Better Saved Than Sorry

"Better safe than sorry."

We've all heard (and probably said) those words on numerous occasions. 

I am a mom, and I am an extremely cautious, worst-case-scenario person in general, so I strongly and regularly encourage safety at our home. 

"Don't walk outside without your shoes on - you might step on something!"

"Be careful standing on that chair - I'm afraid you might fall!" 

"Wash your hands before you touch anything else. Who knows what kind of germs were on that shopping cart!"

"I know you are 3 and a half, but it is infinitely safer for your car seat to still be rear-facing!" 

"Don't jump down the steps - you might break your foot!" (I was too late for that one - she's now wearing an orthopedic boot to treat a hairline fracture in her foot.) 

When my daughter asks me why she can't do something, often my response is a variation of, "it's not safe." 

And that's my job, isn't it? To keep my children safe? 

Lately, I've been feeling uncomfortable when I respond in that manner... because it seems I believe that the ultimate goal in life is to be safe.

But Jesus never promised safety for his followers. In fact, he promised persecution and problems. He promised troubles and tribulations. He promised difficulties and disasters. But he never promised safety. 

So why does it appear that is safety my ultimate goal? It is wonderfully overwhelming to be responsible for the lives of little people, especially ones who don't realize that those toy pieces that look incredibly delicious could block their airways, or that running into the street to see the puppy could result in being struck by a vehicle. 

As their mother, I am responsible for their lives, as I should be. I am expected to teach them right vs wrong, safety vs danger, hot vs cold, and all those other opposite words that could make or break their little lives and hearts. And I take this responsibility very seriously.  

As I write this, there is a lot of persecution of Christians occurring in Iraq by ISIS. I am quite sensitive to violence and try hard not to read anything "scary" (I can't even stand to watch a lot of children's movies because they're too intense!) so I had not been following the situation, save a few little unavoidable photos and blurbs I saw on Facebook. However, last week I had a dream that ISIS was coming to my house. To get me. And my family. And it really opened my eyes, that I need to be intervening in prayer (and financially) on behalf of my brothers and sisters in Christ. 

It also made me question how far I would take this goal of "safety." Would I do everything I could to save our lives, even if it means denying Jesus?  Or if it came down to it, would I wholeheartedly follow the words of the song I have sang so many times before: 

I have decided to follow Jesus...

no turning back. 

Though none go with me, I still will follow...

no turning back. 

That's a challenge for all of us. I pray that Jesus returns before we have to face that dilemma. But it is something to seriously think about. Is safety, this menial life, worth more than living forever with God and Jesus in God's Kingdom? This life just pales in comparison. 

I am not saying that moms should abdicate their responsibility to teach their children safe practices. We absolutely should teach our children how to live well and be healthy - God has entrusted our children to us and expects us to raise them with care. Nor am I saying that as Christians we should seek to be on the front lines and mock ISIS to come after us, sealing our fate. I believe sometimes God gives a way out so everyone does not become a martyr. However, I am challenging myself and others to examine our highest priorities.

Instead of raising a bunch of safe kids, we should focus on raising saved kids. 

We should focus on raising disciples, warriors for Jesus, who aren't afraid to do battle for God. We need to be parenting intentionally to raise up children who are bold for Jesus, who serve God with their whole hearts. And while we cannot force our children to accept and follow Jesus, we can create a God-centered home environment that encourages them in faith - praying together for the needs of family, friends, and believers around the world; reading the Bible together and actually doing what it says; serving together; and living and loving like Jesus in all that we do, both inside and outside the four walls of our cozy houses. 

I pray that Christians will rise up and live for Jesus with our whole hearts, raising their families to do the same. And I pray that, at the end of our lives, we will live up to and die by the words of 2 Timothy 4:7: "I have fought the good fight; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith." 

After all, better saved than sorry. 

An Unusual Thankful List

This Thanksgiving, I am taking a new approach to thankfulness. 

I've been thinking back to some of the things about which I have complained in recent times,

and I am changing the complaints to thanks.

I am thankful for my cluttered and messy house... 

     because it means my family has lots of fun messing it up and is not lacking in "stuff".

I am thankful for piles of laundry... 

     because it means we have an abundance of clothing. 

I am thankful that I have to cook dinner (and sometimes re-cook it because I burnt or otherwise messed up the first batch)... 

     because it means we have plenty to eat. 

I am thankful that there is rarely a quiet moment in the house... 

     because I have healthy, active loved ones playing inside it. 

I am thankful for our two cars that both needed expensive repairs within the course of a week...

     because it means that we have transportation. 

I am thankful for an already-small-and-now-crowded bed... 

     because I have a husband, toddler, baby, and two cats to snuggle with and keep me warm. 

I am thankful for the dirty dishes that seem to multiply on and take over my countertop... 

     because it means that we have enough food, plenty of dishes, and family to eat on them. 

I am thankful for toilets that leaked and pipes that froze and burst... 

     because it means that I have indoor plumbing.

I am thankful for medical bills... 

     because it means that we have access to medical care.

I am thankful for the bills that flood my mailbox every month... 

     because it means I have heat, water, electricity, insurance, cell phones, and so many more things are 

     considered luxuries in other parts of the world.

I am thankful for slow service and not-so-tasty meals at a restaurant... 

     because I am able to pay to go out to eat and have someone serve me and clean up after me, and I can still 

     leave a nice tip to be an example of Jesus to a server who has probably had a rough day.

I am thankful for cold, dreary winter days... 

     because it makes me appreciate summer more. (I almost couldn't convince my fingers to type that one!)

I am thankful for the sleepless and restless nights... 

     because still I woke up in the morning to a new day of life.  

I am thankful for the days when my children were too needy and wouldn't let me get anything done... 
     because we got to spend the whole day snuggling! 

I am especially thankful for long church services that seem extra long when I am trying to keep 2 kids entertained and quiet...  

     because I have the freedom to worship my God communally without fearing for my life. 

I encourage you to change your complaints into prayers of Thanksgiving. We are so blessed! 

What unusual items are on your thankful list this year? Share them in the comments below! 

GPS: God's Providence is Sure

Everything was loaded in the car and ready for our long journey to a warmer climate. As Northerners, there is only one place to go on a Winter vacation - anywhere South! While we knew where our final destination would be and had traveled a similar route before, we did not know by heart exactly how to get there. That’s why we took along one of the newest members of our family - TomTom.

TomTom is our GPS. She magically guides us where we need to go. All we do is put in the destination address and she leads us, showing us when and where to turn, even estimating when we will arrive. She warns us if we get off track -- and recalculates the route if we have really strayed from the original path. (She even tells us, in a Jamaican accent nonetheless, that we are geniuses!)

So before embarking on our tiring journey (if you have ever tried to entertain a toddler on a long trip, you know what I mean by “tiring”), we programmed the GPS with the address of our destination. No more planning a route with an oversized atlas, or even printing turn-by-turn directions from MapQuest. No, siree. We just typed in the destination location and started driving.

It always makes me a little nervous when I just go, without planning the route. I am quite a planner (read: control freak) so when I use a GPS I feel like I am following blindly, and fear that before I know it my GPS will not have taken me to Florida, but instead to Canada! But I try to relax and just let the GPS lead (...though I do check every once in awhile to make sure we are headed in the correct direction). Rarely has TomTom let us down, and even then the mix-up has usually been caused by confusion over recent road changes or closures that were different on the system’s map.

Relying on (or rather, questioning the abilities of) my GPS caused me to ponder more spiritual matters, such as relying on (and questioning the abilities of) God. It is so hard for a planner like me (again, read: control freak) to follow God when I don’t know where He is leading me. Taking tip-toe steps of faith is hard enough, but leaps of faith when I can’t see what lies between me and the other side is incredibly difficult. And yet, this is often how God leads -- with just enough light to see the next step in front of us.

A classic example of following God’s lead is Old Testament patriarch Abraham, who was called to leave his home, pack up everything he owned, and move somewhere - but he wasn’t told where. He was just told to go. Don’t type the final destination into the GPS. Don’t question why you are going Southeast when you clearly have an inkling that you should be going Northwest. Just go. Just walk in faith and God will show you where to turn and when to stop. Just keep walking, just keep walking…

God has such a grander plan for us than we can imagine -- perhaps even more than we could handle if he showed us the destination when we were just beginning our journey. There is so much to encounter along the way to prepare us to be the individual who will thrive in the mystery destination location; there is so much to learn every step of the adventure. If we saw the end before we even began, we might tell God, “No, God, you’ve got the wrong person. I could never do that.” But instead, all along the way, God molds us and uses experiences to shape our character into the person who will be able to do the work to which He has called us.

The journey itself is important as well, so we must not dismiss opportunities to do good along the way and serve God in every season of our lives. And as followers of Christ, we do know our ultimate final destination -- spending eternity forever with God and Jesus in the Kingdom. We can rest assured that God will guide us, show us where to turn, and gently point us in the right direction when we get off the straight and narrow path. But in order to get to our Kingdom destination, we must follow and trust our GPS -- God’s Providence is Sure.

Helpful Home Tips

We moved about a year and a half ago, and I have been finding new and creative ways to organize, store, and just plain "do" things. Here are a few examples; feel free to duplicate if any might be useful to you!

::: Picture Frame Recipe Holder :::

My sister gave me this old seven-part picture frame holder from IKEA. I had been reading a lot about using old picture frames as marker boards, but I wasn't quite sure how to re-purpose this. Then I discovered that with seven frames, I could write the menu for each day on one frame and slide the necessary recipe cards (or coupons if we were going out to eat) in the frame! PERFECT!

::: Fire Escape Ladder :::

My father-in-law actually made this, but gave it to us when they moved to a ranch home and no longer needed it. It is just a thick, sturdy piece of wood with a thick, sturdy rope tied onto it. You can lodge the wood stick to the inside of the window and then throw the rope out and climb down. The rope has notches so one can have hand grips when sliding down the rope. I hope we never need to use it, but I am glad to have it just in case!

::: "Clothesline" for drying zip-close bags :::

Okay, I admit it: I'm a nerd. I wash zip-close kitchen bags. Even the off-brands can be rather expensive, and I hate contributing to landfills any more than I have to. At my old house I attached the wet bags to a cabinet handle with a clothespin and let them hang to dry. Well, here, I don't have cabinet handles! So my wonderful husband, sick of seeing all the bags standing upright on a towel on the counter for days (which didn't work so well since they fell down or collapsed a lot anyway), made a clothesline for me on the underside of my cabinets! The thin rope tucks under a hook to hide out of sight when not in use. How useful!

Now you see it...

... Now you don't!

(The cord tucks away and is hidden from sight!)

::: Pocket Chore Chart :::

I used 8 large 5x7 index cards as the "pockets." I turned them vertically, decorated with stickers and wrote a different day of the week on each. On the last one, I wrote "FINISHED!" Then I stapled them in order onto my bulletin board. 

Next, I cut 4x6 index cards in half lengthwise ("hot dog style", for those of you who remember that from elementary school!) and wrote a different chore on one end of the card. (If that chore, such as dishes or laundry, has to be done several days per week, I wrote it on the appropriate number of cards). At the beginning of the week, I put the chores in the pocket of the day I wish to do them. When I finish a chore, I put it in the "FINISHED!" pocket. It gives me fulfillment to complete a task and then no longer see it on my "to do list" for that day! Moving it to the "finished" pocket is my reward for completing the job!

TIP: If members of the family have different jobs, you could use colored index cards to show different chores - a different color for each person. Or just write on white index cards with different colors of markers.

::: No-Dresser Bedroom Closet Makeover :::

I. Hate. Dressers. 

Chests of drawers, bureaus, overly-large heavy piece of furniture with drawers that don't work right... whatever you want to call them, dressers are so bulky and take up precious space in a cramped room. Yes, I know that they store things, and I do appreciate that. However, they make a room look... cluttered. My husband Dan and I each had a dresser in our bedroom. I vowed that when we moved, I would find a way to do without dressers. Dan and I combined our brain power, and I love the result!

Two bookshelves we already had (and no longer needed since our house had built-in bookshelves) fit nicely under the lower hanging rack. (Both the upper and lower hanging racks were already in place in the closet when we moved in. Someone before us had a lot of hanging clothes!) All my clothes from my dresser fit on the bookshelves. I used cheap plastic baskets (like from a dollar store) to hold and organize loose items like socks and underwear. For Dan's clothes, we bought plastic milk-crate-style baskets from Wal-Mart and stacked two vertically. All of his clothes fit in 5 or 6 of them. 

On the shelf above the folded clothes and under the hanging clothes, we put some out-of-season or special activity shoes, etc. In the corner gaps between bookshelves and crates I put purses and other randomly used things.

Our bedroom has a lot more space now without our two dressers! I love the way it opens up the room and utilizes space in the closet that otherwise would be lost. We don't have a walk-in closet but we still managed to fit a lot in!

I hope some of these tips will be useful to you! 

DIY Child's Chore Chart and Commission System

For a long time I have been pondering how to create a chore chart for my two-year-old daughter, Mara. Most of the printable charts I found relied on reading (which she obviously hasn't mastered yet!) and had more complex chores or a difficult format. I wanted something visual, tangible, changeable, and simple, something through which we could also teach her money principles (see Part 2).

This is the result of my pondering:

PART 1: THE CHORE CHART

:::Pocket Chart:::
I stumbled upon pocket charts (the green chart below) at Dollar Tree one day several months ago and bought several of them... then I went back and bought several more! My husband thought I was quite ridiculous to be so ecstatic about that find, but as a former teacher, I know the versatility of these charts! I used sticky tack to attach the pocket chart to the wall.




:::Chore Cards:::
I searched online for clip-art images related to the chore I wanted Mara to do or "help" me with. I copied the images to a word processing program and sized them so they would fit on about half of a 3x5 index card. Then I wrote (in complete sentences) the chore I wanted her to do and taped the picture to it. (I let her color them, but she lost interest, so some are just plain!). I couldn't find images I liked for a few of the chores so I just drew them freehand (note my best attempt at drawing a pot and our Vita-Mix on the "I help make food" card!). Now that it is summer time, I will be adding some more chores she can help with, like filling the bird feeder and helping in the garden. You can see all the cards below; however,  because she normally does not use all of these in a week, I keep some of the lesser-used ones stacked together so there is only one column of cards.



:::"I Am A Good Helper" Cards:::
 I cut other 3x5 index cards into 4 equal parts (making 4 helper cards out of each index card). On the back side of each one, I wrote, "I am a good helper!" and I let Mara pick a sticker to put on the other side. We made about 16 of these (4 index cards total).




:::Pocket holder for the "I Am A Good Helper" Cards:::
I put this pocket, which is just an index card folded in half (which makes the bottom of the pocket) and the sides are taped together, leaving an opening at the top. This creates a "pocket" to hold the cards. This is attached to the wall above the pocket chart -- out of my daughter's reach. :)  



 :::How to use the chore chart:::
Whenever she "helps" me with a task, I give Mara a "helper card" and she finds the appropriate chore card and puts her helper card beside it. At the end of the week, we take all her "I am a good helper!" cards out so she can earn her commission. Which leads us to Part 2...


                                              PART 2: PAYING COMMISSION

:::Our Philosophy:::
In real life, one must work in order to get paid. We want to raise our children to work hard and earn their wages. Therefore, we do not believe in giving our children an allowance, a payment just for being our kids. There are some chores that they are expected to do just for being a member of the family and a resident of the household (and these are not paid), but there are other chores that they can do of their own free will and for which they can earn extra money. So, the only money Mara gets is what she earns through commission, which is represented on the chore chart.

:::The Three Jars:::

 

~Tithe~

We want our children to learn several important principles about money. The most important, as followers of Christ, is tithing. We practice giving a tenth ("tithe") of our income to our local church, and we want our children to learn the same principle. We have talked with her at a basic level about what tithing is and why God calls us to do it. So Mara has a jar (I used old plastic peanut containers) labeled "Tithe" and every week she puts some of her earnings in it. Then we put the coins in a special change purse to take to the Sunday worship service, and she empties the change into the offering plate. At first she was upset to put her money in there (and actually thought that she was supposed to take money from the offering plate to put in her change purse!) but she quickly adjusted to how it works. :)
~Save~
My husband and I have been blessed to learn Biblical and practical ways of handling money that help us eliminate our debt (including our mortgage!) and allow me to be a stay-at-home-mom on a small-church-pastor's salary. We want our children to learn the same principles about saving money and eliminating debt (ideally, never going into debt in the first place!) So, we have Mara put some of her hard-earned money into a "save" jar. We will later involve her in the process of depositing it in the bank and teach her about the importance of having a savings, as well as the value of saving to pay cash for big purchases.
~Spend~
This is the fun part for Mara. She, like many other toddlers, will sometimes throw fits if she can't get something she wants. We like to empower her by reminding her that she can spend her own money to get it (if she has enough!). Also, sometimes there are things we won't buy her, but she wants. For example, she owns nearly a dozen baby dolls, but she seems to always fall in love with another one when she sees it... but I don't want to buy her any more of them! When we were at a yard sale recently, she found another baby she just had to have, and I got her money out of my purse and told her if she really wanted the baby she could buy it with her own money. She looked at the dollar bill, looked at the baby, looked at the dollar bill again, took it from my hand, and handed it to the seller. And she has taken good care of the baby ever since. Mara is learning, in a small way, the opportunity-cost dilemma. Money is finite, and we all have to choose wisely how to spend it.

:::Pay Day!:::
At the end of the week, we take all the little "helper" cards she has earned and put them on the floor. For each one, she earns $.15 in nickels. By each card, we lay out three nickels. Then she takes them and puts one from each helper card in each jar until all the nickels are equally distributed into the jars.

You could use any amount of money you wish, but here is my reasoning behind the 15 cents: She is little, so she doesn't need a lot of money; however, I want her to learn the principles and be able to have some money to spend, and nickels add up much quicker than pennies. (When she gets older, we will increase this amount.) I also wanted an amount I could pay in equal coins (such as nickels) to put one in each of the three jars. (I know that technically a tithe should be one-tenth of her pay, but until she learns fractions and percentages, this is a much simpler way to teach her the principle of tithing.

Below you can see my cloth-diaper-clad-beauty Mara putting her money into the different jars. :)



I hope this post gives you some ideas for how you can teach your children the importance of hard work and the reward of earning money! Let me know if you have an modifications or suggestions that might be helpful to others!

Healthy(er) Rice Krispy Treats

I love sweets. I don't keep many desserts in our house or make them very often because I want to keep our family healthy, but I am always up for a good revision on a classic dessert recipe to make it a little less bad-for-us.

So here's one of my new favorites, and it's super easy!

Ingredients:

7 cups crispy rice cereal (off brand is fine)
1 cup honey
1 cup peanut butter (or other nut butter)

Directions:

Melt honey and peanut butter together in sauce pan over low heat, being careful not to let it burn! Pour over cereal and mix well. Press into 9x13 pan and let cool for an hour or so in the refrigerator.

Savor every bite of these better-for-you rice krispy treats!

Better-for-you Banana Bread

 

There is a grocery store near us that has bananas for 25 cents a pound on Thursdays. This is a steal compared to the 54 cents I have been paying recently! As smoothie enthusiasts, we consume a lot of bananas in a given week, so we are always looking for good deals!

Last week we went to the grocery store to get our banana deal. Both my husband and I planned to go through and get 5 pounds (the limit you can buy at once). But while we were carefully weighing our bananas to get the correct amount, we noticed some bananas that were reduced for quick sale - also 25 cents a pound, but with NO LIMIT! Since bananas freeze well, I just grabbed ALL of the clearanced bananas. (Our total purchase weighed in at about 34 pounds! I got some funny stares from fellow shoppers and the clerks, but I reassured them all that I didn't want the bananas to be thrown out, so I was rescuing them!)

It took me awhile to peel all the bananas, cut them in half, and put them in a bag for freezing. While I was doing this, I wondered... could I make a healthy banana bread with them? (By the name "banana bread", one would assume it is healthy, but usually such sweet breads are more of a dessert, high in sugar, oil, and fat.)


I searched for "healthy banana bread recipes" and I found this one, which was close to what I wanted... but I modified it to make it even MORE healthy! Here is my modified version:

Rachel's Better-for-you Banana Bread

Ingredients:

• 3 ripe bananas
• 1 Cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 Cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 Cup local, raw honey
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• ½ C natural apple sauce
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 eggs, beaten
• ½ C nuts or raisins, optional
• sprinkle of cinnamon (we love cinnamon, so I used a generous sprinkle!)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°; grease one loaf pan. 
2. Mash bananas and set aside.
3. Combine wet ingredients. Stir in baking soda. Add flour. Just stir until combined; don't overmix.
4. Pour batter into loaf pan and bake on center oven rack for 50 mins – 60 mins (until inserted tooth pick comes out clean)
5. Let cool in pan for 5 mins; then remove from pan and cool bread on cooling rack.
6. Eat and enjoy!

The consistency of the bread is a little different than regular banana bread, but it is still very tasty!