One Day

I love the song "In Christ Alone/Solid Rock." It's 2 songs put beautifully together. It's so powerful. The words speak mightily of Christ's love for us. I was singing this song with a group of women on Wednesday at a Bible study I attend on (more on that in another post). This has been our theme song for the year. Usually, as we sing I think of all that Christ has done for me personally. I think of his power and what it is for me. However, this time I couldn't help but think of my brothers and sisters in Christ who are currently going through horrendous atrocities because they claim the name of Christ. I was moved to tears. The song ends with this, "No pow'r of hell, no scheme of man can ever pluck me from His hand! 'Til He returns or calls me home, here in the pow'r of Christ I'll stand!" Wow. Can I get an "amen!"? We have all been hearing of the horrible things happening to Christians in China and most recently in the Mi

I was remiss in having this post done last week when it was my mom's birthday. I don't want to forget to do that this week! I thought I'd try to be a little creative (and I mean "a little" because, really, my sister is the one good at this sort of thing!) in this post! Here's what "Carol Ann" means to me! C is for CHRISTIAN. My mom lives her life for Jesus, and I doubt you can spend any time with her     and not know Who her heart and life belongs! A is for ADVENTUROUS! Did you know my mom (and dad!) took my sister and I to deep, dark     Africa when I was 4 and my sister just under 2? Yep! Doesn't get more adventurous then that! R is for REBELLIOUS!  That's right. Even though my mom is one of the biggest rule followers there     is, she can be a rebel without a cause, and we've often teased her for this! She has a bit of her dad     in her! O is for OBEYING. One of the things my mom has always told us is to trust and OBEY. Y

In our family we eat a bit differently then a lot of people. I can't eat grain, soy or dairy, at all, and my husband and kids are, at the very least, gluten and dairy free. We don't eat a lot of grain in our house, and I have had to become more creative. I mean, even the ingredients I put into our meals have to be void of any kind of grain (like cornstarch, corn syrup, soy anything, etc). You'd be amazed the things that are hidden in common foods. We do a lot of shopping at Costco and have found some really great foods that are safe for me (us) to eat! One of those things is a really yummy kielbasa. You might be saying, "well, duh,"  but trust me, processed meat is REALLY hard to find w/out a bunch of additives in it! One day I'll do a post on the different things our family eats that are "clean" and without a bunch of added junk. It can get boring just grilling up kielbasa and eating it so I came up with this. I'm sure it's not overly origin

Growing up as a missionary kid I have been in pretty much every kind of school there is. I went to a French, run-by-Belgians preschool until I was bullied so much by the kids my parents took me out; an American Embassy-run school for 1/2 of Kindergarten; homeschooled for the rest of K and 1st grade; a mission-run boarding school for 2nd; public school for 3rd (we were on furlough that year); back to boarding school for 4th and 5th. We then moved to the other side of the country we were living in at the time, and there was a mission-run school on the station we were living, so I went there for 6th and 7th. We then moved back to the USA for good, and I finished 8-12th grades in public school. I've been around the block a few times, know what's out there, and I believe can say I have a pretty good idea as to the different kinds of schools there are and pros/cons to them. My husband? He did public school all 13 yrs with the exception of K and 1st grade. Why do I say all of this? We

Cora celebrated her 6th birthday at the end of March. Normally, we've just done 1 big (crazy) party with her friends and all of the family, but this year we decided to split it up. I must say, though it was 2 different parties, I found it much easier and less-stressful! She wanted a My Little Pony theme this year, specifically Rainbow Dash! It was so fun (and easy) to decorate the house in rainbow colors! My favorite was the crepe paper & balloons rainbow we made in our archway between the living and dining rooms. She had her friend party on her actual birthday & then we had the family the next day. She requested tacos for her birthday supper (which is a really fun, colored-filled meal so went great with the whole rainbow theme!) and chocolate cake! I had fun decorating the cake and she had a wild and crazy time with her friends (most of whom were her cousins!). The following day we were more low-key and simply had cupcakes for the family to share. Plus, all the decorating

When I decided to restart my blog I promised myself I would not panic, feel stressed, or pressure myself to have something 5 days a week. It's been hard, but I have given myself grace and have refused to feel the pressure of posting all the time. We've been busy. I mean, life has just been happening and there really hasn't been much time to stop and write. (Plus, I've started reading a really good book series and am currently in book 4. All of the books have been btw 800-over 1000 pages long so it takes some time to get through them!) We've celebrated birthdays, had sickness, been to a homeschool conference, done school, doctors appointments, etc. Phew! Lots of stuff happening. Lots of good stuff, lots of boring stuff, but stuff nonetheless. I'll try to highlight some of the bigger things this week, you know, for posterity's sake! Until tomorrow...