A Commandment, a Blessing and a Giveaway!

Way back when I was a new mom and my toddler boy spoke to me in a smarty pants kinda way, I thought that I could not speak up for myself - that my husband, or another adult around me had to point out to my sweet boy that he wasn't allowed to speak to his mother that way.  I know.  I KNOW!  How clueless was I?????? 

I have figured out a good many things over the last 13 years, and one of them is that *I* am responsible, along with my husband, for teaching my children to honor and respect me, my husband, and the other adults in their lives.  It is SO hard.  I can't tell you how many times each day my kids look at me as if I have lobsters coming out of my ears whenever I point out their issues to them.  There are times when I just don't want to keep on.  In some ways, it would be much easier to just ignore some things, until I remember what scripture says.  Particularly the 5th Commandment.  Exodus 20:12: "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you." 

The "first commandment with a promise (Eph. 6:2)."  I want my children to be blessed, so I continue. 

I have mentioned my LOVE of Vision Forum products before.  I am so excited to be able to offer a Vision Forum Giveaway!  If you are interested in winning a FREE copy of The Promise: The Beauty and the Power of the 5th Commandment, please leave a comment and I will enter you into a drawing for this DVD.  You must live in the 50 states or Canada, or you can be a member of the Armed Forces that's out there somewhere.  ;-)  Deadline to enter this giveaway will be Monday, June 9th at 12 a.m. central time.  Here is a short blurb about the DVD:

Is it “well with you”? If not, it may be because there are unresolved issues relating to honor in your life. “Honor your father and mother” is the first command with a promise. When you practice honor, “it will be well with you.” But what does this mean?

In this foundational message, Doug breaks down the issue of honor and addresses challenging issues such as: How do wise parents instill honor in their children? How should children respond to perverse authority in parents? In what ways are adult sons and daughters to honor their living parents? How does our culture promote dishonor? How can adult children restore honor to relationships that have long been tinged by dishonor? What are the consequences of dishonor? This talk has been shared with tens of thousands and has been a life-changing message for many.

 

If you're like me, and never win these giveaways that everyone has on their blogs, (no, I'm NOT bitter) please consider buying this DVD, along with some others that are in a collection titled "Reclaiming the Culture."  Right now they are on sale - 50% off!  I bought a package sorta like this for my husband for Father's Day last year and he has been listening to the CDs and looking through the books all through this last year.  What a blessing.  I have every intention of getting the "Reclaiming the Culture" DVD collection for him this year.  I honestly can't think of a better way to build up our husbands than through the products that Vision Forum offers.

Exercise Challenge

Is it okay for the host of the Exercise Challenge to post late?  ;-)  Our Memorial Day weekend was PACKED!

We were so busy, that I was going to write about how I didn't get any exercise in, but then I started thinking about all the weeding I did in our flower bed.  I was definitely sore the next day.  And what a workout I got in the pool!  One of the kid's favorite pasttimes is making a whirlpool and we all run and run and run in circles trying to get it going.  And what fun to turn around and get it going in the other direction!  And then we took Second Daughter for her first bike ride in the bike trailer.  FUN!  What a great workout that was, pulling her and Third Son. 

That's the kind of working out that I like to get done. 

Sign-in if you haven't given up on me this week! 

 

 

Ironing Board

I have a fascination for ironing.  There's something so soul-satisfying in ironing.  I even iron t-shirts.  Is that insane?  Everyone's clothes get ironed.  From our 5 month old's things all the way up to Daddy.  I can't bring myself to not do it and since the birth of our 5th, you would think I would chill a little and give up my ironing fixation, but I just can't do it.  Maybe after a 6th???????  ;-)  So in honor of my love affair with the ironing board.....comedian Brian Regan.

Stepping Heavenward

From Stepping Heavenward by E. Prentiss:

"I may as well finish this as it is begun," I said to myself.  Arid stitches flew from my needle like sparks of fire.  Little Ernest came and begged for a story, but I put him off.  Then Una wanted to sit in my lap, but I told her I was too busy.  In the course of an hour the influence of the fresh air and Ernest's talk had nearly lost their power over me; my thread kept breaking, the children leaned on and tired me, the baby woke up and cried, and I got all out of patience."

"...I have had to go back sewing as furiously as ever.  And with the sewing the old pain in the side has come back, and the sharp, quick speech that I hate, and that Earnest hates, and that everybody hates.  I groan, being burdened, and am almost weary of my life.  And my prayers are all mixed up with worldy thoughts and cares.  I am appalled at all the things that have got to be done before winter, and am tempted to cut short my devotions in order to have more time to accomplish what I must accomplish."

"When {the kid's} noise became intolerable, I proposed to read to them; of course they made ten times as much clamor of pleasure and of course they leaned on me, ground their elbows into my lap, and tired me all out.  As I sat with this precious little group about me, Ernest opened the door, looked in, gravely and without a word, and instantly disappeared.  I felt uneasy and asked him, this evening, why he looked so.  Was I indulging the children too much, or what was it?  He took me into his arms and said: 'My precious wife, why will you torment yourself with such fancies?  My very heart was yearning over you at that moment...and I was asking myself why God had given me such a wife, and my children such a mother.' "

"Home again, and full of the thousand cares that follow the summer and precede the winter.  But let mothers and wives fret as they will, they enjoy these labors of love, and would feel lost without them.  For what amount of leisure, ease and comfort would I exchange husband and children and this busy home?"

 

Homesteading Carnival

I have never entered one of my blog entries into a Carnival.  I barely have time to blog these days, let alone do the extra steps it takes to enter a Carnival.  Although I do love visiting the Carnivals.  I've found some pretty neat ladies through them. 

Anyway.....SOMEONE.....well, I feel it's safe to say Jacque entered my post about breast milk  into the Homesteaders Carnival!  I think it is great fun to be in the Homesteaders Carnival considering we live in a suburb of Dallas and can see houses for miles around.  But First and Only Husband and I are homesteaders in our hearts - we are looking forward to getting outta here one of these days.  Not only outta HERE - the suburbs - but also outta here - the heat.  We hope to move north.  It's going to be 98 here today and we're feeling too old for all this heat.  ;-)

Please stop by and visit all the wonderful homesteading mamas  hosted by Jennifer at QuiverfullFamily, and if you would like to submit an article for the next Carnival, click on the rooster!

 

Exercise Challenge

Another week of exercise, another week of no results for me.  I'm not sure what else I can do, short of starving myself, but then that's no good.  I'm a nursing mama, so I guess I'll just have to stay the course and hope for a good outcome.  I have increased my protein intake.  I started noticing that I was probably eating way too many carbs.  Carb-type food is usually the easiest thing to grab when the need for a snack arises.  Not to mention my favorite!  In the last few days, I've tried to make sure there are boiled eggs, celery for peanut butter & etc. around to eat, rather than sugar-filled granola bars or cereal (luv to have a bowl of cereal for a snack).

Kristy sent a link for Hungry Girl.  It's a fun site with some good info.  Check it out if you get a minute!  Kristy also has a diet blog.  I haven't had the chance to spend as much time looking at the TON of info she has there, but hope to slowly, but surely!  This woman is SERIOUS.  ;-)  She's definitely succeeding in reaching her weight loss goals and that is very inspiring.  Thank you, Kristy!  Go HERE to see her diet blog.

Sign-in with Mr. Linky so we can all come visit and give you a rah-rah-rah and leave a comment so I'll know you were here.  :-)

 

Shopping CVS

OH
MY
GOODNESS.

I feel like a cat who brings all the animals she kills to the doorstep to show off when I talk about shopping CVS.  It was all I could do to stay within the speed limit on my way home from CVS today because I was so excited!  I brought home and laid out all my stuff on the kitchen cabinet and had everyone take a guess about how much I spent on my second CVS transaction.  Here's why:

Things started off okay.  CVS has a deal where you buy $20 of Nexxus products, you get $10 ECBs back.  I use these products, especially the gel, for my unruly hair.  Their gel is the only thing that I've found that keeps my hair from totally frizzing out.  Anyway....I appreciate this deal because these products are not on the cheap side.  So here's what I got:

Nexxus Gel: 2 @ 9.99 each 
Nexxus Shampoo: 4.19
subtotal of 24.17
I used a $3/$15 CVS coupon
9.68 in ECBs
My final total was 12.44  Not a huge CVS shopping moment.  The big moment came when my receipt printed out!  Rather than receiving $10 ECBs, I received TWENTY ECBs!!!!!  The CVS guy and I were flabbergasted!  He recovered more quickly than I did and while he was ringing up my second transaction that I had planned on using my 10 ECBs on, he said, "Is there something else you need?"  Oh yeah!  So I ran back and got some wipes.  Then he said I needed something else that cost around $2.  I grabbed some salsa.  Here's the details:

Right Guard Extreme: 2 @ 3.00 each earn 2 ECBs)
Q-tips: 2.99
2 Oral-B toothbrushes: 2 @ 1.99 each (earn 2 ECBs)
Colgate toothbrush: 3.99 (earn 3.99 ECBs)
Playskool Wipes: 5.79
Salsa: 2.99
subtotal: 25.74
I used .30 coupon for the Q-Tips
1.50 in coupons for the Oral-B toothbrushes
$3/$15 CVS coupon
and then of course my $20 in ECBs!!! 
FOR A GRAND TOTAL OF

94 CENTS!!!!  And I earned $7.99 in ECBs.  :-)  That was such fun.  If I had been more on my toes, I would have grabbed more stuff that would have earned me more ECBs, but I'll survive.  It's just way too kewl to have paid only .94 for all that stuff. 

And ya know....a lot of people would say, "so lucky!  What a fluke!"  I don't believe that for a minute.  I totally believe that God had his hand on my CVS transactions today.  First of all, because I always pray before I go in that I will be successful.  This is a serious business for me.  I am really trying hard to lower our family's expenses.  So I always pray. 

Secondly, Proverbs 16:33 says, "The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD."  He meant for me to have that extra 10 ECBs.  He is so good to us all.