This is our True Woman Tuesday Week 3 study of lessons 7-9. We start this week with Proverbs 31 verse 26 She opens her mouth in wisdom, And the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.

This has always, always been my downfall. Ask anyone, they'll tell you I can't keep my mouth shut! Which might be okay, if what came out of it was kindness and wisdom. But, let's face it, the things that come out are awful sometimes.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss says "So many of us talk in ways outside our homes that we don’t think to talk inside our homes. How can I encourage? How can I speak words that lift up? I find that when I go to visit my family—I live alone, but when I go to visit my family, I find that often-times I don’t have the common courtesies with them that I do with people outside my family." This is true for me also. I usually get upset faster with my children or my husband than I would a friend or a stranger. They say you hurt the ones you love the most, or something like that.

I need to learn self control. I don't have to say every single thing that comes to mind. But, if I want the words coming out of my mouth to be different, I have to stop and think before I speak. I need to talk with God and ask for the right things to say. I need to ask myself “Is what I’m about to say wise? Is it worth saying? Does it need to be said?” If the answer is no, then I should just keep my mouth closed, as hard as that is for me to do.

Verse 27 talks about how she watches over her home and does not eat the bread of idleness. Boy, they are just all on me today, huh? I am definitely lazy with a capital L! Nancy says if we are idle we can't manage our homes well. But, she also says with the Lord's grace we can learn to be productive, virtuous, women. As she says "You’re never more like Jesus than when you’re serving."

I think the best way to start out is by starting my day with the Lord. I have a book of daily devotionals I am reading and it seems to always be exactly what I needed to hear on that particular day. However, there are some days when I think I am too busy to read this before starting my day and those are usually my worst days. So, I definitely need to stop thinking I know best and start reading His word!

If you want to see what other ladies thought of these lessons please visit Tammi's site where everyone is linking up.

Tipper at Blind Pig and the The Acorn asked for help with a test to see if things really do grow better when you plant by the signs. If you want more details about the experiment me, Tipper, and other bloggers are doing, please visit her post on the test.


In order for everyone to do the test she sent us each some corn to plant. We were to plant half on sign for the best day, and half on the sign for the worst day. In this case the best day was on the 23 and the wost day was on the 26. My hubby helped by plowing up a spot with the push plow. We planted 10 seeds in one row on the 23 and 10 seeds in another row on the 26.


I thought this would be fun to see if there were any differences in the way the corn grows. The way the heat is and the bugs are around here, I'll be lucky if any of it grows, lol!

Some of you may remember me telling you of my nephew's death last November. He was only 15 and died from huffing gasoline. The family is having a benefit to help raise money for his funeral and to raise awareness of inhalant abuse. I know most people who read my blog live too far away to come, but some of y'all live in the area. If you do, and could come, we would greatly appreciate it.


If you click on this flyer, I hope it will enlarge for you. If not, here are the details. The benefit will be Saturday at the Cane Creek BP, 8702 Lancaster Highway Waxhaw, NC 28173. If you need directions the store's phone number is (704)843-2332. This is on Highway 200 below Monroe on the way to Lancaster. It will be from 11 am till 4 pm and there will be food and raffle tickets for prizes. Thanks!

Some of y'all asked for an update on the baby chicks. They are 2 weeks old now. When they were a couple days old one of the yellow ones died. Then about a week ago, the other yellow one disappeared completely. I'm not sure what happened to it, maybe a snake?


The other 2 are growing and seem to be doing very well. They are so pretty. Mama hen lets us pick them up and hold them, but if another chicken comes near, she goes off on them. It's really funny to see! She's a good protector. I love it when she fluffs out like this.

This is week 2 of the True Woman Makeover Bible study hosted by Tammi at Valley Girl.

Proverbs 31 verses 11 and 12 -¹¹ The heart of her husband trusts in her, And he will have no lack of gain. ¹² She does him good and not evil All the days of her life. It doesn't say she does this because he treats her well. It doesn't say if your husband praises your efforts to do this. It says to do this regardless of how you are treated. We are to do this because our first commitment is to God.

He can trust her to speak well of him and to protect his name. While I don't generally speak ill of my husband, I do have one friend who I share my frustrations with. So, I need to work on this. I need to always have his best interests at heart. With God's grace no matter if my husband meets my expectations, I can be devoted like this.

I need to let God be the head of everything and my husband the head of our home. I think I have a problem with giving up this control to a certain extent. I tend to think I'm right and others are wrong. I have to learn to give up that control and in that I will gain freedom.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss asks "Have you totally eliminated the D-word—divorce—from your vocabulary?" I know a lot of people haven't. There are lots of people who get married thinking, well if it doesn't work out, I will just get a divorce and try again. I used to be one of those women. Earlier in my marriage I thought about divorce. But, I made it through that time and now I can honestly say that the D-word isn't in my vocabulary. I have made a commitment to this marriage. To God and my husband and family.

Any woman who is a godly woman, a wife, a mother works. She works hard and is diligent. Nancy says "diligence is viewing each task as a special assignment from the Lord and using all my energies to accomplish it." What a way to look at cooking and cleaning. Instead of looking at it as a chore, look at it as an assignment from God.

In Titus 2:5 it says women are to be workers at home. The husband is supposed to be the breadwinner. It is our job as wives to manage what he brings home and not waste it. We are to be loyal and faithful even with our finances.

Nancy asks "Have you accepted the responsibility, the privilege of caring for the physical, practical needs of your family?" Usually I think I have. However, I don't always feel it's a privilege, like after changing the umpteenth diaper of the day, lol. I do need to work on finding joy in this work.

Our first work should always be done in the home before venturing to work outside the home. I like this comment Nancy makes on a friend who quit working outside the home: "she’s investing in the lives of her children. She’s working for eternity. She’s developing a relationship with those children, with that husband, and God is being pleased." Pleasing God is what it's all about!

A quote in this section says “only love can make such diligent service sweet and delightful. Where love is lacking, this work will be the worst drudgery.” I need to start my work with the right heart. We are going to have to do the work anyway, why not do it with a joyful heart and attitude. Galatians 6:9 says Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. We will reap our rewards in Heaven.

You can read what others thought of this weeks lessons at Valley Girl.

Today I would like to wish a Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there! In particular to my husband shown above with our littlest blessing. Thanks for being a wonderful husband and a great father to our children! You are a blessing from above!

I am missing my daddy up in Heaven today too. For selfish reasons, of course. He is obviously in a much better place than he was here. But, he was such a wonderful daddy. It would be nice to still be able to get those hugs every now and then. I am happy to know that I will see him again one day, so that's enough for now.

Happy Father's Day!

It's been really hot here lately and we have been trying to find ways to stay cooler. The boys love playing in their pool that you saw in the post below. I have been wanting to run the A/C less, but still stay cool. We had ceiling fans in our living room and game room, but not in any of the bedrooms. In those rooms we had the light fixtures below.


We finally had a little bit of money and decided to buy ceiling fans for all the bedrooms and the hallway. For some reason the hallway is pretty long, but doesn't even have a vent in it. I think that's kinda weird, so we put a fan up there too. I say we, but really it was my husband who did everything. All I did was hand him things. He did such an awesome job!


Since we installed these last weekend, I have been able to turn the air down by about 5 degrees. Ceiling fans are supposed to be cheaper to operate, so hopefully I'll be able to see a difference in my power bill .

I am participating in the True Woman Makeover with Tammi at Valley Girl. Tammi is hosting a Mr. Linky so everyone who wants to join in with the Bible Study can connect. You can learn more about True Woman and sign up here. It's listed as a 30 day makeover, but since it's summer Tammi decided to stretch it out for ten weeks. We are going to read or listen to three lessons a week and share our thoughts each Tuesday.

The True Woman 30 day makeover wants to help women:

• Discover and embrace God's created design and mission for their lives
• Reflect the beauty and heart of Christ to their world
• Intentionally pass on the baton of Truth to the next generation
• Pray earnestly for an outpouring of God's Spirit in their families, churches, nation, and world

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One of the questions asked in the first part of the study is "“Where am I getting my picture of what it means to be a woman?” Well, until recently, I guess I would have to say I had been getting my idea from worldly influences. The kind that tell you you have to do this or that to be successful. After the birth of my second son, I started to re-think my priorities and try to listen more to what He has to say.

In listening to this study and learning more about the Proverbs 31 lady, it seems she is super woman. She can do it all. We are to be like her and teach other ladies to do so also. However, I am so far away from the description of what this woman is. How can I learn to be more like her? I think the answer is to put God first in everything I do. People will be able to see God through me by the way I react to things. Right now, I am ashamed at how I react to silly little things. I lose my temper way too much and say the wrong thing more often than not. I have a lot of work to do.

The next section is on being a virtuous woman. In it we learn she is kind, wise, and not lazy. Verse 27 She carefully watches everything in her household
and suffers nothing from laziness. That just kicked me out of the club, so to speak. I try to be kind, and am a little wise, but I am lazy. This is definitely something I need to work on.

No one can be like this woman on her own. We can only do it through Christ! There will be steps forward and back. This will be a lifelong process. The process of becoming a Proverbs 31 woman. There will be growth if we only let it happen. We have to start with reverencing God.

In this section there is also a part where men are praising their virtuous wives. But, we are cautioned to "One, be faithful regardless of whether you ever get praise from men. And then second, let me remind you that ultimately our greatest praise comes from God." This goes back to not seeking our worth in the world, but in our heavenly Father.

In order for this transformation to work, I have to allow it to happen. Allow the Lord to work on me. Put Him first. I will fail sometimes. I'm only human. When that happens, I need to get right back up and start again the process of becoming. In the Bible it says “The righteous man falls down seven times” (Proverbs 24:16). He just gets back up and keeps on going. I can grow through Him. Through His grace I can do this.

This section, and I have heard it before, says to put your husband before your children. That is something I have always struggled with. I tend to think of my children first, and husband second. I am not sure how I can learn to reverse this order. But, I am going to try.

Another thing that hits too close to home is this, "if your husband is not a noble man instead of blaming him, maybe you should look at yourself as the cause". Ouch! That hurts! In order for this to happen it says we are supposed to "set out, not to change him, but set out to be the kind of woman with the kind of character that you want him to have."

I have to start with myself! If I can learn to be a Proverbs 31 woman my husband will be blessed. And who knows, maybe he will become the man I know he can be. I am thinking of ways right now to start on this journey. I know small steps will be necessary because I get discouraged too easily.

Thanks for joining me in my first virtual women's study. If you would like to see what others thought about True Woman go to Tammi's site where others will be linking up with their thoughts.

The winners of the Pillsbury Bakeoff Giveaway as chosen by random.org are:

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

13 9 

Timestamp: 2009-06-15 00:52:57 UTC

Laura Y. and Danielle G.

Congratulations! Thank you to everyone who entered!

Look what came in the mail! The top card is a lovely note card. The card at the bottom is an Artist Trading Card made by my bloggy friend Mildred from Nalley Valley. When she learned that I collect cows she made this for me! Isn't that sweet! It may enlarge if you click on the picture and you can see it has my name and my blog's name with chicks and a cow.

If you've been to Mildred's blog before you know what a thoughtful person she is. I have learned so much from my visits with her. If you want to learn more about Artist Trading Cards (ATC's) visit this post by Mildred. Thanks Mildred!!! You really made my day! I love it!

As some of you may know, we have had a broody hen setting on some eggs. Last time this happened none of the eggs hatched. So, you can imagine my surprise when I went out there last night and heard chirping. I thought I was hearing things! But, we looked and there are 4 chicks! She has 2 more eggs, but I don't think they'll hatch. We also have another hen setting on 11 eggs. She just started, so it will be awhile before we know if they are gonna hatch.


Last night we had to finish putting a roof on a pen so we could separate her and the biddies from the rest of the chickens. This morning we finally cleaned out the chicken coop that should have been cleaned a couple months ago. I thought I'd wait until it was about 95 outside before I did it. I am THAT smart!


Anyway, aren't they just the cutest little fuzzy butts you've ever seen? We have 3 different breeds of roosters and about 6 different breeds of hens. So, who knows what these chicks will look like later on. But, for now, we have 2 yellow chicks, 1 dark yellow chick with a stripe, and a dark brown chick with a stripe. I do know the dark brown one came from the blue egg the hen was setting on. So, it's an Easter Egger mix.

Y'all may remember when I posted about Pillsbury taking entries for their Bakeoff. Well, the entries are in and it's time to vote! You can go to www.bakeoff.com and vote for your favorite recipes. They will post new recipes every two weeks until September 17, so be sure to go back and vote again.


Pillsbury and My Blog Spark are going to give 2 of my readers a Pillsbury Bakeoff prize consisting of a Pillsbury Doughboy and a past magazine of Bakeoff recipes. I have already found a lot of recipes I am wanting to try out of this magazine and my little one is loving making the Pillsbury Doughboy giggle.

If you would like to enter all you have to do is fill out this form.



Giveaway ends Saturday night at midnight-June 13.
US residents only. Good Luck!

We sang this song in church this morning and I thought I would share the words to it with you.

Standing on the Promises

1. Standing on the promises of Christ my King,
through eternal ages let his praises ring;
glory in the highest, I will shout and sing,
standing on the promises of God.
Refrain:
Standing, standing,
standing on the promises of Christ my Savior;
standing, standing,
I'm standing on the promises of God.

2. Standing on the promises that cannot fail,
when the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
by the living Word of God I shall prevail,
standing on the promises of God.
(Refrain)

3. Standing on the promises of Christ the Lord,
bound to him eternally by love's strong cord,
overcoming daily with the Spirit's sword,
standing on the promises of God.
(Refrain)

4. Standing on the promises I cannot fall,
listening every moment to the Spirit's call,
resting in my Savior as my all in all,
standing on the promises of God.
(Refrain)

I have been busy this week. The squash and zucchini have really started coming in. I've cooked some, but mostly I have been blanching and freezing them. Every day we get between 1 and 2 buckets full out of the garden. We have a ton of blooms on them right now, so I guess next week will be just as busy, if not more so.


I have put up enough squash and zucchini to make 14 casseroles this winter. Sorry if I haven't visited y'all much this week, but I truly have been busy!

A couple days ago we had our end of the year bash for our homeschool group. The grandparents of some of the students let us have the party at their home. It was a beautiful home with many fun things for the kids to do. We had over 40 people come, so the kids had a wonderful time!


My husband and sons went fishing in the pond. Mitchell was fishing on the pier with some of the other kids. That's him sitting at the picnic table in the gray shirt in the picture below.


My husband was teaching our toddler how to fish when Hunter started reeling it in. That's when he realized there was a fish on the line. Hunter's first fish! Well, he helped, anyway. He was a little scared of the fish, he kept backing up, lol!


After awhile my little one got tired of fishing and I got tired of pulling him out of the pond (he kept walking in). So, he went to play in the sand with some toys.


He also tried to play horseshoes and t-ball. My older son told me later, mom you took too many pictures of Hunter. I said, well, that's because I spent all night chasing him around while you were somewhere else playing.


Then we ate on the patio. My little one ate and ate and ate!


After that we learned of sand sledding. Where you use a sled to slide down the hillside. Mitchell wanted to do it, but he had to build up his confidence. He was scared of crashing or flipping on the hill.


As soon as he did it, though, he wanted to do it again and again. He even talked the girls into doing it.


Sorry for picture overload! I just wanted to share what a great time we had at our party!