The Upper Room Christian Center CT is located on 656 Silver Lane, East Hartford, Connecticut. But not for long! Our Board recently bought a new facility on Bee Street, in Meriden. The three-building compound is ready for immediate use! In addition to the 300-seat church, the main building also includes a education building just waiting for our kids! We want our students to begin classes immediately, so we need school furniture!

In order to raise money to fully equip the Christian education department with desks, teachers’ supplies and other educational materials, the Christian Kindness in Action Committee sponsored a community tag sale.  This event, which was held on Saturday, August 20, 2016, drew a great crowd from the church community. This beautiful summer event was not only a successful fundraising activity for the Upper Room Christian Center CT, but it was also a wonderful opportunity to fellowship with one another and members of our community.

Christian Kindness in Action at the Upper Room Christian Center CT

Committee members spent all year collecting goods for this event: clothing for men, women and children; home goods; baby equipment. In addition to the church tables, vendors from the church and community had tables to sell jewelry, natural remedies and baked goods.

Many of the church brothers from the Upper Room Christian Center CT volunteered to man the grills, cooking up hamburgers and hotdogs for sale to hungry shoppers. A great day was had by all! Just take a look at some of the scenes from this event!

Come Join Us at the Upper Room Christian Center CT!

If you are are traveling through Central Connecticut, please make sure to stop by the Upper Room for one of our weekly services. Sunday Worship service starts at 9:30 am ~ don’t miss our Wednesday Bible Study at 7:00 pm!

At the Upper Room Christian Center CT, our motto is “Come as a guest… Leave as family.” We hope to see you fellowship with our family really soon!

For more information about our ministry, Upper Room Christian Center CT, see the image below.

I know, I know. You think you have the best pastor. And you probably do, too. Everyone needs to find the place where, when planted firmly, she can grow in Christ, and that place is different for each person. I have found that place at the Upper Room Christian Center, in East Hartford, Connecticut. Our pastor’s vision is to save 1,000,000 souls to Christ. He promises to love us the way God loves us, teach us the Word, and to model for us how it is to live a God-centered life.

We have so enjoyed the very full Christian life we’ve been fortunate to find under the guidance of our pastor. We’ve grown so much, and we are seeing our youngest son grow into a young man of God, too.

Here is a blog interview by Dan Blanchard, blogger at Granddaddy’s Secrets, who recently profiled my pastor, Howard A. Daniel.

Read “Dan Blanchard’s Blog Interview of Howard Daniel.” I am so honored to call this man of God my pastor, my teacher, and my friend.

God bless you, and have a sparkling weekend!

~ Kim

Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” ~ {Proverbs 22:6}

We have four children. Three of our children are adults, ages 33, 27 and 25. Then there’s the “little guy,” who is our “anchor leg” baby, at age 11. One girl. Three boys. All wonderful. We’ve been at this parenting gig for nearly 40 years. And we are not experts at it yet.

When I am with young parents, I giggle inside when they say, “I can’t wait until he’s old enough to {fill in the blank here}. It will be so much easier then.”

Yes, some things get easier as your kids get older. It’s nice when you can say, “Get your shoes on and get in the car,” and not only CAN they do it, but the DO do it. That is nice. And I am glad that my pre-adolescent is big enough and strong enough to shovel, lift heavy things and push a lawn mower (because I am not that big, nor that strong). But for every thing that a child grows up to be able to do, there’s a new thing that needs to be learned. And the things to be learned get harder as we all get older.

For awhile, we, as parents, can keep up with the new learning. We rally our patience (and our backs) to push that bike up and down the street until the little fellow learns the just-right proportions of speed and balance to be able to two-wheel into training-wheel freedom. We steel our nerves for the first (and second, and third…) driver’s tests. We remember (and cringe at) our own freshman antics in college, as we send a child away to school for the first time. We calm frazzled nerves, and grab a curling iron, when a daughter’s hair won’t cooperate before the big dance.

Then comes adulthood. We can’t keep up with adult problems, because we’re still trying to figure them out, ourselves. And, while skinned knees and getting cut from the baseball team hurt for awhile, children are resilient, and they bounce back from most childhood troubles, with time and consoling. Adult hurts run deep, and we are often at a loss to offer comfort for the lost job, lost love or lost friendship. Parenting hurts at this time, for us, as well.

King Solomon, in his wisdom, had it right. Through the leading of the Holy Spirit, he reminded us, as parents and people of God, that it is important to establish values and positive character traits in our children when they are young, when life is comparatively simple and peaceful. Then, while they might wander, like the prodigal son, or when they find themselves in one of life’s many valleys, they know how to go to the Light, and how to get back home again.

I found this wonderful video in my Facebook feed the other day. When I shared it on my own wall, I commented, “I love his parents.” You can tell that this little one has been raised well. I can’t wait to see the kind of man he grows up to be. Let’s pray he remembers how to follow the Light.

Click for Post by Eman Musik.

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We’ve Had Enough Winter!

When I woke up today, I so badly wanted to put on a sundress and a pair of flipflops.

But the whirl of wind-driven snow, and the below-zero morning temperatures, quickly reminded me that summer clothes would have to wait for another day. Sigh.

We are on our fourth named winter storm of the season, here in the Northeast, in just a short month’s time. And the bitterly cold temperatures are keeping the snow right where it lands, in ever-growing heaps and mounds that block streets, sidewalks and all thoughts of summer weather.

In between plowing, and shoveling, and salting, and scraping and trying to bundle up against the elements, I have done a bit of writing and blogwork to share with you all. Grab a cup o’ joe and pull up a chair…

Winter Storms Mean Winter Learning Activities

The first installment of a 6-part series, “The Weather Calendar: Science Activities for Preschool, Elementary School and Beyond” was published: “Preschool Weather Observations.” If you have little scientists in your home or classroom, you will find a bunch of winter weather – related learning activities you can use during our stormy winter weather.

Did you know that February 15 is World Whale Day? And what better way to celebrate both World Whale Day and our winter storms than a study of the narwhal, a whale who spends all year under the pack ice of the North Pole, and in the icy waters of the Arctic. Learn about the narwhal, and the many legends that surround it, in “The Legendary Narwhal.”

In the next days, I will add to our collection of winter-themed lessons and teaching ideas for homeschool and classroom. Stay tuned for studies on road surface treatments, kindergarten calendar work, and literature connections for your winter storm studies.

Stuck Inside but Working on Blog Things…

As long as you don’t lose power, a winter storm gives you the opportunity to catch up on some things, since you can’t really go anywhere.

Did you see my new menu at the top of the blog page? “The Week in Review” is now a regular, weekly feature. I added a tab on the menu, so you can find all the posts in one handy place. Like “one-stop shopping!”

I also learned some new things. I added WordPress SEO by Yoast to one of my blogs — GREAT tool for bloggers who want to maximize how well their posts show up in search engines.  And although I have had Jetpack installed for quite some time now, I took some time to explore the various options available for editing.

Facebook Had a Birthday!

February 4th was Facebook’s birthday.  In honor of the birth of what has become both an institution and a communication system for my huge and widespread network of family and friends, I’ve compiled images from my most popular Facebook posts from the past week, in a gallery…

Coming Up…

There’s a pot of soup stock on the stove, and a request for meatballs for dinner tonight. Tomorrow is a holiday, so what might I begin working on tomorrow?

• More winter weather posts: weather calendar work for kindergartners; literature for thematic units on winter weather; studies on road treatments for older scientists…
• An informational post on creating bite-sized goals, with recommendations from experts on goal-setting…
• A reflective piece on the plight of the homeless in the United States…

In the meantime, stay warm. Stay dry. Stay peaceful. Jesus loves you, and so do I!

Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. – Eph 6:11

{This post is Part 5 of a series entitled, “Staying Connected: The Power of Prayer}

Waging a Spiritual War…

Have you ever noticed how, the moment you decide to step up your spiritual game, random things start to happen to derail your plans?

… Maybe you finally decided to join the church choir, after prodding from your friends, only to have your boss change your shift to rehearsal night.

… Or, perhaps, you and your spouse go to a couples retreat, and have an awesome time, then argue all the way home in the car.

… It might be that you begin family Bible study on Saturday, only to have the school call you to tell you your child is acting up, on Monday.

As people of God, we are at war in the spiritual realm, so when we make spiritual steps forward, the rulers, authorities, powers of this dark world and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms step up to meet us (Eph 6: 12). Paul tells us to prepare ourselves, and put on our whole armor, in his letter to the Church in Ephesus.

Do you have YOUR armor on?

What is the “Whole Armor” of God?

Let’s look at the whole armor of God, as described by Paul:

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.  In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” {Eph 6:10-17}

For those of you who like bulleted lists, here goes, in the order you would put on Roman armor:

• Belt (of truth)
• Breastplate (of righteousness)
• Shoes (readiness to share the gospel of peace)
• Shield (of faith)
• Helmet (of salvation)
• Sword (the Word of God)

My pastor, Howard Daniel, Sr., of The Upper Room Christian Center (Connecticut) shared a great illustration of the power of the shield of faith (entitled, “Don’t Lose It… Use It!”), evoking images of the battle between the Spartans and the Persians in the epic film, 300 – if you haven’t seen the movie, you really should! It will help you understand Paul’s analogy in the scripture, above. The armor described above protected the Spartans from the massive army of the Persians, whom they eventually defeated.

But wait, there’s one more piece…

Prayer – Your “Offensive” Weapon

There is one more verse to this passage:

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. {Eph 6:18}

We have already seen that the armor described in verses 13-17 covers our bodies, hides us from harm by the enemy, and protects us from his weapons, allowing us to face him and stand. But what about the prayer mentioned in verse 18?

With the armor in verses 13-17, we are hidden from the view of the enemy. Unless we turn around and show our only exposed parts – our backs – the enemy can’t hurt or even see us. That’s where the prayer part comes in. When we pray, not only can the enemy NOT tell that we are who we are, but we actually sound like the One to Whom even Satan’s knee must bow: Jesus, Himself!

If we are in a battle against spirit forces, when should we pray? Paul told the Thessalonians to simply “Pray constantly” {1 Thess 5:17}. And the scripture in this section says what we should be praying for: all God’s people {Eph 6:18}. Put all together, this tells us that, once we are suited up for battle, the only weapon we are supposed to use in battling the enemy is our effectual, fervent prayer on behalf of the people of God. That means…

• Your mate…
• Your children…
• Your pastor…
• The backslider…
• The fallen man or woman of God…
• The newcomer in Christ…
• The missionary that labors in a far-away land…
• The neighbor you don’t like…
• The opposer who (with God’s grace) might be the next kingdom worker…

All of God’s children. All the time.

You see, the enemy is already defeated. We don’t need to vanquish him – God’s already done that, through Jesus Christ. BUT we do need to bring the people of God in unity against him, and keep one another protected from his wiles. We have dominion – let’s use it!

Proof of Prayer as a Weapon of Warfare

Here is an incredible example of how the people of God united to claim dominion over the elements, in the name of Jesus, and caused a miracle to occur before our very eyes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxbc-Y9B7k0

Now ask yourself these questions:

• Did they have on the whole armor of God? How do you know?
• How did they pray?
• Did it work?
• What did they do then?

Time for an Armor Check

Look at the list…

Did you put on your whole armor first thing this morning? Is prayer how you began your day? Come on, Soldier – it’s time for battle!

For more on prayer – see the other posts in this series, “Staying Connected: The Power of Prayer:”

• Part 1: “God Calls You Friend: The Purpose of Prayer“
• Part 2: “From Chaos to Calm: Finding Peace of Mind in God“
• Part 3: “Praying for Power: Renewed and Refreshed by the Holy Spirit“
• Part 4: “Praying for an Angel“

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouQN9csRgyE

 

“In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.” {Ecclesiastes 11:6}

I grew up in Upstate New York, so you’d think I’d be used to snow like we’ve had in Connecticut lately.

Well, I didn’t like it as a kid (go ask my mom — she’ll tell you), and I don’t like it now.

So far, over the past two weeks, we’ve had nearly 3′ of snow, with an additional foot on the way for this weekend and into Tuesday.

But I know that our winter snow becomes the water that makes my spring garden grow so well, so I will tolerate it for the joy I’ll receive later.

Let It Snow… Let It Snow… Let It Snow…

Have you visited my “Winter Wonderland” Pinterest board yet? I’ve begun pinning a bunch of wintry nature studies, blog posts and seasonal ideas for use during the wheezy, breezy days of mid-winter.

Also, if you haven’t followed my nature study Facebook page, A Child’s Garden on Facebook, yet, pop on over to see winter teaching ideas, and more.

So while I was stuck inside, I busied myself making homemade soup stock from kitchen parings, spices and herbs, soup bones and other delicious ingredients that I keep on hand in the freezer. Want to know the secret for having homemade stock any day of the week? Read, “Homemade Stock, Without the Stress!”

I got to spend a lot of time reading about blogging, writing about blogging, planning to blog, and {of course} blogging! One of “My 2015 Goals: Looking Back… Looking Forward…” was to re-invest my time into my blogging life. Part of my blogging endeavors was to start this new weekly feature, “The Week in Review,” to recap my online musings for the previous week. Check out the first installment, “On Planting Seeds: The Week in Review,”  I also shared a little about myself, and how this blog became entitled, On Planting Seeds, in “From One Small Seed … {a little about me}”

Digging Through the Snowdrifts into Next Week…

More Winter, and More Winter Projects

This week I will address a reader question about how to make the most of calendar routines, by reviewing how to use the calendar to track weather and sky observations with preschool, primary and elementary grade students.

We will also share two of our inquiry studies on two common winter road treatments: rock salt or ice melt, and sand.

We need to revamp our bird-feeding station at our house. After we finish, we’ll do some winter bird watching.

Riddle: How Do You Eat an Elephant?

Did you know that February is International Expect Success Month? I will break down my 2015 goals into bite-sized, manageable pieces that ensure I will successfully meet them. {If you want to know the answer to the riddle, you’ll have to come back and read this post on setting long- and short-term goals!}

Daily Reflections

Another new feature coming soon will be “Daily Seeds to Sow” — daily reflections that I have been writing and sharing for some time, which readers have encouraged me to promote here.

If you didn’t get to subscribe, yet, why not fill in the form at the bottom of this post?

Planting Seeds

I love gardening.

I love planning to garden – shopping for heirloom plants, drawing garden plans, daydreaming about flowers and pole beans and trellises… I love coming home from my work day, throwing off my dress shoes, and just puttering: snipping a spent blossom here, picking a tomato there. Sometimes, I head to the garden before I check in on my family. It’s just a great place to decompress. And I love making food with the things we grow. It’s just magical.

But, most of all, it’s the seed that gets me.

The colors, the varieties, the sizes and shapes. And the unbelievable magic of planting this little, dry object that turns into a lush plant, full of flowers and bees and butterflies to entertain the eyes and tasty morsels to delight the palate. No matter how long I have been gardening, it still amazes me that one bean seed, left virtually unattended, turns into a lush vine that produces enough food for my family for the season.

Gardening reminds me that there is a God — God who can take something of no account and turn it, through His Power and Will, into something beautiful, something miraculous, something incredible. Paul said, “I planted, Apollos watered, but it is God who has been making it grow” {1 Cor 3:6}.

This blog is a reflection, not just of my love of gardening, but of my growing understanding that each thing we do is a seed of some sort, and each one yields fruit, each according to its kind.

The Seeds We Sow

In 2009, I was diagnosed with intraductal carcinoma – breast cancer. There is no family history of breast cancer, and my mammograms, up until then, had appeared normal, because I had dense breast tissue. But the 4 cm mass they removed from me told a different story.

That year was a year of new learning for us, as a family. We learned a lot about the logistical parts of having breast cancer: chemotherapy regimens, radiation schedules, recovering from surgery, working with a physical therapist, managing a zillion appointments, navigating family medical leave and what it’s like to lose your hair. But I also learned wonderful things that I couldn’t have learned otherwise: I learned how strong I really was in the face of a life-altering medical event. I learned how my husband could rise to the occasion of working, and going to school, and caring for me, and being full-time mom & dad during my treatment, without one word of complaint or dread. I learned that angels spring up around you in the most unlikely of places: the post office, the cubicle next to mine, the neighbor’s house, the grocery store. I learned that adult sons really love their mothers, and will pull ranks around mom in a minute, during tough times. I learned that I could be beautiful without eyelashes or eyebrows. But, most of all, I learned that God is God, no matter what we go through, and He keeps His promise to never leave us nor forsake us.

I learned that the seeds you sow in seasons of plenty, with God’s grace and love, come back as a bountiful harvest in seasons of need.

In this blog, you will read about some of the seeds God moves me to sow:

• Seeds of love: reflections on my walk as a Christian woman, wife and mother and the adventures of our family as we grow and learn together;
• Seeds of home: musings about gardens, growing things and other green stuff that I love; posts on frugal living, and posts on cooking, canning and other fun things I do that you can eat;
• Seeds of stewardship: our story of how we are becoming debt-free; and stories about all the DIY projects that are involved in rehabilitating an 1896 home;
• Seeds of learning: great ideas I want to share about blogging, homeschooling and running a small business.

You will also see an occasional link to one of my other blogs, where I share more of the fruits of my homeschooling and science consulting work.

Come to the Garden…

No matter whether you are dusting off your wheelbarrow to get planting, or gazing at a blanket of new-fallen snow, I invite you to come into my garden and share my seeds. I know you’ll find something that you can plant and enjoy!

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I love to hear from readers! Drop me a line, using the form, below!

Reflecting on the Seeds I’ve Sown…

“Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times.” — Mark 4:8

This has been a very busy week, in our home, on my job, and in my electronic world.

The headline news: this crazy New England weather has disrupted our normal lives, with travel and parking bans, canceled schools, business closings and oh-so-much shoveling and plowing. But it DID give us time to weave snow and winter themes into our homeschool day. Read “Snowballs, Snowflakes and Snowmen: Winter-Themed Lesson Plans” and “Building a Snowman: Lessons for Preschool and Kindergarten” on my sister sites for ideas on incorporating wild winter weather into your homeschool or classroom lessons.

While we are on the subject of homeschool, being snowed in presented a perfect opportunity to update and reorganize myself in the blogosphere. I spent some time tidying up and updating my list of nature study posts on my nature study blog, A Child’s Garden.

I update this free-standing page whenever we add new nature studies, such as our snowman work, above.

As part of my own spiritual learning, I began a study, and a series of blog posts, on prayer, entitled, “Staying Connected: The Power of Prayer.” They have been a great blessing to me to write; I hope they have blessed you, too:

• “God Calls You Friend: The Purpose of Prayer” – Part 1
• “From Chaos to Calm: Finding Peace of Mind in God” – Part 2
• “Praying for Power: Renewed and Refreshed by the Holy Spirit” – Part 3
• “Praying for an Angel” – Part 4

Seeds for Tomorrow…

While there’s always the possibility of some wonderful, unforeseen event that begs for a blog post, here is what is scheduled for next week:

It’s Still Winter…

We’ve had snow days starting mid-day on Monday, through today, and it’s still snowing, as of this writing. So I will be adding some additional winter weather lessons and posts for homeschoolers or elementary teachers…

Pray, Without Ceasing…

Prayer is good for everything: protection from treacherous weather, fortification for raising kids, and sharpening of one’s mind. So I will continue with posts in the series, “Staying Connected: The Power of Prayer.”

A Little of This… A Little of That…

Look for my bio, customer feedback and other blogging tidbits, as I continue writing for the 30 Day Blogging Challenge.

Don’t miss another blog post — subscribe today, using the form at the bottom of this post.

Which were your favorite posts of the week? Drop me a line using the form, below!