He Had A Dream

In our house we take time on important days to explain to our children why we are observing something important on that day. Martin Luther King, jr made some praiseworthy contributions to the history of our country and is worth remembering on the day our country has set aside to honor him. He is also an excellent example of a godly man who gave his live for the cause of freedom.

When I'm teaching my children about something important I always like to use books and last year I blogged on my favorite book for children in early elementary, My Brother Martin. My children also viewed a video "Our Friend Martin" about two boys who go back in time to meet Martin Luther King, jr.

Please let me know in the comments if you have found other good resources. Whatever you do on this day take time to remember this great man and to say thanks to God for people like him willing to speak out for all God's people.

Theme for a New Year

I am so very blessed to have a group of friends that I never see, but talk to every single day throughout the day. The are a group of like minded Christian homeschooling women but we are also different in enough ways to keep things interesting! I'm so thankful for them.

One of us introduced the rest of us to an idea we have been using for the past two, maybe three years. My friend Dana listens to God to discover what it is he would like her to focus on in the coming year. You'll enjoy reading her post on her theme this year which is "consider the lilies."

As I said most of the group picks a theme and I thought you'd be interested in some of the others as well. You might find a blog you love as well!

Rachel is focusing on "simple, beautiful." There are so many praiseworthy thoughts in this post.

Dee Ann will spend the year thinking about "simple, lovely, grateful." She is simply lovely and I believe you will enjoy her blog.

Crissy will be "going live" and may be giving up the internet all together, so hurry over. Look for the post "It's (almost) a new year folks..."

And last but certainly not least...Brooke is hearing voices - but it's the good kind!

I'm calling my theme "first things first". Taking care of what's most important first. Carefully prioritizing my day. But that also means seeking God before opening my mouth. Making sure the log is out of my eye, etc...those are first things too. I've already started keeping a list of verses and quotations I come across on this subject that I hope will help to inspire me. If you all can think of some please leave it for me in the comments. Thank you Dana for introducing us to this wonderful way of preparing for a new year.

Even I have been tagged

My dear sweet friend Rachel has tagged me and I feel that I should comply:

1. One book that changed your life:

For The Children's Sake by Susan Schaeffer McCauley. This is the book that started me on the homeschooling path I'm still on.

2. One book that you have read more than once:
To Kill A Mockingbird. Forget Mobey Dick, this is the great American Novel.

3. One book that you'd want on a desert island:

As cliche' as it sounds it would be the bible. It's all there: romance, adventure and wisdom

4. One book that made you laugh:

A Walk In The Woods. I had just had a baby and would read this book in the bathtub and LAUGH. It was sort of like therapy.

5. One book that made you cry:

Technically a short story but A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote always makes me cry.

6. One book that you wish had been written:

A manual for my husband

7. One book that you wish had never been written:

Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence. I grew to hate the main character so much I couldn't finish the book. That is rare for me. And of course I've already mentioned Mobey Dick. But that could have more to do with reading it in a two day period for a graduate English class.

8. One book you are currently reading:

Does Country Living Magazine British Edition count as a book???? This season has been so busy I haven't read any books in awhile.

9. One book you've been meaning to read:

Are you kidding me??? I have a book list of books I want to read that is 70 pages long!!! I am not exaggerating. That doesn't even include the stack beside my bed that I've picked up at sales and want to read. Well, the most recent addition to my huge list is Switched Off by Eric Brende. Several of my friends have read it and recommended it and then I found out at Christmas that he lives in my Uncle's neighborhood.

Ten Two Studios Christmas Countdown

For you paper crafters out there Lisa Volrath still has her Christmas Countdown up at her site . But hurry because she'll take it down soon!!

Merry Christmas!

Advent was a busy time for me this year. Truly the picture of a world waiting for a Savior! But today I am celebrating the birth of our Savior and I hope you are all having a wonderful Christmas.

Stopping By The Woods on a Snowy Evening

Take caution as with all youtube videos, but this Robert Frost poem read by the author is something wonderful to share with your children. The illustrations are by Susan Jeffers and from this book.

The Reason for the Season

I came across this writing by Charlotte Mason in Volume 5 of her series on education that I think helps to put a parents focus in proper perspective for Christmas. It was very convicting for me and I plan to read and reread it during this season.

Actions do not speak louder than words to a young heart; he must feel it in your touch, see it in your eye, hear it in your tones, or you will never convince child or boy that you love him, though you labour day and night for his good and his pleasure. Perhaps this is the special lesson of Christmas-tide for parents. The Son came––for what else we need not inquire now––to reinstate men by compelling them to believe that they––the poorest shrinking and ashamed souls of them––that they live enfolded in infinite personal love, desiring with desire the response of love for love. And who, like the parent, can help forward this "wonderful redemption"? The boy who knows that his father and his mother love him with measureless patience in his faults, and love him out of them, is not slow to perceive, receive, and understand the dealings of the higher Love.
But why should good parents, more than the rest of us, be expected to exhibit so divine a love? Perhaps because they are better than most of us; anyway, that appears to be their vocation. And that it is possible to fulfil even so high a calling we all know, because we know good mothers and good fathers.
"Parents, love your children," is, probably, an unnecessary counsel to any who read this page; at any rate, it is a presuming one. But let me say to reserved, undemonstrative parents who follow the example of righteous Abraham and rule their households,––Rule none the less, but let your children feel and see and be quite sure that you love them.
We do not suggest endearments in public, which the young folk cannot always abide. But, dear mother, take your big schoolgirl in your arms just once in the holidays, and let her have a good talk, all to your two selves; it will be to her like a meal to a hungry man. For the youths and maidens––remember, they would sell their souls for love; they do it too, and that is the reason of many of the ruined lives we sigh over. Who will break down the partition between supply and demand in many a home where there are hungry hearts on either side of the wall?

Her admonition to parents is well taken. It is not enough to teach our children the facts of Christmas...the birth of a savior, the plan of our God. We must also speak to their hearts. We must SHOW them the love of Christ first hand as we love them despite their failings and let them know we do, just as God does us. I'll be striving for this through "Him that gives me strength" and I hope that you will too.

Jesse Trees to Help Orphans

James 1:27 Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their misfortune...

I was told by a local friend about a wonderful family who has managed to share their love of Jesse Trees by turning it into a project to help orphans. Here are the words of the Mom who started this project:

I bought my first one [Jesse Tree] about ten years ago when my first son was just a few months old. We have used it every year and it is our family's favorite Christmas tradition by far. We wrap each ornament like a little package and place them under the tree (we also put the number of the day on them so we will know which one to open). Then each day, one of the kids takes turns opening the ornament and reading the devotion.

Two years ago, my oldest two decided they wanted to sponsor children from World Vision. So I asked them what their plans were to pay for the sponsorship of the kids and they both enthusiastically said, "Let's make Jesse Trees to sell!" So that's why we sell these :-) We make 90% of the ornaments during the summer months to have them ready by fall. 100% of our proceeds goes to the kids they sponsor and if we have any proceeds left over, we use it to buy animals, medicine, food, etc. for other families through World Vision. We are also considering adding on Shaohannah's Hope as an additional foundation to sponsor. It is an organization started by Steven Curtis Chapman and helps fund orphans in China. We LOVE doing this!

...We made 50 sets of ornaments to sell this year. We are very close to meeting the kids' requirements for sponsorship right now and I believe we have sold around 35-38 boxes of ornaments. We have two sets that we sell: one set is $35. This set of ornaments comes premade along with a hardbound book for devotions. Our second set is a "kit" with all of the supplies and instructions needed to make 25 ornaments along with the hardbound book. This set sells for $25. We also have 24" trees if people need them. Some people like to buy the tree; others have trees that they will use from home.

If you would like to contact this family to purchase your own Jesse Tree ornaments and help the orphans they have adopted you can do so by emailing doyel@everestkc.net.

Green Challenge: Stay married

I found this article in the Washington Post fascinating:

Their paper, published yesterday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, also found that if the divorced couples had stayed together in 2005, the United States would have saved 73 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity and 627 billion gallons of water in that year alone.
Married households use energy and water more efficiently than divorced ones because they share these resources -- including lighting and heating -- among more people, said Jianguo Liu, one of the paper's co-authors. Moreover, the divorced households they surveyed between 1998 and 2002 used up more space, occupying between 33 and 95 percent more rooms per person than in married households.
"Hopefully this will inform people about the environmental impact of divorce," Liu said in an interview yesterday. "For a long time we've blamed industries for environmental problems. One thing we've ignored is the household."

Staying married...it's very praiseworthy.

Image Vintage Ladybird Books 'Helping at Home',originally uploaded by LarkingAbout.