Were making that big push in our homeschooling before we break for the holidays. Or in other words.... were in the dog days of homeschooling. ..Ya know.... where you really have to drag, pull, and push yourselves not to quit because your almost at the finish line...... So I was able to really relate to this link a dear friend sent me.... Hope you enjoy it too!
It's an encouraging read for those of us who homeschool for religious reasons!
and if you like that book...
I also recommend Family Driven Faith by Voddie Baucham and his DVD titled "The Children of Caesar". I have links to his website in my sidebar somewhere (being technically challenged really has its limitations) The book is available at most Christian book stores.
It's just another typical day of school around here. Ds 15 was leaning his chair back onto 2 legs while taking in the scope of information I was dishing out to him. (Actually....., he was giving me the deer in the headlights look.) When suddenly a mouse scurried across the floor and ran into the foyer closet.
Like a group of hound dogs that just caught scent of its prey, our 2 boys shot out of their chairs and raced to the foyer closet. They immediately began tearing the closet and its contents apart (I will leave it to your imagination how our closet looks, but try to picture a family of 8 and all those items they can manage to cram into a tiny 4 ft long closet). Closet contents are flying across the room. You hear "THERE IT IS!" and then the poor little mouse scampers back across the room from which it came. Young girls are heard squealing as they leap for their lives to safety atop tables and chairs. Meanwhile Mom is throwing her hands up in the air because 'who gave the boys permission to leave while I was in mid-lecture'.
The boys follow chase the mouse back across the room and into the living room behind the couch. The boys uproot the couch in an attempt to locate their prey. As they do this the mouse leaps out from inside the mechanical workings of the couch, scampers into the dining room and crawls underneath the VERY heavy and clunky hutch. The boys quickly grab 2 mousetraps and begin to set and place the traps on both ends of the hutch. With traps set, they then take the broom handle and insert it below the front of the hutch and begin to wildly shove and swing the handle around. After several seconds of attempting this, the boys decide that their strategy isn't working. So they use the broom handle to set off the traps (a wise choice. I prefer that method over losing their fingers) and decide to move the clunky and very heavy hutch instead. As they do this, all the girls, while standing on the couch for safety's sake, have their eyes fixed on the floor.
To everyone's dismay.....nothing came scampering from beneath the hutch. The mouse successfully eluded the hunters. It will live to see another day...........
So there you have it....Just another typical homeschooling day around here....
Now...do I make them get back to their books or CLEAN UP the 3 rooms they obliterated during their spontaneous hunt? (Henceforth, my old saying....'it looks like a couple of tornados blew through here'...yep, 2 boy tornado's and a tiny mouse wind)
This picture has nothing to do with the title of the post. It was loads of fun watching her reel in her first catch! Its obvious the fish didn't want to pose for pictures. That's why its trying so hard to camoflauge itself.
"And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men."
Today is a VERY special day! Not because of the significance of the numerical date, but because on this day, 20 years ago, I wed the man that God created just for me!!
20 years ago on a sweltering hot 90 plus degree day, in a church with no air conditioning, I wed the man the Lord placed into my dreams. With sweat beading down his face he recited his vows to me while placing a ring upon my finger to symbolize our love for each other. Little did I know then, how adventurous, magnificent and miracously wonderful the next 20 years would be! Sure! Life together has been like a rollercoaster. There have been the good times and the bad. The ups and downs, the trials and tribulations. Without those steep hills to climb our love for each other would not have grown deeper or more meaningful. For the same reasons that trials and tribulations bring us closer to the Lord, I believe the same trials and tribulations have brought us even closer to each other.
God wrote our love story! He wrote the adventures, the tears, the joys, the children, the trials and tribulations and our salvation! It truly is a story that fairy tales are made of. He is my Knight in Shining Armor and I...his princess. The two who were meant to come together in the eyes of the Lord...... and destined to live happily ever after......
It is with a heavy heart and deep sadness that I must inform you that Frankenbucket has gone to be with all the other loaders in the sky. It died a most horrific death. Heroic efforts were taken by individuals who tried desperately to save it. However, poor overworked Frankenbucket did not survive.
It started out as a normal, beautiful day. The guys had decided to use Frankenbucket to pull out a few more stumps in the ground at our neighbor on the hill's house. Frankenbucket always loved hanging out with the guys. Pulling stumps was its favorite task. The guys finished up for supper and parked Frankenbucket in the shop/garage/barn (we haven't narrowed down a proper title for this building yet) and shut it down for the night.
About 15 minutes later the guys were getting ready to come in to eat when they noticed an unusual smell. It appeared as though someone was burning something but none of us could narrow down who that someone/neighbor could be. The guys then decided the smoky smell was a very unusual smoldering smell. A smell that could only be narrowed down to an oil burning smell or a smoking wire smell. Their curiosty turned into a 'let's go investigate' attitude and the first place they decided to start was the garage/shop.
Next thing ya know....CHAOS erupts.......through the woods I can see 2 adult figures making mad dashes between the shop/barn, the pick-up truck and our neighbor's house. I jump on the 4 wheeler while barking orders for the children to stay put and take dinner out of the oven. I race to the shop/barn just as the guys were hooking tow straps to the front bucket of Frankenbucket which just happened to be running and engulfed in flames. My husband was using the fire extinguisher to put out the flames as our neighbor was jumping into the pick-up truck which is now hooked to the loader to pull/tow the loader out of the shop/barn before it caught the entire shop/barn on fire. The mens heroic efforts worked and the shop/barn was saved from ruin! I, in the meantime, had acquired another fire extinguisher for the guys to use. It was hard to tell with all the smoke whether the loader's fire was truly extinguished or still burning so the guys doused it again.
Now the delimna has become how to shut off a piece of equipment whose key AND ignition have been obliterated. No key, no ignition, and a running loader. So they decide to shut off the fuel valve...ONLY problem....everything is smoldering hot! So dh grabbed some rags/towels and proceeded to carefully try to twist the melted lever to the off position. Since the loader was STILL running, they decided to try to stall it out. Surely that should work since it does that on a routine basis. The guys pop her into gear and...SURPRISE! SURPRISE!...Frankenbucket wants to go.......quickly realizing that idea was a failure, the neighbor tried to jump on the moving loader and pop it back out of gear. It was a heoric feat as the loader was heading straight for the pick-up truck. The neighbor also narrowly missed being run over by the loader and was burned during this process. But as most men are, the neighbor chalks it up as just a small flesh wound.
Knowing the loader has a full tank of diesel in it and that it's still runnning and its still smoldering, the guys continue to rack their brain on how to stall it and/or shut it down. Dh tries once again to shut off the fuel valve. They thought about unhooking the battery until they saw that it was nothing but a melted blob of plastic. Then..finally....the loader started to sputter and choke...dh's heroic efforts of shutting the fuel valve off while not burning himself must have worked because Frankenbucket FINALLY took its last breath EVER........
It will always be a mystery to us on how it was able to restart itself and EXACTLY WHAT started the fire that caused its demise. It was a total loss with no financially possible chance of repair.....Frankenbucket will be sorely missed and every time we have dirt to move or a tree stump to remove our thoughts will be about our foundest days and memories spent with it.....
Sniff sniff....Goodbye Frankenbucket....you will be sorely missed.........
This was a forward I received today. Thought I would share it.......
The Stranger
A few years after I was born, my Dad met a stranger who was new to
our small Texas town. From the beginning, Dad was fascinated with
this enchanting newcomer and soon invited him to live with our
family. The stranger was quickly accepted and was around from then
on.
As I grew up, I never questioned his place in my family. In my
young mind, he had a special niche. My parents were complementary
instructors: Mom taught me good from evil, and Dad taught me to
obey. But the stranger...he was our storyteller. He would keep us
spellbound for hours on end with adventures, mysteries and comedies.
If I wanted to know anything about politics, history or science, he
always knew the answers about the past, understood the present and
even seemed able to predict the future! He took my family to the
first major league ball game. He made me laugh, and he made me
cry. The stranger never stopped talking, but Dad didn't seem to mind.
Sometimes, Mom would get up quietly while the rest of us were
shushing each other to listen to what he had to say, and she would
go to the kitchen for peace and quiet. (I wonder now if she ever
prayed for the stranger to leave.)
Dad ruled our household with certain moral convictions, but the
stranger never felt obligated to honor them. Profanity, for
example, was not allowed in our home... Not from us, our friends or
any visitors. Our longtime visitor, however, got away with four-
letter words that burned my ears and made my dad squirm and my
mother blush. My Dad didn't permit the liberal use of alcohol.
But the stranger encouraged us to try it on a regular
Basis. He made cigarettes look cool, cigars manly and pipes
distinguished.
He talked freely (much too freely!) about sex. His comments were
sometimes blatant, sometimes suggestive, and generally
embarrassing.
I now know that my early concepts about relationships were
influenced strongly by the stranger. Time after time, he opposed
the values of my parents, yet he was seldom rebuked... And NEVER
asked to leave.
More than fifty years have passed since the stranger moved in with
our family. He has blended right in and is not nearly as
fascinating as he was at first. Still, if you could walk into my
parents' den today, you would still find him sitting over in his
corner, waiting for someone to listen to him talk and watch him
draw his pictures.
They decided to take up residence in a tree just a mere 5 yards off our deck. (I hope they didn't think this was a quiet neighborhood to live in) For several days we thought the chattering coming from the tree was nothing but a bunch of boring old squirrels. UNTIL.....one of the kids said ' Dad what is that in the tree? It's moving, see...."
I said "That bump on the tree?"
The kids again insisted "It's not a bump on the tree. It's moving, SEE,..... there it goes again!"
Dad orders a kid to retrieve the binoculars and upon inspection said, "I'll. be. darned. It's an owl!"
A chorus of squeals erupts and every child demands a turn at the binoculars. This then sets off curiousty buttons and the books get dragged off the shelves, the computer gets booted up and the learnin' begins.
But fellow homeschoolers know, we can't let the learnin' be left to just reading books or searching the Internet....... We have to get hands on learnin' too. Which is why we picked up a few owl pellets to di-sect.
As you can see the kids loved it! Really,... they did!
(Ain't nothin' like pickin' apart owl vomit on the supper table.)
According to our books, we have screech owls in the tree. One is in its red phase according to 'the' books. We read that the owls are VERY protective of their nests and have been known to attack humans on the head when they come too close to the nest.
"NO ONE is to go NEAR the tree! Ya hear!"
As you can imagine the owls haven't gotten an ounce of privacy. They are spied on every minute of the day. A few days later, we thought our red owl had transitioned into the gray phase however upon further investigation it was discovered that we had 2 adults in the nest. A red owl and a gray owl. Which means..........you guessed it........BABY OWLS.......
After several evenings of intense watching we were priviledged to observe the baby birds leaving the nest......I wish I had pics but....a) our camera doesn't zoom in that far (We had to borrow a neighbors camera just to get these pics).... b) the camera's do not take very good pictures in the dark, no matter how many different buttons and flashes we tried.
We counted 5 baby owls. They were so precious! They still had downy white fluffy feather's on them. The mother or father (not sure if the red owl is a male or female) sat on a nearby tree branch chattering away to her babies as they each left the nest. The next to the last baby owl was reluctant to leave the nest. So much so, that it's sibling was more than happy to push him out. (sounds like they would fit in well around here) The baby owl attached its talons to the opening of the tree with what I would call a 'death grip' as his sibling peered out of the opening in awe of the outside world. It was holding on for dear life and flapping those wings! I turned my back for a quick second and it flew away.
What an amazing event to have watched. Not only were I and dh in awe, but the kids were just as excited and had a blast keeping track of which tree, each bird was on. They were even blessed with an extreme close-up view when one of the baby owl's landed on top of our bird feeder, just a few feet away, for a brief few seconds. I am sure the owl was given a fright of its life when the kids squealed "Awwww's!" of delight loudly!
The following night, we were trying to see if all the birds came back to the nest or left for good. While trying to count, through our binoculars, and determine how many birds were in the nest we watched 2 Bluejays approach the hole in the tree and proceed to attack the owls inside the hole. What another AMAZING site to witness! Lots of flapping wings and loud squelching. Fortunately, the owls won that battle. Sadly, we came out the next morning to discover that all the owls were gone.
I guess they decided that this neighborhood was just too noisy and inhabited with rude neighbors who don't knock when they come over. Personally I would have talked to people in the neighborhood and scoped it out a little before I decided to move in....but that's just me...
Have an owl-fully good week!!
"And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good." -Genesis 1:21
Chaos got out again last night. Don't worry though! In a group effort we tackled it and managed to wrangle it back into its cage. Things should get back to normal. That is...unless.......Murphy's Law was also involved in last night's event. Hmmmm? I better go inspect the house to make sure Murphy isn't hanging out somewhere.....
Simply wash them and place them onto your dehydrator tray.
Set your dehydrator setting on fruits/berries (approximately 135 degrees). Check on the berries in about 4 hours. They should feel firm but yet chewy-ish. Our 16 year old dehydrator is no longer working as accurately as it used to, so this batch is a little overdone as I left it unattended overnight.
If you do over-dehydrate just remember all is not lost. I can still partially reconstitute the berries by placing them into a bowl of water until they become the texture that I want. Even in their overdone state I can still put them into oatmeal and/or granola bars. However, I will reconstitute them slightly before placing into a trail mix.
Blueberries are much easier to freeze than strawberries! They are a very forgiving berry!
As with strawberries, you do not HAVE to wash the berries before you freeze them. However, I do! I simply wash the blueberries and try to make sure I don't have any stems left on any of them. Then I lay them out onto a cookie sheet. (I have a Demarle cooking sheet that I like to use for freezing berries due the holes in it) You do not have to worry about the berries touching as you do with strawberries. They easily seperate if they get stuck together.
Place the cookie sheet into your freezer. After about an hour or two the berries should be frozen.
Then place them in meal size portions (I freeze them in 2 cup quantities) into a freezer type bag, container, or vacuum sealer bag (my favorite way to store).
Tah dah! You have successfully stored a supply of blueberries for the winter!
When you are ready to use them, simply remove from the freezer. When they thaw they will be mushy, BUT...unlike strawberries, I have had success leaving them in a partially frozen state and using them on recipes that call for fresh blueberries. I wouldn't do this for a company dessert though as the blueberries do tend to run/ooze juice as they thaw. (This crew, however, could care less what the dessert looks like just as long as it tastes GREAT!) You do not have to worry about thawing the blueberries completely as most of your blueberry recipes are very forgiving. I have successfully stirred frozen blueberries into my muffin, coffecake, and bread recipes without any problems or strange outcomes.
We will use blueberries for making the yummiest blueberry muffins, smoothies, cobbler, bread, coffeecake and pancakes! Mmmmmm! *insert a drool here*
Confessions of a SAHHM (Stay At Home Homeschooling Mom). SAHHM to six children, 3 cats, 1 German Shepherd, Chaos, Murphy's Law, Notme, Idunno, and one incredibly loving and patient husband! :o)
If I haven't blogged recently, it's probably because chaos has gotten loose. It does that from time to time. Rest assured I will be back as soon as it is under control again.
..Ya know.... where you really have to drag, pull, and push yourselves not to quit because your almost at the finish line...... So I was able to really relate to this link a dear friend sent me.... Hope you enjoy it too!
The book is available at most Christian book stores.
It died a most horrific death. Heroic efforts were taken by individuals who tried desperately to save it. However, poor overworked Frankenbucket did not survive.
