Reflections by Jennifer

Word and Verse for 2012

2012-01-01T22:00:00.001-06:00

Every year I select a word for the year on which to focus and an associated passage of Scripture on which to meditate throughout the year.

As I look toward 2012, it is almost overshadowed by 2013 looming in the distance. I almost don't even see 2012 at all. All I can see right now is the fall of 2013, when my “baby” goes off to college. As a homeschool parent, my head is filled with questions like: Did we cover all the credits she needs? When is the next ACT? How many AP test should we take?

As a mom, my heart is filled with even bigger questions like: Did I teach her all she’ll need to know to thrive on her own? Which college is right for her? Is she ready? Am I ready?

I know 2012 will be a busy year (Aren’t they all?). We will go on college road trips, take tests (ACT, SAT, AP, etc.), fill out college applications, apply for scholarships, and much more. It will also be an emotional year: Alyssa’s last Christmas at home, prom, close friends graduating this year and leaving for college, etc.

But in all the busyness, I don’t want to go through this year in a fog and realize at the end of it that I missed opportunities to make memories. I don’t want to focus so much on Alyssa’s college preparation that I miss her junior and senior years or even Hannah’s 8th and 9th grade years.

I want to be intentional about this year. I’m realizing that if I don’t take the time to plan ahead and set aside time for discipling the girls and making memories during this year, it just won’t happen.

So my word for 2012 is INTENTIONAL. Mostly, this is going to relate to relationships. I’m very task-oriented by nature, so I’m pretty good at being intentional about planning tasks. This year, though, I want to be more intentional about my relationships: with God, with my husband, with my girls, and with other friends and family.

Since the word “intentional” really isn’t in the Bible, I went with a verse that talks about pursuing what is good. I thought it captured the same essence of what I’m trying to do.

Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all. See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all.
1 Thessalonians 5:14-15, emphasis added

I liked the word "pursue" in this verse, because if I don't intentionally pursue godliness, quality time with my husband, and quality time with my girls, it's not going to magically happen. I have also set some specific goals in several areas to help me be more intentional about all the relationships in my life. But even if I don't meet every one of those goals, Lord willing I will at least improve in each area.

Books Read in 2011

2012-01-01T05:00:00.021-06:00

Here is the list of books I read in 2011. I will be clearing out the sidebar and starting fresh for 2012, but I want to keep previous years' lists so I am putting it into a post. If I reviewed a book, a link to the review is next to the book title below.

January (2)

A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and His Prayers by D.A. Carson (Review)
Walks the Fire by Stephanie Grace Whitson

February (2)

The President's Mother: A Novel by Gloria Whelan
The Captive by Christoph Von Schmid (Lamplighter)

March (2)

50 People Every Christian Should Know: Learning from Spiritual Giants of the Faith by Warren Wiersbe (Review)
The Inheritance by Christoph Von Schmid (Lamplighter)

May (1)

One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are by Ann Voskamp(Review)

June (2)

The Next Story: Life and Faith after the Digital Explosion by Tim Challies (Review)
The Battle by A.L.O.E. (Lamplighter)

July (2)

Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret by Dr. & Mrs. Howard Taylor
The Ambassador's Wife by Gloria Whelan

August (1)

Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell

October (1)

Soaring Eagle by Stephanie Grace Whitson

November (1)

Expository Thoughts on Mark by J.C. Ryle

December (2)

The Christmas Shoppe by Melody Carlson
Pursuing the Christ: Prayers for Christmastime by Jennifer Kennedy Dean (Review - sort of)

Non-fiction total = 7
Fiction or biographies total = 9
Total books read in 2011 = 16

The Secret of the Happy Christian

2011-12-31T05:30:00.000-06:00

I saw this quote back in July on J.C. Ryles Quotes and thought it would be a great quote to start off the new year.

Believers, if you would have an increase of happiness in Christ’s service, labor every year to grow in grace. Beware of standing still. The holiest men are always the happiest. Let your aim be every year to be more holy–to know more, to feel more, to see more of the fullness of Christ. Do not rest on old grace: do not be content with the degree of Christianity which you have attained. Search the Scriptures more earnestly; pray more fervently; hate sin more; mortify self-will more; become more humble the nearer you draw to your end; seek more direct personal communion with the Lord Jesus; strive to be more like Enoch– daily walking with God; keep your conscience clear of little sins; grieve not the Spirit; avoid arguments and disputes about the lesser matters of religion: lay more firm hold upon those great truths, without which no man can be saved. Remember and practice these things, and you will be more happy.

~ J.C. Ryle

Practical Religion, “Happiness”, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1998], 259.

Pursuing the Christ

2011-12-30T05:30:00.000-06:00

During this past advent season, I read Pursuing the Christ: Prayers for Christmastime by Jennifer Kennedy Dean. This little book contains a morning and evening devotion for each day in December. Rather than doing an actual "review" of the book, I thought I would just share with you some of my favorite, thought-provoking quotes from the book.

The earth was just the setting in which the Word made flesh could become visible. My little circumstances are just the setting in which your Word to me can become visible.
...
You do not need a grand setting in which to do Your work, because You are the Grand Setting.

May I value what You value. May I see beauty and magnificence where You see them. May I seek, not the glitter and the glamour that others might admire, but the hidden majesty of things despised and viewed as nothing. This Christmas season, may I find true humility.

As carefully as You orchestrated the appearance of the Redeemer on the earth, so carefully are You orchestrating Your activity in my life.

The love that I am able to feel for You is only an echo of the love You have for me.

You started the Incarnation with a resurrection. John was the life that came from Elizabeth's dead womb. Life came out of death; such is resurrection. The Incarnation event was framed in resurrections.

This one was my favorite:

When the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary, were the words that created life in her womb the same words spoken in the beginning? "Let there be Light." And there was Light.

Lord Jesus, in this Christmas season where we sing songs about peace but fill our days with chaos, let me see You in the ordinary.

After their journey to the King, the shepherds returned to their flock. They kept watch ovefr their flock the rest of the night. They did the same thing the next night, and the next, and the next. They did not become famous or rich. Their lot in life did not change -- except that now they had the gift of joy. So, really, everything changed.

Free me from the notion that I might possess any wisdom that is my own.

Heart of mine, look! Look at the majesty of the One who embraced humanity and took frail flesh as His robe. Compare the stable with the throne room. Compare the Cross with the throne. Magnificent love. Indescribable gift.

Crafty Year in Review 2011

2011-12-29T05:30:00.001-06:00

Below is my crafty year in review. If I blogged about the project, I have linked to the post.

Sewing Projects (Most of these were sewing circle projects)

	Made Valentine-themed pillowcases for Arkansas Children's Hospital
	Made walker bags for Valley Ranch Nursing Home
	Made a Razorback quilt for my pastor who was moving
	Made high chair covers and blankets for the C.A.L.L.
	Made smocks and nursing covers for our church nursery and made nursing covers for the Crisis Pregnancy Center

Embroidery Project

Embroidered a burp cloth for a friend

Scrapbooking Project
I didn't blog this, but I went through a scrapbook I previously made (for a trip to England I took with my church choir and orchestra in 2007) and made it more generic so that I could make a copy for my worship pastor who was moving. I then made it available for the others that went on the trip with me so they could order their own copy.

Other Crafts

	Made this cute little matryoshka doll
	Recovered my kitchen chairs
	Made gingerbread man candy bar wrappers
	Made a clothespin Christmas card hanger
	Made over 100 of these mitten clips for our Christmas gift mix bags

Clothespin Christmas Card Hanger

2011-12-26T06:00:00.003-06:00

Photo cards are my favorite thing to receive at Christmas. We put them in a scrapbook each year and it's always fun to go back through the scrapbook and see how families have grown and changed. Last year, I found a cute idea (here, I think) for making a Christmas card hanger with decorated clothespins. So this year, I made one of my own:

To make it: I took the clothespins apart and spray painted them. If I make another one (which I probably will), I will just buy pre-painted clothespins. That part was by far the most difficult step. Then I Mod-Podged some scrapbooking paper to the top of the clothespins. I was really happy with how they turned out.

To hang the ribbon, I sewed a D-ring to each end of the ribbon and hung it on a nail. This worked out really well and made the ribbon sit close to the wall.

I just love how you're able to see ALL the cards when they're displayed this way. Before this, I had a wire "tree" that sat on a table and you could never really see all the cards. We will probably keep this up for a few more days to enjoy them before putting them in the scrapbook. Then maybe I'll start working on making another one for next year...

Divine Irony

2011-12-24T08:42:00.005-06:00

I ran across this quote recently, while reading Pursuing the Christ: Prayers for Christmastime by Jennifer Kennedy Dean. As you read it, think about the paradox of what he is saying.

He so loved us that for our sake He was made man in time, through Whom all times were made;
He was in the world less in years than His servants, though older than the world itself in His eternity;
He was made man, Who made man;
He was created of a mother, whom He created;
He was carried by hands which He formed;
He cried in the manger in wordless infancy, He the Word without Whom all human eloquence is mute. [St. Augustine, Sermon 188 2,2]

I thought these were mind-blowing thoughts, so I Googled and found a few more quotes from St. Augustine. May these continue to help us adore and delight in the Christ child while standing in awe of God's incarnation.

He by whom all things were made was made one of all things. The Son of God by the Father without a mother became the Son of man by a mother without a father. The Word Who is God before all time became flesh at the appointed time. The maker of the sun was made under the sun. He Who fills the world lays in a manger, great in the form of God but tiny in the form of a servant; this was in such a way that neither was His greatness diminished by His tininess, nor was His tininess overcome by His greatness. [St. Augustine, Sermon 187 1,1]

He lies in a manger, but contains the world. He feeds at the breast, but also feeds the angels. He is wrapped in swaddling clothes, but vests us with immortality. He found no place in the inn, but makes for Himself a temple in the hearts of believers. In order that weakness might become strong, strength became weak. [St. Augustine, Sermon 190 3,4]

He who was God was made man by taking on what He was not, not by losing what He was... Let Christ, therefore, lift you up by that which is human in Him; let Him lead you by that which is God-man; let Him guide you through to that which is God. [St. Augustine, On 1 John 23,6]

Truth, eternally existing in the bosom of the Father, has sprung from the earth so that He might exist also in the bosom of a mother. Truth, holding the world in place, has sprung from the earth so that He might be carried in the hands of a woman. [St. Augustine, Sermon 185, 3]

Told Ya So...

2011-12-16T22:45:00.003-06:00

Remember day #2 in my Christmas sing-along? Well, that was no lie. As proof, here's a picture of our tree this year (I apologize for the low resolution, but it was taken with my phone.)

A few days ago, we awoke to a loud crash around 12:30 am. Yes, the cats had finally managed to knock down the tree. Once we picked it up and collected all the ornaments that fell off, this is what it looked like:

The silver around the trunk is the foil we put on there to try to deter them from climbing the tree. Clearly, that did NOT work. Amazingly, only one ornament was broken in the destruction of this tree. (I am very thankful I have carpeted floors at the moment!)

Alyssa is now calling the cats our "kitty lumberjacks."

T-I-M-B-E-R!

Gingerbread Men Candy Bar Wrappers

2011-12-15T07:00:00.002-06:00

Two years ago, we made snowman bars for Alyssa to give to her small group. Last year, Hannah made the snowman bars and Alyssa made penguin bars. So this year, in keeping with the tradition, Hannah made the penguin bars and Alyssa made... gingerbread men!

Aren't they cute? We just wrapped the bars in brown packing paper and folded the top back to make the head look more rounded. Then we drew the face on with a paint pen and glued buttons and rick-rack on for the finishing touches. These were really simple, but I thought they turned out really well. Besides, the kids only care about the candy inside, right? :)

Gift Mix 2011 - Cinnamon Chip Scones

2011-12-14T05:30:00.000-06:00

Since I started a full-time job in November this year, I wasn't sure if I would be able to get my gift mixes done on time. Somehow, though, we managed to get them done. My list of recipients was close to 100, and I made a few extras, so my total this year was 107. Here's how they looked on my kitchen table before being bagged:

I found my gift bags at Michael's on Black Friday, so they cost about 35 cents each. (Cha-CHING!)

I got the idea for the mitten clips here. Martha made hers out of decorative felt glued to cardboard. I found some stiff felt for mine, so it saved me a step. :) The clips are made from colored clothespins (purchased from Oriental Trading). They're a little smaller than normal clothespins, but they were just the right size for these bags. I used them to clip on the tag and the recipients can use them as refrigerator magnets later.

So now for the important part: the CONTENTS of the bag! This year I experimented with cinnamon chips. My favorite recipe that I tried them in were these Cinnamon Chip Scones. The girls thought I should do something different since I just did another scone a couple of years ago, but these were just too heavenly not to share. Here is the recipe on the card that I enclosed. (Click on the image to enlarge.)

Cinnamon Chip Scones

Mix Contents:
1 cup Bisquick
1 cup quick-cooking oats
3 Tbsp. light brown sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 cup cinnamon chips

Recipient Adds:
1 large egg
1/4 cup milk

Directions:
Pour cinnamon chip scone mix into a large bowl.
Whisk together egg and milk; add to dry ingredients, stirring until dry ingredients are moistened. (Dough will be sticky.)
Shape mixture into a 7-inch circle on a greased baking sheet. Cut into 8 wedges (do not separate).
Bake at 400 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes, until lightly browned.

A Christmas Sing-Along

2011-12-13T07:00:00.002-06:00

I haven't been blogging a lot lately, so rather than doing a bunch of posts to explain all that's been going on, I thought I would compress it a little and make it into a song. So here we go... to the tune of "The 12 Days of Christmas"...

In the last few months, the good Lord gave to me...
TWELVE hours of shopping, (all on Black Friday, of course)
ELEVEN bags of cinnamon chips, (for our gift mix - more info on that later)
TEN million emails,
NINE books to read, (Those are just the ones currently on my "to read" shelf.)
EIGHT hands washing dishes, (Because my dishwasher died! Can you guess what Jameel and I are getting each other for Christmas?)
SEVEN weeks of walking, (I'm training for a half marathon in March. What in the world was I thinking?!)
SIX bags of trash, (Because my deep freezer died, too.)
FIVE HOURS OF SLEEP!
A new iPhone FOUR,
THREE blogs to manage,
TWO cats up our tree, (We put the Christmas tree in the living room this year. The cats love it... )
And a new job at the church that I love!

Six Eyes

2011-12-12T17:15:00.003-06:00

I've been wearing corrective lenses (either glasses or contacts) since I was 2 years old, so I've never really had perfect vision. However, in the last year or so, I can tell I've hit the dreaded "bifocal" stage.

My current glasses are great for distance vision (watching TV, driving, etc.), but I'm having a hard time reading with them. Since my insurance will only pay for one pair of lenses per year, I'm waiting until January to go to the eye doctor for a new prescription. In the meantime, I'm having to use reading glasses ... in ADDITION to my regular glasses.

Yep. It's kind of pitiful, but the reading glasses alone don't make things sharp enough. I try not to do this in public, but this is how I have to read nowadays.

My girls call me "six eyes."

Such respect I get at home...

A Little Sneak Peek

2011-11-19T06:15:00.003-06:00

I'm a little behind this year on Christmas preparation.

Okay, a LOT behind.

For the last several years, we have taken the week of Thanksgiving to do ALL of our Christmas prep: decorations, gift purchasing, gift-mix assembly, mailing out Christmas cards, etc. This year, though, I am way behind, so we're not even going to attempt to do that.

There are still a few things I will do that week, though: Black Friday shopping with my crazy family and gift mix preparation. Those are just non-negotiable.

For our gift mixes this year, I have stumbled upon a new (to me) secret ingredient: cinnamon chips. Oh. My. Swineherd. (Yes, Alyssa, I threw that in there just for you!) These things make everything better. If you like the taste of cinnamon, you will LOVE cinnamon chips. I have thrown them in breads, cookies, granola bars... just about any place you would put a chocolate chip. They add a little burst of cinnamon-y goodness to everything they touch. Of course, I won't tell you the exact recipe I'm using for my mix yet, but believe me: they're addictive. :)

For my gift mix packaging this year, I briefly entertained the idea of making bags again. Then Alyssa reminded me of last year's insanity and brought me back to reality. (Whew! That was close!) This year's packaging will be MUCH simpler, but I will be making an adorable little embellishment to go on them. I just can't help myself!

So, have you started planning your Christmas yet? Please make me feel better and say no....

Brace Yourself

2011-11-11T05:30:00.000-06:00

Tuesday was a big day for Hannah. She's been counting down to this day for weeks, because it's the day she got her braces off. Here's a picture of her Tuesday morning, before her orthodontist appointment:

And here she is, right after her orthodontist appointment:

Isn't that just a gorgeous smile?

We weren't even out of the orthodontist's office before she popped the first piece of gum into her mouth! She LOVES gum and that has been the hardest part for her of having braces.

Her gum total for the day? 36 pieces. Seriously.

Birthday Party Fun: Mall Scavenger Hunt

2011-11-09T05:30:00.000-06:00

This past weekend, we held a mall scavenger hunt party for Alyssa's 17th birthday. You might remember we held a similar party for Hannah last year. This one was a little different. I divided the girls into two teams and gave them a long list of clues with things to find (How many stalls in the women's bathroom, etc.), photos to take (see below), and riddles to solve.

In this photo, they were supposed to have a photo of a teammate wearing a tiara. They combined it with a clue requiring a teammate to wear a feather boa. :)

Take a picture of your teammates hiding behind a plant or tree in the mall.

Take a picture of a teammate next to a mannequin. Bonus points if they are dressed the same.

In this clue, they had a riddle to solve and had to take a picture of their team in front of Claire's.

Take a picture of your entire team on the escalator.

This was another riddle that they had to solve and then take a picture of their team in front of Auntie Anne's Pretzels.

They had 30 minutes to do as many as possible and then meet me back in the food court. We then ate lunch, re-divided the teams, and played another round. While they ate (lunch after the first round and birthday cookie after the second round), I tallied the votes and awarded prizes to the winners (Starbucks gift cards - Oh yeah!).

The girls had a lot of fun and it was a really easy party to throw. The only kink was that apparently our mall's policy has changed since we had our last party there and they now don't allow scavenger hunts. Oops! We didn't know that until our party was almost over, so we were allowed to finish our party. However, if you plan to do one of these parties, call the mall office first to make sure it's okay. If you would like some ideas for clues, you can download the clues we used here.

Volleyball

2011-11-05T06:30:00.003-05:00

Volleyball is a pretty popular sport among the home school girls at our church. For years, I have watched "those crazy volleyball families" as they traveled near and far (or maybe far and farther?) for volleyball tournaments.

This year, Hannah really wanted to play volleyball, so for the first time, we added a second sport to our schedule. It was a really busy season, but I am so glad we did it. I personally learned a lot, and I know Hannah did, too. (And we also learned about volleyball!)

The biggest lessons I will take from this season are about team camaraderie and the importance of having a coach with a focus on teaching and growing the girls rather than simply on winning games.

Now, don't get me wrong. We LOVE to win games, and the girls did win plenty during the season. But the biggest growth I saw in them as players and as a team came when they lost several games in a row at a tournament. They could've buckled under the pressure and moped about losing. Instead, I saw each girl improve over the course of the tournament. They stepped up in so many ways and were a stronger team because of it. That only happened because they had a coach cheering their every miniature victory on the sidelines. At the end of the game, win or lose, they knew they did their best and improved their game. THAT was their victory.

The other great lesson I learned is about team camaraderie and sportsmanship. At this tournament, we met a "sister team" that came and cheered us on during some of our first games. These girls were so great, and our teams became quick friends. I can't say enough about how much of an encouragement it was for our girls (and their parents!) to have this great cheering section! Our girls cheered them on in their final game and they're all Facebook friends now. Both teams are looking forward to seeing each other in the next tournament.

So I guess I can say I get it now. And I think we're officially one of those crazy volleyball families for a while. Go, Flames! :)

Meals On the Cheap {Your Input Needed}

2011-10-08T06:00:00.003-05:00

My weekly grocery budget is $150. I cook 5 dinners each week and we have left-overs 2 days a week (Sundays and Wednesdays). If you assume that about $50 of my budget goes toward staples (milk, bread, etc.), toiletries (toilet paper, toothpaste, etc.), and lunch/breakfast foods, that means that each of the 5 meals I cook for my little 4-person family needs to cost an average of $20 each.

With our busy schedules this year, there have been several days when I just didn't have the time to cook, and we ended up buying some of those cheap Hot & Ready pizzas from Little Caesar's. I felt guilty about having to spend extra money on pizza, until one day it hit me: those pizzas cost less than it does for me to cook! At $5 each, my family can eat for $10 plus tax and have left-overs for lunch the next day! Even if we "splurge" and get a supreme Hot & Ready ($9), the cost is only $14 plus tax. Not bad.

Now, I'll grant that pizza isn't the most nutritious meal, but my family loves it, it's inexpensive, and it takes some of the pressure off of me on days when there's just not enough time to cook a meal. Because of that, we have started scheduling a pizza night once a week.

I know lots of families are pinching pennies right now, and even if you're not having to pinch pennies, everyone wants to be a good steward of their resources. Cooking (or buying!) inexpensive meals is one way to reduce some of the strain on our budgets. So, that's where YOU come in...

Do you have a great go-to meal that feeds your family for $20 or less? If so, let's share them with each other! In the linky below, paste a link to your recipe. It can be a link to your blog, if you have one, or to a recipe site (allrecipes.com, etc.). If you can't find the recipe online and don't have a blog, just share the recipe in the comments. I hope this can become a great resource for all of us to find some new ideas for inexpensive recipes!

**NOTE** When you enter your link, the "Name" field is what shows up as the description of the link.

Light Switch vs. Dimmer Switch Testmonies

2011-10-06T06:01:00.004-05:00

I was asked to give my testimony recently, and the day before I gave it, I ran across the following quote in J.C. Ryle's Expository Thoughts on Mark.

He was commenting on Mark 8:22-26, which tells about Jesus healing a blind man in Bethsaida. The passage says:

Then He came to Bethsaida; and they brought a blind man to Him, and begged Him to touch him. So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town. And when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands on him, He asked him if he saw anything.

And he looked up and said, “I see men like trees, walking.”

Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up. And he was restored and saw everyone clearly. Then He sent him away to his house, saying, “Neither go into the town, nor tell anyone in the town.”

Ryle draws some parallels between this passage and spiritual illumination. He says, “We are all naturally blind and ignorant in the matters which concern our souls. Conversion is an illumination, a change from darkness to light, from blindness to seeing the kingdom of God. Yet few converted people see things distinctly at first.”

That last part was especially encouraging to me, because my story of illumination isn’t like a light switch that got instantly turned on. It’s more like a dimmer switch that gradually showed more and more light until I could finally see things clearly. To be honest, that used to bug me. I really wanted to be able to point to that “light switch” moment. But after hearing many testimonies over the years, I think God works in this “dimmer switch” way quite often, and I hope this is an encouragement to any of you who have a similar testimony.

The process of sanctification works in much the same way. It's really a mercy that He doesn't show us our sin all at once. He turns up the "dimmer switch" slowly, only showing us a little at a time. Otherwise, we would be overwhelmed by it. But by His grace, I pray He continues to “turn up that dimmer switch,” show me my sin, and make me more and more like Christ every day.

So what about you? Do you have a light switch testimony or a dimmer switch testimony?

Book Review: Outliers

2011-09-14T07:53:00.001-05:00

I recently read Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers: The Story of Success, in which he tries to explain what makes some people uncommonly successful while others (who are every bit as intelligent or talented) are not as successful.

To do this, he examined some cases of people he terms outliers: men and women who do things that are out of the ordinary. Gladwell challenges the notion that the “best and brightest” are the ones that succeed. He says, “We are so caught in the myths of the best and the brightest and the self-made that we think outliers spring naturally from the earth.” He contends that there is always more to a success story than immediately meets the eye, and he skillfully weaves together fascinating stories and statistics to demonstrate his point.

Gladwell’s view is that success is rarely only a product of ability and motivation. While those are indeed factors, he maintains that success comes to those who are “invariably the beneficiaries of hidden advantages and extraordinary opportunities and cultural legacies that allow them to learn and work hard and make sense of the world in ways others cannot.” In other words, success is a product of ability, motivation, opportunity, environment, circumstances, cultural legacies, and hard work.

As Christians, we would add another ingredient to Gladwell’s recipe for success: the providence of God. Ultimately, it is God who raises up some and not others. (We see this very clearly in the lives of such Biblical characters as Joseph and Esther.) As Gladwell would discuss how something like your cultural legacy can shape the way you think, I found myself marveling at the God who orchestrates all those seemingly insignificant details to weave together our lives and accomplish His purposes.

While this is a secular book, it is still a good read. The book is well-written, and the stories and examples Gladwell uses to illustrate his points are interesting. It probably won't change your life, but it will give you some food for thought.

THE VERDICT: A Good, Light Read

Recovering

2011-09-10T05:30:00.001-05:00

Back when I bought the fabric for Alyssa's hope chest cushions (Yes, THAT long ago!), I bought a large remnant of upholstery fabric on sale to recover my kitchen chairs. This week, my sweet hubby was on vacation and decided to do that project for me! Here is what the chairs looked like BEFORE the re-covering:

Nasty, right? These were my grandmother's chairs and I have no idea how old that upholstery is that's on there. I probably don't want to know! Now here is what they looked like AFTER being recovered:

Once I got the fabric on there, I don't really LOVE the fabric on these chairs. They kind of clash with the wood color to me. But they're SO much cleaner than they were, so I'm okay with it.

Since those turned out so well, we decided to recover our bar stools, too. Here are the before and after photos of one of those:

I was MUCH happier with how those turned out. The fabric looks really good next to the black iron. I Scotch-Guarded all of them, and now we have nice, clean cushions in our kitchen. Aaaah!

I Can Only Imagine

2011-09-07T07:12:00.002-05:00

A few weeks ago, I made an off-handed comment to Alyssa that if she’s looking for me in heaven, I’ll be hanging out with the apostle John. I think we all have some Biblical figure (other than Jesus) we’d like to meet and talk with if we could. Mine is John. He wrote my favorite gospel AND my favorite book of the Bible (1 John) and is the person who wrote this:

And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen. (John 21:25)

Can you imagine listening to all those “unwritten” stories about Jesus for eternity? Super cool!

But later I started thinking… will we really fellowship with each other in heaven or will we be so consumed with worshipping Jesus that we’re hardly even aware that anyone else is there? I mean, if you had a choice between worshipping at Jesus’ feet or fellowshipping with the apostle John, which one do you think YOU’D choose?

From there, my mind wandered to other questions like:

Will we even recognize each other in heaven? It is generally accepted that we will, but the Bible doesn’t give us that explicit promise.

How will God “wipe away every tear” from our eyes if there is “no more … sorrow, nor crying” (Rev. 21:4)? Have you ever wondered what that looks like?

After we’re in heaven for a few millennia, will our memories of our life on earth fade? Part of me hopes it does, because there are lots of things about life here I’d like to forget. But part of me hopes it doesn’t, because it will keep me forever thankful for what I was saved from.

So what about you? Do you let your mind wander to heaven? If so, what are some things you’ve wondered about?

Saying Goodbye

2011-08-14T17:59:00.004-05:00

Today our church said goodbye to our worship pastor and his dear family. After ministering to our church for 28 years, God is moving them to Florida to take care of aging parents. While our hearts are mourning this great loss to our church body, we are also rejoicing that God has arranged a perfect job for Todd and enabled him to make this painful, but necessary, decision to honor Tandy’s parents in their final years.

In the Sunday school time this morning, we gathered to give open mic testimonies of how God has used the Murray family in our lives. I knew I wanted to say something during this time, but how in the world do you condense all the blessings you’ve received from an entire family for the last 15 years (That’s how long I have personally been at my church.) into just a few minutes?

It wasn’t easy, and I may have choked out a few of these words through tears, but below is the testimony I gave.

I’ve learned a lot from the ministry of Todd Murray, but I think the biggest thing I’ve learned from him is the difference between a music minister and a worship pastor.

Anyone involved in the worship ministry will tell you that Todd is not a musician who is also a worshiper; he’s a worshiper who just happens to be a musician. And as a faithful shepherd, he is constantly encouraging us to be the same.

It was never enough for the choir to just make beautiful music. Todd encouraged us at every rehearsal to worship while we sang, because there were no guarantees that we would be there or be able to sing at the actual concert or worship service we were rehearsing for.

The entire Murray family has laughed with me,
(sometimes probably laughed AT me,)
cried with me,
prayed with me and for me,
rebuked me,
taught me,
encouraged me,
been a godly example for me to follow,
and loved me.

I will miss them all terribly, but I will be forever grateful for the many ways God used them to stretch me, grow me, and mature me in the faith.

Hannah's Hope Chest

2011-07-26T13:00:00.000-05:00

When Alyssa turned 13, Jameel made her a hope chest for her birthday. So when Hannah's 13th birthday was coming up, I thought it would be impossible to keep her present a secret. In God's providence, though, Hannah thought we had given Alyssa her hope chest for her 14th birthday, so she was totally surprised when she found this waiting for her in her room!

Didn't Jameel do a great job on it? The inside is lined with cedar, and it's just waiting to be filled with things for her to use in her future home. It's a little narrower than Alyssa's hope chest because Hannah's room is so much smaller. It's still big enough to comfortably seat two people, though. Eventually, I will make some cushions to go on it, too.

His Resources are Mine

2011-07-21T05:30:00.001-05:00

It makes no matter where He places me, or how. That is rather for Him to consider than for me; for in the easiest position He must give me His grace, and in the most difficult His grace is sufficient. It little matters to my servant whether I send him to buy a few cash worth of things, or the most expensive articles. In either case he looks to me for the money and brings me his purchases. So, if God should place me in serious perplexity, must He not give me much guidance; in positions of great difficulty, much grace; in circumstances of great pressure and trial, much strength? No fear that His resources will prove unequal to the emergency! And His resources are mine, for He is mine, and is with me and dwells in me.

~ From Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret by Dr. & Mrs. Howard Taylor

Book Review: Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret

2011-07-19T07:30:00.000-05:00

Most of you have probably heard of Hudson Taylor. You might have even read a book about him. Personally, I had never read a full-length biography about him before I read this book, but even then I knew some basic facts about him: he was a missionary in China and he founded the China Inland Mission organization.

When I reviewed Warren Wiersbe’s book, 50 People Every Christian Should Know , I mentioned that I added more books to my wish list through the reading of that book than from any other source. Well, this is one of those books. In his book, Wiersbe stated, “I cannot urge you enough to read the whole story for yourself and take it to heart.” Now I understand why.

Hudson Taylor’s son and daughter-in-law, Dr. & Mrs. Howard Taylor, wrote Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret, so it’s safe to say that they knew the subject matter pretty well. The book chronicles the life and ministry of Taylor from his conversion to his death.

The interesting thing about Hudson Taylor isn’t so much what he did, but the way in which he did it. His “secret” is blown in the opening chapter when the authors reveal,

Hudson Taylor had many secrets, for he was always going on with God, yet they were but one – the simple, profound secret of drawing for every need, temporal or spiritual, upon “the fathomless wealth of Christ.”

Throughout the book, you see a picture of Taylor as a man who lived a life of total dependence on God. Well, to be more accurate, he lived a life AWARE of his total dependence on God. Consider the following snippets:

He had learned that, for him, only one life was possible – just that blessed life of resting and rejoicing in the Lord under all circumstances, while He dealt with the difficulties, inward and outward, great and small.

...
God was first in Hudson Taylor’s life – not the work, not the needs of China or of the Mission, not his own experiences.

...
To him, the secret of overcoming lay in daily, hourly fellowship with God; and this, he found could only be maintained by secret prayer and feeding on the Word through which He reveals Himself to the waiting soul.

Hudson Taylor never asked for money for his mission and never went into debt to provide for his needs. He simply made his needs known to God and trusted Him to provide for his every need. There were many times when he was down to his last bit of food or money, but the Lord always provided in His perfect timing. Those times of faithful waiting and seeing God’s faithful answers served to strengthen his faith. He was fond of saying:

Let us see that we keep God before our eyes; that we walk in His ways and seek to please and glorify Him in everything, great and small. Depend upon it, God’s work, done in God’s way, will never lack God’s supplies.

As I read the book, I found myself convicted of areas in my life where I try to take control. I tend to pray for the results I want and then fret about how God would want me to bring about those results, rather than waiting on His answer. This is not only prideful, but it is also counter-productive to the peace that God would have us experience as we rest in His ability to answer our prayer.

If you have ever struggled with resting and rejoicing in the Lord in all circumstances (and who hasn’t?), I commend this book to you.

Bear not a single care thyself,
One is too much for thee,
The work is Mine, and Mine alone;
Thy work – to rest in Me.

THE VERDICT: Highly Recommended

Hannah's New Trick

2011-07-12T19:11:00.003-05:00

Hannah recently learned a new trick involving whipped cream. Here's a video of how the trick is supposed to work:

Impressive, right? Now here's what happened the first time we tried to video tape it:

Yes, the cackling laugh you hear in the background is me. There's never a dull moment at our house, folks!

Are You Not Blessed?

2011-06-21T08:29:00.003-05:00

If you have never read any books from the Lamplighter Rare Collector Series, then you are really missing out. I recently read The Battle by A.L.O.E., which is a sequel to one of my favorite Lamplighter books, The Giant Killer.

Since these books are fiction, I usually don’t find myself writing in them. However, one particular section in this book was very striking to me and earned an underline. It is a description of a character who is unthankful:

He never thanked the Almighty for the blessings of creation — for sight, hearing, and speech, for health of body, for the precious faculties of the mind. He never thanked the Lord for yet more wondrous mercies — for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory, for transgressions pardoned, for heaven purchased with the life's blood of God's only Son!

Reader, is it thus with you? Do petty cares weigh you down, petty sorrows overwhelm? Is the sunshine of life overclouded with discontent — do you receive God's blessings with a thankless spirit, and murmur under every trial which He sends you? The ancients said that the ungrateful man had but one sin, since ingratitude was one so hateful that all others beside it were forgotten. And do you think that your forgetfulness of benefits is less sinful because they are more than you can number, or your ingratitude a thing less odious because shown towards an almighty Benefactor?

This person's unthankfulness reminded another character of a hymn she knew entitled “Happiness,” which is included after the quote above. In each stanza, it describes some aspect of the Christian life and then ends with the same question: art thou not blest? I thought the verse below was the best of them all:

The captive debtor’s heart
Glows with delight indeed,
When from his hands the fetters fall,
His debts forgiven, cancelled all.
Oh thou, redeemed from Satan’s thrall,
Delivered, pardoned, freed,
Glows there no rapture in thy breast?
Ransomed of Christ! Art thou not blest?

What a great reminder of the undeserved blessings that are ours in Christ and how our hearts should be bursting with thankfulness to God for those blessings! If you have been blessed, praise God from Whom all blessings flow!

Mayhaw Jelly

2011-06-16T08:36:00.006-05:00

A few weeks ago, my friend Kay called and asked if I wanted some mayhaw berries to make jelly with.

I don't remember exactly what I said, but it was probably something like, "What kind of berries?"

I had never heard of mayhaw berries, but she told me that mayhaw jelly was really good, so I was willing to give it a try.

Since then, I have learned that the mayhaw is a small fruit (about 1/2" to 1" in diameter) with its color ranging from yellow to bright red. They resemble cranberries in appearance and crabapples in taste. Mayhaw trees flower profusely and early. The fruit ripens mostly in early May, which is how it gets the name mayhaw. It is not a desirable berry for eating raw, but is best known for its use in marmalades, butters, preserves, jellies, and syrups.

I went to her house and we cleaned berries and packaged them up to freeze. In all, I left with eight 3-pound containers of berries to put in my freezer! I pulled out one of the containers yesterday and made this:

I've only made jelly once before, so I felt a great sense of accomplishment from just making these few little jars of jelly. (It was really surprisingly easy.)

So, of course, I made some biscuits this morning and enjoyed some of the "fruit" of my labors. Yum!

Book Review: The Next Story

2011-06-13T12:03:00.005-05:00

Technology affects all of us in obvious ways and in subtle ways. In his newest book, The Next Story: Life and Faith after the Digital Explosion , Tim Challies seeks to make us think deeply about how our technology has affected our lives and hearts and how we as Christians can live wisely and virtuously in a digital world.

Please don’t let the title of the book scare you: this book is FAR from a technical manual. Challies injects interesting stories and information throughout the book to illustrate his points, which makes for a very easy and enjoyable read. In fact, this is one of the most enjoyable and informative books I’ve read in a long time.

The book is divided into two parts. In Part 1, he explains how God intended technology to function, explains the relationship between people and technology, and gives a historical perspective of our technology. He does a very good job of explaining that there are benefits and costs associated with each technology. The benefits are usually easy to see; the costs are sometimes hidden. He points out that we should seek to understand how a technology will change us before we introduce it into our lives.

Part 2 is the meat of the book and looks at areas of application specific to the Christian life, showing how we can wisely use technology without being used by it. Some of the topics he covers are:

The new frontier of constant communication
The prominence of mediated communication (where some kind of media stands between us and the rest of the world) vs. face-to-face communication
How our technology has led to increased distraction which leads to shallow thinking
How increased access to information has decreased our desire to memorize Scripture and made us unable to distinguish between information, knowledge, and wisdom
How our society's understanding of Truth has changed - We used to believe that truth was measured by the authority of its source (God's Word); now we are prone to believe that it is measured by consensus (Wikipedia) or relevance (Google).
Visibility and Privacy - Our lives are lived before the public today in a way they never have been before.

Throughout the book, he seeks to explain the theory, theology, and experience of our use of technology and how we can live in the space where these three aspects converge. In his own words: that place of thoughtful, technological discernment. In many ways, this is a logical sequel to his first book, The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment.

When you read the book, do not skip the introduction or the epilogue. The introduction sets the scene for the entire book, and the epilogue gives some very practical ways in which Challies himself has tried to make changes in his personal use of media and technology as a result of the research he has done. I found that section particularly helpful.

If I have any criticism at all, it is that I wish he had gone into a little more detail about security (which is slightly different from privacy or visibility, although linked to both of them). However, if he had included any more information about that, I can see how it would have very quickly gone from a spiritual book to a technical manual, so I do understand why he chose not to include it.

If you are reading this blog, you NEED to read this book. If you own a cell phone, you NEED to read this book. If you are a Christian living in the digital age, you NEED to read this book.

THE VERDICT: Highly Recommended

Disclosure: Zondervan sent me a free copy of the book in exchange for me reviewing it on my blog as part of their blog tour. (Sadly, it took me a little longer to read the book than expected, so I’m a little late on the tour. Oops!) At any rate, I was not paid for this post and the opinion expressed is my own. If I had hated the book, I would have told you.

Alyssa's Award

2011-05-31T07:31:00.003-05:00

WARNING: PROUD MAMA BRAGGING IN PROGRESS. IF SUCH THINGS BOTHER YOU, PLEASE CLOSE YOUR BROWSER WINDOW NOW.

Can I brag just a little bit on my oldest daughter? If you know her very well, you will know that she is very interested in computers and, specifically, computer security. On her own, she found a competition that allowed her to go through some video training modules and take a series of 3 tests. She ended up finishing first in the state. (Okay, well, technically she was the only participant from our state, but keep reading. It gets better.) She also finished 20th overall (out of over 600 participants) and she was the highest ranking female. Woot!

For her efforts, she was rewarded with this lovely trophy and a cash prize (Double woot!).

The downside is that she spent so much time on the competition that it put her behind in school. She hopes to finish up next week, though, and she learned a lot through the modules in the competition, so I think it was all worth it.

Note: The photo was edited to blur out her name and remove the name of the competition. She's into computer SECURITY, remember? :)

Book Review: One Thousand Gifts

2011-05-24T06:00:00.003-05:00

This is probably the trickiest review I’ve ever written. I will start by saying that I’m not a big fan of Ann Voskamp. I tried to read her blog, but the style of her writing (discussed later) is a turn-off for me. After reading a recommendation of her book One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are on another blog, I thought it sounded interesting, so I decided to sign up to try and win a free copy. I won it and that’s the main reason I read it at all.

With that being said, as I started the book, I was pleasantly surprised. I found quite a few interesting quotes that really made me think. That’s a good thing. However, as I progressed though the book, more and more issues cropped up. After reading the final chapter (which was a DOOZY!), reading some reviews by others, and doing some additional research on my own, I have to say that the dangers of this book outweigh the benefits and I cannot recommend it.

I won’t go into tedious detail, but I will break my discussion of this book down into two sections: Writing Style and Theological Concerns.

WRITING STYLE
If you’ve read Ann’s blog at all, then you know that she writes in a romantic, poetic style, ignoring many rules of grammar. To be honest, her writing style bugs me. It bristles against my grammatically-correct senses, and I find myself mentally correcting her grammar as I read, which slows me down considerably. To some readers, though, her beautiful imagery is what draws them to her writing. That’s just a personal preference thing. However, I do think her writing style plays at least some part in the controversies surrounding her writing.

In the book, Ann offers her readers an escape from the mundane through seeing beauty in all things. To do this, she uses very descriptive, sensual terminology throughout the book. This is designed to create a sense of romantic mystery and she’s very good at it. However, there were several places where this sensual language became too graphic for my tastes. One place is in a chapter on anxiety and fear where she describes (in quite graphic detail) her experience as a teen with the problem of cutting. Again, this is a personal preference issue.

Her sensual language culminates into doctrinal error, though, in the last chapter of the book, in which she describes an encounter with God in sexual terms. This is one area where I think the author’s poetic style contributes to the controversy. Giving Ann the benefit of the doubt, she might not have intended some of her language to be taken so literally. However, in other chapters where she used such poetic terminology, she was more careful to address possible misunderstandings. Poetic language is fine, but it should never be used at the expense of doctrinal clarity. This is by far the biggest controversy with the book and I do not wish to go into more detail than that here. If you want to read a more thorough review of this and the other issues in the book, I recommend this review by Jessica at By Grace Alone. Suffice it to say that this chapter alone is enough for me to withdraw my recommendation.

THEOLOGICAL CONCERNS
On the positive side, the basic premise of the book is that as Christians, we ought to be thankful people who give thanks in all things. That is a true, Biblically-defendable premise. No thoughtful Christian would argue that we should not be thankful. This is something that we all know to be true but sometimes find hard to live out. Ann is not writing from an emotional vacuum. She has lived through some very difficult trials and is trying, through this book, to share what she’s learned. And as I mentioned earlier, she does offer some good insights and food for thought in the book.

However, there are some negatives. I’ve already mentioned one serious doctrinal issue with the last chapter of the book. The other issue that is generating quite a bit of controversy is the issue of panentheism. You will want to read this next section carefully. When I first read about this, I thought the reviewer had mistyped the word pantheism. That was not the case. Pantheism is a word composed of the English equivalents of the Greek terms “pan”, meaning all, and “theism”, meaning God. It is the false belief that God is everything (trees, flowers, etc.). Panentheism is a little different than that. It is constructed from the English equivalents of the Greek terms “pan”, meaning all, “en”, meaning in, and “theism”, meaning God. Simply put, it is the belief that God is in everything.

Panentheism proposes that, since God is in everything, then God can be discovered and understood solely through encounters with nature. Now, I will grant that the natural world does testify about God (Psalm 19, Romans 1:20). However, nobody was ever saved by staring at the moon. More revelation is needed about man’s depravity and Christ’s atoning work on the cross. That’s precisely why God gave us the Bible.

I had never heard of panentheism until I read some of these reviews, and it’s possible Ann hadn’t, either. On page 110, in a chapter about chasing after a harvest moon, she writes this:

Pantheism, seeing the natural world as divine, is a very different thing than seeing divine God present in all things. I know it here kneeling, the twilight so still: nature is not God but God revealing the weight of Himself, all His glory, through the looking glass of nature.

When I read this, I was actually glad she took the time to explain what she was not saying. However, it does leave the door open to interpret this section and many others as panentheistic. Some reviewers have been extremely critical of her on this point. Possibly too critical. Ann’s statement of faith can be found here and seems to be pretty sound. Seeing no tendency toward any Universalist or New Age theology in her doctrinal statement, I tend to lean on the side of charity and presume that her intention was not to promote doctrinal error. With that being said, though, I agree with Jessica’s comments on this discussion thread that these subtle errors could be taken too far by undiscerning readers and lead them into error.

CONCLUSION
Ann has a wide audience on her blog, so I expect her book to be a bestseller for quite a while. This gives the book a great opportunity for gospel witnessing. However, I kept waiting for a clear gospel presentation in the book, but never found it. That was disappointing.

Although there are some good tidbits in the book, the negatives far outweigh the positives and I cannot recommend it.

Super-Secret Project REVEALED

2011-05-16T06:00:00.000-05:00

Remember when I mentioned here that I was coordinating a very special, super-secret, one-time-only project that I couldn't tell you about yet? Well, now I can tell you about it!

Our senior pastor/teacher is leaving our church and moving across the country to head up a new church-planting ministry for John MacArthur. We are all happy for him, but we will miss him and his family greatly. Well, this family LOVES the Arkansas Razorbacks. LOVES them. So, as part of the going away festivities, I was asked to coordinate making a Razorback-themed memory quilt for the family.

I was given a huge bag of t-shirts that were donated by a couple of families to start me off. I ended up using those for the big sqares in the quilt, and I had several volunteers that helped piece together the other squares. We met together to put all the pieces together for the top and a few other volunteers quilted it and finished the binding. I wanted to share some pictures of the final project with you.

The finished quilt - top (left) and back (right):

A flat view of the finished top:

This picture shows the embroidery on the bottom. I hand embroidered the inscription: Presented to the Quinn family on May 15, 2011, from the Bible Church of Little Rock, with fond memories of the "Arkansas Years."

A close-up view of the quilting:

I was really pleased with how it turned out and I hope it is a blessing the Quinn family, who have been a great blessing to me and my family for the past 15 years.

Guarantee

2011-05-02T08:42:00.003-05:00

Build your nest in no tree here … for the Lord of the forest has condemned the whole woods to be demolished. ~ Samuel Rutherford

Last week, several tornadoes ripped through the south. This weekend, we continued to have heavy rain and severe flooding in our state. Many homes were destroyed or damaged in these storms and many people lost their lives.

In the face of this kind of loss and devastation, I think it’s natural to think about your own priorities. When we’re hunkered down in the closet during a tornado warning, what am I most concerned about? My own life or health? My husband? My children? My pets? My things?

Have you ever thought about what possessions you would miss the most if your house was destroyed? The things I think I would be the saddest about losing are the irreplaceable things: photo albums, my Bible (with all my notes in it), and my Christmas ornaments are the things that come to my mind first. When it all comes down to it, though, most people would agree that the most important thing is that their family is safe.

I recently ran across this quote in Ann Voskamp’s book, One Thousand Gifts, as she was talking about loss:

What will I lose? Health? Comfort? Hope? Eventually, I am guaranteed to lose every earthly thing I have ever possessed.

When will I lose? Today? In a few weeks? How much time have I got before the next loss?

Who will I lose? And that’s definite: I will lose every single person I have ever loved. Either abruptly or eventually. All human relationships end in loss. Am I prepared for that?
{emphasis added}

Did you catch that?

Every earthly thing.

Every single person you love.

Gone. Guaranteed.

I’ve thought about that quote a lot as I’ve talked to friends who lost their home and all their possessions in a tornado or to friends going through painful relationship issues.

Every earthly thing.

Every single person you love.

Gone. Guaranteed.

It’s easy to praise God in the good times, but it’s just as important (probably even MORE important) that we praise Him in the bad times, the storms of life. We must discipline ourselves to think like Job did in Job 1:21b:

…The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away;
Blessed be the name of the LORD.

All God does is good, even when it doesn’t feel like it to us at the time. So, if you find yourself in a place of loss, disappointment, or sadness today, take heart. God is good and He has a good purpose for everything He does. Ann says it this way:

That which seems evil only seems so because of perspective, the way the eyes see the shadows. Above the clouds, light never stops shining.
{emphasis added}

May we all have perspective to see the light beyond the clouds today.

A Few Updates

2011-04-29T16:25:00.003-05:00

Well, it seems that my blogging life has gotten both busier and slower at the same time. If you're wondering why I haven't posted much here in the last few weeks, there are several reasons. Here are a few of the things taking up my time these days:

Some of you know that I took on the coordination of a sewing circle at my church this year. That has been a lot of fun, but it has also been a lot more work than I thought it would be. Between searching for projects, testing them, communicating everything to the group, and then making and delivering the actual projects, it takes a lot of my time and creative energy. I do post all the projects we do on the Dorcas Sewing Circle blog, so if you're wanting to see some crafty items that we've made for local charities and ministries, you can check them out there.

I have also been coordinating posts for my church's women's ministry blog. I am looking for someone else to take on the responsibility for this, but until then I'm posting things there at least weekly. None of this is my original content, but there have been some great posts there lately (even if I do say so myself!), so you should hop over there and check it out.

Some of my time has also been spent coordinating a very special, super-secret, one-time-only project that I can't tell you about yet. I'll be sure to post about it in a couple of weeks, though...

My book-reading time has been very limited this year, which is why I haven't read as many books as I usually do. I recently won a free copy of Ann Voskamp's book One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are. I have been reading it and really enjoying it. I intend to do a full review once I finish it, but it has been a slow read for me. I am finding all kinds of tidbits that I need to ponder and mull over. I will try to post a few of these quotes and my thoughts on them soon.

Another book I'm excited about is Tim Challies' new book The Next Story: Life and Faith After the Digital Explosion. I just received this book and will be reading and reviewing it soon as well.

So stick around! There are some good things coming. With school winding down, I hope to have some more time to devote to blogging. We'll see if that is how things really work out... :)

Embroidered Burp Cloth

2011-04-11T05:30:00.000-05:00

I've been itching to do some hand embroidery work for a while. Wasn't it nice of my friend Aimee to have a baby so I would have an excuse to make this cute little burp cloth?

The best part was taking it to her because that meant I got to hold the sweet baby for a while!

Recipe: Tortellini Toss

2011-04-09T19:48:00.003-05:00

I found this recipe while looking through an old magazine last week. It's listed as a "20-minute main dish," but we ate it tonight as a side dish with steaks. Yum! This one got BIG TIME approval from everyone (even my picky eater who doesn't like mushrooms!) and it's pretty, too. We will definitely be making it again.

Ingredients:
1 pound cheese tortellini
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, coarsely chopped
2 zucchini, coarsely chopped
2 yellow squash, coarsely chopped
1 red bell pepper, coarsely chopped
2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
garlic (to taste - I used 3 tsp. minced)
oregano (to taste - I just sprinkled some on top while cooking)
salt and pepper (to taste)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions:
Cook tortellini according to package directions. Drain.
Heat olive oil in a large skillet over high heat.
Add vegetables and spices. Cook and stir 7 minutes until vegetables are crisp-tender.
Toss vegetables with hot tortellini and Parmesan

Matryoshka Dolls

2011-04-05T22:39:00.005-05:00

A little-known fact about me is that I have a soft spot for matryoshka dolls. You know - those cute little Russian nesting dolls. When I was in college, I worked in the Political Science office on campus. One of the professors went to Russia on vacation and brought me my first set of matryoshka dolls (picture below).

I had them sitting out for years as decorations. One day Alyssa asked to play with them and I cautiously let her. After that, both girls could frequently be found playing with them. When I went to England in 2007, I found a neat little shop in Cambridge that sold the dolls. I bought a set for each of the girls (picture below)

So when I found this tutorial a few months ago, I knew I *had* to make some of these cute dolls. It took me a while to get around to it, but I finally made one this week. Isn't she cute? I think she needs some friends, though. I'm envisioning a whole set in different sizes. Wouldn't that be fun?

I made this one as a rattle, but I probably would make the rest as plush dolls (no rattle). I also used fusible webbing that I had on hand and it's a little stiffer than I would like for a child's toy. I'm sure it'll soften up after a few washings, though. Next, maybe I'll try these...

Book Review: 50 People Every Christian Should Know

2011-03-24T08:00:00.000-05:00

“All God’s giants have been weak men, who did great things for God because they reckoned on His being with them.”
~ Hudson Taylor

Robert Murray McCheyne was only 30 years old when he died. “Live so as to be missed!” was one of his favorite sayings.

Frances Ridley Havergal’s mother often said to her, “Fanny dear, pray to God to prepare you for all that He is preparing for you.”

Dr. A.T. Pierson estimated conservatively that D.L. Moody brought the gospel to 100 million people during his lifetime – without radio, television, or even a public address system!

Oswald Chambers never actually wrote any of his books, although his name is on them. He spoke every word, but it was his wife, and later his daughter, who prepared the manuscripts and mothered each book through the presses.

These are just a few of the interesting facts you will find in Warren Wiersbe’s book, 50 People Every Christian Should Know: Learning from Spiritual Giants of the Faith.

This book offers fifty short biographical sketches of Christian figures of varying importance. Each sketch was originally published as a magazine article in Moody Monthly and The Good News Broadcaster. Many of the names in this book will, no doubt, be familiar to you: Amy Carmichael, Charles Spurgeon, J.C. Ryle, Fanny Crosby, A.W. Tozer, etc. However, I was surprised by how many were unfamiliar to me.

I expected each chapter to contain a mini biography: dates lived, important accomplishments, etc. And while Wiersbe does include that information, it is not usually the focus of the chapter. He chooses, instead, to focus on the distinctive marks of their ministry.

The thing that struck me most about this book, though, is that it is most definitely written for READERS. Each chapter includes extensive recommendations for further reading: either through the person’s own writings, their biographies, or even through books that were influential to them. I think I have added more books to my wish list through the reading of this one than from any other source!

There is a noticeable emphasis on figures related to Moody, but this shouldn't discourage you from reading it. It’s an excellent choice to read just a few pages at a time.

THE VERDICT: Recommended

Blessings

2011-03-22T10:10:00.004-05:00

If you haven't heard Laura Story's new song "Blessings" yet, do yourself a favor: grab a box of tissues (Yes, a whole box! You'll thank me later.) and listen to it now. You will be blessed.

This is the best YouTube video of it I could find. The lyrics are below the video, if you want to follow along.

Lyrics:

We pray for blessings,
We pray for peace,
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep.
We pray for healing, for prosperity.
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering.
All the while, You hear each spoken need,
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things.

(Chorus)
'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops?
What if Your healing comes through tears?
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You're near?
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise?

We pray for wisdom,
Your voice to hear,
We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near.
We doubt your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough.
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe.

Chorus

When friends betray us,
When darkness seems to win,
We know the pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home.

Chorus

What if my greatest disappointments,
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can't satisfy?
What if trials of this life,
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights,
Are your mercies in disguise?

Here's Laura's explanation of the story behind the song.

Finding My Voice

2011-03-16T05:00:00.001-05:00

I was reading recently about Thomas Spurgeon, the son of famous preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon, when I ran across this statement:

Thomas Spurgeon was a voice for God, not an echo of his father.

From 50 People Every Christian Should Know: Learning from Spiritual Giants of the Faith by Warren Wiersbe

Isn’t that thought-provoking? It made me think about my own “voice” on this blog. Do I merely echo others or do I have my own voice for God? In some sense, all voices that are voices for God will have a tinge of “echo” in them because we’re all praising and exalting the same God. But in another sense, if my voice is just an echo of others, then am I really offering genuine praise of my own?

Some blog posts come to me in a flash of inspiration while drinking my morning tea, reading a book, watching TV, or even while waiting at a stop light (True story!). Others I mull over for a long time. Lately, though, I’ve found myself posting mostly quotes without any original thought of my own attached. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but I wonder sometimes if it’s really profitable for my handful of faithful readers.

So what’s wrong with being an echo, as long as you’re echoing something good? After all, an echo can be a beautiful thing. We’re told that God likes to hear His Word echoed back to Him in prayer. When our choir sang in St. Paul’s Cathedral, the echo rang in the room for several seconds after we finished singing. It was stunningly beautiful. I think what the author was getting at, though, is the fact that an echo is always weaker than the original.

A voice, however, is a powerful thing. It can convince people to change their behavior – for better or worse. For example,

Adam heeded the voice of Eve and plunged the whole world into sin (Genesis 3)
Abraham heeded the voice of Sarah and took Hagar as a wife (Genesis 16)
Pharaoh did not immediately heed the voice of Moses and paid the price with deadly plagues (Exodus)
The people refused to listen to the warning voice of Samuel and demanded a king (1 Samuel 8).
Pilate gave in to the voice of the crowd that shouted, “Crucify Him!” (Luke 23:22-24)

When asked who he was, John the Baptist replied:

He said: “I am
‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
“Make straight the way of the LORD,”’
as the prophet Isaiah said.” ~ John 1:23

Our world today tells us that words are cheap. Maybe so, but they are also very powerful and must be used wisely. I want to be a voice for God. How about you?

“If you’re living, if you’re breathing, you’ve got something to say…”
~ Matthew West

“Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.”
(Psalm 150:6)

Just Ducky

2011-03-14T09:10:00.004-05:00

Remember me? I blog here sometimes?

Well, I didn't really intend to take a 2-week break from blogging, but such is life. It started off with a sinus cold, which I held onto with the tenaciousness of a bulldog for over a week. Then Alyssa got it. Then Hannah got it. (We're all about sharing here.)

Last week, I also worked all week at our local Duck Duck Goose consignment sale. This was my first experience with the sale although I have friends who have worked there for many years. I was totally impressed. It is run like a well-oiled machine.

When I walked into a large, empty warehouse space on Monday morning, I had no idea that by noon we would be accepting consignments and hanging up clothes on hundreds of racks that we put together (okay, maybe dozens of racks, but it felt like hundreds!). By Wednesday, we had added some racks to hold all the clothes, stacked toys from the floor to the top of double-stacked tables, and made aisles out of any usable space we had for the big items (strollers, high chairs, pack & play's, etc.).

By the end of the first day, I was dog tired. By the end of the second day, my dogs were barking. By the end of the sale, I felt like a dead duck. Maybe that's how they got their name? :)

Yesterday, I had our sewing circle at church, so I had to get ready for that also. Throw in a little bit of dental work in the middle of the week and you can see why I've been neglecting my blog. To add insult to injury, it was time change weekend. (And not the good one, either. Whose idea was that?!?)

Anyway, I hope to use the next day or 2 to get back into the swing of things and catch up on some neglected projects. Hopefully you'll see another blog post from me later in the week.

Encouraging Others Without Puffing Them Up

2011-02-28T05:00:00.000-06:00

For what thanks can we render to God for you, for all the joy with which we rejoice for your sake before our God,
(1 Thessalonians 3:9)

In the passage above, Paul is encouraging the Thessalonian believers. However, he masterfully encourages them without stroking their egos, which is sometimes difficult to accomplish. Don Carson says this about this passage:

[Paul] encourages Christians by thanking God for His grace in their lives. More precisely, he encourages Christians by telling them that he thanks God for His grace in their lives. Thus he has simultaneously drawn attention to the Thessalonians’ spiritual growth, thereby encouraging them, and insisted that God is the one to be thanked for it, thereby humbling them. There is simply no way that these believers can thoughtfully listen to what Paul says and then smugly pat themselves on the back: God, and God alone, is to be praised for the signs of grace in their lives. Yet nonetheless they cannot help but feel encouraged to learn that the apostle himself has observed God’s work in their lives and rejoices because of it. … So what we need, then, is a prayer life that thanks God for the people of God, and then tells the people of God what we thank God for. (pp. 87-88)

~ D.A. Carson, A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and His Prayers

Lord of the Small

2011-02-16T05:30:00.001-06:00

The ladies ensemble is singing this Sunday and I can't get the song out of my head (which is probably a good thing, since I need to memorize it by Sunday). The song is called "Lord of the Small" and not only is the music beautiful, but the lyrics are so comforting and convicting at the same time.

Praise to the Lord of the small, broken things,
Who sees the poor sparrow that cannot take wing.
Who loves the lame child and the wretch in the street,
Who comforts their sorrows and washes their feet.

Praise to the Lord of the faint and afraid,
Who girds them with courage and lends them His aid:
He pours out His Spirit on vessels so weak
That the timid can serve and the silent can speak.

Praise to the Lord of the frail and the ill
Who heals their afflictions or carries them till
They leave this tired frame and to paradise fly,
To never be sick and never to die.

Praise Him, O praise Him, all ye who yet live,
Who’ve been given so much and can so little give,
Our frail, lisping praise God will never despise.
He sees His dear children through mercy-filled eyes.

Lyrics by Johanna Anderson

Have you ever been faint? Afraid? Frail? Ill?

Have you ever needed comfort?

Have you been given so much you could never repay it?

There's something in this song for everyone, just like God is sufficient for every need. I can't wait to share it with our church family!

Just Keep Swimming

2011-02-14T13:56:00.003-06:00

In D.A. Carson’s book A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and His Prayers, he submits that the “Christian life can be lived faithfully only if it is lived in light of the end.” To illustrate his point, he told this true story:

In 1952, a young woman by the name of Florence Chadwick stepped off the beach at Catalina Island and into the water, determined to swim to the shore of mainland California. She was already an experienced long-distance swimmer: she was the first woman to swim the English Channel both ways. The weather was foggy and chilly on the day she set out; she could scarcely see the boats that would accompany her. For fifteen hours she swam. She begged to be taken out, but her trainer urged persistence, telling her again and again that she could make it, that the shore was not far away. Physically and emotionally exhausted, she finally just stopped swimming, and she was pulled out. The boats made for the shore, and she discovered it was a mere half-mile away.

The next day she gave a news conference. What she said, in effect, was this: “I do not want to make excuses for myself. I am the one who asked to be pulled out. But I think that if I could have seen the shore I would have made it.”

Two months later she proved her point. On a bright and clear day, she plunged back into the sea, and swam the distance.

Carson goes on to say this:

Brothers and sisters in Christ, at the heart of all our praying must be a biblical vision. That vision embraces who God is, what he has done, who we are, where we are going, what we must value and cherish. That vision drives us toward increasing conformity with Jesus, toward lives lived in the light of eternity, toward hearty echoing of the church’s ongoing cry, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” That vision must shape our prayers, so that the things that most concern us in prayer are those that concern the heart of God. Then we will persevere in our praying, until we reach the goal God himself has set for us.

Father/Daughter Banquet 2011

2011-02-07T14:18:00.005-06:00

This year, Jameel had TWO lovely ladies on his arm for the annual Father/Daughter Banquet at our church. This was Hannah's first year to attend and she was so excited to finally get to go! We found her dress at a resale shop. It even had a matching wrap (not pictured) and looked so pretty on her!

It took us a long time to find a dress for Alyssa. We finally found one (on sale - YES!) at JC Penney. (Yes, you read that correctly!) It was a tad see-through, so we bought a full-length satiny night gown (on sale for $8) and I sewed it into the inside as a lining. We found the matching scarf at Accessory City for $5. Alyssa said it was one of the most comfortable dresses she's ever worn.

Alyssa went with straightened hair for the evening. We took Hannah to a local beauty school to have them curl her hair. When we got home, we pulled some of it up in a pretty clip. Both girls looked gorgeous (even if I do say so myself).

Here's a picture of the 3 of them ready to head out the door to the banquet:
After they left, I went out to dinner with my mom for a little "mommy/daughter banquet" of our own. This is always such a fun night and a great memory for the girls of a special evening with their dad.

Journaling the Easy Way

2011-01-31T08:57:00.002-06:00

I’ve never been good at journaling. I've tried several times over the years. Slowly but surely, though, I start to journal less often and eventually give it up entirely. Although I do see the value in keeping a journal, I've never been able to be consistent with it.

If you are like me and see the value in journaling but have never been good at devoting the time to do it, then I want to recommend a few things to you that have helped me ease my way into being a more consistent journaler. Some of these are specific products that you can purchase, but you could also do them with a simple notebook and pen if you wanted. I hope these suggestions spark some ideas for you and a desire to journal about God’s faithfulness in your own life.

One Line a Day Journal: A Five-Year Memory Book
This journal is “a condensed, comparative record for five years, for recording events most worthy of remembrance.” Each page is marked with a calendar date and has space for 5 separate entries (see photo below). You simply fill in the year and write a few sentences about that day.

I saw this 5-year journal reviewed on another blog and thought it was an interesting idea. I put it on my wish list and a friend bought it for me for my birthday! Since then I have been using it and have enjoyed the challenge of condensing my day into one or two sentences. I keep it by my Bible and do the previous day’s entry in the morning right before my quiet time. This works better for me than doing it at night because I would often forget to do it at night.

Journibles
These hard-bound journals are set up for you to hand-write your own copy of the designated books of Scripture. The idea for this comes from Deuteronomy 17:18, where God commands the kings of Israel to hand-write their own copy of the Torah, or book of the law. The purpose of this was so that they would carry it with them always, read it, learn from it, and lead the people accordingly. It's interesting to note that 3400 years later, educators are discovering that most people learn kinesthetically, by doing or writing things out for themselves.

As you open the book, you will see chapter and verse numbers on the right-hand pages. These are conveniently spaced according to the length of each verse. As you look at the left-hand pages, the lines are left blank for personal notes and comments on the text. There are also some questions scattered in light print throughout these pages to guide you in thought as you study the books of the Bible and to help you understand the types of questions you should be asking of the text.

I received two of these for Christmas from a friend. One is a small booklet for Psalm 119 and one is a hardback for 1Timothy – Hebrews. I have been using the smaller one in my quiet time and have almost finished Psalm 119. I hope to start 1 Timothy next. The biggest value in these journals is that it slows you down. It takes much more time to write the verse than to just read it, so by its very nature it causes you to think a little more about the verse than if you were just reading the passage.

Yearly Journal
A few years ago, I started selecting a Scripture passage every year on which to meditate. I started a journal at the same time that I write in once a year that tells what passage I selected and why I selected it. Right now, it doesn't have much in it, but I look forward to reading it in future years and reminding myself of what God was doing in my life each year.

So that’s what I do. Once a year, I write a journal entry about the events of the past year and how God used my yearly Scripture passage in my life and then I journal about my passage for the coming year and why I chose it. Then every day I write a line or two in my One Line a Day journal and use my Journible to aid in Bible study. Again, any of these ideas could be done with a simple notebook and pen. No special equipment is required!

Have you found any helpful journaling tools or ideas? If so, share them in the comments!

For What are You Thankful?

2011-01-23T05:00:00.000-06:00

In 2 Thessalonians 1:3, Paul thanks God for the growing faith in the believers at Thessalonica. In today's quote from A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and His Prayers by D.A. Carson, he asks the question, "What do we thank God for?"

If what we highly cherish belongs to the realm of heaven, our hearts and minds will incline to heaven and all its values; but if what we highly cherish belongs to the realm of earth and the merely transitory, our hearts and minds will incline to the merely transitory. ...

So what does this have to do with our praying?

If in our prayers we are to develop a mental framework analogous to Paul's, we must look for signs of grace in the lives of Christians, and give God thanks for them. ...

For what have we thanked God recently? Have we gone over a list of members at our local church, say, or over a list of Christian workers, and quietly thanked God for signs of grace in their lives? Do we make it a matter of praise to God when we observe evidence in another of growing conformity to Christ, exemplified in trust, reliability, love, and genuine spiritual stamina?

What Do You Value?

2011-01-21T05:00:00.000-06:00

By and large, our thanksgiving seems to be tied rather tightly to our material well-being and comfort. The unvarnished truth is that what we most frequently give thanks for betrays what we most highly value. If a large percentage of our thanksgiving is for material prosperity, it is because we value material prosperity proportionately.

~ D.A. Carson, A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and His Prayers

Book Review: A Call to Spiritual Reformation

2011-01-19T05:00:00.000-06:00

I recently read A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and His Prayers by D.A. Carson, which was recommended to me by a few people. I really can’t say enough good things about this book. I probably underlined half of the book and put stars by much of what I underlined. It has quickly catapulted itself into one my top 5 books of all time.

In the introduction, Carson asks the question, “What is the most urgent need in the church of the Western world today?” Is it purity? Is it integrity and generosity in the financial arena? Is it more evangelism and church planting? Is it disciplined, biblical thinking? Clearly, all of those things are important. However, Carson proposes that all of those things are merely symptomatic of a far more serious lack. He concludes:

The one thing we most urgently need in Western Christendom is a deeper knowledge of God. We need to know God better.

In the biblical view of things, a deeper knowledge of God brings with it massive improvement in the other areas mentioned: purity, integrity, evangelistic effectiveness, better study of Scripture, improved private and corporate worship, and much more. But if we seek those things without passionately desiring a deeper knowledge of God, we are selfishly running after God’s blessings without running after Him.

So how do we run after God?

One of the foundational steps in knowing God, and one of the basic demonstrations that we do know God, is prayer – spiritual, persistent, biblically minded prayer.

With that in mind, Carson sets out to examine the prayers of Paul in order to help us to learn to pray more biblically. He starts by looking at Paul’s mindset when he prays. That is, Paul prays with our eternal destiny uppermost in his mind. If we pray that way, what kind of things will we pray for? Who will we pray for?

This book is filled with Scripture, encouragement, and practical advice. Rather than try to explain everything I love about this book in one post, I am going to post quotes from it in the coming weeks (or months?). I think that will not only help you to see why I loved it so much, but also serve to keep the material fresh in my mind.

THE VERDICT: Highly Recommended

Unmotivated

2011-01-17T07:02:00.003-06:00

Sometimes having an overloaded to do list serves to motivate me. The more I have to do, the more I seem to get done.

At other times, I seem to shut down when I look at an overwhelmingly large task or a long list of small tasks to be done. I just want to crawl back in bed, throw the covers over my head, and pretend it’s not there.

Does this happen to anyone else or am I the only one? {insert sound of crickets chirping here}

At any rate, I’ve been in the latter mode for the last few weeks, which explains the lack of blog posts around here. I have a big list of projects (and some of them are FUN projects) I want and need to do, but I have been totally unmotivated to do any of them. I have no idea why.

Don’t get me wrong. I've still kept up with the basics. My family hasn’t starved, my laundry has been washed, and schoolwork has been completed. It’s just all that other stuff that hasn’t gotten done.

I seem to be crawling out of that slothful fog, though, so hopefully the lazy days are over. For a while, at least. Here’s hoping, anyway…

What do you do to get motivated?

Calvin on Prayer

2011-01-03T12:21:00.003-06:00

Since my word for the year is PRAYER, I thought it would be fitting to start off the year with a quote from John Calvin on the subject. I found this in The Piety of John Calvin: A Collection of His Spiritual Prose, Poems, and Hymns by Ford Lewis Battles, but the quote originally came from Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion.

Prayer has two parts:
Petition and thanksgiving.
Petitioning, we lay before God
The desires of our hearts,
Thus seeking from His goodness
What serves His glory,
And then what is useful to us.
In giving thanks, we own
His benefits to us,
With praise confess them,
To His goodness alone
Attribute all our blessings.

I absolutely LOVE the way Calvin describes petitioning here. He says that by our petitions, "we lay before God the desires of our hearts." (MY TRANSLATION: We tell Him what we want.)

"Thus seeking from His goodness" (Because it's only by His goodness that we are given anything in the first place and He alone knows what is best for us.)

"What serves His glory" (Because that's our whole purpose for living and should be our motivation for asking anything of Him anyway.)

"And then what is useful to us" (Seeking our personal desires should be secondary to seeking His glory.)

Books Read in 2010

2011-01-01T05:00:00.003-06:00

Here is the list of books I read in 2010. I will be clearing out the sidebar and starting fresh for 2011, but I want to keep previous years' lists so I am putting it into a post.

This year, I started trying to review some of the non-fiction books I read (and even one fiction book, too), to help me remember what I liked and didn't like about the books and to (hopefully) help others as well. If I reviewed a book, a link to the review is next to the book title below.

January (5)

Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink (for school)
The Great Turkey Walk by Kathleen Karr (for school)
Touching Wonder: Recapturing the Awe of Christmas by John Blase
The Great Wheel by Robert Lawson (for school)
Lies Women Believe and the Truth That Sets Them Free by Nancy Leigh DeMoss (Review)

February (2):

Beloved Unbeliever by Jo Berry (Review)
Unbelieving Husbands and the Wives Who Love Them by Michael Fanstone (Review)

March (3):

Cheaper by the Dozen by Frank E. Gilbreth, Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey (re-read for school)
Did Adam Have a Belly Button? by Ken Ham (with the girls)
Wordliness: Resisting the Seduction of a Fallen World by C.J. Mahaney

April (3):

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor (for school)
All Together in One Place by Jane Kirkpatrick
Miracles on Maple Hill by Virginia Sorensen (for school)

May (2):

Faithful, But Not Famous by Emma Leslie (Lamplighter) (Review)
War of Words: Getting to the Heart of Your Communication Struggles by Paul David Tripp

June (2):

Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God by Francis Chan (Review)
Listening for Lions by Gloria Whelan

July (1):

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell

August (4):

A Young Woman's Guide to Making Right Choices: Your Life God's Way by Elizabeth George (Review)
I Dared to Call Him Father by Bilquis Sheikh
Feminine Appeal by Carolyn Mahaney (Review)
God Spoke Tibetan by Allan Maberly

September (1):

Idols of the Heart: Learning to Long for God Alone by Elyse FitzPatrick (Review)

October (1):

How People Change by Timothy S. Lane and Paul David Tripp (Review)

November (2):

Being a Girl Who Serves: How to Find Your Life by Giving It Away by Shannon Kubiak Primicerio (Review)
Power Through Prayer by E.M. Bounds (Review)

December (2):

A Layman Looks at the Lord's Prayer by Phillip Keller
Christmas at Harrington's by Melody Carlson

Non fiction total = 16
Books read for school total = 6
Fiction or biographies read just for fun total = 6
Total books read in 2010 = 28

Crafty Year in Review

2010-12-31T06:42:00.015-06:00

Before I came home from working full-time, my yearly goal was to complete one crafty project every 2 months. I seldom met that goal. Since being home, however, my crafty project list has skyrocketed.

I keep a running list of my projects so I can look back on them to see trends. (Yes, I'm that much of a nerd.) This year, I thought it would be interesting to categorize them to see how many sewing projects I've done vs. embroidery, etc. It's really more for my enjoyment and amusement (and to rationalize my current overwhelming desire to do some more hand embroidery projects), but I thought I would share it here for you, too. If I blogged about the project, I have linked to the post. Several of them were not blogged, though.

Sewing Projects

Machine embroidered and sewed pillowcase for Lauren
Machine embroidered and sewed pillowcase for Madison
2 pillowcases for charity project
Wrap for Alyssa for Father/Daughter Banquet
Sewed and machine-embroidered monogram on bag for Mom
Sewed and machine-embroidered pillowcase for Emma
Made 15 extra notebook covers for CHUMS birthdays and leaders
Sewed and machine-embroidered 26 educational alphabet bean bags for Craft Hope project
Sewed 9 flip flop bean bags for the Flip Flop Swap
Dorcas Sewing Circle - Made curtains and blankets for Dorcas House
Dorcas Sewing Circle - Made chemo caps for UAMS Cancer Institute
Cushion cover and pillow covers for Alyssa's hope chest
8 pencil bags for Alyssa's party favors
Dorcas Sewing Circle - Made baby burp cloths for March of Dimes
Mom's quilt top
Candy cane bags for Christmas gift mixes
Cover for Alyssa's Kindle

Embroidery Projects

Machine embroidered and sewed pillowcase for Lauren
Machine embroidered and sewed pillowcase for Madison
Hand-embroidered burp cloth for Brady
Sewed and machine-embroidered monogram on bag for Mom
Sewed and machine-embroidered pillowcase for Emma
Sewed and machine-embroidered 26 educational alphabet bean bags for Craft Hope project
Hand-embroidered Christmas breadcloth
Machine embroidered "Angels" on 12 bandanas for volleyball team
Made bookmark for 2011 Scripture verse

Scrapbooking Projects

Made scrapbook for Hannah's soccer coach
Finished TBAG Scrapbook
Finished 2009-2010 School Yearbooks
Scrapbooked family photos, individual girl's pages, and "sisters" page for our 2010-11 yearbook
Made 2010 Christmas photo cards
Scrapbooked Perdido Key vacation
Started working on Birthday Scrapbook
- Scrapbooked Alyssa's 15th birthday
- Scrapbooked Alyssa's 14th birthday
- Scrapbooked Hannah's 12th birthday
- Scrapbooked Hannah's 11th birthday

Other Crafts

Made diaper cake, corsage, and wreath for my sister-in-law's baby shower
Several washer necklaces for gifts
Made shirts for Hannah's birthday party
Big game board for Alyssa’s birthday party
Penguin candy bar wrappers for Alyssa's class
Snowman candy bar wrappers for Hannah's class

Verses and Word for 2011

2010-12-28T05:00:00.003-06:00

Every year I select a passage of Scripture on which to meditate throughout the year. Last year, I also learned of some women who not only pick a Scripture, but they also pick a word for the year on which to focus. I liked that idea, too, so I decided to pick both a Scripture and a word.

So for 2010, I chose Colossians 3:12-14 because I wanted to focus on kindness and compassion. I love that this passage starts with our motivation, tells us how to respond, and ties it all together with love. I don't know that I can say I made great strides this year in becoming more kind or compassionate, but I do think I am better at recognizing when I'm being unkind and I've become more aware of the idols of my heart that cause my unkindness to bubble to the surface. I'm still working on it. It's a slow process.

I mentioned recently that I have been convicted that my prayer life is lacking, so it's probably not a surprise that my word for 2011 is PRAYER. My problem isn't that I don't pray at all. I do pray, but I find myself praying very selfish and shallow prayers.

For example, I pray, "Lord, please save my loved one," but my motivation for their salvation is to make my life easier. Ouch!

I'm not saying it's wrong to pray for someone's salvation. I'm only saying that I've noticed my own motivation for these prayers is sometimes very self-centered. James 4:3 says, "You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures." That hits me right between the eyes.

Another issue I've found with my prayer life is that instead of conversing with God, I tend to just bring Him a string of requests. It's like I've got this big what-You-can-do-for-me list without offering Him the proper praise and thankfulness that He deserves. My praise and thankfulness vocabulary is very limited. This ought not to be so.

So my verse for 2011 is Colossians 4:2: "Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving" (See bookmark graphic). I chose the NASB because it used the phrase "devote yourselves to prayer" rather than "continue earnestly in prayer." I like that because it doesn't presume you're already doing it. If you have been praying, keep devoting yourself. If not, devote yourself now.

For the back of my bookmark, I put some other verses about prayer that I had considered using for my yearly verse (see graphic on left).

For an alternate bookmark back (because I'm completely incapable of making a decision), I took the 31 Ways to Pray for Your Children list from this website (HT: Challies.com) and shrunk it down to fit on the bookmark (see graphic on right). They're tiny but still (sorta) readable.

For those of you who are interested in a similar 31 Ways to Pray for Your Husband list, there is one here from Revive Our Hearts ministry. (Since many of the items on this list are geared toward Christian husbands, I decided to use the "children" list to pray for both my children and my husband.)

I have already read a few books on prayer and am currently reading A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and His Prayers by D.A. Carson, which was recommended to me. If you know of any great books on prayer, I would love to hear your recommendations as well.

Now for the fun part! I will be making several of these bookmarks and laminating them to use as a reminder throughout the year. If you would like one, I would be happy to make one for you, too. Just leave a comment on this post and tell me if you want the "prayer Scriptures" on the back of your bookmark or the "31 Ways to Pray for Your Children." If you do not know me personally, please leave an e-mail address so I can e-mail you to get your mailing address.

May we all be more faithful prayer warriors in 2011 and in the years to come.

My Second Quilt

2010-12-26T05:00:00.001-06:00

I made my first quilt last year for Alyssa. When my mother found out I was making a quilt, she ~~begged me to make her one~~ ~~hinted that I should make her one~~ casually mentioned that she had always wanted a quilt. Never one to miss a hint, I picked up on it right away.

She wanted a twin-sized quilt for her guest room in blacks and creams.

Not black and white, mind you. Black and CREAM. Do you know how hard it is to find fabric that's black and cream (or off-white or beige or any other neutral, non-white color)? Let me tell you, then. It's not easy. I finally managed to find several prints I liked and that looked good together. That's when I started getting excited about this quilt.

I settled on a pattern very similar to the one I used for Alyssa's quilt. I like this pattern not just because it's simple, but also because it's very forgiving. Since I'm still a beginner, many of my seams didn't match up, but that's okay with this pattern.

I used black muslin for the backing and made trim with the left-over pieces of my 4 light-colored fabrics. I am just thrilled with how it turned out!

My friend Sandy quilted it and finished it for me. Didn't she do a FABULOUS job?!

I have been wanting to post this for weeks, but I had to wait until after Christmas. My mother doesn't usually read my blog, but just in case she did read it, I didn't want to spoil the surprise.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-24T05:00:00.000-06:00

I wanted to wish ~~all~~ both of my blog readers a very merry Christmas! I hope you are all enjoying the holidays with family and friends!

March of the Penguins

2010-12-14T07:00:00.001-06:00

Last year, we made some snowman candy bar wrappers for Alyssa to give to her small group and friends. Hannah wanted to make those this year for her small group, so that's what we did. Alyssa wanted something different.

She decided she wanted to do penguin candy bar wrappers. I found this online and we tweaked it a little. I was able to find some snowflake brads for the top of the hats and we added googly eyes.

Instead of using Hershey bars, we used Reese's Peanut Butter cups so the penguins would be "squattier." (That's a word, right?) I just think they turned out to be adorable!

If you want to make your own, here's how we made ours. (Sorry I don't have pictures, but the link above does have a tutorial for how they made theirs.)

Wrap your bar in black cardstock. Tape with double-sided tape.
The hat is made from two 2-inch circles cut from red cardstock. Tape one to each side of the black wrapper with double-sided tape. We used a tiny hole punch to make a hole for the brad to go through.
The brim of the hat is white cardstock cut with decorative scissors. Tape it all the way around the wrapper with double-sided tape.
For the body, I drew an oval on white cardstock because I don't have an oval hole punch. I then used that as my pattern for the rest. I also drew out the smaller ovals in black cardstock for the wings.
The head is punched from white cardstock using a heart-shaped hole punch. The feet were punched out of orange cardstock with the same hole punch, but I just used the top half.
The beak was punched out of orange cardstock with a smaller heart-shaped hole punch.
We used a glue stick to attach the beak and glue dots to attach the googly eyes, but everything else was attached using double-sided tape.
Instead of stamping a Christmas greeting on the body, Alyssa hand-wrote a Christmas greeting on the back with a silver Sharpie.

The total cost on these is very small, but it makes such an adorable little Christmas gift for friends! She's taking them to small group tomorrow night and I'm sure the girls will all love them.

Gift Mix 2010

2010-12-09T05:00:00.001-06:00

If you're new here, you should know I make gift mixes every year for Christmas presents to give to extended family, friends, coworkers, pastors, church staff, neighbors... you get the idea.

I work hard every year to come up with a gift mix that tastes great and is easy to make. That's not always easy to accomplish. We try lots of recipes each year before finding just the right one. (It's a tough life we lead, but we suffer through it 'cause we love ya'.)

In the past, we've made cookie mixes, bread mixes, muffin mixes, crumb cake mixes, and even scone mixes. I wanted to do something different this year, but with all those different mixes in my repertoire, there weren't a lot of choices left. I also wanted something that was at least sorta healthy. (Hey! I said sorta!)

A few months ago, the girls and I started working on test batches of granola bars. I started with a recipe from my friend Krista. I thought those were a bit too "heavy" for us, so I tried a few other recipes I found online. I ended up smushing (Like that technical cooking term?) several recipes together to come up with what I think are the most addictive granola bars on the planet. I seriously can't tell you (nor would I want to admit) how many batches of these things we've consumed.

So, without further adieu, I give you the recipe for Chewy Granola Bars, our 2010 gift mix.

Chewy Granola Bars

Mix Ingredients:
2 cups Old Fashioned Oats
1 cup Rice Krispies cereal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla extract (I used vanilla sugar so the recipients wouldn't have to add vanilla)
½ cup mini chocolate chips
½ cup sweetened coconut

Recipient Needs to Add:
1 stick butter, melted
½ cup honey

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 325°F. Mix all ingredients together, using hands. Press mixture into lightly greased 9x13 pan. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool completely before cutting into bars. May be refrigerated to make firmer bars.

Makes 16 bars.

Flavor Variations:

S’mores – Add ½ cup crushed graham crackers and substitute mini marshmallows for coconut; omit cinnamon.

Healthy – Substitute dried fruit and/or nuts for chocolate chips; substitute wheat flour for all-purpose flour; substitute applesauce for honey.

Honey Nut – Substitute chopped nuts for chocolate chips.

Sugar-free – Substitute 1/3 cup Splenda for brown sugar; substitute nuts or unsweetened coconut for sweetened coconut; substitute unsweetened dried fruit for chocolate chips, substitute unsweetened applesauce for honey.

Why Yes, As a Matter of Fact, I AM Insane

2010-12-02T14:53:00.005-06:00

Remember this post a few months ago where I showed you these cute gift bags from Martha Stewart?

Remember how I asked you, my beloved and trusted blog-readers, if I was crazy for wanting to make those bags for my gift mixes this year?

You DO remember it? Oh, good.

Well, then I just have one question for you: WHY IN THE WORLD did you not try to talk me out of it???

96 bags later, I can say with utmost certainty that the answer to that burning question is a resounding YES. I am definitely crazy for making all those bags!

... But aren't they adorable? :)

I really like them, but they were so much work that I probably won't make my own bags again any time soon. And if I happen to mention something about wanting to do this again, please... somebody stop me!

Book Review: Power Through Prayer

2010-11-30T06:18:00.005-06:00

I have lately been convicted that my prayer life is lacking. I found the book Power Through Prayer by E.M. Bounds on my “to read” shelf and thought it would be a good time to read it. The description on the back of the book says this:

E.M. Bounds had a tremendous impact on Christians throughout his long life (1835 to 1913), both through his preaching and writing and through the silent testimony of his life. And of all his writings, Power Through Prayer stands out as his best work. In the last hundred years, countless individuals have looked to this work as the most important teaching on prayer and prayer life found outside the Bible.

Sounds good, right? I looked up some reviews on it and everyone seemed to say it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread, so I was pretty excited to get started.

From the beginning, though, I found the book to be filled with pithy statements, but lacking in real substance.

Some Examples:
p. 14 – "The church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better people."
p. 80 – "It is easier to fill the head than to prepare the heart."
p. 36 – "Talking to others for God is a great thing. But talking to God for others is greater still."

Now, there’s nothing wrong with pithy statements per se. However, the book almost read like a string of good one-liners the author had come across over the years. I didn’t feel much continuity of thought. It’s clear Bounds thought prayer was important, but in my opinion he failed to instruct the reader on the Biblical principles of why, when, or how we should pray.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention some of the theological errors in the book as well. Bounds seemed to have a very man-centered view of God. Consider the following examples:

p. 100 – "the coming of our Lord has been postponed indefinitely by lack of prayer…" {The last time I checked, NO purpose of God could be thwarted (Job 42:1-2, Isaiah 14:27)}
p. 69 – "Nothing is too hard for God to do if he can get the right kind of person to do it with." (emphasis added) {So therefore, there are things too hard for God to do if He can’t find the right person? No way! Nothing is impossible for God (Luke 1:37)}
p. 117 – "God can work wonders if he can get a suitable servant. People can work wonders if they can get God to lead them." (emphasis added) {So is he saying God can’t do wonders if there are no suitable servants around? It seems to me He created the world perfectly well without any human help.}

To be fair, some of the material in the book is good and true. However, without backing his statements up with Scripture, it reads more like the fragmented thoughts of an eloquent speaker than a preacher expounding the Word of God. If you’re looking for a book on prayer, I’m sure there must be better options out there than this one. (Speaking of that, I would still like to read a good book on prayer. If you know of one, I would love to hear your recommendations in the comments!)

THE VERDICT: Skip it.

Kindle Cover

2010-11-23T17:02:00.002-06:00

Alyssa got a Kindle for her birthday (which she LOVES) and promptly ordered a cover for it to keep the screen from getting scratched. When it came in, we realized we had ordered the wrong size (Doh!). We were able to re-sell it on eBay, though. {insert happy dance here} We ordered another cover in the correct size, but she wanted something to keep the Kindle protected in the meantime.

So I pulled out some old fabric left over from her quilt and some fleece. I made the fleece into a lining and made this little pouch for her Kindle. We used an old ponytail holder for the elastic closure.

She really likes this cover because it's cute, small and protects the Kindle from getting bumped or scratched. Not too bad for just some scraps of fabric and a ponytail holder!

Hope Chest Cushions

2010-11-20T05:00:00.001-06:00

When Alyssa turned 13 years old, we gave her a hope chest for her birthday (And by we I mean it was my idea but her daddy did all the work!). Jameel did a wonderful job on the chest and designed it so that it could be used as a bench. The only problem was that there weren't any cushions on it.

Until now.

For Alyssa's 16th birthday, I ordered some foam custom cut to fit the hope chest and made a cushion cover for it and some throw pillows to match.

This was my first experience with upholstery fabric and I have to say it wasn't pleasant. (That stuff frays so much that it practically unravels before your eyes! Ack!) With Jameel's help, though, we were able to get it done and even keep it hidden until her birthday. (That's no easy task, I assure you!)

I was pleased with the final product, though, and Alyssa was thrilled. Her hope chest has become her new favorite reading spot. And whenever she's not there, Pepper can usually be found enjoying the new padded space (which I'm sure he believes we set up just for him).

And, after all, cat approval is the highest form of praise, right?

Book Review: Being a Girl Who Serves

2010-11-19T07:38:00.003-06:00

I recently read the book Being a Girl Who Serves: How to Find Your Life by Giving It Away by Shannon Kubiak Primicerio. I heard about this series from a friend of mine, who loaned me the book to check out.

The stated purpose of the book is found on page 62:

My prayer is that this book stirs a passion in you to do the one thing God has truly called you to do: glorify Him with your life. That means in everything you say and everything you do, you serve God. It means you view the simple act of breathing as an act of worship. Something as simple as offering a smile and a kind word to someone who looks a little lost wandering the halls of your school can be viewed as an act of service.

Primicerio writes in a simple, conversational style and uses lots of personal stories to illustrate life lessons. Since the book is geared toward teens, most of the illustrations revolve around teen issues: school, relationships with parents and siblings, etc. At the end of each chapter, she includes application questions that help the reader reflect upon the lesson and a challenge based on the topic discussed. Whether you use the application questions or not, I commend the challenges to you. They were often very good.

My favorite chapter is entitled “Gifts Not Tied with Bows,” which talks about using any ability God has given us for His glory: not just the “typical” ministry gifts. Here are a few quotes I appreciated from that chapter:

There is no such thing as a small gift when it comes from God.

Even your homework can become an opportunity to serve God. So many times, though, we don’t look for those opportunities. We just blow right by them because we are so caught up in serving only in typical ministry outlets.

Whatever you do best, get out there and do it for the glory of God!

For more information on the “Being a Girl” series, check here. For an interview with the author, check here.

THE VERDICT: Recommended for teens

Family Photos 2010

2010-11-15T15:36:00.002-06:00

We recently had our yearly family photo session at the Old Mill. Our photos were taken again this year by our friend Anita. She always does a great job and she gives us a CD with the digital copies, which is SO helpful! I have already printed the girls' school pictures, created our Christmas cards and ordered them, and scrapbooked some pages for our school yearbooks - all from this one photo session! What a deal! If you live in the central Arkansas area, you should give her a call.

Here are some of the pages I created from our pictures. This one is all family photos. Since we homeschool, I like to have the first page in our school yearbook be a page like this. I also made an 8x10 version (with some of the "sisters" pictures below added) for family. I did this one year as a gift and now they automatically ask for an updated one once we get our pictures taken.

This is Alyssa's 2-page spread. The big picture on the left is the one we're using for her school picture this year.

This is Hannah's 2-page spread. The big picture on the left is the one we're using for her school picture this year.

We always try to get a few pictures of the girls together. I really loved these 3 pictures especially. Hannah's favorite is the one in the middle, because it shows that she's now taller than her big sister. I think that one might be Alyssa's least favorite. Hm....

Is That All Right, Mama?

2010-11-08T13:19:00.005-06:00

We heard this song on the radio today and I thought it was just too hilarious not to share. What mom can't relate to at least part of this? The artist is Kim Hill and the lyrics are below. Enjoy!

Lyrics:
I didn't clean the play room,
I didn't make my bed,
But now I'm runnin' out the door.
Can you do it instead?

Is that all right?
Is that all right?
Is that all right now, Mama?
'Cause I sure love you.

I didn't get my book read.
I didn't feed the dog.
I was too busy textin'
To do anything at all.

Is that all right?
Is that all right?
Is that all right now, Mama?
'Cause I sure love you.

Can you take me to the ball park?
Take me to the mall?
Doesn't your life revolve around
My every beck and call?

Is that all right?
Is that all right?
Is that all right now, Mama?
'Cause I sure love you.

Birthday Party Fun: A Charming Sweet 16 Sleepover

2010-11-06T12:30:00.000-05:00

For Alyssa's 16th birthday, I really wanted to do something special. When I saw a blog post about "charming" someone at Executive Homemaker, I knew that was what I wanted to do. I bought Alyssa a charm bracelet and each party guest was asked to pick out a charm that represented either a character trait, a special memory, or a wish for her future. They also had to write out the meaning of the charm on a card, which I will put in a scrapbook. What a great keepsake!

To give you an example, here's the charm I gave her (see picture below). I chose this because my prayer for her is that she would always walk in the truth (3 John 1:4).

The charms were all purchased from Colette at Charming Gifts and she did a great job of finding everything we wanted, even if it wasn't in the catalog. My only complaint is that her catalog is a printed one and isn't available on the website, which made coordinating the charms a little trickier. It was all worth it, though. Somehow we were able to keep it a secret and Alyssa was very surprised. Here's a picture of her bracelet with all her charms on it:

For the actual party, we ate pizza, played a few games, charmed Alyssa, and then I left them to play games, watch movies, and visit the rest of the evening. Most "Sweet 16" party supplies are pink, which isn't Alyssa's favorite. So we went for a more mature decor with black and white and touches of turquoise.

For the games, I resurrected a few games from past parties and we created one new one. The first repeat game was a miniature version of the Scrabble Scramble party we held a few years ago. I hid small boxes of Scrabble tiles all over the house with clues in each to the location of the next box. Once they found all the boxes, they had to unscramble the tiles to reveal the prize: Tropical Smoothie Gift Cards!

The next repeat game was a Ping Pong Paddle Relay from our Clash of the Colors party. In this game, the girls had to bounce a ping-pong ball on top of a ping-pong paddle over to a bucket and bounce the ball into the bucket. If it hit the floor, they had to start all over. This was a very competitive game (Possibly because the winning team won Starbucks gift cards!) and a lot of fun! (Sorry no pictures of that one.)

The last repeat game was the Q-Tip Corral, also from our Clash of the Colors party. In this game, one partner shoots Q-tips from a straw and the other partner tries to catch them with a bucket. I hadn't planned on doing this game but it was requested earlier in the day by Alyssa and Meghan. Fortunately, I had plenty of Q-tips on hand!

The only new game we played was a Life-Sized Board Game. Yes, we really made that board ourselves! This was a lot of fun to brainstorm and put together. We used white plastic tablecloth material for the game board and cut up some colored plastic tablecloths for the game spaces. We used black duck tape to attach the game spaces to the white cloth, which gave it a nice outline. We made the dice out of styrofoam cubes wrapped in white wrapping paper.

If 2 people landed on the same space, they had to roll a second die which told them how to resolve the conflict (rock, paper, scissors; ninja, etc.). (We nicknamed this die the "tie die." Yeah, we're just that corny.) You can see Alyssa and Meghan in an intense thumb war above.

For the party favors, I made zippered pencil bags (You can find a tutorial here.). We put candy in them and I added a charm as a zipper pull to remind them of the party theme.

This party was a lot of fun and really pretty easy to put together since so many of the games were repeats. The hardest part was keeping the "charming" secret from Alyssa.

Interruptions

2010-10-28T07:29:00.004-05:00

You hear stories all the time about how people’s lives are changed in an instant. In the blink of an eye.

But you never expect it to happen to you or someone you love. Until it does.

One minute, your mind is filled with thoughts of juggling mundane tasks such as cleaning the house, getting the kids to soccer practice, and finishing up those nagging projects hanging over your head. The next minute, you get an unexpected phone call and all those seemingly important things no longer matter.

God has sent you an interruption to lift your eyes from your to do list and remind you that every breath is a gift.

A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.
(Proverbs 16:9)

I received one of these “interruptions” recently when I received a phone call that my sister had been in a terrible car accident.

Amazingly, she has two broken legs and two broken arms, but no head trauma and no serious internal injuries. She will recover. Looking at the damage to the car, I have only one word that comes to my mind: thankful.

Thankful that my sister is still alive.
Thankful that no one else was in the car with her (because the passenger’s side was much more damaged than the driver’s side).
Thankful for the passing motorist that found the accident in the wee hours of the morning and called for help.
Thankful for the first responder EMT who was a family friend and notified the family quickly.
Thankful for compassionate and competent medical care.
Thankful for the limiting hand of God that said, “This much damage, but no more.” (Job 38:11) There are so many ways this accident could have been much worse.

If you have been interrupted lately, thank God for reminding you that every step is directed by Him and is intended for our good, to conform us more to the image of His Son (Romans 8:28-29).

If you haven’t been interrupted lately, pause now and thank God for the mundane: for your family and friends, for health, for protection from unknown dangers, for the breath you’re taking right now.

Just Passin' Through

2010-10-19T13:59:00.004-05:00

There are basically 3 types of people:

A Resident is a person who resides in a place.
A Nomad is a person that has no permanent abode but wanders about from place to place in search of food.
A Visitor is a person who visits, as for reasons of friendship, business, duty, travel, or the like.

Which one are you?

Are you a Resident who has settled down and taken up roots in this world? Are you perfectly content here and couldn’t imagine anything better? If so, you’re settling for “making mud pies in a slum because you cannot imagine what is meant by an offer of a holiday at the sea” (C.S. Lewis).

Are you a Nomad, wandering around, trying to find the meaning of life and how you fit into it? Are you searching for spiritual nourishment? If so, look no further than to Jesus, the bread of life (John 6:48).

Or are you a Visitor who is just passing through this world on the King’s business?

The truth is that we are all really visitors. We just sometimes live as if we're residents or nomads. I can see periods in my life when I've lived as if I were a resident and periods when I've lived like a nomad. Sometimes I just need to remind myself that I'm really a visitor here. If this world doesn't feel like home... well, it's not meant to. This world is not my home. I'm only here to do the King's business.

I guess you could say I'm on kind of an extended business trip.

For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.
(Philippians 3:20-21)

Book Review: How People Change

2010-10-16T06:45:00.001-05:00

I wouldn’t have chosen to read two books about idols back-to-back, but that is pretty much what I’ve done. The book How People Change by Timothy S. Lane and Paul David Tripp is a cleverly-disguised continuation of the conviction received from Elyse Fitzpatrick's Idols of the Heart: Learning to Long for God Alone. I guess God thought I needed a double dose.

The stated purpose of the book is “to get individuals and churches to think deeply, consistently, and Biblically about the gospel’s significance for the everyday matters of life.” Lane and Tripp contend that many Christians are good at seeing the gospel’s relevance to save sinners, but we aren’t so skilled at applying it to our daily lives. This is why we find change so elusive, because true change is only possible through the power of the gospel.

We should not – and need not – live long seasons of life with “gospel amnesia.” God has placed each of His children within the body of Christ, where we are meant to be constantly reminded of the value of the gospel for our daily lives. When the church is functioning as it is supposed to, the message of grace permeates every facet of the community. Wherever they turn, believers are challenged and encouraged to be transformed by the gospel’s power.

We tend to see the need for change the most when we are in the midst of a trial. Interestingly, these trials can come in the form of difficulties or blessings. A trial can be something as big as a job loss or serious illness or something as mundane as an irritating driver in front of you on the highway. Lane and Tripp define trials as “an external situation that reveals what is happening in the heart.” They go on to say this:

A trial can lead to significant personal growth at the heart level or it can lead to temptation and sin. It is very humbling and important to admit that trials do not cause you to sin. Trials do not cause us to be what we have not been; rather, they reveal what we have been all along.

Throughout the book, Lane and Tripp refer to the idols of our hearts as “God-replacements” and maintain that identifying these “God-replacements” is the first step to real change.

We worship what we find attractive. We allow many things to eclipse the beauty of Christ. We devote our hearts to our jobs, other people, a state of mind (comfort, security), success, power, peace, or money. We have many options before us, but we cannot get our identity from these things. When any of these things become more important to me than Christ, it impacts my behavior sinfully.

Our hearts are so often captivated by paltry God-replacements that matter to us more than the true God. When we start to see this, it is the beginning of change and the pathway to freedom.

The authors’ bottom line of how people change is this:

When the gospel is central, people can look honestly at their sin – not just behavioral sin, but the heart sin beneath. Real repentance looks deeply at the ways we have forsaken Christ. This produces sorrow and humility for allowing something to displace Christ from the highest place. Faith then lays hold of the grace and love offered to the repentant person. When repentance and faith are joined in this way, the person’s heart is recaptured* by Christ. This is what produces lasting change from within.

{* As a personal note, I don’t particularly like their use of the word “recaptured” here. It seems to denote that Jesus somehow “lost” the heart and had to retake control of it. However, I don’t think that was the authors’ intent. I prefer the word “re-captivated” here because I think it more accurately puts the focus on our straying heart’s need to refocus on Christ.}

The most convicting chapter for me personally was the one about change as a community project. I tend to keep my sin struggles to myself for the most part, but the authors make a compelling case that sharing your struggles with your brothers and sisters in Christ not only helps you in your struggle, but also encourages them when they see your growth. As a society, we tend to have several “surface” relationships but not very many that are deep enough to help us grow and change. While admitting that developing this kind of deep relationships takes time and effort, the authors assert that the benefits far outweigh the cost.

Meaningful relationships… require work, sacrifice, humility, and selflessness. While the idea of loving another person taps into something inherently human, it also exposes our sinful self-centeredness.

THE VERDICT: Recommended, especially for anyone involved in counseling others

Trash to Treasure

2010-09-27T12:19:00.005-05:00

Do you ever watch those TV shows where they take some ugly, worthless, beaten up item that you or I would probably throw in the trash and transform it into something beautiful and useful?

It struck me today that that's a lot like what God is doing with us. He takes ugly, worthless sinners and transforms them into beautiful trophies of His grace.

And He doesn't stop there! He keeps refining us and beautifying us until ultimately (in heaven), we are completely transformed and perfected. I think we would be unrecognizable, except we are told that we will somehow know each other.

Can you imagine it? I can just see us now, walking around heaven, saying something like, "You made THIS out of THAT old thing? Incredible!" We will be utterly amazed with the Master Craftsman.

One effect of watching TV shows like that is that they cause us to look at "junk" in a whole new way. Our creative juices get flowing and instead of rushing to throw something away, we start looking for ways to "re-purpose" it.

What if we looked at people that way? Instead of mentally writing someone off as hopeless, maybe we should be imagining what a miraculous transformation God could make in their lives. Imagine how useful they could be made under the skillful hand of God.

Would that affect the way we treat them? The way we speak to them? The way we pray for them?

I think it would.

Is there someone in your life you're tempted to give up on? If so, try imagining them as the newest recipient of God's Extreme Makeover: Heart Edition. And then pray that God would make something even more beautiful out of their lives for His glory.

It's Beginning to Feel a Lot Like Christmas

2010-09-23T06:33:00.005-05:00

Maybe it's because of the sewing circle I'm involved in. Maybe it's because the blogosphere has been filled with Christmas ideas and crafts lately.

Whatever the reason, I've been bitten by 2 bugs: the sewing/embroidery bug and the Christmas bug. Everywhere I look, there are adorable projects that I want to make. RIGHT NOW.

I know it's irrational. Don't try to understand it.

Last week, I picked up a bread cloth I had on hand and finished the embroidery on it.

I love it, but that wasn't enough to quench the embroidery bug. I still really want to make these cute partridge and pear Christmas ornaments I found last year.

And how adorable are the ornaments in this Etsy shop? I could totally make those. (If I had the patterns, of course.)

Then I started thinking about my gift mixes and how I'm going to package them. I totally want to make these gift bags from Martha Stewart. Am I crazy?

Remember the snowman candy bars we made last year? Well how cute are these reindeer and Santa ones? We definitely have to make some of these this year. (So if any of you have daughters the age of mine and go to our church, you aren't allowed to steal this idea!)

So how about you? Am I the only one that's been bitten by this bug? Have you found any adorable Christmas craft ideas that your fingers are itching to start working on?

Contemplating Colossians 1:9-11

2010-09-14T08:11:00.005-05:00

This week’s Scripture memory verses are Colossians 1:9-11. For today's post, I thought I would post an abridged version of John MacArthur’s sermon “The Fruit of Knowledge” based on this passage (Click the link to read the entire sermon.).

What is Paul saying in this passage? He is saying he wants them to be totally controlled with deep, thorough knowledge. He wants them to be totally dominated, not by a superficial understanding but by deep knowledge. Knowledge of what? "Of His will." And what is that? His self-revelation in the Bible of His absolutes, of His standards.

First is to know and then wisdom and understanding are added to that. Wisdom is to principlize and understanding is to apply. So, first you know, then you make a principle out of it and then you apply it, and then comes the action.

The objective for me as a Christian then is to get into this Bible and learn it. Get that deep knowledge. But, that deep knowledge should become wisdom. What is wisdom? Wisdom is turning all of that information into a principle that can be applied to life.

Beloved, that's what you're to do in your study of the Scripture. Find out what it means, what the principle is, how it applies, and go do it. But it all begins with that bottom line of knowledge ... knowing the principles, knowing the absolutes.

So, right behavior is based on right knowledge.

When you know God's truth and you know God's principles and you have turned them into applicable realities, there are going to be super results. The five benefits of applied knowledge are found in verses 10-11. When you are filled with knowledge, when that knowledge is turned into a principle, when that principle is turned into something applicable, here are the five benefits that are going to happen in your life:

You will walk worthy unto the Lord. What does it mean to walk worthy? It means to let your practice match your position.
You will be fruitful in every good work.
You're going to grow.
You're going to find that you're strengthened.
You’re going to endure anything with joy.

Paul is saying, “I just want you to know God's truth, that's the bottom line of absolutes. And once you know all that, the behavior is just going to come right out of it. You're going to walk worthy. You're going to be fruitful in every good work. You're going to grow. You're going to be strengthened and you're going to endure anything with joy.”

I don't know about you but that sounds like really living, doesn't it?

Book Review: Idols of the Heart

2010-09-10T07:00:00.001-05:00

I can sum up Elyse Fitzpatrick's book Idols of the Heart: Learning to Long for God Alone in one word: OUCH!

If you enjoy having your toes stepped on and seeing lots of sin oozing out of your heart that you didn't realize was there, this is the book for you.

I don't think I learned a lot of new information from this book, but somehow just focusing on the sin of idolatry for a couple of weeks and looking at things through that lens showed me lots of places in my life on which I need to work. More than I care to admit, frankly.

It's like my glasses were smudged before and I saw only a small part of idolatry. Now my glasses have been cleaned off a bit and I see that idolatry is so much more than worshiping golden calves.

If you think you're not an idolater, consider this quote: "If you're willing to sin to obtain your goal or if you sin when you don't get what you want, then your desire has taken God's place and you're functioning as an idolater."

Convicted yet?

Elyse does a good job of explaining what idolatry is and why it's such a bad thing and must be dealt with quickly and thoroughly. She then goes on to give some practical tools for identifying the idols in your own heart and encourages confession and repentance.

The hardest part isn't so much seeing new sin, but that the sin looks so much uglier when put in the light of idolatry. It's painful to see, but it's a good pain because if you don't see it, you can't change it.

THE VERDICT: Highly Recommended

Milestone

2010-09-02T05:00:00.004-05:00

Today I have reached a pivot point of sorts in my life. I have now officially been married longer than I was unmarried. I was only 20 years old on my wedding day (just a few months away from my 21st birthday), and today is our 21st anniversary!

September 2, 1989

Happy anniversary, Jameel, and thank you for the best "half" of my life.

Contemplating Colossians 1:1-4

2010-08-31T10:42:00.004-05:00

This week’s Scripture memory verses are Colossians 1:1-4:

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father. We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints.
(Colossians 1:1-4)

We live in an age of information overload. Out of necessity, we filter out some information and only take notice of the information we think we need to know or that is most important to us personally.

Unfortunately, I have found that I sometimes “tune out” when hearing (or reading) missionary reports about people I don’t know in places I’ve never been. It often doesn’t seem “relevant” to me. But Paul didn’t do that. He had never met these believers in the church of Colossae, yet he rejoiced in the reports he heard and prayed continually for these fellow believers.

What is wrong with my heart when I’m not stirred to prayer and thanksgiving the same way he was? If the angels in heaven rejoice when a sinner repents (Luke 15:10), shouldn’t I rejoice, too? Even if I’ve never met the person, that’s one more person giving God the worship He deserves. That’s one more worshiper I will spend eternity with!

Perhaps the problem lies in my “filter.” I allow in some of the unnecessary information that doesn’t edify and filter out some of the information that would stir my heart to rejoice and praise God like Paul did. Like the angels do.

God, please give me wisdom to spend my time and energy in the ways that will bring You the most glory. Help me to filter out any useless activity that distracts me from worshiping and praising You. Give me a thankful heart that loves what You love. Amen.

Memorizing Colossians

2010-08-30T14:13:00.004-05:00

Each year, the youth at my church memorize a book (or significant chunk) of Scripture. This year they are memorizing Colossians and I am doing it with them. Each week we have a set of verses to memorize. Once we finish a chapter, we say the entire chapter in one sitting. At the end of the book, we say the entire book in one sitting.

The first year I participated in this program, we memorized 1 John. I kept pretty much on schedule but I missed a few weeks and I did a terrible job of going back over verses I had previously memorized, so I wasn’t able to say each of the chapters in one sitting.

Last year, we memorized 1 Peter and I did a little better. Each week as I went over the new verses, I also worked on the previous verses in the same chapter. I was able to say all the individual chapters in one sitting, but I wasn’t able to say the entire book in one sitting at the end. This year I hope to do even better and review the book as I go so that I can say the entire book in one sitting.

Memorizing Scripture is good and important, but I don’t want to just memorize it for memory’s sake. I want it to mean something. So this year I purchased John MacArthur’s Bible study book on Colossians and I plan on going through it at the same pace as our memorization schedule. I’m hoping this extra step will help me to think more deeply about the verses we are memorizing.

I originally thought I would try to blog weekly about some of the things I’m learning through this study, but I just don’t know if I can commit to that schedule. For now I'll just say that you can look forward to seeing some occasional posts from me about Colossians over the course of the next year.

Book Review: Feminine Appeal

2010-08-23T05:00:00.001-05:00

Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.
Titus 2:3-5

Carolyn Mahaney has seen the feminine virtues described in Titus 2 transform her life and the lives of countless other women, through years of experience as a mother of girls, a speaker, a pastor’s wife, and a mentor. In her book Feminine Appeal: Seven Virtues of a Godly Wife and Mother, she takes the mentoring mandate of Titus 2:3-5 and devotes a chapter to each virtue listed in verses 4 and 5.

The Delight of Loving My Husband
The Blessings of Loving My Children
The Safety of Self-Control
The Pleasure of Purity
The Honor of Working at Home
The Rewards of Kindness
The Beauty of Submission

I can honestly say that there wasn’t a single chapter that wasn’t convicting to me. I thought I already loved my husband and children, but Mahaney showed me I still have much room to grow in this area. But even though she gives very straightforward, Biblical advice, the tone of the book was always warm, humble, and encouraging. She doesn’t just tell you what you’re doing wrong; she also gives very practical advice for how to improve. The most convicting chapter for me personally was hands-down the chapter on kindness. Here’s a sample of some of the very practical advice Mahaney gives in this chapter:

Daily we should bestow much more encouragement than correction or criticism. We should be on the lookout for praiseworthy actions that glorify God and point out these evidences of grace to our husbands and children. Specific encouragement of this kind will strengthen their souls and provoke them to godliness.

So why is all of this important? Mahaney cites a phrase from Titus 2:10 as our ultimate goal: so that we “may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.” She explains it this way:

Our conduct has a direct influence on how people think about the gospel. The world doesn’t judge us by our theology; the world judges us by our behavior. People don’t necessarily want to know what we believe about the Bible. They want to see if what we believe makes a difference in our lives. Our actions either bring honor to God or misrepresent His truth.
…
As verse 10 says, we can “adorn” the gospel with our lives. To “adorn” means to put something beautiful or attractive on display – like placing a flawless gemstone in a setting that uniquely shows off its brilliance. The gospel is like the most valuable of jewels. … By cultivating the feminine qualities listed in Titus 2, we can present the gospel as attractive, impressive, and pleasing to a watching world.

Mahaney closes the book with a chapter called “Margaret’s Story,” which is a description of her example of a Titus 2 woman: her own mother. There are also Study and Discussion Questions for each chapter written by her daughter, Nicole Mahaney Whitacre. I looked through a few of these and they seem to be very well done. They are not your standard “regurgitate the information back to me so I can be sure you were paying attention” type questions. They are more discussion oriented and I think they would be very helpful in a mentoring relationship.

THE VERDICT: Highly recommended for any wife, mother, or single lady who might someday be a wife & mother. This is also a great resource for mentors to go through with their mentees.

Recipe: The Very Versatile and Yummy Sandwich Braid

2010-08-19T17:02:00.005-05:00

Alyssa bought me Mary Ostyn’s Family Feasts for $75 a Week cookbook for Christmas and I have found several good and inexpensive recipes in it so far. There is one recipe, though, that is so versatile and easy (as well as yummy and inexpensive), that I just had to share it with you. It’s called a Sandwich Braid and it is quickly becoming one of my favorite things to make. The basic recipe is:

2 loaves frozen bread dough, thawed
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Sesame seeds and/or poppy seeds for topping

Prepare filling(see below)
Knead both thawed loaves of dough into 1 lump. Roll bread dough out onto a 10x12-inch baking sheet (I use my Pampered Chef Jelly Roll Stone). Spread filling mixture down middle of rectangle, leaving 3 inches of dough uncovered on both long sides and 1 inch uncovered at the short ends.
On each long side, cut ¾-inch-wide strips 3 inches into the center of the dough, right up to where the filling starts. Starting at one end, fold alternating strips at an angle, forming a braid over the filling. Crimp ends of dough to close braid.
Brush dough with beaten egg. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
Bake until golden brown, 20-25 minutes. Let cool slightly, then cut into 1 ½-inch-thick slices.

Serves 6 to 8
Prep time: 45 minutes

So far, I have made it with 3 different fillings and it’s been great every time. The first filling below is the one that was in the book.

Filling Idea #1: Sausage
1 pound bulk pork sausage
½ cup chopped onion
1 rib celery, chopped
¼ cup chopped green bell pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
4 ounces cream cheese, cubed
2 green onions, chopped
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
Cook sausage, onion, celery, bell pepper, and garlic in a medium-size skillet over medium heat until pork is no longer pink and vegetables are tender; use a large spoon to break pork into small pieces as it cooks.
Drain grease from meat mixture. Stir in cream cheese, green onions, and parsley. Cook, stirring frequently, over low heat until cheese melts.

Filling Idea #2: Chicken Fajita
I bought a package of frozen chicken fajita meat and warmed it in a skillet. I also added some browned, sliced onions and grated Mexican-style cheese.

Filling Idea #3: French Dip Sandwich
I made French Dip Sandwiches earlier in the week and used the left-over meat for a filling. I added some browned onions and grated cheese.

This would also be a good recipe to take to a family with small children. It’s very kid-friendly and it even looks gorgeous when it comes out of the oven. Versatile, easy, and kid-friendly. What more could you ask for in a recipe?

What kind of fillings could you see your family enjoying in a dish like this? I’d love to have more ideas to try.

Book Review: A Young Woman’s Guide to Making Right Choices

2010-08-09T07:06:00.004-05:00

I recently finished pre-reading A Young Woman’s Guide to Making Right Choices: Your Life God’s Way by Elizabeth George, which I plan to have Alyssa read for part of her Bible time this year. Alyssa and I both read A Young Woman After God’s Own Heart last year and really liked it, so I was looking forward to reading this one.

For the most part, the book was very good. We follow a fictitious teenager (Hannah) and examine several choices she makes and the ramifications of each of them. The book goes through many choices we make every day (starting with the most basic one: getting out of bed in the morning) and shows how those choices impact our lives and our walk with God. Elizabeth includes many Scripture references to back up her teaching and there are questions at the end of each chapter that encourage you to search the Scriptures yourself and apply them to your decision-making.

The only issue I had with the book came in the next-to-last chapter, which is about turning your life around if you have made bad choices. We follow fictional Hannah to her youth group and by this time, she’s made some disastrous choices that have led to a pretty awful week. The message presented from her youth pastor is good up to the point where he leads anyone who is convicted of not living for the Lord in a “sinner’s prayer.”

But then we are told that Hannah doesn’t need to pray that prayer because she’s already saved. The pastor also leads a “prayer of re-commitment” for those who are already saved but their lives “haven’t shown the fruit of [their] belief.” That’s where she lost me. I came from a background where churches often talked about people being “rededicated” to the Lord and it just never made sense to me. I believe that the Bible teaches that once you’re saved, there’s fruit (James 2:14-26). If there’s no spiritual fruit, there’s no spiritual life. It's pretty simple. From what we are told of fictional Hannah, I would argue that she was not saved. However, that isn’t enough for me to discard the book entirely. I will still have Alyssa read the book and I will use that chapter for discussion.

If you are considering this book for your teenage girl, I suggest you read it first. Later chapters do discuss boy-girl relationships, so it may not be appropriate for younger girls.

THE VERDICT: Recommended for older teens, but with parental guidance

Curriculum for 2010-2011

2010-07-31T08:16:00.003-05:00

Since next week is the first week of August, our school year will be starting on Monday. (Can somebody please tell me where my summer went?!) For the homeschool moms out there that read my blog, I thought it might be helpful to share our curriculum plans for the year. So, here goes...

Alyssa will be in 10th grade this year. We are starting to really work on her list of potential colleges. She will not have to take the Iowa test this year, but she will be taking the PSAT in October for practice. Here are the courses she will be taking this year:

20th Century World History (Sonlight Core 300) - We skipped the Core 200 course because it didn't seem that interesting to us. She has already taken a full world history course in previous years with Sonlight, so this course just focuses in on the 20th century. Some of the books she'll be reading look really interesting. I am hoping to get to read some of them myself!
Literature (Sonlight Core 300) - Literature that goes along with the history curriculum
Chemistry (Apologia) - We don't really love Apologia's tests, so a good friend of mine gave me her modified tests for this course. I am hoping it makes it a little less tedious for Alyssa. She will be doing the labs at Homeschool Academy this year, which is nice because I don't have to buy all that equipment. :)
Algebra 2 (Bob Jones)
Art - She is taking an art class at Homeschool Academy to fulfill the art requirement.
Spanish 3 - She is taking Spanish at the Homeschool Co-Op again this year.
P.E. (Soccer) - She doesn't really need another P.E. credit, but she wanted to play soccer again, so I'm counting it.
Bible/Theology - I am giving her a credit each year for this because she gets so much from youth group and the Scripture memory program (We're memorizing Colossians this year!). She also has Bible time in the morning where she reads Scripture and/or some other (spiritually helpful) book. This year I am going to have her reading some worldview materials, but we won't go through a formal worldview class.

She will also continue to volunteer at our local library and is looking for a part-time job. That should keep her busy!

Hannah is in 7th grade this year and is going into youth. Here are the courses she will be taking:

Pre-Algebra (Teaching Textbooks) - We decided to try something a little different this year with math. I wanted something she could work on more independently, so I had her try out Teaching Texbooks online. She liked it, so we're going to give it a try.
Earth Science (Bob Jones) - I had a hard time picking out Hannah's science curriculum this year. I don't think she's ready for Apologia yet, so I thought I'd try something else. Most of the other 7th grade science courses had a section on insects (which she REALLY didn't want to do), so I decided to try Bob Jones' 8th grade science. Again, we'll see how it goes.
World History (Part 1)/Literature (Sonlight Core 6) - I read some of these books with Alyssa when she went through World History, so I'm hoping Hannah enjoys them as much as we did.
Writing - We won't be doing any formal grammar study this year, but I will have her write one page of something every day. It can be a poem, a journal entry, a story, or whatever she wants. I will proof-read it to make sure she doesn't get rusty on her grammar or writing skills.
P.E. (Soccer)
Bible - Since Hannah is in youth now, she will also be memorizing Colossians with us. She also has a personal devotional book that she reads each day.

I make my own plan books each year and spiral-bind them. This year I made them half-sheet size. The lesson plans for the whole year are in there, broken down by 9-week grading period, as well as pages for grades and books read. The weekly plan pages are set up so that the girls can write in what lessons they have done and there is space for me to check their work each day. Alyssa was already using this format because she has worked independently for a while. I'm hoping Hannah can begin to work more independently this year, although I know she will still need some help and guidance from me in a few subjects.

How about you? Is there a specific course or curriculum you're using this year that you're really excited about? How about an extra-curricular activity that you have planned that is fun or unique? I'd love to hear about it!

Birthday Party Fun: Mall Mania

2010-07-26T11:00:00.001-05:00

We held Hannah's 12th birthday party on Saturday at our local mall. It was a scavenger hunt and we called it "Mall Mania." I'll warn you now that this is a long post with lots of pictures.

I found a pattern for the invitations online and tweaked it a little. I printed them on cardstock and laminated them to look like credit cards. Here's a sample of the front and back (click to enlarge). ("Jane Doe" would have been the invited girls' name.)

I also made t-shirts for all the girls. I printed the image on iron-on transfer paper designed for dark shirts (so that the white part would show up). I printed the words on iron-on transfer paper designed for light shirts. I thought they turned out really cute and it made it easy to spot the girls as they ran around the mall.

Because I didn't want the girls running around the mall alone, I solicited the help of Alyssa and some of her friends to serve as Team Captains (2 of the other helpers had siblings attending the party). This worked out really well. I think the older girls had just as much fun as the younger ones and it freed me up to get food ready while they were doing the activities. Here's a picture of all the girls in their shirts and the helpers.

I divided them into teams of 2 and handed them their first set of 6 clues. I gave the teams the same clues but in different order so that they wouldn't all be doing the same thing at the same time. Here's what they had to do and some random pictures of each activity:

Go into the clothing store of your choice and have each team member try on a different crazy (mismatched) outfit. Have the Team Captain take a picture of everyone on your team wearing the crazy outfits.
Have your Team Captain take a picture of everyone on your team sitting on a couch in Dillard’s.
Have your Team Captain take a picture with everyone on your team wearing a different hat from Claire’s. Be sure to put the hats back nicely before receiving your next clue.
Go to the escalator and have a stranger take a picture of your team with your Team Captain on the escalator.
Find a red head in the mall and see if you can all take a picture with him/her. Have the Team Captain take a picture of the entire team with the red head. (A few teams were very creative with this one!)
Go to Natalie’s CandyBar and have each team member try a sample piece of candy. Have your Team Captain take a picture of the team eating the candy. You have to swallow the candy before receiving your next clue.

In addition to the first set of clues, I had 4 bonus clues that they could do for extra points.

	Get a picture of your team with something in the mall with the number 12 on it.
	Everyone on the team hops on one foot from one clue to the next. Have your Team Captain take a picture.
	Find someone in the mall with a Mohawk and see if you can all take a picture with him/her.
	Find the balloon man and have him make a balloon hat for one team member. Have the Team Captain get a picture of the team member wearing the hat.

While the girls were doing the first set of clues, I ordered lunch from Chick-Fil-A and had it ready for them. They ate lunch and visited a little bit and then we went on to the second set of clues. I re-selected the teams for this round so that they would get to be with someone different.

Go to Bath & Body Works and have each team member try a sample hand sanitizer.
Go into XXI and have each team member hold earrings to your ears while your Team Captain takes a picture.
Find a dog somewhere in the mall and take a picture of it with your entire team.
Go to the food court and have each team member go to a different place and ask for a cup of water. Have your Team Captain take your picture at a table sipping water. Be sure to throw away the empty cups before receiving your next clue.
Find any store in the mall that has scarves. Have everyone in your group try on a different scarf, and have your team captain take your picture. Be sure to put the scarves back nicely before receiving your next clue.
Find the gumball machines labeled “Bubble Yummy.” Buy a gumball and have one team member chew the gum and blow a big bubble while another team member takes a picture. (I included a quarter in the envelope with this clue.)

I got the most flack about the bubble gum challenge, but that one (by FAR!) had the funniest pictures, so I'm still glad I included it. :)

After the second set of clues, the girls ate a cookie cake (purchased from the Great American Cookie Company in the mall) and I gave out prizes before the parents picked them up.

The party lasted 2 hours, which was a just enough time to get all the games done and still have a little bit of time to visit. Best of all, we weren't out in the heat!

Birthday Party Planning Tips and Resources (Part 3)

2010-07-22T08:00:00.001-05:00

This is Part 3 in a 3-part series on planning fun and memorable birthday parties. You can click on these links to read Part 1 and Part 2.

TIP #7: BE CREATIVE WITH YOUR PARTY FAVORS

Party favors are a relatively new thing in birthday parties, I think. At least, I don’t remember ever getting (or giving) any party favors as a kid. Nevertheless, it is a fun way for guests to remember the party. A simple thing to do for most any party is to buy cellophane favor bags and put candy in them. It’s easy and inexpensive and most kids will love it.

If I do a party favor, I like to make it tailored to the theme if I can. Here are a few examples of creative favors we’ve done:

At Hannah’s “monkey” party, I made each girl a monkey wallet and put some banana Laffy Taffy in the bags with them.
When we did an Amazing Race party a few years ago, I made each girl a t-shirt and then sent out a DVD with the party footage on it with the thank you cards in lieu of a goody bag.
At Alyssa’s “Scrabble Scramble” party, I gave each girl a wooden letter (their first initial) with their name on it. If you’re a painter, you could paint the names on the letters. I’m NOT a painter, so we used rub-off letters. It was a fitting favor for a party based on letters.

Oriental Trading has some really fun and inexpensive items that you could use for party favors. Sometimes just wandering around your local craft store can spark some ideas, too.

TIP #8: TAKE LOTS OF PHOTOS

On party day, things can get hectic. You are trying to organize the chaos and herd children from one activity to the next. In all the busyness, one thing that may get forgotten is picture-taking. Don’t let that happen! Use older siblings or other helpers to make sure you get photos of your party. Your kids will thank you for it later and you will be glad to have it as well.

TIP #9: KEEP THE MEMORIES ALIVE

Here’s a tip I’m just now learning the hard way. As soon as possible after the party, scrapbook about it or journal about it or blog about it. Birthday parties are special memories for our kids and it is so fun for them to “relive” those memories through scrapbooks later.

As I have been going through my old photos, I’m finding out just how poor of a job I’ve done in this area. I have done pretty well since I’ve had this blog, and even a few years before that I have pretty good pictures that are already sorted and labeled. But before I had a digital camera, the information is spotty at best. Don’t make the same mistake I did! It’s much harder to piece the memories together years later than it is to sit down and do it a few weeks after the party. You'll be glad you did it.

I hope this has series been helpful to some of you. I would love to know YOUR tips and resources for parties. If you have other sources of ideas, please share them in the comments.

Birthday Party Planning Tips and Resources (Part 2)

2010-07-21T08:00:00.003-05:00

This is Part 2 in a 3-part series on planning fun and memorable birthday parties. You can read Part 1 here.

TIP #4: HAVE A PLAN

As you plan your party, try to figure out a rough schedule of how you think the party will flow. Nothing scares me more than having a house full of kids and running out of things for them to do! I usually try to plan more games than I think I will use so that I won’t run out.

Having a schedule will help you to think through gaps that you otherwise might not notice until party day. For example, when we plan outdoor games that involve water, we have to build some time in the schedule for the kids to change, dry off, etc. Or if one game requires a lot of set-up time, you may want to have that be the first game so that you can do the prep work before the party.

Thinking through your schedule will also help you to figure out how much help you’re going to need. As kids get older, parents tend to drop them off rather than staying for the party. Knowing how many helpers you need will help you plan ahead to either ask some parents to stay or recruit some older siblings to help.

TIP #5: PLAN YOUR FOOD

Some parties require full meals (sleepovers, etc.) and some just require light snacks. Almost all parties will include a cake of some sort. My girls don’t particularly like cake, so we have served cookie cakes or decorated brownies at some of our parties. Almost all of our “cakes” have been homemade and have centered on the theme. Family Fun Magazine has some great party theme ideas and some really fun cake ideas to go with them. I have also found some fun cake ideas on other blogs or the internet. Once you decide on your theme, it's pretty easy to Google cake ideas for your theme.

If you are serving a full meal at your party, be sure to find out if any of your party attendees have special dietary needs.

TIP #6: SEND THE INVITATIONS EARLY

The invitations can be as simple or as elaborate as you would like them to be. The main thing to keep in mind is to make sure all the information is on the invitation and to get them mailed out in plenty of time (I like to send them out 2 weeks in advance).

I personally like to make unique invitations. For example, when Alyssa had a detective party, I sent the invitations in code, rolled them up, and sent them in a mailing tube. The kids thought it was great fun to find that in their mailboxes! When Hannah had a Wonka-themed party, I sent out fake Wonka bars (made of craft foam). The invitation was printed on gold paper inside the wrapper (their “Golden Ticket”). Hannah’s upcoming party is a “Mall Mania” party (like a scavenger hunt in the mall) and the invitations were made to look like credit cards. Again, that’s all an “extra” thing that I like to do. If it overwhelms you to try and come up with some creative invitation, then just send out a purchased one.

I know that in recent years, some people have moved toward electronic invitations (like e-vites). Personally, I don’t like this trend. Don’t get me wrong. I love e-mail and prefer it in most instances. However, I have seen instances where e-vites don’t get delivered or get caught in SPAM filters. I also think that people (kids especially) like to get things in the mail. It generates excitement just from the fact that someone sent them something in the mail. Even for adults, it’s nice get something besides bills and junk mail. Again, that’s just a personal preference thing. If e-vites make it easier for you, then go for it. If you do go that route, though, I would suggest following up with people to make sure that the invitations were received.

Do you have other great ideas for cakes, invitations, or other planning tools that I haven't mentioned? If so, please share them in the comments. Tomorrow I will talk about ways to preserve your birthday party memories.

Birthday Party Planning Tips and Resources (Part 1)

2010-07-20T13:59:00.003-05:00

If you know me very well, you’ll know that birthday parties are a BIG DEAL at our house. I love throwing fun and memorable birthday parties for my girls and we’ve had a lot of fun ones over the years.

I recently started working on scrapbooking all of them (which is a much bigger chore than I thought it would be!) and I’m also working on Hannah’s upcoming party, so I guess I have birthdays on the brain.

I often get asked for ideas for parties, so I thought it might be helpful to do a post giving some tips and tidbits I’ve learned over the years and to get any of your suggestions as well. As I started typing up the information, it was really long, so I'm splitting it into 3 posts.

TIP #1: START PLANNING EARLY

I start planning a party at least 2 months in advance. That may sound like a lot, but it’s really not. It sometimes takes a long time to collect what you want for a party, so starting early gives you the freedom to shop around for good deals.

TIP #2: SELECT A THEME

A theme isn’t necessary for planning a fun party, but it sure does help. The first thing I do when planning a party is to come up with a theme. Then I try to plan the invitations, games, decorations, and food around that theme. It is also helpful to decide the format of the party (sleepover, morning or afternoon, indoor or outdoor, etc.) at this point.

There are very few party themes that we’ve come up with on our own. Most of our ideas have been found online or “borrowed” from other sources. Birthday Party Ideas is the main site I’ve used for theme ideas. Each theme has descriptions from people who have thrown parties with that theme and you can usually find lots of great ideas that way. If it’s a popular theme, though, it may take quite a bit of reading and sorting through to find what you want. I usually copy and paste ideas that I like into a Word document and then sort through them once I finish reading all the ideas.

Family Fun magazine also has some great party theme ideas on their site.

If you want to host a murder mystery party, this site has some that you can purchase. They also include ideas for food to serve that go along with the theme

TIP #3: SELECT GAMES AND ACTIVITIES THAT GO WITH YOUR THEME

Once you figure out your theme, you can make almost any game fit your theme. For example, for Hannah’s “monkey” party, we played volleyball outside with monkey beach balls and just called it “Monkey Volleyball.”

They also don’t have to be elaborate games. One of my favorite birthday party memories is of a Hello Kitty party I did for Hannah. For one activity, I made yarn pom-poms and just let the kids play with them (because kitties like to play with yarn, you know). They had SO much fun with that simple game! The parents were laughing out loud just watching them. I had no idea when I planned the party that that game would be such a hit.

Again, there’s not an original bone in my body. Most of my game ideas are found online. Here are a few sites I’ve used:

Party 411
Party Game Ideas
Party Game Central has a very helpful custom game search that will allow you to search for games based on age level, active vs. passive games, games for a small area vs. games for a large area, etc.

If you need supplies for your games, Oriental Trading is a great place to get cheap party supplies, prizes, and take-home goodies.

In the next 2 posts, I will give some more tips on planning your party and preserving your birthday party memories.

Do you have other great resources for party games or theme ideas that I haven't mentioned? If so, please share them in the comments so that other readers can benefit.

Great Weekend

2010-07-12T06:29:00.003-05:00

Last week was somewhat of a blur, getting Alyssa ready for her first mission trip. She left Friday for Broken Arrow Bible Ranch and will be back next Sunday. I miss her already, but I know she is having a great time and will learn a lot through this experience.

On Saturday, my England scrapbook came in the mail! I danced a jig (Seriously. Ask Hannah. She was mortified.) and showed it to anyone who would look on Sunday. It's just gorgeous and I am SO pleased with the printing. I can't say enough for the folks at viovio.com. The scrapbook ended up being 100 pages long. I checked several sites and most of them charged $100-$200 for a book that size! The book only cost me $35 at viovio.com ($40 with shipping). A hard-bound copy would have only been $10 more. I've already started on my next project, which is a scrapbook of our birthday parties.

Then on Sunday, we had our first meeting of the Dorcas Sewing Circle I'm organizing at our church. We had lots of women and girls show up and it was so much fun! They all worked hard and we got a lot done, too. One young girl said that she hadn't planned on coming, but it was so much fun, she thinks she'll come next time, too. What an encouragement!

This week I have some projects to do to get ready for Hannah's upcoming birthday party and I need to get a start on lesson plans for school. We usually start school the first week of August, so it's approaching quickly. Where did my summer go?

I hope you had a great weekend, too.

Cool Tools: PaperBack Swap

2010-07-05T12:48:00.003-05:00

At our house, we love books and we have lots of them. Too many, probably. (Please don't tell my husband I just admitted that!)

Do you have any used books lying around? Ones you've already enjoyed, but you're never going to read again? I did, and a friend recently showed me a great way to share them with other people!

It seems that a few guys were sitting around one night talking about all the paperback books they had purchased over the years while traveling on business. Each of them had a large stack of books that they had read, so they decided to set up a website at PaperBack Swap that allows all of us to swap books with each other.

Here's how it works: I listed a bunch of books on the site (listing 10 books gets the first member in your household 2 free credits!) and I got 2 free book credits to get started. So you can order 2 books right away - free of charge - and have them mailed directly to you! No strings attached. No gimmicks. No spam mail. Nothing. One of our first books we requested was a $40 book!

When another member selects one of my books that I have listed, I mail it to them. Yes, I pay for the postage. But then I get another book credit and I can select a book that I want. So another Club Member returns the favor and mails me one of his or her books free of charge. For every book I mail out, I get another book in return.

When someone requests one of your books, all you have to do is print the mailing slip from the website, which includes the mailing address and the recommended postage. Apply the postage, and drop it in the mail.

Another homeschool mom told me about this and she was able to get a bunch of her school books this way. If you're interested, please check it out using this link. (If you use this link to join, I'll get a free book when you post your first ten books and you'll still get free books for posting them!)

For more information about the site, you can visit the Help area and select 'About PBS' to read how it works. Happy swapping!

World Cup 2010: The Movie

2010-07-03T08:00:00.003-05:00

As we have watched the drama of the World Cup over the last few weeks, we couldn't help but notice some similarities between the appearance of some of the ~~soccer~~ (er, football) players to actors and other famous people. So just in case this year's World Cup is made into a movie, here are some of our suggestions for who should play whom.

Burt Reynolds as Landon Donovan (mid-fielder for the U.S. team) - Admittedly, we would have to go back in time for this one, but he really reminds me of a young Burt Reynolds.

Curtis Stone as Robert Green (goalie for England)

Richard Armitage as Justo Villar (goalie for Paraguay)

Joe Jonas as Kaka (mid-fielder from Brazil)

Edited to add: Just thought of another one: Michael Bolton as Diego Forlan (forward for Uruguay)

Any other suggestions?

Unfathomable Love

2010-06-30T09:32:00.003-05:00

If you paid attention in my last blog post, you noticed that I highlighted two lines of the song, but only talked about one of those lines. (Did you catch it?) Today, I wanted to talk about the other line. To refresh your memory, the line is “Show me how to love like you have loved me.”

So, how does God love us? I made a list of a few ways. This is by no means meant to be an exhaustive list, but I thought it might do our hearts good to contemplate just how much God loves us and just how much we are called to love others. So here goes…

He loved the unlovable (Eph. 2:1-8)

He laid down His life for His enemies (Romans 5:8, 1 John 3:16)

He gave generously and sacrificially to the ungrateful (John 3:16)

He forgave the unforgivable (Luke 23:34)

He helped the helpless

He encouraged the faint-hearted

He upheld/strengthened the weak

He rejoiced with those who rejoiced

He wept with those who wept (John 11:35-36)

He led the lost (Luke 19:10)

He prayed (and continues to pray) for us (John 17:20, Heb. 7:25)

He doesn’t abandon us (Rom. 8:35-39)

He loves without partiality (Deut. 10:17)

He feeds the hungry and clothes the naked (Deut. 10:18-19)

He unselfishly laid aside His position and prosperity to help undeserving sinners (2 Cor. 8:9)

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
(1 John 4:11)

If you can think of references or examples I've left out, please add them in the comments section for the encouragement of any who might read this post in the future.

Easy to Sing, Hard to Live

2010-06-25T13:57:00.004-05:00

There’s a song I really like and a few lines in particular of that song that really convict me every time I hear them. The song is called “Hosanna.” I first heard Christy Nockels’ version but the original is by Hillsong. (If you’re interested, you can listen to Hillsong’s version here or Christy’s version here.) The bridge goes like this:

Heal my heart and make it clean,
Open up my eyes to the things unseen,
Show me how to love like you have loved me.
Break my heart for what breaks yours.
Everything I am for Your Kingdom’s cause
As I walk from earth into eternity.

This song came to my mind as I read a blog post here yesterday about a young lady who was literally weeping because she is blessed with plenty while others are going hungry, homeless, or without basic necessities. Here is a woman whose heart is breaking as she views the suffering around her.

It brought to mind the passage in Mark 6:34, where Jesus was moved to compassion when he saw the multitudes. So He did something. He taught them.

In Mark 1:41 and Matthew 14:14, Jesus was again moved to compassion. So He did something. He healed the sick.

In Matthew 18:27, God (represented by the King in the parable of the unforgiving servant) was moved to compassion. So He did something. He showed mercy and forgave.

Are you seeing the pattern yet? Compassion moves you. It requires a response. If I truly want God to break my heart for what breaks His, I will be moved to act.

Do I really want that?

Do you?

It’s easy to sing, but hard to live out.

So now I ask… what breaks your heart?

And what will you do about it?

Washer Necklaces

2010-06-17T21:56:00.004-05:00

I'm not sure if I should really post this because some of you may be getting these for birthday gifts. But since everyone knows I'm ~~cheap~~ frugal, I'm going to do it anyway.

I have been seeing these adorable washer necklaces all over the blogosphere and have wanted to make them for a while. Well, after an extensive search for Diamond Glaze (Let me save you the trouble - they don't sell it in Arkansas. Buy it online.), I finally got mine in the mail yesterday and finished a few of them. This was my first attempt at necklace making and I am really pleased with how they turned out. They were very easy and I only pinched myself with the needle-nosed pliers once. (That's good, right?) They do take a couple of days to make, though, because you have to let the glaze dry for 24-48 hours. My camera doesn't do them justice, but you can see some better pictures and the instructions for how to make them here.

Here's one I made for Alyssa. It's light blue with brown dots and I used a brown leather string.

This one is going to be ~~mine~~ a birthday gift for a friend. It's black and white with a black leather string and I added the clear dangly bead in the middle.

Next up will be these. I already have the stamps, so I will attempt a few of these in the next few days. (Watch out, people! I'm gonna use a HAMMER!)

My Family's Mad Soccer Skills

2010-06-10T07:22:00.002-05:00

In honor of the World Cup (which starts TOMORROW!), I thought I would share this little video of our family playing soccer. Even our cat Sarah got in on the action. Pepper (our other cat) was cheering us on from the sidelines... or sleeping. You decide.

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Book Review: Crazy Love

2010-06-09T05:00:00.002-05:00

The book Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God by Francis Chan is meant to be a wake-up call to the American church. It’s a call for “passionate, whole-hearted love for God” to replace a sluggish, lukewarm faith (which Chan asserts is actually no faith at all). As you read the book, you can feel Chan’s sense of urgency and his longing for the church to respond. Although it is very easy to read, it is also packed with Scripture.

A friend showed me this book when it first came out and recommended it to me. I later saw a video clip of Francis Chan on another site and I was totally turned off. He came across in that video clip as belittling those who live a peaceable, quiet life and pushing for everyone to do something “big” for God. After reading the book, though, I can see that the video clip was taken very much out of context. Chan specifically avoids telling the reader how to respond to the truths presented. Instead, he acknowledges that God has a unique plan for each believer. Chan’s only plea is for us to examine our lives (and the “American Dream”) against what Scripture has to say. And that’s never a bad idea.

I especially appreciated the last chapter where he says, “Our God is a Creator, not a duplicator.” I can’t look at someone else’s life, duplicate what they did, and claim that I’ve done what God has called me to do. Likewise, neither can I say that if everyone doesn’t do it “my way,” then they’ve got it wrong. Everyone is uniquely gifted for the tasks that God has ordained for them. The point of the book is not to say that everyone must do so-and-so to be following God. The point is to say that if you’re not radically affected by what God has done for you, then you need to re-examine your life.

Verdict: Highly Recommended

Summer (and Beyond) Scrapbooking Goals

2010-06-07T05:00:00.000-05:00

Since I’ve been talking about scrapbooking, I thought I would post my list of unfinished scrapbooking projects that I hope to work on over the summer (and beyond). If you’re looking for ideas for your own scrapbooks, this may spark some ideas for you, as well.

2009/2010 School Yearbook - Although our local homeschool group puts out a yearbook, I try to make my own small school yearbooks for the girls every year. I put the girls' school pictures in there, family pictures, and pages for any special activities we do during the year. This year’s book is 30 pages (the biggest one I’ve ever done) and is practically finished. I am just waiting on one picture someone is supposed to send to me. Then I’ll plug it into an existing page layout and then I can print it out.
Special Trips/Vacations – I took a trip to the U.K. in 2007 and I still haven’t finished that scrapbook! It was a 10-day trip and I’m on day 5 right now. I hope to finish that scrapbook by the end of June. Please feel free to hold me accountable and ask me how I’m doing! I also want to scrapbook our recent vacations to Perdido Key, Florida and Dauphin Island, Alabama.
Birthdays – If you know me at all, you know I LOVE to throw fun birthday parties. Sadly, though, I have not done a good job of scrapbooking those parties. I hope to make a scrapbook of all the birthday parties we’ve had over the years. This will be a tough project, because it will require some digging through old photos (digital and printed) to get everything I want to include.
Mid-sized Family Photos – This is the only non-digital project on my current list. Last summer, (Was it really that long ago?!) I cleaned out my photo drawer and got all my 3x5 and 4x6 photo prints into albums. I also bought an “art portfolio” to hold the over-sized items (like 10x13 pictures… anything larger than a 12x12 album would hold). The part I didn’t finish was putting all the 5x7 and 8x10 pictures into a 12x12 photo album. I have the album, paper, and photo corners. I just need to get it done.

I know I won't be able to get all of these projects completed over the summer, but I would like to at least make a dent in the list. So what about you? What kind of projects (scrapbooking or otherwise) are you working on this summer?

Scrapbooking Methods

2010-06-04T08:00:00.000-05:00

I thought I would follow up this post and talk a little bit about different scrapbooking methods.

I’ve seen lots of scrapbooks and they are about as varied as the people who put them together. They come in all different sizes. Some are simple; some are elaborate and even 3-dimensional. Some are put together manually and hand-written. Some are put together digitally and professionally bound. It really doesn’t matter how you decide to make your scrapbook. Each method has some merit. Whatever works for you and makes it easier for you to create your scrapbook is what you should do.

When I started scrapbooking I did it the traditional way, but that seemed to be too cumbersome for me to keep up with all those papers, stickers, and photos. Now I do almost all of my scrapbooking digitally. I make my scrapbook pages 8.5 x 11 so that I can have them printed at a copy store (it costs about 50 cents per page) and then I put them into inexpensive 3-ring binders. Here is a photo of my binder holding our school yearbooks. Each tab represents a different school year.

The other advantage to digital scrapbooking is that once you finish a book, you can easily print more than one copy. For our school yearbooks, I upload them to viovio.com to have them bound into books. I usually print 3 copies: one for me, and one for each of my daughters. If we ever lose a copy, I can easily go out to the site and order another one.

However, if you have a bunch of old photos (non-digital) that need to be scrapbooked, you may need to do it manually. I did this recently with some old family photos my grandparents had kept in a box. It just depends on the project. If you go this route for your first scrapbook, I suggest you keep it simple:

Use photo corners or double-sided tape for the photos.
Get a package of cardstock you like in the size you need. I used solid black for my photo album with the old family photos. It doesn’t have to be fancy.
Get a good, acid-free pen for journaling. Don’t skip this step! Even if you don’t want to write a bunch of information, you will at least want to write the names of the people in the photos. (Silver Sharpies write well on black paper.)

Feel free to skip the decorative papers, stickers, and other embellishments. They are nice to have, but getting the photos scrapbooked and documented is more important than making it fancy.

So for all of you scrapbookers out there (and I KNOW you’re out there!), what are your best tips? Do you scrapbook digitally or by hand? Do you prefer 12x12, 8x8, or 8.5x11 pages? Do you use online photo books? (If so, please give your recommendations. I have never used those but have seen some nice ones others have ordered.) Inquiring minds want to know!

Why Do I Scrapbook?

2010-06-02T10:05:00.002-05:00

One of my biggest summer goals is to catch up on some scrapbooking. I used to gaze in amazement as I saw other moms with their beautiful Creative Memories albums and thought, “I could never do anything like that.”

I’m just not that artistic.

I don’t have time.

It’s too expensive.

I could come up with a thousand excuses and reasons why I shouldn’t bother scrapbooking.

Then I went to an event at my church where our pastor’s wife did a session on scrapbooking. I went into this session with the mindset of, “Oh, those are really nice, but I could never do that.” But then she did something unexpected. She actually gave me a biblical reason for scrapbooking! For her, a scrapbook wasn’t just a bunch of photos or even a fun arts & crafts project. It was a journal of God’s faithfulness. She said something to the effect that we should look at scrapbooks as a ministry to our kids, preserving memories for them and family history that they might not remember when they grow up. And if I thought my photo albums were sufficient to fulfill that role, she crushed that thought, too, by stressing how important it was to journal WHY the photos were special and WHAT was happening in the picture. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but sometimes it’s helpful to have some background to put the picture in context.

I was convicted and started scrapbooking soon after that. I started with something simple: soccer. I made a page with the child’s individual soccer picture, the team photo, and a list of the team members. If I had other pictures from the season, I made additional pages for those, too, and put them into the soccer photo album. I can’t tell you how many times I have referred back to that album to remember a child’s name from a long-forgotten team!

Since then I have done quite a few other albums (and I have added each year to the original soccer one). It is sometimes humorous to look through them and see the evolution of my scrapbooking skills. I’m still learning, but I do think I’m getting a little better at it.

As I get older and my memory fails more and more often, I am more thankful for the work I’ve done. I hope someday the girls appreciate it, too. And I pray the documentation of God’s abundant blessings to us cause them (and me!) to worship Him more as we look through the pages of those scrapbooks.