Thankful Thursday ~ Thankful that He Keeps Me

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. ~Hebrews 12:1-2

I am thankful that the Lord's mercies are new every morning. He is faithful. Even in my unfaithfulness to Him, He has kept me. I am so thankful that He hasn't handed me over to my own evil desires. My heart has not been hardened. My love has not turned wax cold. 

I'm not talking about some secret sin that has been lurking in the shadows of my heart.

No.

I'm speaking of the everyday struggles; the vices of the world that are constantly grabbing at us, trying to entice us, trying to divert our attention and focus away from Christ. 

It's the extra 10 minutes daily spent on anything else other than the Lord. 

Seriously. ANYTHING at all; 

that last bit of dishes to wash; the google search for whatever project is at hand; the next chapter of a good book; the snooze button on the alarm clock; checking email or FB just one more time; last minute lesson preparations for the next day, etc....

I'm talking about being quick to anger; having a bad attitude first thing in the morning; being  impatient with the children; pointing out others sin before looking at my own; thinking of only self, etc....

When did sleep become my obsession? When did having that bowl of ice cream become my addiction? When did yelling become my manner of parenting? 

It's those small hinderances that so easily entangles us.

So.

Easily. 

I am thankful that I still hear and feel the Holy Spirit's conviction. There is no hiding from God Almighty. He knows and sees all, even the deepest secrets of man's heart. But His help is near. He is faithful. He is merciful. 

The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.   ~Hebrews 7:23-24

The Lord is keeping me and it's not because of any merit on my part. 

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, no the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. ~Ephesians 2:8-10

Lament

Lament

by Jeff Capps, Daniel Clay, Randy Fuller and Isaac Wimberly

My sins are before me, transgressions so great

Against You, and You only, have I turned away

I've worshipped creation, I've chosen my pride

From You and You only have I tried to hide

Lord I confess my need

Your mercy washes me

My heart is uncovered, my soul is laid bare

To You and You only will I lift my head

Lord I confess my need

Your mercy washes me

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases

His mercies will never end

He is my God, my portion forever

I find my hope in Him

Great is Thy faithfulness

Let the bones You have broken rejoice

In the silence I lift up my voice

Great is Thy faithfulness

Summer Happenings 2016 Part 3: Summer Reading Program

Our summer isn't complete without participating in the library's summer reading program. The kids sign up to read books over the summer. It's a contest. The person who reads the most books in their age group gets a medal or trophy and everyone who participates gets a little goody bag just for reading over the summer.

Of course, the library makes reading super fun, so they invite different local businesses to visit the library, reading to the children and teaching them about their profession.

1. Zoomobile and OrganWise

The summer reading program this year began with a visit from the Zoomobile. 

We also learned about our organs and how to take care of them from the OrganWise Guy puppet and a coordinating story. 

2. Children's Museum

Children's Museum came and taught us a few fun games to play. That was a blast!

             

 

I took more video than pictures so we could play the games at home. I didn't get a very good pic of Jonathan either, but he did very well playing the games. 

3. Fruit Sushi

We had a day of learning about eating healthy and how to make fruit sushi. 

                    

    

                

 

4. Natchez Trace Parkway Rangers

Trying to take pictures with my cheap cell phone is not easy, especially when people are moving, so I didn't get very many good pics and certainly not any from the day the Natchez Trace Parkway Rangers came to give us a little bit of history. 

This presentation was pretty interesting, but it was geared more towards the older children, but they did bring artifacts and modern gear to show us, so that helped to keep the children's attention.

We're going to have to do a unit study on the Natchez Trace or something b/c it's just packed with history, stories and adventure.

5. Celebrate Reading!
Of course, the end of the reading program went out with a bang, complete with prizes, food and treats. I am sad to report I could not salvage any pictures from this event.

BUT...

Adelle did get first place for reading the most books in her age group, for which she received a medal. Jonathan got 2nd place in his age group, but he didn't get any special gift for it.


We have fun and learn lots of things from the library's summer reading program.

We love our librarians too!

First Day of School!

We officially began the 2016-17 school year today! 

My babies are getting so big! I cannot believe that my Sugar Bear is in 4th grade and my Little Man is in 2nd grade.

*Wipe away a tear*

Ok.
Moving on....

I started a few First-Day-of-School traditions our second year of homeschooling. I so did not come up with these ideas on my own, but the kids don't know that and while my children aren't exactly thrilled about starting formal school lessons again, they look forward to our special first day.

1. Breakfast

We begin the day with a special breakfast. I usually put some money back so we can go out to eat, which is something we rarely do for the first meal of the day. The only place in our little town that isn't fast food is Waffle House and I don't care to drive 20 minutes away on a school morning. :-)  

2. Pictures

Our first day of school is also picture day. We not only record what grade the kids are in now, but we also take "school pictures".

They are such hams.  :-D

3. Goody Bags

I go out and purchase little school related gifts. In times past, I have included school supplies such as markers, scissors and folders. This year I already had all that set up on my new shelf. So I got other little things:

• An activity book - a boredom buster
• Some stickers - I don't think they'll ever outgrow stickers
• a 300-pc puzzle - for a challenge this year
• A journal - to encourage them to begin writing down their thoughts

This year, I got them a BIG back-to-school gift. They both received their very own Bible. They will use their Bible at home during Bible reading time, Bible study time. They will carry them to service on Sundays and Wednesdays as well. (Bible covers might be a necessary Thanksgiving gift this year.)

Saying that may sound a little strange. Let me explain: We have purchased children's Bible (story and picture) for them to use only at home. We did not allow them to take them to the church house. We have been training them to be attentive and listen to the messages being taught in services. They are now at the age they can look up the passages on their own so I decided it was time to get them real Bibles, if you will. 

I also got them little tabs to put on the pages of their Bibles to help them find passages a little quicker. We will be working on memorizing the books of the Bible this school year. 

4. New School Books

After we come back home from breakfast and take pictures, I let Sugar Bear and Little Man take a peek at the books they will be learning from this school year. They liked a few books and not-so-much on other books. Jonathan kinda complained about everything this morning as he is not excited about having to buckle down to work again. I don't think it's not that we don't have fun with our school, he just likes to be completely free to do whatever he wants, and that isn't limited to school work. 

So after we completed all our First Day Traditions, we had a Hymn study, a Bible study and reviewed some math facts.

I'm looking forward to this school year. I pray that all of us will grow in God's truth, peace and love. 

An Evening Prayer (from Singing School)

I enjoyed singing school so much that it's really just difficult to put into words what I learned there and how the time spent there impacted me. 

I did chuckle when I saw the cover of the church house's hymnal book. 

Am I the only one who finds amusement in that title? "Old school"  

I dunno. Just something a little funny about that. 

But on to some seriousness. 

Each evening Adelle and I went back to the evening sessions, of course, in time for dinner.  :-)  I must point out they did a superb job with the meals, having enough food as well as helpers. At least if they did have problems, us visitors couldn't tell. 

Those evening times were special and just really added to the lessons we were learning during the day. One thing that was fascinating to me was the fact that the congregation sang the same song in closing every time. 

The song is called An Evening Prayer. 

I cried, almost wept, through the song the very first time I heard it and sang along with the others in the group. Though more tears were shed, I fought them the other 3 nights we sang this song. I mean, it's literally offering up a prayer of repentance, in song, to the Lord, collectively, as a unit. It was just amazing. Again, words of description completely escape me. 

  

Here are the lyrics:

      If I have wounded any soul today

      If I have caused one foot to go astray

      If I have walked in my own willful way

      Dear Lord, forgive!

      If I have uttered idle words in vain

      If I have turned aside from want or pain

      Lest I myself shall suffer through the strain

      Dear Lord, forgive!

      If I have been perverse or hard or cold

      If I have longed for shelter in Thy fold

      When Thou hast given me some fort to hold

      Dear Lord, forgive!

      Forgive the sins I have confessed to Thee

      Forgive the secret sins I do not see

      O guide me, love me and my Keeper be

      In Jesus Name

      Amen

I could only find one decent audio recording of this song and it's sung by a single lady, but it's still beautiful. 

I tear up every time. 

Summer Happenings 2016 Part 2: Singing School!

About this time last year, we learned about singing school, or "music camp", that a local church provides, for free, for 4 days and evenings, with lunch and dinner included. What a blessing! The only problem was.... it takes place in June, so we were too late last time, but I kept my eyes peeled for the dates when summer rolled around this year. 

The church that provides this ministry is a Primitive Baptist Church, so they don't sing with any instruments at all. 

NONE. 

Anyway. 

We learned how to sing songs by using something called shape notes. 

Ever heard of it? 

Me neither. 

The best way I can explain it is this: each shape represents the notes in a scale, no matter what key you're in.  

I'm a visual learner, so maybe this picture here will help. 

The first set of notes is in the key of C. Do (pronounced doh) begins on C  and the rest of the notes follow up the scale. The second set is in the key of G. Do begins on G and the rest of the notes follow up that scale. 

It's a pretty simple way to learn songs... kinda. Learn these note names, how to jump between them and music is a breeze... at least you don't have to know all the rest of music to learn to sing a song... kinda. 

This example was taped up on the wall in the room
where my kids were learning this music. 

Here is one song we learned. It is an original from the incredibly talented man who was teaching the teen/adult class. It was so beautiful. We recorded it, along with the other 2 we learned. 

We spent Monday-Thursday morning learning music using this method and Thursday evening, we just enjoyed ourselves picking songs from the hymnal and singing together. What a super blessed time this was. 

Have you ever heard acapella singing in a congregation setting? It's so beautiful! I was moved to tears on more than one occasion.... of course, some of that had to do with the words we were singing. Powerful words + beautiful voices singing together = quite an emotional experience. 

I don't know what else to say except Adelle and I wore ourselves out going back to the evening sessions, early enough for dinner and there is a very good chance that we'll do it again next year.

If you're interested in learning more about this, I found this very interesting article about the history of shape note singing. 

Summer Happenings 2016 Part 1: Summer Menu

This summer has proven to be quite busy and yet I don't know what in the world we've been doing!  I haven't even been able to blog for a whole month. How does this happen?

I was going to catch up on our summer with a "5 Random Things" post, but I'm having a lot of trouble with the photo editor I've been using. I have more pictures than you're probably interested in, which is why I make collages, but I can't make those collages right now (I can't take any more pics right now either, but that's another story). SO, I've decided that I'll try to do some catching up with a Summer Happenings 2016 blog series. 

Let's get started. Shall we?

We're going to start with our menu plan. 

I spent a lot of the spring time working on getting a year round menu plan ready to implement by the beginning of June. I am excited to say that I got it done! (That was quite the undertaking for me). In my last The Homeschool Mother's Journal, I talked about having a seasonal meal plan. So, I have a summer menu plan, a fall menu, a winter menu and a spring menu. 

I was able to start the summer menu at the beginning of last month. I don't usually share this type of thing, but it has and does effect our homeschooling routine. Not having a menu plan makes me a litte chaotic. I get stressed out every 2 weeks trying to figure out what we're going to eat, I have to think about making a grocery list and the stress really just snowballs. This summer has been smooth sailing with already knowing what we're having for dinner each night and being prepared for those meals. 

Ready to see the summer menu? (Click on the image to get a closer look.)

This is just a dinner meal plan. We eat snack-type breakfast and lunch, then we have a good dinner meal with Papa Man in the evening. 

Breakfast choices are as follows:

• Cereal (limited to twice a week), fruit
• Eggs, toast, fruit
• Oatmeal, toast, fruit
• Muffin (limited to once a week), yogurt, fruit
• Waffles or pancakes, yogurt, fruit

Lunch choices are as follows:

• Peanut butter/Jelly sandwich, pretzels, carrot sticks
• Ham/cheese sandwich, pretzels, carrot sticks
• Spaghetti O's and fruit
• Easy dinner leftovers
• Baked potato, fruit. 

So I make sure we have all the groceries to cover breakfast and lunch on hand at all times. 

Now, this menu looks like a lot of food, but we eat up all our leftovers (or at least most of them), so it's past the middle of July and we have yet to make/eat all the meals on this menu! Granted, we usually go out to lunch on Sunday afternoons, but I wanted to have an easy meal plan for that day, "just in case". 

I do have a lot of meals on this menu that I personally cannot eat, so I  make sure to keep potatoes and eggs on hand as my alternative meal. 

OH, and I have to brag about the fried green tomatoes I made for the very first time. They turned out pretty good.... just needed a little more salt. I could only eat one, but it was very tempting to eat more (I can't do the fried thing). 

I am so glad to be able to blog again. I can't wait to share about our library's summer reading program, the shape notes we learned about last month at grace singing school, the diy projects I've tackled and the curriculum we're going with this year. 

I'm kinda sad that summer is wrapping up!