AS OF 2/23 - A MORE SERIOUS PRAYER REQUEST IS NEEDED:  I just read this at MOMflippedisWOW:  Please pray for her husband, he is very ill and they are not entirely sure what is wrong.  Visit her site to learn more.  Please, please pray for this family.  Thanks!!

Now, my regularly scheduled post ...

I don't know why I didn't think to ask this before but, would you mind praying for my family?  We all have had colds with coughs (like, forever) and while my husband is finally well, the rest of us are in varying stages of illness/recovery.  Frankly, I'm really tired of it and want everyone to get well soon.  I am exhausted from praying on my own, but then I remembered that I'm not alone.  Thanking you in advance for your prayers for our quick healing. 

Also, when we are all well, (someday!!)  it is my intention to begin teaching American history.  We have been following all the election stuff (and nonsense - in my opinion) and, of course, we discuss history all the time but I wanted to begin at the start and try to go in order (for once!)  We have all 3 of the "Light and The Glory", etc., books and I will be reading those.  I also bought a video that the "Love To Learn" homeschool catalog recommended.  What I would love to hear is how you have dealt with this subject.  I am not opposed to secular references though I plan on the emphasis being how God worked through man to begin our country, and so on.  God's plan for our country.  How it still applies to today, even though it's getting harder to see that.  Also, I want to teach it correctly, dispelling any myths that my kids have already come across in their own reading.  As a child, I was taught so much nonsense that I later discovered the truth about.  It's not as simple as they would have liked you to believe as a kid.   

So, in the course of your busy day, if you have any simple or brilliant ideas you'd like to share concerning American history, I'd be ever so grateful.  Right now, my middle son is copying the Constitution, just for fun.  I am amazed.  We'll see how far he gets.  Remember, he's the one with great ideas that fizzle.  My older son has been rewriting the Constitution to go with his own personal government (it's a long story but, trust me, it's not psychopathic or weird.  Just Chad being Chad).  I bought some quill feather pins with dried ink and we are going to try writing with these, just like they did when they signed important documents 200 years ago.  I want to make history fun (I'm not very good at that) but most importantly, I want them to understand and remember it.  I want to make it real.  We are Americans, whatever that means anymore.  I certainly don't feel like I am a mainstream American - I am the individualistic, born-again Oregonian, rebel from So. Cal that bucks anything mainstream.  Please don't hate me for that last sentence!!  I digress ... I want my kids to understand what being American is to them.  I know that won't come for a long time - they have to decide for themselves.  But I hope to get them off to a good start.  With a little help from my fellow Americans, I hope!