I’ve Been Tagged

Christy tagged me, so you are about to learn four things about me in several categories.

Four jobs I’ve had

1. Cashier at a grocery store
2. Real Estate Loan Processor
3. Office work/medical assistant at Orthopaedic office
4. Office Manager at Real Estate Development Company

Four movies I would watch over and over

1. Fiddler on the Roof
2. The Sound of Music
3. Facing the Giants
4. It’s a Wonderful Life

Four of my favorite foods

1. Pizza
2. Peanut butter cookies
3. Ice cream
4. Dove chocolates

Four TV shows I love to watch

1. Iron Chef
2. Dinner Impossible
3. The Biggest Loser (maybe due to the first two?)
4. Leave it to Beaver

Four places I’ve lived

1. Illinois
2. Missouri
3. Missouri
4. Missouri (boring huh?)

Four places I’ve been on vacation

1. Hawaii
2. Florida
3. Arizona
4. Colorado

Four Websites (Blogs) I visit daily

1. My Total Money Makeover (Dave Ramsey)
2. Money Saving Mom
3. Challies.com
4. Yahoo mail

Four places I’d rather be right now

1. On the beach
2. Riding a horse
3. In the mountains (we could combine 2 & 3)
4. Asleep

5 people I’m tagging

1. Megan
2. Cheryl
3. Nichole
4. Lizzykristine
5. Ashlyn

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Vision Forum Giveaway

Crystal at Biblical Womanhood is having a Vision Forum giveaway!  All you have to do is to go to her blog and give her a $100 wish list!  Here is what I put on my wish list. . .

• Biblical Principles of Finance (DVD Seminar)
• Biblical Eldership (CD)
• How to Think Like a Christian (CD)

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Combating the Lies

The first thing you have to do to combat the lies is to “be real”.  Stop worrying about what other people will think of your curriculum, philosophy, etc.  You have to be real with others and with God.  (He knows the real you anyway!)

Second, you need to find another person in which you are totally yourself around.  Someone to can share prayer requests without withholding half of the information is vital.  If you are struggling with attitudes (either yours or your child’s), you need someone who will listen without judging you, someone who will pray for you and if they have actually had the experience, share some thoughts about it with you.

 You need to have like minded friends.  If you find that during the latter days of July and the early days of August your friends are anxious for school to start so they can have their sanity time again, maybe you need to find an additional set of friends!  Or if your friends have their kids heavily in sports, but yours are totally submerged in music, there will end up being conflicts.  Find someone who has your same belief system in Christ, education, recreation, family, homemaking, etc.

Know these things. . .

• You are not alone.
• Your children are gong to become exactly like they are going to be IN SPITE of you, not because of you.
• God gave your children exactly the mother/father they need.
• When you see those families (you know the ones with 10 children posed perfectly on the cover of the homeschooling magazines), know they are NOT real.
• Your reason for starting homeschooling should always be your reason.
• Don’t compare your weaknesses with others strengths!
• Prioritize!
• Go it for the long haul (don’t look for a back door!).
• Get your spouse involved!

Graphics from art.com

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I’ve Forgotten Why I Home-school

Is anyone else struggling with home-schooling this winter?  I’m already having spring fever and spring isn’t coming any time soon!  Well, trying to combat these schooling blahs, I started going through some notes taken at a home-schooling conference several years ago.  I found some notes that I took during a Todd Wilson seminar.  It is about lies home-schooling moms believe.  Here is what I found. . .

When you believe the following lies, it can zap all the joy out of home schooling!

• You believe that everyone’s kids are smarter than your kids are.  (They have time lines, they study Latin, they study Greek, etc. etc. etc.)
• You believe that everyone’s house is cleaner than your house. (The test to see if you’re a victim of this lie, ask yourself (or better yet your family) this question. . . are you mean to everyone beginning two days before company comes to your home)
• You believe that everyone’s meals are better than yours.
• You believe that everyone else is more spiritual or closer to the Proverbs 31 woman.
• You believe that everone’s marriage is better than your marriage.
• You believe that you are the only one falling apart and failing your children.
• You believe you are the ONLY ONE feeling this way.

Once you believe the lies long enough they become the truth!

Next post I’ll post some ways you can combat these lies!

Graphics from art.com

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When Father Prays

When Father Prays he doesn’t use

The words the preacher does;

There’s different things for different days— 

But mostly it’s for us.

 

When father prays the house is still,

His voice is slow and deep. 

We shut our eyes, the clock ticks loud, 

So quiet we must keep.

 

He prays that we may be good boys,

And later on, good men; 

And then we squirm, and think we won’t  

Have any quarrels again.

 

You’d never think to look at Dad  

He once had tempers too. 

I guess if father needs to pray,

We youngsters surely do.

 

Sometimes the prayer gets very long 

And hard to understand, 

 And then I wiggle up quite close, 

And let him hold my hand.

 

I can’t remember all of it– 

I’m little yet, you see; 

But one thing I cannot forget– 

My father prays for me.

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Prayer has been on my heart for several days now, and this poem taken from “Poems For Patriarchs” touched me.  Our children need to hear and see us praying for them, daily!

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Making Your Home a Haven Monday

                                                                Come on in!    

                                       

I have participated in the “Making Your Home a Haven Monday” from Crystal’s Blog several times now, but during these times, I’ve only posted what I do, not why I do what I do.  I thought today might be a good day to do this since I’ve not posted in a while.  I am very grateful to be a stay-at-home mom.  I have a wonderful husband who provides for our family outside the home, and I feel it is not only my duty to provide him with a “haven” to come home to, but it is a blessing to do so.   Scripture tells me that my job is to “to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.”   What do you think God means when he says “homemakers”?  (KJV  uses the phrase “keepers at home.”)  It is my opinion that it means to keep your home in a way that your husband is comfortable.  Your home should be a place of rest, of learning, and of love, not a place of strife, of agitation, and of constant tension.  Each family is different and I will not judge how your house is kept.  For my family, I must keep my house picked up and organized.  Whenever we’ve had an especially trying week, and the housework has suffered, I can tell by the reaction of my husband and my children.  Everyone seems to be on edge, a little more critical of others, quicker to blame someone else, and just in an all around foul mood.  My goalis to be able to have company with no more than a 30 minute notice.  This means I would only have time to do a quick vacuum and dust before I begin preparing food.  Now do I always accomplish this goal?  NO, but that is why it is a goal and not the norm.

Now having said this, here is my list of things to do today. . . .

1. Morning Routine (click here to see it)
2. Laundry (isn’t this always #2 on everyone’s list?)
3. General pick up (Sundays seem to destroy our house!)
4. Vacuum and pick up Living Room
5. Dust Living Room
6. Prepare Dinner (Today’s menu, meatloaf, mashed potatoes, rolls, green beans YUM!)

Graphics from Art.com

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Making Your Home a Haven Monday

Crystal at Biblical Womanhood has begun her “Making Your Home a Haven” posts again, and I for one am grateful.  It gives me that extra motivation that I need to go that extra mile and not just surface clean.  Mondays are the perfect day because my hubby is home and he teaches on Mondays!  So I’m going to really devote a lot of time on this today! 

My to do list. .  .

1. Clean out the coat closet
2. Finish up the laundry
3. Find a place to store all of my finds from the weekend of shopping!
4. Vacuum the basement
5. Pack up the clothes my son has outgrown for a friend
6. Spend time with my whole family

Sounds like a wonderful day, doesn’t it?

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CVS, Walgreens, & Target

Here is my bounty from my shopping trip this evening.  I went to CVS, Walgreens, & Target and here is what I brought home!

• 8 holiday place-mats (you can’t see them in the picture, I must have cut them off accidentally)
• 3 – 15 foot strands of garland
• 2 – 9.2 oz. bags of Hershey Kisses
• 8 Soy-Joy bars
• 2 – 50 count soft-gel Fish Oil tablets (1000 mg)
• 1 box gold holiday ornaments
• 6 – 8oz bottles of hand sanitizer
• 2 First aid antiseptic foam
• 3 Adidas Deodorant
• 2 Zantac 150
• 2 Dimetapp Cold & Allergy
• 1 Dawn Dishwashing Liquid
• 1 Infusium 23 Shampoo
• 1 -24 caplet Excedrin Back & Body
• 1 -9 oz. box Kashi TLC Crackers
• 3 – 12 pack Diet Mt. Dew
• 1 – 12 pack Diet Pepsi
• 1 -12 pack Diet Pepsi Max
• 1 – 12 pack Diet Caffeine free Pepsi
• 1 package Big Red
• 1 package Juicy Fruit

My out of pocket was $19.61, but I will receive $11.00 back on a Walgreens gift card, and I received $24.00 in ECBs!

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Financial Shape in 2008

Crystal’s blog Money Saving Mom has issued a Financial Shape in 2008 Challenge.  This is a year long challenge in which you are to live on less, pay off debt, and save more money this year!  I’m in!  We purchased a new house this past year after having lived in a parsonage for 6 1/2 years, and we forgot all of the little expenses that go along with purchasing a new house!  Therefore we incurred a little more debt than we would like.  Our goal is to become debt free in the next 12 to 18 months (with the exception of our home)!  Again, as with my weight loss goal this a very ambitious goal, but I am determined to do all that I can to make this a reality!

I have been working on our budget diligently since January 1st, but due to privacy issues, I’ll not post it.  I will be attempting to return to the envelope system, and I’m going to try to cut our food budget down while still fixing healthy weight conscious meals!

I would really like to contribute to my husband’s income by doing something from home, but as with most homeschooling moms, my time is very limited.  If you have some suggestions, feel free to post!

Graphics from art.com

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