Lilla Rose Sale!

Hi Everyone!

Just wanted to take a minute and let everybody know about a great sale one of my favorite companies is having tomorrow--December 26, 2013.

Lilla Rose is a company that sells absolutely beautiful hair clips, bobby pins, headbands, etc.  But the important thing to me is not ONLY that I LOVE how pretty their things are--for my daughter and myself, the real clincher is that the Lilla Rose hair items hold our hair without hurting or pulling our hair!

I first discovered the Lilla Rose company this past October, after looking in stores for months for new hair items that were pretty and coming up with nothing.  After placing my first order, I waited to see how much I would REALLY like the clips I had ordered.  Well, it took me one day--actually, I would say within the first five minutes of trying one of the Lilla Rose clips in my hair I knew I liked it, but by the end of that first day I also knew they held my very fine textured hair super well.  I loved the clips SO much, that before long I signed up to be an independant Lilla Rose consultant--I told you I loved them! :)  And while I have extra fine hair, the clips come in different sizes to hold ALL types of hair, so no matter if you have short fine hair or long thick curly hair, there is a size that will work great in your hair too!  On the web site is a fantastic sizing video that helps so much in knowing what size clip will work in your hair.  When I was placing my first order, I watched this video first and was able to pick immediately the correct clip size for my hair.

Anyway, tomorrow--December 26, 2013, they are having a 24 hour only sale.  (All times are Pacific Time.) Details are 15% off new styles, 10% off everything else, and FREE shipping on orders over $26. Also, no backorders will be permitted during this sale. To me, just the free shipping alone makes it a great sale!  So if you are like me, and wanting something that will hold your hair well, be comfortable, AND be absolutely lovely, I would highly encourage you to check out my Lilla Rose web site!  The link to my site is:  www.lillarose.biz/SusansSpot.

If you like the Lilla Rose items you see, I would really appreciate it if you would share my web site link with your friends.  And remember, the sale is for on the 26th only--so if you are reading this on the evening of the 25th, go to my site and look around but the sale prices will not show until December 26.

The above picture is just one I took real quick tonight of my own personal Lilla Rose clips.  It is not a professional picture by any means, and in "real life" these clips are much prettier than they appear--but I did want to give you some idea of what these hair clips look like.  So if this is something interesting to you, go look at the web site and have fun!

~Susan

Adventist Heritage Tour: From the Cradle to the Grave

Hi Everyone!

Above is the main video, of my son Austin visiting the birthplace of Uriah and Annie Smith, two of Seventh-Day Adventism's youthful pioneers. They go on to visit the grave of Annie, and hear some fascinating stories from Elder Jim Nix of the White Estate. Below is some extra footage from the Annie Smith grave.

Shot on location in New Hampshire!



Hope you have enjoyed these videos!  I STILL wish I could have gone along with him on his trip, but have to admit this IS the next best thing!

Happy Sabbath Everyone!

~Susan

Hands-on Math: It's for Everyone!

Hands-on math.  Just the term itself instantly makes one think of kindergarten students playing with blocks as they add one block with another block.  And this is good--kindergarten level students SHOULD be using blocks (and rocks, matchbox cars, plastic toys, etc.) to help them learn how to add.  But far too often parents and teachers fall into the trap of putting away the "messy" math manipulatives way too quickly, exchanging them instead for neatly bound math workbooks with hundreds of spaces for our students to fill in.  Upon finishing all the problems, we feel like they have "done the grade."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Keep reading!  This entire article is featured as a guest post over at http://sdahomeschools.com/hands-on-math-its-for-everyone/ today!  Learn why we should keep hands-on math in our home schools, and gather some ideas of how to do it.  Share YOUR great ideas for hands-on math projects in the comments! :)

~Susan

Adventist Heritage Tour: Old Sturbridge Village

For those of you who would like to have the opportunity to tour Old Sturbridge Village, come along with Austin as he shares this next stop on his Adventist Heritage Tour!

Enjoy!

~Susan

A Blizzard of Kindness

 Hi Everyone!

Thought I might share a quick idea today that we are currently doing in our homeschool.  As many homeschoolers did, the month of November found us putting leaves up on a "Thankful Tree."  I had a brown construction paper tree trunk, and cut many different colored fall leaves which we attached to the trunk with pins on our felt board.  Anyone in the family could up a leaf up, though it was mostly my daughter and I.

This activity worked great, and my daughter had a blast not only placing leaves on our "tree," but also creating a huge pile of leaves underneath the tree.  I liked that it was encouraging her to count her blessings--instead of the all to easy complaining.

SO--I really hated to take it down, but it was time.  After a while ideas sort of lose their effectiveness anyway, and it is time for something new.  While pondering what in the world I could do to carry this idea forward, I thought of making a winter time snowman, and letting my daughter put up snowflakes.  But just to keep things fresh, I decided to put a little change to things.  Instead of writing what we are thankful for on each snowflake, we are instead putting up a snowflake when we have done something for someone else that was an act of kindness.

I was hoping this would ensure that we were not just simply writing down the same "thankful" things over and over without giving it much thought.
The conditions for being able to put up a snowflake are this:  1)  if it's your regular job, such as making your own bed, that doesn't count  2) if you are asked to do it, it doesn't count--but lots of things "count" if you see that the job needs doing and do it on your own before being asked.  :)

We have only been doing this a day or two, but so far I am loving it!  I decided to have my daughter write briefly on each snowflake what the kind act was--she HAS to be brief, because there isn't much room on them, especially the small ones!  Therefore, phrases are definitely "in," not complete sentences.  This morning I entered the kitchen to find the counters cleared, the dishwasher emptied, and the dirty dishes loaded into the dishwasher!  Yes! :)  She probably would have been asked to do those jobs after breakfast time anyway, but it is a whole lot more fun for her if she is being able to "make it snow" on top of our snowman, and I like that it is helping her to look around and think about what she can do to help in any given situation.  And to help keep it fun, I am also looking around to see what I can do that is not in my "regular" jobs.  Sometimes for a mom, that isn't easy to find, because we "regularly" do pretty much everything!  But I did loan my daughter my scarf last night, so when we returned home up went a snowflake for me with the words "loaned scarf" written on it!

Nitty gritty--My felt board is a piece of plywood purchased at Lowes and cut a tiny bit smaller there at the store.  I covered it with felt from JoAnn's Fabrics, and simply glued the felt on with Alene's tacky glue.  It is not mounted, but simply sits and leans against the wall in our classroom corner of our living room.  Usually I attach things to the board using straight pins, though large posters and such I hang from the top using binder clips.  My snowman we actually painted on a huge piece of manila paper that I had laying around leftover from a stack I bought years ago to homeschool big brother.  When the paint dried, I cut the snowman out and made the rest of the snowman accessories out of construction paper and glued or pined them on.  The snowflakes themselves I cut out using an Ellison machine at our local college Teachers Material Center.  I realize most people do not have access to an Ellison machine, so I would recommend looking at a Dollar Tree store or some other place for a snowflake shape if you want to try this--or better yet, a teacher store such as Schoolbox.  And if all else fails, set your kids up with paper and scissors and have them cut you a stack of them!

Hope this has helped spark some ideas for you!  Feel free to leave me ideas of what YOU are doing in your homeschools in the comments.  January will be coming, and I am going to have to think of something new to do for then!

~Susan

 

Adventist Heritage Tour: Joseph Bates' Boyhood Home

Hi Everyone!

For those of you who are waiting for the next video in Austin's Adventist Heritage Video Tour, well pull up a chair because here for your watching entertainment is part 2! :)

Enjoy!
~Susan

Adventist Heritage Tour: "What's the News, Captain Bates?"

Hi Everyone!

As promised a few days ago, here is the first part of my son's Adventist Heritage Tour film.  I really hope you enjoy it as much as I did.  I STILL wish I could have jumped on that big bus and gone on the tour with him, but did not have a place to leave our little one.  Oh well!  Maybe when SHE gets to college and takes the same tour, I will go with her! :)  Anyway, I hope you enjoy watching.  The video camera picked up the wind quite a bit which is too bad, but overall it is still very "listenable."

Part 2 coming up next week! :)

Happy Sabbath!

~Susan

Adventist Heritage Tour: the Trailer

Hi Everyone!

Last month our son, Austin, had a chance to travel with a group from his college and tour some very special places in the New England states.  We ALL wished we could have gone on the trip with him, but alas--that was not practical for our family.  But the next best thing was hearing about everything once Austin was back--AND seeing his films and pictures.

SO--if YOU have ever wished you could take a tour like this, come along with Austin as he shares his experiences via video.  Here today is the trailer for his trip--coming up soon will be Part 1!

Hope you enjoy!

~Susan

Walnut Raisin Bread

Hi Everyone!

I thought I would share with you real quick a yummy, healthy treat that we are enjoying this week.  :) It is what I call Walnut Raisin Bread.  Now, I like sweet rolls just as much as anyone else--but I do NOT consider them healthy enough to be a breakfast meal for either myself or my family!  But my Walnut Raisin Bread, well, I put that in an entirely different catagory!  It is real simple to do--one of those foods that you don't really need a recipe for, but sometimes if we do not write it down in a recipe format we kind of forget to make it.

So I thought I would just sort of remind you of doing this type of thing here--just to get your creative juices flowing!  All you have to do is make up a batch of your favorite bread dough--any kind.  If your family only eats bread with white flour, use that--but consider making it a bit healthier by substituting some of the white flour with whole wheat flour in this recipe.  I promise your family will devour this bread whole wheat or no whole wheat, so it is a good chance if you are trying to change taste buds just a bit to find whole wheat more acceptable.  For myself, I will make my bread dough with 100% whole wheat, but I do use the white whole wheat flour that my Walmart store is carrying now.  This is still all whole wheat, but is from a white wheat grain, so makes a lighter color and a bit lighter texture bread.

ANYWAY, so mix up your favorite bread dough recipe.  Once you are at the point in your recipe where you are going to shape the dough and put it in the pans, before you do that roll out your bread dough on the counter and spread a thin layer of applesauce on it.  Then sprinkle away with raisins and chopped walnuts.  You can add cinnamon at this point if you want to, or corriander, or even fresh orange zest (YUM!).  Sometimes I will put on a little sprinkle of brown sugar--just a touch, because I am still trying to keep this a "regular" food and not a "dessert" food!  Once you are done doctoring up your bread dough, roll it up, pinch your seam closed, and place in your bread pan.  Bake it following the times and temperature that your bread recipe calls for.

Once your bread is cool, slice it carefully and toast for breakfast!  I use a toaster oven, which is easier to keep my bread from falling apart when you have swirls in it like this bread does.  Yummy!  For me, this is just as yummy as a sweet roll, but I can eat it for breakfast and feel like I am getting some real nutrition when I eat it.

Hope you enjoy this bread as much as I do! One loaf of this in my house is gone in one meal, so if you are making it you might want to consider making more than one!

~Susan

Visiting Oak Hill Cemetery

Hi Everyone!
I hope many of you have been enjoying my Historic Adventist Village series that my son Austin created!  Last week I posted the last of his films on the Village itself, but before we left Battle creek we did have to make just ONE more little stop!  So here you have it--a visit to Oak Hill Cemetary in Battle Creek, Michigan.  Hummm, I wonder if any interesting people are buried here???

Well, come along with us and find out!

~Susan

Touring the Historic Adventist Village, Part 5

Happy Sabbath Everyone!

For those of you who have been following Austin's video tour through Historic Adventist Village, here is part 5 and the final part of the video at the village.  I am so glad to hear from so many of you that you are enjoying watching this series.  Our family loves to go to places like this, and Austin loves to film and share that experience with others who may never be able to visit these historically significant sites.

~Susan

Introducing "Happy Herbivore Light & Lean!"

Hi Everyone!

Well, as I promised earlier in the week, here are the interview questions that I asked Lindsay and her replies. . . I hope you find something interesting and helpful to you!  Also, just to tempt your taste-buds just a little bit, I have been given permission to post for you one of Lindsay's new recipes that appears in "Happy Herbivore Light & Lean."  I was actually given a short list of recipes that I could choose from--but I could only chose ONE to share with you here.  SO, if you like this one, you just may have to go order yourself a copy of the whole book! :)  As I looked over the title of my recipe options, I decided to choose the "Meatloaf Bites," because--well--because Meatloaf seems the craziest thing to make WITHOUT MEAT, know what I mean???  Anyway, I haven't made this recipe myself yet, but I am planning on it!  And if it is anything like the recipes in the past three Happy Herbivore books, I know I will LOVE it! :)  And now, onto the interview!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Susan:  I have heard that apples are a food that you should buy organic since the chemicals they are sprayed with accumulate in the peeling.  If a person cannot afford to buy organic produce, is it better for them to just not eat the peel?  The peeling has a lot of nutrition, but would it be more hazardous than helpful in this case?

Lindsay:  I'm not a scientist, nutritionist or other expert so I can't really say much except I think it's far better to eat a conventional apple than an organic potato chip. Don't get me wrong, I think organic is great, but if you don't have access to organics, or you can't afford them, that's okay. Just focus on eating plant foods. That's more important. Do the best you can.

Susan:  My daughter and I fell in love with the Banana Ice Cream Breakfast from the menu plan, and sometimes she asks for it every single day.  I am happy to make it for her, but sometimes I worry that maybe we are over doing it with eating so many bananas (the two of us end up eating around five frozen bananas when I make this, so 2 1/2 each).  Sometimes after we have eaten the Banana Ice Cream for breakfast, she will also ask for a banana based smoothie for desert at lunch time.  Should the daily/weekly number of fruits be limited to avoid raising your triglycerides?

Lindsay:   I'm thrilled to hear the meal plans are a hit with your daughter! Woot! That said, I'm not a nutritionist, or a doctor, so I can't say much. However, in my personal opinion, I think it's far better she's addicted to bananas than PopTarts. Variety is great, but I wouldn't obsess over it. Most kids are picky and go through phases with foods. They'll eat blueberry muffins nonstop and then never eat them again. It's just kids being kids ;) If you can get in some more variety, great, but unless your doctor is worried, I wouldn't be worried that a child loves a fruit :)  

Susan:  Sometimes my husband who is a teacher has literally 15 minutes to eat lunch between one class ending and the next beginning.    

He does not have time to eat a "real" meal, but could eat a small snack type food.  We want to avoid the typical potato chip route, but need something already prepared that is just as quick to grab--any suggestions?

Lindsay:  Sandwiches, muffins, precut vegetables, fruit, beans and rice, soup in a thermos, any of the lunches on the meal plan (getmealplans.com) since they're all made ahead and ready-to-eat. 

Susan:   I make my own bread with 100% whole wheat and leave out all oil, but I have heard that even bread made this way is not really a "whole food."  I have wondered why, since all the fiber from the grain is still remaining.  Any thoughts on bread/pancakes/crackers/etc.?  If they are whole grain and oil free, are they something we can eat a lot of or should we still be limiting them a bit?

Lindsay:   I look at things on a sliding scale. Yes, there is no such thing as a whole-wheat bread tree. Whole-wheat bread is not a whole food in the sense that broccoli is a whole food. Whole-wheat bread, or more specifically, the whole wheat flour used to make the bread, is a broken down grain. It's a very concentrated source of calories. Yes, homemade, 100% whole-wheat bread made without oil is light years healthier than the junky white bread at the store with a million ingredients you can't pronounce, but it's still not as whole as, say, an apple, or brown rice.

        I tell my clients to eat as many whole, unprocessed plant foods as possible. Really stick to whole grains like brown rice, beans, lentils, fruits and vegetables. Broken grains like whole-wheat bread or even whole-wheat pasta are fine as long as they accent the diet, but they should not be a staple, and they should be a small serving with a big serving of other whole foods. For example with the pasta, have a little bit of pasta mixed with a ton of vegetables, not just a big bowl of pasta.

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Meatloaf Bites from "Happy Herbivore Light & Lean"
by Lindsay Nixon

Makes 8

Gluten-free, Quick, Budget

One afternoon I grabbed what I thought was corn from the freezer but later realized it was mixed vegetables. Once they thawed on the counter I knew they weren’t going back in, so I looked for a new, inventive way to use them. A can of kidney beans started calling, and before I knew it I had a vegetable-filled meatloaf in the oven. Since this meatloaf is baked in a muffin tin (great for serving sizes and portion control), I call it meatloaf “bites” and, yes, leftovers are great as a burger!

1 15-oz can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp Italian seasoning
1 tbsp chili powder (add another 1 tsp if you like it spicy)
3 tbsp ketchup
2 tbsp mustard
1 tbsp Vegan Worcestershire Sauce (recipe in full cookbook)
1 c frozen mixed vegetables, thawed
6 tbsp instant oats

Preheat oven to 350˚F. Line a muffin tin with paper liners or use nonstick. Mash beans in a bowl with
fork or potato masher until well mashed. Add remaining ingredients, except oats, and stir to combine.
Stir in oats. Spoon into muffin tin and pack down. Bake for 20 minutes until crisp on the outside and
fairly firm to the touch (firms a bit as it cools). Serve with ketchup, Quick Gravy (pg. 188), etc.

Per Bite
Calories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Fat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.7g
Carbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.9g
Fiber. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6.5g
Sugars. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3g
Protein. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5.8g
WW Points. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

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Hope you all have enjoyed this little interview and the new recipe!  Truly Lindsay's recipes have been such a blessing in my own life--I hope they are a help to you as well!

~Susan

It's Coming! Happy Herbivore Light & Lean Blog Tour!

Hi Everyone!

I have some VERY exciting news to share with all of you!  If any of you hang around me in "real life," and the topic of conversation turns to food and recipes you will soon realize that I am a huge fan of Lindsay Nixon--a.k.a. "The Happy Herbivore."

I first "discovered" Lindsay almost exactly a year ago.  I had read over that summer the excellent book called "The China Study" and became convinced that I really needed to pay better attention to the food I was eating and what I was feeding my family.  I was already a vegetarian, and even around 99% vegan--so "thought" I was doing pretty good.  Well, after reading "The China Study," I realized that I was wrong and that there were quite a few areas of my eating and cooking that should be cleaned up--and we would all be happier and healthier if I did.

WELL, being convinced that you need to stop eating some things is good.  But that still leaves you with a big hole of what you WILL be eating if you are not eating what you used to eat!  After much searching, I ran across Lindsay's web site The Happy Herbivore (www.happyherbivore.com).  I was super excited to see that she was creating yummy recipes that were all using whole foods and NOT using dairy, oil, and other things I did not want to put into my body or into my family.  I immediately purchased her (then) two books "The Happy Herbivore" and "Everyday Happy Herbivore."  When they arrived, my daughter and I started putting little sticky notes on the pages with recipes that we especially wanted to try.  Let's just say my two books were soon looking like porky pines with all the notes sticking out all over! :)  And within trying just a couple of the recipes, I knew that these books were going to be the basis of my cooking every single day!

Then last December Lindsay came out with her new book--"Happy Herbivore Abroad," which I immediately bought.  Merry Christmas to me!  I am not naturally an adventuresome person when it comes to food--I want to eat whatever is plain old "normal" to me.  But this book featuring recipes from around the world (of course tweaked by Lindsay to be healthy!) is convincing me there are a lot of great new flavors out there just waiting to be discovered!

And now--even more exciting--is this December a new "Happy Herbivore" cookbook is coming out!  This one--as the title of this post says, is  "Happy Hervibore Light & Lean."  I have heard that not only is this book filled with great healthy recipes, but that it also has some great workouts to help you on your wellness journey.  Let's just say I pre-ordered my copy from Amazon almost as soon as I first heard about it!  And while the official release date is in December, I have heard rumored that pre-orders may actually be shipped in November. . . no promises, but that is what I have heard--and last year when I pre-ordered "Happy Herbivore Abroad" I did receive it early. . .

When I had a chance to sign up and be part of the pre-release Blog Tour and be able to ask Lindsay several questions about healthy eating, I jumped at the chance.  SO--stay tuned--my interview questions for Lindsay AND a sneak peak of a new recipe from her new book "Happy Herbivore Light & Lean" is coming up on my blog here this weekend!

See you then!

~Susan

P.S.--Are you wondering exactly what "good" changing my eating and using Lindsay's recipes have done for me over the past year???  In the past year I have dropped 25 pounds, all while I was feasting on tons of great tasting, wholesome, healthy food!  I can honestly say I have never EVER been hungry, I eat as much as I want, and I never want to go back to the SAD Standard American Diet again!

Touring the Historic Adventist Village, Part 4

Hi Everyone!

Wow this week has flown by!  Somehow I keep thinking that as soon as I am finished with ____ then my life will slow down.  But you know, we get through whatever it was that was extra going on, and something else always moves in to take it's place!  Oh well!  Guess that is just a reminder to me to start each day out with Jesus, because the rest of the day is going to be one non-stop wave of things coming at me!

I hope you have been enjoying the little tour of Historic Adventist Village that my son filmed.  Here is part 4!  One more part coming up next week! :)

Happy Sabbath!

~Susan

Tea Towel Apron

Hi Everyone!

Thought I would share a little project that some friends and I worked on over the weekend.  We each made a simple apron made out of a tea towel, and I am enjoying it so very much already.  We really did have a good "reason" to make these--this is a project that our local college is going to be doing over our soon coming alumni weekend, so whatever ladies (or gentlemen!) are interested, they can sign up and come to our location to have a little sewing project.  My good friend Judy is in charge of this project every year, and she is always on the look out for a nice, simple project--and it needs to be able to be completed in one day.

Anyway, the project she found for this year is a Tea Towel Apron, which I am at this point totally in love with.  Of course, I am an "apron person" anyway--probably because I am a messy person!  I can't say I got this from my mom--I have never seen my mom wear an apron in her life, though I suppose she may have at some point.  Maybe it's because she is a nurse and I am a teacher.  Maybe nurses are neat, and teachers are messy. . . not sure, but whatever the reason, I LOVE aprons and cannot hardly stand to do anything in my kitchen unless I am wearing one.  

So back to making one.  Since some of the ladies (and gentlemen) who come to the alumni Fiber Arts time have sometimes been completely new at any type of sewing, Judy had the good idea to run through the Tea Towel Apron-making with a couple of her local friends, on the condition that we would help her be "teachers" for the alumni who came for the Fiber Arts time.  SURE!  It sounded fun, I was planning on going to the alumni weekend anyway, and what are friends for?!

So here you have it--photos from my little apron making time, and the beautiful models showing off their new aprons at the end!

Tea Towel Apron

 You will need one large tea towel, and 1/2 yard of coordinating fabric.

Apron Instructions:
1.  Fold towel in half lengthwise, iron fold, and open.  If ironed crease is not easy to see, mark it by sticking a pin at the crease line.

2.  On both sides of the fold or pin, mark at 5 1/2 inches and at 4 inches from center.

3.  Now you are going to measure on the long sides of your tea towel.  Starting from the top corner, measure and mark at 5/1/2 and 8 1/2 inches.  Take a ruler and a chalk pencil, and draw a slanted line connecting your 5 1/2 inch mark on the side with the 5 1/2 inch mark on the top.  Do the same connecting your 8 1/2 inch mark with the 4 inch mark.  This is harder to put into words than it is to do!

4.  Fold and press on the inner most chalk line, and cut off the extra fabric corner by cutting on the outer most chalk line.  Then turn under the edge where you cut by 1/2 inch and press.  You are creating the casing where the apron ties will go.

5.  Top stitch edge, back stitching at both ends.  Repeat on the other corner.  The above picture shows the apron at this step.

6.  From the 1/2 yard of fabric cut 3 strips 3 inches by width of fabric.  Cut only 2 strips if you want shorter ties if you are a skinny minny--(ahem, I am NOT a skinny minny) or if you are making the apron for a child.  If you want to be able to cross the ties in the back and bring them around to the front to tie, you might want to add in one extra strip.  With the width of my fabric, I "can" tie it in front if I want, but some of the other fabrics made ties with a little extra for front-tying.

7.  Sew tie strips together, end to end.

8.  Fold in half lengthwise and press.

9.  Open and fold in half each long side to center crease, press and pin.

10.  Fold in each end, press, and pin.

11.  Top stitch along all four edges of the tie--above picture shows this point.

12.  Take your completed apron tie--this will be huge, because it is one complete tie that goes up to include the neck strap and then down the other side--and poke it through the apron casings, centering it evenly along both sides.  You might find putting a safety pin on the end helps to pull it through the casings.  Adjust the neck loop to sit how you like it.  Most of the ladies left it like this at this point.  I, personally, do not like it if the straps change on me, so I choose to sew a little spot on the casing, tacking the ties to that specific spot.  Other people like the flexibility of the apron being able to adjust to the person wearing it.  Just do whichever you prefer.  :)

Optional Pocket Instructions

1.  From the 1/2 yard fabric, cut 2 8x16 inch rectangles.

2.  With right sides of fabric facing, stitch all around rectangles leaving about 4 inches open for turning.

3.  Trim corners, turn, and press.

4.  Top stitch top edge of pocket--this is one of the long sides of your rectangle.

5.  Center pocket on apron or as desired, and pin in place.

6.  Top stitch sides and bottom of pocket, which will sew the pocket onto the apron at the same time as well as stitch closed the 4 inch spot you left open for turning.  Make sure you have that spot turned in and pressed before sewing, so your sewing will catch and close the turning spot.

7.  Stitch either a center line along the middle of the apron pocket, dividing the pocket into two pockets, or stitch two lines dividing your pocket into three smaller pockets, whichever you prefer.  My pocket was wider, so I stitched it into three pockets, while Judy's pocket was smaller so hers is stitched into two pockets.

Grab your apron and put it on, snagging a close by friend to take your picture.  Don't Judy and I look great?!  You can see her apron tied in the front, while I left mine tied in the back.

More beautiful models--Lorraine and Arlene.  What fun and laughter we had that day, over the silliest things while making these tea towel aprons!  Trust me--these ladies are a HOOT!  I just love spending time with them!
Hope you are inspired now to go make your own apron! :)

~Susan

Touring the Historic Adventist Village, Part 3

Hi Everyone!
I hope you are enjoying this little series!  As promised, here is part 3 of the Historic Adventist Village tour!
Enjoy!
~Susan

Touring the Historic Adventist Village, Part 2

As promised--here is part 2 of our Historic Adventist Village tour!  Hope you are enjoying joining us via video film!

~Susan

Happy Sabbath!

Happy Sabbath Everyone!

How can another week have flown by so fast?  I have so many things on my "to do" list that never even got touched, let alone completed.  In fact, as I take just a minute now to reflect on my week, I find myself hard pressed to even remember ANYTHING that I did do this week!  But I am tired, so I know whatever it was I was doing, I must have done a lot of it! ;)

But that right there is something I am SO thankful for.  Sabbath comes whether we got our "to do" list done or not.  It comes whether our house is clean or dirty, whether the laundry hamper is full or empty, whether my desk is piled high (it is!) or clean and organized.

Jesus looks at us and says "Stop."  Not, "Did you get all your things done?"  Our Sabbath rest is not dependent on if we "earned" it by completing our list.  It is ours because it is a gift.  Paid for by God Himself.  You can't get any higher up than that!

I am tired.  It has been a little bit stressful this week.  Sunday marked the one year anniversary of my beautiful mother-in-law passing away so unexpectedly, and my father-in-law just passed away last month so we are still adjusting to him being gone as well.  My van broke down and left me stranded,  but then of course acted just perfect when the mechanic went to look at it.  I have found myself running too much and not pausing enough.

It's time to stop.

Sabbath is here.  Deep breath in.  Out.  In.  Out.

I am SO glad it is Sabbath!

I wrote down two special thoughts in my quiet time journal this week that were especially meaningful to me this week, and I thought I would share them in case anyone else needed them this week as well.  The first one is this:

"The creative energy that called the worlds into existence is in the word of God.  This word imparts power; it begets life.  Every command is a promise; accepted by the will, received into the soul, it brings with it the life of the Infinite One.  It transforms the nature and re-creates the soul in the image of God."  Education, by E.G. White, p. 126

I need that.  Every command is a promise.  Re-creating the soul.  I need every single part.

The second quote I wrote in my journal this week was also from the book Education.  It goes like this:

"Not a pause for a moment in His presence, but personal contact with Christ, to sit down in companionship with Him--this is our need.  Happy will it be for the children of our homes and the students of our schools when parents and teachers shall learn in their own lives the precious experience pictured in these words."  Education, by E.G. White, p. 261

I need this one too--not only pausing, but sitting down.  I think since I am both a parent and a homeschooling teacher I better sit down for twice as long.  I need all the re-creating in the image of God that I can get!  I need all the rest I can get!

May you sit down this Sabbath, in companionship with Him.  I'll be there too.

~Susan

Touring the Historic Adventist Village, Part 1

Hi Everyone!

It's taken me a while to get this on here (don't have much time to blog!) but finally it has happened.  This summer, one of the activities our family was blessed to be able to do was tour Historic Adventist Village in Battle Creek, Michigan.  Some of the buildings were originally built right here--in Battle Creek, while others have been moved to this location.  A few are newly constructed in the historic style.  Anyway, my wonderful son Austin filmed the village as we went around on our tour and put his film into shorter parts so they would be easier to share.  So I thought I WOULD start sharing them--and here it is, part 1 of 5.  Hope you enjoy the tour!

~Susan

Are you resting?

Hi Everyone!

I have been thinking about rest lately.  We all get SO busy--and even though it is usually busy with all good things, it is busy none the less.  It is GOOD to be busy, to a point.  God created man for work, and people who do not have anything to do when they get up in the morning often find themselves sinking into depression if this goes on for too long.

But even though "keeping busy" can be good, it is only good to a point.  We need "busy," yes.  But we need "rest" too.  God knew what He was doing when He gave us the Sabbath every week!  Even doing "good things" on the Sabbath, and helping others can sometimes end up tiring us though.  I think that is why Jesus told us to come to Him.  The Sabbath is wonderful--and He made the Sabbath for us.  But it is only when we take the gift of the Sabbath and use it to come to Him that we are refreshed.  On Sabbath, and every single other day as well.  He is the one who carries our burdens for us.  He is the one who can guide us in what work we need to pick up--and what work to set down, that He has not asked us to do.

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."  Matthew 11:28

I will give you.  I.  It isn't something that Susan has to do.  It isn't something that Susan has to earn.  It isn't even perhaps something that Susan deserves.  But it is something He gives to Susan anyway.

Free.  A gift.

Because He loves me.

I don't want to rush around too busy to open His gift--too busy to notice or care.

No.  His gift of rest is to be savored.  Opened slowly.  Sniffed.  Smelled.  Touched.  Felt.

Have you opened His gift of rest today?  Have you spent time with Him?  If not, why not?  You will never regret that precious time together.  Savor it slowly.

~Susan

From My Journal

Hi Everyone!

I have been thinking about words today quite a bit.  It all started this morning when I read a blog post by a friend of mine about words.  Right after that, I read a quote in my quiet time reading that "happened" to be on the exact same subject--words!  Makes me think that it was NOT a coincidence!

Anyway, I have been thinking about this quote all day, and thought I would share it with you here.  I confess--it sort of makes me want to take a piece of tape and put it across my mouth, just to help keep me from using my words in the wrong way!

"Every day of Life is freighted with responsibilities which we must bear.  Every day, our words and acts are making impressions upon those with whom we associate.  How great the need that we set a watch upon our lips and guard carefully our steps!  One reckless movement, one imprudent step, and the surging waves of some strong temptation may sweep a soul into the downward path.  We cannot gather up the thoughts we have planted in human minds.  If they have been evil, we may have set in motion a train of circumstances, a tide of evil, which we are powerless to stay.

"On the other hand, if by our example we aid others in the development of good principles, we give them power to do good.  In their turn they exert the same beneficial influence over others.  Thus hundreds and thousands are helped by our unconscious influence.  The true follower of Christ strengthens the good purposes of all with whom he comes in contact.  Before an unbelieving, sin-loving world he reveals the power of God's grace and the perfection of His character."
                                                          Prophets and Kings, E.G. White, p. 348

How powerful our words are.  Out of the heart, the mouth speaks.  Create a new heart in me, O God!

~Susan

Our Homeschool Corner

Hi Everyone!

With a new school year upon us once again, I thought I would give a photo tour of my little homeschool corner in the universe.  It is not the fanciest, and not the most organized either.  But it IS where lots of love and learning take place, and it was definitely put together on a budget, so I hope it may help give others some ideas that they can use in their homeschools.  

My little homeschool area starts out like this:

Once upon a time. . . (don't you love stories that start like that?!)

I was a classroom teacher.  

When I had children of my own, and felt called to stay home and homeschool them, I always wished I had room in our house to make a "real" classroom.  Not to chain them to a desk for eight hours a day, but simply to have a space where we could leave art projects out to dry, have science projects ongoing and undisturbed, etc.  The only problem is that we never had a house large enough to devote an entire ROOM to homeschooling.

Sigh.

It's o.k.

My son managed to be educated anyway, and since he is passing his college classes currently I don't suppose the lack of a school room hindered his education.

But I still wished I had one!

Well, eleven years after our son was born, along comes little sister.

When she was three years old, we moved into a modest ranch home--

BUT

it had a basement!

At LAST, I thought!

I am going to take over part of the basement and we will finally have a REAL school room!

And we can leave our messy learning things out and about and it won't matter, because we can just leave them there and they won't be in the main living area of the house, so no one will see the mess if they come over.

But there was one little problem.

That first winter, I realized that the basement was cold.

And the upstairs was warm.

And besides that--the kitchen was upstairs, and even though it isn't my first choice, the truth is that often while I am homeschooling I am also keeping an eye on something cooking on the stove as well.

Sigh.

So I thought and pondered and pondered and thought.  And one day my husband walks in the door to discover me pushing the couch further into the living room and I stood in the newly cleared floor space and declared it our "School Room."

He looks at me and says "I always did say we live in a One-House School Room."

He's right.

We do.

 So here--behind the couch, is our "School Room."  When people walk in the front door, they walk right into it.  Do you think they will notice?  So much for hiding it and leaving our nice little learning messes laying around!  Well, the learning messes still get left around. . . it's just that now people will see them!  That's o.k.  I suppose it's a more honest way to live.  I mean, we wouldn't want them to think my house is always clean or something! ;)

 Here is our school desk behind the couch.  It is a hand me down table that I was given free from a school that was getting rid of it.  For us, it has been the MOST perfect piece of homeschool furniture.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE being able to sit next to our daughter while we do our school things together.  We each have "our side," where we keep the supplies that we each need.

I bought the chairs from Walmart, and they have worked very well.  We were a little afraid at first that the chairs moving over the carpet day in and day out might damage the carpet in that area, but we have had our school room for three years like this, and so far I cannot see any carpet damage at all.  Well, the whole house has old carpet, so no damage that wasn't already there anyway!

Our little supply caddys I found at Hobby Lobby.  I used coupons to get them even cheaper, but they were only a couple dollars to start with so the coupons brought them super inexpensive.  Mine has things like stickers that I use for grading, and we each have scissors, tape, glue sticks, rulers, etc.

We also have our own little pop up post-it note apple, which has been fun.  I was able to get these with a 100% rebate from Staples one Christmas time.  I love Staples for school supplies!  When the rebate is a store credit instead of cash, I use the credit to purchase computer ink.  I consider it a win-win situation, as I am going to purchase ink anyway, so I might as well get some other school supplies free while I'm at it!  I have been able to get not only these post-it holders, but binders, photo paper, computer paper, and other things in this same way.

Since our "desk" does not have any drawers, we use pencil holder cups.  One is filled with colored pencils, and the other is filled with Ticonderoga pencils.  We worked out a system where if a pencil is dull, we turn it over so the pointy end is down.  Then we just grab another pencil to keep working.  After a while, when we have quite a few dull pencils, we get out the electric pencil sharpener and have a sharpening party!

 These are my daugher's school drawers.  Some of the things are books that I read out loud to her, and some drawers hold work books such as math.  These labels are actually what we were needing for last school year.  This year our curriculum is a little bit different, so when I get time I will tweek a couple of the labels to better describe this year's items.  They are all held on with little velcro dots, though, so are easy enough to pull off and change.  Last year I had her pull off the drawer label and toss the label into that drawer to indicate that she had finished the work in that drawer--that worked great, as I could easily tell what she was working on if I left to work on food in the kitchen and came back later.

 These are my teacher drawers.  Again, with new curriculum this year, I do not have labels made for some of my drawers.  Sometime!  I picked up these drawers as well as the student drawers at JoAnn's on a black Friday sale, so they were MUCH less expensive than they usually are.  The teacher drawers I bought both stacks one year, and the student drawers I bought the next, and they actually are slightly different.  My teacher drawers the drawer itself is square, and my student drawers are sized more for holding a 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper.  I didn't try to get two different sizes--it's just what the store was carrying one year and the next.  I love having the drawers to hold our things--they work much better for me than a book shelf would, as many of our books are on the "floppy" side, so wouldn't stand up very well in a book shelf.  However--I will say that these drawers are very cheaply made, and if your frame sways at all off kilter, the plastic drawers will drop down.  I actually took an old cat collar I had laying around the house and used it to fasten the two drawers together, and this helped quite a bit hold up the one that was swaying off kilter.  So I would say they are not ideal, but with the sale I got them quite cheap and they do the job.  Ikea has some really nice, sturdy ones, but these will work so I am not planning on replacing them.

 Sitting here on top I have one box filled with home made file folder games (all subjects) and one box holding our binders for the unit studies and things we are doing this school year.  Remember I said my student drawers were a bit more narrow than my teacher drawers?  Well, they are just a tiny bit too narrow to hold our binders--normally I would have these in my daughter's drawers, but since they don't fit they are housed here.  It works!  The purple zebra stripe box and the yellow giraffe box I found at Ross for around $3.00.  They made me smile!

 Next to the plastic teacher drawers, I have a stack of stacking plastic bins from Walmart.  On the top, I have this plastic basket which is holding all the resources we are using for our Bible study this school year.  Well, it is holding everything except for our actual real Bibles, that is!  We are using a Bible program that I am absolutely loving, which is going through the entire Bible over the course of three years.  We have just started it a couple weeks ago, but at this point I am planning on sticking with it the entire three years.  I will have to do another post sometime showing in detail what we are using for our curriculum this year.  Below this top bin, the other bins are holding shoe boxes with our Math-U-See blocks in them, as well as magnet letters and other math manipulatives.

 Behind our desk leaning up against the wall is our felt board.  I made this from a sheet of plywood cut down to six feet in length, and felt from JoAnn's (bought with a coupon, of course!).  Everything currently on our board is hung with binder clips.  I do have a lot of actual felts, though, so it just all depends what we are currently doing what is on this board.  I love having it, and use it ALL the time.  And one nice thing is that it fits on this wall even though the front door swings open on this wall.  I couldn't fit any book cases or desks or anything bulky here, since it is a walk-way area, but this board only sticks out about four inches at the bottom, so it fits in this walk-way area just fine.  Right next to the felt board is actually the furnace closet.  I WISH I could use it for storing school supplies, but alas, the furnace does not allow me to do that.  But nothing keeps me from hanging pocket charts from the outside of the door!  Pocket charts were from the Target dollar spot--$1.00 each.  I use them for different things.  Sometimes spelling or vocab words.  Sometimes math facts that we are working on.  Sometimes cards listing the books of the Bible, and my daughter has to put them in the proper order.  Sometimes I write memory verse words on index cards and mix them up.  When she was younger, we would use them for recording the day of the week, the month, weather, etc.

 Our view from our school desk--the REAL reason we are schooling upstairs, is our wood stove!  In the winter time, we heat almost entirely with wood.  Being close by means we are nice and cozy--not to mention that I can always see when the fire needs another log tossed on it! And whenever we are going to read a story (which is often!) we just hop around the desk and head to the couch!  The sunlight is washing out the picture a bit, but we also have our large living room picture window right here, and we can see outside to the front of the house from our school room, which is nice as well.  I have some hearing loss, and have not yet chosen to wear hearing aides.  There have been times when my girlfriend has come over and knocked on my front door, and I haven't heard her! :(  Our door bell doesn't work, and if I am elsewhere in the house when someone knocks, chances are I will not hear them.  So being on the first floor and especially in the living room also means I can keep an eye on whether anyone is coming up to our house.  By the way--my girlfriend has now taken to standing on my front porch and calling me on her cell phone to tell me that she is out there!  She knows I will hear the phone ring if I do not hear her knock!

 My little "hidden" school area is these two white boards that are hung on the back side of the living room half-wall.  If I had more "real" walls surrounding my school room, I would hang these higher.  But you work with what you have, and my sweet hubby doesn't mind living in a One-House School Room, so he went ahead and hung them for me.  They are also magnetic, so we can use plastic magnetic letters on them as well.  Whenever we are doing something on these, we just plop down on the floor and grab the white board markers!  I love having them!

 If you turned directly around from the white boards, you would see this--our nondescript hall way.  Well, to the untrained eye it is "just" a hall way.  But to those who know. . .

 That coat closet door holds a plastic shoe holder on the inside of it!  This is where we keep our "extra" school supplies--glue sticks, glue, tape, markers, pencils, pens, post-its, paperclips, etc.  Whatever we may run out of over at our school desk.  I used to run down to the basement to get supplies, but having them close at hand is MUCH better!  I "wish" I could have these over the back of the furnace door closet, but safety won't let me and this coat closet is not that far away. . .it's just a little school room annex area!

 Forgot to show that on the back of the front door is a United States map. We used this all the time last school year.  This school year we are not using it quite as much, as we are studying more from a world map which is hanging on our felt board.  But until I have something we need to refer to more, I will just leave it there, as we do occasionally use it.  This map was from the Dollar Tree.

And last but not least, our little music corner just adjacent to our school desk.  The back side of the piano is where the white boards are.  On the other side of the quilt wall is the kitchen, so you can see it is within "hollering" distance for when I need to be working on food.  Our family usually eats lunch as our main meal of the day, which we like but it does often mean I am cooking and doing school at the same time.  I do have some large pull down wall maps that I was also given for free from a school that was throwing them away.  They are currently hanging in our basement, but I would LOVE to bring them up stairs. . . Just haven't figured out where to squeeze them in yet.  But I HAVE thought about hanging them behind my quilt here. . . then I could toss the quilt up when I want to pull one of the large maps down?  Just a thought!

Hope you have enjoyed this little tour of our homeschool corner.  As you can see, it has kind of evolved and sort of takes over everywhere.  But we have been blessed with freebies, inexpensive things from dollar stores, and lots of sales.  We "school" all over our house--our kitchen is our science laboratory,  our library is housed in every--single--room.  Really.  I realize I have left out our library completely, because none of our bookshelves happen to live in this school corner.  But trust me--there are twelve full size book shelves scattered around the house and basement, most of them filled with children's books bought over the years, often at thrift stores.  And this doesn't count the books that are not housed on book shelves!    But rather than showing off what "we do," I hope this has helped spark some ideas of things that YOU can do--even if you do not have a homeschool room!  

~Susan

From My Journal

Hi Everyone!

This has been a difficult week for my family.  This past Wednesday evening, my father-in-law passed away from causes due to the ALS that he has struggled with for years.  He beat the odds--he has been living with an "official" diagnosis of ALS for around eleven years.  He chose the most positive attitude I have ever seen--he did not let his negative medical diagnosis define who he was or how he lived his life.  My mother-in-law told me once that when they left that doctor's appointment where he was first told the words "ALS," they talked about it and both decided they were not going to live their lives any different because of it.  And they didn't.  Things changed, of course.  He went from using a cane to a wheel chair and recently to not even being able to operate his electric wheel chair.  The largest blow for him was losing my mother-in-law very unexpectedly last September.  And now my husband has lost both parents in the matter of ten months.

I was looking through my journal this morning, and this entry stood out to me.  I know it is true--and I am hanging on to it.

"From the stars that in their trackless courses through space follow from age to age their appointed path, down to the minutest atom, the things of nature obey the Creator's will.  And God cares for everything and sustains everything that He has created.  He who upholds the unnumbered worlds throughout immensity, at the same time cares for the wants of the little brown sparrow that sings its humble song without fear. . . No tears are shed that God does not notice.  There is no smile that He does not mark."  Steps to Christ, E.G.White, p. 86

God knows.  And He cares.

Good-by Dad.  I will see you on resurrection morning--you won't need your wheel chair then.

~Susan

Frugal Family--Saving on Skirts!

Hi Everyone!

Thought I would share a very simple method to save on making skirts.  Back in the olden days, I would have gone to the fabric store and picked out a pattern and fabric, thread, etc. and come home to sew a skirt "from scratch" so to speak.  Well, that was before patterns and fabric prices went so high.  So for a long time, I gave up on sewing clothes.  And I have never found a lot of clothes that fit me at thrift stores.  I guess that is what I get from being 5' 9 when the average American woman is 5'5.  

But I have now discovered something new--to me, anyway, and that is the option of looking at the thrift store as your fabric store.  

Last week I found this little beauty for .50 cents.  Not exactly my style, and definitely way too short for me.  It is hard to tell from the picture, but it was very much a "petite" in length, and I am very much a "long" in length! But I loved the fabric!  It just looked so summery and FUN!  Well, for .50 cents, you can't go very wrong, even it it ends up in the trash can--so I bought it and brought it home.

 First step, I chopped the skirt part off from the yoke of the dress.  I should have left the yoke in the picture for comparison, but I cut it off just barely below the yoke--trying to save as much of the length as possible.  Then pinned it together at the bottom hem since I was preserving the bottom pattern, and evened up my cutting edge up at the top.

 Next step was to turn it inside out, fold and sew the raw edge under 1/4th inch, then fold, press, and sew a casing for it.  Since the elastic I was using was 3/4th inch wide, I measured my casing fold to be 1 1/4th inch.  That way, by the time I took up 1/4th inch for sewing the casing edge, I would still be left with a good 1 inch space in my casing itself.  And don't forget to leave a couple inches open, so you can thread the elastic through!

 Here I am showing the little tool I have, but I am afraid I do not remember the actual name of it.  It is shaped similar to tweezers, but has a tiny ring that slips down and clamps it tight, so it grips your elastic (or whatever you are wanting to pull through).  If you do not have a tool like this one, you can just put a large safety pin through the elastic and pull it through that way.  Just for the record--I do recommend that you spend the little bit extra to buy the roll-free elastic for when you are doing a waist band.  Who wants to have your elastic fold over or roll once it is inside the casing and you start wearing it or washing it!  I had some elastic I had bought previously for making some jammies for Alison.  At the time, I "thought" I would never use up all that was in the package I had to buy, but today I was thrilled to find I had enough for this project!  I also do not usually have hot pink thread, as I do not usually quilt with any hot pink colored fabrics--but I had made a doll dress for Alison once, and bought the spool for that.  Yea!  Since the elastic and the thread were already bought and paid for with different projects, that makes them "free" in my book for this project!

 Once you get your elastic through, sew the two elastic ends together, then close up your opening in your casing.  Turn right side out, and there you have it--your new skirt! :)

 All it needs is a white blouse to match with it!  And one more thing. . .

Approval from the cat!  If the cat says it's a good outfit, it's GOOD!  Can't wait to wear it--hope this has helped give you all some ideas of using the thrift store as your fabric store.  This new skirt cost me just .50 cents!

~Susan

The One-Day Church

Happy Sabbath Everyone!

Today I want to tell you about a program that I think is the neatest thing.  I hope you have already heard about it, but just in case you haven't, let me tell you about the "One-Day Church" program.

Did that name catch your attention?  I hope so!  Most churches are not built in one day, that is for sure!  But these churches are.  The One-Day Church program was created and developed by a businessman by the name of Garwin McNeilus.  He conceived this idea in an effort to help meet the great need that there is around the world where congregations often meet in houses or even simply out under a tree.  In these countries, most of the church members are very poor, and have absolutely no way to fund a permanent church structure.  And when there is no church building, it is difficult to run church programs or to invite your friends to visit your church with you.

The One-Day Church program provides a steel structure and metal roof.  The local congregation is responsible for obtaining the land and permits needed to build the church, and then after the One-Day Church is erected they are responsible for finishing the walls and windows of the church with whatever local building materials they have available to them.  Some churches have walls finished with mud bricks, some with woven thatch, some with regular bricks, etc.

The structures and roofs are erected by volunteers from all around the world.  People--some young, some not so young--some families, etc. all pay their own expenses to travel to the building site at the proper time to help build these churches.  You can read more about this program at www.onedaychurch.org.  I have not been able to personally participate in building one of these churches, but I wish I could!  But there is still a place for people like me--I'll get to that in a minute!

The One-Day Church program has been so successful that it has spawned a related program--the One-Day School!  Using the same basic idea of the One-Day Church, the One-Day School has the steel structure, roof, and also walls, foundation, and school desks and other school supplies.  In many of these countries, being able to obtain an education can mean the difference between being able to get a job and feed your family, or going hungry.  A couple years ago I was privileged to  be able to attend a little bit of our church's world-wide conference held in Atlanta, Georgia in a massive building.  Well, inside that building, they had build one of these One-Day Schools and it was open for people to inspect and tour it!  I loved it!  Very sturdy, very well thought out as to having good ventilation, etc. as most countries where these schools are built are very very hot.  The teacher part of me jumped up and down with excitement at seeing this school building, and learning how these school-kits are helping so many who are so poor.  Want to see what these One-Day Churches and One-Day Schools look like?  I'm glad you asked!  I found this video today, and greatly enjoyed watching it. I thought you might enjoy watching it too!






And I promised above that there was a part for even people like me who are not able at this point in my life to volunteer and go on one of these mission projects.  Today, I found out that it only costs $1,500 to sponsor one of these One-Day Churches.  Obviously, that is still a lot of money.  But for the people who are receiving these churches, it is simply an impossibility for them to come up with this amount.  But what about you?  And what about Me?  If we tried--couldn't we come up with $1,500?  I talked with my family, and we want to try and sponsor a church.  We have set our time goal as this Christmas.  I know our kids will not be able to help reach this goal very much.  Our daughter is only nine--she only has the money that we give her anyway, and our son is a poor college student!  But everyone can do SOMETHING.  And we do want to help inspire our children to be always looking for what they CAN do, not what they can't do.  If--for whatever reason--our family is not able to reach the $1,500 goal by Christmas time, we will still donate what we have saved.  And it can go with what another family has donated, and then we can together accomplish what perhaps alone we could not.

There is a LOT I would like to do--but I can't.  I would LOVE to sponsor a One-Day School, but that is far out of my budget.  I would love to sponsor an entire campus filled with One-Day School buildings!  I would love for no one in this world to be without either churches or schools!  But that is not possible for me.  But as I think about it, when our beautiful Jesus comes again, I don't think He is going to ask me to tell Him about what I couldn't do--but rather about what I could and did.

So here we go.  Our official family "Saving for a One-Day Church" project begins today.  Right now, this very minute!  How about you?  Anyone out there want to help build a One-Day Church?  Check out the web site www.onedaychurch.org, and pray about it.

~Susan

Strawberry Shake

Hi Everyone!

Thought I would share with you a very yummy recipe we tried recently for breakfast.  It was delicious--and what surprised me was how it really did keep me full until lunch time.  I didn't expect it to, since it is almost all fruit, but it did.  Of course, I do not have to eat my breakfast super early in the morning, so if you do you might want to try adding in something extra such as some whole wheat toast.  Either way, I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do.  My daughter loves it so much she has since asked me for it as a dessert at lunch time, and tonight she wanted it for supper!  Guess that means it is good any time!

~Susan

Strawberry Shake
serves 4

4 bananas (frozen--if they are small bananas, change it to 8 bananas)
8 c. strawberries (frozen)
4 c. unsweetened almond milk
1/2 c. quick oats

Add 1 frozen banana (or two small ones), 1 cup frozen strawberries, 1 cup almond milk and 2 Tbsp. oats to a blender and blend until smooth and creamy.  Add more strawberries if desired or eat them on the side.  You can also add a few drops of vanilla extract.  Repeat 3 more times for 4 total smoothies.  Enjoy! :)