To Do List

1. Morning Routine
2. Organize all Paper Work, Mail, Etc.
3. Read from Bible and Catch Up On Sunday School Lessons
4. Read from The Self-Sufficient Life and How To Live It
5. Plan Out Small Urban Garden
6. Pin and Cut Out Dress Pattern
7. Spend Time with Hubby, Maybe Watch a Couple of Movies
8. Work on Revising and Organizing Home Management Binder
   

Did You Know?

Today was a very nice day. It wasn't very cold, so I decided I'd open the windows and enjoy the day. This afternoon, I heard something outside my bedroom window, so I went to see what it could be. There was a bird bathing in my neighbors gutter. It just amazed me. I always saw bird baths, but I never saw birds in them. I thought they just drunk the water. I didn't know birds took baths! Did you? I wanted to take a picture, but didn't get to. So I thought I'd share some pictures of birds bathing that I found on google. Here you go!

My Inspiration

Just about every day for the past two years I have visited Candy's Keeping the Home Blog. Today I clicked on the link to her blog, via My Blog List. And to my astonishment, she announced that she is no longer blogging, but living her dream on her homestead. I am so happy that she gets to live out her dream and God's plan for her. But I'm also saddened. I feel as if a part of me is missing. I will greatly miss her blog, she is the reason I started blogging. She has been a great inspiration to me and has helped me grow tremendously as a Christian and a Wife. Her blog was an important part of my life, and I will miss her.

But in a way, this encourages me to press on. This encourages me to be a better Christian and Wife. To take the next step. To do more. To learn more about my God and Saviour. To search out the Truth more diligently.

More On Spiritual Gifts

Today I took another test to discover what my Spiritual Gifts are. This one was called Spiritual Gifts Inventory by Team Ministry. This test was a bit different and it only had 9 possible Spiritual Gifts, the other test had 22. And so, you can imagine, my scores where different because of the different amount of Spiritual Gifts possible on each test.

So, I thought I'd share my top three Spiritual Gifts with you all, according to this test also. My top three Spiritual Gifts are, (in order from highest to lowest score) Exhortation,Teaching, and Administration.

Here are the definitions of each, according to this test.

The Exhorter
The Spirit-given capacity and desire to serve God by motivating others to action by urging them to pursue a course of conduct.
The "how-to" teacher, giving the application of God's Word.

The Teacher
The Spirit-given capacity and desire to serve God by making clear the truth of God's Word with accuracy and simplicity.
The scholar making clear the doctrines and teachings of the Bible.

The Administrator
The Spirit-given capacity and desire to serve God by organizing, administering, promoting and leading the various affairs of the church.
The person who leads the church and its ministries.

The definitions on this test differ from the other. I believe the definition of The Exhorter on this test, goes hand in hand with the definition of Prophet on the other. This test had the Spiritual Gift of Prophet also, but the definition differed a bit. To see the difference visit my first post on 'Spiritual Gifts'. Here is the definition of Prophet according to this test.

The Prophet
The Spirit-given capacity and desire to serve God by proclaiming God's truth.
The hell-fire-brimstone preacher who points out sin.

On the first test I took I also scored high in Craftsmanship and Missionary. These two Spiritual Gifts where not included on the test I took today.

As my pastor said, "We are supposed to be in prayer for God to show us our Spiritual Gifts. This test was just a guide line, not God's Line."

For a free Spiritual Gifts Analysis, visit 'Team Ministry'.

Hat

Remember the scarf I made?

Last night I decided to make a hat to go along with it.

Wanna see?

Yesterday: Decluttering the Office

This first picture was took right after I had pulled everything out of the closet. I was sorting through things, deciding what to keep, give away, and throw away. I was putting everything into piles, see what a mess I had made.


It was a fun project and it didn't take too long. It took me about an hour to go through everything and put it in its place. Then after that, I spent about thirty minutes on dusting and vacuuming.


I still need to find a home for all those discs and tapes on my desk. I think I'll clean out a drawer in the chest (in the picture below) to put them in. In the top drawer I keep all of our movies, the bottom drawer is full of books. The two middle drawers need to be cleaned out. They contain cords, discs, and computer parts. Its my Husbands stuff, so I should really let him go through them, but I don't ever see that happening! lol


See the basket on my desk? It is full of dog toys! I knew, I had better keep it there until after I took the pictures. Because once it hits the floor, there are toys scattered all over the house!


This stuff is going to good will. A couple of computer printers, a door chime that I bought and never used, a computer chair, and lots of men's clothes.


And all these boxes are going in the trash! We keep boxes too long! We are box hoarders! lol We always keep the boxes in case something tears up, we are afraid to throw them out. Anyone else do this?

Pictures: You Get to Vote!

Today I have been decluttering and cleaning out the closet in the office. And I have made the biggest mess ever while doing so! I have stuff stacked all over the room, my desk is piled high. I took pictures, but it looks so bad I'm ashamed of posting them. lol I have seen other people post pictures of there huge messes and then post the after pictures of it all nice and clean. I always thought, "Wow, that looks amazing now!" lol I'm still in the middle of cleaning my big mess, I feel like I've just got started. So, what should I do? Should I post them? Or not? Leave me a comment and let me know!

Valentines

Happy Valentines Day Everyone!

Its Been A While since My Last Post...

This morning, I got up and baked this!

What could it be?

It was a little crispy on one side.

Yum! Banana Nut Bread!

And I rinsed all of these just a moment ago,
my Husband drinks a lot of pop.
Too Much!!! lol

Cornbread

Last night didn't go as planned. I got ready to go to the sewing class. I was dressed from head to toe, I had all my supplies together, and I was just finishing up dinner before I was to leave. I put on my oven mit and pulled the cornbread baked in my cast iron skillet out of the oven. I flipped it over on to a plate, so the cornbread would be on a plate instead of in the skillet. But the cornbread didn't come out, so I flipped it back over. I got a fork and slid it around the sides, I thought this would loosen it up so it would slide right out. Well, I grabbed a hold of the handle of the iron skillet, and screamed bloody murder! My husband came a running. I had forgotten to put my oven mit back on. I alternated holding ice packs and dipping my hand in a bowl of cold water all night. I had two ice packs that I was switching back and forth from, and then I'd use a bowl of cold water while they froze back.

My mom brought me some burn relief spray, that I told her that I didn't want. We rarely ever use any type of medicine in this house. I told her it had too many poisonous chemicals in it. Well after about three hours I decided I'd give it a try. So I shook up the bottle and sprayed it on. It made my hand burn worse than when I first burnt it! It felt like I was holding my had in a fire! I thought, maybe it takes a couple of minutes. So I left it on there about a minute or two, and I couldn't stand the pain any longer. I rinsed my hand off with cold water and went back to my ice pack. I finally fell asleep sometime after 3 this morning. Holding my trusty ice pack.

My hand feels fine today, until I get it near heat. So I'll just keep avoiding hot water and keep it away from the stove while cooking. Even if I'm just holding the handle of a pot or skillet on the stove, the heat rising from the burner is painful. So I'll just be avoiding those things today.

After burning my hand, I still thought about going to the sewing class. But I decided against it, cause I probably wouldn't have been able to drive there or sew with my burnt hand.

To Sew or Not to Sew?

I feel so lazy today! I need something to uplift me and get myself in gear! I have been debating all day on whether or not to go to the sewing class. I just feel so blah! Maybe I need to go, maybe that will get me going. It is something that I have been wanting to do for a long time. I shouldn't let my lazy days keep me from learning! Okay, I've talked myself into going! See you all tomorrow!

Humanure

I have been wanting 'The Humanure Handbook' for many years. And guess what!!! I just found it online for free!!! So, I definitely plan on reading it sometime soon. If you'd like to check it out, here is the link!

Snow Coats

Laundry Cabinet

I caught the organizational bug this morning! I decided to clean out and reorganize my Laundry room cabinets. Here they are before I got started. I also decluttered the dyer too.


Here is the inside, everything is just thrown in. I have painting supplies in one of those grocery bags and screws, washers, bolts, and nuts in the other. It was a very feeble attempt to be organized and have like things together... lol

First, I took everything out of the cabinet, threw away the trash, empty cans, and product packaging. For some reason I always think I need to keep every little package that a product comes with, this only leads to more clutter! I definitely will be working on getting rid of that habit!

Then I sprayed down the entire cabinet with some homemade spray cleaner. I wiped down the top, it was the dirtiest, I had to get a clean towel to use on the rest of the cabinet. Then wiped down the insides, sides, and bottom of the cabinet. I should of taken a pic of this step, didn't think about it. I only took before and after photos.


Then I put everything back inside, I put cleaning supplies on the left and painting supplies on the right. I also have my dishcloths and dish towels in there.... Did you notice I didn't use plastic grocery bags to organize this time? lol


This is the right cabinet with all my paints, wallpaper remover, painting supplies, screws, washers, bolts, and nuts, and I can't forget the dish towels.


Here is the left cabinet. It houses my vacuum bags, swiffer things, cleaning towels, carpet cleaner, fabric softener, dryer sheets, homemade spray cleaner, and my dishcloths.


And here is a picture without the dishcloths and dish towels. I really need to find them a new home, cause the cabinet looks a whole lot better and is more functional without them!

Spiritual Gifts

We have been studying Spiritual Gifts this past month at Discipleship Training. I took a test today, to discover what my Spiritual Gift(s) might be, and I thought I'd share.

On the test I took there where 22 possible Spiritual Gifts. You could score anywhere from 0 to 20. With your highest score or scores being your Spiritual Gift or Gifts. My highest score was a 16 and I scored a 16 on three different Spiritual Gifts: Prophet, Craftsmanship, and Missionary.

Here are the definitions of each.

Prophet
It is the special gift whereby the Spirit empowers certain Christians to interpret and apply God's revelation in a given situation.
1 Corinthians 14:1-5, 1 Corinthians 14:30-33, 1 Corinthians 14:37-40

Craftsmanship
Its is the special gift whereby the Spirit endows certain Christians to use hands and minds to build up the Kingdom through artistic, creative means.
Exodus 28: 3-4

Missionary
It is the special gift given by the Holy Spirit to certain members of the body of Christ to minister whatever other spiritual gifts they have in a second culture or second community.
1 Corinthians 9:19-23

As my pastor said, "We are supposed to be in prayer for God to show us our Spiritual Gifts. This test was just a guide line, not God's Line."

I can really see how the gift of Prophecy relates to me, because I have a great desire to study God's Word and determine right from wrong, God's Will, and how we are supposed to live our daily lives for God. As for the other two, I'm not so sure right now. Especially the gift of a Missionary. I've always dreamed of traveling the world, and I could really see myself taking in orphans in another country, but I wouldn't be able to go alone. I would be so home sick that it would make me emotionally and physically sick. If my Husband and animals went with me, that would be a whole different story! I would be totally fine, and probably have the time of my life serving God. My Husband hasn't yet taken the test. So, we're not for sure what his Spiritual Gifts are. But we're both pretty sure that Music would be one of them, probably his most prominent! So, we'll see how these gifts turn out.

February

Wow! I can't believe February is already here! One whole month has already passed in this new year! And I still haven't posted any of my goals, I do have them wrote down though.

My Hubby and I just had a funny little conversation. I asked him if he had wrote down any new years goals. He said no, did you? I said I have about two whole pages worth, and we both started laughing. He said I haven't wrote any down but I have them in my head. I asked what they were. He replied, Get my rear motorcycle tire put on, get a raise, get a power commander. A power commander I asked? He said it was something for his motorcycle. We were laughing the whole time.

His goals and my goals are completely different! For instance, I don't consider his goals, goals at all.... I would compare his goals to getting the oil changed in the car, or getting new tires put on. I consider those things necessities. And for the power commander, I'd consider that a want, or something he can just go out and buy.

My goals can be classified in about three different groups. Read... Learn to.... Start doing this..... I did make myself a forth group called Spiritual, but the things under this could also be classified under the other three groups also.

What do you all consider to be goals?