You May Feel Like You Are Drowning...

Life can sometimes become overwhelming. The house is a mess. Your children have learned to step on and over things rather than stop and pick them up. The pile of laundry is so high your children have asked if they can go sledding on it. Your homeschooling is not what you want it to be. You are not finding the time you want to read all the books you want. And you definitely are not getting the quiet time you need.

I heard something on the radio the other day.

He was talking about the parable of Jesus walking on the water. He made this conclusion:

Whatever seems to be over our heads, is already under His feet!

LOVE that!! I hope you do too!

Saturday Sweethearts: Sayings to go with Gifts

There is a great list of cute sayings and the gifts to go with them that you should check out.

I know I am posting this a bit early, but I waned it out there BEFORE Valentine's Day. :)

Hidden Freebie: Alphabet Copybook

This is great and SO CUTE! And what a great way to be introduced to Australia. Especially now with all the wildfires going on over there. Please do donate to the Red Cross if you can. They are needing cash donations at the moment.

Ok, so here is the link to the Freebie Alphabet Copywork BOOK, yes it is a full book that you can print out for each of your children. :)

Far and Away

Oh it feels SO GOOD to be scrapping again!! It is a way to be creative and artistic as well as capture memories. This is my little MM. Everytime I see her smile, look into those sparkling eyes and see those golden curls, I am taken away! My husband took this AMAZING picture. He took some of JJ too (which are equally amazing and I hope to scrap soon). As always, click on the image to see credits. :) Thanks for looking!

Current Web Readings

FIsh Bag In A Soap
This is SO CUTE!! What a fun gift to give the kids (although I wonder what the CPSIA would say about it.

Crochet Doll Pattern
This is SO CUTE! A quick and easy doll you can make with different dresses and a sleeping bag! Add some straps to the sleeping bag and you have a carrying purse to keep your doll in!!

Homemade Christmas
HUGE list of ideas for homemade gifts.

How To Make Shrinky Dinks with Recycled 6 plastic
THIS BLOG ROCKS! What an AWESOME idea!!!

Tutorials
OH MY HOW CUTE ARE THESE! She two good tutorials here, but my FAVORITE is the roll up kitchen playmat tutorial. TOO CUTE!!! WOWSERS!

Freezer Bag Recipes
I so hope to do MUCH more camping this year. The kids really enjoyed it year before last. I just wonder if JJ will be able to do it now with his really bad reactions to environmental allergies. :( BUT maybe he will be just fine!! :)

I Got An Itch

I am SOOOOOOOOO in the mood to start my gardening! Ever since I saw this printable spring garden planner I have got gardening on the brain. I have pulled out ALL my gardening books and am trying to get everything ready. I know, I know, I really just need to JUMP IN AND DO IT! But I have too much of a planner in me. Who knows! Maybe the time comes and I do just jump in, even though I think I need more research. :)

Look at how CUTE (and FREE and easy to make) these biodegradable see starter pots are!!! Seeing this gives me one of those smack-yourself-upside-the-head-now-why-didn't-I-think-of-that feeling. :) I have to wonder if maybe we were to make some time of paper that had good food in it to help the plant. We could roll it into a paper towel roll. :) That way as it degraded, it would be feeding the plant as it grew.

I also have to wonder about how many chemicals are in the rolls, especially if you are wanting to grow an organic garden. Now why can't there be a housewives myth busters type show where stuff like THAT is tested? Stuff **I** want to know?!?! I mean, I like stuff being blowing up as much as the next homeschooling mom, but I want stuff that I can use too, ya know?!?! :D

So, if I were in charge of a housewives myth busters show, I would test things like:
*do chemicals leech out from a toilet paper roll into the soil (what about the final food product) during it's degration?
*can the average homemaker build her own solar panel for under $200 (and how much "electricity" does it REALLY provide)? and then share the direction with everyone for FREE
*does hanging your clothes in the sun really save energy? and just how much bacteria does it prevent/kill??

What kind of things would you want to know?

We Forgot The Children!

In our homeschooling right now, we are reading the story of George Muller. I had never heard of him before, but one day I saw a Veggie Tales video which had just a part of his story. And it intrigued me enough to find out more about him. I mean, a man who sits down at a table with children (an orphanage) with NO FOOD at the table or even cooked, prays and thanks God for His provisions, and sure enough He provides... I had to know more.

His life story is amazing. AA wants to find his journal and read it. I think that is a fabulous idea and will be looking into that soon.

So he feels led to start an orphanage and rely on God to provide EVERYTHING. People thought he was crazy. Did God care about chamber pots (when I told the girls those were potties they giggled)? Muller mentioned that there was NOTHING to small for God to care about.

So God provided chamber pots, bed sheets, forks and the building. EVERYTHING was provided by God, even the volunteers! The big day comes and no one arrives! No children show up. Muller waits all day and comes home with his head hung low in disappointment. His wife greats him with enthusiasm asking him all sorts of questions about the children, until she realizes he is sad.

So she asked him what was wrong. And he started to doubt himself. Was this just some sort of dream? Or did God truly want Him to open an orphanage? His wife lovingly reassured him that everything for the orphanage including the building, was an answer to prayer. A provision from God. Then she laughed (which of course upset her husband who commented that this was a serious matter and not laughable).

He had to agree that everything provided for the orphanage WAS indeed and answer to prayer. But if it was, then why did no children come?

BECAUSE THEY FORGOT TO PRAY AND ASK GOD FOR CHILDREN!

God wants us to bring EVERYTHING to Him. Sometimes we get so caught up in the details, that we forget to seek God on the big things! This was a great lesson for the kids (ok...ok...for ME too!)! :D

Craft Day

And why not?!?! When the girls suggested doing crafts in Mommy's room all day (and I am talking about heavy duty crafts like sewing aprons and making baby DOLLS, not just pony beads on wire type thing), how could I resist!

I just wish my camera was not broken so I could share so many BEAUTIFUL pictures with you!

AA decided that she was going to make me an apron. WOW. She looked at pictures of aprons, picked one that she thought I would like and then set out to make it happen. She measured me over and over again with the measuring tape her grandmother gave her (along with a whole sewing kit which was promptly brought out by all THREE girls as soon as Mommy said yes to a craft day). I must admit that she did a REALLY GOOD JOB (for a nine year old). The thought process and math that went into her making the apron...I am really proud of her!

Of course MM was the next to bring over her measuring tape and begin measuring me. She was the best! Because she is so ticklish, and giggles at EVERY THING, I kept kissing her or trying to eat her while she was measuring me. Then she made a cape for herself. I was SO IMPRESSED! She had a rectangle piece of fabric and sewed one corner of the short side to the other corder of the short side. Hey, it works. And I am impressed! :) Then she took some blue fabric and cut it up to start making something, but then dinner was ready... :)

EE of course was not to be out done. She measured me and measured me. But lost her temper when her sewing came undone. I am not sure how it came undone, but it was frustrating enough for her to stop it all together. :( But I was able to teach her how to cast on for her knitting. SO she spent the rest of the time casting on, pulling it off, and casting on again. :)

JJ was not to be out done either. He grabbed one of his sister's measuring tapes and came up to me, with it stretched tight between his two hands in open arms "sheasure you!" (translate "measure you") he said over and over again as he placed the tape against my body. It really was TOO CUTE! And he just learned that phrase today from hearing his sisters say it SO MUCH (if that gives you any idea of how many times I thought about losing weight today as here came the tape again). :D He also loved grabbing the yarn as I was corcheting and wrapping it around his finger (like the yarn was wrapped around Mommy's fingers). And of course when EE came over for me to teach her to cast on, JJ came over wanting yarn too

I spent my time making and finishing a cradle purse (ravelry link) for EE (a belated bday present). She loved it and made a baby doll for it. I am really proud of her for that!

All in all it was a GREAT day!

The Sweet Prayer of a Child

Every night when we pray with JJ, it goes something like this:

Mommy: Father God

JJ: Aher Od

Mommy: Thank You for this day.

JJ: Ank You Day

Mommy: Help me to obey.

JJ: bay

Mommy: Help me to love You and serve You.

JJ: YOU

Mommy: In the name ...

JJ: FOOD!

Mommy: Thank You for food.

JJ: ank food.

Mommy: In the name of Jesus we pray.

JJ: MA MEN!

-------

Tonight there was a new addition...

JJ: ank food

Mommy: In the name...

JJ: pain

Mommy: OH JoJo (my nickname for him), are you in pain?

JJ: Daddy pain.

Mommy: We pray for Daddy and his pain and ask that You would heal his back and hernia completely and quickly.

JJ: HE SUS, MA MEN! (translation, "In the name of Jesus we pray, Amen!") :D

Have I mentioned just how BLESSED I AM?!?!

Current Web Readings

Homeschooling With A Large Family
I really liked reading this. VERY simple, yet encouraging!!

Creating Contentment
This is a REALLY good post (as is most EVERYTHING on this blog!) that will help your children when "that's not fair!". :D

Candy Cane Hearts
This is SO FUN AND EASY! My soon to be nine year old daughter squealed "so THAT'S how you do it!". Fun fun FUN idea!

Frugal Nourishment
Healthy eating, homeschooling AND MOTH follower! :) I have been having fun reading current and pasts posts on this blog which is now added to the sidebar on the left (Blogs with Heart) :) (Which means it is in my RSS feed reader) :)

Free Download 2009 Spring Garden
GREAT post with link for a free help for when to plant your spring garden. ALSO, take a look around on this blog!! IT IS WONDERFUL!!!

Make Dinner Every Day And Like It
Great post about menu planning. So simple and yet, I never thought of it! :)
HTL Like Merchant Ships - I am TOTALLY loving this new blog you shared with us!

100 tips for 2009
100 tips for ways to save money in the upcoming year.