Stuck

I do alot of rote tasks at work....which gives my mind lots of time to wander.
Some days, I go over prayer requests in my head.
Other days, I make lists of things to do or remember.

Sometimes I have make-believe conversations with friends I haven't talked to in a while.
There are times when I give myself a good long lecture or pep talk.

Sometimes I dream up big things to do, with myself, as a family, with classes, or at church.

But today.....today I can't seem to get this simple limmerick out of my head. It keeps running over and over and over.....(well, you get the picture).

A flea and a fly in a flue,

Were entrapped, didn't know what to do.

Said the flea, "Let us fly!"

Said the fly, "Let us flee!"

So they flew through a flaw in the flue.

I'm stuck.

A Reminder of the Finer Things....

This week I came across a really nice e-card at Daysprings....it was simple, but with a great message....of how Spring reminds us of God our Creator. I know I sent it to alot of people, and it ended up in the Church bulletin, but I still find myself looking back at it again and again...as a reminder.

Please look at it yourself here. It's called "Blessing of Spring"

For a list of more Finer Things, go to the Finer Things in Life.

Another Book

I orderded this book from our public library, and have really enjoyed it so far (even though I'm only in chapter 2!). I think the author has done a good job of writing godly advice and encouragement. Here are some of the things I've taken home so far:

• Children aren't perfect....but neither am I. (Live with grace)
• We model God to children....how they see us, is how they see God.
• The best advice about discipline is in the Bible....but I should apply it to myself first before expect children to heed. (For example, Attitude: Proverbs 17:22 A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.)
• Teaching kids is alot like making bread....there is time for mixing in praise and discipline and lots of hard work....but then there is a season of waiting and praying...(for the yeast to work). A season where you wait and pray, and see if your instruction has sunk in and if it will reap fruit.
• Obedience comes if our heart is in the right place...John 14:15 "If you love me, you will obey what I command." We don't want to obey our of fear, pride, or habit, but out of love.

Wednesday Night Lessons 101 - Belt of Truth

Here is our outline for our 2nd class, Belt of Truth:

1. Tell story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednigo. (Used matches in the middle of the story, when fire got hotter!)
2. Do science object lesson that Armor Protects Us.
3. Eat Snack.
4. Make Belt of Truth (out of leather scraps and glue gun)

Wednesday Night Lessons 101 - Helmet of Salvation

Abbi & I have been team teaching for the last 2 months. We are going through Ephesians 6 - The Armor of God. It's really been great, learning all the verses, teaching, and making each kid their own "armor."

Last Wednesday, we did the Helmet of Salvation. Here is our outline:

1. Open with prayer. Introduce our topic (hats/hemlets of salvation)


2. Start skit. Abbi and I wrote a small dialogue using different hats, showing that not all "hats" or "roads" lead to heaven. She first put on a chinese hat, and said she believed in many gods. I told her there is only ONE GOD (Eph 4:5).


3. Sing Song. We sang One Door and Only One, while Abbi said she'd change hats.


4. No hat. Abbi comes in with no hat at all. Says she believes there is no God now. I quoted from Proverbs, "Only the fool says there is no God."


5. Practiced Memory Verse. We recited the verses, while again, she changed hats. This time, it was the "Being Good Hat" - by being a good person I'll get to heaven. I responded that God says only perfect people get to heaven, and there are no perfect people (Rom 6:23) and that's why we need Jesus, to make us perfect.


6. Played Game. We set a "put on your armor" game, where they rolled the cube and tried to be the first one to put all their armor on.


7. Faith Hat. This time, she said she belived in God, and that He loved her, but she didn't need to do anything to get to heaven. I responded by reading from James 2.


8. Finished Game.


9. Praying to Saints Hat. For the last hat, Abbi put on a bike helmet (that was safe) but it had silly dangling bells and whistles of the top (that was un-needed). She thought she could pray to anyone (Mary, St. Peter, etc) and get to heaven, not God. Again, I responded that there is only ONE person to go through to get to heaven, and that is Christ.


10. Make Helmets. At this point, we started making their own helmets (out of milk jugs - spray painted silver- tin pans, glue guns, and feathers)

Loads of Veggies!

After last weekend, and since we were in the cities for an appointment, my sister and I went grochery shopping at the coolest discount produce place. I was able to get

• Kiwi (15 cents each)
• Mushrooms (79 cents each)
• Coconut (50 cents each!)
• Red & Orange peppers (99 cents each)

I was very excited for all that good food at such a great price....plus, my sister had bought me 6 lbs of broccoli and cauliflower the previous week too! So last night, we had veggie stir fry over rice....and I added my home-grown sprouts too! yum :) (though I don't think I calculated my rice right, or kept a good eye on it!)

Before I headed over to Mom's to help work on dresses, I decided to get some of the produce ready for the freezer (before it spoiled!). Here is how I did it:

Chopped up all the broccoli & cauliflower and washed it.

Ran a clean sink-full of ice cold water.

Boiled water. After it came to a boil, added the produce and boiled for 3 minutes.

Dumped the cooked veggies into the cold water, to stop it cooking. Then I packed it in tupperware, and froze!

And here are the dresses mom is working on....I went to help cut "pink" the seams and edges.

Big Jars!

We bought some big bags of rice while in the cities....and I was hoping to find some good containers to store it in. After making some phone calls to all sorts of restaraunts in town, here is what I proudly came home with!
Now all I need to do is give them a good soak, to get the olive smell out of them! I'm already planning all the different things besides rice that I can keep in them!

Thanks:

• Maid Rite
• Country Kitchen
• Green Mill
• Concordia!

Winter Retreat

Last weekend was full for sure! Our much anticipated, planned for, Winter Retreat finally came! Lots of friends and family came up for the weekend (we got to have the Chudeks and Irindee stay with us!).

We had great sermons, lots of fun fellowship, and good food (of course).

(I meant to get more posted here, but I'm out of time for today...more updates later)

On Being Organized

I got this book out from the library, in a small attempt to learn more about organization. I just had to laugh, though, when I actually took time to browse through the book. It seems to be very streamlined and minimalistic....not quite my style....but informative none-the-less. Here is what tickled my funny bone:

I saw this page of "How to organize your bookshelf." On the left, is how ABSOLUTELY NOT to do it (or so they say)....and on the right, how to do it.

And just the day before (I kid you not), here is how I set up my new (used and free) bookshelf in our living room:

I had a good laugh about that one! But I decided not to streamline my shelf....I like it the way it is. :)

Supper Pics

I decided to make salmon patties for the first time. (Mom always used to make them for us and they are good)

I also cut up some potatoes and baked them in the oven with seasoning, made a salad, and some orange jello. It really was quite a delicious but light supper.

Making Bread

I too, have been making bread....but I'm way behind. Last night I decided to make a new recipe, and it was good, but didn't make very many, so I have to make some more now. As long as I was at it, I decided to make some bread loaves too (besides buns), since we were out of bread. We had some for toast this morning....YUM!

We're getting ready for the Winter Retreat! I'm quite excited!

Growing Things!

I'm very excited....I decided to plant some seeds on Monday to get things growing around here...and to hopefully get a better start on my garden this year.

I don't have any special growing stuff....so I used an old clear tub to make a "greenhouse," and covered the others with lids. I put it on my dryer hoping it will be nice and sunny and hot in there. Those black things on the top are just..well...black things... to attract the sun.

Yesterday I looked, and the lettuce has already sprouted high! I was so excited I shouted, and Mathew got startled and told me not to shout unless it's important. Ha ha.

Where to get coupons.

If you would like to know when coupon inserts will be in the Sunday papers....MenuMakingMom has it all sorted out for you!

Check it out here.

Generally, the best weeks are the first Sunday of every month (with a few exceptions). Also, you can usually purchase the Sunday paper's "Early Edition" Saturday afternoon. I can get the big cities' paper at our Dollar store for $1.00.

Works for me!

Ivy

I'm trying to grow a plant. Any suggestions? (I'm trying to root an ivy from a bouquet here)

The grass withers, and the flower fades, but the Word of our Lord stands FOREVER! Isaiah 40:8