Enjoy!
Monday, July 7, 2014
Groom's Wedding Cake
Enjoy!
Boy Baby Shower Cake
Hello Kitty Cake
Enjoy the cake and have fun making yours!
Saturday, April 12, 2014
Psalm 42 and 43
So, my mom's and mine journey through these two chapters was a little more challenging than chapter one in Psalm. We gain quite a bit of knowledge with these two chapters but memorizing them was difficult. Chapter 42 was our goal and we ended up adding chapter 43 to the list because it is the conclusion to chapter 42. It felt incomplete to leave it out. We talked about what made these difficult and decided that it was because the verses and thoughts are disconnected emotionally. For a couple of verses the writer is depressed then he is joyful then back to depressed. It does reflect many a walk with Christ, even ours. Memorizing this journey of the writer was not easy. We'd lose our place because it didn't flow a lot.
We picked chapter 42 because of verse one: "As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for you, O God." We love this song and thought that knowing the Psalm it comes from would be nice. For myself the verse that stuck out was the end of verse 5 "...for I shall again praise Him for the help of His presence." Just God's presence is help to this writer and he praises God for it. I remembered that just God being near me is worthy of praise, whether He does anything I see or not, doesn't matter. Mom was amazed that the writer always came back to praising God even though it was obvious the writer was in some sort of trouble. No matter how bad it got, in the end he would praise God. We did some background research on this chapter and discovered that it is possible that the writer is taken from his home and from the Temple due to captivity. The writer recalls "...You from the land of Jordan and the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar." (verse 6) as if he is no longer there. Back in verse 4 he remembers leading a "procession to the house of Go, with the voice of joy and thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival." It seems to us that he not only longed to be in God's Temple again but also with God's people. Verse 10 speaks of his adversaries and how they taunt him. Based on what we found it could have been his and his people's captors.
As you can see chapter 42 ends sad. Chapter 43 gives the rest of the story. Verses 1 and 2 are still mourning the situation he is in and he is asking where God is, but in verses 3-5 he puts his trust in God's light and truth to lead him back to God's dwelling place. He knows that he will be filled with joy again and that he will hope in God again! I am working on verses 3 and 4. I am memorizing these a little slower and with our other memorizing chapters. For some reason, I feel that I am digesting these slower and much closer to my heart than the others.
We still wonder what Chapter 42 verse 7 means. "Deep calls to deep at the sound of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have rolled over me." If anyone has any thoughts our resources they'd like to share, we'd love to do more research!
On to Psalm 4!
We picked chapter 42 because of verse one: "As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for you, O God." We love this song and thought that knowing the Psalm it comes from would be nice. For myself the verse that stuck out was the end of verse 5 "...for I shall again praise Him for the help of His presence." Just God's presence is help to this writer and he praises God for it. I remembered that just God being near me is worthy of praise, whether He does anything I see or not, doesn't matter. Mom was amazed that the writer always came back to praising God even though it was obvious the writer was in some sort of trouble. No matter how bad it got, in the end he would praise God. We did some background research on this chapter and discovered that it is possible that the writer is taken from his home and from the Temple due to captivity. The writer recalls "...You from the land of Jordan and the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar." (verse 6) as if he is no longer there. Back in verse 4 he remembers leading a "procession to the house of Go, with the voice of joy and thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival." It seems to us that he not only longed to be in God's Temple again but also with God's people. Verse 10 speaks of his adversaries and how they taunt him. Based on what we found it could have been his and his people's captors.
As you can see chapter 42 ends sad. Chapter 43 gives the rest of the story. Verses 1 and 2 are still mourning the situation he is in and he is asking where God is, but in verses 3-5 he puts his trust in God's light and truth to lead him back to God's dwelling place. He knows that he will be filled with joy again and that he will hope in God again! I am working on verses 3 and 4. I am memorizing these a little slower and with our other memorizing chapters. For some reason, I feel that I am digesting these slower and much closer to my heart than the others.
We still wonder what Chapter 42 verse 7 means. "Deep calls to deep at the sound of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have rolled over me." If anyone has any thoughts our resources they'd like to share, we'd love to do more research!
On to Psalm 4!
Girl and Boy Birthday Cakes!
The bottom was so much easier. When I asked our son what he wanted on his cake he was very specific. He said he wanted a blue race car. Well, that was easy enough! I found a picture, printed, piped, filled. Ta-Da! Then I added the "road", grass, and boarder. He was completely happy :). Boys are so much easier sometimes!
Enjoy!
Saturday, January 18, 2014
What we learned Memorizing Psalm 1
So my mom and I finished memorizing Psalm 1. The first in a long line of Psalms we have chosen this year to meditate on. A couple of things we have learned from this chapter we thought we'd share with you. I hope to share a bit of what we learned from each chapter we meditate on. Hopefully you will find some insightful tid bits for yourself.
First, I found that I didn't quite understand what prosper meant in vs 3. "He will be like a tree firmly planted by the streams of water, which yields it's fruit in it's season and it's leaves never wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers." (-nasb, bold word mine) Before this it talks about not walking in the counsel of the wicked, standing in the path of sinners, and sitting in the seat of scoffers. After this it talks about how the persons delight is instead in the law of the Lord and that he meditates on it night and day. So here was my questions, if we are doing all of this as I think we are, why are we not prospering? So I looked up the Hebrew word for prosper. It is a verb tsaw-lay-akh and the first definition is to rush, the second is to advance, prosper, make progress, succeed, be profitable. The two that surprised me were to advance and to make progress. We are in a stage of transition as I have already written about and sometimes I feel as though we are not "prospering" and these helped me see that it could be the journey is important and not being prosperous in today's terms. We are moving forward and we are keeping God's word in our hearts and so we are prospering. My mom pointed out and helped me realize that the tree (us) has it's season to bear fruit and it's season to not bear fruit, but it never dies. Our last chapter in life was a fruitful one and now we are in a dormant period, like a tree, but we are not dead.
Second, my mom really benefited from the last verse "For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish." (nasb) Sometimes we can feel as though we are tiny and can be missed or overlooked by such a great and bigger than us God. This verse reminded her that we are righteous in God's eyes and that He knows our ways. As Psalm 121 also says, He will not let our foot slip and He watches over us both day and night.
I hope you can gain some growth out of what we have learned and shared with you. Do not be afraid of what you may learn in your walk with God and share it with others. You never know who you may help.
First, I found that I didn't quite understand what prosper meant in vs 3. "He will be like a tree firmly planted by the streams of water, which yields it's fruit in it's season and it's leaves never wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers." (-nasb, bold word mine) Before this it talks about not walking in the counsel of the wicked, standing in the path of sinners, and sitting in the seat of scoffers. After this it talks about how the persons delight is instead in the law of the Lord and that he meditates on it night and day. So here was my questions, if we are doing all of this as I think we are, why are we not prospering? So I looked up the Hebrew word for prosper. It is a verb tsaw-lay-akh and the first definition is to rush, the second is to advance, prosper, make progress, succeed, be profitable. The two that surprised me were to advance and to make progress. We are in a stage of transition as I have already written about and sometimes I feel as though we are not "prospering" and these helped me see that it could be the journey is important and not being prosperous in today's terms. We are moving forward and we are keeping God's word in our hearts and so we are prospering. My mom pointed out and helped me realize that the tree (us) has it's season to bear fruit and it's season to not bear fruit, but it never dies. Our last chapter in life was a fruitful one and now we are in a dormant period, like a tree, but we are not dead.
Second, my mom really benefited from the last verse "For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish." (nasb) Sometimes we can feel as though we are tiny and can be missed or overlooked by such a great and bigger than us God. This verse reminded her that we are righteous in God's eyes and that He knows our ways. As Psalm 121 also says, He will not let our foot slip and He watches over us both day and night.
I hope you can gain some growth out of what we have learned and shared with you. Do not be afraid of what you may learn in your walk with God and share it with others. You never know who you may help.
Friday, January 17, 2014
To Meditate for a Year
In an earlier post I referenced that my mom and I are memorizing the Psalms. I thought that I'd explain that idea a little more as I have found that others are interested in knowing what we do. Here is how it started and where we are at.
So every year for the past few years my mom and I try to come up with something to do with our walk with Christ together. Once we went through a Bible study on Proverbs 31. We used Discovering the Treasures of a Godly Woman: Proverbs 31 by Elizabeth George. This is a great study that is practical as well as Bible intensive. She used Scripture through out the Bible as well as Proverbs 31, of course. Understand that my mom and I live miles apart and study on our own time then come together with a phone call to discuss what we have learned. Another time we picked a few Psalms and memorized them together. This was an exercise that stretched our memories as well as our understand of the Scriptures. We discovered things together that we would have other wised missed. We would each find something pertaining to our lives or the other's life. We would look up words and ask questions. I enjoy sharing my walk with Jesus with her. She is a women with insight that I value.
Well, this year Christmas came and went and over New Years my parents came for a visit. Nailing down what we were doing this year was THE thing I wanted to accomplish. Turns out we both thoroughly enjoyed memorized the Psalms. We had a couple of verses outside of Psalms last year and those just didn't seem to flow. This year we picked out our Psalms again. It happened that we had a lot of Psalms picked out, and they were kind of all over the place. We got to talking and wondered what it would be like to memorize them in a sort of worship style. We examined them and picked an order that would be worship, recognition of God, prayer, and then praise. I have shared this idea with a couple of my close friends and one of them asked for our Psalms, so I decided to share this thought with others out there that may be interested in a different way to meditate this year.
Psalm 1, 42, 4, 27, 32, 114, 116, 96, 93, and 113.
Join us on this journey or make your own and share it with others. It is much more enriching to share your walk with Christ with someone. How do you share yours? There are many ways, share what you do in the comments below. I have also chosen this year to participate in Trades of Hope. This is a group of women reaching out to other women to empower them out of poverty. Everything we sell or host for someone else to sell help women around the world by providing a steady income. This keeps children in schools, provides a trade for them, and keeps them out of slavery (of all types). You can join this year too by going to
www.mytradesofhope.com/amyjosims
So every year for the past few years my mom and I try to come up with something to do with our walk with Christ together. Once we went through a Bible study on Proverbs 31. We used Discovering the Treasures of a Godly Woman: Proverbs 31 by Elizabeth George. This is a great study that is practical as well as Bible intensive. She used Scripture through out the Bible as well as Proverbs 31, of course. Understand that my mom and I live miles apart and study on our own time then come together with a phone call to discuss what we have learned. Another time we picked a few Psalms and memorized them together. This was an exercise that stretched our memories as well as our understand of the Scriptures. We discovered things together that we would have other wised missed. We would each find something pertaining to our lives or the other's life. We would look up words and ask questions. I enjoy sharing my walk with Jesus with her. She is a women with insight that I value.
Well, this year Christmas came and went and over New Years my parents came for a visit. Nailing down what we were doing this year was THE thing I wanted to accomplish. Turns out we both thoroughly enjoyed memorized the Psalms. We had a couple of verses outside of Psalms last year and those just didn't seem to flow. This year we picked out our Psalms again. It happened that we had a lot of Psalms picked out, and they were kind of all over the place. We got to talking and wondered what it would be like to memorize them in a sort of worship style. We examined them and picked an order that would be worship, recognition of God, prayer, and then praise. I have shared this idea with a couple of my close friends and one of them asked for our Psalms, so I decided to share this thought with others out there that may be interested in a different way to meditate this year.
Psalm 1, 42, 4, 27, 32, 114, 116, 96, 93, and 113.
Join us on this journey or make your own and share it with others. It is much more enriching to share your walk with Christ with someone. How do you share yours? There are many ways, share what you do in the comments below. I have also chosen this year to participate in Trades of Hope. This is a group of women reaching out to other women to empower them out of poverty. Everything we sell or host for someone else to sell help women around the world by providing a steady income. This keeps children in schools, provides a trade for them, and keeps them out of slavery (of all types). You can join this year too by going to
www.mytradesofhope.com/amyjosims
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Cowboy Boot Birthday Cake
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Classroom Cake
This is the cake I made for our Wednesday night class. I taught the kids in grades 3-6. They were a great group of kids. The fish and bread in the basket represents the favorite lesson we did. Everyone brought something to eat (fish crackers, bread, basket, outside games, blanket to sit on). We went outside and read the Bible story of Jesus feeding 5,000 people with only five loaves of bread and 2 fish. The chain represents a paper chain we had made in the classroom. Every time we met they would tell me something they did that week that reflected what they had learned. By the time we were done with the semester our chain (fondant) stretch from one end of the room to the other. They were very excited to see what they had accomplished! Finally I put the names of the three teachers on the basket and the students names on the blue part of the cake. I used the big pretzels to make the basket 3D. I laid them down and covered them in chocolate icing. I was a tastey mix of sweet and salty!
I hope I sparked your creativity today!
I hope I sparked your creativity today!
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
First Cakes I Made
So I noticed that I don't actually have many cakes on here so here are the beginning cakes that I have made. These first two are during my cake decorating class.
This cupcake one was done for our daughter when she turned four. I really found I enjoyed doing cakes like this. I used butter icing. To get the shape of the cupcake I used piping gel to trace the shape onto wax paper then gently pressed it onto the cake. The dots and writing are also done in pipping gel.
This cake is the second one I did. It was for our son. These flowers look beautiful. I think that flowers are fun, but they are time consuming and I don't really feel as creative as I do with unique cakes.
I hope you enjoy these birthday cakes. My writing gets better with time. I made the flowers with butter icing. Medium thickness. They writing was thing and so was the icing of the cake.
To make the icing of the cake smooth I used facing material. Place the smooth side down on the cake and gently smooth with hand or angled spatula.
More cakes to come, wedding shower, birthday cakes, and a baby one too!
www.mytradesofhope.com/amyjosims
This cupcake one was done for our daughter when she turned four. I really found I enjoyed doing cakes like this. I used butter icing. To get the shape of the cupcake I used piping gel to trace the shape onto wax paper then gently pressed it onto the cake. The dots and writing are also done in pipping gel.
This cake is the second one I did. It was for our son. These flowers look beautiful. I think that flowers are fun, but they are time consuming and I don't really feel as creative as I do with unique cakes.
To make the icing of the cake smooth I used facing material. Place the smooth side down on the cake and gently smooth with hand or angled spatula.
More cakes to come, wedding shower, birthday cakes, and a baby one too!
www.mytradesofhope.com/amyjosims
Sunday, January 5, 2014
Decisions and Hope
Last night my husband and I put the kids to bed and sat down to read some Scripture. We haven't really made the time these last couple of weeks. We have been spending some wonderful time with family. It was great having them over for Christmas and New Years. It seems that every year my mom and and I make a plan to do something with our walk with Christ together. This year we are memorizing certain Psalms in order of prayer, recognition of God, and praise. Our first one to memorize is Psalm 1. This is what I was reading last night. This is the first verse, "How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers!" There is a reference here to Proverbs 4:14, so I flipped over there to read it. This talks about how important it is to listen to instructions and keeping your feet from evil. I prayed this for my kids. My mom prays for her grand kids so I think I may suggest this to her to pray over my kids and nieces and nephew.
After I had finished praying I realized something about our own situation. We do not stand in the counsel of the wicked, stand in the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of scoffers. Yes we sin, we also have Christ's sacrifice that we have accepted so that we have forgiveness. We are blessed. Right now we have many decisions to make and set backs to consider. This makes it hard to remember we are blessed regardless. Currently, my husbands classes for his Masters did not work out this semester. We need to decided if he is going to declare another degree program or change the one he has been working on. This impacts us financially. He did get a job online, blessed. Another decision is that a church in Minnesota has reached out to my husband and wants to get to know him for a job. After all we have been through in our last ministry position we have many things to consider about getting back into paid ministry. The nice thing about this one is that it appears he would be doing what he loves and would not be the senior minister. Here the elders are the shepherds and share the load of leading the church. If this is really how it is set up I think it would work out. We are going to have a call conference in the future to learn more about them and they about us. Even with all of this chaos going on, we are blessed. Regardless of what we decided we will be blessed.
This is what I think of when I think of blessed. I think of Job who was blessed physically after his trails. I think of Paul who had everything taken but still praised the Lord, He was blessed spiritually. I think of myself and my list of things I have seen God do in my life. I have things listed in the physical and spiritual sense.
I was given the power to forgive (previous posts)
My mission trips as a teen: money raised, safety, lessons learned
Perfectly timed gift of $10 from a professor's wife in college
My husbands mission to Uganda: pens (story in itself), articles he now writes, safety, and money raised
Boxes of food that would appear in our kitchen during ministry
Always had a place to live
Safety during a youth group trip to Colorado
Jobs have been provided just when we needed them
Redeemed relationships with my parents (story for another time)
Mother in law did not die due to recent medical issues, in fact she is back to work and doing better
My daughter was provided a new coat
Found doctors that has helped my husband with his medical issues
I have grown a great deal spiritually because of a dear friend of mine
Our daughter fell off a bike close to home, busted her chin. Husband carried her home. A friend drove by just then and helped me take the bikes home.
Have had great gardens
I have started a business with Trades of Hope
Our daughter mimicks me with Bible reading, copying of Scripture, and memorizing
Our son has the most adorable honest prayers, and he wants to pray
My husband found Scripture in Hebrews that provided hope to him and us during this time of transition
I am learning about depression, to better help and understand my husband
My husband has found it theraputic to write about what he has learned
He has also found it theraputic to do mathematics
He has an article that will be published
He passed the first half of his teaching certificate
Groceries always seem to be on sale just when we need to save a penny or two
I did not get fired when I did something pretty dumb at work
Our daughter sent a picture to her Kindergarten teacher, she got a letter back
Current teacher for our daughter is helping her with math
My husband and I communicate and listen to each other
We still see our adopted son and son to be wife, even though we moved
Our van still works with no major needs
Discovered in time that my current degree is not what I wanted
My husband cooks and clean while I work (he is a great cook, too)
Discount for our son's daycare
Our kids do listen to us (even if it doesn't seem like it)
Moments of joy with my kids and husband
The list is endless, but this is what I have written down from a while ago. Some of these came by other people. You can be the other person. Leave a bigger than normal tip, hold the door open, help someone find product in Wal-mart (we all know how are this can be), watch someone kid for free, volunteer at a center. There are so many ways to impact others. I have been impacting others close to me and now I get to impact others around the world by working with Trades of Hope. You can too. You can host an online party, join us in selling, or shop! All these ways help women and their families stand on their own.
www.mytradesofhope.com/amyjosims
Have a great and blessed day. Until next time!
After I had finished praying I realized something about our own situation. We do not stand in the counsel of the wicked, stand in the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of scoffers. Yes we sin, we also have Christ's sacrifice that we have accepted so that we have forgiveness. We are blessed. Right now we have many decisions to make and set backs to consider. This makes it hard to remember we are blessed regardless. Currently, my husbands classes for his Masters did not work out this semester. We need to decided if he is going to declare another degree program or change the one he has been working on. This impacts us financially. He did get a job online, blessed. Another decision is that a church in Minnesota has reached out to my husband and wants to get to know him for a job. After all we have been through in our last ministry position we have many things to consider about getting back into paid ministry. The nice thing about this one is that it appears he would be doing what he loves and would not be the senior minister. Here the elders are the shepherds and share the load of leading the church. If this is really how it is set up I think it would work out. We are going to have a call conference in the future to learn more about them and they about us. Even with all of this chaos going on, we are blessed. Regardless of what we decided we will be blessed.
This is what I think of when I think of blessed. I think of Job who was blessed physically after his trails. I think of Paul who had everything taken but still praised the Lord, He was blessed spiritually. I think of myself and my list of things I have seen God do in my life. I have things listed in the physical and spiritual sense.
I was given the power to forgive (previous posts)
My mission trips as a teen: money raised, safety, lessons learned
Perfectly timed gift of $10 from a professor's wife in college
My husbands mission to Uganda: pens (story in itself), articles he now writes, safety, and money raised
Boxes of food that would appear in our kitchen during ministry
Always had a place to live
Safety during a youth group trip to Colorado
Jobs have been provided just when we needed them
Redeemed relationships with my parents (story for another time)
Mother in law did not die due to recent medical issues, in fact she is back to work and doing better
My daughter was provided a new coat
Found doctors that has helped my husband with his medical issues
I have grown a great deal spiritually because of a dear friend of mine
Our daughter fell off a bike close to home, busted her chin. Husband carried her home. A friend drove by just then and helped me take the bikes home.
Have had great gardens
I have started a business with Trades of Hope
Our daughter mimicks me with Bible reading, copying of Scripture, and memorizing
Our son has the most adorable honest prayers, and he wants to pray
My husband found Scripture in Hebrews that provided hope to him and us during this time of transition
I am learning about depression, to better help and understand my husband
My husband has found it theraputic to write about what he has learned
He has also found it theraputic to do mathematics
He has an article that will be published
He passed the first half of his teaching certificate
Groceries always seem to be on sale just when we need to save a penny or two
I did not get fired when I did something pretty dumb at work
Our daughter sent a picture to her Kindergarten teacher, she got a letter back
Current teacher for our daughter is helping her with math
My husband and I communicate and listen to each other
We still see our adopted son and son to be wife, even though we moved
Our van still works with no major needs
Discovered in time that my current degree is not what I wanted
My husband cooks and clean while I work (he is a great cook, too)
Discount for our son's daycare
Our kids do listen to us (even if it doesn't seem like it)
Moments of joy with my kids and husband
The list is endless, but this is what I have written down from a while ago. Some of these came by other people. You can be the other person. Leave a bigger than normal tip, hold the door open, help someone find product in Wal-mart (we all know how are this can be), watch someone kid for free, volunteer at a center. There are so many ways to impact others. I have been impacting others close to me and now I get to impact others around the world by working with Trades of Hope. You can too. You can host an online party, join us in selling, or shop! All these ways help women and their families stand on their own.
www.mytradesofhope.com/amyjosims
Have a great and blessed day. Until next time!
Sunday, December 29, 2013
Transitions
So our lives have been going through many transitions. Until recently our family was in full time ministry. My husband was a full time minister and I was involved with the children's ministry. Ministry is in our lives and we love helping people. However, our time came to an end after seven years of service. After many months of discussion and prayer we came to the difficult decision to step away from ministry. We came to this decision because of the combinations of my husbands illnesses, stress of ministry, and my mother in law became very ill. We made a 13 hour emergency trip to Oklahoma to help care for her. This need to be closer to care for our family and the need to step away from the stress of ministry (which influenced my husbands illnesses) confirmed the need to make some changes.
In order to make a career change we needed to move closer to the university my husband has been attending to complete his master's degree. We are hoping that when he finishes in the next few months he will be hired as a professor. At the same time he is working on being teacher certified for 8th-12th grade math. So, to recap my husband went from solely working to solely studying in order to find a job so that we can move closer to family.
I went from a stay at home mom to a working/learning mom. I now work at a day care and attend online classes to become and Early Childhood Education. However, I recently found out that the current degree I am pursuing will not get me into the public school systems. It is only for day cares. This is not something I am interested in. While I was procrastinating my homework, I was on facebook and saw that a friend of mine became a Compassion Entrepreneur for Trades of Hope. I had seen many of her posts and could tell that she was selling handmade items that other people had made. I asked her what it was all about. She explained to me that the company is a part of the Fair Trades Act. Trades of Hope makes it possible for women and their families to sell their items in order to make a living. This enables them to be free from slavery (of many different kinds), provides for their communities (clean drinking water, schools, medical needs), and provides a way for them to provide for their family and keep their family together (otherwise many children are given up for adoption or slavery because they cannot feed them).
I have a website up and running... www.mytradesofhope.com/amyjosims
Hopefully I will be able to have contests and doorprizes in the future that I will share with you. When we are finally in Oklahoma I hope to go to trades shows, have home parties, and have others host parties to support these women supporting their families.
Well this is the start of my journey to starting my own business and supporting others around the world! I am supper excited about this and can't wait to this going. I hope to post my journey with you as I learn and set goals. This will help keep me on track and will also encourage you to take the chance and support something bigger than yourself. Join me on this journey!
In order to make a career change we needed to move closer to the university my husband has been attending to complete his master's degree. We are hoping that when he finishes in the next few months he will be hired as a professor. At the same time he is working on being teacher certified for 8th-12th grade math. So, to recap my husband went from solely working to solely studying in order to find a job so that we can move closer to family.
I went from a stay at home mom to a working/learning mom. I now work at a day care and attend online classes to become and Early Childhood Education. However, I recently found out that the current degree I am pursuing will not get me into the public school systems. It is only for day cares. This is not something I am interested in. While I was procrastinating my homework, I was on facebook and saw that a friend of mine became a Compassion Entrepreneur for Trades of Hope. I had seen many of her posts and could tell that she was selling handmade items that other people had made. I asked her what it was all about. She explained to me that the company is a part of the Fair Trades Act. Trades of Hope makes it possible for women and their families to sell their items in order to make a living. This enables them to be free from slavery (of many different kinds), provides for their communities (clean drinking water, schools, medical needs), and provides a way for them to provide for their family and keep their family together (otherwise many children are given up for adoption or slavery because they cannot feed them).
I have a website up and running... www.mytradesofhope.com/amyjosims
Hopefully I will be able to have contests and doorprizes in the future that I will share with you. When we are finally in Oklahoma I hope to go to trades shows, have home parties, and have others host parties to support these women supporting their families.
Well this is the start of my journey to starting my own business and supporting others around the world! I am supper excited about this and can't wait to this going. I hope to post my journey with you as I learn and set goals. This will help keep me on track and will also encourage you to take the chance and support something bigger than yourself. Join me on this journey!
Friday, October 26, 2012
Guess that Parable!
The last parable is found in Matthew 20:1-16. If you guessed The Laborers in the Vineyard you guessed right! We learned on Wednesday that it is a good thing that God is not fair. Just like the vineyard owner who paid all his workers the same (those who worked all day and those who didn't get hired till the last hour) He gives salvation to all of us, no matter when we ask or in what condition we are in when we ask. If he treated us fairly...who would get to heaven?
Here is this weeks parable:
Jamie was a leader at his school. He didn't lead normal things like band, football, or a club. Instead, Jamie was the one who other students looked to for guidance They treated others the way he treated them. They wore similar clothes that he wore. You were a part of the "in" crowd when you followed Jame and many students did. Mainly because he would have you beat up of you didn't.
Tami is a new student today and at lunch was trying to find a place to sit. Tami has red hair and Jamie's group didn't like this feature for some reason. By placing books, bags, or saying that the open seat was being saved they kept her from sitting them. Their "group" took up most of the lunch room, and by the time Tami found a seat she didn't have much time to eat. Jamie's group was relentless in their taunting and wouldn't give her a break. It went from teasing, to cruel put downs, to beating her up. It started with Tami having read hair to picking on anything about her appearance or personality. The day they had beaten her up Rosa, who is a part of Jamie's group, went home that night ashamed for what she had down and for what Jamie's "friends" had done. She had felt this way for a while but finally made a decision about it. The next day Rosa, with all her courage, broke away from Jamie's group and went to Tami's house to check on her and to apologize. Since Tami is now home-schooled, Rosa visits her everyday even at her own risk of being hurt.
Have fun guessing!
Here is this weeks parable:
Jamie was a leader at his school. He didn't lead normal things like band, football, or a club. Instead, Jamie was the one who other students looked to for guidance They treated others the way he treated them. They wore similar clothes that he wore. You were a part of the "in" crowd when you followed Jame and many students did. Mainly because he would have you beat up of you didn't.
Tami is a new student today and at lunch was trying to find a place to sit. Tami has red hair and Jamie's group didn't like this feature for some reason. By placing books, bags, or saying that the open seat was being saved they kept her from sitting them. Their "group" took up most of the lunch room, and by the time Tami found a seat she didn't have much time to eat. Jamie's group was relentless in their taunting and wouldn't give her a break. It went from teasing, to cruel put downs, to beating her up. It started with Tami having read hair to picking on anything about her appearance or personality. The day they had beaten her up Rosa, who is a part of Jamie's group, went home that night ashamed for what she had down and for what Jamie's "friends" had done. She had felt this way for a while but finally made a decision about it. The next day Rosa, with all her courage, broke away from Jamie's group and went to Tami's house to check on her and to apologize. Since Tami is now home-schooled, Rosa visits her everyday even at her own risk of being hurt.
Have fun guessing!
Responding instead of Reacting
I feel like it's been a while, but I have really been tired at night this week. The new glasses have put a bit of a strain on my eyes. I feel okay tonight.
Every Thursday a dear friend and I get together. We are building a discipleship relationship, so we dig deep in the Bible and also talk of life. This Thursday I was telling her of something that had happened to me on Tuesday that I would have normally reacted to. Now, if you have been reading my posts you know this but if not then I will give you a run down... I have a short fuse and have been working to respond rather than react and that this dear friend and I came together in circumstances that I can only call "A God Thing". When I was done she said I should talk about that on my blog so I am...
On Tuesday I set out to make apple pie bars as well has bread (which makes three loaves). I have an adorable three year old son who helped. Before I even get our oldest out the door to school I dump over our son's milk. He put a straw in his cup, which I asked him not to for this very reason (except I thought it'd be him spilling it not me!). Later as I was washing something I needed my elbow hit a cup of O.J. So I had the opportunity to clean my kitchen floor! Then our son dumped all the apple skins I had been pealing for the apple pie bars! He was very helpful in cleaning up his mess thankfully. Normally I would have said some very "put down" type things to myself and to our son. Working with my friend closely to "Be still and know that He is God" has really, really helped me a lot. I have learned and have been practicing much I have learned from her and others around me.
Who are you thankful for in your life? Someone who has taught, guided, listened, or play with? Think about it, then thank God for them and let them know what they mean to you!
Every Thursday a dear friend and I get together. We are building a discipleship relationship, so we dig deep in the Bible and also talk of life. This Thursday I was telling her of something that had happened to me on Tuesday that I would have normally reacted to. Now, if you have been reading my posts you know this but if not then I will give you a run down... I have a short fuse and have been working to respond rather than react and that this dear friend and I came together in circumstances that I can only call "A God Thing". When I was done she said I should talk about that on my blog so I am...
On Tuesday I set out to make apple pie bars as well has bread (which makes three loaves). I have an adorable three year old son who helped. Before I even get our oldest out the door to school I dump over our son's milk. He put a straw in his cup, which I asked him not to for this very reason (except I thought it'd be him spilling it not me!). Later as I was washing something I needed my elbow hit a cup of O.J. So I had the opportunity to clean my kitchen floor! Then our son dumped all the apple skins I had been pealing for the apple pie bars! He was very helpful in cleaning up his mess thankfully. Normally I would have said some very "put down" type things to myself and to our son. Working with my friend closely to "Be still and know that He is God" has really, really helped me a lot. I have learned and have been practicing much I have learned from her and others around me.
Who are you thankful for in your life? Someone who has taught, guided, listened, or play with? Think about it, then thank God for them and let them know what they mean to you!
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Danzig Passage
I have finished Danzig Passage. This was an incredible book. I love the way she uses history and then makes personal stories come alive. There were a couple of characters that I didn't mention before. One is a boy named Alfie. He lives in a graveyard. Four other children who are trapped in a church. The Nazis are after them because two of them are Jews and two of them are children of parents who are helping Jews. Through some amazing event they finally make it to the train to take them to Danzig. Lucy finally breaks away from Wolf and escapes with two boys who she saved from Wolf capturing them. It wasn't as suspenseful as the other ones but it has the same pull on your heart. Since it wasn't as emotional to read this one I feel able to read the next and last one in the series. Usually I need to wait a couple of weeks. The next is titled Warsaw Requiem.
This is sort, but soon I will have another with a parable and a few thoughts. Plus my cake is coming up. I will be making a graduation cake for a friend of mine for Nov 17th.
Everyone have a nice night!
This is sort, but soon I will have another with a parable and a few thoughts. Plus my cake is coming up. I will be making a graduation cake for a friend of mine for Nov 17th.
Everyone have a nice night!
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Time Management
Last post I talked of not going to church for a bit and asking what would you do to spend your time. This is an extreme situation to make you think. So, what did you think of? What would you do to cultivate your relationship with Jesus? Talked to my hubby about this some and his answer was not to stop going to church, but perhaps the church as a whole needs a break from the normal things. His idea would be to still meet but do something different. I thought on this some and think it to be a good idea. Have you noticed some Sunday's your church as a whole is just ho-humming it? Sometimes after tragedies churches can do this, ours has. Just like in your own life, there are ebbs and flows. Same is for the church. So I thought of different things a church could do as a whole. 1) Serve together. Every year our church serve the community soup during the Christmas season. This is a planned thing, but I think it is good for us to work together on something to better our community and perhaps witness to someone about God's love for them. 2) Fellowship together. Once we were totally snowed/iced out. Instead of cancelling, we kept the church open. We had a small turn out of course but we still had a small lesson and then we enjoyed hot chocolate together and just had some fellowship. Maybe your church could use a change up. Small sermon/lesson and then just let people mill around with some snacks. Communicating is an important things. Some people maybe looking for someone to confide in, or maybe someone just needs adult time away from kids, or maybe someone need comforted. This would be a great way for people to have the time to connect and grow. 3) Pray together. We had a wonderful 40 of prayers where each Sunday the member leading this would get up and speak on some verses that were covered in the coming week and give us ideas on what to pray for each day. She had pamphlets made up for us to take home with the verses and ideas too. We've also had prayer days were we had station for people to spend 10 minutes at in prayer. Confession station, pray for others station, pray for our nation station, ect.
Tonight we had a speaker talk to us about manage time as well. What he talked about went with my last posted and wanted to share some of his thoughts. God doesn't want us to live a life of pressure but one devoted to God. Then everything else will follow (Matthew 6:33). He also pointed out that we need to give to God not only our money but also our time. So then he asked what is 10% of our day. After we sleep there are about 16 hours that. That's nearly 1.5 hours that can be give to God in prayer, Bible reading/studying, serving, ect. This do not need to be done alone. Pair up with a friend and do these together. I have a dear friend suggest to me to pray a prep pray for the day at the beginning, rather than crying out to God when I was already in the middle of a muddle. So I started praying what she prayed for me, Ephesians 1:17-19. This really helped me a lot and so I prayed it for others in my life. I have not done this in a while. Though and I do have a new verse that I focus on, it does not seem to have the same effect. I read out of my children's Bibles in the morning and don't usually get to mine until night. These are something I have done in ebbs and flows of my own life. What do you do with your 1.5 hours to God?
Tonight we had a speaker talk to us about manage time as well. What he talked about went with my last posted and wanted to share some of his thoughts. God doesn't want us to live a life of pressure but one devoted to God. Then everything else will follow (Matthew 6:33). He also pointed out that we need to give to God not only our money but also our time. So then he asked what is 10% of our day. After we sleep there are about 16 hours that. That's nearly 1.5 hours that can be give to God in prayer, Bible reading/studying, serving, ect. This do not need to be done alone. Pair up with a friend and do these together. I have a dear friend suggest to me to pray a prep pray for the day at the beginning, rather than crying out to God when I was already in the middle of a muddle. So I started praying what she prayed for me, Ephesians 1:17-19. This really helped me a lot and so I prayed it for others in my life. I have not done this in a while. Though and I do have a new verse that I focus on, it does not seem to have the same effect. I read out of my children's Bibles in the morning and don't usually get to mine until night. These are something I have done in ebbs and flows of my own life. What do you do with your 1.5 hours to God?
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Guess That Parable!
The after school program that everyone was worrying about went of without a hitch. All their worrying made me edgy. I am glad it is has finally started.
On another note, this year for my Wednesday night class at church (3rd grade - 6th grade kids) I am following an example I found in a book by Herold Fickett titled Conversations With Jesus. He took the parables Jesus used and re-wrote them to be more relevant. I take the parables Fickett used and am re-writing them for children. So here I am going to type up the one I wrote and see if you can see which parable it represents. Should be fun. Leave your guess in the comments below.
This Saturday it was raining and the Ronald kids were bored. Matthew, who is 10 years old, came to his mom and asked if there was anything for him to do to earn some extra cash. His mom said that there was, he could do the dishes, fold and put away his laundry, and put away his things. Hmmmm, she thought for a bit and said that she'd give him $5.00. Matthew said, "Sweet!" and he went off to start working. The whole time he imagined himself in his yard with his remote control car. After a bit Mark, who is 8 years old, came to his mom asking a similar thing except he wanted a baseball mitt. She told him to dust and pick up his things and put them away. Mark's mom also told him he'd get $5.00. By this time it was lunch so Matt took a break to eat while Mark was just getting started after lunch. When supper time was near, little Maddie who is 4 years old, asked her mama if she could work too. her mama said sure and that she could pick up her books and place them back on the bookshelf. Maddie wanted to save for a doll. At bed time all three came looking for payment, excited about what they wanted to save the money for. Their mom gave them each a $5.00 bill. Matthew was so mad that he couldn't talk at first then he wanted to know why they were all paid the same when he clearly had worked the longest. He thought he should get more or they less. Mark had the look of confusion on his face. He wanted to know why Maddie got $5.00 when she only picked up like 3 books. Maddie was the happiest, took the $5.00 and ran to put it in her piggy bank. Their mother explained to her boys that she had given them what she had promised. That it was not their concern how she gave out allowance among them.
They way to really wrap this up would reveal too much of the Biblical version and make it easier for you to get, so I will put the point on here with the next post I write. Good luck!
To Church or Not to Church?
What if you didn't go to church for one month? What would you do? This is something that I was wondering as I was putting our son to bed tonight. It was random, but I think it stems from some things I have read from the "The Jesus I Never Knew" bookby Philip Yancey. How would you spend your time? Don't get me wrong don't stop getting together. The Bible talks of getting together with other Christian as being important (Hebrews 10:25). I am just wondering when a small part of following Christ became such a focal point. For me I sometimes find myself running around trying to get to church on time. Wed, Sun, Sun night and then anything in between. We are to be taught and to also teach, but Jesus talks of so much more than this. There's feeding those who need it, clothing, and loving your enemies. These things take much time and energy to do and do well.
BECAUSE EVERY TIME I THINK THAT I KNOW BETTER, I LOSE MY WAY,
SO GOD, WHAT YOU WANNA DO TODAY?
It not just church taking up our time either. It seems that we have put ourselves into a box. A very limited box...one with time restriction, culture restrictions, race restrictions, what is safe and not safe restrictions (like me picking up the hitch hiker = not safe). How are we to completely live a life as Jesus' if we are not open to living with others around us? Maybe we need to be interrupted doing the laundry, filing that paper, or going to an event so that we can help someone else. I mean Jesus would be interrupted many times trying to get somewhere. He never rushed though, he always helped people on the way. Once He was interrupted so much that a little girl had died. A man came to Jesus asking him to heal his daughter. On the way there he was interrupted by a woman who had a hemorrhage. This woman touch Jesus' clothes just to be healed. Jesus stopped everyone to find who had touched him and then proceeded to talk to the woman, during which a servant came and said that the little girl had died. Jesus continued on though and then brought the little girl back to life (Mark 5:21-43). This is one of my favorite accounts of Jesus.
I had a friend once tell me that everything we do needs to bring glory to God. That the things God does brings glory to Himself. He can take something bad in your life and make it good and bring glory.
In the end I am trying to live a more flowing life rather than one defined by restrictions I try to put on myself. So far I have done a so-so job of it. But when I do succeed in flowing rather than being upset at the interruption, I have the most incredible sense of peace. I ask again, what would you do with your time if it was not tied up with church, sports, tv, books, ect? How would you bring glory to God? If you find yourself rushing around, maybe you need to cut something out of your life for now. Maybe you need to try not being so set on what you are going to do in a day, but allow God to guide you. Here is a chorus from Newworldson's song "Today". This gets stuck in my head when I try to take the lead or try to grumble that my day is not going the way I want it to.
MAYBE THIS TIME YOU CAN TAKE THE LEAD,
AND I WONT TRY TO PULL YOU BY THE SLEEVE.BECAUSE EVERY TIME I THINK THAT I KNOW BETTER, I LOSE MY WAY,
SO GOD, WHAT YOU WANNA DO TODAY?
Monday, October 15, 2012
Piddly Things and Books
I really should talk about something tonight. But I am really tired. I know that the graduation party is November 17th, so I will start planning and buying things for his cake. Tomorrow our after school program starts. I am wondering how it is going to go. I am sure that I will have a lot to talk about then.
Theo has made it back to London to his family. He saw Hitler's army set Berlin on fire. It was terrible. Bodie does a great job describing what is going on. It really pulls you in. Theo's daughter. Elisa is Theo's daughter and is expecting their first child in the middle of all this chaos. She keeps having this dream of saving children from the Nazi. So is an adopted child that her and her husband have. I am wondering what they are going to do, they can't stay in London.
Well, this is a short night. Going to enjoy a video game with my hubby. Night.
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Are you satisfied with life?
So tonight we had an evening church "service". It is more like conversation with the minister, songs, and communion for anyone who may not have received any in the morning service. I got a lot from the discussion. We were in John 6. Specifically where Jesus fed the 5,000 men with only 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. At the end people keep following him for physical fulfillment, like more food, clothes, healing, water. Jesus turns around and says
"27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you..."
For the rest of the chapter Jesus pretty much tell them that only life can happen with Jesus. You can only be satisfied with Jesus. You need Him. Many people turned away from Jesus at that point. Later Jesus asks his disciples why haven't you gone and Peter replies with my husbands now favorite verse, "where will we go?"
Some questions that were posed tonight and some that I thought of were these: Why do you pursue God? How are you satisfied? What do you do to have fulfillment?
For me I sometimes pursue God to be a better mother, wife, leader, teacher. Sometimes I am satisfied when I complete a "to do" list. Sometimes I feel fulfillment when my children are obedient and my husband is relaxed. However I find myself always craving these things when I pursue these certain things. When I focus on these I get the "pulled in a million directions" feeling. It can be very overwhelming. Tonight reminded me that I pursue God, am satisfied and am fulfilled because I am a Child of God. I have all that I need and am everything (and more) in Him.
One instance recently, where I was very unsatisfied and frustrated with my forgetfulness, God showed me just how fulfilling it is to just DO what I already know. I had driven nearly 30 minutes from home with a co-worker to buy some snacks for children that attend our after-school program on Tuesdays. Well we were able to afford these said snacks because we received $100.00 in vouchers to shop at this local store. Guess what we didn't have when we got to the store..that's right, the vouchers. So I drived nearly 30 minutes back home while stayed and shopped. While driving I am talking to God about just how much I hate being forgetful. He brought to mind that I am working on giving my weakness to Him so that He can be my strength (2 Corinthians 12). I was focusing on this because I had taken on a job I think is out of my capabilities (more on this in other posts) it never occurred to me to apply this to my personal life. I said, "ok" what do you want me to do now. On the way back to the store there was a hitch-hiker in a brilliantly clean white shirt. I drove right past, then it occurred to me maybe he needed a ride. I called my husband, told him what I was thinking, then asked what I should do. He said I needed to pray about it and do what I believed He was telling me. When I hung up I realized that I didn't need to pray about this. The Bible is pretty clear, help those who need it (Matthew 25). SO I turned around and picked him up. He was trying to make it back home, lost job, etc. Nice guy. Grandparent age. On the way back to the store my hubby texted me saying that he wouldn't recommend it for my safety sake. HA, to late. When we made it back to the store road, I let him out. He just wanted me to take him as far as I could. That was his form of travel to get back home. Called hubby and told him what happened and the one thing I remember saying was that I was so satisfied to have done what I knew I should do. Living by the "world's safety" is very unsatisfying and hard. It was so freeing to just DO. I was thankful that God protected me and son as we helped him out. Our son even fell asleep through it!
Peace, protection, provider. All these things I think of when I think of this event.
So I ask again: Why do you pursue God? What do you do to have satisfaction? How are you fulfilled? I am not saying I am at this point all the time. Actually I have just made it through a week were I had the "pulled in a million directions" feeling. Tonight was a wonderful reminder that I am a Child of God. He will take care of life when I focus on my relationship with Him instead of the little things (and big things) of life.
"27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you..."
For the rest of the chapter Jesus pretty much tell them that only life can happen with Jesus. You can only be satisfied with Jesus. You need Him. Many people turned away from Jesus at that point. Later Jesus asks his disciples why haven't you gone and Peter replies with my husbands now favorite verse, "where will we go?"
Some questions that were posed tonight and some that I thought of were these: Why do you pursue God? How are you satisfied? What do you do to have fulfillment?
For me I sometimes pursue God to be a better mother, wife, leader, teacher. Sometimes I am satisfied when I complete a "to do" list. Sometimes I feel fulfillment when my children are obedient and my husband is relaxed. However I find myself always craving these things when I pursue these certain things. When I focus on these I get the "pulled in a million directions" feeling. It can be very overwhelming. Tonight reminded me that I pursue God, am satisfied and am fulfilled because I am a Child of God. I have all that I need and am everything (and more) in Him.
One instance recently, where I was very unsatisfied and frustrated with my forgetfulness, God showed me just how fulfilling it is to just DO what I already know. I had driven nearly 30 minutes from home with a co-worker to buy some snacks for children that attend our after-school program on Tuesdays. Well we were able to afford these said snacks because we received $100.00 in vouchers to shop at this local store. Guess what we didn't have when we got to the store..that's right, the vouchers. So I drived nearly 30 minutes back home while stayed and shopped. While driving I am talking to God about just how much I hate being forgetful. He brought to mind that I am working on giving my weakness to Him so that He can be my strength (2 Corinthians 12). I was focusing on this because I had taken on a job I think is out of my capabilities (more on this in other posts) it never occurred to me to apply this to my personal life. I said, "ok" what do you want me to do now. On the way back to the store there was a hitch-hiker in a brilliantly clean white shirt. I drove right past, then it occurred to me maybe he needed a ride. I called my husband, told him what I was thinking, then asked what I should do. He said I needed to pray about it and do what I believed He was telling me. When I hung up I realized that I didn't need to pray about this. The Bible is pretty clear, help those who need it (Matthew 25). SO I turned around and picked him up. He was trying to make it back home, lost job, etc. Nice guy. Grandparent age. On the way back to the store my hubby texted me saying that he wouldn't recommend it for my safety sake. HA, to late. When we made it back to the store road, I let him out. He just wanted me to take him as far as I could. That was his form of travel to get back home. Called hubby and told him what happened and the one thing I remember saying was that I was so satisfied to have done what I knew I should do. Living by the "world's safety" is very unsatisfying and hard. It was so freeing to just DO. I was thankful that God protected me and son as we helped him out. Our son even fell asleep through it!
Peace, protection, provider. All these things I think of when I think of this event.
So I ask again: Why do you pursue God? What do you do to have satisfaction? How are you fulfilled? I am not saying I am at this point all the time. Actually I have just made it through a week were I had the "pulled in a million directions" feeling. Tonight was a wonderful reminder that I am a Child of God. He will take care of life when I focus on my relationship with Him instead of the little things (and big things) of life.
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