Pardon the Dust

Since I have been on "hiatus" for 2 years I am having to sort through links and such to see what is still around and which links need to be updated. This also requires lots of marketing once again. Therefore, please be patient with me as I change things around and try to find as many networking applications as I can to get the blog alive and breathing again! Facebook, Twitter, Networked Blogs, and Google Connect are all new so my "fan base" through them are relatively "sad" right now... but I am diligently working on them! Please feel free to connect with me through one or all and leave me a comment so I can share the love with you!

Thank you for your patience!

Blog Hop and Facebook Love

For starters, I just made a Facebook page for the blog and would LOVE to share the love through Facebook. "Like" my page and leave a wall post as to where I can find you on FB!

And now for Thursday's Blog Hops:

If you're a new follower make sure to leave me a comment so I can follow you back!

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Home Making 101

Even though we have two in public school this year, I still have a homeschool momma's heart. So, this evening I was holding the baby while she took a much needed nap, but really needed to start dinner. Princess JF is always looking for something to do so I asked her if she thought she could help out (the older two were already at church and DH was on his way home from work). She was so excited to do it!

We were having one of our most simplest, but family favorite, meals. Thus, I walked her through how to turn on the over to preheat and then talked her through each step. Our kitchen and living area are separated only by a bar, so it was easy for me to relay each step and help her along the way. I asked her to grab a cookie sheet, and after sorting through them all she found one she liked. :) She was able to get scissors to cut open the bag and laid each piece of chicken out perfectly spaced on the cookie sheet (these are bite size pieces). Next was the scary part for me... she had to put the chicken into the oven. After giving her very strict, detailed instructions Princess JF (with no fear) opened the oven and put the chicken on the rack as instructed and shut the oven with no mishaps! Whew... I was relieved.

Next, she set the timer on the microwave, and got a pan of water ready to boil. After setting it on the cooktop I taught her how to turn the burner on and made sure she understood how hot the cooktop could get. There were no problems! I told her how I typically set the table while I wait for the dinner to finish cooking, so she did that too until her daddy got home. She was so super excited to tell him about what she had been doing... and he looked at me like I was crazy! But, he helped her pour the rice into the water once it began boiling and removed the chicken from the oven once it was done. Yet, all in all, Princess JF had made her first meal! Yay!

I SOOOO wish I had grabbed some pictures, but I was under a sleeping baby. So here is a picture of Princess JF instead:

Wednesday Blog Hops!

Don't forget to leave a link to your blog in a comment so I know where to follow you back! Thank you! :)

Wordless Wednesday

Link up with Wordless Wednesday!

It's nice to be important...

"It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice".  ~Author Unknown

It was quite a night here at the house. Our oldest two went to one of my nephew's football games with my mom, so it was just my DH and the three youngest girls here. After dinner and a movie at home, Super Dad and Princess JR left to take the movie back to the Redbox and I put the other two girls in the shower. I was sitting just outside the bathroom door at my computer when I thought I heard a knock at the the door. I knew the older two kids would be home at some point, so figuring it was them I went down to answer the door. It turned out to be Super Dad standing outside talking to our next door neighbors about the owl that has made its home on our roof. One thing led to another and the elderly wife asked me to come check out the work they had recently done on their home... I agreed since it was the neighborly thing to do. Super Dad came in to check on the girls (I thought he was staying with them) and tell them we were going to run next door while they got dressed and watched a movie for bedtime.

This is where everything went awry. Apparently, Princess JF did not hear/understand what her dad said and and after a few minutes went on a quest to find us. She got Princess JL involved and it quickly became an all out search and their were lots of tears involved. They opened the door and a neighbor, on the opposite side of the house from where we were, heard them crying and came over to assist (everyone knows everyone in this neighborhood and are more than willing to help each other out). Fortunately, Princess JF thought to grab our phone numbers out of her backpack where we placed them for emergencies and asked the neighbor to call us. Unfortunately, she had my phone in her hand, my DH's phone went straight to voicemail, and Princess CJ was the first one he got a hold of... and at this point we saw the commotion at our house because they had moved out from behind the garage blocking our view. Ugh!

Now, my dad is on his way to our house in a panic, and the older two are rushing back with my mom all upset and hysterical! OMGoodness! I call everyone and let them know we are fine and give them a quick run down of how we were in the driveway next door... the girls just never came far enough out to see us and apparently didn't hear us tell them that was where we were if they needed us. We had to calm everyone down, assure my family we were still alive, let Princess JF know she wasn't in trouble, and put Princess JR to sleep all at the same time! Super Dad called the neighbor once more to thank him and assure him that we aren't bad parents and do not typically run off and leave our girls home alone! :/  He said he had 5 kids as well and completely understood. *Sigh* Life lesson learned: No more "running outside" to talk to the chatty neighbors!

Can you see the owl perched up there? :)

All is well now! And all this because of that loud, screeching owl that has made his perch on our roof! Dumb ol' owl!

2 Cents Tuesday: Online books

We are entering our 8th year of homeschooling both Drama Queen and Prince W. We have used all sorts of curriculum through the years and decided to go back to a Homeschool Co-op this year. Well, this meant I had to find textbooks for the 10 different classes that both kids combined would be taking... and the Spanish class at the co-op has been a pain thus far, to say the least, simply because of poor communication about books. So, after endless days and nights spent searching I was able to find 3 of the 5 books for this ONE class online! I adore online books quite simply because they are FREE! You just can't beat free in my book!

Name change...

Ok, after much prayer and deliberation I have decided to change the name of the blog. Although the domain through Blogger will obviously remain the same (don't want to move everything over just to change the name), the official new name will be "7 on a Shoestring" (we had to incorporate our newest member)! Yay! Kind of excited about the change! It helps with the fresh start and new beginning, I do believe! I have updated the blog header and the picture I will be using for the Facebook page... so I will leave a you with it:

I'm back... I think!

I can't  believe my last post was almost exactly 2 years ago! Wow how things have gone up and down since then! I have wanted to start blogging again several times but have always found an excuse not to. So, I have begun by redesigning the blog and trying some new things out but figured I should go ahead and get started posting as well. Thus... I am trying to bring my blog back to life! Not sure how successful I will be, but at least I know I have the satisfaction of trying!

First, let's see if I can give you a rundown on the last two years. Let's see, real quick now... had my 2nd miscarriage just days before posting that last post (probably the main reason I stopped blogging), got pregnant once again in December, realized it in January, didn't tell anyone until Easter, spent the entire pregnancy on pins and needles, saw a perinatologist since they thought my baby had a birth disorder, spent nights in and out of hospital for maternal bleeding, had an incredibly healthy baby girl in September 2009 (named her after Reagan... so she will now be referred to as "JR" in my blog), had my tubes tied (and experienced excruciating pain from it and a spinal headache from the epidural for the first 2 weeks after), landlord let the house we lived in for 3 years go to foreclosure, spent 6 months looking for a home to live in (were given that time since we were renting the home), my mom was diagnosed with Mantle Cell Lymphoma in February, helped nurse my mom through 5 months of intense chemotherapy (this is when I should have been blogging and letting out some feelings), moved into our nice, took JF to a gastrointestinal doctor since she has chronic constipation apparently brought on by the stress of everything (primarily centered around Mom's cancer journey) and also now is in therapy, finally moved into new home by the lake in August, and Mom was given a clean bill of health (in complete remission) just 2 weeks ago! Life is good!

Now that we're all caught up I need to get back to the heart of what this blog was supposed to be about... us, as a family of 7, living on next to nothing and making it work! So, I will try to do just that as I get going here soon! Stay tuned...

Oh wait... wanted to include a picture Super Dad and the three youngest girls at a nearby Balloon Festival from last week:

Sharing some gelato and waiting for the sun to go down to watch the "Glow."

Christmas? Bah Humbug?

No one has suggested a topic for September, but I thought I would write about Christmas as I did last December here.

One blogger has written four posts called "Christmas and Holy Time, Seasons of Scrutiny". Calvinised Pipe The CP blogger quotes Dr. Richard P. Bucher in Christmas is Not Pagan:

The problem was not that the Galatians were observing holy days and seasons. It is that they were being taught that such observances were necessary for their salvation, a complete contradiction of the Gospel that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ. Similarly, to observe Christmas because you believe to not do so would be sinful is wrong and you would fall under Paul’s exhortation in Gal. 4 & 5. But to observe Christmas in your Christian freedom, because you choose to, not because you have to, is completely permitted before God.

A Puritan's Mind uses Regulative Principal is the proof for not celebrating Christmas, but allowing certain traditions such as "Frosty the Snowman." This is incredible to me--go secular but do not celebrate Christmas!

Pastor Todd Ruddell has a thoughtful sermon with emphasis on Exodus 32:1-8, Jeremiah 10:1-16, Colossians 2:16-23, 2 Chronicles 34:1-7 and Matthew 28:18-20.

Expense and Trouble of Christmas Giving. Some of our extended family do not give gifts anymore and I don't believe it is because they are Reformed. I prefer to give, even though we are on a strict budget. Giving gives me joy and of course I can do that all year long. The wise men brought gifts to Jesus. I have learned to not expect gifts from people anyway. I like phone calls and face-to-face conversations the best. I no longer want my husband to put lights up on the house--he has fallen off a ladder once, and the joy of the season doesn't have to mean elaborate decorations.

My husband and my pastors have NOT spoken against celebrating Christmas, but we don't make it a part of worship at all.  I also see in Romans 14:5 that everyone must be convinced in his own mind.  Colossians 2 says to not let anyone judge you in respect to festivals, or meat or drink.

I am thinking that it might be a stumbling block to our neighbors were we not to observe Christmas.  We started an annual neighborhood Christmas party when we moved to this house in 1991 and I enjoy having decorations for the real meaning of Christ’s birth in our home when others have been over. Except for the new Social Media, Christmas cards are almost the only way many friends and extended family all over the country keep in touch these days. We send out an annual letter and I think we can do this in November this year and thereby not offend those who do not celebrate the tradition of Christmas.  Romans 14 also talks about the principles of peace, joy, mutual upbuilding and faith. 

Cultish for a Christian to not celebrate Christmas? Is this the same logic as Jehovah Witnesses who do not pledge allegience to the flag of America? How far should we take this? Not use pictures of Calvin and Luther in case that has reverberations? What do you think, gentle reader?

God's will for my life: Today, I'm sick.

Selling God's grace at a deep discount.



That's how it goes. We all were coming down with something. Pastor Greg said he was getting over a cold. Pastor Gary had one already. I was coming down with one. But wait just a second. This isn't supposed to happen to a Christian, is it?

Well, in this edition of Radical Grace Radio, we had no choice but to talk about finding God's will for your life, since literally billions of dollars have been spent on self helps books and seminars, prayer beads and trips to faraway places. It seems like people everywhere are seeking God's will for their lives.

Well, there's a couple of things that come to mind here. One, is this: If you're a believer in Christ, and you're in him, how much in God's will can you be? Think about this. Joel Osteen's Your Best Life Now had sold over 2.5 million copies as of May 23rd, 2005. It's 2010 now, and he's written another book, Become a Better You, which sold out it's first printing of 4 million copies in 2007... That's a lot of money spent on self help, just on these two books alone.

I know how Christians are thinking. They worry, day by day, that they are NOT making the cut. It's no wonder, since the world trains us to think this way. You have to work, and you have to do well at what your vocation is if you want to keep working. That's how the world works, and that's how we're trained to think. So of course we think this way with regards to God and all He does.

But Here I'm not going to take the usual take on this *. I'm going to, instead, suggest that what's going on here is unbelief. See, for the average believer (like all of us), we look around and it's very hard to see what God is doing in our everyday lives. With eyes of faith we believe that God is doing things in our lives, but it's very difficult to stay in that sort of mindset. So, we either make the move to help God along by learning to be more cooperative with Him, or we secretly harbor the notion that God isn't as interested in what's going on in our lives as we'd like.

Take Abraham, for instance. He had the sure promise that he was going to have a son as his heir. God said it would happen, but Abraham (then Abram) eventually agreed to sleep with his maidservant, Hagar. Now, I'm not suggesting that Abraham became an unbeliever, because St. Paul tells us that Abraham didn't waver in his belief in the Promise... Yet, he did still sleep with Hagar, didn't he?

I think this shows just how desperate we fallen sinners really are. Even when we can remain in faith, we have a severe problem with remaining faithful. Paul tells us that Abraham didn't waver in his faith, yet he did fail to remain faithful.

Just goes to show you. We're such smart alecks, and so smug. But what do we do, nearly every day? We sell God's grace at a deep discount. We have to learn to unlearn this way of thinking quickly. God is always involved in our lives.

"I am with you always even till the end of the age".




God's will for my Life: Today I'm sick

Ex Christians: Broken by Spiritual Gifts?

Misapplication of Spiritual Gifts




In this edition of Radical Grace Radio, we talk about how the Spiritual Gifts are misapplied in such a way that Christians wind up broken and sorrowful.

There was a woman at my old church, which was a Pentacostal Church, who was scheduled to recieve her "annointing" one night after many weeks of being taught about fruits of the spirit. All the people who attended classes came up front to be prayed over and begin speaking in tongues... but when it came to be her turn, she didn't start speaking in tongues. She was inconsolable. She thought that since she didn't speak in tongues that God had rejected her! After all, if she learns what she needs to do, and does them faithfully, but she doesn't get the annointing to speak in tongues, what could that possibly mean?

That's why we do this program. We have no choice but to offer a corrective for stuff like this. People's souls are riding on it.




Ex_Christians: Broken by Spiritual Gifts?