Let's Get Real About Responsibility {Free Chore Charts}

     Today I have some wonderful free printables to help you as you teach your children about responsibility. As our children grow, we need to give them chores that are age appropriate.  This will help them to understand that with privilege comes responsibility.  Their chores should change as they get older and obtain more privileges.  

     In our home chores must be done decently and in a timely manner in order for them to receive privileges such as tech time.  If they do not take their responsibilities seriously, they do not get time to play on their computers/tablets or time to watch television. It is their choice!  I use to nag them to get their chores done, but now I just give one gentle reminder then they have a choice to make.  They can do their job and get a privilege, or they can choose to be irresponsible and lose their privileges for the day.  I want them to learn there is consequences to their actions. 

    I have made these chore charts for you to save and print out for your kiddos.  I hope they help as you train your children to be responsible young people.  

     Just right click on any image below and choose "save image as",  then you can print the chart from your computer any time you want.  Feel free to take as many images you want!  

Are You Teaching Your Children To Pray?

     As a young mom I failed to teach my children to pray. I didn't realize the importance of actually sitting with them each day and praying with them. We would always pray before meals, but I feel that just became a habit and not a real time of talking with our Heavenly Father.

     Now we take time to pray as a family and I encourage my children to pray in their personal devotional time.  We have talked about how we should pray and that it should be from the heart.  I have also taught them that they need to pray for others.  They understand that prayer is not a time to just ask God for things they want, but a time to thank Him for all He has done and given to them.

   As I hear them pray, I see them growing spiritually and it brings joy to my soul.  It's hard not to cry when I hear them spilling their hearts to their Creator.  I rejoice in the knowledge that they love Jesus and it is what I am most thankful for.  

     I have made a couple of prayer journals for your kiddos to use during their times of prayer.  It helps guide them as they are learning and helps them keep track of who needs prayer each day.  I hope they are a blessing for you and your family. 

       To download one or both prayer journals, please click on the links under the images 😊

  

A Prayer Journal For Girls

A Prayer Journal For Boys

My Goals for 2018

     I have been contemplating what my goals for 2018 would be for the last couple of weeks.  I wanted to make a list of things I could personally work on in my day to day life.  I will print these and place them in my planner to remind myself every day of what I want to change in the new year.  These are not goals that are unattainable.  They are practical and will change my life in a positive way.  

     My first goal is to spend more time with my family.  I want to spend quality time with them.  No distractions like my phone, computer, television or my mind wandering to a million other things I need to do.  I want to focus on them. I don't want to miss out on what they are saying or doing.  Life is going by so fast.  I feel like if I don't purposely make time to be with my family, life will keep me from just being with them. I don't want to be remembered as the mom who was there, but not really there.  Does that make sense? 

     My second goal is to enjoy the little things more. I want to take in all the blessings I have been given.  I want to be more content with the wonderful life God has given to me.  I have so much to be thankful for.  Even the small things like a warm blanket on a cold winter's day is something to be so grateful for. I don't want to take anything for granted. 

     Next, I want to stop stressing about what I can not control.  Why waste precious time worrying about things I can't change?  I need to rest in the Lord and allow Him to be in control.  I don't need to fret about every little thing that comes against me. I need to pray more and worry less!!!

     Last but not least, I want to be more creative. As a perfectionist I tend to hold back in this area because what I try to create may not be "perfect".  I have to let my hair down so to speak and just try! I won't allow my need for perfection to keep me from being creative.  From painting to writing, I am going to let my heart take over and use my imagination to create new things.  I won't be fearful of it not being perfect.  

     So what are your goals for 2018? Do you have a few things you would like to work on in the new year? I would love to hear some of your goals.  Just comment below with how you are going to spend 2018. 

Food Friday: Our Favorite Winter Soups

     My favorite part of cold winter days is cooking hot soups in our crock pot and making homemade bread to go along with them.  My family has a couple of favorites that we would love to share with you today. 

     This is our Vegetable Beef Stew/Soup. The difference between a soup and a stew is consistency. Stews have less liquid than soups. What I like about this one is you can make this one as a thick stew or a soup.  I also like the fact that you can add what vegetables your family likes.  We add onions, carrots, potatoes, mushrooms and celery to ours.  So here is the recipe that you can start with and change up for your needs. 

•   2 to 3 pounds of beef stew meat cut into 1 inch squares.
•  1/4 cup of flour
•  1/8 tsp of salt
•  1/4 tsp of pepper
•  1/2 tbsp of minced garlic
•  1 tsp of paprika
•  1 tsp of worcestershire sauce
•  3 cups of beef broth (less if you want your soup to be thick like a stew)
•  3 to 4 medium potatoes cut into cubes
•  1 medium onion
•  8 oz. of mushrooms (fresh is best)
•  4 sliced carrots
•  1 stock of celery

   

     Place meat in crock pot. Add the flour, salt, pepper, and paprika then gently stir until meat is covered with the dry ingredients. Add the rest of your ingredients one at a time and stir until well mixed.  Turn your crock pot on high and allow to cook for 6 hours.  You can cook this on low for 10 to 12 hours if needed.  

     Our other favorite is Potato Soup.  You can find the recipe to this amazing soup here. The only thing we change is using hash browns instead of cubed potatoes.  It makes preparation a little easier.

     I usually pair these recipes with homemade rolls or bread.  It makes the meal so good!

     What is your favorite soup recipe?  I would love to hear from you!!!!  

Halfway There.....

     I still can't believe it is 2018! It seems like life is passing by more quickly these days.  Is it just me or do you feel the same way?  

    I was making out our schedule for this week and realized we are a little over halfway through our school year. It seems just like yesterday I was picking out our curriculum and filling out the paperwork for our state. 

     So I was thinking about our progress so far and I am actually really happy with what we have accomplished.  The kids have been working hard and we are not behind. We are actually ahead in a few subjects. That is not the norm for us so I am excited! Usually by this time of year I am scrambling to make up days that we missed due to illness, unforeseen events, or just life that get us off track. 

     As I sat with my planner, I started to wonder what we did differently this time and I have to say the only thing we changed was our approach to our days.  Instead of following a very rigid schedule, we have had a more relaxed agenda. We knew what needed to be achieved each week and we worked towards that goal.  We looked at the task in front of us and kept our focus.  We took one day at a time and didn't sweat the small stuff. 

     This new way of thinking was not easy for me at first. As a planner, I like having everything scheduled. I like knowing exactly what is going to be going on each and every day.  I love charts with time slots that are filled in with what we will be doing each minute of the day, but that wasn't working for us.  It had no flexibility.  The kids felt too restrained. 

     With our new agenda, we have more time for creativity in our day.  Those time slots were keeping us from enjoying our day and rushing through subjects we would rather spend more time on. It's important not to hurry our children too much.  They need time to explore the subjects the love and may need more time to finish the ones they are struggling with.  I never realized how much stress my time limits caused until I saw how relaxed the learning in our home is today.  I always thought they would help us get our stuff done, but that was not the case.  

      What does your day look like?  Are you too rigid in your planning? Could you be more relaxed with your schedule?  These are all good questions I wish someone would have asked me years ago. 

      I would encourage you to sit down and look at your day to day plans and make sure they are working for you and your family.  Your agenda may be too strict or even too relaxed.  Pray about what could make things better.  Keeping peace in our homes is the key to a healthy and happy atmosphere for our children to learn in.  

God Has a Good Plan For You! {Free Coloring Pages}

     

     Do you suffer with anxiety? Do you get stressed out? I know I have days when I feel overwhelmed and need some down time to relax.  

    Coloring is a very relaxing activity and I wanted to make some special coloring pages that will not only help you to relax but will remind you that it's important to trust in God as we live our lives from day to day.   As we surrender to Him, we will see good things happen in our lives. 

     As we begin the new year,  it is the perfect time to get your priorities back on track and start anew. When we put God first, it helps us to rely on Him instead of ourselves. Our stress levels begin to drop.  Begin this process by taking time to read God's Word and pray each day.  You can use these coloring pages to get you started with your daily devotions.  I suggest memorizing these scriptures and repeating them to yourself when you start to feel anxious. 

      I have made it easy for you to download each image, or a pdf of all the images.  Just hover over the image you would like to save, right click, and choose "save image as...", then you can print the individual images.  

     

For a PDF of the coloring pages, just click on the link below:

Inspirational Coloring Pages

Enjoy!!!!

What is Your Word for 2018?

     Do you have a certain word or attribute that you will focus on in the new year? As I prayed about what my focus would be in 2018, I was given the word Hope.  It's a special word in our home as it is the name of our youngest daughter. I believe this word will help me remember that in all circumstances I have HOPE! This is because my hope is in the Lord not in the things or people of this world.  

     The Biblical definition of hope is to trust in, wait for, look for, or desire something or someone; or to expect something beneficial in the future. Even when things are falling down all around me, I have hope.  Hope that my future is in God's hands.  I trust in Him and Him alone.  

      I have quite a few verses that will help remind me of my word for 2018, but my favorite one is Romans 15:13. This verse says:  "I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit."

      What a powerful verse! God is our source of HOPE! If we place our trust in Him, we will never lose HOPE! Isn't that incredible news?  I know it brings joy and peace to my soul.  I will not fear for I have a God who loves me and will never fail me. 

     I would love to hear your word for 2018.  If you feel like sharing please comment and let me know what you will be focusing on this year.  

    

      May God bless you and your family this year and beyond.