It is time to celebrate! We celebrate because we are loved! We celebrate because God is good! We celebrate because we are safe in His love! Let's celebrate with the Lord and His Word so that we can bring in the New Year with style! 

Another year is over and a new one is about to begin. The world has its way of celebrating this transition, but God has a better way! No matter what has happened this past year, God has been faithful to you! Even if you don't believe that right now....it's true! 

The Promise Keeper

Jesus is our Promise Keeper! He has protected you this past year from untold tragedy, misfortune, and peril.  We look at all that has happened, but so often we don't think about what might have happened. Maybe you lost your house this past year, a terrible thing, but you still have your family. Maybe you lost a loved one this year, but you are not here in this world alone. Imagine the destruction that could have come your way that the Lord prevented.  

If only we could see with spirit eyes the battle all around us. Angels protecting our health, lives, loved ones, possessions, and honor. We can only see what God allows to make us stronger in Him, not all that He keeps the enemy from inflicting. I encourage you to enter 2016 with worship, prayer, and God's Word. Why not gather together on New Year's Eve with other believers who are serious about the things of God. Seek His face together as the New Year starts. Forget the ball dropping in Times Square! How about worship instead! 

Our Celebration

This holiday season flew by for me! Before I had finished baking cinnamon rolls, it was time to pack up for our Christmas Eve Traveling Dinner. There were cookies, soda cans, cheese balls, and crackers to pack in our cooler and picnic basket to join our friends' offerings of baked ham, turkey, pita bread, fruit trays, and veggies with dip. All that yummy food combined with laughter, affection, and celebrating—what fun!.

The next thing I knew it was Christmas morning and we were trying out Katie Beth's new Belgian Waffle Maker, Jimmy was making sausages, Dara was fixing eggs, and Mike was cheerfully tasting everything. We put candles in the cinnamon rolls and sang "Happy Birthday" to our Beloved Savior! Christmas Devotions are always my favorite, especially the millions of Christmas carols. Opening presents takes our family hours as we go around and around, each person opening one at a time. Soon friends arrived to join us in a big meal around the lace covered, china laden table. New games had to be tested out, keeping us up until midnight.

Then, a wonderful surprise! Our dear friend, Steve, was called in for his new kidney! After two years of prayer and waiting while Steve endured dialysis, it was time to begin to live again. Dropping their two children off at my house for ten days, Mary hurried with her husband, Steve to the hospital to await the surgery that would prolong his life many years!

Soon it was New Year's Eve and we found ourselves at Maria and Gene's house ringing in the New Year! Laughter and silliness were interrupted by times of prayer for Steve, who was now recovering in ICU. Did I mention that there was more delicious food at the party? I ate 57 chicken wings. Did I mention that I'm still full from the holidays?

So, here I am now, a full week after all the holiday festivities have ended, wondering where the last three weeks went and why it's time for school again. Couldn't we postpone the break? Couldn't we leave the Christmas decorations up for another month?

New Years is always a time of new beginnings for me. But, this year has been different. Instead of a new beginning, I just want to curl up and sleep. Oh, and did I mention that an arctic blast has hit Florida and turning our tootsies to icicles! The other night I fell asleep wrapped in an electric blanket, with mittens, wool socks, and piles of blankets immobilizing me.

So, instead of a hard-hitting new beginning, we are being tossed head first into a brand new year, a brand new decade. After a few moments of rubbing my head (where I landed!), I am wobbling to my feet, ready to embrace what God has in store for this homeschooling family.

I definitely have to wobble to my feet because I have another high school graduation coming up, scholarship paperwork to fill out, and more college applications to mail. And in all the busyness, I want to treasure every last minute of Jenny Rose's final year of homeschooling.

How many of you readers can relate to my New Year? Is yours similar, or can you, at least, relate to my experience? It is moments like this that this truth becomes so precious.

"The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth...From the fullness of his grace, we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made Him known," (John 1:14, 16-18 NIV).

For no matter what happens in my life, one thing never changes. Grace and truth come from my precious Jesus. He has all the answers to my many problems and dilemmas. He has grace to cover my flaws, failures, and sleepiness. And most of all, His Grace and Truth change everything!  He is my all in all!

This is God's New Year! No matter how you have entered 2010, God is holding you up with His Victorious Right Hand. He will fulfill His purpose for you and your family in the coming months! Rejoice and enjoy His grace!

If you are still reeling from the holiday season or something else that you are facing in your life, then may I point you to the One who came to show us the Father, full of grace and truth? May I remind you that all we need is found in the Miracle of Christmas, Jesus! Yes, I know Christmas is over, but the miracle of a Glorious King laying aside His glory to become a helpless baby, born to die, is still worth rejoicing over! Draw close to the Baby born in Bethlehem! Enjoy His grace! Obey His Truth. He will never fail you!

Happy New Year!
Merey (Meredith Ludwig Curtis)

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips       
12 oz peanuts
2 cups butterscotch chips                    
20-25 oz. chow mein noodles

Melt the chips in a saucepan on low heat. Stir in the nuts and the noodles. Drop by teaspoonfuls on waxed paper-lined cookie sheet. Cool. Store covered in refrigerator.

8 oz. soft cream cheese                           
1 envelope onion soup mix
2 Cups Sharp shredded cheddar cheese

Mix ingredients together. Roll into a ball. Chill. Serve with crackers.

3 Cans (28 oz.) Refried Beans              
 5 lb. brick Velveeta Cheese
1 Jar (28 oz.) Salsa                                  
Tortilla chips

In a large crock pot, combine beans, cheese, and salsa. Set to high and let cook until cheese is melted, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to "keep warm." Serve with tortilla chips

Sheri Graham is a busy homeschooling mom with a houseful of children. She also runs her own business and writes books. Somewhere in all that hard work, she manages to post a blog each day. I am encouraged and challenged by Sheri and her ministry.

To do all that she does, and to do it all so well, Sheri must be a very organized lady! So, when she sent me her Intentional Planner to review, I was eager to see it. I like to learn from other homeschooling moms who do all things well.

The Intentional Planner is an E-book that you can download the minute you purchase it on Graham Family Ministries online store. You can make as make copies as you need and put together as many planners as you need for your family. Before I tell you any more about it, though, I have to give you some really good news! The Intentional Planner only costs $5.00. Yes, that's right, only $5.00 for 247 pages of wisdom from Graham Family Ministries. I could not believe that you could spend so little and get so much!

With a desire to combine her planner, calendar, journal, and home management binder into one notebook, Sheri created the Intentional Planner. It is everything you need to manage your home and home school in one neat package. There are fields on the pages available to customize your planner too.

This planner is laid out very simply.

• Front Section:  Daily Planning Pages
• Tab #1:  Monthly Calendars
• Tab #2:  To Do Lists
• Tab #3:  My Daily Journal
• Tab # 4:  Miscellaneous Lists
• Tab # 5:  Menu Planning & Cleaning Schedules
• Tab # 6:  Homeschool:  Lesson Plans
• Tab # 7:  Homeschool:  Reading Lists
• Tab # 8:  Homeschool:  Current Year
• Tab # 9:  Homeschool:  Long Term Plans
• Tab # 10:  Homeschool:  Articles/Information

There are 4 different covers to chose from: blue, green, red, and purple. The same covers are also available with only the border so that you can make up your own title for your planner. Throughout the planner, there are several opportunities to personalize your planner.

The daily planner pages are the "heartbeat" of The Intentional Planner. The Weekly Evaluation and Planning Page touches my heart every time I read it. There are spiritual examination questions. One question is "Where am I lacking in the fruits of the Spirit?" Ouch! I forget to ask myself questions like that. The page goes on to ask you to come up with practical ways to:

• Strengthen my relationship with the Lord
• Bless my husband
• Love my children
• Serve others
• Encourage others
• Simplify my life

I love the idea of starting each week with these questions and challenges. I commend Sheri for making this planner intentional by bringing prayer and self-examination into it. 

The daily planning sheets that follow have 4 sections: Daily Schedule, Appointments, To Do Items, and Notes.

Next, comes the monthly calendar pages, monthly plans pages, dates to remember pages, birthday/anniversary chart, to do lists, Bible reading schedule, memory work prayer list, personal reading list, and personal reading journal.

The goals section follows with room for family/ministry goals, health goals, handcraft goals, personal goals, and business goals. A daily journal section is a nice touch in this planner. I like to carry around little notebooks to journal in, so I liked the idea of this section.

The miscellaneous section has lots of neat, rather random pages.

• Membership websites
• User names and passwords
• Thankful Page
• Photograph pages
• Books to review
• Blog ideas
• E-book Ideas

The Menu Section has a master shopping list, shopping lists, menu pages, and weekly chore charts.

Life is so busy and there is always so much to accomplish. You have made plans and have ideas of great things to do and good things to learn. But, often our good intentions are not realized because our time management skills, or lack of them, prevent us from investing the time we need to invest to fulfill our goals.

So, where do we start? How can we learn to manage our time so that we can be productive and efficient?

Values

What do you value? What do you want to accomplish with your life?

Our values are found in the Word of God. God promises us in Matthew 6:33 that is we seek His Kingdom first, He will take good care of us (my paraphrase!). We put the Lord first by making time to read His Word, pray, worship Him, spend time with His people, and share the Good News about Jesus with the lost.

If we put growing in the Lord and honoring Him with our life first in our personal life and our home school, we will experience His favor and blessing. So, keep the Lord in mind as you make your schedules and plans.

Priorities

Priorities help us to put our values into practice. My priorities are quite simple:

1. God
2. His People (including my family, my church family, and dear friends)
3. The Lost who Need Jesus
4. Everything else

This makes my life simple because my priorities revolve around relationships and serving Jesus. So, in a practical sense, spending time building relationships is more important to me than spring cleaning, though keeping my house clean and tidy is a way I can show love to my family.

What are your priorities? Always keep your priorities in mind when you are making a schedule.

Goals

Goals determine our plans and are based on our values and priorities. 

"Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom," (Psalm 90:12).

Numbering our days simply means to realize how much time we have in a day, in a year, in a life. We number our days and we realize how brief life is. There is only so much time. We must use our time wisely.

What do you want to accomplish this school year? Think about your family as a whole and each child.

Plans

"You are a great leader and you love being in charge. I think the problem is that you always want to be in control. It  seems to be difficult for you to have others in charge."

Derek nodded his head, so I continued. 

"Here's the problem, Derek. You are contending with Jesus. He wants control of your life, but I don't think you trust Him enough to let Him be charge, call the shots." I stopped talking. There was silence. After awhile, I continued, "If you resist His authority in your life, He will keep fighting you. If you keep resisting Him and He lets you run your own life, you will make a mess of things. Either way you lose."

"I don't think I trust God enough to give Him control."

The Problem

This conversation shocked me. Derek was the perfect Christian on the outside. He even did all kinds of things that no one ever saw. He had his Quiet Time every day, worked hard at his job earning the respect of other employees, and was a faithful man.

Why did he have such a hard time trusting God? ​

I  love to see pictures of the earth from outer space.

Wow! It looks like a bright shiny blue ball. That beautiful blue earth filled with life-sustaining water is a glorious to look.

It reminds us of the Creator who lovingly formed the blue sphere we call home. 

“The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it; the world and all who live in it” (Psalm 24:1 NIV).

Everything belongs to the Lord because He made.

Everyone belongs to the Lord because He made them.

It is so simple, yet profound. It means our lives have purpose.

​We live for the Lord, to bring God glory. ​

Glorious God, Reflecting Man

Okay....I have to come clean. I love Barbies. There, I said it. I decorate with Barbies every year at Christmas. Barbies, Barbies everywhere. Here are some photos of displays over the years. 

One year we tried a Barbie singing Christmas tree...but it didn't go so well.

The Barbie worship team, on the other hand, went great and this year my friend, Maria, made me a drum set, a bass guitar, and an acoustic guitar. 

Many years I have done our entire family in Barbie and set up a display of Barbies in their kitchen and family room, eating and opening presents. I even have a Barbie blender.

"And Ebenezer Scrooge learned to keep Christmas well," we are told at the ending of  A Christmas Carol. What does it mean to keep Christmas well?

Does it mean to know all the words to at least twenty Christmas carols? Does it mean having the most lights in the neighborhood? Does it mean decorating every table top and wall space in the house with sparkly decorations? Does it mean having the tallest or fattest tree? Or is it buying expensive presents for everyone you know?

Keeping Christmas well begins in your heart. It starts with an understand of the miracle of Christmas, that magical moment when Heaven came down in the form of a newborn infant. Very God of Very God became flesh and all of Heaven gazed in wonder, though only a few were privileged to witness the event. You see, the miracle happened because of a very loving Father, a very Generous God filled with grace and mercy. He loved so much that He gave.

​When Sarah's Wish by Jim Baumgardner arrived to be reviewed, I decided to read the book and found myself immediately involved in Sarah's life and dreams.

Emotionally involved, I wanted her to find a family, to help her friends escape to freedom through the Underground Railroad, and to protect her from the evil slave catchers that made her life miserable.

I felt scared with Sarah sometimes and, other times, found myself laughing aloud at her antics.

When I finished the book, I wanted to read more about Sarah, to stay involved in her life. I felt like I had made a new friend. ​

This year  I will be making gifts instead of buying them. I will dig out my trunk of material and my serger and make some napkins.

Napkin Directions

To make Christmas napkins, buy 1 yard of Christmas cotton fabric. Cut it into 4 equal size squares and iron until wrinkle-free. Then simply serge the edges of the napking with a contrasting thread color to give you the nice finished edge you find in stores. If you don't have a serger, you can do a hankerchief hem around the edges.

You don't have to be limited by Christmas fabric. You can make everyday napkins, Thanksgiving napkins, spring napkins, St. Valentine's Day napkins, or Fourth of July napkins.

A set of 4 napkins with 4 homemade napkin rings will make a nice gift.

Jar Gifts

Or maybe I will make cookie mixes in a jar. Directions for these projects can be found online. I have other options to fill my jars with. There are soup mixes in a jar, baking mixes in a jar, and casserole mixes in a jar too. These all make lovely gifts.

Gifts of Time

With the economy in shambles and our government running up the national debt, we need some financial peace and hope this Christmas. If you are like our family, you are cutting corners where you can, making gifts instead of buying them, and doing your best to simplify Christmas. Some of you are thanking God for your family's employment and others are praying hard for a job.

Melanie is in my spinning class at the Y. We have been praying for her husband's employment for almost a year. During this year, she and her husband, Stormy have learned so much from God about His plan and purpose in their lives. Melanie and Stormy have become more patient and prayerful as the Lord has helped them to grow so much in Him in 2010.

Meredith: Melanie, you encouraged me so much last week in spinning class with your testimony of God's faithfulness to your family. Thank you for sharing the story, not only with our spinning class, but with my readers. Can you share a summary of the last couple of years to bring us up-to-date?

Melanie: I would be happy to! 2 1/2 years ago, my husband's job ended and he was offered 2 jobs to choose from. Stormy and I planned and chose the one with the most investment money behind the company and the longer projected outlook. We planned to take the job that was the most secure, or so we thought.

Stormy took a job with a hotel development company in Reynolds Plantation in Greensboro, Georgia. This new company had a 25 year lease with the state of Georgia to revitalize Jekyll Island with a new convention center, retail stores, and condominiums. Also, Reynold's Plantation has a Ritz Carlton and The Ritz decided to build a new ballroom and add an additional wing of rooms. There was plenty to keep Stormy busy for the next 5-7 years. We had our plans.

Meredith: Tell me more about these plans.

Melanie: We decided to buy a home at Reynolds to enjoy while we lived there, while still keeping our Lake Mary home because our children all live in Lake Mary. We made lists of things we would do.

Stormy and I bought a home on the water that needed lots of work. The house had fallen into disrepair, but it had good bones. We hired an interior architect and a landscape architect. We had renovation plans, dock plans, and landscaping plans.

Last year, at Thanksgiving time, we had just gotten approval from the architectural review board of the development to proceed with plans for our new house. The bank had already approved our loan for the renovation project. We had our plans, but God had other plans.

Meredith: The Lord often does have other plans while we are busy with our plans. How did you find out that God had other plans?

Melanie: The first week in December, Stormy drove to Jekyll Island for the ground-breaking ceremony. All the dignitaries were there and everything was going as planned. He drove on to Reynold's Plantation later that day and was told by a co-worker, "Be sure to look for a press release tomorrow."

Stormy assumed the press release was about the ground-breaking, but discovered the next day that the relationship between Reynolds and the state of Georgia had been severed.

Stormy called me and I said, "What does this mean? We have plans!"

We went through Christmas last year without much worry. We made more plans. We decided to sell the house...put "blush and lipstick" on the house to make it look good so it would sell.

"Is this an exercise video? Is this a math video?" I wondered aloud when Exploramania Gymathtics arrived in the mail to be reviewed.

The answer to my question is YES! It is an exercise video and it is a math video.

What a fun, colorful, exciting video to watch! Our hostess, exercise leader, and math teacher is energetic and upbeat. She reminds me of my spinning teacher at the Y. Her name is Carrie and she is the creator of Exploramania. The exercise video is a high-energy aerobic workout with a twist. The twist is that you are always doing math while you move and sweat.

"Isn't exercise fun?" perky Carrie asks throughout the 30 minute workout.

"Yes, Carrie," I have to agree. "This is fun!"

"Read this one, please," Katie Beth's chubby hands held the book up to me. I adjusted Julianna who had finished nursing and was asleep on my lap. I opened the lovely Christmas picture book and began to read aloud. Katie Beth and I smiled at each other and the baby slept peacefully.

Fast forward 20 years. My baby is a grown up lady. Katie Beth and my third baby, Jenny Rose, are cuddled up on the couch reading Anne of Green Gables aloud. They have both read the book several times, but there is something wonderful about reading a good book together aloud.

This summer I went to visit my aunt with two of my daughters. The four of us enjoyed an Agatha Christie short story together. We took turns reading aloud. My aunt wrote me a note the next week about how much she had enjoyed that sweet time reading aloud together.

What is it about reading aloud that is so wonderful? Is it the story? Is it the sound of someone you love reading aloud? Or is it the sense of togetherness? There are several Christmas picture books out there. Which are the best for reading aloud?

"Christmas is so commercial! I hate it!" Lisa grumped.

In spite of myself, I giggled.

"Lisa, Christmas doesn't have to be commercialized in your home. You can celebrate! There are lots of simple Christmas pleasures that you and your loved ones can enjoy together."

Look at Christmas Lights

Okay, so Christmas lights might be considered commercial by some, but I love to pile in the van and go look at Christmas lights. There are three houses in a row right near our church. I love to drive past very slowly at night and enjoy the twinkling display.

Go Christmas Caroling

We go caroling at least once every December. Often, we carol in our neighborhood, but one year my father was living in an assisted living facility so we went caroling there, door to door. The older residents loved it! They would beg us not to leave their door, but to keep singing.

Make Christmas Cookies

God provides financial surplus so that we can save for the future, give to the needy around you, and invest. The purpose of investing money is to grow your money or to produce an income. Where should we invest our money?

Invest in the Kingdom of God

We are told by Jesus to seek first the Kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33) and that where our treasure is reveals is where our heart is too (Matthew 6:31). So, we should not serve money as a master or seek to grow rich (I Timothy 6:10), but we can use money to serve the Lord by investing in the Kingdom of God. Supporting missionaries, tithing to our local church, giving to the poor in Jesus' Name, supporting Christian ministries, and blessing Crisis Pregnancy Centers are all ways we can invest in the Kingdom of God.

When my husband, Mike was a young man planning to go to seminary to answer the call of God on his life, an older man invested in the Kingdom of God by investing in Mike. He gave him a sales job with a generous base pay and commission. This money paid tuition at seminary, the beginning of a lifetime of ministry. Not only was this man investing in the Kingdom of God, he was investing in my husband's dreams.

Invest in Your Dreams

 We invested in my husband's dreams too. Before we had children, we both worked. But, Mike and I lived off of his income and saved mine. We put the money in savings, along with the extra money Mike earned, to use during our seminary years. We could have lived extravagantly during those early years of marriage, but instead we were very frugal so that we could invest in Mike's dream, the call on his life.

God puts dreams into our hearts. Invest in making those dreams come true. Do you have a dream to paint? Invest in painting lessons. Is it your ambition to write a book? Invest in software to help with the layout. Is your dream to fly a plane. Flying lessons are expensive, but you can put a little aside each month until you have the money to invest in your aviation dream.

Invest in Other People

"How do you like the game?" I asked my four volunteers: Maria, Aisha, Christina, and Saxon.

"Saxon is frustrated because he can't get any of his dogs out," Maria answered first.

"Well...." Christina paused. (She is twelve and the game was created for much younger children.)

"I love it!" twenty-two year old Aisha gushed. She is very young at heart.

"It's a lot like Parcheesi," Maria added, "You move around the board and if you land on someone else's spot you send them back, no wait, that's the other game. In Tornado, you just share a spot.

I glanced at the small plastic game board. It was bright, cheerful, and colorful. The little doggie pieces were cute as could be. Thirty minutes later, Saxon, who had by then gotten out onto the board, was enjoying the game immensely. Saxon is nine years old!

Hank the Cow Dog is a lovable mutt that solves all kinds of mysteries with his friend and fellow Cow Dog, Drover. The game, the children were playing was based on Hank and his life. We received a book, Hank the Cow Dog: The Case of the One-Eyed Killer Stud Horse by John Erickson, the Tornado game, CD, and audio tape to review.

My son, Jimmy and I both read the book, agreeing that Hank the Cow Dog was hilarious. The book was a little young for Jimmy, age eleven, but we thought his friend, Saxon, age nine, would enjoy it. Neither of us could help laughing aloud at Hank's escapades on the ranch where he lives with his assistant, Drover, Sally May, Loper, Little Alfred, and his nemesis, Pete, the cat.

Hank is always doing something he shouldn't do, whether it's snacking on bacon grease, licking Sally Mae's nose, or stealing the family's pumpkin pie. Hank is incredibly funny as he narrates the book, telling the whole story from his perspective. I loved to see the story unfold through his eyes. For the most part, Hank is a wholesome character, but in the beginning of the book, he does encourage his readers to lie about wetting the bed. It's all very tongue-in-cheek and silly, but still...However, though Hank gets into trouble because of the choices he makes, in his world, good is good and bad is bad. Bad deeds are punished and good deeds are rewarded. And though the stories are silly, I felt like I was visiting a ranch in Texas. I liked the book!

Christmas is a great time to learn new homemaking skills! So many life skills come into play at Christmas from budgeting to sewing, from interior decorating to baking. Why not make Christmas preparation a homemaking class this year with the goal to teach your teens how to "Do Christmas."

One of the great joys of being a mother/homemaker is preparing holiday dinners and carrying out the family traditions. A dad has a big role in Christmas festivities too. A great tradition for a family to have would be a special craft or dish or baked good that Dad makes with the children (without burning the house down!). You could teach your son the skills he needs to someday be that dad!

Make a list of the family events, traditions, and activities that you already do each year. The list might look something like this (I have added "subject/assignment categories" next to each activity):

• Christmas caroling (music/homemaking)
• Church Christmas pageant (drama/arts)
• Christmas cards/family letter (writing)
• Cookie Baking (homemaking)
• Candy Making (homemaking)
• Making Gifts/Baking (homemaking)
• Making Gifts/Crafts/Sewing (homemaking/art)
• Christmas Shopping/Gift Wrapping (homemaking)
• Planning menus for holiday meals/parties (homemaking)
• Grocery shopping for meals/parties (homemaking)
• Decorating Inside/Outside (homemaking/interior decorating)
• Cleaning for holidays and company (homemaking)
• Preparation for out-of-town Company (homemaking/life skills)
• Family Devotions (Bible)
• Hospitality (Character/homemaking)
• Making & Sticking to a Budget for the Holidays (homemaking/life skills)
• Scheduling to Fit in all Family & Church Events (homemaking/life skills)
  

"You got a package of stuff to review," my son, Jimmy, informed me. "Do you need us to open it for you.

"Would you, boys?  That would be great!" I gave my son and his best friend the nod and within minutes, they had kitchen knives in their hands and were hacking away at the boxes.

"Guess what?" Josh asked with excitement in his voice.

You tell me!" I laughed at the boys' happy faces.

"It's from that company that sent the Nativity scene," they both said together.

"Oh, let me see." Now, I was excited too and soon all my daughters were gushing over One2Believe's latest shipment, an adorable replica/toy, Noah's Ark. This s a great Christmas present idea. 
​
​