Raspberry Picking at the Orchard

A beautiful day for being outside. And Dan went with us! We almost didn't make it... I forgot how to get there. Thanks Jodi... such a good friend! And good at directions!

Hunting for raspberries...

I hear it is raspberry season... I think we will go to the park today and see if we can find any.  Angela, my dear friend from Genesis Bagels, made raspberry pancakes for breakfast Sunday.  She has three kids 5 and under...I pray that Jesus will give me the discipline every morning to get up and make my family a good breakfast before we begin our days with Him here on earth.  So far so good. I am on day 1.

~\0/~

Isaiah 40:31 (NKJV)  "But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint."

...and I will give you rest...

in the middle of the evening

the burden rises

praying for an open doorway

the burden rises

searching the WORD

the burden still rises

getting on my knees

the burden is eased

in the middle of the night

the burden wakens

searching for some way

to reach them

rising out of slumber

the burden rises

getting on my knees

the burden is

again

eased

now, in the morning

the burden is here

it's not so deafening

screaming in my ear

the burden is still with me

 deep in my heart

Jesus will help me

searching in the WORD

getting on my knees

continuously

fervently

praying for the doorway

to reach the kids in need

so the burden will be eased

 I can rest

~ \0/ ~

Praise

the

LORD

God is Good ... all the time

Here's how quickly God can answer a few little questions, and make everything come into perspective. I left for church this evening right after I had posted the previous few simple questions... We are studying Revelation... verse by verse!!! God can use us, whether we are in His will or not,whether we will ever choose Him or not, whether we understand it or not; no matter how awful or terrible the 'thing' at the moment is... WHY?!?!?!?!??!?! For His purpose and his will WILL be done. Is that cool or WHAT!!!!!??? I'll tell ya people, for this little Christian girl in the middle of the USA: God is AWESOME!!!!!! ~ \0/ ~ praise the LORD amen so bo it praise the LORD

Running around the neighborhood

What makes the world look so good, when the possibility of Heaven has been here since... well, Creation? Why do we let the evil one who controls this world, control us? That is, whether we are in or out of the family of Christ. We do it, too. Yup. Yup. We let the world entice us with all of its pleasures. We let Satan know that he has won for the moment, when we listen to his lies. NO one loves me. No one cares if I am here. No one wants to help. Does anyone else just want to YELL!?!?!??!?!?! Jesus is the ONLY way to survive in this world. Jesus is the one who gives us the free will to choose. Sometimes I wish I didn't have to choose... just let Him hold me in the crook of His arm and rock me to sleep. Singing lullabys and loving me in the most perfect way He does. I feel His love. I try not to let the evil one here get to me. I really do YELL at Satan. Ask my kids. We shout "Jesus LOVES Me" and , boy, does that evil one RUN!!!!!! He really doesn't like to hear us. He doesn't come around here much anymore. But sometimes, he shows up somewhere else. Places where I can still be affected. People who don't know the TRUTH. Or, people who refuse to let Him in. To let Him take the burdens. To let Him have them, wholly, Holy. Can anybody give me a shout out? Bind the devil from your family. Run around the neighborhood binding him from their houses too. Who cares if they call you a Religious fanatic. It's actually kinda fun. Really. ask my kids.

F-Troop

F-Troop... what a cool way to be able to spend time with my friends and the kids with new ones, twice a month .!  I never would have scheduled, or been as organized as the F-Troop leaders if it was up to me.  Obviously, it took almost a whole summer just to have lunch with my dear friend, Jodi!  So, when we met at F-Troop yesterday afternoon... jubilation!  The kids were re-united, except for the littler ones... we'll have to do something about that... and they also realized that they are not the only teenagers that home school in this world, teenagers that can have a lot of FUN! {Cute teenagers, too, according to the girls... arranged marriages are not out of the question here!} 

  Maybe I should have been some kind of research person.  The only thing is, my mind gets so excited about everything I see, that it is so difficult to stay on task!  For example, I was catching up on my lesson plans, the first week of academia for us and already I am 'catching up, and I saw a study on silkworms for our information about the Chinese Dynasties. 

   Cool!

 So I get online and start looking for silkworm info... where oh where did my silkworm research go?  To the solar cookstove site! 

  WHAT??!!??

 NOW I am thinking, " I have got to get this info to my friends who go to Ecuador on Medical Missions. (I wanna go..... " I digress, again)  Then I download the plans for making one of these stoves, wondering somewhere in my brain, how in the world I went from silkworms to solar cookstoves?

   Oh YEAH!!!

 You have to boil the silkworm pupa to get all of the silk from the cocoon! To un-spin it and twist at least 5 together to get a good thread for weaving... then there's the loom... 

 Follow me? 

   Vague, I know, but now we are going to have a cook-out with a solar cookstove to celebrate my sister and brother-in-laws purchase of their first home... after we make the stove, that is.!

 Maybe I need to start sleeping in a little later to be able to stay awake for such times as this. 

Goodnight, sweet silkworms and solar cookstoves, silk-thread and boiled cocoons, goodnight!

~ \0/ ~

hooked on Blog!

Forget phonics! { Well, I've always said that... Scaredy Cat Reading is the way to go to learn how to read...}    I digress!

  I am officially hooked on this blogging thing! What better way to keep all of the things I wish I could tell my dear friends in the limelight!?! {THANKS Jodi!!! :O)   }

   Friends, family, others who might slip by, I will feel like you know me better every day!!  I want to know you, and be sure you know Christ better and better each day.  I pray that He would bless you through what I might say or post on my new loving addiction.   

{No sugar or chocolate required... maybe just a little java and sugar free creamer in the wee hours of the morning!}

  ~ \0/ ~YIPPEEEE!

'Officially' the First Day of Academia 2008

                                    Here it is! Labor Day, and our traditional FDoA!

  The Lord was so good to me last night; Dan was on shift at the firehouse, and as we were reading 'Hitty'  the Hauger book of the month, we heard loud explosions and fire engines... immediate prayer for the hedge of protection... and pick up the book again without hesitation.  Of course, after two more loud bangs, at the end of the chapter, Haley and I  ran to the back porch to see what we could see. Nothing. So we prayed again, and went to bed. 

 Sleeping, or so I thought, was going to be out of the question for me, since Dan was not to be home until 7am.  Thanks, God for the night of sleep!  ~ \0/ ~ And for the spirit of calm that You have always given me when my dear hubby is on shift for the 24 hours of his shift. I know that he is ultimately in Your hands, and the other guys he is with will do whatever they can to keep him safe, as he does them.

 As for academia this morning, we will start off with 'Picture This!' ,a Bible study where we will draw our own Bible in full by the end of the year!  COOL! {I think I purchased this product in 1996! Been WAITING for the kids to be ready!}  I just can't wait for the kids to share it with the families outside of our little four person circle!

  Blessings and prayers to our home school friends, few that they may be, strong and mighty for the LORD!