Prayer warriors wanted

 When I think or myself, "prayer warrior" is not one of the descriptions that comes to mind.  However, I try to bring things, whether for me or for someone else before the Lord.  Yet, I desire for a more structured prayer life.  I want more than just shooting up a prayer when someone asks me to pray for them. I desire to see the faithfulness of the Lord as He responds or answers my requests.  Oh, I have prayed and talked with the Lord, and have seen Him answer in miraculous ways, but wouldn't it be awesome to have prayers topics written out and the answer recorded as a testimony to the faithfulness of our Lord and Savior.  He does hear us and He answers our call. (Psalm 34:17)

Years ago, I went to a women's meeting with my sister-n-law and we heard a wonderful spirit-filled woman of God share with us how to create a prayer journal.  We made a small three ring binder that had the following sections:

1. Meditation on the Scriptures (what has God shown you through your meditation of the scripture)
2. Praise and Thanksgiving
3. Intercession (Divided into the following subsections)
    a. Marriage
    b. Family
    c. Friends/Neighbors
    d. Missionaries/Church
    e. Our Country
4. Personal Petitions
5. Repentance and Forgiveness Prayers

I've taken it out and used it at various times throughout the years, but today I am updating it so that I can use it to keep me focused in my communication with Him.  It is just a tool, and there is no magic about it, but when you journal you capture those moments, feelings or prayers.  When I have looked back in my journals and read the scriptures, thoughts, lessons and prayers, that I wrote down, I have seen the progression of what the Lord was doing in my life and even sometimes in the others whom I have prayed for.  It has been a great reminder of the Lord's faithfulness!

All of this will prepare me for the new challenge that I am embarking on this week.  I have committed to join with Brooke McGlothlin of  Warrior Prayers and many other Mothers around the globe as we pray for our sons in specific ways over the next 21 days beginning on June 8th.  I will be leading my readers over the next 21 days in this challenge and I will be adding a special focus for our "special" boys who struggle with various disabilities and learning challenges. 

I want to encourage you to join in this prayer challenge no matter what the age of your son is.  Even adult sons need the fervent prayers of their mothers.  Let us flood the gates of Gods Throne Room with our praises to Him and our prayers for our sons and then wait for His response! To God be all the Glory!

Mommy, Mommy, I see rainbows!

My little 5 year old has be finding "rainbows" everywhere, basically in glass or water.  Yesterday, while we were in the car he starts yelling "Mommy Mommy I see rainbows".  I say to him "where?"  I was sceptical since it is in the 80 degrees outside and there hasn't been any rain in many days.

As I listened to him, I began thinking about rainbows.  When I see a rainbow or think about rainbows I always remember they are a sign from God that He keeps His promises.  I decided to look up the references to rainbow in the Bible.

A sign of God's covenant
¹² And God said: “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: ¹³ I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. ¹⁴ It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; ¹⁵ and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. ¹⁶ The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” ¹⁷ And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

What an awesome picture, the almighty, omnipotent, living God has made a covenant with all of us, and He has kept His promise to us. 

Some days can be tougher than others as we raise our children in this world.  We all experience difficulties, hardships, pain, suffering that leads us to exhaustion or questioning God.  However, we can stand firm and turn to Him and remember that He is always there for us.  So next time you see a rainbow, whether your life is sunny or rainy, you can say to your Abba Father "Daddy, Daddy I see rainbows" and remember that He keeps His promises to YOU!

A childs prayer

My son had a party in his pre-school class to celebrate the Resurrection.  As they prayed for the wonderful food put before them, the teacher led them in a sweet prayer.  (She is truly the best teacher my kids have ever had, because she truly exudes the love of Christ to the children) As they were praying, my little 5 year old prayed loud and boldly repeating the words of his teacher. 

What a "delight" this was to my heart to hear this child of mine speaking boldly in prayer.  For this is the child who barely spoke for the first 3 years of his life, it was unclear if he understood what was going on around him, and when he did speak, it wasn't easy to understand what he was trying to say.  So you can see why this was so special to me.

The icing on the cake was when the little boy sitting across from him said out loud to the teacher as he glanced at me " Teacher, he said Amen twice". 

I looked at him and said "Yes, he did".

My son was grinning from ear to ear and very proud that he was praying to "Jesus".

Children are never to young to truly understand who Jesus is and to come before Him in prayer and worship. 

But Jesus said,

“Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”

Matthew 19:14

 

Happy Helper

"David my sweet helper today!"

 He absolutely loves to help out around the house.  It was truly amazing to see him, at 5 years old, loosen and tighten the bolts on the bed we were moving around today.  Later, he put on his apron and helped his Daddy make chili for dinner tomorrow night, while I made our dinner for tonight.

It delights my heart to see him desire to help us and want to be involved with us in all we do. I hope that we will be able to see him maintain this desire as he grows older each year.  It is so important that our children learn to work, doing it with a good attitude and not expect to be served.

I remember the words of Jesus when he said in Mark 10:42-45:

"But Jesus called them to himself and said to them, You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.  Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant.

And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all.

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve,

 and to give His life a ransom for many." 

Recipe: GFCFSF "Chicken on a stick"

This recipe was adapted for our GFCFSF diet from the June/July issue of Light and Tasty Magazine.

We love this recipe and serve it along side Alton Browns "Brown Rice" Recipe.  I hope you enjoy this as much as our family does.

2 T. olive oil
2 T. lemon juice
2 T. Coconut Secret Raw Coconut Aminos
4 garlic cloves
2 tsp. honey (I add a little extra)
1/2 tsp ginger (optional)
3/4 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into thin strips

In a bowl, combine the oil, lemon juice, coconut aminos, garlic, honey and ginger; mix well*.  Pour 1/4 cup marinade in a bowl and reserve for basting.  Pour the remainder of the marinade over the bowl of thinly sliced boneless chicken breasts. Refrigerate for 3-4 hours. 

Grill on a BBQ or you can broil them in the oven.  Drain and discard marinade from chicken.  On a metal skewer or soaked wooden skewers, thread chicken.  Grill uncovered over medium hot heat for 3-4 minutes on each side or until the chicken juices run clear, basting frequently with the reserved marinade and turning once.

* I make a double batch of the marinade.

This is yummy served with brown rice and salad or fruit.
This is what we are having for dinner tonight! YUM!

Fun with phonics

This is actually a "delight" from my day yesterday that I wanted to share, because it might give some other homeschooling Mom encouragement to try something that is "out of the box". 

Yesterday, my 5 year old son came out with paper and his big box of foam letters he got from his Aunt Sandy a while ago.  Excitedly, I said to him "Are you going to make words with your stickers?" 

He stopped and looked at me and then smiled and said "O.K.". 

I replied "That sounds like so much fun!"

I proceeded to ask him what word he wanted to make, and he told me BAT.  So I sounded out each letter and he found it and put them in order on his page.  He was so excited, and I was surprised to see him come up with words I didn't know he even knew how to spell.  The last word that he came up with was BUN.  I asked him what a bun was.  He said "You know.. that you have with hot dogs".  I had to laugh, because he doesn't eat hot dog buns, because he can't have gluten, dairy or soy.  (I know I could buy him some or make them, but I don't because he is happy eating his hot dogs plain)

Learning can be fun and doesn't have to come from a book, especially at this precious age.  I have been so blessed lately to see how the Lord has given me ideas on the spur of the moment for a learning  experience.  I am a rule follower, and a "by the book" type of person, and I want to "make sure my child is learning what he is supposed to".   However, what I have noticed is that as I step back from "what I think school should be", and sometimes just work with my child on the spur of the moment with something he is interested in, it is more enjoyable for both of us and certainly less stressful.  I am making more of a point to "enjoy" teaching my kids, and I am!  Who says that putting foam stickers on a page is not as good as filling out a worksheet in a professional approved workbook, I think it just might be better. 

I do love crafts, and this son loves them too!  I can't wait to teach him more, who knows what we will be doing next! HAPPY HOMESCHOOLING!

Balance

In the daily grind and the busyness of life, we can tend to miss the joy and fun in each day and even miss actually "being" with our kids.  It struck me today, that I focus so much on school with my 12 year old, health issues, behavior issues and my desire to "train him up" well, that I am really missing out on getting to know him.

Today I had the opportunity to take my son on a field trip, just the two of us.  I enjoyed time to talk to him without any interruptions.  It was fun to see his extreme joy when he saw the "Google" logo on the building as we were approaching.  Then I heard him say, "Oh, I have always wanted to see this place".  He had a blast and he participated well.

It changed my perspective and caused me to reconsider what is truly important.  There needs to be "balance" in our lives or we can miss out on so many of the special moments with those who are closest to us, especially if we are so busy or focused on the detail  that we miss what is in front of us. 

After today, I am determined to stop more often and enjoy this sweet boy who is in my life and spend some time one on one doing things that are fun and just getting to know each other more. This could be just what he and I need so that our learning becomes more enjoyable.  After all, he is my miracle from God and an answer to a deep longing that I had over 14 years ago to be a Mom.

Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and feed on His faithfulness. 

Delight yourself also in the Lord and He WILL give you the desires of your heart. 

Commit your way to the Lord.

Trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. 

He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light and your justice as the noonday. 

Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him. 

Psalm 37:3-7a

Oh Mr. Sun...

I heard something utterly delightful this afternoon that truly blessed me!  While I was clearing the table of all the school books,computers, markers and clutter leftover from the school day, to get ready for my child to start setting the table, I hear the most beautiful music.  It was my sweet little 5 year old singing "Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun please shine down on me" as he sweetly sauntered around the house.  Oh, how that warmed my heart!

To some, this may not be a big deal, but if you knew where this boy was a year and four months ago (not talking, not able to communicate, had severe meltdowns, seizure episodes, just to name a few) you would be amazed and understand my delight at hearing him sing freely as he played.

When he saw how delighted I was, he kept singing it and laughing and we had a good old time singing about Mr. Sun.  It was so fun to be enjoying our silly time together and making memories.  Oh, how different that life can look when we stop and find joy in something, right where we are in our life. 

Schedules

During the last week and a half, we have tried a new schedule and strategy with our 6th grader, in an effort to train him to be more responsible with his school day,  and work to become more organized and able to work independently.  Out of all the schedules we have done for him over the years, this is by far the best one.  It has worked out so well!  

Several things that I discovered this time is that the size of the font and color are very important to my son.  He is a visual learner, so I should have figured this out sooner.  He says that the color is just more fun, but I believe that the words stand out more and make it easier for him to distinguish on the page.  We coordinated the color of each subject title on his daily schedule with his weekly assignment sheet that details each subject and all the items that need to be completed in that subject on each given day.

When creating the schedule, we evaluated the following:

• pre-scheduled events for the day 
• topics that my son can work on independently
• times when I need to teach a topic or assist older son with his work
• times when I need to be available to work with my younger son.

Taking all this into account, we came up with his schedule and it is wonderful.  It helped this week when I was sick and my husband had to step in to help out.  My son was able to accomplish all the tasks that he needed to do so we do not have anything we need to catch up on.  That in itself is a true "delight" for me!

I have attended many seminars and read many more articles on the topic of "scheduling the school day", but until this point nothing had worked as smoothly.  I'm glad we finally found something that is working for now.

Scribbles to Showpiece

What to do with a child who is angrily scribbling on all the paper at his table?  That appeared to be my dilemma with my 5 year old.  I told myself, "don't get angry and tell him not to do that".  Then I remembered something I did as a child and set forth to enlighten him about how he can scribble. This is how it went:

I told him to get a piece of paper and then I used "hand over hand" and helped him to scribble slowly all over on his paper. He was intent to find out what to do next.  Then I instructed him to watch as I colored in one of the spaces.  He was delighted to see the result.  I finished by telling him, "now you need to color in each of the other spaces and you will see a beautiful picture".  He was determined to work on the project, and best of all he stopped scribbling angrily on all the paper at the table.

The end result was this beautiful masterpiece! 

My son's masterpiece embellished with patriotic stickers. I think it looks like a hen.

CInnamon Rolls-YUM!

At the request of my boys, I made cinnamon rolls this morning.  They are gluten free, casein free and soy free (GFCFSF), but they are yummy!  This was a sweet "delight" today.

I'm not sure where I got this recipe, so I can not properly site it, but whoever it is ought to be given an award for making such yummy cinnamon rolls possible on the GFCFSF diet.  They are so easy to make, and you make them the night ahead and can pop them in the oven in the morning and you will have breakfast in 30 minutes and your family will be so blessed!

Cinnamon Rolls
Serves-4-5 (original says 8-9)

Ingredients
4 Tbsp. softened Earth Balance (soy free) spread (divided)
1/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup of milk (room temperature)
1 packet of yeast (about 1 Tbsp)
1 egg
1/4 cup grapeseed oil (can use canola)
1/2 cup potato starch
1 cup corn starch
1/4 tsp. baking soda
2 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-2 Tbsp sugar for sprinkling on plastic wrap

Filling
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 tsp. of cinnamon (I use cinnamon plus from Pampered Chef) (probably use a lot more than this I just sprinkl it on).

Glaze
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract (by Frontier-alcohol free)
dairy free milk to thicken (Imagine vanilla rice milk is what I use, but coconut  or almond are also great choices)

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees

In a bowl combine the dry mix together and set aside.  In a medium bowl, combine 2 Tbsp. shortening and sugar.  Mix well.  Measure warm milk and add yeast to milk.  Whisk well to fully dissolve.

Add milk/yeast mixture to sugar mixture to combine.  Add egg, oil, vanilla and continue to mix.  Add the dry ingredients and mix very well being sure to remove all lumps.  Dough will be very soft. (using a stand up mixer make life easier)

Take a piece of plastic wrap and lay it on a pastry mat or cutting board.  Sprinkle sugar on the wrap.  Lay ball of dough on top of the plastic wrap sprinkled with sugar.  Put another sheet of plastic wrap on top of the dough.  Pat down the dough and the roll it out with a rolling pin to about 1/4 inches or so (not to thin).  I don't really worry about the size, but it is usually about 13 inches by 12 inches. 

Remove top wrap and spread on 2 Tbsp of Earth Balance (Soy Free spread), sprinkle on some cinnamon and the sugar and then I sprinkle on more cinnamon.  This should be spread evenly.  Leave the bottom piece of wrap on, to lift the edges of the dough and start rolling to form a long cylinder. I roll it up covered with the wrap and press down the seam  on the rolls gently to seal.  Unwrap and cut into 9 slices.  Place rolls in a greased round glass pie pan.  (I use oil on the bottom spread with a paper towel instead of sprays, because they all contain soy. 

Bake for 20 minutes or until the tops are lightly browned.  (sometime I let them get a more medium colored brown, because the rolls in the middle seem to not be done all the way.  It probably depends on your oven.

Combine the powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk to make the glaze.  The amount of milk you use will depend on how think you want your glaze to be.  I do it so I can drizzle it over the top.  I usually do this when there is 5 minutes left. Drizzle glaze over your rolls. If you do while they are really hot, it melts into the cinnamon roll, and if you wait until they have cooled a bit it will sit on top more like frosting.  Either way, the rolls are YUMMMY! Enjoy!

Whatever...

Raising two special kids can be a challenge, especially when one is “pre-teen” and the other is "pre-K”.  Some days I’m so exhausted; I don’t want to repeat myself one more time, I feel like a piece of taffy being pulled this way and that,   I notice my ASD child’s behavior is showing signs that he has had a food “infraction” and I don't feel I have the energy to deal with the situation, my FAS child has misplaced his multiplication chart and continues to walk around complaining, “I don’t want to do school”, etc…  I could continue on and on, and there are other Moms of special needs kiddo’s that may have experienced some of the same frustrations and feelings of giving up.  When other things in your life are tough too, it is recipe for disaster!

  This season I’m in has been very difficult and this week all hope seemed lost.  I was ready to give up homeschooling, but knew in my heart that it wasn’t the answer.  “But it is so hard and he is fighting me at every turn” I whine.  “I just yell all day and I’m miserable and so unhappy”.  I could go on and on, but how will that help the situation?  It won’t!  I am blessed to have friends, family and seasoned homeschool parents that were there for prayer and to help me to refocus on that which has “eternal” value.

Thoughts and scriptures circled about in my head, and I committed to several people, including my husband, that I was not going to yell anymore.  If my son began to whine and carry on and my blood pressure starts to escalate, I would just walk away and regroup.  One of the words I kept hearing in my head was “whatever” followed by “things are true, whatever things are lovely”  and a light bulb went off in my head (not like I hadn’t been told this before). I am focusing on the negative and being dragged down by the circumstances in my life.  Then I looked up the scripture and read “whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, and whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy — meditate on these things.”(Phil.4:8)

            So the last two days I have worked to think on the praiseworthy things in my sons, and there are so many things that are praiseworthy, first of all because they were created by God for His purpose and that in itself is enough. However, through the day, I find myself thinking “whatever” when I start getting frustrated.  The last two days have been so much better, and my circumstances have not changed, and my children are the same, but what has changed is what I am setting my mind on.  The Lord created these boys and my sons are creative, funny, sweet, loving, they love to sing, and read the Word together, they are smart and see things that I often overlook, they love people and I could go on and on.  I’m thanking the Lord for them more and realizing what great kids they are and what a privilege it is to be their Mom. So if you are feeling like there is no hope and you want to give up, just remember to tell yourself “whatever” and think on those things.