Patience in searching...

I'm on a journey of learning how to be the best help meet for my husband. Meeting his needs so that he is at his best to serve the God who created him for greatness. A God who wants to send him out into a world to minister and serve others, pointing them to Christ. A world who wants to steal my mans manliness and his worth as a man.

What is my role as Mark's help meet? As I read through Created to be his helpmeet. I am learning that there are three types of men. The command man, the visionary man, and the steadfast man. Mrs. Pearl says that men are usually a little bit of each of these, they are also usually dominant in one of these areas. Mark is hands down the visionary man! Mark is creative and inventive. He loves the thrill of the hunt or in his case the thrill of the perfect photograph. He's in search of the perfect natural lighting, seeing in nature what I myself am too impatient to even care to see. Yet, when Mark says, "Robin look!", I am always amazed at what he has me stop and look at and also amazed at how much I miss because of my fly-by personality.

My role as Mark's wife is to first and foremost pray and lift him up to the Lord. Interceding for him to the LORD who created him. Praying for the Holy Spirits direction in his life and that Mark would be suble and open to the direction the LORD wants him to go. As Mark's wife my job is to be open to the directions God wants him to go. Trusting in the Lord with all my heart and leaning on the promise that my path will be made straight when I do trust. Mark has a vision and passion to one day have a ministry out of his photography. He wants to use his talent with a camera to direct and point people to Christ. What you may ask is my role in this. As of right now, my role is to pray for God's timing in the matter, while praying God will give Mark patience and peace in the desire of his heart. Not going before or after God, but waiting on God's perfect timing. My role is to tighten our grocery bill if the case arises that we need to pinch pennies even tighter. My role is to encourage Mark and give my imput IF and I do say IF Mark asks for it. I need to remember I am NOT Mark's guide or the one to tell him what to do.

Let me say this, I am finding that when I get on board with my man's passions, when I am encouraging him instead of fighting him on everything and not knit picking just because I feel out of control or insecure. Mark is more often open to the insight I may have on the circumstance or situation. He is open and suble and ready to hear what I have to say AND is also usually willing to acknowledge that I might be right.  If however, I fight against what the LORD is doing in my man or asking him to do, I am destroying whatever God wants my man to do for his glory. I am deflatting the man God has given instructions to fulfill. Imagine if Noah's wife had said honey you are off your rocker and pitched a fit, could she have deflated Noah and detered him from a most important situation. What about Sari, Abrahams wife, if she had flat out refused to go anywhere because she wanted to be near her family and would go nowhere. We can see the big picture of a flood coming and of a promised land, but Sari and Noah's wife didn't have an end result picture to follow. All they had was their husband and the LORD their God that they trusted. They went on blind faith and were honored for it and their husbands were able to fulfill what God asked them to do.

 Something I noticed about each of these women is that they trusted God and had an intimate relationship with HIM. Perhaps it was not their husbands they trusted so much as it was YAHWEH they were trusting and following. When God asks us to do something he also brings peace along in the circumstance, but I have to allow the peace by being willing to submit to Mark and choose joy and choose to be thankful in the circumstance. Even praying and being thankful in advance for the amazing works he will do through my husband.

I am usually harder on myself than Mark is and I often find myself apologizing to him for telling him what to do, not meeting a need I knew he had and didn't do anything about. I apologize and he looks at me and says I didn't think that needed apologizing for, but he also says grants forgiveness. I am trying to be patient with myself and give myself room to error and blow it. I am after all still human, I need to give myself room and time to pratice being joyful always and thankful at all times. My husband can see my effort and is being patient with me. God is patient with me, so I also need to be patient with myself. Being patient with mself does not give me permission to slack off and not do my help meet role. That's not at all what I am saying. I am giving myself permission to seek God's forgiveness, Mark's forgiveness, forgive myself and the continue to press on and fullfill my help meet role in Mark's life.

He who began a good work in me will be faithful to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus! Be patient but press on!

note: Since I have begun to pursue meeting Mark's needs joyfully without complaining and actively being Mark's help meet, he has taken the trash out twice without me having to do it or having to ask him too!

Note to Mark: Thanks babe for taking the trash out, I sinerely appreciate it! But, I also know that you have a lot on your plate and when you aren't able to take the trash out, I am more than happy to do it! I love you babe!

Created...

Many of us search and search for what we have been created for, what is the big picture of my life? For the Christian this should be an easy one, to glorify God with all my heart, soul, and mind. My life should be an outpouring of my intimate relationship with God. But what areas does God want me to pour into? Does he want me to pour into full time ministry, does he want me to pour into my husband, my kids.

For me this has been a hard question. I have been looking outside my family for a ministry opportunity. To some of you this sounds admirable and yet some of you are thinking to yourself it's a no-brainer, my family is ministry. While my brain and heart know this, my soul hadn't yet caught up with the concept of my family being my ministry.

I am on a journey, a journey of learning to be my husbands help meet. Not trying to be Mark's mommy, his boss, or even trying to be the Holy Spirit guiding his thoughts and actions. But being his help meet. Selflessly loving my husband so that God can use him at his best. So that Mark can go to work with a whistle in his breath and excitement in his step and a spirit that is light. My roll is to help Mark be able to glorify God and meet an ugly world that wants to bash his manliness! My roll is to affirm Mark as the man God has glorified him to be. The world can be an intimating place and a man needs someone to tell him that through Christ he can bring down a giant. My place is to affirm my man to accomplish all that the Lord has in store for him.

Now, being Mark's help meet is NOT possible without a deep love and respect for God, the creator of this world. It is not possible on my own, especially while I"m pmsing or just being a spiteful woman. Being Mark's help meet requires me to be in the word daily, to surround myself with other women who are like minded to encourage me to run the race. Being Mark's help meet requires tears while I die to myself again and submit to God who has created me to be a woman, a married woman, thus a help meet. Being Mark's help meet requires a conscious effort to practice being joyful and thankful at all times. It requires me to relax, laugh, and let go of control, letting one hand go of the monkey bars so I can swing to another rung trusting the Lord to land my hand safely on the next rung. It's scary letting go of control, the fear of the unknown, the fear of rejection and being unloved. The fear of standing alone giving my own for a man who might not return it.

Yet as I continue on the journey to be Mark's help meet I am learning through my own journey and the stories of other women who have gone before me that THIS route is THE route to take! Less of me and more of doing what God has asked me to do. Being Mark's helpmeet completely goes against what the world and even the christian world have to say about the "worth" of a woman and what are rolls look like.

I have chosen to choose joy and thanksgiving, I have chosen to giggle and try and see the lighter side to life. As I giggle, when Mark asks me to do something and I smile and happily do it, he is changing. Mark is becoming more joyful and relaxed. Lovemaking, which up until now was referred to by me as sex. When lovemaking is simply referred to ask sex, it is simply that. It is not an expression of love, it's just an act that doesn't really mean anything and something I'd rather have over with sooner than later. But it has become love making and I have come to love lovemaking! I am finding the sparks that had almost gone out, I have found that the missing spark was me...not Mark! Mark did try but how do you start a wet, cold, and frozen log?

I'm on a journey, a journey I am so thankful the Lord has brought to my attention. A journey that is going to glorify God and take Mark and I places we never thought we could go. I'm thankful that God loves me enough to go through painful journeys, that ask me to die more to myself and ask me to give God full control. Purging the junk out of heart, soul, and mind and fully submitting my will for his will!

Do I feel unequal to Mark, do I feel less of a person, do I feel like a servant? I honestly do not feel less of a person. As I have come to help Mark meet his needs, he has become aware of my needs. He has become a tender lover, a happy helpful helper around the house when he can. As I allow Mark his place of authority and leadership in our home he starts to be affirmed of his place in our home. As I allow Mark to become the man, he starts acting like a man, and less of a caged person in his own home. When I start to give Mark the authority, the kids fall in line with me. Our home becomes a peaceful place because I am allowing the order in our home that God has designed. Going outside of God's design is going outside of his protection for us. It is always better under God's design. Because I submit to Mark does not mean I have no pull in our home. I as a woman have more pull and power than I care to think about. I can use that pull to uplift, joyfully obey my husband, and pray for him or I can use that same power to destroy the man God has given me. Us women have a choice to build up or tear down, to get better or bitter. The choice is yours!

I'm on a journey...won't you seek to come on the journey with me?!

Rootbeer and Water Keifer Soda

Mark and I have been on the hunt for a root beer recipe that we not only like but love. A recipe that would some what resemble some of the natural root beers we've tasted. We tried making root beer with whey, we've tried making root beer with a ginger bug, we tried making root beer by making an extract and adding club soda to it. None of these gave us the taste we were craving. I wasn't discouraged, because I knew there had to be a source out there, somewhere! Low and behold after looking and looking all over the internet I finally found something I thought might get us close to what we were looking for and I was right.  While mark prefers root beer keifer, I prefer juice keifer. Keifer is chalk full of probiotics, you know those things yogurt companies push so hard for people to buy, same thing, except more potent!  Mark is a purest, he likes things the way they are suppose to taste, and nothing else. He will try just about anything, but it's hard to sway him from the original. The fact that he likes the root beer keifer is a miracle in and of itself!

To make a gallon of Water Kiefer you need:
this recipe makes 1 gallon of water keifer

* 1 cup water keifer grains

* lemon juice from a 1/4 of a lemon

* 1 cup natural sugar (rapadura, sucanant, etc.)

* 1 dried prune or other dehydrated fruit

* 1 gallon of filtered water

Add first 4 ingredients to your gallon container, then pour your gallon of filtered over your four ingredients. Your brew needs to be able to breath and mix with the air, you can do this by placing a kitchen towel over your container with a rubber band around the lid of the jar (this lets it breath without getting bugs in it). Your keifer is done when the prune or dried fruit is floating on the top or is nice and bubbly.

To make root beer syrup:
1 tablespoon licorice root
3 tablespoons sarsaparilla root
1 vanilla bean
1 anise star
1 cinnamon stick
couple drops wintergreen extract
1 qt. filtered water

Put all ingredients in a pan and then pour the 1 quart water over ingredients. Let water come to a simmer. Try not to let it boil, because boiling the spices can cause them to become bitter tasting. Let ingredients simmer for about 45 minute's. Let cool, then add root beer syrup to water keifer.  Put all the ingredients together in a gallon container, then fill the container up with water, set the container on the counter until the dried fruit floats to the top. When the water keifer is ready you are ready to make keifer soda!

 I don't have a bunch of soda bottles to divide up my keifer so I use 1/2 gallon glass jars. I fill the half gallon jar with 1/2 flavor of any juice I have a hankering for at the moment and 1/2 of the keifer water into a 1/2 gallon jar, screw lid on tightly, then taste everyday until you each the desired taste you prefer. You can use fresh chopped ginger for ginger ale, lemon for lemonade (I want to try lemonade sometime), vanilla beans for cream soda tasting keifer. The key to water keifer is to keep trying until you get the tastes you are looking for. For the first round, to get your confidence going, I would suggest using 1/2 juice and 1/2 water keifer and then adjusting your taste and creativity from there.

There's nothing better than a healthy, good for you, bubbly beverage with an amazing slice of homemade pizza!!!

What can I do with Vinegar?

Where do I even start! Vinegar is amazing stuff! Here is a list of a few ideas to get you started on your vinegar journey. Click on the vinegar link above to go to two different websites that have a lot more ideas for vinegar use!

Household Hints

Floors

No-wax floors:
To wash no-wax floors, add ½ cup of white distilled vinegar to a half-gallon of warm water.
Carpet stain removal:
A mixture of 1 teaspoon of liquid detergent and 1 teaspoon of white distilled vinegar in a pint of lukewarm water will remove non-oily stains from carpets. Apply it to the stain with a soft brush or towel and rub gently. Rinse with a towel moistened with clean water and blot dry. Repeat this procedure until the stain is gone. Then dry quickly, using a fan or hair dryer. This should be done as soon as the stain is discovered.

Windows & Walls

Streakless windows:
Simply wash with a mixture of equal parts of white distilled vinegar and warm water. Dry with a soft cloth. This solution will make your windows gleam and will not leave the usual film or streaks on the glass.
Washing woodwork:
You can ease the job of washing painted walls, woodwork and Venetian blinds by using a mixture of 1 cup ammonia, ½ cup white distilled or cider vinegar and ¼ cup baking soda with 1 gallon of warm water. Wipe this solution over walls or blinds with a sponge or cloth and rinse with clear water. Dirt and grime comes off easily and the solution will not dull the painted finish or leave streaks.
Water or alcohol marks on wood:
Stubborn rings resulting from wet glasses being placed on wood furniture may be removed by rubbing with a mixture of equal parts of white distilled vinegar and olive oil. Rub with the grain and polish for the best results.

Kitchen

Garbage disposal cleaner:
Garbage disposals may be kept clean and odor free with vinegar cubes. Vinegar cubes are made by filling an ice tray with a mixture of 1 cup of vinegar and enough water to fill the ice tray and then freezing it. Run the mixture through the disposal, and then flush it with cold water for a minute or so.
Coffee maker cleaner (automatic):
White distilled vinegar can help to dissolve mineral deposits that collect in automatic drip coffee makers from hard water. Fill the reservoir with white distilled vinegar and run it through a brewing cycle. Rinse thoroughly with water when the cycle is finished. (Be sure to check the owner’s manual for specific instructions.)
Clean the microwave:
Boil a solution of 1/4 cup of white distilled vinegar and 1 cup of water in the microwave. Will loosen splattered on food and deodorize.
Deodorize the kitchen drain:
Pour a cup of white distilled vinegar down the drain once a week. Let stand 30 minutes and then flush with cold water.
Clean the refrigerator:
Wash with a solution of equal parts water and white distilled vinegar.
Clean and disinfect wood cutting boards:
Wipe with full strength white distilled vinegar.
Brass polish:
Brass, copper and pewter will shine if cleaned with the following mixture. Dissolve 1 teaspoon of salt in 1 cup of white distilled vinegar and stir in flour until it becomes a paste. Apply paste to the metals and let it stand for about 15 minutes. Rinse with clean warm water and polish until dry.
Ant deterrent:
Ant invasions can sometimes be deterred by washing counter tops, cabinets and floors with white distilled vinegar.
Getting Rid of Fruit Flies/Gnats in Your Kitchen
Place a bowl filled with ½ quart water, 2 Tbsp. sugar, 2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar and a couple of drops of dish soap to attract the fruit flies. Always eliminate the source of attraction, i.e., ripened produce.
Cleaning Stainless Steel AppliancesApply vinegar with a soft cloth to remove streaks from stainless steel appliances. Try in an inconspicuous place first.
Cleaner Dishes and GlassesPour 1 ½ cup to 2 cups white distilled vinegar in the bottom of dishwasher, along with regular dishwasher soap. Wash full cycle.
Remove Refrigerator SmellsPlace 1 cup apple cider vinegar in a glass and set in refrigerator. Within 2 days, any smell is gone!

Bathroom

Bathtub film:
Bathtub film can be removed by wiping with white distilled vinegar and then with soda. Rinse clean with water.
Shower doors:
Rub down shower doors with a sponge soaked in white distilled vinegar to remove soap residue.
Toilet bowl cleaner:
Stubborn stains can be removed from the toilet by spraying them with white distilled vinegar and brushing vigorously. The bowl may be deodorized by adding 3 cups of white distilled vinegar. Allow it to remain for a half hour, then flush.
Unclog the showerhead:
Corrosion may be removed from showerheads or faucets by soaking them in white distilled vinegar overnight. This may be easily accomplished by saturating a terry cloth towel in vinegar and wrapping it around the showerhead or faucet.

What can I do with dryer lint?

My mom has always made fire starters, I can't remember a time when she hasn't. They are fabulous to get a quick fire started. We even used them once when we wanted to grill but realized we were out of lighter fluid. We put four fire starters under the coals, lit the fire starters, and it worked like a charm! I'm tempted to have this be our new and improved method of getting our coals going.

Here's what you'll need:
*  Dryer lint
*  Egg cartons
* Gulf wax
* quart size glass jar (the bigger the glass jar, the more wax you can melt at one time)
* Sauce pan with water filled half way up the jar (the water is what is going to help your wax melt the best)
* pot holder
* canning jar lifter (this makes taking the glass jar our of the hot water much, much easier)

1. It is easiest for me to keep egg cartons next to my dryer, every time I empty the lint trap I simply stuff the egg cartons with the lint. You could also keep a container next to your dryer for storing your lint until you are ready to stuff your containers. Either would work just fine.

2. When you have all the lint you need and egg cartons filled with lint, you're ready to melt your wax. Fill the glass jar with wax, pour water in the sauce pan so it is half way up the outside of the glass jar. You want to melt your wax slowly on medium heat and adjust your heat so your water is simmering.

3. When the wax in the glass jar has melted down to about half way, pour it over the lint in your egg cartons until each section in the egg carton is well coated.

4. Return glass jar to hot water and repeat step 3.

4. Once the egg cartons are filled, set aside to cool. Once cool you can break them apart into as big or as small of sections as you would like. I store our fire starters in a plastic bag in our basement next to our camping/fire stuff.

Parenting isn't about going insane, it's about getting creative!

The last couple of weeks I am positive my hair has gotten a tinge of gray and/or a bunch has fallen out. The twins will hit the 23 month mark in a week, but they are acting more and more like 2 year old everyday. They are both strong willed and stubborn, but not about the same things. They often do what I least expect them to do. Going on week number two of feeling like I can't get my feet underneath me. Thankfully, God has taught me that when I feel crazy and out of control, it's when I need to take a deep breath and evaluate WITH God what is really going on. I need to pray and seek wisdom from God who gives it abundantly when we ask. So, I have been praying and praying and praying some more. I have stepped back and looked at what is going on emotionally with myself and how I need to train my kids differently or creatively.

In regards to the twins I am learning that I need to step back and pick and choose my battles. I have also realized that I do not give my twins enough room or opportunity to let them explore. One of the things I want to do to help accomplish this is to make a few sensory boxes. Finding soft things, squishy things, slimy things, round, square, shiny, etc. will go into these boxes. It is winter time which is a fantastic time for sensory time. Winter doesn't always allow us to go outside, but that doesn't mean it keeps us from bringing the winter inside. I put snow in different size bowls, put cookie sheets under the bowls, give them spoons and other things to transfer the snow into and let them go to town. The great thing about snow is it's perfectly edible and hydrating!

When Maddie is frustrated with handwriting, someone takes a toy, or something is not going the way she wants it to, she often freaks out and breaks out in a horrible fit of crying and whining. I have been praying for wisdom and insight into how to train her in this area of her life. I went to my go to parenting sight, Focus on the Family, for insight into how to deal with her outbursts. What I walked away from with was that I need to teach Maddie self-control. I need to teach her how to conduct herself when someone takes a toy, hits her, fidgeting at the table, or multiple other situations in life that she is going to need self-control.

Self-control fits very nicely in what I have recently been trying to teach her. Maddie and I have been talking about what it is to be a Godly role model. When she has wronged Titus or Naomi, I have her apologize for whatever she did or didn't do to them, but I also have her apologize and ask forgiveness for not being a Godly role model to them as well.

I was also reminded today that parenting is not about going insane and letting my kids fry my brain and emotions until there is nothing left but a pool of mushy mommy with no stamina left to do anything. In these crazy times it's about getting creative, not going insane!

What are some creative discipline ideas you have come up with to keep you from going insane?

Where do I find ________ for tonic

Some of you are going to ask me where do I find horseradish root, where do I find ginger. At my local super market they are usually all near each other right next to the jalapenos and close to the fresh herbs. However, if you don't have the time, don't want to bundle your kids up to search five differnt stores looking for the ingredients. I recommend calling your local grocery stores or natural store to find out which stores have the ingredients you are looking for. You may find one of them has all of them at one location. This will save you time, energy, and gas money! To give you an idea of what you are looking for I posted pictures below.

 Horseradish root

 Ginger Root

Garlic Cloves

Vinegar is not only fabulous for making tonic!

It makes a fabulous hair rinse, bathroom cleaner,

add it to your laundry to help prevent static cling!

Vinegar is  amazing potent, natural stuff!