Storing up treasure

Our yard (photo done with a fun setting on my new camera)

 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Matthew 6:19 & 20

 This is one of the verses that the kids and I have been memorizing as we memorize the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew and it is one that I think has a very good message. It is pretty easy for us to get caught up in earthly matters and thinking about taking care of our wants and needs here but our priorities really need to be on eternal matters. Who cares if we have investments galore and a nice home and everything we need if we have no thought put into preparing for heaven and making sure that we and others have our "tickets" there?

   How can we practically store up treasures in heaven? 
What about....
-Leading others to Christ. Relationships are important for this so spend time building those relationships with your children and anybody else that God has put into your life to minister to. Someday in heaven hopefully we will see the fruit of our labors in this area!
-Giving/Serving. Luke 12:33-34 would give us the idea that when we give to others we are then storing up treasure in heaven.
-Worship. That is something we can give to our Father who is in heaven.

I would love to hear your thoughts on storing up treasure in heaven!
  

Harvesting Decorations from Our Land

 

Mara with a basket of boughs.

 One of the benefits of having a little bit of land is quite likely having some trees and some wild areas where things grow naturally. We don't have a large amount of that sort of area on our property of just over 1 acre, but we do have some. When we want to decorate for some season or another our first impulse is generally to head outside and see what natural decorations that we can find.

  Our family loves the outdoors and when we can pull a bit of it inside to enjoy we like that quite a bit too. So on Saturday with temps around -15 degrees F, Mara and I dressed up warmly and headed out for a walk around the property.

Me and my log

In our woods we have a big clump of birch trees and some of them had died and fallen down so we collected some logs from back there. We also trimmed little bits here and there from our various evergreen trees and shrubs. I grabbed a log from our woodpile (which we had cut up from fallen trees and have to burn in our fire pit) for use inside. We also found quite a few branches to use and I picked some of the red berries from the Lilies of the Valley but they ended up getting mushy upon coming inside so we didn't use them. We also found a few pine cones to add to are already big pine cone collection that had been gathered other years.

 This was the mess that resulted in our entry way. But gradually that mess has disappeared and I think the house is beginning to look rather nice. I actually hope to go on another bough picking expedition soon.

 All of the kids got involved in the decorating. It is fun to work together though I admit that sometimes I struggle with enjoying all their wild excitement over decorating when I have my own ideas of how I would like it done. This year I thought it would be fun to try to have a Scandinavian look as much as possible.

Here is one shelf that is done. We have been able to decorate our home for quite a few years without spending any money but simply using products from nature and other found objects and things we already have on hand.

   I am hoping to finish the decorating today and then I will post a tour - probably either tonight or tomorrow. So come on back if you would like to have a tour!

  How do you like to decorate?

I am linking to:

 

Blessed be the name of the Lord

A Sundog that we got to see last week (We have had some COLD weather)

  I recently started reading the book of Job again. The story is very familiar to me and sometimes I can have a tendency to think about the story a whole lot when it is quite familiar. But this week when I read about all the servants that came running to tell him that He had lost this or that and Job just listens and then responds with this:

   "Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and he fell to the ground and worshipped. He said,
   "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord."
Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God." Job 1:20-22

 I think the story hit me a little harder this time because some friends of ours spent last week in urgent care watching their 12 year old daughter battle for her life (Thanks to God she is getting better now - still in the hospital but much improved) and as I was spending much of the week in prayer over that situation it made me realize yet again how fragile life can be. Here a girl who had been doing great at our homeschool group at the beginning of November was now in a situation where she might not make it. Our family had had the same sickness bug that led to her health problems (pneumonia that went into her heart) and I realized just how easily it could have been us. Life is fragile. We don't have a promise that we will never lose a child.

   Job lost all of his children (plus his belongings and his health) in one blow and yet his reaction was to worship. He blessed God. Would that be my reaction? I hope so!

 

The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey {A Review}

  I recently enjoyed reading through "The Total Money Makeover" by Dave Ramsey. I have long heard of Dave Ramsey (through blogs, on the radio, friends talking and even on TV) and have even read books of his before but it was fun to read this book yet again. If you want an easy to read book that will take you step by step through the process of getting on track financially then this is a great book for you!

  Even for those of us that do live frugally normally and budget and stuff like that - this book is still encouraging and helpful. I find it challenging to think how we could do things even better. It is fun to read all the real life stories of many people that have used his system and have been able to get their finances on track and working for them.

   I appreciate his including Bible verses and biblical principles in his writings. The Bible is full of advice on money and we would do well to pay attention to it.

   I really like Dave's motto: "If you live like no one else, later you can live like no one else." Meaning if you are willing to make some sacrifices now and live in a way that may not go along with our culture then later you will be living in much better shape than those around you. Delayed gratification isn't necessarily a popular idea right now but it works much better.

   I also really appreciate his teaching on preparing for emergencies and then if you are prepared most "emergencies" won't even feel like emergencies any more because you will have money set aside for car repairs, sickness or whatever. When we fail to plan ahead life can tend to become one emergency after another but if we are prepared true emergencies are pretty rare and little ones aren't even felt. I have been thinking about how this concept can work in more areas than just financial but I will share more on that another time.

   Anyway.... I did enjoy this book. We don't follow all his ideas to the letter (though I don't think it would hurt) but I do find his book encouraging and helpful. I recommend it.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com® book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

Robotics Tournament

   A very cool addition to Jonathan's education this school year has been his involvement in a VEX Robotics club. The is club made up of 4 boys (sometimes there are more kids and sometimes girls but the clubs tend to be heavily boys) who have been getting together since September to make a Robot using a kit that they were given at the beginning of the year.

  The kit that they use has a variety of parts (some rather like erector set pieces, also motors, gears, nuts, bolts, clear plastic sheets, wheels and more) but there are no instructions. The clubs are simply told what skills their robot needs to have in order to complete in the competition and then each club designs their own robot.

   This is a really cool way for kids to learn more about science, engineering, etc. Jonathan has learned a lot and absolutely loves it!

   A little over a week ago we all went to a town an hour and a half from here so that his team could have their robot compete with other teams from Northern MN. It was a long but really fun day. It was neat how they had teams form alliances with other teams so not only did they learn about Robot building but also had to work on skills such as communication and networking.

  We had thought that this might be the end of robotics for the year but the club decided they wanted to go to another competition in January (They ended up in about the middle of the field this time and did a great job) so they will keep working to make their robot even better until then.

    We are so blessed to be able to fun opportunities like this to help with learning.

   Have any of you ever had any involvement in robotics. It was totally new for us this year (some friends told us about it and we thought that it sounded perfect for Jonathan) but we are catching on a little to how it all works. Ken and I are happy that we aren't the ones that are having to design robots though as we have no clue how to do it.

Encouraging Godly Marriages

Today for encouragement for your marriage I would like to direct you over to the blog: "Always Learning" written by Lori Alexander. She often writes on the subject of biblical marriage and she had a good post today based on this verse:

"For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands:  Even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are..." 1 Peter 3:5 & 6

 I find it beneficial to read what others write to encourage us to do what is right in this area. I hope you find this post a blessing as well.