Hempfield Homeschoolers' Spring Concert and Learning Fair

Last night we enjoyed a beautiful concert by the choirs of the Hempfield Homeschoolers. Ivy is in the 4th - 6th grade choir and they did a great performance! They have been practicing every Thursday all semester and it paid off well. I am so thankful for the wonderful choir directors and teachers in our homeschool group. What a blessing to be a part of it for the past 7 years!

Above is the combined K-6th grade choirs.

This is Ivy's 4th -6th grade choir. She is in the middle row, 5th from the right.

After the concert, the gym was opened up for the Learning Fair. Ivy's Art classes displayed some of the students' work and there were many other projects on display including several science projects. All the kids did a fantastic job showing things that they learned throughout the year.

Ivy's paper is displayed on the top right. Below is her dolphin painting.

Joel's Future City Engineering Team showed off their model and did the oral presentation that they did for the competition in January. Next weekend, they will be going as invited guests to Philadelphia to present their model and presentation to the Electrical Engineering Institute at a dinner and reception. Way to go Future City Team!!!

Here is Joel on the left during the oral presentation. The model city is on the table in front.

It was a wonderful evening and I was very proud of all the students! There were a couple of bad moments though...... In the middle of the choir concert between songs, Jaden yelled out, "I'VE GOT TO GO PEE!!!!!!" We were sitting up in the balcony and his outburst seemed to reverberate through the whole sanctuary!!! The teenagers were sitting across the aisle from us and they laughed so hard I thought they were all going to burst!

Then during the learning fair, Jaden was knocked over by an older child who was running in the Fellowship Hall and he fell flat on his face - WHAM! right on the hard floor. He cut his upper and lower lips and had blood covering his mouth and nose. Poor thing! I was in a different room and didn't see it happen, but thankfully Ivy was nearby and scooped him up and found us. He had a bruise on his forehead too but he's doing fine. He sure got a lot of attention last night!!!! And every last born child loves that!

incarcerated and innocent

There was a news story this week that touched my heart for obvious reasons. A 28 year old Lancaster Bible College student named Clark was arrested for holding up two female clerks with a knife and robbing a Turkey Hill Minit Market. He had been in trouble years ago and spent some time in jail before becoming a Christian. After looking at the surveillance video, his parole officer thought the robber looked like Clark and so he became a suspect. The employees identified him as the guilty one. So Clark was sent to jail and was awaiting trial.

Clark maintained his innocence. Yes, he had been guilty before, but his life was different now. He had been asleep in his apartment the night of the robbery and had nothing to do with this. Could this really be happening to him?!

While he was in prison, he was determined to use his time to minister to the other inmates and share the gospel to as many as he could. After all, he was at LBC to get training so that he could be used by the Lord in prison ministry!!! God always has a plan and a reason for everything that happens and can even use our suffering to bring about good.

Then one night, the real robber struck again! Obviously it could not have been Clark, who was in his jail cell! The charges against him were dismissed and he was released. It was a case of mistaken identity.

Was Clark bitter? No. The news story said that he forgave the police officers who arrested him. Is he going to sue? No. Although he lost several weeks and will have to make up this whole semester which will be very costly. He also lost his job and had his reputation tainted again. But he is so happy now to be a free man. The newspaper reported him saying, "I just want to praise God. Hallelujah, hallelujah."

I can't wait to tell this story to my cousin who also is in jail for a crime he did not commit. Sadly, I don't think that these things happen as rarely as people think. As long as there are humans involved in the "justice" system, there will always be injustice. How comforting to know that even in the affairs of men, God is in control and He is just!

In his statement to the police, he wrote the following verses, which I will pass on to my cousin Brian:

"You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free"

John 8:32

"If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed."

John 8:36

Picking Cotton

One of the blogs that I follow is http://www.challies.com/ You can always scroll down the page and click on the link to go to Tim Challies' blog and read his insightful posts. Today's post, called "Picking Cotton" was a review of the book of the same title. The book tells a story that is both heart-breaking and inspiring.

Tim makes it clear that he is not endorsing or recommending this book because of the graphic content. But the story is worth telling. Back in 1984, a young woman was raped by an intruder in her house. She identified the man as Ronald Cotton, and he was convicted and sentenced to prison. After serving for 11 years, he requested a DNA test which was becoming more in use at that time. The test proved his innocence! For 11 years, an innocent man was in prison. (Thankfully the real rapist was found, tried and convicted later).

The most amazing part of the story is not that an innocent man served 11 years, but that he was able to forgive the woman who mistakenly put him there. He held no bitterness or anger towards her. And those two individuals were able to form a friendship! Complete reconciliation and forgiveness is a beautiful thing. A little glimpse of God in sinful humanity.

My heart was drawn to this story because of my 23 year old cousin Brian. People who know me know that my cousin has been in jail for a year and a half for a murder he did not commit, and is awaiting trial in July. Before this happened to my cousin, I had so many false presuppositions. I assumed that people in jail must have done something wrong! Perhaps I would have agreed that there were rare occurrances of an innocent person being in jail..... but I thought that would be very rare, and surely, they must have done something to get arrested!

How much I have changed in my thinking. I've become much more aware of false charges, mistakes, wrongful arrests, injustice, and unfairness. I've also become much more sympathetic to those in prison or jails even if they are guilty. So many times inmates are dehumanized and denied basic human rights, like fresh air and sunshine. I never knew that before. My thinking was so wrong.

As for my cousin Brian, he is doing well under the circumstances. His letters don't convey any anger or bitterness. He seems to be accepting this as part of God's plan and purpose for him right now for whatever reason. Sometimes the path of life involves suffering. He is suffering, but there is a peace there too. We are praying for justice and that he will be released soon - even before this goes to trial. We are also praying that God will bring good out of this experience and that He will get the glory.

For those of you who would like to be a blessing to Brian during this time, he would LOVE to get some mail! Just writing him an encouraging Scripture verse would make his day! He is in a cell with nothing to do but read the books we send him. No TV room, no going outside, no windows to look out.... so notes are very precious and encouraging to him. His address is:

Brian Lamb

Dallas County Detention Center

204 Poplar St.

Buffalo, MO 65622

Matthew 26:40 says, "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

Remodeling

We are in the process of fixing up our kitchen! In the summer of 2006, we bought this home and we've been slowly redoing everything. Much of the work on this house was done by Mark with help from his dad before we even moved in. New walls, new carpet, new flooring, electrical work, and many, many, many other details. What a long process it has been!!! So many projects have required more time, more money and more patience than we had to give so we've had to go at a slower pace. I've been very eager to have the kitchen projects completed and we are finally making progress in that room again! When we are finished, we'll have freshly painted walls, trim, and door, new tile wall paneling, new trim, removal of old cabinet over the microwave, new flooring, new ceiling, and hopefully a new dishwasher! I am so thankful for a husband who knows how to do EVERYTHING!!!! He is absolutely amazing.

So if you were in our house now, you would see dust all over the place from sanding the spackling, plastic hanging from the cubboards, our dining room table covered with kitchen things, and it is a mess!!! But because I know how nice it will look when we are done, it's OK! It is worth the inconvenience, the dust, the mess to have a pretty kitchen.

That thought reminded me of my children today. As a homeschooling mom, sometimes our days are long and we struggle with attitudes with our teen and tween and math and assignments.... Sometimes I wonder, "are we making progress???" and "are these kids going to turn out OK?" and fear and doubt try to enter my head when it's not smooth sailing. But when I keep my eyes on the reasons we are homeschooling and the investment we are making in their lives, I realize that despite "messy days", this is all worth it! The teaching and training of my children is not easy, but it is very, very rewarding and worth all of the time, effort and challenges it brings.
After all, whether it is just a pretty kitchen or something far more precious like great relationships with my well educated children - these things require inconvenience, mess, sacrifice, and time, but the results are wonderful!!!

But even more wonderful is the fact that God is doing the work with our children! I need to be faithful in teaching them and Mark and I need to do our best with nurturing them in the Lord, and training them to be disciples. God is the One who is ultimately working in their lives, sanctifying them so they are more and more like Christ. It is a life-long process for all of us.

Here are the verses I shared with my children today from I Thessalonians 5:22-23

"May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through.

May your whole spirit, soul,and body be kept blameless at the

coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The one who calls you is faithful and HE WILL DO IT."

Here are some pictures of our kitchen project to share with you!

Mark had to cover the cabinets with plastic to protect everything inside from the dust. See the wallpaper we had to remove on the far wall?
Then he took down the microwave and this cabinet off the wall. We don't need the cabinet and we are going to have a shelf there instead after the wall gets painted.
This is the wall where the cabinet and microwave were (and the stove and refrigerator goes). Mark's least favorite task is spackling and sanding, spackling and sanding.... so much prep work before painting!

Afternoon on a Hill

Edna St. Vincent Millay

I will be the gladdest thing

Under the sun!

I will touch a hundred flowers

And not pick one.

I will look at cliffs and clouds

With quiet eyes,

Watch the wind blow down the grass,

And the grass rise.

And when lights begin to show

Up from the town,

I will mark which must be mine,

And then start down!

10 more weeks to go!

This has been a really good school year - our first one with Tapestry of Grace! But I must admit that I'm getting eager to finish! Ten more weeks, 50 more days.... Each day I pray for fresh diligence and cheerfulness in our studies. Why does our first semester always seem to go so quickly and the second half of the year drag so slowly?!? I want to finish well, with enthusiasm. I do not want us to coast half-hearted to the end. Does anyone else struggle with this?

What does help us is a varying of our routines. Although, I know some families like to start at exactly the same time every day and have a schedule almost written in stone - and that works out great for many! But for us, we are much more flexible in our daily rhythms. Sometimes what works best when we get the school doldrums is to shake it up a bit and do things out of the regular order. Or in a different room. Trying to keep a sense of humor helps too! Let out some silliness and music! Leave the books and take a walk and then come back with better focus..... I'm thinking of ideas as I type this!

Even in our flexible routines, I think it is best for us to begin our school time with prayer. We pray for diligence and cheerfulness each morning and read the Word together and sing our song of the month. That does help in setting the tone for the rest of their studies. It's still hard sometimes, but it does help!

I would love to hear some suggestions on keeping school fresh for the last weeks of the year. My son just read this over my shoulder and said, "Field Trips!" Any field trip suggestions for Classical Greece and Ancient Rome?

As I close this post, I am reminded of Paul's assessment of the Thessalonians in verse 3 of the first chapter of his letter to them. Notice the motivation they had in their work - it wasn't duty, or obligation, or fear, or selfishness. It was faith, love and hope!!! This is my prayer for all of us who feel tired as we finish the last several weeks of the school year with our children:

May OUR work be produced by faith,

OUR labor be prompted by love,

and OUR endurance be inspired by hope

in our Lord Jesus.

(my paraphrase)

Family history

Sitting on my desk is a page with the names of 24 couples who I decended from, consisting of just one branch of a huge family tree. This particular page of names from my maternal grandmother's family goes back to Jonas Weed who came to America on the Arabella in 1630 and settled in Stamford Connecticut in 1642. I am 11 generations down from him! Another branch from my paternal grandmother's family goes back even farther - 14 generations to Henry Collins who was born in 1606 in England.

Thanks to the many historians in my family tree, I have extensive listings of geneologies from several branches so that a computer printed paper copy of my family tree takes up half of the family room floor!

Looking at the names of well over 100 couples who I descended from makes me feel so incredibly blessed to even be alive! All of those couples had to have met and had a child who had to have a child......or I wouldn't exist today! It makes me so thankful for God's sovereignty and creation of each human life. I don't believe that we exist by chance! God knew about each of us before the foundation of the world and each of us is a miracle! Each generation has TWICE the number of ancestors as the previous one and that is amazing too! Think about that!

So many of my ancestors were the 8th or 9th or 10th child in the family! Some of my ancestors were the products of a second marriage due to the first spouse having died. At least one couple that I know of several generations back was not even married! It is simply amazing that I am here today!

The stories are fascinating. Some of my ancestors lived in Boston and were neighbors of Paul Revere. Several ancestors faught in the Revolutionary War. One of my ancestors was instrumental in the capturing of a British man-of-war in the Potomac River during the War of 1812. Several fought in the Civil War. Some traveled west in covered wagons. One was a Methodist circuit rider preacher. I am very thankful for the Christian heritage that is evident for many generations back on many branches of the tree.

And there are mysteries as well, the Cherokee ancestry of my paternal Grandfather, the possible family relation to Alfred Lord Tennyson, and questions about the parents of one of my great-grandmothers - was she a secret daughter of the infamous Charles Taze Russell? I would love to know the answers!

Those of us who have children will be the ancestors of future generations. I want to live my life so that those who come behind me will find us faithful, like my favorite song says. As a mom, I know that I am very involved in shaping the next generation! What an awesome task that is.

Be encouraged today - you are a miracle! Your existence was planned by God! And if you are a mom, you are making an impact for your descendents to come!

"...what we have heard and known,

what our fathers have told us,

we will not hide them from their children;

We will tell the next generation

the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord,

His power, and the wonders he has done.

He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law

in Israel which he commanded our forefathers

to teach their children,

so the next generation would know them,

even the children yet to be born,

and they in turn would tell their chidren.

Then they would put their trust in God

and would not forget his deeds

but would keep his commands."
Psalm 78:3b-7

A great coupon code for you!

My friend Amanda on her blog, Just a Small Part of the Bigger Picture, announced the winner of her giveaway of Bible memorization software and I won! I am so excited about this and I believe this will really help our family to learn our Scripture passages each week. I have no excuse now not to memorize!

And I'm happy to let you know that Greg at http://www.memorizehisword.com/ has offered a great discount on this software for anyone else who would like to have this! You can get Memorize His Word for $10.00 off! For the rest of March, the coupon code PSALM11911 will take $10.00 off the price of a CD.

Please visit his site and watch the demo to see how this product works. I think it is a great tool for the whole family or a whole class - it keeps track of everyone's progress and each one can go at his or her own pace. You can enter whatever verses you choose and there is no limit on the number of verses! As you learn the new verses, older ones can also be reviewed.

I hope that many will take advantage of the $10 savings and order this product - I think it would be a perfect Easter present for anyone! And thank you so much, Amanda, for the giveaway! Please visit her blog, you will be so encouraged!

Making music together

I was the only one without a stringed instrument tonight, but that's OK because I had the camera! Now if only I could figure out if and how I could put a video on here! I wish you could have heard this - it was a little bit of southern gospel with some rock-n-roll mixed in!

I love our family!

This week's Scripture passage

We are treasuring God's truth in our hearts, along with the youth group at our church. Each week, there is another verse or verses to learn. We would be so happy to have others join with us! We are learning the verses in the NIV, which is the version most people are using. So here are the verses for this week...

Topic: God's Jealousy
Reference: Isaiah 48:9-11

"For my own name's sake I delay my wrath;

for the sake of my praise I hold it back from you,

so as not to cut you off.

See, I have refined you, though not as silver;

I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.

For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this.

How can I let myself be defamed?

I will not yield my glory to another."

I just added a link to Narcissa Whitman's letters and also a link for her journal that she wrote while traveling west on the Oregon Trail and an account of the massacre for whoever would be interested in reading them. I found her letters and journal to be fascinating! Scroll down to the original post "My 200 Year Old Friend" and you'll see the links at the end of the post.

The Gifts God Gives Us

Our son Joel loves to draw. He has gone through stacks of sketch books over the years and tons of ink! We realized he was going to be an artist when he was two years old and he was already drawing stick people! It is a wonderful gift that he's been given by God although so many times he has wished he had been gifted athletically instead. He LOVES sports so much. However, we know that God has made him artistic for a purpose. We don't get to choose the gifts God gives us, but we are to share them and use them for His glory.

Joel at age 2

Still drawing at age 13

Here are a few drawings from one of his sketch books to share with you. Click on a picture to make it bigger.

Signs of Spring

"For behold, the winter is past,

The rain is over and gone.

The flowers have already

appeared in the land;

The time has arrived

for pruning the vines,

And the voice of the turtledove

has been heard in our land."

Song of Solomon 2:11-12

A great tool for memorizing God's Word

The youth group at our church has been given the challenge to memorize a Bible passage for each week of this year. Families of all the teens are encouraged to join in and also memorize these verses! I am very excited about this, yet memorization is really, really hard for me and I know this will take effort and discipline on my part. Thankfully, there is a resource that can make this a bit easier for me!

My friend Amanda is having a giveaway at her blog - Bible memorization software! I just watched the demo and it looks fantastic! You can also get a 30 day free trial there. Be sure to check out Amanda's blog to enter for a chance to win the software for free! And her blog is wonderful too!!!

This week's verse for us is on God's righteousness.

Dueteronomy 32:4 "He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he."

I'll be posting a new verse each week and we would love for you to join us in treasuring God's Truth in our hearts!

Kissing in the Kitchen

It was March 5, 1989, that Mark and I first kissed! Can you believe it's been 20 years?! We both were Lancaster Bible College students and I was a freshman and Mark was a junior that year. Mark sang in the college choir and the first week of March was the choir's spring tour when they traveled to different churches and sang concerts. It so happened that I had gone home for spring break and the LBC choir was presenting a concert near my home in Virginia. Of course my family and I went to the concert - they looked forward to an evening of beautiful music and I wanted to see friends, particularly Mark! It was that night that I first heard Mark sing. He sang a beautiful solo, that old song "Sincerely Yours."


After the concert, all the members of the choirs were assigned different families to go home with to spend the night. Guess which choir member our family took home that night?! That was the first time Mark got to meet my grandparents and see my home. It was in the kitchen of my family's home before we all went to bed that he gave me a kiss! And twenty years later, we still are kissing in the kitchen every day!

Mark and Jenny 20 years ago

Snowy Day

Yesterday we got almost 5 inches of snow, winter's last hurrah! It looks beautiful, even though we are eager for Spring's flowers and warmer weather. Ivy enjoyed sledding with neighbors and Jaden had fun outside around the yard. Joel moped around disgusted that it had to snow - he says he would like it if it weren't so cold and so wet!!! And yes, we still had school! But our Monday morning homeschool group was cancelled so we still had a more relaxing day and the kids could sleep in a little bit.

Today we'll be going to the Pediatrician's office to hopefully remedy Jaden and Ivy's coughs. Perhaps it was a bad thing to let them play in the snow yesterday but I thought some fresh air would do them good.... they've been sick for awhile. Hopefully soon our nights in the bathroom with the steamy hot shower running and vicks all over the chest will soon end. Why are coughs always so bad at night?

Sunday morning

What a blessing it was to be in church today! After several weeks of sickness, it was so good to be able to worship with our church family this morning. This weekend was the Global Symposium, a Conference on Biblical Missions so we were able to hear several missionaries speak and visit many displays. We heard a missionary couple with MNA First Nations who work with Native American tribes. Guess how many tribes are recognized by the federal government in this country? I guessed 50, thinking was probably too many. But actually there are 560 tribes in this country!!! It was heart-breaking to be reminded of the sad history of the native people, but encouraging to hear of the work of God in the lives of so many native Americans.

We also heard from missionaries with MTW in Germany working in Berlin. I was amazed at the complete lack of Christian concepts in that city. They are a post-modern people with no idea of church, God, moral absolutes or truth. Even the Reformation that swept through other parts of Germany never reached their city so they have had no Christian influence.

Our main speaker in the services today was Dr. Stephen Beck with Greater Europe Mission to Frankfurt, Germany. He spoke on Proclaiming Christ in a Post-Christian Culture and how to reach the post-modern culture for Christ. It is hard for us in the U.S., and perhaps more so in Lancaster County, PA, to imagine the complete lack of Christian thought or ideas. Yet, that is the case for much of Europe. No concept of church - what is church? no concept of God, worship, truth, morality. How do we reach people like that? By serving. By loving them and serving them. Trying to include them in our circle of belonging. Everyone wants to belong and be loved. Through loving service, and a sense of belonging, many post-modern people are coming to Christ. It is a slow process, but God is working in the hearts of His people and His grace is irrisistable!

Every Sunday morning, we recite prayers of confession as a church body. I love that aspect of our service. I'm thankful for these prayers that I can use to speak what is in my heart that I don't always have the words to say. Here was our prayer for this morning:

O my Savior, I am slow to learn and ever prone to forget all your best lessons. I am pained to think upon too many prayerless mornings when I might have claimed the day for your service. Except for your tender forgiveness - all undeserved - unspent opportunities and cold compassion toward others would be my condemnation.

Your life-giving Spirit can shatter the walking trance of unbelief and degenerate behavior in which millions still sleep. As you empower the work of evangelism, please blow upon my spiritual ashes until an unmistakable flame of Christ in me shows his truth and mercy to some other soul. Make me your instrument: to comfort someone in despair, or to bring the wayward to the Cross of Jesus. Amen.