Link Love

Just three for ya today!

• Vinegar uses - Sharizat lists over 20 ways you can use vinegar to clean your home. She does a great job with details. In fact, I think I'm going to use some on my windows tonight! By the way, her blog is amazing. I like to think of it as an undiscovered gem. Check it out!
• Financial help from a 3 year old - Short and funny, especially if you're a Dave Ramsey fan. We know Money Saving Mom is!
• Article: Was Facebook making me a bad parent - Did I write this? Oh, it couldn't have been me, because I haven't learned to balance things yet! This article was an eye opener, I could definitely relate! I'm trying to limit my on-line time now.

"And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full."

After my big read I had to find a portion of the Bible to study. This morning I began with First John.  There are two main reasons that I decided on this particular book. 

The first is that its small enough. Small enough to read in one sitting and small enough to study in a reasonable amount of time.

The second reason is my fascination with love. The love of God has always amazed me. That's what brought me to Christ as a teenager... I was searching for love. I knew that First John spoke quite a bit about love, so that played a part in my choice.

ANYWAY, all of this to say that when I started reading this morning I was thrilled to read the above verse: "These things are written that your JOY may be full." I John 1:4

I feel like joy has been missing in my life lately and I've been looking for it. I know that if we seek, we shall find and so, I am excited to study First John and restore the joy in my life. The deeper I dig the more joy I will find! (Today I just read through the book once to start with.)

Where are you studying?

The (crayon) writing on the wall

Have your kids ever taken a crayon to the wall?? Mine have! When I first became a mommy I used to keep up with the marks pretty regularly. But lately... things have gotten out of hand. Marks like this are all over the house:

To demonstrate the power of baking soda I first tried cleaning the area with a damp rag and soap. In the end the crayon was lighter, but it was still totally there.

Like I said, when I was a younger parent I would take care of such things fairly quickly. I tried all of my cleaners back then and none of them worked. If you've ever heard that magic erasers were made from baking soda, then you've heard correctly.

All I do is take a damp rag, dip it into baking soda and scrub the marks off the wall:

It does take some arm muscles, but you're a mom... you've got those! I'm not going to admit how many marks I took off the wall this week, but I will admit how very good it feels to have them out of here!


Bonus pictures

To show you the power of baking soda, you may see my kitchen sink before picture:

I sprinkled the sink with baking soda. I wet my rag in a different sink, then scrubbed away.

See how nice and shiny?:

What kind of things do you use baking soda for?

A lesson in trust

Does this hair clip scare you? It doesn't scare me... I actually like it. My 2 year-old son, Ian, doesn't agree with me. Maybe opening up the clip and looking at its claws can appear frightening!

Yesterday I spent a good 5 minutes opening the clip in front of my son. At the beginning he was pretty shaken up. He would cover his eyes and try to hide from it. I never let the clip touch him, but I did keep opening it and assuring him that I wouldn't hurt him. I wanted to gain his trust.

My kids are taught from an early age that there is no Santa Clause or Easter Bunny. (They don't actually believe me, but that's a different story!) Some people may think I'm stifling their imagination, but its very important to me that they can trust me and what I tell them.

So, back to yesterday, by the end of our little encounter, Ian still wasn't crazy about the hair clip, but he did learn that I wouldn't hurt him with it.

The lesson I needed to learn was very apparent. We need to trust God. We may not always understand why we go through things, but God always has His reasons. Some things may actually hurt (just like when we give our kids immunizations), but its always for our good.

The other day I was on the phone with my dad and he, too, brought to my attention the importance of trusting God. Sometimes, as humans we try to take things into our own hands, but if we truly trust God, we should take our concerns to God in prayer... and trust!

This is linked up to Mom's Mustard Seeds weekly Seed planting. 

"Try It" Challenge - Week One

 

I'm excited to start this new challenge for the month of April. Clare over at Peak313 is hosting a "Try It" challenge. The idea is pretty straightforward. Each week for four weeks we're encouraged to incorporate a new food 4 out of 7 days. This weeks food is Greek Yogurt! 

Our family LOVES yogurt, but we don't each much of the Greek variety. Actually, we haven't eaten much yogurt lately, because I have started making my own (it's way cheaper!). I haven't made any in a while... maybe I've been blogging too much?? SO, it'll be nice to buy Greek Yogurt and find fun ways to eat it! I'll update you at the end of the week on how we ate it!!

Also, Clare includes a spiritual challenge along with the food item. This week we're supposed to pray more fervently for our elders. Didn't I just mentioned that I wanted to pray more? What a great way to be egged on. :)

Spring is on its way!

 On March 20th we were informed that Spring has sprung. Since then the weather has been quite cold. In many areas people had snow storms. In our area we missed lots of snow this year and it even managed to stay away during Spring so far. This past week seemed to be particularly cold. Some days, when the wind blew it was bitter cold.

But you know what??? When the cold was making me want to run inside and snuggle under a blanket, I often found myself smiling. A true joyous smile even. Why? Ultimately it was because of the hope that I had set before me. Not hope in the sense of something I think may happen, but hope in something I know will happen, but just hasn't happened yet.

Listen to this scripture:

"While the earth remains, 

Seedtime and harvest, 

Cold and heat, 

  Winter and summer, 

And day and night Shall not cease." 

Genesis 8:22

Just about a month ago Japan suffered from a terrible earthquake and tsunami. Now the whole world is

wondering and possibly fearing, what is going to become of the nuclear reactors. As of right now there is highly radioactive seawater that is leaking out of one location and they are trying to plug it up.

When natural disasters of this magnitude strike its easy to get caught up in irrational fears. I am SO thankful I have the Bible to turn to. Global warming threatens many things, but the Bible is clear that as long as the earth is around we WILL HAVE summer and winter. So, have no fear, it won't be too long before we find ourselves seeking relief from the overbearing heat.

This verse was written after the flood, which occurred about 5000 years ago (correct me if I'm wrong on the date!). I think its interesting to note what this verse doesn't promise.

It doesn't say that the land as we know it will remain or the mountains. Think about it, the earth's land masses do change over time. Islands are formed, coasts are taken off the map, mountains erupt.

It doesn't say that the animals we know will still be here. Species go extinct, others are discovered and others adapt and change over time.

It doesn't even say the stars as we know them will remain. Did you know that over a 70 year period the whole stars as we know them slowly shift one degree? (So, it actually makes sense that the wise men saw and new star and were able to follow it, because the stars that we see shifted at that point.) Anyway, my point is that even the stars change.

It does say, however, that seedtime and harvest will remain. Famines have come and gone and yet during the dust bowl, when it seemed as though things would never grow, they were growing in other parts of the world and they started growing again in the USA later. The potato famine? Did you know there were other crops growing in Ireland at the time, but they had to deport them to England?

It does say cold and heat, winter and summer will remain. All these thousands of years later and it has still remained. God IS faithful who promised.

It does say that day and night not shall not cease. Joshua made the sun to stand still for one day, there was darkness over the whole land for three hours during the Lord's death and at a time during Revelation there will be darkness at one point, but do they cease, end forever? No.

Take heart in God's promises which will NEVER fail!

Bible in 90 Days

I am ecstatic right now, so forgive me when I SHOUT WITH JOY in this post! I haven't told many people that I was doing this, but now that I'm DONE... on-time even, I thought I might be able to encourage others out there to take time to read their Bibles. Amy, over at MomsToolbox, hosted a challenge to read through THE ENTIRE BIBLE in 90 days. I finished less than an hour ago. She's currently hosting a "celebration" and she has asked some questions. Here are my answers:

Why did you read with us? I was saved 14 years ago. Every year for the first 4 or 5 years, I read through the Bible. After that life seemed to be constantly changing (read: kids kept taking root in my life) and I couldn't seem to finish the Bible. I still read, but just not all of it. My most recent attempt was a one year Bible plan. By the end of the second year I still hadn't made my way through. That's when I saw this plan. I tend to do well at tasks for a short period of time and then taper off. I figured three months was a short enough time frame for me to attempt. I also started off thinking that I don't have to finish in 90 days, I can do it in 100 and still be happy, but somehow I managed to do it in 90!!!!

How has it impacted you? I feel like I have a better understanding of how the Bible fits together. Currently, I also feel JOY, which hasn't been around in quite some time. I just finished reading Revelation, at the beginning and the end it says, more or less, that he is blessed who keeps the words of this book. Ending with that gives me a renewed desire to serve the Lord with all my heart.

I want to know how you kept reading: Not sure how to answer this one. I guess it was all God. When I first started reading I kept questioning why I was even trying. Was I trying to prove something? Wouldn't I be reading too quickly? Didn't I have housework to do? By the end, though, I realized that God sacrificed all for me. Why can't I sacrifice some of my time to get to know Him? That can't possibly be wrong. God wants us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice and this is an opportunity to do that. (BTW- each day's reading takes just about an hour.)

How did you catch up? I guess Amy asks this, because most people must fall behind at some point. I know I did. When I was finishing up the OT I was about 2 weeks behind and I was going to give up. Then Amy wrote an inspirational post that was just enough encouragement to keep me going. I started reading two readings a day in the NT. Some days I only did one, but that allowed me to finish just in time!

What got in your way? Taking care of sick children, too many outside activities, sleeping in and some days I just didn't feel like reading for an hour!

What did you overcome? I guess I overcame my own doubts. And I overcame my handicap of not being able to read through the Bible in recent years.

What are your next steps? Now I know that I can spare an hour a day. I'd like to go back over some areas that I took note of and study them more in depth. I'd like to pray more fervently. I'd like to put to practice a lot of what I read (in particular showing love to the brethren in practical ways). I'd like to read through the Bible at least once a year.

Anything else? Reading the Bible fully in 90 days has made me appreciate some pillars of the faith. Off the top of my head I can think of George Muller and Charles Macintosh... both of whom read through the Bible over 200 times (I think!). They were used mightily of God and maybe that has something to do with the fact that they gave their time to God.  Now I don't want to suggest that every mother out there try this challenge, but I do want to encourage you to try to read and pray MORE. We can all benefit from more time with our Lord.