thankful

I am thankful for the homeschool moms who taught me that homeschool doesn't have to look like public school.  And I'm just thankful for my homeschool friends who are there for me with encouragement, support, and friendship and love on my family as we all learn and grow together.

As we get closer to Thanksgiving Day, I am overwhelmed at the things God has done in my life.  My family is a treasure that I didn't realize for a long time.  I took them all for granted, just walloring in the fact that they were mine, and not taking the time to step back and SEE them.  This year I am thankful for each and every one of my family...the four of us, and all the extended ones, too.

 This year I am thankful that Jesus has opened my heart to the teenagers in my church, giving me the burden for their purity, and praying them into a closer walk with Him!

 This year I am thankful that I still have the freedom to worship and praise the God who gave me Jesus and His Spirit to indwell in me.

 This year I am thankful for Christian artists/bands that keep me singing and dancing ~well, I think it is dancing!~

 This year I am thankful that home education is the blessing and adventure we have chosen to continue.

 Next year will be different, and I will still be thankful for all of these things, and, Lord willing, MORE!!!!

 The reason I am writing is to say that everyday is different, and so should our lives be; speckled with surprises that God has for us as mature Christians.  The way that HE can change even the heart of a 15 yo Autistic child to want to listen to the words and find pearls of truth in HIS message to us is amazing to me. If I look from a different, Godly perspective, my life can be transformed as well, with only a little bit of the baby Christian fire that I muster up every now and again.  I think I'll do that, right now. Blessings to all and to all a good day! ~ \0/ ~

It's the pizza guy at the mall.  The greatest pizza guy we know. He has a brother, but we can tell them apart.  I told him I took his picture, because I didn't want him to think we were stalking him.  He probably has enough of that.  I wonder, is there a better pizza guy at another mall?  Highly unlikely.  ie:  I eat the #6 salad with two pepperoni breadsticks    {and only get one because Haley takes the other one piece by piece},    I never order a kids meal... but this time they have   SLINKYS   for the toy prize!!!!   I only had to ask, and the slinky was mine.   How cool is that?  Maybe someday, we can do something for 'our' pizza guy, something other than take pictures of him and talk about him on this blog.  Enough pizza talk, another week will go by before I can have another #6 with a diet coke.  Can I survive?  I think so. {we got the t-mobile guy a slinky too!}

Memaw

Memaw loves the color blue. Almost everything she has, has some blue in it. Sometimes, even she is blue. I don't really blame her. When I am 86 years old, I only pray that I can walk and get around like her. Yes, she can't hear. Yes, she broke her back a year ago, and she doesn't remember it. Yes, she had breast cancer and had a masectomy. But just look at her! She has beautiful hair, and a good taste in clothes. She cares about how she dresses, and if her lipstick is placed on her lips. I want to care about those things when I am that old. And if I have mustard on the shirt I am wearing, that's just being saved for later! Memaw. She's all ours. I bet you have one too. If you don;t, I'll share! Memaw, she's awesome!

I saw ELVIS!!!!!

I know, I know, you are all jealous... unless you saw him too! It was quite a night!

By the way...

Did you know that EMO is just that fuzzy, fun, red monster on SS without the 'L' 'L' for love. Deep.

Scavenger hunt

This is an unusual hunt. This is a hunt for, me. See if you can find the real me. I'm here. Sometimes I am just hard to find. Sometimes I have a difficult time finding myself in all the 'stuff' we call life. When it comes down to it, though, here I am. Little ol' fat and sassy me. Hi! It's me. Glad you found me. Will you be my friend? ~\0/~

Wainscott

...Crouched in the far end of the log, Bagley kept watch over the water. It wasn't as smooth as a few moments ago, for now was the time of day when insects flocked to the pond. Swallows were swooping at them from up above, while fish were trying to catch them from down below.. Everytime one of the feeding fish made a rip in the pond's silken fabric, Bagley felt a little rip inside his chest. The sun was setting across the water. The sky turned rosy, and so did the pond. When the very top of the sun was about to sink below the horizon, Bagley poked his head out from the end of the log. A few feet away, a striped fish was drifting by. 

  Wainscott Weasels is a classic in our family now.  Love is hard. 

"Each relationship between two persons is absolutely unique. That is why you cannot love two people the same. It simply is not possible. You love each person differently because of who they are and the uniqueness that they draw out of you. And the more you know another, the richer the colors of that relationship." Sarayu to Mackenzie the Shack

Folks...

My folks were in town for the weekend. And then a few. Mom and Dad finally were able to see their grandchildren participate in their own ministry. Corban and Haley dance on the church dance team. They both love it, and we enjoyed the awesome ministry that they do! We had a grand time looking at the changing leaves that God always blesses us with this time of year. We actually went on a field trip where all the fall festivities are 'happenin' now in our state, and WOW! the colors God puts together are so gorgeous! Then we went to the local Botanical gardens and walked around oooh~ing and ahh~ing over the pretty fall decorations. Cool. Does anyone know where I can find a white pumpkin... without painting it white.?! I like when my folks come into town. Sure, it may be stressful the day before,and sometimes we aren't used to how they communicate...or they aren't used to us... but over all, this time, I think I am going to go through withdrawal. Bummer. Thanks God, for my folks. I love God. ~ \0/ ~

Oh off to the Orchard

Adrian Orchards this time. Biggest and yummiest apples in Indy! Lots of bees, yes, but the apples are worth it. Look at these cute chairs and mums painted to match... so cute! My favorite is the color of all the pumpkins! So many colors and shapes. God is cool! Have a wonderful Day! ~\0/~

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/ ~