Delight in the Lord: Making Your Home A Haven Study and Challenge Week 1 Day 1

This is the 11th Annual Making Your Home a Haven Study from Courtney Joseph at Women Living Well.  I have done this before. I have even posted about the study/challenge on my blog before.

I have started to blog again so many times, but I never got around to posting what I wrote. I miss writing/blogging. As I read books about finding what a person is supposed to be doing, I keep coming back to writing. I'm getting off subject here, but I have read old blog posts and newsletters of my own and thought "Wow! What wisdom and insight!"; not always, of course, but sometimes I can hardly believe I actually wrote what I know I wrote!

Actually, this whole thought process does apply.  Courtney's intro talks about being so busy that we do not delight in life (,or in the Lord). You can see from the picture that I bought the journal from Amazon this year, but in years past, I have just used the blog posts and printables to follow along (in the early years, there was not printed journal option). You can watch her talk about the subject in her introduction video on the blog (or YouTube) and read what she wrote on the blog.

I may have even written on here about this before, but as it is something I have struggled with over and over, I am sure it bears possible repetition (if only for myself).  I know that when life seems overwhelming and I am over tired and I don't feel like I can accomplish even the bare necessities... I can look to my time with God and see that it is lacking. I know He wants me to spend time with Him and I NEED to spend time with Him.  Also, I punish myself for not getting things done by not allowing myself to do things like this (writing and blogging and other creative things, even putting time with God on the back burner) that would actually fuel me to accomplish those other tasks that I am struggling with. And I even realized last week that I no longer sing in the shower, or the car, like I used to. And I only sing and dance while I do chores when one of my children plays music near me. I love that they will play D.J. for me sometimes and we even turn it into a game many times of naming the song, artist, release date... or even just have an impromptu Dance Party. I am happy that I inspired a love of music in my children (and the variety of genres they enjoy, and introduce to me, is incredible!), but I am a little sad that have not been the one starting the music lately.  I know how much singing makes joy bubble over from me and changes my mood in a matter of minutes. 

These past years that I have not shared on my blog have had hardships and celebrations... don't all years?!  I would like to share some highlights from those missed years; I will just have to see how that goes.  This year began with all the hope and excitement of a new year that quickly turned to the Covid-19 Pandemic taking over so much of my thoughts and decisions.  The Pandemic mixed with the USA Presidential Election has made for a lot of frustration in my mind. Not that I haven't prayed about it, and not that I have terrible tragedy that I experienced. I actually have so much to be thankful for during this past year. And as much as I have tried to pray in all things and rest in God's peace... I have struggled with feelings of frustration, weariness, uncertainty of what I should do and say in life situations that sprung from the years events, probably anger (the thought keeps coming to me, but I haven't realized it until now), and I know there is more muddled around in my mind that I can't even begin to express right now.

All that to say that I am so glad to be joining in with Courtney and so many others around the world for Making Your Home a Haven. We are writing down things we are grateful for each day, as well as the scripture study and the challenges.  This is perfect for the month of Thanksgiving in my home country of the USA.  I also feel this as a great way to reset before the beginning of another new year.

I plan to post on here as well as on my Instagram account:  @thebasicsoflife_elvisgirl .

The challenge for this week is to buy an extra large candle to light every day. You put the candle in a central place in your home. Each time the glimmer of the candle catches your eye,  you stop to pray and give thanks. My candle is not probably not considered extra large, but it is soy and made in Kansas City and burns for many hours. The Frakincese and Myrrh scent seemed perfect to me to get my mind on the celebration of Christ's birth, too.

The scripture study for today is Philippians 4:4-9.  Those verse are full of instructions for our thoughts and promises for God's peace.  They are verses I turn to often, but usually separate. They are such a powerhouse together as they were initially intended.  Even if you don't join in the study, I highly recommend reading the verses and meditating on them.

Chickens in the Classroom

Last year, we participated in Chickens in the Classroom, through our local 4-H office.  We went to the office and picked up a dozen eggs that had already been candled (back-lit to make sure there was a growing baby chicken inside).

We had to set up the homemade incubator, fill the pan under the shelf with water....

make sure the "thermostat" was adjusted to keep the eggs warm.

Wyatt took care of them.  He sprayed them with water to keep them moist, and turned them over multiple times, everyday.  We put X marks on the eggs, so he could tell when he turned them over.  You can see when the little chicks started making peck marks as they began to make their way out of the eggs.

Hatching chicks was pretty fun, especially seeing the little chicks make their way out of the shell... then going from wet, weak, scrawny birds to cute, fluffy, little chicks.

The part and both liked and didn't like about this project is that the birds are all Cornish Cross Chickens, which means they are meat birds. They grow very big, very fast.  If you don't butcher them in a timely manner, their legs can break.  They get scary big!  And I don't enjoy the butchering and packaging.  They are good eating.  I very much enjoy eating chickens that I know how they've been raised.  Ellie refuses to eat them, because she fell in love with them when they looked like this:

Harley Horse and Stitches

I really didn't want to see the vet again so soon....

Wyatt was riding the go-cart.  I was trying to plant potatoes.  I only had about one row of potatoes in when Wyatt comes hollering, "Mom, Mom, Harley's hurt!!!"

I didn't think he was going to be hurt bad.  I was thinking a scratch, or something.  So I asked calmly, "What's wrong?  Where is he hurt?  Is he bleeding?"

Wyatt was almost in tears, practically hyperventilating.  "He's bleeding!  You can see it from here!"

I looked, and I couldn't tell how bad it was, but I could see blood, and I was not near the horse at all.

I told Wyatt to go get his Dad and I would try to get Harley.

I think I had my phone, because I had double checked with my Dad how deep I was supposed to plant the potatoes.  Thomas came out and I got Harley's lead rope.  We got him to the barn.  Thomas sent Wyatt to the house to to get a towel full of ice.  I got to hold the ice on Harley, after we closed him in his stall.  Thomas called the vet.  Wyatt kept me company.

Wyatt felt so bad.  The kids had ridden the go-cart out in the pasture with horse and pony before with no trouble.  This time, Wyatt wanted to be with the animals.  He rode the go cart back and forth with them, as they ran up and down the fence.  Harley nearly ran into the pony when they were turning one time.  Wyatt thinks that was when Harley caught his side on the fence.

I sent pictures and called a friend who has horses.  She didn't think the cut was too bad... but that was tiny pictures on a phone.  Thomas called our "new" vet's office, and the vet was there in record time, especially considering he had other stops that he was supposed to be making before us.  We got to meet the only other vet at that office that makes house calls.

The wound was so deep, that it took the vet three layers of stitches to close the wound up.  The time was evening, and there wasn't much light left.  We had to lead Harley up to the front of the house, where the vet's truck was parked.  Thomas held a light for the vet.  I held Harley's head.  The vet gave him a shot to make him sleepy.  Part way through the stitching, I nearly passed out. Wyatt was hanging around, doing whatever we asked.  I had to tell him to get me a chair quickly!  Hurry!  I was feeling so light headed... a combination of a long day, heat, and probably just a little stress.  Wyatt made it just in time with the chair.  Ellie came out of the house and went right back in.  She couldn't look at Harley like that.

 
So, here is the wound, all stitched up and healing.  I had many mornings of going out to put antibiotic cream on Harley, and fly spray.

And here is the wound, stitches removed, and healing nicely.

I took this picture to show the size difference between Harley and Toy Pony, but I took the picture right after the one above. 

Hopefully there won't be any more vet calls in the near future.

September is the month for Family Friendly Movies and Giveaway!

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.

Exciting Possibilities

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!

Language Learning and Liberty's Kids

Guest post by Alec

Bonjour, Messieurs et Mademoiselles!  Hello, Boys and Girls!  Mother started Mango language classes online.  She was almost done with her first Spanish lesson.  Then she got me and my sister on Mango.  I was first.  I chose to learn French this year.  My sister chose Mandarin Chinese.

Mother had about 35 minutes on her Spanish lessons.  That first night, I got in 8 minutes.  My sister got in 1 minute.  The next day, I worked as hard as I could on Mango.  I made my Mother get 47 minutes in.  That day I got in 92 minutes.  My sister still has 1 minute.

My goal is to major in French like my Aunt T.  Here is the story of how my Mother learned French.  When my Mother was a little girl, she and her cousin shared these little newspapers and one of them had like 10 French words.  She thought it was the prettiest language and that's what urged her to learn French.  She took French in high school and college.  Her college professor said that she was really good and she should learn more.  She was nervous about not speaking right with the accent, so she just took the minimum of classes.

Here's the story about how I became a French student.  I saw the television series Liberty's Kids, and I liked the character Henri, who is French.  I like the way they pronounce their words and their accent.  And they speak fast, like I do in English.  That is all.

Misty's notes:
We are blessed that our local library has Mango online for us to use for free through the library website.  We can access the lessons from our home computer through our library card and the library website.
We were going to start foreign language lessons last year, but I just tried out the Spanish and never got any further.  So, we were all going to get serious starting next month with the new school year.  Wyatt, oops, I mean Alec, got so excited about learning French, he could not wait!  He practices and goes back to the beginning if he misses anything.  I think he will soon be reading French better than English.  I also have to say that I love that he calls me "Mother".  I feel so proper and grown up.  :)

Oh, and Liberty's Kids is a great historical cartoon series.  The show is all about the American Revolution.  My kids know about so many of the United States founding fathers and their amazing quotes and speeches from that show.  My hubby discovered our collection of Liberty's Kids on dvd that I purchased for homeschooling and he enjoyed watching all the episodes, too.  There is still a Liberty's Kids website you can checkout HERE and archives HERE, you can also watch episodes on youtube.

Lost

No, not the TV show, I never watched more than one episode, and I'm not waxing philosophical. About a month ago our main computer's motherboard got fried. When my hubby and his friend put in the new motherboard, Monday night, they had to wipe the memory of the computer.

Tuesday, my usb memory stick which held pictures from the last two years died. I had backed up pictures on cd through March 2009, but my dear hubby said that was such a waste because I had them on the usb and on the computer. I had planned in the back of my mind to back them up on cd anyway, but I never did it.

I cried, and I stopped, and I cried some more. I called Thomas at work. I called the place we got the memory stick, researched online, watched youtube videos, and tested things. The light wouldn't come on the memory on any of our computers. I finally researched businesses in the area that recover lost data on computer memory things; I e-mailed one of them.

I'm not really a person with a good memory. I need to write things down. I need my memory jogged. I really need pictures.

The kids and I started a new tradition of making a Kodak picture book each year. I let them go through pictures of the past year and pick out whichever memories were their favorites and the those pictures go in the book. We should have been doing that this week.

I'm so thankful that some of the missing pictures are on this blog, and some of those memories have pictures taken by our family or friends. Some of them may be lost forever. No one else has the sweet picture of Ellie with the upside down number 6 candle on her 9th birthday, with that special smile. She was truly happy and okay with being goofy with the number 6 candle, because Mom couldn't find enough regular candles and we don't have a number 9 candle. No one else has the pictures of Ellie and her friend, Sam, doing Karaoke on her birthday. No one else has the random pictures of Wyatt when he just wanted me to take a picture...his funny hairdos, his Lego block towers that nearly reached the ceiling fan, him with his Cabbage Patch Kids and mine on his bed.

I still have a chance with the computer memory recovery people, but I am afraid that is slim. From now on, I will back up my pictures with a disk, and on a site like Wal-mart Photos, Snapfish, CVS Photo, or Kodak. And I need to blog more. Although I read about how you need to backup your blog, or you could lose those memories, too. There's another project for me.

I'm trying to thank God for what I have and remember that I can't take pictures to heaven with me. I don't need them...I want them. I was thinking how a hundred years ago, taking pictures would have been more like a once a year sort of thing...something very special and not an everyday thing like now. Even before the digital camera, I wouldn't have so readily taken pictures...not nearly as many.

The kids finished the Summer Reading Program. They've used most of their free coupons. While we've been running around, my house has been lost in the mountain of mess that happens when we are home just enough to mess things up and not clean anything up. Does anyone else understand that one? I've been cleaning like a woman nesting today...even behind the refrigerator! Not nesting though, promise, now I know part of why I cried so much on Tuesday. To top everything off, it's that time of the month.

Yesterday, when the kids and I were at my folks, my friend, Colleen, called and said she found a turtle in her back yard for Ellie. Ellie has wanted a turtle for a long time, so we headed over to pick up the turtle. Colleen and her family were going somewhere for dinner, so she didn't have time to research the turtle before she called us. When we got the turtle home, Ellie got her turtle book and we researched Jamie the turtle. She was an Ornate Box Turtle...very delicate, easily stressed, and difficult to keep alive, even for experience turtle caretakers. So, poor Ellie had a pet turtle for about an hour or two yesterday, before we took Jamie home to where she came from and set her free. My poor baby girl, she was so sad... pet turtle, found and lost.

I feel like I've lost time lately, too. Already, a new school year is upon us. My basement painting project keeps getting stalled. I haven't blogged lately, or had a chance to read any blogs that don't come into my inbox. I have a pile of books, including an e-book that a good cyber-friend of mine has written, that I'm dying to read!

Where does the time go? And here I am wanted to play the "why game". Ugh! Reminds me of a poem I wrote in High School. I think I'll look it up and post it.

Sharing a Shirt with a Spider

Tonight I continued my nearly one year project of painting the ceiling and floor of our basement. The basement houses our homeschool classroom, playroom, family room, a bathroom, and laundry room/exercise room. I had a full hour of moving furniture and prepping for painting half of the family room ceiling. I made a new playlist on the old computer (since the newer computer when ka-pooey, in Ellie's words) and set out to paint the ceiling, which is actually the floor joices.

So, I was painting along, and felt something in my shirt. At first, I thought it might be some left over insulation which I still find stuck to the ceiling after 7 years, or more, that we took the ceiling down from the basement, because we found out we had termites. We won't have a finished basement ceiling anymore, because you can't see what's going on if it's covered up. Not having a finished basement ceiling has also been good for those times that the kids have flooded the upstairs bathtub and the water leaked through to the basement.

Anyway, back to feeling something in my shirt. I ignored it for a minute, because I had the long handled paint roller in my hands and was busy with paint dripping on me (low drip ceiling paint can still drip). Then I decided it might be a bug, so I kind of squished my shirt around what every "it" was. Then I pulled the side of my shirt out the side of my overalls and found a spider. I started to throw the spider in the trash, but we do have brown recluses around these parts, so I decided to save the spider and let my hubby (brow recluse identifier expert) take a look at it.

When he looked at the spider, he did indeed identify the bad dude as a brown recluse. Uck! So I made him look me over to check for spider bites. He couldn't find any! Thank you, God!

The kids and I were reading Luke 10:19 recently: "Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you." Wyatt asked if that meant we could really step on scorpions, and they wouldn't hurt us. I told him, that yes, I thought Jesus really meant we could step on scorpions and they wouldn't hurt us, but that He probably didn't mean for us to go test that out.

I'm not trying to test God. I know we live in a sinful world and bad things can happen. I love when God shows me He's serious about what He says. I was sharing shirt with a brown recluse spider and God let me kill the spider without it biting me. I love when things happen, and I feel God saying, "You are mine little girl." I love belonging to God.

Grown Up Growing

God has really been growing me lately...in so many ways. My hubby got the job of Bookkeeper at our church a few months back, and while he was at the church working, the church secretary came in to get ready for the Bible Study she leads. Well, Thomas called me up and passed her the phone, and she invited me to Bible Study. Thomas encouraged me to go and so did my kids. There are not too many things I do on my own...especially not outside the house. I questioned whether, if I started, I would be able to continue. Thomas likes to play tennis, and often plays when there is nothing else planned. So, first I made sure that I would be able to keep going. He assured me that I would be able to. I've really enjoyed the Bible Study and the fellowship with the other ladies, a group of ladies that has changed each week (with a couple of them remaining the same).

Right now, I'm listening to Back to the Basics of Life Seminar 2. Which continues for the next three weeks. You can still sign up; and it's FREE. Wow, I've seen the lady's website who is speaking, and she is a more incredible speaker than I would have imagined. She just said you are eleven times more likely to remember something you copy. It's interesting that my maternal grandma typed the entire Bible. She just made me think of that. She's talking about having quiet time and equipping our children to have their own quiet time. Oh, there's so much more to what she's talking about; like training our children (Proverbs 22:6) and being an example to them. Those are things that are among the top reasons why I wanted to homeschool our children. They are also issues that have been brought to surface lately in our homeschool. I've realized that we need to refocus. We need to make ourselves a mission statement.

When the kids joined the Civil War Kids Club, the adult who helped this young man start the club ran out and gave us a book called The Ghosts of Lone Jack, and told us the club was reading the book. At both meetings that the kids have attended, there has been no mention of the book. We had started reading the book and there was some language in it that I did not like...nothing severe, but things I didn't want my children repeating. I had seen when the author of this book was visiting the library and doing a book signing, but we didn't go because it was a ghost book. The description of the ghosts were very vivid. They did not bother me (although twenty years ago that would have been a very different story), and Ellie said they didn't bother her. Wyatt began to have nightmares though. We quit reading the book (the nightmares quit) and I am going to give the book back to the club. I just let things slide and I know I shouldn't have. I apologized to the kids (and God). Between that and many other things that have come across my path lately, I have a renewed commitment to let God lead our homeschool path. Homeschool to me is not just between school hours, but a way of life. If what we are doing is not pleasing to God, then we don't want to continue on in that. I asked the kids to call me on anything they thought God would not approve of. I do want those who don't know me well, or would question this, to know that does not mean my children are schooled in a bubble and do not know about things like evolution (or fill in the blank with what you don't think evangelical Christians allow their children to know). My children study the theories, but know them for what they are: theories, not proven fact, as they are taught in the public school these days. My biology teacher was Christian, and except for that fact, I doubt creation would even have been mentioned in my classroom. Actually, mentioning that creation was his personal belief was the only mention of creation in that classroom. I am not raising narrow minded children, but children who walk the narrow path (Matthew 7:13-14).

The kids and I studied the history of Halloween on Friday. Some friends of ours were discussing whether they would celebrate Halloween or not, and I felt compelled to look further into the subject. My family really didn't celebrate Halloween when I was growing up. I did dress up for school a few years, and we did go to the Fall Fun Festival at school, but we never went door to door "trick or treating". My kids had went trick or treating with friends for a few years, but those friends moved away. I had a friend who encouraged me not to worry about participating in the innocent parts of Halloween, but I could never really get excited about celebrating. Well, after studying the history of Halloween, the kids and I decided that we didn't feel comfortable participating in the traditions of Halloween. I think that maybe in the future, we might do something evangelical...to spread the good news (Mark 16:5), but unless we could feel that participating in the traditions of Halloween was pleasing to God, we didn't want to be a part of that. I won't condemn anyone for participating in Halloween, I will not judge anyone for participating in tradition they feel comfortable with (Matthew 7:1). This was continued growth for me though, not to bend to the social norms, but to be alien in this world, not of this world. My home is Heaven, and I don't want to question whether my Father in Heaven would be pleased looking down on my actions. If I have to question something, I would rather ere on the side of caution. I love to play dress up with my kids, but I never saw the purpose in going door to door asking for candy and coming home with a bucket full of future cavities. The scary stuff is yet another story (which includes a special assembly of ghost stories when I was in elementary school).

God is growing me in change. Thomas and I are going through Financial Peace University, the Dave Ramsey study. We are changing the way we deal with money, insurance, investments, our children's chores commission, and consequently each other. The changes are frustrating, exciting, and a bit scary. I'm really not good at change, but I'm leaning on my hubby in new ways of trust. I know these are good things for our marriage and our family.

So, back to the Bible Study. Our leader has this awesome visual. I need to make my own and take pictures, but I'll describe and you can probably imagine. Well, we start with when God created mankind we had a large circle body that was pure white and a smaller circle spirit that was all white. Mankind had no sin and was in full communion with God (Genesis 1:31). Then sin entered the world through disobedience to God (Genesis 3), and we have a large circle body that is black and dead, also a smaller circle spirit that is black and dead. Well, dead things can only produce nasty dead things...sins (Romans 3:23). So, when Jesus, God's only son (and the only perfect, no-sinning human), came to earth and took all the sins of mankind (past, present, and future) on him, he died and paid the price for every man's sins (that means wo-man's, too!) (John 3:16-17). When we accept Christs free gift of life, we get a white spirit circle that replaces the black one (Romans 6:23). Until we die and go to heaven, that white circle still sits in black flesh. When we go to heaven, we get a white body circle to go with the our white spirit circle.

Tonight we were talking about how when we ask Jesus into our heart that we all get a full white spirit; no one gets more or less than someone else. That spirit has many promises from God: He will take away the old and make us new (2 Corinthians 5:17), He will give us a heart to know Him (Deuteronomy 5:29), and our new spirit has wonderful fruit (Galatians 5:22): love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. When we have that new, clean spirit, Jesus in our hearts, God smiles down on us because we are His! We may not always see the fruit, but we are capable of producing all of those wonderful things.

If you don't have a Bible handy, but would like to check out these scripture references, you can plug them in to Bible Gateway (just click on the highlighted words). You can even change the version of the Bible, if one or another is easier for you to understand the wording.

I've thought a lot over the past few months about the seasons in my life, as many people call them. I asked Jesus into my heart at age 7. I see spurts of growth over time when I spent more time in God's word, having quiet time, reading devotionals and the Bible, my summers at Super Summer Evangelism School, my time in reading good Christian works of literature. I could, and can, always trace back in times of choas that I have neglected my time in communion with God. I still see the sins of my flesh more often than I like, but I know that if my focus is on the only treasure that I can take out of this world (my relationship with God and those people in my life that having accepted the gift of salvation), that I will produce the wonderful fruits of the spirit (Hebrews 12:2, Matthew 6:21, Luke 12:34).

Why I love my teacher

guest author: Ellie
age: almost 9

1. She is my Mom.
2. She teaches me fun science.
3. She is the most important Misty in the whole world.
4. In arithmetic, she allows me to chew gum as much as I want.
5. On field trips, we have fun!


Misty's notes: I didn't know I taught fun science...yea! I have fun on field trips, too. And I love my students, Ellie and Wyatt!

Why does your Momma not make hard tack?

guest author: Wyatt
age: almost 7

It will work your Mommy to hard. You don't give her enough attention. She doesn't know the recipe for it. And you don't give her enough morning cuddles. Because you don't have good Science projects; like you don't have a popsicle stick two story house. And you don't grow butterflies out of caterpillars. And you don't get your commission. You don't paint your popsicle stick house. And I don't think that you could bite it. One of your teeth might fall out. Whenever I bit hard tack, it took me three times, just to get a little piece out. And you don't yell, "Mommy, help!" whenever you see a spider. And you're not old enough to eat it. Any you're too lazy to help. And you don't treat your Mommy with respect. And you don't give her back rubs (I still owe you a back rub!). And you don't let your Mommy make you work. You don't clean the basement. You don't clean your bedroom. You don't clean the playroom. You don't clean the classroom. And most of all, you do not wash your hands whenever you go to the bathroom. Ewww!!! And you don't keep your pencils sharpened. And you act like a baby. And you do baby talk. Now that is the end of the Wyatt hard tack story.

Misty's notes: Wyatt is none of these, because he & Mommy are going to make some hard tack today. Commission is payment for chores...what we used to call allowance...thanks to Dave Ramsey, wages have a new name at our house.

Life Lessons

There are so many posts just waiting to be written...I had a great time at our Mini Conference last Saturday and I will be posting my handout on here in the very near future...I wanted to write one on love for Valentine's Day (kind of late, but better late than never)...I have a fun story about friend's children who are ready to move in with us to be homeschooled...our schedule...but what I'm going to write about is some wisdom of my past teachers. Please, excuse my rambling, run on sentence, I like to write the way I think; which is not necessarily the proper way to write. I have a BA in English, so I do know how to write. I choose to write the way I think.

I read an article from The Heart of the Matter today that got me thinking about two of the best lessons I've learned outside of my parents and the Bible. The first that I usually think of is from my kindergarten teacher, Mrs. McVey, who taught me that "You are responsible for your own actions." We have a written list of house rules, and that one is on the top of the list. I think that is an especially bad problem of the generations after my own (not to mention many in my generation)...blaming others for our own actions. I even have to remind myself at times that I am responsible for my own actions!

The other lesson is one that I can't quite remember who taught me, but I'm fairly certain I learned this gem of wisdom sometime in my teenage years. I was told that mistakes, failures, and the like should be looked upon as "Learning experiences". If we don't have any troubles or difficulties, how can we learn from them? That has served me well through the years. The article I read today especially reminded me of this one.

My daughter began "offical" homeschooling (you know, when we start calling it school and keeping records and such) with a great fear of failure. She didn't want to try for fear of giving the wrong answer or sounding out a word wrong. Part of her fear may have been my tone of voice or feeling my frustration in those early days (I felt we were on trial in my husband's eyes.). I have have worked on myself a lot in those areas. Thankfully, I realized the other day that I felt strange raising my voice. So much time had gone by that I have not raised my voice. Thank you, God, for helping me. The Lord does answer prayers.

I do feel that at least part of her fear was just that of failing. After explaining to her multiple times that I am glad for her to make mistakes so that she can learn from them, she approaches most things without fear, sometimes even reminding me about learning experiences. I believe I have even heard her give the advice to others. I think that learning from failure is such an important lesson to learn. I am glad to pass that one on, too.

I'm sure that some version of these lessons could be found in the Bible, that is just not where I first learned them. I do believe God provided for us in all ways when writing the Bible. As I child, I remember the story of King Solomon and how he asked God for wisdom. That story etched itself on my brain and heart. I knew that God answered prayers, with the right answer, all I had to do was ask. My mother's testimony led my to my own relationship with Christ. I will write some other days (for future generations) about the wonderful examples of my immediate and extended family.

I was not homeschooled, but my parents were wonderful part-time homeschoolers (meaning I went to public school, but they taught me plenty at home). Mom was, and is, full of imagination. She passed on her love of reading to me. She is a very patient teacher. I did not learn how to find answers in public school, but my Mother taught me how. She taught me how to write my name in cursive and how to teach myself typing, both before I learned in school. My Father is skillful in woodworking. I took Shop class not only to learn, but to be closer to my Dad. I can look at my projects and remember the help and advice he gave me. There are so many wonderful things both my parents taught me, but the most important lesson was to let my children know that I not only love them because they are my children, but I value them as people. I enjoy talking with them, hearing their opinions, and I choose to be with them more often than not. I knew my parents valued me as a person, not just because I was their child. I chose my parents more often than not, because I not only love my parents, but I really like them. Thank you, God, for my parents.