Off to Camp for the Weekend!!

We have some friends that own 40 acres in Tumalo, which is just at the north end of Bend. Every July, for the past 5 years now, thay host "Camp Dwight". It is a place of awesome fellowship with many, many like minded people, good music, some great speakers and great food!! It is so nice and refreshing, I come home charged

and ready to go.

The amazing thing is, there is no charge for this camp!! We do not stay there, we are close enough to come home at night. They have many volunteers working the week before to help pull things together. The first year there were about 100 at camp, last year there were almost 500!!!!! This year I helped my friend out by planting some flowers

in pots for her.

She supplied a variety of buckets, teakettles, baskets.......and I planted them. These will go on the tables where we eat and around camp................
My husband also helped out...............he made these amazing tables for carpet ball games. He made four of them, some how you have a person with pool balls at each end and you roll the balls trying to knock the other persons somewhere.....I will have

to watch and see!
This huge room you see is the barn. I think it was meant to be an indoor arena.....the first year of camp we had cedar chips down...which was fine:).........but the next year he had it all cemented!! That is where they set up chairs and we have speakers tonight and Saturday and Sunday morning.....afternoons are set aside for family fun freetime, Saturday night there is the best talent show you ever saw!!
Later I will post some pictures of our time at Camp............relaxing and recooping!!!

Again.......we are thankful for the blessings of friends!!

Friends..........

Our daughter left for England June 2nd....she was our last one home, so our home feels very empty sometimes. My husband and I are enjoying time together, but there is an adjustment when that last child is gone.............

One of her friends is taking very good care of us while she is gone. Her and her mom have come over just about every week for the past few weeks for dinner and movie night. Tonight we ended up playing spoons instead.......

a bit of a riot!!

We ate on the front porch where it is nice and cool. The menu was Tamale Pie, Cool Tossed Salad, Chips and Salsa........which they make and sell

right here in Bend!!

Then of course we cannot forget desert. I am so happy to have this fun cake pan of my mothers.....

Mmmmm......Strawberry Banana Cake. Betty Crockers Banana Cake, I used honey and part whole wheat flour, topped with Whipped Cream sweetened with honey and Strawberries.

To top it all off with dinner and desert, a nice pitcher of iced tea! I experimented with 3 different teas, kind of cleaning out my stash. ;) One tea ball is Lavender Tea, one is Cinnamon Spice, 2 Harney and Sons "Floral Boquet" and a sprig of Mint from the garden. Wow! That's a loaded tea!! It was a hit! They thought we should bottle it and sell it. :D

We are very thankful for good friends and good times...................

Time, Children, Helping.........

Just a quick look at that Time Management list.........look at # 9, 10 and 11.

When we were homeschooling we turned the sound of our phone off and let the answering machine take the calls. I would check it every once in awhile to be sure it was not urgent, but would usually wait to return calls during lunch or later in the day....when you homeschool, people do understand. Still today, I do not like to let the telephone run my day, I often let it go to the answering machine if I am in the middle of something. The telephone is a huge time management issue.

I mentioned earlier about letting children help, and a quick pick up before bed works great. Even if it doesn't complete the job, it is better than it was. Even if you miss a night or two, pick it up again the next night....

My 22 year old daughter is in England on a mission trip right now, but she helps around the house alot. She loves to do the laundry and does not even let me touch it. So, when she left I thought I might have more free time and so did my friends. Truth of the matter is I have less free time since I have to do her chores and mine now!! :)

Pondering our words............

Proverbs 16:23 says.....
"The heart of the wise teacheth his mouth, and addeth learning to his lips."

or another version says it this way.........

"From a wise mind comes careful and persuasive speech."

Going backwards up the list......the last point yesterday said, "be quiet".........if we are tired. Hmmmm, not always easy is it?

I have always compared the above verse to thought out, meditated words. Not just saying the first thing that pops into our minds all the time....pondering..........
purposing to think through what we are about to say..........

practicing careful speech.

Then, we will not have to go back and

fix it later..... :)

More than once the Bible tells us to speak kind words.......loving, encouraging, helping to build up each other..........even in our families.

"Pleasant (kind) words are as a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and health to the bones."

Proverbs 16:24

Idea: I know many families already do this, but have you ever tried reading Proverbs every day? There is a chapter for every day of the month......I still like to read it on my own and just pick out a couple things to take with me through a day. It is my opinion, that if Proverbs was all I had for instruction, I would know how to behave in any situation. Of course, we would still need other accounts for salvation, etc., but Proverbs is jam packed with advice and

rules for everyday living.

Only God's way can make everything right in the end......

"Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands." Proverbs 14:1

"A wholesome tongue is a tree of life: but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit" or another translation puts it....."Gentle words cause life and health; griping brings discouragement." Proverbs 15:4

Plucketh - In Strongs this word is described as to pull down, break, destroy, beat down, overthrow, ruin..........

In the dictionary it says - pick, pull off, pull up....as in "tearing up a flower", just pulling it out by the roots.

House - referring more to family but also can be an "inside" place or home.

How many ways might we be destroying our families and homes on a daily basis? Do we build our husbands and children up or do we tear them down? Do we cause them to be discouraged by complaining? Are we so unorganized we are constantly busy trying to catch up and have no time for them? Are we willing to love them as Jesus Christ would have us love them?

Think about it.............most of us as mothers have a natural instinct to love our children, that comes naturally as far as caring for them and protecting them. But what about what is right for a child from God's perspective? That does not always come naturally. That love has to think first, then act in line with what we know is Biblical truth. The outcome being a more long range result. It is choosing what we know God says is right, not just going by what we think is right from our natural instinct. This is the love talked about in Titus 2, "teach them to love their children". In not doing so, are we by chance "tearing our house down"?

This kind of love must be learned!

There are many ways to make things work better for us at home, which often makes everyone happier and helps us in "building our house". Do your children help you around the house. They all can and should learn the responsibility of having to make a home run smoothly. I had a friend, who had 10 children, all homeschooled......as soon as the youngest could reach the bottom rack of the dishwasher it was their job to empty the dishwasher and just put them on the table. They were learning to help and they enjoyed it. I really think whether or not our children enjoy work is how they see us handle it. :)

There are many things I hope to share with you on this blog. Simple recipes, make ahead recipes for the freezer, making money by saving money, canning, many things that over the years have helped me be able to stay home. We have done without some luxuries, and cut back in areas that some people are just not willing to do...........but I have been home and able to care for my family. And, my children did not feel deprived or without....we had fun and they enjoyed life to the fullest!! I guess, I looked at it as "my childrens lives depended on it"....I did work out of the home when we first got married and I cannot imagine how I could have done that, raised children and kept my home. Some do, and do it well, it just was not what God has for all of us, so this is to encourage those who are home.

Now, in this new season of life, I have a bit more free time. I still choose to be home. I try to be more creative about how to help make money to make ends meet. Selling things in my Etsy shop, Prairie Day Camp in the front yard for homeschoolers, Keeper at Home classes in my home, where girls come and learn cooking and sewing or other hand skills. That way, it is income and I am putting into peoples lives.

Just to touch on one possible cause of "tearing our house down".......a few ideas I ran across recently in a very old magazine.....

Time Management Helps

1. Seek God and pray over your goals.
2. Do the worst things first.
3. Learn to say no!!!
4. Get rid of clutter.
5. Don't pile it, file it!!
6. Eliminate unproductive activities.
7. Make a list and stick to your list.
8. Rise early!
9. Get an answering machine or take your phone off the hook.
10. Include your family.
11. For housecleaning, each night have a 10 minute pick up before bed.
12. When you are feeling very discouraged, depressed, tired, and like lashing out in the evenings, you are probably tired............a good time to be quiet so we do not "tear down" all we have done in our day.

Of course, there is much to say about each of these points, perhaps another time.

Consider this.............

A look at Titus 2............
"The aged women likewise, that they be in behavior as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; that they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children...........................
to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed."

At the end of Titus 2:5, it says...."that the word of God be not blasphemed."

Have you EVER thought about what that means?!?!?!?! The day my heart got a grip on that, I realized what a position I held and what a responsibility I had to uphold God's word. Most often I think we read those verses, skimming over them, maybe thinking....."yeah, yeah, love my husband... ok........... childen..... ok......." and on we go, never focusing on the ending or the consequence if we do not do these things. What are we, as Christian women, saying to a watching world?

Just ponder this for a moment...........

Blaspheme - to speak out with abuse or contempt. (hmmmm, could possibly just our actions be doing this very thing??)

Blasphemy - abuse or contempt for God or sacred things. (ouch!!)

Abuse - make bad use of, use wrongly, abuse a privilege.

Contempt - despising, feeling that a person or act is mean and low. In law - open disobedience to the order of a court.

I would say this is not something to be taken lightly. What are we saying to the world, to those around us, to our families?

I do know this....contentment, true contentment lies in abandoned obedience to God. When we cannot even do what he tells us to do in his Holy Word, we will not be TRULY happy or content.