Homeschool Supplies

Today I am excited to share with you my homeschooling clean up at Target.  I was able to pick up all 22 of these items for $1 per item.  As you can see I picked up 4 workbooks 3 dry erase writing boards 2 set of dry erase sentence strips 10 box of flash cards and 2 games and 1 clock.

I saw another homeschooler had mentioned Target dollar items in their blog but did not really think I would find this many useful things.  A great blessing indeed.  These are all early elementary items.

I proceeded to Walmart where I picked up 17 cent notebooks, 20 count pencil packs for 97 cents. Markers for 97 cents , Elmer's glue for 50 cents, 24 pack crayons for 50 cents and composition notebooks for 50 cents.

I save extra money out of my budget all year to hit these deals when they come up before school.  This is the earliest I have ever seen them out.  They go fast so if you live near any of these stores you may want to act fast.

Need help with inexpensive grade school curriculum?  Check out this website: http://allinonehomeschool.com/
Easy Peasy All in one home-school curriculum.  The outlines are free to access and have lots of great links to videos and worksheets to reinforce taught concepts.  You will just need your basic supplies.

I hope you have a super year teaching at home.

Moving? My De-junking adventure.

Yep we are moving.

This is both an exciting and scary time for us to say the least.
Excitement over a grand new adventure and opportunities that have been given to us.
Scary over the unknown of what we are stepping into.

This is a huge process for me.  I save stuff. LOTS OF IT.... so needless to say in order to make this move so much smother I need to purge stuff....and Lots of it.  I have resolved after today never to save that much stuff ever again.  Yes you heard it here.  Cleaning all this stuff and pitching it is a stressful event for me.  Today I cleaned the closet under the stairs.  My kids throw every toy imaginable in there.  MY FAULT for not making them take care of it to begin with.  This little closet that is 5 x 4 feet was crammed to the gills.  Not anymore though.  It took a good 2 hours to sort stuff out.  We kept legos, lincoln logs, and metal cars/trucks/tractors.  Every thing else literally went into a garbage bag....

Pencils, pens, marbles, magz, cards, puzzles, and numerous other items gone to the garbage.  Why so ruthless you say. Well because my inability to effectively deal with this stuff caused the problem in the first place.  Most of the pieces to these things are missing or somewhere else.  I am chronicling my de-cluttering adventure in hopes that it will help someone else. I will tell you that I have ruthlessly been throwing out old clothes with rips or stains as well. I listed a couple items online for free and the people actually want me to bring the free items to them and not pick them up......garbage can as well.  Goodwill you say....hahahaha ..... nice in theory but I have several boxes in my garage that have never made it there.

So you say .... what remains in the closet under the stairs..... Some stuffed animals ( they boys were told once they are all gathered they may each pick out 5) 2 vacuums , some blankets and a toy box full of little people toys that a girl is coming to pick up when I get back from Illinois next Tuesday.

So I invite you to laugh with me, cry with me and go on this grand adventure of moving and de-junking.  I hope you can find humor in it.  I hope one day I will also.

Where are the men?

Where are the men.

This is a post I read I cannot remember which blogger posted it.  It said many young women are being raised to be Godly wives in the future but it seems to be hard for them to find that Godly young man. So they sit and wait.

I felt like this really resonated with me. I have a college aged daughter and then I have 3 boys,  11, 7 and 5.  I have been married for 22 years to a man who has been nothing short of an excellent provider and hard worker.  If I believe I deserve this why would I not want this for my future daughter in laws? I have an obligation to raise them to be good providers.  I am becoming more aware of things that are not helpful in this venture to raise them to that point.  Video games are one.  We have pretty much put the kibosh on them and have seen improved attitude.  Television is another.  The more they watch the more of a stinky attitude we have...hmmmm... seems to be a correlation there.

We have started to study Proverbs with our boys.  Not at the beginning and not in a particular order.  What we are doing is taking a few verses at a time, breaking them apart and discussing the meaning. It is 31 power packed chapters about character good and bad and what they lead to in life.  Great for boys and girls but a must do.

I have seen people we know allow the boys in there home to spend hours and hours a day on the computer. As adults these young men still are not on their own and they spend all their time on the computer or gaming. It is sad and these same mothers make excuses for the lack of training they gave their sons.  What lady wants that for a husband.  I love my young men and I am resolved to make them better by encouraging them to learn skills, practice them and even try some small business ventures to learn about how money works.  I want them to be the kind of husband I have and it is my obligation to raise them in such a manner.

I am sure to make mistakes but God has pressed upon me that this is a most important thing. Moms of boys this is your duty to carry out. Teach them to be diligent, hard working, lovers of God. Do not let them waste idle hours pursuing things that are not of value to them in adult life.  They need to know how to support themselves and not be spending hours in front of video games living in your basement.

Fun games for kids!

This post is about some fun games our family really enjoy and also help me get through my homeschooling day!

Feed the Kitty:  This is a fun fast cute game that runs right around $10 and is well worth the investment. It has 20 wooden mice, a food dish and 2 custom dice.  It is fast and takes about 15 minutes to play.  It says 4+ on the box I have had children as young as 3 play this. In this game your littlest one will most likely get to play first which is great excitement for them.  The directions say the person with the shortest pinky goes first.  You roll your dice and either pass mice to the player on the left , put them in the cat dish , take them out or keep them.  If you have a child just dying for your attention this is great because it does not take long and they are satisfied because you played with them.  The last person with mice left wins the game.  Beware just because you lose all your mice doesn't mean you are done playing.  Your opponent could roll a pass to the left and give you more mice!  Also an older child can take a younger one to a corner of a room and play this with them to help appease them.  Great fun.  Feed the Kitty ranks an A++ in our home.  A must have.

Hisss:  Hisss is a simple card game that is all about building a snake with your cards.  A snake must have a head a tail and a body.  If you are the lucky one to place the final piece (either a head or tail) you get the cards that make up that snake.  The colors move and blend from one to the next so you have matching skills involved. When you are all done the winner is the person with the most cards.  It is fun and simple for little kids but does need a little space for you to lay the cards out as you build the snakes.  This is also a great fast game that you can play or assign an older child to do with a younger one.  Not quite as fast moving as Feed the Kitty but fun!  '

Granny Apples:  Oh my granny has an apple orchard and you want to get the apples!  This is a fast moving game but I have modified it in the past so I could have younger children play it.  The lowest I have been able to go with this is 6-7 yrs.  The game has 8 wooden apple dice that you roll.  In the original game the person who counts up the apple total rolled first is the winner and gets that many cardboard apples to keep. Several rounds later when all the apples are passed out the winner is determined by who has the most.  I have modified this by letting each person roll a turn and then counting up the apple count and getting that many.  You have whole and half apples and worms and birds that take away apples and pics of granny which means she gets apples in her basket.  Fun fun fun but not for a preschooler.

Zeus on the loose:  This is an adorable fast moving card game and your child needs to be able to add and subtract in their head up to 100 with no problems. The box recommends 10+ I have had kids as young as 8 play without problems.  Zeus is a little plastic statue holding a lightening bolt (of course).  You want to have Zeus.  As you play Zeus moves from player to player.  If you play a card and your score come out at and even 10,20,30 etc.... you get Zeus.  Play a minor greek god card that says steal Zeus and you get Zeus....the score on Mt. Olympus ( discard pile) goes up and down until you hit 100 and the person who makes the pile an even 100 gets Zeus.  You win you get a letter to spell Zeus.  The first person to spell Zeus wins. This is a fun fast action card game for sure.

All of these are available on Amazon and a specialty toy stores.  All are well worth the money you pay for them. Check them out today.

Food food food :)

So this is my all about food blog.  I will start by saying this is not your ordinary food blog!

My family loves food.  They love great food even better. They love many restaurant dishes best!

I am a stay at home homeschooling mom who does work within a food budget.  It is not skimpy but not extravagant either. It is probably lower than some for a family of 6 people.  I have found that with internet there is not one single dish you cannot duplicate from your favorite restaurant.

We regularly enjoy some of the following dishes:
Chicken Marsala
Chicken Gnocchi Soup
Olive Gardens Bruchetta recipe
Awesome pork tenderloins with marinades.
Beef Wellington
and much more.

All of my recipes I have found online and the majority through allrecipes.com  I have found very few items that make a total flop.  I will share one and that was chocolate flavored waffles.  We thought that would be tons of fun but it was just horrid tasting.  We decided to just add chocolate syrup to our waffles if that is a taste we desire.

You can eat well, you can eat well on a reasonable budget. You can find all this online.  My family has gotten so picky about the chicken gnocchi soup that when we go to the Olive Garden it does not taste as good to them.  That is what cooking great food for your family is all about.  Food is a gift from God.  It is like many of his other gifts in its ability to bring great pleasure to someone.  It can be good, great or bad.

I had no clue how to cook when at 17 I found myself on my own due to both my parents having passed away.  I ruined a lot of food.  I burnt a lot of food.  My husband suffered through much of this bless his soul.  If you can follow directions I promise you can follow a recipe and make great food.  Check them out online you may find some great new ones to jazz up your week.  

Helping others/witnessing

So this will surely bring some negative feedback.  However God has told me this is a topic of concern.

We all know that as mom's that the first mission field is at home. We also have an obligation to help and be there for others.  A huge trend among Christian moms seems to be that we are really selective about our willingness to help others or witnessing to them.

Example :  That mom down the road is nice, her daughter is nice and sweet as pie and it is easy to entertain her for awhile and give her mom a break.  However that little monster boy who lives down the road also whose mom is single and every time he drives by he runs over my toes with his bike and sneers at me... I would never offer to take him or invite his mom to coffee.   OUCH!  The problem is that I did not see Christ spending a lot of time with the nice, perfect, easy, pleasant, good looking people in the bible.  What I see time and time again is that he actively sought out those people we would turn our backs on and chose not to associate with.

Maybe the single mom down the road is in desperate need of a break so she can build her resolve to go at it one more day.  Maybe the man at the beach with his little boy just needs someone to pray with him or over him.  Maybe that little girl with the dirty clothes and the head lice YES I said that.  Just needs someone to show her a few minutes of love so she feels worthwhile and not like she is a reject.  Maybe all these people who don't fit into our world view of people we want to witness to need it the most.  The nice people, nice looking people who are not Christians certainly are not less worthy of our time but it seems to be that we spend too much time focusing on them.

When we see these less then desirable people ..... the mean little boy, the dirty little girl, the single mom or the pregnant teen I think we need to command our thoughts.  I think we need to take them captive and try just once to see them the way Christ did.

I was that little girl with a single mom.  A mother who was widowed,  A mother left with and 11 yr old son and a 1 year old daughter.  I was kept clean however growing up in the 70's without a dad lead many to assume my mom was divorced.  They did not take the time to find out that her husband had been a brilliant engineer with Bell Labs making cutting edge strides in his job.  They looked and saw......"Single Mom".  The most wonderful nonjudgmental people I had consistent contact with were the Mennonites.  Caring, kind, compassionate and filling Christ's great commission.  Let us strive to be those people.   Search your heart, control your thoughts and try to view people with the value Christ saw in them not the world.  

Blessings.

Peace of God be with you all!  I love it when Paul says things like this in the New Testament.

Today I wanted to Praise and Thank God for some blessings in our lives.

Children!  Amanda turned 19 yesterday and is on her path in college to try to become a nurse.  I will be an exciting time to watch how God works her path in his plan.

Noah turns 11 today.  Our focus has shifted in our home to really raising up Godly young men since we have 3 of them and they are all still in the home.  Noah has grown by leaps and bounds in the past year and I do believe he will be baptized soon as he has started to talk more about it.  Understand I had all my children baptized as infants when we were within the Lutheran Church.  I now have a more complete understanding of this and the meaning and look forward to a new baptism made by choice and knowledge and growth on his part.  How exciting!

Joshua will be 7 in 2 months.  School has not been easy with him.  Some days it is all I can do to get him to sit for 5 minutes.  He is starting to take more initiative and has shown fabulous progress.  I have prayed over this a lot and even though I don't mind delaying learning for a child who is not quite ready the Lord has had to work on my heart knowing that I want him to do it all now.  He is always smiling and brings such laughter and energy to our home.

Micah will be 5 in 2 months.  We are still struggling with potty issues with him and ask for prayer.  Micah is such a smart young boy and even though we have tough days he is such a cuddle bug.  He loves to sit up with you and snuggle and what could be better than that.

Twila has been gone almost 8 years now.  Having her here for such a short time is a reminder of how fragile life is and that we must accept God's calling when it is time for us to go home.

I have so much more I want to say about provisions and blessings but I will leave that for another day.

Many blessings in our lives.

Have you ever really thought about the many blessings God gives us? It really is amazing!  I am reading the book 1000 gifts by Ann Voskamp.  She reminded me in there that the key to joy has a lot to do with thankfulness.

Thankful when your kids are sick or healthy. 
Thankful when  finances are bad or good. 
Thankful when your have reached your limit or not. 


I have really been learning this lesson the hard way.  I honestly have a really stinking attitude at times and sometimes make the choice to stay there.  Instead of replacing the lies that satan wants to put in my head with solid biblical truth I choose to stay in that lie.  Not all the time everyday but when I choose not to leave it then I am choosing to stay in that place.

Have you every talked to someone and had them say , I am not in the mood to talk , I am crabby today.  Well we really are choosing to remain in that spot.  We are letting satan win by not replacing the lie he told us to make us "crabby" with the truth that God has for us.

I have been working through many things while we try to navigate a clear path to where God wants our family to be in a biblical place, a financial place, and a physical place.  I have had to calm down, give thanks and wait on the word of God.  It is funny now that I have resolved myself to some of that how he is opening doors.  Life is hard.  I do know that as well as anyone and more than some and less than others.  Finding God's peace is only coming through a practice of thankgiving and understanding that I fall under his protection. Not protection to never have discomfort in my life or unpleasantness but protection of his grace.

Praying for our sons.

I am joining  the 21 days of prayers for sons challenge.  As you know I have been blessed with 3 young men ages 10, 6, and 4.  I have a huge God given responsibility along with my husband to raise them into Godly men.  If you have boys.  Please consider taking this prayer challenge with  me for the first 21 days of May. 


Change the world. Pray for your sons! Join me in the 21 Days of Prayer for Sons challenge. Get a free book today! Details here http://bit.ly/GFP6Sv

Walking with God.

Today I was reading in Genesis. Yep right from the beginning through chapter 10. Something struck me that never did before.  I knew it.  I was aware of it but never really understood the significance of it.  God literally walked with man and talked to him.  Even after the fall he came and said to Cain "Where is your brother?"

This is the way it was intended to be. God made a garden and would come walk through it and communicate with us.  Or commune. He did this I am sure because he enjoyed spending time with us.  How sad to think that we lost all of that due to sin.  I have worked really hard lately to hear God's voice.  It isn't easy. For me it is hard. There is so much noise and distraction in the world. Places to go, people to see, things that must be done.  If only he would come walk and talk with us.  He does but it takes much more intentional effort on our part to actually be in the presence of God. We really have to work at it and want it. At least for me it doesn't come easy.

We need to actively seek and look for that quiet and still space where we can talk and walk with God.  Maybe in our home on the sofa, maybe a walk through the field, maybe watching the joy in our children's faces as they run and play in the yard together.  All of these and many more.  Looking, seeking and watching. Finding that joy and presence of God.  It is there we just must look.

So begins a new year :)

A new year has begun for us all. I try not to make resolutions. They always seems to end with disappointment. I do try to make some life changes it just sounds better and more successful.

My website will be launching in a few weeks with great anticipation. I am hoping to be able to drive consistent traffic to it for a more consistent income then just selling doll clothes in the fall. I have hopes to also show the boys how to pack and ship product, print the postage online and help with some book keeping. Even though doll clothes are a girly thing running the business is not and I do believe these skill will help them in life.

Today the boys are out sledding before we start school work. I am thankful they are home and have the opportunity to burn off this energy before having to sit.

This is a year of growth and change for our family we can feel it coming.  We are not participating in the local fairs this year.  It takes all my husbands vacation time and then we do not get to do family things.  Rabbit breeding has come to a stop.  All things around animals are coming to a halt at Jubilee Mini farm and the focus will be on non animal food production.  This will allow our family time to enjoy the summer with out being tied to the house because of animals.  It is a big move for us but a necessary one.  We will still have all the fruits and veggies just not meat production.

We are still on the fence with many other activities.  Cub Scouts and Archery will stay but the rest is up for a potential chopping block.  With Amanda in college we have to shift our focus to what will produce positive results for the young men in our house.  Helping them to develop into what God has set for their future.  We have noticed that many young men today are allowed way to much time interacting on computers, televisions and gaming systems.  We believe that is not a positive God given course for their life.

Here is hoping to a great new year. With all God's blessings and guidance and our willingness to follow his commands.  :)

Lot of things going on.

It has certainly been awhile since my last post. My days have been filled with a lot of busy things.

As most people know we currently run 2 family business ventures. We are getting ready to take one to the next level so to speak. We are launching a website with a store front for the doll clothing. This is a super exciting and scary time for us. We have prayed extensively that if this is to be that the Lord would make everything fall in line and so far he has. I found a great local web design team to work the website out. I am excited however this will mean much more dedicated time to sewing for me. If you know any other home school moms who really do run a full time business also let me know please I would love to pick their brain.

Mike is off for the next 10 days and we will enjoy some wonderful family time together without a doubt. As we head into the new year we are revamping the way everything works in our home and as a family. As many know when Joshua was an infant we took the Financial Peace series. We were humming along and Mike's job moved downstate. We added little Micah and we rented our home out to some people who failed to pay rent and pretty much destroyed the place. We also had a medical/dental procedure done with Noah to the tune of $13,500 YIKES! Here we are 6 years later. We totally lost focus and should be done by now.

Satan is a great distracter.... however God is better at reminders of how to get back on track. We will be restarting our financial freedom plan on Jan 1st. It will be hard and ugly and not something we want to do. However I know this is what God wants from our family and will bless it. My blogs this next year will most likely be about our journey towards financial freedom and how things are going with homeschooling and running a business. I hope everyone has a super ending to 2011 and knows the peace of the Lord God Almighty heading into 2012. If not give me a call it is never to late.

Homeschooling

Do you home school your children. We do. The great advantage is that all my kids have different learning styles and they don't have to be boxed into one method of learning or teaching.

My daughter who is now in college worked very well on the conventional model currently used in schools today. Her 10 year old brother not so much. He does well with work books but it definitely sticks better if he visually sees it first. The 6 year old..... well we are still trying to peel him off the ceiling to get learning done. We are required to do jumping jacks while we shout out the alphabet. Everything is done loudly with lots of movement. The 4 year old just rambles along with the rest of them at this point.

Some days I get worn out. Everyone does. The fact remains that my children would not be as well off if they were in school. For art we bring out the crayons and glue and tape and markers and scissors with unabashed enthusiasm. Yesterday we made paper chains. Yes it was a big hairy mess but they had fun for more than an hour doing this activity.

Most days my living room floor is covered with legos and once the snow flies the school day looks like this: Eat breakfast. Feed the outdoor animals, grab the sleds, slide down the hill for an hour, come in and drink hot cocoa. After this then it is time to start school. My boys literally go sledding every morning for an hour once there is snow on the ground. Sounds like gym class to me.

They get alot of work done and alot of play and alot of fun. This is the blessing God has given them through homeschooling. While somedays leave me feeling worn out. I would not change it.

Being Thankful

This week I have been been reminded to be thankful.

Not in the ordinary way but in many small and subtle ways. We have been enjoying incredible food around our house the last couple of weeks. Almost all of which we preserved or grew or raised at little to no cost. My grocery bill for this two weeks was literally $100 for a family of 6 people and a good chunk of that was non food items. I am thankful to know that if it became a real issue I have enough to provide for my family because I was faithful to do the work this summer and will reap the rewards this winter.

I am thankful once again that I have been blessed enough to have my boys home. I really feel like I need a break however I have seen huge growth in the way they interact and cooperate with one another. They are also showing more responsibility in several areas as well.

I am thankful for my newer vehicle. It has been such a blessing since May to be able to do so many things knowing that the car we are driving is dependable.

I am thankful for my husband. He hit a deer last week and ruined two main pieces on his vehicle. He went to Genes and bought both the pieces for under $80 and replaced them himself. This is an early 90's saturn kept for great gas mileage and not great looks. However everything now matches and looks like it did before he hit the deer. What a blessing.

I am thankful for my home and my incredibly low house payment. Way lower than we could ever rent and to be paid off shortly.

I have very much felt like God has been distant lately. Like he is not there. However as I look around at these blessings and much much more I am reminded how much he is with me and how thankful I need to be.

Living Like no one else?

Dave Ramsey fans understand this phrase... Live like no one else so that eventually you can live like no one else.

Lots of people are talking about this and it is great but are we really doing it. Do we still have to have the $50 jeans? I have heard a thousand excuses on why we can't bring our budget totally in line because some one will say I have to have this or that. Really? Will you die without it. Probably not.

Are you teaching it to your children? Are they financially responsible and ready to handle themselves by the time they are 18. Did they buy their car? Do they provide for some of their clothing. Are they responsible for college? If not my guess is we missed the mark. In wanting to bless our children we enable them to still be children rather then letting them stand on their own two feet.

I think in the end whatever excuse we have is made up to justify what we want, is to make us not feel bad instead of admitting I don't want to do it. I am not willing to give it up. With our children it is just the same. Things are so much harder for kids these days is a common excuse. If we teach our children to have a real job the 2 years prior to graduation they will be better equipped for life. If we make them pay for all or a significant portion of their college they are more likely to chose a job set that will result in a payoff rather than an "underwater basket weaving degree" as my husband likes to call it. If we make them pay for their car insurance won't they attempt to be more careful with that car they had to purchase.

It is all about teaching responsibility and we cannot complain when they are not making progress in their life because they have not been taught to do so. We can not send them into the world or out to be married if they are not fully understanding of all the financial responsibilities that go with it. We will have our children and their spouses and their children living in our basement otherwise. Teach them, guide them and make them responsible and they will thank you one day.

Seasons are changing.

Seasons are making a shift here in Northern Michigan. The weather is getting cooler and the trees are showing a bit of change as well. The apples are ripening with the first frost that came early this year.

Is God changing seasons in your life as well? I know he is in mine. Maybe it is a new arrival in your family. Maybe it is the graduation of a child creating an empty nest. Maybe a new opportunity for you. It all is wonderful to look around and see the changes in our world as well as in our life. Our family is being pushed in some very specific directions as well as each individual person.

Fall is my favorite time of year. I love the cooler weather because I am a jeans and sweatshirt kind of girl. I love the sunny days and the cooler nights. I love the beauty of the changing leaves. I think it is a wonderful time to see the planet getting ready for a period of rest.

Think about all the positive things that come from the changing seasons instead of focusing on the negative things like: I don't like the cold, I hate snow...etc. etc. God created this planet perfectly and so we must have faith in his creation that it is all good, maybe even the parts we are not so fond of. Try this year to be amazed and humbled by all his creation instead of a chronic whiner about the parts we don't like. I will be trying this as well.

Be blessed.

Observations

Well it is Labor Day and in Northern Michigan it looks like fall and the cold have officially moved in. These are some of my observations I have since my last writing on August 12th.

School. For most people and their families school is starting. We have been working for a month now. The other day my children were at the school playing on the playground and this is the conversation that occurred.
Noah: Mom how many times do the kids get out for recess.
Mom: Once a day when I was a girl we had 2 recesses and also out at lunch.
Noah: No wonder kids are overweight today.
Mom: Noah they eat more junk food then when I was a kid I don't think recess has all to do with it.
Noah: Josh would pop if he had to sit that long.
Mom: probably
Noah: hmmmmm

I think my kids are thankful that when they need to burn off a quick burst of energy they can run out and do it and come back in and continue with their work.

Weather. The weather is getting chilly early this year we had several cool days in August. We are heading into what I believe is going to be a cold winter and possibly long as well. I am so thankful for Gods provision that my family will be taken care of. I know he is the one who has lead me to preserve an abundance of food this year and he also made sure we had the money to purchase the wood we needed. I have concerns this coming winter for many possibly not so fortunate people and I do not know why. My mission will be to praise God even if I don't like the weather and try to help those who are not so fortunate.

God has brought me into a new season in my life. I have much that he is working on with me. I am so thankful for some very key people he has placed in my path that are here to help me through the outworking of some areas of hurt. He is good and has clearly revealed a few things to me that I will be taking on for project. New seasons are a very interesting thing to go through. Sometimes you are sad to see the old ones go but happy to move onto exciting new adventures.

Be blessed.

Family Economy

I have been reading quite a bit about a family economy lately. I have even considered downloading an 18 hours audio series for $25 off of bluebehemoth. We have always tried to somewhat run a family economy but have come to the conclusion lately after some books and audio I listened to that we really don't do it fully. Providing for our family by our own means would be best without a doubt.

Step one. Get completely debt free including the house. Think about this. At my home my taxes run $1200 per year that is $100 per month. Electric averages $150. Cell phone $48. Heat in the winter is about $150 I am guessing between wood and propane. Food we spend $500 per month and eat well. Insurance is about $150 for the cars and gas not quite sure. Less that $1500 per month. That comes to less that 20k per year. That is the equivalent of $10 per hour at McDonalds if one must find any job. The heat portion of that is only for 6 months as well. My point is it does not take lots and I am sure we could trim that more by working on more gardening.

A family economy is truly having the whole family work at your business or ventures. If you farm, lets say, everyone helps farm. If you own a store everyone can help at the store. This is for the benefit of the family not the individual. You can pay your kids but I would believe from what I have read that that is a minimal amount because they are helping the family and this is what the family does to keep it going.

So step two for my family would be to get our businesses going to a level where it is self sustaining and able to provide for our family. We have handling the email clubs for small businesses. The boys could go with to visit clients, pick up slips, drop off information. Doll clothes. While the boys could not sew they could attend craft shows, help set up, stock shelves and run the cash register. We could do more with our small fruit farming as well. Having the boys help weed, pick fruit, wash and package and help deliver to market or sell at roadside.

In the end I am not totally sure of how you handle all this but I do believe it is something to look into much more heavily. I am feeling pressed by the Lord that over the next 2 years that we need to make some serious changes because there are serious changes coming in our country. I am not an alarmist or worry about these things. God has just been preparing my heart for changes.

What do you do with your family? Does everyone have to participate and help with things that benefit the family? I am not talking strictly about house cleaning. My daughter used to have to go lift wood put it in the splitter and stack it. An only house cleaning daughter she is not and I believe it will make her better as she knows what really serious work is.

Maybe just rambling but I think this is a subject that deserves serious consideration from all families.

Be blessed.

Are we using our things wisely?

Sunday at church we had a guest speaker. He talked about Luke chapter 16 where two parables appear that are not seen in any other of the Gospels. The parable of the shrewd manager and the rich man and Lazarus. I was seriously enlightened and God pressed many things onto my heart.

In the end when we go to meet the Lord we will give an accounting before God for our use of our time, money and possessions. Wow that is pretty intense. Not of our sins those have been wiped clean. But how we used these gifts God gave to us. How we handle our money and worldly possessions is a test of our character, values, life, stewardship and his Lordship. I knew all this but it came to a whole new light.

John Wesley at first was making 30 pounds a year and his necessity spending was at 28. Then he was making 60 kept his spending at 28 and gave the rest away then was making 90 and still only used 28. 150 still only spent 28. Later in life in the thousands and still kept it at 28, how amazing is that. We tend to keep increasing our spending with our pay increases. This man had it right on.

We live in the wealthiest nation in the world. If you are at poverty level which I believe is around 20k you are in the top 2% of income earners in the world. If you are at half of that you are in the top 7%.

Regardless of our dropping retirement or investment funds we are such a blessed people who participate in the practice of chronic whining. I want to give God a good accounting of my time and money and have to make that change now! What will you do? Will you make an effort to be a good steward in every area. Time, money and possesions. Or will you continue to go on living the American way. Alas my heart has been convicted and I cannot go on same as always.

Be blessed.

Jam , Jam , Jam

So today I made jam! Blueberry, strawberry, raspberry. Now one must know that I do not encourage alot of sugar eating in my house however homemade jam is different for me. I am well aware that it takes a boatload of sugar to make it. However I also know this. My homemade jam consists of 3 main ingredients. Fruit, sugar and pectin. Depending on the fruit sometimes lemon juice. Not many times can you say that about anything that is store bought and I can pronounce all of it.

Homemade jam is not inexpensive to make. Strawberry for example: 5 cups of berries, 7 cups of sugar, 1/3 cup pectin and all that makes only 5- 8oz and 4- 6oz jars. However these make such a wonderful gift for someone who is having a birthday, having a bad day or at a holiday. It can add up to a small fortune. I have been blessed with my own strawberries and then neighbors have let me get the rest of the fruit off of their plants. I think between what we eat and what I give as gifts it is well worth the expense and effort.

God reminds me that even though we run on a budget and taking care of a family our size is not cheap that I must share what he has blessed me with. He is the provider and takes care of my family. He will make sure we have exactly what we need to have. Sometimes we can take things too far and want to keep it all for ourselves. Several years ago a had a friend who hit quite a rough spot. She literally could not hardly get her hands on food even. I would pick her up and let her come shop through what we had and take her back home. I could have said... "here is some cash" and left the rest up to her. God made sure we had enough to provide for her and for us. At the time I did not realize what that meant to her.

I share this not because I want to feel grand. I share it because when you are blessed with extra please don't be afraid to share it with someone who might be in need. The Lord may have provide you with just that little bit extra for the time when that person was coming and needed it. Not just in food. Maybe it was $5, maybe it was that extra pair of pants or that second winter coat. Be ready, be prepared and make sure you are willing to give to others if God calls on you to do so. In the end it is not mine or yours it is all his. He just is using us to get it where it needs to go sometimes.

Be blessed.