Christian Homemaker

~Meals~

Thu, 25 Jan 2007 01:05:14 GMT

I'm so tired, I have been up since 540am but I'm trying to make it till 10 and then I will sleep! I got so much accomplished so far and still have hours to go to do even more. I will be making bread, and other baked goods hopefully tonight or tomorrow.

I got grocery shopping and errands done today and it seemed like everyone decided today was the day to go to Walmart! It was packed and I saw LOTS of brothers and sisters from church. It being the new Walmart here in Graham, you can imagine! We haven't been in there once without seeing someone from church lol. Also had a chance to witness to a few people.

Then I had to go to Starbuck's and decided to try the Light Note this time instead of my usual House Blend.

Tonight I'm going to bake, clean and do some more laundry and hopefully read some books. Just a few more days till we start classes and I want to get as much done now before it starts back up.

Here are the meals for the next few weeks:

Homemade chili over baked potatoes X 4

Homemade Ham and Pineapple pizza X 2

Homemade tomato soup with cheesy bread X 2

Red Beans and Rice and Kielbasa Soup with Homemade Bread X 4

Split Pea Soup with Homemade Bread X 2

Chicken Fajitas with Homemade Tortillas

Beef Stroganoff X 2

Burritos X 2

Black Bean Burritos X 2

Black Bean Spaghetti with Homemade garlic cheese bread X as many as needed!

Tomorrow I'm making a pork roast in the crockpot with vegetables and mashed potatoes.

~Schedule Continued.......~

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 15:20:36 GMT

Day 2 of changing my schedule and its taking some getting used to. I do think it will be better for me then going to sleep at 3-5am! LOL I've been sick the past 3 days and woke today with swollen lymph nodes on my neck and that is along with my fever and cold sores and I have no idea what all this means. I wasn't sure if I should not go run outside but I did anyway, it was COLD!!!!! But I feel better getting my cardio in early and then it helps me get up early.

It seems as though from 730-8 will be the best time for my Bible reading and prayer time. From 530-6 I'm meditating/praying and getting my mind on God to start my day. I think from 8-9am will be cleaning up things and I'm not sure when I will type my notes and do classwork but I will feel it out as I go!

Orientation ends Friday and I believe our classes will start next week for this, my second trimester. According to the booklet, my classes will be: Historical Books I, Practical Theology I, Doctrines I and Harmony of the Gospels. I'm currently doing a read through the Bible in a year plan and in Genesis and Matthew.

Lots of new things with this new year and it was time for a change.

~Schedule Time Again!~

Tue, 23 Jan 2007 14:44:39 GMT

Changing things back to what they were a few months ago and seeing if this is going to help me more. I was staying up late doing my classwork but it has messed with body chemistry somehow, so I am now going to try and go back to my old routine. So here is how it is going so far:

530am Wake

535-6am Devotional time/reading

6-630am Walk/Running outside

630-7 Breakfast, make hubby's lunch

The rest I'm not sure on yet.........

~Thursday~

Thu, 25 Jan 2007 16:21:29 GMT

Yes today is "Slow Cooking Thursday!" I'm making a pork roast in my crockpot and letting it cook all day and then going to make some mashed potatoes from scratch. I leave the peel on my potatoes when I make them because its in the peel is where the most nutrients are! It makes NO sense to peel them, and then cook them. They taste good with the peel left in the mashed potatoes!! Try it sometime!

I'm not feeling well still and neither is my husband. I have been taking all of my vitamins and supplements and Astragalus and not sure why my immune system isn't fighting this better. Could be because I'm dieting and my calories are lower than normal and I'm losing weight? Not sure......

Today I'm attacking my daughter's room! She is 3 and her room look likes like a typhoon went through there and I'm going to try and get it more organized. She likes to empty her toy box and other things all over the house but I'm going to establish a rule that all toys must stay in her room unless I give her the "yes" to bring one or two in the living room. I had not thought of doing this until I went over for fellowship to another sister's house and she did this with her 3 yr old.

I'm still getting up and walking/running at 6-630 but I won't be doing that on Sat or Sun! Just during the week.

~Priorities~

Wed, 17 Jan 2007 23:06:04 GMT

My priorities are kind of off right now. I've begun to concentrate on really getting back to the size I was a year ago before gaining weight with my illness and medications. I can NOT let my size 6/8 clothes go to waste in my closet lol. So I've been giving that more attention lately and it has paid off. Since January 1st, I've lost 4 pounds and 2.5 inches. 1 inch off my bust, 1/2 inch off my hips, 1/2 inch off my bicep and 1/2 inch off my waist. I'm shrinking YAY!!!! I have lost 18 pounds and now have just 19 to go.

Workouts and different eating have created a time problem though. My house is not as clean and I have to make something different for me than for my husband and daughter. But I'm working on getting us ALL back to eating healthfully. I'm redoing my schedule and going to try and get my workouts scheduled in there so it doesn't interfere too much with other things. However I hope to reach my goal by May 1st, so maybe I need to put my all in this now and then get back to "normal" schedule after I've lost the weight.

Our last classes are tonight for this semester and I'm so glad I made it through! Seminary has been the best time of my life so far and I'm enjoying learning and I honestly don't want it to end. I will miss it I'm sure. That is way off in the future though, we are just completing our very first semester tonight, so 8 more to go.

~New Things~

Mon, 15 Jan 2007 21:23:17 GMT

Lots of new things going on and with the new year, it has been one of the best so far! It really is the best year for me so far and I'm loving every minute of it! I've been able to get caught up on a lot of reading and I have a stack of books I'm currently reading right now and hope to get those finished either this week or next. Yes I'm one of those people who will be reading like 5 books at once lol.

I want this year to be a year that I finish up the "loose" ends and get it together as far as homemaking goes. I want to teach my daughter all the skills she will need to be a good wife/mother/woman. I'm also currently teaching her to write and she is doing it well. She loves books and her computer games, which teach her, shapes/colors, etc. She has learned so much from them and they are a good tool to have.

I stocked up on Tofu because Safeway had a sale for $1 each. I have many recipes for tofu, when we used to eat it all the time in Alaska and they are good and it tastes good. Some people say "EWW I can't stand tofu" I tell them they just have not had it made the right way!

~Checklists~

Mon, 08 Jan 2007 20:53:28 GMT

I have these for my Homemaker's Journal or you can call it Household Notebook. Looking at them at the start of each new week helps me check myself!

God: Am I......

- Actively choosing God and His ways at every decision, word, moment, thought and step each day?

- Consistent in my quiet time?

- Daily spending time with God in prayer and Bible reading?

Husband: Am I.......

- Praying for him DAILY?

- Being a help meet to him?

- Preparing for my husband daily?

- Spending time with him?

- Positively responding to him?

- Noticing, regarding, honoring, preferring, esteeming, praising, admiring and loving him?

- Bending or bucking with submission?

- Being predictably happy?

- Giving away to others what I haven't given first away at home?

Children: Am I.....

- Spending quality time with them?

- Praying with them daily?

- Teaching them to follow God by my words and actions?

Home: Am I managing my home effectively. ....

- with finances and budgeting?

- with housecleaning? (Managing it instead of it managing me?)

- with planning meals and shopping wisely?

- by taking care of needs at home?

Others: Am I......

- Loving others correctly?

- Serving others?

- Preferring others?

Self: Am I......

- Growing in my walk with God?

- Eating properly and exercising?

- Making sure I am healthy and give myself rest when needed so I can be what my family needs?

Author is unknown.

~Homemade Cornbread~

Tue, 02 Jan 2007 03:12:32 GMT

I made this tonight and it is VERY good! It is healthy because it is made with olive oil, sucanet and whole wheat pastry flour, not refined ingredients! Enjoy! We sure did!

1 ¼ cups whole wheat pastry flour
¾ cup finely ground cornmeal

2 T Sucanat
2 t baking powder
½ t salt
1 cup milk or buttermilk
¼ cup olive oil
1 egg

Heat oven to 400. Grease or spray an 8 or 9 inch pan. Mix milk, oil and egg until well blended. In separate bowl mix dry ingredients and add to liquid and stir until moistened. Pour batter into pan and bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. You can double this recipe and bake in a 9x13 pan for 25 minutes (need to check, it could 30minutes).

I got the recipe from Crystal at www.thefamilyhomestead.com

~Clean!!!~

Fri, 26 Jan 2007 01:24:33 GMT

Ahh......my daughter's room is clean! It is not only clean but organized and looks so good I just want to hang out in there LOL. I also had time, since I didn't take a nap, to do more laundry, clean up more of the kitchen and get the living room halfway clean. I also got to organize one of the hall closets! Now I'm resting after eating pork roast, green beans and mashed 'taters......and then going to get ready for church shortly. I really need service tonight! I can't wait, I'm so excited!

I had an awesome Bible study today.....it was one of those where you just don't want to stop reading and I read about 5 or so chapters and then had to stop because my daughter needed lunch.

I'm still sick and so is hubby but we are surviving nevertheless hehe.

~Large Families~

Sat, 27 Jan 2007 20:44:53 GMT

Me and my husband agreed before we even married that we both wanted 5 children. We waited 3 years before having our first and we want to have our second upon completion of Seminary. I have thought, do I really want 4 more? I have a few friends who have 5 or more children and they say it is actually easier with more than with one or two. I was perplexed!!! How could it be easier? Well one lady shared that she has 7 children I think it is and they do the housework, the dishes, laundry and they even cook! So she has all this time free because her children do chores and take care of the younger ones. Amazing! She homeschools them and the older kids will most of the time help the younger ones with their schoolwork also.

Then there is the money issue. We live on my husband's income and I wondered what it would be like to have more children. Well there are several women who have more kids than me and their husband's make less than my husband and they make it ok! I'm willing to sacrifice and live more frugal later on if it means I have more children. We know for sure we want one more, a boy hopefully, but not until we finish Seminary.

We prayed for a daughter and we got her.......even prayed for the eye color and hair color and amount of hair at birth and it all came out as we prayed! It was amazing........I was telling the doctor as he did the ultrasound that it is a GIRL........because I prayed. Well he, evidently not believing in God, didn't believe me. He kept saying it looked like a boy and right after I said that it was a girl because I prayed for one......my baby in my womb opened her legs so wide that there was NO way that was a boy LOL. It was like God was showing that doctor.......oh ya lookee here hehe. LOL Oh it was awesome and he hadn't seen that happen like that before and there was no doubt she was a girl!

Having a girl has been wonderful. I'm teaching her how to be a woman, homemaker already! She loves to pretend to do what I do. She would watch me iron and wanted to help so bad but I couldn't let her because it was hot, so we found a girl's ironing board and iron that makes the sounds and got it for her. She loves it and irons clothes now!

Also she loves to help fold laundry, put it away, load the dryer and wash dishes. She is always wanting to help here and even at other's homes. It is great to see her at age 3, already have a serving spirit and she is very generous. She shocked me one time when she had got a package of candy and the boy next to her at church did not have any. I didn't even say anything and my daughter gave him her whole package and said you have it and smiled at him. I was floored! I didn't think they learned this stuff until age 10 or so LOL. She has taught me a thing or two! ; )

Whatever the Lord wants for us, we will do. He knows we want a big family, so we will see in time and above all follow God's will above our own!