We had 11 people at Bible Study last night (plus us three).

We learned about the man who wrote the words to the song IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL. Horatio G. Spafford wrote these words after several traumatic events in his life. The first was the death of his only son in 1871, shortly followed by the Great Chicago Fire which ruined him financially (he had been a succesful lawyer). Then in 1873, he had planned to travel to Europe with his family on the S.S. Ville Du Havre, but sent the family ahead while he was delayed on business. While crossing the Atlantic, the ship sank rapidly after a collision with another ship, and all four of Spafford's daughters died. His wife Anna survived and sent him the now famous telegram, "Saved alone." Shortly afterwards, as Spafford traveled to meet his grieving wife, he was inspired to write these words as his ship passed near where his daughters had died. The Spaffords later had three more children, one of whom (a son) died in infancy. In 1881 the Spaffords, including baby Bertha and newborn Grace, set sail for Palestine. The Spaffords moved to Jerusalem and helped found a group called the American Colony; its mission was to serve the poor. The colony later became the subject of the Nobel prize winning Jerusalem, by Swedish novelist Selma Lagerlöf. The music for the song was written by Phillip P Bliss in 1876. He originally named the tune "Ville de Havre" after the ship on which Spafford's four daughters parished. Ironically, Bliss himself died in a tragic train wreck shortly after writing this music.

It Is Well With My Soul

When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Refrain:
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.

Horatio Spafford

My father-in-law is coming for a visit next week and I have friends from Minnesota coming to visit next month. We have a guest bedroom but it has been a disaster room for far too long! I am grounded until I get it ready! Grounding myself actaully works! It may sound silly but that's what I do when I have procrastinated on a task for too long. Nothing else gets done until this task is done! If I don't come back in a few days send in a search party!

We had our annual Family Fun Weekend camping with about 50 families from our church. The highlight of the entire weekend was the tug-o-war! Can you believe the women won 2 out of 3? I think there were more of them than us too!

I have been fooling around for two days trying to figure out why my blog would not appear! I woke this morning thinking about it, going over each step in  my head when...WALLAH!!! It hit me! So simple!!! I came rushing downtairs to try it! I changed the font color from black to white!  So, once AGAIN I will say "Hello Everyone!"  ...now that you can see me! 

( I had a black background back then!)

I am new at blogging and homeschooling so I hope I will learn much here! I love the Lord and want to serve him in every aspect of my life. I have four children (and two grandchildren) but only Ryan remains at home. He is 13 yrs. old going into the 8th grade. He is excited about homechooling because many of his peers are homeschooled and I hope he will share some of his own thoughts here later a well.

We drive an hour and a half one-way to go to our church once a week, have a bible study in our home for 4-5 families once a week, and then drive another hour one way for study and fellowship in my oldest daughter's home once a week. My husband works full time and then teaches two nights a week at the community college so all this in our schedule was the biggest reason we decided that homeschooling was best! Our family's schedule works well for us and other families in our church but not so well with the public school's schedule. I want Ryan to have lessons 365 days a year also!

I operate a nursery business. This is my first year but it has been such a very busy season I did not have the time to plant my own garden this year, instead, my neighbor has planted one big enough for both of our families! I will share some photos of  our children (and myelf) enjoying our ducks and then be gone for now!

God Bless!