Wednesdays in the Word

Always a good reminder....
from Luke chapter 12

"Take heed and beware of covetousness,
for ones life does not consist in the abundance
of the the things he possesses."

"And do not seek what you should eat
or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind."

"Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys."

"Blessed is the servant whom the master will find so doing when He comes."

~Becky

Painting, preparing and partying

This week is a busy one.
It is our turn for care-giving for my hubby's brother for the next 3 months and he flies in on Saturday. We are moving furniture and making Joy's bedroom into his room and the family room into her bedroom again.

I decided to add to the work by painting our homeschooling area to get us ready for the new school year (only two students left!) which led to painting the whole family room...
Funny how that always is the case. But really it needs to be a lighter color because we have to string huge curtains across it to make a 'wall' so it can be a 'bedroom'. It was just too dark and cave-like. (oh the joys of a small house) The paint was leftover from our living room. Gotta love FREE!

We are giving a big going away party this week for the kids of my BFF's family and for Nathan because they are all moving to CA in a couple weeks. Whenever I think about that I pretty much always cry. : (  But I am super proud of Nathan and excited about his new life in CA, going to school and working in youth ministry!

We've been experimenting with an 'unpoppable bubble' recipe to bring to the party and planning some other games. My kids have assured me that bubbles that don't pop will be a hit even with teenagers. -So we went from being covered in paint to sticky with corn syrup!

Our oldest found out he was nominated by his store manager as 'Associate of the District' for the quarter! Yay! -I don't know how many stores are in the district but one store can have 25-30 baristas. (there were only 4 nominees) Way to go Zac!

Now back to painting!
~Becky

The weekend

Once a year, I'm blessed to get to work for one of my favorite math curriculum companies at a local homeschooling convention with my sweet daughter. We spent Friday finishing up the convention and at one point, I had a very odd conversation with someone who looked a lot like Kip from Napoleon Dynamite. He wanted to know if the curriculum was in a PDF file, because they wanted to rework it so that it wouldn't be based on the decimal system. He plans to teach his children another system. Interesting!
 -Pretty sure I'm not smart enough to understand some other system not based on decimals thankyouverymuch. ; )
Then we headed home for family game night, which included pizza, nachos, ice-cream and a game new to us, Farkle, which is so much fun. Of course, with a name like that, the jokes never ceased.

Saturday, we headed to the beach. Even though it was cloudy and rainy at our house, it was gloriously sunny and beautiful at the beach. We had one of our newby drivers do the driving. My fabulously wonderful husband took over as the Drivers Ed teacher, while I sat in the back seat with my eyes closed and my headphones on. LOL -My strategy for a stress-free ride! 
We had some car troubles that 3 quarts of oil solved (crazy story!) and were late getting there to meet our friends who went across the street to a restaurant and ate an alligator appetizer while waiting for us. How very Floridian! (speaking of which, we saw a dead alligator on the freeway today!) The beach was lovely and the water was warm and I wanted to stay forever, but 2 hours is my not-so-beach-loving hubby's limit and Slurpees were calling our names. There was an Aston Martin  at 7/11

 which the driver said cost $240,000.00!
Spending that much on a car was almost harder to comprehend than a math system not based on decimals. LOL!
 It is a good thing the baby with the smart phone and the ebay app bought an old Austin Healey and not one of these!!! What a crazy story! : )

So very glad that my hubby is up and around now after his knee injury!
~Becky

Wednesdays in the Word

Excerpts from one of my favorites books: My Utmost for His Highest

"The teaching of the sermon on the mount is not -do your duty, but do what is not your duty. It is not your duty to go the second mile, to turn the other cheek, but Jesus says if we are His disciples we shall always do these things...
Naturally, if a man does not hit back, it is because he is a coward, but spiritually if a man does not hit back, it is a manifestation of the Son of God in him. When you are insulted you must not only not resent it, but make it an occasion to exhibit the Son of God.
To the saint, personal insult becomes the occasion of revealing the incredible sweetness of the Lord Jesus.
The disciple realizes that it is his Lord's honor that is at stake in his life and not his own." ~Oswald Chambers

Ouch and Amen!
~Becky

Books I'm loving

Andrew and I loved this book:

 Running for my Life is the incredible story of Lopez Lomong who was kidnapped from an outdoor church service in Sudan by rebel soldiers when he was 6 years old and went on to become an Olympic runner for the United States! Such an incredible story of faith and determination! Sad, sweet, funny and inspiring! Loved it!

This book is one of those life changing ones that every Christ follower should read! It kept my Hubby up late reading and had him calling friends to recommend it. It is awesome! It will inspire you to live for Christ in a whole new way...a Barbarian way. 

I'm also reading this little gem which is so faith building! 

Loving summer reading,

~Becky

The 'dirt' starts to work

Hubby and I both started taking diatomaceous earth last week. See here.
The achy feeling of the toxins 'leaving your body' combined with the two pulled muscles I had from working out, left me feeling like a 90 year old woman all week. Not fun.
But I did notice that it is already working some of its magic on my hubby's skin!
His face looks so soft and glowing! (not his desired results, by any means!) ; )
It is possible that I could have imagined it because I know about DE's benefits,
BUT then he called me from work today to say that
two carpenters at his job sight noticed and commented on his skin.
How weird is that?! Since when do guys notice other guy's skin?
 -Of course, he says he'd rather look like he's 90 years old than have this lingering pain in his knee... Hopefully, DE will start to help his joints soon. In the meantime, great skin is being wasted on the wrong person and I'm jealous! LOL

~Becky

Wednesdays in the Word

Remember kaleidoscopes and how fun they are to look through?

I was recently given one in a Bible class and reminded that God takes the broken, shattered pieces of our lives and turns them into something beautiful for His glory. Amen!

"I am called, as God's child, to believe by faith that (all the disjointed fragments) add up. That in some way every single scrap of my life, every step and every struggle, is in the process of being fitted together into God's huge and perfect pattern for good." ~Claire Cloninger
So glad that He transforms "the disorder into beauty and symmetry" when He shines His light through it all!

~Becky

Driver's Ed and dread

I'm teaching two teens to drive this summer.
Oh my stars.
It is not on my list of favorite things to do.
I soooo wish a driving school or at least the car they use were in my budget, because, how nice would it be to have my own steering wheel and brake pedal.
As it is, I push my imaginary brake pedal with my foot constantly and have been known to grab a driver's arm, which is not a good idea under any circumstances. 
Maybe I should just break into a chorus of 'Jesus Take the Wheel' next time. ; )
 It may help!

~Becky

Waving herbs and eating dirt

My dear, sweet Hubby injured his knee at work a few weeks ago and then, somehow in overcompensating to help it, he sprained the ankle on his other leg!
Bless his heart!
It has been a rough couple of weeks!
Thankfully, God is using our chiropractor to do amazing things to help with both his knee and ankle. He walks into the office limping and comes out walking! Hooray! I'm guessing, he's not your run-of-the-mill chiropractor since yesterday he waved some bad smelling burning Chinese herbs over Hubby's ankle.
(that's a little weird, huh?)
And maybe weirder still, is the fact that to help Hubby's joints, we've both started eating DIRT or to be more exact Diatomaceous earth! (not that me taking it will help him in any way)  ; )
All I could think of when the lady at the health food store suggested he start taking it (and some other herbs) for his knee, was Gen. 3:18
 "...For you are dust, And to dust you shall return." LOL! So, I guess we might as well eat it! But technically DE is the "fossilized remains of diatoms, a type of hard-shelled algae." So, not really dirt, I guess.
I can't say that I felt completely comfortable buying something to swallow that is sold in an unmarked container in the pet and garden section of the store! Really weird! Or maybe not, since it can be used as an insecticide!
But if you take it orally in slow doses over many, many weeks, the silica in it will help with pain in your joints,  grow your hair and nails and take away acne. It will also lower blood pressure and cholesterol, cleanse your colon and rid your body of toxins and parasites of all kinds. It also eliminates heavy metals and yeast from your body and helps with symptoms of menopause and gives you more energy. (those are the biggies that I remember but if you do your own research, you'll find even more benefits to taking it than these. You start to wonder what it doesn't do?)

And speaking of dirt ; )
Joy just grew her first jalapeno which was promptly diced up and thrown in the crock pot with tonight's dinner. We just got back from Home Depot where they were having a sale on 1 gallon veggie plants. Literally it was only a dollar more to buy the plants than a pack of seeds. Hallelujah for a head start! : )
She wanted a habanero pepper plant (she takes after Dad and likes all things spicy) and a tomato plant. She loves to spend time gardening every day. Her Grandmum would be proud. (and come to think of it, if she would have been totally down with the crazy waving of the burning Chinese herbs) LOL

~Becky
*Edited to Note: this is food grade Diatomaceous Earth : ) 

Wednesdays in the Word

Jesus "learned obedience by the things which He suffered."

When He prayed "He was heard because of His godly fear."

He was "in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin." 

He "the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever..."

"This hope we have as an anchor of the soul."

"Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." 

"Let us hold fast to our confession." 

Because "we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God."

"And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must all give account."

He "became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him..." 

"There remains therefore a rest for the people of God."


(verses taken from Hebrews chapters 4, 5 & 6)

Have a great day!

~Becky

Sharing Bonhoeffer

A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of meeting a German woman who was 6 years old and living in Berlin when Hitler took over. (that sentence right there, still amazes me)

She shared a few of her (heartbreaking) memories of that time with our high school girls' Bible class and then told us how she came to know the Lord while living in America when she was in her 20's. I wasn't able to attend the first time she spoke to our class, (in December) but that was literally the first time she ever spoke of those memories to anyone. Ever. This woman is such a treasure and I'm sure God will continue to use her story as she shares it. -One of the moms told me what a life changing impact this talk had on her daughter and that she talked about her for days afterwards. 

I just knew I would have to ask her if she's read Eric Metaxes book Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy 

because I loved it so much and I was a little obsessed with it last summer.
Bonhoeffer lived in Berlin during that time too. I told my kids that their families could have known each other!!! They told me that kind of reasoning is like traveling to another country and having people ask me if I know Justin Bieber. LOL I didn't embarrass myself by asking if her family knew him, I just asked her if she'd read this book.

She was so sweet. She said that she had not read the book but that she knew of Bonhoeffer and "of his courage to stand against them." (Nazis) And then, this sweet elderly lady, who lived through SO much, told me "I didn't have the courage to stand against them. I tried to be invisible. There is a way to be invisible, you know. You keep your head down and you never make eye contact with anyone." 

Bless her heart! I'm not sure what a child could have done to 'stand against them' in the first place and I reminded her that she was so young. I asked her if she would like to read it because I would love to give her a copy. She said she would very much like to read it and her eyes twinkled.

 (and when I said I would love to give her I copy, it was an  UNDERSTATEMENT!) 

I'm hoping that his story blesses her and heals her and encourages her faith. 

~Becky

It was a Happy Fourth!

 We did Dennis Prager's Fourth of July Declaration again and it was very meaningful. We highly recommend it as a way to remember what made the founding of America so special and why we celebrate it. 

(and it only takes 10 minutes) My hubby did a really great job leading it.

 .

The ceremony is the reason for tiny plates on the table

When it was REALLY time to eat, we used much bigger plates and loaded (and reloaded) them  up.

Then the thirteen of us crowded around the living room to play Pictionary which was a lot of fun. Thankfully the Internet has a Pictionary Word Generator! (who knew?) Awesome! -Otherwise we would have had to pick our own words and they probably would have all been references to the Lord of the Rings, Doctor Who and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. LOL

The photographer (me) was also the score keeper, timer and sometimes official eraser of the white board, so I didn't get many good pictures.

We also played a trivia card game called "Beat the Parents." (the kids got a big kick out of the title) The adults were almost stumped when trying to name the Seven Dwarfs. We also had no idea who Dora the Explorer's pet monkey is or what land Mario Brother's takes place in. Props to Zac who knew that a bunch of crows are called a 'murder.' (I forgot a bunch of ants are called a 'colony') Hubby and I did rock "What was Thomas Edison's middle name?' -Thanks to homeschooling! ; ) Somewhere during the middle of the game, we decided the 'kids' had to get asked the parents questions too, but the 'kids' team still won. ('kids' as in those ages 14 to 20) Any team doing a trivia game that doesn't have Joel on it, is in trouble before they even start. : ) 

Then we were off to the airport to watch fireworks from the top floor of the parking garage. Here's a random picture of how tall it is. Great place for viewing firework shows all over the city.

It was a little rainy and windy up there, and I don't remember ever being cold on the 4th of July before, but it was fun. Great view.

In the midst of all the preparations and the actual fun of the evening, my hubby and I were mindful of the fact that this was the last holiday we'd most likely be spending with some of these dear friends (who are moving next month) and the last holiday with Nathan, probably for awhile. Bittersweet but special.

Hope you enjoy the rest of your hoilday weekend. I think I'm going to rest for the rest of it. ; )
~Becky

Big news!

Our daughter, who was interning at the cafe/bakery got a PAYING job there this week!
 Whoo-hoo!
 -She was hand spinning milkshakes when I came to pick her up. She loves it!
She needs to memorize the menu which is filled with amazing sandwiches and soups so I suggested we 'play restaurant.' ; )  Anyone else do that as a kid? I am from southern CA so I always made mud tacos! I've been placing imaginary orders with her, which makes me hungry, something the dirt tacos never did! LOL

Our son, who was offered a paid position as an intern in a youth ministry in CA, is taking the job and leaving.
Boo-hoo!
We are very happy for him. -Just sad because we will miss him so much. We all feel it is God's will for him. But it is going to be hard on this MOM. I am taking comfort in the fact that he will:
-be near my best friend, who loves him like one of her own kids
-that my oldest friend in the world will be his boss
 -that he won't be more than 2 hours away from our wonderful extended FAMILY
(remind me of these things when I'm bawling my eyes out, OK?) : )

So, the month of August will be a busy one. We'll be launching out our first child into the world and taking another (3 month) turn in care-giving in our home for our relative who is stroke patient.

~Becky