Interesting sites, articles and encouragements.

Here goes -

The first is HERE if you are a former U.S citizen /ex-pat, and you would like some American food... fast! I often come across recipes which require ingredients which could only be purchased in the USA. The downside is the shipping costs. (I need to find out where I can purchase some A1 steak sauce for a recipe by the way! I might need to end up ordering it off here...but it is quite expensive!)

The second was prompted by a discussion long ago with a friend (You know who you are!) who likes the camping life, (and also because my husband and I were discussing a church camp-out) only a la American style, what with the CAMPFIRES and the BBQ....but obviously not the American weather. Cos we really like the weather here. Honest.

The next one is over HERE, where I discovered some pretty nifty kids projects using natural cleaning ingredients (which you might have in the house, and if you don't, I'm a new 'Soda-crystals' convert as it's got my burnt-on-food-in-pan problem sorted. This now happens frequently since No.4 came on the scene!)

The other night Ichthus held a resources evening in our church, which was surprisingly well-attended. (There are more people homeschooling in N.Ireland than I realised and it was really lovely to meet some of them. You realise you are not alone, and it's always good to compare notes!) Anyway, I purchased some charts from Doorposts. The first was a Blessing chart, then an 'If then' and a 'Brother offended' chart. We took an hour on Wednesday morning (we were all exhausted from the display the night before) and chatted about the content of all the charts. The kids faces lit up somewhat when we went through the 'Blessing Chart.' I really think I haven't been rewarding their good behaviour as much as I could (after all, God blesses us for our faithfulness and obedience) and this chart gives really practical ideas, such as rewarding diligence, cheerfulness, and kindness (especially when the parent observes a marked improvement in one of these areas) with things like an ice-cream for say, cheerfulness; special one-on-one time for the child with their parents, a chance to stay up a bit later than usual, and breakfast in bed ( yes,for the child!)among many of the suggestions! The eyes just got wider by the minute, believe me! The chart did mention that it is important to tell the child that he shouldn't desire just the reward, but the ultimate desire should be to please God. I think it will be fun to implement these ideas. Perhaps you could home in on one character trait a month, and reward accordingly if there is an obvious effort being made. Baby steps...
The main thing is that it might encourage more consistency in discipline on my part. For me, consistency is the most difficult hurdle I face, particularly when I'm tired.

Last but not least, I read (via Jess) an encouraging post on strong-willed individuals over at Steppin' Heavenward. Sometimes the blessings reveal themselves when we least expect them. Praise God for strong-willedness. It can be blessed and harnessed with lots of guidance and prayer for wisdom.