Assembling with believers

We are on our third week of sickness at our house. We have all been ill and most of us at the same time with stomach bugs, croupe, viral infections, coughs etc.............you name it. I have been unable to be at church much for the past few weeks. I realize that it is best for us to stay away but after awhile I start to miss my other brothers and sisters in the Lord. It is a wonderful thing to be in the house of the Lord with like minded believers. I think of chrisitans who don't see the need to be in church. I get discouraged when I am away for to long. I know God is still here in my home, I still can read his word and pray but there is a reason why God tells us not to forsake the assembling together of the body.
For many years, I had a hard time with this verse. I saw many families put church so high on the list that their families needs were last. They were there Sunday morning, night and Wednesday night and Thursday Bible study, Friday church supper, etc.............. No matter what was going on in their family, sickness, exhaustion, family needs. I saw friends grow hard to the things of the Lord. Today, some of my friends who I was the closest to as a child and teenager have completely given up their walk with the Lord and live some of the most ungodly lives. I don't think that being at church causes this but I do think that parents have to be wise in their involvement. It's a wonderful thing to serve the Lord. I often see needs and want to fill them all but at this phase in life, I am a wife and mom first. The service to the Lord that I am fulfilling is my family. At the moment, it is a sick family. I am glad that I am able to minister to them with hugs, stories, chicken soup and just being together.
I miss church. I can't wait to be healthy so that we can be there as a family again. I understand why God tells us to be there. It is encouraging to the soul, edifying to the saints. I am looking forward to going back again AFTER my family is better!

Saving money

I am sorry that I haven't blogged in so long. I have been quite busy lately with sick kids, friends from out of state visiting and life. So to Kathy and Emily and a few others who have mentioned that they are tired of seeing my dinner recipe post............here's a new one!

I know I mentioned that I like Hillbilly housewife. I was on the sight tonight and she has a section called lunch box basics. I had to really think about what she broke down for spending money on lunches. My husband eats at school for $3 a day. I have often thought that this is cheap enough. Lunch for $15 a week. Not bad. However, when I saw it broken down that the average lunch made from home (which is healthier than lunch out) only costs about $1 per day, I realized that we could have a decent savings account at the end of the school year. $2 a day times 180 school days is a $360 savings. If he worked through the summer, it would be a total of $480. WOW!

This brought me to another thought, I wonder how many things you could cut corners with on a daily or weekly basis that would not hurt the comforts of life to much but over a period of time could make a significant difference? I am sure there are a few for us. This brings me to another thought. Crown ministries has a service called Mvelopes. It actually budgets your money for you using the old fashioned envelope system. The neat thing is that it is all on the computer. I have really found it helpful. They run a 30 day trial for free. Check it out! It's a neat idea.
This isn't the most exciting post but I thought I'd share a few ideas on how to save and cut corners without to much thought. Maybe we could all afford a nice family vacation by packing lunches!

Dinner Recipes

This is for those of you who have been asking for more healthy recipes. These past 2 nights my family has raved about dinner so I thought I would share with you. Last night we had Teryaki Salmon. The recipe was for 4 5oz. filets. The teryaki was made with 1/2 cup of vegetable broth, 1/2 cup of white wine, 3 TBSP of brown sugar, 2 TBSP of soy sauce. Boil this on the stove and simmer for 5 minutes. Pour over the salmon and cook each side for 3-4 min. on 350 degrees. I doubled the recipe. I served this with fresh asparagus and a salad made with romaine, yellow peppers, avacado, real bacon bits, fresh crumbled gorgonzola cheese(similiar to crumbly blue) and Good Seasons Italian dressing in the packet. I like the mild italian. I make it with olive or canola oil. It is excellent!
Tonights dinner was Chicken breast cut down the center but not all the way through and open the breast up on each side. I filled it with fresh spinach, ham and colby, monterey cheese. Roll the breast up. Sprinkle seasoning on top. Whatever you like. I used minced onion, garlic powder, salt and pepper. For a grain we had bulgar wheat which resembles rice. I boiled 1 cup in 2 cups of vegetable broth for 40 minutes. You can do so much with bulgar wheat. It is cheap and one of your healthiest grains. It can be cooked with veggies, as a pilaf, or used cold in a salad. We had corn for a veggie and pineapple for dessert.
My family loved everything and they commented on the dinners so much that I had to share these recipes with you. Let me know if you try any of these? I'd like to know what you think.

Homeschooling with Dad.

Today Dad did the homeschooling with Emma. They worked without interruption for 2 hours. For those who don't know, Emma is my hands on kid. She gets side tracked easily and can think of many other things that she would like to be doing beside school. In other words, she is my challenge most days. But today, she worked with Dad.
At first, I cringed a little. He is a school teacher and I found out today that they are not nice, patient and kind everyday either. His tolerance for bologna or lack of effort was little. His tolerance for tears was none. His tolerance for excuses..........there wasn't any. He explained it and told her to," get going". He sat by her side and made sure she didn't dawdle. He praised and encouraged when she completeted the assignment and patiently helped when she was putting forth her best effort. I noticed though that he had zero tolerance for any type of nonsense. At one point, I said, "She really dosen't know those facts, they are a daily struggle." He told me, "she should know these facts and she will know these facts." By the end of the math lesson, she knew the facts. Facts I have been working on with her for weeks. He sat by her side and made her review them over and over and showed her how to figure them out. He did not allow her to give up or whine or say, "I can't." He told her, "You can and you will."
It's amazing to me that she pulled through every assigment with flying colors when it was determined ahead of time by Dad that school was not optional. She would do it and excellent attitude and behavior was expected. There would be no breaks until school was finished. He explained to her that in the classroom he worked with his 4th graders from 8-10:30 in the morning and from 12-2:30 in the afternoon with no breaks. Their break was specials and lunch from 10:30-12:oo each day. This meant 2 hours a day of work did not need a break. School was over by 11:00 this morning and now Emma and Dad went out on a lunch date to just be together. Emma was happy and knew her boundaries. Dad was excited to be done with school and excited to spend sometime with his daughter. I was impressed and the rest of the house stayed peaceful because one little girl got some tough love this morning and was not allowed to ruin the rest of the families morning by thinking, " I can't!"
Husbands are wonderful leaders and often times they know the perfect solution to complicated situtations. Praise God for them!

The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day that turned into a Blessing!

Yesterday was not a day that I would like to repeat. It seems that Fridays are a day that I spend making many phone calls. I started at 8:00 in the morning and realized at 3:30 when my husband got home that I still was on the phone! I didn't talk that entire time but several times within that time frame. Some calls were business, homeschool coop related and a couple for just catching up with my friends. My children were fighting more than usual and I was getting frustrated! I was being selfish. I knew I should address the problems that they were having and give them my undivided attention but I was choosing not to because I wanted to talk on the phone. I was thinking thoughts like, "Why can't they just get along and be quiet?" "Why do they have to fight whenever I try to do something for an extended period of time?" Why can't they just get along while they are making apple crisp" This was supposed to be a fun project for them to do together. What I was really saying was, "Leave me alone and let me do what I want to. Don't bother me."
My husband came home and I unloaded on him. He was very quiet.(I am sure this is exactly how he planned to start his weekend). I had sent the girls to their rooms for their behavior and had a little while to think about my own while explaining my day to Damon. After listening to myself and watching my husband contemplate what I was telling him, I decided that the kids definately needed to change their behavior but so did I. They were being selfish by fighting and wanting their own ways but I was being selfish by wanting my own way in not attending to my first responsibility. My children. Things had probably gotten out of hand because I was reprimanding but continuing to stay side tracked with my agenda. I was very convicted.
Our evening took a different turn. The girls and I talked and apologized for our wrongs. A friend called and had 4 free tickets to go to a special event. My husband agreed to watch my 2 year old and encouraged me to go with the girls and enjoy eachother. We did. I am glad that our day took a turn for the better and that God is at work in each of our hearts.
After our event, I put the kids to bed and was sifting through my e-mails. Autumn had a paper due for co-op that she had e-mailed to her teacher because our printer wasn't working. I had not read the final paper. It was titled, My Hero. I read the paper and tears welt up in my eyes. Her hero was me. She wrote about all of my good qualites and said I had a big heart and loved my family and friends with all of it. She said she wanted to be like me someday. Iwas so touched and convicted all at the same time. I was thankful that on a day that seemed so bad, my daughter still sees the good in her mom. I am thankful that God works in our lives even on terrible days and brings about his plan for our lives. I was convicted again that my actions and words are being watched every minute around this house by my children. I am their example. No one person has a bigger impact for the Lord on their children than their mom. It made me think about Christ dying on a cross for me and my sin and that My Father in heaven sees me through Christ's eyes because of his great sacrifice on my behalf. I got only a glimpse through my daughter's paper, her love for me despite my inadequacies, of God's great love for us despite our sin.

A tasty treat!

I am always trying to find healthy snacks for the kids and I thought I'd share one with you that is very inexpensive. Aldi's sells boxed puddings for .29 cents. They have chocolate and vanilla. I have started making them a couple times a week. It only requires 2 cups of milk and a mixer. I even went further and put 2 cups of water in with 2/3 cups of powdered milk. A little cheaper. I mix it all together and we have a relatively healthy snack for quite cheap. I bought little cups with lids at the dollar store so the kids still feel like they're getting a nicely packaged dessert. One package fills the equivlance of a 6 pack of pudding from the store so for about .50 cents it's a terrific snack for the whole family. I should mention that as unappealing as the powdered milk is, you can not tell the difference in recipes.
I realize this is not as healthy of a snack as fruits or veggies but it has lots of dairy and is better than the expensive packaged food at the store with tons of additives and preservatives. Every kid needs a treat once in awhile! Also the sugar to dairy ratio is minimal.
Another treat that is one of my favorites is one made with ricotta. It calls for 1/2 cup of ricotta, a packet of splenda, xylitol or tsp. of sugar. 1/8 tsp. of vanilla and a dash of cinnamon. This tastes like rice pudding to me. You can also make it with a teaspoon of cocoa powder instead of cinnamon. Now it tastes like chocolate ice cream without all the sugar. I eat one of these almost daily. Especially when I am watching my carbohydrates.
I'll share more recipes when I have the chance. I love to experiment when time permits. Let me know if you try any of these, I am anxious to know what you think?

The Pearls

I like a lot of the writings from Michael and Debbie Pearl. They are the founders of the No Greater Joy ministry. I received their magazine today and one of the articles popped out at me so I thought I would share it with you. It is written by their daughter.

Some of my favorite memories of growing up are of working beside my parents. I recall with pleasure working side by side with my mom in the kitchen, spilled flour on the floor and messy dough on our hands. "Just a good pinch of baking soda will make a cup of flour rise if you add a sour liquid," she would say. She would give me a reason for every ingredient that went into the bowl. Mom never followed recipes, so not everything she cooked turned out tasting just right, but then I would learn why, and what I could do to change it to make it be perfect the next time.
By the time I was 13 or 14 years old, I passed her up in the culinary department, especially when it came to using herbs for seasoning. Dad bragged on my cooking so much that Mom would have me season everything she cooked. It gave me ample opportunity to learn what herbs complemented certain foods best. I became a real chef. I simply LOVED to cook. I also learned another important lesson, and that was how to teach others. Mom's way of teaching made it natural for me to want to teach others. I remember vividly the pleasure I had after tasting, touching, smelling, mixing and cooking, and then hearing Dad's praise when something tasted wonderful. The same thrill I felt as a child comes back to me now when I am teaching others. Mom gave me two special gifts- cooking and, more importantly, the love of teaching.
Kids run off when they hear their parents say,
"OK, it's family time."
"OK, it's time for homeschool."
"OK, it's Bible-study time."
"OK, let's spend some quality time together. I want everyone to come into the living room and sit down." Just hearing those words are enough to zap the fun out of life and shut the brain down so it can't learn.
Real fellowship and teaching says, "Hey, who wants to help me make a delicious, fabulous, wild, fruit salad with real rose petals in it? - Shoshanna (Pearl) Easling

I just want to add my two cents. God's word, homeschooling, Bible study are all important but I think the biggest impact we can make on our kids is in the little things. The simple times of working side by side and conversation while we keep our hands busy. I can't tell you how much my girls have learned in the kitchen while we have canned, cooked, cleaned and just enjoyed being together. They have learned how to do these tasks and I try to make conversation about things that are of interest to them. I also try to pull the Lord into all that we do. It seems there are always ways to bring our faith and beliefs into the tasks that seem so mundane. I read an article one time that encouraged me to work along side of my kids instead of each going in seperate directions when we have housework to do. I don't always follow this but I try as often as I think of it to work at the kitchen together, then the living room together, etc........ instead of my doing the kitchen while one child does the livingroom and the other the bathroom. It makes the work go faster because you have several hands and GREAT conversation!