I haven’t participated in this meme before, Blogger Friend School, which provides a weekly “blogging homework” theme. As I was browsing through some of the amazing blogs listed over at the HSB Awards, I clicked onto this week’s theme for the BFS, and was totally inspired to join in, since it goes hand in hand with thoughts and observations I’ve been having here in the last couple weeks anyways. Technically, I believe that the “assignment” is supposed to be posted on Tuesday?, but in my natural way, I’m posting mine a day two days late!
The passion to sing, the passion to draw, the passion to build, the passion to ride, the passion for reading, the passion for nature… the list is endless. Some children exhibit their passion from day one, others need an experience to spark that passion.
Assignment: Share a field trip/lifestyle learning experience where you really felt you were […]
Original post by Beth
One of the feeds I receive in my Google reader is a news feed from watch.org Today this post came through the feed with the following headline “Obama Redefines Christianity and Socialism As Election Nears” by Bill Wilson
WASH—Oct 28—KIN– A recent poll of voters indicated that Christians were about evenly split between supporting Republican John McCain or Democrat Barack Hussein Obama for President. It seems that McCain has convinced most Christians that he is a Christian, but not necessarily a strong enough Christian. Obama has convinced many that he is a Christian, however, his commitment to his faith by his actions is sorely lacking. Hence, its about 50/50 among Christians, who essentially determined the last two presidencies by their strong vote en masse for George W. Bush.
McCain tried to solidify the conservative Christian base by choosing Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate. While this solidified some of the […]
Original post by Jenny
I watched the 3rd Party Debates on C-Span night before last. It was so very refreshing to hear the issues discussed much more frankly, with pointed (true) conviction, without all of the rhetoric and pandering to mainstream America-Media, double-talking fluff. If you missed them, you can view them here on YouTube. We also caught John Stossel’s Politically Incorrect Guide to Politics on 20/20 last weekend, which I thought was pretty right-on and played right into our ongoing discussion with 12yo N, who’s taking a “Presidents & Politics” class at our homeschool co-op this year and has been following the elections this year via news, commentaries, watching debates and collecting political cartoons, along with his short written narrations of election news for a political notebook he’s keeping for his class. It’s been quite a learning experience for us all.
Yesterday Chris and I went and voted early… for Baldwin/Castle. Yep. I’m not […]
Original post by Beth
Although we may have brought forth some fruit and have a joyful hope that we are abiding in the vine, yet there are times when we feel very barren. Prayer is lifeless, love is cold, faith is weak, each grace in the garden of our heart languishes and droops. We are like flowers in the hot sun, desperately needing the refreshing shower. In such a condition what are we to do? The text is addressed to us in just such a state. “Sing, O barren one…break forth into singing and cry aloud.” (Isaiah 54:1) But what can I sing about? I cannot talk about the present, and even the past looks full of barrenness. I can sing of Jesus Christ. I can talk of visits that the Redeemer has paid to me in the past; or if not of these, I can magnify the great love with which He loved […]
Original post by carrie
Amy of Dandelion Seeds is inviting anyone who would like to commit to praying for the Drews family to please email her to sign up for a specific time, or just let her know that you’re praying, and she’ll then let the Drews know that so many are lifting them up. You may go to her post here to read more about it and to see what times are left. Her goal is to have every hour of a 24 hour day covered by Sept. 25, which will mark a month since they lost their precious baby boy, Christian Edward Drews.
I’m asking anyone interested in lifting Marsha and their family in prayer every day at a promised time until the 25th (marking one month since “Dozer” went to be with Jesus) to email me (amy@dandelionseeds.com) with the time you’ll be praying (please include your blog link if you have one […]
Original post by Beth
The evening before yesterday I was so sad to hear of the news that a precious homeschool family had lost their three year old little boy in a tragic accident. And so I went to bed praying for this mother, unable to fathom how her heart must be breaking… yet compelled to imagine what it must feel like, what her reality was even then- heart-wrenching and mind-numbing. The next morning I was stunned to learn that the mother I’d been praying for was none other than Marsha Drew, a fellow blogging friend that I used to keep up and share with very regularly. She has been on my mind and in my prayers continually these last few days, and how I’ve wanted to do something, to somehow just reach out and touch her across the miles, offer my sincerest love and support.
You may go and read a tribute to little […]
Original post by Beth
Yesterday was Tisha B’Av, which simply means the 9th day of the month of Av on the Hebrew calendar. Historically this is a very significant date which now commemmorates the destruction of the Temples of God’s people (both of which were destroyed on this exact day), and a time for grieving and fasting, symbolically grieving over the distance between ourselves and God… thus it’s also a time to meditate upon our own spiritual journeys, a time to ask God to direct us and show us the condition of our own heart and inner temple. To read more about this whole idea of a temple, you may read a wonderful article here, Does God Need a Temple?, which I just read this morning.
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If any one destroys God’s temple, God will destroy […]
Original post by Beth
Steven Curtis and Mary Beth Chapman appeared on Good Morning America this morning to talk about losing their 5-year-old daughter, Maria. You can watch the interview on YouTube.
I had intended to post about the rough day we had at our house. Somehow, after watching that, a delay in moving to a bigger house and a broken air conditioner are nothing. Nothing. I am so blessed. How dare I complain?
Original post by carrie
with the faith of a child… of such are the Kingdom of Heaven.
This will touch your heart! Logan, the Sky Angel Cowboy
ht: Jeff King
Original post by Beth
…in which I shall parallel post with Birdie, who does so often seem to exist in a universe parallel to my own…
This time, Birdie wrote a wonderfully insightful post here about spiritual sleepwalking. It’s deceptively short and sweet, encompassing so very much more than is apparent at first glance, so much of what I myself have been going through, but at a loss of words for… and partly why I haven’t blogged much lately (besides when I’m not just way busy). I guess that I can just relate to her post there on so many levels right now that I thought I ought to go ahead and post about it. Birdie, you’ve inspired me with words, which I’ve been so short of lately, hope that you don’t mind my hi-jacking your thoughts and running with them.
…sleepwalking, naturally momma.
First, on being up throughout the night with Baby S… and feeling like […]
Original post by Beth
Two more weeks of Bible study have gone past since my last blog post. Where has the summer gone? Last week we talked about repentance and forgiveness. We need to walk in repentance….even moment by moment. The Biblical concept of repentance is not a one time event as is so many times seen today in evangelistic crusades. John the Baptist talked about bearing fruit in keeping with repentance. The Prophets, the Jesus and Paul, yes even the Torah all talk about turning back to God. Jesus told those in His hearing to repent for the Kingdom of God was at hand. In the 2nd Temple period in which Jesus lived the Kingdom of God was the place in which God was King. When we allow God to reign and rule in our lives then the Kingdom of God is here in us. We need to repent and give up our […]
Original post by Jenny
Obviously, not blogging, heh. We’ve had some serious computer issues in the last few weeks. Our Mac has been out of commission for a couple of weeks now, and after downloading all of our files and pictures onto cd-roms while having it in safe mode (the only way it would even work- I am SO thankful to have been able to save my photos!!), and then a few nights of fruitless frustration as Chris tried to diagnose and fix it on his own via Mac-help forums- mr.mac is now in the shop. We’ve yet to hear back what’s wrong with it though, and hoping it’s not too much $$ to fix.
Meanwhile we’ve been dependent upon Chris’s ancient lap-top with it’s finicky wireless internet connection (which all last week wouldn’t even connect- at all!?) for any online access. It’s s-l-o-w too and thus, until now, I’ve not even attempted to get online for quite awhile. We’ve been so busy around here […]
Original post by Beth
99 degrees yesterday. 99 degrees today. Which made it a perfect weekend to spend one afternoon at the lake, and the other in an air-conditioned theater.
We headed up to the lake yesterday, bringing lunch and a van-load of floaties. Another family from our church was there, too, so Natalie was able to swim with a good friend, and we were able to get to know her parents a little better.
I’ve been having a hard time getting involved at our new church. Kevin’s not even attending much. I’ve posted before about our history with churches, and I don’t want to get into all of that again. I just wish we could find a church where politics and staying in a denominational bubble weren’t the norm.
Anyway, it was nice to get to know another couple from church. We’ve met some really nice people, and the children’s ministry has welcomed […]
Original post by carrie
I found a white hair on my head yesterday. Now, that’s not news - they’ve been showing up for a while now. The news is that this one had managed to make it to the length of the rest of my hair. Normally, I pluck them as soon as they spring from my scalp, wiry and slightly bent and refusing to blend in with the rest of my hair.
I’m only 35, and so far I haven’t had to deal with any of the worse symptoms of aging - except the normal stretching and falling of body parts that comes with four pregnancies. However, I have friends who are older than me, some of them much older, and watching as they suffer some of the more difficult aspects of aging is heartbreaking.
I lost a dear friend to abdominal cancer three years ago. (I posted about Beve here, here, and here.) […]
Original post by carrie
Randy Pausch answered this question and delivered the answer to his students at his final lecture. A lot of good stuff in it - and a wake up call for many.
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For a shorter vision, go here: http://video.stumbleupon.com/#p=ithct48cqw
HT: Tina at Starry Sky Ranch
Original post by taffyisme
In Deaths of Five Children, a Friendship is Born of Forgiveness - NY Times.
For more than a quarter mile, Clifford Helm veered in his pickup truck through a grassy median and oncoming traffic. What finally stopped him was another pickup truck, the one carrying Jeffrey Schrock and his five children.
Carmen, 12, Jana, 10, Carinna, 8, Jerryl, 4 and Craig, 2, were killed in the collision. Mr. Schrock, who had been taking the children to join their mother on some errands, had multiple broken bones.
Now, more than two years after the accident, Mr. Helm has been acquitted on charges of vehicular homicide. Mr. Schrock says he has accepted that he may never know exactly what happened or why. He also says he has a friend he did not have before, Mr. Helm.
“The primary bond there is the accident,” Mr. Schrock said. “We’re both injured by that, physically and mentally.”
Last […]
Original post by carrie
Have a blessed Easter.
Original post by carrie
When Katy at Fallible announced that she now had an agent to help guide her literary career, I was so very happy for her. I also started reading her agent’s blog. She gives great writing advice (like this), and she’s also hosting The Yo-Dawg-Show-Me-What-You-Got Double Decker CHALLENGE. There are two parts to the competition: submit the first line of a novel - a first line that will make her want to keep reading; second, after she chooses the winning first line, submit the first 300 words to go with the winning first line. If you’re a writer, the prize is something all unpublished writers pine after, so please click over and check out all the details. The deadline for the first phase is Saturday at midnight her time, so don’t wait.
Now, onto a totally different and completely unrelated topic: colonoscopies. Yes, I know, not what you expect from my blog. […]
Original post by carrie
Remember these miracle babies?
Well, here they are about a month ago (or two?!) now… cute as can be!
Babies S & V
Isn’t our heavenly Father just amazing? I squeeze this girl and thank Him for her, N and T every day. I can hardly believe that baby V has a tooth already and is already tasting new foods! Baby S has quite a few new tricks lately too… let’s see, where to start? She seems to be changing so much every day!
She loves to grab her feet and try to stick them in her mouth, along with everything else. She’s gotten very good at picking things up and then retrieving them once she’s dropped them. She reaches out to touch everything now. She is noticeably interested in her board books, grabs the pages and turns them (well it seems like she’s turning them anyways! and stares intently at the […]
Original post by Beth
Remember these two miracle babies?
Well, here they are about a month (or two?!) ago now… cute as can be!
Babies S & V
Isn’t our heavenly Father just amazing? I squeeze this girl and thank Him for her, N and T every day. I can hardly believe that baby V has a tooth already and is already tasting new foods! Baby S has quite a few new tricks lately too… let’s see, where to start? She seems to be changing so much every day!
She loves to grab her feet and try to stick them in her mouth, along with everything else. She’s gotten very good at picking things up and then retrieving them once she’s dropped them. She reaches out to touch everything now. She is noticeably interested in her board books, grabs the pages and turns them (well it seems like she’s turning them anyways! and stares intently at […]
Original post by Beth
What are you doing this New Year’s Eve 2007? I am sitting on the couch with my new laptop, watching the kids jump and sing and dance along with their High School Musical game on their new Playstation 2. They are happy, especially since their daddy told them they could stay up until midnight to welcome the New Year. Without asking their mommy. He’s the crazy one - I’ll probably head in to bed, and he’ll be up. And he’s still getting over the flu. He did, however, take a long nap in a quiet house this afternoon while the kids and I were visiting at Michelle’s.
I’m also listening to the song Revival from the CD Revival in Belfast by Robin Marks. We found a new church home this year. It has been nearly two years since we left our old church home. And yet, as soon as this song […]
Original post by carrie
Blue homespun and the bend of my breast keep warm this small hot star fallen to my arms.
(Rest…You who have had so far to come.)
Now nearness satisfies the body of God sweetly.
Quiet He lies whose vigor hurled a universe.
He sleeps whose eyelids have not closed before.
His breath (so slight it seems no breath at all) once ruffled the dark deeps to sprout a world.
Charmed by dove’s voices, the whisper of straw, He dreams, hearing no music from His other
spheres.
Breath, mouth, ears, eyes… He is curtailed who overflowed all skies, all years.
Older than eternity, now He is new.
Now native to earth as I am, nailed to my poor planet, caught that I might be free,
Blind in my womb to know my darkness ended,
Brought to this birth for me to be new-born,
And for Him to see me mended, I must see Him torn.
~Luci Shaw
Original post by carrie
God. Infant - God. Heaven’s fairest child. Conceived by the union of divine grace with our disgrace. Sleep well.
Sleep well. Bask in the coolness of this night bright with diamonds. Sleep well, for the heat of anger simmers nearby. Enjoy the silence of the crib, for the noise of confusion rumbles in your future. Savor the sweet safety of my arms, for a day is soon coming when I cannot protect you.
Rest will, tiny hands. For though you belong to a king, you will touch no satin, own no gold. You will grasp no pen, guide no brush. No, your tiny hands are reserved for works more precious:
to touch a leper’s open wound,
to wipe a widow’s weary tear,
to claw the ground of Gethsemane.
Your hands, so tiny, so tender, so white - clutched tonight in an infant’s fist. They aren’t destined to hold a scepter nor wave from a palace balcony. […]
Original post by carrie
What’s your besetting sin? I know, I know, we’re Christians, we’re supposed to be perfect and never struggle with anything anymore. But let’s get real for a minute. What is it? Lust? Gluttony? Addictions? Laziness? Worry? Anger? Unforgiveness?
What if someone could give you a magic pill that would make it disappear - you would never struggle with that sin again? Would you take it? Now, think about it for a minute. If you take it, the desire to sin in that area is gone. But, so is your need to trust in God’s grace for that part of your life. That puts a new wrinkle on things, doesn’t it?
That decision is what faces Riley Keep in The Cure. Riley is battling alcoholism, and as devastating as that addiction is, that isn’t his worst demon. He has returned to Dublin, Maine, to seek a mythical cure he keeps hearing about, […]
Original post by carrie
Since we got rid of our DirecTV, I asked my mom to record Shrek the Halls on ABC last night. We watched it this evening. In the beginning, Shrek has no interest in Christmas. When he discovers that it is important to Fiona, he storms into town to find out how to give her a Christmas. He’s given a book called “Christmas for the Village Idiot” that explains, step-by-step, how to have Christmas. The last step is “tell the Christmas story.” I thought, Wow! A modern holiday special that actually includes the Christmas story? Cool! I should have known better.
You want to know what the Christmas story was? ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. Now, I love the classic Christmas poem as well as the next person, but calling this the Christmas story? Later, when Shrek admits that he has never had a Christmas before and he doesn’t know what it […]
Original post by carrie
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