Controlling Our Thoughts

Yesterday I had a tough day. I was basically just in a bad mood and kept my eye on myself way too much (which also meant that I was inwardly stewing). Not good at all!!!
God is so good and forgiving. I'm so thankful.
This evening I happened to go to Michelle at She Looketh Well and saw her blog post from yesterday. It's was about controlling our thoughts, esp. as it relates to marriage. I thought it was so good; I wanted to be sure you had a chance to see it. Here's the link.

http://shelookethwell.blogspot.com/2009/07/marriage-monday-controlling-our.html

Hope it encourages you as much as it encouraged me.

Encouragement

A very sweet, encouraging lady from our church called to share something precious with me that she asked me to please share with other moms.

She told me that, in the Hebrews 11 "faith hall of fame", we were mentioned. I was intrigued. Through reading an older book (I forget the name but it was from the mid1800's), she was drawn to Hebrews 11:3 and a truth taught in that verse.

Hebrews 11:1-3

1Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. 2This is what the ancients were commended for.
3By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

What was pointed out in the book she was reading was that, already at that point in history (mid 1800's) people were being drawn to evolution - trying to explain the world while taking God out of the picture. What a privilege to share with our children, as we train and disciple them, that God made the world - the big bang theory and millions of years of chance are actually fantasy. As I've been reading through the Bible this year, I keep seeing how integral this fact is to our faith. God is great - He is our creator - He is our everything! (And how amazing that our wonderful God humbled Himself to come down to earth in the form of Jesus, God the Son, suffer and die for our sins so that we can be with Him forever, and then He conquered death by His resurrection. What amazing love - He created us, loves us, suffered and died to conquer death so that we can be with Him. Wow - may we never take that for granted.)

Hebrews 11 states that when we believe God's Word and how He tells us the world began, this is faith and it mentions it before mentioning all those wonderful examples of faith in the old testament. He's made a way for us to choose to trust Him and to tell of that trust and teach it to our children (that they also may be blessed by faith - Eph. 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.). What an opportunity - privilege - challenge.

May you have a wonderful day thanking God for all He has done, proclaiming Him, and discipling your children.

Missionary Geography Club

I've had some inquiries into our missionary geography club, so I thought I'd share with you what we do.


For a few years, we've hosted monthly club meetings for our homeschool community. It began when I read some of the Christian Heroes Then and Now series of books published by YWAM http://www.worldchristian.com/booksearch.asp?keyword=christian+heroes+Then . (These were scheduled in My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures http://www.mfwbooks.com/ecc_2nd.htm .) As a family we read these biographies as read alouds. The next year I offered to coordinate a missionary geography club for other homeschoolers. I presented the missionaries and (countries where they ministered) that I'd read about the year before.


Basically I read a missionary biography and then present the information to the group. (I like to tell stories, so I pretty much cover the material that way.) Normally we find the geographic places on a map and also try to have a game from that country for the kids to play at the end. Some times we have handouts with information from that country (language, money, customs, etc.) and/or info about the missionary for the kids to take home.

As I've alluded, my favorite series of missionary biographies are the Christian Heroes Then and Now Series. I have, however, used others (such as Corrie Ten Boom's books when we covered her and God's Smuggler when we covered Brother Andrew).

The year normally is scheduled as follows: Sept., Oct., Jan., Mar., and April we cover a different missionary each month. Nov. we volunteer to help with an Operation Christmas Child gathering station. Dec. we have a Christmas Around the World party. (Each family chooses an area of the world to research and present how Christmas is celebrated in that location. They also bring a treat representing Christmas in that country). In Feb. we have a missionary visiting my church's mission conference speak to the group. In May the kids present to the group which missionary they most enjoyed learning about and what they most remembered.

Hope that helps give you an idea what we do. Feel free to ask any questions.

Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY (Monday, July 13, 2009)...

Outside my window...a rainy day (makes it feel so cozy inside)

I am thinking of/praying for...my oldest who is helping with a 5 day club with Child Evangelism Fellowship

I am thankful for...a cozy day at home with 3 of my girls

From the learning rooms...I'm looking forward to ordering some of our material for next year :)

From the kitchen...I was supposed to roast a whole chicken tonight but forgot to pull it out to defrost last night. Change of plans - parmesan chicken it is. :)

I am wearing...a VBS tshirt and shorts

I am creating...memories

I am going...to the bank and grocery store to pick up produce this afternoon (Lord willing and if the rain lets up)

I am reading...some of the girls' books that they'll be reading next year. ("While You Wait for Prince Charming", "Frankenstein" - not my style but she'll be doing a study of worldviews of man and God and comparing them to what the Bible says)

I am hoping...that my honey and my oldest have good days today

I am hearing...the radio in the kitchen and two of my girls making wii characters

Around the house...laundry day (having to use the dryer though because of the rain)

One of my favorite things...kisses and hugs in the morning

A few plans for the rest of the week: a musical about Nehemiah for the girls, picnic 'n praise at church, a dinner with friends, a banquet supporting adoption, and a tea party hosted by one of my daughters and my mom.

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

See more daybooks at

http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/

Gotta love free food! :)

Each year I look forward to being able to take my girls to one of our favorite restaurants - order what we like and have the total bill come to $0.00. Oh - by the way - to do this we do have to dress like COWS! :) (What's a little pride compared to free food and memories?!?)

My sister-in-law and her kids came up to enjoy this with us. (My brother, however, refused to join in the cow attire and had to pay for his own meal. My husband would have done the same but had to work late and totally miss all the fun.) :)

We enjoyed our visit and had lots of fun making a memory.

God clothes us! :)

I delight greatly in the LORD;
my soul rejoices in my God.
For he has clothed me with garments of salvation
and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
For as the soil makes the sprout come up
and a garden causes seeds to grow,
so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise
spring up before all nations.

Isaiah 61:10-11 (italics added)

I'm currently reading through Isaiah and am so thankful as God is feeding me through His word. This portion of Scripture struck me this morning and I wanted to share it with you. It's so beautiful.

I'd never really thought about how God clothes us - covers us head to foot - with salvation. Our clothing covers us - hides parts of us that we don't want seen or are considered shameful. God covers us with salvation! Our relationship with Him covers us/completely envelops us. It affects every part of our lives. Thank you, God, that you provide our salvation and then You completely cover us with it!

As if that weren't enough, then He puts on us a robe of righteousness. We're already covered by salvation but He has more plans for us. He puts on top of salvation, righteousness. He arrays us with righteousness! (I just looked up the word "array" and it means: to dress or decorate especially in splendid or impressive attire . God does dress/decorate us with righteousness. Wow!) This righteousness is not anything we could design or have or be/do on our own. It's His and He puts it on us! What an awesome and amazing Father He is!!!!

Our response to this really cannot be anything short of delight, rejoicing, and praise! He is amazing and so compassionate and caring with us. The end of these two verses tell us that God Himself will make righteousness and praise spring up from the nations. Amen!

Catch Up :)

It's been a while since I've posted. I wanted to play a little catch up and then maybe start posting regularly again.

I've really been trying to enjoy the summer, accomplish some things God's given me to do, and limit my "screen time" as an example to my children. (Some of whom are better at limiting it than I am.) :)

L has been really enjoying working with Child Evangelism Fellowship this summer. It's kept her quite busy but she's eating it up with a spoon. She has such a heart for evangelism. Lord willing, K is looking forward to working with them next year.

I'm listening right now as K is playing piano and R & J are playing in their room. L & K have really been enjoying the piano and the freedom of playing what they want to play during the summer break from their lessons.

The girls have sure been enjoying our backyard pool. They've got some nice little tans going. (L's tan is not so advanced since she's not been home as much during the days this summer.) One of our favorite family time activities has been a bike ride after dinner followed by a family swim. We haven't been able to do this every night but sure have enjoyed it when we're able to work it out.

My honey also put up a new clothes line for us. I'm loving the smell of freshly hung out clothes. (My mom used to hang out clothes, so I'm sure it brings back those wonderful childhood feelings.) He, of course, loves knowing that we're not spending money on drying these clothes.

We also decided to cancel our YMCA membership and buy an elliptical machine. My honey and I were pretty good about going to work out this fall and winter. (He actually was better than me and lost 40 pounds to prove it.) :) This spring was harder due to our schedule and I struggled with us leaving the kids each night to go workout. I didn't like it cutting into our family time but did want to do it for our health. So, we decided to cancel the Y membership and buy an elliptical machine for us to use at home. It's new, so hopefully we'll continue to be faithful in using it each day during the week. It's a blessing.

We took a day to visit a nearby museum and enjoyed feeding the ducks at their pond.

We've also had to say goodbye to two sweet families from church. That was pretty tough on the kids - K esp. had a tough time. Sometimes life's lessons are not fun.

The fourth of July we had a fun time at my parents' lake place. We were able to visit with my parents, my brother, sister-in-law, nephews, niece, and family friends (my mom's best friend from high school and her husband and son as well as my sister-in-law's sister and her husband). It was a fun day of visiting.

Hope you're all enjoying this summer and the blessings God gives us in this season.