What Every Good Soldier Must KNOW!
With Cindy Rushton
Journey to 2 Timothy 2: 3-5 to take a deep look into what a good soldier must know to walk in victory: their call, their authority, their enemy, their armor and weapons, their strategy, their support, and their army!
See Cindy’s Websites:
http://www.CindyRushton.com
http://www.CindysDesktop.com
http://www.MomtoMomRadioShow.com
Families love to spend the holidays together. Sometimes, circumstances are such that family members aren’t able to be present in the same place during Christmas. There are many reasons that some family members can’t be together during the holidays. If they are in the military, they could be stationed overseas. Family members who are ill may find it hard or not possible to travel long distances.
When situations arise that keep families separated don’t let it stop you from making those who can’t be with you feel they are still a part of the celebration! Homemade gifts sent to them through the mail will help you to accomplish this. Here are a few ideas to get you started.
Do you own a video camera? Create a holiday video for far away family members. Each person can talk about how much they miss them and send their own personal message of love. Kids can drop hints about what they want for Christmas too. If you haven’t seen the person in awhile, talk about what has changed in your life to get them up to speed.
Along the same line as videos are scrapbooks. Scrapbooks are like a hyped up photo album. They can contain funny sayings, neat designs, and other added ornamentation that you wouldn’t find in a photo album. Scrapbooks can be about the person who is missing, about their family back home, or both. Each person can create a miniature scrapbook of themselves to send. Scrapbooks contain magazine clippings, announcements, and other keepsakes not just photographs. Use your imagination and come up with new ideas that will make the gift special for the family member who can’t be with you.
If you decide to send edible homemade gifts, be sure to check on the requirements for shipping those gifts. Not everything travels well through the mail. If the gift is breakable like cookie mixes in jars, they must be wrapped well with bubble wrap to prevent accidents during shipping. You’ll also want to be sure you send the gifts early enough so that they arrive on time. Check with your local post office to find out how much time you should give for the package to arrive.
Homemade accessories like scarves, hats, and gloves are easy to ship and even kids can make them with a bit of help. These items are always needed in cold weather. Using solid color yarn will make them more versatile with different outfits.
Certain homemade gifts can be too large or bulky to send in one piece. Package the gift in separate parts and send instructions for constructing it on the other end. This can actually be fun for the family member receiving the gift.
Speaking of fun, jigsaw puzzles provide hours of brain boggling fun. Create your own using a blow up of a family portrait. Glue the picture to a piece of cardboard and cover it with clear contact paper. Create different shapes in the picture and cut them out. Paste a smaller copy of the picture on the top of the gift box so that the person reassembling it will know what the completed puzzle should look like.
Homemade crafts are appreciated by family near and far. By sending homemade gifts you help the miles separating you seem closer and the heart warming thoughts put into the gifts will show no matter how far apart you are.
Everyone loves getting gifts that come from the heart. What shows this better than gifts made by hand? While this may make some people panic at the thought of trying to make something arts and crafts, it really isn’t that hard to make a nice gift for someone.
An excellent gift for a new bride in the family would be a cookbook of all the family favorites. Add some stories and maybe old photos of family gatherings to go along with the recipes. Put together some dry mixes of some of the recipes to get her started. Wrap it in a nice apron, maybe even one that belonged to a relative.
For kids, a great gift that can be added to is a Dress Up Kit. Get an old suitcase or two and fill it with old clothes that you don’t wear anymore. Include hats and shoes. Now and then, add more items to the box. Ask other relatives to contribute to it as well. If you have pictures of family members wearing the clothes, print them out and decoupage them on the outside of the suitcase and then coat with a clear finish.
Do you have a flower garden during the year? Save the petals, dry them and make your own potpourri. You could buy cinnamon sticks to add another scent and texture. Put it in small containers or mesh bags.
Everyone likes to snuggle up with a soft blanket on a cold evening. You can make a blanket and never sew or crochet a stitch. Purchase a piece of fleece the size that you want your blanket (the clerks at the store can help you figure out the right amount). Simply cut fringe in about two inches from all the edges about an inch apart. You can either let the fringes hang loose, or tie knots to make a pattern around.
Homemade cookies, fresh from the oven, are a great treat. A lot of people just don’t have the time to make them. You can make a frozen cookie kit. Mix up a batch of their favorite cookies. Roll them out into balls and flatten them slightly. Flash freeze them by putting them on wax paper on a cookie sheet until they are solid. Remove them from the sheets and place them in a freezer bag. Bake for two to three minutes more than the normal time or until golden brown. They can be baked in small batches, even in the toaster over, or all at the same time.
Another nice handmade gift could be writing a poem for a family member. Poems don’t even have to rhyme. Print it out in a nice font or in calligraphy if you know how, and put it in a nice frame. It’s a gift someone will treasure for years to come. You can have kids help write one for different family members. An easy poem type project is to take someone’s first name, write it along the left margin and then think of a word associated with that person for each letter. For example, Sue could be Sweet, Upbeat and Energetic or Bob could be Brave, Outgoing and Baseball.
How about a Legacy Letter? This is what I am working on right now for my loved ones…Shhhhhh! 🙂 A Legacy Letter is a letter of vision that inspires, encourages, exhorts, and speaks vision to those we love. I recently recorded a fun “chat” between me and my friend, Lorrie Flem, as we discussed this topic. Dig into that. For now, take some time to type up your letter to your loved one. Then, invest in some nice paper and copy your letter (yes, in your own personal handwriting). Harold and I are preparing several letters for our children for Christmas. We are also making them a keepsake “Letter Box” to keep them in. I am SO excited. This makes Christmas much more special and personal. Can’t beat a gift from the heart!
No matter what your homemade gift, be sure to include lots of love in the making and it will sure to be a hit with its recipient. Pour out your heart this year. Make this year the best Christmas EVER!
Excerpted from Cindy’s best selling Christ-Centered Christmas .
* Spicy Cinnamon Sticks…Gather a bunch of extra long cinnamon sticks and tie with a holiday ribbon and a sprig of holly or baby’s breath. Cute to hang on the tree, sit around, and place on gifts instead of a bow!
* Painted Wooden Ornaments…Purchase pre-cut wooden Christmas cutouts that are pre-painted. Tie with gold, green, or red thread and use on the tree or as necklaces. Hot glue a pin on the back to wear as a holiday pin!
* Cookie Cutter Ornaments…Purchase metal cookie cutters and tie bright holiday ribbon through the top! Easy, Inexpensive, and Precious Gift!
* Recipe Book…It could be just holiday ideas like this one or it could be a collection of all the treasured family recipes. It could be a collection from all relatives’ submissions. Be imaginative! Be sure to keep a copy for your daughters!
* Pictures…Frame a special drawing from the children! This is sure to be a hit!
* Books…Try your hand at creating books complete with your own original story and illustrations…This is an EXCELLENT school activity!
* Handprint Wallhanging or Sweatshirt…Place bright paint in pie pans (acrylic for burlap wallhanging or fabric paints for sweatshirt). Have each child put his handprint on material. The following verse can be painted or attached:
Although we are sorta small
And leave our fingerprints on the wall,
This will help you remember the way
Our fingerprints looked on Christmas Day!
For wallhanging, put a thin dowel rod across the top. Tie yarn as a hanger. Fringe the bottom, and you have a fun, sweet gift!
Don’t Miss Our Book Christ-Centered Christmas! Available in Ebook version!
Grab Cindy’s books and audios for HALF OFF! Just use the coupon code: ALLTHINGSNEW
Between high gas prices and consumers’ fears of a financial squeeze, it seems as if a nice Christmas is out of the picture this year. Not so says Tawra Kellam, editor of Living-on-a-Dime.com. To prove it, here are a few of her ideas from to help make Christmas memorable without breaking the bank!
Go Potluck! You buy the turkey — Have everyone else bring the side dishes and drinks. Turkeys in our area are .39/lb this time of year. If you buy just the turkey, it will only cost you about $5-$10 to feed everyone for a large family gathering.
Celebrate Christmas the week after Christmas. Take advantage of the after Christmas sales and plan your large extended family gathering for the week after Christmas. Besides being less expensive, it is unlikely to interfere with anyone else’s Christmas plans.
Don’t give gifts or give inexpensive gifts to hairstylists, babysitters, teachers and others. I found several wonderful small scented jar candles on clearance for .25 each. I will put three of them in a small basket (purchased at the thrift store for .25) with some tissue paper, ribbon and nice note. A great gift for $1.25!
Break up gift sets. If you find an item that comes in a gift set at Christmas, give parts of it to different recipients. This is great for bath or perfume sets.
Yard sales and thrift stores equal great savings. You can find a lot of new or nearly new items for pennies on the dollar. For our son, we found a working telescope in the box. It cost $1.00, so we saved $24! He got what he wanted and we didn’t have to take out a home equity loan!
Make memories, not more junk. Most kids get more than plenty for Christmas from grandparents, aunts and uncles. If you can only afford one gift for your child, make it a memory! Wrap a note in a box with instructions for a treasure hunt. Send your child all over the house with clues and then have the real gift sitting under the tree when they return. Simple, but a great memory for them!
My favorite book!
NOW AN EBOOK! AND ON SALE!!!
Dining On A Dime Cookbook: Eat Better, Spend Less! (e-Book version) $19.95 – Sale! $10.00 (this week–click here!)
Without cutting coupons! Unbelievable? It really is possible!
The award winning Dining on a Dime is packed with over 1,200 money saving recipes and tips, kids tips and snack ideas, gift baskets, menus, food storage directions, Cleaning Cents and Pretty for Pennies.
–
Jill Cooper and Tawra Kellam are frugal living experts and the editors of Living-on-a-dime.com/. As a single mother of two, Jill Cooper started her own business without any capital and paid off $35,000 debt in 5 years on $1,000 a month income. Tawra and her husband paid off $20,000 debt in 5 years on $22,000 a year income. Tawra and Jill teach thousands of readers each month how to save money on their grocery bill and get out of debt.
Ready for one AMAZING show? This is a must download for EVERYONE! In this show, Cindy interviews Stephen Kendrick from Fireproof, the movie. Grab a big cup of tea, settle in for a bit…WITH YOUR JOURNAL AND BIBLE! This is one amazing show!
Download today! Or listen here:
Don’t miss this show!
See their Website!
http://www.fireproofthemovie.com/
Christmas! Yes! It is here. Been caught off guard without a gift yet? I HAVE! If you find yourself scrambling for some last minute gift ideas, don’t panic. The following suggestions will help you find something that is just right:
Yummy Treats: Food makes a great holiday gift. Everyone eats, so everyone can use it! If you like to bake, make some cookies or candies and put them in a decorative box or tin. Another option is to buy the food already made. Some items, like a cake, will only need a bow.
Say Cheese: If you have a photo of the person you are giving the gift to (or a picture of their child, spouse, dog, etc) you can create a personalized gift in seconds. All you need to do is print out the picture and stick it into a frame. If you don’t have a photo, a picture frame still makes a great gift.
Gift Baskets: Creating your own gift basket is easier than you think – and it will look like you spent much more time on it than you actually did!
If there is a movie fan on your list, throw together a gift certificate to a video rental store, a box of microwave popcorn and some candy.
If you know someone who is always on the go, encourage them to relax with a box of tea, a mug, some bath salts, and gossip magazine.
A few small items packaged together nicely can turn into a great present!
This Week:
–> Working right now on a BIG announcement–later today! 🙂
–> Editing and posting audios from TSTD and LMM (and our upcoming Spiritual Warfare Seminar Set!!)
–> Going to two dinner parties!! Tonight with Lucia and FCA (with hubby). Tomorrow at church (with Elisabeth and Lucia!! GIRL TIME!)
–> Writing up a storm!
–> Gearing up for a BIG Christ-Centered, Family-Centered Advent!
–> About to eat yummy homemade stew! (Had to throw that in–it is making my stomach growl and it is NOT EVEN LUNCH!) 🙂
Packing for a long trip can be stressful. You know you want to have everything you’ll need, but will you be able to lift your luggage when you get it packed? Then you also have to consider what to pack for your return trip. Is there some way to pack for the entire trip that will make packing for your return home easier?
Think of where you’re going and how long you’ll be gone before you start packing. If it’s winter and you’ll need warm clothes, consider carrying lighter weight items that can be layered. This way, if you get too warm, you can take a layer off. It’s easier to start out warm and get cool than to start out cold and get warm.
Another benefit to using lightweight clothes is that they’re easier to carry because they take up less room. And since you don’t want to be loaded down with too many suitcases, especially if you’re flying, lighter suitcases are desirable. Remember to take at least one full change of clothes in your carry-on bag just in case your luggage gets lost.
Will you have access to a washer and dryer at a family member’s home? Can you make it to a laundromat if you’re going to be away from home for more than a week? If you can wash your clothes at least once while you’re gone, you can avoid having to take so many clothes to begin with.
What will you do if you pack light and the weather changes dramatically while you’re gone, and it’s gets colder than you’re prepared for? It’s easy enough to purchase an inexpensive sweater or coat and then leave it someplace if the weather is warmer when you head home. Wear your bulkiest clothes while you’re in transit so you don’t have to pack as much.
If you’ve chosen your clothes well when you first packed, everything in your suitcase should do double or triple duty. Pack things that can be mixed and matched so you can create different looks if you will be gone more than one week. Choose 4-7 tops and 3-4 bottoms and by mixing and matching you’ll have at least 21 outfits for a longer trip.
Make sure there is extra room in each suitcase to hold anything you receive as gifts. Unless you’re driving, having more than one suitcase per person may cost you money. Take only one suitcase but pack it so there is room to bring home extra items you didn’t leave with to start your journey.
It really shouldn’t be difficult to figure out what to pack for your long trip home. Unless you have received so many gifts that they won’t fit into the suitcase you brought with you, you should be alright. In that case, it would be necessary to take one extra bag to hold all gifts. It may end up costing you more in the end, but you’ll keep the peace in the family by being able to take the gifts home with you.
Don’t you just love Thanksgiving? It’s the most guilt free holiday of the year. You don’t have to worry about getting the right gifts or whether everything is decorated perfectly. You don’t have to wonder whether you made enough cookies or whether the food is on your diet. You have permission and can eat to your heart’s content! At times like this, I have to wonder: Have I died and gone to Heaven?!
There is one problem — What happens when everyone rolls away from the table? You stand there in the shadows of mounds of leftovers and the guilt sets in. You really can’t wedge in another bite, but you can’t bring yourself to throw away all that good food. You know that there are people starving in Bangladesh, but you can’t afford the shipping cost to send it to them… What do you do with it?
Here are some ideas from Living-on-a-Dime.com to help you put those leftovers to good use and keep your clean conscience!
1. Mix gravy, cubed turkey and leftover vegetables into a casserole dish. Top with refrigerator biscuits, leftover pie crust or crescent rolls (unbaked). Bake at 350 degrees until the dough is cooked and golden brown.
2. When making pies on Thanksgiving Day, save the extra dough or make extra to use to make pasties. Roll out discs of dough in whatever size you want and fill with meat, vegetables and leftover potatoes.
3. Don’t forget to use your leftover relish dish. Chop and use in salads, soups or casseroles. If you’re really sick of the vegetables, chop and freeze to use later.
4. Use leftover mashed potatoes to thicken soups and stews.
5. Make potato pancakes: Add 1 egg and 2 Tbsp. flour to 2 cups mashed potatoes. Make into patties and fry in a pan with margarine.
Pasties
Filling
1 1/2 cups carrots, chopped
1 Tbsp. water
4 Tbsp. butter or margarine
2 chicken bouillon cubes
4 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2-1 lb. ground beef, turkey or chicken, cooked
salt and pepper (to taste)
Dough
Use leftover pie crust or use the following recipe:
1 cup shortening
1/4 tsp. salt
3 cups flour
6 Tbsp. water
In a saucepan, simmer the carrots in the water, butter, and chicken bouillon cubes. Add potatoes, onion, meat and salt and pepper. Divide into fourths. Mix dough ingredients and roll into four 10-inch circles. Put the meat mixture on one side of the dough. Fold the other half of the dough over and seal with fingers or a fork. Bake 1 hour at 375 degrees. Serves 4-6.
You can also add other vegetables. This is a good way to use those leftovers, so be creative!
NOW AN EBOOK!
Dining On A Dime Cookbook: Eat Better, Spend Less! (e-Book version) $19.95 (Click here!)
Without cutting coupons! Unbelievable? It really is possible!
The award winning Dining on a Dime is packed with over 1,200 money saving recipes and tips, kids tips and snack ideas, gift baskets, menus, food storage directions, Cleaning Cents and Pretty for Pennies.
–
Jill Cooper and Tawra Kellam are frugal living experts and the editors of Living-on-a-Dime.com/. As a single mother of two, Jill Cooper started her own business without any capital and paid off $35,000 debt in 5 years on $1,000 a month income. Tawra and her husband paid off $20,000 debt in 5 years on $22,000 a year income. Tawra and Jill teach thousands of readers each month how to save money on their grocery bill and get out of debt.
