Homemade Guacamole and Tortillas
For homemade tortillas I found this recipe that uses olive oil instead of shortening.
Such a delicious summer lunch!
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
For homemade tortillas I found this recipe that uses olive oil instead of shortening.
Such a delicious summer lunch!
Monday, June 28, 2010
Rapid Read
I was recently talking to my pastor's wife and told her that I would be trying to read the Bible in 90 Days. She has done something similar several times and calls it a "Rapid Read" through the Bible. She was gracious enough to give me some pointers and ideas as to what she did when she read through it quickly. One of the things that she mentioned was all the themes that start to pop out when you read through the Bible at a more rapid pace. I thought I would share with you the themes that she has come across...
1. Look for the noun/verb combinations of God + verb.......God sees...God hears....God knows....God blessed...God preserves.....These will soooooo bless you!
2. The "I AM" themes
3. The "only God can deliver from this impossible situation" theme.
4. The "salvation offered to a Gentile" theme.
5. The "intercessory prayer" theme....where one single person intercedes for a group and moves the heart of God to do an amazing intervention.
6. The "out of Egypt--- into the promised land----forget God---end up in Babylonian-bondage-----repent again" theme.
7. The theme of "praise in the midst of your absolute worst trials"
8. The "forgive your enemies theme"
9. The don't you dare 'lord it over others' or 'mistreat others' theme.
10. The "covenant" theme.
11. The "names of God" theme.
12. The "God will test you to see what is in your heart" theme.
13.The "live by faith in the darkest hour" theme.
14. The Israel theme....totally amazing....you will see this first in Gen 32:28....the word Israel occurs 2,336 times throughout the Word.
15. Watch for the theophany themes....a theophany is when the 2nd member of the Trinity...the Son...made a bodily appearance to someone prior to His incarnation as the person Jesus.....hint: Often called "The angel of the Lord," the people He appeared to fell down in worship of Him....if it had been merely an angel...the angel would not accept worship but say....."do not worship me!!!"
16..The "FEAR NOT!" or "DO NOT BE AFRAID!" theme
17. The "God is LOVE/ God is a Holy Father" theme....as opposed to the tyrannical, unpredictable, self serving foreign/false gods.
18.The "grace and patience" of God theme.....
19. The "salvation by belief/faith theme......beginning in the O.T....not the New Testament.
20. The patterns and orders of prayers that move God.....praise, confession, thanksgiving in advance of His mighty work, pleading in intercessions or pleas to act/protect/provide.
21. Watch for what the world thinks are merely figures of speech....you will find they are scriptures.
22. Watch for how God talks to people.....He usually begins with a question...."Where are you?" Gen 3:9 or "Do you have a right to be angry?" Jonah 4:9....and the best are... the 70 questions God asks Job in the last chapters of that book.
23. Watch for the "creation/Creator" themes
24. Watch for "began well....but fell into sin before the end" themes.
25.Watch for the patterns that lead straight to the bondage-land.....fear....grumbling...unbelief....ingratitude...
26...(I promise this is the last one!)....The "bond-servant" theme. This is sooo beautiful. A bond-servant was a person who voluntarily entered into servitude to another. The servant's will was totally consumed in the will of the master. Every man of God in the Bible in some way made the statement that they were willing and eager "bond-slaves"/"servants" of the Lord. In this we see the godly men as very humble servants...not demigods/ demagogues....lording it over any others, like the Gentile nations did. It is, therefore, not at all ghastly to ask the women to also become "bond-slaves to the Lord Jesus Christ."
I am really looking forward to reading the Bible in 90 Days...can't wait to see what themes God shows me in His Word!
Working my Way to One Thousand...
651. The smell of oranges.
652. A hot, sunny deck.
653. Plenty of food for the table.
654. Hot weather.
655. Tons of tomatoes on the vine.
656. Camp for the boys.
657. A positive answer on a prayer request.
658. The promise that God is with us at all times.
659. Lemonade.
660. The ability to stand my ground.
661. Blogs that encourage me.
662. Homeschooling magazines.
663. Flowers that are about to bloom and will look like this...
664. That Noah had an awesome time at camp.
665. That God protected our house even though I let candles burn ALL night long.
666. Rainy, restful days.
667. Friends that fill in the gaps for us when we need them.
668. Courage to do hard things.
669. A great Sunday School class.
700. That God blesses us through the hard times.
665. That God protected our house even though I let candles burn ALL night long.
666. Rainy, restful days.
667. Friends that fill in the gaps for us when we need them.
668. Courage to do hard things.
669. A great Sunday School class.
700. That God blesses us through the hard times.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Bible in 90 Days Resources
Here are a few resources that you might be interested in if you have decided to read through the Bible in 90 days...
Friday, June 25, 2010
Shakespeare's Histories
They are set in Medieval English history.
They aren't historically accurate. Whereas Julius Caesar is!
They provide social commentary about Shakespeare's time rather than that of Medieval history.
The 10 plays classified as history are as follows:
1.Henry IV, Part I
2.Henry IV, Part II
3.Henry V
4.Henry VI, Part I
5.Henry VI, Part II
6.Henry VI, Part III
7.Henry VIII
8.King John
9.Richard II
10.Richard III
Thursday, June 24, 2010
The Heart Mender by Andy Andrews (Giveaway)
"To forgive is to set a prisoner free....and discover the prisoner is YOU."
What would you do if your enemy washed up on shore wounded? Would you reach out and come to his rescue? Would you leave him for dead? The Heart Mender is a touching story of a bitter young American woman whose husband was killed by the Nazis during WWII. When a German soldier washes up on shore she must make a decision: forgive or allow the soldier to die.
Forgiveness has been a concept that I keep coming back to in my life...a theme, I guess you would say. The struggle to forgive may be the biggest battle we ever face. That is why I was drawn to this book...what would it say about forgiveness? Would forgiveness overcome the hurt and bitterness? The Heart Mender is NOT to be missed. I read the book in 24 hours...that is how engrossed I was in the plot. Andy has a way of weaving a story...grabbing you and not letting go until the last word is written.
Do you struggle to forgive? Do you know someone who is struggling to forgive? Don't miss out on this story!
Thomas Nelson graciously has offered me an extra copy to give away on my blog! In order to enter the giveaway please leave me a comment and a way to contact you.
For extra entries:
*Follow me and then leave me a comment.
*Blog about this giveaway and then leave me a comment and a link to your blog post.
The contest closes June 30th. I will announce the winner on July 1st.
Thomas Nelson has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book in order to review it. I am not required to give a positive review. All my opinions are my own.
Manners, please!
Besides leading by example - what practical teaching methods/exercises are you using to teach etiquette and manners to your children?
This week's question at the Homescool Village is hard for me! We teach manners by example, for sure, but I have never purposely sat down with the boys to teach manners. I guess the way we have done it is to teach through discussion. When a behavior arises that isn't appropriate we discuss why. For example, to teach my boys how to answer the phone we have gone over what they need to say and practiced it a few times. They have gotten it right of the bat, but every once in a while they regress and get sloppy! So we have another discussion about it.
One of the concepts that I have hit hard with my boys is that...People are always more important than things. We put others first before our personal possessions or activities. So for example, when one of my sons refused to take out his ear buds (he was listening to his Ipod.) so that his brother could talk to him, I corrected it right away. We talked about how people are more important that his music or his Ipod and that he has to keep communication open at all times with others.
So I guess I don't have a neat and pat answer for how to teach manners...we just teach them as we go along in life.
If you would like to join in on this conversation see, Layton Family Joy.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Giveaway!
Lisa at Simplified Saving is having a giveaway! The contest is for a Good Earth Dinner kit. Go check it out!
Characteristics of Shakespeare's Tragedies
The Fatal Flaw All his tragic characters have some type of weakness-greed, ambition, etc.
Each main character falls.
External reasons cause their fall. Besides their fatal flaws that are part of their demise...Shakespeare's tragic characters also fall prey to other characters, fate, or even evil spirits.
The 10 plays generally classified as tragedy are as follows:
1.Antony and Cleopatra
2.Coriolanus
3.Hamlet
4.Julius Caesar
5.King Lear
6.Macbeth
7.Othello
8.Romeo and Juliet
9.Timon of Athens
10.Titus Andronicus
Stay tuned for a post about Shakespeare's histories.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Characteristics of Shakespeare's Comedies
Comedy through language Play on words, metaphors, etc.
Love and Marriage are central themes in the comedies. Someone is always falling in love with someone else, and there tend to be a lot of marriages.
Mistaken Identities The plot of most of Shakespeare's comedies surround mistaken identities.
The 18 plays generally classified as comedy are as follows:
1.All's Well That Ends Well
2.As You Like It
3.The Comedy of Errors
4.Cymbeline
5.Love's Labour’s Lost
6.Measure for Measure
7.The Merry Wives of Windsor
8.The Merchant of Venice
9.A Midsummer Night's Dream
10.Much Ado About Nothing
11.Pericles, Prince of Tyre
12.The Taming of the Shrew
13.The Tempest
14.Troilus and Cressida
15.Twelfth Night
16.Two Gentlemen of Verona
17.The Two Noble Kinsmen
18.The Winter's Tale
There will be more posts coming about Shakespeare's tragedies and histories.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Getting Ready to Read...
I have been talking to the wife of my pastor lately about reading through the Bible quickly. As many of you know, starting July 5th, I will try to read the Bible in 90 Days. My pastor's wife has done this numerous times, but she calls it a "Rapid Read" through the Bible.
She has given me a plethora of suggestions as I go through this process for the first time. I am so grateful to her for helping me out! One of the things that she recommended doing was to keep track of my reading time for each book of the Bible. It will be interesting to see how long it really takes me. So tonight I found a notebook that I had decorated a few years ago, but never used. I went ahead and set it up...listing each book of the Bible so that I can record how long it takes me to read each one.
I can hardly wait to dive into this challenge! God has really been impressing on me that the more I am in His Word, the more I will be able to follow Him. I am also excited to see how I will view God's story differently by reading through it in a novel like fashion.
Stay tuned...I will share in a few days some other helpful tidbits that my pastor's wife gave me...
Things to be Thankful for...
So many things to be thankful for...if you would like to join in on Multitude Monday, click above.
631. Protection for my son who was bullied. Adults stepping in to stop the bully's behavior from hurting other kids.
632. My own father...the best father anyone could ever have!
634. Time in the Psalms.
635. Tim being a great father to the boys!
636. Getting our yard sale over with.
637. This post!
638. A pool party for the boys to attend.
639. Warm weather.
640. That Titan's pink eye is gone.
641. Friends who encourage and listen to us.
642. Peace even when there is anxiety.
643. Lilacs.
644. Birds chriping outside our window.
645. Time to slow down from the busyness of life.
646. That God is the God Who See Us.
647. Tomatoes on the vine.
648. Every breath that we breath.
649. That for us as Christians this life is the worst that it will ever be. We have so much to look forward to in eternity.
650. Boys playing in the yard.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Altered Clipboard Instructions
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Friday, June 18, 2010
The Week We Did Nothing...
Titan
One morning this week I took our mini schnauzer on a 4 mile walk. Afterwards, he took a 30 minute nap which isn't unusual for him after all that exercise. When he woke up he couldn't open his eyes! He looked pitiful! It was freaking us out! So we called the vet and set up an appointment. Two hours later we found out that Titan had pink eye! Puppy pink eye???!! I didn't know that dogs could get that! Anyways, he is doing well with getting drops twice a day...doesn't even seem to phase him a bit.My garden is really starting to take off...we will have lettuce and spinach soon. There are flowers on the zuke plants and tomatoes on the vine! Can't wait!
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Bulk Cooking for June/July
For a year and a half now I have been getting together with a friend to bulk cook once a month. Inevitably, we miss one of the summer months because we are so busy...so it turns out that we cook together about 11 times each year. Here is what we are cooking for June/July.
If you are going to do bulk cooking get a hold of Fix, Freeze, Feast. These recipes are easy and so far all of them have been great! This month we are doing to do Berry Roasted Chicken, Cashew Chicken, and Tex-Mex Chicken Fingers. These have become some of our favorite recipes because they are tasty and easy to prepare.
We are also going to do macaroni and cheese...no real recipe here. We will just make a white sauce and add grated cheddar to it. Then we will pour it over cooked noodles and put it in pans to bake later. For an excellent white sauce I use Magic Mix.
We will also be making Tamale Pie from Make it Fast, Cook it Slow
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Favorite Homeschool Book
This week at the Homeschool Village we are supposed to...
Share your favorite book that has supported and encouraged you in your homeschooling adventure and why you'd recommend it to another homeschooler.
Just choose one??? Not sure I know how to do that! But I will narrow it down to two.
1. The Bible I really can't think of any other book that has influenced me more than God's Word in every aspect of life and that includes homeschooling. When I am worried or troubled about how things are going for my kids God's Word comforts me. When I am weary of teaching, the Bible encourages me not to give up. When I feel stressed while schooling His Word calms me.
2. Add Two Cups of Laughter by Cyndy Regeling and Tammy Duby. I am too serious! I like to get things done in a timely and organized fashion. A lot of times, I am not about the fun when it comes to schooling. I hatethat about myself...I wish I were more fun and could ease up a bit. Add Two Cups of Laughter has helped me do this! There are all kinds of ideas to make homeschooling not such a bore and a chore. I love this book! Actually, I think I need to read it again this summer before school starts up again!
Visit the Homeschool Village at Layton Family Joy!
Update on Shakespeare
It has been my goal to do some Shakespeare with my boys. We started out by watching Julius Caesar (a tragedy) and we just finished Comedy of Errors and The Taming of the Shrew, which the boys really enjoyed. At this point I have just had the boys watch the BBC videos. I do want to have Zach read a few of them, but for the time being we are just enjoying how they were meant to be enjoyed by watching them. We have been discussing vocabulary, the meaning of certain conversations, the characteristics of tragedies and comedies. We even discussed the similarities between Caesar and Lincoln. (See the teacher guide on Julius Caesar). We have read Bard of Avon to get some background on the writer.
My plan is to continue alternating between a tragedy and a comedy for the rest of the summer. I really want us to do MacBeth, Hamlet, and Romeo and Juliet. I am less familiar with the comedies. I am previewing every video we have watched because I have been warned that some of the comedies can be racey. So if you decide to watch Shakespeare with your kids make sure you preview!
Here is my original post about Shakespeare with some awesome (cheap and free) resources to do a Shakespeare unit.
Any suggestions for good comedies that we should do???? I am just not familiar with the comedies as much.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Lime Recipes
My oldest son loves anything citrus. I am especially fond of limes. So much so that I put lime wedges in my water instead of lemons. Here are a few of our favorite recipes:
Key Lime Bread
Key Lime Bars
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour, divided
2/3 cup confectioner's sugar
1 t. baking powder, divided
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
5 large eggs
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
Pre-heat oven to 350. Lightly grease a 9 by 13 pan. In a medium bowl, combine 2 cups flour, confectioner's sugar and 1/2 t. baking powder. Cut in butter with a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Press mixture into prepared baking dish. Bake 20 to 25 min. or until it is lightly browned. In a medium bowl, combine eggs, sugar, juice, 1/4 cup flour, and 1/2 t. baking powder. Pour over hot crust. Bake 22 to 25 min. or until lightly browned.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Across the Miles...
I love Multitude Mondays where I get to list all that I am thankful for!
615. Swim lessons for the boys.
616. Having a homeschool teen come help me do some deep cleaning of my house.
617. Getting to meet RJ from the FIAR boards! Because we live in Alaska, I have never had the opportunity to meet anyone from the boards. I have been on the boards for many, many years. We live miles apart so I consider this a blessing to meet her. She and her family are awesome!
618. Potato and leek plants popping up in my garden. I think potato leek soup is in our future! Yum!
619. Great sermons.
620. Finishing Julius Caesar by Shakespeare with the boys.
621. Starting the Comedy of Errors.
622. Yummy smelling candles.
623. Facebook friends.
624. New students in my Jr. high Sunday school class.
625. The time spent out in my garden....it is therapeutic!
626. Alaskan summers.
627. The love of family.
628. A free afternoon when a friend takes the boys.
629. Long walks.
630. Time alone with God.
Friday, June 11, 2010
A Week of Swimming and "Sisters"
This was such an awesome week! The boys have been doing swim lessons every morning which is wearing them out. We are only doing math and Shakespeare right now as far as school goes.
The biggest event of the week was meeting RJ (one of my FIAR "sisters") from the FIAR boards! Since I live in Alaska, I don't get the opportunities that the ladies down in the lower 48 do to meet online friends in real life. This is the first person I have met from the FIAR boards even though I have been on the board for AGES! We had a lovely time with RJ and her family over dinner. I felt like we all hit it off real well. Even our boys really clicked with her boys!
This week I purchased The Bible in 90 Days...I am going to start this challenge in July. The goal is to read the Bible in 90 days...now you don't actually need this Bible (you could use your own Bible and the schedule that is online), but I had some extra money earned through Swagbucks so I decided to go ahead and get it. I am looking forward to this challenge. If you are interested in doing this with me, see Mom's Toolbox. The challenge starts July 5th and runs through October 2nd.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
How to Read the Bible in 90 Days...
So in less than a month I will embark on an adventure of trying to read the Bible in 90 days! One of the main reasons I wanted to do this was so that I could get an overview of the Bible in a short amount of time...to see how everything fits together in God's Word. Obviously, I won't be able to get a lot of detail...this is more of a big picture thing.
But here is the problem...I have only read through the Bible once in my life and at that it was a struggle! I had such a hard time getting past Leviticus! So how in the world am I going to be able to do this? It finally ocurred to me that I can't do it! But with God's help, I can! The Holy Spirit enables us to act like Jesus when we don't want to and can't. He gives us the Fruit of the Spirit to accomplish the hard tasks. Each fruit of the Spirit will be vital as I try to read the Bible in 90 days...
Love...I will need God to give me a love for His word.
Joy will be vital as I go on this journey...I will need joy to avoid what might become drugery otherwise.
Peace will be important, too. I will need it so that I don't worry about all the other things that aren't getting done while I read. Peace will help me to focus on the task at hand.
Patience...to get through the parts that are harder to read like say the book of Numbers.
Kindness may not seem like a need as I go through this commitment, but for my Type A personality I will need it. Since I won't be getting other things done, I tend to get cranky...that shows up in my relationship with my family...kindness will be necessary!
Goodness..the willingness to do what is right. I can see myself fudging and not being truthful about the completion of each reading. I am praying that God will help me to be truthful if I am not successful each day.
Faithfulness...to finish what I began.
Gentleness is submission (at least that is what I learned in Beth Moore's study on the Fruit of the Spirit!). I will need to submit to what the reading of God's Word bring to light in my life. Will there be ways in which I will need to change?
Self-Control...this is a biggie! I desire enough self-discipline to finish the task!
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