Becoming a Heaven on Earth

Home can be a heav'n on earth when we are filled with love

Bringing happiness and joy, rich blessings from above-

Warmth and kindness, charity, safety and security-

Making home a part of heaven, where we want to be.

Drawing fam'ly near each week, we'll keep love burning bright.

Serving Him with cheerful hearts, we'll grow in truth and light.

Parents teach and lead the way, children honor and obey,

Reaching for our home in heaven, where we want to stay.

Praying daily in our home, we'll feel His love divine;

Searching scriptures faithfully, we'll nourish heart and mind.

Singing hymns of thanks, we'll say, "Father, help us find the way

Leading to our home in heaven, where we long to stay."

~ LDS Hymn #298

Description My children belong to the Hero Generation... we are striving to raise them to fulfill their personal missions. We strive to make our home a haven from the turmoils of today's society. Come visit us as we share some of our story. All About Me Aspire to Inspire before you Expire Have a specific interest? Browse this blog by Category! Personal Notes Just personal stuff to keep the family and friends up to date. My Great Heroes These are stories about my children who belong to the hero generation (from The Fourth Turning). Master Plan Knowing where you are headed helps keep you on track. Here is where I keep my "flight plan". Homeschooling Daze Anything about our homeschool - funny stories to new schedules... never know what's going on here. Family History Stories about the family from my memory or others. Plus, memories in the making. Passage to Liber - Five Pillars to Greatness The papers I've written for the Five Pillar Certification Commentary on the Classics Simply thoughts and comments on the classics I'm reading. Quotes Quotes of interest to me... may or may not include commentary. Recipes Browse through my recipe folder. Food and non-food recipes. The Scriptures are True Scripture references, usually with commentary. Very personal - might not be open to comments. TJed Anything Thomas Jefferson Education related. To Your Health Little tidbits here and there about what it takes to lead a healthier life. Including mine. Food For Thought My deeper thoughts, or sometimes a thought provoking/inspiring story. CU thoughts and ponderings My blog for CU writings & ponderings Making My Own Colors In Life My other blog, generally more lighthearted. The Sun Sets in the West I'm wanted to practice writing in a different genre. So I decided to write some fan fiction for fun. That's what you'll find here. My Heroes Redbeard - 39 Me (Texasblu)- 38 Athena - 15 Venus - 12 Iris - 8 Orion - 5 Mercury - 5 Apollo - 3 Hercules - 3 Catch the Wave - Surf's Up Baby! LDS News Source LDS News Source is a LDS news portal that currently searches over 5000 news sources daily. � Home is Where the Heart is � Dusty Old Volumes of Previous Writings � The LDS Church Site � George Wythe College � LEMI Institute � Home Fires (TJed) � Thomas Jefferson Education.org � Free Books to Download and Read � National LDS Homeschool Association � The Homeschool Mom � Homeschool Buyers Co-op � Free Homeschool Planner Pages � The Noble Child Experience � The Healthy Homeschool � An Old Fashioned Education � The Homemaking Cottage � The Hillbilly Housewife � Budget 101 � Old Fashioned Living � Free Coloring Pages to Print � Recipe Library from the Homeschool Zone � Writing Resources � Baby Names � Lapbooking � No Milk Zone � Perfect Storm Folks That Make Blogging Fun � My Mom � My Sister � My Adopted Sister � My brother � My Sis-in-Law � Marian the librarian � Another Sister � The youngest sister � Lengthing My Stride (My good friend from college) � Homemaking Cottage � A Homemaking Journey � Rapid Life � Wacky Wheelers � The Maples � Too Many to Count � A Fear of Flying � Stefoodie � The Internet Dark Ages � Donna's Journey � Chronicles of a Liber Voyage � Teaching Self Government Homeschool Blogger Friends � Joy in the Journey � Sharing Our Lives � I Prefer Hot Cocoa! � Principled Discovery � Jewels In Our Crowns � Siever Family Homeschool � Along The Way � Labellavita � Days Like These � Reflections of a Homeschooling Mom Shelfari: Book reviews on your book blog << ? | LDS Blogs | list >> Get your own calendar

PARTY AT MY PLACE!!! My thoughts at 04:51 PM, November 12, 2008 Family History Well, the picture's quality isn't all that great, but I couldn't find my camera (of all days to misplace it) so we used Redbeard's camera phone. Still - HAPPY ADOPTION DAY!!!!! Welcome to the party where we celebrate Mercury's recognition as a brother to the brothers and sisters he's always known! I felt very at odds with these two in our favorite Chinese place (where we always go to celebrate) because I was the only one doing cartwheels... alright, I wasn't REALLY doing cartwheels, but you can tell by my face I was doing them in my head! I asked Redbeard, "Why aren't you more excited?" He said to me, "Because it's business as usual - he's been our son for 3 1/2 years. The court just recognized it is all." Mercury of course has no clue what's going on - he was just feeling pretty special he got a half day ALONE with Mom and Dad. Well.   I for one am  SO EXCITED I AM BOUNCING OFF THE ROOFTOPS.  I guess it's because all this time I never allowed myself to say, "Hello, this is Mercury, my son." That would have been a breech in protocol with my sister, whom I respect and had no wish to hurt. Now I have permission to say it. I can say it, because it's REAL. "Hello! This is Mercury, my SON." Not "And this is my nephew that we have guardianship of...." but "my SON." Whew - ok, enough of that. Some background for Mom: The lawyer took some time to explain to us how everything had unfolded behind the scenes. Basically, for those of you who believe in God, I believe God worked to make this happen for our family. No other lawyer had the relationship with the judge and the court secretary to pull off what he did. That sounds wrong. Nothing weird or underhanded happened - it's just this was probably the least expensive adoption ever to take place. We also got, according to the lawyer, the NICEST judge on the whole circuit. The lawyer himself was a miracle, because he was not in the phone book, but suggested by a friend of ours who knew him from - get this - HOME DEPOT. He just happens (we found this out from someone else - not him) to be one of the top attorneys in the state for adoptions. And we had no idea. WHOOT WHOOT!!! WE'RE ADOPTED!!!!  Oh! What a feeling! When we're dancing on the ceiling! Party on....     Thank you ALL for your prayers, your emails and comments. And for those of you who endured my phone calls when I thought the bottom was going to fall out, thank you - thank you! Oh - the cutest part of the whole thing was they had Mercury answer a few questions. They asked him if he loved us and if he thought we loved him, and he was so solemn... and then he looked at Redbeard like, "Is this guy a wack or what?" LOL!!!! Care to Share? Untitled Comment I'm at your party in spirit! So excited for you and Mercury. Sounds to me like there were definitely higher powers helping this adoption along. I have given up believing in coincidence, I prefer to think that Father is helping us out. I had the experience about 1 1/2 years ago to be in the courtroom when my sister and her husband adopted a 3 year old girl. It was such an amazing thing, but it paled in comparison to being in the temple a month later for a sealing. What a cute response from your little guy! Love it! By the way, thanks for stopping by my blog. I appreciate your kind comments. On the inquiries thing, there are lists of things in the pre-written book, the quilt and the 13 colonies twister were both in the book. The math twister was just an idea that hit me after seeing how much enjoyed the geographical version. I was hoping to make working on math facts more fun than going through boring flashcards. Kassie Inspired by Anonymous at 11:05 AM, November 14, 2008 Link Untitled Comment p.s. It's fun to see a picture of you and you DH. Kassie Inspired by Anonymous at 11:06 AM, November 14, 2008 Link Untitled Comment p.p.s. sorry to be such a poor typist. I 'sound' like an uneducated idiot on the computer sometimes. Kassie Inspired by Anonymous at 11:08 AM, November 14, 2008 Link YIPEE I'm so excited for you and your family. Happy Day! Darla Inspired by dgallew at 12:45 PM, November 22, 2008 Link