God is good.

It has been FOREVER since I've posted on the blog!  We've had a LOT going on in our lives, with some major health issues making writing difficult for me.  But I'm getting back in the saddle!  I want to try to post at least once a week, although I'm not sure if I'll start the weekly wrap-ups back up. 

During the past few months, I've been dealing with not only the concerning breast changes that started December 2013, but also the eradication of h. Pylori and subsequent digestive problems.  During the past few months I have been in so much pain, and unable to keep much of anything down.  I've been worried, scared, and just pretty unhappy in general.  I've felt bad for myself. 

But enough is enough!  Just because I'm dealing with health issues doesn't mean I should mope around, all woe is me.  Of course, I am wanting God to take these things from me, but I know that even in my trials, He will be glorified.  I don't know the reasons for the illness or pain, or the emotional things we've dealt with in relation to family and friends, but I do know that His plans for me are good, and that there is something good that will come from all of it in the end.
Over the past couple of weeks, I've been feeling better than I have for the past few months.  I believe this, in large part, due to our use of doTERRA essential oils to help support my body.  I became a Wellness Advocate with doTERRA back in October, and I've been using them to help support immunity, calm occasional stomach upset, and promote overall health and wellness with fantastic results. 

I'm so thankful to God that he created this natural compounds, and I'm looking forward to where this journey leads our family.

If you'd like to learn more about essential oils, send me a message or visit my other blog Essentially Every Good Thing. 

Despite my illness,  Squirrely Girl, Miss Bear, and Bubba have been doing amazingly well with homeschool.  Squirrely Girl is reading fluently, and Miss Bear is starting to spell CVC words and sound some harder words out with minimal help.  Bubba is talking more, is able to divide things by color and shape, and loves to take things apart (for science of course!). 

I'm so looking forward to sharing our homeschool journey with you all again!

Bear Blend aka Focus Blend

Sometimes we all need something to help balance our emotions and help us focus.  This blend works well for our little Miss Bear, but Mama has been known to use it as well!

We simply roll this along the spine, the base of the head, and on the wrists whenever we're having trouble with frazzled emotions or finding it hard to concentrate.  Works like a charm, and smells pretty awesome too!

If you'd like to purchase your own oils to mix up this blend, you can visit my store here.

If you're interested in becoming a Wellness Advocate with doTERRA, contact me and I'll help you get started!  I'd love to have you on my team.

Hubtastic Hair and Beard Oil

A few months ago, I finally took the plunge and ordered a Family Physician Kit from doTERRA, along with becoming a Wellness Advocate.  I actually only did it to take advantage of the wholesale prices for my family, but now that I've been using the oils, I can't help but share them. 

For Christmas, I wanted to make something special for my hubby.  He's been wanting something to encourage beard growth as well as combat the receding hairline and thinning he's been noticing.  After searching around a bit, I finally decided on a combo that I hope works for him.

Plus, this stuff smells AMAZING!

Clary Sage helps improve circulation, helps balance hormones, and can act as an aphrodisiac.

White Fir can also help to improve poor circulation, and it also works well as an antimicrobial and antioxidant....

Cedarwood is calming and soothing, and some contemporary research indicates it can help with alopecia.

Rosemary is helpful with greasy hair, hair loss, and inflammation. It also has antibacterial and antifungal properties.

Lime revitalizes and tightens skin and connective tissue, and has antibacterial and antiviral properties.

Lavender is very soothing and healing for skin. It also helps against dandruff, with dry and fragile hair, hair loss, inflammation, and itching. Oh, and it can help you spice things up a bit by acting as an aphrodisiac. 

Want to buy your own oils to make this awesome recipe?  Click here to visit my store. 

Interested in becoming a Wellness Advocate and taking charge of your family's health?  Contact me to find out how! 

II. The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing

Mathew 5:3"Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

In Chapter 2 of A.W. Tozer's The Pursuit of God, we find what lies at the heart of the issue in many of our lives:  putting anything else in the place where God ought to be.

Whenever sin entered the world, the right order of things became scrambled.  We became rebellious towards God and put idols on the thrones of our hearts. 

Whenever we have accepted Christ, we are no longer slaves to sin, but are now slaves to righteousness--to Christ himself (Romans 6:18). He has taken back him throne in our hearts.  Our lives--every moment and each and every action--belong to him now.

In The Pursuit of God, Tozer addressed the story of Abraham and Isaac.  I had always looked at this story to be more about obedience to God that anything else, but Tozer says that whenever Isaac was born in Abraham's old age that "his heart knit closer and closer with the life of his son, till at last the relationship bordered upon the perilous."

Of course, Abraham must have been terrified by God's request.  Offer my son, who I've waited for so long for, upon an alter as a sacrifice?  I'm sure his heart was anguished at the thought.

Obviously, God never intended for Abraham to actually slaughter his son, but he requested his obedience anyway.  Why is that? 

Tozer states "God could have begun out on the margin of Abraham's life and worked inward to the center; He chose rather to cut quickly to the heart and have it over with in one sharp act of separation.  In dealing thus, He practiced an economy of means and time.  It hurt cruelly, but it was effective."

God chose to removed Isaac from the throne of his father's heart swiftly, so that he could be put back in his rightful place in Abraham's heart.  Abraham had come to making everything about his son, and out of love God turned his world upside down with a single command.  This wasn't done to separate father and son, but in order to have Abraham face his priorities and rearrange them.

And we do the same as Abraham did today.  We worry so much about our reputations, our children, how we homeschool, our jobs, etc., that we don't even realize it when we've shooed God off the throne of our hearts and put all of these other things in his place.

So why do we cling to our idols?  Money, possessions, people in our lives, jobs, security, entertainment, etc.?

If Christ lives in us, then we shouldn't be ruled by the stuff in our lives.  Jesus referred to how much control things have in our lives when he spoke to his disciples in Mathew 16:24 "If any many will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it."


Within American Christianity today, there is this unsettling sense of entitlement.  It's taught in many churches as well as over television, that if we will become a Christian that we can prosper, have our best life now, and that all is apparently sunshine and rainbows. 

Most people refuse to speak about what God says concerning things out of fear of being labeled as homophobic, a hatemonger, or the like. 

To speak out on the issue of abortion, even other "Christians"  will criticize you, saying to "judge not" or ask you "where is your grace?" 

We need to wake up.  Christ did not redeem us so that we could have our best life now.  In fact, if we are truly submitting to Christ and following his charge to make disciples (Mathew 28:19), chances are that we will face adversity.  We may lose our stuff, the security of having extra money, our home, our friends and family, and our reputation to those still in the world.  Yet, we can count it all a blessing whenever we face persecution, because our reward is in heaven. 

One of the benefits of when God puts us through the refining fire, and we lose everything, is that we depend fully upon him.  Suffering strips away all of the superficial, and reveals the truth.  His grace is sufficient for us, and in the end God's thoughts and laws is all that matters.

Romans 5:3-5
"Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured our his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."


We all must count the cost of following Christ.  We will lose some peoples esteem, relationships with friends and family, and may suffer financially if we are adhering to the Gospel.  But in the end, the only one that matters is God.  If we have done as he has charged us, though many people may hate us and say all types of slanderous things about us, it is all worth it.

We all place too high an importance on things from time to time.  Pray that God rips them from the thrones of our hearts so that we can turn, repent, and follow him once more. 

Bubba's 2nd Birthday

This past Saturday, our son turned 2! 

We had a small party for him at our house, with family and a few friends.  He had a great time. 

He started off the day with a clown cream horn for breakfast.


He was too excited to see his birthday cake.

 

After changing his mind numerous times, he finally decided on the SpongeBob décor. 

 

 

 

 

 

All in all, it was a great day celebrating our son!  

 

Week 5 of MFW Learning God's Story

Another great week using MFW Learning God's Story!  We did a few art projects, made some yummy chipotle ranch, and read about several types of trees.  Warning:  This post contains affiliate links.  That means if you use the link to buy something, we will be paid.  This money goes to support my family.

Memory Verse:

Proverbs 21:23-

"He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity."

This verse was a great one for our whole family to focus on this week.  We've had a lot happen recently, and it was a good reminder to watch what we say.  Squirrely Girl and Miss Bear have continued to do well with the memorization, and are relating day to day life back to our memory verses and bible stories.  It makes my heart happy whenever I hear them pray for God's help in these areas!

We've also started doing a little something with our memory verses this week.  I love the CM Scripture memory system, and we made our own simple version.  You can read about it here. 






Language Arts:

Squirrely Girl reading her previous phonics lessons.

Squirrely Girl has continued with the MFW phonics.  I thought it was odd that they included -ing, -ang, and -ung together, because I thought it would be confusing.  She didn't seem to have any problems, though!    Her handwriting has already improved dramatically the past 5 weeks.   


Miss Bear is working on her ABC handwriting sheets as well as number words sheets.  I used a highlighter to make her a copywork sheet for this weeks memory verse, and I've already seen improvement in her handwriting as well.

Math:

This is week 2 of working numbers and counting.  This was needed more for Miss Bear, but Squirrely Girl had a good review with larger numbers.  She also used some leaves, rocks, and seeds we found on our nature walk to work on addition, which was great practice. 

Science:

 After reading the recommended reading for trees, we did several art projects, a failed science experiment, and read in our Fun with Nature about several species of trees.



We've also continued to examine our beans that are sprouting. (We didn't soak them until Monday!  We had a lot going on last week!)  I'm not adding that stuff until we finish it, but Bubba has loved looking at the beans.  Kids were all amazed to see the tiny plant starting to grow! 

 

Art:
One of our art activities was these tree ring paintings.  I put several shades of paint onto a plate, and the girls used their foam sponge brushes to get some paint.  They then pressed the sponge onto their paper and twirled it around, giving the great tree ring effect.  We all had a lot of fun with these!

We also made these My Years in Tree Rings pages. 

 We had talked about how trees grow a ring each year.  We then made these pictures with a ring for each year they'd been alive, and things they thought were important for each year.


Lastly, the kids made these tree crafts.  All three of them love when I tape contact paper onto the sliding glass doors.  This is something that even Bubba can mostly do himself.

Handicrafts:

Squirrely Girl started working on her first needlepoint project this week.  You can find these projects at most craft stores, and I'm sure Amazon has them as well.

 

How was your week?  How do you like to incorporate art into the weeks lessons?

Skinny Chipotle Ranch

A week or so ago I made yogurt in the crockpot for the first time.  It was a huge success, and we've been using it in smoothies and eating it for breakfast.  I'd seen recipes that substituted yogurt for sour cream, but I'd never tried any of them.  With so much yogurt in the fridge, I decided that it was time to give it a go!

This chipotle ranch is sooooooo good!  We've eaten it with veggies, chips, and even as a spread on turkey sandwiches!  I used more peppers, because we LOVE spicy foods around here, but you can add more or less depending upon your preferences.

Even Squirrely Girl loved it, and she despises ranch!  Miss Bear said it was a little too hot for her, so next time I'd probably make two batches at different heat levels.  Bubba ended up eating it despite thinking it was hot.

Skinny Chipotle Ranch

 

• 2 cups plain yogurt
• 2-5 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce,
• 1 Packet Ranch dip mix (I used Hidden Valley because I had it on hand.  You could make your own mix to make this even healthier.)
• Several tablespoons of adobo sauce (to your preference)
  
  Measure out your yogurt into a bowl. 
  Dice up your chipotle peppers.  Add them, plus a few tablespoons of adobo sauce, to the yogurt.
  Add Ranch dip mix.  Stir until combined.
  

We ate ours just after mixing it up, but it tastes even better after its had a chance to sit in the fridge.  The flavors meld together so nicely! 

ENJOY!