There will not be much, if any, more action here

I have started a new blog hosted by wordpress. Our church website has pages that I write about children's ministry things and it is hosted by wordpress. I can post personal blogs and church ones from the same dashboard. Also, I can upload pictures directly from my computer rather than having to go through photobucket (where I am quickly approaching my limit on how many photos can be stored on a free account) So here is the link to the new and improved Land of Boys.

Lessons From the Life Of Moses

I know that the last post I wrote has a few things I gleaned from studying about Moses. That was really more of just a "what we have studied in school" kind of post. This is the "here's what God has shown me post". We (as in the human race) are a bunch of idiots. I know, I should not be surprised.

Moses was raised in Pharaoh's palace. So he would have received a life of luxury while his kinsmen were doing hard labor. He killed an Egyptian and fled to Midian. While in Midian he is called by God in the burning bush. You might think that Moses, seeing this bush that was ON FIRE but not being consumed and hearing the voice, would immediately be willing to do whatever God asked. Yet, he reacted with

"Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?" (Exodus 3:11)

Not only that, but Moses throws these at God as well

"If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' what shall I say to them?" Exodus 3:13
"But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, 'The LORD did not appear to you.'" Exodus 4:1
But Moses said to the LORD, "Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue."
Exodus 4:10

Remember this is not some hick from the sticks we are talking about here. This is MOSES! Why do we as humans feel the need to question God or doubt Him when He speaks? "Wait a minute," you may be thinking. "You don't know my situation. I'm not big/strong/smart enough for what God is asking. I don't have the education/training/resources needed to do what He is asking. Who would ever listen to me anyway?"

Maybe that's true. Maybe, just maybe, God is calling you to do something that is beyond you. That way, you don't get credit for it. He does. Think about it for a minute: He called a shepherd boy who liked to play harps to slay a giant, become a mighty warrior and then go on to become a king.(1 Samuel 17-2 Samuel)He called Gideon, who was hiding in a winepress at the time of his calling, and used him with an army of 300 to defeat an army of over 100,000! (Judges 6-8) He gave the people of Israel their land without them even having to go into battle. All they had to do was march around!! (Joshua 6)

What praise we could give to God if only we would do less doubting and more serving!

Our Study of Egypt

For our first three weeks we have been studying about Egypt. WOW! There is so much I did not know about this fascinating culture. I have watched a few things on the History Channel over the years. That has pretty much been it. The boys have been studying from a mix of the Bible and other books. We have even done something that some families choose not to do. We have studied about the ancient Egyptian Religion. *GASP* The ancient Egyptians had no clear cut lines between the secular and the sacred. Everything was {in their minds} of the gods, from the gods or for the gods. Studying about their pantheism has caused something to be more clear to me. When Moses was called by God from the burning bush Moses asked God "Who should I say is sending me?" I always thought that sounded strange. Why wouldn't they know when he said "God" he meant "GOD"? But learning just how many gods they had in Egypt, where these Hebrews had lived all their lives, it clicked. All these false gods had names. Yahweh had to have a name among His people. We watched the movie Prince of Egypt tonight to wrap up our studies. There are several things in it that are not exactly the way the Bible says. Overall, we enjoyed it. After studying the Exodus so in depth, I cried like a baby watching the movie. Samuel curled up in my lap. He's a sweetie. We talked about some of the things that are different. I got tickled when it came on. Benjamin said, "Eww, I bet the part about the plagues is going to be gross." Samuel piped up with "Yeah, I can't wait for the plagues!"

We have been introduced to Usborne internet linked books in the past three weeks. Oh, my goodness! I LOVE these things! I had never heard of them before. They are wonderful!!! Some of the internet links are not exactly our cup of tea (such as making a virtual offering to the gods) but for the most part they are ad-free and kid friendly. Samuel enjoyed making a mummy (because he adores all things gross). Nathaniel and Benjamin found a link to a game called Pyramid Challenge that they like.

In other areas of study, the two little guys are studying Botany. It is harder than Astronomy by a long shot. Or maybe we just know more about space to begin with. Benjamin has teetered between whining "This is hard!" and asking "Is it time to do Science yet?!?!?"

Benjamin checking out the moss growing on the side of the building


Samuel going in for a closer look at the lichen in his favorite climbing tree


The tree I am hoping to identify this year. The seed pods turn black and fall off all over the yard every year. They look like broken bike tires when you look out window.

Nathaniel has jr. high science this year. He is doing General Science. There are not enough nice words to say about Apologia. The first chapter goes through a brief history of scientists. He is really thriving. This is not an easy course. I was worried that he would be upset when he did not make 100 on his first test, but he took it alright. I think he was relieved that he made an A. That was a tough test! He has done several experiments so far.

Professor Gilliland consulting his text.


All smiles when his first experiment of the year worked like it was supposed to.

Latin is kind of slow-going. Learning a language is hard, and the boys are working hard at it. Benjamin is a bit jealous that Samuel has a Latin book that has a monkey in it. (go figure) He also thinks his Latin book is "too hard". Yet, until it is time for Latin all I hear out of him is "Is it time to do Latin?!?!?"

Benajmin and Samuel playing Latin Monkey Match.

Overall, the first three weeks have gone smoothly. Sure, there has been some whining. There is whining sometimes in the summer and on the weekends. We deal with it and move on. On the first day of school, just a few minutes before 6:00 am I hear a vehicle outside. It was the roofers. Did I mention that Mark was working night shift that week? UGH! On the ONE DAY I forgot to put my "school in session" sign on the door a Jehovah's witness came to visit. ARG!!! And we really have to keep a close eye on Benjamin because if we don't he likes to sneak off and do this
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What can I say? He's not a morning person. :)

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I tried to put this directly on the page to show off the stuff that the boys have made, but alas, either I am just dumb or photobucket is too full of errors.

Do You Really Believe What The Bible Says?

On a homeschool forum a lady raised a question about something that she read in Apologia's Exploring Creation With Zoology 3 book. The book mentions in the first chapter, which is available to read online as a sample, that all animals at creation were vegetarian. It has the scripture to back up what it is saying. Her question was "Is this a common Christian belief?" She stated that she is a Christian and had never heard this before.

Please understand, I am not the final judge of "who is or is not a Christian", but I do sometimes wonder why people will say they are Christians, yet when they are faced with some of the *hard* to believe things, they question the Bible. The original question asker wanted to know if this was a common belief. Some people responded yes, some no. Some responded by saying things like how it would be ridiculous to think that a T-Rex would have had a vegetarian diet. I really think, however, that how a person views those first few chapters of Genesis says a lot about the person and their beliefs.

Think about it: If you do not believe that God is capable of doing things that seem irrational to us (T-Rex eating plants, whales and such not eating other sea creatures) why do they think the Bible states it a certain way? And what, exactly is God capable of doing, if you feel this way? I really thought when I was younger that it did not matter if a person believed that the earth was 6,000 or billions of years old. But, if a person does not believe God from the outset of those first few chapters, I wounder why they should believe ANY of the Bible.

Some of the people who responded to this lady's question gave the verses showing why this is believed

Genesis 1:28-30:28And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth." 29And God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. 30And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food."

and

Genesis 9:1-3 1And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 2 The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. 3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.

Yet, they are people saying they don't believe it! Have you ever come across someone who can be shown a verse and still say "Well, I still just don't believe it."? Hmm.... I would never do that! Or would I? Do I really believe that I am am going to have to give an account for every careless word? If I believe that I would choose my words more carefully than if I not believe it. Do I really believe that children are a blessing? Am I treating my children like blessings if I yell at them, or speak those careless words to them? So, I think you see where I am going with this one. We all have areas where we need to improve. The question is, are you seeking to improve, or are you saying I just don't believe that way? What say you?

School Days

Well, I am the evil homeschool who started school BEFORE the local public schools. Yep, we started bright and early this morning. Our schedule this year is a lot more demanding than last year. It is especially tough on Nathaniel. He is in the 7th grade. He leans toward academic laziness. The bad thing he is very smart. He could be finished with all of his work by lunch if he would just apply himself. Instead it took him 20 minutes to answer ONE question in Science today. His schedule looks a bit like this(on paper anyway):
7:30-Catechism and Bible Study
8:00-Language Arts, using Shurley 6 for grammar and Writing Aids for composition
8:30- Math U See Pre-Algebra
9:00- History reading from Tapestry of Grace Selections
9:30- Science, Apologia General Science
10:00- Literature reading, TOG
10:30- Logic, The Art of Argument
11:00- Lunch, play outside, quiet time
1:00- Latin, Latin for Children A
2:00- Art, Hands-on history/geography projects, study spelling words on SpellingCity, anything that needs to be practiced/ caught up on.

Benjamin's schedule looks like this:
7:30- Catechism and Bible
8:00- read his literature selections from TOG
8:30- Language Arts- Shurley 2 and Writing Aids
9:00- Math U See Gamma
9:30- History from TOG
10:00- Science, Apologia Botany
10:30- free time, read alouds, catch up on anything undone
11:00- Lunch, play, rest (he tried to nap several times today!)
1:00- Latin for Children A
2:00- Art, hands on history/geography, spelling, anything else that needs finishing

Samuel is loving school so far:
7:30- Catechism
8:00- puzzles, songs, drawing
8:30- reading on his own
9:00- Language Arts/Reading with mom, Shurley 1, Writing Aids, assorted books from TOG and favorites off his shelf
9:30- Math U See Alpha (he has told everyone that he has *real math* this year, not just primer-he has tests and everything!!)
10:00- Science, Botany
10:30- do any skipped reading, work on phonics, read alouds, play time
11:00- lunch and play
1:30- Song School Latin, LOVES it. Anything that is based around singing is going to win this boy over
2:00- Art, hands-on history/geography, spelling (found a great site with spelling lists that has worksheets to go along with each set of words)
So, as you can see, our days are filled to the brim with great stuff. But that does not mean we don't still have time for a bit of fun. We painted big, white shirts today to look (somewhat) like Egyptian pharaohs.

Don't ask me why Samuel has on Darth Vadar's helmet. Maybe he thinks it looks like a black wig.


They are pretty good at walking like Egyptians, doncha think?

Something to Giggle About

"Udderly" Adorable!!!!

Share Your Fave

Mark asked me last night what is my favorite movie scene. That is a tough one because because I really like a lot of movies. He said it could be funny or serious, just what is my favorite. So I am going to share with the world and ask that you share your in return. This is a very touching moment from a very goofy movie. I really think this is the best job Tim Burton has ever done as a director.


And here is Mark's


I guess we are both a little sappy in that we picked scenes that make us cry every time. Don't forget if you leave a comment, make sure you tell your favorite, too.

Video for you to enjoy

I do not know who put this video together. I really think they did a good on it. This song came out when I was in the 7th grade. My history class did a unit study on it. I can still sing it and I still remember the events mentioned in it. My grandparents helped me with this assignment. Memories of them are worth their weight in gold. If you do not believe in the total depravity of mankind now, you will after watching.

God's Providence

Mark has been teaching a series of lessons to the youth on Wednesday nights about how everything in the Bible is there to show God's glory. He is teaching one-two lessons from each book. Some stories (like Joshua and the Battle of Jericho) are easy to quickly read through and see God's glory and triumph shining. Others are easy to just skim over and hardly notice the big picture.

A couple of weeks ago he taught on Ruth. I have read Ruth several times, but never really studied it. Just a quick look at the meaning of some of the names in Ruth is fascinating. Elimelech (My God is King) is married to Naomi (pleasant). They have two sons, Mahlon (sick) and Chilion (pining). {Great names for the kiddos, huh?} There is a famine. I think, for me anyway, it is hard to imagine what these people would go through in a time of famine. I mean think about it, here if there is a bad season and crops we can always go to the grocery store that has fresh produce available year round. We can go to restaurants anytime we please and get anything we want. These people suffered greatly if there was a time of famine. To keep their sickly kids from starving Elimelech and Naomi had to leave their home and go to a far away place. They left Bethlehem and settled in Moab.

This is another one of those things that I have at times just read over and not really thought much about. Moab. The people of Moab are descended from the incestuous union of Lot and his daughter. {side note here: Mark taught a lesson about the effects of alcohol to the youth over a year ago titled I love my Family...But Not That Way! . He used the story of Lot to teach that alcohol can make you do weird things and make you so out of it that others can do bad things to you. The youth still remember almost every detail of the story. As soon as he said the Moabites were descended from Lot they all started saying things like "EEWWW, Yuck!!!"} So the Moabites as a people had a less than desirable beginning. Not only that, but they worshiped some pretty horrible gods. One of which (Chemosh) was a god of child sacrifice. Could you imagine something so terrible that you had to take your family away from everything safe and comfortable and put them in a place like that? It would be horrible!

They were not there for just a little while. They were there long enough that the boys became men and found someone to marry. I feel pretty sure that the parents would have liked for them to marry nice Jewish girls. Guess what? They were in Moab, surrounded by Moabite girls! Who did they marry? Moabites. I always assumed that was a bad thing. I mean. God had said not to marry foreign women, right? Not exactly.

Deuteronomy 7:1-3: 1"When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than yourselves, 2 and when the LORD your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. 3 You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons,

Hmmm... They were told not to marry women of the lands they were conquering. Moab was not on the list. So these guys were doing nothing wrong. They married girls named Orpah (stubborn) and Ruth (friendship).

During the ten year stay in Moab Elimelech died. Then Mahlon and Chilion died. Naomi had some really hard things in her life. If this were happening to someone today (had to move far away, lost her husband and children) we would feel sorry for them. It would be very sad. In that time however, she could not just run out and get a job someone to support herself. Plus, she had two daughters-in-law to look after.

Naomi hears that there is once again food in Bethlehem. Or as the Bible puts it "The Lord had visited His people". These people may have had their faults in many ways, but they were right on in giving God His glory when he blessed them. They understood that goodness comes from God. So Naomi is going to head back to Bethlehem. She tells the girls to go back to their families since she has no more sons for them. See, God had made a law to take take of young widows.

Deuteronomy 25:5-6- If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. And the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel.

There were no more sons. No one to take care of or provide for these women. Naomi tells them twice to go back to their families and to their gods. So these women must have been worshiping the true God while they were married to the Israelite men. Orpah leaves, but Ruth stays with Naomi.

Ruth 1:16-17:16But Ruth said, "Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. 17Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the LORD do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you."

Wow. She was willing to leave everything behind and follow the true God. She was willing to stay with Naomi, even though it meant not living a life of ease. As they departed for Bethlehem, somewhere along the way Naomi changed her name to Mara (bitter). Very fitting since her life over the last ten years had been very bitter.

Going back had to be hard. They were two widows. No means of support. More or less, they were beggars at the mercy of others. God's providence was at work again. You see, many years before in the law God had given commandments to take care of the poor.

Leviticus 19:9-10- When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. 10And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the LORD your God.

When they returned to Bethlehem it *happened* to be right at the beginning of the barley harvest. Ruth volunteered to go out and reap for herself and Naomi. She *happened* to end up in a field belonging to a wealthy relative. That relative (Boaz) *happened* to notice her in the fields. He asked someone who she was and found out that she had come from Moab with Naomi. Boaz tells her to stay in his field, with his people so that she will be protected. Can you imagine being a woman in a foreign country, with no way to support yourself, no family other than an elderly mother-in-law, and some kind stranger offer to protect you? In chapter 2 verse 8 he says to her, "Now listen, my daughter...". He offers her his protection and kindness because of the love she showed to Naomi.

Ruth 2:11-12-11But Boaz answered her, "All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me, and how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before. 12 The LORD repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!"

He even fed her lunch. Then he told his servants to drop a few sheaves so that she would have more to take home.

So Ruth get home with her big load of grain. Naomi is, of course, happy to see how much she brought home, but even happier to hear where Ruth has been. Boaz is a close relative. According to the law the closest male relative has certain responsibilities for those left behind after a death. They could include a). avenging a death. We see no evidence of foul play at hand in this story. b.) buying back family property that was sold to pay debts. This does come into play here. c.) buying back a family member that had sold himself into slavery. Fortunately no selling of humans in this story. d.) marrying the deceased's widow. Older women (historically) have always thought being married was best, and you can get a glimpse of Naomi scheming when she says "This man is a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers." (Verse 20.)

The time comes to thresh the grains. Naomi tells Ruth to take a bath, put on her best clothes, anoint herself and go to meet Boaz on the threshing floor. Naomi tells her to go and lay at his feet when he goes to sleep. (Yuck, she got all prettied up for THAT?!?!?!) Ruth does what Naomi tells her, even goes a step further. When Boaz wakes up and sees a person he asked who it was. Ruth told him who she was and even asks him to "cover her", which is basically saying that she is proposing to him. He is happy about it and says yes. He sends her away in the morning with 60-80 POUNDS of barley!!! The only snag in the plan is that there is another man, who is a closer relative that could make this whole thing not happen like they are wanting.

So Boaz gets this other relative (we really do not know the relationship, they could be cousins or even brothers, we are just not sure from the Bible texts) in the presence of some friends who are in the village. He tells him that Naomi is back and is going to sell a piece of land if he wants to redeem it. He throws in that there is also a widow of one of Naomi's sons that needs to be redeemed. The other relative does not want to have to split his children's inheritances with someone else so he tells Boaz no. This clears the way for Boaz to marry Ruth.

So many times we look at sad situations and wonder why God would allow such terrible things to happen. Why was there this famine that drove a family to a far land? Why did the father and BOTH sons have to die leaving Naomi a widow in a far away land with no one to take care of her? Why did her daughter in law have to tag along giving Naomi someone else to have to care for? The book of Ruth ends with the very reason why:

Salmon fathered Boaz, Boaz fathered Obed, Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered David.

The plan seems even clearer when you flip to Matthew and read the genealogy of Christ. This was all a part of God's plan for redemptive history. God used this Moabitess to be in the bloodline of HIS Son. With out Ruth and Boaz being married, there would have been no great-grandson David. Which would have meant no Davidic covenant. See, God knows the story from end to beginning. We can often see the here and now. If some of bad stuff had not happened, the good stuff would have not been able to happen. I pray that God helps me to remember this when something I am going through gives me the tendency to think why me. My I take Romans 5:3-4 to heart:

More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,

Don't ever give up on hope

Mark Says I'm Not Allowed To Homeschool Anymore......

.....because it is apparently making making me stooopid. Last week, I walked into a men's room by mistake. How embarrassing!! What makes it even worse is there was a man in there!!! His back was to me. I'm not sure is he was at a urinal or a sink. Aaahh! That was Thursday.

On Friday we had to go to Birmingham. Mmmmm, Krispy Kreme is in Birmingham. On the same street we took to go home. So we stopped. Samuel showed me the doughnut he wanted. It was a powdered doughnut with a sign that said "Feathered Doughnut" (or so I thought) Granted, "Feathered" is a strange way to describe a doughnut, but hey, who am I to argue with the sign?? So I place the order. The lady behind the counter looks at me blankly and says, "Excuse me?" So I pointed and repeated it. Mark looks at me like I am crazy and says, "Do you mean FEATURED ?!?!?!" Once again, my face is blushing. A LOT. We laughed most of the way home.

On Saturday we went to McDonald's. Mark asked if I would mind doing the ordering. (Given my recent track record, he was taking a risk) I managed to get the boys' orders right. I managed to get Mark's order right. When I went to order my double cheeseburger, things got a little weird. Instead of DOUBLE cheeseburger, I said BACON cheeseburger. What makes it even worse is that I did not notice what I had done. Mark commented that he had not seen me order that before. I was thinking he was crazy, I order double cheeseburgers all the time. But no, there it was on the receipt, "cheeseburger, add bacon". Did you know that McDonald's does not have a bacon cheeseburger on their menu?? The reason is probably because their bacon does not mix well with burger meat. Bleh!!

Do any other homeschool moms suffer from brain melt??? Is this typical? My kids are getting smarter, but I'm getting dumber.

Marriage Advice Part 1- For the Unmarrieds

Lately it seems like marriages all around me are falling apart. I found out from Facebook that a couple in my church have divorced. (I knew I had not seen him lately, but he has a job that takes him out of town some) Mark and I both have people who ask our advice on things. Please understand, I am not saying that we are perfect. Sometimes he makes me so mad I could spit in his eye! (The same could be said the other way) Yet, in spite of being married to someone who is less than perfect, we do have a strong marriage. It is built on more than faith, trust, and a little pixie dust. It is heavily grounded in God's word and what HE says about how we are to treat each other.

**Disclaimer**
The few people that read this blog are all married. Hopefully their marriages are not in trouble. But alas, if I am going to give this advice that I am commonly asked, I need to start at the beginning. And that would be the time BEFORE the "I dos" are said.

I am a lady, so obviously I am giving this advice to the girls, not the guys. So, here we go: The number one thing you need to ask yourself about a potential mate is this- "Is he a man?" Yes, I can hear your eyes rolling. Not is he male-is he a MAN?

Genesis 2:24-Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Is he responsible enough to take on a marriage? When you meet a fellow that catches your eye, observe a few things about him. Does he have a job? Is it a job that can support a family? If not is he working on getting that good job? Let me clarify: Say the object of your affection works at a grocery store as a stock boy. Say he still lives with his parents. This could potentially go either way. Is he the stock boy because it does not cut too much into his video game time? Or is he working as a stock boy to make some extra money while he is still in school learning to be a ______? When Mark and I first started dating, he was a 16 year old Ace Hardware salesman. Not a glamorous or high paying job. But, when you consider the fact that he had been working at that job since he was 14 it casts a different light on the subject. Ace Hardware was not his life's ambition. It was a way for him not to sponge off his parents. We have a friend that is my age (let's just say old enough to be giving out advice and leave it at that). This guy, at last count a few years ago has had 45 jobs. 45!!! When he first told Mark that, Mark did not believe him. So he actually emailed Mark a list of all the jobs he had quit and or been fired from. BIG red flag there girls!!!! If your Mr. Cutie Pie jumps ship every time something happens at his job, he is probably not going to be dependable husband material.

So, say he has a job. His job is great, or at least he has the potential of greatness. Is he a Christian?

2 Corinthians 6:14-Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?

If you are a Christian, you should not consider a non-Christian as a marriage partner. It will open up sooooo many cans of worms. I do not have a complete listing of what would happen. To be honest, that list would be infinite. But here goes a few things I could see happening. Easter morning-you want to go to a Sonrise service, he wants to sleep in. Well, that brings up another good point-Sunday mornings in general, you want to go to church, he wants to sleep in.

Ephesians 5:23-A husband is the head of his wife, as Christ is the head and the Savior of the church, which is his own body.

So, your head, your spiritual leader, is not doing a good job of leading you. You have the choice of going alone, or staying home with your husband. What if he does not want to sleep in; what if he wants to go to the lake, or the flea market, or where ever he thinks is best. Do you go with him or go to church. This is just a small part. We could go into details about ethics (such as would you go along with him if he cheated on his taxes), morals (could you marry someone who supported something you were against such as abortion, or Democrats? {just kidding about the democrats, who would marry one of them??!?!?} kidding, again)If you are a Christian, why would you marry someone who was not like you? If someone does not share the same core values that you do, it makes for one tough journey. If he is a non Christian, do not get involved. Do not give your heart to someone who does not share your values.

This next part is a little tricky to say without sound Pharisaical. If he claims to BE a Christian, does he LIVE like a Christian? Does he seem bored if you bring up spiritual things in conversation? Red flag! Does he seem to zone out during church? Red flag! This is especially important if he suddenly becomes a Christian when he finds out you are only interested in Christians. On the flip side, if he is a fairly new convert and you have been a Christian for a while, do not expect him to be at the same place in his spiritual walk as yourself. If you can observe a gradual change happening in him that is a good sign. If he seems to not have improved or even seems worse than before, you would be wise to to pursue other interests.

Galations 519-23-Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

What fruit seems to be in his life?

Matthew 7:16-You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?

This goes along with what we just looked at above, but what kind of stuff does he try to get you to participate in? I saw a movie once (sorry, can't remember the name) where a woman started dating this guy who seemed perfect. He was charming, romantic, just an all around dreamy guy. One he says he wants to do something "fun". So the woman is all for fun. He takes her to a convenience store....TO STEAL BEER!!! The woman does not want to steal beer. They man shoves some in her coat. On the way out of the store, a can falls out. The store owner jumps the counter, and chases her with a bat!!! She jumps into the car as her "dream guy" is already pulling away. Needless to say, that was not her idea of FUN. So, is this wonderful guy you have met asking (or succeeding) in getting you to participate in things that are ungodly?

1 Corintians 13:5-7Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Notice the part I emphasized-it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.
A Godly man will not expect you to do things that in violation to God.

So, now that you have seen a rough outline of what a man is supposed to look like you can look forward to what is expected of you. (Don't be scared-I promise not to be excessively mean)

Killing the cockroach of sin

How to Kill Sin in Your Life

John MacArthur


Killing the Sin in Your Life

The question is, “How do I kill sin in my life? How do I do it?” Let me give you some little principles — very basic and straightforward.

If you live by the Spirit and are headed towards eternal life because of your salvation, the Spirit in you gives the power to be killing the deeds of the flesh.

The question is, “All right, how do I do that? I agree that the power is there, that’s the bent of my life, that’s the way I am going. I want to see the Spirit do more and more of it. How do I get to that point? How do I gain that victory? How do I establish that habitual pattern? What do I do?”

1. Recognize the Presence of Sin in Your Flesh.

Do you know why most Christians are most commonly defeated by sin? I believe it is because their sin has so totally deceived them, that they never really get to the point where they honestly evaluate its reality. They are not dealing with the issue.

They spend so much of their lives justifying their sin as a personality quirk or a product of their environment. They sugar-coat their habitual sins as simply idiosyncrasies of individuality, or some prenatal predilection that their mother had, or whatever. People can become so good at denying the reality of sin that they don’t see it. As a result, they don’t deal with it because they don’t even recognize it for what it is.

Any kind of spiritual victory begins by identifying the enemy. It is the same old story, ”If you don’t know what you are shooting at, how are you going to hit it?” How am I going to eliminate from my life what I don’t even identify as needing to be eliminated?

Sin is not only wicked, it is deceitful. And it’s there inside each of us. Believe me it is there. John Owen was right, he says of sin:

It has no doors to open. It needs no engine by which to work. It lies in the mind and in the understanding. It is found in the will. It is in the inclinations of the affections. It has such intimacy in the soul.

It’s there! But inevitably it’s covered up. As the Psalmist prayed, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me” (Psalm 139:22). We must ask God to help us see our sinfulness, if we want to recognize it for what it is.

Don’t be deceived about how good you are. Believe me, your sin is there, and it is wretched and it spurts forth between the cracks of your supposed righteousness. It comes out in anger and bitter words, unkind thoughts, criticisms, self-conceit, lack of understanding, impatience, weak prayers, immoral thoughts, and even overt sins. You need to know your weaknesses.

Haggai the prophet, in chapter one of his prophecy, repeats the command, “Consider your ways! Consider your ways!” (vv. 5, 7). In other words, take a good deep look at yourself. First Kings 8:38 says, “Know the plague in your own heart.” And Paul in Ephesians 4:22 talks about deceitful lusts. From these and many other passages, the Bible makes the point: If you want to kill sin in your life, you must begin by examining your own heart to see the reality of what is there.

2. A Heart Fixed on God.

Second step. In order to gain this victory, its triumph, and to see the power of the Spirit of God begin to give you the power over the unredeemed flesh that you desire, that God desires, you must have a heart fixed on God. A heart fixed on God. The Psalmist said in Psalm 57:7, "My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed." What do I mean by that? Undivided devotion to God! That's that wholeness in spiritual life where I am given wholly to God. What do I mean by that? What I am really saying in this context is, you can't have sin in one area. You can't just sort of clean up a lot of it but leave it in one area. You can't starve it out and kill it in one spot and feed it so it lives in another spot. If it lives anywhere it will crawl all over everywhere. It is the most noxious, fastest growing weed in existence. It will not confine itself to one flower bed, it'll be everywhere. The Psalmist said in Psalm 119, verse 6, "Then shall I not be ashamed." When? When will you not be ashamed? "When I have respect unto all thy
commandments." My life isn't going to be right, my life isn't going to be without shame until I give proper respect to every command of God. And that is to deal with every issue of sin in my life. The only unashamed life is the life of one who is totally fixed on God; everything has been dealt with.

3. Meditate on the Word.

Meditate on the Word. The filling of the Spirit is equated in Colossians 3, to letting the Word of Christ dwell in you richly. When the Word controls you, when it controls your thinking, when it is there as the Psalmist said, "To meditate on day and night," when it is there hidden that "I might not sin against God," then you have a control factor in your life. The way to kill sin in your life is to feed it Scripture. It's a poison. It'll poison sin. Just feed a sinful life Scripture--it will poison it! Whatever really controls your mind, controls your behavior; so you learn to close out the garbage and you feed the sin, the remaining sin, in your life a steady diet of God's glorious truth and it poisons sin. And so you must give yourself to the Word. You must saturate yourself in the Word. You must hear the Word preached and taught. You must learn it yourself and you must meditate on it day and night.

4. Commune with God in Prayer.

These are so very basic. Fourthly, and very important, commune with God in prayer. Commune with God in prayer. This sort of circles back around to the first point that I gave you. True prayer gives the heart a sense of its own vile character and renews the hatred of sin. True prayer does that. John Owens said, "He who pleads with God for the remission of sin also pleads with his own heart to detest it." Somewhere along the line, in your own prayer life you need to get honest. You need to get honest. And you need to begin to say to God, "I want you to reveal my sin, I want you to stir it up in me. I want you to show it to me. I want you to blow away the dust that is covering it. I want you to peel off the things that have been hiding it away in my life, so that it becomes manifest and visible to me. I want to see the reality of my sin. I want you to show it to me just the way it is." That's part of your communion with God.

When you pray to God--that is an honest confession. You can say you confess your sins, but until you pray, "God show me all the sins of my life, reveal all of them, uncover every little corner of my life. Bring it up and may it become as detestable to me as it is to you, and may you give me the strength to see it go away." Those are the kind of prayers that are the true prayers of repentance. I have always believed that when you really confess your sins there is a little P.S. that you add to the end of it, when you say, "Lord please forgive me for that sin," and you always add, if your confession is true, "and Lord may I never do that again." That's my heart's cry. And then prayer exposes secret sins. Prayer weakens prevailing sins. Prayer finds strength in fellowship with the Holy God to kill sin in our lives.

What must I do if I am to know victory over sin? First, I have to recognize the sin in my life. Don't kid yourself, don't gloss over yourself, don't underestimate your wretched condition as Paul didn't in Romans, chapter 7. And then fix your gaze wholly on God and become totally devoted to Him, so that everything in life, center and circumference, is Him. As the Psalmist said in Psalm 16, "I have set the Lord always before me," and that is the only way to live. And then it is also equally essential that you cultivate a knowledge and understanding, and a deep comprehension and application of Biblical truth, and that you spend time in honest prayer before God, bringing the truth to life in His presence. And in those kinds of simple spiritual exercises comes the death of sin. Then there is a fifth and last in this little pattern of victory.

5. Cultivate Obedience.

Now we go out of that private place, where you looked for your sin and where you fixed you gaze on God. And where you meditated on the Word, and where you communed with God in prayer, and we move into the public place and now the pattern of your life is set on a course of obedience. Paul said, "I haven't attained," I love this, "but," he said, "I press towards the mark." I haven't reached the goal but I am on the path. What path was he on? The path of obedience. Peter said, "Our lives should be characterized," 1 Peter 1:22, "by obedience to the truth." And we walk a path of obedience. If you want to engage yourself with a real battle with sin, just set your course, day-by-day, moment-by-moment, one step at a time, on a path of obedience. At first it seems hard, at first the progress seems slow, but you stay with it and eventually you become habitually obedient. Habitually obedient. It becomes a habit! You stay on the path that God has laid out in His Word. That path will lead you to grow in grace, to perfect holiness, to renew the inward man day-by-day, and you'll train yourself towards godliness.

Now, it would be fair, I think, to ask a final question, and that is, "How am I doing on this?" How can I do a little inventory and say to myself, "Soul, Soul, how are you doing? How's this working out? Are you doing these things?" Just ask yourself some simple questions.


A. How's my zeal for God?

Is my heart cold towards God? Has sin made me indifferent to times of communion with Him? Do I have little or no interest in His presence? In the glory of His name? Do I love His Word? Do I love His law? Can I understand what the Psalmist meant in Psalm 119:136, when he said, "Rivers of water run down my eyes, because they keep not thy law." Do I have such a love for God's law that I am devastated when His law is disregarded? Do I earnestly contend for the faith? Do I live to uphold truth? To live it? To proclaim it? What level is my zeal at?

B. Do I love the Word?

Do I find myself drawn to the Word? Almost pinned to it by some divine wrestler who has me on the canvas and I can't get up until its truths have become my own convictions. Do I find myself indulging in the deep things of the Word? Ask myself this, "Self, do you love the time of prayer? Do you love the place of confession? Do you eagerly rush into the place where you can confess your sin and ask God to do the self-examining process by the light of the Holy Spirit, so that every dirty thing can be brought to light. Do you seek that? Do you delight in worship? Is it your great longing to be here with God's redeemed people? Is it precious to you to spend the Lord's Day in the church? Is it your soul's highest delight to sing His praise and know Him better, that you might offer Him honor?" Or do you say with the Jews of Malachi's day, "What a weariness worship is!"

Ask yourself this, "Are you sensitive to sin in the church? Are you sensitive to sin in the world? Does it tear your heart up when you see sin around you any where? In your own life?"

You see those are just the basic principles I gave you, just flipped around and turned into self-examining questions. Spiritual victory is there if you recognize that you are not under any obligation to sin. If you recognize that the Spirit of God has already bent you towards life, and so He's already killing sin in your life, and the power to kill all of it is there. Then all you need to do is tap into the means, and I gave you simple principles by which you can begin to do that in your life, and a little test by which you can examine where you are.

I don't know about you but I want to have a life of virtue. I want to have a life of joy. I want to have a life of peace, and I want to have a life of usefulness to God, and this is the path to that life. And may God give you the strength to walk it; and may through you walking it faithfully, God bring glory to His own name. That's the purpose of everything.

Latin, Greek, Both???? Am I Crazy????

We are going to be studying ancient history next year. It seems the perfect time to introduce the study of ancient languages. I am struggling on what to do. Latin, Greek or both. I am thinking that maybe the boys and I should do Latin during week, then as a whole family we should all study Koine Greek. Here are my reasons for studying Latin:
1. Almost half of the English language is derived from Latin. Studying Latin helps students to have a better grasp on English.
2. It serves as a Rosetta Stone to unlocking French, Spanish and Italian. Being multi-lingual is a major plus when trying to enter the job market.
3. Every one of our Science books says how Latin is useful to someone studying science due to the fact that so many scientific terms come from Latin. The same is true for medicine, law, politics (although I really do NOT want to see my kids going into politics), music and literature.
4. Learning Latin helps with critical thinking skills. My kids need to think about something other than video games.

Here is why my kids want to study Latin:


The reason I would like to study Greek is because well, I have become the kind of person who gets tired of being told that even though something is interpreted one way in the Bible, in the original Greek it really means...... something a little bit different. I would like to read it for myself. I could even see my family making up a goofy song like this:


August is quickly approaching. We need to decide.


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edited to add this neat link

All in All, I Can Handle His Sauce

Marriage. It is something that should be wonderful. It should be a picture of how Christ loves the church. But, alas, it involves real people. You know, those flawed things that happen to think only of themselves instead of other people or God. If every married person would think of their spouse instead of themselves, things might go a little more smoothly.

Let me be clear, this is not a rant against my husband. As a matter of fact, this is more the result of multiple instances of people either blasting their husbands in person, over the phone or on the internet for all the world to see. It so irks me to see how many women dog their husbands like they are the scum of the earth, then expect the husband to treat her like a princess in return. I am actually a bit glad that being in Children's Church I was not present during the sermon on Mother's Day. Most churches really play up the wonderful mother scenario on Mother's Day. Which would be fine if we were surrounded by good mothers. However, that is sadly not the case.

I blame feminism. Feminism tells women that there is more to life than staying home and raising children. Feminism tells women that they are not servants to their husbands so the husband should do equal housework and childrearing. Feminism tells women that there is no difference in men and women, so it is okay to give little boys dolls and tell girls they can do anything boys can do.

Don't misunderstand me. I do not want to sound like I am off my rocker and all women should be barefoot, pregnant, in the kitchen jumping at the husband's every beck and call. All I am saying is that we are different. Rather than trying to change those differences and raising effeminate boys and masculine girls we should embrace those differences. I want my boys to grow up to be strong, masculine, and confident. Not He-Man Woman Haters, just manly men.

So this brings me back to my original point. So many women are believing this lie that they are supposed to wear the pants in the family. Which leaves a bunch of broken spirited, brow beaten men. Some men really do take it for a long time. Others rebel against it from the get-go. But regardless, it is not the way families are supposed to operate. Eventually things come to a head. Fighting, yelling, the silent treatment, all these things that couples use against each other come into play. If left on its own, that is the path leading to divorce.

But what can we do? I can give advice to someone. I can tell them right from wrong. I cannot, however, make them put that advice into practice. What I can do is raise my kids to know what type of Godly principals to look for in a woman to marry. I can raise them to realize what marriage is supposed to be. The only way to this is model a healthy marriage. Sure, we have our disagreements. I mean, we have never agreed on what is the best barbecue sauce. But if that is our only issue, I think we are doing something right.

Celebrations

Finally getting around to posting the pictures from the end of our year. Hope you enjoy!!

Painting their last day of school rocks


on the couch with their model of the ISS


Singing this. Nathaniel did the speaking part.



Samuel entertained the crowd by singing the Battle of New Orleans, complete with a tennis racket banjo


Then he decided that he needed a microphone


We also went to Susan Moore High School's graduation recently. It was probably the best graduation ceremony I know of recently. Instead of a bunch of adults tooting their own horns the whole focus was on the class and their achievements. The salutatorian was a babbling idiot(let's just say she made a good advertisement for homeschooling!), but the valedictorian was well spoken enough to more than make up for it.




The boys with Uncle Jonathan


Amanda, Jonathan, and Anna Claire


Maybe I enjoyed the graduation since I got to hold Anna Claire during the whole thing!

Thirteen years ago today........

I was a happy little bride!!!!


So much has happened since then. Babies have been born. Family members have died. We made the change from two people with two incomes to a family living on one income. We were so young! One thing that has not changed has been that we still love each other more and more. Through the years we have had certain songs that describe us and are thus "our song" So in honor of us through the years here is a list of "our songs" and the time period it represents.
Wouldn't it Be Nice by the Beach Boys~I'd like to point out that this is the first Beach Boys that did not get on my nerves!!


That was "our song while we were dating. After we got married it changed to I Got You, Babe. Gotta love the Sonny and Cher!!


Well, the honey moon phase eventually ended. Sure, we loved each other, but sometimes it was best not ask if we liked each other. Hence the Celine Dion and Pavarotti phase. Notice her mannerisms in this song. They are alot like some of mine. Which is why I do not sing in public. I do occasionally like to embarrass the fam by singing in the car, along with expressive motions, of course.

ps on this song, we have always said if we renew our vows we are singing this song at the ceremony to each other!!

Okay now to more modern times. We have grown up. Our kids are quickly growing up. When this song first came out, I did not think it was anything too special. Mark on the other hand thought it was just wonderful. He did not wait for Reuben Studdard to come out with a full CD. No sir, he went out and bout the single as soon as it was released. And he played it. A lot. Well, in the past year or so, I have really listened to the words and they are sweet. The song makes think of my sweet hubby. So it has become "our song" I never thought that I Hate You Then I Love You could be replaced. But it has.

Urgent Prayer Request

Ukraine might put a moratorium on all international adoptions. Apparently it might not have just been a grumpy orphanage director who decided not to allow the kids to come to Birmingham this summer. I do not have all the details on this. I saw this posted on the well trained mind forum.

The Rada is meeting on June 2nd (7 hours ahead of EST) to consider a bill that would put a halt on all international adoptions. There is even talk that parents who are IN Ukraine right now could be sent home without their children. Please join me in praying that this bill would NOT pass AND that the Lord would make the way clear for us to adopt Katya this summer. Thanks!!!
__________________

I can't even describe how this makes me feel. Randy and Valerie (the people who the kids in Birmingham) are supposed to be getting the last of their kids this summer. I am not sure what time they were going. I hope that they already have their children. Please pray for these kids. Most of the children who are adopted in Ukraine are not adopted by local people. If they put a stop to, or heavy restrictions on, foreign adoptions, there are going to be sooooo many beautiful children who suffer.

Another Contest!!!!

Yipee!!! Jeannie Fulbright has created notebooking journals to go along with her books!! They are beautiful!!! And.... she is even giving some of them away...FREE!!!!

Apologia is now producing notebooking journals that accompany each of the elementary science books. Both Botany and Astronomy are now available. You can see samples on the Apologia website here:
Botany:

Astronomy:


These journals are beautiful spiral bound notebooks that will save you time and money. You won't have to print and keep up with your child's notebook pages, buy and maintain page protectors, or purchase and compile binders...everything that makes notebooking time-consuming and labor intensive for mom. Also, your child will adore having their own notebooking journal.

Each of the notebooking journals include:

* A daily schedule for those who like to have a plan or would like their children to complete the book on their own
* Templates for written narrations, the notebooking activities and experiments
* Review Questions
* Scripture Copywork, with both print and cursive practice
* Reading lists and additional activities, projects, experiments for each lesson
* An appendix with beautiful, full-color, lapbook-style Miniature Books
* Field Trip Sheets to keep a record field trips
* A Final Review with fifty questions the students can answer either orally or in writing to show off all they remember and know at the end of the course.




Jeannie is giving away four Astronomy Notebooking Journals and four Botany Notebooking Journals to bloggers who post about this on their site. Visit her blog to learn more about this contest: www.jeanniesjournal.com

Okay, I shouldn't be here........

He he, I know I said I was only going to to do school or church related purposes, but I guess this qualifies. How funny that I was recently telling Mark (as in yesterday, recently) that I'd like for the boys to start to start Latin. So, copied from Annemarie.......
A little early, 'tis true. But for a contest to win Rosetta Stone...I am there!

Rosetta Stone is the fastest way to learn a language and has been the #1 foreign language curriculum among homeschoolers for a while — and you can WIN the *all new* version 3 Rosetta Stone Homeschool LATIN program… FOR FREE! This is the first year you can get Latin in the brand new Version III update.

This is a $259 program (and believe me it’s worth every penny!)
This is a computer based curriculum and Rosetta Stone will also include a headset with microphone, and a supplementary “Audio Companion” CD so you can practice lessons in the car, on the go, or where-ever! Students participate in life-like conversations and actually produce language to advance through the program. Rosetta Stone incorporates listening, reading, grammar, vocabulary and writing along with speaking and pronunciation lessons. For parents, the new Parent Administrative Tools are integrated into the program to allow parents to easily enroll up to ten students in any of 12 predetermined lesson plans, monitor student progress, grade completed work (the program grades the work automatically as the students progress- I love that!), and you can view and print reports for transcripts. Homeschooling a lot of kids at your house? This program is designed to enroll and track up to ten students (five users on two computers) and will work for nearly all ages — from beginning readers up to college students.

To win this most excellent Latin program copy these paragraphs and post them in (or as) your next blog post, and/OR link to the contest from your facebook page and/OR email the information to your homeschool support group – Then go to the original page http://Jeneralities.com and leave a comment saying that you’ve posted about, or have linked to, the contest. Please make sure the link works to get back to the original contest page when you post. And good luck!

Just Some Stuff

Recently I posted something about how we let things in our lives that may start out as good thindgs, but end up being a big pile of bird poop My blogger buddy Annemarie made the comment about sometimes the computer is the bird poop for her. OUCH! That one hurt. It hurt because the computer is the biggest pile for me. Sometimes I say I am just going to check something right quickly, then as much as an hour can pass. So, I am going to take a break from the fluff. For one month no Blogger, no Facebook, no forums. I use the computer to help prepare for Children's Church and we have an e-mail prayer list at church. So I will check e-mail once or twice a day. I will use the computer for church and school purposes. But that is it. I waste time that I could be be spending doing something worthwhile. This must be contagious. In addition to Annemarie, another bloggy buddy, Rthling, is also taking off for a while. Mark and his pal from California have both recently deleted their Myspace pages. So, when I see you again I will (hopefully) be revitalized and have lots of pictures to post from our end of the year party. See you end of May/early June!!!

The Orphans Are Not Coming

I got an e-mail yesterday that made me very sad. The orphans from Ukraine are not coming this year. The orphanage director decided against it. What makes this even worse is the fact that kids coming this year were going to be coming from the Belaroschensky Orphanage which is a very poor orphanage. Reach Orphans With Hope has done fundraisers to buy these kids sinks, showerstalls, beds, cooking pots, windowpanes, you name it, they probably needed it. Or even worse, still do need it. Please be much in prayer for these kids. It is the understanding of the people at Reach Orphans With Hope that the kids had already been told they were coming. To give you a kind of idea what life offers these kids read this:

Orphan Statistics for Ukraine

* Ukraine has over 100,000 orphans.
* Only 10% of these are orphaned due to death of a parent; the rest are social orphans – due to alcoholism, abandonment, or imprisonment of parents.
* Every year, more than 2,000 mothers abandon their babies in maternity hospitals. Between 6 and 7 thousand more are abandoned at an older age or removed from home due to crime or neglect.
* Many social orphans have experienced abuse and violence from parents who were drug addicts or alcoholics.
* Orphans typically grow up in large state-run homes, which may house over 200 children.
* Many children run away from these homes, preferring to live on the street.
* Children usually graduate from these institutions between 15 and 16 years old and are turned out, unprepared for life outside the home.
* About 10% of them will commit suicide after leaving the orphanage before their 18th birthday.
* 60% of the girls will end up in prostitution. Those who run prostitution rings target orphaned girls, who are especially vulnerable due to their lack of options and lack of people who care what happens to them. Though promised good jobs, they end up on the streets and brothels of cities across Europe.
* 70% of the boys will enter a life of crime. Many of these will die young of violence or end up in prison. Most inmates contract TB in prison.

That is horrible! These kids need people acting on their behalf. Through prayer and humanitarian efforts, through Bible study and the teaching of job skills, these kids can learn that God has a plan for their lives. They can learn that they ARE precious in His sight and does care for them. I know I asked this before, but please pray for the kids who are in these orphanages. They need someone to.

Samuel's New Bible

Our kids have all had a Precious Moments Bible of some sort since they were born. They have all had a small hands edition NKJV. Nathaniel had a beautiful CEV. The pictures in it were more vibrant and colorful than most Precious Moments pictures. Now that they are older Nathaniel has a plain, black Bible, Benjamin has a Faith to Grow on Bible, and Samuel has gone through several kinds. I have gotten tickled at how he points out things in certain storybook Bibles that are either illustrated too cutesy or or just worded poorly. His favorite Bible story is Noah's Ark. Ever since he found out that Noah's Ark was not a tiny boat with smiling animals sticking their heads out the many windows, he points out that what is in his Bible is not "real".(actually i was a little unhappy about one being too "real" in the Adam and Eve illustations) Tapestry of Grace recommends The Children's Illustrated Bible, but I just have not been super-impressed with it. I have really wanted something he could help read. But not a happy baby story book. Is that too much to ask?

I found a Bible at Lifeway in Huntsville one day. I really wanted to get it, but the dust jacket was ripped. Granted, it was just the dust jacket. Being the perfectionist that I am I was not paying $22.00 for something ripped. I planned to go home and order it online.

The only problem was, I forgot the name of the Bible. Do you know that if you just type in "children's Bibles" into your search engine you might stare at the screen for days? I went to Lifeway and to Christian Book Distributors with no luck. I even called the Lifeway store to ask them what the name of the children's Bible with a ripped dust jacket was. They said they could not find one with a ripped dust jacket.

So I was determined that I would find it. No matter how many hours I was not getting out from in front of the computer until I had found it. I searched all the Bible publishers that I could think of first. granted, that meant Thomas Nelson and Zondervan. Nothing else would come to mind. Then I did remember that the Bible said something about a big picture or a timeline. Every time I typed "big picture Bible timeline" I kept coming up with this, which looks nice, but is not what I wanted. But truthfully, I had never gone past the first few results from that search. I finally found it!!! Not only did I find it, but it was cheaper than it had been at Lifeway!!! Hooray!!!

I am a big fan of customer reviews. I read some of the reviews. They were mostly very, very good reviews. I only saw two negative ones. One of them said that their kid did not the Bible because everyone in it had a sad face. Because I had flipped through it myself, I knew that was not the case. There were lots of smiling, happy people drawn in the pictures. The other said this:

I am a very conservative Christian and I just didn't see this Bible giving an accurate account of the stories. It seemed to have a very "interpretive" spin on them. One I didn't think was accurate or appropriate. I was really disappointed, to say the least. I did, very much, feel like a lot of the stories emphasized God's "punishment" of people. While I believe strongly in discipline, and believe that "God chastens those whom He loves," I do not think the theme of "punishment," which I thought was pretty blatant in this Bible, was doing God's word justice at all. Yes, there is eternal punishment, and the Bible teaches that, but it is not what is being taught in this Bible. Further, the themes of love, redemption, grace, etc are too subtle to really be enjoyed, much less even seen by children. For instance, this Bible says that God kicked Adam and Eve out of the Garden to "punish" them. This is interpretive. It was not a punishment, it was a disciplinary measure to help them see their sin and their need for God. It was to teach them what life is like without God, and realize how they had been wrong. Further, it was to protect them--God did not want them to eat from the Tree of Life, and "live forever." I interpret that to mean, as in a mortal life, in their sinful state. God, in His *mercy," protected them from eating from that Tree, which would have been far worse since they were in a fallen state. I know that is *my* interpretation, but the "punishment" theory in this Bible is also interpretive. It would have been much better to simply leave out the interpretation, and just tell the story.

Uhm...okay. I always thought that banishment from the garden, hard labor (work), pain in childbirth, etc... WERE punishments.

It came the day before Easter!! How cool is that??? I ordered enough to get free shipping (because I am a cheapskate) so that meant it could have taken longer to get here. As a matter of fact we were not expecting it until the next Wednesday. Samuel LOVES it!!! Most of it is not something that he can sit and just read all by himself, but he can read parts of it. He gets excited that he can read it. Being a "Storybook Bible" means that it does not have *all* of the Bible stories in it. What is does have in it, however, is that Jesus is the theme of the Bible. It shows how the Old Testament gives us hints about Him. It shows how the New Testament is all about Him. It even talks about end times. Most of our story Bibles do not. It is a wonderful Bible!! No, it is not one he can use from now until he is old and grey.
But it seems just right for now.

ps. We threw the dust jacket away. It just gets in the way while we are reading.

God's Been Good To Me!!

I have learned just how addicted to technology that I am in the last few days. Thanks to some stormy weather, we were without power for about 48 hours!! It even took a few hours over that to get our phone/internet/cable back on. (That's what we get for bundling!!)

A tornado hit Grant mountain on Friday. I know that most people reading this have no idea the geography of my town so bear with me. Grant is very close to where I live. When the kids in our area hit high school, they go to a school called Kate D. Smith DAR High School. Which is located in Grant. So, tornado hits a few miles away. It blew right over us. We had some wind, rain and hail. Little, bitty pea-sized hail. There were pictures on the news of softball sized hail in some places. SOFTBALL!!!! The biggest hail I have ever seen has been golf ball size. Can you imagine softball sized hunks of ice falling out of the sky?

After blowing over us, the tornado hit another area on the other side of us. A waterfront area was decimated. Trees snapped like toothpicks. Homes and businesses damaged or destroyed. But, no people killed. Stuff can be replaced, people can't.

I went to bed Sunday thinking everything was just fine and dandy. Which, at the time I went to bed, everything WAS fine and dandy. However, around one or two a big wind came blowing through town. It was called a "gravity wind with a low level jet stream" Ok, whatever. All I know is it was bad. I mean really bad. When I got up Monday there were limbs and pine straw all over the yard, shingles off the roof, trash cans and coolers blown about, and a basketball goal knocked over. A bunch of people from church got together two weeks ago for a work day,. The church and yard had looked so nice. Now the parking lot was full of junk, as well as the yard. I called my sister to look on the Newschannel 19 website to see what was going on. Turns out, we were extremely blessed to have received so little damage. Less than a mile from us the yacht club had been hit hard. Two boat ramps had blown loose from their docking and drifted 200 yards from their original location. These boat ramps had boats attached to them!!!




So, my sister offered to keep the boys since our power was off. We are totally dependent on electricity. I had no way to cook for the boys. Plus, not knowing how long it was going to be off, I really did not want to open the refrigerator. So they go to spend the night. When Mark got up (he is on his night shift schedule this week) he was asking if the power was still off. He said it went off around two that morning. It was getting on up in the day so we headed out for some lunch. Oh my goodness!! Downtown Guntersville was shocking! Trees, powerlines were down, even a port-a potty was turned over. (I would HATE to responsible for cleaning THAT!!) One thing that amazed us was that all these huge old oak trees that were down in people's yards were down in the yards, not on the houses or churches or businesses. They fell in front of the buildings. God protected people. I have not heard of any deaths in Alabama from the storms Friday or Monday. God has really been so good to us. There were a few places that received damage Monday. To my knowledge, there is not anyone who lost everything. We lost a few shingles off the roof and the food in our fridge. Nothing valuable like all of our pictures or a person. So now you know what song I have been singing for the last few days.

Three Posts Rolled Into One

Three things that are worth sharing, totally unrelated, but all worth sharing.
First: I have been enjoying learning the Shorter Catechism with the boys. We have been using lessons that we found online here. We love it! I have been going to Kidzone to print pages for Samuel to trace printed and Benjamin to trace cursive copies of the questions and answers. I was happy with it at first, but the past few months I have been getting pop-ups and having problems getting the pages printed. I am enough of a cheapskate not to actually purchase software to print worksheets. Yes, I know that is pathetic. But now I have come across a sight that I can print trace pages or pages for copy work, that also has math, geography and other things along with it. It is called Worksheetworks. . No pop-ups or times where the page freezes up and refuses to print. Happy and Cheap. That's me.

Samuel did something today that has the potential to be very embarrassing. We were walking home after church. Samuel took off and to the door way before us. Mark and I were talking and I looked up and said, "Where did Samuel go?" We looked for him and it seemed like he had disappeared. Then he came from behind a tree. He had to go the bathroom, and the door was locked so he found a tree. In the front yard. The front yard that is attached to the church parking lot. Nobody said anything about seeing him. Maybe nobody did. We had a talk about not *going* in the front yard. How did we have such a redneck son?

I have a new workout routine. If the physical activity is not enough, the political garbage of listening to Obama will turn my stomach to the point where I can't eat. I should lose weight either way.

Hasty Pudding

We are still studying the Revolutionary War. To really look at some of the harsh conditions that these brave soldiers survived is astonishing. We read about the winter at Valley Forge recently. One of the things that every book website or whatever talks about is the lack of food. My kids have never experienced a lack of food. So, in an effort to drive home how tough that was, we made "hasty pudding" Our first batch was just cornmeal and water mixed together and fried. Benjamin looked at it and said, "I thought you said we were having tasty pudding." (gotta love that kiddo)

I told him that no, it is not "tasty" it is "hasty" meaning that it could be cooked quickly, with not a lot of mess to clean up. Our second batch was cornmeal, maple syrup, an egg and some salt. Not exactly what I would call "tasty" but definitely better than the first batch. We talked about how just an increase of the supplies that the soldiers had would help boost morale.

On a strange note, Benjamin liked the second batch enough he ate all that was on his plate, and a second helping. Samuel liked BOTH kinds. He said, "I think I would make a good a soldier because I can eat anything." Ok, but let's hope they do not serve sweet potatoes or cooked carrots. Samuel will anything but those. :-}

Must Do A Little Bragging...

...about my oldest son. He was once on the path to being a full-fledged brat. Not through any fault of his own, mind you. He was born to two morons that thought they knew more than they did. (well, at least one of his parents is a moron anyway; I thought I knew EVERYTHING I needed to know about parenting. That is, until we started home with him. I yelled at Mark to drive more safely)

Being the firstborn he was an only child for a few years. Being the only child meant that he got the full, undivided attention of his parents. He also pretty much had the full, undivided wallets of his parents. If he asked for something, he got it. Until one day, at my grandfather's house. We went over there pretty much everyday while Mark was at work. One day, out of the blue, Nathaniel noticed a teapot. It was probably the only thing that he had never played with in the whole house. It was not even a real teapot;it was a planter. My uncle had given a plant to my grandmother before she died. It came in a cute little teapot shaped planter. The plant had outgrown the pot, but he had the teapot sitting on a baker's rack. Nathaniel decided he wanted to play with it. Not a good idea since he was a destructo-boy. Oh, and the teapot was glass. So he started by asking over and over. Then came the whining. Then crying. I finally had to take him home screaming "I WANT PAW-PAW'S TEAPOT!!!!" over and over and OVER.

He finally (after a week or so) learned that NO is a real word. We started making little changes here and there and using "No" more often. Don't get me wrong, it was not an easy overnight thing. He has, however, grown into a wonderful young man. One night last week we went to the Gadsden Mall for a little Chinese food. While we were still at our table a man with a cane went up to the counter to order some food. As he was paying, he dropped his cane. Mark and Benjamin were heading for a store while Samuel finished up his food. So I asked Nathaniel to go help the man. He did it. Just marched right over, bent down and handed it to the man. He has gone from being a a hard-headed little stubborn kid who cried for days over being told no, to a sweet fellow that helps others. Are there times where I just want to thump him? Yes, although I fight the urge. The times where he plays with his little brothers, even if he would rather be doing something else, or he participates in a church play, even though he does not want to, or the times where he just puts others first, is enough to melt this mean old mama's heart.

BIBLE LESSONS FROM BEEF TIPS, BOOKSHELVES AND BIRD NESTS

I have been pondering a lot lately. My ponderings have led me to think more deeply about things, especially spiritual things, than I normally do. God has shown me several things lately that have come along in some strange ways.

THE BEEF TIPS~
I have a recipe for beef tips that I LOVE!!! Here's the funny thing: I never really liked beef tips much growing up. When Mark and I were dating there was a certain restaurant that he would order beef tips from. I found a recipe in an American Heart Association Cookbook a few years ago that I thought looked tolerable. So I tried cooking it for him. It takes about two hours to prepare and during that time the whole house fills up with this wonderful aroma. I loved it!! Him...not so much. As a matter of fact, he cannot even stand the smell!! You might be wondering, where is the point to this. Okay, here it is. There are certain points of scripture that some people do not like. Churches end up splitting over someone not liking how the preacher teaches. One of those is the doctrine of election. "That's not fair if God chooses SOME but not ALL people to go to Heaven!!" That is what you hear from a LOT of people. They think that people who believe those verses like Romans 8:29-30:For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. and Ephesians 1:9:He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, are stuck on themselves idiots. Which may be true in some cases. Let's face it, you don't have to believe any doctrine to be a stuck on yourself idiot. ;-}
The truth is, where is the fairness in God choosing anyone? We sin against a holy God and then have the audacity to think that we hold weight in our salvation. Our filth and blasphemy sent Jesus to the cross. Think about something: Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. So are you ever not sinning???? Was it fair that Jesus had to take that punishment?
Knowing that God chose me is a comfort to me. It is also a bit humbling. I'm pathetic enough that God in His mercy saved me with no effort on my part!! I did not seek God, he sought me. That is comforting to me. Just like the smell of my beef tips is comforting to me
and repulsive to Mark.

THE BOOKSHELF~
Many moons ago (when Mark's dad was a teenager) Mark's grandfather built a bookshelf. Fast forward to the time when Granddaddy died. Mark's aunts thought that this bookshelf was not worth anything, so they were going to burn it. Mark's dad did not want that to happen. So he took it home. Mark's mom painted it white. A few years later, they gave it to us. Some paint got peeled off as it was being moved. Benjamin discovered that the paint peeled off very easily. When we moved into this house, almost two years ago, I was going to refinish the bookshelf. I got started, while we were still trying to get settled in. Mark got very sick, the kids started a new school and I ran out of the stuff that removed the paint. So, for a very long time, we have a a really ugly bookshelf sitting in our living room. Mark has started refinishing it. Wow, it is really coming along. He bought a sander. You can really get more accomplished with that than with the stuff you paint on and scrape off. As all the ugliness of paint and old varnish are being removed, you can really see the beauty of the wood. Isn't that like us??? God saves us from the fire, then cleans us up to get the layers of ugliness off. I am pretty sure that if the bookshelf could talk, it would would say that that the sanding does not feel too good. Sometimes as God is teaching me a lesson, it does not feel too good, either. But what is left behind is so much better than what was there before.

THE BIRD'S NEST~
I have been glad to see signs of Spring bouncing their Springiness back into life. This winter has seemed about ten years long. And so cold!!! One good thing is that the geese are gone back to Canada. They are very loud!!! So the other birds are back. One such bird has taken it upon itself to build a nest...RIGHT ON OUR FRONT PORCH!!!! At first I thought this would be a neat thing for the boys to see. We had some birds in a box of blue jeans last year on the back porch, so I thought it would be nice to have "birdy friends" again this year. The only problem is the poop. They are pooping on our porch. I am by no means a neat freak. A porch full of poop is not something that I can handle, though. How many do we find something (or someone) in our lives that we first think is great and adds beauty to our lives, only to find later that all it gives us is a bunch of poop to have to deal with? God used poop to help me think about some of the poop that I have in my life wasting my time, that I need to be rid of.

So now you know what has been on my mind. Sometimes a very strange place, but now and then useful for something.