Missionary Monday

I'm ashamed that I have not been good at posting my "Missionary Mondays" for a while. And much more than that, I'm ashamed that I haven't prayed for these dear, precious people as much as I should have lately either. So here's a new resolution just in time for New Years (Chinese New Years ;) that is). Won't you join me in praying with Audrey for the lost in Japan? If you think they do not feel a spiritual void, just look at the outpouring of prayers here and know that each one is written by an anxious soul that yearns to know peace and comfort that only the Truth of Jesus Christ as Messiah can give them.

Pray that there will be workers for the harvest, and that hearts of the hearers will be open.

Then move your heart and mind half-way around the world to Africa where Jena has recently (and quite abruptly) been moved to another location. Pray for a smooth transition and that she would make friends and have doors opened to her quickly so that she can make the best use of her time there. And pray that each of us, each moment of each day, will have the eyes and heart of Jesus for the lost souls around us right here at home.
As Audrey recently reminded me through her blog ---
"How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?" Romans 10:14

Tribute to Kay Yow

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.

Fun in School This Week

Monday we took a few minutes to read "The Great Race: The Story of the Chinese Zodiac", discussed 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 )!

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! So 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.

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 ----

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 math 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?

Tuesday 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 out 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)!!

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...