Happy Birthday, Bre

BRE IS 22 YEARS OLD TODAY! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SWEETIE!!!

Chore Update!

I mentioned last week that I wanted to get back to my system but I didn't want to use index cards. I decided to check the Internet out for Side Tracked Home Executives....they do have a website...and they now have a daily planner instead of cards and I THINK the computer program makes cards for one....but I still didn't really want to do the cards.

Bre called sometime last week and reminded me that the cards were a pain with a toddler in the house. ::snort:: I wanted to type out lists of chores for each room. That wouldn't be so great for the Nolan and Zander.

I kept searching. Low and behold....in the SHS files I found Kelly's chore charts which she'd mentioned in my comment section. I excitedly printed them out. THEN I found MY chore chart from Alaska. This was not a complete chore chart but it listed the main daily/weekly things that I wanted done in each room. I printed it and we're on track. (If only I could find our camper check list now). This is not working as smoothly as it did when the girls lived at home - owners of A1 Cleaning Services ::snort:: but it's helping. Each person helps with a meal clean up or set up during the day and each person has a weekly area that is their responsibility. Simple. I let the older two boys out of this as we never see them. So it's Me and the remaining 5 children for the family zones.

THEN Trish sent me info on a system I had been planning to order. In fact - after I ordered I found out I was an affiliate. ::snort:: They gave me a discount on my stuff. I checked my sidebar and the info is there but there is no graphic or anything. This is my link if you decide to order. ::snort:: I ordered Zone Cleaning and received A bedroom cleaning one too.

These are fun and helpful for Nolan and Zander. Zander can't read so my other charts aren't great for him - they require me to read each instructoin. Nolan's therapist says he has processing trouble and I'm to draw pictures for each instruction I give him - THIS works great. I think the system will easily work without the books - afterall the Zone Cleaning really is my system...but for those with processing disorders or for young children this is FUN and GREAT and I didn't have to make my own charts. LOL

Zone cleaning covers the kitchen, the bathroom and the living room. The chores they list are close to what I have on my daily/weekly chart. There is space to add more chores if you'd like. I let the two younger ones use these when they are assigned one of those rooms.

The bedroom one has a system for cleaning well BEDROOMS. ::snort:: Here you go:

Get out your baskets: labeled toys, returns, books, clothes

Make a giant pile of everything out of place in the middle of your room....

Even from under the bed! WHY do they put toys under the bunk bed....

Sort the things into the four baskets. Grab a basket and TAKE IT WITH YOU as you put things away. Stacia loves to help.

When trash reaches the line; empty it.

Put baskets away.

Simple - but their room has been cleaned all week. OK it is REALLY messy several times a day but when I say "is your room clean" they know exactly how to pick it up now. LOL We'll add dusting and vacuuming as needed.

The photos make this usable for my younger set. It really does help Nolan do what he's asked to do......the therapist is going to think these are COOL. LOL

We got a Package!!!

From Grandma and Grandpa! It was full of cool stuff. There were little balls that boing and light up and make noise, there was a purse, nerf rockets, bubbles that are sticky and don't break (yikes - WHAT is in these things ::snort::)....lots of things.

Contraband candy for Mike and I....::snort:: and Happy Feet - there is NO way I'm posting the photo of me holding that. Sorry. ::snort::

Our Thursday Night Pool Party

Zander

Stacia's Favorite Trick (couldn't quite catch it with the delay thing)

Arielle was a big help with Zander when he wanted to go to the big pool

::snort:: I miss sports mode on the Nikon. This may have that, but I've not found it! LOL Picture Zander and Nolan barrelling out of here. Tried to find a new suit for Stacia. She decided at about 7:30 that it was time for the suit to come off. It is a suit from last year. So...we looked. No luck. So far just little bikinis. Don't they make one piece suits for infants any longer??????

~Highlights of the Day ~

Today was another busy day. My poor "to do" list is screaming in anguish and I could be stressed when I think how close our trip is and the THINGS I have to do. BUT - I've chosen not to stress. I thought I'd just share the highlights of the day.

This a.m. Deja and her children helped us sort produce. This was great. It was a small day so we were able to visit face to face. Deja AMAZES me at all she manages to do with her young children. I simply get tired and cranky if I have to leave my house....::snort::

Another highlight of the day was dinner out with two chaplains and their spouses. It was really fun to visit.

BUT - by far the highlight of the day was taking Arielle out for some girl time. We went to Walmart and picked out a gift for one of our chaplain's wives. We picked out some feminine foundation items for someone who is growing up too fast. I REMEMBERED, Bre and Krista, at the last moment not to hold them up to her to measure. We went to Academy and bought her a new swimsuit....and then we went to Coldstone....where we had Bible Study. We are working through *A Girl of Beauty* by Carol Fiddler. This book is written for PRE-TEENS (8-12). I don't have a lot of regrets from raising our girls...but one is that I never quite pulled off the focused one on one time in the word with them that I wanted. Don't get me wrong, Christ was our priority. We did a lot of studies. We did a lot of family studies. The kids cut their teeth on inductive studies. They love the Lord now. The girls attended Precept studies that I led...but I felt I could have done MORE mentoring with them. Maybe all moms feel this way. LOL

It's long been on my heart to have a mother/daughter Bible study...and I've seen glimpses of this. I've had several in my classes go home and teach their children. We've had high school girls attend our Precept classes.....I believe that cross-generational mentoring is very important and missing in most groups....anyway....my weekly meetings with Arielle are a start. We're both going to learn and grow through this simple book. I specifically chose a simple book to start with so that we established a habit and that I didn't blow her away with an inductive overview of the book of Revelation or something. ::snort:: This book focus' on different character traits. A short devotional and then some verses for further study. We're going to go to different venues for our study - special outings for US. Today we sat outside at Coldstone and talked through our lesson. Sure, some folks stared...but I think they were simply envious of the fun we were having. LOL Since I am not leading a study this summer, it seemed like a good time to establish a routine. (Mike is planning similar with the boys. The problem is that HE has 5 at home and they range from 5 - 18; he'll probably have to do 2 nights or something.)

One thing we discussed today that was GOOD is that the author talks a lot about character being something that takes HARD WORK to develop. I understand her point. WE have to make the daily choices that build character. I shared that really the hardest thing is to "let God do His work" (surrender). That HE is willing to give us the strength to make right choices, decisions, and to resist temptation, but that we have to be willing to let him do the work. In adult speak - we have to yield and surrender to the work that He is doing INSIDE us. It was good to get that off my chest; I certainly don't want to create a girl who thinks she must simply try harder to have the image of Christ formed in her life.

I know it's a highlight in Arielle's week too. I talked with Bre tonight. She mentioned that when she asked Arielle what she had done this week Arielle told her all about our Bible Study. YES!

Note:Mike spends lots of times with the girls and I spend lots of time with the boys as well. We also spend lots of time as a family. These are simply special times to bring up issues that they may not bring up with mixed gender around....Precious times. I look forward to more - 8 years more.

Book Review: The Ministry of Motherhood, Ch 9

Chapter Nine Quotes ~ Enough for a - Lifetime A Model of Faith (my thoughts in green)

We're getting comments on Chapters 7 and 8 - so I'm going to go ahead and post some more today. Remember, you can click on the links in the sidebar to read what others are saying and dialogue back and forth, at any time.

We now move to examine "Gift of Faith" in our GIFTS acronym.
"In order to know God and follow His purposes, we must know and understand His word, which is the primary source of our knowledge of Him and His ways. " page 99

OK I could pull some little semantics here and get into a theological discussion - but honestly - the point is well taken. We do NEED to be in the word, to know the God of the Bible and to trust in His character.
Faith Leads us to stake our lives on God's truth as revealed in the word. page 99 I guess I would say that faith leads us to stake our lives on the truth of God's character and nature as revealed in the word.....but yeah - I'm there with this.
After talking about the disciple John, Sally goes on to quote, " Jesus said that this world is passing away, that we will live with him in his kingdom for eternity, but also that eternity starts right now as we establish his spiritual kingdom in our hearts and learn to live with an eternal perspective. " page 105
This is BIG. Do you get it? I remember the first time I heard a pastor explore this view of eternal life - it was a much younger Mike. ::snort:: We studied it out (because I check everyone out when it's something new) and the word tense etc in this passage in John is amazing. It changed me to realize that when Jesus came to bring us eternal life it is not pie in the sky. It's now. He came to give us a life that is characterized by the eternal. That abundant life begins NOW even in the midst of the fading away and decay of our world and society. Cool stuff.
If we teach our children through our actions or instruction, even subtly, that being successful in this world is somehow a measure of their importance and success, then we will miss the point of all the Lord's teaching. We are given one chance to live on earth and the true measure of our success will be our faith, our faithfulness, and our obedience. page 105... If they can keep eternity before their eyes, they will be able to live in hope no matter what happens to them in this life." also page 105
Whew this is good for parents to remember. Maybe, especially homeschooling parents? I'd love to hear some thoughts on this. First this was convicting - ouch. What AM I focusing on with the children? How am I measuring their success? Then, it was encouraging....because I know of some weak areas in my graduates. But THEY LOVE THE LORD WHOLEHEARTEDLY....and the more I thought about it that really is the TRUE measure of success for a Christian, isn't' it? I think that Sally is not saying that you won't focus on excellence, but that you will train your children not to think more highly of themselves than they ought if they excel in things the world considers important. What do you think?
I think the main point of this chapter is to keep eternity before our eyes.
Oops no time to even proofread - gotta go pick up produce.

Book Review: *The Seven Pillars of Health by Dr. Don Colbert*

I first saw this book during the holiday season. I began asking if anyone had read it and no one had. Then, Dr. Colbert came to a local church one weekend. His wife hosted a seminar the next day. Church leaders were invited. My friend Tricia and I went. (*Note Tricia is not Trish and doesn't like to be called Trish either - ah my confusion). Advanced copies of this book were given to everyone who attended.

I read this book to "keep the conversation going", as my dietitian says. She explained that it is important for me to keep the principles of healthy eating in the forefront of my mind...otherwise I tend to skip meals, cut portions, fast for 3 or 4 days on end....that sort of thing. Many of you have read my journey.

I started this book - but certainly wasn't making the expected progress in it. ::snort:: Until I put it on my Spring Reading Thing List.

My views expressed in this review about some of the theology I caught glimpses of hold true.....BUT there is a lot of great info in this book. I didn't find as many annoying references to "read this book I wrote" in this book - but it could be because it is a bigger book and so they were more spread out - or it could be because I simply let my eyes bounce when I saw a recommendation coming. ::snort::

Dr. Colbert says that if we have two pillars out of whack - we'll be "ok". When we get 3 or more out of sync we end up ill and such. The pillars are: Water, Sleep and Rest, Living Food, Exercise, Detoxification, Nutritional Supplements, and Freedom From Stress.

The chapter on Nutritional Supplements was FULL of information. I really don't do supplements. After reading his thoughts I see WHY the person eating the SAD (standard American diet) would need supplements. However, over and over he says that this is found in perfect balance in fruit, this is found in green veggies...and it seems to me that if you are following the principles in *What the Bible Says About Healthy Living* you may not need such a full range of supplements. AND if your dietitian has you eating 10 - 13 servings of produce a day to lower your cholesterol I'm quite sure you're getting all the phytonutrients, antioxidants and etc that you need. Of course, Dr. Colbert would say that eating so much non-organic produce is actually going to make me ill because of the pesticides. ARGH. (Note on that above link- I know longer follow the principles of Thin Within to a tee - because I was never eating for days on end and killed my metabolism).

Dr. Colbert makes a big push for organics. I get it - in my mind. It's the pocket book that isn't getting it. LOL Well - there are a lot of little things that he may be right on, but I'm not quite ready to implement...

However, this is an easy format - one chapter a day for 6 weeks. This book also has a DVD series and is meant to be used in a small group format.

The statistics here were eye-opening. Statistics show that for the first time in our history our children (statistically) have a lower life expectancy than their parents because of diseases such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes that young, young children are getting.

One of my favorite lines goes something like this.....if you have a headache you don't have a "Tylenol deficiency"....if you can't sleep you don't have a "sleeping pill deficiency"....I think of that often and it has helped me to evaluate choices I make....except I still think Benadryl is a wonder. ::snort::