The Family Journal - A Great Idea

I was reading an article in AEW written by Nancy (from Above Rubies). She said that her family had a family journal. It sat on the table and anyone in the family could write in it when they wanted to. They wrote about what was happening in their lives, special memories, etc. Whenever they had company over, instead of asking them to sign a guestbook, they asked them to write in the journal.

I have young children. The younger 3 are too small to write, but I can always write down cute things they do or say, and can also have them color a page every now and then. My oldest (6yr) is learning to write. She spells love “lov” and time “toym.” I think it would be wonderful to have her write in the journal.

I thought that this was a great idea and wanted to share it with you.

UGH! The "P" word

Moving into a new house, a blizzard which had snow drifts up to your chest and caused the internet connection to be down for almost two whole days, having to dishes by hand, and trying to play catch up on all the laundry created by moving has taught me one thing - I really need to PRIORITIZE!

There are so many blogs I want to read (and come upon new great ones everyday like this one - The Sparrow's Nest). I know that I can learn a lot from the ladies of the blogs I love, and yet, I really need to spar down on them. Now that I have the computer back, I find myself spending more and more time on the computer trying to catch up on all the blogs I love (which of course have new blogs that they tell you are must see's and of course, I MUST see them! :D

Then I want to get back into my digital scrapbooking. The one thing I LOVE about digital scrapbooking is how FAST it is compared to paper (so that means that I can actually get a page DONE before I forget what it was about). But the more I scrap, the better I get, and the longer it seems to take me because I want NICE pages, not just pages. I want to create something that my children will enjoy to look at years from now. A book that tells the story of their growing up. Where we were, what we did, how I felt. My mom has pictures and PICTURES and can't tell me who is in them or even what they were doing. In some of them, she even has difficulty telling if it was me or my sister! LOL! (Which I can TOTALLY relate to now that I am a mom myself.)

I also have been trying to keep up with posting to two blogs. I plan on making that one blog (this one) soon. Moving everything over. That will really help simplify things I believe. Then there is of course making your blog look really good with graphics and such other than those provided.

I also really want to get into homeschooling the children. Learning about WHAT I need to do and HOW to do it. So thankful that I have friends (hi Nancy) that I can hopefully call on for advice (you too Brenda!) and counsel (I haven't forgotten you Konie and Leigh) especially with the style of schooling we are wanting to do.

And then of course we have cable TV now that we have cable internet service. Oh my how addicting TV can be. You use the excuse of I will only keep to th educational channels (like Food Network), but the SHOWS that are on each of them, what to watch and when to find the time?!?!

And not to mention that our new house is much bigger than our old house, which is great for being able to host missionaries and have friends and family visit (Stacey are you reading this!?!), but it also means more to clean. And I am still learning about that.

And on top of it all (which always seems to be LAST on my list when I know how desperately it needs to be FIRST), my devotional time. I really need to be reading my Bible and praying EVERY morning. I want to make a list of people I am praying for and put it on the fridge so the children can see. They can see what we are praying and how it is answered.

So many fears! Will I be able to homeschool my children the way we want? And if so, how with all the testing and CRITICISM from parents? Will I be able to have time to scrap so my children have an heirloom book full of memories of who and what? Will I ever learn how to clean house and be able to make my home a haven and resting place of peace for my family? Will I ever finally get putting God FIRST instead of Him being an afterthought? And will I ever learn how to spell without spell check?

Make Your Own Soap

I am sure ALL of you are as big of fans of Crystal's as I am, but if not, first, check out her site.

THEN check out
HOW TO MAKE SOAP

What do you spend on kids at Christmas?

This was the question asked on a group I belong to and here is my answer. A lady didn't have much money to spend on gifts this year and did not want to disappoint her children.

I would LOVE to hear how much you spend AND some of your holiday traditions!

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We usually don't have a set amount that we try to spend on each child. My
husband and I try to keep it under $25 for each of the kids. We get them
something we know that they will enjoy. Yes, That usually means only one of
two gifts. I remember growing up with at least 20-50 gifts each Christmas. I
rushed through unwrapping them and usually only ended up playing with one or
two anyways. I know growing up my parents spent the same amount of money on
both me and my sister. We don't do that. If we find something that is
meaningful to one child and it costs $10 that is what is spent on her gift.
Especially if we cannot find anything else meaningful for $15 or less.

Plus the kids need to realize that life is not fair, and Christmas (or
birthdays) are not about getting. In fact, Jesus was not brought gifts on
His birthday. The wise men did not show up till He was a toddler, and even
then, they were not gifts celebrating His birth, but foretelling of His
death. We are not ready to give up giving gifts at Christmas just yet, but
we definitely do try to foster a more giving and being grateful attitude.

There is a story book that is illustrated Christmas story using KJV
scripture. I LOVE IT! We got it from rainbow Resource. We read that book and
the children each go through the story with the nativity we have (Fisher
Price has a nativity AND a shepherds in the fields kit that are perfect for
little hands!). I know that the older the kids get, they might not want to
do that, but I hope that they have the grace to sit joyfully through it and
encourage the younger ones. Then we have a nail (like the ones nailed Jesus
to the cross) hidden in the tree. I am sure you know the Victorian tradition
of hiding the pickle in the tree. We hide a nail and all the children look
for it. The one who finds it gets to tell the reason behind the nail
(completing the story of His birth --- He came to live and die). They also
get to grab a candy cane off the tree.

Then whoever found the nail gets to GIVE the first gift. They look under the
tree and find a gift that does not have their name on it and give it to that
person. We all wait as that person unwraps the gift. Than that person gets
to go pick a gift and give it and so on and so forth. Yes, that makes
Christmas last MUCH longer, but we LOVE it! Growing up, everyone's gifts
were distributed and then we rushed through them. This way you get to see
the joy and surprise on everyone's face. I remember when my daughter was 18
months. It was the first Christmas she was old enough to unwrap presents.
Daddy handed her a gift from Uncle Jeff and she took the bow and put it on
her head. Then she slowly unwrapped the gift and when she got to the stuffed
animal inside, she hugged it and then got up and gave Daddy and hug (kind of
thanking him for the gift). That memory will last with me for as long as I
live. I would have missed it had we opened gifts the way we used to.

Maybe this is the year to teach your children about giving? I know that I
have been working on mine with that this year. They are actually wanting to
give all their presents to the shelters this year to children who would not
get toys otherwise.

I am trying to move more and more away from giving lots of gifts, and giving
one or two meaningful gifts. A CD or DVD that your child may be wanting is
definitely under $25. I understand you not wanting to disappoint them, but
hopefully they will understand and be appreciative for any gifts they give.
And maybe you can fill the rest of the time that they would have spent
opening more gifts doing something special together. Maybe you bake and
decorate cookies and take them to the nursing home. Or maybe you volunteer
downtown at the soup kitchen and hand out meals to those who wouldn't
otherwise have?

I was reading an article about a woman who was watching in horror at how a
little girl was opening her presents. Just ripping through them,
disappointing looks when she didn't like what she was given, etc. She
compared that to another little girl who opened each card first and read it
and smiled thanking the person for the card. Then she opened the gift and
thanked the person who sent it saying what she enjoyed about the gift and
how excited she was to use/play with it. She also mentioned watching a funny
video on the TV. The girl was so excited about her present that she went
tossing out all the tissue paper and accidentally threw the dress out with
it. When the little girl got to the bottom, there was a hanger, and the
little girl squealed "Oh it's a hanger!! Thank you thank you thank you!" And
it was so sincere! I pray that my children would always so so content and
gracious!

Anyways, I am sorry to ramble on. Just some thoughts.

Blessings!!!

Sites to See

Creating A Household Notebook

Fast and Easy Recipes for Busy Homeschoool Moms

Chores: You are NOT Doing Them All By Yourself, Are You?

Chores: What 1-2-year-old Walkers Can Do

Chores: What a 3-5-year-old Can Do

Chores: What Elementary-Aged Kids Can Do

Wise Things to do with Your Money Now

Ok, so this might be a bit long as I am playing catch-up.

So we sold our home, and are not going to get our homestead. We will however be staying right here in our city.

I must admit that I am actually sad that we will not be getting our homestead. I was so certain. But it looks like God has other plans for us for now. But thankfully, we will be able to have a big garden, so not all is lost.

I want to share with you ladies who are not married or who will soon be married or those who are newly married, so that should YOU want a homestead you will be able to get one if it is what God wants for you.

The main reason we cannot get our homestead is a lack of funds. My husband is paid well enough that I am able to stay home and not have to work. But we made several mistakes.

One of the best pieces of advice I was given when I first got married was to take all of my income and put it directly into savings (I know now that we should have been putting it into a ROTH - both husband ABD wife can have a ROTH if the husband is working!!!!). But that way, you get used to living on one income so when I stop working to be home with the children, we aren't missing out on any income we had been accustomed to having and living on. So we had a fairly large nest egg when we were first married.

HOWEVER - and here are where the mistakes start - one year after we were married, we fell for the "get rich quick" scheme. Bought some land in hopes to make some money (wasn't everyone making money in land at that time??). The first mistake was went went to a real estate firm who sent us a mailer saying they would give us a free gift if we come in and talk with them. They were scammers and we were scammed.

We should have done several things different.

First, NEVER goto a real estste office who sends you a gift for coming in just to talk. IT is most always a scam. We learned that out when we went to sell the land because we wanted our money back. Since we had the money, we paid for the land outright rather than taking a loan. We wanted our money back and TRIED to contact the office we bought it from and they were no longer around.

We found a reliable realtor who unfortunately was not able to help us and referred us to another reliable realtor who deals with land in the area we bought our land. She told us that we were ripped off and basically stuck with that land. Not only that, but the "realtors" who sold us that land are no longer realtors (prolly retired on all the profits they made). She asked if it was a family investment as several other owners in the area had the same last name (it was a mass mailing). She said several scammers do that. Set up office, send out mailers, sell off land, and then move on out. She also said that the land we bought happenes to be one of the most undesireable types of land as there is no public access to it (meaning a road cannot be built to it). We were told by the scam realtors that no public access meant a road had not yet been built to it. So now we are stuck paying taxes on land we can never get rid of.

We learned that we should ALWAYS say NO and pray and sleep on it. If God really wants us to have something, it will be the same price tomorrow as it was today and it will still be available at that time. Sellers want to make a sell!! We should have left and prayed on it and we would not have bought the land.

Secondly, we spent money on the little things. We goto Goodwill a lot to buy our clothes (and other necessities). What happens is we have a need (one of the children need new clothes) and go into Goodwill. We see several other WANTS and because they are such a good deal, we buy them. SO then we have a house full of clutter and only continue to collect more and more wants leaving less money for needs.

We should have created a budget of all the necessary things, then budgeted in savings and ROTH and tithe. After that, budget in amounts to spend on necessities: groceries, gas, clothing, etc. What we have done now is to give eachother an allowance each month. It is small, but enough to take the family out to dinner, buy a newly released DVD, etc. So that way we have a "fun" fund and can save up for the more expensive wants, and still build our retirement fund.

Don't think you are ever too young to think about or plan for retirement. Just think about it. If you start now, before you are even married. Then you won't have to wait until hubby is 65 and in a miserable job before he retires. He can retire at 40 and enjoy raising the kids WITH you (instead of always having to work or be thinking about work).

When we calculated the money we could have had by now, we would have not only been able to pay CASH for our homestead (which we wouldn't have done, it sometimes is more beneficial to take a loan out so you can keep growing your money - for example, if your ROTH is getting you 9% interest, and the loan is only costing you 5%, then you are making more money than the loan is costing you by keeping your money in your ROTH!), but it would have been enough that hubby could retire in 5 years instead of 32.

Imagine that!!! He will have to "waste" almost 30 extra years working that he COULD have been enjoying with family NOT working. He could have had the freedom to start up the company he wanted to start up but never had the time (because he is working a job to pay for our house and food and other needs and wants) or money.

We are SO THANKFUL that God has blessed us DESPITE our lack of good stewardship with His gifts. We are not in debt (but we are living paycheck to paycheck). We own our car. And with the sell of our home, we are going to make the profit we wanted to in order to be able to get a bigger home with bigger land (although still not the homestead we both really wanted).

So anyways, I hope that this helps some of you . And thankfully we are finding out NOW about how to do things instead of later when hubby is laid off because he finally reached that age where his company feels they can get cheaper labor from a college grad, despite all of hubby's knowledge, his knowledge is now too expensive for the company to keep him.

I also want to give one last word of encouragement - be accountable to each other on how you spend money. It is so easy to think that you don't need to discuss the dress you want to buy or the groceries you want to buy (after all, I am the woman and know what our family needs and am making all the meals), but I encourage you even in those areas to talk with your husband about it. Maybe he will suggest something that can save you an extra $30 a month. That may seem small now, but in one year, you will have saved an extra $360 plus interest (and if you were able to put that into either of your ROTHS or your husbands 401K that adds up FAST!! :D).

Try to max out BOTH of your ROTH's every year as well as your husband's 401K (your company should have a matching point - max to the matching point). That will help you build up that retirement fund fast.

And if you have a little extra at the end of the year, put it into a high yeild CD. I am hoping in 15 years to have enough money for the entire family (including any other children the Lord may give us) to goto Hawaii for our 25 wedding anniversary. :D

The Meaning of the Season and Don't Save It All For Christmas Day

I must admit that I find it horribly frustrating as a Christian that at a time of the year when we are supposed to be focused on Christ we can become some of the most selfish and gluttonous people. I admit that I love candy and cookies and breads as much as the next person, but too much is too much! I find myself wanting to eat things that I normally don't crave throughout the year. Maybe it is because all the best baking happens around this time of year. Maybe if we indulged just a little bit here and there throughout the year (like why do we only make cherry cordials this time of year, why not in Feb for Valentine's and in May for May day?) we wouldn't be so inclined to indulge at Christmas. Maybe this is a good lesson to enjoy everyday. Maybe by allowing ourselves only a short time of the year to bake these things, we are creating an excuse to over indulge in them. And then we are miserable, wondering why we let ourselves be so gluttonous and vow next year NOT to do the same.

It is the same with finances too. When we save and save and save and never have any fun with it, we usually end up doing one of two things:
*either we make ourselves miserable because we never have any fun and so we resent having to save and save and save
*or we end up nickel and dimeing ourselves into debt because we feel that we are saving our money so a little bit here and there won't hurt.

Why not start a small spending fund. Every time you have spare change or money left over from the budgeted groceries, etc. put it into a jar. My husband and I actually give ourselves an allowance each month to spend on things that we really don't have money in the budget for. It helps us to keep to the budget AND we are not miserable. We are able to enjoy life a bit (a small cookie at the bakery for each of the kids and myself, that movie that we just really really wanted, that new shade of lipstick that I don't really need but want).

Anyways, I guess my ramblings are more just a reminder to enjoy things throughout the year and don't save it all for Christmas day.

Mommy, What Does GRACIOUS Mean?

I was talking to my daughter about how to eat properly and she said that Belle (oh please don't ask me why we ever let our daughters watch Disney princess movies - they have become OBSESSED with princess!) picked up the bowl and drank out of it. I mentioned that was because she was being gracious and my daughter asked what gracious meant.

I am quickly realizing that there are a whole SLEW of words that you just come to know and understand what they mean without truly knowing what they mean. So I had to look up the definition on the computer. In doing so I came across a great page that talks about ten characteristics of a gracious person. These are GREAT! I am thinking of printing them out and hanging them where I can see them and be reminded of how I want to be.

Because the web is ever changing and pages are ever leaving us, I am going to include the ten here. And afterwards, include some others written by others in the comments to the original post.

Ten Characteristics of a Gracious Person

Posted by Jim Martin at November 21st, 2006

Gracious … Now I like that word. Not a Terrell Owens or Randy Moss word. No, this word is reserved for people who recognize that they are privileged to receive what they have been given. A gracious person is wonderful just to be around. So what is a gracious person?

• A gracious person is slow to take credit and quick to lavish praise.
• A gracious person never seeks to embarrass another. Humiliating another is not in this person’s vocabulary. (And please … don’t say something that humiliates another and then try to escape responsibility by saying, "I was only joking.")
• A gracious person is always thanking others. Do you go through an entire day without thanking another?
• A gracious person doesn’t monopolize the conversation. Someone else has something to offer.
• A gracious person doesn’t try to play "one up-manship." ("That’s nothing, you should have seen what I did!")
• A gracious person pays attention to people. Sometimes people come away from such conversations saying, "He made me feel like I was the most important person at that moment."
• A gracious person desires to say what is appropriate. He doesn’t just say what is on his mind or whatever he might be thinking. (There is no redeeming value in emptying one’s mind of whatever fleeting thought has happened to land at the moment.)
• A gracious person looks out for the comfort of others. "Would you like a cup of coffee? What about a coke? Can I get you a newspaper while I’m out?" etc.
• A gracious person understands that she is not indispensable. You’ve seen this person. She desires constant attention. She has a way of constantly focusing most any conversation back on herself. There is a humility in realizing that you are dispensable.
• A gracious person constantly points out the good that he sees. Maybe you are visiting a friend who lives in another place. Instead of pointing out the inadequacies of your friend’s community, you are constantly finding things that are good. "This cafe has outstanding peach pie! That was delicious." "I just love the way you have planted your garden. It is beautiful!" Gracious people look for the good.

This is actually a post from October 2005. Why post it again? Because of a few comments that have been made regarding this piece. This was published in the Waco Tribune Herald shortly after it was posted on my blog. One gentleman told me a few weeks later that someone had placed the newspaper article on the wall in the rehab center at nearby Providence Hospital. A few weeks ago, a local anesthesiologist told me that it had been posted on the door of the operating room. He said, "I’ve read it several times before going in." An older gentleman in our church died of cancer in the last year. Before his death, he sent a copy of this piece to each of his grandchildren.

Why this response? I believe that in so many of us, there is a genuine hunger to experience the beauty of graciousness. After all, it is nothing more than grace lived out. And — that grace originates in the heart of God.

(I’m curious, what would you add to this list of ten? I suspect you could add another characteristic of a gracious person that might be helpful to us all.)

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I might add that a gracious person really doesn’t care who gets credit, so long as the job is done. Gracious people don’t keep score.

Greg England

Best take on Christmas I have ever read to date

This is one of the best articles on Christians celebrating Christmas I have ever read.

Preserving Your Child's Artwork

I found FABRIC CRAYONS at Wal-mart. You have the child color a picture on regular paper (no letters or numbers because they will transfer backwards). Then iron onto fabric! We are going to be making pillowcases. I will post pictures when we are done. It might not be for a while because things are a bit busy right now.