Desperation Breeds Degradation

This week for the blog hop I feel like I need to share something that wasn't really one of the topics listed. I suppose it relates to 1 Peter 5:7-8. This hit me so hard when I read chapter four on Monday that I need to share.  

I was reading along about how desperation breeds degradation. Completely relating it to my struggle with food and sweets for most of my life. Thinking, that makes sense, You get a craving and you want to satisfy it no matter what the cost. You enjoy that moment when you do give in. Then you realize it though "I just blew it again." That desperate moment makes you forget your standards and just want to satisfy you for the time being. 

"If we forget to be self controlled, and alert we are prime targets for Satan to usher us right away from the new standards we've set in our life." (pg 42)

Then I'm reading on about the mom who is in financial trouble and ends up stealing money. The next paragraph I stopped dead in my tracks and in tears. 

Did You Know....Kids Can Use the Sewing Machine?

Welcome to the first official week of the "Did You Know?" series! Did you know your kids can use the sewing machine? When I first got my sewing machine a little over a year ago my daughter wanted to try who was then 8 years old. I was very hesitant about her even touching the thing! After some thinking about it and her begging to make a project I finally gave in. An guess what....it was OK!

Here are a few tips for allowing children to sew on the machine.

1. Maturity
 Are they able to use it properly and not mistreat it or get overly excited and careless? If not you may want to show them some hand sewing projects until you feel they are ready!

God First Loved Us: Valentine's Day Devotional Review

Are you looking for a great devotional to do with your children in the days leading up to Valentine's Day? I'm excited to share "God First Loved Us" ! Heather Bowen from Upside Down Homeschooling has created a fun devotional filled with Bible verses, and activities to make learning about God's love meaningful and fun.

Empowered

Welcome back to the Proverbs 31 blog hop at My Blessings Homeschool! This week has been amazing! The word chosen by the Proverbs 31 Bible study ladies is perfect. Empowered is a great word to sum up this first week.

At the beginning of January I started reading a book called Sugar Detox Challenge. I've been addicted to sugar for ages. I'd crave it all day long basically and gave into it almost every time. That little book i started reading gradually changed the way you eat. Well last week was week 3 and ALL desserts and sweet treats were cut out. I knew it wasn't going to be easy. The first three days were THE hardest. But by Saturday, it was getting easier. And now I sit here a week later and I feel completely empowered! I CAN DO THIS!


Having read the first few chapters of the Made to Crave Bible study I wish I'd had read those BEFORE I started my sugar detox! The verses I've now been equipped with would have made me feel empowered at the beginning of my no sugar week instead of struggling through those first three days.

Severe Speech Delays: Chelsea's Story Part 1

I sat down to write about one thing this morning and instead it's evolved into the story of my beautiful nine year old daughter and our journey over the years with her severe speech delay. I'm going to have to do it in a few posts because thinking of it all at once overwhelms me.

Chelsea was born at our local hospital, no major issues or complications. I wanted to breastfeed so we began trying and got some help from the nurses. We finally realized that my little girl had difficulty sucking on a bottle. After being told that nursing would be near impossible with her, (yes I know first time mom who listens to the nurses) I gave up the idea and stuck with bottle feeding. We also noticed a few other things that made us suspicious of her having the same issue her daddy had.

picture from the hospital

Did You Know?

Welcome to the intro post of my new series entitled "Did You Know?"  In this series I'll post on a certain topic and share some interesting facts you may or may not have known about. 

Some topics will include anything from coconut oil to babywearing to homeschool and everything in between. If there is something you'd like to see a post about please let me know! You'll also get to hear from a blogging friend during this series. 

Check back next Monday for the first topic in this series!

What would you like to know more about?

"Made to Crave" Bible Study

I'm quite excited about a new Bible study I'm joining online! It's through Proverbs 31 ministries. We will be using the book Made to Crave: Satisfying Your Deepest Desire with God, Not Food. The Bible study itself is free but you will need the book in order to follow along. You can find it here to get the print format or Kindle/ebook version here. Other items are available but not required for the study. They include a Devotional book, participants guide and action plan..  You can get all of these through the P31 site.

Great Homeschool Convention

Have you ever been to a homeschool convention? Do you make it a point to go to one every year? Well this is our fourth year of homeschooling our children and we've yet to make it to one. BUT, this April we'll be heading to Cincinnati for the Ohio Great Homeschool Convention! If you don't live near enough to come to Ohio there's also events happening in California, South Carolina and there will soon be one in Texas.

Green Your Life Review

Have you always wanted to "live greener" but didn't know where to start? Well this book from Emily McClements at Live Renewed has the perfect guide to get you started! "Green Your Life" has sections explaining why living a green lifestyle is both important and beneficial. More than that there are sections for living greener right away. It's a gradual process and the more you learn and research the easier it becomes.

"Each change you make is a step in the right direction
toward reducing the toxins you and your family are
exposed to on a regular basis."

Are You a Gluten Free Newbie Like Me? +recipe

Our family is not "gluten free' but we are learning more about wheat and what it does. The first experience I had with gluten free cooking was when we got the book 'Breakfast Revolution" by Beth Ricci. That one ebook changed the way we did breakfast in our house and got me started with experimenting with gluten free recipes. You can read my full review here. Continue to the bottom of this post for a quick and easy pancake recipe I whipped together for my kiddos this week.

A few days ago i posted on Facebook that I had made a loaf of gluten free bread in my new bread machine and a friend asked if we were gluten free. Her son is undergoing diagnosis for celiac disease or a major gluten allergy and she really didn't know where to start. She had tried buying a loaf of gluten free bread at the store and wasn't very pleased with the experience.

5 Ways to Keep Your Cool

I try hard not to yell at my kids. I truly do, but you know as well as I do that it's HARD. I had a friend look at me as I was talking to one of my children and ask "They listen when you just talk like that?" Well yes, i answered, but it does take some time for your kids to get used to you "just talking" if they are accustomed to mom yelling most of the time. Satan knows my weaknesses he knows just when to let things happen and that when it does I'm going to lose my cool and blow up at one or all of my kids.

It's easy to let the little things or annoyances of your day to day life get to you and turn your attitude sour very quickly. I've noticed it myself with my own attitude and the way I deal with my family. Unnecessary messes, when things aren't quite going my way or hearing complaints are just a few examples. I want to share a few things that help me to get my attitude back in check. That is, where God wants it to be. Focused on Him, showing a loving, kind, patient mother and wife. The Bible tells us in Proverbs 31: 26 these things that a wife and mother should be.

Coffee Table Conversations

If you didn't get the bundle back in November you can still get in on this great conference! The Coffe Table Conversations is a 12 week conference covering a wide variety of healthy living issues from fitting in exercise to essential oils for beginners to allergen free cooking. The sessions are once a week starting January 14th.Here's a list of what you'll learn from the conferences.

What you can expect to learn from this conference:

1

Eating slow food in a fast food world — January 14, 2014

with Kristy Howard, Katie Kimball & Kelly McNelis

2

Allergen-free cooking — January 21st, 2014

with Alyssa Rimmer, Beth Ricci & Kerry Ann Foster

3

Fitting fitness in to a busy schedule — January 28th, 2014

with Brandy Ferguson, Stacy Karen, Terri Bonin & Beth Learn  

4

Real food for beginners — February 4th, 2014

with Elsie Callender, Jaimie Ramsey & Kate Tietje

5

Intro. to alternative and herbal remedies — February 11th, 2014

with Rosalee de la ForÍt, Laurie Neverman & Natalie Vickery

6

Natural pregnancy & birth — February 18th, 2014

with Shannon Brown & Kristen Burgess

7

Fighting fatigue & boosting energy — February 25th, 2014

with Arabah Joy, Crystal Paine & Mary Ellen Bream

8

Using essential oils — March 4th, 2014

with Mary Clendenin, Kayla Howard & Jodi Mckenna

9

Greening your household — March 11th, 2014

with Hilary Bernstein, Sandra Calixto & Emily McClements

10

Natural baby care — March 18th, 2014

with Jami Balmet, Trisha Gilkerson, Erin Odom & Becky Zale

11

Gearing up for gardening season — March 25th, 2014

with Diana Bauman, Wardee Harmon & Angi Schneider

12

Eating well on a tight budget — April 1st, 2014

with Jessica Fisher, Kimberly Harris & Stephanie Langford 

Register now to get the "Early Bird" price of $67. If you can't make it to one of the sessions live they will be available for download afterward. So even if you don't have the time to join in live you'll still be able to get the wealth of information from the speakers.

Printable School Checklist!

Here's a little something I made up to help keep me on track as far as getting everything done each day. My daughter really wants to learn how to type so we'll be using Dance Mat to practice typing. We are also switching to just having her pick books she'd like to read and I have a hard time remembering to do reading so I made this checklist to kep myself on track as well. You can print and laminate or put in a page protector to be reused each day. Have a great time getting back to the books!

One Word 2014 Progress: 2014 Goals

Last year I had one word picked out to sum up my goals and I really liked the idea! This year I have my one word chosen as I've been thinking and praying about my goals for the year ahead.

I chose the word progress because that's exactly what I want to do! Make progress in several areas of my life. I will never be perfect but I can work toward my goals each day and make progress toward a better me. After reading a post from Only a Breath on making and setting goals,  have chosen several areas and several goals for each area. After thinking about my goals I have picked something I can start doing right away to work on that goal. Each month I will update with how things are going.