Prayer...

Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6,7

Throughout the day, I pray. I pray for things that seem small and things that seem too big. Even when I fail and do not take time to study the Word at some point during the day, I still pray. I can always find time to pray. Most of the time my prayers are short and to the point, but there are times when I pray for long periods. I enjoy talking to God. I also enjoy knowing that even when I cannot come up with the right words to let Him know what I want or need, the Spirit intercedes for me and God knows my heart, my wants and my needs.

During this last year, I believe I have felt God's peace more than ever in my life. It is strange to say that because this last year has been one of the hardest of my life. In that too, I know God is working. He knows how much I can handle and when I can handle it. I am not, in any way, saying that things are easy because of my having God. On the contrary, my belief in God makes things harder some times. But I do know that while God is with me, I can handle anything because He can handle it. There is such an awesome peace in knowing that. At times I forget that He is in control and the peace dwindles, but it doesn't take long for me to notice that something is missing and I give it all back to Him. I still tend to try to handle it all by myself once in a while. But I am learning.

My heart aches for those in this world who do not have that peace. You can see by their lives that they are hurting and wanting for something. It hurts even more when God is the one they need, they know it, and they choose not to follow Him. At that point prayer becomes the only tool for helping them.

It is also painful to see this nation move so far from God. We definitely need prayer as a nation. It is becoming even more evident as this election moves closer.

God bless.

Shad of the circle "C" ranch...

Today's book is one that my second son enjoyed so very much. Both of my sons chose to put off reading as long as they could! They just enjoyed life too much to want to sit down in front of a book. Since I home school, I gave them plenty of time to read at their own pace. Khristian(the second son) took longer than my first and I had a hard time finding any book he liked. I still do.

The first one he thoroughly enjoyed was "Shad of the Circle 'C' Ranch", an American Farm Series book by Anne Gustafson. This book is about a young boy learning how to do the jobs required on a ranch, such as caring for horses, rounding up cattle, earning his first saddle, and much more. It is a small chapter book with 11 chapters. Each chapter consists of around five pages. It is about the second grade level. My son read it in the third grade. If you have a young cowboy in your home that is giving you a hard time about reading, this book is great! It is also an interesting read for any boy.

There are two other books in the series(of which I just noticed were written in the front of the book) called "Tim of Tall Grain Farm" and "Frank of Irrigated Farm". I am ordering these off Amazon. My son would like to read them. He's now in the fifth grade, but I encourage any reading even if it is at a lower level.

God bless and happy reading!

Festival Fun!

We had a blast at the Halloween Festival last night! The local small (K-12 size) school has a festival every year. I attended the small school for most of my life growing up and each class had a certain booth they would do each year. For example, the Kindergarten class always does a ring toss.

Taking my kids now brings back so many memories. It also opens the door for lots of jokes and laughter! You see, though the booth ideas have stayed basically the same, the winning prizes of some of the booths has definitely changed. One of the booths is called "The Country Store". When I was growing up, this was a favorite for most everyone. You gave them a ticket and you always won something, whether it be a stuffed animal, toy car, or flashlight. The items were always nice or new. Well, unfortunately, over the years things have changed. My family and I have a good laugh at what we bring home every year, but this year was great fun! While walking to the car with my husband to load the items, I cracked a joke something like this... Only in west Texas, at our little local school, can you walk out of a Halloween Festival with a large Christmas lighted candy cane yard ornament, a TV(yes, a small, very out dated TV), and some chair cushions for the kitchen table!!!

These items were at least all in good or new condition. Not counting the many stuffed animals(some with holes in them and some badly needing a washing), my niece went home with a hard foam football that had chunks missing out of it and a name that had wore off some! It is hard to know whether to laugh or cry at the change. Honestly, I say it is a sad sign of the times.

The other booth that has changed the winning prizes quite a bit is the "cake walk". If you won this when I was young, you were rewarded with a wonderful home-made cake. Nowadays, you could get anything from a bag of popcorn to a case of drinks. So very sad! Honestly, my kids do not even mess with that one anymore, but for some odd reason, they still enjoy bringing home everyone else's junk!

Thankfully, they do still win some plants, cokes, candy bars, and of course, just good ole' candy. This is how I keep my candy jar full for the year. One festival takes care of it.
The kids have a great time and that's all that matters! And honestly, the rest of us always have a good laugh!

God bless and I hope you enjoy your festival as much as we enjoy ours!

Harry Potter- what's your opinion?...

Okay, I am going to hit a touchy subject for some people. When Harry Potter first became so "big", I firmly told my children they would not watch the movies. I do not like getting involved with the "in" thing and allowing my children to become overwhelmed by it all. I also did not, at the time, want to take the time to check out the movies myself to see if they were okay to be watched.

Well, a couple of weeks ago, my dad sent the kids home with the first movie. I thought about it for a while and decided we would sit and watch it together. The whole "Harry Potter" scene is not so big anymore and I felt there would be no harm in checking it out. We could always turn it off. So, we watched the movie. Unfortunately, I truly enjoyed it. So I, of course, had to watch the rest of them. Here is one of the dilemma's. As the movie's go on, they get more adult-like. The first movie was children friendly, I thought. By the fifth one, I decided that they became more for a mature audience. In any case, myself and my children did enjoy the series.

Now, I realize there are many out there that do not agree with watching or reading anything that has to do with magic or witchcraft or anything of that sort. I agree to that to a point. When I was a teenager, I loved reading some books entitled "The sword of shannara", "The elfstones of shannara", and so forth. They were wonderful reads. They did have magic in them, as well as elves, and druids, and things of that sort. But I knew these things were simply for imagining and fantasy. I don't see a harm in letting my children grow their imaginations. I feel that if they are firmly rooted in God's Word, they will use these things simply as a means of enjoyment. I love reading a book simply for enjoyment and for taking me away from some of the everyday trials. It helps get me through the day sometimes.

I believe God wants us to enjoy life and books are one way of doing that. I still think you have to be careful sometimes to not step over that boundary. I do not see us buying the Harry Potter movies. (The ones we watched were borrowed.) I am allowing my children to read the first book if they want.

So, what is your opinion? I would be glad to hear from you.
God bless.

A Horse, of course...

My children just love being around the horses! That is one of the perks of living in the country next to my parents. They have miniature horses, shetlands, and one full size. My children are becoming more and more comfortable with them. They, of course, love to feed them. That job in itself can be quite a challenge because when you feed one of them, they all come running and expect the same. Sometimes you find yourself being surrounded and cornered by horses!

Yesterday, I was outside digging holes for my clothesline to be put up and noticed my youngest riding the full size horse! I was surprised she had the nerve to get on him. My second son was leading him with the lead rope and the horse is very accustomed to this, so I had no real worries. (Yes, I am the one that worries about all the things that could happen, my husband does not.) As a matter of fact, the horses have been great therapy for him(he has PTSD and depresssion).

My oldest son rides some, but is not as interested as my second son. He loves riding and has already been working on breaking on of the shetlands. Yes, he has been bucked. But he gets right back on.

My third child, a girl, also likes riding and is becoming more interested. She likes hugging and kissing and loving on them most of the time. She loves animals.

I remember when I was young and wished we had some horses on all this land my parents have, so I am very excited that my children get the chance to enjoy what I wished I had had. My parents also enjoy the horses so much and love watching the grandchildren with them.

God bless!

History Day...

Okay, between the weather and doctor's appointments for my husband and children, my week has been helter skelter. It is very cold outside today, so I am having second thoughts about heading to the grocery store!

I received one of the movies from Netflix yesterday. It is a historical account of John Adams. So today I think we are going to have a history school day and watch the movie while snuggled under some warm blankets. It is warm in the house, but cold weather just always makes me want to snuggle! Maybe I'll even throw in some popcorn.
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Steven had a great week at work this week, so praise the Lord for that. I just hope things continue to be good for him there.

God bless and enjoy the weather!

Piano at the Nursing Home...

I have tried to get the kids involved in community service over the years in different ways. Most of them do not work out for very long for some reason or another. Now that we have moved into the country, it is even harder to find something that doesn't cost a ton in gas. I read about a mother that took her children to the local nursing home to play the piano for the residents there. I decided to give this a try. Today is our first day! The kids will go this afternoon and for the first time, play the piano in front of an unknown audience. Now, I teach them piano myself and to be honest, I am having to refresh my own memory at the same time. So, they are not very far along. I am hoping the residents enjoy it anyway! To be honest, I think they just enjoy the company.

I will let you know how it goes. At this point, I am going to try to do this every other month. That way my kids get quite a bit of practice time in between.

Do you have any other ideas for community service? What have you tried and how did it work out? I'd love to hear about it!

God Bless!
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Update: Yesterday, Steven had a great day at work! Hoorah!

A Turn of Events...

After my husband was dignosed with PTSD, we started looking at some things in his life that could be causing the problem to be worse. The first thing he said was, "my job". He has a very stressful job and the at this point in his life he just cannot handle the extra stress. So we began praying. I pray for God to bless him in his job each day. I was not sure what to pray exactly because he makes good money where he works and would be "hard put" to find the same money elsewhere. I also know that he enjoyed his job before they made him supervisor (shop foreman). I also know that the people he works with are not the best influence, but I am not sure he would ever find a job where there wouldn't be the bad influence.

My husband's walk with the Lord is fairly new and so, my prayer has been that God knows what he needs to do, so just please do it and help me make it through it. Well, over the past month, Steven has been seriously considering telling them to give him his old position back or he quits. Last Monday, the last cherry was added to his aggravation and he blew. Now, he controlled himself pretty well physically, but verbally he made it very clear that he was to be given his old job back or he was walking out.

That is how he received his unpaid week's vacation. (Even though no pay is going to hit us hard, he needed the time off.) His boss told him he could have his old job back and keep his pay(God's blessing!) and that he needed the week off to cool down. Steven is a very hard worker and the company would have lost if they had let him go.

So, today is his first day back and I am a little anxious to know how it goes. If any of you out there have some extra prayer time, we would greatly appreciate any prayers over this. I know the Lord is in control and I have such a peace in knowing that. But I am still a little anxious to see how this all works out.

God bless!

A Blog Break...

I apologize for not getting a blog on yesterday. My husband is off work this week unexpectedly, so I will not be blogging again until next Monday. It is almost impossible for me to get this done when he is home! You all have a great week and see you on Monday.

God Bless!

Out for ice cream...

Last Friday, all four of my children quoted their scripture memory verse correctly and for their reward, I promised them an ice cream. Now, usually, the reward for this is something out of the treasure box, but at the moment there are no treasures in that box as I have not made time to replenish it. So, to make this Monday special, while we are in town today, we will take time to stop at McDonald's and spend some time with my kids over an ice cream or yogurt. (By the way, McDonald's is on my "never to eat at list", except for ice cream or yogurt. I do love their yogurt with fruit and granola.) I am looking forward to it already.

It doesn't always take much to make a day special. Just some time enjoying eachother's company lifts the day. So my suggestion today is to take 20 minutes out of your day and spend it with the kids over cookies, ice cream, or any other treat you all enjoy.

Have a great Monday and God bless!

Family Day Friday

Today, we are going to spend the afternoon with another home school family. We have known the Parker's for a couple of years now and spend time together on occasion. Some of our children are around the same age and get along really well. It is nice for my kids to get some time around some other kids once in a while and we mothers have a nice time chatting as well!

I do not spend time with other families(other than relatives) very often. Since we have moved to the country, we really haven't seen too many other families. Our church is very small and there are only a couple of other children there. I used to be a member of a home school group and we did outtings with them once in a while, but with gas prices right now, we have cut that out as well. The funny thing is that this is not a major problem for my children. They enjoy eachother's company and they now have granny and papa's to visit whenever they want, as well as all the extra things to find to do around here.

So, if there is anyone you haven't seen in weeks or months and you can sense that your children are needing a little outting, give that person a call and get together for the afternoon. Take some time to visit with another mother for a while and let the kids run free!

So, I am going to get things done so I can head on over there and have a nice little visit!
God bless!

Take an easy day?!

I am trying something new this year with my home schooling. I am not a structured person, so in the past years I have schooled year round. In this way, we can take days off whenever I need to. I also believe in letting my children learn at their own pace. Sometimes this means things go slowly and other times rather quickly.

This year, I have decided to school the same days as one of the local school systems. I decided to try this because my oldest is in the 7th grade and I think he needs to do "more" this year than he has been doing and also because I don't have any "little ones" running under my feet. That gives me a bit of an advantage time wise.

So you ask, how is it going? Well, to be honest, better than expected. I am making myself have school days on days I might have taken off otherwise. That is good for me. Also, I see the progress of the kids more quickly. I have run into one problem though. There are days when it seems we are just so busy with schoolwork that I get tired of schoolwork. In the past when I got like that, I would take a day off. This year I don't want to do that, so instead I am throwing in what I call "easy day". We just do basics, nothing extra. This means they do math, writing, and some sort of literature study, whether reading on their own or reading together. They don't get behind in what I call the mandatory subjects, and we have a very short day.

My philosophy on home schooling has always been that if I can teach them to read and they learn to enjoy reading, everything else will work out fine. I do believe math is one of those subjects you just have no choice but to "stick into the day". (I don't normally start an actual math curriculum until third grade though).

What do you do to help when things start getting overwhelming?

God bless and happy home schooling!

We Have A Winner!

I want to thank everyone who took the time to comment and enter the drawing! I do hope that some of you found the site interesting enough to come back again!

The winner of the book "Pirates at Noon" by Mary Pope Osborne is Alyce! Congratulations! You will be receiving notification soon Alyce. Alyce has two blogspots to check out, they are "at home with books" and "flute mom". Enjoy the book!

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I mentioned last week that I had finished the "Love Comes Softly" series by Janette Oke. Well, I received a pleasant surprise at the library. I still had two more books to go in the series! So, I have read those over the past couple of days and still say that it is an excellent series! I am much more pleased with the end now though!

Enjoy your reading and God bless!