Be Wise In What You Do

"Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm." Proverbs 13:20

Serve Others!!

"For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many." Mark 10:45

Communicating

"The Teacher sought to find just the right words to express truths clearly." Ecclesiastes 12:10

Listen to the Father

My children, listen when your Father corrects you. Pay attention and learn good judgement. Proverbs 4:1

He watches over me

He will not let your foot slip- He who watches over you will not slumber. Psalm 121:3

Never Give Up!!!

You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised. Hebrews 10:36

All things Through Him

"I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." Philippians 4:13

Those bad days

You know those days when all your children are getting along so well, sharing, being patient, kind, and loving to one another, being obedient to you, well we aren't going to talk about those most wonderful times today. No, we're going to talk about the times when you feel like pulling your hair out, when no one wants to share, you've been asked "why" a thousand times, you've been told "no, I don't want to" the children aren't sharing and continue to argue over and over again, and they won't do a thing you ask them, and you are just plain fed up. That's the time we're going to talk about. 

During those times it is so easy to forget that we are children of a wonderful loving God and we forget what he tells us. It is so easy to just go off on our children and yell at them these precious young children whom when everything is going great seem like the best children in the world. They don't deserve that they are just children, but we do we raise our voices and even yell at them. I didn't realize how that affected my children until yesterday, we had a bad day, a really bad day. I yelled and I even blamed my children for the attitudes they had and told them that they needed to fix their attitude if they wanted mine to be fixed. Yes, totally embarrassing on my part I can't believe I told them that, how absolutely stupid of me. But, it wasn't until my son had a big outburst of anger that I have never seen him have ever before, ever that I realized just how much my yelling had bothered him. But, while he was having those few minutes of showing anger to me, I still didn't link it with myself and take the blame, after I took a few minutes to sit down with him and play to get him to calm down, he started crying and said "I'm so sorry" and God just said to me, see what you've done and why I want you to be gentle, loving, and kind to others. At that moment it just clicked and I took him into my arms and told him that it was my fault not his at all he had done nothing wrong, and we had a wonderful rest of the day. No, everyone didn't mind the whole time and everything wasn't perfect, but I changed the only person who had the real problem. 

As you may know from previous posts our house is a "no yelling house" and, as you have figured out from this post we are nowhere near perfect at all, we slip up and make mistakes and we sometimes yell. But, I can tell you that after God showed me what I was doing yesterday this will be a no yelling house ALWAYS, I will never again make my child feel that way again. There will be nothing but love, kindness, patience, and gentleness in this house any more, even during those days that seem to be really bad. I will do my part. 

Why did I choose to post this? Well, it's really hard to do, I have questioned if I was actually going to publish it the whole time I've been typing but, yes, I am going to because I know I'm not the only one who has had a bad day and lost their temper. Even if no one wants to admit it you have had those bad days too. And, if it takes a moment of me humbling myself to show my faults to change an entire household into having a true no yelling, gentle speaking, kind, patient household then a little bit of my discomfort will be nothing. 

Focus on these verses if you feel that it's one of those bad days and you don't know how much longer you can take it, just take a few minutes to reflect on these, and talk to God, he will listen and will give you instruction. 

"The wise in heart are called discerning, and pleasant words promote instruction." Proverbs 16:21   -Think before you speak

"Do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord." Ephesians 6:4

"Fathers do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged." Colossians 3:21

A wonderful tip that I found from another blogger is that instead of just keeping verses highlighted in your bible, or just putting them in a notebook, write them where you will see them all throughout the day, if you have a homemaking binder, write some encouraging verses on every page, put note cards throughout your house, whatever it takes for you to get the word of God everyday all day. Hope I helped someone with this post today, and just remember, don't feel like because you did this you are an awful person, although I did feel like that for a good while after but just remember we have a wonderful loving Heavenly Father who forgives us and not only that but He forgets that sin as well. Don't hang onto that just let it go and love on your children. 

Don't cause anger

 And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. Ephesians 6:4

God is always with us

The LORD your God is with you,  He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with his love, He will rejoice over you with singing."
Zephaniah 3:17 

A quiver full!!

Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him. Children born to a young man are like arrows in a warrior's hands. How joyful is the man whose quiver is full of them! He will not be put to shame when he confronts his accusers at the city gates. Psalm 127:3-5 

Humble yourselves

"Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves;" Philippians 2:3

Come To Jesus!!!

"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Jesus' words) Matthew 11:28-30

Money Tip #7

Vacations, everyone loves to take them but we don't always have the money to go, so when you do make sure you don't spend a fortune on it. Plan the vacation a good bit ahead of time, depending on different events that may be going on around where you want to stay, you can catch good deals so plan to stay there those certain times of the year. Plan out for the most part what you are going to want to do while on your vacation and save up the money so there won't be any surprising costs you weren't expecting nothing can ruin a vacation more than not getting to do anything because costs are so much higher than you though they would be.  Plan for eating out or buying your food to cook (even if you intend on cooking your food still plan for eating out when you get there you're probably going to realize that you really just want to enjoy your time and not have to do any work even cooking). 

Money Tip #6

So, here's money tip number 6!!! Save money on your bills, as many of them as you can of course things like mortgage and homeowners insurance isn't going to change, but you can control your water bill, power bill, groceries and things like that. 

One thing we do everyday which is even better when it stays light outside until 8:30 or so but we open up our blinds all day everyday until it gets dark outside so there is no need to cut on any lights, and that saves us a ton of money. We also try not to run heat and air too much if we can open a window or leave the glass door open with just the screen closed we will, and during the cold times we try to bundle up a lot or start up the fireplace instead of turning on the heat, and get moving run around with the kids and that will take away the need for heat for a while. 

As far as saving on water, use as little of it as possible cut the water off while  brushing your teeth or while washing dishes, don't just let the water run!! If you're throwing a load in the dishwasher don't turn it on until it is completely full. Another idea that is on our to-do list this spring it to get a large barrel to catch rain water in so we can use that to water our garden, when we had our vegetable garden last year we had a big increase to our water bill so this is going to be a great thing to prevent that from happening again. 

You can save lots of money on groceries you just have to do some planning. We shop once a month for all of our groceries (except fresh produce) we save a lot of money that way because we know ahead of time what we have and what our meals are going to be so we don't just go shopping all the time and end up picking up stuff we really don't need. Also, stock up when items are on sale especially meats!! I found a wonderful sale on meats this months shopping trip and got it for half the price it usually is. Using coupons is another great thing, if you have the time, and I just don't have the time to do them at all so that's one tip I would really love to learn more about how to easily do too!! Hope you enjoy all the tips we've been giving and hope you learned something new, tell us about it in the comments!
                    -Sarah
                  

New Life

"If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." 2 Corinthians 5:17

Gentleness

"A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger" Proverbs 15:1

Money Tip #5

Sorry for not having our weekly tips done daily, we had to skip a few days of blogging, we had 3 sick children all at once which put a stop to almost everything that our household normally does, now that everyone is getting better we can pick up where we left off, so here is money tip number 5.  THRIFT STORES!!!!! I love going to thrift shops to find something "new" and usually at a third of the price of what you would get it for at the store (and if you find really good deals it's even less than that). As a family of five with 3 small children who are constantly growing out of their clothes and shoes it wouldn't be very wise of us to spend our money on new clothes and shoes for them, it would cost us so much money when I can go to the thrift stores and buy several full outfits and shoes for all of them and spend less than $10 if I bought all of that stuff new, I wouldn't have even been able to buy 1 full outfit. If you are one of those people who think it's gross to wear used clothing just take it home and wash it well even more than once if that makes you feel more comfortable with all the money you saved running the wash more than once isn't going to matter. We also thrift for more than just clothes, any household items can be found at thrift stores, like those really nice expensive pots and pans can usually be found in thrift shops for $1-$2 isn't that just awesome, I get excited thinking about it, weird I know but hey that's how we save a ton of money that can be better used somewhere else, I also feel that through doing that we are being good stewards with the money God has given us, and we are protecting His earth by using fewer resources to have new clothes made. So, here's your challenge, try for 3 months to get everything that you need (other than food of course) from a thrift shop and just add up your savings, it will amaze you!!! Hope you enjoy the challenge and don't forget, don't make it a chore make it fun.

- Sarah

Making time for our children

We as parents need to realize how fast time goes by and before we know it our children are no longer those tiny newborn babies we once snuggled in our arms, they are growing up and before long they will be all grown and out of the house and that precious time we once had is now gone.  We just sat down together and looked at what all we weren't doing that we need to be and now is a time for change, now of course there are things that you have to do so you can't just sit and play with your children all day long, but make time for them purposeful time to just make it all about them and what they want to do sit down in the floor with them and play or go outside and run around dig in the dirt. Just have FUN with them no worries about what housework needs to be done or whatever else you have on your to-do list put it all away and be with them love them.   When it comes time for you to complete your daily tasks that need to get done, invite them to help you out as much as they can no matter what you are doing there's always some way that they can help out if they want to be creative and give them fun tasks, when doing this not only do they get special time with you but they also learn responsibility and how to run a household.

-Sarah

Training Our Children

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. Proverbs 22:6.    Every family needs to know the importance of training children, in the bible when it tells us to train our children in the way they should go, it isn't just referring to when they are young or even until they are teenagers, it means until they leave from you and I believe it means until they leave you as in marriage. 

We are constantly training our children even when we don't know we are, they watch how we act, what we do, what we say, and they will copy our actions more than they will listen to what we say for them to do, so you just have to remember to always do as we should because they are watching us and learn from us. 

Also, when training your child be loving, we have a rule in our house that this is a "no yelling house" and yes of course we aren't perfect and we do raise our voices sometimes when we get really frustrated but that is something to work on. Just remember to talk to your children with love and kindness, talk with them in a soft gentle voice, not one of anger or frustration, and if you find yourself reaching your breaking point and and you know you are going to raise your voice to them or punish them out of anger then leave the room and take a minute or two to yourself to just calm down, during that time just remind yourself that they are children who are still learning and when they act out they aren't doing it to get at you they are just children who need training. 

I have also learned that it is so simple to train your child in everything you do and to teach them about the Lord with everything, it's so easy, say you go outside to play and the sun is nice and bright just say something so simple as "Look at what a beautiful sun God gave to us, aren't you glad He created the sun for us to look at." something so simple as that spoken all the time can teach your children to look for the Lord in everything and to appreciate what He has given to us. Your challenge for today is to only speak to your children in soft gentle loving tones, and to find as many ways to talk to them about Jesus and what He gives to us and Has done for us. 

                                      -Sarah

Glory be to God!

For God did not appoint us unto wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.

1 Thessalonians 5: 9-10

Money Tip #4

NEVER PAY STICKER PRICE / ASKING PRICE!!!! In addition to yesterday, think about some other advantages of making cash purchases. Let's say you're buying a car or furniture, if you walk into the store or onto the lot with cash, how easy do you think it would be to negotiate a lower price? Many times you will be amazed at how much below the asking cost you can go. You can easily save hundreds of dollars to go toward your next purchase or buy extra accessories to go with your new purchase. And best of all, NO PAYING INTEREST!!!! Look there you saved even more money than you thought.

Crisis Averted!!!!!!!!

Well I changed the oil in both of our cars the day before and everything was looking great! And then while I was at work the next day Sarah calls me .... "Honey, my van won't start.". Well now i'm thinking to myself, "Great way to start the day.". Then I thought, "Hey! We have saved all the spare money from the past few weeks!" I get home that afternoon and after a jump start, a trip to the parts store, and $90.00 later (bummer) we have a new battery. Now I know we pretty much have to start all over with the change bucket but at least we didn't have to cut into our bill money. CRISIS AVERTED! Go money tip #1!!!!!

-Justin

Money tip #3

We have made it a rule in our house that we will do no spur of the moment spending, we don't HAVE to have it right now. Save for everything and if you want it bad enough when you finally have the money for it then get it or, maybe you will come to find that that thing you had to have just doesn't look quite as good now as it did before and maybe you could use that money for something you would rather have. But, just remember even though it may take you a while to save up that money and you feel like you just need it now, 9 times out of 10 it can wait and you won't put yourself in a bind by spending money you don't have right away (yes even for small inexpensive things because they add up quickly).
                            -Sarah

A Word Of Encouragement

O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in Him.


Psalm 34:8

What is your homeschool like?

We have just recently started our homeschooling journey and it's quite an experience.... It's so much fun, of course it's a lot of work but we've got it pretty easy so far our oldest is just in 4-K we decided to start this journey because we didn't want "this world" to teach our children what they need to know. I want our children to hear about Jesus everyday and in everything that they can and they wouldn't get that at a public school, and yes if we sent them to a Christian school they would get that aspect of it but basically I would be paying someone else more than what I was making when I was working to raise my children and that just didn't make sense to me. I believe that we are on this  journey in life because this is what God meant for my life, to be a mother which is much more than just having my children but that I should be their teacher also and to be able to stay with my children all the time to teach and play and to love them is the biggest blessing I could ever ask for. So now I'll ask you if you do homeschool why did you choose to do so? What are some of the struggles you go through? (I will do a post about struggles later on) Is it what you thought it would be or not? Would you change your decision if you had it to do over again? and last but not least What blessings have you received from being able to stay at home with or homeschool your children? We would love to hear your feedback. 
                     -Sarah

A Magnificent Truth

1 John 2:1

My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

Savory Meatloaf

1lb. ground beef

1 egg

1 cup of italian bread crumbs

1/2 cup of milk

1/2 cup of ketchup

mix all together (I find that using my hands works best.)

cook on 350 for 1 hour.

Money Saving Tip #2

For everyone who says to themselves, "Why don't I just stop at the convenience store and get me a drink and a candy bar or snack cake." If you do this everyday for at least five days a week and figure that a drink for $1.50 and a snack for $0.50 isn't much read this! $2.00 per day, $10.00 per week, $40.00 per month or $480.00 per year!!!! If you have a short commute to work like me that can cover     your gas to and from work all year! Or guys, a BIG SCREEN HD T.V. or for you ladies, a nice chunk of change for LANDSCAPING, or for both of you a nice relaxing WEEKEND GETAWAY! So think, are the snacks and the calories really worth it, or can you save it for a sunny day?

-Justin

So men, do you want to feel like superman?

Wait until one day your wife has errands to run or a women's day out then get to work. Clean the house do the grocery shopping or something big you know has been on her mind. When she comes home she will adore you! When she sees that hard work that you invested into her happiness it shows her just how much she means to you. If your honey-do list is complete then go get her a very nice bouquet of flowers a card (or something you wrote down) and have a candlelight dinner waiting for her. When she brags to her friends about what you have done for her you will feel like a super hero.

-Justin

Yummy New Recipe

We've recently discovered this delicious recipe we all love it and it's so simple it's an enchilada casserole here's the recipe:

Enchilada Casserole

1 lb of ground beef (or chicken breasts)

green onions( I didn't add these but I'm sure they would be good)

1 can of  enchilada sauce

1 pkg. taco seasoning

6 tortillas halved (you can use wheat or white)

1 can(or bagged)  black beans

2 cups shredded Mexican style cheese

just grease the pan lightly cook the meat and taco seasoning until the meat is browned, then mix in the enchilada sauce and layer in a casserole dish tortillas first then meat mixture then beans, and top with cheese, keep layering until you use all you have cook on 350 for 35 minutes and then enjoy the deliciousness. I also ate mine with lettuce and sour cream. Hope you enjoy.
                                                                    -Sarah

MONEY TIPS WEEK!!!

We will share one of our money saving tips with you each day this week. As a family with only one income we have to be creative when saving money and sometimes that means not getting things we want to have or even just having to wait but today that's not it all you have to do to save money with tip number one is........ SAVE YOUR SPARE CHANGE!!!! That's it, sounds simple doesn't it, well it is every day or whenever you get a little extra change (feel free to throw in an extra dollar bill every now and then) in your pockets just toss it in a jar and forget about it and before you know it you've got quite a stash of money. We went through that and in just 2 weeks we had in $23 which may not seem like a lot but that's only change no dollar bills at all so add that in and the amount just keeps increasing, we kept that up for a couple more weeks and now have $219 and yes we did add in some dollar bills in with that but the thing is, it was all extra just sitting in our pockets. So after you get done at the grocery store and have a little extra change instead of going for that candy bar save up that money and see just how much you can get!!

-Sarah

Why should we eat together as a family vs. in front of the t.v.?

There are many benefits to eating together. It has been proven that children that eat at the table with their families have an attachment/ relationship with their parents effectively eliminating any communication issues. Ever wonder why your child especially teens don't openly tell you about their day at school or work? If you're not used to eating together as a family your child may not know how to communicate with you at a comfortable level. Many times the dinner table is a way to relax everyone from the pressures of the day . This will openly create an enviroment or a safety net if you will for your child to willingly express what they face day to day. For children who do not sit with their families for dinner often find themselves in the den or their bedroom in front of a t.v.. This type of enviroment limits the opportunities for your child to feel relaxed enough to talk openly with you. How many times does your child approach you for a conversation while you work at home, on a project or even during a game only to hear the words "Not now, can't this wait until some other time?" or "Can't you see i'm busy? Why are you bothering me?" No one feels comfortable being cast out that way so most of the time your child may just forget what they were even going to talk about or eventually become like a recluse hiding in their bedroom. As simple or as unbelieveable this idea may be, give it try and you may find the results are well worth giving up some time in the office or during your favorite t.v. show.

-Justin

NEW BLOG!!!!

Welcome to Resourceful Homeschooling Family  a fun new adventure for us!!! We're  looking forward to blogging all about real life and how it is being a stay at home mom and working dad to 3 beautiful babies, homeschooling, living a Christian life, saving money, and hope you will join us as we  learn to be more resourceful with everything we have. Feel free to comment on any post we would love to hear from you!!

-Sarah