Give in, give up, stop believing, step backwards.

When: 

• Monday shows up.
• The battle rages. 
• Children perpetually push the limits.
• You’re exhausted.
• You don’t ‘feel’ like fighting.
• The world is not “as it should be”.
• “The sun’s not shining down on me”.
• You hit one more bump.
• You wrestle one more crocodile.
• Stand Your Ground and Wait For God.
• (Eph. 6:13…after you have done everything, to stand.)

He never fails.

He always shows up.

You will win if you decide that victory is your only option.

Galatians 6:9  Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest IF WE DO NOT GIVE UP.

Busy week.  It’s been such fun to hear from you!  I feel like I have new friends across the earth!  If you’ve ordered a book, sent a message, or phoned Impact Media at any given moment, then you’ve spoken with the lovely, skilled and oh-so-friendly and chipper Cindy-Lee. (see below on the left, hugging me tight)  Today is Cindy’s birthday. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CINDY!!!

  My friend, comrade, assistant, daughter, auntie to the boys and precious sister in Christ.  I love you and honor you today, on YOUR SPECIAL DAY!

(where does the time go?!)  and you’ve been too busy to catch the interview live? - no problem - click here www.hslda.com,  go to the HOME PAGE and click on Homeschool Heartbeat to listen in at your convenience, when the kids are in bed as I chat with J. Michael Smith, President of the Home School Legal Defense Association about raising extraordinary children!  Just one more thing before you log out, take  60-90 seconds to change history and lift your voice against judicial tyranny by signing the super-brief cyber-petition against last week’s  unbelievable court judgment outlawing home schooling in California.  HSLDA lawyer Michael Farris says, “…the case clearly sets a legal precedent that will be binding against all other families if this case is not reversed . “ 

 Please…..share this with a friend who cares about preserving our parental freedoms - THIS IS OUR MOMENT TO SHINE!

All day Friday (that’s tomorrow!) while you’re praying, sorting laundry,  cleaning up one more mess, changing diapers, rocking baby, correcting spelling, chopping onions or cleaning the blinds (who does that on Friday?!?!! ) you can go to http://www.sky.fm/solopiano (yes, Virginia,  internet radio!) tune in and crank up the volume on your PC (or Mac - we love Mac, too) as the brilliant solo piano artist, and our special friend, Rhonda Mackert, tickles the ivories for you.  They’ll be featuring Rhonda’s new release, When The Moon Cries, (every song composed and performed by her - I know, that is nothing short of genius) several times throughout the day.  Rhonda’s style will soothe your spirit and speak to your soul.  The keys will sing to you, but not clutter the air with noise and stress.  Simply delightful.  Your kids will like it, too (this is our 15 year-old Levi, the day his autographed copy arrived in the mail - Seriously.)

For a sample, (don’tcha just love those free samples?!) head on over to  www.myspace.com/rhondamackert.  More info too at: http://cdbaby.com/cd/rhondamackert

  J. Michael Smith, President of the Home School Legal Defense Association (www.hslda.org), interviewed me recently on the topic of ‘Raising Extraordinary Boys’, and it’s airing this week (Mon-Fri, March 10-14) on Home School Heartbeat, a daily radio program aired on over 600 affiliates nationwide and produced by HSLDA.

Click on www.homeschoolheartbeat.com (or cut and paste to your browser) and you will find station listings and an opportunity to hear the interview online.

Spring has sprung here in Northern California, and these beautiful blossoms greet me every time I turn into this tree-lined alley near our home.  What a gorgeous display!  What promise they proclaim, of the new beginnings of one of our favorite times of the year.

Did you know that the number 8 signifies new beginnings in scripture?  When I turned the calendar page to January 1, 2008, I began to ask God, and to believe Him for a season of new things. 

Perhaps it’s time to believe God for something fresh and new for you and yours.  Let’s allow the natural things to speak to us of the spiritual things God wants to do for us, in us and through us.

As of today, you’ve spent just 68 days of this year that I’m proclaiming as a year of NEW BEGINNINGS, which means you’ve got about 297 more days left of 2008 to posture yourself toward asking, knocking and seeking Him, all the while expecting Him to reveal Himself to you in some new ways.  Why not?  Why remain living the same ol’, same ol’? 

My husband urged me today to walk outside and take these photos, before time and the wind robs these branches of their beauty.  I want to urge you in the same way, not to put off doing what must be done…you know in your heart of hearts what that is.   Let’s truly believe Him for NO! Ordinary Year….

Today is Saturday in the U.S.A. and you’ll find many, many, many Moms and Dads frantically carting kids from soccer, to baseball to birthday party #1 for him and birthday party #2 for her, to the obligatory school fund raiser, through the drive-thru for some quick deep fried something with syrup over ice to wash it down, back to the house to pick up what you forgot and off again….THE RACE IS ON for lots of us.

I LOVE WEEKENDS WITH LEISURELY AWAKENINGS AND

THE FREEDOM TO BE SPONTANEOUS

don’t you?

Doesn’t that sound glorious?  Just imagine…coffee pot on…kids sleeping in…a BIG BLANK TO FILL IN any way you (and hubby) choose.  Sitting at the window, sipping, eating your sprouted whole grain toast with raw almond butter and honey with a sweet and delicious winter grapefruit while you ponder the hummingbird/robin/swallow/eagle/sparrow (depending on your region and the season) flittering about outside…kids wake and pick on the guitar, then pull out the Legos…run around in jammies til noon….pure and simple BLISS.

I don’t live in a fantasy, and every Saturday can’t always be unplanned and wide open, but lots of them certainly can, at least for LARGE PORTIONS of the day if we make strategic choices…

Perhaps it’s time to make some adjustments to all the commitments/obligations/pressures we’ve gotten ourselves into……

Still getting ‘back in the saddle’ here at home and I found some especially unidentifiable, ugly-looking stains spread across the fabric of my white board shorts.  Bummer.  They’d already been laundered twice and the stains simply refused to budge.  Well, this is when I pull out my special stain recipe, developed over 2 decades while living with 6 very active, athletic and manly men!

Here goes:

• 1 large plastic bowl
• 1 smaller heavy glass plate/bowl
• 1/2 cup of serious laundry detergent of your choice - I like Tide
• 1/4 cup of Oxi-Clean the stain specialist
• 

Boil a kettle of water - careful handling it, as little ones could be nearby.  Place the item with the mean stain in the bottom of the large plastic bowl (you can see my bowl is blue here in the photo).  Add your two cleaning agents.  Pour the boiled water over all and give it a good stir to blend well.  Place the heavy plate/bowl on top to keep the stained item fully submerged beneath the stain-removing brew (you can see the shorts peeking out next to the black plate above).  Let it sit for 24 - 48 hours.  Toss the soaking water and clothing piece in your next load of same-colored laundry.  Launder as always.

This will usually lift the vicious stain and put a smile on your face, but if not, I’ve got some other great tips to conquer those bad boys.

My grown sons still call me to get stain-removal tips from time to time.  Isn’t it fun to be a mom?!

I’d love to hear your favorite stain tips if you get a minute to share them with us.  POST THEM HERE, now that my tech guy has enabled my site to receive comments, you are free to POST TO YOUR HEART’S CONTENT!

Back to work…

I feel like Dorothy, tapping her ruby red slippers together.  I love home.  Being away for a few days of R and R with my dear husband is a luxury, yes, but coming home is like exhaling after the trip.

We tiptoed in late, late, last night (actually earrrly this morning, come to think of it) and I’ve spent the day hugging my boys, unpacking, organizing, working in the kitchen, doing laundry, homeschooling, hugging my boys, opening the mail, checking all the messages, hugging my boys :)  and tonight we grabbed a meal out, after searching the web for the most economical and nutritional spot we could find, close by. (always a challenge!)

My husband says my favorite meal is a bite off everyone’s plate - ha - but this time everyone wanted a bite of mine - which, in turn, easily entitled me to a bite of theirs, without asking!  We enjoyed warm, lively and humorous conversation - no tension, no bad moods, no bickering, which can certainly occur when we humans eat or play or just ‘be’.  What a pleasure.  I felt like a QUEEN.  My youngest just now wrapped me in a big hug and suggested we snuggle for a bit.  So…off I go, to put on my jammies and hop on our big bed to do just that.

NIGHT NIGHT.

So…I thought perhaps it would be a good time to share one more AMAZING tip that you are gonna love me for!  Now this is great for travel, but actually at our house, we use it regularly when we don’t want our clothes to look like they sat at the bottom of an overloaded clothes basket for 3 days when we were too busy to fold them!

This stuff will change your life!  Downey brand wrinkle releaser;  it’s just about the only ‘ironing’ we do anymore at our house. Just hang the top, pants, shorts - whatever - across the back of a chair or on a rack, lightly spray across the wrinkled spots, smooth out with your hands - pull here and there to make the fabric somewhat taut, and let air dry.  Voila’ there you have it - a perfectly acceptable article of clothing to wear in public!  (We use this mostly on our cotton blends.  But check out the label, as I’m sure it will list fabrics it could damage or it isn’t effective on.)

Downey has wisely adjusted their travel size to be 3 oz. (my last brand-new ‘travel size’ was 4 oz. exactly (1/2 oz too big for carry-on) and  was immediately nabbed by airport security, much to my dismay).  You know, they really have to look out for us 40-something blondes with Downey wrinkle spray as they pursue could-be-terrorists!  You just can’t be too careful.

Anyhoo…I buy the large economy size for home use.  We all LOVE the stuff!  If you try it, keep me posted, no pun intended, although….just to let you know: YOU CAN POST ON MY SITE NOW.  I’d enjoy hearing how you like it.