Jean's Jems

Organizing for the New School Year

I was having a conversation with a fellow Mom yesterday, and as we were talking I mentioned that I have several schedules for getting ready in the morning for school. She suggested that I pass on these ideas, so here you are. Now before I get into the details, I do need to let you know that my close friends say that I am a bit of an organizing enthusiast. Anyway…when I was getting ready last year to start my 5 year old daughter off to a full day kindergarten, I knew that without some structure to our mornings, we would be in for a rough year. First off, I am not a morning person, so every bit of help in the morning is welcome. I am fortunate that my husband goes to work very early, so he is up and gone before either myself or my daughter are up, and I only have one child to get going. This eliminates much of the morning confusion that I hear about from my fellow moms. I do believe that these ideas would work well with a full household, too.

So, as I thought about what we needed to do in the morning, I came up with 3 basics: get my daughter dressed for school, get her breakfast and get her snack/lunch ready to take with her. This sounds easy enough. For a day or two, it is. For 200 days [Sep-June; M-F] this was going to be less than fun. So…with my organizing brain in gear, I created 3 schedules.

The 1^st was clothes for school. Together with my daughter, we created 10 school outfits and made a 2-week – Mon-Fri schedule and posted it on her closet door. We even included what shoes and how to wear her hair. Every night before bed we hung out the next day’s outfit all ready for the morning. This worked very well. I always knew that the clothes she needed were clean and ready and there were no morning “disagreements’ on what she was to wear to school.

The 2^nd schedule I created was for breakfast. This may seem silly to some of you, but remember I am not a morning person and deciding between eggs and Captain Crunch uses up those valuable morning minutes. Anyway…I made a weekly schedule for breakfast – again together with my daughter we created 5 nourishing breakfasts.

3^rd and lastly we created a weekly schedule for school snacks/lunches and after-school snacks. I put these together on one schedule and we posted it on the pantry cabinet door.

I have to say…these worked FABULOUSLY. I am just now getting ready to revise last year’s schedules for this fall. You can make this a fun family project, too. Put the schedules on a larger sheet of paper or poster board and let the kids decorate it.

I hope that this gives you some good ideas for your household. I would love to hear any stories that you would like to share and or ideas that you have to help keep your family organized.

God Bless, Jean.

A Devotion by Vicki Bentley

A Prayer of Worship

You and I breathe without really thinking about it unless we are stressed physically or emotionally. The Apostle Paul exhorts us to, “pray without ceasing.” How does anyone really do that? Reading through the New Testament you get a glimpse. I think it culminates in Romans 12:1-3 when Paul exhorts “Present your body as a living sacrifice which is your reasonable service…” The entire chapter is a primer for living, breathing prayer. To go along with that thought I wanted to share a prayer from 31 Days of Praise by Ruth Myers.

Lord, I’m Yours. Whatever the cost may be, may Your will be done in my life. I realize I’m not here on Earth to do my own thing, or to seek my own fulfillment or my own glory. I’m not here to indulge my desires, to increase my possessions, to impress people, to be popular, to prove I’m somebody important, or to promote myself. I’m not here even to be relevant or successful by human standards. I’m here to please You.

I offer myself to You, for You are worthy. All that I am or hope to be, I owe to You. I’m Yours by creation, and every day I receive from You life and breath and all things. And I’m Yours because You bought me, and the price You paid was the precious blood of Christ. You alone, the Triune God, are worthy to be my Lord and Master. I yield to You, my gracious and glorious Heavenly Father; to the Lord Jesus who loved me and gave Himself for me; to the Holy Spirit, and His gracious influence and empowering.

All that I am and all that I have I give to You. I give You any rebellion in me that resists doing Your will. I give You my pride and self-dependence that tell me I can do Your will in my own power if I try hard enough. I give You my fears that tell me I’ll never be able to do Your will in some areas of my life. I consent to let You energize me…to create within me, moment by moment, both the desire and the power to do Your will. I give You my body and each of its members…my entire inner being; my mind, my emotional life, my will…my loved ones…my marriage or my hopes for marriage…my abilities and gifts…my strengths and weaknesses…my health…my status (high or low)…my possessions…my past, my present and my future…when and how I’ll go Home.

I’m here to love You, to obey You, to glorify You. O my Beloved, may I be a joy to You!

Our Father in heaven sees you through eyes of love – so much so that He sent His only begotten Son. Don’t you think that He wants to hear your voice in worship and petitions? It is our part to sing unto the Lord whether it be praise or sorrow and then…to listen because He has so much to share with each of us personally, intimately, passionately.

His View with Kathy Priest

Are You Contagious?

Do people want what you have? Can people catch what you have? Do you bless or blast? If we are the only Bible some people will ever read then what are they reading in you? We were made by God to love Him and to love others. Finding a way to express that love is the question.

I have found if you listen to a person long enough you will hear a need. That’s the time to ask God, “How can I be a part of meeting this need?” People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care!

How can I be so full of Jesus that it spills all over on them? I John 3:16 says, “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”

We want to share Christ in a practical manner. When you are at the grocery store you can let someone in line ahead of you. As you walk through a door at the bank you can hold open that door. You can smile and compliment someone for doing a good job. You can make such a difference in people’s lives by simply saying “now what would Jesus do and what would He say”?

Just like a moth is drawn to the light so it is when the world sees that there is something different about us and the way we treat people. Have you heard that what you are doing is speaking so loud I can’t hear what you are saying?

We need to show people that God loves them! When you are transparent the love of the Lord shines through and the Bible says, “By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (Jn.13:35)

Remember, we live in a world with lost and hurting people. Be Jesus with skin on! Listen with compassion. Be His eyes, ears, hands, feet, and remember to brighten your face and smile! Yes! You are contagious!

A Sweet Reminder

This is such a powerful witness that we HAD to share it with you. Some of you may have seen this already, but each time you watch it, you see something new. Amazing grace, how sweet it is!!

Cardboard Testimonies:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvDDc5RB6FQ

A Devotion by Vicki Bentley

Rest

Children are such a picture to me of God’s best. Curled on a chair in the waiting room of the outpatient clinic, a sweet little girl of four or five slept peacefully in the early morning. Her arms and legs were wrapped around her to keep her warm and to help her fit snugly in the small space. She looked like a puppy between her Grandmother and her Grandfather. Neither of them even glanced at the child as one awaited surgery and the other busied himself with papers and books. I watched, wondering what their story might be.

The nurse came out and called the Grandmother in; the Grandfather started to rise and then sat again remembering his charge. The woman looked back as the girl stirred, looking startled. Their eyes met a moment and that was all. She threw her arm out, laying her head on the chair where the woman had just been seated. She closed her eyes with determination. The man quietly looked on.

As I waited for my friend this scene unfolded and I continued to watch thinking, “he should comfort this child. He should do something.” Soon the girl was fully awake. Still there didn’t seem to be any outward bond of affection between these two.

Then the picture became clear. She stood up, went over, and began rummaging through a bag that sat at his feet. He watched, finally reaching in to help find the treasures she sought; her workbook and a fistful of markers. She situated herself next to him again on her chair and set about working. Figuring out each problem, she spoke out loud, having a conversation with herself, loud enough for everyone close to hear. At a certain point, this little dark haired cherub with brown saucer eyes reached over and touched her Grandfather’s arm smiling. He looked up from his book and smiled back.

No words, no embraces, but with one touch and a smile the two showed without question there was love, trust – relationship – a place of safety and peace. Just as quickly she went back to conversation song, working on her important task, and he to his book while they waited with confidence for grandmother to come back “all fixed.”

As I prayed for my friend who was in surgery, I had a confidence that this was a picture of how God cares for us. We are the children who are so busy “working on our tasks.” I think that is why Jesus tells us in the Gospel of Mark that we must have the faith of a little child to enter the kingdom of heaven.

“In quietness and confidence shall be your great strength” Isaiah tells us in chapter 30:15. The nurse appeared again in the door and we all looked up. This time it was time for me to go and see for myself that “everything was all right.” My friend sat in a chair sipping coffee, a big clear patch over her eye. We looked at each other and smiled. God is good!

His View with Kathy Priest

God Has Got a Plan

My plan was to make it through the next weekend alive and hope my family survived. Yelling, screaming, beatings, and visits from the local police. That was pretty much the plan. Then one day, our neighbor lady, named Muriel, took pity on a 14 year old girl and invited me to church.

There for the first time I heard God had a plan! One verse would forever change my life. John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Wow! God had a plan! The police couldn’t save me but God had a plan! Even before I was formed in my mother’s womb God had a plan.

My circumstances had not changed but I did! I said yes to His plan! Now I could go to sleep without fear. My sins were washed away and He took all my guilt and shame. Now I had a best friend I could totally trust and count on to be there for me. Now I had eternal security!

Quite simply He spoke to me and said, “Kathy I have a plan!” If you will open this book which is my love letter to you then I will reveal my plan. Jesus loves me and has a wonderful plan for my life and yours! Jer. 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans of peace and not evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

When I met Gary at a youth group, he became my first and only boyfriend. What I first noticed about him was he loved to laugh. I had spent much of my childhood crying so I just wanted to laugh. There he sat on a bundle of hay just laughing all by himself! I decided I wanted what he was having. God loves to see His children laugh. Laughter doeth good like a medicine. (Prov.15:13 LB) It has been 43 years since that day and he still makes me laugh!

My plan was to marry and have kids but God had another plan. Sometimes we make our own plans and then ask God to bless it. It was 12 years of being sterile and going to a fertility specialist before learning we would never have children. The death of that vision led us back to church where we rededicated our lives to the Lord and said God YOU have a plan even though we are sterile and we step into that plan. Whatever YOU want to do with our lives we say yes!

Just 6 weeks later God healed the barren womb and I became a mom and delivered a beautiful baby boy named Austin. God had a plan and His timing is perfect! He is never late or early because the plan of God is perfect! God can do anything! Matt. 19:26 says “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”