3/24/06 PORCH, MAID, TIME SAVING TIPS, EGGS, DISCIPLINE, DART TEST
Posted by: jhbreneman <jhbreneman@...>
ENCOURAGEMENT TO WOMEN
Compiled especially for you with love by Lois Breneman
FRONT PORCH FIX-UP
ANOTHER TIME SAVING TIP
A BOY AND HIS BASEBALL
By Monica Resinger - Used by permission
Having a nice pretty front porch will make you feel good about your home and is a nice way to welcome guests. The first thing to do is clear away any clutter that doesnt belong so you can have a clean canvas to work with. Here are a few ideas to get your creative juices flowing:
~ Consider the time of year. Since summers on its way, maybe you can decorate your porch with a summer theme like sunflowers. Grow mini sunflowers in pots, make or buy a wreath or straw hat that includes silk or dried sunflowers, put up a welcome sign with painted sunflowers, get a sunflower welcome mat or paint rocks as sunflowers. You can use these same ideas with any other summer themes -- sail boating, the sun, the beach, shells -- the skys the limit.
~ Attach thin strips (6-10 or so) of lattice to the roof of your porch lengthwise with nails, then intertwine silk or real vines, leaves and flowers for a cute cottage look border.
~ To save money and also look for creative ideas, shop thrift stores and yard sales. Youll find all sorts of neat stuff like baskets, old cans, silk flowers, plants, welcome signs, wreaths and other odds and ends that you can use in your porch fix-up. When shopping, keep in mind how you could fix up some of the things you find. For example, maybe you see a plain grapevine wreath you could attach your own silk flowers or pretty ribbon to later, or maybe you see a basket you like the shape of, but it needs a paint job so you could spray paint it later. This kind of thinking will save you money and can give you some unique decorations.
I hope these ideas will give you inspiration to fix-up your front porch.
For more outdoor decor tips, check out The Outdoor Decor E-book! Included are many fun tips for decorating your outdoor spaces like a homemade birdbath idea, a faux brick pathway, homemade stepping stone ideas, how to make a topiary, trash to treasure ideas and much
more! Click here for details: http://homemakersjournal.com/outdoordecor.htm
By Martha Matthews - Used by permission
But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!" Luke 10:40 (NIV)
Have you ever felt like Martha? You look at all the things you need to do and think, "How can I get this done by myself? Oh, if only I had a maid!"
If you've looked at the woman in Proverbs 31 you have no doubt seen that she was someone who accomplished a lot. I remember thinking to myself, "How is she able to get so much done? She has the same 24 hours in a day that I do, how come she is able to be so productive? "
After many years of studying the Proverbs 31 woman I can tell you that there are five things she does that guarantee her success. Let's take a look at a few of the passages pertaining to the Proverbs 31 woman to see what we can learn from her.
1. She Worked Early.
"She rises while it is yet night and gets food for her household and assigns her maids their tasks." Proverbs 31:15 (Amplified Bible)
Yes, that's right. She was up early in the morning. Not only was she up early, she was working early. Notice that she was busy preparing breakfast for everyone in her household. In today's world we don't have to get up before dawn to make breakfast, but there is much that we can accomplish when we get up early.
Oh, I can just hear some of you moaning, "I'm not a morning person." Well, I understand how you feel. I felt the same way myself. Then I realized that God thought it was so important that He put it in the Bible. This is the kind of thing you have to put into practice before you have a change of heart about it. It was that way for me. The Lord had to show my stubborn heart over and over that I need to get up early before I understood its benefits.
Now, I get up early with a joyful heart. I am able to have my quiet time with the Lord, shower and get ready, put in a load of laundry and get organized for the day. When I do these things early I am ready for just about anything that comes my way that day because I have prepared my heart and my mind.
2. She Worked with Strength
"She girds herself with strength and strengthens her arms." Proverbs 31:17 (NKJ)
The Proverbs 31 woman was no couch potato. She understood that in order to do all that she had to do, that she must be in good physical shape. She knew that her family depended on her and therefore her health was important to her.
It is easy to get busy with taking care of your family and end up neglecting your own physical well-being. Making sure that you are eating right and getting enough exercise is important. How else are you going to be able to pick up your crying toddler, vacuum the house, clean out the car, play with your children and still have energy left to have a romantic time with your husband (if you get my drift)? You have to be in good physical shape.
3. She Worked Smart
"...and assigns her maids their tasks." Proverbs 31:15 (Amplified Bible)
I remember when it hit me that the Proverbs 31 woman had maids working for her. I thought, "How unfair it is that she had maids and I have to do all this work on my own (pout, pout)."
Then the Lord opened my eyes. He helped me realize how many maids I actually had! There was the washing machine and dryer, the vacuum cleaner, the dish washer, the microwave, the slow cooker, the oven, the toaster, the coffee pot and my favorite -- the bread machine. When I stopped to think about it, all my appliances were performing services just like the maids of the Proverbs 31 woman. No more pouting for me!
Now I use all my maids, I mean appliances, to their full potential. I finally realized that I needed to work smarter not harder. Delegation was the key. After all, the Lord had blessed me with theses machines. Why was I not using them as I should? Now, on any given day you will find that I have my bread machine, slow cooker and my washer and dry going so that I am free to be productive in other areas of watching over my home.
4. She Worked Carefully
She carefully watches all that goes on in her household and does not have to bear the consequences of laziness. Proverbs 31:27 (NLT)
This was a woman who was on top of things. She understood that what went on in her home was her responsibility. She carefully watched over everything and made sure that whatever needed to get done got done. She didn't let anything distract her. She had a plan and she worked her plan.
5. She Worked for the Lord
Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised. Proverbs 31:30 (NIV)
The Proverbs 31 woman did have one secret weapon in her home management arsenal. Today, that secret weapon is available to all Christian Home Managers. What was her secret? She had a healthy fear of the Lord.
She feared the Lord not because she was afraid that she might make a mistake or displease Him. Rather, her fear of the Lord came from a healthy respect and a submissive heart. She wanted to do what is right in His eyes because she knew that His way was the best way. What she did, she did for the Lord.
She also knew that she could rely on Him to help her with all that He had asked her to do. This woman didn't run around fretting about getting things done or complaining that her load was too great. She got her strength from the Lord.
We all have times when we feel overwhelmed by our responsibilities. Many times I have thought how nice it would be to have someone come in and take care of things for me. But that is not what managing a home is about. If we take the time to learn from the Proverbs 31 woman we will see that although she had a lot to do she was wise about how she did it. We can all be as productive as the Proverbs 31 woman if we put these five principals into practice.
About the author: Martha Matthews is the Executive Director of Christian-Homemaking.com
Helping Christian homemakers organize and manage their home.
http://www.christian-homemaking.com/newsletter.html
By Tawra Kellam - http://www.livingonadime.com/ordering.htm - Used by permission
Make simple meals. One-dish meals can contain your meat, your vegetable and your bread.
Things to do the night before:
*Plan your meals.
*Put things in the refrigerator to defrost.
*Pack lunches.
*Set the table for breakfast. Prepare breakfast foods the night before. For pancakes, mix
dry ingredients the previous night. In the morning, add wet ingredients and cook.
Cook Once, Cook Big:
*Make large batches of beans and store in 1- or 2-cup portions.
*Make large batches of granola and store in an airtight container. If used or lunches or snacks, divide into single-serving plastic bags or containers
*Brown a large portion of ground beef and store in 1-cup portions. This could also be done with roast, pork and round steak.
*Cook double batches of rice or pasta to be reheated later in the week.
Buy staples that you use often in quantity.
Make double or triple the amount when you prepare main dishes. Freeze. Label with the name of the dish and cooking instructions. Later when you are too busy to cook, put in the crockpot on low or set the timer for the oven to start dinner before you get home.
Place all pre-made meals in one part of the freezer.
That way your husband and kids can easily find the meals when you aren't at home.
Try exchanging meals with another family.
Cook double the amount and take half over to them. Later, they cook double and bring it to you. That is one less night you have to cook and it brings variety to your menu.
Have family members help.
There is no reason why the kids can't help out with the cleaning, including dishes and other chores, so that you have time to prepare meals. Have everyone remove his or her own dirty place setting from table and put away 4 or 5 additional items. The table will be cleared quickly using this method. Wash your dishes right away. If you don't let them sit, the food will not get stuck on them. This will save you a lot of time -- you have to clean the kitchen before the next meal.
When unloading the dishwasher, set the table for the next meal.
Put away containers and clean up as you cook.
When measuring dry ingredients for cookies, brownies, cake or such, measure an extra set and place them in a bag or container. Store in a cool dry place and the next time you need to make that recipe, grab the dry ingredients measured and ready to go! - Barb Campbell, MS Barb helps to edit a monthly e-mail newsletter, JEM-Precious Stones. If you would like to receive it, send an e-mail to [email protected].
by Angela Billings - Used by permission
I have been working on my Home-keeping Notebook and wanted to share with you some of the categories I have added and how I use this very helpful device.
1. Bills - In this category I keep all my bills to be paid (in a protective pocket). Behind it I have each month's "Bills To Pay List" in a cover and put the bill receipts I have paid in that pocket for that month.
2. Supplies - I also have another section for postage stamps, address labels, SS# and other passwords - this is for me and for my husband, he would not be able to find this stuff if it was scattered around the house, so think about this when you work on your Home-keeping notebook, in case you are sick your husband will be able to find everything in one place.
3. Menu - In this section I keep my menu for breakfast, lunch and supper/dinner and a snack list also. I have my main course menu for supper of the dishes my family likes on a list and give this to my husband each week so he can pick out what he wants for supper and I then add the side dishes to the menu for that week. He usually just picks out about 5 so that leaves room for me to experiment with new meals.
4. Home-keeping - In this section are my cleaning lists, homemade cleaning supplies recipes, articles and tips for homemaking.
5. Recipes - This is for the recipes that are tried and true and the family likes.
6. Birthdays - This is for helping me remember birthdays to send cards to friends and extended family but also to plan special birthdays for my children and husband.
7. Canning/Freezing - This is for recipes to preserve food and also a list of things in the freezer and that have been canned.
8. Holidays - This is for planning special things for my family on holidays throughout the year. I have a Christmas notebook that has Christmas stuff only in it.
9. Book List and Favorite Websites - This is for books or magazines I hear about and might want to read and also for websites that I come across that are worth keeping.
10.First Aid - This is a section for home remedy treatments and a list of things to keep in the first aid kit and for emergencies.
11.Gardening - This is for planning my garden and for keeping lists of seeds I save, my favorite gardening catalogs.
Add categories that pertain to your household needs. You will find that you will have a need to get rid of some categories and add new ones as your life changes and your family grows or gets smaller when the children move out.
Angela Billings publishes a free online newsletter Home and Family Ezine. http://www.homeandfamilyezine.com/
Research shows that massage has affected the weight gain, sleep quality, and overall development of preterm infants. Infants who were massaged before sleeping, had a tendency to fall asleep more quickly and exhibited more consistent sleeping patterns than infants who were not massaged. After eight months, the same infants who received massage therapy as newborns displayed optimal cognitive and motor control development.
If it's broken, fix it.
If it's empty, fill it up.
If it's open, shut it.
If it's out, put it away.
If it's messy, clean it up.
If you can't, then report it.
That's honor.
Take time to teach children that they don't have to be asked in order to do a job. Honor means that we are all contributing to family life. In fact, you may ask a child to go around the house and look for one job that needs to be done and do it, then report back to you.
These kinds of discussions and exercises will help children think outside of their little box and discover that they have a responsibility to the family. They can contribute to family life by just seeing something that needs to be done and doing it.
Of course, that's what makes a valuable employee so you can teach your children something more important than just how to get along better in your family. You may be preparing them to be outstanding employees as they get older.
ABSTRACT FLOWERS INSPIRED BY GEORGIA O'KEEFFE
A Beautiful Art History Project for All Ages, submitted by Madeline Buonagurio, an art educator at Jefferson, Roosevelt and Washington Elementary Schools, in North Arlington, NJ http://www.kinderart.com/arthistory/abstractflowers.shtml
A BOY AND HIS BASEBALL
There was a knock at the door. It was a small boy, about six years old. Something of his had found its way into my garage, he said, and he wanted it back. Upon opening the garage door, I noticed two additions: a baseball and a broken window sporting a baseball-sized hole. "How do you suppose this ball got in here?" I asked the boy.
Taking one look at the ball, one look at the window, and one look at me, the boy exclaimed, "Wow! I must have thrown it right through that hole!" -- Cited on ArcaMax.com
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DAILY DISCIPLINE TIPS: IN CONTROL OR UNDER CONTROL?
©copyright 2006, Brenda Nixon. For helpful articles, books, resources, Brenda's bio, calendar, news and contact info, go to http://www.brendanixon.com. - Used by permission
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Discipline means, to teach. You are the teacher, your child is the learner.
To be successful in life, your child must learn appropriate ways to: meet needs, Good discipline helps her learn to do this - not because she's told to, but because she wants to. How do you motivate her to want to? One way is by allowing consequences to happen. When people experience the consequences of their decisions or behaviors, it usually makes an impact. It causes them to be accountable for or "own" the situation. If the consequence is positive, they're motivated to repeat what brought pleasure. If the consequence is negative, they'll choose differently next time. This is how your child learns to be responsible and takes a tiny step towards self-regulation. Your daily discipline goal is to teach your child to have self-control. Eventually, you can rest assured that she's acting in appropriate ways even when you're not around. Brenda Nixon says: Im starting a new "Daily Discipline" e-tip service. If youd like to receive a tip each Wednesday to help you in daily discipline with kids, sign up for "Daily Discipline" at my site http://www.brendanixon.com . Its free and you may unsubscribe anytime ... but, I hope its so inspirational that you wont want to. |
Jesus comes not for the super spiritual but for the wobbly & weak-kneed who know they don't have it all together and who are not too proud to accept amazing grace. ~ Brennan Manning ~ Thanks to Wanda Fox in Pennsylvania for sending this quote!
DART TEST (I'm sorry that I lost track of who sent me this story with a great lesson!)
A young lady named Sally, relates an experience she had in a seminary class, given by her teacher, Dr. Smith. She says that Dr. Smith was known for his elaborate object lessons.
One particular day, Sally walked into the seminary and knew they were in for a fun day. On the wall was a big target and on a nearby table were many darts. Dr. Smith told the students to draw a picture of someone that they disliked or someone who had made them angry, and he would allow them to throw darts at the person's picture.
Sally's friend drew a picture of who had stolen her boyfriend. Another friend drew a picture of his little brother. Sally drew a picture of a former friend, putting a great deal of detail into her drawing, even drawing pimples on the face. Sally was pleased with the overall effect she had achieved.
The class lined up and began throwing darts Some of the students threw their darts with such force that their targets were ripping apart. Sally looked forward to her turn, and was filled with disappointment when Dr. Smith, because of time limits, asked the students to return to their seats. As Sally sat thinking about how angry she was because she didn't have a chance to throw any darts at her target. Dr. Smith began removing the target from the wall.
Underneath the target was a picture of Jesus. A hush fell over the room as each student viewed the mangled picture of Jesus; holes and jagged marks covered His face and His eyes were pierced.
Dr. Smith said only these words... "In as much as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me." - Matthew 25:40.
No other words were necessary; the tears filled eyes of the students focused only on the picture of Christ.
This is an easy test; you score 100 or zero. It's your choice.
Click: Scripture Tree - When the tree comes up, click on a flower. After reading the scripture, close that one and click on another flower. - Thanks to Susan Whiteside in Virginia for this inspirational link!