We haven’t met anyone with it in real life, but they’ve got it here and here. And we’ve got it here. ugh.
I just found the remedy. Who will watch the kids while I try it?
It’s a bloga-thora of homeschooling topics!
Anne from PalmTree Pundit in Hawaii is hosting the 5th Carnival of Homeschooling this week. It’s starts tomorrow, Jan. 31, 2006.
Personally, I’m gonna whip up a pina colada slushie and pretend I’m far away from this dirty, messy can’t-make-up-its-mind-if-its-winter-or-not-weather and surf through all the wonderful posts on unschooling, homeschooling on the road, homeschooling and difficult relatives, fun homeschool lessons, homeschooling in different countries, why we homeschool, and more!
And remember, Maggie Raye from Homeschool Blogger has declared this week the Official Leave a Comment Week, so where ever you visit, be sure to leave a comment!
Mom, cleaning up the kitchen, calling:
Anna! We need more wash cloths in the kitchen.
Anna: Aw, Mo-om! Why do I always have to do everything?
Mom: Well, it is your job to do the wash cloths.
Anna: Exasperated sigh. Stomp, stomp, stomp downstairs to laundry room…
~ 5 minutes later ~
Anna, handing me a stack of 6 neatly folded wash cloths:
This is all I can do right now. You’re just going to have to deal with it.
to our dear friends Luke, Kari, and Mayah.
Freedom has a scent
Like the top of a new born baby’s head
The songs are in your eyes
I see them when you smile
We Love YOU!
In one swift click, click, click, look how I scored. No messin’ around like I did here. Does this mean that real biologists don’t use lemon jello and milk duds in their experiments?
You scored as English. You should be an English major! Your passion lies in writing and expressing yourself creatively, and you hate it when you are inhibited from doing so. Pursue that interest of yours!
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Well, imagine that. Better not give up my day job (or my night job or weekend job or holiday job or summer job …)
Thanks, TulipGirl!
This is my record:
create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.
Lived in NV, CO, OR, CT, CA and MN.
Been mountain biking at Moab, UT.
Been hiking in West Virginia and Pennsylvania.
Visited Tennessee for Sr. class trip.
Visited rellies in NC, NY, FL and AZ.
Passed through all the rest to get there!
Thanks, Dan!
When I uploaded the taxonomy pictures, I also found these on the card:
Cuthbert in all his glory. On my favorite chair nonetheless. And it appears that he lounged in that position for some time…
Can’t think of any captions right now. Anyone have any good ideas?
The internet is so doggone useful! We have just started a new biology book and studied a lesson about how living things are scientifically classified, a.k.a: taxonomy. You know - Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species (King Phillip Cried Out, “For Goodness Sake!”)? I wanted to give the kids a sampling of the whole scheme for humans and cats, but couldn’t find all the branches of the animal kingdom in any book we have. Just as I suspected, someone, the University of Maryland and the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology to be exact, has created an interactive taxonomy tree. Just click on a branch and follow it all the way to the species. It is so cool! I have had more fun with subjects I HATED as a kid since I we started homeschooling…
Here are pictures of Z’s layered book:
I was working on lessons for classes coming up next week. As I searched for prompts I came upon this. Nothing like covering all the bases of kids’ future possiblities.
Well, let’s put the little devils’ destinies to good use, shall we?
Let’s add these:
“Pretend you are a convicted criminal. Tell a story about all the friends you make and the fun you have during your visit to the slammer.”
“Pretend you are a bank robber (or worse - why limit the little darlings?) In a 3 paragraph essay, trace the steps you take to rob a bank.”
“Argue the pros and cons of the state prison over the county jail.”
Notice the topic of my Google search. Sheesh! What are these educators thinking???
Bluer was on Nightline last night. See clip.
Watch out, we’re rebels cause we use “rock music” in our services. Supposedly this is a new thing. Funny, this new thing has been not new to me for 20 years…
Now the podcasts, I think we could repent of those, but never the rock music…
Oh, and don’t tell ‘em about the blogs…
or about the hungry pastor.
Bluer was filmed as part of a segment on emerging churches in America. The episode will air tonight at 10:35pm central time. Tune in and help us figure out what all the fuss is about.
Eliot Halverson, first place overall (Photo by Paul Harvath)
One of our favorite babysitters (and one of my favorite students) has won first place at the 2006 State Farm U.S. Figure Skating Championships! Here’s the lead of the news report:
(St. Charles, Mo., 1/9/06) - Once in a while, a novice program will be performed with such quality of technique and unabashed enthusiasm and grace that the audience will be brought to its feet. Today at the Family Arena outside St. Louis, Mo., Eliot Halverson (St. Paul FSC) did just that. Skating the performance of his life, Halverson captured the first gold medal awarded at the 2006 State Farm U.S. Figure Skating Championships, taking the novice men’s title.
It freaks me out to think that I have had a potential Olympic Skater in my home as well as my classes! Here’s his bio. He even cleans kitchens and closets, too! Definitely multi-talented. I’ve been praying for corporate sponsors for him. Any lucrative businesses out there looking for a good investment?
Shortly after becoming a Christian in college, I experienced a relational upset that hurled me into the darkest, longest depression I’ve ever known. The sadness was so deep and continuous that I specifically remember the day that the “sun came out” in my soul again.
Ten years later, I nearly lost my first born to meconium aspiration. He spent his first 10 days in NICU with a collapsed lung. I can hardly explain the terror I felt as death licked it’s lips over my newborn.
In 2000, I faced my greatest nightmare: divorce. I was a good American Christian. THAT was never supposed to happen. Since then, my awareness of my daily need for His incarnational presence has finally been paramount. Of course that also means that life is challenging, and I’m usually exhausted.
Therefore, when I read Brokenness: How God Redeems Pain and Suffering by Lon Solomon, I soaked up every word as a drink of cool water for my soul. It was encouraging and easy to enjoy - like a visit from an old familiar friend.
There is a popular theology that claims that God only allows bad things to happen, but they are not really His fault or idea to begin with. I have fallen under that reasoning myself. But Solomon explains that tragedy and hardship are God’s method of bringing brokenness into His people’s lives. Brokenness serves a divine, glorious, beautiful and fulfilling purpose that would never be achieved otherwise.
Here are some of my favorite quotes from the beginning of the book:
In my opinion, this entire [popular] theological understanding of how Almighty God relates to our tragedies, sorrows and setbacks is biblically bogus.
God allowing something and God sending something are identical.
…there is a high and exalted purpose that explains why God allows heartaches, failures, troubles, and afflictions to enter the lives of godly men and women.
This exalted purpose has nothing to do with consequences for negative behavior or discipline for sin our lives…
Ours is a method-oriented world. We Westerners are masters at packaging and exporting methods…
We Christ-followers are fanatics, it seems, over successful methods. Let any church or Christian organization carry out something successful in virtually any area of ministry and watch what happens…
…it occurred to me that nowhere in the Word of God does it say that God anoints a method with his Spirit. God anoints men and women.
Brokenness is not an optional experience for the person who desires God to use them in a mighty way… brokenness has been a critical part of the spiritual preparation process for every man and woman whose life God has ever used.
I often tell people that although I wouldn’t wish the trauma of divorce on anyone, I won’t give back what I’ve gained. Solomon affirmed that sentiment when he says of his own journey,
I’d never want to endure it again, but I’m honestly glad God put me through it. The release of his Spirit in my life was well worth it.
I recommend Brokenness for anyone who is going or has gone through a difficult time. It would make a genuine, loving gift for a friend who finds himself, as Solomon puts it, “on the backside of the desert”. Each chapter is short enough to read in just a few minutes. There are discussion questions at the end of each for use in small groups or just deeper personal reflection. Brokenness would make a good focus for a small group - there’s nothing like supportive prayer and honest relationship when you’re going through a hard time.
Finally, Brokenness by Lon Solomon reminds us - rather teaches us Americans - that “God is out to break every one of us.” But it’s not out of anger or judgment.
Brokenness is not a curse. It is a blessing that every follower of Christ needs desperately. Perhaps the fact that it is so seldom spoken of…helps explain why our modern brand of Chrisitanity is so insipid and powerless.
Perhaps, indeed.
Note: This book was given to me free of charge by the publisher through Mind and Media for the purpose of this review.
I’ve been tagged by Amy. I’m game.
List 5 things most people don’t know about you:
1. I once tried to put pineapple rinds down the garbage disposal. Not a good idea. Can you say “plumber”?
2. Alongside a few hundred others, I was arrested in 1988 and found guilty of a misdemeanor of obstructing access to a public building because I blocked an abortion clinic in San Diego. I received 20 hours community service and fulfilled them by driving the church van to youth camp in the San Bernadino mountains.
3. I was born in Reno, Nevada. My biological father was half Native American - which makes me what - a quarter Native American? I don’t remember the name of the tribe, though…
4. Whenever a strange man hits on me, I tell him my name is Debbie.
5. My first and only teen heart throb was Parker Stevenson of the Hardy Boys TV series.
Part of my adoration stemmed from sheer disdain for every other girl’s drool over Shaun Cassidy. What a shallow dweeb. I preferred intelligence and depth. I drew an ink portrait of Parker (aah, sighhhhh… even his name was dreamy…) in art class and sent it to him. Alas, he paid me no mind…
If you read this, consider yourself tagged, send me the link, and I’ll visit your site.
Yesterday Hugh Hewitt interviewed Father Jospeh Fessio, Provosty of Ave Maria University in Naples, Florida, and student and friend of Benedict XVI and the founder of Ignatius Press. Mr. Hewitt thought the most exciting part was their discussion of Islam. I admit, it was good, but this is the part that caught me:
JF: Well, Hugh, I’ve got one of the very few things that I’ve said, which I’m proud of, because it’s become kind of almost a slogan to some, is that home schools are the monasteries of the new dark ages. That is…and you non-Catholic Christians have a lot more of them than we Catholics do, but we’ve got a lot. And I think that is where families are having children. They’re passing on the faith to their children. They’re giving them wisdom and the knowledge of our culture. And we have an advantage here…
You can read the whole transcript here.
I had to giggle, though, when I thought of my kids as monks. Monkeys is more like it… ;-D
Case in point: tonight at dinner:
I was reading Baylyblog today which led me to this KOOZNEWS. In a recent post, I think Bill Kudzia has succinctly defined the spiritual/Christian crisis in America:
I also read Leanne Payne’s latest note today. Every time I read something from her it seems that her heart breaks more and more for our country/world. But she’s been around the block a few times and I suppose she should know.
It reminded me of the book I’m editing these days. The author grew up as the son of a Lutheran minister. Not until he was a sophomore in college did he realize that he had no saving faith of his own. Thus began a wild journey of discovery that Christ is who He says He is.
It all got me thinkin’ about a time in my life when I realized that even among a crowd of church goers, I was no different than all the “nice” people in the subruban neighborhood in which I lived at the time. There was nothing extraordinary about my life. When the crisis hit - I ran to the only One left for me. But every other prop - or idol, if you will - had to be stripped from me, and I had to come to an end of myself first. Rather than shaming or rejecting me, He forgave me and renewed my life. But it’s different now. It’s deeper. It’s incarnational. I know that He is who He says He is. It’s a bummer that it usually takes a major tragedy/crisis to bring us to such a place, but, paradoxically, He makes it worth it.
