Frugal Friday

It's Frugal Friday!

If you would like some frugal tips click on the icon above. It will take you to a website dedicated to Frugal Tips.

Just before Christmas I got my long hair cut and styled. It cost me $20. I was cringing at the thought of $20 every two months to keep this hair style up. But then a friend gave me a tip. There is a beauty school here that does haircuts for $2.00 on certain days of the week. I decided to give it a try. I am so pleased! I took photos in of how my hair was cut right after it had been done last time so they knew what to aim for. They did a wonderful job, all for $2 bucks.

If you have a beauty school near you, check it out. Maybe they offer a deal similar to this or at the very least they should offer hair cuts cheaper than your regualar salon would charge. Students do the cutting, but the instructors come around and give them advice on how to do it and then come back and fix anything that might need fixing when they are done. What's nice is that they try really hard to do it the way you want it done. So often when I go for a haircut where I pay more money (and I've tried many salons) I bring pictures of what I want, describe what I want and then the gal does her own thing and I walk out with something different than what I really wanted. It's so maddening. But at the beauty school, they are expected to try to do what the customer wants done. I like that.

Marsha's Musings: The Importance of Scripture Memory

The Psalmist said in Psalm 119:11, "Thy word have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against thee." This one verse hightlights the whole purpose for memorizing scripture.

I found a program for our computer that I am having my son use each day to memorize Bible verses you can find a download for it at http://www.memoryverses.org/ .

My husband aquired a Pocket PC for me on which he had downloaded the e-Sword. It can be found at http://www.e-sword.net/downloads.html. It's a powerful little tool that I can take anywhere with me. It has several versions of the Bible, two devotionals, Bible reading schedules, Prayer Request keeper, and a Bible Memory program all built into it.

It has been a real blessing in my life as I have started memorizing scripture that speaks to my needs and weaknesses.

I would encourage you to start a Bible memory program if you don't already have this discipline started in your life. It will be a source of great blessing in your life.

Homeschool: WA State History

Last year my daughter had to plan a trip through WA State to visit at least four points of historical interst. It was one of her projects for WA State History. We promised her we would take the trip. So now we have to make good on our promise.

March 27 we leave for almost 9 days of travel. We finally got all our motel reservations set up. So now I need to figure out our menus and what food to bring since our food restrictions prevent us from eating out much.

We pretty much have a tentative schedule of activities.We plan to visit the Space Needle, ride the monorail, tour Pikes Place Market, visit the Aquarium, go to the Boeing Museum of Flight, the WA State History Museum, tour the capitol and stop at Stonehenge on the way home. We'll also visit relatives along the way.

If I can get access to a computer while on our trip, I'd like to try to keep a running log of our daily activities...but we'll have to see if that will pan out or not.

Marsha's Musings: Writer's Block

I am writing this on Saturday because today we are going to be gone out of town all day. My husband's job is taking him to the Tri-Cities. My kids are going with us. They are looking forward to spending the afternoon at the Mall.

So anyway, here I sit on Saturday trying to come up with blog post for this week. I've had such a headache today though, that I can't seem to think straight, so I am not having much success at writing.

I refilled the bird feeder outside our front window and am enjoying our feathered friends. I am looking forward to spring when their plumage gets prettier and the goldfinches come. Then it will be really fun to watch the birds. God's creation is so beautiful and to think He created it so we can enjoy it. What a wonderful God we have.

Quote

As pride sometimes is hid under humility, idleness is often covered by turbulance and hurry.--Samuel Johnson (1709-1784

Devotional: Servant of the Lord---Not an Easy Job

2 Timothy 2:24 And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, 25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; 26 And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

This verse came to my attention when I was searching for a good verse to describe my job description as a servant of the Lord. Now, I must say that this is my job description, but it doesn't mean I have attained this goal in my life on a consistent basis.

Recently, I went through a week or two where I failed miserably at this in my homeschooling. I was uptight for no apparent reason other than that things were not going MY way. As a result, patience ran thin, gentleness was non-existent, teaching was more like trying to pound it into the student's head and meekness, well, I don't know where that was. I had to confess my sin to God and start over. When I came across this verse, I knew I had to memorize it and review it often.

More recently, I found myself in an email discussion with a man who was intent on convincing me that what I believed was wrong. He wanted to hear what I believed, yet when I told him what I believed he got angry with me. So I backed off and told him I would be content to listen to what he had to say and I would not say what I believed. That made him angry too. So I struggled with how to put this verse into practice.

How do you not strive with an angry man who is angry no matter what you do? Does this mean you continue to share what you believe God's Word teaches and let them continue to trample it under foot? I don't think so. The Bible says, "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you." (Matthew 7:6)

I had to make a decision. I was spending a lot of time trying to answer his questions. My answers then would make him angry. And if I tried just asking him questions about what he believed and not tell him what I believed, then he still got angry anyway. Clearly, I was casting my pearls before a swine and he was trampling them under his feet, and then turning again and rending me with his anger. In cases like this, one must balance gentleness with firmness. He had used deception on more than one occasion during our email exchanges. It was time I let him know that I knew what he was doing and our conversations were going to end.

It's tough to use tough love, but sometimes that is the only way a person can be handled. I wrote him an email pointing out all the deceptions and lies he had used on me, and his unreasonable anger. I thanked him for allowing me to be heard and let him know that he would not hear from me again. Then I blocked his emails from my inbox and deleted his address from my address book so I would not be tempted to be drawn into another conversation with him. He was clearly a tool of Satan in my life to cause me stress and keep me from God-given responsibilities I should have been doing.

Sometimes we have to take strong measures in our lives and with others. It's a balancing act that is tough to perform at times. Balancing gentleness with tough love is a challenge. It takes wisdom from God to know where the line should be drawn.

Are there areas in your life where you fall short of the job description? Are there areas where people in your life need some tough love and you have a balancing act to perform? Ask God for wisdom to know what to do about it and courage to take action.

A Funny Belated Quote for Valentine's Day

"I don't understand why cupid was chosen to represent Valentine's Day. When I think about romance, the last thing on my mind is a short, chubby toddler coming at me with a weapon." ---author unknown

Frugal Friday: 5 more tips for frugal gluten free eating

It's Frugal Friday!

If you would like some frugal tips click on the icon above. It will take you to a website dedicated to Frugal Tips.

« How to Feed a Family of 6 for $9.16 a Day

5 Tips for a Frugal Gluten Free Diet

5 More Tips for a Frugal Gluten Free Diet
Posted: 26 Jan 2009 08:35 PM CST
This is the third part in a series “Gluten Free Grocery Shopping on a Budget” in which Heather shares how she feeds a family of 6 a gluten free diet for $350 - $400 a month. (And she says she could do with less if she really tried!)

6) Buy less expensive cuts of meat and less expensive produce. You can have huge savings in this category. Steaks are the most expensive meat we buy, and we don’t pay more than $2.29/lb when they’re on sale. No, we’re not getting the fancy cuts of steak, but it’s not worth the extra money to us. For chicken that we’re just planning on eating plain or barbequed, we buy chicken leg quarters and take off the skin. We do buy boneless skinless for casseroles and such, but for years we didn’t. Pork sausage rolls are bought on sale for $1.50 or less per lb. Etc.

For vegetables, we buy bags of carrots, cabbage (eaten raw and cooked), and frozen vegetables when on sale for $1/lb. We do treat ourselves to baby carrots, usually bought on sale or in bulk for less than $1.50/lb. For fruit, we usually have 100% juice, bought in frozen concentrate, because we don’t go to the store every week. It’s about $1 for 6 servings. When we buy fresh fruit at the grocery store, it’s bananas, or occasionally oranges when on sale. In the fall, from a local orchard, we buy apples for $12 a half bushel (21 lb) and peaches for $16 a half bushel (25 lb). Before we had a local orchard, we rarely had those fruits. Now, we can enjoy them fresh, and freeze some for pies later in the year.

7) Selectively have “normal foods,” when cheaper, for the rest of the family. I don’t want to make everything with a “mine” and “theirs” version, but some things are relatively easy to do. When we have pasta with spaghetti sauce, I make their pot of whole wheat pasta, and mine of brown rice pasta, and then I serve the sauce separately. If I have a busy week and want easy lunches, I buy the cheapest 100% whole wheat bread for sandwiches for the rest of the family. It’s much easier to feed one person for lunch on leftovers and hodge-podge than it is to feed two adults and four children in the same way!

Grow a Garden. We’re not doing this as extensively as in previous years. We have 4 3×20 beds of strawberries that this summer will yield over60 quarts of strawberries. There was an initial investment, and no crop the first year, but every year after that, we’ve been able to expect approximately 50 quarts, or more in a good year. That means that for several weeks we don’t have to buy any fruit, and we’re able to freeze some for strawberry pancake syrup and other uses during the year. This year we also planted 3 cherry tomato bushes, a half dozen summer squash and zucchini plants, 24 cabbage plants, and 120 sweet corn plants. Selective gardening could help the food budget of many people, without too much work or too much space. A tomato plant is agood example of something that meets that criteria.

9) Make your own convenience foods to have for busy days. If you havea couple homemade casseroles, a pre-baked pizza crust, and a few dozenmuffins in the freezer (or a few of your ownjust-add-egg-oil-and-water mixes), you’re less likely to resort to expensive pre-made items. Even if I use dried fruit, I can make a gluten-free muffin mix that makes a dozen muffins for $2.50 or less.

10) Eat leftovers. It’s amazing how many people get rid of leftovers because they don’t like to eat them, or because they get lost in the depths of the fridge. We tend to eat leftovers for lunch, or have a leftover dinner night once a week.

We don’t use coupons: One thing that you may have expected to find on this list, but didn’t, is coupons. I don’t use coupons. One reason is that I don’t make food from scratch only to save money, but also for health benefits. Many of the items that have coupons (breakfast cereals, meals in abox, freezer meals, cookies, etc) are not of interest to me. We don’t buy a local paper, and I don’t have any interest in keeping track of large numbers of coupons to use.

More Tips: Other money-saving things we used to do, but don’t any longer, are to eat non-meat meals 3 nights a week. These can be beans, breakfast atsupper (with eggs), spaghetti (without meat). We have meatless meals 1-2 nights a week on average now. Also, we used to eat much smaller servings of meat, but we’re a bit more generous with ourselves in recent years.Occasional Splurges: And there are things we splurge on for health or taste reasons. We buy real maple syrup and brown rice pasta for the health benefits. Of course, there are taste benefits as well! I used to not buy flourtortillas, but made my own. I used to not buy something like a giant box of unseasoned potato flakes. We used to have smaller servings of meat. But when we were married, my husband was a graduate student making $20,000 a year, and his income is substantially higher now. We could shave $50-$100 off of our budget a month if we wanted to or needed to. But, we’ve chosen to cut down on the number of grocery trips to maximize family time, and we’ve chosen to treat ourselves a bit compared to our strictness of previous years.

It’s not a contest to see who can spend the least on groceries, but about what’s important to your family. If your family has debt, would like moremoney to spend on other things, want to be able to save more, etc, then it’s probably worth considering ways to slash your grocery budget. But, if you’re comfortable, then you certainly don’t have to.

Belated Thoughts on Valentine's Day

Valentine was a third-century pastor who was imprisoned for his faith. He wrote small pastoral notes to members of his congregation on leaves he was able to pluck from a maple tree just outside his cell. These little “Valentine’s cards” expressed his love for the flock, and his desire that they demonstrate like love toward one another. Gradually the tradition grew up for Christians to exchange notes of love and encouragement to one another on this, his birthday.---The Christian Almanac by George Grant & Gregory Wilbur

Marsha's Musings: A Prayer

Moses prayed this prayer and I really like it:

Ex. 33:13  ..."if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know you and that I may find grace in your sight."

"Show me Your way, that I may know you."  What a powerful prayer!

Marsha's Musings: Contradictions?

Do you ever wonder about Bible verses that seem to contradict each other?  

For instance, in Exodus24:9-11 is says that Moses, Aaron, Nadab and Abihu saw God and they ate and drank. Exodus 33:11 says Moses talked with God as a man speaks face to face with a friend.

Contrast these with Exodus 33:20 where God says to Moses, "You can not see my face; for no man shall see Me and live.

How do we reconcile these seeming contradictions?  

First off, God does not contradict Himself.  If He did, He would not be God.  So there must be some explanation for this.

I have to take the verse that says no man shall see God and live at face value.  So when it says Moses talked with God as a man talks face to face with a friend, I have to believe it is not talking about physical proximity, but rather familiarity.  Moses was able to talk to God as intimately as friends would talk to one another.  

But what about the other verse where it says Moses, Aaron, Abihu and Nadab saw God.  I have to believe they saw some form of God's glory, but not God himself or they would have been struck dead.  Moses was the writer of Exodus.  It was he that also wrote that no man can see God and live as well as this other verse in question.  Perhaps he found it difficult to describe with words the glory of God that they saw, so he just said they saw God.  

Marsha's Musings: Rebuked

Have you ever felt rebuked and deserved it?

This past week on Tuesday and Wednesday, I was really struggling with my attitude.  It didn't take much to set me off.  My voice was raised a number of times.  On Thursday I went to my Facebook page and saw a post by my daughter that said, "I haven't had enough caffeine this morning to deal with all the tantrums going on in this house."  Oh, ouch.  That really hurt.  

I just hate it when the Lord has to use my own kids to show me that my attitudes are in need of adjustment.  Ugh.  It really makes me feel sad to think of the bad example I am being to them.

Oh, Lord God, I need forgiveness and help in this area.  Please help me with Your grace to put a guard over my lips and a guard on my heart.  Help me to pull those weeds of bitterness and anger that take root in my heart and to have the beauty of a quiet spirit.  

Devotional: To Each According to His Ability

Matthew 25:14 ¶ For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. 15 And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.

The passage above goes on to tell how each servant used his talents. Most improved upon them and gained more while one just hid his in the ground and then gave it back to the master when he returned. The master was pleased with the others but not the one who hid his and did nothing with it.

The obvious application is that we are to improve upon what God has entrusted us with and be good stewards of it. However, there is something else here that I never saw before. The New King James Version says that he gave "to every man according to his own ability".

God doesn't give us more than we can handle. He gives us responsibility according to our own ability. This got me to thinking. I have been feeling very stressed lately, thinking that I have way more than I can handle. But if God gives us responsibility according to our own ability, then why am I stressed out? I came to two conclusions:

1. I am mis-managing my time, making the responsibilities God gave me overwhelming. When I don't manage my time right, there is not enough time to keep up with the responsibilities that God has given me.

2. I am adding responsibilities to my list that God didn't intend for me to have at that given time....maybe later. Remember, there is a season and a time for everything under the sun.

Where do you fit in this picture? Are you struggling? Are there areas where you need to use your time more wisely? Are you adding responsibilities to your list that should not be there at this time and that God has not intended for you right now? Ask Him for wisdom to know what to do in these areas and then have the courage to do it. You'll be rewarded as you are then freed up to manage those responsibilities God wants you to have now and He will be pleased and glorified as a result.

Happy Valentines Day!!

The Christian Faith

The Christian faith has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult, and left untried.----G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)

Much of what passes for Christianity today, is not real Christianity at all. It is an impostor at best and the road to Hell at worst. It caters to man's feelings and disregards God's holiness and glory. It glorifies man and lowers God to man's standard. It turns God into a cosmic vending machine and when man doesn't get what he thinks God should give, then he gets mad at God. It turns God into whatever man wants to imagine Him to be, whether it be a picture on the wall of some long-haired man with children gathered around him or a Big Daddy in the sky instead of Who He is revealed to be in the Bible. It turns being a Christian into some pie in the sky existence when in reality, if God saves a person, He will sanctify him and that is a hard process. It is difficult but the rewards are eternal and God will make that person persevere in the faith.---Marsha Iddings

Frugal Friday:5 Tips for a Frugal Gluten Free Diet

It's Frugal Friday!

If you would like some frugal tips click on the icon above. It will take you to a website dedicated to Frugal Tips.

« How to Feed a Family of 6 for $9.16 a Day

5 Tips for a Frugal Gluten Free Diet

This is the second part in a series “Gluten Free Grocery Shopping on a Budget” in which Heather shares how she feeds a family of 6 a gluten free diet for $350 - $400 a month. (And she says she could do with less if she really tried!)

Heather: Here’s an expansion of my bullet points, sharing how I’m spending approximately $350-400 a month to feed my family of 2 adults and 4 children under 7. Almost all food that we eat being gluten-free, except for the occasional loaf of WW bread for the rest of the family, and buying WW pasta for them (and brown rice pasta for me).

1) Stock up on items when on a good sale. Buy enough to last you to the next time it’ll go on sale at that price. Buy frozen vegetables when they’re on sale for $1/lb. When canned beans are on sale for $.40 a can, buy enough to last you a few months until the next sale.
We have a second freezer, so we can do this with meats as well. At our Super Walmart, 3 lb of boneless skinless chicken breasts are priced just under $8, or over $2.50/lb. But, at least once every 3 months, they are on sale for under $2/lb at one of the two other local grocery stores that we shop at. We stock up then, and it’s the same with ground beef or any other meat.
If you have a Kroger near you, they have cheese on sale for a good price at least once a month. Cheese lasts in the fridge for several months. You can also freeze shredded cheese without a noticeable loss in texture; chunk cheese, however, will be crumbly.

2) Make foods from scratch. It’s not only cheaper, but usually healthier. My convenience foods are things like taco sauce, tortillas, cans of unseasoned diced tomatoes, and a huge box of unseasoned mashed potato flakes. Most people don’t even think of the first three as convenience foods! I make all of our bread products from scratch, including muffins, pancakes, etc. One big reason I don’t have a huge budget with eating gluten-free is that pretty much the only “gluten-free” items I buy are the flours, xanthan gum, and brown rice pasta. None of the convenience items that are so expensive, like pancake mixes, breads, etc.
I don’t buy snack foods like crackers or chips; we have popcorn or fruit instead. We do have the one occasional exception of tortilla chips being used with beans and such for dinner. I buy dried beans instead of canned. I don’t buy instant rice. No frozen foods or meal packets or anything like that. Etc.
Want an example of how big a difference making things from scratch canmake? At our Walmart, it is $1.66 for 2 lb of dried pinto beans, which has 26 servings, or $0.063 per serving. For store-brand canned pinto beans, it was $.52 for 3 1/2 servings, or $.1485 a serving. Even when bought on sale for $.40 (the cheapest sale I see around here), canned beans are still $.114 a serving. So canned beans are twice as expensive. And it’s not that hard to soak beans the night before or use the quick-soak method on the package, if you plan ahead.

3) Buy generic brands when possible. There are only a few items thatwe think taste substantially better when a name-brand is bought; other than that, we don’t buy name-brand. One potential exception is a store like Sam’s Club where you can buy name-brands in a large quantity, that may make them cheaper than a smaller amount of a generic brand. But, still the biggest savings often comes buying a generic brand when a grocery store has it on sale, sometimes even as good as buy one, get one free.

4) Buy in bulk. We have a Sam’s Club membership. For example, we don’t buy small bottles of K.C. Masterpiece, but buy a 2-pack of larger bottles at Sam’s. Many stores, such as Walmart, include the price of an item per ounce or some other common denominator, which makes it easy to compare prices of different-sized containers and different brands.

5) Know the cheapest place to get expensive items. With gluten-freefood, buying flours at an Asian Food store can be a real blessing! I was amazed at how cheap tapioca starch and sweet rice flour were there! Tapioca starch is $.99 for 14 oz, instead of $2.29 for 12 oz at the health food store. We use real maple syrup instead of pancake syrup, and it is far cheaper at Sam’s Club than anywhere else we’ve found, and the same with nuts. We live in the country in the Midwest. In the fall, a man near us sells 50 lb of potatoes for $8, instead of 10 lb for $2.97 at Super Walmart. So in the fall, we buy 50-100 lb of potatoes from him.

Be sure to check back for the rest of the series. In the next post Heather will continue discuss her remaining 5 tips for grocery shopping. And in later posts, she’ll answer some of my questions and share what is in her pantry. If you want to make sure that you get all of these posts, you can subscribe to free email updates using the box at the top of the sidebar.

A Note from Marsha:

You'll need to go to the website linked in the title to find the box where you can subscribe to the free email updates mentioned in this post.

Quote: Science

Christianity is the basis of all science---if there is any science not so rooted in the truth, it is no science at all.---Robert Boyle (1627-1691)

Homeschool: Wisdom

Education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire. Of such is wisdom.---William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)

This quote really hit me between the eyes. I've been trying to fill pails for years. Now I am trying to explore how to light a fire. As I think of ways to light fires for my kids, I'll let you know what works. I have an idea or two that I'll share now.

My kids hate writing assignments. They complain they are not relevant to anything and they don't see the purpose in it. The curriculum calls for writing stories and that sort of thing. For me, resisting the temptation to become a slave to the curriculum is very difficult. I have had to get it through my head that the curriculum is there to serve me not the other way around. So with that in mind, when my kids come to a writing assignment I have started thinking more about what they would like to write about or research and assigning that. For example, my daughter was supposed to write some paragraphs...just for the sake of writing paragraphs and formatting them correctly to pass the exercises in the curriculum. I told her for that assignment she could decide on a career path that she would like to explore, research it out and write me a paper on what she learned about that career. She was more than willing to do the paper. Before she was complaining about it.

My son was assigned a story to write. He hates doing them because he can't think of what to write. Writer's block. But he loves to do Lego Animation Movies. So I told him to write a Lego Movie script for his writing assignment. He did that willingly because he knew he could then use it to make a movie.

As I come up with more ideas of how to light the fire for my kids, I'll post them. If you have some ideas of your own, please share them.

New Blog: The Aroma of Change

I have started a new blog where I will be posting items having to do with what is happening in our government. There will news items and items for you to take action on. I would encourage you to check it out often as there is much that is happening in our nation that can adversely affect our freedoms. We need to be informed and take action. See you over at The Aroma of Change !

Marsha's Musings: Stress

Do you ever find yourself getting discouraged because you can't seem to get ahead? My to-do list never seems to get finished, so things end up getting pushed to the next day and my list just keeps getting longer and longer as each day passes. It's a big prescription for stress.

Recently, I picked up a magazine from the health food store that had an article on stress and a short quiz on how you handle stressful situations....I failed miserably. The article brought home some areas that I really need to work on. For instance, exercise...I have fallen off the wagon on this. But thankfully, I am getting back on that wagon. My goal is three times a week to either walk outside or jog on the mini tramp to Christian exercise music that has a trainer who walks you through it. I need this kind of motivation.

Another area I need to work on is not being so driven. I have so many things I feel like I have to do. I was telling my PT this week that I can't seem to sit still. No sooner does my bottom hit the couch, and I am up again because I just thought of another thing I needed to do. I can't seem to relax.

I am always multi-tasking. This is good time management, but it adds stress as well to one's life. Just learning to "be in the moment" is a real difficult thing for me to do.

I need to take God seriously and keep the Sabbath Day set aside for rest and worship. So, in persuit of that, this past Saturday evening, I took all the left over tasks from the week and moved them all to Monday and beyond so Sunday when I looked at my Pocket PC, there was nothing except feeding my family and the dog. It made for a restful Sunday and I plan to do this every week.

I want to cultivate the ability to just do what I can and not worry about the rest. The other day I was cleaning out my "to read" basket...it was liberating to just put most of the pile in the trash. It wasn't necessary reading anyway.

I am not going to be quite as driven about posting each day on my blog...it adds stress to my life. So if there are days when a new post doesn't go up....you'll know why. I will get here frequently, but I don't want to be as driven about it as I have been. The world will keep spinning if I don't have something to say every day of the week.

I hope some of these ideas help you if you have trouble being driven and never getting through your task list.

Marsha's Musings: Six Things the Lord Hates

I was reading my Bible the other day and come to the verses below:

Proverbs 6:16-19 These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

I sat there and looked at the list and thought, "Well, I'm ok there...I don't do any of those things!" Then the Lord hit me between the eyes with this:

If you are thinking that you don't have a problem with any of these, then you just committed the sin of pride and that's on the list!

OUCH! But it is true and the truth hurts.

[ Team HopeKeepers ] RM's NEW Radio Program Hope Endures Starts This Tues, Feb 10th

Subject: [ Team HopeKeepers ] RM's NEW Radio Program Hope Endures Starts This Tues, Feb 10th

We invite you to listen in on Tuesday, February 10th to our new radio
program. If you can't make it, no problem, All shows will be archived.

If you can please post this anywhere you see fit! Your web site, blog,
email your friends, etc. We are eager to spread the word about this
new exciting area of our ministry!
Lisa

_________________________________________________
Hope Endures Radio Program Brings Christian
Encouragement to the Chronically Ill
_________________________________________________

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Lisa Copen, 858-486-4685
lisa@hopeendures.com

Rest Ministries, Inc., the largest Christian organization that
specifically serves the needs of those who live with chronic illness
or pain, is launching an online radio program, Tuesday, February 10,
2009 at 10 a.m. pacific time. The program, titled "Hope Endures" will
be hosted by Rest Ministries founder, Lisa Copen, who is eager to
connect with the thousands of people who visit her web site daily or
who may know the ministry through one of the 400 HopeKeepers groups
that they attend in their church.

The two 1-hour weekly programs will air on Blog Talk Radio, every
Tuesday and Thursday morning at 10 a.m. pacific.

Tuesdays will feature special guests who will be interviewed about a
topic related to chronic illness, from a Christian perspective. Guests
will share about their own ministries and how they began them, despite
dealing with daily chronic pain. Topics will include everything from
marriage and caregiving, financial planning to parenting, health and
medical news, awareness about invisible illness in congregations, to
living with illness as a child, teenager, young adult, and more.

Thursdays will consist of hearing from callers who lead HopeKeepers
groups, volunteers of Rest Ministries, announcements about things
happening at Rest Ministries social network (with over 1000 members)
and thoughts from Lisa Copen.

Copen shares, "The internet has become an amazing tool for connecting
with others who have the same challenges and passions. We hope through
our radio program, we can increase these friendship and bonds so that
our sense of family strengthens and that people find our program to be
that "one stop" place for Christian support while coping with chronic
illness."

Copen herself has been a guest on radio programs such as Joni and
Friends and Billy Graham's Decision Minute.

February 10th will be the kick off program featuring special guest
Naomi Kingery, 19, author of Sugar Free Me: An Inspirational Book for
Diabetic Teens and Their Loved Ones. She will be talking about her
journey from growing up in Bangalore, India as the child of missionary
parents who worked with people with disabilities, to her diagnosis of
diabetes at the age of twelve.

Listeners can participate in the live program at
www.blogtalkradio.com/hopeendures or listen to the program any time,
as it will be archived. The MP3 file can also be downloaded to one's
itunes. Fore more information see www.hopeenduresradio.com

__._,_.___

Devotional: Joseph on the Providence of God

Genesis 41:52 And the name of the second called he Ephraim: For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.

I spent half an hour writing up this devotional, and when I tried to post it, the whole thing disappeared.  Blogger always automatically saves my work as I go, so there was no reason why it should have disappeared like that.  I was very upset at first, but then I was ashamed of myself for my reaction as I realized that I had not learned the very lessons I was trying to write about.  I believe God wiped that devotional out for the purpose of pulling me up short and teaching me this lesson in a practical way.  So, once again, here we go...

As I have been reading the story of Joseph, I am impressed with his grasp on the providence of God.  Here he was, thrown into a pit by jealous brothers, sold to slave traders and taken to Egypt, framed by his boss's wife, thrown into prison and forgotten for several years, then eventually God gave him the interpretation of Pharaoh's dream and he was made second in command in the land of Egypt.  I don't know if he developed his perspective on God's providence after he was able to look back and see how things worked out or if it was the providence of God that he held fast to during all these years that gave him hope to keep going.  I am inclined to think it was the latter.  Why else would he have continued to work with excellence even in prison so that the guard put him in charge of the other prisoners?  Had he not held a firm grasp on the providence of God, I think he would have thrown his hands up in despair and sunk down in depression.  But he didn't.

Let's take a look at his thought process here:

Genesis 45:5 Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.

Genesis 45:7 And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

Genesis 45:8 So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

Genesis 50:20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

Genesis 41:52 And the name of the second called he Ephraim: For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.

Joseph saw God as the first cause of all things in his life.  Somewhere along the line he developed a sense of God's control in his life in spite of all the bad things that happened to him and he continued to strive for excellence in all he did.  He was a good steward of the circumstances that God brought into his life. 

Think of the impact Christians could make on our nation if we all got a good grasp on the providence of God and strove for excellence in all we do?  Think of the impact it would be if we raised our children to know and understand God's providence and control in all the events of their lives and taught them to work with excellence as Joseph did!  Let's remember Joseph next time we are tempted to be upset about our circumstances and let's work with excellence in all we do.  I don't know about you, but I have a long ways to go as evidenced by my reactions when I lost the first devotional I had written on this subject.

Frugal Friday: How to Feed a Family of 6 for $9.16 a Day

It's Frugal Friday!

If you would like some frugal tips click on the icon above. It will take you to a website dedicated to Frugal Tips.

« Breakfast on a Budget - Cream of Corn Cereal

5 Tips for a Frugal Gluten Free Diet

How to Feed a Family of 6 for $9.16 a Day
Jan 9th, 2009 by Mary Frances

Last February I wrote a 2 part article called “10 Strategies to Lower My Grocery Bill“. At the end of the first part I asked my readers to share their tips on frugal shopping and, if they wanted, to share how much they spend on groceries each month. The comment below blew my mind:

Heather HH: Our grocery budget had been $275 a month, or an average of less than $70 a week for 2 adults and 4 children (under 7). Groceries are bought in a city of 100,000 in the Midwestern U.S. I make almost everything from scratch, and rarely even buy a can of beans (that’s a convenience item to us!). With prices for gluten-free items, I anticipate our grocery bill will probably be around $350-$400/mth or under $100/wk.
My goal at the time was to get my grocery bill under $600 a month and then work down to $400. I couldn’t imagine only spending $275! So, I emailed Heather to ask how much she was spending now that they were gluten free and if she would be willing to share her tips. Heather graciously agreed and we exchanged several long emails.

A New Series: Over the course of this month, I’ll be posting Heather’s responses as part of a series called “Gluten Free Grocery Shopping on a Budget”. If you want to make sure that you get all of her great advice, then you can sign up to receive my posts by email (see the box in the top of the right sidebar) or find out about other update options in the tab at the top of the page.

Gluten Free Shopping on a Budget - Part 1:

Mary Frances: I thought about your comment on my grocery budget post when I was at the grocery store tonight. I am amazed that your grocery store budget was so small (at least it seems small to me) for so many people.How is it going now that you’re buying gluten free foods? I would love to know how you do that and to share that with my other readers.

Heather: I’m honestly not exactly sure yet how our budget is now that we’re buying gluten-free foods. One way that we save money on our grocerybudget is by buying in bulk, and stocking up when items are on sale.I’ve only been gluten-free for 2 1/2 months, so it’s hard to get agood sample. For example, I bought 50 lb of brown rice flour lastmonth, but I wouldn’t buy that every month!

Our meat supply in the freezer had gotten low, and there were good meat sales this past month. So I stocked up on boneless skinless chicken, ribs, hamburger, pork sausage rolls, etc. I won’t have to really buy any meat for 3months.

Also, we’ve blown some money on trying new things that we won’t buy again. For example, I can’t stand the taste of amaranth flour, so the rest of that got pitched! I’d really probably need another 3 or 4 months to get a faithful average.

I actually discovered at the same time that I am lactose-intolerant aswell. So, we stopped using real butter, and bought Light Blue BonnetMargarine, which is cheaper. And, a lot of casseroles we used to haveincluded cheese, but now that’s being left out, though sometimes it’son the side for the rest of my family. So, that’s actually saving usmoney. Though, there are definitely more expenses than savings!

I’d say our average monthly bill now is probably about $350-$400 a monthfor 2 adults and 4 children under age 7, with baby #5 due in January.That’s an increase of $80-$130 a month from the days when we didn’tworry about gluten or dairy.

Let me give you the bullet points on how we save money on the grocery budget.

10 Ways to Save on Gluten Free Groceries:

1. 
   Stock up on items when on a good sale. A second freezer is a huge help in this category, because you can stock up on meat and frozen vegetables and shredded cheese when on sale.
2. Make foods from scratch and avoid convenience foods; by this I’m even including buying dried beans instead of canned! We used to grind our own wheat instead of buying whole wheat flour. Once we use up ourbrown rice flour, we’re going to grind brown rice to get a flour as fine as we like without the expensive price of the superfine varieties.
   
3. Buy generic whenever possible.
4. Buy in bulk. Some of this is at Sam’s Club, but a lot can also bedone at standard grocery stores.
5. Know the cheapest place to get expensive items in your budget.
6. Buy less expensive produce and less expensive cuts of meat. You can have huge savings in this category.
7. Selectively have “normal foods,” when cheaper (and not too difficult), for the rest of the family.
8. Garden.
9. Make your own convenience foods for the freezer to have for busy days. If you have a couple homemade casseroles, a pre-baked pizza crust, and a few dozen muffins in the freezer (or a few of your own just-add-egg-oil-and-water mixes), you’re less likely to resort to expensive pre-made items.
10. Eat leftovers.

Be sure to check back for the rest of the series. In the next posts, Heather will go into very specific detail on the 10 points listed above.
P.S. Here’s my post on “How to Make Gluten Free Bread Mix at Home” that Heather mentioned in #9.

Homeschool: Do Hard Things by Alex & Brett Harris

Do you have trouble getting your kids to strive for excellence?  I recently acquired the book Do Hard Things by Alex & Brett Harris.  These are teen age teens who are writing for their peers.  The book is a challenge for teens to move out of their comfort zones and rebel against low expectations.  They call it a rebellution.  I assigned this book to my son last week as required reading.  I asked him how he liked it so far and he said he liked it.  He was impressed that Chuck Norris had written the forward to the book.  I guess a lot of teens like Chuck Norris, so that caught his attention right off.  I'll be curious to see how he responds to the rest of the book.

Homeschool: Geometry

My son is "two years" behind in math.  It's not one of his favorite subjects.  We've been using Alpha Omega 4th Grade LifePac.  My son hates the cartoony pictures they put on almost every page.  It's demeaning to him.  So, I have decided to give him a break from all of that and just do a unit of geometry using a little book I got some time ago called "Math Without Numbers" by Edgar S. Bley.  Of course the idea of math without numbers is appealing to him.  I am impressed with this book because he explains things so clearly and by the time we finish it he will have a good grasp of all those big terms like theorem, congruent, incongruent, etc.  According to the author of this book, it makes sense to start out with geometry because it involves things that even toddlers are learning...like shapes etc.  The author seems to think that learning arithmetic first isn't necessary and just bogs a child down so that he feels like he won't be able to learn anything higher.  The author says that learning geometry first gives a child a sense of accomplishment and a feeling that they can tackle the other stuff if they can do this.  So, with that in mind, I am hoping that my son will be able to follow this, find that he can learn and gain confidence to go back and continue learning arithmetic later.  

One other thing I like about this book.  He stresses the need for being accurate in your constructions (drawings).  I am hoping this will sink in for my son.  He likes to be just "so-so" and often doesn't see the need to be accurate or strive for excellence.  I am hoping this will be an opportunity for character building in the area of excellence and accuracy.

Homeschool: Career Fair

If you homeschool, I would highly recommend that you find a local school that is putting on a Career Fair and take your kids.  They will learn a ton.

My kids learned that math and science are very important subjects to work at now.  A physics professor told us that if kids would take all the math and science they can get before they graduate highschool, they could save themselves up to two years of college tuition fees, room, board and taking remedial, general requirements.  Very good advice.

My daughter got to talk to a professional photographer and he said we can call and set up a job shadow time with him for her to follow him around and see what he does.

We visited with funeral directors, nurses, interior designers, radio station owners, forensic scientists, architects, contractors, and more.  My kids came away having learned a lot of new things and a lot to think about as far as a life career.  I highly recommend it.

Quote by Cotton Mather (1663-1728)

A Christian should follow his occupation with contentment.  Is your business here clogged with any difficulties and inconveniences? Contentment under those difficulties is no little part of your homage to that King who hath placed you where you are by His call.

Marsha's Musings: Pocket PC

Growing up I hated it when my mom would nag me to do my chores.  Of course I was a procrastinator, and she wasn't, so it drove her crazy when I didn't get right up and do what she told me to NOW!  Actually, I see this in my own kids and it's really not just a case of procrastination....it's a case of delayed obedience is disobedience.

So anyway, I still have trouble in this area.  There's always something "more fun" to do then chores to distract me from what I should be doing.  So things like getting meat  out of the freezer in time so I can fix the next meal get forgotten.  Oh, it's on my list of things to do, but I forget to look at my list, so the thing doesn't get done.  

My husband recently acquired several Pocket PC's for a little bit of nothing.  He fixed one up for me with a really nice Bible program on it where I can track prayer requests, be drilled on Bible memory work, read the Bible in five different translations and make notes on various verses...it's really a very nice program, all on a portable PC.  

Well, as I was exploring this little jewel, I discovered the Microsoft calendar and task list features.  I decided to try them out.  I love it.  I can set reminders so that this device will chime at me to do specific chores.  It's like having my mother here to nag me to get my work done!  LOL!  I also can set up alarms for my appointments for each day, so I am not late to anything. As I do my chores through the day I check them off and they go to the completed list.  It's satisfying as the day goes to take a look at the completed list and see all I've managed to get done. At the end of each day I delete the completed list and I delete appointments as they pass just to keep the memory consumption down and not bog it down.  This little thing has become my brain.   

You can pick these up for as low as $40 on Ebay now.  It's well worth the little investment to help keep you on track if you are a procrastinator.

Devotional: The Tongue & the Condition of the Heart

Proverbs 4:23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. 24 Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.

I was catching up on three day's worth of Bible reading. I am on a Bible in a Year schedule and had gotten off track. I was amazed as I read how many different references there were to the tongue. Seems the Lord is trying to teach me the importance of this lately.

The verses prior to the ones referenced above also say this:

Proverbs 4:20 ¶ My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. 21 Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. 22 For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.

We are to keep wisdom, godly wisdom specifically, foremost in our thoughts and hearts. We are to be diligent about keeping our hearts focused on those things.

As I continued my Bible reading, I came to Psalm 12:3:

The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things: 4 Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?

Our lips are not our own. They are owned by God, our creator. We are to be good stewards of what comes out of them and how we use them. Jesus tells us in Matthew 15 that it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles us, but what comes out because what comes out is a window on what is really in our hearts.

Matthew 15:11 Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.

Matthew 15:19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: 20 These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.

So we have come full circle back to our scripture we began with. We must keep our hearts with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life. How do we do this? By digging into God's Word and letting it permeate our hearts and lives, by memorizing key scripture verses that speak to your weak areas and by praying and asking God to help you in your weakness.