Strouse Academy - Homeschool Blogger

Christmas Tree Symbol

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 09:04:00 -0600

What's Buzzzzing......

In reading on the Above Rubies Yahoo Group, I found a wonderful way to look at the Christmas Tree. Thanks Kim for your fine words.....

Because I was always concerned with the Christmas tree's origin, our family has come up with our own symbolism.
1. Galations 3:13, Deuteronomy 21:23, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us-for it is written, 'Cursed be every one who hangs on a tree.'"
Because Christ was hung on a tree, the Christmas tree is a symbol of Christ's death on the cross and the redemption of sin.

2. John 8:12, John 9:5, Matthew 5:14-16, "Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, 'I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.'" "As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." And, "You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."
The lights we put on the tree symbolize Christ's light, and our light (we are the light of the world).

3. John 3:16, John 6:47, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life."
Because the evergreen tree is not a desiduous tree, that is it does not lose it's leaves or it's color, but remain green through all seasons, the tree symbolizes eternal life.

4. Zechariah 3:4, "Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment."
The decorating of the tree symbolizes the change we go through when we are cleansed of our sins. We become beautiful in the eyes of our Lord.

Hope that helps. Using a Christmas tree as a "Symbol" tree can be a good lesson, and tradition, for your family to use as a witness to those who enter your home and for your children to pass along!

God bless!
Kim <><

Things we have been up to...

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:01:00 -0600

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Visited my Grandmother in Lake City a few weeks ago, My dad just sent the pics, I thought I would share them w/ you...

All of us around Grandmother S. (My mom was there but she took the picture)
This is my fathers mother.

This is my sister and I w/ my Grandmother (prior to my hair cut)

Biggun and Grandmother S.

Honey Bear and Grandmother S. Honey Bear had Aunt T's lip gloss, her favorite thing to get from Aunt T.

Moose was tired of sitting still he wanted to get down and check everything out.

A few weeks ago I wet to get my hair cut but was not expecting it to be as short as it ended up. We are a family who likes LONG hair. My long hair had been getting in the way so I figured I would cut off 10 " and give it to Locks of Love and then I would have hair to my shoulders. Still long but not as long. Well the girl cut it at an angle and by the time it was over she had cut about 12 inches total. and I ended up w/ a Bob hair cut.

Not to bad, but still not long hair I am tring to get used to it. So is my husband.

My dear friend Mrs. D made me my Christmas Present early. :^) She gave it to me so I can have it for thanksgiving dinner preperations. I love my new apron! It covers every thing, this is hard to find when you have a nursing chest like I have....

(Sorry not a good pic, but my son took it)

Here is the material, I love the BEE's I got to pick out the material myself!!

Moose has been growing like a weed, his birthday is FRIDAY!!!! I can not believe he will be 1 year old!!!!!

He always has a smile on his face, but you will notice he is surrounded by pink, He is getting BOY toys for his birthday!!! :^)

He is finally interested in real food, we found some perfect size for his little hands.

We have pasta w/ parmesan cheese often for lunch.

Lastly a Mother/Daughter pic of us waiting for the horse and buggy ride at a fall harvest party.

Picture was taken w/ my phone sorry so blurry.

Knowledge Box Central

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:16:00 -0600

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Update on us..

Mon, 9 Nov 2009 23:40:00 -0600

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It has been crazy in our house. Sickness, sickness Sickness is what is in our house. No not the H1N1, swine flu, but we have had strep throat, congestion coming out of eyes and yuckies in the tummies. We are praying all this is passing.

In the past few weeks we have had a space derby for scouts. Now our space derby is different then most Scout space derbies. We take 2lt bottles and fill them w/ about 1/4 way w/ water and then put it on a tube that has compressed air. Then the boys step back and pull a rope and wow can those 2lts bottle space ships fly. some went like 40 feet in the air. it is not a derby of winners but a derby of fun and participation. Here is a picture of the Webelo I and II standing behind their space derby ships.

Baby Bear is now officially Honey Bear. She hit her head a while ago and I kept saying "O'Honey" and she says Honey all the time now! So she is not longer Baby Bear but Honey Bear!

Honey Bear became attached to a t-shirt that belong to Moose. This tshirt had a bumble bee on the front and is brown. She kept wearing it to bed, (that was the only place she could wear it as we do not allow her to wear pants, her and I wear dress- this is not up for debate for those who read my blog that do not know me, thank you) I found some material and sewed it on the bottom of her shirt and she LOVED it. She would drive me nuts to wear it daily. We were washing it nightly. So I have been busy making her other tshirt dresses!!!

Here are a few more dresses we have made thanks to Aunt C, for all the material....

Here she is helping me ...

I will end w/ my little Moose who is walking all over the place since he was 9months old and his new trick at 11months is to CLIMB on everything. Oh I am in so much trouble, he has NO fear. :^)

First Daddy Daughter Date !!!

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 21:33:00 -0500

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Today Baby Bear and Daddy went on their first Daddy/Daughter Date. We got free tickets from Ruth Eckerd Hall for taking a survey and Daddy took his big girl to see Sesame Street Live, Elmo's Green Thumb.
She was so excited to get to wear her new dress and ride in Daddy's bye bye, (truck) This was the first time she ever got to ride in Daddy's bye bye. Elmo's Green Thumb on stage was just an extra perk for this little girls day. :^)

Here are the pics leading up to them leaving the house.

Baby Bear in her new fancy dress,

Waiting on Daddy

Still waiting on Daddy

Daddy and his little girl.

Daddy and his little girl both wearing Purple!!!

This is how you smile Daddy, See like this....

Yeah, Time to go....

Time to get in Daddy's Bye Bye (truck)

All buckled up!!

Oh the excitement.....

Hey, where is Daddy?

Here we go!

Time w/ Adults

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 16:43:00 -0500

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OK, most people who read this blog or come across this blog are homeschoolers. Well I have a question for those homeschoolers out there.

What do you do for adult time?

I love my kids, with all my heart. I love that I am able to be w/ them all the time. I love not missing anything of their lives. I love to see that look in their eyes when they figure something out. I love being there when they need help figuring something out.

BUT

I also need some alone time or time w/ adults. I love that I go to to work for a few hours a day. Granted it is in a home office and the adults I see are only there for a short amount of time and I know I talk their ear off when they get back to the office after working all day. But I need more. I figured I could get more adult time from church but that is not happening. My kids are so young that I am being volunteered by my husband to be in the nursery. Granted I wont leave Moose (10months old) with just anyone. But he can come to church w/ me. I know there is a need for volunteers in Nursery area. But I am w/ my kids all week long. I need to be w/ adults, I need to be able to be fed God's word, too.

I would love to have an hour to go out and do NOTHING all by myself or w/ other ADULTS. If I am being greedy I would even do the grocery shopping all by myself. I don't care. I really want some time to myself or w/ adults w/o kids.

So I want to know if any of you do something special to get your alone or adult time.

Always Hungry....

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 07:59:00 -0500

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I seem to ALWAYS be hungry. I know the cause of this and there is nothing to change it for a while.
The reason I am always hungry is my Mooose. Yep Moose makes me hungry, not because he is so cute but because he is always nursing. Ok let me fix that, he is not Always nursing he just nurses vigorously when he nurses. Eating a lot in one short sitting. He is not fond of a bottle or a cup. We try and he will not take them, he eats very few of the finger food things like veggie wheels, and gerber puffs. He is not fond of baby food just yet or even adult food like mash potatoes. So he nurses. Now let me say this Moose is between 23-25lbs. So he is getting enough to eat. The down fall is I seem hungry ALL the time.

I try to eat as I get hungry, but sometimes I feel really strange doing that. Like at night before I go to bed, I might have eaten a snack at say 10pm and when I am ready to go to bed at 12am I am hungry again. I don't like to eat that late. UUGGhhh what a pain. I love my son and LOVE nursing him but I am ready to not be hungry ALL the time! Oh but he is SOOO Worth it!!!ok
ok

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Mon, 17 Aug 2009 08:22:00 -0500

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Thu, 13 Aug 2009 12:36:00 -0500

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Homeschool Fair did not work out for me. We drove the distance and walked away w/ NOTHING. :-( It was very small this year. I guess I will keep doing what I am doing for Spelling and see what God sends my way.

We had our first PPEA meeting on Tuesday night, WOW what a turn out. It was great. Wonderful turn out God is blessing Pinellas County Homeschoolers very much w/ this group.

Well here are some pics of the kids....

Look at that bruise in the middle of his forehead. Ouch!

All smiles even w/ silly hair....

All of my kids have played in this dog kennel. I guess I should find pics of the others too. That would make for a great scrapbook page....

Teething Hurts

Schooling no matter where we are..... that makes you think we actually get school in daily. Now that is funny...

Biggun and my Mom "Gamma"
I LOVE this picture!!!

Coming up in our world....

Fri, 7 Aug 2009 23:36:00 -0500

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A lot of people are excited about starting school, well we have been doing school all summer. So that is not a big deal to us. What is exciting is there is a Homeschool Fair in our area tomorrow. I am getting to go!!!! Granted I am only getting to go to the vender hall and not the speakers. Hubby is going w/ me, I think, and he only wants to stay a few hours, not all day. I am on the hunt for a spelling program and maybe something for preschool for Baby Bear. Granted I can do my own thing for preschool but we are always looking for great ideas. My budget is next to nothing so I know that will make a difference on what we are going to be able to purchase.

On Monday my hubby and I will be starting a class called CROWN Financial Ministries , I have been wanting to take this for a while, but it has not been the right time for us. On Tuesday, we have our first Homeschool Support Group Meeting, Pinellas Parent Educators Association, for the new school year. I get to see people I have not seen in a long time.

Then on August 19th we go back to the Dr. for my hubby for his vocal cord issues that he is having.

Lots going on in the future. Oh but I wanted to share what we went through last weekend. My Grandmother who is 87 years old fell in the early hours of Friday and broke her shoulder. So on Saturday our family loaded up and went 2.5hours away to see her in the hospital. Granted the kids were not able to go up and see her but I was able to see and chat w/ her. She is frail and weak. That was a long day for my kids. They did great playing in the kids waiting room at the hospital for 4 hours. While i visited and waited for the Dr to come talk to my father and uncle. She had surgery on Tuesday and was moved into a rehab today, Friday.

Then on Wed evening and Baby Bear got a high fever 103 and kept her temp for 24 hours, she seems ok now no fever but strange for my kids who don't run a temp higher then 100.

I am ready for healthy people and positive things to be happening to our family.

God is Good, no matter what we go through!