Welcome to my blog. We are a family of 4, born as sinners, deserving of death, but saved by the grace of God. Lead by God to school our children at home for 6 years now and are still learning new things all the time. I enjoy chocolate, coffee and green tea. I love to look out at the moon and stars, God is so creative isn't He! My 6 year old is praying that God will bring back dinosaurs and my 17 year old wishes we lived inside a book store. My husband enjoys the outdoors and Nascar. Welcome to my world. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/srvhim4life/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Mon, 14 Dec 2009 13:02:00 -0600 Mon, 14 Dec 2009 13:02:00 -0600 I cannot believe this year is coming to an end.  It feels like we just started 2009 and now I need to get used to writing 2010.  WOW!! We are in our 7th year of homeschooling.  Our daughter is in 11th grade and our son in 1st.  I thought it would be difficult schooling such big age differences but both are doing well and I'm not pulling my hair out....yet. Our darling daughter has had a busy year with school, camp and last month started her new job working at Bed, Bath and Beyond and loves it.  She has done very well and is the praise of all her managers.  She also likes the freedom of purchasing things when and how she feels like it....I remember those days.  She went to camp twice this year, first as a CIT (Counselor in Training) and 2nd as a camper.  Little did we know, she'd wind up in the ER....We're beginning to think she likes it there.  This time for a ruptured cyst.  She was asked to be in the Christmas play at church this year as Mary and had 2 weeks to learn her part.  She had a 5 minute monologue and did extremely well.  We are so proud of her.  We're now looking at adding guitar to her repatoir of instruments.  Alyssa enjoys being part of the homeschool choir this year and I am just amazed at the beautiful sound that comes out of her.  Alyssa also took a gun class this summer so she could go deer hunting with her dad this fall...her new nickname is "ammoburner". Our darling son still loves dinosaurs.  I have never seen such a passion.  He wants to be a Paleontologist when he grows up and he wants to make movies of dinosaurs.  With dinosaur noises, he stalks the cat and annoys the dog.  He enjoys school and does very well.  Mom is still his favorite jungle gym.  Ethan was also apart of the Christmas play this year.  He was an angel.  Word to self...do not allow Ethan near a microphone.  What a ham. This year Ed has been very busy with the Men's group at church and is apart of the leadership team.  They have been scheduling outings for all the men at church.  Events such as camping, trap shooting and golf.  He is also busy working in the church kitchen on Wednesday evenings.  In November, Ed joined the ranks of the unemployed .  This means we will be moving.  It's funny, ever since we got married, I think we have moved every 4 to 5 years.  Our plans are to move closer to church as our commute is 45 minutes long and rent for now, but you know what the bible says....Want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans...so we will see what God is up to. We were able to fit a family vacation in and headed to Montana for a homeschool family retreat.  We also visited Mount Rushmore and enjoyed the scenery.  Darling husband did not make hotel reservations on our way up so I thought it would be fun to sleep in the van for one night.  It would have been more restful if we had been better prepared.  Oh well, live and learn.  I'm still working for Walmart as a Customer Service Supervisor in the evenings.  This is the busyiest season I have seen and my feet and hips are taking the abuse for it.  Looking forward to the new year with great anticipation.  Remembering that each day is a gift from the Lord above. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/srvhim4life/751900/ Mon, 14 Dec 2009 13:02:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/srvhim4life/751900/ Reality is our media and government like to keep us in a state of panic.  When did wisdom become an afterthought?  God created us to be reasonable thinking beings. That being said, we can look at our situations, evaluate them and make rational decisions.  As every year, we have entered into flu season.  Look around your home and evaluate what you end up using every year and just be prepared to have it on hand.  Here are a few ideas to help aleviate chaos. 1.  Make sure you have a working and clean thermometer.  I cannot tell you how many times over the past 17 years I have had to send my husband out to a 24 hr store in the middle of the night because I wasn't prepared with a working thermometer.  Now I have both an old fashioned one and a battery powered one. 2.  Tylenol, motrin and ibuprofen on hand only makes sense.  if you have children make sure these medicines are not expired.  Tylenol and motrin can be used one after the other to help with stubborn fevers. (one is a four hour the other is an 8 hour)  I would use the motrin at bedtime and chase it 8 hours later with a tylenol. 3.  Start preparing your body now.  Buy vitamin D-3 (I like the chewables)  Something else I have done over the course of 2 years is stopped using antibacterial soaps.  My family and I use regular hand soap and make sure we wash them for at least 30 seconds each time we use the bathroom.  This way we have been building up an immunity to the agents around us.  Let me remind you, when you get an injection like the polio injection or the chicken pox injection, are they not giving you a small dose of the LIVE germ...to build your immunity to it?  If I clean myself of all germs known to man and I come in contact with that germ, I'm gonna be sicker than I would had if I had built up an immunity to it. 4.  Have the necessary cough and cold medicines available.  Popcycles are nice to have on hand for the kids if they end up with a fever and it feels good on the throat and they are cheap. 5.  I have read good things about Oscillococcinum so I have purchased a couple boxes for my husband and I and a couple boxes for my children.  I will tell you that Wal-Mart is cheaper than Walgreens by a mile.  Learn from my mistake.  This is supposed to be most effective when taken when you feel the flu coming on.  Not as a last resort. 6.  You should have cough drops, mentholatum, lip balm, and the pink stuff on hand. 7.  Diluted sports drinks for older children and adults for dehydration and pedialyte or similar fluid for younger children. 8.  Have your dr's phone number on hand and know the procedure for the proper way to bring down a fever.  They now suggest you not use alcohol.  When I had pnemonia when I was a young girl they rushed me to the ER and threw ice cold wet towels all over me...I surely didn't enjoy it and they also don't recommend that any longer either...thank the Good Lord.  A tepid, luke warm bath will slowly bring down a fever, you don't want them to get the chills.  9.  Soups.  Make up some soups you can freeze and have ready when you aren't feeling up to snuff.  Create a few casseroles you can store in the freezer.  When you don't feel like cooking, your family can take care of themselves. Some would suggest you have a few gallons of water on hand, face masks and the likes.  That's fine, we already have those in our arsonal and not a bad idea incase we are instructed to use them.    http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/srvhim4life/732730/ Fri, 2 Oct 2009 17:23:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/srvhim4life/732730/ I found this recipe on Allrecipes.com and it was YUMMO! 3 eggs, 2 Cups sugar, 1/2 Cup vegetable oil, 1/2 Cup applesauce (if you don't have applesauce, just double the oil), 1/3 Cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 1/2 teasp vanilla, 1 1/2 Cups grated zucchini, 1/2 Cup grated apple, 2 Cups flour, 1 Cup flax seed (if you don't have flax seed, add another cup of flour), 1 teasp baking soda, 1/2 teasp baking powder, 1 teasp salt, 2/4 teasp ground cinnamon, 1/4 teasp ground nutmeg, 1/4 teasp ground cloves.  Mix dry ingredients in one bowl and wet ingredients in another bowl and bring together.  Bake at 350 for 25 - 30 minutes.  Let cool. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/srvhim4life/732642/ Fri, 2 Oct 2009 13:36:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/srvhim4life/732642/ Make a Smilebox scrapbook   We enjoyed our family vacation to the Homeschool Family Camp in Ekalaka, MT.  Like I mentioned in my previous post, we took food to save money.  That helped out so much, plus we didn't gain weight on our trip and stayed healthy.  Since it was such a long drive and the last time we actually took a family vacation was 7 years ago, we wanted to make the most of our trip.  We drove through ND on our way there and back through SD on our way back.  Since I knew we would have to cover the cost of food till we reached our destination and after we left our destination I made a plan with my husband on what we could take with us that would be easy. I made homemade cinnamon rolls the night before and packed cans of tuna, turkey, and chicken and a jar of miracle whip.  We brought a cooler for the items that needed to stay cold and a tote for the dry items.  To keep trash from piling up in the vehicle, we brought 1 water bottle with each of us and included 2 gallons of water.  I am so glad we brought the gallon jugs instead of multiple water bottles.  I included a couple storage containers that would allow me to mix up the sandwich spread.  The night before I chopped up celery for the spread and made sure I chopped up enough for each can we would use.  This worked out really nice.  I would have included onions and seasonings but my kids didn't want all that in their spread.  We included cheese sticks and apples and cans of fruit as well as snack bars and chips.  With all this in toe and a loaf of bread and juice boxes, we were good to go and it all worked out even better than I thought.  I thought we might actually get tired of eating sandwich spread but because it was different kinds of meat with regular meals inbetween our vacation (before and after or destination) nobody complained at all.  We did include a 1/2 gallon of milk in our cooler because we didn't want it to go to waste while we were gone and glad we did. The first night we actually slept in our vehicle, we didn't plan it that way (as some of us didn't have pillows and blankets) - next time I will be better prepared.  The kids had pillows and blankets so they were warm and slept soundly.  We pulled into Roosevelt National Park...along with many others (proved to be a popular idea) and rested till morning.  Come morning we were amazed at the choice we had made because it was beautiful.  Chili, but beautiful.  After we reached our destination to Trails End Ranch (highly recommend) the fun and fellowship got started.  If you go, learn from our mistake - take pillows, blankets, towels, and sleeping bags...I guess that is why they call it "camp"  MY BAD.  Thankfully they had extras.  These are great people that love the Lord and put everything they have into what they do. After leaving we headed through SD and made the usual stops.  Again, eating from our own store.  However, it was nice to sleep in the hotel for a couple of nights.  In Keystone is a nice hotel called K Bar S and it is only miles from Mount Rushmore.  We did order pizza out one night.  All in all it was an extremely enjoyable experience.  We met great families at Trails End and are looking forward to going back next year, Lord willing.   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/srvhim4life/731067/ Sun, 27 Sep 2009 21:55:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/srvhim4life/731067/ Okay!  Why does it have to be so difficult to provide my family with farm fresh milk that doesn't cost $10 a gallon.  I have done my research and understand how it all works.  All I want is my family to have milk that doesn't have all the hormones and antibiotics that man is filling our cattle with.  Cows that are range/grass fed are healthier and happier and make better milk.  I see all the signs on the milk jugs that say there is "no significant difference has been shown between milk derived from rBST treated and nonrBST treated cows."  Malarkey!  They tell me that coffee is good for me and great for the memory but my body tells me something different.  Just view these articles, prevent cancer and prostrate cancer.    Don't know what rBST is:  rBST.  Here is an article published in 1985 regarding milk safety.   Raw milk is actually the best way to drink it, non-pasteurized, or unheated as heating the milk does cook out necessary nutrients,  General Mills appears to be jumping on the bandwagon to use non-treated cows for their yogurt.  Wal-Mart may even be jumping in as well. Here is a good article on milk produced today. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/srvhim4life/725327/ Wed, 9 Sep 2009 10:05:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/srvhim4life/725327/ We are preparing for a family trip.  I'm so excited.  We haven't taken a family vacation since our dd was 6, she is now 17.  Family vacations can be pricey when you add up the gas, dining and lodging.  One way to save money is by preparing and taking your own food.  It's also healthier.  There are items like cheese sticks, granola bars, carrot sticks, grapes and chips that make this easy.  If you dry your own food, dehydrate some apples for apple chips with cinnamon, or dehydrate applesauce and make roll-ups.  Pick some cherry tomatoes from your garden or from the grocer.  Water can be brought in 1 gallon jugs instead of wasting all those water bottles and each person can bring their own water bottle and re-use it.  Pick up some dry mix packets of lemonade where you just add water for a change of pace.  Mix up boxed pudding for an added treat and store it in a cooler, or just pick up pudding pkgs from Wal-Mart, they're cheap. For the main coarse, pick up dried jerkey, or bring cans of tuna or chicken, or turkey.  Prepare slices of celery and include some spices, divide mayo or miracle whip in snack bags and you have the makings of a tuna salad sandwich.  Make sure you pack your can opener (non electric) and cans are easy to pop open and prepare.  Rest stops make great places to stretch ones legs and prepare a quick meal.  Along with bringing some fresh fruit, include a few cans of fruit.  Include a loaf of bread and/or tortilla shells, or pitas.  When booking your hotel, check to see if it has a microwave.  Bring along popcorn for a snack. Another way to save money is by roughing it a bit.  Instead of staying at a hotel, plan ahead to stay at a national park and tent camp.  http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/srvhim4life/724965/ Tue, 8 Sep 2009 09:39:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/srvhim4life/724965/ I have been reading a fabulous book The 5000 Year Leap by W. Skousen.  Wow.  It disturbs me greatly that this was not taught to me when I was in school.  It would disturb me even more that my children were not to learn this if it were not for me homeschooling.  I hate the idea that so much truth has been stripped away from our education.  Our founding fathers' idea of a strong America was         "to keep the power base close to the people.  The emphasis was on strong local self-government.  The states would be responsible for internal affairs and the federal government would confine itself to those areas which could not be fairly or effectively handled by the individual states." Like what Moses did after his father-in-law's suggestion.  Research shows that:       Jefferson had a conversation with President Washington in August 1793 where he expressed deep concern that some elements of the President's administration were pushing toward oppressive monarchial-type powers.  The President immediately responded that republican principles must be maintained and that "the Constitution they had in place was an excellent one, if we keep it where it is." and took steps to correct the situation. Our founding Fathers warned against the temptation to head towards a "welfare state" where the government endeavors to take care of everyone from the cradle to the grave.  Thomas Jefferson wrote:  "If we can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people, under the pretense of taking care of them, they must become happy." They even warned against deficit spending.  Jefferson wrote, "we shall all consider ourselves unauthorized to saddle posterity with our debts, and morally bound to pay them ourselves, and consequently within what may be deemed the period of a generation, or the life [expectancy] of the majority."  It was immoral to pass the debt of our frivilous lifestyle to the next generation.  I think it extraordinary that our Founding Fathers were all well-read.  But not just anything.  They read from Polybius, Cicero, Thomas Hooker, Coke, Montesquieu, Blackstone, John Locke, and Adam Smith.  They were also careful students of the Bible, especially the Old Testament.  Even those that did not belong to any Christian denomination.  They were educated on Greek, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, European, and English history. Cicero said, "The animal which we call man, endowed with foresight and quick intelligence, complex, keen, posessing memory, full of reason and prudence, has been given a certain distinguished status by the Supreme God who created him; for he is the only one among so many different kinds and varieties of living beings who has a share in reason and thought, while all the rest are deprived of it.  But what is more divine, I will not say in man only, bit in all heaven and earth, than reason?  And reason, when it is full grown and perfected, is rightly called wisdom." Cicero understood the greatest commandment, to love, respect and obey God.  Apply this to government affairs where humans are involved and it is justice.  It is intriguing to me that Cicero was neither Christian nor Jew and yet he figured this out. Our Founding Fathers understood it was necessary to build a highly moral and virtuous society.  They wanted to be different from other societies.  They measured everything against God's Laws.  They had enough wisdom to know that without two key elements, the Constitution they developed would not last.    The people needed to be sufficiently "virtuous and moral" to govern themselves.  A corrupt and selfish people could never make the principles of "self-government" operate successfully. Franklin wrote: "Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom.  As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters." I am in awe over how the people back then knew how important it was for these two key elements to be present and that they doubted themselves.  They had a deep thirst for independence.  They wanted this to work but weren't sure they were capable of being "good enough".  Some of the doubters were John Jay, Robert Morris, Robert Livingston, and John Dickinson.    However, they took great pride in powerful expressions of faith and confidence they saw in men such as John Adams, George Washington, Richard Henry Lee and Josiah Quincy.  It was noted that Europe had corrupted its people with "luxury, indolence, amusement, and pleasure."  (sounds familiar)  There were newspapers in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Charleston printing letters pointing out deficiencies of American society.  This caused a "self-examination" period amongst the people and a reform started to take place. "Many Americans became extremely self-conscious about their lack of "public virtue" because of non-involvement in the affairs of government.  They began to acknowledge their obsession with self-interest, the neglect of public affairs, and their disdain for the needs of the community as a whole.  Gradually, a spirit of "sacrifice and reform" became manifest in all thirteen colonies." Because many Americans liked the improvement in the quality of life due to the reform, they became afraid they would lose it and took quick steps to make sure this would not happen.  They separated from all British manners under the current Monarch. Want to learn more, I suggest getting the book.  What an eye-opener.  My prayer is that we will be given the opportunity by God to have one more reform.   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/srvhim4life/724178/ Sat, 5 Sep 2009 10:26:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/srvhim4life/724178/ School - I'm still working on my planner.  I should have started earlier this summer but am getting more excited about the new school year the more I delve into the curriculum I have.   Busy boy is more than excited to get started and darling daughter is excited about all the new books she will be earning.  I created an incentive for her to do her best by buying 4 books.  I let her pick them out and I ordered them.  She can earn 2 per semester. Spiritual - I am enjoying spending time in God's word.  I just finished up Ruth and sat back and meditated over God's intervention in both Ruth and Naomi's life.  God was mighty quiet but busy at work.  I am so glad that I can trust that God is busy at work in our lives even when things seem quiet. Housework - I have been finding and cleaning out old plastic containers to use for my flour, sugar, etc.  Darling husband likes to hold on to these things once their emptied just in case he needs them.  I'm going to hyjack them.  If you only knew how many ice cream containers my husband has been storing.  They are such a spacehog.  He likes to use these for the garden, plus milk containers.  He cuts them up when it's time to seed and uses them to hold his seed starters.  Kind of like a mini plastic greenhouse.  Earlier in the week, while cleaning I came across a food dehydrator that my husband got at a rummage sale for $5.  After a lovely conversation with a friend of mine this morning, she reminded me it was hers.  After some research on how to use it I saw a recall notice and figured it was a waste of my time.  After making a phone call to the company, I found out the one I have was not a part of the recall, so guess what my new toy is!!! The one great thing I am finding from keeping a stock of food in my pantry is that I can buy things on sale.  I love that! Or I can wait till I have a coupon and get them when they are on sale.  I love that even more!  I rotate my pantry on a weekly basis.  Last year my husband made up home-made jars of salsa and tomatoes.  We are still enjoying what is left and I'm hoping he will do it again.  Our tomatoes are finally blooming and ripening, thanks to prayer.  My next challenge is finding a local farm that will sell me milk and eggs.  I'm wondering if the milk from the store is what is making my busy boy, extremely busy.  I found when we did buy the more expensive milk he settled down more, but I cannot afford $4 a gallon, not with as much milk as we go through.   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/srvhim4life/722977/ Tue, 1 Sep 2009 15:43:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/srvhim4life/722977/ Wow, it is actually a bit chilly today.  The kids are all outside in sweatpants and sweatshirts and hubby must feel it too because he's doing the normal outside fall chores.  This could only mean one thing.  It's time for my potato soup.  This is one of those "feel good" soups my mother use to make and she would add pieces of chicken.  I would always ask my mother to make this when I was feeling down and needed a pick-me-up.  Now I make it on fall gloomy days.  I think we're going to have an early winter.  And like last year, it's probably going to be a long one.  Ugh.   So here is my recipe for Potato Soup. 1 large onion, 10 small potatoes, 5 tbsp butter, 5 - 7 cloves of garlic, salt and pepper to taste, 1/2 pkg frozen carrots (ours wasn't ready from the garden yet), 1/2 a large zuccinni, simmer with lid on. While that is simmering, cook up your chicken breast.  I use 3.  Don't forget to season your meat on both sides.  When done, slice, chop and throw them in with your vegetables and add about 3 C of chicken broth and 3 C of milk.   Season with 3 tsp of parsley flakes and 1 tsp of oregano.  ( I don't actually measure, I eyeball.)  Let simmer for atleast 1 hr. Enjoy.   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/srvhim4life/721993/ Sat, 29 Aug 2009 15:10:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/srvhim4life/721993/ I am sheepishly admitting that this has been in my library of books since my eldest was small and I have never read it.  My son brought it to me to read to him and was so delighted with it I decided to blog about it.  If you are a homeschooler that loves to teach your children about the great outdoors, this book is for you.  If you are a mother of a young child, but don't embrace nature quite as earnestly as outdoorsy people, this book is still for you.  It is not a book of poetry.  It gives simple, to the point information about bugs you would find in your backyard and puts it in a storybook fashion.  It almost reads as though your grandmother has taken you by the hand and says, "look at this, this is a such and such, and this is what it does and why it's useful."   An "at your level" type of reading.  I especially liked the reading on the ant, but maybe that is because God has been reminding me of the one in proverbs.   This book also reminded me how valuable earthworms and ladybugs are especially if you are needing help in your garden or flowerbed.    My opinion, make up a batch of "feel good" food and sit down and have a read with your little one. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/srvhim4life/721613/ Fri, 28 Aug 2009 12:50:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/srvhim4life/721613/