Over the past couple of weeks, as I’ve anticipated writing on this crucial subject of keeping our children’s hearts, I’ve contemplated and prayed about just where to start.  For a while I felt that keeping our children’s hearts really started with perspective.  After all, we need to see ourselves as the mothers God has appointed us to be, and we need to value our children as the gifts God has given to us.

But I was wrong.  It’s deeper than that.

The starting point, the place where it all begins, the place where all life stems from in our journey as mothers, is in our own hearts.  Before we have the right mental perspective, our own heart attitude must be right.

So before we start delving into the details of pouring our lives into our children, we have to begin at the beginning – our own hearts.

You’ve heard the airplane analogy before, I’m sure.  In the event of an emergency, place your own oxygen mask on your face first, THEN tend to your children’s?  It’s sort of like that.  I’m better equipped to see to my children’s needs if my own lifeline is secure first.  I’m less stressed in the moments of challenge, less fearful, less intimidated, less taxed, and so on.  So the place to begin, the first place I should tend to if I’m wanting to be my children’s heartkeeper is ultimately, my own heart.

Tending to My Own Heart

Does my heart feel light?  Heavily burdened?  Do I allow myself to suffer with guilt as a mother?  Do I worry needlessly?

Jesus said, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Matthew  11: 28, 29

Who has my heart?

Have I allowed Jesus to truly reign in my heart as My King?  My Saviour?  My Lord?

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.”  John 14:6 

Do I Love the LORD my God with all my heart and with all my soul and with all my strength?  Deuteronomy 6:5

Have I allowed God to transform my heart so that my words, actions, and habits reflect my relationship with Him?

Jesus said, “Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.”  Matthew 12:34

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will.”  Romans 12:2

Do I see the fruit of the Holy Spirit at work in my own heart, in my own life?

Are the good fruits that I am wanting to cultivate in my own children’s lives evident in mine first?

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” Galatians 5:22, 23

I hope you’ll join us each week as we continue on this journey together.  Want to share your thoughts?  Please leave a comment.

You don’t have to spend extra money on organic, all-natural cleaning products to replace  traditional, chemical-laden ones.  There are several ways to make your own kitchen cleaners using simple products you probably already have in your home.

• To clean kitchen surfaces including stovetop, counters, tabletops and chairs,  inside of refrigerator, cabinet doors, sink, and more, make this simple recipe using vinegar and water:  All-Purpose Kitchen Spray.

• For counters, make this simple solution of castile cleaner to use as an Anti-bacterial Countertop Spray.

• For scrubbing kitchen sinks to a sparkling shine, first spray with vinegar spray, then sprinkle with plenty of baking soda.  Scrub sink, spraying with a bit more vinegar spray occasionally, then rinse.  For tougher stains, form bubbly paste with vinegar and baking soda and allow to sit for a while before scrubbing.  This is also a good recipe for stinky garbage disposals.

• To shine glass in your kitchen, use the same all-purpose kitchen spray.

• For cleaning kitchen floors, use either the 1:1 ratio of vinegar/water or make this castile and essential oil solution from Stacy at A Delightful Home.

• To make homemade dishwasher detergent, mix up this simple recipe of borax and baking soda, and use vinegar for the rinse agent.

Click these links to see other great ways to make your own frugal, natural and greener cleaners:

• Homemade “soft scrub”

• Homemade “clorox wipes”

• Multi-purpose cleaner

• Homemade Dish Soap

Do you have a green home make-over tip you’d like to share at The Marathon Mom? Click here to submit your blogpost or tip to be featured in this series.

Have a blogpost you’d like to link to?  We’d love for you to share! If you don’t have a blog, please leave a comment.

I found the blueberry breakfast cake recipe here on Pinterest and have been wanting to make it for a long time.  I made it yesterday morning and it is so delicious.  I made a few adaptations and will be posting recipe soon.

Breakfast (served with fruit):

• blueberry breakfast cake
• cereal
• oatmeal
• bacon, eggs, and toast

Lunch:  See Easy, Healthy Lunch List

Dinner:

• garlic spaghetti, salad, breadsticks (click here for breadstick recipe and info)
• sub sandwiches
• baked potato bar
• tacos, chips, salsa

What’s on YOUR menu this week?

Here are the freezer meals I’ve prepared:

1 chicken spaghetti

2  Mexican lasagnas

4 vegetable beef stews

1 baked ziti

pancakes

waffles

frozen chocolate chip cookie dough balls (about two dozen)

chocolate chip peanut granola bars (in fridge)

And:

2 pans of Crystal’s 30 minute dinner rolls

plus one store-bought frozen lasagna and two meals worth of frozen four-cheese ravioli

That’s a total of 12 dinners.

And I may very well just call it done.

I’m not even kidding.

But, I have a football fan husband and eight sons.  Therefore, in Super Bowl Sunday, I will participate.

I’ve found over the past few years, that my husband and the boys really enjoy when I make fun foods for them to nibble on while watching the game.  And I thoroughly enjoy making them yummy, party foods.

So here’s what’s on the list:

Super Bowl Sunday Food

• Raw veggies and ranch (of course!)

• Sausage Balls

• Oven Fried Parmesan Zucchini (found on Pinterest)

• Chili (by Dylan’s request)

• Football Pizza (found on Pinterest) made with this pizza dough

• and for dessert…..chocolate buttermilk cake  (Oh. My. Word.)

Are you making any fun foods for Super Bowl Sunday?

As if the countdown hadn’t been on already, we’re really on baby watch now.

Last night I was awakened by very low, but very real contractions.  I’m a light sleeper, I admit, so it doesn’t take much to wake me up, but still….To be woken up with contractions is always a sign that good things are happening.

I don’t get too excited about contractions until they are very consistent and very strong and do not stop.  So you most likely won’t be getting any “false alarms” from me in your inbox.  I only considered waking my own husband once, but decided not to unless things got more intense last night. (If you’re not signed up yet for email subscription, click here.)

The contractions obviously subsided and I am up and around trying to get laundry done.  Not much else motivates a nesting mother more than a few middle-of-the-night contractions.

I was up from three to five wondering how many clean towels we actually have on hand right now……and where WHERE is the heating pad?  And that missing newborn outfit I’m wanting to find?  I thought about getting up and doing a few things around the house, but I knew that if this wasn’t real labor, I’d regret not getting my sleep.  I’m glad I made the wiser choice and stayed in bed.

So, no…no labor yet.   Pre-labor activity can go on for several days for me, so I’m prepared for that.  I think pre-labor is God’s way of allowing us to fully realize just where we’re headed….again.  In just a few days (or hours.)

We’re ready.

I made a big pot of chicken tortilla soup tonight and needed some tortilla chips.  We had some multi-grain, flax chips, and as good as those are with hummus, salsa, and even guac, I just didn’t think they would work well in our bowls filled with soup, avocado and jack cheese.

I had plenty of corn tortillas, so I decided to just make our own chips.

So simple, and I can’t believe I’ve never tried this before!

I simply sprayed a cookie sheet with cooking spray, placed six tortillas in a single layer on the pan, then sprayed another light layer on top.  I sprinkled some salt on top and broiled them on one side for several minutes.  Then I flipped them to lightly brown the other side.  This plain batch was good enough like this, but on the next batch, we sprinkled some chili powder along with the salt.  Delish!

We got a little excited, and since we already had limes cut up for our soup, we sprinkled lime juice on the third batch (yes we made 18!) and WOW – they were so good!

Hi, I’m Rhonda, and I am so excited to get to guest post for Brandy while she prepares for her new little blessing! What a woman – a husband, soon to be eight children AND an active blogger! Wow!!

Valentine’s Day is upon us – (or at least upon the store shelves!) and it conjures up images of red and pink hearts, candy and romantic movies! I have fond memories of making valentines for my class, writing a special note inside to each classmember. (I was SO afraid someone would feel left out if I didn’t! haha!) My dad always got candy for me AND my mom, which I didn’t understand then, but I understand much better now – being a mom myself.

Truly, all love is from God – the first and best Lover of our Souls! So, I came up with this little project to reinforce the idea of God as the ultimate Lover.

Imagine an Advent Calendar meets scripture memory verses. Yeah, something like that…

So, today I want to show you how to make a Valentine’s Verse Advent Frame.

This is super easy, but I did use a hot glue gun, so obviously, if you choose to do so, I’d only allow older children to operate the gun. (Like you didn’t already know that though! Hah! The things you have to say to stay out of trouble!)

How to Make a Valentine’s Verse Advent Frame

Here’s what you need:

Jumbo popsicle sticks ($1.50)

Pink paint (or whatever color you want!) ($.97)

Pink translucent ribbon (or whatever color matches your paint) ($1.75/spool)

Metal clip ($1.88/pack of four)

Conversation Heart candies – I used big AND small, but you could get away with just using small. ($2.50/bag)

Hot glue gun and sticks (on hand)

Markers, stickers or anything else you want to decorate the bottom with! (on hand)

Here’s what you do:

1. First, lay out your sticks – paint them – then glue them together into your frame.

2. Spray your conversation hearts with gloss sealer. I used Krylon Clear Gloss Sealer. Let dry for fifteen minutes or so.

3. Then hot glue your sticks into the shape of the frame:

4. Glue your ribbon on in “waves” – with big loops:

5. Glue your conversation hearts over top of the ribbon, leaving a space in the middle for your clip. (I failed to do this and had to rip off some conversation hearts! OOPS!!)

6. Cut a piece of cardboard slightly larger than the opening in your frame. (I didn’t have cardboard so I used the side of an Onion soup mix box.) Paint same color as popsicle sticks. Allow to dry for fifteen minutes.

7. Print and cut out your memory verses on cardstock while paint dries. You can find a printable PDF of fourteen of my favorites HERE!

8. Glue cardboard back onto frame.

9. Glue clip onto top of frame.

10. Attach a spare piece of ribbon to each side of the frame, for hanging.

11. Write a Valentine’s message on the bottom of the frame – make it personal! It can be “God Loves!” or “Valentine’s Day 2012″ if you can’t think of something original!

Display and change out verses each day. Enjoy!

It is my great hope that we can use every season as a teaching tool for our children! Valentine’s Day is fun, and should be! It’s not my aim to diminish the value of the romantic relationship between husband and wife – obviously that’s important – important enough that God chooses to use that metaphor to compare Christ and the Church. That’s BIG! But to focus exclusively on romantic love to the exclusion of the greatest Lover is unintentionally misguided. We love because HE first loved!

Blessings, friends!

I can’t believe another Thursday is here already!  Wow – the weeks have been flying by lately!  So much has been going on in our family as we make the final preparations for welcoming our next little bundle of joy.  And I have so much to be grateful for this week that I don’t even know where to start.

God is so good.  He has blessed our family with so much.

Today, my heart is overflowing with thankfulness for:

• a good, hard-working husband who has a great job
• seven rowdy boys that make messes faster than I can clean (I’m glad they’re healthy and happy enough to play!)
• a kitchen and freezer full of food
• the fact that we’re ready now for the arrival of our baby – down to newborn socks!
• the fact that I am now full term and he could come any day (I’m still in awe that God created and allows our bodies to do this over and over.)
• a great midwife
• a clean house
• excellent homeschool curriculum that I love teaching our boys from
• Landen’s hilarious giggles in the car
• the way every single one of Landen’s big brothers absolutely adore him
• the joy each one of our boys brings to us
• God’s faithfulness……so humbling.  So amazing.

What are YOU thankful for this Thursday?

I love this idea from Kate at Modern Alternative Mama!

She’s figured out how to make reusable swiffer mop pads!

Say goodbye to spending money on unhealthy chemical floor cleaners and throwing away disposable mop pads.  Click on over and read the complete tutorial on how to make your own mop pads in just 15 to 20 minutes!

Do you have a green home make-over tip you’d like to share at The Marathon Mom?  Click here to submit your blogpost or tip to be featured in this series.