Thankful Thursdays - 2/12/15 - The Weekend

Today (being Friday,) I am thankful for the weekend! This has been a full to the top kind of week. It wasn't until about two o'clock this afternoon that I slowed down enough to realize that I hadn't even written a Thankful Thursday post yet. I'll admit it, I was busy cleaning out our oven for the 34 weeks of cleaning post I need to write for tomorrow - LOL!

So here I sit, on Friday evening, letting you know I am thankful for the weekend. I am thankful that my paying job does not require me to work weekends. I am thankful for a warm house, a full fridge, and family and friends to spend time with this weekend.

Be thankful wherever you are, because God is right there with you, carrying you through the weekend and into next week. Hurray for the weekend!

Just Because...

Today, do something different, just because...

because you love someone,

because you are free,

because you want a change of pace,

because your parents loved you,

because it is a new day,

because you can choose to do good instead of evil,

because you can bring someone joy,

because you are forgiven.

Hiding in Grace

Why do you do what you do? Why do you love your family, or give to neighbors? Why do you stand for peace, think of others before yourself, or teach children?

Sometimes we live by grace, and sometimes we live under the law. I am not sure how we get the two confused so often. Surely we should understand the difference. Yet, instead of hiding in grace, we often try to hide from grace, we run to the law as though it will hide us. The Law was instituted to point out our sins, to show us our need for Christ. The law is a taskmaster, grace is freedom in Christ. Grace is not freedom to do whatever we think of, whenever we want to, grace is forgiveness of our sin. Grace is freedom from ourselves and the mistakes of our past. Grace is the offer of forgiveness. 

When I was a teen, a Godly mentor explained grace as Great riches at Christ's expense. My life overflows with riches. Not the kind of riches the world seeks after, but the kind of riches that only God can give: peace, joy, contentment. I have never paid for those riches, Christ paid for them. I have received such a wondrous gift. Joy unspeakable.

If you are struggling with why you do what you do, perhaps you have forgotten the truth that "her sins, which are many, are forgiven - for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little." (Luke 7:47) When I stop and think about all I have been saved from, all I have been forgiven of, and all I have been blessed with, how can I not offer that same grace and forgiveness to others? How can my joy in forgiveness not well up to a heart that desires to serve others? Have you been forgiven much? Then love much!

When I find myself struggling with "Why" questions, it is usually because I have moved my focus off of Christ. If you are struggling today, ask God to reveal Himself to you again. Turn your focus back to Christ. Read your Bible, pray, spend time with other Christians. Think of all Christ has done for you. It may take a while, but you will walk away from the burden of the law, and into the joy of grace.

Do not hide from grace, hide in grace. 

May God be your comforter and shield, a strong wall to protect you in this world. May you love much as you shower grace on others!

Win!

Week 5 - Recipes!

They say a picture is worth a thousand words... let's see if that's true. Read this week's post with your eyes...and your taste buds! This week's challenge from Michele was to sort, purge, and organize your recipes & cookbooks. Compared to some of my friends, yes - I'm talking about YOU- Sharra and Diana, we don't have very many cookbooks. However, we did find a lot of random recipes. Arlene had already been organizing her share of the recipes into a three-ring binder with sheet protectors, so now it was up to me to sort & purge the rest. Since I know there are some recipes I'll just never get around to making, I tried to be honest. A lot of those free-handout recipes from the grocery stores hit the trash can.

Arlene helped me by pulling all the books off the shelf, throwing away those that were obviously not staying (like the one I made in fourth grade,) and cleaning the shelves. Then the tossing really began. In the midst of it all, we realized there were a lot of things on the cookbook shelf that needed to go elsewhere. We also combined the two recipe files into just the larger box. Recipes that have been printed from online sources go into Arlene's three-ring binder. She like to keep them in sheet protectors so she can use a dry erase marker as she goes through the steps. Hint- only use black markers, because the other colors are harder to wipe off when you're done. If you're really nice, she might share her copycat Texas Roadhouse rolls recipe with you!

While we were cleaning, we ended up with a pile of owner's manuals that needed moved to the correct bookshelf. We also found a handful of heirloom cookbooks from my Mom and Grandma that we want to preserve. They will stay in better shape if we find them a safer home than right under where we crack the eggs - KWIM? We also set aside five cookbooks that are still in decent shape to giveaway... who wants them? If no one comments about wanting them, we might need to host giveaway soon!

When we were finished, that corner of the kitchen was much improved! You can actually see the book holder Arlene made for 4-H a few years ago, and the Betty Crocker Cookbook (our mainstay) doesn't look like its going to fall off the shelf and attack.

When Arlene and I first discussed this week's cleaning task, she came up with the brilliant idea for everyone to share a recipe they found while cleaning. Michele was OK with the idea, so be sure to read everyone's linked posts over on her blog to get some new favorite recipes!

Our recipe is simple, and delicious... Oatmeal Raisin Cookies! FYI- we usually make a double batch, Arlene made them this week, and made each cookie triple-sized. Feel free to make them whatever size you want, Kurt called this batch "man-hole covers."

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies:

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1 egg

1 & 1/2 cups oats

1 cup flour 

1 cup raisins

Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Cream sugar and butter, then mix in ingredients down through egg. Then stir in oats, flour, and raisins. Drop rounded teaspoonfuls 2" apart on engrossed cookie sheets. Bake 9-10 minutes, until slightly golden brown on edges, but not hard. Cool two minutes, then remove from cookie sheets. Makes about 3 dozen - 2" cookies.

Don't forget to come back next Friday to see whether or not I actually get the oven cleaned- LOL!

Thankful Thursdays - Dissecting with Friends

There are many perks to being a home educated kid, like getting to start, stop, and start again in a subject as needed. Emily has not been following the traditional trek through High School science, as she started with Anatomy & Physiology, then went to Biology, took a break to study some Geology, then Chemistry, and is back working on Biology again. 

This circuitous route through science has offered some great experiences, one of them being able to fit dissecting in when its convenient for the whole family. Last month Emily had a couple of dissecting sessions with her friend Adrienne. This means Emily didn't have to do all of the cutting of the gross, formaldehyde-filled frog by herself. It also meant Adrienne's parents didn't need to get her a frog. For me, it meant I could sit back and chat with my friend Linda (Adrienne's Mom) while the girls followed directions from their Biology books and cut up the frog, then a fish, and then looked at slides under the microscope.

Why be thankful for variety? Because our life is never the same two days in a row, and that is usually a good thing. Why be thankful for dissecting with friends? Because Emily didn't complain about doing it it since she had a friend to help. There was some commenting about the smell of the frog... but that was to be expected.

When we bought the dissecting supplies for Emily, we knew she would be using more than one animal, so we got the bigger set of specimens. In the end, Emily & Adrienne spent the first session working on the frog & then looking at slides. The second time we went over for dissecting (thanks again to Linda for offering to let the girls cut up stinky animals at her house,) the girls were supposed to cut open the fish and then compare the systems in the fish to the systems in the frog.

How much did they actually learn? I'm not sure, but they did try, and now they have stories to remember it by. On the second day, after the girls were done, they decided to go bury the frog & fish in the back yard. Being the always creative types, the girls had plans for a lengthy, but humorous, grave-side service, but the cold and the wind changed their minds. The girls were joined by the younger sisters (Arlene and Anna) in their trek to the backyard. I'm not too sure how good of a job they did on the burial, because Linda and I stayed inside sipping tea. Sometimes it's good to be the Mom!

Once they all came back inside, the younger sisters decided (with some prodding) to dissect some of the other specimens. Arlene and her friend Anna first dissected the clam. Then they decided the shell was more appealing than the mussel, so they cleaned the shell in vinegar and each kept a half. Then they attempted to dissect the starfish. Poor thing, more like they hacked it to pieces...I think it had been sitting preserved for too long while waiting for someone to get around to it.

When the younger girls were finished, all 4 of them again trekked to the backyard to dispose of the critters. If they didn't do a good enough job on the burial, I'll need to apologize to Linda's husband for the things he runs over with the mower come Spring. Remains disposed of, dissecting equipment cleaned & put away...the girls got out the cards and started playing euchre until it was time for lunch.

So what am I most thankful for this week? Friends! While it was important for Emily to get experience dissecting, it was more important to me that she get to spend time with a friend. It was good for Arlene to get to spend time with her friend too. The older girls have diagrams of frogs and pictures they drew of the slides for their biology notebooks, but more importantly, they have memories of doing something together. The younger girls had time just to be kids, to be silly, to talk, and to laugh at the smell of the preserved animals. I had time to talk with my friend Linda, and a reminder that homeschooling, like parenting, is long on days, and short on years.

May you be blessed with a friend that loves you enough to help you dissect a frog or a clam... or to let you bury evidence in her backyard! Have a wonderful week!

No Place Like Home