It’s been a year since we downsized our company and put our house on the market. We’ve had 3 offers on our house and all three have fallen through. My husband and I have cut nearly every extra expense we can think of to avoid my having to go to work outside the home. So far the Lord has provided beyond what I ever imagined.  My food budget is the one area left that I still have some ‘wiggle’ room.

My long term goal is to cut my grocery bill by $200.00 a month. My goal this month is to spend a minimum of $50.00 less on groceries.. more if possible. I’m also going to take the allotted amount of grocery money out of the bank and put it in an envelope. When the cash is gone then I will not buy any more groceries for the month.

 I decided to ‘shop at home first’ just like Cindy teaches on Cindy’s Porch. I spent yesterday making a list of the meat, veggies and bread  in my freezers. I then made a list of meals from that list which gave me over 30 meals for the next month. This should drop my grocery bill dramatically if I can stay out of the stores except for milk and fruit.

Next week I hope to make a list for 2-3 weeks of inexpensive recipes. I’m gathering recipes that have a minimal amount of meat. So far my list consists of:

Beans and ham hocks

Beef/ chicken fajitas

Tacos (small amount of hamburger)

Burritos (small amount of meat, homemade tortillas when I run out of the ones that I have in the fridge)

Stew (small amount of beef)

Fried rice (ham, veggies)

Breakfast for dinner (biscuits and gravy)

Chicken and Dumplings (or strip noodles)

Chile Verde over brown rice

Spaghetti

I also changed my dishwashing detergent. A young friend told me to try 1/2 tablespoon of Borax and 1/2 tablespoon of baking soda. It works great! I bought a huge bag of baking soda at Costco for around $3.00. It will last me more than a year and I still have a half a box of Borax from the homemade laundry detergent I make. I do use a ‘rinse aid’ because our well water is very hard. I’ve heard you can use vinegar but it doesn’t work with the minerals in our water.

Have any of you ladies cut your grocery bill dramatically over this past year? If so, would you mind sharing some ideas with me? I’m also looking for some good websites on this subject.

The year 2007 is nearly gone and the new year is right around the corner. I love new beginnings, don’t you? I love the start of a new morning, the smell of new puppy or even a new house. “New” brings with it the hope of a beginning of NEW THINGS. Good things! That is what I am looking forward to in 2008. A NEW YEAR with the hope of many NEW THINGS to learn about God through His Word!

I also love to take the time, around the first of the year, and evaluate the previous year spiritually. Did I spend as much time in God’s Word as I had hoped to? How was my prayer life? Did I ‘lay up treasures in heaven’ or did I spend more time laying up treasures on earth? Did I use my spiritual gifts for the sake of His body, the church, or did I waste my time on things that will ‘burn’ up on judgment day? What kind of changes can I make this coming year to place the highest priority on studying God’s Word and obeying it?

I spent some time this morning responding to a couple of emails and as I wrote I was so overcome by how much God’s Word has meant to me in my Christian walk. I thought back over the years and how God’s Word became an anchor to my soul in the early years of a bad marriage. God place a pastor’s wife in my life years ago who came alongside me and helped me to see how God’s Word could be lived out in my home. A few years later  the Lord brought along a woman who was able to teach me how to ‘rightly’ divide the Word of God. How thankful I am for these women who were devoted to God’s Word and teaching it to others.

God’s Word changed my marriage! TODAY, my husband is my best and dearest friend. I never would have imagined this in the early years of our marriage that were filled with fighting and selfishness.

God’s Word has delivered me from so many of of my fears. Since my early childhood years I had established fearful thought patterns. God has delivered me from so many of those fears and continues to reveal to me areas where I am not trusting Him.

God’s Word has been my counselor and my guide! People pay thousands of dollars to therapist and psychiatrists to get guidance and help for their problems. I have THE COUNSELOR as my guide and He is living inside me and counsels me through His Word. His Word has become a ‘lamp unto my feet’ and shown  brightly in the darkest times of my life.

God’s Word has given me HOPE in those areas of my life where I feel overcome by sin.

God’s Word (made flesh in the person of Jesus Christ) has been my constant companion and guide!

There are no accurate words to truly describe the value I place on God’s Word and how grateful I am for it’s living power in my life.

So, this coming year I purpose (by God’s grace) to place an even higher priority to study it, memorize it, obey it, teach it and meditate on each and every day of the year! This will take a higher commitment of my time but NOTHING compares to the dividends it promises!

How about you?

I am to ‘search’ God’s Word. (Acts 17:11)

I am to handle it accurately. (2 Tim. 2:15)

I am to be a ‘doer’ of God’s Word. (James 1:22,23)

I may suffer for God’s Word. (Rev. 1:9)

God’s Word is my GUIDE (Ps. 119:133)

God’s Word is my STANDARD to live by. ( Titus 2:5)

God’s Word is my source of JOY (Ps. 119:162)

God’s Word is my  DAILY BREAD ( Mt. 4:4)

God’s Word is a LAMP to my feet (Ps. 119:105)

God’s Word is my COUNSELOR. (Ps. 73:24)

 Happy New Year!

Pastor Mike preached one of those Christmas messages that I believe will stay with me until I leave this earth. I will never be able to look at a Nativity scene again without thinking of Sunday’s message.

Here are a few of my best notes. You can listen to this message at Stevinson Chapel.

..but we preach Christ crucified. 1 Cor. 1:23.

The thrust of the prophets ministry was not to preach Christ BORN but Christ CRUCIFIED.

The Christmas message can’t end with Christ being born. We can’t talk about His birth without the reason He was born. If we stop at Christ’s birth we have no atonement for our sins on the cross. The power is in the cross.

What do you think the prophets would say as they entered our malls and saw all the decorations and purchasing of gifts for the ‘birth’ of Christ with no mention about His horrific sacrifice?

The cross is a stumbling block and foolish to a perishing world. ( 1 Cor. 1:23) The world can easily talk about an innocent baby Jesus in a cradle because they don’t have to face their sin.  But they won’t talk about a Christ who was sacrificed and brutally murdered on a cross because of their depravity and sin.

Isaiah’s Christmas

1. This child was tortured. Isaiah 52:13-15

2. This child was humiliated. Isaiah 53:1-3

3. This child was crucified. Isaiah 53:4-6

4. This child was sacrificed. Isaiah 53:7-9

5. This child was vindicated. Isaiah 53:10-12

Spend time on Christmas Day talking about the cross and not just the nativity.

1 Cor 1:22-24: For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom,  but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,  but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28 (ESV)

For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.1 John 5:3 (ESV)

 

 

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I am nearly finished reading LOVING GOD WITH ALL YOUR MIND by Elizabeth George. This is an excellent book for anyone who wants to obey God’s Word and not follow their emotions. I have been practicing a lot of these biblical principles for years but found quite a few gems in this book that I have already started to put into practice in my own thought life! One biblical principle in particular (think on things that are TRUE, Phil 4:8) will be life-changing. E. George’s explanation of this word opened up the meaning in a way I had never thought of before.  This book will go to the TOP 10 of my ‘must read list’. I also finished The Treasure Principle by Randy Alcorn which is EXCELLENT! (If you click on the link above where it says ‘Visit our Website’ you can find a list of reading books that are my favorite for women and children.)

 

Are you ready for Christmas? I finished shopping a few weeks ago. My wrapping is almost complete.We had an offer on our house so we were not going to decorate this year but the offer fell through. A second one was in the works and it fell through yesterday. I went ahead and decided to decorate for my husbands sake to cheer him up. I’m glad I did. The lights brightened up our home and make it feel cheerful.

 

I already made Mounds Balls, Peanut Butter Balls, Red Hot Carmel Popcorn and Chewy Cherry cookie trays for my husband to take to a couple of places he works for. Next weekend I’ll make up a few more goodies to take to our Christmas dinner and give to family. I’d like to try a new recipe for Snickers Fudge. Miss Emma Lee gave me some whipping cream to make homemade carmels. I won’t keep them in the house more than a day or I’ll start snacking on them!

I thought this was a great way to teach children part of the Christmas story. I read about this in Simple Times which can be found under The Dollar Stretcher. http://www.stretcher.com/

Here is the idea….

Three Wise Men = three gifts
We give our kids 3 presents for Christmas just as the Wise Men
gave Jesus.  Frankincense was burned before worship, so the gift
is something that pretains to how the kids spend their time with God
(a new worship CD, bible, Focus on the Family magazine).  Myrhh
was an annointing oil so the gift is something to annoint their bodies
(fancy soaps, sparkly lotion, bathrobe).  Their gold gift is the gift
they’ve really been wanting (special toy, CD player).  You can take
this even further and wrap the presents in special papers.  The kids
have enjoyed it, it sure helps mom’s budget, and it passes the true
story of Christmas in a hands-on way.
–Emily, Minnesota

Maybe next year I’ll try and incorporate this idea with my grandchildren.

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem saying, “Where is he who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him. Matthew 2:1-2

Monday I went to Miss Emma Lee’s house to learn how to make tamales. (You’ll remember Miss Emma Lee from this summer when she taught us how to make cream puffs and homemade caramels. I had another lady try to teach me how to make tamales a few years ago but her recipe was so complicated that I never attempted it on my own. Mary (our tamale making teacher) had an easy recipe.

Here is picture of the three ‘older Titus 2 women’ in Emma Lee’s kitchen getting ready to teach us ‘younger women’ how to make tamales. I so appreciate them taking time out of their day to teach us.

Mary is at the stove. She is our official teacher. Emma Lee is in the orange apron and my neighbor is standing next to her. Mary is getting the chilies ready to boil. They will be used for our sauce.

Marie is mixing the shortening and baking powder into the masa in the picture above. She doesn’t like to use the ready made mix.

Here the ladies are rolling out the masa on top of the corn husks. We used wax paper so that the masa wouldn’t stick to our rolling pins. Marie and her daughter are in the background. They attend my church. They were at my house earlier in the week watching me make candy. It’s so much fun to get together and do a project with other ladies. We all said how much we enjoyed it.  Mary said she didn’t know how to make a good pie crust so maybe I’ll hold the next meeting at my house and share my fail-proof recipe.  

Mary stacks her tamales differently than I was taught. It took nearly 5 hours to cook them and they were a bit on the dry side. I brought home some uncooked tamales and stacked them upright in my cooker. Mine cooked for 2 hours and were perfect. But, then I made a BIG mistake and left them in the cooker until it cooled down. By the time I took them out they were dry.

Does anyone know how to moisten a DRY TAMALE? I’m wondering if I can pour just a bit of beef broth on the top of the meat mixture before I reheat them?

We had a very enjoyable day. Oh, and I almost forgot one of the most important people in this whole process. Miss Josie our stenographer!

She was so patient with all of us ‘old ladies’ and served us and helped us with such a servants heart. She took down notes on the whole process which I will try and type out soon. Thanks Josie! Love you for that!!

Please be so kind to remember Miss Emma Lee in your prayers. She has 4th stage stomach and lung cancer. The Drs. did not expect her to live past a few months and it’s been a year. She continues to tell them that only God knows how many days she has left! She is such an encouragement to all of us. She rarely misses church and comes even when she is in pain! I love her dearly!

Pastor Mike’s message on Sunday for men was so good that I wanted to post a few of my notes.  Knowing what God commands of our husbands can encourage us to pray for them and exhort them (in gentleness and meekness) out of our love for them. (Gal. 6:1) I think I got even more out of this sermon than the one for the women (if that’s possible).

He started out with the man’s focus (make disciples) and reviewed the three reminders that he gave the women on last Sunday.  Look at my post above to see what those were. Here are a few of my best notes. You can listen to these sermons at our church’s website… http://www.stevinsonchapel.com

We’re here to please our commanding officer.

People are going to hell.

This should be our focus. Make disciples. Matthew 28:18-20

Our children are on their way to hell if they haven’t been born again. (John 3:16,17-18,36; Romans 5, Romans 3:10)

Continually give the gospel to your children. (2 Tim. 3:16)

Don’t assure your children they are Christians if they are not. Damaging!

God has given us everything we need to know through the scriptures for marriage, child training, business, etc. (2 Peter 1:3)

Until the day you die you want to give the gospel to your children (and grandchildren).

He warned us against (what he calls) religious ‘poo-poo’.    Example: Five Love Languages (builds a persons rights .. unbiblical) & Love is Choice (no.. it’s a command!). Know the Word so you can guard yourself from these types of false teachings.

The gospel starts with forgiveness. It’s not the end but the beginning. You don’t work towards forgiveness with others- you DO IT now. Otherwise, your thrown to the tormentors.

Stay at your post!!!  (my comment for us women …  A woman’s post is also her home. A ‘keeper at home’ guards her home’ as taught in Titus 2. Don’t leave your post.)

No soldier fools around with hobbies or pastimes when eternal souls are at stake.

Men are commanded to have agapeo love (sacrificial love) as Christ has for the church. (John 3:16)

Women are commanded to have phileo love (brotherly, affectionate, kind love) towards their husbands. (Titus 2)

Phil. 2:5: Get your mind off other things (hobbies, tv) and get your mind on what Christ had in mine. (Phil. 2:5-7)

John 13: Christ was our example as He washed the disciples (even His betrayers) feet.

You must understand the gospel and biblical love before you can understand biblical leadership. Otherwise, your leadership will be chauvinistic.

Be a disciple (follower, student) of Christ.

Men – keeping asking God to reveal this kind of sacrificial love.

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Wow! That blessed me just as much the second time around. I thank God for my pastor who is not afraid to give the Word of God in boldness! Hope it blessed you ladies. Pastor will continue this series on Sunday.

Ladies.. a word of caution… if your husband does not have this kind of sacrificial love for you then please don’t continually beat him over the head with it. Your marching orders are found in 1 Peter 3:1. If you have given Him the Word and he will not be persuaded then ‘win’ him by your godly behavior. Adorn yourself with a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.

Love you ladies!

Georgene