Remembering

One year ago today, our little town got turned upside down and inside out!  As I read through my post not long after, I cried all over again.  Such a tremendous sense of loss in those days!  My parents were here recently, and I showed them our downtown area.  So much has been cleaned up, that it's harder now to see the devastation.  Dirt has been placed in the giant holes that our HUGE old trees left, and the grass has covered them, so to one not familiar with our town, it didn't look too bad.  There is a building that was hit that had a mural painted on the outside of the building, and they reused the bricks they could, but without regard to the mural (maybe on purpose, I don't know), so you can see the outline of what was lost in the storm.  First Baptist has sent its steeple off to be repaired, so it looks funny right now.  Our old building has been leveled, and the hole filled.  Some of the buildings and homes have still not been repaired, but most have been repaired or leveled.  The local restaurant that had been around almost 100 yrs that I mentioned in my first post has been reopened.  Our community has come together in a way that only tragedy can draw people close.  Our church has been sharing a building with another church in our community whose services are the opposite times as ours.  They have been very generous to allow us an extended visit!  If you have ever shared your home with someone for an extended time, you know how hard it can be to have two families in one house.  This church has never made us feel unwelcome!  They have been kind and generous with us for a year now!  And, at this point, it looks like a year more.  We have tried to do our part as well, tidying the sanctuary after we finish, and sharing responsibilities with the lawn.  This past Sunday, we had church at our new property for the first time!  Our association has a portable baptistry, and our denomination baptizes those who have chosen to trust Christ for salvation.  The church we are appreciatively sharing, baptizes infants, so they had no baptistry.  So, we had the association's baptistry brought out to the property and filled so we could baptize all the people (in this case children) who have trusted Christ this year.  We all brought our camping chairs and had church outside, then we moved into a metal building still on the property and celebrated how God is still working in our church by baptizing six of our kids, one of whom was Tenderheart!  It was such a touching moment!  One of the children was baptized by his grandfather, and our pastor baptized the other five, including his youngest daughter.  I remember walking away thinking, God, You are so amazing!  Satan thought by destroying our church building, he could destroy us.  Thank You that the church is the people and not the building!  Thank You for continuing to work in our faith family, drawing us closer to You, drawing our children to You!  May You be glorified as we rebuild! As time marches on, and the one year anniversary is here, I sense of loss has lessened, but not the sense of God's movement!  God has his hand over our town (and my own family)!  Despite the devastating losses of property, our death toll was low!  For an F-4, that's pretty unbelievable!  God is doing new things in our town, in our faith family, and individually in our own hearts.  I can't speak for the whole community, but our faith family is going back to Scriptures, examining what our purpose should be, what we should be about, and how the Scriptures say to do it.  We have not been without our ups and down corporately since that time.  Our music minister had a massive heart attack after Thanksgiving, and we weren't sure he would survive it.  Our hearts cried out, "God, haven't we suffered enough?"  God healed him, and he has started leading us in music again just this month.  It feels so great to sing from the choir loft again!  While he was recovering, his wife, who's also our pianist, fell off the stage backwards and busted her head open.  She recovered completely too.  We've had others fall as well, to the point were we made it a church-wide "rule" that you have to stay vertical!  ;)  All of the injuries have been relatively minor.  I think God wants us to see that this is still a battle.  We haven't won, just because we didn't let the loss of our church building keep us from gathering to worship, we have to keep fighting, because Satan will not give up.  The enemy is real, and he wants to destroy us. (1 Peter 5:8b-Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.)  But, praise God, Jesus' words in John 16:33 are just as true! (John 16:33-I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.)  In Christ, we can overcome the world too!  


Romans 8:31-39
What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? ³³ Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died —more than that, who was raised to life —is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. ³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁶ As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;
    we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Leap Day (A Day Late)

Since the earth takes 365 1/4 days to orbit the sun, we add one day (February 29) to every fourth year.  At our house, we call this Leap Day.  Considering that my kids were all too young to remember anything we did 4 years ago on Leap Day (for that matter, I don't remember either), I started something new.  We ate backwards!  We frequently eat breakfast for dinner, so that wasn't too different, but dinner for breakfast?  Well, that's different.  We even ate dessert first!  Imagine my kids surprise when they wake up to the smell of cupcakes and see me making pizza.  "Pizza for breakfast?" they ask.  I just smile.  Then, I sit them down and give them all a cupcake.  "Huh?"  I answer, "Well, if you're going to eat backwards you have to start with dessert, right?"  Other than eating backwards, we didn't really do anything out of the ordinary.  Then, severe weather cancelled church, so we watched a movie together instead.  How do you celebrate Leap Day?

Oobleck Anyone?

Tenderheart's oobleck looks like Bartholomew's!

We love Dr. Seuss around here!  Since his birthday is Friday, we are celebrating all of his funtastic stories and reading a children's biography of him this week.  We will end our celebration on Friday with some other homeschool friends and some very Seussical foods!  (Followed immediately after by a celebration for Smiley, since her birthday is Thursday!)  Today, we read the first two chapters of his biography.  It has 10 chapters...perfect for 2 a day for a school week!  We also read two of his books today, If I Ran the Zoo and Bartholomew and the Oobleck.  We, of course, had a discussion about magic words and how they don't really exist, (except "Please", as Little Man was quick to remind me), and how only God can make things fall from the sky.  We then proceeded to go outside and make oobleck.  It is a glorious day here!  Shorts and t-shirts in late February!  The kids have made oobleck before, but they do not remember.  Genius that I am, I thought it would be a good rainy day, cooped up in the house activity a couple of years ago.  WRONG!!!  It created such mess that I have not ventured to make it again since, until now!  It was something I enjoyed immensely as a kid, and so, weather being what it is, we took our oobleck outside.  The Bru Crew is loving it too!  What is oobleck, you ask?  Well, I can't really say what Bartholomew's oobleck was, but ours is a simple mixture of cornstarch, water (that's what's in the orange soda bottle) and food coloring.  Mixed to the right consistency, it will resist pressure and be a solid when a force acts upon it, and turn back into liquid as soon as the force is released.  What is the right consistency?  I don't measure the ingredients, sorry!  I just put some cornstarch in a bowl, add water and stir.  Then we add more water or cornstarch based on how it stirs.  If it's barely a liquid even as we swirl, it needs more water.  If it doesn't clump when we stir, it needs more cornstarch.  You can probably google how to make it, and find someone's site with measurements.  It is quite fun to roll it into a ball, then let the ball sit in your hand and run through your fingers back into the bowl.  The Bru Crew struggled to mix in their food coloring.  How do you stir something that turns solid and breaks into chunks every time you stir it?  Well, they figured out that if you swirl the bowl, there is no force acting upon the oobleck and it remains liquid.  It takes a while to get the colors mixed in that way, but it works.  Ms. Quality Time is most perplexed!  "How does it do that?" she wants to know.  You can tell by her expression in the pictures that she's trying to figure it out.  :)  I spent half-an-hour working with them and it, and then I came in to post and take care of household responsibilities.  They are still at it, and having a blast!

My First Quilt

My first dabble in the world of quilting turned out differently than I expected!  BruCrewDad had strongly encouraged me to quilt, maybe even to sell them.  I struggled at first to figured out why.  I came to realize that my children are abundantly blessed in the clothes dept. and sewing clothes for them when I think we have too many already would be aggravating.  I do, however, find the hum of the sewing machine to be soothing, and the sense of accomplishment when a project is finished is incredible.  SO many of the things I do are LONG term projects (like raising children) or continuous projects (i.e.-dishes and laundry) that it is immensely satisfying to finish a project and for it to be complete and not need redoing!  When I'm stressed, I find concentrating on my seems fills my mind and blocks out all other things.  I will have to guard that this doesn't turn into an obsession.  For my first quilt, I bought precuts from my local shop where I get my sewing machine serviced.  There were tons of 5" squares for $10!!!!  It turns out that the quality of fabrics was not great, and the quilt has been quite frustrating at times.  I was also struggling with who my first quilt recipient should be.  BruCrewDad suggested donating it to our local thrift store.  Since I occasionally visit the local thrift stores looking for fun things to repurpose, I didn't think I could handle that.  What if they want to sell this quilt for $25?  What if it sits there for 3 years and no one wants it?  I began to pray about what to do with this quilt and for whomever would receive it as I pieced the top, and then, as I purchased the batting and the backing and began quilting it.  I feel led to give this quilt to my closest center for abused and battered women.  I figured they could use it, and I wouldn't have to wonder how much value had been placed on it at the local thrift store.  There is also a local crisis center for pregnant women to help them choose life for their unborn babies.  Maybe my next quilt will be a baby one!  My local craft shop has some cute pink and chocolate brown precuts, and I know just the project for them!  These fabrics are all the same quality, as opposed to what I bought before.  Before that though, I have some gifts I have to quilt, and I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of my fabrics by mail!  One of the things I'm making is a wedding gift, and I saw that the wedding is only 16 days away, so I hope it comes together quickly!

New Year: New Goals

As each year draws to a close, I take the time to ponder it, reflect upon what went well, and what didn't, what I can change, and what I cannot.  I am starting this new year with some new goals.  I am choosing to focus on what didn't work and what I can change to make it better.  I am starting my days with exercise, and taking the kids to the gym for P.E. first thing on school days.  It is my prayer that school will go better after we burn off some extra energy, and fitness is important.  I feel better when I'm active.  I have been avoiding the gym because there is a guy there who gives me the creeps, but I realized that we are spending way too much money each month on a FAMILY membership for one person in our family to use the facility!  My solution, work out some at home, and then exercise there with the kids.  If they are with me, the creepy guy might say hi, but that's the extent of it.  He's also a dad, so he's careful of what he says in front of the kids.  Included in my fitness goals are to run a total of 500 miles total this year.  BruCrewDad's running friends are aiming for 1000, and BruCrewDad himself is aiming for 1500, but that goal is too lofty for me.  If I run 10 miles a week, I will still have 2 weeks to be on vacation, sick, or have a headache.  (I can't run with a headache.)  Added to my fitness goal are my health goals of limiting my sugar intake and having a more set schedule (go to sleep/wake up at the same time).

I have house goals too.  I am working harder with the kids to put things away instead of "down."  I have been throwing things away.  (Little Man had a full 13 gallon garbage bag taken from his room last night!)

One thing that I can't claim as a goal that I have prayerfully set, and I don't know how long it will continue, but God has removed my desire to "read for fun."  Reading has always been my escape.  House stressing me out?  I find a quiet spot to read.  Kids making me crazy?  Go in the bathroom, lock the door and read.  If my mind was lost in the pages of a story, it didn't matter what else was going on.  God has changed the desire to escape it through books.  Now, when the house is stressing me out, we put on praise music and clean.  When the kids are making me crazy with their bickering, we sit down and the table and do a craft, or go to the gym and blow off some steam by running or throwing tennis balls at the wall as hard as we can.  Only God can do that in me!!!!  (This does not mean that I am not reading anything at all, just not reading much fiction right now.)

Lastly, and most importantly, I have set some goals for my relationship with the Lord.  I read my Bible regularly, but have never read the entire Bible cover to cover.  (To be honest, Leviticus bogs me down!)  I am reading a One Year Bible in the evenings before bed.  My goal this year is to read the whole Bible.  I am also reading a devotion with a verse with my morning OJ, and studying the names and attributes of God with my morning coffee.  I might also read another devotion book that I love the author of with my afternoon coffee.  I want Him to consume me!!!!

Have you reflected on last year?  Have you prayed over this year?  What is God wanting to do in you?  What is God wanting to do through you?  What is God wanting you to change?  Psalm 37:4 says "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." (NIV)  For a long time, I misunderstood that verse.  I thought if I just focused on God, He'd give me whatever I wanted.  God is not a genie in a bottle!  God has taught me that if I delight in Him, His desires will become my desires.  The desires of my heart will be the desires of His heart, and what I ask for, He will delight to give me, because they will reflect His nature, His purposes, and His glory.  That is my biggest goal for this year-to delight myself in Him.  What about you?  Do you delight in Him?

Candy School Day 1

In this time of year, when candy abounds, what could be better than finding a way to incorporate it into your school work?  Today, after we finished some of our "regular" school, I busted out the candy.  We copied a stanza of the poem "If Peas Could Taste Like Candy" by Crystal Bowman for our copywork, and then we did experiments with our candy.  Did you know that the white S on Skittles and the white m on M&M's do not dissolve in hot water?  If they remain together, they float to the top!

Notice the "m" floating at the surface of the water.  There are two of them.

We also separated out the colors from the M&M's and Skittles.   Here are our strips from our Chromatography experiment.  Notice that the purple Skittle on the far right and the brown M&M on the far left show more colors than just one.  We also did some math with candy, like count Reese's PB cups by twos (because there are two in a package) and multiplication because 4 small tootsie rolls equal a big one, so how many is __?  I have more experiments and literature up my sleeves.  We'll see how many days of candy 

 school we end up having!

 

Aspiring Novelist

I haven't figured out how to add Linkies to my blog, so here is my button!  Have you ever dreamed of writing a book, but can't find the time?  NaNoWriMo is the perfect solution....50,000 words in 30 days!   NaNoWriMo starts soon!  Preparations have already begun at our house.  We're getting excited!  The kids are participating too.  Their program is called the Young Writers Program.  The goal is to write a novel in a month.  The kids get to choose the number of their words (well, their teacher does, *cough, cough) and if they accomplish their word goals, they get a copy of their book, all published!  Additional copies can be purchased.  If you are participating in this, let me know.  We'll find each other on the forums to encourage each other!