Jello Popcorn! YUMMY-LICIOUS! AND a new book!

The last few months the Lord has really been telling me that I need to come up with a schedule for my day with the kids. I was whining or venting one day on Facebook and 2 friends suggested I read Managers of Their Homes by the Maxwells. Managers of Their Chores was also highly recommended so, as always, I'm a sucker for trying out new books, I quickly used my Christmas money (Thank you Linda & Emmett--my inlaws) and bought both books! They FINALLY showed up yesterday...now I'm not the most patient person so really it wasn't that long of a wait, I ordered them on Dec. 26th, they were shipped on the 28th and I got them yesterday, the 4th but to me, that's an eternity! LOL Anywho, I'm about 1/2 way done with MOTH and it's really got me jazzed to come up with a schedule! I'll have more time to do fun things with the kids and actually having them scheduled in will make it a major priority and it will actually get done! I don't know how many times I've thought about taking the kids to the park or something and then end up wasting time on something else and before I know it, it's too late! It will also be nice for my son to know what is planned for any given moment of everyday. I probably won't schedule anything on Sundays because those are my hubby's days off and we just play things by ear on those days! We've scheduled Family Game/Movie nights for every Friday and on NYE we all came up with 12 different family things to do (1 per month for a year) so that will be scheduled in too! Life is going to be MUCH nicer and we'll have a lot more fun too!

So...I scheduled in some baking time today and Keegan and I looked at one of my new favorite blogs: Our Best Bites and found a recipe for Jello Popcorn (click the recipe name to be taken to the recipe). Both of us were pretty stoked about trying out this new recipe! I just love that Keegan is so willing and excited to try out crafts and recipes and stuff with me! Hopefully Tatym will like it too! I dug through my cupboards and thankfully found 1 box of jello that wasn't sugar-free. I always buy sugar-free but I think I'm going to have to rethink that because I saw another recipe that called for regular jello too! Something about the sugar-free doesn't let it cook the same way! Anyway, we had blue-raspberry which turned out to be such a pretty color:


I didn't let Keegan do much of the stirring on the stove just because I didn't want it to burn...kids are notorious for only stirring one small area of the pan and not getting it all mixed around! LOL I did let him pour in all the ingredients and he thinks that's pretty fun in itself! Easily amused, thank goodness!

Here we have the end product...a yummy batch of blue-raspberry jello popcorn! It really is soooo good!


Keegan (aka, my assistant) enjoying his snack while doing his math! :)

25 Ideas to Romance Your Man

Another goody in the book Becoming the Woman of His Dreams by Sharon Janyes is a list about 25 Ways to Romance Your Man...here you go:

1. Put a chocolate kiss in his briefcase.
2. Draw a candlelight bath and invite him to join you.
3. Surprise him in the shower.
4. Warm up his towel in the dryer.
5. Warm up his socks in the microwave.
6. Greet him when he comes out of the shower with a warm towel and a steaming cup of coffee.
7. Watch the sunset together.
8. Eat by candlelight.
9. Take ballroom dance classes.
10. Spray a mist of perfume on his pillow.
11. Place an "I love you" sign in a public place.
12. Write him a love letter.
13. Write him a poem.
14. Write an acrostic of reasons you adore, admire, and appreciate him A-Z.
15. Have a special song.
16. Fax a love note to him at the office.
17. Send him a romantic e-mail.
18. Leave an "I love you" message on his voice mail.
19. Kidnap him for an overnight getaway. (Pick him up at the office. Have his overnight bag packed and kids stowed atay at a friend's.)
20. Celebrate your first date, first kiss, and the day he asked you to marry him.
21. Write him a thank-you note for something specific he did for you.
22. Make a video of your life together using old photographs and your favorite songs.
23. Make a list of 25 reasons why you adore him.
24. Give him a trophy for "Best _____." Trophy shops will engrave anything you like.
25. Give him a full-body massage, telling him what you like about each body part as you move along.

Now aim to do something like this at least once a week, if not once a day for your husband!! It won't hurt, I promise! :) Have fun!!!

My heart is sad...Marriages!!

I don't even know how to start this, I'm just so sad! It seems like almost on a daily basis I'm hearing about marriages just being torn apart, people seperating and just giving up. It's so frustrating because as a person that has been there and knowing what the Lord showed me and all that I've learned about God's view on marriage, ways to have a happy marriage, etc. and just seeing people being selfish and prideful or thinking the grass is greener on the other side. I just want to shake them and tell them that they are making a huge mistake!



In our homeschool co-op the moms are reading Becoming The Woman of His Dreams and I had brought the book to work with me the other night and that sparked a conversation with one of my co-workers. She asked me if they made books like that for husbands because she said her husband really needed it. I said that I was sure there were books like that out there. We got to talking about how in God's Word, wives are commanded to respect their husbands. This means even if they don't "deserve" it and probably especially when we don't feel like giving or showing respect. You could tell this really bugged my co-worker and she made a remark about not giving respect if her husband wasn't going to treat her right! That's the part that frustrates me. Now don't get me wrong, I am FAR FAR FAR from the good and respectful wife that I long to be BUT I'm constantly working on it. I grew up basically with a single mother that had been abused by previous husbands and even her current husband and she was very open about telling my sisters and I never to rely on a man to support us, never to need anything from a man and I was never shown how to show/give respect to man. I'm learning as I'm going along in my own marriage and it's tough! I honestly had to look up in the dictionary what respect was. I mean I knew that you were supposed to show some kind of politeness to people in higher positions or elderly but I didn't know exactly what respect was. For those that are curious, here's what I found. I took out the stuff that didn't fit what I was looking for and this is what was left that helped me:


RESPECT =
*esteem for or a sense of the worth or excellence of a person, a personal quality or ability, or something considered as a manifestation of a personal quality or ability

*deference to a right, privilege, privileged position, or someone or something considered to have certain rights or privileges; proper acceptance or courtesy; acknowledgment

*a formal expression or gesture of greeting, esteem, or friendship

*to hold in esteem or honor

*to refrain from intruding upon or interfering with



In Ephesians 5:33 it says:

However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.



In the Amplified bible, this is what Ephesians 5:33 says:

However, let each man of you [without exception] love his wife as [being in a sense] his very own self; and let the wife see that she respects and reverences her husband [that she notices him, regards him, honors him, prefers him, venerates, and esteems him; and that she defers to him, praises him, and loves and admires him exceedingly].

That was a huge eye-opener for me and I'm really working on doing all of those things but sadly, I fail more than I succeed! But at least I'm trying! I'm not digging my heels in and saying that I'm not going to do those things unless hubby does these things! It totally goes along with the Love & Respect seminars (they have a book and workbook too along with DVD's of the seminar...I HIGHLY recommend that every couple do this at least once a year)! The whole cycle of a woman feeling unloved so she reacts with disrespect, the husband feels disrespect so he reacts unlovingly and on and on and on! It takes a mature person to step back and say WHOA, we're not going to do this anymore! It takes work to have a happy marriage and it makes me soooooo sad that the world is telling us that we need to do what makes us feel good, what makes us happy and if something isn't making us happy then we should just drop it and seek out those things that do make us happy! We get so caught up in the sugary sweet goosebumps, butterflies in the stomach, etc. that we get when we first start dating someone and when the newness is gone and we don't have all the "warm fuzzies" then we go out seeking it in other places! Hello people, isn't there something awesome about growing old with someone and knowing that person is going to be by your side through thick and thin and no one will know you better than your spouse and on and on?

I'll have to save my marriage testimony for the next blog posting because it's long and I have to make sure that my hubby will be ok with me sharing it. I was making HUGE mistakes and heading the wrong way but I just praise and thank the Lord that He not only pulled my head out of my selfish butt, but He gave Josh a forgiving heart! The biggest reason I want to share my marriage story is to give people hope! I was at my wits end and was so done that I was ready to sign divorce papers and walk away. I want people to know that life is sooooo much better if you can just stick it out and WORK AT IT instead of giving up! My marriage is so much richer and more wonderful now then I ever could have imagined! The Lord will bless you for trying and for sticking it out! Life isn't always going to be rainbows and butterflies and your spouse is probably the one person on earth that can really push your buttons and get on your nerves but please know that divorce is never the answer (unless abuse is involved), marriages can be repaired!

Here are some things that helped me:

Jon Coursin's study on marriage

The Bible (of course)

Love & Respect by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs

The movie Fireproof is great too!

A Woman After God's Own Heart by Elizabeth George

A Wife After God's Own Heart by Elizabeth George

Created To Be His Help Meet by Debi Pearl

The 5 Love Languages by Dr. Gary Chapman

Love Dare book

Those are just some to name a few! LOL I'm telling you, please, please, please don't give up on your marriage! You can never regret putting your all into saving your marriage!

To be continued...

I love my husband!

For those that don't know, I'm a homeschooling mom. My son, Keegan is just about to turn 7 years old and I've been homeschooling him since he was around 3 years old and I love it...most of the time! LOL We're involved in a christian homeschool co-op that meets 3 Fridays a month and has field trips the last week of the month. The great thing about the co-op is that not only do our kids get a chance to take "classes" with other kids from christian homes, us moms get a chance to visit and learn too! An amazing lady named Rebeca leads a Moms Encouragement Class for the moms that are interested in it. This semester we're reading a book called: Becoming the Woman of His Dreams by Sharon Jaynes. I haven't been able to read much of it because of how busy life has been but I did read the first part of it and I listen to Rebeca talk about sections in the book and it's just awesome! I've really been feeling the Lord pushing me to keep learning and growing in my job as a mom & wife and this study has just really helped me to stop and think about how I react to things and how I treat my husband! I feel like I've hit the spouse jackpot and married the most amazing man in the entire world. Josh is loving, caring, funny, handsome, a great father, patient, even-tempered, selfless, compassionate, adoring....I could go on and on! He's not perfect but let me tell you, he's pretty darn close in my book! Sure, there's things he does that bug me and I don't agree with the way he handles some situations in our lives but I adore that man more than he could ever know! Now, I feel like my poor husband didn't even come close to hitting the spouse jackpot! I'm so not the great spouse that he is to me and that breaks my heart! I want to be that loving, doting wife that never nags, never overreacts, is patient and kind and is always smitten with my husband but I'm sooooo not!!! I'm quick to critisize, ungrateful at times, easily annoyed/stressed...on and on! The crazy thing is that even though I'm like that, Josh really makes me feel like he adores me! WHAT?!?! It's nuts! The Lord really, really, really blessed me with such a great husband! I'm hoping that since the kids & I are going to take it easy today that I'll get a chance to read some of the book. My personal goal is to do something nice for my hubby everyday and really keep pushing myself to work on being a better wife! I want Josh to be able to feel as lucky and blessed and spoiled as I do!!!