alexander graham bell..........JR!!

 I love how when you homeschool you get to see the light in their eyes sparkle with excitement, when they find something they love to study. Isaiah has had many interests. And I've been blessed many times to see the hard work he puts into his studies. Especially those he loves!

His very first interest pre-starting school, was to own his very own bible. He was 5 yrs old. He was new reader and he has dyslexia. So I wasn't very excited about buying him a "real" bible so early. We made a deal, read all of our children's bible story books and you will get your own real bible!

And he did! It took him a year. He never gave up. Some books were long, some short. He kept on.

And when he was done at age 6 he earned his very own bible like his older sisters. He had a wonderful sense of accomplishment.

Now he's 9.
Recently he wanted to make a telephone! And so we purchased a kit. The kit had 41 pages of history on Alexander Graham Bell. It was about 7th grade level reading and comprehension. It was not easy.

He read the entire 41 pages, and the intricate instructions to the project. He also uses common sense when he does these things. He doesn't just jump in quickly. He was very happy to have new knowledge and a really cool phone. He did it all without help!

And then his sister Kitty (also 9 yrs old) cracked it. It is a pile of dad's things to fix. It needs soldering. He wasn't happy but he took it very well.
I LOVE you baby! :o)

A guest author

I feel like the world around me has changed so much; and not in a good way.

I feel like we have lost sight of what "Christian" actually means.

As I prepare to start a new chapter in my life as a wife and mother, these things that used to not really bother me, are beginning to weigh very heavy on my soul.

Being a Christian doesn't mean that you are flawless, that you are never wrong, and that you never sin. Christians are human. Christians make mistakes.

But being a Christian requires that you do not actively SEEK out sin. That you actively work to conquer Satan and all that he brings to the world.

Being a Christian is not like being a Republican or being a fan of a certain sports team. It isn't something that you can just claim without having to fight for it or work at it. But God is merciful and forgiving. He does not expect us to be perfect. He does however, expect us to be Holy.

God doesn't want us to be college graduates, wealthy businessmen, or skinny and attractive. God wants us to be Holy. God wants us to follow ALL the commandments. Not just the ones that are easy or the ones that occur to us at the time.

You are called by God to honor your parents. Not just if you get along, not just if you had a happy childhood, but all the time. Honoring your parents does not mean that you always get along, or that you always agree.It doesn't mean that you never leave home or that you never make any decisions that your parents do not approve of. It does mean that you do not go out of your way to hurt, humiliate, and damage them. It means that you RESPECT what they have brought to your life, whether you like it or not.

When the Bible says that you are to love God above all else, it is not negotiable. You are to love God above yourself, you spouse, you children, you possessions.You need to sometimes sacrifice what you want and need to be Holy.
                                              ~~~~~~~*~~~~~~

                                                                      ~~~~~~*~~~~~~
That was written by my Grace~

In 1989 our baby Joy went home with Jesus. She was only 5 months old. She had Down Syndrome, her heart was also too weak. She was also born without nasal passages. Corrective surgeries were unsuccessful and stressed her heart. Our hearts were broken when she died. But we rejoiced knowing she was in Heaven!

Soon we were called about adopting our Molly. She was in an adoption disruption, she needed a family quickly. She was brought here from Korea, and now she was un-wanted. She was 5 1/2. I told our Social worker, if she was not going to die, we would love to adopt her. After 10 years of Drs with Molly, we were eventually told yes, she was dying. She had a rare genetic disease and a few physical abnormalities that made it worse. She went home with Jesus at age 27, three summers ago. Oh, how we miss her.

In 1990 we were told about an agency of our faith with babies of color available to adopt in TX. I wanted another baby more than anything. (It's funny to remember that longing for a baby back then~ now at 56 I'm seriously babied out! LOL!)
But all of the babies were taken. No baby available. I prayed to God, where is my baby. Please send my baby.

As I was praying, a very faithful family was fostering a precious baby girl they called Nikki Diane. (sorry Grace :o) They were frustrated that no Christian family was coming forth to adopt this precious child, because she was black. Yes, it was not that long ago that it was not accepted to be a white family and adopt a black child. Our state- Minnesota fought the Supreme Court with the Black Social workers Union (BSWU) to stop placing black children in white homes. I was ashamed. MN lost Praise God. They hurt many families and children here just because their color didn't match.

Private agencies could place the children of color with white families, but it had to be kept quiet. Birth moms of color did not care what color the family was, so why did the government get involved? Birthmoms just wanted their child loved!

As they were desperate to place the baby girl now 2 1/2 months old, they allowed a family from MN who was not a Christian family (but I'm sure they are wonderful people) to come to TX to adopt her. Her foster parents were devastated. When the family came to the agency to take her, the foster family (the foster dad was a Preacher) and another couple (an Elder and his wife) got on their knees and prayed that this family not take her.

God Bless them.

Not take her? Who could not take a beautiful baby? Ridiculous!
And yet, they drove home without her. They chose not to take her!!!!

The agency, furious told the foster parents and the other couple "Well, your prayers were answered."
I get goosebumps just thinking about this. God! Yes! God is in control!

The agency was so upset over the foster family demanding a Christian family. They warned them that no Christian family could be found. But we were that family. We were waiting! When our agency told them we would adopt her, they actually flew her to us (at our expense). They had never done anything like that before.

The plane landed and I swear she was the last one off the plane carefully carried off by her birth mom's social worker. (a precious elderly woman who had never had any children herself flew 2 1/2 hours with her!) The Social Worker desperate to help the birth mom, volunteered to make the trip. Bless her precious heart. She handed Grace Lovey to me and I thought I had died and gone to Heaven! Nothing existed around me. I walked though the airport terminal on a cloud, I could see no one or anything else. How could they have given me the most beautiful baby in the world? Holding her, seeing her, the responsibility was overwhelming! To raise her in the way she should go.

Yes, it was 1990 when in MN it was illegal for white families to adopt black children. My boss a social worker in the Developmental Disabilities unit asked me point blank "How is it, you a white family adopt a black child?" Ouch! I told people she would first grow up to be a Christian woman, not a color. She is God's child.

About 12 years later a social worker from our adoption agency was finishing up our homestudy to adopt Faith. Out of the blue she mentioned that she knew the family who traveled to TX to adopt Grace. She said the mother told her "To this day I do not know why we did not take her."

And I burst into tears.........."They did not take her because she was my baby. God had given her to me! Please tell them that is why, because she is mine."

I can't even begin to tell you how much this Christian young woman, my Grace, has blessed my life.

Oh Dear Precious Lord~ I Thank You for this child, Your child, in my life!

And my Miss Lovey knows (that's what we call her) that I feel this way about every one of my children. And every one of them has an equally amazing story, given to them and me from our Lord and Saviour!

What a JOYFUL Mothers Day this will be!

Kitty wearing her birth mother's dress, lovingly made by me for her in the 80s. Yes, it has seen better days.

Psalm 35 (NIV)
¹ Contend, LORD, with those who contend with me;
fight against those who fight against me.
² Take up shield and armor;
arise and come to my aid.
³ Brandish spear and javelin^[a]
against those who pursue me.
Say to me,
“I am your salvation.”

⁴ May those who seek my life
be disgraced and put to shame;
may those who plot my ruin
be turned back in dismay.
⁵ May they be like chaff before the wind,
with the angel of the LORD driving them away;
⁶ may their path be dark and slippery,
with the angel of the LORD pursuing them.

  ⁷ Since they hid their net for me without cause
and without cause dug a pit for me,
⁸ may ruin overtake them by surprise—
may the net they hid entangle them,
may they fall into the pit, to their ruin.
⁹ Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD
and delight in his salvation.
¹⁰ My whole being will exclaim,
“Who is like you, LORD?
You rescue the poor from those too strong for them,
the poor and needy from those who rob them.”

¹¹ Ruthless witnesses come forward;
they question me on things I know nothing about.
¹² They repay me evil for good
and leave me like one bereaved.
¹³ Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth
and humbled myself with fasting.
When my prayers returned to me unanswered,
¹⁴ I went about mourning
as though for my friend or brother.
I bowed my head in grief
as though weeping for my mother.
¹⁵ But when I stumbled, they gathered in glee;
assailants gathered against me without my knowledge.
They slandered me without ceasing.
¹⁶ Like the ungodly they maliciously mocked;^[b]
they gnashed their teeth at me.

¹⁷ How long, Lord, will you look on?
Rescue me from their ravages,
my precious life from these lions.
¹⁸ I will give you thanks in the great assembly;
among the throngs I will praise you.
¹⁹ Do not let those gloat over me
who are my enemies without cause;
do not let those who hate me without reason
maliciously wink the eye.
²⁰ They do not speak peaceably,
but devise false accusations
against those who live quietly in the land.
²¹ They sneer at me and say, “Aha! Aha!
With our own eyes we have seen it.”

²² LORD, you have seen this; do not be silent.
Do not be far from me, Lord.
²³ Awake, and rise to my defense!
Contend for me, my God and Lord.
²⁴ Vindicate me in your righteousness, LORD my God;
do not let them gloat over me.
²⁵ Do not let them think, “Aha, just what we wanted!”
or say, “We have swallowed him up.”

²⁶ May all who gloat over my distress
be put to shame and confusion;
may all who exalt themselves over me
be clothed with shame and disgrace.
²⁷ May those who delight in my vindication
shout for joy and gladness;
may they always say, “The LORD be exalted,
who delights in the well-being of his servant.”

²⁸ My tongue will proclaim your righteousness,
your praises all day long.
                                        ~~~~~~*~~~~~~
                                            Praise God!

Did you finish your Math??!!

Hmm.... what's going on here?
It's bed time.
But, did you finish your Math?

Nope!
You didn't and now you are trying to catch up. ugh!

 Everybody is crowded in Samson's bedroom slash playroom! Hiding!

We have testing for the State of MN in May. We do the Iowa Basics test. We need those Math skills sharpened up!!

Lysa and Isaiah are above grade level. Kitty and Faith are.........about grade level. Close enough not to worry.

This girl can find 5,000 things to do other than Math! Thank goodness she doesn't struggle with her Math. Or we'd fight that too.

And this boy, well he is done with his Math! LOL!! Unlike his sisters!

Fighting the good fight

When You’re Bombarded With Temptation

Posted on April 21, 2013by Barb Raveling

Do you ever feel like you’re constantly bombarded with temptation? I sometimes wonder if that’s how Jesus felt in the desert. I was reading about His temptation the other day in Luke 4:1-13. Here are a few lessons I learned:

1. Expect to be tempted at the beginning of a new pursuit or a new stage of life.   

It’s not surprising that Jesus was tempted right at the beginning of His public ministry. After all, Satan wasn’t crazy about His mission.
He may not be crazy about your mission, either. If he isn’t, expect opposition. Even without opposition, new endeavors can be difficult. Why? Because each time we begin something new, we get a whole new set of temptations.

In a sense, we need to learn how to live as Christians in each new stage of life. For some reason, this is comforting to me. When I began this blog, I was bombarded by temptation.
At the time I was surprised and a bit overwhelmed. But looking back, I can see that it wasn’t surprising. It was a new pursuit, with a new set of temptations. I needed to learn to live as a Christian blogger.
You may be starting college, marriage, a new job, a new goal, or a new phase of life such as retirement. Don’t beat yourself up if you’re struggling. Jesus struggled. And He was perfect.

Journal Question: Look at 10 Temptations of Christian Bloggers. If you were to make a list like this for your current stage of life, what temptations would you put on the list?

2. Expect to be tempted at opportune times.
After Satan finished tempting Jesus, he left until an opportune time (Luke 4:13). He does the same for us.

He’ll attack during weak moments. After we’ve just failed in some way. When everything else is going wrong. Or at the end of the day or the end of a trip, when we’re tired of fighting temptation.
If we want to be victorious, we need to be prepared.

Journal Questions: Think of the day or week ahead. When will you be most tempted to give into temptation? What could you do to renew your mind right before that time?

3. When temptation comes, fight lies with truth.
When Jesus was tempted, He didn’t say, “Father, help me!” and then get mad when God didn’t answer His prayer. Instead, He took the initiative Himself. He entered the desert full of the Holy Spirit, and He answered each temptation with the Word of God.

That would be like us starting each day with a nice long quiet time and having Bible verses at the ready to help us fight our most common temptations.

If you think you don’t have time for all this, think about how often Jesus went off by Himself for time with God even though He was overwhelmed by people who wanted His attention.

Challenge: Make a renewing of the mind project of your biggest temptation OR (here’s a less intimidating challenge) list five lies Satan commonly feeds you. Find five Bible verses to combat those lies. Write them on index cards and carry them with you to use whenever you’re tempted.

Discussion: When are you most likely to be tempted?
                                                ~~~~~*~~~~~

This Bible Study lesson is from my Dear Sister in Christ Barb. It touched me in so many ways. I really needed to hear this one in particular at this time. I was really "feeling" quite discouraged. Growing filled with doubts and failure.
Barb has a gift for putting into words many of the things I struggle with! :o) Once I read it I wonder why I couldn't think of this! Barb's studies always lead me to the Word and encourage in-depth bible time, so that God can talk to us. She has a new website~ barbraveling.com . I think you'll find lots to help your Bible studies too! 

LOVE this!

Give Him a Pretzel

Today's MP3
Years ago I was traveling with my daughter, Jenna. When I realized she and I weren’t seated together, I asked the fellow sitting next to her to swap seats with me. Surely he’ll understand, I thought. He didn’t. I was left separated from my 12 year old on a long transatlantic flight.

I began plotting how I’d trip him if he dared walk to the restroom during the flight. I turned to intimidate him with a snarl and saw, much to my surprise, Jenna offering him a pretzel. What? My daughter was fraternizing with the enemy! As if the pretzel were an olive branch, he accepted her gift and they both leaned their seats back and dozed off.

I learned the lesson God had used my daughter to teach me. All of us are here by grace and, at some point, all of us have to share some grace. So the next time you find yourself next to a questionable character, don’t give him a hard time—give him a pretzel!

Max Lucado

Happy Spring in Minnesota!

This was last week on Tuesday.
The snow! The never ending snow!

I love snow! That's why I live in MN.

Even though the last 3 years I have not been able to drive in it. My vision+ snow= "snow blindness". Snow is too bright, especially reflecting the sun. The Lord has blessed me with Tom to drive through this snow. I thank Him every day, because without Tom I couldn't enjoy the snow like I do!

A Loon on the Mississippi River. The Loons, Geese, birds can't travel further north in this stuff! They literally fall from the sky.

Last Tuesday it kept on and on and on..............

and on!!
to 12.3 inches total.

Now.........guess what it is doing today April 22nd?

Yup! It is snowing! Another 6-8" estimated.

Tomorrow morning when Faith lets our dog (appropriately named Snow) out to potty. The kids will once again see this view from my 2nd floor bedroom back door.

The best thing we ever added on to the house, is my second floor bedroom with a door and a tiny balcony. The steps down from the balcony lead straight to the dog kennel. Oh! how Snow hates the snowy steps. Hard on his bad hip. Now that he's 5 its getting harder for him to come up them.

The funnest thing about this back door (I know bad English!) is the kids swarming to it to check the weather conditions. Tomorrow morning they will be jumping back as the snow blows in. I will have oatmeal and hot chocolate waiting on the table to warm the chill!

All year round each morning, we say things like "Wow its hot out today!" (thank God for partial central air!) And the kids run to the door, quickly opening it to feel the heat. Then quickly shutting it and exclaiming "It's HOT!"

The door was put in originally because my fear of fire. We did not have a second floor exit. I'm so thankful we do now. But it has been so much more!

Our yard is very tiny. We have a big house, big garage, tiny yard. (That's why we go up north. The kids have acres to run up there!)

This fenced area is on the side of the house by a side door. It is fenced for our Corgi to potty. He really doesn't need an area quite this big, but we had bigger dogs potty here before we added the 5' X 18' kennel on the back. I think this summer we'll make it smaller. Some people think it's a garden area! LOL! The fencing is too cute!

The next day the sun was out and the snow was melting fast. These were taken in the afternoon. The good "packing" snow was gone.

But the snow ball fight was still on!

Lysa is getting ready to get Isaiah!

Ooops! Hat lost in the snow!

Our deck and steps with the playhouse, are loaded with snow!

Our yard ends to the left where the weeds poke out of the snow. I'd like to say flowers are there. But Hope in great delight "weeded" all of my flowers out when she was 17?! (passive aggressive, a little, maybe..teens!) And now they are gone. :o(

"Watch out Isaiah!" Snowball!

These two decided to brave the snow covered deck.

Kitty our world famous shoveler! Kitty you save the day with all of your shoveling help! Strength comes in little packages!

Faith needs new glasses sumthin tarrible. ugh. My life is just toooooo busy. :o(

Faith always ready for picture posing! :o)
We bought this beautiful snow suit set at K*oh*ls for only $39.00. It is snow pants, hat, scarf and a coat!

Why did she get a brand new to die for snow suit this year?
Because she cleans the dog kennel and puts the dog out 4X a day! Even when its -18 below zero!!
That was Gabe's job before he moved out.
Now Faith cheerfully does it.
Thank You Faith! You are such a big help!

Oh! Boy! There will be more snow pictures tomorrow!