Jacobism

Okay, I have to give some background details on this one.

Last Sunday we were eating lunch with our church family as we do every week. There is not always vegetarian food available, especially if I do not bring anything or if I only bring chips or something like that (I usually try to bring a meat alternative though).

This past week the theme was Mexican food, and there was meat in everything except the guacamole (which is what we brought) and the rice. Jonathan tried to pick out the meat in his food, but he ended up not eating it because there was too much in it and it was nearly impossible to pick out. Jayla just stuck with some plain avocados and chocolate cake. My kind of girl. :)

Jacob had not chosen for himself to be vegetarian up till now, so Myles put some meat on his plate. He is very picky, so we thought that might be the only thing he would eat.

He didn't like the way it looked or something. Maybe he thought it was spicy. Myles tried to convince him to eat it and he just sat there calm as could be and said, "I don't eat meat. I'm a veeg-uh-teerian."

A couple of days later he was telling me for the 100th time that day that he was hungry (I can never fill him up). I mentioned hotdogs (one of Jacob's favorite things) just to see what he would do. He got very excited and said he wanted one. I asked him if he realized that it was meat, and he just smiled and pinched my lips together so I couldn't talk. I guess he didn't want to hear that!

I should make it clear that at this point no one is making him eat or not eat meat, we're just helping him understand what meat is and what a vegetarian is.

Wednesday evening on the way home from church, we were discussing what we were going to eat for dinner. Jacob said he wanted a hotdog. I asked him again if he remembered that it was meat and if he was a vegetarian, to which he replied,

"I'm a flexitarian."

eHow

I just wrote my first eHow article on how to make a hula hoop. Check it out here and let me know what you think!

52 Weeks meme

Here is a meme that I think all moms should do, even if you don't have a blog! It is simply a challenge to get out from behind the camera and get in some pictures at least once a week! I don't like to be in pictures, but my husband will appreciate this since he is always telling me that I am not in enough pictures. I can't argue with him.....I wish my parents had been in more pictures when I was a kid!

So, even though it is not Thursday, I am going to post a picture from last week. I probably won't do this on Thursdays necessarily, but I will try to be in new pictures every week. Sorry it's not the best picture, but this is the most recent. Isn't Jack a cutie? :)

My sweet little ballerina princess!

Today was picture day at dance class, so I had to take a few of my own! I forgot to change the setting on the camera, so all of these have the dates on them! Grrr! I was able to crop out some of them, at least. Let me know which one is your fav and suggest other ways I could modify it!

Money as Debt

"We are grateful to the Washington Post, the New York Times, Time magazine, and other great publications whose directors have attended our meetings and respected their promises of discretion for almost forty years. It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subject to the bright lights of publicity during these years. But the world is now more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world government which will never again know war, but only peace and prosperity for the whole of humanity. The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national auto-determination practiced in the past centuries."

~David Rockefeller (in an opening speech at the Bilderberg conference in Baden-Baden, Germany, in June 1991)

Check out these videos. They are very kid-friendly and very educational on today's money system! (I did not include part 5 because it looks like it overlaps part 4, and part 4 ended with credits.)

online shopping deals

Just a couple of new ones I discovered yesterday. I used them both with great success! Thank you, Amy (my SIL), for telling me about this first site! I got the 2nd site from one of the user comments on the first one. I'm sure there are more!

Retail Me Not
Beat My Price

Just for my records :)

Jack's teeth are finally coming out from hiding. He is finally able to bite into a lot more things now!

A little over a week ago a 3rd tooth on the bottom poked through. A 4th is about to pop through and the upper left one is still on the verge of showing itself. So he has 4 teeth now, 3 on bottom and one on top, and two more about to break through. I'll probably not keep track anymore after this. :)

Jonathan turns 9 in just 12 days, and he has lost 3 teeth so far and three more are loose. His front teeth are finally about to fall out! They are not very loose yet, but they are wiggling! I've been waiting for this for so long so I can get tons of pictures of my toothless, smiley child! I always smiled big when I was younger. The photographer called me "Smiley" two years in a row in grade school, one of which I was missing my front teeth.

I think it is interesting that just a few days ago, Jack had 3 in and 3 more almost in, while Jonathan had 3 out and 3 more almost out.

Another snapshot moment

When I didn't have my camera last weekend, I was trying to remember "snapshot moments" that I could describe and remember that way, even though I wasn't able to capture the image on my camera or video. I remembered one other thing I wanted to record here from when we were all outside last weekend.

I might have gotten this on video if I had time to set it up. Probably not, but humor me.

Imagine Jayla and Jacob working on their bug home in that old, rusty feed trough. The weeds are tall all over the yard. Bugs are abundant. Wildflowers are scattered everywhere. It is a beautiful sunny day. Then Jacob, who loves flowers and picking them and also loves to give gifts, picked a wildflower and gave it to his sister and kissed her on the cheek! Jayla then was very excited that he had done something so sweet that she yelled it to me across the yard. Then Jacob did the same thing for me. :)

See, we have sort of a rule in our family that when the kids give me flowers, they have to give me a kiss on the cheek for EACH flower they give me. Sometimes that is quite a lot of kisses! Even Jonathan still does this. I love it so much! :) Which is exactly why I made up that rule when he was very young! Ha! Am I smart or am I smart?!

Man of the cloth

Okay, I admit I do not use cloth diapers as much as I would like. I do use them more for each child I have though, it seems. I have reasons (excuses) why I never went 100% cloth with Jack even though we had TONS of cloth diapers for him that I got all for free (to me). I think I was mostly scared I would get way behind on laundry and have lots of bad smells and.....imagine the worst and that is what I was thinking!

But I do sometimes use them on Jack, usually if we're out of disposables or if I know we are going to be home all day. Like today. I just bought new disposables last night, but I love the look of the cloth diapers and covers!

So I snapped a few pictures of him wearing one this morning. :)

He was shooting me with his stick.

My garden is growing!

I was about to give up on my seeds since the date on the packages was 2 years ago and it was a couple of weeks before any signs of life, but some of them are growing now! Not many, but a few. Here is one example and also a picture of my onions, which are doing quite well! They're getting tall!

Jonathanism

The other day Jonathan and I were in the kitchen where the puppies are. Violet was looking very exhausted while the pups were nursing...... AGAIN. Jonathan shook his head and said in a sarcastic tone, "Violet is thinking, 'Oh, the curse of being a mother!'"

Now where did he get that phrase from?!?!?

He couldn't figure out why it was SO funny. :)

Today

Myles and Jonathan have the camera at Cub Scout camp, so I couldn't get any pictures of all the fun we had today!

So if you will imagine with me what I would have taken pictures of......

Imagine freshly dug up ground, dark brown to almost black, about 3 feet across and 10-12 feet long (I didn't measure). I am sitting right in the middle with Jack. He is "helping" me pull weeds but mostly throwing tiny handfuls of dirt. :)

Another snapshot: Same scene but now we are covering each other with this dark, rich, soft soil. He started it!

Now picture, if you will, a feeding trough that is all rusted, sitting in the middle of the yard. (The yard, by the way, is full of weeds and desperately needs to be mowed.) In the trough is dirt left over from last year's garden (the kids planted some things in it) and a few weeds and over 100 bugs. Jayla counted 108, mostly ladybugs, grubs, roly polies and earth worms. This is their new bug collection. The bugs they had a couple of days ago for some reason were gone (hmmm, wonder why....no lid?), so they had to recollect them!

Okay, back to the garden where I am sitting in the middle still. Violet came outside for a bit. She heard Rocket barking at the neighbor and had to investigate for herself. On her way back in, she sat right in front of me so I would pet her, and she wouldn't move!

Next Rocket came and joined her, right smack dab in the middle of my beautiful dirt.

The garden is next to the wooden fence, and right on the other side is somewhere around 200-300 chickens and a few turkeys. They can be pretty noisy! Jack recently rediscovered them (I'm sure he didn't remember them from last summer), and he is really enjoying looking through the cracks to watch them walk around. Another snapshot moment. :)

Well, I had more, but it has been hours and I can't remember what the other snapshot moments were now. We had a great time outside though, and loads of fun inside too, but it mostly consisted of the Wii and pogo.com and Jack and I singing together. :)

More fun tomorrow! The kids have their first track & field meet just as soon as the boys get home from camp!!!! They'd better hurry, 'cause I want the camera for that!

Obey His Commands

We were outside today, in the back yard, working on the garden (this one has not been planted yet). We were minding our own business and all having a great time and really enjoying the lovely weather when one of our neighbors hung over our fence trying to get our dog to "shut up". Then he noticed we were out there and started telling me to get my dog quiet because he barks all the time. (All the while Rocket is barking at this "stranger" because he won't leave. Ha!)

I will spare all the other details because that is not why I am blogging about him. :)

I tried really hard not to be rude to him, even though he was rude to me. I really did. But as the day went on I started thinking about "loving our neighbors" and whether or not I did that even though we had a disagreement.

I concluded that even though I wasn't rude to him, I was argumentative and defensive, and that is not loving. He attacked me and I naturally wanted to attack back. I did control myself, but I was far from "loving" to him.

Great Christian witness, huh? :(

Matthew 5:43-44 "You have heard that our fathers were told, `Love your neighbors -- and hate your enemy.' But I tell you, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! (CJB)

Galatians 5:14 For the whole of the Torah (Law) is summed up in this one sentence: "Love your neighbor as yourself" (CJB)

I'll stop there, but there are other passages about loving our neighbors and enemies. This one also hit home.

1 John 2:3-The way we can be sure we know him is if we are obeying his commands. 4-Anyone who says, "I know him," but isn't obeying his commands is a liar - the truth is not in him. (CJB)

ouch

So if we know Him, we should keep His commands. And what are His commands?

Mark 12:29-Jesus answered, "The most important is, 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30-And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' 31-The second is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."

Easier said than done when life throws you unexpected curve balls, like the neighbor unexpectedly complaining about the dog we've had for 5 years now....this is the first he has ever said anything to us in the 10 years we have been here, always with barking dogs. So I just wasn't prepared.

But I will be prepared for next time I see him. I will give him my phone number and ask him to just call me in the future if Rocket is barking loudly and ask him if there is anything else we can do (short of training him not to bark....he's our alarm system!) to make him happier. Hopefully we can patch things up with him and show him Christ's love instead of my pride!

It's raining cats and dogs!

It feels like it anyway! This is our cat and dog a few days ago.
Pregnant bellies!
Violet is a full blood Red/Blue Heeler, a.k.a. Australian Cattle Dog

And this is Violet this morning.

She's so exhausted! She's a good mama. :)

Look at that little pink nose! So cute!

Here is a close-up of the "blue" on one puppy.

There are six total. It looks like maybe half of them are going to be very red like their mama and the other half will probably be lightly spotted or just lighter red. And two of them have some "blue". Violet has a blue mama herself and she has some blue on her nose (which is why we came up with the name Violet!).

So we're waiting now for the kittens. It could be any time now. Most of the time animals seem to have their babies in the morning (anyone know why?), so maybe tomorrow morning we'll discover some new kitties when we get up. I won't be able to take any more pictures until Sunday though because Myles will have the camera with him at camp with the Cub Scouts.

The results......Drum roll please!

Jack had his follow-up doctor's appointment yesterday. The EEG came back normal. YEA!!!! The MRI was kind of inconclusive though because the abnormality that showed up on there is likely from the hemorrhage he had when he was first born. (He was a preemie, and brain bleeds are pretty normal for preemies. It was just a grade one and it resolved itself over several weeks.) We don't know for certain that is what it is from though, so she went ahead and put in a referral to a neurologist.

I asked her if the hemorrhage could possibly be the culprit of the seizures. Of course she didn't know for sure, and we may never know, but she doesn't think it was because he didn't have his first one until 13 months of age, plus there has always been sickness associated with the seizure and two out of the three he had a fever.

So we really don't know anything for sure yet, but we will at least get further testing, if needed, or medication if the neurologist decides that is the best next step. At this point I am willing (maybe even eager?) to get him on meds if it will prevent more seizures!

It may be a while before we find out anything else, but I will update when we do. Thank you again for all your prayers, and please continue to pray for no more seizures as God brings Jack-Jack to your heart and mind. :)

Here are the actual results. Click to enlarge.

EEG

MRI

Optical Illusions

Don't ya love how I blog about so many different topics? :)

I love optical illusions. My kids do too, and since this blog is supposed to be about them, then there's the connection. Yeah, that's it.

But I especially love it when someone connects it with something spiritual. My friend, Chad, wrote this on his blog:

Take a look at the picture above. If your eyes follow the movement of the rotating pink dot, the dots will remain only one color, pink. However, if you stare at the black cross in the center of the picture the dots turn green. Next, concentrate on the black cross in the center of the picture. After a short time all the pink dots will slowly disappear, and you will only see a single, green, rotating dot.

Weird, huh!? The evidence of God is all around us. The question is whether or not we’re looking. As a Believer in Jesus Christ the evidence of God should permeate our lives. Over time, as we grow closer to God, people shouldn’t have to look too hard to see it. Most people gaze at their problems and only glance at their Savior. Concentrate on the cross at the center of your life. Do you see how the evidence in your life changes when you gaze at the Savior and only glance at your problems.

The song says, “I once was lost, but now I’m found, was blind but now I see.” That’s the story of someone who has found their sweet spot. It’s the story of someone who has become the living proof of God in the world today.

Sharing the gospel the way Jesus did

Hell's Best Kept Secret

Jack's appointment

I probably won't blog much this week because I cannot use my laptop. The power cord had to be replaced. But I wanted to let our friends and family know that Jack has an appointment scheduled for this Wednesday afternoon. We should find out the results from both tests (EEG and MRI) at that time. If they are normal, we'll just go on with life as we are now. If something is abnormal, we will be referred to a neurologist who will probably put Jack on meds. I'll let you know as soon as we know something! Thank you for the continued prayers! :)

Happy Easter!

I'm not a big fan of Easter, just because of all the bunnies and eggs, and the fact that the holiday stems from pagan roots and the word Easter itself was the name of a fertility goddess (hence the bunnies and eggs)!

I want my kids to celebrate the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. They can hunt eggs or something similar any day of the year.

So on this day I just wanted to share what was on my mind.....

Celebrating Jesus' resurrection is a great thing to celebrate, and we should rejoice that He is risen and lives forevermore, but let's not forget that it was his DEATH that atoned for our sins. If He had not died for us, we would not have a way to be in heaven with Him someday! Thank you, Lord! What a sacrifice! You love us so much!!!

Week in review

I don't have many pictures from this week, but we've been busy!

Monday Myles went to the biweekly (turning into weekly, lately) Bible study with the men in the church. We all just stayed home and did some cleaning and played computer games.

Tuesday was dance and scouts. Nothing exciting, really.

Wednesday afternoon I went out with Chrysinda. We picked up another friend and went out to dinner at this great Asian noodle place! It's cheap and good, so we love the place! Afterward we went to the Bible study with the group from the retreat last weekend. We didn't leave there until nearly 11:00!!! During that time the kids went to AWANA.

Thursday had a lot going on! Myles usually gets home early in the afternoon, so an hour or so later, I went to the grocery store to get some grape juice for the Lord's Supper/Passover we were invited to that night. As soon as I walked outside I noticed a huge cloud of black smoke, and it looked very close to our house. Thankfully it wasn't blowing in our direction, but we were having wind gusts up to 50 mph that day, and it was SO DRY! I pulled out of our neighborhood only to come up on bumper to bumper traffic at the stop sign. Just half a mile from our house was a fire! I could see it! The flames were huge and right at the corner of the main intersection!

As Jayla and I left a little while later, we went to the corner again, thinking they might block off the road to prevent us from getting all the way to the corner. Myles had already taken the boys to watch the fire, and apparently everyone had the same idea. There were probably 50 cars parked in the empty lot right on the corner, and just on the other side of the street were huge flames, high above the trees! As quickly as I had pulled in and found Myles, I was being told to leave in fear that the flames were about to "jump" on our side.

We drove on to meet my friend Mandie to follow her to her SIL's house where the feast was being held. On our way there we nearly got stuck and/or turned around because of more fires. It was so sad. We saw people trying to get to their homes but being turned away by the police who were closing the roads. On those roads we saw people coming out of the neighborhoods with trailors all loaded up with whatever they could salvage in a few minutes. Later we saw on the news houses burning to the ground. Nothing was left, and just as one house would become totally engulfed in flames, the one next to it would catch. Every so often one house would get skipped. It was odd and all very sad.

Once it was all said and done (very late into the night) I think over 100 homes state-wide were completely lost, but I don't think anyone was killed! Praise God! There were some injuries, including firefighters, but no fatalities. One more house caught on fire Friday morning, but by then the wind was nearly calm and they were able to get it out with no more spreading or fatalities.

The Lord's supper/Passover was so fun! I enjoyed meeting several new people. There were over 30 people who attended the meal. The front of the haggadah we used was titled "The Order of the Lord's Supper, a Passover Narration". The group was mostly made up of non-Jewish Christians who were not celebrating for legalistic reasons (because they HAD to), but they wanted to honor Jesus as the Messiah, and Jesus was emphasized as the Messiah throughout the entire meal! It was very cool. There was shouting of praises and Hallelujahs and songs! I actually sat directly across from an Orthodox Jew, so I got to listen in as he talked with the man next to him about how this dinner differed from the Orthodox Jewish Passover. He would also say all the prayers in Hebrew before we said them in English. It was neat! I really did have a great time of worship and fellowship with other believers. Jayla came with me and was so excited the whole time. Jonathan chose not to come because he didn't want to be forced to eat celery. HA! They actually didn't use celery, so he missed out on all the other great food (and lots of it!) and tons of grape juice (which he LOVES), so he may change his mind if we do this again next year. We ended up leaving right after the meal. We were so stuffed! I think it was after 10 by this point, so we skipped the last part of the "order" of the meal. Others left early too, mostly those with children.

Friday evening we attended a going away party for a former pastor and his family. They are about to leave to be missionaries in another country! It seemed like a family reunion since we hadn't seen many of them in a while, and it was cool to see how all the kids have grown and changed. :) On our way there we drove past some firefighters who were still spraying down the trees and underbrush that had already burned. Here it was 24 hours after the fires started and it was still pretty smoky. Actually, by the time we went home we saw some more glow in a couple of areas, so apparently there were more flareups. Also the house we were at was very close to the fire. The pasture back behind the house was all burned, and a couple of houses further down the street were burned.

Today the smoke is all gone and it is not windy today either, so hopefully this set of fires is all done. I took Jack for his MRI this morning. It went well. It was kind of scary, even though I knew it was standard procedure and he'd be fine. Just watching them put him to sleep, seeing him struggle for a few seconds, then I had to kiss him good-bye and leave. :( They gave him a drip to keep him asleep. It took about 45 minutes or so and they called me back in. He was restless for a while, but by the time we got home he was asleep again and now is doing better. They said not to let him walk around today though because he could just fall over! :) So he is resting/sleeping and just hanging out in bed with Daddy today. I think I'll take a nap with him later. I didn't realize 7:00 came twice a day! :)

On our way home I drove through the fire area. It was so fascinating to see how it skipped all around the houses! I wish I could see an areal photo of the area just to see the pattern it took. I'm sure people had their hoses out and firefighters did such a great job keeping it away from houses. I'm sure they were exhausted having to fight against the wind for so long! The fire marshal said the fire was intentionally set, but they weren't sure if it was done in malice or not. At least they know who the criminals are, and I am so glad to know that no one was killed!

That's the update for this week, I guess. For the rest of the day we plan to hang out here at the house and maybe go shopping in a while. Tomorrow is Easter, so we're looking forward to a great worship time with our fellow brothers and sisters in the faith! :)

Too funny!

I can totally see Chrysinda and I doing something like this when we're older!

Sneaky little guy!

Next to our bed is a nightstand which sits under the window. We put a lot of things on the window ledge in an effort to keep them away from Jack, or rather, to keep Jack from getting them. Things like a screw driver that has not made it back to the tool box yet, remote control, Girl Scout cookies and a cup of Mt. Dew.

Yesterday I left the room only for a minute. This is what I found when I came back in for Jack.

End Times timeline

The Bible mentions a 3 1/2 period several times, so it is clear that the tribulation will be 3 1/2 years! It wasn't intended to be a mystery, but it has been hard to understand until recently. As we approach that time, we are understanding more about the end times prophesy.

This is a timeline we were given at the retreat. (Click to enlarge.) I have never completely agreed with any timeline I've ever seen before, but this one actually makes sense to me! I will explain more in the days to come, but read through the verses listed and maybe it will help make things more clear.

The Rapture is a Lie!

Need simple evidence that the pre-trib rapture is a false doctrine? I was shown something else recently that is so obvious that I don't know why I didn't see it before. So many others have not seen this yet either, so I will attempt, through the Holy Spirit, to expose this false doctrine.

In Matthew 24, Jesus was talking to the disciples. Read through the entire chapter and he clearly says that Christ's return will be "Immediately AFTER the tribulation."

There's more. Okay, stay with me here.

John 5:28 - "Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice"

How can the dead hear his voice from the grave if they are already in heaven? Whoa! Could this be another false doctrine? The dead do NOT go immediately to heaven when they die?

John 3:13 makes this very clear, "No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven."

It just doesn't get any more clear than that!

Now more on the Coming of Christ.

1 Cor. 15 says, 51-"Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52-in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed."

"at the last trumpet"

This is after the Tribulation!

"We shall not all sleep" means that we will not all die (since our souls are sleeping when we die).

Then "the dead will be raised imperishable". Of course, how could they be raised if they were already in heaven, right?

1 Thes. 4:16-"For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17-Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord."

The dead in Christ will rise first, THEN those who remain alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds.

Jesus will return like a thief, not being sneaky, but in the sense that you never know when a thief is coming. Rev. 1:7 "Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen."

So to sum up:
-the dead are not in heaven yet.
-the dead saints will rise first.
-this will occur at the last trumpet, which is after the tribulation
-He will return as a thief (unexpected), so be ready!

Now if you read Matthew 24 and Revelation 6 side by side, I think you will see some similarities. The two chapters parallel each other.

Let he who has an ear hear what the Spirit says to the churches. In other words, listen to what the Holy Spirit is telling you, not through me, but through the Scriptures.

That is the problem with so many religions and denominations today. They refer back to their hand-me-down doctrine instead of the Bible and listening to the Holy Spirit.

2 Tim. 1:7 "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."

So listen to the Holy Spirit, and read what He is saying in His word, not what other men have written. We, who have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, each have the ability to understand for ourselves. So open your ears to Him! And beware of false teachers. Always hold what they are teaching against the word of God. If it doesn't line up, RUN AWAY!!!!!!

End times outline

This is a brief outline of the end times, from the eschatology retreat last weekend.

Note: Things shown grouped take place within the same period.

1. In The Time Of The End:

• Man's ability to travel and his knowledge will be greatly increased.
• The end time prophecies of Daniel will be understood by the wise.

2. Spiritual Conditions Will Deteriorate

• Social morals will decay
• Churches will lose their values
• Church leaders will become men pleasers

3. The Beginning Of Sorrows Will Produce:

• False prophets
• Wars and rumors of wars
• Natural disasters which cause famine

4. Signs Of The Coming Great Tribulation

• The building of the temple at Jerusalem
• The daily temple offerings will begin
• The church will be called to a wilderness refuge
• The antichrist will be revealed

5. In the "Great Tribulation"

• The temple sacrifice will be stopped
• The image of the beast will be given life
• The unredeemed will be marked
• The unmarked (saints) will be unable to buy or sell
• Saints who refuse to worship the beast or his image and refuse to be marked will be slain
• God will harass those who persecute the saints with seven trumpet judgements
• Two prophets of God will harass God's enemies but will ultimately be slain and resurrected at the coming of Christ

6. Immediately After The Tribulation:

• The sun and moon will be darkened and the stars will cease to shine
• Christ will return for His church. The graves will give up the dead in Christ and the living saints will depart from the earth
• The angels of Christ will gather the saints together

7. Celebration and Vindication by:

• The marriage supper of the Lamb
• The saints receiving new eternal bodies
• The wrath of God being poured out in seven vials upon the unredeemed of the earth

8. The Wrath Of The Lamb Will Fall Upon:

• The world's armies at Armageddon
• The unredeemed remnant of earth
• The beast and false prophet

9. Christ's Millennial Kingdom Will Be Established When:

• All of God's enemies are put down
• Christ is anointed King and reigns over the earth for 1,000 years
• Satan is bound for the same millennial (1,000 year) period
• The saints of God inherit the kingdom

10. The Final Conflict Occurs And Ends When:

• Satan is set free
• Satan goes out, with Gog and Magog, attempting to destroy the saints
• Fire from God devours Gog and Magog
• Satan is cast into the lake of fire and brimstone

11. When The Books At The Great White Throne Judgment Are Opened:

• The Lamb's book is opened
• The dead are resurrected and judged out of the books by their works
• Death and hell are cast into the lake of fire
• Those whose names are not recorded in the Lamb's book of life are cast into the lake of fire

12. All Things Are Made New When:

• The first heaven and first earth pass away and the sea is no more
• The new holy city of Jerusalem comes down out of heaven prepared as a bride
  

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These two don't mix!

Two nights ago, as we were getting everyone ready for bed, Jacob and Jack were hiding out in our bedroom where, for some reason, we had a box of cornstarch! I think I used it for diaper rash a while back and just left it with the diapers. Anyway, this is what happens when you mix small children and cornstarch together. He looks miserable in the picture, but he was actually giggling the whole time. :) At least it was easy to clean up! Jacob was a mess too, but not nearly as bad!

Bedtime routine

This was last night, as Myles was reading from 1 John. He was reading off the laptop, so they were reading along with him. :) Jacob had already fallen asleep, and Jack was laying next to me on the edge of sleep. You can tell here that everyone was about to fall asleep! I think it was about 11pm by this point.

Good times! :)

Concern and prayer request

I am a little concerned about Jack, not just his slow/late walking, but I think he has underlying issues that have not been caught yet. I've noticed that he seems to stop breathing for short periods of time when he sleeps, so I'm going to ask the doctor to test him for apnea. I've only noticed it the last few days though, so I'm wondering if it's either because he has a cold right now or if maybe the last seizure did something.

I don't mind at all that he is behind or slower than most, etc. I'm just worried that there is more to it than just being a "late walker". Having all these hidden issues, even though they may not be huge, life-threatening things, is almost worse still because I don't know what is wrong, how bad each "issue" is or how many more we have not discovered yet!

So please continue to pray for our little man. He's doing great at the moment....asking for some Girl Scout cookies we have left. He settled for his water. :) Thanks again, and I will update as soon as we find out anything about his tests!

Such cool-looking structures!!!!

Check out these houses! There are more pictures and videos on this site. They remind me of some cob houses I have seen, and these are mostly underground (earth sheltered), so this is very close to what I am wanting someday!

Abstinence until marriage

Again, something I am very passionate about since my teen years, but I am no longer single, and I don't think many singles read this blog. :)

My history here....Myles and I were both virgins when we got married! YEA! It was hard at times, but God protected us and preserved us for each other, for our wedding day. :) We certainly do not condemn those who have messed up in this area. We all have made mistakes and will likely make more, but I do feel it is important to continue to teach this practice of abstinence until marriage to our children regardless of our own choices as singles.

Unassisted Childbirth (UC)

This is something I am also VERY passionate about! But this site I have linked here is not a Christian site, so I am going to remove it. There is a Christian UC message board that is really great!

You can read my story here about my attempt (because I became sick) for my first UC with Jack.

Caution: For those guarding content, there are pictures on this site (below) of non-clothed women giving birth and nursing! I don't view it as p*rn in the traditional sense because it is gross if viewed for that reason (fat women, blood, etc.)! LOL!

Keeping boys intact

This is something else I am passionate about, but again, not something I necessarily "promote". And our history here, of our three boys.....#1 was circ'd out of ignorance and all the males in both our families were circ'd. We didn't even consider NOT doing it. #2 was circ'd against my wishes. I had to leave because of his screaming. It still haunts me to this day. I still get teary-eyed thinking about that whole process! #3, as you can guess, is not circ'd, neither will any future boys we may have. There is simply no medical, religious or any other reason it is necessary. Should a problem (which is rare) come up in the future, it can be done at that time, if needed. And nearly half males in America are not circ'd now, so the "lockerroom" excuse doesn't hold water!

Breastfeeding / nursing

I'm not sure yet if I will take this one off the sidebar, but I wanted to dedicate a post to this link. I do not consider myself an advocate, but I am definitely passionate about breastfeeding. There are so many benefits to the mother and baby both.

My own history: I did believe it was important with my first, but for some stupid reason I thought it was inconvenient at the time (I was extremely modest and he was on a schedule), so I gave him too many bottles of formula and was dried up by 6 1/2 months.

By the time #2 came along, I finally realized it was MORE convenient to breastfeed! What a blessing! I nursed her as long as I possibly could, which ended up being 15 months. I would have gone to age 2 or 3 if I had enough milk. :(

Number 3 was pretty much the same, but I only made it to one year. I barely made it. The last time I nursed him was on his first birthday. I was so sad. :(

Number 4 got off to a horrible start because he was in NICU for nearly 3 weeks. I have never tried so hard in my life though. I wanted to make this work and aimed for breaking my record of 15 months. Long story short, I ended up having to supplement at 8 months because he was still under 12 pounds. He had only gained 13 ounces between 5 and 8 months of age. So I threw in the towel and supplemented (even though I was told to STOP breastfeeding), and I dried up and stopped nursing him by 11 months. I was very sad (I cried when he was diagnosed "Failure to Thrive" because I knew he needed more from me), but I was happy that we at least lasted as long as we did.

If/when our Father in heaven decides to bless us with another baby, I am focusing more on a healthy pregnancy to avoid the problems I had before. They are preventable! So I am hoping to have a healthy pregnancy and birth and then finally have that "perfect" breastfeeding experience. But we live in a fallen, broken world, so we'll pray and see what happens!

Check out this site if you or someone you know has any questions at all regarding breastfeeding!

Elimination Communication

Here is something few Americans have heard of, so they think I am completely nuts. (As if anyone needs ANOTHER reason to think I've lost it?) Here's my personal story.

I had first heard of this method of toilet training when my 2nd child was about 8 months old. I had seen a book sitting on the shelf in the library. That's it! That is how I discovered this wonderful and natural method!

My 2nd was "too old", according to this book, and most babies probably are by that time, but in retrospect, I think she would have done just fine. She would crawl over to her where we kept her diapers in the corner and then bring me one.....then she would poop! I was amazed but never even attempted EC because she was "too old". It didn't take long to wish that I had started when I had that window of opportunity.

So when #3 came along, I was determined to do this with him! I think he would have rarely had accidents if I had been more diligent with my part, but even doing it part-time, he did amazingly well! I'd had a c-section with him, so I decided to wait until I was able to get around a little better. I knew I wanted to start before 3 months at the very latest, but I wanted to start as soon as possible.

So before hand I just prepared him as much as possible. Whenever he would pee across the room as I was changing his diaper, I didn't freak out or freak HIM out, I just stepped back and said "ssssss". He learned to associate that sound with him releasing urine! So, I thought I'd give it a try over the toilet when he was 3 weeks old, not really expecting anything. He did it the first time and nearly every time since, as long as he had urine in the bladder!

So many people doubted what I was telling them, especially when I tried to show him off and he would get stage fright, but eventually enough people had seen it that they were fascinated by this phenomenon. It was nothing special though, he had simply learned to pee on command. But what most people were fascinated by was that babies DO have control over those certain muscles! I saw him intentionally working those muscles to pee, even when he didn't have any urine in his bladder. He would still try!

There were a few months when he was able to sit up on his own (with me beside him, of course, in case he lost his balance) that I remember thinking he was getting a lot more in the potty than his 2 1/2 year old sister! I was very sad at that time that I didn't go ahead and try the method with her when she was crawling around, bringing me diapers. But she eventually caught on, though she spent much more time on the potty than he did, as she was trying to figure out how to control it all. She was also in pull-ups until 4-ish. I used pull-ups on him too (because we did EC part-time), but he was out of them completely by 2 1/2. There was a very big, obvious difference! For even a couple more years she would still have more accidents, night AND day, than he would.

So I knew I wanted to do this again with #4. The problem I had with him though was that he was born early and was in NICU at first, then he seemed to be very slow and didn't pick things up as easily as #3, and we were in the hospital a few times where EC was not possible (at least without diapers) and it was just too hectic to keep up with. I did try it some though, and he was able to give a poop sample to the nurse during one hospital stay! I just held him over the trash can and he did his thing, on command! I didn't continue it with him though just because of all these other factors.

But I am throughly convinced that this is the most humane way (and cheapest, if you use cloth or no diapers) to toilet train any baby. Something like 2/3 of the world raise their babies this way. It's only new to us because it is not part of our culture.

Elimination Communication

Go meatless!

This button I mainly put on here for my kids. They are vegetarian (by their own choice) because they cannot stand the thought of killing animals to eat when there are so many other food choices available. I am vegetarian for health reasons, so it doesn't bother me quite as much. But they were curious how many animals they save by not eating meat, so I put this widget up for them.

Go meatless!

0 chickens

0 turkeys

0 ducks

0 pigs

0 cattle

0 sheep

0 rabbits

0

Number of animals killed in the world by the meat, dairy and egg industries, since you opened this webpage. This counter does not include the billions of fish and sea animals killed annually.

(Get this counter)

Yahoo group

Quick note....I've decided to leave my "awards" on the sidebar because it's just fun bloggy bling! :) And I only have one.

Okay, so another button I am taking off is one I made for the raw vegan pregnancy/nursing group. I started the group just 3 years ago and it is up to 240 members now! There have been so many women who have had incredibly healthy pregnancies and births while members in this group, and it has been a blessing to read their stories, especially when they can compare the raw pregnancy and birth to previous "normal" diet ones. The difference is amazing!

Raw Pregnancy and Breastfeeding group

Raw Vegan

This is another topic I am passionate about, though I am not strict about it in my own life. Not that I am a hypocrite, but it is hard to break bad habits and food addictions! Also, I honestly don't believe that eating certain foods is wrong, so I try not to be legalistic about it. For right now I try to eat a lot of raw and am vegetarian most of the time and sometimes vegan. :)

This is something I am passionate about though because it was man's original diet before sin entered the world, so I want to share it here. However, since I rarely blog about it, I am taking the buttons off my sidebar. Check out these sites when you get a chance!

The whole thing!

An excerpt from this site:

The Jewish Testament? What is that? There is no such thing! We could call the Old Testament "the Hebrew Testament" with some legitimacy because it was written in Hebrew, but what would make it Jewish? Was he trying to say that, if we read only the Old Testament, we would become followers of Judaism? Or, that the Jews somehow own the Old Testament? Or, that because the Old Testament is revered by Jews as their holy book, it is somehow inferior to "the Christian Testament?"

Certainly, the Bible never calls the Old Testament "the Jewish Testament." Paul calls it "the Holy Scriptures" in II Timothy 3:15. Jesus calls it "the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms" in Luke 24:44. In many places, the writers simply refer to it as "the word [of God or of the Lord]" or "the Scripture(s)." The only hint that the Old Testament "belongs" to the Jews is a misinterpretation of Romans 3:2, "to them were committed the oracles of God." This means only that the Jews are responsible for their accurate transmission throughout history, not that they apply only to Jews or that Jews exclusively possess them in some way.

No, this all stems from the mistaken idea that the Old Testament is the Old Covenant, "becoming obsolete and growing old . . . ready to vanish away" (Hebrews 8:13), while the New Testament is the New Covenant. Thus, to a "Christian" under the New Covenant, anything that appears in the Old Testament is of lesser value than what appears in the New Testament. This error has led to countless misunderstandings and misinterpretations of the message Jesus brought to mankind.

In fact, the New Testament cannot be understood without the foundation of the Old Testament—and not just in historical terms. Paul is not overstating things when he says the church is "built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone" (Ephesians 2:20). After His resurrection, Jesus "beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, . . . expounded to [the disciples] in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself" (Luke 24:27). Later, "He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures" (verse 45). Which Scriptures? The Old Testament, of course, the only ones written at the time!

Just these few verses say that we New Covenant Christians cannot understand Jesus Christ, His doctrine, His church, and God's plan without the Old Testament. We can see this by how frequently the apostles quote from the writings of Moses, David, and the prophets to support and fill out their doctrinal teachings. There is hardly a page in the New Testament that does not have a quotation or allusion to the Old Testament on it. It is a vital part of New Covenant—New Testament—Christianity!

Lack of space does not permit an explanation of the differences between the Old Covenant and the New. However, let it suffice to say that the major problem in the Old Covenant was the people with whom God made it (see Hebrews 8:7-12; Romans 8:3). The New Covenant is modeled after the Old with its basic law, the Ten Commandments, retained in all its force and wisdom. In fact, Jesus makes it plain that He added intent to the law's scope so that it is now stricter under the New Covenant (Matthew 5:17-48)!

In the end, we must conclude that the Bible is a whole with two parts, which came as a result of the ministry of Jesus Christ and the languages in which the two parts were penned. The theology and the goal of the instruction in the two are the same. The same God who never changes rules, acts, and speaks in both. Those who believed and lived by faith in both eras will receive the same gift of eternal life (I Thessalonians 4:14-17; Hebrews 11:40).

Please be aware of this false notion of the Old Testament's inferiority to the New, as it colors a great deal of "Christian" biblical commentary. The Word of God is God's Word, whether spoken in 1400 BC or AD 60. Above all, remember our Savior's instruction, quoting from Deuteronomy 8:3, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4).

Richard T. Ritenbaugh

What an awesome weekend!!!!!

Chrysinda and I went on a retreat this past weekend with some other believers from close by. They are all part of house churches with no particular denomination. They just simply read the Bible and follow what it says and don't worry about what other men from the past or present tell them to believe. It was such a wonderful time of teaching, worship and fellowship! I have longed for this type of church environment since I was a teenager, because it is modeled after the New Testament Church, but I honestly didn't think it could exist in our present time and culture, but it does!

More on the retreat later, but I wanted to share the group picture and a song. There was one song that was sort of a theme song that stuck in everyone's head all weekend. The lyrics are straight from the King James Bible (verse 1 was the chorus):

Psalm 133

1-Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!

2-It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments;

3-As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.

From left to right (like on Facebook): Angela, Brian, Jennifer, Dan (seated), Terreta, Sarah, me, Kathy, Chrysinda, Cliff (seated), Barbara, Daniel, Camille, Scott, Royce and Luke. There was one more, Ernie, who had to leave before the picture was taken.

I already miss them all!!!

Widgets and buttons and blogrolls -- Oh my!

Okay, so there are just WAY too many things I want to put on my sidebar, but it is starting to overtake the entire page! Even with my high speed connection it is getting slow at loading up. So I thought I would take a few of them off, one at a time, and dedicate an entry to each.

So here is the first one I am taking off because, even though it relates to this blog, it is not a priority to me. I believe "education" should be an every day thing, part of our lifestyle. This blog was set up as a homeschooling blog, but I am educating myself on things as well, so it is more about our passions and things that everyone in our family is learning, not just the kids. I am very passionate about homeschooling and even the style of education we have chosen for our children, but the widget with the quotes will just have to go for now, no matter how awesome they are. :)

Worshipping with all I have in me

Out of the joy in my heart for my Lord God, King of all kings, Maker of all things, Keeper of my heart, Satisfier of my soul.....I just wanted to say......

God is so awesome and worthy of all praise and glory and honor. There is no other like Him! Everything and everyone else is created, He is the Creator, the Giver of life! Blessed be the name of the LORD!

I am jumping with excitement, pure joy, for my Savior! And yet, my words cannot come close to expressing the praise He deserves!

Memorizing Scripture

Again, borrowed from another site, here:
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Can’t remember where you put your keys? Blanked on your child’s name and the church you go to?

This isn’t a sign that you’re getting old.

Zaldy S. Tan, MD, director of the Memory Disorders Clinic at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, says it’s a sign of how busy we are.

“When we’re not paying good attention, the memories we form aren’t very robust, and we have a problem retrieving the information later.”

If you struggle with the simple things of life, then memorizing John 3:16 probably seems intimidating. And putting away Romans 8 sounds down right impossible.

In truth, it’s not as hard as you think. Yes, it takes effort and time. But there are some simple strategies to help you.

Why Even Memorize Scripture?

Lately I’ve seen a lot of interest in memorizing Scripture. Tim Challies hosts his own Bible memory series. And Ryan Ferguson awes audiences with his dramatic recitation of Scripture.

But one of the most compelling reasons for memorizing Scripture I found in John Piper’s sermon If My Words Abide in You: memorizing Scripture shapes the way I view the world by conforming to God’s viewpoint.

So, whether you want to memorize one verse or an entire book, try these strategies to help you remember more.

1. Read it repeatedly. Did you know you can memorize Scripture during your morning devotion? Instead of zipping through your reading for the day, pause and camp on one verse for a long time. You won’t regret it.

2. Pay attention. Sounds obvious, but often ignored. Simply forcing yourself to be aware of what you are reading can help you internalize the words. Repetition will make the mind wander. What you have to do is bring it back.

3. Visualize what you are reading. Take Psalm 1:1 for example. “Blessed is the man who does not walk with the wicked nor stand in the way of the sinner nor sit in the seat of the mocker.” Your first tasks is to see the three actions here: walking, standing and sitting. If you can see the three main actions, then you can start to memorize the surrounding words.

4. Create anchor words. In the above example, your anchor words are “walking,” “standing” and “seating.” In Colossians 1:15, my anchor words are image, invisible and firstborn. Whenever I get lost while reciting a passage I look for my anchor words to orient myself.

5. Recognize patterns. In Psalm 1:1, after the first line, the next three sentences follow this pattern: a verb, a noun and a modifier. Think of each of these as a bucket you drop the appropriate word into.

6. Start with the easy. Now, some passages are easier to remember than others. Psalm 1, easy. A page from Romans, hard. On your first effort at memorizing large chunks of Scriptures, don’t tackle Romans. Build some confidence first by memorizing Psalm 1 or the Sermon on the Mount.

7. Stagger. Sorry, not like you were drunk. What I mean is memorize an easy passage then a hard passage then an easy. Give your brain a break. This way you’ll avoid burnout.

8. Build memorable associations. If you want to remember difficult section of scripture like Romans 1:18-20, it helps to imagine God hovering like a brooding mountain over the world to represent all three verses. This is a robust picture hard to forget.

9. Anchor memorable associations in chapters. These rich word pictures can also help you when you’re trying to memorize entire chapters of the Bible. They orient you on a larger scale.

10. Cheat a little. Once you’ve absorbed a hunk of Scripture, don’t be afraid to keep a sheet of paper nearby with keywords or section headings to help you out when you need a reminder.

11. Narrate. Sometimes it helps to describe in your own words what you are trying to memorize. This will also help you build memorable associations, spot keywords and develop anchor words.

12. Stick to a ritual. I find it easier to memorize Scripture in my car–I have a long commute–and before I sleep. Especially early on in the process of memorizing, I can’t remember my passage as easily anywhere else except these places. So, until I gain more confidence, I stick to this ritual.

13. Sing it. Try opera. Or a musical. The point is to be dramatic. As if you were in a play. [This is my favorite trick, by the way.]

14. Try mnemonic devices. Many of us learned ROY G BIV to remember the colors of the rainbow. Make up your own device to memorize anchor words or more. In Psalm 1:1, your device would be WSS, or walk, stand and sit.

15. Enlist your body. If mnemonic devices aren’t your cup of tea, use body parts. Classic example of this is Ephesians 6:10-18, the armor of God. Waist, chest, feet, forearm and head complete the armor and can help you navigate through this lengthy passage.

16. Repeat the alphabet. Say you just can’t remember that big word in 1 John 2:2. Run through your ABCs. When you get to P, it should trigger the word escaping you: propitiation.

17. Type it. One way to memorize something like John 1:1-3 is to type it into your computer. Not once. Not twice. But ten times. Maybe more. Your call.

18. Hear it. After you’ve typed it, next, read it aloud and record it. Then listen to the recording several times.

Don’t forget: As you work on memorizing, turn off the TV, unplug your iPod and shut down your computer. You’ll retain more.

Your Turn

So, how do you memorize large chunks of information…whether it’s a chapter from the Bible, a poem or a speech? Got any tricks that I didn’t mention? Wanna share them? I look forward to hearing from you.

New update on Jack!

Thank you all for your continued prayers for my baby. :) Jack is still doing fine, although he does have a bit of a cold (from me), so please pray that it won't trigger another seizure!

I do not have any results back yet on his EEG, but I did get a call from the doctor saying that his MRI is scheduled for April 11th. I think it is strange they scheduled him for a Saturday!

Again, not much for now, but I wanted to give some kind of update because many are praying for him and asking about him. Thanks so much, and I will update again as I have more to share!