Monday, April 09, 2007

Evening Recap...

Cy's home tonight. He won't have to work tomorrow or Friday night either. The younger ones took full advantage of his attention.
Dinner turned out....flexible structure is still my motto. I discovered the cauliflower was MIA...can't find the Green Beans either. I'll begin a full out look tomorrow. SO....I used the recipe and added more potatoes. The rolls turned out good. I made a full batch of dough and got two loves of Italian with cheese loaves baked (added garlic, onion powder, cheese and Italian spices to the dough).

Mike began reading Jonah tonight. Everyone enjoyed themselves, except Zander. He did sit. I think the plan is to read a chapter and then the next night act that chapter out. The young ones would really like to put a play together. There's even talk of doing music from Veggie Tales..."Jonah was a prophet ooo ooo....But He Never Really Got it....sad but true...". Our joke is that we'll have a human drama down before the girls are home for two weeks in August....just to show them THEY aren't the only ones who can do human videos. ::snort::
A mystery was solved. Today as I put Stacia down for a nap I kept hearing loud, pounding. It felt like the house was shaking. I sent folks out to see what Zander was doing 3 times....
Zander was doing nothing...the neighbor however was taking down a fence and pouring concrete posts or something. ::snort::

School Days....School Days...

I began the day by giving Arielle, Nolan, and Jared placement tests for Math U See. It became apparent that it is possible to have big holes in understanding, even when scoring well on standardized tests and chapter tests. I have some thoughts brewing on testing and will have to gather them soon. Jared would like to switch NOW instead of next year...and after finding some fairly good sized holes, I also see no reason to continue on our course for 9 more weeks. I'm still not sure what I'm doing with Nolan and Arielle. They aced the Alpha competency test. I didn't think they were quick and fluent.....but they did ace it. I think I'll give them the beta test and watch to see what happens. Margie loaned me her Primer and Alpha so that I can see exactly what's in the year's work.

History Quilt...we worked on squares for our quilt. We are really happy with how this is shaping up. We had gotten behind and so did about six weeks worth of work on this. I think I'll sew it together when we are done. It still won't be "totally durable" but I think we'll like the way it hangs and such if it's stitched. I may do this next year too. They really like working on it. Some of our pens have dried up....In addition to the squares below they did ones on those who hid Jews during WW2, the dust bowl, the depression, Pearl Harbor, the Hindenburg and more.

Arielle checks details

Nolan's service flag (white doesn't show well)
Arielle's Prohibition SquareWork in Progress...but shaping up (I think I got it a bit bigger than planned)
We read about flies. UGH....millions of bacteria germs on a single fly.....ugh, ugh, ugh. We began a fly experiment...I forgot to take pictures but will do that tomorrow.

We continued studying about the civil rights movement.

Josiah registered for a second go at the SAT. I tried to register Jamin but it says that you can only register one student per email. I plan to call them "tomorrow".

The littles and I will continue moving forward this week in our study of the Civil Rights Movement....but we need to tie up some loose ends....We have several half-finished projects. We'll see how we do. Part of our problem is that Fridays used to be for hands on projects.....then Produce co-op entered our Friday morning line up, then drama entered our afternoon line up and I can't seem to get motivated by 2:30 p.m. on Friday. ::snort::

Menu - Week of April 9th

Fresh Fruit, Salad and Steamed Veggies @ each meal

Monday - Cauliflower/Veggie Soup, bread roll ups with meat (men) and some with cheese (littles and me) in the middle...sauces (ranch, marinara, BBQ)

Tuesday - YOYO - Bible Study Night

Wednesday - Parmesan Chicken, pasta salad

Thursday - Easy Beef Stroganoff

Friday - Pizza

Saturday - Oven Fried Chicken, french bread??? I keep meaning to try this!

Sunday - dine out

Throne of Grace

There are seasons in life when God divinely impresses various lessons and verses in my life. I'm not at liberty to share much personal application right now... later this week, I will. Those who have read for a while, know that if I want to share something that involves another family members very personally, I wait for their approval.

Three years ago the verse, "Consider it all joy" became one of these recurring themes in my life. The principles BURNED into my heart.

Lately, a couple of verses in Hebrews have taken on a similar tone in my life.

"Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in the time of need." Heb 4:16

Therefore - because we have an awesome and awe-inspiring high priest

Draw Near - I am to RUN to Him and not cower, wallow, or drown in my fears (of failure, of pain, of the future)

Confidence - I believe this is confidence in HIM and HIS work and strength in my life, not necessarily confidence in myself

Throne - A seat and symbol of rule and authority

Grace - Grace forgives my sin. Grace is unmerited favor. Grace is His enabling strength in my life to fulfill His call in my life. He never calls me to anything that He does not ENABLE me for.

Mercy - Mercy is God lovingly walking through the consequences of choices, failures, and sins in my life. It's Him walking with me in the circumstance. Teaching, guiding and perfecting me in the circumstance, as I surrender to Him and His gracious pruning in my life.

Help - ASSISTANCE

Time of Need - guess we all KNOW what those times are like ::snort::

Yes, I'm walking through a time of need. A time when I've been crying out for GRACE. God HELP.....I don't always choose joy. These lessons are powerfully brought home to me each month - you know PMS - I get to practice choosing joy and I get to scream out for grace. Poor Mike missed 7 of these cycles...and had forgotten how real my struggle can become. Leading him to comment (and if I have any men readers I do NOT suggest YOU try this at home) with words somewhat like this "at this time of the month someone is going to die! Regardless." ::Snort:: Yes, monthly I get to see how God has matured me.....and that's a silly example but it does illustrate a time when I NEED mercy and grace. I need enabling strength not to let myself become a witch. I need to choose joy.

I hear this verse saying to me:
"Remember your High Priest, De'Etta!" Don't wallow in your circumstance....run to me! My very seat of authority and sovereignty are characterized by GRACE. Surrender to my authority and rule. You know you need My grace. Don't search elsewhere. Come to me, and you'll discover that I'll mercifully walk with you through this circumstance, and I'll shower you with My unmerited favor and enabling strength so that you can fulfill My call on your life. I'll do this not only in the good times but in your time of need. I'm ready to help you! Stop! Child. Don't run into the road - run HERE."

BLOG VOTING BEGINS


Yesterday a.m. Dorothy (my friend from London) mentioned that she'd received notice that her blog was nominated for the Homeschool Blog Awards. I went to check out when we could vote and see the list of nominees (wonderful list to surf if you're looking for good reading). I found another SHS member - Dody from AK on the nominee list. I also found *me* listed in two categories. After I got over wondering why I didn't get a notice that my blog was nominated (I delete all sorts of spam about notices every day since I tried to win a free laptop in December ::snort::), I am flattered. I never set out to have a blog that would be "best" anything. I didn't set out to mentor. I set out to continue communication with friends and with my darling daughters who had the audacity to grow up and move to Spokane. Over time I have come to suspect that my passion for mentoring had popped into the blog as more told me they read....and so I'm very humbled that God is using this little techie tool for more than letting my friends know which days I blow it, which days we have fun, and which days we grow.
You can vote here if you'd like. OK - you may vote once in each category - voting will be this week only. They said to get the word out about the voting....I figured I could list my friends' blogs that are in the contst... and ::blush:: let you know that you can vote for me too. Other than that, I'm not sure HOW to get the word out...may know more if I'd not deleted the notification. And thanks, whoever, you are who nominated me....it truly is an honor to have so many wonderful friends in real life and in cyber space. Here are the SHS blogs - ya'll made this list mama proud. ::snort::
Best Geographical Blog - You Did What? - London - Dorothy
Best Geographical Blog - Mountain Shade - Alaska - Dody
Best Live What You Believe Blog - Choosing Joy - me
Best Nitty Gritty Blog - Choosing Joy - me