I must say that I am a MAJOR fan of The Girlhood Home Companion, even though I have only ever had one issue. I absolutely loved it! I would love to get the magazines, but that's not possible right now, so I entered their giveaway to win one of their Between Friends issues!
The greatest man-made invention, in my opinion, isn't the steam or gasoline engine, or the computer, or even airplanes. I think it's the mattress. The kind the would make Goldilocks very happy, not too hard, not too soft, but just right.
I'm incredibly fond of my bed, made up of a mattress. If I no longer had a computer I wouldn't cry. If flight became a thing of the past I wouldn't worry. If I had to start walking everywhere I would probably grumble and whine, but I would get used to it. However, if I lost the use of a good mattress, I don't think I'd ever get over that.
You may think that I'm a hard-core blogger, but I put more time and effort into being a napper. Sleeping at night is only intensive training for my napping, and like a runner after a good, long run, I find it to have been hard work but well worth it--it gives me a rush. It can be exhilarating and then my body is ready for a good nap to recuperate.
Before the modern bed was invented, people had to sleep on poky straw or feathers. Quite a problem for those with allergies and deadly for those with asthma. Before that it was soft dirt or hard dirt, but I doubt there was ever any "just right" dirt. That's why the bears lived in a house and slept in beds. It wouldn't have been the same story if Goldilocks had wandered into a cave and tested three different bear wallows.
I completely and totally love my bed and all of the cozy comfort that it has to offer. It's just fills my heart with joy to crawl under the covers and snuggle down. Waking up in the morning is most painful. At least I have naps to look forward to.
To whoever invented the modern mattress, I am truly grateful. I wouldn't be half the napper I am now without it.
Any of you that have followed my blog for long have known my on going struggle with whether or not Christians should receive welfare.Specifically, I have struggled with whether or not I should be in the system.There is a myriad of voices around me with opinions.The bottom line is that the only opinion that counts is Gods.
Several months ago, I finally, after much prayer, came to a point of resolve about this.I just realized I never shared it here with all of you.
If I were married to an unbelieving husband, he would be my provider.As long as he was willing to stay and did not ask me to do anything in violation of God’s word, I would be obliged to stay.There would always be the chance that by my words and example of faith, that he might come to Christ.
The Lord spoke to my heart about the fact that I had married the government when I went into the system.It was not His best choice for me, but I lacked faith and was disobedient, unwilling to trust Him totally.Until God closes the door and ends our benefits, I am to remain where I am, for this season.This is God’s provision for my family.He wants me to stop struggling and trying so hard to do it on my own and to simply rest in Him.
In all of this, the Lord has answered my prayer for a full-time ministry from home.In my home state the welfare system requires that you be working, looking for work, going to school or volunteering in order to be eligible for benefits.My state homeschool organization qualifies as an acceptable organization to volunteer for.I can work to support homeschooling, ministering to others, while homeschoolingmy children.It also has given me the opportunity to go back to school and do the necessary work to complete my teaching certificate, not so much for me to be able to seek full time employment, but so that I can do assessments for homeschooling families.There is a seeming lack of homeschool friendly certified teachers in our state.I hear horror stories every year about teachers that did assessments, but really didn’t understand what they were doing or reviewing.The Lord is opening up an amazing door there for me to have an ongoing ministry to homeschooling families, because who understands it better than someone who is doing it every day.
It is my prayer that this season in our life may be coming to an end.It’s going to require a lot more faith and trust than I have now.It’s also going to require contentment with what the Lord provides.It is going to require caring more about the Lord and His leading than what people around me think of what I’m doing.I can’t do it alone.It will only be by His grace and for His glory that we will succeed.
I should add an end note here, that while we have less financial support than every before in our homeschooling, we are able to do so much more with it. It is the kind of thing that only God could do.
As happens any time you make a strong statement in a public forum, I drew fire with yesterday's post. Read the comments.
Here's the point.
If you educate God's way, you are better off.
If you choose to homeschool, you are better off doing it God's way.
If you spend your money God's way, you are better off.
If you worship God the way he prescribed, you are better off.
If you nourish your body God's way, you are better off.
If you train up your children God's way, you are better off.
If you attend the church of God's choice, you are better off.
If you choose your friends God's way, you are better off.
If you spend your time God's way, you are better off.
Not better. Better off.
Homeschooling is not the salvation of our children's souls. Homeschooling does not give me a guarantee that my kids will be saved, sanctified, and serving the Lord. But I can see it from here.
Yup, I'm still plugging away at this thing they call a novel. There are days when I can write thousands of words, and then there are days when I don't even open my documents. Of course, there have only been ten days since NaNo started, and here I am talking as if I have been doing this for a least a month.
The novel is doing well. I think. So...I really don't have much else to say on the matter.
In all the changes that I have made this year I have been learning the importance of "piggybacking". Piggybacking is when you butt one thing after the other and save because it is already heated up. For example... to dry one load of laundry after the other and save because the dryer is already heated up. Another way I have piggybacked my savings is when I roast my coffee beans. I roast what I need for that week...one batch after the other. A third way that I can think of right off the bat is piggybacking while baking or cooking with the oven. Get the biggest bang for your buck by baking several things together and right after the other. In the winter time it is also a nice way to raise the temperature a little in your house. I guess you can say it is like multi-tasking your energy use and save. .
Now to join in the fun of Tightwad Tuesday....
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Link your TWT post click on MckLinky and give exact the URL of your post. (each Tuesday that you join in on the fun)
How is everyone with presentations? I have always been terrible at it. My DW Traci is great at presentations and hosting seminars. Now we humor ourselves at home with a little play acting along with our read-alouds. We have allways wondered how our DC would do in front of an audience. The field trip group that we are joined with now gave us this opportunity. Once a month they have a oral book presentation. They do an oral report on a book they are reading or a subject matter of their choice. I am impressed with the different mediums or ways they bring out their reports.
All the DC were a little nervous at first, but now they are doing great. I have seen poster boards, home made picture books, clip art with oral reports, and library books with oral reports. These presentations have helped the DC tremendously. They do a fantastic job with the timing and expression of their work before an audience.
Field trips, park days, and home visitations are a great way for homeschoolers to meet and make friends. Support your local HSing groups.
I've been thinking about that visit to our local high school. One person commented that it must be a really tough school. I'm thinking, as in inner city L.A./N.Y./Miami? This is what I would expect to see in inner city L.A., but we are out here in the middle of nowhere, AZ. I don't think we have a tough school, necessarily. Actually I think most high schools in America have come to this. As things have gone downhill with grades, teacher and student behavior, administrative foibles, and the endless black hole effect of pouring money into the school system, we have added more and more rules. No prayer. No Bibles. Carry I.D. Fenced-in campuses. Campus police. No pocket knives, squirt guns, bubble gum, aspirin, etc. It's just proof that you can't legislate righteousness. After putting all these rules into practice, we still have more problems.
The real problem with public school is in the heart of most of those who are involved with it -- government officials, board members, teachers, parents. The students are the victims. Public school is a mess that I don't want my kids to experience. With a different foundation (the Bible) and a different outlook, and a very different goal, public school could be a great ministry. But it isn't. And it's not God's way to begin with. It's one of those carts from 2 Samuel 6. When David saw that the Philistine heathen had put the ark of God on a new cart in 1 Samuel 6, he probably thought, What a great idea! That would be much more efficient than having the priests carry the ark. But putting the ark on a cart resulted in disaster for David and his people. God didn't care how the heathen transported the ark, but his own people were to follow the instructions he had given Moses. God's way was to carry the ark, no matter what extra work was involved. We (my family) are God's people. Public school has been around for a long, long time, but for God's people, it's a new cart. God's way to educate our children is to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Ephesians 6:4. He gives us many warnings to keep away from the ways of the heathen (the heathen aren't just in deep dark Africa -- they shop at Wal*Mart) and to depart from those who teach contrary to God's word. Sure. It would be much more convenient to send my kids to school, and a lot less work for me. But it's not God's way at all. It's bound to result in disaster.
I don't believe the fact that we homeschool makes us better than you or anyone else. However, I do believe with all my heart that my children are better off than those who attend public school, and our home life is better off for it, too. Anything and everything in us that is good is not there because we are good, but because of the grace of God and the blood of Jesus Christ. No matter what other way is out there, we are content to do our schooling God's way. I feel sorry for those kids behind bars. And I feel sorry for those teachers, administrators and government people who can't figure out why their system isn't working. They'll never get it until they read and believe God's word and put it into practice. Public school is now a doomed system graduating doomed students (if they graduate at all). No new carts for us, thank you.
Sharing what God is teaching me in hopes
of encouraging others.
Favorite Quote
Tomorrow is another day, with no mistakes
in it yet." Anne of Green
Gables
Favorite Bible Verses
Psalm 40:17
But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord
thinketh on me. Thou art my help and my
deliverer.
Isaiah 49:15b-16a
I will never forget you! See, I have you
engraved on the palms of my hands.
John 16:33
"I have told you these things, so that in
me you may have peace.
In this world you will have trouble. But
take heart!
I have overcome the world."
Psalm 68:19
Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior,
who daily bears our burdens.
Psalm 77:19b-20a
Though your footprints were not seen, you
led your people like a flock
Jeremiah 29:11
"For I know the Plans I have for you", declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Psalm 30:5b
Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning.
2 Chronicles 16:9
For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro thoughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.
Isaiah 26:3
You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee
Psalm 27:14
Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord.
Psalm 139:17-18 How precious are your thoughts about me, O God!
They are innumerable!
I cant even count them;
They outnumber the grains of sand!
And when I wake up in the morning,
You are still with me!
behind heater
sheet closet
game closet hair accessory drawer
bathroom sink
school cabinet
Christmas decos
kitchen sink shelf
yarn cabinet
my closet
magazine rack
under fish tank
2 desk drawers
top of scanner
kitchen plant shelf
bed post
ds11's clothes
dd7's clothes
dd4's clothes
under sink cabinet
top of stereo cabiner
Hearth
top of school cabinet
carousel wall shelf