J.Crew Puffer Vest

Today is the first snow day of the school year! The temperature is bordering a -20 degree windchill and all of the area schools decided to give students and teachers a break. My husband just started working in the same district as I do so we broke out into a brief hallelujah chorus when our phones rang with the good news this morning. We have a few snow day traditions which include baking, drinking coffee/hot chocolate with our daughter, lots of reading/writing, and not going outside of our house AT ALL for any reason.

In light of these cold temperatures my post today is a look at my new vest I received for Christmas.

This J.Crew Factory Channeled Puffer Vest is in navy. Originally the vest was $98.00 at the J.Crew Factory, but is on sale currently online for $48.99. Click the link for more details.

I love this vest because it is so versatile. It looks great with long sleeve t-shirts, sweaters, flannel, and even some of my long-sleeved dresses. It is also incredibly warm. The pockets are large enough to house my hands when I go outdoors, because my hands are always the coldest part of my body by far.

Photo credits go to my three year-old daughter who may have a future in photography :)

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Teaching Writing: Five Things You Need to Survive

Whoever said teaching writing is dull has never been inspired by some of the writing greats like Kelly Gallagher, George Hillocks Jr, and Donalyn Miller. These three people have heavily influenced my take on the teaching of writing. My first two years of teaching I struggled to capture the interest of my students while adhering to state mandated standards, but after studying theories and ideas from these three experts I’ve revamped my program and teaching writing has become an enjoyment. Reading their works have also made me a more confident writing teacher.

Currently, my students are working on an essay entitled, Five Things You Need to Survive in Lynn’s World. This assignment is based on the novel Not a Drop to Drink by Mindy McGinnis which all regular education ninth grade students are reading at my school. I did a book review of this novel last spring as I prepared the unit. Check it out!

In order for my students to get a handle on what I was asking for in this informative essay I provided them a copy of the humorous essay from the Huffington Post, 10 Essentials for Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse: A Practical Guide by John Hornor Jacobs. As a small group they read through the article and highlighted language and ideas that stood out to them.

Then, in their groups they used the model essay to develop a plan of their own. They created a T-chart in their writing notebooks emulating some of the same styles used by John Hornor Jacobs, but applying his principles to their assignment. That assignment was to write an informative essay about five things needed to survive in the world of Lynn, the protagonist of Not a Drop to Drink.

This assignment is a fun approach to informative writing sprinkled with a bit of humor. Students are working in small groups to write the essay where each student is responsible for one paragraph or item from the list of necessities for survival. Also, like the model essay students are expected to think outside of the box when choosing their items. They are not allowed to use water, fire, or shelter as an item required for survival.

GoogleDocs is the platform we are using for the assignment as it allows several students to work on the same document at the same time. They are all able to use Chromebooks to work on their individual portion of the whole and they have instant access to editing tools, their peers.

This is the first time I’ve done this assignment and so far I am pleased with the how things are going. The students are engaged because they’ve already fallen in love with the text.They are also performing their own tasks as a member of a team.

This assignment serves as an introduction to informative writing. Plans have been laid for individual informative assignments, however, working in small groups is a stepping stone to writing on their own.

I’m excited to see the final products when the editing process is complete.

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Today at Covenant…Sola Gratia

It was a bit rough getting up and out the door this morning as snow began to fall and stick to the ground for the first time this season. The thought of venturing out into the blustery wind and giant snowflakes made me want to pull the blanket back over my head and spend this Sunday in bed.

However, I looked forward to hearing about grace today from Pastor Travis at Covenant Church. I felt the need for some grace in my life. If we are all honest grace is necessary every single moment of every single day. So at around eight this morning I awoke the rest of the family and we began our weekly ritual of manically trying to get ready at the same time. Some weeks that’s a bigger struggle than others. Today it was a struggle.

I’m so glad that I finally found my motivation to get out the door because God was speaking today. Below is a synopsis of today’s teaching from Pastor Travis Davenport at Covenant Church in Grove City. For more information about Covenant Church check out the link.

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Sola Gratia:

The focus scripture for today’s sermon was Romans 3:10-12; 23-24

10 As it is written:

“There is no one righteous, not even one;
11     there is no one who understands;
    there is no one who seeks God.
12 All have turned away,
    they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
    not even one.”[b]

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

In Latin, Sola Gratia represents the ideas that grace alone justifies us before God. The first portion of the scripture above seems like bad news. No one is good not even one. And no matter what we do or how hard we work we can never do enough to earn for ourselves the title “Good.” By those standards even the best among us can never achieve goodness. That’s bad news, right?

Wrong! Verses 11 and 12 are not meant to be read in isolation. Because on their own they do declare the reality that we could never do enough to earn our salvation. These verses were meant to be examined in the light of verses 23 and 24. This is where the good news come into play.

Because we are all naturally sinners we can only be justified by grace. Grace changes everything.

What is grace? Grace is the unmerited favor of God and the Good News of grace is defined in Ephesians 2:8-9:

 For it is by grace you have been saved,through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.

Along with the Good News of salvation presented in these verses comes the good news that it’s not about us. So often we can become focused on what we can do to earn our salvation or God’s love. But, there is nothing we can do to make God love us any more or any less. He sees us through a lens of grace and all of our efforts to be “good” are futile as a result.

So get rid of the notion that if you would only _____ (fill in the blank) that God would love you more. His love is not conditional upon your acts or your works. We can do nothing to earn grace all we can do is accept it.

And for those of you who are making excuses for why God would never accept you please understand that it’s never been about you. He isn’t waiting for you to “clean up” or “get  your act together.” You would never take a bath in preparation for a shower. In the same way God isn’t waiting for you to get yourself together before offering you grace. Your grace has already been paid for in full and God is waiting for you to accept it. God expects you to show up dirty, bloody, and broken. Let Him clean you up and fix you. That’s the beauty of grace.

Five Minute Friday: First

This week the topic for the Five Minute Friday link-up post is First. What is a link-up? Essentially a link-up is when you join other bloggers and write on a similar topic. You share your blog posts with one another and begin conversations via a host site. You can head over to Kate Motaung’s page to check out other entries from inspired bloggers. Here’s my five minutes of uninterrupted, unedited writing on this week’s topic:

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The alarm came a bit too soon this morning. I threw my arm over the side of the bed to turn it off and saw the numbers 5:00. For a second I contemplated sliding my forefinger across the snooze button giving myself a few extra moments to dream, but then I was reminded that I’ve committed to spending time with God each morning. I was tired on this Friday morning from a long week, however, my desire for God’s Word and direction won out and for the fifth day in a row God’s Word was the very first thing I dove into this morning.

Putting scripture before anything else in my day has really affected me positively. I’m not starting my day with Social Media or rushing to the shower in a desperate attempt to get out the door clean and on time.

Those extra moments added to my morning routine have impacted the entire rest of my day. I’ve had the ability to develop a purpose each day based on what I read from scripture. I’ve prayed through the lesson and had my eyes peeled all day for opportunities to live out the passages. It’s been fantastic to live intentionally!

God has been working in my life this week. So as I rubbed my eyes and forced my exhausted body into submission I found myself still looking forward to a WORD. And each of these days I’ve found myself crossing into the threshold of my classroom with time to spare. What a difference a little change in focus can make!

Seek Truth

As I stated earlier in the week, my church is participating in a 21-day fast to kick off the new year. The purpose of the fast is to pray for the church and specifically each of our roles within the body of the church. I’m on day 3 and already God is speaking to me. As part of my fasting season I’ve decided to wake up 20 minutes earlier each of the twenty-one days to read the WORD and pray. I’m currently working my way through the book of John.

This morning I read John 4.

One thing that stands out to me from this text is verse 23 when Jesus says that, “true worshipers will worship in Spirit and Truth.” A few months ago I heard a sermon about this passage, but it was a good reminder that our response to God should first of all be a spiritual response, but that we cannot neglect the intellectual response. If we aren’t in the WORD consistently then it is really hard to worship God in truth. Truth has to be digested in order to be understood. And there is no revelation of truth where there is no seeking of truth.

In Jeremiah 29:13 scripture says, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

This season of fasting is all about seeking God’s will for me. I find myself in a place of transition within my places of service and I am using this time to call out to God for direction. As I seek the roles that God has established for me I am reminded that I will find his will when I worship Him in Spirit and truth. When I pick up my Bible and read. When I quiet myself and listen. When I let the study of scripture replace my desire for other things. When I allow myself to personally and emotionally respond to the Truth that God has given me in scripture. That is when I will hear from him.

I’m already loving this 21-day journey and I look forward to all that I will learn and see through this time of revival in the life of my church.

Some encouragement for fasting:

John 4:14– but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.

John 14:34-“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.

During this time may His WORD be your water and His WILL your food. Sacrifice your desires and replace them with these.

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Highlighted Monday

This Monday I’ve decided to try something new. I’m a new follower of Rebeca’s blog, Books and Messy Buns. Today she has posted her Highlighted Monday Challenge and I’m going to join in on her literary fun today. The practice of highlighting good pieces of writing is all part of becoming a better writer so I am excited to try this out. Join me if you will!

Highlighted Mondays is a weekly meme hosted by Rebeca at “Books and Messy Buns”. Anyone can join, you just have to do the following:

  • Pick up the book you’re currenlty reading (be it a physical or eletronical copy)
  • Find a sentence you like (because it’s funny or cute or mysterious or whatever you find interesting)
  • Highlight the sentence
  • Make a post in your own blog where you share your highlighted sentence and link back to the blog as the host
  • Share the link to your post in the comments’ section here for the book community to see

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Here is my highlighted text:

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I’m currently reading My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry by Fredrik Backman.

This highlighted sentence may not seem like much outside of the context of the story, but as a reader of this charming novel it meant so much. The main character is learning about the people she thought she knew. Her worldview is being stretched beyond what any normal seven year old could possibly imagine because of circumstances outside of her control. In this quoted passage the main character, Elsa, is understanding that people aren’t always as they seem

The Ameri Brit Mom

Today at Covenant…Sola Scriptura

Today I am beginning a new series on the blog entitled Today at Covenant…

My family attends a booming church in Grove City, Ohio. We meet in an AMC theater on Sunday mornings and in home groups called cLife groups all over Columbus throughout the week. This blog series is based on a sermon entitled Sola Scriptura by Pastor Travis Davenport. For more information about Covenant Church check out the link.

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Sola Scriptura:

The focus scripture for today’s sermon is 2 Timothy 3:12-17

12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Sola Scriptura is the Latin term for the idea that scripture alone is truth. Before the Reformation it was widely believed that scripture + something else was necessary to finding truth. It was during this time that a movement began which would allow the human part of the equation to be removed. Scripture alone is inerrant, infallible, and authoritative.

God breathes these scriptures to life and because of his nature he is unable to breathe anything that is not true. The mere fact that something came from the mouth of God makes it indisputably true.

So at his very essence, who is God? According to 1 John 4:8 God is first of all LOVE. Everything God has done is out of his love for us. Sometimes we hang the blame for bad things in our lives on God, but if we believe scripture to be true we must understand that God is not some anger-slinging being in space who wants to see us suffer and fail. God is love. And anything that causes us pain is a product of sin/evil and not God. Even Jesus-his mission was one of love not pain, but because of sin pain became a part of what he had to endure to see his mission through.

God is also TRUTH. John 14:6 Jesus says that he is the way, the TRUTH, and the life. If we believe scripture to be true we must understand that Jesus is also God as part of the Trinity and so anything that is true of the Son is true also of the Father.

God is LOVE and TRUTH.

3 Main Points about scripture:

  1. Scripture is inspired of God-It is God’s spoken Word and is indisputable.
  2. Scripture is authoritative-It should change the way we live and think about the world around us because everything in our lives is subject to scripture. We don’t have the ability to pick and choose parts of scripture that appeal to us and believe only those parts. The entirety of scripture was inspired by God to have authority over our lives.
  3. Scripture is sufficient- In Hebrews 12: 4 it says that scripture is sharper than a double edged sword. It is living, active, moving, breathing, and eternal. There is no other truth needed than scripture alone. (Sola Scriptura)

 

The Covenant Fast

Also as I mentioned last week in my post Church in the Living Room, our pastor has given our church a challenge to fast for 21 days and pray for our church specifically during that time. One thing I’ve felt convicted of lately is my spending habits. I know that as the holiday season came and went I wasn’t the wisest with my money management. A lot of impulse spending happened as I became more and more of a consumer than I’d like to admit. I spent this morning in prayer about how God would have me fast during this time. I suffer from hypoglycemia so fasting food is never really an option (3 hours without food isn’t really an option), so as I’ve done before during other fasts I decided to sacrifice something that I’ve been investing myself in that has become a distraction from my relationship with God.

Starting tomorrow and until January 24th I will be fasting spending my money on anything other than groceries, gas, and bills. In this time as I struggled with what to fast, I kept thinking of the parable of the talents found in Matthew 25:14-30.

In this portion of scripture a man is going away and entrusts his servants with his property (talents) based on their abilities. Two of the servants invest their talents and are able to repay the master more than their original amounts upon his return while one of them buries the money and does nothing with what he was given. His response to the first two servants was the same, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness.” (verses 21 and 23)

To the second servant the man responds with, “You wicked and lazy servant!” (verse 26)

As I look at this passage I can see myself relating to the position of the third servant. I may not have dug a hole and buried my money, but I sure did a lot of blowing what money I did have on unnecessary, worldly distractions. There was no return investment coming for my habits.

So as I take this step for the next 21 days I have a two-fold purpose. First and foremost, I will be in prayer for my church and how God plans to use me this year within the mission. Secondly, these next three weeks will be an exercise in self-discipline and replenishing of my bank account. At the end of my life I don’t want to be a servant who squanders all of their money on things that have no eternal value. To hear the words, “Well, done good and faithful servant” will make any sacrifice worth the payment.

Please pray for me and my family during this time as we are each sacrificing something of value to us. Also, consider joining this challenge even if you aren’t a member of our church. Fasting is something that you do so that you can rid yourself of  distractions. It is a practice in renewing your focus which is something we all need periodically. If you are up to it please prayerfully consider a fast this new year and let me know if you are in!

Happy Sabbath!

The Ameri Brit Mom

 

 

Faith-Based Writing

Over the past couple of weeks I have had a similar question brought to me from several different people. In essence, all of them have asked for a format for faith-based writing. One of those people is aspiring to write a daily devotional with 365 short devotions on a similar topic, one was wanting to incorporate more faith-based writing on her blog, and another was wanting to use writing to develop her own faith.

These questions got me thinking. I’ve done plenty of faith-based or scripture-based writings over the years. Currently, I also volunteer with my church’s writing team, but my blog does not contain any real formal writing on faith.

Over the new year I want to be sure to publish more of these short writings on my blog. Additionally, I am planning to also use my Sunday posts to discuss what I learned at church each week in a series entitled, Today at Covenant… Please consider joining me as I dive into my pastor’s message and the awesome things God is doing at Covenant Church in Grove City, Ohio.

As for a format for faith-based writing there really is no such thing. I’ve taken the last few days to research some of my favorite devotionals and their author’s styles. Through this research and a great conversation with a friend at Starbucks I’ve developed a rough outline for anyone interested in doing some faith-based writing. This is not the only formula for success, but it’s a place to start. If you would like to use this format don’t feel confined to exactly what is prescribed. Take this format and make it yours. This is just a basic outline.

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In order to download this template here is a link to the pdf file: DailyDevotionFormat (1)

Below is a look at some ideas of what to include in the each part of the writing:

  1. Focus Scripture: Your writing should begin with a scripture focus. Depending on the length of your writing this can be anywhere from a verse, a couple of verses, or a chapter from the Bible. This is the scripture you plan to dive  in to through your writing and you are committing to studying this scripture before any of the writing begins. It is up to you to decide the length of scripture you choose for this portion.
  2. Personal Anecdote: Also, depending on the length you have in mind this portion may vary in size. Generally a faith-based or devotional writing will contain 1-2 paragraphs of a personal anecdote. This is a real life story that you feel the readers will be able to relate to or learn from. As you write this portion you want to be sure to use descriptive details that show your readers how it felt to be you in your story as opposed to only telling them the story. Specifically focus on the five senses in your writing. Doing so naturally keeps you from telling instead of showing. Finally, be sure to be honest and raw at this point in your writing. One thing that makes devotional writing hard is that often times it does require us to set aside our pride and be completely honest with our audience. In my opinion, no one does this better than Lysa TerKeurst from Proverbs 31 Ministries. She’s an awesome example of an author who has no scruples with being totally real even when the truth is ugly. If you aren’t familiar with her please check out her site linked above.
  3. Scripture Study: The next part is going to move from the narrative to more of a research-based writing. Most writers will find that this part should be written before the antecdote, but once again it all depends on how you approach this type of writing. A smooth transition between the two is necessary to keep the feelings you’ve built in the reader and to move them to the healing that comes from The Word. This should be the meat of your writing. The crux of your demonstration. Allow 2-4 paragraphs for this study. Three questions to direct this part of your writing: How does this scripture relate to the anecdote? How does this scripture relate to its context in scripture? What is this scripture calling you and your readers to understand/do?
  4. Call to Action: After the reader has been handed the truth it’s now time to make a challenge. Think about that last question from the scripture study. With the answer in mind think of a measurable task that you can hand your reader. Life change comes through putting the Truth of scripture into practice. Provide that opportunity by some type of call to action.
  5. Prayer: Finally, once you have brought your reader full circle wrap your writing up with a short, but real prayer. This could be one that you wrote yourself while dealing with the topic yourself or one that you write as you pray over your readers.

One thing I’ve learned about writing devotionals in particular is that we are much better writers when we are first of all writing for ourselves. Our writing is best when it is raw and honest so if you are struggling with something the first step to healing may be to write about that particular hardship following a similar template to the one I’ve provided.

In the past, I’ve written some devotions that I plan to publish on here in the future. Until then…

Happy Writing!

The Ameri Brit Mom

Cozy New Floor

A year and a half ago my husband and I signed over our lives to the idea of becoming first time homeowners. Neither of us are naturally “do-it-yourself” people so the prospect of being in charge of everything for the first time was a bit nerve-wracking. However, God had led us to our house and we believed that he would be in control through the ride of home ownership.

Off the bat there were some things we wanted to accomplish with the house to make it feel like our own. They were all small things like paint and cosmetic work. Nothing that we weren’t confident in handling.

Within six months of moving we began to notice that the carpet in the living room was in pretty bad shape. The previous homeowner had a dog and in various places he had ripped up the carpet. When we brought our cat, Simba, into the home it only accentuated the problem. And for almost a year we had a beautiful home with embarrassingly terrible carpet in the most visited room of the house. We decided to save up to do something about this problem.

This year in late October we were able to purchase wood laminate. We made our way to Lowes one Sunday after church and bought thirteen boxes of laminate. As a couple we had a little dilemma when it came to installing the floor. To have the professionals at Lowes install the floor it doubled the price of the entire thing. So (against my initial judgment) we decided to take on the floors on our own. And when I mean on our own I am really referring to my husband who did all the work.

We enlisted the help of one of our best family friends and we scheduled a date over Christmas break to say good-bye to the torn and stained carpet and hello to the beautiful fireside oak we had purchased.

It took nine hours, but was well worth the money we saved in the decision to have my husband install the flooring. I took our daughter shopping with my family for the day so we were out of the way. When we returned I couldn’t be more pleased with the results.

My floor went from this:

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To this:

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I’m so proud of my husband for the willingness to put in the hard work required to make this transformation happen. Friends are also and awesome thing and I am thankful that we have friends who were willing to help out and teach my husband a little something about wood laminate installation.

What do you think of our cozy new floor?

Happy New Year! I’m looking forward to 2016 with you!!

The Ameri Brit Mom

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Books I Read in 2015

This is another one of those posts where I reflect on some of the things that I accomplished this year. In my last post I reflected on my top 5 posts of the year and discussed what about each post made it appealing to my readers. Today, I want to take a look back at all of the books I read in 2015, most of which I already reviewed here on the blog.

Devotional Books:

Battlefield of the Mind by Joyce Meyer

The Best Yes by Lysa TerKeurst

David by Beth Moore

 

Writing Books:

Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg

Structuring Your Novel by K.M. Weiland

Blog Inc. by Joy Deangdeelert Cho

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Other Books:

The Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley

Not a Drop to Drink by Mindy McGinnis

All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

Bad Girls Don’t Die by Katie Alender

I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

The Year of Fog by Michelle Richmond

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee

The Curious Incident of a Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon

The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak

To read any of my reviews of these books check out my Book Category on the blog.

Just a couple of days ago I finished my last book of 2015, The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith.

This book is set in modern day Botswana. Immediately I fell in love with the African setting. I don’t often choose books about Africa. It’s relatively unfamiliar territory to me, but I found myself really beginning to appreciate the land and way of life as described in this book.

Precious Ramotswe is the protagonist of this story. She is a highly intelligent and well-educated woman who decides to use her inheritance to establish the first ever female detective agency due to her desire to help people.

This book is fabulously written and the author does a spendid job at introducing the backstory of each of the characters.

Throughout the book Mma. Ramotswe begins to have some high profile customers and cases and becomes a very successful detective. As a reader I enjoyed the way that each chapter contained a case as it helped to establish a quick pace to the book.

Toward the end, I would have liked a little more explanation about why Mma. Ramotswe makes certain decisions, but I guess that’s why Alexander McCall Smith decided to create a series off of this story line.

I would definitely read another book from this series because a reunion with the unique and beautiful setting and with the wonderful cast of characters would be ideal after the way that this book ends.

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In 2016 I will be hosting and taking part in a 24 Book Challenge to widen my exposure to literature both new and old. I would love if you would take that challenge along with me. Please take a look at my post, 24 Book Challenge, for more details and consider being a part of a community of readers who are striving to read their way through the new year.

Happy New Year!

The Ameri Brit Mom