Why I broke up with Facebook

My husband has made the suggestion that I quit Facebook several times over the last year. Being the completely submissive wife that I am, I chose to ignore him. His claim was that Facebook is a waste of time, every body is all up in your business, and thinks it is ridiculous to have 327 "friends" when you actually only talk to five people on the "friends" list. All good points, granted, but not good enough to sway a wise woman such as myself. My husband is AMAZING! He rarely forces me to do anything. He makes a suggestion and leaves it at that, praying that God would speak to my spirit and lead me (and also praying that I would listen, I'm sure :p) . He has actually said to me, "God is so much better at getting you to do the right thing than I am, so I just leave it to Him" (Hmmm, I kind of sound like a real pain, I'll pray about that).

This week I FINALLY realized why Facebook is such a bad influence on my life. I realized that I was sitting at the desk looking over the lives and choices and photos of my "friends" with a hideously critical spirit. "Well that person is an idiot, who does something like that." or "Oh MY GOODNESS, I cannot even BELIEVE that person calls them self a Christian!" or the worst, "Wow, so-and-so has really put on a lot weight!" (As if I HAVE any room to make that statement).

So you can clearly see that Facebook brings out the worst in me!! I'm thankful that the Lord has opened my eyes to the ugliness in my heart and I have since said farewell to the ever-entertaining world of Facebook. I am praying that the Lord will remove the critical spirit that has been made so obvious to me and asking my husband to forgive me for not submitting my will in the first place. Ugh, he is almost ALWAYS right! LOL, I should remember that the next time he makes a suggestion.

Ice Fishing

Here in North Idaho most of the ponds, small lakes and smaller reservoirs are frozen this time of year. Our family loves to make the trip out to Moose Creek to ice fish (by family I mean my husband and older children, I've never actually been). On New Year's Day Dave took the four oldest children out to ice fish. They all had the best time (of course, anything daddy does is fun). Alexis, was thrilled with the fish she caught and carried "him" around for the rest of the day until it was time to "cut his eyes out and eat him".

Family Pictures!

I Love Fall For Family Pictures! Our family headed over to the arboretum at the local university a couple weeks ago to have pictures taken. As you can imagine, getting decent pictures of so many little ones is never an easy task. When we got out of our van I told the gals taking the pictures, "the goal is as many pictures as possible as fast as possible". LOL, that gives us the best chance at getting at least a couple good ones. Our friends had three cameras going at all times and we did get some really great pictures in the end! Thanks Girls!!

Encouraging Right Behavior

I saw this idea on the u-create website and LOVED it so much I made it the very same day! Its a "caught you being good" chart!


(Do not be impressed by Georgia. She's been lapped several times LOL. Have I mentioned she's two? :p)

All I did was print out a list with each of my children's names, mat it, and put it into a picture frame. I made little flower rosettes to make it prettier! The way it works is super easy. When you catch your child making good choices, showing a selfless attitude, going out of their way to help another, making sacrifices for others, etc you give that child a mark because you caught them being good! Use a dry erase marker on the glass makes it super easy to wipe away. When you need to add another child, just print a new sheet and put it back into the frame.

I always make a big deal in front of everyone when I give any child a mark. Asking for a mark means no mark for sure! For the bigger kids the prize is ten marks equal a buck. In our allowance-free house one buck for just putting others first is a big deal! For the little kids they get a small treat like a piece of gum or mini candy bar immediately when they earn a mark.

This Salad Brought To You By...

OUR GARDEN!!

That's right! This salad was made entirely from our garden (well minus the black olives, we do live in North Idaho afterall, and I'm pretty sure olives don't grow here). The Family dream is a homestead, but for now we are happy with our small vegetable garden. This year my husband built a raised bed that measures about 4 ft wide by 24 ft long. We planted squash, zucchini, beets, corn, carrots, lettuce, onions, brocolli (total waste of space), sweet peas, strawberries and lots of tomatoes!

Golden Sugar Tomatoes. SUPER sweet!

We've had TONS of lettuce!

There is something so Amazing about growing your own food and serving it to your family!

Abigail Grace

It seems like I am spending most of my time these days protecting our newest addition, Abigail, from her eye-poking brother! :)

Baby number seven, Abigail Grace, made her debut earlier this month. We are all in love with her! We feel so blessed!

Books I'm Reading

I always love to see what other Christian women are reading. I think because I was not raised in a home where Biblical femininity was taught I am always trying to learn as much as I can about what the bible says about women and our roles. Here are the books I am reading or have recently finished.

John MacArthur Study Bible.
I love this Bible! I've had other study bibles in the past and was not super impressed by them. The notes all seemed really liberal and circumstantial. But this one seems to be really good. My husband bought it for me because he liked his so much.


Passionate Housewives Desperate for God
This book is so helpful and encouraging! I'm loving it. It's one of those books that causes you to stop and pray constantly.

Large Family Logistics
This book is great for large and small families. The jist is to organize and set up systems that are logical and efficient so that you're not burned out and floundering.




Created to be His Helpmeet
I love this book. I have read it at least once a year, usually twice, for the past 5 or 6 years. Whenever I feel like I'm losing focus or forgetting the reason that God created Eve I read it. I can honestly say it has helped to change our marriage.



She Shall be Called Woman
This is actually a 9 part audio set by Victoria Botkin. It is AWESOME! She is so logical and helpful. I finished all nine hours during a long road trip and am ready to start from the beginning again!