We are home after our 10 day trip to Washington DC, Williamburg, VA, Yorktown, Charlottesville and New York City. It was a wonderful and fast paced trip. I wish I could remember everything we saw and did but at this moment, I think my body is just trying to recover and get back to the normal time zone and routine. I posted a slide show with some of the things we visited on the right of this blog. I hope to share more memories with you later.
I wanted to write down just a few things to help me remember what I felt on the trip.
I found it interesting that our children were more interested in simple things such as a squirrel eating at the grounds of the capitol or a huge worm at Arlington National Cemetery. These things facinated the children who seem to automatically recognize that even these small creatures are unique and amazing works of God. We adults wanted to see the "big stuff". But I kept thinking that these monuments, these buildings, as amazing as they are, were created by man. To be sure, God gave men the talent and knowledge to be able to create these wonderful things but do they glorify God or man? Many things we saw were awesome indeed in the story of America. We saw the actual document the Declaration of Independence for which so many sacrificed their entire lives and lives of their families. We saw the Library of Congress where so much research is done which affects the lives of so many in our nation. We visited and learned about the Supreme Court Building. VERY COOL! It was sobering to sit in the very seats in a building where so many important decisions have been made.
It sounds odd perhaps but it seems that the main thing I came away with from being away from home was that we are responsible to do the job that God gives us to do. I mean that God has a job specifically for me that no one else can do. It may be that I am not working in the Capitol Building or anything that "big" but each one of us plays an important role- one that God determines for us. I pray that I am doing a good job in my role.
~More later~
We have been so busy and overwhelmed here in the past couple of weeks. Yesterday, I was privileged to attend Holy Homes
with Clay and Renee Crosse. You can read more about the Crosse Family's ministry HERE. The program was wonderful and encouraged my heart.
I need to keep remembering who God is and what
He has provided for me and my family.
We read Ex. 15 1-21
and talked about what happened after the children of Israel crossed the Red Sea on DRY land. They witnessed a great miracle of God and saw once again God's judgement on the nation of Egypt. What did they do? Well, this time instead of complaining they PRAISED GOD with song!
What a wonder. How much better would it be if I would PRAISE instead of complain when faced with life's ups and downs? I need to remember to PRAY and look at a problem as an opportunity to learn.
The kids painted pictures of what the story meant to them.
We are now into Chapter 8 of WEAVER, VOL. 2
about the protection and peace of God.
Our memory work for this unit is all of Psalm 91. This scripture has been meaningful in my life for a long time now. I'm praying that it will be cemented into my children's minds now and forever.
So far we've learned~
"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say to the Lord, my Refuge and my Fortress, My God in whom I trust!
For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper and the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with His pinions and under His wings you make seek refuge.
His faithfulness is a shield and a bulwark"
Praise GOD! He is our refuge!
We have been looking and learning about the different ways that God protected the children of Israel as He led them out of Egypt and provided for them in the wilderness. He provided for them physically, spiritually and emotionally. We've been talking about the ways that God gives us protection. He cared about and provided for the Israelites emotional health and He cares about our emotional health as well. The new praise song "He Knows My Name" has been going through my head since yesterday. I am so comforted by the fact that God really does know my name. He knows my every thought. He knows each tear that falls and hears me when I call.
We learned that our immune system was made by God to protect our physical bodies. We had fun watching the MOODY video- the Germinators! Very fun! Unfortunately, JR was sick with an ear infection during this time. I guess I could not ask for a better hands on illustration of the immune system.
The circulatory system is something else that God made for us. Vitamin K in the blood helps us in many ways not the least of which is, of course, helping the blood to clot. H wrote a speech about vitamin K.
Interestingly, we are also involved in a Lap Book about the Middle Ages. We are learning all about VIKING weaponry. The Vikings used swords to protect themsleves. We need to use our SWORD of the spirit to protect ourselves. I've been learning many other things.
I hope the kids are learning even more that I am!
Since C announced her upcoming marriage, my mind has been unsettled. I am praying that I too will have a greater sense of God's perfect peace in our lives.
It seems like we have all been extremely busy lately with different things and activities in our lives. Most everything we are involved in is good- in its own way. I have to admit though that for the past few weeks, I have felt myself getting more and more tense. I've tried to determine why the tension seems to be building. I know one reason is that I have not been submitting myself to God. As much as I know it is right to let the Holy Spirit take control of my thoughts and actions, I have not been allowing that at least not MOST of the time. I think I have let doubts and fears race around my mind. I have tried to FIX and plan and control...... During the holidays, I always want things to go smoothly and for everyone to be happy but of COURSE everyone can not ALWAYS be happy! Someone might be happy sometime- but NEVER EVERYONE at any time!
Something happened to our family almost 5 years ago which was very difficult and traumatic. We had been under great spiritual attack and oppression by the enemy. I'm still not sure what parts of our experience were direct attacks from the enemy and which were part of God's testing of our faith. Our faith in God WAS tested to say the least. Before this experience, I can truly say that yes, we were believers; yes, we tried to do and say the "right" things. We went to church, were involved and helped our neighbors. We truly did have good motives. However, our faith needed a trial by FIRE to be truly cemented. This trial included many things that were totally unexpected by us. Our church family began to splinter. Factions formed. Some were openly speaking against us. Some did their malicious work behind closed doors. I, personally, was betrayed by someone that I thought was my friend. This was not something merely imagined by me but was clearly seen by all in the end. I was deeply hurt. There was so much pain, cold, depression. God was there. He gave us a peculiar sign which we still speak of to this day and remember that God loves us and cares for us. There was the awful flood. There was the physically ravaging pneumonia which affected both John and me. Days alone in the hospital were spent reading the book of John. Jesus was there. He had words for me. With weakened body and weakened mind, I came to learn that God is the ONE I trust. Trust God. That is the whole lesson learned during our trial by FIRE. "If God is for us, who can be against us?" NO ONE. I learned that yes, we need to forgive but it takes time. I am to take the step of obedience and let God work with me to do the rest. Everything with emotions does not happen instantaneously. God has mercifully removed many of the harsh memories from my mind. I do not think about or dwell on the past hurts. Thankfully!
Admittedly, in this life we will have trials. Jesus told us that. Jesus will still be there- before, during and after the trials. Yes, in the past year and a half, things have seemed a little dicey around here. We were finally able to feel settled in a new town, our first home, a new church. What blessings God poured on us. Only TRUST Him! Our children are growing up and are becoming much more independent. I pray they learned the lesson as we did. Trust God and Him alone. I know there are those around us who do not understand us or why we do the things we do. It is OK. They do not walk the road we walk just as we do not walk the road they walk.
I admit to feeling angry with situations and myself and yes, other people at times. I am working to let God deal with me and handle the situation in the right way. I get very frustrated when I can't seem to do anything to change the situations BUT I'm still living and learning and growing.
One of the things that I have longed for in the past few years is a good and close friend. I'm still praying about this but believe that God is helping me to be patient and wait on His perfect will. I have made some amazing friends even in the last year and renewed some friendships (only by the grace of God) that were damaged as well. satan tries but he CAN NOT have the victory.
God is bigger than all gods.
He is ALL POWERFUL!
He is ALL KNOWING!
So- with God's help, I'll keep on living and learning.
We just began WEAVER VOL. 2, Chapter 6.
I am really loving this chapter so far.
As we are looking at Exodus, we are learning that God truly is in control of all things.
We talked about how Moses heard from God and Aaron spoke to the people. God told Moses to tell Aaron to throw his staff down. Both Moses and Aaron obeyed God and did exactly what He said. The staff turned into a REAL snake and back into a staff made of wood again. The magicians in Pharaoh's court tried to imitate this miracle of God but theirs was just a cheap trick! God is greater than all other gods!
We studied snakes....lots of them!
We made a partial list of adjectives describing snakes.
SNAKES Are~
venomous or non-venomous
harmful or helpful to man
fanged (or not)
varied
solitary
camouflaged
multi-colored
creepy
scaly
reptilian
ecto thermic
molters
Heidi looked at the Black Mamba, King Cobra, and Anaconda.
John Ross looked at the Fer-de-lance and python.
It is truly amazing how snakes vary in size from very tiny 4 inch snakes to the huge Boa Constrictors that can weigh over 500 pounds! Even though I can't love them, SNAKES have a purpose in God's plan just as everything created by Him does.
We drew pictures of the eye of a snake and painted them with acrylic paints. What fun! We discovered that although snakes are found all over the world, the majority of the world's snakes live in the tropics where there just happens to be a very cool fungus living. We looked up SLIME MOLD and drew and painted that as well. VERY COOL!
Can you believe that SLIME MOLD
is really a single cell filled with lots of cytoplasm?
We also talked about what it means to be oviparous. The majority of snakes are oviparous but some are viviparous.
While painting, we listed to a recording or Ricki-Ticki-Tavi.
We rushed off to choir after that and had fun singing Christmas music.
BUSY DAYS!
What kind of example am I setting for my children about how to set priorities and organize my time?
I wonder....
I have confidence that God is bringing the right people and things into our lives at exactly the right time.
We have been learning about what it means to be a godly leader. One thing about a godly leader that really stood out to me was that for a godly leader, GOD is in control of the details. Sometimes it seems like my whole life is DETAILS so hopefully GOD is in control of them all!
Part of our homeschool group is participating in a veteran's day parade next Saturday. We spent most of last Saturday preparing the float and will be working again many days this week. I'm glad we are able to be a part of this. I think it is a good thing. The time involved has been much more than I anticipated, taking away time from other things that I feel are more important. It is difficult to know how to manage a situation like this. I feel that ~TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING CAN BECOME A BAD THING.
We are finishing up our Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes. The kids have really gotten involved with this and are praying for the children who will receive our boxes. May God bless them and bring
the Light of the World to them.
I had a really wonderful visit with my friend Alicia yesterday afternoon. God is really blessing her. She reminded me that we need to seek God about every thing (the details) in our lives
including what we are to present our kids as "school".
She has helped me to gain a new perspective for myself and my family too. Thank God for good friends!
Sometimes in life it is a good thing to take time to do something with friends that is just FUN!
Today was one of those times.
We had the best time at a friends home. The kids painted or carved their own pumpkins, played and had popcorn and juice. JR's pumpkin was modeled after KIT FISTO of Star Wars! Hooray for that! H's pumpkin turned out really cute with lovely green leaves and trailing vines for hair. After the pumpkins, the kids turned to sidewalk chalk and drew some very creative designs on the sidewalk. It was so nice to see the bigger kids
drawing right next to the little ones. The popcorn and juice was a big hit!
I enjoyed getting to visit with some friends
that I do not see very often anymore.
We finished up Chapter 4 of the WEAVER except for one more Bible study. I am planning to do that tomorrow morning as well as to over our chapter review. We have been doing well at being faithful with our prayer request lists. I'm trying to help the kids understand that no request is too small (or too big) for God.
I'm looking forward to Chapter 5 when we will have the privilege of looking at some great American authors, inventors, and artists.
I am so thankful that October has finally arrived. We are having nice fall days with lots of sunshine. I think it is wonderful that the kids can go outside and play more now that it is not sizzling outside! H enjoys being outside climbing trees!
We studied mammals in Ch. 3 of WEAVER VOL.2. We learned so much but these weeks were filled up with outside activities and I'm afraid our studies suffered a little. I am glad we were able to do our character study on humility though. Learning that we as people are quite like sheep was not really a surprise but a good reminder of why we need Christ all the time.
Studying sheep was a favorite of the kids. They wrote amazing essays about sheep.
Chapter 4 is on the sovereignty of God and Worship. We are going to learn about inventor and inventions and how these men and women and their inventions affected history or will affect our future. Today the kids wrote poems about our nation and state. Both H and JR enjoyed this very much.
We are off to choir this afternoon.
E will go to Teen Court. H will attend a teen girls Bible study. C gets picked up around 8 from her lab at the college. I'm thankful for a life full of blessing!
We have had such a busy week so far. Exodus had been amazing and we are just beginning to study chapter 2! This week we are learning about how God views the family. God made the family to be a blessing! We wrote notes to our family members to encourage them and let them know that they are important and loved. I am constantly in awe of how God can speak through children. Those notes were incredible.
We are learning about plants around the Nile. For example, Moses' mother may have used cat tail plant leaves to weave a basket to place baby Moses in the Nile. We learned today about roots~~ a bunch of scientific stuff like phloem and xylem and vascular plants. ~~COOL but just a tiny bit complicated to me.
We pulled some weeds from outside and looked at their primary roots, secondary roots, root hairs and root caps. JR loved this! We cut open the root and looked inside too. NEAT!
We are working on several badges for Keepers of the Faith and Contenders for the Faith. We are almost finished the work for the music badge. HOORAY! We have been completely blessed by reading the words to our favorite hymns each day. God has annointed so many wonderful songs. H finally was able to put her pressed flowers onto her bookmarks. They are going to be sent to her grandparents along with a letter she wrote them. (We are also working on the badge for grandparents.)
I'm very proud of the kids for working hard. We have been working on doing household chores with a good attitude as well.
The life and times of the McCullochs WEAVING in NM.
"How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and the strong. Because someday in life, you will have been all of these." George Washington
I guess I could not ask for a better hands on illustration of the immune system.
. During the holidays, I always want things to go smoothly and for everyone to be happy but of COURSE everyone can not ALWAYS be happy! Someone might be happy sometime- but NEVER EVERYONE at any time! 
