Posted By Savvy in Other Stuff

Hey!

You know my fish I talked about earlier, Sparkle? I think she is going to have babies. It might be a problem seperating her from the babies after she has them, because last night we were trying to look on the computer to see if we needed to seperate her from the other fish right now or later.

~ Savvy

Posted By diamondsintherough

This is Jenifer Cook's beautiful piano accompaniment arrangement of Haven of Rest.  Amy is at the piano, and Alison on the violin.

Have a happy and blessed Thanksgiving!

Posted By Ginger Atkins in Christian persecution

We were so blessed to have Robert Brock and his family and friends at church  yesterday to present a message about the persecuted church and join with us in our worship service. While he prepared the audience that this would be a difficult message to hear, we were to  bear in mind this truth: we win!

People don't like to talk about the persecuted church.  Who would,  except a persecutor  and Satan?


A Christian is compelled to be a witness for Christ. That witness sometimes must testify of troubling situations, including the plight of our family in Christ.  Over and over again, our speaker reaffirmed what Scripture teaches: that we win with Christ, and that we must exhibit a tremendous forgiving love for those who would persecute us, sharing the Gospel with everyone. Story after story revealed that the persecuted church doesn't cave in---they reach out with love and the hope of Jesus to those that hurt them!


Most of what he presented was not new to those of us who are regular readers of the Voice of the Martyrs monthly free magazine or  www.persecution.com . Pictures, stories, and camera phone videos of actual persecution were chilling.  That look of , "I had no idea!" was plainly evident on many faces, even as it was on mine when I read Tortured for Christ more than nine years ago.  One would think that such stories would be reported, they are so appalling.  One would like to think that such inhumanities are worthy of at least as much air time as celebrity clothing and scandals.



Indeed, it is a shock to realize that the evening news hasn't reported the demolition of Christian churches in foreign countries, the jailings and beatings of Christians who have committed the atrocious crime of not renouncing their faith.  There are no headlines on the news about Christians kept for months in shipping containers in Eritrea because their government won't recognize the validity of their faith. 




It should come as a shock to us to hear about the refugees in Sudan, the FARC Marxist guerillas that gun down Christian ministers in Colombia, the mob riots in India where Hindus and Communists fight each other and use Christians as scapegoats, and the most hated group of people in the world--Palestinian Christians.





We should be shocked enough to hit our knees and pray for them daily, hourly if we can.



We should be so shocked that we permanently leave the "church as social club" lifestyle behind and forsake luekwarm Christianity forever.  Especially in my area of the country,  where church can often be more of a habit than a conviction, we need to recover the passion for Jesus, the lost, and ministering to those persecuted in Christ's cause.


We should be so moved that we not "shoot the messenger" who tells us about our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ, but ask ,"What can we do to help?"


Well, here are some simple ways to learn more.

1. Go to the Voice of the Martyrs website and sign up to receive their FREE monthly newsletter and a FREE copy of Pastor Richard Wurmbrand's book, Tortured for Christ.


2. Bookmark these sites and sign up for e-mail newsletters [if available] :  www.persecution.com, www.persecutionblog.com, and www.compassdirect.org . 


3.  Invite a VOM speaker to address your group, church, homeschool co-op or Sunday school, by going to www.vommeetings.com . You can also sign up to be notified of meetings in your area at that site, too.


4. Share!  Give away your newsletters to friends, sign them up, invite them to a VOM meeting, email articles, blog about what you've read, talk about it with friends, share with your pastor, but somehow SHARE!



That's what Voice of the Martyrs is all about. Give them a voice---yours.

Posted By Ginger Atkins in books

I'm an affiliate for Christianbook.com, mainly because it's my favorite place to find Bibles, Christian books, homeschool supplies, etc.  I just visited their Christmas shop and it is oo-la-la for an avid reader  like myself.  They also have lots of music, Advent calendars, home decor, and other goodies, too.  

Enjoy and thanks for shoppping with Doe Hill Homeschool and CBD!

Posted By Ginger Atkins

In an article featured on Townhall's  Issues: Budget and Government page,  Dr. Mark W. Hendrickson comments on the financial and political situation that could give rise to "The Coming of Caesar."   

He begins:

 "We have a problem. This could be “the big one”—bigger than coping with the Ahmadinejads, Kims, and Chavezes of the world and bigger than our current economic woes. Our republic, our society, may be heading for a crackup."

It is certainly food for thought.

Posted By Cathy in My Week

It's a lovely morning here in the Northwest, as in it is forcasted to be cloudy today and not rainy.

It is a trying time of year for me. My Dad loves to tell a story about me that when I was a little baby, he'd take me out in the rain or the cold and immediately I would start crying. I feel like that on the inside now. Oh, where I live is beautiful. The terrain, the wide variety of activities within a short distance from one another, the green...but the constant rain... Well, I'm sorry, you probably didn't come to my blog to hear a lot of whining. I live in the jet stream and I live on the foothills. This time of year I dream of moving somewhere a little sunnier. In the late Spring, Summer, and early Fall, I wouldn't dream of living anywhere else. Our ties have us rooted here anyhow.

This morning, I felt like a "normal" family. Jon was taking Riah to school and he and I got up early (as in 7:00) to get her ready to go. I cleaned, the other kids slept. We have such freedom with our business that we tend to not get up till 8:30 or 9:00 and often Jon doesn't leave until 10:00. I'm always so behind in my day because of this...at least this time of year when it's dark before 5:00. It seems like with most families the husband has to be to work by a certain time and that provides some routine. Of course, I know of other families where the Dad work swing shift. That would be a definite challenge. I am challenged enough to establish a routine for my family with a decently early bedtime and a decently early wake time.

I'm planning on going out and soaking in some light and doing a bit of shopping before the Thanksgiving rush. Then, I'll homeschool. Wish me God's blessings.

In Him-

 

Posted By Miss Eyebright in Thoughtful Thinks


Here is this week's installment of my contribution to The Gratitude Community.  I'm not actually an official part of it, but you can be if you like!  Go check it out!

I am Thankful for...

  11. Books
  12. Blankets
  13. Hot tea
  14. Homemade bread
  15. My first customer at my Etsy shop.
  16. Pumpkins
  17. Forgiveness
  18. My best friend in the whole, wide world, Bluejane.
  19. Knitting
  20. New friends What are you Thankful for? Copyright 2009 Defective Compositions

Posted By Kristen

There are several giveaways, sales, and memes that I've found today that I really must share!

Curriculum Choice is hosting a giveaway of 50 1-year subscriptions to Home Educating Family Magazine. Head over right now and enter! I'll wait.




Next, there is a great holiday blog called Joyful Holidays. There are some super Thanksgiving ideas and links posted. Christmas to begin soon. And giveaways starting on December 1.







This looks like a really fun blog event. It's the 2nd annual Bloggy Progressive Dinner hosted by Amy's Finer Things. I love real progressive dinners and what a fun opportunity to find some great new recipes for entertaining! (or just eating.)



Now for some shopping! Every year I head to the Scholastic Warehouse sale before Christmas. They have a great selection of books, of course, but I especially love the Klutz kits and other similar items for Christmas gifts. You can see if there's a sale near you. They're private sales, open to educators only. (But homeschoolers are allowed!)

Black Friday sale at www.TheOldSchoolhouseStore.com . There are going to be some great deals, especially on The Old Schoolhouse Magazine Subscriptions!

Finally, I love the products that the Vision Forum sells. I got an e-mail that they are having a free shipping special for 48 hours. So if you've been waiting to buy, now is the time!

Posted By Tinab

Cracking up watching Amazing Race. They have to run up and downaisles checking 600 seats looking for a miniature instrument. Crazy!!!

Posted By Melissa in Nature in Autumn

My sweet Preschooler and I went on our very own nature walk today to seek out color on a somewhat drabby day. This November has been a very mild one, indeed, but also has lacked sunshine. So we determined ourselves to find our very own "sunshine" by finding colors in the brown of late autumn.

 

At first, it seemed everywhere we looked there was brown, which we still found beauty in.

 

 

 

 

Here, we found STARS! She said they look like fireworks too.

 

 

Then we started noticing all the pretty green around still, even after the frosts.

 

 

 

And the pretty green lichen and white fungi were plentiful.

 

 

We couldn't decide if we wanted to call these berries "red" or "purple", so we called them "red purple".

 

 

And finally, there was this neat looking orange fungi. We thought they looked like orange fingers!

 

 

But the most colorful thing I found in nature today, was my sweet Gabby Rose.