Mother of Seven + 2

Here are a few money saving tips for those road trips: 1.  Take your own water with you.   Fill bottles with water to take in the car on short or long trips.  On long trips fill a large water cooler and store it in the back of your vehicle.  Use this to refill your water bottles.  A bottle of water costs about a dollar at a convenience store.  With nine in our family it would cost us $9 just to get a drink.  If we buy the water ahead of time at Wal-Mart, it will cost about $1.75 for 9 water bottles. This is a much better price, and sometimes we go this route. However, the most cost effective method is to fill our own bottles with water and take them with us. Some of our water bottles we take with us in the car.  Rummage sales are a great place to find these. 2. Pack some snacks. The least expensive snacks are the homemade variety--cookies, muffins, etc. However, if your schedule gets crazy like ours, sometimes there just isn't time t...

"Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Mark 10:43-45 As summer began, I found myself frustrated. The children were fighting more, as they had more time on their hands. They did their chores cheerfully most the time, but if I needed some extra help, I was met with groans and complaints. In thinking about the problem, I realized the root of it was selfishness. It was all about what each individual wanted and not about what was good for the family as a whole. And quite frankly speaking everyone was unhappy. I remembered an acronym I learned as a young girl. J esus first. O thers second. Y ourself last. For our family Bible time one morning we talked about joy and service to God. Then I set up a "Joy Bag." The challenge was to write on a sli...

I've been trying to find my kitchen.  The tomatoes waiting to be canned. More tomatoes and cucumbers. Help!  I'm buried in produce.  Family to the rescue... Assembly lines made ready.  Between my two girls, a couple of my boys, my mom, and my sister we put a lot of tomatoes in jars and made a lot of salsa.  And I even made some refrigerator dill pickles.  We made over 50 quarts of salsa.  Yum!  Our favorite. Over 100 quarts of tomato products ready for winter. Mission accomplished. Only 4 lonely tomatoes sitting on my table now. I think I'm going to put my feet up for a bit.

Here is a good meal option if you are looking for a meatless meal.  My family all enjoys this for a different twist on taco salad.  However, my husband always comments, "It would be perfect if it just had some hamburger in it."   So to satisfy those men, it might be good to serve a little taco meat as well.  Every woman likes a happy husband.  :)   What You Need: 1 Tbsp. oil 3 c. shredded cabbage 1/4 c. sliced onion 1 c. chopped red pepper 1 tsp. sugar 1 can black beans, rinsed 1 c. mild salsa 1 small can chopped green chilies 1 tsp. chili powder 1/2 tsp. garlic powder 1/4 tsp. cumin shredded cheese tortilla chips What To Do: 1.  In a large skillet, saute cabbage, onion, and red pepper in oil for five minutes. 2.  Sprinkle with sugar. 3.  Stir in beans, salsa, chilies, chili powder, garlic powder, and cumin. 4.  Bring to a boil (sort of-it's not a liquid though), reduce heat, cover and simmer...

“And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?” Deut. 10:12 If there is an example of someone whose life exemplified service, it is Mother Teresa. For 45 years she ministered to the sick, destitute, and unlovely. She went to the people no one else would care about or even touch—the homeless, the naked, the blind, the leper. She said regarding life and serving,  "Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls."  "People who love each other fully and truly are the happiest people in the world. They may have little, they may have nothing, but they are happy people. Everything depends on how we love one another."  “It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.” “Love to be real, it must cost—it mus...

I've been sharing lessons on the heart with a group of ladies from our church.  Perhaps you would be interested in following along.  Today I'm going to post the study guide for the lesson on the Servant's Heart.  I will post that lesson on Wednesday.  I invite you to work through the study guide or perhaps even use it for a woman's Bible study of your own.  Christ offered his salvation freely to me, and I freely offer these to you for use in spreading the good news.  I just ask that you do not take the material and use it for your own personal gain.  It is copyrighted through my blog.  (Note:  I will be back with Money Saving Monday next week.)  Jesus is our prime example of servanthood.  A close look at his life will teach us all about having a servant's heart. Who did Jesus serve? How did Jesus serve? (Just a few examples.) Mark 1:29-34 Mark 7:24-30 Mark 8:1-8 Mark 10:13-16 John 8:3-11; Luke 7:36-...

 What You Need: 2 small yellow squash 2 small zucchini squash 1 large red bell pepper 6 mushrooms 1 onion 2 T. olive oil 1 t. poultry seasoning salt to taste What to Do: 1.  Chop all vegetables into bite size pieces. 2.  Heat oil in large skillet. 3.  Add chopped vegetables. 4.  Add seasonings. 5.  Saute in oil until desired tenderness. 6. Serve.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5,6 Is my heart safe in His hands?  (freedigitalphotos.net) Troy was nearly eight when he came to our home.  He had some trust issues.  He outright did not believe me when I would tell him something—but he especially didn't believe me when I said, “I love you.”  Troy had been through five foster homes in two and a half years.  On top of that he had been devastated when his own parents were unable to keep their promise to him that they would bring him back home.  In two of the foster homes, he had been told they loved him and wanted to adopt him, but then things changed.  One of them went so far as to tell him they wanted Mikey and Amber but not him.  Neither of the homes were able to keep their word because of allegations of abuse.  Troy had no confidence in people ...