Works For Me Wednesday

Ah My favorite meme of the week.... I just love Wednesday's I get to read so many different ideas. I have taken several adapt for my own use. My problem is just thinking of my own to share. But this week I have racked my brain and racked my brain and still haven't been able to come up with something until I remembered my Bible Case. Mine is not the exact same as the one pictured here. But it is very similar. The very best feature is the fact that it has a shoulder strap. When I go to church, I often have a diaper bag, purse, and my church bag all on my shoulder. A toddler on my hip and either a four year old's hand or my van keys in my other hand. I have often left my Bible laying on the seat of the hall tree right by the door so I wouldn't forget it. But now that I have the shoulder strap on my case, it goes on my shoulder with the other stuff.

For more great ideas see Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer

Tackle It Tuesday

Today's Tackle it Tuesday was my boys room. They have about a 1000 each of things like : Duplo/legos, toy tools, toy cars, Veggie Tale toys, Little People and blocks you get the picture. Not to mention the bigger toys. Well when a four year old and a two year old are allowed free reign for two whole hours you can imagine the chaos that ensues. So we decided to work together to clean and straighten everything up.

Now my two year old know we have bins for everything and can tell which bin something goes in by the color, but when momma decides to change things up it takes some getting used to. But change we did. Now they have those little plastic 3 drawer shelf units to fit everything into. They stack nicely and roll from one place to another easy access and clean up. They now have Little People in one drawer, cars in another, blocks in another, Veggie Tales in another, toy tools in the tool box, and the bins on the lego table are just for legos.

Wish I had pictures but am still praying for digital camera!

For more see 5 Minutes for Mom.

Just Say No!

How many of you remember when that phrase was in it's hay day at the risk of telling me your age a simple yes or no is sufficient. You don't have to tell me you were in elementary school in the mid '80's. Anyway that has been going through my mind in the last few days.

You see I have been through a cycle of emotional downswings and lows. It has been coming on for awhile but something seemingly simple triggered a new cycle of lows. I sat and went through a laundry list of perceive failures getting worse on myself with each one. I finally thought it would be easier if I just left.

But you know what? I have a wonderful husband and an even better God. In conversations the last two nights my husband just wouldn't let me degrade myself any longer. He wouldn't let me show him why, what I thought and did didn't matter. And my God, he wouldn't let me voice the words "Would it be better if I just left?" Not because I my husband would have let me leave. But because it would hurt him terribly if I mentioned the prospect. God also knew if the words had voice they would be out there hovering over any and every conversation we had in the future and could possibly affect decisions later on. So the words went unuttered and are safely out of reach of the Satan and his minions, he can whisper in my ear but can't work any more damage through my words. Now I must work on the directive in 2 Corinthians 10:5 . And say no Satan when he whispers those thoughts in my ear.

Succulent Sunday

I love recipes and cookbooks. The thought of getting a new recipe or cookbook just delights me and so when I saw Stephanie Succulent Sunday post, I followed her link and found the host.

May I present my first offering to:

Succulent Sunday hosted by Reformed Mama.

I am one person that doesn't mind meatloaf. But many people in my family do so I didn't make it for a long time until I found this:

Sweet and Sour Meatloaf

2 lbs.. ground meat ( I have used beef, turkey and even venison for this)
1 small minced onion
1/4 c. Crumbled cracker crumbs ( I use dried bread crumbs from the freezer )
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper (I use both of these to taste - who measures salt and pepper anyway)
1 egg slightly beaten

Slightly mix the ingredients together.

Sauce:

1 (8oz) can tomato sauce
1 tsp prepared mustard (I use a squirt, again who measures)
1/4 c light brown sugar
1/4 c white vinegar

Stir sauce ingredients together. Mix well. Pour half of the sauce in that meat mixture and mix well. Shape into a loaf. Put into a loaf pan, pure remaining sauce over the top of meat. Bake at 400* for 45 minutes.

This has been a hit with everybody I have served, even the non meatloaf people.

I washed a pickle

My g randfather makes and cans his own pickles. They are big thick slices of sweet and sour pickles. I love them. And there are NO duplicates. Anyway, one day my daughter dropped and spilled the pickle keeper on the floor outside of the fridgrr. We grabbed a towel and cleaned up the mess. I threw the towel in my laundry hamper I keep in the pantry for the kitchen towels etc... When the time came to do that load of laundry, I did as I usually did and picked up the hamper and dumped it in the washer. When it was finished, I went to transfer to the dryer and as I finished the putting the load in the dryer, in the bottom of the washer was 2 pickle slices.

An explanation

Reading a comment on my previous post, I realized that I had not talked alot here about what is going on in my life, and why I am going back to work, or at least trying to.

For the past school year I have been a stay at home / homeschooling mom. I have loved it. It has been wonderful for me and my family. It was a great learning expereience where I learned alot about myself, my children, and my husband and our dynamics as a family.

The step to get there was, I believe a God directed step. I decided early on the year before, that I would be home the next year. I kept that information to myself as I worked through the first sememster that year. Finally through a series of powerful messages, given in different ways, I realized that God was asking me to trust Him and state my intentions publically. I jumped at the chance and talked to my husband. He relunctanly agreed. I had what I felt I needed. God's direction and my husbands approval. I talked to my pricipal after returning in January, and told the staff early in March. I was ready to come home.

The fall came and our income was cut basically in half. It was lean but we made it for awhile, until the fateful day in December when my husband lost his job. The reasons aren't important here but needless to say when the sole income is cut out things get tight very fast!

In the last six months we have learned a LOT about God's provision. I told some of that earlier. Another lesson I have learned is on submission. I will go into it more later but basically the gist of my learnings. Yes there is a biblical role for each member of the family, many people, including me believe that is for the wife to stay at/ work from home to be there to educate and take care of the family, there is not a direct command for this in scripture. However, there is a direct command for wives is to submit to their husbands. Yes there are many ramifications to that directive, that I am not going into here right now, but one is prime right now, I need to submit and be willing to what my husband asks (as long as it isn't unscriptural) and trust God to fix the mess if my husband is wrong in his directive. So 3 weeks ago when my husband asked me to start putting out resumes of my own, I willingly complied. Yes I said willingly. By this time, I had already realized some of the things I was doing were not fair to my family. So I was and am willing to go back to work to help support my family. I am looking at this as a season in our lives, preferably allowing my husband to get back on his feet in a career so that he can support us all once again and I can come home. However, I will be willing to listen to God and my husband follow their directions.

Meanwhile please pray for my husband to find a good job/career and for the interview I have coming up.

Our Holiday

Pictures of our holiday can be seen at Kowpatty - my MIL's site

She is supposed to be my intelligent child

Of course I think all my children are highly intelligent but......

We are at Grandma's for the holiday. The new attaction at Grandma's house is the rats. She is rat sitting for my children's cousins as they move to a different state. The first and main intructions given to my children regarding the rats were "Don't put your fingers in the cage! The rats WILL bite them" So what does my oldest do instead? Stick her nose right between the bars of the cage...... Needless to say there are now four little pricks right on the tip of her nose.

Around the house on Sunday

Tomorrow we will be headed to my MIL's. It is because of some money she sent us earlier that we are able to make the trip. We will be able to see hubby's sister and her husband before they make their move to Oklahoma. While that isn't terribly far away it is still further than they are presently and my kids won't be able to see their cousins quite as often. So we are glad to be able to make this trip for the holiday, maybe we will get to see some fireworks as well. I'd rather watch a city display than shoot off our own.

Last night we had the Parkers over for dinner (don't be jealous Lori). They are our new officers. Our kids hit it off really well for the most part, in fact their middle child wanted come back over today after church. I haven't had that happen before. Our service this morning was small, we were missing a couple of regulars that are out of town. As I mentioned before every pastorate change we have had in our small, relatively new congreagation has had negitive vibes on the leaving or the incoming sides, this one has had none of those. While we miss the Lucas' and their minstry already, we are glad that they have had the opportunity to move and mister elsewhere. And we are so glad that the Parkers are here as well, it is wonderful to have more than our children consistanly in church.

I got word this week that I wasn't selected for a job that I interviewed for last week. This one was for a director in a new day care starting up in the church my mom and sister attend. I am so glad that God's voice was evident in this or I would have been crushed. I am really okay with the decision. While I would have liked to have a chance at the job, because it was something that I felt I could do but haven't had the chance to do, there were many other things that would have been difficult for us, like moving, especially away from a town with a Salvation Army corps. That move would have effectivly ended our chances of moving into ministry right now. So we are going to concentrate on our involovement in our own corps and praying that God will work out the details for us to be more active there, which is one of the things that will be looked at as we move onward.

I still have one other job that I have interviewed for. This one is for a classroom teacher postioin at a local private school, there is one and up to three openings. The one for sure is a kindergarten classroom. There quite possibly will be a second kindergarten class and another first grade class, in addition to the one that they already have. When speaking with the principal, I was thrilled to hear the numbers they would accept into a class, much better than the 28 in my last first grade class. I also don't think I would have the problem with a hindu as a classroom aide as I did that last year either. There appears to be much better stability in this school, unlike my last one that had 3 different pricipals during the seven years I was there. I loved that school, the faculty was wonderful and the parents were supportive, but it lacked stability in leadership. I will know something about that this week. I feel good about the interview, and know that I am qualified for it. So we wait.

I am also going to mail in another resume tomorrow, to our library, for a full time aide. I don't have the hours for an 'official' librarian, but would love a chance to work in the library if I don't have a classroom job.

Well that is a long update, but I wll try to do better ............

Everyday Things

".... For I have learned to be content whatever the circumstance" Phil 4:11

Jules over at Everyday Mommy has a new endeavor, a weekly topic on everyday things. Read more about it here.

This weeks Everyday thing is my children's health. I take it so much for granted. We don't have doctor appointments, therapy appointments, specialist appointments, or any other kind of appointments that we have to schedule our lives around. Not that I wouldn't do it in a heartbeat if it was needed. But thankfully I don't have to. With the exception of a trip two weeks ago for shots and checkups with both boys we haven't darkened the door of a medical office or clinic for for any of the kids for more than routine checkups since youngest had some sort of virus as a baby. Before that it was when the middle child was cleared after 48 hours in the hospital with croup at 19 months.

quote

New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common.

John Locke

English philosopher who made great contributions in studies of politics, government and psychology. 1632-1704

Works for Me Wednesday

The can goods on my pantry shelves are in rainbow order, from left to right. Sounds corny I know but when my 7 yr. old started putting up can goods as one of her chores, she started just stacking them anywhere. And naturally I couldn't find what I needed so we devised this system. Red things first (tomato sauce, paste, spaghetti and pizza sauce etc) Orange (canned carrots) Yellow (corn - both slushy and non slushy aka cream style and whole kernal) Green ( green beans, peas, limas etc. ) Blue ( I don't think there is anything there ) and Purple ( why purple hull peas of course!) At the end are the browns and blacks ( canned pintos, navy beans - that are really white, and our favorite baked beans as well as the cream soups we have)

For more tips see Shannon over at Rocks In My Dryer

Tackle It Tuesday

My Tackle it Tuesday will now be completed on Mondays and reported on Tuesdays because I have to work on Tuesdays, at least for a little while.......

But for my project this week I tackled my kitchen, yep the whole thing. Things have been haywire here for the last few days, well since last Wednesday and dishes were stacking up, the floor was nasty, the table was collecting junk. And to top it off I invited my best friend over for dinner last night to celebrate her birthday ( which was really last week in the middle of Bible School ) So I spent the day in the kitchen. I washed dishes, with the help of the dishwasher which did 2 FULL loads. I mopped the floor, which included cleaning stuff from under the table, do you know how much stuff can accumulate under my table?? I found homes for all the books and recipes living on my kitchen table. Wiping down the barstools and high chairs proved to be more work than I thought it would be. But it was all done in time for me to fix the rest of the dinner to go along with the Angel Food steaks my husband grilled last night.

For more Tackle It Tuesday project visit Janice at 5 minutes for mom.

GoodByes

Our officers (pastor couple in The Salvation Army) farewelled today. It was their last Sunday and last day here at our small corps. The came to us two years ago right out of seminary. We, as a church, have grown under their leadership, both numerically and spiritually. For the first time in 9 years I feel completly at peace with the change in leadership. I was sharing with Capt. Lori today that when they came to us two years ago that I was comfortable with their appointment and very glad that they were coming. They came into a hurting corps and I was unsure that brand new officers were capable of helping. However, this has been a lesson in never underestimating what God can do through the right people. This time, though I will miss the Lucas', I am very excited that the Parker's are coming. I am excited to see how God will use them to help our corps grow even more. Also, on a personal side, I am glad that they have children about the same age as my own children. Our children's department is going to double with regular attendees next week.

Saturday Around the House

It has been a fairly laid back day here. All 5 of us home most of the day, the youngest and I took a trip to pick up our Angel Food order earlier. I have spent the day in the kitchen and the rest of the house looks like it - lol.

We have had several blessings in the last few days that are helping us pay bills, Thank you Lord.

I don't know what else to say right now. I do have several blogs perculating but none of them fit here so I guess I will close for now.

Everyday Things

".... For I have learned to be content whatever the circumstance" Phil 4:11

Jules over at Everyday Mommy is starting a new endevor, a weekly topic on everyday things. Read more about it here.

My everyday thing I am thing I am thankful for is my house. Sounds obvious doesn't it? But in this uncertian time for us, I am very thankful that we have our home, a place that is ours to live, sleep, cook and yes even clean. Which I have to go do right now, so if you will excuse me........

Read more Everyday Thankfuls here.

Works For Me Wednesday

Hosted by Shannon @ RocksInMyDryer



Today's tip is in the kitchen again. Maybe one day I'll move out of the kitchen.

I also have three small children....okay the 7 yo doesn't think she is small any more but this still applies to her as well. They go through those little plastic drinking cups like crazy. They aren't study to begin with and well my kids seem to be brutal on them, or take them out to use in the sand box, or in the tub. Well I never seemed to have enough cups for dinner time. But what I do have is an overabundance of coffee mugs, from my mug collecting days and the fact that I was a classroom teacher for 7 years and if you don't know what to get your teacher you give her a coffee mug. So now, at the table my kids drink out of a coffee mug. It is just the right size for their drink, they don't complain about a half full glass, when that is all they drink anyway. It has a handle which helps the 2 and 4 yos alot! Now if I can just keep the said 2 and 4 yos from trying to pour their own cups of milk from the full gallon........


For more tips visit Shannon!

for a laugh

http://d21c.com/terri1/flash/smile.swf

Tackle It Tuesday

I finally accomplished my desk! It has been calling my name for 2 weeks now. I pulled all the papers off of it! That was a night mare in and of itself. When I stacked them on my desk chair to go through, the stack was - not kidding - a foot high!!

I stacked and filed old bills, put current ones together, stacked cards we've recived over the past couple of months aside to put in the scrapping boxes, trashed numerous envelopes, put several recipes in my recipe binder. And organized my Pampered Chef files that are still open (and by that I mean work still need on them, not physically open folders) beside my printer on the printer shelf. I now have a place to actually work on my desk so that I don't have to move my keyboard to do it.

That was my project for this week. I am loving this accountability for getting my self in gear to get something accomplished. I have a list going for the next few weeks: The entertainment center, the boys room, the girl's room, the pantry..... you get the idea!

For more participants see Janice at 5 Minutes for Mom.

A Girl With a Dream

Awhile back, I was challenged by my SIL to write about how I met and married her brother. I did it in a several part series on my blog back then. Later I compiled all the links and placed them in one post. For some reason tonight I was going through my old blog and found that last post and thought since I had a lot of new reads that I'd link to it here, so that if you wanted to you could go back and read them.

A Girl With a Dream