Getting what I asked for.

Remove far from me falsehood and lying;
    give me neither poverty nor riches;
    feed me with the food that is needful for me,
lest I be full and deny you
    and say, “Who is the Lord?”
or lest I be poor and steal
    and profane the name of my God.

Proverbs 30:8-9

My husband and I took this challenge from Francis Chan via YouTube about 5 or 6 years ago.   The Lord started pressing on us to live very simply.  We thought we were, but no.  I still had my Starbucks indulgences, never stuck to a budget, and ate out way too often.  But, he still kept pressing us.  Was it to prepare for the adoption of our two littlest ones?  Maybe.  Was it to prepare us to live in an RV for 4 months?  Maybe.  Was it to prepare us to live on mission? Maybe.  I think it was to bring us even closer to Him, because He loves us. 

We continually ask Him to remove from our life the things that keep us from depending on Him alone. He asked my husband Jason to walk away from the height of his career to focus on the "least of these".   It was one of the hardest things we have ever done. People that we love dearly thought we crazy to throw away the American dream.  In the back our minds we were nervous that they were right.      

              
So were they?  Well, we are about a year into this journey of recklessly following Jesus and I must say No, they were wrong.  We are poorer than we have ever been and we are more blessed than we have ever been.  He has broken our hearts for what breaks His time and time again. We have shared the gospel of Jesus to people that we never would have associated with in our previous life of suburban comfort. We have witnessed life change because of the Holy Spirit.   This..... is.... the..... joy.  This is the true blessing of the christian life. 

 He has blessed us with everything we need in a way that makes it clear that it is His doing.  He has put food in our pantry, clothes on our backs, and even new tires on the car.  He is using my husbands meager income from a non-profit and blessings from friends to provide.  It has been extremely humbling to receive when we are used to being the ones to give.  Humility is such a gift.  It kills the desire to think you have anything to do with what is good in your life. It is all a gift from Him.

Pray that he reveals the idols in your life.  Pray Provers 30:7-9.  See what He reveals.  

Puzzle Organization

My 5 year old adores puzzles.  They are so good for little brains!  The brain creates a chemical called dopamine when your little ones do puzzles.  This chemical is responsible for learning and memory!

The problem I have run into is missing pieces.  I have a solution that seems to be working out and I wanted to share it with you.

What I have done is taken the base of the puzzle and written a shape, letter, or number.  Then all the other pieces I wrote the matching symbol.  When she is done with the puzzle, the pieces go in a sandwich bag.

I found a basket at Dollar Tree that I keep all the bases and bags of pieces.  I would LOVE to know about your creative storage solutions.

Homeschool Freebies!

   Since my husband is now working in the non-profit sector I have had to get VERY creative with our budgeting and this includes homeschooling.   Our school year runs July 1 to June 1,  so we school practically year round.  I am working on getting together what we need for this 2014-2015 school year and it is has been a bit more challenging with no disposable income.  I will do a later post about what our actual choices are, but for now I wanted to share some of my favorite free homeschool resources that I have found in my searching.  Please leave a comment if you know of something that I have left out.


My very favorite is a resource you may already know about.  It is Easy Peasy All-In-One- Homeschool.   It is a complete curriculum that is put together by one amazing mama for all to use!  Gee, thanks!  There is now a high school edition as well.  


Another great one for all you Charlotte Mason fans in Ambleside Online.  A very literature rich curriculum for 1st through 12th grade.


One website I found is a great resource for middle and high school courses that are all online.  It is called Hippo Campus.  It has online courses for everything from math to humanities and is a great resource for college prep.

Another resource for higher level courses is Coursera.  It has over 400 courses online from top universities for free!

I have one child who struggles with reading so, Librivox has been AH-MAZING for her!  I downloaded their app onto her iPod and now she is intently listening to classics like King Arthur and Robin Hood!

As far as science goes I found a this website that has links to a bunch of creation science videos.  I am hoping to use these this year with my two oldest girls.

Unit studies are something I really enjoyed doing with my oldest daughter and here is a link to a ton of free ones.  Another great resource for unit study materials and lap books is Homeschool Share. 


Another place on the web that I have used for years is Currclick.  There is an amazing amount of free downloadable goodies for your homeschool.  

Well, I have scratched the surface on some of what I have found.  I will do another post of frugal finds later.  So, for now I want to know what your favorite resources are!

April

My Glory - A Confession

I have spent a lot of time "doing" ministry that I thought would bring glory to me and not God. If the world would consider it a job well done, then I would jump on that bandwagon. I told myself that I was doing it to further the kingdom, but in the back of my mind I was searching for accolades. I have spent WAY TOO much of my lifetime concerned with what others thought of me and A LOT less time concerned about what Jesus, my husband, and my children thought of me.

 My inner thoughts went something like this:
 "Maybe if I volunteer more, then people will focus on that and not the fact that I am fat." 
 "Maybe if I feed the homeless, people will not realize that I am more of a mess than the folks I am feeding." 
 "If I work more with youth then that will cover the horrible and painful teen years I had."

 Guess what? It made my feelings of insecurity and hopelessness even greater. I have been trapped in a controlling cycle that I wasn't willing to hand over. Jesus is so gracious to me though. Again and again, He forgives me and turns me back to Him. What is my calling now that we have given up everything and transplanted our lives to another state? First, is to support my husband in his ministry with Habitat for Humanity. Second, turn my heart toward home and raise my children to become passionate followers of Christ. Third, to serve my church family at The Calvary. So with that, I pray for His guidance in everything I do because I can not be trusted to fend for myself.

Open My Eyes

 

Our first night on the road was spent in the extremely small town of Sunset, TX.  At first impression it is a town that is filled with migrant oilfield and pipeline workers.  After taking some time to chat with folks, it is clear that it is a town starving for Jesus and His gospel. 

 

There is a culture here that is unfortunately not uncommon among small town America. Spiritual emptiness partnered with boredom and poverty leads these people to ruin.  Meth has destroyed idyllic ideas here and it seems that these folks are forgotten.  They have no permanent place to call home and put down roots and no one to be accountable to. I can't imagine the sense of isolation these folks must carry with them. 

Please be praying that the Holy Spirit moves in towns like these and that revival happens, also please pray that as believers our eyes are opened to those that are silently hurting.

So hard to say good bye!

                                              

Tomorrow we hit the road to our first destination as full time missionaries! It is bitter sweet as most big life moments are.  Our church family at Genesis will be greatly missed.  Those folks are doing an amazing thing there because of Jesus.  It is the most wonderful and diverse group of people I have ever met.  They actually want to live a gospel centered life! Imagine that! ;-) http://www.genesischurchtx.com  

Next time you are in the Houston area, be sure to check them out.

They threw us a last minute going away party and the love poured out on our family was unreal.  I pray that Jesus blesses them and their efforts to make disciples greatly!  I look forward to returning and worshiping with them.

We have been loved on by friends as well.  Our homeschooling community is great and we have made some very dear friends the last 7 years because of it.  I am so appreciative of them.

I am hoping we forge bonds like these in the different places The Lord leads us.   

To our dear, sweet, Houston friends....thank you.....we love you!

There are "friends" who destroy each other, but a real friend sticks closer than a brother. 

Proverbs 18:24

Soli Deo Gloria,

April

 

Babies!

Babies, babies, babies!  It seems like everyone is talking about babies.  I have a good friend who gave birth Friday, another giving birth in September, and numerous friends undergoing the adoption process (Praise Jesus!). Let's not forget  the birth of the newest royal prince!   There is one thing so wonderful about the smell of a new baby and the anticipation of bringing a new family member in.  I have brought home both biological and adoptive children.  The miracle of both is incredible. 

Most people understand the process of giving birth but, the process of adoption is full of the wildest range of emotions. Our two youngest blessings came to us via adoption and there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that they were created by our Heavenly Father to placed in our care.  

When we first started down the path, I was not as sure as I am now.  I was worried that my heart was not going to look at that beautiful baby and fall instantly in love like I did with the girls that I birthed.  Boy, was I wrong.  I am so in love with them!  I get really hurt when people ask, "Who is their real mom?" Questions like that cut me to the core.  I am their real mom!  Those girls were created to be mine!  My two littles share a birth mother and people often say how great it is that they have a sister to share their life with.  Okay, since I am a nice person, I usually nod and smile, but inside I am screaming that they have other sisters to share their life with and a mom, dad, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, friends, and church family too!    Okay, April, calm down....

Anyway, my whole point of talking about babies is to remember the baby that was given to the world by virgin birth to save us.  The PRINCE of peace!  He allowed us to be adopted in to His family and we are now sons and daughters of our Father in heaven!  Jesus is now sitting at the right hand of God interceding on our behalf.  On our behalf?!?!  Crazy right?  He loves us so much more than an earthly father could ever love his child.  

...just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.  In love He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will...

Ephesians 1:4-5