Heeding Granny's Advice

My life was totally different when I was a teenager. I used to talk on the phone all day and hang out with friends all night.

I remember getting off the phone one day. My grandmom asked me who it was. I don't remember who it was, but I do know it was some guy. I told her his name and said, "he's just a friend."

I'll never forget her reaction. An old Irish woman, she stomped her foot down and in an exasperated, almost yelling voice, said, "Don't you know boys and girls can't be friends?! Either they grow closer together and become more than friends or they grow further apart and are no longer friends."

Me, in all my teenage glory, just rolled my eyes and said, "Whatever Granny."

A few years after that incident I actually believed her. And the longer I live the more strongly I feel that she was right.

I know of a marriage that recently ended because of an "innocent" friendship between the husband and another woman. While thinking about this split my grandmom's words ran through my head. Doesn't everybody know this? Don't they know that they can't just be friends??? I guess not.

So, I figured I'd take a moment to warn others out there. Please be careful. I wish I had a verse that said these words flat out, but I don't. In I Corinthians 6 it does say to flee sexual immorality.

Flee is a strong word. It reminds me of Joseph who was tempted by Potipher's wife (Genesis 39). When Joseph went into his master's house, no one was there except his master's wife. She said "Lie with me." At that moment he didn't try to reason with her like he did in the past, instead he fled, not even staying long enough to grab his garment which she had a hold of. After that Joseph was arrested because of the woman's lies, but he still had a clear conscience between he and the Lord. That is fleeing!

Now, I can't tell you where the line should be drawn. That should be done through your own discretion. I understand that there has to be communication between men and women for things like work and maybe other events. But please monitor your own actions and intentions. Feelings for those of the opposite gender can come on quickly and come on strong. Stand fast and flee if necessary!

Re-evaluating my faith

Recently I have had my faith challenged. This was not done by some stranger asking me questions. No, this was done by someone that I love. Someone who has loved the Lord for the past 16 years, but has decided lately that he no longer believes anything the Bible has to say. Will I be able to throw away my faith some day just as dramatically? I certainly hope not, but in the meantime I really needed to do some evaluating.

The other day I was reading the book of James. Early on I came across this well known verse: "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him." (James 1:5) I started praying. I prayed for wisdom concerning the doubts that have been thrown my way. I prayed with faith, not doubting that the Lord would answer my request. I did not pray for any selfish reasons and I did not pray for any signs or miracles to be given. I simply wanted peace and reassurance. Within 10 minutes the Lord had graciously answered.

I am going to state the doubts that were presented to me (as I understood them) and the answers that satisfy me at this time.

Doubt #1
Paul had radical ideas that weren't taught by the others before him.
Basically I was told that the gospel as we know it, wasn't preached until Paul came along with a bunch of radical ideas. The whole point of casting this doubt is to say that the Lord Jesus didn't expect to be given the title of Lord and that He was simply trying to show us the way to live in order to please God.

I'm not much of a salesperson, so you can probably read that and think that it sounds preposterous. However, the one who said it to me is rather convincing and speaks with conviction.

What did I conclude? I concluded that Jesus Christ really is Lord of heaven and earth, He is worthy of our praise and that Paul preached the true Gospel.

How did I come to that conclusion? When you want to share the Gospel with someone, what book do you ask them to read? Not Corinthians or Ephesians. Not even Romans, as good as that book is. Generally speaking you send them to John... one of the original 12 apostles. The Good News is clearly laid out in his gospel. If you want to see the Lord Jesus Christ being worshiped you can find that clearly in the book of Revelation, also written by John, not Paul.

Also, Acts, who was written by Luke, shows how the church began, even before Paul's conversion.

Yes, Paul did preach a radical gospel, but it wasn't conceived in his own mind, nor was it against God's will.

Doubt #2
Years after the Bible was completed people changed lots of words in order to make it seem like Jesus is Lord, even though He is not.

You have to remember that this claim is coming from a convincing source, so it can't easily be brushed off, unless you can come to another logical conclusion.

So after I concluded that Paul was not the only one who preached this "strange" Gospel, I then had to question whether it was possible that others had manipulated the Word of God years after the fact in order to change its message.

It didn't take long to realize how unlikely this situation is. There were A LOT of Christians all over the world by this point in history. Imagine someone or a group of someones changing the Scriptures?! There is SO MUCH in the Bible that points to Jesus Christ being called Lord. In order to manipulate the text, they could not have done anything subtle. It would've been a total over haul of the whole of it! Now imagine that happening... and no one noticing! Was every "Christian" in on this big secret, so no one bothered screaming: "SCANDAL!" No where in any history book are you going to find a time when this scandalous act supposedly took place. And what of all the previous copies? Were all of them magically destroyed?

So, this doubt left my mind as quickly as it entered it.

Conclusion
I am so thankful that I have a God I can turn to for wisdom. I'm thankful that all Scripture is given by the inspiration of God. And I'm thankful for this time in my life when I can reaffirm what I have believed for the past 15 years. Praise be to God!

31 days to clean week 2

I won't bore you with all of this week's cleaning details. Instead I'll give you a quick easy iced coffee recipe (if you want to call it that). While I was cleaning out my pantry, I found a box of Folger's coffee sticks. I was throwing away quite a few things and this box almost made it to the trash, but I restrained myself. The coffee has a few more months until it expires, so I figured that is enough time to enjoy them. I don't drink coffee regularly, but sweet cold coffees are nice.

The instructions are simple. Empty the coffee stick into a tall drinking glass. Add only a tiny bit of hot water (enough to dissolve the coffee). Fill the rest with your choice of milk, then add chocolate syrup to taste. Stir and enjoy.

See? I told you it was easy! Instead of chocolate syrup (and sometimes even with it) I Will add some yummy international delight creamer on occasion.

Kid's Activities and Crafts

Summer is right around the corner! For many of us that means having kids around for 6 extra hours each day. I've compiled a list of fun crafts and activities that may come in handy...

Painted Rock Bees by Crafts by Amanda

Cardboard Tube Farm Animals also by Crafts by Amanda

or try Paper Roll Birthday Crowns by Creative Jewish Mom

Pom Pom bouquets also by Creative Jewish Mom

Friendship bracelet with homemade loom by Homemade Gifts Made Easy


Tic Tac Toe on Tile by Rainy Tuesday Morning

Lily Pad Hop game by Toddler Approved

Activity Bags by Walking by the Way

Other ideas:
Trails in local parks
outdoor scavenger hunts
let them run through sprinklers
playing with sparklers (if they're mature enough)
playground
a bottle of bubbles
sidewalk chalk

My coupon organizer

The other day I shared some couponing blogs with you. Today I'd like to share my coupon organizer.

When I decided to start clipping coupons I knew I had to have a good way to keep them organized. I have dipped into couponing off and on and have tried various methods, but none of them worked for me.

I found Money Saving Mom's organizer and I tweaked it to fit my own needs. The first thing I had to do was resist buying a new container. I could have easily gotten a new one for under $3, but I really didn't want to spend any money at all. At home I found my green basket, which is perfect for me.

This is what it looks like when its filled and ready to go:

These are the papers that you saw on top:

I always keep my latest copy of Costco coupons in my basket. Inside of that I keep any restaurant coupons, car repair deals and other like things.

Other than that I keep circulars (this week I have two) and right now I have a booklet that goes to a specific store.

Inside of the up-to-date circular I keep coupons, like so:

When I get a new circular I look through it, then I try to match up coupons. If I find some good deals, I keep all of the coupons inside of my folded up circular. When I get to the store, I take the full circular along with the inserted coupons (sometimes I just take the whole basket in). Some stores have advertisements, but then you can't find the info in the store. I find it helpful to be able to look in the paper while I'm shopping.

Some weeks I may find more deals than others. Last week, for instance, I shopped at four stores, because I was able to match up lots of good deals, but this week I'm only going two places. In other words, I'm not loyal to any one place!

Ok, so if you are at my basket and you lift up that section of papers this is what you will see:

Crystal uses envelopes with a piece of cardstock sticking up. What I decided to do was use a half of a sheet of paper and fold it into a file folder shape. I like things to be more open and an envelope seemed to constricting to me! :)

Crystal was so kind as to write out all of the categories she uses. I think there's over 50! I combined a few, so I don't have quite that much, but it is definitely useful to have them broken down and alphabetized.

If you take one of my packets out this is what you will see:

This particular section (hair under the hygiene group) has quite a bit, but most of them just have a few. When you have just a few it makes it easy to find what you're looking for without taking too much time.

A few extra notes:

• When I get coupons ready for a shopping trip I double check expiration dates. 
• At the end of each month I go through all of my coupons and recycle the expired ones.
• I file store coupons under their proper category. For example: if I get a Pampers coupon that is only good at Target, it goes in the diapers section NOT a special Target file.
• I usually keep a pair of scissors in my basket.

I think that's it! Let me know of any tricks you have, too!

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all of you! I wouldn't enjoy this day without these guys:

Tabitha, our perfect child, with her mom (that's me!)

Seth, the one who has taught us the most in life.

Patricia, the biggest helper I can find.

Ian, our joy bringer.

Couponing

Recently I've posted info on our frugal Easter gifts, Buzz Operation deal and even our trips to hardware stores for kid's workshops. Can you tell we've been trying to spend less?

Enoch and I would really like to get out of debt, so I've been trying to cut corners on our expenses. I started subscribing to the Sunday paper for the great price of $.59 a week. It is most definitely paying for itself as I easily use upwards of $10 a week on coupons.

I use blogs and the weekly circulars to find the best deals. I was so excited to walk into a Rite Aid last week and come out with 2 pairs of nail clippers (which we needed) and tweezers. I only paid 39 cents out of pocket. These sort of scenarios are happening more and more.

I thought I'd share with you some of the blogs I keep in my Google reader. They help me find lots of good deals. They also inform you of freebies that companies send out, which are great to get in the mailbox, but on top of that, they even come with great coupons.

Here is a starter list of blogs worth looking into:

• Money Saving Mom
• Couponing 101
• Motherhood on a Dime
• Surviving the Stores
• The Frugal Food

Do you have any good websites you'd like to share?