1 Peter 4:8

I've been online a little more this past week than usual. One theme seemed to keep coming up in almost every posting I read- contention. 

There were people over here arguing with people over there. There were people far away arguing against people who had long been dead, trying to prove the intents of the hearts of the deceased. There were even some people who just wanted to stir up some arguments to entertain themselves...at least that is what I got from their posts...

Where are we? Who are we? If we are the children of God, if we are those who follow Christ, we probably ought not to be in any of those situations. While a true need to give a Biblical defense for our faith is often called for, it must be done in love. Our lives must be lived in love. Christ called us to follow Him, and to do so, we need to be servants, and we need to be willing to set aside our fleshly desire to win an argument in order to love the people around us, whomever they may be.

My life is not perfect, I am not perfect, but I am following the only One who ever was. May His love be the thing that I am remembered for, today, and ever after.

Master and Lord

Galatians 4:28

4th of July sale @ SchoolhouseTeachers.com

Hi! I just wanted to make sure you all saw that SchoolhouseTeachers.com is having a 4th of July Flash Sale! 

Now through 7/9/17 if you purchase the annual membership for $139 you will receive:
- a second year for free
- a super cool tote bag from SchoolhouseTeachers.com (color varies)
- the Summer print issue of The Old Schoolhouse magazine

We really enjoy the freedom that SchoolhouseTeachers.com gives us to pick and choose as few or as many courses as we want to use for one price for the entire family for a whole year. You can find some of our reviews here.

I have been enjoying my SchoolhouseTeachers.com tote for about a month now. (There are perks to being a mainstay on the Schoolhouse Review Crew!) It is a super awesome tote: sturdy, roomy ... and it has pockets! I can fit my laptop, blog planner and regular planner all in the main compartment and zip it shut if I'm headed to the library for the day. Or, if I'm not taking my laptop, it holds several books, my planner, a jacket, and all my shopping lists and coupons for a day of stocking up grocery shopping. It has a large front pocket (which I always fill with snacks,) as well as a water bottle pocket on one end and a pocket big enough for your cell phone on the other end. It also has a couple of pencil/ pen pockets (look at my picture below!)

Now that you know about the flash sale, just make sure you check it out by Sunday the 9th because that is the last day! Hope you are having a wonderful week!

Years

Can you believe we are almost to the end of this Blogging through the Alphabet series? 

The letter for this week is Y. 

Y is for Years

The days are long, but the years are short. 

Have you heard that phrase before? I can attest it is true, each day can seem so long, especially if someone is potty training or struggling with long division. Mama, I am here to remind you that the years of homeschooling are short. From where I sit, with 14 years of homeschooling behind me, and only about a year left in front of us, it seems quite short indeed.

Finding joy along this journey has been so much easier when I remember to look for the blessings in the everyday activities of life. Some days it might seem like the only thing to be thankful for is that your children brushed their teeth before bed. If it is: still be thankful for it! 

There will be tough days.

There will be days when you doubt if you have made the right choice for your family. Go to God and ask Him to remind you about WHY you started on this homeschooling journey.  Get back to focusing on your why. So what if it takes your child longer to learn their multiplication tables? You are in this to be their parent until they are old enough to not need you anymore, which pretty much means forever, or at least 25! LOL! So if it takes them longer to learn multiplication, how to read, or how to do long division, remember, you still have a few years left to help them.

The picture above is from around 2010. Not really that long ago for me, but for our children, a huge chunk of their lifetime ago! The pictures below are from 2016. What a difference just a handful of years can make.

There will be better days ahead

Stop trying to do it all by yourself. God is able to meet all your needs. When you focus on how able God is to provide, and stop focusing on trying to do everything yourself, you should find more joy, and less stress. We can all use more joy! More joy for Mom means better days for everyone!

As a Mama who has always needed to work while homeschooling, I will tell you that over time you won’t remember the lack of sleep, but you will remember their joy when your children master something new. You will remember when they smile and tell you they love you! 

Make the most of each day, and remember to enjoy the years too!

Linking up with Annette and Amanda

Happy Independence Day!

As our nation celebrates its independence, may we remember to be dependent upon God for each day. May we look to Him for guidance in our lives, and find His blessings in our families and friends.

Have a wonderful day!

My 30 Minute Summer Skirt

For the past two summers, I have wanted a new skirt, but have not found anything I liked in a price range I was willing to pay. 

It's summer, I want something cute, and comfortable. Especially the comfortable part!

So I decided to do some digging at Goodwill and see what I could find to refashion. For last summer I purchased a white and red sundress with a zipper and turned it into a skirt. When I finished it Kurt said "You should have taken pictures and written about it for the blog." Bummer. I had not thought of that. So this year, I remembered to take pictures for you to see the steps.

This year's purchase was a blue Maxi dress with a printed design. It had an under layer that I wanted to keep for the skirt, so I could be modest without needing a slip. After all, the whole reason for not wearing it as a maxi dress was because I wanted to be modest-LOL! I found the dress at Goodwill. It was the 1/2 off color of the week, so it cost me $3. I've been sewing for a long time, it took me about 30 minutes to do the project and take the pictures. This is an easy project, which you should be able to do with your own sewing machine without too much trouble. Even if you are slow at sewing, it should take you less than 2 hours.

First, you need to find the dress.

I always look in the dresses one to two sizes larger than what I wear because I am intending to move the empire waistline of the dress down to a regular waistline. So if you wear a 6, look at 8's or 10's. If you wear a large, look in the XL section.

Go try the dress on in the changing room, and pull the dress down to see if the length and size will fit where you want the new waistline to be. If yes, purchase your find and take it home to wash it. Dry it on high heat so if it is going to shrink any, it will happen before you begin sewing.

Below are the 8 steps I took from Maxi Dress to my new favorite summer skirt.

Step 1: sew around the dress about 1" below the waistline, this keeps the dress and underdress together when you cut off the top.

Step 2: cut just below the waistline and above your sewing line

Step 3: go look in the mirror again and decide how much more you need to shorten the length (if any.) Sew another ring around the skirt part just below where you want to shorten it to. Then cut off the extra. Because of the printed design of the maxi dress, I wanted to take the extra off of the top, not off of the bottom where it might destroy the flow of the design.

Step 4: zigzag around your new top edge. This helps reinforce the skirt together to the underskirt, as well as prevent unraveling. 

Step 5: Turn under the top edge at your sewing line, and then turn it down another 1.25" to make a pocket for the elastic. Sew around the skirt at the bottom of this pocket, leaving  a gap of about 3" in the back to insert the elastic.

Step 6: pin down one end of your elastic to the back of the skirt, and then use a large safety pin to feed your elastic through the pocket you sewed. Remember when measuring your elastic that you need it to be comfortable when stretched, but still tight enough your skirt won't slide down. I used 3/4" elastic as the pocket was just over 1".

Step 7: after checking to make sure your elastic is the correct size, sew the ends together. Pull the elastic all the way into the waist pocket, then sew in the ditch of each side seam to prevent it from turning over during washing and wearing.

Step 8: sew the opening in the back of your new waistband closed, leaving a tiny opening in case you later decide you want to access the elastic to adjust the back and make it tighter.

Ta-da! You're finished! Go enjoy your new summer skirt.
I've been enjoying mine!