Out of wind

I know this may sound funny on my part, but I am just posting to say, "I think I am out of wind for now!!"
I have had so much on my mind lately, lots of wonderful thoughts and such I would love to share, but at the moment do not know how to write it all down.
I feel like i need time to refocus and recompose!
Maybe a little break is all i need.
In the mean time i can write my wonderful thoughts as they come to mind on note paper so i don't forget them.

I have had a cold this past week that has lasted so long, and really had me feeling miserable for a few days. So i know i can of took a break already then. I feel better now, but i still have a cough, that just won't let go.

Our weather has been wonderful here lately with cool mornings and pleasant after noons. Although it has been going up and down quite a bit in temp wise. I feel that's what can give us the colds.
We have planted potatoes, beets, and carrots now.

Anyway other wise all is going great in Mae's house.
I am going to take a little break, and gather my thoughts and be back with some supper duper posts!!
So keep on the watch!
And hope all is going great at your house!
In Him,
Mae

peanut-butter cookies and coffee

I just love how peanut-butter cookies and coffee go together!
Yesterday afternoon I was thinking, " a cup of coffee would sure seem nice about now."
So i went to make a pot of coffee.
And after i had that going I started thinking, "boy it sure would be nice if i had some peanut-butter cookies to go with it."
So then i quickly made a batch of peanut-butter cookies.
And then I got to set down with my cup of hot coffee and warm cookies straight from the oven!
Of course i wasn't just sitting there, i was correcting Nathan's school too.
But still it was wonderful!!

Of course peanut-butter cookies is not the only thing that goes great with coffee.
I have never liked just a cup of coffee. I have to have something to go with it.
It's funny, if i get a dessert i am like," now i need coffee to go with this."
Or if i have coffee, i soon start thinking, "what dessert or cookie or something sweet that i can have with this."
Am i the only one like that?

Anyway since I bragged up my peanut-butter cookies i thought i better share my recipe here.
It is nice and soft chewy cookies.

Peanut-butter Favorites
3/4 c. peanut butter
1/2 c. butter
1 egg
1/2 sugar
1/2 brown sugar
1 1/4 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking power
1/2 tsp salt
Heat oven to 350F. Cream together the first 5 ingredients. In another bowl mix together the remaining ingredients.
Then pour the flour mix into peanut butter mixture and work into soft dough.
Roll into balls and place on greased cookie sheet, press down with floured fork.
Bake about 12 -15 min, till nice and golden. I don't like mine over done, because i do not like them crispy.
Enjoy them warm or cold with a hot cup of coffee or a nice glass of cold milk!!

Have a great day!!!
In Him,
Mae

a few intresting facts of tithing & more

I found these things to be interesting from the book I am reading The Hole in The Gospel written by Richard Stearns.
So i am posting here.

It is important to put the American Church in perspective. Simply put, it is the wealthiest community of Christians in history of Christendom, How wealthy? The total income of American church goers is $ 5.2 trillion. It would take just over 1 percent of the income of American Christians to lift the poorest one billion people in the world out of extreme poverty. Said another way, American Christians, who make up about 5 percent of the church worldwide , control about half of global Christian wealth: a lack of money is not our problem.

So as wealthiest nation of Christians in the world, how do we do on tithing our income? Here is the bad news. If we define tithing as giving 10 percent or more of our pretax income to the church or to nonprofit ministries, only about 5 percent of American households tithe.
If we look at "born again" Christians in America ( those who claim to have made a personal commitment to Christ), the number of tithers improves to 9 percent.
For "evangelical Christians," those who claim their faith has the greatest influence on their life and conduct , still only 24 percent tithe. Given our relative wealth, might the remaining 76 percent not be "robbing God" as defined- and condemned - in the book of Malachi? Listen to the words James used to address wealthy first century Christians who hoarded their money to spend on them selves.
Listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted , and months have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days... You have lived on earth in luxury and self- indulgence. You have fatted your selves in the day of slaughter. James 5: 1-5

So if we are not tithing, how much are we giving? The average giving of America church members in 2005 was just 2.28 percent of their income, about 75 percent lass than the biblical standard of 10 percent. But this is just the first part of the equation . If we look at where the money goes after it is received by the churches, we find that just about 2 percent of it goes to over-seas missions of any kind, weather evangelistic or to assist the poor.

The Bottom line is that the commitment that American Christians, the wealthiest Christians in all history, are making to the world is just 2 percent of 2 percent _ actually about five ten-thousandths of our income. In simpler terms, that amounts to about 6 pennies per person per day that we give through our churches to the rest of the world - six pennies!

Here is what would happen if we all paid our tithe -- that is , 10 percent of our incomes instead of the 2.5 percent we actually give: we would have an extra $168 billion to spend in funding the work of the Church worldwide!!
If every churchgoer tithed, we could literly change the world.

Now i know that big numbers are hard to put into perspective, so let me help.

• $168 billion the extra money available if all American churchgoers tithed.
• $705 billion amount Americans spend on entertainment and recreation.
• $179 billion amount spent by teenagers ages 12-17
• $65 billion amount we spend on jewelry
• $58 billion amount spent on state lottery tickets
• $39.5 billion total U.S - government foreign assistance budget for the world
• $31 billion amount spent on pets
• $13 billion amount spent by Americans on cosmetic surgery
• $5 billion total Overseas ministries income to 700 Protestant mission agencies, including denominational, interdenominational, and independent agencies.

I found this all to be very interesting, but a little sad though.

Anyway we do not need to let what others do or don't do bother us. We only answer for our selves. And we know what we do with our money rather it is used wisely or not, and if we give to the Lord or not.

I also wanted to mention that tithing is not the only way we give to others and to the poor by no means. I believe there is many, many of us that give to our local missions, worthy charity's, and organizations liked World Vision and so on. So i would say that some of his info was wrong. But i guess he was just going by the facts of tithing to the churches.

I don't believe most churches use the tithe money wisely anyway. So i would say it is no surprise at all that so many people to not tithe to their church. I am sure they feel there is lots more worthy places for their money to go.

And if you home church like us then you would not tithe at a church anyway. We set our 10 percent aside here at the house. And use that to sponsor a child through World Vision, give to the local missions, and other worthy causes that come to our attention. I am so happy we have that to be able to help as we do. Of course we need to feel that all of what we have is God's, and be willing to freely give of that as well if needs arise.

Well i guess that's it till next time. As always i enjoy hearing your comments.

In Him,

Mae

Where do dreams come from?

If any one can answer this question for me I would so grateful for it.
It often annoys me when I have a bad ,or just plum crazy dream at night.
And I am like where and how could I possible think about just things at night while I sleep?
How does these things get in to our heads?

But what really upsets me is when my kids have bad and scary dreams that wake them up at night crying or scared.
Then i have to clam them down and pray with them.
For me when i have a bad dream i can wake my self up or just start praying in the dream, but my kids do not know how to do that.


Just recently my 5 year old had been bothered with bad dreams, so when i put him to bed i would pray that he would not have bad dreams. So far he has not been bothered since.
So i am glad that we do seem to have power over them that way, but i am still wondering how we get them in the first place.



It seems to me satan must have some what control of our minds at night, and mess with our thoughts. But of course not any more control than what God gives him, and nothing at all that harms us.



Of course often times with children they can be effected by bad dreams because of things they watch on t.v or movies. That is sad when that happens.
In that way it is something that we bring upon our selves though. If we watch bad, and violent things, we pay the consequences for it.


That is one reason why I am so dead set against anything bad, scary, and violent; rather in movies or computer games.


Anyway just my thoughts and ramblings on dreams.

If you have any thoughts you would like to share on dreams, then please do!
And if you can answer my question about where dreams come from, then that's even better!

I love hearing from my readers!!

In Him,
Mae

more about the book

I have been continuing to devour up every page and every word of that book The Hole in The Gospel.
I am at about the half way mark now.
"WOW! WOW!" Is all i can say.
I feel the author (Richard Stearns) has done such a good job at presenting us the most needy, suffering, and destitute of our world, and then presenting us the role that God's people are to play.
In the back of the book is listed many ways that one can help these most needy, and suffering. How any common person, me and you, can help. Even in a small way.

I feel for my self i have been fairly in the dark about a lot of what he has talked about in his book. Since we do not have a T.V. , we do not hear or see a lot of things going on. It has been a great awaking to me. Don't get me wrong I do believe i hear a lot, but just did not realize how grim some places and some lives really are. I mean like all the time, not just when an earth quake or such happens.

Some places he talked about in Uganda have so little water that the moms and children have to carry it from a few miles away. They spend several hours a day doing this every single day! Can you imagine doing that?
There would be no time for schooling, hardly time for cooking and other basic necessities that should be done every day.
And most of the time, the water that is hauled is not even fit to drink. But they have to drink it, because that is all they have. Then they are plagued with worms, and deadly diseases. Most children do not make it to their 5th birthday.
Also while carrying this water, women and young girls are often attacked and raped.

Talk about heart breaking to read such stuff. But it is true and it is happening daily.
And we need to know this.
Boy do we need to be ever so thankful of our abundance of water.
And do we ever need to be praying, "Lord here I am", "How can I help?"
"Use me Lord to help those needy and hurting."

I challenge you today to find this book at a book store or on-line, and read it.
I am sure you will not be same.

Well i will share more thoughts as I read.
In Him,
Mae

The Hole in Our Gospel

Have you heard of this book? The Hole In Our Gospel
I just received this book in the mail free as a gift for helping World Vision.
It is written by Richard Stearn's (World Vision President).
Boy is it ever a good read.
I am only part way through, but just love it. I have a hard time putting it down.
It is a major eye opener to our world's hurting, needy, poor, and hungry.
My opinion is that every one needs to read this book.
Here is what is written on the back of the book.

What does God expect of us?
Is our faith just about going to church, studying the Bible and avoiding the most serious sins - or does God expect more? Have we embraced the whole gospel or a gospel with a hole in it?

Ten years ago, Rich Stearns came face-to-face with that question as he sat in a mud hut in Rakai, Uganda, listening to the heart breaking story of an orphaned child. Stearn's journey there took much more than a long flight to Africa. It took answering God's call on his life, a call that tore him out of his corner office at one of America's most prestigious corporations _ to walk with the poorest of the poor in our world.

The Hole in Our Gospel, is the compelling story of a corporate CEO who set aside worldly success for something far more significant, and discovered the full power of the gospel of Jesus Christ to change his own life. He uses his journey to demorstarte how the gospel -- the whole gospel --was always meant to be a world- changing social revolution,a revolution that begins with us.

It is a very easy read i feel, though the book is big ( about 300 pages). But don't let the size put you off!
I am not sure where you can buy a book, since mine was just sent to me in the mail. But i suppose you could get one at a Bible Book Store, or maybe any book store for that matter.
Also may be at the web site www.worldvision.org

I am sure you will hear more of this book as i continue to read it.
If you have read the book I would love to hear what you thought of it, and how it has moved your heart.
In Him,
Mae

more radom pic.s of 2011 so far

Clayton in position and ready to be pulled by Daddy on the 3-wheeler!! Oh what fun in the snow!! Our snow didn't last long, we really had to take advantage of it!!

Nathan proudly showing off his snow man.

Anna posing for her photo!

I thought this made for a pretty picture. Our tire swings in the snow. This is just behind our house.

Well i hope you enjoyed the recent pictures from our neck of the woods in Texas!

In Him,

Mae