January Hymn 2011- O God our Help in Ages Past

Click hereTo listen to O God, Our help in Ages Past by Issac Watts
Click here to read about this hymn

Christmas Gifts- Coasters

 This year, instead of aprons (which were  BIG hit), I thought I would make a basket of creative items- all handmade (and incredibly inexpensive!). Part of what would go in the basket along with two different drink mixes, mugs (from the dollar store and personalized by me), and marble magnets (which I will showcase in the next blog post),  were coasters which cost me all of $1.00 for 4!
If you are interested in doing these, I've attached my instructions below. Just be aware you need about 2 days to make them.

Here is what you will need:
Polyurethane (whatever gloss you like- I used satin, but now wished I would have used a higher gloss) 
Tile squares (I got mine at Lowe's for 10 cents each)
Any pretty tissue paper, scrapbook paper or napkin you have. (I personally did not like the texture of napkins when I tried it)
Felt pieces or Foam pieces cut into squares the size of the tile
Strong craft glue (I uses E-6000)
Mod Podge

1.First cut a piece of your paper  larger than the tile piece.

2. Add a layer of Mod podge all over the tile piece and sides and then spread your paper over the tile carefully making sure to flatten the bubbles.

3. Carefully tear off the excess tissue. Don't worry too much if bits of side tissue come off, they will be relatively hidden.



4. This part takes some time. You will have to give the tiles 3-4 coats of polyurethane allowing each coat to dry in between. That takes anywhere from 3-6 hours per coat.

5. Lastly, using your strong craft glue, add either a foam piece or felt to the bottom of the tile for cushion.

That's it! Easy as pie and cost practically nothing.

About Antonio Vivaldi

Listen to a kid friendly shows about Vivaldi on Classics For Kids.

I'm Back

After three months of constant nausea and headaches, not to mention the exhaustion my body underwent, I am back on my feet. It is like some mysterious miracle to wake up one morning to discover that you feel great. So now it's the Christmas season and happy planning is underway. This is truly our most favorite season with so many little traditions and plans we have made throughout the years and I am so glad to be able to participate. I can't wait to post pictures of this year's Christmas plans in our home in the days to come.

Tell me the story of Jesus (December hymn)

Nature Study: Owls

Response is what matters- Elizabeth Elliott

Just yesterday I began feeling a little bit normal again. Weeks of laying on the sofa too miserable to pick up  the remote much less a book. If I was not talking myself out being sick, I was asleep- so much for quiet time with the Lord. It was more like praying I could survive yet another pregnancy without too much damage to my falling-apart order in my home. Kids acting like they had never had a Mommy to teach them, a house almost too gross to live in and then worries, of worries, our yearly Fall Festival approached.
The Lord miraculously gave me the strength and energy to complete the long week leading up to the big day, but the week afterwards, I thought I was going to die with the migraines, strep and morning sickness that culminated by stressing out an already tired body. Sounds pretty pathetic, but it is my reality. A reality that lead up the end of "me". I felt like a failure, useless and ready to throw in the towel.
So, getting on my knees, I cried out to the Lord for His strength and His wisdom. After talking to my dear friend, my sister, she read this devotion below by Elizabeth Elliott to me. I just had to stop my heart from all of the trouble and frustrations and remember that God has assigned me my portion and my cup. He has perfectly orchestrated my days and I can rest in His loving care for me, not worry about my inadequacies and weakness. My response to the circumstances He has given to me is what He is after.

I hope this encourages anyone who reads this as it did me:

"What do we really want in life? I am surprised at how few of us have a ready answer. Oh, we can come up with quite a long list of things, but is there one thing above all others that we desire? “One thing I have desired of the Lord,” said David, “that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life…” (Psalm 27:4, NKJV).

To the rich young man who wanted eternal life Jesus said, “One thing you lack. Go, sell everything” (Mark 10:21, NIV).

In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus tells us that the seed that is choked by thorns has fallen into a heart full of the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desire for other things.

 The apostle Paul said, “One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14, NIV).

A quiet heart is content with what God gives. It is enough. All is grace.

 One morning my computer simply would not obey me. What a nuisance. I had my work laid out, my timing figured, my mind all set. My work was delayed, my timing thrown off, my thinking interrupted. Then I remembered. It was not for nothing. This was part of the Plan (not mine, His).

“Lord, You have assigned me my portion and my cup.” Now if the interruption had been a human being instead of an infuriating mechanism, it would not have been so hard to see it as the most important part of the work of the day. But all is under my Father’s control: yes, recalcitrant computers, faulty transmissions, drawbridges that happen to be up when I am in a hurry. My portion. My cup. My lot is secure. My heart can be at peace. My Father is in charge. How simple! My assignment entails my willing acceptance of my portion in matters far beyond comparison with the trivialities just mentioned, such as the death of a precious baby. A mother wrote to me of losing her son when he was just one month old. A widow wrote of the long agony of watching her husband die. The number of years given them in marriage seemed too few. We can know only that Eternal Love is wiser than we, and we bow in adoration of that loving wisdom.

Response is what matters. Remember that our forefathers all were guided by the pillar of cloud, all passed through the sea, all ate and drank the same spiritual food and drink, but God was not pleased with most of them. Their response was all wrong. Bitter about the portions allotted to them, they indulged in idolatry, gluttony, and sexual sin. And God killed them by snakes and by a destroying angel.The same almighty God apportioned their experiences.

All events serve His will. Some responded in faith. Most did not.Think of that promise and keep a quiet heart! Our enemy delights in disquieting us. Our Savior and Helper delights in quieting us. “As a mother

comforts her child, so will I comfort you” is His promise (Isaiah 66:13, NIV). The choice is ours. It depends on our willingness to see everything in God, receive all from His hand, accept with gratitude just the portion and the cup He offers. Shall I charge Him with a mistake in His measurements or with misjudging the sphere in which I can best learn to trust Him? Has He misplaced me? Is He ignorant of things or people which, in my view, hinder my doing His will?

God came down and lived in this same world as a man. He showed us how to live in this world, subject to its vicissitudes and necessities, that we might be changed, not into angels or storybook princesses, not wafted into another world, but changed into saints in this world. The secret is Christ in me, not me in a different set of circumstances."

The Love of God- November (2010/1) Hymn

The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star,
And reaches to the lowest hell;
The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled,
And pardoned from his sin.

O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure
The saints’ and angels’ song.

Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above,
Would drain the ocean dry.
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.

O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure
The saints’ and angels’ song.


For the history about this song click HERE

Scripture verse of the week

"Better is a dish of vegetables where love is Than a fattened ox served with hatred. " Proverbs 15:17

Albrecht Dürer - Self portrait

I just love how he always signed his name: big A, little D embedded within- and always a date- just to make sure we all remember when he painted it.
He looks a bit like Jesus in this portrait doesn't he? What I found interesting about Durer was that he was a godly man- very unusual for his day. He said when he painted this self-portrait that the older we get, the more we should look like Jesus- thus, the locks.  He did seem like a genuine man who truly loved the Lord based on my reading, but of course, I still have more to learn about him...so further reading might reveal more.

October Hymn- To God be the Glory

To God be the Glory by Fanny Crosby. Read about her in a previous post I wrote HERE

Introduction to...

Well, I have to make a new introduction. Our little munchkin growing inside me. This little person has been the reason our school year is turning out very differently and the reason why I can't seem to get on my computer very often. So, this year will be an adapting year. So, grow, little baby, grow!

“Here is a sweet, fragrant mouth to kiss; here are two more feet to make music with their pattering about my nursery, Here is a soul to train for God. and the body in which it dwells is worth all it will cost, since it is the abode of a kingly tenant. I may see less of friends, but I have gained one dearer than them all, to whom, while I minister in Christ’s name, I make a willing sacrifice of what little leisure for my own recreation my other darlings had left me. Yes, my precious baby, you are welcome to your mother’s heart, welcome to her time, her strength, her health, her tenderest cares, to her lifelong prayers! Oh, how rich I am, how truly, how wondrously blest!” Elizabeth Prentiss in Stepping Heavenward

More Love to Thee, O Chirst

Well, I've been sick for a couple of weeks, and my poor blog has been pushed aside...
And speaking of sick, we got sick of our hymn (God of our Fathers- our national hymn). Oh, well. We needed something a little more...errr...worshipful. So about a week and a half ago, I fell back on the extra hymns I picked out to study.
This one was such a great choice. Written by Elizabeth Prentiss, the author of one of my favorite books- Stepping Heavenward.
She wrote this about 15 years before she had it published...or rather, her husband encouraged her to to it. It was written after the loss of two children and deep sorrow. Just like in her novel, the deep love for Christ in the midst of trial just permeates this wonderful woman's life and has inspired and taught me to look to the cross when I suffer. What a dear, and passionate song to our Savior.

Listen Here: More Love to Thee, O Christ
More love to Thee, O Christ, more love to Thee!
Hear Thou the prayer I make on bended knee.
This is my earnest plea: More love, O Christ, to Thee;
More love to Thee, more love to Thee!


Once earthly joy I craved, sought peace and rest;
Now Thee alone I seek, give what is best.
This all my prayer shall be: More love, O Christ to Thee;
More love to Thee, more love to Thee!

Let sorrow do its work, come grief or pain;
Sweet are Thy messengers, sweet their refrain,
When they can sing with me: More love, O Christ, to Thee;
More love to Thee, more love to Thee!

Then shall my latest breath whisper Thy praise;
This be the parting cry my heart shall raise;
This still its prayer shall be: More love, O Christ to Thee;
More love to Thee, more love to Thee!

Albrecht Dürer- Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Read about it here on Wikipedia

The history of The Four horsemen of the Apocalypse can be found in Revelations. John depicts the four horsemen as: One, being Pestilence- he is carrying a bow and wears a crown. The next is War depicted by a sword. Then comes Famine holding a scale (to weigh food during a famine), Lastly is Death with Hell behind him. John says one fourth of the world will be destroyed by one or the other of these four.

This art was, from what I read an engraving. I'm not 100 percent on that one, but I'm pretty sure that is what I read.

Questions I asked my kids:

What does this art make you feel?

What do you think Durer was thinking as he drew this?

Living a lie ?

This morning I read in 1 John 2: 3-6 "We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did."

I was struck by this especially because recently, I was having a conversation with a woman about a particular issue she was facing in her life and then I began asking questions like: "how is your time with the Lord?", "Are you praying for this situation?", "Do you have faith that God can change this?"...etc
No matter what question I asked, there was an excuse- quite valid excuses- to her. The more I tried to help her find solutions to some of these roadblocks of time with her Savior, the more complicated the excuses became. I finally walked away from that exhausting conversation thinking to myself, "She doesn't want to change! She just wanted a sympathetic ear and for someone to tell her to keep on sinning- God will overlook it!"
I can't stop at that story, because John wrote this for us all. What excuses do I make for not obeying God?  I took out my journal and wrote: " What is my lie?" John said that if we do not do what God commands, he is a liar. So, again, what is my lie?
I could write out a list of areas I need to grow in, and I did, but in taking a deep look into my heart the one thing I am going to focus on is my discipline in patience. I get impatient with people and my kids too quickly. I am going to add that to what Elizabeth George calls a "fat file". That means I am going to begin a study on that subject until I become an expert on it. So, here I go and I hope you will do the same to your "lie".