Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Vision Forum Contest


Doug Phillips and Vision Forum are sponsoring a giveaway at inashoe.com to help get word out about the FREE SHIPPING Vision Forum is offering until Midnight tonight

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Help spread the word on your website or blog then leave a comment at LIFE IN A SHOE.

Hurry on over and check it out. Thanks for stopping by my blog and have a blessed day!

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Wednesday, November 14, 2007

BFS #9 -- Bountiful Blessings

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Part A: Share at least 3 “Bountiful Blessings” that the Lord has abundantly provided.



  • The Lord- The greatest blessing that I have ever been given is salvation through Yeshua(Jesus). He has guided our family through some very rough times and brought us through with lessons learned. He has always provided our needs when we didn't know how we would make do. I shudder to think of where I would be today without the Lord in my life.
  • My family- I am so thankful that the Lord sent my husband, Jason, into my life. He is my best friend and a wonderful father to our children. In areas where I am weak he is strong and I truly feel that we complete each other. I am also thankful for the six blessings the Lord has bestowed upon us. It is such a blessing to watch our children as they play,work, learn, and grow in their walk with the Lord. I am so proud of them all!! I have also been blessed with a wonderful mother who embodies the Proverbs 31 ideal, a hardworking caring father, and three of the greatest siblings in the world. My list wouldn't be complete without saying I am also thankful for my cousin who is like a sister to me. Earlier this year she moved in next door to us. Being a keeper at home I didn't often have much adult interaction other than with my husband or online friends. Its so wonderful having her next door to talk to and so that our children ,who are all close in age, to play together.
  • Our Home- Last year we were living in a very small home with almost no yard and we were quickly outgrowing it. We found our current home and simply fell in love with it. It is so peaceful here as we are surrounded by forests on all sides and the kids have four acres to run and play on. There are two houses on the property and we were blessed to have my cousin and her family move in next door. The house is also much roomier and makes life so much easier.
  • Modern Technology- I truly am thankful for the internet and other such modern luxuries. I have met some lovely online friends over the years as well as being able to keep in touch with friends and family who live far away. We do have a Hebraic Assembly in the next town over but because of family circumstances we aren't able to attend as frequently as we'd like. Through forums such as FFOZ, Torah Resource, and Biblical Holidays we are still able to fellowship with like-minded believers. I've also been blessed by the DSL that recently became available in our area. I can finally listen to audio teaching/sermons that I've had bookmarked, download some new digiscrap kits, and upload a bunch of family pics.

I know that is more than three but I couldn't narrow it downhappy bear.





Part B: Share your Thanksgiving Feast {past or present} You may use Photos, menus, recipes, activities, traditions…Be creative! –”Who carves the turkey?”, “Do you save the wishbone?”, “What do you serve for dessert?”, “Who hosts the Thanksgiving dinner in your family” ….my favorite…”What do you do with all those leftovers?”

We have Thanksgiving dinner at my mother and father's house. Its pretty much the same as it was in the past only now we have the eight grandchildren, my grandmother, my aunt, and my cousins ,who have moved down from Ohio in the past few years, who also attend. The feast includes turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, green beans, corn, and mashed potatoes with giblet gravy. My Dad carves the turkey and some years he makes deep fried turkey. For dessert we have pumpkin pie, cherry delight, cherry-rhubarb pie, and I look forward to many more treats this year since my grandmother has moved down. We usually eat and then the menfolk watch football while the women clean up and then play cards or board games. Everyone usually takes home plates of leftovers and my mom finds creative ways to use the rest of the turkey through the week.
This year I found the book "The Little Pilgrim's Progress" by Helen L. Taylor which we have been reading through and I plan to read through every year leading up to Thanksgiving. When the kid's get a bit older I have my eye on the book "Of Plymouth Plantation" that I would like to add to our Thanksgiving reading tradition. Last weekend I went to Books-a-Million's one day sale and found a ton of inexpensive children's books about Thanksgiving. I'm putting together a unit study using these books and some other resources which I hope to start on Monday. That about sums up our Thanksgiving celebration. I don't have any pics to share but I thought I would share a few of our favorite dessert recipes.

Cherry Delight
1/2 stick butter
1 lg. can cherry pie filling
1 package dream whip(make according to directions)
1 (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1 c. sugar
Graham crackers, crushed for crust

Mix cream cheese and sugar for 2 minutes on medium speed. Then add Dream Whip. Mix graham crackers and butter in separate bowl. Spread in a 9x13 inch pan, put the crust in freezer for 10 minutes.

Then take out and spread your cream cheese and whipped cream mixture on the crust. Then put the cherry pie filling on top of the mixture.

Cherry-Rhubarb Pie

Crust for 2 crust pie
1 can cherry pie filling
2 c. chopped raw rhubarb
1 1/4 c. sugar
3 tbsp. minute tapioca

Pour into pie crust, cover with second crust and flute edge. Make air holes in top crust. Cover fluted edge with foil to prevent burning. Bake in 400 degree oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour until center of pie bubbles. Remove foil about 10 minutes before done. If crust is browning too fast turn down oven to 375 degrees after 15-20 minutes.

Part C: Post a Scripture that reminds you of your blessings!

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:"
~Ephesians 1:3~




Thursday, November 8, 2007

I just read a post by Audrey over at So, this is Heaven on Earth about a adorable conversation she had with her four year old. It brought to mind the conversation that I had with my own four year old son last week shortly after telling him our dog, Daisy, had passed away.

Cole: Mommy, is Daisy still in heaven?
Me: Yes, Cole she went to be with God and Jesus.
Cole: When is she coming back?
Me: She can't come back once she goes to heaven.
Cole: But Jesus is going to come back can he bring Daisy with him?

I honestly didn't know what to say so I simply gave him a big hug and told him maybe someday he would see her again.

BFS Assignment #8 - Share Your Dirty Laundry

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Hmm…How many are thinking what is this assignment going to be? My laundry or something hidden deep within that you haven’t shared? Let me end the suspense and say BOTH! Keep in mind that these assignments are meant to stretch you and encourage you to creatively blog.

Part A - Share about your family’s laundry. Where is it kept? Who does it? How does your family sort it? Do you wash by hand? Hang clothes on the clothesline? Make your own laundry soap? How often do you do laundry? How many loads each day/week? Indoor laundry room, in the garage, or laundry mat? Even more fun…share a picture!

Part B - Do you have an area in your life that you know that the Lord is tugging at some heart strings that needs to be cleaned up? Have a testimony of your past struggle(s) that might help another homeschooling mom? Share a piece of your heart (dirty laundry) that you are seeking a good washing or how it got cleaned up. Sharing with one another is a great way to have your post feel human and real.

Part C - FIND a scripture this week that pertains to this assignment to help you with your laundry and share it this week.

A. All our laundry is done in our laundry room and by me. I'd love to have a clothesline but with four dogs between my cousin (and neighbor) and myself I don't think this would work. I try to do at least two loads of laundry a day. I have no problem with the washing and drying of the clothes but I find myself wishing there was a laundry fairy to come put everything away sweet_bear. Below is a picture of our laundry room which doubles as extra storage space as you can see by the not so well hidden boxes beside the dryer and the stack of stuff from our recent trip to Sam's Club.

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B. The Lord has been dealing with me in the area of patience and kindness. Nearly two years ago He set our family on the path of discovering the Hebrew Roots of our Faith. Last year brought on many changes including giving up Christmas, Easter, and halloween. These days were spent arguing with my family over why or why not we should celebrate certain holidays. In the end we both ended up with hurt feelings and neither of us had any better understanding of the other's point of view. As the holiday season approached this year I vowed not to let the same arguments occur. When we were sent a invitation to my parent's halloween/harvest party everything in me screamed that we should stay at home. However, I knew that this would hurt my parents feelings and after much prayer we decided to attend and not participate in the activities that we didn't agree with. We had a nice time and managed to get through the evening with nary a argument. With the Lord's help I was able to have patience and hold my tongue and my parent's didn't have a single negative thing to say. In fact they even agreed to attend a Hanukkah dinner at our house next month. We now have a opportunity to show my parents how and why we celebrate the Biblical Holidays and perhaps this will ease my mother's worry that we are downplaying the role of our Messiah in doing so. Yeshua(Jesus) is the center of each and every holiday that we celebrate and showing them this in action will go so much farther than arguing over doctrine.

**Note** I know discussion of the Biblical Holidays can be somewhat controversial. For any of my readers that celebrate Easter, Christmas, Halloween, etc. I don't want you to feel in any way I am condemning you for celebrating them. I know that this is the path that the Lord has set my family upon but not necessarily one that everyone agrees with. I've come to realize that this is a area which is best left up to agreeing to disagree upon.

C.

2 Timothy 2:22-24

22 Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. 23 Don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. 24 And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful.




Thursday, November 1, 2007

Vision Forum Contest

KimC over at In A Shoe is hosting another Vision Forum Giveaway. My new Vision Forum Catalog arrived last week so it was perfect timing. The hardest part was narrowing it down to only $250 worth of wonderful productshappy bear. The contest ends tonight so if you are reading this and haven't entered hurry over to In A Shoe and view the details for this giveaway. Here is my wishlist:

Home-Making $20

Christian Controversies Collection $40

The Wise Woman's Guide To Blessing Her Husbands Vision $16

Passionate Housewives Desperate For God $16

To Have and To Hold $24

Of Plymouth Plantation $24

Back To Genesis $45

Family Man, Family Leader $15

Christ In The Camp $25

The Adventure of Missionary Heroism $24

Total: $249

Thank you Kim for hosting this contest and Vision Forum for providing wonderful quality products!! Have a blessed day!


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