Oct. 31, 2009 - Living Philippians 2:14

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Oct. 28, 2009 - Going Au Naturale'

We recently had a nice visit with my mom from Florida.   She has dyed her hair for I don't know how long....20 years maybe?  Recently, I had been encouraging her to just let it go and be happy with how God made her hair.  She has beautiful, young skin for being in her 60's and I knew she'd look great. 

For some reason...I can't remember now...she finally decided to do it.   She did an in-between dye/highlight to avoid the "skunk look."  (which we never saw)  It has grown completely out now and she was so pleasantly surprised to see beautiful white hair underneath those years of fake brown.

When she got off the airplane a few weeks ago, we were all stunned at how different but great she looked!   Now, I'm praying my hair comes in that white too one day.

I don't personally have anything against hair dye, but It seems that so many people spend so much time and money trying to be someone that they aren't, only to discover that the way God made them was/is truly beautiful in the first place!!    

Here is my beautiful mama with Gilead Courage.

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Oct. 26, 2009 - Wonderful Granola Bar Recipe!!!

I found a recipe that I had printed out in 2005 and never tried.  Yesterday, I was in the mood for granola bars and found the recipe and had all the ingredients.  I made a pan of it and it lasted less than 24 hrs! My kids think it's fabulous.
The best part is...it's totally healthy!  Here goes....

 

In a saucepan, melt..

2/3c raw honey

1/2c coconut oil

1/2c peanut butter

In a bowl blend...

4c rolled oats

1/2c ground flax seeds

1 c raw sunflower seeds

1/2 c raw sesame seeds

Add wet ingredients to dry...blend well and press in a greased 13" by 9" pan. 
Refrigerate until firm and cut into bars.

I also added about

1/3c unsweetened cocoa powder and that made it perfectly chocolately!!!

 

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Oct. 24, 2009 - Bible Bee

I'm a little behind on blogging these days.  I have a lot of ideas, but not a lot of time with a very mobile 10 month old.

I wanted to share our experience with Bible Bee, and encourage everyone to particiate next year.

As many of you know, this year was the first annual National Bible Bee. 

There was a few gliches and tweaking, but overall, I feel that they did a good job for their first year.

I signed up my oldest 4 children to participate this year. Halfway through, I realized that it was too much for a  6 year old, and un-enrolled Josiah, but the other 3 kept studying for the Local Contest.

The amount of information to learn and memorize was overwhelming, but we were just enjoying memorizing more verses in a few months than we had done in the last few years.

Along with Category 1 verses (100 Total) Category 2 and 3 (Hundreds more), 6 books of the Bible to know in detail and hundreds of Bible Knowledge questions, we also sang along to many verses that our friend Pam put to karaoke tunes.  That helped tremendously and we still go around singing the verses!

The Local Contest was held on Sept 12th.  Everything went fairly smoothly, except for some last minute changes that stressed out the local coordinator (grin).   One thing that we have learned is next year we will not host a local bee. It was a lot of work to prepare for ahead of time and it would have been much easier to find the closest bee, even if it's over an hour away, and just drive.   I'm thankful that Pam and Carri were willing to head it up here though this year!

6 days after the Local Contest, we got word that Aslan had scored in the top 100 in his age category and was qualified to go on to the National Competition in Washington DC November 6th, 2009.   We were very shocked, quite honestly.  We thought he had done will on the Bible Knowledge section, but didn't do so well on the memory verses.  He had only memorized category 1 and part of category 2, so in that part of the Bee, he only answered 2 or so right out of 8 that they asked of him. He was supposed to memorize through category 3 for the local bee.

To put a plug in here for the curriculum that we have been using for almost 5 years, Student of the Word...We really feel that studying the Bible in depth over the past 5 years using SOW played a huge part in Aslan knowing so much of the Bible.     Whether you use SOW, or just read through the Bible as a family and discuss each section, there is nothing better you could be doing with your time than teaching your children God's Word and learning with them!

Back to Bible Bee.   We were super excited to think that Aslan would be going to DC.

Over the next week, we received a few letters and emails explaining the National Bee process, and were shocked at some things we found out.   They told us to expect to spend $3,500 on the whole weekend.  YIKES.  One rule that they have made is that the contestant and at least one parent were required to stay in the hotel where the Bee was held.  We had to be a paid guest in that hotel for at least 3 nights.  Those 3 nights would cost approximately $1,100 and our whole family wouldn't even fit in the room.  They have a max of 5 people.   That was a bit of a bummer.   We were still willing to let Aslan go, but it was looking like the great family trip we had envisioned was not going to happen.  

We decided to let Aslan made the decision.  When he read the email the next morning, his eyes got big and he thought that was a lot of money when he didn't feel very prepared to go.   (He would have had to memorize over 200 more Bible verses in 6 weeks).

We asked him to pray about it over the weekend and make a decision.  We were willing to pay for it, if he was willing to really dedicate the next 6 weeks to memorizing like crazy.

Partly because he was also enrolled in an online Creation Apologetics class that requires 5-6 hours/week and partly because he said that he wasn't planning on winning this year, so he hadn't given his all, he decided to pass on the invitation to compete in the National Bee this year, and get a better head start next year and try again.

I have written to the Headquarters some of our disappointments in the cost and the fact that it wasn't large family friendly.     We will give them grace though, as this is their first year and it is a huge undertaking.  We are so happy that they have begun a National Bible Bee and will look forward to again competing next year.  Hopefully, we will be able to work out a nice family vacation next November in a much cheaper hotel.  (grin).

I do encourage everyone to join.   It really has nothing to do with going to Washington, but everything to do with an incentive to memorize God's Word with friends.   It has been a great thing.

 

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Sep. 21, 2009 - Praying over our children

In my last post, I mentioned how I pray over our children regularly.   Last week, at the monthly mom's meeting at our church, Mom to Mom, we discussed the importance of praying over our kids.  I shared my "Snake story" and asked what other moms prayed.

There were a lot of great responses!   I just wanted to share a few before I forgot them.

One mom of a 1 1/2 boy, said that her husband had night terrors as a little boy and, after reading they might be genetic, she started praying over her son to "think God thoughts, be filled with God dreams" and to have a peaceful sleep along with other things.   She relayed that the rare night that she doesn't pray those things over her son, invariably, he wakes up more and his sleep is not as restful.

Another, a mom of 6, regularly prays a beautiful prayer, which I can't remember most of, but one thing that stuck out is to pray "that the Holy Spirit minister to her children as they sleep."    Isn't that beautiful.

So, along with praying for our children's safety as they run through the snake infested woods, or ride their bikes, this is a great reminder of the importance of also praying over our children as they sleep.

In the Bible, time and time again, we see how God spoke to people through dreams and visions.  How exciting to ask the Lord to speak to our children  as well!  The Bible says in Acts 2:17...

'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams."

That says "YOUR SONS AND DAUGHTERS."   Don't underestimate the incredible potential of our children being filled by the spirit of God and being radically different for Christ.      It doesn't just happen though....we need to free them up to spend time with God....to model by example the importance of spending time in the Bible and in prayer.   To say "no" to things that might clutter their time and brains.....music/video games/too many "good" extra curricular activities/movies, even "good clean" ones.

Fill their brains with praise music and share with them all God has been showing you.  Let them experience God as we do, not just read good stories about other people who have had an encounter with God....LEAD them to an encounter with God and pray that He even reveal Himself to our children MORE than we have ever experienced ourselves.

That is my greatest joy as a mom.  Getting to introduce them to my Savior.  Teach them what the voice of God sounds like.  Seeing the Holy Spirit begin to convict and sharpen their souls....and watch them walk in victory over the temptations of the flesh (attitudes/wrong thoughts/bickering/anger)  that our culture say are a normal part of growing up.

I believe it all starts with prayer though!

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Sep. 17, 2009 - Snakes and Bombs

It's been an exciting week here.  For living in the middle of nowhere so we can lead a quiet, unstressed life, sometimes we sure have some adventure!

Sunday night, Chris took 4 of the kids on a nature walk. They do that weekly as part of science, which Chris teaches the 6th graders on down.  They walk through the woods for 30-60 minutes and choose one interesting thing to draw a picture about for their nature/science notebook.

When they arrived home Sunday night they were all excited to tell me what happened!

The 5 of them were walking single file near an old logging road on the top of our hill in the woods and Josiah was in the lead.   Hosanna yelled out, "Josiah, a SNAKE!"   With Chris right behind Hosanna, he said that Josiah had stepped just inches from the head of a coiled up Timber rattler that had it's head up and it's mouth open.  Nobody is sure why the snake didn't strike Josiah's leg.   Chris took a stick and pinned it's head down and used his pocket knife to chop the head off...then the rattle so we could have proof of the memory-making moment.   Chris said it was like the snake was frozen still and couldn't move to strike.

I know that it was a supernatural God thing!  I regularly pray over our children and whole family...I pray Scripture that "No weapons formed against us would prosper all who rise up against us would fall" pray a "hedge of protection" around us and that "God would give His angels charge over us to protect us in all our ways."    I praise the Lord for, once again, keeping one of my children safe.  I also thank Him for all the times He protects them that we never even realize. I mean, living in the middle of the woods, who knows how many times they have walked near a snake or black widow spider and been saved from harm.       

And today, the mailman delivered a really unusual looking package. It was covered in an unusual type of cloth material and actually sewn closed around the package.  It was addressed from India. We don't have any friends in India?  It seemed really fishy.   My first thought was "A BOMB!"  But I was wondering in the back of my mind why terrorists from India would send a bomb to a homeschool mom...but nonetheless, when Chris offered to open up the package I readily agreed and suggested, quite possibly, it might be a good idea to open it up by himself outside with a fire extinguisher.   (Ya'll are laughing but I know you think like this too!)

 

Chris opened it up to find-----a magnetic travel chess set that Noah ordered though ebay for his birthday.   WHEW...that was a close one.   We had no clue they played chess in India!  Haha

And so ends the exotic adventures of the Sweet Savages... for today anyway.

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Sep. 8, 2009 - Building relationship with children

A friend emailed me this week asking for some advice.  After I sent her an email, I realized that there may be other moms in the same situation that might be wondering the same thing.

Her situation is that she had a poor relationship with her mom growing up.  They lived in the same home, but she did not have a great example of  a loving mom nor did they have a close relationship.
She is now trying to parent a bunch of small children, yet feels her relationship with her oldest child, a daughter who is early elementary age, is not what it should be and not what she desires their relationship to be.    She knows what she wants their relationship to be, but having had a poor example of mother-daughter relationship growing up, she feels lost on what to do to accomplish this. 

Here are some excerpts of my response with names taken out:

First of all, simply because you care so deeply, I know you are an awesome mom.  Parenting sure isn't easy!  On top of that, you had a poor role model as a mom to follow.  I was blessed to have a great role model in my mom.  I'm thankful for that, cause whether we like it or not, we tend to exhibit what we grew up seeing constantly.  With God's help though, you don't have to manifest the negatives that you saw in your mom.  You seem to be doing a great job of that as a wife, which is probably a lot harder, but motherhood is just so constantly demanding!

I'm at a bit of a disadvantage, having never seen you parent or met (your daughter)  to know her personality.  I have read before that the hardest child to parent is typically the oldest child that is the same sex as you are.  For you, that is (your daughter)!
First borns are really different than the rest for sure.  They are usually so smart, confident and can be very prideful too.
I'm not sure if I can compare (your daughter) to Hosanna (my oldest girl who is 9) because their birth order is different...Hosanna being a 3rd born, and she has the sweetest personality of any child I've ever met...way sweeter than I've ever dreamed of being...so helpful, loving and considerate.  She does have moments of bossiness mainly cause she is very compliant and sometimes she feels a need to "mother" her older brothers...and they don't like that.  LOL.   (But sometimes they do need their little sister's reminders.)

I don't feel that Hosanna is the way she is because of my parenting though. God just made her sweeter then most.

Since I don't know how you parent exactly, it is someone of an advantage as well.  I am going to give you some thoughts, and I don't know if you do or don't do them, which is good cause you won't think I'm judging or criticizing.

Here are some general things that I try to do to, as Michael Pearl says, "Tie  heartstrings." 
You had mentioned that you don't feel close, which maybe means you don't feel that you have her heart.
BTW, is she close to (her dad)?

1.   I try to never ever yell.   My kids recently told someone that if I yelled at them they would think someone took their mom and replaced her with someone else.   That's not to say I've never yelled, but I truly do not yell.     If you have close friends who yell at their children, I would suggest avoiding hanging out with her/them as I promise it will rub off.    That's not to say I don't FEEL like yelling a lot, but I simply choose not to....prayer goes a long way here during those tense moments where you feel your insides churning.

2. Try to smile at her often, give her hugs often, even if she seems to not like hugs.  (I have a few kids that just aren't cuddlers...and they need it too)  Some children are harder to smile at than others...so just make yourself.   = )
Include her in as much as possible.  Try to treat her as she is years older than the others.  (more than 3 yrs)
Any time you can, let her help you in the kitchen...or help you do anything.  When she is helping, try not to say anything about messes (cause boy can kids make messes in the kitchen)----I know your mom is the queen of nitpicking....and nagging....so really pray that God helps you to bite your lip when you feel like picking....

3.  Try to treat her as the child you wish she was.  If you wish she acted more grown up or mature, look for times to compliment her for doing so.  It says somewhere in the Bible to "speak what is not as if it were."  An example might be if she is helping you with something and (her younger siblings)  have a melt down or need discipline...during a time she is behaving and/or being helpful, you can quietly hug her and say, "What are we gonna do with these silly little people...you and I have our work cut out for us teaching them to obey happily don't we?"      Try to regularly tell  her how happy you are that you're her mama.  

4. If she's "fallen off the bandwagon"  it's probably cause in the midst of babies along the way, you have not been as consistent as you needed to be.  (Ask me how I know..grin)   I would really focus on being consistent for the next few weeks to get her back on track, while at the same time trying the above things to make sure she absolutely knows that you are crazy about her!

5.  Pray many times a day about her and your relationship...continue to cry out for wisdom....don't rest til God reveals to you what is missing.  

6.  Since she is competitive and bossy w/ (little brother) maybe she feels a need to prove her self to win your love for some reason?
That's where I think treating her as your partner during the day might help her see that you both are taking care of the little kids.
There is usually competition when you deal with the next below you in the birth order.  I have seen it here.  Esp with so many children you need to see the strengths that God has given each child and brag on that gifting, and encourage them in that.
In our case,  I have one child who is super brainy and seems to know everything about anything.   I have another who  isn't the intellectual type, but is my most musically gifted, funny and imaginative child...so I focus on his strengths and compliment those...trying to never compare his weaknesses w/ his brother's gifts....that wouldn't be fair. Same with making Mr Brainey feel he is not musical, funny or imaginative.    Maybe, when you are doing girly type stuff, and (little brother) is not listening tell her how happy you are that she is a girl.     Also, take every opportunity you can catch, however small, to brag on her treating (brother and sister) nicely.   Tell her right then, and again later.."Remember when you gave him that toy back? I was so proud of you.I can't wait til (little brother)  acts so grown up....or I hope (Little sister) is as sweet as you are one day...and a quick hug."  If she gets lots of positive words and hugs, she will want to do those things. 

7.  Try to make sure as mom that you don't whine or pout either.  Your mom was prone to do that when she didn't get her way.  She might not yell, but you knew for sure she wasn't happy....and was mentally manipulative.    If something bothers you, deal with it, hug and move on.  Don't manipulate with body language...be joyful all the time, discipline when needed then resume your joyful attitude.   If you have a hard time getting a grip and feel grumpy.....go to the bathroom (lock the door...haha) and pray and make faces at yourself or something until your children can see you a happy mama again.  Fake it if you have to.  = )

Well, I hope some of these ideas have helped.  I'm not great at them every day either, esp when Gilead wakes up a lot at night or I don't feel great.....but treat it as a sacrifice to God to die to yourself and be joyful even if you'd rather just cry and crawl under the covers.  = )


Also don't underestimate the power of the Word of God in a 6yr old heart!   Do you think that she has truly made Jesus her Savior yet?   If not, that might be the key right there.

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Sep. 3, 2009 - Do we even understand contentment and thankfulness in America?

Our family had a great lesson this week on Monday when we received 5 letters all in one day from people overseas thanking us for various things.
4 of the letters were from 2 families in Ecuador that we sponsor through Compassion International.  One from each child and one from each parent.  Along with the sweet, thankful letters, we received pictures of the families with items Compassion had bought them with our sponsorship money.   They included basic needs like rice and wheat and watermelon and shoes. 

The other letter we received was from 2 missionary sisters in Bolivia who are native missionaries to their own people.    They are dear friends of mine whom I have never met.  (Do you have friends like that? I have quite a few!)     They minister and share the Love of God to fellow Bolivians and help meet the needs of the poor, though they themselves are also poor.   I recently asked them if there was anything that I could send them from the US that they couldn't buy there that would be a blessing to them.  They said they could really use "bags of sleeping and backpacks" for when they are gone overnight to minister.  They usually just take a blanket which means they are very cool in the chilly Bolivian nights.  We were happy to choose some nice sleeping bags and backpacks from the store and send them to Bolivia to Sara and Eva. 

The box arrived on Monday, and they sent the sweetest email that turned out to be a great way to start a discussion during our family time that night on being happy when other people are blessed and what true contentment means.
I wanted to share this letter with you.  It is not only convicting for the children but also for me!

Dear friends,

 

Today we receive the blessing box that you sent, the beautiful backpacks and sleeping bags, thank you. In all our trips to the rural areas we used to always take a blanket in a bag and our backpacks were already a little old for so many trips that we made. Now we have very good tools for our trips, and we will always be hot in the cold nights of Bolivia . Today is our sister's birthday María Elena (14 years old), and she had the privilege of opening the box and later we pray with the whole family giving thanks to God and to all your family, The box arrived to the 10 am and we had to wait until 1 pm so that the whole family meeting was. When somebody in our family receives a gift, the happiness it is for all, because we consider that gift for all, thank you Misti, and a big hug for the whole your family.

 

Your servants in Christ

 

Eva and Sara

Can you imagine a child raised in America being happy on her birthday to open a box intended for your big sisters and rejoice with them?  Can you imagine a box in the mail being so special and exciting that you wait so the whole family can witness the opening?  Me neither.   Can you imagine a prayer meeting breaking out in thankfulness to God because of a new back pack and sleeping bag? 

Some say that we are so blessed to  live in America...but the longer I live, the more I wonder if we are truly un-blessed to have so many things.   I wonder if the truly blessed people are the Sara and Eva's....the Ecuadorians or Mexicans who are so thankful for anything and who truly know what it means to rely and trust in God for their next meal or clothing to wear. 

If you don't already, may I encourage you to sign up with Compassion International....you will regularly get photos and letters from your child.   It has been such a great tool to show my children how incredibly different our lives are from most of the world.   They also have opportunities to actually meet the children eventually on trips they arrange throughout the year.    It costs only slightly more than $1/day.

Another ministry we support that also gives wonderful feedback on where your money goes with pictures and emails is called Hearts of Hope.  They don't have a website yet, but I can send you the email address if you are interested in getting their free monthly newsletter so see what it's all about.

While we're on the subject...now is a great time to get a book on how to de-clutter and DO IT! Simplify....life with less THINGS is so much nicer!!

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Aug. 27, 2009 - He will rejoice over you with singing...

My all time favorite verse is Zephaniah 3:17

The Lord your God is in your midst, He is mighty to save. He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.

The reason why I love that verse is because I'm always humbled everytime I think that God, the one who make the stars and the aardvark, the moon and the toucan, LOVES me.   1 busy mama in the middle of nowhere...one in a trillion...He knows my name, He knows how many hairs are on my head even through the post-partum hair loss frenzy....he hears every prayer...and cares....He "gently leads those with young"....God not only knows me and my hair follicles but he thinks about me and and gets excited enough to sing!  Isn't that amazing?    

 I guess I love that verse cause if He has the time to rejoice and sing over me, then I can rest assured he has the time to help me when the baby is screaming, the 2 yo needs to be wiped, and the 13yo needs help with geometry, while dinner is about to burn.   I can' t tell you how often that I feel His presence in my day...I am so thankful for my mob of sweet savages, cause honestly, it has taken this many children to get me to the place where I absolutely positively have to depend on God to keep me patient, sweet and focusing on all their needs while dying to my own and being okay with that knowing that as I serve my family, I'm serving them.

One thing that God did this week that blessed my socks off...actually, I usually wear Birkenstocks and no socks, but you get my drift...hey, maybe that's WHY I don't wear socks...cause they were blessed off...hmm.....I digress......ANYWAY....Somewhere along the way this summer, I got this idea (God) to have Aslan take an online class through Answers In Genesis.  It is called Foundations in Creation Apologetics.  It is a 12 week class with a big time commmitment. It is designed for high school and adults so that is even more time commitment for a middle schooler.      The class teaches how to defend your faith, to know what you belive and the scientific facts behind it.    So far, he is only 5 days into it and I have learned so much peeking over his shoulder!!  This is some Good (but VERY deep) stuff!

The thing about my socks coming off...was a few days before he started the class, he was told how to sign in for the class to access the chat room for the weekly class time, the forums where they need to discuss the topics the teacher presents and the online articles and videos.

He read the introduction from his teacher, Ron Dudek, and it turns out that it is the same man who taught lectures this summer at the Creation Museum on Carnivorous Plants.  His hobby is growing, researching and cultivating Carnivorous plants.  In case you missed the info in the past, carnivorous plants is my oldest sons #1 hobby and passion.    Not that the class with be about plants, but how incredibly cool is that that God allowed Aslan to have a teacher with the same passion.  I tell you, as a mama bear, that really blessed me that God loved Aslan enough to show him, yet again, how much he rejoices over him.  

Also, as a plug for the class, if you have a child interested in Creationism, this class is great!  It is around $150, lasts for 12 weeks and is so great for strengthening their faith. Aslan told me yesterday that this is his favorite class in homeschool this year!

It includes reading online articles, watching online videos by creationist Ken Ham and others, taking online quizes, doing projects, participating in online forums and a once/week chat with the class.

We recently read a book called Already Gone  which is a book that discusses that the #1 reason that young people leave the church is lack of training in how to defend their faith...so when they are bombarded with evolution and cultural indoctrination, they don't  know how to stand and defend what they believe, not only to others but to themselves.

If they grow up believing that Genesis 1:1 is not true (In the Beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth) then why would they believe the rest of the Bible is true?   If Evolution is true, then the first verse of the Bible is a lie, and the rest must be too......

Anyway, he was already signed up for the class before we read that book, but it confirmed that it, indeed, was a good choice for Aslan, who, even as a homeschooled kid, is already getting bombarded with evolution debates on his online forums about plants.

To get back to my original point.....God rejoices over YOU With gladness and singing too.   Talk to him all through your day....ask Him to work through you and in you to become more like His Son.  He loves you...He will!!!

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Aug. 6, 2009 - Sending Petitions...to God.

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Jul. 31, 2009 - The kitty, the kitty, the puppy and the sandpiper...

We celebrated Jubilee's birthday this week.  My little package full of jumping and joy turned 5.  

For as long as I can remember, Jubilee has loved and wanted a kitty.  But, having been raised with lots of cats, and being very allergic to them, we have said  "NO" to cats.  ALL The kids know the answer to the "Can we get a kitty?" question is "No...mama is allergic to them."

Well, that was until Jubilee has wanted and wanted and wanted and wanted some more, a kitty.    She hasn't begged at all...it was just understood that they make mama sneeze.   Well, with her birthday approaching, and watching her play with a fake kitty that we got her for her 1/2 birthday (that meows but doesn't make anyone kerchoo)  we didn't want to deprive the poor girl of her dream of her very own kitty.  I mean, our poor children would never grow up normal without a kitty, right?   They ONLY have a pony, 5 cows, 8 goats, 4 sheep, 50 chickens, 40 ducks, 12 guineas, and 2 dogs.  What is life without a barn cat?
So, with one of our friends having kittens to give away right as her birthday approached, we secretly agreed that we could do ONE kitty as long as it was an outdoor kitty, and a barn cat....to eat mice. 

Well, person after person said, "You can't just get ONE kitty, you need at least 2."   SOOOOOO

on her birthday, with all 7 children in the dark as to our plan, we visited the friend with kitties.  It was almost as if Jubi knew....we got there just "To drop off eggs and visit for a minute" when she snatched up a tiny orange kitten and held it and held it and held it.  Long story short, when we were getting ready to leave and we acted out a scene working up to the fact that that was her very own kitty to keep,   She was confused at first, but when she realized she really was going to keep a tiny kitty, her face lit up pretty huge.  DREAM COME TRUE!    We then had to go to town "to pick us some things for the kitty." and the first stop was the animal shelter to pick up a friend for orange kitty.   She immediately looked at all 5 kitties that were about the same age at orange kitty and said, "The white one!"   So now, we have 2 kitties.     These kitties that are only outdoor kitties so far haven't been outside yet.  They live in a cage in the garage....I mean they are supposed to but they spend a good amount of the day, ahem....inside. 

Orange kitty rarely gets put down.  White kitty gets a little more down time, but not much.

They are pretty tiny...they really WILL be outdoor cats.....I promise.....but for now  "FIRE AND BLIZZARD" are enjoying being tiny and drug around by a 5 yo who is in love with them.

 

There is more to the story.....after picking up kitty #2 and then going to the store to buy kitty box and food, we fill up at the gas station and as I'm almost done I see a sandpiper bird just sitting by my feet.  I didn't move, thinking it would fly away, but it didn't so I reached down and picked her up.  She was okay with that?   I called my highly intelligent oldest son over and said, "What is this?" To which he replies, "A bird!"    Oh...I wasn't sure if it was a bird or a 3rd kitty.....sigh.    "I know it's a BIRD...what KIND of bird."  Anyway...we brought bird home to figure out what was wrong.  Her wings were fine, her feet looked normal, she had one eye that looked a bit funny but other than that, we weren't sure why she was just sitting there looking at us.    I think it may have been the shock over the price of the gas....I tend to stand there dazed sometimes too as I fill up our 15 passenger van.....but I didn't see that "Sandy" had a van with her so I'm not sure...anyway...after living in our guest room for 2 days, she looked better, flew out of her box, so we let her go today.....here is "Sandy the Sandpiper"

 

 

But wait, the day wasn't over yet....we got to Pizza Hut...Jubilee's birthday restaurant of choice this year, and super dad asks me to accompany him to his vehicle while grandma and grandpa stay with the children.....he opens the door of his van and what do my eyes behold but a small box with a.....6 week old Golden Retriever puppy in it looking up at me.    So let's backtrack...1 kitty....1 more kitty....1 sandpiper....and now a puppy....all within 6 hours!   He promised a patient 5 weeks ago that he would take a puppy, and they dropped it off with little warning that afternoon.     He is really sweet....his name is BONGO.      He would be even sweeter if he would not yelp and whine at night.   A mom of 7 really needs her sleep to be patient.....I can lose sleep for a baby...and I do...every night.....but I prefer doggies to sleep through the night.    I digress.

 

All in all, it was a quite memorable birthday. 

She also got a Hello KITTY bike, a beautiful princess pajama dress, a vintage Fisher Price house for her little people to sleep in and a kitty CAKE of course:

It was quite a birthday....I think I'm gonna go sneeze now......

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Jul. 27, 2009 - Obedience to our king

Public speaking is one of my least favorite things to do.  I know I'm not alone in that.   I've given a few speeches or talks in my life.  The one that was absolutely the scariest was in front of 2,500 people at my high school graduation. I was the salutatorian, and at that moment was wishing that I my GPA was just 1/10th of a point lower so the 3rd ranked student would have beaten me. 

I started off my speech with this:

"Class of '89, Gulf High faculty, members of the school board, family and friends. It is a great honor to address you on this happy occasion, but I must admit, to quote Winston Churchill, "There are few activities from which I derive intense pleasure, and speaking is not one of them'."  

Truer words were never spoken.    

Still, to this day, when I hear the song Wind Beneath my Wings which was sung just prior to my speech, my heart races and I start sweating.

About 2 months ago, I was asked to lead a workshop at an annual retreat for women in Kentucky at a church in Elizabethtown.     My very first thought was "What excuse can I use to get out of this one." I heard Wind Beneath My Wings start to play.

I decided to pray about it.  Genuinely pray.  After praying almost every night, the more I prayed the more I felt that I was supposed to agree to speak at this workshop.   They had asked me to talk about training children in the Word of God.   I thought about how much God had shown me in the past 13 years in the area of training children to know the Word....how many hundreds of hours I've spent doing just that, and how I wish that I knew now what I knew as a very young mom.   So I felt God was showing me that I needed to share with other moms what God had shown me.

The topic was called "Training Tots to Teens to know the Word of God."   It really helps that I don't feel comfortable talking in front of crowds whether 5 or 2,500.  It really forces me to ask God for wisdom, to ask His words to flow out of my mouth when the time came. 

I felt prepared...I brought chocolate to hand out to the  audience (You can never go wrong bribing with chocolate--hehe)

I talked for 45 minutes about how to train children to know the Bible and Bible memory, and at the end with questions and answers, I felt I finally knew what another purpose of my talk was.   It ran 15-20 minutes over time.  

We got totally off topic once a young mom asked a question about how to raise godly children with an unsaved husband.  She claimed that her husband wanted her to do things against the Bible.  I asked for an example, and she said that he didn't want her to tithe, but she did anyway any chance she could, and that soon he would deploy and she would be able to give a lot and he wouldn't know.

I told her that she absolutely had to stop tithing.  She was flabbergasted that I would tell her to do something against Scripture, until I pointed out that submitting to her husband, even an unsaved husband was following Scripture.   I explained that by praying for him, submitting to him in love even and especially when he knew her thoughts about this and other topics would quite possibly win him to the Lord, but by rebelling and being deceitful, it would only turn his heart against her, the church and God.

With the exception of 1 lady there, they were all dealing with either unsaved husbands or husbands who did not spiritually lead their families.   Most of them, it seemed had taken the reigns of leading the home  thinking it was the right thing to do.   One lady, thankfully, had been married to an unsaved man, and she testified that by her submitting to him, he admitted later that actually drew him to Christ.   She was a shining example of what I was trying to relay to the group.  (1 Corinthians 7)

I share this because I know there are so many women out there in similar situations.  In fact, a few of my closest friends are in this situation.  It is not our first desire or instict to submit, it is a choice and something you have to practice.  Even when you are married to a sweet, godly man, it can occasionally be a challenge.    So I just wanted to encourage all of you ladies, to make a choice to submit to your husbands in love.  We truly were created, it says in Genesis, to be HIS Helpmeet. It doesnt' say he was created to be ours.   So stop the attitudes, stop pouting, and joyfully serve and love your man. Do it joyfully, and you will feel joyful.    When you serve him, you are really serving the Lord, so if it helps to view your servanthood and submission as unto the Lord, do it.   You will be blessed as you bless and serve your husband.

Here is a great quote that not only applies to this, but every area of our lives:

When this glorious King commands us, it is not for us to question, or argue or hesitate or decide for ourselves whether we will obey and to what extent. That's complete foolishness.  In fact, we should count it the highest privilege to leap into action at His slightest bidding, without a moment's thought for our own convenience or comfort.    --Brother Andrew

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Jul. 22, 2009 - Wordless Wednesday

Photos by Maleaha

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Jul. 21, 2009 - A long time ago...

My 6 year old must be at the age for saying the cutest things.

Tonight he asked me about something that happened "A long time ago..."

I asked him what that meant to him, because to me a "long time ago" means about 20 years.....

His reponse...."Last week!"  LOL

Later today he said, "Mommy, when I was a little boy, I wasn't afraid of ANYTHING.   But now that I'm big, I am afraid of a few things.   I"m not afraid of bears though....maybe because I've never seen a bear."  

Don't ya just wish you could freeze them at these sweet, innocent ages?

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Jul. 7, 2009 - Where can I sign up for Parenting Teens 101????

Now that my oldest is 13, I can FINALLY understand what all my "more experienced" parent friends have been telling me.  "Parenting toddlers is PHYSICALLY exhausting, but parenting teens is MENTALLY and EMOTIONALLY exhausting."        I'm with ya now!   I'm sure 13 is just the tip of the iceburg, but it's definitely an adventure.  = )  

I'm really and truly enjoying it though.   The good news is that he is a great kid, very helpful, obedient, hard working and great with little kids.  The issue isn't at all with attitude or disrespect or anything like that, it's just all the changes seem overwhelming.    He's grown about a foot this year and has passed me up.....in size 11 shoes....and lots of emotional/physical and spiritual changes.  All  of them are good and necessary, but it sure seems like the way God designed this age is almost overload with all the changes.    Up til now, it's felt like a slow put steady ride in the parenting canoe, a bump here, some turbulence there, but overall enjoying the ride.  All of a sudden the white water hits and everything is changing and "Whoa....hang on!!"      

It's been great though....we've had a ton of great, deep conversations this week, initiated by him every time...that lets me know that I have his trust and his heart.    He's open and honest and desires so much to please the Lord, but the transition from boy to man takes some figuring out for him and us.

I think back to when he was a baby.....seems just a short time ago. I can remember his infancy better than any of the others just about because it was so stressful for me.....he cried a lot.....so I cried sometimes with him.  (grin)    I had no idea what to do with him.....I panicked when daddy had to go back to work after the first few weeks home...I honestly didn't think I could take care of him alone all day.....but he survived...and I survived....and both of us have changed so much in 13 years.  

 We have introduced him to our God....and he loves and serves him too.      I never would have thought he'd be a big brother to SIX other siblings, but God knew what I needed to mold the selfishness out of me.    I'm thrilled with the young man he's becoming.  I know all his strengths and I know all his shortcomings but like my Heavenly Father does to me, I deeply love every aspect of that young man.

It's such a wonderful time right now.  Having a 6 month old son, who looks identical to what he looked like at the same age.  (but much less crying!  ) God is allowing me to remember him as a baby and now as a young man and seeing what we've done right, and what we've done wrong.    God is so faithful to give wisdom when we need it, to show us how to pray, to help us to be who we need to be to model Jesus to these 7 precious souls.      Parenting is the hardest, most wonderful, exhausting, rewarding, stressful, priceless thing I've ever done.       I'm going to pray for wisdom and patience for all my friends who are parenting teens tonight.....if you don't mind...could you do the same.   The best news is that we're not in this alone...we have a Savior who is ready and willing to give us His wisdom, love, patience, understanding, joy  and anything else we need to raise this generation to be sold out to Him!  

Remember: "Thy Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."   The Bible has all the answers we need for this task!!!    Hang in there!  It's all worth it. 

 

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Jul. 6, 2009 - Choosing Curriculum part 2

Thought I'd take a minute to type out the promised part 2 of our curriculum for this next year.

Still in the stages of planning it all out, organizing and photocopying, but I do have all the books in my hands.

All my children, as I mentioned earlier, will be doing Student of the Word 5, and My Father's World-Exploring countries and cultures, so I won't repeat those with each kiddo....

Noah (6th Grade)

Math: Life of Fred Fractions & Decimals and Percents with Math Detective A1

Then....Teaching Textbooks  Pre-Algebra

Science: will use My Father's World Science that is built into Exploring Countries and Cultures with Hosanna and Josiah

Language Arts:

All In One English (for Grammar review)
and Total Language Plus Book studies: King of the Wind, Light in the Forest and Rifles for Watie

Spanish: Rosetta Stone

Creative Writing: Student of the Word 5

Art:  Book of Many Colors by How Great Thou Art

Hosanna (4th Grade)

Math: Singapore Math 4 w/ Intensive Practice

Science: My Father's World

Language Arts: Total Language Plus: Cricket in Times Square, My Side of the Mountain and Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe

Handwriting: Handwriting Without Tears-Cursive success

Art: Lambs book of Art 2

Homemaking: Future Christian Homemakers   followed by Home Economics for Homeschoolers

Josiah (1st grade)

Math- Horizons Math 2

Language Arts-Explode the code 3 and 4

and Learning Language Arts Through LIterature Red Book

Handwriting: Handwriting without tears Printing Power

Art-   I can Do all THings by How Great Thou Art

Jubilee (Kindergarten)

Bible- Children's Illustrated Bible w/ coloring pages from Calvary Chapel

Listen to Your Story Hour every day at naptime.

Math- Horizons Math Kindergarten

Lang. Arts-  Explode the code books 1-3, Christian Liberty Press readers

Handwriting:  Letters and Numbers for Me

Science: Book of Animals

Praise (K-3)

Bible-same as Jubilee (above)

I can books (I can cut...trace...draw...color...paste...)

Get Ready, Get set Go for the Code books

Work on counting and Leap Frog DVD's for letter sounds

Gilead-

-grow teeth, learn to crawl and walk and obey.  (grin)

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Jul. 1, 2009 - Birthday Trip: Horse Ranch

We started something really fun about 4 years ago.   When our children (ages 7 and older) have a birthday, they get to go on a special overnight trip with one parent to a fun place.   Sometimes we pick a trip and surprise them and sometimes they play a role in planning the get away.

It's a great time for one on one time with mom or dad, that is sometimes harder to find in a big family.

The trips we've done so far, which up til now has been dad with the boys and me with Hosanna:

Aslan

Gatlinburg, TN: Dixie Stampede, Go Carts

Ecuador:  Mission Trip

Gatlinburg: to stay at the new motel with an indoor waterpark, Putt Putt golf and snow tubing

Noah

6 Flags

Tennesee Titans Football game

(His bday is coming up in Oct for the nxt trip)

Hosanna:

Nashville to go to Build a Bear and pick out new paint for her room

Nashville:  surprised by Grandma Florida flying in for the week, we also went to a tea room and did swimming at the motel

Which brings me to Hosanna's 9 year old birthday trip that we took last week.

We went to Twin Valley Bed and Breakfast Horse Ranch.

I chose that place because it was a fun place to stay and it had horseback riding for my horse crazy little princess.    So that I could actually ride a horse with Hosanna, we both thought it would be extra fun to bring Grandma Kentucky with us to help with Gilead.

I highly recommend this place. It is great for large families too!

We stayed in the Pioneer Room, since there was only 4 of us this trip. It is the door upstairs.

 

We immediately fell in love with all the cute farm animals.

There were 14 horses, 2 fainting goats, sheep, a pig, chickens, a duck, a goose, a llama, and a Sicilian donkey that was Hosanna's favorite:

 

After visiting with all the animals, we hopped in the truck to go to the grocery store to stock up on food for dinner and breakfast. Each room comes with a very nice full kitchen.

When we returned it was chore time and animal feeding time.  We spent an hour feeding all the animals with the owner, Janice and getting to ride in the back of a pickup truck.

The next day, we could have gotten up at 6am to feed the animals again, but that would have been 5am our time, so I thought I'd be happy skipping that feeding...night person that I am.  (grin)
At 7am (6 our time) was time to brush the horses and get them ready for the ride.  I sent Hosanna on ahead to do that  (she had a great time) while I tried to wake up and feed Gilead.

At 8am it was time for our mountain horse ride.   With Grandma taking care of Gilead, we hopped on our horses....I rode "Big Easy"  and Hosanna rode "Candy."   The ride took us up into the Tennessee hills and we saw some neat old sites where people used to live in the 1800-1900's.   We got to trot and my horse even cantered a bit...yeeeehawwww.

The 3 1/2 hours went very fast and we were back before we knew it.  Gilead did well without me...I've never left the little fella before since he only nurses still. 

It was time to check out, but since nobody had rented our room the next day, they let us stay for a few more hours to fish in the huge pond that is stocked with catfish, bass and blue gill.

It was great fishing.  In an hour, Hosanna caught 1 smallmouth bass and 1 bluegill, and I caught 1 bluegill.  We only had 2 poles so grandma helped us take fish off the hooks.

 

 

After that, it was time to come home.  We sure had a great trip.  We both really enjoyed Grandma coming with us for help with Gilead and fun company--thanks Grandma!!!

I would highly recommend this place even for large families.  There is a cabin called Luke's cabin (you can see if it you click the link above) that sleeps 6 but she said we could bring sleeping bags and air mattresses if we wanted to fit everyone....very unlike motels who tell us we exceed firecode and need 2 rooms.
Along with the stocked pond to fish, you can also swim in it and there is a rope swing into the pond as well.  There were MILES of hiking trails on the property that we didn't have time to check out.  The animals are there to pet,   You can easily stay busy for 3 days there.

On top of that, it is about 30 minutes from Cades Cove....the scenic drive outside Gatlinburg where you drive through for free and see bears, turkey deer ect fromy our cars. It is about 1 hr to Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge if you love traffic and exciting things to do.

Hosanna wants to go back next year for her 10th birthday trip.  We are planning on taking the whole family later in the year!  The rest of the children will love it.

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Jun. 24, 2009 - Homeschooling questions--answered. Part 1

I've had a bunch of questions lately.

From non-homeschoolers...

WHY do you homeschool?

Is it easy?

What about socialization?

And from the homeschoolers, it's always the same....

What curriculum are you going to use next year.

I thought I'd answer these questions and save myself some time. (GRIN)

1.  We homeschool first and foremost because we really believe that God has shown us that He wants us to homeschool our children.  That doesn't mean we feel everyone should homeschool. It doesn't mean we feel superior because we do. We strictly do it because we feel, for our family, we are being obedient to what God has shown US.    We take the verses in Deuteronomy 6 very seriously that we are to teach our children the things of God, "When you rise up, when you sit down and when we walk along the way."    I also selfishly want to be the one to teach my children to read. I want to be there when the lightbulb goes off when math finally clicks, when a Bible verse finally makes sense, when they are tempted to hit their little sister and instead learn what self control is all about.  I loved that I get to learn and re-learn so many things along with them!  I love that we can do school snuggling on the couch, or outside on the porch on a beautiful day too!  Which brings me to the next question...

 

2.  NO, it's not easy...are you kidding?  (grin)   But nothing worth doing is ever easy.   It is a whole lot of work, and judging by how many parents tell us, "I could never teach my kids"  I guess it's not supposed to be easy.   It's hard, but worth the effort.

3. Socialization is precicesly one of the top reasons why we choose to homeschool.    I'll leave it at that.

Now to my fellow moms who are in the curriculum choosing frenzy that I just came out of, and so you don't have to keep asking when I'm gonna blog about our curriculum that we're using this year (haha)

It's not pretty, but here's the plan:

NOTE: all the curriculum names are "clickable" if you want to read more about it. 

ALL TOGETHER (Kindergarten through 8th grader)

Student of the Word Year 5

My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures

Study for Bible Bee

Aslan (8th grade)

Creative Writing from Student of the Word

Math- Finish Teaching Textbooks Geometry (he's 1/2 way through)

Then Scratch your Brain Geometry from Critical Thinking

Then start Teaching Textbooks Algebra 2

Science- Apologia Physical Science

Language Arts- Applications of Grammar

Total Language Plus--Treasure Island, Hiding Place and The Yearling

Rosetta Stone Spanish

Logic- Fallacy Detective and Thinking Toolbox (1st semester)

Followed by Introductory Logic (2nd semester)

I'm also likely going to have him take an online course in the Spring on Creation Apologetics from Answers in Genesis.

He spends quite a bit of time reading online forums learning how to care for his plants.  He is super interested in Horticulture, especially Carnivorous plants, and recently has gotten into some "discussions" with PhD's and has needed to defend creationism.  He has done a great job, but falls short in debating with PhD professors. (imagine that)   I feel that every Christian, but especially those going into Science fields need to know what they believe, why and defend that.

So that is why the classes in Logic and Creation Apologetics.  Plus, he LOVES those subjects.

This is taking a lot more time than I expected, so I'm gonna take a break and share the rest of my plans for the other children next time I blog.

In other news...Gilead got his first tooth yesterday!

I'm taking Hosanna on her birthday trip tomorrow for 1 night to a Horse Ranch.  We'll go on a 1/2 day horseback riding trip.  (Grandma will help us with Gilead...we're excited she's going with us this year!)  Pray for daddy back home with the other 5.  = )

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Jun. 15, 2009 - Showing love with Stick Figures

I am one of the most blessed women I know.  I regularly get pictures drawn and colored just for me. I get wildflowers, geode's, empty turtle shells, empty or live snails, and fossils from the creek.

My 2 favorite things recently were spontaneously drawn pictures for me.

The first was from my 6 year old son......

 

Pretty insightful for a six year old, eh?

 

The next was from my oldest daughter, who turned 9 yesterday....

 

Full of honesty there, huh?   I believe she is referring to potatoes and eggs....her 2 least liked foods.

There is a spiritual truth to that one though....she is thanking me for even what she doesn't like!!

1 Thessalonians 5:18

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

Oh, how I wish I could do this as well as my 9 year old!!   Did you catch that....give thanks in EVERYTHING.  Even the "potatoes and eggs" in my life.    How easy it is to thank God for the things in life that we like..the "Chocolate, coffee and pizza's" of life.  But when God serves us  "beets, or collard greens, or couscous" we still are to thank Him in EVERYTHING.   The Bible says "All things work together for GOOD to those who love God."  So that is why we thank God when life is going great and why we thank God when it seems to not be turning out the way we wished.

Like the song we sing at church BLESSED BE YOUR NAME says,

Blessed Be Your Name
In the land that is plentiful 
Where Your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name

Blessed Be Your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed Be Your name

Every blessing You pour out 
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be Your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's 'all as it should be'
Blessed be Your name

Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering 
Though there's pain in the offering 
Blessed be Your name

Every blessing You pour out 
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, blessed be Your name

 
 

Every day is a choice...we choose to praise God in the good and bad or we complain.....let's be women 
who praise God even if we're stressed, or bummed, or hungry, or tired.    It glorifies God and is a great 
example to our children too!!!!

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Jun. 6, 2009 - Punctuation and Colon Health--a Conversation.

A conversation at our dinner table tonight...you just never know what to expect.

We were eating lettuce from our garden. (Along with trout that we caught today at a fishing derby and some whole wheat elbow noodles ) I gave the kids each a bunch of big leaves since we didn't have too much salad stuff to go with it today like tomatoes/cucs etc.

Noah asked if he could give one of his lettuce leaves to his 8yo sister who LOVES lettuce cause he thought I gave him too much.  I told him that I was making sure he never had colon cancer.

The discussion went to "what is a colon?"  (can you believe doctor kids asked that question? Sigh)

So I explained that a colon is the same as the large intestine and that it stays healthy if you eat lots of fiber like fruits and veggies like lettuce. 

Aslan then said, "If I have a colon, then Gilead (his 5 month old baby brother) must have a SEMI Colon."

The homeschool dinner table is never dull!

 

 

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