Day 3- The series of Proverbs 31

Lydia was a woman we can read about in the New Testament, Acts 16:14-15.  She was a businesswoman, the Bible says she was a dealer of purple cloth.  So, a working woman, a successful businesswoman.  Purple cloth was an expensive cloth because it was hard to come by the dye that colored the fabric, which was usually linen. 

On the day that we are introduced to Lydia, her and her household were by a river outside the city gates on the Sabbath with other worshippers of God.
So, she worships God but is not a Jew, she is a Gentile.  Then Paul and Silas come along and tell this gathering of women about Jesus.
The Bible says that “the Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message”.  After that her and her household which would consist of her children and servants, there was not mention of a husband but that doesn’t mean he didn’t exist there was just no mention of him, were all baptized.
Once they were baptized she invited Paul and Silas into her home as they were travelers. 
 She was a working woman but the concern of her family and home are important to her.  As in Proverbs 31:15, “She gets up while it is still dark; she provides food for her family and portions for her servant girls”, she is concerned with feeding her family Physically and Spiritually.
Setting priorities while doing anything in life are key.  If the priorities of your heart are: God first, family second and everything else third.  Then you are serving God and your family well. 


 I think the key to the story of Lydia that we can take away is that "the Lord opened her heart".  With open hearts we can hear the will of God for our lives.
Jeannie
 13 Bloggers, 13 topics, one Great God.

A series on the different aspects of Proverbs 31. Here is a list of the bloggers and their topics.

• Using Skills to Contribute to Family/2 better than 1

---

• The Fear of the Lord/ Satisfied by Love

---

• Using time wisely/Blessed Beyond Measure

---

• Taking care of needy/ Shadow Wonder

---

• Using money wisely/Jennifer Sikora
  
  

  ---

• Keeping an eye on home/Just a Glimpse

---

• She can laugh at the days ahead/ Faith Filled Food for Moms

---

• Clothed in strength and dignity/One thing I’ve Learned

---

• Taking care of others/ 2 savvy gals

---

• Being Creative/A Patchwork Mommy

---

• Bringing Variety to Family/ Karen Dawkins

---

• Extending your Hand to the Poor/ Women’s Fellowship House

---

• Organization/Teaching what is Good

Hope you all enjoy!! Feel free to explore the blogs. We have some very talented women participating.

Day 2-the series of Proverbs 31

 
As I mentioned yesterday, I did search the Bible for answers.  One place I looked was Ruth.  I knew that Ruth had to go out to find food to provide for her and her Mother-in-law, Naomi.  She did this by going into a person’s fields and picking up the leftover grain that the pickers dropped.


I did notice something that answered one of my questions.  Once in verse 1:9 and then again in 3:1 the phrase find rest is said.  In both cases they are talking about Ruth going into a home to find rest.  Basically to be provided for, is the explanation I found when I researched a little bit.  This to me says that we are to be provided for. I do not have to be responsible for providing for our home.


To answer one of my questions-


Do I have to provide for my home?


As I see it from this and other places in the word. No, I do not have to.  Can I?   Ruth did in this passage but she was not married.  So that will be the topic/question for tomorrow.  Until then if you have never read Ruth take a look ,it is a very short book.
Jeannie
 13 Bloggers, 13 topics, one Great God.

A series on the different aspects of Proverbs 31. Here is a list of the bloggers and their topics.

• Using Skills to Contribute to Family/2 better than 1

---

• The Fear of the Lord/ Satisfied by Love

---

• Using time wisely/Blessed Beyond Measure

---

• Taking care of needy/ Shadow Wonder

---

• Using money wisely/Jennifer Sikora
  

  ---

• Keeping an eye on home/Just a Glimpse

---

• She can laugh at the days ahead/ Faith Filled Food for Moms

---

• Clothed in strength and dignity/One thing I’ve Learned

---

• Taking care of others/ 2 savvy gals

---

• Being Creative/A Patchwork Mommy

---

• Bringing Variety to Family/ Karen Dawkins

---

• Extending your Hand to the Poor/ Women’s Fellowship House

---

• Organization/Teaching what is Good

Hope you all enjoy!! Feel free to explore the blogs. We have some very talented women participating.

Day 1 the Series of Proverbs 31

For the next 10 days I am going to be writing about using your skills to contribute to your family.  There are many things that you can do, and we will look at many of those.  


First, I would like to start with a Prayer.  
Dear Lord, With the sword of the spirit, your word, I take these words to the readers and pray that they will be blessed beyond anything that I could imagine.  Lord I pray that you would bless is all indeed!  I pray that you would enlarge our territories of thinking. Please open our minds to your truth, open our gift and abilities that we will be more effective for you.  Lord, I pray that you would keep you hand upon each and every blogger and reader.  Guide us as we write and read.  Lord in Jesus name I pray that you will keep each of us away from evil.  Please protect our writings and our minds from the schemes of the devil, let only your pure truth be written and read by all.  In Jesus name Amen.


When I think of contributing to the family, money comes to mind first.  I, like most women, have struggled with the question, do I work or stay home?  For me this has never been just black and white.  I love being with my kids (most of the time) and I love to be busy and creative.  I have always been an entrepreneur at heart.  Another thing that clouds the issue is that there have been points in our lives that I had to make money to cover the bills.  


Whenever I have a struggle with anything I eventually turn to the Bible.  This should be the first thing I do but, you know.  So I started looking in the Bible for answers to the questions,

• Are women supposed to work?
• Do I need to contribute income?
• Did women in the Bible contribute to their households?
• What is a woman’s role in the income department?

I did find answers.  Some of them are not cut and dry but they are steering me into the right direction, I think. Other answers are very clear and reassuring.  These are the things we will explore over the next 10 days, these and all of the other ways you can use your skills to contribute to your home and family. 
I really encourage you to participate in the posts by letting me know your struggles and victories.  Also,  look below for all of the other bloggers that are contributing to the 10 days of Proverbs 31 series.
These are all very talented ladies and have great things to say.  Hope you enjoy all of their postings.

Jeannie


 13 Bloggers, 13 topics, one Great God.

A series on the different aspects of Proverbs 31. Here is a list of the bloggers and their topics.

• Using Skills to Contribute to Family/2 better than 1

---

• The Fear of the Lord/ Satisfied by Love

---

• Using time wisely/Blessed Beyond Measure

---

• Taking care of needy/ Shadow Wonder

---

• Using money wisely/Jennifer Sikora
  

  ---

• Keeping an eye on home/Just a Glimpse

---

• She can laugh at the days ahead/ Faith Filled Food for Moms

---

• Clothed in strength and dignity/One thing I’ve Learned

---

• Taking care of others/ 2 savvy gals

---

• Being Creative/A Patchwork Mommy

---

• Bringing Variety to Family/ Karen Dawkins

---

• Extending your Hand to the Poor/ Women’s Fellowship House

---

• Organization/Teaching what is Good

Hope you all enjoy!! Feel free to explore the blogs. We have some very talented women participating.

Melissa and Jeannie’s Family Dinner

 

Saturday night we had Melissa and her family over for dinner.  I made the old stand by, spaghetti and bread.  Melissa brought a great salad and homemade chocolate chip cookies.

Melissa did a copycat recipe for Olive Gardens salad.  She found it here. 

Dinner’s ready

Here is the Salad.  Doesn’t it look just like Olive Garden.  Great job Melissa!  Yummmm!!!

Jeannie

Discipline Chart

About a year ago if found this discipline chart.  We use this in our house and have found it to be very effective.  It’s cool because you can let the chart be the bad guy.  “Well you did such and such so the chart says that this is your punishment.”  Of course you would have discussed everything on the chart ahead of time. 

                 
I also love the Laundry room idea.  Everything that goes into the laundry room is  dirty and then is cleaned and comes out clean.  That includes your attitude.  Head on over to Confessions of a Homeschooler to download the chart and laundry room sign.
Jeannie

Stove Top Kettle Corn

Yesterday at church I tried some of this Kettle Corn that Stacy made.  It is really good and the best part is that it is just 170 calories for 3cups of it.  A great snack for your sweet tooth.  Go on over to Stacy's blog 2savvygals.blogspot.com and get the recipe.

Enjoy!!
Jeannie

10 Days of Proverbs 31

Starting January 18 our blog and many others will be doing a series on the different aspects of Proverbs 31.  Here is a list of the bloggers and their topics.

• Contributing to family income/2 better than 1
• The Fear of the Lord/ Satisfied by Love
• Using time wisely/BlessedBeyondMeasure
• Taking care of needy/ Shadow Wonder
• Using money wisely/Jennifer Sikora
• Beauty is Fleeting/Monique Zackery
• Keeping an eye on home/Just a Glimpse
• She can laugh at the days ahead/faith filled food for moms
• Clothed in strength and dignity/One thing I’ve Learned
• Taking care of others/ 2 savvy gals
• Being Creative/A Patchwork Mommy
• Bringing Variety to Family/ Karen Dawkins
• Extending your Hand to the Poor/ Women’s Fellowship House

• Organization/Teaching what is Good

Hope you all enjoy!!  Feel free to explore the blogs ahead of time.  We have some very talented women participating.

Jeannie

Orange and Cashew Chicken

 

We had a really good dinner tonight.  I thought I would share.  Not the actual food, but well here it is.  I found this recipe on Tasteofhome.com

Ingredients

• 1 cup instant brown rice
  
• 1 can (11 ounces) mandarin oranges
  
• 1/4 cup chopped cashews
  
• 1/4 cup chicken broth
  
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  
• 2 tablespoons teriyaki sauce
  
• 3/4 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
  
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
  
• 1/2 cup chopped bok choy
  
• 1/4 cup minced chives

Directions

• Cook rice according to package directions. Meanwhile, drain oranges, reserving 1/2 cup oranges and 2 tablespoons juice (save remainder for another use).
  
• In a small bowl, combine the cashews, broth, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce and reserved juice; set aside. In a large wok or skillet, stir-fry chicken in oil until no longer pink. Add cashew mixture; cook 1 minute longer. Add the bok choy, chives and reserved oranges; cook and stir for 2 minutes.
  
• Fluff rice with a fork; serve with chicken mixture. Yield: 3 servings.

Nutritional Facts 2/3 cup chicken mixture with 2/3 cup rice equals 389 calories, 14 g fat (2 g saturated fat), 63 mg cholesterol, 1,249 mg sodium, 35 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 30 g protein.
Sorry no pictures of me making this but it was super easy.  My kitchen was just too big a mess by the time I thought to take pictures.  Hope you try this and like it.  We did.
Jeannie

Winter Fun for Kids

Here is a fun post from one of my favorite sites 1+1+1=1. She always has such great ideas.  This winter stuff is great for homeschooling or not.  Hope you find something fun.
Jeannie

Disciplining your Children in Love

The topic of discipline has become so clouded that I think parents now just resort to none. While talking to a friend about a parenting conference she went to, I realized why so many parents just have no idea what to do.

We have so many "experts" telling us what to do that it becomes very confusing. Many of the "experts" have great things to say and great ideas. I'm afraid that so many of us try to use their ideas and end up unsuccessful. One reason may be we are hearing the idea from someone rather than seeing it in use.

The topic my friend and I were discussing was "not disciplining our children in anger". The speaker she heard said that you should never discipline your child in anger. My friend says that she feels like such a bad mom because so often she is angry when she is disciplining.

I have two things to say about that. First, I think there is a difference between anger and rage. We need to look at ourselves to determine where we fall during any given situation. The other is that I would say that I am angry about 50% of the time while I am disciplining my children.

To explain I have a few examples. If my 2 year old is repeatedly disobeying a rule in our home that is clearly known,then I am going to get angry at that child. If I walk away and cool off then come back ten minutes later to discipline, my child will be confused. Two year olds need to be corrected rather quickly to relate the offense with the correction. I do need to quickly check myself and then act.

Another example would be, if my six year old was told to leave my jewelry box alone. I come back later and find my new necklace broken. I ask you, wouldn't you be angry? Now the most loving and effective use of discipline is to sit the child down, explain the offense, discipline then hug and reassure them of your love, following up with a prayer together. This would be how I would handle this situation but I tell you I still would be angry at the point of discipline. If that necklace was a gift and was very special to me. But I would not discipline if I were in rage. We need to check ourselves first.

I assure you I am not just making these ideas up. I am pulling them straight from the place I ask you to get all of your advice. The word of God, my parenting handbook, the Bible. Anger is a normal human emotion. Even Jesus displayed anger in the temple when men were selling and conducting business in the temple of God. Anger in itself is not the problem it is what you do with it and where you let it go.

Now, back to the experts. Ideas are great to try but if you are not getting the results you want. First give it time, no child changes overnight. Then take some of the best advice I've ever heard. A financial guy I like to listen to says that If you want to have money, find someone who has some and holds your values. Then copy the habits they have. So, in other words find an experienced mom with great kids then watch her. I suggest watching and spending time with them to get ideas that are used in context.

Finally, while you are on your discovery journey, don't forget to give your Father a call and ask His advice. Praying and read God's word to hear what he has to say. He is our best guide down the treacherous roads through parenthood.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6.

God Bless

Jeannie

New Year’s resolution?

I don’t know if this is a New year’s resolution or just another attempt at making life run smooth and it just happens to land at this time of year.  I make resolutions for myself all of the time.  My average is the same as the amount of resolutions kept by people at the new year,  two-thirds of the time I break it.  But we must always strive to be better than we are today right?  Anyway,  I think I mentioned a while ago that Melissa was trying to follow the fly ladies ideas on flylady.com.  Well, I am going to try to do this one thing.  She suggests that if you clean your sink out before you go to bed, you will wake up the next morning in a much better mood than if you woke up to a sink full of dishes.  So, Here it is…

Clean and ready for a new day.  I have to point out to you a funny thing to have in the window sill.  A bar of threatening Ivory soap.  Unused but very threatening in those times of unwanted words.  Do any of you have a 5 year old that just thinks the word Butt and anything that sounds like it is just hilarious?  Please tell me that I am not alone in this. 

Jeannie

Over the River and Through the Woods

We just returned a few days ago from our annual trip to see our families.  It is always so great to see everyone but boy is it tiring.  Here are a few highlights.

14 hours in the van.  6 People, presents, pillows and snacks.  Our kids are such troopers.

First stop Grandpa’s and then Uncle Randy and His new bride.  Hop in the car drive after a night at a hotel and drive another 3 hours.  We spent that night with some close family friends in their new house.  Forgot to take the camera in .  Also forgot the camera at my husband Mike’s dad’s house the next day. Christmas eve we drove 2 more hours to my mom’s and wrapped till midnight.  Anyone else up with us that night?

Christmas morning bright and early.  Made sure we had the camera today.  I have some great morning shots of the teenagers but I might get strangled for showing those and there is no way you will see the ones of me that morning.  We were able to stay at my mom’s for 5 days it was so nice.  I sure do miss her.  I helped her start a blog, you can check it out here. 

Next we drove 2 and a half hours to my brothers.  Here are some of the kids watching RV at his house.

New Year’s eve we went bowling with my dad and brother and his family.  You see Isabella in the yellow pouting.  The trip was getting to her.  That night we spent New Year’s eve with our friends and Jacob threw up and we went back to my brother’s house for the night. 
New Year’s day we drove home.  The weather was decent so we made it home in just 11 hours...yeah!! 
All in all it was a great trip.  We loved seeing everyone. But it is nice to be home and sleep in our own beds.
Hope you all had a Great Christmas and New Year’s

Jeannie

10 days of Proverbs 31

Starting January 18th we will be hosting a series called 10 days of Proverbs 31.  Many bloggers will be participating.  Each blogger will have a topic that they will blog about for the 10 days.  Soon I will have a list of all of the bloggers to share with you.  Our hope is that we are all blessed by the writings of many women on the verse found in Proverbs 31.  If you are unfamiliar with Proverbs 31 I encourage you to look it up in your Bible.  Go to Proverbs 31:10-31.  I pray that you are blessed by what you read.

Jeannie

Gentleness Challenge

My temper has always been a problem for me.  I can say that I have much more self control now than earlier in my parenting years but I still have my moments.



  I found this challenge over at womenlivingwell.org .  You need to check it out, it is great and greatly needed for many of us.   Hope it inspires you as much as it has inspired me. 

Jeannie

Merry Christmas!!!

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas.  I sure did.  I really enjoyed being surrounded by family.  We were even invited to a wedding on Christmas.  I will have pictures and a story on that next week.  I found a quiet moment and thought I would drop in to say hello and ask you our Q of the Week. 

Was there a moment on Christmas day, that you felt Holy Spirit goose bumps because you realized the importance of that day?

Jeannie-Mine was during our Christmas service at my Mom's husband's church.  He is the pastor and did a nice little message about the joy in the world, when you have Christ.

Wrapped up in a Title

I was just reading in my bible study and the woman said, when we are in ministry of any kind we need to focus on the people and not on the task or title. That soooo applies to motherhood and keeping a home. We get wrapped up in a task that we are doing, when a child runs in or our husband comes home, we feel interrupted because we weren't done. This week let’s all remember who it is that we are doing all of this for. It doesn't mean that we can't expect to get things done, it just means we need to watch our attitudes when we are interrupted.
As far as that title goes, motherhood can actually take on a negative feel.  Many of us have felt the sting of the phrase “just a mom”.  Let me remind you and myself also that we are doing the hardest, most important job in the world.  Without us where would the world be.  Actually, many moms have left their post and we see the effects of that in our society today.  We play a vital role in forming the leaders of the future.   Keep up the good work and pass on this message to another mom to encourage her.
Jeannie

Our Month of Birthdays

In our house we have 4 birthdays between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  It makes life just crazy and expensive.  For our two little ones this year we decided to have a friend party in February because it is so crazy.  Here is a peek at our birthday celebrations.

This is little guys cake, made by the lovely and talented Allie.  She is such an artist.  She did this free-hand.

Here we have Mr. 16.  He wanted a Brownie Trifle for his cake, layers of brownie and pudding.  Yummmm!!!  He had a sleepover, hold the sleep.

This belongs to Bella.  She turned 7.  Allie did this cake too.  Bella wanted a Tinkerbell/Gingerbread house cake and that is what she got. 

And I got a surprise party from my daughter and best friend Melissa.  They had me till I started questioning Melissa’s husband’s ploy to get us over there.  Oh really you got a new snow blower and I care why?  BTW (teen talk for by the way.  I try my best to stay with it)  I turned 28 again!!  Ok,Ok  40.
Jeannie

After God’s own Heart

I'm doing a study on David right now and they were comparing David and Saul, asking what made David more of a man after God's own heart. Both Saul and David committed great sins against God (you can read about both men in I and II Samuel). The difference is that Saul's heart had hardened against God in his sin and David sincerely repented to God of his sin. The condition of our heart prepares the path of our lives. We are all going to mess up in parenting and in marriage. The way you handle those mess ups determines the way God is going to help you. Spouses and children are awfully important to us, just as Israel was to David. We need to follow his example of seeking God for wisdom and being obedient. If we are not obedient we need to repent ASAP.
So, If you lost it with your husband or children today and spouted off horrible things to them, you have not damaged them for life or ruined you marriage. Just ask the forgiveness of God and of them and God will bless that which you have been so richly blessed.
Jeannie

Q of the Week.

How many days a week do you eat dinner at the table as a family?

Jeannie-I would say that we eat at the table about 4 days a week and once at the coffee table.  Whenever we have a snack night or pizza we watch a movie with dinner.

Little Things

This week, I want you to take one of your children into your lap and measure your hand to theirs. Really study it for a moment. There are 2 things we can learn from doing this. First, it gives us perspective when we are frustrated with our small ones that just aren't getting it.(Why do you keep pulling your sisters hair, after 10 time outs).   They have only been here on this earth for a few short years. It takes time to master this thing called life.
The next thing we can learn from doing this is, that this is how our heavenly Father sees us. In our faith and our knowledge of Him we are just small children, who just don't get it so much of the time. We have a Father with endless patience and love for us because he knows we are still trying to master this thing called life.
Jeannie