I'm determined to do at least one crafty thing with the kids every day since it's officially summer, and yesterday we made playdough.  I forgot how much fun it was; even my 8 yo enjoyed it!  So here's a recipe, in case you have a crazy desire to make a mess in your kitchen.

2 cps flour

1 cp salt

2 Tbs oil

1 tsp cream of tartar

1 1/2 cps hot water

Mix well!  That's it!  You can add whatever food coloring you like to this, *or* I've heard that instant jello powder makes great color and a lovely scent (but haven't tried it myself!)  Keep it in a ziploc and it'll be good for a couple of weeks.  The cream of tartar is a stabilizer.

I just finished reading a great book I picked up at the bookstore called "Is That Really You, God?" by Loren Cunningham, founder of YWAM, about hearing the voice of God.  It was fantastic, and I think I'm going to read it aloud to the kids over the next couple of weeks. 

Our pool is finally up and running and the kids are going to be living in there for the summer, I'm pretty sure!  Hurray!  Even the baby likes it, though he still screams his head off in the tub.  I just got home from doing my grocery game-ing at the groceries and drugstore, and added up my totals . . . I spent $207 for $464 worth of stuff!  Woohoo!  This week I got 6 deodorants; 12 boxes of my summer favorite, Suddenly Salad pasta mix in Bacon Ranch;  and 12 bottles of shampoo for FREE.  Love it!   

Bo made it to TMI!  Yippee!  As of today, he officially has only 2 days left of Boot Camp, then on Friday our family will drive down and join them for a couple days of the first -ever Teen Missions Family Camp.  We'll get to eat with their team and do whatever they're working on--cleaning up the camp and packing for their trip, mostly--and also spend time in the pool and on the lake.  The girls and baby and I will not be roughing it in the swamp, we will rough it at the Clarion right down the road instead, but we'll get a general idea, anyway! It will be great to have some Bo time before he's gone for 5 weeks!  We're excited to see him. 

I'm so excited about the way this whole thing worked out.  The thing is, we "just happened" to finally watch the CBS special about Teen Missions on Father's Day, after both Rob's dad and I independently thought of it the day before (even though they recorded it 3 months ago!)  My 13 yo had wanted to go this summer, to CHINA, no less, and I just didn't have any peace about that for multiple reasons, and this last-minute decision of B's meant there really wasn't time to even consider it for Z.  Last year was months of low-level stress, shopping, packing, reading, fundraising, etc etc. as we prepared for Bo to go.  This year, we decided, put the word out, prayed and started packing--literally before we even had a dollar pledged for the trip.  The night B said he wanted to go (it was midnight, I promise you!) I told him to pray about it, and we'd pray, too.  The more dh and I discussed it, the more it seemed that perhaps he really was supposed to go and that this was a setup.  There were so many opportunities that had presented themselves this summer for the kids and for us, and all of them had one by one fallen by the wayside for one reason or another.  I'd been really praying for the Lord to show me something he could do for the summer; they weren't interested in our church youth camp, and the only other camp I'd consider sending them to was over 14 hours from here.  I told Bo I really wanted for us to hear from God *before* we even called TMI, because I wanted him to experience being led by the Spirit rather than practical things--obviously if God wanted him to go, the practical things would follow, but wouldn't it be more exciting to *know* the practical answers would be "yes" before they actually were?  So we set out to pray.

 The next morning I told B to "think with his Bible."  I think that's going to be my new saying, because it's totally what I do most of the time! I took my Bible at about 6:45 that morning--no way I could stay in bed!-- and opened right up to Daniel, the book the Lord had spoken so clearly to me from last summer for Bo while he was away.  Then I decided to read the chapter of Proverbs for the day, which "just happened" to include the *other* scripture God gave me last year specifically for Bo after he got home!  When Bo came out of his room he said that he'd been reading in Isaiah about the Lord saying, "Who will go for Me, and whom shall I send?" and Isaiah said "Here am I--send me!" and then later there was something about a time frame of "in just a few days" (he was supposed to leave 3 days later) and also something about living in tents.    So he felt like that was all a "yes."  I called R's mom and talked it over with her, and she thought it sounded like the Lord, too, as did my dear friend MistyB who called me that morning to talk about something totally different which I cannot recall at this point.  Next step was to wait for TMI to open, call them and see if they'd allow us to sign up so late--was there even room on the team?  The kids were due to start arriving the next day, after all!  They told Bo they were thrilled he wanted to go, but of course he couldn't because he wouldn't have the necessary visa . . . only he did.  So there was room on the team and they'd take him . . . if they could get him a seat on the plane.  They would call back in the afternoon.  So I told B to start packing while we waited!  At about 4:30 the call came in--yup, he could get a seat. 

We put the note out on my blog, and the rest is history.  $325 of his money came in from people who I'm not sure I know!  I just received a list from TMI and some names I don't recognize.  Please know, if I don't *know* you and haven't already thanked you personally, that we are incredibly grateful and blessed by your giving, we are praying for a hundred-fold return, and that the story of God providing the money in 2 days preceded us to the Teen Missions base--I had people coming up to us saying "How did you do that?"  and all I could do was say, "You have to hear God tell you to do it and then pray your head off!"  My poor husband was so worried.  I think guys have such a burden to provide and give their kids whatever they want, so this was really hard for him!  He said to me at least twice, "Ummmm, do we have a backup plan?"  and I just had to say, "No, dear, there is no backup plan!  God is the first plan and the last plan!"  He was amazed, too.  It was a great experience.  Seriously, if we'd known in advance, we could've stashed money away from other places.  That's another reason I think God did it this way--I promise you, He wanted to show off.  He taught our whole family a great lesson!

So to top it off, Bo has the best leaders there, and great, great kids on his team.  Only 10 kids, and 5 leaders!  He's loving Boot Camp; Zachary and I drove down to Merritt Island on Saturday night to visit only to get caught in a tornado warning with all the kids and have to cram into a 40x20 room with all 600-ish of them (they haven't had showers, mind you, in a week--ugh!) for the worship rally while the storm blew outside!  It was great.  Love watching teens worship.  And the message was great.  He's happy as a clam even though he's covered with bug bites and dousing himself with Gold Bond to try to not sweat to death.  They expected to return that night in the dark to sleep in tents that were most likely flooded.  Don't know how they do it!

So if you despair of the teenagers of our day, check out www.teenmissions.org some night around 7:15 (it'll have to be before Sunday, though I believe you can get the podcasts on itunes anytime.)  Click on "webcasts", and watch the evening rally.  It's usually on til about 9, when they send the kids to bed so they can get 8 hours in before they have to get up and run the obstacle course.  There are a few hundred teens with no mall, no video games, no cell phones, no showers, no comfy beds, no tv . . . and they're headed all over the world to serve God this summer.  I LOVE it.   

I'm going to do my best to get back to posting and try to put something encouraging here every day!  I hope everyone is enjoying their summer so far!

Here's a slide show I made of the pictures we had from the first week of bootcamp.  Sorry, I couldn't get the captions to work!  Anyway, you can see a bit of what it's like there.

Edited  5 pm Sunday, June 22nd to add:  I just spoke with the finance dept at TMI and they gave me the current total, which was $350-ish more than I thought we had!  So we're within just over a couple hundred dollars now.  I am amazed, amazed, amazed at God.  Isn't it awesome? 

Well, if you were hanging around here watching on Friday, you saw that God sent us $3260 between 5pm Thursday and midnight Friday!  AMAZING!  We were just thrilled to watch it, and I know it was a major lesson for us *and* for my dear son.  We just spent the day packing and praying.  How exciting!

We drove to Teen Missions Boot Camp at 6 am on Saturday morning, and got him all set up there!  As you can see we still need another $615 as of today (Sunday the 22nd) at 2 pm, but we're trusting that it will come.  Teen Missions let him go ahead and be there since we were so close and they know it's on the way.  So, if anyone wants to donate, there's still a few more days to do so!  Here's the link once again where you can donate--every little bit helps!  Don't forget to put his name, Bo Krasawski, in the "comments" box.

https://dlq4.donatelinq.net/donatelinq4/Donation.aspx?MerchantID=teenmissionsorg

 And here's that little ticker guy, running toward the prize!  He's awfully close!

We were thrilled to find out that his team is being lead by Dave and Vanja Cochrane, the wonderful staff of Teen Missions who actually *live* in Brazil and come back to the US to lead teams back to there and also Australia sometimes.  Everyone on campus raves about them.  His team is small this year--only 10 kids; 5 boys and 5 girls.  They also have three assistant leaders!!!  They all seem to have sweet spirits and I really think this is going to be a wonderful year for Bo; I think God's really calling him to be a leader this year and help set the temperature, so to speak, for what's going to happen.  It's funny, because my dear hubby wrote him a card on Friday night and snuck it into his luggage (isn't that sweet???) and I asked him about it, and he said that's what it was all about--he found this card at the store randomly (yeah right)--it was an aerial shot of the rainforest and was all about being a leader and really giving life all you've got, and he encouraged Bo to do exactly that.  Sweet!  I can't wait to share the stories.

And just in case you can't get enough of links, LOL, here's one to teen missions' website--you can watch the evening rallies LIVE, every night at 7:15 EST!

http://teenmissions.org/connect/webcast.php

Again, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for every dollar donated.  I'm praying fervently that every dollar given comes back to the giver a hundredfold, so be watching out for surprises! 

Well, about ready to head out the door.  Bo has $615 left to raise (plus we have some funds we have to wait a smidge for) so we made it--there are a few people we're still waiting on and we believe he'll definitely be well provided for.  Thank you so much, to everyone who prayed or gave.  Now's not the time to quit--now the work starts for him!  You can continue to give with the link below, too; their office is tracking it and we will arrive there in about 3 hours so there's still time for the total to get in before he does!  I'll update things later this afternoon.  THANK YOU!

**Thanks so much to those leaving messages and even giving online!  It's wonderful!  The online donation button here isn't linked to the counting "ticker" here, though--I have to update it myself.  TMI doesn't have a way of notifying me about online contributions, either--they just keep track in their own financial system but I don't receive any updates, so if you do give online, please shoot me an email or leave me a note about the amount here in the comments, if you'd be so kind!  Bless you, bless you, bless you--it's so fun to see people give!**

I thought it would be fun to watch this today.  We're expecting God to show off.  After all, most people would find it pretty impossible to come up with $4000 in 36 hours . . . and we're no exception!  So we're worshipping around here today, watching to see God do a miracle.  I'll update this little ticker as the status changes!  It's so fun--whether it's $5 or $500, every bit adds up!  We need to have it all either in their office via online donations or in hand as cash when we go tomorrow morning (we'll probably be leaving around 6:30 am!) so our deadline is really midnight tonight, I guess!

And just in case you want to get in on it . . .   Here's a link to Teen Missions donation website page.

They'll keep Bo updated with emails for his progress.  Please pray!!!  I'm in "lets just get this part done!" mode . . . there will be plenty of time for a mini-breakdown about my son being gone for the whole summer (AGAIN!) later on, I'm sure! 

Okay, my son went to Teen Missions last summer.  It was a bittersweet experience, and he didn't plan to go again this year. 

That is, until last night. 

We called the ministry this morning and they said that since he has a visa which is good for 5 years, the only question marks are

a) whether or not they can get him a plane ticket

b) if we can raise the money for the trip--$3795 ish.

They spend 2 1/2 weeks in an intense preparatory boot camp, which starts TOMORROW/SATURDAY.  We have to bring the money with us (normally we wouldve started fundraising in January!!!).

We will also have lots of shopping and packing to do!

So please pray that the Lord opens doors!  They will call us this afternoon to let us know if the ticket is possible, and we'll start asking for support for him as soon as that happens.  We need God to show off here!

Paint! 

Yellow paint, to be exact!  Maybe I should have entitled this post, "what's happening TO our house."  It's been a flurry of activity as my husband's friend and the boys collaborate on this major project.  The house was a lovely slate blue, which I was personally quite fond of.  We haven't painted since we moved in (naughty, naughty, I know) and so it's been about 12 years.    Therefore, the poor dehydrated wood is sucking down the paint, LOL.  It's a very lovely, buttery shade, and I will try to post a picture here . . .

  So, as you can see, we're not done yet!  Actually they finished that side (for the most part) last night, but there's still the fourth side and a bit of rolling to be done, and then the trim work starts.  Woohoo!  My porch and trim will be cream and the door is going to be a deep green.  It's a big change.  Very happy and cottage-y looking.  Fun!

I spent part of yesterday with my dear friend and homeschool-group leader Kim, going over the older boys' transcripts so they're ready to be mailed off to the high school for next year (the transcripts, not the boys.)  That was quite a project!  At one point during the process, when one of them was complete, I got teary!  I had to pull it together, but whew, it was a strange feeling thinking that I am *done*.  Later I had the opposite feeling--thinking that I'm DONE as far as their school is concerned--I'm done being the only one totally responsible for everything--and it was such a *relief*!  Women are something, aren't we???

And in other fascinating news, LOL, I think I may be heading down to Lakewood tonight to check out the Florida Revival that's being talked about everywhere--MSNBC even had it on the other night.  There are people flying here from all over the world, and there are reports of amazing healings happening there.  I've heard enough and watched some and I am just so curious to see what it's really all about.  I know God is calling me closer to Himself and I really want everything He has for me.  I believe that means more in general, and I'm anxious to see it all!  So I should have a big report tomorrow!

It's an amazing time to be alive in America. We're in a year of firsts in this presidential election: the first viable woman candidate; the first viable African-American candidate; and, a candidate who is the first frontrunning freedom fighter over 70. The next president of America will be a first.

We won't truly be in an election of firsts, however, until we judge every candidate by where they stand. We won't arrive where we should be until we no longer talk about skin color or gender.

Now that Barack Obama steps to the front of the Democratic field, we need to stop talking about his race, and start talking about his policies and his politics.

The reality is this: Though the Democrats will not have a nominee until August, unless Hillary Clinton drops out, Mr. Obama is now the frontrunner, and its time America takes a closer and deeper look at him.

Some pundits are calling him the next John F. Kennedy. He's not. He's the next George McGovern. And it's time people learned the facts.

Because the truth is that Mr. Obama is the single most liberal senator in the entire U.S. Senate. He is more liberal than Ted Kennedy, Bernie Sanders, or Mrs. Clinton.

Never in my life have I seen a presidential frontrunner whose rhetoric is so far removed from his record. Walter Mondale promised to raise our taxes, and he lost. George McGovern promised military weakness, and he lost. Michael Dukakis promised a liberal domestic agenda, and he lost.

Yet Mr. Obama is promising all those things, and he's not behind in the polls. Why? Because the press has dealt with him as if he were in a beauty pageant.

Mr. Obama talks about getting past party, getting past red and blue, to lead the United States of America. But let's look at the more defined strokes of who he is underneath this superficial "beauty."

Start with national security, since the president's most important duties are as commander-in-chief. Over the summer, Mr. Obama talked about invading Pakistan, a nation armed with nuclear weapons; meeting without preconditions with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who vows to destroy Israel and create another Holocaust; and Kim Jong Il, who is murdering and starving his people, but emphasized that the nuclear option was off the table against terrorists — something no president has ever taken off the table since we created nuclear weapons in the 1940s. Even Democrats who have worked in national security condemned all of those remarks. Mr. Obama is a foreign-policy novice who would put our national security at risk.

Next, consider economic policy. For all its faults, our health care system is the strongest in the world. And free trade agreements, created by Bill Clinton as well as President Bush, have made more goods more affordable so that even people of modest means can live a life that no one imagined a generation ago. Yet Mr. Obama promises to raise taxes on "the rich."

How to fix Social Security? Raise taxes. How to fix Medicare? Raise taxes. Prescription drugs? Raise taxes. Free college? Raise taxes. Socialize medicine? Raise taxes. His solution to everything is to have government take it over. Big Brother on steroids, funded by your paycheck.

Finally, look at the social issues. Mr. Obama had the audacity to open a stadium rally by saying, "All praise and glory to God!" but says that Christian leaders speaking for life and marriage have "hijacked" — hijacked — Christianity. He is pro-partial birth abortion, and promises to appoint Supreme Court justices who will rule any restriction on it unconstitutional. He espouses the abortion views of Margaret Sanger, one of the early advocates of racial cleansing. His spiritual leaders endorse homosexual marriage, and he is moving in that direction. In Illinois, he refused to vote against a statewide ban — ban — on all handguns in the state. These are radical left, Hollywood, and San Francisco values, not Middle America values.

The real Mr. Obama is an easy target for the general election. Mrs. Clinton is a far tougher opponent. But Mr. Obama could win if people don't start looking behind his veneer and flowery speeches. His vision of "bringing America together" means saying that those who disagree with his agenda for America are hijackers or warmongers. Uniting the country means adopting his liberal agenda and abandoning any conflicting beliefs.

But right now everyone is talking about how eloquent of a speaker he is and — yes — they're talking about his race. Those should never be the factors on which we base our choice for president. Mr. Obama's radical agenda sets him far outside the American mainstream, to the left of Mrs. Clinton.

It's time to talk about the real Barack Obama. In an election of firsts, let's first make sure we elect the person who is qualified to be our president in a nuclear age during a global civilizational war.

Mr. Blackwell, a fellow at the American Civil Rights Union and the Family Research Council, is a columnist for The New York Sun, and a contributing editor for Townhall.com.

* I just looked at this on my actual published page and it's a MESS!  I will do my best to get this a bit more organized somehow (copy and paste it from somewhere else?) as soon as I can.  So sorry!*

Many years ago my husband and I knew a family who had a big bookshelf in their basement that was filled with . . . FOOD.  I remember looking at him and thinking, "What on earth are these people doing?  They need something better to do with their time or something!"  They had a large family to my mind at the time--four children--LOL now!--and she prided herself on shopping cheaply.

Fast forward to May of 2008.  Stockpiling has become part of my life through The Grocery Game, and I LOVE saving money on groceries!  I have been doing it for several years and introduced many others to the fun of surprising grocery cashiers with the amount of savings you can get (not to mention the number of coupons you can use--did you know you can use 2 coupons when you purchase things "Buy One Get One Free"?  Yup!)  Honestly, though, my mind hasn't had room for managing coupons this school year, and I've only recently returned to the idea of a stockpile.  Now, though, I find I'm not alone, as economic forecasters everywhere are encouraging people to be prudent in their food storage.

I always wonder, though . . . what do we need?  What will we really eat?  Bags of dried beans would do little good around here, I'm afraid, as no one would eat them!  I'm realizing that I should maybe consider trying to get my family used to at least some foods that would be more survival-friendly.  Anyway, I found a couple of lists I wanted to share in order to help anyone else who'd like to start building a stockpile.  We all know the Red Cross and everyone else tells us we need 72-hour kits anyway--for snowstorms and hurricanes and whatever else could happen.  I think a 52-week supply is a *great* idea.  These lists are from Mormon recommendations, in case anyone is wondering, and are meant as a suggestion--leave out anything you don't like, but at least it's a starting point!  The first is monthly suggestions for creating 72-hour kits for each member of your family over the course of a year.  They are meant to be stored in backpacks.  You could start with *this* month . . . I think I'll do that, and purchase 2 months at a time so I'm done in 6 months rather than 12!  Note: water is a given.  I believe they say you should have 1 gallon of water per person per day--in my family, then, a year's supply would be . . . 365x9 . . . 3285 gallons of water!  Wow!  I need to research that more, because I've no idea *how* one should store water.  Here's the list.

                                                            January

“The very condition of having Friends is that we should want something else besides Friends. Where the truthful answer to the question ‘Do you see the same truth?’ would be ‘I see nothing and I don’t care about the truth; I only want a Friend,’ no Friendship can arise… There would be nothing for Friendship to be about; and Friendship must be about something… Those who have nothing can share nothing; those who are going nowhere can have no fellow-travelers.” C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

Wow.  I love C.S. Lewis' ability to call it like it is.

I've been pondering this subject of friendship a lot lately, and this quote is right where I'm "at."  How difficult it is to find a friend!  In this culture, surrounded by pop stars and reality television and noise everywhere--I was astonished some time ago to sit down at a booth in a restaurant I hadn't visited in awhile to find a mini-television ON THE TABLE!  Remarkable.  Of course we have already learned that we can't *shop* without the television (thank you, Wal-Mart) . . . yesterday in the dentist's office I was annoyed because I'd taken a book to read (you know you're a mom when you look forward to doctor/dentist appointments and hospital stays because you can finally read that book you've been yearning to delve into!) and the radio was being piped in so loudly that the commercials were breaking into my train of thought.  It's like Big Brother or something . . . our minds are being shaped at every turn, and not for the better, I'm afraid.

Breathe.

Okay, so anyway, my point was that I think in such an environment as we live, it is incredibly difficult to be a person of any substance.   "Friendship must be about something" and yet we aren't "about" anything because we are a mile wide and an inch deep.  Of necessity, may I add, because we are only of a certain volume as people, and when poured out over a vast plain we are only capable of covering it to a negligible depth.  The great information highway of the internet allows us to know a tiny bit about an enormous number of subjects--and leads us to feel like we should conquer it all.  We have a zillion interests and a zillion passing acquaintances but few areas of real knowledge and few real friendships.

Our children are following in our footsteps, with an incredible pressure on their lives to spread themselves even more thinly.  I know teens who send 300 text messages a day.  What sort of real relationship can be developed with sentences like "W R U?" and "AYDY?"  (Are you done yet? for those of you whom, like me, are not especially text-savvy.)  There was concern several years ago that relationships were devolving somehow through the proliferation of email.  What can the surge of text messaging foretell but more of the same--and worse, faster?  Don't get me wrong--I send notes to friends, too.  Being able to text a quick note in the midst of diaper changes and English lessons is a godsend at times.  We just have to be diligent to monitor our dependence on such shallow means of communication, lest our relationships--and ourselves--become mere shadows of what they--and we--were designed to be.

We have to know this is true in our relationships with the Lord, too.  We were created for relationship with the living God, and He is jealous for us to spend time with Him.  Don't let that relationship turn into one of text messaging--a quick "Good morning, Lord," "Thank you for this dinner," "Help me on this test!"  Set-aside, nothing-interrupting-you time with the Lord is indespensible to any kind of real growth in our spiritual lives, not to mention our sanity!

My dear friend MistyB passed this on to me tonight, and I thought it might be of interest to someone else out there.     I've read that Mr. Obama's spokesman has stated that "sometimes he does, and sometimes he doesn't" place his hand over his heart during the pledge or the Star Spangled Banner . . . what does that say about a man who is running for the office of President?  That he doesn't feel it necessary to conform to the most common form of patriotism in our country?  There are definitely some interesting points made here, including much about Black Liberation Theology of which I was not previously aware, as well as the fact that he has given up wearing an American Flag pin on his lapel because he "doesn't agree with" all that it stands for.  ????? 

http://www.theurbangrind.net/?p=2570

Maria's funeral service is taking place right now.

Lord, let your presence be felt.  Bathe them in peace and grace and forgiveness and comfort and love.  Carry them in your arms, Father. 

I first heard this song at the ranch in Arkansas (of course) and it's quickly become my favorite--I think--Kari Jobe is a worship leader at Christ for the Nations in Dallas, and there are several more songs they do available on youtube.  I've been going from one to another all morning--I'm going to have to download the album!  I woke up singing this song, and we've enjoyed listening to this one as well as The Revelation Song, No Sweeter Name, and several others over a candlelight breakfast! It's a great way to start your day--or end it!  Enjoy!

 http://youtube.com/watch?v=U3GijrnfStk

Divine Interruptions.  Watch out for them!  It may be that the interruption in your day is from the Lord.  Give all you have to whomever God has entrusted you with--your husband, your children, your church; the checker at the grocery store, your child's Sunday school teacher.  The people in your house are gifts from God to you, and they are IMPORTANT!  We need to value them more.  God wants us to be in a place where we have something to give to those around us.  We need to speak into the lives of our kids.  We have to say, "You are special!  God has great plans for you.  You are such a neat person!  I can't wait to see how God uses your life.  You are a blessing to me!"

Kids with great gifts will take up a lot of our time!  But can you think of a better use for that time?  If our children spend a lot of time whining for something to do, for new and better toys and trips and trinkets, perhaps they need something *real* to do.  I couldn't help but feel a little sick when I heard one of my kids describing to me how he needed a new paintball gun, because he'd attended a church outing where the kids were using them, and everyone else's was "way better" than his.  They're over a hundred dollars new--egads!  I realized we needed to spend some time talking about real needs!  What if all the youth group kids spending tons of money on paintball guns got a heart for the people of Myanmar, or China?  Or Africa, or South America, for that matter?  What if they had a real goal, instead of wasting their time and money and effort on worthless things???

The world is anxiously awaiting Christians who are so satisfied in Jesus that they don't need to self-destruct.

Read that again; it was good. 

Don't need to self-destruct with drugs, or alcohol, or unforgiveness, or overeating, or diet pills, or ANYTHING.  We need to find our satisfaction in the King of Kings!  Create a beautiful life that makes people want what you have--a relationship with Jesus Himself.  Close in with God.  Love the people He has placed in front of you for whatever amount of time they are there.  Take up your cross daily and follow Him.  He is where all the joy is!

 We have to do our best to serve God in the place He has put us.  We need to be sowing seed all the time. 

Now, if you haven't been introduced to Heidi Baker, you've gotta check out some of the videos on youtube.  Here's one . . . http://youtube.com/watch?v=c6oB0UTwNK0

She and her husband serve God primarily in Mozambique, where they rescue homeless children--to the tune of some 10,000 at this point through churches they've started.  She teaches the pastors that they're responsible to each take in 1-10 orphans themselves in order to be a good example to their people--wow! 
Every time I watched one of the videos (we saw 3 of them over the course of the weekend) I just wanted to trade places with her! 

What does God want your family to give their lives to?

Who do you want to be like?

Who wants to be like you???

I'm out to whet your appetite for a trip to Arkansas next fall! So here's the view from my favorite spot on the hill at Brookhill Ranch, where I had lunch with Jesus on Saturday afternoon.    I'll write more about that later. 

I guess I'll start at the beginning.  Well, almost the beginning.  I've determined that explaining about Popeye and Olive Oyl at this point might be too confusing.  So I'll just start with a statement Hettie made on Friday night.

"Live an intentional life."

I must say, I love this concept and was thrilled to get the reminder from Hettie Lue about how important it is.  It is a message I first heard from another homeschool heroine of mine, Sally Clarkson.  So many live their lives as if on accident, just going with the flow of whatever happens moment by moment. ]

 The kids are banging on the bedroom door--well, it must be time to get up.  "What's for breakfast?"--guess I should make something (or better yet, send them to the pantry to get their own cereal.)  Doorbell's ringing--whoops, guess I'd better get dressed.  "Hit the TV remote button and let's see what's on."  Friday we have to turn in reports of what we've done in homeschool this year, so we'd better look through everyone's workbooks today (have we done anything?)  Husband's almost home--better pick up the house, quick!  Mother-in-law is coming for dinner, so we should drag out the cookbook and make something--have to run to the store first, though, since the fridge is practically empty . . .

sound familiar?  I resemble some of these sentences!  Yikes.  It's a recipe for exhaustion, frustration, and disaster.  We have no purpose, no goals, so we accomplish nothing of real use.  We lose track of our dreams and the gifts God gave us and wonder why we become depressed.  We don't read our Bible/forgive those who offend us/attend church/practice hospitality, and wonder why our children don't obey US.  (Ouch!)  STOP!  Don't live another day like this.  You are training your children to be just like you--or perhaps, to want to be as un-like you as possible, if they see how miserable you are! 

Hettie told us that one reason we'd come to the ranch was to get rid of crankiness, and that our families would appreciate it.  That was definitely true for me!  God doesn't want us to be cranky!  We blame it on our circumstances and the people around us.  Nope.  Responsibility lies squarely in our own laps for how we act and react to our lives.  Take it!

When we arrived at Brookhill we found the pavilion decorated with . . . clotheslines.  Yup, you heard me; clotheslines. 

There were dishtowels and little kids' clothes and diapers and husband's jeans hanging from the ceilings.  There was an area set up to look like a garden with gloves and trowels and hoes and pots; one corner looked like your own kitchen sink with dishes needing washing, cookbooks and skillets.  There was an area of children's toys.  And in the front of the room was this beautiful wooden representation of an elegant lady.  She was about 12 feet tall, and wearing a beautiful, tulle-wrapped white hat; a gorgeous, long, white dress; leaning on a white parasol trimmed in marabou, and having a most serene expression.  Picture Mary Poppins, only taller. 

  I looked around and thought, "This is my life!  Dishes and laundry and toys!  Only, that's the life I want--that dressed-in-white (clean white!), serene lady-life!" 

And that's exactly what Hettie talked about.  She said that we truly are that beautiful lady--the "elect lady" as she's called in the triple books of John toward the end of the New Testament--in the spirit.  She's refined, high-class, wealthy, not worried or frazzled.  She's our potential; she's what's usually referred to as the "spirit man" inside us.  And we need to learn to be that in the midst of our everyday lives.  I thought later that so often I feel exhausted because I run my home as if I were a slave driver or some sort of drill sargeant, and that is so far from my true personality that it's extremely tiring.  I need to be more like Mary Poppins!  A spoonful of sugar, you know . . . lets go to the park and ride the carousel . . . remembering that the people in our lives are the most important thing.  We can only sail through the reality of our lives with serenity when we are full of the Spirit; when we've taken time to be with Jesus and let His life flow into us.  I was challenged to spend more time praying in the Spirit first thing in the mornings, especially since one of the purposes of our prayer language is to edify us--to build us up.  And to remember that my family is both a precious gift and an incredibly costly stewardship. 

God wants us to be obedient to His purposes.  He doesn't want the circumstances of our lives to reduce us to nothing.  When we know who we are in Christ, the beauty of that "elect lady" will be evident in our lives as we go about the humble activities that make up our days, and people will be drawn to us because they will see a difference.  The world is starving for joy!  People are starving for serenity in the midst of chaos.  Who better to display both of those qualities than a homeschooling mom who has every reason in the world's eyes to be a frustrated wreck?    A change of perspective can make all the difference in our worlds!  We *are* filled with God's spirit.  We *are* full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control--are we letting them out?  Are we living in obedience to all we know God to be asking of us, so that the life of God can flow through us?  God has given us His grace.  It's an amazing, precious gift.  It is not a license to do whatever we want--or to obey God when we feel like getting around to it!  Grace is much like freedom--the ability to do right.  Are we walking in grace?  We are responsible for ourselves before God.  I would challenge you . . . in areas of discontent, frustration, boredom . . . I believe that if you'd ask God (or just look into your own heart, where you probably already know the answer) you'd find some area of disobedience which needs to be addressed.

Will you do it?

Do you want your kids to do it?  Or will you pass on a heritage of self-willed disobedience to them? 

Ask God . . ."What is it that I'm supposed to be doing?"  It might be some area of sin--you need to stop doing something.  Or it may be some area of neglect--something God told you to do that you are not doing.  Volunteering for VBS.  Homeschooling.  Calling that neighbor and inviting her for tea.  Cleaning out that closet.  Going overseas for a missions trip.  Making a date with your husband.

Ask Him, and wait for the answer.  Then DO IT!   

Edited to add--thanks, Mom!: seminar cost is $150; $125 if you don't stay at the ranch itself--there's a little hotel about 8 minutes down the road with rooms for $75 per night (2 nights for seminar time) if you'd rather not be in a cabin with 15 other ladies, LOL!  Maybe we could even get enough girls to go that we could have a cabin all to ourselves, which would be super fun . . . *but* there are rumors of wildlife in the bathrooms--not fun at night!    You could have a room at the hotel to yourself if you know you need it to be able to sleep comfortably, or double or even quadruple up if you want to save some $!  They feed us *well* at the seminar, so there are no food costs.  Just add whatever travel expenses you'll have for a total!

I've got a few minutes while the waffles cook to type!  I've been wanting to crack open my notes and share a little of what I've been learning in the past few weeks and haven't taken the time, so here goes.

First of all, I want to throw out this invitation to all my friends, old and new.    Please go check out Hettie Lue Brooks' family ministry, Brookhill Ranch.  They have a Christian school, church, radio station, kids' camps during the summer, and a college.  Every spring and fall, Hettie hosts a women's seminar.  For three weekends, several hundred women come and stay at the ranch for several sessions of teaching, demonstration, singing and renewal.  I hadn't been there in at least 8 years, and was thrilled to find it even more beautiful and more inspiring than I remembered.  So here we go:  I want as many of you as can to meet me there this fall!  I think the fall seminar is generally September/October, and I'd like to go for the last one (whenever it is.)  Some of you have been there before, and others haven't.  Wouldn't it make a fun reunion?  I want my mom and sister to go, too!  My birthday is in October, so I will consider it a gift to me if you just show up, LOL!  While I was there I just kept picturing so many of my dear girlfriends being blessed by the ministry they have, and I know we'd all have a great time together--but the most wonderful thing would be the change the Lord would do in our lives.  I personally feel like I was taken apart and put back together; it will take some time to really get it all down here at my blog but I have 20-some pages of journalled notes to share!  So drop one Starbucks visit a week, or pull a smidge out of your grocery money, start throwing coins in a bottle or cash in the bank or *something* and get ready to fly to Arkansas in the fall! 

I really felt like I was being set up for this retreat from the moment I signed up.  I picked up that book by Dannah Gresh (5 Questions . . . I wrote about it earlier) and realized that it probably would end up "matching" the theme of Hettie's seminar, which was "The Elect Lady and Her Discontent."  Weird title, mmm?  Not the usual for her!  Anyway, the book led me to see that my frustration and discouragement needed to be read as signals that I'm working outside of my personality type (given by God) and probably outside of His plan for me at this point--or at least, it's meant to direct me otherwise.  I wasn't really sure what all that meant, but it was a relief to think that I wasn't doomed to another 20 years of feeling overwhelmed!  I am such a planner by nature that I work extremely hard to figure out what is the "right way" to do everything.  The problem is that if that plan doesn't work (or stops working) I find myself absolutely stuck--it's very difficult for me to come up with another plan!  In my world, plan B doesn't exist!  Imagine how well that works out, LOL.  Anyway . . . I brought another old book called Total Joy which I randomly grabbed from my bookshelf--one I'd never read before (so strange!)-- with me, and the first few chapters, I read at the airport in Little Rock.  It's mostly about having joy because your marriage is good, and that was great reading for me on my way.  Of course, we have to start with Jesus, and then ourselves!  Here are my notes . . .

a) change what you don't like about yourself.  This would include weight, your attitude, fitness level, clothing, learning, etc.

b) accept what you can't change.  Eye color, ethnicity, marriage status, LOL--these are in this category!

c) get out of your rut! Stop doing the same thing if it makes you and those around you miserable.

d) Live in the moment--move toward your goal.

Good, mmm?  Okay, so then she said to pick a one-word epitaph for yourself.  What would yours be?  (I had to say "tired"!)  What would your family choose as a word to describe you?  Busy?  Devoted?  Happy?  Cranky?  Is that something you want to change?  DO IT!

What things in your life do you most want to change?  Write them down.  Then, write down next to each item the thing you are going to start doing to change it TODAY. 

Make a list, and do the "worst things first."  That needs to be a motto around here!

Okay, waffles are done.  Time to rally the troops for breakfast!

I've copied and pasted portions from one of the (ai yi yi!) many emails in my inbox this morning because it was so good, I had to share it.  I love the folks at Vision Forum and their heart for the preservation of the traditional family.  This would have been a good thing to read before Mother's Day, but I was at DisneyWorld so you'll have to forgive me!  If you'd like to read the entire letter (it's worth reading!) and receive others, you can check them out at www.visionforum.com . 

Only women can be mothers. Have we forgotten this fundamental?

Only a woman can carry in her body an eternal being which bears the very image of God. Only she is the recipient of the miracle of life. Only a woman can conceive and nurture this life using her own flesh and blood, and then deliver a living soul into the world. God has bestowed upon her alone a genuine miracle — the creation of life, and the fusing of an eternal soul with mortal flesh. This fact alone establishes the glory of motherhood.

Despite the most creative plans of humanist scientists and lawmakers to redefine the sexes, no man will ever conceive and give birth to a child. The fruitful womb is a holy gift given by God to women alone. This is one reason why the office of wife and mother is the highest calling to which a woman can aspire.

This is the reason why nations that fear the Lord esteem and protect mothers. They glory in the distinctions between men and women, and attempt to build cultures in which motherhood is honored and protected.

In his famous commentary on early American life, Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville explained:

Thus the Americans do not think that man and woman have either the duty or the right to perform the same offices, but they show an equal regard for both their respective parts; and though their lot is different, they consider both of them as beings of equal value. They do not give to the courage of woman the same form or the same direction as to that of man, but they never doubt her courage; and if they hold that man and his partner ought not always to exercise their intellect and understanding in the same manner, they at least believe the understanding of the one to be as sound as that of the other, and her intellect to be as clear. Thus, then, while they have allowed the social inferiority of woman to continue, they have done all they could to raise her morally and intellectually to the level of man; and in this respect they appear to me to have excellently understood the true principle of democratic improvement.

De Tocqueville contrasted the American understanding of women, with European sentiments:

There are people in Europe who, confounding together the different characteristics of the sexes, would make man and woman into beings not only equal but alike. They could give to both the same functions, impose on both the same duties, and grant to both the same rights; they would mix them in all things — their occupations, their pleasures, their business. It may readily be conceived that by thus attempting to make one sex equal to the other, both are degraded, and from so preposterous a medley of the works of nature nothing could ever result but weak men and disorderly women.

The War on Motherhood

America’s glory was her women. de Tocqueville believed this when he wrote:

As for myself, I do not hesitate to avow that although the women of the United States are confined within the narrow circle of domestic life, and their situation is in some respects one of extreme dependence, I have nowhere seen woman occupying a loftier position; and if I were asked, now that I am drawing to the close of this work, in which I have spoken of so many important things done by the Americans, to what the singular prosperity and growing strength of that people ought mainly to be attributed, I should reply: To the superiority of their women.

But this birthright would be exchanged during the last century for a mess of pottage. Perhaps the greatest legacy of the 20th century has been the war on motherhood and biblical patriarchy. Feminists, Marxists, and liberal theologians have made it their aim to target the institution of the family and divest it from its biblical structure and priorities. The results are androgyny, a radical decline in birthrate, abortion, fatherless families, and social confusion.

Incredibly, the biggest story of the 20th century never made headline news [i]. Somehow we missed it. It was the mass exodus of women from the home, and the consequent decline of motherhood. For the first time in recorded history of the West, more mothers left their homes than stayed in them. By leaving the home, the experience and reality of childhood, family life and femininity were fundamentally redefined, and the results have been so bad that if this one trend is not reversed, our grandchildren may live in a world where the both the true culture of Christian family life and the historic definition of marriage are the stuff of fairy tales.

Heaven help us.

The chorus of this song is so powerful to me!  I was in tears on my way home tonight listening to it on the radio.  It seems to be right where God has me--preparing to let go of (something???) keeping me from being all I should be with Him.  I knew I liked Chris Sligh!

Empty me of the selfishness inside
Every vain ambition and the poison of my pride
And any foolish thing my heart holds to
Lord, empty me of me so I can be filled with You

I've seen just enough of the quick buys
Of the best lies
To know how prodigals can be drawn away

I know how I could stray
And how fast my heart could change

Empty me of the selfishness inside
Every vain ambition and the poison of my pride
And any foolish thing my heart holds to
Lord, empty me of me so I can be filled with You

'Cause everything is a lesser thing
Compared to You, compared to You
'Cause everything is a lesser thing
Compared to You, so I surrender all!

Empty me of the selfishness inside
Every vain ambition and the poison of my pride
And any foolish thing my heart holds to
Lord, empty me of me so I can be filled with You

"Empty Me," Chris Sligh

Wow!  It's been 10 days since I've posted anything, and even then it was a link!  Whew, we've been busy.  Mostly, we've been doing school, and whenever I'm online, I've been planning our trip to Disney!  The people at WDW-DINE have become my best friends lately, LOL.  I've made more phone calls to them this week than to my husband.  If you're not familiar with the Disney dining system, basically their restaurants book up very quickly.  The "window" for making reservations is anywhere from 180-365 days, depending on the restaurant!  I'm a little closer to our trip than that, of course, and so I'm doing some scrambling trying to make arrangements.   They actually don't even take walk-ups at any of the table service restaurants *at all* anymore, so I'm trying to arrange one meal a day at a nice spot and then we'll do "counter service" for another and one at the foodcourt at our resort.  This really feels almost like it's our first trip to Disney in some ways, because it's the first time we've gone just as our family *for more than one day*!  The littlest kids are very excited because our dear friends are going to be at the Magic Kingdom with us for one of the days and they are just dying to ride together on everything!  We're even doing a character breakfast with them.  My dear friend is the Queen of Disney; she goes all the time with her kiddos and knows everything so she'll be the perfect tour guide--and I'm thinking we will have to sneak away for a girl moment at some point!  It's going to be an absolute blast.  They have 200 restaurants (no, that's not a typo, it's 200!) so it takes some work, I tell ya!  I have reservations for a few of the very popular spots with characters and everything so we're all very excited.  The funny thing is that I've really seen what an obsessive planner I am.  My husband is not one for crowds and craziness (yet he lives in my house--what was he thinking, LOL?) and so I really am working to make sure HE enjoys our trip.  I really love to plan!  By the way, if you have a Mickey trip in your future, you have to try the services at www.tourguidemike.com .  He spent years as a VIP tour guide at Disneyworld (betcha didn't know they had those, did you?  Sure thing--and it's only $750 a day!  Yup, it's a Disney economy thing!)  and now has a website where you can pay around $22 to get advice personalized for your trip--least crowded park days (so you know which park to hit on which day of your visit), resort advice, dining advice, even touring itineraries.  He tells you which rides to hit in which order so you'll never spend more than 10 minutes in line all day long!  Now *that* is worth $20 for sure!

But enough about Disney!  I'm also preparing for my weaning weekend, heading out for that women's retreat.  I'm so excited because I feel like God's got me set up once again to really hear from Him, because I was in the Christian bookstore the other night looking for something specific and didn't find it, but I DID run across this wonderful little book which I'll also highly recommend called Five Little Questions by Dannah Gresh.  The subtitle is something like "finding the life God designed for you" and it's fabulous.  She's a very open and honest writer and I'm finding myself challenged by what she's saying in some uncomfortable ways!  The book is about looking at your life and determining if there are things you need to let go of in order to move into what God has for you, and I think that's definitely true in my life.  I believe I'll be learning more about what those things are over this weekend, and I'm really looking forward to it! 

I won't have a clingy nursing baby anymore after this weekend!  My little pumpkin is such a dumpling and the cutest thing ever--when he toddles around on his fat little legs with his curly hair I can't even stand it.  It will be very nice to actually sleep through every night, though; and to have my bed to myself (well, I guess I'll let dh back in eventually, LOL--he'll sleep with Moo for a little while in his new bed to help him get used to it, but in the meantime I'll have my squishy king all to myself! )  I've noticed that around this age with all my children, it's seemed they've gotten cranky and it's felt as if they want me all the time and can't be calm unless in arms and usually nursing.  Then when I take a few days away and daddy helps them through weaning, when I get home they're happy as clams!  I think it's because they do want to be independent and yet something clings to being an infant, too.  Anyway, I know it's one thing the "experts" tell you not to do when you wean--doing it cold turkey and especially mom going away--but it works so well for us.  I'm really looking forward to being able to just hold him and have him cuddle on my shoulder; something nursing infants seem to do with everyone *but* mom.  You know that scripture, "I have quieted myself like a weaned child with its mother"?  That's so true!  I think of it every time I'm living with a little one.

The ranch they hold the retreat at is gorgeous.  Over 500 acres of rolling hills in Arkansas.  Every time I'm there (okay, so it's been twice, and it was 10 years ago--eeek!)  I've been so impressed by how much I'd love to have such a setup, myself, someday!  I'll really enjoy it.  Peacefulness and alone time--I haven't gone away alone, well . . . ever!