Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Modest Dressing for The Lord

I have been really digging about what The Lord thinks about how a woman should dress and about modesty. It's been on my heart for sometime now.

I first began my digging when The Duggars began their TV show, and I wanted to know the reasoning behind their decisions. Now, I am digging more for myself rather than just curiosity about a particular family's decisions.

The Lord says we as women should not dress like men. As well as saying men should not dress as women. 


In 1 Timothy, the apostle Paul is writing about Instructions on Worship in Chapter 2. In verse 2:9 he says "I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or even expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for woman who profess to worship God." 

No, this verse does not say you should wear a skirt or dress, but you should be modest and covered when you dress. I feel like it teaches us to dress like you would to worship God, and that doesn't mean just on Sundays.


After looking and digging on this subject, it really wouldn't be much of a change to switch it up to some dresses and skirts more than yoga pants. I already dress modestly by always being covered. How much harder would it be to dress more like a woman would if she were to meet Jesus?


I also found it interesting to find that God doesn't want us to wear expensive clothes, or gold & pearls. I have worn gold and pearls in my life, as well as many other women so I find this very interesting.

I think the reason God doesn't want us wearing expensive clothing is because we need to be good stewards of our money. Buying a $300 name brand jacket isn't being a good steward of your money.

Your finances are from God. He can take them at any time. I truly believe that. There was a time when my husband and I were blowing a lot of money on a home we were only renting right after being married. Soon after, Kevin was suspended for 12 days for barely touching the boat up to a barge. This is an act that happens all the time, but God saw fit that the boss would react this way and scare us with this incident. 

We soon set a budget, and stopped the silly spending. We started giving to our church, and soon after we were blessed with the opportunity of building our brand new dream home. 


So do your research. Should we be showing body parts to other people that only our husband should see?

Should we be dressing in baggy pants and sweatshirts that relate to something a man would wear? 

Should we be buying expensive clothes, to impress others? 

Just some points to ponder. 



I love these quotes I found on Pinterest. 


I love this quote below. If you were dressed with your top hanging out, and too short of shorts would you be happy if you husband looked at another woman wearing this? Chances are it would turn to jealousy, and even turn to a hurtful part of your marriage. 


In my younger days before kids, and a husband I am guilty of dressing poorly. What image was that setting myself up for? I was a young woman who showed her body to the world, for all men to ponder.

Thankfully, I have changed. Dressing modest is a beautiful thing. 

I encourage you to study and research this topic. There are a lot of blogs out there that help us as women know what is right, and what is wrong in God's eyes. 

childrenareablessing.org - A great blog on modesty. 

(All photos above are courtesy of Pinterest. You can view my boards HERE for their direct link)

Friday, February 21, 2014

Views around our house

The past couple of days have been days with amazing weather. 50, 60, and 70 degree weather. We took advantage of it by staying outside all day working and playing. 

This water fall is beautiful right now with all of the water running through. 


Our chickens are enjoying the awesome weather too. This girl was named salt and pepper by the boys. She is a Barred Rock. She let's the boys pick her up and seems to love the attention. 




Our rooster is an American Game Bantams breed. He is our buddy and comes to the back porch every evening for left overs. He is very spoiled! He has been a great rooster and has been attacked multiple times by different predators but always suffers through and stays strong. It's known that some roosters will attack if they feel your harming them or their hens, but he never has flocked our kids. Kipton actually got in the pen yesterday to catch him. 


We had to pull him out to free roam because the hens lay better without him in the house. It seems that they can relax without him in there and they lay us TONS of eggs. So out he goes! He roosts in a tree at night. 


I've been cleaning out the ditch and the boys find "jobs" to do while I'm working. They were helping me with the ditch on this day. Filling their buckets of muddy water and eventually pouring the water on each other. Sigh........



The laundry is always over flowing. However, dirty laundry just shows me I have people in my house that are healthy enough to go outside and play. That's a true blessing! 

Enjoy your weekend!!

Monday, February 17, 2014

A Sick Weekend

We have been so lucky to have missed out on all of the sick germs this winter. I felt so good on Valentine's day. (Friday) Kevin and I went shopping and out to lunch while the boys spent time with their grandparents. 

Friday evening when we picked them up, it was like a switch. I went down, fast. So sick! I layed in bed all evening Friday, all day Saturday, and then Sunday morning while the boys went to church.


It was the worst sinus infection/head cold of my life. Thankfully, while we were at SAMS club on Friday I bought Ree's first cookbook. I got the holiday one for Christmas, and picked up her 2nd one last week. If you've never heard of The Pioneer Woman, you are missing out. Buy her cookbooks, watch her show on Food Network, learn her ways. You won't be sorry. My boys LOVE watching it too! 

So it was hot tea, lots of movies in bed, a helpful and giving husband, and two boys who prayed countless times that I would get out of bed. I think they were in complete and total shock that this was happening. I don't think in their lifetime I've ever been in bed a whole day. 

Today is looking up! I'm up, dressed, and even fixed my hair. 


Kevin took this picture of the boys on Friday night. We go to the library every Thursday and we've been reading Valentine's books for some time. They were so excited to read these for the final day, and put them in their library bag to take back. Now, onto some birthday and St. Patricks day books. (Karson turns 5 in 3 weeks) EEEEK!

I have to brag on my husband, he is so giving and helpful. He even organized my pantry while I was sick. I was so thankful because it was a mess. I am so bad about throwing things in. I've always been a stasher. Even in my days at home with my parents. I would just stash my clothes every which way. He was proud of his work, and texted me a picture so I didn't have to get up. HA! What is this world coming to?


Hope your weekend was good. I am praying for a good week! I am so thankful for this week's forecast. I could really use some sunshine and warm days. I'm sure my boys would agree.



Thursday, February 13, 2014

Valentines around our House

Valentine's Day is such a fun holiday, especially when you have a loved one. I know it can be hard for single people, and I always think of those that are alone. When you have kids Valentine's Day becomes even more fun. To see how excited they get over a little Valentine's card, or a box of those hearts with sayings on them. I thought I would show you a few things around our house that we like for Valentine's Day.

I love fresh flowers on our kitchen table. It always makes the house so bright and cheery. Every Sunday the boys and I go grocery shopping at Kroger after church.(our favorite store) We normally always buy flowers every 2 weeks. I get so excited to look at them, and see what I can find for under $5.00 to make the kitchen happy. I think the boys get pretty excited too and I've been teaching them to compliment people and their houses. So they always say "Mommy, your flowers are beautiful" when we get home and I put them in a vase.


Recently we visited a friend, and she had flowers on her table and they told her too. So I felt like my cheesy antics were working. I didn't have to prompt them, and I think it made her feel good :)

I have had this same Valentine's wreath my mom made for about 8 years now. I love it, and the little hearts were sewed and stuffed. It's always so pretty on the big white front door. 


Once again, we've gotten a lot of snow. Today we got 5 inches. It does look pretty with the pink and red Valentine's decorations. 


After thinking about what to put in Karson's Valentines bags for preschool, I decided to buy this heart shaped pan from Kroger and do the peeled crayon activity. I'm sure you've seen it on Pinterest about 100 times so I'll give you the fast version. 

Basically you peel crayons, break them into small pieces, fill each of these hearts up to the top, bake them for 10 minutes and then cool them for about 30 minutes. You pop them out and you have heart shaped crayons in all different colors. Super cool and a great activity for kids. My boys actually loved peeling, and I thought it was pretty therapeutic. 



I asked Kevin to ask his crew and other pilots on his shift, what they wanted for their Valentine's treat. They ALL requested my homemade cinnamon rolls. (Pioneer Woman, I can't take the credit on the recipe. She's the best, and I'm in love with all of her recipes.) They are wonderful, and take a while to make because you make your own dough. Kevin took these 6 pans to work yesterday, and they were all gone by 8:00am. 



Besides cinnamon rolls, we also made Valentine's cookies. I never buy boxed cookies anymore. It's so much better to make them from scratch, and cheaper too. We are delivering some to our neighbor today that always blows the snow off of our hill for us. 


This picture was taken after I made the first batch, and my boys dug into them. Sweets go so fast here!

I didn't get the boys anything particular for Valentine's day. I am pretty strict on myself about buying them things unless they have reached their 8 stars on their star chart. I am cooking a big dinner tonight, and a special chocolate dessert that Kevin will LOVE.

Have a special day!


Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Some things....

Are you surviving winter? We are trying to get by with the grace of God. Lots of snow and just cold weather. 

Kipton absolutely drives the dogs nuts :) He pets and loves and pulls on them most days. They are generous to his efforts, but occasionally get annoyed. 


This day it was 13 and they begged to go out. I let them play out back while I finished cooking dinner and could watch them out the door. They stayed out for nearly 1 hour just walking around.


The boys had a fun time at their friend Jonas birthday party. I didn't get pictures there, because it was at the jump place and those places are busy!


Kipton and I go with our friends Ashley and Jayden to story time every Tuesday morning at Chick fil a. This is a good thing for the little brothers to do something while the big brothers are at preschool. 


Karson and Jayden

We've been busy and waiting for spring.




It won't be long before we are planting the garden, mowing the grass, raising up baby chicks, and building a barn. 

Have a good week!

Friday, February 7, 2014

Teaching your child to read: (Part II)

I began a series on "Teaching your child to Read". I am not a Reading Specialist, but a mom with an Elementary teaching degree who stays home. 

We have a 4 year old son, who is ready and wanting to read. So I wanted to share some tips to other mom bloggers, who feel their child is ready to begin with the next steps towards reading. My first post of this series is HERE. Please read it first, if you are new. 

As I mentioned in post one. I really use this Alphabet Book a lot with my boys. I made it in my student teaching in college, and it's been a great tool. (laminating cards make it WAY better)


After learning all of the letters with lots and lots of practice, we moved onto letter sounds. I am currently on the stages of teaching this step to Kipton (3), but Karson (4) already knows them.

I flip through my ABC book and I'll have them say the letter and I say the sound it makes. 

The letter K says kkkkkkk. (It's hard to show you how each letter sounds, but you can YouTube it if your stuck on one). The boys and I say that C is very tricky. It says the "S" sound for circle, then it says the "k" sound when you say cat. So I start with the letters that are easy and only have one sound, like M. M says mmmmm. One of the biggest things to remember when teaching letter sounds is not to add an A on the end of a sound. It's very easy to do. When you say K says k-k-k-k, don't sound it out like ka-ka-ka. Make sure you "nip it in the bud" as my college professors used to say. Make sure to cut off the sound and not add that A to the end. 

It will later be harder to get your child to stop that when reading. 



I try to keep working on letter sounds every chance I get. In the car, in the bath, the grocery store. "Hey Karson, I see pretzels, what does the letter sound P make?" 

I also make games while we drive in the car like "give me a word that starts with m-m-m-m" but I don't tell them I want a M word. I have them make that connection. Then hopefully they will say words like mom, moon, Monday, etc. 

This takes practice. It's not something they will get in 1 week, 2 weeks, or even months. It takes lots and lots of practice, but thankfully you don't have to be sitting in a chair to do this type of work. Do it ANY and EVERY where. Boys especially don't like to sit. This is one of the best things you can do to get ready for reading. 

This video below, is basically my whole post summed up but I LOVE it. I know all of you as adults, can read. However, if you haven't really thought about letter sounds, maybe you need to brush up? I sure had to in college. 



Stay tuned for post III where we will get into sight words, and chunking. 

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Our NEW Discipline System

You may have found my LAST discipline system on Pinterest because it's been pinned over 1,200 times. I was really in shock that it has so many pins! 

My hope is that it's training children in the way they should go, and helping moms keep their sanity :)

 
It's time to update you on our current discipline system, and I think your going to like this one even better than before. 

A star dry-erase chart. 


All you will need is a small dry erase board and pen. This one is from Target and was around $3.00. 

I began by writing each of my boys names on the board giving a line in between to give space. (Also, please do me a favor and try to always write kids names and words they are trying to read in your very best "elementary" school hand writing. This will help with letter and word recognition) *pet peeve*

I give my boys stars for doing good things. 

Here are some examples on how our 4 year old earns stars. 

 - Getting a good report from school that day
  
- Sharing with their sibling/friend

- Finishing all of his/her chores

-Saying please/thank you/mam/sir without being prompted

-Picking up shoes/coat without being told

-Saying nice things to adults and friends

(You can monitor those as you wish, and based on age)

So when a child gets to 8 stars they get a special prize.
(you can change the number, I just thought this was a good number for our boys) 


However, the best part is: you can take away stars as a form of discipline. No time outs, no spanking, no yelling, just erasing a star. That is why I keep my star chart on the fridge. It's visible for every one to see and they also see you erasing it, and I promise they WONT like it! 

You can form your own decisions about what deserves an erase. 

So when my boys get to 8 stars it's prize day. Prizes DO NOT have to knock out your bank account. We have a Dollar General close to our house, and the boys LOVE going there to pick a prize. My limit is $2.00 and this is a good math lesson as well as reward. 

Other ideas for a prize:

*Ice cream run (favorite ice cream place)
*Dollar Store
*Stock up on $1.00 Target finds and keep them high in a closet. When they get to 8 they can pick from the treasure chest.
*Stay up later than other siblings for a movie in bed with mom/dad.
*Request your favorite meal to be for dinner.
*Pick your favorite friend/family member to visit.
*Go to a special place (bowling,museum)

These rewards don't have to cost money. You can set the limits. That is why I like this system so much. You can change it up. Slow it down if you see your child is always getting 8 stars and you can't reward that fast, then change up your reward stars. Don't give them out for the smallest efforts, but rather for the things you've been working on and they finally are obeying! 

I hope this works for your child/children. It really is a great and wonderful thing in our home. Positive and negative reinforcement all in one place.

 
 
My last post on our "first" go around with a discipline system is HERE.
 
 
 

Please leave me some feedback. Let me know what you like, and don't like about the system. My last discipline system got WAY more positive than negative, but I was surprised how many negative e-mails I got from it. However, I do know when you start talking about discipline moms tend to get feisty. Keep your comments respectful :) 

Happy Training!

Sunday, February 2, 2014

This hasn't happened since 1978

This past week something so crazy happened in our area. The Ohio River froze over. This hasn't happened since 1978. (Kevin's facts, not mine) Kevin said it was so hard to work in, and made working on night shift even colder and harder. I felt so sorry for his deckhands, and made special treats each night to make things a little easier on them. We drove the boys downtown to the boat launch to let them see daddy's office. Karson wanted to know every single detail about why and how this happened. More than anything, Kevin was so worried the ice would bust a hole in his boat and it could sink easy and fast while working. We prayed so hard for him each night he was out.


Last week, Karson didn't have preschool at all. We baked. A LOT! This particular day, we were baking the men chocolate chip cookies to send. You can tell my boys get to lick. Look at that face on Kipton. 
R-O-T-T-E-N & ORNERY!


To cure some of the winter boredom we went to a game center and ate pizza and played games. All of my boys had fun. Even daddy!




We scored some great deals on pajamas! Kipton and I went to the mall one day that Karson and daddy were working on something at home, and got pajamas for $2.99 a pair. SCORE!!!!!


Saturday we had the best, most glorious day in all of days. It was 65 degrees! YES, it was amazing. The boys and I did our weekly grocery store run to Kroger early in the morning so we could get back, unpack, and get outside. We were outside from 11:45am - 5:15pm. They both cried because I made them come in for dinner. Such outside boys they are..I LOVE it!


We took hikes, cut trees, built a fire, cleaned the chicken house, jumped on the trampoline, ok ok you don't really care, but anyway we had fun!!


Kevin is a chicken lover after all. He loves them, and all the work they acquire. He likes to eat the eggs so hey ya gotta work for that. (A good story coming about our chicken house catching fire soon.Well, not good but a happy ending for all.)


After that glorious 65 degree day, we are getting 3-5 inches tonight. Not sure how I feel about that. That means, no preschool for next week and lots of days stuck at home. But, we'll manage. God is with us moms!!