In His Word Wednesday- Renewing your Mind!

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God. Romans 12:2

This verse has taken new meaning to me here recently, as our family is sort of on a mission of revival and renewing all our minds. I recently did a word study on the word renew, to gain a better understanding of what it means to renew our minds. Some interesting ideas came of it. Some of the words that are main ideas included in the meaning of the word renew are to rebuild, to repeat, to revive, to repair, to confirm, to renovate! If you then take these words and break them down by their meanings, it really gives you a picture of what God is telling us when He says He wants our minds to be renewed! I won't go into all the different meanings here (although I may share them on my homeschool blog), but let me tell you...I had pages worth of info on what it means to renew your mind! God wants our minds to be filled with Him. He wants to revive us back to Him, to rebuild our minds with thoughts that are pleasing and Holy. He wants to renovate our thinking into what will be useful for His Glory. We all know that what we think in our mind...comes out in our actions and attitudes. I don't know about you, but for me it is easy to overlook my mind, and focus only on the outward behavior. Well, as long as what I think doesn't come out in my actions, I'm ok. But, Christ gave us a different picture. He told us that when we look at a woman to lust, it is adultery, when we have hatred in our hearts, it is murder! Our thoughts and our actions are one in the same to the Lord. When you think about it, we really need to recognize our thoughts as sin, and repent of them the same we would for the action itself. God wants us to take our thoughts captive, and allow Him to fill them up with Him! This has been a very convicting study for me, and yet, very refreshing, in knowing that with God all things are possible. We can capture our thoughts, and allow the Holy Spirit to renew our minds!

Please join Megan today for more In His Word Wednesday....and if you have never done a word study in your study of the Bible...I highly recommend trying it! If you have any questions about it, I would be happy to pass on how I go about it! It will really help you to meditate further on what God is communicating to us in His word!!

New Business!!

Yesterday as an exciting day for us! I wanted to go yesterday and get our official DBA (officializing our new business!) because yesterday was the one year anniversary of the day that our little foster daughter left us! I wanted what was a very sad anniversary for our family to become a happy day for us. We know that God works all things out for good to those who love Him, and I wanted this sad day to be overshadowed by something good! So....we are now an official photography business recognized by our state and Uncle Sam!

If you had asked me several years ago if I would be a small photography business owner...I would have laughed my head off! This whole process was entirely a God thing! Our goals are different than many photography businesses in that we want to make some profit off of it, but more importantly we want to be a blessing to others through the talent that God has given us! We are being uncovential in our discounts for pastors, military, missionary, and homeschool families for photoshoots. We are also keeping our overall prices generally lower than those of many who do the same kind of photography. I've been warned not to do that, by professionals who want me to value my work. Although I do generally want to be paid for my time away from family during photoshoots, and for the time spent editing images, I don't want the prices to be so cumbersome that the average family could never conceive of hiring me. If this was a make or break income for our family, I would likely reconsider the pricing, but in my mind, God has given me this gift of photography, and I don't want to be steeped in pride about what I have done! I know many people will call us crazy when we choose to give freebies, or discounts on our work, but we feel that if we are not being a blessing to others through this business, then we are not doing it for the Lord...we are only doing it for ourselves!

We are excited about this new crossroads in the life of our family, and look forward to getting the kids involved in it as they grow older (they are already great photography students, and my Ethan loves to help me edit!). This is what we love about being a homeschool family, in that we can enjoy these adventures in what God is doing in our lives with our children!

So...if you have not already seen or been a part of our new business, you can find out more about what we are doing in several different places. You can fan our Facebook page, which you can see to the right of this post. Or you can visit our Smugmug site here: Smug Mug Or...you can start following our blog here: Blog Or....you can visit our still a work in progress website here: Website. If you follow our other blogs already you will see this same post in all places. I apologize for the redundancy, but it will be easier for me to share this all at once.

We are not only selling nature and scripture prints through Smugmug now, but we are also set up to start doing family photoshoots, senior pictures, engagement pictures, and special outdoor events whenever the weather is warm enough here in Southwest Michigan, Northern Indiana!

I hope that we can find a way to bless all of you in the coming years through this gift that God has blessed our family with!!

I Miss my Blogging, and exciting news!

Hi all. I basically was just wanting to pop in and say hi, because my poor blogs have been so horribly neglected ever since the school year started! The big excitement around here has been that we are very close to opening up our own official photography business. This has been entirely a God thing, and we feel very blessed (and sometimes terrified), that He has brought this opportunity into our lives.

We have been selling scripture prints, and are finally preparing to expand into a family photography business as well! We have set up a Facebook fan page, and have acquired a smugmug account, which I am excited about. You can find that here: http://blessingsphotography.smugmug.com/.

I really hope that I find the time to get back into some of my blogging, as I still enjoy doing it very much. I hope that all my friends here in blogworld are well, and that God is remaining in the center of all of your lives! I am thankful for all of you, and I thank you also for all the prayers for my Dad, as he is doing really well!!

Loving Your Husband Friday- What a Great Hubby!

Today is another Friday to focus on loving our hubbys. I love how flexible my husband is about watching our 7 children, when I need or want to do something. Last night he rushed home so I could go to a monthly girls night out that some of the ladies of our church have. We've been really busy lately, and haven't seen a whole lot of each other recently, but instead of insisting that I stay home because he's tired....he let me go, and took care of getting all the kids into bed! I'm very blessed to have him!

Join Shannon over at the Peer Review for more Loving Your Husband Fridays!

In HIs Word Wednesday- Greater Love

Today being Veterans Day, I can't help but think of a particular verse.

John 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend.

Not only does it astound me that so many men and women are willing to give up their very lives (and their families) so that we can have freedom, but I am also impressed with the sacrifice that the families of these men and women make. We should all take the time to be grateful for the men and women who are willing to give up their lives for us. Most importantly, I am remembering the savior that gave up His life for me!

I have also been thinking today about that verse, and although giving up your life can sometimes mean actually dying for someone else, it can also mean something else. What can we do to sacrifice our time, our money, our talents and our efforts for someone else today. When you do something to help someone else when you could be doing something for yourself, that is laying down your life also. There are many ways to lay down your life for others, and make others more important then yourselves. Whether that be the others inside your own household, or the others in your neighborhood, church, city, or another country....we can all find ways to lay down our lives for others! This is what Jesus called us to do! It's not always an easy calling, but if we take the time daily to think about how we can lay down our own lives for someone else, it will eventually become a habit!

Join Megan for more In His Word Wednesday!

Updates, a new look, and At The Well

Good Monday morning to all my blogging friends. I know that I have neglected my blogs horribly, but I wanted to pop in a give an update on what our family has been up to, and show off my new look for the season :-).

I have been very busy in recent weeks. Some of you know that I aspire to have our own family photography business. I would ideally love to do family photography (taking pictures of families, babies, seniors etc.), but I am not quite ready yet to venture out into that realm yet. A little more practice perhaps, and a portfolio will help. If anyone who's a local friend of mine would like to let me practice on your family and include the pictures in my portfolio, I would be happy to do that, and you could only pay for prints that you would like to have.

Although I am not ready to branch out that far yet, we have started our own small business on Etsy. I have taken many of the pictures that we have and turned them into scripture prints! I've really enjoyed doing this, and now we have started our own little business, that I hope will supplement our income, but also be a blessing to others while spreading the Word of God! If you want to check it out you can find it here.

This is exciting, but there are many other things going on in our lives too. Audrey has been practicing twice a week now for her role as a little mouse in the Nutcracker. She has been in the clouds with excitement over this. She is such a little performer, and social butterfly. We are looking forward to seeing her perform on December 11th and 12th. Of course I have volunteered to be a chaperone for long rehearsals, and that is fun!

Our family has also been going through a spiritual revival of sorts here in recent weeks. We are purging things from our lives that are not profitable, or not honoring to God. We are getting back to more Bible Study, and we are even changing our homeschool curriculum to fit these goals. It's really going back to our original goals for our family, that we seem to have wandered away from amidst all the trials in our lives over the past couple of years. We are glad to be getting back to the old paths. I will talk more about this on my homeschool blog, along with sharing more about our new curriculum, and what I'm learning.

We enjoyed a different kind of Halloween this year. We have never celebrated Halloween, but this year we decided to take the kids out during trick or treat time, not dressed up, and collect canned goods for our local food pantry. It was a blessed time, and a way for us to use a day that is characterized by things of darkness, and bring some light to it!

So, those are some things going on in our family. I really want to do a Monday post on At The Well, as they are discussing hospitality today, which I think is important. I am out of time for today, but let me just say....I often feel like I can't be hospitable because of the state of my house, and my somewhat anti-social husband. But, I believe in it, and it is something Rob and I both hope to change in the future! Have a read by clicking on At the Well. It's a great article, and I hope you all do a better job of this then our family does!

Have a great day!

In His Word Wednesday- Worthy

Phillippians 1:27 Whatever happens, conduct yourselves worthy of the gospel of Christ.

This verse is so convicting to me. I find it so much easier to conduct myself worthy of the gospel of Christ when I am out of my own home, than when I am in it. I think about how many times a day I am not slow to anger with my own children, or not putting the needs of my husband above my own, and I realize that I am not conducting myself worthy of the gospel of Christ! Let's always remember that although it's important to shine the love of Christ to others outside of our home...it's maybe even more important to be shining His light to the people who reside within our home....the people we love the most!

Lord, I pray that you would forgive me for not showing your love to my own children and husband, and that your Spirit would shine through me, not just to those outside my door, but to those in it as well! Thank you for what you did on the cross for me...let my life and my actions be worthy of Your name! Amen

Join Megan today for more In His Word Wednesday.

Loving your Husband Friday- Brag Session

It's time again to focus on Loving our Husbands! I'm going to brag a little bit about my husband. On Monday I was not feeling well at all. Rob decided to take the day off so that I could rest, and so that I wouldn't be breathing on the baby all day. So, he was here all day while I got to stay in bed and rest. But....it get's better. Not only did he stay home and take care of the kids, but he worked with the older kids all day and got the house really cleaned up! By the time I came out for supper on Monday night...the main areas of the house were sparkling clean and organized! Yea Hubby!! I really appreciated this as we were gone alot over the weekend and the housework had been neglected! It set me up for an easier rest of the week, because the house just needed to be maintained. I'm so thankful for him doing this.

If you have a something to brag about your hubby today, or some insight into marriage...head over to Shannon's blog for more Loving your Husband Friday!

In His Word Wednesday- Kindness

Ephesians 6:18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

I was reading again today in my mom's bible (as I often do). Mom had so many notes and "goodies" as I call them, in her bible. She was definitely a student and lover of God's Word. Anyhow, next to this verse in Ephesians mom has an asterisk with a note down at the bottom of the page. I just wanted to share it with all of you! The note says this...."Be kind, everyone you meet is facing a battle". Hmm..whether that was just my mom's wonderful insight, or whether she was simply copying down a quote from someone else...It sank in deep today. It is true that everyone is facing a battle of some kind. How far would it go to show a little kindness...even when we don't feel like it. Isn't it true that our spouses and our children are also facing daily battles. How encouraging could a heavy dose of kindness be to them? This was a very convicting thought to me today. I hope it will spur you also onto kindness to all.

Help me Lord to pray for the saints daily, and to show kindness to all in every situation...so that I may not just be a hearer of the Word, but a doer also. Help me to remember that anything I do for others, if it is not done with love....it means nothing! Kindness is a great first step towards love! Join Megan today for more In His Word Wednesday.

Laudry tips the natural way!

Good morning all!! I'm sitting in my chair early in the morning, watching a beautiful sunrise come up through the woods in my backyard. All I can see is red through the trees. Very beautiful. Anyhow, I'm writing this morning to pass on some quick homekeeping tips that I have stumbled across in recent days. These both relate to one of my most daunting daily tasks....Laundry!

I have discovered that in place of fabric softener, which can be expensive and hard on the skin, if you are an allergic type person, there are two natural products that can be used that work great! They are vinegar and baking soda!! Yep, when I put in a load of laundry, instead of putting in my fabric softener, I put in some vinegar (up to the fill line in my washer), and then I sprinkle in some baking soda slowly. It will bubble significantly, which is why it's best not to just dump it in! It's fun to watch, and a good science lesson for the kiddos! It works just as well as fabric softener, and although your clothes won't come out smelling like a mountain breeze....they will smell fresh and clean!!

Now, in the event that you do what I often end up doing on my busy evenings, and leaving a load overnight in the washer...ugh! Here's what I stumbled upon to fix that musty, been sitting overnight smell issue. I take a small sandwich baggie, put some baking soda inside of it, and poke some small holes into it with a fork (very carefully). I make sure the baggie is tightly closed, and then I throw it into the dryer with the smelly load. Works like a charm! After the load is done...I just throw the baggie away!

I hope these tips will be helpful to someone out there, who is looking to save money on laundry products, but still wanting to maintain the freshness!

I would share more here about cleaning with baking soda and vinegar, but due to lack of time I would love to point you to the blog of a friend of mine who is a great homemaker, and has blogged already about how to make and use homeade cleaners! Check her out here. It is so important for us wives and moms to find as many ways to keep our homes clean without breaking the bank, or without exposing our families to harmful substances.

Have a great laundry doing day!! God Bless!

Loving Your Husband Friday- Purity

It's Loving my Husband Friday, and I'm glad to be finding some time to participate again this week! Shannon is the host for Loving my Husband Friday, and as a personal testimony to some dear friends of mine, I wanted to make sure to stop and praise her for being such a godly wife. She is an example to me and to many around her I'm sure. Thank you Shannon for your example, and for reminding every week of our roles as wives!

Last Sunday our pastor preached on keeping purity in our marriage. It was a wonderful reminder for me of all the ways that I need to work to keep myself pure for my husband! He reminded us women that we need to keep our emotions for our husbands and not give them away to other men. Let's face it ladies, although many of us do not struggle with the visual lust, we get trapped when it comes to emotions. If you allow yourself to get emotionally close to another man...then you are giving yourself away to him. I believe that this can often even include fictional characters (such as tv characters, or characters in a novel). Anytime that we find ourselves wishing that our man was like THAT man, we have crossed the line. " But....he treats me so much better, or....can't I just fantasize a little that that fictional character is real and he loves me??" If we are thinking these questions in our minds at any time...then we are putting our marriage in danger!

Some ways that I have worked over the years to avoid these pitfalls in my marriage, and kept myself from temptation are these:

1) I stopped watching soap operas years ago. Not only are they immoral on so many levels, but they also are notorious for causing us women to put our real life men up to impossible standards!

2) If any other tv show or movie causes me to emotionally lust after the main male character, then I have purged it from my viewing list, and my daughters!

3) I purposefully choose not to be alone with a man that is not a relative, or someone who is basically like a relative to me. I know in my heart the men that I can "safely" be alone with, and which ones I cannot. Most apply to this rule!

4) I do not call/email/facebook with any man that I know might be a stumbling block to my emotions. If I feel that they are "safe", and yet I find myself having improper thoughts about them.....I let them go! Better to hurt some feelings and be pure than to compromise what belongs only to you and your husband!

These are some of the ways that I have chosen to safeguard myself, and one of the biggest ways I know of, is what brings us together every Friday, is to work on staying focused on loving our husbands daily. If we stay focused on their needs, and what we love about them...we are less likely to stumble.

And I want to share too, that one thing I love about my husband is that he also has a list of "safeguards" for himself to keep our marriage pure, and keep outsiders from causing him to stumble. Let's remember to pray for our hubbys in this area as well. It matters to my guy, and I'm very grateful for him, and his example to our four boys!

Join Shannon for more Loving Your Husband Fridays!

In His Word Wednesday- Heartily for the Lord

Colossians 3: 23 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as to the Lord, and not unto men.

It is so easy to want to please men, and even easier to want to please ourselves. I can't tell you how many times during a day I think of myself, and it keeps me from giving my best to God. We know from Colossians here that God wants us to do everything heartily for him. Not for men, and not for ourselves. How much better would our marriage, and our parenting, or our friendships, and relationships with family be...if we took this verse more to heart. If everything we ever did or said was for the pleasure and delight of our savior, and not for any other reason! I think we would see a level of joy in our lives that we are not accustomed too.

I don't know about you, but when I am working for others, or for myself, I often find myself lacking joy because it never seems to be quite right. It's easy to let yourself down, or to let others down. It's easy for others to let us down. But, if we are working only for the praise of our savior, then we know that He can see our hearts, and He will be pleased with our efforts.

Lord, I pray that you will help me to remember daily to do the work you have called me to do, and to do it only for you, not for others, or myself. Give me a servants heart, and remind me daily of all the things that you want me to be doing, so that I can do them heartily as unto you. Thank you for your Word, and thank you for guiding my steps. Help me to be a good example to my children every day of a mother who works heartily for the Lord.

Join Megan today for more In His Word Wednesday.

Check out my new blog..oh..and apologies!

Hello to everyone! I know I have been less than diligent in my blog posting lately. Life around here has been quite crazy with catching up. After being down in Indianapolis for a week, and really still getting used to our school year to begin with...I have neglected my poor blogs. I doubt anyone has been pining away for me..but I still thought I should apologize. Priorities often have to be made, and sometimes the things we enjoy the most get put at the bottom of the list. As things are starting to settle down a bit, I am again attempting to start posting regularly on my blogs.

I started up a new blog yesterday for the other thing that I really enjoy doing...photography. I am working to learn to get better at it, and I would even love to be able to some day make some money doing it. But, until that time I wanted to have a place to share what I am learning, and the pics that I feel are the better ones that I have either taken myself, or the ones that Rob has taken (he also enjoys photography), that I have fixed up! If you are at all interested in photography and can give me any feedback, I would love for you to check it out! Or....if you just like to see pictures, mainly of cute children and nature...than please head over and follow me! It can be found here: http://elizphotos.blogspot.com/.

I have been learning many things from the Lord in recent months that I look forward to sharing again on my blogs, and of course, my children are always doing things that are worth bragging (I mean sharing :-)) about!

You will notice if you visit this blog, that there are some issues with my sidebar, that are kind of...annoying. A very kind brother in the Lord who knows WAY more about computer stuff then I do, is trying to help me fix it, and hopefully that will be resolved. If not, I hope that you would continue to visit me, simply for content and not be concerned about how it looks!

I will be talking to you all again real soon! Blessings in the Lord today!

Elizabeth

I Heart Faces "candid"

This weeks theme for I Heart Faces is candid. I had a hard time choosing which picture to use for this one, but I finally decided to use this picture of Audrey as we were just leaving the beach a few summers ago. She was peeking around the van with her towel wrapped around her, and I captured the shot. This is one of my favorite pics of Audrey when she was real little.

update on my Dad

I just wanted to give an update on how my Dad is doing. He went down to Indianapolis on Monday for a second attempt at the surgery to remove his pancreatic cancer. The surgeon believes he was successful in removing all the cancer. Dad has been in the hospital down there recovering all week, and he is doing remarkably well. The doctors are actually amazed at how well he is doing. There are tests being done on his tumor, and the lymph nodes that were removed, that will tell us more about whether any cancer might remain in his body, and what the future might hold as far as prognosis. We are still awaiting the results of those tests.

Dad is in good spirits, which is such a relief for my brother and I, and we are hoping he will be released to come home in a couple of days. This last week was challenging as my family was seperated for the week. I was staying down in the Kokomo area all week with my four oldest kids, and driving back and forth to Indy every day from there with the kids. Rob and the littlest ones were up here staying with his parents, and Rob had to work a lot also. It was a rough week, but we are all back together for now, and if Dad continues to be well, we will likely not seperate again, and hopefully just bring dad home here soon.

Thank you everyone who has been praying for our family through all of this. The prayers were definitely felt this last week!!

I Heart Faces- Contemplative

This weeks challenge for I Heart Faces is Contemplative. This is a shot I took of Lillian at the local Tea Party that we attended on the Fourth of July. She was just standing all by herself, and you can just see the contemplation in her face! I also love her hands in this photo! I actually had a few pictures of Lily that I couldn't decide between..she's such a beautiful subject :-)!

Join I Heart Faces for more great contemplative pictures!

At the Well- Change and Clinging to God

At the Well today the discussion is on change. Much like the author of todays post, I struggle with change that I cannot control. Oh, I like to change my hair, or my furniture. I like to change things for myself, or my family. But...I really hate when change is thrust upon me! However, many times in our Christian walk, God, not only wants change in our lives, but He often demands it. He will often allow circumstances of tremendous change in our lives to grow us, and make us more like Him. Some of the changes are scary ( a new job, a new baby, a new house or church), and some are just very sad (losing a friendship or family member, or moving far away). God doesn't ask these things of us just to make us mad, or frustrate us. He does it because He loves us. He knows that learning to deal with change and trust Him through all of it is one of the most important things for our lives.

Many Christians in other places in the world have to live with continual changes in their lives, because of their faith. They may lose their homes, their jobs, or their family members, simply because they believe something that is not too popular! I often remind myself that we may also be in that situation in America some day and I would contend it is happening in small doses already. If we can't learn to deal with changes in our lives, we may falter when it comes down to standing up for the Lord. If we can't handle change, we may miss out on a tremendous blessing in our lives, because we disobey when He calls us to do something simply because we were afraid.

When I think about change it brings to mind for me..stress! Thinking about stress leads me to think on Psalm 23... The Lord is my Shepard, I shall not want.

He makes me to lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside still waters.

He restores my soul;

He leads me in paths of righteousness

For His names sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley

of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil;

For you are with me;

Your rod and your staff they comfort me.

You prepare a table for me in the presence of mine enemies;

You annoit my head with oil;

My cup runs over.

Surely goodness and mercy

shall follow me

All the days of my life;

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Read it carefully, it is a wonderful reminder that no matter what kind of change God brings into our lives, whether it's good change or bad, it is for a purpose! Everything that God brings into our lives is there to serve His purpose for us. So, if you are experiencing a big change, and it has you scared to death. Read over this Psalm again and remember that God is there, walking with you, and using you for a plan that will last for eternity! As I wrote this Psalm just now, it touched my heart, and reminded me that the big changes that may be surrounding my family are for God's purposes, and that I have nothing to fear in allowing them to happen. I hope this will do the same for you today!

A Little Frustrated

I'm a little frustrated with my blog. For some reason it has been doing some really strange things, and I can't figure out why, or how to fix it. The sidebar is stuck on the bottom instead of on the side where it belongs. I've tried taking out a couple of things to see if they were causing the problems, but to no avail. If anyone has any thoughts on why my blog is doing this, and how I could fix it...I would love to hear about it. My homeschool blog has had no problems, so I'm not sure what is going on with this one! I would like to get back to posting more on it again, but I want to fix it first.

Any ideas would be wonderful!!

I Heart Faces kids- Nostalgia

This week's theme for I <3>

Stop by I Heart Faces to see more nostalgiac pictures.

Blog Awards

A great friend and blogger Laura was sweet enough to award me this award!~ I would love to pass this award on...so here are my picks:

1) Collette at Jesus Loves Mums

2) Megan at Daily Essentials and Deals

3) Brook at Snips, Snails, and Puppy Dog Tails

Now you need to:

1) copy and poste this award on your blog

2) pass it on to as many people as you would like

3) leave the people you choose a message letting them know that you have awarded them.

Thanks again Laura :-)

In His Word Wednesday- Anxious

Philippians 4:6 Be anxious for nothing: but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving , let your requests be made known unto God.

I'm working really hard on this today. I admit, as I think about the next few weeks, and even the next few days, I'm feeling very anxious! Pray for me that I can have peace about the circumstances, and not be too overwhelmed! I wrote another post today that gives a better idea of what I am anxious about. You can read that here.

Join Megan for more In His Word Wednesday.

Update on My Dad

Hi everyone. I wanted to give everybody who has been praying for my dad an update. For anyone who doesn't know the situation with dad read here to hear the whole story.

Last week Dad's oncologist told him that the CAT scan that he took showed some shrinking in the cancer, and no spread, so that they were going to proceed to operate again to try to take the cancer out. Well, yesterday I took dad to meet with the surgeon, who had attempted his surgery the first time. What the surgeon said was a bit different than what the oncologist said. He said that he will not attempt to do the surgery again. He said that attempting this surgery a second time, especially after weeks of radiation is extremely complicated. He wants dad to have another endoscopy, to get a better picture of the area, and then he is going to send dad's pictures down to a surgeon in Indianapolis, to see if he will attempt the surgery. He did not sound terribly convinced that it was going to be possible.

So, that is where things stand right now. If dad is going to go to Indy, it will be (hopefully) next week. The oncologist said that for this surgery to be possible, it had to be done within 6 weeks of the end of radiation, which will be next week. Obviously, the surgery being done in Indianapolis, during the time when Rob will be going back to work, and my kids need to start schooling again, is a logistical nightmare for our family. Indianapolis is 3 1/2 hours away from us.

Please pray that Dad will be able to have this surgery in Indy, and that the pieces will fall into place for me to be able to stay down there with him...at least for most of the time. Thanks to everyone who has been praying for my dad already!

Please Pray tomorrow!

Hi all. I would appreciate prayers tomorrow as I take my Dad to a doctor's appointment to find out the results of his CAT scan from Monday. This will tell him whether his cancer has spread at all, or if it has shrunk enough that they might be able to remove it this time. I will give an update when I know more!

In His Word Wednesday- Walking in The Spirit

Last night I had a lot of trouble getting to sleep. It was around 1:30-2:00 in the morning, before I finally got to sleep. I just had a lot of things on my mind, things of the past and the present.

I find on these nights....God always speaks to me. It's as if He is waiting for it to finally be quiet enough that I will be ready to listen. Anyhow, as I was fretting about things that I cannot change, or fretting about things that I will not be able to change if they happen, I began thinking about my reactions to things that happen in my life. The Bible says that we as Christians are to walk in the Spirit. What exactly does that mean? Well, my interperatation of that is this. Galations 5:22-24, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness. goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.

Walking in the Spirit is something that we are always to do, despite the circumstances. The evidence that we are walking in the Spirit lie in these nine attributes, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. God reminded me last night that even when things seem bleak and difficult, I don't have an excuse to walk outside of the Spirit. I don't have the right to be mean to someone, simply because I'm frustrated with the circumstances. I don't have the right to yell at my kids, and be crabby with them, just because I am angry about something that is happening in my life. I still need to exercise joy, and patience, and kindness, gentleness and self-control. It's easy to make excuses, but if we are truly Christians, the call to walk in the Spirit does not change no matter what is going on in our lives. I tend to think too, that it is during these times that these fruits should shine the most. It is these difficulties in life, that help to build these qualities in our lives.

Now, I also recognize that God, in His pure love for us, shows us undying patience and mercy when we fail to walk in the Spirit. He is always working on us, and teaching us. He knows we won't be perfect. He knows that our sinful nature will sometimes get in our way. But....that, my dear friends, does not excuse us. We all know that when the World looks at us...they should be seeing a reflection of Christ. I would add to that also that when our children look at us, they should see a reflection of Christ. Do we walk in the Spirit when we deal with our children, even when we are tired, frustrated, or even angry? God revealed to me last night, that over the course of the last several months, I have not done a very good job of this! I have too often lost my cool, or been impatient, or allowed myself to get angry. Now, by many people's standards, I haven't done anything wrong. I've certainly never been abusive to my kids, or mean to them, or done anything to them that would traumatize them. But, I know, and God knows, that I have not walked in the Spirit with my children the way that I should.

When God was showing me this, and I was repenting...I asked Him.....how can I walk in your Spirit when somedays I just feel overwhelmed, or frustrated, or even angry at life? He showed me the answer, in His Word... Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God, and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Just give it all to me, He says. I felt a little foolish, because I've known this verse practically my whole life, but it really is that simple. When I'm feeling angry about the outcome of something...I need to give it to Him. When I'm feeling sad about something...I need to give it to Him. When I want to see justice...give it to Him. He really is big enough to handle it, and then I don't have to bear the burden. And then, when I've given it to Him, and I've thanked Him for all the many blessings He has given me....that is where the peace comes in. This is the peace that guards my heart, and keeps me walking in the Spirit. If you have peace, you are going to be loving, gentle, kind, joyous, peaceful, faithful, and self-controlled. That is why it is so much easier to walk with these fruits of the Spirit during good times in your life, because you are naturally calm and peaceful during times of blessing. But, when the storms blow, and the waves start crashing in.....we need to reach out to Him. This is the same Jesus who spoke and the storm calmed. How can we be anxious when we have Him walking next to us. It's when we don't reach out, that we sink. Much like Peter....to take our eyes off of him, even for a second, will cause us to sink!

As tired as I am today, I'm so grateful that God loved me enough to keep me awake last night so that He could remind me of this!

Join me today in asking God to heal my Dad, and our dear friend Lenore. My dad will find out on Friday what the next step will be for him. Lenore continues to have good days and bad days. She is still in the ICU, and has been there for 5 weeks. Also join Megan for more In His Word Wednesday!

"Training Up a Child" - Family Raising

I wanted to share this for my Child Training Tuesday. I agree totally with what this article has to say about training our children not just to obey, but to do everything with excellence and to the Glory of God! What do you think about this? Have you observed the downfall of this idea in society today? What are some ways that you work on this with your children? Just today I was talking to my boys about doing everything to the Glory of God. It definitely takes training, because our sin nature wants to be lazy, and give up when something gets hard! But..we do our children a disservice when we allow them to quit before a job is done right. I'd love to hear your thoughts...

"Training Up a Child" - Family Raising

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Saturday Steps of Faith- God's love

Join Lisa today for more Saturday Steps of Faith!

Romans 8:38-39 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, neither angels, nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height or depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to seperate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

These are my life verses. It is always so comforting to realize that no matter what is happening, or what I do, I cannot be seperated from His love. His love has no begining and no end! That is difficult to wrap your brain around when you live in a world where love is so fleeting. I hope that this verse will bring comfort to you today as we walk this sometimes weary road!

Thank you Jesus, that nothing can take your love from me!

Loving Your Husband Friday- Laughter

It's Friday again...and today was the day for loving our husbands. I spent most of my day at the Right to Life Booth at the fair, and so, again, a late post!

But I wanted to be sure to talk today about laughter. I can't tell you how many times laughter has been the medicine to help heal wounds in our home. I can't tell you how often Rob and I have laughed together, and subsequently forgotten what we were upset with each other about. I believe that God gave us laughter to comfort and heal us.... and it is so important to a marriage. We are all going to fall, we are all going to let each other down. Marriage is about committment. You stay with someone even when they are unlovable, because that is what it means to be committed. Sometimes that committment is really hard, when times are hard, and when that spouse lets you down. Our husbands are going to let us down, and we are going to let them down. But, one thing that I know of that can help to heal the hurt in our marriages is laughter! When my children come to us for advice about whom they should marry, one of the first questions Rob and I would ask them about that person (other than the obvious, are they a believer, do they have the same goals), would be if you can laugh together! If you can't laugh together, and have fun together, you will be hard pressed to make it through the hard times together!

Now, obviously, a good laugh cannot undo all the pain and hurt of your spouse hurting you or letting you down, but it's a good start. If your marriage is hurting, find something to laugh about! Think about the good times you had in the past....reminisce. What did you laugh about when times were good? Spend some time thinking about those times. It might just help you start to heal and move on! I can't tell you how many arguments that Rob and I were so serious about, were forgotten simply because something else made us laugh!

This is one thing that I love about my husband, that I can still laugh with him, even in the hard times!

I hoped you joined Shannon today for more Loving your Hubby Fridays.

In His Word Wednesday- Persecution

I apologize for my post being so late today...it has been a busy day!

Matthew 5: 11-12 Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

In the course of the last several months, I have often thought of these verses. We have personally experienced this in our family. We were insulted, persecuted, and had many false, evil things said about us, because we chose to do what we believe is right and biblical for our children. Not to get into too many details, but we were humiliated, and we even lost a (foster) child through this whole process. It has been very painful for our whole family! It has often been dificult to rejoice in this circumstance, but I know that is what Christ tells us to do! I so often think of those believers in other places in the world, who are daily persecuted and even have their children killed because of their faith! Here in America, we have no concept of what that is really like, but Christ rejoices with these dear believers who keep plugging away, never denying Him. It's just not always easy to stand up for what we know is right, and to claim Christ, and it can sometimes mean tremendous pain and loss, but we can rejoice. I pray that I will always have the courage to stand up for the name of Christ, no matter what kind of suffering I may have to endure because of it!

Please continue to pray today for our dear friend Lenore, as she is still fighting infection. She does seem to be showing improvement, but still needs lots of prayer, as does the family, who has been riding this roller coaster of emotion for over a month now!

Pray for my dad also that he will be healed of his pancreatic cancer!

Join Megan for more In His Word Wednesday!

Saturday Steps of Faith- From the East to the West

Today I join Lisa for Saturday Steps of Faith. The idea is to focus on the promises of God in our lives.

This morning as I was working on folding my laundry and listening to some music, I was thinking about Psalm 103:11-12 For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

This is a stunning picture to me of what the sacrifice of my Jesus has done for me. How the sins that I have committed, which are a stench in the nostrils of our Holy God, can be thrown so far from us, that God no longer sees them. It's a concept that our finite minds cannot even fathom. That's how great His mercy towards us is! I love the way that Casting Crowns puts this in their song.

Jesus can you show me just how far the east is from the west?, cause I can't bear to see the man I've been come rising up in me again. In the arms of your mercy I find rest, cause you know just how far the east is from the west........From one scarred hand to the other!!

There is another part that says that in the arms of your mercy I find rest...because you know just how far the east is from the west....from one scarred hand to the other.

What an awesome thought! Once we have repented of our sins, and accepted the sacrifice that Christ made for us....our sins are cast away, as far as the east is from the west! It is only through the scarred hands of Christ that we can fathom that! We can rest in his mercy, without fear that He will keep bringing up those sins, that is the Satan's job. It is Satan that wants to continue reminding us of our sins. He is the deceiver. He doesn't want us to remember that God has thrown our sins away! I don't know about you, but I don't want Satan to have his way. I want to rest in the knowledge today that my sins have been thrown as far as the east is from the west!

If you are reading this and you don't know how to have your sins thrown away. If you aren't sure how to obtain this mercy and peace.....I would love to share more with you about our savior and what He has done for me.....and what He will do for you dear one! My email is rebabler@comcast.net, if you want to discuss it privately!

Rest in His promise today!

Family Vision

On Monday for At the Well....there was discussion about Family Visions. Although at the time I didn't have time to put down what our family visions are.. I wanted to come back and take the time to do that. If you missed the original post, it was here. Here is a statement page that we have developed that contains the vision for our family.

Family Mission

To Serve Him

Bible

Prayer

Loving each other (kind, edifying, treating each other as most importatntly)

Loving others (volunteering, ministering, evangelizing)

Educated (knowledgable and critical)

Exhibiting Christian conduct In life

Study and meditate on the Word of God daily, both individually, and corporately.

Educate our children in the ways of God and in

The Mission of the Babler family is as follows:

1) Authority:

Love God with all our heart

Prayer and Bible study

Live within the Biblical structure of the family

2) Relationships:

Love one another

Serve one another

Encourage one another

Serve others

3) Possessions:

Thankful

Content

Generous

Responsible

4) Work:

Diligent

Take initiative

Cooperative

Take responsibility

5) Attitudes

Humble – thinking of others before ourselves (actions – even what we wear,

Joyful

Peaceable

Patient

Gracious

6) Choices

Do right

Ask before acting

Exercise self-control

Tell the truth

Again, I highly recommend sitting down together and thinking about what your goals and "visions" are for your family. This will help you when you have even minor decisions to make about your family. Does it fit into your plan for your family, or will it detract? Will it help to facilitate your vision, or bring you farther away from it. I've always liked the saying..."if you aim at nothing, your bound to hit it." In these days, we need to be clear about what we seek to accomplish for God with our families. We cannot afford to aim at nothing! I hope this will somehow help someone pin down what their family vision is.

Loving Your Husband Friday- Selflessness

It's Friday...and that means time to focus on our marriage, and things that we love about our husbands.

This last week, Rob decided that we should go on a trip to Michigan's Adventure ( an amusement/water park) in Muskegon. It is something that I had requested to do. Since we can't go on a regular vacation this year, I was hoping for just one day of fun. So we went and took the five oldest kids. One reason I wanted to go to the amusement park was because the last two or three trips that we have made to an amusement park...I have been pregnant. It is no fun to go to an amusement park when you are pregnant. It's hot, you are miserable, and you can't ride anything! But, I've gone and watched Rob and the kids have fun (which I do enjoy). So, Rob informed me on the way to Muskegon, as we were kind of planning out who would ride what when, that this trip was for me, and he wanted me to be able to fit in all of my rides, even if it meant he didn't get to ride anything. Now, this is a big deal, because Rob is a bigtime rolller coaster enthusiast. He stuck to it the whole time we were there. He did get a chance to ride his favorite coaster, but for the most part, he stuck with Elias, while I rode rides with the other kids. Once again....thinking of me above himself! I so greatly appreciated that, knowing that likely the next time we get to an amusement park...I may very well be pregnant again!

Be sure to link up with Shannon, for more Loving Your Husbands Fridays.

At the Well- Family Vision

Good morning all. Today the ladies At the Well are discussing having a Family Vision. I'm not going to have time today to share with you all, our family visions because we are leaving for a fun family trip this morning. However, I plan to share what we have written down for our family visions in a later post! I also want you all to think about the importance of having a vision and goals for your family! Please click on the At the Well link above, and check out what they have to say about it this morning, because they have already taken the words out of my mouth about it. It is so important!

Although I don't have our general family vision handy to include right now, here is an example from my homeschool blog of our family homeschool mission page. This is just an idea of what it means for our family to set goals based on scripture. Click here to see this. I hope you all have a blessed day, and begin to think about how you can put to paper what you want to see happen in your family today! Now....off for a day of family fun!!

Saturday Steps of Faith- The Big Picture

Today is Saturday, a day where with Lisa I choose to ponder what promises of God I am being blessed with! This morning I was looking through one of my mothers bibles (she had three of them that I took after she died). I found a bookmark in the Bible, and I was very blessed by what it had to say. I wanted to share it today.

My life is but a weaving, Between my God and me.

I do not choose the colors, He worketh steadily.

Oftimes He weaveth sorrow, and I in foolish pride,

Forget He sees the upper, and I the underside.

Not 'til the loom is silent, And shuttles cease to fly.

Will God unroll the canvas And explain the reason why.

The dark threads are as needful In the skillful weaver's hand,

As the threads of gold and silver

In the pattern He has planned!

`G.C Tullar

I'm praising God today, that although I don't always understand that which he brings into my life, and the lives of others that I love....I will someday! When I meet my savior face to face, I will have a full understanding of it all, and will see how God's plans and purposes in our lives were perfect and without fault! What a wonderful day that will be, to see the big picture the way our Lord does. He is faithful, His timing is perfect, and He is the skillful weaver, who brings all things about for his glory and our good! Praise the Lord!

Loving Your Husband Friday- Putting Me Above Himself!

Today is Friday...which means focusing on our hubbys and what we love about them. I'm thanking the Lord today for a husband who stayed home with all seven of my kids for two whole days, while I went with my Dad to Dayton. The trip meant a lot to me, and he didn't even flinch about allowing me to go. He took good care of the kids while I was gone, and that even including getting them to church on time Sunday morning (even though the power went out). I knew it was going to be rough on him, but he was thinking more about me, and not about himself! I praise the Lord for a husband who is not only capable of taking care of our children when I need to be gone, but for a husband who cares enough about me to allow me to be gone when it is needed! He's a caring husband, and a great daddy! All 7 of them were alive and even dressed when I got home :-)!!

Join Shannon at The Peer Review for more focus on our husbands today!

Thousand Words Thursday

I like to go back to the oldies for the Thousand Word Thursdays, because between here and Facebook, I usually share my newer pictures with everyone. The other day as I was looking for a different picture...I came across this picture...I had almost forgotten how little our Lily was.
This was our Lillian when she was born...five weeks early. She was 5 pounds and 1 ounce. The one on the left is Audrey's baby doll!
She looked so much like a doll when she was a baby. My mom used to call her my "little dolly"
Here she is today.....a bigger little girl. She will be two in early October...hard to imagine. She's still rather small and petite! But, there's nothing small or petite about her personality!!

Join Cheaper Than Therapy for more Thousand Words Thursday

Thinking Healthy Thursdays- How much?

Hi all. If any of you follow my homeschool blog, you know that I am attempting to lose weight, and get healthy. So, I like to follow up my Weight Loss Wednesday over there, with Thinking Healthy Thursdays here. I think being healthy is important. We as Christians know that our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit, and from a purely logical perspective, if we are taking good care of ourselves, we can accomplish much more for the Kingdom. So, I'm attempting to pass along anything that I learn on my journey to help my entire family become healthy. These might sometimes be tips on general health and weight loss or fitness, but I may also pass along anything that I find that has anything to do with our health! I would also love for anyone to pass anything they have learned along to me! So, please feel free to share anything having to do with health for adults or children!

This week I've been working on a new game plan for my family in eating and drinking. I discussed the first week how we should be drinking lots of water. Well, I realized that hubby and my kids are not drinking as much water as they should be. So, in my quest to keep everyone eating right, and drinking the water that they should, I did some research on daily calorie needs, and daily water needs for my children. What I found out from my family doctor was that a 9-13 year old needs about 1800 calories a day (this can rise depending on activity level). A child between 4-8 around 1200 calories, and the littlest ones 1-3 need only 1000 calories a day. This gives me a good starting point for them of how to help my young ones who tend to want to eat things just because they taste good even though they are not hungry...learn to balance their eating. So, ideally we should be eating only healthy foods that would be lower in calories anyhow. But for the times we don't...we can look at serving sizes, and keep our eating reigned in to how many calories we actually need. For my older ones, they can earn more calories with more activities! This is kind of how my doctor does things with his kids.

Now, for water, I just looked on the internet. I discovered that the general rule of thumb is 1 quart of water per 50 pounds. Again, this is baseline, and more might be required for greater activity level. So, for my family that translates into between 3-4 quarts a day for hubby and I ( a tad more for him), which I fill up my 4 quart container and try to finish it every day. For my 11 year old, 2 quarts a day. For my 9 year old, 1 1/2 quarts a day. My 8 year old, 1 quart a day. My 5 year old, also about 1 quart (he's small for his age...she's big for her age!). My 3 year old needs about 1/2 quart a day and I don't worry much about the baby, she drinks 32 ounces a day with her bottles! Again, more is requred for more activity, especially on hot days, but this should be the minimum amount every day for each of them. So, my plan for them is to go out and get them each a container that will hold the right amount of water for them, and they can each make sure that they are getting the right amount every day when that container is empty!

So, that is my new health knowledge for the week, I hope it was helpful to someone out there. I will also give a plug for www.sparkpeople.com. If you are thinking about trying to lose weight, or just stay healthy and fit, I just joined this yesterday, and so far, I am pretty impressed with it. There are different groups you can join for encouragement, and it helps you set goals, and keep track of stuff. Pretty neat.

Happy Health!

Thankful Thursday

I decided to join Truth 4 the Journey for Thankful Thursday today. The key is to write 5 things that you are thankful for.

1. I'm thankful for the forgiveness that God so graciously gives me on a daily basis.

2. I'm thankful for the delicious veggies that our pastor's wife passed on to me from their garden, and the fellowship of believers.

3. I'm thankful for the fact that my dear friend who has been fighting for life in the last few weeks, appears to be showing some improvements.

4. I'm thankful for God's Word, that gives comfort when needed!

5. I'm thankful for my 7 children, and how much they enjoy life and each other.

These are just five things that I have been thankful for in the past week. Head over to Truth 4 the Journey, to see more things to be thankful for!

In His Word Wednesday- Where is your House?

This may seem a little odd, but this morning I am reminded of a children's song:

The wise man built his house upon the rock

The wise man built his house upon the rock.

The wise man built his house upon the rock...

and the rains came tumbling down.

The rains came down and the floods came up,

The rains came down and the floods came up,

The rains came down and the floods came up...

and the house on the rock stood firm!

The foolish man built his house upon the sand,

The foolish man built his house upon the sand,

The foolish man built his house upon the sand....

and the rains came tumbling down...

The rains came down and the floods came up,

The rains came down and the floods came up..

The rains came down and the floods came up...

and the house on the sand went....SPLAT!

So build your life on the Lord, Jesus Christ,

So build your life on the Lord, Jesus Christ,

So build your life on the Lord, Jesus Christ,

and the blessings will come down!

This song was created based on a parable that Jesus told about the house on the rock, and the house on the sand. This last year and a half...the rain has been coming down for me and my family! The last couple of weeks, the rain has been coming down for one family very close to me! For the last few days the rains have been coming down for another family, who lost a son and a brother! I have learned in my life, how important it is to have my life built on the rock...which is Jesus Christ. Though the rains come down, and the winds blow hard...I can keep my faith and trust in Him. I can even have joy, despite the many difficult circumstances that God has led us through! These other families that have had much rain in their lives in the past couple of weeks are also keeping the faith...because they have this same foundation...the Rock, which is Jesus Christ!

Does this mean that we do not grieve? Or that we do not have days where we are down, and sad? No....we all have our days. Sometimes life seems overwhelming, when there are so many crises, and so many losses. But, there is always a peace, a peace that we cannot understand, but it is there, holding us up. This is the peace of our savior. There is the point in which we cannot go on alone, and God lifts us up in his arms and carries us to where we need to be.

If there is anyone reading this who doubts that they have their house built upon the rock, which is Jesus Christ, then I would love to talk to you about how you can have this foundation. If you fear that your house is built on the sand, because perhaps it is has already gone splat, and you have already lost your way in your trials, and you don't know where to find this peace..then it's time to think about how you can find that peace, in the savior, who died for your sins!

Please pray today for the Maines family, who on Sunday lost their 21 year old son in a horrible accident.

Please pray for the Peer family as their wife, mother, mother-in-law, is barely hanging on to life today in the hospital, and will have a very long road, if God chooses to allow her a recovery.

Please pray for my dad, as he has finished his cancer treatments, and will be having some scans and finding out whether these weeks of treatments have done what they were intended to do.

Please pray for my family, as we come to grips with all of the grief around us. We have grown weary of loss, but we continue to cling to the cross and it's promises for our lives, and rejoice in the name of the Lord!

Join Megan for more In His Word Wednesday.