A sermon worth reading..

(A picture from last summer, this is Noah in the maya wrap on my back. He's giving the 'bad baby impression' as he twists around to see Charli with the camera)


A snippet....

For instance, whereas Noah was a mighty good ship builder, his main occupation wasn’t ship building, it was preaching. He was a terrible failure as a preacher. His wife and three children and their wives are all he had. Seven converts in 120 years you wouldn’t call particularly effective. Most mission boards would have asked the missionaries to withdraw long before this. I say as a ship builder he did quite well, but as a preacher, he was a failure.

And then we come down across the years to another man by the name of Jeremiah. He was a might effective preacher, but ineffective as far as results were concerned. If you were to measure statistically how successful Jeremiah was, he would probably get a large cipher. For we find that he lost out with the people, he lost out with royalty, even the ministerial association voted against him and wouldn’t have anything to do with him. He had everything fail. The only one he seemed able to please was God……but otherwise he was a distinct failure.

And then we come to another well known person, the Lord Jesus Christ, who was a failure from judging all the standards. He never succeeded in organizing a church or denomination. He wasn’t able to build a school. He didn’t succeed in getting a mission board established. He never had a book printed. He never was able to get any of the various criteria or instruments that we find and are so useful; I’m not being sarcastic at all, they are useful. And our Lord preached for three years, healed thousands of people, fed thousands of people, and yet when it was all over there were 120….500 to whom he could have revealed Himself after His resurrection. And the day that He was taken, one man said, "If all the others forsake you, I’m willing to die for you." He looked at this one and said, "Peter, you don’t know your own heart. You’re going to deny me three times before the cock crows this morning." So all men forsook Him and fled. By every standard of our generation or any generation, our Lord was a single failure.

Read or listen to the whole sermon, click here.

Another section that hit home..

Why should a sinner repent? Because God deserves the obedience and love that he’s refused to give Him! Not so that he’ll go to heaven. If the only reason he repents is so that he’ll go to heaven, it’s nothing but trying to make a deal or a bargain with God.

Why should a sinner give up all his sins? Why should he be challenged to do it? Why should he make restitution when he’s coming to Christ? Because God deserves the obedience that He demands!

(my cat, Mocha, no.. we don't feed her here)


YOU SAY
GOD SAYS
BIBLE VERSES
You say: "It's impossible"
God says: All things are possible
(Luke 18:27)



You say: "I'm too tired"
God says: I will give you rest
(Matthew 11:28-30)



You say: "Nobody really loves me"
God says: I love you
(John 3:1 6 & John 3:34 )



You say: "I can't go on"
God says: My grace is sufficient
(II Corinthians 12:9 & Psalm 91:15)



You say: "I can't figure things out"
God says: I will direct your steps
(Proverbs 3:5- 6)



You say: "I can't do it"
God says: You can do all things
(Philippians 4:13)



You say: "I'm not able"
God says: I am able
(II Corinthians 9:8)



You say: "It's not worth it"
God says: It will be worth it
(Roman 8:28 )



You say: "I can't forgive myself"
God says: I Forgive you
(I John 1:9 & Romans 8:1)



You say: "I can't manage"
God says: I will supply all your needs
(Philippians 4:19)



You say: "I'm afraid"
God says: I have not given you a spirit of fear
(II Timothy 1:7)



You say: "I'm always worried and frustrated"
God says: Cast all your cares on ME
(I Peter 5:7)



You say: "I'm not smart enough"
God says: I give you wisdom
(I Corinthians 1:30)



You say: "I feel all alone"
God says: I will never leave you or forsake you
(Hebrews 13:5)



All of these verses can be found at http://www.blueletterbible.com/

While I'm blogging..

Meadow giving Bethany a smooch. Meadow is technically my dog (Brec'heds Madezou Bleuzenn is her AKC name). She's a brittany. I'm not convinced she'd be good for hunting.. but she is good at eating cheese, doggy treats, and army guys.
Picture taken by Charlotte. It doesn't even BEGIN to show off the mischief that is usually glinting in Meadow's eyes.
Another picture by Charlotte. This is her cat, Sugar, who has a really tough life. After being annoyed by the other cats she was made a special kitty-cat castle by C. Its a box covered with fabric with her own little placemat in front. She slept in the box for HOURS. Charli felt sorry for her because she was trying to get into a 2" deep cardboard box. Obviously she missed the class that taught how to measure boxes. What is it about cats and cardboard??




Oh, and tonight's dinner menu changed. It seems the hot italian sausage was calling Jim's name at the store. So, into the crockpot it went with spaghetti sauce. Pap pap said the traditional sunday dinner growing up was spaghetti made that way, with the addition of hard boiled eggs in the sauce. We decided to give that a go and so that is tonight's dinner! If Noah naps we'll have dessert. If he doesn't nap we'll continue to spend most of our time keeping an eye on him ;-) He's in rare form today!

Poison Ivy?

This morning I noticed Noah had some bumps running down one finger. We assumed it was ant bites because he's a fire ant magnet when outside! But, they went on to fill up with fluid and he scratched off the top of one. (Ever try to keep a bandaid on a 2yo's hand?) We've never had ant bites do that. I know he wasn't burned on anything and I can't see friction causing those blisters, so I'm thinking poison something?

Any ideas?

Hot Milk Cake - yummy as dessert or breakfast with fruit


2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together flour and baking powder. Heat milk in a small saucepan until just boiling, then remove from heat and set aside.

Beat eggs until foamy, then add sugar. Continue beating on medium-high speed until thick and lemon colored. Add vanilla, reduce mixer speed to medium and add hot milk in a steady stream. Quickly beat in flour mixture. (this is when the Kitchen Aid comes in handy!)

Bake in preheated oven 45 minutes, or until top springs back when lightly tapped. I bake mine in a 9x13 pan, I bet it'd be fantastic in a bundt pan - if I had one ;-) That may end up the list of kitchen wants, along with a springform pan.

Priorities and all of that

In late honors of Father Day.. that's my Dad up above. :) Kinda funny to say my Dad's a biker because most people probably assume he's an accountant or something. lol. But, he's a biker, tattoos and all, and we love him. He's also the guy that taught me *by example, not just words* how to be an honorable person.

One day I am not going to be able to blog. Why is that you ask? Because slowly, but surely, my laptop is losing its keys. Somehow Noah has figured out a quick way to yank them off. Usually the laptop is shut, but occassionally I forget and leave it open. It drives me crazy to realize he got another one of my keys.. yet when all is said and done, I'd pick a laptop with no keys over a laptop with full keys if it means having Noah.

I'm reading A Full Quiver and thoroughly enjoying it. I wonder why so few Christians even consider the idea of normal childbearing? According to A Full Quiver the #1 reason is finances. Due to our crazy job history and changes there is one thing I've learned -- people tend to spend as much as they make. If you make $35K you live that way, if you make $65K you live that way. Both groups tend to feel broke or 'on the brink' most of the time. Yet, there are an awful lot of large families (6+ kids) living on low salaries and making it work. While there are oodles of 2 kid families living on two incomes and barely making ends meet. I don't think it has much to do with the paycheck or family size. The Bible tells us to trust God in this area.. but still, obviously, many do not.

In my life I have seen God provide. A simple example would be this.. For quite a while I've passed the girls hand me downs to a friend. Generally, whatever made it through her daughter would get passed back and often ebay'd to go towards more clothes. Then, I had the 3 boys in a row. The clothes would pass down, but after Noah that was it. God brought a dear family into our lives and, hurray, someone to pass on Noah's clothing to now. I know this sounds cheesy, but it gets better. I passed a lot of Noah's clothing to them, then we find friend #1 is having a boy. She is showered with boy clothes.. and then we discover friend #2 is having a boy.. and back to her they will go. Round and round.

With Naomi I figured we'd have to purchase most of her stuff. Yet, a friend came through and asked if I needed any. What a blessing! She had a summer baby so here all these 0-3 months summer clothes for Naomi. She's starting to outgrow them. I mentioned to Jim I was going to set aside some money towards other items.. that day an internet friend emails to ask if I'd like a box of things her daughter has outgrown. We're saving towards another vehicle and a few days ago an unexpected check for $90 arrived in the mail. A few months back Noah managed to lose an IRS check from my purse. The original goal was to use the money towards baby items and a 'tip' for the midwife assistant. However, it was lost and we had to wait for a replacement. God willing, the replacement should arrive before mid-July. Its not enough to buy a vehicle, not even a used falling-apart vehicle :), but it is added to the savings towards one. God knows our needs and we're relying on Him. We're also learning the valuable lesson of prioritizing and wants vs. needs. Plus, learning to be humble as we explain to our children, and friends, the situation we're currently sitting in. Y'know, it really makes you feel loved when friends kinda shrug when you mention you can't make it to activities and say "That's okay, we'll come see YOU".

Do I think everyone should have half a dozen children? No, that's not for me to say. But do I think its sad that Christian families are cutting off blessings from God? Most definitely! I also worry for my children (and future grandchildren). When even the church is saying large families are irresponsible or take up too many resources.. where will that leave my children? I do wonder how the world managed to spread that lie so quickly through almost all Christian groups. It is sad when I go out that people assume I belong to certain denominations. Many find it hard to believe that someone who is 'just a Christian' would also be quiverful or have other 'out there' ideas. Why is that? Should I only do these things if taught by a church? Is that why its often NOT being done - because the church stopped teaching it?

I have been asked what we'd do if God 'led us' to limit our family -- as A Full Quiver mentions -- why would the Lord lead us to something against His word? Where is it said in the Bible that children are a curse or to be avoided? Does that sound like God? Or.. does that sound like the whispering of another voice? Someone who would greatly benefit by Christians slowly killing off God's people by limiting family sizes?

Tonight I read part of Job to Bethany and James. For those not familiar, Job is basically about a God-fearing man that loses -everything- yet still praises God. We talked as we went.. ooh'ing over Job owning thousands of camels, sheep, and so on. Then we get to the part where the servants keep showing up with bad news. The oxen were killed, sheep were burned to a crisp, donkeys stolen, and so on. Yet, Job praises God as one who gives and takes away. Now that's a pretty big lesson. All of this 'stuff' we have could easily be taken from us. Houses burn down, vehicles die (ask me how I know!!), furniture wears out, clothing gets stained, and new gadgets get outdated. It all passes. But children - THOSE are treasures we can take to Heaven with us. Raise Godly children and what could be better? Give me the shack and beans for dinner if that's what it takes to follow God. Let others have all their goodies and toys. I want something real. I know a lot of churches treat Jesus like a self-help program. Follow him and everything will be rosey. It makes me wonder if they've ever read His words.. Jesus said, John 15:18, "If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you."

So if we feel like the world loves us and we're walking hand in hand with it.. should we be suspicious and look hard at our lives? This world is not our home. We, as a family, know our lives here will be very short compared to eternity with God. Eventually there will be a new Earth and I doubt if we'll be fretting over head gaskets on vehicles. But, I'm pretty sure I will be there with my blessed family and SO thankful that other Christians introduced us to the idea of letting God plan our family. Someday I know our time of having babies will be over. I'm ever thankful to the Lord that we'll be able to reach that day without regrets.

Btw, I should say one of the saddest conversations I've had with my girls happened the other day. We were talking about my Grandmother who died last year. My sister and I spent many weekends at her house playing cards and other things, so lots of stories have "Gram" in them. Charlotte asked if she was a Christian and I told her that Gram and I discussed that just a couple of weeks before she died. We were able to pray together and I know she is one person who will be there, arms open, to welcome me when I leave this earth. Yet, the sad part came when they started asking about other family members or friends. I honestly don't know for sure who does, or does not, have a relationship with Christ, but I do pray that God will reach those that don't. It's not about following a list of rules or going to the right church. It's about loving what God loves, hating what God hates, and following Him. This life is going to pass by quickly.

Getting to heaven is not just about "being a good person". It's about going to God and admitting your sins, turning -away- from those sins, and accepting that Jesus died for you.

An interesting site I found labelled "Sayings Not Found in Scripture" like To Thine Own Self Be True and so on. http://www.blueletterbible.org/faq/sayings.html

Sorry for the rambling post - these are things that just happen to be on my heart today.

God is Good

(Picture has nothing to do with the post, I simply wanted to add it :)

Not a lot of people know the crazy saga that is going on with us right now. I'm guessing only my Dad knows the whole insane story. We're currently playing "what else can happen?" and not enjoying the game.

But, in the midst of all the crazy stuff -- vehicles dying, tractor dying, dishwasher dying, glass door breaking, property line issues resulting in the loss of our driveway, and so on.. I've noticed that its so much easier to count your woes than count your blessings. Our woes are quick to drag us down.

So, the blessings..

Jim and I are working together. In the past we would just gripe at each other.. or try to find a quick fix. We're finding solutions and, at the same time, strengthening our marriage.

While the van doesn't fit all of us (7 pass van, we have 8 people), it is reliable and runs. It stinks to be without two vehicles and to miss church, park, and so on.. but it'd be worse to have no vehicle. We're inconvenienced, but not desperate. I can handle being inconvenienced.

The french doors do look nicer than the sliding glass doors, although the cats are still confused about which side lets them out.

The front part of the new driveway is nice because they paved it. It needs gravel, but we can work around that for now (again, inconvenience, but not desperate. lol.)

Family dinners.. we've been able to eat together and have quieter evenings now that softball and other things are over. That is a blessing. Its so nice to sit with our children and just relax.

Jim studying -- he might complain that I'm posting this :), but I'm very proud of Jim and SO blessed to have a husband that is a believer. I love knowing I can ask him about a certain piece of scripture and he'll research it til he knows.. and explain it until I know. I'm also blessed with knowing I get to spend eternity with my husband (and children).

Air conditioning.. I'm not sure how those southerners 'back when' managed to live here. I would have started hiking north as soon as the first summer hit! It's outrageously hot outside.

And, on that note, I'm also thankful for the military. I heard its 110 (!!!) in Iraq as the high for the past 3 weeks or so. I can't imagine being in 110 weather with all of that equipment. I realize the heat is probably the least of their concerns, but having summer hit us here really brought that home.

We're also blessed with mothers willing to let their children serve.. and not lock them up somewhere when they mention joining up (that'd be my temptation!). Noah slipped today on his blanket and went =splat= on the kitchen floor. It made my heart leap into my throat to see that.. how could I ever live through my child being in a war? All of those moms are in my prayers.

So, a babbling post for this Tuesday. The girls have a LOTR marathon going on and the boys are actively playing castle guys.

A Cartoon

Duggar Recipes

The Duggar Recipes can be found here: http://www.duggarfamily.com/recipes.html We are using the layered salad recipe tonight:

LAYERED SALAD
1st- 1/2 head lettuce6 boiled eggs, chopped1/ 2 lb. turkey bacon, crumbled
2nd- 1/2 head lettuce1 can peas, drained1 small onion , chopped
3rd- 2 cups REAL* Mayonnaise1 small container sour cream
Shred cheddar cheese over top. Chill.

I don't add the onion because I don't like it. How's that for fair? lol. I use bacon bits (artificial bacon) for the salad because I'm lazy. I use frozen peas because Jim doesn't care for canned. I've made this before and everyone loves it.

The basil sauce recipe can be found here: http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/creamcheesebasilsauce.htm

We also made the "magic milkshakes" They taste like Wendys Frosties. http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/magicmilkshakes.htm

Thursday Stuff

The picture has nothing to do with the post. It simply makes me smile. This is an older one of Joseph. He is sleeping under the quilt his great-grandmother made for him. The dog is his trusty "blue" (who no longer holds much fascination, it lost out to the "castle guys"). Also in the picture is Charli's beloved cat, Sugar (aka Splenda when we want to poke fun ;-).

Last nights dinner was a winner, although the atmosphere was lacking a certain peaceful quality. Noah decided to take a late nap which is never a good idea. He wailed for a while until finally taking a bite. Then he scarfed it down like he was starving. The sweet potato/apple casserole was simple. Boil 6 sweet potatoes until soft, peel and slice. Layer 1/2 sweet potatoes in casserole, sprinkle with some powdered sugar, layer 1 sliced apple on top, put on rest of sweet potatoes and another apple with more sugar. Dot with butter. Bake 50 mins.

We also had Pasta Bake with Vegetables (pg 158 of The Vegan Family Cookbook)

Its basically pasta with veggies - I used one large bag of brocc/caulif/carrot mix that was heated in the microwave along with elbow macaroni. The sauce is delicious! In a blender mix 3c milk (soy or cow), 1/3 c. flour, 1/4 nutritional yeast flakes, 1 tsp nutmeg and 1/4 c olive oil. Mix til smooth then cook in pan til thickened. This is faster/easier than a traditional white sauce.

Pour over the veggies/pasta and stir in. I then sprinkled cheese overtop because I wanted this to be yummy. Both recipes were new and the meal was noticably meat free. Bake for 10 mins, I let it go a bit longer so it'd be nicely brown on top. Everyone liked this.

And, due to being overly nervous about new dishes, I also baked 2 loaves of bread and made a spread. I used 2 vidalia (sweet) onions and a whole head of garlic. Peel garlic and dice onions. Cook on med in some oil til dark brown. Puree in food processor. Its very simple but was SO good (and good for you).

Dessert was the brownie shortcake recipe. Personally, I wasn't overly impressed, but the rest of the family LOVED it. Jim requested we make it again. Bethany didn't care for the sour cream mixed into the whipped topping. But, she never cares for sour cream.

Our other "foodie" news. The kids are picking gobs of blackberries daily! They get at least 3 cups. We're making yogurt today and they want blackberries to mix into it. They're going to be very disappointed when the bushes stop producing. These are wild blackberries that are growing just about everywhere around the yard/house now! Thank you Lord for free berries :)

“"It's time for people who believe that they have a stake in Western civilization and its traditions to get a little backbone - even if it offends somebody." Fred gets it! Fred Thompson for President!”



"Al-Qaida have a 100-year plan," Thompson said. "We have a plan until the next election."



“It’s been kind of a pox on both your houses,” he says. “There’s a disconnect out there between the people and Washington. — It seems lately whoever has power, whoever has control makes the same predictable mistakes.” His campaign themes: tighter borders, smaller government, lower taxes.

My favorite free homeschool help site

This was the "blogger challenge" for SHS (homeschool support) list.

My favorite site is the 1000 Good Book List . The list is broken up in age groups and also organized by read alouds, poems, and so on. The books have all been suggested, and reviewed, by Moms.

What I like to do is open the list, let the kids pick some titles, read about them on Amazon, and then order online through our library. Its nice to have a huge list of books I can trust!

And because a blog post isn't a blog post without a picture.. let me dig one up.. This is a picture of Joseph at 2 years old. I snapped it in my mother's back yard.

Sunday morning ramblings..

Every sunday morning is spent the same way. Eating breakfast a "little" later so nobody is starving by 11am. Trying to wait til the last possible minute to get dressed so it minimizes the chance of messes. Wondering if everyone has shoes handy so we're not late due to a missing shoe (been there, done that TOO many times!) and so on.

We've also added in making monkey bread. What is monkey bread you ask? A very unhealthy concoction that probably shouldn't have been added to our sunday! hehe. Basically this is what I do..

• Spray two loaf pans with non-stick spray
• Cut of refridgerator tube biscuits (like Pillsbury, the kind that POPS! when you open it). Each should be cut into 1/4ths.
• Melt 1/2c. butter and dredge the biscuit pieces through butter
• Coating: 1c sugar, 1 TB cinnamon, and 1 package cook & serve butterscotch pudding all mixed together.
• Put buttered pieces into sugar mixture, coat, and then place into loaf plan
• I use 2 rolls of biscuits per loaf pan (this allows for leftovers instead of arguments over who ate the last bit!)
• Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Let cool a few minutes and flip onto a large plate. It'll be ooey and gooey. Let this cool before serving. The bread will pull apart easily.

There are a lot of other monkey bread recipes out there. I prefer this one. James picked blackberries this morning so that was the side dish for breakfast. He's been picking bowls of blackberries daily from around the yard.

Last night's dinner was a hit. I do need to find a recipe for corn bread that doesn't fall apart. We will definitely have that again. I 'cheated' on the red beans and rice. I don't like bits of tomatoes or peppers in my food and I'm not using meat. For the beans and rice I made a large pan of brown rice in my paella pan (2c brown rice, 5 c water). I added 5 cubes of vegetable boullion to the water. After that simmered for 45 minutes I tossed in a large can of kidney beans (drained/rinsed), a can of tomato paste, and then seasoned it up with red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, chili seasoning, and onion powder. That all simmered together while we finished the corn bread and green beans.

Today is a super easy taco salad.. no dessert since we have leftover carrot cake *and* I think monkey bread would count as dessert, we simply had it for breakfast instead of after dinner.

Missed one!

I missed this one when loading the other pictures :)

The door saga & Bethany's baby wearing

The door saga has almost ended. For those who don't know.. Joseph dropped a mug a while back and the handle flew off. It traveled approx. 6', hit the door, and started it to crack. It was very scary because I thought it'd explode. That panel broke completely and it would have been a lot to replace. We decided, since that door drove us crazy anyway, to buy a new door. The french doors cost the same as new glass! A dear friend volunteered her husband to help replace the doors. Jim worked with him and they did an AMAZING job. Her husband really knew his stuff and that made it a do-able project. Once we get the molding on I'll take a new picture. This picture is looking through the old doors at the new doors. (Lowe's did mess up and send us the wrong door - right opening instead of left - but we didn't have time for them to get us a new one).

Bethany wanted to get in on the babywearing game. She is wearing Naomi in a crinkle cotton/gauze wrap. They both enjoyed it!
Naomi is so lavished on with attention. I know the stereotype is the 6th child would be neglected. Let me just say.. if I had to pick between being the 1st or the 6th that I'd DEFINITELY go for being the 6th. The cute thing is that Bethany has always been a type of momma to Joseph. I guess she felt he needed protecting from James when he was little. She's a quiet girl, but if someone messed with him she was 100% Momma Bear! Now.. Joseph is the one very into Naomi. If I'm not holding her he will say "Where's Naomi???" and go on the hunt. lol. (She's usually in the swing, bouncy, or being held by someone else.. so it isn't hard to find her). When she is nursing he likes to rest his head on my arm and just stare at her.. or offer commentary like "Naomi says she's filling up her tummy with milk!" Bethany is the 2nd child, Joseph is the 4th, and Naomi is the 6th. Maybe its something to do with being an even number!