It looks lopsided because of the way she is standing. That's not the problem. It was looking pretty good until I put the sleeves on and then it just seemed too busy. I attached the bow in the front but it just seemed to make it look worse. Oh well! I also made 3 dishcloths. I made one with a hodgepodge of leftover yarn and then I also made these two. These things are great and the last ones I made lasted over a year. Well, that's it for this week. Hopefully, I can get as much done next week as I'm trying to stay consistent and do one or two projects per week.

I had a conversation with a 6 year old the other day about school. I asked him, "How do you like school this year?" His response was, "I HATE School!" Unfortunately, his response is typical of most children. Most children I know, especially teens, really dislike school. They moan and complain and long for the weekends and summer vacation. They view education as something that must be endured. We have a generation of children who are getting their education from pop culture, video games, and sound bytes. We have little girls who are forming their opinions about life from Hannah Montana. Boys are getting their view of how to act from Wrestlemania! It is worrisome to realize that these children will be our future leaders! Dan & I both tutored in the local public school and it is downright scary to see what kind of students are being turned out. Our school system has a required summer reading program and each book on the list is assigned a point value. Th

This is my favorite recipe for brownies. After eating these, you'll never want to buy a boxed mix again! Melt 1 cup (2 sticks) of butter in a sauce pan. In a large bowl, combine butter, 2 cups of sugar, and 2/3 cup of cocoa. Mix well. Add 4 eggs, beating them in one at a time. Then add 2 tsp. of vanilla. Finally, add one cup of flour and mix until well combined. You can add in 1 cup of chocolate chips if you like. Pour into a greased 9" x 13" pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Enjoy!

Today is my father-in-law's birthday. I'm not always the most demonstrative in person and usually do a much better job saying what I feel in writing. So I thought that I would tell you a bit about my wonderful father-in-law. First of all, he always looks so serious in pictures but he has a wonderful sense of humor. My kids love him and are always talking about how silly grandpa is. One of the things he always does when he sees Emily is say, "Hello Suzie!" So one day she wrote him a letter and told him to remember the next time he saw her that her name was Emily. LOL He loves the Lord. He took his children to church at an early age and tried to raise them to love and serve the Lord themselves. It is very important to him that his children follow the Lord Jesus. He loves his family! I think one of the most wonderful examples he gave to his sons is that family comes first. He was home every night when Dan was growing up. He wasn't out hanging with his buddi

I spent this past week sewing a shirt for my father-in-law. His birthday is tomorrow and I finally got it finished last night. So of course, my first goal of mailing gifts and cards on time is already falling by the wayside! Here is the finished product. I made a few mistakes but overall, I'm pleased with the results. It got mailed off this morning so hopefully it will only take a day or two to get there. Those of you who know him, keep it quiet until it arrives! :-)

What do you do when you are watching a friend's 5 year old and 4 year old and boredom sets in and it is too frigid to go outside? Make playdough! Here is a recipe I use for kool-aid playdough. If you don't have kool-aid just use food coloring to give it color. You just won't have the nice scent. 1 cup of flour 2 Tbsp. cream of tartar 1/4 cup salt 1 Tbsp. oil 1 cup of water 1 package kool-aid or food coloring Mix all the ingredients in a saucepan and stir over medium heat with a wooden spoon. The mixture will form a ball. Take it out and knead it until smooth. Let cool and then let the kids have fun! When it is completely cool, store in a ziplock bag and keep in the refrigerator. It will last months this way. They spent about an hour just creating and had a wonderful time!

Many times I get the sense that people think a stay at home Mom sits around and watches soap operas all day long. I've heard people say, "I wish I could stay at home." like somehow it's a vacation! I'm sure that there are some women who do shape their days around the latest television show and probably don't put a whole lot of effort into taking care of their house. Early in our marriage, Dan & I worked for an inner city ministry and were mentored by a gentleman who felt that as believers we should do everything with excellence. I find that I have tried to apply that to my homemaking. Does that mean I'm perfect? Far from it! In fact, there are many days when I struggle. However, I feel that if I am going to stay home, that I want my life to be more than sitting and watching t.v. or yapping on the phone all day. I also should clarify that I don't have any health issues and I don't have any babies. My day looked a lot different when I

Our family received a number of blessings lately and I wanted to share a couple of them with you. Years ago, I received a piano that my grandfather had in his apartment. It was a nice piano though the keys were yellowed and a couple of the keys didn't work. However, when we moved from the inner city 7 years ago, we had to leave the piano behind. We didn't have room in the moving truck. We've been using a little electric piano that someone gave us but it really was lacking in what the children needed. The previous pastor of our newly merged church left his piano behind and after contacting him, we were able to take it. So now the children have a nice piano that is in great shape. The other day, another homeschooler called me and asked me if I wanted to come and look through some books she had and was giving away. I came away with 2 boxes of books, mostly science. It was like Christmas around here. :-) I really needed some science books for Emily. We've been slog

I haven't posted about my progress on Weight Watchers since the beginning of November. After getting on the scale this morning, I know why. I've gained 6 lbs. since then. I started weight watchers back in June and with this weight gain, it puts my total weight lost back to.... 20 lbs. I had lost 27 lbs. altogether so this is a bit discouraging. However, I started back again yesterday and just need to refocus. The holidays are over and the temptations that are laying around my house are gone. I'll post my progress each week. The main thing that has been lacking lately is the exercise. It's been so cold! Dan & I were walking 3 miles about 5 days a week but have totally slacked off. So that's the other thing that I needs my attention. I'll keep you posted!

It is my turn to bring refreshments to church tomorrow for our fellowship time and I decided to make Cranberry-Orange Bread. I love this bread because it actually has a chewy texture and tastes delicious. Sift together 4 cups flour, 2 cups sugar, 3 tsp. baking powder, 3 tsp. salt and 1 tsp. baking soda. Cut in 1/2 cup butter. Add 2 beaten eggs, 2 tsp. grated orange peel and 1/2 cup orange juice. Stir until just moist. Fold in 3 cups of raisins and 3 cups chopped cranberries. I keep my cranberries in the freezer and pulse them in my food processor. Put in two greased 9x5x3 inch pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 70 minutes. Enjoy!

"Be careful little eyes what you see It's the second glance that ties your hands as darkness pulls the strings Be careful little feet where you go For it's the little feet behind you that are sure to follow" The other night I was sitting and working on making cards when Emily went and grabbed a bunch of craft supplies and sat at the table and started making a card too. She loves to follow in my steps and do what I do. If I craft, she wants to do it too. When I cook, she wants to help. If I have a snack, she wants one. It reminded me of how often my children watch me and emulate what I do. "Be careful little ears what you hear When flattery leads to compromise, the end is always near Be careful little lips what you say For empty words and promises lead broken hearts astray" However, they also mimic my words and attitudes. I have cringed many times to hear harsh words coming out of their mouths to each other, only to realize that they've hea

I usually shy away from New Year's Resolutions because they last about a month and that's it. However, this year I did want to come up with some concrete goals for myself. I started by reading Proverbs 31:10-31 and the description of the virtuous woman. Many people say that there is no way any woman could live up to this example but I believe there are some meaty nuggets in there that are worth emulating. After reading this passage, I broke down my responsibilities into categories and then tried to come up with some goals for each category. Here are my major headings, along with a few goals under each heading. I'm not listing them all here as some are personal goals. Spiritual * Regular quiet time with the Lord * Read through the Bible * 2-3 service projects with children Education * Consistent, focused school every day (except holidays and unforeseen circumstances) * Teach Nathan how to balance checkbook * Go through Driver Ed. Manual with Nathan and work