The Crazy Mom Blog

Olaf’s Dream

Posted on June 13, 2015 by Mrs Knochel

As I went into my daughter’s room for one last kiss before I went to bed myself, Olaf’s tender voice greeted me from across the room. If you don’t have a young girl in your life then you may not be familiar with Olaf from the Disney movie, Frozen. Olaf is the snowman that the two main character’s, Anna and Elsa, played with as children. When Elsa’s ice powers were discovered she fled from her castle leaving it and it’s village in a perpetual winter (in the middle of summer). After her escape she flees to the north mountain where she realizes that there’s no point hiding her powers any more and that she might as well start seeing what all she can do with them instead. Among many amazing things, she creates a snowman named Olaf, this time instead of just being a snowman he comes to life!

When Anna comes to the mountain to try and convince Elsa to return home, she meets Olaf. In the scene Olaf introduces himself and sings a gloriously hilarious song about his dream to see summer. Obviously the hilarity is in the fact that he’s a snowman and he would melt if he ever saw summer. This is the song that greeted me as I entered into my Anna’s room tonight to kiss her one last time before falling asleep myself. There he was, singing on her CD player that she had set to repeat the CD while she slept. As I was walking toward her door he sang, “When life gets tough I like to hang on to my dream…”

You what’s funny is that I’ve never really noticed that line of the song before. Not really. Isn’t that what dreams are for? They’re that thing that we hang on to when life get’s tough and we’re not sure if we can keep going. There’s our dream, shining in the darkness just begging us to keep trying… just one more time. Hang in there!

The more I thought about it the more I realized just how profound this little snowman’s song really is. His dream of laying in the summer sun seemed ridiculous to those who had actually experienced summer and it’s deadly effects on ice and snow. Yet to Olaf, who had never seen summer, it sounded glorious and wonderful. And isn’t that precisely what often happens to those of us that dream? We dream about things that we haven’t experienced, usually because we want to experience them. And all too often we’re dreaming them because they’re simply out of our reach or control. And there are even times when we may come across those who have experienced them and they aren’t too encouraging to us in our dreaming.

But then I went just one step further with Olaf, while his dream was WAY beyond his own capability and seemed ludicrous to those around him. It was completely within the ability of his creator! When the movie is at it’s end and summer has returned to the village Olaf immediately begins to melt. But the moment his creator Elsa notices she immediately remedy’s the situation by creating his very own flurry. And in this moment Olaf’s dream is realized, he gets to fully experience summer!

My friends, do we not also have a creator who is able to do so much more than we could ever hope or imagine? Yes, your dream may seem ridiculously out of your reach and capability, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t ever see it realized! In Genesis there was a youth named Joseph who had a dream that his mean older brothers would bow in submission to him. At the time it seemed ridiculous to even think such a thing, and yet wouldn’t you know it, by the end of the book of Genesis not only are his brothers bowing in submission to him but so is his father and everyone else in Egypt except the Pharaoh himself! God didn’t just realize Joseph’s dream, He exceeded it abundantly above anything he could have asked or imagined! And you know what else, if God’s willing to do that for Joseph, He’s willing to do it for you too!

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Dusty Tumbleweeds

Posted on June 4, 2015 by Mrs Knochel

It’s driving me crazy! Every time I open up the internet on any of my devices the blog pops up (because it’s my homescreen on all my devices) and I can practically see the tumbleweeds blowing across the screen it feels so empty and deserted! I just HAD to write something so that it wouldn’t feel so hollow and abandoned anymore!
I have one more week of online classes left and then I will qualify for my license renewal! Yay! School has been out for a week now, so that lifted an enormous time burden from my shoulders… but left a huge hole in my heart! I miss going there every day and seeing these kids I have grown to love so much. Two more months til school starts again. In the meantime, it’s summer fun with MY kiddos!!! And we’re having a blast! We’ve done something every day this week, I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to last at the pace, but we’re enjoying it so far.
I made a Summer Fun Planner that I’m hoping to upload to Teachers Pay Teachers soon, when I do I’ll put a link on here for you. It’s the lesson planner I created for myself for next school year modified for the summer. Yup. I’m a teacher at heart. 🙂
Also, quickly, before I forget, Sean is planning on driving in a derby this Saturday. It’s in the Indiana State Fairgrounds grandstands at 4:00 pm. This will be his first derby of the year so we’re feeling pretty excited! Please pray for his safety (and all the rest of the drivers as well), and for those who need Bibles to get them this weekend. We have plenty!
God bless you my friends!
Live your dreams, they’re worth it.

Categories: 7x70, The Crazy Mom Blog | Leave a comment

Stone Soup

Posted on May 15, 2015 by Mrs Knochel

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1 Thessalonians 1:1-5:8

Are you familiar with the story “Stone Soup”? It’s an absolute classic and it’s a lesson I taught every single year with my preschoolers. The story goes that there was this town on the brink of starvation when in walks these soldiers asking for food and shelter for the night. No one is willing to share with them because they feel they have nothing that they can give to the soldiers and still survive themselves. So, being very wise, one of the soldiers decides to make stone soup, so he asks one of the peasants if he can borrow a BIG pot to make his soup. Thinking he’s crazy the peasant offers the pot willingly to the soldier and watches him fill it with water in the well, put it over a raging fire in the middle of the town square and then go looking for a stone to make stone soup. This calls much attention from the rest of the villagers and they all come out to see what on earth this crazy soldier is doing making soup with a stone. As the soldiers stands there stirring his stone soup and smelling the air he starts talking about how good the soup will taste and it starts making the villiagers feel even hungier than they were before. But this time they’re hungry for stone soup. Until finally one of the villiagers decideds that his carrots would make the soup even better and he offers them up. One by one each of the villiagers begins pitching things into the soup until suddenly they’ve all contributed something, green beans, tomatoes, bread to go with the soup, butter for the bread, until these starving villiagers have an actual feast on their hands!
My friends, for the last eight years that we’ve lived here I’ve wanted to host a neighborhood block party. Really just something to get everyone together to meet one another. We have the perfect space, we live in a circle and the middle of the circle is all back yards! This year, it’s going to happen, I can feel it! It all started when one of our neighbors started complaining about the state of another neighbor’s yard. That particular neighbor’s yard has occupants who have BOTH been in and out of the hospital since we’ve lived here. He has had at least two toes amputated due to his diabetes and she, I hear, almost died this Mother’s Day weekend! I was frustrated (to say the least) with the first neighbor and their caulousness to the second neighbor’s obvious plight. Our group broke up and went back to our houses. I walked in the door and immediately started ranting to God. “Lord, what on earth has happened to them to make them so harsh toward their neighbors? They’re so bitter and cold and all they care about is appearances. ………… (lots of ranting that doesn’t need repeated)……. Lord, how can I help? The first thought that came to mind was that I could go over and talk to them about how I was feeling, I rejected that idea pretty quickly, mostly because I was too chicken to do it that way. But then the lightning bolt hit!
A few weeks ago I had been on Facebook on a private Sheridan garage sale site and noticed a post where someone was asking if anyone knew where to get gravel for a good price for their driveway. Curious, I clicked on it, thinking of the conversation I had had with Sean just the other day about needing gravel for our driveways. There were a LOT of people commenting on the status because they had the same question, one of them was my neighbor who is in the hospital more than they’re home. I immediately decided that whenever we got gravel I would contact them and see if they wanted to go in with us on it. Fast forward two or three weeks later and here we are talking about the fact that we have neighbors (who are AMAZING people by the way) who are both in different hospitals at the same time and could really use a good show of Christian love in their lives. BOOM! The thunder rolled as a realization raced across my brain.
One of our other neighbors is a traveling salesman for a landscaping company!
One cattycorner neighbor LOVES landscaping and is really good with flowers!
We have several neighbors that are sick, elderly, sick and elderly, why don’t we all go together and pitch in to help these neighbors by giving them a beautiful yard! Then the picky one will stop complaining and everyone we help will be blessed becuase we showed them we care and we will be blessed because we got to help them!!! Plus, then at the end of the day we can all have a pitch in feast to celebrate all our hard work! IT WILL BE FUN!!!
I have to tell you friends, I am incredibly excited about this! I pitched the idea to the traveling salesman’s wife, who pitched it to the traveling salesman who said, “I was thinking the exact same thing!”
It’s meant to be I tell ya!
What better way to show your neighbors in need that you love them than taking care of the things that they simply can’t take care of anymore? My grandparents all live pretty far away from us so it’s hard to take care of them the way I would like to. But they do live in a community that loves them to bits and pieces and has taken care of them when we couldn’t. I want to do that for my neighbors. I want to help them meet each other and help them to learn each other’s names and faces. I mean really, what an amazing concept, getting to know your neighbor enough that when you wave across the street you can really mean the “Good morning” you shout!
The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and in this busy day and time that can be hard. I don’t mean to say all this to lift myself up, this wasn’t MY idea, it’s God’s. I say all this to challenge you into action! Open your eyes to the needs around you in your own neighborhood. Is the house next to yours a little run down and unkempt? Perhaps it’s because the person in it could use a little help. Maybe they’re so busy spending time in the hospital almost dying that they don’t have time to bring the things in off their porch according to your liking. Maybe the house with the washing machine in the front yard doesn’t have someone living in it with the ability to take it to the scrap yard because they’re so busy just trying to stay alive and make the most of the few years they have left together. Maybe the house with the unmown yard has someone in it that could really use a hug right now from someone who does more than just say they care.
Friends, consider this your call to action! Be a good neighbor this weekend, or next weekend, or all summer long. You don’t have to go to Africa to be a missionary and win souls for the Lord. Maybe the farthest you need to go is across the street with a plate full of cookies, a warm smile and a listening ear. Sometimes people just need someone to talk to. I challenge you to be that person today and just listen. Don’t sit there trying to think of what you’re going to say next, just listen. Let the moment of silence hang in the air until they start up and share their heart with you. Let God use you as His ears for a change, and maybe a hand and back with a load full of gravel too.  
In all those years of teaching about Stone Soup I didn’t think I’d acutally be making some like this! And all because we needed gravel ourselves!

Categories: 1 Thessalonians, 365 Life, Season 3, Sheridan Reporter, Writing Through the Bible in a Year | Tags: , | Leave a comment

At What Point?

Posted on April 26, 2015 by Mrs Knochel

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1 Samuel 8:1-11:15
We were riding in the car the other day and I was looking at my double chin in the side mirror and hating it. It hasn’t always been doubled, but I haven’t always been a mother either. I sat there in the passenger’s seat thinking about the figure that isn’t as small as it used to be. Once I went to visit my boyfriend at college and we ran across one of his friends. He said, “Hey so-and-so! This is my girlfriend.” Then he put his hands around my waist with his thumbs touching his middle fingers and said to so-and-so, “See! I told you!” How have I remembered that all these years later? It terrified me. I knew this waist that he was so proud of would never last. When it was gone…would he be gone too?
If I were completely honest with myself, it’s still a fear I have.
So there I sat in the car lamenting figures gone bye, when God said,
“When will it be enough? If I make your waist smaller then you’ll be unhappy with your hair. If I fix your hair you’ll just be displeased with your skin, or your eyes, or your feet. At what point will it be enough for you? Isn’t it obvious? It’s not your body you’re unhappy with. It’s you. At what point will you allow yourself to be enough? I’ve told you over and over and over again that I love you the way you are, why do you doubt Me? You fear that because you are less than perfect My Love will leave you. It won’t. It can’t. Remember, My Love never fails. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance (1 Corinthians 13:7). Relax My Beloved, you are enough for Me. Make this the point where you are enough for you!”

Categories: 1 Samuel, 365 Life, Season 3, Sheridan Reporter, Writing Through the Bible in a Year | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Take the Time to REST

Posted on April 23, 2015 by Mrs Knochel

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1 Samuel 1:1-3:21
I have a confession to make, this past Sunday we actually played hookey from church. Well, OK, that’s not *entirely* accurate, we did attend church – OUR church even… in our pajamas on our couch via the internet and simulcast. There are some definite perks to attending a very large church. Northview Church just launched a new “iCampus” and so far it seems to be going quite successfully. And really, that morning service in our livingroom set the tone for that whole cold rainy day. There we sat and there we stayed all day watching movies, and it was glorious!
The next day when I went to work and told one of my co-workers about it she asked, “What’s that like? I never get a day off!” And for any of you that know me very well, or have followed this blog for very long, you know how I feel about that! So you won’t be surprised when I tell you that I then replied to her,
“You should just take the time to relax every once in a while.”
“Well, I have goals and things to do.” she replied.
I said, “So do I. But sometimes those things should wait.” (If only she knew what my goals were! HA! God has certainly taught me to dream BIG!)
She said more, letting me know that I was wasting my breath in trying to convince her that rest is important (not to mention quality time with your family) and so I stopped bothering. Someday the Holy Spirit will teach her the wisdom of rest, until then I will continue to celebrate my Sabbath in my way and she can celebrate it hers. (Did I mention that she suffers from migraines almost monthly, where she is forced to stop her business and goal chasing in order to rest?)
You see my friends, God has His ways. HE knows what’s best for us and what we need, so much better than we do. He knew from the very beginning that we would get so caught up in our goals and our plans that we would forget to take care of ourselves.
Sometimes the best way to take care of others is to take care of yourself! If I’m so worn out that I get sick to the point that I literally can’t move from the bed then how is that helping anyone? Instead of pushing myself to the absolute limit, I plan a time to intentionally stop and smell the roses.
Take the time to rest and allow your body the time to recover and recuperate, and perhaps enjoy some family fun time at the same time. We all have goals, we all have things that we want and are working toward them. However, if your body is forcing you to rest I guarantee you it will cost you more time and be less enjoyable than if you were to PLAN resting time in advance. Trust me, this is the voice of experience talking here. I even wrote a book about it!

Rest front cover - Page 001

We all need some quiet time. We all need some “me” time. And as long as you’re not staying in that “me” zone all the time, your goals will still be there waiting for you on the other side of that PJ day. I promise. Only this time, you’ll have more mental and physical and spiritual energy to achieve those goals. Who knows, by taking some time away from them you may even end up achieving them faster than you would have without the respite.
Pray about it today, is God calling you to come away with Him and have some quiet time? Is He calling you to both lie down and sleep because He alone makes you dwell in safety? Did you know that the Lord will fight for you, you need only to be still? My friend, be still and KNOW that He is God. Give Him your goals, your fears, your troubles and let Him work on them for a while so that you can take a much-needed break.

Rest

Categories: 1 Samuel, 365 Life, Rest, Season 3, The Crazy Mom Blog, Writing Through the Bible in a Year | Leave a comment

All Things Work for Good

Posted on April 20, 2015 by Mrs Knochel

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Romans 9:1-12:21
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6 In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. 7 If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. 8 If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly. Romans 12:6-7

My friends, I have had a rough morning this morning. I mentioned to you last week to be expecting a time management post soon, well here it is and it’s nothing like I was expecting it to be! God had other plans for me today.
First of all, I had a REALLY hard time even waking up! I had this really weird dream that put me in a sour mood. By the time I finally was able to drag myself from the bed it was an hour later than I had expected to get up. MY plan had been to get up at 5, leisurely brew my coffee, fill out my covey model to do list, read my Bible, write my post, and then greet my family with a warm alert smile as they joined me in the land of the living. What actually happened was that I ended up being the last one out of bed, looking like the walking dead! I’m pretty sure I sounded like it too!
As I shuffled around the house feeling like my body parts were made of lead and not flesh the rest of the family moved around a little lethargically too. As we waved good-bye to Daddy from the living room window Gabe looked at the clock and said, “OH SHOOT!” He had exactly one minute to get his sweatshirt and backpack on, run two blocks down the street and get on the bus. He didn’t make it.
So now – because we know that this day had nothing to do with anyone else and everything to do about dear sweet little ole me, not only was I already an hour behind on MY schedule but with my son missing the bus I was going to be even further behind schedule because now I was going to have to drive him to school. Fabulous! Yet I didn’t give up my hope for a productive day, not yet anyway. That happened when my daughter missed her bus too!
So now my morning plans have been completely wrecked. (Keep in mind here, we live two minutes from both of their schools, literally TWO minutes.) Mommy, turned Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street, grumbled as both children appologized most sweetly for missing their busses. I dropped them both off at school and decided that since MY schedule had already been thrown out the window I might as well keep going with it. I had planned on spending my morning working on homework and writing, BUT since I was out and about already I might as well stop by the local IGA and do the grocery shopping I had planned on doing this afternoon after school. As I got out of the car and scannd their ads on the side of the building I smacked my right hand on my rear view mirror – HARD. And if that hadn’t been enough there were other people in the parking lot that witnessed my pain and embarassment. siiiighhh… the day continues. However, many of the ingredients I needed were on sale so that’s good right? When I went to pick up the chicken that was on sale I got chicken juice all over my hands, ew ew ew ew ew ew ew EW!!!!!!! As I was leaving the check out the cashier thought she saw my paper bag ripping, turns out it wasn’t, but by the time I carried it to the car, it did. I just barely got it to the passenger’s seat before the handle completely gave way. When I got home and opened the passenger side door my purse fell out of the car and into the mud in the driveway – AWESOME!!! I brushed it off, put it over my shoulder trying to ignore the fact that I was probably getting my coat all dirty too. I loaded my arms back up with grocery bags, took two steps towards the front door and dropped my keys in the mud. “ACK!!!!! SERIOUSLY LORD!?!”
Some days just DON’T go the way you planned them. And you know what, that’s OK. Because “this is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!” No, it didn’t go at all the way that I had planned, it went better than I had planned. I got an obviously needed extra hour of sleep, I got to spend an extra twenty minutes with both my dear sweet children, who were perfectly lovely this morning despite having a grumpy zombie mommy. I got to drive them to school, probably keeping them from hearing/doing naughty things on the bus. I got my shopping done, including buying party supplies that I hope I get to use at school today as a reward for some great test grades. Not only did I get a week’s worth of groceries this morning in record time I got them on sale and from friends. And then, after I got back home and was text venting about my morning to my husband, I got to spend a little extra time with him making me laugh this morning in order to cheer me up. And then, because God is this kind of good, He pointed out to me all these good things that He had given to me this morning according to HIS plans that I would have missed if I had followed MY plan. And by pointing all these things out, He also gave me something to write about for my time management post. Which is a really good thing too because I had really been drawing a blank on what it was going to say!
All too often we make plans and then get frustrated and upset when they go awry. We shouldn’t. What’s the point of getting angry about something you have no control over? Will I try again tomorrow to have that ideal morning with the coffee steam swirling and the heavens singing that morning song that plays in commercials where there are happy morning people greeting each other with their coffee that’s good to the last drop? Sure! I try for that morning every day! But somedays, God has something better planned and I need be able to accept that His better might just look like my “worse”, but that doesn’t mean that it is worse. Sometimes my “worse” is really for my “best”!

“For in all things, God works for the good of those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28

Categories: 365 Life, Romans, Season 3, The Crazy Mom Blog, Writing Through the Bible in a Year | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Cauliflower Noodle Bowls and Great Company

Posted on April 2, 2015 by Mrs Knochel

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Psalms 102:1-105:45
 They asked for meat, and he sent them quail;
    he satisfied their hunger with manna—bread from heaven. Psalm 105:40

So, I was pleased as punch to entertain one of my very great friends for most of the day today. It was so wonderful to get to spend time with somene I could speak freely with. Siiiigh… oh… so… good!
After I reluctantly escourted her to the door and waved goodbye I shut the door and looked at the clock and realized that we had completely skipped lunch and now it was snack time! OOPS! Time flies when you’re having fun right!?
Well, Sean had told me this morning that he was planning on staying after work for a bit today so I knew that dinner would be a little later than normal tonight so I figured it was a great time to make a nice big lunch/snack! 🙂 I looked in the fridge to see what I could throw together and make something that would last until dinner.
A couple of months ago I came across this book,

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The idea of a diet structured to MY blood type according to MY body chemistry, well, it was earth shattering for me! I’ve barely even started reading the book and I’ve been following the beneficial, neutral and avoids lists fairly faithfully and so far I’m pretty happy with the program. My blood type, Type A, is a mainly plant based diet due to our lower levels of stomach acid. So I have spent HOURS online searching for Blood Type A recipes.
There aren’t very many food blogs out there that do their cooking according to blood type. SO I decided that since this is a new adventure for me, one that I have no plans of ever stopping since this diet is less of a diet and more of a lifestyle. It’s a list of foods to avoid, not a list of foods you’re never allowed to have again. And I LIKE that! 🙂 I thought that I would share some of my recipes with you too.
Now, I’m going to preface this with: I am not a chef! I’m a teacher and a writer and a blogger who has to eat therefore I have to cook and if I have to cook, well then I might as well cook food I like. Right? But, being me, of course I’m going to share what I have with all of you. 🙂
So, lunch/snack turned early dinner!
I looked through the fridge to see what I had and this is what sprang to life in my saute’ pan!
Cauliflower Noodle Bowls:

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Ingredients:
2 small Zucchini, Chopped into bite sized pieces
1/2 head Cauliflower, separated into flowerettes – bite sized pieces
1 Orange bell pepper, diced
3-4 cloves Garlic, Chopped
8 scallions, Chopped. save a few back for garnish
1-2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Thyme
1/2 tsp Basil
1/2 tsp Ground ginger
1 pinch Rubbed sage
9 1/4 oz Hot water, the large button on the keurig 😉
1 pkg Ramen noodles
1-2 Tbs Lemon juice
1 Egg
1 1/2 tsp LB Jamison’s Soup base chicken flavor
1 block Farmer’s cheese, shaved with a vegetable peeler for a garnish
Soy Sauce, to taste
Siracha, to taste

Instructions:
*Melt butter in saute pan.
*Add veggies and spices and cook until veggies are tender but still firm
*While veggies are cooking, put Ramen noodles (noodles only) in a heat safe bowl and add hot water. Let soak for 3-4 minutes until noodles are tender. Add noodles only to sauté pan with veggies.
*Add the lemon juice, egg and soup base to the noodle water and stir vigorously until the egg is well beaten and the soup base is completely incorporated.
*Add lemon mixure to the pan with the veggies and noodles and cook until the sauce thickens, sticks to the noodles and turns a lighter shade of yellow so you know that the egg has cooked through.
*Serve and garnish with peppers, scallions, soy sauce and siracha to taste.
I have kids who aren’t as fond of soy sauce and siracha as I am so that’s why these are to taste as garnishes. Feel free to comment below and let me know if you tried this recipe and what you added/changed! I can rarely make the same recipe twice without getting bored with it so I’d love to see how you tweaked this!

For anyone interested, I have been using an android food planning app that I lOVE!!! It’s called, of all things, “Food Planner” and has a planning section where you can map out your menu for as far in advance as you’d like to go. Once installed on your device, if you’re online and come across a recipe that looks tastey all you have to do is go to the “share” link on your device – for my Samsung Galaxy S3 phone it’s the touch button to the left of the home button. The app will import the recipe from the web and store it in the recipes section so you can use it for your meal planning.
Plus! Once you have recipes added into the app and the meals are planned out you can import ALL the recipe ingredients into the “Groceries” section of the app and it will generate a shopping list for you! And you can organize your list any way that you want so that you can even customize it to your favorite store!
The app will even sync all your recipes, shopping lists and plans etc from one device to another! That way if you find a great recipe on your phone you can load it into the app and use your tablet to plan your meals and view the recipes while you’re cooking! I love love love this app!!!!

Ok, I could go on, but I think this is enough for one day. 😉 As you can tell, I’m very excited about this new eating plan! ENJOY!!!

Categories: Blood Type A, Psalms, Recipes, Season 3 | Leave a comment

SB 101 Demystified

Posted on March 30, 2015 by Mrs Knochel

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Psalms 80:1-87:7

My friends, the internet has virtually exploded this week in controversy. You guessed it. I’m talking about Indiana Senate Bill 101, aka the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). According to my seven hours of researching reputable resources, it’s NOT about discrimination, like some “sources” would have you believe. The RFRA is about limiting the government from forcing someone to do something against their religious beliefs. And unless I’m mistaken that is precisely the premise our good nation was founded on, was it not?!

There are 30 other states that have this, or similar laws, in place. And according to University of Virginia’s law professor, Douglas Laycock, in those other states “There were cases about Amish buggies, hunting moose for native Alaskan funeral rituals, an attempt to take a church building by eminent domain, landmark laws that prohibited churches from modifying their buildings – all sorts of diverse conflicts between religious practice and pervasive regulation.” (31 states have heightened religious freedom protections. Juliet Eilperin. The Washington Post)

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Thank you to the Washington Post for this photo.

According to the Indiana Senate Republicans blog, “In the decades that federal and state courts have been interpreting RFRA laws, opponents cannot point to a single case in which a court has ruled that the RFRA allows discrimination based on sexual orientation.” In other words, not ONE of the thirty states that also have this law (or similar ones) have ever had a case where this law has given license to discrimination in the state. Not one.

In his article in the Indy Star, David O. Conkle, a professor at Indiana University Maurer School of Law explains that according to this law, “a unanimous US Supreme Court recently ruled that a Muslim prisoner was free to practice his faith by wearing a half-inch beard that posed no risk to prison security. Likewise, in a 2012 decision, a court ruled that the Pennsylvania RFRA protected the outreach ministry of a group of Philadelphia churches, ruling that the city could not bar them from feeding homeless individuals in the city parks.” 

This law has nothing to do with discrimination and everything to do with our rights as Americans to practice our chosen religion freely without the government stepping in and telling us we can’t. In 1990, in the case Employment Division v. Smith, the Supreme Court “downgraded” religious freedoms within America. “National leaders of all political stripes responded by passing the federal RFRA to restore the strict scrutiny test, because they recognized that religious liberty is a fundamental right that deserves strong legal protection. … The bipartisan respect for religious freedom has also carried over to the votes for most state-level RFRA’s. For example, when President Obama was an Illinois State Senator in 1998, he voted for Illinois’ RFRA.” (From the Indiana Senate Republican blog)

My friends, it bears repeating, there is NO history of this law resulting in any discrimination of any kind that would constitute the amount of outrage over it’s passage in Indiana. In fact, if anything we should all be rejoicing that our great state of Indiana just passed a law that will protect us from the great state of Indiana! This law was passed in an effort to let Hoosiers know that their government cares about their RELIGIOUS FREEDOM just like the other thirty states that have passed the law (or similar ones) before us. And I ask you, if this law is truly such a hideous thing that gives license to discriminate against gay-marriage, where was all the hype when the first thirty states passed the law? Including, but not limited to when Obama passed it in Illinois. This is not a law to fear, but to embrace no matter what your belief system is!

Categories: 365 Life, Psalms, Season 3, Sheridan Reporter, Writing Through the Bible in a Year | Tags: , , , | 4 Comments

Tamar’s 10 in ’15 Book Challenge – Tuesday’s with Morrie

Posted on February 27, 2015 by Mrs Knochel

Well, we’ve come to our first book in the 10 in ’15 Book Challenge! I have to tell you, I really had no idea what Tuesday’s with Morrie was even about until I snuggled up with it in the library reading chair. I cracked the cover the day after starting my new teaching job and found out that God had chosen for me to read this book about a teacher first! I shook my head and smiled, He never fails.

This book had me at hello! I was swept into Morrie’s world and I didn’t want to leave. He was the teacher I try to be. He taught the way I long to teach. He treated people the way I try to treat them. He is such a great role model for teachers and for people in general. His outlook on life is inspiring to say the least and this story of his march toward death’s doors is a MUST READ. I can see why so many people recommended it to me!

There is so much more that I’d love to share with you about the book, but I don’t want to spoil the journey for anyone who hasn’t taken it yet.

Now, if you recall, when I first announced this Book Challenge I told you that there would be a reward for everyone who participated. Today is when you get to participate! 😀 Simply leave a comment below letting me know that you read the book, feel free to comment on how you felt about it, or if it taught you anything. For everyone who participates this month you will receive the free e-book of the month TRUE INTIMACY! 😀 So comment below and I’ll email you a copy of your very own! 😀

For everyone who reads all ten books with me and comments on each 10 in ’15 Book Challenge post at the end of each month will receive one SIGNED book of their choice from the “Books” tab on TamarKnochel.com for FREE! So keep reading my friends! Let’s grow together! 😀

Categories: 10 in '15 Book Challenge, Writing Through the Bible in a Year | 2 Comments

#LikeaGirl

Posted on February 9, 2015 by Mrs Knochel


Nahum 1:1-3:19

“Look, your troops are women among you;” Nahum 3:13

Did any of the rest of you see the Always commercial during the Super Bowl?

While watching it I cried because it made me realize I had lost the faith in myself that those little girls have. GOD made me a woman. He didn’t make woman to be less than man, that was part of the curse.

In Genesis chapter 2 God makes woman from man’s side. She is bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh! She is made from HIM – they are carbon copies of one another with a few… convenient differences. She has been made to be his helper and his mate; yes different, but equal.

Then that stupid snake came along and convinces both the Man and the Woman to turn everything over to him and he turns everything upside down. God comes along and doles out the consequences of their actions. To the woman He says, “Your desire will be for your husband, yet he will dominate you.” (verse 16) It’s at this very moment where woman becomes unequal to man.

Years and years and years go by and woman is still viewed as inferior to man. Then Jesus came along and gave the most important news of all time to A WOMAN!!!

The entire Christian faith rests on one moment in time, the moment Jesus rose from the dead. Without that moment all of our religion would be null and void because Jesus wouldn’t be who He had claimed to be – the Son of God. And in that moment of victory over the grave He appeared first to a woman, not a man. And what was it He first called her? He called her “woman”. He wanted to make sure that everyone knew that this one who had searched for Him with her whole heart and had found Him was a woman. I feel like this was God’s way of confirming the redemption of the daughters of the first woman from the curse of woman. Mary had been tormented with seven demons, the number of completion. She had been completely tormented by Satan, the serpent from the Garden, and Jesus saved her completely. And it is to this once cursed and tormented woman that Jesus appears first and commands, “go to My brothers and tell them that I am ascending to My Father and your Father – to My God and your God.” (John 20:17)

If Jesus, the Son of God, the Risen Lord didn’t want women in evangelic positions in His Kingdom, why on Earth would He have told her to evangelize His brothers? According to Galatians 3:28, “There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” We are all ONE in Christ Jesus. There is no distinction between male or female we are equal once more!

Categories: 365 Life, Nahum, Sheridan Reporter | Leave a comment

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