Trying to keep up

Well, we are nearing the end of our "Whirlwind Tour 2012," and although they have been brief, we have enjoyed our visits with family and friends. We begin the final leg home in the morning. We are swapping Agnes for Grandaddy, and headed toward the ALCAN! I am looking forward to getting back to the Monday Markets, and birthday parties! See y'all soon!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

God is NOT a Facebook Friend!

I love my Facebook! It is a wonderful tool to promote my business. It is a great distraction when I am waiting for the Northern Lights to come out. It is a wonderful way to keep up with all of the people I have met throughout my life. It is not, however the best way to have a great relationship with someone you desire to be closer than anyone else. Let me explain...
I have a couple of hundred Facebook friends. About half of those are my daughter's friends because that is part of the deal of her having a social network account. ( if her friends don't want to be my friend, so I can check up on all of them, they are up to something.) I check on those "friends" every so often, but don't usually communicate with most of them. I just kind of make sure they are not influencing my DD to do anything we find unacceptable, then move onto the next. Most of them would not even rate acquaintance.
The next group I communicate with a bit more. These are people I am actually acquainted with via a common group or friend. I have met most, communicated with all, but still don't really pay much attention to all their status updates.
For the people I consider "friends," I have each and every status update sent to my newsfeed. I read as many as I can, comment and like, and sometimes even "share" their updates with others. These people are still not in the "inner circle," but they have potential to be. I love them, but don't make an effort to really spend time communicating with them.
Then there are my close friends. I have regretfully neglected two of the more important ladies in this category a lot lately, but they know they are super important to me, so I continue to abuse them. Other than my husband and daughter, (ok, the grandparents, too...) they are the only people I would be willing to drop everything to be with them to help them through anything! When I am not taking them for granted we have very intimate conversations, outside of the social networks. I actually prefer our face to face conversations the most. I miss seeing them, talking with them, learning from them, praying with them, and sharing my most intimate feelings with them. They love me for the quirky lady I am, even when I am neglecting them.
Isn't that what our relationship with God is like sometimes?
There are times in our lives when we treat Him like He is someone else's friend, hardly worth checking on the status. Other times, we communicate a little, if it interests us. And yet other times we desire the intimate friendship we once had, but just can't seem to make the time to talk face to face. We are treating God like our Facebook friends, and He is so much more than that.
God desires a relationship with each and every one of us. He wants us to desire Him so much that we not only read, like, and comment, but stop to talk with Him one-on-one, off-line,in person. He waits for us to put Him first, but we all tend to passively ignore his PM's that ask us to call.
I have been very guilty of this as of late, but I am still working on our relationship. He has not given up on us, yet, so neither will I!
Can you relate?
Let me know what you think!

I am so Blessed!

I have been so blessed with a truly wonderful package of gifts. I can sing well, make balloon art, paint some cool stuff on faces and arms and legs, and entertain people while I teach Science. I really have been given so many gifts, I find it hard to use them effectively all the time. I want to use my gifts, but when I try to use them all at once, I find myself very fractured. I feel the pull from all different directions to use ALL my gifts at every opportunity. But that is impossible!
I have recently felt that pull even more because my husband has made it possible for a lifelong dream of mine to come to fruition. I am teaching classes in a classroom, in the attic of my home, in North Pole, AK. I have wanted this since I was a young child, teaching my dolls, in my Howard Johnson's colors playroom, in the basement of our home in Fall River, MA. That dream has traveled many miles, and has changed a bit over the years, but it was a seed planted by God even before I knew what homeschooling was! He has been guiding me even before I accepted Him! Wow!
Anyway, back to my feeling drawn and quartered...
I feel that my teaching these classes is part of the ministry I have been called to do. This, along with being a godly wife to my husband, and a godly example and mother to my daughter, is what I was designed to do by the Master Creator. When I realize how blessed I am, to be able to do these things, I just want to sing His praises at the top of my lungs!
And there lies the problem. I love to sing! I am at my happiest singing in my church choir, surrounded by all the music and voices that join with my voice to praise Him! Unfortunately, I have had some problems with my ear that have prevented me from being in choir for quite awhile. I am fine doing solos, but I don't enjoy those as much. I really have a hard time taking compliments after them. But in the choir, I can just experience the whole uplifting experience of praising Him, and not have anyone compliment me on what HE did. It may seem selfish, but I have just stopped singing in public because I don't want the attention in that way.
So back to the problem. I do feel the teaching is what I am being called to do, but what about not using my talents? I have prayed for some guidance, and felt led to blog about it.
Are you going through a similar struggle? How do you know that you are supposed to focus on one gift and not another? Will God take away some gifts if you do not use them?
Please, let me know what you think.

Homeopathics to the Rescue

Well, I have finally found a product that has given Agnes some relief from this cough and fever!
We have been struggling to find something that was not going to just reduce her fever or just give her relief from her hacking cough. We have tried several over the counter meds because they are supposed to work quickly, and we wanted to visit with Mamaw and Papaw before they left. Then we tried more over the counter stuff because they are supposed to work quickly, and we wanted to finally get started on unpacking boxes so we could find stuff! Nothing seemed to work for more than a few hours! AAARRRGGGHHH!

I finally made a desperate run to WalMart night before last, and found this on a bottom shelf. This is the second morning I have let Agnes sleep late because she was not coughing, but was burning  up when I touched her. Her body is fighting whatever it is, and we are going to let it work itself out, but at least Agnes isn't miserable while she is sleeping.

In Need of Emotional and Physical Healing

I found just what I needed today. This is a prayer that allows you to do an "insert your name here" type prayer, but I need the emotional healing today. The link where I found this is at the bottom of the page.

Father, Release Your healing power into my life; be gracious to me.
Cause me to sense and know Your love as never before my life.
Open my eyes to those wounds that have me bound and hurting.
Remove the pain from my life; fill my wounds with Your mercy.
Set me free from unforgiveness; deliver me from harboring unforgiveness.
Remove anger and hatred from my life; replace it with love.
Remove depression and despair from my life; replace it with joy.
Remove fear and anxiety from me and replace it with peace.
Remove resentment and temper from me; replace it with longsuffering.
Remove bitterness and a critical spirit from me replace it with kindness.
Remove selfishness from me and replace it with goodness.
Fill me with Your love; show me Your concern for me.
Cause me to seek You with all me heart.
Manifest Your power and grace by healing and blessing me.
In Jesus Name, I ask all this. AMEN.
 Scripture Prayers from Prayer Closet Ministries

W haven't closed on the house, but I am already pricing insulation and drywall!

Rejected John 3:16 Super Bowl Commercial - LookUp 316

Well, I still haven't watched the Super Bowl, but I have heard the buzz about those commercials.
This one didn't make it on-air for the big game, but I think I will give this commercial a plug on my blog.
I will also give you a couple of links to get the tools you need to "look it up!"
Comment and let me know what you think, please!
God Bless,
Bridgit

“Purple Cow?” Learn the weird reason blurbs are called blurbs | The Hot Word

“Purple Cow?” Learn the weird reason blurbs are called blurbs | The Hot Word
This is a great site!
I love words. If you know me you know I certainly use a lot of them!
"Why say one word when 1000 will do?" is a popular saying in our house.
But I will keep this brief. Check out this interesting article. I think you will enjoy it.

Aprons Again

I am thinking about making some simple aprons to go along with some of my "Goodies in a Jar" that I am making for my family for Christmas. I was thinking about printing this poem on some cool paper to include, too! What do you think? I am very open to suggestions!

The History of 'APRONS' I don't think our kids know what an apron is. The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath because she only had a few.
It was also because it was easier to wash aprons than dresses and... aprons used less material. But along with that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven.
It was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears.
From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven.
When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids.. And when the weather was cold grandma wrapped it around her arms.
Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove. Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron.
From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls.
In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees.
When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds.
When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men folks knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner.
It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that 'old-time apron' that served so many purposes.
REMEMBER: Grandma used to set her hot baked apple pies on the window sill to cool. Her granddaughters set theirs on the window sill to thaw. They would go crazy now trying to figure out how many germs were on that apron.
I don't think I ever caught anything from an apron - but love...

Have an extra Christmas Card?

Well, I was scrolling down my facebook this morning, and I noticed that two of my non-military friends have this posted as their status this morning:

When filling out Christmas cards this year, take one card and send it to this address:
A Recovering American Soldier      
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center,      
6900 Georgia Avenue NW,      
Washington DC 20307-5001.
If we pass this on and everyone sends one card, think of how many cards these wonderful special people who have sacrificed so much would get.

This is great... if the cards actually gets to the soldiers. I thought that they had discontinued the "Any Soldier" programs? I am sending one, just in case, but before I try to rally the troops, could someone that might know more than I do about this please comment?

Thanks,
Bridgit

Origami Homemade Advent Calendar Pattern

Origami Homemade Advent Calendar Pattern
We couldn't find our Advent calendar when we unpacked all the Christmas stuff, so Agnes and I are making our own thanks to the instructions on this blog.
Pictures soon!

Homemade Facial Mask Recipes

Homemade Facial Mask Recipes
I have been looking for some stuff to try to make for Christmas presents, and I came across this site. Pretty cool Stuff!

Homemade Facial Mask Recipes

Homemade Facial Mask Recipes
I have been looking for some stuff to try to make for Christmas presents, and I came across this site. Pretty cool Stuff!

Christmas Food Court Flash Mob, Hallelujah Chorus - Must See!

Shutterfly

Well, I have been trying to figure out what to do for Christmas cards this year.
Shuttterfly.com has a nice deal on photo cards, and I am looking at quite a few designs, but my favorite so far is "Count Your Blessings." I love getting photo cards, and I thought they would be more expensive, but with the shipping special, the ones from Shutterfly are not any more expensive than getting store bought cards.
I will let you know what I decide...

Facebook more grandparent-friendly with ‘email’

Facebook more grandparent-friendly with ‘email’
This is a great article. Agnes posts everything on FB, and if her grandparents remember to check it... they know & can see pictures of what is going on in her life!

CurrClicl Give-Away

I am a big e-book user in my homeschool! I have currently become an affiliate for CurrClick. They had this great give-away on their blog!
This week is National Game and Puzzle Week, what a great idea for a week-long event, huh!
Games are a wonderful way to spend a fun and interactive evening with your family. A standard weekly “game night” is a great way to connect with your loved ones and simply have a blast together. Do you have family board game nights? Family Wii games that you like to play? We’d love to see a list of all your favorite games, whether they are board games, puzzles, video games, logic games like chess or Sudoku. My family is always on the lookout for new games to try, so I for one would love to read your ideas!
We have some great giveaways for this week! Everyone who leaves a comment or submits a blog entry will be entered.
**PLEASE BE SURE THAT YOUR PROFILE CONTAINS OR THAT YOU INCLUDE AN EMAIL ADDRESS. Unfortunately we have had to skip over several names that were drawn because we were unable to locate an email address. **
(If you are reading this on Facebook, be sure to leave a comment on the actual post.) This giveaway will be open until 10:00pm EST Friday, November 19th. Please see our rules for more details.

Prizes include:

Happy Scribe Copybook: Video Games by Westvon Publishing
Each copybook has twenty sayings, presented in three different common handwriting fonts: Classic Block Printing, D’Nealian Italic and Cursive. We have based these exercises on twenty day blocks, representing four weeks of five days, for one month of exercises. This copybook contains sayings such as: Sony makes the PlayStation 3; The Wii has motion sensing capabilities; Midway introduces Space Invaders to arcades; Nintendo released the Nintendo DS in 2004.
Treasure Hunts by Enrichment4You
This enrichment guide is designed to give you plenty of creative ideas for developing a themed based treasure hunt with varying mental and physical challenges. Treasure hunts are a fun way to introduce or reinforce a new idea, teach about different subjects and help the participants interact, brainstorm, problem solve and more. Includes the following: A Brief Overview of Treasure Hunts, Creating the Treasure Hunt Map, Developing the Theme, Treasure Hunt Scenario’s, Mystery Guests & Simple Props, and much more.
100 Thematic Word Search Puzzles Junior by Full Blast Productions
A reproducible ESL/Literacy textbook of 100 word search puzzles. Each puzzle is based on a theme. Each puzzle has ten words to be studied. There is an illustration for each vocabulary word. There is a space for your esl student to practice writing the words on it. The other has all the vocabulary words hidden in a grid full of letters. There is a complete Answer Key.
TWO winners will receive Creative Review Games by Toytown Treasures
Do you review? Whether you are an unschooler, use a complete curriculum, or mix and match, every student can benefit from doing review. The inexpensive, easy to create games found in Creative Review Games will give your student an enjoyable time of learning. You’ll find ideas for review, instructions for creating questions, and directions to play games. Reproducible templates and patterns are included in this e-book.

Be sure to share this blog hop & giveaway with your friends! Feel free to copy any of the text from this post!

Homeschool Stuff

 I got this e-mail from my IDEA Field Rep. 

Hope it helps some of the Fairbanks/ North Pole area homeschoolers!

 Homeschool Co-Op

November Homeschool Co-op Meeting

Tuesday, November 9th, 1-3 pm

We meet at Valley of Blessing Church on the corner of Airport and Market (3007 Airport Way).

We will be celebrating Thanksgiving, practicing Christmas carols to go caroling at the Pioneer Home in December, and sharing what Thanksgiving means to each of us.  Come for crafts, snacks, games, and new friends!

We hope you can join us!  All homeschoolers are welcome!

For more information or to RSVP, please contact Amy Temple at akteachermom@yahoo.com or Joyce Plummer at bobnjoyce97@yahoo.com by Monday, 11/8. 

_______________________________________________________________________________________

The Region F listserv is provided to promote homeschool-related communication between IDEA families. The content is provided by families and other interested parties.  Posting by IDEA does not imply IDEA endorsement or recommendation.  Activities mentioned are not sponsored by IDEA, however are open to all homeschoolers.  To have your message forwarded to the list, simply address it to sandy.blewett@ideafamilies.org   Write to the same address to be removed from this list. Thank you!  

PWOC- Protestant Women of the Chapel

 PWOC is an acronym for Protestant Women of the Chapel. I linked the PWOC International sight here if you want the official explanation of what it is. What I want to tell you in this blog entry is what PWOC has been to me.

 I am a hermit by nature. Don't get me wrong... I like to socialize, and I love to talk, but I thoroughly enjoy staying at home and just spending time homeschooling and being a housewife. It takes a lot to get me to leave my nice, warm, safe house ESPECIALLY during the dark, cold, harsh Alaska winters!

I started going to go to PWOC when Darren deployed the last time. I needed to be in a Bible Study, and I didn't know where to look. We were attending Chapel at Northern Lights, on Fort Wainwright, and all these women were talking about these really neat Bible Studies on Thursday mornings. I decided to get my butt out of bed and drag my daughter to this thing... All I could think was, "Wow, these women must either be morning people, or they must seriously love these Bible studies to do this every week!"

So I spent my first year in Alaska going to PWOC on Thursday mornings, and I grew stronger in my faith because of the fellowship I experienced with the women there. BUT I am not going to say that I got along with EVERYONE, and I am not saying all the women there treated me like a Christian woman should treat someone. There were certainly personality conflicts that first year, and the year that followed.

The next year I volunteered to monitor the Homeschool room. It was supposed to be for a few weeks... just until someone else came to take over. I was told that I should go ahead and start a Bible study because I would not have to be there every week. That "someone else" never showed. I felt abandoned by these women. I was left without any fellowship, except for the kids. Darren was still gone, and I was so self centered, I couldn't see that God was trying to get me to use my gifts for His purpose. It wasn't that no one wanted to spend time in the homeschool room. It wasn't that the other women didn't care about me starving for fellowship. It wasn't that the homeschool room was such a horrible place to be. I was just fighting God. I wanted to be the kind of woman I saw instead of the kind of woman He wanted me to be.

I spent a lot, A LOT of time in prayer about why God was letting these Christian woman treat me like this before I got the answer that it wasn't them. It was me. 

I was trying to be a "Beth," or a "Jenny," or a "Katie," but I wasn't being "Bridgit." I am blessed to think like a child, and I love learning and getting kids excited about learning. God was trying to get me to use that gift to teach these children. God wanted me to be the woman that gets excited about making slime to teach about polymers, and floating needles in pie pans to teach about magnets, and stuffing cotton balls in glasses of water to show how God designed EVERYTHING in this world to show us how AWEsome He is!

This year, I am monitoring the Homeschool Room, again, and we are doing Bible Science. We are going to be learning about salt, light, the body, astronomy, and a lot of other cool subjects! God is AWEsome, and He proves it again all the time in this wonderful world He created! 

I would invite any military spouse to check out your local PWOC, especially if you have had a bad experience the last time. Remember, the ladies there are always changing. The PCS seasons send some women away to other posts, and brings in new faces around the beginning of the school year, and again around Christmas. Even if the woman or women that hurt you are still there, maybe this is your opportunity to pray and find out what lesson God really needs you to learn. Maybe you are being asked to grow or use a gift you didn't realize was just what someone at your local PWOC needed. Maybe you need a gift that one woman at PWOC is trying to use. Or maybe, just maybe, God just needs you to NOT be that woman that hurt you for another woman who is hurting.

I have the time & place of the Ft. Wainwright PWOC on my Google Calendar

I would love for you to stop by and say, "Hello," if you decide to try out our PWOC. 

You can find me in the Homeschool Room.

These are just some flyers and forms I made for the PWOC Homeschool Room.