Thank you to everyone here at HSB who gave me such a warm welcome-it is a wonderfully supportive community here and I hate to leave.  Unfortunately, because of all the computer problems I chose to move early, before too many posts could be lost.  I have not been able to log on since last week and had several friends and family say they were never able to view the blog, it kepr saying "error".  If you get a chance, come say Hola at

http://sparrowjourney.blogspot.com/

in His love,

Brenda

I was googling a sparrow for my title and discovered, to my horror, that there is ANOTHER simple sparrow blog.  It's beautiful, and if you like sewing or crafts, go check it out....but back to the point... I cannot share!!  And I picked that blog title because I thought it was unique but I didn't put a LOT of thought into it...No one was going to know about this blog, remember?  Then John intervened...but that's forgiven, really, I am certain...but now, even if only 3 people ever look at this site, the title must reflect something. So, back to the drawing board, new title, please....

  One of my favorite artists is Sara Groves and if you click on the little play button to your left you will HEAR the song that inspired our new blog title.  Isn't that amazing?  I don't know how!   This html techy stuff  turns my brain to Quaker Oats but Ali (see below) did all of this, and walked me through step by step...if you are tired of the HSB template and want a little uniqueness added to your blog, go see her! 

The web address is the same though, in order to not lose past entries. Put it in your favorites if you haven't yet!  For those of you who have recently said to me "What? You finally got a cat?" etc I have one reminder-READ THE BLOG.  I don't have to communicate with you all now, okay?  Its all on here!  So don't call me!

(just kidding!)

Ali put a site meter over there to try and help me catch you lurkers who don't comment, and see if anyone but John and Grandma C are reading this thing!?  It counts when I sign in though, and I am tempted to keep checking in to raise the numbers....all vanity, I assure you.  I also like to shake my step pedometer for 10 minutes or so if the steps counted each evening aren't high enough, so you see who you are dealing with here...

in other news, we rode the EMX bus today. The boys were begging to try it and we were downtown so we hopped on for a free round trip.  It's new, green and pretty fast for a transit bus!  I wished I had the camera, because Caleb was so funny-he TOTALLY fell in love with the bus.  He had to meet the driver and ask his name (John). He had to try out sitting in both the front and the back. He danced in the aisle with excitement to the great amusement of strangers onboard, who had not paid for entertainment, but got it.  And apparently now I don't have to homeschool him past 5th grade because he has decided his career...an EMX Bus Driver.

Trash, and lots of it.  There is a stretch of my running route that is full of litter and it infuriates me.  Today as I was going past I could not stop staring at it (and I got a nice long eye-full. My running has "improved" to a 12 and a half minute mile, snails are passing me.) But my mind is filled with indignation...Who is the Cracker on my road that loves Hamms beer and Taco Bell THAT much?!  Which neighbor is so selfish and ignorant as to use our stretch of rural perfection as his or her personal toilet? I observed that they tied up their waste in Walmart bags before chucking it into the ditch.  Laziness yes, but now cruelty added... making the local coyotes dig and shred plastic for a meal. And they are clearly cheapskates to boot!  For the dump isn't far and incredibly inexpensive-they couldn't give up 2 of those Hamms for a trip?...grrr, I was fuming.  And then I looked up, and realized I had passed a 1/2 mile staring at all the filth and asphalt on my left side.  I had almost missed a silent hawk up on the wire-the blue skies with a silhouette of evergreens-the carmine blackberry leaves against waving field grass...all around me. and so gently, God reminded me- we get to choose what we focus on. What is it within us that makes us fixate on the negative and ugly?  The self-righteousness that rises up so quickly and says I WOULD NEVER and then goes on to judge someone we don't even know?  I don't know their reasons but I know they are my neighbors. Yes, its still wrong but so much is. And it doesn't matter for I am called to forgive and if possible, repair. Truly, this world is flooded with evidence of our selfishness, isn't it? At least this one is simply taken care of with a few Hefty bags, 3 boys and an afternoon outing next week. Such a wonderful reminder from my Abba this morning...it is not hopeless. EVERY TIME I look and see a selfish mess the response that pleases Him isn't judgment or frustration or despair-just to humbly say "Lord, how can I help?"  To do what I can and remember how to keep looking up!!

okay it doesn't officially begin for 6 hours but I am excited about January being over...gets us that much closer to spring gardening! Been looking through seed catalogs, dreaming on paper with hot cups of tea and a new Norah Jones CD...bliss.  Big plans for spring besides the usual planting and such. We need to put up a deer fence around my potager, add more raspberry plants to replace what the deer decimated last year, and re-build the nesting boxes in the chicken coop.  The 6 hens in our flock are going to a new home this saturday as their laying days are coming to an end.  I am not enough of a country girl to put the old gals in the stewpot. By the 1st of March we will have little chicks in the homemade brooder set up in our kitchen...all our meals are punctuated by chips and peeps for awhile, it's terrific.  Hopefully ZuZu will not get a hankering for KFC with so much temptation about. 

The photo above shows how much the cat is enjoyed around here-she is always in a boys lap!  Our old Cocker Sadie is adjusting very well to the new addition and now shares her water bowl without growling. We were all laughing at the kittens antics--those cat wands with the feathers on the end of a fleece string? worth every penny of the $3.84 Walmart asks for--and we looked over at Sadie, laying on her bed watching us all with the most mournful "I've been replaced" eyes you ever saw.  Josiah saw that and jumped right up, gets her brush and gives her a full brushing with a reassuring belly rub thrown in.  Such a thoughtful boy, he makes us proud every day with his thoughtfulness.

Our squirrel friend passed away last night.  It was a blessing as he was in great pain but sad for his caregivers.  Caleb wanted to do for him what we do when a fish goes belly up in the aquarium, that is to sing "Amazing Grace" as we flush him down the toilet...unfortunately tight plumbing interfered with such a noble send-off.

It seems January and February are especially long and (sometimes) boring. I found this quote and it touched me, just reminded me that the uneventful is precious and these not-much-happening days at home are blessings. 

"Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are.  Let me learn from you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass by you in quest for some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so. One day I shall dig my nails into the earth or bury my face in the pillow or stretch myself taut or raise my hands to the sky and want, more than all the world, your return."  Mary Jean Iron

A lesson in compassion is what God has for us this afternoon. 

 Getting the mail I found this sweet gray squirrel hit by a car. His back is vey clearly broken and there is probably heavy internal bleeding.  He is very close to dying and nothing can be done (if it were possible to save him I would take him to the vet I assure you all).  But to give him a warm, safe quiet place to pass is within our reach, so we do that.   Josiah stroked him very gently in this photo (then washed up-lots of germs there, I know!) but now we are letting him be still-he had a seizure during dinner and soft hearted Sam had to leave the room.  We got to talk about how it is our gift to the Creator to care for His creatures, and though it's hard at times, it's still the right thing to do.  It reminds me of that parable, of the man on the beach tossing starfish who were trapped by a low tide back out into the ocean....as a stranger observed this one man among thousands of dying starfish he said to him "why bother? You can't make a difference" and the compassionate man responded by quietly throwing another and said to him "made a difference to that one."

On the educationally bright side, it is a wonderful opportunity to observe up close the details of a wild animal. When you live in the country it is smart to keep a spare cage and water bottle for just such purposes...we've housed field mice, hurt birds and even a bull snake that was shedding its skin.   

Well it took some time but my decidedly non-cat loving husband chose to bless the boys and I by allowing a feline into the house!  Meet ZuZu (above, with "J") a calico kitten adopted from a local shelter this afternoon. Our previous cat Carter died one year ago and the kids only cat experience was with an elderly, sleepy, non-playful cat (oh ok fat and lazy is more truthful but let's not speak ill of the dead) So they are having a blast with a kitten, and string and such.  Lots of enthusiasm and laughter-even John was grinning (but he won't admit it). 

Her unusual name is from The Best Movie Of All Time, otherwise called "It's A Wonderful Life" with James Stewart.  ZuZu was of course, his daughter-who had a little cold? The boys voted-my other name choice was "Opah!" (sp?) because we went to a fabulous Greek dinner party last night with food, dancing, plate breaking the WORKS and I was quite inspired-Apparently "Opah!" is "YIPPEE" in Greek and you yell it often-loved that!  I am going to add it to my weekly vocabulary now and start shouting it out in Albertsons when I have a 2 for 1 coupon...

      Sitting down for dinner each night is, to me, the epitome of FAMILY. We make it special by using our good dishes.  We put on relaxing music, the boys set the table, and in season "C" picks flowers for the centerpiece. It's not every night, and we've had our share of breakfast cereal dinners due to Dad working overtime, or Mom not planning early enough (or unfolded laundry still on the table!)  It only makes it sweeter when it all comes together. Overcoming picky eaters is the present challenge. Slow victories- 2 out of 3 boys now LOVE biscuits and gravy...yes!  can't tell you how happy that makes me. I was raised on the stuff and believe it might just be responsible for my character formation.

when they eat pinto beans and cornbread with a big ole heap of chow chow relish on top-well, then I will clearly be done with this whole parenting thing.

7 years old. This sand-hill looked HUGE. (even to us actually, it was about 9 feet!) His Uncle B led by example, jumping and flipping off and "C" was amazed.  He tried, over and over again and once he DID IT...oh fun!  It was so great to watch the determination fight the fear in his little face....and then the pride and thrill of conquering both the sand and his fears!

great day.

Love this photo.  There are areas of school I continually feel behind in (shocker-my least favorite subjects, math and science)...but reading and history are WELL covered.  Here "S" is lost in a World War 2 book, a fave subject of his lately.  My students have caught  my love for these subjects and so it totally thrills me to see them get all curled up and completely hooked by a hardback.  Is it any wonder I love this quote, by Bruce Barton?

"If you can give your son or daughter only one gift, let it be enthusiasm."

So much of what we learn is "caught" not "taught".  In Worship today a song moved my heart and I raised my hands as I sang....I rarely do this because it seems to immediately make me self-conscious and then, of course it is impossible to worship with your thoughts on yourself and not God.  Occasionally though, I can focus on Him and not think of eyes around me, just offering my hands up for Him to empty or fill, as He sees fit.  Today I glanced over after the song and noticed  our oldest son "J" watching me.  His look was unreadable, curious. He is his Mama's child-always reading faces, always trying to quietly figure people out.  He "catches" me often-I look up from a private moment and there he is.  Will he "catch" my occasional passion, my worship?  Or my busy rushing, my grumbling? hmmmm. 

For those who are interested, these are our curriculum choices this season.  We are only 2 weeks back into academics after the holiday break so we are still getting the daily walk down smmothly again.  We school year round, with 1 month off for Christmas, 1 month off in summer and the rest of the "breaks" saved for random sick days or relative visits. We are in our 5th (wow!) year of Homeschooling.  We started With "Five in A Row", 2 years, followed by 2 years of Sonlight-loved both of them.  Our school is called "Red Barn Academy" after the outbuilding we have our classroom set up in.

Mystery Of History Volume 1-we did early civilizations in Sonlight already but it was awhile back and I wanted to re-cover it. This time with our youngest "C" learning also, and with an emphasis on Biblical history.  We are reading "Adam and His Kin" by Ruth Beechick with this. Science is Jeanie Fulbright "Astronomy" but not until Spring. We are taking the rest of January to do a unit on Bones-the local Science Museum has a big exhibit, so its a good opportunity to take.  For Bible we just ordered "Memlock" a Scripture memorization course.  I'll let you know how we like it!  Bible, Science and History we do together.  Math and Writing are separate-youngest 2 are doing Math-U-See and we are TRYING to get the basic Math Facts memorized so we can move on and join "J" in Saxon Math.  Grammar is "Primary Lanquage Lessons" and various printouts/workbooks as they need to review.  "J" does some writing everyday and youngest 2 are still working on those fine motor skills and legible printing  (the Moorse say don't stress they are BOYS but sheesh!) so lots of copywork.  I am leaning more and more towards the Charlotte Mason approach and trying to add those principles of narration, dictation and especially nature studies into our weekly plan. We also use Achievement Accelerated, it is similar to the Robinson Curriculum, and it focuses on reading hours of classic books...as Ms. Mason would say "no twaddle" just living books.  It is fun to see the affect of so much reading on the boys vocabularies...we were on a walk  this summer and saw a brown beer bottle in the ditch.  "S" exclaimed "Either someone on this road does not care to recycle or we live near a Drunkard"  love that 1800s slang popping up here in 2007!

thanks to all who have commented on the blog's debut-how fun to hear from friends and family so far away!  I don't know how often I will get write here, as I am going to discipline myself a bit by saving it for "after i get my work done" each evening.  For certain though I will post at the minimum, every sunday afternoon. 

I confess, I am a little hesitant about this blog thing.  On one hand, it's an opportunity to share with family and praise God...2 things I want to do more of...on the other it can be incredibly self-focused and lack boundaries-something I struggle with.  So I go into this very hesitantly, one foot in the water.  Figure I will write quietly for awhile and see how it goes before telling anyone about it-just see if this "works" first.  And my dear, sweet husband jumps the gun!  He was so proud of this blog, and has been encouraging me to write for so long that he gets into MY address book and emails every name he recognizes on my address list and sends my private blog out into cyber-space!  I am touched and humiliated, at the same time...what a sweet thing to do.  Okay, guess we are really doing this then, huh?! 

Well, I did it.  A blog. A place to toss out into the world the god and bad of this blessed life and family God has given to me.  Hoping this will also help me to keep track of 2007 and capture more of each precious day before it gets lost.  This is also for family and friends far away, a glimpse into our home and school life because we all know how bad I am at faithful emails or callling...

I collect great quotes in a red fabric journal and I will post thoughts from it frequently but here is a favorite that helps explain the Blog Title:

"Use the talents you posess,

 for the woods would be silent

 if no bird sang except the best."    -h.v.d.

in other words you won't find much brilliant thought on this blog, just the random observations of a middle aged housewife and mother. But it's enough to give God praise.  it's enough to say out loud, to whomever may hear-this is my life-it's struggles, it's joys, and the God glimpses in the midst of them that keep me trudging on.  I know that there is great power in simplicity, in seeing the sacred in the common, and in SHARING LIFE.  That is what i hope this blog will enable me to do.

I keep several bird feeders outside our kitchen window full of seed for the daily delight of watching and listening to the birds. This is a big world, and it's easy to feel insignificant at times. We can take real comfort in this reminder from Christ. Matthew 10:29-32

"Are not 2 sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.  But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Therefore, do not fear, you are of far more value than many sparrows.  Everyone therefore who shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before my Father who is in heaven."