The Family Daughter give-away on A Wise woman Builds her home

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The Family Daughter: Becoming Pillars of Strength In Our Father's House Giveaway!

I feel so honored and blessed to share this wonderful book with you--The Family Daughter: Becoming Pillars of Strength in our Father's House that I received from the author Miss Sarah Bryant. It is sooooo hard to find books that inspire girls, both young and old, in godliness nowadays and this is exactly the kind of book that I would look for and buy for my daughters.

Sharing from her own struggles and triumphs, Miss Bryant, who is the oldest daughter of eight, encourages young ladies to become vital cornerstones in their father's home while preparing for godly womanhood. Filled with encouragement and personal testimonies, The Family Daughter is a book that will help Christian daughters begin the journey of being their family's pillar of strength and virtue.

What I so enjoyed about the book was that she shares real life struggles with biblical solutions, so that everyone girl can relate. Not only that, but there are also other daughters that share little bits of nuggets of wisdom, I think this is vitally important so that our daughters can learn from multiple daughters who have much to offer in experience. There is so valuable teaching on godly character--from contentment, encouraging their brothers and sisters, gentleness, how to take correction...truly a treasure trove of wisdom!

Here is what Mrs. Jennie Chancey, author of Passionate Housewives Desperate for God, had to say about this book:

"...In this utterly transparent book, Sarah Bryan speaks from her hearts about the daily walk of the daughter at home. Sharing her own struggles and triumphs, Sarah demonstrates that it is grace that animates our calling as godly women and that God is faithful to equip us as we joyfully submit to His sanctifying power... I was not only refreshed by Sarah's honest words; I was convicted anew of areas I need to work on as a wife and mother! If you are a daughter at home, this book will encourage you to pursue the Lord's work with new vision..."

I couldn't have put it more beautifully myself! Here is an excerpt  from a sectioned entitled 'Encouraging Manly Brothers':

"Do you realize what a great influence you are in your brother's life? My life is helping mold my brothers into the kind of men they will become. It humbles me to think that the traits my brothers see in me also is chiefly  how they will think of womanhood, and also what they someday will look for in a wife. I deeply regret the opportunities I have allowed to slip past, when I could have positively influenced my brother's lives. I have so much precious time, and I am now learning from my mistakes. I want to encourage you to redeem the days you have with your brothers now; the way you use this time may influence generations. Our lives are impacting the kind of husband, father, and leader they will be as they become men. We have an opportunity today to encourage these future fathers to live in a way which will honor the Lord--we can influence potentially hundreds of descendants."

This vision is what is missing from today's culture---daughter's need to see the influence they can have for Jesus Christ in the bigger picture and not just be focused upon themselves. This is what I love about this book and why I will encourage my own daughters to read it as well!

 

Miss Sarah Bryant is also the founder of The King's Blooming Rose Ministry and editor of The King's Blooming Rose, a magazine that encourages young ladies to the grow of their Christian walk. The magazine is filled with  wonderful things such as poems, yummy recipes, craft projects, book reviews, homemaking tips, herbal and nutrition information, beautiful photography, pen-pal requests, and annual contests, that you also might be interested in. If you are looking for great resources for your daughter or granddaughters--you've found it! These would also make a great gift for Christmas:

Through each issue, you will meet hundreds of other young ladies who are seeking the Lord and serving their families. Their prayer is that readers would be inspired to live a closer daily walk with Jesus through the fellowship and encouragement of other believers.


Go to this link to enter into the drawing!!!

Need some input please…..

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I am at an age old crossroads for women........should I highlight/die my hair or keep it its natural color

This is a picture of me shortly after we were married in 2001...my blond hair was getting darker but not nearly as dark as it is now and it is highlighted in this picture.....

Now mind you, in the picture above that was before I was saved...now, I do not wear my hair down like that...the most it will be down during the day (usu. once the children are in bed and it is just husband and I then it comes down all the way) is like the picture below which is from June of this year...and 99% of the time it is up in a bun and I wear a headcovering, although you can only see the slightest bit of it on the left side of the picture...it covers the whole backside of my head and is black, but I can order a white one.... plus there was all the make up, jewelry, nail polish etc....I tend not to wear much make up, my skin is so sensitive to breaking out that I tend to stay away from it except special occasions and its juts my wedding band now and cross...I would imagine the glow in that picture comes most from the fact that we had only been married about 2 months when these were taken!

My husband has never said a word about it one way or the other and I bet if I asked him he would say sure go ahead...

So do I highlight and spend the maintenance fee every other month or whatever...or do I just leave it natural...

I need input from both sides so please either comment or email me privately.

The Amnon Principe…..Devotional Lamplight Publishing

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The Amnon Principle

Boys need to be preparing for marriage as early as kindergarten! At an early age our boys must see themselves as the protectors of a damsel in distress. They should be encouraged to be the first to run and pick up a girl's dropped books. They should make a special effort to open the door for ladies. Our boys need to go against the culture and see that girls are a special. A boy should be in prayer for the one who will someday be his wife, companion, and in many ways, his earthly completion.

Our boys must also learn that the first year of marriage needs to be different than all of the rest. God commanded that a young man who had taken a wife be not charged with any business, or go to war, but be free at home for one year, to bring happiness to his wife (Deut. 24). I believe that this passage is teaching that a young man should not take on anything extra during his first year of marriage. He should be financially secure. Since financial stress is one of the most damaging conflicts in a young marriage, our boys need to understand the importance of hard work and savings before they even consider marriage. Proverbs 24:27 teaches that we are to prepare our fields first and then build our house.

Lastly, it is crucial that our boys learn the Amnon principle. In I Samuel 13, Absalom's sister Tamar was loved deeply by her step brother Amnon. His love for her was so great that he thought he could not live another day without her. Unfortunately, his lust was greater than his love and he lost both her and his life; and Tamar lost her purity and honor. Our boys need to understand that when they engage in a physical relationship prior to marriage, they actually damage--and may even destroy--any future relationship with the one they love.

The Gift that keeps on giving…

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Do you ever wish you could give a gift for someone that would never get broken, never “go bad”, ever wear out its excitement?

At this time of year, it has been our families tradition to help out other families.  In years past we have gone to the stores and found the “Angel Trees”.  These are the Christmas trees that have the paper angels on them with children’s names on them.  They are usually from low income families and there is a short list of items the child could use…i.e. clothing and or toys.  We have usually picked out angels that are close to the age of our children.  We then take our children with us to go shopping and they get to help us pick out the gifts that we then turn around and give to the store to pass onto the family in need.  This has been a wonderful ministry for our children to practice and to learn about giving to others less fortunate than themselves.

This year, we are going to do something different!!  We actually haven’t done something like this since my oldest son’s twin died in utero and we wanted to do something in honor of that blessing.

Take some time and go to Heifer.org Heifer International supplies animals to families living in  in poverty.

“By giving families a hand-up, not just a hand-out, we empower them to turn lives of hunger and poverty into self-reliance and hope.

With gifts of livestock and training, we help families improve their nutrition and generate income in sustainable ways. We refer to the animals as "living loans" because in exchange for their livestock and training, families agree to give one of its animal's offspring to another family in need. It's called Passing on the Gift – a cornerstone of our mission that creates an ever-expanding network of hope and peace.”

The last time we did this we gave the gift of a goat, this year, we are going to choose five different animals and do partial gifts.  A partial gift, joins your donations with other families to make the purchase of a whole animal.

“The gifts of cows, goats, sheep, chicks, bees or trees become the fuel for hope and give people not a handout, but rather a way out of the cycle of hunger and poverty.

These are living gifts that not only provide families with the dignity of feeding themselves but also with the means to pay for clothing, education, doctor’s visits and decent shelter.

And then, because each recipient family must pass on the first offspring of the animal they received, or the equivalent, each gift given is multiplied again and again with each new generation.  It’s a cycle of empowerment that has now been changing lives for more than 65 years, thanks to the compassion and support of donations from people like us and you.”

If you go to this link: http://www.heifer.org/worldark/catalog you can see a list of all the animals that are available for giving as well as for partial donations.

I believe and so does our family that this is a truly a gift that can keep on giving…it is also a way that our children can learn about helping people in other countries and stir their interest in going on future missions trips to help out the less fortunate and share the gospel.

Thank you for taking the time to go and look at this wonderful giving opportunity.

God Bless~~

Mini Devotional…Stormie Ormartian

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God will use your abilities and talents to touch others powerfully.  When your heart is to give to others from what God has given to you, He will enable you to do that.  Giving to God and to other people is such a vitally important part of our life on this earth that we can never achieve all we want to see happen in our lives if we’re not doing that.  It’s a major factor in realizing the complete purposes of God for us.

Mini Devotional’s… Stormie Omartian

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I was given a perpetual calendar for my birthday.  The Power of a Praying Woman by Stormie Omartian.  I am sure many of you have heard of her books.

Every once in a while there is a really good zinger…at least that is what I call them

As I come across them, I’ll post them here and keep them under the same heading.

Jesus’ temptation happened just before the greatest breakthrough in His life and ministry.  It will happen before the greatest breakthrough in yours, too. Be ready for it. And remember that no matter how great the temptation is you face, “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4)

A fresh perspective to take when we are faced with the trials of daily life…do we take the high road with the help of Jesus or do we give into our flesh and take the other road that leads to destruction thinking that we can do it on our own….or thinking that we cannot do it…whatever it may be…..

Homemade Gifts….

Pin It Looking for a home made gift for a little child in your family or relative?  Are you wanting to make a gift to give to a newborn baby or someone else?

Well, let me interest you in these wonderful little beauties…Felt Flashcards…which can also be used for a Memory game!  You can find the full and complete tutorial over at: Sew Much Ado
I am attending a Baby Shower for a wonderful lady at our church and I thought this would make a nice gift…something a little different and something that would last a long time.



My theory here was how educational these can be…

• They can be used to learn numbers
  
• They can be used to learn colors
  
• They can be used to learn shapes
  
• They can be used to strengthen memory skills
  
• They can be used to do simple math!!

 

Now in the tutorial, she did shapes and numbers on their own cards….I did shapes on one side and numbers on the flip side.  I saw on the comments of the tutorial that some only did numbers 1-5, so the possibilities are whatever you want to create…. One lady did shapes but did a leaf, butterfly, banana, bird, etc….. I stuck to basic shapes, chose a different color for every shape, same with the numbers….and then I also included the math symbols of addition and subtraction so you could do simple math problems as well.

  

Here is a picture of them somewhat in progress…

 

I had all the numbers sewn on and was now deciding which shapes were to correspond to which number….I wanted to mix up the shapes so you wouldn’t automatically know that both number three’s would have a star for the shape… The tutorial does a good job of explaining how to put these flash cards together…here are a few additional pictures… This is the assembled card without the grommet.

Make sure you buy 9mm size Grommets...the 6mm will be too small if you do lots of cards.

 
The next step is getting the hole cut for the grommet to go through.  Take the grommet on the front side of your card and press it into the felt and kind of twist it back and forth, or spin it back in forth if that makes better sense….



 
Once you have done that you will see a mark left on the felt for the size of the circle you need. You can see the imprint in the upper left corner in the picture below.

   

Next, fold the corner down so the circle is folded in half and take your scissors and cut a slit in the felt.

 

Once you have the slit, insert your scissors into the whole and cut around the outside edge of the imprinted circle….it will make it just large enough for the grommet to slip through without having to tug and pull on the felt.



 
Once you have the circle cut out, insert your grommet from the right side through to the back…there is no particular right or wrong side, just do them all the same 
 


 
Next you will be taking the back half and placing it over the back of the grommet.

 

In this picture below, the flat part is just resting over the grommet with the rounded side up.  You can see a slight bit of felt showing around the inner circle.

   

Take your grommet tool and sandwich the felt between the tool and squeeze down as tight as you can….

 
 
_{When it is all done it should come out looking something close to this…}

   

So just to recap, I made two sets of numbers and two sets of shapes…which amounted to 20 cards total with 3 math symbols that I did not make duplicates of…. So you can do the memory  game with shapes:(keep in mind there would be twice as many cards on the ground if you made as many as I did.)


 
or you can try and find numbers….


 
These are great toys…they are QUIET!! The store easily on a ring….

   

Consider making these for a gift sometime…nothing beats a home made gift made with love and prayers!!!

I am Crowned…Nancy Campbell Devotional

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I AM CROWNED!

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

and all that is within me,

bless his holy name!

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

and forget not all his benefits:

who forgives all your iniquities,

who heals all your diseases,

who redeems your life from destruction,

who crowns you with loving kindness

and tender mercies." (Psalm 103:1-4).

 

What a loving, tender-hearted and compassionate God we have.

Every day He crowns me with loving kindnesses. Every day He

crowns you with loving kindnesses.

 

Do I hear you say, "When was the last time God crowned me?"

Stop and think about it for a moment. God crowns you with His

loving kindnesses through people around you. When your baby

or your little child smiles at you, in fact when anyone smiles at

you, you are crowned with God's loving kindness. Every time

your husband embraces you, you receive another one of God's

loving kindnesses. Every time he helps you with the dishes or

baths the children, it is God's blessing to you. When someone

says an encouraging word to you, it is God's loving kindness to

you. He has not forgotten about you. You are graven on the palms

of His hands. He has forgiven your sins. He has healed you many

times.

 

When you sit down at your table and eat the bountiful food God

daily provides for you, it is His loving kindness to you. When

you reap the harvest from the garden you have planted, it is His

loving kindness. When you look up at the clouds and are

reminded of His faithfulness, you are crowned. You look at the

mountains, the ocean, the undulating hills and trees and you are

blessed that He has given you all these things to freely enjoy.

And you don't have to pay a cent. The world is yours to enjoy, no

matter how little money you have in your pocket!

 

Start looking for God's loving kindnesses. They are all around

you. They are happening to you throughout the day. Instead of

focusing on your problems and disappointments, look out for

God's blessings. Learn to be aware of them. Do not forget one of

His benefits. Not one! Gratefully thank the Lord for every tiny

one. I am starting to do this more and more. In fact, when I read

this Scripture about being crowned I was very convicted. I

realized that I had been taking God's blessings for granted. Now

I seek to thank the Lord for crowning me every time I receive a

blessing-a hug, a smile, a word of encouragement, the blessing

of children around me and the joy they give with their antics and

funny things they say. The blessings of God's creation-the

flowers, the birds, the butterflies and the beautiful colors of the

fall which I am beholding as I look out of my window now.  It

makes such a difference to your life when you become grateful

for every little crowning from the Lord.

 

Because God is crowning me through His people (and maybe

even those who are not His people), am I letting Him use me to

be his vehicle through which he can crown others? This is a

challenge for us, isn't it?

 

Recently my daughter, Serene faced a difficult trial, a little more

difficult because her husband was overseas fulfilling a contract

with the military. In the middle of being weighed down by the

problem, her car ran out of gas in the middle of a busy lane of

traffic. She had all the children in the car and the car wouldn't

budge another inch! She put on her blinkers and decided to call

the police, but her phone suddenly went dead! She was stuck!

She cried out to the Lord. He nudged her to try the car again.

Miraculously it started and she managed, weaving through

traffic, to get to the side of the road. She was still stranded, but

then God showed her His loving kindness. People stopped

their cars to help her. She had more help than she could use.

Some were people she would normally be scared to talk to.

 

One big burly guy with tattoos all over him drove to a service

station and bought gas for her and filled up her car. She knew

God was sending His angels to her. Not only did she get gas

for her car, but the loving kindness of strangers and this big,

scary tattooed "angel" caused Serene to feel God's loving

kindness pouring all over her. She forgot all her problems and

filled the van with praises the rest of her journey.

 

We can be used by the Lord to crown our husband, our children

and many others with the loving kindness of the Lord. Let's be

on the offensive to give love-hugs, smiles, affirmation,

encouragement and practical help wherever needed. What a

blessing to be the instrument of God's loving kindness.

Love from NANCY CAMPBELL

 

PRAYER:

"Thank you, dear Father, for constantly crowning me with your

loving kindnesses. Help me to be aware of them and full of

gratefulness to you. And please anoint me to b a messenger of

your loving kindnesses to others around me. Amen."

AFFIRMATION:

I will not forget a single blessing!

 

Many women like to save these devotions. They print them

out and keep them in a folder to read over and over again.

Some print them out and pin them on the fridge with a magnet

to read through the week. If you are printing this devotion

and need it to be smaller, highlight and change to a smaller

font.

 

If you know others who would be blessed by these devotions,

you are welcome to forward them or let them know they can

subscribe by sending a blank email to

subscribers-on@aboverubies.org

 

 

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Homeschool future room….

Pin It Well I am just posting some pictures of the garage… these were of when we first bought the house…9 years ago and then maybe a year later when we built a small workbench….
So yea, ummm… it is not that neat…uncluttered anymore….
I’ll have to get some measurements and some pictures of real time looks to see/show what the transformation would be….once/when it happens….

I would like to put a long counter the whole length of this wall and have several stations along for each child…. and then keep the center of the room for possibly a small couch and chair…. My husband would like to put French doors in with windows as well… This is an Eastern exposure…Sun rises through these windows and goes over the garage door side ….so lots of light all day long.

This little alcove currently holds our second freezer, yard can, a co-sleeper…boxes for recycling…etc.

This section is barely reachable because of a montage of outdoor toys, bikes and scooters… not to mention a blind that was chewed up by a possum or raccoon or some such night animal and about a gazillion bugs on the blinds….
I’ll get you some good photo’s soon

A post about mommies...please take a moment to read....

Pin It Cassidy's Blog has a very thoughtful post entitled For All Mommies ...please take some time to go and read and if you would share the link it would be greatly appreciated.

God Bless~~

Your Homeschool School room ideas….

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So, you have the chance to design, to implement your ideal homeschool school room….

What would you include…have you seen pictures somewhere…catalogs, etc… what would you not include!

There is a very good chance that we are going to convert our two-car garage into a school room!

We have two nice windows in there already and we would take out the garage door and put in French doors with side windows as well….

I just recently came across a blog hop that was all about pictures of everyone’s homeschool rooms for 2010 http://heartofthematteronline.com/nbtsbh-2010-week-2 

There are over 200 entries, so that is going to take a little time to go through them all.

Have you found some good places to find “deals” for things for the homeschool?

Please share your ideas.

God Bless

My Oldest Son’s Birthday

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Friday, Nov. 5th,was a day of rejoicing as we celebrated another birthday .  ~Master A~ turned 6 and was just quite happy about it all day long!

Breakfast started out with one of our favorites here…Waffles with jam, with ice cream and whip cream on top!!

The next favorite tradition for this young man’s birthday is the first glass of Eggnog for the season!!! Eggnog always arrives at the grocery store the first week of November and that is just perfect timing for this little guy’s birthday each year.

 

Daddy finally made it home from work and that meant the anticipation of opening blessings was finally over!

His big Sister was a big help in reading the various cards to him.

There were a few blessings to unwrap….

I really love these piggy banks…they start out early helping reinforce that we need to be good stewards of our finances…there is a spend, save, invest, donate sections…

The best way to keep the Lil Guy from getting into the gifts….give ‘em Cheerio’s!!

And for a little fun outside…with chalk….

Yes, there are about 40 sticks of chalk in that box!!! In all the shades of the rainbow!

Afterwards it was off to dinner at his favorite Mexican restaurant

There must have been at least six other people there that same night celebrating their birthday….usually, if you are in a restaurant, you might here one or two celebrations but this was continuous .  Then finally it was back home for home made carrot cake!!!

I love seeing all the children blowing out the candles even though it isn’t their birthday….like they are helping even though they are not close enough to blow them out….so cute!!!

Have a blessed week!!