"Be Still and Listen"

Very often I get so caught up in the constant rush of life, I forget to just "be still and listen".  If you are outside, looking in at my life, it seems incredibly hectic.  As my 80 year old grammie tells me "You're busier than a cat on a hot tin roof!  I get tired just listening to all you do.", but from where I sit, it's just life.  In the middle of homeschooling, taking care of my family, planning a daughter's wedding, major renovations to the house, etc, etc, etc, the tree down in the yard from a storm, the horses escaping out of the pasture into a neighbor's yard, or making a midnight run to an airport 2 hours away to pick up a son returning from military training are just the bumps in life.  "It is what it is" and no amount of anger or resentment or self pity is going to change what needs to be done.  It's a pretty good attitude for someone with control issues like me.  (There I admitted it, I have control issues!) 

I am also a giver - no matter how busy I am, if I can see a need to fill to help someone else's life, I try to fit it in.  This is where the "be still and listen" part comes in - several weeks ago I learned of a children's charity I felt led to help with.  It called to my heart since I have children of my own, I have the ability to help and could do so as my time allows rather than squeezing in another deadline, so I emailed the company expressing my desire to help.  Each day, I have been disappointed to open my in box and not see any reply from the charity.  Thinking "why haven't the emailed me back - I want to help!" 

This morning it finally hit me as I checked my email - I need to "be still and listen".  The lack of reply is God's way of telling me to slow down and don't add any more on my plate.  I need to listen to Him.  I may have good intentions, I may have the desire, and I most likely have the ability and possibly the time, but that doesn't mean it's what I need to do.  Having a servant's heart is a good thing, but my role here on earth is serving my family - at least for this season in my life.  This season will pass, my children will grow up and move on with their own lives and my season will change.  Perhaps then, it will be a season of serving others.  For now, I will "be still and listen" to God's voice as He tells me there is enough filling up this season of my life right now. 

Book Review - Money Secrets of the Amish

Money Secrets of the Amish

by Lorilee Craker

Book Description:

Take one thoroughly modern gal with a recessionary income problem, mix with the practices of a culture that has proved to be recession-proof, and what have you got? A financial planner in a straw hat. When writer Lorilee Craker learned that the Amish are not just surviving but thriving in the economic downturn, she decided to find out why. What she found was about a dozen tried and true financial habits the Amish have employed for generations that will make your cash last longer and help you build wealth. Craker provides tips to.....

• use it up, wear it out, make do, or do without
• rethink your gift giving
• repurpose, recycle, and reuse
• eat like royalty for a peasant's pittance

This was a very enjoyable book for me to read – I love to read about the Amish culture so finding out how they manage their finances really intrigued me. The author did a good job of presenting the ways of English life that translate into wastefullness as far as the Amish are concerned. Many of the ideas are ones we, as a society, should take more time to embrace instead of falling back on our “disposable” ways. Even though something like growing/producing the majority of their own food may not be practical for all of our busy lives, by pointing out that we are able to expand out search beyond the local grocery store or warehouse store and seek out farmers to buy directly from them produces a postive result in more ways than one. What could be better than supporting a farmer's ability to provide for his family while providing your own family with fresher, more organically grow food? The idea of bartering for what is needed is another great concept – items I no longer use or need in exchange for something I would normally buy. Or my set of skills for yours – my husband has traded his legal skills in return for a home improvement project when a client wasn't able to pay him. So why not expand on that idea and work out something that benefits both parties, no money spent? I think the main idea behind the book, thinking through things before we act and a willingness to put forth a bit more effort to achieve what we want is something we can all do to improve not just our finances, but our lives overall.

Note: I was sent complimentary copy for review purposes only. This review has not been monetarily compensated. The review was my honest opinion and views and not influenced by the sponsor in any way.

Hello Blogspot!

I finally caved in and made the jump to Blogspot.  My blog has been parked for several years over at another homeschooling blog, but due to changes they made I'm just not happy there anymore - so here I am! 

I don't promise any great words of wisdom or answers to the great questions of life.  What I will give you is glimpses into my crazy life and how we go about it.

Who am I?  I'm a wife to a local attorney, mom to 6 kids, 4 of which still live at home.  Our oldest daughter is 21 and getting married this September to a wonderful man who is a police officer.  Our oldest son is 20 and serving our country as a soldier in the Army - we are very proud of how he's turned his life around after several rough teenage years where we weren't quite sure how it would all turn out.  I homeschool our 4 youngest who are: a son who's 15 and starting down the same path as his older brother.  That is the reason he is currently at a 3 week summer school program at a nearby millitary academy.  Next is our 5 year old son - he was born on my birthday (natural, not induced) and as great as I THOUGHT that was going to be, I am now homeschooling my organized, perfectionist, control freak self.  Seriously.  I wasn't one to believe in astrology, but he is a true Virgo like me.  Sigh.  Next is a 4 year old daughter who is convinced we all live in her world and should accomidate her accordingly.  Last is our little suprise guy.  He's just turned 2 and had a rough year this far - a hospital stay while we were on vacation for RSV and just last week, surgery to remove his tonsils, adenoid and put in new ear tubes.  If anyone tells you it's an easy recovery - they're lying.  It took him a solid 6 days to start to feel better and now on day 8 he is finally off of all the pain meds, but still not eating.  I also have a 2 year old grandson who I help out with quite a bit  - having him here so much reminds me how grateful I am NOT to have had twins.  Three of my pregnancies started out as twins, but didn't stick.  Whew!

That's me and a breakdown of the players in this drama I call life.  There's also a dog, 3 horses and 7 cats in the mix because there just wasn't enough chaos.

Hang on and enjoy the ride!

P.S.  I know it's going to look crazy - this being my "first" post and yet older posts popping up as we go along, but I'm no computer techie & will just be copying & moving my post over from the old blog.

Book Review - The Beginning Reader's Bible

 

The Beginning Reader's Bible

Published by Thomas Nelson
Illustrated by Marijke ten Cate

Book Description:
This exceptionally illustrated Bible storybook allows children to read the story, pray to God, and grow closer to Him. Using actual Bible text from the International Children's Bible as well as prayers, memory verses, and fun activities, children will love this large format and be engrossed in the intricate detail of the illustrations. Bible stories from the Old and New Testaments are included and stories are accompanied by a prayer for the child to pray, a verse to memorize, and a fun activity to help them grow.

In all honesty, this review was a struggle for me. I completely agree that it is exceptionally illustrated it is a gorgeous storybook to look at. The pictures almost come alive as you're reading it making you feel like you could just step right into the scenes. I love the illustrations! The rest of the book, not so much. I do like that it pulls key stories of the Bible and present them in a way and language that appeals to children, but as the mother of a beginning reader (what I consider kindergarten through second grade) the language used was at times, a bit more difficult. I understand that some words cannot be altered without losing part of the translation, but other parts just seemed to make me say why would they put that there?  For example, in the Story of Jesus' Birth (because that is such a wonderful barometer to use) we all know that Jesus was born to the Virgin Mary. Not only does it say God sent the angel Gabriel to a virgin who lived in Nazareth...... later it says Mary said to the angel, 'How will this happen? I am a virgin!' Now, I don't know about your kids, but this one line would open up a big ol' can of worms in my house about mommy, what's a virgin? I just feel that the wrong emphasis was placed on the wording for the target age group. I'm also not quite sure why they chose to tell of the angels and shepherds, but not of the wise men. No mention of them anywhere. I don't really care for the translation used for this book and saying it's a Bible is misleading since it is a collection of selected stories form the Bible. The translation of the Lord's Prayer really put me off in that I think that teaching a child the proper translation with parents answering any questions they may not understand. What makes a prayer so meaningful is the knowledge of the words to be spoken as they are meant to be, not some modern day viewpoint of the lines.

Another thing that has me quite stumped  there is a table of contents to help you find specific stories, but no where in the book could I find page numbers???? So although I may want to read Jesus is Born on page 96, but without page numbers I have to just keep flipping through the book until I find it. There also seemed to be some editing errors that went unnoticed. I can't give specific examples without actual page numbers to reference, but in the story of Noah it says "All that was left was Noah and whatwas with him in the boat." I saw another one like this somewhere in the book and had to think seriously if maybe it is written this way and I'm just crazy.

There are scripture verses and prayers written within each story which I really liked, as well as the prayers and songs that complete the end of the book. I think a retail price of $19.99 is reasonable for a book of this quality, but the attention to detail is lacking in the editing department. Would that stop me from buying the book? Probably not given the beautiful work by the illustrator Marijke ten Cate I find myself picking up the book to just look through it at the lovely pictures.

I am a perfectionist. I know, it's a huge fault of mine not just because it drives everyone around me crazy, but because many times I see something as it should be, not how it's presented and that tarnishes the experience for me. I think that is what happened with this book the cover, in all it's beauty, drew me right in with anticipation and then the bubble was burst with the imperfections within the pages.

Note: I was sent complimentary copy for review purposes only. This review has not been monetarily compensated. The review was my honest opinion and views and not influenced by the sponsor in any way.