Kids at Work

What a change today is from our usual routine. My three oldest are all at work. It feels weird!

Now mind you, it is great that the oldest is off to work, he has graduated and is a working man now. But my girls, hmmm. They are working for the rest of the season at a local corn maze. It will only be a few days a week, and maybe even one day a week, once our homeschool group starts. One of the fun things about homeschooling is the flexibility in their schedules.

So, I am home with my little ones, and missing my daughters, who are great company and helpers to me, and wonderful sister friends to their little sisters and brother. The little ones are really missing their sisters, and I will need to be creative this afternoon to give them some distraction. Evenings will be fun when we pick them up, and Daddy is home when we get back!

I will have to plan something fun for this evening to celebrate their first day. Oh, grandma! What is temperature of the pool water????

What a Day!

Yesterday was such a busy day.

As I have mentioned before, I am participating in a mentoring program called "Apples of Gold", through my church. As hard as it is for me to believe, I am one of the mentors. In my mind of course I am only about 25 years old, but in reality I am in my early 40's and married almost 20 years now. I have a heart to encourage young women in their daily lives, and am so excited about helping with this program.

That being said, we had a meeting yesterday, going over the lessons, and then discussing what we will serve for lunch and what we will demonstrate, as in a household/cooking skill.
We start in about 2 weeks so this meeting was long, about 4 hours! We can never believe how the time flies by!

Then after being home for about 1 1/2 hours I took my son to an orientation meeting for his new job, and went to the church where our homeschool co-op meets. We had our first meeting of the new school year, where the parents come and sign their children up for classes and sign up as to where they will assist.

I arrived early to spend a bit of time praying and getting my thoughts together, and to set up chairs. There was a teachers meeting before the regular meeting, and then the meeting which lasts from 7:00pm - 9:00pm and then the parents sign up. It was a great evening, and so good to meet the new families and to catch up with the returning families. There are always questions to answer and things to discuss. When I got in my car to drive home last night, the clock said 10:55 pm!

I arrived home 20 minutes later, exhausted but content.

God is good.

Becoming Jane

Saturday night my husband took me to see "Becoming Jane". Having read several reviews of the movie, I wanted to see it for myself.

Firstly, let me say that I am always so disappointed when they take "modern sensibilities" and place them in a period movie. This is what I didn't like about the recent "Pride and Prejudice" starring Kiera Knightly, can you imagine Lizzie telling Mr. Darcy that he could call her "goddess divine?" Yikes! But I digress.

I do not like that Tom Lefroy reads to her from a nature book about birds mating. I do not like that the filmaker thought it important to show Mr. and Mrs. Austen in bed, having a moment, if you know what I mean. I do not like that they show Tom and Jane's brother's bare bottoms. I don't like these kinds of things in any movie, as I do not want to see people having their "moments". I know that married people do, I just don't want to see it. Or implying that Jane's brother and cousin are sleeping together before they marry. In Jane's day that kind of behavior would have been highly scandelous and would have damaged the reputation of the whole family, and thus the chances of unmarried daughters, to marry someone decent. She wrote about it in Pride and Prejudice, about Lydia and Wickham.

I don't like it that I can't let my teenage daughters see this movie. I don't want them exposed to the innuendo, and bare bottoms.

I do like the movie midway through, when the relationship between Jane and Tom is blossoming. I love the way he Looks at her while dancing at the ball. I like that she thought of his family and their need of his supplying financial support, and that she sacrifices her chance of marrying him, for their greater need. I like that he named his eldest daughter Jane.

It could have been a charming, enjoyable movie if not for some of the things above, and if it didn't pretend to be Jane's life story.

I won't be buying this movie to add to my collection, but that James McAvoy has amazing eyes.

Exciting Home Entertainment

These are pictures from a lovely concert our three youngest children put on last night in the basement. (funny, but our three oldest used to do this too)


Sarah was definately the leader, she sang all the songs and kept her fellow performers in line! She was amazingly at ease!

She sang all the classic kid greatest hits; "Jesus Loves Me", "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star", "Mary Had a Little Lamb", and a few selections from Veggie Tales "Grandpa Bob's Oldtime Radio Show".

Kyle played the recorder, as did Rachel.

A very appreciative audience member. She also helped them by setting up the stage - she drew on her own experience!

This was so much fun - fortunately these concerts only last 10-15 minutes!

What We Did On Saturday

Yesterday, my oldest daughter and I built this "grazing" paddock. Our big pasture needs a little rest so the grass can get established better. So we also built a fence dividing our big pasture, and bought more pasture grass seed. The plan is to let one side of the big pasture
establish grass and then switch the horses to that side, and do the same to the other side of the pasture. In the meantime, we built this temporary area for our horse to graze.



Lindsay, with Sandy our quarter horse, and Emily, with Static a standard bred gelding who boards with us.


Sandy and Static.



A well loved red wagon.

A tired daddy after work, a girl happy that he is home.

God of Wonders

My First Blog Award!

My sweet sister in law, at Gathering of Friends, has nominated me for this award. I am so pleased. I, by temperment and personality, tend to be strong minded, opinionated, etc. I like people alot, I enjoy being with them, but niceness didn't necessarily come naturally to me. God's grace has tempered me, causing me to grow more thoughtful, kind and caring. I want to be an encourager of others. So, Thank You, Miss Paula!

Now I need to nominate 7 others:

First, Mrs. Wilt of The Sparrow's Nest. Her blog was the first to really inspire me to join the blogospere. Her blog is full of fun, encouragement, helpful hints and cute little boys!

Second, Jewels at Eyes of Wonder. She has inspired me to enjoy the day to day activities of my family, and to see the beauty of the ordinary. Thanks Jewels.

Third, Anna of Pleasant View Schoolhouse. She shares her daily life in beautiful pictures taken by her talented son. This is a creative lady and I love checking in daily to see what she has shared.

Fourth, Manuela of The Feathered Nest. I love looking at blog and seeing what she is doing to "feather her nest". Whether it is picking out paint for her living room, or showing her veggie garden, she makes you feel like you are a neighbor and chatting daily.

Fifth, my friend Pauleen at White Picket Fence. I have known Pauleen for AGES and I have never seen her be anything but nice.

Sixth, Tina at Cherry Hill Cottage. Oh, I could just move right into Tina's house! It is so warm and inviting. Beautifully decorated, and yet you feel like "real" people live there! Her daughter makes such creative banners and wooden letters. If you have never been to Cherry Hill Cottage, run, don't walk to check it out.

Seventh, Haus Frau, of lula's hardt. Sherry always shares lovely bits of inspiration. Wonderful quotes, daily life, stories of her princess and Mr.Darcy. She also likes to plan weddings, though she claims she is done with that, and she coordinates a homeschool group. I love doing those things as well, and so I feel a kinship with her.

There are many more ladies that I could nominate, but these ladies make my day, everyday. As does Miss Paula. I truly am thankful for your friendship, your love for my family and for your love and devotion to my brother!

Have a Nice day!

Martin Luther Quote

"What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord God. We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account of the word and faith from which the obedience and the work flow." -Martin Luther

I love this thought. I do not often think that my dish washing, making beds, cooking meals etc, is sacred and well-pleasing to God. But it is.

May you find joy in your Sacred work today.

Why I like Jane

Ok, I hope you are not all saying to yourselves, "enough with Jane Austen already!" It is just that everyday I read Mrs. Wilt's Fortnight of Jane Austen and it stirs up feelings about Jane's books. I just have to comment!

What I thought today in reading her post about Sense and Sensibility is that the reason I like Jane's books is that her characters are so interesting. The family relationships, their social interactions are fun to read.

I find that my girls and I speak about these people like they are real, speaking about their lives as if they are people we know! :) We quote them sometimes too. We laugh over the hypochondriac Mr. Woodhouse and his thinking about health.

We have a lot we can learn from these characters, thus from Jane; such as making to quick a judgement of people, listening to talebearers, letting daughters run wild, and much more.

A dear friend of mine stated last night that she thought I was like a "Trekkie" when it came to Jane Austen. I think that I will take it as a complement.

"Live long and prosper" :)

Jane Austen Class

This is a photo of Jane Austen's house in Chawton. It is the side entrance. This is considered a cottage! It is where she lived with her mother and sister Cassandra sometime after her father died.

Next month I am going to be teaching a homeschool co-op class on Jane Austen. We are going to study the times that she lived in, what the clothing was like, the manners of that time period, etc... We will be reading Pride and Prejudice and discussing the book. My students will be young ladies in grades from 7th - 12th. We will be learning to do handwork, perhaps make dresses, have a tea and I want to have a Christmas ball, as well. But the ball may have to wait for the Spring! I am purchasing a dvd that teaches the English Country Dances to children. We are going to have so much fun!

Before classes start, I will have the young ladies over to watch the 6 hour mini series that was shown on A&E, starring Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth. This will give them a much better idea of the book than the newer movie version. Pride and Prejudice is 19 chapters (we have a 20 week class) and they are not long chapters, but we will have some girls who are on the young side so I want them to be able to follow the story and participate in the discussion.

I am looking forward to this so much as are my two older girls and their friends!

How I Met Jane

I first met Jane in 1991 while at New Tribes Mission's Language Institute. My husband and I were studying how to learn an unwritten language and to how to develop an alphabet for that language. We also were studying culture - how to learn about the tribal group's family relationships, what their worldview is etc...

One day my brain just had enough of all that and I had read all the books in my personal library, so I walked down to the library at the school. Low and behold they had a full shelf of classic literature. I picked up "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen and began to read. I was hooked.

I have read "Emma", "Sense and Sensability", "Northanger Abbey", besides "Pride and Prejudice". I still need to read "Mansfield Park" and "Persuasion".

I own the A&E miniseries of "Pride and Prejudice", the Hollywood version starring Kiera Knightly (way too modern than the book), "Emma" starring Gweneth Paltrow and a whole collection of the movies as done by the BBC in the 70's and 80's and are not very well done at all! I also own the very well done "Sense and Sensability" starring Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet.

I have seen the "Emma" starring Kate Beckinsale, but I thought she made Emma seem mean. And I have seen "Persuasion" starring Ciran Hinds and Amanda Root. I want to own that! Very well done!

Mrs. Wilt over at The Sparrow's Nest, is doing a Fortnight of Jane Austen. I encourage you to pop over and join in the fun!

Family Fun

We have had a wonderful time this summer with our family visiting from out of state.

First, my brother, sister in law, nephew, niece, and Miss Paula's mom, came for a visit from California. It was wonderful to see them as always and to spend time with Miss Paula's mom, whom we love dearly.

Secondly, my husband's brother, sister in law and niece came to visit their grown daughters, who live nearby. They were home from Senegal, West Africa for meetings.

Thirdly, my uncle Bill and his lady friend Barb came to visit and go to NYC to be on "Who Wants to be a Millionare?".

Fourthly, my husband's sister, brother in law and niece came for a visit from Missouri. We had not seen them for about 3 years and it was great for all the little girl cousins to get to know each other. We mostly hung out, but went to DC on Thursday. It is always fun to go there, we didn't see everything we wanted so we will probably go back in the fall.

Here are some pictures from our time with our families this summer!

Luau Pictures

This is my dad and his brother. They used to be called Butch and Spike when they were boys. If you look closely, the lady in the blue shirt is me!

This is the gentleman who cooked the pig for the luau. They put it on at about 6:30 am.
A view from above of some of the men and boys at the luau.

I believe this was the line up for limbo!
Limbo!

No Batteries and Errands to Run

Whew, well I finally have a few minutes to post. I intended to post luau pictures today, but our batteries are dead! So I must go purchase more, we really like rechargables but I may just go buy regular for now. Then later I hope to post the pictures.

We are having company again, and this time they are staying with us. My husband's sister is coming with her husband and wee girlie. It has been about three years since we have been together, so we are very excited. The girls can't wait to play with their little cousin. It is going to be three fun days, but right now I am in the middle of preparing our bedroom for them, and doing a very deep clean on the bathrooms, and as always the girls must tidy their room!!!!

In addition to buying batteries, I need to run to the hardware store to pick up some laundry sorters that were on sale, and I need to buy a journal. I have been inspired by Jewels at www.eyesofwonder.typepad.com to keep a beautiful journal of dailieness rather than just a list of what needs to be done, etc...

Oh and a bit about school, we finished day 4 today, but it was more trying, as I think we are all excited about our family coming and didn't want to do schoolwork, but also my two year old just couldn't stop himself from throwing cat food down the basement stairs!!! That kept interrupting our interesting discussion regarding "the brawling woman" in scripture! Then he wanted a "baby" too, like his big sister had. He was so happy when they found him a little doll. I said "Kyle, you are going to be a good daddy." He grinned from ear to ear and said "my baby". Soooo precious!

I hope you all have a lovely day!

Sunday

We had a wonderful time yesterday at the luau. It turned out really great. The girls and I help with the serving, decorating, and the food. The guys just enjoyed the event.
I will post pictures tomorrow.

Today, we will attend church, sharing worship with our brothers and sisters in the Lord, and hear the Word preached. Then we will go home and have a restful day.

"This is the day that the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it."

Friday's Feast

Appetizer:

On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being highest, how polite are you? 9

Soup:

What was the last thing that made you laugh out loud? My little son's enjoyment of playing "five up high, five down low, five in the middle, you're too slow!"

Salad:

Who is your favorite cartoon character? Love the Veggie Tales (can't pick just one), and I do like Snoopy!

Main Course:

Tell about the funniest teacher you ever had. Mike Sullivan at New Tribes Bible Institute - he was a naturally funny guy, and made class very interesting and enjoyable!

Dessert:

Complete this sentence: I strongly believe - that Christians, who walk closely with the Lord, can inpact our culture!

2 Years Old

My little guy is two today!

He is so dear. He is lively, energetic, happy, and talkative.

He likes airplanes, trucks, cars, well, anything with wheels! He also loves to kick and throw balls.

He loves his family and shows his excitement daily when each one gets up, and especially when daddy comes home from work.

His grandma and grandpa enjoy his happy "dama" and "papa" when he sees them. His "Aunt Pada and Uncle Wabert" and "Uncle Dan" enjoy him as well.

All children are a blessing, and we thank God for sending us this little man, to brighten our days and to teach us so much!

Happy Birthday, little blessing!

School Days

Hello everyone!

Yesterday we started our new school year. Lindsay is in 10th grade, Emily 8th grade, Rachel 3rd grade and Sarah is in Kindergarten!

Tuesday night, as I was tucking them into bed, we were talking about starting school in the morning. Sarah, very dramatically, said "I'm not ready for kindergarten." hee hee She is very funny.

She is loving her math, and today we did botany for science using a great book called "Exploring Creation with Botany" by Jeannie Fulbright. You can find excellent science materials here http://apologia.com/ We learned about taxonomy today which is classification. We used legos to see how scientists separate the plants into kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species! We used blue legos and separated them out into size, kind, shade of blue, etc...

They are keeping notebooks, writing down interesting information, like classification. It will be great at the end of the year to have these fun notebooks, with drawings of plants and information in them. Lindsay is doing biology this year, so all the girls are learning about living things.

We are reading from James Ushers "The Annals of the World". It is interesting to see the dating system and how some historians have even dated the first day of creation to a specific season and day of the month. Today we were reading about Adam, Seth and all the way to Noah and the flood. This we are doing as the beginning of our world history, studying the beginning of the world.

It is so cool to homeschool!

Can you tell I am loving it? There will be days to come that are not so fun or glorious as these are, but learning will take place and we will continue to look to the Lord to guide us on our way.

Tomorrow is my little guy's second birthday! So amazing. He is really verbal and is a joy to us all!

Have a wonderful day!