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Things are finally slowing down here, so I have the chance again to work through my notes taken during the bible conference on the Gospel of Mark. I thought I would share what I was pondering on today;

"And immediately He compelled His disciples to step into the boat and go before to the other side, toward Bethsaida, while He sent the crowd away. And after He said farewell to them, He went away to the mountain to pray. And when evening fell, the boat was in the midst of the sea and He was alone on the land. And seeing them distressed as they rowed, for the wind was contrary to them, He came toward them...walking on the sea..but when they saw Him..they cried out, For they saw Him and were startled. But immediately He spoke with them and said to them, Take courage. It is I. Do not be afraid. And He went up unto them into the boat, and the wind ceased."
Mark 6:45-50

Here are the notes on this from the conference...

"Mark 6:45-52 reveals that we need to seek out the journey, the course, that the Lord has ordained for us according to His perfect will and to enjoy Him as our heavenly Minister and Hight Priest, the One who is interceding for us and sustaining us to finish our course in living a heavenly life on earth for the reality of the Body of Christ-Heb.8:1-2, 7:26, Acts 20:24; 2 Tim.4:7-8:
...we need to realize that the journey of faithful believers is one that is "contrary to the wind", and they experience being "distressed" as they "row"; we need to take the Lord into our "boat"..and enjoy peace with Him on the journey of human life-Mark 6:47-51; John 6:21"

this message really outlines God's grace and mercy towards us as we take whatever journey He has ordained for us to further His will.

"You therefore, my child, be empowered in the grace which is in Christ Jesus;.." 2 Timothy 2:1

This picture of "stepping into the boat"is a result of our love and relationship with the Lord compelling us to step into the boat. This stepping can be a decisive thing, a step beyond our comfort, a step that stretches us and challenges us. A step that sometimes plain and simple goes against our soulishness, our love of self, comfort, things and situations that please us.

How sweet that once we are compelled by Him to step into the boat, finding ourselves in a long night in the midst of the sea, that He will come to us, get into the boat with us, and extend His peace to us on this journey.

I know that I often find myself being called out to step into the boat, and I panic, question, become afraid...sometimes wish to go back to what was comfortable. His peace really does pass understanding and I have always found that I have gained much more than I lost in undertaking the journey with Him.

Philippians 4:7 "and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."
Isaiah 26:3 "You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on you, Because he trusts in You."

*Music has always been a big backdrop to my life, this song really touched me at a time in my life when I was struggling with stepping into the boat, the boat of running after Christ for a closer/more constraining relationship with Him. I had the feeling that the family I love just didn't understand...
anyways, here is the song if you would like to hear it. Enjoy.

Well, I really don't have anything profound to post on today. Frankly, today finds me trying to play catch up with things, homeschool-wise, and I just haven't had much time to think deep thoughts. We homeschool through a charter school, Friday was our meeting day to look over our progress for the month. I am not your most organized person, at all! -But this month was particularly ugly, after all the upset of guests during the winter training, and Sky's dad dying. Somehow I managed to pull our papers and books together for Friday, but I still had to put it all into some-kind of readable format this weekend and send it in. Whew, as of tonight, that is done! Now, I am left with a pile of papers, workbooks, and library books scattered. It really mirrors the state of my brain right now. Note to self, be more organized! yeah, yeah...blah, blah.. "I'm not listening!"

So, here is a random picture of us today:

Ran to the store cause we were out of a lot. Came home and couldn't fit anything into the freezer. I decided then and there to clean it out. Oh, my sainted aunts!! I am embarrassed to say that I had an entire kitchen bag full of tired, old, who-knows-how-long-that-was-in-there meat and veggies. But, wow-there is so much room in my freezer now! I can actually see what we have! Happy thought!!

Sky and the kids spent the afternoon in the backyard working on the garden. The new, bigger, improved garden plot, thank-you-very-much. Sky enlarged the plot, worked in the compost he has been cooking on this year, and installed bird netting all around it. The hens were seriously displeased.

we had a power outage today, and the funniest sight of the week was seeing Sky, all four kids, the cat, the guinea pigs (out for a cage cleaning) and the hens all scatter for cover when the sprinklers all went on.

I made BLT's for the kids for dinner, because I felt guilty that we were leaving them at home while hubby and I went to P.F. Chang's china bistro for dinner. I don't know why I have this guilt, growing up I seldom went places, didin't expect too, didn't think much of it. So, they got BLT's which they all love...rounded it out with brocolli and cherry tomatoes. And a vitamin. I am all about nutrition.

P.F. Chang's was awesome, we shared won-ton soup and orange-peel beef. The beef was on the spicy side, but oh so good. We have to get the beef, because we are in agreement about not spoiling the orange peel chicken we get at trader joes. Don't want to have a good thing pale by comparison.

We went to Barnes and Nobles afterward, hubby looked at, what-else?, gardening books and I did some heavy, serious reading through magazines. And a chai latte, good stuff!

Perused through Martha Stewart's magazine, I think she has finally lost it folks...first article was all about cutting out and assembling your own valentine's chocolate box. I mean, come on...who is going to sit down and do that?? Truly, it didn't stop with making your own truffles...harvesting and grinding your own cocoa beans, finding the exotic madagascar vanilla to blend it with, dusting them with freshly hand ground powdered sugar and then wrapping them in your own homemade eucalyptus paper-mulch tissue paper...but she had to hand cut and assemble the box too. It's just too, too much...KWIM??

I came home, read a story to my two little ones, and then spent the rest of the night typing up our learning record. I am so glad that is done! Done, done!

A window into my day.
How was yours?

converstation my husband heard today in our backyard between neighbor boy and Meg age 11,

"So, do you watch M tv?" asks the boy,

my favorite part...Meg says "what's Mtv?"
high fives all around...

A few years ago, we were reading through the Little House books with my two eldest girls.
I thought I would share a fun project we did with the book.

One of the chapters described maple sugaring time, so one morning I made up a batch of blueberry pancakes and we did a little taste test. I put out several different types of syrup, all the imitation variety-and a bottle of real maple syrup. The kids made a bar graph and we tracked the preferences of everyone over that day. We were actually doing the little house books with another family that year, so that mom and her 4 kids were over for this.
I was very much surprised that all of the children, but one preferred the imitation syrup to the real thing. I guess it made sense, they had all been brought up using imitation and to them, that was what syrup was supposed to taste like.

For science, we also traced drawings of maple leaves and studied the purpose of sap in a tree. For anyone out there in areas where maple trees used for syrup are, you could go out and identify the trees.

Another fun project with this unit study would be the maple candy on snow recipe I mentioned in another post,-Wondertime magazine had a recipe for those of us lacking snow.

To wrap it up, find a poem about syrup time, or maple trees and have the children use it for copywork.
For geography, look on your bottle of real maple syrup and see where it was made, then look up the state on a map. Research which areas produce maple syrup and color those areas on a map.

Antique mommy is on a roll, some seriously funny mommy blogging going on over there. She is re-visiting her topic of "The poo-poo driven life". As I laughed along, I seriously began to reconsider my longings for another baby. I really hated potty training. And the blow-outs. And the mandatory extortion of a significant portion of our income to the huggies people. And, that shout was my best friend.

Well, today I dropped my two oldest off for a science class at our charter school's learning center. I stood in the middle of that classroom and realized that next year, my baby could take classes too.
And I could go to a yoga class. Or to the bagel shop. Or go home and sleep.
Just a thought.

back to my original line of thinking,...go over and visit Antique mommy for a good laugh.
You will be glad you did.

This was too amusing to pass up, found this over at Lindsey's blog and had to share.

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Countess-Palatine Jennifer the Edible of Chortling Chesterton Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

or how about this one?

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Her Most Serene Highness Lady Jenny the Ebullient of Brompton Underfoot Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

file under internet time-killers

Or we could also title this: Movie review, but not as imaginative, I think.

I am probably the last woman breathing that hasn't seen "Must love dogs", (just to scandalize y'all some more..I haven't seen the new Pride and Prejudice movie, either). Just to paint the picture for you, we don't watch t.v., maybe go to a movie once a year, and watch a dvd maybe once a month or less. We have netflix, which I love having, but mostly we rent things for the kids. Seriously, we just don't have time to sit down and watch anything. And, more importantly, we feel that much of the movie offerings fail the test of whatever is lovely, true, of a good report...It's just stuff we don't need to be wasting our time on. When we do rent something for ourselves, it is usually Peroit (Agatha Christy) or Monk or something British. And then we watch some favorites over and over, like the long version of Pride and Prejudice, or old black and white movies.

Last week we rented a movie, a romantic comedy- we like those. I am not going to name the movie, lest I invoke dangerous flashbacks for you, such as I endured...in church. It had several actors we enjoy like Hugh Grant and Emma Thompson, (and Mr. Bean!) but had a raunchy story line weaved through it, and oh my sainted aunts!! The next day we are sitting in church and the stupid movie was bouncing around in my head. We should have turned it off, but we felt invested in the story already, so we didn't. That experience made me wonder if we just need to give up on the hope of seeing anything worthwhile ever again from hollywood. Scratch that, we have given up, but once in a while we find something worth while.

So, ahem...where was I? Oh , yes, "Must love dogs". We decided to give the movie thing one more shot, and I have to say that I really enjoyed this movie. I think it might be a first for me, in liking the movie more than I liked the book. It was funny, had a big family culture-which you don't see often in movies, but we could totally relate. I loved that the family was into everyone's business (that happens in a big family, you know) but that their love for each other dominated.
It was funny, I think that is the best I can say about it, and it had a "Jenny ending" as my husband calls it. It was rated R, and had some adult situations, but didn't show the requisite un-needed bedroom scenes. If you haven't seen this yet, it is worth a rental.

Next review: Redwall. This is for the kids, I picked this up because we were over at the in-laws alot, and the kids were kind of running wild. We have 23 cousins running around, it can get alittle lawless. We are picky about what we rent for the kids, the usual back-talking, bickering, smart-alec kids in movies really turn me off. so does the crass humor, jokes about body functions and the obligatory kick in the crotch jokes. As a result, we don't see very many kids movies.

Redwall is annimated, and it seems to have been a series somewhere. Again, don't watch t.v. so I am out of the loop there. It is a medieval setting, and the characters are all animals, but mostly mice. Redwall is an abbey where the main characters live. The beginning of each episode begins with a tapestry that tells the history of the abbey. It has action, swords, villians and interesting characters. We have purchases season one so far, and will go on to get season two, the kids are really enjoying it. It's cute, has mice, and won't drive you batty.

I guess my blog is an official fact of life in our household now, my husband's admonishment that I couldn't share his worm food recipe in my blog confirmed it in my mind...

yes, my husband has a worm farm. And yes, he has a secret recipe he feeds them that he was enthusiastically crowing about to me. "They love, love, love it.."so he says.
And no, the hens don't know about the worms. They are in a secret location, somewhere in the United States with Cheney. Actually, they are in the garage. With the secret food. And hubby made sure to tell me I could not share the recipe. So I won't. Sorry.

This evening, we were listening to piano music with dinner. After one piece, Rand (age 7) says to me, "Mommy, this song makes me think about my little chicken and how I miss her and how Elsie misses her and how they used to be always together." I looked at hubby and told him, "you do realize we are raising a poet, don't you?" Hubby replied "That's fine, as long as he doesn't play with the other poets". My apologies to any poets out there reading my blog. Along with apologies to anyone looking for a good worm food recipe. It's not here, sorry.

And, I wanted to remind any homeschool moms or teachers, that Barnes & Nobles is having their educators week right now. This very minute. And, I went there tonight and bought a few items. The Thirteenth tale, which was given a high recommend by At a Hen's pace, and the DK Ultimate Peter Rabbit guide, which was recommended by another blog, (sorry, I can't remember who- I will link if I find it) and a workbook, and a dvd series the kids have been into..I will have to do a review on that soon. I went, saw, bought and conquered. I love a good sale!

I find that I am thinking much about God's grace, and of God's opinion of me vs. man's opinion of me. I know I can think back to situations and dealings in my life where I wish I would have handled things better, frankly in a more godly, loving way. I cannot go back and magically alter my responses-but I can walk forward in God's grace and in newness of life. It is a sobering thought to know that beyond how my fellow man may judge me, that God knows the motives of my heart.
Funny, how despite my often state of wretchedness, that God could say this:

"Indeed I have loved you with an eternal love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you."
Jeremiah 31:3

It seems that death often causes us to halt in the midst of the busy-ness of life, I find this is true in our household, and the breakaway from our normal routine had given me much time to think and consider.

This hymn is a constant companion for me, particularly these words...

I've been a little scarce lately in blog-land. Things have been topsy-turvey since my father-in-law died. We are preparing for his memorial on Monday. I am helping a brother-in-law put together a movie to show at the memorial, and this week has been busy with hunting up and scanning old photos, and watching old home videos, waiting to get back old slides from processing. I have been watching old videos and taping parts of them for our movie...it has made me very sad and has been hard to get through. Most of the videos were made around the time I first met my husband, I remember us all the way we were back then. I don't know why it makes me sad, but it has. The house is a wreck, laundry behind, homeschooling has become patchy. I am looking forward to getting through Monday and back to some kind of routine.

I'll be back soon,

5 minutes for mom is hosting The ultimate blog party. I am kind of new to this whole blogging thing, so I have never been to one. I am intrigued and a little excited, meeting new people is always fun. Mingling and prizes are on the agenda, looks like we've got some time to plan before the actual party day, let's see what kind of creativity blogdom can turn out! Go on over to
5 minutes for mom for details, put up your own button and invite some friends. See you there!

Homeschooling is very much a lifestyle and as such, it brings along it's own set of dynamics and problems. I know you've noticed the worn down Land's end mocs I have been wearing for the last 3 years (by golly they are soo comfortable!), the laundry that sits endlessly on my couch-never quite folded and put away, and yes I squirm when we have company and I suddenly notice the state of my cupboards, the dust on the shelves, the state of my kid's closets...whatever- you get the picture, I'm sure.
Or this gem, yes, little Demi does not know his address...and yes, he probably should...but I was thinking so hard about teaching him to read and such that I forgot. I know, at age 5 I knew my address, and yes his cousins all know theirs. He does however, know how to say amen and praise the Lord in Russian, Chinese and spanish, knows alot about dinosaurs and emperor penguins, can locate Russia, Holland, the US, several states and continents on the world map and knows alot about composting. When he goes to an amusement park, I write our address on his arm in permanent pen and call it a day.

I loved this post over at Preschoolers and Peace titled "What non-Homeschoolers may not know", she covered it all beautifully. Kendra's website has been around for several years, lots of good tips for keeping the little ones busy. Go on over and enjoy.

I was nodding my head over #6- I have a relative that used to take my two oldest out for the day to do interesting things and then would comment over all I must have accomplished while I had my "break". Um, you left me with the baby and toddler and took the two who actually 'help' me with anything...what break? I need a break from my break now.

go on over and visit!

Labels: homeschool

Boo Mama is hosting a fund-raiser for Kelli, go here to see what it is all about. The donation amount is very small, is thru paypal and will help Kelli, who desperately needs a kidney transplant, pay for cobra insurance. Blogdom can be such a sweet place!

update!!
as of Wednesday, January 17th, the amount raised was somewhere around $8,799.00 ! What a lot of love going Kelli's way! Kelli posted a response on her blog, go here to read it. Please be praying now that she gets a transplant.

Today is my birthday, and so far I am celebrating with a bagel breakfast sandwich from the bagel shop, a diet coke, and a quiet house. Things are pretty much going my way! We are planning on ending the day with dinner out with some friends. It's sad, but the splurges I look forward to all involve food. Not sure what to do with the middle of my day, I am torn between the choices of
a) go to a yoga class b) stay home and do laundry and work on video clips for memorial service c) waste time in my un-ability to make a decision and putter around the house or or course
d) go to a favorite restuarant for lunch (there's the food thing again! )-and take along some good ficiton and read and eat...what could get more blissful?!

thought I would leave you with some Zen Hen wisdom...

Because I am so up-to-date on everything, or not...I just discovered that Sheryl declared January 8-12 the official week of De-lurking. So, enjoy the cute button...and comment. I know you are there...hello?

Barb posted on this and put me in the know. We are all about sharing the knowledge. (and it's late and I have nothing to blog about...)

Next in cutting-edge news: I finally moved to new blogger. Because, as Barb pointed out; we don't want to be known as an old blooger. I have to confess that I was dragging my feet only because

a) I am a procrastinator by nature (hubby says I work best under pressure, bless his heart for finding a positive in that somewhere!)

b)I was afraid of losing my blog, or at least losing my sitemeter or photobucket feed and techno-challenged that I am..I would not be able to fix it.

So, I badgered (uh,sweetly queried) husband to copy my template into a word document for safe keeping, tho what I would do with it after my blog crashed is questionable...probably beg Susie at bluebird blogs to help me!
And then we clicked the magic "switch now" button that has been beckoning for months now, the siren song of "new" blogger-strategically placed right where you might accidently click it.
Then I held my breath as the bloger wheel spun round and round...
then, congratulations! It's a blog! And it is all there, every bit!

I do feel silly that I put that off so long, it really was no big deal.

These days I am spending alot of time sitting with my dear father-in-law. During the day he is in and out, so we just sit to be with him, to hold his hand, to get him something...to let him know he is not alone. I find myself reading alot more of my bible these days, and sometimes just sitting with my hymn book singing along in my mind. Here is one that has meant alot to me lately...

I first saw a 101 in 1001 list on Lindsey's blog . I really liked the idea and so when Susie designed my blog, I had her place a box on my sidebar so I could do a list too.
Check it out, towards the bottom...you will notice that all it says is "place link here". I know, I know, gotta get mine done! Maybe that should be my first item on the list, -do a 101 in 1001 list.
I really am itching to do my list, things are just really crazy here right now. Actually things are always a little crazy here! In the fall I was trying to get into a groove with homeschooling, so I told myself I would do one before the Christmas season started, then that got all crazy and we had guests...I told myself I would do one for the new year, but that got all crazy too. I am still riding a crest of craziness.

The list is really a nice idea, I like that the time frame is long enough to be doable, but not so vague that you could just forget about it.

Let me know if you start a list, I would love to see it.

Sugar on Snow- my Wondertime Feb/March issue arrived this week, and several articles tickled my fancy. I remember reading The Little House books as a child, and how her detailed descriptions made me feel like I could get right out there in the wilderness or prairie and smoke that hog/churn that butter/maple those trees...you get the picture. One such description I always wanted to try was the maple- syrup- on- snow candy she wrote about. Alas, I live in So. California and have no snow-and so have never had the fun of trying this. An 'aha' moment for me was the article in Wondertime, page 62 "Life with little ones" feature. Given is a recipe that is easy to do and suggestions for the "snow", for those of us lacking that essential ingredient.

Great indoor forts- page 75 was also good. I have four kids 11 and under, you do the math on how many forts and fort/sheet variations I have endured. This article test-drove some creations and shared some very innovative ideas. Foam noodles to support sheets- happy thought!! It seems so obvious to me now, looking at the photos..we have endured many a bonked head from books and other heavy items, used to secure sheets, falling.

This issure was really a good one, "Adopting Helen", by Melissa Fay Greene page 66 was very sweet, the photos just spellbinding.

go on over and take a look, or better yet go get the issue and take it to your favorite hiding- from- the- kids- spot, like I do.

Part of my fall reading challenge was this book, Blessed are the Cheesemakers by Sarah-Kate Lynch. This book made my list because it had a good review in the Chinaberry catalog and because it takes place in Ireland. After our trip to Ireland this past fall, I am in love with all things Irish, so of course I had to read this.

I really admired the talent of this writer, she weaved several seemingly unconnected stories and introduced several different characters in such a congruent fashion. I stood amazed by the writer's ability to bring these very different people together into a magical cheesemaking destiny of sorts.

The story and people in it were quirky but endearing; we are introduced to Corrie and Fee-eccentric old cheesemakers desperately trying to find a cheesmaker to take over the business (they are Irish of course, and a hoot), Abbey-Corrie's grand-daughter, dreaming of cheese on a remote Island; what she is doing there could have been it's own novel...Kit in New York, suddenly an alcholic wash-out after his wife overdosed on drugs, and finally Lucy, music student at Trinity College/now pregnant run-away, who answers a help wanted ad at the cheesefarm.

Sit back and marvel as the author brings all these lives together with a sprinkle of cheese magic.
The telling of this story was so delicious, I found myself reading portions of it outloud to my husband because it was so quirky and funny that I had to share.

The situation Abbey finds herself in is introduced in a hilarious sort of telling, it is too long to quote here, but I read it outloud to hubby, it was that funny. In a nutshell: she ends up on a small remote Island with her new husband who has dreams of doing great things for people in underpriviledged countries. Problem is, after they arrive, the Island people suddenly fall into a windfall and have the savviness to shrewdly manage this new wealth and create trust funds for every villager on the Island. Abbey's husband continues to stubbornly build irrigation canals and a sustainable farming area (by hand), despite the fact that all the villagers now have satellite tv, evian water and cook imported fish sticks in their microwave ovens.

Lucy is a pregnant college student on her own, answering a job advertisement ad for which she perfectly fits all the criteria: "Must have short nails, a good singing voice and enjoy a strict vegetarian diet". She has landed, of course, at the cheesefarm. "We need girls who can hold a tune and who don't eat meat to hand-milk the cows." "The milk, Corrie said, was sweeter that way." Lucy joins 4 other girls on the farm, all desperately needing a place to belong, and all pregnant.

Of course, destiny brings all of these characters together at the cheesefarm, where love, quirkiness, a little craziness, and of course magic reign.

Here is a sample of why I loved this book: "Kit stood next to Avis, refusing to believe what he saw. The morning air in the dairy was thick with the smell of effluent and milk and the sound of raindrops on rosebuds and whiskers on kittens. The Pregnasaurs were milking in time to the soundtrack of The Sound of Music and for a moment Kit thought the cows were actually dancing. On close inspection, they proved to be merely shuffling, but he couldn't be 100 percent sure that it wasn't in time to the beat."

All of this storytelling wraps around a love story, of course. The author also manages several twist and turns that truly left me guessing. I loved reading this book, I loved the characters and I wished for it to not end. The ending by the way, was beautiful. I sobbed through the ending, but it was a poignant, beautiful scene that just made the book so much more wonderful and real than I had thought it was. I cried while smiling as I read the end. I really did not expect to find such a gem of a story. This book should be rated 'R', some language and adult situations, and the beginning with Kit is kind of heartbreaking-just wanted to warn you. I will definitely read this book again soon, and I wish the cheesefarm and the people on it were real, I would love to go visit them. And I know, I will never experience cheese in quite the same way again.

Labels: book review

Laurel Wreath is hosting a new year's meditation event. Go here to see other blogs who are participating.

This was rather a hard post for me, as you can see I have put it off till the last day. Laurel was looking for something deeper than resolutions.

I think for the year 2007 the two things I want to focus on in becoming are abiding more in Christ, and showing or telling those I care for-in a tangible way-how much I love them and how much they mean to me.

This road we are traveling right now with my father in law has made me really think about love, and the things that are unsaid, and the things that need to be said. We have been so fortunate to have these last days with him to spend time with him, to love and care for him, and most important for many of us was time alone with him to open our hearts to him and say the things we felt, but-for me-didn't verbalize much. I have had to think about what it would have been like to have been robbed of this time, what regrets I would have had.

This year I desire to love much and to make sure I share that love in words and deeds.

"Abide in Me, and I in you." John 15:4

This year I would like to focus on abiding in Christ. My understanding at this point, is that abiding in Christ is more than 'walking with Christ' or 'being with Christ', 'following Christ' or even 'dwelling with Christ'. John 14:23 says "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make an abode with him." If we are walking with the Lord, than we are with Him. If we are with Him then we dwell with Him, if we dwell with Him, we live with Him, and if we live with Him we abide in Him.

I would like to be aware throughout my day, that I abide in Christ, and He in me...from sunrise to sunset, to the big and little things, in my conversations, in my dealings inside and outside of my home, I would like to desire for all my living, all my actions, all my expression to be abiding in Christ.

A tall order for this soulish vessel, I know. In tangible ways, I will seek this abiding through more prayer, more time spent reading the Bible, through praise and thanksgiving and through simply being still and knowing that He is God (and that I am not..)

I think this all goes hand in hand with the thought of dying to self, to live is Christ...

So, these are my two major goals for 2007, beyond the usual eat better, have more fun with the kids, be more organized.

May 2007 be a blessed year for you, and one in which we are all growing into God's fullness.

Your Bumper Sticker Should Be

Give me ambiguity - or give me something else

I saw this on Raggedy's blog, just too much fun! Go on over and find out what bumper sticker should be on your car...

Cyndi over at mater magistra posted her thoughts on a book titled "Lies homeschool moms believe". I thought her post was very thoughtful and highlighted a problem all homeschool moms struggle with-for that matter all parents struggle with this at some point. Cyndi very accurately pointed out the prideful, smug feeling that overtakes us when our wonderful progeny are doing something stage worthy while the other mom's kid is banging his head on the floor or something. I am sure we have all been there at some point, not too proud to look back on!

As homeschoolers, our struggle with this, and the opposite problem of feeling like we don't measure up somehow to other homeschool families,-is a way too familiar struggle. Our family life is an organic life, it grows and changes. I actually do have some friends I do not get together with anymore because I no longer require "yes mom" answers from my kids. Tho the problem with that is more the friends, not my feelings of not measuring up...I would rather not deal with any disapproving/judgemental looks. I have more important things to worry about, and not enough energy to deal with feeling bad over it! But it is kind of sad, the fellowship we miss out on because of divisions, misunderstandings, lack of grace like this.

I would encourage you to go on over to Cyndi's blog and read her post here. And leave a note that you stopped by.

Here is a picture from our bible conference week: pictured are full-time trainee (bible college student)Lisa from Texas, Louise from Ca, me, and Jill from Texas. We are at Starbucks, where we nursed and encouraged a very sad latte addiction.

Each day the conference begins at 4pm, you have to be in your seat at that time. We get our dinner break from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Almost everyone will bring their own dinner, or you can buy one there...the dinner break is really a perfect time span to eat your dinner, look for and visit friends from out of state or out of the country, maybe visit the bookstore and use the facilities.

Somehow...how do these things really get started? Somehow, we began a tradition, these girlfriends and I, of jumping into my van and running down to starbucks, eating our dinner there and bringing back something good, warm, and full of caffeine. I do not drink coffee, usually at starbucks I will get a chai latte-but this week my indulgance of choice was a maple machiatto. Oh, sweet-heavenly yum! Long meeting? Not a problem here my friends! I was buzzing in my seat!

The last day of conference, the meetings each evening had gotten progressively longer and over-time, so at dinner they announced they were cutting dinner hour to end at 7pm so as to be able to cover everything they wanted to share with us. Now, we barely fit our nightly caffeine run comfortably into the dinner break-so after shaving off a half-hour...did we give up our starbuck's run? That would be a no. A sorry, pathetic, latte-addicted -no. We raced over, got our cup of comfort and went back. Made it to our seats barely in time. And had to eat our lunches there while everyone sang.
But, it was so worth it.

Katrina at Callipidder days hosted the fall into reading book challenge. Well, time is up- and how did we all do? Go here to see links to participants and see how they did. My original post is here.
My thoughts on my challenge journey;

My non-fiction list:

Imitation of Christ- Thomas A Kempis
Life Study of Romans- Witness Lee
Circle of Quiet-Madeleine L'Engle
How the Irish saved civilization-Thomas Cahill

The two books on my list I did not finish were The imitation of Christ, and The life study of Romans. Both I have started and I am about 1/4 through. I should have known better about the life study, the last one I read on the Gospel of Matthew took me a year to read. I really was hoping that by putting the Life Study on my challenge, I would be motivated to finish it in a respectable amount of time. I am thinking this one will take me about a year also. The a'Kempis book is actually very thin, and I think I will finish it this month. I am enoying it very much. My motivation for reading it was the frequent mentioning of it being read by Katherine's mother in "Stepping Heavenward" which is one of my favorite books, a yearly re-read. I would very much like to grow to be like the mother in this book, so I thought I would give "pokey" a'Kempis a try. (gotta read Stepping Heavenward" to get the pokey reference!...)
*Circle of quiet was awesome! I marked my book all up, she is very quotable.

My fiction list:

The Bretheren-Beverly Lewis
Blessed are the Cheesemakers-Sarah-Kate Lynch
Eating Heaven-Jennie Shortridge
Miss Julia speaks her mind-Anne Ross
Fairest-Gail Carson Levine

I am a very fast reader, unfortunatley I discovered that I am a fast fiction reader. Not exactly the distinction I would have liked...

I finished everything on my fiction list except the book recommended by At a hen's pace, and that was only because I failed to put it on hold at the library in time...I am sure I will blaze thru it when I get my hands on it. I read everything on my fiction list, and even many fiction books not on my list...4 or 5 Grace Livingston Hill books, because I was in the mood...( I am a sucker for a happy ending and good food) the first book in the "Fitzwilliam Darcy Gentleman" series by Pamela Aidan -very good, I might add. Jane Austin fans will like it, I think. And one or two books I pre-read before allowing my girls to read...can't remember what they were.

Read aloud with my girls:

Peter Pan-James Barrie
Tales from Shakespeare-Lamb
Laddie-Gene Stratton Porter
Ida B-Hannigan

finished everything except Lamb's Shakespeare, and Laddie- I was just attempting too much, reading aloud is very time consuming... We just started Laddie, which is a favorite of mine, I have been waiting to share that with them. Peter Pan was wonderful, it just took me a while to read through it.

Read aloud to the younger kids:

When we are six, When we were very young-A.A. Milne
Burgess Animal book

finished one of the Milne poetry books, and didn't get to Burgess animal book at all. That will go on my next list. I did read Beatrix Potter's collection, thinking it was on my list...but it wasn't! I did read alot of library books to them not on my list, so I do not feel that I failed in this area.

the bonus books:

well, I was just too ambitious there! They will go on a list for next time.

Katrina asked if we read more because of the challenge. I would say yes, as far as non-fictions and read alouds to my kids. fiction-wise, no...I read alot of fiction. I do think the challenge helped me to balance out this inequality in my reading diet. I am now more aware of my, ahem...fiction problem. Did I tackle books I wouldn't have?. Yes, in a way. The books I read were all books that had caught my eye, and I had meant to read...It just would have taken me years to get around to it I think.
So, the challenge was a good thing for me, inspiring me to get up and go with my reading.

The best book of my challenge was a surprise to me, the best book, and now one of my all time favorites was "Blessed are the cheesemakers". I will be doing a book review when I have more time.
"How the Irish saved civilization" was also a very good read, and I really learned much about history from the reading.

The book challenge was a good undertaking for me, I look forward to Katrina's next challenge.

Thank you, blog friends for your prayers this week. Saturday it was determined that my father-in-law's kidney was failing, and he was offered dialysis. He has refused, and we brought him home yesterday to live out his final days. I know that the prayers of the saints are sweet to God, and already we have been poured out such a measure of grace.

I already have so many sweet, loving memories of this week-it has been such a whirl-wind week for us, with the bible conference and hosting our guests from abroad, and trying to spend as much time as we can at the hospital with Sky's dad.

The bible conference ended very late Saturday night. For us, the week for conference always feels like a race, this week was so incredibly magnified in responsibilities, but the grace given met the need in a way we have not experienced before. I am still amazed that we have made it through. I have lots of funny stories to tell about the week...I will be posting more later. Our last two guests from Moscow leave early tomorrow morning. I have to tell you all the story of me taking 5 Russians shopping, we were all over orange county. It got to the point of me begging God to make sure costco was closed, I couldn't go on...and I didn't think I could fit the costco sized peanut butter into my van, something about Russians and peanut butter...

oh, and the fall book challenge, I have to post on that- kind of late, I know...that is coming up too.

Blessings to you, everyone and happy new year!