Beds for Guests

 If you have company come for overnight then you need some place for them to sleep. This is something that has been on our minds lately around here. Our church is getting ready to have a Retreat and we have people come from out of town and we have fun putting them up in our homes. This year it seems like we are having a pretty good crowd come so we have been working to creatively figure out beds for everybody. (My mom has taken over a lot of the "worrying" on that for both of our homes and some of my siblings too - I have been busy concentrating on just getting the rooms finished so that we are ready to put beds in them.)

  Some people may have a guest room all ready for whenever they have company but that is not something that we have and I know a lot of people don't have that sort of space in their home. Does this mean we can't have overnight guests? Not at all!!! When we rented a two bedroom home when living in Kansas we managed to have I believe it was over 20 people stay with us. Now our family (which was just Ken, Mara and I at the time) did set up our bedroom in the garage but it worked and it was fun!

If we don't have guest rooms and extra beds then what do we use?

• We purchased an air bed - it is simply an air mattress which fits on top of a collapsible metal frame. This is what Ken and I use when we go camping and we have also often used it to turn my office/craft room into a guest room. To make it more comfortable I like to put an egg shell mattress on the top.
• Our couch is a hide-a-bed. We have very rarely used this for couples to sleep on as it is in the living room (so not very private) but kids have slept on it frequently.
• Mara has always had a double bed to sleep on since she was very little. She likes it but the real reason she has it is so that we can kick her out of it when company comes and she takes a sleeping bag on the floor with carpet or a mat or sleeps on the couch. She doesn't mind and actually the boys have been jealous quite a few times that the girls get to have the company in their room and the boys' don't. In our new house we are planning on getting a double bed for the boys' room too. Actually we hope to get/make bunk-beds for both rooms with a double on bottom and a single on top.
• We have lots of camping mats. These are great for providing a little extra comfort for kids sleeping on the floor. An old sleeping bag or folded up bed spread can also help to make a cushion. This makes it so we can turn about any room into a guest room. Quite a few years when we had a house full of company at our Retreat time (we enjoyed 3 families staying with us a few years) the boys (ours and a couple of friends) got to use the laundry room as their bedroom. 
• If you have a mattress (an air mattress, a foam mattress or whatever) but no frame you can throw one together using pallets, cement blocks, five gallon buckets, totes, plywood etc. Just be creative but do make sure it is sturdy and won't wobble around with people on it. If you can make something sturdy it is surely nicer if you can make a bed that is up off the ground for people to sleep on. This is something that both my mom and I have done to make better beds for lots of guests. We have both also used this method to lengthen a regular double bed to better accommodate some of the tall guests we have at times.

Our girls' old bedroom - with the double bed in preparation for company.

I have never actually had any guests sleep in hammocks but I suppose it is a possibility. I bet some kids would find it pretty exciting!

 We have also had a futon before which worked for extra guests. I would like to get one again to have in our basement for both seating and then sleeping.

My sister's family made a cool bed (I think it is called a Murphy bed) that folds up into the wall. It makes it so a room in the basement can be either a play room or a guest room.

  Do you have any additional ideas for providing beds for your guests? I would love to hear how you do it at your house!

Goals For Good Health

How is your family doing health-wise through these winter months? There seems to be a lot of sickness out there! I have had music students cancel lessons regularly because they are ill, people have to stay home from church because they are sick and I hear of friends that feeling pretty miserable. We have had our turns at being sick too. In the last few weeks (we seem all to be pretty much on the mend now) different ones have taken turns having sore/scratchy throats, runny noses, fatigue and congestion. We have been very grateful to skip out on high fevers and vomiting!

  Meanwhile we are trying to continue to take little steps every day to improve our health.

These are the goals we have been working on:

1. Drink plenty of water (at least 8 glass for the bigger ones and at least 6 for the smaller people). This has been going pretty well. I personally have been able to make a much better habit of drinking plenty of water and the kids are getting better at it too.
2. Flossing our teeth everyday. This has truly become a habit with me and the kids are doing good at doing it too but after a visit to the dentist today I do realize that I need to get in there and do it for them some of the time and help them to become more proficient at it.
3. Stretching. We are still working to get back in the habit with this one. We did do it today and at least one other day this week. I have been realizing the need for it lately.
4. Get to bed on time. I am trying and I am making progress but I am not truly good at it yet.

My goal that I am starting to work on this week is having us take Cod Liver Oil every day. I am not a supplement sort of gal but in this northern climate that we live in having some good source of vitamin D is rather necessary and this seems to me to be one of the easiest and natural ways in which to do that on a regular basis. Other than being high in Vitamin D, Cod Liver Oil is also an excellent source of DHA (A fatty acid that is essential to the health of your nervous system and eyes and also helps to prevent depression), EPA (another fatty acid that is anti-inflammatory and helps to prevent depression) and Vitamin A (which is good for your eyes, skin and digestive tract). There are a lot of benefits that I don't have time to list here. Here is a good article about it.

 What are you doing to try to improve the health of your family?

Why I Believe We Have a Sin Problem

Adam and Eve may have been the first people to sin as we read in Genesis chapter 3....

"Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

² The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, ³ but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
⁴ “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. ⁵ “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
⁶ When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it."
... but it isn't because of them that you or I struggle with sin. 

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23 - Jesus is the only One who perfectly lived - the rest of us sin.

"So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin." James 4:17 - We have chosen to not do things at times (or vice-versa)  that we knew - had the ability to do - we should do. This tells us that would be sin. That was a choice that we made personally.

 "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it." 1 Corinthians 10:13 - Temptation is hard and when we choose to give into it that is sin. This verse is so wonderful in the promise that it gives us however.

"For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it." James 2:10

We know that sin is lawlessness, it is missing the mark, it is not leading perfect, holy lives. It is something that we all have to deal with. We struggle with it because of our pride and selfishness.

I am so thank-ful that our struggle with sin isn't the end of the story. It is something that we need to recognize but Jesus came to take care of our sin problem. Praise the Lord. I look forward to sharing verses on that with you soon.

Trying to Finish Things Up on the House

  We have a bunch of company coming to stay with us in less than 2 weeks so I am trying to push to see if we can get everything (at least nearly everything - I know there are at least a couple of projects that are waiting on boards to cure) done in the inside before then. I talked to the contractor and he was agreeable and now we are doing our best to do the things that we are responsible for.

One of the things that the contractor got done this week was some of our stair railings. That was pretty exciting. Not only because we think they look super cool but also because the stairs seem much safer with them. We have had some pretty cobbled together stairs for a while and so we are very happy to have them getting finished.

  Speaking of stairs - A week ago some of the treads weren't done either and one of them had the new tread on it but it wasn't hooked on. I knew it was loose but didn't realize that it wasn't screwed in at all. I stepped on it last Friday evening and it just slipped away with me on top of it. That caused me to fall back on the stair frame (which is pointy) beneath. I hit it with my low back and then slipped again and hit it with my upper back. That was a breath taking experience. I have been sore quite a bit since. I am trying to get into see a chiropractor very soon. So anyway - that leaves me feeling extremely grateful for getting the stairs finished.

 One of the big projects that I have left is tiling our master bedroom shower. This is a project that I felt a little uncertain about and so getting started was a little overwhelming. I also wanted stones for the bottom of the shower but hadn't found what I wanted yet. This week we finally made it to a place where they had lots and lots of stones. I was looking for smooth but not polished stones that looked like they could belong in the river. Though the place we were at had an amazing amount of stones I didn't find what I was looking for. Most of them were far to "fancy" for me. But after not finding what I had gone for the owner and I started discussing the idea of using some split rocks instead. The picture above shows a piece of the tile we are using for most of the shower and a sample of the rocks that I got. I think they match really well and could look pretty cool. Ken was agreeable so I hope to go get what I need pretty soon. What do you think?

 Today I finally laid down the felt/tar paper and the metal lath and then mixed up mortar and made my shower pan. Since my back has been aching Mara helped a fair amount with the mixing of mortar. This project took a while but really wasn't that bad and I think it looks like it is going to work okay.

 I had to carefully slope the mortar so that the shower will drain properly.

Another project that we tackled today was putting up our wallpaper border. The first one that I attempted to put up was in the kids' bathroom and it was supposed to be pre-pasted but the paste was very wimpy and it would not stay up on the wall. So I googled wallpaper paste and found a recipe that used flour, sugar, water and alum. I didn't have alum so I used Tea Tree oil instead to make it mold resistant.

 It is so nice to be able to fix you problems simply and quickly like that.

 Once we had the paste the wallpaper stayed up beautifully.

 We love the way it looks!!

Our only problem is that we didn't have enough. I guess somehow we calculated wrong. Maybe because originally we a had thought we would put it in the middle rather than on top so then we wouldn't have needed it where the shower is or the door. Thankfully I was able to find it and order another roll. It was a close call with getting it as that variety was on clearance with quantities limited.

  Mara and I also put up the border in Ken's office. It looks pretty cool but I guess I will have to share a picture of that another day.

   Ken and Jonathan have been working on our living room window seat and Ken and I also worked a lot on closet shelving and rods. Things are coming along! Hopefully I will have a big report next week as well.

A Beautiful Visitor

 The other day I was visiting on the phone with a friend and wandering through the house as I am prone to do and while doing that was startled to see a beautiful butterfly on our stairway wall.

  What in the world was a butterfly doing here in the middle of the winter?!

Mara supposed that it had built its chrysalis in the fall and was planning on over wintering here as Compton Tortoiseshells (that is it's name - we figured that out after looking in our butterfly book) tend to do. It must have made it in some window frame or on some board or something during our building process and then when it ended up inside in the warmer weather it came out of the chrysalis as soon as it was fully formed. That is our supposition. It won't tell us whether it is correct or not.

 Isn't it a pretty butterfly? When folded up I can see how it could so easily blend in to a tree.

 We feel very privileged to be able to see it so up close and personal. In our learning more about this type of butterfly we went on a site made by someone who photographs butterflies and writes about them and his only picture of a Compton tortoiseshell was one from quite a distance. I guess they tend to be very skittish.

 Mara tried getting sugar water for it to eat put it doesn't seem interested. I guess they like tree sap (willow was a particular one they liked) and rotten fruit and we just don't have any of those things on hand. I am afraid that it isn't going to make it. We have enjoyed it's visit however and if it doesn't survive we plan on giving it a nice resting place in a frame somewhere. But Mara doesn't really think it is nice to talk about that as long as it is still alive. :-)

Have you seen any butterflies recently?

Why I believe the World Was Created in 6 Literal Days

There are a lot of people out there (including many writers of Bible study books) who have chosen to believe that the days of creation are not necessarily 24 hour days as we now know them. I have a problem with that and here is why.....

Let's take a look at Genesis 1 where we read the account of creation:

" In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ² Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

³ And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ⁴ God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. ⁵ God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

⁶ And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” ⁷ So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. ⁸ God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

⁹ And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. ¹⁰ God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.

¹¹ Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. ¹² The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. ¹³ And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day." Genesis 1:1-13

Gen. 1:19 "And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day."

Gen. 1:23 "And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day."

Gen. 1:31 "God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day."

The argument that is used is that the word day doesn't always mean a literal day in the Bible. I accept that, there are places that it would seem the Hebrew word for day is talking about an indefinite unit of time not a 24 hour day. But when the Bible so clearly states that there was evening and morning (and those only come once in every day but yet they do consistently come once a day) it seems quite obvious that it is saying that each day of creation was indeed just like our normal day now with an evening and a morning.

  Another argument that is made is that how could God have done all that creating (and when we start truly studying the natural world we do start to realize just how much creating it really was!) in 6 normal days. Okay -- It is amazing. It is incredibly hard to comprehend. It is not truly understandable. But the thing is we have a God how can perform amazing miracles. Even if each day would have been 2 billion years - the creation that He did would still have been amazing and incomprehensible. Not matter how hard any of us tried we couldn't have done what He did no matter how long with had to do it. As far as the time that it took God to create - in the Bible it simply says that He spoke the directions and it happened.  We have an amazing God!

 Our time - days, months, years are based on the Sun, Moon and Earth. God planned it that was from the beginning. It says in Gen. 1:14  "And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, ¹⁵ and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so." God here is talking about regular Days and Years - why would He be talking about a different sort of day when we are told that it was day 1, 2,3 and so forth.

Exodus 20:11 again repeats what we have already been told that God created the earth in 6 days.

"For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy."

This is why I believe that God created the Earth in 6 literal days. What do you believe?