Bohemian Heart Saved By Grace

Just Got Nuthin' :-)

2010-08-08T21:06:00.003-04:00

Hi Everyone!

If you are by any chance still stopping by my blog from time to time.....thank you. It's been quite awhile since my last post. I'm just checking in to say that for the time being I've really got nothing much to update. I'm not able to discuss many things that are going on right now. Please pray for my family including myself, my children and my father struggling with cancer.

I hope to get back to posting soon............Kate

Another Day

2010-05-26T09:25:00.001-04:00

Whenever I hear this song I think about my amazing children and how blessed I am to be given the opportunity to be their mother!

Follow the link to Urban Servant

2010-05-14T22:11:00.002-04:00

Urban Servant Blog, now known as (Sub)urban Servant since their move from the city to the suburbs four months ago. Of course, they moved 1000 miles to get from the city to the suburbs...quite a long commute, don't you think?

I really love this blog. It always causes me to stop, think and requires some kind of response of my heart.

Here is a sample of what you will find:

Pain in The Journey....Mothers Day.
As the mom to 11 you would assume my Mothers Day would be full of dandy lions in jam jars and homemade cards, and it is to a point. But Mothers Day digs up a lot of issues within our family they are painful to work through. Our eight adoptions represent 6 different women who gave birth to our children and then released them into our family.Some did it intentionally and with careful planning, others had no choice and have no idea that their children are safely in our home today. Can you imagine not knowing where your baby is? A week, three years or ten years after they are born having no idea of how they are faring. Being that baby is not easy either. I field questions about relinquishment's, photos, biological fathers, addictions, prison and strangely, the hardest questions of all are those that ask 'who do I look like?' There is something so elemental in that question, so identifying and basic that we overlook it in our adoption stories and a gap is left in their hearts. For some of them I have photos we can look at or physical descriptions, for others there is a gaping silence to that question.Not that they don't love me as their mother, but they don't have have my eyes or my hair or my nose. When they look into the mirror their faces are made up of the pieces of strangers, mysterious and missing in their life. It doesn't bother me, I am not threatened or angry that we talk about these things on Mothers Day. It simply is a fact that I was not the mother that bore my children and there is nothing I can do to change the pain hidden deep in their wondering hearts.

From the Garden

2010-05-14T21:41:00.005-04:00

Pictures from our first garden meal. YUM! :-)

I'm planning gluten free strawberry muffins for morning.

At What Point

2010-05-12T19:58:00.002-04:00

At what point did it become commonplace to say things like, "Son, please don't point the gun at your brother's head during dinner."

Yeah, 'cause it's just fine to point a gun at his brother's head other times........

And the latest, "Please don't kill your brother when he's politely asked you not too."

Wow, bringing up boys......

Pachelbel Canon in D Original Instruments

2010-05-08T11:19:00.000-04:00

Dark Nights = Beautiful Days

2010-05-08T08:13:00.005-04:00

Long, dark nights open up to the favor of beautiful days. I sat on the front steps to watch the sunrise this morning, wishing I'd thought to get the camera. It was glorious! I think that sometimes the rhythm of life works this way, darkness opening to light, over and over again.

Today will be an average Saturday: Laundry; house cleaning; yard work; gardening. The mundane becomes gentle and comforting. The emails and phone calls will be left until Monday. Today we will work. Together as a family there will be no electronic games, no TV. We will work side by side and celebrate the days ending with a BBQ dinner and a stimulating game of "Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader." Enjoy your day!

Archery

2010-05-08T07:58:00.006-04:00

Exciting News

2010-05-03T16:36:00.005-04:00

I received a letter from NILD today. (National Institute for Learning Development)

Drum roll, please......They gave me a scholarship towards my Level II class to cover OVER HALF of the tuition for my class this summer. HUGE blessing! I sent in my scholarship application last week. :-)

And the other EXCITING news is......Office Max was having a buy two packs get two free sale on my FAVORITE pens!

Imagine that? All in one day. :-)

Safe Natalie Grant

2010-05-03T12:38:00.000-04:00

Community Garden, A Boy's Paradise

2010-04-30T13:02:00.013-04:00

Here is my friend's property. It is a beautiful farm! Our garden is shown in some of the pictures. R.H. has goats, chickens, guineas(the birds) and a great owl! I spend at least one day a week here working in the garden with the boys and then hanging out with R while the boys play. Love it! The house was built in 1858 and was originally the local post office and home of the postmaster. So awesome inside! The buckets and jugs of water go from my home to the garden since we haven't seen much rain as of late. We do have blue rain barrels ready for the next downpour. Praying to see a good soaking rain soon!

When the World Turned Upside Down

2010-04-20T21:24:00.008-04:00

October 24, 2009. The day my world turned upside down.

Since that day, I have discovered something that I never knew. I have true friends.

I mean REAL friends. The kind that say you can call at 2:30 in the morning just to talk, and they have their cell phone right by the bed in case you do. The kind that will call you every morning just to "check in" and make sure you're okay. The kind that will spend the night with you when you just can't be alone and make it into a "fun sleepover." I had kept people at arms length for so long, that I am still amazed by their love. I hope that everyone can experience that kind of face to face love during their lifetime. I know it has changed me in a way that nothing else could.

Organic Community Garden Adventure

2010-04-20T20:34:00.007-04:00

I am so excited!!! Along with four other families, we are planting a HUGE community garden. My friend, Rachael H. has the land. We've built a fence, tilled, dug rows, planted, spread mulch and will plant some more tomorrow. So far we have potatoes, onions, peas and tomatoes. I will be there with the children bright and early!

This is such a fantastic opportunity to teach the children to garden and help them to understand community, service and then reap the rewards by the bounty that we will share. We have a schedule and each family has a planting, upkeep and watering day...depending on the current needs.

Our challenge has been keeping the garden watered. With a definite lack of "April Showers," our rain barrels are dry and we can only use limited water from Rachael's well. So, I have been filling 5 gallon buckets from my well. I put them in the back of my Honda minivan and drive the five miles to Rachael's (that's nothing out here in the country...no stoplights. :-) The kids and I haul the buckets to the garden and carefully move down the rows. Right now it takes about 6-8 five gallon buckets to give each row a little drink. But Praise the Lord! It is raining right now. Yippee!!!

I'm planning to take pictures soon and will post them on the blog. I can't wait until I can take pictures of the boys picking bugs off the plants.....a definite need in an organic garden. Somehow I think it will be a joy for them. Just think of it! Mom is ASKING them to play with bugs....please!

Sugar Doll Award

2010-04-20T20:02:00.006-04:00

Okay, Alleyn, you got me. My first post in months. Hopfully the new beginning of my blog!
I am to list 7 things about myself and then pass this award along to 7 other blogger ladies!

1. I love words. I like to look up words in a thesaurus and think of sentences.

2. I want to be a memory-keeper, but I am hopelessly behind. I have a scrapbook for each child, for our homeschool and a general one for the family. When all the children are grown, I will work on them. Or, in the southern tradition, "I'll think about that tomorrow." ~Scarlett O'Hara.

3. I am taking the next course toward my certification as an NILD Educational Therapist. Pre-course work now consists of lots of reading and writing response papers, recording a therapy session with one of my students and doing a self-critique and then off the Pennsylvania for the last two weeks of June.

4. I read most books in about two days. (I'm not much on sleeping :-)

5. I love to write! I do not like to type what I write. I fill up journals and just today almost had a panic attack when my pen ran out of ink! Seriously!

6. I play the violin.

7. I like to eat cucumber slices with hummus for breakfast.

Thankful For Strong Servant Leaders

2009-09-18T22:13:00.002-04:00

I am thankful for the Biblical preaching and strong servant leadership at Church of the Redeemer, PCA where we are members.

Read about the Evangelical collapse here: http://www.reformation21.org/blog/2009/03/evangelical-collapse-revealed.php

Mom, how many words are in the English Language?

2009-09-18T20:51:00.003-04:00

On the surface, John Michael seemed to pose a simple question...one that of course, Google would be able to answer. Right? However, this is what I found that lead into a one hour....yes, that's right, I said a one hour discussion on all the possiblities.

There are many problems in knowing even how to COUNT "words" -- some of which are mentioned below. But what we CAN say is that there is NO English dictionary that includes every word. This is for many reasons, including the fact that even "unabridged dictionaries" do not include all the scientific names in use, and cannot keep completely up to date with every word, since new ones are always being coined.At any rate, the number of *dictionary entries* in the most extensive unabridged dictionaries is slightly under a half million, so that would be a reasonable baseline and an estimate of a million is understandable, though not necessarily all that helpful

Anyway, here's where the problems begin. The question is WHAT do you include as a "distinct word" to list?

For instance:1) RELATED FORMS a) Do you count just the 'root form' (called a "lexeme")** or all the forms that are derived from it? e.g., do you just include "find" or do you add in the various forms finds, finding, found as separate words? Do you count "finder" separately? (and also the plural and possessive forms? b) Do you count noun & verb forms of the same root? c) When do you treat the different meanings of a noun (or any other word part) as a distinct word? (cf. "run" with the meaning "creek", "flaw" (as in a stocking), "scoring play in baseball", etc. )

2) COMPOUNDS a) How do you count COMPOUND words - you have "run" "away" and "home" -- are the nouns "run", "runaway" and "homerun" distinct? b) Related to compounds -- What about NUMBERS -- you can create new numbers ad infinitum! Does each one count as a new word? (More likely you'd want to count just one [or zero!] to twenty, thirty, forty...hundred, thousand, etc.) c) How far in series like "greatgrandfather" "greatgreatgrandfather" etc are we to count?

3) WORDS OF LIMITED USEa) DIALECTS - when a word is found only in one or a limited number of dialects, do you count it?b) technical terms limited to one field (e.g., medicine, law)c) foreign words (when are they added in as "English words"?)d) Archaic/obsolete/rarely used words -- when do we stop counting these (Does anything that has EVER been an English word count?)

Yes....we did discuss all of the possiblities and made multiple words lists. You know what? It was awesome!

Pantry Party Anyone?

2009-08-14T17:55:00.006-04:00

Hello All! Sorry for the long delay between posts. I'm rather frantically getting the details taken care of for the two Classical Conversations programs I will run this fall. I think I have everything sorted out, and low and behold.....it's that 4 am wake up call again. Yikes....I almost forgot to fill in the blank. I will schedule posting into my fall schedule.....really. It's on my To Do list.

Now on to the topic.......What is a Pantry Party? Is this something you simply MUST attend? THE social event of the year? Sorry....no.

Simply put, I had a wonderful time during triple coupon week at the local Harris Teeter. The cupboards are full, the freezer is full....and I just want to order everyone pizza and curl up with a good book. (but that would defeat the purpose of the time spent diligently cutting coupons and making careful grocery lists) Even fully stocked, I am completely uninspired.

SO, for the next 2 weeks...I challenge myself not to go to the grocery store. Some of you may say, "Well, 2 weeks, no big thing."

You obviously do not have a teen dancer, a 12 year old "man-child" preparing to grow another 6 inches very soon, a 9 year old in a growth spurt, a 6 year old and a hubby who, ahem, likes to eat good food daily. I still don't know why they all have to eat EVERY day. Good grief.

Since I need inspiration and I enjoy a good challenge, I am making a 3 colum list. Headings are: Meat/Fish; Starch; Veggie; I will go through each and every cabinet and both Fridge/Freezers Once I have my list I will put together meals using only what I have in the house. I've done this before, but thought it would be more fun to see if anyone wants to join me. It can get pretty interesting toward the end of the time period. (you set your own)

Going to make my list now.......more later.....

My web picks for today...........

2009-07-14T18:47:00.002-04:00

This was a thought provoking post. Long, but in my opinion, worth the read.

http://evangelicalinthewilderness.blogspot.com/2009/07/how-i-found-church-christian-society.html

and

My husband's aunt has a new website up. Check it out: www.genesisdays.com I am eagerly anticipating the rest of the story. Her personal story is amazing, but you'll have to email her to ask her about it, it's not on the web.

Pictorial Instructions - how NOT to bring the tent in from the beach

2009-07-09T20:22:00.010-04:00

Cousin Time

2009-07-09T20:02:00.004-04:00

Pictures from top to bottom:
1 Luke, Matthew, John Michael and Noah waiting patiently for the cue to get in line at the fish fry.
2 Noah /Jake and John Michael /Abe Chicken Fighting in the pool at the Marina
3 Cousins Grayson, Matthew, Kendall, Jake, Noah, Mary Cameron, Luke and John Michael
4 Kendall, Matthew and Mary Cameron

Keeper of the Teddy Grahams

2009-07-09T19:54:00.001-04:00

Cousin Kendall, keeper of all things "Teddy Graham" doling out a small sample of yummy chocolate bears to Luke........

Cousins

2009-07-05T22:31:00.004-04:00

The children and I arrived at the beach house on Friday afternoon. They have been so excited about seeing their cousins since we planned this week together last winter. They have 4 cousins of similar age and when all 8 of them are together it is as if they are siblings. They only see each other once, sometimes twice, a year and yet manage to fall right back into easy familiarity.

I'm going to buy some discs tomorrow and download my photos so I can get some of the cousins on this blog. It slows this laptop down too much to save the picture onto it. I have over 500 pictures on my camera from the last few weeks, so it will be a bit of a project.

Amazing Women

2009-07-02T22:45:00.012-04:00

love that I have the priviledge to direct Classical Conversations programs. The opportunity to spend time listening to, and learning from, the amazing ladies who are my tutors is a blessing. I've met with the tutors from both of my programs this week. There are 12 women who will give their time, energy and talent to model the grammar stage of Classical Education weekly to about 90 children.

As I listened during our meetings, the passion that they have for what they do is so evident. We talked over history games, songs, maps, playing board slam to cement math facts, science experiments, art plans, oral presentation skills and how to teach them most effectively. The list goes on. The most important thing I learn from them is to think outside the box. Education is a lifestyle for our families. It doesn't just happen during "school" time.

I feel safe with these women and am inspired by them. Although we homeschool, we do not undertake this responsibility lightly and are not lone rangers. We share ideas, lift each other up in prayer, care for each others needs in practical ways and hold each other accountable. I would not like to be on this journey alone and I thank God for each of the families in my programs. Each family adds their own uniqueness for us to learn from.

Well, If He Won't Play Lego's Right Now.........

2009-06-21T17:23:00.002-04:00

Use him as a chair.

I Should Have Known

2009-06-21T13:23:00.002-04:00

Well....I should have known. Let me comment ONE TIME about my feelings for emergent worship and low and behold we went today and it was awesome. Okay...still did not care for the concert feel, but the message was neither short nor light. It was really, really good. Just what my hubby and I needed to hear today. Thank you, God.

Missing Something

2009-06-21T00:31:00.007-04:00

As much as I thoroughly enjoy what we refer to at our home church as "blended worship" I miss the weekly recitation of The Lord's Prayer and the Apostles' Creed. Of course we can say them in our home, and we do, but when in a larger body of believers it takes on something "more". I miss singing "Holy, Holy, Holy" in traditional style. And watching our wedding tape again recently I remembered that we sang the hymn "Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee" at our wedding 19 years ago and I just love that hymn.

Don't get me wrong, I like contemporary Christian music. I'm happy that my husband likes "Skillet" and can enjoy it with our teen and pre-teen. (Not me so much) I just really miss singing hymns in their original form, because what we usually do is sing the hymns with a contemporary beat. I want to sing the praise songs like praise songs and the hymns like hymns. (okay, that sounded a bit whiny, but you get it, right?) There is richness and meaningful worship in both.

Okay, while I'm on my bandwagon, and since it IS my blog....can I just say that I simply do not like the emergent church style. I'm only talking style here, so don't ream me over doctrine right now. That's a whole other topic.

The church we frequently attend at the beach has moved from contemporary to emergent. In my opinion that moved us from being a worshiper to an audience member. The last couple of times we attended it was an all out rock show with dark seating area, flashy lights and drama. If I needed to communicate with a family member I had to yell to be heard. I never felt that I was part of a worship experience. It truly had all the makings of a great Christian rock concert. I like rock concerts, but not for a worship service. Unfortunately, the message there has also gotten shorter and "lighter". It looks like we are looking for another "church away from home." Since we spend as many as 20-25 Sundays a year at the beach house, it's pretty important that we find a place where our family can focus on God and not on the pizzaz.

Repenting of Religion

2009-06-20T13:14:00.004-04:00

As I watch my boys dive over waves, I ponder much of this book that I'm reading. As with most books, I don't agree with the author in every area. That has never been a problem for me. I love to read. I love to read those whom I do agree with and also those I disagree with. I like to think it allows me a look into the pardigms of others. This book gives me much to think about. I was in college when I became a believer and involved in a parachurch ministry called InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. Something that rubbed me the wrong way all through school (and still does)is what I refer to as "Christianese." That language of "holiness" that so many students and staff members alike, learned and used as though it were a blanket of protection. It was like you had to learn the lingo to be in the club. This book addresses that aspect and more of what is now called "Christian culture" in America. It also addresses what so many believers and unbelievers see as the impotent church. Here's a passage from the book.

“The church as a whole often seems to function like a sociopathic husband. The evidence is pervasive. The fact that the collective body of the church is known more for its declarations of good and evil than for its outrageous love is telling. We often do good things (at least as we define good), but something is often lacking—and it happens to be the one thing that is needful.
The church as a whole does not look like the body of Christ, whose outrageous love attracted people who would otherwise have had nothing to do with a “religous establishment” or “ethical system.” We don’t generally have tax collectors, prostitues and other sinners (not former tax collectors and former sinners) in our company (Mark 2:16). Rather, despite our own insistence that it is not so, we often look like a body of Pharisees whom sinners—people with certain kinds of sin we’ve identified as more serious than our own—avoid at all costs.
Another evidence of our spiritual pathology is that at both an individual and corporate level Christians often lack the freedom, flexibility, joy, boldness and playfulness of a real lover. The abundant life and reckless love Jesus exemplified and came to bring is often replaced with a hypervigilance on what people ought to believe, how people ought to behave, and how the church should appear. We live out of our ethical maxims and religous ideas rather than the vibrant, concrete life and love of God. We live in the abstract, not the concrete.
In a proper context, of course, there is nothing wrong with concerns about right belief and proper behavior. But it is evidence of spiritual pathology when these concerns dominate our individual or collective lives and are not rather merely by-products of what ought to dominate our lives: the outrageous, freely-given, unsurpassable love of God to us and through us.”
Gregory Boyd on pg. 97 of his book, “Repenting of Religion.”

Love and the Journey

2009-06-20T11:21:00.007-04:00

If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. 2If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love. –excerpt from 1 Corinthians 13, The Message

If I think of salvation as an "event", rather than the journey it is, and have not love, then that sin nature I was so definitely born with churns with pride. With each event that I think will prove THE event. As I live out the process of sanctification, daily, moment by moment, meeting God for today, I don't have to feel guilt or "give up" because the journey continues until we meet face to face. I have not failed, I am in-process as a work not yet complete.

Molly over at Adventures In Mercy put it this way:
When you are on a journey, you aren’t trying to be perfect. You are simply trying to remain on the process of journeying. If you stumble, you get up, wipe off your knees and keep going. You can even sit down and pull out a picnic lunch from your backpack. It’s all okay. None of the perfectionistic hysterics about messing up. You don’t mess up when you’re on a journey. You might trip, but that’s part of the journey. A journey is both/and. It was a one-time event, the day you set your foot on this trail and decided to follow it. But it is also a process, a way you travel, a ever-unfolding experience.
One-time-event salvation is dangerous because it reduces following Christ to a legal transaction. Following Christ becomes “an event that happened,” not a Way we travel, and that is dangerous because it just isn’t true and it sucks the life right out of what really is true. You sit down and never go anywhere, waiting for heaven, waiting for the Left Behind series to come to life. You miss the journey altogether.
And salvation-is-rule-following is even worse. If you weren’t an anxiety-ridden basketcase (or a first-class faker) before you started, honey, you will be before you're done. ://adventuresinmercy.wordpress.com/2009/06/01/the-way-of-love/

Some things are important, necessary. Giving my husband support when dealing with bad days at work (met CMPD's new Chief?....nuf said) , caring for our home, homeschooling the children, taking care of my parents. However, if Ihave not love, these things become burdens, done out of pride and expectation of praise or fear of man's judgement. More than outward appearances of happy husband, a clean house, well-educated children and cared for parents, I want all of those areas to exhibit love. The love we have for each other and the love we have for God.

What Homeschoolers Do On Memorial Day

2009-05-28T12:09:00.004-04:00

We had a fantastic time on Memorial Day. Taking time to honor all those who have served, and are serving our country. Getting together, freely, with friends. We learned the Virginia Reel, rode bikes, ate hamburgers and hot dogs and generally had a good time.

Celiac Education

2009-05-07T10:32:00.006-04:00

Because I've received numerous emails as of late asking me about Celiac Disease, I thought I'd give a very mini-edu. course here.

According to the book: Celiac Disease: A Hidden Epidemic, "Celiac disease is a multisystem disorder whose primary target is the small intestine. The disease is triggered by gluten, the main storage protein found in certain grains." It is mainly found in wheat, barley and rye. It goes on to say, " Gluten damages the small intestines so that they are unable to absorb nutrients properly. As this continues, manifestations inevitably begin to become more varied and complex. Celiac disease is the most common-and one of the most underdiagnosed-heredidatry autoimmune conditions in the United States. It is as common as hereditary high cholesterol."

Now, here is the part that I think creates the angst in the doctor's office. What I mean by this is that it was years before anyone even thought to test for this disease. "Once considered a rare disease of childhood, celiac disease is now recognized predominantly as a disease of adults and the majority are either asymptomatic or consult doctors for a variety of complaints. While the disease is considered common in Europe, South America, Cananda and Austraila-only recently have studies shown that celiac disease affects approximately 1 percent of the U.S. population. (about 1 in every 100 people) and as many as 97% of those are undiagnosed."

So what? you may say. If I'm asymtomatic or if a bit of Tylenol, etc.. will control my symptoms, why would I radically change my life by giving up......gasp!!!....all wheat products. Pizza, spaghetti, bread, pancakes, brownies, cake, etc.... You get the picture.

Well, here's the catch: "As the disease progresses undiagnosed, problems develop from chronic inflammation and malabsorbption of minerals, vitamins and other nutrients. A delay in diagnosis also greatly increases your chances of developing related autoimmune diseases.

Osteopenia, osteoporosis, Anemia, malignancies, peripheral neurapathies (numb or tingling in extremities) and infertility are secondary conditions associated with the disease. Patients with Celiac Disease are also frequently seen with Sjogren's syndrome, type 1 diabetes, autoimmune thyroid disease, dematitis herpetiformis." Folks with Celiac Disease (untreated) have a much higher incidence of intestinal cancer, esophageal cancer, non-hodgkins lymphoma and thyroid cancer.

"Celiac disease is a huge iceberg, moving not so silently, across many of our lives."

Celiac disease can be diagnosed by a blood test and confimed by an intestinal biopsy. Or, you can lay off gluten (easier said than done, I admit) and see if you feel significanly better. You really need to stay off of the gluten for about 3 months though before deciding. If you are planning to be tested for Celiac disease do not go "gluten-free" before the test as the blood test is looking for antibodies to gluten. You can Google Celiac disease and come up with some great sites with more information. And thankfully, local grocery stores are making it easier to eat gluten free by providing substitutes of favorites like homemade bread and brownies. Those substitutes aren't any healthier than their gluten-filled mates, so the best thing to do is eat fresh or frozen veggies, lean meats and fish, brown rice, and yogurts, cheeses, etc... And save the gluten-free brownies for a very occasional treat.

Life in General

2009-04-30T22:07:00.008-04:00

Today was a mixture! Anyone else have days like that?

I woke up raring to go, went to workout, home, showered and ready to begin our schoolwork. Our school day was moving right along until Kendall began breaking out in hives ALL OVER HER BODY! Can you say, "Amoxicillin?" Well her sinus infection will have to find an alternative treatment and in the meantime she had to go to ballet for pictures and rehearsal this evening. Have you ever seen what heat does to hives? It isn't pretty!

On the other hand, I found a few quiet moments this afternoon to work on some "center" ideas for my younger boys. I always get a little more creative in the Spring. We're all bored with the same old stuff. This afternoon we all brushed up on our addition and subtraction facts by playing a rousing game of "Board Slam" and then moved on to our HUGE World Map floor puzzle. Laying on the floor asking the 6 year old to show me.....the geographical location of choice. Lots of fun!

Oh and this week, Matthew finally learned to ride a two-wheel bike and in his own words:

"See, I told ya I could do it and I NEVER fall!" (Ah hem...son, I believe WE told YOU that you could do it, but lets not confuse ourselves with the facts)

Is Our Culture Overprotective of Children?

2009-04-24T11:09:00.004-04:00

Directly below is a copy of a post from "Principled Discovery" blog. I would have just linked it, but I haven't yet mastered the linking tutorial for blogspot..... :-) As the Mom of 4, with the eldest being a girl who came out of the womb independent and responsible, this blogpost caught my attention. Kendall was left at home with Grayson at (gasp) age 12. I always took the younger boys with me back then....except when I didn't. I am blessed beyond measure that my children rarely fight....although John Michael (8) will debate with a wall given the opportunity. At 14 and 12, Kendall and Grayson are capable of running the house, including laundry and managing bedtime, as long as the meal plan is simple. And as far as I'm concerned, that's as it should be.

So here it is..........

April 8, 2009 – 12:31 am
Grandparents in West El Paso, Texas left their five grandchildren home alone while they ran into town to “take care of some business.” The eldest was thirteen, the youngest four. They never expected to receive a call there at the IRS from the fire department telling them they had to come home.
They never expected their house to catch on fire. Fortunately, all five children were rescued, with the eldest being taken to the hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation. She was upstairs, where the fire began, but is expected to recover fully.
Hopefully we can all agree that the fact that this couple was homeschooling these children is fully irrelevant, but it does bring up the question of supervision. At least to the local news channel reporting on the story.
But some may say that 13 years old is too young to be a babysitter for four other kids.
According to Texas law, there is no specific age said to be too young to be left home, and each child and situation should be taken into consideration.There is a law, however, that defines something called neglectful supervision. A law that states a child should not be put in a situation that a reasonable person would realize requires better judgment and maturity than the child has. KFOX14
I’ll play that “reasonable person,” but there are too many other questions in my mind that would need to be answered before I could definitively say that this thirteen year old lacked the judgment and maturity to be put into this situation.
How long were the adults intending on being away? An hour or two? Most of the day?
How old were the other children? We know the youngest was four, but a twelve year old could help and a ten year old could be responsible more or less for him or herself. Just knowing the age of the eldest and the youngest leaves me a tad suspicious that the reporter is trying to stir controversy where perhaps none need be. But I’m just suspicious that way.
How mature is the thirteen year old? I’ve known thirteen year olds who were quite capable and responsible and full grown adults I wouldn’t trust with my puppy. I would hope that the grandparents would be better judges of her maturity level than any arbitrary age level.
What are the relationships between the children like? I wouldn’t leave my ten year old with any of them just yet, but I’d sooner leave her alone with her two sisters and baby brother than with just her six year old brother. He is “active” and they do not get along very well.
What about the neighbors? If you know your neighbors and your children have some place to go in an emergency, the situation looks a lot different. Especially if those neighbors know the children are home alone and are keeping an eye out on the house.
Here in Nebraska, you can send your eleven year old to the Y or to the American Red Cross to earn their babysitter’s certificate, even though I have a hard time imagining leaving my daughter responsible for another child at that age. But just because I wouldn’t do it doesn’t mean it constitutes neglect. It reminds me a bit of the discussion last spring surrounding the columnist who allowed her nine year old son to navigate the Subway system to get home. Alone. In New York City! My first reaction to that story was a resounding “She did what?!” But I was born and raised in the Midwest and I would be uncomfortable navigating the NYC Subway system alone. This child, on the other hand, has grown up with it.
There was a time when a thirteen year old girl could expect to marry soon, have children and raise her own family. This, in fact, still happens in parts of the world. And young Sarah Noble was but eight when she left with her father to explore the wilderness and cook for him. Granted, these children had/have a far different upbringing than most of our suburban youth. Today, they would probably be placed in protective custody.
But I still wonder. Was this couple neglectful in leaving their grandchildren home alone? Or has our culture artificially extended childhood by becoming too overprotective of children?

Today was beautiful!

2009-04-20T19:08:00.007-04:00

Overcoming the Spirit of Meanness

2009-04-20T18:47:00.006-04:00

This afternoon was Bible Study time with the gals. We meet once a week and are studying the book of Esther using Beth Moore's Study Guide. While I don't have time right now to share all of the wisdom that was imparted to me today, I do want to share a few thoughts that I am going to ponder and pray about this week:

The spirit of meanness always has a history and perceives a threat. I am going to pay close attention to the relationships in my life this week and see when I begin to "feel a threat". What is behind the feeling/perception? Comparing myself? feeling judged? I'm also going to see how others react to me and remember that because meanness always has a history, I must seek to see behind the act and into the heart of those around me.

Gluten Free Sometimes Means....

2009-04-20T13:25:00.002-04:00

Getting to make meals with names like this, "Gluten Free Crispy Brown Rice Crusted Chicken with Pecan Brown Butter"

Okay, someone say that 5 times fast. I'm crackin' up. Is that REALLY what I'm supposed to tell my family we're having for dinner?

Together We Can! What I'm learning today...

2009-04-20T10:43:00.001-04:00

My sweet friend, Katy, gave me this book of compiled stories by Aretta Loving.

Here is a description of the book:

God tells His people throughout history to remember what He has done~to worship Him for His mighty acts and be encouraged to take the next steps of faith. "Together We Can!" records the kind of stories we must remember:

We work best when we work together-our diversity, working in harmony, glorifies God, whose unity and wholeness we reflect.

The power of God's Word to transform the life of an individual, as well as the life of a community, knows no political, economic or cultural boundaries.

When god call us to be His hands, feet and voice to people in every corner of the earth, He faithfully supplies all we need to enable us to obey Him.

This book is challenging me to live beyond myself. Isn't that what God intends for all of us? To get"me" out of the way and seek Him? To care for others, more than myself? Easier said than done and only "done" in His strenghth. We can "do good things" for a little while on our own strength, but the time will come when we pull back, can take no more, can watch other's pain no longer, become angry........and then He is there.

And So It Begins.......

2009-04-20T09:29:00.004-04:00

I am taking the plunge. I've finally decided to blog with a bit of fear and trepidation. My mind is all over the place, so I presume will the blog be. As a way of introduction I'll tell you a little about myself.

I was raised in a God-believing, non-Christian home and came to understand a personal relationship with Jesus Christ at the age of 18 through discipleship by a staff member of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship during my freshman year of college.

I majored in psychology and journalism because I wanted to be both a writer and a counselor and as a homeschool mom I'm living the dream! I minored in business because my mother said business was more practical. (I didn't like any of my business classes...sorry Amy and Pete)

I like run-on sentences because that's how I think........... If I ever publish anything I will need a great editor!

I am a wife of 19 years to the love of my life, I have 4 fantastic children who are all so different from each other that it makes my head spin. We have one dog. 'Nuf said on that for now. (My carpets are being cleaned as I write.)

We homeschool, not to define ourselves in a stereotype, but as an extension of who we are.

I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease and am on the learning curve to better health.

I recently turned 40 and am enjoying the freedom to think about who I am and how I got here. You may see some of my musings on this subject. Be patient because I process my thoughts through writing.

I'm reading:
Spiritual : The Bible (A study of Esther) & Together We Can
Political: Crunchy Cons
Health: Everyday Raw

A personal dream is to own a small, quaint bookstore with cosy nooks to curl up and read. I would have local authors come in for book signings, host poetry readings and book clubs, healthy living seminars. All on a small scale so folks can really connect. I don't know whether that can happen in the age of Amazon.com (a personal favorite), Borders and Barnes and Noble....but it's still a nice dream, don't ya think?