Memorial Day Observance

I wish to extend my sincerest thanks to those who have served in our military and to the families who have lost a loved one who served our country.

Thank You

Thank you.

Blessings, ~Aunt Mae (aka ~Mrs. R)

The Mother’s Day Blues

I have been known in the past to remark that Mother’s Day is a Hallmark inspired ‘occasion’, and if your children don’t honor you any of the other 364 days of the year than why would you expect them to honor you on a specific day?

My friend, Bambi, over at “Nursery of the Nation” blog wrote an excellent piece on where our real focus should be on Mother’s Day.

I don’t know about you, but I sure NEEDED this reminder.  Truly does give “Mother’s Day” a whole new meaning!

I pray you are as blessed by her post as I was!  Blessings, ~Aunt Mae

She’s Got the Mother’s Day Blues

It’s almost here. Mother’s Day. The stores have flower bouquets readily available, and pink, feminine greeting cards are easily accessible in every grocery checkout line. I saw a huge sign outside a jewelry store the other day: “Tell her you appreciate her… with a diamond.”

Last time I checked, my five-year-old didn’t have enough money in his piggy bank to buy me a diamond. Unless your children are adults, the recognition of Mother’s Day falls on a husband’s shoulders.

And what if mom is single? What if her husband is deployed? What if he’s an unbeliever or a loving husband who simply doesn’t choose to make a big deal–or any deal–out of Mother’s Day?

Discontent
Mother’s Day can have the potential to bring discontent to our hearts. I’m ashamed to admit, in Mother’s Days past, I have found myself tempted to get a wee bit self-focused. Surely one day out of the year mothers deserve to be honored for all our hard work and sacrifices, right?

But the thing is, children don’t rise up and bless you until they are old enough to rise. A few of us may have young children that understand sacrifice and the eternal significance of our discipline, hard choices and protection of them, but most don’t. They won’t for many years.

I once helped a group of 6 year olds make homemade cards for their moms on Mother’s Day. I asked them to be specific about what they were thankful for in their mothers, remembering everything their moms did for them. Every single one of them said they were thankful their moms made meals. That’s all they could think of even after I prodded them. One of them even had me write, “Thank you for the bowls of cereal.” Ha!

The moral of that story is that number one–mealtime is very significant to children and number 2–it’s one of the only things they see that you do. Their little eyes just don’t see the magnitude of your influence on their lives, until much later.

And so it’s an unspoken rule, especially in the early years of motherhood, that Mother’s Day could be better named: Wife’s Day… or Husband-Better-Make-Wife-Feel-Good-or-He-Will-Get-the-Silent-Treatment-and-Probably-Never-Know-Why-Day.

Mother’s Day Focus: God and Others
It’s inside of all of us. We all want to be noticed, appreciated and valued. But if we’re to consider others more important than ourselves, we can instead:

*Make it a day of personal thanksgiving to God for the children He has blessed us with. Thank him for a husband who provides so that we can be keepers at home and enjoy the beautiful tasks God has called us to, as mothers.

*Focus on other moms who don’t have children who have “risen up” yet either. Make her a pie, send a card, call, text or email. Consider it a special opportunity to encourage her. And be specific about the virtues you see in her and the progress you see her making in her marriage and children.

*Plan a special meal for the mom or mom-figure in your life.

*Help your children send homemade cards to other women in their lives, and teach them to recognize their character and strengths so they can be specific in their letters.

*Remember women who aren’t mothers. Older women who were never able to have children, as well as women currently experiencing the trial of infertility. Take the opportunity to write them a homemade card that encourages them with scripture, or give them a simple gift.

*If you have children who would like to have a gift for you, help them by providing craft supplies or give them a few dollars (or extra chores to earn it). You can take them shopping rather than hoping or expecting that your husband will do it.

Don’t We Deserve Just One Day of Honor?
If our husbands, children or others honor us this weekend, it will be a blessing. But we don’t deserve it. What we did deserve has already been paid in full. The penalty we owed–has been paid by the sacrifice of Christ, justifying us and satisfying the wrath of our Holy God.

We’ve been saved by the grace of God, Christ’s righteousness imputed to us. No works…not even good wifely or motherly works, are enough to save us, nor do they earn us extra credit.

We serve our families all year, 24/7. If we know the call to lay down our lives for them it’s only because he laid down His life for us. We can serve and serve and serve, but apart from His sacrifice there is no serving. True greatness is attained only by emulating Christ’s example, the ultimate Servant–and only made possible by His sacrifice.

That is worth celebrating every day and every moment.

“If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.”
Mark 9:35

Happy Easter 2012

He is risen!

He is risen indeed!

Blessings, ~Mrs. R (aka Aunt Mae)

What is so good about Good Friday?

Alas! and Did My Savior Bleed

1.      Alas! and did my Savior bleed,
	and did my Sovereign die!
	Would he devote that sacred head
	for sinners such as I? 

2.	Was it for crimes that I have done,
	he groaned upon the tree?
	Amazing pity! Grace unknown!
	And love beyond degree! 

3.	Well might the sun in darkness hide,
	and shut its glories in,
	when God, the mighty maker, died
	for his own creature's sin. 

4.	Thus might I hide my blushing face
	while his dear cross appears;
	dissolve my heart in thankfulness,
	and melt mine eyes to tears. 

5.	But drops of tears can ne'er repay
	the debt of love I owe.
	Here, Lord, I give myself away;
	'tis all that I can do.

O Love Divine, What Hast Thou Done

1.	O Love divine, what has thou done!
	The immortal God hath died for me!
	The Father's coeternal Son
	bore all my sins upon the tree.
	Th' immortal God for me hath died:
	My Lord, my Love, is crucified! 

2.	Is crucified for me and you,
	to bring us rebels back to God.
	Believe, believe the record true,
	ye all are bought with Jesus' blood.
	Pardon for all flows from his side:
	My Lord, my Love, is crucified! 

3.	Behold him, all ye that pass by,
	the bleeding Prince of life and peace!
	Come, sinners, see your Savior die,
	and say, "Was ever grief like his?"
	Come, feel with me his blood applied:
	My Lord, my Love, is crucified!



Blessings, ~Mrs. R (aka Aunt Mae)

Feb 2012 – Photo A Day – #14 Heart

Day 14 – Heart

I was surprised by how many different places heart shapes were  in my home.  If you had asked me yesterday I would have said… ‘none’!  lol

This is a pair of arm rest covers on a couch in the living room!

Tea light holder in the master bedroom.

The pewter piece is a paperweight I made in Jr High school, the purple ones are button covers, the gold one is a pin and the red one represents “my” heart that I gave to the Patriarch after a long time of martial turmoil. You can read a bit about that here.

This is a sweatshirt I made for Valentine’s Day in the late 80’s or early 90’s.  It took  f-o-r-e-v-e-r  to sew on all those buttons!!

You may also enjoy reading about a few of the things I have done on Valentine’s Day for the Patriarch here.

This year I am cooking up a special dinner for us all; pot roast, mashed potatoes, peas, salad, and a special gluten free pink lemonade pound cake.  That will be a separate post!  🙂

Go HERE to see all my Feb 2012 Photo A Day Pics & challenge details!

Blessings, ~Mrs. R (aka Aunt Mae)

My New Years Resolutions

Is this post a bit late…?

well maybe…

or maybe not!  😀

The meaning of resolution from the dictionary as I am using it is:
res·o·lu·tion     [rez-uh-loo-shuh]     noun

2.  a resolve or determination: to make a firm resolution to do something.

#1 Increased Time in the Word.

#2 Getting Serious About my Health, Firstly my Weight.

#3  More WORK Minded.

#4 More Attentive to my Husband.

#5 More Diligent in Homeschooling.

#6 Better Steward of our Finances.

Practice these things, immerse yourself in them,

so that all may see your progress.

1 Timothy 4:15 ESV

There are many more things I need work on, but these are the ones that come to mind first and foremost.   😉

I will elaborate more on each of my resolutions in posts through this month.  I will end with a poem for our encouragement!

Have you made any New Year’s resolutions that you made and are still trying to keep?

Ring Out Wild Bells – Alfred Lord Tennyson

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light;
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.
Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind,
For those that here we see no more,
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care the sin,
The faithless coldness of the times;
Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes,
But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease,
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.

Blessings, ~Mrs. R (aka Aunt Mae)

We Have Chicken Pox!!

I have been praying for years that Arrow would get the chicken pox naturally.  I ran across his immunization records and his birth-mom had the chicken pox vaccine given to him at 1-year-old.  Because of the potential problems with vaccines and the fact that this one was created with aborted fetal cells I did NOT want to have his immunization updated…  So I prayed… and waited.

This past two and a half months chicken pox has been making the rounds of various families in our church.  We were the recent family to fall ‘victim’ to this.

I am so THANKFUL!

Because of the Christmas holiday we didn’t go anywhere Saturday or Sunday when he might have been ‘the most contagious’.  Monday we did go to the park and took a walk, but we were about the only ones there.  Then the hobby shop & used book store.  But the shop keepers are all of an age where they probably had this as children.  There were a few younger folks in the hobby shop…  Then Tuesday, 12/27  was the post office, which was packed.  Blake took in my pre-paid postage packages (a few eBay sales!!  Woo Hoo!!) for me and was able to just drop them off, and then the hobby shop and used book stores again.

On Tuesday, December 27th I noticed a few red spots on Arrow’s face and one on his neck right where his t-shirt collar hits.  I thought that one was an irritated scratch or something.  They were fairly large (about the size of the end of my pinky), but only 4 – 6 or so of them.  I asked if there were any spots on his chest and he said there were not.  He was not running any fever and seemed to feel fine.  I thought they were pimples and he just needed to wash his face better.  So we ran all our errands in town.  When the Patriarch got home he immediately noticed the spots.  But those were the only ones he had – no fever – not grumpy – not tired.  Just a few spots.

Wednesday evening he came to show me the spots on his chest and back after his shower.  I didn’t count them, but maybe 10 – 20 on each side.   No new ones in the morning.  All of these are quite small to about the size of a small pea.  Odd thing… most of the spots seem to be erupting on his right side.  All his original face spots were on the right side.

Thursday morning, 12/29,  he had MANY more spots!  There were some on the soles of his feet and the roof of his mouth!  Later in the day there were some in the back of his throat and possibly on his tonsils, but they have been enlarged for a l-o-n-g time so it is hard for me to tell.

He said the spots only itch ever once in a while, so he’s not doing any scratching.  I did take his temp and it is only 99.1.  He isn’t off his feed any and seems to feel fine.

On Thursday I started giving him an herbal anti-histamine I keep around for my seasonal allergies.  In my homeopathic books there were 5 or 6 remedies listed and at the store they recommended three given alternately in a day for 6 days, antimonium tartaricum, sulphur, and rhus toxicodendron.  I have also been working on a salve to add to my store and I wanted to compare that with honey.  Poor Arrow!!  I applied honey to the spots on the right side of his body, front and back, and the salve to the spots on the other side of his body.  The salve seemed to work better than the straight honey, for which Arrow was thankful… no more sticky shirts!  The Patriarch joked and asked if I kept a few spots for a control group…?!!  Uh… no.

Friday he did have some more outbreak, but they were all very small.  Still no itching.  And some were healing up and greatly diminished.  I have continued withe the homeopathic and salve over the New Year’s weekend.

Today, Tuesday January 3, 2012, most of the spots are all gone.  The ones on the bottom of his feet are still there, as are a very few on his chest and back.  The original ones on his face from a week ago?  They are by far the largest spots, crusted over but still amazingly large!

So… the immunity from the childhood vaccine definitely wears off in 11 1/2 years.

A lifetime immunity has now been had.   🙂  I am SO thankful for this!

And of course… a poem!

The Land of Counterpane by Robert Louis Stevenson

When I was sick and lay a-bed,
I had two pillows at my head,
And all my toys beside me lay,
To keep me happy all the day.

And sometimes for an hour or so
I watched my leaden soldiers go,
With different uniforms and drills,
Among the bed-clothes, through the hills;

And sometimes sent my ships in fleets
All up and down among the sheets;
Or brought my trees and houses out,
And planted cities all about.

I was the giant great and still
That sits upon the pillow-hill,
And sees before him, dale and plain,
The pleasant land of counterpane.

Blessings,   ~Mrs. R

All art from art.com for which I am an affiliate.  Nothing in this post should be taken for medical advice.  I am NOT a doctor.  See disclaimer at bottom of this blog for more details.

Happy New Year!

It is my prayer for you all that this New Year will be one filled with love and joy, growth and encouragement, and a year filled with blessings from the Lord of all Creation.

Blessings,  ~Mrs. R

Meaningful Christmas Vacation Activities

We are taking a short break from school work during this Christmas season.  This holiday and Thanksgiving are the ONLY ones we take that coincide with our local public school’s vacations.  After our harrowing experience at the zoo when a large number of government school prisoners children were also there I went back to my calendar and made sure all our vacations were NOT at the same time as our local school districts.

Here are some suggestions for meaningful Christmas Vacation activities.  😀

1) Go through all your Christmas cards and spend time praying for that individual or family

2) Walk or drive to see light displays (you could discuss the meaning of the Christmas star, the wise men who traveled by it, Christ as Light of the World, spiritual meaning of the various colors (white – cleaned from sin, red – sin, green – growth in Christ, etc).  We like to look for Christian symbols in the decorating.  This year we actually saw THREE different displays with crosses as a prominent parts!

3) Write down things & people you are thankful for from the past year on paper stars to hang in the house, then as you are taking down the stars you can pray as a family for that thing/situation or person.

4) sing or play Christmas music in a nursing home or retirement center or go caroling in your neighborhood.  Some of the Christmas carols have some great doctrine in them… some are doctrinally un-sound (baby Jesus did cry, crying as an infant is NOT a sin!)… off my soap box now.  🙂

5) Listen to this sermon audio link  as a family: http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=5220621750

6) read all the Christmas story accounts in the bible… don’t forget John 1:1-15!!  Here is a free download from Answers in Genesis – Nativity Booklet available only until Dec 31st!

7) Find a Christmas story read aloud and the younger children can color pages (Little House on the Prairie Christmas section, or others)

8) each person can start writing notes to various people who have had an impact on them over the past year (or more) to be sent out at the first of the year.  Express how much they mean to you, what they did to bless you, how they have impacted your life, etc.  Be specific, use proper grammar, sentence structure and punctuation and your best handwriting!

9) at dinner have each person go around the table telling how each of the other family members have been a blessing to them this past year and try to be specific about something not just generalizations.

10) Make it a day or evening of playing games together

11) do a special jigsaw puzzle together as a family or one set of folks could do the puzzle and another could be playing games and you can rotate depending on your space

12) Take a nature walk to see what animals are about, what plants are out and how the Lord provides for his tiny creatures in the winter.  Gather bits of nature to take home to decorate the trailer and start a Nature Notebook.  Use the Latin names for things in labeling them, draw the bit if nature you brought home, write about the walk and what you saw, etc.  This can then be added to through the year and if you walk in the same general places all year long you can document how it all changes through the seasons.

13) Recite and/or memorize Christmas poems, you could have a poetry reciting evening with Christmas cookies and eggnog!

14) Didn’t get those Christmas cookies baked with your precious children?  Why not do that between the Christmas and New Year’s celebrations??!!  I will be.  I have never made homemade sugar cookies.  I know it is hard to believe, but it is true.  I also want to try decorating them with that icing that gets hard.  I even bought a snowflake ornament to use.  I am so excited about this project!  I also have all the ancient cookie cutters that were my mother’s.  We will use most of them, though Santa will stay in the container as we don’t “do” Santa.  I want the true meaning of Christmas to shine forth.

And of course a poem… you know me and poetry!!

‘Christmas Bells’ poem by Henry Wadsworth

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till, ringing, singing on its way
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The Carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;
‘There is no peace on earth,’ I said;
‘For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!’

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
‘God is not dead; nor doth he sleep!
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men!’

Merry★* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★Christmas★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門｜ ˚And a Happy New Year!!!! 

                                          ~Mrs. R (aka Aunt Mae)

All art from Art.com – for which I am an affiliate.

Mae’s Natural Soap Christmas Sale!

Just a quick reminder about Mae’s Natural Soap Christmas special!!

Christmas is a mere 11 days away.

Yup, who would have ever thought it would sneak up so fast?  But there it is, the date on the calendar staring me in the face.

The US Post Office announced the other day that ALL 1st class mail will now take 3 – 4 days delivery.  They have not changed the time frame for Priority Mail, which still takes 2 – 3 days.  So… in order for you to get your soap order in time for Christmas gift giving you need to place your order by this Friday , 16 December 2011.  If you pay with PayPal, there isn’t a payment transit time and I would be able to ship your order the next day!  The same day if I get your order & payment by 1 PM Pacific Time!  🙂

For ordering details please see Mae’s Soaps page under the For Sale tab.  Thank you so much!

Mae’s Handcrafted Natural Soap

Christmas Soap Sale

Buy two (4 oz ) bars of soap for $4.95 each and

Get one (2 oz) bar FREE!!!

(Free soap randomly chosen from stock on hand)

Please share this blog post with your family, friends & on any social media!

~ Christmas Sale Scents ~

Chocolate Covered Cherries

Christmas Spice

Christmas Forest

Frankincense & Myrrh

Fresh Snow

Holly-Berry

NEW soap formula!!

Last day to order & insure Christmas delivery is Dec 16, 2011.

Sale prices good through 12/24/2011.

Soap is to the body as laughter is to the soul. Yiddish Proverb

Merry Christmas from me and “Aunt Mae”!

Blessings,  ~Mrs. R