go HERE
Friday, April 30, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
i tried this! now i'm having a giveaway!
GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED
AMANDA WON!
from the website: 100% natural Shredded Coconut are made from organic dried coconuts in the Philippines that are grown with no fertilizers or pesticides. This premium dried coconut contains no additives or preservatives, and is not sweetened. Unlike most dried coconut on the market, our dried coconut products are not treated with sulfites to keep them white. They are a great addition to recipes and baking, or just for snacks! Note: The Shredded Coconut is a very small cut, suitable for baking, such as making macaroons.
i tried this shredded coconut from Tropical Traditions and i loved it!!! my daughter took on the task of making macaroons for me and WOW! did they taste fantastic. i highly recommend it :)
i also ate it by itself (the only true test for great tasting stuff lol)
seriously the price is fantastic! i was shocked that it wasn't much higher!!! i love that!!
NOW YOU GET TO TRY IT TOO!
mandatory entry-sign up for the tropical traditions newsletter
extra entry- sign up to follow me on twitter or facebook and leave your username please.
giveaway ends sunday nite.
i received one tub of shredded coconut to review and am not being paid to say anything either way.
AMANDA WON!
from the website: 100% natural Shredded Coconut are made from organic dried coconuts in the Philippines that are grown with no fertilizers or pesticides. This premium dried coconut contains no additives or preservatives, and is not sweetened. Unlike most dried coconut on the market, our dried coconut products are not treated with sulfites to keep them white. They are a great addition to recipes and baking, or just for snacks! Note: The Shredded Coconut is a very small cut, suitable for baking, such as making macaroons.
i tried this shredded coconut from Tropical Traditions and i loved it!!! my daughter took on the task of making macaroons for me and WOW! did they taste fantastic. i highly recommend it :)
i also ate it by itself (the only true test for great tasting stuff lol)
seriously the price is fantastic! i was shocked that it wasn't much higher!!! i love that!!
NOW YOU GET TO TRY IT TOO!
mandatory entry-sign up for the tropical traditions newsletter
extra entry- sign up to follow me on twitter or facebook and leave your username please.
giveaway ends sunday nite.
i received one tub of shredded coconut to review and am not being paid to say anything either way.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Friday, April 23, 2010
the government at it's finest
unbelievable. you can drink and drive or shoot heroin but don't drink something good for you.
why can't we make our own decisions? what are they so afraid of?
taken from my friend Carrie's blog Farming on Faith
Be aware.....
UDDERLY RIDICULOUS
Feds invade farm for 5 a.m. inspection
Serve warrant on farmer up to milk cows
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: April 22, 2010
10:55 pm Eastern
By Bob Unruh
© 2010 WorldNetDaily
Federal agents invaded an Amish farm in Pennsylvania at 5 a.m. to inspect cow-milking facilities then followed up the next day with a written notice that the farmer was engaged in interstate sale of raw milk in violation of the Public Health Services Act.
A failure to correct the situation could result in "seizure and/or injunction," the warning letter from Kirk Sooter, district director of the Philadelphia office of the Department of Health and Human Services, told farmer Dan Allgyer of Kinzer, Pa., on Wednesday.
The farm invaded Tuesday is the one agents visited in February, driving past "Private Property" signs to demand Allgyer open his property for their inspection, saying, "You have cows. You produce food for human consumption."
The case is being publicized by the National Independent Consumers and Farmers Association, which promotes traditional methods of linking farmers with consumers.
Spokeswoman Deborah Stockton told WND Allgyer "is the type of farmer who exemplifies what we are trying to restore." On her organization's website is the commitment "to promote and preserve unregulated direct farmer-to-consumer trade that fosters availability of locally grown or home-produced food products."
She reported she got details directly from Allgyer of Tuesday's early morning inspection, which highlights the growing conflict between farmers who want to provide health food locally and federal regulators.
Allgyer could not be reached immediately for comment.
(Story continues below)
The farmer told NICFA he came out of his house about 4:30 a.m. for his milking routine and noticed a lot of traffic on Kinzer Road.
Shortly later, the cars were coming up his lane.
"I stood back in the dark barn to see what they were going to do. They drove past my two 'Private Property' signs, up to where my coolers were, with their headlights shining right on them," Allgyer reported.
He called to the five men as they were preparing to knock on his home, where his wife and family remained asleep.
"Two were from the FDA, agent Joshua C. Schafer who had been there in February and another. They showed me identification, but I was too flustered to ask for their cards. I remember being told that two were deputy U.S. marshals and one a state trooper. They started asking me questions right away. They handed me a paper, and I didn't realize what it was," he said.
"Schafer told me they were there to do a 'routine inspection.' At 5:00 in the morning, I wondered to myself? 'Do you have a warrant?' I asked, and one of them, a marshal or the state policeman, said, 'You've got in your hand buddy.' I asked, 'What is the warrant about?' Schafer responded, 'We have credible evidence that you are involved in interstate commerce,'" the farmer reported.
WND telephone calls and e-mails to the FDA requesting comment did not generate a response.
Allgyer said he confirmed his identification but then said he wouldn't answer anything further.
He said he questioned their arrival at his farm at 5 a.m. when the warrant clearly stated it was valid during "reasonable times during ordinary business hours," but one of the agents said "ordinary business hours for agriculture start at 5 a.m."
The agents spent their time "rooting around, like a couple of pigs, in the freezer and cooler area and took many pictures," Allgyer reported.
"They came in the dark, shining bright flashlights while my family was asleep, keeping me from milking my cows, from my family, from breakfast with my family and from our morning devotions, and alarming my children enough so that the first question they asked my wife was, 'Is Daddy going to jail?'" Allgyer said.
The subsequent warning letter was an all-inclusive notice that federal regulations prohibit "the delivery into interstate commerce of milk and milk products in final package form for direct human consumption unless they have been pasteurized."
"It is your responsibility to ensure adherence with all requirements. … Failure to make prompt corrections could result in regulatory action without further notice," the letter said.
The letter directed Allgyer to notify Compliance Officer Richard Cherry of the corrections.
Stockton warned the requirement now is for federal agents to claim they have "credible evidence" regarding a case, but a proposed federal change would strike those words in the law and replace them with "reason to believe."
"The phrase 'reason to believe' would be inserted 14 times into the code with S 510," she said. "If this bill goes through, the FDA will have control of farms. They will not need 'credible evidence' to act. They will essentially be given a free hand to act as they want. And look at how they already act, even with the existing constraints in place."
Allgyer previously had told the officers that as a private farmer, he does not sell to the public.
Advocates say raw milk is healthier.
According to natural-foods blogger Kimberly Hartke, Kevin Trudeau touts raw milk in his New York Times best-seller "Natural Cures They Don't Want You to Know About," and Sally Fallon Morell's cookbook, "Nourishing Traditions," which has sold 350,000 copies.
On a forum page at Chronwatch-America.com, a participant concluded, "The food produced on that farm is probably far safer than anything you get at the grocery store."
That opinion was endorsed on the Food Freedom blog, where one participant wrote, ""Factory foods are the ones making people sick & getting recalled."
The Weston A. Price Foundation, which is among the nonprofits that educate consumers about more natural food-production methods, said demand for such products is growing.
"Raw milk … is a supremely healthy food that should be available to those who want it," said Morell, the foundation's president.
In January, Canadian farmer Michael Schmidt won a court victory when he was found not guilty of selling raw milk to members of a cow-sharing consortium.
In a previous U.S. case, Mennonite farmer Mark Nolt of Maryland had his farm raided by SWAT-type agents. He was fined more than $4,000 and had his equipment confiscated for providing unpasteurized milk to participants in his program
why can't we make our own decisions? what are they so afraid of?
taken from my friend Carrie's blog Farming on Faith
Be aware.....
UDDERLY RIDICULOUS
Feds invade farm for 5 a.m. inspection
Serve warrant on farmer up to milk cows
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: April 22, 2010
10:55 pm Eastern
By Bob Unruh
© 2010 WorldNetDaily
Federal agents invaded an Amish farm in Pennsylvania at 5 a.m. to inspect cow-milking facilities then followed up the next day with a written notice that the farmer was engaged in interstate sale of raw milk in violation of the Public Health Services Act.
A failure to correct the situation could result in "seizure and/or injunction," the warning letter from Kirk Sooter, district director of the Philadelphia office of the Department of Health and Human Services, told farmer Dan Allgyer of Kinzer, Pa., on Wednesday.
The farm invaded Tuesday is the one agents visited in February, driving past "Private Property" signs to demand Allgyer open his property for their inspection, saying, "You have cows. You produce food for human consumption."
The case is being publicized by the National Independent Consumers and Farmers Association, which promotes traditional methods of linking farmers with consumers.
Spokeswoman Deborah Stockton told WND Allgyer "is the type of farmer who exemplifies what we are trying to restore." On her organization's website is the commitment "to promote and preserve unregulated direct farmer-to-consumer trade that fosters availability of locally grown or home-produced food products."
She reported she got details directly from Allgyer of Tuesday's early morning inspection, which highlights the growing conflict between farmers who want to provide health food locally and federal regulators.
Allgyer could not be reached immediately for comment.
(Story continues below)
The farmer told NICFA he came out of his house about 4:30 a.m. for his milking routine and noticed a lot of traffic on Kinzer Road.
Shortly later, the cars were coming up his lane.
"I stood back in the dark barn to see what they were going to do. They drove past my two 'Private Property' signs, up to where my coolers were, with their headlights shining right on them," Allgyer reported.
He called to the five men as they were preparing to knock on his home, where his wife and family remained asleep.
"Two were from the FDA, agent Joshua C. Schafer who had been there in February and another. They showed me identification, but I was too flustered to ask for their cards. I remember being told that two were deputy U.S. marshals and one a state trooper. They started asking me questions right away. They handed me a paper, and I didn't realize what it was," he said.
"Schafer told me they were there to do a 'routine inspection.' At 5:00 in the morning, I wondered to myself? 'Do you have a warrant?' I asked, and one of them, a marshal or the state policeman, said, 'You've got in your hand buddy.' I asked, 'What is the warrant about?' Schafer responded, 'We have credible evidence that you are involved in interstate commerce,'" the farmer reported.
WND telephone calls and e-mails to the FDA requesting comment did not generate a response.
Allgyer said he confirmed his identification but then said he wouldn't answer anything further.
He said he questioned their arrival at his farm at 5 a.m. when the warrant clearly stated it was valid during "reasonable times during ordinary business hours," but one of the agents said "ordinary business hours for agriculture start at 5 a.m."
The agents spent their time "rooting around, like a couple of pigs, in the freezer and cooler area and took many pictures," Allgyer reported.
"They came in the dark, shining bright flashlights while my family was asleep, keeping me from milking my cows, from my family, from breakfast with my family and from our morning devotions, and alarming my children enough so that the first question they asked my wife was, 'Is Daddy going to jail?'" Allgyer said.
The subsequent warning letter was an all-inclusive notice that federal regulations prohibit "the delivery into interstate commerce of milk and milk products in final package form for direct human consumption unless they have been pasteurized."
"It is your responsibility to ensure adherence with all requirements. … Failure to make prompt corrections could result in regulatory action without further notice," the letter said.
The letter directed Allgyer to notify Compliance Officer Richard Cherry of the corrections.
Stockton warned the requirement now is for federal agents to claim they have "credible evidence" regarding a case, but a proposed federal change would strike those words in the law and replace them with "reason to believe."
"The phrase 'reason to believe' would be inserted 14 times into the code with S 510," she said. "If this bill goes through, the FDA will have control of farms. They will not need 'credible evidence' to act. They will essentially be given a free hand to act as they want. And look at how they already act, even with the existing constraints in place."
Allgyer previously had told the officers that as a private farmer, he does not sell to the public.
Advocates say raw milk is healthier.
According to natural-foods blogger Kimberly Hartke, Kevin Trudeau touts raw milk in his New York Times best-seller "Natural Cures They Don't Want You to Know About," and Sally Fallon Morell's cookbook, "Nourishing Traditions," which has sold 350,000 copies.
On a forum page at Chronwatch-America.com, a participant concluded, "The food produced on that farm is probably far safer than anything you get at the grocery store."
That opinion was endorsed on the Food Freedom blog, where one participant wrote, ""Factory foods are the ones making people sick & getting recalled."
The Weston A. Price Foundation, which is among the nonprofits that educate consumers about more natural food-production methods, said demand for such products is growing.
"Raw milk … is a supremely healthy food that should be available to those who want it," said Morell, the foundation's president.
In January, Canadian farmer Michael Schmidt won a court victory when he was found not guilty of selling raw milk to members of a cow-sharing consortium.
In a previous U.S. case, Mennonite farmer Mark Nolt of Maryland had his farm raided by SWAT-type agents. He was fined more than $4,000 and had his equipment confiscated for providing unpasteurized milk to participants in his program
Thursday, April 22, 2010
meal planning
i love moneywise mom!
this is how i do my meal planning except i shop only at walmart most of the time becuz i live in a small town. BUT i take my ads with me and ad-match for the lowest prices. combined with coupons i can save about $50 a week and sometimes more. :) i'm not the best but i am good lol walmart doesn't let me stack coupons so i miss out on that but maybe they will someday.
how do you plan your meals?
this is how i do my meal planning except i shop only at walmart most of the time becuz i live in a small town. BUT i take my ads with me and ad-match for the lowest prices. combined with coupons i can save about $50 a week and sometimes more. :) i'm not the best but i am good lol walmart doesn't let me stack coupons so i miss out on that but maybe they will someday.
how do you plan your meals?
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
My Review of Proctor Silex 6-Slice Toaster Oven
I love this toaster oven. I use it for pizzas (great for this!) and toast- which helps becuz i have 7 kids and they don't like to wait !, for tostadas, for tuna melts, for , well , everything!! i highly recommend it! it takes up less space and energy but does what a conventional oven does. Plus it just looks nice sitting on my counter :)
thank you CSN for allowing me to review this product. I did receive one of these toaster ovens for the review but I write what I think not what I'm told :)
go to csn.com for a wide selection of items.
Sue Gregg Cooking Giveaway
words actually taken from HERE (your hostess)
If you are interested in moving toward more healthy eating, I would encourage you to explore Sue Gregg’s website. Many of her recipes are available for free so that you are able to try them at home to see if your family enjoys that type of cooking.
To give you an additional jump start on healthy eating Sue Gregg will be giving one Raising Olives reader the choice of one of their introductory cookbooks.
go HERE to enter to win one!
read around on the blog too- you'll love it!!!!
If you are interested in moving toward more healthy eating, I would encourage you to explore Sue Gregg’s website. Many of her recipes are available for free so that you are able to try them at home to see if your family enjoys that type of cooking.
To give you an additional jump start on healthy eating Sue Gregg will be giving one Raising Olives reader the choice of one of their introductory cookbooks.
go HERE to enter to win one!
read around on the blog too- you'll love it!!!!
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
at close of day
tonite i am running the heater to see if that helps with my 2 little boys' croupy coughs that they only seem to have around 3 a.m EVERY NITE. yes it's "cold" here again.
i was so blessed to visit with my friend Jennie this morning.
i found THIS - a lapbooking site with a free unit study on Farmer Boy!!!!
dinner was sub sandwiches. nitrite free meat of course! (hormel makes one)
i spoke on the phone to my friend Arlene
her daughter is the one, Megan, that i asked prayers for a few days ago. she reminded me to keep defining my life by blessings.
i took a walk with all the children. i admired some jonquils in a neighbor;s garden and Jamison promptly attempted to dig them ALL up from the roots. i talked him out of it tho . poor baby- he just wanted to give mommy some pretty flowers. lol
i went to the car parts store with michael. i sat in the car at the second one we went to and promptly fell asleep!! i told you i get up at 3 a.m with little hackers!!
well not a lot to say but at least i touched base :)
oh did you know psalm 119 says we are strengthened by God's Word? look it up!
Saturday, April 17, 2010
another post
so much to say , not enough to say- so goes my blog.
i have been doing a spiritual inventory of my life and realize i have been defining myself by all my many losses. i am now trying to define myself by blessings. prayers please!
we bought a pick- up!! our neighbor sold it to us for $900!! i'm so excited! we have been a one car family for years and that has limited us greatly! now we can join the homeschool group!!!!
our other neighbor gave us a turkey! just becuz. yay!
i found a much needed rod and staff math book for only $1 at salvation army. plus a ton of books from a geography series for only 50 cents each. God is blessing our homeschooling mightily :)
my son Ben turns 17 on tuesday.
my daughter Hannah and my sons Jamison and Andrew are sick in varying degrees so please pray they get better faST.
PLEASE PLEASE keep my precious friend Megan in prayer. she is due to deliver on may 5th by c-section. her baby Addison may have down's syndrome and she definitely has several heart problems so she will need immediate surgery. PRAY LIKE CRAZY. she also has a situation with her other dd- no one to watch her while she goes to another city to deliver.
picture taken from HERE
til later
i have been doing a spiritual inventory of my life and realize i have been defining myself by all my many losses. i am now trying to define myself by blessings. prayers please!
we bought a pick- up!! our neighbor sold it to us for $900!! i'm so excited! we have been a one car family for years and that has limited us greatly! now we can join the homeschool group!!!!
our other neighbor gave us a turkey! just becuz. yay!
i found a much needed rod and staff math book for only $1 at salvation army. plus a ton of books from a geography series for only 50 cents each. God is blessing our homeschooling mightily :)
my son Ben turns 17 on tuesday.
my daughter Hannah and my sons Jamison and Andrew are sick in varying degrees so please pray they get better faST.
PLEASE PLEASE keep my precious friend Megan in prayer. she is due to deliver on may 5th by c-section. her baby Addison may have down's syndrome and she definitely has several heart problems so she will need immediate surgery. PRAY LIKE CRAZY. she also has a situation with her other dd- no one to watch her while she goes to another city to deliver.
picture taken from HERE
til later
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Passing Along
TAKEN FROM KINDRED SPIRITS
Women's Work Wednesday - Making Our Homes Candle-safe
Posted: 13 Apr 2010 10:55 PM PDT
Besides the danger of fire, could there be another hidden danger in burning candles? I learned the other day that the American Lung Association issued a warning stating that candles are fast becoming one of the most common unrecognized causes of poor indoor air quality. This is because paraffin is the predominant wax used in the candle industry. Paraffin is used in making asphalt and is the final byproduct in the petroleum refining chain.
The experts say that the soot given off from the burning of paraffin candles is the same as that given off by burning diesel fuel. Some of the air contaminants in paraffin fumes include toluene, benzene, methyl ethyl ketone (MEK), and naphthalene--substances found in paint, lacquer and varnish removers.
People should realize that most oils used in scented candles are also petroleum-based synthetics and not the natural plant-derived essential oils.
Vegetable materials such as soybean and palm are natural choices that burn clean. Soybean wax burns the cleanest of all waxes and longer than paraffin, as well as beeswax.
So I hate to be the bearer of bad news, this is another area where we must be careful.
DID YOU KNOW THAT A Subway 6″ sweet onion teriyaki chicken sandwich has 17 grams of sugar? i read this at Dr. Mercola go read other interesting facts about sugar!!
Women's Work Wednesday - Making Our Homes Candle-safe
Posted: 13 Apr 2010 10:55 PM PDT
Besides the danger of fire, could there be another hidden danger in burning candles? I learned the other day that the American Lung Association issued a warning stating that candles are fast becoming one of the most common unrecognized causes of poor indoor air quality. This is because paraffin is the predominant wax used in the candle industry. Paraffin is used in making asphalt and is the final byproduct in the petroleum refining chain.
The experts say that the soot given off from the burning of paraffin candles is the same as that given off by burning diesel fuel. Some of the air contaminants in paraffin fumes include toluene, benzene, methyl ethyl ketone (MEK), and naphthalene--substances found in paint, lacquer and varnish removers.
People should realize that most oils used in scented candles are also petroleum-based synthetics and not the natural plant-derived essential oils.
Vegetable materials such as soybean and palm are natural choices that burn clean. Soybean wax burns the cleanest of all waxes and longer than paraffin, as well as beeswax.
So I hate to be the bearer of bad news, this is another area where we must be careful.
DID YOU KNOW THAT A Subway 6″ sweet onion teriyaki chicken sandwich has 17 grams of sugar? i read this at Dr. Mercola go read other interesting facts about sugar!!
Monday, April 12, 2010
let's eat again!
mon- chicken tacos
tues- chili
wed-bbq chicken burgers
thurs-ham and corn - yes we are still eating those 89 cent a lb hams we bought a whole ton of.
fri-chicken and noodles
sat- chicken and rice
notice all the chicken? we bought it on sale again- $5 a package cheaper than normal!!
we bought half a cow too- it arrives next week and i've emptied the deep freeze. yep- we ate all the meals i had cooked and stored in there.
i've added some more beans to my emergency cabinet as well as some more soup. i try to stay away from canned goods but i am unfortunately not having a choice here lol. i want to start canning soon too. it's been years since i have done that and my hubby is good at it and he helped me so .... i need some tips everybody! i bought the homestead blessings dvd on canning- maybe that will help :)
til later :)
Sunday, April 11, 2010
i thought i would share some ways i do things round my house, if you are interested. if not you can leave now :)
this is all random so .....
i make my own household cleaners, unless i win them! (which i have several times!!) anyway, when i make my own i mix vinegar and water half and half for all purpose cleaning every room. i pour vinegar and baking soda in the commode and let it's fizzing action do it's thing. voila!
i make my own detergent - see sidebar- and use vinegar for a fabric softener.
i make my own dishwasher detergent - see sidebar- and use vinegar as a rinse agent.
for cleaning carpets- pour baking soda down and let it absorb odors (not that i have ever had an odor in my house!) and then vacuum. for cleaning with a carpet cleaner instead of buying the chemical laden cleaner use dishwashing soap and water! original blue dawn ranks highest :)
vinegar and water is the best window and mirror cleaner. read the back of the newest window cleaners- they use vinegar with chemicals added to it. use newspaper instead of a cloth or paper towels. no lint that way :)
i run vinegar thru a coffeemaker just as i would make a pot to clean it out once a month.
my go to meal- chicken tacos. i keep a list of 40 meals in my household binder so i can just take a look and pick a week's worth of meals at a glance. no thinking involved lol. but remember to be flexible! check out the sales too- they are not always listed in ads becuz they are clearance items. getting a deep freeze was a fantastic buy for me!
i keep a pot of coffee brewing all day and a pitcher of tea ready in case i get guests.
if you really want paper towels instead of cloth towels then try buying a package of napkins and using them. you get the same amount of paper for 1/3 less!
frame your child's drawing! this makes personal art rather than storebought ones and it'll thrill your child.:)
another cute idea- string a cord up from one end of the room to another and use plastic clothes pins to hang up their pics for a week, then change for the next week.
don't forget to scan them into your computer so you can keep a copy forever.
a little cinnamon in your coffee tastes good and helps lower your blood pressure.
closet door missing? hang a curtain rod up and add a pretty cloth shower curtain up in it's place. don't ask me how i know :)
again, original blue dawn dishwashing liquid makes a fantastic oil remover on jeans. dh swears by it!
i spray the shower down when i get out of it so i clean it daily . beats waiting for others to do it.
when i learn i will get guests soon and i haven't prepared i make banana bread really fast :) always keep strawberries on hand too , when the season allows, for a "fancy" easy snack for guests.
a neat breakfast idea that shows some thought but not much effort- (my fav kind!!!)-- acorn squash sliced in half and sprinkled with brown sugar and butter, baked at 350 for 20 min.
i love to give baskets as gifts. sometimes it's a movie nite basket- a gift card for blockbuster or an actual dvd, a gift card for pizza hut, a bottle of soda, and large candy bar. sometimes it's a teaparty basket-a teacup, a box of herb tea, a fancy napkin, a candle,and a few other take care of yourself items. or a pasta nite basket. spaghetti , sauce, a spaghetti spoon, an apron (NOT one from my collection :) )all in a colander/bowl. get original! a diaper bag filled with goodies for that baby shower at church? a makeup bag filled with the latest shades for a sweet sixteen party?
a letter writing basket - with stamps!- for that someone who has loved ones far away ( for those who still delight in actual letters.) a coffee basket - what a great idea for someone to send to me!!!
do you make icecubes from tea and coffee? i do so that when i use them and they melt they don't change the taste of the beverage. all right, sometimes i do!
garlic butter makes for a nice change for your italian bread and cinnamon butter for your toast .
make your own toothpaste. no more dangerous fluoride! :)
i know there are more but i need to vacuum up a mess my kids just made so ......
til next time :)
this is all random so .....
i make my own household cleaners, unless i win them! (which i have several times!!) anyway, when i make my own i mix vinegar and water half and half for all purpose cleaning every room. i pour vinegar and baking soda in the commode and let it's fizzing action do it's thing. voila!
i make my own detergent - see sidebar- and use vinegar for a fabric softener.
i make my own dishwasher detergent - see sidebar- and use vinegar as a rinse agent.
for cleaning carpets- pour baking soda down and let it absorb odors (not that i have ever had an odor in my house!) and then vacuum. for cleaning with a carpet cleaner instead of buying the chemical laden cleaner use dishwashing soap and water! original blue dawn ranks highest :)
vinegar and water is the best window and mirror cleaner. read the back of the newest window cleaners- they use vinegar with chemicals added to it. use newspaper instead of a cloth or paper towels. no lint that way :)
i run vinegar thru a coffeemaker just as i would make a pot to clean it out once a month.
my go to meal- chicken tacos. i keep a list of 40 meals in my household binder so i can just take a look and pick a week's worth of meals at a glance. no thinking involved lol. but remember to be flexible! check out the sales too- they are not always listed in ads becuz they are clearance items. getting a deep freeze was a fantastic buy for me!
i keep a pot of coffee brewing all day and a pitcher of tea ready in case i get guests.
if you really want paper towels instead of cloth towels then try buying a package of napkins and using them. you get the same amount of paper for 1/3 less!
frame your child's drawing! this makes personal art rather than storebought ones and it'll thrill your child.:)
another cute idea- string a cord up from one end of the room to another and use plastic clothes pins to hang up their pics for a week, then change for the next week.
don't forget to scan them into your computer so you can keep a copy forever.
a little cinnamon in your coffee tastes good and helps lower your blood pressure.
closet door missing? hang a curtain rod up and add a pretty cloth shower curtain up in it's place. don't ask me how i know :)
again, original blue dawn dishwashing liquid makes a fantastic oil remover on jeans. dh swears by it!
i spray the shower down when i get out of it so i clean it daily . beats waiting for others to do it.
when i learn i will get guests soon and i haven't prepared i make banana bread really fast :) always keep strawberries on hand too , when the season allows, for a "fancy" easy snack for guests.
a neat breakfast idea that shows some thought but not much effort- (my fav kind!!!)-- acorn squash sliced in half and sprinkled with brown sugar and butter, baked at 350 for 20 min.
i love to give baskets as gifts. sometimes it's a movie nite basket- a gift card for blockbuster or an actual dvd, a gift card for pizza hut, a bottle of soda, and large candy bar. sometimes it's a teaparty basket-a teacup, a box of herb tea, a fancy napkin, a candle,and a few other take care of yourself items. or a pasta nite basket. spaghetti , sauce, a spaghetti spoon, an apron (NOT one from my collection :) )all in a colander/bowl. get original! a diaper bag filled with goodies for that baby shower at church? a makeup bag filled with the latest shades for a sweet sixteen party?
a letter writing basket - with stamps!- for that someone who has loved ones far away ( for those who still delight in actual letters.) a coffee basket - what a great idea for someone to send to me!!!
do you make icecubes from tea and coffee? i do so that when i use them and they melt they don't change the taste of the beverage. all right, sometimes i do!
garlic butter makes for a nice change for your italian bread and cinnamon butter for your toast .
make your own toothpaste. no more dangerous fluoride! :)
i know there are more but i need to vacuum up a mess my kids just made so ......
til next time :)
Friday, April 9, 2010
read this!!!
Microchipping To Begin In 36 Months
Under New Health Bill
taken from HERE
The new Health Care Bill, H.R. 3200, just passed by Congress has within it the requirement that all people thereunder shall be microchiped. The plans for this microchipping has been in the hooper going back to December of 2004.
Witness the actual FDA (Food and Drug Administration) document dated December 10, 2004 entitled “Class II Special Guidance Document: Implantable Radiofrequency Transponder System for Patient Identification and Health Information. This ten page document may be read on the FDA website at
http://www.fda.gov/downloads/MedicalDevices/DeviceRegulationandGuid...
Now witness the wording within H.R. 3200, “America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009” found on Congresses’ House Ways and Means website,
http://waysandmeans.house.gov/media/pdf/111/AAHCA09001xml.pdf
On page 1001 is “Subtitle C – National Medical Device Registry” which states,
“The Secretary shall establish a national medical device registry (in this subsection referred to as the ‘registry’) to facilitate analysis of postmarket safety and outcomes data on each device that … is or has been used in or on a patient…”
In other words, everyone microchipped pursuant to the new Health Care Bill must be registered with the Secretary. The “Secretary” is defined as the Secretary of Health and Human Services.
The date by which this registry is to begin is mandated on page 1006, which is 36 months after the Health Bill becomes law.
(2) EFFECTIVE DATE. – The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall establish and begin implementation of the registry under section 519(g) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, as added by paragraph (1) by not later than the date that is 36 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, without regard to whether of not final regulations to establish and operate the registry have been promulgated by such date.
Therefore, under the law of H.R. 3200 recently passed by Congress, microchipping of Americans must begin by the year 2013.
I cite to my often quoted Biblical Scripture in Revelation 13:16 and 17, “And he [the AntiChrist] causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”
Numerous times I have stated that our current Income Tax system shall be replaced with a tax upon all trade, and that everyone will have automatically deducted from every transaction of buying and selling a tax. But this tax is not the significant part. Along with this government-granted “privilege” of buying and selling, will be the required worship of the Man of Sin, that every knee shall bow and that every tongue shall confess that he is god to the glory of himself. Those refusing shall be certainly executed post haste!
Now you know what is behind the new Health Bill, H.R. 3200.
Under New Health Bill
taken from HERE
The new Health Care Bill, H.R. 3200, just passed by Congress has within it the requirement that all people thereunder shall be microchiped. The plans for this microchipping has been in the hooper going back to December of 2004.
Witness the actual FDA (Food and Drug Administration) document dated December 10, 2004 entitled “Class II Special Guidance Document: Implantable Radiofrequency Transponder System for Patient Identification and Health Information. This ten page document may be read on the FDA website at
http://www.fda.gov/downloads/MedicalDevices/DeviceRegulationandGuid...
Now witness the wording within H.R. 3200, “America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009” found on Congresses’ House Ways and Means website,
http://waysandmeans.house.gov/media/pdf/111/AAHCA09001xml.pdf
On page 1001 is “Subtitle C – National Medical Device Registry” which states,
“The Secretary shall establish a national medical device registry (in this subsection referred to as the ‘registry’) to facilitate analysis of postmarket safety and outcomes data on each device that … is or has been used in or on a patient…”
In other words, everyone microchipped pursuant to the new Health Care Bill must be registered with the Secretary. The “Secretary” is defined as the Secretary of Health and Human Services.
The date by which this registry is to begin is mandated on page 1006, which is 36 months after the Health Bill becomes law.
(2) EFFECTIVE DATE. – The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall establish and begin implementation of the registry under section 519(g) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, as added by paragraph (1) by not later than the date that is 36 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, without regard to whether of not final regulations to establish and operate the registry have been promulgated by such date.
Therefore, under the law of H.R. 3200 recently passed by Congress, microchipping of Americans must begin by the year 2013.
I cite to my often quoted Biblical Scripture in Revelation 13:16 and 17, “And he [the AntiChrist] causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”
Numerous times I have stated that our current Income Tax system shall be replaced with a tax upon all trade, and that everyone will have automatically deducted from every transaction of buying and selling a tax. But this tax is not the significant part. Along with this government-granted “privilege” of buying and selling, will be the required worship of the Man of Sin, that every knee shall bow and that every tongue shall confess that he is god to the glory of himself. Those refusing shall be certainly executed post haste!
Now you know what is behind the new Health Bill, H.R. 3200.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Wendy Won!
Wendy won the teeth cleaners giveaway!! i have emailed her already :) thanks to all who entered!
Friday, April 2, 2010
Clean Teeth the Healthy Way.
I was thrilled to try these teeth cleaners from Tropical Traditions.
Did I like these? Yes I did! and so did all of my family. What did we like about them?
How they left our teeth feeling smooth and clean. :)
Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil is the main ingredient. This is a good thing! This 100% natural cleaner for your teeth contains no fluoride and no foaming agents such as SLS.
Would you like to win 3 bottles of Tropical Tradition Teeth Cleaners?
one in cinnamon, one in mint and one classic.
Just sign up for Tropical's newsletter
want a second chance at winning?
start following my giveaway blog, where i announce other giveaways i find around the web. just head over there, click to follow and come back here and tell me you did. :)
that's it! oh this giveaway ends on Tuesday and your email must be in your comment or easy to find in your profile. :)
and ya know what- i won these teeth cleaners in another giveaway so i wasn't compensated in any way for this! ~smile~
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Top Five REasons Not to Send Your Kids Back to Govt. School
from Voddie Baucham Ministries
Top Five REasons Not to Send Your Kids Back to Govt. School
Anyone who has kept up with my blog knows that I am no fan of government education. I have made it a point to carry The Continuing Collapse on a regular basis, and I try to make biblical, philosophical and theological arguments in favor of Christian education as often as possible. However, I recognize the obstacles those of us on my side of the street face. As many as eighty-five to ninety percent of professing Christians send their children to the government for their education. That is simply an astonishing figure considering the fact that the Christian community fought mandatory government education tooth-and-nail for it’s first fifty years of existence. Since then we have gone from fighting against government schools to fighting for them and implying that those who fight against them are fundamentalists, anti-intellectuals, and racists.
In the meantime, our schools grow progressively worse. Well, as we begin this summer, I want to appeal to those of you with children in government schools. Please don’t send them back! I beg you to consider what you are doing. As Dave Black has written:
No academic skepticism, no secularist authors, no blatant materialism can so undermine the spiritual life of the country like the completely secularized training of the child under the authority of the state... Bible-based education is mandatory for Christian parents. If we think we can keep our children in a secular school system and escape the dumbed-down, amoral, and immoral results of secular humanism in schools, we are sorely mistaken (emphasis added, see: http://daveblackonline.com/our.htm).
With that, here are the top five reasons not to send your kids back to government school next year:
5. YOU DON’T HAVE TO
This may sound like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how many people ask home educators the “authority” questions (i.e., to whom do your report? who approves your curriculum?). These questions are the byproduct of statism. The Gramscian, neo-Marxist influence is so prevalent in our culture that we don’t even recognize it anymore. We actually believe that children are wards of the state when in fact they are not. As a result, some people have a hard time believing that they have the right to educate their children in a manner of their choosing. Well, I’m here to tell you that you are free. Your children are yours. They do not belong to Caesar. You don’t have to take them back to the local government indoctrination center next semester. And in some states (thank God for Texas), you don’t even have to tell them you’re not coming back!
4. AMERICA’S SCHOOLS ARE AMONG THE WORST IN THE INDUSTRIALIZED WORLD
One of the issues that many Christians seem willing to ignore is the fact that sending children to American schools represents extremely poor stewardship. American students continually rank at the bottom in math, science and reading compared to other industrialized nations (see here). That’s right, our educational system is among the world’s worst! Of course everyone says, “Our schools are different.” News flash... that’s a lie!
One of our elders taught honors math at one of the “best schools” in one of the “best school districts” in Texas (you know, one of those schools people lie and cheat to get their children into so that they can get a better education). His advanced geometry class was filled with a bunch of imbeciles who could barely do basic arithmetic. As a result, most of them failed their first major test. You know what happened next. That’s right, the principal called him into the office and told him to make things right. One of the things he was told to employ was a grading technique called “Square root times ten.” Thus, a student who made a 49 on a test ended up with a 70 in the grade book (for those of you who went to government schools like me, that’s the square root of 49 times ten).
This is what’s happening at our “best” schools. Don’t believe me? ask a college admissions worker how many students coming from our “best” schools with grade point averages hovering near 4.0 need remediation when they get to college. It’s an absolute joke. The overwhelming majority of children in our schools have a B average or above (mostly for self esteem reasons), which serves to give them and their parents a false sense of achievement. It also results in people who ‘feel really good’ about their schools.
Please don’t buy the lie. Your child’s school is probably terrible. If you really care about the stewardship of you child’s mind, don’t send them back to the worst schools in the industrialized world next year.
3. AMERICA’S SCHOOLS ARE MORALLY REPUGNANT
The headlines speak for themselves. Student-teacher sex scandals, student-student sex, immodesty, foul language, drugs, alcohol, radical homosexual agendas, teachers taking students for abortions, “sexting” leading to suicide, sexually transmitted diseases, brutal beatings, and school shootings (see here). These are just some of the headlines that have become the norm. And that does not include things like cheating, disrespect for authority, impropriety towards the opposite sex, and other moral behaviors children learn regularly and repeatedly in school. Van Til said it better than I ever could:
“Non-Christian education puts the child in a vacuum…. The result is that child dies. Christian education alone really nurtures personality because it alone gives the child air and food…. Modern educational philosophy gruesomely insults our God and our Christ. How, then, do you expect to build anything positively Christian or theistic upon a foundation which is the negation of Christianity and theism?…. No teaching of any sort is possible except in Christian schools.”
Moreover, the system itself is funded by virtual theft. Homeowners are forced under threat of the loss of their property to pay for the education of other people’s children. How is that appropriate? The government tells everyone that they have to send their children to school, then tells homeowners that they are going to be the ones to foot the bill whether they like it or not. Not only is this a form of welfare, it is also a form of theft.
For those of you ready to read me the riot act and yell and scream about paying for roads and bridges, hold on a minute. Why is it that we get all up-in-arms about our tax dollars being used to fund abortions (while our opponents make the roads and bridges argument), but we don’t see this one? Our schools are morally repugnant. They are also neo-Marxist, secular humanist indoctrination centers. Why should I as a Christian be forced to pay for children to have every vestige of Christianity beaten out of them? Americans are not forced to pay for Mormon schools, or Muslim schools; why should we be forced to pay for neo-Marxist schools (remember, all education is religious in nature)? And why should any Christian contribute to such a system by sending their children to such schools at the expense of others? And before you yell, “I’m just using the tax dollars I spent,” ask yourself if you’re willing to take advantage of all that abortion funding going to Planned Parenthood, or those tax dollars going toward fetal stem cell research.
2.
2.GOVERNMENT EDUCATION IS ANTI-CHRISTIAN
“I am as sure as I am of Christ’s reign that a comprehensive and centralized system of national education, separated from religion, as is now commonly proposed, will prove the most appalling enginery for the propagation of anti-Christian and atheistic unbelief, and of anti-social nihilistic ethics, individual, social and political, which this sin-rent world has ever seen.”
-A.A. Hodge
Jesus made it quite clear when he said, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” (Matthew 12:30 ESV) I am amazed at how many Christians refuse to acknowledge this fact as it relates to the government school system. Our education is either based on biblical truth, or some other truth. There is no such thing as neutrality in this regard. All education is religious in nature. Since it is illegal for students in our government schools to be taught from a Christian perspective, then it follows that they must be taught from a non (or anti) Christian perspective.
As Hodge pointed out, the result of non-Christian education is anti-Christian education. Government schools must be anti-Christian. They can be nothing else. Therefore, to send a child to a government school is to have them trained in an anti-Christian environment for 14,000 instructional hours. To get that much instruction from church a child would have to attend two hours a week for one hundred and forty years!
1. THE BIBLE COMMANDS CHRIST-CENTERED EDUCATION
“This whole process of education is to be religious, and not only religious, but Christian…. And as Christianity is the only true religion, and God in Christ the only true God, the only possible means of profitable education is the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”
-Charles Hodge
I recognize that educational antinomianism is the norm in the modern American church. According to the common refrain, “It doesn’t matter what educational choice you make... you just have to pray about it and do what the Lord leads your family to do.” However, I must confess I find this this concept disturbing on a number of fronts. First, this kind of thinking denies the sufficiency of Scripture. The Bible speaks either directly, or principially to every aspect of life. There are no grey areas. Sure, there are things that are difficult to discern, but education is not one of them. Though you won’t find the word ‘education’ in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, there are a number of passages that speak directly to the issue of training ourselves and our children intellectually, spiritually, philosophically and morally (See Deut. 6:6,7; Prov. 1:7; Eph. 6:4, etc). We also have numerous warnings against allowing others to influence us intellectually, spiritually, philosophically, and morally (Psalm 1; Rom. 12:1,2; 2 Cor. 6:14ff; Col. 2:8, etc.).
Second, this line of reasoning smacks of mysticism. Instead of making an argument with an open Bible we dismiss all opposition with the flippant, trite, overused, and theologically problem-laden phrase, “we prayed about it and this is what the Lord told us to do.” The lord ‘has spoken’. (Heb. 1:1-2) We are not awaiting new revelation. Instead of doing what the Lord ‘told us’, Christians are commanded to do what the Lord ‘has told us’ in his Word. The London Baptist Confession speaks to this matter rather poignantly:
The Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving Knowledge, faith and obedience; Although the light of Nature, and the works of creation and providence do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom and power of God, as to leave men unexcusable [sic.]; yet are they not sufficient to give that knowledge of God and His will, which is necessary unto salvation. Therefore it pleased the Lord at sundry times, and in divers manners, to reveal himself, and to declare that His will unto his Church; and afterward for the better preserving, and propagating of the truth, and for the more sure establishment, and comfort of the Church against the corruption of the flesh, and the malice of Satan, and of the World, to commit the same wholly unto writing; which maketh the Holy Scriptures to be most necessary, those former ways of Gods revealing his will unto his people being now ceased.
The Cambridge Declaration states:
We reaffirm the inerrant Scripture to be the sole source of written divine revelation, which alone can bind the conscience. The Bible alone teaches all that is necessary for our salvation from sin and is the standard by which all Christian behavior must be measured. We deny that any creed, council or individual may bind a Christian's conscience, that the Holy Spirit speaks independently of or contrary to what is set forth in the Bible, or that personal spiritual experience [i.e., “the Lord told me”] can ever be a vehicle of revelation.
There’s enough here for an entire series of posts (so many posts... so little time), but for now let me simply say that the “the Lord told me” line of argumentation has serious theological problems. We must make our educational decisions with an open Bible. “The Lord told me” is no substitute for “the Bible says...” Please don’t make a decision about your child’s education without consulting (and obeying) the Scriptures.
This week the SBC hornet’s nest is being stirred up again over the education issue. The last time this happened I was beyond embarrassed as I listened to my esteemed colleagues make illogical, unscriptural, cowardly arguments for “not giving up on ‘our’ schools.” How I long for voices like Hodge, Van Til, and Machen (who called government education a “soul-killing system”) to be heard among my brethren. However, with over eighty-five percent of our children in the government schools and more government school teachers and administrators than any other “denomination”, it is highly unlikely that our side will prevail on this issue any time soon. One wonders what the schools will have to do to our children before we are willing to acknowledge the folly of our choices. In the meantime, I will continue to watch, fight, and pray, and try to convince as many of you as I can to liberate your children from Caesar’s indoctrination camps.
I have quoted John Wesley on this issue in previous posts. However, his words are far too pertinent for me to ignore on this issue:
“Let it be remembered, that I do not speak to the wild, giddy, thoughtless world, but to those that fear God. I ask, then, for what end do you send you children to school? “Why, that they may be fit to live in the world.” In which world do you mean, — this or the next? Perhaps you thought of this world only; and had forgot that there is a world to come; yea, and one that will last for ever! Pray take this into your account, and send them to such masters as will keep it always before their eyes. Otherwise, to send them to school (permit me to speak plainly) is little better than sending them to the devil. At all events, then, send your boys, if you have any concern for their souls, not to any of the large public schools, (for they are nurseries of all manner of wickedness,) but private school, kept by some pious man, who endeavours to instruct a small number of children in religion and learning together.”
I can’t help but wonder if people called Wesley divisive or extremist for making the aforementioned comments. Perhaps not. Perhaps they simply said, “That may be right for you, but it’s not what the Lord told us to do.”
Top Five REasons Not to Send Your Kids Back to Govt. School
Anyone who has kept up with my blog knows that I am no fan of government education. I have made it a point to carry The Continuing Collapse on a regular basis, and I try to make biblical, philosophical and theological arguments in favor of Christian education as often as possible. However, I recognize the obstacles those of us on my side of the street face. As many as eighty-five to ninety percent of professing Christians send their children to the government for their education. That is simply an astonishing figure considering the fact that the Christian community fought mandatory government education tooth-and-nail for it’s first fifty years of existence. Since then we have gone from fighting against government schools to fighting for them and implying that those who fight against them are fundamentalists, anti-intellectuals, and racists.
In the meantime, our schools grow progressively worse. Well, as we begin this summer, I want to appeal to those of you with children in government schools. Please don’t send them back! I beg you to consider what you are doing. As Dave Black has written:
No academic skepticism, no secularist authors, no blatant materialism can so undermine the spiritual life of the country like the completely secularized training of the child under the authority of the state... Bible-based education is mandatory for Christian parents. If we think we can keep our children in a secular school system and escape the dumbed-down, amoral, and immoral results of secular humanism in schools, we are sorely mistaken (emphasis added, see: http://daveblackonline.com/our.htm).
With that, here are the top five reasons not to send your kids back to government school next year:
5. YOU DON’T HAVE TO
This may sound like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how many people ask home educators the “authority” questions (i.e., to whom do your report? who approves your curriculum?). These questions are the byproduct of statism. The Gramscian, neo-Marxist influence is so prevalent in our culture that we don’t even recognize it anymore. We actually believe that children are wards of the state when in fact they are not. As a result, some people have a hard time believing that they have the right to educate their children in a manner of their choosing. Well, I’m here to tell you that you are free. Your children are yours. They do not belong to Caesar. You don’t have to take them back to the local government indoctrination center next semester. And in some states (thank God for Texas), you don’t even have to tell them you’re not coming back!
4. AMERICA’S SCHOOLS ARE AMONG THE WORST IN THE INDUSTRIALIZED WORLD
One of the issues that many Christians seem willing to ignore is the fact that sending children to American schools represents extremely poor stewardship. American students continually rank at the bottom in math, science and reading compared to other industrialized nations (see here). That’s right, our educational system is among the world’s worst! Of course everyone says, “Our schools are different.” News flash... that’s a lie!
One of our elders taught honors math at one of the “best schools” in one of the “best school districts” in Texas (you know, one of those schools people lie and cheat to get their children into so that they can get a better education). His advanced geometry class was filled with a bunch of imbeciles who could barely do basic arithmetic. As a result, most of them failed their first major test. You know what happened next. That’s right, the principal called him into the office and told him to make things right. One of the things he was told to employ was a grading technique called “Square root times ten.” Thus, a student who made a 49 on a test ended up with a 70 in the grade book (for those of you who went to government schools like me, that’s the square root of 49 times ten).
This is what’s happening at our “best” schools. Don’t believe me? ask a college admissions worker how many students coming from our “best” schools with grade point averages hovering near 4.0 need remediation when they get to college. It’s an absolute joke. The overwhelming majority of children in our schools have a B average or above (mostly for self esteem reasons), which serves to give them and their parents a false sense of achievement. It also results in people who ‘feel really good’ about their schools.
Please don’t buy the lie. Your child’s school is probably terrible. If you really care about the stewardship of you child’s mind, don’t send them back to the worst schools in the industrialized world next year.
3. AMERICA’S SCHOOLS ARE MORALLY REPUGNANT
The headlines speak for themselves. Student-teacher sex scandals, student-student sex, immodesty, foul language, drugs, alcohol, radical homosexual agendas, teachers taking students for abortions, “sexting” leading to suicide, sexually transmitted diseases, brutal beatings, and school shootings (see here). These are just some of the headlines that have become the norm. And that does not include things like cheating, disrespect for authority, impropriety towards the opposite sex, and other moral behaviors children learn regularly and repeatedly in school. Van Til said it better than I ever could:
“Non-Christian education puts the child in a vacuum…. The result is that child dies. Christian education alone really nurtures personality because it alone gives the child air and food…. Modern educational philosophy gruesomely insults our God and our Christ. How, then, do you expect to build anything positively Christian or theistic upon a foundation which is the negation of Christianity and theism?…. No teaching of any sort is possible except in Christian schools.”
Moreover, the system itself is funded by virtual theft. Homeowners are forced under threat of the loss of their property to pay for the education of other people’s children. How is that appropriate? The government tells everyone that they have to send their children to school, then tells homeowners that they are going to be the ones to foot the bill whether they like it or not. Not only is this a form of welfare, it is also a form of theft.
For those of you ready to read me the riot act and yell and scream about paying for roads and bridges, hold on a minute. Why is it that we get all up-in-arms about our tax dollars being used to fund abortions (while our opponents make the roads and bridges argument), but we don’t see this one? Our schools are morally repugnant. They are also neo-Marxist, secular humanist indoctrination centers. Why should I as a Christian be forced to pay for children to have every vestige of Christianity beaten out of them? Americans are not forced to pay for Mormon schools, or Muslim schools; why should we be forced to pay for neo-Marxist schools (remember, all education is religious in nature)? And why should any Christian contribute to such a system by sending their children to such schools at the expense of others? And before you yell, “I’m just using the tax dollars I spent,” ask yourself if you’re willing to take advantage of all that abortion funding going to Planned Parenthood, or those tax dollars going toward fetal stem cell research.
2.
2.GOVERNMENT EDUCATION IS ANTI-CHRISTIAN
“I am as sure as I am of Christ’s reign that a comprehensive and centralized system of national education, separated from religion, as is now commonly proposed, will prove the most appalling enginery for the propagation of anti-Christian and atheistic unbelief, and of anti-social nihilistic ethics, individual, social and political, which this sin-rent world has ever seen.”
-A.A. Hodge
Jesus made it quite clear when he said, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” (Matthew 12:30 ESV) I am amazed at how many Christians refuse to acknowledge this fact as it relates to the government school system. Our education is either based on biblical truth, or some other truth. There is no such thing as neutrality in this regard. All education is religious in nature. Since it is illegal for students in our government schools to be taught from a Christian perspective, then it follows that they must be taught from a non (or anti) Christian perspective.
As Hodge pointed out, the result of non-Christian education is anti-Christian education. Government schools must be anti-Christian. They can be nothing else. Therefore, to send a child to a government school is to have them trained in an anti-Christian environment for 14,000 instructional hours. To get that much instruction from church a child would have to attend two hours a week for one hundred and forty years!
1. THE BIBLE COMMANDS CHRIST-CENTERED EDUCATION
“This whole process of education is to be religious, and not only religious, but Christian…. And as Christianity is the only true religion, and God in Christ the only true God, the only possible means of profitable education is the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”
-Charles Hodge
I recognize that educational antinomianism is the norm in the modern American church. According to the common refrain, “It doesn’t matter what educational choice you make... you just have to pray about it and do what the Lord leads your family to do.” However, I must confess I find this this concept disturbing on a number of fronts. First, this kind of thinking denies the sufficiency of Scripture. The Bible speaks either directly, or principially to every aspect of life. There are no grey areas. Sure, there are things that are difficult to discern, but education is not one of them. Though you won’t find the word ‘education’ in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, there are a number of passages that speak directly to the issue of training ourselves and our children intellectually, spiritually, philosophically and morally (See Deut. 6:6,7; Prov. 1:7; Eph. 6:4, etc). We also have numerous warnings against allowing others to influence us intellectually, spiritually, philosophically, and morally (Psalm 1; Rom. 12:1,2; 2 Cor. 6:14ff; Col. 2:8, etc.).
Second, this line of reasoning smacks of mysticism. Instead of making an argument with an open Bible we dismiss all opposition with the flippant, trite, overused, and theologically problem-laden phrase, “we prayed about it and this is what the Lord told us to do.” The lord ‘has spoken’. (Heb. 1:1-2) We are not awaiting new revelation. Instead of doing what the Lord ‘told us’, Christians are commanded to do what the Lord ‘has told us’ in his Word. The London Baptist Confession speaks to this matter rather poignantly:
The Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving Knowledge, faith and obedience; Although the light of Nature, and the works of creation and providence do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom and power of God, as to leave men unexcusable [sic.]; yet are they not sufficient to give that knowledge of God and His will, which is necessary unto salvation. Therefore it pleased the Lord at sundry times, and in divers manners, to reveal himself, and to declare that His will unto his Church; and afterward for the better preserving, and propagating of the truth, and for the more sure establishment, and comfort of the Church against the corruption of the flesh, and the malice of Satan, and of the World, to commit the same wholly unto writing; which maketh the Holy Scriptures to be most necessary, those former ways of Gods revealing his will unto his people being now ceased.
The Cambridge Declaration states:
We reaffirm the inerrant Scripture to be the sole source of written divine revelation, which alone can bind the conscience. The Bible alone teaches all that is necessary for our salvation from sin and is the standard by which all Christian behavior must be measured. We deny that any creed, council or individual may bind a Christian's conscience, that the Holy Spirit speaks independently of or contrary to what is set forth in the Bible, or that personal spiritual experience [i.e., “the Lord told me”] can ever be a vehicle of revelation.
There’s enough here for an entire series of posts (so many posts... so little time), but for now let me simply say that the “the Lord told me” line of argumentation has serious theological problems. We must make our educational decisions with an open Bible. “The Lord told me” is no substitute for “the Bible says...” Please don’t make a decision about your child’s education without consulting (and obeying) the Scriptures.
This week the SBC hornet’s nest is being stirred up again over the education issue. The last time this happened I was beyond embarrassed as I listened to my esteemed colleagues make illogical, unscriptural, cowardly arguments for “not giving up on ‘our’ schools.” How I long for voices like Hodge, Van Til, and Machen (who called government education a “soul-killing system”) to be heard among my brethren. However, with over eighty-five percent of our children in the government schools and more government school teachers and administrators than any other “denomination”, it is highly unlikely that our side will prevail on this issue any time soon. One wonders what the schools will have to do to our children before we are willing to acknowledge the folly of our choices. In the meantime, I will continue to watch, fight, and pray, and try to convince as many of you as I can to liberate your children from Caesar’s indoctrination camps.
I have quoted John Wesley on this issue in previous posts. However, his words are far too pertinent for me to ignore on this issue:
“Let it be remembered, that I do not speak to the wild, giddy, thoughtless world, but to those that fear God. I ask, then, for what end do you send you children to school? “Why, that they may be fit to live in the world.” In which world do you mean, — this or the next? Perhaps you thought of this world only; and had forgot that there is a world to come; yea, and one that will last for ever! Pray take this into your account, and send them to such masters as will keep it always before their eyes. Otherwise, to send them to school (permit me to speak plainly) is little better than sending them to the devil. At all events, then, send your boys, if you have any concern for their souls, not to any of the large public schools, (for they are nurseries of all manner of wickedness,) but private school, kept by some pious man, who endeavours to instruct a small number of children in religion and learning together.”
I can’t help but wonder if people called Wesley divisive or extremist for making the aforementioned comments. Perhaps not. Perhaps they simply said, “That may be right for you, but it’s not what the Lord told us to do.”
Another Quickie
Pro 29:15 The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.
could this describe latchkey kids? hmmmm if no one is there to discipline a child think what could happen.
could this describe latchkey kids? hmmmm if no one is there to discipline a child think what could happen.
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