Stumbling on Open Ground by Ken Mansfield {A review}

 This book is about Ken Mansfield and his wife Connie.  Earlier in his life Ken was the US Manager for the Beatles but this book is set later on in life after becoming a follower of Jesus (though he does still refer often to his "Rock and Roll/ Beatles background). In this book the main topic is concerning his two times of facing cancer one incurable kind that did go dormant and another one over a decade later that caused him incredible pain as he went through Chemo and Radiation to get rid of it. The focus of this book is dealing with those cancers and growing in his relationship with God.










Here are some of my takes on the book:

• The "storyline" was a little bit interestingly done with just bits and pieces about his life and more focus on what he talked to God about. He also did a fair amount of jumping back to memories. At the beginning of each chapter his wife Connie had a little section which was more about their actual physical life but those left a lot of details unsaid so it felt like you didn't actually learn much about their life. However that left the focus on his relationship with God and I can appreciate that. It just didn't flow the way I expected it too.
• I learned more about Cancer and how it can work and made me feel more sympathetic to those that have had to go through it and hopefully those that I come across that are going through it. (And I do hope to skip going through it myself but sometimes wonder if that will come to pass considering how many people in my family have had to face it.)
• It made me realize once again how very unique everybody is. God made us all our own person with our own needs and desires. As Ken was going through these really tough times he tried to keep the news of it to only a few supportive people. He didn't not want many people knowing about it, asking about it or trying to help as he just wanted peace and quiet. That was not how my Dad was and I know that isn't how I would be but I can imagine some friends of mine that might also prefer it that way. We sure are all made differently.
• The book was a good reminder of how just because we are seeking God doesn't mean that we won't go through tough times. It was also a reminder of how God is always there for us - even in those tough times!

This is my favorite quote from the book:

  "If I believed He (God) was the Way, the Truth, and the Life, why would I choose any other route than the one he laid out for me? After spending time in His Word, the journey became clearly defined. The question was, do I travel with faith or fear as my companion?" (page 74)

 I doubt this is a book that everybody would enjoy, but I thought it was interesting and I could see it being helpful for people that are going through struggles (especially something like cancer).

Disclaimer: Booksneeze provided me with a free copy of this book for purposes of reviewing. All thoughts shared are my own.

Praying with complete faith in God

Praying is something that I have done or been exposed to every since I was an infant. Prayer is normal to me and I totally believe in the Supreme power of the One that I pray to yet sometimes I pray with simply a "I hope" sort of attitude.  This wasn't the way that Jesus taught us to pray. Let's read in Mark 11, starting in verse 12:

    "On the next day, when they had left Bethany, He became hungry. Seeing at a distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if perhaps He would find anything on it; and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. He said to it, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again!" And His disciples were listening. (Mark 11:12-14)

The next day....

  "As they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up. Being reminded, Peter said to Him, "Rabbi, look, the fig tree which You cursed has withered." And Jesus answered saying to them, "Have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, "Be taken up and cast into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him. Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you." (Mark 11:20-24)

  Jesus knew fully what God was able to do and He prayed with that faith.

We can also learn a lot about the mighty God we serve and  be more aware of what He will do. Then hopefully we will learn to pray to Him with complete faith.

Lord increase my faith!

An essential tool for an organized life

 

Well I mentioned that I was going to share one little step at a time how to get more organized and what works for me. I fear that this post might be considered a bit simplistic but I think it is an essential tool and so I didn't want to leave it out.

 

 

  Probably my top tool for staying organized at all has been my calendar. We have one main calendar (and I do think it is very important that you have one main family calendar - if you start writing things down on all sorts of different calendars/ planners you will either have a lot of work of transferring things or you will start to miss things) which hangs on the wall in between our kitchen and dining room - right above the (main) phone. 

 The calendar is a great place to keep track of many things. Here are some of the things that are written on our calendar:

• Appointments. If Mara has an orthodontist appt. or anything of that nature it needs to go on this calendar (unless it is Ken's appt.- he keeps track of many of his things on his computer - though if it will change the schedule that he normally has at home it is still good to have it here!). If it doesn't get written down here it is very likely it will be forgotten unless it is already a routine.
• Company coming! Whether it is just for lunch or if they are staying for a week I try to write it down so that I don't double schedule.
• Things that I need to keep track of like when I started seeds (planted them inside) or when the cleanse I am on will be over, etc.
• Any trips that we have planned.
• Any weddings that I am doing flowers for - I need to know quickly when someone calls so that I don't do any double booking.
• Any new music students that are just starting. I don't write their lessons down every week - just at first until it gets to be a routine. I do however mark down any time that they have told me they will not be at lessons. I also keep track of what date they are paid through (they pay in advance) on my calendar.
• Important birthdays. (Though I will admit of late this hasn't always been kept up - I do have another place I have this information stored and I don't always feel like transferring it to the calendar every year.)
• I also will sometimes use little symbols to keep track of things of interest to me. Currently we are trying to stay home more and drive less and so each time we do drive somewhere I draw a little tire on that day. I have also been keeping track (just for interest sake) how much milk we have been buying this year. Since we buy that at the gas station near our house (it is cheaper than the grocery store) we don't just buy it on our grocery shopping trips so it was easy to lost track.
• In extra area I write down if I am teaching a kids class at church that month or if I am in charge of bringing the pastries before church.

What I don't use it for:

• A place to write my menu. It would get way to crowded.
• A place to keep a journal. Again there just isn't space.

 That is how I use our calendar and I find it rather indispensable. Do you have a way to keep track of the things going on in your life? How do you use your calendar?

Also after the year is over we recycle our calendar by making them into envelopes which are much more exciting than plain white envelopes. A good servant just keeps on serving!
If you want more ideas visit my post on 11 Uses for old calendars.

Write Love Notes

 Something that has been part of our relationship since the very beginning has been notes to each other. I guess we both kind of like to write and it was a fun and frugal way to show our affection for each other.

  When we were dating we would sometimes put them on each others cars at work or slip them here or there so that they would be found later. We have continued to do that now and then throughout our marriage but I have to admit that it has nearly fallen by the wayside. It might be partly that we are better expressing things verbally now (I think that might be true) but mostly I think we have just gotten busy and don't take the time to do it.

   This is a trend that I would like to revive. And not just on Valentines day either (as we do always give each other cards then - Ken is great to remember every occasion like that) but throughout the year. It is even more fun to get I think when you totally aren't expecting it.

  They don't have to be long - Just a simple "I love you and can't wait to spend time with you this evening" or something to that nature would be appreciated or you can tell them something you appreciate about them.

   Lydia, another blogger is doing a special Valentine's Day project where she has been leaving a special note to great her husband each day as he comes home (Feb 1-14) about something she appreciates about him. I think that is pretty fun and I would guess he has really enjoyed it.

  Do you ever give notes to your husband? Have you used that as a way to encourage him?

May your marriages grow stronger each day and Happy Valentines Day to all!

Valentines and Poetry

Megan's flowers to give to the girls.

 This past Thursday was our monthly homeschool get-together (We have around 15 families that get together now) and the theme for the month was poetry with a valentine exchange thrown in for good measure.

  This year since we have more kids we decided that we would divide the kids up into groups for the exchange so that the number wasn't overwhelming. We ended up having the girls in one group and the boys in the other.

  We always do homemade for this sort of thing (for a few reasons - 1. It allows us to do something creative 2. We can use something we have on hand rather than buying anything - being frugal  and 3. We can possibly give something that is more exciting than we would if we would buy something economically.)

 For Megan this year since all of her recipients would be girls we decided it would be fun to make flower bracelets and pins. For the bracelets we had saved the inside from a bunch of floral tape that I had used (in my flower business) and when we cut the circle and then wrap it with something soft it makes a very good bracelet. We wrapped them with odd bits of ribbon and fabric that we had in our stash. Then we made flowers out of fabric scraps and beads and glued them on. We didn't have enough bracelets for everybody so we made some into pins for the older girls.

 Above Megan is displaying several of the bracelets. They were fun to make and the little girls that got them seemed to enjoy them too.

 Mara and Aaron decided to make cookies for their valentines.

 Then we took some of the plastic that comes around the flowers that I get, carefully washed it, cut it into rectangles and then sewed it into little bags. I thought they turned out rather cute. On the top of the bag we folded over some card stock with "Happy Valentines Day!" and "From" stamped on it and then stapled it in place.

  Jonathan wasn't quite sure what to do for his valentines as he didn't want anything associated with hearts or things of that nature. He decided that maybe he should carve something but when you are making 24 of them - what would he do?

  He decided on little cars and trucks. He did have a plan for drilling holes and attaching wheels that would really work with axles in them but ran out of time so I suggested gluing on  buttons. They don't quite work as well (though they do slide pretty nicely) but they do look cute anyway.

  We printed out some cards that say "Racing Your way to say: Happy Valentines Day" and then he drew roads on them and taped on the cars (Actually he didn't use tape - we are busy using up old political stickers for projects like this!).


   Another part of our day was the kids reading or reciting poems. That ended up being pretty fun. There was such a fun variety of poetry shared and such different ways of sharing it. Mara did "The Touch of the Master's Hand", Jonathan did "The Turkey Shot out of the Oven" and Aaron did "The Optimist"  which goes like this:

"The optimist fell ten stories,

and at each window bar,

He shouted to the folks inside:

"Doing all right so far!"

 

Author unknown

 

We thought that one was rather clever. Megan ended up not doing one as she wasn't feeling very good that day. The other kids brought a neat selection too - some of them had even written their own.

 

 

 After reading/reciting poetry we had all the kids write poetry. One of the ladies in our group had come up with a lot of really neat ideas for pretty simple poetry and so we had different tables that the kids could go to where the adults would help them in writing a poem. It ended up being pretty fun. I plan on sharing all those ideas some day soon along with some others ways that we have incorporated poetry into our lives (That doesn't come naturally to me as poetry isn't really my thing). Anyway - that post will be long and so I will save it for another day.

Magnetic poetry was one of the options for the kids so Aaron (with a little help from me and with struggles on the part of us both by not being able to find all the words that we wanted) "wrote" the one above.

 I would love to hear your ideas for fun homemade valentines (maybe we can use them next year) or thoughts on poetry!

Avoiding Cabin Fever

  We are in the midst of a snowstorm right now - nearly a foot has fallen today (on top of the 10 or so inches that we already had) and it is still falling. We are pretty excited!

 Above is the view of our deck taken through the sliding glass window in our dining room (and the snow is thicker now than when I took the picture.

  We also are dealing with sickness in the house. Jonathan is the one on the couch today (running a fever and feeling rather miserable). Sickness has unfortunately rather been the story of 2013 for us so far. Everybody has been under the weather at some point and some more than once (Megan is up to 3 times now).  I am just very thankful that all our little bouts with sickness (some norovirus, some fever/cold) none of them have been very long lived. In a day or two they are gone. I do admit that sickness does leave me feeling a little puzzled as to how better I should try to care for my family's health. We try to live a healthy lifestyle but still deal with sickness. Or well, I think we can sometimes grow spiritually in those times.

 Anyway with the various circumstances we have been facing I suppose that it could be considered a near perfect recipe for Cabin Fever but thankfully we have been avoiding that one.

  I thought I would share some ideas on how we have been avoiding Cabin Fever.

My Radishes

• Embrace the season! Decide to enjoy the uniqueness and fun of winter (whether you like to cozy up inside reading, doing crafts and sipping herbal tea or if you like to go sledding, skiing or skating). So much of how we feel is based upon our attitude. If you decide to enjoy each season as they come life is much happier! And Cabin Fever isn't quite so easy to catch.
• Try growing some plants inside. We decided to see if we could grow some of our garden plants inside this winter. I am not sure what the success will end up being but we have some cute little tomato and pepper plants (If things go well maybe we could have fruit about May?) and some scraggly looking lettuce and radishes - I had hoped to harvest them in a month of so but I don't know if that is going to work or not. Anyway it is pretty fun to plant and have things grow in the winter!

Little Tomato plants (they will need to be thinned).

•  Get some of those indoor projects done. I have been having fun doing a lot of organizing, decluttering, finishing up projects and mending. It is very satisfying to finish things up and have everything clean and neat. Winter is the perfect time to do it because I don't have a million and one things that I want to get done outside right now.

Some newly mended jeans - sometimes I think I won't ever catch up with this job!

 

• Take advantage of the winter weather and go sledding or even just walk outside and enjoy the beauty. If you dress warmly it can be very enjoyable and it does really help to get rid of Cabin Fever!

•  Go traveling through books. We love travel but we can't always be gallivanting off somewhere or another. So instead we read books about others places. I have made that as part of our school day but you can also just do it for fun! We are currently reading about all the different countries in Central America (Costa Rica this week) and we are enjoying the pictures of lush greenery (and snakes!!?) and learning about life down there.

 

• Along with your "traveling" you can also try some cooking of foods that they eat in the place that you are reading about. We recently had an El Salvadorian meal. I thought it was pretty good - my family wasn't quite so sure but anyway it was a change of pace and it was interesting. We made Pupusas, a spicy cabbage salad and Horchata (a rice drink) as well as eating pineapple.

•  Make some music! We try to have some music making about every day. Music is great for driving any blues away.

•  I think Megan might recommend dressing up. Her outfits have often been pretty interesting and fancy lately and I think that helps her view on life. Personally I have been trying to go through all my clothes and making myself wear them so that I don't keep around things that I really don't care for. Last week my family said that I had a rather interesting (the polite way to say "Strange!") outfit as well.
• Be creative. Whatever creative outlet that you like: Scrapbooking, card making, sewing, carving, etc. - have fun being creative! 
• Read the Pollyanna books! I have been reading them out loud lately and I think they would be the perfect book to read if you are fighting the blues. Such a good reminder to look for the best in things!
• Be thankful. We are to give thanks in all circumstances (even ice storms, snow storms, weather that is bitterly cold) and when we start to give thanks it sure helps us to feel better too!

Do you have any tips for avoiding Cabin Fever?

 We are enjoying our winter - I hope you are too!