I have been trying to find this song by someone who sang it in this century and haven't had any luck until I stumbled upon a friends blog and realized I was searching for it using the wrong title...oops, it helps to know exactly what you want :) so anyway this song:10,000 Reasons by Matt Redman is pretty fabulous, and describes what my heart has been singing (I have been singing it with my mouth, but cannot sing to save my life, so I am thankful God hears our hearts too).
10,000 Reasons by Matt Redman
(Chorus)
Bless the Lord, O my soul
O my soul
Worship His holy name
Sing like never before
O my soul
I'll worship Your holy name
The sun comes up, it's a new day dawning
It's time to sing Your song again
Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me
Let me be singing when the evening comes
Chorus
You're rich in love, and You're slow to anger
Your name is great, and Your heart is kind
For all Your goodness I will keep on singing
Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find
Chorus
And on that day when my strength is failing
The end draws near and my time has come
Still my soul will sing Your praise unending
Ten thousand years and then forevermore
(Chorus x2)
Jesus, I'll worship Your holy name
Lord, I'll worship Your holy name
Sing like never before
O my soul
I'll worship Your holy name
Jesus, I'll worship Your holy name
I'll worship Your holy name
Friday, September 28, 2012
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Hard Working Husbands
This morning I took the girls to the park. It was gorgeous outside, a nice cool breeze, and no one there but us. All I was missing was an iced coffee from Starbucks. Grace and Ella were having a blast running around when Grace discovered the small rocks under the tube and started picking them up and talking about them (in her own language of course). She brought some over to me and put them in my hands picking them up one by one to show me the different sizes and that they felt cold. Ella was still at the tube and decided she was going to grab handfuls of rocks and pour them in the tube and listen to the cool noises it made. Grace soon joined her and for about 10 minutes I just sat there watching these two sweet girls talk to each other and laugh at the funny noises that they were making by pouring and rubbing rocks in the tube. They even stuck their handfuls of rocks through the openings of the tube and discovered the different noise they created. They are so smart and discovering so many new things. It is an absolute heart bursting blessing to be able to have these experiences with them and to stay home with my daughter.
This got me thinking about Luke and what we have done for me to be able to stay home. It would be so much easier (financially) for me to go back to teaching and put Grace is a day care, however, for Luke and I the emotional weight of that would crush us. If you asked me when I was two what I wanted to be when I grew up I would tell you a mom. I have always wanted to be a mom first, then decided to tack on the teacher part when I was in first grade.
When Luke and I would talk about children we had a game plan of getting pregnant during his last year of Seminary and then have school done with before we started a family. Well after some life happenings and natural disasters we realized school was going to take a little longer then expected and that waiting for a family was not something we wanted. The Lord blessed our decision and gave us our sweet little Grace Vera and not only that a little less then a year later we found out we were expecting another sweet little girl (we do have a name for her, but are keeping it a secret)!
So here we are with Grace and sweet baby girl #2, and an AMAZING hard working husband who works full time at a job that he loves, Attends seminary and works super hard to stay on top of homework and projects, and makes sacrifices daily so I can stay home and be a mommy which is the BEST job that I can think of. I am so thankful for a godly, selfless, hot looking husband :)
This got me thinking about Luke and what we have done for me to be able to stay home. It would be so much easier (financially) for me to go back to teaching and put Grace is a day care, however, for Luke and I the emotional weight of that would crush us. If you asked me when I was two what I wanted to be when I grew up I would tell you a mom. I have always wanted to be a mom first, then decided to tack on the teacher part when I was in first grade.
When Luke and I would talk about children we had a game plan of getting pregnant during his last year of Seminary and then have school done with before we started a family. Well after some life happenings and natural disasters we realized school was going to take a little longer then expected and that waiting for a family was not something we wanted. The Lord blessed our decision and gave us our sweet little Grace Vera and not only that a little less then a year later we found out we were expecting another sweet little girl (we do have a name for her, but are keeping it a secret)!
So here we are with Grace and sweet baby girl #2, and an AMAZING hard working husband who works full time at a job that he loves, Attends seminary and works super hard to stay on top of homework and projects, and makes sacrifices daily so I can stay home and be a mommy which is the BEST job that I can think of. I am so thankful for a godly, selfless, hot looking husband :)
THANK YOU DADDY!!!
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Week 1
I made my own laundry detergent last week. I have heard equal amounts of good things and bad things about this adventure. Some people say it works and saves them lots of money, others say they have tried and failed. I decided to take this challenge on, I mean who doesn't love saving money....or failing..... :)
Ok so anyway last week I boiled, grated, shook, stirred, measured, and mixed some stuff together and viola! Created my very own laundry detergent (Even gave it a name, but I am not quite convinced to share it yet).
Doing laundry is VERY serious business in this house. Luke needs to look and smell nice to impress all the potential students at his job, and I think his coworkers would appreciate his nice smell and neatness too. I stay at home so I can look and smell like whatever. At the end of the day I am usually wearing some amount of food, snot, heck even poop so I don't really count. The most important thing about laundry is Grace's. We use cloth diapers and they have to be washed and cared for a certain way for them to be effective. I have never used any "special" soap when washing her diapers and we have been using them for over a year and I haven't had to strip them. They are awesome! I figured that they would be the ultimate test whether or not the laundry detergent really works or not. I do laundry every other day and normally do the diapers by themselves. This week I honestly think they have come out brighter and smell better then when I have used store bought detergent. Seriously! I was apprehensive about washing them in the homemade detergent, but glad I went for it.
Week one of my awesome homemade laundry detergent has been a successful one! Now lets see if it holds up for week two!
Also, I posted on here about a "life overhaul" that Luke and I are embarking on and let me just say that we have been faithful to our plan and strategy and are bursting with thankfulness on how the Lord has provided and helped us through out first half of the month. I know I shouldn't be surprised, but I am...me of little faith.
Ok so anyway last week I boiled, grated, shook, stirred, measured, and mixed some stuff together and viola! Created my very own laundry detergent (Even gave it a name, but I am not quite convinced to share it yet).
Doing laundry is VERY serious business in this house. Luke needs to look and smell nice to impress all the potential students at his job, and I think his coworkers would appreciate his nice smell and neatness too. I stay at home so I can look and smell like whatever. At the end of the day I am usually wearing some amount of food, snot, heck even poop so I don't really count. The most important thing about laundry is Grace's. We use cloth diapers and they have to be washed and cared for a certain way for them to be effective. I have never used any "special" soap when washing her diapers and we have been using them for over a year and I haven't had to strip them. They are awesome! I figured that they would be the ultimate test whether or not the laundry detergent really works or not. I do laundry every other day and normally do the diapers by themselves. This week I honestly think they have come out brighter and smell better then when I have used store bought detergent. Seriously! I was apprehensive about washing them in the homemade detergent, but glad I went for it.
Week one of my awesome homemade laundry detergent has been a successful one! Now lets see if it holds up for week two!
Also, I posted on here about a "life overhaul" that Luke and I are embarking on and let me just say that we have been faithful to our plan and strategy and are bursting with thankfulness on how the Lord has provided and helped us through out first half of the month. I know I shouldn't be surprised, but I am...me of little faith.
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Hippie
Luke calls me a Hippie. I think it is cute, but do realize that he is totally mocking me :). Since being a stay at home mommy I have realized that there are a lot of things I do and buy out of convenience that I can make on my own for a lot less the what I pay for in the stores. There are a number of things I have done and are in the process of figuring out and will share them, but the first thing is laundry detergent. (Oh, and may I add that I was baking brownies at the same time I was making laundry detergent! Yup, that's right. Although all I had to do was make sure they were not burning in the oven, but multitasking all the same).
I pay about $8-$12 on laundry detergent (The cheap whatever is on sale and gets me the most loads of laundry kind) every other month. This may not seem like a lot of money, but on our budget that is 3-4 meals, or 1/4 tank of gas, or wipes, or Starbucks coffee (priorities right?). So anyway, I embarked on the adventure of making my own laundry detergent and it works fabulously! I am so excited. Here is what I did:
Calculations:
I paid less then $10.00 for the following supplies:
10pk of Ivory soap
Borax
Washing Soda
Oxy Clean (not needed, but I like an extra boost for those pesky stains)
These supplies will make about 20 gallons of laundry detergent and I can do about 30-40 loads per gallon! So that makes an average of 700 loads of laundry for less then $10 right?!?1 Don't hold me to that yet. I have just started and haven't completed my experiment yet, but will keep you updated on that :).
Instructions:
1. Grate 1 bar of soap (equals about 2 cups)
2. Bring 1 quart of water to a boil and add soap to the water dissolving it completely.
3. Pour soap mixture into a pail and add 2 cups of Borax and 2 cups of washing soda. Stir until dissolved. (I just added them to the pot and then poured it into the container).
4. Add 2 gallons of water to the container and mix well.
5. Cover container and use 1/4 cup with each load remembering to stir/shake detergent before each use.
This mixture will gel and become liquid detergent. There are TONS of recipes for laundry detergents and mostly powdered. I prefer liquid because I think it cleans and dissolves better.
And here is Grace having a snack while Mommy makes detergent. She was not happy that I wouldn't let her "cook" with me this time. Too many chemicals and hot stuff.....she quickly got over it once the gold fish came out :)
I pay about $8-$12 on laundry detergent (The cheap whatever is on sale and gets me the most loads of laundry kind) every other month. This may not seem like a lot of money, but on our budget that is 3-4 meals, or 1/4 tank of gas, or wipes, or Starbucks coffee (priorities right?). So anyway, I embarked on the adventure of making my own laundry detergent and it works fabulously! I am so excited. Here is what I did:
Calculations:
I paid less then $10.00 for the following supplies:
10pk of Ivory soap
Borax
Washing Soda
Oxy Clean (not needed, but I like an extra boost for those pesky stains)
Instructions:
1. Grate 1 bar of soap (equals about 2 cups)
2. Bring 1 quart of water to a boil and add soap to the water dissolving it completely.
3. Pour soap mixture into a pail and add 2 cups of Borax and 2 cups of washing soda. Stir until dissolved. (I just added them to the pot and then poured it into the container).
4. Add 2 gallons of water to the container and mix well.
5. Cover container and use 1/4 cup with each load remembering to stir/shake detergent before each use.
This mixture will gel and become liquid detergent. There are TONS of recipes for laundry detergents and mostly powdered. I prefer liquid because I think it cleans and dissolves better.
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Life Overhaul
We have been in Texas for about 5+ years now and I cannot believe how much life has changed since that summer day in July 2007 when Luke and I said "I do". We had our plans, and God has directed us towards His plans, we had our ups and downs, our "we love Texas, we hate Texas" times, and of course our schedule.
Our initial plan was to be done with Seminary in 4 years and then go to Haiti we would serve as missionaries until the Lord showed us otherwise. The plan to go to Haiti is still on our hearts, but the time frame is just a bit delayed since we are still in Seminary. Luke is in his LAST YEAR!! Can you believe it?!?! I am so excited and proud of my husband for his hard work, dedication, and accomplishments. This has been a long, hard, faithful experience both being in Seminary and the events that have taken place these past 5 years. I cannot believe we are almost at the end.
So back to the "Life Overhaul" title: We are going on child #2 and plan on having more (I say 4 more, Luke says maybe 2). :) Our expanding family along with needing to make a "next step" decision soon has Luke and I thinking about our life. We basically came up with three areas in our life that we want to revamp and make considerably better. 1. Finances 2. health 3. dedication to God. I think there is a time in everyone life where they go through and say they need to make changes, and if they are anything like me I say those things and maybe change things for a week, or maybe a month, but then I fall off the wagon. Not this time. Luke and I have really brought these things to the Lord and have teamed together to conquer this life overhaul we desperately need. But what have we done?
1. Finances: Luke works full time at DTS and we are so richly blessed to have a job that he loves, can serve, and get paid for! I work at home as a stay at home mom, and also blessed to watch a friends baby who is awesome, and is like a sister to Grace. I love it! Sometimes I have other children that I watch during the summer and when they have no school, they rock too! Needless to say these jobs are fabulous, but not your top paying jobs. Going into marriage we knew that as a teacher and a pastor we were never going to be able to afford that house on the beach, awesome car, and luxurious vacations, and we are ok with that.
Luke and I sat down and attacked our budget like hungry wolves. We went through everything and came up with a plan for paying things off, and surviving on what we have. I am in awe of the mad computer skills my husband has! He pretty much computerized our budget so it does all the calculations and everything! He is a genius!
2. Health: We have started eating better for about a year now, and I am so proud of our accomplishments! We haven't been through a drive through in almost a year! We have made some big changes, and not only that, they are habits that are sticking. Being at home I am in charge and can control the healthy snacks, shopping, and healthy dinners. Now don't be fooled, we totally splurge once in a while and go all out on junk :)
3. Dedication to God: This is HUGE! I cannot speak for Luke, but for me I have been in a dry place since Grace was born. It was really difficult for me to find time to pray, read the Bible, and just hear God speak. It would always fill my heart when I would read, or notice a situation where I know it was God grabbing my attention just to know He still loves me and longs for me. We serve a gracious God! Going on with this life overhaul I realized that in order to make these changes and for us to be able to survive my focus needs to be on God. It amazes me how awesome my attitude and day goes when I start my morning in prayer. I have regular devotions with God (Not daily, but we are getting there). And have signed up for our ladies Bible study at church. I am excited!
So there you have it. We are starting on a great adventure on transforming our life through our dedication and foundation in the Lord. I cannot wait to see how this all plays out.
Our initial plan was to be done with Seminary in 4 years and then go to Haiti we would serve as missionaries until the Lord showed us otherwise. The plan to go to Haiti is still on our hearts, but the time frame is just a bit delayed since we are still in Seminary. Luke is in his LAST YEAR!! Can you believe it?!?! I am so excited and proud of my husband for his hard work, dedication, and accomplishments. This has been a long, hard, faithful experience both being in Seminary and the events that have taken place these past 5 years. I cannot believe we are almost at the end.
So back to the "Life Overhaul" title: We are going on child #2 and plan on having more (I say 4 more, Luke says maybe 2). :) Our expanding family along with needing to make a "next step" decision soon has Luke and I thinking about our life. We basically came up with three areas in our life that we want to revamp and make considerably better. 1. Finances 2. health 3. dedication to God. I think there is a time in everyone life where they go through and say they need to make changes, and if they are anything like me I say those things and maybe change things for a week, or maybe a month, but then I fall off the wagon. Not this time. Luke and I have really brought these things to the Lord and have teamed together to conquer this life overhaul we desperately need. But what have we done?
1. Finances: Luke works full time at DTS and we are so richly blessed to have a job that he loves, can serve, and get paid for! I work at home as a stay at home mom, and also blessed to watch a friends baby who is awesome, and is like a sister to Grace. I love it! Sometimes I have other children that I watch during the summer and when they have no school, they rock too! Needless to say these jobs are fabulous, but not your top paying jobs. Going into marriage we knew that as a teacher and a pastor we were never going to be able to afford that house on the beach, awesome car, and luxurious vacations, and we are ok with that.
Luke and I sat down and attacked our budget like hungry wolves. We went through everything and came up with a plan for paying things off, and surviving on what we have. I am in awe of the mad computer skills my husband has! He pretty much computerized our budget so it does all the calculations and everything! He is a genius!
2. Health: We have started eating better for about a year now, and I am so proud of our accomplishments! We haven't been through a drive through in almost a year! We have made some big changes, and not only that, they are habits that are sticking. Being at home I am in charge and can control the healthy snacks, shopping, and healthy dinners. Now don't be fooled, we totally splurge once in a while and go all out on junk :)
3. Dedication to God: This is HUGE! I cannot speak for Luke, but for me I have been in a dry place since Grace was born. It was really difficult for me to find time to pray, read the Bible, and just hear God speak. It would always fill my heart when I would read, or notice a situation where I know it was God grabbing my attention just to know He still loves me and longs for me. We serve a gracious God! Going on with this life overhaul I realized that in order to make these changes and for us to be able to survive my focus needs to be on God. It amazes me how awesome my attitude and day goes when I start my morning in prayer. I have regular devotions with God (Not daily, but we are getting there). And have signed up for our ladies Bible study at church. I am excited!
So there you have it. We are starting on a great adventure on transforming our life through our dedication and foundation in the Lord. I cannot wait to see how this all plays out.
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