Thankful Thursday, Week 133

I really have been trying to blog more lately, haha :). I have so much to share about earlier this month during our trip to see family, and some Thankful Thursdays done to share the great time we had will be coming, Lord willing next week. But for the time being I just wanted to share all the things I have to be thankful for *this* week :)!

~Serving the Lord with my family at our church.
~Watching Peter help all of the men bring in the chicken while we were making brunswick stew at the church last week. They were bringing it in on carts, and Peter was just working away :).
~And all of the people at our church who have invested in us. It was so sweet to see all the people we've gotten to know the past several months giving the little ones rides on the cart, having a picnic with them, and working together with others is always enjoyable to me :).
~Sitting with Peter talking to a dear friend last week.
~Mommy's many talents. She amazed our neighbor the other day when she found out that Mommy was the one who had given all the haircuts that morning :). 
~Tori's devious little mind... and all of the totally hilarious pranks she comes up with, haha :). Like taking face painting over one lady's birthmark.. and then giving her identical twin sister a birthmark instead. Haha!
~Learning new things with Tori.
~That, when Emmi was "damaged by the dob noor" (a.k.a., hurt by the door nob), it wasn't too bad. I love the way they talk ;).
~Watching Josiah scooting across the floor- he has finally started going forwards, haha :)!
~Coffee... nice, warm coffee... as much for warming my hands as enjoying the taste, lately, heehee :). I love fall... but the mornings have been so chilly this week, haha!
~A good book.
~Seeing Bethi cart Josiah all around.. it is both hilarious and sweet :).
~Our neighbor's blowing off our driveway just to bless us. So sweet :).
~The lessons the Lord has been teaching me... and his grace when I ignore them again and again and again.
~Getting to sew and fellowship with a friend here in VA yesterday :).
~The delicious soup recipe Mommy made!
~Colorful little Abbi. She is so funny... she just saw an orange Christmas tree and fell in love with it...?!?!?!? Heehee :).

 “My heart exults in the Lord;

my horn is exalted in the Lord.

My mouth derides my enemies,

because I rejoice in your salvation."

                        ~1 Samuel 2:1

Knit Together in Love Ministry

For those of you who love to crochet or knit and may want to use your talents to bless others this winter season, here is a fun opportunity! You can make a scarf, in any pattern or color, that measures 4" by 30" or bigger, and send it in to Ashley of "A Stay at Home Daughter". She will then get them to missionaries who will take them out to needy orphans and elderly people who need them :). I "joined" last year, but didn't realize that there was a deadline until too close to the deadline, and didn't actually get them mailed :P. Just to let you know that there IS a deadline, and it is January 10th of 2015 :). I'll definitely be sending in last year's scarves and making a couple more this year, and if any of you would like to join, I know that it would be a great blessing to those who receive them :)! There is also a new opening in the same project this year. As the ministry has grown,  the need for local coordinators has come up, if that is something you are interested in! For more information and the mailing address, visit http://stayathomedaughter.com/ :).

In Christ,

Bri :)

A Challenge to Give Thanks

King's Blooming Rose ministries has announced that they will again be holding a challenge to write out seven things you are thankful for each day this November! I joined the challenge last year, and it was a wonderful ending to my day each night :)! They have a private group that you can join to share your praises with others, which I am probably going to join this year, or they offer the option of just journaling it each day, which is what I did last year.

To find out more of the guidelines and look into joining, you can go to http://kingsbloomingrose.com/challenges.html. There is so much to praise our Lord for, and this is a great way to start making that a habit :)!

Blessings in our Savior,

Bri :)

Leading by Example

I wrote this post a couple months ago, and kind of just let it sit in my draft folder. I am so imperfect... though I know these truths, and believe them, and want to follow the Lord in his leadings, I so often fail. But I wanted to share this post with you, not because I have it all together, but because I want to encourage those of you who may read it that even when we stumble, Christ can be glorified. "So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin." (Romans 7:21-25) "But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me." (2 Corinthians 12:9). With that being said, when I say something like "recently" in the post, it is at least two months un-recent, but I wanted to share what was on my heart at the time, rather than what I think reading back through it :).

I've been convicted lately of just how much my siblings are watching me. They are so ready to follow my every move, so ready to follow my lead, whether I realize that I am leading not.

For instance, I recently started wearing more jewelry. It's not that I've ever had a problem with jewelry, I just rarely took the time to put it on. But I started wearing it regularly earlier this month. It took about two days before a couple of my sisters were doing the same, and it really made me realize how much they are watching me!

If I have a bad attitude, they are most likely going to as well. I have seen this happen many times, way more than I would like. Something happens that I don't like, and I speak to them with a harsh tone, and then they invariably answer in the same tone. But it works on the flip side, too. If I decide to follow the Lord's promptings and be gentle, so will they. Just the other day while I was babysitting, I started to fuss at Peter, and he started to scowl, but the Lord prompted me to be calmer, and you could see Peter's face melting as my voice softened, to the point of giving me a hug by the end of the correction.

They are watching everything I do, to see how I will respond, what I am going to do... and then do it themselves. God has placed this in the hearts of all little siblings... they want to be just like us. They want to match us, copy us, be like us. It is up to us, as the older sibling, to, with the Lord's blessing, keep their hearts open to following us... and to give them something worth following.

They are going to copy what we do... so maybe we should ask ourselves... do I want them to rejoice, or complain? Do I want them to speak gently, or harshly? Should they say please, or take that toy without asking? Your answer is going to be the former for all of those questions... but do we model that for them? And if we do, do we let them know that it is because Jesus directs our steps?

What are some ways you can think of to help your parents by your example as they follow the responsibility to train these little souls for Christ?

Growing by his Grace,

Bri :)

Baking Soda Hair Solution

I've had a couple of friends ask me how I use baking soda to wash my hair after my mentioning it on Facebook awhile ago. Here's the method that I use:

To start off, you have to make the hair wash! I make about four washings worth at a time by bringing four cup of water to a boil, and then stirring in 1/4 of a cup of baking soda. Boiling the water first helps the baking soda dissolve. When I don't boil the water first, a few days after I make it I have a baking soda brick at the bottom of my soap bottle, haha! Once the water has cooled sufficiently, I pour it into an old, cleaned soap bottle.

I make a conditioner by taking another bottle and filling it with three cups of water and one cup of vinegar. I also add some vanilla beans to take away from the vinegar smell ;). The vanilla beans last for a while- I only switch mine out every few months. And this is optional, if you don't have any :).

When washing my hair, I pour about a cup of the vinegar over my hair, and scrub my scalp really well, then let it sit for three-five minutes. Then I pour about a cup of the diluted vinegar on my hair. This is both to condition the hair, and to break down the baking soda, making it easier to rinse out. I just give my hair a quick rinse, but if you don't have the vanilla beans, you might want to rinse the vinegar out pretty thoroughly ;).

We started using this method about four years ago. Mommy had to quit using it as it dried out her hair, and Tori's hair is so thick that it never really did much good for hers, but my hair *hates* shampoo!!! I can wash my hair with the shampoo that Tori and Mommy now use one evening, and it looks and feels like I need to wash it again the next morning! But using the baking soda, I usually only wash my hair about every three days.

I have a friend who uses honey to moisturize her hair along with the baking soda. For some people the baking soda and vinegar and/or honey works, for some it doesn't... for some they just think we're a bit nuts. Haha :). But it's about the only thing that makes my hair feel clean!

Have you ever used baking soda "shampoo"? How did you do it?

Thankful Thursday, Week 130

This will be shorter than usual. It is so late, and we head out tomorrow (!!!!) morning for our grandparents house (!!!). Very excited, but we have so much to do, and I should be getting to bed, so I'll just type out a few things really quick and then be going. I've got a couple posts scheduled for this next week as we are gone, but probably won't have much time to be online while we are busy having fun with family :). 

This week I can be especially thankful for...

~Andrew, who turned eight on Tuesday!
~The time we had to help with the Hidden Treasures auctions the past two years. I was sad to hear that there are no more currently in the plans, but it is completely understandable with how things have changed, AND, it sounds like there are some plans coming up for other ways to help... so I am excited about that :)!
~Our colorful little Abbi... She was saying her prayers last night in a sing-song voice, and when she finished, she informed Daddy "I always do it colorful!".
~That I dream in color. I am told that that is not normal. That would disturb me I think to dream in black and white. Lol! And yes, that was brought back to my mind by talking about Abbi.
~Peter's snuggles... when I notice them. He climbed into bed with Emmi and I a couple nights ago in the middle of the night. Emmi wasn't too into it, and woke me up to complain. I was so tired I didn't even check before telling her to go back to sleep, she was just dreaming, it was okay, nobody was on her, move back over... rolled over to move her back to her side of the bed... and sure enough, there was Peter practically on top of her. Haha! That was so very odd!
~Tori, who is out right now celebrating her birthday with Daddy :).
~Acorns and leaves under my feet.
~Seeing Andrew and Bethi sitting together reading their bibles.
~A letter from a friend I hadn't heard from for a whole.
~Orange, fall, all that fun stuff... have I ever mentioned how much I love autumn?
~And our trip coming tomorrow :)!!!

"I will also praise you with the harp

for your faithfulness, O my God;

I will sing praises to you with the lyre,

O Holy One of Israel."

               ~Psalms 71:22

Happy Birthday, Tori :)!!!!

 Close friend, goofball, my personal grammar- and spell-checker, "Bubby" to Peter, and lover of everything Lord of the Rings (except Frodo...)... a.k.a., Tori. Who turns thirteen today :)!!! And we can never hear again that we just have to wait until we're both teenagers to become fighters, because we woke up this morning pretty good friends, like always ;). In fact, she just accepted my friend request ten seconds after it was sent. Heeheehee!

Tori loves to read, and can make some yummy, yummy biscuits. I could really eat them as dessert, haha :). She lets me know when she thinks that something I've done could be done better... and is usually right. She has quite the artistic eye. She is also so good at playing the piano. She can hear a tune, and go pick out the notes right away... and she doesn't even have to be sitting at the piano to do it, it is amazing! I love to hear her play, and so does her buddy :). They can often be found listening to or playing music together, it is so sweet :). She's a wonderful "little" sister... who is only an inch shorter than me... haha :). 

Happy 13th Birthday, Tori :)!!!! I love you!