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The Common Thread that Weaves My Memories
Posted by Sagerats
10:07 PM, Nov. 4, 2009 .. Posted in Uncategorically Speaking .. 1 comments .. Link "The family. We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another's desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together." ~Erma BombeckThat common thread, I know what it is. It's love. Not necessarily for each other, but for the same group of people. For instance, my sister and I are very opposite from each other, but our love for our mother is the only thing that keeps us together. We also love the same aunts, and uncles, and cousins, but it's our mom that keeps us in communication. I pray that I will always remember the fun my family has had. I don't ever want to forget the good times. I'm going to be writing some of them down, more for my benefit then yours, but I hope that I write them well enough that you can enjoy them too. I want to weave my memories together on "paper" before my mind unravels. I'm not expecting that to happen anytime soon, but I've already noticed that a few strands have been pulled and the edges are wearing. My mom keeps a box full of all the comic strips that made her truly laugh. She wants to read them when she is old and feeling unhappy. I want the same thing of my memories. In case I can't remember, I can pull one out and hopefully it will help me to remember and I can be happy because my life has been so truly blessed. I may even pull them out before I'm very old, because so often lately I do forget just how blessed I am. Butch Bills and the Sundance Sagerats
Posted by Sagerats
Why on earth do I feel like a criminal on the run while keeping one step ahead of financial ruin? To date I've done nothing criminal, nor do I plan to, and yet I feel like I am dodging "the law" of creditors. Just so it's clear, we actually still have good credit, but only due to the grace and mercy of God. 12:08 PM, Nov. 3, 2009 .. Posted in Uncategorically Speaking .. 2 comments .. Link Still, there are days when I think it would just be a whole lot easier if I turned myself in and went to debtors prison. Not that we have that anymore, but I am so weary of this flight into financial freedom. Flight might be a strong word for it--it's more like dragging a penguin on a leash. On the whole I have no one to blame but myself, we gambled and we are losing, but there have been outside influences that have played their part. Just as a farmer must still depend on the weather in order to produce a good crop, while doing what he can to help it along. Frost, tornados, and hail can all destroy a crop, it shows no mercy to a dedicated farmer or a lazy one. Remember how I said that our good credit is still only good because of the grace and mercy and God? It's true, but I have several friends who were finally captured by the credit Pinkertons--Bankruptcy and Foreclosure. In no way do I think that God's mercy and grace were pulled away from them, although I'm sure they may feel that way. I just don't understand how I can feel like I've done something so morally wrong, as if I committed first-degree non-payment, and why I have to keep looking over my shoulder and dodging the long arm of the law, certain that I am about to be caught. While I know that the enemy can beat me up, there must be a reason why I feel so guilty. I don't think it's all the bad guy in the black hat. No, we didn't spend our money on extravagances instead of paying our bills. I'm not saying that we have always spent our money wisely, but we've not been neglectful either. Yet, have I been a good steward? Sadly, no. There is only One who can grant me immunity, riding the white horse, swooping down, scooping me up, and riding away into the sunset. Okay, I don't have to wait for the Rapture, He can still save me, but it painted a good picture for my theme, don't you think? Christ is who I must run to, instead of dodging from payday bush to payday bush, and hiding out in dark caves of no cell-phone service so the creditors can't call. He won't tell me that I don't have to pay my bills and He won't actually pay them for me like He has my sins, but He can give me much needed rest and focus. He still answers prayer! If only I would take the time to actually look for Him instead of at how far away the next payday bush is. Holiday Idea Book--No Charge
Posted by Sagerats
9:51 AM, Nov. 2, 2009 .. Posted in Uncategorically Speaking .. 1 comments .. Link
My 4th Blogiversary
Posted by Sagerats
Wow. I can't believe it's been 4 years since I started blogging. A lot can change in a year, think of what can change in four!6:59 PM, Oct. 31, 2009 .. Posted in Uncategorically Speaking .. 7 comments .. Link When I first started blogging I was a small time homesteader. We had goats that we milked. (We had chickens, too, but that was before the blog.) We also had two dogs and three cats. We don't homestead anymore because I have asthma and even walking into the barn would make me sick due to all the hay and straw. We now have one cat. When I first started blogging I lived in Oregon. Now I live in Kentucky. I lived in the country, now I live in town. The economy was a lot stronger four years ago. When I first started blogging I was homeschooling my four children. Now I only homeschool three because my oldest is a homeschool graduate. When I first started blogging I had a staunch supporter in Nanna Nina. She read my blog daily, encouraged me, and told her friends to come read my blog. She died 2 years ago, and oh how I still miss her! The pain is still so fierce that I can't ever think about her without crying. I've also lost 3 other family members but I've gained 2 with the birth of a cousin-once-removed, and a great-niece. When I first started blogging I wasn't the Senior Editor of HSB or an Assistant Marketing Director, or any of the other things that I do for TOS. Sometimes, I really miss being "just a mom," but if I have to work, I'd rather work for TOS then anywhere else. When I first started blogging I had a lot of good friends. Now I have even more! For all of you who have been following my blog, thank you! Outside of family, I don't know why some of you would; I don't really have anything new or different to tell you then any other homeschool blogging mom, but maybe it's nice to know that there is one more, just like you, who loves what she's doing and wouldn't change it for the world. That's important in today's society where feminists rule the work place and stay-at-home mom's are viewed as ignorant and down-trodden. It's why I still read your blogs. I started my blog on Halloween, for no special reason other than we don't celebrate the holiday and I had totally forgotten what the day was. Then and now, we still live our lives for Christ, the best that we can, and we let our little light shine for all the world to see.   Happy Blogiversary to me! Finally.... Surgery UpdateObviously, since I am sitting here typing this entry, something went right with my surgery. Actually, it was much less traumatic than I had thought it would be. My mom and dad drove me to the hospital, so Adrian could stay home with the littles. After we passted the building a few times - thanks to my stellar directions - we walked in the main doors and then followed the hallway mazes until we finally reached the operating waiting room. Soon after sitting down, I was greeted at the hospital by a very kind nurse - she explained that there had been an emergency and my surgery was going to be bumped ahead by an hour. (I hadn't eaten all day, and it was already 4 in the afternoon.) I reminded myself to be thankful that I wasn't the one with the emergency, then settled in for the extra hour of stomach rumbling and sitting. Before I knew it, the kind nurse was calling my name. She had me change into the (very sexy) gown and robe, then had me "get comfortable" on the table. (Why do they ALL say that? I am sorry, again, but those tables are NOT comfortable!) Another nurse brought my parents into the room, then, yet another nurse, placed an IV in my arm as I held tightly to my daddy's hand. (Yes, after 8 babies, I am still a big baby when it comes to needles.) Various nurses and doctors came in to ask me questions like, "Can you verify your birthdate?", "What is your last name?", "What are your allergies?"....even though they had all of the answers right in front of them on my chart. When the questions were done, a nurse said, "Okay, Rebecca, you will start to feel a little sleepy now". She was right! I didn't even think to correct her and tell her that she could call me "Beckie". I vaguely remember being wheeled to the operating room, and moving to the table in there. I was a bit concerned that my butt was showing, but was too tired to do anything about it except make a comment that I was sorry. When I was on the operating table, a far away voice told me to take a few deep breaths. For a quick moment I panicked, thinking I might not fall asleep completely, and would feel everything!.. ...then I woke up. (Whew! I did fall asleep.) The nurse brought my parents into the recovery room, and offered me a soda. Mmmm.... CAFFEINE!! Mountain Dew had never tasted so good! She also brought me a graham cracker. It tasted like a gourmet meal! My mom told me that the doctor had been out to talk to them. Everything had gone well - my kidney stones had broken apart. Hooray!! I was so thankful. After eating my cracker and drinking my soda, I got dressed and the nurse gave me my discharge papers. I would be sore, but they gave me a prescription to help with that. After a quick thank you to everyone who had been so kind to me, my parents led me out of the hospital. Adrian had plans to go hunting the following day, but stayed home with me to help me as I healed. (I was quite sore for a few days.) Two days later, he ended up with H1N1. He was super sick, and ended up needed my help more than I needed his help! Then the kids got sick...and needed us both to take care of them. I am still not sure how we made it through the week. Only by the grace of God!! "O Lord my God, I cried out to You, and You have healed me." (Psalm 30:2) Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. In Him, Beckie Games My Family Likes
Posted by Sagerats
Did you read this week's The Homeschool Minute? It was about the games the families of the THM team like to play. As I'm a behind the scenes team member I'll post the games my family likes to play here. Don't get THM? Sign up!12:38 PM, Oct. 30, 2009 .. Posted in Uncategorically Speaking .. 2 comments .. Link When we lived in Oregon our family played a lot of the standard games at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Grandma loves games! We would play:
Families can be so much fun, take time to play with yours! You don't need to buy a boxed game or create a game night. It just takes imagination, a sense of humor, and an opportunity to stifle boredom. Street Legal Bumper Cars!
Posted by Sagerats
My cousin sent me an email yesterday with some pictures of these darling, street legal, bumper cars! I want one! 7:07 AM, Oct. 29, 2009 .. Posted in Uncategorically Speaking .. 1 comments .. Link I tried to find a website for them to link to, but apparently they don't have a club website, or I'm not searching correctly. As it was it took me awhile to find a website that had several, decent sized pictures and didn't have nasty ads. Even so, click the above link at your own risk. I can't promise the language in the comments is decent. Scroll down and keep looking, past the really big picture, to see even more cool bumper cars. Seasons of ChangeI have been blogging here for over 2 years. Actually, longer than that. I used to have another blog that some of you may remember called Angelstar.This past June I graduated my last child from homeschooling so my season of homeschooling is now over. I have continued to keep up this blog with what's happening in my life because I've made so many wonderful friends here and it's been a way to keep in touch. I actually have had 2 other blogs that I've maintained as well as this one. I've decided that it is taking too much of my time to try and maintain three different blogs, so I've consolidated down to one and I'm hoping that you'll continue to follow me on More of Him-Less of Me. I know it's not always easy to jump from one blog to another, but I do hope that you'll come and visit me. Also, remember that I have a website that has a lot of encouraging homeschool articles for you to read. I also will soon be offering my organizer I've created for sale as well as other things for homeschool Moms. I will have some of my creations that I've made for sale. Be watching for all these new things and while you're visiting my website, be sure and sign my guest book letting me know you've dropped by. God bless you - Julie This Is the Day the Lord Hath Made....It is cloudy, cold, and damp outside today. But inside, it is bright, cheerful, and warm. The fireplace is roaring, taking the cold and dampness out of the air. There is contentment within our family, although going nowhere today, and just staying inside. We started our morning with my usual Sabbath breakfast recipe – a dozen eggs, some whole wheat bread, a cup or two of cheese, and about four turkey patties (pre-cooked) crumbled. I mix all of this together and then sprinkle the egg dish with more cheese, and then bake at 350 for 45 minutes. This gives us a protein rich egg dish to start our day, without all the usual mess and hassle of an egg, sausage, and toast breakfast. We had bought cinnamon rolls the day before to have as our breakfast dessert. So far today, we have read a chapter in Psalms, Proverbs, and a portion in I Samuel 13, 14, 15 and I Chronicles 5 and 9 -this is the story of the reign of Saul. Besides having generous portions of Bible reading as a family, we have played a game of Scrabble, watched the movie, Toy Story, a board game of Monopoly, and read from our historical novel ( a G..A. Henty book) while many of the children colored pictures with fine art- grade precision pencils. My niece was with us this weekend. She arrived Friday evening, as we were preparing our pizzas and breadsticks. We sat at the table together, and before eating, we had prayer, and sought forgiveness from one another for any transgressions against each other in the past week. We remembered as a family how Jesus died and paid the penalty for our sins against Him. His blood was poured out and His body was given up for us. After pizza, we read a portion in the Bible, played a game of Scrabble, and hung out in the family room around the cozy and warm fireplace. I am still having an internet connection problem – therefore – my lack of posts. I have a lot to share and find myself seriously behind in things I’d like to share, such as – Our trip to Biltmore Estate and our tea time with Grandma in August Our first visit to Ruth’s farm in Tennessee in August
Our Family Camp here at Ranch Shekinah in October Our second visit to Ruth’s farm in Tennessee in October Our week of celebrating the Biblical Holiday, Tabernacle of Booths, in Tennessee with Ruth and her fellowship group Ruthie’s 11th birthday party – A Victorian Tea party that we hosted 17 little girls and some of the mom’s Add to all of that, I still haven’t posted on the foaling of Hot Shot and Willow! Although I am way behind in posting, I have been enjoying my family thoroughly. As I mentioned above, we took another trip to Tennessee just a few weeks ago. Just as soon as we got home from that (we were away nine days) it was Ruthie’s birthday – we took all week getting ready for her Victorian Tea Party. There have been a lot of changes within our family since our summer trip to the Bill Gothard Institute of Basic Life Principles seminar, followed up with two inspirational visits to Ruth’s wonderful family in Tennessee. I'm looking forward to sharing what's new with our family, and also to visit with you. See you soon (I hope!) Antoinette A Look to the Past This is a blast from the past - 1968 to be exact. I'm the little squirt in the front with the striped dress and hat. This is in the days when being dressed up really meant something. My leotards (that's what we called them in my day instead of tights) were lacy and white and I had on black, patent leather shoes. I also had a little draw-string purse that matched that dress and hat. I had white gloves, too, because no woman or girl who had any class would be seen out without gloves. I had so many pairs of gloves in different colors to go with different outfits. Notice my sister on the right - now that's stylish! Purse, gloves, belt, hat and shoes all matched! Grey and yellow were very popular during that time - as well as grey and pink. My Mother looks quite stylish and fancy, too, in her black and white outfit and white gloves. See those glasses? They were bright red! I remember how much she loved those glasses. She also had "cat-eye" sunglasses that were white with rhinestones. They were very cool. My Dad is in his probably one and only suit. He was not the dress-up kind of guy. He worked hard and only dressed up when he absolutely had to. Did you see that skinny tie? I'm not sure, but I think we were in Cheyenne for a wedding. I do know that we are in my Grandmother's house standing in front of her piano. That was the place to take pictures. I have many pictures of my family standing in the same spot over the years. Funny how we do that. I do the same thing now in my own home. We have "the spot" to take pictures! lol I think what made me think want to take a look back is because of all the changes I'm seeing in our society. All the little niceties are far and few between. You don't see women wearing gloves and hats anymore, or matching purses and shoes, much. This is not a huge deal - in fact - I'm so glad we don't have to always wear a dress to church or dress up to go to the grocery store. I think what bothers me is the lack of respect, morals, and common decency that is so prevalent in our society. I see people on tv talking like guttersnipes (as my Grandmother would say, meaning a person of the lowest moral station) and I see commercials for things that are best left to the bedroom between married couples. I may or may not be thanked for holding open a door for someone and I may or may not get the door slammed shut when I'm about to walk through behind a person. It depends a lot on the age of the person; older people tend to be more polite as they were raised to be. It used to be that you were considered very immoral and not of good social or moral standing if you didn't worship at your church of choice on Sunday. I can remember a time when you were looked at sideways if you said you weren't a Christian or Jewish. It was expected that you were a believer in the one, true God or you were just not in the norm. People knew that the communists and socialist weren't right. We knew that America was the greatest nation on earth and we were thankful we were born here. We stood and put our hand over our heart when we saluted the flag. We were patriotic and cared about our country - we weren't ashamed of it. We knew we were blessed and were so thankful. We treated our troops with the honor they deserved for risking their lives for our country. Will we ever be able to go back to how it was or has too much been accepted in our society? I don't know but I have hope. I do know that without the Lord blessing our country we have no hope at all. Our young people don't understand what our country was founded on - the principles of the Bible - and they think there should be a separation of church and state. They don't understand that this isn't even in the Constitution. It's been used so much that it's just an accepted thing now by most people. I'm praying for our country and our world. I hope you'll join me. God bless you - Julie { Last Page } { Page 2 of 5 } { Next Page } |
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