Use My Ransomed Life

"O Father, use my ransomed life

In any way You choose"

This line from "All I Have Is Christ" by Sovereign Grace music has been stuck in my head for weeks now. I wrote a couple of years about The Scariest Prayer Every Christian Should Pray and have been reminded so much since then how this phrase goes right along with that idea. This prayer is just as scary, because it means that you are inviting to God to do what He wants with your life. Are you ready for that ride?

I've been thinking so much about this for many reasons.

1. We are expecting our 7th child in under 7.5 years. I cannot tell you the number of people who have told me I'm crazy or I'm a saint. To each I think, "No, it's just the life God has given me." If I'm crazy, then God must be insane for giving me all of these kids. And there is no way I'm a saint because God is using all of these kids to continuing sanctifying me. I have always desired a big family, but never thought it would happen like this. God is using my life surrendered to Him to build this family and bring people into this world, I pray, for His Kingdom and Glory!

2. The last few years have been far harder than I ever imagined! Between family, school, work, dealing with sin and learning to be more like Jesus, it has been such a challenge. But God, in His great grace and mercy, has seen me through and shown me that my life is in His hands and He will do what He wills with my life because His plans, His purposes, His ways are so much higher and greater than ours. His chief aim is His glory and our good.

3. Right now we're in a weird limbo. Jim has a year left of school and our future is still unclear. Our hope and prayer is to go international and we believe that is where we are going, but right now that path is hidden. It is causing me to pray this, seek His will, but ultimately say, "Use my ransomed life in anyway You choose, because I know whatever You choose will be best." 

Is it easy to fully surrender? No! But God has used this time in Louisville to teach me to surrender to Him at all cost, even when it doesn't make sense. I still fight, question and wrestle, but each time I learn more that His way is best and surrendering my life fully to His will is what is always best.

How is God asking you to use your ransomed life?

Five True Dog Stories

This book was part of our Sonlight Core A curriculum this year. These are fascinating stories about dogs doing interesting things. They are short stories, clearly written for kids. I think my kids liked the stories fairly well and hearing what dogs are capable of doing. While definitely interesting and easy to read, because I'm not huge on animal stories, I can't say it was my favorite. There is nothing wrong with this book, though if you have kids who are sensitive to things happening to animals or people, this may not be a good read for them.

3.5 stars for this book.

Product Spotlight #7

It's July and this month is Mop Month with Norwex! So today I thought I would share about why our family loves the Superior Mop System (p.13) from Norwex. This is Jim's second favorite product and on the Top 10 list from Norwex.

The mop system come with a Telescopic Handle, Large Mop Base, Large Wet Mop, and Large Superior Dry Mop. This system is wonderful for all types of hard floors and can also be used for cleaning high ceilings and windows. The handle can also be put on the Envirowand (p.18) to dust higher areas easily.

The Superior Mop System is wonderful because there is no need for chemicals. You can clean your floor with nothing by water. This keeps sticky residue from building up on the floor and also keeps from needing to avoid walking on a floor for a length of time for it to fully dry. One of the things I have always hated about mopping the floor is having my feet stick to it after mopping it for sometimes 2 days after. No more of this! The Wet Mop Pad also contains BacLock helping to prevent the growth of bacteria and mold.

The Dry Superior Mop Pad is ideal for picking up small particles missed by brooms and vacuum cleaners with it's static charge. The microfiber is perfectly designed for this. I recommend getting the Rubber Brush (p. 16) to help with cleaning the Dry Superior Mop Pad between laundering.

We use it in our kitchen primarily since we mostly have carpet. But for houses that are full of hard wood or tile, this is a very worthwhile investment.

During July, when you host a party you have the opportunity to earn this amazing system for FREE! Talk to me about his amazing opportunity!

Have you used the Superior Mop System? How do you use it?

Please Contact me with any questions
Emmie Manor Independent Norwex Consultant
Emmie.reducingchemicals@gmail.com
www.emmiemanor.norwex.biz
Catalog (p. 13)

June Blessings

It's hard to believe we are half way through 2016 already! It's always good to look back, half way through the year, at what God has done for us. June has been a good and full month as we came back from vacation and got to work on school and preparing for baby number 7. Here are some of the blessing God has given us this month!

1. Getting appts set up
2. Getting June Norwex stuff up
3. Good sales
4. Kids working hard
5. Looking at the next 10 weeks
6. Surviving heat
7. God fixing the A/C
8. God working in chaos
9. Growing in prayer
10. Good conversation with Jamey about the Gospel
11. Lisa coming to help
12. God teaching me to reach out
13. Good news about Sojourn
14. Making through the day with a lot of pain
15. Writing group
16. Journaling beyond Bible reading
17. Hearing God's voice
18. Time to read
19. Relaxing afternoon
20. Wrestling with God
21. Starting to study Judges at church
22. Half-priced Fraps
23. Nap
24. Lots of time to read
25. New vegan dish that is yummy
26. Talking with Becca and Jim
27. Spending the day with the Vander Weerts
28. Kids getting in the pool by themselves
29. Jim working extra
30. Going to the park
31. Meeting a new Sojourner
32. Praying for Brienne
33. Working on notes
34. Seeing Laura B
35. Hearing the Huckaby's Stories
36. Time to go to the pool
37. Talking with Melanie
38. Morning out
39. Productive afternoon
40. Date night in
41. Free Starbucks and a movie
42. Middle boys sitting together and talking
43. Writing
44. Celebrating Shannon's birthday
45. Talking with Jim
46. God's mercy
47. Getting through the heat
48. Good Saturday at home
49. Getting a lot of school work completed
50. Minimal TV week
51. Errands
52. Celebrating 12 Years
53. Good sermon on Gideon
54. God working out people for while we're gone: Thank you to Becca, Shannon, Julianne, Victor and Ariana!
55. Doing nails with Becca
56. Relaxing afternoon
57. Getting a real card from Jim
58. Kids napping 4.5 hours
59. Time alone with Sam
60. Getting good sleep
61. Kids excited about VBS
62. Jim baking
63. Making good time to Elk Creek
64. Cheap Qdoba
65. Not having to get up with the kids
66. Nice leisurely breakfast
67. Enjoying a nice day with Jim
68. Being surprised by gifts
69. Playing pool
70. Good food
71. Talking and seeking God together
72. Good dr, appt
73. Making appts through 40 weeks
74. Yummy dinner at Red Lobster
75. Seeing the new Captain America
76. Gabriel and Sam playing well together for over an hour
77. Running errands with all 6 kids by myself
78. The flexibility of homeschool
79. Realizing I really want the kids at home
80. God's grace in the tough moments
81. God continuing to work on my heart
82. People who are understanding
83. Jamey and Lillian working on their own well
84. Time with God
85. Growing and being stretched
86. Helping the Fisher's pack
87. Good sermon on Samson and not following the culture
88. Surprising Jim for Father's Day
89. God giving me self-control
90. Time to meet with the Robinettes
91. Encouragement
92. Sharing and receiving wisdom
93. Meal night at CG
94. Learning from others
95. Opportunity to grow business
96. Finishing Dracula
97. Starting new classic
98. Cleaning and teaching kids to clean more
99. All sitting at the table to do school work together
100. Good group for Childbirth Conversations
101. Kids playing well outside
102. Pizza for lunch
103. Wedding shopping with Becca
104. Family time in the evening
105. School planning for next year
106. Good sermon on Samson's end
107. Seeing how God can use our sin
108. Jim working extra
109. Book club
110. Homemade Ice Cream Cake
111. Getting good ideas for Childbirth Conversations
112. Learning more about balancing time and prioritizing
113. Nehemiah turning 1!
114. Going to playgroup
115. Sam saying opening prayer and Bible verse with the family
116. Diary Del
117. Meeting new people
118. Cheap Chick-fil-A
119. Exercising
120. God revealing understanding
121. Sara coming for a while
122. Sam saying closing prayer
123. Taking a nap
124. Boys dancing to worship songs
125. Good end to the month

How has God blessed you?

June Evaluation

Spiritual

• Spend at least 10 minutes praying daily- God has definitely grown my prayer time this month, some days have more prayer time than others, but every moment praying is a blessing
• Spend at least 10 minutes reading and reflecting on the Bible daily- Most days this happened
• Memorize verses with the kids - working on this during school time
• Have extended prayer times 4 times during the year- Jim has had 2 and I have had 2
• Read Christian books (Jim- 1 (not school related), Emmie- 3)- 1 for me so far

Marriage

• Pray together daily- YES! 
• Go out for a date once a week- Sadly No
• Go on a night away once this year- Yes! We were able to get away for 2 whole days for our Anniversary! Big thanks to Becca, Shannon, Julianne, Victor and Ariana who made this possible for us! It was wonderful
• Read 3 books together this year (read one day a week)- No
• Discuss plan weekly on Saturday afternoon- No

Kids

• Spend 15 minutes of one on one time with each child every week- All got some time but not sur how much
• Special Outing Alone twice during the year with each child- Took Lil and Gabe out his month!
• Family fun activity once a month- Had a family "Star Wars" night. the kids loved this!
• Write in individual journals at least 3 times this year- Got mostly caught up
• Finish Jamey's 1st year Scrapbook- No work was done on this

Homemaking

• Keep up with cleaning schedule- Still struggling with schedule
• Keep up with my calendar- Not as good at this this month
• Being fully present when with my family- Struggled more with this this month
• Try 12 new recipes this year- (8) Becca found a yummy curry dish that has been a big hit in our house
• No TV 2 days a week (watching)- Not sure about this. It's gotten hard with being really pregnant and heat
• Begin gardening in the spring- May not end up happening

Ministry

• Continue sending out Prayer List- Yes

Personal

• Read a book a month for myself- I finished "Dracula" with my classics challenge
• Jim read one fiction book- Still working on it
• Journal 5 days a week- Yes! God is gracious
• Jim Journal 3 days a week- Yes
• Edit novel to prepare for publishing- No work on this
• Book Club once a month- Yes! Love these Sisters
• Continue to meet once a month with writing group- Yes! Such a great time of encouragement and fellowship
• Blog 1-2 days a week- Yes! God has been gracious in this

Health

• Mild Exercise twice a week- Got some in, but not as much as I would have liked
• Maintain weight until birth- Definitely gained this month, baby is growing a LOT!
• Lose weight after giving birth- 

June went well over all. Jim and I were blessed with a nice time away. The kids had VBS and we're still working through school. It's been a busy month with life in general. I also got to host Childbirth Conversations which is always a blessing and I'm really desiring to be more involved in growing this. We're still struggling to figure out daily life as we wait for baby to make needed adjustments. We're still working on growing our Norwex business and how that plays into our current life. We're also growing in seeking God and what He has for our family. God is constantly showing us more about ourselves and teaching us to follow Him in everything, even when it doesn't make sense. It's been a good month.

How was your June?

Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary

We read Beezus and Ramona with our Core A material from Sonlight and I was looking forward to it because I loved the Ramona show on PBS when I was a kid. However, I was not a huge fan of this book. It was well written and definitely had good life lessons, but I personally struggled with how bratty Ramona was. I know this is human nature and how kids act, but reading it to my kids, who already struggle with acting like that, was hard.

I did like seeing Beezus working through her feelings and knowing that her feeling were not always right. I liked seeing her inventiveness in working through problems and learning to deal with her little sister. It provided good learning opportunities to talk to the older ones about loving there younger siblings when they bothered them as well as what God says about loving others.

I would give this book around 3 stars.

Nehemiah's First Birthday!

It's hard to believe our 6th child is 1 year old today. A year ago Nehemiah came into this world with a quick gusto that was such a blessing. And our lives have continued with gusto as we adjusted to being a family of 8. How Nehemiah has blessed our family as he reminds us of the comfort and help God gives to His people.

Nehemiah has grown so much in this past year and yet the smallest of our boys. But he still keeps up with his siblings. He loves to play and explore, crawling fairly early so that he could play with the rest of the crew. You can already see his mind going as he picks up things and attempts to figure out what they are and what he should do with them. How I pray God continues to give him an adventurous spirit and use it for His Kingdom!

Nehemiah has the best smile and laugh. He laughs at just about everything. He certainly smiles at his family and fits right in to a big family. It's fun to watch him respond to things. And he is definitely one of the boys, even though he's little. By God's grace he is very go with the flow and just lets things go.

About the only thing Nehemiah doesn't like is being upside down and eating. We hope as we continue to introduce things he will like eating better, but he just doesn't seem to care for it.

We are so blessed by Nehemiah's life. He adds so much to our family and God has given us such a gift in Nehemiah. Father thank you so much for the precious gift of Nehemiah! Thank You for giving us another boy and for giving us a precious reminder of who You are as our comforter and helper. Please grow him into a man after Your own heart who is a comfort and help to others and seeks Your way over his own. Please save him by Your grace at a young age, that he may grow in fear and admonition of You. Give him a deep love for Your Word and Your Way. Thank You again for such a precious gift!