Jillyshelly: Proverbially Speaking

I have been inspired by Moneysavingmom to have a freezer cooking day.  My goal is to stock up my freezer for the next two weeks so I won’t run out of dinner ideas (or be too tired/lazy) to fix dinner and end up getting take-out or making unnecessary grocery runs.  I like the idea of having more of a grip on our grocery budget this way as well as having more control over the ingredients in our food.  (Buying frozen dinners is costly and horribly unhealthy).  I’ve done a freezer cooking day twice before – one last November and one in January – but on an even smaller scale than this one.  Moneysavingmom and her blogger freezer day friends make 20-30 meals.  I made about 10.  The one thing I learned today – I need more freezable dishes.  I ran out of casserole dishes and pans quickly and had trouble sticking some items in ziploc freezer bags.  I still managed though and came up with some pretty decent meals.

Today I prepared the following meals while my boys 1) Played with play dough in the dining room 2) Watched Bob the Builder 3)  Ran through the house pretending to be race cars.

• Traditional Lasagna
• Veggie Lasagna
• Meatballs (to be added to spaghetti noodles at a later date)
• Enchiladas
• Burritos (4) for Hubby’s lunches – created a “lunch kit” for him with cheese, guacamole and spinach to add at work
• Taco meat (to be added to salad and burritos at a later date)
• Chicken casserole
• Chicken salad (for lunch and/or dinner sandwiches)
• Marinated Chicken

I did not get my blueberry waffles made, but plan on doing so tomorrow. These meals plus a few other easy recipes like quiche and grilled cheese sandwiches should see us through the next two weeks!

We have two months till Baby Girl will be arriving and I am so excited. (I am also physically slowing down at an alarming rate). I recently switched health care providers and I am trying to trust God with my labor and delivery. I am so excited to meet Abigail. The Lord has really been telling me a lot about her personality and how important she is to Him. He has also given me some comforting words and visions to carry me along this birthing process. Thankfully, He has also provided me with a very patient Hubby who is very supportive and caring toward me. I am blessed!

I am going to disconnect from the cyberworld this weekend and try to reconnect with the real world (as defined by God).  I spend way too much time on the computer.  I spend way too much time reading blogs that have become inundated with horrible product reviews.  I am becoming bitter toward mom blogs that once had interesting posts but now seem to be all about making money.  I don’t mind them advertising on their sites, but I’d like them to write posts with real content in it.  I’d like to pretend I’m not a sales target for someone every minute of the day.

Please pray I lean into the Lord this weekend and not frivolous cyber chatter.

Justice is truly a rock star in the making.  I will work on getting some good video of him performing, but until then I have some cute pics to share:

I received this book free from the Thomas Nelson Book Sneeze blogger book reviewing program.  This book includes 250 Bible stories retold for adults or older children. This is not a translation of the Bible and therefore should not be given to a new Christian or new student of the Bible. It is also not appropriate for young children due to the advanced language used and lack of illustrations.  The book itself is attractive looking though and would make a nice addition to ones coffee table or library.

I think it is best suited for someone who is familiar with the biblical accounts as reliably translated in the actual NKJV, ESV, or NIV. The best audience for this book would likely be both a Christian and one who appreciates the art of story telling. It would also be a great addition to family story time at holiday and family gatherings.  I can totally envision Grandpa reading this to his children and grandchildren and pulling his family into the exciting truths of the Bible.  Overall, I would give this book a 3 out of 5 stars.

Our church really encourages community and relationship building founded on Jesus Christ. One aspect of these relationships is through an accountability triad. This Friday I will begin meeting with two other women in the church to help us develop honest and fruitful lives with Christ. I have been looking up typical questions asked in accountability sessions and found Ed Stetzer’s blog post listing a bunch written by some well-known Christians.  Wow.  Some of these questions are really intimidating (because they don’t let me hide an ugly thing).  Please pray I lean into the Lord and this process instead of running and hiding!

Three years ago (the end of January) my sweet Justice Shalom was born!  He definitely exhibits the traits Don and I prayed over him when we selected his name!  This post was originally going to go up on his b-day, but I couldn’t locate the USB cable to download my pics

Justice is still as active today as he was the day he was born.  He came out of the womb with amazing neck control, first rolled over when he was one month old, and was walking by the time he turned 10 months.  J never really liked to be held as a baby, unless you were facing him outward to see all the action going on around him.  He still is not a big fan of being held, unless he’s climbing in his daddy’s big, strong arms or in his mommy’s comforting arms after an injury.  J loves climbing, fake falling, playing football, building and “fixing” things (especially after he has written out his plan in his notebook or verbally shared it with someone) and digging in dirt with his trucks and shovels. Justice also LOVES to sing and make music!  He makes up his own songs, which generally have “Hallelujah Jesus” in them somewhere.  Don and I are trying to teach him to sing instead of just scream… but Justice thinks the louder the better, so this lesson is not getting through his cute little head.  Justice also loves to play his guitar and drums.  He has told us he wants to sing at church and help people lift their hands to Jesus.  I think this is wonderful and melts my heart!

Justice also has a very sweet and tender side to his personality.  He was born to be a big brother!  He comforts Eli when he’s upset and he loves to pray for people when they are sick or feeling bad.  Justice frequently tries to get his baby sister, “Abigirl,” to kick from the womb.  He’ll lay his hands on my tummy and say, “Abigirl kicked me!”  Justice also loves my parents (his Baba and Papaw) and hates missing a day without seeing them or talking to them on the phone.  I could go on and on and on about this special little guy.  Instead, I will leave you with some pictures of him from his birthday.

Photo Credit

In an effort to feed my family healthier meals (sans the pesticides and preservatives), I am going to grow a fruit/vegetable garden in our backyard and an herb garden in one of our front yard flower boxes.  I am hoping a garden will also help us save some money on our produce since we have been juicing and eating a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables.  I have been scouring books and websites to figure out how to do this successfully. I am a complete newbie gardener and I’m honestly a bit intimidated by this endeavor. So far I have consulted the All-In-One Garden: Grow  and The Complete Gardener.  Both of these books are chock full of gardening knowledge, especially when it comes to selecting items to plant.  They both discuss how you can plant fruits, vegetables, herbs, and flowers in the space to create a useful and beautiful garden.  I think I benefited more from the All-in-One Garden because the Complete Gardener seemed to be written for more experienced gardeners who wanted to update and improve their current garden.
This is the book I REALLY look forward to reading: All New Square Foot Garden. I put this book on hold at the library and have a feeling I may need to purchase it and refer to it throughout the spring/summer. I have some friends who have used the square foot garden method and seemed to have done well with it, so I think this will be my starting point. I have already checked out the website and it seems to be a good fit for my current gardening goals.  We have a great spot off our patio to plant a garden (where my husband recently cut down a tree). Thanks to the previous owners of our house, we already have tons of beautiful flowers outlining our backyard as well. I gather from my gardening research that some of these “beautiful” plants are also functional for cooking… such as my favorite for viewing, lavender.

Anyway, I will try to keep you posted on my progress. I am also investigating composting and rain barrels… lots of work to do in the next few weeks!  I am really excited… I can’t wait for all this snow to melt and for spring to pop up!

That is the question I have been bouncing around.

I am a product of public school education.  I did not encounter “homeschoolers” until I was a college student volunteering in the student ministry at my church.  My interaction with these homeschooled kids is what formed my initial opinion regarding home education.  I thought home education was whack and that it created a group of strangely socialized (or non-socialized) kids who were obviously set apart from the public school kids at our church.  I co-led a small group Bible study for junior high students and I definitely related more to the public school kids than I did the homeschoolers.  When I went to grad school, my thesis topic was about the social implication of home education on children.  I was dead set against what I thought was a weird Christian parenting trend.  I mean, these people taught their children at home the same way the anti-authoritarian parents did… they had to be whack!

My attitude toward home education changed when I became a parent.  I started to see value in being able to influence my children’s academic studies.  I also met some “normal” people who had been homeschooled.  At this point I had also received my Master’s degree in (school) Counseling.  I had taken curriculum and child development courses.  I had taught students in the classroom and realized there were many more ways to reach children and their different learning styles than most teachers used.  I also had traveled to places like England and realized how that experience put my literature training into perspective (I saw where Shakespeare and Carroll were influenced to write and it enhanced my understanding of their stories).  I got excited about saving my kids from the hell of sitting in classrooms all day and being influenced by their “heathen” peers.  I dreamed of daily field trips and amazing learning environments. I was convinced homeschooling was the only way my kids were going to be safe from the world and free to pursue their God-given talents in the healthiest manner possible.  I was drawn to the idea of having control over their development.

One day I started talking about home education versus public/private school education.  I began sharing my beliefs, thinking that it would be a grand argument for home education.  Strangely though, the more I talked, the more I convinced myself that public education aligns more with my spiritual beliefs than home education does.  (I’m not sure how I feel about private schools at this point).  I started sharing the desire my husband and I have for our children to be missionaries in the world, who are not of the world.  I started sharing how I believed sending my kids to the local school and trusting God instead of fearing worldly influence is important to me.  I shared how valuable it seemed to me to be able to help my kids process their worldly encounters with teachers and peers and help them make good choices while they were still living at home under my care.  I started sharing how I knew all these home educated kids who went wild exploring the world when they left their parents’ home and went off to college… where their parents no longer had a strong influence over them.  I shared how ultimately I wanted to trust God to use my kids in the lives of non-Christians… that Don and I wanted to be a place of refuge for their peers living in broken homes and in a broken culture.  We didn’t want to be the safe haven for the local homeschooling co-op kids.  The more I talked the more I realized we will likely send our kids to public school.  We will likely pray like crazy that they love the Lord and follow Christ instead of loving the World and following negative peer pressure.  I realized we will likely get opportunities to show our kids first hand how God’s grace and mercy plays out in the sinful world.  Ouch.  I realized that I can still influence my children’s learning through creative learning experiences and travels…. I just need to be aware of what their teachers are teaching and the messages they are receiving from school.

Now, my oldest son is only 3 years old.  So I reserve the right to change my mind at any time (along with Hubby’s consent), and be a home schooling mama… or private schooling mama.   Right now though, I can’t see that happening.  I don’t in anyway think public education is superior to home education. I just think it MIGHT be the best choice for us.

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The concept of “quiet time” was first brought to my attention while I was a new Christ-follower in college.

I was taking my cues on how to pursue Christ from my campus crusading friends and this seemed to be one thing they all stressed: Spending quiet time, alone with the Lord – reading the Bible, praying, and listening for his still small voice. When I was in college I had very structured “quiet time” with the Lord in the morning. I would wake up before everyone else in the dorm and sneak out in the hallway with my Bible and journal (so I wouldn’t wake up my sleeping roommate). I read the Word. I ate up the Word. I memorized scripture. I was moved by the Holy Spirit to follow God like I never had before – it was glorious! I even snuck away for quiet time with the Lord whenever I got a chance (unfortunately for my grades a lot of those chances were supposed to be academic study times!).

After graduation, my quiet time with the Lord morphed a bit.

My Bible reading wasn’t as structured. There were times when I would just lay in bed and pray. Often times my alone time with the Lord occurred in my car while commuting to or from work, or after I got home from work or serving in a ministry. I always had a prayer space set up in my apartment that had maps and scripture and other “prayer aids” hanging up and setting out. I would retreat to my prayer sanctuary and process my days with the Lord. I would travail over the hurting people I encountered in my life. I would pray for the nations. I would confess my own sins and receive the outpouring of forgiveness from God. I experienced joy inexplicable as a result of my time spent with the Lord.

After getting married, my quiet time morphed a lot.

Ever since I got married, my “quiet time” has looked much different than it did in my single days. It looks even more different now that my house has little toddlers trying to rule it. This has been my own fault. Instead of being able to lean into the Lord in a consistent, structured manner, I have been distracted by the handsome hubby I wake up to in the mornings or by the children who had me up during the middle of night. I would rationalize that my continuous conversations with God throughout the day or the occasional scripture reading I did was enough.  It was not.  I have not experienced the inward fruits of the Spirit or the outward fruits of the Spirit as I once did.  I want to get back to that place with the Lord when I pursued Him with crazy adoration.  I know it’s possible and I believe that is what I am supposed to be doing.

Getting back into the most fruitful habit.

For the longest time (like 3 years) I didn’t have structured quiet time with the Lord at all. Thankfully, that has changed in the last year.  I now wake up sometime between 5:30-6:00 in the morning to chill with my Creator. Often I begin my quiet time by rolling around in my bed, mumbling to the Lord. After doing this for a few minutes, I usually break out my Bible (in book or online version) and read some scripture. Some days I journal like crazy and  I feel like I’m learning a lot and really “feeling” the value of my quiet time. I feel less anxious and ready to tackle my day. Other times I wonder whether reading Numbers is really more beneficial to me than an extra hour of sleep. I trust at some level it is!

My point in sharing all this is to encourage you that time spent devoted to the Lord and pursuing holiness is WORTH IT!

There have been many times when I feel like God is walking me through a struggle by reminding me of the scripture I memorized back in the day when I consistently did such things. Or, sometimes I know I am making better choices now because I learned something important about myself and the Lord years ago. In other words, I feel like I am still being fed off time spent with Jesus in the past and it encourages me to get fresh food from Him now.

My personal goal is to continue waking up early and spending quiet time with the Lord. I want to journal more. I want memorize more scripture. I want to recognize, confess, and repent of sin more. Most importantly, I want to fix my eyes constantly on Jesus, the author and perfecter of my faith.

If you’re interested in joining women who are seeking to spend more time with God, check out this link:

I haven’t signed up yet, but I’m considering it!