Practicing Hospitality

Practicing Hospitality

Recently we were able to open our home again after a long season of closed doors. It was hard for me and I dreamed, dreamed, dreamed of the day that I could invite others over or even into my home. We still have a little ways to go in having a more comfortable welcoming atmosphere, but it's nothing that we can't live with.





As I mentioned yesterday I am making some meals to freeze not only for my family but for others who might need a little help during the month. Roy and I were talking yesterday about how not worried we are about spending the money to make all these meals.





Roy is out of work right now and maybe to an outsider it is not wise to offer to feed others with our food. But quiet frankly I have always enjoyed feeding others. I don't think I have ever felt like it was a burden.





I had one friend last year that was so upset with me because I would offer to feed everyone at our Life Group meetings. She thought it was unfair for me to have to cook for every one, but I really enjoyed it. I always make a lot of food anyway, just because I have a small army to feed.







I believe some of it is because of how I grew up. I have a very dear friend who spent many hours feeding groups of people at her house. She still does actually. Her house was always full of fun and laughter and food. The front door was always opened. I remember thinking that it was I wanted so very much. The cost of making extra really does not mean anything to me. I believe that God will always provide for us.

I like to think of the widow woman in 1 Kings 17. The one who provided a meal for Elijah with the last of her food. God restored the food to her and made it so her oil and meal lasted until the end of the drought. I have no doubt that as I preform the duty of hospitality towards others that God will expand my freezer and pantry with more than enough food until the drought of unemployment has passed.

Hospitality is not only about opening wide your doors for others. It's about providing for the hungry. In Isaiah the other day I read the most remarkable passage.

Isa 58:7

Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? [is it] to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes [under him]? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?



Isa 58:6

¶

[Is] not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?



Isa 58:7



[Is it] not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?



Isa 58:8



Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy reward.



Isa 58:9



Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I [am]. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;



Isa 58:10



And [if] thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness [be] as the noonday:



Isa 58:11



And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.



Isa 58:12



And [they that shall be] of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.

These verses spoke to me on a deep level about what I need to be practicing in my hospitality. I will share some more this week on hospitality and the reason these verses caught my attention so much. Until then I pray that you too will realize what a blessing hospitality is not only to others but to yourself.

Be Blessed!

In the Kitchen

I decided recently to take up bulk cooking again. Of course with my large family anytime I cook it's bulk cooking. But I mean making enough to freeze for later.
We have been bombarded with illnesses and deaths around us lately and I wanted to not only have something stored up for my family but for others as well.
Our ladies ministry usually has a cooking day where we make and freeze meals for occasions such as this but we have not been able to do that this year and my freezer (which held all the meals) has run dry. I am looking to store up until our next cooking day.
In the past when I have tried this on my own I have been overwhelmed and quickly all the
great plans I had ran the way of the dinosaur.
This time I decided to try something a little different. For the whole week I will be making 1 or 2 meals to freeze every day. For instance today I made a Macaroni and Beef casserole. We will have one for dinner and I have three more to add to my freezer. Tomorrow I will make Beef Stew. Tomorrow night we will have Beef Stew and I am hoping enough to add three or four bags to my freezer.
Some people might think that I should just do it all together and get it over with or that I should do my beef stuff one day and my chicken stuff one day ect.. but I have tried that. I really think this will work better. By the end of this week if my calculations are right I will have at least 20 meals in my freezer.
I will let you know how it works out. :)

Be Blessed!

Prayer Request

Please remember the Chris Klicka of HSLDA and his family in your prayers. Mr. Klicka has MS and he is in critical condition.
He was the attorney we talked to at HSLDA when we had our run in with CPS last year. He walked us through the whole thing.
Check out his Caring Bridge update here.

New plan.

Ok, here's my new plan. I'm going to send my two older girls to the local Church of Scientology. I figure that there they can spread the love of Jesus to everyone they meet.
I'm going to let the boys eat whatever they want. Whenever they want. That will help them to learn to make good decisions.
My youngest daughter will be allowed to go out with boys. Whenever. I want to make sure she knows how to handle herself and the younger we start the better I say.


What do you think? I mean obviously I am stunting their individual personalities by not letting them do and be who they want to be. At the ages of 12, 9, 8, 6, and 3 I think I can trust them to make good choices. God will protect them even when they don't make the best choice.
I mean I'm not 100% sure what I am doing here besides cooking, cleaning, kissing boo-boos and carting them to various activities. Maybe that's what my job as a parent is supposed to look like.
I could teach them manners, cleanliness, godliness, but quiet frankly enough people have told me that when my kids leave home none of that will matter so I'm thinking I could save myself the trouble and just skip it and relax.


Or maybe, I will decide that God has given me these children for a reason. Given them to me to raise and be responsible for. Given them to me to teach them His word and His love and to love, honor and fear Him.
Maybe I will decide that they are not quiet old enough to carry the souls of the world on their shoulders so their evangelizing right now should be under our guidance and protection.
That because they have not been exposed to wisdom for more than a few years they are not so much ready to go out and be wise.
Maybe I will just keep them close by for a few more years. Teaching them God's truth. Teaching them the wisdom from the elders around them. Teaching them to put on the full armor of God and when the evil comes to stand.
Just maybe.

Be Blessed!

Why a homeschool group?

I have been wanting to do a post on this subject for the last two weeks, but things have been moving at a steady pace around here and this is the first opportunity I have had to sit down and blog. I love blogging. It gets ideas out of my head. It gives me something to look back at and remember. I have met some pretty terrific people. But I know that my family is my top priority. So if my blogging seems a bit random, just know I'm thinking of ya'll while I enjoy my family. :)

I am in a homeschool group. My new advice to new homeschool moms is to find a good homeschool group. Why?

It's nice to have other moms to go to for homeschool advice. Most of my friends at church and I have been homeschooling for the same amount of time. I love being in a homeschool group with moms who have kids my age, kids, in highschool, and kids who graduated homeschool and are in college now. Do you know the amount of homeschooling wisdom packed into that one room at our monthly mom's meetings?

Some of these moms homeschooled in the Dark Ages of homeschooling. Where they dared not leave their house between the hours of 8am and 3pm.

My youngest daughter is eight and struggling to read. If I was not in a homeschool group I would be concerned. I mean aren't they supposed to read before they leave kindergarten?? No, more than one mom has reassured me that her child did not read until 8. 9, even 10 and within a short amount of time they were caught up or reading past their "grade level".

Who else but a mom who has graduated a child can tell you that "credits" are pretty much what you, the teacher, make them to be for the child?

I have a few friends who are not in a homeschool group and they struggle sometimes with whether they doing enough. They struggle with wrong information given to them by the school board and their peers whose children are in public school.

My homeschool group consisting of years of experience dispels the myths.

One of the pieces of advice I picked up at the last meeting: When talking to someone at the schoolboard/school/place that public school students frequent run by the government keep calling back until you get someone who knows what they are talking about.

This would have saved my friend some trouble when she tried to enroll her son in HS this year and they told her he was not eligible because he had not completed two semesters of eighth grade at his middle school. His parents pulled him out at Christmas break and could not get his second semester report card. The person she was talking to had no clue what he was talking about. He very well could have been in highschool because he'd completed eighth grade at home.

Between you and me though it's ok, because I think she is a great homeschooling mom and her son will be better off with her. (She does not read my blog but if she ever shows up here I want her to know that she is the best mom I know!!)

So, what do I tell new HS moms to look for in a group?

Someone who has the same belief system as you is a plus. Face it your kids are going to be hanging out with the kids in this group. Did you go through all the trouble to pull them out of public school only to put them in a group with kids who are going to be a bad influence on your child?
Moms you can connect with on a basic level. If you are going to come home from every get together and feel bad about how you are doing as a parent because everyone in your group is Polly Perfect then you need to find another group. These should be moms who are not afraid to tell you about the bad days as well as the good days.

A group who has a mom's meeting. I think this is important. We have ours the first Tuesday evening of every month. We come together and learn from and encourage one another. We plan our next months Kids days, Teen nights, Field trips, parties and other stuff. We discuss problems within the group. We ask questions about homeschooling, mom stuff, finances, and organization. We eat and laugh together. Where else can I find a group of ladies that will laugh when I tell them that the kids wanted to inspect the road kill cat out front for science. They laugh because they have all been there.

We have a co-op in our group. It meets every Wed morning for classes. I could take it or leave it, but my kids enjoy the time.

Kids get togethers are a good thing in a group. A time for your kids to see that your family is not the only on this journey.

These are just some of my thoughts on homeschool groups. I used to think you could take them or leave them, but this year I have decided it's a necessity.

Are you in a homeschool group? Why? What do you think is the most important thing a homeschool group should have? I really want to know.

Be Blessed!

The aftermath

This is what the end of my official first day looked like. Phew, I am wore out. LOL
How is your year going?

Be Blessed!