Free Stuff

I found a blog with all kinds of links to free stuff and good coupons. Check out Money Saving Moms here. Posted earlier today was a link to a free download of G.A. Henty's With Lee In Virginia. I'm also taking to the store a coupon for a 12 pack of retractable sharpies for $2. Not two dollars off, but $2 cost at Office Max.

John Piper Is Coming To The Central Coast

Get all the details here. Tickets go on sale tomorrow.

Flower Arranging Class- Week 1

Amy is involved with a group called Keepers of the Faith. It's a club for girls and kind of a cross between Girl Scouts and AWANA. They memorize scripture and do projects to earn pins.

I'll be teaching a project on Flower Arranging this spring. It's a 5 week class and I thought I'd post what we're doing each week.

I had to keep the cost of the class down to $15 per girl for the session. That works out to $3 per class! So I tried to come up with projects that a) would be simple enough for 8-12 year old girls to do, b) not cost too much money, and c) be projects that they would be able to do again at home.

For the first week we are going to make lavender wreaths. I have enough lavender dried from our garden that I didn't have to buy it. And I found these vine wreath bases at the dollar store.

Here's how to make the wreath.

Supplies:
Wreath base
flower materiel (dried flowers, or silk)
floral tape
paddle wire
hot glue gun and glue









Method:

If you are using dried flowers like lavender, it is helpful to bundle a small handful of stems. Floral tape is a special "tape" that sticks to itself when stretched. I've made a sample bundle that is next to the paddle wire in the picture.


For this wreath I used 15 little bundles of lavender. Start with the first bundle (or silk flower) and wrap the wire around a few times to secure it to the wreath. Be careful with dried flowers not to pull to tight or you will break the stems.



Place another bundle over the bottom of the first bundle so that you cover the stems, keeping the flowers going in the same direction. Wire that bundle in place. Continue around the entire base until you come back to the first bundle. Tuck the last bundle under the first one to conceal the stems. After you wire it in place, run the wire a few times through the wreath frame to secure and make a loop for hanging. Clip and tuck under to hide the wire end.


With a hot glue gun, glue a few individual flowers over any other exposed pieces of floral tape or bare spots that need filling in.


If cost were not an issue, I would hot glue a freeze dried rose and leaves at the bottom of the wreath or little baby pink or white ones all around the inside of the wreath. You could also add a ribbon at the top or bottom.

The Matching's the Thing

So True

"As long as I think the world and popular culture and diversion will bring me happiness, I will succumb to the quick fixes of a variety of addictions, including the endless entertainment which gives no lasting delight.

But when I believe God that ultimate happiness, transcendent Joy, is to be found in Him, then I will turn off the TV, turn off talk radio and sports radio, back away from the internet and video games, and open the Word of God and ask His Spirit to speak Joy into my life." - Randy Alcorn

Read the whole article here.

HT: Leslie

Excellent Blogs

Leslie over at Lux Venit gave me an award for having an excellent blog. Thanks, Leslie! It's a treat, because this is my 200th post.

As part of receiving this award, I get to award 10 other bloggers for having an excellent blog. Here are the rules.

“By accepting this Excellent Blog Award, you have to award it to 10 more people who’s blogs you find Excellent Award worthy. You can give it to as many people as you want but please award at least 10. Thank you out there for having such great blogs and being such great friends! You deserve this! Feel free to award people who have already been awarded."

All of the women I chose write about living life to bring glory to God as they seek to know Him more, and love their husbands and children. That in itself is enough to make their blogs excellent. But I have also enjoyed their individual personalities, talents and gifts. I'm pleased to award...

1. Fishkids (Jessica) for her Christ centered writing about home and family. Jessica has lots of great tips, recipes and thoughts on living life with (soon to be) six little ones, keeping it real and lots of fun.

2. Only By Grace (Jenn) for all her great links to helpful sermons and articles.

3. On An Enchanted Journey (Bethany) for her enthusiastic love of life and her savior. She is also a wonderful photographer!

4. Shoot For Eternity (Alicia) for her beautiful poetry.

5. Crafty Mama (Kristen) for her faith inspiring adoption journey.

6. Mercy Days (Kim) for making me laugh and think deep thoughts all at once.

7. Our Amazing Grace (Leigh) for her humble, passionate love for Jesus.

8. A Joyful Army of Six (Cara) for her excellent writing on many tough subjects. Cara also has many great recipes for those with allergies.

9. Dance By the Light (Danielle) for being someone who reminds me of Edith Schaffer (author of The Hidden Art of Homemaking) bringing beauty to the everyday. She also has the cutest little twin boys!

10. Ordinary Mother (Laurie) for always keeping the gospel central in her posts. She also has quite a repertuare of impressive cakes.

Thank you for spurring me on and encouraging me with your blogging. Keep up the good work!

Questions For Your Valentine

Our homeschool group administrator sent us these questions. Sean and I thought they were pretty good and spent some time last night answering them.

We hope you have a happy Valentine's Day!


*If you had $10,000,000 cash, tax free, how would you spend the rest of your life?

*Describe your dream vacation. Where would you go, and what would you want to do? Explain why this would be fun for you.

*Name a person (other than your spouse) who has made a significant contribution to your life. Tell how you were influenced by this individual.

*Galatians 5:22-23 lists the fruits of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, (and) self control.” Select which of these you most want to develop and tell why.

*Share with your spouse one aspect of his/her personality that you appreciate. Describe the impact of this character trait in your life and the lives of others.

*Share with your spouse the things that energize you at work, in ministry, or in your personal hobbies.

*Share one dream you have for the future and explain its importance to you.

What passage of Scripture do you find meaningful for your marriage and why?

What has God been teaching you about yourself? Reveal how He has done this and the value you are gaining from it.

Share one of the most meaningful gifts you have ever received. Why was this one so significant?

Identify an area of your life in which you want to grow over the next year and explain why.

Procrastination

In high school, my English teacher used to warn me about the dangers of procrastination. Even though I was a straight A student, I often would put off writing an assignment until very late the night before it was due. Several times I got "caught" and couldn't pull it off resulting in a lower grade because I was late.

Last year I was introduced to the work of CCEF (Christian Counseling and Education Foundation). They have several little booklets on various topics that address different problems from a Biblical viewpoint. One of them is on procrastination. You can read the article that preceded the booklet and is almost word for word here. I found it very helpful in my struggle against procrastination.

One of the main areas that God has been working on my heart to put off procrastinating about is housework. The recent posts about bathrooms and laundry are evidence that God has been gracious and is helping me to stop procrastinating about jobs that are hard for me, get up, get organized and do it!

I think I need to go and read the article over again. I've been putting off cleaning my school room for much too long now!

Bathrooms

Well, you know that I'm on a dry spell with blogging if I'm blogging about my bathrooms! But Mondays are the days we clean bathrooms around here so there you have it.

Before I was on bedrest with Emily, I don't think I did a great job keeping up with cleaning the bathrooms. But when I got pregnant with her, we looked into hiring a house cleaner for the 6 months that I was going to be bed ridden. God provided a wonderful friend of a friend to come and clean our house once a week. I learned quite a bit from watching her clean! And I got to experience what it was like to have clean bathrooms all the time. It was great.

So when I got off bedrest, one of the things that I looked forward to was being able to clean my own bathroom. I know that sounds crazy, but after not being able to do anything for 6 months a lot of things started looking good.

Anyway, Monday became the day to clean bathrooms. I've developed a few tricks to keep it easy and fast now that the novelty has worn off!

First of all, I started training my kids to clean their own. (While I was on bedrest we also built an addition to our house including one more bathroom for the kids to use.)

I have found that using the premoistened disinfecting wipes works for us. I was always worried about somebody spraying chemicals into their eyes. So the kids wipe down the sink and toilet with the wipes. They tidy up, take out the trash and empty the laundry basket. Finally they wipe down the floor with a wet swiffer.

Now that they are a bit older, and after one week where I was totally overwhelmed, they clean theirs plus the guest bathroom. That leaves our bathroom for me to clean, plus showers. I don't do all the showers each week. This week I did the two downstairs and last week I did the upstairs.

About once a month or so I'll go in and really scrub down the baseboards, the light fixtures and the hard water spots that have built up. I also will wipe down counters and tidy up a bit while I wait for the water to warm up before I take a shower or while I let Emily play during her bath. That takes just a minute or two but keeps everything looking and smelling nice and ready for company at a moments notice. (At least that's the plan!)

Not Last Night, But the Night Before...

Well, no robbers came knocking on my door, but I did get what Emily had. Only she didn't get better. So we were both throwing up together. Sean had to work all weekend. It's the busiest weekend of the year for him. (We hate Mardi Gras!)

Around midnight Emily started throwing up again. She didn't wake up at first, so it just went everywhere. I changed her sheets and gave her a bath and got her back in bed, just barely. I felt soo sick.

About ten minutes later I heard her cry again so I ran to her room only to have the first signs of passing out hit me. I know these well since I'm prone to fainting especially when I'm dehydrated. Fortunately she wasn't sick again, just moaning in her sleep so I crawled back to bed because I thought if I stood up, I might pass out!

As I was laying there listening to my neighbors party, too sick to care or call the police, the psycho cat showed up again! I'm not making this up. It was such a crazy night! Praise God, it started to rain. Psycho cat went away, neighbors went inside and Mardi Gras died down so Sean got home a couple hours earlier than expected. What a night!

Yesterday and today we all laid low. And I'm just now starting to feel much better. Emily wanted to eat everything in sight today so I guess she's feeling better too.

*On a side note, as I was linking the Psycho cat story, I found out that last time he/she showed up was this time of year right after Emily was sick. Then I got sick on February 4th right after her. Weird! At least this year, the laundry is more under control.

Sickie and Laundry

Please pray for little Emily. She's been throwing up all night. Sean and Amy both have upset stomachs so it looks like we're in for a rough weekend. Thanks.

When members of the family are sick there's always a lot more laundry. Usually this would throw me back quite a bit because I'm never quite caught up. But last December, I started praying that God would help me to figure out how to deal with this issue. Yes, I prayed about laundry. I was desperate. God loves to answer the prayers of desperate people doesn't He?!

Anyway, laundry has always been a source of contention between me and Sean. It means alot to him to have it done. I tried and tried, but could not seem to get ahead in this area. Well, I finally took the FlyLady's advice and started doing a load a day. I'd tried this before without success. But this time I took her advice and made it a part of my morning routine. Before or after breakfast I throw a load in the wash. I come back at lunch time when the kids take a break and put it in the dryer. Then sometime in the afternoon I fold it and the kids help me put it away. Everyday. Or if I can't get to folding it in the afternoon, I fold it at night and they put their piles away in the morning. Nobody complains because it's a small pile, just one load. It's not perfect. (I know you're supposed to wash, dry, fold, and put away right after each other to avoid wrinkles, but hey, it's getting done.) I think I finally had to accept that laundry was a daily duty and it was better to have drawers full than hampers, laundry baskets and dryers full.

But here's the reward, last night there were plenty of clean PJ's and sheets in the right drawers. No fumbling around in the dark through laundry baskets in the garage for another pair. And the washer and dryer were free to tackle all the messy bedding. Yeah! So I'm praising God for answered prayer over laundry. I'm glad He cares about the small stuff too.