One Word

It is the start of a new year.  It is a time for making decisions about goals and aspirations for the new year.  It is a time for dreaming and imagining all the possibilities that life has to offer through God’s goodness and mercy.  Starting last year I chose to stop pursuing the idea of making resolutions I knew I would inevitably fail at reaching due to circumstances or choice.  Instead for 2014, I decided to embrace several words for the year – including #Create, #Delight and #Write.  These are words that embrace the path I would like to see my life take in the coming months.  I want to create memories with my children.  I want to create a lasting impact in our children for God’s Kingdom.  I want to create a lasting love of learning in everything we do for our homeschool. As a result of this desire to create, one of the Life Verses I have chosen is Psalm 51:10.  I want a clean heart that helps to renew a right spirit within me:

I want our family to spend time creating art, journals and other things that bring glory to God.  My plan is to spend time working on Bible Journaling, Art projects, journaling, writing and other ways of creating memories and tangible items.

For this year, I also want to delight in every aspect of our life.  I want to delight in all the changes that are around us.  I want our children to delight in the world around them as well.  I want them to focus on the delights of the world rather than concentrating on the negatives.  I want our family to delight in God’s Word and in spending time intentionally with Him.  Delighting in the Lord leads to greater joy, contentment and vision for the future.

My second Life Verse is:

When we delight in the Lord, He will give us the desires of our heart.  It may not come in our time or be what we thought we actually wanted, but instead it may be something far greater.

So what is going on with you today?  I look forward to hearing from you.

 

#Delight  #Write  #Create #OneWord365

 

 

Preparing for 2016

  So 2015 is quickly winding down and 2016 is fast approaching.  Last year, I read all over the Internet about picking a word for the year.  So I picked “Create” and I still plan on using that as one of my words and verses for the year.

I want to continue “creating” in 2016.  I wat to create memories, dreams and new adventures with our family as we transition from life in central Pennsylvania to life in Texas.  I want to “delight” in where we are being placed by God.  I want to find the desires of my heart and work towards reaching those dreams.  I want to look to God as the source of my strenght and delight.  Even though I may not understand His plan for my life, I can choose to bloom where He has and is planting me.

In 2016, I want to strive to help my children reach towards these ideas ass well – especially in our homeschooling adventure.  Some many opportunities and doors will be opening with this move even though some doors are closing.  All my life I have lived on the East Coast, so this is a new adventure.  May God bless our steps and lead our paths in the ways He would have us go.

I also want to work on my Bible Journaling more.  I want to spend more time in meaningful interaction with my heavenly Father.  I also want to spend more time on creative pursuits – including crocheting, quilting,  and learning other artisitic pursuits.

I pray for your Christmas or holidays to be blessed.  Enjoy your time with your family and friends.

Journalling and Connecting

Today I spent time connecting with God’s word through bible Joirnaling.  I am currently participating in an online Bible study for The book of Ephesians.  Our first assignment was to do a page with the title Ephesians on it along with a page that showed an overview of the chapter.  Because I had a Bible with chapter titles, I used those titles for the overview.

Here are the two pages I created.

   

#blogboost #NaBloPoMo

 

Creating and Connecting

So in the past 12 months, I have been trying to strengthen on my faith and my involvement with my faith.  Some of the things that I have been doing include: participating in Online Bible Studies, being a Facebook Small Group leader for an Online Bible Study, spending more time in prayer and in the Word, plus I have started to become involved in Bible Journaling.  Here is a piece I did earlier this year.

I went on Amazon and found quite a few books on Art Journaling and Bible journaling to assist me in my journey.  I also have found quite a few blogs and Facebook groups to participate in as well.  Moreover,  I am making wonderful connections with people who are able to inspire me and give me ideas.

So I invite you to come on this journey with me.  I will be sharing my endeavors here.

So how do you express, show, demonstrate or enrich your faith?  I would love to hear from you.

“C” is for ……

Today is day 3 of the “Blogging A to Z” challenge, NaBloPoMo Challenge for April,  and the Ultimate Blog Challenge.  So today, “C” stands first for Christian Homeschooling materials.  We are blessed to have an abundance of Christian Homeschooling suppliers for materials.  One of my favorite books for finding Homeschooling materials is , 102 Top Picks For Homeschool Curriculum by Cathy Duffy.  This is a wonderful resource for finding material.  She does a wonderful job of leading the readers through developing a philosophy of education,  determining teaching styles and the children’s learning styles before going into various homeschooling materials.  She even includes a detailed chart saying what teaching and learning styles each item tends to work best with that item.  She does an excellent job with this.  I was blessed to be introduced to this book shortly after beginning our homeschooling journey.

“C” is also for crocheting.  One of the first things I learned from the women in my husband’s family was how to crochet.  Through the years, I have made a number of blankets.  These blankets have been for my immediate family as well as gifts for friends or other family members.  I enjoy crocheting as a way of relaxing.

“C” is also for #Create, one of the words I have chosen for the year.  My Bible verse to go along with this is the one that is at the beginning of this post.  I truly want God to create in me a “clean heart”

So these are some things that come to mind for the letter “C” for me.  What comes to mind for you?

reasource for finding

“B” is for Babies, Boys, Bibles and Books and Blogging

So today is Day 2 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge for April along with the Blogging A to Z challenge.  The letter of the day is “B”, which for me is for babies, Bibles and books.  We have four children who are 18, 16, 14 and 12 respectively right now.  While I miss them being babies to a certain extent, I enjoy seeing the people they are becoming.  Three of our children are boys and they truly are a handful.  Our youngest is our only girl and she is quite the princess.  My boys keep life interesting and one never knows what might be discussed when we sit down to meals or what they will attempt to do.

Bibles play a critical role in our family.  My husband became an ordained minister the same year we were married.  So we have worked to bring up our children in the word of God.  As we search for homeschooling materials, Biblical companies are the main one we use.  It is important to us to have a Biblical worldview and for our children to back up what they believe with Scripture references.  So we have quite the collection of Bibles, concordances, Biblical commentaries and dictionaries around our home.

The other thing our home is full of is books.  I grew up believing that books were my best friend.  I was never bored or lacked things to do because I always had books to read.  I have tried to instill the same love of reading in my children.  They have not all grabbed hold of the idea as I would wish, but we are still working on it.  It is fun when we prepare for a move to see all the books loaded into boxes.  We have Biblical books, Language Arts and Literature books, books on writing, books for Math, books for Science, books for History and books for the Arts.  On top of those books, we have books on homeschooling,  books to read for pleasure and various other books.  Each member of the family has at least one bookcase in their room.  Plus we have other bookcases scattered around the house.  Books make homeschooling much easier.  Even if I never bought any more curriculum for our children, I could homeschool from the books we have.  With seven people living in our home the books really add up.

“B” is also for blogging and Bible Journaling.   I started blogging as a way of keeping our extended family aware of what was going on in our lives along with providing a record for our children.  Writing makes things more real somehow and easier to remember.  Utilizing photographs helps keep those memories as well.

Bible Journaling has become a new pastime for me.  I especially love getting on Pinterest and Facebook to see what others are creating. Here is a sample of one of works.

So what does the letter “B” represent or bring to mind for you and your family?  I welcome comments!

Another Round of the Ultimate Blog Challenge

Well the first quarter of 2015 has flown by quickly.  We have spent the time working on school, beginning to hold church services at our home and making a relatively quick trip to North Carolina to see my husband’s side of the family.

With the start of the second quarter of 2015 beginning, I am pleased to be participating in the next round of the Ultimate Blog Challenge.  My plan for this blog for 2015 is to increase traffic to the blog and begin offering some freebies as well.  I am also going to learn how to use Photoshop and work more with PicMonkey to create my own graphics.

In April, the next Proverbs 31 Ministries Bible Study for Lysa Terkeurst’s book “What Happens When Women Walk in Faith” will begin.  Once again I will be serving as one of the Facebook Small Group leaders.

I am also participating in a Bible Study for Kay Arthur’s book “How to Study Your Bible” in order to learn more about the Inductive Bible Study method.  I am also going through the book, “Writing in the Margins”.  One of my goals for 2015 is to grow in Bible Journaling activities.  My one word for 2015 is “Create” and that is my focus for the year.

In the realm of homeschooling, we are preparing for our oldest son’s graduation.  With that we will enter a new realm of parenting.  We are planning on him walking across the stage at the CHAP convention in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania the weekend of Mother’s Day.  Our next graduation will possibly take place as early as the next school year.

So what is going on where you are

The Last Day of March

It is hard to believe that it is already the last day of March.  We have had a couple of nice days in the last few weeks.  But we are getting some snow today.  Right now, we are under a Winter Weather Advisory for several inches of snow, but we will see what happens.

Yesterday was a bittersweet day in some ways.  We turned in the last 2 instruments to the Salvation Army.   We are not quitting music, but instead are going to rent instruments ourselves and pursue lessons for the children.  While we were out, we went into the Salvation Army thrift store.  I found three skirts and two tops for Rebecca.  It was one of the few times, I have seen her genuinely excited about clothes.  So that was fantastic.  Now it is just a matter of finding some more clothes that fit her properly.  I plan to go back before the week is over to see if I can find a few more things for her.  Apparently my daughter likes shopping in 2nd hand stores.

Here are the items we found:

And another picture:

It was really nice to see her excited about clothes.

I am also just beginning a couple of new Bible Studies.  These include:

 

With these Bible Studies, I am trying to create my own graphics using PicMonkey or the Image Feature on YouVersion.  Here are some that I created using the Image Feature on the YouVersion Bible app.

On top of all of this, we are working to get things together for Jacob’s graduation.  He will be walking across the stage at the CHAP Homeschool Convention graduation in May.  There is lots to do to make sure he is ready for this.  It is hard o believe that my oldest is actually graduating this year and the others are coming fast behind.

Well I pray you have enjoyed this update.  I would love to hear what is going on in your world today.

The Last Thing I Made

The last thing I made was a blanket I crocheted for Christmas.  I used turquoise and cream shades for it.  I began by making 9 squares that I attached to one another.  Then I began a border that went all the way around the blanket until it was larger enough to satisfy me.  I gave this blanket as a Christmas gift to my mother.  She loves it.  Now I want to make one out of the same yarn for me.

I am currently working on a quilt for my daughter.  I usually work on this while watching TV or movies with the family.  So this is being done by hand.  Right now I am primarily concentrating on sewing strips of three squares together so I can then sew together my blocks of 9.  However, I have to admit, I have sewn several blocks of 9 together.  I really enjoy doing this.

Finally, I have ben working on Bible and Art journaling, which I shared one of my pieces I had finished here on my blog.

So what are you creating these days?  I would love to hear from you.

Where Did January Go?

It seems like we just celebrated the New Year yesterday.  But instead it is now February 1st.  It is hard to believe the first month of 2015 is gone.  We spent the month homeschooling, cooking, eating, cleaning and sleeping.  Now it is February 1st.  In this month we plan on doing our major shopping trip in two weeks.  We will spend one entire day driving to and from our shopping destination while we visit a variety of stores including Sam’s Club, Walmart, Hobby Lobby, Barnes and Noble, Staples, Aldi’s and possibly Big Lots.  We have to drive an hour just to get to our shopping destination.  It will take us another hour to drive home.  So this will be an all day affair.  But with a family of 7 to feed and such, it is necessary to travel this far.  I always try to make a list of the items I know we are going to need.  Plus I try to write down the extra things we may want if money allows it.  This really helps me stay on track.

Even though it costs us in gas, I know at the stores we go to, I can find food that is safe for our oldest son to eat.  He is lactose-intolerant to the point he can not even eat anything that is produced on the same line as other items that contain lactose.  It is worth the drive to keep him in food that I know is safe.

Hobby Lobby is just one of those stores that classifies as an amusement park type atmosphere for adults.  With my oldest son and youngest son getting into models and me trying Bible Journaling, it is an amazing place to go.  They have such a great selection and I love just walking up and down the aisles.

1. The latest study for Proverbs 31 Ministries has started.  We just completed week 1 of Keep It Shut by Karen Ehman.  This week we have been talking about being #intentional.  I am really trying to concentrate on being intentional about my words and my Bible Study.  I love the ladies that have been placed in my group this time.  It is truly a blessing to be able to lead them and they all bless me so much.

Here is something I would like to share that I did for a Bible Journaling Prompt for one of my groups.

So what are you plans for this month?  I would love to hear from you.