The Project are Coming!!

What is that I hear?...
The sound of school books slamming shut, the children are scurrying about gathering their projects while chanting "Do hard things, do hard things!"

STOP!!!!!

A side explanation for school parents: I am not dreaming this stuff up. This did happen in our home today, and similar events happen frequently in the homes of home-educated families across the nation. You need to know this!

Okay back to my story...

I AM very happy to hear this type of chanting, but I'll have to admit it makes me feel panicky inside because it means the projects are coming out of their closets and drawers. This is scary to a momma who likes to be neat and organized.

With all of this creative ingenuity brewing and stewing around here, mostly in the form of child-led PROJECTS, comes a need for table space.

Being the aesthetically sensitive and dreadfully frugal person that I am, thrift store stalking has been my main strategy for finding attractive and affordable tables to fill the bill. Months have passed by and I have not found what is needed. Plan B--which should have been Plan A--was to look around in our garage for ideas. Here is what we came up with:

This is a plastic foldaway table that my sister-in-law gave me. It is 48X24, the perfect size for this corner in my kitchen. A great spot for Alexey to decorate cakes or for other cooking projects. I plan to make a skirt it soon, and should transform to look something like this:

This is another 48X24 plastic table. I really like this size. I made a table skirt equipped with velcro so that it is detachable. I LOVE that it hides a wash tin which I use to give Aaron baths so the kitchen looks less cluttered. He likes to get under it and play, so it entertains him while I do kitchen work. I use this table to keep produce and homemade baked good out for the kids to snack on. It is also a great spot for my picnic basket filled with cloth napkins and bibs. A real multi-tasker! Cute, too!

This is in our library, and it is where the girls do a good deal of their school work. Looks like Catherine is putting a model covered wagon together. Here I took a large plastic folding table and covered it with some of our maps. I then covered it with a clear shower curtain and voila. They are learning more geography than ever, too. Oh, look... Catherine's glue stick is staking its claim in Oklahoma.

I threw this photo in for kicks. This little fellow loves when the girls rock him in this cradle even though he is too big for it.

Follow Your Heart?

Follow your heart.

Have you ever received this advice? This is probably the most frequent and WORST advice ever given!

One of my favorite statements in the movie Fireproof, one made by Caleb's friend at work, was that we should not be led by our heart, but rather we should LEAD our heart.

Don't listen to me or an actor in a movie. What does God say?

Jer 17:9 "The heart [is] deceitful above all [things], And desperately wicked; Who can know it?"

According to God, we must not be led by the feelings of our hearts. Our hearts are wicked and WILL lead us astray. If you feel that you are on a road to nowhere, and you never make any ground toward your dreams and goals, perhaps it is because you are following your heart.

Let us try instead to follow God's heart which is perfect and true.

Fireproof Your Marriage

My most excellent, wonderful, extraordinary, deer-slaying, funny-man husband who I love more than life itself, my one and only, bought the Fireproof movie for me last night. He wants me to add that he best daddy our kids could ever have. P.S. He is hungry. (He helped me write this first paragraph, and doesn't think I will post it. I'll show him!)

The movie is excellent! It is packed with many truths about marriage! Hubby and I were this couple in the years 1996 and 1997. It was great to watch a movie testify our own personal experience. We had forgotten how blessed we are that Christ would work in our lives as he has.

Although we did not have the advice of our parents like Caleb Holt, we DID seek a good Bible-teaching church that led us in the right direction. Thank-you, Cropwell Baptist! This church was such a great resource of positive influence for us. Here, we were taught that Christ is the ONLY way, and it is true! If you are having trouble in your marriage, and you do not have the support of Christian influence, please seek a Christ-centered church that can help you! And PLEASE get this movie!

I think you can get the Love Dare book too. - http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no=448856&netp_id=553299&event=ESRCN&item_code=WW&view=covers

We will have it soon!

Let Us Have an Eye to Eye

Here is something in my life that needs improvement.

Often my children come to me when I am cooking, cleaning, reading, blogging, and I never take my eyes off of my project while I communicate with them. The Lord has convicted me about this. I will stop what I am doing and afford them my full attention with my eyes, hears and my heart.

Psa 32:8	I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.
Psa 33:18	Behold, the eye of the LORD [is] upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy.

Apparently, the Lord likes to keep His eye on us as well.

Oh look... here comes a little one now. Time to practice!

Who is the first and best of beings?

This is the first question we are answering in our catechism. Before I read the answer, I like to try to answer it, testing myself on how well I know the doctrine of the Scriptures. This one is easy.

Answer: God is the first and best of beings.

Scripture proofs: Isaiah 44:6; Psalm 8:1; 96:4; 97:9, 1 Samuel 2:2

Teach these to your children. These Scriptures are powerful. Knowing exactly who God is can give children a great sense of peace, and bring this into a state of praise and awe for over their Creator. Children praising the Lord gives Satan a first class beating!

I am Catechizing My Children

Well... Catechizing is a practice that has been familiar to those of the past, but it is not so common these days, at least not that I am aware of. In History's past, children studies catechisms so that they may accurately know the the doctrine of the Scriptures, and avoid deception. Now, I suppose that programs like Awanas are a lighthearted form of catechizing. But, may I dare to point out that these popular church programs are elementary compared to what our ancestors learned and understood.

What is it?
Catechize comes from the Greek word katecheo which is translated "to indoctrinate" or " inform, instruct, teach".

It is used here: Luke 1:4 "That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed."

And here: Acts 18:25 "This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John."

A catechism is a list of questions, their answers and their scripture proofs in a logical order for memorization. We are using a Baptist Catechism that is patterned after the reformed Westminster Catechism. Here is the link: http://www.desiringgod.org/AboutUs/OurDistinctives/ABaptistCatechism/

This is a picture of Prudence catechizing Christiana's children
in John Bunyan's Christiana, Part II of Pilgrim's Progress.

I am interested to know if others are catechizing their children or themselves. If so, which one are you using and why? Please comment.

Tongue Twister

This is our newest child, Aaron. He was 1 year in December. One might wonder why I am posting pictures of him sticking out his tongue. It is because he is tongue-tied. His frenulum is so tethered that it could not be snipped, at least not until he is older. He has never stuck his tongue out, even as an infant. The good news is that he can talk well for his age.

This picture was taken this morning. As you can see, he doesn't get his tongue past his lips, and the second picture shows the heart shape, formed from the tethering.

We are proud that he is trying to get that little tongue out. Maybe he can loosen his frenulum some. Good job, Aaron!

To Godly Women!!

Please understand that I am not posting this as a celebration to myself or even to the female gender. Mostly, I am posting it because Gaius gives a great description of the wonderful ministry of womanhood/motherhood which is barely uttered in these times. Blessed Women, we have lost our vision.

I love this exert by John Bunyan's Pilgram's Progress part II, otherwise known as Christiana.

A Toast to Women (As spoken by Gaius)

Gaius: "Hear me as I speak these few words on behalf of women to take away their reproach, for as death and the curse came into the world by a woman, so also did life and health. God sent forth His Son made of a woman. Yea the women of the Old Testament coveted children, and why? So that they perchance might become the mother of the Savior of the world, and thus help undo the sin of their mother, Eve.

And I will say again when the Savior was come, a woman rejoiced over Him before either man or angel. I read not that a man ever gave unto Christ so much as a piece of bread, but the women followed Him and ministered to Him of their substance. Twas a woman that washed His feet with tears and annointed His body to the burial. They were women that followed Him from the cross and that sat across from the sepulchre when He was buried. They were women that were first with Him at His resurrection and women that brought tidings first to His disciples that He was risen from the dead.

Women, therefore, are highly favored and show by these things that they are sharers with men in the grace of life. Yea, in these days the mother who trains her children for Christ is as truly working for God as is the minister in the pulpit."

Christiana: "Thank you, friend Gaius. Sometimes it seems to us women that we accomplish so little."

Gaius: "Nay, it is not so. Though the results of her work are not apparent, angels of God are watching the careworn mother; noting the burden she carries from day to day.

Her name may never receive the honor and applause of the world as may that of husband and father, but it is immortalized in the book of God.

She is doing what she can, and her position in God's sight is more exalted than that of a king upon his throne. For she is dealing with character. She is fashioning minds."

TO GODLY WOMEN!!