1. God gave me another day on earth with my family and friends, good health, home, work, food, sunshine, and lovely fall weather.
2. Cards, calls, and facebook messages wishing my a happy day. I love an excuse to catch up with people and touch base.
3. First Day of Homeschool Co-op this year, and my first time teaching a class in over a year (I was permanent substitute last year)... and I got told by many students that my class was their favorite!
4. Cute new skirt from the thrift store (that my son told me I should buy for myself) and cool picture my son took of me.
5. Date with my hubby to Planet Sub (which has special newlywed significance, from when we lived near Lawrence, KS and the Yellow Submarine sub shop) and to see the movie, Courageous... which made me laugh so hard my sides hurt, and cry a whole bunch, and pray, too.
6. A wonderful young lady to stay with the kids while we went out.
7. Sweet hubby driving to another town to get the Bordeaux Cherry Chocolate Frozen Yogurt I wanted.
8. Enjoying the frozen yogurt shake I made at home.
9. Safely home.
If only I had a cape, I think I'd look like a superhero. :)
My sweet daughter drew this flower and I asked her if I could put it on my blog. She loves art and has always had her own style... which usually includes multi-color. I remember her co-op teachers would get upset with her when she was younger (and her with them) because they wanted her to color a country a certain color and she wanted everything she colored to be multi-colored. I love the things she draws and colors. They make me smile. :)
There is a great new family movie: Dolphin Tale coming out. One of the consultants on the movie is the son of Sally Clarkson, homeschool speaker, author, and pretty cool lady. The two child stars are homeschooled, I know that is fairly common these days among child actors, but I will say that the girl is one of the exceptions to your average Hollywood child stars from the interview I saw of her where shares about your calling from God and her passion for God (she even shares about her typical day... including chores!). I don't know about the boy. I haven't seen an interview with him.
The dolphin story is based on a true story, from the movie makers of Blind Side (also based on an inspirational true story). In the movie the homeschooled star, plays a homeschooled girl! Ellie saw the trailer at a movie she saw with a friend this summer. She said she really wanted to see Dolphin Tale, and I really want to take the kids! The movie is about a dolphin who is found by a boy wrapped up in litter and hurt. The dolphin loses his back fin/flipper and the boy makes helping the dolphin want to live and be able to swim again his mission. I foresee the need for a box of tissues. I also imagine there will be some cheering going on.
There is a giveaway going on at Sally Clarkson's blog. She and her hubby are giving away four Dophin Tale packages with t-shirts, beach balls, posters, stickers, and more.
There is free curriculum to go along with the movie and also a call to homeschoolers to flood the theaters on opening day, September 23rd from the Homeschool Movie Club... along with free curriculum from other family friendly movies like Kit Kittredge and Ramona and Beezus. I encourage you all to check out the Homeschool Movie Club HERE.
Click HERE to see the movie trailer and HERE to see the homeschool clip that is out to see.
If you don't know about the Walmart/P&G Family movie, the newest Family Movie Night shows on tv this Saturday. The movie is called Game Time: Tackling the Past. You can find out more about the Family Movie Night HERE. My family and I have enjoyed every one of the Family Movie Night movies. I'm not sure which one is my favorite, but the last one, Who Is Simon Miller, was pretty great.
Tomorrow, a movie called Seven Days in Utopia comes out. Looks like a pretty good family friendly movie, though I've only see the trailer.
I am SUPER excited that the makers of Facing the Giants and Fireproof have their new movie coming out September 30th (my birthday) : Courageous!!! Check out clips and a music video from Casting Crowns at the Courageous Movie site. The subtitle is "Honor Begins at Home". The movie is about being Godly fathers and husbands. I am so excited for this movie.
I have owned my new digital HD video camera for almost two years (Thanksgiving...early Christmas present 2009). Ellie held a Summer American Girls Club at our house over this summer, and one of their projects was a film of the Kirsten play: Home Is Where The Heart Is. One on Ellie's friends was supposed to bring her video camera for filming, but happened to be on vacation both weeks that the girls filmed.
So, I volunteered my video camera. First I wanted to make sure I could put the videos on a dvd. I had tried to do this multiple times. When I went to try last month, I had an upgrade waiting for my software. Well, I don't know how much actually changed, but since the upgrade, I've been able to figure out how to archive my videos on a dvd and how to string the videos together to make a dvd that we can watch on a dvd player! Hurrah! That was my goal from asking for the video camera for Christmas that year; I wanted to be able to put our home videos directly on a dvd.
Anyway, I am really excited! There are so many possibilities with a video camera that I'm finally figuring out how to use. The camera is so small, I could take it in my purse anytime. I could make video blog posts (I could be a vlogger!). I could record some of my "dittys" like Carol Barnier suggested and share them with you all. There are so many things I could share!
P.S.-Just realized how much my daughter and I are alike... she calls her Nintendo DS "new" after seven months and I still call my video camera new after two years!
Today I finished reading One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. I was reveling in how the Holy Spirit leads as and God links the message at the church we went to on Sunday, not our usual church, but one we were trying out... and the Fireproof Couples Study that we're going through again (with a different couple)... and Ann's blog, A Holy Experience, and her wonderful book. I was reminded of how wonderfully God linked together my reading of The King Will Make A Way with the Ladies Bible Study that I was in to show me the simple truth, that I should have already known, that what God really wants from all of us in for us to know Him...he wants a relationship with us, and the truth I realized again today, that He will make a way. I thought for so long that the point was that Christ died to that we might live with Him when we end this life on earth, and certainly He is with us all the time, He lives in us, but I didn't really understand how that worked... God living in us. The beginning is our accepting the relationship, communion, if you will.
I knew that there was the great mystery, the relationship between a husband and wife that is the example on earth that we can see with these human eyes of ours to show the relationship between Christ and His Bride, the Church. Then Ann Voskamp's book, One Thousand Gifts clues me in to the gratitude and blessing that is the opening, blossoming, and understanding that relationship. The church we went to showed me the history and the betrothal and wedding traditions that Jesus used to show us, His disciples, His students, His Love, how he was pledging His self to us.
And I felt like the light bulb finally turned on, I understood how this relationship, the oneness worked. I didn't just want to understand how to be one. I wanted the experience, the feeling... how Ann described the culmination of her own understanding in the last chapter of One Thousand Gifts.
I was driving the family home tonight, listening to my mix cd of Contemporary Christian music made up of downloads from my itunes gift card gift from Mother's Day. Ellie keeps me up on new Christian songs and artists by watching the music videos on JCTV (when I wasn't much younger than her, I discovered new Christian artists the same way, but I had to stay up extra late on the weekends to catch them on our local station that aired Christian programing). One of the songs that she tuned me into was The Invasion by Trip Lee. So, I added that song to my downloads about a week ago.
Thomas listens to Christian music on the radio, and introduced me to the two songs before that The Invasion on the cd, and I was thinking about the words as we listened to the songs: Closer by Shawn McDonald "I just want to be closer to you. I just want to be closer. I am yours. You can have all of me, anything, everything..."
and More Like Falling In Love by Jason Gray "It's gotta be more like falling in love, than something to believe in, more like losing my heart than giving my allegiance... it's like I'm falling in love"... and I so wanted that... like I said, that feeling of closeness, oneness, falling in love. I wanted to be able to bless God with my thankfulness. More Like Falling In Love reminded me of the quote on my refrigerator, "Let your religion be less of a theory and more of a love affair." G.K. Chesteron.
Then I listened to The Invasion as much of the song went by, because I don't know the song well enough to rap along with the lyrics, but part of the song is sung (not rapped) and I sing along with the woman singer, Jai, "I give my gratitude, Jesus. You died to make all things new-yeah. My knight in armour, when our world in falling. Your love's never failing. I find safety in your arms." I meant every word, and I felt that feeling I was asking for. Oh, we just have to ask. As Thomas says, "We have a rich Daddy, who wants to bless us with gifts... and we only have to ask."
I'm still reveling in all of this... gift. I just had to write it all down... and share.
I'm pretty sure I'll share more on One Thousand Gifts.... I wrote pages in my notebook today while the kids were at Vacation Bible School.
Thomas brought home a bunch of info about President Lincoln, because he is considering taking the family to visit the Lincoln Library and Museum in Illinois (a family vacation/field trip). In the information he brought home, was quote from Lincoln:
"When any church will inscribe over its altar, as its sole qualification for membership, the Savior's condensed statement of substance of both law and Gospel, 'Thou shalt love the Lord they God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself,' that church will I join with all my heart and all my soul."
The quote was a part of an article about our 16th President's faith, because he never signed on and formally joined a church, or identified himself with a certain denomination. I firmly believe from that statement, and the many speeches and writings of Abraham Lincoln that he was a Christ follower and I will meet him in heaven someday.
The important thing is that we are a part the the Church, the body of Christ, not that one is aligned with a certain denomination, brick and mortar, or wood structure here on earth. None of that will last, but our relationship with God and other Christ followers will still be with us when this world is no more. This is not to say that Lincoln (or myself) did not attend church services in a building; his family was Baptist, and he attended Presbyterian church with his wife in both Illinois and Washington, D.C.. President Lincoln's words and example show that he was a Christian, I have no doubt. Since President Lincoln and I apparently have similar beliefs about joining a church and man made rules, I am pretty sure, had we known each other in this life, we would have been friends.
I've seen this simple homemade snow cone recipe on several sites, but I believe the spot I originally found the recipe was the Hillbilly Housewife newsletter. The formula is so simple, even Ellie and Wyatt have the ingredients memorized.
Homemade Snow Cone Syrup
2 cups sugar
1 cup water
1 package unsweetened Kool-Aid (or other drink mix)
Mix all ingredients together in a saucepan and boil, stirring almost constantly to make a syrup.
Then let cool and pour into your squirt container.
So easy! I love that we don't have to have high fructose corn syrup in our snow cones. Now I'd love to find a recipe that doesn't have any artificial flavor. I have an idea to substitute the Kool-Aid and water for a cup of lemon juice... I think that would make All Natural Lemonade Snow Cone Syrup, but I haven't tried that yet.
We have a huge supply of Kool-Aid, because I used to buy the packages whenever they were on sale. Even though the kids have been making at least two batches of syrup every week, we are no where near running out of Kool-Aid packets.
I don't make Kool-Aid very often anymore, because of the artificial flavor and coloring. I especially like the Invisible Kool-Aid for the non-staining properties and lack of artificial color. I grew up on Kool-Aid. My "oldest" friend (because we've been friends since we were toddlers, ages 2 and 3... I'm the older one) lived right across the road. Her house smelled like Kool-Aid every time you walked in. Her mom would never put a whole cup of sugar in, so whenever she left the kitchen, us kids (the two of us and our little brothers) would grab the sugar canister and add some more!
