Thursday, November 27, 2008
It's Here!
The Christmas season has arrived and here are some things we will do today at the Fuentes home:
1. We will recover from Thanksgiving.
2. We will go shopping (this will be my first time going out shopping on 'Black Friday', but frugality is a must this year so off I go!)
3. We will decorate! My daughter was dying to put up the decorations last week, I really should have listened to her since we could have returned home to a beautifully decorated home.
4. Drink alot of Mexican hot chocolate and turn up the Christmas music (oh wait, I've already been doing that the last month...hmmm...)
5. We will discuss ways to keep Christ in Christmas. Here are some nifty posts from me last year to remind us of a few things:
Keeping Christ in Christmas
Surrendering Our Stuff
Pre-Christmas Toy Purge
Happy reading!
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Happy Thanksgiving
Here are some recipes you might be able to try before the Christmas season takes over---I love easy recipes and these top two take the cake, the first containing only two ingredients which is great if you need an easy idea for Thanksgiving:
Pumpkin Cake
Pumpkin Pudding
This has way more ingredients but I am definitely intrigued----pumpkin scones sound heavenly...
Pumpkin Scones
I know this next link has nothing to do with the holidays but when I saw how easy this was, I could not resist to share:
Homemade Yogurt in Crockpot
We are traveling out to Lake Marion, Illinois to visit some extended family and celebrate there--in the morning the children will watch the parade and I will work on preparing a fruit salad to take as a side, we will also bring these great turkey cookies:
Turkey Cookies - Simple and Oh So Cute!
Ingredients:
40 fudge striped cookies
1/4 cup chocolate frosting
Two 5 oz. pkgs. chocolate covered cherries
20 pieces of candy corn
Place 20 cookies on a flat surface, solid chocolate side down. With frosting attach a chocolate-covered cherry to the top of each base cookie. Position another cookie perpendicular to each base cookie; attach with frosting.
With a dab of frosting, attach one piece of candy corn to the front of each cherry for the head. Let stand until set. Makes 20 cookies. Your kids will LOVE making this!
May you all have a great day warming up the fire in your kitchen and enjoying the special time with family and friends!
A Meaningful Christmas
(thanks to Like a Warm Cup of Coffee)
Monday, November 24, 2008
Home Destroyers Part 2
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Dirt Cookies
Sometimes it is so easy for us here in America to think that we are struggling financially--and think we are deprived or 'poor'. While we are one of the richest countries in the world--we cannot truly see how rich we are because we do not see how the other side of the world has to live. Here is a story that when your money has run out, will make you look around and value what you have:
Friday, November 21, 2008
Loving the Homelife...
One of the things I love about being home is being able to decorate my children's rooms!
I am not an interior decorator by any means but there is just something exciting about planning it in your heart---the theme, the colors, the decorations they would just love. I get so excited about it, I even like to map it out on paper (like where are the furniture will be) and jot down all my notes and put it in my home notebook. I often use the computer to find extra ideas on themes if I need help being creating
I would love when there was a new baby on the way---it was an exciting time to redo the nursery for a fresh new look for the new little one we were expecting. Would it be bears? Would it be dinosaurs? A classic theme? I would love to see the little faces light up when they would find something they loved in the room. Mothers add that extra touch of love to everything, don't they? We truly put the love into the home with all the little finishing touches. Those finishing touches take much time, thought and energy. It is hard to add those special touches of love if we are on the run all the time or always on the computer. It is is hard to plan anything if are minds are not focused and cleared with God's word and his peace.
Decorating doesn't have to be expensive. I often would find things at garage sales or thrift stores--a matching comforter here, a pillow there-just determine your budget and stick to it. As I said, I am not an expert, but what counts is that the children feel loved and enjoy their room (now the challenging part is keeping it clean!) I will soon be moving the boys into the twins room since they temporarily needed the bigger room for all their baby gear. The plans are already made, but something is telling me this labor of love will more likely take place after the holidays...
A woman who truly loves the home will love it, decorate it, clean it and make it a special place for her loved ones. A woman who loves the home will guard her time and continually strive to make it a haven and a place of peace and refuge for her family.
What are some things you love about being home?
Monday, November 17, 2008
The Biblical Family
Friday, November 7, 2008
Home Destroyers
Part 1
"Having food and clothing, with these we shall be content." -1 Timothy 6:8
Reading through Proverbs recently I noticed that it mentions five things that destroy the home. I prefer not to write about negative things, but, on the other hand, we can't wipe any of God's Word under the mat. And God's negatives always turn to positives. When we read His warning signs which mean, ROAD BLOCK, WRONG WAY-GO BACK or DEAD END we know that it is not the road to take, even though it looks beautiful and such an easy road. We must swerve back on the road God has planned for us from the beginning of time. God has never changed his plans. His ways are still the only ones that work effectively. Jeremiah 6:16 says, "Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls."
Let's look at some of these WRONG WAY signs.
1. GREEDINESS
Proverbs 15:27, "He that is greedy of gain troubles his own house."
No wonder one of the Ten Commandments is "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house... thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife... nor any thing that is thy neighbor's." (Exodus 20: 17) When we see friends with things that we don't have it is easy to hanker after them too. Most people like to be like everyone else and have everything that their associates have. How can this negatively affect the home?
a) By becoming despondent and full of self-pity because we can't afford what we want. This takes away our joy of living and being "content with such things as we have." (Hebrews 3:5-6)
b) As we crave a better house and more things to put in the house we start to plan how we can get these things. Ideas take shape. That's it! I could do what everyone else is doing who has more things. I could go out and get a job! Yes, that's the answer. But is it? To go out and get a job you have to leave the home behind. You have to vacate the very place where God wants you to be--in the heart of the home. (Psalm 1228:3) You have to put your children in daycare or leave them with someone else. God didn't give your children to you to give them to someone else to look after! He gives the responsibility to you. You are the only one who can truly nurture and nourish your baby and children.
c) The home becomes a show piece of material riches rather than filling it with the true riches of children. When you get your eyes on material riches, children become a nuisance.
May God save us from a greedy spirit.
Love from NANCY CAMPBELL
Prayer:
"Father, I pray that you will take every spirit of greediness from me. Give me a contented spirit. Help me to enjoy the riches you have given me - my precious children and the (little) house you have provided for me. I thank you for the blessing of food and clothing. Amen"
Affirmation:
Content in my home, that's for me,
With coveting gone, I'm now free!
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Real-Life Homeschooling
We were all at the edge of our seats last night staying up late and watching Obama's speech---which of course, was counted as school (nothing like watching history unfold before you!) and this morning when we awoke I decided to scrap what we had planned on the school agenda today and instead use what we have learned over this past election as a valuable learning tool. Here's what we did:
We had 'in-house' voting and chose a pool of qualified candidates (McCain, Obama, pastors we knew, daddy, papa, their uncle, etc) that we wrote on our board and the voting began. It was great fun to hear to giggles and laughter as they voted. We finally narrowed it down to daddy and their uncle and of course, daddy won!
We created our own ballots (okay, we really printed some ballot templates on line) and had everyone fill them out. Not just with political questions but also others, such as 'which do you like more--carrots or peas?' My older daughter compiled all the information and made a statistics sheet and we also added in printed info on voting and both parties.
We colored printable coloring pages of presidents, and used wikipedia to find some great facts about them. Did you know Nixon is the only president who has resigned and he was on the republican ticket 5 times? Three times for president and twice for vice president. We took all this information and made little booklets out of it all for a presentation for daddy later that night.
And lastly, I had them pretend what they would do if they were president and write out a list of ten things they would change in the world if they could. They also had to choose a running mate. I really enjoyed the lists, here is a sample of Naomi's (10 yrs. old):
IF I BECAME PRESIDENT I WOULD....
1. Stop abortion
2. Stop wars
3. Help the poor
4. Stop drugs
5. Stop murder
6. Make everyone go to church
7. Help the hospitals
8. Less immodesty (in the world)
9. Make everyone be homeschooled
10. Make everyone be a Christian
(I think we need to review and study our constitutional freedoms a bit more clearly, wouldn't you agree?)
For the future election to be held 2012, I had them pick who they would like to see running and here were a few of their choices:
1. Jesus
2. Daddy
3. Mark Driscoll
Aren't they just so funny?
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Be a Part of History
Our family just visited the Billy Graham Museum last week while my husband was on vacation, it is a belated birthday gift to my son (just 8 yrs. old) who just loves Billy Graham! My son loves to walk around the house with a Bible and carry a Billy Graham book around with him or go off into his room to examine Decision magazine which is a publication of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. The reason I am sharing all of this with you is because Billy Graham is turning 90 on November 7th (this is also my third daughter's birthday!). There is a website set up for anyone to come and wish him a happy birthday though a message or video. Franklin Graham, his son, is asking everyone to participate and they are going to collect all the messages and present it to him on his birthday. You can leave this godly man a message by clicking here:
Happy Birthday to Billy Graham
I already sent mine---and so did some of my children as they wanted to let him know how his life has impacted us. I must warn you though, you won't have long to do it! There are also many celebrities like Casting Crowns, Michael W. Smith, and others who have left him videos that you can view there as well. Here are some pictures of our BG Museum visit that I thought you might enjoy:
This is my son, Stephen, and he would really like to become a pastor one day. One birthday I had to actually make him a 'pastor' birthday cake because he requested it. Do some of my older readers remember this picture of it-----?
Thank God they sell wedding supplies at stores--there is actually even a Bible on that little pulpit that I found to make it authentic! He just loved this cake--but back to the museum...
Anyways, here is Stephen at what was Billy Grahams pulpit that was custom made for him and electronically controlled--this was flown to many crusades and speaking events around the world.
Stephen stood in awe of many of the pictures and tried reading much of what he could. It really stirred my heart to watch him be so inspired at what God has done in one mans life.
Here are the girls--they enjoyed it too.
Here is a quote from him as he looks back on life.
This was beautifully lit up we just had to take a picture of it.
Well, that's all for now. Be sure to head over there and leave your blessings!