We Doers of the Word

Let me introduce myself.

noreply@blogger.com (Jason Alexander) — Fri, 30 Aug 2013 03:24:00 +0000

I am Laura's husband Jason. Laura and I have been talking for almost year now, about me posting on here and she has finally wore me down. HAHA, just kidding honey.

So for my first post on here I figured I would just tell you guys a little bit about myself and basically what I am going to be posting about.

First a little background on me and who I am. I grew up about 15 miles out of a small south Texas hick town and bounce around and tried many things to get to where I am at today. So anyway, enough about how I grew up, I think I will take you on the journey from when I met my beautiful wife to now.

About 12 years ago, I can not believe that it has been that long, I met my wife and we went out on our first date and we have been together since. It is hard to believe that she has not put a large policy on me and taken me out considering at time I have been not an easy man to deal with. About 6 years ago she started going to church and me being the stubborn idiot I can be would not go with her and the kids. I always had a reason that I could not go, whether it was work or I was just to tired to go. I mean I believed in God and Jesus, I just didn't think that I had to go to church to prove it. So after a couple of months she finally wore me down (lol), and I went to church with her. I still took my own ride though, my way of thinking was "if I didn't like what this preacher man was sayin' I was leavin'."

The funny thing was I really was into what was being said, so I kept going to this church. The only problem I had with the church was it was one of those mega churches. Like I said I grew up in a hick town, so when you went to church you shook the preacher's hand. So on Wednesdays there was a little church about 6 blocks from my house and my kids wanted to go to the kid's activities on that evening. Well I saw this as a 1 hour baby-sitter that Laura and I could go have coffee or something, but the preacher was stalking us. Now I know a thing or 2 about being stalk, that is how I have ended up married and now have a church family for the last 6 years, so it worked out. After awhile of the stalking as I call it, I looked at Laura and said let's give this church a try.

Fast forward to now, we have been attending this church for about 6 years now and are highly active in it. I play drums and do some vocals with the praise team along with teaching Sunday school to kindergarten through second grade. After I get through with them and they move to the third grade my lovely wife takes over. She also sings with the choir, does solo's and stands in with the praise team. Nobody tell her, I really like hearing her sing with the praise team, I kind of have a front row seat, since I have in ear monitors, so I can hear her sing really well.

Now I have rambled on about my past long enough. After much thought, prayer and discussion, with God and my wife, because I didn't know what to blog about, here is what has been put on my heart to write about. I will be writing about and taking pictures of different pieces of furniture I built for Laura. She has a long list so I know we can talk about that for at least the next 20 years or so. With that I will talk about the different tools I am using, so you can get out there and build things yourself. Also we live on the Gulf Coast, I would like to talk with you about being prepared for the next storm or whatever comes our way, the products you can get to be prepared and what the Bible says about being a "prepper". Plus I am open to ideas and questions so if you have any just let me know. Above all that we will have topics about God and Jesus. I will be trying to post at least once a week if not more, being a driver working almost 70 hours a week it will be very challenging.

So now it begins, sorry this one is so long. Have a good week and we will talk soon. God bless.

Waiting

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 16:50:00 +0000

I hate waiting. I'm so impatient and this morning I'm waiting to hear news that could change the next few months or even years of our family's lives. I've stressed about it, obsessed about it, prayed about it and finally given it to God so now it's in His capable hands.

Please pray with me that no matter the outcome, we would be obedient to His will and not try to go our own way. He knows what's best for us and loves us more than we can imagine. Thanks!

Here's the verse I'm focusing on today:

Source

Gift Wrap Organization

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 02:48:00 +0000

This year for Christmas one of the gifts my sweet Mom gave me was a giftcard to Bed, Bath and Beyond. I don't normally shop there so I thought I'd look online to see what organizing goodies they might have and look what I found:

Real Simple Holiday Wrapping Station

How awesome is that?! Of course I ordered that puppy right away and waited impatiently for it to arrive.

Until now I've kept all my wrapping stuff in an under the bed storage box but it wasn't long enough to hold standard sized wrapping paper rolls so a few were shoved in the box and the rest stood in a corner in my closet and would fall over all the time making me ca-RA-zy. See Exibit A:

What a mess, right? Even worse, we got rid of our bed frame a few months ago so instead of being stored out of sight under the bed, it was now taking up room in my closet and I.was.over.it.

Soooo, look what arrived in the mail today!!

Woohoo! I ripped it open and a few minutes later I had everything sorted and put in its new home. Finally everything is all together in one place and off my closet floor. YES!

Have a look:

Isn't it pretty? That's nine rolls of wrapping paper and who knows how many bows, boxes, tags and bags. The back has two big pockets that hold my boxes, tissue paper and large bags. I use the medium sized bags the most so I just hooked them onto the sides. I put the Christmas-related items on the left and the rest on the right to make it easier to quickly find what I need. The really nice thing is that it just hangs on any hook and takes up very little space.

So now that I've got my new system in place what to do with the old container? Well, it's in perfect condition but it doesn't fit in with my storage needs so there's no sense in keeping it. Instead it will be sold in my pre-move garage sale but in the meantime it's pretty handy for storing some of the other items going in the sale. Love it when things work out that way!

Did you get any new organization stuff for Christmas? Anyone? Bueller?

P.S. I did not get paid or perked for anything in this post. I just really love cool organizing ideas and want to share them with anyone that might find the info useful. However, if the people at Real Simple did want me to review their stuff I would be happy to do it! :-)

When You Get Off Track

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 00:13:00 +0000

Whoa, what a weekend! Between hubby coming home for the first time in 2 weeks, A's birthday, me hurting my foot, and A spraining her ankle it was quite a weekend. Needless to say, not much got done around the house...in fact, it looks like a hurricane came through.

To make things worse, I woke up not feeling well so after I dropped B off at school I went back to bed and stayed there most of the day. So what's a (limping, sickly) girl to do? Usually when stuff like this happens I call it a wash and vow to start again tomorrow (or never, whatever) but the whole point of this is to not do what I usually do, so instead of 9 or 10 AM I'm doing my to-do's at 6 PM but that's ok because I'm doing it.

Source:

http://society6.com/product/Do-it-immediately_Print

Anyone else running into obstacles with completing your goals? What are you doing about it? Seriously, leave a comment. I know you're reading...don't leave me hanging here!

Friday Gratitude

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 16:52:00 +0000

Ok, I know it's only the first week of the year but so far my new way of doing things is going great! Seriously, it is so easy just to pull out my home management binder (sorry should have mentioned that yesterday) and look at the planner to cross off the last task and see what's next. I even scheduled moving the laundry since I usually get busy and forget.

I thought I'd post a bit from my Gratitude Journal today so here goes...

January 1, 2013

I am so grateful for another year! I am grateful that I can stay home with my girls and don’t have to miss a thing in their lives. I can’t wait to see what You have in store for our family in 2013.

Psalm 86:11 - Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.

Psalm 119:35 - Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight.

Psalm 143:10 - Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground.

January 2, 2013

I am grateful for kids that make me laugh and love to read and write.

Psalm 127:3-5 - Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their enemies in the gate.

January 3, 2013

I am grateful that You love us even when we least deserve it.

Romans 5:8 - But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

January 4, 2013

I am grateful that you heal the brokenhearted.

Psalm 147:3 - He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

Have a great weekend!

Goal Setting 2013: Scheduling

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 16:45:00 +0000

Happy Thursday! It's been a pretty productive day around here so far. The kids started back to school this morning which does wonders for my focus but I do really miss having them around.

Anyway, in keeping with yesterday's post here are some resources that I plan to use to accomplish my baby steps goal. Maybe they will be helpful for you too!

Free Blog Planner from Confessions of a Homeschooler. This thing is gorgeous! I just started using it but I like that I can plan out what I'm going to write rather than waiting for the mood to strike.

Gratitude Journal from Motherhood on a Dime. I'm writing mine in a Word doc on my computer, but if you're looking for a nice way to get started, this 30 day journal may be just the thing!

Speaking of gratitude journals - I haven't read One Thousand Gifts yet, but it's on my list. The devotional looks really good too.

Week-At-A-Glance Calendar by Amy Bayliss. I'm using this now and I love it! It's a Word doc so you can customize it to fit your needs. I love being able to check off each task as it's done.

Also, check out my Pinterest page for more ideas!

Scheduling
Like I said in an earlier post, I tend to go through the day on autopilot so purposely scheduling time to work on the baby steps is critical for me. It's something I've resisted doing in the past but it's actually been a lifesaver lately on my busy/tired/cranky days. I've already done all the hard work getting it set up so I can just glance and see what's next on the list and check it off. Minimal brain work needed, just like I like it!

What do you use to help you stay on task? Do you have a Pinterest page? Link it up in the comments, I'd love to check it out!

Goal Setting 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 19:22:00 +0000

I'm back!

Here's a quick list of some of my goals for this year:

Spiritual:
To give my all (heart, soul, body, mind) to God
Morning bible study (Good Morning Girls - we'll be studying Luke, click to join!)
Maintain a gratitude journal

Marriage:
Love Jason intentionally
Date my husband - The Dating Divas is an amazing website with tons of ideas

Career:
To stay home with my kids
To make money from home
To be creative
To help others

Physical:
To become healthier (Yes, I know I need to be more specific but my high school reunion is in 6 months so at least I'm properly motivated!)

Personal:
Stop being afraid - Seriously, this is a big one for me, I have a long list of fears to give to God!
Take risks
Blog 5x week (so far so good)

Other:
Move to a home where we can host family & friends

The Plan
So much of my time is spent on autopilot. There's very little time where I intentionally focus on "how" I want to achieve the "what" that I want. I plan to spend a small chunk of time (10-15 minutes) each day focusing on moving some aspect of each area forward.

If I was a graphic designer this is where I'd drop in an awesome diagram or infographic that would beautifully & concisely explain what I have in mind but since I'm not you'll have to settle for using your imagination...sorry!

In a nutshell, I've listed my goals and then broken them down into smaller pieces and linked an action to each item. For example, we're thinking of moving at the end of the school year. A huge task, right? So I've listed all the things we need to do beforehand and that I can act on now. Things like:

Create a moving binder where I can keep all the information in a consolidated place
Go room by room and decide what we will keep/sell/donate/trash
Decide how we will move our stuff (pay someone, rent a truck, PODs)

Then I break it down into smaller action items:

Buy a binder -> find or create check lists -> add items as I go
Designate bins for sell & donate items -> choose room (or closet, dresser, drawer - whatever I have time for) and begin making decisions
Research different moving methods -> narrow down 1 or 2 we like best -> contact for quotes

As I was going through my closet making decisions I ran across several rolls of film that were never developed (yikes!) and some loose pictures. So I added getting the pictures developed to my To Do list and set up a box for all loose pictures to go into that I may find in other rooms. The next day I researched the cheapest place to have our prints digitized.

I may not have the time or budget to take on a major project, but by breaking it down into small bite-sized pieces I can easily make sure that every day I am doing something to move closer to my goal.

I like to write things down so I can reference them later but if you're more of a free spirit you can always just say to yourself, "what can I do right now that would make an impact?".

Tomorrow I'll post about how scheduling has really helped me with this process and link to some of the tools I'm using to get it done!

I'll leave you with a little clip from the movie What about Bob explaining baby steps...enjoy.

P.S. Honey if you're reading this - you, me and the couch have a date night to watch this movie this weekend. I'll get the snacks ready...

Happy New Year!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 21:30:00 +0000

Wow, it's been a while since I posted! I seem to have a love/hate relationship with blogging. I love to post and read comments and look back to see things we've done, but sometimes it feels like homework if you know what I mean... I want to do it, but I don't want to feel obligated to do it. And truthfully, I'm not, the only person that makes me feel that way is me. Does anyone else go through this or am I alone on the train to Crazytown?

The bigger problem is the tendency to want to do things perfectly or not at all. I am an all or nothing kind of girl. Worst.trait.ever - I make myself nuts with this one! If I don't have the time/energy/pictures ready just the way I want them, it makes it easy for me to say I'll just do it later. The problem is when 'later' comes I still have the same problems, but now it's a bit easier to push it off. It's the same way with crafting, dieting, cleaning, etc. But ironically, not with organizing and a few other things. I'm weird. My kids are always telling me, "Mom, it doesn't have to be perfect!" and they are right.

(The other problem is that I'm surrounded and outnumbered by animals. At any given moment something is pooping, gagging, chewing or any number of distracting things somewhere in my house...sigh. Right now I can hear the delightful sounds of the cat upchucking a hairball in the basket on top of my fridge - jealous?)

Thankfully, two of the cats will be moving on to a new home on Sunday YAY!

So where was I? Oh, yes, perfection... So, I know what the problem is and in the immortal words of G.I. Joe, "Knowing is half the battle!"

And the other half? Well, there's some hilarious answers to that on Google, but for me it's baby steps. I.E. maybe I don't have the time/mental fortitude to write a blog post, but I CAN start a draft to lay out some thoughts, or it's too chaotic to sweep and mop the entire house right now but I CAN do the area that's bugging me the most....that kind of thing.

Have you heard the expression, 'You can't see the forest for the trees.'? My amazing husband is a 'forest' kind of guy. He sees the big picture even if the details are a bit fuzzy. On the other hand I am a 'trees' person. I get overwhelmed if I try to take it all on and prefer to focus on the smaller details. For some reason I forget this sometimes and think I can take on the forest. That's when I run into problems. Knowing this, I can set my tasks/goals in small increments (baby steps) and be happy with what I've accomplished rather than trying to get it all done perfectly at once.

You'll know if it works if I keep posting regularly. If not I'm probably lost in the forest watching cartoons from the '80's or cleaning up cat puke to justify putting it off... Feel free to send out a search party!

What about you? Are you a 'forest' or 'trees' person? Remember "Deep Thoughts with Jack Handey"? Oops, I just spent a while getting distracted over there - but we'll save my ADD issues for another day...

Happy New Year!

Pioneer Day

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 20:14:00 +0000

Last year when we were homeschooling I REALLY wanted to take the kids to our local park's Pioneer Day to see a picture of life in the 1800's. Unfortunately, we missed it then so when I found out it was this weekend there was no way we were going to miss it again!

How cool is that? Well, most of the area apparently had the same idea so... it was quite a trek to get from where we had to park to the event, but the scenery was beautiful and a little exercise never hurt!

The kids had a good time exploring the different forms of shelter that Pioneers and Native Americans lived in, from huts to tents to cabins. It was too crowded to get pictures of all of them but here's one they liked (but wouldn't want to live in long term):

There was a battle re-enactment that was really ~~loud~~ exciting and they even had a cannon!

I know it's November, but we're in Texas so it was hot. Seriously, I don't know how they wore all those clothes without melting!

After the battle was won we went to see what else we could find there. B got her face painted and made a bonnet so she looked like some sort of Pioneer/Indian hybrid...

This is her right before she broke into an impromptu jig on the stage. Hopefully, I can figure out how to post the video, it was great!

They had some period musicians that were fun to hear. No more dancing though...

We missed a few things like making corn husk dolls, candle making, and the covered wagon but we had such a good time. There was tons of stuff to do!

After all the fun, the 'Hayride to the Parking Lot' sign was truly a sight for sore eyes. If you know me, you know that I am perpetually in flip flops which is probably not the best idea for traipsing through the woods but that's just how I roll, so there it is.

But that's not all - we're going back in December for An Old Fashioned Christmas! Here's a picture of my handsome hubby trying to control his excitement. Sorry babe, I couldn't resist!

Election Day Fun

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 23:51:00 +0000

Happy Election Day! The girls and I were discussing last night what they've learned in school about the election and to my surprise both said that their classes had not discussed it at all...WHAT?? How can this be? Soooo, considering that the school was going to be a polling place today with large crowds expected and since they hadn't learned anything about the election in school, we decided we'd stay home and do our own election lessons!

I waited until this morning to surprise them and they were so excited! We watched some videos I found on BrainPOP Jr. and played games and did quizzes there. We talked about the qualifications for president and how the electoral college works. B wrote about what she would do if she were president (hint: it involves 1,465 puppies and an equal amount of cats).

B had gone with us to early vote a few weeks ago so she decided that she wanted to hold a mock election of her own, complete with campaign posters and speeches. A didn't want to run so the candidates were B, Mom, Desiree (her bunny), and WIQ (aka Phillip).

Here are 3 of the posters, I didn't get a picture of mine but I can assure you it was spectacular... B's is the one on the far left, Desiree in the center, and WIQ's is on the right.

Next we gave our campaign speeches. I ran on a platform of hot meals and free hugs, B promised to give everyone the shelter dog or cat of their choice, and I can't remember the other two. I'm pretty certain it involved animals though.

No good election would be complete without an old-school ballot box so of course we had to make one! If you look closely you can see WIQ & Desiree in the background along with our "ballots". Here's a closer view:

So after all the votes were tallied the final results were:

President - B
Vice President - Mom
Best Poster - B
Best Speech - B
Class President - WIQ
Semester President - Desiree

I didn't get a picture but we also made a polling place (complete with line) and ballot box out of Legos.

We had so much fun! I love that my kids want to learn and enjoy the learning process. We're not done yet either - tonight once the exit poll numbers start coming in we're going to color the states red or blue. In fact, she's bugging me to get the maps ready so I'd better wrap this up...

So that was our election day experience, what did you do for election day?

Linking to:

The Happy Day Project 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Have you seen this? If not, go over to Life Rearranged and check it out! It looks like so much fun and what better way to brighten your day than to make someone else's day better!

It starts Monday so unless I'm starting a new job (praying!) I'll be back to post about what we've done...

Have a great weekend!

Trunk or Treat 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Trunk or Treat 2012

B wanted to do a nativity-themed trunk for our first trunk or treat with her beloved doll WIQ (which is pronounced "Phillip" in case you were wondering) starring as the baby Jesus and a 'Jesus loves you and me' poster that she made herself.

We decided to go handmade with her angel costume so I found a fabulous tutorial at Maker Mama to make angel wings out of paper plates! Can I just take a moment to say how much I love the interwebs...I could never think up this stuff on my own. They turned out great and for the 10 minutes or so that she actually wore them we got several complements, not bad for $0! You can also see her halo that I made with some pipe cleaners and a headband. I thought she might not like it but she thought it was perfect so who am I to argue with that!

I was running the Plinko game (remember that one?) so I ended up doing about 300 squats over the course of the evening. It was so busy I didn't even realize it until the end of the night when I was hoarse and sore. Hopefully it will help make up for all the Butterfingers I ate earlier in the day...

A, my oldest, passed out the candy and punched holes in each child's card that came by. A few times I caught myself saying "Ok, go over there so she can punch you and give you candy!". I don't think anyone noticed though. :-)

At the end of the night we had a great time, burned or consumed many calories and most importantly showed several hundred of our neighbors the love of Christ. I have no idea what we'll do next year but this year was probably my favorite so far.

Reclaiming Halloween

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 11:00:00 +0000

About a week or so ago I posted about how we've been rethinking Halloween and what that means for our family this year so I thought I'd come back and share what we plan to do.

Fortunately, this year Halloween falls on a Wednesday so our church has decided as a missions opportunity to hold a trunk-or-treat and invite the neighborhood to come. Oh, I can hear it now:
Come on, so you change the name a little and do it in the church parking lot instead of your block, how's that really different?

Well, truthfully it doesn't have to be. We could dress up, throw candy at some kids and go home no different than if we'd done nothing at all. The actions by themselves are worthless, empty filthy rags without God.

Or we could plan a bunch of stuff and invite God to come and hope He blesses it. "Hey, God look at all we're doing here for You! What would You do without us?" type of thing. That would be worthless too and maybe worse because we're deceiving ourselves as well as others.

But here's where it's at for me and why it makes sense for our family:

Recently our pastor said something that really stuck with me - God can take something meant for evil and reclaim it for His glory. He can. And does. The story of Joseph is a good example of God doing this, Moses is another. As Christians, we don't have to hide inside while darkness gathers around us, we can allow God to use us to fulfill His mission!

Here's another thing, God gives certain commands in the Bible and those commands are not contingent on the calendar. There's no out just because it's October 31 any more than thinking we only need to tell others about God on Christmas and Easter. 1 John 5:3 says, "This is love for God: to obey His commands." and in John 15:14 "You are my friends if you do what I command.".

We are commanded to put Him first.

We are commanded to love our neighbor.

We are commanded to serve. The first time I typed sever...yikes!

We are commanded to spread the gospel.

I'm sure some will disagree but for us these commands apply here. This is something that we are to do every day, and I think that this is an opportunity to do it on a larger scale than we could otherwise.

God is the focus, we are the followers.

We can't do the work, only God can, but we can be obedient to His commands and I don't think that we would accomplish that effectively by either boycotting Halloween by hiding in our houses or embracing Halloween as willing participants. This is the way that we feel God is leading our family to spend this time, it may look different for yours. I'd love to hear your thoughts and plans in the comments!

Linking to:

Gratitude

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 17:48:00 +0000

Lord, I am so thankful today for your loving care for me. Even though I don't deserve it you lavish me with your love. Thank you that even though my window is broken, I can still see the wonder of your creation through it, and although my bank account is empty, I've never felt richer in you. Thank you for the beautiful bluebirds in my back yard, for opening my eyes to your Word, for sermons that pierce my heart, and for friends that hold me accountable. I am so grateful. Help me to remember that You are all I need, nothing more. I am resting in You. Amen.

Trusting God With Our Kids

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Sounds strange doesn't it? If anything, God should be the ONLY one we trust with our kids, but the reality of it is that my thoughts and actions don't always line up with what I know to be true. The school bus is a glaring example in my life of where I love God, but I don't necessarily trust Him, and a lesson for me in learning to give Him my all.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating the other end of the spectrum where we send the kids out to play on the freeway and expect God to do the babysitting! We are responsible for our children and accountable to God for them. I'm saying that I've realized that when I keep my kids on a short leash, it's sometimes because I feel like I have to do God's work to keep them safe. In other words, subconsciously I think God might try to take them early, so I hover over them to keep anything bad from happening to them, as if I can thwart the plans of God. This isn't something I do consciously or intentionally, but when I have the sense of dread when I send them out, or go against my husbands wishes (and the limits of our gas budget) to drive them to school myself, rather than put them on the bus, my actions reveal what is really in my heart.

I believe that part of my fear and doubt began on April 26, 2010 when a beautiful high school girl in my area got off the school bus and simply disappeared. You can read about her story and her parent's tireless efforts to find her here: http://www.alexandrialowitzer.com/ . I pray for Ali and her family often as I can't imagine what they are going through and my heart hurts so badly for them. Please take a moment to look at their website and send prayer their way. Unfortunately, there are many other families searching for loved ones, you can find more information at the Laura Recovery Center website.

As frightening as that is, however, it should give us a healthy respect of our surroundings & make us cautious, which is biblical (Proverbs 14:16), not handicap us with fear, which is not. I think that part of what causes us as parents to take this fear too far is simply the reluctance to give God our all, which includes our children. But if I do this I've made an idol, not just of my kids, but of my ability as a parent to protect them.

So maybe you're still thinking, jeez lady, what's the big deal? My kids have been riding the bus since kindergarten! Here's the thing about the bus: it's not the bus. It's the way my fear and distrust makes me see the bus. If transportation wasn't an issue, it'd be something else because it's the situation of my heart that's the issue here, not the external circumstance that exposes it.

Why shouldn't I trust my children to Him? He made them after all and gave them to me as a gift (Psalm 127:3). He loves them more than I ever can!

I'll come back in another post to explore what The Bible has to say about God's sovereignty and our children but today I will be a doer of the word and live out my faith instead of just talking about it. Today my child rides the bus home from school and I WILL NOT FEAR.

Linking to:

What I Know Now

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 12:00:00 +0000

One of the blogs I've started following recently is having a blog link-up to share stories of life lessons to share with others so I thought I'd share mine:

Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28

I became a christian at a young age but for years no one would have known that, or maybe even believed it if I had told them. See, I felt like once I had accepted Christ I was done and could do whatever I wanted after that safe in the knowledge that I was saved. What I know now is that I wasted years of my life pursuing things that brought me little joy when I could have had the peace and joy that comes from having a relationship with God. I had traded the truth of God for a lie and eventually my lukewarm lifestyle caught up with me. I was burned out from trying to do it all on my own and not sure where to turn.

I remember being so overwhelmed with everything that I wished I had my own sensory deprivation chamber that I could hide in to escape the world! Unfortunately, I didn't have one at my disposal so one night when I just couldn't take any more I did the next best thing, I shut off all the lights, the TV and everything else and just lay on my couch in the dark wondering if I was going crazy. At first it was weird just laying there, then kind of relaxing, and all of a sudden the most amazing thing happened. A commercial for a church in my area popped in my head and in an instant I knew what was missing. A relationship with my Savior! It was time for this prodigal daughter to come home.

That was years ago and I can't say that since then everything's been easy or that I don't sometimes need a reminder of who is in charge but what I know now is that if you're feeling overwhelmed & weary, it's time to stop trying to do it on your own. Lay your burden down & turn to your Heavenly Father for rest.

Linking to:

I am full!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 12:00:00 +0000

Remember the old coffee commercial slogan, "Fill it to the rim...with Brim."?

I have no idea if Brim is still around (I'm a Folger's girl myself, and I'll keep the caffene thankyouverymuch) but the catch phrase was clever enough to stick in my then too young for coffee brain and came to mind as I read the scripture passage this morning.

For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.

Colossians 2:9-10

Fullness seems to be a theme in Colossians. Paul mentions it more than once in chapter 1 and includes it in both verses here. Fullness means 'filled to capacity' so the thankfulness he speaks of in verse 7, as well as love and other fruits might be considered an outpouring or overflow because we are filled completely with Him. If I am filled with Christ, the things of Him will be an outpouring of that fullness.

Here's another thought, usually when I've finished a big meal I stop eating. Why? I'm full so I don't want any more. If I try to keep eating after I'm full what will happen? I may make myself sick, I'll probably gain more weight than necessary and can become unhealthy. In the same way when I have Christ I am full and complete and have everything I need in Him. However, if I start to doubt that and feel like I need something more to fulfill me I can become spiritually unhealthy. Just like my body shows to the world when I've taken in too much, my life will reflect if I'm trying to take on too much. If that happens I may need to stop what I'm doing and go back to verse 8.

What about you? Are you full?

Rethinking Halloween

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 19:20:00 +0000

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.

Colossians 2:8

Oh boy. This might be a controversial post if anyone actually read my blog but me...ha ha.

I'm sure that we all know something that fits the description, maybe a certain movie or book that you could tell in an instant wasn't Godly but others around you were deceived. For me that would be something like horoscopes, which seems obvious but yet several of my christian friends get them daily on Facebook so maybe it's more deceptive for others. I think the real deception is that it becomes so commonplace that it's the norm. You don't question it because it doesn't occur to you do do so.

Several times we have rented movies and to me the messages are so blatantly ungodly that I can't watch it but when I say something it's met with eye rolls and "it's just a movie". I want to say, "No, that's what the devil wants you to think, guard your heart!". Other times I realized something that I'd never questioned before went against the Word of God when I watched it again at a later time.

This is why it is so important to know scripture by heart and to be in the Word daily. As I get deeper into God's word I see so much more clearly the things that aren't from Him. Things that not long ago were acceptable to me are now seen in a whole new "light", if you know what I mean.

Here's a recent example from an unlikely source: Pinterest. I've really enjoyed Pinterest and I've found some great ideas on there. In fact, most of the dinners I've made lately I found on Pinterest! Anyway, I follow a lot of craft, home decor and educational bloggers on Pinterest and about a month ago I joined a christian pinners group as well. As it turned to fall, I noticed something shocking that I'm not sure if I would have recognized if I hadn't seen it in this manner. Suddenly, next to all the pictures of Christ, scriptures and uplifting posts were witches, skeletons, and ghosts. Mind you that these weren't hard-core horror images, just cutesy craft projects for Halloween but even so the difference between the two was shocking and made an impact on me in a way that I'm not sure even words would have done. It really brought home the verses that question what darkness has in common with light and made me question some of the things that I accept just because they are tradition.

"See to it" implies action. We must actively examine what philosophies or world views that we listen to, read, see, etc and make sure that they line up with what is in the Bible, like the Bereans in Acts 17:11.

So here's my challenge: This week I'm rethinking Halloween and what it means for our family. My GMG friends already know but I'll share later what we plan to do instead.

Think about the things that you've read and watched in the last few days. What philosophies are you being exposed to? Are there any traditions you go along with just because it's what you've always done? For the next few days be intentional about questioning what you read, watch and hear. See if anything surprises you that you might not have noticed otherwise. Most importantly - spend time reading the Bible & pray! Ask God for wisdom and to show you the things that don't line up with His word and trust that He will do it.

Linking to: Women in the Word Wednesdays at www.goodmorninggirls.org

Words of Encouragement

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 18:36:00 +0000

...the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Colossians 1:26-27

These two verses are so encouraging to me! How blessed we are to be on this side of the cross in history and to be able to look in God's word to see how this all plays out. How blessed we are to have the complete Word of God to read and learn from. Even in this modern age there are many who don't have that luxury still. How comforting to know that the mystery has been revealed through the gospel.

So what is the mystery that has been revealed? Ephesians 3:6 states,

This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.

And how amazingly wonderful is it that we, as Gentiles, have been grafted into the family of God, as heirs no less, to have the hope of glory in Christ Jesus in us!

I know that we sometimes complain because the days are evil and things are not as simple as they used to be but we have been given the gift of seeing the mystery revealed and knowing the promise that it means for us. "For ages and generations" that wasn't possible to know, but we do! Something that as Gentiles is more than we could have hoped for. Not only that but we have the ability to simply open our bible and read how God wove it all together...praise God! That is an amazing treasure yet most of the time it doesn't even occur to us how fortunate we are.

Lord, Thank You so much for including us in your family. Help us to live lives worthy of the calling we have received and in appreciation for all you have done. Amen.

For more information about the mystery and what it means, see Ephesians Ch. 2 & 3.

Linking to:

Women in the Word Wednesdays

Influence

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 19:08:00 +0000

Well, it's taken longer than I expected due to a modem issue but I'm back now and ready to finally finish the other lesson I mentioned in my last post. This time it's about influence and how it affects the people around us. If you'll remember, King Josiah came from a legacy of men that did evil in the sight of the Lord yet he chose to follow in the footsteps of David instead and follow God.

Once the Book of the Law was found King Josiah heard what it said he was convicted and tore his robes. He realized that God was angry that those before him had not respected and obeyed God's Law. However, it says:
"Because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I have spoken against this place and its people, that they would become accursed and laid waste, and because you tore your robes and wept in my presence, I have heard you, declares the Lord. Therefore I will gather you to your fathers, and you will be buried in peace. Your eyes will not see all the disaster I am going to bring on this place." 2 Kings 22:19-20

So King Josiah gathered all the people so that they could hear the Book of the Law and he publicly renewed the covenant with the Lord and the bible says, "Then all the people pledged themselves to the covenant." ALL the people...wow.

In this story one person, King Josiah, changed the course of his people by his obedience to God. There are lots of other stories in the bible of influence, both good and bad. So what's my story? How can my obedience or disobedience affect those under my influence?

Who are you influencing today?
We may not have the influence of a king but we influence those around us just the same. We influence our children, spouse, friends, social media followers, and other people we interact with from day to day even without realizing it.

What kind of influence do you want to be?

Respecting God's Word

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 19:06:00 +0000

This week I've been reading 2 Kings 22-23. It tells the story of King Josiah, who unlike his evil father and grandfather before him, followed in the footsteps of David and worshipped the Lord.

During the previous kings' reign, idol worshipping and human sacrifice had become the way of the land and God's Word was lost as it had become irrelevant to the people who turned to other things for fulfillment. When Josiah had the temple repaired they found the Book of Law and brought it to him. He heard the words of the Lord and was filled with remorse and repentance so he gathered all the people together and read to them the Book of the Law and renewed the covenant to follow God and the people did the same.

I was reading this bible passage to prepare for my Sunday school lesson on respecting God's Word but there is another important lesson that I got from it that I'll talk about tomorrow (Lord willing!). When we don't respect His Word it becomes unimportant to us and can become lost both physically and mentally when we need it most. Just like we have to move daily to protect our muscles from atrophy, we need to spend time in the bible to prevent our faith from doing the same. Spending time daily reading the bible has made such a huge difference in how I speak, act, respond and think about the things that happen in my daily life. I find myself referencing scriptures as I go about my day, when talking to friends or even while reading the paper or watching TV. It's pretty amazing how it's woven into every part of my life now and I am so grateful for it.

Another part of respecting God's Word, and sometimes the most challenging part for me, is to do what it says! John 15:14 says, "You are my friends if you do what I command." and James 1:22 says, "Be doers of the Word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.". I named this blog from that verse because in doing so I hope to challenge myself, my family and anyone that may read this blog to put feet to their faith and live out what we have learned from God's Word as our act of obedience. Not that we have to earn our salvation (we don't), but as an outpouring of the love we have for God and from God.

My prayer today is to respect God's Word, to read and obey what it says.

Linking to:

May The Words of My Mouth

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 16:25:00 +0000

My prayer for today can be summed up beautifully in the words of this song:

May The Words of My Mouth

by Rob Hill & Tim Hughes

May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart

Bless your name, bless your name, Jesus

And the deeds of the day, and the truth in my way

Speak of you, speak of you, Jesus

For this is what I'm glad to do

It's time to live a life of love that pleases you

And I will give my all to you

Surrender everything I have and follow you

I'll follow you

Lord will you be my vision, Lord will you be my guide?

Be my hope, be my life, and the Way

And I'll look not for riches, nor praises on the earth

Only you'll be the first of my heart

I will follow you

On Good Intentions

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 18:55:00 +0000

Wow. I can't believe it's been a year since I last posted. So many good intentions to chronicle our homeschooling adventures lost to procrastination...sigh.
We've had a wonderful home school experience, and although it's come to an end I will truly cherish the time we spent learning together. I wish I would have spent the extra time to write each day as I had planned so I could look back at it later as my memories become hazy.

Unfortunately, I think that in other areas of my walk with God I tend to do this as well. I intend to prepare my Sunday School lesson way ahead of time and do an in-depth study but I put it off for when I can "focus on it" then next thing I know it's Saturday night! With the blog, I put it off because I didn't feel "inspired" about what to write so it gave me an excuse not to write anything at all. When I pray I think, well, God knows what this person needs better than I do so I can just give a half-hearted prayer.

Honestly, when I started this blog I wanted it to be a visual reminder of the ways we live out our faith and give glory to God in our daily lives as a family and as individuals. I also wanted it to be a place to share the ways that God was working in my life and maybe be able to share something helpful with others. Hmm, perhaps He's teaching me about commitment and diligence?

So why didn't I keep up with this blog? It wasn't that I didn't want to, I really did. I originally had the best of intentions but I didn't make it a priority in my life so when it got hard, I quit. I didn't intend to quit but by continually putting it off, that was the ultimate result. But while it was easier for me to put it off until tomorrow, it's not biblical. Proverbs 27:1 says, Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth. In James 4 it says that tomorrow is not promised and that anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins. Ouch.

So what now?
Do I give up and live in regret of what could have been? I'm writing this, so obviously not, that would be foolish and just add misery to failure. But how often do we do just that? Darn, I slept too late to have my quiet time...guess I'll try again tomorrow or I'll wait to post until after the kids go to bed knowing full well that by then I'll be too tired to string a coherent sentence together and I'll put it off.

Praise God for His patience and grace! Each day we are given is another chance to start anew. I don't have to be a slave to my procrastination and good intentions. When I feel the urge to put something off because it's too hard, or I'm tired or whatever the excuse is I can give it to God and ask for His strength and leadership. Instead of waiting to be "inspired", I will look deeper to see what God's word says and how it applies to my life. Seek and ye shall find...amazing.

Repentance and commitment

Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed. Proverbs 16:3

Lord, I am sorry for giving you good intentions when I should be acting in obedience to you. Father, I commit my plans to you, help me to be a doer and not a hearer only. Amen.

First Day of (Home)school!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 04:06:00 +0000

Although we've been working on learning activities for a while now, today was our first "official" day of school! Our schedule so far is:

Brush teeth
Breakfast
Chores
Bible
Unit Studies (a 4 week study on gardens)
Lunch
Math
Science
Piano

However, I see that Bri's already switched science & unit studies on our wall chart so we'll see how it goes tomorrow...

Things didn't go completely without a hitch - our first attempt at the science experiment flopped, the second nearly caught fire:

But finally on our third attempt we created...FRANKENPUPPY!

So your first thought might be that the picture's upside down. It's not.
Ok, maybe that wasn't your first thought, but I'm sure it would have crossed your mind eventually if you looked close enough. Guess the secret to our fresh clean scent is out.. Anyway, at this point we couldn't be too picky - it looked similar to what we were going for and wasn't on fire.

I know it's hard to tell but the blue jewel is its eye, the green push pins are the collar and the binder clips are some sort of cage to keep it from escaping...or something like that.

Also worth noting, you'd think the smell of melting soap might be pleasant but I can assure you that's not the case. At all. Burnt soap is slightly worse.

For dinner Bri made homemade pizzas and they were ON FIRE! Just kidding, they were delicious. I couldn't get her to smile for the picture though, she says that she's not smiling again until her front teeth come in.

I'll post pictures of her "gardens" tomorrow. We planted lots of great stuff and can't wait to see it grow!

My Testimony

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 16:02:00 +0000

I struggled with this post a bit, ok...a lot, because although I've lived my testimony, I've never shared it other than in brief conversations. I hope that by writing this down I and others can see how God has been working in my life even when I wasn't aware of His presence and that it will help me to share the way that God has become the source and strength of everything I do now.
I was raised in the church but had ~~ran into the world as fast as I could~~ fallen away during college. I tried doing things my way for many years but that just left me lost, frustrated and crying for help. I started feeling God's call in my life several years ago and was getting back into church when my friend's daughter was in a serious accident that nearly took her life.
The accident had a profound effect on me and I started thinking about my children and the "age of accountability", something that I'd heard of before but didn't really know anything about so I started seeking answers from God's word. We joined Fellowship of the Woodlands where my oldest daughter was baptized in June of 2008.
A short time later my grandmother's church in the country partnered with a small church in my neighborhood for GA camp and my daughter was invited. After camp we started taking her there for GA's on Wednesday nights and soon we started coming on Sundays as well. North Woods Baptist welcomed us as family and had such an amazing focus on God that we knew that this is where we were meant to be.
I was baptized when I was 8 but was ready to rededicate my life so when my husband became a Christian we chose to be baptized together as a public symbol of our new life in Christ.
The story doesn't end there. Actually this is where it begins and I will add to it, God willing as He allows as we live out His word in our daily lives.