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May. 17, 2008 • Café Chat: Generational Sin
Posted in Faith-Related
 The Internet Café started a brand new meme last week called Café Chat. This week's topic is "What is one habit, negative pattern, or sin that has been passed down your family line from generation to generation that you do not want to pass down to your own family line? What steps are you taking to make sure the habit, pattern or sin is not repeated in your own family?"
One of the generational sins that I struggle with is being critical of those closest to me. Not only is this a sin, but it is a deeply ingrained habit that I have been struggling with for years; unfortunately, my loving and patient husband can attest attest to that fact.
I try to make sure I apologize as soon as I become aware that I am being critical in a way that is not redemptive (different from constructive criticism). I still often need my husband to point this out to me. I also try to make sure I show outward affection to my husband and family, as this is not natural for me and it helps my family know that I am serious about repenting for my sin. I am quite honest in talking about my struggles with my husband and children - they are aware that I am sinning when I am being critical and that I know that I am sinning.
My biggest weapon against this generational sin is prayer. Thank you, Lord, that you are forgiving, merciful and willing to unconditionally dispense grace and love to me in this battle; and thank you for the power to break this sin in my family so that it goes no further!
If you would like to participate in this week's chat, go to the post for this week's topic.
~Andrea
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May. 16, 2008 • Dog Show Field Trip
Posted in Home Education
The terrier races were extremely amusing. |
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The obstacle course was amazing! |
I was quite impressed with some of the creative and
educational displays. |
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The kids loved petting the dogs...
and meeting a star! This is St. Bernie from Snow Buddies:
My favorite part was the duck herding!
If you would like to participate in this meme, go to the HOTM Field
Trip Friday post.
~Andrea
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May. 14, 2008 • Blogger Friend School #27
Posted in Blogger Friend School
 Here is this week's assignment from Nancy's blog:
Hello everyone! I thought it would be nice to get to know one another's Favorite Bible Story...not necessarily a story in the Bible but the story of what your favorite Bible verse or story is and why. This will probably be a very easy assignment for us all but with warmer weather well on it's way, I know how hard it is to stay indoors, even for school work. Have fun with it and remember we only have two more BFS assignments left!
Go here if you would like to participate.
It is difficult for me to choose just one Bible verse or story because I have many that have been favorites for different seasons or circumstances of my life.
The story of Esther has consistently been a favorite of mine; it is such a beautiful picture of faithful obedience, redemption, justice and God's ultimate sovereignty.
"For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies." Psalm 57:10
~Andrea
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May. 13, 2008 • Tuesdays in "Other" Words
Posted in Faith-Related
So He went to her, took her hand and helped her up. Mark 1:31a
This snippet of Scripture denotes complete trust in Jesus to me. I picture Peter's mother-in-law looking trustfully up at Jesus as he gently takes her hand and helps her stand up from her sick bed. Our culture of independence makes it very difficult to trust others, even God. We say that we trust Him, yet we refuse to relinquish control over so many areas of our lives.
How much do we trust Him with our finances, for instance? I do not mean that we should be poor stewards, but do we really trust Him when there is the potential of severe financial difficulties? Or do we make our best laid plans and falter or panic when it seems that they are failing?
What about our children? Do we really trust our Lord with them? We tend to search for formulas that we believe will turn out well-mannered, responsible, godly children. Do we trust our formulas more than we trust our God and Savior, Who loves our children more than we do?
What would it be like to abandon control of all worries, plans, fears, hurts, ______; and look up into His eyes and allow Him help us up and see our circumstances through His perfect love and shelter, and sometimes even through His loving discipline; to be so full of His grace and love that we have no time to worry about our own circumstances, but are compelled look about for ways to serve others?
I want to truly say and mean the words "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21); meaning death to my flesh so that I am always available for His work.
~Andrea
If you would like to participate in this week's Tuesdays in "Other" Words, go to Beloved MaMa's blog.
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May. 12, 2008 • Menu Plan Monday ~ May 12
Posted in Menu Plan Monday
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May. 12, 2008 • Homeschool Hi-Lights: Community Service
Posted in Home Education
 Ellen from Fun Learning is hosting a meme called Homeschool Hi-Lights. To participate, write a post about a highlight from your past week of home learning, then go to Fun Learning's Homeschool Hi-Lights post for the week and add your post's permalink to Mr. Linky.
Our big highlight of the week was helping sort food that our church's food bank receives from the annual Stamp Out Food Hunger Food Drive, sponsored by the National Association of Letter Carriers. I was not going to post about this here since it is not technically school-related, but, on second thought, maybe it is! Here are the subjects we covered:
- Physical Education: We did quite a bit of unloading, carrying and unpacking of food.
- Math: Everyone worked hard at sorting all of the food into the appropriately-labeled bins.
- Language Arts: Everyone had to be able to read the food item labels and the labels on the bins. Comprehension was also important.
- Community Service: This is the most important of all to me.
- Socialization: Several neighborhood children who attend our weekly children's ministry stopped by to see what was going on and stayed to help. The kids worked together and played outside together while waiting for the next truckloads of food. (I just had to add this one!)
I forgot my camera, but my friend, Kristie, posted some pictures on her blog if you are interested in viewing them.
Much of the food we received is set aside for an annual community outreach that we hold at the end of June. Most of the members of our church volunteer for this event, where people in the community can come to hear the Gospel and receive free groceries and clothing. We serve a free lunch outside (Kristie and her husband, Rich, run the lunch tent) and provide a moonwalk and an inflatable "hoops" game for children. We usually have a very large turnout (almost 1000 people last year). All prayers are appreciated, as we are currently in the planning stages of this event.
Have a wonderful and adventurous week of learning!
~Andrea
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May. 9, 2008 • The Way We Socialize
Posted in Home Education
 This topic for this week's Heart of the Matter Online Meme is The Way We Socialize.
I decided to look up the word "socialize" before writing on this topic. Here's what my Webster's says:
so-cial-ize -- v.t. 1. to make social; make fit for life in companionship with others. 2. to make socialistic; establish or regulate according to the theories of socialism. 3. Educ. to treat as a group activity: to socialize spelling quizzes. -- v.i. 4. to associate or mingle sociably with others: to socialize with one's fellow workers.
How do we socialize? We talk and listen to our children (amazing idea, isn't it?) to teach them to interact in conversation with others. We also attempt to teach them appropriate manners (repetitively, it seems). The most important and ongoing lesson that we try to live and teach is to be aware of others' needs and be willing to serve them. That is our idea of making them "fit for life in companionship with others."
I will skip numbers 2 and 3 and move on to number 4 in the definition above. :-) Our children participate in church activities and outreaches. They also participate in sports, an art class, and other activities as they come up. They have some neighborhood friends that they play with, but I'm not sure how helpful that is with number 1. :-)
Are our children perfectly socialized? Nope! We sometimes feel like we teach them the same things over and over, and they tend to be selfish (wonder where they get that from). However, as a family we are working towards preferring others above ourselves. Of course, that means that my husband and I have many lessons to learn and model.
~Andrea
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May. 8, 2008 • Catching Up
Posted in My Ramblings
I just thought I would write a quick post so you know I'm still here. :-) I've been so much better about keeping up with this blog lately that I feel like I'm slacking if I am too busy to post!
I've been busy working on some friends' computers, planning for a couple of upcoming church outreaches, homeschooling, yada yada - you get the picture. 
It has been a crazy couple of weeks for computers! A friend's hard drive crashed. After multiple attempts to clean it up, I ended up having to reformat it and reinstall her operating system. My pastor has been having some computer problems that I was finally able to resolve. Another friend's computer crashed and she needs help moving her files from her old hard drive to her new computer. It has been fun and interesting, but I am tired of computers right now. My eyes are blearing over as I type. :-)
My family's busy season has officially arrived, so I may be sporadic with my posts for a couple of months. I am trying to post at least a few times a week, though, and I will attempt to make them meatier and more interesting than this one.
Here are a few of posts that I am considering in the near future:
- Generating and Personalizing a Tapestry of Grace Booklist
- Creating a 3-column Template on HSB
- Printing a Booklet in Adobe Acrobat Reader
There - now I have to post about those topics! If you are particularly interested a topic that I listed (or something similar), please let me know and I will work on it first.
Have a great weekend if I don't get back here before next week!
~Andrea
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The thoughts of a book-loving, home schooling wife and mother who wants to be available to serve her Savior in her family, home, church, and wherever He chooses to send her.
