Home as a Haven-June 30, 2008

Today's Post from Biblical Womanhood tackles bathrooms and a verse to meditate on while making our homes a haven.

For my reading today, I am meditating on Deuteronomy 6:7. I wanted to know what and how I am supposed to teach my child the things of the Lord. Here is what I learned:

1) To " teach them diligently" means "to implant by repeated statement or admonition; teach persistently and earnestly " or "to cause to accept a belief or idea through repetition" (Webster's Dictionary). We are to repeat the words of the Lord constantly to our children, not just once a day or a week but consistently throughout our day.

2) Talking can include speaking, conversing, commanding, warning, and singing. There are so many ways we can teach our children the word, and I love that singing is included there.


Just this one verse was enough for this mother to ponder today.

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Now, on to the bathrooms.

First, I have a confession to make; I love cleaning bathrooms. I know I am probably one of only two or three out there that do but there it is. But sometimes I don't have time to do it. There are other things and people demanding my time. So to save time between major cleanings, after my morning shower, I pick up all the things on the counter that have been left out since the morning before. Then I take a wipe (I like the Clorox wipes) and wipe down the sink and toilet. Finally, I check the trash, making sure that all the trash is picked up (it doesn't always make it to the trash can) and there is no "diaper odor" trying to escape and kill the family. Now my bathroom is clean and ready for a day's use!

Blessings to you all and have a great day making your home a haven too!

And the winner is...

Congratulations to Ehart who won the copy of The Scarlet Pimpernel!

And thank you to all of you who entered. It is always great to learn more about those who read my blog! And who knows, maybe you will win next time!

Last Chance!

Today is the last day to enter to win your own copy of the Scarlet Pimpernel. Tomorrow I will announce the winner. Don't forget to check back to see if you are the lucky new owner of this classic novel!

A Great Giveaway!!

If you have a moment, pop on over to Life is Like A Box of Chocolates...: It's My 500th Post!! to congratulate her on her 5ooth post and enter to win $5.oo Starbucks gift card and a box of chocolates! Now that celebrating in style!

(I am indebted to Lisa@Stop and Smell the Chocolates for word of this contest.)

Home as a Haven Monday

I came across this Making Your Home a Haven Monday today and decided that now was my time to join.

As recommended, I will start at the very beginning. My morning routine is this:
1) Get up, fed and change my daughter
2) Take a shower
3) Start a load of laundry
4) Clean up dishes (load dishwasher and hand wash what is needed)
5) Read Bible and eat breakfast (feed body and soul all at once)

This way I have a good start on my daily chores. The hardest part for me is getting up in the first place. Once I'm awake, I'm usually okay, unless I have had a particularly late night or something, which is probably why God gave me a beautiful daughter with such a sunny smile so early in the morning.

Now, on with the challenge...

First, Refresh Your Spirit (5 minutes)

I read Philemon this morning. I haven't read it in a while. I love reading through Paul's letters and seeing the names he mentions. Each one represents a person with a life story, even if all they have in the Bible is a greeting from Paul. One of my favorite names is Apphia. The only time she is mentioned in the Bible is in Philemon 2, "And to our beloved Apphia". She is the Lord's beloved. She is dear to Him and He knows her story, from beginning to end. And I love the meaning too, "fruitful". She was fruitful for the service of the Lord. Oh, that He will make me fruitful in His service too!

Some people speculate that she was the wife of Philemon, and maybe she was, but God loved her even if no one else ever did. And I love that.


Second, Take Time to Plan (5 minutes)

My to-do list for the day is as follows:
1) Wash 3 more loads of laundry
2) Write a grocery list for tomorrow
3) Unpack more books
4) Make dinner
5) Fold laundry and put it away before Baby's bed time.
6) Organize the laundry area

As for what I am making for dinner... I'm thinking Hamburger Stroganoff and peas sounds yummy!

Third, Do Something! (15 minutes or so)
Today's challenge is to clean up the laundry room. Since I haven't done that yet, I think I will take that challenge. I will post pictures later so y'all can see the transformation! Once that is done, maybe laundry won't be such a chore!

Here is the laundry before:

And after:

While I was at it, I clean the adjoining bathroom too. Before:

And after:

Blessings, dear ladies!

A Contest of My Own...

Oh, okay, so I am being optimistic and thinking that I will get more than one or two entries...but I just passed two milestones on my blog, my 50th post and 1,000 visitor and I want to celebrate! I debated long and hard about what to give away as a prize. I decided on one of my favorite books of all time, The Scarlet Pimpernel. (If you follow the link, you can read the first few pages on Google Books.) It is a beautiful hardcover edition complete with ribbon marker. I know you will love it!

Here is how the contest works...
~Leave a comment on this post, telling me something about yourself. It could be your favorite book, color, music, Bible verse, or something about your children, your husband, your home, anything that will say something about you.
~You must also leave a way for me to contact you; a blog link or email your email address to me so I will know it is you. I would hate to see you miss out just because I couldn't get in contact with you.

The drawing will be held on June 28, 2008. I will draw out a name and send off the prize to the lucky winner!

Thanks for reading!

Coming Soon...

There is a contest on the horizon. What would be the best prize??? Leave me a comment and let me know!

Hard Hitting Truth

This is the direction our country is headed. We are often too willing to blindly follow anyone who promises us freedom and change, whether he or she is a pastor or politician.

I found this this morning on Slice of Laodicea. To read the article in its entirety, click on the link above.

"There’s lots of dialogue going on this days. Evangelical leaders met with Barack Obama this week to dialogue some more. They haven’t figured out what aborted babies in America already know—that Obama supports the right to slaughter preborn babies in the womb and those out of the womb who manage to survive a induced labor abortion. Obama twice voted against the Born Alive Infant Protection Act in the state of Illinois. This bill was supposed to allow babies to live who managed to survive an abortion procedure, and it was introduced after nurses like Jill Stanek protested having to watch little babies die on dirty laundry carts after failed hospital abortions. Jill recalls holding one such down’s syndrome baby for 45 minutes because nobody else would hold him while he died. They had put the infant on a cart in a laundry room to die. This, Barack Obama supports and it’s on the record in the state of Illinois...

These evangelical leaders like T.D. Jakes, who said he had goosebumps when Obama got the nomination, should be forced to watch what Jill Stanek did, holding a baby that had been murdered at his mother’s request, all because he had down’s syndrome. They should have to watch the movie Hard Truth and see what America’s idolatry of choice has brought us. 50 million dead human beings and counting. The irony is, rather than stand up for human life in this election, many evangelicals (a predicted 40%) will help facilitate the election of one who has a track record on child killing that is so extreme the Washington Post even comments on it.

The worshippers of Molech used to toss their infants into the fire as a sacrifice to their god. The Lord despised these pagan practices and the murder of innocents. Today’s Americans sacrifice their children on the altar to the god of convenience. It isn’t done in public places on high altars. It is done in clinics, as a medical “procedure”, far away from the public view. The bodies of these babies are incinerated and the smoke goes up from the chimneys of these death camps daily in our country. God sees the smoke and ashes of these human sacrifices that ascends before Him and He is judging it. The blood of these babies cries out, and God hears it."

All that evil needs to prosper is for good men to do nothing. It's time to stop sitting by; it is time to stand!

Etsy Store

Since I am so new to the blogging world and with a new baby, I don't have time to keep up on all the latest things. My mother-in-law at Domestically Inclined is hosting my crochet baby hats on her Etsy site.

Feel free to hop on over there and take a look. I can make them in any size up to 3 years old. If you like them but the colors aren't right, I can make them in any color that they make yarn in! I also have made some for infant boys in the past, same basic pattern but without the bows and flowers.

I hope you enjoy looking at them. Maybe they will give you some new ideas for yourself!

Food Around the World

I am indebted again to Jessica at Making Home for this list. Click here to see what it costs for a week's worth of food around the world; every where from Germany at $500 a week to the Breidjing Camp (Sudanese refugees in Chad) at $1.23 a week for food! (Watch too, the size of the family they are feeding.)

Where do you fit in?

Prayer

Here is a link for which I am indebted to Making Home. It contains an interview with Pastor Voddie Baucham. I would encourage you to read the whole interview but I wanted to share how his church deals with prayer. If you are like me, some times prayer can seem overwhelming, with so many people who needed to be lifted up. This has helped me see that you can make time for all those who need prayer, by being organized. (That is not to say that you should not be flexable; if God is laying some one on your heart, stop and pray for that person.)

First, we start off our service by praying through what we call our "prayergram," which is divided into four categories:

* Pray for one another, for James commands us. So we have five families listed there that we're praying for, for that week.
* Pray for kings and those in authority, so Paul tells us and Timothy. And so we pray for one local and one state and one national leader every week.
* Pray that the Lord of the harvest would send forth labors. So we pray for one unreached people group every week.
* And then pray for those who shepherd and feed the flocks. So we pray for our elders every week.


I hope it helps you too. To read the rest of the article, click here.

Moving: Before and Midway to After

A couple of weeks ago, Domestically Inclined posted before and after pictures of a cleaning project. Here, we are in the middle of a move, so I thought I would share before and after pictures from that. The trouble is that I still haven't finished so they will be more before and midway pictures. Enjoy!


This is my living room right after we moved in. But unfortunately this was only 1/2 of the stuff that we needed to move in.


This was about 2 weeks later. Most of the first round was gone but all this sprung up to take it's place.


This is how it looks today, about 3 weeks after the previous photo. All I can say is it's getting there...I think.

Just for fun, I thought I would throw in the same progression in my kitchen. There at least it is looking like a home rather than a storage unit.

Beginning of May...

Mid May...

Now in mid June...

(After looking at this photos myself, I don't know if you can really see the progress in the kitchen...oh, well!)

I hope you enjoyed the journey. I will continue to update my progress. If nothing else, it will be a good motivator if I know I have to show you all. :D

Blessings!

Barnes and Noble Gay Porn Hits 11-Year-Old in the Face

I found this on Slice of Laodicea. It shouldn't surprise me just how sick our world has become, but it still does. How long until we stand up and say, "No more!"

"Brannon Howse’s trip to a Barnes and Noble with his 11-year-old son got ugly when a book display near the check-outs featured a coffee table sized full-color book of homosexuals engaging in sodomy. There’s a time for anger, friends, and that time came a long while ago."

Click here to read the rest of the post.

Hilarious Latin Bumber Sticker

In college, I was a Latin minor. This means two things; first, I'm a Geek (capital G and all!) and second, I find humor in the oddest things. I hope you enjoy my kind of humor...or at least you are willing to humor me.

I found this on Fun Latin. If you are a Latin Geek, leave me a comment, will you?

Si hoc adfixum in obice legere potes, et liberaliter educatus et nimis propinquus ades.

(Translation: If you can read this bumper sticker, you are both very well educated and much too close.)

This was just what I needed today

This morning while I was feeding my daughter, my dad called to tell me that my uncle, who had been fighting a very aggressive form of cancer, died this morning. While I am so thankful that he is now free and rejoicing with Jesus, I am also sad to have lost him. So when I came across this video, it was a welcome reminder that God knows what it feels like to watch someone suffer and die. Thank you Lord for letting me rest in your arms and cry a little on your shoulder.

Simply Heartbreaking

This is truly one of the most heartbreaking stories I have ever heard. Do not be deceived my dear friends, do not believe the lies of the enemy. Nothing is or can be more important than the mission God gave us as women; to be godly wives and mothers. I am indebted to Maiden Waiting for Her Beloved for bring this article to my attention. You may find the original here: I faked infertility to keep my career.

"My career has always been my first love, but when I was 31 I agreed to marry a lovely man that I had been seeing for several years.

Sam was really keen to have children straight away but I was focussed on my job and doing really well so I managed to convince him to wait a few years. He kept bringing up the topic and, although I was still not interested, I eventually agreed to start trying for a family.

I started taking folic acid and calcium and stopped drinking alcohol. But secretly I kept taking the pill. I felt terrible but I knew that if I got pregnant now I would lose my job, I figured this was the best way to keep everyone happy. Besides, by this time I was still only 34 and figured that I still had plenty of time to have children later, when I had achieved what I wanted at work.

Sam was so excited, he started buying little present for our 'baby' and spent time researching the best cots, car seats and carriers. I felt bad but I'd just been promoted again and was able to throw myself into work and forget about my lie.

Each month when I got my period Sam was so sad, and I had to pretend to be too. He'd cook me special meals full of baby-making vitamins and burn oils that supposedly promoted fertility. After a year of "unsuccessful attempts" Sam suggested seeing a fertility specialist. I put it off as long as I could but eventually I had to agree to go along.

I felt sick sitting in a waiting room surrounding by hopeful looking couples waiting nervously. I had to lie to the doctor and undergo a series of tests. When I couldn't take it anymore I broke down and cried to Sam that all the testing was too intrusive and made me feel like a failure. I was consumed by guilt. As always, Sam was so wonderful and supportive, I hated lying to him.

By this time Sam has spent loads of money on all kinds of "natural treatments" and with the stress of it all, along with me working longer and longer hours at work, we began to fight. Sam resented me spending so much time at work and putting extra stress on my body. Gradually we stopped fighting and gave up on the idea of a baby of our own.

Today I am 46 and have pretty much missed out on my chance to have children. It hurts me to watch the sad look on Sam's face when he plays with our friends' children. And it hurts me even more to watch the sympathetic look that my poor childless husband gives me; misinterpreting my guilt for the pain of being unable to give him what he wanted.

No job is that important. If only I'd realised this 10 years ago."

Blue Bonnet Soap

Take a quick skip over to The Rustic Cottage and enter to win a bar of her Blue Bonnet Soap. While you are there, take a look at her Etsy shoppe to see all the other wonderful bath products she sells.

CFI

God has given me a burden for persecuted Christians around the world and for those who do not know Him at all. When I was 18 I started a prayer group at church to pray for those who were suffering for Christ. Now I have this blog and I would like to share with you two organizations that I support, whose mission is to help those who are suffering, with or without Jesus.

The first one is Christian Freedom International. They are based in Michigan and they have many outreaches to the people of Asia. Their mission statement reads, "Remembering the Persecuted. The work of Christian Freedom International centers around the words of Hebrews 13:3: “Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.”"

Here are just some of the ways you can help support our brothers and sisters in Christ:

Child Sponsorship

Buying Handcrafts

Money for Bibles

You can click here to see a list of the other ministries you can be a part of.

I have added a link to Christian Freedom International's site on my blog roll. From there you can subscribe to their email updates or feed updates to keep up to speed on what is going on in the world.

I would encourage you to get involved in any way that God leads you to. Whatever He will let us do, we should be running to do it.

God bless!

News from Rick Warren and Tony Blair

Tony Blair, in his new roll with the U.N. has joined Rick Warren in trying to develop a one world religion. Follow the two links below to read more about the new "Faith Foundation" and ask yourself what is their foundation built on?

Tony Blair's new idea

Tony Blair's Bid to be a Faith Leader (a Washington Post article.)

It makes you wonder, who will join the enemies of Christ next?