Come and Join us for Warrior Prayer Day at SECC!

Bruschetta Dip:

2 Pkgs Cream Cheese (room temperature)

1 28 oz can Italian diced tomatoes (I used basil/oregano)

1 clove garlic

1 tsp. dried basil & oregano (I put one of each)

2 TBS onion, minced

1 TBS Olive oil

1 cup parmesan cheese – divided

French Baguets thinly sliced

Combine:  cream cheese, tomatoes, garlic, basil, oregano, onion, olive oil and 1/2 cup parmesan cheese in a microwave safe dish.  Sprinkle remaining cheese on top.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10 – 15 minutes.  Stir.  During the party you may want to “zap” it again a few times.

Breaking the fast…

The Feinn Family would like to wish everyone a Blessed and Merry Christmas!

Threads in the tapestry Have you ever noticed that God is sewing? I realized one day that if I could look at the tapestry that God is sewing – and I could see it from HIS point of view, my concept of this whole sewing process would probably be very different. See, I look at the canvas from the bottom side. God is on the other side and I am just a piece of thread. Many times when I catch a glimpse of what color thread I am, I think my color must be grey or brown…some obscure color. I then imagine that if I were to be on the other side of the canvas, trying to find the postage-stamp corner where I am being sewn into the pattern, I would probably have a hard time finding myself. However, when I started to imagine what GOD must see, I realized that my color may appear grey to me because I am in the shaddow of the canvas. Perhaps as God pulls my thread up through the canvas my color is really gold or silver. Or perhaps I really am grey but I am shading the twinkle in God’s eye…in the self-portrait He is stiching.

Because I can’t really catch a glimpse of myself at all when I get pulled to the other side of the canvas with his stitches, I have no idea what color HE really sees in me. I have no idea what the big picture looks like. It must stretch for miles…time eternal being what it is. Somewhere on the canvas is a splotch of Moses and Joshua…in another corner is Queen Esther…I wonder what color her threads were – purple?

And yet, God is pleased to use me because I am trusting him to make me a strong, dental-floss-type of thread. I want everything HE is willing to put into me, even if it means I am the running stitch around the hem of this canvas…I imagine I really am that because we move so much that I just bump into other threads briefly and then find myself in a totally new piece of cloth!

Though I don’t understand how this whole process works, I do know that I am happy being a piece of thread. I want my color to count. When God inspects His work at the end of time, I want him to see that little-two-milimeter-space-that-is-me to stand out when He looks at it. I want Him to think, “I loved sewing with that strand.” Because that is my desire, I am trying not to complain when I feel Him tugging me or tying a knot. I don’t want to be bitter about the running stitches He has chosen to take with me- bouncing in and out of the canvas. I want to do it with all the joy and acceptance I can possibly do it with because the color HE sees on the other side of the canvas will be dulled with complaints. Do you have a sense of your calling? Has He threaded you onto His needle and it was painful? Don’t fight it. Let him start stitching. He has a beautiful plan. Jeremiah 29:11 promises that…”For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and NOT TO HARM YOU, plans for a FUTURE and a HOPE.”

2012 will be my 18^th year of home educating my children.  I started it with much hesitance but my oldest had attended kindergarten at the public school in the small town we lived in Ohio and I just could not  send him to first grade there.  I had observed both of the first grade teachers and in one class the “one-on-one” time was really one-on-five while the rest of the kids basically fended for themselves.  In the other class I did not hear the teacher complete many sentences.  She actually spoke in fragments.  Many of her sentences ended with the word, “with”.  As in, “When you go to the office, take this paper with.”  Yes, I know, it should end in the word YOU…as in, “With YOU” but that was not how she spoke to the impressionable little first graders.

These observations, coupled with a few magazine articles singing the praises of home educated children, led me and my husband to sign up for the assignment “For one year.”  That year Josh was an active crumb-snatcher, Abbey was in preschool and Zach was my student.  Even though Zach is a high-energy kid (even at 23 he still is) we had a great time together and it proved to be a lot more fun than I had imagined.  Then we moved…and it became an anchor for our family.  When Zach was in third grade someone asked Zach, “What’s the worst thing about Homeschooling?”  He said, “When we finish one of my school books my mom just gets me the next grade level and we keep going.”  (Hey, it works in gaming – always going to the next level, right?)  They said, “What’s the best thing about homeschooling?”  He said, “I always know who my teacher will be.”  And here I am, teaching my 6^th child and looking my 18^th year of doing this in the face.

Ok, I’ll be honest, there are some days, especially in February, when I lust after large, yellow moving vehicles that come through my neighborhood to carry other children off into the cold morning.  But for the most part,  I love every day of having my kids in my own nest.  And because we do “Home Based Education” rather than “Straight-up-homeschool”, as my neighbor calls it, I get to direct my kids education to match their interests and abilities.  Gabe, my eleven year old has really pursued cake decorating for example.  As Wendy, the awesome lady that has been teaching him cool stuff like how to make a tree out of Rice Krispie Treats, points out, “Cake decorating actually has art, math and science in it.”  I agree.  It is super fun and quite delicious as well!

Am I an “Un-schooler”?  No, I can’t bring myself to part with workbooks altogether.  I  think it is the nurse in me.  The saying went, “If it wasn’t documented, it wasn’t done”.  Workbooks keep us on track for doing SOMETHING on those days we’d rather all do ANYTHING except school!  They also prepare my kids for going to the enrichment stuff and now, to the Christian Educational Consortium that they attend a couple of days a week.  I am so thankful for those outlets for them to be with friends and do stuff together with other home educated kids rather than just mom and the dog.  Though Kayla (dog) and I are quite enthusiastic at listening to speeches, going to a speech class with peers is a whole lot more fun and real-to-life.

If there is one thing I could say to a mom that is new to home education it is, “LET THE LORD HELP YOU.”  I know, you are thinking, “No kidding, Vicki!  Tell me something I don’t know”.  But really, if He has called you to do this, rest in the fact that he doesn’t always call the equipped, He equips the called.  If He has put it into your heart to do this, HE WILL HELP YOU.   Every time I have been stuck and could not figure out what to do when there was a roadblock in one of my kid’s progress, when I prayed…sometimes I would have to pray for a month or two, but when I prayed over it, God has ALWAYS brought an answer!  Always!  I’ve learned how to teach a really kinesthetic learner to read, how to teach math facts to first graders that like to ONLY use their fingers to figure out answers and how to stay sane teaching boys to write when they would rather be out building forts (thanks to Andrew Pudewa for that phrase and that lesson!)  So once again, my answer is the same as just about any other answer I give to about any other question you could ask me…PRAY.

I wish you the best on your journey.  Let me encourage you and say, “Good job in starting the adventure!  YOU CAN DO IT.  Life really doesn’t get any better than this!”

Something magical happens when you take the family on an unexpected adventure into a previously unexplored territory and you find the hidden secrets locked away behind the wardrobe door. Okay maybe that is a crazy way of saying any family adventure can turn into great family memories such as this.

“What is A Gap Sisters Group?”  A Gap Sisters group is a prayer group that can be formed in any venue.  Gap stands for “God Answers Prayer”.  Gap sisters “Stand in the Gap” for and with each other.  Our Gap Sisters group started with two women meeting together to pray for their husbands and family.  Word spread and within a few weeks it was not just two women, it was a group of women.  Before long, we needed a real room.  (We had been sneaking into the Bride’s Changing Room at our church).  Our group has now been meeting for nine years.

Some helpful things to keep in mind when starting a Gap Sisters group are:  CONFIDENTIALITY IS A KEY!  This is one of the biggest factors that must be strictly maintained.  In fact, it is a good idea to have this policy written down and have new people sign that they understand that what is prayed for is not to be shared – even if it is a “praise”.  One thing I have had to fight is the urge from some of the sisters to “Share things with their husbands”.  I understand this desire to share as they feel they are “one in the flesh” so why can’t they share?  This should really be discouraged.  In fact, if your Gap Sisters group develops an email loop (more on that in a bit), please ask that the email address be a private one – not the family email loop.  Well meaning husbands, can sometimes ask about things to other husbands that are not public knowledge.  There is nothing worse than people outside the group knowing about things that were shared in total confidence.  Really pray about this.  If you have problems with this, don’t let confidential things be shared.  Keep the requests “light”.  Tell your ladies to share only things that would not be damaging if it got out if you are not willing to run a tight ship on this issue.  A rule of thumb to use is:  If the person is not part of the problem, part of the solution or part of the group, they do not need to know.  Period.  And if they are one of the first two categories in the equation, the person giving the request is the ONLY one that should share it with either of them.

The second key is REQUIRE REGULAR ATTENDANCE.  This is another issue that if you have an email loop, becomes an important factor.  Your Gap Sister group is a sisterhood.  It is not a drop and go prayer group.  There are many outlets for people that simply want prayer.  They can call the Brooklyn Tabernacle Prayer line for example.  Our church, Southeast Christian Church, has a prayer line.  Many churches have one.  Some churches offer prayer at a designated spot at a designated time.  A Gap Sisters Group is NOT that kind of prayer.  Gap Sisters pray WITH EACH OTHER.  This is very necessary.  The relationships become very deep and caring when the people pray together.   We fill out a little slip of paper that we exchange with one another that lists what the Gap Sister prays for her prayer buddy that week.  We ONLY use initials so that if it gets dropped, there is less likelihood of anyone knows whose paper it is.  Another fun thing we have done is made magnets with a picture of a Gap Sister and when you are praying for her that week, you have her picture on your refrigerator.  This is a good way to get to know new ladies.  We exchange a slip or a picture with one person and they pray for me, I pray for them.

Often, we will pray as a group in “pop-corn” fashion for the requests given that week.  Sometimes we will all gather around a sister and lay hands on her and pray if she is going through something particularly serious.

Some tips are:  Starting a private, invitation-only email loop can be a valuable asset to the group.  We have a Yahoo Group and when a lady has visited out class several times, we invite her to “join the loop”.  We have an auto-reminder on the loop that gets sent out once a month that a lady MUST attend at least once a month, unless there are extenuating circumstances, because again, this is not a post-your-request group, nor is it a group where people get to know our stuff but they never share their stuff.  Speaking from experience, you MUST ADHERE TO THIS.  If you keep this boundary non-negotiable you will have a much better group.

We just recently formed a “Gap Sisters Alumni and Friends” loop, which is not so confidential.  We post upcoming events which some of our past sisters might like to join us for, general praises about things that are public knowledge, and we let them post prayer requests to that loop if they need prayer as we still care about them, but we do not put out our private, heart-felt “stuff” on that loop.  I am sure there are other venues besides yahoo but that is the one we are currently using.  The settings are invitation ONLY.  We have two administrators.  I highly recommend that.  It is good for accountability and it is good for sharing the work.

Another piece of advice is purging the archives often – about once a month.  This is so important as new people join and it is good to have clean archives so things that may have been problems which are now resolved, are not topics that can be researched on your loop.

Ok, the last topic is that of the tendency for the group to constantly want to become an “advice-and-then-pray” group.  PLEASE RESIST THIS TREND!  Sometimes it will be very hard not to let others in the group that may have experience with a particular situation share with the sister that is requesting prayer.  But if you will channel the conversation back to praying, rather than discussing, your group will grow.  The power that is given when it is GOD that answers, rather than the advice of man in the situation cannot be undervalued.  PRAYER REALLY CHANGES THINGS!!

Forms

Gap Sister’s Prayer Request Form