Stones of Rememberance
I was recently sending messages, via the 6 year old, across the yard to my husband.
Our oldest daughter smiled at the circumstances, musing, “I remember delivering messages when I was little… it was fun!”
And she added, “One time, when we were still living at camp, I remember delivering a phone cord to Daddy at the camp office. I was thrilled to have a job helping, but when I got to the office, Daddy gave me a $2.00 bill. It was special, and maybe that’s why I remember it so well.” 
It got me to thinking about life and service to God.
In the book of Joshua, God had brought the people of Israel out of the desert and was leading them into the promised land. In order to take the land God was giving them, they would have to trust God in battle to overcome the peoples who were already living in the land. When they came upon the Jordan River, it was brimming over. They did not know how the people and the ark would cross.
Joshua 3:10 Joshua said, Hereby you shall know that the living God is among you and that He will surely drive out from before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites.
AND THEN GOD…
verse 16 Then the waters which came down from above stood and rose up in a heap far off, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan; and those flowing down toward the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt [Dead] Sea, were wholly cut off. And the people passed over opposite Jericho.
God had given them a miracle… again. Like an invisible dam, God stopped the river’s flow and the waters had risen “in a heap” a ways off. All the people, and the priests who carried the ark, had crossed over safely. Joshua commanded the people to bring 12 large stones (one for each tribe of Israel whom God had been faithful to bring safely across the Jordan). Joshua set them up as a memorial.
Chapter 4 19And the people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month and encamped in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho.
20And those twelve stones which they took out of the Jordan Joshua set up in Gilgal.
21And he said to the Israelites, When your children ask their fathers in time to come, What do these stones mean?
22You shall let your children know, Israel came over this Jordan on dry ground.
23For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up for us until we passed over,
24That all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty and that you may reverence and fear the Lord your God forever.
If the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever, then we should be simply thrilled to follow him, and for every opportunity to serve.
Yet, God knows that we are human. We have an unfortunate propensity to forget. He knows that sometimes we need a reminder of how great He is, and of how great His love for us is.
There are times we are obedient to what God expects from us and the world goes round as normal. We can be content knowing that we are earning heavenlyrewards and that God will bring about good because of our faith. Yet, there are times that He stops us in our tracks and completely blesses our socks off with something unexpected, and completely over the top~ right here and right now. We need stones of rememberance, like a $2 bill that we can take out and look at and remember how good, loving and wonderful our God is. Stones of rememberance to remind us that God dwells with us, that He cares about the small things, and we can trust Him in ALL things.
Thank Him.
Praise Him.
Journal it. Add it to your list of 1000 Gifts and beyond.
Scrapbook it.
Tell the stories to your children again and again.
Because God is all about the glory. His blessings are not only for you, but also to build the faith of others. Share it… shout out loud about God’s goodness, that all may know and believe that there is a God who is even now seated on His throne. And He. Is. Faithful.
What special thing has God done for you lately?
Read MoreA Normal April Day
Today is just a normal April day at our house. All of the same and mundane mixed in with a little excitement here and there, but it has been a positive day. The kids have been loving with one another, and there has been a greater sense of peace and patience with one another. This, I am sure, is due to my being more relaxed. Moms, we set the tone in our home!
Today, I have been finishing up the laundry. The kids all pitch in to fold it and put it away. Of course, it helps that it was a requirement to be able to go outside and play, but I didn’t hear any complaints. One of our most recent memory verses has been,
“Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men.” Ephesians 6:7
This out of focus picture shows what we discovered about wintergreen life savers that get left in pockets through the washer. Melted sugar water! I checked pockets, but I obviously missed one. Who’s pockets? Most likely the Hubs. 
We have used the book, Teach your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, to teach reading to all our children. It’s exciting and rewarding when they are motivated and reading away… and when Spring Fever sets in and they tip their heads back after only reading two words and exclaim that, “I’m never going to finish this lesson!”… it can be a long and frustrating process. However~after discussing the situation with my sister in law last night (she also has a new reader who’d rather be out playing) we came up with a plan.
I explained to my whiney little reader that from now on she will have a special jar. For every lesson that she is able to focus and complete in a timely manner without whining and complaining, she will receive one nickel. When she finishes her reading book, we’ll cash in her money jar and take a trip to the dollar store where she can buy something special. *Gasp*
I didn’t hear another complaint, and we completed our lesson in record time. Now we’ll pray that it lasts!
Don’t you think it must be fun for the Littles to have so many big sisters to play with and learn from? When Lilly decided to wrap her play beads around the laundry basket, using it as a sled to pull Christian around the livingroom, he thought it was a grand idea! Abigail helped!
And now school work is completed, everybody is busy playing, and it’s time for me to cook tacos. Hope you all had as much fun as we had today!
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Fruity Blessings in a Struggling Economy
The news broadcasters say the economy is improving, but I surely haven’t seen any proof of an economic reprieve in our neck of the woods. Jobs are scarce, homes prices continue to plumet with new forclosures hitting the market every day. And lets not forget the gas prices {almost $4 a gallon here} which are aggravating the entire situation… including the sky-rocketing price of groceries.
I have had the same grocery budget for the past 4 years. The difference between then and now is that I get a lot less for my money, I’m feeding two more hungry kiddos, and the whole clan has grown and require greater nutrition. We’ve made a lot of changes to our cooking habits in order to make it easier to be frugal shoppers. But I have to be honest and tell you that as I noticed the most recent food hikes, I felt a little like crying.
As I sat with my receipts at the close of last month, I found myself staring at my budget spreadsheet and I just prayed.
“Lord, I don’t know how I’m going to stay within the budget for food. Please help me to shop wisely. Please show me where I can cut and stretch and save… You always have a way of making something out of nothing.”
This isn’t a poor me post! I’m not complaining. We are far from poor and needy—we have so much! But it is where we have any need that God is glorified most, and I just want to share with you how sweet He has been to us this month.
In the back of my mind I was thinking of the importance of having enough fruits and veggies in our diet, but I was also thinking that as long as we have plenty of vegetables, it was probably going to be the fresh fruit department in which we’d have to do some more cutting back.
AND THEN GOD…
smiled on us when we visited the Hillman Church to share a camp update with them. A little girl in their congregation was selling fresh oranges as part of a fundraiser. The pastor and his wife, and another couple in the church, whose children are grown said that they had more oranges than they could use and they each gave us half a bag=a whole bag. And God does not do things half way. These were the sweetest, juiciest, most delicious oranges I have ever tasted. YUM!! We were able to share a few with my brother’s family, and they still lasted us an entire week!
I bought a cantelope for the kids to have one morning, and strawberries for Easter. When my inlaws came to share Easter dinner with us, they brought us a fresh pineapple {my FAVORITE!} and a giant bag of clementines {which my kids LOVE! And I appreciate them because clementines are so easy for them to peel on their own when they need a healthy snack.}
And then… My hubby and some staff went to St. Cloud on camp business, and while returning a cart at SAM’S Club, they discovered someone had bought a nice BIG bunch of fresh bananas and left them in their cart {no one to be seen…}. Since the other staff’s family wasn’t nuts about bananas, we got to enjoy eating them.
And… now and then camp hosts a retreat and has leftover food that is not suitable for freezing and will not stay fresh until there are more guests to be served. In those cases, staff are privileged to divvy them up and get to bring them home. Following our wonderful ladies retreat, we were able to bring home some apples and oranges. Also some blueberries and strawberries that the camp’s refrigerator froze…ooops!! Well, we are still making use of them! There were some other leftovers that are helping to stretch our meals this week, too.
The month is not over, but we are not going to go over budget. We’ve been diligent, but the Lord has been faithful! He has been so generous with us so that we’ve even had more than “normal.”
Needs are invitations to notice what God is doing. They are opportunities for us to give Him the praise and honor and glory that He deserves.
What is your need today? Is it physical? Is it emotional? Is it spiritual? Do you crave some fruity blessings? Or do you need the Lord to scoop you up from the pit? There is no need too small for God to notice and none too great for God to fill. “For nothing is impossible with God.” Luke 1:37 NLT
Bring all your burdens before the Lord, and see what He will do.
Read More7Keep on asking and it will be given you; keep on seeking and you will find;keep on knocking [reverently] and [the door] will be opened to you.
8For everyone who keeps on asking receives; and he who keeps on seeking finds; and to him who keeps on knocking, [the door] will be opened.
9Or what man is there of you, if his son asks him for a loaf of bread, will hand him a stone?
10Or if he asks for a fish, will hand him a serpent?
11If you then, evil as you are, know how to give good and advantageous gifts to your children, how much more will your Father Who is in heaven [perfect as He is] give good and advantageous things to those who keep on asking Him!”
Matthew 7:7-11
Why We Grind Our Own Flour
Our entire married life {15 years and counting} I’ve bought my cooking flour in 25 pound bulk bags. I probably would never have done such a thing if not for our allergy to “traditional” wheat flour. Our alternatives, spelt and rice flour, were far more costly and buying them in bulk made them so much more affordable that it was a necessity. As our family grew and I had to bake everything in double batches, bulk ingredients were extremely convenient.
I knew people who ground their own flour… I thought it was interesting, but had no real desire to try it. That is, until we watched a series of Creation Science Evangelism dvd’s by Dr. Kent Hovind {Dr. Dino}. You can check them out HERE. In one of the dvd’s, Dr. Hovind addressed man’s health and our food, quoting Psalm 104:15 which said, “and bread, which strengthens man’s heart.” Emphasis mine.
Dr. Hovind made the point that these days medical news does not speak of bread strengthening man’s heart… instead it seems to be rather bad for our hearts. So why is that?
Natural whole wheat bread contains bran, the germ of the wheat {or spelt, in our case}, is rich in 26 known nutrients and oils that do strenthen the heart, and provides roughage that our bodies need to absorb and remove toxins from our digestive systems. Millers remove the bran and the germ, taking away many of the nutrients and because flour sits for long period of time before being used, some vitamins such as B and E, which only last for 72 hours at room temperature, are also lost.
Ugh. Burst my bubble. Here I thought I was doing great, feeding my family healthy food…
…I wasn’t doing as well as I thought.
So I prayed on it for awhile, did some more research, and presented the facts to my husband {who had watched the dvd’s with me and knows me well enough to expect I wouldn’t be able to let this one go }.
Friends I talked with used the WhisperMill, but recommended going with the Nutrimill because of its ability to grind a course or fine flour. I found an unused 1 year old Nutrimill on Ebay at a discounted price. {A man had bought it for his wife who never took it out of the box! Great for me!}
It is motorized, so it makes some noise. I like to turn it on when I’m going out of the room for a few minutes.
Just pour in your grain and put on the lid. Turn on, selecting the texture your want your flour. We usually set ours just over half way, a little on the course side. When it is finished, turn it off and pull the bucket out from the bottom.
Twist off the lid {pictured right} and check out that flour! We also grind barley and rice flour, which has helped us save a lot of money. Sometimes we grind flour as we need it. At other times we grind more than we need and refrigerate it {short term} or freeze it {long term} to preserve the nutrients.
It has been good for the children to learn that there is a process by which we obtain our flour… that the Lord provides the grain that we grind and that it doesn’t just “appear” on grocery store shelves. We’ve been learning, a little at a time, how to use what we have more wisely.
Angel re-read the Little House on the Prarie Series this spring and had a new interest in Almonso’s wheat farming, Ma Ingalls’s sourdough biscuits and a variety of other kitchen ideas. She understood exactly what they were talking about now that she cooks with me, and we even applied some of what she read to our own recipes. She also decided to sprout some of our spelt berries and I have grass growing on my kitchen counter.
Kids can’t do that with store bought flour! 
We learned some new things after we bought our grinder, so the adventures in cooking have continued. More about that in another post!
Read MoreOur Children’s Faith has to be Individual
When my children were born, it was like my heart grew appendages. Wherever they go, they take a piece of me with them.
When they feel joy, I feel joy with them.
When they hurt, I hurt with them.
When they experience trials, I have to be honest–it’s hard not to take it personally. You’ve been there too, right? When having a hurting child feels like too much to bear, and you find yourself thinking that you would give anything to spare them, even take their burden on yourself?
But then, God has a plan for our children’s lives, just as He has a plan for you and me. Plans to mould and shape them into His image. He has their very best interest at heart.
We, as parents, are charged with teaching our children who God is and how to seek Him. Surely, our faith is instumental in training them in the way they should go. But it’s not our faith that will cause our children to accept God’s gift of salvation. It has to be their own.
Just as we desire to see our children grow into healthy, mature adults, God desires for all of us to reach spiritual maturity.
A hatching chick goes through a great struggle to emerge from its egg. If it receives help and emerges with ease, it will die–cheated out of the exercise that makes it strong enough to survive.
Strength and endurance does not develop without a struggle.
In Luke 8:41-56, a father named Jarius came to Jesus, begging him to come and heal his young daughter. Jesus allowed himself to be delayed, and someone from Jarius’s household came to to tell him it was too late, saying, “Your daughter is dead; do not trouble the Teacher any more.”
Can you imagine this man’s pain? He had faith that Jesus could heal his daughter and prevent her death, and now it was too late. But Jesus told him, “Do not fear; only believe, and she will be well.” The people at Jarius’s house laughed at Jesus, but he brought her back to life, and the Bible says that, “her parents were amazed.”
Jarius went through quite the ordeal. He started out with faith that Jesus could heal his daughter. By the end, he had faith that Jesus can raise the dead.
God gives us faith.
Grows our faith.
Refines our faith.
Perfects our faith.
Yes, it’s so tempting to want to save our children from hardship. Yet, they are in need of a foundation that will hold them up long after we are able to hold their hands. One answered prayer at a time, and every miracle God gives to bring them through their fiery trials, we can help them focus on the one who heals their heart and is building for them an individual faith. Faith to believe in the one who is always faithful.
And, like Jarius and his wife, as we witness God work in and for our children, we too will stand amazed.
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It’s Quiet, and I Can Think
I’ve been trying to figure out what’s wrong with me… why I can’t seem to get it together. Why can’t I focus? Finish projects? Remember important dates? Compose a blog post?
I figured it out, and God really does have a sense of humor. I am an introvert who loves people. Really. I do. In order to recharge though, besides my time with God, I need quiet. I need to be able to hear myself think.
Problem 1: I live in a house with 6 busy, home-schooled children. There is always movement. Someone always wants something, needs something… I was trying to field questions from 3 people at the same time today–2 in front of me, and the other was my hubby on the phone.
A closed door is an invitation to knock. Quiet does not live at my house.
Except tonight. Strangely, everyone has gone to bed and I find myself ALONE. And I can think. And write.
Problem 2: I am a night person. Oh, yes. A late night person. I don’t mind mornings, but my brain does not function optimally until at least 2 pm, regardless of how early I go to bed the night before. However, the little people get up reasonably early in the morning, and some of the big people have started staying up late with me, so if I’m ever going to have quiet time in quantity…
I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to start getting up way too early.
Meanwhile, I had a pretty productive day. Kids got through their schooling and I cleaned my room! Who-hoo! Feels so good. The disorganized areas have been bugging me for the last week.
We had a very late dinner, but the kitchen is cleaned up. No, Flylady, my kitchen sink is not shined… but my bathroom sink is~it needed it more. Sourdough barley biscuit dough is mixed up, covered and busy getting itself ready for breakfast in the morning. I tried it once last week and it was a hit.
It’s past midnight, and officially bed time. Clean sheets, here I come. Counting my blessings, and wishing you a wonderful Thursday.
Read MoreHow I Learned to Like My Red Hair
I grew up hearing the stories of my first days in this world…
“One nurse would walk into the room and say, ‘Look at that red haired baby!’ The next nurse would walk into the room and exclaim, ‘Look at that blonde haired baby!”
They weren’t confused. It just depended upon the lighting what color my hair appeared. Personally, I think they just paid a lot of attention to my hair to avoid drawing attention to the fact that my head was black and blue, a result of being born breach.
Most of my growing up years, I had long blonde hair.
When I hit my teen years, it began to develop a little strawberry streaks.
Then the first day of 10th grade, I sat in Driver’s Ed and stared blankly at the teacher while he singled out someone in the class as “RED.”
Who, ME? How embarrassing! He could do that because he was a red head himself, but he never used my name, and it took me the entire semester to get used to being called Red. It didn’t take long for all my classmates to bring me up to speed about the stereotypes - I still say that degree of temper has nothing to do with hair color, and everything to do with our cooperation with the Holy Spirit.
I had a rough time with my health and finally found answers that made sense at an Environmental Health Center where I was diagnosed with MCS, an environmental illness characterized by Multiple Chemical Sensitivities. When I felt good, my hair appeared a lighter shade. When I felt worse, my hair color appeared darker. My mom was convinced that if I could just get “well,” I would get blonde. So instead of ”Red” becoming part of who I was, it became a symbol of what I didn’t want to be–sick–and it was really a very unreliable gauge of my overall health.
Over the years I have come to the conclusion that everyone’s hair shades can appear different, depending on its cleanliness and how they are feeling, but I think red just more easily shows the variations. I’m not an expert, but I think it has to do with PH balance. When your health is not as good you tend to be more acidic, when you are feeling great your ph is most likely more alkaline, and your body {hair included} reflects these changes.
I enjoy pretty good health today, and I’m still just as red as ever. Want to talk about wierd, my first pregnancy caused my hair to develop curl–no more need for spiral perms!! I’ve learned to accept my hair for what it is.
It’s Red.
And it is one of the things that my kids love about me. Show my littlest ones 3 dolls with different hair colors and they often go for the red! They color people with red hair. They love it that they can easily pick me out in a crowd. They tell me how much they love red, and I hear them talking about how they hope their blonde hair turns red when they grow up.
I love that my kids love my hair! And suddenly– I LIKE Red!!
Colored by Angel, age 13, December 2011
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