Bible Study

I wanted to let you know that I will not be posting on Genesis the rest of this week. Justin and I have been asked to share our Testimonies at church on Sunday. (We have know since October) I have my testimony mainly wrote, but the rest of this week I want to add in my scripture references and just keep re-reading it to make sure it conveys the message I think the Lord has put on my heart to share. I also want to spend extra time in the Word just having my own personal time with the Lord. So I will be posting again on Genesis starting next Monday :)

I would ask you to pray for us while we finish preparing to speak. We are pretty nervous!! I know the Lord will bless us through sharing what He has done in our life.

Homeschooling

Today's topic.....homeschooling...why we do it and what led us to make that choice. First things first..when I was pregnant with Lance I remember having a conversation with another couple, the husband of that couple was a teacher, and we talked about how we didn't know why anyone would homeschool their children. (This conversation took place 8 years ago....just so you can get a good picture of this scenario.) At that time we didn't know anyone who homeschooled and I vividly remember saying "I would never home school my kids." I think the whole socialization thing I thought was an issue (I laugh at that now), and thinking they would have to forgo sports and all the fun things I remembered doing in school.
Okay well fast forward to 5 years after this conversation had taken place, when Lance was 4 years old. We started attending a new church around that time and noticed something was different about the kids here...although we couldn't really put our finger on it at the time. Anyway come to find out this church was flourishing with homeschooled kids, and it peaked my interest "why so many I thought." So I talked about it with Justin and I decided to start researching homeschooling. I bought two books, THE ABC"S OF HOMESCHOOLING, and a book by Lisa Whelchel (I think that's her name). The second book had 15 different families in it and they all had different reasons why they were homeschooling. Also they are used a somewhat different method of schoooling as well. My eyes were quickly opened up to all the different possibilities of curriculum, methods, schedules, ect. My worries of my children being able to have enough of a social life, was quickly dismissed when I started reading through books and talking to moms who were already in this process.
A couple of good points I will share with you...Let's just talk about the first place you might send your child to school...pre-school so they would be 3 or 4 depending on when you were planning on sending them to kindergarten. Ask yourself what kind of social behaviors can another 3 or 4 year old teach my child? Well I can think of alot of negative behaviors they could bring home! I can't think of my things they can learn from another preschooler that would benefit them that I couldn't teach better at home. Children have to learn things like sharing, kindness, compassion, along with a whole host of other things....they can learn all that from siblings, or if they are the only child you can arrange play dates with other mommies you know. If your involved with your church then they also interact with children once or twice a week there.
Being able to playing sports is not an issue either..there are homeschool leagues the kids can play on...YMCA programs the kids can be involved in, park leagues they can play in, upwards programs as well....So there is no shortage of opportunities you just have to look and quickly you will have endless things to choose from.
So after 1 1/2 years of talking with other mom who homeschool, reading books, and reading anything about homeschooling I could get my hands on we decided that this was a good choice for our family. A couple of the deal closers for us were
1. We could incorporate Bible Study into our daily schedule
2. We could incorporate daily chores to help practice responsiblity
3. All we teach can be based on Bible believing principles
4. We can tailor the curriculum to each child's abilities and speed of learning
5. Our children can spend more time with us
6. I can daily enforce character issues that need to be addressed
7. Since our learning time is more concentrated we finish sooner
(example: no recess, busy work, no wasted time switching classes, ect)
8. I can directly track my child's progress and take care of any problem areas quickly
9. Our school year if shorter..no snow days, fog delays, ect
10. Less distractions = more learning

I might be able to listen 10 more easily but I think you get the picture! I do understand that homeschooling is not for everyone, and I don't want anyone to feel like I am pushing it on you as a "must" for your family. I think everyone does need to consider it as a choice though. Our kids education is very important and needs to be taken seriously.

I will write more on this subject.....in the mean time let me know what you think...ask me any questions you might have about homeschooling (I am by no means a know-it-all on the subject but I can speak from my own experience)

Mommy Moment Monday

Well my first mommy moment this week is just a little thing that my littlest boy Zach (3 years old) tells me. When he comes over to me and gives that lovable smile of his and crawls up in my lap I just love it. He is a cuddler by nature, always has been..so is Caleb actually. Well anyway, he has this little saying he says to me that just makes me melt!


"Your the best mom in the milky way, the universe, and the county." It always make me chuckle, because he has heard his older brothers say things like this to me but he has made up his own version of it. I just love how he doesn't realize that that he is saying these things out of proportion..and that's okay with me...I just love to hear him say it and see that lovable smile as he gives me a great big hug!!! It just makes my day!!!

Bible Study Ch. 11 &12

CHAPTER 11: Well after the flood the Lord made a promise to never again destroy the earth and all life by water. However, he did not say that he would never again deal with with human sin. The building of the Tower of Babel was an attempt for the people to "make a name for themselves". The Lord confused there language so that each group spoke a different language and the people were scattered.

CHAPTER 12: ALL THE FOLLOWING WAS TAKEN FROM MY STUDY BOOK!! Now God began to devote special attention to one family. Then, from out of this nation, He would raise up the Messiah, who would achieve salvation for all who would believe in Him.

We can't be sure why God called Abram, we do know from later events in his life that he had many fine qualities. God's call to Abram was demanding. Abram was to leave his country, his people, and his father's household, and he was to go to a land he did not know. This must have seemed painful and risky to him. God's call may scare us. But when we are as certain of the Lord's will as we can be, we must respond in faith. He will give us strength to do what He asks.

Along with Abram's call came a blessings. (seven was the symbolic number of perfection)
GOD PROMISED:

1. "I will make you into a great nation"
2. "I will bless you"
3. "I will make you name great"
4. "you will be a blessing"
5. "I will bless those who bless you"
6. "whoever curses you I will curse"
7. "all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."

The Lord fulfilled these:
1. Abram became the father of the Hebrew nation
2. In his day we was rich
3. He has been famous ever since
4-7. His decedent Jesus Christ spread God's blessings to people from all nations

Abram didn't know about these fulfillments of course, he had to accept the blessings, and obey the call by faith.

NOW IN VERSES 10-20 God shows us Abram failure in character. He thought that he and his wife would be safer is they lied and said his wife, Sarai, was his sister. He should have trusted God to protect them and see them through, but he made a mistake.

I am guilty of doing this same thing...taking matters into my own hands and thinking "I HAVE EVERYTHING UNDER MY CONTROL." Sometimes I think being a person who likes order and organization sometimes is a curse...I like to have a plan and a goal for our house. As I get older and my walk with the Lord continues to grow I understand that I DAILY have to seek His will and plan for my life and my household. I have to DAILY surrender to his calling on my life and trust Him by faith.

Operation Organization!

Well my family and I spent the entire day organzing our home!!! Let me start with this information...We live in an old farmhouse built in 1900...so there really is very little storage. Actually I think we have more storage than some older homes, but just not enough. CAN YOU EVER HAVE TO MUCH STORAGE????? As a family of 6 I think not, with all the toys, clothes, and misc items I always need more space to put stuff. I think I should have bought some stock in the PLASTIC TOTE COMPANIES..I have a million of them!!! Anyone else feel that way???



Moving on, we started off the morning working in the basement. Well when I say basement I mean your typical farmhouse basement that can't be finished...it is wet when it rains and has that stinky wet smell...well it's has been working well for storing all those great totes we have but lately I have really been wanting to get everything moved out of there to somewhere less wet, and mildew smelling. So after looking over all the totes and making sure we wanted what was inside them my helpful hubby hauled everyone one out of the basement and out to a outdoor storage barn we have. It stays dry there and it still easy to get to when we need something out again! TASK ACCOMPLISHED!!! But it took us most of the morning!!!



The next project was trading rooms with the boys. All of our bedrooms are upstairs, and our 3 boys share a room, Julia has the top of the loft for her room and then we have the other bedroom. The last 6 years that we have been here our room and been our bedroom PLUS my sewing room, PLUS my card making room, PLUS the ironing room ALL WRAPPED IN ONE!!! (it's a pretty big room) That arrangement has worked fine for us but the boys were needing some more space to actually play with there toys and just have some space of there own. There current room was big enough for the bunkbed, and a toddler bed, with 3 dressers and a toys box, but there was little room for playing. So now we have the smaller room and they have SO MUCH room to play in the bigger plus we elimated one dresser!!! I think it will work out well..I hope so since it took so much work to make the switch happen........Justin and I agree we think we like it better where we are now. TASK 2 ACCOMPLISHED!!!



PLUS Justin was able to put together 2 wooden storage cubes I got as Christmas gifts!! And we got all the gifts put away, dishes done, and all the laundry caught up!!! SO WE WERE POOPED by the time we put the kids in bed.....



IT FEELS GREAT TO ACCOMPLISH SO MUCH IN ONE DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Did you have a great weekend??? What did you do??

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE!!!!!!!!

Just a quick note to wish everyone a fantastic day of celebrating the next couple days!! We will spend today at my mom and dad's and Christmas day at Justin's parents. Every year we switch, next year we will be with my parents on Christmas day and his parents Christmas Eve. It works well for us and our parents! So be safe while traveling on all the ice!!!!

I am thinking we are starting a new tradition in our house tomorrow morning by singing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus on Christmas morning. I thought we would do it before opening our gifts, along with a little trivia question for the each kid to answer before they open each gift. My thinking is it will help us keep perspective on what we are celebrating plus it will stretch the precious time we are spending together opening gifts!!

Are you doing any traditions you would like to share??

Mid-Week funny!!

Okay so this funny is brought to you by my oldest son Lance, who is very logical thinking, quick learner, and very talkative!!! Well anyway he was outside playing this past fall while everyone else was napping, and he came busting in the house with such excitement and seriousness in his voice that I stopped right away to see what was going on. In a very serious voice, he said "MOM the PRESIDENT of the United States just drove by OUR house!!!" I said "Are you sure?" Then he replied like I was some kind of a crazy woman "Yes mom I am sure,!" So I went on to ask him some questions and these were his replies. "So tell me Lance was the President in a BLACK car with flags on it?" "Yes mom, it was black with these neat flags on it." I asked one more question, "Lance was there a whole bunch of other cars following him?" He got this look of amazement on his face like he couldn't believe I was getting all these things right about the sighting of the President without being there with him to see it. "Yes mom there were a lot of cars following him, how'd you know."

I tried to hold back the laughter because I hated to squelch his excitement and I didn't want him to be embarrassed, then I broke the news to him.

Lance that was the hurse for a funeral procession, they were heading down to the church cemetery (which is just down the road from our house about a mile or so). He simply said "Oh my mistake, but I really did think it was him mom." Then cheerfully walked out the door to go play some more.

GOTTA LOVE IT!!!

Spreading Some Christmas JOY!!!

Even though the weather wasn't the best, I headed out this afternoon to spread alittle Christmas joy!! Well my first stop to a neighbor of mine, an elderly woman with no family, I took her alittle gift along with some hot chilli I made today and our family Christmas card.. All went well until I tried to leave the drive and I was stuck!!!!! After some trying of my own I had to call my father in law to come rescue me. Well he didn't have his 4x4 but we tried using some carpet scraps another neighbor was throwing out to get some traction. They worked some but I still couldn't back over the patch as of ice. Anyway another neighbor went by as saw I was stuck and pulled me out!
Next stop was to drop the kiddos off so I could go do some shopping for groceries I needed. Drop off was successful and shopping was also!! I decided to stock on a month or so worth of meals this time around. I thought since the weather has been so yucky lately and I wanted to get back to meal planning..I thought I would make this a BIG shopping trip.

Here is what we are planning on eating the next 30 days or so.

Tatortot Casserole, Bake Beans
Chilli, cheese sprinkled on top, crackers, and rolls
Lasagna, homemade garlic bread, green beans
Scalloped potatoes and ham, sweet potatoe casserole
Spaghetti Bake, Corn
Crescent roll Mexican casserole
Meatloaf, bake potatoes, (topped with broccoli and cheese for those who like it)
Ham and Bean soup, corn bread muffins
Veg. Soup (with sausage, potatoes, green beans, corn)
Boneless skinless chicken breast cooked in homemade spaghetti sauce then put on top of long grain white rice, served with either corn or green beans
Chicken, green bean, potatoe mix ( concoction I came up with it has spices and several things added in)

These are not in the order we will have them..really there is no set order I just choose off the list each day,because I know I have the ingredients on hand. Coming up with the ideas is 1/2 the battle!!

All said and done I spent less than $200 for all those meals and ingredients, plus I bought lots of stuff for baking cookies and banana bread and pumpkins bread. Not bad!!

Well I love recipes with 5 ingredients or less and they take 15 minutes or less to prep..Do you have any you can share with me??? I would love to hear them!!

Bible Study Genesis Ch. 9 & 10

Chapter 9: My study book notes: Through the flood God did not merely detroy; He also re-created. Noah was a kind of new Adam. His family and the animals were given a renewed command to multiply. Also, Noah's family members were given renewed dominion over the rest of creation. The image of God in humans was reaffirmed.

I guess I have never thought of Noah as a new "Adam". Have you??? Good point though I totally get the comparision.

Chapter 10: Genealogies on Noah's son's begins. Chapter 10 shares some historical, linguiistic, and geographical associations.

For the next few days I will not be posting my Bible Study because of the obvious uncoming holiday. We will pick up next Monday December 29th. Be ready to cover chapters 11 & 12!!

Bible Study ch. 7 & 8

Chapter 7: verse two caught my eye it reads "Take with you SEVEN of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of every kind of unclean animal, male and its mate, and also SEVEN of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their varieties alive throughout the earth.

WAIT A MINUTE doesn't the song go "TWO BY TWO" get in the ark???? Here is what my footnote reads in my Bible. The ceremonially unclean animals would only have to reproduce themselves after the flood, but the ceremonially clean animals would be needed also for the burnt offerings that Noah would sacrifice and for food. I have never even noticed that detail before while reading through Genesis, have you???? I will jump now to verse 5 in chapter 7.

"And Noah did all the Lord commanded him." Boy I wish I could say the samewas true for me!! I don't let that fact of my constant failing to meet the standards that GOD has set discourage me, nor do I let it be my excuse to say that it is okay to not even try. I just keep on trying to be consisent in my walk with the Lord and keep in his word so I know what His standards are and how I can reach them.

Chapter 8: Know how we become anxious to get out of the house when we are stuck inside when bad patches of weather come through ( not hard to image since we are having such yucky weather as we speak...with more to come). Can you imagine how ready Noah and his family we in the ark for the 40 days and nights of rain...but also wait for the waters to receed and the land to be try enough to inhabit it. They were in that ark for more than a YEAR...dry land must have been a site!!!!

Bible Study Genesis Ch. 7 & 8

Well I just made an entire post on Genesis chapter 7 and 8 and as I was editing and checking for spelling or word error apparently I hit some button I should not have hit.....I LOST THE WHOLE thing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! so I will try to repost if time allows later today. In the mean time if anything jumped off the page at you let me know!

BARGAINS!!!!!

Good Monday!!! Well I hvae to share my huge bargin find that I ran into this weekend!! Let me give you just a tiny background first... I had been telling Justin for about two months now that I needed to get some new church clothes for winter. I didn't have any that fit me good.....So anyway I ran into town on Saturday and stopped at Goodwill (Ya never know what you might find). Well as I entered the store I saw that there was a sign on the door that said TODAY ONLY 50% off everything in the store! WOWWEE!!!! I thought anything that I find today that actually fits me is going home with me for 1/2 off. Well that's just what I did, I tried on my cartfull of items and ended up with 14 things I loved.....4 long skirts, 4 sweaters, 2 knitted tanks (to wear underneath things), 2 pairs of dress pants, and 2 blazer style jackets all for the bargin price of........... Did I mention that almost 1/2 of them are name brand items like Old Navy, Maurices, Calvin Klein, Gap, Ann Taylor, and Ann Taylor Loft!!!!! All name brands that I woudl never buy new because of the CRAZY price they would normally cost!!!! Oh ya, I also picked up a movie...so what do you think I paid ( my favorite question to ask my husband)... Well $39 was the total for the three bags of clothing I carried out!!! I just LOVE a good find!!!!

The Parties begin!!

This weekend we kick off celebrating the birth Jesus!! Saturday night we have a get together with my dad's side of the family..It should be a fun time, I only get to see most of them once or twice a year. We usually have some kind of fun crafty thing for the kids and us mom's to do, while the men sit and chat or play cards..of course there will be food (lots of it!) and then a gift exchange. There is a $10 limit, you bring one man's gift and one woman's gift only if you want to participate....I am excited about the gifts I am bringing this year I got some GREAT DEALS! Got a man's gift we are giving a 2009 entertainment book, thanks to the sale last week at Walgreens I scored one for $10!! Then for a woman's gift I am giving a cute tote bag with girly goodies (lotions and things.) Got it at CVS on thanksgiving day for $10!!!!

On Sunday we head over to Justin's mom side of the family for eating and presents right after church. We are keeping it simple and stress free because we are ordering pizza for lunch! Makes it easy on grandma and all of us bring snacky foods or desserts. It's always a great time when we all get together and the kids are counting down the days!!!!!!

Do you have any plans this weekend???

Bible Study Genesis Ch. 5 & 6

This is a day late I know..just couldn't get to the computer yesterday for long enough to post it.
Well in chapter 5 is the listing of Adam's decendents. I don't know about you but all those names make my head spin!!!! My Study book mentions a few good things I'd like to pass on.

Then length of life was extraordinarily long. But that did not prevent death from catching up with humanity, as God had said it would. The life of Enoch was the exception. Because of his close walk with God, Enoch did not die but was taken directly to be with the Lord.

Chapter 6: The Flood.....By this time the wickedness had almost completely taken over. You would have benn hard pressed to find any rightousness left in the human race, so the Lord would send a flood to destroy all life. Noah and his family were excluded from this punishment and in this cahpeter they would build the ark in preparation of what was to come.

Any good points I missed that you'd like to add?

More about meal planning

I have been planning out our meals for about 2 years or so I would say..and what a piece of mind it has brought to my everyday routine!! It also has been amazing to me that just by taking about a half hour or so I can figure out what I am cooking for the next week, two weeks, or month, and then make up my shopping list up and be done. I used to grocery ONCE A MONTH!! It was a long list and would take be about 2 - 2 1/2 hours to do but then I was done for the month! I would buy about 2 weeks worth of fresh fruit like bananas, apples, and grapes. Then I would stock pile canned fruit to get us through the next two weeks until shopping time rolled around again. My husband is in the area at least once or twice a week where they have an Aunt Millie's bread outlet store and that is where we get all out bread, ham./hotdog buns, ect. On Monday's everything is .59 so he will get about 10 loaves at a time then we freeze what we don't need immediately and get it out as needed. Then since my hubby is in sales he is on the road everyday so if I need milk or maybe some ingredient I forgot on my list he can stop quick and get it for me :) I have to say the system works like a charm. Did I mention that we get paid once a month, so that system works out well for us..but like about anything you can make it fit your situation. If you get paid weekly and shop weekly then meal plan weekly, or every two weeks however it works best for you. But if you have the extra money on hand to shop monthly I would recommend trying it out for a month. I have loved the fact of how much time I save only shopping once a month.
I have to admit though, since June of this year I have been doing a little bit of new system, my husband has named it "COUPON CRAZINESS" or something like that. Since starting this new system, I shop weekly in order to take advantage of weekly specials then pile the coupons on top of that and I get lots of things free or nearly free. I won't go into all the details of that at this time, but my way of shopping has changed. I only wish I could combine the two so I could still shop once a month, but get all the crazy good deals at the same time.....but it doesn't work that way..BUMMER!!
Think about it, consider trying it if you are a person who hates to grocery shop and figure out what's for supper on a daily basis...this method might be a saving grace for your sanity.

Bible Study Ch 3-4

Okay so today we are talking about chapters 3 & 4 in Genesis.

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. --Genesis 3:6

Ever wonder why Adam didn't stop her? He was standing right there beside her, isn't he suppose to be the spirital leader of the family? These questions were brought up in Sunday school class...I guess I hadn't really thought of that before. Just like Eve we all have temptation, and just like Eve give into temptation from time to time and fall into disobedience to out Heavenly Father. It saddens me to think of how often I fail in daily life when it comes to obedience to God. Whether it's in my thoughts, my quickness to anger, or failure to have my daily quiet time, whatever it might be, after all the sacrifice He made and freely gave of His own son for me. That is one reason I really want to get my quiet time in with the Lord everyday, I need to keep the right perspective on things in order to daily appreciate the grace which has been freely given to me from God. I want Him to see that I cherish it, because I truly do. Today more than ever we need to hold close to us the thing that matters most in our life, Jesus Christ. It's easy to say he's the owner of our hearts, but harder to life it day and day out.

???What are you doing to protect your heart and save it only for Jesus????

Also it stuck out to me that Adam nor Eve was willing to take responsibility for their chioce to eat of the fruit. They played the "Blame Game." Eve blamed the serpent, and Adam blamed God and Eve for his choice.

The man said, " The woman YOU put her with me-she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it." Then the Lord said to the woman, "What have you done?" The woman said, "Te serpent deceived me, and I ate." Genesis 3: 12-13

Have you ever been around someone like this? Not willing to take responsibility for their actions, it's always someone else's fault...someone else's problem....someone else's bad habit..never their own. Are you like that???? Boy that's a hard question and sometime we don't like the answer. I think at one point or another we are fall into that catagory. The difference is do you stay in that catagory because it's easier to pick at someone else's faults than deal with our own.....or do you apologize to the needed parties and then correct ourself and make a concentrated effort to ensure it doesn't happen again?

Cain and Abel: Cain the farmer, Abel the shepherd bothe brougth offering the Lord was pleased with Abel , but not with Cain's offerings???? Cain brought fruit (plant life) and Abel brought meat protions from the firstborn of his flock...MY FOOTNOTE READS in Genesis 4: 3-4

The contrast is not between an offering of plant life and an offering of animal life, but between a careless, thoughtless offering and a choice generous offering. Motivation and heart attitude are all-important, and God looked with favor on Abel and his offering because of Abel's faith (Hebrews 11:4) firstborn. Indicative of the recognition that all the productivity of the flock is from the Lord and all of it belongs to Him.

Our way of illistrating this today is with our tithing, the money we give back to God. My first question is do you recognize that all your money comes from God like Abel did? Do you live your life that way? Do you give the first fruits of your paycheck back to Him or just enough to say you gave something? Do you give in a sacrificing way? Only you and God know the answers to those questions. God doens't need the money we give in order to expand his kingdom, but it's our way of showing that we have "faith like Abel" to know that is the one true provider of all we have.

Well I think we covered enough food for thought to chew on for today! I would love to hear from you and get some perspective from you!

Mid Week Funny!

I thought it would be fun if mid-week I could give you all something to laugh at!!! If you are anything like me, sometime I take life a little to seriously! I forget to laugh amongst the craziness of schedules, schooling, and housework...Know the feeling???

This week's funny is a favorite of mine! Since we are getting ready to celebrate the majestic birth of Jesus this ties right in with this funny story....So last year Caleb would have been 4 years old and around our house we share the Christmas story frequently to remind ourselves and our kids what the focus of the holiday really is about...plus these things are reinforced at church and awana.

So it was New Year's Eve and we had around 15 people over, mainly family, to ring in the new year. My husband's sister was about to be married in March was there along with her finance. I don't remember if we were talking about the wedding or what. But anyway we were all sitting around playing cards and Caleb out of no where says "So Jessica are you a virgin?" I think everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and started laughing...of course I think she was horrified and wanted to crawl in a whole and die. I was so shocked at the out of no where question I myself foudn it hard knowing what to say next.....so I just said "Sorry, can you tell we've talking about the Christmas story alot in the past couple weeks, I guess that is where that question came from." I love the innocence of children's questions..although sometimes uncomfortable situations can arise because of them..they make you smile afterwards :)

How about you, any funny stories to share?

What's for supper at your house??

Well I thought I would share a website with you all that I thought was pretty neat and informative. This woman's blog has a spot devoted just to shopping at ALDI! She has a plan for crockpot cooking and then just regular meal planning...all ingredients can be bought at ALDI.. I printed off the fall/winter crock pot meals shopping list and the price list. The fall and winter meals which includes #30 days of meals (so really more than a month's worth if you have leftovers and the total on the shopping list was around $150!!! (before any tax)

Whether times are tight for you or not, I think that sounds like a great bargin!!!! And if you don't already know I LOVE A GOOD BARGIN!! Justin and I get a kick out of trying to see how cheap we can feed our brood of 6 a healthy tasty meal!!! Some people see it at annoying and an inconvience to slim down their food budget, NOT US we love the challenge!!

A hint to helping ANY budget is meal planning for the week, every two weeks, or monthly whatever fits your shopping regiment..to go to the store with no list and no set ideas for meals is a recipe for diaster and over spending!!! Plus later you have to try to come up with something to make from all the "stuff" you just bought. I find that it saves me time and money when shopping, and in the days to come when I have it all planned for me and know what is for supper that week.

I will talk more about meal planning and other related topics later! STAY TUNED!

Check out the "ALDI QUEEN" as she is called. http://www.blogger.com/www.momadvice.com/aldi

Bible Study

Good Morning! I thought I would started this morning with a little explaination about how I want to organize this bible study...I have a study book that I use for Sunday School that goes along with whatever book we might be studying, in this instance, Genesis. The book makes many great points, add some perspective I couldn't pick up on, plus offers other little tidbits of information I also would not know on my own. So I want to realize that when the text is in purple those comments/ information is from the study book not my own words. I definately don't want to give anyone I am a bible scholar of any sort, instead know that I am a Bible believing Christian woman who believes that every word of the Bible is "God breathed" and it is my heart's desire to learn all I can about Him and his word to grow me in my Christian walk. So with that being said "Let's dig in and see what God's word has for us today."

Chapter One begins with God's showing us how creative he is.

Note that Genesis doen't try to prove the existence of God; it assumes that He exists. Remember that Genesis was written for people who already believed in God.
Genesis tells about the creation of all things by one true God. "God" in Hebrew is Elohim which is the plural form emphasizing God's majesty and power. This Hebrew form also allows for the trinity without falling into polythesism (belief in many Gods.)

I know it is hard for some to really grasp the fact that God has always been and always will be. There is no "begin date" for Him. Which as human being is hard for us because we are used to referring to things in a timely manner. We have a start and finish time for work, our earthly life begins at the day we are born and ends when we die, and holidays have a definate time when we celebrate and end each one. Just like those things the heavens and earth have definate beginning point in time. although many "scientist" if you would call them that, would like you to think that the beginning point was millions of years ago. There is much evidence to show that the method they use to label time with is inaccurate.

In this first book of the Bible notice that God is involved in the creation but is distinct from His creation. People often make the mistake of worshiping the created instead of worshiping the Creator Himself. ( we shouldn't appreciate the painter without giving credit to the painter.)
In the early stage the earth was chaotic. confused, formless, empty, and disorganized.

So now let's talk about God's creativeness and see how amazing it must have been to see creation happen just because He breathed the words from His lips. Ya know the creation story is one of things we can take for granted as we read quickly through it. When you really stop to think about ALL he did it's breath taking to image that just by saying the word and it was done! It also should make us realize and shake in our boots alittle too. What a mighty and powerful God we serve.

Back to some more study book thoughts. Some Christians say that God created everything in six 24 hour days. Others suggest that the desciption of a week is simply a poetic framework the writer, Moses, used to describe God's creative activity. Yet all Bible-believing Christians agree that the universe has not always existed, nor did it come into existance through natural and impersonal forces. I was created by God in a miraculous way.

At the end of each day God saw His work and it was "good". At the end of His work when God saw everything He had made "very good".

???????? Do you get satisfaction from the work you do? Why or why not??????????

It is important to note that after creation God commanded animals and humans to reproduce and fill the earth with life. God set apart Adam and gave them rule over the rest of creation. Adam is held dominate in creation because he was made in God's own image.
When God reached the 7th day "He rested". Don't make the mistake of thinking that this means he was physically tired and needed to rest! This reseting shows us that His work was complete, He had completed His creation. It also shows us an example of resting on the sabbath (holy day).

The study book makes a few great points about Eden, the garden where Adam and Eve lived. It says that the author of Genesis meant for readers to understand that Eden was a real place. He, the writer, provided geographic details, named rivers,and even mentioned natural resources of those lands. Living in Eden was no "vacation" for Adam he was expected to work and take care of the garden.

I think some people miss the mark at realizing how this related to us. Nothing in this world is ours..NOTHING! We are simply caretakers of the things God has given us. Just like Adam took care of a place that was given to him, we are given things God's will someday make us accountable for.

????How are taking care of the things God has blessed you with??

Please feel free to leave any additional insights, comments, about anything I wrote. Let me know if you think I should change anything..you know I am new at this an woudl appreciate anything you have to say :)

Bible Study

Well I was thinking we would start in the book of Genesis..since that is what I am currently studying in Sunday School...so this would encourage me to complete my lesson each week, plus get some additional insight from you all in between Sundays.

Before even reading in Genesis my Bible, which is a NIV Study Bible, has sections explaining the book which you are about to read. I always like to read these to get a better understanding and some background information that I might not already know..My favorite sections to read are Background, Author and date of writing, and Theme/Message.

So I thought I would share a few things I read in these sections:

Jews and Christians alike credit Moses for writing Genesis...He actually wrote the first 5 books of the Old Testament.

The theme of Genesis speaks of beginnings- heaven and earth, light and darkness, seas and skies, land and vegetation, sun, moon and stars, sea and air and land animals, and the climax of creating humans. Then the theme moves to sin, redemption, blessings, curses, society, civilization, marriage, family, art and craft, and industry. (With all that who needs TV????)

So read the first 2 chapters of Genesis and we can chat about it tomorrow! Maybe it would be a good realistic goal to read 2 chapters together each day..so if you are studying something else you would still have the time to squeeze in both!

Ready or Not!!!

Alright I did it!!!! After some prodding from several of you already in the blogging world, I have decided to dive in and give it a try... I know how much I have enjoyed following along with so many other blogs, so my hope is that this blog will be a place where you can find encouragement in the everyday life stuggles we all have, HUMOR in dealing with issues that might arise, transparency when it comes to how our family sorts through things like finances, household chores, meal planning and a million other issues. I also am hoping that this will be a great opportunity for me to get back on track with my quiet time with the Lord on a daily basis. I am thinking on maybe going through certain chapters in the bible and having you also do it with me....then you can share your thoughts and insights with me....so we can all learn from each other. Since I do stay at home with my children I find that I need an outlet!! So blogging is going to be that outlet that I can do daily...you can't always "go out with girls" daily, or talk on the phone for endless amounts of time, so this will be my way of getting encouragement and well as giving it ( that's the goal! )