This is the best way to pay tribute to someone - let them say what's important in their own words. Here's to you, Kay, and the testimony you lived as well as the one you left behind --
Please go HERE to view her tape that she had shown at her funeral.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Fun in School This Week
Monday we took a few minutes to read "The Great Race: The Story of the Chinese Zodiac", dis
cussed Chinese New Year, found China on the maps and globe, talked about oxen and had Chinese stir-fry for dinner. Tuesday was Mozart's birthday but with other pressing matters we actually listened to his music while we did school on Wednesday. The children also drew pictures of him and we talked about what life was like in Europe during the late 1700s when he was alive and talked about what it would 
be like to be composing music by the age of five. This worked very well with the fact that this week we "left" Australia behind in Social Studies and traveled over to Europe, beginning with Switzerland. Since my oldest son and daughter went through a tip of Switzerland this summer we looked at some of their pictures online. Thursday night's meal is fondue with homemade Zopf (with wheat flour instead of white - we will see ;)!) and a meat stew (not pork neck as recommended, but beef stew - I'm not very advernturous with food) 
and anise cookies for dessert. We have really traveled the world and through time this week )!
Monday, January 26, 2009
Blessed be the tie that binds....
Today I was sifting through some old family photos looking for one to re-scan for a cousin who wants to use it in a book about "Mountain Kinfolk". You know what looking through photos does to you, whether they are 50 days or 50 years old. Memories light the corners of my mind.... OK, I promise not to sing! S
o here's a favorite photo of my "Pop" who most definitely set the moon in the sky just for me when I was about 3. As I thought about Pop and his wonderful sense of humor I remembered something funny he said one time. He told me that when he died he didn't want any of the men to have to wear ties. He said he never could understand how anyone could sing "Blessed be the tie that binds" when that's all ties did - bind you up and strangle you! So he wanted no ties, and he wanted everyone to wear white or bright colors because he just knew that when he went to heaven nobody would be wearing dark colors and he wanted us to think about that. After he died, my Grandmother carried out all his wishes for his funeral, which he had told her in detail. He had the choir sing "When the Roll is Called Up Yonder" and.... yep...as the family was ready to leave for the graveside he had them sing.... "Blessed be the tie that binds"! Wanted us to remember the real meaning of the words, and it made me smile on a day when my heart was breaking. His memory still makes me smile.
o here's a favorite photo of my "Pop" who most definitely set the moon in the sky just for me when I was about 3. As I thought about Pop and his wonderful sense of humor I remembered something funny he said one time. He told me that when he died he didn't want any of the men to have to wear ties. He said he never could understand how anyone could sing "Blessed be the tie that binds" when that's all ties did - bind you up and strangle you! So he wanted no ties, and he wanted everyone to wear white or bright colors because he just knew that when he went to heaven nobody would be wearing dark colors and he wanted us to think about that. After he died, my Grandmother carried out all his wishes for his funeral, which he had told her in detail. He had the choir sing "When the Roll is Called Up Yonder" and.... yep...as the family was ready to leave for the graveside he had them sing.... "Blessed be the tie that binds"! Wanted us to remember the real meaning of the words, and it made me smile on a day when my heart was breaking. His memory still makes me smile.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Snow Days!!
Monday night we made snowflakes from paper and taped the windows full of them. Sure enough, Tuesday morning they had company! Like everyone else in this part of the country we have thoroughly enjoyed our 4+ inches of snow, but unlike everyone else I have no pictures of this event (camera has been broken). So use your imagination to place my 10yo and 6yo outside building a snowman, having snowball fights, making snow cream, and loving the sled being pulled behind the 4-wheeler around the paths and fields, along with 3 neighbor children. What a blast!!
Here's one of my childrens' favorite snow pictures since I don't have any of us ----
Here's one of my childrens' favorite snow pictures since I don't have any of us ----
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Happy Book Reading Day
Lately I have been in the mode of "get it done, we have to finish these textbooks, don't skip a subject" etc. Every September and January I do this. Hit hard the "master plan" for S-C-H-O-O-L!!! Then the kids and I start to dread each day, things get frustrating, and I dig in my heals even harder that we must STICK TO THE SCHEDULE! My son jolted me back into reality last Sunday when I overheard him telling his SS teacher, "Yes, we homeschool but I don't like school". Ouch. Big fat Ouch. So I have taken a breath, stepped back and rethought the week. I know how to do this - Im the one who tells new homeschoolers all the time to make sure their children learn to love learning, not just learn to go through the motions of school. So Monday we did the "basics" of reading and m
ath early in the morning before our friends came to play. Then the children just played. Knights, spies, kings and queens, race car drivers, mothers and fathers, Bible heroes and astronauts were all play-acted. Lessons were learned in getting along with others, being courteous of babies, sharing, listening. Who has to have textbooks?
T
uesday I dubbed "Happy Book Reading Day". Since the time to read all the books I want to share with my children never seems to appear out of thin air like I wish, I decided to make this day a day when the children could share their reading skills with each other, as well as being read to by me. We made a library run (checked out 42 books!!!), and began to have a book celebration. I checked o
ut numerous old picture book favorites like "Blueberries for Sal", "Moon Bear", "Joseph Had a Little Overcoat", "Harry the Dirty Dog", "Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters", "Lyle the Crocodile", "The Story about Ping", and numerous others. We checked out small chapter books like three of the Trailblazer books by Dave & Netta Jackson and "Treasures of the Snow" 
by Patricia St. John. My favorite poem collection "Who Has Seen the Wind" as well as non-fiction books about robotics, jets, and Italian art are resting among the mound of books. Of course we won't get to read them all this week, but we will share many of them. And hopefully we will, in the process, get past the "I don't like school" phase and back to "This is MY favorite book". Happy Book Reading Day (Week/Month/Year/Lifetime)!!
ath early in the morning before our friends came to play. Then the children just played. Knights, spies, kings and queens, race car drivers, mothers and fathers, Bible heroes and astronauts were all play-acted. Lessons were learned in getting along with others, being courteous of babies, sharing, listening. Who has to have textbooks?T
uesday I dubbed "Happy Book Reading Day". Since the time to read all the books I want to share with my children never seems to appear out of thin air like I wish, I decided to make this day a day when the children could share their reading skills with each other, as well as being read to by me. We made a library run (checked out 42 books!!!), and began to have a book celebration. I checked o
ut numerous old picture book favorites like "Blueberries for Sal", "Moon Bear", "Joseph Had a Little Overcoat", "Harry the Dirty Dog", "Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters", "Lyle the Crocodile", "The Story about Ping", and numerous others. We checked out small chapter books like three of the Trailblazer books by Dave & Netta Jackson and "Treasures of the Snow" 
by Patricia St. John. My favorite poem collection "Who Has Seen the Wind" as well as non-fiction books about robotics, jets, and Italian art are resting among the mound of books. Of course we won't get to read them all this week, but we will share many of them. And hopefully we will, in the process, get past the "I don't like school" phase and back to "This is MY favorite book". Happy Book Reading Day (Week/Month/Year/Lifetime)!!
Monday, January 12, 2009
New "disease" I have
I've come to the conclusion that I have "CAACD" (Computer aided attention confusion disorder). Yep. My very own, made up disease. I go to the computer early one morning to do one thing - say, send a fax for my hubby, and an hour and half later realize I have checked emails, renewed my library books, found new treasures on Amazon to covet, gone back to my library account to try to request the books I covet from Amazon, chatted online with a friend from high school about teenagers while I look at new photos on facebook from my son's friends, sent an email with a recipe to a relative that requested it several months ago, worked on my tax refund, and then realize my children haven't yet had breakfast!!! So I sign off, turn off the computer so it's no longer a temptation for interuption then get a phone call from hubby about why he still hasn't gotten the fax that I forgot to send because I got so sidetracked on all of the above. I turn the computer back on, while the printer is booting up, I log onto gmail to see if ........ and the cycle goes on. More certain than the rise and fall of the tides is the rise and fall of my attention span when I get on computers. Logging off now. For now. Until later...
Monday, January 5, 2009
New Year's Revelations
[Yes, I meant revelations and not resolutions, although I am very adapt adopt adept at not only mixing words but also names of friends and even those of my own children... but that's another story.]
A New Year. Over 2,000 years since our Savior was born. Amazing to think about, really. But right now I want to think about just one year. 2008. A year of heartaches and sorrows, joys and beginnings, new friendships, old friends growing dearer. A year where I started out with wonderful resolutions.
Going to lose a few pounds. I did, by May even!, then found it and a few friends to go with it by the end of the year. Failure #1.
Going to go to bed by 11pm and rise by 6:30am every day. Did better, now consider midnight "late" instead of 1 or 2am, consider 7:30 late in the morning, so made some progress but not yet there. Failure #2.
Going to eat healthier and get more exercise. Let's just say that wasn't too successful either. So,
OK, the resolutions weren't great successes and I won't depress you with the multitude of them that the year held. Do I just forget about them for 2009? Not at all. Because I've made progress toward my goals and need to set new ones. Do I know that I can't be successful in all of them? Of course. You see, that's the best part. I AM a failure, a slacker, a self-centered, prideful bungler. But I keep going. And it's not because of the tortoise and the hare kind of persevering morality. It's not because of who I am but whose I am. Knowing that Christ loves me for the wreck that I am, loving me more than my mind or heart can understand. So I set goals to try to be more like the One who loves me the most. And this year I will fail again. But with His help, I'll move forward, spend more time with Him, and be thankful for every step of the way, even the failures.
A New Year. Over 2,000 years since our Savior was born. Amazing to think about, really. But right now I want to think about just one year. 2008. A year of heartaches and sorrows, joys and beginnings, new friendships, old friends growing dearer. A year where I started out with wonderful resolutions.
Going to lose a few pounds. I did, by May even!, then found it and a few friends to go with it by the end of the year. Failure #1.
Going to go to bed by 11pm and rise by 6:30am every day. Did better, now consider midnight "late" instead of 1 or 2am, consider 7:30 late in the morning, so made some progress but not yet there. Failure #2.
Going to eat healthier and get more exercise. Let's just say that wasn't too successful either. So,
OK, the resolutions weren't great successes and I won't depress you with the multitude of them that the year held. Do I just forget about them for 2009? Not at all. Because I've made progress toward my goals and need to set new ones. Do I know that I can't be successful in all of them? Of course. You see, that's the best part. I AM a failure, a slacker, a self-centered, prideful bungler. But I keep going. And it's not because of the tortoise and the hare kind of persevering morality. It's not because of who I am but whose I am. Knowing that Christ loves me for the wreck that I am, loving me more than my mind or heart can understand. So I set goals to try to be more like the One who loves me the most. And this year I will fail again. But with His help, I'll move forward, spend more time with Him, and be thankful for every step of the way, even the failures.
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