Hot Friday Night Date............sort of :)

So, it is Friday night. Jacob is in bed. Ryan and I decide to do something fun together. So, what do we do you ask?

We have been listening to the Dave Ramsey podcast for almost two hours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And we are loving it!

When did we become such DORKS? Oh, well. We are happy dorks who are working our way to being debt free.

So, we heard an awesome quote from a listener who e-mailed Dave. You know that Capital One credit card slogan, "What's in your wallet?"

Well here is the Dave Ramsey version........................

"What's in your wallet?......................................................CASH!

Calling all moms...............

Okay all you expert, seasoned, experienced moms.........I need your help (or at least just some encouragement)!

What are your best tips for surviving the Terrible Two's Tantrums?????

Things like:

"I don't want my milk in THAT cup!"
"(Screaaaaaaaaaam, kick, holler) I don't want to go potty!!"
"No, Daddy, I want Mommy to help me!"
"No, I want to climb into my chair all by myself! (Jump out of chair with serious attitude and climb back into chair with even more serious attitude)"
"No, don't rinse my Aaaaaaapple!"
Jump off pew during sermon, rustle the color sheet from bible class, make animal noises while reading Noah pop up book (after several warnings from mom, dad, dirty look from older lady sitting near front), so mom puts him in lap because the rule is you have to sit in her lap if you can't stay in the pew.........and World War 4 breaks out(World War 3 was that morning while getting ready for church) .......sigh
"I want candy, PLEASE! (Nuclear meltdown because the answer is no to eating candy at 6:30 a.m. for breakfast even though toddler used the polite term "please" although not in a polite tone)
and the list goes on..........

Thanks to the advice and encouragement that has already come my way from Debbie, Laurie, Laura, and other toddlers who exhibit similar behavior in public and at church so that I know that I am not the only mom dreaming of jumping in the car from Back to the Future so that I can just get away..................

Let me hear what you have to say moms..................now it's time for me to get back into the ring.........Ding!

(stay tuned for a book review of a novel I am currently reading.......)

Satan's Meeting

Hola, all! I don't normally read forwarded e-mails.............but a friend from my home church sent this to me today, and I found it quite challenging. Although a work of fiction, I found that it addresses many issues facing the modern follower of Christ. Satan is working hard to steal our souls away from our Lord. Please read and be challenged.

Manda

Satan called a worldwide convention of demons.

In his opening address he said, "We can't keep Christians from going to church."

"We can't keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth."

"We can't even keep them from forming an intimate relationship with their saviour."

"Once they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken."

"So let them go to their churches; let them have their covered dish

dinners, BUT steal their time, so they don't have time to develop a relationship with Jesus Christ.."

"This is what I want you to do ," said the devil:

"Distract them from gaining hold of their Saviour and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day!"

"How shall we do this?" his demons shouted.

"Keep them busy in the non-essentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds,"

he answered.

"Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow, borrow, borrow."

"Persuade the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to

work 6-7 days each week, 10-12 hours a day, so they can afford their empty lifestyles."

"Keep them from spending time with their children."

"As their families fragment, soon, their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of work!"

"Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still, small voice."

"Entice them to play the radio or cassette player whenever they

drive." To keep the TV, VCR, CDs and their PCs going constantly in their

home and see to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays non-biblical music constantly."

"This will jam their minds and break that union with Christ."

"Fill the coffee tables with magazines and newspapers."

"Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day."

"Invade their driving moments with billboards."

"Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, mail order catalogs,

sweepstakes, and every kind of newsletter and promotional offering free products, services and false hopes.."

"Keep skinny, beautiful models on the magazines and TV so their
husbands will believe that outward beauty is what's important, and they'll become dissatisfied with their wives."

"Keep the wives too tired to love their husbands at night."

"Give them headaches too!"

"If they don't give their husbands the love they need, they will begin to look elsewhere."

"That will fragment their families quickly!"

"Give them Santa Claus to distract them from teaching their children the real meaning of Christmas."

"Give them an Easter bunny so they won't talk about his resurrection and power over sin and death."

"Even in their recreation, let them be excessive."

"Have them return from their recreation exhausted."

"Keep them too busy to go out in nature and reflect on God's creation.

Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, plays, concerts, and movies instead."

"Keep them busy, busy, busy!"

"And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences."

"Crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from Jesus."

"Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family for the good of the cause."

"It will work!"

"It will work!"

It was quite a plan!

The demons went eagerly to their assignments causing Christians

everywhere to get busier and more rushed, going here and there.

Having little time for their God or their families.

Having no time to tell others about the power of Jesus to change lives.

I guess the question is, has the devil been successful in his schemes?

You be the judge!!!!!

Does "BUSY" mean: B-eing U-nder S-atan's Y-oke?

You might have a coupon addiction................

When your 2 1/2 year old asks:

Where's some coupons?
I need some coupons?
Mommy, can I have some coupons?

(Sigh) My chest swells with pride...................................

The Holidays on a Budget

You know, living on a budget has new significance at Christmas. First, our goal this year has been to pay off debt. Therefore, most of our "extra" money each month is spent to achieve that goal. So where does Christmas shopping fall into this great plan??? Well, for us it has meant decide on an amount we can spend and send the rest to VISA!

Our Christmas, as far as gifts are concerned, will be humble this year..........(well, I guess that is relative to what you are accustomed to at Christmas. I realize many families struggle to feed their families and Christmas gift giving is a luxury they can't afford.)

This year's "humble Christmas" has been a lot of fun. I have been busy making several "gifts" for my friends and co-workers. Today, my team of teachers provided a soup luncheon for our principals, office staff, and other school workers. It seemed to have accomplished its intended purpose and I was thrilled that I was able to spread some holiday cheer.

Tonight, I have been baking pumpkin bread for my friends at school. We all decided to do "homemade" gifts this year.............I can't wait to see what everyone made! For my math department, I am folding origami boxes and filling them with chocolate I got on sale through the Grocery Game............don't worry, it is Hershey's chocolate!

I hope they all know how much I love and appreciate them. And.............I am finding that sometimes more love goes into something made by hands!

Happy Holidays!

Are you an Anti-Racist Parent?

Did my title catch your attention?

I have been following a blog called Anti-Racist Parent, and I wanted to share it with the hopes that you will check it out. You don't have to have a child who is a minority to be concerned with teaching your children about racism. I love this quote from Anti-Racist Parent,

"There are no quick and easy shortcuts to becoming anti-racist – not for myself, and not for my kids. For our family, becoming anti-racist is a journey, not a destination."

Please join my family on our journey to becoming anti-racist.

I know our society wants to portray and believe that racism is largely a thing of our past.........but as the mother of a now minority family, racism is alive in many subtle and major ways. I encounter it every day in some form or fashion. Not directed at me or my family (most of the time), but in comments made about others who are different either physically or socially. Another quote that caught my attention,

"So much about race and racism intersects with other types of
diversity, including class, culture, religion, gender and sexuality.
Racism doesn’t exist in a bubble and it isn’t a problem to be
“solved.” Parents need to be able to address diversity in all its forms."

I know that I personally have a lot to learn about people who are different from me. Anti-Racist Parent has challenged my thinking and opened my eyes to so many difficult realities. I pray that God will bless our society and lead us to a more "anti-racist" existence. I pray that teaching and modeling to our children how anti-racism looks, talks, and lives will develop a society that embraces diversity and eliminates injustice.

Anti-racism is OUR fight. Not just the fight of minorities. But, OUR fight. When we ALL do our part to fight racism, we will ALL win.

I don't know what prompted the comment made to me by one of my students today. We were walking down the hall on our way to PE and he said to me, "My mom is Hispanic." Inwardly I was surprised because his appearance would never lead me to conclude that his parents are not both black. I asked him, "What about your father?" He replied a little sheepishly, "Black." I said with a smile, "Cool! I did not know that about you!", and I then shared with him about my diverse family.

Our world is changing. Families are changing. I hope we are ready to change.

"27God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28God blessed them................." Genesis 1:27, 28

Let's Jam & Deck the Halls...................

Who needs a guitar when you have a perfectly good frying pan???

Cheese!

Let's see how many ornaments I can fit on this one branch..........