Thursday, September 07, 2006

Things I've Been Reading Lately

I came across this blog recently and loved her blog's purpose and the idea of dreaming a really BIG dream. That with the fact that she has six kids makes me all the more interested. I think from there I linked over to the blog at S.H.M.I.L.Y . This is the purpose as posted on the blog:

"S.H.M.I.L.Y. Time" (See How Much I Love You) focuses on our priority after God as wives, which is to bring glory to Him through being a wife. It doesn't matter what stage (or state) your marriage is in right now. Pray to the Lord to give you the strength, forgiveness, and love you need to be the wife He intends for you to be.

Seems like a really great place to get some new ideas for keeping the spark alive in your marriage.

This is another blog I've been checking into which I believe can be linked from the SHMILY blog.
Here is just a small snippit of what the blog is about:

A CLEAN HEART will not tell you that you deserve a break or that you deserve some praise for everything that you do. The reason is simply: we have been called to, and have the privilege of, being wives and homeschool moms... along with everything that entails. A CLEAN HEART will encourage and uplift, never belittle or begrudge the God-given task we have as women, wives, and mothers. (Please note: I am a wife and homeschool mother, so to those of you who are single or not homeschool moms, please take the information given here and use what you can to bless you as well! I'm glad that you're here!)

A CLEAN HEART Blog will also offer FREE printable schedules, organizers, and many other helpful forms to help you get control of and maintain your home and homeschool. More importantly, your HEART will not be forgotten along the way by offering devotions and printable prayer pages as well.


I am so excited to have found this site and can't wait to start checking it out a little more thoroughly. I think the printables will be useful for my home journal. They also have a group challenge which I think would be neat to do with some friends. (*hint*hint*)

I've also been lovin' this forum over at recipezaar. They also have other great cooking forums to check out if you're not into budget/freezer cooking.

I've been reading the book Saving Dinner: the Menus, Recips, and Shopping Lists to Bring Your Family Back to the Table, which I had checked out from the library. I'm going to purchase it from amazon though, since so many of the recipes are things my family would really use. She gives you a recipe a day for every week of the year. One recipe a week is a crock-pot meal. Many of these recipes could easily be frozen. *I already have Asian Honey Chicken in the freezer.*

I've been trying to focus more lately on my purpose in the home and making it a sanctuary for all who enter. I guess I've been on a cooking kick lately too. Let me know what you've been reading or if you've found any of my links to be interesting ;-)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am not the type of person to check out different blogs or sites with ideas on the many "how to's" in life. I have never been to flylady.com or any of those. I do my own thing and it works for me. But, I went to the SHMILY blog and it's just what I need. I am so in to keeping my house clean, making sure I am the best mother to my kids, keeping in shape and looking good for my husband, that Dan kinda takes a back seat a lot of the time. A lot of the time I blow him off, don't always listen to him like I should, and I am too often not very encouraging to him. So, I am taking the 30-day Encouragement Challenge...pray for me! ;-) Thanks for this link, Becki. Pray that there isn't another Barnett running around here in 9 months because of it though....ha ha!

Crystal Starr said...

I love Amy's (from Dandelion Seeds) blogs too!! She is so awesome!! I'm glad that you found her and are finding encouragement there too!!

Anonymous said...

I to have started the 30-Day Encouragement Challange as well as the 31 days in praying for your husband. Started yesturday and I can't believe how different my outlook has been already. I was so excited to have found it through one of your other blogs the other day, how funny that we must have come across it at around the same time, God works in wonderful ways! As you probably know one of the challanges is to not say a bad word against or to your husband for those 30 days, and boy did I realize I must have been a rut, but just doing it one day has made me realize what a gem God has given me in a husband and I've been able to focus on him and all he does good for me and our kiddies!! In just one day I feel a spark in my own heart that needed to be replinished, and foolishly thinking it all his fault :0) lol, silly how we do that sometimes!! Will be praying for you and Beth as you walk the road too!! love you girls! oh and by the way as a side note, I need more nieces and nephews so I won't be praying that last thing! hee hee!

Anonymous said...

hey bec, just wanted you to know that I just got around to looking into the clean heart challange today, and would love to be part of it with you and whoever else! Actually its kind of interesting because a lot of her daily things to do are what I do from flylady.net! I'm actually ahead on something LOL! Anyway the challange sounds like fun! :0)

Crystal Starr said...

Tag you're it!!!