I know it's a disgusting title, but bear with me.  I've been watching Todd Friel's "Wretched" for a couple weeks now. Let's see if I can work my way through his "process" with you, my friend - whoever you may be reading this right now.

Let me ask you a question. Do you consider yourself to be a good person? (Typical answer is, "Yeah, I'm pretty good. I mean, I'm not perfect, no one is, but I think I'm mostly good. So, yeah, I'm a good person.")

Okay, then. Do good people go to heaven? (Typical answer is, "Yeah. Like, if their good outweighs the bad, then yeah.")

By your own admission, you are a good person, right? Okay. Are you familiar with the 10 Commandments? ("Yeah.") How many lies do you think you've told in your lifetime? (Typical answer is, "Too many.") Okay, I have too. So, people like you and me, who have told lies, we are what? ("Liars.") That's right. I'm a liar. You're a liar.

Okay, what about stealing? Have you ever taken something that wasn't yours? (Typical answer, "Yeah, like when I was a kid. And I took some of my roommate's cookies in college.") Okay, you've stolen. That makes you a... ("thief").

And what about lust? Because the 10 Commandments tells us not to commit adultery, and Jesus judges our heart, if we've lusted then that's adultery in our heart. Have you ever lusted before? ("Yeah.") Okay, then you're an adulterer, too.

So, by your own words, you're a liar, a thief, and an adulterer. That's three of the Ten Commandments right there! We didn't even check the other seven. If you died right now, and God laid out all your sins, because He knows them, everything you've ever done in private, in the dark, or when you thought no one was looking, and God judged you as a liar, a thief, and an adulterer, would God allow you into Heaven? Can God allow someone who's admittedly a liar, thief, and an adulterer into the gates of Heaven? (Typical answer is, "No. I guess He can't do that.")

At this point, if you realize that you, too, are a liar, a thief, and an adulterer, then you must understand... there is NO chance for you to get to heaven by yourself. Nothing you could possibly do can ever get you there.

I explain it to my kids this way: At dinner tonight, we're having iced tea with our meal. It's sweet tea, a whole pitcher! Yum! But, I just want you to know, I peed in the pitcher. Just a little. I mean, it's mostly sweet tea, with just a little pee. Can I pour you some? Invariably, they wrinkle up their noses at me, disgustedly, and say no way. That's how it is with God. He wants NO sin in His perfect heaven! Just like we want NO pee in our tea. Now, we can get clean tea, no problem: just dump the pitcher and start new. But we can't do that with our lives, we don't get to start over, and we're not perfect, because we have ALL sinned. Not a single one of us has ever lived a perfect life.

Except Jesus.

Now, because God is good, he loves all things holy and righteous. Justice is good. God loves justice. If he didn't punish sin, there would be no justice. He demands a blood sacrifice for the punishment of sin. Sin is paid for with death. That's where Jesus comes in. Jesus is God's Son, He is wholly God and wholly man, He was born into a sinful world, but He lived a perfect life. Jesus never stole, lied, or lusted like you and I have. He always honored His parents, He worshipped only His heavenly Father, He kept the Sabbath, never used God's name in vain, never murdered anyone even in His heart, never was jealous for Himself what someone else has... He was absolutely perfect! And He, as a perfect man, allowed Himself to be put on a cross and unjustly killed so that all your sins, past, present, and future, could be cast upon Him, and He paid the price for YOUR sins. He died, so you could live.

But He did so much more than just die for you. He conquered that grave, and rose to life again. Because of His sacrifice for you, you get to go to heaven. The bible says, "No man cometh unto the Father but by Me." And that "Me" is Jesus Christ, our Savior. There is no amount of good you can do that can qualify you for heaven, because all your good is tainted with whatever sins you've committed. Plain and simple. To "get to heaven" you must repent and put your trust in Jesus, believe that His death sacrifice was sufficient to pay your way to heaven.

Do you know what "repent" means? It means to "turn from." Acknowledge that you are a sinner, repent from your sins, and accept that Jesus paid your bill, your debt is covered by His blood, and you, my friend, can "get to heaven." That's all there is to it. Christianity is the ONLY "religion" in the entire world whose God paid for you to get to heaven. ALL other "religions" require the believer to earn their own way through works, but the Bible tells us no one can earn it, that Jesus paid it. Jesus - fully God and fully perfect man. He did it for you! Rely on Him, and Him alone!

Now, do you know how much more God loves you? He not only sent His Son to die for you, but He wrote you 66 loveletters so you can get to know Him. Imagine if you have a love-interest, and you wrote him 66 loveletters, and he never read them. Would you feel loved by him? No, you wouldn't. God's loveletters to you are His Holy Bible. There are 66 books in there. If you are grateful to Him for saving you (if you've repented and put your trust in Jesus), then read His loveletters to you! You can find out so much about God! And you can talk to Him, too! He wants you to pick up the phone and call Him every minute of every day! That's called prayer!

Friend, if you have questions about all this, please feel free to shoot me an e-mail right here on HSB, or leave me a comment and I'll do my best to answer.

Jesus loves you. He loves you enough to have paid your debt. Amen!

Blessings!  ♥♥Christi

What I would love to be able to write is what a sweet fun time we had today making this craft.  I don't do crafts all that often and the boys typically really like doing them.  I was looking forward to them having fun with this activity.  I would like to say that we enjoyed laughter while we talked about turkeys and the day of giving thanks.   I would like to say that everyone was happy and cooperative while we were working. 

Instead though, I'll tell you what really happened.  We waited until the end of the day to do this craft.  (That was probably mistake number one, but we had a couple of therapies and a science lab interupting our day).  The boys were to have gathered pine cones earlier in the day.  One hadn't and went out to find one in the dark.  It was a small one and he was not pleased with it.  Another boy had gathered two earlier in the day.  Well, the first boy decided he wanted the extra one (though wasn't all that nice in asking).  The other boy didn't want to give his up.  Hearing them argue over a pine cone didn't do a lot to put me in the best of moods either.  And no, I didn't take advantage of this teachable moment to talk about sharing or listening or anything else.  My first thought was that I needed to remember this when it came time to do Christmas crafts!  lol

The boys were a little ... less patient that I would have liked for them to be.  I probably was too!  The pine cones were prickly and didn't feel good on the hands.  The pipe cleaners hard to manuever and the level of difficulty was just too much for my boys at this time.  I ended up helping them a lot.  (And did I mention that they weren't really being patient?) 

In the end, we got them made.  And they are cute. 

I think the lessons that I need to learn are several.

*Don't wait until the end of the day for crafting when people are tired and the grumpiness comes on faster.

*Check the level of difficulty before starting a craft.

*Patience, patience, patience.  I need to model it and teach it through my actions.

I know we'll remember these turkeys - and hopefully not the bickering that went with it.  I hope I'll learn.  I wasn't at my best tonight, but thankfully, there will be another chance.  Thankfully the boys are pretty forgiving and love me in spite of my flaws (and the feeling is very mutual).  I'm thankful for the times that I fail for it reminds me that I struggle just like my children do.  It reminds me of how much I need a Savior to shape and mold me into the image of the one I want to reflect.  So while it may not have been a teachable moment that was used wisely, I did learn from it. 

Just thought some might like to see a less than stellar experience.  We all have them.  Sometimes I think people can feel discouraged when they hear about "all" that someone else is doing.  Most of us tend to share the positives (I'm no exception).  Just know that we all have those days - and so do our children.  I still have much to be thankful for and yes, I will still do crafts with them at Christmas. 

Blessings
Leslie

P.S.   If you are looking for something fun to add to your November, check out the blog of my FIAR friend Kendra   She has posted a great list of activities to do celebrating Thanksgiving. 

Friday's almost over - hope you had a chance to take advantage of the Extreme $5 Friday sale! One of the most popular items today - my workshop on Understanding Unit Studies. Orders will start shipping tomorrow, and thanks for your orders!

Guess what's already in motion in a BIG way? EXTREME $5 Friday! And I can't wait to see what you think of it all:
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The Power of Thank You!

We had another fabulous co-op day.  I feel so very blessed to be a part of this group.  The talent, creativity and energy is amazing - and a delight to be a part of.  And fun!  This is a fun group of children and moms! 

We started out talking about fats.  Hmmm ... interesting start to the day, isn't it?  But, it did weave in through the other topics.  The children went to a table to see lots of jars filled with interesting colors and substances.  Each had water and a fat in the jar. 

The jars were passed around and the children shook them up to see if they could get the fats to dissolve.  Some did while others were more resistant to change forms.  We heated a couple to see if this made a difference and it did for a short time.  It was interesting to learn and observe the difference.  The shaking was a hit too.

Next it was time for art.  This involved fats too!  The children did a crayon resist using light colored crayons on art paper.  The crayons were a fat.  They drew designs on their cards and then went over these with watercolors.  Each child was given 3 cards on which to paint and later send to a friend or grandparent.   Look at this beautiful example.  Can you see the lightning?

It was fun to see the various designs that the children came up with and how the watercolors just did not stick to or mix with the crayons.

I didn't get a good close-up of the art, but you can see the technique in the red card on the table.  The word "Hello" is written in crayon then painted over with red paint.  The word just pops out from the paint.  It's neat and it a good use for those white crayons!

The next part of the lesson was about taste and the ways in which our body sends messages to the brain.  The children formed a chain by holding hands.  They were to squeeze the next persons hand and say "ouch" to see how long it too the message to get around the group. 

Then we learned about the 5 (yes, one more than I learned about in school) areas of taste.  The new one is savory

We also learned that the tongue can taste all of the areas throughout and not just in one spot.  That makes more sense to me.  This ball was a representation of the various areas of taste (see how the ends on the ball match the chart above?). 

We learned about what happens when we eat something hot!  The Scoville chart for measuring heat was discussed and various types of peppers listed.  (This may not sound interesting, but our energetic teacher made this very exciting and hands-on!) 

When we eat something hot and then drink water, the water acts to push the hot further into our taste buds making it seem hotter still.  If however we choose to eat or drink something with fat in it like milk or yogurt, then the fat will bind with the heat and pull it away from our tongue. 

Now, it was time to put that to the test.  The table was lined with 10 containers numbered from 1 to 10.  Each person started at 1 which was the mildest with no heat in it at all and then went as close to 10 as they wanted to go!

They each took turns.  Some needed some coaxing to keep going.   Others were eager to try more. 

A lot of the children made it to 10!  (It was yummy!)

While the older kids were learning, Rebecca was playing with Eliana and her friend.  She even brought some craft things for them to work on during this time.  What a thoughtful big sister!  She is awesome with younger children!

Daniel was given a neat picture from his friend Miss Lynn.  It is the leaves that they gathered at our last co-op.  She laminated them and made the page so that it could be hung on a window.  He was delighted and loves seeing it in our kitchen.  Wasn't that so very thoughtful?!  Thank you friend!

Another fun day with friends.  I love these days!  Hope you enjoyed the pictures. 

Blessings
Leslie

Since my children were very small, I have tried to be very deliberate about establishing and keeping family traditions.  Many came from my own childhood, and were "imported" to my new home once I was married.  I still carry so many fond memories of the Thanksgivings of my youth back in Michigan, waking up to the wonderful sounds and smells of my mother's early Thanksgiving morning cooking routine.  I was determined that my children would awaken to the same things, and they do!

The onset of the winter holidays here in the USA lets me know that time is about to really FLY for the next 2 months.  It is easy to get overwhelmed, between holiday preparations, houseguests, shopping, and the rapidly approaching end of the semester.  I think that the high school years are unique in that there isn't always room in the schedule for too many interruptions, no matter how  wonderful the interruptions may be.  Gone are the years when we could take an entire month to study pilgrims, make model Mayflower ships out of popsicle sticks, or read nothing but books about Thanksgiving.  Our schedule is particularly heavy this year...so how can we put an old-fashioned "focus" onto Thanksgiving in the midst of Algebra 2, C++ Programming, Chemistry, American Government and Economics, English Composition, Foreign Language, Logic and Rhetoric, and CLEP prep? 

We enjoy turning to the Psalms in the evenings, seeking passages dealing with being thankful in the midst of tumultuous times.  Aren't we in the midst of a tumultuous time?  Do you think things are going to get even more tumultuous in the coming months and years?  I sure do!  What a wonderful habit for ALL of us to be in: giving thanks in all things!  And what a wonderful habit to instill in our young adults who, should Christ's return be yet a ways off, will have to live out their lives in a world far different from the one we grew up in. 

Our copy of William Bradford's "Of Plymouth Plantation" finds its way to the dinner table as well, and we enjoy reading it out loud.  There is nothing better than going directly to the source when the desire is to know the truth of an historic event.  Today's commentators and writers, whether secular or Christian, were not present in Plymouth with the pilgrims...but William Bradford was.  To read his words is such a treasure!  I pray that every Christian high school homeschooler (and every homeschooler, period, for that matter) would have the joy and privilege of reading Bradford's account of the entire journey, from start to finish!  It was translated from Elizabethan English into "modern English" in 1909, but it is still a challenging read to get into...at first.  By the end of the first chapter, especially if reading aloud, I found my brain and my tongue pretty well adapted to the style, and no longer had to read and re-read every other sentence to have it make sense!  It is well worth the effort. 

(An aside here...if American History is yet in the future for you and your students, strongly consider obtaining a copy of this book, and have your students begin it early, perhaps over the summer.  You will have a source of original "American truth," and can then use it as the standard by which you judge the material your purchased curriculum offers.)

Another fun, relaxed, and entertaining way to enjoy and focus on this special season of giving thanks is through a unique and free resource called "Homeschool Radio Shows."  Homeschool dad and entrepreneur, Jim Erskine, from Canmer, Kentucky, has long had a passion for old-time radio shows.  He's collected and catalogued hundreds (thousands?) of them, and makes them available at no charge to those who join his mailing list.  Right now, he has a couple of Thanksgiving-themed shows available for downloading.  You will receive links to a new show every week, and will, from time to time, be offered a collection of stories for a small price.  But they always maintain a wonderful weekly offering of free shows.  I have been a member of Jim's mailing list for many years now, and I've purchased a few of his marvelous collections.  The mp3 files can be burned to CD's, and we've enjoyed doing this in order to have wholesome listening entertainment during road-trips, or vacation days.  We love to gather around the CD/mp3 player during the colder months with a crackling fire, a sketch book or some hand-work, listening and laughing together.

May God bless you and your homeschool this week!

Lori

Lori Havens has been married to Kevin for 24 years.  They live in Illinois with their two sons, Bryan (17) and Nathan (16), and dog Sunny (9).  Lori enjoys writing, gardening, reading, and the outdoors.  She is the author of "Should I Be A Nurse? A Journey of Self-Exploration for Those Considering a Career in Nursing" and  "7 Essential Questions Every Future Nurse Must Ask."     You can find her blogging at both Homeschool Blogger and Homestead Blogger  .