corn bread surprise

It's AWANA night and I needed to whip up cornbread quickly to accompany our black bean soup.  Guess what I found? A five-minute microwave recipe!  Can you believe it!  Here it is.  I'll review it later.

a steal

When you are looking for used homeschool curriculum here, you have to check every day for new posts.  Everything sells within hours.  This morning, I saw that a bunch of math manipulatives were posted for $15.00.

Momma:  "A mom is selling unifix cubes, 3d shapes, pattern blocks, geo boards, a judy clock and counters, all for $15 postage paid.  That's a steal!"

Paul, looking over my shoulder:  "Did she have go to jail?"

Momma starts laughing.

Paul:  "I mean because she stole something."

Momma:  "No, when we say that something is a "steal" we mean it's a real bargain.  It's just an expression."

Paul, laughing:  "Oooh! I get it."

daily blessings and lessons

- God is forever stretching me.  But patiently.

- My children are forever stretching me--impatiently.  Resulting in my having to grow patience.

- Children leave you a better person.

- Babies and toddlers make it impossible to plan anything or teach school the way we presume it should be done.  This gem of an article addresses that:  The baby is the lesson.

- It's easy as a homeschooling mother to pop a video in so the squirrelly preschooler will let us "teach". I consider it a blessing to have read the above article today, so I can resist that temptation.

- My boys both knew their letters and sounds and could attempt simple blending of sounds by the time they were Mary's age.  Mary only recognizes a few letters and no numbers.  She is bright but doesn't have the same interests the boys had.   She'll sit for books or table activities for a fraction of the time they did.  God is coaching me to stop comparing and let her shine in the way He has ordained.  She may end up the better student of the bunch, down the line.  Or she may be average.  Whatever.  She needs me to seek out her uniqueness and celebrate it with her.  My heart can't require her to like what I like.  I consider it a blessing that God is showing me this now--when she's only three.

- My Peter loves to cook--a fact I've emphasized before.  Dry black beans soaked on the counter all last night and all day today.  The last thing he said before falling asleep:
 "Are we going to make the black bean soup tomorrow?  Are we for sure?  Really?"
His strong interests and passions are a blessing.  He will need them to help him relax and self-regulate as he grows up, marries, and has his own children. He's extremely high strung and needs multiple outlets.

- As I process what I've learned about Kenya this week, God is teaching me so much.  One of the areas is in how I raise my children.  I see how much work I have to do to raise grateful children.  I've (we've) erred in giving them too much.  This isn't the first time I've realized this, but it is the first time I've realized that overindulging a child is sin, on the parent's part.

It's a wrong notion that because one finds a toy for fifty cents at a garage sale, it's okay to buy it, since it's so affordable.  God is driving home strongly that too many things spoil a child.  It's the amount of giving and the frequency of giving.  I've resisted purging toys because I've suspected home babysitting might once again be necessary.  This week, God has released me from these toys, so to speak.  Many of them are going to Goodwill in the next month.  I will do it in secret as I have time, to avoid stressing the children or making them feel like I'm punishing them.  I'll explain only when they ask for a specific missing toy.  They don't play with many of their things, other than the classics--like Legos, TinkerToys, Lincoln Logs, train set, toy dishes/play kitchen, puzzles, books, blocks, art supplies.  Mary has never been one to play with dolls, but I'll keep them for Beth, and for sister fun for later.

- The Raising Godly Tomatoes wisdom helped me get tighter control over the children.  But I'm learning that it only goes so for.  It's really my behavior that teaches my children--not some system.  I have to gain control over my responses first and foremost.  Not be perfect, but know that my standards for my own behavior have to be higher than my standards for them.

Don't misunderstand though--The Raising Godly Tomatoes site is a good place to start, if you feel your kids have become disrespectful or unruly.

Okay.  Have to get busy finding a good black bean soup recipe.  Good night, Friends!
________________________
I wanted to highly recommend Elise's blog A Path Made Straight.  She is a dear, humble person dedicated to God and to her family.  And she's quite an amazing mother.  Her blog was reader nominated as one of the 100 Best by the Internet Cafe.  She didn't even mention it on her blog.  She lets God shine in her space there. Never any advertising or self-promoting (not that those are always bad).  Humble and true.  Gentle and quiet. Always a beautiful read.

trans fat breaks your heart

Overhead at the dinner table, while Paul studied the food label on the ketchup:

"This ketchup has no trans fat.  Trans fat is the worst kind of fat.  It breaks your heart if you eat too much of it."

financial info on Compassion International

I didn't mean to post so many times in one day--just worked out that way.

I shared Kristen's From Hell Kenya blog post with my husband and two boys.  Tough to read it and see the images without forever being changed.  My older children needed to understand why it's unacceptable to complain about chores or about the food they're served. I also wanted them to be moved enough to cheerfully give away a portion of their financial blessings (their money from extra chores).

The boys were not traumatized by the blog post.  The featured 18-year-old student's faith inspired my Peter (age 8).  He was moved to tears, as was my husband.  Paul (age 6) was just very sad to see the conditions.

I wanted to post some information I researched about Compassion International.  My husband asked me to find out about administrative costs before making a decision about sponsoring a child.  He was pleased with the financial report.

The organization spends 82% of funds on Child Programs, 10% of funds on fundraising, and the remaining 8% on administration costs.  Find out more here.  I verified this information using a charity fact site (not affiliated with CI).