KHATS (11) Wash Your Hands!

Tis the Season...to be sick!  When all the kids go back to school and are crammed into the same room there is one thing they are sure to share...germs!  My girls don't go to school; but they do go to Sunday School.  Every year about this time they get sick.  Two things I have tried to implement to keep the germs down are...

1.  Wash everyones hands as often as is possible and practical.  Every time we return home from going out I am trying to instill that habit into the girls to head straight to the bathroom and everyone wash hands.

2.  Put echinasea in their yogurt.  We eat more yogurt this time of year.  I read somewhere that we often harbor illness in our colons.  If you have a clean colon chances are you will be healthier. Yogurt helps keep you regular.  I have some echinacea capsules (immune system boosters!!!) and I open them up and pour the contents into their yogurt.  They are none the wiser, but hopefully they won't get sick as much.

3.  A lot of people are into hand sanitizers; but I have read and heard so many negative things about them that I just stick to good old soap and water.    Washing your hands often is probably the best way to keep sickness out of your home.

Until Next Time,

KHATS (10) - Make Life Fun!

We went to a carnival in our town and Aaliyah got her face painted.
It was so funny to watch her hold her face perfectly still until she
forgot that it was painted.

In our family my mom was known for making life fun!  Two fun things I remember to this day are ...

1. She always brought home the newest candy on the store shelves. If there was something new and unusual looking; or bright, colorful and sweet she would buy it and bring it home for us to eat.  We always looked forward to her coming home on Fridays because we knew she would be bearing gifts!

2. She made every holiday special.  My favorite holiday as a child was not Christmas; but the Fourth of July.  Mainly because I knew we would be cooking on the grill (I LOVE BBQ!!!), popping fireworks, and going downtown to see the city's fireworks display.  Mom would give us each an allowance and we could go to the fireworks stand and pick out whatever fireworks we wanted. All the cousins would come over and we would go to the country and pop away. At the end of the evening we would all vote on who picked the best.  That was FUN!

I try to make the holidays extra special as well; but I also try and make everyday activities a little more fun/beautiful. I have a couple of ideas I would like to share with you.

1.  Add flowers (edible ones! ie. roses, dandilions, and nastriums), bubbles, and/or fragrance to their bath water.  Just yesterday I added rose petals to the girls bath water.  They loved it!  (I always freeze the flowers my husband gets for me on special occasions and add them to my bath water when I get the urge. Yesterday I decided to treat the girls.)

2.  I bought some bright and colorful plates from Target or somewhere and at lunch I let Aaliyah pick which plate she wants to use.  (Nine times out of ten she picks the purple one!) Simple idea; but she thinks it is great that she gets to eat from her purple plate...and sometimes she will eat something she doesn't really like simply because it is on her purple plate!

Make Life Fun!!!

Until Next Time,

KHATS 9 / One Joy filled Mama!

Every Thursday night at our church the children quote Bible Verses.  I had previously decided I would start teaching Aaliyah Bible Verses at home when I started her "preschool" just after she turned three (we begin next week).  Sometimes the verses we learn on Thursday are rather lengthy and I didn't expect her to be able to remember them; but last week she surprised us all.  When Pastor asked if anyone wanted to quote the verse she raised her hand.  As usual Dad acknowledged her...we all expected to hear gibborish; but she said in a loud and proud voice, "Third John 1:4. (pause) Third John 1:4.  I have no greater joy (pause)  than to hear (pause) that my children (pause) walk in truth."

She got it and she earned a piece of candy!  I was so proud!  Maybe I am underestimating her abilities again.  I'll have to remember that in the future.  Lesson learned - Your little ones are listening to EVERYTHING that goes on around them and are learning.  Be sure to put Truth in their paths.

Until next time,

KHATS 8 - Guard Your Relationships!

Recently we returned from a trip to visit our family in California and Oklahoma.  While in California we were privileged to visit a friend of mine from college and her family.  We had a blast!; but one picture I took startled me for just a second....

 My heart leaped out of my chest when I saw Aaliyah "holding hands" with a boy!  He was guiding Aaliyah and his sister Selah back to us; but it still took me by surprise...I think mainly because I realized in that instant that it is only a matter of time before both my girls will be grown and establishing families of their own.  For Aaliyah it could be as soon as 16 years.  That may sound like a long time to you; but it doesn't to me. 

Here is my little bit of advice for you today....Guard your relationships.  Who you bring around your children will have a part in who they (your children) become.  Some people you have to be around, others you chose.  Choose wisely!


1 Corinthians 15:33
Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.

Until Next time,

Please Pray for Newport...

Deaf man named Kenneth that has been attending our servies.

We just returned home from a wonderful vacation to some good news and some bad.  The good news...our people were faithful even though we were not there!  It is good to know that there are people in  Lighthouse Baptist Church that are in it for Jesus and not for us. Even the deaf man that has been attending our services for the past two months came and sat in the services with no interpreter.   Our fish are still alive...and mysteriously we have four new {baby} fish; and our garden survived {for the most part...we lost our pumpkin plants to vine beetles}.  The bad news....four young people died here in Newport.  Three of them were babies.  One baby died of SIDS, two died in hot vehicles (one accidentally...I'll explain later and one accidentally on purpose - the parents left the child in the car to punish himwhile they went shopping in Wal-mart.).  The accidental death happened when a man went to work, locked up his vehicle and came home at the end of his eight hour work day at the hospital only to find out that his eighteen month old was in the back seat of his car asleep in the carseat.   The other person that died was a friend of one of our members and an aunt to another.  The young lady (age 27) was Saved and Baptised {at a different church} on Sunday and never woke up on Monday.  That is the Grace of God!  She had seven children (one of whom was lying on her breast when she died of an apparent heart attack in her sleep).  More bad news...a preacher in a neighboring town got up in his pulpit on Sunday, said, "I quit!" and left.  One of the families that recently joined our church came from his church.  How sad.   Please pray that the Lord will use all of these events to bring people to Him.

Birthdays!/KHATS 7

I feel like I am behind a time curve.  A couple of weeks ago I had jury duty, then  {among other things}I had a major project to complete for the church.  Now I am preparing for a major trip to California in celebration of my in-laws 40th wedding anniversary.  The trip is still a ways away; but it never hurts to be over-prepared!  So...all that being said...what has been going on with us? Aaliyah and Cassidy had a birthday party to celebrate Aaliyah turning 3 and Cassidy turning 1.  I can't believe how the time has flown.  It was a lot of work preparing for the party; but it was also a lot of fun.  Part of the work was staying within my budget.  My goal was to spend no more than $25.00.  I felt guilty about spending $50 until I remembered that I was planning a party for two people!  25+25=50!  (That salved my conscience anyway.)  Click on the link to view pics from the party.

Birthday party pictures


KHAT Challenge:

Don't spend money and a lot of effort on things your kids won't remember anyway.  We could have gone to Chuckie Cheeses, or I could have rented a bounce house; but I chose not to.  One thing I had to remind myself of over and over again is that the party wasn't about me...it was about making the day special for our girls.  The goal was not to impress all in attendance with my creative juices and mothering skills; (but again) it was about making it special for our girls.
Until next time,

KHATS (6)

Just say no!....to bad advice. Say yes!... to good advice...in fact ask lots of question from those who you see are doing things right. I recently gave a discipline/training demonstration to a single mother in our church. I praise the Lord that she was open to a little advice and I look forward to seeing the fruit of that in her life and the lives of her children. Two things I shared with her are:

• Remember the Bible says to "train up" a child, not discipline up, reason with then to bring them up, or build their self-esteem up. Training is different from each of these other things. While I am a fan of disciplined children and children who have a healthy opinion of themselves, training is so important. Show them what you expect of them...then expect it. Don't settle for less than their best behavior.

• Exercise self-control. It is very important that you be in control (of yourself) at all times. Don't yell at your children. It goes without saying that you should never curse at your children.  Never discipline them when you are angry (post-pone until you are in control of yourself). It helps when you have spent time with the Lord, after all self control is a fruit of the Spirit.

Galatians 5:22-26
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another."
Proverbs 22:6
"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."

Psalm 1
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.  But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.  And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.  The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.  Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.  For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.


Until next time,