Home made Paintbrushes

I had such a wonderful day with my boys today. I had a lot to do, my house needed a little bit more tidying, clean the suburban, paint my mother in laws living room, fix the rabbit hutch, mop etc... but I decided that I needed to just BE with my children. To just play with them and enjoy them and the work was not a must, it could wait till tomorrow!!! It turned into a fabulous day.

I did start off with our regular basic chores: everyone dressed, beds made, rooms picked up, pets fed, personal chores done, each child has a few areas to clean etc so we weren't going to get behind...

then i made a nice lunch of home made whole wheat tortillas and chroizo and eggs for my husband whom i knew was going to be there soon, then we went to his mothers, the children played outside while I painted her living room. It took a whole three hours of my day but the children were behaving great so I finished the job and David went back to work at 1, he only had a lunch break. Then I took the children home at 3pm.

We stopped by the park right next to my house. It really was dark and cloudy and starting to threaten to rain. but I thought " summer is almost over i better squeeze out every last day i can outside" so i ran laps arround our tiny play ground and they played their heart out for like 20 mins. then it really started to rain so we ran!!! LOL it was great I love REALLY playing with them like that. It makes my heart feel so so good...

The fun begings: I helped Alex, Isaiah, and Marcu make homemade paintbrushed out of horses hair, thread and sticks out of our back yard. My sister just trimmed all the horses "bridal path" an inch or two between their ears and gave the boys the hair to take home for this very idea. Then we got out the paint and paper and they each tried out their very own brush. It was wonderful.

then they got out blocks AND tinkertoys, and they thought that was great making a huge mess, because we dont get to do that very often, we try to keep the toys and mess in the buckets and just gently build little projects.. but they made a tornade trail LOL. as long as we got it picked back up before David got home, nobody knew the difference....

all in all a fun fun day...

Havent been on here in a while

Its been a long long time since I have been on here. Life just got busy with all my precious little ones. I had to stop a lot of things and just focus on them for a while. I got a lot of up dating to do for ya, but it might take me a few post to do that. I had a beautiful little girl last December 6th. Another home birth. I still enjoy staying at home with my children. I got to go with my dear David to the home school conference this year for the first time. It was wonderful. I would recommend it to everyone who has children. Homeschooling or not.

David still works for the same counseling business. Work is going well for him. We are very blessed to have such a wonderful stable job that has supported us just fine throughout our marriage. He has talked about continuing school this fall to get another degree. but I'm not sure what is going to happen.

My brother Stephen and my sister Carissa are both married off now :) Praise God it is to two WONDERFUL people. I adore both Kailey and Thomas for what a beautiful addition to our family they are!!! I'm so happy for all four of you....

Here are just a few pics of my children lately....
Isaiah and Alex
Marcus
Victoria

Bible Versions

This is just another article I have enjoyed about bible versions : )

Conversation In A ‘Bible’ Bookstore

“Hello. May I help you?”
“Yes. I’m looking for a Bible I can use in my church. Could you help me?”
“I’d be happy to. I would recommend the NIV. It is our most popular seller.”

“Do you know the story of the Ethiopian eunuch?”
“Sure.”
“Well, the only verse that tells us what we need to do before baptism is in Acts 8:37. It’s really important that my Bible states this clearly. Would you read it to me?”
“Certainly...” (The helpful employee looks and looks.) “Uh, it’s not there.”
“What’s not there?”
“I’m sorry, but there is no verse 37...”
“Well, I don’t want a Bible that is missing something that important. Let’s try another Bible.”

“Well, we have another popular one, the Revised Standard version.”
“My Bible has to be clear about the virgin birth of Christ. Would you please check Isaiah 7:14?”
“Hmm. It says ‘a young woman shall conceive...’”
“Then forget the Revised Standard! What other Bibles have you?”

“Well, we are very proud of the New American Standard. It’s called ‘the most literal’ version.”
“Alright, then let’s look up John 6:47. It’s the one place where Jesus tells us to believe in Him to have eternal life.”
“Wait! It only says ‘he who believes has eternal life.’ It doesn’t say who to believe in.”
“My old occultic friends would love that. They believe, but not in Jesus Christ. So much for the NASV.”

“Let’s try again. When I witness to Jehovah’s Witnesses, I like to use Revelation 1:11, where Jesus says, ‘I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last.’ What do you have left?”
“Here’s our New Living Translation. Let me see. Huh? It says, ‘Write down what you see...’ No ‘Alpha and Omega’ here.

“All I see left is an old American Standard. Would you look up 1 John 5:7? It tells us the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost are one God.”
“I’m very sorry. It says, ‘And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is the truth.’ There’s no Trinity here.”

“Well, then, I’ll just stay with my Bible. It has everything I mentioned to you.”
“What Bible is that?”
“God’s preserved words in English: The King James Bible.”

New Age Bible Versions

New Aged Versions...

This article has started a lot of thinking in my life. I have never really cared about which bible I read, they were just some versions I thought were easier to read... now I strongly believe against that and this is just one article that helped me to start researching that :) I hope it helps inspire some of you .... this is written by a man i highly respect. I have learned almost all my mothering skills from his gentle wife....

New Age Bible Versions
By: Michael Pearl

Some of you have asked why we make available the book New Age Bible Versions. Thirty-five years ago I was a student at a very conservative Bible College.
I was taught the generally accepted, fundamentalist views on inspiration of Scripture. When I first began to read a little Greek, I thought I had arrived. I was reading the Bible in the original language, or so I thought. The Greek, which I thought was THE Greek Bible, was the 25th edition of the Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament published by the American Bible Society. After I graduated from Bible college and went on to pastor a church, when I came to a passage in the Bible that didn’t read the way I thought it should, I would search the many other "bibles" until I found a reading that met my doctrinal criterion. I found the Greek lexicons very helpful when I needed to reject a given passage.

I believed as I was taught, that the Scripture which had been "given by inspiration of God" had been lost many years ago, and that at best we could "trust" the almost perfect copies that remained. What I didn’t learn in Bible college is that the Greek New Testament I was using did not even exist until 1898. I thought it was a copy of "the original." Upon investigation, I learned that there are 24 different Greek N Ts, just as there are different English versions. It surprised me to learn that modern scholarship did not believe what I had been taught as a child. I went back to one of the faculty members at my old college and discussed it with him. I discovered that he was not able to hand me just one book in any language and assure me that it was the inerrant, perfect words of God. No one in my college had ever so much as seen such a book.

Needless to say, twenty-eight years ago I launched into a study of manuscript evidences. As a result, I came to believe that the King James Bible is the words of God, and nothing but the words of God, to English speaking people.

Do you believe that the book you call a Bible is the word of God? If it is not a King James Bible, then know that the translators and publishers of your "version" do not believe that your bible is the Bible, the Word of God.

I now reach up and pull a book from the shelf here in my library. Like many of the books in my library it is one that expresses views contrary to my own.

It is a little paperback, sent to the subscribers of Biblical Archeology Review, called The Dead Sea Scrolls After Forty Years. It was published in 1991 by BAR. If you want to read apostasy at its best, subscribe to BAR. I have found it useful in keeping up with the infidels. I open the book to page 60 and read comments by James Sanders, a member of the United Bible Society. He served on the committee that put out the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible. He says, "The NRSV is not the Bible; no translation is the Bible. So what is the Bible? What and whence these texts?" On page 62 he continues, "We are now very careful about using the word ’original,’ because we don’t really know what we mean by it." On page 63, he suggests, "[W]e should just drop the word [original, as in original Greek Bible] because we do not have the autographs of anything…" He goes on to answer his question as to where the Bible originated, "Therefore, we have to say that we don’t really know exactly the inception of any of these texts, but they develop into what we call traditioning process."

Do you believe your Bible had an unknown beginning through the various traditions that were slowly collected and assembled over several centuries until they evolved into a document of religious importance? You don’t? One of the "Bible Scholars" responsible for the NRSV does. On page 69 he says, "[T]he stabilization of the text is not yet finished…" He is telling you that what you think is the Bible today may not be the Bible tomorrow. For example, the Greek Bible I studied when I was in College is now different in over 600 places. Words have been changed, deleted or added. It is not the same Greek Bible it was when I was in college studying "the original Greek." Men like Sanders changed it.

He goes on to describe his duties as Bible translator, "We try to reconstruct what was first said or written." Then in a moment of candidacy (page 71), on behalf of his fellow scholars and Bible translators, he says, "I think it is time for us to stop fooling the people, making them think there is just one Bible and that our Bible committee got closer to it than their committee did." Of course that is the sales pitch for any new bible. When a man "fools" you he makes you look like a fool by causing you to believe the ridiculous. Sanders then expresses the reason why the "scholars" deliberately fool the public: "I have been told by some that that [telling the truth as they see it] would just destroy the Bible because lay folk still want to think of the Bible as somehow ’inerrant.’" Are you one of the "lay people" who buys bibles and have been "fooled" lest you learn what the translators are deliberately keeping from you, that the Bible is not inerrant? He concludes with, "It may well be that if there should ever be the possibility of discussing the text of Isaiah with Isaiah, he might very well say, ’But I did not say that.’"

Let me ask you, would you trust a man like that if he changed the Bible text and gave as a reason that the "oldest and best manuscripts read…"? Then could you trust your favorite minister of the gospel who, after reading James Sanders or one like him, should take up the same tune and correct the bible on grounds that "the oldest and best manuscripts…" or "all scholars agree…?" What are the oldest and best manuscripts? Can you trust the marginal notes that so freely alter the Bible text? Do all scholars agree, or just the ones that are "fooling" the people? In this New Age in which we live, Christians are taken to be fools by the "good godly men" that have provided the English speaking people with over 200 "modern translations."

There you have it. Does this concern you? Have you searched out the facts for yourself? I believed the King James Bible is the Word of God 25 years before I read New Age Bible Versions. I have in my library more books on this subject than you could carry in a wheelbarrow. There are many scholars that do not agree with Sanders and his kind. I offer you New Age Bible Versions because among many books on the subject it is the easiest for the layman to understand.

Yes, I have read several authors that have dismissed this book on various grounds, but I also read the book, along with 50 others on the subject—pro and con. Don’t think you are informed just because you read one author that smugly discounted this thoroughly researched work.
There are many that would discourage you from investigating beyond their opinions. Openness and investigation is the enemy of deceit only. If someone would prevent you from reading this or any book on doctrinal issues, ask yourself what they fear and why. Truth doesn’t need to be policed. It can stand alone against all error. So in the name of open dialogue and ready access to information, we offer you New Age Bible Versions, a book that goes behind the scenes and uncovers the plot to change your Bible. Read it and be shocked.

I am not attempting to enter the arena on this issue. We have been called to child training and family ministry. There is an avalanche of material available on this subject, so do not write expecting me to take up the challenge. Others more qualified have said it all better than I ever could. Do your own research. I will read anything you send me as long as it disagrees with my position. There is a web site I have never seen, but I heard it is helpful on this subject.

www.biblebelievers.com

Don’t forget to exercise grace towards those that disagree with you. Even Bible believers need love. Happy research!

Musings

Just thinking about stuff... there is so much going on in this world that is so confusing. Mainly Christians, how have they been so blindly lead astray on so many topics of important like a literal creation which took 6 literal 24hr periods of time called days... to which version of the bible is most accurate. Does this matter? I strongly believe it does. Its like a bunch of people go out to plant a garden and they are all trying to plant the same way, encountering the same weeds, etc... point is they all are experiencing the same gardening task... Some people dwadle around and slowly atempt to plant their seeds in the uncleared land... Some people start weeding out the little weeds and are making a slow attempt at it.. While the last group take back hoes and big machinery to their land and start clearing out the HUGE brush and trees by the burn pile full... I mean they mean business, they are going to plant a garden and they want the land cleared now... so they can start planting their seeds this spring.

This got me thinking and comparing this illustration to Christians who are so flaky about church they dont pray or read their bible, just sort of dwadle around church from time to time.. and the second is Christians who don't see the whole picture, they are just doing such little studying or discussion group stuff they don't know what they are really doing.. and the third group is REALLY rare.. they KNOW there is a spiritual battle going on right now, they want to know what is the truth and what they need to do to start LIVING the life TODAY, right now, not some time a few years from now... topic that are huge to me in Christianity are:

Literal Creation which took 6 days, earth being only about 6,000 years old
KJV being our only English version which we can trust in its entirety
Salvation, what does it take to get to heaven
Sins, when are we forgiven, what if you sin directly after you repent... will you then go to hell?
The end times, rapture, what are Christians to do in the end times... run to the mountains?
Birth control, abortion, family planning, children
Public schools system and evolution vs homeschooling
femininity and modesty and virtuous women of god
denominations and do they even matter as long as you are a christian?

I mean there is so much rattling around in this little brain, and then who can you turn to? who is there to ask questions to that would actually be of help and know the truth? I haven't found a single person who is ON THE PATH OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.... for whom I can ask my many questions of ponderings....

the sad thing to me is that whom ever we do trust around us believes such different things from us ... like hugely different... that how can we even agree on any part of God truth if we don't agree on the huge topics. plus should we even get together to talk to those loved ones arround us if we dissagree so drasticaly? wont we just harm our relatoinship? and offend each other? I'm worried about distancing ourselves rather than drawing each other closer together towards Christ....

.... just musing...

A Day in My Life

February 21, 2008

Everything is starting to work together in my life. Where once there was chaos and a LOT of wasted time here and there throughout my day, mess and stress every where, not there is a whole lot more peace and FLOW to my day. All it took was a little “routine” dashed in the right places, some time, patience, questions, research, experience and advice to help me make my day go smoother. But I feel a million times better from all I have learned in these 4 years of being a house wife and mother… well only house keeper full time for the past year. I hope to share my experience with those closest to me who have ears to hear and if I have a word or two to help their lives be easier then all the better.

6AM ME UP

• Turn off alarm, and set it for 7pm. I have learned that if I don’t get to bed on time each evening then struggle getting up the next morning because I’m too tired. Later this signals: bedtime routine, start getting settled in….
• Drink a glass of water, gotta stay hydrated being a nursing mother and all J
• Take dog outside to potty. Notice the roses on the little table, I need to plant those
• Unlock front door, open curtains and blinds, turn furnace up a few notches. I keep the house quite warm, and I do truly pay for it when the bill comes, bc I’m potty training my infant and I have decided that a two hundred dollar gas bill is way cheaper and easier on my life than a doctor bill or a stuffy nosed, can’t breathe to eat or sleep baby….
• I get dressed myself: skirts/ dresses as of lately, hair up (keeps it outta the way of babies grasp, can’t quite control his fists yet), teeth, deodorant, little spritz of something nice…. And most importantly SHOES. Being a SAHM, I realized that I don’t keep up my “pace” throughout the day as well if I don’t dress fully. Being shoeless has also been my excuse to not take out the trash or get mail...
• I give the bathroom a “once over” and plan on not cleaning it again… LOL yeah right… but yeah, wipe: sink, mirror, and swish toilet. I am usually quite proud of my shiny toiletJ
• Then I take baby potty and get the baby dresses: again since he is potty training, he remains pretty much butt exposed all day, so he gets several layers, three thick long sleeves, two pairs of sock, and usually a beanie hat. Then I just carry him loosely in a blanket with a cloth diaper directly under his butt, just incase I need to make an emergency run to the bathroom in case of an accident in progress. Luckily haven’t missed a BM, just about one or two dribbles, in which I just quickly switch out the clothe diaper for a clean one.
• I sit down at the computer room and have myself a quite time (devotions, check calendar, TO-DO list, and day’s menu; if nothing then I crochet) while I feed the baby. Then he needs a potty trip.

7AM KIDS UP

• Wake boys: dressed w. house slippers on, potty, teeth, vitamin
• Boys chores: Make bed, feed and water dog
• Every time I’m in the kitchen cooking, baby goes in the bouncy chair on floor, and boys talk to him or bounce him. While I heat the stove and make pancakes, actually crepes today.
• They set the table, removing the table cloth and candles; placing the cups of milk I’ve poured and napkins for each child. I just realized I should find a way to make fewer dishes, which mean less work/ time cleaning. BC I am always short of time to spare. While I put away dishes from night before if I didn’t do it before I went to sleep.

8AM BREAKFAST

• We pray and eat. I usually choose one meal for breakfast and one for lunch and we eat that EVERY day for one week. It makes the children grateful when they get something new, and my day is so much easier not having to plan a huge messy meal when they just need sustenance in their belly not gourmet to satisfy their taste buds… mainly speaking for myself…. I have such a sweet tooth. Today we had crepes with home made marionberry jam.
• When everyone is done they pretty much clean their place, my oldest wipes off table and replaces the table cloth and candles, I wash the few dishes and notice that spot on the stove is gone now... LOL, then my two year old helps sweep by “man-ing” the dust pan. See the baby in the bouncey chair?
• Baby goes in sling as I turn off stove or leave kitchen, maybe a potty trip real quick before.
• Now is when I usually do my Daily chores. Kitchen is done so I move to bedrooms. I make my bed, DH usually leaves for work about now, I still can’t talk him into waking to eat with us, not a breakfast eater… I sweep the remaining hard floors, living room and bathroom. Dust and wipe all surfaces that need it. See “Daily Chores List” for more details on what all I do here.
• Now I try to fit in a quick “training session” with the kids about 10min till the hour all throughout the day. We played drill sergeant here. Then baby gets a potty trip, I remove one layer of shirt so he doesn’t over heat when napping. Swaddle, place the “hooter-hider” for privacy and feed the baby. I love this thing, my cousin gave it to me. As you can see it looks COMPLETELY modest from the front and sides, but there is a little tiny stiff fiber at the top, which allows just a few inches to stick up from shoulder, allowing baby to breathe and you to see each other. But there isn't much of a chance of anyone seeing in unless they stand directly behind you. Oh don't worry I'm compleatly "put away" here, he is just sleeping afterwards, so I figured it made a good example of how much I enjoy this. I don't mind siting in the living room (with my back to the wall) if I'm using this to feed the baby while my family or husband is here, but I'm not sure how I feel about other people yet... if it is modest to nurse in the same room? any thoughts would be great...

• For more info see the “hooter-hider” post. Meantime the children “work-out” like pushups, jumping jacks, sit ups, and run around the table. They love it and it gives them something to do that I don’t have to supervise more than shout then next task….
• I then lay baby down and turn on monitor. Notice how he is swaddled so if he jerks or “starts” while sleeping he doesn’t wake himself. Then there is a thick soft blanket placed under him and tucked around his back and front to prevent rolling, and he is placed on his side with a “boppy” pillow a few inches from his face to “catch” the pacifier if it starts to fall out, and pillow gently presses on the top of his head/forehead for a calming effect… He is out instantly and for quite a while. I wouldn’t otherwise get anything done if he did sleep like this. I only use the pacifier while he is napping and I would otherwise still be laying next to him nursing him for another ten or twenty mins till he was completely out. I just pop in the pacifier and it soothes him into a deep sleep with out wasting time I could clean the entire house…. J
• When ever the baby wakes up he immediately gets pottied, feed, burped and I wait 5 mins then potty him again. If he does however wake after a few mins like ten and hasn’t slept more than thirty mins, I quietly, quickly potty him and lay him back down in same position. Then using the blow dryer on HI for a min or two, then LOW for like 5 mins, allow him to fall back to sleep with a little gentle patting on the butt. I mean what else is a blow dryer good for. Sleep is meant to have a gentle lull which draws babies into which they can not resist, NOT CIO and teach them to resist and fight and hate naps. If I am out in public my babies just get a lose blanket wrapped around them and placed belly side down over my lap and gently bounced w. one hand on their forehead OR placed in the crook of my elbow and gently “shhhhed” and rocked to sleep… either way its LULL- a – bye your baby to sleep in all the nursery rhymes and songs, NOT CRY-a-bye… LOL just something I’ve learned as of lately. I mothered my first child with the CIO method and am quite sorry about that L anyway off topic here…..

9AM CLEANING

• I start cleaning by vacuuming (almost daily with these guys), again this helps baby “lull” into sleep by creating a white noise and drowning out the world. This starts in my room and works its way around the house till I end in living room area rug also helps make the noise gently disappear. I try to make everything work together in my life… chores over lapping and Helping other tasks make them easier, without loosing time. Anyways so I vacuum while the kids pick up their Legos they usually play with while I laid the baby down. They play a game called “hurry the vacuum is going to eat the toys… pick ‘em up” they love it and laugh and run from it. It makes them pick up a LOT faster.
• When we are done vacuuming I start my “Weekly Chores” See that posting for more information on my Chore schedule.
• The kids get another quick “training session” right before the hour here, they just sat still and quiet for 10 mins “practicing”.

10AM DEVOTIONS/ PRESCHOOL

• So here is when school starts: I home school, I got lots of posts about that topic, or will have soon. I have a simple daily school routine which is :
• We start with Circle Time: for 30 mins we have our devotions. We pray then sing a few children’s Christian songs; each child picks a bible story out of their bible for me to read out loud. Then we continue to discus what we read, the day’s weather, date, season, and time etc until 10:30.
• Then we practice our READING/ writing for 15 min: do flash cards or what ever fun thing they choose to learn more about the alphabet and sounds
• Then we practice our MATH and numbers for 15 min: do flash cards or whatever they want to learn their numbers or counting or money

11AM SCHOOL

• Now they kind of get whatever they get for the rest of their “school” for the day
• I have a bunch of options all made out on cute little cards w. pictures with makes it easy for them to decide what they want to do. We try to fit in a few a day: Creative Play is just pretending/imaginative play. Like dress up or house or puppets etc. Table Time is something arts/craftsy on the table, drawing, paint, puzzles, building with tools etc. Science is where they each have a science notebook and we dry flowers, pin bugs, take pictures, take nature walks, bird watch, do lab experiments and study biology etc Language is either German/ Spanish/ or ASL all with flash cards a library movie or listen to CD Floor Time is where they pick a few toys and basically get free time, legos, blocks, train, books, plastic animals or cars n tractors. History is where we just watch videos ie Dr. DINO, read history stories, foam story board and I make a skit of a scene, or make a paper timeline. Ending with a quick 5 min pick up.
• Again I try to fit in a quick training session here, I might pick up my phone and pretend I got a call tell the kids we are practicing, and they must not talk above a whisper until I announce I’m off the phone and thank them

12PM LUNCH

• Again we have the same lunch all week, it pizza bc it is SO fast to make (5min) has SO few ingredients (4) is SO cheap (like$5 at most for the week) and SO quick to clean up (4 dishes)
• I drink a glass of fiber before I eat, then finish w a glass of water, gotta stay hydrated. This is actually my secret to loosing weight while nursing. Since it makes ya so hungry nursing, adding a LOT of fiber really helps ya not OVER eat.
• Here I leave a bit of spare time in case I’m running late and just need to getta hold of the time again… also try to do another “training session”

1PM NAP/QUIET TIME

• Kids get a potty trip before they lay down, each child gets their own bed pillow and blanket. They must lay down and keep their eyes closed once they are old enough to.
• Baby gets a potty trip, swaddled w a little blanket gently over face, feed, patted if needed, knees gently pressed on stomach if bubble or gas is suspected, while I feed to try and gently release it. Shoes off, grab crochet project and settle in for a 10 to 20 min sit and sing a sweet tune to put all children and baby to sleep. Lay baby down when all are sleeping
• Start dinner or know what the game plan is
• My free time: either nap, work on project or computer time
• My three year old gets to stay up most the time: so he gets to play w. flash cards, read a book, learn verses or stuff like 10 commandments n facts n song all while watching pre-filmed home tapes of readings I have made for him… he just follows along with his book. This keeps him quiet if I want a nap

3PM ACTIVITIES

• About this time as the children are waking I do MUSIC LESSONS with either guitar or piano. We just quietly play and take turns w a little practicing.
• PYSICAL ACTIVITES like run, push ups, jumping jacks, sit ups, wrestling, jump on bed, bikes, sports, outside free time etc. just to wear them out
• GEOGRAPHY is where I let them put together this big map of USA and we name the states and try to remember them I try describing what they look like or something about each state as we go ie. “we live in Oregon” “we play in the sun in California” “Montana is a big mountain one” “Texas is HUGE” “Maine looks like a Head” etc
• COMPUTER TIME they each get some time to play with school bases games on here, like Garfield’s math, Oregon trail, spelling Frogger game, piano, typing, language: triple play plus in Spanish, etc…. that’s the only TV/ video games/ or computer my kids usually get… if they even get this…

4PM

• These two hours always seems to get lost, between children leaving, DH getting home, visitors, etc so I usually have no plan here. I will read to the kids or sit down and tickle them if there is nothing better to do. Occasionally I will watch a DVR-ed program about quilting, crocheting/knitting, or gardening… or just practice training the kids
• Tidy up a bit

5PM DINNER

• Start dinner for sure
• We set the table, pray, eat, clear and clean up just like the regular meal routine. I usually stick to my regular weekly meal. See that post for more info. However tonight I made baked spaghetti for a change and I had the stuff planned for lasagna, but realized I didn’t have any noodles

6PM AFTER DINNER ACTIVITES

• Then we either Hide n Seek, Hot tub, Pool Table, Foosball Table, tonight we played board games. I’ve thought about other things to do but I’m not that creative of a person.
• About quarter till 7, I’ll put baby in a paper diaper, sometimes swaddle sometimes not, feed him, and lay him down for the night… he doesn’t get hot tub time.

7PM KIDS BEDTIME ROUTINE

• The get SWIMMING LESSONS as in either hot tub time or bath time. I just have them practice sticking their face in water, blowing bubbles, floating, kicking w. legs straight, and sitting on bottom of hot tub for just a second. I think my oldest is ready for swimming lessons. In fact I’m going to try and start going next Monday, for a few times each week night.
• About 7:30 they dry off and get pajamas on, teeth, in bed, pray, read a few stories out of their bible, maybe talk a bit, then I’ll sing them a few songs
• And lights are out for sure by 8pm.

8PM MY RELAXING TIME

• This is where I’ll clean up a bit more if needed, or get on the computer for no more than like 30min, sit down with David and rub his feet or back n just relax with him, or crochet, or read a book

10PM LIGHTS OUT FOR ME

• Like I said, If I don’t get to bed on time, I don’t get anything done the next day because I’m way too tired or maybe I’ll sleep in….

Dresses

Lately I have had a strong compelling desire towards dressing like a woman and going dress/skirt only. I have been reading SO many testimonies here on blogger about other women who wear only dresses. They have truly inspired me and opened my eyes towards an area of my life which was completely oblivious to me.

I grew up with both parents in a very strict old fashioned German apostolic church, were the ladies ALWAYS wore dresses and were quite beautiful. VERY modest,( yet not at all like this huge movement of modest- home- schooling- mothers- who- dress-frumpy-and-masculine, not that these modern ladies intend to dress masculine, but they seem to have come from a situation where they didn't quite know what to wear, and had no role models and are trying their best to be modest; they just seem to have lost the beauty of a woman... )

It wasn't unattractive at all, this was a group of wonderful ladies whom have never lost the culture of beautiful, modest, FEMININE dresses. They were raised knowing that there is indeed a difference between a man and a woman and that when god made them both in the garden he called them ,"good". So if our God and creator made a woman and made her beautiful, why do so many women who are trying to dress modestly, forget that they are supposed to look different from a man? They dress in HUGELY over sized clothes and you can't even tell their front from their back...

So i grew up seeing beautifully dressed, modest God fearing, humble women. I had this wonderful example, and at first, while I was young my mother tried to follow their example. See this was my father's church, she only started attending when they were marred. She wore these lovely skirts and dresses. Grew her hair out long, and often wore it in either a braid to the back or up in some sort of twist or bun... really simple like. Never wore makeup that i can remember. I thought she was so beautiful when i was a girl. Well as I was entering my teen years as life somehow goes, my parents up and got a divorce. My mother cut her hair short, high lighted it several shades of auburn, wore lots of makeup and most dramatically pants. See I was but a child obviously while i was growing up and I don't remember everything or all the facts, she could have been slightly like that before they got the divorce, but the only part i remember was this beautiful simple church and their beautiful modest dresses, and my mother whom was so beautiful when she wore them. I look back on pictures of her when she was a young mother, and she was always so radiant and feminine and lovely in all those dresses and long hair. She was what a woman was made to look like.

So she remarries, and continues to look less and less like a lady in my eyes. I never really was aware of this impact in my life until recently when I have been wearing dresses/skirts more often... I remember my childhood and the beautiful ladies. And now since I haven't been to that church since the divorce (other than funerals and weddings of family members) all I see around me is masculinely dressed women, my mother, my sisters, all my friends and acquaintances. I don't think there is a single woman out of all of them who wears only dresses full time. Some where dresses or skirts, but rarely or on special occasions. Its like the heart of a child is innocent when they don't know or are not aware of their surroundings, I feel like scales have been lifted from my eyes and I feel like I can't believe that I never noticed this before.

When they got divorced, I ended up going to a public school from which I sadly learned so much about how to dress :( I remember actually feeling PROUD when young men would stare at my body and comment about me... now I am so very embarrassed when I remember those times. It is this which I so strongly want to find the truth, find what I have been missing out on. At least I don't dress like I did in high school, but I want more than that. I want to be lovely, and feminine and beautiful, and very much like a previous post I put up called secret garden... I want to be a pleasant secret that only my husband gets to see... :) Not a marshmallow mistaken for a man LOL.... If that makes any sense.

So as of lately I have been very aware of my own appearance. I have had this inward battle, not knowing if makeup is selfish and prideful, a waste of time which should be better spent, same with showers EVERY day, I feel like it is not necessary to take them quite so often. I feel like they are for keeping clean, but not needed to keep sterile LOL..... I usually ALWAYS wear jeans or maybe once a month wear a skirt for fun or special occasion.... NOW however that I am aware of how I dress and that it matters very much so. I feel like God made our bodies as humans perfect and beautiful and flawless, however with the entrance of sin into existence and the flood etc. Yada yada yada, we do NOT have perfectly beautiful bodies anymore, wrinkles etc... so with the SLIGHT help of makeup and perfume, a simple hair do and a dress, will help with our fading beauty, not only to be more attractive to our human husbands but to feel and act more like the princesses of heaven which we are :) SO not only do i force myself, reluctantly at times to get rid of my prejudeces and bitterness towards fake women's attitudes and pride and hypocracy towards their outward looks, and make myself take daily showers and primp just a little bit for my husband (including, NOT getting overweight) but I am just recently learning to do it with a smile :)

I believe that children's song/verse in the bible "let your light shine" and I realize that a lazy, dirty, smelly, ugly fat me... would not make a pretty little light, and definately wouldn't shine for the world to see, and definately would not draw them towards myself at all... and we live in a very shallow world where people FIRST and foremost judge ya by your appearance. ... and if your appearance is pretty "dumpy" then ya gotta agree with me that it wouldn't draw many people towards Christ....

On the other hand I am DEFINITELY not approving of changing or altering your body in any permanent way or semi-permanent: ie tattoo, makeup that COVERS your features instead of gently making them stand out beautifully...

So i went out and bought myself two frugally cheep ankle length skirts and have been wearing them most of this new year, save for maybe once a week when i have regressed and worn one of my jeans, I'm not sure why even. Maybe its because my husband had just bought me like 6 brand new pairs last summer before I got pregnant so I haven't even gotten any use outta them, or maybe its because I have noticed such a drastic difference in how I feel when wearing skirts compared to the jeans... who knows, but I sure feel weird when I wore the jeans again, even when I thought they were necessary, ie ridding horses. I feel SOOO completely revealed!!!! its so weird.... Anyway kids are waking up gotta go...

I am not a feminist trying to prove that I can be just like a man;
I AM A WOMAN AND PROUD TO LOOK LIKE ONE!!!! ;)