Ruralmomof3's Weblog

Crumpled Paper

ruralmomof3 — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 14:59:26 +0000

A teacher in New York was teaching her class about bullying and gave them the following exercise to perform. She had the children take a piece of paper and told them to crumple it up, stamp on it and really mess it up but do not rip it. Then she had them unfold the paper, smooth it out and look at how scarred and dirty is was. She then…………………… told them to tell it they’re sorry. Now even though they said they were sorry and tried to fix the paper, she pointed out all the scars they left behind. And that those scars will never go away no matter how hard they tried to fix it. That is what happens when a child bullies another child, they may say they’re sorry but the scars are there forever. The looks on the faces of the children in the classroom told her the message hit home.
~Shared with me from a friend

Amanda Gunthorp
~IPOY~

$20

ruralmomof3 — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 20:33:33 +0000

A well-known speaker started off his seminar holding up a $20.00 bill. In the room of 200, he asked, “Who would like this $20 bill?” Hands started going up. He said, “I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this.” He proceeded to crumple up the $20 dollar bill. He then asked, “Who still wants it…?” Still the hands wer………e up in the air. “Well,” he replied, “What if I do this?” And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty. “Now, who still wants it?” Still the hands went into the air. “My friends, we have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20. Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value. Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to those who DO LOVE you. The worth of our lives comes not in what we do or who we know, but by WHO WE ARE. You are Special-Don’t EVER forget it.” ~ copied from a Facebook posting

Amanda Gunthorp
~IPOY~

deep wisdom

ruralmomof3 — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 20:21:51 +0000

Found this on a facebook page:

Amanda Gunthorp
~IPOY~

The Buck Stops Here

ruralmomof3 — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 19:29:58 +0000

I just read, in just over an hour, The Young Traveler’s Gift by Andy Andrews. Andrews is quickly becoming my favorite author and once again he has amazed me with his unique way of teaching life lessons. He motivates me to wipe the dust off my jeans, get up, and go again. He reminds me that I am not alone. Most importantly, he encourages me to continue on my path as a unique, intelligent child of God because there is a purpose for my being on this earth.

The Young Traveler’s Gift was written for teens and I purchased it for my teen, knowing that I loved Andrews and praying that God would use this book to encourage my kid as God has used Andrews to encourage me! I have not even read the grown-up version yet (The Traveler’s Gift), but am looking forward to doing so!

The 7 points he made (without sharing the story because you HAVE to read this book- these points hit home even harder when the story surrounds them):

1. The Buck Stops Here-
You and you alone are responsible for the choices you make in your life.
2. I Will Seek Wisdom-
Wisdom does not find you, you must seek it out, soak it up, and live in it!
3. I Am a Person of Action-
Leading is doing. “Fear no longer has a place in my life”
4. I Have a Decided Heart-
You must work in a forward motion with excitement and eagerness to
finish what you start!
5. Today I will Choose to Be Happy-
Being grateful in all things causes one to walk in happiness
6. I will Greet this Day with a Forgiving Spirit-
Don’t waste valuable time being angry at people who have hurt you
or at yourself for mistakes made.
Forgiveness frees the mind to do great things.
7. I will Persist Without Exception-
Having faith means that we focus on the result, not the steps it takes to get there.
By doing so, we will eventually see for real that which we focused on in faith.

Amanda Gunthorp
~IPOY~

Cherokee Indian Legend

ruralmomof3 — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 02:39:21 +0000

I received this in an email forward today:

Do you know the legend of the Cherokee Indian youth’s rite of Passage?

His father takes him into the forest, blindfolds him and leaves him alone.
He is required to sit on a stump the whole night and not remove the blindfold until the rays of the morning sun shine through it. He cannot cry out for help to anyone.

Once he survives the night, he is a MAN.

He cannot tell the other boys of this experience, because each lad must come into manhood on his own.

The boy is naturally terrified. He can hear all kinds of noises. Wild beasts must surely be all around him. Maybe even some human might do him harm. The wind blew the grass and earth, and shook his stump, but he satstoically, never removing the blindfold. It would be the only way he could become a man!
Finally, after a horrific night the sun appeared and he removed his blindfold.

It was then that he discovered his father sitting on the stump next to him.
He had been at watch the entire night, protecting his son from harm.

We, too, are never alone.
Even when we don’t know it, God is watching overus, Sitting on the stump beside us.
When trouble comes, all we have to do is reach out to Him.

Moral of the story:
Just because you can’t see God,
Doesn’t mean He is not there.
“For we walk by faith, not by sight.”

If you liked this story, pass it on.
If not, you took off your blindfoldbefore dawn. Try Him….you will like it.

Amanda Gunthorp
~IPOY~

Home Tid Bit of the Day

ruralmomof3 — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 16:17:21 +0000

Here is your knowledge for the day. . . flour weavils lay their eggs in wheat. They are teeny, tiny eggs. When the wheat gets made into flour there is no way to separate the weavil eggs from the wheat (although some mills send it through a spinner of sorts that supposedly obliterates the eggs- I don’t believe them). If the wheat is allowed to sit at warm enough temperatures for long enough, the eggs hatch into little worms. Most of the time the worms go un-noticed. But if left long enough they turn into moths that spin cob webby stuff in the corners of packaging.

How do you prevent worms and moths in your flour (and other grain products)???? FREEZE IT! If you put your flour, oatmeal, etc in the freezer for a couple days, the eggs die.

And for you “slum lords”. . . If a rental gets infested with interesting bugs, you can freeze them too! In the winter, Drain the water lines, etc so you don’t break anything- then open all the windows and allow the inside of the home to get below freezing for a day or so. Any bugs that survive that would not be killed by the orkin man either. . .

Your “just in case you’re ever on jeopardy” information for the day. . . .

Amanda Gunthorp
~IPOY~

Our busy family asks. . . .

ruralmomof3 — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 13:14:09 +0000

Dirty dishes prove I feed my family, full trash can means I clean up after their messes, messy floors mean we have a family which is always on the go, the pile of unfolded laundry means I keep my family in clean clothes, wet bathroom means my kids bathe everyday! So the next time you walk into my house and see a “mess” think twice before you judge. If you come over to see us, come on in…if your coming over to see my house please make an appointment!

Amanda Gunthorp
~IPOY~

What I NEEDED to hear

ruralmomof3 — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 11:30:13 +0000

www.mercola.com sent me an article today that was NOT what I wanted to hear but was what I NEEDED to hear. Here is an excerpt, you can read the whole article at http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2011/10/21/which-sex-exercises-more.aspx?e_cid=20111021_DNL_art_2:

The benefits of regular exercise are so numerous, summarizing them all would easily require an entire book or two, but below are a dozen examples. For more information about how exercise can help you prevent or treat the following conditions, please review the hyperlinked articles:

Boost your IQ and think better	Manage arthritis	Fight depression	Lose weight
Lower your blood pressure	Lower your risk of heart disease	Lower your risk of diabetes and reverse pre-diabetes	Reduce your risk of cancer and improve your chances of recovery
Fight off a cold	Cure insomnia	Build strong bones and relieve chronic knee pain	Slow down your aging process

Two Factors Influenced by Exercise Account for Many of its Health Benefits

While the biological influence of exercise cannot easily be summed up, I’d like to point out two factors that are strongly influenced by physical activity, which helps explain how the benefits of exercise can be so far-reaching:

Exercise reduces your insulin levels and helps normalize your insulin receptor sensitivity, and this is the single most important physical factor responsible for decelerating and preventing nearly every chronic disease known to man

Exercise helps prevent telomere shortening, which drives cellular aging, making it a very powerful anti-aging strategy. It does this by activating the enzyme telomerase, which stabilizes telomeres, producing an anti-aging effect at the cellular level. Research indicates physically active people have significantly less erosion of telomeres than even healthy, non-smoking, but sedentary folks.

Amanda Gunthorp
~IPOY~

Time Management for Women

ruralmomof3 — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 15:47:30 +0000

Teach us to make the most of our time, so that we may grow in wisdom (Psalm 90:12, NLT).

It’s been said that women must balance their time more carefully than men because women don’t have wives

The apostle Paul teaches us to “make the most of every opportunity” (Ephesians 5:16 NIV). Every challenge will either wreck our priorities or affirm them. Right priorities stand firm in the face of changing circumstances because God empowers them and honors obedience.

~excerpts from today’s Girlfriends in God devotional www.girlfriendsingod.com

~IPOY~

Mount Rushmore

ruralmomof3 — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 13:01:04 +0000

This was found on Facebook today! Love it!!

Amanda Gunthorp
~IPOY~