Holy

Websters 1828 dictionary defines holy as:
"Properly, whole, entire or perfect, in a moral sense. Hence, pure in heart, temper or dispositions; free from sin and sinful affections. Applied to the Supreme Being, holy signifies perfectly pure, immaculate and complete in moral character"
If you look up holy in today's dictionary, it is:
"exalted or worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness"
What a difference!

Piano: Guided Sight Reading

This was a fantastic book! It talks about the traditional method(seperate hands, disection) of learning the piano verses his way(reading as a whole, without looking at hands even from the beginning). I relate this book to speed reading for the piano. I am going to try and implement this in my own playing. I think Kaitlyn would benefit greatly from it. By the way, this is a rather old book, written in 1950. Gotta love old books!

Better Saturday

Finally, we had a pretty easy going Saturday. Well, maybe not easy going but at least we were all together! We went to Earth Fare early this morning only to run into the tail end of the St Patricks parrade. The kids enjoyed it so we didn't mind having to park a ways off. After that we came home and had lunch. The older girls then went with me to Sam's for our weekly shopping. We had so much fun coming home and messing around in the yard. I planted my seedlings but they looked so fragile as I put them in. I don't know if they are going to survive! Then we just played in the yard until the storm came. Nice and ominous clouds surrounded us reming us how mighty and awesome our God is! I love storms.

Enjoying great books

I am swamped with a load of great books and listening resources right now. I haven't put some of these on my book list because, well, I am reading all the time! LOL Here are some of them:
When You Rise Up by R.C. Sproul Jr.
Piano:guided sight reading by Leonhard Deutsch
Homesteading Adventures by Sue Robishaw
Your Child's Profession of Faith by Dennis Gundersen
Passionate Housewives Desperate for God
These are added to the ones on my book list that I haven't finished yet. On top of that, I am listening to The Best of the 2006 Entrepreneurial Bootcamp.
So far these Cds seem like they are going to be awesome! So many great resources. We are so lucky that we have the ability to tap into other people's lives and gain insight into areas where we would otherwise be ignorant.

Good

God is the source of all good, and He and He alone defines what is good and holy. But remember, our circumstances are not a true reflection of God’s goodness.

Foreknowledge

defined: Knowledge or awareness of something before its existence or occurrence; prescience.

The following is by John Calvin
When we attribute foreknowledge to God, we mean that all things always were, and perpetually remain, under his eyes, so that to his knowledge there is nothing future or past, but all things are present. And they are present in such a way that he not only conceives them through ideas, as we have before us those things which our minds remember, but he truly looks upon them and discerns them as things placed before him. And this foreknowledge is extended throughout the universe to every creature. We call predestination God’s eternal decree, by which he determined with himself what he willed to become of each man. For all are not created in equal condition; rather, eternal life is foreordained for some, eternal damnation for others. Therefore, as any man has been created to one or the other of these ends, we speak of him as predestined to life or death.

Ministry Opportunity

One of the things that has bothered me in the last several years is the inability to contribute(serving) to the church because of all the children I have. I was reading the book A Woman After God's Own Heart and she says that she felt the same way. She read a book that changed her perspective on things. The thought came to her that she could start a prayer ministry. It didn't require that she leave her children or home so she decided to do just that. I have always known that there were "prayer warriors" but it never clicked that it could be a potential ministry opportunity for me. I do pray for people who have requests but I have never thought of it as a ministry. What a wonderful thing! Almost like working from home. :)

Finally, some good pics of Andrew

Andrew and Papa JD

Faithful

~firm in adherence to promises or in observance of duty
Revelation 19:11
Hebrews 2:17
God is faithful in MANY ways, how has he shown his faithfulness to you? It's good to look back and think of those times when we cried out to him. Praise him for the results that came out of it. Praise him for his faithfulness. If I can't think of anything(self gets in the way), I think back on the Israelite's journey thus far. How faithful God has been and continues to be, despite our unfaithfulness at times.

God - Eternal

Spurgeon:
"God was, when nothing else was. He was God when the earth was not a world but a chaos.If God himself were of yesterday, he would not be a suitable refuge for mortals. The eternal existence of God is here mentioned to set forth, by contrast, the brevity of human life."

God is eternal, apart from time. He controls it, it does not control him.

Kombucha fun

I have made kombucha..yay! It tasted awesome today. This is what I started with, given to me by my raw food friend..you know who you are! Thank you so much!










~Get a mushroom or make one from the kombucha tea you get at the health food store
~Get some tea, sugar, wooden spoons, and some type of glass jar.
~Boil quart of water, add 1/3 -1/4 cup of sugar until dissolved
~Put tea bag(should be black tea) in and let cool to room temp.
~Put mushroom(and tea that it sits in) into the jar with the tea you made.
~Put coffee filter or paper towel over it with rubberband
~Don't mess with it, put it out of direct sunlight.
~Start tasting in 4-5 days(though it could be longer depending on how warm it is. The warmer it is, the faster it's done)
***Don't use the mushroom if you see it grow hair! This isn't good.
***There will be another mushroom in there when your brew is done, separate and don't throw it away, give to a friend.. No need to kill the little thing. :(
***It will continue to ferment even without the mushroom in it. Store in frig to slow fermentation or leave on counter with a tight lid to make it more carbonated.
***Drink the brown stuff that floats in the tea, it's there for a reason and is good for you! If you just can't stand the thought of eating them, strain them.
***Remember, every mushroom is different, don't fret if yours doesn't fit in with the crowd :)

After 6 days, the mushroom makes a baby and then you can make another batch. you can see the shroom in the jar on the right.

Talent show fun

We had a great time at our church's talent show this past Friday. It was so funny! It was a talent show for the kids but afterward some of the adults did a couple of skits. Too cute. Kaitlyn got to sing and play the piano and Charlotte did a couple of magic tricks. I was soo proud of them! Mom, JD, and Grandma came to see it so that was special for them.

Spring ...Necessity Cleaning

So Spring is just around the corner and I am in the motion to clean. I told you before that I was going to start with my bathroom but every time I get a chance it seems Andrew is asleep(he sleeps in our room). So, I have started with the kitchen. I have a bag full of kitchen utensils waiting for another owner. I have started washing dishes by hand and this has been eye opening for me. If I wash dishes right away, I don't need very many extra dishes...duh. So, I will soon be giving away some dishes. I am trying to give more than consume...very hard habit to break.

Pictures from this morning

Our table after breakfast. I just love the sun shining through!







The kids sitting on the couch. Notice Kaitlyn with her current stack of books!

Our Charley Brown seedlings

We have, starting from left to right, a pizza box, a tea box containing my seed packets, an egg carton, tomato container from Sam's, and a pepper container from Sam's.

Calm My Anxious Heart

This book was awesome! Usually you can find a few great phrases to hold on to when reading a good book but this book was jammed with wonderful tidbits to memorize. I highly recommend it to all women, regardless of whether you have an anxious heart.

I figured out what has been wrong with Andrew. He has an ear infection..again. I am praying this is not a pattern. Poor little guy doesn't do so hot with pain. This week has been a survival week. Get the most important things done and worry about the rest later. It seems we are having many of those! Ugh. I really desire to garden but it has proved very challenging with a little one. We did start some seedlings. I have no idea whether they will last but I will post a pic of our charlie brown seedling trays tomorrow. I am beginning to put out coffee grounds to keep these crazy wild cats at bay. They already have started digging up my garden area and I don't even have anything in it! At least they are providing nutrients. :)

Scrapbooking fun

I had a blast with my mom this past weekend. Her church hosted a scrapbooking event to raise money for a missions trip. Here are some pics.

Here are some pics of the pages I did. These are the first few that I have ever done so I am a total amature!

Summer's Party

My cutie pie!










Quick photo with those who were hanging around..











Singing happy birthday













Summer opening presents










All of us(minus the inlaws-they're taking the picture)

Raw food friend

I have a raw food friend who lives close by! AND she is a Christian. Can you believe that? Hey Katie! She gave me a scobie (kombucha mushroom) and let me try some raw food she got from a raw food class she attended. It was great. She also brought me some homemade kombucha. Yum.
Today I am heading up to Anderson to scrapbook with my super extreme Mom. My step fathers sisters are going to be there as well. I am looking forward to the fellowship. I am going to take some pics and I will upload them later.