Sunflower Faith

Archive for December 29, 2008

29 Dec 2008

Away on Vacation-See you in the New Year

It’s a bit of a long vacation for everyone here at the Sunflower home, but I will be back soon on January 5th. It’s a much needed vacation from a VERY busy year and looking forward to working with a new homeschooling schedule that’s been tweaked a bit, praying that God will lead me to find better balance in home, school and blogging and more than anything, more time in spending in His Word.

Although I’m not big on making New Year’s Resolutions some of the things I do and will be striving for in the upcoming New Year is not only seeking more balance in our schedule, but spending more time in God’s word for the upcoming year.

I ALMOST made it this year and to be honest, it wasn’t a failure, but a great beginning in really spending time pushing to read God’s word in a year; Though I didn’t make it completely, it was a great reminder that bottom line, we are still human and we need God no matter what.

So this upcoming year, what are my New Year’s Resolution

1. Keep trusting in our Heavenly Father.

2. Laugh more often and really keep it to heart, all things in this world is temporarily; We will still have tribulations and trials to face in THIS world, but God’s world is forever and that’s the most important thing…not if we didn’t get our toes painted in time for whatever the occassion, or that the garbage broke and scatter to the four winds…in the grand scheme of things…those things are just temporary and small compared to God’s greater plans for us.

3. Not give up in finishing up reading God’s word; As a matter of fact, never give up; So you didn’t read the bible in a year, that’s fine; No mountain there; God’s word is for every day, rather you read through it all or not, the important thing, is that you are reading it!

“…. since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.” Hebrews 12:1-3

One of the great tools I have used and need to put back up here is bibleshared.com; Another that I’ve just found and plan on using for the new year is through,”Mom’s Toolbox” where the author has made available for free: quarterly bookmarks to help you read the bible in one year, broken down in quarters.

For me, this may actually be the key and will work great since our homeschool is quarter based so I can “work” on my “homeschool” to myself along with the kids.

If you would like to check out this great method, I invite you to drop by “Mom’s Toolbox” and read her post about,”Free Bible Reading Bookmarks” at: momstoolbox.com/blog/free-bible-reading-bookmarks/

In addition to just about the bookmarks, she offers a great (and highly encouraging) posts about spending time with our Heavenly Father and offers other great links to help you in your walk with our Heavenly Father.

Well, my break is over here and I’m heading offline but hope to see you all in the New Year! Sunflower Faith will be back on January 5th,2009 (wow…can you believe it’s almost 2009!) and if I can find the time, I’ll post here otherwise see you in 2009!

God bless you Gentle Readers! I miss you all!

Sunflower Faith | 3 comments | Tags: bible reading bookmark, Mom's Toolbox, reflections of this year

18 Dec 2008

Uncategorized

Going on vacation

Dear Gentle Readers, Can you believe Christmas is almost upon us!!

Everyone here is filled with excitement and anticipation and looking forward to the time eating, I mean, spending time with family and friends.

This is a fun time of year for us and we look forward to delights as my MIL’s chocolate pie, side dishes that are made especially for Christmas dinner and particularly the smoked Honey ham.

But it’s more than just about the food and the gifts (well a lot about the food,lol), but about what we use this time of year to remember about: the birth of our Lord and Saviour.
Not a commentary or a debate, but just a personal thought, but it helps that we have a time set aside to celebrate what amounts to as the “First Christmas” to all of us and a reminder that just as one day is special, everyday is more special as He lives in and through all of us, EACH and every day.

We’re going on vacation and I’ll resume posting for sure, in full force, come January.

Let’s look forward to the Holidays with prayers of goodwill and peace to all and that all will come to know our Heavenly Father and like myself, let’s start the New Year, on fire and with passion for our Heavenly Father.

Any big changes here?

Not much.

I will be working on a new look to be unveiled sometime in January, I have both the rest of the year’s homeschool schedule down pat so prayers I can post more than I have recently.

Other than that, Praise God for His Love and Grace, for Jesus is our Lord and Saviour!

Sunflower Faith | 8 comments

14 Dec 2008

Memes • Sunday Praise and Worship

Sunday Praise and Worship

: To find out more on how to participate in Sunday Praise and Worship, come here.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,^[a] that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life..” John 3:16

No words have been most used..most memorized, then John 3:16; A simple but strong statement of the power and the love our Heavenly Father has for all of us.

With the upcoming Christmas season coming up, away from the commercialization of what the essence of Christmas is about; Away what type of tree, should we or should we not put up a tree; And away from what to buy or not to buy, Christmas served as a reminder of what this verse, John 3:16, means to all of us.

We will not know the exact day or moment until the day we are blessed to stand and praise and worship our Heavenly Father and be before Him, but what better time to share the word and message of our Heavenly Father, then to use this time to reach out to everyone and tell them about the lifesaving grace of accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviuor.

This is a very simple post because, honestly, the words do speak for themselves.

Share the ways you share the message that Jesus Christ is alive and living and want to have a living, personal relationship.

How can we, strip aside the commercialization, the almost generic “Merry Christmas’ and truly reach out and touch other lives and share with them why God wants to have a personal relationship with them?

Sunflower Faith | No comments | Tags: Devotionals, faith, God, Jesus Christ, Memes, praise, scripture, sermons, Sunday memes, Sunday Praise and Worship, worship

10 Dec 2008

Word-Filled Wednesday

Word Filled Wednesday

I hadn’t plan on Sunflower Faith to become about homeschooling as well, but as the days turn to weeks and the months pushed forward, homeschooling has become a natural part of our lives now.

: Genesis 31:49; Image Copyright: Inspire21.com

The holidays are almost here and we have yet to put up the tree, but in front of me are several binders; One is for planning our first grade curriculum, one is for the next 2 quarters left in this year’s curriculum, and one is my “general use” binder.

As daunting as it had seemed at first, as we go through each “learning curve” and I see before me, the growth and development in my children, it’s a strong remember to me of the vital role, we as parents and individually, as mothers, play in our children’s lives.

Not to say if you don’t homeschooling, your child isn’t benefiting, but that as I take on this VERY active role in my children’s lives and education, it’s really made me more focus on what they are learning, how they are learning and what is happening as they are learning.

I go over not only this past lessons, but as I plan future lessons for the rest of the year and begin gathering books for the upcoming year, I find myself asking myself, how often do we do this ourselves, in our own growth and development with our Heavenly Father.

Do we take that much of an active interest or is it more of a passive interest?

I look at my own stack of books and hold my head down in shame that as thoughtful as I am about what the kids are learning, there are the devotional books I say I will get to, but don’t make as much time as I use to,to read and even in the ultimate textbook of all, God’s Word.

I pray and plea to our Heavenly Father, to keep me humble and keep me from falling into forgetting to make time with and for Him and as I make plans for my children’s education, I make one for my own.

I get my planner and make a “mommy student planner” and schedule time to spend in God’s word myself and not just to look up a verse, but to really get to know Him. In then end, I remember that homeschooling isn’t “just for the good of the kids”, but homeschooling exists for us, adults, as well; We have a textbook called,”the Bible” and for us to be the vessels for God, it helps to make sure we prepare ourselves adequately to be that vessel.

“Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” 1 Peter 3:15

“and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 1 Timothy 3:15-17

If you haven’t participated in “Word Filled Wednesday” or would like to join in “Word Filled Wednesday” I invite you to drop on by the 160 Acre Woods.

Sunflower Faith | 6 comments | Tags: scripture, the 160 acre woods, Word-Filled Wednesdays

08 Dec 2008

Uncategorized

Fun Christmas Tag

Laurie Ann of Magnolia’s Heart Beats, had this posted on her site and I wanted to pass this on and share with you!

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Both; I make my hot chocolate from scratch (yes I have to do it the hard way,lol). The recipe I use is:

2 ounces (2 squares) unsweetened chocolate
1/3 cup sugar
4 cups milk
pinch salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Preparation:

Place chocolate, sugar, milk, and salt in a 2-quart saucepan over
medium-low heat. Heat, stirring, until chocolate melts and mixture is
well blended.

Add vanilla; pour hot chocolate into cups.
Hot chocolate recipe serves 4.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?

It varies; We have a “family Christmas” on Christmas Eve where we exchange gifts and then come Christmas morning, we make hot chocolate (the quick way,lol) and then we open up the presents that Santa wrapped and we manage to unwrap under 10 seconds.

3. Colored light on house/tree or white?

We varied for outside,depending on mood, but we always do colored christmas lights on the tree.

4. Do you hang mistletoe?

We go fake due to having children and dogs.

5. When do you put your decorations up?

Normally we do it a week after Thanksgiving; We’re just not in a rush to start the “Christmas holiday” in the sense that we want time to really enjoy the period after Thanksgiving and reflect on Christmas as it is before we do the decorating; did that make sense? LOL

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?

COOKIES!

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child?

Getting a stuff animal I really wanted

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?

A classmate broke the news and I remember being stunned. lol

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?

The gifts we open on Christmas Eve is for when the family as a whole gathers and then we do “personal” gifts to each other Christmas morning.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?

Traditional

11. Snow. Love it or dread it?

We would LOVE to see snow.

12. Can you ice skate?

Never been on an ice skating rink.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?

Barbies! LOL

14. What is the most important think about the holidays for you?

Honoring the birth of Jesus Christ

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert?

Chocolate Pie

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?

My Mother In Laws cooking and sherbet punch

17. What tops your Christmas tree?

An angel

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving?

GIVING.

19. What is your favorite Christmas song?

Christmas Cookies and Holiday Hearts-My mother in law loves it and my husband hates it because he hears it ALL the time so it’s a running joke in the family.

20. Candy Canes. Yum or Yuck?

Yum!

21. What do you want for Christmas?

Bookcase,lol

22. Do you attend an annual Christmas party.

We’re too much homebodies and tend to split time at home or with the inlaws

23. Do you dress up for Christmas Eve or wear PJ’s?

We usually just do comfy jeans and a sweater. LOL

24. Do you own a Santa hat?

Everyone including the dogs has one! LOL

25. Who do you normally spend Christmas with?

Family.

Tag 5 people – Tag, you’re it! Leave me a comment so I can come read about you…

AmyDeanne of “160 Acres Woods“
Lori, “All You have to Give“
Melly of “Melody Minutes“
Becki of “Blog Mommas” and “A Walk through the Valley“
Pam of “Beyond the Red Door“
YOU,Gentle Reader

Sunflower Faith | 6 comments

08 Dec 2008

Uncategorized

Award from Laurie Ann of Magnolia Heartbeats

Laurie, Thank you so much for this sweet award. It’s such a great joy talking with you off the blog as well as on the blog!

Here are the rules:

Copy and past the following along with the award:

“These
blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find, and be
friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is
that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships
are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver
this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include
this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.”

So, I would like to pass this on to the following:

AmyDeanne of “160 Acres Woods“
Lori, “All You have to Give“
Melly of “Melody Minutes“
Becki of “Blog Mommas” and “A Walk through the Valley“
Pam of “Beyond the Red Door“
YOU,Gentle Reader

Sunflower Faith | 2 comments

08 Dec 2008

Uncategorized

Homeschooler's Best Friend

: Join Stacy at her blog’s meme,”Mondays Homeschool Spotlight” every Monday.

For many homeschoolers, using the computer is a vital component of homeschooling; Be it for keeping records, researching, creating/downloading worksheets, keeping in touch with other homeschooling parents or for in-class use of watching videos, online tests or software to supplement the homeschool experience and just for general storage of homeschool material shared,bought and downloaded.

Learned from personal experience of a computer crashing and with it many material that I may not use now but needed for later use in curriculum, I quickly learned the importance of investing in a portable USB stick.

Not only is it the holiday season where great sales abound on inexpensive memory cards, but even just every day pricing, it’s worth spending the 8.00 to 10.00, investing in a 2GB memory card to be used as a vital component of backing up precious homeschool data, worksheets/workbooks and future homeschool materials.

Another plus to making the USB stick, a vital part of the homeschooling parent everyday tool, is the fact that this can be use from computer to computer, very small and easy to pack and carry, and easily stored as backup.

Personally, I find having a set, helpful, because I can use one as backup and the other as a “working drive” that I store ALL my homeschooling material on, so there is no fear of losing everything, again, in the event something happens to the computer.

Plus, if I take one of them with me to work on while away from home, or whatever the reason,if it gets lost, I know I still have a backup at home, safely locked away in a fireproof box.

Silly,I know, but if you leave in hurricane prone (or fire prone areas like in California), your homeschool records are just important information and probrably the most difficult at times, to recover if all the paper is lost or the computer has crashed.

So if you use a computer as part of your homeschool record keeping and/or homeschooling use, I strongly advise using reliable backup.

In case you’re wondering, I use a rewritable CD as well, but I still like my USB stick because it’s quick to access, honestly, very tiny compare to a CD and easier to just “drop” in my purse/bag, so if I’m say,at the library, I can pop it in the computer there to quickly print out either a worksheet, or say I forget to bring my library book list, I can access it right there.

You can find these at Office Depot from 8.99 to 14.99 and usually at miniumn 2GB to more

So if you haven’t thought about using one yet or invested in one, this is a great must have!

Another thought…this makes a GREAT stocking stuffer or inexpensive gift for that homeschooling parent you might know, a secret sister gift or just great gifts for each child to have to use to store their own studies on.

The USB sticks come in many colors and designs, place a label with a child’s name on it so they can keep track of it, download their files and curriculum on it and there you go: An electronic folder.

Sunflower Faith | 2 comments

07 Dec 2008

Memes • Sunday Praise and Worship

Sunday Praise and Worship

: To find out more on how to participate in Sunday Praise and Worship, come here.

Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.

—Hebrews 10:35-36

It almost feels like we live in a world where we are getting it from “both sides” of the fence.

Just as we think we are on our feet and are going to make it, something seems to come up, another crisis, another friend lets you down, or just everything that day falls apart, and we feel like infants trying to walk but not making it.

The holidays brings with it a special set of expectations as we struggle to find that “perfect gift” for friends, families, co-workers or acquaintences, we feel like our inadequecies are magnify even larger or we feel all the more forgotten and abandon.

It’s through times like this, we have to reach down and somehow,somewhere, find that faith in Jesus Christ and remember that we will over come all this.

Our friends may abandon us, we may feel like they have abandon us, or we fail to get that “perfect gift” or just life in general has us down, but God WILL NOT abandon us.

Ultimately in sickness, in health, good times and bad, HE will see us through no matter what and HE will not give up on us.

If you find yourself counting down the holidays or just feeling blue, pick up God’s word, or just talk to Him. It doesn’t have to be a special prayer or anything fancy, just talk to Him like you would anyone, trust me, He IS listening to you.

God bless you,Gentle Reader