Meditation of the Divine Will by Abraham Lincoln

I'm unable to ignore the fact that it is a major election year. There's no escape from the opinions on facebook, the precursory ads for candidates on youtube, and of course the various news media. At some point I'm bound to jump into the fire pit and get passionate about who our next president should be. I'll butt heads with many and I think that is a wonderful thing in a democracy- so long as we remain intelligent and maintain respect, looking at the person behind the beliefs.

I was particularly affected by these words of Abraham Lincoln in my recent reading on his life. In the midst of a civil war that divided his nation because of distinctly different belief systems, he remained humble and in trust of the sovereign will of God. How it reminds me of the sovereign will of God in the political and moral climate of our own days.

Meditation of the Divine Will

(a note written by Abraham Lincoln and revealed after his death)

The will of God prevails. In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be wrong. God can not be for, and against, the same thing at the same time. In the present civil war it is quite possible that God's purpose is something different from the purpose of either party- and yet the human instrumentalities, working just as they do, are of the best adaptation to effect His purpose. I am almost ready to say this is probably true- that God wills this contest, and wills that it shall not end yet. By His mere quiet power, on the minds of the now contestants, He could have either saved or destroyed the Union without a human contest. Yet the contest began. And having begun He could give the final victory to either side any day. Yet the contest proceeds.

Our Song

I am so not a fan of the Delilah Show. It's nothing personal against Delilah. It's just all those songs she plays! The same "soft hits" collection that has been playing for years... and years... and years. While I once loved to tune in, I just can't fight the feeling anymore... the one that needs more than words to tell how I feel... that those songs just aren't the meaning and inspiration in my life. They've kind of lost that loving feeling, if you know what I mean.

They're cheezy.

So imagine my surprise when I was driving to the ER the other night and I find myself scanning the radio stations... and I actually stop on Elton John's "Your Song." And then I start singing it. Belting it out, really. And I just sat back and chilled in my car, thinking of how wonderful life is... while you're in the world.

(I must add, that on this particular night, the ER I was driving to was Super Walmart. It was one of those nights. I had put the children to bed by myself for 10 days in a row, they were full of energy and I was completely drained. I told my husband "I'm thinking of going to Walmart, what do you think?" in the kind of way that let him know this wasn't really an opinion question. It was me telling him I was going to Walmart. We don't have malls or cafes in this small town, but we do have Walmart with an adjacent Dunkin Donuts. A hot peppermint cocoa was just what the doctor ordered and I enjoyed it immensely as I roamed the store.)

Back to Elton John, "Your Song", and how wonderful life is...

It is Valentine's Day, after all. And it gets me thinking about "our song". And yes, it's really cheezy. If you've been together for longer than 10 years, chances are your song is one that is overplayed on Delilah's show. But you still love it. Cheezy as it is.

So Josh and I actually have *two* songs. The first is, well, the first. And as I play it in the background right now, yes, I still get all choked up. It's by an almost one-hit-wonder- group, Savage Garden, and it's "I Knew I Loved You Before I Met You". For the first bajillion times I heard it, I thought it was really silly. I didn't get it. But then I met this guy. I didn't know his name. So I guess I hadn't really met him. So I saw this guy. I didn't know his name. I saw him over and over and I just knew... he was the one. And I mean it when I say it, I LOVED this guy.

And then I met him. His name was Josh. And he was even more than I dreamed he'd be. And about 12 years ago he asked me to marry him.

So, okay, wipe away the happy tears, that's our love story in a tiny nutshell and here's our cheezy love song....



On our 10th anniversary, Josh made a photo slideshow for me using the song "God Gave Me You" which has since become a huge country hit for Blake Shelton. This is "Our Song #2". It's destined to be overplayed and annoying at some point in history, but it will probably send me to the Kleenex box every time I hear it.



So tell me, what's your song? I'd love to know.

Stuff I Love- Bolthouse Farms 50/50 Juices + Recipes!

I've been on the quest to get my minimum 5 a day of fruits and vegetables. And I have to say I've been doing quite well, thanks to some sneaky recipes from Jessica Seinfeld's book Deceptively Delicious, and to my morning smoothie.

I've never been a smoothie fan. I'm not into drinking my meals. Especially because the typical smoothie seems to be loaded with sugar and milk products, which I've never cared for much. But I think I've come up with one of the healthiest smoothies I know of and I owe a good deal of it's nutrition to Bolthouse Farms 50/50 juices! There are two blends, the tropical and the berry, each boasting one full serving of fruit AND one full serving of vegetables in each 8 oz cup! They are fabulous alone, not too sweet and slightly thick. But most often they go into my smoothie!

Let me share my recipe. I haven't named it. It's not going to make me famous or anything. But you should try these juices and maybe your own version of a smoothie using them. As for me, this is my blend:

1 cup Bolthouse Farms 50/50 juice

1 cup unsweetened almond milk

1 TBSP ground flax seed

1 tsp Barley grass powder (an extra source of greens)

a heap of fresh spinach

1 banana

Blend til, well, smooth!

You'll be getting about four servings of fruits and vegetables if you drink the recipe in it's entirety. It makes a very tall glass full, probably 20 ozs, so you can easily share it with someone you love who might be trying to get their fruits and veggies in too. I don't, however, do this. I make the one I love his own smoothie. And he likes it.

Sometimes I also blend in a tablespoon of fresh unsalted almond butter for added protein.

Isabelle, who could easily drink her daily caloric intake, loves smoothies. I asked her if I could make her one using the tropical 50/50 juice. She looked quite skeptical, asking what it was. I showed her the bottle and she agreed. She now likes full glasses of the juice by itself. Hallelujah chorus please!

It's challenging to eat a lot of crunchy fruits and vegetables with braces (have I mentioned I have braces? Friends know this, but maybe you're new to the blog or maybe you are just out of the loop. Anyhow, I have braces.). My friend Kim told me that a woman over 35 who is having a baby is classified as a geriatric pregnancy. I'm a geriatric orthodontia patient, I guess (though not quite 35. I frequently forget how old I am.). So, with it being difficult to crunch through my five a day, smoothies are a great way to make headway each day.

Here's another of my yummy recipes to help get in some fruit and it makes a healthy dessert, breakfast, or snack. Again, it doesn't have a name. You just get to enjoy it.

1 apple, your favorite kind, wedged and then sliced into bite size chunks

Place in a microwave safe bowl and sprinkle with 1 tsp of brown sugar, 1 TBSP

ground flax seed, and 1/2 to 1 tsp of cinnamon. Microwave for 1 to 2 minutes, til apples are desired tenderness and warm. Stir.

Top with a couple dollops of your favorite yogurt (mine is Chobani vanilla or honey) and mix.

It's so filling and gets lots more fruit into you than an 8 oz cup of yogurt would by itself!

Happy, healthy eating!

Blinded By the Light

Blessings!




I'd never had my pupils dialated before. Not on purpose. I asked the nurse if I'd be able to drive home afterward and she said yes, but the sun would be very bright. I made sure I had my sunglasses and consented to let the optometrist put in the drops and dialate my pupils.




It was just a routine eye exam... but it had been 10 years since my last "routine" exam. That's how I am, just plain terrible about making appointments. My current pair of glasses, however, had become so mangled from being sat on, handled by three children, and tossed into my purse without their case, that it really was time to go back to the eye doctor. While the magic drops did their work to dialate my pupils, I browsed the selection of frames for my new pair of glasses.



It was a large waiting room and frame shop combined. There was only one customer waiting. I only glanced at her. She was probably in her 50s, dark hair. I think I smiled at her because I usually do that sort of thing.


I tried on lots of glasses, but held on to a small pair with rectangular lenses and lavendar metallic frames. I was left to myself, the sun filtering through the windows getting more and more unbearable. As well as the conversation in the room.




The waiting customer was obviously not ashamed of her opinions as she spoke loudly and without restraint to the receptionist. She didn't move in closer or lower her voice or make any attempt to filter her words in front of strangers. For at least 10 minutes they talked about children. Maybe the conversation began talking about their own children, but it was mostly made up of talking about other people's children.





These are words I heard:

Anything more than two children is "disgusting". It's irresponisible. Why would you do that to the population growth? Especially in this day and age? That Duggar woman, her 20th child? That's disgusting. I worked at an office and one woman had 13 children and no intention of stopping. The last I heard, she had three more. Disgusting. The older ones end up raising the younger. Then they don't want to have children when they grow up. One woman just can't raise more than two children. I can understand, back in the day, when they needed children to help work the far, but today, it's just irresponsible.


My body heat was rising, my muscles were tensing up. The more I heard the words "irresponsible", "disgusting", and "wrong", the more I wanted to tell this lady (that I'm pretty sure I smiled at) how offensive she was.


I wanted to ask her if she'd like to move to China, where the government actually makes a law about how many children you can have. Just one, in most provinces. But it's done nothing to control the population, because if a woman has "just one" and it's not the acceptable one, she abandons it. These children, usually females or children with disfiguration, end up in orphanages. (This is not an accusation whatsoever against those mothers!)



I wanted to lie and tell her I had six kids!




I wanted to tell her about the many amazing and beautiful large families I know that love each other and do life together, just as imperfectly but no more imperfectly than smaller families. How the older children who help with the younger are actually learning incredible life skills that help make them more responsible. And they still get plenty of time to play and be a kid themselves.



I wanted to tell her to take her -------------- opinions and shove them up her -------------....





But that wouldn't be very Christian. And I am definitely, but not perfectly, a Christian. In fact, I had read in the Bible that very morning Psalm 127.

Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.

It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.

Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward.

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth.

Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

The Word of God assures me that children are not disgusting. They are a blessing, a reward. It encourages us to fill our house with them! There is nothing irresponsible about having a large family. We certainly don't offend God by having one.


But we certainly offend others.



I don't understand this. Well, I suppose I do. I see things more clearly now than I used to. God's Word is a lamp unto my feet,a light unto my path (Psalm 119:105). It sheds light, makes me see things as they really are.



I kept my mouth shut. I had to pray really hard to do so. I chose my new glasses (not the lavendar), paid for them, and went back in the examination room so the doctor could look at my eyes.



You see, when the pupils are dialated, they let in a lot more light. And it makes it much easier for the doctor to examine them and make sure they are healthy. To see if there are signs of glaucoma, catarcts, macular degeneration. He shined a light in my eyes that was so bright I could barely stand it, especially with the heightened sensitivity of my dialated pupils. My eyes were healthy. The light revealed that.



God's Word is continuously called a "light" in the Scriptures. We all know that old hymn, Amazing Grace, and the line it robs from John 9:25- I was blind but now I see! There is a time when I was blinded TO the Word of God. I didn't care what it said, I didn't know what it said, and I fumbled miserably through life. Then came the moment when I was blinded BY the Word of God, when it's marvelous light called me out of darkness! As I come to know it more, the more it reveals what is good in me and what is unhealthy in me. It can be unbearable! But I would rather be blinded by the Light than blinded to the Light.



I wish, oh I wish, I had felt more compassion for this woman. It's what I feel now that it's been a week or so and I've had time to sit on it. But I was so angry. Offended. Indignant! I pray that by my silence, my smile, my unheard prayers, that I was somehow a bit of light in that room.

Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness.

Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness.

If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.

Luke 11:34-35

Not So Christmas But Totally Christmas Movies

This holiday season is flying by. I've barely had time to watch my favorite Christmas movies- It's a Wonderful Life, White Christmas, The Muppets Christmas Carol.... I've definitely not had time to watch some of my other movies I associate with Christmas. Some of them have a Christmas scene in them, or take place during the season, others... well, they just bring back memories of Christmas for some reason.

Here are some of my top Not-So-Christmas-But-Totally-Christmas Movies:


The Family Man ( with Nicolas Cage)- Josh and I identify with this movie in so many ways and have our share of quotes we quip from it. The main character, Jack, gets to see what his life would have been like if he hadn't gone corporate and had instead gone family.


Serendipity- I'm a huge John Cusack fan and this is one of my very favorites starring him.


The Trouble With Angels- An older movie starring Hayley Mills and Ingrid Bergman that I first saw on cable television as a girl. It tends to be a movie that is played around Christmas as a pivotal scene in the movie takes place at a nursing home on Christmas day. The two main characters get into tons of fun trouble at their Catholic school.



The Sound of Music- Always a favorite, it used to play every Christmas night on network television. Now I enjoy it whenever I want on DVD.


Little Women (Wynona Ryder version)- The story includes several Christmases, my favorite being when Mr. Lawrence gives shy Beth a new piano. I cry like a baby.


Sleepless in Seattle- A little boy calls a radio show on Christmas Eve, talking about his father who is still grieving for his dead wife. Meg Ryan is how I like her best in this movie- cute and quirky.


Any movies that you associate with Christmas though they may not be official Christmas movies? Let me know!

Stuff I Love: The Beautiful Life Management Planner

I'm one of those people that likes to research a product really well before I buy it. I also find that I can be a bit of a spontaneous shopper, as well, but when making a major purchase, I like to get the goods on it first. I rely greatly on amazon.com reviews, Consumer Reports magazine, and the web site Consumersearch. If we're in the market for a specialty products (such as Josh's hiking items or homeschool curricula) we go to sites that are more specialized.

One of my greatest pet peeves is review of a product that goes something like this:

OMG! I like totally love this! It looks really cute and my boyfriend likes it. We haven't tried it yet, but I totally give it 5 stars!

Or something like this:

I thought this would be bigger. I know the package says the size, but most items like this are bigger. I guess it works okay, but I'm only giving it one star.

Or this:

I didn't like this book. One star.

My main complaint are reviews that are made far too soon, like before a product has even been used, or a week into using it. I want to hear from the people who have used something for a long time and found it to be a success or failure. And I want to know precisely what makes it a success or failure in their estimation.

So, with this review of the Beautiful Life Management Planner, I stand to be one of my own pet peeves. Honestly, I've only had it for a few weeks, and I've only used for a little more than one week. But I am so excited about it, and many people have asked me about it, so I want to share the deets on what it is and why I love it.

I need to go back a bit in time. At last year's homeschool convention, my sister-in-law and I were looking at a popular planner marketed to homeschool moms and, while we like it, it still didn't seem to be versatile enough to warrant the price tag. Because not only do we need a teacher's planner, but a household management planner, an appointment book, a record of goals and accomplishments, shopping lists, menu sheets, and a long-term, year-at-a-glance- type perspective. I walked away with my usual inexpensive Rod and Staff school planner and continued using a cheap spiral notebook to keep track of all the other things.

The spiral notebook worked to an extent, but it was full of random lists, phone numbers, and such that got junky and confusing really quickly. Shortly after we moved into our new house, as I unpacked a box of books, I came across a thriftbooks purchase, Open Heart, Open Home by Karen Mains. I thought it was a perfectly suitable book to read at the start of our new adventure, in a new house and town. Our heart has always been hospitality, and this book really renewed and reinvented that vision as I read it. One particular chapter greatly stressed time management. While I consider myself fairly disciplined with my time, I was convicted that I do a lot of time wasting. And that isn't conducive to answering any call of God.

As it relates to opening our home, nothing makes inviting people over more stressful than racing around the whole day before they come, cleaning the house. And then racing around again Sunday morning before church to get the meal ready or worrying about what to make in the first place. It doesn't take much for me to call off the notion of inviting people over- unmopped floors included.

I had barely begun considering how I could manage the house better when I saw an ad in a homeschool magazine that offered a free article called "Planning to Be a Blessing". Something about that title really caught my eyes and I think hits the nail on the head- planning my days, weeks, years better can result in being more of a blessing to my family and others. The ad was for a company called Grace Works and mentioned that they sold a variety of planners. I didn't waste much time checking out their website.

What I saw, I loved, and knew right away that this was what I had been looking for! Grace Works offers a variety of planning pages to help the natural-born organizer or the organizationally challenged! I would say I fall closer to the former type. I love making lists, checking them off, and get a sense of accomplishment from this (hey, it's the little things in life!). However, I don't necessarily have a lot of practical know-how on how to organize a full life of homeschooling, keeping the house, ministry, bills, appointments, etc. And I am not a natural-born cleaner (I didn't inherit that gift from my mom!)





There are two main planning systems that Grace Works offers. The Simplicity system and the Beautiful Life Management System. The Simplicity system has a basic set of planning pages that include a place to jot down things to do, errands to run, upcoming birthdays etc. It can be supplemented with a variety of practical and wonderful sheets including an itemized grocery list, menu sheets, prayer log, devotions log, exercise and nutrition sheets, and even one designed to write down memories, like the cute things your children say that you don't want to forget.





I purchased the Beautiful Life Management system starter set. This system offers much more detailed instructions regarding home management- specifically, it assigns cleaning tasks to each day of the week and a number of minutes to spend on them. This was the primary selling point for me. I have long known I need some kind of system of household chore maintenance. I tried Fly Lady but she just wasn't my thing. I am more of a pen and paper girl than a virtual girl, so logging on to Fly Lady was half the problem.





The thing I love about this system, however, is that it goes far beyond telling you what chores to do each day. It has several divided sections, the first being your BLM sheets, one for each day. Not only are the household tasks listed, but there is also a place to chart your water and vitamin consumption, exercise, your schedule or food log, your list of things to do, reminders to prepare for dinner, and a place to write down a special memory at the end of the day. I honestly can't think of anything that is missing from the sheets or that there isn't room to add if you need to.





There is also a divider of "Keeping in Mind" pages to jot down errands you need to run, a quick shopping list, letters or cards to write, and short and long term projects. The divider for this section has on one side a place to write down 10 quick and easy meals in case you get in a bind and need a supper idea pronto! The other side has lists of additional things you need to do to keep your home maintained (for me, it's things like matching socks, vacuuming around the wood stove, and giving the kitties their flea treatment each month). Another divider is for your personal devotions, a sheet called Morning Latte. It's a great tool for accountability to be spending time with the Lord each day. Another divider includes a year at a glance fold out calendar and then 12 months worth of individual calendars. Another divided section is for frequently called phone numbers and addresses. The final divider has sheets called Mountains of Success, a place to chart goals you have set for yourself. The starter set also comes with a 4 CD workshop by the system's creator. This is such a blessing, inspiration, and a great tutorial on how to use the system and not be enslaved to it. The kit comes with a pack of tea, too, to encourage you to sit and relax and get to know your planner.





As I said, I am a pen and paper girl. I don't have a mobile phone that sends me a reminder on Mondays to clean out my refrigerator. The Beautiful Life Management system fits into a 5.5 by 8.5 heavy duty spiral binder that I can put in my purse and take with me everywhere. (Today it's going to Caleb's ortho appointment with me, the paperwork all filled out and tucked inside, along with directions on how to get there).





I bought a few additional sheets to supplement my system, because I'm such a list keeper. The menu planning sheets and itemized shopping lists are invaluable to me!





There were fleeting thoughts as I looked at the available pages online that I could come up with something like this myself. I'm so glad that thought came and went quickly and that I invested the $40 to get this planner! The guess work has been done for me and I find that this feels much more official than if I had created something myself.





Let me share how it has already made my life easier.





On Saturday, we had company coming for dinner, a young couple we've met at church. I'd only been using the system and planner for one week, but on Saturday, I found that the only thing I really had to do was dinner prep! All week I had been faithful to do the recommended chores each day and I found that my house was clean and presentable (not spotless, not without strewn toys, etc) and that I wasn't ashamed to have anyone step into it. I got to enjoy my Saturday! Even with company coming.





The second Monday of using the system rolled around and I found that my pantry was still mostly orderly and my refrigerator clean. I didn't even need to spend the assigned number of minutes on each of those tasks, so I ended up cleaning my oven (whoa!) and straightening the cupboard we use the most, the one that holds coffee, tea, sugar, flour, bread, and our vitamins. I can see how, if I remain faithful in following this, it will get easier and easier because I'm doing preventive maintenance!





I read a verse yesterday in 1 John 5:3 telling us that if we love God, we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. It's wonderfully freeing to not live under rules, but to live under grace and to obey God out of pure love. I was reminded that my commandments to my children should not be burdensome, either, but that our relationship should be based more on love. Then obedience to the commands we do give will not be a burden, but they will hopefully want to respond out of their love for Josh and I.





I mention this verse because for some, using a system like this sounds like it would be completely burdensome, following rules each day. For some it would be like pulling their fingernails out! I get that. Again, I tend to want to be organized, to follow a list. However, who really, in their natural self, wants to live within parameters? So often we try to for a time, then get tired of it, or frustrated, and give up. I'm trying to keep in mind that this system is not designed to be burdensome, but, as they say in the included workshop CDS, it's designed to be my servant and to work for me, not the other way around. Even though I like that feeling of control that I get from following the rules, the freedom I gain from this should play out in love...





Being able to spend more time loving my husband and kids, playing with them, listening to them, because I'm not worried about mopping the floors. I do that on Friday. It assures me that I will get to the tasks, but all I need to focus on is what is planned for today.



I'm not freaking out and grouchy because we have people coming for dinner and everything is a mess! Or I can't find the paperwork I need for the ortho appointment. I tucked it in my planner on depapering day. Less stress = more love!





I feel more relaxed about having people over. Again, our home is lived in, but the bathrooms aren't gross and I'm not exhausted by the time they arrive.





My husband can walk through the front door and sigh in contentment (as he did last night) that the entry is finally empty of boxes of books.





I sigh in contentment because I deliberately planned for healthy meals ahead of time, bought the right ingredients, and watch my kids eat good stuff instead of what I could quickly throw together for lunch.





For me, these "commands" (which are only suggestions) in the BLM system are not burdensome, they are refreshing and helping to purposely live out the call God has put on my life.





I hope you'll check out the Grace Works site and see what they have to offer, especially if you're looking for a way to better plan your days and months. I have been so blessed by this product (and no , I don't receive any perks for writing this blog! I just like to pass on a great thing and give praise where it is due!). I think the name of their company speaks volumes... God's grace works, rules don't. These planners are designed to help you be a blessing to the people you love and to answer God's call on your life, not to enslave you to a set of rules. With Christmas and the New Year coming, this could be the very thing you'd like to put on your wish list or buy for yourself to get a great start on a new year!

Daybook for December 5th

For today…. there's lots to do on a Monday!

Outside my window… the sun is just coming up over the backyard trees

I am thinking… that Christmas has been pretty simple... so far!

I am thankful for…many answered prayer this past week; little things, if you could call any answered prayers "little"

I am wearing…pjs and a ponytail

I am going… nowhere today, I hope!

I am reading… a book for Advent, God is in the Manger, which is comprised of the writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

On my mind… the Christmas gifts I've yet to buy

From the learning rooms… As we've begun 1 Kings and the building of the temple, we're studying architecture using A Child's History of Architecture by VM Hillyer. Lots of fun! And the perfect time to design and construct our own gingerbread house!

Remembering that… I need to balance the checkbook

Pondering these words…. "Love God and people; use money and things." From yesterday's sermon at church.

From the kitchen… Check out The Mathews News for the Chocolate Guacamole recipe! Yum!

Around the house… things are pretty tidy and organized now that I've used my new planner and household management system for one full week! Review of this awesome product to come!

One of my favorite things… a relaxed Sunday at home.

Listening to... Joy: An Irish Christmas by Keith and Krysten Getty. Makes us want to Riverdance!

A few plans for this week... Two doctor's appointments, including a trip to the eye doctor for me. It's only been 10 and a half years!