Pray for Jerusalem's peace Monday, September 7, 2009

Psalm 122

A Pilgrim Song of David

^1-2 When they said, "Let's go to the house of God,"
my heart leaped for joy.
And now we're here, O Jerusalem,
inside Jerusalem's walls!

^3-5 Jerusalem, well-built city,
built as a place for worship!
The city to which the tribes ascend,
all God's tribes go up to worship,
To give thanks to the name of God—
this is what it means to be Israel.
Thrones for righteous judgment
are set there, famous David-thrones.

^6-9 Pray for Jerusalem's peace!
Prosperity to all you Jerusalem-lovers!
Friendly insiders, get along!
Hostile outsiders, keep your distance!
For the sake of my family and friends,
I say it again: live in peace!
For the sake of the house of our God, God,
I'll do my very best for you.

Hello everyone!

I’m looking at the date today and I know it’s almost time to head back to work, schedules and school for the kids. My computer time will be limited, so I thought I’d get some more blogging in before all that begins. I’m going to try to keep it up at least once maybe twice a week, but remember when I started this journey I said that too. LOLLLL Life and mommyhood gets in the way sometimes.

So I head back to work Tuesday for in-services, meetings and professional development. Yippee. Actually, I am starting to get bored and being bored is NOT for me. I like to keep busy – not stressed – but busy.

The girls start back on Wednesday. They are excited too. I have to pick up a few more things before then, but all in all they are pretty ready. In the last week or two they have really been on each other’s nerves. It’s time to jump back into a routine.

My goal today is get our schedule written up, menus planned and etc. and get it posted on the fridge. It’s the best way for us all to keep track of what’s going on. I believe it’s better for the kids to know what’s going on with them when they are at gramma’s and I’m at school and dad’s at work.

I think it’s more secure for kids to know what to expect and when, especially when it comes to the family and their day to day lives. Lack of knowledge leads to insecurity. And I prefer the schedule, it helps me get things off my mind. Does everything always stay the same way? Nope. Is the schedule rigid? Nope. When you have 3 kids – nothing is ever written in stone. Schedules are best when seasoned with a little bit of flexibility and winging it.

Now changing the subject to what God has been speaking to me. For the last 2 days I’ve been meditating on the scripture Zephaniah 3: 17 The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." The Hebrew word for “rejoice” actually means to dance OVER YOU with singing. So beautiful is the theme that the Father would dance over us. What peace and rest to know that the God of all Heaven is looking down upon up and rejoicing in the dance over us.

It’s my prayer that you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior. That you’ve said Lord, I know you died for my sins, you’ve washed me clean and made me a new creature. Lord I know you rose again and because of you I will live forever more. (John 3:16) And having that knowledge of being secure that you will live forever -- for all of eternity with the Creator of the universe, brings about a peace.

A blessed peace. A blessed assurance. A peace that surpasses any kind of understanding that you have. He created you. You are skillfully and wonderfully made. You are His handiwork and are perfect. His love for you knows no bounds. He looks down upon you and just rejoices over you with dance and singing. What a wonder. What a security. What a peace. Oh what love He has for you.

God has been faithful in my life. He is doing miraculous things each day. And each day, I say, “one step at a time”. In His will. In His way we move out. Sometimes you have to wonder about that peace that surpasses all understanding. Sometimes I say Lord, shouldn’t this bother me more? LOLLL I can just see the smile on His face. Because that peace – that peace that we can’t even comprehend – is there. His grace has poured out such a peace and victory in my life that it could only be God.

Each and every day his mercies are new. Each and every day there has been a miracle. And that I do not say lightly. Each day there literally has been a miraculous event. I’ve already seen one this morning. I am determined to walk in His will according to His timing. Are you determined? What is the attitude of your heart?

The Father is looking for the pure beauty of a broken spirit and a contrite heart. He’s looking for vessels that will walk out on the water into a sea of living by faith. Where are you at today?

Is your vision clouded? Or do you have a genuine desire to seek the Lord? Is your desire to really and truly allow Him to do HIS will? Don’t submit to the bondage of jealously, control and “religiousness”. Be willing to allow the Lord to speak directly into your life and be willing to let Him make the changes.

Afterall, He’s still looking down upon you with a smile as he rejoices and dances over you……

Hugggz,

Kristy~!

My Beloved lyrics

Kari Jobe

You're My Beloved

You're My Bride

To sing over you is My delight

Come away with Me My love

You're Beautiful to Me

So beautiful to Me

Under My mercy

Come and wait

Till we are standing face to face

I see no stain on you

My child

You're Beautiful to Me

So Beautiful to Me

I sing over you My song of peace

Cast all your care down at My feet

Come and find your rest in Me

I'll breathe My life inside of you

I'll bear you up on eagle's wings

And hide you in the shadow of My strength

I'll take you to My quiet waters

I'll restore your soul

Come rest in Me and be made whole

You're My beloved

You're My Bride

To sing over you is my delight

Come away with me my love

A little more rambling about school and etc. Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Morning all!

Well, allergy season is upon us, the ragweed is in full bloom! Three out of five of us are on allergy meds, oh the joy! Hello ragweed and pollen count of 9.7 LOLLL. My sinuses feel like they are exploding! Baaaabooommmmm.

A great big thank you to all of you who understood about my closing and rearranging some of my groups. It's nice to see you all over on the recipe site. Which has now become 437 members strong! I love to see you all posting and sharing. I know God has wanted me to pair down and rearrange, and it's worked beautiful -- all the Glory is His!

Now on to what's up with me. I started back to grad school Monday and Tuesday evening. Monday's class was "ehhhh" . It was more like she was teaching to undergrads. It's not like I disliked the professor or the subject, but most grad classes are geared to a greater level of responsibility and respect. She wants a quiz each week to see if we've done the reading -- huh???? This is not Psych 101 -- it's a master's level class. Bury me with reading and work, test me, give me my A and let me go. So I don't know it's just weird. Maybe it's me, maybe I'm making a judgment too soon, we shall see. I'll have to give it some more time to see how things pan out. Not to mention, suck it up and just do it LOL.

Last night's class was a little better. I love the professor. I had her this summer. Although, this is a cross referenced class with undergrads. So there are a handful of grads and about 25 undergrads whispering, chatting. laughing and texting during the class. Alright I know, my attitude stinks, but technically some of them could be my kids and I want to say -- be respectful, stop texting, shut up and listen. I'm here to learn, hush it I paid $2,200 dollars for this class.

And before anyone questions me -- no I don't dislike undergrads. LOL But I've been there done that and have moved on. I'm in a different place in the life and learning and I love the usual small group, intensive classes that are usually what grad level courses are. It just so happens that I've landed in 2 classes this semester that -- well -- aren't that.

That's about it for right now....I've given Katie her own blog so I'm going to help her upload a new template! Maybe more later, we'll see.

Remember God is a good God out to do you good! He's in control and if you keep yourself purely walking in His will He will show Himself strong!

Hugggz,

Kristy~!

Calling it Forth! Updates and What God's Saying Saturday, August 29, 2009

Hello all!

What a nice Saturday morning it's been. Didn't sleep much last night, but today has been a good morning. Kenny is working 10 hours overtime at a golf tournament. My mom and dad took the kids to a new grocery store in the area while I'll worked on the computer.

The girls got a "make your own" pizza kit. So they came home and did that. And while that was baking we all sat around the computer and learned sign language. LOL They think it's neat. I'm using this year while teaching. It incorporates different types of learning -- and I think the kids will really enjoy it. It's called using multiple intelligences. Different people learn differently, so offer up as many opportunities to learn as you can in as many different ways.

I think the sign language will be fun for phonics time. Of course these are kindergarten age children so they will be focusing on letter recognition, sound recognition, sequencing -- and I think the sign's will be a nice addition and a new way to think about phonics.

The girls are doing great. They love cheer leading and doing the cheers over and over and over. Did I say over and over? LOLLLL They've had games the past 2 Sunday's so we've not been to church. The first was their first away game so we didn't want to miss that; last week's was their first home game and we couldn't miss that. This week a great friend of mine is having her baby christened so we'll be attending her church and reception following. It should be a nice day. Then we'll go to a local church for Sunday evening service. I'll be thankful when I get to church Sunday night -- I hate to feel like life gets in the way of attending church.

We are still in a transition time here, waiting on God for direction. I will say though, for me, God has been so close and faithful. I can feel His breath. He's an amazing God. God has been speaking about opening a church where we can just worship with abandon the way we were created too. This week we'll purchase a keyboard and continue moving out slowly one step at a time. In God's timing, in His will and way with us following His lead.

There should be no jealousy, no misunderstanding, no fear of man, no condemnation from others in this venture. Our goal and hearts are pure -- Worshiping Messiah with abandon. I have no fear. I'm fully blessed each day as God exposes to us His will one step at a time.

I've been looking for a meeting place since the middle of June. We have found one, but haven't felt that 'peace' just yet. So we continue looking. Friday night, Saturday, Sunday, whatever, wherever -- just a nice room where we can come together as a body to worship.

The other night as I lay awake at 4 a.m. I began praying for direction as to where God would have us meet. I was praying and thinking about the streets and buildings of the local towns asking God to point us in the directions He would have us go. And after about an hour I heard God say so very clearly, don't just keep asking for direction as where to meet, that has already been determined, just call it forth.

So I said, okay Lord if that is Your will. I began "calling it forth." "Lord, I call forth that room -- that meeting place that you've determined. I release it from the heavenlies. Lord I call forth that which you've already ordained as ours. Lord in faith I call it forth!!!!" Oh what a time of prayer and warfare it was. God is so good -- we just need to listen. He says, "call it forth." I "call it forth." And believe. The rest is up to Him. God is good.

Hugggz,

Kristy~!

John 11:39-44 Contemporary English Version

Then he told the people to roll the stone away. But Martha said, "Lord, you know that
Lazarus has been dead four days, and there will be a bad smell."

⁴⁰Jesus replied, "Didn't I tell you that if you had faith, you would see the glory of God?"

⁴¹After the stone had been rolled aside, Jesus looked up toward heaven and prayed, "Father, I thank you for answering my prayer. ⁴²I know that you always answer my prayers. But I said this, so that the people here would believe that you sent me."

⁴³When Jesus had finished praying, he shouted, "Lazarus, come out!" ⁴⁴The man who had been dead came out. His hands and feet were wrapped with strips of burial cloth, and a cloth covered his face.

Jesus then told the people, "Untie him and let him go."

Site Changes and Closings Monday, August 17, 2009

Hello everyone!

After much thought and prayer, I've decided to make some major changes to my lists. These changes do not come lightly, but rather as an attempt to refocus and get some of my "paperwork" things in line and where I believe God wants them. After all, it is my hearts desire to follow after the Lord and His will for my life.

A few months back, maybe even a year, I did a "pruning" and incorporated, rearranged or discontinued some of my lists. So now, once again, we are going to have some changes.

1. The Joyfilled Friends Group -- It's been months and months that we have not had any real "conversation". I post scripture daily, but there remains no interaction. And that is okay. Although recently Tammy has given it a go -- thanks Tammy. Sometimes it's just time for things to end or "be still." I did mention I believe twice to our members to give me a shout out as to their opinion. Several of you wanted to remain open, but yet we never seem to get more than 1 or 2 people posting. Currently, we have 41 members and really there is no activity. And rather than be bound by guilt of keeping it open, I believe it's time to happily release JoyFilled to the Lord and close.

2. The Frugal Friends Group -- Thanks to Starla and 2 or 3 others this list has continued to run. I have not even posted any freebies in ages. A ginormous thanks to those of you who have continued to search for those good freebie finds. Years ago, the freebies and frugal postings were on the Kitchen Korner list. That is where it will be found again. There is a good amount of mail on this, so you may want to go on daily digest.

Having said that, all of you are welcome to the Kitchen Korner List at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Kristys_Kitchen_Korner When this list first began, we incorporated prayer requests, frugal finds and etc. Rather than have everything all separated, we are again to incorporate all the lists back into the Kitchen Korner. Feel free to join. Feel free to post. Feel free to tell your friends.

Right now I am toying with changing the name of the Kitchen Korner, to the Korner Kafe -- however, I've had the Kitchen Korner name forever and I'm being a little sentimental about it. It also worries me about our 425 members that have the address already in their address books and it would have to be changed. So this is still something I'm thinking on.

Anywho, if you have any questions, please feel free to email me at lollipopdreamz@gmail.com and I'll be happy to answer them. Again, please jump over to the Kitchen Korner list as we will all meet you back over there and continue to share friendship, recipes, frugal ideas, freebies and more. The site address again is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Kristys_Kitchen_Korner

This is a great time for all our lists to come back to where we first began. God is good.

Hugggz and God bless!

Kristy~!

How I Take Care of Hermit Crabs Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Howdy!

I've had a bunch of people asking about taking care of hermit crabs. So I decided to do a full post to keep in the archives. I'll just bullet point what I believe is important and if you all have, questions, let me know and I'll be happy to answer more.

1. Proper tank. I recommend a glass aquarium with a lighted hood and a piece of plexiglass with holes drilled in it for proper ventilation (or saran wrap) to cover to hold in the humidity. If the hood is pretty secure and holding in the humidity you may not need the plexiglass.

There used to be the theory that you need 1 gallon of "tank" per crab. Now I look at it more about how much room do they have due to the different size and shapes of tanks. I've had 7 in a 20 gallon and just decided to start another tank because I have 1 very large crab and he is in need of more space.

2. Humidity/Temperature gauge. You can get these at the local pet store for about $10 or sometimes on amazon.com for much cheaper. The best thing you can do for your crabs is to check that gauge and keep the humidity correct to make sure they are "breathing" properly. If the humidity is low, spray the top of the hood with some dechlorinated water.

3. Heater. You can get a small reptile aquarium heater at most pet stores. (Although, amazon can be cheaper.) They are sticky and can be placed on the side or underneath the tank. Mine is on the side as my tank is sitting on a stand and I did not want the heater compressed between the stand and the tank. You probably won't need it in the spring/summer or depending upon where you keep your crabs. (Which should not be in front of a window, because you can't control the amount of heat the tank gets from the sunlight, in my opinion.)

4. Substrate. This amounts to the type of medium you use in your tank. I use a combination playsand and areas of coconut fiber and moss. The playsand I purchase at Wal-Mart or Home Depot for between $3 and $5 dollars. Last week it was a giant bag for $3.42.

Some people use all coconut fiber (called Eco Earth). I like the combination. The all coconut one bothers me because it's the same color as their "droppings" which I think is totally disgusting because I can't fully clean it each day. However, the crabs absolutely love it. So I offer different areas with different substrates.

My main tank is full of playsand which was moistened with dechlorinated water. Like beach sand. On their second or third level I'll use a container of coconut fiber or more likely and cheaper spanish moss (found at the dollar store as long as it's all natural). They love it....especially the moss. It's cheap and after a week or two, I throw it out and put in another handful.

Your playsand should be twice as deep as your largest crab. Mine is actually a little deeper because as I do my daily cleanings, I remove a smidge of sand. So if my hermit crab is 4 inches high, I need at least 8 inches of sand.

5. Water. You must offer 2 types of water. A container of fresh dechlorinated water, a container of OCEAN salt water. You can use any type of water dish, turned over shell, cleaned and sanitized plastic lid for the fresh water. You can buy tap water conditioner/dechlorinator at Walmart or a pet store. Lasts forever. I make up a quart at a time and use it over a week or two.

As for the salt water, I think it's a big waste to buy the hermit crab salt sold in pet stores. The container is too small and it's not good value for money. I recommend OCEAN sea salt. You can purchase it at a pet store, the sales people will swear to you you won't need that much -- and you won't -- the amount will last FOREVER. Just mix it according to the directions. I mix a quart at a time. It is offered in a separate dish. Never ever use table salt, it contains iodine and is not good for them.

This dish should be deep enough for them to get into to moisten themselves and fill their shell. If you have a 1 or 2 inch crab you it should be just deep enough to get in, easy enough to get out, like the depth of a peanut butter lid.

6. Baths. This is a topic that most people have their own opinion on. Here's mine. The crabs need salt water -- if you offer salt water in the tank they shouldn't need a bath. However, I'm a freak about making sure we don't get mites, so every once in a while, perhaps, once every 2 weeks, less in the winter I do give them a bath.

How do you give a hermit crab a bath? Take a plastic container (I designate a specific crab only container) and pour in about 1 inch of salt water. I gently take the crab and put it in the water upside down. Most crabs will immediately flip over. If they don't I give them like 2 seconds and flip them over myself. This is kind of an in the water and immediately out thing. Once out of the water, I put them in a box lined with paper toweling they can crawl around on and dry off. During this time I put in lots of shells because they get real active after a bath and it's a great "shell changing" time.

7. Food. There are two ways to do on this. You can either use pellets from the pet store ground up -- or just feed them what you would eat less any salt or seasonings. There are some great resources out there if you just google hermit crab safe foods. Mainly I steer away from garlic, onions, seasonings and any salt. They need carotene and calcium. Here is a site with some great easy reading information: http://hermit-crabs.com/

I give them fresh food daily -- although some people feed their crabs only every other day. The theory behind feeding them every other day is that on the second day they are to forridge and "clean" the tank of any bits they've hidden. I try to always offer a veggie, protein and fruit. Whatever's around. Although I keep shrimp and scrambled eggs in the freezer to make it fast. For example, last night they had shrimp, blackberries and lettuce. Some people grind everything up. My opinion is if a hermit crab were on a beach, would the food be ground up? No, it would just be laying there.

I also mix up my own dry food a batch at a time and keep it in the freezer. I use organic coconut, flax seed, wheat germ, brown rice, oatmeal, cooked and cleaned egg shells. This I grind into a powder and keep in the freezer. Then I place it on top of their fresh food. I make a cupful at a time and it lasts a while in the freezer. Once I make their food, which really take only a couple seconds, I put it in the tank at night, out in the morning.

8. Lighting. The crabs need a good night and day cycle to molt properly. I use the tank light. Turn it on the in morning, off at night. Although, check your tempurature gauge to make sure it's not TOO hot.

9. Shells. Crabs need lots of shells to shop with. LOL You can get some great deals at the dollar stores or even the Christmas Tree Shoppe. Offer a variety. When you get new ones, boil them to clean them out. I designate an old "pot" for use with crabby stuff. They'll prefer ones with a nice curve or twist like a Turbo. And please, for the love of God don't use painted shells. Imagine yourself with a raincoat you had to wear all the time. Someone taking it and painting it with sticky, smelly paint and you weren't allowed to take it off. Horrible. Cute -- but horrible. My opinion of course.

10. Crabitat decorations. You should always offer hiding spots. Coconut shells, reptile rocks, terra cotta pots, things like that. There should be things they can climb on like grapevine or cholla wood. I've found my crabs love oak or maple branches. I just make sure they are well dryed and free of pests.

I like using a shower container with suction cups on it to make second or third levels. These can be found at the dollar store. Then I link them using branches or plastic greenery. I also rearrange my tank every week or so to make it interesting. You have to remember they are a captive audience and you have to keep them thinking and motivated.

11. Daily maintenance. Morning I take out their food, check the humidity, give them a couple sprays if they need it and clean up their mess. The best for doing that is a little paint brush to brush everything into a pile and you can just lift it up with a little kids sand shovel.

Evening, I put in their food, check the humidity and refill water. Weekly, I rearrange, wash out the plastic toys and shells. And that's it. Once you get your tank up and going it's really a five minute routine to keep them going each day.

12. Other stuff. I'll just put some miscellaneous things here, if you have any questions, please ask. Molting, sometimes take a long time, as long as your tank doesn't smell "fishy" leave them alone.

New crabs sometimes will just chill for weeks and barely move, your best bet is to let them chill and eventually they will get moving around.

Crabs need friends. They are called hermits because they retract into their shells, but are really found in colonies so your best bet is to have at least 2 or 3. You will even find them sleeping together or on top of each other.

Crabs have personalities. Trust me. Some are spunky, some sweet, some daredevils, some escape artists. Some, like one of mine likes to tip over all the water dishes immediately after I redo the tank.

It is possible to tell if you have a female or a male. There are little dots on the under belly of a female.

All crabs are nocturnal. Not necessarily true. I have some that are always out in the day -- playing climbing and doing their own thing. I have other that will be out only at night. I think it just depends upon their personality.

You can train a hermit crab. I am not kidding. Generally between 9 and 10 at night I go down and do some laundry and feed the crabs, shut down the computer and etc. After a few weeks of this routine, I had a crab waiting for me right where I put the food dish. This happens almost 5 out of 7 nights. When I'm coming down to feed them, someone is always sitting in the spot waiting for me. Like come on mom, I'm hungry. So funny.

If you have proper humidity, good food and some places to hide and play -- your crabs will be happy and be moving around. I'll try to get some better pictures, my camera's batteries are dead and they picture below were taken yesterday on my phone LOL.

Write if you have any questions.

Hugggz,

Kristy~!

My large crabitat, below Kelsey holding spiderman (large) and harmony the small one.

Happy August! Monday, August 10, 2009

Hey everyone!

Once again it's another month gone by and I'm finally posting. Let's see what's up in my neck of the woods. Well, as for me I've my 2 summer classes are over and now I'm on a break for a month. I begin again on the 31st. Two more classes, special education and the law, education psychology. I know it's weird - but I'm looking forward to both. To be honest, if I could switch or do a double major for behavior specialist in adolescents I would -- but I think that would take forever doing it half time. But we'll see where God leads.

I've started to organize my house again for the school season. Just throwing junk out and reorganizing to make things easier. I'll be in school 2 nights, working everyday, and running the kids. Kenny and I made a great decision though -- we are limiting dance this school year. It's just not possible to run everyone to every single class they want, have dinner, not have a breakdown and do homework. So we asked them to pick which 1 they wanted. For this season that's fine. Of course, they have piano too, but that's no trouble.

Yesterday I spent 2 hours working on my hermit crab tank. It's like the Marriot for hermit crabs. My larger crab is acting "weird" so I just thought give him space so I set up an additional tank. 4 crabs in one, 3 in the other. And you know what? He trashed the Marriot! And I am NOT kidding. Weirdo crab. He's about the size of your fist -- so he's pretty big. I know he's getting ready to molt, but he is acting so weird. Either sitting in one spot for hours -- not hiding, or dumping all the water and food dishes as well as knocking down the limbs and moss.

I came home from dropping the girls off at cheer leading and went to the basement to do some laundry. I look over and the freak is hanging from the aquarium hood. The hood has airvents and a light in it and under that is a piece of Plexiglas with vents in it that holds in the humidity. And some how Spiderman Houdini moved it and was trying to get out. Come to think of it, I should have taken a picture of it. There he was hanging off the plexiglass with his legs trying to get out. So I took the other crabs out and put them back in the other tank to give him some time to chill. All I can figure is he's verging on going down in the sand and is just not himself. Generally he is the calmest thing. LOLLL Anywho....

From a spiritual perspective I've stepped down from worship leading this month and asked to not be put on the schedule for 2 months. I really am seeking and Lord and His will for my life, my families life and where he would have us. I prayed about the upcoming schedule and had no peace whatsoever. I always fall back on James 3:17 "the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceful..." I said Lord I have no peace about leading and I know he was saying take a break. Then there was peace. That is how I know it's His will that I just chill and seek Him for a couple months.

Emotionally, I don't like the thoughts of not leading. But I can feel God impressing upon me to wait. It's hard, but I can't walk somewhere God does want me to walk. I can't just come out from under His wings. I'm staying in the shadow of His wing, walking squarely behind Him -- following His path. Sometimes it's hard. Alot of times it's hard. But in the end He will the glorified and His will will be done. And no matter what, Jesus Christ is Lord forever.

Hugggz,

Kristy~!