Living Uprightly ~ As a Christian

Exodus 20:1-17 ~The Ten Commandments

1.  You shall have no other gods before Me

2.  You shall not make for your self a carved image (idol)

3.  You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain (blasphemy which includes abreviations)

4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy (special, set apart)

5. Honor your Father and your Mother

6.  You shall not commit murder

7.  You shall not commit adultery

8.  You shall not steal

9. You shall not bear false witness (lie)

10.  You shall not covet (want something that isn't yours)

These are 10 relatively simple commandments/laws in the Old Testament the Lord gave to Moses.

But why are they so hard for people to understand, to keep, to live out, to obey?  

Why do they pick and choose what they want to obey/keep depending on the situation?

Why do they then justify their actions & have no remorse?

Why do folks "act" righteous while not living that way?

We've all got the same "rule" book.  We all sin and fall short of the Lord's standard of perfection.  We all stand in need of a loving, forgiving Heavenly Father.  The good news is God's plan to save us was to substitute Jesus' death on the cross for the punishment we all deserve.

Romans 5: 6-11
^6 For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. ^7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. ^8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ^9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. ^10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. ^11 And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation at the right time

We all need to repent and believe, obey God's commandments, practice what we preach, understand consequences, take responsibility for our own actions, seek forgiveness.

Mark 22:31

"And the second like it is this, " You shall love your neighbor as yourself".

Bread Baking Thursday

bread dough risen and overflowing mixing bowl ~ tried a double recipe, not a good idea

dough rising in pans

finished loaves! 

Proverbs 31:27 "She watches over the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness."

Adapted Recipe from Homestead Blessings

Wheat Bread Recipe

2 1/2 cups warm water

2 cups whole wheat flour
(plus an additional 5 or more cups to complete recipe)

2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup coconut oil

1/2 cup honey

2 tbsp. ground flax seed

2 tbsp. lecithin

2 tbsp. yeast

Mix together the first 6 ingredients.  Mix in the yeast.  Then add in enough flour (alternate between whole wheat & unbleached white) to make a soft dough ~ about 5 cups or more.  Knead well for 10 minutes.  Let rise until doubled - about 30-40 minutes.  Punch down, divide dough into 2 loaves and place into well greased bread pans.  Let rise again - 20 min. or so.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes, until golden brown on top.

**We use fresh ground whole wheat flour.

**I grind the flax seeds in a coffee grinder (used only for spices)

Stores sell some good whole wheat bread...but most of the nutrients are removed from the wheat when its processed in such huge quantities ~~~ then they sell the wheat germ seperately.  Grinding it fresh preserves all the nutrition of the whole wheat kernel and tastes amazing!

**And for you skeptics about the difficulty of grinding the wheat ~ you dump it in the grinder (I have a Nutrimill), push the on button and it grinds.  Thats how easy it is!  And I was once a skeptic too.  Then I listened to a presentation from Bread Beckers in the Atlanta area and changed my "uneducated thinking" about the whole process. 

Star Spangled Banner

O say, can you see, by the dawns early light,

What so proudly we hailed at the twilights last gleaming,

Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro the perilous fight,

O'er the ramparts we watched, we were gallantly streaming,

And the rockets red glard, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave truth thro' the night that our flag was still there,

O say, does that Star-spangled banner yet wave,

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

O thus be it ever when free men shall stand

Between their loved homes and the war's desolation"

Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'v rescued land

Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserved us a nation!

The conquer we must, when our cause it is just"

And this be our motto" "In God is our trust!"

And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave

O'er the land of the gree and the home of the brave.

Francis Scott Key 1814

  There are lots of words being tossed around about America being a "Christian" nation ~  a nation cannot be "christian", people are Christians, not things, but it was founded by Christian Men.  Men who risked their lives, their families safety, their own personal "fortunes", for what they believed in.

Find some books about these Founding Fathers written before the 1950's.  You will learn lots of stuff about our nation, the men behind the founding of the nation, and their FAITH.  These are the facts that aren't in current history books!

America was founded on Christian principles, by mainly Christian Men who prayed and sought the Lords guidance before they made decisions!

(Just because many have re-written history to fit their views, doesn't mean the original history didn't happen!  Their distorted view doesn't make it true!)

Oh, you KNOW you wanted to see more baby pictures!

We staged our own photo shoot tonight....

many with pinterest inspired ideas ~ of course we think our baby is what makes the pics so cute!

Grandma & Grandpa cradling their first grandchild

3 generations....Katie, Robert & Greg

kisses for the baby

See now aren't you glad you saw these? (If not...I don't want to know!)

We had fun....Robert, maybe not so much!  He especially hated having his foot painted and then put on the cross stitch picture and canvas~! His rt. footprint on the cross stitch is a little smeared ~ he was over the "fun" by then.  My goal is to have a cross stitch for every grandchild and put their footprints on it.  His name and birthdate will be added!

this is the "secret" baby quilt I've been hinting about...its cross stitched and then hand quilted.

lots of love in every stitch from Grandma to Robert!

Now, its bedtime.  The grandson is exhausted and so are his parents!

Good night!

More Robert pics!

Auntie Amy

Uncle Will

Hi world!  I'm here!

ahhhh, relaxation!

Introducing.......

We are pleased as punch...

tickled pink (I mean blue)

totally thrilled...

ecstatically pleased...

blessed beyond measure...

totally in love....

We have entered the world of GRANDPARENTS!

Yep...little Robert Edward Lee couldn't wait another week to make his world debut ~

this grandma teared up when she first held her first grandbaby

thats his "I love my grandma" smirk!

Grandma, Mommy & Baby!

Grandpa & Grandboy

practicing his Pirate look....argh!

rocking with grandma

Robert and his crocheted teddy from his mommy

Roberts security duck

Daddy, Mommy and Son

Do you remember the old jokes about...come on over and look at our vacation slides?

Be prepared...log onto Miss. Mama and see pics of my grandson!

God is good!

Robert is beautiful & healthy!

Mommy is doing great!

Our family is blessed!

Did ya notice the name change on the blog?

Using some ideas from Pinterest

Wow!  There are some creative folks in this world.  And I am "gleaning" ideas left and right on Pinterest!  Its really fun to search for the "buried treasures", pin them to your own boards, and then see which of your friends likes them.  I can pretty much predict which friends are going to like which pins!

And dear Amy Lynn is coming up with stuff I never dreamed existed...

her funny "found" quote yesterday....

"Good moms let you lick the beaters, Great moms turn off the mixer first"

Thankfully, on this I fall into the great moms category!

Then she found this..

At least 3 of my 5 sons would have loved this in their bedroom as little boys!

I found a good "keep Amy busy project"!  And set her to work the other day....

Our wood floor cleaning duster needed a new pad ~ the other had a hole in it ~ found the perfect solution on pinterest....

Here are the results....

Oh, she went upstairs with the directions, figured it all out, and took all the pictures of the various steps~

measured the duster head and added 2 inches to each side

used my favorite color!  Bought these throws 1 1/2 years ago at Walgreens for $1

cutting the fabric to fit the pattern (doubled because this fleece is thinner)

made sure it would fit before she sewed

her "new" machine hard at work

the finished project ~ one blanket yeilded 4 dust heads + one happy Mom!  Thanks Amy!

 I've seen lots of neat organizational stuff for sewing rooms ~ so I got started last week...

jumbled fabric shelves full of crafting potential

neatly rolled "I can see what I have" fabric

 And pictures of fabric I bought several years ago at a quilt shop near my mother in law in VA...

 I don't know what I am doing with it yet, but these animals are so cute!  Maybe they will have more animals this summer when we are up there!  I see a quilt for a future grandbaby, some where in those goofy expressions!

 I "collect" fabric (guess thats really a "duh" statement since you can see the closet).  But honestly, there is fabric in there that I don't think I bought/acquired/stole out of moms closet.  Maybe a fabric fairy "blessed" me with some goodies ~ wonder if I could leave a list and could get more that way?

A friend works at a print shop and he brought me all the cardboard to roll the fabric on ~ plus his wife and daughter supplied me too!  So I can organize, clean, find, discover, wonder all to my hearts content.  

But then I discovered that the cutting table I am using to work on is way too short (kinda funny coming from someone who is only 5'2") So, I've been researching cutting/work tables ~ another project for Greg to add to his "honey do" list!

Happy Tuesday!