God's word endures forever

1 Peter 1:23~25 "The grass withers and the flowers fade but the word of the Lord endures forever." I am so glad that in life we have the word of God that will never fail. It is so wonderful to have a book of promises by the God of the Universe that we can trust. When men fail us, family and even closest friends we can go to the Lord.......As a parent I know that when we have our children there is no book on how to raise them, no list of what to do and what not to do. We go by our natural instinct and what is right. I am so glad that Gods Word is our book of what to do and what not to do in this life. Its hard to abide by it all the time, we are human. Its nice that we have something that we can go to and will lead us and will never fail us. We just need to listen and obey it and him as well.

A home in Heaven

Good Morning.How is everyone today? I hope great! This is my morning scripture I want to share with you...John 14 "Let not your hearts be troubled, Trust in God; Trust also in me. In my Fathers house are many rooms, if it were not so I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. If I go to prepare a place I WILL come back and take you with me..." How great is that! To think that the Lord is creating a place for us so that one day we will all be together. A huge family reunion! Wow, I think this scripture is so awesome. I have often wondered, "what will we do in eternity" do you think we will get bored? I think it will be so awesome to not only meet the Lord but David, Abraham and Mary.....I can imagine we will want to sit and talk for hours....Will there be coffee and food in heaven? Oh I hope so. I think that all the things like eating and drinking here on earth we will do there too. So many questions I have about it and the bible does not really tell to much about how it will be when we get there, like what we will do. Of course we will worship the Lord which will be the best but will I be able to hang out with my parents and kids? I hope so too! What are some of your thoughts on it??

I love Sunday's

John 13:34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so must you love one another. By this time everyone will know you are my disciples, if you love one another".

There is something about Sunday's that I just LOVE. To me Sunday is the one day that you get together with Family and go to Church, have a big dinner and relax and enjoy one another's company. Our family ALWAYS went to Church on Sundays then Grandma's after for a big yummy dinner, it was like a holiday. I want to carry that on to my kids. Traditions are very important to me. I love the idea of one day my kids saying "We used to do this when I was a kid". I want to pass down good things that will bring the family close. Unfortunately in the world today, so many families are not close. We need to love one another and get along. God gave us one another for a reason and even though we don't always see eye to eye we still need to love one another. I hope all of you had a great Sunday and many more great ones to come! I am going to post the recipe and pics tomorrow of our Yummy Dinner we had, Hillbilly Spaghetti.......It was our first time making it and it was so yummy!!!!!! God Bless!!!!

Edie's Yummy Pineapple Upside Down Cake

My husband has been helping me today to make my grandmother's yummy pineapple upside down cake. There is nothing better then a passed down recipe and sharing it with others. My grandmother is gone now and everytime I make this it reminds me of her so much, I have alot of recipes from her that do that. Its really easy. You will need a yellow cake mix, pineapple chunks and slices, cherries, brown sugar, eggs, oil and butter....Oh and don't forget the best part is the cast iron skillet to bake it in :) Use the cake directions as it says except you omit the water and substitute it for the juice from the pineapples, you also want to add the drained pineapple chunks to the cake mix, you need to coat your skillet with butter and once you do that spread brown sugar on it and layer your pineapple slices and put cherries in the middle. Pour your cake batter into the pan. The cake needs to bake a little longer then the time says, usually around 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Let it cool when its done before you try to flip it from the skillet...This is also one of my hubby's favorite cakes as well..........Enjoy!!

Grandma Edie's YUMMY pineapple upside down Cake
Gather all the stuff you need
Rub skillet with butter, add brown sugar and pineapples and cherries
Mix the Cake and pour
Bake in the oven at 350 for 45 min or so
I hope you enjoy!!!

The "Good ol Days"

I have often thought about how we live today compared to when my mom was younger and I can't help but think today times are very hard. Today the price of things make it to where most families need 2 incomes to stay above water. That is so hard. Whats going to happen when 2 incomes are not enough? Here is a list of things I came across today about the price in 1955 for some things.

1955:

Car:$1,950

Gas:29 cents/gal

House:$17,500

Bread:18 cents/loaf

Milk:92 cents/gal

Stamp:3 cents

Average Annual Salary:$5,000

Minimum Wage:75cents per hr

WOW!!! Is it even possible that people could survive on that? Yes, I guess it is!! Sometimes I wish that I was growing up during this time, when Sundays consisted of Church and Dinner with the WHOLE family, picnics, family game nights, you could let your kids play outside and not stand at the window hawking them like a stalker!! They really seem like the "Good ol Days" to me. I hear many people argue that it only seems worse today then back then because of technology, the TV, internet, news channels, Law shows ect....While that may be true to some extent I do know one thing and that is the Bible says in 2 Timothy 3:1-4 that "There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, WITHOUT LOVE, unforgiving, without self control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather then lovers of God". WOW

That is a list! I do believe though as time goes by it gets worse, the Bible says so. I am sure there are many reasons why, I personally think pornography is a huge reason why, people lust after anything and everything. Envy is a huge problem, money is something that there seems is never enough and that leads to ALL kinds of problems, robbery and murder. People kill for their own desires. I know there is a reason I am living in these days, God has a reason. I do sometimes wish it was in another Era, but, I am happy where I am. When watch the news it really worries me, it concerns me for the world my kids are growing up in, it worries me for the kind of friends and people they will come across. All we can do is pray, pray that when Jesus does return we are ready. In the meantime I will pray that we are kept safe and we try to be pleasing to him. I will pray for our Country and the innocent children in the World and pray for all people in general. The ends times are going to only get worse, its hard to imagine things could get worse but they will. I am glad we have hope. Jesus is our Hope.

Summer

Is anyone doing anything fun this Summer? Any good vacations? We are trying to figure out what we can all do, its hard when you have a 10 year old and then 2 1/2 and 1 1/2 year old. Their likes are very different. We have been doing some swimming which we all love and since we will still continue school until September, we are not going to be taking any trips. I would love to take them to Yogi Campground in September, we love it there. The first time we went it rained the whole weekend and we were kinda stuck in the cabin but it was SO FUN! We had limited TV and internet. We still roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. I realize its the little things that we do that bring the most memories. The quiet times we spend together just enjoying each other are priceless. I often think about when I was a child and the memories I have. We didn't do big vacations of Disney World and things like that because my parents could not afford it. However, we did do were things like fishing, camping, cookouts and amusement parks. So fun! I look back now as an adult and I didn't have a care in the world. What good times. I want my kids to have great memories no matter what we are doing. One day memories are all we have and I want them to be good.

Father's Day

This weekend we will do our Father's day ritual which consist of going to see my dad, the kids and I will make their daddy a card, we love making home made ones. We will have good food and relax with the family. I am blessed to have a good Father and I have a great husband and he's a great father. I realize that not everyone is so blessed to have that, some Fathers have passed away, others are not a part of their lives. It is very sad to see how many people there really are that deal with this. For the believer we have the comfort in knowing that God is our Father, his word says in Psalm 68:5 that he is "a Father to the Fatherless." So no matter what our earthly relationship or lack of may be, we know that we have a Father in heaven who loves us and who will always be there unconditionally. I pray that everyone has a blessed weekend!!

Holy

Romans 12:1~3 says that we are to "offer our bodies as a living sacrifice , holy and pleasing to God. We are not to conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of our minds." I struggle daily with this, I am not even gonna try to fool myself and say I don't. It is a daily struggle to to keep our minds in clear thinking, with the struggles of life it is very easy to get side tracked. I need to remind myself daily who I am in Christ and that I am worthy of his grace and mercy. Our flesh is a hard thing to die to. I want to live a Holy life and be pleasing to God. I want people to see Jesus in me and I want to set an example for him. There is nothing worse then making a 1st bad impression and how are we to share the love of Jesus with others if our lives are not pleasing to him. When I meet someone I want them to say "There is something different about her". I remember as a teenager going to church, we went faithfully, and I became friends with the pastors daughter. Well, I would look at her and almost be envious because she seemed so sweet, pure and had a glow I could not put my finger on. Now that I am older and I have formed my own relationship with the Lord I know that the "glow" I could not put my finger on was Jesus. I want to live in that. Its the best place to be, its a safe place, a place where there is hope. I want others to be in that place as well. My prayer is that the Lord help me to live that holy pleasing life for him. I pray that you do as well.

Steven Curtis Chapman on Early Show

What a wonderful family and Steven is a great singer, for many years he has blessed people with his music. I can't imagine what the family has went through. I love this song "Cinderella"

"Because of the Lords great Love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness. I say to myself, The Lord is my portion; therefore I WILL wait for him." Lamentations 3:22~24

What a day!

Well today was one of those day's where it was so hectic! It was like everything was out of order, the laundry was piled up, the kids were whiney, school was taking forever and I just could not think straight for one second! I almost gave up at one point and was going to just stop everyone and put the books aways and put a cartoon in and be done! I remembered though I cant just stop when I am not feeling like I can make it. I have kids, they need to have school and they have a routine, even if we are off sometimes we still try to abide by it.

Its so easy sometimes to just throw in the towel. The truth is , if you keep plugging along and make it over that hump its only downhill from there. So, we managed to get school complete, my oldest cleaned his room and the 2 youngest had nice naps :) And mommy got to sit and relax in the QUIET!! I am the kind of person that has to keep moving, if I sit to much I get tired and then its harder to get moving, but to sit and relax for an hour is more then enough to get me relaxed and ready for round 2! I was reading in the word and in 2 Thessalonians 3:6~10 Paul was talking about people being Idle and becoming lazy. I do not want to become that way, when we put things off and do not keep our hands busy we reach for other things to do, it could be too much talking which can lead to trouble and gossip or not finishing chores that are necessary to run your home. I have found in the past few months the busier I stay the better. With saying that we get tired and have crazy days and I don't think that will slow down until the kids get older, when they are young and we homeschool there is so much going on during the day. I am trying to cherish every moment even if it is a bit hectic :)

Galatians 6:9 is one of my favorite verses "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up"

Trust

I was reading in Mark 9 this evening about the Father who brought his son to Jesus to be healed of a spirit he was tormented by. I can only picture it, a father wanting more then anything to have his precious child healed from something so horrific. Waiting and going to the Disciples only to be in the midst of arguing. Jesus came and asked them why they were arguing, and it was due to the fact that the disciples could not cast out the spirit. Jesus called them "unbelieving generation." The father then asked Jesus "if he could" do anything, would he? HA, That is laughable yet it is something that I myself have been guilty of! Would God really help me in my time of need? Would Jesus heal our loved ones, would he supply everything we need? So many times I have been an unbeliever and doubted God. Why is it that we think our God is so small? Its something that even 2,ooo years ago they struggled with the. Jesus said to the man that "ALL things were possible if you believe", the man said "I believe, help me with my doubt."

I must say that I can relate to that. I have so many times had a lingering doubt with things and I have had to ask the Lord to help me believe, I don't think that is a bad thing. I believe the Lord is there for everything we need, we are to be honest with him. Even if that means going to him and asking for his grace and mercy to help us trust and believe in him more. Jesus healed the boy. Jesus is compassionate and understanding. If we believe, all things are possible with God! That should give us the hope we need in this life, with God everything is going to be ok.

Forgiven!!

I THANK God that we are Forgiven!! I remember as a child I would say my prayers and ask God to forgive me a numerous amount of times DAILY! I would become so afraid that I would go to hell if something happened. I lived in a constant state of fear. I am so glad that as an adult I am learning about his Grace and that we are NOT perfect people. We are human, we make mistakes and we will continue to make them. The thing that sets us apart from others is that we believe in Jesus as being our Lord and Savior and we have that personal relationship with him.

This is not an excuse to sin, Romans 6:1 " Should we go on sinning so that Grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin. How can we live in it any longer?" I know that I am a sinner and everyday we have to strive to do our best and live a life pleasing to God. I mess up and still ask God daily to forgive me. I do not have that fear anymore though, since I understand that God is not a God that is ready to punish me at every little thing. I know he is a just God and will NOT tolerate sin and let us continue to get away with it. Its a daily walk, its a hard thing to die to the flesh that we are so comfortable in. I pray that God continue to help me be the best person I can be and be pleasing to him. When we stand before him I want him to say "Well done."

Memories

This Sunday we were supposed to try a new Church but my husband hurt his back and ended up at Patient 1st. We will go next Sunday though. I LOVE Sundays, I have great memories of them growing up and big family dinners. I try to so the same for my own family. Today we made a huge spaghetti and italian sausage dinner with garlic bread. Yum!

I can remember as a child my mother would take my brothers and I too church every Sunday morning and night. She also took us Wednesdays and anytime the doors were open in between. I used to raise a fuss about going as I got older! I mean was she crazy making us go that much!! I was a teen and wanted to hang with my friends and sleep in I did NOT want to go to church. I mean there were shows I wanted to watch, "Who's the Boss", "Roseanne", "90210"! When I was there I can remember falling asleep in the pews MANY mornings. Ugh, what a brat I was!!

I can honestly say now that I am in my 30's that I am so thankful for the times that she made us. We were too young to make a wise decision and foolish and she made it for us. She did what she believed was best for us and it paid off! I hold firm to Proverbs 22:6 "Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will NOT turn from it." I used to think she was crazy as she would quote that scripture. Now I find myself saying it with kids of my own. Its funny how we get much wiser with age and we start to see things from our parents point of view! I still cant believe I am saying that :)

My mother called me this morning to tell me that one of my brothers decided he would go to church this morning, alone, and he really enjoyed it! She was extremely happy! The most important thing we can pass on to our kids is the truth of God and his word and that they can always have that personal relationship with Jesus and he is forever faithful. When life gets us down and things go wrong we have a constant, and that is the Lord.

Thank God for Grandparent's

Today we went shopping with Mom Mom and she LOVES to buy the kids clothes which helps the parents so much!! Every year for Christmas my mom will buy TONS of summer clothes for the my kids and my nieces, I appreciate that so much! So many times these things that we "expect" begin to go unappreciated. I guess you can say at times we take things for granted. I pray that I do not become like that. I am thankful and pray that God continue to remind us of our blessings and all of the things we are to be thankful for. Its so easy to let things get overlooked due to our expectations and our wants.

Its very important that we appreciate people for what they do, their kindness toward us and most importantly be Thankful for our relationship with God. Above all else, he should be our number 1 priority and we need to Thank him for everything.

Psalm 100:4 "Enter his gates with Thanksgiving and his courts with praise, give thanks to him and praise his name."

Sympathy for Eve??

I have heard many times the comment "If it wasn't for Eve" that there would not be pain in childbirth, the bible never says that childbirth was without pain, it was made more severe though Genesis 3:16. Eves sin has trickled down. That is how sin is, there are consequences for it. However, I think that Eve is a woman who we should have sympathy for. Just try to picture her life, she is the first woman, wife, mother, grandmother, and mother in law...All these things except 1 is missing and that is "daughter". Eve had no mother to help guide her, give her advice, teach her to cook or be a good wife. Eve was on her own without the help from God. I wonder how I would be if I had no friends, family or a mother. Who in the world would I talk to! I bet Adam wished sometimes Eve would shut up! After all she had nobody else but him. Until, she became a mommy. Eve had her boys Cain and Abel...I bet she was so happy with being a mother, the 1st mother! I wonder how she dealt with all the issues of 1st time mothers, earaches, sickness, teething, fussiness and so on. There were no resources at all for Eve, she was literally going on natural instinct. Obviously as the boys grew there became issues between the brothers. I think we all as parents know how that feels, kids are fighting, screaming and yelling. We usually play referee and I am sure Eve had on many times as well. Except one day Eve wasn't there to play. The unthinkable happened. Murder. I can only imagine and I am sure that would not begin to touch the surface of how Eve felt to have had been the first mother to bury a child. That is so heartbreaking to me, I wonder did she have anyone to hold her while she cried, a person to talk to about her pain, someone to listen other then Adam? I love my husband and confide in him in everything but sometimes its nice to have that "girlfriend" that we can really open up too and she can also relate to us. I heard a pastor talk about the death of his child and said that there is NO emotion to go with the death of a child because its so unnatural, its natural for us to bury our parents, even our spouses but our kids that is just not the way things work. Eve has my sympathy. From one mother to another the pain that she suffered in the death of her child really makes me feel for her on a level that I have never thought before. So she usually gets the bad rap as the one who ruined it for everyone, and while there are forever consequences for our sin. I am thankful that we have Jesus and that we can be forgiven, saved and have that relationship with God. There are alot of women in the Bible that we look at for a way we should be, or what kind of life we want to model after. I can say that Eve is not one that I envy, but she has my sympathy.

Psalm 119:105

School's out for Summer!!!

Most kids are nearing the end of the School year. Its an exciting time, I can remember when I was in school marking down the days to have off and be free to sleep in, stay out later, and NO homework! Life was good! The situation for my kids is different, we are Homeschoolers and I have been debating back and forth to continue to school them OR have a summer vacation as well.

I think I have come to the conclusion that what we will do is continue to work through the summer and our vacation will begin September. This works good for my family right now since we also have a 28 month old and a 17 month old. Not much to do outside in the heat with the little ones except we do go swimming at mom mom and pop pops on weekends. I love the fall and there is so much we can go and do. I swear I don't know if its just me or what but the summers seem to keep getting hotter and hotter! Maybe as kids we are just so oblivious to all that stuff but it sure feels like its hotter to me!

So with that being said I was pleasantly surprised when our son agreed with the plan. Sometimes in life you just never know!! I am looking forward to some fun things that we can get into this summer to incorporate with our school books and I would love to find a good children's bible study that we could work on as well. I hope and pray that God continue's to give me strength in teaching School to them.

I hope that all of you have a great summer and do lots of fun things with the family. Stay cool:)

Prayer

This weekend turned into a crazy one! Started out smooth sailing then by Monday and 2 trips to Patient 1st, ER, and an Orthopedic Surgeon we were wore out! Wow, sometimes things look like they are moving perfectly then BAM it hits ya!

So, it was a possibility that our 10 year old had appendicitis so naturally I was very scared of that, turned out to be a stomach flu...Our 16 month old little girl thinks she can run with the best of them and somehow dislocated her arm. I was very worried about her as well...It breaks your heart to see one of your kids in pain, even if its something as small as a broken finger it still hurts. It reminded my of the scripture in Phillipians 4:6 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in EVERYTHING by prayers and petition, with Thanksgiving, present your request to God." I find it extremely comforting to know that we sever a God who cares about the smallest things in our lives. I never feel ashamed or embarrassed to go to him about ANYTHING..it doesn't matter the issue is he is always there waiting.

So many times I think people feel like their problem isn't big enough to get God's attention and that holds them back from the little things in life. Don't let it! Don't ever let anything hold you back from BOLDLY going before God. Hebrews 4:15 "For we do NOT have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses , but we have one who has been tempted in every way just as we are, yet was without sin. Let us approach the throne of Grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find Grace to help us in our time of need." I am so glad that we have a God who above all else can sympathize with us, to me that means the most. There is nothing greater then having that close relationship with someone that you feel so safe to tell them anything and you are never afraid of judgement, ridicule, laughing, mocking or whatever other emotions that hold you back from opening up. I only pray that I can become the kind of person who is like that.

Thank's for everyones prayer's today. Our daughter has a dislocated elbow and the Doctor said it should be ok but it can happen. I was trusting God it would be nothing serious. I guess it can alway's be worse but it scares you when something is wrong, anything when it comes to your kids. I am praying she sleeps tonight. The Doctor said we need to keep the arm still, HA, she is 16 months old, not happening! I will try my best though. Again, thanks for the prayers and PRAY she sleeps and gets her rest so she can be good as new!!! I hope you all have a great night!

Good Afternoon. I hope everyone is having a great end to a wonderful weekend! We had a great weekend. Did alot of good family stuff and now we are ending it with our oldest at patient 1st with my husband. He is having some stomach pains on his left side. I am home praying he is fine and I think he may have pulled a muscle, they can hurt very bad. Psalm 23:1 "The Lord IS my Shepherd, I shall NOT be in want." I hope you all enjoy the rest of the day.

Raising Children

Today we had a nice family day, the weather was perfect, the kids were WELL behaved and my hubby had off of work. So many times we get so busy that those kinds of moments are far and few between. Its nice to take the kids out and spend good time doing something that they enjoy, showing them that what they like to do is important too.

So we had off of School today and that was a great break for me too! Yesterday during School I was talking to my oldest about the scripture 1 Timothy 4:12 "Do not let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity." I had a chance to talk about things that make them feel like they are less important because they are younger, I got their point of view that they do feel like they have a disadvantage because of age. I was able to share the scripture and what it meant and let him know that just because he is young he has other siblings that he sets an example for, family members and neighborhood friends and the list goes on. I love it when I am able to have the opportunity to get the other point of view.

Time goes by so fast, they years seem to fly. I am so glad that we are able to share these things with our children and we are able to talk about Gods word whenever we want and how we can apply it to our lives. I love watching how they interact with others and I can see the different traits that the Lord has given them and its so awesome to watch them grow. I will always remind my children to NEVER let anyone look down on them for anything! Especially age, they are just as important as the next.

Be angry and Sin not

I was doing some reading this morning and came across Psalm 37:8~9

“Refrain from anger and turn from wrath, do not fret~it leads only to evil.” I thought to myself about how many times I have been so angered and mad about things. I just could not believe that would lead me to evil. My thinking was “well I am angry, I want to sulk in it awhile then maybe I will be over it. Time will tell” Well the Bible clearly states that we CAN be angry, just don’t let it take hold of us. Get over it fast, do not let the sun go down on it. We do not want to let satan have a foothold on anything. If we sit and let it fester in us that even makes you angrier. Have you ever heard someone say the expression “I just want to stew awhile” well that means to sit and dwell on the issue at hand. Anger is like a cancer. Its no good! We all get mad at one another and have issues but we need to get to the root quickly, say how we feel and MOVE forward.

I know its much easier said then done, its something that we need to pray and ask God to help us with. I don’t think its something that over night you just become a person who will forgive and move quickly over things, its a process and with God’s help and his mercy we can become people who when angry confront, deal with the issue, and move forward. This is not to say that we become a door mat, there is a time when we are treated wrongly and become angry that we may need to step back away from the person and allow God to do a work in them. We are not to be treated badly and just accept it. We need to pray for that person.

So I think the bottom line is, its ok to get angry, its a normal emotion. We are not to let it take hold of us. It WILL lead to evil. We are not to let it sit in us and control our lives. We need to give it to God. Trust him, and pray that he would help us to move past and forgive. It does nothing for you to dwell on it. The problem is, we are the ones angry and the person that made you feel this way has no idea and they are going about their lives like everything is fine. Don’t let it ruin or steal your joy. Don’t let it take one minute of your life. My prayer is that God would help me if or when I am angered to confront the person, deal with the issue and move forward!

I hope this was of some encouragement to somebody. I know that it has opened my eyes a little more into what anger is capable of doing to us.