Weekend Blessings - Beautiful Blessings - 1/11/16

~ Buying a new pair of cute boots! Thanks Dad for buying them and letting me pay you back!! <3

~ Perfectly pulling off a plan to surprise John by joining him on his trip back to college!

~ Going back to dance tonight!! FOR THE FIRST TIME IN A YEAR!!! (the first photo was taken on our way to dance) AHHHH it was soooooooo nice!!!!

~ Achy sore muscles all over from dancing...strangely wonderful!

~ Being on at the right place at the right time to encourage my friends through God's might <3 Its pretty amazing to see...Im really thankful when I can return the favors they do for me <3 :~)

Bonus Blessing:

~ Gaining a new friend (only had her as one for 11 days) and already being able to call each other sister! <3

Beautiful Blessings - 8/24/15

~ Listening to L-Jo giggle about her fresh sharpened pencil.

~ Hearing T-bug excitedly tell us about her "buddy date" with L-Jo and T-Tot. Also known as a walk around the block.

~ Going on a buddy date with Lil' G since she was left out last week.

~ Enjoying a picnic in the park, books in the library, and cookies on the park bench with her!

~ Getting our goal of having a truck honk for us!

Beautiful Blessings - 8/15/15

~ Finding goofy Christmas hats in my room!

~ Realizing there is only 131 days till Christmas!

~ Seeing my sister's ambitious goal of the world's longest crochet chain!

~ Watching her teach her friends how to crochet a chain.

~ Cooking and freezing food with Mom.

Beautiful Blessings - 8/6/15

~ Having creative sisters pretend that the lettuce we were snacking on was ice cream! ;~) Heehee!!

~ Going to work for the first time in over half a year!!

~ The sound of the sewing machine whirring!

~ Thanking God that my dance teacher and her family and all their animals and things were kept safe after they had a barn fire last Friday. 

~ Watching "Brigadoon" for the first time in years! I only remembered the last 10 minutes of it actually lol! :~)

Slow during the Rush

Sometimes we're in such a rush, we forget about those around us.

Today I got up, ate breakfast, and went to work within an hour's time.

Rush, rush, rush.

When I got home, it was time for our tea party.

Time slowed.

We (my sisters and I) all dressed up in our "fancy" clothes, made some tea, put some snacks on fancy plates, and enjoyed ourselves immensely.

We laughed, and chatted about who knows what, yet being together drew us closer.

We slowed time, & created memories.

Was I planning on posting about this little tea party? No...actually it was far from my mind.

When it was over, they all went to play, and I started to clean up.

I picked up the dishes, and left on my fancy dress.

Silky softness rubbed against my bare feet.

The simplicity of the moment.

A simple act of love, a tea party, will be remembered for years.

Slow time; do something simple with those you love.

Treasure time slowed.

30 Days of Love: Day 13

Matthew 25:40

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’"

Small acts of kindness don't go unrewarded. Whether it's buttoning up a dress, finding shoes, or something simple as a hug. These things do not go unnoticed.

St. Nicholas Day!

In honor of St Nicholas Day, my sisters put out their shoes and got sweets this morning. Then they watched VeggieTale's "St Nicholas". The real St. Nicholas was excellent example of giving Jesus' way! :~)

Love

We are messy. Our hearts are messy, our lives are messy, our possessions can be, too.

But none of that matters. We have God.

He's too mighty, too powerful, too marvelous, too perfect, to understand or comprehend.

We are all messy. We all have messed up hearts, messed up lives, messed up motives, messed up love.

Our love is miniscule compared to God's. His is everlasting, ours is transient.

Jeremiah 31:3
"I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you."

The Lord who made the Heavens and the earth loves us??

And he continues his faithfulness to us??

We are nothing. He is everything. And we treat him as if it was the other way around. We treat others as if it was the other way around.

Our lives are fleeting on this earth. We are born, we live, we die. All within about a century.

In Sunday school we are going on a trip through the Bible to refresh our memories of what the Bible is all about.

My teacher was pointing out that in the beginning of Genesis in chapter 5 it talks about how long the person lived and then he died. Our lives are short.

So I want to challenge all of you.

1st Corinthians 13:4-8
 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it dies not rejoice at wrong doing but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.

In the next few weeks I'm going to be focusing on my family, prayer, and my relationship with God. I love my family, I love praying and learning more about God but I've been doing it wrong.

Romans 12:2
Do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good, acceptable and perfect.

I'm "breaking away" from the worlds ideas. I want to treat God, my family and friends as if they were Kings and Queens.

If God can show us everlasting love why can't I do the same?

It will be hard. It will be tough. I will want to give up, but the world needs to see God's love overflow in our lives as Christians.

So I challenge you: what ever you need to do to accomplish this, do it! If you need to limit computer, limit movies, limit alone time, what ever you need, do it!

Philippians 2:4
Each of you should look not only to your own interests but also the interests of others.

For me, I'm going to limit my online time to 2 hours a day for the next week. Unless I'm using it for school work or research, my time limit is going to be 2 hours. I'm going to take the extra time and start being there for my sisters, becoming a young woman that God desires me to be, spreading God's love, and being a servant to my friends and family. I'm also going to spend that time delving into God's word and praying.

Matthew 5:14
In the same way let your light shine before others so that the may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in Heaven.


Join me! :~)

34 days till X'mas

My sister (6) is trying to earn enough money to buy Christmas presents.

She is very excited to only have $1.50 left to earn.

I set up a bank for her, she is earning $7.56. She spent a $1.08 on present.

She is very excited with the prospect of buying presents.

She made herself a list with the person's name and the present she wants to get.

You can easily do this with your family.

My sister is having a blast. And she is learning about tax and a little math too.

What do you do kids that want to buy gifts for people?

36 days till X'mas

Traditions! (I love that song from The Fiddler on the Roof!)

Our Christmas traditions begin on Thanksgiving. After all the visitors leave, we watch "It's A Wonderful Life." The weekend after Thanksgiving we get out Christmas tree. We bundle up, and go out to Mexico NY to chop down our own. We have our favorite Christmas tree farm that we started going to a few years ago. After we get the Christmas tree, we put on Christmas music and send my sisters to bed. Mom, Dad, and I decorate the Christmas tree. We put on white lights and red ribbon first. The red ribbon reminds us of the story of Jesus' birth, how it wove in and our through prophecies in the Old Testament. 

We then put on our special ornaments like the ones we get for the year we were born. 

Then we finish with icicles and snowflakes. Every year we get a new snowflake to add to our collection. One year we had a homemade one. 

We also put up our homemade stockings from my Aunt over the top of the corner cupboard as my family exceeded the space on the fireplace. The kids wake up the next morning and are so excited to see the tree looking so pretty and special. During this time, I create and make Christmas presents for my four sisters. 

We go to Lights on the Lake sometime early to mid-December. 

We started the tradition of putting on a Christmas performance for nursing homes with several of my friends. I am the leader of the group. Some sing, some dance, and some play an instrument. We have fun spreading Christmas cheer. 

Towards Christmas we get out a plate of plastic cookies and a little sign that says "Cookies for Noah". When one of my sisters was little, she had just talked about Noah's Ark in Sunday School, so when Santa was popping out all over the place, she thought he was Noah.

On Christmas Eve, we get ready and dressed in our pretty Christmas dresses and go to Church. The Church has dimmed the lights and we each get a candle to hold. We sing Christmas carols like Silent Night, Angels We Have Heard on High and Joy to The World. Then my Pastor retells the Christmas story. We finish by lighting our candles and singing. After we drive around looking at Christmas lights. We always go by the tree Downtown. My sisters love to see it's pretty lights twinkling. We head home and each open one Christmas present. Then my sisters go to bed, and we pull out all the Christmas presents out of hiding spots. We set up the Little People Nativity while Dad starts chopping up fruit for breakfast.

The next morning we can open our stockings but no other presents till Mom gets up. Dad and I finish getting food ready for our Special Christmas brunch. We have fruit, like pomegranate, kiwi, starfruit, mango, and more. We also have cheese like apple smoked Gouda, cheddar, Colby Jack. We bake brie in a pastry and have a loaf of french bread. We snack on the leftovers until we have dinner. After we finish breakfast we get to open our presents. Then we get to play/use them. We like to invite my Great Grandma over and we spend the evening together. My family has many wonderful Christmas traditions, these are just a few. Christmas is our favorite time of year.

What are your Traditions?  

P.S. We are getting our Christmas tree next weekend!!!!

(Last year's tree!)

Let me tell you about

Let me tell you about my day.*

Lets see, I got up and made Jesus breakfast, oatmeal.
Then I put Jesus' laundry in the washing machine.
Then I rocked Jesus to sleep.
I got Jesus a snack.
Then I put Jesus' laundry in the dryer.
Found some clean clothes for Him to wear.
Then I made Jesus lunch of peanut butter and fluff.
Then I helped my Mom put Jesus to bed for a nap.
After that Jesus helped me with my Algebra..........

Jesus said in Matthew 25:31-45

The Sheep and the Goats

³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. ³² All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶ I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
⁴⁰ “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
⁴¹ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴² For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
⁴⁴ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
⁴⁵ “He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ Matthew 25:31-45

I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.

That is what Mother Teresa's outlook was. 

My Mom and I recently read a couple books about her. 

What an AMAZING woman after God's heart.

I thoroughly recommend reading about her. 

So when I get mad at my sisters, I get mad at Jesus. 
When I do the laundry, I am doing Jesus' laundry.
When I forgive one of my friends, I forgive Jesus.
When I chat with my friends at dance, I chat with Jesus.
When I dance, I dance for Jesus.
When I clean, I am cleaning Jesus' house.

This is the life I want to live. 

I want to live for Jesus by serving him, by serving people.

I think this song sums it up: Good to be Alive

"I wanna live like there's no tomorrow

Love like I'm on borrowed time

It's good to be alive"

 
(Mom, I'm stealing your lesson from Chapel!! :~D)

Christmas Countdown: Day 48

A cute Christmas present idea!!

(Can't take credit, saw it online! :~D)

Once a Month Book Club

Every month your child/sibling's unwraps a package that has a book.

We are going to do ours every 25th of every month.

Every month till the following November they get a new book.

The kids benefit from the books, and, if your like me, you local bookstore will too. I get my kids books at the library's book room for $0.25 apiece. (Plus tax).

So I am very excited about this project. And if you think of the cost I will get them at, the total project will cost: $3.24 cents for every 12 books!

So I am excited about this.

This will be one of the best presents I've ever gave!

What I needed to hear

I am taking a fast from email this week.

Which is hard, because that is how I access my blog, through email.

I do this every now and then. It really refreshes my outlook through God's word and how I see and chat with my friends.

Email is my form of communication. No Facebook, no cell phone, no texting, no Twitter.

I wanted to write a blog post.

Why, I have no clue.

I pulled up my email to access my blog.

And I saw I had a new blog entry to read from "A Holy Experience", written by the author of "One Thousand Gifts".

And I read it.

And her post talked about something I am dealing with.

PERFECTIONISM

I have a pendulum.

It swings one way: I AM IN PERFECTIONIST MODE
It swings another:   I AM IN WHO CARES MODE

I try to do one or the other. And I am never happy where I am. And then it struck me.

I am fine.

I help out around the house.

I help my Mom.

And then I think.....

:~D ....the rain is falling. But the Son is shining!

I had no clue what to write.

But now I do.

I am going to write my goals.

1. Continue my skim through the Bible, reading about God's holy women.
2. Straighten the library like I promised Mom.
3. Start my French book. And do some math.
4. Think of dinner, because its been a long day for Mom.
5. Work on repairing an antique blanket.
6. Take costumes to the dance studio. 
7. Work on my clothes of Compassion, Kindness, Humility, Gentleness, Patience, and Love. (Colossians 3:12&14)
8. Have a tea party with my sisters. 

I have nothing to worry about. 

If my bed isn't perfectly made, the cat who was sleeping on it won't care, that is okay.

If my sisters aren't perfect, that is okay. 

If my outfit isn't perfect, that is okay. 

If my hair isn't perfect, that is okay. 

HAVE A MARVELOUS RAINY DAY! THE SON IS SHINING! 

Wacky Wednesday!

This week's wacky Wednesday is wacky because:

Here is Munchie Monday & Tutorial Tuesday!

Munchie Monday: Green Tomato relish, (no really, is yummy)!

We made 2 half recipes with things out of our garden (tomatoes and peppers).

• 24 large green tomatoes (we used 12)
• 3 red bell peppers, halved and seeded
• 3 green bell peppers, halved and seeded (we used green peppers and banana peppers)
• 12 large onions (we used 1 for a half recipe)
• 3 tablespoons celery seed
• 3 tablespoons mustard seed

• 1 tablespoon salt
• 5 cups white sugar
• 2 cups cider vinegar

1. In a grinder or food processor, coarsely grind tomatoes, red bell peppers, green bell peppers, and onions. (You may need to do this in batches.) Line a large colander with cheesecloth, place in sink or in a large bowl, and pour in tomato mixture to drain for 1 hour.
2. In a large, non-aluminum stockpot, combine tomato mixture, celery seed, mustard seed, salt, sugar, and vinegar. Bring to a boil and simmer over low heat 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
3. Sterilize enough jars and lids to hold relish (12 one-pint jars, or 6 one-quart jars). Pack relish into sterilized jars, making sure there are no spaces or air pockets. Fill jars all the way to top. Screw on lids.
4. Place a rack in the bottom of a large stockpot and fill halfway with boiling water. Carefully lower jars into pot using a holder. Leave a 2 inch space between jars. Pour in more boiling water if necessary, until tops of jars are covered by 2 inches of water. Bring water to a full boil, then cover and process for 30 minutes.
5. Remove jars from pot and place on cloth-covered or wood surface, several inches apart, until cool. Once cool, press top of each lid with finger, ensuring that seal is tight (lid does not move up or down at all). Relish can be stored for up to a year. You can also freeze some in zip lock bags! 

My Mom loves having relish... she is allergic to cucumbers, this is so similar no one would know the difference. 

Another thing to do with excess tomatoes!

Tutorial Tuesday: T-shirt skirt!

I made one for the 6 year old, and she loves it!

I used a Hanes Men's Adult Large pale pink shirt.

I chopped off the bottom straight across from under one sleeve to the other.

Then I pinned over a inch, (left a spot for the elastic) and sewed a 3/4 inch (or so) single stitch from the edge.

Then I fished the elastic through and sewed the elastic together. 

Last I sewed up the "hole" and Voila! 

My sister loves it!! :~D

If my tutorial makes no sense, Google it. I did it with out a pattern/tutorial...just grabbed the memory of my Grandma making one and worked from that. :~D

UPDATE: http://thehappyhousewife.com/home-management/shirt-skirt-and-headband-tutorial/

Wacky Wednesday:

For those of you who know me. This is TOTALLY RANDOM!!!

I painted my toenails blue (well my Mom did it for me....close enough).

Yup, they are a dark blue. :~D

I decided to do something random yesterday.

{Pardon the feet, between walking around the house barefoot, and dancing, they aren't purty! ;~) But my toenails are!!!}

Have a WONDERFUL DAY!!!

Sermon Sunday

Kindness.

We went to the Syracuse Chief's final game of the year.

I am really not in to baseball.

But it was fun.

My sister waned to catch a baseball.

We were down by first base. But we never got one.

Then the man next to us said if she went down to where the Rochester Red Wings team was sitting they might give her a baseball.

And they did.

I was and am very happy and proud.

• Because of their kindness.
• Because my sister was blessed.

That was the highlight of her life.

Then.

Yes, there is more. 

The kindness spread.

My Grandmother is at the hospital.

We went to visit her.

My Sister brought THE Ball.

And she cheered up my Grandmother's room mate.

From one simple act of kindness, an old baseball, my Grandmother's room mate was cheered.

What an amazing Sunday.

God is good.

2 Peter 1:5-7
For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.

1-2-3-4

1-2-3-4

A secret code?
A plot against the free world?
A monster???

No, a recipe for my favorite cake.

My sister turned it in to a sing-song rhyme.

She keeps it in her head for "dad's emergency cake emergency's"! 

1 cup of butter
2 cups of sugar
3 cups of flower FLOUR :~) (No that was not on purpose!)
4 eggs 

Mix together. Bake for 20 min. @ 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Voila, delicious pound cake!

My 3 goals for today

I told you yesterday's.

Here are today's.

1. Take a nap this afternoon. 
2. Take my little sister to the library to show her off.
3. Housework, a.k.a. dishes and miscellaneous bags to sort.

At least I don't have to much work to do.

Well technically I have schoolwork. I don't think I'll tackle it today. :~) I technically start any week now, but with the baby, I might wait. We'll see. :~)

 I do want to go to the library before we have fines........ 

The librarians are our adopted grandparents. :~)

We love them, and my sisters constantly take flowers and pictures to them. Especially flowers.

Do you adopt your librarians as family?

Sister

My baby sister was born today. Sweetest thing in the world. It dawned on me she is a person, not the one born before, but a NEW person! :~)

She is the sweetest thing.

Psalm 127:3
Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him.

May my sister grow to Love, Listen, and Learn, from her heavenly Father, God!

I love you, sweet little sister!! :~) 

<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3

School year is coming!

School year is coming. Public schoolers face it in dread, homeschoolers rejoice; unless they did school all summer! :~) We got our school books this week. I was technically going to start this week, just doing Latin and French. That said, I've been busy. Never got it done. My goal is next week!

This is my first year of high school. Feels like I just started in 3rd or something. My one sister is in 1st grade! She has her new books, and is ready to go. Another is in preschool. How did they get to be SO big? This school year will be very different from previous years. I will have a little sister soon. Any day in fact. I have never done school with a new born, 3-6 month sister, yes. But NEVER one this little.

Homeschooling Myths I want to clear up!
1. Many people think homeschoolers get a pass to do NOTHING. That is not true. We do just as much work. This year I have enough books to choke a horse. :~)
2. They also think they wear skirts NON-STOP. I do, 95% of the time, my choice, my Mom and sisters where shorts more often.
3. Homeschooler's live in the middle of NOWHERE. Nope, I live 20 minutes away form at least 2, maybe 3, Walmart's! I live in a small town. Not exactly the wilderness.
4. This myth is NONSENSE. Homeschooler's do school in jammies! Well it is not exactly nonsense. We do, occasionally. :~) I don't. I can't be in my jammies that long. Especially since A) I do it in the afternoon, and B) I can't go to the library or anything.

Don't dread school, it is the best thing since sliced bread!!