What we have been up to

This weekend the younger two had plans with friends. Zekaryah went to two different get together's as a Air Force New Recruit. He is wearing fatigues my dad in Utah sent us. It made me so proud to see how excited he was about them.

We moved the boys when the winter got real cold last year into Jakob's room. I then used the loft to store extra things. It was getting to the point recently that the boys just really needed/wanted their own space again. I spent Sunday working in Zekaryah's room while he was gone- making that happen. I organized everything and even got Paul to change out an outlet so that we could make better use of this very small space. I think I hit my head on the ceiling 15 times during the 4-5 hours it took to get everything cleaned and moved around.

I am thankful that he is a very easy child. He still likes his futon. I will admit just from sitting on it, I could not sleep on that all the time. It is not comfortable at all. I guess when you are a child and want your own space things like that might not matter as much.

This is where I got clever. Before Zekaryah's bed and entertainment center were in this zone/area. I decided I really needed storage space and he needed more than a foot between the bed and tv, moving things out worked perfectly and gives me a zone for blankets and things. Yeah to one room down! Hopefully we get two more done this week. We also worked in the yard this weekend on Saturday. We got a ton done too. Very exciting.

Menu Plan Monday

Sorry I have been MIA, I got a bad stomach thing Wed night and just got so behind in life. So much so I am just now coming up with a Menu Plan. I am adding a couple of half days subbing this week so the Menu Plan is Necessary not just a great idea.

Monday

Chicken and Rice, corn

Tuesday 

Spaghetti and Garlic Bread

Wednesday

Tacos (tostadas for Jakob)

Thursday 

Pancakes and Eggs

Friday 

hamburgers and Hot Dogs

Saturday 

Soup and Grilled Cheese

Sunday

Waffles

For More on Menu Planning or Ideas please see OrgJunkie

 

Thankful Thursday

12 The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 

Romans 13:12

This week I am thankful for my Birthday. I can't always say that. I was feeling pretty disappointed at the prospect of my Birthday last week. Sometimes it is hard to feel appreciated when you are put on the backburner and there are times that life gets so busy that I feel that way. I was thankful for many things this week most importantly new areas of light in our home. This light in our bathroom got a make over. Just took a can of spray paint after a little bit of scrubbing with some steel wool.

It reminded me of how we are baptized. How the Lord makes us new through this act.

Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. Romans 6:4

"Come now, let's settle this," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.
Isaiah 1:18

This light still works although the fan does not anymore since we spray painted it, hoping to also give it a makeover. For now we will use it as a light even though it is now "broken".

The brokenness reminds me of sin. How even though the Lord gives us new life, as we gave new life to this fan that sin often gets in the way. We continue to be broken and we continue to have to ask for forgiveness of that sin so that we can come before the Father, once again new.

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."
1 John 1:9

This light has not worked in 4 years. We were leaving last night to run to town for something and I passed by it once again. It is always so dark outside without it. The front light has issues on the porch and does not always turn on. Something in my spirit had enough. I went inside found 3 light bulbs that would fit and came back in, stood on the chair and "checked it out". Sure enough that was all it needed along with getting plugged in. Now it is working.

This reminds me of how we should be plugged into church and one another. Fellowship is so important to our Christian walk. We need one another to lean on so that we can provide comfort, so that we can provide support and so that we can also receive. Even Christ had this through the fellowship of the 12 Disciples.

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 

1 John 1:7

This is a fan that is brand new. I forget when exactly we lost the ceiling fan in the den. It literally fell out of the ceiling. We had tried to turn on the fan part- knowing the light did not work anymore. The entire foundation (the ceiling box) cracked and that was that. This is a new one we can put up soon. I am excited about that. It was a wonderful gift.

The Lord wants you to come to Him. He sent his only son to die for your sins so that you might be saved, so that I might be saved, so that the world might be saved. It takes us requesting him into our hearts, into our lives. Being a light unto others so that they too may know him and accept him as their personal Savior.  So often we forget as Christians to be the light to others.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 
John 14:6

This light will provide some relief. This week I spent two days trying to solve an issue of moths and spiders in my kitchen. We have an old window we have yet to replace in the kitchen, as you walk through our home it shifts and the window shifts. I am constantly re closing it completely. The light in the kitchen above the sink is often left on at night to provide light so you can walk through the home. I have just never purchased a night lite. Which I still need to do. After loosing some minor food once again I did two things. I moved all the food from the location we are having issues with and I also began using this lamp instead of the light above the sink where this cabinet is located. I hope that I deter the moths, which then deters the spiders and so on.

This one is a stretch I guess of the imagination but it reminded me of keeping our light burning. How we should live our life in serving others, reaching out to those in need, caring for one another. We need quiet time with our Lord, we need prayer and petition. We need to be active Christians.

28 You, O LORD, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light. 

Psalms 18:28

This light in our kitchen has not worked for the past few months. Honestly I think it is UGLY. I wanted to replace it with a longer light that has a wood frame. The bulbs on this light are very expensive- hence why it has not worked in months. We looked at New lights. It was a pretty good chunk of change at $124 before tax. I had gotten a different ceiling fan initially for my birthday but I didn't quite like it, it was not the same as it appeared online. Exchanging it allowed for me to get the bulbs I needed for this light and for now, while finances are tight make do with the Light I already have. It is nice to have this light as without it cooking is very difficult in the evenings. The light above the sink just is not quite bright enough at night.So in a way this birthday gift was many fold as I was able to also pick up a couple other small things like a can of stain, which I can use on the framing of those windows we did this summer.

Christ often used analogies in the bible to make a point. Mine today for Thankful Thursday is that I am so thankful to live in a country that allows us to worship freely. I can share my thoughts and beliefs with you here on this blog. I can share with others in my community. Just last night I asked for prayer for my daughter's friend who will go in for a biopsy on a bone above her tail bone as they have found a growth, she is only going to be 13 years old. My heart goes out to this family as they learn more in the coming month (s). If we lived somewhere else I might not have had that freedom. I am so thankful to know Christ and have him as my personal savior. I pray that as you read my blog daily, weekly or monthly, that it be a blessing to your life. That if you are in need of comfort or support that you will find it through the words that I share. I pray that you will remember what you are Thankful for in times of depression, anxiety and sadness. I pray that the Lord allow me to be a Light in your life.

If you do not know the Lord as your personal savior, pray about it and ask him into your heart.

It is a decision that will forever change your life.

16 I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them. 

Isaiah 42:16

Thankful Thursday is hosted at Spiritually Unequal Marriage for the month of October.

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Birthday Surprises

Saturday night we drove to town to pick up this cake since no one wanted to bake one. Paul got a half white half chocolate because I wanted white and he didn't. Worked out well for everyone. He came up with a clever idea to put the candles in a 3 and 7 so we didn't burn the house down. :-)

This morning I woke up to this- mind you the bowl is mine but it was a very clever way to present a HUGE bag of mixed candy and 2 Fry pans (a ten inch and twelve in). I was very excited about the cards. There is one from the kids and one from him. I liked that the kids all took time to actually write something. Mekenzei wrote a poem, Zekaryah wrote something kind and Jakob wished me a Happy birthday in Spanish- very fitting if you know him at all.

I am very excited about the fry pans. See I am practical, and my big fry pan has a huge knot in the middle so anything in the center of the pan does not cook evenly. Then everything sticks to both pans. It will be nice to have this new set. We will really celebrate my birthday more this weekend. I have a small list of things that I would like done in the house to help us live a little better and be more organized. I am very much looking forward to that!

Tackle it Tuesday

I made the 8 inch poinsettia potholders for the giveaway

Made this cute little pillowcase, it was a giveaway from Coupon Guy on Facebook that a follower won

Her daughter loves penguins so I found this great flannel. It made me think of Coca Cola with the Panda Bears so I opted to do her name in red.

Paul Showing Me Love

In hand Saturday afternoon I started working with the boys on my TO DO list for the house. My husband had been up till 12:30 the night before watching a movie with me and then had to be to a side job at six so he was pretty tired, so needless to say he went to sleep on the couch once he helped us move a piano to the dining room and situate the couch. He did wake up and tackle this. I was going to replace it, that is what I asked for birthday gift wise, is a new light fixture for the bathroom. He suggested trying to paint it first to see if I liked it. I do..I love not having to buy new if I don't have to, it means I have money to spend elsewhere. I don't care for the old glass covers but I hope to get new ones down the road. I did price them and the ones I want are $9 each. OUCH!

Since that project went so well we decided to tackle this very ugly fan. It too is rusted and I do not like gold. I think it had 10 lbs of grease on it, so I had to use some dawn in some areas to get it clean before the steel wool process, which I helped with on this one. This fan is so old the wires are in a neat little box they are not connected with wire nuts.

So here is the finished project. I am thankful that right now the weather is cool because in our process of taking down, cleaning and painting somehow we messed up the wires or controls to the fan. He tried putting in a new switch but no luck. He might buy another switch first just in case that is bad but it looks like in the end we will be replacing this fan. Didn't it turn out nice?

Mekenzei Showing Me Love

Mekenzei asked me Sunday where the new tool was that we got to do the flower beds. This is why. They are more like grass beds. Funny since all the real grass has died off due to no rain pretty much for a year. We just can't afford to water the lawn. It is very sad but choices have to be made.

She was very excited to work in the flower bed, part way through she came in and told me I was not allowed outside, she allowed me quickly to take two pictures.

She had already made so much progress. She worked from about noon until 8 at night. I was shocked that she kept at it

The view this morning after they left for school and the sun came up. Looking really good, still do much to do.

She has finished her homework for the evening and is back out there. I am trying not to be nosy but I think Zekaryah is now helping her. Daddy says once she gets most of it done he will till the land for her, add soil and mulch, build the beds correctly and run pipe from the washing machine and dishwasher so that it will water this area. He will also take her to buy plants to put in the beds. That will be her birthday to me. What a neat surprise!

Think Pink Giveaway Reminder

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District Cross Country Meet

District Meet Cross Country Oct 2011 Mekenzei preparing for her 7th grade run

She is doing great. I could not believe that she shaved 3 minutes off her time from the last run. I wish she had not injured her foot this season. I am betting she would have won several races this season.

She came in 13th with a time of 14 min and ? Seconds. If you look closely you can see Zekaryah in the field across the way cheering her on. For siblings that fight a great deal I love moments like this one, just shows the deep seeded love amongst all those disagreements!

For a child that does not care to run long distance he sure has really done well this season. He ran every single race and really shaved off minutes of time. I am excited to hear that he might participate again next year.

You see here in this photo there are Three Magnolia boys right in line. I love this next photo. Paul yells for him and he puts on the speed. He came in 14th place but with a time of 13 min and ? seconds. I had wondered if the younger two would tie again this week. Seems like they were pretty close. One having a great place but the other having beat the speed.

See here how he is stepping up, he ran past this child beating him by ten seconds. Great day for the last race of the season. I am very proud of both kids for participating and having a great time.

Dating Your Husband Challenge

This week once again it seemed like we had very little time for each other. My husband worked several nights of side jobs after work, so that leaves him getting home very late. It is a blessing to have these extra jobs though.

Friday night we planned to at least watch a movie together. The younger two had a cross country meet, then had to be to the High School to sing the national anthem with their choir for the football game. We decided to wait outside the gates for my son, only to find that he was wanting to stay and watch the game with his friends mom and other children.

At this point we were able to go to a little Italian Restaurant in town and then share a meal, we came home and watched Faith Like Potatoes It was a really good movie. We did find we were very tired all Saturday from staying up until 12:30 to finish our movie but it was worth it.

I am looking forward to this Saturday. My younger two have plans to stay somewhere over night so I hope we figure out something to do- like maybe so see Courageous and get an appetizer somewhere.

For more on the Dating your husband challenge please visit Becoming a Strong Woman of God

Oh and don't forget to enter my giveaway post it ends Oct 26th-this wednesday

Zekaryah Showing Love

Money is tight and that is the way for so many people in the world these days. I had talked with the kids about doing something small for my birthday as an act of kindness. This was what Zekaryah did for me. 

I love it!

He even hung it outside by the front door for me. He made this wreath out of tree vines from our back yard. It is GORGEOUS! It also is flowers from the yard. I love these little pink ones he found. I made a suggestion to my husband that he take Zekaryah to purchase some fake flowers once they die so that he can then decorate it. For a boy who is only 13 I think he has a skill that is worth putting some resources into. What a great birthday gift!