Just Checking In

"In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin."  Somehow I believe that if you have nothing much to say, you are best off not saying anything, and that is where I have been lately.  Even today there isn't much in my heart or brain that really needs telling...

We are a few days closer to the end of the school year than we were last year, hooray.  Yesterday I was ready to send two of the rotten lovely children to public school just so they could appreciate being homeschooled. But with my luck these two would have loved PS and would never have wanted to come home, lol.  So.  That option is out.  We definitely need more structure, and the girls need a teacher who NEVER lets them get away with ANYTHING, because I am paying big time for being a softie.  You know, in school, you don't get to skip any of the problems just because you already know how to do them, and you have to answer all the "answer in a full sentence" questions, and you wouldn't think of whining to the teacher, "Please, do we HAVE to do this page??", and the teacher doesn't do the work for you.  Someday I may write a best-selling book on all the "don'ts" of parenting/homeschooling, based on personal experience.

This afternoon my older two are going to pose as volunteers for the Scholastic Book Fair in town.  They  can't be official volunteers because they are underage, but the lady is very short-handed, and a friend of mine who IS an official volunteer is going to adopt them for the afternoon.  If a volunteer mom brings her kids along, there isn't much the Scholastic lady can do about that, is there?  So A&A are looking forward to stocking books and straightening up stuff and helping customers, and, no doubt, reading a few books!

Our third annual homeschoolers' recital is tomorrow night, one of those things kids are forced to do, as my children attest, for the sake of their proud parents.  We will have a nice variety of instrumentalists and ensembles and reciters of poetry/scripture for our listening pleasure.  Only three of the kids who are participating are taking music lessons, and I think it is fun to see how the others improve on their own. Our group has grown from eight participants the first year to eighteen this year!  I am excited.

So.  That's about all the news.  Not really, but I am getting ready to post my Month in Review for April, and you wouldn't want me to spoil anything. 

From Today's eMail

Jesus Christ is the First and Last,
The Beginning and the End!

He is the keeper of Creation and the Creator of all!
He is the Architect of the universe and the Manager of all times.
He always was, He always is, and He always will be ...
unmoved, Unchanged, Undefeated, and never Undone!

He was bruised and brought healing!
He was pierced and eased pain!
He was persecuted and brought freedom!
He was dead and brought life!
He is risen and brings power!
He reigns and brings Peace!
The world can't understand him,
The armies can't defeat Him,
The schools can't explain Him, and The leaders can't ignore Him.
Herod couldn't kill Him, The Pharisees couldn't confuse Him,  and The people couldn't hold Him!
Nero couldn't crush Him, Hitler couldn't silence Him,
The New Age can't replace Him, and "Oprah" can't explain Him away!

He is light, love, longevity, and Lord.
He is goodness, Kindness, Gentleness, and God.
He is Holy, Righteous, mighty, powerful, and pure.

His ways are right,
His word is eternal,
His will is unchanging, and His mind is on me.
He is my Savior,
He is my guide, and He is my peace!
He is my Joy,
He is my comfort,
He is my Lord, and He rules my life!

I serve Him because His bond is love,
His burden is light, and His goal for me is abundant life.

I follow Him because He is the wisdom of the wise,
the power of the powerful,
the ancient of days, the ruler of rulers, the leader of leaders, the overseer of the overcomers, and is to come. And if that seems impressive to you, try this for size.

His goal is a relationship with ME!
He will never leave me,
never forsake me,
never mislead me,
never forget me,
never overlook me and
never cancel my appointment in His appointment book!

When I fall, He lifts me up!
When I fail, He forgives!
When I am weak, He is strong!
When I am lost, He is the way!
When I am afraid, He is my courage!
When I stumble, He steadies me!
When I am hurt, He heals me!
When I am broken, He mends me!
When I am blind, He leads me!
When I am hungry, He feeds me!
When I face trials, He is with me!
When I face persecution, He shields me!
  When I face problems, He comforts me!
When I face loss, He provides for me!
When I face Death, He carries me Home!

He is everything for everybody everywhere, every time, and every way.

He is God, He is faithful. I am His, and He is mine!

My Father in heaven can whip the father of this world.
So, if you're wondering why I feel so secure, understand this...

He said it and that settles it.
Jesus Christ is in control, I am on His side,
and that means all is well with my soul.
 

Everyday is a blessing for GOD Is!

Three Days and Three Nights

For as Jonas was three days and three nights
in the whale's belly;
so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights
in the heart of the earth.
Matthew 12:40

Have you ever wondered how we get three days and three nights from Friday afternoon to Sunday morning? Tradition can really mess up the way we understand God's word.  For a concise explanation, see here. 

Another tradition we should examine is observing the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. 

Why did "the church" adopt the "observing of times" in their worship?  Did you know that the early Christians didn't keep an annual observance of the resurrection day?  That observance was added to the church "calendar" many, many years later.  See my earlier post on the word  "Easter", if you are curious about the use of that word  in the King James Bible, in Acts 12:4.

Don't be one of those to whom Jesus was speaking when he said, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. Mark 7:9  

This Week's Vocabulary List

 

Crafting With Kids

When I was a lot younger I learned how to sew.  Now that I am older and can look back on those years with some measure of maturity and objectivity, I realize that my learning to sew must have been miserable for my dear mother.  I am a perfectionist of sorts, choosing those thing in my life which must be faultless, impatient with myself, unrealistically expecting mastery on my first try. 

Amy is quite crafty and creative all on her own.  She sees something to make, and she makes it her own way, substituting supplies when we don't have the "right" ones.  She always has something in the works.  In this way, she is a dream child.  But the others need help. Lots of it.  They need for me to set aside a block of time to do it for them help them until the project is finished. A block of time with no distractions.  And we're not stopping until we're done.

Yesterday big sister started some thread spool dolls in minutes, cute little things.  Her enthusiasm was contagious, and soon I had two smaller girls avidly interested in making "something" on their own.  (But not something Mom suggested, of course, something that was their own idea.)  You have to understand, I am one of those people who run from crafts.  And to me, crafting with kids is like... well, like the Chinese bamboo-under-the-fingernails torture! **Shudder.** Today, underneath my outwardly, barely adequate, meek and quiet spirit,  I have been writhing and twisting, and occasionally screaming.  I have a five-year-old learning to back-stitch.  She does well for about three stitches, and then she makes a huge mess, and then I undo it and make about a dozen stitches myself.  Then we are out of thread, so I get some more and start it, then she takes three stitches, un-threading the needle a dozen times in the process, and we repeat.  We have been doing this project for hours.  But I have to give her credit.  She is DETERMINED.  I am happy to see this character quality in her, as painful as it is to my selfishness.

I know this is necessary.  It's how we learn.  Oh. Heh heh.  I am not talking about Emily learning to sew.  I am talking about me!  I am flunking... I am not nearly as determined to be patient as Emily is to learn to sew.  Above is her finished project, done 75% by me.  My own project will not be completed til I go to heaven... but Jesus is still working on me!

He's Still Working on Me There really ought to be a sign upon the heart,
Don't judge her yet, there's an unfinished part.
But I'll be perfect just according to His plan
Fashioned by the Master's loving hands.

Chorus
He's still working on me to make me what I ought to be.
It took Him just a week to make the moon and stars,
The sun and the earth and Jupiter and Mars.
How loving and patient He must be, He's still working on me.

In the mirror of His Word reflections that I see
Make me wonder why He never gave up on me.
He loves me as I am and helps me when I pray
Remember He's the Potter, I'm the clay.

--Joel Hemphill

Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended:
but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind,
and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded:
and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
Phil. 3:13-15

Being confident of this very thing,

that he which hath begun a good work in you
will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
Phil 1:6 

A Belated Happy Spring (and April Fool's Day, Too)