Busy but fun summer !!

It has has been a very busy summer thus far. I have descided summers here are very fast and furious!! The summers are short, and so much to be done in that short period.
Gardens to plant and tend and harvest. Wild berries to pick and freezze and so on. Community day camps , VBS,and Bible camps for the kids.
Long daylight hours, and one can find enough to do the whole day long, as I do everyday and I am up till 11 every night ( but that is mostly because my 11 month old has offically made that his bed time now). I for one am getting alittle wore out already and we still have some summer left.

This week has found me picking saskatoon berries and  rassberrries two differnt times, getting my kids down to my parents place to help pick and prepare vegtables to sell from thier market garden, a grocery shopping trip to Peace River, then a doctor trip for a our sick youngest gal, ( just a stomach virus, alll is fine now) of course house work and laundry in there too, and now this morning I need to go to my parents place again ( 12 miles from here) and pick rassberries and peas, and get some ruhbarb to prepare for the freezzer, and 3 loads of laundry need to happpen to day, plus house cleaning for our Sabbath. Yippie for my Sabbath rest!!!!

 So another cracy busy summer week here. But I love it none the less. And I know summer will soon before over and fall and then winter will be here and a wonderful break!! Our first winter here in the north, I am very exctied!!! Of course then we will be busy homeschoolin again, but still that is fairly relazed.
  Next week our Nathan and Clyaton go to a summer Bible Camp here. They are so looking forward to that. Of course will be long week here for me with out my bigest helpers!! But I am happy for them.
 Also next week Sam and Sarah will be going to VBS all week with some friends down the road. They are so excited. So it will certainly be a differnt week for me here. I have a feeling there will be a loney little sister and brother at the house all week that will need more of momma's attention and time. ( my 2 year old & 11 month old )
But maybe, just  maybe it will be a bit more relaxed next week. Alhtough I will have to take my kids place in helping in my parents market garden.

So this is why I have not been posting on here as I would like too. But God keeps putting great things are my heart and mind to share. As time allows I will share here with you.
              I am very thankful for this little spot here to share wonderful things with other moms. I am very blessed.  Well untill next time.

In him, Mae

You Are a Watch Dog ( by Nancy Campbell )

THis is post by Nancy Cmapbell from Above Rubies Ministeries.  You can visit the Above Rubies web site to learn more about Nancy and her ministiers.  http://www.aboverubies.org/ 

I  I loved this post of hers that she had on thier facbook page, and so I am sharing here for all my readers to enjoy as well!!

 

YOU ARE A WATCH DOG

A mother asks, “Can anyone tell me where in Scripture it says we are to be watch dogs or protectors of our children’s souls?” The following are a few Scriptures for you to meditate upon.

1. Hebrews 13:17 says, “Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.”

This Scripture is speaking to the elders of the church who have the responsibility to watch over the souls of their flock. However, before the church was ever instituted, God designed the family. The family is the first institution that God ordained and the church is only a reflection of the extended family. It is primarily the responsibility of parents to watch over the souls of their little flock. This is the principle task of parenting. And God holds us responsible.

2. Titus 2:5 exhorts the older women to teach the younger women to be “keepers at home.”

This phrase is translated differently according to which manuscript from which the version was translated. One Greek word is “oikourogo” meaning “to work at home.” The other is “oikouros” meaning “to guard and watch over the home.” This not only means to guard the physical home, but more importantly, the children in the home. Our greatest task as mothers is to guard our children’s lives, and that means watching over their souls. You are a WATCH DOG! And a watch dog has to be on the job! We have to be constantly watching and praying to detect any intrusion of the enemy into our home or our children’s hearts. This is a full time job.

3. 1 Thessalonians 5:23, “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

This was Paul’s prayer for the new believers at Thessalonica. This was my prayer and vision for my children as I raised them in our home. Our ultimate aim and prayer is for our children’s souls to be preserved from evil and the contamination of this world. This doesn’t mean that we separate them from the world. Jesus prayed in John 17:15 that we would not be taken out of the world, but that we would be kept from evil as we live in this dark world. We are not raising children for hibernation, but for the revelation of God’s character to the world.

The word “preserved” in this Scripture is “tereo” and means “to watch over, to keep watch, to guard from loss or injury by keeping the eye upon.”

This doesn’t happen by hoping it will happen. This only happens by much prayer. It only happens by zealously watching over their spirit, soul and body! And notice that the spirit comes first! Make this Scripture your prayer for your children, too.

4. Proverbs 31:27, “She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.”

The Hebrew word for “looks well” is “tsaphah.” It means “to observe, to lean forward, to peer into the distance, to watch with a purpose, to spy.” It is exactly the same word that is used to describe “watchman” who watch over the city (1 Samuel 18:24; Ezekiel 3:17; 33:7). God told the watchmen to listen to the words of His mouth and to declare them to the people. As watchwomen mothers, we are to always be listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit. He will show us areas in our children’s lives that we need to attend to. He will fill us with His Word so we can impart it to them.

Be a great WATCH DOG today.

Love from Nancy

some more Alberta pictuers

Our latest addition to our house hold!! This kitten was gaven to us last week. The kids are all delighted !! They named her Black-tail.

Benjamin looking on at the kitty! He is scared of it though.

Benjamin enjoying friut at breafast the other day.

Well hope you have enjoyed the pictuers. I will share more as we take some more great ones around here!

summer Alberta pictuers

The kids out in front of our house ( which needs paint really bad), having fun on the lawn. They have so much fun out there.

Here I come with pictuers!! Some recent and fun pic.s of around here. This pictuer above is took over looking the Peace River in the Sunny Valley. A very beutiful pick-nick spot.

OUr 4 boys by the crab-apple tree when it was in full bloom.

Sweet Benjamin, youngest of the boys, hanging out on his bike!! He is almost a 11 months. I can't wait till he walks, he is getting so heavy to pack around!!

Sarah, Benjamin, and Anna having fun on thier bikes( our 3 youngest).

Now that we have high-speed internet I will be posting pictuers from time to time.

It has been so beutiful pleasently warm weather here. This morning when I got up it was in the high 5os F. Now it is warmed up more, but i loved it right from the start!!

In Him,

Mae

Standing Guard at the door of your home

This is a post from Nancy from the Above Rubies face book page. I loved it so much that I just had to copy and paste and share it here!! If you are not already a friend of Above Rubies on face book, I highly encourage you to become one. I promise you will be blessed greatly!!!

STANDING GUARD

In Obadiah verse 11, it talks about foreigners entering into the gates of Jerusalem. My, how we have to watch for the “foreign” sneaking through the gates of our home, don’t we?

The “foreign” is all around us. We live in the midst of it. God doesn’t want to take us out of it, but to be shining lights in the midst of it. Jesus prayed, “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out o...f the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil” (John 13:15).

But, although it is all around us, we must be on guard that none of the “foreign” enters our home. Our home is to be a sanctuary from evil--all that is opposite to God’s standard, His Word, and His heart.

The adversary looks for any opening he can find to intrude into your sanctuary. Guard your gates. Guard your home on all four sides. Guard with prayer. By intercession and prayer, put a hedge of protection around your home (Job 1:10). Give no foothold for the enemy.

Allow no estrangement in your marriage. Don’t allow any worldly spirit to come in through the media. Be ruthless against the enemy.May we have the testimony of Nehemiah when he confessed, “I purged out everything foreign” (Nehemiah 13:30 NLT).

Love from Nancy

P.S. Read these Scriptures also: Deuteronomy 7:25-26; Palm 144: 7-8, 11-15; Lamentations 4:12; Ephesians 5:11; 6:10-13.

the food pyramid for the mind and soul ( revised )

We all know the famous food pyramid.
The good-for-you foods on the bottom in the wide part, and the bad-for-you foods in the narrow part on top ( junk-food).
A healthy diet should mainly consist of the good foods on the bottom and middle, with very small portions of the junk-food from the top.
Eating a diet like that keeps our bodies relatively healthy, strong and full of energy. It builds our immune system up. Which in turn helps our bodies fight off germs, sicknesses, and illnesses, and such.


But what about our mind and soul? They need to be fed daily too. And they need a good healthy diet as well.
If there was a food pyramid for the mind and soul, I think it would look like this.
The Bible, devotions and prayer time, (which should fill the biggest area on the bottom)---
Then comes,
missionary stories, Christian true stories that build our faith and build Godly characters, praise and worship music, Godly magazines and literature that encourage us and strengthen our walk in God,
Good Christian fictional books, Christian movies( the kind that up-lift, strengthen, and encourage us), and Christian radio programs , would be in the middle. ( we have to be careful with this stuff though ,got to always make sure it lines up with the Bible)
In the very small area on the top would consist the junk-food -- things neither good for the nourishment of the soul and mind yet not bad either of course. ( our diet should not contain any bad things at all. You wouldn't eat rotten or spoiled food would you? Well we need to treat our minds and spiritual bodies the same.)
I am wondering though, does our pyramid even need a top part!? :)
I think our main diet should consist of huge daily portions of the bottom things, moderate intake of middle of the pyramid, and very, very tiny portions if any, of the "junk-foods" that is on the very top.

Taking in a diet like that would keep our minds, our souls, and spiritual bodies strong and healthy.
We would grow strong spiritually, have a close knit walk with God, and be filled with lots of good things to share and encourage others with.
We would be blessed, and be a blessing. We would have a strong immune systems to help fight off bad thoughts, worries, and such that Satan throws our way.


The "junk foods" in both pyramids contain nothing nourishing at all for either the physical body or spiritual body. They look good on the out-side, tantalize and excite the taste buds, and make us feel good at the moment, but that is it. They fill us up -- taking room away from the good and nourishing "foods"; yet leave us empty and sceptical to bad and wrong things that want to creep in and pull us down.
If we start allowing into our diet even a tiny bit of "bad", ( in the pyramid for mind and soul) we allow our immune system to be weakened, and soon we will hear our selves saying, "This is pretty good", " That's not too bad," or "That won't hurt us". Then slowly we start allowing more and more bad in to the "junk-food" realm. In my opinion we need to leave the bad "foods" in the trash where they belong!

May we all feed our mind and bodies only was is good and nourishing , that which is pleasing to God, that builds our faith and our character, and keeps us strong in God!!!


I would love to hear your thoughts on this post. So take a moment please and leave me a comment!

In Him,
Mae

Hating that which is evil ( continued )

Since I made my first post about hating evil I have had some more thoughts to share on this subject.
I felt I needed to make it very clear that though we are to hate those things which are evil, we are not to hate anybody. So we hate the evil deeds, but not the person who does the evil. We are to love everyone as God does.

But I can hate a T.V. because it is a thing, not a person! I do not hate the people who make all those crazy and evil shows, movies, and programs that is on T.V. though, ---although I do wonder what goes through their head to create such things, and I can't say I would care to keep company with that sort. But I do not hate them.

We are instructed to hate evil, depart from evil, and askew evil. And we not only need to heed this in our lives, but instruct our children to do the same, and set an example for them.

I believe the problem in our world today is that more people are not hating evil and bad things. Not only not hating the evil, but condoning it and even participating in the evil. This should not be so among God's people. So sadly we accept bad stuff cause we say it is the world we live in, (and that is partly true ), but I believe that if we put up enough stink and hated evil enough there would be less of it surrounding us.

Here is an example of evil surrounding us, and I though I did hate it much, I did not do anything about it. But boy if I had it to do again I would handle it differently.
I had our van in a repair shop the other day to fix a chip on the window shield. The nice man kindly told me, and 3 of the children I had with me that day, that we could wait in the little waiting room since it would take about a 30 min. There was bathroom right there, and he said there was coffee and pop-corn, and we could help our selves. Well he failed to mentioned what was hanging on the wall in there.
Upon our arrival in the waiting room I spotted it right off, this very scantly clad provocative picture on an a big calender. I had to do a double take to verify, yes it truly was. What a schock to see that there. This was a waiting room.
Now I should have walked out right then, and I am sure your wondering why I did not. But I just hoped Sam ( my 7 year old son and oldest child I had with me ) would not look up that high and see it. And he did not for some time. Then I went to the bath room, and came back. And that is when I seen that he now had seen the offending picture. I told him to not look that way anymore. So he did not. And so we were able to endure the rest our waiting time in there.


Driving home afterward I kept mauling over what I should have done. I know I should have walked out before my son seen the picture. But I also think what would have been better yet, would have been for me to have removed the picture from the wall ( it was only hanging by a tack). I kept thinking about that the whole time I sit there rather it would be my place to take it from the wall or not. On the way home when I thought on it, I felt like it certainly would have been my place and my right. After all it was being used as public waiting room( though it was an employee break room too), and it was my son, and a it was sinful and evil picture, and I HATED it!

If I would have removed that calender I would assume it would have made some kind of effect on the employees. When they went to put their picture back up they would realize that not just everyone enjoyed it. And if everyone that came in there would remove it, they eventually would keep it down I would think. I wonder how many other people like me hated it, yet did nothing about it.
I felt so lame and horrible after that.

That to me is a good example that if we hated evil as we ought to and acted on it, we could possible change our surroundings. We are not suppose to simply accept evil and say, "oh well, that is the world for you". We are suppose to HATE evil, and depart from evil. Keep our percious children from evil.

And concerning movies and such we need hate the evil in them and put it away from us, and watch only what is good and edifying to our family. Can't find anything good to watch? Then don't watch anything at all. Who said movies and T.V. was for God's people in the first place anyway? We can find much better things to do!!

So let us all hate evil , cleave to that which is good, and love all people as God wants us to.

In Him,
Mae

" Depart from evil, and do good; and dwell forever more." Psalm 37:27
" Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace and pursue it." Psalm 34:14