~The Least of These~ - Homeschool Blogger

Been on a long, long trip!

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 10:09:00 -0500

We went on a month-long roadtrip out west! I blogged it in Blogger. The address is www.10-4-the-road.blogspot.com if you want to take a peek.

Maybe I'll get inspired and start blogging more than just once every blue moon. We'll see...

Spread the Word to End the Word!!!

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 18:29:00 -0500

Spread the Word to End the Word! AMEN!

I came across this video today while I was looking for TV listings for Jon & Kate Plus 8 on Discovery Health channel's website. I don't know much about her, but I think it is very classy of Bonnie Hunt to air this on her show.

Please take a minute to watch, but don't forget, you'll need to pause the pink music playlist in the lower right hand of the sidebar.

Early in the morning here on our mountain...

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:30:00 -0500

John Wesley shot this picture at the top of our driveway early one morning last week before the fog had burned off. I could look at this picture for hours, I think it's so pretty and peaceful.

Meet Daisy...

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 07:00:00 -0500

This is Daisy, Lena's new bunny rabbit, and the proud inhabitant of the hutch John Wesley built. The plan had been for Lena to save up her money to buy the rabbit, but John Wesley just couldn't stand seeing the hutch sitting empty. Besides, every day, several times a day, Lena would go outside and stare longingly into the empty hutch. Then she would open the doors and caress the various parts of the interior of the hutch. You could just see her dreaming of the day when there would actually be a fuzzy little bunny in there for her to hold and pet.

Well, Harold took the kids to the stock yards this past Saturday morning and John Wesley couldn't take it a minute longer. He and Lena went over to the man that was selling rabbits and they picked one out and JOHN WESLEY bought her the rabbit.

Now, she goes out to the rabbit hutch even more often and pets the rabbit and makes sure she has plenty of food and worries over whether she's drinking enough water. It's where she goes first thing every morning as soon as she gets dressed, even before she eats breakfast. I had no idea how sweet she would be about her bunny!

Ah, Spring!

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 17:12:00 -0500

Spring has indeed sprung here in Kentucky! Beautiful daffy-dum-dillies (Didn't you know that was the proper name for daffodils? Well, according to my dad and now my children, it is!) are blooming in patches everywhere! My sweet Cody brought me a beautiful little vase, er...water bottle of them yesterday! They are so fragrant and bright. Can't help but perk up my day just looking at them.

Today, my Harold and the older boys worked on this composting bin made from pallets. Now, we'll see if we are able to get together a garden to use the compost on....

Seasoned with Salt...

Sat, 21 Mar 2009 08:41:00 -0500

"Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt..." ~Colossians 4:6.

Ginger has a wonderful blog post up right now reminding us of the impact of our words and the responsibility we have to use our words in constructive, edifying, God-honoring ways. I couldn't agree more.

Of course as a mother, my days are FULL of opportunities to practice guarding the gates of my mouth! I find myself letting loose with a little more criticism than I'd like on a too-often basis. Then sometimes, I will think something pleasant or praiseworthy about one of my children or my husband, and don't bother voicing the thought. Why is that???

Words are SO important. Words have the power of healing. They also, unfortunately, have the power to decimate the ones we love in seconds. They can build up and tear down. They have the power to create war and to elicit peace. We have that power right there within our little vocal chords. Amazing, isn't it?

With something so powerful within our grasp, we have a responsibility, friends. Of course we have freedom of speech. We *can* say whatever we like. But that doesn't really mean, as Christians, that we should. After all, we're the bondservants of Christ. We are bound to the law of kindness and grace. Called to season our words with salt (preserving, life-infusing), to administer grace to the hearer, to edify and to honor our Lord who is THE WORD.

So, this week, I'll be measuring my words a little more carefully. I'll be biting my tongue a little more often (I'll carry a tissue in case this becomes bloody!), and I'll be voicing those pleasant and praiseworthy thoughts to my husband and children. Care to join me?

By the way--the pretzels in the picture were a treat made by my boys yesterday morning! YUMMO! It's so nice to have older kids who can whip up yummy stuff!

New Wheels...

Sun, 15 Mar 2009 14:47:00 -0500

Actually, not so new. We bought our little bus back in the Fall of last year, but I never got around to taking a picture of it. So here it is now. A bit dirty on a dreary day, but at least I finally remembered! Love how it accommodates all of us and all of our most important treasures. It's also got a wheelchair lift (on the other side) that we are SO going to be making use of before long. Jared's just getting TOO big to lug around. We're looking for a chair for him, and this little bus will make it all so much easier for everyone!

What a great big brother!

Sun, 15 Mar 2009 13:56:00 -0500

Lena (7) has been wanting a rabbit for a long time. We've been looking (very non-committally) at hutches, but knew it would be a while before we bought one because they're just, well, expensive!

John Wesley decided he felt sorry for Lena having to wait and all, so he looked around our yard (and our neighbor's yard) and found everything he needed to build a rabbit hutch--for free! Luckily, Grandpa lives next door to offer technical support!!! I'm so proud of John Wesley's creativity, but mostly I'm proud of his sweet and loving heart!

Here's John Wesley (13) getting ready to show Lena the rabbit hutch he built for her. We were all very excited to see what her reaction would be!

We were certainly not disappointed! She was SO thrilled. She just kept twirling around with that sweet grin on her face, saying, "This is the best surprise of my whole life!"

It's one of those times that you just can't imagine not being there for. So glad I'm home with my kids!

My birthday party....

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 07:36:00 -0600

My mom and I have birthdays one day apart--back in October--I know, I'm late. Mom wanted all of her children to be born before she was 30. Being the sweet, compliant person I am (okay, where's the rolly eye emoticon?), I was born one day before her 30th birthday. Harold & the kids decided to take us to the park for a cookout. It was a beautiful, blustery fall day.

The kids had a ton of fun! Jared & MaKenzie loved climbing on the slides.

Jonas & Lena chased each other down the fireman pole.

John Wesley was a very sweet big brother and helped Matthew swing. I am so thankful for how sweet & patient the bigger kids are with their little brothers & sisters.

Here is William helping MaKenzie. Another sweet brother.

Cody moves at the speed of lightening. I think this was the only opportunity I had to catch him being still.

The park is situated just under a dam. The hillside formed by the dam is a great place to sled during the winter (if you're careful), and the kids love to roll down it in the warmer months.

Sick Days...

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 22:16:00 -0600

As I mentioned in my last post, my family has taken a beating with illness the last few weeks. Poor MaKenzie had her fill this night (pic taken last week)! She fell asleep taking her neb treatments. Thankfully she is much better now and has been able to discontinue them. I would never wish for any of my children to be sick, but there is something very sweet about the tender fellowship with my little ones when they are under the weather and just want to be near Momma. It's such a blessing and a privilege to be able to comfort and hold them during these times. So happy that I don't have to worry about missing work or school or whatever in times like these. I am so thankful for our homeschooling lifestyle and for the togetherness and flexibility it affords our family. I can't imagine it being any other way. I pray I won't be in the position of having to any time soon...

We got word recently that our current adoption is sort of stalled. I spoke with his worker earlier this week and the word is that we are looking at mid to late January for placement, as long as things proceed as they are expected to on their end. What a bummer! We were hoping for placement in September. I'm not really stressing though, as I know that it's all in God's timing anyway. I keep wondering though, if He's closing the door a little at a time on this adoption. Trying to keep myself from nudging things one way or the other--I want to KNOW that God is in charge and that I haven't tipped the scales! It's hard to keep my nose out of His business sometimes. I pray for Him to do His will, then I try to help him out--like He needs ME???? DUH~I think not! I'm a slow learner sometimes.