Good Morning all! Hope you have a blessed day.

Scripture

Mark Chapter 1:24 – What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are – the Holy One of God!

Observation

Even the evil spirits know who Jesus is. Knowing Him is not enough. Many people think if they just know who God is then they are taken care of and that they will be saved from sin, this world, and hell. Knowing Him is not enough.

Application

John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

For whoever BELIEVES in Him – Believe in Him, he loves you and died for you. He can and will be your Savior.

Mark 12:30 – Love the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

LOVE Him with your all – The Lord Loves you – His love is infinite!

Romans 8:38 – For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

You will never be abandoned by Christ – His death for us is proof of his unconquerable love. Nothing can stop Christ’s constant presence with us.

Prayer

Thank you Lord for your love. Thank you again and again for dying on the cross for my sins. Your love is infinite Lord, the many times that you have forgiven me and given me mercy is beyond my thought processes. Lord, help me to always remember that nothing can separate me from your love. Give me the passion to help others come to see your infinite love. Give me the strength and the humility to follow you through all hardships and times of wealth. As you humble me Lord, help to remember to always look up to you. I love you Lord.

Amen.

He has Risen, He has Risen indeed!

Scripture

Matthew Chapter 28:6 – He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.

Observation

He died for our sins on the cross and on the third day he rose again. Just as Jesus promised, he rose from the dead, we can be confident; therefore, that he will accomplish all he has promised.

Application

When someone is dying or leaving us, his or her last words are very important. He rose from the dead and promised us that he would be with us always. He gave us a promise, as his children we need to do as his last words asked. Tell others that He is risen – Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matt ch:28 – 18 thru 20)

Prayer

Lord, whether it be my children or neighbors or a random stranger Lord. Help me to reach out and speak to others about your love. Thank you again Lord for saving me and dying on the cross for me and promising me that you can do all things. Lord just please forgive me for my doubts and give me the faith of a mustard seed, to know that I can do all things through you. Give me the strength and confidence and humility to reach others through you. I love you Lord.

Amen.

I could not pick one single verse in this chapter. This chapter is about Christ’s crucifixion. This chapter is always heart wrenching and so crazy amazing. I mean I am fumbling for the correct words as I write this post. He died on the cross for us. US! He was tortured, abused, sold out by his own people, and completely innocent. Jesus knew exactly what was going to happen to him and he did it with dignity, honor, and humility; he did it so that we did not have to. Our sins are washed clean by his blood. Our love for each other as human’s will never come close to comparing to the love that God has for us. That is what this chapter is about for me. Agape – love as revealed in Jesus, seen as spiritual and selfless and a model for humanity. God’s all redeeming, merciful, gracious love. He sent his ONLY son to die on the cross for us.

Prayer

Lord, I am at a loss for words. You are amazing and I am not worthy. Just reading this Chapter in Matthew leaves me stumbling in awe. Thank you Lord for dying on the cross for my sins. Lord I do not know what to say. Please give me the words and the wisdom to make a difference no matter how small or large. Give me the strength to make sacrifices for you and others. Fill me with your all powerful love.

Amen.

Scripture

Matthew Chapter 26:41 – Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.

Observation

Temptation strikes where we are most vulnerable, we can’t resist it alone. Prayer is essential because God’s strength can shore up our defenses and defeat Satan’s power.

Application

Watch & Pray! Become spiritually equipped to fight what Satan will tempt you with.

Prayer

Lord, I know that I have failed and that my defenses are not the best. I come to you now asking that you help me defeat Satan’s power in his daily barrage of temptations. It seems my biggest temptations of late are time temptations. Things that take up meaningless time away from you or away from time teaching my children or doing something constructive. These time drains are the tv, books with useless knowledge, or computer surfing. Please help me to be more time conscious and to use that time wisely. Thank you Lord for your vast power and knowledge and for your word. I would be truly lost without you.

Amen.

Thank you everyone for entering June’s Artist giveaway. If you enjoyed this months artist and want some more information on Phyllis’ jewelry feel free to contact me @ ladyofthebarn@gmail.com, and I will put you in touch with her. Phyllis’ has many beautiful pieces for sale. She is currently showcased at the Rockvale Art Gallery.

Here are a few of her other pieces –

and…

Kelli-Adventurez is our Winner this month! I will be contacting you via email asap.

The “Green Machine” is one of my morning drinks that packs a healthy punch. Besides this drink being a great way to get raw green veggies into your kids bellies, it is also very tasty and good go get em drink for in the morning. Their are two ingredients in my green drink – bananas and romaine lettuce.

Do you know I always knew that these two things had loads of good stuff for you, but until researching further for this post, I really had no clue how really good this is for you. Okay, so listen to this –

Bananas – Energy, fiber, folic acid, magnesium, potassium, and vitamin A

Romaine – Beta carotene, cancer-fighting phytochemicals, carotenoids, iron, and vitamin C

So, look beyond the two ingredients and seriously try this one out. I make enough for two (one head of romaine & 4 bananas) and either save some for later, share it with my husband, or on crazy days drink it all by myself. My two and four year old drink this too!

It really fills up the blender, but all of that romaine will blend down and everything will fit soon enough. I also add about 1/4 cup of water and have to help push the bananas down some while it blends.

Seriously, YUM! (believe me I was as skeptical as the next person, till I tried it)

Extra info on the goodness that this one drink has in it –

Vitamin A – essential for:growth, skin, color, night vision, and immunity.
Beta Carotene-essential for:protection against heart disease, cancer, and an immune booster. Not a vitamin in its own right, but the body converts it into vitamin A.
Vitamin C-essential for:natural immunity, wound healing, iron absorption, extremely powerful antioxidant that protects against heart disease, circulatory problems and cancers.
Folic acid-essential for:blood cells, prevention of birth defects, protects against enemia.
Iron-essential for:red blood cells.
Magnesiumessential for:energy producing processes, the functions of vitamins B1 and B6 growth and repair.
Potassium-essential for:Normal cell function, nerves, control of blood pressure.

*I do not drink this every morning – I switch it up with other super juices or yummy smoothies!

In my life this week…

This week has been full of T-ball tournaments! We were at the field Monday, Tuesday (double header), Thursday, and Friday. What a week, but yay! Our team came in third place.

Boy, was he a trooper, the poor guy on Thursday was sick… (peach jello powder + warm water = liquid jolly rancher (well and a good stomach coating for a sour stomach)

but, played hard anyway that night… (I promise I am not a bad Mommy, he wanted to)

People we’re seeing…

It should be more like people that came to see us this week. My Dad came by to show us his latest creation/toy, and boy was it a beauty.

Sugar Plum Fairy and Little Old Man thoroughly enjoyed it as well. Then we went and picked up a few cousins and took a quick spin around the farm.

Can I just say I want one of these SO bad, have since I was fifteen.

Things I am working on…

I have been since Spring doing cleaning. I have nicknamed it, “The Great Purge”. This week I worked on getting more of the clothing that either the kids cannot wear anymore or my clothes I do not want anymore and donating it.

Next week, the kitchen…

I’m reading…

Well, I am pretty sure I have read Min-o-saur, and Butterfly Girl at least twenty times. Do you read the same books over and over and over again? While I am glad that my kids do not get bored with things quickly, I do get sick of reading the same books again and again. I find myself after perhaps the 4th or 5th time reading them that I start adding or taking away from the story, depending on how tired I am. As for the times I do not fall in bed, I occasionally read, “The Shadow Rising: Book Four of ‘The Wheel of Time’”.

A photo to share…

Oh, and Smiley has decided to start crawling this week!

~Thank you to the The Homeschool Chick for starting a, “Homeschool Mother’s Journal”. If you have a blog link up with her and visit other mother’s too.

I have wanted to try this for years. It seems like every time we went out to eat somewhere that offered this on the menu, I have been pregnant or nursing. Therefore, I have not been able to eat raw meats. Now, (crossing fingers) that I have finished with having babies, I decided to try making this dish at home. It was extremely easy and oh so yummy. Nowadays, you can find tuna steaks at most of your grocery stores. I actually got mine frozen at Sam’s. Okay, so get this… All you need is salt, pepper, oil (I used coconut), and chinese five spice.

Ingredients

2 Tuna Steaks
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons chinese five spice ( I used McCormick brand ).
1/2 tablespoon coconut oil

Blend together salt, pepper, and chinese five spice. Dry Tuna Steaks. Rub spice blend onto steak, covering completely. Warm pan to medium and add coconut oil. Cook steaks for two minutes on each side. Slice thinly and serve. (They are supposed to still be slightly cool on the inside when done.)

Now proceed to eat and then lick fingers.

Once in a lifetime does one normally see a red fox. So far it has been twice for me, but the first time was only because the little guy was injured. We saw young foxes the other day at Pop pop’s house. I think the only reason we saw these was because they are still so young. They were playing just like puppies right outside of their den. Sadly, we only had my camera phone to catch a picture with, but I wanted to share it with you anyway.

Maw maw and Pop pop said there are four young foxes in all.

When you were little did you ever take a bath in an old wash tub? I did, and to me they were fond memories. In one of the many houses we lived in growing up, one of them was an old 100 year old farm house that needed many renovations. Well, during one of those times, Mom let us take a bath in a metal wash tub in the kitchen. I haven’t done that with my kids in our kitchen, but they have been in one outside. During these 90 to 100+ degree days it is nice for them to get to play in the water. Plus, we do not get to make it to the pool very often. To make it more fun we add a small fountain and bubbles to the water.

This is a very easy way for your kids to bathe themselves in the middle of the day, plus bathe their toys, and makes mustaches out of bubbles.

Older cousins enjoy it very much too!

All, you need is a wash tub, small pond pump from a hardware store (local hardware store, Lowe’s, Home Depot, etc.), pvc, and a way to hold the pvc to the side of the tub. (and, a bucket to throw water on your siblings) We used this arrangement…

A small metal fitting and an all-in-one bracket. The bracket bent easily to hang the pvc on the side of the tub.

Next time, I think we might add food coloring to the water… (its the small things)