Two Are Better Than One

Drying Kids Gloves and Mittens

2014-02-20T14:50:00.001-06:00

I know, starting back with a great post, right!
But I know I am not the only mom with this issue. It has been very snowy all over the country, well most of it anyway.

Our kids have been out in the snow a ton this year and their gloves and mittens come in wet and over time very stinky because they never fully dry.
I think I found a solution.

First, I washed them to get rid of the horrible smell.

Then I place those ever helpful toilet paper roll tubs inside the gloves to allow air to get up inside the ends of the gloves and mittens.

Last, set them on the heat register and leave them for a few hours. Dry and smelling good!

Jeannie

Making a Come Back

2014-02-17T13:19:00.002-06:00

I have been really missing blogging and the communication with the readers. I have decided to make a slow but sure come back.

Blogging seems to push me to be a better everything and I really miss that.

     The next post will be a recap of the exciting year that we have had. So much work God has done on us. How is it that trials are so sweet when you look back on them?

     I look forward to the posts ahead!

    Jeannie

Good bye for now!

2013-02-04T14:31:00.001-06:00

Hi ladies,

I think I have finally decided to take a long term break from blogging and focus on the other things that God has placed in my life. Thank you for coming over and spending time on my blog. Maybe someday God will place this back in my life.

God bless
Jeannie

2013-01-08T14:56:00.001-06:00

Hello ladies,

I wanted to let you all know that I am going to take a blogging break to reevaluate what I am going to do with the blog. God is doing something and I need to stop and listen. Every time I have tried in the last week to write a post something happens that is very obviously God's diversions.

So, I will be back February 1st, hopefully with a renewed agenda.

God Bless!!!

Jeannie

Are you Ready for the New Year?

2013-01-02T14:55:00.004-06:00

I don’t know about any of you, but I feel so unready for this year that has already come.

I should have a list of resolutions and goals and plans for this new year. But, I don’t.

What happened? I know that there is plenty that I want to change and do, but have no idea what to do next.

I even had a whole list of plans for the blog and can not find the notebook I keep them in. I always have that notebook handy.

Is this God’s way of saying keep your options open and wait for my plans?

Isaiah 40:31

But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew [their] strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; [and] they shall walk, and not faint.

Well this was a cool discovery. I had part of this verse come to mind, I looked it up and it fits my situation so well. I need my strength renewed. I would love to learn to mount up with wings, I want to run but I am weary. I would even walk but I am faint.

God is always so good. He gives us what we need, right when we need it and not a moment before. So that is what I will do, I will wait and listen.

Jeannie

Merry Christmas to All!!

2012-12-26T15:23:00.001-06:00

I hope you all had a great Christmas. It was different for us we usually travel for Christmas and decided to stay home because we travelled more this summer than usual. Here are some of the highlights of our Holiday.

Christmas Eve Jacob lost his first tooth. So we had both the Tooth Fairy and Santa at our house on the same night.

We watched a few Christmas movies. Later we went to Christmas Eve Service at church. We came home and said our Christmas prayer together and I was so blessed by the things that my kids prayed. I didn’t need anything else for Christmas.

Our Tree!

Max in the middle of the aftermath. Then last night we went to a friends house and spend time with other families that stayed in town.

God Bless the remainder of your year!!

Jeannie

20 Beautiful Children Stormed through Heaven’s Gates

2012-12-19T06:00:00.000-06:00

I received this in an email a few days ago and it gave me a new perspective. I thought I would pass it on to all of you.

Twas' 11 days before Christmas, around 9:38 when 20 beautiful children stormed through heaven's gate. Their smiles were contagious, their laughter filled the air. They could hardly believe all the beauty they saw there. They were filled with such joy; they didn't know what to say.

   They remembered nothing of what had happened earlier that day. “where are we?" asked a little girl, as quiet as a mouse. “This is heaven" declared a small boy. "We’re spending Christmas at God's house”.

   When what to their wondering eyes did appear, but Jesus, their savior, the children gathered near. He looked at them and smiled, and they smiled just the same. Then He opened His arms and He called them by name. And in that moment was joy, that only heaven can bring, those children all flew into the arms of their King and as they lingered in the warmth of His embrace, one small girl turned and looked at Jesus' face. And as if He could read all the questions she had He gently whispered to her, "I'll take care of mom and dad.“

    Then He looked down on earth, the world far below He saw all of the hurt, the sorrow, and woe. Then He closed His eyes and He outstretched His hand, “Let My power and presence re-enter this land! “May this country be delivered from the hands of fools” “I’m taking back my nation. I'm taking back my schools!“

    Then He and the children stood up without a sound. “Come now my children let me show you around. “Excitement filled the space, some skipped and some ran. All displaying enthusiasm that only a small child can. And I heard Him proclaim as He walked out of sight, “in the midst of this darkness,” I AM STILL THE LIGHT."

Jeannie

Our Birthday Month

2012-12-18T04:00:00.000-06:00

From Thanksgiving to Christmas four of us have birthdays. Along with the other festivities to those holidays, the b-days keep us hopping.

Jacob’s Birthday is first. My baby is 6! I made Angry bird cakes. I know, but you can kind of tell that is what they are right.

Bella’s 8th Birthday was Friday. We made a castle cake for her. That silly thing took literally all day to make. The Princess’s dresses were made from Ice cream cones covered with icing. Perfect for Polly Pocket sized dolls.

Next was Zachary’s b-day, 17!! He had a brownie pudding trifle for his cake. This sounds fancier than it is. Layer brownie pieces with vanilla and chocolate pudding and top with whipped cream. Very easy and very tasty. Zach is a chocolate lover. Friends and Pizza, what a great party.

This is a fun snow picture that happened sometime between Jacob and Bella’s Birthdays. I hope we get more snow soon. One last Birthday, mine but no party planned and that is ok. I am partied out. Besides “29” is not an important year. I know, just dreaming.

Jeannie

10 Peppermint Favorites

2012-12-17T14:28:00.001-06:00

Going through Pinterest, these are 10 of my favorite peppermint things. Peppermint reminds me of Christmas. Click on the pictures to go to the sites.

Peppermint Cake Pops

Peppermint Log Cake

Peppermint Candy Lollipop

Peppermint Candy Cane Popcorn

Peppermint Candy Tray made from real candies

Peppermint Marshmallows

Peppermint fingernails! Cute!

Peppermint Rice Krispy Snow Balls

Peppermint Cake Balls

Brownie Bites with Peppermint White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Hope you find something tasty or fun on my list. Come on over and check out my Pinterest here.

Merry Christmas

Jeannie

A Day of Mourning

2012-12-14T14:27:00.000-06:00

Today, I have been just shaken. I am sure that most of you have read or heard about the school shooting in Connecticut. This school is a school filled with 450 K-4th grade children. We are talking about kids just 5-10 years old.

Photo Credit

Not only did this man kill many little children, but he committed a heinous act of violence in front of all of their friends and classmates. I have heard story after story this year of shootings.

Photo Credit

What in the world is going on in our country? I don’t know the reason this man decided to do this and I guess I really don’t care. There is no imaginable reason for an act of this kind.

All I can say is Jesus please come soon. How horrible will our world get before He says that is enough? How far will he let us go?

Dear Lord,
You are almighty, sovereign over all creation. I come to you, mourning the lose of children I do not know and will never know until I see them in heaven. In the name of Jesus, I lift up these families. I can not even fathom what this community is going through. Lord I know you can take evil and use it for your good and glory. I pray that you will do that right this minute. I pray that the hearts of the people in that community will turn to you and seek your face. Lord I also pray that the spirit of evil that has been unleashed in this country would be stopped. I pray that you will bind it and throw it into the pit of hell where it came from. I ask you to open the eyes of this nation and not let this be just another tragedy that comes and goes and gets filed away in our mind and as just another sad day. Lastly Lord I ask you to wipe the minds of those little children who witnessed this horror. I pray that you will protect their innocents and not allow it to penetrate their hearts and minds.
In Jesus Name I pray
Amen

Tamar- Woman Blessed by God

2012-12-13T15:18:00.000-06:00

I just got this great book called All the women of the Bible.

I thought it might be fun to do a couple of posts about some of the women of the Bible. I started with the first woman listed in the Genealogy of Jesus, Tamar.

To start read Genesis 38. This is the story of Tamar.

In studying Tamar I had a hard time figuring out what to draw from it. Well I had forgotten to pray first so once I realized that and did it, God showed me something.

So many Christian woman are married to unbelievers, either they became Christians after marrying or made the decision to marry an unbeliever in hopes of changing them.

Can we still be blessed when we are in an unholy union? Tamar was given in marriage to a man so evil that he was the first man recorded that God killed. We don’t know what he did but it must have been pretty bad. Then Tamar, by Levitical Law-Hebrew Law, was given to the next brother in line, he too was evil in the eyes of the Lord, directly towards Tamar, and was killed. Judah, the father of the two brothers had one more son but refused to give him.

Judah himself was the only one left in the family who could then be her Kinsman-redeemer, click to read about that.
She would have been rejected by him as well because of incest. So she tricked him into following Levitical Law. After Judah realized what she had done he said, “She is more righteous than I”, because he had refused her his last son.

Because of the one time that she and Judah came together, God blessed Tamar with not one son but 2, one of which is Perez, whose name along with his mothers is found in Matthew 1, the Genealogy of Christ.

Tamar did her best to follow God’s law as we do our best to be obedient to God and have a relationship with Him. Because she was committed to obedience, God blessed her. Her life may not have been peachy but she was recognized in the eyes of God and her name was placed in a place of honor, in God’s very own Holy word.

Side note:
Do you remember John 1, “In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. Jesus is the word (hard for our human mind to understand, I know). So in two ways Tamar was placed in a place of honor in God’s own Holy Word. One, in writing and also she was literally in His bloodline.

We too can be blessed when our husbands are unbelievers, by being obedient to God’s word, loving God and being in a relationship with Him.

God Bless

Jeannie

Whiten up Dress shirts and Other Whites

2012-12-13T14:33:00.001-06:00

Quick little laundry tip I just discovered.

Once a year our church has a big ladies dinner. This year it was 4 nights in a row. The dinner is served to the ladies by the men of our church. My husband is one of them. For this dinner, all of the men are required to where White dress shirts and black pants with a black bow tie that is provided for them.

My husband usually wears colored dress shirts so this white one was waiting in his closet since last year. We pulled it out and it had that dreaded “ring around the collar”. I washed it once with detergent poured directly on the stain. Still yellow!

So I thought well what about bleach. I mixed bleach with a little baking soda to make a paste.

I use an old princess toothbrush to scrub the paste onto the collar. If you have, say a Buzz Lightyear tooth brush I am sure that would work too.

I saw it start to work right away and then washed the shirt. It came out sparkling white. Ready for another year of dinner service.

I am sure this would work on anything white but test it in a small part of the garment that will not be seen.

Jeannie

Eyes in the Back of Your Head

2012-12-10T16:16:00.003-06:00

We have all heard and maybe even used the Phrase “I have eyes in the back of my head”. We don’t of course, but I know how we can seem like we do.

For years, I have prayed that God would show me when my kids we getting into something that is wrong so that we can catch it early and nip it in the bud.

Since my older kids we little I have always tried to listen to that voice inside of me that prompts me to do something. Have you ever been in another room from your child and you get the sense that you should check on them? Do it! Listen to that voice!

I can not tell you how many times I have been thankful I listened. If you check and find nothing, make sure you don’t disregard it the next time. You never know what you averted that you were unaware of.

I will refer to the famous Proverbs 31 for guidance in this area. Proverbs 31:27
She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.

This is key: She watches over the affairs of her household. We need to be actively looking after what is going on in our homes; what our children are watching, listening to, who they are playing/hanging out with.

God even knew what would keep us from doing this all important job. Eating the bread of idleness. What is that? Occupying our minds with other things, examples: TV, the internet, the Phone. Oh how my mind gets cluttered and totally absorbed when I focus on these things. I have to be intentional about when I focus my attention on the TV, Internet or the Phone, so that it does not interfere with my watching over the affairs of my household.

What I have learned: Pray daily, listen and act. Keeping an ear open to the next room and to that little voice inside. Take note, I have even had that voice wake me up in the middle of the night for a good reason. Be ever vigilante.

Jeannie

Snowman Fridge

2012-12-07T14:33:00.000-06:00

Just a Fun post. I saw this idea on Pinterest. Isn’t it cute. My kids had fun with it too!

Sorry I didn’t close that cabinet on the right. That is sort of our paperwork cabinet and is in a part of our kitchen that is not normally seen. I just wanted you all to know that we have messy spots in our house just like you do.

Have a great Weekend!!!

Jeannie

Delicious Apple Dumplings from WLW

2012-12-04T14:40:00.001-06:00

I have tried these twice now and we just love them. I found the recipe at Women Living Well. They are apple dumplings made with a secret ingredient that you would never guess in a million years. And is my husbands all time favorite drink.

Mountain Dew! Weird right!

They are also easy as pie, well actually even easier than that.

Look at that bubbling. We had these for breakfast on Thanksgiving for Breakfast.

Cooked and golden brown!

Easy Mountain Dew Apple Dumplings

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 35 mins

Total time: 55 mins

Serves: 12

Ingredients:

3 large Granny Smith Apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
2 (10 oz) cans pillsbury refrigerated crescent rolls (I used Grands)
1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon (for spinkling)
1 (12 oz ) can of Mountain Dew

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350
Butter a 9×13 dish and set aside
Peel, core and slice apples
Unroll crescent rolls
Take one crescent roll and place one piece of apple at the bottom of the triangle- roll up enclosing the sides. Make sure the apple is completely sealed and enclosed.
Continue doing this – if your apple slices are small, put a couple in.
Place your dumplings into your 9×13
Make your sauce by combining butter, sugars, and vanilla in a saucepan on medium high heat- bring to a slight boil.
Pour sauce over dumplings.
Add Mountain Dew to the sides.
Sprinkle with cinnamon
Bake uncovered for 35 mins.
Serve with vanilla ice cream!

Hope you try them. They would be a great dessert or brunch item for Christmas.

Enjoy!!

Jeannie

Are SAHM wasting their education?

2012-12-03T15:03:00.000-06:00

Our daughter felt very lead to go to a private Christian college after high school. The price tag on a Christian college as oppose to a state college is very, very different. We are a larger family on only one income so that helped with FAFSA, but it is still spendy, as they say up here in these parts.

As we looked at this, and as I think I know my daughter’s heart, I am pretty sure she will not make a huge income, if any, after she graduates. Her major is Youth and Family Ministry, and we all know ministry is not a financially profitable field of employment, rewarding in so many other ways but not financially.

Will she be a stay at home mom? I don’t know. Will she ever make as money as she put into this education? Again, I don’t know.

What I do know is that knowledge is never a waste of money. The experiences gained are not a waste of money.

The knowledge and experience gained from an education may not bring in an income if you choose to be a SAHM but it is not at all a waste. You are equipping yourself for a life of raising your children and running your home.

Can you raise children and manage a home without a degree, of course. I have done it and you still can, but the next generation is very different than mine and it will be a great benefit to your family if you have gained that educational experience, plus it is not a bad place to find a spouse if you have no prospects.

I do want to say that going back to school once you have had children needs to be handled very carefully as not to effect your goals of being a godly wife and mother.

I want to encourage mothers who have earned their degree to stay true to the convictions they have, to stay home with your children either part time or full time. If using your education to raise your children is considered a waste by others, they may need to take a look at what they deem as important to them.

Follow God’s leading not the world’s.

God Bless

Jeannie

Follow Up to Girl Power

2012-11-29T07:43:00.000-06:00

Last week I wrote a post titled “The Dangers of Girl Power”. The post talked about how this message of self reliance and strength, that is being taught to our girls.

I had a comment given on that post and wanted to write a post in response to it. Her comment was that she learned a great deal of good things also from the girl power message.

Comment:

I'd just like to point out that the Girl Power movement isn't necessarily all bad. I got the Girl Power message - learned to fix stuff, build stuff, get myself out of jams, think for myself...the whole bit.
When I met the guy that is now my husband, he actually found these to be appealing qualities in me.
My point is that the Girl Power message doesn't have to mean disregarding the contributions of the men in our lives. Like anything else, we need to train our daughters to take it with a grain of salt and evaluate it for themselves.

I don’t want anyone to think that strength and skills are better left to men. Oh no! I just think that we need to find our guide for living a life of strength and courage in the word of God rather than from the world, who has tainted the message. Proverbs 31:10-31 is the best example of a woman of many talents, strengths and abilities. The difference is that she was also guided by selfless motives as oppose to the self-centered motives being taught to girls today. The P31 woman was motivated by a love for God and her family in everything that she did.

Just wanted to clear that up!

Jeannie

Princess Training

2012-11-27T15:57:00.000-06:00

I was just out browsing the web and saw that my favorite Character study is on sale.

Princess Training

Head on over to Under the Golden Apple Tree to order.

Also, I don't know if you notice but I do not do any advertising for my own benefit. If I list something like this, it is meerly because I love it and want to pass the greatness on to you.

Enjoy!!

Jeannie

The Tough Days of Motherhood

2012-11-27T06:00:00.000-06:00

The other day I was reading a post on a blog that I like. The writer is a young Mama. She was pouring her heart out, and venting about some of the frustrations in her life connected to being a young, stay at home mom. Some of the frustrations were loneliness, boredom and just feeling out of touch with the world.

I remember those says so clearly. I was just like her, I married right out of high school and had our first child within 2 years. Even though I choose all of this it still was a struggle. I longed for a best friend as she does, someone I could confide everything and share the struggles of motherhood. But she never came.

Now I am thankful that she never came. I learned to confide in and share my struggles with two best friends that I had hiding in the wings, my husband and my mom. They have both always loved my unconditionally.

I also remember feeling unable to do some of the great things that I wanted to do, which lead to boredom and feeling out of touch. I knew God had big plans for me.

I am thankful that I didn’t do big things back then. Now I realize that I was not equip, I thought I was but I was not. I also realize that I had then and still have 4 gigantic ministries I take care of, in the lives of our four children. We now have one adult child and one very close to being an adult and I see the impact that my life has had on them. Our faith, values and love for others has been multiplied by 4 more lives.

I love to serve others, if I had spent my time and energy on that alone, instead of in my family, I would have been just me, but when we go to serve today we come as a army of 6 very willing servants.

The days of loneliness and boredom(of mind not body, those little ones keep you hopping) will be their. Seek out those who are in your life right now, pour into them all of you and draw strength from them as well. The days of constant activity and the desire for boredom will be on your door step before you know it.

God Bless!!

Jeannie

Hot Oatmeal Cooler

2012-11-26T14:05:00.000-06:00

In the morning we eat Oatmeal often and it is always to hot for my kids. We used to put an ice cube or 2 into the bowl, but that just watered down the Oatmeal and it didn’t taste as creamy.

One day as I was reaching for the ice cubes, I saw a bag of frozen Berries. I thought well we can try it. We used frozen berries in place of ice and had great results. My daughter especially loves the berries instead of the ice. My son (Mr. Picky) would rather eat watered down Oatmeal.

So, have some fun trying different combinations:

Peaches with cream

Raspberries with Cinnamon

Strawberries with a little Nutmeg

Blackberries with a dash of Ginger

Blueberries with Pomegranate seeds

Enjoy Breakfast!!

Jeannie

Check out one of my favorite places to hop!!

Is There Something High Schools are Leaving Out?

2012-11-20T06:00:00.000-06:00

Sadly, with our first daughter it didn’t occur to me till her Senior year of high school, but I realized that one very important option was left out of my daughter’s array of choices for after high school career choices.

The idea of motherhood was never once mentioned as a possibility. The recommended path is of course finish high school, go on to college and then on to your career and live happily ever after.

What about children? Why aren’t children in that path? Why is the thought of, a plan for having children not in the equation?

So in my daughter’s senior year we began talks about what life after college could look like. Most woman want children at some point. We talked about how that might look in her plan.

Did she want to work and have children? Did she want to be a stay at home mom? Did she want to work part time?

I know you are thinking how in the world would an 18 year old know what she wants. She didn’t completely answer those questions of course but it did get her mind thinking about the options and that was my goal. How many of us wish that we would have thought about these things a little sooner that 2 months before our first child is born or worse yet the last 2 weeks of your maternity leave?

Now she is able to think about jobs that will work well with a family, careers that she can do from home or part time when needed. It has even made her think about children and her relationship with a future husband, and what that may look like.

Hopefully those of you with future Mommies in your home, will prepare them with the knowledge that you have about being a mom and what it takes and the sacrifices that you very willing make for her.

Jeannie

Spaghetti Pizza Bread

2012-11-19T06:00:00.000-06:00

This was a cool new find from Pinterest. My family was so impressed. This looks so fancy but it was super easy. I made this one a few weeks ago and made it again for dinner last night.

The first one I made was just like the recipe but the one I made last night was without the pasta. I thought the pasta was a carb over kill. I also did not use frozen bread dough but used my homemade bread recipe.

Photo Credit

Make your own Spaghetti recipe, roll out the dough and cut slits in the two sides of the dough.
Next place the already made spaghetti and the mozzarella cheese in the dough and then braid.
I also sprinkled the top with Italian herbs and garlic powder.

Photo Credit

Doesn’t that look good, and so fancy, but don’t be afraid it is so easy.

Jeannie

The Dangers of Girl Power

2012-11-15T04:30:00.000-06:00

The girl power “movement”,I will call it, teaches our daughters to be strong, to empower themselves, to be self reliant, and that she can be anything she wants to be.

All of that on the surface sounds good, we don’t want wimpy, laydown and get trampled over girls do we? Why shouldn’t she be able to be anything she wants to be,  she is very intelligent.

But how strong exactly do we need to be? Stronger than our husbands? More dominant? Strength and honor [are] her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come. Proverbs 31:25

How self-reliant should we really become? Aren’t we supposed to rely on God? Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding: in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil.   This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones. Proverbs 3:5-8

Yes, girls/women have the capability to be anything we want to be but what will work best with having a family?
She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: “Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all." Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.   Proverbs 31:27-30

Just because we can, doesn’t necessarily mean that we should.

Girl Power is just a mini version of feminism. Just like many of the other movements that are contrary to God’s word, they are being taught to our children when they are young.

We first experienced this, in such a subtle way, when our oldest daughter, Allie was in Girl Scouts, this was one of the reasons we left that group. They had a workshop that we attended. The name of the workshop was on “becoming a better you”.

You can see this girl power theme in kid shows, as well. Have you noticed lately that the damsel in distress is rescuing herself. In Mirror, Mirror, a version of Snow White, Snow white locks the Prince in the house with the 7 dwarfs, so that she can go fight and defeat the dragon.

Just a reminder, this is not only dangerous for your daughters, but also your sons. This same message is dumbing down and defeating boys-taking their future place as head of the household, out of their hands.

Tread very carefully through any of today’s media when it comes to your children.

Jeannie

See a follow up Here

Microwave Puffy Paint

2012-11-13T06:00:00.000-06:00

We found this idea in Family Fun Magazine and the kids loved it. They ask to do it all of the time.

Here they are in the bowls we made 4 colors. The kids just painted it on the paper.

Then we microwaved it for 20 seconds and there you go, a 3D art project.

Before and after above.

The recipe is made of:
1 Tablespoon Flour
1 Tablespoon Salt
1 Teaspoon Baking powder
2 Tablespoons + 1-2 teaspoons Water
Several drops of food coloring of different colors.

You can have lots of fun with the colors and talk about mixing colors to make new ones. You can see above Isabella was trying to make a new color, it is called pea soup.

These paints work best on heavier paper, like card stock. We started out on little index cards, they are the perfect size for experimenting. We used paint brushes, or you can use q-tips as well. If the paint does not look “done” after 20 seconds on high, put the painting back in for 10 second intervals until they are not goopy any longer.

Happy Puffy Painting!!

Jeannie

The Next Generation of Mommies.

2012-11-12T14:32:00.000-06:00

Our Daughters and Granddaughters are the next generation of Mommies. What are the opportunities ahead of them? What are the trials? What choices will they make?

For the next few posts I thought we could explore some of that together. Our world is so rapidly changing. The girls are maturing in some ways more quickly and in other ways less quickly.

One example, we are doing a tea party for our 3rd and 4th grade AWANA girls this year. In planning it, I have noticed differences in girls from just 11 years ago. When our oldest Allie went to the tea party at the same age all of the girls brought a teddy bear or a doll to the tea party now that is out of the question. Just amazing! And yet these same girls are not as responsible as she and her peers were at that age.

I just started a little devotion/training with our younger daughter, Isabella. It is called Princess training. I found it at Under the Golden Apple Tree .com. I found so many great things on this blog. It is great, you should check it out.

Princess Training starts out with a story and goes in to Character training specific to a little girl growing into a young lady. Below are the topics:

The Heart
Femininity
Courageous
Virtue
Discernment
Trust and Obey
Reflecting Christ
Modesty
Long Suffering
Ambition
Thankfulness
Hospitality
Memory Verses

Come back for more on raising the next generation of Mommies.

Jeannie