Thankful 30: Part 1

#1 God's Word

# 2 Sharpies and Moleskins

# 3 The Freedom to Homeschool

# 4 Smart, Healthy, Loving and Hilarious Boys

# 5 A Devoted, Sacrificing, and Supportive Husband

#6 abundance

# 7 turtles

# 8 cappuccino

# 9 fun money

Advent Study

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Please Lord

Lord God, I need your help. I cannot do this. I cannot battle my child on everything. Are you trying to teach me patience by first making me nuts? Is this really what I should be doing? Am I on the right path? Right now I feel like I'm off in the ditch. I need wisdom and strength. I am really struggling, Lord. My heart is ugly right now and only you can fix it. Please Lord, fix me. Give me your grace so I can share it. Give me your peace, your patience. I can only do this with you, Lord. Please. Guide me, fill me, teach me, lead me, mold me, use me, walk beside me. I give my life to THE Potter.

Good Morning Girls

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Vacation Bible School 2012

Amazing Wonders Aviation at Capital City Baptist in Mexico City! What an amazing week it was!

Joshua ready for take off.

Nikolas even has his mask on.

Me, Sandra and Carmen, an awesome team!

Joshua with his pilot's mask.

Carmen and I, ready to register kids!

5-5-5: Week 4 and 5

I totally forgot to post last week! It was a bit crazy around here, I don't think I was home all day for any day. I know that is most people's regular schedule but we are usually home all the time.
Looking back to week 1, I fell off the train a bit this week. I will be back to focusing on healthy eating and drinking more water
Week 2 was tough for me. I feel like my to-do list is never ending and it really overwhelms me. I am going to start a six list, which is list of six things that must get done each day.
Week 3 was a challenge to read the Bible before you read ANYthing else. And I am proud to say that I did it every day and am definitely going to continue doing this. If I don't have anything else to read, I read a daily Proverb (31 Proverbs for 31 days of the month) and then I read the devotion from Jesus Calling, which is I highly recommend.
Week 4 was clearing your mind of something. I did use the computer (facebook) less and I tried to read more. I am reading Raising Real Men, which is an awesome book for parents of boys. It has changed the way I think about a lot of things and I can see changes in our family and I'm not even half way through the book yet! And like I said I am reading a Proverb a day and Jesus Calling: Enjoying Peace in His Presence. I am trying not to think/worry/dwell/focus on all the junk. When I think of something troubling I really try to just give it to God and let Him deal with it.
And now for week 5's challenge... Work. eww. Just kidding! Courtney asks if the people in our home would call us an eager-beaver? um... no. Not me. I avoid work at all costs. And let me tell you that I avoid it all. Laundry, dishes, floors (!). I would rather read or hang out with my kids or do just about anything. But these are my responsibilities and I know they need to be done. {side note: Courtney also talked about this but next week Good Morning Girls is starting a 14 week study on Proverbs. You can get the book from Courtney's blog Women Living Well and the reading plan on Good Morning Girls. If you need an accountability group, just leave me a comment and I can add you to my Facebook group or you can start your own, they even made a leader's guide! That starts Monday and goes through mid-August.}
Back to the challenge, to work with eager hands for God's glory. Doing the work around my home is no fun but doing it for God's glory changes the reason and my heart to want to do it all, for my family and for my God.  My plan this week is to get caught up on this chaos in my house, all for the glory of God! Please pray for me!
If you missed it:
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3

5-5-5: Week 3

Last week my to-do list was quite long. And like Courtney, it was a little overwhelming. I remember in all my reading of wise counsel, somewhere along the way I read about a Six List. Write down six things to do each day. Maybe I'll start doing that.
Going back to my goal for week one, I am still sticking with the Weight Watchers and drinking more water. Today was tough because we had a potluck with our small group at church. But I think because I was good the rest of this week that it was okay for a little freedom today. {I am down 1.2 pounds this week!}
This week's challenge is another great one that I will be committing to:
Week 3′s Challenge: (pasted from Women Living Well)
Purpose to not read ANYTHING else before you have read God’s word for at least 1 minute in the morning.  Do not read the newspaper, facebook, a spiritual devotional  or check your email.  Go straight to God’s word first.  And in case you think 1 minute seems a bit stingy with our time – I want to suggest – that once you get started most likely you will go for much longer than 1 minute.  But I want this to be doable.  After reading your Bible, I encourage you to leave your Bible in the kitchen open and everytime you walk past it, pause to read it for 15 seconds and then go on.  Squeeze all the nourishment you can out of the scriptures you are reading. 

I think this is a great discipline and I am praying it helps me this week!

Here are the last two week's posts, in case you missed them.
Week 2
Week 1

A Small Thing

You can make a difference! We have a sponsor child in Rwanda. There are many ways you can help.

Help a Child

I'm On My Knees

The Gentleness Challenge

As you read last week, I have been struggling with some things. I felt like my umbrella had blown inside out and it was hailing. My husband got me a new umbrella and reminded me that I don't have to hold it all by myself. God is holding the umbrella and my husband is holding my hand. It is day by day, digging out and getting ahead. Satan knows what brings me down, he knows how to hold me there. I have to make the choice to get on the right path every day; every hour; in each challenge of the day.
Today I read two blog posts that lit a path for me. Sam at Sam's Noggin posted about returning to our foundations. And Courtney at Women Living Well is doing The Gentleness Challenge. Go read their posts and be inspired to get on the right track like I was.

Reading Through Luke

 
I am reading through Luke with Momstoolbox.com. Join us this Christmas Season.

Week 1: Making Your Home a Haven

Please go visit Courtney at Women Living Well to learn more about this wonderful challenge.
I went to the store and purchased a candle. Apparently candles are not that popular in Mexico City, unless you want a picture of a saint on it. But I finally found one in the Christmas items!

Here it is... Boring.
You know I couldn't just leave it that way! Here is the final product (super duper easy tutorial below)!

Now that is more like it! Go down and see how easy it is to make your own family candle!

“The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.”

Use tissue paper! Yep, tissue paper. Trim it to the height and circumference of your candle. I try not to overlap it at the seam, if anything I'd rather have an opening. You won't really see it. You can try using other colors of tissue paper, as well. 

These are my favorite colors, Chocolate Chip, Not Quite navy and silver.

This is one of my favorite stamp sets! Refuge and Strength from Stampin' Up!

You can stamp as little or as much as you like. A big background stamp would also be great for this. 

Lay your candle down lay the tissue paper on the candle.

With a heat gun or hot blow dryer, start in the middle of your tissue paper and heat it. You will be able to see the wax liquefy  Don't leave it too long or your paper can burn and the wax can make a mess. Just long enough for the wax to get soft and adhere to the paper. Continue from the center and go back to the seam. I go around the top of the paper and bottom to make sure they are smooth against the wax, use the heat gun.

Some great quotes. 

And some ribbon to finish it.
SUPER DUPER EASY!
Let me know if you have any questions! 

This morning I went to light my candle and cannot believe it, but I do not have anything to light it with! Gonna try the gas stove. WOW! It is Monday!

Psalm 84

1 How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts! 2 My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God. 3 Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O LORD of hosts,my King and my God. 4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise! Selah 5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion. 6As they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools. 7 They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion. 8 O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah 9 Behold our shield, O God; look on the face of your anointed! 10 For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. 11For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. 12 O LORD of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you!
My heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God! My strength is only is the one true God! Blessed are the people who trust in you, Lord! 
I am so blessed! Above and beyond what I had ever imagined. I have a wonderful husband, two beautiful and healthy boys, an amazing opportunity to live in new and exciting places but most of all, I have an amazing Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Some days are easier than others but the best days are when I turn to God first in all things: needs, wants, desires, concerns, praise. 
A good friend that is going through a really difficult time shared Psalm 84:3-4 with me. I expanded on it and loved it so much that I wanted to share it with everyone! How I long to be His dwelling place!

31 Day Fall Challenge

I loved doing this challenge last fall and I will be doing it again this year. It is simple things you can do to make your home a haven. Go visit Courtney at WomenLivingWell to learn more!

Blankets for Babies

BE THANKFUL FOR WHAT YOU HAVE!
Imagine your first child has just been born. You're excited, exhausted and ready to head home. The nurse brings your sweet child in wrapped in NEWSPAPER and ready to sweep you out the door. WHAT?!? Oh, did I mention that you simply can't afford a blanket to bring your baby home and the hospital is too poor to help you out?
This is how many babies go home here in Mexico. The general hospital here in Mexico City sees 20-30 new babies EACH day! The hospitals and the new families are very poor. There is a ministry here that helps these new families by making baby blankets. I have helped make them a few times now and it was a fun time but I also felt my heart grow for the babies that would be receiving the blankets that I helped to make.
This is a very easy way to make a very big difference. I can accept donations of baby blankets or financial gifts to help these families. Please contact me if you can help in any way. Financial donations will go toward purchasing fabric to make blankets.
Click here to find out about a fundraiser, just another way you can help!

Getting Radical!

Our pastor at our church here in Mexico City was truly inspired by the book Radical by David Platt. So much so that we are going to be doing the Radical Experiment as a church starting very soon. He recommends starting with a fresh journal, so here is mine that I re-made just for Radical. It even coordinates with my Bible and bag. because that is how I roll! On the bottom, under the cross I used silver ink to stamp the verse...

"God is our refuge and strength, therefore we will not fear." Psalm 46:1-2 

Are you Radical? Don't you want to be? Click on the button above to find out more! 

Warrior Prayers

 If you missed out on the last round of 21 Days of Prayer for Sons, then get ready because there is another one starting in September! It will be September 6-26. It is free to join a group but you will need the Warrior Prayers book by Brooke McGlothlin. It is wonderful! What a blessing this book has been to so many moms of boys.

 And if you are feeling called to start your own group and lead, then you'll also need the leader guide.

If you have questions then visit Brooke to get more information.

More Art Scripture Journal

The words are from Angela at Good Morning Girls.

Psalm 46:1

Names of our Father

This is your life.
Are you who you want to be?
My answer would be-no. Don't get me wrong, I love my husband and my boys. But sometimes I just don't feel complete, I don't feel like I know what I'm doing here. I don't really know who I am beyond a wife and a mom.
What is my purpose? I want to be what God wants me to be and right now I don't know if I am filling those shoes.
Why am I here? In Mexico, not on earth. Is it so I can learn to depend on God? Is it so I can re-prioritize my life?
I have decided to make a few changes. Less of some things, more of some other things. More of God, more prayer time, more listening time. I pray that God gives me some focus or some encouragement.
How do you know your purpose? Was it obvious? has your purpose changed over time?

Scripture Art Journal

My new found love (and time-sucker) is Pinterest! I have found some amazing inspiration for crafts, projects I want to do when we have our own home and great stuff for the kids and cooking, too. Something that really inspired me was a beautiful Scripture Journal that The Redheaded Hostess created. But I also fell in love with this Daily Art Journal on Write.Click.Scrapbook. I found both (and so many more) on Pinterest and the link will take you to the original post. So, anyway this is the first page "Faith" in my Scripture Art Journal that combines both ideas.

 You know you want to!