In Daniel chapter 3 there are several mentions of the psaltery, along with many other instruments that were used at that time, and today they are still used, although the song that that was being played then was the one that King Nebuchadnezzar was using to compel worship to the large idol he had set up.  Three of the servants of the Lord wouldn't bow down when they heard the music playing, and you know the story: they were thrown into the furnace.  If you don't know the whole story, read it HERE.   But I will give you a little hint:  God is always with you when you go through the fire for Him! 

  A few years ago we were visting a dear friend in New Mexico when she produced a psaltery for my daughter to play, and she took right to it!  It was a lovely instrument of which we had never laid eyes on before.  It was very strange, beautiful, and played with a bow.  It had such a clear, lovely sound. 

 "Someone" got hooked on it and we have been searching for one for quite awhile now.   I recently found one that I got her for her birthday!  Can you say "surprised?"  This one was handmade by Chuck at Crooked Creek Psaltery, and you can see more of his handiwork right there on their brand new website. 

Now we have a few more ways in which to make a joyful noise!  With our voices, a few new strings and a piano, we hope to be lifting us some praises to the King of Kings. Maybe one of these days I will post some.....we will see!

Have a blessed week everyone!

Nancy

Ready??

Bubble gum on long car trips................  

Itty Bitty Lizards................  

Cats Cradle and Jacobs Ladder....and someone to teach you how.................

Kitties who like to crash wherever they can, however they fit..................

Spotting and Egret at the lake...................

                          Heavenly Blue Morning Glories..........................

Giant Kaliedoscopes.......................

Just a few of the things I am thankful for today :)

Nancy

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thank you so much for all the comments!  It has been such a delight to hear from everyone this week, and thanks so much to those of you kind souls who purchased my "Haircuts For Little Men" E-book!

I want to give a very special thank you to my friends over at the Homeschool Minute.  I appreciate you all!  Thanks for helping me get the word out.  I also want to thank those of you who have given me a promo on your blogs.  And I can't wait to see your handiwork!  Take photos of your haircuts and post them!

 I have thrown all of your names in a hat and am getting ready to pull one out...............

And the winner is:

 Anne Shaw!

Congratulations Anne!  I loved your blog entry.  :) As soon as I get your email addy I will send that E-book right over.

 (Hey everyone, be sure to go read her post, it will make you feel miserable!  LOL)

One last thing, don't forget that the benefit for the Cardwells ends tomorrow at midnight!  Get over there and bless them and you will be blessed in return in many, many ways.

Nancy

Hi Friends!

My youngest son is NINE today!  I can't hardly believe it!  He is so excited about it that he woke me up about 6 a.m. to make sure I wouldn't forget.    His brother and sister made him french toast for breakfast and they gave him a betta fish!

If you have a chance today, just zip by his blog and leave him a "Happy Birthday" message, ok?  Be sure you are signed in, only registered users can comment!

Thanks!

Nancy

Hope you are well!  I must be going through midlife-crisis or something, I just got these really cute new bifocals!!!!  I just can't wait to post a photo for you.   (NOT!)

LOL!

Anyway, I wanted to get on here and tell you to go check out my auctions on Homeschoolbuy.  I am helping my daughter raise some funds.  She has made over 60 purses that she is selling, and we put some of her hand spun/hand crocheted items up for auction.  You can see them on my sidebar!

Also, I have a few more days on my auction for a GREAT book called "The Survivor's Guide To Homeschooling."  Come on, somebody out there needs it!!!  Right?  I don't really need two of them, ok?  I can part with my extra one, but am keeping a copy! 

Go see, go see, go see......(not begging, just friendly encouragement!!)

Blessings,

Nancy

Related Tags: hand spinning, hand spun yarn, crocheting, homeschooling, homeschoolbuy, homeschool auctions, homestead auctions, survivors guide to homeschooling

Hey, isn't that a great way to be greeted?  In Italian, that would be "Ciao Bella!" 

I had the immense pleasure of being treated to a wonderful gift basket from Laura over at Ciao Bella Body.com and WoW, what a treat it is!  (Thanks also to Beth over at www.ishouldbefoldinglaundry.com for hosting the give-away!)

Here, take a look:

And here is a close up of this wonderful soy-wax candle!  It is citrus scented, and this is the first time I have ever had a soy candle.  It's different!  It's made lead free, petroleum free and also has an all cotton wick.  Very cool.

Right now, Laura is even offering to YOU, dear Homeschooling Is Life blog readers, free shipping on orders over $50!  Just in time for Mother's Day!  Or "just because" for a special friend, or even for yourself! They even have a children's collection, and you will just be so excited about all the wonderful things they have to offer! 

 Just enter promo code: freeship at the checkout!

Laura, I am so enjoying this wonderful prize gift I received!  Thank you so much!

After a brief reprieve the white stuff is flying again!  Snow, snow and more of the same.  It is cold and I miss the sun so much already.  The "old timers" say that this is the way winter always was prior to the 14 year drought, that is.

  (Anyway, it's not just the cold that is bad it's the fact that I dropped my digital camera right after the first of the year and wouldn't you know it; the last several storms have had the most beautiful perfect crystals which I would love to capture but alas!  No decent camera to shoot with.  I am crushed!  Hubby, however, blessed me with a replacement.  It doesn't have as good of a macro on it, but I am thankful for his thoughtfulness!)

I have also fallen down on the job of posting about Laura Ingalls Wilder this week.  However, if you go to my previous entries, I am SURE the links will keep you busy for days on end, so no worries here!

So much going on here and the kids are on a roll with so much baking and creating and learning that I am finding it very hard to catch up on my blogging! Since it is a Valentine Week, and that means it's time to get sentimental and gushy (or mushy, as my kids say,)  I do want to share something from my past with you!

  I grew up in a small town and went to school, K-12 with a group of kids that remained pretty much the same for most of those years.  I think there was a core of about 15 kids or so,  and we got to know each other pretty well as far as schoolmates go.

Every year in elementary school we had parties to celebrate each holiday that came our way.  I think we did the same thing every time too; read a story, do a craft, have a party of some sort.  One family in particular had a Mom who was an amazing cookie baker (among other things) and every holiday she would send a batch of her wonderful frosted sugar cookies with her daughter to class for us. 

These weren't your ordinary cookies.  These cookies were delicious, soft, melt-in-your-mouth tasty, and the frosting on the cake--I mean, cookie was the fact that she frosted them with equally wonderful frosting and each was decorated with each of our names!  She had a shape for each holiday and the Valentine's day cookies were huge lovely hearts!  She always packed them in a shirt box, with waxed paper between the layers of cookies so they wouldn't get smashed.  These cookies were bigger than your hand, and they were just perfect!

I was lamenting them several years ago and so you know what I did?  I called her up and asked her for her recipe!  She seemed surprised to hear from me and thought it was funny that I wanted her cookie recipe.  But she put her finger right one it (I am pretty sure she had it committed to memory) and we had a lovely visit. 

So she shared her recipe with me and I am posting it here for you.  I have no idea where the original recipe is from.  She called them "Crisp Sugar Cookies" but when you frost them, they become very soft and like I said, they melt in your mouth.  The secret to their wonderful flavor is the vanilla and lemon extract.  :)

Mrs. Roger’s Sugar Cookies

(Crisp Sugar Cookies)

½ C. Sugar

1 C. Shortening

(cream together, then add:)

2 eggs

3 TBSP Evaporated Milk

1 tsp Vanilla

½ tsp Lemon Extract

(mix well then add to:)

3 C. Flour

½ tsp Baking Soda

½ tsp Salt

Make the cookie dough and chill for a little while, roll out and cut out shapes,

Bake at 350 for 8 minutes or so, 'till slightly brown on edges.  Cool and frost.

Frosting:

½  tsp Lemon Extract

1 tsp Vanilla

Add to regular frosting recipe,

(powdered sugar, butter and milk.)

Whip 'till fluffy, add coloring if you want to and VIOLA!

You know, just as this precious Mom wrote our names on cookies, the Lord himself has written your name on His heart!  Is your name written is His book too?

Nancy

Homeschooling Is Life!

© Nancy K. Baetz 2007 

 Revelation 21:23-27 And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. In the daytime (for there will be no night there) its gates will never be closed; and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it; and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.

It's been a great day.  Everything here just was so neat.  My daughter was able to join up with several other girls and a couple of Moms who spent the day volunteering up at the Operation Christmas Child warehouse.  What a great experience for them! 

Then tonight I found out that I won Kerry Beck's contest that I posted about.  See my previous entry!  I am sure everyone can use some new idea on how to celebrate this season we are in.  Check out the links.

You know, e-books are all the rage.  I love e-books!  And My daughter and I have had the honor of writing a couple of things for the wonderful new edition of Jill Novak's e-magazine," The Girlhood Home Companion!"  Do you remember the lovely black and white editions of the Girlhood?  It was a quarterly (hard copy) magazine for the love of anything to do with girlhood!  Well, Jill has had numerous requests to bring it back to life again, and indeed she has!  I have never seen anything so beautifully done!  It is very feminine, very old fashioned with a Victorian flair, and has wonderful family stories and Biblical admonitions for young girls, for Moms and Grandmas and everyone who is a girl at heart. 

I am completely blessed to have been a part of it.  The neat thing is that it is an electronic magazine.  It's like an e-book, but even better! You are able to download it to your computer and read it right on your screen.  This e-magazine (it's a higher quality e-book) has very nice layout.  It has amazing visual appeal, and you can imagine that already if you know Jill.  (Just go look at her blog!)  She has the artistic gift and writing gift all wrapped up into a lovely package. 

This edition of the Girlhood Home Companion is Free!  It is a delightful Holiday issue, dedicated to "Joy."   I couldn't wait to get it and read it.  I have only just begun, there is a lot there!  So, I printed the whole thing off and inserted the pages into a notebook, in page protectors.  You could even print a little out at a time, if you wanted to!   It really is a keepsake!  Now I can sit down with my coffee in the morning and read it a little at a time.  What a great gift, Jill! 

 (But then again, it doesn't surprise me at all, since she is into gifts already~)

God Bless you, friends!

Have a great weekend!

Nancy

©Nancy K. Baetz Homeschooling Is Life! 2006

Related Tags: E-books, Kerry Beck, Christmas and Advent Activities, Magazines for girls, The Girlhood Home Companion, Remembrance Press, Holiday, Joy, The Gift of Family Writing, Homeschool Resources,

Bloggers Love Contests!!! 

Since it is the Christmas season, my friend  Kerry Beck, wants to offer some extra Christmas cheer. Here's what she is doing:

GIVING AWAY a Copy of her Christmas & Advent Celebrations in 24 hours.

Don't fret if you already bought your copy. She will refund your
money if you win the package.

To win the copy of Christmas & Advent Celebrations for the
Holidays Package, post a comment on her blog that shares your favorite
family tradition at Christmas time.

It's pretty simple...
On Friday at noon (pacific time) she will draw a winner from
everyone who entered the contest.

You can find out who the winner is on her blog.

Don't wait any further...go post a comment on her blog about one
of your favorite family traditions.

Here's the link: http://www.CurriculumConnection.net/blog


Nancy

P.S..  Go see what is in the Christmas & Advent Celebrations for the Holidays Package!  Click here to see it.. 

 

Romans:  8:17-18, 26, 28

For I consider that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

 

(26, 28) Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses.  For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but he Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. 

 

©Nancy K. Baetz Homeschooling Is Life! 2006