Able to Withstand

"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.  Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand."  Ephesians 6: 12 & 13

This verse has been running around in my brain, lately.  There have been a lot of challenges in my life, and in the lives of my friends and family.  It can be very easy to get discouraged, and to start blaming ourselves or others.  I struggle with this especially with my son.  He can be very hard on himself.  When he doesn't do something right, he starts beating himself up over it.  He can't get past it and fix the problem.  He has accepted Jesus into his heart, but still believes that satan controls him.

This verse leads into the part about the armour of God, where Paul explains all the different parts.  It occurs to me that we need this armour now, more than ever.

I was trying to make the money go farther than it did the other day, and was getting a little discouraged.  I finally figured out a plan, but was still stressed out about it.  Then, God reminded me that things are not what we see.

We are in a fallen, decaying world.  No, I don't mean to say that it's ugly, after all God made it, but it is suffering the effects of sin as much as the rest of us.  But we, as Christians, are not part of this world!  We are put here for a reason, but that reason is not to go into decay with the rest of creation.  We have been bought out by the blood of Jesus, and our home is with him in Heaven.  This is temporary.  The verses above end with "and having done all, to stand."  When our lives are done, and when this world is finally destroyed, we must still be standing.  We will not be able to stand, if we have been beaten down by the spiritual wickedness Paul talks about.  We have to put on our armour, and fight.  We are God's warriors, and we need to be at His business, saving as many others as we can while we are here on Earth.  God's armour is for our protection, but it also includes a weapon.  Here is our armour:

The Breastplate of Righteousness (right living)

The Shoes of the Gospel of Peace ( to walk into the world to spread Jesus' good news)

The Shield of Faith (no matter what our circumstances)

The Helmet of Salvation (Jesus paid it all!)

The Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God (Yes, this is our weapon!)

If we can remember to use this armour every day, we will be able to withstand the evil.  If we keep our focus on God, He will keep us from falling, and we will be found standing in the end.

Rory's Black Bean Soup

Hello, everyone - Rory made supper tonight.  He decided he wanted to make black bean soup, so we came up with a recipe.  It turned out very good, so we thought we should post it in case anyone else wants to enjoy it!  Just so you know, the measurements are approximate, as we did not measure things while making the soup.

1lb. dried black beans
     - soak overnight, then bring to a boil, and skim.  Reduce heat to a simmer, simmer several hours, adding water as necessary.

1/2 onion
1 carrot
3 cloves garlic
     - process in food processor until small pieces, then add to soup.  Bring soup back to a boil, then add:

juice from one lime,
cayenne pepper, cumin, cilantro, salt and pepper to taste.

     -continue to cook until vegetables are tender, about 1/2 hour.
     - serve with grated cheese and plain yogurt or sour cream.

Enjoy!

This was sent to me as an e-mail (thanks Mom!)  The e-mail suggested that I send it to 20 people, but I decided to post it here.  Please read, and if you agree with it, ACT ON IT!  The only way we can be a government of the people, by the people, is if the people get involved.


Contact you representative here, and your senator here.


The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3 months & 8 days to be ratified!  Why?  Simple!  The people demanded it.  That was in 1971...before computers, before e-mail, before cell phones, etc.
Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took 1 year or less to become the law of the land...all because of public pressure.


Congressional Reform Act of 2011
1. Term Limits.
12 years only, one of the possible options below..
A. Two Six-year Senate terms
  B. Six Two-year House terms
  C. One Six-year Senate term and three Two-Year House terms
2.  No Tenure / No Pension. 
A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.  
3.  Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security.
All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately.  All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people.

4. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.
5. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise.  Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.
6. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.
7. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.
8. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/11.  
The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen.  Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves.
 Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career.  The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work. 

New Website - Music At Home

Well, I've decided to start a new website.  It's called "Music at Home", and you can find the link at the top of this blog.  I plan to include articles, lesson plans, and hopefully worksheets (if I can figure out how that works!) to help homeschooling parents to teach music to their kids.  So far, I have three pages (not a lot of help, I realize), but if you have time, please stop over and give me some feedback.  Also, if anyone has ideas of material they'd like to see on the site, please let me know that, also!

Just a note - the picture in the background is actually a picture of my two kids playing piano together - I couldn't resist!

Our New Baby!

Meet Honey!  

This is our new puppy.  We have been wanting to get a dog for a while, but were waiting until after the holidays.  Well, January 10 was our final "Christmas."  We celebrated here with Mike's family.  So, I spent the next week getting the Christmas decorations put away, and on Monday, January 17 we made the trip to Pancake Hollow Farm, where we were able to visit with the dogs and puppies.  Honey was Mike's favorite, so here she is!  So far, we've found that she is great motivation to pick up the floor, as she is chewing everything, and watching where you walk, as she is not housetrained yet.  So, now I'm trying to potty train 2 babies!  But, just like all babies, she's so sweet and fun that she makes up for the inconvenience!  As you can see, she is also already a Yankee fan, and is giving Mike competition for his couch!

The Old Grind

I'm not a real "schedule" kind of person.  I'd rather do things when I feel like it.  That said, I've been trying to develop a schedule that will help me to keep on top of the homeschooling, housework, and "extras" such as story time at the library and playing piano at church.  This past weekend, I stayed up late one night (see what I mean?) and came up with (yet another) written schedule.  This time, I even added in when the kids were helping with meals and what day specific chores were done.

I must admit, that as the week has progressed, I've been pretty pleased.  I've gotten things done as they needed to be done, and the kids have done their chores with minimal angst.  And then came today.  It was my fault.  I got messed up trying to print pictures this morning, and started school late.  We got to the library, but hadn't had our usual mid-morning snack, and by the time we got home everyone was famished and weepy.  We managed to have lunch, but I have been dealing with two whining kids (and a whining cat - what gives?) all afternoon.  Oh, and I forgot to mention that the kids got to bed late last night.  Hmmm...could there be a connection?

So, I think we'd better get back on schedule tomorrow - I think I'm starting to like schedules a little better, now.

Information Overload

I'm kind of a book addict.  I love to read!  I also love researching things on the web.  Sometimes I get an idea in my head, and just have to find out everything I can about it.  Then, it seems like I get saturated with information, and I can drop it for a while.

Last night, I got into bed and opened up a catalog from Christian Book Distributors.  I especially love reading things about God.  So, here I was, with a whole catalog of books.  I looked at a few pages, and realized that I had absolutely no desire to read any of the books.  "Huh," I thought.  "That's strange.  Why am I not interested in any of this?"  And then I started to realize the problem.  I have read so many things ABOUT God, that I have been able to keep Him in my head, with all of the other information.  He's jumbled up with nutrition, green living, American history, and stomach ailments.  Mixed in with parenting techniques, marriage advice, Father Tim, and Ireland.  You get the picture.

Well, I've realized that I have to do less thinking and more living.  I need to KNOW God, not just know about Him.  It's kind of like reading books about husbands, but not spending any time with your own.  You get a general idea, but no relationship.  So, my new plan is to spend time with God.  I know this seems obvious to most of you, and I admit I had a bit of a "duh!" moment there in my bed, but to me, it's a whole new direction.  Please, if you remember, pray for me!