I Have the Power!!

I receive a devotional in my inbox every day from Lifeway, as well as several other devotions. I don’t always take the time to read them. But today I did. I can’t help but beleive I opened this one for a reason.

I pray that the eyes of your heart may
be enlightened so you may know what
is the hope of His calling. . .
and what is the immeasurable
greatness of His power to us who believe. . .
Ephesians 1:18a,19a, HCSB

Trusting God to help you overcome your sins and shortcomings sounds so spiritual, doesn't it? Turning everything over to God, letting God handle your problems, giving your burdens to the Lord . . . can't argue with the wisdom there.

But when it's just you and your bad temper, or your runaway sex drive, or your weakness for cherry cheesecake, where do you find the strength to say no?

You might not guess it to look at you, but you have available to you--right now--the same kind of power that God "demonstrated . . . in the Messiah by raising Him from the dead" (Ephesians 1:20). And as you begin facing even your toughest challenges with the weapons of prayer, Bible truth, worship, thanksgiving, accountability, and other specific strategies that you'll begin gaining through experience, you'll see sin's deception for what it is, you'll turn your back on habits that have had your number for years, and your heart for instant gratification will be changed into a heart that knows where its power lies.

This Week's Look Up Verse
Ephesians 1:15-19

This devotional is courtesy of One Minute Bible for Starters.

A nice remonder that I am NOT alone in my daily struggles to overcome bad habits and be a Christian, wife, mother, teacher, etc. Tomorrow is Monday. Tomorrow is a new day, A new week. A new chance for me to fail, or succeed.  As I shared my goals in my New Year’s post (found here) and chose a word as my “mantra” for the coming year (which is PEACE), I couldn't help but feel overwhelmed. A peaceful life? A peaceful home? There are many days where this seems unattainable. But I do not have to struggle. I do not have to admit defeat and give up. Christ wants me to lean on Him. He wants to share His power and strength with me. That’s right, even ME. Even YOU!

I need to remember the awesome power of prayer everyday, for the big things AND the little things. He is my provision, my power, and my portion. HE is enough.

Blessings,

: ) Cassie

Small Talk Six

Today’s topic is “6 of your most vivid childhood memories.” You can answer this with a list of 6 words, 6 phrases, 6 sentences, 6 paragraphs, 6 photos, 6 videos, etc . . .

 

1. I vividly remember going to spend time at my grandfather’s cottage on Lake Huron quite often. There were so many fun things to do! We went tubing, rode jet-ski’s, swam, drove around the golf cart, and sat around the fire pit at night. He no longer has the cottage, but while he did, we had a lot of fun there.
2. I remember riding all over town on my bike as a kid. It’s what we did every day when we had warm weather. It was a different time back then, and I also lived in a little bitty po-dunk town. It makes me sad to think my own children will never be able to experience the kind of childhood I did. It’s such a scary world out there nowadays.
3. I also recall what it was like being a big sister. I was 8 when my younger sister was born and I thought I was little momma. I wanted to help with/do everything! As she got older, we often played school (I played the mean teacher) and store. I also spent a lot of time teaching her how to count and ABC’s.
4. I remember trying to tag along with my older brother EVERYWHERE he went. When he actually allowed me to play with him, we mostly played army. We would run around the backyard and throw “grenades” at one another (made out of whatever we could get our hands on at the time) and  argue over who killed who first.
5. I remember going swimming at Lakeview “beach” all the time in the summer. It was a campground and they had a very small beach you could swim at. They had a great concession stand full of cheap candy and snacks. The best part of it was there were fish in the lake (they had part of the lake sectioned off for fishing) that would nibble you if you were sitting still.
6. I remember bike wrecks (lots of them always involving my best friend, Joanie), Pogo Balls, Gotchya guns, and Easy Bake ovens. Man, they sure had some great toys when I was a kid!

Blessings,

: ) Cassie

Weekly Wrap-up – January 9, 2010

 

I used to do these homeschool “Weekly Wrap-ups” on a regular basis and have gotten away form doing them. Since I have a renewed blog and a renewed drive to write more, i thought I should get back into participating!

This post will be short and sweet, as I was sick for the first half of the week and we had a light week of school…

This week we finished up Y1U1 week 4: Creation Through Noah in our TOG curriculum. Our next 2 weeks we will be covering week 5: Babel to Ur: Early History of Ancient Mesopotamia. I already have our activities all planned out and scheduled. All that’s left to do is print our pages and fill the workboxes!

The planning for week 5 went very smooth today. Up until now, it has taken me the better part of a day to get everything figured out and scheduled. I think I am now getting into my own “niche” and have a pretty routine way of going through the curriculum and transferring it into a weekly lesson plan. I am glad I decided to go back to TOG, it has been such a fun journey! I will definitely be staying with TOG this time for the loooong haul (meaning someday I will be doing it all over again with Joey)! I can’t wait til we go through the cycle again when the boys are HS aged and see how much deeper we can go.

We also had a good snow this week so the boys got to bundle up and play outside one afternoon. You can see pictures from their fun here.

We got to read some really great books this past 2 weeks and I want to recommend some to you:

I am not sure if you find this one to purchase (unless to happen to find a used copy) but you may look for it at your library. Here is a review posted on Amazon:

“In Yellow & Pink . . . Steig has created a pair of characters who seem the embodiments of his bright esthetic. Named for the colors of their freshly painted costumes, Pink and Yellow are wooden dolls left out to dry in the sun. They are odd fellows, bumpkins, incorrigibles, clowns, countrymen of Beckett’s Vladimir and Estragon, Laurel and Hardy. Philosophers both, they no sooner ‘awaken,’ come to life, than they begin to ponder by what means they might have arrived in this world. ‘How,’ Yellow demands . . . ‘could anyone make something like me, so intricate, so perfect? Or, for that matter, like you.’ . . . One marvels at the expressiveness, the nearness to animation, of Steig’s vibrant drawings.” – Leonard S. Marcus, The Washington Post Book World
-- Review

We really enjoyed reading this book and I loved the creative way the author addressed the question of where we came from.

We could not find this book at our local library, so I purchased it from Amazon. It is the most thorough, accurate children’s book I have read about Noah’s Ark. It is full of extra information in the back and includes a panoramic, pull-out illustration of the inside of the ark. We spent a lot of time just looking at the pictures and noticing all the little details the illustrator included.

The kids also go to design and paint their own coffee cups yesterday. We had purchased the little kits as Christmas presents and had not yet had a chance to paint them. They really enjoyed them.

As I said, it was a light week and we pretty much treated it as a catch-up week. We have much more planned for the next two weeks. I am totally ready to get back into full swing!

Click here to see more Weekly Wrap-up posts. See you next week!

Blessings,

: ) Cassie

Looking for fun, free math games?

I stumbled across this site while reading through my feed reader today. I am definitely going to make these games for the boys, I think they would enjoy them!

Storm the Castle math game

Loot the Pirate Ship math game

Blessings,

: ) Cassie

Ancient Mesopotamia/Sumeria Study Links

We are getting ready to study Ancient Mesopotamia this week and TOG, so I went lurking around the web to find supporting materials. I found some really great links that I wanted to keep a permanent record of and share with you! Enjoy!

Great page about Sumerian Art and Architecture

Printable PDF file - Make a Model Ziggurat (print on card stock and color, then assemble)

Link list for PowerPoints about Mesopotamia/Sumer

National Geographic Kids – Video

Site about Hammurabi's Code (with translation)

Complete Unit and Lesson Plans

Happy studies!

: ) Cassie

My Babies Have Rhythm!!

Check out this great video of Joey (and Isaiah for a moment) dancing to MC Hammer’s “You Can’t Touch This”… There *might* be a short scene of me doing the “Hammer Dance” but please close your eyes on that part, LOL!

Joey dancing to MC Hammer @ Yahoo! Video

Blessings,

: )  Cassie

My Snow Babies

We had a pretty decent snow here on Thursday. Which meant the kids were DYINGT to go out and play in it. I was hesitant because I had no clue which box in my closet held all of thier snow gear and we have yet to purchase any of them snow boots this year.

But the hubby helped me dig out their snow pants, mittens, and hats so they could go out. Joey only had a nice warm coat, mittens, and a hat. SO we put sweats on him under bib overalls and pair of rain boots that are 2 sizes too big. Not the ideal outfit, but it worked well wnough for him to go out for a bit. This was the first time he has gone out in the snow. I thought I would share some pictures with you. Some of them are a bit blurry, i apologize. I was taking some from inside the back door through the window. I did not step one foot out in it, I’m not a fan of cold nor snow.

View Full Album

Thursday 13 – Week 53

 13 of My Favorite Foods

1. Pioneer Woman’s Mac and Cheese (recipe here)

2. Homemade bread

3. Fruit Roll-Ups

4. Loaded Baked Potatoes

5. CoCo Wheats

6. Reisen’s candies

7. Greek Salad (ala Olive Garden)

8. Soft Pretzels from the mall

9. Homemade Snickerdoodles

10. Filet Mignon or Ribeye

11. Pulled Pork BBQ

12. McDonald’s Fries (when they are fresh and hot and salty)

13. Broccoli w/ alfredo sauce

The worst part is, I am really hungry as I am typing this and I have NONE of these things in my house right now :(

Wondering what Thursday 13 is all about?

Find out more here: About Thursday 13
Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others’ comments. It’s easy, and fun!

Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Funnies From Bloggyland…

I was perusing through my many followed blogs today, and came across a link to this hilariously true post: Lessons Learned from Toddlerhood Check it out for a good laugh!

Blessings,

: ) Cassie

Wow, what a day!!

So this morning, I awoke to the sound of a knock on my door. It was the FedEx guy returning my laptop to me, which had been sent to HP for repairs. I had stayed up too late last night (see previous post) so I was not up yet and had to rush down the stairs to get to the door before he left with my laptop. I was expecting it, so I knew who was knocking. I’m glad it woke me up.
When I came downstairs, got my laptop from the delivery guy, and turned around to walk back up the stairs, I stopped cold. Why? What did I see?
In my dining area, I have 2 tall, black bookcases. We had 3 but lost one in the move. One of the others had been dangerously close to collapsing, so we reinforced it with metal brackets, hoping to make it last a bit longer. We thought it was working out well, but apparently we were wrong…
The entire bookcase had collapsed in the middle of the night and was crumbled into a book-laden mess on the floor! This happens to be the bookcase with 4 of the 5 shelves packed full of books. It was a mess! So I went and got Joey out of bed and took him back upstairs with his Daddy to hang out while I cleaned up the mess.
It took me about half an hour to get everything off the floor and I had to rearrange my other bookcase in order to find a place for all the books. That left quite a few other items without a home.
We managed to get through the school day without any major mishaps, though I did have to shoo Joey out of things more often than usual because things were here and there. Later in the evening, we decided to run to Wal Mart and grab a few grocery items. I also had 2 things to return.
We got all of our groceries and then made our way over to the furniture aisle to see what kind of shelving they had that was in the same price range as the money I had received from my returns.
Let me take this moment to share a public service announcement with you. The bookcases I had were tall, 5-shelf bookcases. The brand was Wal-Mart’s mainstays brand. IF you like to rearrange your furniture on occasion, or move around a lot, do NOT purchase these shelves!! The price is great at around $30, BUT they will not last very long. The 2 older ones that collapsed of mine were just shy of 2 years. We have moved dwellings twice since purchasing them, and I can’t even tell you how many times they have been rearranged since purchased. They did not hold up well. Spend the extra money and buy a nicer bookcase, I beg you! The reason they are not sturdy is because the side pieces are actually not one solid board. They are 2 separate pieces. Here are the bookcases in question…
To make a long story short, I decided to buy a smaller, 3-shelf version (which we also already owned one of) to get me by until I can afford a nicer set of bookcases that will not fall apart on me. The bad part about them is they had NO black shelves in stock and I had to have a replacement ASAP as I had lots of things without a home.
It ended up just fine though and I really like the shorter shelving. It makes the room look less cluttered, which is always a good thing. I will try to take pictures tomorrow. I spent another 2 hours after we got home assembling the shelf and arranging my things exactly where I wanted them. Yeah, I’m a little OCD, so sue me.
The silver lining through all this was that the shelves collapsed in the middle of the night while we were all asleep. That heavy pile of books could of really hurt one of us if we were in the way when it came down, especially Joey. Once again, God was looking out for us!
I’m hoping for an uneventful day tomorrow!

Blessings,

: ) Cassie

WHY am I still awake?

It’s 2:30 here and I am sitting up on bed blogging.

NO, I am not up TO BLOG. I am blogging because I am up! Hehe, convinced? But seriously, I JUST finished getting things in workboxes for school tomorrow. I don’t know why I do this to myself. But hey, they are done and we are all set to complete a full day of lessons tomorrow, that’s what counts, right?

I had been contemplating going back to my old system of “doing school” over the past week or so. Sometimes it takes so very long to get my act together and get those boxes filled. I think the biggest reason is because it is hard on some days to find 12 separate activities for each boy to do. I spend a lot of time scouring my favorite printables sites to find fun, relative things for them to do to fill in those extra few empty boxes. So I decided I would try mixing workboxes in with my previous way of doing things. I used a binder system, with pockets for each day of the week, prefilled with the entire week’s work. I thought I would put our normal workpage type work in those then put some extra fun things in the workboxes, maybe 6 per boy, that they could do while they were waiting to work with me or after finishing all their other work. It didn’t work out. Wondering why? Because I can’t find those darn binders anywhere! I know I didn’t throw them out (I never throw school stuff out, just ask my husband) but I just don’t know where they could be! Well, they COULD be in any one of several boxes stacked up in my closet. But I don’t need to find them badly enough to drag the entire contents of my walk-in out at 11pm. So, for now, we are sticking with workboxes.

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the system. I just think I put too much pressure on myself to get all 12 boxes filled with fun and interesting things for the boys to do. Drew is a whiner during school time, so it’s nice when he is excited to do anything school-related. So i guess I only have myself to blame.

Anyhow, are you enjoying my late-night ramblings? I would already be sleeping now if it were not for the fact that I only ate 2 meals today and skipped dinner. My tummy is rumbling. So I am having a little snack then it’s off to sleep I go!

Here’s hoping our school time tomorrow goes well, it will be our first real day back from break (we did fun, computer schooling yesterday). I will likely be fighting some negative attitudes from my eldest.

Blessings,

: ) Cassie

Not Me Monday

One of my goals for 2010 is to write more. In search of new inspiration I came across another new meme that I have decided to participate in. I have enjoyed reading other participant’s posts for some time now and thought it would be fun!

You can learn more about this meme by clicking on the logo above.

I did NOT skip lessons today because I spent hours trying to figure out what to do about my blog issues. (I DID however, decide to stay here on blogger with a fresh start and keep all of my older posts on a different site which is linked to on the “Old Blog” button in my header.)

I did NOT allow my 20mo son to eat 6 packages of fruit snacks today.

I did NOT allow my children to play video games (Wii) before their standard 8pm scheduled time.

I did NOT allow my 20mo “growing way too fast” baby boy to take a nap at 7pm this evening just because he fell asleep on my lap (and it’s been a LONG time since he has done that).

I did NOT hit my elbow so hard about 30 minutes ago that it made me sick to my stomach. And yes, it still hurts! :(

I did NOT fold all my laundry but leave it in piles in the living room.

I did NOT have to discipline my oldest son this afternoon for telling his brother, “I hate you” and calling him a butthead because he got mad over a video game (see above).

Yep. I think that’s enough for today. Don’t you just LOVE Mondays? Sigh.

Blessings,

: ) Cassie

Small Talk Six

I used to participate in quite a few weekly memes and really enjoyed them. Sadly, most of them are no longer active. I happened upon a new one today and I thought it sounded like a fun meme to be a part of!

This weeks assignment is to blog about 6 ways you have decided to change your life in 2010. I did a post a few days ago about my new goals for the new year, but I have had a little more time to think about them now. Some are going to be taken from that post, and others are not. Here we go!

1. I have decided to commit to getting organized in all areas of my life and keeping it that way!

2. I will wear a smile and a pleasant demeanor more in 2010 than I did in 2009. Can I add to that that I will wear sweats/pajamas less? I dunno, that might be stretching it a bit…

3. I will write, write, WRITE! Whether it be here on the blog(s), for HOTM, or for whatever other sources I come across, I want to write more, and write WELL.

4. I want to find a good system (for myself and my children) for housework and chores. One that we can stick to for longer than a week. One that means I am not the only person responsible for the cleanliness (or the lack thereof) of our home. Have any suggestions? I hate to beg, but PLEASE will you comment and share?

5. I am laying down the law (again for myself and my children). School is top priority in our day! Nothing fun or extra til it’s done! Hmmm, I wonder if that should include blogging…

6. I want to get back to cooking and baking like I used to. I have fallen into making a lot of shortcut meals and convenience foods for lack of planning or time. Here lately, I just want a nice, home cooked meal! I miss them. A couple of times a week is not enough. Yeah, I know it takes longer and makes a bigger mess, but that’s what the organization and chores are for!

It was really hard to narrow this down into 6 choices, but I think these goals really share my heart for want I want for my family. I know it will not be easy, but the good news is, I don’t have to do it on my own! Thankfully, I have my Savior to help me out (otherwise I wouldn’t stand a chance)!

Blessings,

: ) Cassie

Counting Our Blessings

My husband called me from work on his lunch break a while ago and gave me some very scary news. Last night, at the work release center he is a CO at, an inmate was shot in the top of the head by a stray bullet that came through the steel roof of the facility. People in the surrounding area were shooting their guns off to ring in the new year, and a total of 3 bullets came into the facility. Luckily, there was only one injury. The bullet was slowed down enough by the steel roof that it did not penetrate the man’s skull. He was taken to the hospital to have the bullet removed and get staples to close the wound.

I am thanking God that no one was killed or seriously injured in the accident. I am also thanking Him that my husband was at home last night when this happened.

There is a law against shooting firearms within city limits here, but on new years eve, it is largely ignored. We even heard gunshots close by our apartments last night! Thank God none of them came our way.

Thank You Lord for Your protection! I pray a speedy recovery for the man that was injured and that he comes into relationship with you through this miraculous incident.

Blessings,

: ) Cassie

One Little Word 2010

I just came across this idea today reading through my feed reader and thought it was a really neat way to regroup and focus on a great new year. One Little Word is something that was started by a fellow blogger and you can find out more about it here.

I have decided to participate and the word I have chosen is PEACE.

Definition of PEACE from dictionary.com: (emphasis mine)

1. the normal, nonwarring condition of a nation, group of nations, or the world.

2. (often initial capital letter) an agreement or treaty between warring or antagonistic nations, groups, etc., to end hostilities and abstain from further fighting or antagonism: the Peace of Ryswick.

3. a state of mutual harmony between people or groups, esp. in personal relations: Try to live in peace with your neighbors.

4. the normal freedom from civil commotion and violence of a community; public order and security: He was arrested for being drunk and disturbing the peace.

5. cessation of or freedom from any strife or dissension.

6. freedom of the mind from annoyance, distraction, anxiety, an obsession, etc.; tranquility; serenity.

7. a state of tranquillity or serenity: May he rest in peace.

8.
a state or condition conducive to, proceeding from, or characterized by tranquility: the peace of a mountain resort.

9. silence; stillness: The cawing of a crow broke the afternoon's peace.

10. (initial capital letter, italics) a comedy (421 b.c.) by Aristophanes.

In the coming year, the word PEACE describes what I am striving for in all areas of my life and family. I want a peaceful home, a peaceful mind, and peaceful relationships to become the norm. Just read the bolded definitions above! Freedom from strife, tranquility, serenity, stillness… Who doesn’t want these things?

Count me in!

Blessings,

: ) Cassie