Posted in Nature Study
 All our children spend a lot of time outdoors. We don't really anything formal for our nature study, but they all find interesting things to show me. Even the little ones like bringing me some flowers! Here are a few of the things we've found around our garden. We seem to have a 4 leaf clover patch growing under our trampoline- the kids have found over 10 so far in the last month! They found this HUGE earwig in our potato cupboard. It was about 2 inches long! They also found a tiny white earwig in our rabbit cage. MasterJJ 3 found the OLD (sure glad about that!) paper wasp nest. |
Posted in Nature Study
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Here are some nice pictures of NZ http://www.pbase.com/dbehrens/newzealand    |
Posted in LINKS
Homeschooling Links
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Posted in Gardening
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This year I am trying a lasagna garden. What 's a Lasagna Garden?- I hear you ask. When I first started talking about it my children thought I was going to grow the pasta you put in your lasagna dish! "Mum how do you grow Lasanga?" Well i don't think I am going to try growing Lasanga anytime soon! But just like the edible version where you layer your pasta then the meat sauce and then the cheese sauce- you layer your garden too. You start with a thick layer of newspaper on the ground then put on alternate layers of compost, peat and grass clippings, dead leaves etc. Heres the book that tells you all about it: Heres some pics of my garden so far:  We have got tomatoes - some beef steak and money makers. Theres some lettuce and other salad greens planted too. We also have some capsicum peppers, marrow, cucumber, and gherkin plants. Here is a yellow summer squash.  And here is what it looks like after a couple of weeks growing.  Still got to plant some sweetcorn. |
Posted in Bible Study
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And Interesting article I came across. See full article here: http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Names_of_G-d/In_Vain/in_vain.html Soren Kierkegaard tells the story of two young portrait artists who both sought to capture the essence of beauty in their paintings. One artist looked high and low for the "perfect face of beauty" but never found it. Tragically, he later gave up painting and lived in despair. The other artist, however, simply painted every face he saw and found beauty in each one. Now here's your question: Which of the two was the sincere artist? ...... The point here is simple. God is not as concerned about your "orthodox terminology" as much as he is looking for you to passionately and truly seek His face. The service of your lips must be accompanied with genuine service of the heart, lest the Name be used "lashav" - in vain... The same can be said about invoking the Name of God. God is not a snob. He doesn't get offended if someone might "lisp" His Name or tangle up their words when they call upon Him... God looks at the heart and to see if the soul truly wants His Holy Presence. As the prophet said, "You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart, and I will be found by you, declares the LORD" (Jer. 29:13-14). |
Posted in Children
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Interesting article and lovley pics! ***************************************** Did You Know?
The U.S. government estimates that the cost of raising a child is over $160,000. Here is a short presentation to remind you of the "return on investment." (got this sent to me from lamplighterpublishing!) |
Posted in Bible Study
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Here in NZ we do have halloween much like you do in the US. I think it might be bigger here now then when i was a child. My family didn't celebrate it when i was a child and i have not let my children either. Growing up in Wellington I only remember one family actually going trick or treating in my street. Since we now live rurally we don't see much either, but the shops promote it big time :( Found this thought provoking article and agree with it. Read it and see what you think.... ******************************************************* It’s that time of year again. Vampires, ghouls, ghosts and skeletons will be haunting our doorways. American retailers celebrate a 5 billion dollar a year candy, card and costume business ($1.5 billion in Canada). But, Halloween is not just a time for cornstalks, pumpkins, apples and cute and not-so-cute costumes. There is much, much more. Before deciding to celebrate or not celebrate any holiday, it is important to understand the history of that holiday. Before we look at the history and what the Bible says about pagan holidays answer these questions:
Read the full article here: http://heartofwisdom.com/blog/should-christians-observe-halloween/ |
Posted in Books
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Yeah!! We are jumping for joy in our house right now!!! We just heard that New Zealand's own Christian Radio Station - Radio Rhema - will be playing a BRAND NEW AUDIO Drama: STARTING MONDAY 26th OCTOBER!! During November, Rob Holding on the Home Run Show, will be playing this around 2:45pm each week day and on Saturdays just after 1pm. We can't wait to hear it on the radio! I think your going to Love this as much as our family does!! Go here for more info on the story...... http://www.lamplighterpublishing.com/sirmalcolm.html You can buy it as a MP3 dowload there too. If you live in NEW ZEALAND you can get the book or the CD for NZ$25 each from here (available mid November) We really enjoyed this story! We just finished listening to the 2nd story Basket of Flowers. We loved this story more then Sir Malcom! We are hoping to also hear this one on Radio Rhema in the future! Lamplighter Theatre are working on several more stories at the moment. They really need your prayers and donations to help them get them finished. To find out more about their theatre project go here. To donate to their project go here. |
Posted in birthing
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After our 'easy' first birth, I decided to have a home-birth with a lovely midwife I had come to know (subsequently had her for several other babes as well). We moved an hour and 1/2 away when I was about 20 weeks along. I didn't want to have to find another midwife though so I came back for check ups and the birth. My mum still lived in my home town so 2 weeks before my due date I and our 18 month old Honey, moved in to my mums place to ready ourselves for the birth. DH stayed at our home during the week and went to his work, but came down on the weekends. My due date was on a Monday. I asked the Lord to 'please start my labour by 3pm on Sunday' so DH did not have to travel in a hurry for the birth. DH was due to leave around 4pm to go home to be ready for work on Monday. On Sunday, just before lunch, I was walking around in the kitchen chatting to my mum when I felt a POP, like a balloon bursting! Then I moved slightly water went everywhere! Yes my waters had broken! I was able to eat some lunch without noticing any contractions much. My Midwife said she'd come to check on me later in the afternoon as she was with another lady in labour. After lunch DH, my brother, and I sat at the table playing Canasta. I was able to play, but did have contractions to deal with, however they didn't really notice! I just quietly breathed through them. My mum noticed though! She said she was having contractions in sympathy! About 3pm my midwife arrived to check me. She thought i was doing OK, but probably still ages away as i wasn't really making much fuss. While she was still there chatting to my mum, i again felt i needed to go to the bathroom - nope still didn't know that it was 'time'! My midwife had to rush her gear inside and basically drag me of the toilet because I couldn't get up! She got me just outside the door and I held on to DH. Then babe just fell out! I don't remember pushing at all. My midwife only just caught babe in time - it was so fast. She passed babe to DH to hold, and he cut the cord. After the placenta arrived I had a bath with babe and then we all sat on the sofa for a cuddle -me, babe, honey and DH. ET was born at 3.35pm only a short time after the time I'd asked the Lord to START labour!
ET at 3 weeks
At 6 months
And 4 years |
Posted in Bible Study
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Some interesting thoughts on intercesstion..... sent to me from Mark Hamby at Lamplighter Publishing....
************************************* The following letter was sent to me by a friend on our prayer team. I have no doubt that our Lamplighter prayer team, which is now approximately 300 strong, is the very reason that Lamplighter is being so greatly used of God in these dark times. Rarely does a day go by without me thinking about our prayer team. You are my first contact whenever we need to be covered in prayer. The following letter reveals why I value you so much:
So thank God for intercessors, for every prayer that is offered in this family of faith, for those of you who day after day carve out those extra ten or twenty minutes to offer your prayers to the throne of grace. The enemy will whisper, "It doesn't matter." God's word tells you that it does. The work of intercessors isn't easy; it is often lonely. But trust me, if we cease to pray, our effectiveness...is over." Taken from Rick Snyder's sermon on Prevailing Prayer; First Presbyterian Church, 8-24-03 Because of Him, Mark Hamby ***************************** |