Thanksgiving

I love Fall. It is my favorite season. Coming up is the quintessential, American, Fall holiday: Thanksgiving. It is a wonderful time to spend thanking God for our blessings. I find myself today, however, being crabby and ungrateful. I don't have a single reason why. So in order to pull myself out of my lethargic unhappiness I have decided to write down the things and folks I am so grateful for:
I AM THANKFUL....

1. ... that God saw fit to save me. He didn't have to, but He did. Not only has He saved me from Hell, He also walks with me and talks with me. How amazing to have the Creator of the Universe hang out with you?
2. ...for the beauty around me. I think I might be able to buy evolution except for beauty. Why is the world around beautiful? Why do we find it majestic and beautiful? Why does my heart swell with glorious emotion at lovely sunsets, breath-taking rainbows and the rippling of a brook?
3. ...for my husband. I am thankful for the bad times as well as the good. I am so grateful that today I got to wake up next to my best friend. It has not always been so, but I hope and pray that the bad times keep us both doing our best to keep the friendship alive during easy and hard times.
4. ....for my children. They all have their moments when I think the gypsies sound like a tempting option for them (as I am sure they would gladly trade their mama for a better model at times:). Still I would characterize them as happy and fun. I love them all and couldn't imagine life without a single one.
5. ...that I get to stay home. Far from being a hateful drudgery, it is a blessing to be able to be a "home-maker." There are aspects of the job that I don't like. Still I get to spend my day doing what I like the best for and with the folks I like the best. I get paid dividends that far exceed monetary compensation for an outside job.
6. ...to be healthy.
7. ...to have my mom around.
8. ...that I have good friends.
9. ....that I have a great church. Though the church should be many things, it often times is not. I am thankful that my church family might not always be what they should be, but they are willing to die trying.
10. ...that this list could go on and on. Now that I have started I am thinking of all the wonderful things in my life and I have a better attitude.

Now back to work.

Two Reasons Why We Homeschool

This begs the question: How do you eat with your mouth closed? I usually tell my children to CHEW with their mouths closed, but EAT? Um, how does one put the food in that way?

The only lunch number my children need to know is whether they want 1 or 2 sandwiches, 2, 3 or 4 apples slices. Yes, we do need to work on quieter voices. It would probably help if the teacher would refrain from throwing food or spitting water from time to time. Why, oh why could they not simply say, "Only touch your food?" I took these pictures at the Harvest Party. I thought they were pretty funny.

Lessons from a Corn Maze

"And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everthing in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord." Colossians 3:17-18

Saturday we went to the Rutledge Farm's Corn Maze. It was pretty impressive. They had two mazes created to form an aerial picture of a military vehicle. Everyone got a map and a punch card. It amazes me that a person could conceive of the maze and then plant it in corn. We got off to a rough start. Some kids going one way and some of us going another. We were all trying to read the map and figure out which way to go. My stomache was all knotted up. Then I thought, "This is silly. We are here to have fun." So I prayed about it and let it go. I put my map away and let my husband do the directing. All of a sudden it was fun. We found the children in the other maze and they joined us. The Ole Daddy Rabbit successfully lead us to each punch station in the first maze. We enjoyed a picnic lunch and then went on to the second maze. We got all our punches. We then got a great hay ride. We all learned a bunch and had fun doing it. The big lesson for me was that it is so much more relaxing when you trust the Lord. The circumstances may not have changed, but I have.

It's called P.E.

Mom, what are they doing?

PILLOW

FIGHT!

A Place Where Hope is Young

There's tarnish on the golden rule
And I wanna jump from this ship of fools
Show me a place where hope is young
And a people who aren't afraid to love

This world has nothing for me and this world has everything
All that I could want and nothing that I need

This world is making me drunk on the spirits of fear.
So when he says who will go, I am nowhere near.

And the least of these look like criminals to me
So I leave Christ on the street

This world has held my hand and has led me into intolerance
But now I'm waking up, but now I'm breaking up
But now I'm making up for lost time
----Caedmon's Call

Often times the lyrics from a Caedmon's Call song encapsulates where I am in my walk with the Lord. I feel as if I have returned to the garden where I used to walk with the Lord. There has been fear and pain and learning. As I walk I see the overgrown patches. I see the places where the walkway has been crumbled by plants growing up through it. There are many repairs to be made. Yet I touch those places and it is like the years fly away. Here I am again where hope is young and among a people not afraid to love. Together with the Lord we will make a garden that folks can come and sit and have their souls drink in healing and peace.

A new addition

It has finally happened! We have a new addition to the family. Besides the occasional fish none of our children have ever had a pet of their very own. Since our oldest boy turned 12 yesterday (and we also felt he showed enough responsibility), he became the proud owner of a guinea pig. It is a medium-sized one of the English breed. It is predominantly white with some tan patches. Hence the name "Patch." We looked up some care information on The Pig. We found out that they were native to South America. The Incan Indians domesticated them...for food and for sacrifices to their gods. Niiiice! The Europeans found that they made good test specimens and started using them in labs in the 18th century. Now you know why we have that particular idiom. They are also known as cavies, a derivitive of their scientific name. I had heard that they received the name guinea pig because they started to be a popular pet and could be attained (at the time) for an English guinea. This particular cavy or guinea pig looks like he will fare better than his ancestors. He doesn't look particulary appetizing, to be quite frank. He is a friendly little guy and both parties seem very pleased with each other.

Yes, we belong at the Zoo!

Look at all of them! We have this same picture from 6 years ago and there are only three of them in it. They are also much smaller.

I maybe in a shark jaw, but I am with a really handsome fella!

Monkeys have escaped from their cages!

I knew he really was a snail!

Here is our recent trip to the Pt. Defiance Zoo and Aquarium. We all had a really good time. We packed a picnic lunch and had free tickets (thanks to the library's summer reading program) so it only cost us gas and two adult tickets. We all rode the carousel at the end of the day-twice!

Maybe?

Maybe just maybe I will get some belated posts on our blog here :) The kiddos on Fourth of July sparkling!