I saw this over on Debbie's blog and it was too good of news not to pass along! We own and love all the previous movies from Sherwood Pictures (Flywheel, Facing the Giants, and Fireproof) - so we'll be anxious to add this new movie to our collection as well. Sounds like it'll be another great one!
If you have an article/blog entry for the November 23rd Homesteading Carnival, please use this formbefore tomorrow afternoon. It's being hosted by The Homesteading Carnival themselves!
This week's Carnival was hosted by Catherine at Seeds of Love.
This was a very exciting week for Katie-Noel and Annabelle.
It was "parent observation week" at ballet class!
At the end of their class, the parents were called into the classroom to see all that the girls have learned up until this point. They even put on a 'mini-recital.' It was SO cute!
Of course...this wouldhave to be the week that we forgot their shoes....
I know it's a disgusting title, but bear with me. I've been watching Todd Friel's "Wretched" for a couple weeks now. Let's see if I can work my way through his "process" with you, my friend - whoever you may be reading this right now.
Let me ask you a question. Do you consider yourself to be a good person? (Typical answer is, "Yeah, I'm pretty good. I mean, I'm not perfect, no one is, but I think I'm mostly good. So, yeah, I'm a good person.")
Okay, then. Do good people go to heaven? (Typical answer is, "Yeah. Like, if their good outweighs the bad, then yeah.")
By your own admission, you are a good person, right? Okay. Are you familiar with the 10 Commandments? ("Yeah.") How many lies do you think you've told in your lifetime? (Typical answer is, "Too many.") Okay, I have too. So, people like you and me, who have told lies, we are what? ("Liars.") That's right. I'm a liar. You're a liar.
Okay, what about stealing? Have you ever taken something that wasn't yours? (Typical answer, "Yeah, like when I was a kid. And I took some of my roommate's cookies in college.") Okay, you've stolen. That makes you a... ("thief").
And what about lust? Because the 10 Commandments tells us not to commit adultery, and Jesus judges our heart, if we've lusted then that's adultery in our heart. Have you ever lusted before? ("Yeah.") Okay, then you're an adulterer, too.
So, by your own words, you're a liar, a thief, and an adulterer. That's three of the Ten Commandments right there! We didn't even check the other seven. If you died right now, and God laid out all your sins, because He knows them, everything you've ever done in private, in the dark, or when you thought no one was looking, and God judged you as a liar, a thief, and an adulterer, would God allow you into Heaven? Can God allow someone who's admittedly a liar, thief, and an adulterer into the gates of Heaven? (Typical answer is, "No. I guess He can't do that.")
At this point, if you realize that you, too, are a liar, a thief, and an adulterer, then you must understand... there is NO chance for you to get to heaven by yourself. Nothing you could possibly do can ever get you there.
I explain it to my kids this way: At dinner tonight, we're having iced tea with our meal. It's sweet tea, a whole pitcher! Yum! But, I just want you to know, I peed in the pitcher. Just a little. I mean, it's mostly sweet tea, with just a little pee. Can I pour you some? Invariably, they wrinkle up their noses at me, disgustedly, and say no way. That's how it is with God. He wants NO sin in His perfect heaven! Just like we want NO pee in our tea. Now, we can get clean tea, no problem: just dump the pitcher and start new. But we can't do that with our lives, we don't get to start over, and we're not perfect, because we have ALL sinned. Not a single one of us has ever lived a perfect life.
Except Jesus.
Now, because God is good, he loves all things holy and righteous. Justice is good. God loves justice. If he didn't punish sin, there would be no justice. He demands a blood sacrifice for the punishment of sin. Sin is paid for with death. That's where Jesus comes in. Jesus is God's Son, He is wholly God and wholly man, He was born into a sinful world, but He lived a perfect life. Jesus never stole, lied, or lusted like you and I have. He always honored His parents, He worshipped only His heavenly Father, He kept the Sabbath, never used God's name in vain, never murdered anyone even in His heart, never was jealous for Himself what someone else has... He was absolutely perfect! And He, as a perfect man, allowed Himself to be put on a cross and unjustly killed so that all your sins, past, present, and future, could be cast upon Him, and He paid the price for YOUR sins. He died, so you could live.
But He did so much more than just die for you. He conquered that grave, and rose to life again. Because of His sacrifice for you, you get to go to heaven. The bible says, "No man cometh unto the Father but by Me." And that "Me" is Jesus Christ, our Savior. There is no amount of good you can do that can qualify you for heaven, because all your good is tainted with whatever sins you've committed. Plain and simple. To "get to heaven" you must repent and put your trust in Jesus, believe that His death sacrifice was sufficient to pay your way to heaven.
Do you know what "repent" means? It means to "turn from." Acknowledge that you are a sinner, repent from your sins, and accept that Jesus paid your bill, your debt is covered by His blood, and you, my friend, can "get to heaven." That's all there is to it. Christianity is the ONLY "religion" in the entire world whose God paid for you to get to heaven. ALL other "religions" require the believer to earn their own way through works, but the Bible tells us no one can earn it, that Jesus paid it. Jesus - fully God and fully perfect man. He did it for you! Rely on Him, and Him alone!
Now, do you know how much more God loves you? He not only sent His Son to die for you, but He wrote you 66 loveletters so you can get to know Him. Imagine if you have a love-interest, and you wrote him 66 loveletters, and he never read them. Would you feel loved by him? No, you wouldn't. God's loveletters to you are His Holy Bible. There are 66 books in there. If you are grateful to Him for saving you (if you've repented and put your trust in Jesus), then read His loveletters to you! You can find out so much about God! And you can talk to Him, too! He wants you to pick up the phone and call Him every minute of every day! That's called prayer!
Friend, if you have questions about all this, please feel free to shoot me an e-mail right here on HSB, or leave me a comment and I'll do my best to answer.
Jesus loves you. He loves you enough to have paid your debt. Amen!
I'm usually excited about Thanksgiving each year. Family, friends, fun and fabulous food is something to look forward to. This year it's not the same. It may be because I haven't focused on the what to do's and what to makes. The only thing we've done around here is started Thanksgiving journals. Maybe over the weekend I'll get more excited about the whole thing. I could make some pumpkin bars and some eggnog bread.. that might help my mood.
I think we'll do a family craft together. We've done one when my eldest two where younger. Now that I have five children it will be more fun.
We'll make a Thanksgiving tree.
I'll cut out a tree base out of construction paper and then all my children, my hubbs and I can cut out a bunch of our traced hands in fall colors, and then glue them to the tree.
I think it'll look real neat this year with all the different sized hands.
What about you? Do you do any family crafts together?
Posted By Mom of Three Little Ladies and one Little Blessing Boy
From the Heart:
I'm loving being with my kids. Every moment that I get with them fills my heart. It is so wonderful to hold my son in my arms and hear him say, "I wuv you, Mommy. You're adorable!" I also love watching and experiencing the moments that my five year old studies her first words and reads them. Each day she makes so much progress. My 10 and 12 year olds amaze me with how they are growing into young ladies more each day and becoming individuals. Life as a Mom is good.
The little ones like to snuggle in the rocking chair after their bath near the wood stove.
I just finished looking over my blog from a year ago. I am so glad that I am not in that place any longer! A year ago my Snow Crystal was having concentration problems, abdominal pain, seizures, weakness, and looked like a little holocaust survivor. She was depressed and talking about suicide. I praise God for all my friends who so faithfully prayed, and for the cure of becoming gluten-free again, and avoiding artificial additives. She is my healthy, happy, seizure-free young lady again. No more of any of those things, and her school work has improved dramatically this year. I am so grateful to the Lord!
In the School Room:
Mountain Princess, 12, and Snow Crystal, 10: Abraham Lincoln was shot again this week (we learned it a few weeks ago, but readressed the reasons this week). The aftermath of the civil war was anything but nice. Andrew Johnson may have had Abraham's roots, but he lacked some of Abe's other successful political prowess. Matter can be in the form of a solid, a liquid, a gas, and plasma. Old Yeller is my 10 year old's first school book to be taken on without my help, and she's doing a good job. She even stated that this is her favorite reader ever. Caddie Woodlawn continues to be a spunky little thing. Tall tales are fun because they exaggerate a story and hyperboles are perfect to put in them. Mountain Princess finished up decimals, fractions and percentages, and moved on to tesselations. (Did I learn about these in school? They are fun.) Snow Crystal is working on fractions now.
Bubbies, 5, learned about the clothing and culture of the French in the period just before Napoleon's time and about the French revolution. Birds have feathers, lay eggs, are warm-blooded, and most eat other animals. We examined an old robin's nest and found an unhatched egg. Robin nests are made of mud, twigs and grass. Numbers higher than ten are made with groups of ten and units. She finished the week by writing her numbers between twenty and thirty.
Little Critter, 3, is beginning to take himself to the potty and we are having much fewer peeing accidents. On the other hand, yesterday he pooped in the bathtub again. Good thing sister wasn't with him this time!
On the Mission Field:
One of my favorite speakers, Graeme from Australia, was here speaking on cultural differences. We had another India - style dinner too. The students have only two more weeks before they head out on outreach. They will spend their first month in New Mexico with the Navajo work there, then the final eight weeks in India. We saw the Lord bring in a bunch of money toward their outreach expenses. That is always fun to see.
In the Literary Scene:
I am reading Brock and Bodie Thoene's second book in the Galway Series Of Men and of Angels.
Feeding on His Faithfulness,
Carol
If you would like to join me in this theme, just write up your own weekly summary, using mine or your own categories. Then sign the Mr. Linky below. I'd love to read your weekly summaries too! I hope to post mine on each Friday or Saturday. At the latest it will be on Sunday. If you get yours done before I do, just leave your link in my cbox or comments from the week before. Be sure and check last week's Mr. Linky for any new ones who posted before I did! It is a great way to meet new people.
I have had this blog since June of 2005, way back when homeschoolblogger was in beta. I was invited by two dear friends, ByHisGraceInColorado and HomegrownHearts and became hooked. For three years I blogged almost daily or at least three to four days a week. I had many readers and I met a lot of neat like-minded folks. This year was different. I didn't have the energy. I spent my days drained and even though I had creative learning ideas to share I would sit here and stare at my computer. The words just could not flow out the way they used to.
That is changed! I am back. I have my energy back and I feel great!
I haven't thought much about Thanksgiving this year. We will be going over to my grandmothers home. I'm supposed to make mashed potatoes and eggnog bread.
Kids learning: I started my two eldest on Time4Learning. I figure it will give them something different to do plus it will give me a bit more time to focus on my little ones. I have two more that are learning to read.
I'll let you know what my kids think of time4learning in a few weeks when they've been doing it for a while. The nice thing about it is there are no contracts and we can go month to month.
My husband John and I have been married for 22 years as of April 2009. We have 3 children- two teens and a 10 year old and have been homeschooling for most of their lives. After John left the State Police in 1992, we spent 10 years as missionaries to Romania. We returned from the field in March of 2007. John was rehired by the State Police in 2008 and the whole family is very involved in ministering in a new church plant.
From the Heart:
