Oh my goodness! Many of my friends know the story of how we came to become Unschoolers. Many have read the stories of my children and shed tears for them. And along with the tears, they have shared the joys with them that homeschooling/unschooling/escape from the system has brought with it. When we realized that the standard route wasn't going to work, I was frantic on what we were going to do. I will admit to wondering just what was wrong with us that we were so different that the standard route that seemed to work for so many, failed so miserably for us. I thought we were alone in this,too. Well, thanks to many connections online, I have since learned that this is a nation wide problem. Children all over this country are suffering. Many have loving parents who like me, have chosen to rescue their children from this torture we call school. To this day, I'm in awe of the parents I've met who had the wisdom to spare their children from this experience. Currently, two blogs are gathering more information. If you would like to contribute, The Stone Age Techie is doing a survey on 'Why do you homeschool'. Click on this button to take the survey:

 Then head on over to A Chance to Shine.  I love that they are taking their story and sharing it so that maybe, another parent will find it and save their child from the suffering. I know it would have been a huge comfort to me a few years back. Make sure to read their Stupid Discipline section. They are accepting stories so if you have one, please contribute.

Will NBC be surprised? Here's your chance to let the media know where the people stand on our faith in God, as a nation. NBC is presently taking a poll on "In God We Trust" to stay on our American currency. Please send this to every person you know so they can vote on this important subject. Please do it right away, before NBC takes this off their web page. Poll is still open so you can vote:

CLICK ON BELOW, VOTE & THEN FORWARD TO FRIENDS

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10103521/

This is not sent for discussion. If you agree forward it, if you don't, delete it. By my forwarding it, you know how I feel. I'll bet this is going to be a surprise to NBC. "In God We Still Trust"

At nine days old, the kittens eyes are open. None are named yet.

Living Biology is something we get to experience here on our farm.   Over the past few years, I've been sharing many of these experiences as they have come along.  My children have been raised with many pets so I'd like to share with you our newest bebies born just this morning.  First, here is the story of how  these new precious babies came about. 

Hobbs the daddy, was born born here on May 30, 2007.  You can read his birth story at Lamaze for cats?  He and his siblings baby pictures are posted at Introducing Five Little Kittens.  All of the kittens and momma were fixed except for Hobbs.  We kept him intact as he was such a beautiful cat, with a loving personality, which we thought would be excellent in future generations.

Then along came Suvy and Stickers who were rescued on June 11, 2008.  To this day, Stickers, still earns that name.  She's sweet and loving but she just can't grasp the concept that her claws need to be in. Stickers was also a bit of a surprise.  Early in her life, she needed an emergency trip to the twenty-four hour vet clinic.  Her life was saved but the vet insisted that she was a he.  Since that left Suvy as the only unfixed female, we didn't give it another thought.  We were going to breed Hobbs and Suvy and see what type of kittens they'd throw.  You can read Suvy's and Sticker's story at How Many Kittens?

Well, sometimes it's best to trust yourself when sexing kittens.  Both Suvy and Stickers are females.  Early this morning, Suvy gave birth to four beautiful kittens.  Stickers should be having her's soon.  Both mommas are being kept safe inside away from all the other pets.  Poor Suvy was very confused this morning about what those wet noisey creatures were.  My spouse soothed her and got her to lie down and I went and gathered her babies, dried them off a bit, then handed them to James.  He rubbed them on Suvy's face and placed them on her belly.  Poor Suvy was so very confused.  She wasn't taking to motherhood very well and it was beginning to look like it wasn't going to go well.  James encouraged her to lick her babies and I'm happy to report nature has taken over and even the smallest is now nursing!

National Geographic has an excellent series called In the Womb for any one who would like to learn more about cats and their development.  I'll post babies pictures once they get a little bit bigger.

Kennedy Space Center invited their employees to invite their friends and families for a behind the scenes tour of the actual facility! Since my husband's best friend is employed there, we were included in this special event! Thanks John!! We love you!
 
And so the tour begins =): This is the back end of the real space shuttle minus it's engines. They take them out after every flight to check them out before the next flight.
This is a shot of one of the moving walls inside the OPF (Orbitor Processing Facility). By moving the walls, the space shuttle can be brought in easily and then worked on once the walls move in close.
Here is the Space Shuttle inside the OPF. This is the under belly of the space shuttle. The green tags mark tiles that need replacing.

This picture speaks for itself =P
 
George in front of one of the Space Shuttle's engines.
Dad & son in front of engine.
 
Sibling love.
 
How would you like a set of these at $4500.00 each?
This is a demonstration of just how much control they have over the crane they use. They have this monstrous wheel sitting on an egg. Interesting...



Dad explaining how it all works. These are the moments that I treasure being married to an extremely smart engineering minded man. =D
 
Now this is my type of tool! This is an airbrush!!
Pilot Parachute.
 
Learning happens all the time.
 

Easter is always such a wonderful time for the Lord's blessings.  A time to remember that He has given his all for us.  This year, he gifted me with a beautiful reminder that he loves me and wants me to have joy in this world.  I say this, as I have been through much stress on so many levels which sometimes feels all encompassing.  So let me just touch the highlights that happened this past Easter weekend. 

First, He reminded me of the wonderful blessing He gave me near nineteen years ago, on another Easter weekend, when my first born came into the world bright and early with the sun.  This year, I went outside at sunrise, and found that Marble, my horsey baby, hand raised by me since her mother died giving birth to her, had just delivered her first born.

Upon seeing this little one, my first thought was 'Flash'.  I can't tell you why, but so far, no one has come up with a better more suited name.  Marble looked hungry, so I went and fed everyone.  I was surprised when Madeye lead the baby up.  Marble was too hungry to worry and Madeye left Flash in my care while he, too, went off to eat. 

That's Marble in the background with the white strip down her withers. She ate her fill then came over and collected her baby.  I moved them both into a secluded pasture so momma and baby could get to know each other in peace.  =)

It's been twelve days, and today, Flash had her first outing away from momma.  As a general rule, we allow the babies to meet people and get accustomed to being touched.  So this morning, Flash received her first non-momma bath, then we took her to visit a friend who has been asking to see a newborn for quite sometime.  Today, we made that happen.  We took Flash over to visit Mary, a blind friend that had been raised with horses.  Larger, much larger horses then Flash, but the smile on Mary's face made me so happy that we made this trip.

 

After Flash's first outing, she was tired and took a nap on the way home.

 

Babies are precious.  Easter babies are God's way of reminding us he loves us and wants us to be happy. =)  Blessings to all.