I live with my hard working husband and girls in the beautiful hills of KY. I have 5 girls( 3 still at home) and two sons-in-law. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kyhillshome/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:15:00 -0500 Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:15:00 -0500 "The sweetest part, if on may speak of one part being sweeter than another , is the rest which full identification with Christ brings. I am no longer anxious about anything, as I realize this; for He, I know, is able to carry out His will, and His will is mine. It makes no matter where He places me , or how. That is rather for Him to consider than for me; for in the easiest position He must give me His grace, and in the most difficult His grace is sufficient. It little matters to my servant whether I send him to buy a few cash worth of things, or the most expensive articles. In either case he looks to me for the money and brings me his  purchases. So, if God should place me in serious perplexity, must He not give me much guidance; in positions of great difficulty, much grace; in circumstances of great pressure and trial, much strength? No fear that resources will prove unequal to the emergency! And His resources are mine, for He is mine, and is with me and dwells in me"  (From the book : Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret) Read through that again and really try to digest it. Oh how sweet it would be to come to the point in my own life where I am no longer anxious about anything because I realize that the Lord is able to carry out His will and HIS WILL IS MINE. That I could come to the place where I don't care where he places me or how, because His grace is sufficient. I need to think of it this way: I am His servant; I am on the King's errand today and He will supply for me whatever I need: grace, strength,guidance, any resource I need for whatever He brings into my day. He is mine and is with me and dwells in me. I pray I will remember this as I go throughout my day! ... and you too! Pam http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kyhillshome/739972/ Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:15:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kyhillshome/739972/ Everyone has trials some bigger than others. My trials this week would probably be classified as small but I have family members who are going through major trials and I have been so blessed by their response to them.  They aren't emotionless and stoic. They hurt and grieve but in the midst of it all there is a deep abiding trust in the Lord.  When I read this devotional this morning I thought of them:  "Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous" (Hebrews 10:11a). You will be prepared, but never pierced, by the nail-pierced Hand. "Sufferings are for chastening (child-training). And chastening is from love, a token of our Father's care. We live in a world full of trial and suffering.... Every trial comes from the Father as a call to come away from the world to Him, to trust Him, to believe in His love. In every trial He will give strength and blessing. Let but this truth be accepted, in each trial, small or great; first of all and at once, recognize the Father's hand in it. Say at once, I welcome it from Him; my first care is to glorify my Father–He will use it all for my good." "Do not be afraid of the Father's training school. He both knows His scholars, as to what they are, and He knows for what service they are to be fitted. A jeweler will take more pains over a gem than over a piece of glass; but the one he takes most pains over is longest under discipline and most severely dealt with. Once finished, however, the burnish never tarnishes, the brightness never dims. So with us. If we are placed, at times, as in a furnace, it is not merely for earthly service, but for eternity. May you so appreciate the plans of your Father that you can triumphantly glory in the love that subjects you to such discipline, though the trial itself be sharp and to the flesh hard to bear." -J.H.T. "Nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them who are exercised by it" (Hebrews 12:11b). From None but the Hungry Heart  #9-20 compiled by Miles Stanford http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kyhillshome/728984/ Mon, 21 Sep 2009 13:49:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kyhillshome/728984/ How exciting it was to be able to be there for Chloe Haven’s birth!! Here is the story of how that happened. Mark and I had bought tickets for a few days after Grace’s due date ( Aug 16) .  We arrived in SD on Saturday, August 22. Grace was very ready to have the baby but not much was happening. Mark and I left Sunday after church to drive to Jordan’s parent’s home 6 hours away. We visited with them Sunday and Monday. Monday Grace went to see the midwife and she stripped her membranes. She said Grace was about 2cm dilated, 80% effaced and 0 station. By that night, Grace was feeling kind of crampy and wanted me to come back. Jordan’s sister was heading that way so I rode back with her. So I traveled 12 hours on Saturday, 6 hours Sunday and 6 hours Monday. Whew!! Nothing happened that night but I was glad to be close by. Tuesday we walked a lot and later in the day Grace tried castor oil. It did what it was suppose to do but didn’t really help get labor started. Wednesday we walked some more and she had some light contractions but not painful. Thursday the midwife visited and checked Grace. She was a little more dilated, 100% effaced, and at 2+ station. The midwife said it wouldn’t be long. After she left we went to the mall to walk around. The contractions got more regular but weren’t too painful. Finally around 9PM the contractions started to get more painful and were regular. I decided to rest until things got going. Around 11:30 I heard Jordan calling the midwife so I got up. The midwife didn’t get there until around 1 AM .She checked Grace and said she was making progress but it would be a while. She got everything set up and said everyone should try to get rest. She and her assistant went to sleep and I tried to. Grace and Jordan were in the living room but they weren’t getting any sleep. Around 3 AM I heard Grace throwing up so I got up and this time I stayed up. Grace’s contractions were getting more painful so I suggested she get in the pool. She really liked the pool and stayed there most of the labor. Grace worked hard all night, mostly staying on her knees in the pool with her arms hanging over the side of the pool. I felt so bad for her because I knew she was tired and nauseous at times and in pain. It was hard to stay in the room and at times I left to pray and regroup. Grace and Jordan mentioned several times how they were glad I was there. That made it worth it. It would have been so much easier to have just arrived after the labor and delivery. The rest of labor was kind of a blur. I know several times Grace was really getting tired and the midwife had us all gather around and pray for her. It was so good to have a Christian midwife. Grace had to get out of the pool to get checked a couple of times and go to the restroom but besides that she stayed in the pool. Finally around 1 PM Friday Grace got out of the pool and got in the bed to get checked. The midwife said she was completely dilated except for an anterior lip. Once that was out of the way Grace was ready to push. She only pushed for 21 minutes. At 1:36 Chloe was born!! When Chloe was born Grace, Jordan, and I all started crying and laughing and crying some more. It was so special to be there for her birth, to know that all the hard work Grace had done was over and here was this precious baby girl. Jordan was the first to yell out “It’s a girl!” As soon as I saw she was healthy and doing well I started making phone calls. Mark was just around the corner waiting for my call. The girls were in KY trying to wait patiently. It was so much fun to call everyone and tell them the good news. I had been updating mine and Grace’s Facebook pages all day so that was my next thing to do.                                                                  Chloe was a champion nurser from the start. The midwife had had Grace wear nipple shields since the 36th week. I think it really helped Grace with nursing and not getting super sore. Grace only had a 1st degree tear so she wasn’t as sore as I remember being after my first birth with a 3degree tear. The midwife made sure Grace exercised at least 40 minutes a day during her pregnancy. I think that really helped her endure the long labor. I really enjoyed staying for a week after Chloe’s birth. I loved to go in and steal her early in the morning and keep her until Grace woke up.  Chloe and I loved rocking and snuggling. I even got to help sometimes at night when Grace was tired and Chloe was cranky.  It sure was hard to leave my girls in South Dakota. I can’t wait until we can see them again in November until then I am so thankful for computers and cell phones with cameras. Maybe a webcam will be a good Christmas present. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kyhillshome/727289/ Tue, 15 Sep 2009 20:31:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kyhillshome/727289/   How many of you want to be weak?  Our culture/world views weakness as something not good.  No one wants weak tea or coffee.  No one wants to be the weak player on the team.  But did you know that the Bible says that weakness is good. Read II Corinthians 12:1-10 Paul had a reason to think of himself as special - caught up to heaven and given special revelations. But God made sure that Paul would remain humble.  A "thorn in the flesh" came into his life, a messenger from Satan.  This could have been a physical ailment, maybe false teachers, or even division in the church.  Notice that even though it was from Satan, it was part of the direct purpose of God.  Paul prayed for relief but this was not in God's purpose and plan.  Paul found himself in a situation that was testing him significantly.  Have you ever found yourself in that place?   "my grace is sufficient for you"  God is the source of grace.  Grace is God's favor on His children which expresses itself as the sufficient supply/resource for the need. Hebrews 4:16  It is sufficient, all you need.   "power is perfected in weakness"   Perfected carries the idea of fulfilled or realized.  Paul boasts in his weakness.  When we experience situations that reveal how weak we are, it opens the door for the power of God to be demonstrated.   "so that the power of Christ may dwell in me" The Christian walk is to be one of complete weakness. Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:2-4 Weakness brings dependence, trust, reliance.  We do not live for God, Christ lives in us and through us.  He does not help us.  He is the very life in us.   God's desire is not for relief but for resilience, perserverance.  When we see our weakness and Christ's sufficiency in us, then we can rely on Him, and His power and life will be manifested.  Weakness becomes strength.   "well content" Paul saw the purpose that God had in these things that would expose his need. He was content with them because God could use them powerfully in him.  Are we ready to be content in things that expose our weakness?  If we do it can be the stimulus, the avenue for the power of the life of Christ to be revealed in us.   This is a devotional email from my husband, Mark. If you would like to be put on a list to recieve them, just let me know. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kyhillshome/701321/ Mon, 22 Jun 2009 07:43:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kyhillshome/701321/ Here are three videos of verses.   We used a Karaoke machine that someone generously loaned us. My friend, Misti, got a kid's CD to go with the machine and I put the verses to the songs. We have Romans 5:7-8 to Bingo, I John 4:14-15 to Grand Ol' Flag, and Romans 10:10-11 to Farmer in the Dell.  Be aware that this is not official Bible Bee material. It is taken from their Bible verse cards.   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kyhillshome/700349/ Thu, 18 Jun 2009 16:28:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kyhillshome/700349/ We are working on Bible Bee material daily. There is so much to learn! It is very challenging. I am trying to come up with ideas of how to best memorize the verses and other material. I learn better when I see and hear and interact with things so I am trying to do that for the kids as we study. Here are some of the things we have done to learn the Bible verses: *Writing the verse on a chalkboard or dry erase board and erasing a couple of words at a time and trying to say the verse. * Making up signs for a verse using American Sign Language or just some made up signs. * Make up a slap-clap to a verse( see example video). *Make a rebus of the verse.  *We have posted the verses for the day by the kitchen sink and in the bathroom. *We are meeting on Wednesday nights to go over material and encourage the kids. Last week, we had all the kids try to put a verse to a song they knew. They did a good job and it was fun. Here are some ideas:Romans 12:2 to Old McDonald had a Farm,Isaiah 26: 3-4 to Mary Had a Little Lamb,John 1:1-2 to Yankee Doodle, Psalm 34:4-5 to Amazing Grace.Sometimes even if the songs are not that good the child still learned the verse while trying to make it a song. *This week the homework is to draw a picture of a verse and try to incorporate the verse reference. As an illustration, I drew a picture of a thief with a shirt on that said his name was "John". He was carrying a "10-10 " rifle ( I know there is no such thing but it gets the point across) The thief was saying, " I come only to steal and kill and destroy." Then on the other half of the paper Jesus said " I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." * I made up some online games to review the Bible Knowledge Quiz Cards: http://elearning-games.umcrookston.edu/InterGames1/KnowMill.asp?GameID=biblebeegames_000 http://elearning-games.umcrookston.edu/InterGames1/KnowMill.asp?GameID=biblebeegames_001 *Dr.Lim also has a fun site to play. It is not an official Bible Bee site but it has good review games on books like Matthew:   http://www.tagnet.org/grandforks/flashgames.htm I have 3 videos that show some of what we have done.   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kyhillshome/696225/ Fri, 5 Jun 2009 09:23:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kyhillshome/696225/ The garden is coming along. Now is the part of gardening I don't really like- weeding. We have been weeding and mulching the last few weeks. Mark is trying to mulch everything really well this year to cut down on the weeding. Since we don't use weed killers this can be a big job!  We used old hay mostly for the mulch.  We found out the hard way not to put hay around the melons, squash and cucumbers because those plants like a drier hotter growing climate. Also, the hay acts as a habitat  for the cucumber beetle which spreads powdery mildew on the cantaloupe. We are using  landscape fabric around these.   We had to replant cantaloupe,cucumbers, and watermelons and some of the corn.   We staked the tomatoes and beans. We have tried different ways to stake the beans and tomatoes. This is the way we like best. It is easy to pick the beans with this set up.   Here are the beans starting to climb up their stakes Here are the tomatoes. Some have little green tomatoes. We pinched the blooms off the strawberries. These are the peppers The corn looks kind of scrawny. Mark replanted some of it. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kyhillshome/694032/ Fri, 29 May 2009 20:47:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kyhillshome/694032/ Well, I had an exciting afternoon starting when Elizabeth called and said , " Mom bring a fire extinguisher quick the truck is on fire!"  I grabbed the one in the laundry room and sent Anna for the one upstairs. I raced in the car to where the truck was on the side of our road, envisioning flames leaping from the truck.   Now you may ask, "Why was the truck on the side of the road?" Good question. It was sitting where it ran out of gas while Mark was driving it to work this morning. The girls were suppose to have put gas in it last night. Someone forgot.   Your next question might be " How did it catch on fire?" Another good question. The girls were trying to start it by putting gas in the carburetor. Mark has shown them how to do this ( you have to teach some "boy" things to girls when you have all girls) The girl, who will remain nameless, evidently wasn't listening too well. She didn't hear the part about not getting any gas on the air filter.   So, one of the girls is cranking the truck while the other pours the gas in and  the air filter bursts into flames. Elizabeth yells to Miriam to get out of the truck because it is on fire. Miriam remembered that we had a fire extinguisher in the van, which is parked a few feet away ( I knew that would come in handy one day!)  They unload the extinguisher but it is still smoking. This is where the phone call to me comes in . When I get there they spray the extinguisher I had on it too. The smoking stops.   It didn't look too bad but the air filter was toasted. Now we needed to call Mark and tell him. Good thing he had just asked yesterday at church for prayer for patience with the girls. (seriously, he had)   He handled it really well, not knowing how much damage it would have. The good news is it needed a new air filter and some hose but he was able to drive it home.   I am so glad the girls remembered we a fire extinguisher in the van- they are homeschooled, you know... of course they are the ones who caught the truck on fire in the first place, but most girls probably wouldn't try to pour gas in the carburetor to start it ... of course they are the ones who let it run totally out of gas... .  Lots of lessons learned and nobody was hurt in the making of these lessons... my kind of learning- real life. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kyhillshome/685692/ Mon, 4 May 2009 18:40:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kyhillshome/685692/ Well we got most of the garden planted!! Here is what we got in:   -6 rows  (approximately 65 ft long) of Blue Lake Pole Beans. These are actually planted in beds of 3 rows each. -6 rows ( approximately 50 ft long)  of Incredible Corn -40 pepper plants ( combination of Big Bertha and California Wonder) -cantaloupe ( Ambrosia, Athena, and Hales Best) - Dark Green Zucchini -Jarrahdale Pumpkin -New England Pie Pumpkin -Crimson Sweet Watermelon - Yellow and Crookneck Squash -Winter Density Romaine Lettuce -Sweet Slice Hybrid Cucumber   Planting notes: We have planted Blue Lake Bush Beans and Roma Beans  in the past  but we don't like picking them.  Of course, Mark doesn't like staking the pole beans... but he doesn't want his labor crew to mutiny, so he plants the pole beans for us. Last year Earliqueen Cantaloupe did very well  for us but we couldn't get seeds for those this year. Hales Best Cantaloupte is an open pollinated seed which we would rather plant ( so we can save seeds ) but they had a lot of mildew problems. We love the Jarrahdale Pumpkins they cook up thick and aren't watery. Mark just wanted to try the New England Pie Pumpkin this year. We have tried Kandy Korn in the past but it was too sweet for us. We put up a 6 foot fence around the garden to keep the deer out.   In a few weeks we will plant several rows of Silver Queen Corn and Georgia Jets Sweet Potatoes. Now we get to fight weeds until the harverst. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kyhillshome/684627/ Thu, 30 Apr 2009 21:55:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kyhillshome/684627/ Planting season has gotten underway big time. We recently planted close to 200  Guardian strawberry plants. I will give you Mark's step by step instructions on those. We also planted several rows of white potatoes. Now Mark is tilling to plant the rest of the garden. He hopes to get some of the tomatoes in today then plant the rest of the warm weather things Monday night and Tuesday when he is off. Potatoes: The Kennebec potatoes we planted in hills. I know some people don't spend too long planting their potatoes but Mark wants things done right ( read "his way"~ smile)  After tilling, he digs a trench with a hoe pulling the dirt to one side. Then he ( or his slave labor) sprinkles a bone meal/blood meal fertilizer in the trench. Next the potatoes are placed in the holes about a foot a part.  Last the dirt is hilled back up over the potato trench. The rows are about 3 ft apart. When the potatoes start to come up, more dirt will be hilled up around them. Now for the  strawberries: Mark tills the area.  Bone meal/blood meal fertilizer is sprinkled in before the last run of the tiller.  After tilling, we dig a small hole with our hands. In the middle of the holes we make a little mound of dirt. We carefully put the strawberry plant on top of the mound and spread out the roots, making sure the plant will be buried up about halfway on the stiff part where the "crown" is.  The plants are about a foot apart with rows 3 ft apart.  To cut down on weeding-since our slave labor crew is getting smaller every year-we put down landscaping fabric around the plants.  Hay mulch will  be also put on top of this.  It is good to do a thorough job on this since the plants will be in the ground several years and keeping weeds out is important.   Around the outside of the strawberries we put down black plastic then put our fence up. We use the landscaping fabric close to the plants because it will allow water through, unlike the black plastic. And the tomatoes:  We planted Early Girl, Celebrity, Better Boy, Amish Paste, Brandywine , and Mortgage Lifters. The Celebrities have consistently done well for us and are good for our planting zone. They seem to be pretty disease resistant. Mark is equally meticulous about planting the tomatoes. First he tills, then we make holes with a hoe about 1 foot apart. In the hole we put old, dry chicken manure. We sprinkle a little dirt over the chicken manure and  place the plant in the hole.  Next we liberally water the plant and put more dirt around the plant up to the first big leaves. Mark likes to cover about half the plant even if the first leaves are covered with dirt. The tomato rows are around 4 feet apart.  All this will be mulched heavily with hay. The less weeding we have to do the better. Since we are doing things organically we won't be spraying any weed killer on our garden. Mark doesn't really stake the tomatoes. Along each side of the row of tomatoes at about 10 ft intervals he puts T-posts. Then , as the tomatoes grow, he tightly stretches 3 levels of  nylon twine  down each row of T-post . This works well for large quantities of tomatoes. We planted about 120 plants. (In Georgia one time we planted around 700 tomato plants ! Glad we didn't have to do that tonight.) I hope this isn't all too detailed. I just figure if you haven't done this before it might help. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kyhillshome/682913/ Sat, 25 Apr 2009 21:30:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kyhillshome/682913/