My Simple Life

My new blog

2007-06-14T19:39:00.000-05:00

I have moved my blog to our family website (which isn't completed quite yet. I have finally posted about our trip and my pictures, which you can see here.

I'm Back

2007-06-06T16:38:00.000-05:00

We just returned from a 4 day whirlwind trip to Louisiana and Arkansas. We had a blast, saw lots of family, and met some new friends. Before the trip I had tons to do, and many sick people. We've had some type of respiratory cold/virus going through the family. It started over a month ago with Gene bringing it home and had gone through several of the girls before we left. When we left Caroline, Lindsay and Rachel were all still battling it. Have you ever listened to someone blow their nose for 6 hours straight? Well, it's enough to make you want to ride on top of the van like they do in India! Right now, Sarah and I are the only ones not battling with this cold. Gene is going through it for the second time. I'm praying that it will shortly depart from our midst.

I will be blogging all of the info on the trip on our newly set up family site. I will post here when I have it up and running.

What a pastor should be

2007-05-21T16:51:00.000-05:00

In June I will have been a Christian for 24 years, and in that time I have been in many churches due to moves and various other circumstances. I can't imagine trying to sit down and count how many pastors I have been under. Most of the churches I have been in are Baptist, mostly Southern Baptist. We currently attend a Bible church, which I really love. Being there has also shown me what things can be, and should be. I wanted to share some of my thoughts on this, and would love to hear your thoughts and experiences.

A pastor should be approachable. When I was first saved I was in a mega church that had over 1200 in Sunday School each week. Our pastor was relatively new to the area as were many on the staff. I became friends with the pastor and his wife and many of the staff at this church after I was saved. It may have been because of the radical change that overtook my life that made them take notice of me. Though, I'm not really sure why we had this relationship, because he didn't have it with many people. When Gene and I became engaged he agreed to marry us. I later found that this wasn't always the case. Much of the marrying, burying and visiting of the sick, was delegated to others on the staff. Since I wasn't experiencing this, I wasn't really aware of it, until a good friend of mine went to get married a few months after I did. The head pastor didn't "have time" to marry her because of his busy schedule. Looking at this 24 years later, I realize, that isn't how it should be. If your church is so big that the pastor doesn't have time to talk to you, or marry someone within his body, then there are some problems. I don't believe a pastor should do "everything" like in so many churches today. Though I do feel that he should have a relationship with those within his body. People should feel that he is approachable, not needing an appointment with him to just talk about the simplest things. Sadly, in most churches today, the pastor doesn't even know the names of most people within his congregation, much less have a real relationship with them. A lot of this stems from the mega-church mentality and the pastor being a personality (many are treated more like rock stars than pastors).

A pastor should be like a quarterback. I think the body should be viewed more like a an effective football team with the pastor as the quarterback. The quarterback is the leader on the field, giving the players directions, and calling audibles when needed. But, even on a professional football team, the quarterback doesn't call the plays on his own, he has a coaching staff to help him. Within the church, the pastor has the elders to lean on in helping to make decisions and to help in carrying the load. I had never been in a church where I had seen this work well, until I came to our present church. From what I have observed at our present church, no one man runs the show or makes all of the calls. The elders meet, discuss the issue at hand, pray about it, and make the decision together. As I'm not an elder, (nor could I be; just for clarification, I wouldn't think it proper for a woman to be) I've never been in on one of their meetings, but this is how I understand it works. I think it is wise for their to be a multitude of counsel, and no one man to be making the decisions. We are all fallible, and when we pray together, talk things out, and make decisions together, we are less likely to make a mistake.

A pastor should be humble. If a pastor isn't humble, it's going to be really hard for him to take direction, from the elders, and most likely from God. I have seen this played out numerous times. For some reason, today a pastor is viewed almost in the same way the pope is. People put a pastor on a pedestal and say things such as, "He's God's man." Many even tend to view the pastor as "holy." They seem to believe that he has a special, separate and different relationship with God than an "ordinary" believer. Many believe if the pastor says it, it must be so. This couldn't be further from what the scriptures teach. This thought process has sadly caused many pastors to become full of pride and being wise in their own eyes. There is a prevalent thought that because they have been to seminary, that they have a knowledge the "ordinary" person can't have. It takes a great deal of self-restraint and a person who really sees themselves for the sinner they are (that we all are) to be able to withstand the temptation to fall into pride. It works like a vicious cycle, and I'm not completely sure how to break it. Sadly, I know several young men who are going into seminary, and I already see them falling into this trap.

There is also the rock star or personality issue. Today many churches are only known by their pastor. You here it all the time, their is Joel Osteen's church, Rick Warren's church or John MacArthur's church. Some churches even have two campuses with thousands in attendance and the pastor shuttles between the two on a Sunday. In a church that we know of in Baton Rouge, the pastor flies in a helicopter between the two campuses so that he doesn't get caught in traffic. Is this really the picture of an over-shepherd the church teaches about? Is it any wonder that their are issues with pride, when those within the church look upon them as mini-gods? And they do, one thing I have learned is don't mess with a person's pastor. Some have even intimated that if you question a pastor, you are questioning God.

The thought that pastors are above the "ordinary" Christian stems straight from the Catholic church and is one of the things the reformers fought against. Tyndale was burned at the stake for bringing the Bible to the ordinary person so that they could read and study God's word on their own. But, it seems today that people have reverted back to the mindset of just sitting back and letting the pastor tell them what God's word means. They are not taking responsibility for studying out God's word and coming to an understanding of what it truly says. Sadly, most professing Christians don't even know how to use the simplest study tools, in order to study God's word.

A pastor should be interested in others' growth. This post came to mind after a conversation with a friend in which she shared that their pastor wasn't interested in what the Lord was teaching her & her husband. They are on fire, out witnessing and sharing their faith with others. They spend all of their free time either witnessing or in Bible study. When they try to talk to the pastor about what the Lord is showing them, what they are learning, or an experience they have had, he cuts them off. I've seen this happen many times in many different places. I've wondered why this is, and I'm not sure I have an answer. I think so much of all of this comes from the church not fulfilling the role that it was intended to fulfill. The problems with the church of today are too many to go into here, but no doubt that plays a great deal into the role of the pastor being misdirected.

I wish that many pastors would stop worrying so much about their eloquent speech behind the pulpit, and worry about how they interact with those around them. Sadly I've seen many of the people they have affected, and often their negative actions and words cause a persons heart to be hardened against the Lord. It is truly heartbreaking to me to see the results of this. I was a part of one church for a little over a year in which most everyone in it was a homeschooler. Now many of the teens I knew when I was there are in their 20's and very bitter towards how they were treated, and sadly, even towards the truth that was taught. This specific pastor did not live up to these qualifications and his fruit has borne this out. Many have tried to show him these problems, but sadly he will not listen.

There are many qualifications for a pastor, 1 Tim lists these:

The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.
1Tim 3:1-7 ESV

Please do not think that I am down on all pastors, there are many good ones out there. But, I have observed that the church today isn't fulfilling the role that it did during it's conception. I think we should study the scriptures and how the early Christians ministered to each other, what observances they held, and question what we do today. Do we do things because they are scriptural, or tradition? On what criteria are we placing ourselves under a pastor? Is it because our Sunday School class is fun and that's where all of our friends go to church? Is it the socially acceptable church to belong to? Or is their youth group just really cool? I know many who choose their church with little or no thought to the pastor or teaching they'll be receiving. I want to encourage you to examine your place of worship and ask yourself some tough questions. When we begin to ask ourselves the hard questions, it's amazing what the Lord will reveal to us about ourselves.

To close on a positive note, I wanted to share some of my thoughts on our pastor, Jay Anderson. I find it encouraging to be able to talk to him about things of a doctrinal or spiritual nature, and just simple everyday things. To have good discussions and both of us be able to give something to the conversation. Too often a pastor, who's gift is usually teaching, forgets that he can learn from those within his congregation. Every believer has something to offer, if we're walking in the faith, we should each have examples of things the Lord has taught us that we can share. Jay has caught me off guard a couple of times by asking me pointed questions, but I appreciate that so much. I appreciate his humbleness and how he will truly listen to what I'm saying. I also appreciate that he'll challenge me on something ( in a nice way) asking me why I hold my opinions on a certain topic. I have noticed that Jay isn't in front of the church until it is his teaching time. He's usually sitting with his wife and 6 children until he is going to preach, and if he has to be in the front for something before that time, he'll probably have a baby or little one in his arms, which speaks volumes to me. He is a great testimony in serving God & his family, which comes through in his sermons and interactions with others. I also appreciate his transparency as he teaches and the fact that he doesn't give off the impression that he has arrived. I have learned many things through his teaching and his study of God's word comes through in what he shares with us and the way in which he teaches.

I hope that in some way this will challenge your thinking, and cause some self-examination. I have learned many lessons through the school of hard knocks, maybe my experiences can help you make better choices than I did. Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I hope you'll share your thoughts & experiences.

The Duggars are having a baby!!!!!

2007-05-11T13:31:00.000-05:00

I just read over at Carmon's blog that the Duggars are having another baby. This is such a blessing! My girls will now be anxiously awaiting another TLC installment on their family. We have watched all of their shows on large families and have greatly appreciated the positive way in which they have portrayed them. If you haven't had a chance to watch Kids by the Dozen, I encourage you to take the time out to do so. It is an encouragement to me to see these truly large families operate and function. Many people seem to think of us as a large family, but it doesn't seem that way at all to me. Maybe that's because I know many people with 8 to 10 kids, so in the grand scheme of things... 5 ain't nothin'.

We are rejoicing with the Duggar family in the expectation of the arrival of their newest little blessing!

Slamming Homeschoolers

2007-05-10T13:27:00.000-05:00

Apparently slamming homeschoolers is a pastime that some pastors seem to delve into. When I was at Carmon's blog, I read about a couple of articles that had been written on the subject. I typically let these things slide, but this time I decided I should respond to the mis-characterizations that were being presented. You can read the article I responded to at Reformation21. I am posting my letter to Dr. Trueman on the subject, and would love to hear your thoughts on it.

Dr. Trueman,
I read your post and take great exception with your comments.

"You can tell them on the Sundays: the exhausted and haggard mothers whose husbands expect them not only to cook and to clean, but also to home-school the kids. For every omnicompetent wife who seems to be able to run the world and then some, and still look like a million dollars when hubbie gets home for dinner (already on the table, of course), there are ten or more who look crushed and dispirited, who really need to send their kids out of the house in the morning so they can get some rest and some mental sanity, who need their husbands to see the problem and take steps to help them. Are they inadequate as Christian mothers? No. They are crushed by a "Christian" culture that demands their all and gives no slack."

I have been a Christian for 24 years, a wife for 23 years and a mother for 22 years. I have 5 daughters and have just finished my 16th year homeschooling. I will agree there were times that I have been tired and seemingly overwhelmed, but usually it wasn't because of my children, my husband, or my homeschooling. The feelings of being overwhelmed have been brought upon by people such as yourself who sit back and tell me I should get out of the house more and put my children in school. There have even been those who have felt the need to make comments about how many children we have. Comments such as, "Don't you know what causes that?" or "They really aren't cheaper by the dozen, you know." These comments as well as yours fall short of the admonition we are given in scripture to "encourage one another and lift each other up."

In my 16 years of homeschooling I have met very few women such as you describe, maybe only two. If you were to take a cross section of the population of people who have their kids in public school and are harried and haggard, I tend to believe that the percentage would be much higher. Many of those mothers are trying to be omnicompetent by raising children (that they rarely spend time with), have a full time job, run a house, and have a successful marriage (statistics are on my side for this accomplishment as well).

I tend to think, like many pastors, you believe what you perceive. Have you actually talked to these women and said, "Looks like you are having a rough week. Is there any way I can be an encouragement to you?" Or do you throw out the typical panacea of telling them to get rid of the kids and get rid of the problem? Look around you at the youth of today. Do you really think that the children who have been sent out are faring better than those who stay at home? If you do, you have been around the wrong homeschoolers! We have a family evangelism ministry where we go onto the streets and talk to people. I constantly see the outcome of those children (many of them pastors' kids) in the bar districts of Houston. I have seen the results on both sides, and wouldn't trade the sacrifices I have made personally, financially or socially for my children.

On the subject of being harried and stressed; do you think Paul felt any stress when he was stranded on the Island of Patmos? Or Christ, did he feel overwrought with the prospect of sacrificing his life when he prayed in the garden? Am I not to take up my cross and follow him? Who am I to complain about the extra work, or time involved? God did not promise me that things would be stress-free, and that my life would be easy. In fact just the opposite; He tells us many times about the trials we will face. My struggles have done nothing more than to cause me to lean on Him and find strength and comfort in His peace. God gave me these children to raise in the adnomition of his words and precepts; why would I hand over my God-ordained responsibility to someone else? So that I can get my nails done and play tennis?

You have made the mistake that is made by many who don't understand the choices a homeschooler makes. I challenge you to become an encourager to these women you slam. Sit down with their husbands and truly listen to why they feel called to do what they do and find out how you can help them. Don't be a discourager by criticizing their convictions; that is not what an over-shepherd is supposed to do. I have been in churches with pastors and elders who held your views and who were quite vocal about it. It was very discouraging to go to church and be persecuted by them because I was trying to give my all to Christ. I pray you will heed this admonishment and truly think about what you are saying.

To be fair to you and myself, I don't do everything perfectly. I don't know any homeschooling mom, or working mom, who does. I have a goal that I aim for, but it's just that, a goal. I seriously doubt that your wife meets all of her goals on a daily basis, or you, for that matter. We are all fallen creatures, and apart from Christ, none of us can do anything of eternal value. I think if you will listen to those you criticize, you will hear that their heart is to do nothing more than to do something of eternal value with their children.

I pray that as you go to your new church, you will go with a new mindset to be an encouragment to the homeschooling families within your fellowship. Please don't make the mistake of being a discourager to these families, they need the support and encouragement of a pastor who will come along side them and lift them up. If they feel judged by you for their convictions, sadly, they won't feel the freedom to come to you for the advice, guidance and support you could provide. You may not have realized the cord you would strike with your words, but then again, maybe you did. I would hope that you would not purposely try to discourage, but only you and God know the answer to that question.

Time To Catch Up

2007-05-03T16:12:00.000-05:00

It's hard to believe it's almost been a couple of weeks since I posted, but as usual life has not been dull.

Gene went to Washington, D.C. for the first time a couple of weeks ago on business. He was there for three days, and was able to do some sightseeing. He feels badly when I have to miss out on things such as this because he knows how much I love history. Not wanting me to feel left out he will call me from all of the places he visits so that I can feel apart of it (Isn't that sweet). While he was there he was also able to visit with our niece Betsy and have dinner with her. When he came back late Saturday night, I drove across Houston to pick him up at the airport. I know, for most people that would be no big deal... but then most people don't have to drive in Houston! Suffice it to say, people here are nuts. They drive like the tailpipe on their car has a molotov cocktail stuck in it which is about to explode at any minute. Driving courtesy is non-exisistent, and impatience is at a premium. Thankfully I didn't have to leave until 10pm and the Beltway wasn't too bad.

Saturday we had our first Family Evangelism Day at the Houston Zoo . It was a gloriously beautiful day with blue skies and puffy white clouds. The temperature wasn't too hot and there was a refreshing breeze blowing. We had two other families that joined us on our outing. One of our purposes for this day was to give our children on opportunity to hand out tracts, so Gene and I stood back, and let them have at it. We were there about an hour before any of our friends arrived and in that time our girls handed out about 700 tracts. After the others arrived and their were more hands, our girls handed out about 300 more and the other families handed out 500 combined. It's amazing to think that we put the gospel into the hands of 1,500 people over the course of a two hour period. Rachel did have one lady bring the tracts back and be rude with her, but she took it all in stride, not letting her dissuade her at all. After we finished we had a picnic lunch with one of the other families, which was also a great deal of fun. It was nice to have that time of fellowship.

After our time at the park we went to The Homeschool Store. They sell both new and used curriculum, and it's a book addicts heaven! I was wanting to buy The Heart of Wisdom Teaching Approach. I have really liked what I have read and researched about this curriculum. I have always liked the Charlotte Mason approach, but I have felt that many curriculms using this method focus more on the wisdom of man as opposed to the wisdom of God. HOW (Heart of Wisdom) uses what I love about CM (Charlotte Mason) and combines it with a focus on Godly wisdom. I look forward to finishing the book.

I was also able to get biographies on Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and JEB Stewart and John Piper's "Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood." They also have a free table at The Homeschool Store and I was able to to get a set of books on all of the states and "Quest for Love," by Elisabeth Elliot. I love my books, the only problem is, at times they tend to take over.

Saturday night a new and frightening part of our life occured. About 7pm Caroline began to complain of a painful, itching rash on both of her arms. At first we thought she had scraped them playing outside, but then it began to slowly spread and by 11 it went from her armpits to her wrist on both arms. I gave her a mega dose of Benadryl and put her to bed, checking on her throughout the night. We were unsure what it was, as the only "new" thing she had had were some cheese crackers. Monday she ate more of the crackers and within an hour broke out in a rash. I gave her Benadryl and told her to take a nap, thinking that when she awoke, it would be gone. It wasn't. Later on she ate something else and her rash began to get worse and she complained of having trouble breathing. Time for more Benadryl. I was out, so Lindsay administered it. Later when I came home she was still not doing well. I ended up calling the doctor who called in a prescription of prednisone for us. That helped, although Caroline will tell you it tastes worse than Robitussin... and that stuff's terrible! We think the allergy is due to peanuts or soy, but won't know until we do a blood test in a little over a week. We have to wait until she gets the prednisone out of her system. If you think of her, please pray for her. This is very hard on her, as she realizes the danger of eating even a little of either of these. We have had to get an Epi-pen to keep with her at all times, just in case she gets something through cross contamination.

I did forget to tell you about one funny, ok maybe not so funny incident. Lindsay is famous in our family for hurting herself in the oddest ways. For instance, one time she sprained her wrist by running across wet grass and slipping; hitting her hand on the van. The list is quite lengthy and I will spare you all the many times such things have happened, save this last one. Last week Lindsay was taking our Porky (Poodle/Yorkie) out in the yard to go potty late at night. Maggie has the brains of a Yorkie and barks at the wind or anything else she sees. This night (it was about 2am) she happened to see one of the neighborhood cats, we named him Puddleglum, looking over the fence at her. This sent her into a flurry of barking and running in circles. The night before this event, our porch light had gone out, so the yard was quite dark. Lindsay was running after Maggie to catch her and make her be quiet, forgetting that we have a horseshoe pit in our yard. Not some flimsy horseshoe pit, but a 1" steel pole that in concreted in the ground with a base of about a foot. This pole ain't moving for nothin'... especially not Lindsay's two baby piggies. Yes, she hit that pole running full speed. Makes ya wince just thinking about it doesn't it?! She broke the last two toes, and they turned all lovely shades of purple, green and yellow. It's been pretty painful for her, and since that time, we put Maggie on a leash when she goes out at night, so that we can yank her back in from the steps.

If you haven't figured it out yet....there's never a dull moment at our house!

New Look

2007-04-22T20:37:00.000-05:00

As you can see, my blog has acquired a new look. Lindsay just finished the re-design and I couldn't be happier. The picture is one that Lindsay took at our church in the surrounding field. It was taken a few weeks ago, just as the bluebonnets began to bloom. Isn't is wonderful to have a live in programmer?!

Thanks Lins for all of your hard work!!!!!

Busy Times

2007-04-18T23:52:00.000-05:00

Things have been a bit busy around here over the last few days. Rachel's and Lindsay's allergies haven't improved much, at times even being worse. Sunday we all stayed home from church because we had so many that were sick. I will be ever so thankful when allergy season is over!

Gene will be traveling for business, so it will be a long working weekend for me. I hope to get some major re-organization done in my room and to go through some of my books so that I can make some needed room. My room seems to be the household dumping ground, so I'm hoping to go through all of that and get it into shape.

Yesterday I bought a new household helper and I am in love with it! For years I have bought inexpensive ironing boards, and had to replace them every few years. I finally decided to spend the extra money this time and buy a nice ironing board. The one I had was listing to starboard and threatening to sink to the depths of Davy Jones' locker at any moment. I went to Bed, Bath and Beyond and purchased this beauty yesterday.

It has a place to rest my iron, a spot for my starch, little slots for my hangers and under it there is a shelf on which to put clothes. It is sturdy and will last for years. It surprised me how well it was made. Its regular price was $49, but I had a 20% off coupon, so I saved $10, not too bad considering a lot of the cheapo boards are nearly $25. I iron daily, and am pleased to have a wonderful new tool to help me.

I will post this weekend if I have time, if not, see ya soon.

Remember Me

2007-04-13T09:59:00.000-05:00

If you know someone who is fighting for our country, I encourage you to reach out to them and encourage them. Many soldiers are in remote areas and don't have access to things that we take for granted. A gift package with simple luxuries such as small packages of Oreos, sunblock, lip balm, books, cds, the list is endless. You might want to find out if there is someone in their company who doesn't have anyone reaching out to them, and consider reaching out to them as well.

We may not all agree on the war and it's merits, but no matter how you feel about it, the reality is men and women are putting their lives on the line for us everyday. We should appreciate their sacrifices and commitment. They need our prayers and encouragement when they are far away and when they return. Those of us who are here at home cannot comprehend what they have to battle, on the field and in their minds.

I hope you will consider how you & your family can make a difference in a soldier's life.

Girls And Cooking

2007-04-12T17:14:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I was talking to a friend about Hannah cooking dinner and she commented on how she was surprised at how much my 11- 14 year old girls can cook. That conversation made me start thinking about what I do with the girls and how they have learned to cook. Honestly, I haven't done anything special, at least it doesn't seem that way to me. When Hannah and I were talking about it last night she said, "Well, haven't we been cooking since we could hold a spoon?" I guess they have to one degree or another. Cooking, like most things in our home, has been taught in a more natural way. Many times if I'm tied up, I will let the girls fix their own lunch. At times this has made me feel like a failure for not being June Cleaver and making all three of their meals, every day. Though, after thinking about it, I think I'm glad I've done it that way because it has not only made them more self-reliant; it has also given them a chance to be creative.

I allow the girls a great deal of latitude when cooking for themselves. Food Network is a staple in our t.v. diet and they have taken many ideas from things they have watched. We've never done a lot of "kid" cooking, most of what the girls have cooked has just been regular food. They will often take a recipe and adapt it and make it their own. We've had some flops, but usually things turn out O.K.

My advice to anyone wanting to develop in their children a love for cooking would be to make things fun, don't feel like you have to stick to recipes, and be willing to go with your children's ideas. I think that once your child is able to handle the cooking tools, it is a great encouragement for them to be entrusted with the kitchen. When you feel confident to step out and let them do it on their own, I encourage you to do so. My girls are very confident in the kitchen, and I think it's because they know that I trust them and am willing to let them be in control at times. I hope that you will spend some time encouraging your kids to start cooking, and I'd love to hear about your experiences.

Hannah's First Chicken

2007-04-12T00:42:00.000-05:00

Wednesday I awoke with respiratory problems much like Lindsay and Rachel have been suffering through for the last few weeks. Gene is also showing symptoms, though it doesn't seem to be in his chest like it is for us. Since I wasn't feeling well tonight I asked Hannah to cook dinner for us. She baked a whole chicken and potatoes. She seasoned them with Rosemary from our herb garden and put olive oil and balsamic vinegar on the chicken and potatoes. She did it all by herself and it tasted wonderful!

Tuesday 4-10-07

2007-04-11T00:09:00.000-05:00

Rachel has been battling severe allergy problems for a month now, Over the weekend her symptoms became worse, so today I took her to the doctor. She has a sinus infection, but thankfully it hasn't turned into bronchitis. I'm hoping all the medicine they put her on will begin to work quickly.

This evening Lindsay and I had to do some shopping for a wedding we are going to attend in June. We're trying to get all of the girls outfits together for the trip as they have all grown and nothing fits. We first went to Sam's to get Rachel's meds and we also picked up some micro-fiber cloths for cleaning and some food service towels for the kitchen. After that we went to eat at Johnny Corino's. If you love Italian food, it's great, and they give you so much. Lindsay and I split a combo platter with Lasagna, Spaghetti & Chicken Parmesan, each eating only half of what we had, and we will have the rest for lunch tomorrow. We then went to my favorite re-sale shop to look for clothes. Lindsay wears a size 0-2 and it's really hard to find clothes for her, but she was able to find a few shirts and a skirt, but nothing for the wedding.

Last week I took Hannah and Caroline to this store and found a few dresses, and today I found several more. Amazingly they were modest, and the most I paid for one was $6.50! Having the younger three so close in size is really a blessing when it comes to this type of shopping, because if it doesn't fit one, it'll probably fit another. The other day when we were buying shoes a saleslady brought me a certain shoe in a size 6 1/2, I tried it on one of the girls (don't ask me which one;-) and it didn't fit her, so I just got the next one closest to me and had her try it on. The saleslady giggled, and I explained to her that this is how we always do it. You should have seen me the day I had Hannah, Rachel & Caroline at the re-sale shop trying on pants. I had them in 3 different dressing rooms, and I would go from room to room trading out the pants until they found something that fit. I'm sure we are quite a comedic act to watch.

I also found some great books at the re-sale shop and a couple of tote bags. One of the tote bags was a tapestry horse print, which went to Hannah, and I found a red toile one for me. I also found Caroline a really nice apron.

After the resale shop we ran to Wal-Mart for a few thing and while there we found Lindsay a skirt for the wedding. We were pleasantly surprised to see that Wal-Mart was actually stocking size 0-2.

Well, that was my day today. I'm pleased that I was able to get a good deal accomplished in my shopping, even though I didn't get much done at home.

Another week has gone by

2007-04-02T16:02:00.000-05:00

Another week has flown by, I don't know where time is going. Last Tuesday I took Lindsay to the doctor for a sinus infection. It seems that we are experiencing the highest pollen counts on record here in Houston. She got on her meds and they seem to be helping. Rachel has also been suffering with allergy problems, and may warrant a trip to the doctor if she doesn't get better now that the pollen in decreasing.

On Wed. Gene went to Denver and saw the Rocky Mountains for the first time. He was only in Denver for about 18 hours and didn't get to see much. He did wake up Thursday morning to about 6 inches of snow blown up against his hotel room door. He said it was strange to wake up to snow, and by noon to be back in the 75 degree weather.

While Gene was gone Hannah, Caroline and I re-arranged the family room. It was quite an ordeal, but I'm pleased with the change. The family room is where most of our school books and supplies are stored, so I went through some of them. I'm beginning to cull some books out, but I still have a lot to do on that front.

Saturday we were supposed to have our first Family Evangelism Day, but due to severe Thunderstorms, we had to cancel it. Hopefully, next month things will work out better.

Sunday I stayed home from church with Rachel because of her sinus migraine. The rest of the family went and Lindsay had a friend from an online homeschool group attend. He is from CA, but in Houston for several months working for an engineering firm.

Next Sunday our church will have a fellowship after church at one of he elder's ranch. The girls are really looking forward to spending the day out there. They have about 500 acres on which the girls are free to run and roam. We've been out there twice before for Christmas and New Years and the girls had a great time. They are really excited about the baby chicks and bunnies
they will have there.

Wal-Mart Insanity

2007-03-26T23:51:00.000-05:00

I usually do my running to Wal-Mart and such during the day, but since
we are down to one vehicle, I am doing things differently. Last Wed.,
Lindsay and I made a run to Wal-Mart at about 10:30 pm. Let me explain
our Wal-Mart situation here in Katy. We have the "bad" Wal-Mart, which
is about 2 miles away, and the "good" Wal-Mart, which is about 6 miles
away. I usually go to the "good" Wal-Mart because it newer, cleaner,
its lines aren't as long, it's better lit, and it just "feels" better to
me. Many times I have walked into the "bad" Wal-Mart and thought about
turning around, getting in my van and driving the additional 4 miles to
the "good" Wal-Mart. Last Wednesday night was certainly one of the
times I should have done this.

Lindsay and I got what we needed and then headed to the lines. For some
unknown reason, every line had 2-3 people in them. I guess they had all
waited until after Lost to do their shopping. We looked for the line of
least resistance and decided on one that had two carts; though they were
quite full, this still seemed to be the shortest line. Well, as we all
know, things are often not what they appear to be. There were two
carts, but 4 young women (early 20's). I did notice that this checkout
had several carts loaded with merchandise beside the carts these women
had, but didn't think much of it. I should have been paying more
attention! The young woman who had the conveyor belt loaded with all
types and colors of lingerie and baby products looked at the display
that showed her what her subtotal was and she went a little nutty. She
apparently didn't realize that she couldn't get the $800 worth of stuff
she had for $200. This is not an exaggeration; she didn't have any
clue what she was spending. This is where the story became
interesting. The other three girls began looking in their carts to see
what they could discard, ya know, what lace undies they really didn't
need. The one thing they all kept were their diapers. So I'm assuming
these were all unwed mothers(none were wearing rings) who were on some
kind of shopping spree. I stood there-no I wasn't the picture of
patience, maybe eternal hope-for about 10 minutes, then something
happened that made me want to scream. (I didn't, but boy did I want
to!) Girl number 3 pulled her cart in front of mine as girl number 2 was
finishing. Remember those merchandise laden carts? Well, they belonged
to the other 2 girls! And they were all paying together! At this point
I went to get into another line.

Things didn't go much better for me in the other line. After I emptied
about half of my cart, the cashier told me I needed to move up to the
next register (ya know how they stagger them, it was the one behind
hers). So, being the obedient child that I am, I put my stuff back in
my cart, only grumbling under my breath so Lindsay could hear me, and I moved to the third register. When I arrived at the register, there was another
woman there. The cashier came and told her to step back to the
register I just left, and then proceeded to check her out.

I was still in close proximity to the girls, so we could see their
progress as time marched on. They all took about 10 minutes checking
out, and they all had to void many things off of their tickets. They
ended up getting mad at the cashier (I think she earned an all expense
paid vacation for dealing with them) and then things became really
interesting. When they all finally decided what they had to have, one of
the girls stepped toward the counter to pay with her credit card. She
looked at the other three and said, "O.K., you all are going to pay me
back, right? Are you sure?! When will you pay me back?" I was
thinking... "You have spent 45 minutes in line, put everyone out, and
you are just now asking this question?" She then proceeded to swipe her
card and they all left.

It was a few more minutes before I was finished, and on the way to the
van I was quoting MLK to Lindsay.

"Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, I'm free at last!"

I'm sure the time will come when I will visit the "bad" Wal-Mart
again... but it won't be any time soon!

The Jolly Green Giant is Dead

2007-03-21T14:27:00.000-05:00

The Lord's timing is perfect and this was proven, once again, yesterday. Gene had to run into Houston yesterday to pick up something he needed for work. Just as Gene began to go up a hill on interstate 10, one exit before his, our big green van's (aka The Jolly Green Giant) oil pressure went through the roof and it coasted to a stop almost at the peak of the hill. And there is stayed. Gene called me and after 2 hours, and a lot of insanity, we finally got it towed to his office. We are blessed with a mechanic who comes to us when he works on our vehicles, and today Freddie came out. He pronounced last rites over the van, and said he would help us to find a proper burial site for it. In other words, he will help us find someone to buy it from us. We had our new van 33 days when this happened. We are so thankful for the new van and that the Lord allowed The Jolly Green Giant to serve us as long as it did.

Catching Up...Again

2007-03-19T19:00:00.000-05:00

Thanks to my sweet husband, my computer woes are over!!! Last weekend we purchased a laptop before the old computer completely crashed on us. I am finding that I love the portability of the laptop. Before when working on things on the computer, I was confined to our room. Now, I am in the living room, right in the center of things. This makes me better able to keep an eye on what is happening while doing my needed computer work.

The last 18 days have just flown by! It amazes me how quickly the weeks pass. I do wish I could slow the days down, but then, if I had more hours, I'd just find something else to do with them.

On March 5th Hannah had her 14th birthday, and on the 7th Caroline turned 11. They opted for a simple shared birthday party. We ate hot dogs for dinner and then Gene & I took the birthday girls to Cold Stone Creamery for ice cream. After ice cream we took them to a nearby mall they hadn't visited before. After our mall excursion we came home to a streamer decorated family room and kitchen. Hannah and Caroline each designed and made their own cakes. It was strange for me to not be making their cakes, but I am pleased that they wanted to practice their baking skills.

On the 7th Cindy ran an interview with me about our ministry. I had some very challenging comments and questions, which the Lord used to help me grow.

Interview Part One

Interview Part Two

On the 10th we held an Evangelism One Day Training Course in The Highlands. We had about 15 people in attendance. It is a great blessing to be able to train others to share their faith Biblically. Our hope and prayer is that in some small way, we can encourage them to follow the call that every believer has been given, which is to preach the gospel to every creature.

One of our evangelism team members, Janna was married on the 11th. On the 9th, before our regular Friday night witnessing, we all met at El Rey Taqueria for dinner. It was our first time to meet her fiance, Jed. Last Saturday night(the 17th) I received a call from Jed & Janna telling me about their first street evangelism effort together as a married couple. It was wonderful to hear the excitement in their voices as they shared about their time together witnessing. I felt a great amount of encouragement when hearing how they are starting their lives together by placing their focus firmly on seeking to save that which is lost.

On Friday the 16th, we had a great time on streets. One of our team members, Jason, brought his Harlequin Great Dane. He is 14 months old and weighs a whopping 140lbs. His name is Niko, short for Nicholas. He was such a sweetheart and he got lots of attention, which is exactly what we wanted. We called him our Texas Chihuahua. We all know everything is bigger and better in Texas. He was a great prop to break the ice with people. As people walk down the street they tend to walk quickly by, and they often won't make eye contact with you, because they don't want to have to tell you they don't want what you have. But, Niko had people stopping to stare, which gave us the chance to talk to them about him, and offer to let them pet him. We had several instances where a person would refuse to take a tract from one of us, but after visiting with Jason & Niko, they were happy to take one. I don't know how many tracts we gave out as a team, but Gene & I were able to give out about 150. If you haven't tried giving out tracts in a busy place before, let me encourage you to do so. What an easy way to get the gospel into the hands of a lot of people in a short amount of time.

Sunday the 18th Gene spoke at the Philippine-American Good News Fellowship. They had their annual Rodeo Day (because of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo). The people were very welcoming and friendly, and we all had a great time. Gene taught on, "The Top 10 Signs I Was A False Convert." The sermon seemed to resonate with many people, and we pray that the Lord was able to use it in their lives. After church there was a fellowship dinner of cowboy fare. We had bar-b-que chicken, sausage & brisket, and for sides we had potato salad and baked beans. We had great fellowship along with great food.

Monday Hannah & I took my van in to see about having a piece of trim replaced. They ordered the part and it should be in one day this week. After our trip to the car dealership Hannah and I ate breakfast at La Madeliene's. Then we came home for a short while, going back out later to run errands and grocery shop.

Well, that should have you up to date on my life now. Hopefully, now that I have this new computer, I'll be able to update more often.

Computer Woes

2007-03-12T13:35:00.000-05:00

My computer has been showing signs of a terminal illness and it is causing me to be able to post. I'm hoping I can get this typed and up before it shuts down again!! I will try to borrow one of the girls computers to post later.

It's been over a month...

2007-03-01T11:10:00.000-06:00

Today is March 1st and it has been over a month since I posted here. This last month has been full of many ups and downs and my prayer is that the rest of the year will not follow suit. I'll try to catch you up on some of the things that have happened over the last month.

Jan. 25th was my 43rd birthday. It was pretty low key. That afternoon we received an e-mail that greatly changed things for us. The e-mail was a final straw which caused us to sever ties with The Great News Network. It was a hard decision to make, but over the last month the Lord has re-affirmed that we made the right decision.

Because of this change, we had to change domain names and re-work our website(which is still getting re-vamped). Our new ministry name which isn't really that new to us, as it's the name we had before joining up with GNN. We've gone back to Master's Key Ministries. You really wouldn't know that there was a change, except for our name and that Gene won't be going to Bootcamps any more. We will still be doing the same things we were before; meeting up with friends to evangelize on the streets every Friday night, and we will be adding some new family evangelism activities. We love teaching classes; equipping and encouraging others to share their faith in Christ, and we will be teaching a class on the 10th in Baytown.

On the 4th Gene spoke to a youth group at a Philippine/American Church. The people were kind and very welcoming. The youth were very attentive and receptive to what Gene had to say. Their pastor, Pastor Dindo, has a great heart for evangelism and wants his people to learn to share their faith. We look forward to hitting the streets with some of the people from this church.

Lindsay has been suffering with asthma/allergy problems for quite a while, we've tried many things, but most of them are ineffective. She began to get worse and on Feb. 1st I took her to the doctor again. She had a terrible sinus infection which was putting quite a lot of pressure on her ears; causing them to hurt a good bit. The doctor gave her a three week course of antibiotics, prednizone, and some decongestant. The next week we had a drastic change in the weather which set her asthma off and by 2am on the 10th we were headed to the hospital. This was our first time to go to the hospital due to someone's asthma. They gave her a couple of breathing treatments which did wonders for her. The hardest part was getting out of the hospital. They had several critical cases come in and every room in the ER was full. It took 2 1/2 more hours, just to discharge us. During the interim, Lindsay and I became rather slap happy due to the combination of no sleep and her drugs... we were quite the silly pair. Our Monkishness took over in rare form. As we sat in our room with nothing to do, we began to notice all of these things that were out of place. The game became for me to straighten up, but to make sure none of the nurses could see me through the glass door and windows. First there were the pens and items on the counter, they were just sort of scattered around. Then we noticed that the rubber glove boxes weren't centered in the dispenser. One of the trickier items was the hospital gown tie that was hanging out of an overhead cabinet, which was on the other side of the curtain and right by the sliding glass door. Lindsay was finding new things for me to "fix" as she played lookout for me. After the 2 1/2 hours we were able to straighten the whole room, feeling much better about it all. We were finally discharged at 7am and came home to crash for the day. This adventure wiped Lindsay and I out for most of the weekend. She did much better after her treatments and the doctor gave her a prescription for a nebulizer and albuterol so that she could do treatments at home. The treatments have helped a great deal, though the drastic fluctuations in temperature have played havoc with her asthma. I took her back to the doctor on Tuesday and her sinus infection is still here, so we have started another round of antibiotics and prednizone.

On the 19th Caroline came down with a stomach bug, and since then things have gone downhill on the health end of things here. Caroline is hardly ever sick, so I was surprised at her coming down with something. She was over it in a couple of days, but then Hannah came down with the same thing, and Rachel came down with an upper respiratory virus. Rachel's is still going strong, and last night Caroline awoke coughing. This morning she sounded just like Rachel. Pray for them... and for me through all of this.

The only other bit of news for me was that we bought a new-to-us vehicle a couple of weeks ago. My old van was getting to the stage of needing many repairs, you know, the money pit stage, and we decided to get a Toyota Sienna. We debated between it and a Suburban for a while, but chose the Sienna in the end. I love it, and believe a mother must have designed some of the features, as I love them. It even has hooks in the back for Wal-Mart bags so that they don't slide around the back of the van. I think my favorite part is the cd player, I'm able to listen to music now, which I hadn't been able to do in my other van, for quite a while.

Well, I think that brings things back up to date. I'm going to be starting some special projects around the house and will hopefully be posting about them here. I will also be doing an interview on Cindy's blog in the next week or so, I'll post here when she has posted it. The next week will be quite busy as I have two birthdays, a washer repairman coming and a class to prepare for, as well as all of these sick girls. So, if you think about me, send a prayer up.

Bible Study

2007-01-23T16:06:00.000-06:00

I have really been praying and thinking about my Bible study and the motives behind it. My original plan for this year was to read the Bible through in a year. I had never done that before and thought it to be a good goal. As I got into it though, I didn't really feel satisfied. It was much like eating a very light meal, when you're really hungry; at the end of the meal, you still want more. I also felt I was doing it out of obligation. I would think, "I need to get my 7 chapters in or I will be behind." While Gene was gone I prayed about it and decided that I would pick one book a week and study it. My plan is to read it through each day and to add study materials such as concordances and commentaries. I will also take notes on what sticks out to me.

This week I am going through the book of Titus and many things are really resonating with me. In verse one Paul describes himself as a bondservant of God. A bondservant was one of the most menial of positions yet he proclaimed that title with gladness, not with shame, or remorse. In 2:9-10 Paul begins to describe what a good bondservant is and is not. In verse 9 he says he's obedient, the question I ask myself is, "Am I being obedient to what the Lord has given me to do?" He then says we are to be "well pleasing in all things." Does everything I do please the Lord? If not, should I be doing it, and making excuses for it? Then he says a good bondservant doesn't answer back. How often do I argue with God over the things I know He wants from me? How often do I say in my heart, "I know this is wrong, but it's not that big of a thing."? A good bondservant also shows fidelity, or loyalty. Am I being loyal when I do what He hates, and don't do what is most important to Him? Then he says we are to "adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things," in other words we should look & act differently than the world.

Titus talks so much about how we should live our lives, and it shouldn't be for ourselves or our desires. While Gene was gone to Vegas, God really did some things in my heart deepening my desire for Him, and the things that are important to Him. One of the things that is repeatedly hitting me is the need to evangelize the lost. Many people say things such as, "That's your ministry.", "That's what God has called your family to do.", "God hasn't called us to do that." I'm going to be very blunt here... HOGWASH!!! When Christ put out the Great Commission, he gave it to all who are His, not just the 12 disciples. If you believe that as a Christian you have to be called to evangelize, then you are believing a lie! If you believe that to be true, take this as a challenge to prove it. Also, if you believe that your lifestyle is the mode in which your evangelism should take, I challenge you to prove that also. If you look at what the disciples did, you will not see that to be the case. Paul wasn't thrown in jail because he was a nice person, and taught Sunday School. He was thrown in jail for boldly proclaiming the name of Christ.

These quotes by Charles Spurgeon sum it up best.

Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you are not saved yourself, be sure of that.

If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our bodies. If they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees. Let no one GO there UNWARNED and UNPRAYED for.

Answering a student's question, 'Will the heathen who have not heard the Gospel be saved?' thus, 'It is more a question with me whether we, who have the Gospel and fail to give it to those who have not, can be saved.

We are not called to proclaim philosophy and metaphysics, but the simple gospel.

Sermon of the Week

2007-01-23T02:43:00.000-06:00

While Gene was gone to Las Vegas, I spent my time in a great deal of prayer, & work around the house. While I worked I listened to some really great sermons by a man named, Paul Washer. He has a ministry, HeartCry Missionary Society, which helps missionaries around the world. His sermons are hard hitting, and right on target. He's known for not being asked back to places because many "Christians" don't want to hear the truth of his message. Some of his messages send me down on my face; they are so convicting. My plan is to link to one each week, and I hope that you will take the time to listen to them, and allow God to work through them. I'd love to hear your feedback afterwards.

The sermon this week is: Regeneration & Self-Denial

In a Flurry

2007-01-16T12:24:00.000-06:00

There has been a flurry of activity in our family since my last post. On the 5th we went on our weekly evangelism jaunt. We met early that night and had dinner together, having a wonderful time of fellowship. Two of the families on our team were leaving on the 9th to go to the Philippines to become missionaries; so we had prayer with them and said all of our good-byes. The prayer was filled with tears of both sadness and joy. We will miss both families greatly, but we are overjoyed at their dedication and service to the Lord. We heard from them earlier this week, and they seem to be settling in to their new lives.

On the 6th we put on another one day training class, which went quite well. We had about 30 attendees and about 15 of them went out witnessing with us afterwards. It was exhilarating to see so many people excitedly sharing their faith. I especially love to be around people who are excited to see what God is going to do when we are obedient to his command to share our faith. The students were even able to see Gene get busted by the police...again. No, they didn't arrest him, but they did tell him to stop witnessing...or else.

On the 10th Gene spoke at Baytown Christian Academy during the chapel services. He was able to present the gospel to about 250 kids & their teachers, while also encouraging them to share their faith. We were able to give all of the kids a tract before they left, which we also encouraged them to share.

On the morning of the 17th Gene flew out to Las Vegas for 5 days of evangelism. The first night they had a banquet with Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort. Before the banquet they were all in the lobby of Circus Circus talking and Gene called his sister. He asked to talk to Brittany, her 16 year old daughter, and then he put Kirk on the phone with her. Brittany has watched Kirk her whole life on Growing Pains, and talking to him on the phone was very special for her. I think it took her a little while to start breathing again.

Yesterday they preached at UNLV and last night they hit the strip preaching. They were on the strip all day today after they spent a morning in prayer. Please continue to pray for them as they spread the light of the gospel in the darkness of Las Vegas.

Looking Forward

2007-01-02T14:08:00.000-06:00

The holiday season is now behind us and now with the new year ahead I am looking forward. This past year has been amazing; I can't believe how quickly it passed. It has made me aware of how fleeting our days are, and how we truly need to set our focus on the things of God, not wasting a minute.

When I think back to all of the wasted minutes, time wasted on things of no eternal value, it spurs me on to make changes in my life. I think of how much time and money we spend on entertainment and pleasure, which really convicts me. I know that there is a balance; but it seems that those shouting to keep everything in balance, are often doing little to serve the Lord. I know that sounds like a harsh statement, but over the past year I have seen it time and again. We often get criticized for our evangelism, and our "method" from people who are not evangelizing at all. The phrase we have begun to use with these people is, "You don't like what I'm doing, more than what you are not doing."

As we all look back at the past year and ahead to the coming year, we should prayerfully consider the changes the Lord is laying on our hearts. One of the changes He is laying on mine is to read the Bible more. Like Cindy I would like to read my Bible before touching my computer. I failed at that today, and when I read that she had the same thought, it made me more determined to press toward that mark.

The Lord has blessed us immensely over this last year; not materially, but spiritually. Yes, compared to the rest of the world, we live like kings. But, that is truly not important. What is important is teaching my children to love the Lord their God more than anything, and to teach them to yearn to reach those who are perishing. Even among Christians we tend to teach our children more about how to make and keep the almighty dollar, than how to sacrificially serve our Lord.

It is no wonder that today's Christian teens and young adults act and behave just like the world. They are being taught by the mainstream church to be as much like the world as they possibly can. They have pastors like Joel Osteen telling them to "get their best life now." That is not the life Christ called us to. He called us to take up our crosses and follow Him. His cross wasn't padded and comfortable like the seats at Lakewood. His cross was full of splinters, it was heavy and hard to carry, there were times he felt the weight of it was too much to bear. We are called to emulate Him, not someone who's telling us to get all we can, while we can.

I hope and pray that my focus in the coming year will continue to shift more from me and toward Him. My goal for this blog is to direct people toward Him, and I pray I do that more each day. We can serve Him more by being better wives, mothers and evangelists. What a blessing it will be to our children for them to have a mother who enthusiastically, compassionately, and fervently shares the glorious true gospel of Christ. I pray that through this humble blog, I may in some way encourage you in these areas.

Friday December 22

2006-12-27T12:43:00.000-06:00

On Friday nights we have an evangelism team that meets in Downtown Houston. We meet from 9pm until midnight. Gene is a Local Leader for GNN and he leads the team with another Local Leader, Javier. We have anywhere from 10 to 25 people on the streets on any given Friday night. The temperature on the 22nd was down in the mid to low 40's, but we still had 16 people out in all.

We are never really sure what the night will hold for us as we head out, which gives us a sense of anticipation. For me this Friday night began in a sorta crazy way. It started when Gene and I stopped at a gas station on the way into downtown. Gene asked me to get him a Diet Coke and a particular type of gum. He said the gum would be right inside the door on a rack. Well, the gum wasn't there, so I had to search to find what I hoped was the right one. I then went to the refrigerated section for the drinks. I saw cokes of all flavors...except diet. I asked the lady working if they had them and I was just missing them, and she said, "We don't have diet coke." I opened the door to get him a Diet Pepsi, and they were all hot. I asked the lady about it and she said, "All of the refrigerators are broken." I pulled out the hot Diet Pepsi and hot Dr. Pepper and got us each a cup of ice. As I walked up to the counter, I dropped the Pepsi, but caught it with my knee. I tried to put all of these mishaps behind me as I headed to the car. I got in and began telling Gene of my exploits while unloading the bag. I just began to say, "I hope this isn't what our whole night will be like." When Gene opened the Pepsi. It sprayed all over him and the inside of the car. I think 1/4 of the bottle shot out. I couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of it all. We cleaned him and the car up and headed on our way (and I prayed the whole way!).

We met up with Patti & Kelli at Starbuck's, and then headed to our team meeting spot. Javier showed up a few minutes later, as did a homeless man who had some mental problems. Javier put himself between Patti, Kelli, me and this man, while Gene tried to talk to him. He left after a few minutes, muttering under his breath. Shortly after the man left more of the team showed up, and we had prayer.

We headed down to our corners to start handing out tracts. At first it was very slow, but we were still able to hand out tracts to the few people who were there. It also gave us some time to talk to the bar promoters who work on the corners as well. We don't engage them in conversations often, because they are working, but we do try to build a relationship with them. The ones we know by name, we pray for specifically each week. There have even been times they have brought prayer requests to the team. Because of their proximity to us they have heard the gospel many times, and we pray that it will take root at some point in their lives.

After we had been there for about 45 minutes, I gave a tract to a man walking by himself. He paused when he took it and began looking at it (this is a sure sign to start a conversation). His name was Michael. He was very amiable and listened to us, and we talked for about 15 minutes. Sadly, his conversation went like many others do, and his eyes were closed to the truth of God's word. Our conversation ended well, and he agreed to think about the things we discussed. Many people judge the success of an evangelism encounter by the seen "results"... ie: whether or not someone prayed a prayer. That is not the standard by which God judges success. He wants us to be faithful in witnessing and planting seeds. I don't need to focus on the "results" because I know that God gives the increase, and He will work in each person's heart according to His will.

After my conversation with Michael we handed out lots of tracts. I don't know the final count from our team, but I would guess it would be over 600. That is 600 seeds being planted in 600 lives. Many people have been saved through tracts, so it's exciting to think about what God can do in a person's life, just because I took the time to stick out my hand and say, "Did you get one of these?"

Here is a slide show of people from our team witnessing and handing out tracts downtown.

Mariposa Ranch

2006-12-20T22:37:00.000-06:00

Last Wednesday night I found out that I was getting my Christmas/Anniversary present on Thursday. Our anniversary is December 31st and we will have been married 23 years! Gene surprised me by taking off of work both Thursday and Friday so that he could take me on an overnight trip. He found a lovely Bed & Breakfast in Brenham, TX that was right up my alley. We went to the Mariposa Ranch and stayed in the Texas Ranger Log Cabin.

Gene and I have never been away from the girls overnight together since Lindsay was 2. This was a very special trip and we really enjoyed our time together, though honestly, there was always a tug to be at home with girls or wishing they were with us. It was also very odd to not feel like you had anything you "had" to do.

We enjoyed the peacefulness of the ranch, and the lack of city sounds. We did hear some distinctly country sounds though. One that sticks out was the pack of coyotes we heard. Early in the evening when we were sitting on the porch we heard them a few miles away over a couple of hills, but later in the evening they were very close. It amazed me how much they sound like hyenas.

We arrived at the cabin about 4pm, it was an overcast, drizzly, cold day...perfect for snuggling in a cabin. They had the cabin decorated with lights, which made it look quite homey. Here is a picture of the cabin that evening just after we arrived.

The cabin was small, with only 2 rooms and a loft for the bedroom. This is one angle of the living room which had satellite tv, a fireplace, and a wood stove.

The wood stove sits in a corner near the bathroom. I'm not sure if it is a working stove, as we didn't use it, but it looks as if it would work.

The stairs in this cabin are the narrowest and steepest I think I have ever been on. I went down them sideways, just to keep from falling. You can see them behind the couch.

The bedroom was up the stairs in a loft. It was very cozy being near the rafters, it felt as if you were in a cocoon.

The bathroom had a jacuzzi tub for two, which was very relaxing...I could get used to that!

The cabin was originally built in the 1820's. It was taken down log by log and re-assembled at Mariposa Ranch. They had many other little cabins (not log) scattered around the property. They have the main house, Homestead House, where they serve a very nice breakfast. Overall the place was very comfortable and homey feeling.

Here is our cabin the next morning when it was bright and sunny.

We left about 10 Friday morning after our breakfast at the Homestead House. Our time together was very special, but we were happy to be home with our girls. Later that evening we hit the streets for evangelism; I'll share that in another post.

Another Video for Christmas

2006-12-15T13:08:00.000-06:00

This is a video that was made by our friends at Custom Tract Source. It is set up as an e-card, so please send it to your friends. Tommy & Andy at Custom Tract Source make some of my favorite tracts, I hope that you will check them all out.

The Reason For The Season

2006-12-14T16:29:00.000-06:00

The only reason we celebrate Christmas at all is to remember the birth of Christ and the result of His birth, which was His death and resurrection. We know that He wasn't born in December; we don't know exactly when he was born. I feel that setting aside time to reflect upon His life in a special way is very important. In our studies and discussion, we focus upon His life, death, & resurrection, but we choose to set aside this time of year to focus upon His birth.

We recently discovered a singing group that we really enjoy--ok, love--which is Go Fish. They have recorded a great song about Christmas, "It's about the Cross". David MacMillan III made a video using their song as background music, which wonderfully portrays the true meaning behind Christmas.
I hope that you will watch the video and let me know what you think of it. There is one warning though: you will need a hankie!

At the end of the video is a link, Need God, please take a couple of minutes to visit it.

Here are the lyrics:

It’s About The Cross

It’s not just about the manger where the baby laid...

It’s not all about the angels who sang for Him that day
It’s not just about the shepherds or the bright and shining star
It’s not all about the wise men who traveled from afar

It’s not just about the presents underneath the tree
It’s not all about the feeling that this season brings to me
It’s not just about coming home to be with those you love
It’s not all about the beauty in the snow I’m dreaming of

The beginning of the story is wonderful and great
But it’s the ending that can save you and that’s why we celebrate

It’s about the cross, It’s about my sin
It’s about how Jesus came to be born once
So that we could be born again
It’s about God’s love nailed to a tree
It’s about every drop of blood that flowed
From Him when it should’ve been me
It’s about the stone that was rolled away
So that you and I could have a life some day
It’s about the cross

This song is "It's About the Cross" on Go Fish's new Christmas Album Snow.

Written by Jamison J. Statema
© 2006 Found Free Music (ASCAP)
(Administered by Fun Attic Music)

www.GoFishGuys.com

Too Much Food Network

2006-12-08T12:30:00.000-06:00

Our girls love cooking, and Food Network. They have learned a great deal about the science behind cooking from Alton Brown, how to cook quick simple meals from Rachel Ray, how to make great comfort food from Paula Deen, and what real Italian food is from Mario Batali, Giada De Laurentiis, and Michael Chiarello. It is not uncommon to hear "Alton said,...." or "That's not the way Paula does it." With many girls, I think it's great that they are learning from great chefs & cooks how prepare great food. I tell you all of this as a preface to a conversation I overheard last night.

Caroline to Hannah: "Have you ever had brie before?"

Hannah: "No."

Caroline: "I had a sample at Kroger one day. I liked it but, not the rind. Right after that I ate a sample of watermelon to get the taste out of my mouth."

Hannah: "Oh, you used it as a palate cleanser."

I didn't hear the rest of the conversation, because I went to tell Gene what I had just heard. A couple of thoughts hit me. First, how many 10 year olds even know what brie is...I know I didn't. Second, how many girls their age know what a palate cleanser is enough to discuss it. This is just a sample of the types of food conversations they have around our home.

Winter Ramblings

2006-12-08T10:48:00.000-06:00

Today it is quite chilly here in Katy, TX. At nearly 11am, the temperature has only reached 35!! For South Texas...that's pretty cold. I do have to get out today, for just a few minutes, and I can promise, it will be quick!

Our cat, that we adopted on Halloween, is pregnant...and crazy. We are all praying that the kittens come quickly, and maybe this insanity will end!! She has taken to just wandering the house and yowling with an unearthly yowl. She sleeps in Lindsay's room, and Lindsay hasn't been getting much sleep because of the crazy cat. She takes to leaping onto the bed and yowling at Lindsay, then jumping back on the hope chest to look out the window again. She also loves a lot of rubbing & scratching right now. This is quite funny, and is providing us with a great deal of entertainment! She has a spot on her back near her tail and if you scratch her there, she does this funny crouch and then begins this odd growl...yes growl. If you stop, you may just get a good swat! I may make a movie of it to post, because it really is too funny.

Harmony with a crown...maybe this was a sign of things to come!?!

As you can see, dear sweet Lindsay has created a new layout for my blog. Right now she is working on several big programming projects, one of them being our family website. We hope to have that up and running in very short order. I will post the link for it, when it's completed.

The girls and I have designed and are creating some Christmas crafts. One of them being our tree topper, and the others include a centerpiece, a wreath, and some ornaments. Many of these will incorporate the pinecones the girls collected last month. We will take many pictures so that we can post them with instructions. I hope they will turn out as well in reality as they do in my mind.

We are going to be making some Christmas goodies over the next week; I'll post recipes and pictures as we make them. I also plan on making the Gingersnap Sweet Potatoes. I will measure my ingredients and write them down as I go...I may even take pictures.

This weekend will be a busy one for us, with lots of projects in the works and a couple of extra activities.

I hope and pray that things are going well in your home as you prepare for the holidays!

Ginger Snap Sweet Potatoes

2006-12-05T23:14:00.000-06:00

Let me begin this by re-stating that I do not cook in a normal way. I hardly ever use recipes. I think one of my New Year's resolutions should be to write everything down when I create a recipe(which I do quite a lot). I usually cook by smell & taste. I made my sweet potatoes with canned potatoes that I mashed, but you could use fresh and just bake or boil them first.

To the mashed sweet potatoes I added, cinnamon, ginger, & cloves. The ratio is about two to one, for instance if you add a teaspoon of cinnamon, add 1/2 a tsp each of ginger & cloves. To the potatoes and spices I added melted butter, about 1/2 a stick. Though you may need more if they are fresh. I then got a whole bunch(don't ya love the exact measurement) of ginger snaps and put them in the food processor until finely ground. I put about half of the sweet potato mixture in the casserole dish with 1/2 the ginger snaps sprinkled on top. After that put in the rest of the sweet potatoes. Melt a stick of butter and mix it with the remaining ginger snaps. Put this on top of the sweet potatoes and bake uncovered at 350 until the top becomes crunchy.

The next time I make these, I will write down what I do. Sorry I can't give you more exact details than this.

Editor's note: I forgot to add that when I am mixing in the spices, I add about 1/2 cup of brown sugar.

Thanksgiving

2006-11-30T22:23:00.000-06:00

It's been a week since Thanksgiving, and I'm finally getting a chance to update. We typically have pretty simple holidays, with just our family celebrating here at home. This year we did so some things that we haven't in the past, such as making a flower arrangement for the table, and the girls also made place mats. We spent the day baking and preparing for our evening meal. During the afternoon Gene took the girls to the park for driving lessons, which they all loved. When they returned we continued in our preparations for our evening, candlelit meal.

Gene was sick that whole week, so our plans for the weekend were canceled. Though we weren't able to do all that we wanted, we still had a good time spending the weekend together.

Our Thanksgiving Menu

Cajun Injected Turkey
Ginger Snap Sweet Potatoes
Broccoli, Cauliflower & Cheese
Dressing
Shells & Cheese
Rolls
Gravy
Cranberry Sauce

I hope you like the slide shows that I made of our Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Crafts

Autumn Has Come To The Deep South!

2006-11-16T16:39:00.000-06:00

Autumn is my absolute favorite time of year. I guess part of it comes from living in the Deep South all of my life. Up north, spring is greatly anticipated as a relief from the long hard winter. Down in the South we look forward to autumn to bring us relief from the harsh, hot days. When these first cool snaps come through it makes me downright giddy! Yesterday the wind was blowing something fierce! It sounded as if it would just roll the sides of my house away as if opening a sardine can. The wind brought a cool front and it has been wonderfully pleasant today. I think the high is about 60, which feels great.

The girls and I went on a walk today, walking about a mile and a half taking the above pictures while we were out. While on our walk, the girls collected acorns, some Wandering Jew from an empty lot, and many pinecones. The pinecones are from different types of pine trees, and we are going to attempt to identify them. Then we will use them for decorations for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

I hope you are enjoying a brisk fall day, wherever you may be!

Cranberry Chicken Salad

2006-11-14T15:18:00.000-06:00

Last night I had this idea, put it all together and I loved it. Let me know what you think. It's super easy. Sorry there are no measurements, I just eyeballed it

Cranberry Chicken Salad

Roasted leftover chicken, diced
Whole berry cranberry sauce, chopped a little to seperate
Mayonaise
Bread, or crackers.

I combined the chicken cranberry sauce and mayo in a bowl and then put it on bread. It was really good. You could make it better by adding the things you like, I bet some nuts would be good. I got the idea from watching Food Network. They showed a sandwich made with dressing, turkey and cranberry sauce. I thought it needed a little gravy, but it looked really good. It was the inspiration for this. Post and let me know what you do with your Thanksgiving leftovers.

Catching Up

2006-11-13T16:44:00.000-06:00

It has been nearly 3 weeks since my last post, and things have been quite busy around here during that time. When I last posted, we were all preparing for Gene's first one day evangelism training class. It took lots of preparation, printing out 75 books for the participants, and we ran into many obstacles. All of our planning and preparation benefited us greatly, as the class went off without a hitch. We had 48 people attend, which we found out is quite a big group. They were all very attentive and interested in all that Gene taught. Many of the participants have been putting into practice what they learned by hitting the streets with Gene on Friday nights. Nov. 3rd we had 7 new people to go out with our team, and Nov. 10th we had 8 new people. If you'd like to see what our team is up to, you can read our newsletter online, or if you'd like to sign up to receive it via e-mail, there is a place to do that on our ministry homepage.

We have also had a couple of bugs run through our house in the last week or so. It all began with me waking up with a stomach bug on the 11th (YUCK!). Another bug, stuffy head, chest congestion, low grade fever & malaise, proceeded to go through all of the girls, except Sarah. The bug that hit the girls has hit a lot of families here in the Houston area. We're all on the mend now, and hoping our allergies will abate soon, as the ragweed (devil weed) dies out.

On Halloween we acquired, were adopted by is probably a more accurate term, a sweet juvenile, female cat. She was quite underfed and cut up and scratched and the other cats around here were attacking her when we found her. The girls had been wanting a cat, so we let them keep her. We were really pleased as we watched her eating so well and beginning to fill out. Only now we're not so sure it's only the food causing her to fill out. Lindsay says she has felt what she believes are kittens, moving in her belly; or it could be her internal organs doing gymnastics. I'm really happy for the girls if she is pregnant. Rachel came to me today and asked me to find some pictures of newborn kittens online, as she had never seen one (that she remembers). I really believe that is an experience every child should have, watching a kitten or puppy grow from a newborn. It is an amazing thing to watch God's creation develop right before your eyes.

Back in August I wrote about a pigeon that we took in because one of the neighborhood cats had attacked it. All of its tail feathers had been pulled out, and it also suffered from many cuts. Just recently we noticed that its tail feathers were beginning to grow back in, much to our delight. Saturday we took the bird out to the prairie to let it go. I was concerned that we would get out there and the bird wouldn't fly well, but that we also wouldn't be able to catch it again...leading to many tears shed by the girls. We got to our spot and Gene took the bird. All of the girls told it "Bye" and Gene threw it up into the air. It flew up and to a tree about 50 yards away. I don't know if I have the words to describe how it felt to see it fly off as if it had never been injured. It was such a valuable lesson for the girls to learn to care for the bird, and to put away their desire to keep it as a pet. When they saw it fly away, there was no doubt that it was where it belonged. It was a great opportunity to talk to the girls about how God cares for the birds, and how much more He cares about us.

This week

2006-10-25T11:12:00.000-05:00

This week has been very busy and rushed, my days needing many more hours in them. This weekend Gene will be leading a one day evangelism training seminar for about 60 people, and I'm the event coordinator. There are many small details to which I'm attending, and it is amazing how long some seemingly little things can take. We have had our technical difficulties, such as a printer crash, but they are working themselves out.

Sunday we had a visit with a dear friend and brother in Christ that God brought into our lives via Gene's work several years ago. Gene meeting Dale was fully ordained by God, and it has been a blessing in our lives in numerous ways. He lives in PA with his family, so we don't get to see each other often, but more often than when they lived in South Korea.

Last night we began a Bible study with a young couple that is on our evangelism team. They have a two year old son who is so much fun to have around. Caroline especially likes having him here and getting to mother him. As the youngest, she's never been a big sister, so for her, this fills that longing in her. Since both of our friends work, we had dinner ready for them all(Red Beans and Rice; I'll add the recipe later). We had a wonderful time of fellowship and study.

The rest of this week will be in preparation for Saturday. There are still many tasks to complete; many are the type that need to wait until right before the class. We will be making refreshments for the class on Thursday and Friday. Right now they will probably be pumpkin bread, oatmeal raisin cookies, and ginger cookies. I will post the recipes to those next week.

I am also working on 4 photo display boards for the class. We have lots of pictures of our evangelism experiences. If you'd like to know more about what we do through our ministry, please check out our site at GNN Katy-Houston. We are planning on adding a picture page to our site, but that is still under construction.

More Safari Adventure

2006-10-19T12:57:00.000-05:00

My friend Patti and I (and all of our kids) are having a great time on our safaris. When we spot something new and interesting we each run to the phone to call the other, so they can see it too. It's comical to hear my girls start shouting about an animal, and with the next breath they're saying, "Mom! Hurry! Quick! Call Mrs. Patti and tell her about the _____!!!"

I left Kim a note about the Africam thinking her girls would like it as well. She then posted about it and Kate left a post about National Geographic's Wildcam. We have seen some great animals there also.

Last night we got to watch a saddle-billed stork fishing on Africam . It was quite interesting to watch him; he was there for over an hour. We found it funny that whenever his wings would touch the water, he would hike them up like a woman hiking up her skirt. We hope you are joining us on our safari; it's really quite educational.

The Elephants Are Coming, The Elephants Are Coming

2006-10-17T13:43:00.000-05:00

Today has been a banner day in our Africam safari!! We have seen 4, yes that's 4 elephants today! This has brought about much excitement in the house. There have also been wildebeest, cape buffalo and zebra. All of these coming in herds today.

If you have tons of money to spend and you want to go on a real live safari, this camera is at Sabi Sand Game Reserve. Since they are on the Southern hemisphere the seasons there are different from ours. They have a page that tells you what you are likely to see and when you can see it. Just go here to see more.

If you are also on safari, we'd love to hear from you. Please drop us a note and let us know what animals you've seen.

White Bean Soup with Smoked Turkey

2006-10-17T00:05:00.000-05:00

Tammy is hosting a soup recipe swap. About a week ago I created a bean soup that is very tasty, but also easy. We all loved it and I hope that you will too. I will warn you that I do cook beans rather unconventionally, but they always work out.

White Bean Soup with Smoked Turkey

2 lbs. Great Northern Beans, rinsed
1 onion, chopped
1/2 bell pepper, chopped
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp. Simply Organic All-Purpose Seasoning (this is an herb based seasoning blend, not salt based)
1 tsp. of Tony's
1 tsp. hot sauce
1 Tbl. Worcestershire sauce
1 smoked turkey wing (I found mine near the ham at Wal-mart)
water

Put all ingredients into a stock pot and cover with a couple of inches of water. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a medium heat. Cook until beans are tender(this took about 3 1/2 hours), making sure to keep about an inch of water over the beans. Before serving remove meat from bones; discarding bones and skin. Serve with cornbread. This soup will also freeze well. For a family of 7 we had leftovers, for a smaller family, this would give you a couple of frozen meals.

Mucinex, Out of Town Hubands, and Lack of Sleep Don't Mix

2006-10-14T14:45:00.000-05:00

Gene is out of town right now for our nephew's wedding. Whenever Gene is out of town, that usually means I will have a organizing project of some sort. Right now I'm taking on a pretty big one, our office and craft supplies. With 5 daughters, we have LOTS of craft supplies. I'm known as an office supply junkie, so I have TONS of office supplies. In addition, I'm re-working all of my files, which is a very overwhelming task.

I have been struggling with my allergies this last week due to the ragweed, so late last night, while working, I took some Mucinex because my chest was feeling heavy and I wanted to fight off any illness. When I finally went to bed, I couldn't go to sleep even though I was exhausted. Ever have one of those nights when your brain just wouldn't be quiet? A lot of these allergy medicines have that effect on me after they accumulate in my system. So I'm lying in bed with all of these ministry ideas running through my head, not able to sleep. About 5am I get up and write them down hoping that will make my brain be quiet. It works and I get to sleep about 5:30. At a quarter to 7, Gene's alarm goes off...only he's not here to turn it off. I get out of bed, stumbling and bleary-eyed, to see what that obnoxious noise is, trying to figure out how to make it shut up! The clock had been knocked off the bedside table and was under the bed. I found it, turned it off, and went back to sleep.

About 10, Rachel came and told me what time it was. I rolled over halfway conscious and was trying to wake up. I must have dozed off again, and in the fogginess of my brain I begin to hear a man say, "Hello, hello?!" Alarm bells go off in my head! The only man I know that I should be able to hear from my bed is 6 hours away in North Louisiana. I hear the man again! Real confusion is setting in. I open my door and ask Rachel if there is a man saying, "Hello" on tv. She answers that there's not and becomes concerned about what I'm hearing. I look at my answering machine, it's not on, then at my cell phone. I'm trying to put this together in my head: can Gene somehow be talking to me through my phone when it's closed??? I hear the man again, still only saying, "Hello, Hello?!" I pick up my cell phone and call Gene. I don't know what I thought he could do from 6 hours away, but at least it was comforting that I could talk to him. When he answers, I whisper to him about the man. He says, "You're going to have to speak up. I can't hear you, you're whispering." I explain that I don't want to speak up because I don't know where this man I'm hearing is. Then the man speaks again. Rachel and I pinpoint that it's coming from my bathroom. Now, the only thing in my bathroom is a dove in a cage, and no person could have gotten into it without walking two feet away from me, so I "know" that he can't be in there. Rachel and I, with Gene on the phone, open the bathroom door. Just as I step in, the man speaks again! Adreneline is pumping pretty quickly now! Rachel and I both jump out of the bathroom...Gene just laughs(way too much in my opinion). I'm still whispering to him. I relay that it sounds like a walkie talkie. I wonder if the man is outside my bathroom window, but tell him it sounds like it's coming from near the dove. Gene says to go look, and I think he's insane. Reluctantly, I step into the bathroom and begin searching. Low and behold, on the side of the garden tub, behind the shower curtain is one of our long range walkie talkies that is still on. I quickly hand it to Rachel and tell her to turn that horrid thing off before the man talks to us again. Gene is hurting from laughing at me. He encouragingly says, "I can't even leave you for a day, can I??"

At first I think that somehow the walkie talkie was in my bathroom by mistake. Rachel had been using them the other day when her sisters were sick. They each had one, and she had one. That way they could let her know of their needs and she could minister to them. (I know...awwww isn't that sweet?) Later, after telling my story to Caroline, I find that Hannah had hidden it in my bathroom last night to pull a prank on me, but it never worked out and she forgot to get it back out. I haven't decided exactly which dungeon she'll visit...but there's one in her future, have no fear.

Safari update

2006-10-13T15:04:00.000-05:00

No, we're not on a real safari, we're on a virtual safari. It does get pretty exciting around here when we spot something. If you want to join us on our virtual safari, just go to Africam . Here is the current list of the animals we've seen since my last post about it.

Hyena
Rhino mother with nursing baby
Vervet Monkeys (about 5 including a baby)
Weasel like animal
Wart hogs
African Crowned Crane
something that looked like an African Wild dog (it was in the distance at sunset, so it was hard to see)

We also got a better understanding of the song Pop Goes the Weasel. There was a weasel type animal hiding in a hole. It did something to get the baby monkey's attention, and the baby sat intently watching. When the weasel ran out of the hole the baby started chasing it. We watched them playing for quite a while. The song kept going through our minds.

Great Resource

2006-10-13T01:10:00.000-05:00

Lately I have been listening to Way of the Master Radio on my computer while I work. It has been a great resource of information you won't find on your typical Christian radio station. If you are unfamiliar with it, I encourage you to take a listen. You can hear every show they have done, and you can even download the shows to listen on your cd or mp3 player. You can also listen to the show live online from 2 - 4pm CST, or on Sirius radio. I think you will find this show encouraging and challenging. I hope that you will check it out.

Current Addiction

2006-10-10T13:17:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Katie our family has a new addiction. We have been visiting Africam ever since she posted about it. It has been quite educational and very intriguing. We find it to be different than watching an animal documentary. Knowing that it hasn't been edited there is an anticipation of the unknown. Though at times we keep expecting to hear the narrator telling us what is happening. We have also contemplated whether a crocodile lives in the watering hole. I think it would be quite traumatic if one jumped up and ate the baby Zebra while Rachel was watching. This would not be good!

Here is a list of most of the amazing animals we've seen:

Plains Zebra
Water Buffalo
Cape Buffalo
Ducks (not sure of the type)
Doves (not sure of their type either)
Owls
Baboons
Kudu
Impala
Rabbits (two different types)
Serval
Rhino
Frogs

There are tons of frogs around this watering hole, it is truly amazing how much noise they can make! I can't imagine trying to sleep around them, it sems that it would just be impossible.

Changes Are A Comin'

2006-09-29T23:47:00.000-05:00

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

2006-09-25T23:53:00.000-05:00

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

2006-09-23T23:48:00.000-05:00

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!!

2006-09-23T04:03:00.000-05:00

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

2006-09-22T23:51:00.000-05:00

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

2006-09-22T00:42:00.000-05:00

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

2006-09-20T16:44:00.000-05:00

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

2006-09-20T05:26:00.000-05:00

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

2006-09-20T05:13:00.000-05:00

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

2006-09-19T23:53:00.000-05:00

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.

Why I haven't been posting

2006-08-28T18:09:00.000-05:00

Today I was sent this song via e-mail. If you are familiar with Veggie Tales, just sing it to the tune of "We Are The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything." This song describes how I'm feeling about now. It seems that everything is starting at once. Gene's ministry changes, along with a new curriculum that I'm working on, as well as daily life. As you can see, I haven't done the posts I have been wanting to and I am hoping they will come this week. Have a fun time singing this song. I'm sure we could come up with some other verses to go along with it.

We Are The Homeschool Moms Who Can't Do Everything

All 3 Moms:
We are the home school moms who can't do everything
We just stay at home and plan a lot
And if you ask us to do everything
We'll just tell you
We can't do everything
Mom2:
Well, I've never been to Boston and I've never shot a musket,
and I've never built a cabin using nothing but an axe,
and I've never skinned a possum, and I've never staged a battle,
and I've never started home school before fall!
All:
We are the home school moms who can't do everything
We just stay at home and plan a lot
And if you ask us to do everything
We'll just tell you...
Mom3:
We can't do everything!
And I've never distilled water, and I've never banded birdies,
and I've never built an ant farm 'cuz I can't stand things that
crawl,
and I've never dug a fossil, and I've never owned a test tube,
and I've never started home school before fall!
All:
We are the home school moms who can't do everything
We just stay at home and plan a lot
And if you ask us to do everything
We'll just tell you
We can't do everything
Mom1:
And I've never slaughtered chickens, and I've never milked a go-oat,
and I've never gone to 4-H or the local county fair,
and I've never sewn a jumper, and I don't look good in denim,
and I've never started home school before fall!
Mom2: Huh? What are you talking about? What's a milk goat and denim
jumpers got to do with being a home school mom?
Mom3: Hey, that's right! We're supposed to sing about academic-y thi
ngs!
Mom1: Oh...
Mom2: And who ever sews school uniforms? That's impossible! Why even
bring it up? Am I right? What do you think?
Mom3: I think you should do your laundry.
Mom2: Huh? Why do you think that?
Mom3: You should...
Mom2: Don't wanna!
Mom3: You wore that shirt yesterday!
Mom2: That's it, you're going to help me!
Mom3: Says who?
Mom2: Says ME, that's who!
Mom3: Oh yeah? Well I'm not picking up your socks! (pinches her own
nose)
Mom2: Argh!
Mom3: Yike!
Mom1:
And I've never done gymnastics, and I've never danced the polka,
and I've never painted daisies 'cause I cannot paint at all,
and I've never made a schedule, and my house is never perfect...
Mom2: It'll never happen!
All: And we've never started home school before fall!
We are the home school moms who can't do everything
We just stay at home and plan a lot
And if you ask us to do everything
We'll just tell you
We can't do everything
Mom2: Pass the pencils! Who's got the teacher's guide?
Mom1: Here it is! (holds up shredded paper)
Mom3: (groans, then smiles with sudden inspiration) Time for recess!
Mom2: It's definitely time for Scotch tape.
Mom3: Oh, I don't like that stuff...
Mom1: Hey, look! I found a crayon!

I'm late, I'm late for a very important date!

2006-08-15T16:52:00.000-05:00

As of late I have felt very much like the white rabbit from "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland." It seems that I'm dashing hither and yon all the time. This summer hasn't been nearly as productive as I would like, as we are all suffering with allergy/asthma symptoms that are much worse than in previous years. At this moment I have three girls that are suffering with headaches, major congestion, asthma-like symptoms(inability to do much without difficulty breathing), sinus infections, and even one with allergic conjunctivitus(pink eye). I have been suffering with many of these symptoms myself, but to a milder degree. Since we have found that many of the "regular" medicines have horrid side effects on our bodies, we have been delving into natural remedies. Many of them are quite effective. One of our favorites is colloidal silver*, which works as an antibiotic and we have had great success with it. Sunday, Rachel popped up with pink eye, and by yesterday it was in both eyes. I went to get some more silver, as we were out, and put 2 drops in each eye right before bedtime. By this morning, both eyes were nearly clear! I was so pleased with the results and that she was doing better.

We have also just had a birthday, which typically takes a week to prepare for because of various shopping trips for sisters to get their presents for the birthday girl. Rachel turned 12 on the 6th, and I will be doing her "Happy Birthday!" article in the next few days.

Another bit of excitement we have had was with a dove. Last Friday we found "our" cat(it's truly someone else's, but it seems to have forgotten that and only lives outside our house now) was trying to kill a dove. There were feathers everywhere and at first we assumed the dove to be dead. But upon further investigation we found that it had temporarily escaped the cat's clutches. Said cat was quite perturbed to be deprived of the evening repast for which he had diligently worked. We then needed to come to a decision about the bird. It looked horrid! Half of its feathers were missing and it had a quite a few cuts. I thought the bird wouldn't make it through the night and I was trying to make a decison about what to do while sitting on the steps with all of the girls surrounding me. We discussed that the bird would surely die, but they wanted to give it as much comfort in its death as they could. We all thought it would be better for the bird if he died in a nice quiet place, as opposed to being eaten alive by the cat! We brought the bird in and put him in a box with a towel. He was in shock and very calm. Surprisingly, he is still alive and doing quite well. Don't ask what we will do when he's healed; that decision hasn't been made. I think this has been a very good experience for the girls. They are tenderly caring for him/her and gaining a greater appreciation for God's wonderful creation. When you take the time to really look at an animal God created, you will see a great deal about God. This dove has the most brilliantly turquiose coloured eyelids. Rachel says it looks as if the bird is wearing eye shadow. He also has subtle shades of purple in green in the feathers around his neck. God's care about the intricate design of each of His creations is abundantly evident, if we will only take the time to look.

I have a feeling I will continue to be that white rabbit for a few more weeks at least, if not until after Thanksgiving, or even Christmas. I'm planning my school year at this time, a week from Friday Gene flies to Dallas for the weekend, on the 10th of September we have Sarah's birthday, Oct 14th we have an out of town wedding, Nov 9th we go camping and then Thanksgiving. These are just the high points of what we will be doing. Within that time there are many other thngs that don't take as much preperation and many things that will have to be done in advance in order to accomplish these larger tasks. I know many people have more daunting schedules than I, and will think that this is nothing. One of the things in recent years I have tried to accomplish is a more peaceful home. We have lived the common life before of running somewhere almost every night of the week and on the weekend. Because of that, we have purposely chosen not to run all of the time nor be involved in tons of activities. We strive to spend a great deal of time as a family and not all going our seperate ways. We can see the positive impact that these choices have made on our family and would encourage you to see if they would help you as well.

*The silver we use is 5ppm, which is something you need to be very careful about as stronger dosages have stronger effects which can be detrimental over time.

Be Like a Berean

2006-08-03T20:37:00.000-05:00

As of late, I have been working through several spiritual issues. I find it amazing that when I’m contemplating and praying about an issue how many times God will place one thing after another in my path on that very topic. In my scripture reading the last few days, the Lord has really placed a few things on my heart I would like to share.

For the past 3 ½ years, our family’s main focus has been evangelism. Through this rough and rocky journey God has taught us many things regarding our perceptions and beliefs about what His Word says. One of the things I have come to realize is how often people interpret scripture based on their culture and the traditions they have been raised in as opposed to taking the scriptures at face value and basing their interpretation on the scriptures alone. For example, having been in Southern Baptist churches most of my adult life I have observed how the scriptures are often interpreted in light of the Baptist Faith & Message. This is not something limited to the SBC--it appears to be the case across the board. I believe this is one of the contributing factors of the problems within the church today. Churches spend more time studying books and little time studying the Bible. A prime example of this would be The Purpose Driven Life. That book has little to do with the scriptures and more to do with Rick Warren’s twisting of them. He does what is commonly done in church literature. Whole chapters will be studied on one verse when they should be studying whole chapters of scripture instead. You cannot get a complete understanding of a thought trying to be conveyed by only taking one verse. Try doing that with this article. Take just one sentence and try to understand the meaning of what I’m trying to get across. You can’t do it…and only reading one verse out of context is what leads to gross misinterpretation. Yet that is how everything from sermons to Sunday School is taught. Many Christians today are basing their beliefs on what someone, whether it be Rick Warren or their Sunday School teacher, has told them.

Many people believe that they are duty and honor bound to their pastor. They are also told (yes, it’s often said, not just implied) that they should blindly follow everything he says. We have seen circumstances where they will say from the pulpit…”be as the Bereans, don’t believe it just because we say it.” Yet, if you interpret the scriptures differently and don’t agree with them, you are then labeled an apostate. It is considered near heresy to some if you question the pastor’s teaching. It has been perpetrated on the church that pastors are “holier” than mere lay people and that they have been given some “special” ability to interpret the scriptures. In my opinion, this is one of the greatest tools Satan has used to gain a very strong foothold in the church. God has given each and every believer the Holy Spirit which will comfort us, teach us and guide us. We need no man to do this for us. We have been told that we can’t understand the scriptures unless we have a teacher, based on Acts 8:31. This is the passage where the Ethiopian Eunuch tells Philip he can’t understand the scriptures unless he is taught. The huge difference is that at that point, the Eunuch wasn’t saved and didn’t have the Holy Spirit to teach him. If you read on you will see that God took Philip away after the Eunuch was saved, and left him with no teacher other than the Holy Spirit. There are many other examples of this throughout the New Testament. If you will look at Galatians 1:15-16, this is what Paul says about himself: “But when it pleased God who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by His grace, To reveal His Son in me that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:”. Paul was taught by none other than God, and this wasn’t just for a short period until he could get to Jerusalem; this was for 3 years (v.18). Paul was no greater or any less than I am. He was a sinner just like me, and if God could teach him, why can’t he teach me? The only way He can’t is if I turn from hearing Him.

We are each responsible for our interpretation of the scriptures and for the ability to defend our faith. How can we do that if we haven’t studied the scriptures and decided for ourselves what we believe? In Acts 17:10-11 we have the perfect example of what we should do:

The brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily {to see} whether these things were so.

We see that the Bereans received what Paul and Silas had to say eagerly, but they showed their wisdom by searching the scriptures to see if what they were saying was true. 1 Thes. 5:20-21 tells us not to despise prophesies-but we are to test everything. Are we living up to that responsibility if we don’t question what we read and hear? In 1 John 4:1 we are admonished to not believe everything we are told because there are many false prophets. Many people seem to believe that anyone who mentions the name of Jesus or God must be a Christian. An entertainer or athlete that thanks God for their success must be a Christian because they mentioned God. In Matthew 7: 13- 27 we are told some ways to distinguish true from false “Christians”.

"Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. You by their fruits you will know them.
Not everyone who says to Me, "Lord, Lord," shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, "I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!"
Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall."

This shows us that the gate or way to Christ is narrow and many will not follow it. It also tells us of many false prophets who will come in sheep’s clothing, like ravenous wolves. Picture that… coming to destroy us. And that’s exactly what is happening to God’s Word by so many “pastors”. The people don’t know God’s word well enough to know when they are being deceived. Satan doesn’t usually tell the big whopper lies; we could probably (though not always) spot those. He will come in with something that’s 75% truth and 25% lie and that’s where people fall. Christ tells us that there will be many who call on Him but He will say to many "Depart from me, I never knew you". That is hard to really contemplate when you think about it. There will be many who will get to judgment and think they have done the Lord’s work, only to find they have been deceived. One of the things I pray for regularly is wisdom so that I won’t be deceived. What a terrible day it will be for those who are told to depart--for eternity--no second chances. In verse 24 we are told how to be wise, and it tells us we will be wise if we are always looking for the truth and searching it out.

Anyone who knows me well knows that I’m a skeptic. I will not endorse or recommend someone I don’t trust. I may say, "This was a good sermon, but I can’t vouch for anything past that.” I have called friends in a panic after recommending a book carelessly to only find out the heresy in it later. I almost always give a disclaimer when recommending a book. So if you see me recommend something/someone here, know that I firmly believe what they say, and if I turn out to be wrong, I’ll say so. In Gal 1:6-9 Paul addresses those who proclaim a false gospel, we can see by his words that it isn’t something to be taken lightly.

I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.

Every person who proclaims a false gospel will answer to God for it (I will address the false gospel in another post). Paul did not mince words on this subject and ignorance will not be an excuse before God. He has given us the tools to study and learn now more than at any other time in history. We are so blessed to have the internet and all of its study resources right at our fingertips. One of my favorite online tools is www.searchgodsword.org. I only have to type in the word I’m looking for and it will find it for me. It has commentaries, dictionaries, and most any other tool you could need, and it’s free. God has been convicting me of the fact that we truly have no excuse for not knowing His Word and applying it to our lives. Why is it that we will spend hours reading a book about homeschooling or gardening, but think reading 3 or 4 verses a day is all we need to read of God’s Word? I challenge you to get some study tools and a good study Bible (my favorite is the MacArthur Study Bible) and be like a Berean!

Comments

2006-07-29T16:41:00.000-05:00

I have had to change the way my comments are posted because of horrible spam that was being attached to my site. I think this should prevent it, but if you ever see anything attached to my comments that you don't think I would want, please let me know via e-mail.

I have a couple of updates in the works and will post them soon.

Off To The Dentist

2006-07-14T11:36:00.000-05:00

Late last night my crown came off and I have to run to the dentist this morning. I'm actually very thankful it happened. I had been thinking it felt different, but it wasn't wiggling, so I thought it was all in my head. big grin Anyway, when it came off, it just slid off, nothing breaking and not causing any problems. Another blessing is that it didn't come off on the weekend, it would have caused many problems. It should be an easy fix, just dental super-glue.

Well, I'd better be off. I have to leave in just a little while.

Three Cheers For Lindsay!

2006-07-14T11:17:00.000-05:00

Very late last night we had cause for dancing around our living room. Lindsay fixed our website and blogs!! She had spent many hours trying to find the problems since our server migrated; even the Tech Support people couldn't tell us what the problem was. Her perserverance paid off and she was able to fix it.

Hip, Hip, Hooray for Lindsay!!!

Site Problems...

2006-07-14T03:20:00.000-05:00

Note from the editor/programmer:
We're having problems with our server, which is why this blog hasn't been working correctly. I'm working on it though, and I've gotten some of the glitches worked out(at least, if this entry posts, I will have!).

There are some other problems though that I can't fix, and the server has to do. I've talked to tech support, and they're supposed to be working on it, so hopefully everything will be fixed soon. However, I have no idea how long it will be, so until then, you can visit her other blog here. ~ Lindsay

Wonderful Cookies!

2006-07-05T23:54:00.000-05:00

Many years ago I received this cookie recipe from a dear friend, Gale. We have made them hundreds of times and just love them. They are quite nutritious, too, as they have no refined sugar and use lots of good ingredients. I hope you love them as much as we have! Maybe I need to make some more, so that I can post a picture of them. I have also adapted the recipe, making bar cookies out of them, which works equally as well.

Colossal Molasses Cookies

11/2 cups white flour
1 ¼ cups whole wheat flour
¾ cup oil
½ cup honey
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup raisins
1 cup oats
1 tsp baking soda
½ cup dark molasses
2 eggs
1 cup walnut halves (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. Combine dry ingredients except nuts and raisins. Combine liquid ingredients in a separate bowl. Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients, then add nuts and raisins. Drop 1/4cup of batter onto a buttered baking sheet. Flatten slightly. Bake 12-15 minutes til lightly browned.

You Know You Have OCD When...

2006-07-02T20:54:00.000-05:00

I don't know about your family, but in ours we have several people, if not all, that deal with certain levels of OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). One of the odd things about it is that we all have different triggers. We have some who will go bonkers at seeing a cabinet door open, or drawer pulled out and left un-attended, some of us HATE waterspots on sinks and faucets, some must adjust crooked mini-blinds, some have to eat at specific times or DIE, and all of us have different issues about our clothes. We often joke and laugh about it, as none of us live in a state of being unable to function...that is, unless we see one of our "problems" lurking about. We love the T.V. show Monk because we can relate to his OCD so well. We aren't quite as bad as he is as we are able to function in society and we don't have to clean our hands after shaking someone else's, but we do relate on many counts. Lately we have noticed that we will see things that a person with OCD, or more specifically with his "problems" wouldn't do, or things that drive us crazy that he's missing. Today Lindsay was reading one of the "blogs" from Monk and found a post that fit us really well...kinda scary, huh? It has to do with books; I must confess, Lindsay, Hannah, and I are rather obsessive about our books. We believe if you are going to put books on the shelf, you should do so correctly. By correctly we mean: Arranged by subject with non-fiction being organized along the lines of the Dewey Decimal System and fiction books being arranged alphabetically by author. This usually doesn't cause much of a problem, but one day, after re-arranging the books, Lindsay and I walked in the family room to find Gene re-arranging our biographies. You see, he didn't like that all the same type of books weren't together, and we couldn't handle them not being sorted by person... but we came to an agreement...and two people with the same OCD "problem" over-rule the one. In other words, the needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few. The books are safe and sound now, and in their proper place.

My thought was to see if you would share your OCD "problems" with me. I am curious as to how many of these "issues" are similar in others. It has surprised me, when sharing my experiences with others, how many have similar "issues". We also find it interesting how different we can be in our compulsions. Spots drive me crazy, but the people who hate open cabinets don't seem to see them. Why is that? I guess it's something you might not notice if you lived in a small family, but with all these different people here, it's similar to an ongoing socialogical experiment.

If you are unsure if someone you love has OCD, this simple test may help you. Have them stand in the center of the kitchen with their eyes closed, open all the cabinets and drawers (making sure to open them to different degrees for maximum effect) and have them open their eyes and stand in that spot without moving for 1 minute. If you see them begin to break out in a sweat, they may have OCD mildly, but if at the end of one minute they are pulling their hair out and crying...you might want to seek help.

I've been tagged

2006-07-01T01:20:00.000-05:00

Today I was tagged by Kim.

Here's the List of 5.

5 things in my refrigerator:

1. Dr. Pepper! (way too much!)
2. Romaine lettuce for salads
3. Cranberry Bean soup (they are cranberry beans, not cranberries and beans)
4. Herbal tea
5. Parmesean cheese (a must for my salad)

5 things in my closet:

1. My clothes
2. shoes
3. All of our photos that are in boxes (1 box for each person)
4. Boxes of material (8)
5. Batting

5 things in my purse:

1. wallet
2. Burt's Bees tinted lip balm
3. notebook in folder
4. Pens
5. keys

5 things in my car:

1. boxes that need to go to storage
2. rain jacket
3. silver window shade
4. tote bags from our library trip today
5. cell phone chargers

5 people I am tagging:

1. Bonnie
2. Katie
3. Susan
4. Amy
5. Lindsey

Barefoot Runner

2006-06-30T21:50:00.000-05:00

Here's a picture of Rachel after her run last night. She's really enjoying it, but does need to work on pacing a little. (forgive the blurrieness of the pictures)

Here is a picture of her dirty, red little feet after the run.

This 'n' That

2006-06-29T18:49:00.000-05:00

First of all, as you can see, my blog is undergoing a much needed facelift. Thanks, Lindsay! The pictures in the banner are some of the women from my family; sadly, most of them are no longer living. Three of my great-grandmothers are pictured, although I only have vague memories of two of them. The baby, excepting the one in the picture in the top left corner, is me. I have many special memories of these special ladies in my life and look to the different qualities of each as inspiration.

I hope that you enjoy the changes we've made(that's definately the proverbial "we"). There will be more pictures in the sidebar shortly. The blogroll is also in the process of being updated with sites that I frequent and enjoy. I hope to add new blogs as I find them.

My homemaking blog is also undergoing some changes. I hope that you will check in there to see how things are shaping up. As of this writing, you can't see the changes; everything that is being done is prep work, but the changes should be visible in a matter of days.

Do you ever go through times where you feel you need to have a pager on everything you own in order to keep track of things? That's how it's been for me lately--lots of little things have been misplaced. The one I did the other day was the topping on the cake for me...I lost my cellphone Though compared to Lindsey's method of crushing hers, my method of losing mine is just plain boring! I went to Walmart Tuesday, and while in the store, I spoke to the girls on the phone. When I went to get it out of my purse later at home, it wasn't there. A mild panic set in. We began calling it and standing in various places to see if it could be heard. We tried the van 3 times, all of the bedrooms, even standing by the trashcans outside to see if they were ringing. All to no avail! I called Cingular and told them to kill the phone and then proceeded to drive myself crazy trying to figure out what I could have done with it. Yesterday I went back to Walmart to see if anyone had turned it in. Well, they had about 10 other phones, but none of them were mine. Since it wasn't at Walmart, I called and got a replacement phone. I was very thankful to have insurance on it (which I had considered cancelling on Monday). The phone is being shipped out and should be here tomorrow or Saturday.

Gene, Lindsay, and Rachel have started running---barefooted!! Thanks, Bonnie! Now all of my rules about wearing shoes have gone out the window. Gene ran for years before, but this is his first time to try it shoeless. You can read about Lindsay's running adventures on her blog. It appears that Rachel seems to be naturally suited for running, as she is doing quite well at it. Hannah and Caroline don't have the stamina for running as of yet--so they are barefoot scootering.

I hope and pray that things are going well for you all in your neck of the woods--wherever that may be. I'd love to hear from those visiting my blog-so please take the time to introduce yourself.

Garden Thoughts

2006-06-29T13:36:00.000-05:00

Why is it that when I'm working in the solitude of my garden, I can have such clear and consice thoughts? Then when I come indoors and put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) my deep thoughts sprint away to some unseen chasm, often never to be heard from again.

Last night while working on my roses, I had many deep thoughts, but upon returning inside, alas, they flittered away again. I hope to be able to retrieve them soon and to get them onto paper before they escape.

Around the Yard

2006-06-24T03:02:00.000-05:00

Today Kim posted about everyday things that we often take for granted. I wanted to share with you some of the everyday things that bring joy to my life; if I had to list them, the laughter of my children would be at the top of the list. Nothing brings me more joy than to hear them laughing. Looking at God's creation gives me a great deal of pleasure, though we often tend to overlook the simple beauty of things.

I love to take pictures after a good rain, and this week I was provided with many opportunities. Here are some of the pictures that the girls and I took.

Hannah took this picture of her hibiscus.

Lindsay took these pictures one evening after a storm had blown over.

I took these pictures of my roses.

Rachel and I took these pictures of some of our vegetables.

Million Dollar Ruling

2006-06-24T00:59:00.000-05:00

Lindsay has posted the update on her blog about the court case; you can read all about it there.

Million Dollar Fiasco

2006-06-04T00:26:00.000-05:00

The insanity of the million dollar fiasco is now making national news. World Net Dailyhas a couple of articles reporting what has happened to date. I don't think we could have paid a million dollars for the publicity these ministries will receive.

Please don't let my encouragement over the Lord using the situation for His good in any way give you the impression that it has lessened the severity of the actions of the overzealous agents in the least. I have growing concerns about the "long arm of the law" and how they are using/abusing their powers.

Editor's addition: Today Darrell Rundus was interviewed by the local news in Dallas. Here is the interview.

Pot Cleaning Tip

2006-06-02T23:55:00.000-05:00

Tonight we made our first WWII era meal, more on that later, and it left one of my pans with baked on goo. I remembered back to a book I had read on baking soda uses and decided to try one of the tips. I dampened the pan and sprinkled baking soda all over it and let it sit for about 20 minutes. I went back to it thinking it was going to take a while to scrub, and low and behold, the mess just rinsed off! I couldn't believe how easily it came clean. So, save your elbow grease, and use your baking soda!

For those who have a Sam's Club nearby, they sell baking soda in a huge bucket for a great price.

The Government has Gone Crazy!!

2006-06-02T16:11:00.000-05:00

Today I received this in an e-mail from Living Waters:

Millions Confiscated

Today (Friday, June 2nd) the Secret Service seized a large supply of our Million Dollar Bill tracts from The Great News Network in Texas. They told them that someone in North Carolina tried to deposit one in their bank, and that if they didn't give up their supply, they would arrest them. Then they said they are going to seize our supply in California.

In actuality, and as hard as it is to believe...I'm speechless about this. I'm stunned beyond belief. My 11yo, Rachel, could even see how insane this is. She said, "It says on the tract that it's not real money." She also pointed out that they sell play money at the store.. so what's the problem?! I'd love to know your thoughts on the subject; please share!

For those of you who are unaware, Living Waters is an evangelism ministry headed by Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron. They work with The Great News Network which does practical training such as the Bootcamps Gene attends. They utilize tracts as a means of spreading the gospel, and these Million Dollar bills are just one type of their many tracts. The really funny thing is... there is no such thing as a million dollar bill.

I found this at the U.S. Treasury site:

Did the Treasury Department ever produce a $1 million currency note? I have one that I want to know about.

We receive many inquiries asking if the Treasury Department ever produced a $1 million currency note. People have sent in copies of these notes. We have found that they are nonnegotiable platinum certificates known as a "One Million Dollar Special Issue." These notes were from a special limited copyrighted art series originally sold by a Canadian firm for $1.00 each as a collectible item. They are not official United States currency notes manufactured by our Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP). As such, they are not redeemable by the Department of the Treasury.

You may be interested to know that the BEP learned of these certificates in the spring of 1982. All related correspondence was forwarded to the United States Secret Service to decide if there were any violations of Federal currency laws. The Secret Service subsequently advised, however, that these certificates did not violate any United States law.

So if these don't violate any law (which Living Waters checked before having them produced) why did they raid GNN and take the bills?? Big Paranoid Government gone mad???? I think so.

Swiss Family Robinson

2006-06-02T13:34:00.000-05:00

What Type of Homeschooler Are You?

Swiss Family Robinson If you can grow it, pick it, preserve it, or butcher it, you own it. Otherwise, you do without. You'd prefer to live off-grid from the power company, since you're nearly self-sufficient already. You enjoy unit studies for the way they utilize all facets of life and truly incorporate life and education as a whole, not as separate entities. Visit my blog: http://www.GuiltFreeHomeschooling.blogspot.com
Take this quiz!

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It really amazed me how accurate this was in describing me. One of our dreams would be to be solar/wind powered, producing our own food. I am probably a cross between this and the Abraham Lincoln result (which is what Lindsay got).

My New Apron

2006-05-30T21:55:00.000-05:00

Lindsay has been working on an apron for me and it's nearly finished. She only needs to add the neck & waist straps. She re-cycled some old overalls to make it. I think it's a really cute idea, and can't wait for it to be finished.

For other cute aprons go to Tammy's Apron Show and Tell.

Family Memorial

2006-05-30T00:16:00.000-05:00

While looking at some old photos that I have on cd; I came across several of men in uniform. Lindsay and I began to wonder what role these men had played in various conflicts. I called my dad and asked him about some of the pictures that I found. There were a couple men who were not pictured in their uniforms one was my great-uncle Buddy, and the other was my great-uncle Tommy. Buddy served as an MP in Iran, and he also worked on the railroad and cooked, but I'm unsure of how Tommy served.

As is often the case around here, many of my ideas wouldn't come to fruition without Lindsay's help. We both had the idea, independently, to create a slideshow using some of our pictures. She worked on it this afternoon and put it to music. My desire is for you to pause and remember those who fought for your freedom and those who served/serve to protect it. Many times I wonder at why the Lord allowed me... me of all people, to be born here in America---free. All over the world people live in constant opression, yet I'm free. Just as my salvation was bought with a price, Christ's blood, my freedom has also been bought with a price...the blood of millions of young men who bravely fought so that I might be free. I can never repay either of these debts, so I choose to remember and cherish them both.

Please click on the little soldier to go to the slideshow.

This summer the girls and I will be doing a unit on World War II. We have already begun reading The Victory Garden, which is a fictional account of a young girl's life during WWII. We are planning on creating our own webpage with activities we have done, books we have used, websites we like and lots of pictures. If you have any suggested materials, please post them. We are also planning on contacting the VFW to get in touch with a WWII vet. I would hate for my girls to grow up not having had the opportunity to hear the experiences of a WWII soldier.

This weekend in honor of Memorial Day, Gene, Lindsay and I watched The Great Raid. I love old war movies and this is a new one that feels like an old one. You may have to love old war movies for that to make sense. If you haven't seen the movie, it is a very good depiction of a terrible time. It is the story of the rescue of the soldiers who survived the Bataan Death March and 3 years in a POW camp afterwards. These men survived terrible atrocities that you or I can hardly imagine. They were deserted by their country for 3 years, never expecting to see home again. It is one of those stories, that if not true, would be unbelievable. The odds against Mucci's Ranger unit being able to accomplish their mission were insurmountable. Yet, this Ranger unit had 600 volunteers for a mission that was not strategic and would only utilize 100 men. They were facing 250 Japanese guards at the base, after having to cross 30 miles which were heavily patrolled by the Japanese. They weren't fit for combat any more,so there was only one purpose behind this mission, which was to do the right thing--to bring these men home.

I hope that you enjoy the slideshow and that it will cause you to stop and reflect on the price that has been paid for both your earthly freedom and your eternal salvation.

Busy Times II

2006-05-29T23:19:00.000-05:00

The last couple of weeks have been quite busy for us, and thus I haven't been posting. Let me catch you up on a few things that have happened. I will try to keep them in order as much as possible.

May 19th was Gene's 45th birthday, and the girls and I decided to surprise him by showing up at his office to decorate his car. It wasn't easy keeping Sarah quiet, but we were able to paint all the windows for him. For those of you who don't know Gene, he hates to have attention drawn to himself in this way. So you may ask yourself, "Why would you do such a thing then?" The answer is... Gene loves to play jokes on all of us, so we figured this time the joke would be on him. Besides, he doesn't drive that far to work. He even got a car wash out of it. Lindsay washed his car when he came home so he didn't have to drive it into downtown Houston that way.(Do you think part of it could have been she didn't want to ride into Houston in a car that was all painted?) Here are some of the pictures we took.

For dinner we had one of his favorite meals, oven fried pork chops with yam patties, cabbage and butter beans having coconut cake for dessert. Later that evening he went and did his favorite activity... witnessing to the lost.

On Sunday night, the 21st, I took Lindsay to see United 93. It was a well made movie, in my opinion. It's hard to call it a "good movie" because of the subject matter. I do feel that it was handled well and that it showed an acurate portrayal of how people would have responded. There were no "super-heroes", only men and women doing their best in a no-win situation. I also thought the way they filmed it added a lot to the movie. It was filmed as if it were a documentary, which made you feel you were a part of it, not just a spectator on the sidelines. It's a hard movie to watch emotionally, but I think it's good to remember what happened that day.

Here are the pictures from the utility room when the laundry detergent oozed all over the floor.

This is a picture of the floor with cat litter all over it-- boy was that a mess!!!!

Here is Lindsay in her goo cleaning attire...isn't she lovely? Look at her stylish shoes. ;-)

Here is a close-up of the stylish shoes. Do you think she should go into fashion design??

I have been working in my garden a good deal also. I have everything in now, though some of it was planted much later than I intended. That won't cause a problem down here in South East Texas, as we have a very long growing season.

In the last couple of weeks, I have been visiting Mrs. Wilt's blog, which I enjoy immensely. Her blog is titled The Sparrow's Nest . Mrs. Wilt has begun a book society, which she has named The Antiqui-tea Book Society . We are going to be reading Edith Schaeffer's Hidden Art of Homemaking. I encourage you to check into it, as I personally can't wait to begin.

I have also been visiting Tammy's blog, and have enjoyed what she has shared about her home. This weekend she has made two adorable purses that I just love. I've been talking about making my own purses for quite some time, and she has truly inspired me to try. Click over to her site and see how cute they are.

Saturday we were thrilled to have our neice Christa and her fiance, Matt, come for a visit. We had never met Matt, but had heard tons about him. They were engaged Friday, March 17th. Matt surprised Christa in a great way. You can read about the story here. It's a really sweet story and we are excited as we watch what path God unfolds for them as a couple.

We took a picture of Christa and Matt together.

Then Matt took one of the rest of us and Christa--thanks Matt.

Saturday evening we had a bit of excitement around here. Caroline came and woke me from a cat nap to tell me she could see dark smoke from her window. We went outside to see what it was, and it was obvious it wasn't someone grilling hamburgers. When I came in to put some shoes on, Gene took Hannah, Rachel and Caroline down the street to see if they could see what it was. When Lindsay and I met back with them in the driveway, they told us they could see huge flames to the east of our subdivision. The girls and I took the camera and went for a walk:* a homeschooler never passes up and opportunity to teach something. When we got to the far edge of the subdivision we found an empty lot with a lot of people looking over the 6 foot privacy fence. The fire was in a pile of mulch at a Landscaping company that abuts our subdivision. This is what we saw:

We then decided to walk to the main road that leads into the subdivision on the south side of the fire. It was a very educational experience, as the girls had never had the opportunity to see how a fire was fought. We were about 400 yards from where they were fighting the fire, but were able to see a little of it. There were 10-12 fire trucks there, providing the hoses for those fighting the fire. The closest fire hydrant was nearly 1/4 of a mile away. This is what we could see from the road:

The firemen took several hours to extinguish the fire, and the next morning it was still smoldering as we saw smoke coming from it.

That catches you up to where we are. Drop me a note and let me hear how you're doing.

Grillin'

2006-05-22T23:55:00.000-05:00

Last Thursday I used a rain check I had at Fiesta grocery store for brisket at .69 lb and chicken leg quarters at .15 lb. I could only buy one bag of leg quarters, but was able to get 2 whole briskets at that price. I was trying to decide what to do with the brisket and decided to smoke it.

I have this strange relationship with my grill, and I feel that I have to use every coal to it's fullest potential. Therefore I decided to grill several things, beginning with items that could be cooked faster when the coals were at their hottest. Here is a list of all that I cooked:
24 hot dogs
24 hamburgers
10 lbs of leg quarters
2 whole briskets

On the leg quarters we rubbed a bar-b-que rub, and on the brisket we put a Canadian Steak rub. I didn't cook the leg quarters or the brisket completely on the grill; I cooked them about halfway, then finished them in the oven. They still have a really great mesquite flavor, but didn't dry out from too much time on the grill. I put them in a pan with about 1/2" of water in it when finishing them in the oven.

You may wonder what could I possibly do with all of this meat. Well, the hot dogs and hamburgers I divided between the refridgerator and freezer. I kept enough out for the weekend and then put the rest in the freezer. The chicken will go into the freezer for a meal another night and the brisket will be frozen for meals bar-b-que sandwiches (which we all love!).

Today I am making bar-b-que for sandwiches with some of the brisket. I will post the recipe and pics later today, if I get the time. If you don't read my other blog, Texas Wildflowers , check it out for the story of what happened last night which will explain why I may be too tied up to post again today.

Never a Dull Moment

2006-05-22T01:33:00.000-05:00

For those who know us, it is obvious that the above statement applies to our family. Tonight is just a case in point. Lindsay and I were each on a couch in the family room reading. Lindsay got up to get something in the kitchen. Nearing the end of my book, I was none to happy to hear the urgently pleading phrase, "Mama, could you please come here?!" I walked into the kitchen and noticed that Lindsay was standing in what appeared to be water. Our washer has been a bit ill lately, vomiting water all over our utility room twice this week. I assumed that once again it had spit water everywhere. Now mind you, Lindsay has taken everything, except the washer and dryer, out of the utility room 3 times this week. Twice for a sick washer, and once when the quaking washer broke a lightbulb in there. This will make the 4th time we are emptying it. Except this time was the real doozie; it wasn't water, but about 150 ounces of liquid washing detergent!! We tried mopping, but that just spread the mess, then we tried wet rags; they were no better. Then I had an idea. We had some clumping cat litter. We sprinkled in onto the mess, and a few minutes later we could see it soaking up the detergent, with no slimy floor under it. This stuff is oh so slimy to step on...almost as bad as Lindsay's slug experience.(Note from the editor: Nothing is as disgustingly slimy as that!) I took a picture, but can't find my cord...I'll attach it tomorrow. We also ran out of cat litter and will need Gene's help to move the washer and dryer to clean underneath. I've been saying I wanted to deep clean the utility room; guess I don't have a choice now! Just another day in the life at the Keeth household.

Mother's Day

2006-05-16T15:06:00.000-05:00

I was given a great deal of special treatment this Mother's Day from my 5 darling daughters and my sweet husband. My Mother's Day was spread over several days, actually, beginning with last Wednesday. Hannah, Rachel and Caroline had been concocting a plan for several weeks in which they had decided they wanted to spend their money to buy me a special plant. Last year for my birthday they each bought me a rose, and they know how much I have enjoyed them, so they decided for Mother's Day to get me another of my favorite flowers, hydrangeas. For me, flowers, like certain foods, are strongly tied to memories. When I see gardenias, roses, narcissuses, or jonquils I think about my mother's mother. She lived out in the country and grew all of those I mentioned.

The hydrangeas remind me of two homes that we lived in when Rachel was a baby. One was a house that had been built in the 1830's which had electricity, but no central air or heat, and was also a small house for 6 people.(I know in some parts of the U.S. central air isn't used, but in South Louisiana you melt without it!) It's what the Lord provided for us at the time and we have lots of great memories of our times in that house. One of our special memories is of star gazing. Behind the house we had a very large concrete patio with a couple of benches on it. We would go outside at night and lie on the benches, looking at the stars. Being in the country, stargazing is amazing, as you can see hundreds more stars than you are able to in the city. Lindsay and I still talk about those times, 10 years later. I enjoyed many things about the house, including the plants that had been there for years and years. We had a huge live oak tree, probably about as old as the house, in which we had a great rope swing. There were camellia bushes that were huge and a great many hydrangea bushes. I loved cutting bunches of hydrangeas for the table and that's where I first fell in love with them. Time passes so quickly and our little ones grow up before we realize it, so whenever I see hydrangeas I'm transported back to a time when my girls were still little and were noticing things such as flowers for the first time.

The Lord has chosen to provide us with a simple life by American standards, though compared to the rest of the world we are quite wealthy. I am so thankful for this simple life. If I had lots of money I know my sinful nature well enough to see that I would not appreciate all the blessings that I have. My husband and my daughters are the greatest blessings He has given me and I am very thankful for them all! When things are difficult for a time or we are going through trials they bring me great comfort. The Lord has used them all at different times to get me back on track, causing me to focus on the truth of His word.

Sunday, the girls provided many special treats for me. First they made poppy seed muffins in flower pot muffin cups and we had a nice brunch together. Lindsay, the tricky one, presented me with an apron she has been making me out of some overalls. She's tricky because she had me believing she was making the apron for herself and was even getting my imput on how to best construct it. I'll attach some photos at a later time. Rachel made me some homemade orange chocolates, and Hannah made me some bath salts and soap. Sunday evening, Hannah, Rachel and Caroline put on a skit for me. To avoid the Sunday rush we decided to go out to eat on Monday night. Last night we went to IHOP and had a blast. The girls had purchased a card that plays "Sea of Love" for me, and it was quite funny when I opened it in the restaraunt. There was only one other family sitting in our section and when they heard the doo-wop song they began looking around to hear where it was coming from. The girls thought that was too funny, as they know that I don't care to make a spectacle of myself, generally. Though they have found out I will do it if I think it will cause them undue embarassment.

Though I don't put a lot of stock in "Hallmark Holidays", I think it's important to show those that we love that they are important to us. Just as we should be in service and worshipping our Lord everyday, not just on Sunday, I think we need to show others how important they are to us everyday, not only on the ones Hallmark has chosen. I am thankful that my loved ones showed me they love me in such a tangible way on Mother's Day, but honestly, they show me in many ways everyday.

I am truly blessed by the Lord!

A picture of me with my maternal grandmother when I was nearly 2.

My hydrangea

The table set and ready for brunch.

Texas Style Quesadillas

2006-05-12T23:57:00.000-05:00

Last night we had one of our favorite easy dishes for dinner, Texas Style Quesadillas. I would like to share with you the way that we make them. I hope that you will try them sometime and let me know of any different things that you add. It's always fun to come up with a new twist on something.

This time I began with pre-seasoned fajita chicken that I purchased at Sam's. I sliced the breasts in strips and then cut the strips in half so that they are about 3 inches long.

After all of the chicken is cooked I begin assembling the quesadillas. I cook them on my griddle so that I am able to cook more than one at a time. I layered homemade re-fried beans, cheddar cheese, chicken, queso cheese and cheddar again. This time I used big tortillas so I am folding them in half instead of using two tortillas for each quesadilla. Sometimes I will carmelize onions to put into the quesadillas, but only Rachel and I like them, so often as not, I don't.

Once I put them on the griddle I put a heavy plate on top of it to help it flatten out as it cooks.

Here's what they look like when they are finished.

I also made a great dip using cream cheese and peach mango salsa. It's great with chips! Here's a blurry picture of it. I'm still working on getting good close-ups with a digital camera. I ended by topping the quesadillas with guacamole and sour cream.
I'd love to hear any additional ideas you have.

Be in Prayer

2006-05-12T22:52:00.000-05:00

Please be in prayer for the team tonight. I awoke this morning with the downtown team and the group at Bootcamp on my mind. I prayed a lot for each group as I started my day, and then I put it out of my mind. Javier is at Bootcamp and that puts Gene in charge of the group downtown. That's not a problem, he's done it many times. But tonight, it was as if everything was against him getting down there. When Lindsay goes she usually drives, and she did tonight as well. They had not been out the door long when I received a phone call from Gene. They had a blowout on the feeder road just before getting on the interstate. The huge blessing is that they didn't have the blowout on interstate. So, Gene changed the tire and asked me to meet him at Walmart to trade vehicles. That went ok, except my van was nearly on "E" and he was going to have to go get gas. The other girls and I go into Walmart and a couple of minutes later I get a call from Gene... I had left my keys in the van, the only set I have for the car. So, now he had to come back to Walmart to bring me my keys. Lindsay called me and told me they finally got downtown ok. Whenever there are so many obstacles in the path of doing what I know God has planned, it always gets my attention. I'll update on any divine appointments that happen tonight.

Discipleship vs. Evangelism--Why not both

2006-05-11T23:14:00.000-05:00

It seems that in the mainstream Christian way of thinking, you are either called to evangelize or you‘re not. If you aren't, then the thinking is you should either be discipling or being discipled. The problem with the last statement is most Christians want to be discipled for 20-30 years. The church* today is encouraging this in several ways. First, and I feel foremost, is the belief that the way to get people saved is to make your church* as welcoming (seeker friendly) to the unsaved as possible and offer programs that will attract them, in the hopes that somewhere along the way they might think about spiritual things. This has resulted in a church* full of unsaved people with an extremely watered down doctrine. The second way is with the implied teaching that pastors/teachers are more anointed than other believers and that you have to be in this special class to be doing God's "real work".

In the last three and a half years, since we began using Way of the Master methods and really began to see that every believer is called to evangelize, we have had many discussions on this matter with many different people. If you aren't aware, we have an evangelism ministry and work with a team from all over Houston going out witnessing and street preaching. One day I was asked by a man I know who isn’t involved in our evangelism work, "Do you think all men should be doing what Gene is doing?" Let me give you a better picture of what Gene does so that you will understand my answer completely. Gene has a full-time job working 40-45hrs a week. In the evenings he has been writing a novel, and he spends a great deal of time with me and our 5 daughters. We have set aside Friday nights as our evangelism night. Every Friday night, Gene & Lindsay go into Downtown Houston and witness and open air preach from 9pm until 12am. Sometimes things run late, and after the 45 min drive home, they arrive home between 1:30am and 2am. This causes our Sat. mornings to be late mornings, but that is part of what we do. During the week, as we come across people, we will give out tracts or witness to them depending on the situation. To us, giving up a few hours a week for evangelism is a very small thing to do, considering what was done for us two thousand years ago and considering the destiny of those who aren’t saved. So when I was asked this question, my answer was yes, I do. Now, I wouldn't have gone up to him or anyone else and said, "Hey you, why aren't you out witnessing?" But he asked my opinion on the matter, and my true feeling is that we are all called to evangelize. I don’t often go out with Gene on Friday nights because as a mother, I have responsibilities here at home, but I do evangelize as I go through my day. For clarification, by evangelizing I don't mean lifestyle evangelism. I don't believe that is what we are called to do. You didn't see Paul walking through a city just hoping someone would come up to him and say, "Hey, it's really cool the way you were thrown in jail. What can I do to get thrown in jail, too?" He didn’t try to impress anyone with his lifestyle. He opened his mouth and shared the gospel. I tend to give out lots of tracts just because the people I come into contact with are generally working and can't have a conversation. But a good tract is a great tool to use in a situation where you don't have time to strike up a conversation.

My conversation with this friend was very long and drawn out and he was really battling a lot of things, mainly how do you balance work, family, and ministry. We are all called to minister to others as well, and I believe that discipleship and ministering works are handled in the same way. I can't minister to the whole city of Houston, but I can minister to those God brings into my path. I can't disciple a lot of people either, but I can direct people to God's word and show them things as we come to them in our walk together. Think about how Jesus did much of His teaching with the disciples. It wasn't in a classroom at the temple, it was as they came into situations. When something would come up, He would correct their thinking on it. We have many examples of when He used this method, such as when the disciples tried to stop the children from coming to Him. We work similarly with our children, giving them a set of guidelines to work within, but doing much of their training and teaching as situations arise.

The scriptures make it plain that we are called to both evangelize and disciple, not either or. Sadly, less than 2% of all “professing” Christians share their faith . . . makes ya wonder doesn't it? If we truly love others, and if we understand what we have been saved from, then why aren't we doing something about it? One thing that really impacted Gene was an atheist he heard on the radio. The atheist had called into a talk show and said, "Christians don't really believe what they teach about heaven and hell, because if they did, they'd be on every street corner warning people about what was to come."

My prayer is that you would think about all that the Lord has done for you, even if your life seems to be in shambles. If you are His child, He has given you the greatest gifts ever: pardon from your sins and eternal life, neither of which do any of us deserve.

Here is a great quote by William Booth that really sums up how I feel:

“‘Not called!’ did you say? 'Not heard the call,' I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not to come there. Then look Christ in the face -- whose mercy you have professed to obey -- and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world.”

*This refers to what is called the church by most people, not the true church which is the body of all believers.

My Jane Austen Character

2006-05-05T21:00:00.000-05:00

You scored as Fanny Price. You're Fanny Price from Mansfield Park! You are quiet and feel alone most of the time, and you don't usually speak out. Because of your quiet, sweet nature, you are sometimes used as a most unfortunate scapegoat.

Fanny Price

85%

Elizabeth Bennet

80%

Elinor Dashwood

80%

Anne Elliot

75%

Emma Woodhouse

70%

Catherine Morland

70%

Marianne Dashwood

60%

Which Jane Austen heroine are you?
created with QuizFarm.com

This one of the few Jane Austen stories I'm not familiar with, so I'm not really sure if this is good or bad. I'll have to ask Lindsay when she gets home.

My new homemaking blog

2006-04-25T00:32:00.000-05:00

For a while I have been considering having a second blog that deals with homemaking. With Lindsay's help it is now up and running. You can visit it at Keeping My Home.

My Kitchen

2006-04-24T23:58:00.000-05:00

I recently spent a few days re-organizing my kitchen. We took everything out of every cabinet and moved it around. It was very disorganized for a few days, but I am really pleased with the results. Having 7 people living in a single wide mobile home can be challenging at times, but the Lord has provided creativity to arrive at storage solutions. One of my biggest hurdles was food storage. Previously I had many things on top of the refrigerators and freezer (I have two refrigerators and an upright deep-freeze in my kitchen). I always hated the way it looked, because it seemed to never look neat and organized. I realized I needed to be able to store things on the top, but wanted to do it attractively. We came up with a solution that I think works well. I hope that you enjoy my pictures of my ideas. I am working on new curtains for the windows and then I'll be done for a while. I hope to paint eventually, but I don't know how soon it will be.

To handle all of the things I needed to have extra storage for, I used glass jars and cannisters on top of the appliances. It gave me the storage I needed, but didn't look cluttered. Here are pictures from the tops of my fridges and freezer:

For storing beans, Lindsay came up with the idea of using the orange juice pitchers. I think they turned out pretty well; good idea Lins!

Here's a picture of the two fridges and the freezer:

At a later date, I will post pictures of the rest of the kitchen, maybe after I get the curtains up.

Kirk Cameron on the O'Reilly Factor

2006-04-12T01:47:00.000-05:00

Wed. April 12th, Kirk Cameron will be on the O'Reilly Factor on the Fox News Network. You may ask yourself, what does that have to do with me? If you are a Christian, it will have a lot to do with you. Kirk is one of the co-leaders of a ministry named Way of the Master, which was started to teach Christians how to share their faith Biblically. He has spent the last several years speaking out for Biblical Christianity and is often called on when Spiritual matters are being discussed on news shows. Recently ABC's Dateline had a show with him and Ray Comfort (the other co-founder of WOTM) in which they tried to portray them as narrow minded because of the Biblical view of there being only one way to God, which is through Jesus Christ. It is important for non-Christians as well as Christians to be given the truth of God's word, not just the Joel Osteen version of the truth. It will be interesting to see what Bill O'Reilly has to say to Kirk. Please be praying for Kirk, as I know that his goal is to use these opportunities to spread the gospel. Pray that he will be able to effectively get his message out and that God will be working in people's lives through him. Encourage friends and family who may not be saved to watch. It will give you an excellent opportunity to talk to them about spiritual things, which is a great springboard for sharing the complete gospel with them. If you are unsure how to share your faith with them, visit Living Waters for tons of great tools.

Here's a picture of Gene & Kirk when Gene was in Los Angeles back in January.

My New Farm Table

2006-03-25T22:53:00.000-06:00

I have always loved things that looked country and have wanted a big farm table for years. In December Gene began working on one for me. It has taken him a while, but it's finished!! He did a wonderful job, especially since he doesn't have a workshop and a lot of carpentry tools. I just love it and wanted to share some pictures of it with you.

Here's the first view of the table from the other side of the kitchen.

Here's a close up where you can see the grain in the wood. That's one of the things I love about it.

Here's one more.

Happy Birthday, Caroline!!

2006-03-25T16:26:00.000-06:00

Our youngest daughter, Caroline, turned 10 earlier this month; it's so hard to believe it's been 10 years. Caroline is the child we almost lost. I had lots of pre-term labor with her and had to be on bedrest to keep her from being born too early. At 37 weeks they decided to do an emergency c-section because they were losing her heartbeat during another bout of pre-term labor. When they delivered her, her cord was wrapped around her neck a couple of times and the doctor said it was good that we had taken her then, because she probably wouldn't have made it otherwise. God showed me how truly blessed I am to have her, and I pray that I never forget that. It also serves as a reminder that with any blessing we have, it is only by the grace of God that we have it.

Caroline keeps us all in stitches, because she's the family straight man. She's also very jumpy, very jumpy. If you are looking at a book that has spiders(her least favorite creature in the world), and you show her a picture of one, she'll jump. She'll jump at most anything, which of course leads to her sisters trying to make her jump even more.

She loves animals(except afore mentioned spiders, as well as cockroaches and sharks), and wants to have as many as we'll let her. She recently received a violin and is in the beginning stages of learning it. She loves to read, her favorite series being,The Magic Treehouse. I think as she grows she will love historical fiction even more.

Here's a picture from last spring of her. (I really need to update our pictures!)

Happy Birthday Hannah!!

2006-03-12T14:53:00.000-06:00

Last Sunday was Hannah's 13th birthday. Hannah is a quiet girl, at least that's what those who don't know her would say. At home it's a different ballgame. She is funny and silly, very talkative, especially about horses! Did you know that there are such a thing as horses that are skewbald, piebald, and cowhocked??? Well, neither did I, until Hannah informed me. She has also told me about all the different colors of horses, and please don't call a horse white; it's not, it's cream... or at least that's what I've been told. She does have interests other than horses, she really does. She loves to read, and has perfect pitch. She plays music by ear and can pick out a song after working with it for just a little while. She has recently begun playing the mandolin and loves it, though the building up of callouses isn't a lot of fun.

Even though Hannah was born third in our family, she is more like a firstborn. I never put a lot of stock in that until as a joke Lindsay began reading "The Birth Order" book and it was playing out before our eyes. Having two "firstborn" children can be a challenge, especially when they are both so much like me. Lindsay, Hannah, and I are all organizer/planners, which is great until you get in a situation where there are "Too many cheifs and not enough Indians", which plays out every time we begin to prepare for a trip. I am very thankful for my organizing girls; they are a great source of help whenever I need it. I just have to remind myself that even though we are all organizers, we may not organize the same way.

Hannah was given her name because I was so thankful that the Lord blessed us with her. We had two miscarriages before I carried her to term, and I remembered Hannah's pleading out to God for a child. I wanted to always remember how precious she is and how thankful I am to have her. She is a great blessing to our family.

Here's a picture of Hannah at her family birthday party. It had a Narnia theme, and Lindsay beaded her a crown to wear for the celebration.

Painting and Decorating

2006-02-28T01:11:00.000-06:00

Last Wed we began a rather HUGE project, we began to re-decorate the girls'(Hannah, Rachel, Caroline & Sarah) room. I honestly thought that it would only take a couple of days and that by Sunday we'd be finished and back together.... boy, was I wrong. We began by unloading everything from the girls' room, except for the bunk beds, into the family room and kitchen. We took down the curtains and mini-blinds and began painting. There was one problem I didn't count on: my allergies. My allergies have been causing me problems for a couple of weeks, and every time I went to bend over while painting, my head began to spin and I nearly fell over. I'm sure I looked quite comical. :D Though it did allow Hannah and Caroline to learn to paint; Rachel was unable to help because her allergies were also acting up. Because of the size of the room and having the beds in it we had to paint 1/2 at a time. We primed and painted the first two walls Fri and the second two walls Sat. This worked well because Gene was at work and then out witnessing Fri night, and he went to Galveston to witness at Mardi Gras on Saturday.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have been getting a lot of really good ideas from Cat's blog, which caused me to decide to declutter and minimize the girls' things. Our youngest, Caroline, will be 10 next week and the girls are reaching that age where they are outgrowing a lot of their toys, which makes this is a great time to minimize. My desire to not take things back into their room that we don't want is making the project take longer than I anticipated.

Another thing making this project take longer has been my health. I am rarely sick, but I had to go to the doctor again today. As I said, my allergies have been acting up, and beginning Sat. I had really severe headaches lasting most of the day and night. I also began to feel a little swelling in my lower left jaw. It did this last August, so I recognized it when it happened again. It always begins on the weekend; I don't know why. I began taking colloidal silver last week, hoping to fight this off, but it didn't help. Sunday, I had severe headaches with facial pain, and Monday morning I woke up looking like a chipmunk with nuts in my cheek! :rolleyes: I went to the doctor, and not only did I have a severe sinus infection, but also an ear infection. There is a technical term for the swollen lymph glands, but I don't remember it. The swelling is caused by the lymph glands producing too much fluid which then goes all around it making my face and under my jaw swell. When you feel it, it's rather firm, not squishy (nice medical description don't ya think) like you would expect. Hopefully the medicine will help it begin to decrease quickly.

Hannah has been doing a great job of organizing and sorting everything, and we hope to begin our work on their books tomorrow. The girls have tons of books and we are going to set them up by the dewey decimal system so that we can easily find them!

Here are a couple of pictures of Hannah painting. The walls are a very light lavendar; we didn't want to get it too dark(I've had a habit of doing that in the past). I will post more pictures when the room is finished.

Click to see larger images:

Lindsay has already started on our next project, the hall bath. It will be painted a light yellow and we will be putting in red brick tiles(the stick on kind). The floor had carpet and over time has become mildewed from the water. I'll post pictures of that as we finish, also.

Our Weekend

2006-02-19T23:43:00.000-06:00

This weekend is coming to an end; it's hard to believe the days go so quickly. Things went really well for Gene Friday night, though he said there were really too many people. They had to cancel things for today, as it was rainy with a high of 40 (quite cold for Houston). People aren't really eager to stop and talk when they are freezing and getting wet ;).

Yesterday the girls and I went shopping and had a good time. We went to Hobby Lobby, as they had lots of the things we love on sale. We love the Hobby Lobby sales! We then went to another one of our favorite places: a used book sale. We bought several craft and cook books. I'm trying to get all of the girls to direct their time towards better pursuits. I like to buy Christmas craft/food books such as the Southern Living Christmas books. I will seldom use the ideas for Christmas, but I will take the ideas and adapt them for any occasion. We also purchased a few older novels. After that we went to a resale shop and did really good. Then we went to Walmart, ran home, ate, and headed back out to dancing. Once a month we meet with several other families and do International folk dancing. I didn't dance last night, but the girls had a blast. Gene and Sarah stayed home; Gene wrote and Sarah doesn't really dance, so she stayed home with him.

Today was another cold and cloudy day. I really can't complain because most of our "winter" has been beautiful and in the 60s and 70s. We went to church tonight and afterwards ate dinner, did a science experiment and played Taboo. Taboo is a lot of fun, especially when you have people of all ages playing. During our Bible study time we had some great discussion, which I really enjoy.

The other day, Hannah put out our bird feeders and put some seed on the ground for the birds. I believe the Northern migration must have begun, as we have had hundreds of birds in the yard today. We had a great time watching them out the windows.

The birds were sitting on the fence waiting to come and eat.

The birds taking flight after being frightened.

I've been working on organizing many aspects of my life in the last few weeks. We've changed what & how we're doing school. We switched the girls to Alpha Omega Lifepacs. They are able to be self-directed in their school and this will allow them to work ahead if they wish. I spent most of Friday night working on a planner/organizer for me and a book to keep up with all of the girls' reading. I am assigning them biographies and novels in addition to their school. We are also doing some organization of the house, little bits at a time. I've been working on a master to-do list that will have big and small projects I want to complete on it. I have many projects I would like to do around the house in the way of minimizing and decorating. Organizing what space we have is always a priority, as we have 7 people in our family and our house is only 1184 sq feet. I also have several rooms that I would like to paint and redecorate. I have been visiting Cat's blog and her Yahoo group, which have both been very encouraging to me and have given me lots of good ideas.

I have a couple of deeper, longer posts that I need to work on, but haven't had the time to do it. I hope to be completing my research and getting to them later in the week. I am going to try to at least post something small every other day to get back to where I want to be concerning my blogging.

Busy Times

2006-02-18T00:33:00.000-06:00

Many things have been going on around here, and I wanted to catch you all up on some of them. January 25th was my birthday ,and since Gene was going to Los Angeles, we celebrated on the 24th. The girls had a good time getting things ready for me. Gene had taken them shopping and let them help pick out my cake and presents. The cake was a praline cake with caramel and pecans on it. For my birthday they bought me a foot soaker/massager, which I love. They also got me a gift certificate for Books a Million, which I also love.

My Birthday Cake

The foot soaker massager complete with bubbles.

On the 25th, Gene went to Los Angeles for 5 days of one-2-one witnessing and open air preaching. While there, he met up with Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron, and many other seed sowing friends. He witnessed or preached at Manhattan Beach, University of CA, Long Beach, Hollywood (near the Chinese Theatre and the Walk of Fame), Santa Monica Third Street Promenade and Venice Beach. It was a wonderful experience that God has used greatly.

Gene with Ray Comfort

Gene with Kirk Cameron

Gene open air preaching.

On Feb. 7th, we finally were able to meet the MacDonald Family! We had a wonderful time of fun and fellowship. It was like we were getting together with old friends. God certainly does use the internet for His good purposes. We had a lot of fun that night doing dry ice experiments, having Gene share his testimony from Los Angeles , and listening to the MacDonalds play and sing, and Lindsay even joined in on some playing with them.

Gene showing a trick during his testimony

Lindsay, Carol & Bonnie eating

The MacDonalds playing and singing

Squeezing in a jam session (literally)

On the 11th, we had a dinner for the MacDonalds, with the Pedersen family joining in on the fun. The older kids played music, and the younger ones rode scooters and played outside while the adults visited. We had gumbo with rice (which was a new experience for the MacDonalds) and salad, and Rachel baked 2 cakes, cookies, and brownies. We all had a great time together and were sad when it had to end. We will miss the MacDonalds when they go back to MA. We hope they will come this way again on their next trip.

L-R-- Bonnie, Peter, Carol & Anna Pedersen

L-R-- John Pedersen, Vincent & Lindsay

L-R Carol, Lindsay & Bonnie

Please be in prayer every Friday night for Gene and his evangelism team. They meet from 9pm-12am CST every Friday. Though in the next couple of weeks they have some added events. This afternoon, they met at the Toyota Center to hand out tracts to those going to the All-Star basketball game, and they will meet again on Sunday. On the 24th they will have a team downtown and a group in Galveston for Mardi Gras. Then Gene and some others will join the team in Galveston for Saturday & Sunday. Then after that they will be going to the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo to hand out tracts.

Happy Birthday, Lindsay!!

2006-02-07T02:18:00.000-06:00

January 16th was Lindsay's 21st birthday. She is a blessing to have in our family. We have her to thank for this blog, as she is the one who does all of the design work and programming; I would be lost without her, in this realm and in many others! I am thankful that we have become very good friends. We can spend many hours discussing scriptures and their application with each other. We have jokingly titled her our experimental child, as we test all of our parenting theories out on her. She loves music and is learning to play both the guitar and banjo. She has acted in several plays, from American Girl to Shakespeare. We love to laugh together, and she has a great sense of humor. One of my favorite things about her, but don't tell her, is that she challenges me. If I say I think something or I believe the scriptures point a certain direction, she will challenge me to back it up. I can tend to swing my pendulum too far in one direction, and she will help me to see that. She loves to study the scripture and one of my favorite memories is of her searching the scriptures at the age of 10. We had been to see a play depicting Heaven and Hell, and she wanted to know what the Bible had to say on that subject and on the subject of Satan. She had sat in on my Precept Bible studies for years and had watched me use the Strong's Concordance and other study tools; therefore she was familiar with how to search and cross-reference scriptures. She found every name for Satan, and every scripture that mentioned him or hell and read them. She then read the whole book of Revelations, which intimidated me until a few years ago; I guess that's the example of the faith of a child. To this day, she is still like that, if she wants to know something, she will get all her reference books and begin to research it. She is often referred to as my research assistant, because when I'm pressed for time, I will ask her to search something out for me. I can trust her research because she will look at all sides of an issue and then come to a conclusion, as opposed to going into something with an agenda and then making up her mind. If you haven't visited
Lindsay's site before, I hope that you will. Here's a picture we took of Lindsay last May.

Catching up on posts

2006-02-07T00:06:00.000-06:00

I know that it's been a while since I have posted; the weeks have flown by. During that time we've had two birthdays, Gene's had two trips out of town, the girls have been battling URIs and I have been ill(which is very unusual). I hope to post more often, I know, you've heard that before. But, during this time off, God has been showing me several things and I have a feeling a very large soap box is about to appear. I may post in rapid succession, but I want to be careful in what I say and how I say it, so we will have to see how rapidly they come out. Please feel free to share on any post, even a dissenting opinion, as long as it is done with a spirit of love, is welcome.

Our Anniversary

2006-01-04T12:38:00.000-06:00

We had a great anniversary! After finding out what it was like to try to go out on New Year's Eve on our wedding night, we have always gone out on a alternate day. This year's alternate day was Thursday the 29th.

Last year Gene switched jobs, and with his new job he often goes out to eat. The man that he works with has lived outside the US for many years and really enjoys foreign food. Gene on the other hand likes very simple food such as hamburgers. He really doesn't like what we call Foo-foo food, whereas I enjoy many different things, just as long as it's not too hot. One of the types of food Gene had eaten was Indian, which made me quite jealous. I have been wanting to go to an Indian restaurant since he went, but there wasn't an Indian restaurant in Katy. When we went out last Thursday, Gene told me that he had a susrprise for me. He pulled up at a Indian restuarant here in Katy. The restaurant he had gone to was a buffet, which is always nice when you are trying something new, but this one wasn't. It was a very nice restaurant with a fountain inside and linen table cloths. It was also very quiet. It is often very frustrating trying to talk at a restaurant, because many times they are so loud. It was rather intimidating to be trying to order when you had absolutely no idea what things were. It turned out that what we ordered was really good, and I enjoyed it greatly.

Earlier last week, our 11 year old, Rachel, told us that she wanted to make us a picnic for our anniversary. On Saturday, the 31st, we went to
MaryJo Peckham Park, a park nearby that has a pond with ducks on it. It was a beautiful day with clear skies and a temperature of about 75. Rachel made us chicken tenders, potato wedges, homemade cheesecake, fried okra, and homemade rolls. After that, we went to see a movie, King Kong. We had a good time; the movie wasn't so great, but it was fun to have that time together, and it was a real blessing to have Rachel be so thoughtful.

Now that the New Year is here, we're working on schedules and the budget. We are sending out a New Year's letter as opposed to a Christmas letter, so I will be working on that the next few days. I hope to be doing a post that will be a year in review, including pictures. That may take time, and I hope to have it finished by Friday night.

Busyness of the Season

2005-12-24T02:01:00.000-06:00

Time has flown since I last posted and my days have been quite full. We have had several people battling sinus and upper respritory infections here, but they all seem to be on the mend now. My parents came last Monday and left on Tuesday, Wednesday night we went caroling with the Pedersen family, tomorrow night we will visit a Messianic Jewish homechurch near here, Sunday night we will have church with the Pedersens along with Christmas dinner, Monday night we're having friends over for dinner and Tuesday night we will be meeting with some of our friends that will be in town from PA. On top of that, Gene is out witnessing tonight, as usual, and won't be home until about 1:30am. So, as you can see, things will be quite busy here for a few days. This is not how I usually schedule things; we try to keep our life much simpler than this, but this is just how things worked out this week.

December 31st will be our 22nd wedding anniversary; it's so hard to believe. In some ways it seems just like yesterday that we met, and in other ways it seems that Gene has always been a part of my life. I don't know if the fact that we met just a couple of months after I was saved had anything to do with it or not, but I'm thankful that he has been at my side for the last 22 years. The Lord truly blessed me to by providing me with such a wonderful, loving, Christian husband.

Here's a picture of us on our wedding day. I wish I could say that we haven't changed a bit... but who would believe that?!

Brittany's a Winner!

2005-12-13T22:35:00.000-06:00

My niece Brittany Buck entered one of her drawings into the Saddleshop.com Christmas Contest. She was selected as a winner, and we are very proud of her. Brittany loves horses and competes in both Equestrian with her rescued horse, Lady Liberty, Libby for short, and Western with her paint horse, Nikki. She has done very well in the two years she's been competing.

Here is a picture of her with her horse Nikki.

Here is a picture of her with her horse Libby.

The Lord Has Been Busy With Me

2005-12-06T02:16:00.000-06:00

The Lord has been using the past couple of weeks to get me to examine many areas of my life. One of the areas He has been dealing in greatly is evangelism. Now, for those who don't know us that well, my husband is very involved in Biblical evangelism. If you want to understand that more you can read his article Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire. Gene has been very involved in this for nearly 3 years. We give out tracts wherever we go, and he goes out most every Friday night to witness one to one in downtown Houston. The girls and I often give out tracts when we go out, and I've gone with Gene to malls a few times, but only as an observer. I have approached a group of teens, and began a conversation with them, but didn't get very far due to my nerves. I have really been hiding behind my skirt when it comes to this issue. I have given many reasons, that, in reality, are just a bunch of platitudes. I have said things about my role as a wife, and questioned if as a woman I should approach a man to talk to him about Christ, and on and on. But, the truth of the matter is, that it was just a smoke screen. These thoughts were just a bunch of lies from Satan to keep me from doing the very thing that Christ called us all to do, "preach the gospel unto every creature." (Mark 16:15) That wasn't a conditional command. He also said, "If you love me, keep my commandments" (John 14:15), and, "And he said unto them, follow me and I will make you fishers of men." (Matt 4:19) These don't sound like suggestions to me; it sounds as if these were our marching orders.

I was in a conversation recently where this came into question. The person I was speaking to asked me if I thought we were all required to witness to people. I was surprised by the question, but he was sincere. I answered him that yes, we are all commanded to evangelize, there are no exceptions made in the scripture. It doesn't say, "Preach the gospel unto every creature.... unless you are a teacher, or have the gift of helps or administration". No matter what our gifting, we are responsible for evangelizing, no ifs, ands, or buts. And to be clear, sharing the gospel means opening your mouth and sharing with someone that they will face hell if they are not saved on the day that they die. It isn't just living a good life and hoping that someone will come and ask you what's different about your life. How many people have done that to you lately, or ever? I can say that no one has ever done that to me.

The thing that God really showed me was that even though I was confident of what His word said, I wasn't putting it into practice as I should. Gene's favorite verse to quote to me, or anyone else that says they are terrified, is: "And I bretheren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech, declaring unto you the testimony of God.For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling." (1 Cor 2:1-3) He then looks at me, or whomever he is talking to, and says, "See, you're qualified, just like Paul!"

Now that God has fully gotten my attention and even made me convict myself by my own words, I have decided to go with Gene into downtown Houston on Friday night. Yes, it's going to be one of the coldest nights so far this fall, and yes, I'm going in weakness, fear and with much trembling. The next two verses in 1 Corinthians are what I'm going to focus on though: "And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." (1 Cor 2:4-5). I covet your prayers for Gene and I and several others who will be downtown with people who are going to bars and who really need the gospel. And I challenge you to examine yourself and see if this also applies to your life.

If you are unsure how to share the gospel, please go to Living Waters or Way of the Master and you will find all the information you need.

E-mail Problems-- Continued

2005-12-06T01:17:00.000-06:00

If you changed my e-mail after my last post about it.... beware, the problem wasn't fixed yet. For some reason when Lindsay changed the settings, they didn't take. I was only made aware of it several days later. So now the address is right. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Varied Intrests

2005-11-30T18:44:00.000-06:00

Today as I was leaving the library, looking at my stack of books and videos, I thought about how much you can tell about a person by the books they are reading. As varied as our books are, so are the topics of conversation around here. Today alone we have covered a number of topics, such as how to honor our Lord and Savior through the holidays, what names should we address God by, how should we use the Jewish Holy days in our Christian life, to Lindsay's friend having a "Peter" costume made by his mother and sister for the opening of "Narnia", and camping.

I'm thankful that the Lord has given us various interests and is leading us on a pathway of discovery of Him in all of these things. It is such a joy to search His word on so many different issues to see what He says to them all. One of the harder things is separating our emotional feelings on a subject and just listening to His word on them. Lindsay has been discussing Christmas on her blog, and we have been having many discussions on it here at home. Lindsay visits a message board by the Ludys and the conversation there has become very heated in reference to what the Scriptures don't say about Christmas. Lindsay has even been described as "Scrooge" because of her views(anyone who knows her would say that's not the case).

I hope the Lord continues to teach me for the rest of my life. I want to always be curious about what He has to say on a subject and not ever feel that I have the answer until I have thoroughly researched what He has to say about it. I also pray that I will allow His Word to teach me and guide me, not letting my emoitions on a topic sway what I do.

Here is the list of the varied things I checked out today. This is in no way an endorsement of these books; I haven't read them as of yet. The way I research something is to have many books on the subject to see what different authors have to say on the topic. If you were to see me in deep Bible study, you would probably find me at the table with several translations of the Bible, a Topical Bible, Matthew Henry's Commentary, a Strongs Concordance and The Complete Word Study New Testament, by Spiros Zodhiates all spread out. That's just my own way of searching something out.

A Family Haggadah in Every Generation (Julie, you will have to help me with this one!), by Shoshana Silberman

The Jewish Holidays, by Michael Strassford

Jewish Festivals, by Saviour Pirotta

Menorahs, Mezuzuas and Other Jewish Symbols, by Miriam Chaikin

Wonders and Miracles, by Eric A Kimmel

Milk and Honey: A Year of Jewish Holidsays, by Jane Yolen

The Tapestry of Jewish Time, by Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin

Hanukkah: The Family Guide to Spiritual Celebration, by Dr. Ron Wolfson

The Jewish Festivals, by Hayyim Schauss

The New Jewish Wedding, by Anita Diamant

Feed Your Family for $12.00 a Day, by Rhonda Barfield

Making and Keeeping Creative Journals, by Suzanne Tourtillott

Throne, Dominations, by Dorothy L. Sayers and Jill Paton Walsh

Dorothy L. Sayers Mysteries videos: Have His Carcase and Gaudy Night (Thanks for the recommendation, Carmon!)

Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs and The Foggy Mountain Boys: The Complete Mercury Sessions cd

E-mail Problems

2005-11-29T00:47:00.000-06:00

I was just made aware, tonight, that the e-mail address linked from this site is an old one of mine that has been out of service for several months. If anyone has tried to e-mail me and I haven't replied, that is why. If you have sent me an e-mail through this site, please re-send it as I would love to hear from you. I pray that I haven't inadvertently offended anyone by not replying. Please forgive the inconvenience of this oversight.

Do unto others

2005-11-28T17:44:00.000-06:00

In our family we have what is referred to as our #1 rule. It it the golden rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." When I am talking to the girls about a behavior issue, it is amazing that nearly every time we come back to this rule. Whether it is talking ugly, being selfish, hitting (yes, my girls do occasionally hit each other), or disobedience to me, it all comes back to this rule. My desire is that my girls will grow up to consider their actions and words in relation to others. When the scriptures talking about denying ourselves, that is in part what it is referring to. There are many times that we could justify our actions, calling it righteous indignation or some other euphamism, when in reality it is just sin. At this time of year people tend to be more easily offended because of their busyness. When you are at a register and things are taking longer than you would like, or the cashier makes a mistake, stop and think about this rule. How would you like someone to respond to you?

I remember reading an Isabella Alden book that begins with a brother challenging his unsaved sister to apply the golden rule to her life. It was a very difficult thing for the sister causing her to want to give up many times. It is also difficult for those of us who are believers. I pray that you will examine your life as I am mine, to see if there are areas in which you should be applying this rule to your life more often.

Posting

2005-11-28T16:25:00.000-06:00

It is obvious that I have not been posting very regularly. I often justify this by saying, "I'm too busy," or "I don't have much to say." I'm going to try to change that and not let these two thoughts keep me from writing. I need to recognize that something that may seem small to me may be the very thing that someone else needs to hear. So I'm going to try to be more diligent in my writing. I may write several smaller things on a daily basis as opposed to writing fewer long articles. I'll just have to see where the Lord takes me in this journey and what His plan is for it all.