I'm slowly letting out a sigh of relief this week. We're finishing up everything but math (to be continued through the summer). And the extracurriculars are coming to their end.

We had our last two fieldtrips this week  ~ a visit to the nature preserve and a showing of Treasure Island in an outside amphitheater.  We lined up four workshops at the nature preserve that the kids rotated through in four different age groups (PK-8th). They learned about Native American games and medicinal plant, wetland ecology and metamorphasis, and global warming. It turned out to be a perfect day so we had a picnic under the trees and later went for a long hike. The kids were even able to do some creek walking. =]

Stage One had a terrific showing of Treasure Island. It's funny because we've been able to see four different stage presentations this year so now the kids are starting to recognize certain actors that they've seen in different parts. They really did a great job. The story was complete with sword fighting and singing pirates! LOL And ofcourse, ended with a suspenseful battle scene and uncovering buried treasure.

Last night we had our last pack meeting of the year. Connor "crossed over" to Webelos. He was so excited and fun to watch as he stood up on that stage. They wore their new shirts under their old ones until the Cubmaster told them to all take them off. Needless to say, old shirts went flying. And the boys were beaming. =] We also came in first place for collecting pull-tabs this year. That means our den gets a pizza party sometime over the summer. Ya-hoo!!! The pull-tabs are a fundraiser for the Ronald McDonald House.

Tonight is our last official gathering for the Girl Scouts. We like to have our Bridging and Award Picnic at a park closeby. They have the perfect setting for a bridging ceremony.....a new bridge that crosses over a stream. We decorate the bridge and make it look real festive. We also have a big pitch-in dinner and KFC. It's  been a while since I've mentioned that this is a homeschooler's multi-level Girl Scout troop. We have different patrols from Daisy's to Cadettes. I lead my daughters Junior troop. We will be receiving nine new girls that will be bridging from Brownies. My girls decided to make little felt bookmarks as gifts for them. They sewed them together and decorated with stitiching. They turned out really good.

Last week was our last CBS gathering. They call it "Sharing Day". We had a pitch-in brunch and then anyone who wanted to, could come up and share about how God had worked in their life over the last year through the study. It was a very special time.  The gals in my group were so sweet. I was blessed to have a group that was so diverse in age and walk. They were a treasure chest of wisdom and insight. We had three hsing moms in our group including myself. The other two gals are actually going to go on our girl's retreat weekend coming up in a couple weeks.

Okay, it's time to go....Bri Guy and I are having QT together in the mornings now.

A few weeks ago we found out that we would be hosting another student in the fall. He is a 15yo boy from South Korea. His name is Hangyul. We are very excited for him and looking forward to his arrival. He seems to be a perfect match for our family.

He likes to hike and camp (like us) and is very interested in joining Briar's Boy Scout troop. He plays soccer (like the kids and I) and guitar (like Connor). He loves to listen to all kinds of music (like Bruce and Briar). And he SAYS he likes to cook (like me).  He says he's looking forward to making us "real Korean cousine". We've been emailing and IMing back and forth. So last week he sent us all these pictures of typical Korean dishes. It was so cute!! I think I'd try all of it except for the soup with the blood in it. Ugh!!    That's not my cup-o-tea....or cup-o-soup rather. =]  But I recall Adri telling me that blood soup was delicious in Spain too.

We have hit a small glitch however....atleast we're praying it's small.  Yesterday, we found out that the high school in our area, is refusing to take a new student through us. It appears, and I'm not kidding here, that since we homeschool and don't have children going to the high school (even though they aren't even of age to go to high school AND even though we've had a foreign exchange student attending there all year!!), they would rather use the spot for a family that IS using the school.

Now, a few questions occur to me....like....don't we pay taxes? And don't a portion of our taxes go to supporting our public schools? And what would they say if we didn't have any children at all? Let alone homeschooled children? And, what does that have to do with a foreign exchange student anyway?  Isn't there some policy on this??

I could go on and on, but for now, I have to figure out what I'm going to say to the school when I call them tomorrow. Our exchange organization wants me to call first and see if I can make any difference, before they go to the school board.  I'm feeling strongly that there is some sort of an injustice going on here. I just hope I can communicate it well. You know??  This just seems really unfair.

If you have any ideas, please feel free to share...

I've somehow managed to capture a Friday morning to myself. Since we live in "Derby Country", it appears to be sacriligious to send children to school on the day of The Oaks.  And since we have been living by the school calendar for the sake of our Spaniard.......we have a long weekend.

I really don't mind.

I could use it myself.

The kids are still sleeping. Honey went in for a half day of work, surprisingly. And I have a sweet time to myself.

We live in the back corner of a quiet, older, suburbian neighborhood. Beyond our street lies a cornfield. Past the end of our dead-end, begins a long stretch of woods. We often go for a nature walk back through those woods to explore, search for signs of wildlife, collect rocks, and commune with the outdoors.

Behind our home, as I look out my kitchen window, there is a run-off creek. Most of the year it's just a gentle trickle of a stream. But in the spring it becomes it's own ecosystem with the birth of spring frogs, crawdads, and earthworms...a real outdoor school for the kids.  During rainy seasons, it can evolve into a  "raging river", as my children claim. Beyond that there is a "just big enough" patch of woods (one that tempts the explorer into the larger wood) and a small field that the kids love to play in, and where the utility company maintains a small pumping station back in the corner. 

I fondly remember countless days of looking out my kitchen window to see a dozen kids from the neighborhood climbing trees, spending hours building forts, laying in the grass, playing football and kickball and baseball in the field, and patiently crouched down on the bank of the stream, looking for "Big Daddy" frogs to catch.

The windy creekbed enters into the woods here. We have made many memories on long spring afternoons seeing how far we could follow the rockbed before getting tired and heading back. The woods go for a long way. And it's hard to really visualize where we are in the large scheme of things once we're back there. That's all part of the experience.

The funny thing is, there is our neighborhood, and "our woods" (which really isn't "ours" at all...they belong to the farmer) and a couple of small farms around here. But we are all boxed in by two busy streets that run parallel and two other streets that run parallel the other way. All that we love to explore back in those woods really have boundaries all around. But as long as we've stayed to the trail, or the creekbed, the boundaries have been hidden to us.

So that's the "history".

All of this I tell you to give you a mental picture of all that we've enjoyed in the last decade of living in this house and making it our home. Now we come up to about last fall when we found out that the neighborhood council decided to sell the field behind our house to a developer and use it and our small patch a woods to build a half dozen houses that apparently are much needed in our older, quiet neighborhood.

(Honestly, I have a hard time imagining who is going to come looking to buy a new smaller home in the middle of a 40 year old subdivision. But, who am I.)

As you can imagine, it's the kids who have had the hardest time with all of this. Last fall when the surveyors came out to mark off the property. Unbeknownst to us until later, the "gang" decided that they were going to initiate a full-out offense against the "bad men". =] They secretly pulled up the stakes. And one day they decided to dig a gigantic hole about four feet wide and three feet deep in the middle of the trail. They argued that this would keep the enemies from coming across their trail with their bulldozer. LOL

I have to admit that I was kindof proud of all the kids trying to stand up for what they believed in. I truly hoped that their declaration would pull a heart string of someone over there and they would rethink their plan. Unfortunately, spring came and they put up one of those bright red, plastic fences around the perimeter of the site, which by-the-way, encompassed almost all of the kids trail and small patch of woods.

Two weeks ago, on a Monday morning just after school started for us, we heard the sound of big equipment starting up. And we stood on our back porch in silence, as we watched them bulldoze down almost all of the big beautiful trees that we climbed in and played around for years. In the days to come, they quickly and without hesitation, took big machines down into the creekbed and in the exact spot where Clara claimed was the "main frog pool", they jackhammered all the creek rock, hauled it out, laid huge drain pipe down, filled in with gravel and dirt, and rolled out a dirt road so they could take their big machines across and "invade our woods".

I called my husband from the porch and solemnly spoke "There goes the big tree we watched that racoon climb that day.....there goes the hard-pressed trail back into the woods we've ran up and down thousands of time....there goes Ruby our hamster's gravesite....." It was so depressing.

In light of all that's happened and how disappointing it is to all of us, Connor said something the other day that really got me thinking. You know how the Bible says to not complain and to be joyful in all things. Well, he found an upside to all of this. He said, "Look at it this way, now we'll have new families move in and maybe they'll have kids our age!" 

Bless him. In his nine year old way, he saw how to not complain and how to be joyful in all circumstances....and most of all, to trust God even though he didn't understand. A good lesson for me. It's been good for me to watch this process through the eyes of my kids. To see how they've dealt with the loss. And how they've worked through it in their own way and come back to the truth.

Thankfully, we still have the entrance into the woods at the end of our street. So there will still be many adventures ahead for us. And, we've learned that change can be hard, but inevitable. Sometimes we can protest it and try to keep it from happening. But sometimes, we just need to submit, accept and trust that God's plan is perfect, and bigger then anything we can imagine. We can't always understand the "why's". But we can always trust them to be answered in God's perfect timing.

I'm posting the pictures that we took at the Indy Zoo. This was the fieldtrip I talked about taking during the trip to mom and dad's over spring break.

What is GREAT day it was!

Well, once again, time flies when you're having fun....or just being busy!  We are coming out of the final turn, and the finish line is in sight!! That's "derby" talk.....being the Kentucky Girl that I am, and Derby is just a week away. Ofcourse I'm referring to our school year. I have so much to catch up with in blogging!  I just put a pot a potatoes on to boil. So, I guess that gives me about 15 minutes worth of catchin' up to do. LOL

OKAY, Connor started spring Flag Football in the last month. They won their second game this morning. I think Honey is thinking of coaching his team in the fall....that's what happens when you're not satisfied with the way the present coach is doing things, but you don't want to step on anyone's toes. =] We're still deciding on whether he'll continue with Flag, or start tackle.

The kids and I spent a week at my mom and dad's over spring break. In a nutshell, my parents have bought a house up in Michigan across the street from thier present property and cabin. They both have retired and planned on moving up there in the next few years. When this house unexpectantly went on the market, they grabbed the opportunity. I think it's a God Thing. On the down side, they have less then a month to prepare, put their present house on the market, and move. Yikes!!

Long story short, my sister and I met at mom and dad's with the kids to sift through the closets, cupboards, drawers, bookshelves and attic to find Moving Sale items and condense for the move. It was a different experience.....hard work....a little stressful....a little depressing at times....but also neat to go through old memories. We managed to pull it off with a successful 3-day Moving Sale.

For the kids, we kindof felt like "all work and no play" wasn't a great idea for their Spring Break, so one day we went to the zoo, and one day my mother-in-law picked them up for a day at the children's museum.  The rest of the time they had a blast playing with their cousins around the house, and meeting all the kids their age in the neighborhood. In no time, they were pulling together kickball games, football games, and bike rides. =]

For Adri's Spring Break, she had the once-in-a-lifetime-opportunity to go on a highschool mission trip to New Orleans. (It was our hs group from church.) They had over 80 kids and chaperones going to work on building two houses and clearing debris from vacant lots. She had an amazing experience that we are so thankful that she could be apart of. She will remember it forever.

Sissy turned 11 years old on the 13th!!  She is killin' me with how fast she's growing!! LOL Everyone says she'll pass me up in the next year. She already has passed her older brother (he doesn't like that one bit). We had a great day together for the occasion. We went shopping for some new clothes for her, went to see Nim's Island (GREAT family movie BTW), and out to eat. Daddy presented her with two tickets to see the Lippazaner Stallions Show for just the two of them. They went out for their date on the following Friday night. =]

Spanish finished up last Monday night. That's Level II under our belt. I think we're going to wait until the fall to start the third level.

Gosh, I think that's all I can fit in for now. Potatoes are done. =]

More to come....

This year for science we have been using the Simply Charlotte Mason 106 Days of Creation Studies ~ A family study handbook.   It's been a great guide for covering the six days of creation throughout the school year. It's not heavy on detail, but provides an outline to follow, a biblical start, and gives many suggestions for reading, activities, and fieldtrips. We've really liked it. They also recommended using Considering God's Creation alongside for added depth. It has been a great resource for not only more information, but also reproducible worksheets with diagrams, games, drawing pages, etc. I've actually used both with all four kids (2nd, 3rd, 5th and 7th).

Since we started the Human Body this week, I've been searching for some multi-media additions to spice it up a bit and I wanted to share some great websites and links that have been helpful additions...

• BrainPOP - This site is awesome! It has a library of short, animated videos that cover science, social studies, language arts and more. Each clip comes with a quiz and teacher resources. The nice thing is you can test it out for a week for free. Family membership is $99 per year, or $9.95 per month.
• KidsHealth - Tons of great information including a library of short articles for kids starting about middle school age on "Growing Up"....puberty, body changes, emotional changes, frequently asked questions....that kind of thing. They also have a section on "How the Body Works" with animated video clips (limited library), printables, and teacher/parent resources.
• Inside the Cell - This is just an amazing look inside the cell. The kids were so excited about learning about the cell after they saw it. =]
• BBC Human Body and Mind - Great for the older ones. This site has games and quizes to test their knowledge of how the body works.....games and quizes on the skeleton, organs, systems, senses, the mind, and more.

Thank you Lord! We finally have that warm spring day we've all been waiting for with great anticipation. I think it's peaking around 63 degrees today. I just came inside from playing a little game of H-O-R-S-E with Conman and his friend......I lost ofcourse. But, it felt good. Upon my return, my daugher exclaimed, "Mom! I didn't know you knew how to play that game!" LOL  Oh brother, it's been a long winter. LOL

My girlfriends and I have been talking lately about how it always seems like this time of the year is the hardest.....right at the end of the winter. It's like everyone gets cabin fever. We get grumpy, edgy, impatient with eachother. We all need a break. Just something long enough to hold us over to the end of May.

THIS however, has been a great week so far. We have done very well to stay on task and get alot done with our studies. After the last couple of grumpy months, I felt the need to change our schedule a bit to go along with the changing seasons. So, I added a "recess" into our schedule, and I make them spend it outside. =]  It's done us all some good. And helped to energize us for the afternoon work.

Here's our schedule for this week:
7:45am     ~    Kids Awake, make beds, eat breakfast, brush teeth
8:30am     ~    Bible Study - CBS, Bible reading, journal
9:00am     ~    Math
9:45am     ~    Rhetoric (Individual Reading, Vocabulary, Grammar, Writing)
11:00am   ~    History - This week's historical topics are Roger Bacon, the Khans and the Mongol invasion of China, and Marco Polo.
12:00pm   ~    Lunch
12:30pm   ~    Recess
1:00pm     ~    Science - Started the Human Body, Introduction to the Systems and the Cell. BriGuy started the Health LifePac for middle schoolers.
2:00pm     ~    Spanish - still using our Warren Hardy Power Verbs Level I
2:30 on            Homework and Extras

Tommorow with CBS in the morning we will adjust our schedule a little to manage a half-day.

Happy Spring Day to you!
Deborah

Happy Good Friday to my Christian Sisters and Brothers in Christ!

I pray your Holy Week has been a special one for you and your family. Today is the momentus day we celebrate as "Good" Friday, even though it came with a huge price. Today is the day we observe from history, that Christ was crucified. Yesterday at the table Adri asked, "Well, why was it "good" if it's the day that Jesus died?" A very good question. I was humbled to hear my kids go on to share with her the Good News...."He was crucified and died that day on the cross to pay for all of our sins, but he rose from the dead three days later......death couldn't keep him down.....and that's why we celebrate Easter".   I thank the Lord that the story wasn't over then, and it's not over yet.

Many years ago, my sister-in-law gave us a great book that we return to every Easter season. It's written by Max Lucado, and it's entitled Christ in Easter: A Family Celebration of Holy Week. He writes in the introduction "The Easter announcement is clear. Victory is secure. Wails of Bethlehem will turn into the victories of Calvary. Don't forget that. The next time the soldiers of Satan Steal the joy from your arms. The next time your prayers float into a silent sky. The next time you wonder how God could sit still while the innocent suffer. Remember, the story's not over yet. Remember the Easter Jesus rescued the imprisoned and remember.....He is coming to do it again."   Amen!!

Now is a perfect time to remember, embrace, and praise God for how far He's come to save us from sin. Maybe for you, it's a time to recommit your heart to serving Him, and honoring Him with your life each day. Don't let this opportunity pass without using some hands-on activities to "bring it home" for your kids too.

One book that we have cherished for many years is Benjamin's Box. These days my kids love to read it on their own. The message is timeless. Last Saturday we participated in a Walk Through Jerusalem at our church. Our booth was sampling the Seder Meal. We learned how the elements of the Passover Meal represented the Israelites bondage to the Egyptians and the deliverance that God made possible for them. Today, we can celebrate that Jesus is our Bread of Life and our way to be delivered from the bondage of sin. Tomorrow we will make Resurrection Cookies. How fun!

We pray that this Easter Season finds you blessed with special time with your family, friends, and  church.

God Bless You!

Deborah

This was given to me by my friend....thanks Anna!

Why did Jesus fold the linen burial cloth after His resurrection?

Resurrection Cookies

What a weekend we've had! I have to laugh when I think about how much the kids have been praying for snow. And it finally came!

Friday was a fun day as we awoke in the morning to word that "the snow" was coming. And not just a little snow, mind you.....I'm talking about BIG snow for our world. LOL We don't usually get alot of snow during the winter here.....it's more like alot of rain. But the forecast was music to our ears when we heard that we could expect atleast 12 INCHES by noon on Saturday. Hooray! Hooray!!

We decided to go to the grocery first thing Friday morning (along with the rest of the city) to make sure our weekend wouldn't be interrupted by a needless trip out for staples. We were determined that the only reason we'd be going out was for building snowmen and sledding in the park.

Sure enough, the snow and sleet started early and by noon we already had a couple inches. We made it to the store and back just fine, and Honey made it home from work around 3pm. We headed out to the hills around 5pm. There were a bunch of people there, but plenty of room for us. We stayed and played until about 9:30pm!! We were sledding by the light of the reflection of the snow. The sleet and wind stung our faces as we flew down the long and bumpt hill and climbed back up dozens of times!! It was so much fun!! By the time we left, it was almost blizzard conditions, with ice, slush, and rapid accumulation. We dared to stop for a late dinner at Skyline Chili and made it home around 10:30pm.  God was good!!

The fun didn't stop there. The snow continued through the night and didn't stop until about 1pm on Saturday. We made our way back over to the park (btw, I'm so thankful for our experienced DOT and their preparation and maintenance of the roads during this very serious winter storm.....they must've known there'd be thrill seekers like us!!) ha, ha ......we made our way back over to the park with two thermos's of hot choco, trail mix,  and a jug of water. Today was even better. By 2pm the skies were BLUE, believe it or not. The wind had died down. And the temperatures remained very cold. The slopes were packed!!

I don't even know how many times we went up and down those hills. I just know that my 40+ year old body is definately feeling it today!! I'm stiff as a board!! But, I wouldn't change it.....as soon as I get our pictures up, I'll post them. You couldn't of asked for a more perfect weekend.

Today we rest....and get a few things caught up.

We have a fun and busy week ahead....

• A fieldtrip tomorrow to the Creation Museum
• We find a prom dress for Adri. They don't have proms back home in Spain. This is a big deal!!
• Bowling with the Boy Scouts on Wednesday night.
• Blue and Gold Banquet for Connor on Friday. He gets his Bear rank!!
  
   

I just got home from Girl's Night Out.....my once-a-month date with my girlfriends. Tonight's activity was an intimate gathering of six over at someone's house. We all pitched in a little snack and came prepared with sewing scissors. On the agenda was to go through her two 30 gallon rubbermaid containers full of clothes that her middle school son grew out of through the years.

She told us that when she moved out of her parents house years ago, her grandmother had made a quilt for her using pieces of all her "little girl clothes". And now, she wants to prepare to do the same for her son one day. 

So, each of us took a stack of garments out of the boxes and started to cut them down....mainly cutting around the writing, or logo, or sports team, or favorite number.....we even had some Batman underwear in there! LOL We talked and laughed and told stories and watched American Idol (that was a first for me). It was really fun. When we were all done, she had us each sign our names on a piece of paper so that it could be transferred to the quilt eventually....to include the names of everyone who had a part in making it.

I'm pondering the conversations we had over the last few hours.....all the ground we can cover. That's what we do. You know it's hard to talk everyday when we're each so busy taking care of our families, some homeschooling, and some working full-time jobs. When we make the effort to come together and visit, we don't waste any time at all. We make sure to laugh and joke and get caught up on the regular stuff. But, we also take the time to really listen to eachother when someone really needs to talk about something that's weighing heavy on their heart. It helps so much to have a "sound board". It's a time we can encourage one another....give opinions or advice.....talk about what the Bible has to say about this or that.....really be there to do life together. And it gives us a current way to really pray for eachother. I think without that, it might all be in vain.

Thank you Lord for blessing my life with these dear friends and their beautiful hearts. I pray especially tonight for Cricket. You know her struggles and her needs Lord. I ask that You give her the direction and discernment that she needs right now in her life. Lord, I pray that you will give her the spirit of power, the spirit of love, and the spirit of sound mind, that you've promised her according to your Word. Lord, may you place your desires in her heart, and give her the strength to stand firm and be courageous during this time of trial and temptation.  Amen.

Well, this month is coming to a close and I have to admit, it's been a doozy. If you visit even semi-regular, I feel like I've left you hangin' out there this month. I apologize. I can only say that sometimes, as much as I'd like to sit down and blog.....it's about the last thing that I'm remotely able to do.

We've had some major events going on in February. Some, I touched on here and there, but I never really got to expound upon.  Let's see if I can sum them up in a few bullets....

• In the midst of our 40 Days at church, I was privileged to be apart of the planning team that organized a Prayer Journey to be held on the 16th. This was a first for our church, at church. We've done this a few times in past years at our annual Family Campin the summer, but this was a whole new experience in our building. Although we were expecting about 500 more, we had a good show of around 200 that Saturday morning. We started with an awesome time of worship, confession and thanksgiving in our present sanctuary. Then we dismissed the body throughout the church facility to go out and pray over all of the specific prayer requests submitted by the 20+ areas of ministry. An hour later we joined again in the parking lot where the new sanctuary is to stand and heard an excellent message based on 1 Peter 2:4,5......about what it means to be "living stones" for Christ.  Oh, it was such a blessed day to remember! I thank God that we were not only able to come together like that, but also for the lives that were changed that day!
• Last weekend, on the 23rd of February, was the culminating day of our campaign.....the final day of the 40 Days of Prayer, and the day that we would make financial committments for the new building, renovation, and church partnership. This coming weekend we should hear how close we are to meeting our initial goal of 8 million. All things are possible through Christ!! Amen!
• I was sorry to not get  my "love story" submitted to SmallWorld for Valentines Day.....I reeeaalllllyyyy wanted to! This week I decided that I'm going to try to do it anyway. It's a good story, if I do say so myself.   So, stay tuned....lol
• Today was a sad day for us....my kitty of 18 years died last night. He and his brother who died a couple years ago were my first pets when I got my own place a couple years before Bruce and I were married.  We will miss him.
• Adri and I went to see a play at her school a couple weeks ago....the Shakespearean Much Ado About Nothing. Believe it or not, that was my first! I've read a couple of his plays, but I've never actually seen one. These highschoolers were very talented too. They did a terrific job. And I loved the story too. I think I'm hooked now....

Well, I believe that catches me up for now. I pray you have a great day! Thanks for stopping by!

Home For Him,

Deborah 

This is a book meme tag from Karen  ~

1. Pick up the nearest book with atleast 123 pages.
2. Find page 123.
3. Find the 5th sentence.
4. Post the next 3 sentences.
5. Tag a couple folks. 

The closest book to me was The Message....

"When you see all these things, you know he is at the door. Don't take this lightly. I'm not just saying this for some future generation, but for this one, too -- these things will happen."  Mark 13"

If you think you want to play this tag, please let me know so that I can come see yours too!

Oh boy!! A game!! I've been tagged by Julie at HomeintheMitten. Hmmmmmmm........

Here they are....in no particular order.

1. I am an army brat. My dad was a "lifer" and we moved about every 4-5 years while growing up. This helped me to be an easily adaptable individual. But I've never liked not having life-long friends.
2. I keep one bookbag per club/organization/committee under my desk. Luckily I have a big desk. I love this because I don't have to keep clearing out a bookbag everytime I'm off to a meeting. It makes life a little easier, saves time, and keeps me a little more organized....something I have to work hard for. =]
3. I am a cat, dog, and bird person. All of our cats growing up lived to be atleast 18yo and one was 22yo. We had an Irish Setter and English Pointer when I was a child. About two years before Bruce and I were married, I got two kitties from the same litter. One died two years ago and the other is still with us...18yo next month. They were love kitties. =] Our cockatiel's name is Sydney. I work with him everyday trying to teach him a short tune. So far, he's picked up the first two notes. This'll be a long process. =] We also have two dogs, Hershey and Sassy.
4. My first rock-n-roll concert was Boston in about 1978 in Germany. LOL Now my 12yo son loves to listen to them!!
5. I love cooking in a crockpot....I do it often. It saves times and headaches from trying to decide what's for dinner around 5 o'clock.
6. I get two different magazines for  myself....The Old Schoolhouse and Taste of Home. A girlfriend just subscribed me to Simple and Delicious (from Taste of Home).
   

 OK!  There you go.  Six totally unimportant things about me.  Now it's your turn.  I'm tagging six people and these are the "rules" of tag! (1.) Link to the person that tagged you (unimportant me!). (2.) Post the rules on your blog. (3.) Share 6 unimportant things/habits/quirks about yourself. (4.) Tag 6 random people at the end of your post w/their links and tell the random person they have been tagged!  Whee....let the games begin/continue!

Here's who I've tagged....however, don't feel bad if you have a "no tag zone" I didn't know about, just let me know. =]

laturner

computergirl

pigpen

kcomom

fruitfulfamily

juliestew

It's that time of year again. And I get to start doing one of my favorite things.... planning our Girlfriends  Retreat. This year we've decided to dream BIG and rent a lodge that will enable us to invite about twice as many gals. This is so exciting! Here it is: Hidden Point Lodge  Be sure to take a peek!! It sleeps 32, has a private pool, jacuzzi and hot tub, a double-appliance kitchen, and much, much more!! All the amenities a girl needs to pamper herself.

Next on the agenda is to pray for a theme. From that, we'll piece together some study and discussion times. Sometimes we use a book. A couple years ago we used "When Women Long for Rest" (a must read). Last year we studied the life of Esther. We've talked about life during the "desert times". Because we have some moms, some singles, some married with no children, we need to try to choose something that would speak to women in general.

Other parts of our time together will include lots of time for fun, relaxation, shopping, and sharing meals together. Someone will coordinate the food and menu. Others will come prepared to share their interest in a craft....stamping, scrapbooking, bracelets. One year a gal came and showed us how to make homemade pie crusts. We try to pack ALOT in.

One of my favorite parts of planning retreats is being able to share it with someone who's never been on a retreat before. Every year, each women goes away taking something very special with her.....a new friendship, a new Word from God, a new look on life, marriage, or motherhood. 

I think what sets it apart is the time we give ourselves to just get away from our daily routines....to just be women....to connect with other women who listen and encourage us....and to challenge eachother to be the women that God wants us to be. It's much more then "a break away". It's a time to get refueled, revived, and recommitted. I don't think there is one aspect of ourlives that it doesn't have the capability of touching or changing for the better.

I encourage every woman to take one weekend a year to retreat somewhere away from the ordinary. Do you have any retreat experiences you can tell about? Have you ever been on a retreat?

Gosh I'm terrible sometimes about my snooze button. I think I hit it three times this morning! I finally got up about 6:25am. Made lunch for honey. And said good-bye to he and Adri for the day.  Today we have CBS.

7am  ~ Grace arrived and went back to bed until 8am.

7:30am  ~ Briar woke and got his shower. I got mine as well. Clara and Con got rolling with making beds, getting dressed, eating breakfast, etc.

8:30am  ~ The kids had all their Bible Studies done so they went ahead and used the hour before departure to work on math.

9:45am ~ on our way

10am - Noon  ~ CBS

12:30pm  ~ Back at home to eat lunch. Honey showed up for lunchtime too. I ran up to make some deposits while he was here.

1:30pm  ~ Honey left and we got started on history....two lessons today....Otto I and the Holy Roman Empire and Vladimer I of Russia. Both were very interesting, especially the beginnings of Russia. I didn't know that they were Vikings! The kids each made a drawing of there own design of an Eastern Orthodox Church cathedral. I need to take pictures of them to share. They did a great job!

3pm ~ Reading: Briar is close to the end of Sea of Monsters. Clara is starting The Little House on the Prairie. Connor loves the Matt Christopher book....he's reading Tough to Tackle. And Grace is in to the Magic Treehouse Books....she's reading Afternoon in the Amazon. Each are using different story starter for creative writing. They also had a couple postcards each to write and send for the postcard exchange club.

4pm ~ Time to go outside and take in some fresh air! It's a beautiful day...cold, but blue skies. Afterwards they came in and went their separate ways...tv, playstation, internet, bionicles....

6pm ~ Honey is working late tonight so we had sandwiches for dinner and then took off for the grocery store.

9pm ~ Arrived back home to unload the van. The kids had an extra 45 minutes before bed. We watched the Winter X Games for a while. I can't believe the stuff those guys can do with a snow board!!

11:30pm ~ Bedtime.

I had a dream the other night that has left me a little puzzled. I'm not the type that normally reads alot into my dreams. To be honest, I hardly ever remember them. It seems that when one finally does reach my consciousness, which isn't very often, there is usually something very unique about it.

Someone told me once that every character in our dreams is actually a different side of ourselves.  I don't know if I believe it, but, it's an interesting theory.

Several years back I awoke in the middle of the night practically in tears. Do you ever have a dream that just seems so real that it just scares you to death?? I had dreamed that I was on one side of a huge, deep canyon. I really couldn't see the bottom of the canyon through the burning flames and lava (lovely, huh?). On the other side of the canyon were all of these people, holding out their hands, crying, and begging to come back to this side. I had a terrible feeling that I knew someone there and as I searched the faces, I was horrified to see the face of my youngest son. He wanted to be with us so bad and there was nothing I could do to help him. It was the worst feeling I think I've ever had.  I thought for days on whether there was some deep meaning behind it.  Would someone I love deny God's path? Would I wander away? Maybe it was a warning that a life "on the other side" was full of regrets. I don't know.  

Fast forward to yesterday morning......this one wasn't so scary. =]  I remembered my dream! =D  I recall someone close to me (I'd rather not mention names) being very disappointed with me. They told me that I had been wasting my life. I tried to go down the list of all the things I was doing that made a difference, but they just wouldn't listen. I turned away and went for a walk down a country road. It was a beautiful, fall day. There were colorful meadows of maple trees on both sides of the road and the sun was shining down through the leaves. All of the sudden, I looked up in the distance and saw a car coming towards me. I'd never seen a car like it. It had the style of an old Model T, but it was lower to the ground, and had a long, streamlined nose. It was dark metallic bronze in color with black and chrome trim. It was beautiful.

As it approached, I stood there watching. The car drove right up to me, stopped at my feet, and then went in reverse as it pulled back onto the shoulder at a ninety degree angle. And then I could see the driver. I couldn't believe who it was!

My gramma had her arm hanging out the window  and waved to me. (She looked very cool! LOL)  She just smiled and said, "Oh Debbie Do, isn't it beautiful? And she's a dream to drive!! It's so beautiful here."

And then she smiled and winked at me,  put it in drive, and drove back to where she came from.

LOL I have to admit, it sounds a little corny. BUT, you need to know that my gramma went to be with the Lord almost seventeen years ago. We were very close. She was my mentor, encourager, and I'm sure the warrior who prayed my way into the kingdom. Ironically, I still have a card that she gave me with a poem called "Always have a Dream". 

Gosh, I don't know what to think. At the very least, I see it as an affirmation that heaven is a glorious place and I can be encouraged to keep on the road that I'm on. Perhaps, even though I didn't like hearing it, there are things in my life that I do need to let go of....things that are a waste of time. I'm sure that's true.

Honestly, I loved seeing her face.....even if it was a dream and didn't mean a thing....I loved seeing her enjoying a ride in a sporty car down a country road with her hair blowing in the wind! LOL

I'm just wondering, what do you think about dreams? Any relevance today? I know God presented His will and intentions many times through dreams in the Old Testament.  Any thoughts or stories to share?

Thanks Ahead!