Pioneer Day

Last year when we were homeschooling I REALLY wanted to take the kids to our local park's Pioneer Day to see a picture of life in the 1800's. Unfortunately, we missed it then so when I found out it was this weekend there was no way we were going to miss it again!

How cool is that? Well, most of the area apparently had the same idea so... it was quite a trek to get from where we had to park to the event, but the scenery was beautiful and a little exercise never hurt!

The kids had a good time exploring the different forms of shelter that Pioneers and Native Americans lived in, from huts to tents to cabins. It was too crowded to get pictures of all of them but here's one they liked (but wouldn't want to live in long term):

There was a battle re-enactment that was really loud exciting and they even had a cannon!

I know it's November, but we're in Texas so it was hot. Seriously, I don't know how they wore all those clothes without melting!

After the battle was won we went to see what else we could find there. B got her face painted and made a bonnet so she looked like some sort of Pioneer/Indian hybrid...

This is her right before she broke into an impromptu jig on the stage. Hopefully, I can figure out how to post the video, it was great!

They had some period musicians that were fun to hear. No more dancing though...

We missed a few things like making corn husk dolls, candle making, and the covered wagon but we had such a good time. There was tons of stuff to do!

After all the fun, the 'Hayride to the Parking Lot' sign was truly a sight for sore eyes. If you know me, you know that I am perpetually in flip flops which is probably not the best idea for traipsing through the woods but that's just how I roll, so there it is.

 

But that's not all - we're going back in December for An Old Fashioned Christmas! Here's a picture of my handsome hubby trying to control his excitement. Sorry babe, I couldn't resist!

Election Day Fun

Happy Election Day! The girls and I were discussing last night what they've learned in school about the election and to my surprise both said that their classes had not discussed it at all...WHAT?? How can this be? Soooo, considering that the school was going to be a polling place today with large crowds expected and since they hadn't learned anything about the election in school, we decided we'd stay home and do our own election lessons!



I waited until this morning to surprise them and they were so excited! We watched some videos I found on BrainPOP Jr. and played games and did quizzes there. We talked about the qualifications for president and how the electoral college works. B wrote about what she would do if she were president (hint: it involves 1,465 puppies and an equal amount of cats).

B had gone with us to early vote a few weeks ago so she decided that she wanted to hold a mock election of her own, complete with campaign posters and speeches. A didn't want to run so the candidates were B, Mom, Desiree (her bunny), and WIQ (aka Phillip).

 

Here are 3 of the posters, I didn't get a picture of mine but I can assure you it was spectacular... B's is the one on the far left, Desiree in the center, and WIQ's is on the right.

Next we gave our campaign speeches. I ran on a platform of hot meals and free hugs, B promised to give everyone the shelter dog or cat of their choice, and I can't remember the other two. I'm pretty certain it involved animals though.

No good election would be complete without an old-school ballot box so of course we had to make one! If you look closely you can see WIQ & Desiree in the background along with our "ballots". Here's a closer view:

So after all the votes were tallied the final results were:

President - B
Vice President - Mom
Best Poster - B
Best Speech - B
Class President - WIQ
Semester President - Desiree

I didn't get a picture but we also made a polling place (complete with line) and ballot box out of Legos.

We had so much fun! I love that my kids want to learn and enjoy the learning process. We're not done yet either - tonight once the exit poll numbers start coming in we're going to color the states red or blue. In fact, she's bugging me to get the maps ready so I'd better wrap this up...

So that was our election day experience, what did you do for election day?

Linking to:

The Happy Day Project 2012

Have you seen this? If not, go over to Life Rearranged and check it out! It looks like so much fun and what better way to brighten your day than to make someone else's day better!

 

It starts Monday so unless I'm starting a new job (praying!) I'll be back to post about what we've done...

 

Have a great weekend!

 

Trunk or Treat 2012

Trunk or Treat 2012

 

B wanted to do a nativity-themed trunk for our first trunk or treat with her beloved doll WIQ (which is pronounced "Phillip" in case you were wondering) starring as the baby Jesus and a  'Jesus loves you and me' poster that she made herself.

 

We decided to go handmade with her angel costume so I found a fabulous tutorial at Maker Mama to make angel wings out of paper plates! Can I just take a moment to say how much I love the interwebs...I could never think up this stuff on my own. They turned out great and for the 10 minutes or so that she actually wore them we got several complements, not bad for $0! You can also see her halo that I made with some pipe cleaners and a headband. I thought she might not like it but she thought it was perfect so who am I to argue with that!

 

I was running the Plinko game (remember that one?) so I ended up doing about 300 squats over the course of the evening. It was so busy I didn't even realize it until the end of the night when I was hoarse and sore. Hopefully it will help make up for all the Butterfingers I ate earlier in the day...

 

A, my oldest, passed out the candy and punched holes in each child's card that came by. A few times I caught myself saying "Ok, go over there so she can punch you and give you candy!". I don't think anyone noticed though. :-)

 

At the end of the night we had a great time, burned or consumed many calories and most importantly showed several hundred of our neighbors the love of Christ. I have no idea what we'll do next year but this year was probably my favorite so far.

Reclaiming Halloween

About a week or so ago I posted about how we've been rethinking Halloween and what that means for our family this year so I thought I'd come back and share what we plan to do.

Fortunately, this year Halloween falls on a Wednesday so our church has decided as a missions opportunity to hold a trunk-or-treat and invite the neighborhood to come. Oh, I can hear it now:
Come on, so you change the name a little and do it in the church parking lot instead of your block, how's that really different?

Well, truthfully it doesn't have to be. We could dress up, throw candy at some kids and go home no different than if we'd done nothing at all. The actions by themselves are worthless, empty filthy rags without God.

Or we could plan a bunch of stuff and invite God to come and hope He blesses it. "Hey, God look at all we're doing here for You! What would You do without us?" type of thing. That would be worthless too and maybe worse because we're deceiving ourselves as well as others.

But here's where it's at for me and why it makes sense for our family:

Recently our pastor said something that really stuck with me - God can take something meant for evil and reclaim it for His glory. He can. And does. The story of Joseph is a good example of God doing this, Moses is another. As Christians, we don't have to hide inside while darkness gathers around us, we can allow God to use us to fulfill His mission!

Here's another thing, God gives certain commands in the Bible and those commands are not contingent on the calendar. There's no out just because it's October 31 any more than thinking we only need to tell others about God on Christmas and Easter. 1 John 5:3 says, "This is love for God: to obey His commands." and in John 15:14 "You are my friends if you do what I command.".

• We are commanded to put Him first.

• We are commanded to love our neighbor.

• We are commanded to serve. The first time I typed sever...yikes!

• We are commanded to spread the gospel.

I'm sure some will disagree but for us these commands apply here. This is something that we are to do every day, and I think that this is an opportunity to do it on a larger scale than we could otherwise.

God is the focus, we are the followers.

We can't do the work, only God can, but we can be obedient to His commands and I don't think that we would accomplish that effectively by either boycotting Halloween by hiding in our houses or embracing Halloween as willing participants. This is the way that we feel God is leading our family to spend this time, it may look different for yours. I'd love to hear your thoughts and plans in the comments!

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Gratitude

Lord, I am so thankful today for your loving care for me. Even though I don't deserve it you lavish me with your love. Thank you that even though my window is broken, I can still see the wonder of your creation through it, and although my bank account is empty, I've never felt richer in you. Thank you for the beautiful bluebirds in my back yard, for opening my eyes to your Word, for sermons that pierce my heart, and for friends that hold me accountable. I am so grateful. Help me to remember that You are all I need, nothing more.  I am resting in You. Amen.

Trusting God With Our Kids

Sounds strange doesn't it? If anything, God should be the ONLY one we trust with our kids, but the reality of it is that my thoughts and actions don't always line up with what I know to be true. The school bus is a glaring example in my life of where I love God, but I don't necessarily trust Him, and a lesson for me in learning to give Him my all.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating the other end of the spectrum where we send the kids out to play on the freeway and expect God to do the babysitting! We are responsible for our children and accountable to God for them. I'm saying that I've realized that when I keep my kids on a short leash, it's sometimes because I feel like I have to do God's work to keep them safe. In other words, subconsciously I think God might try to take them early, so I hover over them to keep anything bad from happening to them, as if I can thwart the plans of God. This isn't something I do consciously or intentionally, but when I have the sense of dread when I send them out, or go against my husbands wishes (and the limits of our gas budget) to drive them to school myself, rather than put them on the bus, my actions reveal what is really in my heart.

I believe that part of my fear and doubt began on April 26, 2010 when a beautiful high school girl in my area got off the school bus and simply disappeared. You can read about her story and her parent's tireless efforts to find her here: http://www.alexandrialowitzer.com/ . I pray for Ali and her family often as I can't imagine what they are going through and my heart hurts so badly for them. Please take a moment to look at their website and send prayer their way. Unfortunately, there are many other families searching for loved ones, you can find more information at the Laura Recovery Center website.

As frightening as that is, however, it should give us a healthy respect of our surroundings & make us cautious, which is biblical (Proverbs 14:16), not handicap us with fear, which is not. I think that part of what causes us as parents to take this fear too far is simply the reluctance to give God our all, which includes our children. But if I do this I've made an idol, not just of my kids, but of my ability as a parent to protect them.

So maybe you're still thinking, jeez lady, what's the big deal? My kids have been riding the bus since kindergarten! Here's the thing about the bus: it's not the bus. It's the way my fear and distrust makes me see the bus. If transportation wasn't an issue, it'd be something else because it's the situation of my heart that's the issue here, not the external circumstance that exposes it.

Why shouldn't I trust my children to Him? He made them after all and gave them to me as a gift (Psalm 127:3). He loves them more than I ever can!

I'll come back in another post to explore what The Bible has to say about God's sovereignty and our children but today I will be a doer of the word and live out my faith instead of just talking about it. Today my child rides the bus home from school and I WILL NOT FEAR.

Linking to:

What I Know Now

One of the blogs I've started following recently is having a blog link-up to share stories of life lessons to share with others so I thought I'd share mine:

Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28

 

I became a christian at a young age but for years no one would have known that, or maybe even believed it if I had told them. See, I felt like once I had accepted Christ I was done and could do whatever I wanted after that safe in the knowledge that I was saved. What I know now is that I wasted years of my life pursuing things that brought me little joy when I could have had the peace and joy that comes from having a relationship with God. I had traded the truth of God for a lie and eventually my lukewarm lifestyle caught up with me. I was burned out from trying to do it all on my own and not sure where to turn.

 

I remember being so overwhelmed with everything that I wished I had my own sensory deprivation chamber that I could hide in to escape the world! Unfortunately, I didn't have one at my disposal so one night when I just couldn't take any more I did the next best thing, I shut off all the lights, the TV and everything else and just lay on my couch in the dark wondering if I was going crazy. At first it was weird just laying there, then kind of relaxing, and all of a sudden the most amazing thing happened. A commercial for a church in my area popped in my head and in an instant I knew what was missing. A relationship with my Savior! It was time for this prodigal daughter to come home.

 

That was years ago and I can't say that since then everything's been easy or that I don't sometimes need a reminder of who is in charge but what I know now is that if you're feeling overwhelmed & weary, it's time to stop trying to do it on your own. Lay your burden down & turn to your Heavenly Father for rest.

Linking to:

 



I am full!

Remember the old coffee commercial slogan, "Fill it to the rim...with Brim."?

I have no idea if Brim is still around (I'm a Folger's girl myself, and I'll keep the caffene thankyouverymuch) but the catch phrase was clever enough to stick in my then too young for coffee brain and came to mind as I read the scripture passage this morning.

 

For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.

Colossians 2:9-10

 

Fullness seems to be a theme in Colossians. Paul mentions it more than once in chapter 1 and includes it in both verses here. Fullness means 'filled to capacity' so the thankfulness he speaks of in verse 7, as well as love and other fruits might be considered an outpouring or overflow because we are filled completely with Him. If I am filled with Christ, the things of Him will be an outpouring of that fullness.

 

Here's another thought, usually when I've finished a big meal I stop eating. Why? I'm full so I don't want any more. If I try to keep eating after I'm full what will happen? I may make myself sick, I'll probably gain more weight than necessary and can become unhealthy. In the same way when I have Christ I am full and complete and have everything I need in Him. However, if I start to doubt that and feel like I need something more to fulfill me I can become spiritually unhealthy. Just like my body shows to the world when I've taken in too much, my life will reflect if I'm trying to take on too much. If that happens I may need to stop what I'm doing and go back to verse 8.

 

What about you? Are you full?





Rethinking Halloween

 

 

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.

Colossians 2:8

 

Oh boy. This might be a controversial post if anyone actually read my blog but me...ha ha. 

 

I'm sure that we all know something that fits the description, maybe a certain movie or book that you could tell in an instant wasn't Godly but others around you were deceived. For me that would be something like horoscopes, which seems obvious but yet several of my christian friends get them daily on Facebook so maybe it's more deceptive for others. I think the real deception is that it becomes so commonplace that it's the norm. You don't question it because it doesn't occur to you do do so.

 

Several times we have rented movies and to me the messages are so blatantly ungodly that I can't watch it but when I say something it's met with eye rolls and "it's just a movie". I want to say, "No, that's what the devil wants you to think, guard your heart!". Other times I realized something that I'd never questioned before went against the Word of God when I watched it again at a later time.

 

This is why it is so important to know scripture by heart and to be in the Word daily. As I get deeper into God's word I see so much more clearly the things that aren't from Him. Things that not long ago were acceptable to me are now seen in a whole new "light", if you know what I mean.

 

Here's a recent example from an unlikely source: Pinterest. I've really enjoyed Pinterest and I've found some great ideas on there. In fact, most of the dinners I've made lately I found on Pinterest! Anyway, I follow a lot of craft, home decor and educational bloggers on Pinterest and about a month ago I joined a christian pinners group as well. As it turned to fall, I noticed something shocking that I'm not sure if I would have recognized if I hadn't seen it in this manner. Suddenly, next to all the pictures of Christ, scriptures and uplifting posts were witches, skeletons, and ghosts. Mind you that these weren't hard-core horror images, just cutesy craft projects for Halloween but even so the difference between the two was shocking and made an impact on me in a way that I'm not sure even words would have done. It really brought home the verses that question what darkness has in common with light and made me question some of the things that I accept just because they are tradition.

"See to it" implies action. We must actively examine what philosophies or world views that we listen to, read, see, etc and make sure that they line up with what is in the Bible, like the Bereans in Acts 17:11.

 

So here's my challenge:  This week I'm rethinking Halloween and what it means for our family. My GMG friends already know but I'll share later what we plan to do instead.

 

Think about the things that you've read and watched in the last few days. What philosophies are you being exposed to? Are there any traditions you go along with just because it's what you've always done?  For the next few days be intentional about questioning what you read, watch and hear. See if anything surprises you that you might not have noticed otherwise.  Most importantly - spend time reading the Bible & pray! Ask God for wisdom and to show you the things that don't line up with His word and trust that He will do it.

 

Linking to: Women in the Word Wednesdays at www.goodmorninggirls.org

Words of Encouragement

...the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Colossians 1:26-27
 

These two verses are so encouraging to me! How blessed we are to be on this side of the cross in history and to be able to look in God's word to see how this all plays out. How blessed we are to have the complete Word of God to read and learn from. Even in this modern age there are many who don't have that luxury still. How comforting to know that the mystery has been revealed through the gospel.

So what is the mystery that has been revealed? Ephesians 3:6 states,

This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.

And how amazingly wonderful is it that we, as Gentiles, have been grafted into the family of God, as heirs no less, to have the hope of glory in Christ Jesus in us!

I know that we sometimes complain because the days are evil and things are not as simple as they used to be but we have been given the gift of seeing the mystery revealed and knowing the promise that it means for us. "For ages and generations" that wasn't possible to know, but we do! Something that as Gentiles is more than we could have hoped for. Not only that but we have the ability to simply open our bible and read how God wove it all together...praise God! That is an amazing treasure yet most of the time it doesn't even occur to us how fortunate we are.

Lord, Thank You so much for including us in your family. Help us to live lives worthy of the calling we have received and in appreciation for all you have done. Amen.

 

For more information about the mystery and what it means, see Ephesians Ch. 2 & 3.

Linking to:

 

Women in the Word Wednesdays

Influence

Well, it's taken longer than I expected due to a modem issue but I'm back now and ready to finally finish the other lesson I mentioned in my last post.  This time it's about influence and how it affects the people around us. If you'll remember, King Josiah came from a legacy of men that did evil in the sight of the Lord yet he chose to follow in the footsteps of David instead and follow God.

Once the Book of the Law was found King Josiah heard what it said he was convicted and tore his robes. He realized that God was angry that those before him had not respected and obeyed God's Law. However, it says:
"Because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I have spoken against this place and its people, that they would become accursed and laid waste, and because you tore your robes and wept in my presence, I have heard you, declares the Lord. Therefore I will gather you to your fathers, and you will be buried in peace. Your eyes will not see all the disaster I am going to bring on this place." 2 Kings 22:19-20

So King Josiah gathered all the people so that they could hear the Book of the Law and he publicly renewed the covenant with the Lord and the bible says, "Then all the people pledged themselves to the covenant." ALL the people...wow.

In this story one person, King Josiah, changed the course of his people by his obedience to God. There are lots of other stories in the bible of influence, both good and bad. So what's my story? How can my obedience or disobedience affect those under my influence?

Who are you influencing today?
We may not have the influence of a king but we influence those around us just the same. We influence our children, spouse, friends, social media followers, and other people we interact with from day to day even without realizing it.

What kind of influence do you want to be?

Respecting God's Word

This week I've been reading 2 Kings 22-23. It tells the story of King Josiah, who unlike his evil father and grandfather before him, followed in the footsteps of David and worshipped the Lord.

During the previous kings' reign, idol worshipping and human sacrifice had become the way of the land and God's Word was lost as it had become irrelevant to the people who turned to other things for fulfillment. When Josiah had the temple repaired they found the Book of Law and brought it to him. He heard the words of the Lord and was filled with remorse and repentance so he gathered all the people together and read to them the Book of the Law and renewed the covenant to follow God and the people did the same.

I was reading this bible passage to prepare for my Sunday school lesson on respecting God's Word but there is another important lesson that I got from it that I'll talk about tomorrow (Lord willing!). When we don't respect His Word it becomes unimportant to us and can become lost both physically and mentally when we need it most. Just like we have to move daily to protect our muscles from atrophy, we need to spend time in the bible to prevent our faith from doing the same. Spending time daily reading the bible has made such a huge difference in how I speak, act, respond and think about the things that happen in my daily life. I find myself referencing scriptures as I go about my day, when talking to friends or even while reading the paper or watching TV. It's pretty amazing how it's woven into every part of my life now and I am so grateful for it.

Another part of respecting God's Word, and sometimes the most challenging part for me, is to do what it says!  John 15:14 says, "You are my friends if you do what I command." and James 1:22 says, "Be doers of the Word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.". I named this blog from that verse because in doing so I hope to challenge myself, my family and anyone that may read this blog to put feet to their faith and live out what we have learned from God's Word as our act of obedience. Not that we have to earn our salvation (we don't), but as an outpouring of the love we have for God and from God.

My prayer today is to respect God's Word, to read and obey what it says.

Linking to:

May The Words of My Mouth

My prayer for today can be summed up beautifully in the words of this song:

May The Words of My Mouth

by Rob Hill & Tim Hughes

 

May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart

Bless your name, bless your name, Jesus

And the deeds of the day, and the truth in my way

Speak of you, speak of you, Jesus

 

For this is what I'm glad to do

It's time to live a life of love that pleases you

And I will give my all to you

Surrender everything I have and follow you

I'll follow you

 

Lord will you be my vision, Lord will you be my guide?

Be my hope, be my life, and the Way

And I'll look not for riches, nor praises on the earth

Only you'll be the first of my heart

 

I will follow you



On Good Intentions

Wow. I can't believe it's been a year since I last posted. So many good intentions to chronicle our homeschooling adventures lost to procrastination...sigh.
We've had a wonderful home school experience, and although it's come to an end I will truly cherish the time we spent learning together. I wish I would have spent the extra time to write each day as I had planned so I could look back at it later as my memories become hazy.

Unfortunately, I think that in other areas of my walk with God I tend to do this as well. I intend to prepare my Sunday School lesson way ahead of time and do an in-depth study but I put it off for when I can "focus on it" then next thing I know it's Saturday night! With the blog, I put it off because I didn't feel "inspired" about what to write so it gave me an excuse not to write anything at all. When I pray I think, well, God knows what this person needs better than I do so I can just give a half-hearted prayer.

Honestly, when I started this blog I wanted it to be a visual reminder of the ways we live out our faith and give glory to God in our daily lives as a family and as individuals. I also wanted it to be a place to share the ways that God was working in my life and maybe be able to share something helpful with others. Hmm, perhaps He's teaching me about commitment and diligence?

So why didn't I keep up with this blog? It wasn't that I didn't want to, I really did. I originally had the best of intentions but I didn't make it a priority in my life so when it got hard, I quit. I didn't intend to quit but by continually putting it off, that was the ultimate result. But while it was easier for me to put it off until tomorrow, it's not biblical. Proverbs 27:1 says, Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth. In James 4 it says that tomorrow is not promised and that anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins. Ouch.

So what now?
Do I give up and live in regret of what could have been? I'm writing this, so obviously not, that would be foolish and just add misery to failure. But how often do we do just that? Darn, I slept too late to have my quiet time...guess I'll try again tomorrow or I'll wait to post until after the kids go to bed knowing full well that by then I'll be too tired to string a coherent sentence together and I'll put it off.

Praise God for His patience and grace! Each day we are given is another chance to start anew. I don't have to be a slave to my procrastination and good intentions. When I feel the urge to put something off because it's too hard, or I'm tired or whatever the excuse is I can give it to God and ask for His strength and leadership. Instead of waiting to be "inspired", I will look deeper to see what God's word says and how it applies to my life. Seek and ye shall find...amazing.

Repentance and commitment

Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed. Proverbs 16:3
 

Lord, I am sorry for giving you good intentions when I should be acting in obedience to you. Father, I commit my plans to you, help me to be a doer and not a hearer only. Amen.