My Heart is Broken

My heart is simply breaking for the family of Sasha Krause.  If you are unaware of who Sasha was, she's a young 27 year old Mennonite woman who went missing on January 18th from Farmington, New Mexico and her body was found a few days ago here in Arizona.  She had been murdered.
So many us outside and within the Mennonite community had been praying for her safe return. I really want to be angry with the person or persons responsible but, it's their eternal soul that's at risk now. So my prayers will be first for Sasha's family as they prepare for her funeral. I will also pray for whoever did this and that the person will confess to the police. And finally I'm going to pray for the person's soul( or I should say, the willingness to pray) that they will come to know Jesus. I believe this is something Mennonites are known for and I'm guessing Sasha's family and friends have already forgiven the person responsible. Only God can help do that.
So please pray for her family and if you feel led, for her killer also.

Birthdays, Anniversary, Valentine's Day

Our cat Kirstie would like to join me in  wishing  you all a Happy Valentine's Day and that you share the love of Jesus with those around you even though this is late.( Okay so now it's four hours later from when I started this post so hope you had a nice Valentine's Day ) Kirstie likes to sit on our tall bookshelf in case you're wondering what she's sitting on.

Yesterday was mine and Tim's 27th wedding anniversary.  Our car is in the shop and we didn't get to go out so my youngest daughter  Kaitlyn helped make homemade pancakes and scrambled eggs.
But we were able to have a nice Valentine's Day dinner of Pizza Hut pizza. For Valentine's they did heart shaped pizza and brownies.

Tim celebrated his 64th birthday in January ( cue the song When I'm 64!) So for his birthday he wanted a Cherry Dr. Pepper Cake.  I met to post this last month but I forgot.

I'll post the recipe tomorrow because it's getting late. Oh and very behind in replying to comments but I will try to catch up somehow.

Super Bowl Half-time P*rn Show

I didn't watch Super Bowl  since I gave it up many years ago. Our church had a Super Bowl party on Sunday. I hope they turned off the half-time show. I heard from Christian vloggers and fellow Christian bloggers how horrible it was. Even unbelievers were horrified by the half-time show!

I attempted to watch a clip of the two performers( I refuse to mention their names!)  who were on the show and I just was mortified but what I saw. I couldn't watch anymore.  I was even more shocked to see young girls on stage shaking parts of their body they shouldn't be shaking.

There was a time when dressing and dancing like a harlot was only seen in strip clubs. Now it's become acceptable because the feminists cry it's their right and their freedom to do so and if men lust after them it's the man's problem.

Our society  has become a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah.  What God calls sin and abomination is now accepted as good. If you disagree with those who practice such sins you are called judgemental, a prude, homophobe, sexist, stupid, Bible thumper, living in the 1800s etc.

How God must grieve over the sins His creation is committing. And the children are growing up believing the filth of the world.  We need Christian, Bible believing and Bible obeying parents raising their children in the ways of the Lord and rejecting Satan's lies that sin is good and parents who are not conforming to the world because " everybody else is doing it".
  Oh how I long for our nation to turn from her wicked ways and turn to God.

Homeschooling and Taking Care of Our Marriages

First of all thank you to all of you who are praying for the loved ones of all those killed over the weekend in the recent helicopter crash .
Also I want to apologize for my strongly worded warning to spammers you see in the comment section. Usually I just roll my eyes but what set me off was the person who left a long spam comment ( who obviously didn't read my post) on my prayer request post. I doubt if I'll stop getting spam but I hope it will at least reduce the amount of spam comments that come through. As a matter of fact a spam comment came in this morning. Delete!

I've been thinking about writing about marriage and homeschooling for the past several days and asking the Lord what He would have me share. This post won't be long and I realize not all who read my blog homeschool but know moms who do.

Back in Santa Barbara, CA our family was part of a great Christian homeschool group. We had lots of activities and believe me, our children were very much socialized. But what I find upsetting is that several marriages over the years ended. Now please, please understand! I'm not blaming homeschooling on the destruction of these marriages. I know Christian couples who have sent their children to private and public school and have divorced.

So I want to offer some  marriage tips for those who are in this homeschool journey or are thinking about it.

 The first thing I believe is to pray with your husband about this issue. It's much easier if you both are on board when it comes to homeschooling because it is a lot of work.
If your husband is not a believer you still need to talk to him first and let him know what you would like to do. If he is absolutely against you homeschooling your children, then you must submit to his wishes and leave him in the hands of the Lord.

Another thing I really need to press upon homeschool mothers is Make. Time. For. Your. Husband.
You've been with your children all day and he needs to know you are still there for him. Grading papers can wait.
 Have date nights. Dates don't always have to cost a whole lot of money. That is something I wish I had learned during my earlier years of homeschooling.
Go for walks around your neighborhood.
Make a pot of coffee or tea and go sit at the park or beach and talk. Take this time to pray for each other and the children.
Put the children to bed early so you two can have time alone together.
Make a special dessert for just the two of you to share. If you are not great at making desserts you can get those single serve brownie in a mug desserts. Duncan Hines and Betty Crocker makes them and they are really good. Ask me how I know.😄
If you both like board or cards games then by all means go for it. 
Something else that just came to mind is ministry.  Our first priority is to our families and is our ministries. Ministries that involve us spending a lot of time away from our husbands and children can have a devastating effect on our marriage if we are are not careful.
I'm not saying we shouldn't get involved in activities like Bible study, teaching children's Sunday school etc but we just need to be careful we aren't choosing these over our family.
 So these are just some things I want to share with you homeschool moms and even if you don't homeschool, I hope you have been encouraged to spend more time with your husband.