Lily of the Field

Holiday Wrapping

2011-12-22T16:35:00.000-05:00

I absolutely love wrapping gifts. It may be a sickness; I'm not quite sure. My oldest daughter noted that there aren't many folks in my camp of loving to wrap gifts. It's such a beautiful precise thing, measuring, cutting, folding, taping...ahhh...just talking about it makes me all giddy.

To go along with the love of wrapping is my love for printable gift tags and box top embellishments. Some wonderfully creative bloggers are giving away printables for gift tags. Go visit Creature Comforts for a LONG list of free printables.
The Handmade Home has some here.
And Fresh Picked Whimsy has a cute set here.

This year I printed tags from the last two resources listed above, mainly because I just found Creature Comforts list today.

I hole punched the tags and used all kinds of fun, different sized ribbons to tie up my packages.
Hope you enjoyed this holiday wrap-up of my wrapping! :)

Monster Cookies with "Muffin"

2011-12-07T21:49:00.000-05:00

The little "Muffin" I babysit made monster cookies with me the other day. We had a good time. She loves to bake, cook and be in the kitchen. I loved it when she tried to stir the M&M's into the mixture. Her little arm couldn't even move the spoon. :)

We took two plates of cookies along with homemade cards to some of our local community service men and women. The county jail sheriff and deputies and the firefighters were glad recipients. We have been intentionally thinking of ways to give gifts to others--whether it be gifts of baked goods, candy canes, cards, time, etc. I'm thankful for the opportunity to be with my kids and do fun things like this!

Monster cookies are GREAT because it makes a BIG batch, they are yummy, and they freeze well. The only downside is that you spend hours switching cookie sheets in and out of the oven.

Enjoy!

Homemade Ranch Crackers

2011-12-05T12:32:00.000-05:00

I made these yummy crackers today! I posted the recipe here a few years ago. Easy recipe and SO good.

December is under way

2011-12-03T13:34:00.000-05:00

I've been thinking: if I can post a status update on Facebook every day of November, then I can make time to post something on my blog everyday of December. :) My goal is to include a picture from that day and some thoughts about our happenings.

So, it's December 3rd and I've already missed yesterday...I know. Tiredness overtook me and I slept for a long time last night! I took a picture though. Here is a picture of one of the crafts we are taking for our local homeschool's annual Kid's Christmas Craft Sale. I got the idea from a friend and then I did some research online. I found this cute example:
Everyday Art--alphabet glass stone magnets

I know originally I looked at lots of other sites, but I can't seem to find them now. We used scrapbook paper, regular stick glue, glass stones (flat on one side, bubble on the other) and round magnets glued on with E-6000 glue. We glued the stone to the paper, cut it out, glued the magnet on and walaa! Cute!

The other pictures are of my younger two with their Truth in the Tinsel craft. We are enjoying this Advent devotional.

Advent--You are Here!

2011-12-01T23:55:00.000-05:00

I really enjoy this time of year. The concentrated focus on Jesus does my heart such good. Oh, to keep that focus all year long. For several years, we've celebrated Advent as a family. Each year we seem to add a little something and this year, we've added two little somethings. :) You can see below what we do, and please, leave a comment and share how you celebrate Jesus' birth.

First, a good couple article by Noel Piper on Advent can be found here. She's written several more that pertain to Advent (use the "search" feature to find them.)

Ann Voskamp has written a lovely thoughtful devotional called Jesse Tree Advent Family Devotional. Last year, I printed out the ornaments, mounted them on card stock paper, hole punched and threaded a ribbon through each one. We usually read this devotional at lunch time and the younger kids take turns hanging the ornament on the tree.

This year I found "Truth in the Tinsel" This fun Advent devotional is geared more toward younger children and will work well with the little girl I babysit. She is four. My two younger kids (ages 6 and 9) are doing it too and enjoy making crafts. I found this great printable from Mama Jenn that has added a curiosity factor for them.

Lastly, we've decided on lots of fun "random acts of kindness" based on this idea from Lil Light O' Mine. We read through all the ideas and have a whole pile of ones we are praying that we are able to do. We are so excited! Today the younger two kids and I tied ribbon and a little message on to the candy canes. My little 6 year old has given two of them away already! One to mom of the little girl I babysit and the other to a HVAC service man. {I love my kids!}

12 Days before Christmas we will start Adornaments that we received years ago from a sweet friend. They were sold by Family Life Today, however I don't know if they still sell them. Each day you read about a different name of Jesus and there is an ornament that you hang on the tree. There is also a CD with a song that goes along with the name of Jesus. We've enjoyed this devotional for years.

Our church is celebrating Advent too, so it's wonderful reinforcement for the kids. The message on Sunday was on hope and was very powerful. We have hope in Christ!

30 Days of Thanksliving {part 4}

2011-11-30T12:37:00.001-05:00

O give thanks to the Lord, call on His name; make known His doings among the peoples! 1 Chronicles 16: 8
Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. I Thessalonians 5:18

day 22: thanksliving: I've enjoyed recording my thanks a day later as it's given me opportunity to reflect on each yesterday and remember. I'm very thankful for God giving us discernment, wisdom and help in the very small details of life and in the big challenges too. I'm also thankful for time with Trenton and Alea talking about what it means to be thankful and what we are thankful for.

day 23: thanksliving: my two girls helping me clean and bake with lots of cheerful smiles, being prompted by the Lord to give to others, fresh hair cuts for 4 of us, warm snuggles from my little guy who is still not feeling well, and the table set for ten :)

day 24: thanksliving: yesterday was a good day of putting the finishing touches on the house and my contributions to dinner. We hosted Maurice's mom, sister, niece, nephew and aunt. Good company, good food! Lots to be thankful for! God is gracious.

day 25: thanksliving: I'm thankful for my hunny receiving therapy on his hurt knee, I'm thankful for a day of ease with my kids and family movie night watching Cars 2.

day 26: thanksliving: Good day with the family and a fun afternoon with a friend. My creative side has been sparked! I'm so thankful for great family, fun friends and a date night with my hunny.

Day 27: thanksliving: First Sunday of Advent--hope, assurance and certainty of God's rescue for our future. Powerful message and a good day of celebrating with our church family.

day 28: thanksliving: thankful for God's mercy and grace each day, thankful for my hunny and appreciate how hard he works, thankful for my girls who are so helpful and for my little guy who keeps me on my toes, and I'm thankful for the start of *Advent!

day 29: thanksliving: enjoyed a field trip with some of God's furry creatures (and slimy ones too!), lunch with friends, and school in the afternoon. Grateful for my hunny who helps keep me balanced and grounded in what really matters. I must remember that I cannot control what others think of me or what they do; I can only control me. Praying that I live my life filled with integrity and all out love for God.

Thanksgiving Day small tablescape

Edited to add: Day 30: thanksliving: thankful for finishing something I started...documenting my thanks for 30 whole days! {that's progress, folks!} Thankful for concentrating on the things I'm thankful for...sure chased the grumpies away on a daily basis.

*Be sure to visit again soon as I'm getting together a post of all the great resources I've found for Advent.

Easy Reference: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

30 Days of Thanksliving {part 3}

2011-11-30T11:03:00.001-05:00

I chose to document the month of Thanksgiving with a daily Facebook update. (Scroll to the bottom to find easy links to Part 1 and Part 2.) I posted what I was thankful for the day after each day. This delayed posting allowed me to deliberately reflect on yesterday and assign words for the blessings that God has given me. And isn't it all blessings? Music is one means of grace that God has bestowed to not only uplift my heart, but also music gives melody to my thoughts, feelings and beliefs. The song Blessing by Laura Story is one such song.

Day 15: Thanksliving--thankful for lunch and reconnecting with a friend I have not seen in a LONG time. Her little guy is a cutie pie.

Day 16: thanksliving: Thankful for being able to spend time with Trenton. Yesterday both girls were off doing other things, and Trenton wasn't feeling very good. We snuggled on the couch, even did his school on the couch and generally took it easy.

Day 17 of thanksliving: I'm so thankful for the gift of friends...they help carry burdens, make the day brighter and are an all around joy!

day 18--I'm thankful for the ways God provides what we need when we need it: extra sleep in the morning, encouraging chat on FB with a friend, insurance taking care of several outside house things damaged by the hail and sharing a conversation with a sweet friend.

day 19: thanksliving--so thankful for my hunny and how he takes care of the kids and I. He really lives out "in sickness and in health." Yesterday he gently took care of Trenton...and then me today as Trenton must be sharing his germs. Thanks, hunny.

day 20: thanksliving--eternally grateful for the Gospel. Over the last few weeks, at church we've heard from many different ministries and how they are meeting needs of people everywhere. Inspiring...challenging...

day 21 of thanksliving: thankful for the chiropractor (who Trenton affectionately called the "choir practice"), thankful for oohs and ahhs of my girls after they saw the completed craft closet, and thankful for my cozy bed where I can rest my weary bones! Please keep praying for health and wellness to be restored to the our household. Marissa and Trenton are both not feeling well at all.

Side note: cleaning the craft closet had been on my "goals list" for SEVERAL weeks. I finally conquered it! Oh the sweet taste of completion. I really need to taste it more often. :)

Easy Reference: Part 1, Part 2

30 Days of Thanksliving {part 2}

2011-11-30T10:36:00.000-05:00

I'm so glad I am taking the time to repost my 30 Days of Thanksliving. (If you haven't read part 1, click here to read it.) You and I both know that 30 Days of Thanksliving will slide fairly effortlessly into a LIFE of Thanksliving. Did I say effortlessly? I meant to say "will slide into a life of Thanksliving if I continue to be intentional and thoughtful."

Day 8 of a month of thanksgiving: I'm thankful for God's grace and the freedoms He gives us. Freedoms I do not ever want to take for granted. My prayer is that a month of thanksgiving will turn into a thanks~living.

Day 9 of a life of thanks-living: I'm thankful for God's provisions for us.

Day 10 of thanks-living: I'm thankful for the freedoms we have to worship God and educate our children. I'm thankful for Christian radio.

Day 11: Thankful for the service men and women who serve our country here and abroad and their families who are making huge sacrifices too.

Day 12: Thankful for the different "jobs" God has given me. Marissa and I had a good time cleaning and shopping in the afternoon. I love being a wife and mom!

Day 13: Thanksliving--thankful for a Sunday afternoon date with my hunny.

Day 14: Thanksliving--thankful for shopping with my kids for gifts for others. It was a good reminder especially to the younger one that love puts others before ourselves.

For easy reference: Part 1

30 Days of Thanksliving

2011-11-30T10:24:00.000-05:00

For each of the days in November, I posted what I was thankful for. I posted in Facebook and wanted to transfer them here for longevity's sake. A long time reader and believer in 1000 Gifts, I've tried different ways of keeping track of my heart's gratitude. Maybe on my blog is the way?? I'm a good starter, but not a good follow-through-er. I'm working on changing that.

So, here are my 30 Days of Thanksliving {divided into 4 parts}

day 2 of a month of thanks: I'm thankful for my wonderful hunny. thanks for helping me rearrange the furniture the other day...and thanks for not freaking out when I wanted to put it all back the way it was. :)

Oh, what's that, you didn't see day 1--that's because I didn't do it yesterday...I'm thankful for God's grace!

Day 3 of a month of thanks...I'm thankful that God is Peace when life is hard.
Read this sweet story on one of my favorite blogs...

Day 4 of a month of thanks...(yesterday)...thankful for friends. God has graciously given me wonderful friends who dig in and walk this life with me. I'm thankful that my friends challenge me to be more like Christ. And laughing with friends is one of the greatest gifts!!

Day of thanks #5: thankful for my husband and the opportunity to attend a beautiful, encouraging wedding together on this lovely autumn day

Day 6--month of thanksgiving: So thankful for our church family. Pastor who teaches boldly, yet lovingly; members who love and serve each other, a women's class that enters into each others' stories treasuring and loving each other. God is so good.

day 7 of a month of giving thanks: I'm thankful for my 3 kids--sometimes they make me want to tear my hair out strand by strand but even through that, I love them. They challenge me to be a better me and they love me unconditionally. I love my kids.

Stromboli with friends

2011-11-04T18:41:00.000-04:00

Last week I enjoyed a fun dinner with some friends. We talked about being more intentional about getting together...and since we all need to eat, well, dinner sounded like a good way to fellowship. I made stromboli, and others brought salad and desserts.

This stromboli recipe is written on a hand-penned 3x5 card from my friend Julie. Unable to make this recipe without thinking of Julie, I'm eternally thankful that God allowed us to be friends. I miss her so very much.

Here is the recipe:

Stromboli

*You can use frozen bread dough, thawed, or make the dough in the bread machine following these instructions:
1 1/4 c. warm water
3 T. oil
1/8 c. + 2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 T. instant mashed potato flakes
3 c bread flour
1 1/2 tsp. yeast
Dough setting on bread machine.

When dough is finished, roll out on floured surface into large rectangle (like 8"x15").
Brush lightly with oil and sprinkle with oregano and mozzarella cheese. Evenly sprinkle about 1/2-3/4 lb ground beef (browned and drained), pepperoni and more mozzarella.
Roll longways and pinch to seal ends (wet dough to get it to stick together.)
Bake on stone or sprayed baking sheet. 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until slightly golden brown.
Serve slices with warmed pizza sauce.

You can add other meats such as cooked, drained sausage to the inside. Can also be made as lunch meat stromboli--use cheddar cheese, lunch meat and dip in mustard/mayonnaise, etc.

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

2011-10-09T19:21:00.000-04:00

So far, I've only been able to keep up with posting the preschooler's school plans. Really, I'm doing schoolwork with the other 3 (1st grade, 4th grade and 10th grade), I just can't figure out time to write about it all. Anyway, our next book is Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.

Here are some of the ideas I've collected for the next two weeks:
Confessions of a Homeschooler has these printables
1+1+1=1 shared this cute lapbook
Making Learning Fun posted ideas and some printables to use with the book
I Heart Crafty Things has two great ideas--magnetic letters on a baking sheet and a snack
The Crafting Chicks posted this cute idea for making a mini coconut tree out of an empty toilet paper roll.
Click here for a freebie download for a fun game from Peace, Love and Learning.
I made our own coconut tree out of tag board and lowercase alphabet stickers. I crafted the coconuts out of brown paper bag circle cut-outs stuffed with a bit of cotton.
Lastly, we are going to make a coconut dessert on the last day...I think I'm going to use this recipe from AllRecipes.com

I'm excited about using this book with Alea...she so fun to teach and she loves school!

Blueberries for Sal

2011-09-16T20:44:00.001-04:00

We had a great study of We're Going on a Bear Hunt! The little girl I watch LOVED the video of the author reading the book. By the end of the 5 days (which is two weeks for us--two days one week and three days the next) she had the book memorized. very cute!

For the next two weeks, we are going to "row" Blueberries for Sal. Here are some resources I found for this book.

Literature Based Themes: Robert McCloskey This site has some great links to good ideas. We are SO making blueberry paint! :)
my favorite...Homeschool Creations printables
Blueberry Crumble {!!}

The only big downside is that this isn't really the right time of year to go blueberry picking. :( So I'll get some at the store and we'll make blueberry pancakes and muffins, etc. Won't be exactly the same, but we'll still have fun.

We're Going on a Bear Hunt

2011-09-11T21:01:00.000-04:00

With as long as it's been since I've posted, you may think I've already been on a bear hunt! Really, I have so much I want to post, I just can't seem to find time to do it. I am working on sticking to my schedule and hopefully, once I get into a routine, I will have time for some other things that I really enjoy doing.

I am homeschooling 10th grade, 4th grade, 1st grade and Pre-K this year. The youngest one is a girl that I've watched since she was a tiny baby. She LOVES doing school and I'm really excited to do Before Five in a Row with her.

This week we've started We're Going on a Bear Hunt. Here are some resources and printables I've found to go along with the story.
A video of the author telling the story:

Homeschool Share--lapbook for this story
Homeschool Creations printables for this story
Printables from Sparkle Box
For some fun snacks we are going to have Teddy Grahams, Gummi Bears and chocolate pudding (for the mud, of course!) I'll have to spread out the snacks during this week...don't want her to have too much sugar all at one time.

Hopefully soon I will be able to post about what I'm doing with the other kids. We started school on August 22, so we are still working hard to be diligent and consistent.

Off I go, to do more printing and preparing!
Thanks for sticking with me!

Preparing for Montana State Study

2011-07-19T15:50:00.000-04:00

I've finished preparing for the Pacific Coast States: Washington, Oregon, California and Alaska. Now I'm moving on to the Rocky Mountain States starting with Montana.

For all 4 of the Pacific Coast States I really liked the HomeschoolShare printable lapbook pieces. So, I will continue to print these and use them for these states as well.

I found this mini unit on Montana from diyhomeschooler.

SchoolExpress has these printables for Montana (and other states as well.)

Lots of fun Cantering the Country!

Planning for NEXT Year!

2011-07-08T18:04:00.000-04:00

Well, we are finishing up school for this year. We'd gotten a little behind on Math, so we've pushed through the month of June and now into July trying to get finished. I'm letting myself start to plan for next year {I had to make myself wait because I LOVE the planning part--it's the carrying out part that is hard for me.}

So, here is the beginning plans for Trenton {1st grade} and Bethany {4th grade}::
Cantering the Country
Five in a Row {Volume 2 selected books}

We are going to read Gramma's Walk.
And we will study Washington State.

Here are some resources I've found for Gramma's Walk:
Oceans of the World map (so far, I'm just using this one lapbook piece from this unit.)
Lapbook for Gramma's Walk

Here are some resources I've found for Washington State:
US Geography Resources
Enchanted Learning--Washington
Official Washington State site--with coloring pages, activity book, etc.

For this coming year, I'm doing our lapbook/unit studies a bit different. Last year, I printed out resources, put them in a folder and several folders remain untouched. :( SO, this year, I'm printing out everything, cutting it all out, pasting it on cardstock paper and binding it together. Then when we do the study, the kids will decorate the title pages, fill in the mini books and learn, learn, learn. :) I'm excited to see if we have more success doing it this way. {Not to worry about the untouched folders; I imagine they will be used before it's all said and done.}

I'd love to hear how others organize, plan and carry out their homeschooling...so please, feel free to leave a comment!

Father's Day Ideas

2011-06-14T12:27:00.000-04:00

June means Father's Day and I want to help my kids make something for their Daddy. He is a wonderful Dad and a great Husband. I'm thankful for him and I want to make Sunday a day to celebrate him!

Here is a cute idea from Mama Jenn's blog. I think I'm going to make this with the kids tomorrow. :)

Do you have any ideas for Father's Day? Please share!

Warrior Prayers: Week 1

2011-06-12T21:14:00.002-04:00

My son has been giving me a run for my energy, strength and yes, even sanity lately. So when I saw a 21-Day Challenge of praying for our sons...my eyes perked up and something stirred deep in my weary heart...maybe...just maybe, a glimmer of hope.

Hope for the encouragement to keep trying.
Hope for the strength to be consistent.
Hope that God loves my little treasure even more than me.
Hope that it is God who changes his heart.
Hope that I can be faithful to what God has called me to do by the power of His Word.

So, that's where I am. Praying through this fantastic little e-book, that I printed out and have a feeling it will be well worn over the years to come.

In Which the Children Plan Easter Service

2011-05-29T19:21:00.000-04:00

Bethany and Trenton spent most of the afternoon planning a Good Friday Service. It was so sweet. They changed into dress clothes, made bulletins, set up the school room and practiced songs. I'll let the pictures and captions tell the story.

All dressed up

I love these sweet faces.

Can't leave out the elements for Communion

Taking offering (with money they gave us). Bethany is in the background getting the games set up for us. Yes! They had games with prizes. Really creative and cute!

Bethany teaching a lesson. She had places marked in her Bible and she asked Daddy to read them. The vacuum piece Trenton is holding is their microphone and Bethany is standing behind the podium. :)

Trenton playing the worship music.

A visual aid of The Last Supper. Trenton is holding it up as Bethany tells the story.

Trenton did a reenactment with his knights and people.

Trenton closed in prayer.

A Day at the Park

2011-05-21T16:27:00.000-04:00

We had beautiful weather yesterday (and today for that matter.) So a trip to the park was in order! The kids had a great time and I loved watching them.

With so many rainy days, we were all very excited to get outside and play. In the morning, I weeded some flower beds while the kids played on bikes. Then a friend stopped to pick up her little girl that we were watching. I pulled her aside and said, "Hey, what do you think about taking the kids to the park?" She was all for it! Fun Times!

The Swing

How do you like to go up in a swing?
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!

Robert Louis Stevenson {stanza 1}

tulips

2011-05-16T21:52:00.001-04:00

I love tulips.

The fabulous colors, the bending stems, the soft petals

ahhh! I love tulips!

The place of seeing God....

2011-05-15T15:43:00.001-04:00

I have been reading a wonderful, thought-provoking book called One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. Her writing draws me in, holds me, twirls and swirls me around and begs me to read more or begs me to re-read what I just read. She is deep. So, in all my reading (and even taking the book to India with me--picture to the right, book is on the end of my bed), I'm yet on chapter 6. Not to worry as I see this as God helping me ponder and ruminate on thoughts and concepts that I am still working on grasping. This afternoon as I finished chapter 6. She talked about seeing a huge marvelous moon on evening. Eloquently, she details her thoughts about God, our Creator and our Righteousness. As she turns to leave the field and lovely moon, she ponders this thought:

The world I live in is loud and blurring and toilets plug and I get speeding tickets and the dog gets sick all over the back step and I forget everything and these six kids lean hard into me all day to teach and raise and lead and I fail hard and there are real souls that are at stake and how long do I really have to figure out how to live full of grace, full of joy--before these six beautiful children fly the coop and my mothering days fold up quiet? how do you open the eyes to see how to take the daily, domestic, workday vortex and invert it into the dome of an everyday cathedral? Could I go back to my life and pray with eyes wide open?

Oh, my goodness, this strikes me to the core. I am so there with the loudness and blurriness, the forgetting things, the failing and so on. I must cling to God, see His divine holiness in His created beings (us) and in His creation. I must give thanks to Him for it all, for in giving thanks, is "to move into His presence and listen to His love unending and know the grace uncontainable."

Life Imposed Blog Break

2011-05-12T12:38:00.000-04:00

Well, March, April and half of May have flown by....I didn't mean to stop blogging; it just happened that way. Something had to give and it was the thing that can't talk. :D

So, I'm here to start journaling the happenings of Heather again. For starters, we are plugging away at school. We are working hard at doing what we are supposed to do everyday. (Why are the "dailies" of life so difficult to keep up?) Tonight is our homeschool group's annual 'fair'. Participants can display science, history or art projects and performers can play piano or other instruments, recite a poem, sing a song, etc. It's a fun evening, but extremely busy. My now 9 year old Bethany is doing "Panda Bears" and my now 15 year old Marissa is displaying her photography. {Yes, you read right--both girls have had birthdays since my blogging break!} We are busy wrapping up final details on these projects today.

My biggest news is that I went to India for 2 weeks in March! God taught me more about Him and showed me more of His majesty....it was amazing. My plan is to share pictures and bits of my journal and lots of pictures in the next couple months. Really amazing and wonderful and I'm so grateful to have been able to go.

Babies beginning to crawl and walk sure change a gal's life....I babysit 4 extra kids and two of them are babies. One just turned 1 in March and the other is 8 months old. The 1 yo is starting to walk. She is EVERYWHERE! The 8 mo is doing the army crawl and gets most anywhere she wants to! Talk about busy! Thankfully I have my girls to help, but it sure is a busy time for us. The other two are 4 and 5 year olds. I do preschool with them along with Kindergarten for Trenton. Here are some sites I like for printables and ideas:
Homeschool Creations--You know I love me some Yolanthe!!
Confessions of a Homeschooler--another favorite of mine
Mama Jenn and her other site Education Cubes
I know there are other sites I like. I'll have to jot them down as I come across them.

Here are some sites I've been reading for my own growth and encouragement:
Home Sanctuary
A Holy Experience
Again, I know there are a few more and some I read sporadically.

Thanks for sticking with me and hopefully in the upcoming weeks I'll be back to regular blogging.

Standing on the Promises

2011-02-27T09:51:00.001-05:00

This week I read Granola Mom 4 God and this post. It's so good you have to go read it!
Here is a list of the verses that I copied/pasted from her post.

It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed. (Deuteronomy 31:8)
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6)
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:13)
No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is from Me,” says the Lord. (Isaiah 54:17)

So encouraging!

A Pictorial Update

2011-02-18T10:32:00.000-05:00


My Hunny's birthday cake--Blueberry Muffin Cake

Much to our happiness and joy, we recently purchased a new camera. We got a really good deal on it and it takes marvelous pictures! Our old camera didn't have much zoom to speak of and it had stopped downloading to the computer. So, in celebration, I'm posting pictures of our recent happenings all captured on our new camera.

Our sweet dog, Bailey

The courageous firefighter

The fabulous picture taker!

Playing Little House on the Prairie

happy valentine's day!

2011-02-14T20:27:00.001-05:00

hope you all had a wonderful day spending time with those you love!

CUTE little Valentine craft

2011-02-02T16:42:00.000-05:00

I love owls. I'm not sure when I realized this, but there it is...I love owls.

Today I found this Valentine craft and I want to make it!! Now I'm going to have to felt some wool sweaters from Good Will....one thing leads to another that leads another....can't wait...so cute!

Lots of snow and ice here...power outages some too. Made time for lots of giggles this morning with Daddy before he left for work. :)

yet another giveaway

2011-01-20T11:52:00.000-05:00

I really like Freely Educate's website. I subscribe to her posts so they come right to my email inbox--it seems easier to keep up with her free finds. This time it's a giveaway...Friendly Chemistry. {just a note::doesn't "friendly chemistry" seem like a wild oxymoron?? ha!}

Anyway, hope over to her site and sign up for the giveaway if you need the subject of Chemistry to be Friendly!

Found a Peanut, Found a Peanut

2011-01-19T17:24:00.000-05:00

Okay, not really...it's not a peanut; it's a new blog I like. But now you are all singing the little ditty, aren't you??

Cultivated Lives at my initial glances around seems like a really neat blog. She is a homeschooler who is married and now homeschooling (I think she'd have some neat perspectives on things.) She is hosting a give-away--a coloring book with illustrated Scriptures and some fantastic colored pencils.

And Ann Voskamp has a wonderfully rich blog called A Holy Experience. You must go read her post for today. challenging and convicting...

Off to AWANA....

January's Blowing By

2011-01-15T14:42:00.000-05:00

I enjoy blogging, trying to find time to blog...I do not enjoy. Some exciting things are taking place around here and I wanted to tell you about them.

Today, I have time at home with no "outside the home" commitments. You may not think that is very exciting, but really, it is! I've been extremely busy in-and-outside our home and that's has made it difficult to get my lesson plans ready for my kids. I've been wingin' it in school since the beginning of January---I do NOT like doing that. So, today, I'm getting myself ready for at least this coming week--and maybe even the rest of the month!

After looking at this curriculum on Confessions of a Homeschooler, since August, I finally bought it over Christmas! Yippee!! Even though much of it is too easy for Trenton (5.5 years old), it works great with the two preschoolers that I watch.
Bethany (my 8.5 year old) "lost" her math book, yep, how convenient, right?? Actually she is very organized and keeps good track of her things. We have no idea where the math book has gone...So a friend told me that on the Math-U-See website, you can generate worksheets for certain lessons (it looks like the even numbered lessons.) You can also generate an answer key. I've already gone and printed off a week's worth of lesson problems.
I taught a lapbook workshop for a homeschool group on Sunday. The workshop went fine--the greatest treat was meeting a blogger that I follow--Shannon from Song of My Heart! She is sweet, sweet, sweet! It was so fun to meet her and I'm praying that a friendship will grow {as God allows}.
This week was our monthly local homeschool meeting and our speaker talked about learning styles and modalities. It was fascinating! I'm working through my notes from that evening and thinking about how to apply some of what I learned. Trenton needs to be active while learning. When I saw these Education Cubes, I wished desperately that I'd thought of this idea!! I placed my order for the cubes (on Amazon) and purchased a membership to the Education Cubes site which will give me access to all the printables she makes for the cubes.
I've committed to reading the Bible in 90 Days. yeah, I know. But I'm determined to do it! I'm a couple days behind, however that is not deterring me. My big goal is to get caught up this weekend. Feel free to ask me how it's going any time between now and March.

Okay, well I'm off and running, printing, planning, laminating and so on and so on.

some cute stuff

2011-01-06T23:56:00.000-05:00

Mama Jenn's blog has some really cute stuff on it lately. Puff ball magnets?! And Education Cubes...neat!

I'm preparing for a lapbook workshop that I'm doing for a local homeschool group; but I can't wait to make these puff ball magnets!!

What have you been up to lately?

A New Post in the New Year

2011-01-05T20:54:00.000-05:00

We had a wonderful Christmas. We celebrated Advent and the kids eagerly anticipated Jesus' birthday. After opening gifts Christmas morning and enjoying homemade cinnamon rolls, we watched a movie and relaxed. Dinner came later that afternoon with some great friends and yummy food. We played games around their table and laughed together. Really, a great day.

New Year's Eve was spent with some more great friends and their 3 kids. We made it to midnight, talking, laughing and munching on goodies.

Marissa enjoying her new blanket watching a movie on New Year's Eve


The family

I'm thankful for the blessing of family and friends. We are praying for a year of growth, challenge and following hard after what God has called us to.

Upcoming this week:: my word for 2011...

Celebrating Advent

2010-12-14T21:55:00.000-05:00

I've been wanting to share what we are doing for the Advent Season. I really like Advent because it takes you through the Bible and shows you how God wove His Story! Amazing!
We are using Adorenaments from Family Life Today. We love this set and I'm sad that it is out of print. Each ornament highlights a name of Jesus and the CD has a song particularly about that attribute.

We are also doing Ann Voskamp's A Jesus Advent Celebration. At the end of November, I printed all the ornaments, backed them with card stock paper and threaded a ribbon through the top. Each day, at lunchtime, I read to the kids and they take turns putting the ornament on the tree. It has been very good. (And it was free when I signed up!)

The last thing we are doing is reading the book called, Looking Forward to the Nativity: a family Christmas devotional by Jon Farrar. It's a great little way to end the day and much of it overlaps nicely with Voskamp's ebook.

With the lights on the tree and our focus on Him daily, we are joyfully anticipating His birthday!

the gift that will keep giving

2010-12-13T21:57:00.002-05:00

I just purchased my Christmas gift!! A Scotch Thermal Laminator is on its way to my house! And folks, it may not make it under the tree. Right now, only today, this laminator is only $16.99. Huge deal, and I'm so thankful that my hunny said to go ahead and get it. Yippee!!

Thanks to Jolanthe at Homeschool Creations and 1+1+1=1 for the great tip this morning! And thanks to my friend, E. for sharing her Amazon Prime so that I got the shipping free.

Christmas Links

2010-12-12T21:21:00.005-05:00

T working on his letter recognition paper

I wanted to share some links that I've been using for PreK/K during this Christmas season. These ladies are so talented and I love it that they share so many resources freely.
1+1+1=1 Christmas Fun

Homeschool Creations:
Gingerbread Baby Lapbook
Nativity Preschool Pack

Confessions of a Homeschooler
Preschool Christmas Activities

Here's one I found, but haven't used yet:
2 Teaching Mommies--Nativity

What fun things have you been doing this December??

Pirate Resources

2010-11-23T19:30:00.004-05:00

As I said yesterday, my son is loving studying about pirates! He has been asking to do school...gotta love that!

Here's my list of resources:
First my favorite--Jolanthe at Homeschool Creations has a very cute--I mean--hearty lapbook for free. I used her book list and found several of the books at the library. Unfortunately I didn't find "On a Pirate Ship", however the other books are serving us well.

Print Activities.com has a nice list of piratey coloring pages.

We are going to listen to some Patch the Pirate.

Homeschoolshare.com has a pirate lapbook with other resources listed.

I'm thinking of having a Pirate Party--just for fun! We'll have cheese and crackers and chicken (legs, of course!) And I'm going to make a treasure map for him to follow to find the "buried treasure". We'll end the evening by watching Veggie Tales, "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything."

I'll be sure to post pictures (as long as our camera doesn't go on the fritz again.)
See you later, matey!

Note: image from thepickards.co.uk

Piratey Post

2010-11-22T21:51:00.002-05:00

My youngest child is a boy, 5 years old. After having two girls, raising him has been different. (I realize I'm stating the obvious!) Anyway, I'm getting ready to study pirates with him...yeah, I never studied pirates with his sisters! :)

Tonight I read him a pirate book while he colored a pirate picture. Then while I was cleaning up the kitchen, he climbed into my bed to finish his coloring. I came in the room and said (mustering up my best piratey voice), "Shiver me timbers, who is in my bed?" And without missing a beat, he said, "It's the pirate from the Seven Seas!"

Soon I'll share the resources I've found and my ideas for a pirate themed supper! Now I've got to finish swabbing the deck.

A Week of Letter H

2010-11-20T10:15:00.001-05:00

This week we have worked on the letter "H/h".

Here are some of the resources we've used:
First School Letter H printables
Kids Zone Beginning Consonant Sound worksheet H

Here are pictures from some extra activities we did. T is working on matching upper case and lower case letters along with matching the picture with what letter it starts with. He is doing very well. I made activity from the free printable from Confessions of a Homeschooler printables. It is called the A-Z Beginning Sounds Game.

Here is A. (she comes to our house for child care/preschool two days a week. She completed the preschool activity "Shades of Color" from Walking by the Way's preschool activity bag ideas.

Some activities we did for the letter H:
Trace hand prints, cut out and make turkeys for Thanksgiving
Hopping around the living room (for a long time to make them tired!)

I had them hop on left foot, then right foot, then both feet all while saying "H" and the sound /h/ makes.

I'd intended to let them paint their hand prints, but the week got away from us.

We are so thankful for a good week! Head over to Homeschool Creations for more great preschool/kindergarten ideas!

Q & A for the Giveaway

2010-11-16T12:09:00.004-05:00

These questions are on SarahLynn's blog for the GIVEAWAY. Have you entered yet? I sure hope so. Well, here's my answers and in the midst of reading them, you may just learn a little bit about me. :)

1. What are your first four favorite colors? green, blue, brown and orange

2. If you could go anywhere where would you go? does back to bed count??

3. iPod or mp3? I don't have either...maybe you could give one of those away next year!

4. Cake or ice cream? BOTH

5. Gum or chocolate?Chocolate

6. Write or read? Read

7. Simple or epic? both

8. If you could be anyone for a day who would it be? some days I feel like a circus leader...

9. Do you like blogs with pics or just words? both

10. Coffee or hot chocolate? hot chocolate

11. Fruits or vegetables? fruit

12. Books or magazines? books, although I like some magazines too

13. Favorite book? I don't have a favorite.

14. Favorite song? (or at least one of your favorite cd’s or something) Fernando Ortega's Hymns and Meditations CD

15. Do you like animals? yes

16. Are you casual or a total fashion freak? casual!

17. Cars or airplanes? cars

18. Video games or movies? movies

19. Are you quiet or a talker? I can be either to fit the need or occasion

20. Singer dancer or both? obviously you've never seen me dance! ha! I do like to sing, though.

A Blog GiveAway

2010-11-16T11:46:00.003-05:00

I really enjoy reading these two blogs: samarah's sayings and just hangin' out by SarahLynn. I know both of these girls in 'real' life and they are VERY special to me!

Check out their blogs before November 29th in order to enter a terrific giveaway. They have teamed up together (how cute is that??). I'm entering and hoping to be a WINNER!

Trip to Amusement Park

2010-11-14T20:45:00.000-05:00

Back in August some friends of ours gave us passes to a local amusement park. We'd never taken the kids before and especially the younger ones were excited to go. Here are some pictures from our day. T loved the bumper cars! Just as I thought, T loved it and Bethany enjoyed most of it...one of the bigger roller coasters I talked her into going on was a disaster. She was so afraid and I felt terrible! Overall, though we had a fun day!

Lots of blog ideas...

2010-11-11T11:06:00.003-05:00

I have so many blogging ideas running through my head and so little time to actually write them down! I suppose I'll have to be content with a catch-up list for now...

thanks to the generosity of a friend, we were able purchase an upgraded computer. Our friend built it and sold it to us for a VERY reasonable price. It runs faster and better...except
the first week we had it, a new virus attacked it. ;( Thankfully, after our friend returned from vacation, he fixed it!
While preparing for my first ever overseas short term ministry trip, I have been busy getting shots, folding and stuffing prayer letters, and making lists of the necessary items. Added to that, I'm gathering the items for my part of the trip and praying for those I will be working with and for myself.
Both of my sweet girls need some extent of vision therapy to correct problems with their eyes. This will entail 1 hr. 15 min. drives to a nearby city every two weeks for progress checks. We are thankful for God's direction in helping improve their ability to see and do their school work with more accuracy, and less frustration and fatigue.
Our annual Kids Craft Sale with our homeschool group is fast approaching (second Thursday in December.) My main little crafter, Bethany, and I need to get a move on! In a future post, I'll reveal what we are doing this year. :)
My goal (and hopefully not too lofty) is to write several posts, with pictures included, of the batches of preschool/kindergarten fun we have been having here! Our camera was not downloading to the computer for a LONG time. We've managed to fix that and now I have lots of pictures to post. :)
In our Jr/Sr High girls Literature Club we recently read The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom. Amazing story and I'm thankful that a friend let me borrow several other Corrie books...Amazing Love, Each New Day, My Father's House and Prison Letters.
The above family picture was lovingly taken by our friend, Erin at Lasting Snapshots. She is talented, funny and efficient!

I have been challenged and encouraged by reading Corrie ten Boom's books. So many quotes and nuggets to take away from her life. I'll end this post with such a quote:

"If you look at the world, you'll be distressed. If you look within, you'll be depressed. If you look at God you'll be at rest."

A Batch of Recipes

2010-10-18T21:16:00.003-04:00

My niece asked me to give her some of my recipes for a bake sale she is doing. I thought I'd post them here as the holidays are coming and you might enjoy these too. All three of these recipes are tried and true! :) The first recipe came from an old church recipe book, the second two are from friends. I've made all these recipes lots of times.

Monster Cookies
6 eggs
1 pound brown sugar
2 c. white sugar
1 Tablespoon vanilla
4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 pound butter (softened, NOT melted)
1 1/2 pound peanut butter
9 c. oatmeal (quick oats are fine)
1/2 pound chocolate chips
1/2 pound m&m's

Preheat oven 350 degrees.
In a LARGE bowl, mix eggs, then add sugars and vanilla. Add soda, butter and peanut butter until well mixed. Mix oats (you will have to switch to hand stirring as the oats will make it too stiff to mix with beaters.) Once the oats are mixed in, add chips and m&m's.
Drop by heaping teaspoons onto ungreased baking sheets.
Bake for 8-10 minutes, but do not overcook.

Makes 8-10 dozen cookies. These freeze well and taste oh, so, yummy!

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Cream together:
2 cups butter flavored shortening
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon water
2 teaspoon vanilla

In separate bowl, mix:
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons baking soda

Mix the flour mixture into the wet ingredients.
Stir in 12 oz bag of chocolate chips and 1-2 cups of nuts (optional)

Bake for 8-10 minutes in preheated 350 degree oven.
Makes approximately 10 dozen cookies

Pumpkin Pie Squares

Mix together and press into 9x13 greased baking dish
1 box yellow cake mix--withhold 1 cup
1 egg
1/2 stick melted butter

Mix together; then pour over crust
1 16 oz can pumpkin
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2/3 cup evaporated milk
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
dash vanilla

Mix until crumbly; then sprinkle on top
1 cup cake mix
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons melted butter

Bake 45-50 minutes in 350 degree oven.
Note: I have a neat little rolling pin and that REALLY helps with rolling the crust out while in the bottom of the baking dish. If you don't have something like that, you'll have to work hard at getting the crust to spread out in the dish. Believe me, it's worth the effort! These are yummy!!

Two Tidbits

2010-10-04T10:08:00.002-04:00

Happy Monday Morning! Before my day gets too far underway I wanted to share two things: a book I'm reading and a handwriting website.
First the book: Humility: True Greatness by CJ Mahaney
I've read the book once straight through, now I'm going to read it again and take notes. I find I learn better and retain it better that way. So many good truths and practical suggestions in this relatively short book!
Here is a review of the book by a blogger that I do not know, but I thought the review was good.

Second the website: Meacham Handwriting I have been teaching my 5 yo (plus the 3 and 4 year olds that I babysit) how to write the letters of the alphabet. We've also been working on the sounds the letters make and overall have been having FUN doing it. I saw an idea for "gel tracing" on my FAVORITE homeschool blog E.V.E.R. and googled "gel tracing" to see if I could make my own gel packs. The Meacham Handwriting site came up and I liked the ideas right away. So, I'm off to try to make my own gel pack using hair gel, food coloring and a zip-lock baggie.

Hello Again, long lost friend

2010-10-02T22:10:00.002-04:00

I really want to be consistent about updating my blog. Going back and reading past entries is something I enjoy and I can't read past entries if I'm not writing any. However, in my attempt to balance my {life} computer time, homeschooling time, house work time, hunny time, family time, etc., blogging gets dropped off the bottom of the list.

With so many things to share, I thought I'd update in bullet points:

A sweet homeschooling sister in Christ is now in Heaven after a two year battle with cancer. Visiting her and her endearing husband in the hospital was a privilege from God Himself. We picked up her parents, as they were here from another state and didn't know the area very well. They have been in the states for over 20 years, but don't speak English very well. God blessed our time with them. Singing hymns around my friend's bed, her mother singing in her native language, her father humming a harmony line, her husband singing yet another harmony line and me singing the melody--was nothing short of holy. I don't say that lightly, it was truly a time of worship I will never forget. Three hours later, she was face to face with her Savior. V, you are loved and you are missed; see you soon.
Our pastor is teaching on the armor of God (Ephesians 6) and I've been so challenged and encouraged. I've also been aware of how the enemy tries to trip me up and how God wants me to cling to Him wearing my armor.
In an attempt to help our oldest daughter with some health issues she's been having for the past 2 years, her and I are eating gluten free. Really, this is a whole other post, but for now let me tell you that even though all the symptoms are not gone, we both are feeling somewhat better.
My little guy declared that he is done with school; it's just not for him. Hmm, he's got a long way to go before he's really done. I've had many 'hair pulling out, head banging against the wall' days lately. I continue to persevere and pray with him and for him that he will submit to our authority (which really seems to be the underlying issue.)
I am preparing to go on a two week trip to Indonesia in January. {Insert a minute of "freak-out!"} I can't believe it's now only 3 months away and I have a LOT to do before then...not to mention my longest airline flight to date is 1 hour and 15 minutes. I'm nervously excited to see what God is going to do in and through my life because of this trip. And really it is a family adventure. We have all been studying the country of Indonesia--the people, the culture, etc. and we have been praying for the people, the conference I will helping with and for all the details.
Two weeks ago, I spoke with a dear friend (chat through Facebook.) It's been a long time since we've chatted other than just a comment here or there. What refreshment, what encouragement!
God continues to impress on my heart some heavy issues--a friend's marriage that is breaking apart, another friend separated from his wife, a friend who is struggling to grasp God's unconditional love and forgiveness for sins and of course, my children, our homeschooling days, etc.
I'm thankful for our God who hears and sees and Who is caring and loving. In our "morning work" this week, we sang "Deep and Wide" and I talked to the kids about God's love--His love is "deep and wide." Amazing.

So, V--I'm looking forward to the day when I can say "Hello" to you, L--thank you for the Facebook chat, and God--thank YOU for being sovereign over all of the bullet points of my life!

The Love of Friends

2010-09-07T14:24:00.003-04:00

A little over 30 years ago, my Dad and Step mom met a couple who introduced them to the Lord. I woke up thinking about them. I just "found" their son on facebook--I can't explain the feeling I had when we became Facebook friends! I've thought of them SO often over the years. They truly have never been far from my mind and heart. The husband, Tom has been with the Lord for years now. I remember his smile, his somewhat unruly beard, but most of all I remember his heart. He loved the Lord and I can still picture him bent over his Bible underlining Scripture that spoke to him. He and his wife had two kids--a girl and a boy. We had SO much fun playing with them when we were growing up. And they had a German Shepherd named Shadow.

I honestly don't know how my parents met them, but I'm so thankful God, in His sovereignty, saw fit to bring our two families together. I came to know the Lord because of this family sharing with my parents and then my parents taking us to church. I was 9 years old when I asked Jesus into my heart--and it was on Tom's daughter's birthday...July 6th.

As I've experienced friendships over the years, I realize that people enter your life, stay for the God allotted time, then leave, or stay (according to God's perfect plan). Even though I had lost touch with this family, they've remained dear to my heart. I'm eternally grateful for their friendship and influence on my parents and our family. I suppose we don't know what God is going to do with our efforts to love others like He does, except that whatever it is, it will be to His glory.

So, "R" Family--thanks for sharing Christ with us so many years ago. {I look forward to the day when either God calls me home or He returns and I get to hug the man God used to bring me to Himself.}

May I be faithful to love Christ and share Him with others He brings into my path.

It's time for SCHOOL!

2010-09-03T15:38:00.004-04:00

This week was our first week of Kindergarten (for my youngest, T) and Preschool (for a 3 yo and 4 yo that I babysit.) Honestly the week didn't work out like I'd dreamed it would (you know, in my head it all works out GREAT!) I made the plans, cut out the shapes, bought the supplies and prayed for good days. The other thing I have to confess is that it was MY boy that made the worst trouble--whining, pouting, arguing. I felt like each task took 3 times as long because he wasn't going with the flow! I did not give up and the Lord indeed gave me strength. It's Friday and today was better!!

Our theme for this week was the sun.
Our color for this week was yellow.
Our shape for this week was a circle.
Our Bible story emphasis was Creation.

Here are some of the things we did: (and hopefully I can get the pictures to download from the camera and add them to this post)
I made suns, with Marissa's help, and I hung them from the ceiling with fishing line.
I bought small yellow plates and served their snacks on them.
Snacks included round ritz crackers with cheddar cheese, bananas, and lemon jello.
I took a lemon and cut it in half. I had the kids smell it and then taste the juice (I squeezed some juice onto individual spoons.) Then they used half of the lemon to dip in yellow paint and stamp onto a piece of paper.
They painted their own suns after tracing a circle onto their paper.
We went on a "yellow hunt" around the house.
Today they ran outside in the yellow sunshine and played! =)

Each morning we have also incorporated the calendar, the pledges, and other morning work. I've used Homeschool Creations ideas and once you go to her site you'll see that she links to other creative moms. Our morning work has been fun this week.

On the days when I don't have the extra babysitting kids, I'm doing more kindergarten work with Trenton. This week we read The Napping House and are working on this lapbook to go with it. T loves this book and enjoys hearing it over and over again. He is also doing Pathway Readers (he is on "Before We Read") and Math-U-See Primer.

Head over to Homeschool Creations to read more from Preschool Corner.

The older I am...the harder I fall

2010-09-03T15:07:00.002-04:00

Goodness me...wait till you hear what I did! Just so you aren't speed reading to the end...nothing is broken and the story has a happy ending.

Bethany and I were walking across the long soccer fields from her practice back to her older sister's game. I was carrying two camp/sports chairs in their bags, an insulated bag with our water bottles and my purse (complete with book stashed for reading between quarters.) With the sun setting and blazing in my eyes, I squinted to try to catch a glimpse of my girl on the field. That's when it happened...along the bike path, a rather large hollowing out of dirt had occurred. My foot went in that hollow, ankle twisted, skin scraped off leg, hands tried to cushion my fall and yep, I'm sure it was a sight!

I've never been graceful. It's a fact and I've tried hard to accept it. Sure I try not to fall and make a spectacle of myself, but sometimes it's unavoidable!

Thankfully Bethany [aka "Nurse Nancy"] was there with me. She surveyed the damage to my leg and hands, told me to leave all the goods with her and hobble off to the bathroom. I washed myself up the best I could and emerged from the bathroom pining for the moment we could go home!

The next couple days my sweet hunny and kids have been compassionate and sensitive. Trenton asks about my leg and pulls up my pants leg to check out the "blooding!" He even brought me a pillow to prop my leg up on. Bethany apologized for not carrying more of the stuff and for not warning me about the hole. She insisted on carrying EVERYTHING for the rest of that evening. And the two of them had a conversation about being the "scout" looking for holes and not letting momma fall in them. :) Isn't that sweet??

My hunny cleaned my "wounds", applied antibacterial cream and gave me an ice pack to help with the inflammation. Marissa helped with more than her share of chores. All of this sweet, tender attention made falling worth it...well, almost. Astounding, really, at how sore I've been and I didn't even break anything or fall completely flat on my face (thank God!)

I'm so thankful for my family and I love how we take care of each other. A true gift from the Lord.

So that's my story...watch out for holes...and have a great weekend!

History, Art, Music, Oh MY!

2010-08-25T19:52:00.003-04:00

I'm a little scatter-brained these days! (Those who know me might wonder if it's a more often than just 'these days!') Regardless, I've been working on getting school things printed, organized, labeled and ready for the year. In the process, I've come across some really neat websites and just had to stop the printer long enough (for my hunny to go get me more ink) AND to share the links with you!

My oldest daughter is going into 9th grade (how did that happen?? She was just a wee tot in my arms?) Yes, it does happen. This year she is working her way through Abeka's World History book. She started the book somewhere along the way last year after she began struggling through Mystery of History. (Not sure exactly why she was struggling, but she was; so it was time to try something else.) I started her in the book about where she left off in MoH. This year she is starting at the French Revolution. Basically she just works her way through the book, reading, taking notes, completing the chapter reviews, and taking the quizzes and tests. BUT, you know me, I can't just leave it like that....I have to throw in a couple lapbook pieces, notebooking pages and even a power point presentation that she is going to design herself.

Check out what I found for the French Revolution:
A squidoo lens on the French Revolution! And if you scroll down you will come to Joyful Songs's own lapbook pieces for it. Fabulous. (If I knew French, I'd say "fabulous" in French.)

Now on to England and America to a notebooking page on George Whitefield. Well, I couldn't find one already made for me, but here are some images of him. I printed one out and then my girl will make her own notebooking page, because she is handy like that (or maybe it's because I'll tell her to!:)

How about some great pages on Thomas Edison:
Homeschoolshare.com has a slew of Free Inventor Notebooking Pages! {swoon} In that happy list, you will indeed find Thomas Edison.
Crayola.com has a Thomas Edison coloring page. You are probably thinking--a coloring page for a high school student?? No, I printed these out for the younger two and the two extra kids that will be working on preschool work. I tried to tie in learning about the same things whenever I could. I'm hoping that will be easier on this scatter-brained momma!
More Thomas Edison coloring sheets from Handipoints.com

And now a famous ship: The Titanic
My SmokyMountain Homeschool has a whole post on The Titanic with all kinds of great links. I didn't have to look any further. Since I'm not building an entire unit on The Titanic, I found what I wanted and I'm moving down the history timeline!

Winston Churchill
Activity Village--huge section of famous people notebooking pages! They are arranged alphabetically and it couldn't be easier to find what you want (unless they don't have the person you are looking for.) I did find Winston Churchill on this site, yep, it's printed and nearly hole-punched. I also spent some non-Churchill time looking around this site. Neat stuff.

And here are some other sites that I printed some goodies from:
Cindy Downes, from Oklahoma Homeschool has a long list of homeschool forms--all kinds.
Notebookingpages.com--some free artist, picture study, and composer notebooking pages.
I just found this blog today: Harmony Art Mom. I'm definitely going to bookmark her blog. I already found a post on Claude Debussy--our composer for September. And Leonardo daVinci who is our artist for September

Well, I'm super excited about getting so much accomplished today. Now, if my dishes would wash themselves and dinner would make itself!

Hearing the Word

2010-08-24T15:38:00.003-04:00

This morning I had a doctor's appointment (just a routine exam) and while I was in the car, I heard Dr. David Jeremiah's sermon on hope. It was a wonderful reminder and follow-up to a conversation I had just last night with a good friend.

Then on the way home I heard Focus on the Family's broadcast. Phenomenal! The speaker was Joan Brock and she was so good. Very encouraging!

I'm looking forward to going back and listening to both of these again.
When you have time, listen and be encouraged!!

Abundance and Lack

2010-08-12T09:51:00.002-04:00

Yesterday we had no air conditioning in the house. The heat index was 105 degrees. I was babysitting a 3 year old and a 4 month old, plus I had my three kids. Interesting how conditioned we are to air conditioning! I was borderline irritable and had to fight with myself to not snarl at the kids. We had an abundance of heat but a lack of cool air.

Two days ago I bought 5 pounds of ground beef. Then accidentally left it in the car...with all the windows rolled up, with a heat index over 100, for 5 hours! I nearly had a fully baked meatloaf. I had an abundance of meat, but a lack of edible meat.

Knowing that I needed to make 6 dozens cookies, I wanted to make sure I had all the ingredients. So as my oldest daughter and I pulled products out of the cabinet and pantry, we discovered 4 bags of flour! I remember thinking that we were out of flour, so I'd pick up one. I guess I did that a couple times!! However we could NOT find any sugar. Hmmm....we had an abundance of flour, but a lack of what we needed to make the cookies.

I've been distracted lately. Working on lesson plans for the new school year, getting everything figured out with our local homeschool support group, keeping up with the house work, etc. I've had an abundance of things to do, but I am lacking in my relationship with the Lord.

This morning as I was thinking about these things, I read this post from Tyler. I also read the post that she linked to by Anna Voskamp. Such good "food" for thought. I want to have abundance in the things that matter for eternity. I'll be "chewing" on these thoughts today and the days to come.

The Power of Respect

2010-08-10T23:31:00.002-04:00

While running some errands, I heard just a little bit of a great talk by Bob Lepine of FamilyLife Today. I'm definitely going to be listening to this whole series.

A couple of the bits I remember:

My husband cares about what I think--sometimes more than any other person's opinion.
Men will quit doing something that they can't succeed at and try something else that they can succeed at.
When I offer my perspective or opinion to my husband, I need to do it in a way that communicates humility and respect.
No matter how confident my husband appears, he is insecure and unsure about many things. I need to encourage him and build him up.

Such good stuff. I can't wait to listen to the whole series. You can find it here.

Doing the Next Thing

2010-08-09T12:36:00.003-04:00

Ever feel like you have so many things on your plate that you just have to focus on the ONE next thing? That's where I am. We have been busy and I'm busy getting lots of things in place. Thankfully the Lord has sustained me and given me strength along the way.

I really like Elisabeth Elliot's reminder--Do the Next Thing:

From an old English parsonage down by the sea
There came in the twilight a message to me;
Its quaint Saxon legend, deeply engraven,
Hath, it seems to me, teaching from Heaven.
And on through the doors the quiet words ring
Like a low inspiration: “Do the next thing.”

Many a questioning, many a fear,
Many a doubt, hath its quieting here.
Moment by moment, let down from Heaven,
Time, opportunity, and guidance are given.
Fear not tomorrows, child of the King,
Trust them with Jesus, do the next thing.

Do it immediately, do it with prayer;
Do it reliantly, casting all care;
Do it with reverence, tracing His hand
Who placed it before thee with earnest command.
Stayed on Omnipotence, safe ‘neath His wing,
Leave all results, do the next thing.

Looking for Jesus, ever serener,
Working or suffering, be thy demeanor;
In His dear presence, the rest of His calm,
The light of His countenance be thy psalm,
Strong in His faithfulness, praise and sing.
Then, as He beckons thee, do the next thing.

So, having made my list and giving even it to the Lord, I'm moving forward, doing the next thing.
Thanks loyal readers for still reading...I hope to be more consistent in my blogging as I do have LOTS to say! :)

Madeline Unit Study

2010-07-11T16:02:00.002-04:00

I love the book Madeline. Seriously, what's not to love? We are going to be doing this book as a unit study/lapbook along with France. So here is what I've come up with so far:

Homeschoolshare.com (this will be a standard link for the FIAR books because they have great free lapbooks!) Here's the direct link for Madeline.
Madeline Coloring Pages
A great link for Information on France (for kids)
Walking by the Way has lots of pictures and ideas for Madeline and France.

How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World

2010-07-09T12:48:00.003-04:00

I'm planning for our unit on How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World. It looks like a delightful book.

Homeschoolshare.com has a free lapbook and other resources.
Here's a lesson plan using Google earth.
The Homeschool Mom has a great list of resources.
Busy Cafe has lots of apple theme activities. (Bethany and I have studied apples; so I'm going to focus more on T with the apple things.)
Here's a webquest for the book.
A blogger who has given some details and pictures of her study.

I've already asked a good friend of mine at church to give us pie-making lessons! She is known for her pies. Yummy times!

The Start of a Schedule

2010-06-23T12:11:00.004-04:00

I've been working on Bethany and Trenton's school schedule for next year. They will be 3rd grade and kindergarten, respectively.
I started planning the Language Arts and History/Geography. I want to tie in these two curricula:
Galloping the Globe (I was silly to think that we'd get through the book last year; so much good stuff there!)
Five In a Row volumes 1 and 2, selected books

Here's what I have so far: Blue means Galloping the Globe, Green means Five in a Row, regular black means I have a literature guide or unit study for them.

September: France/Madeline, Italy/How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World
October: Great Britain/The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Spain/The Story of Ferdinand
November: Canada/Very Last First Time, Mexico, Cranberry Thanksgiving, Molly's Pilgrim
December: open
January: Brazil, Venezuela, Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening
February: Harold and the Purple Crayon, Sweet Clara and The Freedom Quilt, Quilting unit study
March: South Africa, Kenya/Magic Treehouse: Lions at Lunchtime, Miss Rumphius, Sarah Plain and Tall
April: Morocco, Nigeria, Make Way for Ducklings, Keep the Light's Burning Abbie
May: Egypt/The Giraffe that Walked to Paris, Magic Treehouse: Mummies and Pyramids, Australia
June: New Zealand

I tried to connect the book and countries together as much as possible. The ones with slashes are the books/countries that I was able to connect. I like this stage of planning...then the hard part is carrying out the plans. I'm praying that I'll be consistent and diligent!

I've started copying the needed papers for Madeline/France and I will put that in a separate post. The other thing I'm planning is a "light start" in August. We have done this for the last couple years and it works well. In August, we will start with one subject the first week, then add another subject the next week. We will continue in this manner until the day after Labor Day when we will be in full swing. While we are getting into the groove of each subject, I also try to walk through the daily schedule we will be following for the year. This gives them time to adjust and me time to tweek...because it usually needs tweeked! :)

Hopefully I'll continue to fill in the blanks for both kids until I am ready for the new school year!

Summer is Here!

2010-06-22T12:46:00.004-04:00

I really enjoy each season. When I was a kid, summer was my favorite because my birthday is in July. This year, it feels as though spring was skipped and we've been in the heat of summer for weeks and maybe months already. So although I really do enjoy each season, summer doesn't hold the same excitement for me, mainly due to the heat. The kids have enjoyed the 'medium sized' blow-up pool in the back yard as well as fruitie popsicles and the occasional sprinkler.

Me?? I'm enjoying the air conditioner! hee, hee.

I spend most of the day working in the house on lesson plans, chores, etc. And then in the evening, my hunny and I have been walking for exercise.

So welcome summer...and let me know what you do for summer fun!

Linky Like

2010-06-10T12:50:00.002-04:00

I like this blog that I recently found:: Confessions of a Homeschooler. She has some great printables. I'm a big fan of this Creative Correction chart. (Scroll down and look under "Forms for Mom.") It is similar to the chart we've used for years and years from Doorposts. I colored it and laminated it, then filled in the consequences with a permanent marker. The permanent marker can be 'erased' using fingernail polish remover. These charts help take the guess work out of what consequences will be given for certain behaviors. When I use the chart consistently it works and the children respond well. :) It also takes away the emotional element of disciplining.

What have you found that works with your kids?

Trying Windows Live Writer

2010-06-09T14:55:00.002-04:00

Jolanthe at Homeschool Creations is one of my favorite people to read! Her recent post lists the fun and functional features of Windows Live. I’m trying it to see if I like it. I’m using Windows Live Writer to write this blog post.

First thing I’ve noticed is that it slows down my computer. I’m sure that’s because our computer is old in “computer years.” I’ll have to see if the benefits outweighs the petty pace at which my computer is creeping.

Yummy Homemade Macaroni and Cheese

2010-06-03T18:14:00.003-04:00

Bethany received a kids cookbook for her birthday. Our friend, Becky knows Bethany loves to cook and in fact they have cooked together on occasion. The cookbook is called Let's Cook! by Pamela Gwyther. I look forward to more times of cooking together with Bethany and Becky!

We've made the Perfect Pasta twice now with raving reviews.
Here's what you'll need to make it:
9 oz pasta
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 stick or 1/4 cup butter
5 tbsp all purpose flour
1 3/4 c. milk
1 c Cheddar cheese, grated
4 1/2 oz cooked ham, roughly chopped
4 cherry tomatoes, cut into quarters
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 c Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Heat some water in a large pan. Add salt and bring to boil.
2. Add pasta carefully and cook pasta according to package directions.
3. Gently melt the butter in a pan over low heat. Add flour and mix well. Cook mixture for 1 minute and then remove from heat.
4. Stir in milk (I use dry powdered milk and water), a little at a time, to make a smooth sauce. Put pan back on heat. Stir while the sauce thickens so it doesn't get lumpy.
5. When the sauce boils, turn down heat and cook, stirring for 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat. Mix the Cheddar, ham and tomatoes. Season.
6. Drain the pasta. Mix with the sauce. Place in oven safe dish and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake in oven, on a baking sheet, for 20-25 minutes.

Side note: The first time we made it, I had some ham but no tomatoes. Tonight when I made it, I had neither of those things, but it was still delicious. We had raw veggies on the side.

The Spider and My Son

2010-06-02T22:29:00.003-04:00

My little boy is still up...yes, it is 10:30 p.m. I suppose this is because he fell asleep on the couch this afternoon for about an hour. Now he claims, he can't get his eyes to close.

He has colored a picture, sat in my lap, listened to music and protected me against a spider. He is so brave! He was laying down coloring, when he spotted a spider (small, yet I'm sure to him, BIG). He ran over, got a paper napkin and boldly declared to "Get this big guy!" And he did. I thanked him for protecting me and he said, "Your welcome, Mom" in his deep 'manly' voice he gets when he does something big.

I love him.

Now, I just hope he goes to sleep soon.

Tuesday and Links I like

2010-06-01T09:03:00.002-04:00

We spent a quiet Memorial Day here at home. My hunny worked, but came home a little early and the kids played outside in the small pool. I worked on decluttering the school room--my goodness what a mess! I've been stacking stacks all over the place lately and it shows (obviously.) But now I'm in the "everything must go" mood. I've got so many books that I'm going to try to sell at our local homeschool used curriculum sale. I'm selling them cheap--and praying that they sell. :)

I wanted to share a couple links that I've recently come across:
Organized Junkie has a great list of links for free printables.
One of her recommended links I want to highlight because I really like it! It's Sarah's Sweeties Godly Character Trait pages. (By the way, her boys look like such cuties!)
And I recently re-discovered The HomeschoolMom website. All sorts of helpful information and goodies.

Okay well, I must clean that school room.

Friday Feast

2010-05-28T09:42:00.007-04:00

The days pass quickly and I am really trying to limit my time on the computer. Combine those two things together and the blog is neglected. I have much to share today, therefore the title "Friday Feast."

First, as I type this I'm listening to a play list of one of the bloggers that I follow. Make sure you visit Heather at A Place of Quiet Rest. Her music choices are wonderful.

May was a busy month for us as the kids finished up AWANA for this year. My little guy will move up to Sparks (I won't have any more Cubbies, sniff, sniff.) And my 8 year old will move up to T&T next year.

Bethany participated in the History/Science/Art Fair that our local homeschool group hosted. Her project was owls and she did a great job!

Here in the second picture you can see her "Kaya" bag. She made this from a kit supplied by my friend who has taught her daughter and Bethany in "American Girl Club." They read the entire series of Felicity and Kaya books throughout the year, discussed them and did activities pertaining to the books/and time periods. She enjoyed it greatly.

My little guy participated in a soccer camp of sorts, an hour each Saturday in April and May. He had a fun time! The last day was this past Saturday and they asked the parents to play for the final 15 minutes. T was so excited!! He looked over at me and said, "Mom, when the other team kicks the ball, you've got to run like the wind!" =) So cute!! (My oldest daughter edited this photo.)

This evening we will honor a good friend of ours who is now in the presence of Jesus. He had a love of all things garden and I'm thankful to have learned at his side. He loved talking about his plants, canned jars all neatly lined up on the shelves, and techniques that he had perfected over the years. I'm praying for his dear wife of 59 years and his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren and all who knew and loved him. He will be missed. Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus.

Lastly I want to share with you a feast of different sort. In three different ways, God has reminded me this morning of His sovereignty and faithfulness. I pray you will be encouraged and refreshed as you look at these links.

A short, 2 minute video entitled Why is there suffering if God is good?
Today's Our Daily Bread devotion called, Our Times--His Hands.My last God reminder is JJ Heller's song "Your Hands."

How is that for a feast? Thank you God!

I'm linking this post to Home Sanctuary's Company Coffee Girls. You probably know by now that I don't drink coffee, however I love tea. So grab a cup of your favorite tea and visit other friends. Thanks for visiting me and have a lovely day! (note: the picture of the rose at the top of the post was taken and edited by my oldest daughter.)

The Hero and The Crown

2010-05-08T08:00:00.000-04:00

The girls Literature Club read The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley this month. It was an interesting book--at some points hard to read, other times I didn't want to put it down. You can easily find summaries of the book at sites such as this one:

What I had a difficult time finding though were discussion questions, so I thought I'd post a few of them that I came up with and maybe it will help someone else.

The girls are middle school aged and all home educated. We meet once a month and at the beginning of the year, I give them a list with all the books we are going to read as well as the role they will fulfill for each book. Some of the roles include: biographer, geographer, connector, literary chef, literary luminator, vocabulary enricher, props and character representation, and illustrator.

We always start out talking about our overall feelings about the book. Then we move into a summary with each girl adding to the discussion. I try to have several questions that require deeper thinking or evaluation in addition to the ones that are more straightforward.

Discuss the main characters and their personalities.
Define a hero.
What is the Newberry Award?
What does it mean to "tack up" a horse?
In chapter 6 as Aerin is trying to figure out how to handle the horse bridle, reins and her sword, she talks about holding the reins in her mouth. However if she holds them in her mouth, she won't be able to belt out her war cries such as "Victory!" and "For Damar!" Where else do we hear such war cries? (My thought was in the Narnia books)
There were several rumors about Aerin, what were they? How did these rumors hurt Aerin? In groups of two, search the Scriptures using the concordance for verses on gossip, slander and overall what our speech should be like. (I loved this...the girls did a great job and I pray that they will hide God's Words in their hearts. I shared with them that down through the ages women have struggled with their tongues--men too, I'm sure. But women are notorious for being gossipers. So these verses are going to be good reminders on how we should use our tongues for good and not evil."
What was special about Gonturan?
Aerin expresses her dream to Teka, saying "Someday I shall be famous in legend and story." Teka's quiet reply was "I have never doubted it, my dear." What do you dream of (what are your goals) and who are your encouragers?

Lastly we were sure to discuss that the book suggests that Aerin spends the night with Luthe, no other details are given, however I felt the need to say aloud what God's plan is for them as single young women.

As I read the book, I was thankful God brought these and other questions like them to my mind (and I promptly wrote them down). They made for good discussion and prayerfully things were discussed that the girls will recall in years to come.

Shelley Noonan--Mentoring Your Daughter

2010-05-06T21:21:00.003-04:00

At the convention, I also went to hear Shelley Noonan talk about Mentoring Your Daughter. She was also inspiring (despite this was the second session that I had to sit on the floor--the rooms were THAT full!) So, I ignored my back, and took fast and furious notes. To be sure, I feel as though I am mentoring my daughters (and my son) however it was so encouraging to hear her perspective and ideas on this extremely important task.

She said that mentoring is to "teach with purpose on purpose the morals and standards we have." She went on to discuss 3 main reasons we don't mentor--lack of time, lack of confidence and lack of skill.
Lack of time--plan to spend time with your daughter. Put it on the calendar!
Lack of confidence--Pray that God will guide you as to what to teach. Talk to your daughter about goals (goals you have for yourself and her, goals she has for herself, goals for your time together.)
Lack of skills--we haven't had good examples, go back to prayer and God's Word; He is our example.

Mrs. Noonan had a great acrostic for mentoring: TIME:: Transparency, Intimacy, Making it Meaningful and Enjoyable

I'm really looking forward to implementing some of her ideas into our routine. While at the convention, I found a book for Bethany and I to work through together called "Just Mom and Me having Tea" by Mary Murray. We started it this week and we are having a sweet time together.

Well, I hope you are enjoying my little snippets of the convention. I'm enjoying reading through my notes and processing what I learned further! And did you notice that in my last post about Inspired Learning Rebecca herself actually commented?? Now that brought a big smile to my face! She is a neat lady and I'm so thankful that I was able to meet her. Make sure you visit her site: homeschool.com--lots to read and find out here. And Shelley Noonan's site: Pumpkin Seed Press is a winner too.

Stay tuned: next convention recap--Jeff Myers speaks on Rites of Passage: Rituals that Make the Passage to Adulthood Unforgettable for Teens.

And a side note--I'm not sure if you are picking up the theme or not, but as I went to each session, I was amazed how the theme of studying our children, spending time with our children, making goals with and for our children, etc. were repeated over and over again. God, The Grand Weaver, wove beautiful reminders and encouragements into my heart. {sigh, I'm so thankful!}

Rebecca Kochenderfer--Inspired Learning

2010-05-05T08:00:00.000-04:00

My favorite speaker of the weekend was Rebecca Kochenderfer. She spoke on "Inspired Learning." Oh, wow, was it good...and inspirational! :)

One of the first things she said:: Relax more. (Go back and read that again!) She said that they did a survey of veteran homeschool moms and asked them the #1 piece of advice they would give new homeschool moms and it was to RELAX MORE! Don't get stressed out about academics and pouring information into your children...make learning meaningful.
Learning is more memorable when it is meaningful. When it's something that interests them, they will learn it and remember it. Stoke the fire that is under your child. {Don't you love that? God has gifted them, given them talents, abilities and passions, learn those passions and stoke the fire!}

She talked a lot about having dreams and goals. Each participant in the session received her book, Homeschooling and Loving It. I'm looking forward to reading it this summer and going through the questions and exercises. For example, she has you write down goals and dreams you have for yourself. That's right, Moms, we need goals and dreams!

I really enjoyed her and was inspired!

Help, I Fell Off My Lesson Plan

2010-05-04T08:35:00.003-04:00

This was the title of one of the sessions I went to at the Midwest Homeschool Convention. It was given by Carol Barnier and despite the issue with poor sound, I gleaned some good ideas.

First things first: Homeschooling is efficient! We are doing more than we know each and every day. So when you have a day when things are going well and you aren't going to be able to do what you planned: make the most of it.

Be creative: do an art project, make a mini book (favorite animals, favorite plants/flowers, etc.), create your own opera, sewing or baking day
Be playful: play a board game, backyard Olympics, math game, freeze tag (have them answer a question correctly in order to get 'unfrozen'), have a 'backwards' day
Be inspirational: Movie day (historical, compare historical accuracy), "Heroes of the Faith" Day--dress up like the person, act out his/her story, watch a movie about them, Nature walk with sketch books

So, when you fall off your lesson plan, pick an idea and have fun!

Time away + Eating off the Floor

2010-04-23T19:31:00.006-04:00

Two weeks ago, my oldest daughter and I went to the Midwest Homeschool Convention. We traveled with a friend and her daughter. We had a good time and God used it to teach each of us more about Himself and depending on Him.

The classes I went to focused much on reaching the hearts of our children, inspiring learning and persevering through the journey of life for the glory of God. I'd love to sit down with my notes and blog about the details. I will work on doing that in the next month or so. (Just a side note: we laughed until it hurt at the Tim Hawkins concert.)

My girl took these three pictures while we were at the convention. We walked to a little restaurant and had lunch in this park. So relaxing and refreshing.

From relaxing and refreshing, we now return to 'regular life' where I'd put off washing the kitchen floor for...ummm...a LONG time. My thinking traveled the gamut, everything from "It's winter time and the kids and dog will be tracking in all kinds of inclement elements." Then I thought, "Always such a big job, let me just wait until after the spring rains." Finally I could take no more. The floor was downright dirty.

Yesterday was the day...I got down on my hands and knees (is there any other way?) and scrubbed that floor until well, we could have eaten off it! =)

Now that it is clean again, I love it. And it makes me want to wash it again just to try to keep it clean.

From here it's an easy jump to the analogy of my life and walk with God. If I neglect my daily walk with Him, 'junk' (sin) builds up quickly. Spending time on my knees, scrubbing out the dirt and allowing His righteousness to wash over me, leaves me refreshed and wanting to get on my knees tomorrow. This verse has been close to my heart this week:

You keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on you,
because he trusts in you.
Trust in the LORD forever,
for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.
Isaiah 26:3-4

Jesus, draw me nearer. Nearer Lord to thee!

Be sure to visit Home Sanctuary and connect with other Company Girls. Thanks for stopping by!

I like blogging...I really do

2010-04-21T16:39:00.002-04:00

I enjoy blogging and I really enjoy writing. I just have seemed foggy-brained and distracted lately. I'm still evaluating why and what changes I need to make in order to correct this rather large problem. Some initial thoughts on what is causing this:

too much time reading facebook and the short little status' are feeding my inability to focus.
trying to work on school and chores with the kids which leaves me tired and 'empty' at the end of the day

Have you gone through times like this--where your brain just seems devoid of intelligent thought? You can't remember why you walked into a room and have to go back to the first room to try to remember? You can't utter one complete sentence without stammering or calling your daughter the dog's name?

Oh to have some clear thoughts! Don't leave me for not blogging--that will just add more issues to the ones I already have. :)

Retreat and Then Some

2010-04-03T12:15:00.005-04:00

I've missed posting to Company Girls for the last couple weeks, so I'm glad to be able to do it today...one day late...but still, here I am. I've enjoyed reading and trying to accomplish Rachel Anne's Small Things. March was my first full month and I'm looking forward to keeping up even more this month.

I so enjoy company and love to meet new friends. In addition, spring seems to be here, really here! Seeing the sun shine and feeling the warm it gives, digging in the dirt and planting and most of all, hearing my children laugh and play outside have ALL helped lighten my heart. God is good and gives us incredible blessings. Open my heart and eyes, God, to what You want me to see and do. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you visit again! To my regular reading friends, thanks for coming back to check on me after longs days of not posting. You encourage me!

Two weekends ago I was blessed by being able to attend a women's retreat. Sponsored by our women's Sunday school class, the retreat was held at a state park lodge. The scenery including a big lake was beautiful and so relaxing. The theme of the retreat was The A.R.T. of Fellowship. Our sessions, games, and decorations centered around Abiding in Christ, Relationships with others, and using our Talents to glorify God, build up the body of Christ and be a light to the rest of the world. We each received a little 3x3 canvas to paint something to remind us of the weekend. This sweet little girl was on the promotion material for the retreat and I wanted her on my canvas! I talked a friend into pencil drawing her on my canvas (which is why she actually resembles the little girl) and then I painted her. She sits on my kitchen counter and is a visible reminder of The A.R.T. of Fellowship.

This week the kids and I spent each morning reading Scripture leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus. I am deeply humbled and grateful for the amazing grace and mercy given to me. The blood of Jesus shed for me...I thank God for the faith and heart to even try to take in this life-changing event. I pray that you will set aside time this weekend (and every day) to spend with Jesus, our Savior and our Lord.

A friend posting this on her facebook and it was really good...I'd never heard it before...

Lastly, I found this Resurrection Garden idea and I REALLY want to do this next year with the kids.

Thanks for visiting with me today.

He is Risen!
He is Risen indeed!

Free Homeschool Printables

2010-03-24T16:01:00.003-04:00

I found this site today while I was browsing....it is a homeschool site called Footprints on our Land: South African Homeschool Curriculum. I've not delved completely into it, however I did find a link for Free Printable Homeschool Worksheets--including notebooking sheets for owls!

Frugal Family Fun Blog has free printables and lots of good ideas. I like her gardening journal pages.

okay, I've got to get back at it...

Seeking God

2010-03-24T09:31:00.002-04:00

I've titled my quiet time "Seeking God Alone". Really this title takes on two meanings: 1. Seeking God by myself--my Bible, God and me. 2. Seeking only God for my daily strength and wisdom.
I struggle with making sure I'm going to God first with a problem, a hurt or a question. Sometimes I turn to friends, or my hunny, or sometimes I want to avoid it altogether and I turn to food or some other distraction. Seeking godly counsel or talking something over with a friend is not wrong in themselves. However if I am only turning to others and not turning to God, then I am wrong.

I read this article this morning titled "What does it mean to seek the Lord?" It's by John Piper and was a great reminder.

Col. 3:1-2 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

Seek Him today.

Planted seeds today

2010-03-23T20:06:00.002-04:00

Bethany and I started our garden today. We planted seeds inside in hopes that they will be well on their way to becoming sturdy plants in about 8 weeks. We planted several different varieties of tomatoes, green peppers, red peppers, and hot peppers. Waiting until the ground is ready and the danger of frost is over are cucumbers, green beans and lettuce. So very exciting!

This year we bought our seeds from an heirloom seed company called Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. Customer service was a great help and friendly too.

Bethany and I are also doing a garden study. Over the years I've collected quite a few odds and ends that will all come together for our garden study. I hope to be able to share some more resources with you. I will add them on to this post when I come across them.

Here's what I have so far:
A free excerpt of Amanda Bennett's Garden Unit Study
Squidoo has this plant lapbook with lots of resources
What a sweet garden lapbook found here.

Happy Spring!

Owl Study

2010-03-09T09:50:00.004-05:00

Bethany, Trenton and I have been studying owls. Really fascinating study--we are all learning a bundle. Even if you are not studying owls you will love this live webcam of a barn owl. Molly, the barn owl, sits on those eggs faithfully. The first egg should be hatching ANY minute. So exciting!

Below are more crafts and links I've found to accompany our owl study. I'll post pictures of things we are making soon (read: next week).

Owl Pillow Craft
Owl coloring pages and a preschool printing sheet
Felt Owl Finger puppet
The Crafty Classroom has several owl crafts and art ideas.

Here's where I got our Owl Lapbook. It is very well done.
Another mom studies owls with her son. She has a great list of resources.

We are going to dissect owl pellets and I'll probably get the pellet from Amazon. I need to order that soon. We are also going to take a nature hike as well as check out the local nature reserve.

I'd love to stay and chat longer, but I must get back to Molly and see if those eggs hatched.

P.S. Sorry for the gap in between posts. I enjoy writing and have missed blogging. I think I go in spurts like this. Thanks for stopping by and please be sure to visit again.

Links I Like

2010-03-07T14:10:00.003-05:00

I just found a neat blog that I really like:: Mama Jenn. She has some printables that I like (especially the calendar notebook--definitely going to do this with Trenton.) She also has good things to say as I'm browsing through her archives. Here she linked to a prayer guide for our children. I have this guide (it's very old from a Focus on the Family magazine.) I've tried to locate the author and seek permission to put it in our homeschool newsletter. Anyway, I had no idea that there was a pdf of this prayer guide. Here's the direct link to it (but let it be known that I found it because of Mama Jenn!)

So run over and visit Mama Jenn; you'll be glad you did!

The week God planned

2010-03-05T17:33:00.003-05:00

I'm thankful for online friends and Company Girls has been a delightful place to get to know other women who are seeking to make their home a sanctuary. Rachel Anne has encouraging posts each day to help you do a 'small thing' (and boy those small things really add up to be big!) Today I'm thankful that you have come to visit because my house guest just left a few hours ago (sniff, sniff). She really enjoyed making and drinking peach tea while she was here. So pour yourself a glass and read about the week that God planned. Thank you for being here.
...and come back soon....

A week that God plans is far better than anything I could plan! I know you can relate: the week that I thought we were going to have was promptly (and providentially) turned upside down when a friend called last Saturday. She lives a few hours away and needed to have some time away from her home to think over some important things.

Of course, we said "you are welcome here, please come." She did and let me tell you the wonderful week we had. She had lots of time to think, read and pray. And we had time to enjoy her company. She is a gracious, sweet friend who loves my children and can make a walking stick laugh. :)

I've been studying the "One Anothers" in Scripture. Here are just a few of them:

Comfort one another. I Thessalonians 4:18
Build one another up Romans 15:2 "Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up." I Thessalonians 5:11 "Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing."
Bear one another's burdens Galatians 6:2 "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ."
Care for one another. I Corinthians 12:25 "that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another."
Show hospitality to one another. I Peter 4:9 "Show hospitality to one another without grumbling."

My friend that was here this week was a joy to have. My hunny and I spent the evenings talking with her and helping her work through things. And each morning, my sweet 4 year old, pounded on her door and excitedly said, "Good Morning!" Each one of my 3 kids enjoyed time with her playing games, painting nails and reading books. My prayer for her and her family is that God would redeem the time she was away, grow her into the person HE wants her to be and give her the grace and mercy she needs to live every day for Him.

{sigh} I miss her already.

What I have up my Sleeve...

2010-03-03T16:44:00.005-05:00

Several times over the last few months I've shared something with a friend only to be asked, "How long have you been doing that?" or "Why have you never told me that before?" So today, I will share with you all the tricks and tips that I have up my sleeve. (Okay, not all--mostly because I can't ever remember them all, but here are several.)

I reuse cereal box liners. I get lots of raised eyebrows on this one, but seriously folks, they come in handy! After they've done a grand job holding the cereal, shake the dust out, fold it, and store it until needed for...a mat for a preschool art project, a bag to shake chicken pieces or smash croutons or crackers in, a cooling place for cookies and the list goes on. For a mat or cooling place, I cut the bag open and lay it flat, once done you can either wipe it off and reuse another time OR throw it away if it can't be used any longer. I feel greener just typing this 'up my sleeve' trick.
I use vinegar in my washing machine to freshen our clothes. I pour it in a "downy ball" and toss it in. Vinegar helps soften clothes and ward off static cling, too.
I've been known to mix a box of plain Cheerios with a box of 'honey nut' cheerios. This makes the cereal last longer and plain Cheerios are less expensive (and it's usually a bigger box).
I bought a mister bottle at the health food store. I mixed distilled water with a couple drops of lavender essential oil, tapped the bottom 100 times to mix it thoroughly. I use it as a natural air freshener around the house.
I try to keep a loaf of French bread handy for a quick supper. I buy the loaves at W*lmart for $1.50, then I cut them long-ways in thirds. So I get 3 long pieces out of one loaf. I spread spaghetti sauce, generously sprinkle low-moisture mozzarella cheese and bake! Sometimes I put turkey pepperoni or mushrooms on top...yummy, easy supper.

So there you have it...some of the ideas that are up my sleeve. To see what others have up their sleeves, visit Works for Me Wednesday. Thanks for stopping by; I hope you will be back soon.

Manners Unit Study and Lapbook

2010-02-20T23:39:00.003-05:00

I'm working on a Manners unit study for Bethany and Trenton. I may work it all into a lapbook but I'll have to see how the resources come together.

Here's what I have so far:
A list of ideas, activities and some poems from a classroom teacher
ChildFun's list of manners activities, crafts, poems
Teacher Planet: Manners and Etiquette--a nice list of links
HomeschoolHelperOnline has a list of ideas and books

On my bookshelf I have A Little Book of Manners by Emilie Barnes and The Keepers at Home. I will be using them with our study.

I am looking forward to this study!

Colorful Things

2010-02-20T08:49:00.005-05:00

I enjoy color. Especially after the gray and white days of winter, I enjoy color. We've added some color to our home through the beauty of flowers. Oh, thank You God for colorful flowers! I've enjoyed these roses for nearly two weeks now...they were a gift from a dear friend. They have brightened up our home and my countenance!

The yellow flowers were purchased at W*lmart (clearance, no less!). They have stayed extremely hydrated and beautiful for weeks now.

Color has also entered our home by way of art. Bethany and Trenton finished their India art projects. We loved the way the rice looked in their piles of different colors. (I wish I would have taken a picture of them before the kids started using them.) The picture below is Trenton's.

It was a fun project and you can read here where we got our ideas from for our India study.
Thanks for stopping by today. I enjoyed your company. Still have tea left in your cup?? scoot on over the Home Sanctuary's Company Girls and visit some others!

Winter Olympics

2010-02-14T20:38:00.003-05:00

We are enjoying watching the Winter Olympics. This week, I trust we are going to enjoy learning about Canada and the Winter Olympics.

Here's where I'm finding some of our resources:
I liked this for Trenton: a scissor skill activity from DLTK
HomeschoolShare has a wonderful free lapbook
I'm thinking about purchasing this lapbook from A Journey Through Learning ($4)
This link looks like fun...learning about the mascots.

One of the projects I'm going to have Marissa do is to create a brochure that would give a tourists places to stay, visit and be sure to see while in Vancouver.
Vancouver2010 may be a help to her.
She will also read this to find out more about the Vancouver2010 logo.
And this site will help her keep up to date on the medals and what's coming up next.

I'm sure I'll add to this list as the week goes on and we hear or see other things and aspects of the Olympics that we want to learn more about. If you are studying the Olympics, be sure to leave a comment and let us know!

~~~~
On a semi-related note, I'm thinking of getting Bethany involved in a postcard swap. As we study other countries, it would be so neat to get postcards from places we are studying. So if you are a reader of this blog and live somewhere other than the US, let me know! I'd love to hear from you. (Also, next year, we are going to be studying the United States using Cantering the Country. So, all you readers from other states, get ready! :)

Winter Marches On

2010-02-12T17:58:00.007-05:00

I've been enjoying doing school with Trenton (4 1/2 years old) and Bethany (7 1/2). That's not to say that every day goes smoothly, mind you. Here's what I try to follow:
PLAN
Prepare--work on lesson plans, make sure I have things I need, etc.
Let the Holy Spirit intercede--I don't want to hold SO tightly to the schedule that I don't allow God to use us in the lives of each other and other people. For example, I may have a full day of school planned, but a friend may call and need a sitter while she goes to the doctor with another sick child. I want to flexible enough--but not so flexible that we get nothing done.
Accountability--this is key for me. I use 'google documents' with another friend to keep track of our school plans. This way my friend can access the document and encourage me!
Never give up--the day, or week, or month, may not go as you thought, but keep pressing on.

This week we did some fun things:
A friend on Facebook said she had brought in some snow and her girls were playing with it on the table. I thought it was a great idea! So, my kids (the little ones) put on their hats and gloves and sat at the kitchen table! :) I brought in a small tub of snow and let them go at it. They created snowmen, they chopped, diced, smushed and in all ways manipulated that snow! They also saw first hand what happened when the snow melted--it got more compact and harder to work with. They had so much fun!

The kids also made homemade birthday cards for their daddy (his birthday was yesterday) and homemade valentines for friends.

We also have been playing lots of games, like I mentioned in this post and reading a lot.

I'm off to PLAN for next week! Head over the Homeschool Creations to read more from the Preschool Corner.

Welcome

2010-02-12T16:57:00.004-05:00

I enjoy having company, truly I do. Last Thursday, I hosted a delightful afternoon of tea and poetry. My dear friend, Lora came over with her linens, china and loose leaf tea. She graced our home with beauty and laughter. The Junior High literature club (8 girls) plus a teen girl that I'm getting to know came with their own doses of healthy laughter and copies of poems old and new. Lora showed the girls how to serve loose leaf tea and we all tasted the herbal goodness. (Okay, to be fair, some opted for hot cocoa, but only after they all had a taste of tea!) Our fellowship was grand as we shared poems, drank tea and nibbled on yummy treats.

God used this time of refreshment and encouragement to sustain me through the next few hours and days as I walked through some difficult circumstances. He is so faithful.

Recently I joined a blog called Home Sanctuary (I mentioned it here.) Who doesn't want to visit a place called "Home Sanctuary"...what am I saying, not just visit but I want my home to be a sanctuary. A sanctuary to learn about and worship the Lord, to love and grow with my hunny and children and to welcome all those who come through the door.

I desire those same things for my blog. So, thank you so much for coming to visit, I have some water in the kettle for tea, please sit a while and talk.

(I love this picture my daughter took of herself. I just had to include it!)

Games with my Kids

2010-02-10T14:11:00.002-05:00

I was going to write a blog post...you know, just to keep up the momentum. However my oldest girl wants to play a game with me. I've been praying that God would help me be more 'present' with my kids. I don't want to always be distracted and doing other things. So this is an answer to prayer. As well, I'm honored that she enjoys my company and now I must go beat her at Scrabble. hee, hee, hee.

While I'm playing, you may want to peruse another game we played this morning. It is called The Really Amazing Animal Game. Very fun and all of us played...Trenton (age 4) 'wowed' us with all of his right answers!

Playing games with my kids works for me on this snowy afternoon! Be sure to head over the "We are That Family" for more ideas.

Parting Scenes

2010-02-09T08:50:00.004-05:00

I am reading and studying through The Friendships of Women by Dee Brestin. [You may remember I was going to study Romancing Your Child's Heart next, however the book could not be found on my shelf. I've since gotten a copy (thanks to a good friend), but for now I'm studying this book.]
Chapter one of Brestin's book talks about greeting scenes and parting scenes as well as how girls are gifted for friendships. She uses the Biblical examples of Jonathan and David (I Samuel 20:41-42) and Naomi and her daughter-in-laws (Ruth 1:9-10).

I've had many painful partings in my life, however I wrote about two this morning and thought I'd share them with you. I've just copied and pasted from my journal.

I remember a parting scene in my own life when a dear friend and her family moved to Michigan. I remember it because it was so sad that they were leaving. Our children had played together since almost birth, she and I had become close in sharing prayer requests and keeping accountable and even more than that our husbands had 'clicked' and were good friends. They were 'iron sharpening iron' with each other. Knowing that they would be 8 hours away was heart wrenching. That was 9 1/2 years ago and the Lord has allowed us to remain friends and we still keep in touch pretty regularly.

The other parting scene in my own life that remains etched forever is when my friend Julie died. Her husband called and said that by all indications her time on this earth was very short. He said he wanted me to come and be with her. A friend watched my children and I drove to Columbus with tears aching in my throat. I arrived just as dinner was being served and her husband said it was great timing as I could sit with Julie as they all ate together. God allowed me to witness her last hours, I believe, so that I would rejoice as she was ushered into heaven, seeing the pain she was in here on earth. I read Scripture, I sang, I stroked her beautiful face that had wasted away by the cancer. I talked to her as though she could hear every word, even though I wasn't sure if she could or not. I told her how much she meant to me and to her family. I told her to go to Jesus--that she had fought the good fight and I knew she would hear those sweet words from our Savior---"Well done good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord." A single tear slipped from the corner of her eye as mine poured unchecked down my cheeks. Not even one hour later, she breathed her last labored breath and she was with Jesus. Appropriately her devoted husband was by her side. I was snuggling her babies on my lap reading book after book and choking back my raw emotions. Even nearly 3 years later the memory of her brings tears to my eyes. My heart aches with the pain of parting...not only for me, of course, but for her husband, three growing children and her extended family and friends.

Despite the pain that parting brings it is important to go hug goodbye to the traveling family, sit by the bedside of a dying friend, even kiss my hunny at the door before he leaves for work. Friendship and love are not only for the good times and fun times, but also for the hard times, the growing times, the painful times. The latter dig a well of growth and depth to my life that otherwise would not be there. This reminds me of a quote that roughly says that it's in the valleys that we grow. Life is not all mountain top experiences, in fact in my life those have been far and few between. However God is growing me into the person He wants me to be. A deep, passionate, loving person who treasures the people He has put on the path with me.

Tomorrow--greeting scenes. :)
I think it's so precious that I'm answering these questions today. Julie's birthday is on Friday, Feb.12. I've been thinking about her for weeks now, anticipating her birthday and what that means to those who miss her deeply. God is faithful. Through this study today He has reminded me that it is important to be present with my loved ones, whether that means in the fun times or the sorrowful times. He has given us today to be present with the ones He has in our lives. May I take the time to love and to growth with the family and friends I come into contact with today.

Linkage Likes

2010-02-08T21:25:00.002-05:00

I found two new blogs I really like...today. :) How's that for a happy winter day.

The first is Little Birdie Secrets. I really like the blog header and of course the crafty content is right up my alley. I've only just begun to look around this site.

The second is called Home Sanctuary. I'm going to have to come back here tomorrow and look more...but again...right up my alley.

So, even though my own blogging has been sparse (eegads!! I could hardly believe my last post was 8 days ago!) I hope you enjoy checking out these two new-to-me finds.

Stay warm!

Galloping the Globe--Israel

2010-01-31T11:39:00.003-05:00

We are trekking through Asia and have gotten to Israel. We are learning so much.

This week we will finish up India and start on Israel...I'm only a couple days behind (which is a great accomplishment for me!)

Jolanthe at Homeschool Creations has plans for week 1 and week 2 of Israel
I found some coloring pages here and here

I like to have Bethany color while I'm reading books from the library. Coloring helps her to focus her attention and she retains so much of what we read. I need to post pictures from last week as we colored rice and made our art from India. In addition we had our Japan meal, which I kind of wimped out on cooking. We settled on Ramen noodles, vegetables and chicken. Bethany was thrilled and I'm thankful that we DID it.

Well, on to planning and printing...

Fix our Eyes

2010-01-29T09:00:00.002-05:00

It's been a long week and a half! We had computer problems, my hunny had back problems, my girls are having sinus problems and me?? well, just problems! hee, hee!

I went to bed really early last night and am feeling somewhat ready to tackle today. In my Bible study I'm reading Hebrews 12~~especially the first couple verses:

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

This week I've been asking myself some questions: such as "What does it mean to fix my eyes on Jesus?" "What do I need to lay aside in order that I can run with endurance the race that is set before me?" "How can I increase my endurance?"

I want to run the race well, and unlike a physical race, I do not know when the end of my race will come. I'm thinking that's where the endurance comes in! I must fix my eyes on Him and ask Him for the strength and grace to run with endurance. For me "fixing my eyes" on Him starts with reading His Word and praying that the Holy Spirit will use His Words to penetrate my life, change my heart and draw me towards Him.

My encouragement to you today is to fix your eyes on Him, the author and finisher of our faith.
All for His glory!

Love Language-Quality Time

2010-01-20T23:17:00.003-05:00

I've been reading Gary Chapman's The Five Love Languages of Teenagers. Tonight I'm convicted about the chapter on Quality Time. I so want to do better in this area with my kids. I've typed the long quote below directly from the chapter.

Here are eight guidelines for better listening and true dialogue.
Maintain eye contact when your teenager is talking. This keeps your mind from wandering and communicates that the teen has your full attention.
Don't listen to your teenager and do something else at the same time. Undivided attention.
Listen for feelings. Ask yourself, "What emotions are my teenager experiencing?"
Observe body language. Ask for clarification to make sure you know what she is really thinking and feeling.
Refuse to interrupt. Interruptions often stop the conversation before it gets started.
Ask reflective questions. "What I hear you saying is.... Is that correct?" "Are you saying...?"
Express understanding. The teen needs to know that she has been heard and understood.
Ask permission to share your perspective. "Would you like to hear my perspective on the idea?"
Some parents find the idea of asking permission to share their perspective offensive. "Why should I have to ask my teen permission to speak?" The question is not whether the parents have the right to speak to the teenager, they do. The question is "Do you want your teenager to listen to what you are saying?" Asking permission recognizes that she is an individual and has the choice of hearing what is in your heart and mind or not hearing it.

Lots for me to think on....overall I don't think I'm doing terrible in these areas. However I know there is room for improvement! The computer is a biggie for me. I'll be working on something and my girl will come in and start to talk to me. I need to take time to listen to her--either by saying, "I want to hear what you are saying, give me 10 minutes to finish this up and I'm all yours." Or by turning right then and listening to her. We have good communication and I'm so thankful for that. I want to continue to foster that and let her know that I treasure our relationship.

Learning how to be a better parent to my kids is what Works for Me this Wednesday. Head over to "We are that Family" for lots more Works for Me Wednesday posts.

Serve a cup of kindness

2010-01-20T10:20:00.004-05:00

As I prepare to teach a mini lesson (for the T & T AWANA class) on kindness tonight, I wanted to share the visual that I'm using. I used a template that I've used before for a different focus. Before it said, "Warm up to a good book." It had a packet of hot chocolate mix and a note card tucked inside. Once they finished the book, they would write a short summary on the note card.

This time it says, "Serve a Cup of Kindness". I am going to talk about the song "I'm a little teapot" and how what we are filled up with will come out when we are 'bumped'. Then I am going to have them give some ways that they can show kindness intertwined with Scriptures that speak about kindness.

Ephesians 4:32 "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you."

I'm looking forward to it although I'm a little nervous too!

Note: I used two Stampin' Up stamps (borrowed from a friend) for the teapot and cup.

Homeschool Creations--Giveaway!

2010-01-20T10:15:00.003-05:00

Homeschool Creations is having a neat giveaway! She is hosting a giveaway from a company called Little Passports. If I don't win, I may just have to invest in this ESPECIALLY since we are Galloping the Globe this year. Wouldn't that be a great addition to our studies!

Updated Links

2010-01-19T17:44:00.002-05:00

I don't have a lot of time for blog reading, however there are so many folks who have really good things to share. When I have a few minutes (or an hour--gasp!) for reading blogs I usually go to the same few that I follow. I've updated the links on my side bar so you can visit them too.

And it's so fun that I now have 9 followers! It's down right exciting! Thanks to you all and to those who read, but don't leave comments or follow. I appreciate you too, really. Too bad I missed the National Delurker's Day--it was January 14. Although, you all, feel free to de-lurk any ole' time you want to.

If you read a really good blog, let me know in the comments so I can visit them also.

Menu Plan Monday

2010-01-18T22:59:00.003-05:00

Week #3 (in a row) of Menu Planning! I dare say that it's becoming a habit! :) I really enjoy the way it takes the guess work out of "What's for dinner??" at 5 p.m. A couple things that I need to do now are:

try to expand our menu choices--make a new meal every two weeks or maybe even every week
keep a running list of ingredients that each meal needs
take inventory of the pantry and freezer every so often (probably 2 weeks for the pantry and every month for the freezer) so that nothing is getting shoved to the back and not being used.

This week's menu is somewhat bland and even uses one meal that was on the menu for last week. My hunny took me out for our anniversary, so that meal didn't get made. :)

Monday--lasagna **freezer meal** (note to self--next time be sure to set it out to thaw)
Tuesday--pancakes
Wednesday--chicken and stuffing from last week
Thursday--chili **using freezer Big Beef Batch**
Friday--homemade pizza

Simple, but filling!
For many more menu plans, hop over to Organizing Junkie.

Help for Haiti

2010-01-18T10:50:00.007-05:00

My heart is grieving for the Haitian people. In searching for what we can do to help I found these resources:
Money Saving Mom--for every person who blogs and links back to her, she (and her husband) will donate $10. If you don't have a blog, you can leave a comment or email her. Go to the link for details. She also has a list of about 50 bloggers who are going to also give money for comments and blog links. GO check it out! This is so cool--so many bloggers will give money just for you writing a blog post and linking back to them. Share this with your friends...get the word out.
The Livesay Haiti Blog--a missionary family in Haiti are able to update and give specific prayer requests. Talk about living it first hand...
Compassion International--my hunny and I are going to donate directly to Compassion.

Once you click on Money Saving Mom's post, she gives a superb list of ways to help and then of course, please take time to click on the other bloggers who are also giving through their blogs.

And never underestimate the power and value of prayer. We are praying for hope and peace amidst tragedy and terror that we cannot even imagine.

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, "My Refuge and my Fortress, my God, in whom I trust."
Psalm 91:1-2

Beaver Lapbook

2010-01-12T10:22:00.007-05:00

In Science, we are studying about the beaver. What better way to learn and remember than putting together a lapbook!

Here are some resources I found for our beaver lapbook.
HomeschoolShare has a great beaver lapbook for FREE.
Hands of a Child has one that looks great too.
Jimmie gives a wealth of information about creating an Animal Lapbook on Squidoo
Here's a great Squidoo lens on a Beaver Unit Study
National Geographic has a page all about beavers...pictures, facts, even an audio of beaver sounds. Be sure to search the National Geographic home page for other information about the beaver. They have a 2 minute video that was good.
Enchanted Learning has a page about beavers

I also had Bethany look through our old (very old) Ranger Rick and Backyard Animals magazines. She found some pictures and stories that we will be adding to the learning. She can also use the pictures to decorate her lapbook.

The Next Study Endeavor

2010-01-12T09:45:00.003-05:00

This morning I finished reading The Grand Weaver by Ravi Zacharias. It was a thought provoking book and I enjoyed reading and studying through it.

Next I'm going to read "Romancing Your Child's Heart" by Monte Swan. I bought this book years ago, read a couple pages and put it down. I don't even remember why. Then a couple weeks ago, I came across an e-workbook for the book. So, I'm intrigued. I'm going to read the book and go through the workbook. I pray that it's a good study.

I'm trying to remember where I purchased the e-workbook. I got it along with several other things and I'm sure I can track down the information. When I do, I'll add it to this post.

Do share what you are studying, won't you?

The Menu for this week

2010-01-11T21:50:00.004-05:00

Even though it might be easier to just feast off the freezer meals we made on Saturday, I think it would be more wise to continue to make meals and use the freezer ones for busy days. By the way, the freezer meal cooking day was a success. We had fun together and we each came home with 3-9x9 pans of lasagna, 2-9 in pans of chicken enchilada casserole, 2 dozen parmesan chicken sticks, a two cup baggie of big beef batch, and a baggie of the ranch snack crackers. AND, we each paid $27! Of course, some of the ingredients I had on hand and others are just staples that you don't need to buy each time. All in all, a very good deal.

Okay, on to this week of meals:
Monday--chicken and veggies
Tuesday-Black Bean Enchilada Casserole This is a new recipe for us!
Wednesday--Creamy Italian Chicken (crock pot meal)
Thursday--Chicken and Stuffing (our 15th anniversary!)
Friday--Japanese meal (Bethany and I are planning this meal tomorrow. Hopefully it will be a wonderful way to end our study of Japan.)

Check out Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday for more menus sure to please your family.

The Freezer Meal Frenzy

2010-01-07T14:58:00.004-05:00

I am getting together with two friends on Saturday to put together several different freezer meals. I don't do this very often with friends, but am looking forward to the fun and fellowship that being together offers. To cut down on confusion, I offered to do all the grocery shopping and then we will just split everything 3 ways.

Here's what we are making: (click on the title to go to recipe)
Snack Crackers
Lasagna
Parmesan Chicken Sticks
Chicken Enchilada Casserole* recipe below

The snack cracker recipe makes a huge batch. So I bought two bags of oyster crackers (12 oz. each) and already mixed them up. Even though the recipe calls for 20 oz of crackers, the extra 4 ounces don't seem to make any difference. My daughter Marissa said, "We need those extra 4 ounces--these are GOOD! I divided the crackers 3 ways and hopefully my kids won't eat our part all today. :)
For the lasagna, we are going to make 9 pans (9x9) size.
For Parmesan Chicken Sticks, we are going to make 3 bags (2.5 pounds each).
And for the Chicken Enchilada Casserole we are going to make 6 round (9 inch diameter) pans.

Chicken Enchilada Casserole:
For 6 pans
12 flour tortillas (10 in. size)
9 cups chicken, cooked and diced
126 ounces of cream chicken soup, undiluted*
3 c. shredded cheddar cheese

Assembly directions:
1. Place 1/2 c. soup in the bottom of each 9-inch pan. Spread to moisten the bottom.
2. Tear tortillas into strips. Place a layer of tortillas on the bottom of each pan.
3. Layer chicken (a little less than 1/2 cup).
4. Pour 1/2 c. of soup over the chicken.
5. Repeat the layers, ending with soup.
6. Sprinkle cheese over the top.

Freezing directions:
1. Wrap tightly with freezer paper, foil or place in 2-gallon zip lock bag.
2. Label with cooking directions:
To serve: thaw and bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes. To bake from frozen stage, add 10-15 minutes extra baking time.

* I don't use that much soup. I use about 1 1/2 cups for each pan, so for 6 pans it would be about 72 ounces. I also use half homemade white sauce and half cream chicken soup. Here is a recipe for white sauce. This is a way to save money and sodium!

I've already cooked all the ground beef/turkey (I used half and half). I'm thinking that we may have left over meat which we will freeze and use for chili or spaghetti.
Next, I am going to cook and chop the chicken for the casserole. Having the meat cooked will help tremendously.

Back to the kitchen!

Preschool Happenings

2010-01-05T21:29:00.005-05:00

Maybe this post should be more aptly titled "Preschool is Happening!" Of course, I know kids learn so much without us directly teaching them, however I wanted to be more intentional about the activities I did with Trenton. He loves doing "school" like his big sisters.

I had to get organized or else the days, weeks and months just fly by and I'm left wondering where the time went. Many of my ideas came from the new-er homeschool 'buzz' word:: workboxes. Click on the links below to learn more about them.

Sue Patrick's Workbox System--the official site of Workboxes. (To tell you the truth, I've not read the book yet. Mainly I've just borrowed ideas from others who have read her book.)
Walking by the Way--I've linked to her before because of her posts on activity bags, preschool and workboxes.
Squido talks Workboxes--good stuff
Joyful Mother of Six Children
Homeschool Creations--Jolanthe has some really neat downloads and ideas. I like her blog especially for preschool and workboxes and work folders.

Okay, so those links will give you some information about the workboxes themselves. I'm still tweaking the system to work with our kiddos. (I'll share about how I am using the idea with Bethany in a later post--but to give you a hint...Jolanthe's work folders!)

Basically right now with Trenton, each night I lay out what I want him to work on the next day. I haven't invested in the containers to hold the activities yet, because I really want to buy the 12x12 plastic drawers--and I need at least 6 drawers for Trenton. So, back to what I'm doing right now...laying out what I want him to do each day and then he goes through and does each activity. During the month of December I spent a good bit of time printing and laminating pieces for the system. I'll have more pictures to post later this week.

I am working on a list of activities that he can do and mostly I will just go through the list, pick out 6 and put them in the workboxes. So you can see, it is still a work in progress. He looks forward to seeing what I've picked out for him to do. These pictures were taken yesterday. I found these wooden magnetic numbers at the Dollar Tree over the weekend. I also picked up an ABC pack. I'm excited because I know that workboxes are going to help me be more organized as well as allow Trenton to learn and grow.

Menu Plan for the Week

2010-01-04T19:45:00.005-05:00

How about a little menu planning to help the week go better?
Sunday I made the Big-Batch Beef Sauce I froze much of it and the rest I used for tonight's lasagna and still have some left over for a quick spagetti lunch.
Monday--lasagna and cottage cheese bread *recipe below
Tuesday--roast, potatoes and carrots in the crock pot
Wednesday--Chicken Salsa casserole* recipe below
Thursday--Tuna Melts
Friday--Homemade Calzones with cheese with veggies
Saturday--making freezer meals with two friends (recipes and game plan to come later this week!)

Cottage Cheese Bread
1/4-1/3 cup
1 cup cottage cheese
2 Tablespoon butter
1 egg
1 Tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups bread flour
2 teaspoon yeast

Put ingredients in bread machine according to manufacturer's directions. I set mine to dough cycle, then shape the loaf and put it in a loaf pan. Put dough in cold oven, set to 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Chicken Salsa Casserole
6 flour tortillas
2 c. diced cooked chicken
1 can cream chicken soup
1 c. salsa
1 c. chicken broth
1 1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese

Grease 9x13 pan. Line bottom with small pieces of 3 tortillas. Top with 1/2 the chicken. Mix soup, salsa and broth, pour 1/2 over chicken. Top with 1/2 the cheese. Repeat the layers. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour.
Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

Run over the I'm an Organizing Junkie to find tons of more Menu Plans!

Recap of 2009 and 2010 in a Word

2010-01-03T15:49:00.003-05:00

You may remember my post in January of 2009 where I revealed my word focus for 2009--Determined. The word stayed with me all year and definitely helped me focus my efforts and intentions. The one "word" is my answer to "resolutions" which for me always fade before the ornaments are packed away and the New Year's Eve party crumbs are wiped away from the counter. You will see in my recap of 2009 how determination helped guide my year. My recap is in green below.

Determined to read my Bible and spend time in prayer. Yes! My relationship with the Lord grew deeper as I made my time with Him a priority. (Thank you Jesus!)

Determined to choose joy in my heart (and on my face). I had many opportunities to choose joy and even in the difficult times of losing loved ones, God planted seeds of resting in Him, contentment in His sovereignty and, yes, eventually joy. Honestly sometimes my heartfelt joy was only in the knowledge that He is coming back...

There will be a day with no more tears,
no more pain, and no more fears
There will be a day when the burdens of this place,
will be no more,
we’ll see Jesus face to face
(Jeremy Camp)

Determined to spend time with my hunny and kids; making my time with them intentional and purposeful. I want to spend time with my family (and friends) doing the things that we want to do and having fun doing the things we need to do. Well, is there ever enough time to do want we need to do and want to do with family and friends? However, my determination to spend intentional time helped guide my choices and decisions.

Determined to make healthy choices in my eating and exercising. Umm, wish I could delete this one like it never existed in the first place...but it was there, right there on the blog post and now I must face it. Overall I did okay (the good news). I made significant strides in thinking about how I sometimes use food to fill a non-food need (ie emotional eater). I also went through a good Bible study called The Lord's Table by Setting Captives Free that pounded in the truth over and over that nothing will satisfy my soul except Christ. My relationship with Him must become the 'food' I feast from.

Determined to make strides toward preserving our memories in scrapbooks and photo albums. I made strides, small, baby step strides, but strides nonetheless. Definitely a work in progress. This year I'm going to research digital scrapbooking. If you have any thoughts or experience with digital scrapbooking--feel free to share your wisdom.

So that's 2009 in review. The word that I can't get out of my mind and the word that I've chosen or rather...the word that has chosen me is

Soar

You may be thinking that 'soar' is quite a lofty word, and a lofty goal, however I'll try to explain. I love the verses in Isaiah 40. I want to receive my strength from the Lord, I want to soar on wings He gives me.

Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

I've also been reading The Grand Weaver by Ravi Zacharias. The subtitle is "How God Shapes Us Through the Events of Our Lives". God is in control of my life. Here is a quote from the book and where I got my word for 2010:

Whatever you do, whether it be at work or in marriage, through your language or your ambitions, in your thoughts or your intents, do all and think all to the glory of God (I Cor.10:31) and by the rules He has put in place--rules that serve not to restrain us but to be the means for us to soar with the purpose for which He has designed all choices.

Isn't that fantastic! I love it and that's my prayer for 2010!