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Start Your Day with a Little Soap

The following is a guest post from my sister-in-law Amy. From the first day I met her I knew we were going to be great friends and we seem to grow closer every year.

I find that days that begin with SOAP are the best days for me… And the mornings I miss it, just don’t seem to go nearly as well.

No, I’m not talking about a shower. I’m talking about a simple acrostic which has changed my Bible study technique and drastically improved my relationship with my heavenly Father. And as a result, I can say it has also improved my life immeasurably.

It helps me to start the day focused on Him and it helps me break down the Bible and find a message just for me almost every day.
It is so super easy, that I can do it anywhere, and apply it to any study and jump right back in if I miss a day.

And really, the days I skip it are the days I am much more scattered. The mornings I wake 30 minutes earlier and spend time with Him I am much more focused and ready to tackle the other items on my To-Do list for the day.

I typically use it with a Bible in one year reading plan, but you could use it with any reading plan or adapt it to fit in a study.

Here’s how it works:
You need your Bible, a notebook, pen and about 20 minutes, depending on the length of your passage.
Pray, asking God to guide you through His Word and clear your mind of distractions.

Read your passage for the day and find the one thing you believe God is telling you that morning. Then write about it using the acrostic SOAP as a guide. (Leave the first few pages of your notebook blank for a Table of Contents.)

  • S: Scripture—Write the ONE scripture you feel is especially speaking to you.
  • O: Observation—Rewrite the verse in your own words and determine what He might be telling you with that scripture.
  • A: Application—How can you apply it to your life?
  • P: Prayer—Write out your prayer to God asking for His help in making that application.

When you are finished, look back over the entry and come up with a short title, write it on the top of the page and take that and list it on the first page of your notebook along with the date, so you’ll have a Table of Contents listing each SOAP observation in bite-size morsels. This way, you can easily look back and find the messages God has sent you.

The idea of getting up an extra 30 minutes or so each morning may not appeal to you. But for me, on those mornings I have found that God not only gives that time and rest back to me, he multiplies it. And for some, you may find your SOAP time to be better at night. Whenever is best for you, set the time and keep to it. You will be rewarded greatly.

If you would like to see an example of SOAP in action, please swing by MomsToolbox.com where I post almost daily SOAP observations, among a few other things.

And let me know what you think if you give it a try.

If you would like to receive a bookmark with this quarter’s part of the Bible in a year reading schedule I use, send me an email at amy at momstoolbox dot com with your address and I’ll drop one in the mail to you. I find that keeping the bookmark in my Bible makes it super easy to keep up to date.

When Amy isn’t working on her SOAP devotional, she serves as a wife, mom to three small children and one foreign exchange student, cyclist, scrapbooker, traveler, online missionary, kitchen explorer and blogger at Moms Toolbox and Moms Travel Tales.

by admin -

Like Minded Friends

Connie is a Christian homeschooling mom of seven noisy kidlets, wife of one hunky golf pro, maker of aprons, teller of stories, wiper of noses. It’s a wonderful life! You can find her at her blog Smockity Frocks.

Several years ago, when we had moved for my husband’s new job and were expecting our fifth child, I found myself in a small town, away from friends and family.

We didn’t know anyone in town who homeshooled or had a large family. None of our new friends or acquaintances understood why we chose to live the way we did.

That’s about the time I discovered something called “blogs”. In a moment of loneliness, I had Googled “large family, homeschool” and stumbled upon Amy’s Humble Musings.

I was thrilled that I could read about the daily happenings of a lady who seemed just like me!

Christian? Check. Homeschooler? Check. Large family? Check. Republican? Check.

Soon, using the checklist I had formed, I found more “like minded” blogs and I felt like I had a little online community of friends who were just like me in every way.

What I didn’t realize, though, was my little community was making me a snob in my real life. Whenever I met someone new, I would go through the check list in my head, and they would undoubtedly fall short in one or more areas. I would mentally keep score and whine to my online community that “like minded friends” were SO hard to find.

This snobbery of mine was so insidious that I didn’t even realize it was happening. I just kept wondering why the internet was the only place I could find anyone to live up to my narrow standards.

It never crossed my mind that I was searching the entire world over and only coming up with a handful of people who could pass my checklist.

In the meantime, I kept holding real life friends at a distance. If they were Christians who had a large family, but didn’t homeschool, I didn’t think we had enough in common to really be this thing called “like minded” that I had elevated to a position of utmost importance.

If they were homeschooling Christians who only had two children, I would lament the fact that we were so… so… DIFFERENT.

Then, one day and a couple of children later, I started thinking about the fact that my grandmother only had three children. And she thinks homeschooling is, well, kinda kooky. And she is a DEMOCRAT!

And I still, like, LOVE HER a whole lot.

And she still loves me even though I’m kinda kooky and Republican.

That’s when I realized that I was missing out on a whole world of wonderful friendships because of my exclusive checklist.

I suddenly saw so many people around me who were different, but not really so different after all. Most moms I know want the best for their children. They may take a different approach than I do in the daily details, but we have the same desire.

Most people I know want the best for our country. Opinions vary, but mostly nobody wants us to destroy ourselves from within. Again, the same desire.

I found that I don’t have to agree with someone on every point to be a friend. I can celebrate our likenesses and let the rest go.

The world is a much friendlier place now that I use the internet, not as a way to exclude, but as a tool to gather information and communicate with others.

by admin -

Lose-A-Palooza ~ Help the Fight Against Hunger

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Today you have a chance to make a difference, and all you need to do is tweet, sign on Facebook, or write a blog post!

Weight Watchers is donating $1 Million Dollars to help fight hunger. The donation will be split between Share Our Strength and Action Against Hunger.  Last year, the campaign impacted more than 250,000 children and families domestically and actually represented the difference between life and death for more than 6,000 malnourished children abroad.

You have the opportunity to increase the donation by $25,000!

Lose-A-Palooza is a one-day online social networking event taking place on September 15, 2009 to help raise awareness for the Lose For Good™ campaign! For every accepted mention or acknowledgment of “Lose For Good” made on September 15 via blogs, Twitter, Facebook and MySpace, Weight Watchers will make an additional donation – up to $25,000* – for just one day of social media activity.  This donation is on top of the $1 million Weight Watchers is hoping to donate to Share Our Strength and Action Against Hunger as part of the 2009 Lose For Good campaign!

Here is how you can help:

Twitter

  • Tweet #LoseForGood: Share how you are supporting the good with all your Twitter followers. Tweet about the way you’re helping the fight against hunger and be sure to include #LoseForGood.
  • Multiply the good: Follow @sharestrength or @acfusa to fill your Twitter stream with good, and then retweet.
  • That’s right, each #LoseForGood Tweet and follow to @sharestrength and @acfusa on September 15 provides $1!

Facebook

  • Become a fan of the NEW and official Weight Watchers page! And don’t forget our Weight Watchers Supermarket Foods page.
  • If you’re already a fan, just post a “Lose For Good” related comment OR “Like” the updates that we’ll post throughout the day.
  • Become a fan of our awesome charitable partners – Share Our Strength and Action Against Hunger!
  • It’s that easy. Join fan pages, comment on our statuses and walls, or simply ‘Like’ updates to our fan pages and you’ll
    be participating in Lose-a-Palooza and helping fight hunger!

Blog It

  • Write a blog post about Lose For Good, including the phrase “Lose For Good” and encourage your readers to get involved by visiting www.LoseForGood.com.
  • Comment on a blog post about Lose For Good! Be sure to have your friends show their support by commenting on your post –
    every comment relating to “Lose For Good” helps Weight Watchers donate $1!
  • In our new Weight Watchers Community, write a blog post about Lose for Good and we’ll make a contribution to the
    fight against hunger.  Remember to use the words “Lose for Good!”

One of my favorite things about blogging is that it brings people together and can impact others in a far reaching way. If you have a minute, please join me today and help the fight against hunger.

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by admin -

Overseas Military Needed for the Coupons for Troops Program

Thank you so much for your participation in this program.

Currently I need overseas military families who would like to receive coupons. I would love your help in finding more families who need coupons. I have several stateside families waiting to be assigned an overseas family. If you know of a military family overseas would you mind asking them if they would like to participate in the program?

If you emailed me and did not receive a response please email me again at thehappyhousewife (at) gmail (dot) com. I had an email glitch a while back and lost about a weeks worth of emails.

Also if you were mailing coupons to Jennifer White, she will be moving back to the states soon so please stop sending coupons to her. If you would like another family please email me.

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by admin -

I Want to Be a FUN Mom…

I want to be a fun mom. I want to allow my kids to bring their dirt covered rocks, sticks and occasional dead bug into the house. I want to let them finger paint more often than I do. I want to let them play in the rain and make mud pies… but too often I say no.

So when Play-Doh contacted me about trying out the new Burger Builder set, I realized this was my opportunity to say yes to my kids. When the set arrived my kids could not wait to open the box.

The set is really fun, and my older kids said they remembered having a similar set when they were younger, but it had the McDonald’s logo all over it. I was very please to see that this set was not affiliated with any fast food restaurant. It is hard to discourage your children from eating there if all their toys encourage it.

My kids were excited to get to work building burgers and other food items.

My rule follower was particularly proud of his creation.

My free spirit liked the set too… for different reasons.*

The kids had a great time making their Play-Doh creations. There were very excited when I told them about the Play-Doh’s playroom makeover. Your child can create a make-believe version of their favorite food, then upload a picture of your child’s creation for the opportunity to win the $10,000 Grand Prize, consisting of a $5,000 Playroom Makeover and a $5,000 School Doh-nation.

I couldn’t help but wonder… since we homeschool can we get a $5,000 school room makeover? 😉

How fun is that, your kids get to play with play-doh and maybe win a playroom makeover. I was ready to pull out all our play-doh supplies! My kids worked hard creating their contest entries, and I have to admit, it looked like a lot of fun. I might even make my own hamburger next time. 🙂

How about you, what fun things have you done with your kids lately?

 

*No Play-Doh was consumed during the making of this blog post.

by admin -

Cora and Kit ~ 5 Months

Remember when Cora first got her quilt?

It almost “fits” her now.

And that Kit doll….

Not even close…

By the way, Cora hates getting her picture taken! It is almost impossible to get her to smile… unless I can convince other people in my family to stand in front of her and do this…

And that’s A Finer Thing….

by admin -

Coupons for Troops Update

January 2011 update: This program is still running. Please read the Coupons for Troops FAQ page for more information.

Just a quick note, if you have emailed about sending coupons and I have not responded to your email, please resend your email. When my computer crashed I lost emails so I know many of you who tried to contact me did not get a response.

The contact email has changed to couponsfortroops (at) gmail (dot) com.

This program is run by me and only me and when I started it 18 months ago I never expected to get such a wonderful and overwhelming response. I am doing my best to keep up with all the wonderful couponers here in the states who have offered to donate their coupons and all the military families sacrificing for our freedom overseas. Please know I am working hard to match up families and help our overseas military keep a little more of their hard earned paycheck.