Weekend Fun!!!

It has been a fun weekend so far. Yesterday we did our School at the church, and April did some math with the kids. After we were done we did some shopping. Austen needed some new shoes....ugh he wears a size 12 in men's...I can not believe it! He is now officially 6 ft tall. We had a great time with April shopping.

It was then time to head to the YMCA...my sweet hubby got us a membership!!! I really have wanted to re-join for a long time. Swimming makes such a difference, because of my back. It was fun to chat with Mrs. House (My dear pastor's wife).

The House boys stayed the night with us and then Wayne dropped off Austen and Pat to go airsofting for the day. When he got home we got ready and took the younger boys into Vancouver to the mall and did some shopping. My sweet Hubby took me to my FAVORITE store! (CJ Banks) I was bummed though because they didn't have much on the clearance racks. After the mall, we took the kids to Sonics a big treat for Blake, his favorite place to eat! From there my sweety took me to Kohl's, I had never been there before, but WOW I found lots of things there! We have been talking about getting a communication system for our motorcycle so we can talk when we ride, so we went to the motorcycle shop and FINALLY bought one!!! I am so exited now to go riding again! Wayne has been saving for some time to get one, part of our late Valentines gift to one another.

And Tomorrow is Church, I am looking forward to being back in the house of The Lord tomorrow!!

Hope you all have a BLESSED weekend!!

Praise God~ Where would I be without him?

I am so thankful !
I have really been trying to keep track of answered prayer, and wow it is amazing the prayers God has answered. Recently my husband got an offer on a vehicle that was just a steal! Beings our 2 cars have high miles and are getting old we felt like this would be a deal to go for! As I prayed I just asked God to NOT give me my way or desire but His will. This purchase would give us a car payment, and not knowing what the future holds, I didn't want to make the wrong decision. God knows the future. So many times in our past we made bad decisions and paid the consequences for it. I know for us it is very hard to WAIT and pray. God did close the doors, and I am so thankful that he knows what is best for our family. Sometimes God allows us to have those things, that really are not his perfect will and we are sorry down the line we didn't follow Gods lead.

God is so good! I am rejoicing today knowing that I can come before God, and he will answer my prayers, he knows our future and what is BEST!

Homeschool~ What Is Unschooling?

I found this interesting as I explore the different types of homeschooling, and I thought I would share.

What is Unschooling?

Karen M. Gibson
Unschooling has many, many definitions - probably a different one for each family that calls themselves unschoolers. To me, unschooling means interest-led or child-led learning. There are also many different levels of unschooling. Some families require a set amount of Math and English done each day, and then their child is free to explore whatever subjects he would like.

Others unschool totally until their child reaches a certain grade level, and then start requiring some structure. And then there are the dyed-in-the-wool, radical unschoolers, who require nothing from their child. They totally trust their child to learn what he needs to know on his own timetable.

How unschooling works for us
The more we explore the avenues that work the best for our family, the more we find ourselves gravitating towards total, radical unschooling, with the child leading his learning all the way. We do use some textbooks and workbooks, but only if the child has said that he would like to. Unschooling does not mean no textbooks or no curriculum. If a child prefers to learn that way, or expresses a desire for a certain level of structure, that’s fine, as long as it is the child’s wish. Our main resources, though, are the public library, the Internet, computer games, books, and real-life experiences.

Unschooling also does not mean no parental involvement. If anything, it requires that you, the parent, be totally aware of the needs of your child. It means having on hand many resources, making suggestions of new avenues of exploration, and being able to hunt down that elusive answer or needed resource. It means finding a place for your child to volunteer or apprentice. It means seeking out the person who can give lessons or advice on a particular career. It means joining a group that you have no interest in so that your child can explore more fully his area of interest.

I find that one of the hardest things with unschooling is learning to trust that your child will learn what he needs to know for his own life, in his own time frame. He may not cover all the same subjects and curriculums that everyone else at his age covers; he might cover them earlier or later. It's also possible that he may never cover those subjects if they are not pertinent to his life. I truly believe that each child is unique, and that it’s my job to help that child become the person he was born to be. I can’t force my child to learn anything that he isn’t ready to learn for himself - and if he’s ready to learn it for himself, then why do I need to teach it to him? All I need to do is provide what he needs and help, if he asks for it.

Flu...AGAIN

Well, it happened, Blake had the flu, it started last night at about 1 am. I'm sleepy today but getting through it. Blake seems to be better, just tired :)

Weight Loss Tips...Sodium

(salt is a huge downfall for me...I love salty foods) I found this article interesting.

Daily sodium intake will always be high in the western diet

The average diet in the western world is commonly made up of fast, packaged or convenient foods. These always consist of high levels of salt and salt contains sodium. If a diet is mainly composed of high sodium foods then naturally the sodium intake also rises thus extra weight is gained quickly as the body holds onto water. It has been estimated that many people in the UK and USA may be carrying up to 5 pounds of extra weight due to the effects of a high sodium intake.

The opposite effect also happens when an individual reduces food intake in order to lose weight quickly. A percentage of the loss will be water because a reduction in high sodium foods means a reduction in daily sodium intake which results in water loss as the kidneys have a chance to finally rid the excess sodium from the body. This also helps partly explain why a dieter may experience the yo-yo effect when dieting, water weight is lost with food reduction but quickly regained when old eating habits are back to normal and daily sodium intake rises once more.

For some people with a diet high in processed or other salty foods, it’s possible that their weight may even go beyond normal range during the day. This is because high intakes of salt / sodium help us to hold more water. The result is we could gain a little more water weight than a diet made up of more natural foods and products. In fact, some experts have suggested that many overweight individuals could be carrying an extra 5 pounds just from excessive fluid gains caused from a “bad” diet of processed foods and snack products high in salt.The way to lose excess water weight gained from the diet is to start gradually reducing the amount of high salt foods from the diet. It could be a good idea to try to eliminate a single high salt food item from the diet each week until your diet contains about 80% natural or low-salt foods. Replace the eliminated food with a similar, but a more natural type from the same food group. This way you can maintain a balanced diet full of your preferred food items without completely changing to a new diet altogether. Although, you should always check with a dietician a before changing your current diet!!

www.weightlossforall.com

Sharing From My Love Dare Blog....

1 Corinthians 13:7

(Love:)(Charity) Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

There are 2 rooms in your heart

1. Appreciation Room

2. Depreciation Room

The Appreciation Room

*Where your thoughts go when you encounter positive and encouraging things about your spouse.

* You enjoy the visit to the Appreciation room.

*On the walls in the appreciation room are written words and phrases describing the good attributes of your mate. Example: honest, wonderful cook, intelligent,beautiful eyes, or hard worker. (they are things you have discovered about your husband that have embedded themselves in your memory.

* As you think on these things your appreciation for your spouse increases.

The Depreciation Room

* On the walls in this room is things that bother or irritate you about your spouse.

* These things were placed there out of frustration, hurt feelings, and disappointments of unmet expectations.

*This room is lined with the weaknesses and failures of your husband. (their bad habits)

*Here are written very hateful things about their mate.

* It is where ammunition is kept for the next fight. (bitterness is allowed to spread here)

* People fall out of love here.

* Divorces are plotted in this room.

*The more time you spend here, the more your heart devalues your spouse

.Love knows about the Depreciation Room and does not live in denial it exists.

BUT Love chooses not to live there.Love chooses to believe the best about people. It gives them the benefit of the doubt.Love focuses on the positive.The only reason you should glance in the door to the Depreciation Room is to know how to pray for your spouse. The only reason you should go into the room is to write "COVERED IN LOVE"

And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.

(1 Peter 4:8 KJV)

We must develop the habit of reining in your negative thoughts and focusing on the positive attributes of your mate.

Today's Dare
Get two sheets of paper~ On the first sheet, spend a few minutes writing out positive things about your spouse. Then do the same with the negative things on the second sheet of paper. Place both sheets in a secret place for another day. At some point during the remainder of the day, pick a positive attribute from the first list and thank your husband for having that characteristic.
Question
Which list was easier to make? what did this reveal about your thoughts? What attribute did you thank your spouse for having?

Love Tags I made today......

I was just in the mood to create today and not blog, so here ya go.......Hope you find one you like. I really enjoy making scripture tags :)

Yes, you may snag away:)

Tag Offer # 3

leave your name you would like on the tag, and e-mail addy, so I can send when tag is done.

Bleach....Bleach, and more bleach!

FLU....

We have had two full weeks of our family getting sick from this flu bug. Just as I thought the flu cloud was gone.... our Mariyah came down with it. She stays with us about every other weekend. For those of you who do not know she is like my own. We have had her of and on since she was a baby :) She is now 8! She lives with her daddy and then my grandma and I have her on the weekends. Her mommy is my first cousin. Sometime I will have to share her testimony, she is my sweet lil girl. I had the privilege to lead her to the Lord about 2 years ago.

She loves the Lord, and always talks about how God watches over her. My oldest woke me up saying she was getting sick, she didn't want to bother anyone to wake us up......poor thing, I told her to never feel that way here (I have told her several times to always come get me).

I think it was about 5am or so. After she had gotten sick she came to me crying

"Mrs. Brandie, I asked God 3 times to please stop me from getting sick."

I said "I know sweetie, sometimes God allows things, he does not take the situation away but he always helps us get through it."

Bless her heart, she has such a tender heart toward God and always wants to please Him.

She got sick a few times, and then she came running to me and said,

"Guess what Mrs. Brandie, you are right God does help us when we are sick, he helped me and guess what I feel better".

I said "Praise God"

She then said

"God always helps those who love him and obey his commandments"

"Yes you are so right Mariayah!, God is good isn't He", I said.

She has been laying on the couch for the morning.

We had the flu for the past two weeks but I'm afraid she has a different strain of it (different symptoms)

and Grandma said there were kids in her class that were getting it during the week. Ikes.....I hope we don't go through another round.

I have been bleaching this house, and using Lysol. I went through and entire can last week.

Laundry is piled up. I will more then likely be to busy to blog for a couple days. See you all then.

Hugs,

My Favorite Singing Group

Homeschool "How Do You Motivate Your Children"

How Do You Motivate Your Children?
By Joyce Swann

I have never tried to motivate my children. They know what is expected of them in school, and they do it. We have wonderful times together in school, but I have never taken the approach that they should perform well in school because they love learning. I have found that the love of learning is automatic when school is handled properly, but I also believe that no child should be made to feel that he must particularly enjoy something in order to do it well.

I have always told my children that life is filled with things that we do not want to do but must do anyway. At times we may have jobs we do not like. It is likely that God will require us to do some things that we would rather not. We are going to have to do lots of things that are difficult, or boring, or exasperating, but we never have any excuse for not doing our work to the best of our abilities.

www.home-school.com
By Joyce Swann
Printed in PHS #7, 1994.

Wednesday Weight Loss ~ Link

mypyramidtracker.gov

This link is awesome, and it leads to a ton more great links!

I am exited to do a unit on nutrition with my kids and teach them how to read food labels and cook healthy. The have a site specifically for kids and you can print out the whole unit study out. They have it for each grade level

Have FUN check it out

Marriage Answers To Prayer!

With all the sickness and all, we have been out of church. I miss it so much. Wayne has been out for an entire month :( It is hard for me because when he doesn't go I fear the worst (that he won't go back). For those ladies who do not know, he was backslid for about 5 years, but has been going pretty faithfully for the last year.
God has taught me so much.

I think the biggest lesson has been in PRAYER. I have been really trying to pray specifically for my husband every day. I pray for his thought life, His vision (where he looks or looks upon), Where he goes (That God may guide him daily and that he will not be in the wrong place), For God to change his heart, for a godly husband, leader of the home, godly parent, faithful to the Lord, and his anxieties. I have watched my husband grow so much in this past year! Now, I will say I could count the times satan attacked and I was discouraged, but I'm not going there because there are WAY more blessings to count!

These are some of the Big Blessing in growth
* Eating at the table all together and He prays.
* Reading the Bible all togther most evenings, He reads.
* Praying together before he goes to work.
* Helping with the children in discipline
* Marriage counceling w/our Pastor
* Attending some church functions
* Going to other Christian friends house to fellowship

So I am very exited to see God working in my life and I am ever so thankful! There have been many valleys but many more mountain tops!! Growing in the Lord is a process, we must pray for our husbands and love them through their faults. The Bible says "Love covereth a multitude of sins".

This morning, we got up together, snuggled, and prayed together for our day! What a blessing!
Ladies, if you are struggling there is HOPE, my marriage is a testimony of how God can completely change a marriage! I love him more now then ever before.

Anger- Quotes

As we go through 'The Love Dare' I thought these would be helpful.

“Speak when you are angry - and you'll make the best speech you'll ever regret.”
~Dr. Laurence J. Peter


“Anger will never disappear so long as thoughts of resentment are cherished in the mind. Anger will disappear just as soon as thoughts of resentment are forgotten.”

"Anger always comes from frustrated expectations”
~Elliott Larson

"Whatever is begun in anger ends in shame.”
Benjamin Franklin

Dare To Love: Day One "Love Is Patient"

Dare To Love: Day One "Love Is Patient"