4th-6th Grade Homeschool Choir

Here is the picture from Ivy's choir concert last night! What a wonderful group of well-behaved, homeschooled children! It was a beautiful concert and the kids did a fantastic job. Can you spot Ivy in the picture?

Snow before Thanksgiving!!! Can you believe it???!!!

We got a little over one inch of snow yesterday!!! What a surprise for this time of year! Jaden is having fun outside with Daddy today. Notice his pink mittens? I searched all over the house for mittens that would fit him - it was amazing how many right handed mittens we have in this house without their matching left hands! Ivy's old pair of pink ones fit him best so they'll have to do for now.

This snow really caught us off guard and unprepared! Thankfully I'd already bought Jaden a winter coat, snow pants and snow boots (just no mittens yet) and Ivy told me yesterday her old snow boots are too small. She's wearing Joel's old snow pants and Joel currently has no snow pants, but he has boots! We usually don't need these things this time of year.

However, we should have known..... Last night was the Hempfield Homeschoolers Christmas Choir Concert. For the past 7 years, I would say it snowed for 4 or 5 of the concerts! So this year, they decided to have the concert REALLY EARLY, before Thanksgiving and one of the reasons was that there would definitely be no worry about snow!!!

The roads were very, very slick last night and there were so many accidents all over the place. While driving over a bridge, our car slid on the ice and I braced for an impact. Scarey!!! One car in front of us did crash. The parking lot at the church of the concert was like a sheet of ice.

But the concert went on as planned and it was a really beautiful performance. Ivy sang in the 4th-6th grade choir and they did a really, really nice job. It was very beautiful! Ivy also had a speaking part and did a wonderful job. We were all able to be there to see her.

Yesterday was also Opening Day at the Sight and Sound Theatre's "Miracle of Christmas" Show! Joel performed in the opening show at 1:00 and also for the 4:00 show. I really, really, really wanted to go see it for the opening show at 1:00. Sometimes if there are extra seats, they let the child actor's family have complimentary seating. So Ivy, Jaden and I were all ready to go but we had to wait and make sure there would be seats for us. Half hour before the show, we were informed it had sold out and we couldn't watch it. SO SAD! So we had to go home. So over two thousand people got to see that performance and the mom didn't get to see it! Oh well.

Joel's high-light yesterday was that an NFL football player, the kicker for the Baltimore Ravens was there in the audience at the 4:00 performance. He arrived in a big black limo - Joel didn't get to see him but he saw the limo. All the football loving actors went out there to see it!

Today is a perfect Saturday. No rushing around going places, no frantic schedule.... Just a laid back day to sit by the fire and relax!!! The kids are all playing outside, Joel and Mark both have the day off and it's a nice peaceful day. Next week we'll be really busy getting ready for Thanksgiving. We'll have 13 people around our table and I can't wait!

Our day at the Franklin Institute

We spent the day on Saturday at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. Joel managed to get off work that day - we promised to take him to celebrate his 13th birthday. It was such a fun place!!! A really great place for a field trip. Mark and I had never been there before and now we know why the kids really wanted to go! It is all hand-on, interactive exhibits. Lots of really neat things to discover and do. Joel particularly liked the Sports Room and Newton's Loft. Ivy enjoyed the Physics room and Jaden loved the Train room. Jaden also loved the room for pre-schoolers - especially the water tank that he could float boats in. He managed to get absolutely soaked! I tried to dry his shirt with one of those hand dryers but it didn't work so well!

Here is Jaden crawling through an artery.

Joel really liked the ball cage where he could test his speed with different types of balls. Notice his new London Fletcher jersey he got for his birthday from Grandma! He was very happy to wear his Redskins jersey in Philly!!!

Ivy had fun surfing on a "wave" in the Sports room.


Mark did the wheelchair race!

Soon the Narnia exhibit will open and we can't wait to go back and see that! We got a little bit of a preview - here is one of the statues from the movie!

I really did take a nap at the Dollar Store!

After a very busy week of homeschooling, driving Joel back and forth to the theatre and all our other things going on last week I was VERY tired by Friday! I had just dropped off Joel for rehearsal and I had lots of shopping to do to fill 3 shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child.

We pulled into the parking lot at the Dollar Store. Jaden was sleeping in his car seat - lucky boy can sleep anytime he wants! I turned to my daughter Ivy and said I was just too tired to get out of the car! I needed to take a nap..... and I did!!!! I actually reclined my seat there in the parking lot and slept soundly for half an hour! Finally, Ivy woke me up, (Uh, mom, you should wake up now..." )

After my parking lot nap, I felt much better and able to shop for the rest of the afternoon. And we had so much fun buying things to fill up the boxes!!! We decided to fill a box for 3 children roughly the same ages as our own.... a little boy 2-4 years old, and one for each a boy and girl 10-14 years old.

I was somewhat worried about Jaden seeing lots of fun toys and things going into the cart at all the stores we visited, wanting the things for himself. But he seemed to understand that we were buying for children who had no toys. We even let him pick out the things and help pack the box for the boy his age.

We filled the boxes with as much toys and things as we could and also included candy and toothbrushes, tooth paste and wash cloths and also a note and picture of our family in each box. We decorated the boxes with stickers and took them to our church on Sunday where they are collecting them to send to Samaritan's Purse. But most important, we prayed over each box, praying for the children who will be recieving them.

If you would like more info about this, go to www.samaritanspurse.org It may be too late to send a Christmas box, but there are other things you can do to help needy families and children this Christmas.

a tragic accident

Please pray today for my mother's cousin Shirley and her husband Jeff. Their oldest son, Cale Kastanek, was a race car driver and died as the result of a crash Sunday night. The funeral services are today. Please be in prayer for the family.

http://www.nasaproracing.com/

I know I keep saying this, but

I LOVE TAPESTRY OF GRACE! This year is so enjoyable for me and I am very thankful that the Lord led us to Tapestry of Grace. I really believe it was His doing and it is a very good fit for our family.

There are so many things that I absolutely love about it... our whole family is learning the same time period at the same time - this week we are learning about Ancient American civilizations, particularly the Maya. And my children love the books they are reading! Like tonight, Ivy just finished her book that she was assigned to read over this week and she was so engrossed, she read the whole book in one afternoon and evening.

And I really love the flexibility!!! With Joel working full-time at the theatre this month, I can pick and choose the most important things for him to do and skip the rest knowing that in 4 years, he will be approaching this same subject again and at a deeper level. No guilt about missing things!

I love it also for me - because I'm learning so much each week! And all the organization and planning has been laid out for me so well so that my work has been greatly reduced, but the learning has increased - Wow! I love it because it helps us to really think - not spit out facts but to discuss, question, ponder, find connections and analyze. I love that! I love the discussion times and the thinking questions that cause us to really dig deep. And I love how it is all interwoven with the grace of God shining through history.

So, as you know, I love Tapestry of Grace..... but I must confess I do dislike change. And this week when the email came that the publisher of Tapestry of Grace is going through financial difficulty and that major changes will be happening, I panicked! I actually stepped away from the computer and cried! However, now that I've had a few days to process that bad news, I realize that it may be a blessing in disguise. The curriculum will probably need to be produced in a digital format if they can continue on as a company. And that will be a big change for an old-fashioned girl like me who prefers printed books over digital. But how nice it would be to store discs instead of huge volumes on the shelves! How nice will it be to just print out what we need and have everything permanently stored safely on disc - no need for page protectors and huge binders! I am actually beginning to see some good things about the change. Plus, the cost will be more affordable! That's the best thing of all! Because even though I think that Tapestry of Grace is a great value for the price, it will be really nice to pay less for the same great content.

I'm praying for Lampstand Press and all the wonderful people who work hard to provide us with Tapestry of Grace. If any of you are interested in this wonderful curriculum, there are fantastic sales going on now! I encourage everyone to give it a look and consider it for your homeschool. There are even free samples for you to download or print out so that you can try it for 3 weeks if you like!

kids say the funniest things

We've been praying for Mark's Nana who recently had eye surgery. Our two year old Jaden loves to pray. But sometimes he gets the details wrong... when he prayed for his Nannie last week he got confused about which body part to pray for and he said, "Dear God please help Nannie's mouth!"

Jaden always makes us laugh!

Sasha and Starlet

I had to share this picture with you of our two cats! This is how they always sleep. They are sisters and very best of friends, and do everything together. They groom each other, licking each others faces, "hug" each other and stay together most of the day.

Sasha is the callico cat and she is much bigger than her sister, Starlet, who is a gray and white tabby even though they were both born in the same litter on January 1, 2007.

Starlet is lucky to be alive because about a year ago, she swallowed a needle and thread!!!! And it went all the way through her system and out the other end with the needle still atached to the thread!!!! I'm not kidding! Apparantly it didn't do any damage to her, although it may explain why she is so much smaller than her sister!

Pictures to share

13 Candles on the birthday cake!



A new redskins cap for the birthday boy



Jaden celebrating his big brother's birthday



Jaden loves to dance along with the Wiggles!



Here are my two boys 10 years apart!

Joel's birthday

Yesterday we celebrated Joel's 13th birthday! How fast the years have gone. It was really nice to have Mark's parents here as well as my mom to celebrate with us. We all had a wonderful day together and a very happy day, although I had some tears now and then as I reflected on this milestone birthday. After everyone went to bed last night, I got out the baby book and looked at Joel's newborn pictures of his first few months. I am not sad that he is growing up... he is growing into a wonderful young man and we are so proud of him!! And we are very thankful to God for giving him to us to love, teach, nurture and guide through life. It is a huge responsibility to be a parent, but what a joy and blessing it is!

Flexibility

Our oldest son is an actor and the rehearsal period for the upcoming Miracle of Christmas show at Sight and Sound's Millennium Theatre is now in full swing. That means that our whole life for the next couple of weeks has to revolve around the rehearsals! Each night, we listen to the next day's call.... the hours are different every day and we don't know from day to day what the next day will hold. And the hours are always iffy - like today, he was called to work 10-6. At 5:00 tonight, he called and said he was done and needed to be picked up. Thankfully we only live a half an hour away!! But we do need to always be ready to go at a moment's notice. It makes homeschooling a bit more challenging too, but thankfully Joel is a quick learner! He does take some school work with him to the theatre, but many times he doesn't have time to work on it because the breaks are very quick.

So this month of November, there are no appointments scheduled. Everything is "pencilled in" and subject to change. No plans can be fixed permanantly. But soon, once the show opens, life will be back to normal for us with a schedule that we can anticipate. Opening Day is Saturday Nov. 22!

Come see the show this season! For more info, click on the link to Sight and Sound Theatre or go to www.sight-sound.com

Salt and Pepper

Did you see the Fireproof movie? If so, you'll recognize this analogy! Mark and I are definitely salt and pepper! We are so different from each other, yet we go together nicely (most of the time!) This week on Focus on the Family, they were talking about the book The Two Sides of Love and the basic temperaments: Lion, Otter, Golden Retriever and Beaver. It was a great two days of broadcasts and if you missed it, go to www.family.org to listen.

Anyway, being totally opposite as usual, Mark is VERY HIGH in the Beaver category with a bit of Golden Retriever in him too. I don't know which one I would fit in the most, but I do know that I am LEAST like a beaver! So we could clash quite a bit and sometimes we do! But the key, the secret to a long happy marriage, I think, is appreciating each other's differences. Sometimes it is hard when you have two opposite people, but like salt and pepper, we go together. We are a team! And we need each other's differences.

Last night, we were told of an opportunity to go to a dinner theatre show tonight - just the two of us and it sounded wonderful to me! Yet my wise beaver husband knows that if we did that tonight, we'd be stressed out tomorrow with all that needs to be done this weekend. So for the sake of our sanity, specifically MY sanity, he decided that we should not go. Sometimes my balloon does need a string and Mark is a very good string! And I thanked him. He is right and I'll appreciate being less frazzled tomorrow.

A new kind of music

Last night during the discouraging election coverage, we heard the piano being played. The unusual thing about that was that all of us (except 2 year old Jaden) were in the family room and the piano is in the living room. And it didn't quite sound like the kind of piano music that Jaden usually plays.

Imagine my surprise when I walked in there to find Jaden WALKING across the keys of the piano!!!!!!

My first two children would never have even thought of doing that!!! Jaden definitely strives to do what no child has ever done before around here!

Anyway, although we couldn't laugh in his presence (walking on the piano is a big no no!)it did give us some humor on an otherwise depressing night!

Neighborhood Fall Block Party

We really like our neighborhood! A new family that recently moved in hosted a block party on Saturday night and the whole neighborhood was invited. Everyone had a really good time.




Jaden had fun in the Moon bounce while the big kids played games and did crafts.


There was a pumpkin pinata for the kids








All the grown-ups enjoyed talking together while the kids played. It was a great evening!

Reformation Sunday

Our church celebrates Reformation Day every year, remembering Martin Luther nailing his 95 thesis to the door of the Church and beginning the reformation across Europe. Our church hosts a Reformation Conference in which a distinguished speaker comes for the weekend and teaches several sessions and preaches both services on Sunday. This year, we had Dr. Carl Trueman, a professor of church history and academic dean of Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. He is originally from England and both his sermon and his accent were wonderful to listen to! He spoke on God's sovereignty in the salvation of His people.

And today for the first time, I was able to recite the Apostle's Creed without looking!! It took me one year and two months to memorize it! I was the last in our family to be able to recite it from memory. I say that I have SOOOOOO much in my brain already, it is really hard to cram more in there!

Costumes for Trick-or-treating

Ivy and Jaden were Egyptians. Originally, Joel was going to be an Egyptian too, but changed his mind. (We studied Ancient Egypt the first three weeks of our school year).


Joel decided to be Jim Zorn, the Redskins head coach!

A very busy week!

I love Saturday nights! I always look forward to Sunday, particularly Sunday morning worship. And a relaxing afternoon as a family. This week has been so extremely busy that I am really looking forward to our Sabbath day of rest tomorrow!

Monday began with the WHEE homeschool group - a great morning of classes and prayer and share time for me. I love the time with the other moms each week! And then Monday night was a huge blessing - a Mom's Night Out for the moms of the Hempfield homeschool group! It was wonderful! A very encouraging evening and lots of chocolate!

Tuesday was busy with schooling, lesson planning for my Kindergarten class and numerous other tasks.

Weds. was Joel's costume fitting at the theatre. He has several costumes and a wig and various head coverings. I'm always amazed how totally transformed he becomes when he is in costume and wig. Barely recognizable. He is very excited about the upcoming show season which starts in just 3 weeks!

Weds. night was a fun fellowship with the ladies Bible study. We ate delicious foods and played games and fellowshipped. Very nice!

I already wrote about awful Thursday - after being up most of the night Weds. night. Somehow by God's grace, I made it through that day of teaching!

Friday was busy getting Ivy's and Jaden's Egyptian costumes ready for Trick-or-treating. We also had a very full school day closing out our week of study of Ancient India. Joel had a science exam and scored an A plus!! That made the day extra happy!

Friday night, Mark took the kids trick-or-treating and I stayed home and got to sip warm apple cider, read a book and give out candy to the occaisional trick-or-treaters. Living on a culdesac off of a dead end street means that we don't get very much traffic or trick-or-treaters here. We have lots of candy left over... I always buy too much.

Today, Ivy served as a volunteer at the Water Street Rescue Mission in Lancaster. She and her GEMS teacher and some of the other girls sorted clothing at the thrift store at the center. It was a mini-missions trip for the girls and I was happy that Ivy was able to serve. She really enjoyed it and hopes to do it again.

Tonight was a Fall Fun Block Party for our neighborhood! Most of the block turned out and we had a good time. There were games for the kids, a moon bounce, crafts, bobbing for apples, a pumpkin pinata, and lots of food - everyone brought a covered dish. The weather has been absolutely perfect - it was in the low 70s today! Great day for being outside. And the leaves are about at peak too.

The only bad thing of this day was that one of our children (who will remain un-named) broke our bedroom window with a ball. It was inevitable - we knew it would happen sooner or later. We have warned about it many times, but alas - it most likely will never happen again! Our child felt very bad about it and will be buying us a new window.

So it was a very busy week! But I am very thankful for the extra hour of sleep tonight! Don't forget to turn your clocks back one hour!

Thankful for sleep!

Last night, I slept all night!!!!! It was wonderful and I feel so much better this morning! Jaden has been sick with a bad cough and Weds. night, he woke up at 3 AM coughing and coughing. He did not go back to sleep until the following afternoon! What made it worse is that I was up until midnight the night before completing necessary tasks. So I only slept from 12:15 until 3 AM. I was a total zombie yesterday morning!

I had to call Ivy's piano teacher and say we couldn't come. Mark had to get off work at noon so that he could have Jaden and drive me to Homeschool group where I had to teach my Kindergarten class. I was too exhausted and sleep-deprived to even drive!! Somehow I was able to teach the class without collapsing.

For the past several weeks, I've only been getting 5 or 6 hours of sleep per night at the most since my work keeps me up until midnight most of the nights. So I couldn't afford a night with less than 3 hours! That's why I was so wiped out.

But thankfully, last night, Jaden slept all night and so did I! I even went to bed earlier - around 10 so I got a really good 7 hours of sleep!!! I have come back into the land of the living!

And maybe this weekend, I'll get an extra hour of sleep too!

New glasses for Ivy

Doesn't Ivy look beautiful in her new glasses? I love the frames that she picked out. Joel and I felt a bit jealous at the eye glasses store! Ivy has been wearing glasses ever since she can remember - since she was two years old and can't imagine not wearing them.

We were over-charged $50 and it took several phone calls to get that straightened out, but thankfully the problem was corrected. My uncle is an optician in VA but that is a bit too far to go for glasses unfortunately!

Unit One Completed!

I was so excited on Friday - we finished our very first unit in Tapestry of Grace! We all learned so much over the last nine weeks! We spent a lot of time reviewing our unit on the Books of Moses and talked about all that we had learned. Ivy comopleted her lapbook which was a great way to review. Joel took his unit test and did well too. We didn't do a Unit Celebration per se, but we proudly showed some things to Dad and Grandma. Maybe we'll do a celebration after our next unit.

Yesterday I spent the afternoon taking out the pages of their notebooks from the last unit and printing off all the pages of Unit 2 and putting that in their notebooks. Also printed out all the maps and evaluations and put them in. So we are ready to go today! We have a wonderful library so all our books are in and available to us also.

I am so happy with Tapestry of Grace! What a blessing it has been for our homeschool.

Future City Engineering

What a busy week it was last week! Joel is in a Future City Engineering class preparing for the regional competition in Philadelphia. He's been busy making the parts of his model and reading through information for his research paper. I've been helping him with finding sources - I LOVE research, however it has been very time-consuming and much of it is way over our heads!!! To understand what this is all about, click on the title of this post and it will take you to the future city engineering website!

His paper has to describe a self-sufficient, contained living space that conserves, recycles and reuses it's own water with minimal or no use of municipal water and no water discharge. The idea is to not bring any water in, no water out - just to continually reuse the same water. The technologies of today can solve some of the issues, but not all. He has to delve into the technology that is on the horizon in the future. We have been researching self-sustainable homes that are "outside the grid" however, there is not a lot of detail on the water systems. Obviously, there has to be rain catchment and compost toilets and reuse of "gray water". Thankfully his city is located in Hawaii where there is substantial rain fall. This has been an interesting topic to research!

When he signed up for this class, I had no idea what he (and all of us) were getting into! It is very, very highly centered on technology and math and science. Not our strong points! Joel is being very, very stretched! He's an excellent writer, artist and very creative person - not so into math and science!

But maybe this is changing him a little bit..... for his birthday this year, he wants to go to the Franklin Institue in Philly.... a Science museum of all places!!!!!!!!

19 Days and Counting!

Soon we will be the parents of a teenager! Joel is counting down the days. I remember his early days of sweet babyhood and thinking that the teen years were so far, far off in the distant future. But how quickly the time has gone! He is as tall as me now and wearing 30 inch waist jeans and his voice is even starting to squeak now and then!

Can you believe we are even starting to "look" at colleges? Researching them, thinking about which one would be a good fit for him. I know, we have almost 6 more years... he's only in 7th grade! But because I'm the one responsible for his education, I need to be planning ahead. I want him to have the best prepration possible for those college years so the planning needs to start now.

I always thought he would live at home and go to local Millersville University - commute to classes every day. And if not M.U., we have several other local colleges - Franklin & Marshall College, Elizabethtown College, not to mention the community college. We are literally surrounded by institutions of higher education in this county!

However, after reading a little article written by our pastor in the current church newsletter, my thinking on where he would go to college has been challenged. I've always homeschooled our children because I definitely did not want them to go to a government (public) school. Yet, I thought any college would be just fine?!! Sadly our culture is moving further and further away from the truth and becoming increasingly opposed to our faith.

Our pastor has recommended 7 Christian liberal arts colleges and has encouraged parents, like us, to consider sending our children to a Christian university where the truth of Scripture and the inerrancy of the Word is interwoven in all facets of learning. Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia is highly recommended because of it's solidly Biblical focus as well as it's excellent academics. It is under the PCA denomination which our church is part of. Two other reformed churches closer to home are Grove City College and Geneva College, both in western PA. Other colleges he recommends are Gordon College, Taylor University, Cedarville University and Wheaton College. If you want to read his article, click on the link for our church and then click on "calendar and events" and then "Communique" to read the newsletter.

Covenant College does sound like an excellent choice and we have been very impressed by everything we have researched about it. However, and this is a BIG however, it is 11 hours and 4 minutes away!!!!!!!! I'm so glad we have a few more years to think about this! And yes, Joel has a big say in this too. So far, he really likes the idea of going there - although his reasons are a bit more superficial, he loves the Georgia Bulldogs! And of course, I am very partial to the south and so is Mark - we always thought we would retire down in the Smoky Mountains someday. We even honeymooned there 17 years ago.

I'm so glad that God is our Shepherd, like my mom always has said. We are just His sheep. We'll follow where he leads us. And we need to pray for our children that God would direct them to wherever they should go.

Mom, I need an Egyptian costume TOMORROW!

First of all, I don't sew! I have a really nice sewing machine that my mom bought for me several years ago when I hoped to learn how to sew.... but never got around to learning. This urgent plea from my son last Tuesday made me get out that intimidating machine of mine and I tried my best to sew an Egyptian costume for him using a white sheet. Ivy had to help me - she's had lots of experience with her play sewing machine and she was a big help! After getting the machine threaded (which took over half an hour!), the rest was not too difficult, considering I was totally new at sewing!

Our church had a Family Fall Fest on Saturday for the elementary aged children and their families. Twelve countries were represented in the large gym at church with the youth group dressed in costumes from each of the countries. Children were to visit each of the countries and play a game or activity at each one. Joel represented the country of Egypt and that's why he needed a costume. However, it was needed several days early to be approved first by the youth staff - so I had really short notice! But I think it turned out fine. Here he is with Jaden and you can tell Jaden was having a great time!


Joel didn't want his picture taken, but I really wanted to get a picture of this costume that I worked so hard to make!

Help for Spelling!!!

I found a really, really good site that provides help for learning spelling words! It is free - just type in your spelling list and you can choose to have those words taught, tested, or play games with them! I am very excited about using this with Ivy to provide a fun way to practice her spelling words. Check it out!

Our weekend in Havre de Grace

Mark and I had a wonderful, relaxing weekend in Havre de Grace, Maryland! My mom generously gave us two night's lodging at the cozy White House of Havre de Grace! And it wasn't even our anniversary. My mom just wanted to bless us with this and she knows how busy we've been and that we just needed some time away. She kept our children for the weekend at her house and they did some fun things too - like golfing and go karts! Mark and I had the whole guest house to ourselves. We loved this place, complete with a full kitchen, sitting area, beautiful bedroom and bath. Here are some pictures of the house. For more pictures or info. go to http://www.whitehouseofhavredegrace.com/. We highly recommend this cottage for a romantic getaway! It was perfect!

The house was just a block away from the water. Havre de Grace is a beautiful historic town right by the water's edge where the Susquehanna River meets the Chesapeake Bay. We could walk everywhere in town. We enjoyed many little unique shops and antique stores, but most of all we walked along the water on the Promenade, a boardwalk, where we could just relax and take in the beautiful scenery. We had gorgeous weather the whole weekend! It could not have been more perfect - temps in the low 80s and bright blue skies.

This is the oldest continually operated lighthouse in the U.S. We walked down to the lighthouse at night and saw the lights over the water. The Promenade is open until 11 PM so we even enjoyed an evening walk by the Bay last night.

We had such a wonderful time together and it truly was relaxing - just what we needed! No busy schedules, no interruptions, no hurry.

But we were very happy to see our children and be home again tonight.

The joy of shopping with a toddler

If you saw a woman running fast all over the entire Sears store today - without shoes on, just socks.... well, that was me! I was chasing Jaden who thought it was very, very funny. He is faster than me. Especially in the slippery places. Why no shoes? Well I just had socks on my feet because I had been busy trying on shoes when the little guy disappeared.

And yes, I did get some great pairs of shoes! One nice brown pair of shoes regularly $45 on clearance for 4.99 and another pair of black shoes greatly reduced to 9.99. I love bargains like that! I needed shoes badly because my black shoes hurt my feet so much in church that immediately after getting home on Sunday, I put them right into the trash can!

It was our second day in a row at Sears. Yesterday, we bought socks! I think we'll stay away from there for awhile.

More Grace, More Love

On Weds. nights at church, I'm in a women's Bible study called "Dueteronomy: More Grace, More Love: Living in Covenant with God" by George Robertson. Our study for tonight focuses on Deuteronomy 3:12-29. It was a good study for me and gave me much to think about. In the study guide, Robertson wrote:

"God dignifies us by giving us meaningful responsibility and holding us accountable for it.... Difficult responsibilities and the potential for failure must drive us to Christ for more grace. Difficult experiences must drive us to greater love for God."

I love my busy job of homeschooling our children and all the responsibilities that I have that keep me busy. Sometimes I do feel exhausted, but I firmly believe that it is His calling for me to do what I do.

This study reminded me that on difficult days, during times of tremendous, overwhelming responsibility, God is giving me this work to bring me to Him! He will supply the grace I need for each day, each week. And the difficult times drive me to a greater love for Him and for others.

My weeks are full to the brim and my responsibilities are great, and I am so thankful for His grace which is greater still!

Here is a "typical" week for me:

Monday: Go to Homeschool group at 8:45-12:00, Assist in the 5th Grade Archeology Class, participate in the Mom's Prayer & Share time, Assist in the 5 and 6 year olds Gym class,
Teach my 7th grader and 5th grader in the afternoon, Plan the homeschool week

Tuesday: a full day of homeschooling, Lesson plan for Thursday's Kindergarten class

Weds: a full day of homeschooling, Supper at church, Ivy to Junior Choir Practice and GEMS club, Women's Bible Study, Joel to Youth Group, Mark to choir practice, Jaden to nursery class

Thurs: Ivy to piano lesson, Read to and care for piano teacher's 3 young children, Go to Homeschool Group for the afternoon 12:30-3:40, Teach the Kindergarten class, Assist in nursery for 2 hours with Jaden.

Friday: a full day of homeschooling, Home Fellowship Group Bible study in evening

Too top it all off, caring for a very active two year old keeps me busy non-stop! That is a constant, on-going responsibility while I do everything else!!!!! And through-out the week there are errands to run, several trips to libraries (we almost live at the library!), doctor appointments, and soon I'll be chauffering Joel to and from the theatre almost every day during the rehearsal period and then 2-3 times a week during the show run. Also, our home is a hang-out for all the children in the neighborhood so there are always kids in our house and in the yard after school hours!

Do I have "leisure time"? Not usually. Every now and then around midnight, I may read a chapter of a book before I fall asleep. I rarely sit on the couch. I never watch TV. My days are full and scheduled and almost always hurried.... but life is good. And the responsibilities that He has given me have made me lean on Him daily. I know that I need His grace. And I know that it is a loving Heavenly Father who gives me the responsibilities that I have, even the difficulties!

Blessings from above

God loves to lavish His children with blessings! I never cease to be amazed at the different ways that He faithfully provides with much more than we even need, more than we ever ask.

Here is one example of a way that He has blessed us recently. I really have wanted to buy a Latin curriculum for our children since I have read how important Latin is in learning vocabulary and grammar and how it is a great foundation for studying languages in high school. After buying Tapestry of Grace and Apologia science books and other books for this year, there was no way that we could afford to buy Latin books. I mentioned to Mark that although it was something I really wanted for our children, we would just have to wait. Well, guess what!!!! Just a few weeks after that conversation with Mark, another mom in our Monday morning Homeschool group sent out an email to everyone that she had several packages of Latin curriculum complete with textbooks, and student activity books - brand new, excellent condition and ALL FREE for the taking! A local classical Christian school had extra or didn't need them for some reason and gave them to her to give out to homeschooling families!!!! So I got books and activity workbooks for both Joel and Ivy for two years of Latin! For free! We haven't started yet, but I'm in the process of planning out the schedule and we'll begin soon. What a wonderful blessing that was!

And another blessing - today at our Monday morning homeschool group, one of the moms in my Prayer and Share group talked about how she and her kids measured out Noah's ark recently.... and I said "You must be using Tapestry of Grace!!!!!!!!" and yes, she is! And not only that, she has been for years, going through all 4 year plans and now is in Year 1 and the same week we are doing!!!!! Plus, she is an area consultant and loves to help newbies like me with any questions, etc. She is only the third person I know personally in this area who is using Tapestry of Grace so I was really happy to find this out! She is also Ivy's Archeology class teacher! How wonderful to have someone to bounce ideas off of and share TOG with!

And yet another blessing - this past weekend was a very large consignment sale that was held at a local Farm and Home Center. I was able to be a consigner and I took almost 100 clothing items on hangers to be sold! I'm not sure how much money I made, but should get a check in the mail soon. Anyway, I was able to buy everything I needed for Jaden for fall/winter all at fantastic prices - as well as several things for his birthday in December! I bought the big kids some clothing too but it was mostly smaller sizes there. What a blessing that was for me to get such a huge amount of clothing at such a discount. I love bargain shopping!

I hope this post today has encouraged you to look for blessings - sometimes they do come unexpectedly. God is good and He loves to surprise us. Count your blessings...name them one by one! And it will surprise you what the Lord has done!

Joel got a contract!

Joel will be back at the theatre, playing the roles of Judah's son, Nathan (inn keeper's son) and Gideon (shepherd boy) in the "Miracle of Christmas" show at Sight and Sound's Millennium Theatre. He is so excited! We were worried he would be too big to play the role, but they wanted him back again. This is the 7th show that he's been contracted for at Sight and Sound since he started back in 2003 at age 7.

I remember so well the first time we saw the "Miracle of Christmas" show back in 2000 when Joel was 5 years old. It was our first time at a show at Sight and Sound and we were amazed! Joel sat there totally transfixed and I remember telling Mark that Joel would be in that show someday!

Then just 2 years later, Joel auditioned at the theatre and got the role of Isaac for the "Abraham and Sarah" show and then "Ruth", "Miracle of Christmas", "Ruth" again, "Psalms of David" and most recently "Abraham and Sarah" again.

He was in "Miracle of Christmas" for the 2005 season which was the time that Jaden was born. I remember sitting there watching the show the day that Jaden was due to be born! So this show is extra special to us and I'm so glad he gets to be in it again.

Please come see the show! You will be so glad you did!

It's been a whole week since I wrote on here! Yes, we've been very busy but also my heart has been too heavy to write. Last weekend, we became aware of a very sad situation involving a couple we know and it has been difficult for me to process it. I keep being reminded that there is nothing too broken for God to fix. Nothing is impossible with Him! He loves to heal and restore so I will pray for healing for them. Have you ever gone through a time when you are overwhelmed with the knowledge of the sin and problems in this world? This week has been a time like that for me. But thanks be to God who sits on the throne! I know that He is sovereign and He is still working.

I'm in a Bible study on Weds. nights and we are studying the book of Dueteronomy. What an excellent, encouraging study it has been. I encourage you to read through that book and look for all the evidences of God's grace! You will be surprised, I think. Sometimes people mistakenly think that grace is a New Testament concept. But His grace is throughout the Old Testament because our wonderful heavenly Father does not change. He is the same, yesterday, today and forever. And what a great comfort that is!