Heartfelt Academy

2012-01-09T19:32:00.004-05:00

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

II Corinthians 9:15
Christmas Day was on Sunday this year! Oh how I would love to go to church every Christmas Day! I want to share, and tuck away in my archives some of the things I learned this Christmas.

At a very young age, some children are told this lie: "Santa Claus will bring you lots of gifts if you're good!" The innoscent child sits upon the lap of the jolly false god and asks for those things that he really doesn't need,or perhaps some ask for noble things, such as a sick family member to be well or for mom and dad not to divorce. Santa does not give any gift, let alone a good gift. He is a LIE.

While shopping I watched a father and young daughter walk together hand in hand. The little girl looks up trustingly to her dad and asks, "Is that the real Santa Claus daddy?" Her dad replied, "No, it is one of his helpers."

This post was not meant to be about Santa, but am using him to prove a point.

My post is about Jesus! and the fact that JESUS died for us becaues we are naughty! We are such awful wretched people that even our best of deeds is as of filthy rags!

We must come to Him as a little child. An infant that has nothing, but a sinful nature to offer to the Lord. A child trusts and puts their faith in a promise they can't see. We must come to Him w/ nothing for we have nothing to offer and we must have faith in what we cannot see!

What are we to do then? Are we to be good boys and girls? What if, even after acceptin His indescribable gift of salvation, we are naughty? NO. We always have been and we allways will be NAUGHTY! Only Christ makes us righteous before a Holy God.

What then? Should I try and look like my sister who wears a covering over her long hair that shears have never touched? That looks righteous. Maybe I should wear dresses ALL the time. I definitely shouldn't watch that, go there, eat this or drink that! And I definitely need to visit the widows and orphans, give alms to the poor, offer myself to any and all areas to serve the church. I shall teach Sunday School, serve food to the ill, volunteer for VBS, scrub the toilets and offer myself to any other opportunity to serve! Surely this is what I am to do. I have to be good to get a gift, don't I? It all "looks" like righteousness. Perhaps by some peoples standards it is righteousness. To some It looks "puffed up". How can I please everyone?

What is my heart motive to do any of the above? Is it to win the favor of men? Could I ever please all men at all times?

It certainly doesn't win favor with God. He's already loved me as much as He ever will. He gave His life for me while I was still an unbelieving sinner, and now I'm just a forgiven sinner. I still can't make Him love me anymore.

If I do any of the above I pray it would be from a motive in my heart to be a faithful testimony to the world and to my brothers and sisters in Christ. If I wear a skirt all day long, only to be smug and judgmental to those who don't, what have I accomplsihed? Dressing modestly should be done with a heart that desires not to see my brother stumble. Taking upon an appearance of the world may cause my brother and sister to stumble. But aking upon the appearance of righteousness with wrong heart movites can become a stumbling block as well.

Forgive me Lord for the deeds I have done to the glory of self. Forgive me for my self-righteous movites. Because you love me so much, help me to love You with sincerity of heart. I pray you would stir me up to good works and help me to do these things in secret. Help me to be a faithful testimony to my brothers and sisters and to those who need to accept your indescribable gift.

HELP me LORD! To see your Grace. To know that I am already seated with you in heavenly places. Then I can walk with you side by side in purity of heart and mind.

Feast of Tabernacles

2011-10-19T21:27:00.007-04:00

Our first Feast of Tabernacles was an amazing blessing to both our family and the family we shared the celebration. What is the Feast of Tabernacles? And why did we celebrate?

God commanded Moses to instruct the Israelites to keep the Feast of Tabernacles:

You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All who are native Israelites shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God. Leviticus 23:40-43

The Jewish people still celebrate this feast in Jerusalem. We are not native Israelites, but we are grafted in and wanted to build a booth (Sukkot Sue-coat) and celebrate this feast so our children would remember God’s mighty hand during the Exodus and wanderings in the Wilderness. The timeliness of this feast fit perfectly into this year’s Biblical history studies. My dear friend and I collaborated ideas from suggestions we read on how Christians can celebrate this Feast.

I did not take a lot of pictures during the festivities as I wanted to focus on the events, prayers and blessings. I did take a picture of our Sukkot.

We all said a prayer and blessing to God before entering our Sukkot. My friend and I took turns lighting the candles on the table. One candle represents creation and the other represents redemption. Then we all had a seat and began eating our traditional American Thanksgiving feast. We had turkey, gravy, dressing, potatoes, squash, bread, cranberries, bread, and milk and honey cake for dessert.

And a yummy fruit platter! It was so beautiful I had to take a picture of it. Notice the Star Fruit! This was the first time we all had this fruit.

After our meal we had a prayer and blessing for God’s bountiful provisions.

The next part of our ceremony was the water offering. Three-year-old Mikey poured out a picture of water onto the ground and Sweetness recited this scripture.

And in that day thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of Salvation. Isaiah 12:1-3

We offered a blessing of thanks to God for the rain that causes seedtime and harvest and then we each told God what we are thankful for.

Lastly the children took their Lulav’s ...

And you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, the boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. Leviticus 23:40

… and ran jubilantly around the Sukkot seven times. I was so blessed by their joyful inhibited praise before the Lord. I think King David would have been delighted. We asked them to sing a song afterwards in which they breathlessly complied.

Our final blessing and scripture was recited before calling it an evening.

Zechariah 14:16
And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of host, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.

Hope to see you there!

Shaken Up

2011-10-14T18:17:00.006-04:00

This school year began with a shaky start. Literally. Everyone was asking, “Where were you when the earth shook?” Our story is not quite as interesting as my friend who was on an amusement park ride and had no clue an earthquake occured until after they closed the park down. The East Coast earthquake on August 23, 2011, was the third yet strongest quake I have felt thus far.

Sweetness was upstairs talking to a friend on the phone. Cutie Pie and I were downstairs playing board games. When the rumbling began I thought, "Is that a low flying helicopter or thunder or is Sweetness dancing, or jumping upstairs?" But the rumble became louder then the shake, rattle and roll. Cutie Pie asked, “What’s happening mama?”

When I realized it was a significant earthquake I cried out to the Lord, “I love you Lord, and I know you’re in control.” My mind's eye replayed the footage I viewed of the Haiti earthquake and how the walls and roofs caved in on the helpless people and realized, “We need to get outside.” In the meantime Sweetness was ascending down the trembling stairs loudly asking her friend, “Are you ok?” Her friend was feeling the quake too and was trying to get her dog outside with the rest of her family.

I calmly led the children to the door, opened it to exit when our dog darted inside. Of course I had to make her go back out and once we were all outside the earthquake subsided. We walked around the house to see if there was any damage to the foundation and waited a few minutes before entering our house again. Whew...

The phone started ringing. Within seconds we knew it was a 5.9 earthquake centered in Mineral, Virginia. Treasure Hunter, who was driving, did not feel the earthquake. But he had the pleasure of feeling some pretty good aftershocks.

It wasn’t until a month later that I found some knick-knacks that had fallen off a mantle shelf downstairs. Other than that I am so very thankful that we are safe and our home is sound. And regardless of what the USG website says, I do believe that earthquakes are increasing in frequency and intensity. A sign Jesus told us to look for when the days of His return would approach. In that case, rock on earth!

The hail storm that occurred just two days later had us running to the basement! Ping Pong ball size hail pelted our house for several minutes! I wonder what kind of winter we'll have this year?

I'm almost up to speed on this blog and hope to have some exciting and interesting events to blog this weekend. So before I go let me say,

We love Nags Head for more reasons than one!

Summer 2011 Reflections

2011-08-21T16:02:00.016-04:00

It’s that time of year again! I should be putting the finishing touches on our school room. Before we hit the books, I want to post the highlights of our summer and the wishes for the upcoming school year.

This year’s vacation was spent in my hometown of West Virginia. My mom celebrated her 80th birthday this year, so my seven siblings and I gathered to wish her a Happy Birthday. She was delighted to have all 8 children gathered together for her 80th birthday. We took lots of pictures!

One of my mom’s birthday wishes was to go bowling, so my sister surprised her with a trip to the bowling alley. She was very surprised!

My mom is a coal miner’s daughter, so we insisted she take a tour of the Exhibition Coal Mine with us. The trip was more informative and entertaining with her by our side. She remembered a lot of details from the days of growing up in a coal camp.

Actual homes of coal miners, a school, and a church were relocated to the exhibition grounds to form a coal camp for tourists to visit. In the larger superintendent’s house some of the bedrooms were transformed into an early 1900’s doctor’s office, barber shop, and post office. My mom remembers having her hair curled with this machine!

We also toured the church. Here’s Cutie Pie pictured beside his latest infatuation. He really wants one for Christmas.

Our family stayed in a cozy cabin that was conveniently located near a beautiful lake and park. We had several cookouts and I was able to talk to my brother and his family (whom I have not seen for 13 years). We had wonderful good conversations about the Lord and I am so thankful God afforded me an opportunity to sew some seeds. Now to stay in touch w/ some water, and fertilizer : )

I have to show you this picture of the beautiful rock ledges located just behind our cabin.

Before summer’s end we celebrate my birthday!

Here’s wishing for a wonderful school year!

Hey catch that boy before he gets away.

A Friend Once Told Me

2011-08-15T21:01:00.000-04:00

Praying for God to act/help in your child's life means you have to stay out of the way when He does!!
When HE acts it very well could be painful for your child, indeed...BUT-
nothing makes us cry out to God like pain and suffering.
Parents must stop 'protecting' their children from the pain and suffering caused by their choices, or they will never 'cry out to God'.

Spring Happenings

2011-05-02T20:03:00.012-04:00

Well let me see where did I leave off? Ah yes, Cutie Pie's birthday celebration. Well since then we had a 2 week battle with the FLU! It was AWFUL, but praise the Lord we recovered and the next two viruses the children caught were a walk in the park ; )

Spring always comes early in VA and it is very hard to stick to the books!! So I won't bore you with school work, because,

baby chicks have hatched!

That is just one of the seven that Mama Sarah hen hatched two weeks ago.

Then Treasure Hunter went to Tractor Supply for lawn mower oil and walked out with these:

there are fish to be caught! Sweetness' trophy fish caught entirely by herself!

doll houses to be built for the kids (by Treasure Hunter)

Eve thinks it is her house!

She does look quite cmfortable don't you think?

OK we really need to get back to square roots, compound sentences, lymphatic system, the Wright Brothers... just as soon as we finish painting

Thank you Lord for the privilege to HOMESCHOOL!

Happy Birthday Cutie Pie

2011-02-17T20:14:00.009-05:00

Realizing that a winter storm could thwart his birthday plans, Cutie Pie sulkingly said, “I wish I had a summer brithday.”

“We can’t change your birth date but how about if we bring a little summer to your birthday? Would you like to go to the to the beach for your birthday?”

LET THE PARTY BEGIN!

So how does one celebrate their birthday at the beach in February? For starters you can eat pizza in your pajamas while watching a Toy Story marathon.

Enjoy the hotel’s indoor pool -- all to yourself.

Feed the seagulls from the safety of your ocean front balcony

Go bike riding on the boardwalk.

Shop for the largest seashell you can find.

And other unnecessary items...

And that was Cutie Pie's GRAND Birthday at the Beach.

(The toy gun beside Cutie Pie was his Goodwill purchase. Treasure hunting is something else to do at the beach in the winter).

Tinkering and Tweeking

2011-01-23T17:57:00.000-05:00

It runs!

Recovery

2011-01-19T22:25:00.005-05:00

Treasure Hunter's latest trash pit recovery!

Stay tuned...

Sometimes God Answers YES!

2011-01-08T17:35:00.013-05:00

My children have been attending "Read to the Dogs" program at a local library one time per month. Sweetness is a dog lover and she especially likes Dobermans. She
told me, "I am going to pray and ask God to send a Doberman to the library tomorrow."

And of course Cutie Pie loves everything sister loves!

The star of the day is Jasmine. A very well behaved, certified therapy dog.

Jasmine's owner, Gail, breeds Dobermans. Gail invited us to visit her next litter of puppies when they are born. This will be a wonderful opportunity and learning experience for us all. I'm sure Sweetness will be praying for her very own Doberman. And I am so thankful that sometimes God answers "wait" when we pray.

All the way home we sang, Sometimes God answers "yes" when we pray. Sometimes God answers "wait" when we pray. Sometimes God answers "no" just because He loves us so. Sometimes God answers "YES" when we pray!

First Hike of 2011

2011-01-03T21:50:00.014-05:00

On New Year's day we went for a walk and what did we see?

Let us climb up and explore!

The Indians used this place on this enormous rock for grinding!

2010-12-07T08:01:00.003-05:00

We enjoyed the most delightful luncheon with a very special person yesterday. Sweetness asked if we could invite Hannah over for a tea party and I try and make all my little girl's request possible. Sweetness was so helpful in helping to prepare for our special guest. We decided to use our Christmas dishes and table cloth.

Hannah arrived with a beautiful bag of gifts for us to share. WE put the candle she brought in the center of our table. We all ate a delicious lunch of chicken salad, veggie tray, cheese ball, and fruit salad. The children were so very well behaved practicing the Rules of Civility we have been copying.

Hannah was homeschooled in her latter years and is an accomplished violinist. I asked what was her inspiration and motivation in learning violin. She replied she was blessed to live in a home full of musicians, that she joined an orchestra and yearned to progress to the top, and that her dad told her to always "do your best; don't try to out perform someone else, just do your best as unto the Lord not men."

We also talked of how the violin is probably one of the hardest instruments to learn and the piano would be the easiest. Hannah said that practice was really key in mastering any instrument. She said she never finished Algebra 1 as her time was spent with her violin.

We spent several hours talking and getting to know each other better. I am so thankful to God for blessing us with a Holy Spirit filled group of people from our church to encourage and admonish us.

Visiting Mt Vernon

2010-11-10T21:53:00.003-05:00

We braved the traffic and visited Mt. Vernon on Homeschool Day. I was delighted to see so many homeschoolers turn out for this event. We even managed to see a family we knew. Unfortunately my camera was not charged, because somebody (ehem) unplugged my camera charger unbeknownst to me.

The tour of the home was quick. You could not appreciate the swiftness of the tour, unless you were the one standing outside waiting. Nonetheless, it was full of bedrooms that hosted the many visitors Washington received. Not to undermine the nostalgia of this home, but once you've seen one historic home, you've seen them all. Though I peered into Mr. Washington's bedroom I thought it rude to intrude on his privacy, although curiosity would have killed me if I were denied the privilege.

The view from the front yard was breathtaking! The home was pefectly situated overlooking the Potomac River. The autumn leaves still cast their hues upon the landscape and reflected their glory on the river. We truly enjoyed the walk around the gardens and more than a camera wished I had pen and paper to copy the beautiful, poetic, quotations of Mr. Washington. We learned that he really desired to be a farmer and had wonderful ideas like a natural fence of trees to keep the deer away.

The most treasured moment was Sweetness paying tribute to Mr. Washington by placing a red carnation at his tombsite.

We've had a really good time reading about George Washington this week. I was thinking we should have read about him before our trip. However, the visit to Mt. Vernon peaked the children's interest and now they listen tentatively and beg for more.

One thing that strikes me in our research is George Washington's education. His formal learning began at age eleven. He basically taught himself by doing copywork and reading. He spent a lot of time outdoors. Then at age 16 he found his grandfather's surveying tools and started his own surveying business. Quite the stark contrast of what we subject our youth to in today's education system.

One unsettling, undetermined question pervades me. Was George Washington a Christian? Will Mr. Washington be in heaven, well, I don't know. I wouldn't be surprised if it couldn't be so.

Patience Pays!

2010-10-03T15:07:00.002-04:00

Catch of the day!

Something to Miss

2010-09-25T16:48:00.029-04:00

Thank you Lord for a safe and fun vacation this year!

Hurricane Igor greeted us at the Outer Banks of North Carolina! Though Igor was many miles west (I mean EAST) of us the wind, waves, and high surf reminded us of its presence. But that didn't stop two very anxious kids from sitting at the edge of the tide.

This is the view from our oceanfront beach house.

Here is Sweetness alongside Treasure Hunter! They're scouting the waters for sea shells! Look how tall she is!

Once Igor moved north we went from sipping hot tea to guzzling iced tea! I have never seen the sea so calm. Treasure Hunter took Cutie Pie on a trek far out into the ocean!

We visited the Albemarle Sound where the kids enjoyed swimming in knee deep water and pretended to be settlers making thatched roof homes.

We were estatic when we learned our friends would be vacationing the same time. We spent a day at their place and they spent a day at ours!

Here we are having lunch!

Here are the kids posing for me! Cutie Pie is exhibiting the whelk shell that he spied with his two little eyes, reached down and grabbed before the sea reclaimed it.

I prefer the beach in the late afternoon, when the house provides shade, the water reflects the sunset, and the moon is rising. The moon makes the water glisten like silver!

We decided to begin our journey home on Friday evening. We prefer traveling at night with less traffic and having all day Saturday at home. We were so thankful to be home this morning. We were reminiscing of our trip and also talking of next year's vacation. Sweetness and I discussed a mountain cabin in the cool mountains surrounded by trees with a lake where we could go boating, fishing, swimming. Geesh, we just described where we live! Sometimes you have to miss something before you realize how precious it is. There is something to miss no matter where you are!

Visitation

2010-09-04T17:50:00.004-04:00

Our first "official" volunteer visit to the nursing home went really well. We first met Mrs. Z who I will describe as a very dignified lady. She is crippled with arthritis, but has a very good mind. She told us about her family and we were so excited that we knew her family! She even remembers their birth months. Her eyesight is failing and welcomed us to read scripture to her. I asked if she'd like to hear a particular passage, and she said, "It is ALL good." So Sweetness began in Genesis 1. I asked Mrs. Z what did God do on day 7 and she said, "Rested." We prayed with her before leaving and said we'd be back, Lord willing for church service on Saturday.

Then we met with Mrs. E. She too was eager to meet us and asked us to take her to the activities room. There we read from the book of John and Mrs. E proclaimed she was born again! Sweetness sang Leaning on the Everlasting Arms! That child has a beautiful voice and is not the least bit shy! I asked Mrs. E if she was from Madison and she said, "No I'm from West Virginia!" You could imagine the wonderful good conversation that detail sparked.

We were on our way after this visit; looking forward to Saturday.

Saturday came quickly enough and although we camped out Friday night I set my cell phone alarm so we could get up early enough to attend the church service. Saturday mornings at the nursing home with our church is quite different than our Thursday visit. You take the initiative to go door to door asking residents if they'd like to go to church.

One precious lady was sitting in the hall. I had not seen her before. I asked if she'd like to come to church and she said, "No, honey I can't. I'm going home today. My sons are coming to pick me up if I can ever get ahold of them. See I have all my things packed, because they gave my room to somebody else."

Church service was delightful with good preaching and song. Our Pastor has an amazing voice that the hearing impaired residents appreciate! The children, my two and two other precious ones, sang a song. I was soooo surprised Cutie Pie sang with them! A number of residents joined in the songs! I was amazed at how many knew all the words when I had to look at the hymnal.

Lunchtime is next and we take some of the residents back to their rooms, while others stay in the dining room for lunch. It is always sooo hard to say goodbye. Mrs. Z was thankful to get back to her warm room. And the lady who was waiting for her sons to pick her up was still waiting in the hall. I talked with her a good bit and just can't understand why she's there. She appears to be in goood health. She can walk and doesn't look that old. She told me where she lived, told me her sons names... Sweetness sang for her and we were soon on our way with promises to return again soon.

Thursdays will be our visitation day. We will visit with Mrs. Z and Mrs. E, but also ask to visit with the dear ladies we remember from church. I began this visitation for Sweetness, and again, my daughter never ceases to lead me into the greatest blessings! For I am more thankful today for a home to clean, children to feed and a Savior that will return to set everything aright once more!

School Begins

2010-09-01T20:33:00.005-04:00

This school year began with a treasure hunt. The kids LOVED following the map to their bags of candy. They deserved it after listening attentively and doing their work with no complaining.

Heart of Dakota's Bigger Hearts for His Glory is just the tool I have been looking for. We are studying American History beginning with Columbus. This curriculum gives a lot of creative ideas to expound on the characters and events of our history readings. e.g., we made a paper boat of the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria! They really float! We made a watercolor painting of the sea with a hidden sea animal. We simulated a solar and lunar eclipse. We're learning more about the seashore and can hardly wait to examine One Small Square when we go to the beach in a few weeks.

Sweetness and Cutie Pie have notebooks with a picture of a puppy on the outside. This is their character notebook. Just like puppies need training in good behavior, so do children. (I'm not a humanist, however). So each week we copy a character trait, Bible verse, and list Bible characters who exemplify this character and talk of how we can portray this character in our daily walk. I asked Cutie Pie, "Do you believe the Lord will help you be good?" He shrugged hsi shoulders. "It's really easy to be bad, because we're born with a sinful nature, so we need God to help us be good."

"Yeah. It sure is easy to make a mess, but its hard to clean it up," he explained. Later he showed me a science experiment he learned in science camp this summer. He filled a small glass bottle with water and different food colorings until the water turned black. Then he asked me to place a drop of chlorine bleach in the bottle. We watched as the water turned clear again. Cutie pie said, "That's what Jesus does. He turns our dirty sins clean."

And the three r's. Cutie Pie really loves using dictation for spelling in lieu of those dreadful workbooks : / I hope he will remain enthusiastic as the text gets harder. Sweetness insists she reads better silently than aloud. I believe this to be true as she narrated a story with more detail after reading her assignmetn silently.

We are using Math U See as a spine to make sure I am covering most math concepts, but I do drift from the teaching methods at times. Sweetness catches on to math concepts much more quickly now as her brain has matured. Cutie Pie loves math, especially his time workbook.

Tomorrow we will take the day off from the "books" and spend time learning to serve others. I feel led to nurture Sweetness' God given gift of compassion. We attend our church's services at the local nursing home one Saturday per month. Sweetness is very fond of the residents there and begged to visit more often. We filled out an application, had a background check, and will begin visiting with a resident on a regular basis tomorrow. We are both nervous and excited about meeting this new person God has placed in our lives.

Then we will clean our church fellowship hall and decorate the Sunday School room I will be ass't teacher for.

Thanks for a wonderful good start to our school year Lord. Help me to teach my children what they need to know to further Your Kingdom.

2010-04-14T19:01:00.014-04:00

What have we been doing?

Treading mud puddles

Stand to attention now and let me get a good picture

Playing at Rocky Creek

Trying to get Eve to love the water

Holding blacksnakes

Catching Fish

Feeding horses

Paddling Boats

Rock Climbing

Costume Partying

Yep. We have been busy!

Countdown to Spring!

2010-03-01T19:24:00.004-05:00

We really enjoyed a taste of spring weather today. We were blessed by the company of the neighbor girls, Quick as a Wink and Princess Pea. They begged, "Mrs. B can we pleeeeeeease go to the special spot?" It was a delight to grant their request as the snow finally melted a path for Princess Pea to walk. But she didn't walk, she RAN! We have a lot of trees and woods right here in my yard, but there is somthing enchanting about a cluster of cedar trees situated by a trickling creek.

Appetites were roaring when we returned and I felt oh so blessed to be able to fill four hungry tummies. Hot dogs, mac and cheese, carrot sticks, cheese and crackers and strawberries for desert!

"Mrs. Bemis, I weft my back pack at da special spot." said Princess Pea.

"Well, we'll just have to go get it."

So we walked to the creek once more and then it was time to take them home.

"Mrs. Bemis I forgot my tiger at your house!" declared Princess Pea.

"That's ok! I'll see you tomorrow and I promise to take good care of him tonight."

That closes another chapter in our storybooks. I can't describe the wonderful good feelng of being a stay at home mome, the flexibility of homeschooling, a christian homeschooling neighbor, a husband the works so hard, and a loving Savior to make it all complete!

Happy Birthday Cutie Pie

2010-02-14T20:39:00.010-05:00

God truly blessed us with a Sweetheart! Born on Valentine's Eve, Cutie Pie has blessed our lives with so much love. He didn't want a great big party, but he was pleasantly surprised when I told him that the two neighbor girls would be spending the night and eating cake with us.

I insisted the girls bring NO gift with them! So the eldest girl, that I shall call Quick as a Wink, made these awesome penguin sculptures from Sculpey Clay that we baked in the oven and said to Cutie Pie, "Here, this one is for your birthday." That penguin has earned a very special spot in our house : )

Here is an alarm Quick as a Wink made also!

Sweetness made a dog

And aside from stepping on these little beads the next day which drove me to a vacuuming frenzy this craft really keeps hands and heads busy!

I might add that we had a delightful Valentines day as well. The three pink roses are Sweetness' and the red ones are mine.

I leave you with a picture of February 2010! That's my Treasure Hunter! Using what he has and doing the best he can ; )

Life in 2' of Snow and No Electricity

2010-02-09T17:46:00.002-05:00

Winter 2009-2010 will definitely be one for the record books! We haven’t had this much snow since Cutie Pie was born February 2003 when I thought we would be unable to make it home from the hospital! We made it praise the Lord and then was stuck for 3 days. I remember the electricity going off the very next morning, but thankfully was restored before bedtime. We weren‘t so fortunate this last go round. We lost electricity 1 a.m. Friday until 3 p.m. Monday. Being experienced w/ power outages since I married Treasure Hunter and we moved to the country, I had stored flushing, washing and drinking water. However, come Monday morning I was beginning to melt snow!

We were spoiled with a generator that kept our freezer full of venison running. We also ran the fridge, tv, coffee pot, electric griddle, and microwave. The only thing I missed was running water. And I also miss our walks to the creek. Two feet of snow is just too much to trudge through especially considering that Cutie Pie is only 3’. But we have been taking Eve for walks up our plowed road then let her off the leash on the way back. She wanted to run up into the woods so bad!. She would climb upon the snow bank, dive over into the ditch and fall into snow up to her nose! We laughed and laughed!

So here we are now waiting for another storm that should only drop up to 12” this time. I am so thankful that Cutie Pie has planned his birthday celebration to be dinner at Country Cookin’ and a trip to Radio Shack to get an MP3 player. He's not one for crowds or drawing attention to himself and although I think he is too young for an MP3 I am thankful he wants something besides an American Girl Doll.

Treasure Hunter moved my truck out from 2’ of snow and pushed the snow into our yard to make room for more! I asked him, “Where would I be without you?”

“Living in town.” he replied.

I am so thankful that the Lord has put me right where I am and that he is replenishing the ground with much needed moisture! LET IT SNOW!

Peace Like a River

2010-01-07T21:15:00.011-05:00

Goodness it’s been a long time since I’ve written to you my beloved blog : ) My mind has been in a lot of different places lately.

We had a very White Christmas.

Sweetness made a beautiful cake for Jesus this year.

Our plans to go to the beach was cancelled, however we brought some of the beach to our house!

And my sweet hubby bought me a Pfaff sewing machine! Look what I made! It's a tree skirt!

2010 has gotten off to a good start. We’re taking daily walks to the creek! We enjoy walking atop crunchy snow, watching Eve dig and bite at the ice as if she was dying of thirst although water was all around her!

You can still play in the creek when it’s freezing if you dress properly and position yourself just right so you don't fall in! Today I made sure she had on boots instead of her crocs without socks!

Cutie Pie LOVES his sister's coat! For that matter he LOVES everything about her, except when she whistles : /

School is going really well. Sweetness’ lapbook is near completion. She has been reading lots of books about sea shells and writing down what she’s learned. She is illustrating and making booklets from photographs she has taken of her shells. She is also learning about measurements, diameters, etc. She got her HUGE spider conch shell in the mail today.

We are studying about rivers and visiting Germany. Our new read aloud is a bust, so it's back to the online library catalog! However,t Cutie Pie loves the Seven Silly Eaters! It’s an awesome rhyming book about a mama w/ seven kids who are picky eaters. We have a math CD in the mail along with Piano for Quitters DVD!

Well, that's all I have time for now! I am JOYFUL today, and looking forward to tomorrow, because God is faithful!

Keeper's at Home

2009-11-29T22:17:00.006-05:00

My prayer for Heartfelt Homeschool is that God would teach us what we need to know to further His Kingdom. There are many activities for children to participate and before becoming actively involved I try to remember to pray about it before diving in. I want whatever we do to be glorifying to God and there have been times when we’ve passed the boundary that leads to the path of destruction. Worldly pleasures are disguised in sheep’s clothing. Thank you God for gently pulling us back onto the right road.

God’s Word tells the older women to teach the younger women to be keeper’s at home! So I prayed the Lord would send these older women into our lives to teach us! Why am I so amazed when God answers prayers? He is amazing! For God has sent us Mrs. Jenny & Mrs. Lisa. Mrs. Jenny, from Mennonite heritage, mother of 7, grandmother of 12, has graciously offered to share her gift of sewing with young moms and daughters. She invited us to her home where she showed us her grandfather’s 100 year old quilt hand sewn from men’s leftover shirts. I'd have that thing framed!

We picked our first quilting patterns and began quilting class last Saturday and plan to meet every Saturday this winter. What a blessing for her to share her time and talents with us.

And Mrs. Lisa is a lady of many talents who serves the Lord with a heart of gladness! She is the one who organized our quilting bee and recruited Mrs. Jenny to help. Lisa’s vision is for us all to create gifts that will bless those in need.

So here are some pictures of our first projects.

Sweetness and her quilt

This is my tree skirt. It was altered by the faux 1/4" on my sewing machine and didn't turn out "perfect" although it still wraps nicely around the tree.

I am feeling very guilty for desiring a new sewing machine, but if I'm serious about quilting it's a must have. So I'll leave it in the Lord's hands. As Mrs. Jenny says, "Everything I own belongs to the Lord and I must share my blessings. You're welcome to take my machine home and use it all you like." I just couldn't do that, but we sure do like going to her house and sewing.

Stay tuned. Cutie Pie got stung by the quilting bee too!

Family Fun

2009-11-19T21:26:00.018-05:00

November would not be the same if it were not for Thanksgiving celebration or our B family's annual visit. Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle and Aunt arrived on Sunday with lots of hugs for the children

We enjoyed a few good days of weather and we took G'ma and Aunt Shelly to one of our favorite places that we don't hike alone. I forgot my camera, but here is a picture from last year at the same place! Grandma likes it there as much as we do : )

The weather turned rainy as a noreaster dawned upon us the third day of their visit. So we did a lot of shopping and so thankful that Grandma loves the thrift stores too!

The time passed by so quickly and it was time to say goodbye. I regret not taking pictures of Grandma doing crafts with the kids. Sweetness wore the shirt they painted w/ fabric paint for two days! They really enjoy time with their grandparents and are making arrangements to meet them at the beach next year! We're thinking of exlploring the northern atlantic for a change.

Some may say, "it's good to see 'em come and good to see 'em go!" And while this is true there tends to come a tinge of loneliness when a house empties. So Treasure Hunter decided we would have a fun day -- just us four after church on Sunday. We packed a picnic lunch and drove to Big Meadows on Skyline Drive! We have been living here for 16 years and this was our first time up there! It was gorgeous and we realized as we gazed upon the mountains and looked at the map that we were in our backyard!

After eating our lunch with our jackets on we started on an adventurous trail walk. Lewis Falls is just 1.2 miles. Sounds easy enough! Cutie Pie attempted to push rocks off the ledge!

We said, "peek-a-boo" to some deer.

Analyzed the shelter probabilities of an overhang.

And found some freshwater mollusk shells? This made Sweetness (who is wild about seashells since our visit to the beach) so very happy!

She needed this extra boost to help her continue this 1.2 mile trail that suddenly became arduous!

Notice we lost the jackets? It was quite warm on the west side of the mountain!

And look what was at the end of our trail. OK. Not exactly Niagara, but hey they're hard to beat.

I knew going down this trail that going back up would be TOUGH! For Sweetness and I that is. Treasure Hunter gained at least 100 yards on us and Cutie Pie was amazingly keeping up with his daddy's stride. I had to kick into story mode for Sweetness or she would have moaned the rest of the way back all the while taking breaks every 25 feet. She became engrossed in the story of the little girl who rescued freshwater mollusk shells?? from a tyrant hunter and completely forgot about the physical exertion required to reach the top. I'll have to share one of my toe biting goat stories with my blog viewers some day.

We were nearly at the end of the trail and my imagination being zapped when Treasure Hunter motioned for us to come forward. Quickly, but quietly, we scurried up the trail and once our eyes focused beheld this breathtaking sight.

Can't see him? How's this for a close up!

He sat still as a statue and let me take multiple pictures of him!
What a wonderful ending eh? I dare say the Falls were a bit disappointing, but it was worth the walk up and down that hill to see that owl! I heard my first owl hooting in the woods around our house and now I laid eyes upon that endearing creature!

I'll have more breathtaking pictures to share of something Sweetness and I have been working on. And please don't tell Sweetness that those freshwater mollusk shells are shells alright. Pistachio nut shells! LOL. OK! So I truly didn't know until Treasure Hunter told me. They were laying in a puddle of water! And oddly enough we found the SAME kind of shells in the Chic Filet parking lot yesterday! OK STOP LAUGHING! Homeschooling is for parents who want an extended education because they slept through the first! And enchantments are for childhood, so why not be a fairy tale!

Until next time please enjoy the repetitive tune that Cutie Pie recently learned on the piano.

Thank you God for your beautiful Creations and for your Word that has no end!

Remember your Creator before the silver cord is loosed,
Or the golden bowl is broken,
Or the pitcher shattered at the fountain,
Or the wheel broken at the well.
Then the dust will return to the earth as it was,
And the spirit will return to God who gave it.
Ecclesiastes 12:6-7

Pumpkin Patch 2009

2009-10-23T07:44:00.006-04:00

Can you believe there is only one more week in October? We had a field trip planned for haywagon ride, apple and pumpkin picking, but we were majorly rained out! The weather turned gorgeous again this week so we decided we had better get to the pumpkin patch!

The leaves are so pretty I can't resist taking pictures.

School is going well. WE have developed a routine that seems to be working most days. We begin with prayer and Bible reading. We are reading through the book of Matthew and memorizing scriptures along the way. The kids have done an amazing job memorizing the Beattitudes. We then continue our cozy couch time while I read aloud to them. Usually a science or geography related picture book. Then the children take turns reading to me. Cutie Pie enjoys reading the Henry and Mudge series by Cynthia Rylant and Sweetness reads a variety of books like the Chincoteague Pony, the 18 Cent Goose, Who Eats What etc...

Then it is tabletime where copywork, phonics, spelling, math, science and geography work is done. We do touch on a little history while visiting different countries in our geography studies. The children's favorite activity is to place the appropriate country flat on their passport and then color a picture of the flag. Canda was easy, there was only one color. I like to tell them what the symbols on the flag represent. We also read missionary stories from these countries and pray for various needs the people have. And do art related projects like leaf rubbings this week.

We have also began walking each morning before school and I feel this exercise gets the brain flowing. We actually don't begin school until after lunch as full tummies and exercised bodies makes a more relaxed subdued child ; ) WE usually finish up just in time to begin dinner. The only other thing we need to get back to is foreign language!

THEN! It's read aloud time in the evening and that is another favorite time. We read Tikta Liktak about an Inuit Indian who had quite an adventure on his search for food during a lean year. Amazing journey!

Well, that is it. Gotta get ready for another day that the Lord has Made! I will rejoice and be glad in it!

Country Roads! Take me Home!

2009-10-07T08:39:00.003-04:00

Once again we interrupt this regularly scheduled homeschool for a trip to WV! I couldn't help it! The cool fall air and the autumn hues were calling me home. I began rehearsing in my mind that 1/2 mile walk from my bus stop in the chilly air hunger pangs spurring me up the hill to the front door of our little white house. I would shuffle my books enabling a hand to grab hold of the door that once opened enveloped me in delicious aromas, and warm big arms. It was time to go get a hug from my mommy.

We had a delightful visit. Even my dad was feeling good and played me a few songs on his guitar. The nieces and nephews are growing quickly and looking me eyeball to eyeball! We took up half the dining room at Cracker Barrell!! Sweetness and I traded seats so that we could talk to everyone. The cousins had a blast at the hotel's indoor pool.

Church service at my old church was pretty much the same as 30 years ago with a few changes. My brother hosts a puppet ministry for the chidlren now and Sweetness and Cutie Pie enjoyed that immensely. I walked down to check on them and give them cough drops if needed (we've had a dreaded cough for months now). And happened upon them praying together. There stood my brother and his family in a circle grapsing the hands of all the little children in a time of prayer.

The children are always invited to share a song and praise with the congregation after Sunday School. Something I truly miss with the church we attend here in VA. The very same sister in the Lord that sang with me when I was a child, Linda, got up with her same bubbly self and reviewed their day's lesson. The puppets were trying to work a puzzle in the dark and the children tried to help, but nothing was accomplished until the Light came on! Then Linda proclaimed, "Come on Kids lets sing!" And they burst into "I Saw the Light! I Saw the Light! No more darkness, no more night!" I spoke to Linda afterwards (who mind you has not aged a bit! despite her son going to heaven at a very young age after an electrical accident). It was good to thank her for singing with me as a child, and now singing with my children.

It was hard to say goodbye. I think I was more homesick driving home than driving to WV. But feel more at peace now that I was able to have a few days with my WV family. Thank you Lord for a safe trip and thank you for my family.

BEACH, BIBLE BEE, BAPTISM! We are the B's

2009-09-14T11:48:00.012-04:00

We interrupt this regularly scheduled homeschool to bring you this BEACH VACATION, BIBLE BEE & BAPTISM! All in ONE week!

The skies were blue and traffic light along our detour route to Corova Beach, NC. So it took a few extra hours, but we figured cotton fields were more attractive than bumpers! We arrived Corolla around 4ish and decided to cram what groceries we could fit amongst our luggage before we headed to our rental home. That was a good decision as 7 miles at 15 mph on a 4x4 only beach took longer than we expected. The tide was coming in. Not yet high tide, but way past low tide. Don’t laugh! This was our first time ever driving on the beach. It was a little like driving in deep snow, but still not what Treasure Hunter, transplanted from Syracuse, NY expected. Nevertheless we made it! Praise the Lord!

Our accommodations were more than we needed, but hey the price was right. Six bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, game room and of course living room and kitchen. There was a nice sandy yard for the kids to play and an ocean view from the third floor. We also loved the wrap around deck on the middle and upper levels. A big bright moon welcomed us to the beach that first night. Sweetness and Cutie Pie enjoyed their “bath in the ocean.” Cutie Pie has come a long way from being scared to death of the “BUBBLES.” I still remember his first trip to the beach when he was only 2.

Sunday was GORGEOUS! We were all excited at our first wild pony sighting! Get the camera QUICK. Let me zoom in as close as I can before they slip away.

The next thing I know they’re walking up the sand road and into our front yard!

Now they’re at the back door! My kids are petting them? Hey wait a minute I thought these were WILD PONIES!

The dear creatures took shelter from the sun in the shade of the back deck. The mare was drooling from what I thought was thirst. We offered her some tap water from the outdoor faucet. She took one sniff of that water, snorted and walked away! Wait, wait! Come back! We don’t drink the pee colored water either! It smelled like pool water, yet all the chlorine could not make it clear. I’m still wondering what those ponies drink. A little while later a family of ponies visited us! We didn’t offer them any water.

Monday was raining and we went shopping…

Tuesday was raining and we watched the Super Nanny marathon. My kids love Jo and are begging me to have her come to our house for a visit. “But you are good kids and we don’t need nanny to come,” I said.

“No mama, we want her to come teach you how to use the naughty chair!” they replied.

“That’s ok sweet ones, mama’s discipline works just fine,” I said with a big fake grin!

OK so where were we? Wednesday? Yes. Beautiful sun shiney day with 35 mph wind gust. Which would have been nice if we need graffiti sand blasted off the side of our house. We did manage to block the wind somewhat with our vehicle. Treasure Hunter tried to bury Cutie Pie in the sand, but a spot to swim formed instead!

Another great spot to swim! A pond in the middle of the beach left over from the rain and high surf!

Sweetness made a sea shell castle!

Treasure Hunter swung the detector and found a few nails YIKES our tires!

And I wrote in the sand.

Thursday was rain again! Seems Tuesday’s storm was coming back for round 2! No big deal, we’ll just go shopping again, because we’re out of junk food anyways. We were careful to go out at low tide this time, but much to our surprise the surf was way above HIGH TIDE! We were stuck! Uggghhh… So back to the house we go. We tried to play monopoly, but greed took over and soon the board and all its tokens, hotels, houses landed in the floor : / We like Sorry and card games much better.

Treasure Hunter, suffering from cabin fever, took a walk out on the beach. The kids and I refused to go out in the wind, so we stayed home for another episode of Super Nanny. The wind was really kicking up and I found myself checking to see if Treasure Hunter would be returning soon. The sky was sooooo black and I know that I know I seen a small funnel cloud forming. I gasped for air when at the same time a gust of wind blew the wooden chair across the porch. “Oh Lord! Please watch over my hubby.” I no longer said that prayer than this appeared in the sky.

It’s Friday morning. The skies are turning blue, the wind is calm and it’s time to pack up and go home!!! WE took the short route home figuring the Labor Day weekend traffic had dwindled and much to our delight the traffic was light.

We would have stayed one more day, but Sweetness was scheduled to compete in the first annual Bible Bee Competition. And what a blessed day that was. I admit I grumbled and complained about the Bible Bee. I mean 270 verses was a LOT to memorize, with only 8 to be called out for the children to recite. But it finally hit me that all over America kids at their local Bible Bee were proclaiming God’s Word in their recitations! And on Nov. 5 the top 100 winners of the local competitions will compete at the National Bible Bee in Washington DC! The winner of our Bee will be announced Sept 18, so stay tuned : )

One more special event to report!!! Sweetness was baptized yesterday, September 13, 2009. She has been saved for two years now! The Holy Spirit was really moving in her heart when she said, “Mama we really have to go to church.”

“Yes, I know honey.” I faintly replied, not wanting anything to do with church or organized religion ever again.

“NO! Mama. We HAVE to go to church! I NEED to be baptized.” she insisted.

So after many invitations from my neighbor we attended her church and have been goin there for a year now. Sweetness was baptized along with 4 other young girls in the congregation, including my neighbors daughter. It truly was a blessed day as each girl was invited to share their testimony, scripture or special song. Sweetness asked that we all sing Amazing Grace before she was baptized. So we all sang and she proclaimed her salvation before God and man. I have no still pictures as the motion cam was running! I look forward to sharing this special event with our loved ones who were not able to attend this special day.

OK! Back to school today? No way! God has other plans. We get to entertain FOUR of our bestest friends today! I feel so blessed I think I might BURST! God is so good ALL THE TIME!

School Begins! 2009

2009-08-28T07:08:00.003-04:00

Our first full week of school has been better than expected! Both kids are eager to learn and find the materials engaging and fun. Here is what we are doing!

Bible: We’re learning a brief overview of different worldwide religions and how false they are compared to what the Bible teaches using Window On The World. Our key verse is: God has not given us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. I Tim 5:17 Soon we will be learning about missionaries that take the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ to countries with false religions and poverty. We will be praying for these countries and missionaries. We will also be reading through the book of Matthew and doing various activities that our My Father’s World curriculum suggests.

Spelling: We are using Words Their Way for spelling. We compare spelling patterns by sorting them by sound and then by spelling pattern. Cutie Pie is working on long a vowel patterns and Sweetness is working on r controlled vowels. Their spelling list consists of high frequency words from these sorts. We also play games and read literature to expound on the words we are studying.

Language: I use dictation from Bible verses and other quotes from literature we have read. Sweetness also writes letters to her friends and family. We work on both spelling and grammar using this dictation method.

Reading: Cutie Pie is amazing me with his reading abilities. He is reading Puppy Mudge books and a phonics series that we got from the library. Sweetness’ reading has really took off this year too. She reads the Henry and Mudge series, and other similar chapter books! She also reads books that pertain to our geography studies, like Me on the Map of which she loved and on her free time drew a map of her neighborhood!

Read Alouds: We are reading about animals from the All About Animals books and of course our science and geography read alouds. We started Kingdom Tales, but find that to be a bit abstract and obscure as they try to compare the Kingdom of God to this imaginary enchanted place. It is similar to Pilgrims Progress. While I find the tales entertaining and thought provoking, my kids don’t seem interested so we will put that one down for a while. We are looking forward to beginning Hero Tales and other missionary stories.

Math: We are using Singapore Math again this year. These first few weeks have been review of number bonds in relation to addition and subtraction. We use a lot of word problems with manipulative so the children can visualize the addition and subtraction facts along with rote memorization. One fun thing they both love is go-fish. We stack the deck then draw cards and lay down two cards that add up to the fact we are working on. E.g., two 5’s make a 10, 6 and 4 make a 10, etc. We are allowed to ask the other player for a card we need, and get a second turn if we get what we’re fishing for. Sweetness is getting an introductory to multiplication by map scaling (turning inches into miles).

My Father’s World Exploring Countries and Cultures
We are so loving this program that incorporates Bible, Geography, World Cultures, Vocabulary, and Science (using God’s Design for Ecosystems). So far we have learned what a continent is, the name of each continent using the Yankee Doodle tune. We have learned the 5 oceans, what an ocean ridge is. Also latitude, longitude, map grids, map scales, different kids of maps! I bought an awesome workbook, All About Geography, and have found this to be a gem. Now I’m not the workbook type, but this book is very engaging and gives practice on geography concepts. Soon we will be exploring different countries, the first of which is the USA! We are so blessed to have friends and family from different states and have traveled somewhat. I look forward to playing USA bingo !! A neat little game I picked up at the thrift store for $1. This curriculum also sneaks in a little bit of history to boot ! I LOVE IT.

Science: Again we are learning about the wonderful world that God created using God’s Design for Ecosystems. We learned that a worms niche is mixing and fertilizing the soil by placing several kinds of soil in a jar with some earthworms! Amazing how those creature burrow down. We also learned about the oxygen/water cycle by placing soil and grass inside a jar, placing it in a warm spot and watching the water evaporate and condense. We will be getting some cooler weather next week and will begin our leaf collection as we explore North American forests.

Art/Music: Cutie Pie asks every day, “Mama are we going to do a craft?” He did enjoy the cup we made out of a piece of paper and was really impressed that it actually held water. But he was not too enthused with the dolls across the world and I reckon I can’t expect him to be. So he took matters into his own hands and created this dwelling for his troll. It is complete with a mailbox located on the side with its own assigned mailbox number. (place picture here).

The children are practicing what they learned from piano lessons last year. Cutie Pie is actually asking for more piano lessons. I still want to work on reading music, learning the notes and symbols and need to search for a good music workbook. There is a wonderful good band/choir comprised of mainly homeschoolers that I am itching to join. But we may have to wait until next year as we have a great need to stay close to home and keep our calendar as free as possible this year.

Last but certainly not least is physical exercise. We plan to get back to our daily walks next week as the temps cool down. Eve will be happy to go walking once again too. For now Sweetness and Cutie Pie are utilizing the treadmill. Sweetness has decided to give up English riding lesson and opt for a monthly Western trail ride of which she will earn. I would like to get them involved in gymnastics, but again we need to stay close to home this ear.

Well, the last thing I can think of that I want Sweetness and perhaps Cutie Pie to learn is typing. So need to hop off here and search for a good typing program.

Thanks for stopping by and reading about our school. None of this is possible without the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.

How's it feel to be FORTY? The Big 40!

2009-08-20T15:37:00.008-04:00

It feels great to be 40. Truly it does. And I can't think of a better way to spend the day, nor a better gift than having attentive excited children to teach at home! Children are truly what I waited my whole life for! I can't think of a better way to celebrate your 40th birthday than with a sleepover! OK! Well, maybe I could think of something else, but it wouldn't have been near the fun!

I remember when I USE to play this game!!

YES! They dressed alike on purpose : )

My birthday wish is that my dear friend and neighbor will help me celebrate my 41st birthday! It was just last year this time she was painting my kitchen . . .

What is your reward?

2009-08-03T14:48:00.002-04:00

Whew… taking a break after a day of cleaning the house. I think it’s been a month since I dusted last. I think a lot while cleaning so I’m gonna talk outloud on my blog : )

We‘re almost ready for school to begin. I had a talk with the kids over lunch. I asked them what kind of rewards they would like for doing a good job on obedience, chores, and school work. Some things they wanted were, ice cream cone from the drugstore, lunch out, mini dog from Wal Mart, extra craft day, play date w/ friends, and a trip to thrift store. Some will be short term and other long term rewards.

What’s my reward satan asked? Yes, that pesky thing tries to get on my shoulder from time to time, so I plucked him off real quick and said, “Thank you Lord for the privilege to be at home with my children making a warm, clean, pleasant place for my hardworking hubby to return to. Thank you Lord for a hubby that works so hard to provide for us. Thank you for his health and stable job. “ That reward has no price tag attached.

So school is going to be great this year I can feel it in my bones. I chose My Father’s World Exploring Countries and Cultures this year. The teacher’s manual is so clear and easy to read. The author lives and loves the Charlotte Mason approach with a Christian worldview. I’m not a purist of any one homeschool philosophy, but I do like CM’s short, twaddle free lessons with lots of outdoor exploration. I love that we will be studying different countries and cultures using missionary stories!! We have been blessed to meet some people who are taking their education and their faith to China and India!

I’ve got a school supply list that we will shop for tomorrow Lord willing. OK… I reckon that is it. Wished I could talk myself into washing my car, but I need a shower and must put up some tomatoes. Tomorrow is another day for washing the car. Unless the Lord comes back : ) Are you ready?

Sweetness Turns 9

2009-07-31T17:09:00.008-04:00

Remember Nine Days? Nine Weeks? Nine Months? And Now 9 YEARS! I know it sounds cliche, but it truly does go by fast and we all know it. Sweetness wanted a BIG birthday party this year with all her new friends from church. Of the 7 little girls invited 4 were able to come today (plus Cutie Pie). We had FUN:

Painting Ponies

Acting like chickens while waiting for pizza

Welcoming Felicity

Sharing Felicity

Eating cake and ice cream

I made a card for Sweetness last night. After everyone left she said, "I loved my card mama. I didn't know I meant so much to you."

"Yes, my sweet girl, you mean more than words can ever say. I just don't tell you often enough how much I love you."

Listen moms and dads! Our kids need to hear us say how special they are to us! And if you want to know how special you are! Just pick up the Bible and read starting with John 3:16

How many more days till Christmas?

Vacation Road Trip

2009-07-16T14:52:00.015-04:00

We arrived home from a fantastic vacation at 3:30 a.m. Saturday night. Sweetness insisted we drive all night, after G’mas and G’pas party so we could attend church on Sunday. She woke me by placing an alarm clock in my face (that I did not set) and said, “Mama are we too late for Sunday School?” My blurry eyes focused on the time. It was 9:30 and I said, “It’s too late for SS, but we can still make church service.” After stomping off in a disappointed huff, she came back moments later and said, “OK! Mama. I’m sorry. Lets go to church.”

Our vacation began on Monday at 7:30 a.m. We were Cincinnati bound to visit the Creation Museum and to meet my online friend of five years, Dawne. The butterflies were churning in my stomach and the thoughts rolling through my mind. While riding down the road, my phone vibrates and beeps… I had no idea I could receive text messages on my little emergency only trac phone. It was Dawne, texting, “How much longer?” I thought we would arrive 3:30ish as the directions I printed said 8 hour drive. But of course food and potty breaks were not calculated in that figure.

What can I say? All the nervousness was cast aside when I seen her waiting for me on the hotel porch. I could hardly wait for DH to stop the truck! And her DH took this surprise snapshot!

Our meeting was full of emotion, tears, hugging, pinching! This must be a dream, because I know we’re not in heaven. Our families ate dinner together that night. Dawne and I were seated across the table from one another and we both said,, “I can’t believe we’re eating dinner together.” Her children were so very well behaved! Cutie Pie was drawn to her oldest daughter, and Sweetness made a quick friendship with her 10 year old. The two of them have sooooo much in common. I am thankful for the time we had together and that she dropped everything to come meet me. We are praying about how the Lord will bring us together again.

The Creation Museum was very educational, inspiring and moving. The beginning of the tour gives you a glimpse of perfection. My steps were light as my heart beheld the beauty of God’s perfect creations. Adam and Eve enjoying each other’s company with no sin whatsoever in their hearts. Imagine a marriage like that? Then the fallen sinful room was hard to look upon. Disease, bloodshed, pain . . . My heart grew very heavy.

The Ark exhibit was astounding! The video clip of the earth being covered with water gives a whole new perspective on the magnitude of the universal flood. The model display of people perishing stirs a desire in my heart to witness to our neighbors, “Don’t be left behind!” The Last Adam movie was almost too much for the little ones as Sweetness could not bare the thoughts of the lamb being sacrificed and Jesus crucified. It was hard to watch. If I were the screenwriter I would have added a glimpse of what heaven may look like as that is our hope that Jesus’ shed blood gives each of us.

We also got to see Buddy Davis perform. He described how an Eagle will rise up above storm clouds and ride out the storm above the wind and rain. Then he sang a beautiful song, titled Soar. “When life’s storms awaits you SOAR!” We enjoyed his music so much that we bought 3 of his CD’s. I could talk forever abut the Museum, but that was not our only stop along this 1700 mile vacation.

After walking through the Museum a second time (it was less crowded at 5 p.m.) and stopping by the petting zoo and walking across the drawbridge twice (Cutie Pie loved that bridge), we were on our way to Niagara Falls, NY. We thought the falls, one of God’s marvelous creations, would be a nice addition to the Creation Museum. They were breathtaking!

We boarded the Maid of the Mist and rode out to get an “up close” view of the falls.

It was the better than any amusement park ride I have ever ridden! It was like riding on a ship in a stormy ocean! The wind, the waves, the huge gush of water that pummeled us. Thank goodness they gave us raincoats before we boarded or we would have all been drenched.

We also enjoyed walking the trail beside the falls while trying to comprehend how much water falls each second.!

After viewing the falls we drove a few hours to Syracuse for a visit with our B family. They were eagerly awaiting our arrival and wrapped us in warm, genuine hospitality. My kids love G’mas house and enjoyed playing with “ancient” Barbies and cars. They also like Auntie Sharyl's house with a nice big pool!

And rocking with Aunt Christine in the pool rocker!

G’ma & G’pa’s 50th Wedding Anniversary was June 27 and a grand 50’s Rock n’ Roll BBQ was planned in their honor. My sis’n-laws and bro’n-laws did an awesome job planning and preparing this party. They did not plan for a storm to blow up and uproot the penned canvas then dump it in the field. Of course the sun came out after they rerouted the tables to the living room. In the end everything was wonderful! Delicious food, precious fellowship with friends and family. I met extended family on my MIL’s side and enjoyed watching everyone reunite with each other.

So thankful to God for a safe journey and for friends and family. BTW Eve has finally forgiven me for leaving her!

The BEST 4th of July EVER!

2009-07-05T19:17:00.002-04:00

Sweetness exclaimed, "This is the best 4th of July EVER!" It was certainly a memorable one.

We started the day off thanking God for our freedom in Christ Jesus. We ate Treasure Hunter's delicious pancakes and sausage links, then headed out for a hike. Along out way we found a frog under a rock who was very cold. Did I mention this has been the coldest 4th of July I ever remember? It was in the 50's overnight. My sweet mama said, "This is what you call a blackberry winter. I remember when I was a kid we couldn't eat our ice cream cones on the porch it was so cold!" So much for global warming eh?

We also ate some ripe raspberries at the top of our mountain hike. Thankfully the berries are not quite ripe for pickin and will wait until we return from our vacataion! On the way home Treasure Hunter spied a snake! I'm kickin' myself for forgetting the camera : ( The snake way grey with a yellow chin, so we definitely knew itw as not a blacksnake, so I'm thinking racer snake? Sure enough, as soon as Treasure Hunter poked him with a stick he took off fast as lightening, true to its name.

Then we packed up a cooler of food and headed out onto the lake in our pontoon boat. The weather had warmed up and was perfect for boating and swimming. We anchored the boat in the deep deep water and shouted "overboard!" as we all jumped in.

We returned home in time for a little ciesta before heading out to meet friends for fireworks! We sat upon a hill and watched the whole 15 min display that this little town has to offer.

We were just a little groggy heading for chruch this a.m. Well, at leat I was. My kids are always up and ready for church (a blessing I am so thankful for)! The message was awesome as we begin studying I Corinthians! And some friends asked us over for lunch at their home. It was a grand time of fellowship and yummy food.

Then I come home opened my email and find that my bestest girlfriend in the whole wide world is going to meet me at the Creation Museum!

So yes, I would have to agree! This is the BESTEST FOURTH OF JULY EVER! Thank you my Lord and Savior for the freedom that no man can ever take away.

On Teaching Math

2009-06-30T19:27:00.002-04:00

Today I demonstrated subtraction for Cutie Pie using the number line to count up from the smallest number of the equation to the largest. E.g. 10 - 7 "Put your finger on 7, now on ten how many "hops" must you make to get to 10?"

"3"!

"Yes, that's right let's practice another one."

Five minutes later...

"Now let's do this color by number worksheet and see what it becomes. We have 5 frogs and 1 jumps away, how many are left?"

"I want an alligator."

"I don't know what the picture will turn out to be, we have to work all the problems and color the area using our color code bank. See if the answer is 1 we color it yellow, if it's 2 we color it blue. Now if we have 6 frogs and 2 jumps away, how many are left? Here use the number line."

"I told you I want alligators."

"I told you that I don't know what it will be. Most likely not an alligator, but lets work the problems, color the spaces and find out what it will be." Can you hear the exasperation in my voice??? Sweetness sure did so she helped me out.

"Mom, he wants you to count alligators instead of frogs."

"Oh, OK! I GET IT!"

DUH!

Ya just gotta love it when the light comes on!

If Eve Could Talk She Would Say

2009-06-11T20:48:00.003-04:00

"NO! NO! I don't like the water. Please don't make me follow you into the lake. Please stop! OK I'm gonna have to break free. Ha! Now I'm free. Look at me! Free as a doggie can be. Who's that calling me. Oh dear, it's the mom. I don't want to obey I wanna run free. WEll, she is pleading with me. OK. I'll go back. She's pretty nice. She won't make me get into the water. Ahhh so glad you're happy to see me. OK. I'll go on the boat with you. No I don't want to look at the kids in the water. I'm mad at the girl. She tried to make me get wet. I'll just lay here and completely ignore her and soak up love from you mom. Ahh yes a little behind the ears that feels good don't stop. What who's this. It's the girl. Oh, I can't help it she's my favorite. Oh I love her still. Now come on over here." lick lick lick "Let me lick all that water off ya. You must be terribly miserable being so wet and all now stand still and let me lick you dry. There that's all better now!"

Sharing the Lake

2009-06-08T08:17:00.009-04:00

Swim season has joyfully begun at Heartfelt! The family of geese graciously share the water with us.

The cliche "They grow up fast" could not be more true of baby geese. One more month and they'll be as big as mama and papa goose.

Cutie Pie getting warmed up on his floaty device.

Sweetness boogying on her board.

Whoever invented floaty arms is one wealthy person!

Future marine biologist!

We gladly moved out of the way of this poisonous looking microbug!

Plant Lapbooks!

2009-05-31T22:30:00.009-04:00

We had a marvelous time learning about plants and constructing a lapbook! Give Sweetness scissors, paper and glue and she is a happy pupil! You should see her w/ needle and thread too! Cutie Pie loves whatever his sister loves, therefore he enjoyed making a lapbook too : O )

Cutie Pie Hard at Work!

His cover

Pages 1 & 2

Pages 3 & 4

Sweetness hard at work

Her cover

Pages 1 & 2

Pages 3 & 4

UP Next! Summer Plans!

International Fair Take 2 & MORE!

2009-05-12T15:54:00.012-04:00

Kahola Kahola HULA!

Smile on your face!

Hands on your waist!

Bend your knees and sway like a coconut tree! Kahola Hola with me!

My (((Mother's Day))) gift! A new bird bath. It was knocked over in the middle of the night by some hungry raccoons? Thankfully the birdbath survived w/ just a crack in the base. Eve! You better start earning your keep!

Eve has learned lay down and give me some tummy! When will she ever learn to keep the foxes and raccoons away?

We're having a wonderful good time learning about plants!

Plants absorb water from their stems!

Water your socks, put them in the sun and they'll

GROW GROW GROW!

At the bird feeder we have Melissa & Dawne! Forever Friends!

Check back in next week for pony lesson English Style!

International Fair!

2009-05-06T15:47:00.006-04:00

OK! I'm late, but better than NEVER! I have a really good excuse. It seems I took a lot of pictures and video but not one still picture of Sweetness in her hula skirt and leis and Cutie Pie in his Hawaiian outfit. Maybe if I were not so particular I would have one by now, but I don't! Those who love me best will get a newspaper clipping of them in their outfits. With out further ado, here's the International Dinner Post!

This is the display that Sweetness worked very hard on, and Cutie Pie helped with a little bit

This is what Cutie Pie had to say! (I wrote while he narrated)
I liked the Int'l Dinner very much. I got to have lots of sweets and yummies. Pineapple was the best of all. I had fun playing with Mrs. M's daughter. She and I played by the palm tree. It was so much fun taking a nap on the way there. I ran out of energy, because I played and ate way too much. And I got very full from eating a lot. I sort of liked dancing the Hula with my sister. I had fun watching other people perform on the stage too. My really favorite food was the melted chocolate.

This is what Sweetness wrote:

The International Dinner was fun. I represented Hawaii. I performed the Hula. I served coconut macaroons and pineapple. My friend Katie was Joan of Ark from France. I liked all the foods except the veggies from Korea.

Here are some other displays I got good photographs of. I loved all of them, but wouldn't dare download them all on dino dialup!

The Lord's Table

2009-04-26T14:04:00.002-04:00

We had communion at church today. It was a beautiful service. There were no announcements to begin the service!!!! Instead we began with prayer and we sang more songs than usual and one was even familiar to me. Then the pastor forgot to dismiss for Children's Church, but the kids were good as GOLD. You could just sense the Holy Spirit in the midst of us. It was so quiet and orderly. Cutie Pie fell asleep on my shoulder. Sweetness got a little upset as she was so into serving the little girls beside her the communion bread she forgot to take a piece for herself. I halved mine with her, but she still cried for a little bit. Neverthless, we were all so greatly blessed in remembering that Jesus death seals us and keeps us from the day of wrath and gives us strength for today.

We stopped at 7-11 on the way home for treats. Cutie Pie got a Sprite, Sweetnesse a Slushie and Joy a Klondike Bar!

Well, I must get going and find myself something to do. Oh, there's plenty, just need to decide what first. Pehaps post about the International Fair! I promise to do that before the end of the week.

April Showers!

2009-04-15T07:50:00.005-04:00

Spring has arrived and it is so very hard to stay focused on the schoolbooks with the sun shining, flowers blooming, toads migrating... It has been cold and rainy the past few days so I thought for sure we would not only get school work done, but also some extra chores and cleaning.

Think again!

HEY, DON'T FORGET ABOUT ME!

Passover and what's next!

2009-04-10T09:04:00.002-04:00

We enjoyed learning and celebrating Passover the past few weeks. We did fun things w/ the 10 plagues, like making paper frogs and putting them in daddy's shower, sock drawer, and lunchbox. Last night we had communion together as a family. This was our very first time, but want to make it a habit. The kids were so serious and devoted to the occassion. We all silently prayed for forgiveness of our sins and for extra help in areas where we struggle. Next year I may be more elaborate in our celebration and serve the Seder dinner. I feel our family has grown so much closer to God and have learned more about His Word by celebrating the Biblical holidays.

Next is Kahula Hula! We're preparing for the HS group's International Dinner. We were goin to represent Israel, but that was taken, so Hawaii was next on our list. We got a Hula instruction video for kids at the library! So the kids are both doing the Kahula Hula! I found the soundtrack to match the video, so they're all set to perform. We also have grass skirts, leis, 9' palm tree! Bethanie is working on her display board w/ facts about Hawaii. We will take pineapple chunks and coconut macaroon cookies to serve at our table. Pictures will follow...

Reading and Writing with Little ones

2009-04-08T08:29:00.001-04:00

We had an awesome speaker at our HS meeting. Sonia is a dynamic speaker who is passionate about instructing others on early childhood literacy. I gleaned a lot of useful ideas from her that I will attempt to share with you using Sonia‘s handouts and my memory.

Pre-school - Kindergarten: Children’s scribbles, drawings and inventive spellings are the beginnings of written communication. Ways to encourage these activities are through child dictated writing. For example, after reading a book to your child have your child re-tell the story in his/her own words or retell the story and make it better. After visiting the park, friends, or field trip encourage your child to tell you about their experiences. Let them see you write down their words exactly as they dictate them. Another example is to write during dramatic play. Fill out the doctor’s/nurses charts or pretend you’re a waitress and write the customer’s order. This helps if they watch you role play first. Keep a daily journal. Label their drawings as the child describes what they’ve drawn. Display their drawings where they can see and read them. Encourage them to share their drawings and writing with others. Keep a supply of materials for writing: Alphabet chart, variety of paper, writing tools, alphabet stamps, stencils.

K through 3
The main idea I brought home from this discussion was to be a model. If we expect our kids to write, then get a pencil and paper and write some yourself. The writing process she described will help us all!

Prewriting -- brainstorm areas to cover from your main idea.

Compose -- let the ideas flow, don’t worry about spelling and mechanics at this stage.

Revise -- by 2nd grade encourage your child to add to the story. A suggestion here is to copy their work,
cut the paragraph/sentence in half then add to it and paste it together to keep re-writing to a minimum.

Edit -- During this step encourage children to examine their work for mechanical problems, especially spelling errors.

Publish -- Share work with others (with permission). www.studentreasures.com is a website to explore for publishing your child’s work .

Keep writing fun. Give positive praise on the process, not the product.. Provide meaningful opportunities for children to write. If they’re passionate about the topic, they will write with passion.

I truly enjoyed Sonia’s presentation. I hope she will be invited back to speak on spelling!

To See Ourselves As Others See Us

2009-04-04T21:31:00.002-04:00

Toads & Eeels & Bones! OH MY!

2009-03-31T21:55:00.010-04:00

Sweetbess scored the first Spring Peeper of the season on the path to the lake! (She helped her on her journey to the lake to lay eggs!)

Let me hold it!

The toad says "CROAK"

Later, at the creek!

What are you reaching for?

EELS!!!

Now, let me see... where did I hide that bone?

"NO MORE PICTURES!"

"I will let you take one more picture if you let me put my feet in the water."

I'll be taking my nap now. Turn that camera OFF!

I was a good girl today!

2009-03-26T16:51:00.006-04:00

I didn't whine while you were gone today! I promise! Now could you please turn off the rain? Well then, I suppose I will be taking my dinner indoors tonight

OH! It's the boy! SO happy to see ya! Come on in and let me lick ya dry!

Resume For the Possession of Your Heart!

2009-03-22T13:23:00.000-04:00

JESUS CHRIST
Address: Ephesians 1:20
Phone: Romans 10:13
Website: The Bible. Key words: Christ, Lord, Savior and Jesus

Hello. My name is Jesus -The Christ. Many call me Lord! I've sent you my
resume because I'm seeking the top management position in your heart.
Please consider my accomplishments as set forth in my resume.

Qualifications:
I founded the earth and established the heavens, (See Proverbs 3:19)
I formed man from the dust of the ground, (See Genesis 2:7)
I breathed into man the breath of life, (See Genesis 2:7)
I redeemed man from the curse of the law, (See Galatians 3:13)
The blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant comes upon your life through me, (See Galatians 3:14)

Occupational Background:
I've only had one employer, (See Luke 2:49).
I've never been tardy, absent, disobedient, slothful or disrespectful.
My employer has nothing but rave reviews for me, (See Matthew 3:15-17)

Skills Work Experiences:
Some of my skills and work experiences include: empowering the poor to be poor no more, healing the brokenhearted, setting the captives free, healing the sick, restoring sight to the blind and setting at liberty them that are bruised, (See Luke 4:18).
I am a Wonderful Counselor, (See Isaiah 9:6).
People who listen to me shall dwell safely and shall not fear evil, (See Proverbs 1:33). Most importantly, I have the authority, ability and power to cleanse you of your sins, (See I John 1:7-9)

Educational Background:
I encompass the entire breadth and length of knowledge, wisdom and understanding, (See Proverbs 2:6).
In me are hid all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, (See Colossians 2:3).
My Word is so powerful; it has been described as being a lamp unto your feet and a lamp unto your path, (See Psalms 119:105).
I can even tell you all of the secrets of your heart, (See Psalms 44:21).

Major Accomplishments:
I was an active participant in the greatest Summit Meeting of all times, (See Genesis 1:26).
I laid down my life so that you may live, (See II Corinthians 5:15).
I defeated the archenemy of God and mankind and made a show of them openly, (See Colossians 2:15).
I've miraculously fed the poor, healed the sick and raised the dead!
There are many more major accomplishments, too many to mention here. You can read them on my website, which is located at: www dot - the BIBLE.
You don't need an Internet connection or computer to access my website.

References:
Believers and followers worldwide will testify to my divine healings, salvation, deliverance, miracles, restoration and supernatural guidance

In Summation:
Now that you've read my resume, I'm confident that I'm the only candidate uniquely qualified to fill this vital position in your heart. In summation, I will properly direct your paths, (See Proverbs 3:5-6), and lead you into everlasting life, (See John 6:47). When can I start? Time is of the essence, (See Hebrews 3:15).

Forgiveness!

2009-03-18T16:07:00.002-04:00

After a grueling week of training Eve to her wireless fence (which hurt my feelings worse than hers) she finally forgives me : ) Oh, and she LOVES being queen of the entire mountain.

Purim

2009-03-16T07:26:00.001-04:00

So what is Purim? To learn the entire story it would be best to read the book of Esther several times. The summary of the celebration is found in chapter 9:20-22

And Mordecai wrote these things and sent letters to all the Jews, near and far, who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, to establish among them that they should celebrate yearly the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar, as the days on which the Jews had rest from their enemies, as the month which was turned from sorrow to joy for them, and from mourning to a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and joy, of sending presents to one another and gifts to the poor.

This celebration that began long, long, ago is still celebrated by Jewish people today! Here are some of the customs they added:

Reading the book of Esther several times daily
Fasting
Making Hamantaschen Cookies
Making Groggers to shake when Haman’s name is mentioned during the reading of Esther
Dressing up in fun costumes

The official Jewish date is the 14th day of Adar, and the Gregorian date is March 10. However, because of our freedom in Christ Jesus, we celebrated on Saturday, February 28 as that suited our schedule. We have actually been preparing for over a month now. This is our first round of celebrating Biblical Holidays, so we have a lot to learn/

We attempted to make Hamatanschen cookies. And while it was fun I know for certain that the Lord will not place me in the kitchen in the mansion He has prepared for us! We’re talking the food processor started smoking! But Sweetness learned how to make a triangle from a circle! And Cutie Pie thought the jelly was delicious! We also made some paper dolls and re-enacted the Esther story and constructed a lapbook!

We planned a fish feast with our neighbors! The kids were to dress up like “Hawaiian Princesses” wearing hoola skirts and flower necklaces. We planned to read from the book of Esther and had gift bags of food to send home with our neighbors. However, the neighbors called to report they were ill and would not be able to come! So we feasted without them.

As I stated, I have a lot to learn. One lesson was not to try and simulate every added custom, but rather to stay close to the Biblical outline celebration and add my own traditions as the Holy Spirit leads!

Passover is next! Thank you Lord for the freedom in Christ to celebrate special days in memory of you and your WONDERFUL WORKS!

Do Not Be Ignorant Brethren

2009-03-13T20:13:00.002-04:00

I Thessalonians 4:13

13 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.[b]
15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.

I Corinthians 12:1
1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant: 2 You know that you were Gentiles, carried away to these dumb idols, however you were led. 3 Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.
4 There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. 6 And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. 7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: 8 for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same[b] Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.

I Corinthians 10:1
1 Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, 2 all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. 5 But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.
6 Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. 7 And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.”[a] 8 Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; 9 nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; 10 nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. 11 Now all[b] these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.
12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

II Corinthians 2:11
10 Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one[a] for your sakes in the presence of Christ, 11 lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.

Romans 11:25
25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

II Peter 3:8
1 Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), 2 that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us,[a] the apostles of the Lord and Savior, 3 knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5 For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, 6 by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. 7 But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
8 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us,[b] not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
The Day of the Lord

Last Snow?

2009-03-02T21:03:00.004-05:00

Eve sure hopes so. Her appt at the pet salon was cancelled today :/

"If I can't use this ringy dingy to swim with then I'll just have to slide down the hill with it"

"WOW! This thing is fast!"

The kids were very distraught at the prospect that a snow storm may keep them from church Sunday. Thankfully the storm held off one more day! They were extremely pleased to wake up to snow on school day Monday! And dad called in stranded to boot!

BES*T Parenting!

2009-03-01T17:03:00.002-05:00

Believe in your kids! God has given them a set of talents to use for His glory!

Enjoy your kids! They are TONS of fun! They are a gift from God!

Serve your children with a heart of gladness and they will learn to be servants of God! (teaching them and allowing them to make their own meals and clean their own rooms is serving them too!)

Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding! Acknowledge the Lord in all of your ways and He will make your paths straight!

Whispers of spring

2009-02-27T21:29:00.005-05:00

Guess what he is holding?

Smile! Cutie Pie Loses FIRST Tooth

2009-02-24T19:30:00.007-05:00

Cutie Pie has been waiting for this day since sister lost her first tooth 2 years ago! I love little moments like these!

"Mama, my loose tooth keeps getting in my way."

"Let me have a look. Yep, your permanent tooth is already growing in behind it. Mama can pull that tooth."

"Did Uncle Jack really tie a string to your tooth and the other end to the door knob and slam the door shut?" Cutie Pie asked w/ big wide eyes.

"No, Uncle Jack just use to tease mama. He was actually a very good tooth puller. He pulled all my teeth that I can remember."

"OK mama. I will let you try."

After several attempts and loosening it more, I had to call the neighbor for some orajel. Praise God for lending neighbors.

Meanwhile Sweetness said, "Mama getting me to do math really is like pulling teeth! I can't watch anymore!"

Oh, sigh...

Orajel was applied and taking effect...

"You know" I said matter of factly, "perhaps the tooth fairy is just too busy tonight . . . or maybe you don't believe in the tooth fairy?"

"I believe mama! I believe. I believe the tooth fairy is YOU!" giggle giggle giggle

"OK! Well, so long as you believe. Now hold real still."

YANK! POP! Out it came!

"Is it out? It's out!!!! Sissy, it's out! It came out!" he exclaims running down the stairs.

about 1/2 hour later...

"Mama where do you want me to put this tooth so you can get it easy?" asked Cutie Pie.

"The top of the dresser will work just fine."

Then as I tucked Sweetness in she asks, "Mama, can I stay up and watch you play tooth fairy?"

"Absolutely not! I might be the tooth fairy, but you will NEVER see my wings," I replied as I fluttered out the door.

Next morning!!!

"Mama! Mama! The tooth fairy left me a note and $5!!"

I JUST LOVE SIX! And I miss my dear brother Jack!

Encouragement from God's Word

2009-02-19T11:22:00.000-05:00

I had the most precious time with the Father this a.m. Lots of repentence, accepting forgiveness, and plunging forward once again and not looking behind. I had so much personal help to ask for as well as other requests for my dear loved ones. I know the Lord hears my every prayer and must rest in His peace. But still the tears would not stop and I prayed the Lord would speak to me through His Word. This is where I opened my Bible

Nehemiah 8 (upon the Israelites return from exile -- a time of remorse and repenting)

9 Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, "This day is sacred to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep." For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law.
10 Nehemiah said, "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength."

11 The Levites calmed all the people, saying, "Be still, for this is a sacred day. Do not grieve."

12 Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them.

The scripture goes on to describe how they celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles, which again confirms in my heart that this is the Lord's direction for our HS. One way The Feast of Tabernacles is celebrated is to sleep outdoors in tents (as they did when they came out of Egypt) to commemorate the Lord's deliverance. We're excited about sleeping outside with EVE!

Does this count for art and science?

2009-02-17T21:47:00.004-05:00

After my long 'school' post I started thinking how our HS lacks in science and arts and crafts. But are we really lacking?

Presenting Robin Hood and Maid Marion

Presenting Queen Esther

This is stretching it a bit, but does observing the dexterity and speed of a dog count for science?

We went to town and got personalized tags with our ph# for Eve and turned her from her leash at the creek today. First, she spun around in circles and was awestruck that she was FREE! That silly ole gal ran into the water, got her hind legs stuck in the muck, pulled herself up and darted up the steep mountainside in a matter of 5 seconds. She disappeared for awhile and it was all I could do to keep Sweetness from crossing barefoot through the creek to go lookin' for her. Finally after what seemed eternity, but was only a few minutes, that lassie came running back as fast as her legs would carry her for another bite of bologna! I only wished I had a picture to share, but the hand that once carried a camera now hold the leash, perhaps not for long.

Happy Birthday Dear Cutie Pie!

2009-02-14T15:50:00.005-05:00

Celebrating 6 was a lot of fun! We did "cars" again. He's not really a Lightening McQueen fan, just knew he had to pick out something "boyish" less his sister have a coniption if he chose Disney Princess'! I can't seem to make Sweetness understand how blessed she is that he actually wants to play dolls with her instead of using them for target practice.

Anyways,,, guess which Disney Pixar Cars character he loves the best? Mater! Yes, the broken down, antique tow truck! No, no, the remodeled Mater with the new paint job would not do. And of cousre Treasure Hunter came through on finding the 'old' Mater truck.

Heartfelt Homeschool 2009 Update!

2009-02-11T15:56:00.004-05:00

I have been researching home education for about 5 years now. I have tried different methods, adhered to various philosophies and grown immensely! The greatest lesson I have learned is not to get uptight or anxious, but to give thanks in everything, pray without ceasing, and rejoice evermore! (I Thes 5:17-19)! My main goal in educating my children is to prepare them for the Lord’s service on earth and for their Heavenly home that awaits them.

I recently read an awesome book, Heart of Wisdom by Robin Sampson. I gleaned many useful tips from her book! Exploring how Hebrews educated their children and how to use the Bible as the main text in your homeschool opened a door to a place where I finally felt comfortable. She is also very pro-unit study using a Charlotte Mason approach (if that makes sense). I aspire to be the unit-study homeschool mom, but am not there yet! I just don’t know if I will ever be that organized and disciplined to cover all subjects in one unit.

So, this is what Heartfelt Homeschool looks like in 2009:

Because the Bible is so very important we use it as our main text. My desire is to root my children’s hearts and minds in God’s Word. I want them to have a good grasp of Biblical history and God’s Word, coupled with hopes and prayers they not be led astray by false doctrines. Once this foundation is set, we will explore world history as it fits into and is intertwined with Biblical History. This is where we are currently.

Biblical History:
We have composed a timeline on our wall (and within a 3 ring binder) with these categories: Creation, Patriarch, Exodus, Conquest, Judges, Kingdom, Exile, Return, Silence, Gospel, Church, Missions. Each time we read a Bible story we place our coloring page in the correct category. We are currently studying Patriarch showing how Israel, through a promise from God, became a people, nation and state. We are also studying church history through the book of Acts and am looking forward to how the Bible ends again with the Jewish people (and the Gentiles ; )!

We are also learning and celebrating Biblical/Jewish Holidays!

Physical ED!
Being physically healthy is another great importance! I am always trying to learn better cooking/eating habits. And daily exercise via walking/running otudoors is a HAVE TO at Heartfelt! If it's bad weather, then we're dancing indoors to Praise and Worship Music.

Memorization/Copywork/Reading:
Each child has their own Bible verse that they handwrite weekly, read daily, and recite daily for memorization. Sweetness is copying and then reading her verse in cursive! Cursive is becoming a lost handwriting art, but still many use it and I want my children to be able to read cursive!

Read Alouds / Phonics
Aside from our daily Bible reading, we are reading Missionary Stories by Mildred Martin and Sweetness and I are reading the Merry Adventures of Robin Hood! I am reading the unabridged version by Howard Pyle and Sweetness enjoys reading the abridged version. Bethanie is also continuing phonics practice with Explode the Code.

Cutie Pie is learning to read using Explode the Code for phonics and reading his Bible verse along with me as I run my finger under the words (whole language approach). We enjoy reading various picture books together and making crafts or acting out the books.

Narration
This is a tool used for comprehension (instead of multiple choice questions!) Sweetness and Cutie Pie retell the stories from our read alouds. Some days I copy each word the child dictates then have them illustrate or color a page relating to their narration.

Dictation/Spelling
I am amazed at how well Sweetness’ spelling is progressing! I dictate a sentence from one of our read-alouds. Sweetness writes from my dictation. We review her writing and I praise her efforts of correctly spelled words. Then I show her the misspellings,give her rules or helpful hints, and word build with other similar spelled words. We compare the words she spelled correctly with incorrect spelled words and she is pleased to see she spells really well! Then she re-copies the corrected version! This is working very well!

Cutie pie is spelling up a storm in his own little story making world. I am translating and saving all his little writings in a little notebook. We won’t start correcting his inventive spelling for a few more years.

Math!
Sweetness is working on memorizing her addition facts using Math - It Game. We are also exploring multiplication.
Cutie Pie is doing a workbook titled Word Problems with Fantastic Frogs.
Of course they learn math just using it everyday -- measurements, calendar, shapes, etc… we did an awesome geometry unit not long ago from Hands on Math and I am thinking of ordering their Clock - Telling Time Unit next.

Science:
This is the area where I feel I fall short. We are getting better at reading our Ranger Rick and Backyard Magazines that G’ma B subscribed for us. But when the days of winter are 50-70 degrees our science time is literally spent in the backyard. Treasure Hunter does various electrical experiments with Cutie Pie!

But more snow is on the way….

Foreign Language
We are learning Latin using Song School of Latin 2-3 times weekly. But realy would like to learn Hebrew and Greek as these are the original languages of the Bible.

Language Arts/Grammar
This is a subject we are not currently covering formally. I emphasize capitalization and punctuation during writing exercises. And we talk about nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs while reading. Classical literature is an awesome introduction to grammar as the word pictures authors create are so vivid and imaginative! “WOW that was an awesome set of adverbs”. We will be more formal with this subject in the middle-high school years.

Did I cover it all???? Last but not least I must say that having your children with you all hours of the day presents many learning opportunities. There are so many character building and life skills they learn from being at home doing chores, playing together, building bonds etc. And I set the example for them each day! The best example is how we all, in our sinful fallen state, fall short each day and must ask forgiveness and thank God for His mercy!

And may I NEVER forget to thank God for the privilege to thank God for the privilege to home educate our children. And for my hardworking husband who supports our homeschool choice!

Moonlight Sledding

2009-02-06T07:02:00.004-05:00

I don't have any pictures for this one, so I'll attempt to paint one. Treasure Hunter boards the runner sled, takes off down the icey slope, hits the tree root, sparks fly, hits the leaves, more sparks fly. I was thinking we would have a forest fire! But thankfully it stops. The kids and I are hooting and howling and holding our ribs!!

Then Cutie Pie jumps aboard, and down they go at lightening speed! "Guess where we landed??? We crashed into some trees!" exclaimed Cutie Pie with wide big wide eyes! That was the picture he refused to pose for -- that shows the scratches across his forehead. So next time, instead of following the sparking path that leads to a crash landing in the trees, they begin at the back of our house, slide around the narrow path of the basement door, then across the icey slope, sailing by with the greatest of ease. Soon Sweetness realized they were having fun and not crashing into anymore trees, so she joined the fun too.

ME? I was sitting on the porch steps w/ Eve in my lap (my hands in her sweater)staying toasty warm! Well, I did take a few rides down in the plastic sled, but nothing dramatic to report.

We sure enjoyed the snow this week! But it will start to melt today and be gone by Sunday when the temps will reach 60 degrees! I LOVE VIRGINIA.

I must also report that we're still maintaining a school schedule. Here are the Bible verses Cutie Pie is reading and memorizing!

Israel did look for a law that could make them right with God. But they didn't find it. Why not? Because they didn't look for it by faith. They tried to get it by working for it. Romans 9:31-32 (NiRV)

Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. Hebrews 11:3

2's Company! 3's a CROWD?

2009-02-04T07:50:00.003-05:00

MORE SNOW!

FIRST SNOW DAY 2009

2009-01-27T20:01:00.005-05:00

The children were up, completely outfitted in snow clothes and out the door by 8 a.m. sharp! THIS IS CUTIE PIE'S FIRST YEAR SLEDDING! HE ACTUALLY WENT SLEDDING!

They went sledding for an hour or more and I called them in for a hot bowl of cereal! They warmed up and did their chores while thier clothes and boots dried by the woodstove. Then before I could say, "Get out the books!" They were outside again! After another 1-2 hours, I enticed them back indoors with lunch and chocolate chip cookies! This time we got the books out while they warmed up and everything dried!

Then YES! Back outdoors for the third time! Needless to say it is 8 p.m. and Cutie Pie is sound to sleep. Sweetness, sigh... that child just never stops ticking!

Ready Set Go!

WOOOO HOOOOO

DOESN'T SEEM LIKE MUCH SNOW, BUT IT WAS SLICK.

YEEEEE HAAAAWWWWWWWW!

TIME FOR BAIL OUT! BEFORE WE HIT THE ROTTEN PUMPKIN PIT!

If she won't pull us, we'll pull her!

YEEEEE HAW!

And there I stood on the porch with no DVD's for my camera : (

Nature Slide_________________

2009-01-26T15:33:00.008-05:00

Do you know how HARD it is to practice math facts and consonant blends when winter awaits you outdoors? I don't think I have any particular favorite time of year. I just LOVE being outdoors ALL the time. Of course I can say that living in VA. IF the temps are above freezing, we go outdoors for at least an hour each day! Come along with us for our nature slide.

Testing the hardness...

A little farther

OH! This is fun!

Sure is slippery!

Eve has a go! I think this was her first time on the ice.

Rocky Creek turns Icey Creek!

We were just settled in for a toe biting goat story when...

YEP! He went a little too far! Nothing that a hot cup of tea by the woodstove won't cure!

STAY TUNED TOMORROW IT IS SUPPOSE TO SNOW!

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."
Hebrews 13:5

Welcome Home Eve

2009-01-22T21:46:00.004-05:00

The Lord blessed us with a wonderful 50 degree day to bring Eve home. She walked to the lake and to the end of the road with us. Then about 4:30 Sweetness and Eve crawled into the doghouse and took a nap. Bethanie emerged about 15 mins later, and Eve, she's still in there snoooozzzziiiiinnngggg away! (don't let that chain bother you it is only temporary!)

So what's Eve's story? She was rescued by a dear sweet lady on Christmas Eve. Thus her name. This lady kept this Christmas visitor until animal control picked her up, took her to the shelter, fattened her up, and gave her a chance at a new life. With US!

We plan to take her on lots of walks, swimming in the lake and hopefully teach her some tricks. For now we're still waiting to hear her bark! She's so gentle, sweet and very well mannered. My neighbor (who once owned a Dalmation) thinks she may have been the outcast of the litter, because her spots were not definitive. We love her no matter what she is!

Cutie Pie is definitely warming up to her. He is very cautious about new relationships and he was not too thrilled on the idea of sharing his sissy with a dog!

Stay tuned for updates! Sweetness has some real princess plans for Eve.

Telephone Story!

2009-01-18T21:57:00.006-05:00

Remember Slindy's? That awesome indoor flea market where Treasure Hunter found the Hanukah candles? "Well look what I found at Slindy's," said Cutie Pie all proud of his latest telephone to add to the growing collection. Well, it is close enough to the real thing! I believe someone made it perhaps as a prop for a skit or play?

Here is a telephone report typed by Cutie Pie, which I have copied and pasted for your enjoyment:

mi telfon Did o no no today
hy wint to thu srkis and set u anumo fre
h set a lin fre
th lin hod o hiz kord

For those of you who don't read kiddish here is the translation:
My telephone did a no no today.
He went to the circus and set an animal free.
He set a lion free.
The lion chewed on his cord!

I see real potential for possible employment with the Washington Post.

Now, guess who is coming to our house???? Looky here -- we're making preparations!

Stay tuned : )

Coincidence or Confirmation?

2009-01-04T17:08:00.002-05:00

God is doing some mighty good things at Heartfelt!!

Church service today was absolutely astounding. We have just been attending church service, but Sweetness found out there is also a Sunday School and she begged to go! She is so hungry for the Word of God and to be with those who love Him.

The adult class is studying the book of Daniel and guess what the kids are studying!!!!! They are constructing a Bible timeline! Beginning with how did we get the Bible? Then chronologically teaching the major events in the Bible! They are also memorizing the Old Testament books in order. Now call that coincidence if you must, but that is EXACTLY what we are doing in our homeschool. I am just blown away when things like this happen. It confirms in my heart that I am hearing the Lord and following the Holy Spirit's prompting as I pray for direction in our homeschool.

God answers prayers my friends. He really and truly does! Pray for your husband daily, pray for your family daily, pray for direction daily. He will answer your prayers, because HE LOVES YOU more than all the stars in the sky!

Heartfelt Hanukah

2008-12-29T10:28:00.004-05:00

We lit our eighth candle last night, read our Bible verses and said our prayers. Then Sweetness played us Long, Long, Ago and another beautiful song she has learned. THis has really been a precious time for our family and we will continue this tradition each year. Our candles were a miracle itself. I posted earlier that it was Hanukah and our candles had not arrived. They're still not here! We made some homemade candles, but the wicks didn't work very well. So the next night we shaved down some taper candles to fit. The next day Treasure Hunter went shopping at an indoor flea market, Slindy's. He was sifting through a box of candles to collect more for melting and candle making seeing how Sweetness loved this activity. And what do you think he found in that box? YES! A brand new, unopened box of Hanukah candles from Israel no less. We were thrilled and praised God for His provisions.

Our next Biblical Holiday will be Purim from Esther 9:20.

'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty.
Zechariah 4

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS

2008-12-25T17:31:00.016-05:00

Preparations were underway Christmas Eve! We decorated our Happy Birthday Jesus Cake and iced our tongues!

Christmas Morning Angels!

Everybody got what was on their list! Well at least Sweetness got a small herd of ponies, she is still wishing for a REAL horse.

Charlie Brown aka Cutie Pie

Here's Cutie Pie announcing to everyone on the call list, "I got an old-timey typewriter for Christmas. It really works!"

YES! The typewrite really works! There is still ink in that old ribbon. The old-timey telephone works too!

"Maybe next year I'll get a big telephone like this one!" (have you seen what those phones sell for in the antique store?) Don't throw ANYTHING away!

Christmas is in your heart! It is what you celebrate in your heart that matters the most!

Homemade Hanukah

2008-12-22T09:21:00.006-05:00

This is our first year celebrating Hanukah. We have learned a LOT studying the history of Hanukah and preparing for the holiday. We just got our Menorah last week. Cutie Pie was intrigued as he loves anything that does not come in a toy decorated package ; ) I sat the Menorah upon the shelf and said, “This is not a toy.” Well of course it was not a toy which was all the more appealing to Cutie Pie. So he began to cry and asked if I would look on eBay and buy him a “toy” Menorah. Hmmm… seeing how the Menorah was not made of glass I said, “Ok, go on and play with Menorah, if it means that much.”

Cutie Pie thus sang to Menorah, drew pictures w/ Menorah, swung on his indoor swing with Menorah and last but not least I nearly fell out of my chair when he presented Menorah all dressed in sister’s doll clothes! Had I not been taking care of Sweetness, who was recovering from a stomach bug, I would have taken a picture! His Menorah fascination was satisfied and he did not even say “hello” to Menorah the next day.

As much as we learned about Hanukah, there was still more to learn. For instance, the calendar states Hanukah begins on Dec. 22. HOWEVER, the Jewish people begin their days at sunset, so Hanukah really began the evening of Dec. 21. But we had NO candles yet. I was hoping they would arrive in the mail from Israel today Dec. 22. I called a store who stocked them, but they were sold out. So here we were on our very first Hanukah with NO candles.

But God came through for us and just as He supplied the small, one day supply jar of oil and miraculously allowed it to burn for 8 days, he gave Treasure Hunter an awesome idea. Treasure Hunter took all our old candles, melted them down, then he and Sweetness made homemade dipped candles just the right size for the Menorah.

So we were able to light the first candle, say a prayer, and recite John 8:12 together as a family. Sweetness said, “Mama I prayed that God would help us light the Menorah tonight and He did.” Yes, our God can do anything but fail.

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

Happy Hanukah!

CHRISTMAS AT THE BEACH!

2008-12-12T09:39:00.016-05:00

In hopes of eliminating Christmas traditions that we feel dampen our Christmas spirits, we decided to take a family vacation and make Christmas memories!

We drove down the boardwalk and seen a spectacular light display that was very tastefully constructed!

And the weather was awesome as you can see!

We enjoyed the hotel amenities as well!

I believe we will remember this Christmas for the rest of our lives! Happy Birthday Jesus!

Before Christmas Vacation!

2008-12-06T09:14:00.003-05:00

If I don’t start blogging now there will be way to much catchin’ up to do! My goodness I am sooo behind in cyber world, but life in the real world is more organized than usual. HOWEVER, we’re about to embark on a Christmas vacation, so I best catch up before all the fun begins.

First stop -- 3 weeks ago with G’ma, G’pa B’s, Aunty and Uncle S visit! We had a nice time of fellowship. The men hunted deer and the gals hunted bargains at the thrift store -- my MIL loves to thrift shop! One day we took her for a hike alongside beautiful river view. She loves the outdoors! We even snuck in a day of tea w/ just Grandma the kids and myself. She loves tea. Did I mention that I dearly love my mom n’ law!! She’s such a pleasure to have around! She is an ornament of a quiet and meek spirit! We miss her so much and Cutie Pie asked to call her several times. Instead of asking me to recite her number each time he wanted to call he decided to write it down so he could call her anytime (thank goodness for unlimited long distance). Today they received notes from G’ma and that just made her day!

Next stop -- Thanksgiving. We had a cozy dinner at home! I had made this tradition of making a new recipe each Thanksgiving and well traditions were made to be broken and I broke that one in two! I am a bit challenged when it comes to cooking so preparing a new dish on one of the most festive days of the year was a bad idea. Thank God he hears the prayers of our children as Cutie Pie prayed, “that you would do good in the kitchen, mama!” So everything was hot on the table at one time and I didn’t burn a thing!

Finally -- We had a wonderful good play date with some new friends. We visited the American Frontier Culture Musuem where Bethanie ticked a mattress and squashed cabbage for saurkraut (sp?) We learned how Germany, Ireland, and England brought traditions that shaped the American Frontier. We enjoyed another impromptu playdate when our pino teacher’s mom asked us to stay for cookie baking! There were three families with eight kids and dozens of cookies!

Cutie Pie has begun piano lessons this week! I love watching those little legs dangle below the piano bench as he plays his two finger song!

Today we will make Christmas cards and some tree ornaments!

Well, I reckon that catches me up so I can blog about our Christmas vacation when we return!

First SNOW!

2008-11-18T06:38:00.013-05:00

"What's the weather going to be like tomorrow?" asked Treasure Hunter.

"It's gonna snow!" I replied.

"Really? How cold is it going to get?" asked Treasure Hunter.

"Freezing!" I said.

"Are you serious?" asked Treasure Hunter

"Yes, honey. Goodnight." I replied.

NEXT MORNING

"You're not going to believe this. There is an inch of snow outside." exclaimed Treasure Hunter.

"REALLY?"

It is beautiful. Just enough to remind us a good ole fashioned winter is on the way. But before we leave autumn too soon here are this year's fall foilage pictures.

SOOOOOOOOOOO SWEEEEEEEEEEEEET!

MEET BESSIE, DAISY AND DEUCE!

PEEK-A-BOO

BEST FRIENDS

TREE MONKEY

GERONIMO

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?

I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.

He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-11

Clearer Vision

2008-11-09T14:30:00.001-05:00

I had an eye exam Thursday. My doctor was astonished with my current prescription. Seems his tests show that I am over corrected by a whole point in each eye. “You appear to see things in a distance clearly, but what about up close like while reading a book? Does it seemed blurred?” he asked.

“Yes. As a matter of a fact I thought I needed bifocals.”

“No, you don’t need bifocals just a weaker prescription.”

Sigh… I think this may stem from the fact that I was over medicated on synthroid which made my vision worse at the time of my last exam (about 8-9 years ago). Now that my medication is at a normal level my vision has improved as well. The optometrist did not agree with this analysis. Nevertheless, I am anxious to get my new prescription, because now that I know why I have blurry vision up close I want it corrected.

The Lord has also shown me a lot of areas in my life that are blurred and how satan is ever trying to obscure our vision of the bigger picture that the Lord has. Yesterday I stood in tears and asked forgiveness for my grumblings and complaining. I have NO reasons whatsoever to complain, for I am not hungry, thirsty, naked or in pain.

We went to church this a.m. This is our second visit to our neighbors Independent Baptist Church. The pastor taught on Revelation 7 as part of the church’s study on that book. His teaching was so clear! I was waiting to hear his interpretation of the 144,000 and he nailed it with complete accuracy. The 144,000 are the tribes of Israel -- the Jews -- just as the scripture reads nothing more, nothing less. They are the ones whom God will seal before he pours out his wrath on a Christ rejecting sinful world. These 144,000 will be his witnesses during the tribulation. We serve a God of mercy whom even through the days of judgment and tribulation will not be without a witness of His salvation. The pastor also explained the latter part of the chapter and how these 144,000 along with the souls that are saved, because of their witness, come out of the great tribulation and are given white robes of righteousness. This really helped clear up my vision of these verses. I can hardly wait to go back to hear more next Sunday.

On the way home, Sweetness says, “Mommy, the boys at that church are mean?”

“Oh.” I simply replied waiting for more…

“Yeah, they said they are braver than girls, because they’re not afraid of spiders or snakes.”

“Well, that is true. God did make men to be protector of women. When mommy sees a snake or a big huge cockroach (and we have some HUGE cockroaches in these woods that sometimes find their way into the house) who does mommy call?“

“Daddy.“ she replied.

“Yes and those boys will grow up to be men, husbands and daddy’s to protect their family. So let us thank God for the ones whom are more brave than us. For much that is given, much is required. They have been given the job to protect and that is a HUGE job.”

“Mommy. K didn’t want to sit by me today. She wanted to sit beside of S,” sweetness said with that bottom lip puckering.

“That made you sad?” I asked.

“YES!”

“I know it is hard to share friends. But you share everything so well. God has really given you a heart that shares and He wants you to share friends too. The best way to be a good friend is to share them. If you get jealous or covetous then you’re not being a good friend. But if you show deference and share your friends with a warm heart and smile, then you can be friends to many. So perhaps you can sit next to V or B? And don’t forget your brother is there and he is your bestest friend.”

“Yeah, only B can dit me,” she said with a great big smile.

(ditting is one of the many ways Cutie Pie shows his sissy how much he loves her)

Sometimes we see with tunnel vision. Insisting on our own rights. When the only right we truly own is the God given right to LOVE!

How is School Going?

2008-11-07T08:26:00.004-05:00

School is going great!!! First things first is Bible! Let me ask any of you who may visit my blog are you having a hard time getting prayer and Bible time in? Then incorporate that into your homeschool first each day. If you get nothing else done in your day but Bible God will bless the rest of the day. Praying and reading God's Word with your children will bless your socks off!

For Bible we are using:
The BIBLE!
Character Building for Families by Lee Ann Rubsam
Hurlbut's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlburt
Growing Up Where Jesus Lived (A Beka Book)

We use different translations of the Bible including, KJV NIV and Amplified. The character book has been awesome mainly for ME! If I behave with good character, my kids will follow ; ) We have made positive steps towards contentment, but I am struggling with orderliness!!! The Bible story book is very thorough and not watered down, so I have to skip some parts for my age group. It was so amazing as I found this book at the library and loved it so much, but had to take it back as my 6 weeks were up. I planned to buy our own copy and while on vacation in WV I found a beautiful, like new copy at an antique store for $2!!!!!!!

Sweetness is reading Growing Up Where Jesus Lived. This is an awesome starter book into Hebrew customs and life when and where Jesus grew up. While praying about studying History I feel the Lord leading us to study about Hebrew culture. While doing a search for Biblical Holidays I found an awesome website http://heartofwisdom.com/need.html

Robin Sampson, homeschool mom of 20 years, has a plethora of exciting materials to teach your kids the Bible. After reading a free 70 page excerpt I ordered the Family Guide to Biblical Holidays. Now coincidentally we read a little about the Feast of Tabernacles in our Bible Story just yesterday. Coincidence? Confirmation? Nevertheless, I am excited about our new direction for studying History. (HIS STORY)

I also want to order Robin's book Heart of Wisdom Teaching Approach. Our ideas on education seem to match closely. After reading an excerpt from her book, on the history of education, I am convinced that the Hebrew way of education is the best. The first thing the Hebrews did was submerge their children in God's Word. They even had some sort of plate they wrote scriptures upon then slathered it with honey and allowed the children to lick the honey. God's word is SWEET! The Hebrews used a lot of symbolism to help remember God's Wonderful Works!

So what about the rest of school?

Cutie Pie:
Scripture Memorization (Romans 15:4)
Books of the Bible Memorization
Explode the Code Book 1 and Starfall.com for phonics (he is sounding out words everywhere)
Funtastic Frogs for math
Song School of Latin
LOTS of outdoor time ; )

Sweetness:
Scripture Memorization (Romans 15:4)
Books of the Bible Memorization
Explode the Code Book 2 for phonics practice and spelling
Math It
Copywork Scripture for handwriting
LOTS of outdoor time : )

We also have some loose ends to tie up on our geometry lapbook and our Rock Study. We just got a new collection of 50 rocks and minerals and I WILL get the rest of that organized and ready to dive into and finish next week. We have only one more booklet to complete for the geometry unit.

Then I think the first Biblical Holiday we will dive into will be Hannukah!!! And of course there are Christmas preparations to tend . . . whew.... I best get off here and get to school!

For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope! Romans 15:4

Mock Thanksgiving

2008-11-03T07:41:00.017-05:00

Can we BUILD IT?

We can PAINT IT!

YES WE CAN!

There must have been 15 kids piled up in there at one time!
Here are pictures of a few!

This year's Mock Thanksgiving was such a blessed time with friends and our family. Although a smaller crowd and less excitement (than the real Indian we had last year) it was a blessing to get better acquainted with newcomers in our group. Thank you Lord for all your bountiful blessings.

Daddy's Little Girl

2008-10-16T16:38:00.003-04:00

I don't have a picture for this one, so imagine with me if you will...

Sweetness played her song "Long Ago" on the piano for daddy last night. Yes teh very song she was convinced she could NEVER play. She played smoothly, without skipping a beat or note.

Then she said, "Look daddy! I picked a fish sticker for you," while pointing to the sticker she received as a reward from her teacher.

"Oh yeah?" daddy replied.

"Yeah this song reminds me of you, because you like so many things from 'long ago.'" Sweetness explained.

And the two of them exchanged warm hugs.

Best Friends

2008-10-14T22:33:00.004-04:00

Hop Skip Jump -- there she goes!

Hop Skip Jump -- there he follows!

HOP SKIP JUMP -- Back she goes

"SISSY!!!!! HELP" Hop Skip Jump -- Back he goes!

Tooth Fairy

2008-10-07T15:39:00.003-04:00

Hugs and kisses
Fairy tales and wishes
That's what little kids are made of...

Sweetness lost her 8th tooth yesterday while I was reading Providence: The Story of Roger Williams. She just kept on a wiggling and the next thing ya know she spit out a tooth.

Well, last night she left it on her nightstand even though the neighbor friend told her there are "No such things as tooth fairies." Sweetness wanted to believe.

Sigh... what can I say? Is it ever "OK" to tell a lie? Is the tooth fairy a lie?

Well, this a.m. Sweetness comes into my room, lays down beside me and says, "I guess there is no such thing a tooth fairy." And she disappointedly drops her tooth into my hand.

MY EYES WERE BIG AS SAUCERS!!! I FORGOT : ( So, I tried to redeem myself by counting out the $1 bills in my wallet and I had exactly $8. So I handed it to her and she said, "Thanks mom!!!!!!" Then with a very understanding sweet grin (missing a few spaces) she also said, "You must have just been really tired last night."

Oh thank God for the forgiving spirit He gives to children. We can learn so much from our kids.

MORE Surprises!

2008-10-01T08:43:00.004-04:00

The snake pictured below is a HOGNOSE! I wished we would have at least poked him just a bit to see his theatrical defense mechanisms, but not knowing he was harmless, we let him be. Well, after our indoor studies we went on another marvelous nature walk.

Look who greeted us in the chicken coop!

THIEF!

We truly thought he was tangled in the wire of my hatchlings cages (thank goodness there were no hatchlings or broody hens in there). We went to call our dearest neighbor who ain’t afraid of snakes and ask her to bag him and take him away from the coop. But by the time we ran to the house for the phone and called (her line was busy) and came back the scoundrel was gone. If only he was as good at eating the backyard moles as he was at fresh eggs : /

Even though our hearts were beating a little faster, the walk to the creek was more quiet today! We took our water sample. We had to stir up the slime on the rocks and trap it into the bottle. We poured out most of the water and then put the slimey substance on a paper towel to dry overnight. Stay tuned to see if the dried substance sticks to our magnets.

Just when the kids said, “The walk to Rocky Creek wasn’t as exciting as yesterday,” we found this in our front yard!

Oh, and before the night was over, look what Treasure Hunter brought home!

Thank you God for your marvelous creations! They make our spirits soar!

SURPRISES!

2008-09-30T08:09:00.007-04:00

Let me write this before I burst! Yesterday was another amazing day of learning! It started with our Rock Study! We learned how minerals change into crystals and the largest crystal ever found was 42’ x 5’ It took nearly the entire length of our basement to measure out that crystal! Then we started forming our own crystals with gum drops!

Microscopic Crystal

Ta! Da! Small Crystal

Finger Licking Good Crystals

Not pictured is Cutie Pie who bit his tongue and forever hates gum drops and commenced to measuring Milo (his favorite beanie kitty) with the measuring tape and kitchen scales!

Then it was onto our geometry study. Did you know that three dimensional shapes have more than one face? A triangular prism has a triangle face and three rectangles! We made a little booklet describing the many faces of some 3 dimensional blocks! I can hardly wait to get those blocks out again today, but we only have two more activities : ( I’ve GOT to find more.

We are using Family Math for games to enhance our math skills! Praise the Lord for a game that both kids can play and everybody wins. We made a number chart of 1-20. Sweetness wrote down a number and then Cutie Pie had to guess that number. Sweetness would give clues of higher and lower until Cutie Pie won. He placed a disc over that number to eliminate it from the choices. It was a lot of FUN! We’ll play again today using more than or less than terminology. Cutie Pie and I will probably play our frog game of rolling the die, putting the number of frogs shown on the die into the balance bucket. The player who has the most frogs, thus tipping the scale wins! When selecting my frogs for the bucket I make different 4’s like 3 green and 1 blue etc…

OK! Now for the realllllyyyyyy exciting time we went for a nature walk, to “boring Rocky Creek” Oh how we all take God’s blessings for granted. Well along our way we seen a small centipede, a big earthworm, a bigger racer snake

Ain’t he cute all curled up in his leaf bed?

And the biggest of them all

Now I admit this one had me tiptoeing all the way home and every stick made me JUMP! I am trying to identify this snake and am currently communicating with VA Tech to find out!

Now if that was not exciting enough Sweetness discovered a substance from the creek that stuck to her Pony’s foot magnet. “Look mama, it is just like the metal shavings that stuck to the magnet in Mrs. Dietzel’s class!” She discovered a metallic mineral in the water! Which makes crystals in sedimentary rocks. That is my best educated guess and perhaps I will be proven wrong when we study sedimentary rocks. It is okay for mama to make mistakes! I'm learning alongside my kids! Homeschooling is my second chance at a better education ; )

We didn’t get around to reading about Squanto : ( But today is another day and I don’t have 7 quarts of pears to can, so I think we will read about Squanto, do a few booklets for our Colonial Lapbook, and Sweetness will finish reading her Migratory Birds book. Oh, and Cutie Pie will do a page in Explode the Code -- all by himself!

We will also obey orders from headquarters and go for a nature walk every day ! We must go bottle Treasure Hunter some of that metallic mineral.

I can hardly wait to see what surprises God has in store for us today…

Can you believe October is around the corner! Time Flies and my puter time is up! God Bless!

Week of Units

2008-09-26T08:51:00.006-04:00

I really think Unit Studies is our path to the road of learning with love and enthusiasm. We currently have our oars in several different seas of knowledge.

Science: We are doing a rock study as you can see below. We will be taking this to the next level of crystal formation just as soon as we get some gumdrops to construct our own set of crystals ; )

History: We are rowing through the Colonial time period focusing on Jamestown and Plymouth. Now I find this fascinating and am so eager to fill in the gaps of my public school education. I really like the Tapestry of Grace curriculum for History and plan to study history from Creation to Present in 4-year rotation w/ my scholars ; ) But first we will do a sample unit before I take the $$$ plunge to invest in the curriculum that is rather expensive upfront, but when divided over 12 years of school is very economical.

Math! We began our Geometry study. This was so fun as I was able to include both children. We built towers, knocked them down, built a store w/ steps leading to it… then we talked of how funny cylindrical steps would be. Cutie Pie is so ticklish and the thought of cylindrical steps and square drinking cups really made him giggle. Of course we just had to try drinking from a square container! We had a shape hunt and found items that were cylindrical, spherical, and rectangular prism and boy wasn’t daddy impressed when Cutie Pie threw those terms around at the dinner table ; )

Art! Sweetness makes the tiniest details when sculpting with her Sculpey Clay (which I found 4 Large boxes of brand new Sculpey at a yard sale this summer)!

She continues to practice the water color techniques she learned in art camp this summer. We still need to purchase some pastel chalks and spend more time practicing those techniques as well.

Music!
Sweetness is moving along in her piano book. We sit down each day after breakfast, & lunch for a 10-15 minute practice session. And my birthday present from my dear sweet mama arrived!

She has planted the seed of singing unto the Lord in my heart and her wish is I continue this tradition with my children.

Well, that is it for now! I pray we will have an even better time of learning next week! Without effectual, ferverent, consistent prayer, none of this is possible. For with God all things are possible.

VOLCANOES!

2008-09-22T20:25:00.004-04:00

Heartfelt had an awesome day of learning. We are currently studying rocks. Our first rock kit arrived last week and I broke it out yesterday. The children chose igneous rocks first, because the are formed from volcanoes! Sweetness thought it fascinating that pumice floats. So did I! We are learning that igneous rocks form in different places inside and outside a volcano.

Before we filled out the diagram of which rocks form where in the volcano, we made a homemade volcano w/ baking soda and vinegar. A whole box of baking soda and a whole gallon of vinegar and a bottle of green food coloring. I know, lava is red, but I didn’t have red therefore we used what we had -- green!

Sweetness also made a paper volcano! Look at the lava spewing out!

And of course went to Rocky Creek and collected and talked about sedimentary rocks too. I never knew that rocks had a cycle nor did I know that there are more volcanoes under sea than above. It is so awesome learning new things with
my kids.

We are also learning about colonization. I want to take a trip to Jamestown
and Plymouth!!! Of course the kids are not too passionate about old ships
and fights for freedom as volcanoes and rocks.

Somewhere along the way we manage the three R's. Treasure Hunter was amazed at Sweetness' reading skills as she read to him about John Smith. She has named her doll John Smith whom is currently in a hospital bed all bandaged up with toilet paper and scotch tape as he slowly heals from gunpowder wounds…

Cutie Pie is a real sport in playing games as he does not fret when he looses, but exclaims LETS PLAY AGAIN! He is picking up a lot of math concepts that way.

Well tomorrow may not be as exciting. We will sit back down at the desks and write about our adventures today. But first we will pray and thank God for all His beautiful creations and marvel at His graciousness towards us.

Camping Out

2008-09-14T10:40:00.002-04:00

We went camping last night... we set up at 6:30 on an island on the lake amidst distant thunder. It never stormed PTL, and the moon was full, the fire was crackling, ears of corn roasting, hot dogs, smores, pepsi, red dye fruit drinks. We had it all. Oh and bugs and spiders too : )

It was sticky and humid out, so Treasure Hunter and Sweetness took a dip in the lake. I watched as the memories were made. We roasted our hotdogs and marshmellows on a stick by the fire and stuffed our guts till we couldn't wiggle. Cutie Pie couldn't go to sleep w/o brushing his teeth so thankfully I remembered the tooth brushes, unlike my contact solution and glasses that we had to come back home for : / He was out in an instant the moment his little head hit the pillow.

Sweetness stayed up and ate MORE Smore's. About 2 a.m. we all laid down to sleep. I was snoozing when Sweetness woke me with a tummy ache. Go figure. "Oh mama, I like the fire, and the Smore's, but do you HAVE to sleep outside when you go camping?" she cried so pitifully.

After a few mins of trying to soothe her and go back to sleep on that hard rock ground I said to Treasure Hunter, "Will you please take us home."

And he did. We left all our stuff except our pillows, rode the boat in the moonlight back to our neck of the woods. My head never felt so thankful for a nice cozy bed in an air conditioned house. And here I sit the next morning with bleary eyes typing our memories as the rest of the family went to pack up our tents, coolers and food. I feel a nice nap coming this afternoon.

Back to School!

2008-09-02T17:28:00.000-04:00

The first day of school began with making banana bread! Sweetness cracks the eggs, adds the sugar, butter and vanilla. Cutie Pie measures the flour, baking soda and baking powder! Then we mix it altogether adding the nuts and bananas last. YES, they’re still in their PJ’s and it is near 9 a.m.

While the bread is cooking we do our indoor and outdoor chores…

The bread is ready and I fill our handy dandy pampered chef décor tubes with softened cream cheese and we squirt different designs onto our yummy bread. Once our tummies were full it was time for school.

GOD!
We always start with prayer for our friends, family and our sponsored children in Africa. Then scripture memory from Jeremiah 29:11. Our Bible Story was about King Saul and how his disobedience and hasty attitude nearly led to his own son’s death. We discussed obedience and patience. Sweetness sang Leaning on the Everlasting Arms.

THREE R’s
Cutie Pie read the writing on the chalkboard “I CAN” then did two pages in Explode the Code Book 1 and practiced counting to 100.

Sweetness took her first spelling test: ’ I am begening to be a goo splr. ’ I will let you know how that improves by week end.

Three lessons in Primary Language Lessons including picture study, reading, verb/noun agreement. Also wrote a thank-you note.

Latin Review including a story in which she read all the highlighted Latin words.

Math -- Place value and measurements review.

Piano -- Going from numbered notes to letter notes. Sweetness was SURE she could not play that song, but with a little instruction and extra encouragement she DID it!

This was a fun light day and science and history will be added later next week after we get our groove back!

Not bad for the first day eh? Now I am thinking of adding gymnastics to our schedule on Thursdays…

My goals for this year: Be enthusiastic, quiet and meek spirited, challenge my children more and BELIEVE IN THEM! And most of all PRAY PRAY PRAY!

Reflecting on Summer

2008-08-27T21:50:00.013-04:00

Where have we been since July?? Living, loving, learning -- it never stops. Take a peek at our SUMMER!

Lots of evenings were spent swimming in the lake where Sweetness is perfecting her forward stroke

and Cutie Pie practiced going under water and jumping off the ladder

Rolled in the MUD!

Studied coconuts

Awesome Art Camp where Sweetness and myself learned about
water color,

pastel chalks,

charcoals

We molded a bear paw print found within 1/2 mile of our house

We got a kitchen makeover.

Sweetness read me the directions for the American Girl Hair Care Kit to ensure that I rolled Kaya‘s hair just right ; )

Now how can book learning measure up to all this? No wonder I'm having such a hard time getting back into the school groove! But we MUST and we WILL Lord willing begin school again on Sept. 2!

Thank you Lord for a wonderful, safe summer!

Family Vacation!

2008-07-07T22:23:00.006-04:00

We had a fantabulous time on our family vacation. I mean a *real* family vacation! We started in the Blue Ridge Mountains and traveled north to a little village outside Syracuse, NY! It normally only takes about 8 hours, however we were only able to travel 3 miles in one hour due to road construction traffic in Scranton, PA! Nevertheless we were greeted with warm hugs from the B side of the family!

We thoroughly enjoyed J’s high school graduation party! Complete with a slip and slide and absolutely NO alcohol . Sweetness went down the slip and slide so many times that she moaned and groaned with body aches the entire next day. I gave her some pain reliever at bedtime and promised she would feel better by the next day. We ate a delicious dinner at the Outback Steakhouse with mom and dad B in celebration of their 49th Anniversary.

G’ma B took us to a strawberry patch!

It was my very last first time to a strawberry patch! My kids loved it and Cutie Pie got “FULL” on strawberries. She also took us on a nature walk through a bog at Beaver Lake! We seen a very dirty green frog, measured the black gooey quick sand with a stick, seen several wild flowers and a gold finch in the bird observatory!

Treasure Hunter was blessed with a family heirloom and other treasures to add to his collection. Mom B went into the attic and recovered some old bottles that Treasure Hunter found when he was a small boy walking in the woods with his mom. He was born to treasure hunt ; )

On our way to visit our V side of the family we decided to take a different route and bypass eastern PA traffic. WE traveled across western NY and tried to picture Buffalo in 6’ of snow! We enjoyed the view of Lake Erie from the highway. It cost $8 to travel the NY Thruway, but it was worth dodging I-81. As soon as we crossed the PA line we met more road construction. However, it was not a heavily traveled interstate so we were not delayed. I forgot just how windy and curvy the WV roads are. They have a ridiculous speed limit of 70 mph around these mountainous spiraling curves. By the time we got through N. WV I was car sick! But my oh my was the mountain views absolutely gorgeous! Take me home, country roads…

Again we were greeted with a warm welcome from the V side of the family. I thoroughly enjoyed a whole day with just my mom and dad. We went to a lake where the children swam and played on the beach, then enjoyed a dinner at my dad’s favorite restaurant, Captain D’s. The next day we spent with my sister and Sweetness’ bestest Aunt Barbara. She cooked us a delicious breakfast and dinner, then gave my kids their much awaited bubble bath in her jacuzzi tub!

We also visited my cousin who just graduated from nursing school! She was bone tired after working 4 - 12 hour days at a hospital. I am still kicking myself for not taking pictures of her kids! Especially cousin Brooke who had a major turf burn on her thigh from "Sliding into homeplate!"

On our final full day we visited Aunt Roxanne who taught my kids to do the finger wiggle!

Then we went to my brother’s house for a cookout with his darling wife and two kids! We had hotdogs, hamburgers, corn, beans, fruit, and S’mores over an open fire. My brother delighted the children with fireworks, although the fireflies seem to be more captivating : /

We thought about leaving on Sat. night, but my visit to WV would not be complete without going to my old home church. My kids love G’ma Nora’s church too. There was a good message preached about spreading the gospel to the lost souls of this world. What I love about this church is the Sunday School classes have a chance to tell what the children learn in their class and the kids recite their Bible verses and sometimes sing a special song or solo. This church also honors those with birthdays with a short little ceremony of matching your age with coins and placing them in the offering plate, then being pinned with birthday pennant. After the special birthday song was sang Sweetness spoke up and said, “I have my birthday in a few weeks.”

The congregation leader said, “Well you can come back in a few weeks and get your pin.”

“I won’t be here in a few weeks!” Sweetness explained.

Then her teacher (who use to be a very dear friend of mine) spoke up and said, “She’s is M’s daughter from VA, she won’t be here in a few weeks!.”

“OH! Well come on up and get your pin !”

And the congregation burst into another special birthday song. It touched my heart and tears came to my eyes as I watched her receive her pin (even though she had no coins to give).

Tears came to my eyes once again as I had to say goodbye to my precious family whom I miss so much. I am amazed at how distant all of them who live so close together have become. I suppose distance makes the heart grow fonder. It is hard to understand and deal with those in our families who have shortcomings and faults. But the Lord has shown me to overlook offenses and forgive as I have been forgiven. I admit it was a wonderful good feeling to be on the opposite side of hospitality! I have learned a lot and hope to become a better hostess.

In closing I have to brag that my children behaved extremely well especially traveling such long distances. I only had to get my electric poker out a few times : 0 ) >just kidding< They were so tired from all the stimulation they were pretty much whipped puppies in the backseat!

Last but not least I want to thank my Heavenly Father for his hand of protection upon my family during our journey.

Oh, and Lord Willing we will be visiting Alaska soon! Our nephew JP just scored a job as game warden in Alaska!!!! stay tuned...

Beaks and Fledglings

2008-06-16T17:53:00.004-04:00

Fledgling: a young bird that has acquired feathers for flight and recently left its nest but is still dependent upon parental care and feeding.

Those fledglings kept us busy yesterday evening. Unfortunately one died yesterday as it attempted to fly, but was found on its back on our front porch step in the scorching sun. We tried to revive it, to no avail : ( So now four minus one is three. We checked on them later and realized that there were only two in the nest. We went on a frantic search for the third.

Mama bird was on the far end of our lawn just a squeaking her high pitched one note call. We followed her call through a little patch of woods until we found her babe under a small pine tree. It tried to fly away from us, but we caught it and placed it back in the nest.

We were cozied up on the couch around 8 p.m. with a book when Treasure Hunter bursts in the door and says "HELP! The birds have flown the nest!" We went outdoors to help rescue the fledglings. This time we put them in the nest with their nose to the wall in hopes they would not turn around and fly again!

Sweetness and I went for our evening walk while Treasure Hunter and Cutie Pie kept watch for the birds. And sure enough they tried to fly again! You just can't stop them. But thankfully they were rescued again and put back into the nest.

So "WHY?" you may ask. Because Tigger our cat! He is normally an outdoor cat, but we've kept him locked up in our basement as he is licking his chops. Just last week he killed a bird in the yard that I thought for certain was mama Phoebe. But thankfully it was not.

So now we have to leave today for horse lessons! I'll check back in later : )

The wives tale "Do not touch wild birds in their nest, because your human smell will cause the mama not to come back to them" has proven false in this situation! However, wives tales have a round bout truth in them. I think the reason this tale started was to keep curious little hands away from the nest ; )

Finding our Niche

2008-06-06T16:26:00.008-04:00

My oh my where does the time go? We've had a busy busy three weeks. We went on an awesome nature walk with the HS group. Sweetness spied a Scarlet Tanager and pointed it out for everyone to see. The bird sang a sweet lil' song for a few seconds before flying off. Everyone ooo'd and aaaa'd over the sighting and Sweetness won the nature award that day. It ties in really nice with our bird unit this month. The place we visited was awesome. I do not have picture to share this post, but plan to return to the site and take some to share.

Then we had a fun after school picnic with the HS group where we learned to play water balloon toss! We're also making more friends and contacts and finding our niche within the group. This is a wonderful group, but I am learning that some people you want to befriend are all ready too busy for more friends. It's nice to know them, but to build more than a surface relationship takes a lot of time. So we're finding those whom need friendships and building a network.

Sweetness continues her horse lessons each Tuesday, though we've switched to the a.m. instead of afternoon as the temps are soaring here in Virginia.

We're enjoying our bird unit study and the lapbook we're constructing very much. I think we've also found our niche in homeschooling. I've followed a lot of different philosophies, but I come back to the one that feels the best: Learning inspired by the direction and leading of the Holy Spirit and my dear sweet children. So how does that fit into educating a child from a Biblical Worldview? Well, I am to train up my child in the way he should go. Who knows how he should go, but the Holy Spirit? And I wholeheartedly feel that the Holy Spirit will impress upon my child's heart the way he should go. And if that way is not toward the world, but toward the Lord, then by all means, let me follow his lead.

Just look how the Lord has blessed our Bird Unit Study today! Thank you GOD! I feel I am going in the right direction *again* and it is such a JOYFUL feeling!

Birds nest built on our porch corner w/ 3 day old hatchlings.

Mama Bird (Eastern Phoebe)

We held a baby for just a second!

Ole Mother Buzzard

2008-05-12T20:01:00.005-04:00

My Mother's Day began with Cutie Pie bringing me notes of a secret coded language from his stuffed animals. He had to read it to me as I did not understand penguin language.

Treasure Hunter and I joined efforts in cooking a pancake and bacon breakfast. Then I snuggled between my two blessings on the couch and opened a bird book. Birds have been a huge topic of interest here of late. We discovered that buzzard eggs are incubated up to 5 weeks, and it was high time we checked up on Mother Buzzard.

Treasure Hunter took the children along a different path to the old house containing the buzzard's nest and they were very surprised when they reached their destination. They heard the pitter patter on the top floor and they walked with careful anticipation up the steep staircase and was greeted with a "Hisssssss" from baby buzzard. There was only one, for the other egg was still in the nest. They did not hang out too long, but picked me a beautiful bouquet of purple iris and returned home to tell me of their adventure.

Then Sweetness drew an amazing picture of mama buzzard flying in the air with a bone in her mouth to feed the baby buzzard. She also remembered to draw the nest with the lonesome egg. Treasure Hunter could not be persuaded to bring that buzzard egg home like the goose egg he rescued from the lake several weeks ago.

So Happy Mother's Day all you sweet mama's! Having a nestful of children is God's most treasured gift. And Happy Mother's Day Mrs. Buzzard. Stay tuned as there is a bird's nest on the corner of our porch!

Prayer Matters

2008-05-01T07:50:00.002-04:00

I just love the way God works! Allow me to share a praise report with you. My sweet 5 year old boy has always been shy. This was hard for me to understand coming from a very outgoing family, being very friendly myself, and having a daughter who inherited my genes and never meets a stranger. So when Cutie Pie would grunt and growl at the little ole ladies who make over his blue eyes in the grocery stores I was aghast and confused. And he also hates crowds of people and would rather sit in the vehicle by himself than join in all the fun. I could not even entice him out of the truck for apple pie.

I solicited the help of a Titus 2 mentor in my life. My sister n'law Christine, who is a mother of two fabulous grown children. Her advice was to ask Cutie Pie why he was shy and uncomfortable around strangers and crowds of people. As simple as it sounds it was very profound and opened up a dialogue and understanding between Cutie Pie and myself.

"Why are you so shy," I asked

"I don't know? I just feel uncomfortable around strangers," he replied

So I suggested, "Let's make a deal. I will not pressure you to speak to strangers. I ask that you just look downward and mommy will explain to people that you're uncomfortable around strangers. NO growling or nasty looks. OK?"

"OK."

Well, we were at an antique store and a strange lady asked Cutie Pie the name of the stuffed animal he was holding. He looked at her and you could tell he was struggling, turning a little red in the face, but he politely answered, "I have not named it yet." We have not been able to practice our "deal" as our talk seemed to help him come out of his shell! Thank you Aunt Christine!

Then we tackled the issues of crowds. Sweetness and I were attending a HS function recently and Cutie Pie was adamant that he was staying home with dad. About 10 mins before we left I invited and encouraged him to go with us. He agreed and we rushed to get him ready. Before we left I told him to remember his manners towards people and that he could stay close to mama, but he could not hide under my shirt, nor stay in the car. Once at the function he was already regretting his decision. He was trying to hide under my shirt and there was absolutely no room for his head under my shirt.

So I took him to the bathroom and asked him not to hide under my shirt. That he may stand beside me quietly. Then we prayed that the Lord would help him. Before the night was over he had left my side and was fluttering around with his social butterfly sister. On the way home he said, "I am so proud of myself! I am glad I came!"

Then yesterday was another test. We went to another HS function at a park. Before we left I told Cutie Pie he could not sit in the car. And to remember our deal of now growling and nasty looks. He cried, "I want sissy to play with me!" Cutie Pie does not share very well and especially not his sister! His one and only playmate most of the time. We prayed before we left, that God would help Cutie Pie have a good time and play nicely with the other kids. When we first arrived the park he did nto want to get out of the car. I had to pull him from his carseat. Then he hid under my jacket as I talked with other moms. One of the ladies commented on my 4 legs : /

Sweetness soon came over to the tables for a drink and Cutie Pie grabbed her hand and off they went to play. He came back over to the table crying, "Sissy is not playing with me." I told him, "Sissy is playing with everybody, so you have to share Sissy and play with everybody too." So off he went! He truly had a fabulous time, met new people and shared his sister.

OK! Stay with me! I'm almost done.

Last night Treasure Hunter took the children to the lake. About 10 mins later Cutie Pie bursts through the door exclaiming, "Mama! The pontoon boat is gone! Somebody broke the rope! Sissy and daddy went looking for it. I'm going to change my clothes and go pray!" So he changed his clothes, then went into my bedroom and shut the door! He came out a few minutes later and said, "I prayed God would help daddy and sissy find the boat."

We walked back down to the lake and lo, here comes daddy and sissy bringing the stray boat back to shore. Cutie Pie exclaimed, "My prayers helped mama! God helped them find the boat."

"Yes! God hears your prayers and He will help us!"

I think God showed Cutie Pie the fruitfulness of prayer. I truly believe God helped him overcome his shyness, and he has learned that God does hear our prayers.

Thank you Lord for helping me teach my children that prayer matters.

Tying Heart Strings One at a Time

2008-04-27T13:59:00.002-04:00

Bragging Corner : )

2008-04-13T15:33:00.007-04:00

Hand Painted Spoons by Sweetness. These will be presented with our Sweden display for the homeschool's international dinner

Hand Sculpted by Sweetness using Sculpey clay.

Treasure Hunter's latest find : ) A goose egg that rolled out of the nest into the lake.

Horse riding lessons!

Toaday

2008-04-06T20:56:00.007-04:00

I just read an awesome article on how we can get dad more involved in homeschooling. It was the best advice I have ever read. "Let them!" Just let dad go and do not criticize what he does! So here goes dad's version of nature study!

Yes, those are toads clinging to my children's limbs.

Nature Study

2008-03-28T19:25:00.007-04:00

Today Heartfelt enjoyed a spring break nature study! Look what we found!

Flower -- if you know the name, please leave a comment for us!

Mr. Woodpecker

Eeeerrrryyyyy eel (look closely it looks like he's about to strike!)

Creek Chubs or Sucker Fish swimming upstream taking a break to look at us : )

The first spring peeper of the year discovered by Cutie Pie himself!

Chemistry!

2008-03-23T16:40:00.009-04:00

Combine solutions (making sure to hold your tongue just right ; )

Mix solution (again, mouth position is extremely important!)

Check Consistency

Pour

Get MEAN with it!

ENJOY!

Smaller portions available for those more subdued!

It bounces!

For complete directions:

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/Chem_p012.shtml?from=Home

Nature Study: Buzzard Eggs

2008-03-18T08:52:00.002-04:00

Treasure Hunter took the children way over in the woods to an old abandoned house. The children love to go inside this house (reminds them of children of long ago whom I have read stories). They heard a pit pat pit pat above their heads.

Treasure Hunter asked, "What's that?" Cutie Pie's eyes swelled really big, but Sweetness said, "It is just the buzzards daddy." She knew from experience.

So they climb the rickety steps to the second level and lo a buzzards nest is before them. Mama flew away in her fright and the children flocked to her nest and picked up her eggs!

"They were so warm mama," said Cutie Pie

"And bigger than our chicken's eggs!" exclaimed Sweetness.

"How big were they?" I asked.

"About as big as a goose's egg."

They have marked the calendar and plan a return trip in 21 days to observe baby buzzards. I wonder what Mrs. Buzzard will do then?

2008-03-16T09:38:00.000-04:00

High Tea

2008-03-16T09:29:00.003-04:00

Thank the Lord for Little Girls.

Creation Pizza Books

2008-03-09T15:17:00.020-04:00

Cutie Pie's Book

Sweetness' Book

Romans 1:16-32

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.

17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith."

God’s Wrath on Unrighteousness (Does this sound like any people/place you know? Does not our own country's public school system supress the truth and tell our children that we evolved from monkeys? And we ask what is wrong with our youth?)

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,

19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.

20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,

21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,

23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.

24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves,

25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! Ps 107:8KJV)

Presenting the Tribes of Heartfelt

2008-02-21T18:03:00.007-05:00

Nappie Tribe (Sweetness made from napkins and tape)

String Tied Tribe (Cutie Pie made from napkins and string)

The bottom row is their food supply of vegetables, meat and bread.

A Walk in the Park

2008-02-15T20:28:00.001-05:00

Today was no ordinary day here at Heartfelt. It all started during morning prayer time. I heard the chickens squawking. I looked down towards their pen, through the patch of woods, and sure enough Mrs. Todd Fox was making her rounds. She even took a run for it and tried to scale the fence, but we outsmarted her years ago and put a chicken wire roof on top of the pen. Well, I went downstairs and loaded up the ole 22 rifle. I am still surprised Treasure Hunter bought me that rifle on our very first Christmas together, but I reckon I am thankful. I walked on down to the coop in my jammies and aimed up high then let out a few rounds that sent Mrs. Todd Fox on her way, and spooked a lake full of geese and ducks while I was at it.

We managed to do some school today amongst the sniffles and sneezes. And the warm air was calling our names, “Come out to play.” I had errands to run and was craving some pizza, so we sat out for the store, post office and Pizza Palace. Then we decided to go on down to the park for a while.

I tried my best to practice what Charlotte Mason calls “masterly inactivity,” but my kids just seem to always need something when I sit down with a book. So we climbed trees and monkey bars, swung on the swings, sent toy cars down the slide, bumped our head on the slide bar. We was having a good ole time. Then two ladies on horses happened by. Sweetness was thrilled and we walked over and petted a Palomino Tennessee Walker, with a stripe and socks and a Liver Chestnut Walker, with a star and socks. Yes, we have been studying about horses.

Then we decided to walk across the road and go down to the river. It was beautiful there. The sun was shining on the water making the rapids sparkle. We decided to walk down stream a bit and get a better look at some rapids. We had a good time throwing sticks in the rapids and watching the water take them swiftly down stream. Then they came. Six to eight big barking dogs. My kids cower behind me and I say, “It’s ok don’t act afraid.” Yeah right!

I picked up a stick to let the first dog that got near I would poke its eyes out all the while saying “Nice Doggie.” That dog wasn’t too sure if she could trust me and I felt the same way about her. Where is my 22 when I need it? Then one of the dogs picked up a big huge rock in its mouth as if to say “Wanna play fetch?” SO I figured they couldn’t be THAT vicious. Then I realized we were right beside a kennel. A kennel that I thought would have the dogs in pens.

I yelled HELP! As I figured someone must have just let them out. I kept them at bay with my stick, but they kept barking and surrounding us. Then one charged at me growling and I broke my stick on its back and sent it running w/ tail tucked between legs. We finally managed to walk back around to our path. Once we were on our way to safety and we had some distance between us and the dogs their owner comes over to say “Hey where did you come from?”

“We came from the park. Is this your land?”

“Yes, it is.” he replied trying to talk over barking dogs that were not obeying his commands to come and be quiet.

“ OK! We won’t be back here again! “ I yelled and swatted the stick at another one of his dogs. Then we tucked tail and kept on going!

Our hearts are still beating hard and the kids eyes were big as saucers as they told their daddy about the trouble mommy got them into today : / Treasure Hunter said, “That man is lucky those dogs didn’t bite you.” The man??? We are lucky they didn’t bite us.

So that was a not-so-typical day at Heartfelt. Thank you God for keeping us safe!

Heartfelt Academy

Feast of Tabernacles

Shaken Up

Summer 2011 Reflections

A Friend Once Told Me

Spring Happenings

Happy Birthday Cutie Pie

Tinkering and Tweeking

Recovery

Sometimes God Answers YES!

First Hike of 2011

Visiting Mt Vernon

Patience Pays!

Something to Miss

Visitation

School Begins

Countdown to Spring!

Happy Birthday Cutie Pie

Life in 2' of Snow and No Electricity

Peace Like a River

Keeper's at Home

Family Fun

Pumpkin Patch 2009

Country Roads! Take me Home!

BEACH, BIBLE BEE, BAPTISM! We are the B's

School Begins! 2009

How's it feel to be FORTY? The Big 40!

What is your reward?

Sweetness Turns 9

Vacation Road Trip

The BEST 4th of July EVER!

On Teaching Math

If Eve Could Talk She Would Say

Sharing the Lake

Plant Lapbooks!

International Fair Take 2 & MORE!

International Fair!

The Lord's Table

April Showers!

Passover and what's next!

Reading and Writing with Little ones

To See Ourselves As Others See Us

Toads & Eeels & Bones! OH MY!

I was a good girl today!

Resume For the Possession of Your Heart!

Forgiveness!

Purim

Do Not Be Ignorant Brethren

Last Snow?

B*E*S*T Parenting!

Whispers of spring

Smile! Cutie Pie Loses FIRST Tooth

Encouragement from God's Word

Does this count for art and science?

Happy Birthday Dear Cutie Pie!

Heartfelt Home**school** 2009 Update!

Moonlight Sledding

2's Company! 3's a CROWD?

FIRST SNOW DAY 2009

Nature Slide_________________

Welcome Home Eve

Telephone Story!

Coincidence or Confirmation?

Heartfelt Hanukah

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS

Homemade Hanukah

CHRISTMAS AT THE BEACH!

Before Christmas Vacation!

First SNOW!

Clearer Vision

How is School Going?

Mock Thanksgiving

Daddy's Little Girl

Best Friends

Tooth Fairy

MORE Surprises!

SURPRISES!

Week of Units

VOLCANOES!

Camping Out

BES*T Parenting!

Heartfelt Homeschool 2009 Update!