Psalm 36:5-10

Your mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens;

Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.

Your righteousness is like the great mountains;

Your judgments are a great deep;

O Lord, You preserve man and beast.

How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God!

Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings.

They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of Your house,

And you give them drink from the river of Your pleasures.

For with you is the fountain of life;

In Your light we see light.

Oh continue Your lovingkindness to those who know You,

and Your righteousness to the upright in heart.

AMEN!

1000 Gifts {Giveaway}

I mentioned in another post how a friend of mine gave me this book and how I think everybody should read it.  Well, now that I’ve finished it, I’m even more convinced that it is a treasure of GREAT VALUE!

I love to read but honestly I don’t have a whole lot of time or energy to do it.  Even my good intentions are over-powered by the weight of my eyelids or the call of, “MOOOOOM!”  But every once in a while a book that will come along and grab me from the start.  It will hold the power to prop those droopy lids open and keep that distracted brain focused and transform me.

This book has transformed me. 

This is not a feel good-name it claim it-all is perfect in Christ book.  It’s truth.  Truth that transforms and renews.

Ann’s style of writing touches a place deep in my soul.  My friend said it best when she told me she returns to it again and again.  I can see why. And I will be doing the same.

I savored every page of this book.  I read it slow and deliberate, sipped it, like the perfect cup of coffee that you never want to end.  It was that delicious.

If you are ready to move your relationship with God to the next level.  If you crave peace and joy.  If you desire to walk in the fullness of God’s love and goodness.

YOU NEED TO READ THIS BOOK!!

I am making this book required reading for my daughters. 

Because I feel so passionately about this, I am going to give away 2 copies of this book.  Out of my own budget.  Because it’s THAT important and I want you to have THAT joy!

I have one requirement.  Only one. I’m not even going to require that you follow my blog.  Who cares!  I just want you to promise me that you will read it.  That’s it.

Leave me a comment with your email address and a promise to me that you will read it if you win and you will be entered.  I’m not going to do anything with your email, just email you if you win.  I’m not that fancy!  (smile)

I don’t want to put an end date on this giveaway…Probably the middle of March.  In the mean time, why not join me as I embark on a Joy Dare.  Only good can come of it. 

With gratitude and love,

Mrs. Taffy

Isaiah 40:8

Do not lose heart…

For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.  Therefore we do not lose heart.  Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.   For our light affliction, which is for but a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.  For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. 

2 Corinthians 4: 15-18

The Battle is the Lord’s,

Mrs. Taffy

Losing Site {Guest Post}

I think all my impatience for Christmas has finally caught up with me. (That or this calm Christmas music I'm listening to is getting to me.)

Nope. It's the impatience.

Sometimes I think I lose sight of what's really important. (Sometimes means a LOT.) I love the music, the decorations, the baking, the presents, the music, the food, the events, the music, the trees, the movies, the advent calendars, the snow, the music...

Do you know that it is really hard to keep in mind why we are celebrating? So many stores, ads, basically everything around us is pushing and shoving for things like Santa Clause, gifts and "the Spirit of Christmas" to reach the top of our priority lists.* I heard M&M talking with my mom about Santa Clause the other day. {To Read the Rest Click Here.}

“Do not fret…”

I went to the Word looking for a little encouragement and look what I found!

Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and feed on his faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart, commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.  He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.  Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way.  Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.  Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; do not fret—it only causes harm.  For evil doers shall be cut off; but those who wait on the Lord, they shall inherit the earth.  For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more; indeed, you will look carefully for his place, but it shall be no more.  But the meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.  Psalm 37: 3-11

I have found myself fretting more than once, worrying about all the things that a Wife and Mother has to worry about, you know the list:  Am I doing enough?  Am I making my husband happy?  Am I a good wife?  Will my children follow the Lord when they leave my house?  What’s for dinner?  How can get everything done?  Oh the list goes on and on…

And on a bigger scale, our country at large and all the issues that come with whomever is elected president: Can we afford our life?  Tax increase?  Abortion?  Will homeschooling still be legal?  Will we be safe?  Who’s telling the truth?

And finances…wow that’s a big one!  Being a one income family is a blessing and struggle!  The price of groceries and household goods, cost of living, insurance, bills, our up-side-down mortgage…so much to fret about.

I was fretting this morning.  Worry about things I had no business worrying about.  This psalm was a balm to my soul, written so long ago but so relevant to me, a stay-at-home, homeschooling mom today.  God is amazing like that.  His Word transcends time. 

Clearly God has it all under control, clearly peace is mine for the asking and the having.  What an awesome God I serve, one who can use the words of an Ancient King to comfort the heart of a Mom in the year 2012. 

Thankful for His peace and so thankful that I don’t have to fret! 

Dropping my worries and resting in my King,

Mrs. Taffy

Teaching Children to be Givers

The Bible is full of examples of giving.  Jesus himself was the Supreme Giver, laying down his life for us was the Ultimate gift.  But how can we teach our children to be givers?  Being the sinners that we are, giving doesn’t always come easily.  It’s easier to be stingy and selfish.  We want what we want, why should we share it away?!

Giving just like all other character trait, are best learned through example and opportunity.  My husband and I have a very detached approach to our stuff.  Sure we like it, but we also know it’s all very temporal.  Moving often has helped us not get too attached to stuff.  You just can’t take everything with you all the time.  But besides not being attached to stuff, being able to leave it or sell it. Still it’s even more important that we can respond in a spirit of giving.  It is our joy to share when a need arises, it is our privilege to give to our brothers and sisters in Christ when they have lack or just need an extra blessing. 

“Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common.  And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.  And great grace was upon them all.  Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need.”  Acts 4: 32-35

 

I recently experienced something that has got me thinking on how we teach giving to our children.  Bubble Gum Taffy was excitedly talking about the little gifts she wanted to wrap up for her twin friends, their birthday is coming up and she is so excited to give them something, anything.  She found some things when we were out garage saling, but that wasn’t enough, she wanted to give them more.  So I suggested she go down and pick out a couple bouncy balls from our bouncy ball box.  My husband found this at a garage sale, obviously we don’t need all these.  So she happily went in search of two bouncy balls, similar but different, just like her twin friends.  Well wouldn't you know it, 30 seconds later up comes Blue-Raspberry, “Mooooommmmm, Bubble Gum is going to give away our bouncy balls, those are MINE and I don’t want her to give away all the BEST ones!”  Thankfully I was listening to the Holy Spirit this time and instead of getting upset with him I just looked at him and said, “Do you want to pick one out for your best friend too?” You should have seen that child’s countenance change.  No longer a tattily, unthankful, selfish brat, but now a smiling, excited, joyful Giver!  He picked out the biggest and prettiest bouncy ball to give his friend!  And then moments later Laffy Taffy ran up asking if he could give one a way too!  “YES, YES!”  Not only yes because we don't need that many, but yes because it’s just stuff and being able to give is a BLESSING and my children were experiencing that.

I am absolutely aware that my children are constantly watching me.  If I hoard, they hoard.  If I’m selfish with my stuff, my time, my needs, they will be too. 

I don’t ever want ever want my children to be afraid to give.  I always want them to know that God LOVES a cheerful giver, that the principle of sowing and reaping works for them too and that when they give, the real blessing comes to the giver, not the receiver.  It’s a constant pursuit and completely worth while!

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  Matthew 6:19-21

Joyfully,

Mrs. Taffy

Father’s Day

Father’s Day is a strange holiday for us.  My husband doesn’t have a father, his parents were divorced when he was little and his dad had MS so he died when Mr. Taffy was a teenager.  They didn’t have much of a relationship if any.  I love my dad very much, he’s still living, but it’s a complicated relationship, as is any where divorce and remarriage is involved.  When we were first married my husband confided in me that he was afraid to be a father, after all he didn’t have any example what so ever and what details he does know about his father, he’s not interested in mimicking.  But isn’t God amazing?  Somehow He takes the thing that we are most afraid of and makes it our most wonderful accomplishment, our biggest source of joy and our most godly attribute.

We’ve been muddling along on this road called parenting, mostly not knowing what in the world we are doing and mostly just learning as we go.  Just like everybody else I think.  Still, my husband was so blessed this Father’s Day by the love of his children.  I didn’t take nearly enough pictures to do the day justice but here’s a few.

The Happy Father’s Day Banner.  Directions here.

A whole plate of deviled eggs!  These are his favorite.  He did share a few.  I made these for him.

He played many games with his little ones.  He hasn’t had much time to play with them lately so this was a BIG treat for him and them!

Strawberry Taffy made him a Rose Bush for dessert.  She combined three different ideas she found on pinterest.

He loved this!  He’s always wanting to buy rose bushes for our house, so this was very appropriate.

He and the teens went to a local archery place.  They bought a groupon a while back and really enjoyed their time together.  They all want to go back!

             

Then Strawberry and I made Mr. Taffy a BIG dinner.  She planned the menu, I just helped execute it.  We had these cheesy bacon noodles, chicken breast with butter sauce and peas.

(This is how meals are served at my house, I dish everything up on plates and my dinner helper passes them out.  This way everybody gets some food and I know exactly what my little people got served and ate.  This is my big family trick, this insures certain hungry teenagers don’t take more then their fair share.  They dish up there own seconds as they desire.  I do put some things on the table, like a salad or bread, but for the main dishes I always do this. )

Mr. Taffy’s Plate.  Not very colorful, but very YUMMY!

The kids gave their dad a new Disc for Father’s Day, so after dinner we went to our local disk golf course and they played through once while I stayed at the playground with the little people.  It was a PERFECT day! 

Give ear, O my people, to my law;
Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will utter dark sayings of old,
Which we have heard and known,
And our fathers have told us.
We will not hide them from their children,
Telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord,
And His strength and His wonderful works that He has done.For He established a testimony in Jacob,
And appointed a law in Israel,
Which He commanded our fathers,
That they should make them known to their children; That the generation to come might know them,
The children who would be born,
That they may arise and declare them to their children,
That they may set their hope in God,
And not forget the works of God,
But keep His commandments; And may not be like their fathers,
A stubborn and rebellious generation,
A generation that did not set its heart aright,
And whose spirit was not faithful to God. Psalm 78: 1-8

The greatest act of Fathering: That they should make the wonderful works of God known to their children, that they would know the commandments, that they may know HIM and stay faithful to Him!  AMEN!

Joyfully,

Mrs. Taffy

God’s Great Covenant~Review

It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of pretty much everything Classical Academic Press puts out, it’s thanks to the Old Schoolhouse Crew that I discovered them last year.  So every time an opportunity comes up for me to review another set of their books I jump right on it, I want to see if they are consistently as wonderful as I think they are.  I’m happy to say that God’s Great Covenant, New Testament 1 does not disappoint!

Written for children ages 4th grade and up, God’s Great Covenant teaches the amazing story of Jesus, from birth to his sacrificial death.  It covers the importance of who Jesus was and the significance of what He did for us.  This is so foundational to our faith!  There are 36 weekly chapters divided into 4 themed units.

          

Each chapter contains a memory verse, charts, questions, worksheets, quizzes and a reading portion.  The set I received to review included the MP3 files, which I think are just fantastic.  Christopher Perrin (he is the narrator for The Tale of Two Princesses on Headventureland) has a very appealing voice and my children are already familiar with him, so it’s like being read to by a friend!  Here’s a link to view a sample of the student workbook.

There is very minimal teacher prep required.  This is pretty much an open-up-and-work-your-way-through book.  The teacher book has extra information to share with your child, it’s up to you if you want to teach that to your child or not.  Depending on their age and attention span you might not use the extra information, but it’s fascinating to read anyway!  Here’s a link to see a portion of the teacher’s book. 

I love that this book focuses on fact…this isn’t a book of theory and speculation, it’s a line up on line, precept upon precept teaching of who Christ was and is and more importantly the proof that confirms it all.  This makes it PERFECT in my opinion.

God’s Great Covenant bundle, which includes the student workbook, the teacher book and the MP3 downloads,  sells for $56.95 from the Classical Academic website. 

Joyfully,

Mrs. Taffy

To see what other Crew Members thought of the God’s Great Covenant, visit the Crew Blog!

Disclaimer-I was given this book bundle from Classical Academic Press for the purpose of this review.  All opinions expressed here are my own, I was not paid.

What to do about Wheat!?

I don’t mean to be redundant, I know so many people are blogging about this right now but there are a few things I need to make note of for myself, if not for those of you who don’t read the same blogs/articles as me.  I’ve been a little heavy hearted about all the grain-speak and all the conflicting reports and methods about proper grain usage.  It’s overwhelming.  It’s frustrating.  I don’t have time for it all!  So I’ve been thinking on it and praying on it as I do when I hear conflicting reports. I believe more than anything, as believers our source needs to be God.  He knows best, He has the answers, He can lead in a way that may seem counter cultural but still correct.  As believers it’s our job to listen and obey.  So I’ve been praying about this for a while to make sure I’m not “poisoning” my family by not soaking their grains or by making them bread and feeding it to them often. 

Earlier this week we read a portion of Leviticus where God was talking about the different kinds of offerings, one being a grain offering.  It struck me how if God is blessed by grain, we can also be blessed by grain.

When anyone offers a grain offering to the Lord, his offering shall be of fine flour.  And he shall pour oil on it, and put frankincense on it.  He shall bring it to Aaron’s sons, the priests, one of whom shall take from it his handful of fine flour and oil with all the frankincense.  And the priest shall burn it as a memorial on the altar, an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the Lord.  Leviticus 1:1-2

My first thought after reading this, “if it was good enough for God and His priests, it’s good enough for my family!”

Still, there are people I know who insist the only way to eat grain is soaked first and those who say avoid them at all costs!  Sigh…Then I read this very good post by Laura at Heavenly Homemakers.  I couldn’t agree with her more.  As per her post, I went on to read this fascinating article by Bread Beckers.  This is a VERY well-written article and I’m going to ask my husband to read it because she has articulated what I’ve been feeling.  The incredible part of her article though is the last portion called The Attack on Bread – God’s Perfect Provision.  If you read nothing else, read this portion.  I think the wisdom here is profound and whether you agree or not, it’s still worth reading and considering.  I would never have been able to put that into words, but I believe she has nailed in on head, spiritually speaking! 

There are more serious things to worry about health wise.  Do you know that bitterness and unforgiveness can wreak more havoc on your body than anything you eat.  Scripture speaks to that repeatedly! 

The point of this post it to remind myself, and anyone else that needs reminding that there are a lot of voices out there, all have their passions and agendas, but as believers we must shut out the opinions and voices and tune into the Father, who gives wisdom LIBERALLY to all who ask!  He is the only source of accurate information, the only source worth really listening too.  His yoke is easy, His burden is light and it’s not too much for a health conscience, family-nourishing Mother to handle!

Thankful for His provision,

Mrs. Taffy

A message to young ladies~Move Quickly!

As a family we have a goal of reading through the Bible this year, as I’ve mentioned before.  One day last week when we were reading through Genesis and the account of how Rebekah became Isaac’s bride, I was struck with something, she moved QUICKLY!

Now the young woman was very beautiful to behold, a virgin; no man had known her.  And she went down to the well, filled her pitcher and came up.  And the servant ran to her and said, “Please let me drink a little water from your pitcher.”  So she said, “Drink my lord.”  Then she quickly let her pitcher down to her hand, and gave him a drink.  And when she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking.”  They she quickly emptied her pitcher into the trough, ran back to the well to draw water, and drew for his camels.  Genesis 24:16-20

Then a few verses later…

So the young woman ran and told her mother’s household of these things. vs. 28

Her quick movements got the attention of Abraham’s servant when he recapped what had happened, here he is speaking to Rebekah’s family,

And she made haste and let her pitcher down from her shoulder, and said, ‘Drink, and I will give your camels a drink also.’ So I drank, and she gave the camels a drink also. vs. 46

There is more evidence of her moving quickly throughout the rest of this story, but I don’t want to focus on their short engagement, I want to focus on the way she physically moved-quickly!

Noah Webster defines quickly as: Speedily; with haste or celerity (Rapidity in motion; swiftness; speed).  Rebekah was not lollygagging, she was not slow and mellow, she was purposed, earnest, FAST!  I love it!  It’s attractive in a young lady to see her moving quickly about her tasks.  It’s a beautiful thing to see a young lady know her position and purpose and do it with elegance and joy.  Being quick speaks to her commitment to doing the thing which she set out to do or was asked to do.  It’s no small task watering 10 camels until they have had enough!  Quickness testifies to determination, exuberance, passion. 

Think about the opposite of Quick:  lazy, slow, sluggish.  I hope I never have to use those words to describe my daughters!  And I hope they never use those words to describe me!

There is a young lady in my life that reminds me of Rebekah.  In her purposed joyful movements I can see a glimpse of the woman that she will become.  A woman who will (and does) approach every request with determination, every situation with exuberance and joy.  She has pizzazz and it’s attractive, she has a million friends because of it!  She will be a fantastic wife and mother one day, using that energy, that quickness to do the things she needs to do, honoring her husband and her Lord!  I have no doubt she will be able to keep up with whatever surprises the Lord sends her way because she’s quick, like Rebekah!

So my exhortation to the young ladies who read my blog and the young ladies in my life, be quick, be purposed, be swift! Do the things you need to do and do them with joy and gusto, without hesitation.  The blessings of God followed Rebekah and I wouldn’t be surprised if they follow YOU too!

Joyfully,

Mrs. Taffy