Abundantly Beyond

My flowers a couple of weeks ago - today they got a snowfall on their heads.

 

"Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think

 according to the power that works within us,

 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus

to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

Ephesians 3:20-21

 

  I think I am pretty capable of dreaming big dreams. I would imagine you are too. But we can't even begin to imagine all that God is capable of doing.

 

  Isn't that just exciting to you?!!! I love reading this verse, it always gives me a little thrill to think of what God can do - and He can do it through you and me! Are you letting Him work in you?

 

  Also when we see some of God's working are we giving Him the glory for it? We need to. 



Hello! How are you?

 It's been a while since I have blogged. I don't normally take extended breaks but lately blogging has needed to take a back seat.

   Our family has dealt with a month of sickness. That always seems a little embarrassing to admit when we try to lead a healthy life style, we try to eat right and get plenty of sleep. But life happens and sickness does come. And you know what... we learn from it, it can help us grow closer to God and lean on Him a little more. I realize a little more how I can't really do things on my own and His strength is needed.

  First the kids got sick (Ken and I fought little cold germs but nothing substantial) with fevers and coughing and the like. We had to slow down a little but life went on. But then a couple of weeks ago it was my turn to truly get sick, I was the one running the high fevers and then the one coughing and coughing and experiencing many a sleepless (well not completely, thankfully, but nearly) night.

  I don't care for going to a doctor because I know that generally sicknesses are viral, there isn't much they can do and I would prefer to use natural methods anyway. So we drank gallons of herbal tea, we had raw garlic, tonic made with apple cider vinegar, horseradish, garlic, hot pepper, onion and ginger, chicken soup, cayenne pepper and lots of rub downs with garlic salve or essential oils and I even tried an onion poultice one night. I am sure everything did help but the sickness just kept hanging on.

  I did get over my fevers (after a couple of weeks) and thought I was getting better though my chest did still feel very heavy and if I wanted any sleep I had to be majorly propped up but then on Tuesday my hands and feet started doing weird things. They would feel itchy and tingly and then they swelled up and my hands turned a purple/grey color. What now?

  This picture kind of shows what has been happening. Sometimes the whole hand is affected and at other times the thumb and sometimes another finger don't have a problem. Anyway at this point Ken says, "Please go to the doctor". I hoped I could possibly get in at the Naturopathic Doctor here but I couldn't get in that quickly so off to urgent care I went.

    Concerning my hands the doctor says "I think it is an allergic reaction having nothing to do with being sick".  Allergy to what - we have no idea. I have my doubts about it not being related. Concerning my sickness she decided that I did have a bacterial pneumonia which probably piggy backed on to a case of viral bronchitis. So an antibiotic I did get after all. Hopefully it works okay.

  As far as the hands... I am not sure what to do, the purple finger saga continues. It isn't all the time (thankfully, as it is quite painful)  and each time only lasts from 15 minutes to an hour but today it happened 4 different times which was up from the previous days. Could it be because my oxygen levels are low, maybe I am low on iron, do any of you have any ideas? The MD wasn't interested but if this continues over the weekend I think I will make an appointment with the naturopathic doctor after all.

But on to more interesting and exciting subjects!

 It has been a regular play around here lately. Pirates, cowboys... you never know quite who you are going to run into. :-)

Also... Do you see what they are standing on???? Wood floors!!!

The long unappreciated carpet is gone. (From all but the girls room - that might happen this weekend). That carpet that was good for me for practicing contentment but I certainly am excited to be rid of it! This project happened while I was sick and that was a little interesting and overwhelming to have the chaos of moving things out of one room and getting things pulled up and what have you. I would lay on the couch and watch and whenever I could stir up a little energy I would paint a wall (since the trim was off and the floors were out it really seemed like the practical time to paint even though I felt nasty).  Ken and Jonathan did the majority of the floor, it is made in a new way which makes it really easy to lay. It was a great learning experience for Jonathan.

 That was a sneak peak of what things look like. I hope to give a full tour soon.

Thanks for joining my on my journey. How has your life been going lately?

Relying on God's Strength

  Lately I have so often been realizing how I simply do not have enough strength. Not enough time. Not enough ability. There is no way that I can accomplish what I would like to do on my own. Even some very simple things I have been struggling with.

 Thank God for His strength! There is no way I could get through life without Him!

Here are some verses that I found encouraging on this subject:

"But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.  That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

"Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. 29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. 30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 31 but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.^""""" Isaiah 40:28-31

"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble." Psalm 46:1

    "I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,  so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,  and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.  Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,  to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." Ephesians 3:16-21  

 So whether you are noticing God's strength in amazing ways in your life or whether you are being perfected through weakness I encourage you to trust God fully, always turn to Him for strength each day and then be thankful for whatever He gives. 

Can we repurpose it?

 

Any of you that have been reading my blog very long are probably aware of my love for do-it-yourself-recycling. Over the course of this summer I have taken a few pictures that I decided to combine together in this post to share a few recycling and money saving ideas.

 

   The picture above shows a project from our last homemakers group this summer. One of the ladies that was coming requested a flower arranging class as she knew that was something that I did. I was agreeable but I didn't have a lot of vases on hand right then that I just wanted to give away and not get back and I had failed to remember to ask the ladies to bring their own and I didn't really want to go out and buy them - even though they are usually quite cheap at second hand stores. I preferred to figure out a way to use something I had. That something happened to be olive oil bottles. I had quite a few and though I have used them to store my homemade vinegar I don't seem to have a lot of used for them. Vases would be perfect.

 

  First I need to get the label off of them. I soaked them in hot vinegar water and then scraped with a knife, then added a little oil and rubbed with a rag. The labels came off fairly easily (not perfectly always but good enough). To make them look more finished I wrapped some twine around the lip, hot glued it in place and tied a little twine bow. The flowers my friend and I were able to gather from our gardens. We were able to make enough to give away to others too so that was fun.

 

 

Another project that I worked on this summer was underwear. Not something I discuss to often in public but I think it is a good idea to share every so often in case someone else likes to repurpose things and save a little money.

 

 

I changed these items made out of knit from this:

To this: 

 Though actually in those pictures I have the wrong matchup - I don't have anything made from the cameo material and I do have boxes made from some other repurposed knit fabric. I re-use elastic from old underwear if it is still serviceable.

Boxers are pretty easy to make, so are ladies/girls underwear:

I went from this:

 To this:

 My exciting discovery in underwear making this year was on how to trim the legs. In the past I have used elastic which looks kind of funny, sometimes doesn't feel that great and also uses something that I don't get as easily for free. Then I tried just hemming the leg hole - that was way to loose. So this time I cut a strip from the knit fabric, I sewed it on like you would bias tape except that I stretched it while sewing it. This new method works great!

 One day we were over at my parents and my mom sent Mara out to pick apples using this clever "basket" she had made from an old laundry detergent container.

 Another something that my mom saved... Deli containers complements of my sister (she would bring them home from work and Mom washed and saved them).  A couple of times while taking some short little trips with my parents this summer when we needed to eat on the road, my Mom used these to pack the meal. It didn't make things pretty nifty for eating in the car and the kids thought it was pretty fun to get their own lunch. Mom gave us a set so we have now used them on a car trip or so as well as to pack our lunches in when we go to homeschool group. We still might not have all the fancy juice boxes and processed snacks that other kids sometimes have but we have some nifty little containers for our lunch. :-)

When I was looking through pictures I noticed this one that I took today of a Bridal Bouquet that I delivered today. There are no recycled items in this picture (though we have extended the life of the bench by sanding it down and varnishing it two times) but it reminded me of some that I used today. When I deliver the bouquets for the bride and bridesmaids I need them to be in water so that they will stay fresh as long as possible. My mom and I save all sorts of bottles for this purpose - oil bottles, mayo jars, creamer containers, etc. Some we have to cut the skinny neck off of and others we use as is except with all of them we wash them carefully out. This works just fine for delivering flowers and saves my business money. I also need something to put the corsages and boutonnieres in when I deliver so Ken at his business saves all his envelope boxes and any other small boxes that come his way and I use them (as well as any others that I am able to save). Nobody has complained about my packaging and I have even had one mother of the bride carefully return all the plastic mayo jars before, and this saves my business money which in turn saves us money.

  Why buy something new when you can use something you have instead?

I am linking this up at Frugal Foto Friday

Working Together

This has been a busy week and one which I have been fighting some germs so I haven't had much energy for blogging but I had a thought (probably one I have shared before) that I wanted to share on the topic of marriage.

  Ken bought wood flooring to put down in our upstairs (I am so very excited!) and so this week we have been trying to work on getting it put down. It has reminded me yet again how strengthening it can be for a marriage to work together.

  Sometimes with Ken busy with his business and me busy with homemaking and my business we can struggle finding time to work together so I treasure these times when we can do that.

  Do you like to work with your husband? Do you ever offer to help when he is working on a project (even possibly working on the car - possibly you can hold a light in the right place)? Do you think that working together helps your marriage?
 

"Best Friends and Mean Girls" {Book review and Giveaway}

   I was recently asked to review a set of books to help we Mom's as we parent our daughters through their tween years. The author of the books is Dannah Gresh (with Suzy Weibel joining her on the "Girl's Guide"), and since I really truly enjoyed and appreciated Dannah's book on parenting tween (8-12 year olds) boys I was eager to read this book as well.

   This book is written differently than "6 ways to keep the "good" in your Boy", I believe that one is more like her "6 ways to keep the "Little" in your Girl" (which I haven't read), This book - "Talking with Your Daughter about Best Friends and Mean Girls" is more like a manual. It has plans for "8 Great Dates" that you are supposed to take with your daughter. It also has memory verses planned out, devotions to use and even scripted (on your part - not your daughter) discussions to have.

  The subject matter discussed is very good. Some of it I haven't dealt with either with my daughters nor did I deal with it growing up, I think the reason being because both I and my daughters are/were homeschooled and we have lived much more sheltered lives. That in my book is a plus of homeschooling! However there were many things that she talks about that is applicable to any girl. Throughout the book she encourages the memorizing of 1 Corinthians 13 and encourages actions to go along with those thoughts on love. 

   There were things that I really liked about this book and others that really weren't my style. I thought I would share a quick list of pros and cons in my opinion:

THINGS I LIKE:

• Emphasis on spending time with God. It made me realize my need to encourage my children in personal devotion time a little more.
• Encouraging scripture memorization and study. God's word is what we truly need to help us through life.
• Practical advice on modesty. I love her non-condemning but very strait forward modesty tests that she encourages girls to run their clothes through. She makes it fun and simple. I might prefer a little stricter standards in one area but mostly I thought they were very good.
• Encouraging close and good relationships with other girls.
• Encouraging girls to be a friend and choose friends that will help them stand up for what is right.
• Practical advice on boys (which she spells boyz -which for some reason irritates me)- encouraging girls to put off having boyfriends until they are a good deal older than being a tween. I thought her approach on this was good. It isn't quite the same as mine but very practical.
• Good thoughts on cell phones for kids.

THINGS THAT WEREN'T MY STYLE:

• Going on dates. I love spending time with my children and I love having one on one time too. However the whole date thing seems weird to me. I am not sure why, but it does. I guess I prefer our time one on one to be a little more spontaneous - a walk with Mara to see some new beauty in nature that God is displaying today or perhaps time spent with Megan while we work on a craft. So, dates aren't my thing - but perhaps they are yours.
• Scripted discussions. If you want for me to have a very stilted conversation just give me a script. I have tried using that sort of thing for teaching kid's classes at church and they just don't work for me. I prefer to talk naturally using my own words - and we do talk. We have talked about the majority of the topics in the book as they come up naturally in our discussions. That again is one of the benefits of homeschooling - we have so much more time for talking.
• Some weird spellings and other "cool" modes of speech. I guess I am old fashioned.

So, for me this wasn't a book that I was going to use as it was written to be used but I did still enjoy reading through it and think that I learned some stuff from it and was reminded of other things that I should think about while raising my daughters.

 The book "Talking with your daughters about Best Friends and Mean Girls" has some removable worksheets in the back to use on your dates and there is a book that is just for the girls to go with the one for moms. That book is called "A Girls Guide to Best Friends and Mean Girls".  It is a fun easy to read book that talks about being a friend, encourages time with Jesus, our best friend and the book is filled with games, fill in the blank and other fun things for girls. There is also a focus on looking to the scripture for answers.

So as I said before I think these are nice books with a good message and I think that many moms and daughters would gain a lot from going through them. The way it is done is not my style but I am different from any other mom I know (we all are unique) and I think this would be great for some moms.

GIVEAWAY

Does this sound like something that would be helpful to you and your daughter (or maybe you know somebody else that could use it)?  I have the opportunity to give away both of these books to some blog reader.

 If you would like to win please leave a comment including your e-mail address. In your comment I would love to hear your thoughts on the subject matter of these books.

 If you would like a second chance at winning then please become a follower of my blog or subscribe via e-mail and then leave another comment telling me that you do so.

 This giveaway will go through October 5th.

Disclaimer: I was given these books for purposes of reviewing. The thoughts written are my own.


 AND THE WINNER IS: Joanna. Congratulations!