More Math Fun wih Fractions

We are really having a math revolution around here. It seems the younger the children are the more responsive they are to these non-traditional ways of learning math. For some reason this is really setting off some triggers in my mind and I am amazed at how easy math concepts are becoming to me. Math used to be such an area of frustration around here. I only wish I had caught on to this idea when my older children were young.

Fraction Jugglers is what I'm using with the boys. We've been using the wooden fraction puzzle that is shown below to check our work, sort of like how cusinaire rods are used with whole numbers. It's funny that I need to use the puzzle more than they do because they seem to be able to picture it better in their heads. I have some other fraction games with the set of games I bought from Right Start Math and I'll be pulling those out too in order to add some variety.

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I got this Fraction Action book from the library and I read it to Annalise. I was amazed at how much fraction knowledge she picked up from this one title. Abel sat in on it too and was saying, "Aw. She's learning about fractions too? That's not right. I'm four years older than she is!" I tried to explain that I was starting to look at studying math the way we study history. We are all learning about Ancient Rome together aren't we? Why not do the same with math topics? Of course, there will be different levels of understanding but why not all play with fractions together?

Here is a picture of the fraction puzzle I bought from Right Start. Annalise just played with it one day with no help from me and the next day she was explaining to me how fractions get smaller when the bottom number gets bigger. She explained in excited tones how 1 was bigger than 1/10. She continued to expound on how it was the opposite of counting with regular numbers and that is why they were called fractions.

Thanks to Julie at the Living Math site and the accompanying email list, I'm seeing numbers in a whole different light. I look forward to trying more resources and enjoying our mathematical adventure. I'll continue to post things that we use and enjoy here in hopes that it will encourage others to step out of the workbook/textbook box and have fun learning!

Discussion on Courtship

I have found Cindy over at Dominion Family to be an astute observer of the homeschooling community. She recently posted her thoughts on courtship. I have considered writing my own reformed thoughts on the topic many times but never quite got it together - "it" being both my thoughts and my courage. I posted a few quotes from her post here along with my thoughts on the issue. I am sure my thoughts will be more scrambled than Cindy's.


"It is not an easy topic to discuss because people have violent opinions and the younger the children the more violent the opinions get."


This was definitely me a few short years ago. It's amazing what actually having some experience in the matter will do to your opinions. I think the violent opinions come from wanting so badly to protect your children from unnecessary hurt. But God knows it is often times pain that forms our character and like Jesus we can pray for what we think is best but ultimately we need to say, "God's will be done."

"Almost every family I know with older children has modified their views on courtship. That is not to say that they have rushed towards dating but just that they have stopped believing in courtship as a panacea. Courtship carries within itself just as many pitfalls as dating, some of the same pitfalls and a few more besides."


That would also describe me and I would have to agree with the rest of the paragraph. Both of my older girls have been hurt through a courtship process and in one of the cases a few others were hurt too and we ended up having to leave our church of eleven years because of the situation going sour. However, we have all have grown tremendously from it. And because we were involved and our wishes respected, neither relationship became physical so they both still have the chance of entering into their marriages completely pure. I thank God for that.


In one of the comments Cindy says,

"One thing we have not been confused about is that the goal of all this is purity. Our boys are not in any doubt at all about the fact we expect them to remain pure until marriage and guard the purity of the girls they pursue."


Amen. I have known people who have different standards for their daughters and sons, thinking it is up to the girl's family to protect her purity and putting no responsibility on the sons. I think that is pathetic and pitiful and I'm glad to hear Cindy say otherwise.

"For parents of boys, courtship basically means whatever the father of the girl decides it means. This can range from mild interest to the boy almost having to fall in love with dear old dad. "

For us, details about things such as where they spend the majority of their time are no longer pre-determined. I'm sure our children will want prospective mates to spend time with us because they like to spend time with us and they will want our opinions on the matter. I expect the prospective mates will desire the same thing with their own families. As one commenter brought up the idea of long-distance relationships and the problems that brings for the girl to spend time with the young man's family, if we were in that situation I think the ideal would be having the young man and the young man's father as committed to protecting our daughter's purity as he would his own daughter/sister. If that were not the case, I would not suggest sending her alone.

And being that the bride is the one being "given", I still think that her father should know enough of the young man to be able to give wholeheartedly, thus demanding some amount of relationship. However, it is the girl who must live with the choice for the rest of her life. She is wise if she seeks counsel from those she trusts, especially in case her emotions are blinding her. But demanding a best friend relationship with a father-in-law is foolish in my opinion. Why should we assume that the kind of person our daughter wants to marry should be the type that my husband would have as a best friend?

Sometimes as humans we like formulas. But God often gives us principles instead. I think this is a good scripture to apply to the matter. When you look up the definitions of the words sanctification, defraud and transgress it makes it even more clear.

"For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification." 1 Thessalonians 4:3-7

Looks Like She's Having A Good Time

This picture was posted on the website of the worldview camp where Priscilla is this week.

Fun Math

Last month at our local homeschooling meeting I know I astounded my ex-math professor friend when I told her I was actually having fun with math. Math has always been something we got out of the way so we could get to the "fun stuff", which for me was reading, writing and drawing. I'm experimenting with Annalise and using lots of games and real books to see if we can learn the basics.

I thought I would share a few titles that we have been having fun with. Annalise asks for math every day. We'll see if I can manage to keep this fire burning instead of the dousing with the boredom I usually provide with endless workbook pages. Thanks to the Living Math site and the library, we have lots of books to try.

Number Jugglers is something I've been using with Annalise and the boys. Everyday Annalise asks for the odd/even game or the number ladder game. The boys like some of the games too. Or I should say the one who is winning at the moment likes it. At least they admit it's better than workbooks. It's been a great way to review the four basic operations. Often we can all play together adjusting the game for the different levels by not dealing as many cards to the older ones as the book suggests. We have also been using Fraction Jugglers for the boys. My summer experiment is to see if I can teach them all about fractions while reviewing what they already know in a fun way .

Annalise just loved this and other books by Greg Tang. Sometimes I'm the one who needs a different way to do something after doing it six times before. This particular title involves finding addition strategies.
The library had many in this series so I brought home a large stack to read to Annalise. This little title taught her about negative numbers. Since she is already in the habit of loving books, these are an easy way to introduce new topics. At the end of each book there are reinforcement and activity suggestions. I think this one stack I have could keep us busy for quite a while.

I Just Don't Understand It

I recently read an article in WORLD magazine where a Congressman read some of the material that the public schools use for sex education. It was truly appalling. While I appreciate WORLD keeping us abreast of what is happening, I actually tore those pages out so my children would not be subjected to the material. Many of the adults in Congress were squirming while it was being read because it made them so uncomfortable. Imagine, reading to children things that even most adults consider inappropriate.

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Then I ran into this over at the Common Room.

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I know things have been getting worse. In recent years when even Dr. Dobson was calling for Christians to remove their children from the public schools, I knew the situation was becoming critical.

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I have heard and read about the agenda in the public schools and the kinds of things the kids are being indoctrinated with. It makes me want to do something but since I homeschool I know it would not be effective. I don't have a dog in that race. But what about those in the system who are Christians and who are opposed to what is happening? Are they doing anything? If the public schools are a great mission field (which I have heard Christian parents say), where are the great missionaries? Surely we are not entrusting children with such a job. When I hear the statistics of adults who consider themselves Christians, I marvel that this propaganda can continue to be allowed. Do people not realize that ideas have consequences? Have we so been lulled into complacency that we don't even care? Or has the propaganda had it's desired effect and the parents actually think this is necessary? That this is the answer? I don't get it.

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Hasn't anyone out there read Brave New World? Oh, that's right. No one reads anymore. Maybe if they made a tv show out of it people might recognize a slippery slope when they see one.

Purple Makes Me Happy

Something kinda weird about me - purple makes me happy. It really does. I was sitting in the car, honking for the last stragglers to load up so we could go to a church meeting. Normally, this is a time when I get very irritable. I hate being late and I hate waiting. But when I looked up and saw my pretty purple clematis climbing up the stair rail, I had a wave of happy feeling come over me that overrode the irritation.

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I think maybe I started out liking purple when I was seven years old in order to imitate my step-mom. But it never went away. Now I involuntarily notice purple everywhere. My eye just draws to it. I don't think anyone really knows how much I love it. Almost every room in my house has something purple. The living room is tan, green and purple, the dining area and kitchen is painted solid purple, my dishes have purple irises on them, the upstairs bathroom is lavender, my bedroom is deep purple and white.

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Once when Candace was searching for a birthday present for me at a flea market, a sales clerk asked her if I collected anything. Candace replied, "Errr, purple. Anything purple."

Purple was very "in" a short time I ago and I was in my element. Purple things were available everywhere. I was tempted to stockpile everything purple. Now the fad is fading and other colors are replacing my own favorite.

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Thankfully, I have found an answer to being able to surround myself in purple despite retailer's fickle tastes. Purple flowers are my latest love - hydrangeas, hostas, larkspur, balloon flowers, irises. If it's purple, I like it. They make me feel like I'm in purple heaven. Even my potatoes are blooming purple. Ahhh.

Miscellaneous Goings On

I haven't been able to think of blog posts lately. We are just enjoying life and feeling very grateful.

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Everything is green and has finally recovered from the late freeze we had. We've been working in our garden and yard quite a bit. So far we have the tomatoes, peppers, peas, potatoes, strawberries, lettuce, and broccoli in. Today we hope to finish with the green beans, squash and cucumbers. My semi-new discovery in the garden has been landscape fabric. I love putting it down between the rows and avoiding weeding. We use hay or straw in between the plants and we have very little weeding to do.

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We tore down our pool after our puppy drowned in it and we are replacing it with a cobblestone-type patio. We have plans to install our little pond and some flowers and we're making a fire pit in the middle. The girls bought me a park bench for Mother's Day and it's going to be perfect out there. (The boys each got me beautiful cards and flowers. )

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Ford and Kenny (and even Lori) have been working hard on the additions down at the shop and they are hoping to start the digging of the lake soon. They are really hoping to have it done so we can use it this summer. They hope to bring in sand for a nice beach area and leave an island with a big tree on it in the middle. I'm having fun imagining get-togethers with volleyball and big bonfires on the beach, seeing the kids enjoy fishing, boating and swimming, camping on the island and having ducks.

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My sister, Lori, has also fully recovered from her last baby. The sound of hammers and saws can be heard through the woods on a regular basis. She's always tackling something - redoing a floor, drywall, ripping off a deck, etc. The other day she popped over to fulfill her promised birthday present to me and cut landscape timbers and cut out some steps that come down the hill from her house to ours. We just have to finish nailing the timbers down. Now you don't have to slide down the muddy bank into our screenroom. What a woman!

The Master Plan of Evangelism

Have I mentioned how much we love our church? Oh yeah, forty times or so. I think I mentioned before when we changed churches we expected to have to swallow quite a bit. It turned out quite the opposite. Instead we are constantly, even still, amazed at how much we love it and how excited we are. And not just over the people but the underlying principles that govern the church's actions.

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At a recent leadership meeting one of our pastors highly recommended the book The Master Plan of Evangelism by Robert E. Coleman. We ordered it and began reading it aloud as a family at dinner (which is at noon) today. We've never been a family that has had a big interest in evangelism as is commonly practiced in our society but this book definitely has our interest. One thing we have been amazed at is how successful our church has been at reaching unchurched people and they do it with a large dose of REALITY. Being real and relevant while loving people not only draws them but keeps quite a few of them growing and in turn serving others. We immediately felt that not only would this be a place where we could give, but that there were things we could learn here.

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Back to the book. The first chapter describes Jesus' stradegy. He concentrated heavily on teaching and mentoring a few, while at the same time serving the multitudes. He "favored" a few because of His love for the multitudes and He had a plan to multiply His work on earth.

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"Yet, strangely enough, it is scarcely comprehended in practice today. Most of the evangelistic efforts of the church begin with the multitudes under the assumption that the church is qualified to preserve what good is done. The result is our spectacular emphasis on numbers of converts, candidates for baptism, and more members for the church, with little or no genuine concern manifested toward the establishment of these souls in the love and power of God, let along the preservation and continuation of the work."

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"Here is where we must begin just like Jesus. It will be slow, tedious, painful, and probably unnoticed by people at first, but the end result will be glorious, even if we don't live to see it. Seen this way, though, it becomes a big decision in the ministry. We must decide where we want our ministry to count - in the momentary applause of popular recognition or in the reproduction of our lives in a few chosen people who will carry on our work after we have gone. Really it is a question of which generation we are living for. "

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Several of us remarked on this last passage and how like homeschooling it is. How so many parents are giving up the approval or recognition from their peers and society because they are thinking ahead to the next generation. And how like Jesus' plan it is to spend the most intensive teaching time on a few.

Being a Helpmeet

You know when you have those times where there seems to be a theme in all you experience? Being a better helpmeet to my husband has been a theme for me lately. Shirley Solis of Lifetime Books gave me the CD of her lecture on the topic and we listened to it on the way home form Missouri.

I am also working my way through the Anne of Green Gables series. I am in the middle of Anne of Ingleside. Anne has to live with Gilbert's aunt who has come for a short visit but it has not been so short. This aunt "poisons" the home and makes everyone miserable. Gilbert does not do what several wish he would - kick her out. "He says he could never look himself in the face again if he turned his own flesh and blood out of doors", even though she has plenty of money and a home of her own. She is mean to the children and the household help and ruins every potential nice time together. She constantly complains and undermines Anne and makes her feel as if she doesn't belong in her own home. What would I do in those circumstances? Unless God had really got a hold of me, I can tell you it would be the exact opposite of what Anne does. What does Anne do? Does she explode with anger at Gilbert? Does she disrespect his spinelessness and unwillingness to stand up to his aunt and protect his family? Does she take matters into her own hands? No. She defers to Gilbert's sense of honor. She chides herself for complaining of such "little things" and feeling sorry for herself. Instead she embraces compassion for the friendless woman and ends up giving her a surprise birthday party. God blessed Anne in the end because the aunt ends up offended over the birthday party and finally leaves. But in her leaving, Anne can rest with a clear conscience and the knowledge that she chose Christian love.

With a little more free time this week I decided to borrow my sister's copy of Debi Pearl's Created to Be His Help Meet. It is such a chore for me to read these kind of books but I decided to give it a try. I've read the first few chapters this afternoon and it immediately put me in mind of the character of Anne. She demonstrates the qualities of a helpmeet with a joyful, merry and thankful heart.

All of these things sure shine the light where improvement is needed in my character. It's one thing to read these things and gain fresh inspiration to do good, but it's another to form habits that last long after the books are forgotten.

My middle name is Ann without the e. I need to become more like the "Anne with an e".

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**Update: A funny note. Tonight I sat on the porch swing reading to Annalise the next story in James Herriot's Treasury for Children. The story we are on is called The Market Square Dog and in it the country vet and his wife are all dressed up in their best clothes about to leave on a special rare date out when a policeman comes and brings a hurt dog. When Mr. Herriot apologizes to his wife because the care of the dog will prevent them from their plans, she graciously reassures him that she understands. And here is a quote from the story:

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"By the time we had finished, it was too late to go out anywhere, but Helen was quite cheerful. 'We can still have our picnic,' she said. We carried the sleeping dog out to the garden and laid him on a mat on the lawn so that we could watch him as he came round from the anaesthetic.

Out there in the old high-walled garden the sun shone down on the flowers and the apple trees. Helen put on her fancy hat again and I put my smart jacket back on and as we sat there, enjoying the good things from the picnic basket , we felt that we were still having a day out."

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Isn't that a beautiful example of a good wife bringing comfort to her husband and being thankful and cheerful and not pouting and scolding and feeling sorry for herself? Isn't it funny that this was in the story I read to my little girl tonight right after I wrote the above post? Hmmm.

Home Again

We are home after a fun time in Missouri. Pris and Kezzi especially had a grand time hanging out with the young people there. I spent lots of time with the young people too, hanging out and sitting down for meals and snacks with them. What a nice (and fun!) group of kids. Too bad they live so far away.

I bought quite a few things at the fair. I met the new owners of Lifetime Books and Gifts, Gus and Shirley Solis, and what a delightful and beautiful family they are. Shirley is so warm and friendly you immediately feel like you have always known her. She allowed Priscilla to move up from the basement, where she was not seeing much traffic, to share a little of their space. Priscilla immediately started selling more books. We listened to a couple of Shirley's workshops on the way home and Kezzi asked for copies to put in her hope chest. They were very good. Priscilla was a part of a panel of homeschool graduates that held a question and answer type of workshop. She did a great job, as did all of the graduates, and I was very proud of her.

On the way home I pondered an idea for a summer routine and decided to come home and try an experiment. You can read about it here on the Shadybrook daily blog.

Going on the Road

Today Priscilla, Kezzi and I are leaving for Springfield, Missouri. We will be at the SHEM curriculum fair where Pris will have a table selling the Grandmother's Hope Chest series that she has illustrated. So stop in and say hi if you happen to be there.

We are really looking forward to this trip. Our very dear friends are putting us up and I'm sure we will be having a grand time rushing in and out of the house and all getting ready with one bathroom!! My kids always love to go to Missouri and spend time with their friends and their friends' friends. I love it too.

Granny is My Hero Too.

I made Granny's Carnitas Burritos today. Make. Eat. Enough said.

Weekend Happenings

Ford, the boys and I spent Saturday building a chicken yard onto our chicken house. It was fun working together and swinging the hammer a little. We had chickens years ago but since then the fencing had fallen apart and the weeds had grown up so high you couldn't even see the chicken house. So it's almost ready now for a new batch of hens. We just have to finish tacking up the fencing and I'm going to repaint the little building. It looks so cute and farm-y.

Saturday evening a couple of young men from church joined us for dinner. For extra chaos, we invited my sister and her family to come over too. We had a lot of fun talking, laughing and playing games. These young men did the polite thing and offered to leave at a reasonable time but we were all enjoying ourselves so we reassured them we are late night people and they stayed pretty late. Luckily our church has a third service that doesn't start until 12:30 so we can all sleep in when we need to.

Tonight Candace and Priscilla came home from a meeting at church and both of them have decided to go on a mission trip in the fall. Priscilla is planning to go to Kenya and Candace to Spain. In Kenya Priscilla's group will travel around from village to village telling the gospel story with a story cloth, which they will leave in each village. Using art to tell a story is right up her alley. Spain is not so receptive to missionaries so Candace's group will be doing more one on one talking to people on the streeets, passing out water, Bibles and DVD's that tell the story of Jesus. Candace is so good at meeting people and talking to strangers so this sounds perfect for her too. I'm so excited for them and so glad they are taking advantage of this time in their lives to experience new things and places.

We have a busy next couple of days. The girls and I are cooking for a women's gathering at church Tuesday night. Normally a group of ladies share the cooking chore but we thought it would be fun to give them a break and do the cooking ourselves. We will prepare enough for fifty but there will probably be less than that. After all fifty is only five times more than a normal dinner for us to make. We always enjoy these meetings and we're looking forward to serving.

Our Studies

So far our nature studies with the Kamana program are going quite well. I did decide to slow the pace down a bit and really give them time to absorb the new awareness activity so we most likely will not finish the first part of the book in the prescribed 12 days. And I realized there is no way we could do both Kamana and the Moon Journals at the same time so once again, the moon journals are taking a back seat, hopefully to be picked up later.

I am very pleased with the interest the kids have in the Kamana program. We have had to filter through the Native American thanking Grandmother Moon stuff, and instead we thank our Creator for His creation and read what God' view of nature is, but learning about a different worldview has been interesting too. Last night on the way home from church, the girls were talking about everything they have to look forward to and Hope mentioned the Kamana studies and said she was excited to have this to do during the summer.

Today at lunch Luke was describing a pair of goldfinches that he had watched bathing in the creek and Hope told of a pair of cardinals that visits near her secret spot each day. Kezzi came in telling about a red-tailed hawk that flew over while crying out. These were just a few of the observations that were discussed over lunch. Abel told of a yellow-jacket that landed on him and left some "spit" and how he had smelled it and that it had a strange smell. I highly doubt he would have thought to smell it had it not been for that idea being presented in our Kamana studies.

One of the recent activities we did was thinking about where we were and what it looked like from a bird's eye view and drawing a map of that. Everyone has seemed to really enjoy making these maps and I have seen many extras lying around the house.

Sometimes I am plagued with things we do not do and I know there are others who do so much more. We have never been successful with a foreign language, for example. Many "great" books are way above us and we can't manage to muster up enough interest to tackle them still. Spelling...ugh...we are making progress, but ugh.

But when I think of my kids' day today, how in addition to all of this great nature study some of them sat crowded around the book of Greek myths while listening to a wonderful audio version, how they heard a true story about a boy who grew up with Cherokee grandparents in the mountains, how they learned a little about one of these great United States and heard Solomon's prayers as he dedicated the great temple to God, that they can go out and enjoy the beautiful sunshine while they read a good book and write about the thoughts that that book inspires, that they have time in the afternoon and evening to dwell on what they are learning in addition to time spent fellowshipping with family and friends, I am very thankful for the opportunity to have them learning at home. The good times still outweigh the bad.

Tasting the Fruit

As we've been working through our naturalist training with the Kamana program, I'm pleased to see connections with Charlotte Mason's methods and the fruit they bring. It is easy to see how the children have already been trained to pay attention to detail since we've been doing nature journals for many years now. Drawing the local flora and fauna of the region demands attention to detail. Field guides are some of the first books they begin to use for themselves, before they can even read well. Not only nature study but picture study and narration have also provided training in attention.

When you read about these methods and begin practicing them, it takes faith. Often you think, "Can it be that simple?" Can we just read good books and talk about them? Will hanging up pictures by different artists and spending 5-10 minutes looking at the detail every so often really do anything? Will playing the music of great composers and maybe occasionally reading a short biography lead to a love of great music? Can scientific knowledge be gained by just going for a walk and finding something to draw in your nature notebook? These truly are seeds and by planting the habits, watering and pulling out the weeds, they will grow. There will be fruit.

The fruit is opening your eighteen year old daughter's cd case and seeing Vivaldi and Brahms CD's among the other music. The fruit is when your sixteen year old says she wants to get up extra early to go to spend time at her special place in the woods or when she asks for a great man of history's autobiography to read outside of "school time". The fruit is when your nineteen year old wants to study writing and yes, she may still need some help with the mechanics but she has so much to say and she says it with style.

It's always easy, for me at least, to see the mistakes I have made or the bad habits I have allowed to go unchecked. So it's really rewarding to have those times when you look back and see things that you've done right, things that bear good fruit. It's good to jot down those realizations in a journal somewhere so you can look back on them during the times when it you feel hopelessly discouraged and it seems everything is going wrong.

Ok, So I've Got a Ways to Go

We are all enjoying our new studies with the Kamana program. The first few lessons have been about encouraging Awareness, which I am in great need of. I am not the most observant person, to put it mildly.

Once I walked up onto my mother's front porch and entered her house. She asked, "Do you like my new porch furniture?" Er, new porch furniture? There was furniture out there? Sure enough, beautiful WHITE wicker porch furniture with pretty floral cushions. How could I miss those? This really slapped me in the face. I'm too quick and intent on what I'm doing or thinking to notice much. Not good. Especially when it comes to wanting to know more about nature, not to mention people.

Another little example. Yesterday we were up at the lake. Instead of being my usual lazy self and staying on the beach with my World magazine or a book catalog, I got up and slowly starting walking down the beach looking for THINGS. I was so proud of myself because I found a string of amphibian eggs and some small mammal tracks up near the water. I noticed the black skippers flying around. Fun. The boys and Annalise had joined me. Luke pointed out a HUGE toad nestled in a little spot right on the water's edge. How had I missed that? Well, it did look a lot like a leaf if you didn't look directly at it. We stopped and looked at a little area where Luke thought might have fish and they saw one. I saw a very large one beyond where they were looking and when I pointed it out they were amazed at it's size. I was amazed that I had been the one to see it.

So, I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself noticing different plants around the lake. I had spent the drive up noticing the wildflowers that we already knew the names of and even stopped to look closely at one I had never seen before. I looked it up in the Reader's Digest Field Guide that I had brought with me and found it was a dwarf blue flag - so cute! We continued our walk around the lake, realizing this walk may not have been the smartest thing since no one was around and this was very near the location of a bear attack last year when a girl just Annalise's age was killed. We started making contingency plans just in case. We made it back close to the beach when I saw a beautiful bank of violets. I sat down to examine them closer with my field guide. I swept one large red ant off of my leg and in the back of my mind, I wondered if maybe I was near an anthill. Then Annalise tells me there is a bug on my back, another ant. I figure I better stand up and look around. There I was sitting smack dab on top of an anthill while I was trying to the learn the difference between violet species. I did identify this Arrowleaf Violet. And at least I didn't get bit (or do they sting?) by the ants.

A Thank You From the Becks

The Becks have posted a thank you on their blog with a picture of the farm house they are living in here. Stop on over for a visit.

From Child to Woman

So, Candace is home. It's nice to see her face again. Annalise is especially happy to have her whole family together again. She was plagued with some bad dreams, the latest of which all of the girls got married, her brothers were always away golfing and her cousin, John, never came over. Her worst nightmare.

I've been marveling over the experience of having two grown children. It's rather nice. Both of them have been in some difficult circumstances this last year that have tested their characters and both of them have reacted in ways that have greatly boosted my confidence in their decision making abilities. Not that they will make every decision as I would, but that they are thoughtful and purposeful in their decisions. They have stood against temptations and made right choices. Even when they have been released from our control, they have held to many of the same principles they were raised with. Ahhh. That's the sound of a mother's heart at rest for a moment.

I do not expect that they will never make mistakes. I hope I have learned enough and have been reminded enough that we all have a fallen nature and are all bound to need picking up from time to time. I pray that I can do that for them without wallowing in my own disappointment and pride.

I'm really basking in the thought of two children raised. I've never really resented the burden of responsibility of children, in fact I longed to be a mother from a very young age and I'm so glad I have so many more, but it's a satisfied feeling to have that burden lifted and see it placed on the grown child themselves. It satisfying to see them shoulder that burden and not stagger under its weight. And I'm more and more convinced that timing is everything.

What Has L'Abri Done To Me?

The intence blitz-clean-out of the mind of C&ace!!!

L'abri is such a great place to get away and really dig deep. Being here is really causing me to challenge myself, my thinking, and my beliefs. To look inward and organize and clean up the clutterd rooms in my mind. I've not only been organizing but I've been cleaning the windows and letting in the light so I can see to clean and I can also see out better. I've found a whole lot in my mind that is obviously garbage that I am throwing out. Things that have been so mixed in with good things that I didn't see how ungodly some of it was. My views and expectations of God, myself, and others were a bigger mess then I realized!

Growing up from child to an adult can be a messy process! Trying to sort through all the voices around telling you what is right and wrong mixed and jumbled with what is Biblical and what is just interpretation. Wanting to please God and People and Me and finding out that you very rarely can do all three. The fight to become an adult and the still wanting to cling to the safety and simplicity of childhood. Working through all of that with the added fact that, especilly since I am the oldest, my parents are very new at dealing with a child of theirs transforming into the adult realm. They have struggled with knowing what should change and what should not. On top of all that I have the added burden of knowing that I have 6 younger sibblings watching me and I have a perfectionistic personallity. Which keeps me constantly kicking myself.

So I've been away from all the voices that I am so used to hearing, and living with 20 different people from increadibly diverse backgrounds. For three intense weeks I've been living in an environment where if one doesn't challenge you on one thing then someone else will. No hidden corner of one's mind will be overlooked and no stone will be left unturned. I have been forced to question everything and I've also got to listen to the vast array of others questions.

So I feel so much more secure with how Christ views me and it seems like I've grown up more in this one month then I have in five years. I understand and know that what I believe is mine and not just (taking on someone elses views because I don't trust my own). I should NEVER trust someone elses views and should always question theirs and my own. I am called to always bring things I think and believe before God and test them against the bible and what God's message is in the whole of the scriptures and not merely one or two small passages.

The Life of Heaven

I'm reading through the Anne of Green Gables series and really enjoying it. I have come across quite a few quotes that I want to write in my journal but I'm usually reading in bed before going to sleep and don't have any way to mark them close at hand. Last night,for a change, I did have a pen on my nightstand. This quote is regarding one of Anne's friends who is dying (from Anne of the Island).

"When she came to the end of one life it must not be to face the next with the shrinking terror of something wholly different- something for which accustomed thought and ideal and aspiration had unfitted her. The little things of life, sweet and excellent in their place, must not be the things lived for; the highest must be sought and followed; the life of heaven must be begun here on earth. "

This put me in mind of many things. Especially my friends who just lost many "sweet and excellent little things of life". I'm thankful that those things have not been what they have lived for. They have spent time seeking higher things. Their unselfish service has come back to them in the giving of help after their hardship of losing so much. Here they are, just a week after the fire, and many, many things have already been replaced. Some things will not be able to be replaced, of course. The reason they can not be replaced is because their value did not lie in the objects themselves, but in the fact that they represented bigger things in life - relationships and special moments shared with others. I know what they are going through is difficult, but not nearly so difficult as it would have been had they lived for those things.

It is true...the life of heaven must be begun here on earth.

Update on the Refurnishing Effort

First of all, thank you to all of you who have been praying for this family and sending gift certificates and books. They have received many wonderful donations of clothing, dishes, towels and beds,etc. A local appliance store donated all of their appliances. A man from their church owns an ebay company called NuMarket and he had me come to his warehouse where he filled my van up with a lot of new items for them. The Ambleside Online list members and other homeschoolers have been very helpful in sending many wonderful books. The family has been very grateful and overwhelmed by the generosity of everyone.

The things that are still needed are a few larger items and school supplies that would be unlikely for people to have on hand to donate. If any of you would still like to help, gift certificates (ie. Wal-mart or amazon.com ) or deposits into the bank account that has been set up for donations would be the best way. If you need information about where to send these, email me at shadybrookacres@gmail.com.

Thanks again and bless you all!

Losing it All

****Update: Our friends have rented a large farmhouse. I've been busy soliciting donations from local businesses and people and trying to help get them set up in a home again. Tomorrow they will begin moving in to the new house. It's been quite an experience and I've been touched by people's compassion and generosity. One woman called me today who had lost her 1 yo in a fire and wanted to help them by sending some clothes.

As many of you homeschoolers will know, the loss of their books and homeschooling materials was very hard. When you take years to build a home library and watch it all burn in minutes, it is very disheartening to say the least. Clothes and other household items are the first to come in, but not everyone can appreciate the need for books. If any of you would like to buy amazon gift cards so they can begin replacing their lost books, you can do this online and send it to my email address - shadybrookacres@gmail.com . I am trying to get things together for them as soon as possible because I know they will appreciate doing something "normal" with some old familiar book-friends.

This evening I watched my dear friend's home burn. Nearly every possession that was dear to her is gone. All of her pictures, heirlooms, books, clothing, dishes...everything. We watched it go even though many firefighters worked hard to save what they could. I thank God that no lives were lost and that no one was hurt but it was still hard watching it burn.

And I thank God that my son left his shoes at their house and that I suggested Priscilla go over there this evening to retrieve them.

You see, Priscilla bought a new car today and wanted to take her brothers for a ride. So I suggested she go get her brother's shoes from my friend's house where he left them a couple of days ago. The family was resting after a hard day's work in the yard. My friend was dozing in a chair, while five of her children were watching cartoons and some of them were dozing too. (Her oldest 12yoson was away.) They awoke to Priscilla knocking at the door. After getting the shoes for her, some of them came out the front door to the driveway to see her car. One of the boys came through the walk-out basement out to the driveway and he saw that there was a fire in their basement, where he had just been a few minutes before to fetch the sought-after shoes, but there was no fire then. He ran outside and told his mom.

My friend ran in to wake her husband, who was sleeping in their basement bedroom (with no windows). He ran through the fire and when he came outside he tried to open the garage door when flames leaped out and singed his hair. (Their garage was a part of the walk-out basement) Two of the children who were still in the house came out right away. Within minutes smoke was pouring out of the upstairs windows. The children were put into Priscilla's car and she drove them to the neighbors.

911 was called. Neighbors were called. We were called. I could see the smoke very soon after we left our house. By the time I got there fire trucks were everywhere but the flames were consuming the house. The majority of the roof was gone. We sat on the grass and watched in shock. Over and over we thought about if Priscilla had not come over and disturbed them and asked them to come outside to see her car, her husband would very possibly have been trapped in the back corner of the basement. And possibly other loss of life. It happened so fast.

I am very sober tonight with the thought of how quickly our lives can be changed. And at how many little things came together and affected the sequence of events. I was so irritated that my son had left those shoes there. And now I am so grateful. SO VERY GRATEFUL.

More on the Stars

As I said, I've been looking at the stars lately. And after reading Witness of the Stars years ago, I have been fascinated by them. Often I have tried to tell others about the constellations but they have been such feeble attempts as expressing the wonder of it all. I have now become determined to begin to try to absorb this information so I can actually narrate it with some amount of intelligence, instead of fumbling around for bits and pieces of the story.

I posted last year about "my" mountains here and how they have been a place I go to gaze at God's wonderful creation and spend time with God. You can go to that post and see a tiny piece of the panoramic view.

This morning, as I was drawing my nighttime mountain scene with the constellations, I took out my books and started looking up the names of the stars in the constellations I had found. Back when I was reading Witness of the Stars, the part that really touched me and brought me to tears, was when I got to the information about the ship that brings it's passengers to the safety of the greater and lesser sheepfolds. I didn't remember which constellations they were in. This morning I found one and it's significance amazes me.

When I set my chair up facing the mountains (that scene in that older post) I look directly up to the sign of Cancer. The modern symbol is that of a crab but the ancient star meanings say nothing that would encourage that interpretation. Instead here is some of the ancient names and meanings of the stars in that group:

The Arabic name for this sign is Al Sartan - who holds or binds
The Denderah name is Klaria - cattle folds
Greek name is Karkinos - holding or encircling of which the latin word is Cancer
The Latin Cancer: Khan - travellers rest or in, and Cer is Arabic for circling

Some of the star names in this group are:
Tegmine - holding, Acubene - (Hebrew and Arabic) sheltering or hiding place, Ma'alaph - assembled thousands, Al Himarein - kids or lambs

In the center of this sign is a bright cluster of stars, of which the ancient name is Praesepe, which means a mulitutde, offspring.

This sign of cancer speaks of a protected resting place for the Lord's offspring, his sheep. A place where the travellers are brought safely home after all of the conflict is over. How amazing is that, that in the place I go to find rest in Him, I look directly up and see a sign of THE REST that is to come. A rest for God's people that has been planned since the beginning of time. A part of the story that God has had in the heavens, in plain view for thousands of years. Before there was His story in writing, he wrote it in the heavens.

He telleth the number of the stars,
He giveth them all their names.
Psalm 147:4

My Own Starry Night

I have been taking a lot of little walks lately. It's amazing what getting out in the fresh air and looking at the natural world does for you. Last night I took a walk to the top of the hill to see if the moon was up yet. I could barely see the light growing in the spot where it was to come up. Since I was a bit chilly, and I realized I had a few minutes, I went back to the house for a blanket and I grabbed our Glow In The Dark Night Sky Book and a flashlight. I went back up, and boy, what a treat.

We have a panoramic view of the mountains at the top of our hill. The view of the stars away from all household lights is incredible, especially when you add the backdrop of the shadowy mountains. I wish I knew how to take a night time shot that would do the scene justice.

I spent my time waiting for the moon finding the winter constellations in the book. I was able to find four of them from my seat. I became much more interested in the constellations when I read Witness of the Stars by Bullinger. It makes the verse "The heavens declare the glory of God" take on much more depth of meaning.

So, there I was, wrapped in a blanket, enjoying the stars and my glow-in-the-dark constellations when I remembered to look for the moon. Just in time, I saw the top sliver just coming up over the mountains. I involuntarily took a deep breath. It was so beautiful.

How is it that I have been so neglectful to take the time to enjoy this regular spectacular sight? And all I have to do is walk out my front door and up a little hill.

An Intense Season of Nature Study

I'm gearing up for a lot of outdoor study time this spring. This is something I've wanted to do for a long time but somehow it always gets pushed to the back burner and never happens. I have had the Moon Journal book for years and have never made the time to use it. I know this is the kind of thing I will one day regret never taking the time to do, instead always giving in to pressure to keep up with other areas. I plan to actually be a participant in this study, not just direct it. It's always tempting to just send the kids out to do their thing and enjoy the peace and quiet, but I am determined not to let myself do that this time.

Here are some of the resources I'm lining up to use:

Moon Journals:Writing, Art and Inquiry Through Focused Nature Study - this will take a month of dedicated time observing the moon each evening and journaling about it and then giving time each day for art and writing "invitations". I am thinking April will be the best time for us to attempt this.

Kamana Naturalist Training Program - Level One
(This resource thanks to Dewey's Treehouse who linked to another blogger who had discovered this- it looks great and maybe it's just the help I've been needing)

Actually READ our Nature Friend magazines this season

Full scale garden this year - aiming at providing most of our vegetables for the year. If we are not too busy with other journaling, I'd like each child to start a Garden Journal with observations and instructions. This would be a great help to them in the future when they were growing their own gardens. I tried this once before but it fizzled out - maybe this time will go better since on average the kids are so much older? A great resource I have for this is Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery.

Read inspirational nature fiction like Hatchet, Tracker, Education of Little Tree and maybe Incident at Hawk's Hill and the sequels to My Side of the Mountain

Nature Poetry (any suggestions for resources would be appreciated)

I want to incorporate lots of Scriptures about nature along the way and emphasize a Christian worldview of ecology, especially to prepare them for the onslaught of secularism they will encounter in this field. An excellent resource for this is Timothy Keyes' Eve Anderson Nature Study lecture at last summer's Charlotte Mason conference. This is jammed pack with scriptures that detail God's view of nature. I plan to go through this tape slowly and make a transcript to share gradually with my children.

I also plan to read history on a more occasional basis throughout the nice weather months or maybe even put it on hold, focusing more on nature until it's too hot to enjoy a lot of time outdoors.

Well, anyway, that's the plan. We'll see how it goes.

Tina, Come Get Your Food!

The above title was the name of one of the workshops that the girls went to at the L'Abri conference. I'm still trying to get Candace to sit still long enough at the computer to blog about it, but since she's about to leave for a month to L'Abri, I'm doubting she is going to get to it.

The lecture was about the importance of eating together and inviting others into your home to share a meal. Apparently she gave examples from her own experiences of having people to dinner, even if it was nothing more than bean burritos. The joy and benefits of fellowship that come from connecting with others is worth a little bit of trouble and the sacrificing of pride when you know that you possibly have less than the people you are inviting over to your house.

Yesterday we had a family from church to dinner and I remembered how much fun it is to do that. They blessed us by driving an hour to come to our house. And with all of the help I have around here, it was not a burden at all to prepare for. Everyone pitched in with cleaning and cooking tasks. Candace made dessert, her famous chocolate chip cookies, Priscilla made a beautiful salad, Hope peeled the potatoes, Kezzi took charge of making sure the basement was in order, the boys worked outside to pick up the grounds and get firewood ready for the bonfire. They all helped with a lot of miscellaneous stuff too.

There was a lot of joy in the preparations. Nothing fancy, just some roasted meats and vegetables with some bread from the bread maker and cookies with ice cream for dessert.

Having people for dinner seems to be a lost art in our society. I guess since most people don't eat together as a family, it's even more ridiculous to suppose that they would invite guests for a home-cooked meal. It's something I think we need to recapture. It's amazing how a week slips by and then another and another. I'm determined to stop long enough to re-incorporate this tradition into our lives. It really is a lot of fun.

Out of One, Many

Well, the Shadybrook Acres crew is spreading their wings and expanding. What started out as one blog, is turning out to be four different blogs with another in the making. Even Luke, who is only twelve, and never writes a lick without being told to, is wanting his own blog when his typing improves. Don't ask me why they are more motivated to post if it is on their own blog. They say the feel it's ok to write something that may be trivial on their own blog but the family blog is a different story. I like that they feel responsibility to keep up their own blog so they'll write more.

So check out the side bar if you want more Shadybrook reading.

L'Abri Conference

Well, I'm going to attempt to blog about our experience at the L'Abri conference in Minnesota this past weekend but I know I can't fully express how much I was filled and inspired through it. I didn't really know what to expect from this conference before we left. All I knew was that we were going to fly out there, stay in this really nice hotel, and try not to freeze to death in negative degrees weather. :) Turned out we didn't even have to go outside - every place we had to go was connected by skyways - and the conference turned out to be a lot more than I expected. I filled a notebook with notes, but I guess that would be a little too much to put in a blog :) so these were some of my favorite workshops.

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Of course, my absolute favorites were about art and the artist. There were two workshops on this subject taught by John Hodges, a conductor in Memphis, TN and I can honestly say they have changed how I look at what I do as an artist. The first was titled, "Creation, Creativity, and the Work of the Artist". It started out with the first Creation and explored in depth how we are created to be like our Creator in our artistic tendencies. He created for the love of it and was "overflowing with creativity". Likewise, when we create art only to make money or only for selfish gain, it is looked down upon. In a sense, God's art and our own art, since we were created in His image, should be the work of an amateur in that we create out of the sheer joy of creating. He also talked about the importance of beauty in art and that the purpose of art is for the contemplation of beauty. In our culture today, beauty is compromised for "truth" and when a painting is beautiful it is looked down upon as something false or fantasy. But in reality, beauty and truth are one and the same. God created beauty in this world to be a flashing, momentary glimpse of His overwhelming glory and when we see something deeply beautiful, we ache in our hearts and are affected by it. It shows us that we are missing something and gives us a longing to be completely filled with the fullness of God. C.S. Lewis described it like this then said, "that pain I would rather have more than anything in the world". The purpose of art is provide that glimpse into the glory of God. Not to use it as a tool, but rather that the creation of art itself provides that glimpse.

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The next art workshop, a sort of sequel to the first, was titled "The Power of Art to Open Our Eyes". The most vivid example of this was an explanation by a tour guide of a cathedral window. While John Hodges was in France, he went to the Chartres Cathedral, which is, like many cathedrals, shaped like a cross with the top pointing to the east. On the west side, the end of the cross, three doors form the opening with a structure of Jesus on a throne of judgement overhead so that when you enter the church, you are entering at the foot of the cross under the judgement seat of Christ. But another example of the power of art in that same Cathedral is a window with the story of the Good Samaritan painted in progression. The story starts at the bottom of the window showing the man travelling from Jerusalem to Jericho, being robbed, the priest and Levite passing by, the Samaritan stopping to bind his wounds then bringing him to the inn and promising to finish paying for his needs when he returns. But, oddly enough, the story stops in the middle of the window and seems to be finished. Where it leaves off, the story of Adam and Eve begins, showing the fall into sin and then at the very top is a picture of Christ. Well, you'd think that the artist just ran out of room and so decided to tell another story on the same window but there is a better explanation. Instead of thinking about the Samaritan story in light of the question, "who is my neighbor?" think of the entire context of that story in Luke where the first question is instead, "what must I do to be saved?" Jesus answered both questions when he told this story. The man travelled from Jerusalem, a city on high ground, to Jericho, a city very low and so travelled downhill. The man is every man travelling downhill in our fallen world where we fell among robbers and were beaten. We lay there and a priest, representing the sacrifice, could not save us. Neither could the Levite, representing the Law order, save us. Only a man despised by others would stop and bind our wounds and take us to an inn, the church, to recover. All this could just be a far stretch, but when the Samaritan left he said he would be coming again to pay off whatever else was needed. John Hodges and many others in the room had tears in their eyes telling and hearing this story. It was truly an example of how powerful art can be to teach us and to affect us.

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A few other favorites were titled "Living As An Image Bearer", and "Biblical Worlview In A World Adrift" both by Jeff Dryden and also a session by John Hodges explaining and translating Brahms' "A German Requiem".

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Again, this doesn't relate half of the inspiration I was filled with. So much of what was said either brought tears to my eyes or got me so excited I felt I would burst. All the sessions and workshops were recorded and I ordered quite a few to listen to again. If anyone is interested you can get them here. http://www.soundword.com/0rolco.html the General Sessions were a little longer than the workshops.

Great Sermons to Listen to

My family and I have been so blessed to listen to these sermons on Sex, Singleness, Marriage & Divorce. Part 3 should be available soon. While these are admittedly PG-13, we have let all of our children listen. It's great to hear the church speak out on these issues. Often she sits awkwardly by, allowing the majority of the sexual messages to come to our society through warped and corrupted sources. We have been pleasantly surprised to hear the truth preached unabashedly. We believe this is an issue where the church can not afford not to speak out. Please go and listen. You will be blessed!

What Is A Family - Notes and Quotes from ch.3

"The family should be the place where each new human being can have an early atmosphere conducive to the development of constructive creativity."

I was thinking about this quote this week when I was working on an article for a local homeschooling newsletter on organization of books and homeschooling materials. Organization really does play a big part in that atmosphere. If books and materials are kept within easy reach, they are more likely to be used and to be put away again so as not to leave the home overwhelmed with disorder and chaos.

"A clean and orderly house is a joy to everyone, yet there is a need to be sensitive to the greater importance of freedom to paint, mix clay, scatter pieces of cloth in cutting out a dress or a sail....The priorities mustn't get mixed up."

Balancing these two issues should be a concern for all homeschoolers. I remember a friend of mine who was always commenting about how inferior she felt to me because her house was not as neat as mine. I was often reminding her that I admired the atmosphere in her home where all kinds of fun and creative activities were going on. I was striving to let go of my neat obsession and gain the kind of home she had. I have had to make a conscious decision between trying to have a home that looks like a page out of magazine or a place where learning and "living" is encouraged. I just can not be happy in chaos but I think I've learned to handle temporary messes and know that they will be cleaned up. Having a place for everything has greatly helped.

Another issue raised in this chapter is encouraging/discouraging creativity with our reactions.

"Parent, aunts and uncles, grandparents, and sisters and brothers can squash, stamp out, ridicule, and demolish the first attempts at creativity, and continue this demolition long enough to cripple spontaneous outbursts of creation. These things can take place carelessly, and we might be astonished at what we have unconsciously spoiled."

"A mutual trust is built up in carefully listening to even the wildest and most impossible-sounding projects. If the response is always, 'Oh, that's impossible,' then the communication doesn't continue. A person, even a five year old, gets discouraged in setting forth anidea if it is immediately ruled out, and if the ideas continue, they will be taken to somebody else outside the family!"

Boy, this really hit home. Remember my husband's nick name, Mr. Potts? Well, he's named that after the father in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. You know, the one with all of the crazy inventions throughout his house. Well, that's who I'm married to. The safest response has always seemed to me to be first - NO WAY then take it into consideration second. My husband is exactly the opposite. He is always the encourager first. He really does practice this next quote.

"Discussion, constructive criticism, presentation of some thoughts on what has been done, cannot be given to anyone at the wrong moment. The right moment comes later."

Once I got my brother-in-law to test him. He purposely suggested to Mr. Potts the stupidest idea he could think of for some invention or solution to some problem just to see how far he would go to find something encouraging to say first. Apparently it was something so outlandish that it did cause Mr. Potts to stumble a bit but he still managed to not outright laugh or tell him how stupid it was.

And a final quote:

"What society needs more than anything else is a glimpse through a window into the family life of people who are becoming creative in amazingly diverse ways and who haven't time to be bored."

Lord, help us all to foster that spirit in our homes.

The Girls Are Back

We picked up Candace and Priscilla from the airport tonight and they are brimming over with things to talk about. They went to a L'Abri conference in Minnesota all by themselves. It was Candace's first time flying and it was the first time for both of them to travel independently. It was really fun sending them off on their own. They stayed at the hotel where the conference was so they didn't have to travel around town, which made me feel a lot better. After spending two full days listening to lectures they have a lot to share and they plan to spend some time blogging about it all over the next week...so stay tuned for more.

[Update: Candace had me add this picture that she took with her cell phone.]


I can not put into words all of the amazing and exciting things happening in our lives right now. Last night Priscilla and I were up (late again) talking about just seeing an occasional glimpse of some of the threads going into the tapestry of our lives and how utterly and completely overwhelming it is on our brains at times. So many threads right now, things we are reading, things we are hearing at church, new people in our lives, new activities even so many movies lately, all seem to have the trace of our Father's hand directing, guiding and preparing us. The world we are in seems so much bigger. As a family we are in environments where we have the opportunity to give so much but at the same time receive so much too. It's incredible to be a part of the Body of Christ, a functioning body (and I'm not just talking about our local church) where so many parts are operating and supplying. We are ever encouraged to trust in our Heavenly Father and to believe that He is the best one to order our lives. We have but to look to Him and rest in His care.

Eye-opening Modesty Information

We discovered this survey on modesty from Life in a Shoe. We barely had time today to skim over some of it before the girls rushed off to dance class but we read enough to know that we will be coming back for more.

Even the few general comments that we read were so encouraging to the girls. I know they have wondered if it really makes any difference what they do when the culture all around them is so much worse. To know that there are guys out there who do care about modesty and that they appreciate girls' efforts in this area meant a lot to them. They would like to know where those guys are because they don't think they know very many of them. I suggested to them that maybe there are a lot of guys who feel this way but since it's not a comfortable topic for them to discuss, maybe they just don't hear about it. We decided this survey was a wonderful way to avoid the awkwardness but still get the information across. There are things here in this survey that I'm sure many, many girls are unaware of. And where better to hear it from than straight from the horses mouth.

I've already been talking to my sons and nephews about ways they can inspire young girls to value themselves and expect boys to value them. My oldest son is already beginning to have girls flirt with him. I don't want the girls to just get brushed aside and assume he doesn't think they are good enough for him. I would like a way for him to encourage them to save it all for their own husbands with tactful remarks. I want him to make them think that maybe there is a better way and not just assume he is a snob. I'm not sure exactly how he can do this yet. But we'll be working on it and hopefully getting some ideas from the many honest young men who have responded to this survey.

A New Day Dawning

We officially joined our new church today. Everyone is very excited and loving it thoroughly. We thank God that our older children were raised in a fairly protective environment through their formative years. They have grown strong in many ways, passed through some difficult trials and I think are now ready to be in some positions of ministry. We are blessed to find a church where we feel so excited to serve the Lord and His people. Most of the girls are helping with the children's ministries already, Mr. Potts is learning the sound board, and Candace is planning to eventually minister to the middle school-aged kids. I am hoping to find a way to encourage young mothers.

We really didn't expect to find a place where we would agree with and love so much, especially a place so large it has four weekly services for you to choose from. You are encouraged to attend one of them and then spend the rest of your week with your family with one other time a week to meet with your smaller group, which gives you a chance to bond with and grow intimate with a smaller crowd. We come away each Sunday so excited. Even our 10 year old says he's going wherever our teaching pastor goes because he really enjoys hearing him speak. We love the plurality of elders, the casual but culture-impacting atmosphere, the feel of the body being a team, the great hard-hitting-no-compromise but truth-spoken-in-love and easy to follow messages. We love that there is no pressure to join or jump in but instead a we are here for you when you are ready attitude. It's awesome to find a church where they don't just talk about reaching the unchurched/unsaved but where you see the evidence of new believers all around you and many of these new believers are not just seat warmers, they are already actively participating. The leadership understands that people's spiritual lives are a process and are actually prepared to meet people where they are. They make you feel like they care, not that they are supposed to care because it's their job or that they are really trying to care, but that they honestly do care.

I'm sure I could go on and on. Yes, I know we are in the "honeymoon stage" with this new church. We know nowhere and no one is perfect and that relationships require a lot of work, forgiveness and understanding so we are prepared for that. We are all human and we all fall short, which we know all too well. But this is what I wanted to bear children for, for work in His Kingdom. And this is the place where God has given us to have as a home base to work from. And we are so thankful.

Rant and Rave

Hop on over to Melissa Wiley's blog and you'll find out that the publisher of her Little House Martha and Charlotte books are going to be republished in abridged versions. And then read this great post at Dewey's Treehouse.
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As if that is not bad enough, the publishers are planning on republishing Laura Ingalls Wilder's books with photo covers minus the illustrations by Garth Williams. I visited amazon in order to place my order for the rest of the old series in hardcovers so my collection will be complete. I can't have my future grandchildren reading Little House from the new books with the devoid-of-talent covers and NO illustrations. I only wish I had enough money to order seven sets, one for each of my children. Better yet, I'd like to buy out the publishing company and stop them from such nonsense.
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Here is the comparison. This one has a lovely cover, one that you can look at and appreciate the talent that went into it's creation. Maybe I'm partial since I have a house full of artists and a children's book illustrator. I can see this cover inspiring budding artists to try their own hand at a scene like this. But please, Little House without Garth Williams or at least some talented illustrator? What is the world coming to?

When I saw this new cover, I wanted to throw my shoe at it. It's sad to think that the Little House books need to be made over in order to appeal to modern children. It's sad to think they might prefer Goosebumps or The Babysitters Club.

Isn't there some rule that you can't be grown up without reading these? Well, probably not. We are too busy making really stupid laws like the ones Granny talks about here and here. Maybe if we would not rob our children of good traditions and the love of beauty and dumb them down at the same time, they would grow up to actually care about their children's education and not have to be forced to go through the motions of looking like they care or face being prosecuted by the law. Maybe they would really want to have a hand in the raising of their own children. Maybe they would actually READ them good books and show them beautiful pictures and have them listen to beautiful music. And maybe spending that time building those relationships and teaching them about the Beauty that their Maker intended them to experience would prevent them from settling for trash and needing mandatory vaccinations against sexually transmitted diseases.

I Will Listen

This is a beautiful song by Twila Paris that relates to me in so many ways right now. I was listening to the CD (titled "Where I Stand") in my room the other day and when this song came on, I was filled with peace from the Lord and I felt as if she could have written this song just for me. Sometimes, it's so hard to choose the narrow road of listening to God's voice above everything else, but I know that His reward comes at the end. I am learning to trust Him to take care of all my dreams and striving to want His dreams for me more than anything else.

This song is so much better to actually hear but these are the lyrics. (There are many other songs on this CD that have been an encouragment to me.)

I Will Listen

Hard as it seems
Standing in dreams
Where is the dreamer now
Wonder if I
Wanted to try
Would I remember how

I don't know the way to go from here
But I know I have made my choice
And this is where I stand
Until He moves me on
And I will listen to His voice

This is the faith
Patience to wait
When there is nothing clear
Nothing to see
Still we believe
Jesus is very near

I can not imagine what will come
But I've already made my choice
And this is where I stand
Until He moves me on
And I will listen to His voice

Could it be that He is only waiting there to see
If I will learn to love the dreams
that He has dreamed for me

Can't imagine what the future holds
But I've already made my choice
And this is where I stand
Until He moves me on
And I will listen to His voice

Southern Kids Enjoying the Snow

Early this morning we received what I consider to be a pathetic amount of snow. But then, I grew up in Michigan. My kids, however, rarely get to play in it unless we drive about an hour and a half to the mountains. So this was a treat today, to wake up and see snow in their own yard. All of our sleds are over the hill at Mr. Potts' shop so, being the creative children they are, they improvised and sled down the hill in the canoe.