Goal Planning Monday ~ No Complaining

I am reading What's It Like to Be Married to Me? as part of my morning devotions. I am on chapter 2 and it is about not complaining. It has been a challenging book right from the start. The author has challenged us wives to a 7 day "Gripes Be Gone" challenge. We wear a bracelet that is easily slipped off and on and we are to change it to the other wrist each time a complaint/gripe/murmur leaves our lips.

My bracelet
Isn't it pretty?
I made it from the beads of a necklace I never wore any more and some seed beads that I already had.
I want to make a few more of these in different colors because I like them and plan on continuing to wear them and do the challenge even after the week is up. I need to get some larger beads like the blue ones in a few different colors... brown, purple, maybe black/silver for a more neutral bracelet I could wear with anything.

 I have found that sometimes I don't even know I am uttering words of discontent. It has become such a habit, I don't even realize I am saying negative things so often. The bracelet certainly has made me more aware. It is not easy not to speak or write, on Facebook or in chats even, complaining/murmuring words. It is even harder to replace complaining thoughts with grateful ones. Doing the Joy Dare, reading my Bible Daily and listening to praise music and hymns certainly does help my attitude.

So, how about you?
Do you complain much?
That counts muttering in discontent, even if it is under your breath.
Make, or find a bracelet you already own and join me in striving to not complain. An elastic one is easiest to switch from wrist to wrist.
Journal each day how you do, and let me know next week in your comments when you link up.


My blogger friend Rosann, leader of our UnEmployed Faith group and writer of a book by that title, did a book club with extra insight and questions on this book.
You can find those posts at her blog here: http://christiansupermom.com/tag/encouragement-book-club

Participants... It is not a requirement to comment on each others blogs but it would be nice to encourage each other. Please try and come back and check who else links up and go comment on their blog post. And comment on mine as well, we ALL could use some building up and community. 

Now for my goals from last week, how I did, and new goals for this week.
My top priorities are marked with a *

If you need directions on how to join in... see my GPM page up above.

My goals for this coming week:

Spiritual Goals   

1. *Morning Devotions - including Bible reading (Proverbs), prayer, listening to music and reading a spiritual book. Prayer is my focus this year as that is my word for 2013. Read more of What's It Like to Be Married to Me?: And Other Dangerous Questions. A hard study, already, and I am only in chapter 1. Really tough questions that take a LOT of thinking... about myself. I felt like God wanted me to do this study next. My UnEmployed Faith facebook group did this study. I was not able to purchase the book and participate at the time. Later I got the book free. God has something to teach me in this trial we are in. Maybe this book will help me with part of that. Anyway... I felt God prompting me to read and study it. It DOES have a study guide in the back... I already checked and am working on the questions. Done - hard but good study. Challenging things to think about and do.
2. Read more of "When God Breaks Your Heart: Choosing Hope in the Midst of Faith-Shattering Circumstances" to my hubby.  Done - we only have the journal thoughts at the end of the book to do now.
3. Participate in the Joy Dare in 2013. Writing down 3 things each day that are gifts from God, things to be thankful for totaling more than 1000 gifts in 2013.Write in my other 1,000 gifts notebooks. Catch up some... I probably won't completely catch up ALL the way ... but catching up some would be good. Done -  as I predicted I caught up some, but not all the way.
   

Homeschool Goals

1. Do school with Christopher. Done
2. Grade and Record work done, DAILY. Done
3. *Catch up more on Grading Chemistry. I got some done last week but need to do the rest. Not Done
4. Prep the next day's school, especially science and Windows to the World (IEW) for English! Need to order more History books too!! Done

Fitness Goals

1. I hope to get back to exercising this week...IF my knee stops hurting. I will be working out on the Wii.
   Not Done
2. Eat fruit and veggies and drink water. Done

Blog Goals  

1. Post Goal Planning Monday on time... since this is already up I have one thing for the week done already. Done
2. Comment on everyone's blog that links up to the Goal Planning Monday linky. Done - no one linked up again... that's ok.
3. Blog only what I want to blog about. Done
4. Done - forgot to put that I had a review and giveaway to post on my blog... I got that done and posted on Friday last week.

Personal/Other Goals 

1. Read. Done - I finished 2 books this week.
2. Work on sorting files on the external drive. Done
3. Pack up the little kids games in the basement. Court spent a long time on Sunday getting the basement more organized. It was a disaster area after we pulled things out for the yard sales. Stuff was EVERYWHERE! I want to box up the little kids games that we don't use any more and protect them in plastic bags and put the bags in boxes, so they will stack and be protected for future generations. Not Done

 For this week that is 13 Done, 0 Partly Done, and 3 Not Done.

My goals for this coming week:

Spiritual Goals   

1. *Morning Devotions - including Bible reading (Proverbs), prayer, listening to music and reading a spiritual book. Prayer is my focus this year as that is my word for 2013. Read more of What's It Like to Be Married to Me?: And Other Dangerous Questions.
2. Finish "When God Breaks Your Heart: Choosing Hope in the Midst of Faith-Shattering Circumstances" reading it to my hubby. 
3. Participate in the Joy Dare in 2013. Writing down 3 things each day that are gifts from God, things to be thankful for totaling more than 1000 gifts in 2013.Write in my other 1,000 gifts notebooks. Continue catching up.

Homeschool Goals

1. Do school with Christopher.
2. Grade and Record work done, DAILY.
3. *Catch up more on Grading Chemistry. I got some done last week but need to do the rest.
4. Prep the next day's school, especially science and Windows to the World (IEW) for English! Need to order more History books too!!

Fitness Goals

1. I hope to get back to exercising this week. I will be working out on the Wii.
   
2. Eat fruit and veggies and drink water.

Blog Goals  

1. Post Goal Planning Monday on time... since this is already up I have one thing for the week done already.
2. Comment on everyone's blog that links up to the Goal Planning Monday linky. 
3. Blog only what I want to blog about. 
4. Post review and giveaway of Unlimited by Davis Bunn on Tuesday. 
5. Post Yearly Goal Update for September. Where has the month gone?

Personal/Other Goals 

1. Read.
2. Work on sorting files on the external drive.
3. Pack up the little kids games in the basement. Court spent a long time on Sunday getting the basement more organized. It was a disaster area after we pulled things out for the yard sales. Stuff was EVERYWHERE! I want to box up the little kids games that we don't use any more and protect them in plastic bags and put the bags in boxes, so they will stack and be protected for future generations. 
4. Pack up some books from our bookshelves. They are getting to crowded and I can't find anything. I can pack up subjects Christopher and I will not be covering this year or next and I can pack up books that are too juvenile for him. Can't believe I only have 1 3/4 years of homeschooling left.

That's it for me.
Remember, No Griping

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I am 'Overwhelmed' (book review and giveaway)

I was given the opportunity to receive the book Overwhelmed as well as the Study Guide and a Small Group Study Leader Guide. I received the books, as e-books, for free so I could review it for my blog. Even so, the thoughts in this post are my own and are truthful.

Are you feeling overwhelmed?

This is a hard world we live in. We have all be overwhelmed at times.

The book's subtitle is Hope and Help for the Financially Weary. The book has stories from a number of women who have been through a variety of financial difficulties. The study guide has very good questions to help you think things through. The leader guide gives you suggestions about how to manage a small study group, if you wish to have one and the leader guide is free right now.

Overwhelmed is a resource designed to meet both the spiritual and practical needs of those struggling to overcome financial difficulties. In the first section, nine women share their testimonies, faith, and financial counsel to help you go from being overwhelmed by your finances to being an overcomer through Christ. As an added bonus, the second section offers more practical advice on frugal homemaking, women in business, and financial resources such as handling credit card debt and so much more.

My review of the book

 Overwhelmed? Some days I am!! First... before reviewing the book, I will tell you a little about me. 29 years ago my hubby and I married. Since then we have moved 6 times, he has had 13 jobs, and we had 4 children.

9 years ago he injured his back while working. Our kids were daughter age 18 (our first to graduate from our homeschool just a few months before his injury), daughter age 15, son age 10, and son age 7.  My husband went to our doctor and she sent him to therapy. The therapy made him worse. Then we started an almost four year battle with insurance companies, Dr.'s and lawyers to keep my husband getting the help he needed from a Dr. who was both a Chiropractor and a Neurologist, He sent him home to the recliner and started working on him, slowly, and once my hubby had healed some he started therapy with the Dr.'s brother. My hubby also had regular shots for pain from a pain specialist. With the Dr.'s recommendations and our lawyers help we kept hubby from getting surgery that had high probabilities of failing. We finally settled with the insurance company. He was out of work just about 3 years.

When my hubby was cleared by the Dr., he started looking for work. He had many new restrictions. No driving jobs. No bending or stooping repeatedly. No standing for long periods. No lifting more than a gallon of milk and no jobs that had repeated lifting. And, I may be missing a restriction or two... there were a log of them. He needed a job where he could sit mostly, but also get up and down during the day and not be 'chained' to a desk was best. He had 2 jobs, one that lasted two weeks and then one that lasted 90 days, after that he found a job, that he HATED, that lasted 3 years until they had hard times and let a bunch of people go. Since being let go from that job he has been unemployed for 3 1/2 years and we are still counting.

I have had a lot of ups and downs during this period of unemployment. I cry. A lot. I read my Bible and pray and feel strong for awhile. Then, more things happen (or nothing happens and I just feel unsure or fearful, or...) Unexpected things happen. Little things. Bigger things. Broken things, and with no money to fix them it is hard. 'Normal' family needs, like new shoes, can be a big deal. My family has been through financial trials many times. God has met our needs all the way through... that does NOT mean I trust God fully, each minute, I have had times of SERIOUS doubt. Yeah, I'll be honest. I doubt God. I don't doubt that God can do it. I doubt that he will do it for us... again.

Reading books has been a big help in keeping up my spirits. Reading for fun, but also reading spiritual books. God seems to bring me just the book I need when I need it. This was one of those books for me this year.

I have to admit. Some of the stories the ladies shared helped me more than others. That is natural. Some people's stories will resonate with us more than others. Ones that may not have hit me as hard may be just the thing you need. I liked the variety. Although some impacted me more than others all the stories illustrated the glory of God and His care for His people. It is amazing to me how many different kinds of financial trouble there are and how differently God is dealing with these troubles in the writers lives. Also, the differences in the emotional/spiritual troubles and the lessons God is teaching different ladies/families through their trials. He know just what our deficiencies are and just how to work in our lives to make us more like his Son. Trusting in that process is still HARD.

Those stories that impacted me are full of highlights. Picking a favorite quote of two from this book is very hard. But here goes.

"God wants you to rely on Him, not an income. Deliverance will come but in God's timing and for His purpose. Make no mistake--our trials are soul deep." pg 11

Soul deep... that's for sure. Many are the times during this trial that I have cried out to God in anger, doubt, not understanding, fear or with such emotion that I don't even know WHAT I feel.

"I know right now you think things look really bad. I know you think that you can't possibly take any more trouble than is already on you. I know that you might feel like sadness and despair have moved into your bedroom, setting up residence alongside shame and confusion and that they are all totally disregarding your comfort, hopes, and dreams. I can imagine you probably feel like you just don't know where to turn. There may be a cloud of darkness all around you, pressing in and testing your faith in a way you never dreamed possible. In a moment, all at once, you have found that you, like the subject in Robert Frost's "Road Not Taken", have taken the less traveled, more difficult, and less popular road and that has made all the difference." pg 46

"I know you are probably thinking something like, "When did I choose the road not taken?" You see, the day you said, I do! to Christ, you also said, "I will." pg 47

"This-yes, even this-is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in His sight. No matter the current circumstance, the truth is that if you are a blood-bought saved child of God, you can stand, and you can take every punch the enemy throws. Yes, you can make it because your life is His to care for, and His grace and mercy, faithfulness, and everlasting love are all yours for the asking. I know you may feel like the world is caving in all around you; it can seem that way. Believe me, I know because I've been there, too. But, be of good cheer because when it comes down to it, God is in control, and He knows what is best for you." pg. 47

It is good to know others out there understand what we have gone through. They have been through similar circumstances and had similar feelings. They dealt with their feelings and with the troubles that come from financial difficulties. They dealt with marriage struggles caused by our sin and magnified by our circumstances. Even though they are children of God they struggled with feelings of fear, that God didn't love them, doubts about what he was going to do for them in the future and more. It is great to know I am not going crazy. It also gives me hope for my future too.

I could go on with the quotes.. and on and on and on... but I will stop and move on to other things from the book.

Section 2: Financial Resources - most of this was not applicable to our situation. We own a habitat home and it is the low payments and zero percent interest that has allowed us to keep our home this long. Other than our mortgage we have ZERO debt. That is one thing my hubby is strict about. We had financial training before getting our habitat home, and we did learn a few new things there, but we have not been irresponsible with our money. It has always been jobs and/or bosses that have been our problem. Another area they talk about in this section is used cars. My hubby fixes our cars himself, he is very handy in many ways, and so we have always gotten good deals and had good luck with quality vehicles for the price we pay... and we ALWAYS pay cash... hubby will NOT borrow.

Section 3: Women in Business - I can not make money blogging. It is just not my gift or my passion. In fact, I am blogging less now than ever. I only blog what I feel like blogging because of the emotional stress this trial has inflicted on me. I have homeschooled for 22 years. I have thought about making my unit studies into sell-able items, but I lack confidence and feel there are so many other products out there, better than what I could write. I just don't feel like now is the time the Lord has for me to pursue making money for the family. I am still homeschooling one of our children and don't really have the emotional strength to begin something new. Maybe it will help others, but not me, not right now anyway.

I have to be honest with my readers. I felt like some of the information in the Women in Business section was just so that the ladies who wrote their testimonies in the book would have a place to advertise. I do not begrudge them this opportunity. They worked hard on this book and if their families are helped by someone knowing about them and their businesses then they deserve it. I just wanted you to know my feelings on it. I found no new information or things that would help me, but like I said maybe it would help someone else.

Section 4: Home Business Guide and Resources - since I am not planning to start a home business any time soon this section really didn't help me with anything either. There are some good things here... just not for me right now. Some of the topics were: Home Business Opportunities (a list with places/ideas for work from home); Maintaining Your Vision (this was good); and Simple, Not Easy.

The last section, Section 5: Frugal Homemaking - has tips, mostly for cooking, but also some for cleaning and even Christmas. I have to admit I have not tried any of the recipes, but some of them look really good. Some of them seemed overly simple. Like a recipe for pancakes. We have lots of recipes, including a favorite one for from scratch pancakes, but like I said some of them look good. I have been married a good long time. We make most things from scratch. We don't even buy the cheap brownie mixes... we make them from scratch. Most of the recipes will have to wait until our trial is over because we do not even have some of the most basic of ingredients, most of the time. We are eating very simply these days. A few of the tips they give for saving money would not save money for us... for instance they say to make your own butter, but heavy cream is more expensive than butter in our area and won't make as much either, unfortunately we have had to switch to cheap margarine, for now. Save on organic foods??? we would not afford organic foods when my husband was working. Some of these tips are just not for those on such a tight budget as we are.

Homemade Deodorant recipe - that is something I might try. I HATE the aluminum in deodorant and have tried one organic one, but I had a reaction to it. Finding the money to buy the Coconut oil may be difficult. to be honest, these days I do not even bother wearing my deodorant most days. Go ahead and judge me, I don't care. My family has never told me I smell. I only wear it when we go out, and that is not often, so a stick lasts me a few months. Some of the other non-food cleaners I would like to try as well. They look like they would save us some money.

Also some of the tips don't apply to me because we have 5 adults and one teenager in the house. We eat more than a family with 2 adults and 2 little kids. I can't make one chicken go for 3 meals. I just can't. So, we do what we can and save where we can and we have all cut back on our eating. I can't wait until the day I can go to the store and buy anything we want to eat... at least once in a while. I don't want to waste our future money on food, I just would like to satisfy some of my cravings and some of the kids cravings.

The Study Guide

I really enjoyed the study guide. Since the testimonies were my favorite part of the book and this was to enhance that part, it is also a favorite part. For each chapter there are 2 pages in the study guide. The first page has a summery, a verse of the Bible to focus on and then some reflections... things to think about and questions to answer based on the things the author of that chapter talked about. The second page was lovely. It is a little notebooking type of page. At the top is a space to write what you learned from that testimony... no questions just your own thoughts. Next was a doodle with a space to write what God is impressing on you to start or stop doing. Lastly a place to write a prayer, surrounded by fun doodles and a border. The questions were well thought out and really made me think more about what I read and how it could help me to deal with my own circumstances and my relationship with my Lord. Such a great way to get a lot out of this little book. The study guide was my favorite part.

Small Group Study Leader Guide

I did not use the Small Group Study guide because I did the study on my own. But, I did read it. There are a lot of good tips in there that would be great for this study, or any study you were doing with a group. This part is FREE for everyone so you can it check out and it costs you nothing.

I recommend this book and it's guides. The pdf is VERY reasonably priced, and that is good for those who are having financial troubles. The prices for each part are listed below. I think the testimonies of the ladies, and my favorite part, the study guide; make this worth the money. It certainly was an encouragement to me in some areas and a challenge to me in other areas where I needed the kick in the seat.

You can find the book, the study guide, and the small group leader guide, and order them, here – Overwhelmed

PDF: $4.99
Kindle: $7.99
Print: $12.99

The Study Guide
PDF: $2.99
Print Copy: $7.99

Leader Guide - FREE

Meet the authors here – Overwhelmed Authors
Contact them to do a Review on your blog – Review Overwhelmed

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Goal Planning Monday ~ Have Faith

How are you doing with your goals?

How far have you come? 

We do have far to go.

But we can do it.

With God's help.

With encouragement from each other.

God is not finished working on us, if we are His child. He will work on us until His work is complete... that is until he sees fit to take us home to be with Him forever, or until he returns for us ALL!

Until then we have much work to do. We will fail. We will fall. We will stumble.

But we can get back up.

We can ask for forgiveness from God and each other.

We can try again. Strive.

To be more like our Savior.

That is what I am doing.

Have Faith...

in how far you can go...

and in God getting you there. 

Proverbs 16:9 (ESV)
"The heart of man plans his way,
but the LORD establishes his steps." 

Participants... It is not a requirement to comment on each others blogs but it would be nice to encourage each other. Please try and come back and check who else links up and go comment on their blog post. And comment on mine as well, we ALL could use some building up and community. 

My top priorities are marked with a *

If you need directions on how to join in... see my GPM page up above.

My goals for this coming week:

Spiritual Goals   

1. *Morning Devotions - including Bible reading (Proverbs), prayer, listening to music and reading a spiritual book. Prayer is my focus this year as that is my word for 2013. Read more of Facing Your Giants by Max Lucado. Done - I finished Facing Your Giants last week. I still need to do the review on Goodreads. See this coming week's goals for the book I am reading now. I did not read Proverbs, do Joy Dare or read the book with hubby, but I enjoyed and finished Facing Your Giants. When I finished I found study questions in the back of the Kindle book. I didn't know they were there so I will have to read this again some time and do the questions. I am now checking for questions in all my future/current Spiritual books I use from my Kindle.
   
2. Read more of "When God Breaks Your Heart: Choosing Hope in the Midst of Faith-Shattering Circumstances" to my hubby. Not Done
3. Participate in the Joy Dare in 2013. Writing down 3 things each day that are gifts from God, things to be thankful for totaling more than 1000 gifts in 2013.Write in my other 1,000 gifts notebooks. Not Done

Homeschool Goals

1. Do school with Christopher. Done
2. Grade and Record work done, DAILY. Done
3. *Catch up on Grading Chemistry. I am behind. Partly Done - I graded the most recent pages so I know how he is doing now... I still need to grade a bunch of the past work. I didn't have as much time this week because of #3 that I added in Personal/Other Goals.
   
4. Prep the next day's school, especially science! Need to order more History books too!! Done - I need to order more History books, again. He reads through them fairly quickly. I need to check and see what we have at home that I want him to read and what I want to order from the library.

Fitness Goals

1. I hope to get back to exercising this week. Working out on the Wii. Not Done
2. Eat fruit and veggies and drink water. Done

Blog Goals  

1. Post Goal Planning Monday on time... since this is already up I have one thing for the week done already. Done
2. Comment on everyone's blog that links up to the Goal Planning Monday linky. Done - no one linked up so that made this one easy.
3. Blog only what I want to blog about - this week I would like to join in one meme that I used to enjoy doing, no pressure, we'll see. Done - I blogged what I could... which was GPM and nothing else.

Personal/Other Goals 

1. Read. Done - I finished 3 books this week... That keeps me 2 books AHEAD in my goal for the year!!!
2. Work on a craft for myself: doodle, cross stitch, scrapbook, digital scrapbook... something. Done - Doodled "Prepare Your Fields" from the movie Facing the Giants, one of our favorite family/Christian movies. I will be doing a post on 3 doodles that I recently did, two for friends of my daughters and this one for myself, this week... maybe even tomorrow.
   
3. ADDED - Done - this week I spent 2 whole days working on my computer files. Friday my desktop computer just would not turn on. Hubby tried all kinds of things. Finally he resorted to getting my drive out of the computer and put it in an older external drive case. He hooked that up to an old computer we have in the basement. I was able, then, to get all my files saved from my computer drive to an external drive, so I lost no files. My hubby is my personal computer tech/geek. I am SOOO thankful for all he has taught himself to do. I figured my desktop computer was gone for good. He says he may be able to save it. I don't think we have the money to do that right now, but at least I have my laptop, and all my files were saved, thanks to my wonderful hubby. I had to take 2 full days out of my schedule and work on saving the files and so I got behind in other things and I still have plenty of sorting to do. But I am at peace with how it went.

 For this week that is 11 Done, 1 Partly Done, and 3 Not Done.

My goals for this coming week:

Spiritual Goals   

1. *Morning Devotions - including Bible reading (Proverbs), prayer, listening to music and reading a spiritual book. Prayer is my focus this year as that is my word for 2013. Read more of What's It Like to Be Married to Me?: And Other Dangerous Questions. A hard study, already, and I am only in chapter 1. Really tough questions that take a LOT of thinking... about myself. I felt like God wanted me to do this study next. My UnEmployed Faith facebook group did this study. I was not able to purchase the book and participate at the time. Later I got the book free. God has something to teach me in this trial we are in. Maybe this book will help me with part of that. Anyway... I felt God prompting me to read and study it. It DOES have a study guide in the back... I already checked and am working on the questions.
2. Read more of "When God Breaks Your Heart: Choosing Hope in the Midst of Faith-Shattering Circumstances" to my hubby. 
3. Participate in the Joy Dare in 2013. Writing down 3 things each day that are gifts from God, things to be thankful for totaling more than 1000 gifts in 2013.Write in my other 1,000 gifts notebooks. Catch up some... I probably won't completely catch up ALL the way ... but catching up some would be good.

Homeschool Goals

1. Do school with Christopher.
2. Grade and Record work done, DAILY.
3. *Catch up more on Grading Chemistry. I got some done last week but need to do the rest.
4. Prep the next day's school, especially science and Windows to the World (IEW) for English! Need to order more History books too!!

Fitness Goals

1. I hope to get back to exercising this week...IF my knee stops hurting. I will be working out on the Wii.
   
2. Eat fruit and veggies and drink water.

Blog Goals  

1. Post Goal Planning Monday on time... since this is already up I have one thing for the week done already.
2. Comment on everyone's blog that links up to the Goal Planning Monday linky. 
3. Blog only what I want to blog about.

Personal/Other Goals 

1. Read.
2. Work on sorting files on the external drive.
3. Pack up the little kids games in the basement. Court spent a long time on Sunday getting the basement more organized. It was a disaster area after we pulled things out for the yard sales. Stuff was EVERYWHERE! I want to box up the little kids games that we don't use any more and protect them in plastic bags and put the bags in boxes, so they will stack and be protected for future generations. 

That's it for me.
Hopefully this coming week will NOT hold any surprises. But, no matter what, my family and I will face what comes... with the Lord on our side to tip the balance.

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Goal Planning Monday ~ Grade Chemistry

Don't give up... you never know when your breakthrough is just one more umph away

I gave up this weekend. I had a whole day where I did nothing much but cry. This trial is hard.These days the littlest thing can set me to crying and yesterday I just couldn't stop.

In spite of my terrible Sunday I had a pretty good week. The yard sale was really hard and I sat out there 4 hours on Friday and 8 hours on Saturday. Maybe that is why I was so wiped out on Sunday and cried most of the day. We had a lot of stuff left over, but after carting it in and out 5 times for the three days of yard sale we had, hubby said we were done and he carted the rest of it off to the thrift store. I was sad to see the thrift shop get the money. They will probably sell all the stuff we couldn't and they will make the money. However, I was glad to be done carrying the stuff in and out and setting it all up.

This week is named Grade Chemistry because I am behind on that... so that is my #1 goal this week. Can't know how Christopher is doing

Participants... It is not a requirement to comment on each others blogs but it would be nice to encourage each other. Please try and come back and check who else links up and go comment on their blog post. And comment on mine as well, we ALL could use some building up and community. 

My top priorities are marked with a *

If you need directions on how to join in... see my GPM page up above.

My goals for this coming week:

Spiritual Goals   

1. *Morning Devotions - including Bible reading (Proverbs), prayer, listening to music and reading a spiritual book. Prayer is my focus this year as that is my word for 2013. Read more of Facing Your Giants by Max Lucado. Partly Done - I read Facing Your Giants but I don't remember if I read my Bible. I prayed a lot on Sunday while I was crying.
   
2. Read more of "When God Breaks Your Heart: Choosing Hope in the Midst of Faith-Shattering Circumstances" to my hubby. Not Done -  we started to read a chapter one day but got distracted by something and only read a few paragraphs.
3. Participate in the Joy Dare in 2013. Writing down 3 things each day that are gifts from God, things to be thankful for totaling more than 1000 gifts in 2013.Write in my other 1,000 gifts notebooks. Not Done -  now I am behind. I hope to catch up this week.

Homeschool Goals

1. Do school with Christopher. Done
2. Grade and Record work done, DAILY. Done
3. Prep the next day's school, especially science! Need to order more History books too!! Done

Fitness Goals

1. I hope to get back to exercising this week. Working out on the Wii. Not Done
2. Eat fruit and veggies and drink water. Done

Blog Goals  

1. Post Goal Planning Monday on time... since this is already up I have one thing for the week done already. Done
2. Comment on everyone's blog that links up to the Goal Planning Monday linky. Done
3. Post my digital scrapbook pages. Done
4. Blog only what I want to blog about - this week I would like to join in one meme that I used to enjoy doing, no pressure, we'll see. Done

Personal/Other Goals 

1. Read. I really want to catch up on my reading goal for the year. Goodreads says I am only one book behind now. So if I can finish at least 5 books this month I will be on track! I would like to do more, but we will see. Done - as of today I am 2 books ahead!! Yippee!! And, I am really enjoying reading the Bobbsey Twins books. I read them first when I was a little girl.
2. Work on a craft for myself: doodle, cross stitch, scrapbook, digital scrapbook... something. Not Done
3. Get more stuff ready for the  2nd yard sale on Saturday, we are going to to sell stuff to make money to pay our bills. Done
4. Attend, help out at, sell stuff at yard sale on Friday afternoon/early evening and Saturday. Done

 For this week that is 11 Done, 1 Partly Done, and 4 Not Done.

My goals for this coming week:

Spiritual Goals   

1. *Morning Devotions - including Bible reading (Proverbs), prayer, listening to music and reading a spiritual book. Prayer is my focus this year as that is my word for 2013. Read more of Facing Your Giants by Max Lucado. 
2. Read more of "When God Breaks Your Heart: Choosing Hope in the Midst of Faith-Shattering Circumstances" to my hubby. 
3. Participate in the Joy Dare in 2013. Writing down 3 things each day that are gifts from God, things to be thankful for totaling more than 1000 gifts in 2013.Write in my other 1,000 gifts notebooks.

Homeschool Goals

1. Do school with Christopher.
2. Grade and Record work done, DAILY.
3. *Catch up on Grading Chemistry. I am behind.
4. Prep the next day's school, especially science! Need to order more History books too!!

Fitness Goals

1. I hope to get back to exercising this week. Working out on the Wii.
   
2. Eat fruit and veggies and drink water.

Blog Goals  

1. Post Goal Planning Monday on time... since this is already up I have one thing for the week done already.
2. Comment on everyone's blog that links up to the Goal Planning Monday linky. 
3. Post my digital scrapbook pages.
4. Blog only what I want to blog about - this week I would like to join in one meme that I used to enjoy doing, no pressure, we'll see.

Personal/Other Goals 

1. Read.
2. Work on a craft for myself: doodle, cross stitch, scrapbook, digital scrapbook... something.

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Digital Scrapbooking ~ First Day of School 2004

I am a creative team member for Digi Cyber Scraps. It has been a while since I have done any pages. I will be doing a bunch in the next few months though. I will probably also do some pages 'just for me' with the wonderful FREE kits and pieces I have gotten as well as a few kits I have had the money to buy. Usually on sale. I LOVE My Memories digital scrapbook software. It works great. I need to do some of the tutorials on their site. I want to improve in my techniques. I should work on that this week.

This time I am doing school pictures and using the kit Teacher's Pet part 1. 

 
Oh my! How young the boys were. Hard to believe what 9 years has done. Christopher is now a Junior in High School. Nathan is taller than me and working full time. Oh My!

Each kid then did individual photos for school, and I captured a candid shot of them doing school.

I see I didn't get a picture of Christopher doing school. He was being homeschooled at this age though. Guess I just forgot. There are 4 silly photos of him though, so I guess I made up for it that way.

I have more pictures I want to do from this day. I have pictures of the girls and of me. The next kit I am going to get is Teacher's Pet part 2. I will use those papers and embellishments to do the 'girl' pages. Same kind of kit, different colors.

I will be able to use parts of the kits later, with other things to do other homeschool pictures, I have plenty from 22 years of homeschooling.

click the links above to see and purchase the kits

Also
Visit Digi Cyber Scraps Home
to see more wonderful products
by clicking the blinky box below



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Goal Planning Monday ~ Yard Sale...again

I had a good week. Tiring, but good. We make goals and some weeks we don't accomplish all we had planned. Sometimes it is our laziness, but sometimes it is because God had other plans for our weeks than we did. The verse I am memorizing now is Proverbs 16:9 (ESV) " The heart of man plans his ways, but the LORD establishes his steps." Take heart. Try again. If you were lazy next week then purpose to do better in those areas this week. If God through a monkey wrench in your plans then know that it was His will and that you may understand why, or you may not, but God knows what is coming for us this week, nothing will surprise Him, and He will lead us if we lean on him.

I did not exercise. I did not comment on Cristi's GPM post, I meant to, but forgot. I did not craft just for myself. So, I will try again on those things this week.

Our plans for the flea market changed to a yard sale, and getting the stuff ready took a LOT longer than I thought it would. We have a LOT left over and are going to put them out again on Friday and Sat. this week. We made some money and bought some food with it. Pray we do even better this week. We also did not go through everything in the basement so we have some more sorting and pricing to do.

Chick-fil-A, where my son works, was having free breakfasts this week. Since ds had to be AT WORK at 6am we, his crazy family, decided to get up and go with him then sit in the car for 1/2 an hour til they opened so we could get the free breakfast. The free breakfast was a chicken biscuit,  I also got a free waffle with a free gift card they gave out a couple months ago, and a free orange juice with the calendar card. Fun was had by all.

Dd Rachel is STILL struggling with the poison sumac on her foot, it looks much better but she still can't wear shoes. So continue to keep her in your prayers.

Have Courage my friends. Try again. Post goals and work toward them. Here are mine....

Participants... It is not a requirement to comment on each others blogs but it would be nice to encourage each other. Please try and come back and check who else links up and go comment on their blog post. And comment on mine as well, we ALL could use some building up and community. 

My top priorities are marked with a *

If you need directions on how to join in... see my GPM page up above.

My goals for this coming week:

Spiritual Goals   

1. *Morning Devotions - including Bible reading (Proverbs), prayer, listening to music and reading a spiritual book. Prayer is my focus this year as that is my word for 2013. Read more of Facing Your Giants by Max Lucado. Done
2. Read more of "When God Breaks Your Heart: Choosing Hope in the Midst of Faith-Shattering Circumstances" to my hubby. Done
3. Participate in the Joy Dare in 2013. Writing down 3 things each day that are gifts from God, things to be thankful for totaling more than 1000 gifts in 2013.Write in my other 1,000 gifts notebooks. Done

Homeschool Goals

1. Do school with Christopher. Done
2. Grade and Record work done, DAILY. Done
3. Prep the next day's school, especially science! Done

Fitness Goals

1. I hope to get back to exercising this week. Working out on the Wii. Not Done
2. Eat fruit and veggies and drink water. Done

Blog Goals  

1. Post Goal Planning Monday on time... since this is already up I have one thing for the week done already. Done
2. Comment on everyone's blog that links up to the Goal Planning Monday linky. Not Done -sorry Cristi
3. Blog only what I want to blog about Done

Personal/Other Goals 

1. Read. Done,
2. Work on a craft for myself: doodle, cross stitch, scrapbook, digital scrapbook... something. Not Done
3. Get stuff ready for the flea market on Saturday, we are going to to sell stuff to make money to pay our bills. Done - but as I said we changed to a yard sale. We forgot all about my son's Sat. work schedule. It would have been annoying to work out. Hubby would have had to drive 45 min. to the flea market, we would have had to take ds with us, we would have had to leave home at 6:15 or so. We would have had to leave the middle bench in the van so ds could ride with us, so we would not have fit as much stuff in. We would have had to unload and then dh would have had to drive ds to work about 30 min from the flea market, then come back, finish the flea market, drive the leftovers and I home then later go back out and get our son and bring him home from work. Tooooooo much trouble. So we set up in the yard. We may have made more money at the flea market, or we may have not, only God knows. At home we could take turns also, especially in the hot part of the day. We had the yard sale from about 8am til 3pm. We were all exhausted afterwards.
4. Attend, help out at, sell stuff at flea market on Saturday. Done

 For this week that is 12 Done, 0 Partly Done, and 3 Not Done.

My goals for this coming week:

Spiritual Goals   

1. *Morning Devotions - including Bible reading (Proverbs), prayer, listening to music and reading a spiritual book. Prayer is my focus this year as that is my word for 2013. Read more of Facing Your Giants by Max Lucado. 
2. Read more of "When God Breaks Your Heart: Choosing Hope in the Midst of Faith-Shattering Circumstances" to my hubby. 
3. Participate in the Joy Dare in 2013. Writing down 3 things each day that are gifts from God, things to be thankful for totaling more than 1000 gifts in 2013.Write in my other 1,000 gifts notebooks.

Homeschool Goals

1. Do school with Christopher.
2. Grade and Record work done, DAILY.
3. Prep the next day's school, especially science! Need to order more History books too!!

Fitness Goals

1. I hope to get back to exercising this week. Working out on the Wii.
   
2. Eat fruit and veggies and drink water.

Blog Goals  

1. Post Goal Planning Monday on time... since this is already up I have one thing for the week done already.
2. Comment on everyone's blog that links up to the Goal Planning Monday linky. 
3. Post my digital scrapbook pages.
4. Blog only what I want to blog about - this week I would like to join in one meme that I used to enjoy doing, no pressure, we'll see.

Personal/Other Goals 

1. Read. I really want to catch up on my reading goal for the year. Goodreads says I am only one book behind now. So if I can finish at least 5 books this month I will be on track! I would like to do more, but we will see.
2. Work on a craft for myself: doodle, cross stitch, scrapbook, digital scrapbook... something.
3. Get more stuff ready for the  2nd yard sale on Saturday, we are going to to sell stuff to make money to pay our bills.
4. Attend, help out at, sell stuff at yard sale on Friday afternoon/early evening and Saturday.

That's It... Your turn...

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Goal Planning Monday ~ Flea Market

Focus on giants - you stumble.

Focus on God - your giants stumble.
     (from Facing Your Giants by Max Lucado, pg 21)

I had a GREAT week. I really enjoyed my time with God, almost every morning. It is a lot easier to focus on God and not on my giants when I spend quality/quantity time with God each day.

I got a lot of reading done and enjoyed every minute of it. That puts me only one book behind in my reading for the year and I know I can catch up this month, and maybe even get ahead.

I got my cake done!! and instead of eating a few pieces and putting the rest in the freezer like I usually do, so I can eat it little by little, I shared it with the family. They love sweet things and we don't get many treats these days.

By the way...

Happy Labor Day

We are not taking off today, we are doing school. My older son has to work, and we have NO plans, so I figured we might as well.

My dd Rachel is struggling with poison sumac. It is all over her left foot. Pain and itching, sleepless nights, swollen lower leg, foot, and toes. She has been unable to do anything but sit all week. So I had to do more than usual. I was able to keep up with the pots and dishes and cooked a few extra meals. Boy do I miss her helping out. She is doing a little better but still off her feet. So this coming week will be just as busy.

No, I take it back, it will be more busy, because we are going to sell some things in a Flea Market on Saturday and we have a lot to do to be ready. It costs $15 for 3 parking spaces, one space for the car and 2 for our stuff. If hubby can figure a way to keep the lights from being on with the hatch open, we can sell some stuff from the back of the van. I hope we sell a lot, enough to pay for our space and a bunch extra would be great. I am selling some of my Star Wars collectables and some Beanie Buddies and regular size beanies. We will be selling some books the girls don't want to keep.

Participants... It is not a requirement to comment on each others blogs but it would be nice to encourage each other. Please try and come back and check who else links up and go comment on their blog post. And comment on mine as well, we ALL could use some building up and community. 

My top priorities are marked with a *

If you need directions on how to join in... see my GPM page up above.

My goals for this coming week:

Spiritual Goals   

1. *Morning Devotions - including Bible reading (Proverbs), prayer, listening to music and reading a spiritual book. Prayer is my focus this year as that is my word for 2013. I will be starting a new book just for me to read. For now I am also reading "When God Breaks Your Heart: Choosing Hope in the Midst of Faith-Shattering Circumstances" to my hubby.  Done - I started reading Facing Your Giants by Max Lucado. I was only going to read one chapter a day but it was so good I read 3 chapters. The quote I used today was from this book also. This is going to be another good one.
2. Participate in the Joy Dare in 2013. Writing down 3 things each day that are gifts from God, things to be thankful for totaling more than 1000 gifts in 2013.Write in my other 1,000 gifts notebooks. Done

Homeschool Goals

1. Do school with Christopher. Done
2. Grade and Record work done, DAILY. Done
3. Prep the next day's school, especially science! Done

Fitness Goals

1. I must get back to exercising this week. Working out on the Wii. Not Done
2. *Get my Weight Watchers dessert made TOMORROW! Done! YIPPEE!! and it was delicious.
3. Eat fruit and veggies and drink water. Done

Blog Goals 

1. Comment on everyone's blog that links up to the Goal Planning Monday linky. Done
2. Blog only what I want to blog about except for... Done
3. *A review and giveaway I had due last week and MUST get up. Not Done - I got an extension till the end of Sept./beginning of Oct. 
4. Done - I am adding... post my August Yearly Goal Update because I got it done and posted it last night. 

Personal/Other Goals

1. Read. Done - I finished 3 books this week making a total of 8 for August! that's GREAT
2. Work on a craft for myself: doodle, cross stitch, scrapbook, digital scrapbook... something. Done - did digital scrapbooking
3. Hang the crochet heart Rachel made me and the wooden box I decorated a while back. I need Jessica's help. Done - see below

 For this week that is 13 Done, 0 Partly Done, and 2 Not Done.

My goals for this coming week:

Spiritual Goals   

1. *Morning Devotions - including Bible reading (Proverbs), prayer, listening to music and reading a spiritual book. Prayer is my focus this year as that is my word for 2013. Read more of Facing Your Giants by Max Lucado. 
2. Read more of "When God Breaks Your Heart: Choosing Hope in the Midst of Faith-Shattering Circumstances" to my hubby. 
3. Participate in the Joy Dare in 2013. Writing down 3 things each day that are gifts from God, things to be thankful for totaling more than 1000 gifts in 2013.Write in my other 1,000 gifts notebooks.

Homeschool Goals

1. Do school with Christopher.
2. Grade and Record work done, DAILY.
3. Prep the next day's school, especially science!

Fitness Goals

1. I hope to get back to exercising this week. Working out on the Wii.
   
2. Eat fruit and veggies and drink water.

Blog Goals  

1. Post Goal Planning Monday on time... since this is already up I have one thing for the week done already.
2. Comment on everyone's blog that links up to the Goal Planning Monday linky. 
3. Blog only what I want to blog about

Personal/Other Goals 

1. Read. 
2. Work on a craft for myself: doodle, cross stitch, scrapbook, digital scrapbook... something.
3. Get stuff ready for the flea market on Saturday, we are going to to sell stuff to make money to pay our bills.
4. Attend, help out at, sell stuff at flea market on Saturday.

That's It... Your turn...

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