If this doesn't make you think, NOTHING WILL!!!
Warning! Pictures of the Holocaust
http://youtu.be/7y2KsU_dhwI
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
No Greater Love
John 15:12“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. 16You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. 17These things I command you, so that you will love one another.
These verses are pretty powerful. We know that Scripture tells us that LOVE is the GREATEST thing we can do.
Do. It's a verb, an ACTION. It's easy to say we love others, but it's a whole other thing to actually show that love. Jesus said the greatest love is to lay down our lives for one another. He did it in the greatest capacity by giving His own sacred life for us to save us from our sins so that we may live in freedom & share THIS love with others so they can know the same love.
Jesus isn't suggesting we love others, He's COMMANDING us to! If we call ourselves Christians we HAVE to love others because it's in our divine bloodline we inheritted as adopted children of the Most High God. So it should be easy to do right?
In today's world it's so easy to be consumed with ourselves, our families, our jobs, our friends. OUR. OUR. OUR. MY. MY. MY. ME. ME. ME. I. I. I.
I don't know about you, but I am so grateful Jesus wasn't selfish.
So how can we show LOVE to others? How do we "LAY DOWN OUR LIVES" for others?
Maybe it's by forgiving someone who never apologized. Calling a friend you haven't spoken to for some time & not just commenting on their Facebook page.
Maybe it's by giving the homeless guy on the corner $5 or a cheap meal from McDonald's. Volunteering to help with the childcare at your church. Cooking a meal for someone for no reason at all.
Maybe laying down our lives is by offering to keep some one's kids so they can have sometime to their self or a date with their husband. Visiting a home-bound member of your church. Sending a care package to someone in the military whether you know them or not.
Maybe it's giving above your tithe even though you don't have the funds, but you're going to trust God anyway. It could be to spend extra time playing with your kids & playing what they want you to play.
Maybe it's giving away the stuff you don't use anymore to someone who does instead of selling it, even though you may need the money. Laying down your life could be sending a nice card to someone in the mail just to say you love them, you're thinking about them, you're praying for them.
Maybe it's just giving a simple smile to a complete stranger. Or being extra kind to the cashier or waiter who is doing a horrible job & being rude, then tipping them well anyway.
Laying down your life could be sending $50 to a ministry that specializing in stopping sex-trafficking, or to your local CPC, sending it to K-Love, to a friend you know who needs it, or just sticking it on a shelf in a grocery store & praying God sends the right person to find it & then trusting that He will.
Maybe laying down your life is making love to your husband when you're just not in the mood, he hasn't been romantic, & you honestly have a headache, but you know that it'll mean a lot to him.
It could be inviting someone who's not in you circle of friends to a get together, or on a playdate with other moms. Maybe it's cutting a neighbor's grass, bringing them cookies, inviting them to church, or just stopping by to say hey even when you honestly don't have the time. You make the time.
Let's face it, there are so many ways we can lay down our lives for someone else, to genuinely show them that we love them, to bear the fruit of the Spirit, to sow the seed of Christ that He has planted into us.
My prayer is that all of us who call ourselves Christians start acting more like Christ & less like ourselves. I know without a doubt I have not loved like I should, like I'm commanded, but now I can move forward & starting doing this kind of love, instead of just having the intention to.
May you all have a blessed week & please share a comment of how someone has laid down their life you recently or how you have done it for someone else. Let's encourage one another in that LOVE!
These verses are pretty powerful. We know that Scripture tells us that LOVE is the GREATEST thing we can do.
Do. It's a verb, an ACTION. It's easy to say we love others, but it's a whole other thing to actually show that love. Jesus said the greatest love is to lay down our lives for one another. He did it in the greatest capacity by giving His own sacred life for us to save us from our sins so that we may live in freedom & share THIS love with others so they can know the same love.
Jesus isn't suggesting we love others, He's COMMANDING us to! If we call ourselves Christians we HAVE to love others because it's in our divine bloodline we inheritted as adopted children of the Most High God. So it should be easy to do right?
In today's world it's so easy to be consumed with ourselves, our families, our jobs, our friends. OUR. OUR. OUR. MY. MY. MY. ME. ME. ME. I. I. I.
I don't know about you, but I am so grateful Jesus wasn't selfish.
So how can we show LOVE to others? How do we "LAY DOWN OUR LIVES" for others?
Maybe it's by forgiving someone who never apologized. Calling a friend you haven't spoken to for some time & not just commenting on their Facebook page.
Maybe it's by giving the homeless guy on the corner $5 or a cheap meal from McDonald's. Volunteering to help with the childcare at your church. Cooking a meal for someone for no reason at all.
Maybe laying down our lives is by offering to keep some one's kids so they can have sometime to their self or a date with their husband. Visiting a home-bound member of your church. Sending a care package to someone in the military whether you know them or not.
Maybe it's giving above your tithe even though you don't have the funds, but you're going to trust God anyway. It could be to spend extra time playing with your kids & playing what they want you to play.
Maybe it's giving away the stuff you don't use anymore to someone who does instead of selling it, even though you may need the money. Laying down your life could be sending a nice card to someone in the mail just to say you love them, you're thinking about them, you're praying for them.
Maybe it's just giving a simple smile to a complete stranger. Or being extra kind to the cashier or waiter who is doing a horrible job & being rude, then tipping them well anyway.
Laying down your life could be sending $50 to a ministry that specializing in stopping sex-trafficking, or to your local CPC, sending it to K-Love, to a friend you know who needs it, or just sticking it on a shelf in a grocery store & praying God sends the right person to find it & then trusting that He will.
Maybe laying down your life is making love to your husband when you're just not in the mood, he hasn't been romantic, & you honestly have a headache, but you know that it'll mean a lot to him.
It could be inviting someone who's not in you circle of friends to a get together, or on a playdate with other moms. Maybe it's cutting a neighbor's grass, bringing them cookies, inviting them to church, or just stopping by to say hey even when you honestly don't have the time. You make the time.
Let's face it, there are so many ways we can lay down our lives for someone else, to genuinely show them that we love them, to bear the fruit of the Spirit, to sow the seed of Christ that He has planted into us.
My prayer is that all of us who call ourselves Christians start acting more like Christ & less like ourselves. I know without a doubt I have not loved like I should, like I'm commanded, but now I can move forward & starting doing this kind of love, instead of just having the intention to.
May you all have a blessed week & please share a comment of how someone has laid down their life you recently or how you have done it for someone else. Let's encourage one another in that LOVE!
Friday, May 6, 2011
NEW BLOG
Well to make a long story short, we are FINALLY back in our house!!! :) YEA!!!!
So now that I'm back I am trying to get back into the groove of our life!
This blog will be dedicated to my personal journeys with God & I now have a NEW blog completely dedicated to our homeschooling! Whoo hoo!!! So PLEASE go follow me at Schoolin' The Boys!
Thanks!!!
Ashley
So now that I'm back I am trying to get back into the groove of our life!
This blog will be dedicated to my personal journeys with God & I now have a NEW blog completely dedicated to our homeschooling! Whoo hoo!!! So PLEASE go follow me at Schoolin' The Boys!
Thanks!!!
Ashley
Monday, February 14, 2011
Letters H & V & Valentines!!!!
Last week began discussing Valentine's & how it's a holiday for us to remind others of how much we love them & more importantly that God loves them. We started the week off with the letter H for Heart. The boys used these little Hearts for EVERYTHING all week long! They made patterns with them & sorted them by color & size.
Brady used them to count while he did his addition.
They glued the Hearts to a letter H.
Decorated their Valentine bags with them.
And Brady used them to decorate the Valentines he made for all his friends.
As we talked about love we focused on the Verses Matthew 22:37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’" We discussed many ways we could show love to others & how we can show God how we can show God how much we love Him. I really enjoyed talking about God's love! In fact I NEVER get tired of about of the love of my Savior & Bridegroom...but that's a whole other blog not in homeschooling :)
Our H foods were of course Hot dogs & Ham & cheese sandwiches.For the letter V we didn't have any foods except what I called our special Valentine meal of Heart shaped pancakes. We have some Venison, but I never got around to thawing it out to cook :)
For our V craft the boys made Vases.
I drew different kinds of flowers& let the boys color them. We cut them out & pasted them with stems to fill the Vases. I thought they turned out SUPER cute!
Today we concluded our Valentine lesson with a Valentine party with some of our favorite home school friends!
We went to Kidz Rock which has many inflatables for the kids to go crazy on.
And arcade games & outside playgrounds.
The kiddos played, us mommies got to chat, we talked about love & the lil ones exchanged Valentines.
We ate some yummy food & had a fabulous time! I am SO incredibly thankful that God has brought some sweet homeschooling mommies to me! It's nice to have some friends who understand what I am going through in this area of my life.
This week we are reviewing our letters up to this point so no big crafts. Hopefully this break will finally let me upload a blog on Tot School...Rylan's special stuff :)
Brady used them to count while he did his addition.
They glued the Hearts to a letter H.
Decorated their Valentine bags with them.
And Brady used them to decorate the Valentines he made for all his friends.
As we talked about love we focused on the Verses Matthew 22:37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’" We discussed many ways we could show love to others & how we can show God how we can show God how much we love Him. I really enjoyed talking about God's love! In fact I NEVER get tired of about of the love of my Savior & Bridegroom...but that's a whole other blog not in homeschooling :)
Our H foods were of course Hot dogs & Ham & cheese sandwiches.For the letter V we didn't have any foods except what I called our special Valentine meal of Heart shaped pancakes. We have some Venison, but I never got around to thawing it out to cook :)
For our V craft the boys made Vases.
I drew different kinds of flowers& let the boys color them. We cut them out & pasted them with stems to fill the Vases. I thought they turned out SUPER cute!
Today we concluded our Valentine lesson with a Valentine party with some of our favorite home school friends!
We went to Kidz Rock which has many inflatables for the kids to go crazy on.
And arcade games & outside playgrounds.
The kiddos played, us mommies got to chat, we talked about love & the lil ones exchanged Valentines.
We ate some yummy food & had a fabulous time! I am SO incredibly thankful that God has brought some sweet homeschooling mommies to me! It's nice to have some friends who understand what I am going through in this area of my life.
This week we are reviewing our letters up to this point so no big crafts. Hopefully this break will finally let me upload a blog on Tot School...Rylan's special stuff :)
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Super Mom vs Abiding Mom
This is from the blog Confessions of a Homeschooler but ALL mommas should read this chart & see where we fit in on things! Pretty awesome!!!!
Today’s Challenge:
As a minister to your family, what is God’s plan for you as a homeschooler and parent? Take some time today to remind yourself who you are in Christ. (I realize this is geared towards mom’s, but really can be applied to any parent.)
| Super Mom | Abiding Mom |
| Does | Is (Psalm 46:10) |
| Tries to impress others | Pleases the Lord (Eph. 5:10, Proverbs 29:25) |
| Is controlled by an agenda (curriculum, schedule, etc) | Is controlled by the Holy Spirit: (Gal. 5:22-26) (Uses curriculum & schedules as tools for orderliness so she's more free to follow the spirit) |
| Her self worth is found in her accomplishments (clean house, perfect kids, the perfect bulletin boards, etc.) | Her self worth is found in an accurate view of who she is in Christ Jesus (Eph 2:10) |
| Her peace is found in the “perfect” environment | Her peace is found in Jesus in the midst of any storm (Is 26:3) |
| She is discouraged by failure | Failure reminds her that God's strength is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor. 12:9-10) |
| She expects perfection from herself and others | She practices grace with herself and others (Eph 4:32) |
| She teaches her kids to be good | She teaches her kids to be Godly (Proverbs 22:6) |
| She is frustrated with her lack of spiritual fruit | She abides in Christ and bears much fruit (John 15:5) |
| She does things with her children | She builds a relationship with her children (Deut 6:6-7) |
| Her perspective is based on what is seen | Her perspective is based on what is unseen (Col 3:2) |
| She chooses quantity of activities | She chooses the most excellent Way (I Cor 13) |
| Her kids may recall how busy she always is. | Her children rise and call her blessed. (Prov. 31:28) |
Monday, February 7, 2011
Letters C & M (my favortie week so far!!!)
First of all let me say a BIG thanks to ALL the AAHHH-MAZING mommy bloggers out there who dedicate so much time into sharing their ideas for the rest of us!!! Because of these ladies I'm able to do so many fun learning activities with my boys & they inspire me to create some things on my own!
We began last week reviewing the letter C. I took this time to introduce Brady to the CH sound as well because we are about to cover that in our reading lessons. We also talked about how the letter C can also make a "S" sound like in the words City, Celery, & Cereal. Brady thinks the letter C is a tricky Cat! (dont ask)
Last year I read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" to the boys & ever since then it has been a BIG hit in our household! Both big boys can quote it word for word! So they were pretty ecstatic when we read it during "school" time & made Caterpillar C's!
Rylan was incredibly impressed by the little fuzzy Craft balls we used. So I came up with a "Tot School" activity that I'll post tomorrow! :)
We also made Chocolate Chip Cookies in the shape of the letter C. This was quite messy, but of course that made the boys love it even more! Rylan sang the Cookie Monster song, "C is for Cookie, it's good enough for me" the whole time :) I wish I would've gotten it on Camera, but my hands were covered in gooey dough!
While our Cookies were baking we read the book, "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie." I HIGHLY recommend all the "If You Give A..." books!!! We also took time to talk about their Cousins & named all of the ones whose names started with a C: Caleb, Connor, Cameron, Christian, & Cody; Brady was a little upset that his Cousin Kaelin's name started with a K & not a C.
We also discussed how Jesus is the Christ & though I know the deep meaning of Christ is above his lil head, I still enjoy planting the seed in him & sowing it, because one day he will understand & that is the ultimate goal!
Our other C activities included lots Counting with our addition, playing with Cards, eating lots of C foods: Cookies, Carrots, Chips, Celery, Chicken, Corn...bet you can guess which food was Brady's favorite!
The boys even had a lunch of Chicken, Chips, & Corn while they watched Cars. I was informed this day that I was "The Best Mom EVER!!!" :D
Brady couldn't have been more thrilled to begin the letter M when he saw we would be doing our Math lesson with M & M's!!! He sorted them by colors & counted them, did his addition with them, made patterns & shapes with them & we even brought the M &M's into our language lesson & traced our M's with M & M's.
I used to have a M & M Math book from when I taught 4th grade, but have seen it since then :( I will have to purchase it again because my students LOVED it!
We spent that afternoon reading "If You Take A Mouse To The Movies" & which led us to watching the Movie "A Mickey Mouse Christmas" while we ate some popcorn & M &M's with Chocolate Milk. (Notice the Mixing of C's & M's??? ;P) We also purposely Made a Mess so we could Clean it up. For dinner we had a special M Meal of Mini Meatloaf Muffins & Mashed potatoes. We also played ALL of their Musical instruments & made up silly songs together.
We focused our Bible story to Moses & the 10 Commandments & made our Mt. Sinai out of the letter M, added some clouds & of course Moses too!
We reviewed the Commandments & gave examples of each (with the exception of adultery) & I explained to my best ability what Mercy was & that even though we often make Mistakes, God shows us Mercy & He forgives us; which is why we should show Mercy to others.
We began last week reviewing the letter C. I took this time to introduce Brady to the CH sound as well because we are about to cover that in our reading lessons. We also talked about how the letter C can also make a "S" sound like in the words City, Celery, & Cereal. Brady thinks the letter C is a tricky Cat! (dont ask)
Last year I read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" to the boys & ever since then it has been a BIG hit in our household! Both big boys can quote it word for word! So they were pretty ecstatic when we read it during "school" time & made Caterpillar C's!
Rylan was incredibly impressed by the little fuzzy Craft balls we used. So I came up with a "Tot School" activity that I'll post tomorrow! :)
We also made Chocolate Chip Cookies in the shape of the letter C. This was quite messy, but of course that made the boys love it even more! Rylan sang the Cookie Monster song, "C is for Cookie, it's good enough for me" the whole time :) I wish I would've gotten it on Camera, but my hands were covered in gooey dough!
While our Cookies were baking we read the book, "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie." I HIGHLY recommend all the "If You Give A..." books!!! We also took time to talk about their Cousins & named all of the ones whose names started with a C: Caleb, Connor, Cameron, Christian, & Cody; Brady was a little upset that his Cousin Kaelin's name started with a K & not a C.
We also discussed how Jesus is the Christ & though I know the deep meaning of Christ is above his lil head, I still enjoy planting the seed in him & sowing it, because one day he will understand & that is the ultimate goal!
Our other C activities included lots Counting with our addition, playing with Cards, eating lots of C foods: Cookies, Carrots, Chips, Celery, Chicken, Corn...bet you can guess which food was Brady's favorite!
The boys even had a lunch of Chicken, Chips, & Corn while they watched Cars. I was informed this day that I was "The Best Mom EVER!!!" :D
Brady couldn't have been more thrilled to begin the letter M when he saw we would be doing our Math lesson with M & M's!!! He sorted them by colors & counted them, did his addition with them, made patterns & shapes with them & we even brought the M &M's into our language lesson & traced our M's with M & M's.
I used to have a M & M Math book from when I taught 4th grade, but have seen it since then :( I will have to purchase it again because my students LOVED it!
We spent that afternoon reading "If You Take A Mouse To The Movies" & which led us to watching the Movie "A Mickey Mouse Christmas" while we ate some popcorn & M &M's with Chocolate Milk. (Notice the Mixing of C's & M's??? ;P) We also purposely Made a Mess so we could Clean it up. For dinner we had a special M Meal of Mini Meatloaf Muffins & Mashed potatoes. We also played ALL of their Musical instruments & made up silly songs together.
We focused our Bible story to Moses & the 10 Commandments & made our Mt. Sinai out of the letter M, added some clouds & of course Moses too!
We reviewed the Commandments & gave examples of each (with the exception of adultery) & I explained to my best ability what Mercy was & that even though we often make Mistakes, God shows us Mercy & He forgives us; which is why we should show Mercy to others.
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