Tuesdays Thoughts

I was reading a chapter out of the book Little House in the Big Woods, by Garth Williams, last night, when we got to the end of the chapter, Pa said "There is a good reason for what I tell you to do, and if you'll as your told no harm will come to you."
All day today this thought has been going through my mind and I finally realized that this must be what our heavenly Father thinks about us. Why do we fight what he wants us to do, why can't we just do what He tells us to. We tell our children all the time to "Listen to me ", "why can't you mind me." I mean, we are all guilty of saying these things, and a few others I'm sure, to our kids aren't we? But I get the feeling that at times my heavenly Father is saying the same things to me. "If you would just do what I tell you to," I can imagine that this is what He says about me all the time. I mean no disrespect with this, I know that the bible say that His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways, But I think you know what I'm getting at.

Why is it so hard for us as Christian's to just live our lives as His Word tells us to, why must we constantly be trying to do things our own way. I think the answer to that is found in Romans 7:15 For that which I do I allow not:for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that I do.
v.16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.v.17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.v.18 For I know that in me(that is, in my flesh,)dwelleth no good thing:for to will is present with me;but how to perform that which is good I find not.v.19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Skipping down to verses 22-25 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

I love the part"O wretched man that I am!" O how I need to realize more often that I am a wretched person with out the saving grace of Jesus Christ. I believe that the previous verse are talking about a war between two natures, our nature that wants to love and obey God and our nature which wants to serve the world and sin. My dad often tells the story of a little boy who says that he feels like he has two big dogs down on the inside of him fighting all the time and when ask which one wins the little boy replys " which ever one I say sic 'em to the most".

So how do we overcome this war within ourselves? Verses 2-4 of Romans chapter 8 sum it all up for me; For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, that is how we can overcome the battles we have in the flesh that might would cause our Heavenly Father to look down and say That brandie whatever am I going to with her, If she would just listen to me and do what I say, ( I can just picture Him shaking His head at me sometimes)...
Well this is my thoughts for the day. My prayer is that I would strengthen the nature that God placed within me to be more like Him and less, much less, like a disobedient child. (Not that any of my children would disobey:) not ever(yea right)
Drop me a line and let me know your thoughts for the day!

Stress!!!

Stress, we all deal with it don't we? I have had my share of stress this past week and I am here to tell you, I don' t think I handled it very well at all. Have you ever noticed that when you get stressed and you don't handle it very well, the first people you take it out on is your family. And how that most of the time you are the one bringing all the stress on yourself. I have noticed these things about myself here lately and I don't like it. So I have written down a few things that I hope will help me to get rid of the stress in my life.

1. Make time for myself!!!!! This my sound a little selfish but I have found that if I don't make a little time for myself everyday that I will get really bummed out. I can't be every bodies everything, every minute of everyday!

2. Choose my battles! I am usually pretty good at doing this but here lately I don't seem to be doing a very good job at it. If my daughter wants to wear her boots with shorts when we go to town then that's okay, its just her style, and if my son insists on wearing his co-op shirt everyday, as long as its clean than that's okay to. Choose my battles, some things really aren't worth fussing about with your kids, They are kids by the way and they all have to find their own way, with some good directions, of course.

3. Housework will get done!!! I have to tell myself this at least 100 times a day. It will get done, someday my house will be clean again. I have discovered that when you homeschool, that there are a few things that get put on the back burner and at my house anyways housework is one of those things, and laundry, and the yard, and the van, and well you get the picture. Anyways, why stress out about it when teaching your children and spending time with your husband is so much better than washing dishes .

4. Organization!!! This is one thing that I constantly have to work on. I am more of a fly by the seat of your pants kind of gal, but I am realizing that life with children requires a bit more organization.

5. Last but definitely not least, Is spending time with my Lord each and everyday. The best medicine for a stressed out day is to spend time in the Word. To stop in the mist of the chaos and go to His Word and let Him fill me with His peace.

Well this is just a few ways that I reduce and deal with the stress that sometimes trys to overcome me.
So tell me, do y'all ever deal with stress? If so drop me a line and let me know how you reduce the stress if your life.

Happy Birthday To The Sweetest Little Cowgirl I know

Nine years ago today The Lord blessed me with a precious little girl.

She loves with her whole heart and treats everyone she meets with kindness. Her brothers adore her.She loves her Pony(Toby ) to distraction and takes in all kinds of animals who need help. Her love of life is contagious and her joy is overflowing. She is passionate about everything she does and wants to make sure she does her best(almost to the point of being a perfectionist). I love this daughter of mine, and I am so thankful my Lord and King gave me such a precious jewel. Happy Birthday Abigail!!!

Thankful Thursday

When He walks among us, All that He does

All of His mercy and All of His Love

If the pen of a writer could write everyday

even this world could never contain

Just how I've been blessed

Warmth in the winter, Flowers in Spring

The laughter of Summer, The changing of leaves

Food on my table, A good place to sleep

Clothes on back and shoes on my feet

Oh I have been blessed

Arms that will raise, A voice that can talk

Hands that can touch and legs that can walk

Ears that can listen, Eyes that can see

Oh I've got to praise Him as long I breathe

For I have been blessed

A Father and Mother who nurtured and raised

My sisters and brother and memories made

Our pastor to lead us, this alter to pray

Stripes that can heal and a Blood that can save

Oh I have been blessed

We live in a country, the greatest on earth

Her flag stand for freedom and all that it worth

She stands in the harbor Miss Liberty calls

All have gave some, But some have gave all

For me to be blessed

He's my shoulder to lean on when I am down

That rock where He leads me when I'm overwhelmed

That place where He hides me under His wings

Its not just a song He's the reason I sing

Oh I have been blessed

Oh I have been blessed

Gods so good to me

Precious are His thoughts of you and me

No way I could count them, theres not enough time

So I'll just thank Him for being so kind

God has been good, So good

I have been blessed

Sometimes a song can say things so much better.

How has God blessed you today? Drop me a line and let me know.

Lipstick Baby

Today I sat down at the computer and was catching up on some of favorite blogs, only partially paying attention to what my baby and his cousin was into. Well I got to hearing a few giggles and when I turned around this is what I saw:

CHEEESE!!!That is what he said.

Now you might be wandering what that is on his precious little face and I am ashamed to say that it is lipstick. My boy loves the stuff, If my daughter leaves her lipgloss laying around with-in his reach he will find it and have it all over him before we know!! I should probably be worried, but I ain't. I think that right now he is having a good time painting with it and thats alright with me. Ain't he just the cutest thing!! The little monkey.

Shall we gather at the River!!

This is the river that runs through my grandpa farm, and as he would say we own to the middle of it(that is how all old deeds read and he thinks that is just the neatest thing)

But besides that, Saturday afternoon my mom and dad planned a fishing trip to the river and we were so happy to go! Here are a few pics to show you all our fun.

Cob(my nephew) caught the first fish of the night, he was a little feller.

Here is my dear sweet daughter, who caught her very first fish ever!!

Tan, here caught several fish that night. Just look at that hat pulled so low over his ears. I hope his ears don't stick that way cause he always insist on wearing it like that. Oh well, If they do He'll still be my cutie pie.

Now this little guy did not catch any fish, but he was very successful at scaring alot of them away!

This is my big sis Chris and she was the winner of the night with the most fish caught! I think she bagged 7 .

Now, no trip to the river would be complete without a bonfire and hot dogs.

Oh and marshmallows, I almost forgot about the marshmallows. I just love ooey, gooey roasted marshmallows!!!

Well thats a little summary of what goes on around here on Saturday nights. I think I'll go hunt me up some marshmallows and make some more smores (ha ha), those things were good!!!

We Made It!

Well we made through our first month of homeschooling, with A's in every subject!!
Abbie took her last test(math) today and she made a 96!!

The program that we are using for our homeschooling is a satellite program through an umbrella school here in our community. The satellite program is basically a private school at home. We have four subjects that is provide through the school and are given to us one unit at a time, when we finish a unit we go to the school and take a test over that subject. The umbrella school keeps up with the grades made on the test and workbooks. So that is my confusing explanation of this years homeschooling curriculum.

While this is not the ideal situation for me, I would love to have had alittle more freedom to choose what I wanted to teach, and the ways to teach it, this is the ideal way for us this year. My husband, you see, was more than a little skeptical of homeschooling and wanted to make sure that our daughter was going to learn every thing she needed to. I on the other hand was completely confident that she would learn everything and then some, So we had to meet in the middle and the satellite program was the middle.

Now I have hope that next year will be different and that I will get to have that little bit of extra freedom that I want. But for now I am very, very thankful that i am getting to homeschool. And I am getting to at least teach my way and all of our curriculum is christian based.

And I am very happy to report that even though Abbie and I have had our battles, we have also had a great deal of fun and excitement, I mean come on in what other school would your p.e. teacher let you chase the chickens that are constantly getting out.

Little more about me!

It seems like here lately my post have been few and far between and I have used this blog more for a place to vent than to share the love of God and for that I am sorry.

So today I am going to tell you a few things about myself. I don' t think I have ever posted a pic of myself, so here you go, this a pic of my family and I (I don't know what kind of faces dh and ds is making, maybe the sun was in their eyes, who knows) This pic was taken while we were on vacation earlier in the summer.

1. I was saved at the age of 8 years old, on a Wednesday night at a church named Copelands Chapel, my grandpa was preaching a revival there, now the time and place ain't as important as the work that Jesus Christ done in my heart, and I praise God everyday for bringing me up out of the mirery clay and setting my feet on the solid rock, for giving me a foundation sure and true, in His Salvation.

2. I absolutely love chocolate, any thing chocolate, My husband absolutely hates chocolate, ( he must have been dropped on his head as an infant)

3. I am the second child in a family of four children, And my brother and sisters and I are all still really good friends.

4. I love to work with my dad on his farm, I have always been a daddy's girl ( this has always been a sore spot with my mom) But I can honestly say I like nothing more than helping him work cows or do just about anything on the farm. I don't get to help as much as I once did, for now I have 3 small children but I help as often as possible and I make sure my kids get in on it to.

5. I tolerate house work, I do it because I have to, but I would much rather be outside, Don't get me wrong, I love a clean house and because of that my house stays relatively clean most days, but I really hate being stuck inside having to clean it, Being outside is way more enjoyable. But hey no use complaining about it, I am thankful I have a house to clean.

So there are 5 more things that you now know about me. Drop me a line and tell me a little more about yourself. Have great day!

Thankful Thursday

Today, (and everyday) I am thankful for:

Quiet Times
Peaceful Times
Nap Times
Resting Times
Okay, Okay I think you get the point:)

My Husbands new found fondness for doing laundry
(either that or he was tired of looking at all of it, or he was afraid he was gonna have to wear dirty drawers, it don't matter to me what spurred him to action I'm just thankful hes doing it.)

On a more serious note:
Thank You Lord for:

Your promise of grace to meet each need
Mercy, that you give every time I fail
Love, unconditional Love, unmerited Love

What have you got to be thankful for today? Drop me a line and let me know. Happy Thankful Thursday!

Thoughtful Tuesday

Have you every just sat down and wondered what would happen if you just decided to quit? Well I have, especially during these last few weeks, and you know what really kills me, people that you think would be encouraging to you are the ones who keep knocking you right back down. I just really don't get that!! Aren't christian brothers and sisters supposed to uplift one another, I thought so, But it seems like the ones I know only talk to you so they can tell you what you are doing wrong and how to fix it, and while I sometimes need that, sometimes it would be really great to just hear someone say something encouraging. I am just a little disheartened lately by these things. Ever since I began homeschooling its like everyone thinks they have the right to tell that they don't think I am doing a good enough job, or since I'm not doing this way or that way, that I am doing it wrong. Well you know what I didn't ask for their opinions, I didn't even ask for their advice I didn't ask for any thing but for some reason they just feel compelled to give it. I guess I'm just using this blog to vent today, because I am really tired of opinionated people who don't even take their own advice, who just rant and rave about what everybody else is doing, and heaven forbid if somebody tries to tell them something that would benefit them, NOOOOOOO, they sure won't listen to that because they know everything and need no help.
I truly hope that I am not one of those people!! I hope that I am an encouraging person, someone who tries to see good in everybody and everything, Someone who understands that we all need help, can always use well-placed advice. I want to be more Christ like, gentle, caring, slow to anger, and quick to forgiveness.
Lord, I know I fail miserably at these things most of the time, please help me to be more like you. I want people to see You in me every day. I don't want to ever get so full of myself that I drown You, I want to be full of Your love, kindness and grace, and Lord I can't do that by myself, So please help me to die to self and to be raised in your likeness.