Where your treasure is...

What a shocker, a blog post coming from the Youngblood Crew!  I have been absent from my blogging for practically the whole month of January, and if I'm completely honest with you I have been absent from too many things from the whole month of January.  I have yet to settle back into a normal routine since Christmas, and I am quite embarassed to admit this, yet I have been so convicted of this the past two weeks.  I am thankful for a church where I am challenged to grow where I am weak and where I am encouraged to reflect on the sermons and how to apply them to my life.  Currently, or pastor has been preaching through Matthew and we have been  in Matthew 6:19-24.  I have been so convicted by these verses:

"19 Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal; 21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

I've come to realize that not all earthly treasures are things such as possessions and money--those things that usually come to mind when I have read these verses in the past.  Something our pastor mentioned gave me a much different perspective on treasures.  He said, "If anything in this world is everything to you, it is an earthly treasure."  I began thinking what is "everything to me" and "where are my thoughts" and "where is my energy focused" and I can definitely see a pattern.  Again, this week, our pastor said, "Whatever you spend the most time thinking about is where your heart is." 

So where has my mind been all of January?  It has not been on planning appropriate lessons plans for homeschool, though I feel convicted about this not being completed every single day.

(Sean painting...they haven't been doing NOTHING, but they have been doing unprepared lessons that I come up with each day...I dont' like flying by the seat of my pants, though!)
It has not been on making sure our house is orderly and meals are planned, though I am good at coming up with dinner ideas just an hour or two before I need to prepare dinner. 

It is not on the random lists of little things I need to do:  patching holes in Sean's ripped pants, sewing buttons back on a few of Jon's shirts, ironing a huge pile of wrinkled shirts (Jon has so many that he can go without those that wrinkle easily, so his closet "stash" of shirts is dwindling.) 

It is somewhat not on my children.  I say somewhat because I suppose I am constantly thinking about my children since I am with them all day, but I am not TRUELY focused on their needs.  I find I am trying to find ways to keep them occupied so I can do the general chores of laundry, dishes, etc, practicing piano, but I'm not FULLY engaged with them and sitting down to have fun with them.  I find myself being impatient that they don't have fun with each other.  I suppose that will come in time, but right now a 5, 3 and 19 mo. old dont' know HOW to have fun by themselves. 

So, what has my mind been on?  I hate to admit in writing that it is on wanting more children.  I have become overtaken with baby fever and the desire for another.  I suppose the miscarriage I had in December had a more profound affect on me than I knew it would.  I thought it was so early that I could move past it easily and on with a normal routine and just "try again."  But I have (sinfully) been reading too much on the topic, obsessively charting temperatures throughout my cycle (those of you who have ever done so will know what I'm referring to) and being sulking over not getting pregnant again the very next month.  I'm not sure why I was thinking something would happen the very next month, except that I knew it was very early and my doctor said we could try again right away since it was a very early loss.  But, as I realized I wasn't pregnant again this month, wow, did I ever go into a fit of rage.  And I really mean that.  Those of you who don't really know me don't know how much I struggle with anger.  And it hit me big time last week.  Why am I writing this down?  Because I believe other women struggle with this too, and maybe don't know how to talk about it. 

However, I have been convicted flat on my face about "where your treasure is there your heart will be also."  You see, treasuring children or future children is still having my heart in the wrong place.  My heart needs to fully be with God and my thoughts need to be on Him.  Yes, I feel I am called to be a mother, however, my duties as a mom are to train my children to love and serve God.  It is not the selfish desire to cuddle and snuggle with a newborn baby or all the other numerous joys that come with being a mother.  It is everything that is encompassed by being a mom...even the lowest of tasks:  changing poopy diapers, cleaning up the potty training messes that don't make it in either the diaper or the potty, wiping up spills from a careless 5 year old,

  calmly dealing with a whining 3 year old (boy do I need help on this one), managing conflicts between our children and teaching them how to resolve conflict appropriately, teaching them scripture and talking about God so they know He is the most important thing to me. 

And that's just it--He hasn't been the most important thing in my thoughts and in my heart recently.  So, I am thankful for the reminder that I need to get my mind out of the gutter of wistful thinking and joyfully serve the Lord with what I have been entrusted with now.  The treasures He has given us now is a test of how we will use treasures He entrusts us with in the future, and I've been doing poorly with my treasures of children right now.  So, I am focusing on the "practical guidelines" our pastor gave us yesterday:
1- Give yourself 1st and foremost to the Lord
2- Give to others (especially my children who have been getting short-changed lately on the quality of my teaching/traning)
3- Learn to be content with whatever you have (even if that means we will only have 3 children and God decides not to bless us with more!)
4-Simplify your lifestyle (though this was spoken of more in relation to physical possessions, and I'm not sure how to apply it to my situation right now but thinking it over)
5-Set your mind above and not on things on earth. 

Here is a link to the past two weeks' sermons.  I highly recommend them as they have been very challenging to me!

Kingdom Perspectives on Wealth Part 1

Kingdom Perspectives on Wealth Part 2

Snow Dough

My kids have been wondering when we're going to get snow since it's gotten really cold outside.  Though I'm thankful we don't live in an area that typically gets "real" snow, I remember that magical feeling as a child whenever we did get to see some white stuff.  So, I decided to do a little unit on snow this week.  We learned about how snowflakes form and that each one is different--just like God made each of us different and unique.   We cut snowflakes out of coffee filters (um, forgot to take some pics of those) and Brilee had tons of fun playing with the leftover bits of coffee filter that was left behind by all the cutting.

Even after all this snow fun, the kids were still asking for real snow.  So, I remembered an idea I read on a couple of the many blogs I read.  I got this particular recipe from Teachmama.com  She called this "cloud dough" but also related it to fake snow, so I called it "snow dough" for my kids.  We had to go buy some baby oil since I've never had any in the house!  All you do if find a large tub and put 8 cups of flour to 1 cup of baby oil inside and squish it together.

The kids loved the texture and consistency of this stuff and played in it for a good hour this morning (they would have gone longer, but the excitement was causing some of the "snow" to get outside of the tub).  After about 5 minutes, I had to take Brilee elsewhere to be entertained because even sitting right down beside her, she would pull her hand out really quickly and the stuff would go flying everywhere.   Even though I had down the plastic mat I get out when the kids play with play-doh (can you tell I don't like cleaning up messes?) it was just getting to be too much with her.  She was content to go upstairs and play with their new kitchen set while I cleaned a little upstairs.  Sean & Lilly did surprisingly well on their own  (and I checked on them every 5 min or so!)

I would highly recommend this activity for any young kids who love different textures and are bored of regular play-doh.  I think this bin will come out every couple of days this winter!  It also gave the kitchen a nice, pleasant scent from the baby oil.