Changes Are A Comin'

This week has absolutely flown by. Saturday night, we had a storm come through which fried the sim card in my cell phone. I went to one Cingular store on Sunday to try to get it fixed, but it didn't have what I needed. Monday I went to a different store, and they were able to switch my card around. The blessing in all of this was that I didn't lose my phone numbers.

We published the newsletter Sunday evening and e-mailed it out. What a big relief! This was the first time we did the newsletter using this format, and there were a lot of bugs to work out. If you didn't get it, and would like to, let me know. We have decided to make some changes though; we are only going to send out our newsletter on a monthly basis. We will send weekly updates to those on our evangelism team and those in the Houston area who could possibly participate in our activities.

We have been battling "devil weed", aka ragweed, here. Our allergies have been playing havoc with Lindsay, Hannah, and me all week. In an effort to see if we have some food allergies, the three of us are eliminating wheat and milk products. I have found that the milk is much easier than the wheat! Do you know when you can't eat wheat, you notice that it's in everything. Food is not something that I usually battle with. I really don't care about it a lot, but these last 24hrs of the food elimination have really made my food awareness go up.

Yesterday I found out that you can make gumbo using spelt flour and it works relatively the same as wheat flour. Tonight I am going to make some rice crispy treats because the three of us are hankerin' for a little something sweet. BTW, don't watch Paula Deen if you are on any food restrictions. That was a big mistake!! She made this wonderful white chocolate macadamia pie...I'm getting hungry just thinking about it! Hannah did suggest eating the filling out of a pie and leaving the crust...sounds like a plan to me!

I have been and will continue to be quite busy working as Gene's administrative assistant for the ministry. I'm learning a great deal, but still have a long way to go. His first training seminar is scheduled for the 28th of October, so there is a lot of prep work to do for that. I'm learning to juggle all of my responsibilities and trying to set myself up with certain times to work on specific tasks. It's causing me to have to discipline myself much more. I typically have an open door policy in which the girls are free to come to me anytime. I'm finding I will have to change that somewhat if I'm going to accomplish what I need to do. This is a thing we are all going to have to learn to balance.

The change that is a comin' has to do with this blog. Since we recently got a new domain name for our evangelism website, we will eventually drop the Masterskey domain. That being the case, we will be switching our personal blogs and e-mail to a new domain. When all of that is set up, I wil let you know. Hopefully that will be in the next week or so.***

***Editor's note: Things have now been changed over on my blogs. I will be switching e-mails in the next week or so.***

Sticky Situation

I know that I live a sheltered life, but quite honestly, I didn't think I could be surprised by much. But, I was wrong. Tonight I ran into Wal-Mart for a couple of items. I was walking down the aisle where the baking products are when I was quite surprised by what I saw. There was a little girl of about 10 standing near the colored icing opening a tube of it, squeezing the icing out and licking it off of the top. I looked around and saw no one that could be her parents, and I wasn't quite sure what to do. As I walked down the aisle, I was in such a state of shock that I forgot to get my baking powder. I went to the next aisle and got my cereal then came back for the baking powder. There was this little girl with a 15 year old boy and a woman. With much fear and trepidation, I asked the woman if this was her daughter. I then told her what had transpired. I was very uncertain how she would respond to me, but she was very appreciative and thanked me repeatedly. I was so thankful that she received it well, and that she didn't yell at me, right in the middle of Wal-mart. She also made no excuses for her daughter, promptly correcting her. I can assure you I will be checking the tamper proof lids on all of my foods. ;-)

Crochet/Knitting Ideas

Recently my girls have been getting interested in hand-crafts. Lindsay and Hannah have been crocheting up a storm. At this moment Lindsay is working on a shawl for me. Since her asthma has been acting up she isn't up to doing a lot of physical work, so she has been using that time to crochet. When she finishes the shawl, I'll post a picture.

In the last few weeks we have found some very good yarn on sale and we purchased quite a few skeins. With 6 people buying yarn, needles and hooks things can tend to get quite confusing. Trying to remember who borrowed who's hook is a chore within itself. Determined to get on top of this, I bought a couple of plastic boxes from Wal-Mart in which to store my skeins. I also purchased a pencil zipper bag to store my crochet hooks and other smaller craft hooks. I can place the bag inside my skein box without taking up a great deal of space. I marked the non-hook end of all of my crochet hooks with a permanent marker so I knew which were mine. I think we'll put an initial on the end of each of the girls, to keep theirs separated.

Today while working in the gilrs' room Hannah came up with a great idea for a place to store their skeins of yarn. They each have a pocketed bag on a hanger, similar to those to store shoes, which will hold about 12 skeins of yarn. I wll get pictures of the girls yarn in the bags and add them to this post a little later today.

The next big craft organization project will be my other craft supplies and all of our material. We have tons of material here, but it's really nice when you need to make something and already have some on hand. This is a very time consuming task that I have put off long enough.

We will be sewing a good deal over the next few weeks. As we finish projects, I'll post them here.

Happy Birthday, Rachel!!

Last month, Rachel, our fourth daughter, had her 12th birthday. Rachel is a one of a kind girl. She loves deeply and quickly. She makes friends in an instant, and they are her friends forever! At the age of 8, Rachel had to deal with the sudden death of a friend she had recently made. Rachel loved Abbie with all her heart from the moment she met her, and when Abbie died, Rachel took it very hard. I don't think There Rachel will ever forget Abbie. Their birthdays were a day apart, so Rachel's birthday is always bittersweet. have been some people who didn't understand Rachel's attachment to Abbie, because she hadn't known her long. There is something unique about Rachel and that is her ability to love completely. I've had some suggest that maybe she cares too much. But, if you look at it from a Godly perspective, is that really possible? Does it cause heartache and hurt? Yes, but God can use that to strengthen and mature us.

A great blessing to this quality of Rachel's is that she loves the Lord with the same devotion. Her heart breaks for those who are lost in the darkness, who don't know Him. In a world where most Christians don't give a passing thought to those who are dying and going to hell, I find it a great reminder of how we are truly to feel about them. Aren't we called to love them as we love ourselves?

Rachel is also a great lover of animals, and has a great concern for them. We have to work diligently to keep this in balance, but we don't want to discourage her from her compassion. Today we had a test in this area. We were at the mall, and in the food court they had cages with tiger cubs of various ages. People we paying $25 for 2 people to spend 8 minutes in the cages with the tigers. These cubs ranged in age from 8 weeks to 4 months. We talked about this for a long time tonight and it really stuck with Rachel. She knows that this isn't where these tigers belong. We talked a great deal about how these animals can be best be taken care of. Her answer was, "If they want to see tigers, they can go to the zoo." It's also very hard for her to understand how greed can motivate a person to do things that aren't in the best intrest of a person or animal.

Rachel is also very logical, plain spoken, and quick witted, which at times can be very funny.

Here's a picture of Rachel that I recently took:

Quick and Easy Soup

Yesterday things were sorta hectic around here and I was pushed at dinner time, not knowing what I was going to cook. I made this super easy soup that everyone loved. I'll guess at the spices as I didn't measure when I put them in (once again).

1 lb ground turkey, browned
2 T onion flakes
4 sm bullion cubes
water
1/2 lb of ww spaghetti
1 can of Red Kidney Beans, drained and rinsed
1 can of Black Beans, drained and rinsed
2 cans of diced potatoes, drained
2T chili powder
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp of salt
1 tsp of Tony's

I browned and drained my meat. While it was browning put two cups of water with the bullion cubes in the microwave and heated it until it was pretty warm. At this point I used my stick blender to make sure the cubes dissolved all the way. Then add all the ingredients to the pot adding any additional water to make sure all the ingredients are covered by about an inch of water. Bring to a boil and cook at a medium high temperature until spaghetti is cooked.

It went quickly and tasted good. It was also pretty inexspensive to make. If I would have had more time I would have made cornbread to go along with it. That would have made it perfect.

Tomorrow I'm making a mexican casserole I made a couple of weeks ago. I hadn't made it in years and everyone loved it. I'll post it here either tomorrow or Sunday.

New Ground

This has been a busy couple of days. We have been setting up Gene's first one day training event for our evangelism ministry. In late July Gene was made a Local Leader for GNN and one of his many responsibilities is doing evangelism training seminars. This first one will be at First Baptist Church, Webster, TX on Oct. 28th. With it being the first one there is a huge learning curve, and as Gene's administrative assistant I have a lot to learn. There have been many phone calls, with many more to come. There has also been a lot of computer work, with more to come in that area.

We are so blessed that a dear Local Leader out of Tempe, AZ, Linda Essary, has prepared the way for us. She is definately a woman after my own heart...she has lots of lists!! I was so happy to look into her syllabus from the Local Leader Summit and find everything laid out for me. She had lots of lists of what I will need to take and what I will need to do in advance. She thinks like I do in these areas... sorta scary ;-)

I'm very excited about all that the Lord is doing and is going to do through our ministry. We are but a small cog on the wheel that has been set in motion by Living Waters and GNN.

We will be working on our newsletter over the next couple of days. If you don't receive it, and would like to, please leave me a note here, or e-mail me through this site. Please pray for us as we enter this new realm of responsibility and as we strive to serve Him to the best of our ability.

Unusual Video

Unusual Video


In August Gene went to a Local Leader Summit for GNN in Dallas. At the meeting they showed a video of an unusual interview . Today while browsing one of my usual blogs, I came across the link for the video. I hope that you will watch it and let me know what you think of it.

Steve Irwin

Tonight we watched Steve Irwin’s funeral. It was very hard to watch, as we have watched him for the last 8 years. Hannah, Rachel, and Caroline can hardly remember when he wasn’t in their lives. And in their lives he was, especially Rachel's. She loves animals greatly, and Steve influenced that side of her. At our house we don’t kill spiders; we do “catch and release” programs. The only animals that are fair game (and Rachel would even debate one on this list) are rats, roaches, fire ants, and mosquitoes. Other than that, we pretty well co-exist. If it’s a creature we don’t want in the house, we “catch and release.”

His funeral brought about many discussions. One of the questions that was raised was, “Do they think just because he was a "good person" he will go to heaven?” Because of our evangelism ministry, our girls are very familiar with the story of the Rich Young Ruler in Luke 18. When the man called Jesus good, this is what Christ said to him in verse 19-20:

So Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. You know the commandments: "Do not commit adultery,' "Do not murder,' "Do not steal,' "Do not bear false witness,' "Honor your father and your mother.'"

The girls know that being “good” won’t get you into heaven. Only trust in Christ and Godly repentance will allow you to enter into His kingdom. Sadly, most professing “Christians” couldn’t even tell you what’s required by God for you to enter into Heaven. We know; we’ve asked many of them. They will tell you that they are pretty good people, and they feel God will overlook their sin. If you go here, you will get a better explanation of what God’s view of being good is and what is required by Him.

Another thing that struck me was something Steve said in an interview, “We do what we love.” He was talking about wildlife and conservation, but it brings about a question to mind for Christians. Are we doing what we love? Did you ever see how Steve would show compassion and heartbreak over the mistreatment of an animal? That is one of the many things that endeared him to the world: he showed his heart without reservation. As Christians we are supposed to be heartbroken over the thought of one person going to hell. Yet we all walk by dozens of people every day who are headed there and we do or say nothing. I myself am guilty. I personally don’t believe Steve had a saving knowledge of Christ (there is no evidence that he did); therefore that means he will spend eternity in hell. A place of everlasting torment. That should break our hearts!!! It does mine. God can use this in our lives if we’ll allow him to. Don’t let that feeling of sadness over lost opportunity slip away. Pray and ask God to give you boldness to share your faith.

And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. 1Cor 2:1- 4

A Typical Day

Today has been typical of many of my days as of late. It involved helping the girls with their school, doing some housework, running by the library, running a few errands, and cooking. At times I feel like a dog that has caught its tail, but isn't quite sure what to do with it now that it's in his mouth. There are many things I need to be doing, but it seems that only the urgent are getting attention. I think part of my problem is derived from my lack of lists. I always get more accomplished when using a list. I need to put list making at the top of my mental list wink

For school this year, we are doing things very differently. We are using a quasi-Charlotte Mason Method. I'm doing many of the things she recommended, but some things are different. One of the things we are doing is reading lots of good books (or whole books, for those familiar with the term). I have planned out a 12 week term and broken down what I want done in that term into weekly segments. The girls are getting into the swing of things, though at first the pile of books looked daunting. After explaining that they don't really have that many pages per book each week, they weren't so overwhelmed. We have two books that we will work on together from our two history time periods. We are studying both Ancient Egypt and the Colonization of America. For Ancient Egypt, we are going to read aloud Henty's Cat of Bubastes, and for our Colonization we are going to read William Bradford's journal. We are also studying Leonardo da Vinci, Beethoven, and Robert Louis Stevenson. For science, our nature focus will be birds and trees. This is the prime time of year for studying birds, as we have so many that will migrate through here over the next few months. It’s also a great time for studying the trees because of the great changes they will be going through as our term advances.

One of the most time consuming things for me has been the research I have done for school and the writing of my lesson plans for the term. Now that the planning is done, I believe things will go relatively smoothly. With the girls getting older, they will also be pretty independent in their work, which will free up some time for other pursuits.

I will deal with my homemaking and cooking things more on my homemaking blog; yes, it's still there and I need to post on it. I hope to start doing at least something quick on each blog most days.

The big errand for the day was for fish. Not the kind you eat, the kind you watch. A few weeks ago we were given a book on aquariums. Hannah read it and decided that she wanted an aquarium. Hannah, Rachel, and Caroline divided up purchasing some of the things they needed for the tank, though Hannah bought the tank kit, and began planning. We set up the tank a couple of days ago with water and the filter running, and today was the day to add fish. We bought 4 male guppies, 2 Black-skirted Tetras, 1 Neon Tetra, 1 Glow-lite Tetra and 2 African Dwarf frogs...I almost forgot the snail. He's very important for ecological balance in the tank (or so I've been told). I must say the girls have put a great deal of effort and research into their tank, deciding which fish could live harmoniously together because of temperament, water temperature and size. They pored over library books on tropical fish and Hannah has I don't know how many lists about what is needed. So today was the day of the big purchase. I will try to download pictures tomorrow of the tank as it looks now. It has already brought us a great deal of enjoyment watching the fish dart and the frogs race from the top of the tank back down to the bottom. Don't ever let anyone tell you that snails are slow! This little guy gets around, and quickly.

My Day

Today was a busy day, as they all have been lately. The house seems to be in shambles, but in reality it's the disaster before things get better type of shambles. If you've ever done any major re-organizing, you'll understand what I mean. I wanted to share our menu from tonight.

Meatloaf
Cheese Mashed Potatoes
Honey Glazed Carrots
Black-eyed Peas with Bacon

I can't give you an exact recipe of how to make any of the above items because I don't really use recipes, though I need to write down how I do things so the girls can replicate what I do. The meatloaf is something everyone loves. My favorite way to eat it is on white bread with mayonnaise (I know, not one ounce of healthful food there!). Here's how I make it with a rough, very rough estimate of the ingredients.

Meatloaf
2 lbs ground turkey
1/2 cup oatmeal
1 small onion, finely chopped
3/4 cup ketchup
1 T Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper
a couple of dashes of Tony Cachere's Cajun seasoning

Mix this all together and top with about 1 cup of Ketchup with 2 T Worcestershire sauce blended in. If I'm pressed for time I often bake this in muffin tins at 425 for about 30 minutes.

Honey Glazed Carrots
3 cans of sliced carrots (we prefer fresh, but I only had canned on hand)
1 stick of margarine
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup sugar

Drain carrots and place in sauce pan. Add in margarine, sugar and honey. Stirring gently and only occasionally, until sugar, honey and margarine are melted and carrots are heated through.