Welcome to my blog. I want my first thought to always be to please Christ. I have been married to my hero and best friend for 30 years. We have 9 children on earth and 8 waiting at Jesus’ feet. Our oldest is 28 and our youngest is 6. We have always homeschooled and have graduated 5 of our children. We also have 4 grandchildren from our oldest daughter, and they are the sunshine of our lives. Join us on our journey to be faithful to the end. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/laurie59/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Fri, 27 Jun 2008 16:25:00 -0500 Fri, 27 Jun 2008 16:25:00 -0500 About two years ago, a lady from church brought a box of books and was giving them away. They were about hope and healing for the parents of prodigals. I thought that was so nice and I picked one up so that I would be able to give it to someone who might need it that came across my path. Now, I am that person. The book is by Kitti Murray. Sometimes I can not even get through a whole chapter. I have underlined a lot and spend a lot of time crying. I then have to shut the book and meditate on the thoughts. The title is A Long Way Off. I can not fully recommend it yet, as I have not finished it, but so far it is right on. As if she was reading my thoughts. She does not recommend anyone who is not in the situation to read the book. "I might add this plea: if you cannot classify yourself as and "understander," if you have not experienced in at least some small way this sort of parental pain, please close the book, put it down, and back away! My first reason for such a prohibition is purely self-protective. I fear that you, the noninitiate, would be either too quick to judge or too slow to understand. It has been on of the riskiest ventures of my life to write these words, so much do that I tremble to think of them falling into the wrong hands. But my warning is for your own good as well. young couples would do well to educate themselves about the realities of the life ahead of them as parents; but it would be foolhardy for them to learn about parenting by spending a week cooped up in a home with someone else's colicky infant, two toddlers, and a five-year-old. It would be like going from basic training to the raging battlefront all in one day. Too much exposure too soon could result in either cowardice or cynicism or both. But if you are determined to read on, brace yourself. The truths herein, I am convinced, are sound, but they are hard earned." This book is written by a Pastor's wife. So their family is in the virtual fishbowl. Please pray for me as I continue on reading this, it is emotionally draining, yet encouraging at the same time. Here is the Book and a link to Amazon and the reviews of it: A Long Way Off by Kitti Murray. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/laurie59/553557/ Fri, 27 Jun 2008 16:25:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/laurie59/553557/ It has been so long since I have posted here. A lot has been happening in our lives and much of it has not been OUR idea of how our life should  or would look. I last posted in January, and on Feb. 5 our daughter ran away. I'll let that sink in because it took a long time for it to sink in for us. A lot of suffering, anguish, anger, questions, sadness. Now, the beginning of healing. I had thought many times that I would write about this on here but I always thought, those people don't want to hear about the bends in the road. They want to hear uplifting things. When you are trying to raise your kids for the Lord and do everything you know and seeking the Lord daily, you don't want to hear that someone that is doing the same thing has a daughter who just gets tired of it all and runs away with another home school boy! I am sure I will share more later but just so you know, they are married now, eloped. They are back in the town we live nearby, where we go to church. They are coming to church and want a relationship with us. There is a lot to mend, a lot to overcome, and pray about. In at least one way, the Lord has revealed to me an answer to prayer through this that didn't even have anything to do with our daughter. We have our other 8 children and four grandchildren that are hurting as much as we are and in different ways to understand and adjust. We ask your prayers during this bend in the road. God is still God and He knew this would happen and Romans 8:28 becomes so real! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/laurie59/550040/ Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:50:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/laurie59/550040/ Are creationists anti-science? One of the most common arguments that evolutionists use against creation researchers is the old refrain that creationists are “against” or “anti-” science. However, the same critics fail to answer one important question. Ken Ham explains: Recently a reporter from a secular magazine interviewed me for an article on the creation/evolution issue. One of the first things he asked was, “How do you react to those who claim you creationists are against science?” As I always do in such instances, I asked him: “What do you mean by science?” He just looked at me and said, “Good question—so how do you define science?” This is a question that many do not consider when examining the issue of creation versus evolution. The word science has the root meaning of “knowledge.” Scientists can make repeatable, testable observations about our present world and gain knowledge about the present—such knowledge has built the technology that puts humans into space. Scientists also try to obtain knowledge about our past—our origins. But this sort of knowledge is very different from knowledge about the present. It must involve assumptions about how the universe and life arose—when no human was there to see it all happen. Fossils, rocks, dating methods, all of these require the observer to interpret the evidence, and this interpretation is always filtered through beliefs about the past. There is a major difference between observational (or operational) science—what we can observe in the present—and origins science—interpretations about the past with no direct observation. Creationists are not against science, but they do want people to understand what the word science means. For more information, see Science or the Bible? http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/laurie59/461440/ Fri, 11 Jan 2008 20:32:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/laurie59/461440/ This is a link to an article with the above title, that is more than a little scary. Especially in light of the elections coming up and the possibility that someone will be elected that will put many restrictions on home schooling and treat those that chose it as renegades. This is on World Net Daily. I find many of these articles through The Source Daily, There is a place at the top to sign-up to get daily emails of news items in three categories: interesting to Christians, interesting to Homeschoolers, and World and Domestic Headlines. The Coming Storm http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/laurie59/459542/ Thu, 10 Jan 2008 12:50:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/laurie59/459542/ Cloth Folding 2 - Watch the top videos of the week here I watched this video, more than a few times and we actually got out a t-shirt and figured out how to do it. How fun! Let me know how many times you watch it!!!!!!!!!! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/laurie59/459495/ Wed, 9 Jan 2008 12:47:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/laurie59/459495/ What a fascinating title. It is a book by Francine Rivers, one of my favorite authors. I had this book on my shelf for a year before I read it. I do not like to read books that are "scary", like This Present Darkness. So I was more than a little bit apprehensive about reading it. Finally curiosity got the better of me and I read it and I Loved It. It takes place in the Appalachian Mountains in the 1850's. The people there are totally secluded and that is the way they want it. They are terrified of "taints" and are very sad and oppressed by the "Kai". Their greatest sadness and need is to hear of the one who can take away their sins. Francine Rivers lays out the gospel from Adam and Eve to Jesus Christ very clearly, more than once. I have given this book to several people for gifts and imagine my surprise to hear it has been made into a movie by Fox Faith. I requested the movie through my library and it was actually in the system. It took awhile but we finally got to see it. Wow, were we blown away. It actually talks about Jesus taking away your sins. It, of course, could have gone into a lot more detail like the book did but I was pleased to hear the name of Jesus. I recommend this to you all. Enjoy.     http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/laurie59/459038/ Tue, 8 Jan 2008 17:26:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/laurie59/459038/ I love reading Nancy Leigh DeMoss' articles, books, and devotionals. I used to have her Seeking Him devotional on my sidebar but alas, it has disappeared. I will have to look into that. Anyway, she has a very good article on the Revive Our Hearts website about the New Year. It is interesting how it goes along with our sermon on Sunday. It was on Psalm 119 and God's Word and how it should affect us this coming year. But especially, what are we going to do with it for ourselves. Here are the questions she poses and also a link to the article on ReviveOurHearts.com . 1. What’s one thing you could do this year to increase your enjoyment of God? 2. What’s the most humanly impossible thing you will ask God to do this year? 3. What’s the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your family life this year? 4. In which spiritual discipline do you most want to make progress this year, and what will you do about it? 5. What is the single biggest time-waster in your life, and what will you do about it this year? 6. What is the most helpful new way you could strengthen your church? 7. For whose salvation will you pray most fervently this year? 8. What’s the most important way you will, by God’s grace, try to make this year different from last year? 9. What one thing could you do to improve your prayer life this year? 10. What single thing that you plan to do this year will matter most in ten years? In eternity? I hope to blog about each of these questions, but then you would know a lot about my sins and my *gasp* humanness. So, til I get the courage: Think about each of these and apply them and you'll never be the same nor will you ever look back. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/laurie59/459027/ Mon, 7 Jan 2008 17:03:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/laurie59/459027/ Is there a simple solution to racism? The solution really is simple. If people in every culture accepted the history of the world according to the Bible, and built their thinking on God’s Word, then racism would disappear. But because we live in a world where the majority of people reject God’s Word, then the problem is not going to be solved. Nonetheless, Christians everywhere should be shouting from the hilltops that we do have the solution. You see, the Bible teaches that all people are of one blood. In reality, there’s only one race of people—descendants of Adam and Eve—there aren’t different races. Today’s various people groups and cultures came about as a result of God giving different languages at the time of the Tower of Babel. This would have caused different peoples to go in different directions and to different environments, thus developing the various groups. Genesis also tells us about the origin of sin. All people have this problem, all need the solution of trusting Jesus Christ and conforming their thinking to His teachings. If everyone accepted this, there would be absolutely no racism! And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. (Acts 17: 26–27) For more information, see “Feedback: Noah, a Global Flood, and the Case Against Racism."   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/laurie59/458144/ Sat, 5 Jan 2008 12:15:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/laurie59/458144/ Today is the 16th anniversary of when my wonderful father-in-law went home to be with the Lord.. He was such a Godly man, he loved the Lord so much and taught his children to walk with Him. He also taught me a lot about being generous and giving to others without expecting anything in return. I can honestly say he was one of the most generous men I have ever known. There was a huge gap when He was called home and continues to be. My dh still mentions that he wonders what counsel his dad would give in certain situations. We can confidently say that if we go to God's Word we will know what his advice would be. What a precious gift he gave us and his grandchildren as he knew he was dying of cancer and was able to say good-bye to everyone. He just kept telling us to keep our eyes on Jesus. We were blessed to be there as the angels came to take him to glory. His 3 sons sang hymns to him all night.  Early in the morning, the lamp on the side of the room kept going on, then brighter, then brighter, then off. It was one of those touch lamps but no one was near it. We believe it was the angels that came to get him. It was a beautiful time. My mother-in-law said shortly after that now she was a widow, and my dh said well its much better than being an old maid! It was a nice let off of emotion as we all laughed. Here is a picture of him. Thank you Lord for this Godly man and the heritage he left to us. I love you, Dad. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/laurie59/455491/ Fri, 4 Jan 2008 14:45:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/laurie59/455491/ There is a blog that used to be on Homeschool Blogger and moved to their own domain. I am so inspired by them and am so encouraged by the posts. They are expecting their 12th child any day and are have a contest to predict the date and time of her birth. They know it is a girl and they have named her Jodi. What an adorable name!. Just click on the link and join us in the contest. I bet not many babies have ever had so many anticipating her arrival! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/laurie59/455114/ Thu, 3 Jan 2008 22:32:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/laurie59/455114/