STOCKINGS!!

Are we too early to be talking about stockings???? Well, some say yes some say no. To me, it is not too early to be talking about MAKING stocking because it will take me that long to do any project!!! lol
Anyhow, join this blog in her attempts to make HANDMADE Christmas stuff. I LOVE the stocking idea that I linked you to. I am definitely going to do it.
ENJOY!

Heartache

Nothing gives a swift painful kick to a Mamma's heart like watching her child suffer. On the same note, a ripple effect of heartaches go out to other Mamma's who feel for this mom and her child. We cannot help but picture ourselves in the same situation. And we ache right along with her. Please read about this precious boy and his sweet family, and if God leads you to pray for them, please please do.

Rainy day snowmen

I have a confession to make.....I am a homeschooling mother who does not like to do crafts with her kids(gasp!). There, I said it. Shhhhhhhh don't tell anyone! It seems to me, and I may be mistaken, that every homeschooling mommy I know, is great about doing crafts with her kids. They all seem to be so inventive and genius at it. They throw caution and glitter into the wind and fill their houses with beautiful creations. I look at paper,glitter and glue, and all I see is a very big mess. How very sad, right?? I really an working on it. I do break my "bad mothering" habit every once in a while and then I feel so proud of myself that I have to take pictures! So here they are, our snowmen (and snow ladies).

Trouble Hearing?

My daughter "I"...."thanks Jacob, your a lifesaver!"
My son "J"...."Where's a light Saber?"
"I"....."never mind"
"J"......"wait where is the light Saber????"
"I"......"Nooo J, I said 'LIFESAVER' "
"J"...... "Oh, what is a 'Lifesaver'?"

"teeheeeteehheee gahhhhahhhahha".......mommy giggling in the background.

I love him

I find it hilarious that whenever I am feeling particularly "in love" with my hubby I sing an old old song in my head that I remember my dad playing when I was a kid. It was NOT from my generation, but my dad and mom happened to be big fans of "oldies but goodies". So I sing this sing in honor of my hubby, who has done so much lately for our family. Love you sweetie!~



"I love Him, I love Him, I love Him,
And where He goes,
I'll follow, I'll follow, I'll follow.
he'll always be my true love, my true love, my true love
from now until forever, forever, forever

I will follow Him,
Follow Him wherever He may go,
There isn't an ocean too deep,
A mountain so high it can keep,
Keep me away, away from His love..."

Can you hear me singing? OH no? well I am really good! sorry you missed out...

Stay at home mom

Interesting that sometimes the last thing I want to do is stay at home. Too many years spent in the city. Too many wild days as a teen spent go go going. However today I sampled how wonderful and blessed it is to be ABLE to stay at home. What an amazing gift. I traveled a lot over these last few days, driving to Oklahoma and looking for rentals. We spent hours upon hours in the car, and our little guy got sick (you can tell he is our youngest since he is 5 and a half and I still call him our little guy).
We came home last night and he had a raging fever all throughout the night. I woke up and babied him all day long. The fever continued while I rocked him throughout. I cooked for my hubby before he went to work, folded laundry, and homeschooled my daughter. We all sat around later in the evening, watched movies and played candyland. It was so nice just to be able to be there,with them, ya know? Even when all your doing is giving a sick little boy some Tylenol and teaching your 8 year old about God, the world, math and spelling. Sometimes I forget how amazing it is that I am able to stay home. IF I was forced to go to work, or for some unknown reason, WANTED to go to the workforce everyday, I would miss these moments and only come home to the work part of being a mom. I am not looking down on working moms, I am simply saying, I can't believe how blessed it is to be home. It is so easy to forget, most people do not live this life. Some by circumstance, some by choice. Either way, should we not thank God every single day, He has showed us to live this way and provided an opportunity in which to live it?
It's sad, that most women are told and even indoctrinated by our society to believe, they can't stay at home. They are told "you HAVE to have two incomes or you are not contributing to the family", "You will go crazy sitting home all day doing nothing. A job helps you feel important and more like a part of the society", Your kids need day care and preschool, think of all the new things they learn there"

I have heard it all before. Thankfully I was too utterly selfish to believe any of it. I loved my kids and wasn't going to part from them for all the world. Sadly, women who are more selfless than I are believing the lie that you do your family a disservice by staying home. Unfortunately, just the opposite is true. And sometimes, sadly they have no choice, even when they desire to stay home. However I feel for most of us, we have a choice.
There have been times I was tempted. I was schooled in the ways of this world too, and most of my family, although meaning well, have pushed unceasingly for 8 years for me to go back to college or learn a trade. To become a part of society. Unfortunately if more women don't start returning home to their families we will have NO society.
(OK I warned in the very first post on this blog I may offend some. This is my opinion, and the wisdom I feel I have learned from the Word. Please do not hold yourself to my standard, but only that of God himself. Also understand I would not have written this flippantly, I am passionate about this topic, and only write out of that passion and love for families. )


How wonderful, that this is one of the last things I see at the end of my day..

Learning a new way

Learning new things is hard. I would love to believe that I enjoy learning new things, and sometime I do, but other times, it just seems too hard. As I mentioned in a previous post, I am reading a book a friend loaned me. Tuff stuff. No, that's not the name of the book, but it should have been. It is called "Created To Be His Help Meet". Can anyone guess what it's about? Anybody? Yes. It's about our role as help meet. Now I have not finished the book so I can't say whether or not I agree with everything in it, but so far, she has made some very valid points. Some scary points too. Yet, even though she shows scripture, why is it so hard for me to accept the word "ROLE"? Could it have anything to do with the fact that I was raised in a non-Christian home through the 80's and 90s, educated in the public school system, and systematically taught that women should never be put into a "role"? I am thinking maybe. Throw into that mix I was far from the south growing up in Southern California. Women in the south may not always like their role as domestic diva, but at least they do it with a fake smile and big poofy hair. Modern city girls like me however just flat refuse to serve men. That is of course until I vowed my life to Jesus. The most amazing Man ever. So here I sit knowing that Jesus wants me in his word, and is revealing to me things like, submission, and respect, and quiet and gentle spirits. What? OK, so I guess I do see, how men and women could be equally valued in the eyes of God, yet have two totally different roles. And I am also very grateful to be female and not male. I don't want all that responsibility that they have. But when it comes right down to it, complete submission (AND doing it with a smile nonetheless) is hard to do with the stubborn man I am married to. I love that man with every bone in my body, but there are some times, it is really hard with him.
"Who said everything was going to be easy?"
"ummm God, please don't interrupt, I am trying to blog and make many women feel sorry for me"
"Valerie, Seriously?"
"sorry God, your right. As always"

Anyhow, what was I saying? OH yeah, my husband is a stubborn OX..........I mean sometimes my sweet man can be a tad bit difficult. However, I am certain that that is exactly what anyone who has met me would say about me. SO if God knew all this, why did he put us together, with our strong emotional, annoying personalities? Because he knew one day we would both look to Him for direction and He would tell us the formula. Part of it is found in Ephesians 5
" 22Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26to make her holy, cleansing[b] her by the washing with water through the word, 27and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church—"

You see there it is. Instructions for Him and instructions for me. I am OK with the submit part, it's the part after that that drives me bonkers. You know the part, the one that says ".....IN EVERYTHING".

here is an excerpt from the book I thought interesting..

"God's perfect will is that I learn to be the best help meet possible. My husband is highly attracted to my smile. I want my husband to love me. "A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken"(proverbs 15:13) Being pitiful, hurt, discouraged and even sickly is one side of a "bad marriage" coin. Men in general, (your husband in particular), are repulsed by women who project this image. A man's spirit tells him his woman is rejecting him and manipulating him when she regularly manifests a broken spirit, and he will react with anger. The other side of the bad coin includes having a bitter , angry, and resentful spirit.
Toss that old, destructive coin out the door before it buys you a divorce. God's will is for a wife to have a merry heart and a glow that will refresh the most stressed and tired husband on the planet. Bubbling cheer goes a long way to maintain or even restore a marriage. Make a decision right now to break the "poor me" habit. Today put it down as sin, rebellion, and then tomorrow, wake up with joy in your heart and home. Establish a new habit. What can I do that will make him smile?"

Did she seriously just ask me to spend the day thinking of how to make ANOTHER person smile??? Well It can't hurt I guess, so here goes. Goodbye stressed, overworked Valerie, Hello smiley girl who adores her husband. I will let you know how it goes.

OUCH!!

OK be forewarned, I am reading a book called "Created To Be His Helpmeet" by Debi Pearl. First of all, its a very interesting book. Second of all it makes me want to throw it against the wall. Third of all, sadly, it is true. It is brutal, and I mean brutal honesty about a woman's biblical roll, and the part her disobedience to that plays in harming her marriage. SNAP! here I was thinking it was the fault of these big ol' dumb men. :)
Anyhow, I will be posting on this for the next week. If I posted on every amazing, albeit hard, truth I am learning in this book, I would never post anything else. However, since I am sure that you, like me, don't want to hear for the next few years how its all pretty much all our fault, I am going to limit the posts to just the next few
STAY TUNED!

Spiritual gifts

I am not one to claim to know very much at all about spiritual gifts. I know God gave us spiritual gifts, I know everyone is unique, and yet at the same time, you can find many in your local body of believers with the same gifts. My pastor's wife at my old church (who I love! and consider to me my spiritual mentor and sister) once handed out some sheets of papers on discerning your spiritual gifts. Now these things were not cut and dry, they were just information and suggestions, but I figured out mine and it really made sense. My problem was, I didn't know what I should be doing to USE my gifts. I know everyone should be using what God has given to them for the kingdom of God, but I didn't know then what it looked like in my own life.
A few months ago God showed me something and I realized that you will know for a fact your spiritual gift because you will swell with love for people when you are doing it. For instance, if your gift is teaching, your will love those in whom you are trying to teach, even if you don't know them, God's love will consume you for them. It may look like this; say you are gifted in Exhortation, then your heart will swell with Godly love for someone who just an hour before totally annoyed you because she is always messing up her own life and never listens to anyone, blah blah blah. Then all of the sudden she rings your door bell and truly wants you advice so you sit her down and cry with her and hold her hand and speak truth into her disheveled life. You want nothing more in the world in that moment than this one person to find wholeness in the Lord and work everything out.
I may not be making any sense (I usually don't) but what I am trying to say is that I have realized lately, especially TODAY, that you are never more fulfilled than when you are using your gifts in the way God has designed you to use them.

I had a planned lunch today with two young girls (15) who I used to teach in Sunday School. I wanted to get together with them before I left for Oklahoma. I had not invested much time into them at all since I had quit last year. Sadly, my typical selfish self was not really excited about going. I had a lot of homeschooling to catch up on, and a house waiting to be cleaned. Not to mention my husband switched someone shifts so that he could watch the kids while I went. Honestly I sort of wanted to just stay home with the hubby and kids. But instead as I got ready this morning I prayed that God would be with me and that He would give me words of love, truth and encouragement for them. WOW! little did I know how much I would need that prayer! As I sat and talked with them over lunch I realized (sensed) that things were not right with them. Now I am not saying all my girls were always easy and right with the Lord and they had just not been doing their quiet time. On the contrary. Most of the girls I taught the two years I did, were very troubled and had numerous sinful behaviors, and I doubted the salvation of 90% of them. But these two girls looked really different. I could see it in their countenance. They were distant from God. Really distant. As I got to talking to them, I realized just how distant. I was lead by the Lord to speak about true salvation to both them (two girls I had taught EVERY SUNDAY for two years about the Lord). They opened up to me about their doubts about God, his existence, His goodness, and His calling for righteousness. IT was AMAZING! God is so good. At that moment, when I was doing what God made me to do on this earth (Exhortation and Prophecy), I felt so much love for those two girls, they could have been my daughters and I would not have loved them more. It was God's love. Beautiful and unconditional. It had to be with some of the stuff they were telling me. I say all that to say, Get out there! Use your gifts, you will never regret that lunch meeting, or inviting that odd neighbor over, or teaching that class, or speaking truth to someone who needs it. Just do it. You were made for a purpose.
P.S. In no way am I saying that being a mom and wife is not a purpose. Its clearly biblical that it is. I am saying, however, that while you are a wife and a mother, God will strategically place people in your life that will not interfere with that, but will stretch you to step outside the home on occasion to do it. But with me many of the times have been having a desperate women in my living room that badly needed a friend and a shoulder to lean on. So in that case you don't even have to physically leave your home! :)

sharing a room

I used to think my kids HAD to have separate rooms. This necessity in American culture is rubbish. Having ones own room is fine, but I think every kid should at one point in their life HAVE to share a room. What a fantastic lesson in sharing and can even prepare them for marriage in a way. I have to say, I have not always been happy about sharing a room with my hubby. :)
My kids always had their own room, but for the past 6 months they have shared one. Sometimes it's a challenge but it always works out.
Benefits to sharing:
1- They learn to search out a private space rather than assuming its a right to be given one
2- The family learns to become minimalist because you can only fit so many clothes in one closet
3- Children who squabble all day end up sleeping like this......


Now I do have to say that if we get a bigger sized house my children ( I have only two....so far) will probably get their own rooms, but that is ONLY because they are opposite gender and my oldest is 8 and gets really tired of her brother walking in on her changing-----gasp! :)

Pajama day

OK I know this is a little silly to some, but some days I JUST LOVE being a homeschool mom. Sure there are those days where I think to myself I have lost my mind to take this wonderful enormous task on, but most days I am just plain grateful. Today was one of those days. I had a lot to do today, but I got started schooling early (which always helps)and before I knew it, it was noon, I was baking bread and realized we ALL were still in our Pajamas. I declared a full on Pajama day and got our stuff done and totally neglected things like putting on clothes or brushing hair. I however was so busy keeping the house clean (we had to show the house TWICE today) That I stayed in my PJ's till 5pm. There you have it ladies, proof (as if you needed any more) that I am far from perfect. Here are some cute pics of my cute kids in their PJ's.
(p.s yes my son is making a silly face, and yes I do reward with cheeze its from time to time)

new plan

Round and round and round they go, where they will move nobody knows!!!!
I laugh as I type that. I have been singing that song for three days straight. I have gone way past having any control. Just the way God likes it huh? So Washington is out, Oklahoma is in. LOOOOOOOOOONNNNNGGGGGG story on how that came about, but now we will be moving to western Oklahoma for a six month contract. While waiting and praying we will hope to hear back from some of our "better" opportunities that Hubby has sent his Resume to. We like this plan A LOT better. So I am content. At the end of that six months, only the Lord himself knows where we will go. We don't know where we will live in 6 months, but at least for now, we have an idea of where we are headed to next month. I love what God says in Isaiah about knowing better than we when it comes to plans....""I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go."
No more grumbling like the Israelites in the desert. I will go where you lead Lord. You are good.