Amy on the SImple Life

Go here and read this. Amy writes what I would think if I were getting enough sleep to put two thoughts together:)

Chapter 10 No Ordinary Home

Dawn sent us all some coffee to enjoy this morning while we chat about chapter 10. Isn't she the sweetest:)? I really needed some caffeine to get me moving this morning!
Speaking of my adopted big sis Dawn:), she wrote a great summary for us of this chapter. While you're checking that out, check out what she wrote about weight-training. Very motivational (and just what I needed this morning), but then hop on back over here because this chapter is chock-full of stuff to talk about.
First let me tell y'all that last Easter for me was so so similar to the Easter that Carol describes at the beginning of the chapter. We had a new baby and I was just starting to settle in to a new routine. Many family members and church family members were having health problems or one type of crisis or another. It just seemed like no one was in a worship sort of mood. And that went for me too. The night before Easter I was at Walmart (I despise going to walmart the night before anything - although it is a family tradition!) buying Easter clothes because it's always been our tradition to wear new clothes on Easter. But do you think I was enjoying myself? Do you think I was focused on the reason for those new clothes? Celebrating that we are born anew in Him? Not hardly. We made it through the next day - church service, sing all the Easter hymns, hurry home to finish making dessert and rush over to my sil's for dinner and an Easter egg hunt for the kids. When Carol writes "Today was another mad dash to get hats and gloves, diaper bags and Easter baskets. Once there, the music was stirring, the sermon impressive. But my spirit was flat. I feel flat...fat and flat," well that was me! I prayed and prayed over the next few weeks that God would never let me experience another Easter with so little attention to Him, so little praise, so little appreciation. I asked Him to show me how to worship Him and how to teach my children to worship Him. Reading this book has been one of His many answers to that prayer.
An idea that Carol heard from her friend Wendy (so glad that I'm not the only one with brilliant friends who don't mind sharing their great ideas!) was making an Easter tree. When I lived in Germany as a little girl, they had Easter trees - beautiful spring blooming branches tied with intricately painted hallow eggs and little wooden figures of bunnies and birds. Very beautiful, but not exactly what this Easter tree is all about. This Easter tree is a wonderful way to focus on God's covenant with His people throughout the season of Lent. Let me let her explain it.
"She would trace His promise, beginning with creation and ending at the empty tomb. She would trace His faithfulness and His children's unfaithfulness. Each night John and she would teach the children the biblical story, and then they would put an ornament on the tree to represent the story. She would begin the tree on Ash Wednesday and finish it the Monday after Easter."
This idea just really grabbed me. I was so excited when I read it - something we could do! I could just picture all of us gathered around, Casey reading the Biblical account, the kids solemnly taking turns hanging the ornament on the tree...Then I came back to reality and remembered that my kids are little! And we're all lazy! And no one around here ever takes turns! So perhaps my vision needed some tweaking. So I went to the Father and asked Him what to do about Easter (and about Christmas while I was at it:) ) and He's still telling me. If I took anything away from this chapter I hope it's forever chiseled in my brain to go to Him first and not just start making my own plans about how to worship Him or serve Him or even live for Him. So often I assume I know what He wants for me without even asking...
So let's talk some about how we can spend the time leading up to Easter focusing on Him and preparing our hearts for Him. Maybe for some of us, making an Easter tree is going to be a definite possibility - if so, how do you think you'll go about it? Or if not, what other things will you do? What kinds of Easter traditions do you already have that may need to be refocused? And, most importantly, what is our Father leading you to do to worship Him?

Baby Jack

Look at the eyelashes on this kid!

Haircut Day

My friend Debbie and I got haircuts together last night! We donated a long ponytail apiece to Locks for Love. And got a night out with no kids! Aren't we cute?

For all our Presbyterian friends

The other day in the grocery store a nice older lady stopped Levi to ask about the bat he had painted on his cheek. He told her all about Trunk or Treat at church and had a nice conversation with her while I tried to decide which flavor of yogurt to buy. Then my little missionary-in-the-grocery-store said "ma'am, do you go to church?" She smiled and said yes, she went to First Presbyterian and where did he go to church? "Oh. (looking kind of sad for her) Well, we just go to a regular church."

Katrina's Big Idea

Katrina at Callapidder Days had a great idea and, as usual, I'm quite a bit behind on joining in. The idea is to actually plan what we're going to read this fall so that we can accomplish something. Now that will be a big deal for me:) I'm always reading, but it seems I never get to really process what I've read. I hurry and get it back to the library on time (yeah, sure I do) or I hurry through so I can start something else. But all the great books in the world aren't going to do me any good if I don't remember what they said. So my goals for this fall are to read these books and either write a review for here (if I think y'all might be interested) or at least make some notes for myself). All these before January1st!
1. Seeking Him: Experiencing the Joy of Personal Revival
My ladies' group at church is going to use this one for our next study. It's supposed to be a twelve week study but we're going to stretch it out over the next year because we only meet once a month. I really (REALLY!) wish we could meet once a week, but that's just not happening right now. I'll definitely be reading ahead though:)
2. Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling
I just finished this one (and no it's not cheating to add books I already read if I read them this fall, cut me some slack people!) and it was great. I expected it to reinforce our determination to homeschool, but it was full of insight about how education could be handled for all our nation's children. Really got me motivated to think a little more about what we need to do for all children and not just what I want for my own kids.
3. Teaching the trivium: Christian homeschooling in a classical style
I'm working on this one and it is a BIG book:) I've done a lot of reading on homeschooling and educational theories and all that jazz. After reading The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home shortly after we decided to teach our own kids, we had settled on the Trivium or Classical approach to use as the backbone for our homeschool. I knew I would be pretty eclectic, but I really liked having the Trivium as sort of a guide to go by. Teaching the Trivium is great because it really makes the distinction between teaching something because it will make our kids well-educated and teaching them because it will help them in the Christian walk. A side note - after reading the chapter on languages, I told Casey I really thought I'd like to make Greek the first foreign language we work on (possibly the only depending on how much affinity any of us show for languages). He said "I thought we decided that a long time ago." Apparently he'd decided a long time ago and just hadn't mentioned it!
4. Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends
This book is written by an actual brother and his sisters and I just have to check it out. It is so so so important to me for our kids to be friends. My brother and I were grown before we really became close - we fought like cats and dogs most of the time growing up (although I loved him back then; I just couldn't have admitted it!). I hate to think of all that time we wasted and how close we came to killing each other...
5. Crunchy Cons: How Birkenstocked Burkeans, gun-loving organic gardeners, evangelical free-range farmers, hip homeschooling mamas, right-wing nature lovers,
I actually already read this one, too:) It was quite good. I enjoyed knowing that there are enough people out there who are living out values similar to mine to warrant writing a book about us:) I certainly didn't agree with everything the author had to say (differences over religious ideas come to mind) but I would still really recommend it. It's so great to hear Christians calling other Christians to think through what they believe and then Live.That.Way.
6. How to Be a Budget Fashionista: The Ultimate Guide to Looking Fabulous for Less
Lest y'all think I never read anything fun:) I'm slowly (but surely! but did I mention slowly:() losing weight and I have to start dressing better. I'm sick of jeans and a t-shirt or jeans and a sweater 6 days a week and the same old dresses or skirts on Sunday. really I just can't take it any more!
7. The Fat Flush Plan
Barbara Curtis has had such fabulous success using this that I can't wait to read up on it. I'm not officially dieting just yet, but Jack will be a year old soon and I think by then I may be ready to wean him either entirely (sniff, sniff) or enough so that my dieting won't be an issue.
8. Small Beginnings
Speaking of Barbara, I love her writing style, especially when she writes straight to moms. I think this one will be a big hit with me.
9.Girl Talk Mother-Daughter Conversations on Biblical Womanhood
Brenna is only two, but I figure it can't hurt to go ahead and start thinking about these kinds of conversations. And there are lots of other young women in my life that I'd like to positively influence. I've heard a lot of good buzz about this one - I think I'll enjoy it.

Well, that's it for the fall. I know I'll probably read a lot of other stuff this fall. I usually have a couple of books going at a time. But these are the books I'm committed to really delving into. And making this list has been such a blast (yay nap time!) that I might do it every season:) Thanks, Katrina!

Do you ever just feel ....?

I am not even sure what word to put there. The last two weeks have been (in no particular order) scary and devastating and empty and chaotic and unproductive and busy and stressful and... and nothing even really happened. How is that for twisted? Nothing particularly out of the ordinary has happened at my house and I've been right here, plodding along. But all around me there is stress and heartbreak and just a steady stream of negativity. And I've been very yucky feeling (for lack of any real way to explain it). I love my husband, I love my kids, I love my church, my family, my friends and I love my God. But I feel cold and drained and unattached. Everything on the outside is going so smoothly (well, almost everything) but on the inside I feel like I'm watching someone else's life. Does that make any sense at all? And I know this is just a temporary thing and that I'll get through it, I'm just not sure how I go about getting through it. Anyone out there with a good swift kick in the pants for me? I 'd appreciate it:)

MOnday check in on Wednesday

It has been a pretty busy week, but I thought I'd post a check-in anyway. Better late than never, right? This last week and a half has been...rough. And of course I know why - I've been busy and let that squeeze out my time with Him. Knowing I need it, knowing I can't do this without His constant help. SO I'm not surprised that it's been hard to give up reading while I eat. I mean this is a lifelong habit, literally, and it's something that part of me does not WANT to give up. I know I need to and I know that the reward will far out-weigh the loss, but part of me is still as stubborn little girl stomping my foot and howling "I DON"T WANT TO!" My Father is teaching me self-control - I just wish I was a faster learner.

Kids are funny:)

Levi is in the kitchen crunching on chips without asking. So I calmly say "Levi what are you doing?"
He says "Oh nothing. Just a little ingestment."
I say "what?"
"Just a little ingestment - I'm trying to test what happens when the food you chew goes down the long pipe into your ingestines. First I have to chew it into tiny pieces. I'm using these chips."
I think he's figured out that I'm a sucker for anything that sounds like he's learning:)

Monday check in

I sit here in awe at the power of my Father. Something that seemed like an impossible goal last week, by His strength, was a breeze. An absolute breeze! I have a real hard time not turning to food for stress relief. An especially big problem was that quiet time when the kids are in bed and Casey's just left for work. Every night as soon as it got quiet, I'd think "now I can grab a book and sit down and eat something!" The bigger the stress or better the book, the longer I'd want to stay at the table reading and eating. And then I'd go to bed. So that ain't healthy. Last Sunday night I really prayed about this and through the whole week I didn't eat after supper even once. I'll admit to being tempted a time or two, but it was amazingly easy to say "I don't eat after supper any more" and walk away. As if...the food didn't have any hold over me any more! Now the day time was still chaotic and I didn't really pay much attention to what I ate then (beyond making sure I wasn't eating between mealtimes). But I couldn't believe how much of a difference praying about this (and the prayers of lots of others, THANK YOU!) made this last week. It's really reaffirmed for me that God does really desire for me to do this, and that He really is willing to actively help me. He isn't just up there handing me assignments and then leaving me to my own devices to accomplish them. And since I know He will help me, I'm feeling brave enough to tackle what I think will be the toughest challenge of this whole thing. This is a behaviour that is absolutley ingrained in me - I've been doing this for as long as I can remember and I'll admit I love it. I don't really even like the idea of giving it up, but I know I need to. And I know I'll need a lot of prayer to be able to! This week, starting now, I'm no longer going to read while I eat. Whoo. I'm going to be real honest here. The idea of eating without reading holds no appeal for me. I can't even imagine just sitting down and eating something without anything else to do. The only time I ever don't read while I eat is when we're all at supper. At breakfast and lunch I usually talk to the kids while they eat and then when they're done, I grab a book and whatever I'm going to eat. SO this is going to be a large shift in how I do things. Please pray for me if you feel led to. I sure would appreciate it!

Works For Me Wednesday - The Classic Edition

The other Shannon over at Rocks in My Dryer hosts this great event so go check out all the fabulous ideas. Everyone is re-running their favorite tip today so there should be some oldies-but-goodies! Here's mine!


I haven't had time to read all the entries today, so I hope this isn't a repeat.I make fajita kits for nights when we're really busy. Frozen peppers and onions in one ziploc bag, frozen (fully cooked, seasoned and sliced) chicken in another bag, tortillas in another bag, and shredded cheese and taco sauce in smaller ziploc bags. Then I put all of that in a BIG bag and stick it in the freezer. I can grab one out, heat everything up and have dinner ready in less than 20 minutes

Monday - Health goals check in

It's been a few weeks since I checked in and that's because...(big surprise) I fell off the wagon. Being sick and having sick kids and a few other stresses were just perfect excuses to soothe myself with food (and, if you've eaten a bag of pizza rolls and drank a couple of cokes, why bother exercising, right?). But I have renewed my committment and the fight goes on:) I have spent a lot of time praying about this especially over the last few days and it's finally sunk in to me that I'm addicted to eating. Not to food - to eating.
See I was thinking about why I don't drink alcohol. It's not because I think it's a sin - I don't. If Christ drank wine, that's good enough for me. I do believe drunkeness is a sin, but that's a whole other topic. Anyway. The reason I just don't drink is that I have a family history of alcoholism and I've always wanted to avoid even the possibility of being addicted to alcohol. And, by His grace alone, I have. But I seem to have replaced drinking alcohol with eating. When I've had a stressful day, I literally can't wait to sit down and "snack." If I'm out of something I want to eat, I'll make a special trip. That's right, for a coke and chips I will load up three kids and face the grocery store. Now if that's not addiction, I don't know what is!
So once again I'll have to call on my Father. I just. can't. do. this. by. myself. I need the strength to turn away from the temptation. I need the peace only He gives when my day has been long. I need to rest in Him, not at the dinner table.

My Word Cloud - funny, huh?

 

Next Week's Discussion

We're still talking about No Ordinary Home right here, so feel free to continue commenting. I just wanted to remind everyone to check with Dawn here for the location of next week's discussion on Chapter 5. We're going to talk about the Sabbath and it is an awesome chapter!

No Ordinary Home discussion

Welcome everybody! It's time to discuss Chapter Four of No Ordinary Home. I hope y'all are enjoying this as much as I am. Thanks, Dawn, for getting us all together - this is great!

The Dailies
I could've written this chapter. Casey and started our home together with vastly - vastly! - different attitudes about housekeeping. He was fanatically neat - I recognized this when we were dating and he paused a movie we were watching to take the popcorn bowl into the kitchen, wash it!, and put it away before finishing the movie - and I was, well, less fanatical. I had no problem vacuuming once a month instead of once a week, for example (this was before we had rugrats, by the way). When Levi came along I was thrown for a total loop - not only was I dealing with some health issues, a brand new baby, a lot of (I hate to admit) anger and guilt about having a c-section, a total reordering of my life plan and a (perceived) big power shift between me and Casey, but now I was supposed to KEEP THE HOUSE CLEAN, TOO!!!
For a long time I thought that having a clean house was surely a sign that I wasn't using my brain - it was a pride thing. Surely I was too...whatever...to be scrubbing toilets, right? But when I finally (listened to my Father and) changed my attitude to reflect Colossians 3:23-24 - And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men; knowing that from the Lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance. For you serve the Lord Christ - I started to see that life is in these details. The toilet has to be cleaned, so clean it well, clean it with style! About that time I was reminded of an illustration that I read in one of Mary Pride's books (I think All The Way Home) about Cinderella. In the old Disney movie, Cinderella is singing and swishing and swabbing the floor with class and beauty. Because she is faithful in her work, she is fit to go before the prince (along the lines of Proverbs 22:29 Do you see a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before unknown men.) Well, my Prince is coming to sweep me away one day, too. How do I want Him to find me? Diligently doing my work with grace and a thankful heart or whining about how hard my lot is and how no one helps me?
But how do we go from knowing so little about running a home to doing it with grace and style and love? I really liked what she said about having a committee. I think we often feel like we need A Titus 2 woman to show us how to do everything, but that doesn't work. We aren't supposed to be carbon copies of one another. And no single older woman is going to know everything we need to know. We have to be *picky* - picking a little from this woman about scheduling, a little from this woman about cleaning, a little from this woman about cooking and a little from this woman about doing it all with joy:)
Carol (the author - I feel like we're friends now so I'm going to call her Carol:) ) left us with some great practical questions to ponder so that we can make some changes in the areas where we see a need.

List the areas of your life that feel disorganized, cluttered, chaotic.
Who can help you organize or learn the tricks of homemaking in those areas?
What areas of your life feel sacred to you?
How can you enhance them? Make them more regular? Share them with others?
What areas of your life feel ordinary, mundane, and definitely not sacred?
I think I'll think and pray about these tonight and share about them tomorrow in the comments. Please, everyone, feel free to make yourselves at home here. Share about your thoughts on the chapter, how you felt as you started making a home, your answers to the above questions-just anything:)

Grocery Shopping - the whole story

Today was Jack's first time sitting in the front of the grocery buggy. Stop yawning - this is a big deal in our family! Brenna was promoted to sitting in the back and helping stack the groceries and Levi, as always, was walking beside me (or running or hopping but at least staying out of the way). Things were going well. Jack loves his grocery seat cover. It kept him occupied the whole time and I only paid $4 for it! Brenna was sitting comfortably on a pack of Kroger brand pullups (which have velcro sides like the expensive ones) and stacking the boxes. I kept having to remind Levi though to watch where he was going. He'd turn around to talk to me and bump into one thing after another. Just as I was saying "Levi, please, for the hundredth time, be careful. If you bump into that tower of cans it will fall," well, what do you think happened? That's right. I ram the buggy right into a big old center aisle display of @L Sprites. Four cases (that's 24 bottles, folks) come crashing to the ground. It was such a cartoons-come-to-life kind of moment. But my precious son was very chivilrous about it. "That's alright, mom, it was just an accident. You can't help you weren't watching where you were going." :( He helped me pick up all the bottles (boy, I hope whoever buys those has a long ride home). He's a good kid.

My 9-11 Story

The other Shannon over at Rocks in My Dryer is encouraging others to share the story of where they were on September 11, 2001. Her's is here. If you'd like to share your's or read others you can leave a link or find a link at the bottom of her post.

I was at work on the morning of September 11, 2001. Almost six months pregnant, I was actually having a pretty good morning (which meant I'd been able to hold down some breakfast). I was at my desk snacking on vanilla wafers and peanut butter, listening to the radio - oh, and working - when my sister-in-law called to tell me a plane a hit the World Trade Center. I pictured a little plane - I thought maybe some little commuter type plane had been flying in the city for some reason and gotten of course. I couldn't understand why my sister-in-law, who was at home watching the news, sounded so upset.
I remember talking casually about it to Casey and with my co-workers. And turning on the radio to see what they were saying. I especially remember not being very upset just yet.
I went into the lobby and turned on the old black and white tv just in time to see the second plane hit. My boss was standing beside me as I sat down hard on the couch. It was suddenly very obvious to me what was going on and my first concern was my brother. He was in the navy then (the Army now) and stationed at Norfolk in Virginia. Just the year before he had been on a ship in the Middle East when the USS Cole was bombed - they had passed through Yemen only days before and after the attack his ship had turned around to go back to Yemen and assist the Cole. Knowing that these planes may well send us to war, knowing that he was just down the coast from where all this was happening and might be called to go there - it just chilled me to the bone.
By then everyone of my co-workers was standing around this tiny black and white screen. We all watched together for a little while before my boss sent me to Walmart to buy a new big screen tv for the lobby. When I got to Walmart, I wasn't the only one buying a tv. It seemed like everyone had to know what was going on. How many of us were glued to our televisions that day and in the days to come? Walmart - that's where I was when I heard about the plane hitting the Pentagon. So many times we walk through the store without noticing the people around us, but that day I was so concious of the other people. There was just a sense of really being one nation that day and in the days that followed.
I cried on the way back to work thinking of the world I was bringing my baby into. I called my husband and my parents. I called friends to make sure they were safe. I prayed. And now, five years later, the world is still spinning and The One on the Throne is still in control. And I am still praying...for the safety of our nation and for the souls of our nation. None of us who lived through that day will ever forget that day. I didn't know anyone who lost their life in New York or Washington or Pennsylvania that day, but it still changed my life. Never again will any of us be able to say "it can't happen here."

Works For Me Wednesday

This is a pretty simple idea, but it really works for me when I'm cooking supper. This toy is supposed to hang on the side of the crib, but it never saw much use that way around here because my babies don't spend much time in their crib. It's perfect to hang on the back of a kitchen chair, though. Once they can sit up pretty well, I hang it up and they only get to sit there while I'm cooking - they're close to me, but occupied and out of harm's way.
Now head on over to the other Shannon's and check out all the fabulous ideas!
BTW, that's eczema on his little cheeks and it looks much worse in the picture than in real life, but if anyone has any ideas about how to get rid of it - I'll try anything at this point! It comes and goes, but I have tried cuting everything out of my diet and if it's an allergy I sure can't figure it out. He's still pretty cute though, huh?

Moms and Dads for Modesty

Everyday Mommy has come up with a brilliant plan for parents to band together in supporting companies that provide modest, but still cute, clothing for little girls. Go here to read her mission statement and add your name to her comments section.

Free Chocolate

Go here and signup (it's fast, I promise) and we'll both get free chocolate! Good free chocolate!