A Heart That Prays

While doing my quiet time this morning I came across this poem in the book I'm reading (it's my favorite book ever, btw). Elizabeth George, in A Woman After God's Own Heart, is writing about how to have a heart overflowing with "Motherly Affection". She says, "beginning each day by praying for your children benefits them in countless ways even as it draws them deeper into your heart". May we all be women with "motherly affection" for our children and remember to pray for them daily!



Some have had kings in their lineage,
Some to whom honor was paid.
Not blest of my ancestors-but,
I have a mother who prays.

I have a mother who prays for me
And pleads with the Lord every day for me.
Oh what a difference it makes for me-
I have a mother who prays.

Some have worldly success
And trust in the riches they've made-
This is my surest asset,
I have a mother who prays.

My mother's prayers cannot save me,
Only mine can avail;
But mother introduced me to Someone-
Someone who never could fail.

Oh yes...I have a mother who prays for me
And pleads with teh Lord every day for me.
O what a difference it makes for me-
I have a mother who prays.

-Author Unknown

Beautiful Spring

We spent an afternoon earlier in the week outside in our "back-back". It's so wonderful to see how excited the kids now get about exploring our little piece of God's creation in our backyard. They hurridly grabbed their nature journals and pencil/crayon boxes and I grabbed some books and a blanket. That was all that was needed for our afternoon outside. The kids love running and playing in the trees, leaves, and flowers. They spent lots of time picking flowers for Mommy (some may call them weeds...but to a 7,5, and 2 year old they're beautiful flowers!). Dd7 drew a beautiful nature journal entry showing a butterfly that they'd seen as well as a snake that scared her in a hole. She and dd2 were walking towards the tree line and she happened to look into a hole that was mostly covered with dead leaves. There sunning himself was a little black snake. I tried to go see it with my ever inquisitive son but all of the screaming from Dd7 must have scared him back under the leaves. Still, I have the beautiful drawing from my daughter to help.

We have been seeing Mr. Redbird around our back patio quite a bit recently. He's been a favorite of Ds5 so we decided to look him up in our Handbook of Nature Study. As we were playing in the back I gathered the children together onto the blanket for a quick science lesson about the Cardinal. We learned all about this beautiful bird and his mate. We saw picture of their nests and learned that Mr. Cardinal is a very attentive mate and father. He brings Mrs. Cardinal all of her food as she's nesting on the eggs. And once the eggs have hatched and Mrs. Cardinal is busy working on the next set of eggs, Mr. Cardinal cares for the little baby Cardinals. We had yet to see Mrs. Cardinal...but to our surprise, this morning as we were doing school Dd5 saw our Mr. Cardinal in a tree outside. We went over to watch him and who was there beside him but Mrs. Cardinal. We watched them fly off together into our neighbors yard and talked about how sweet and loving they must be to each other.

Needless to say, we are so very glad that Spring has finally arrived and we can't wait to spend more time out in our Lord's playground. I wonder which creature we'll discover next??

How Great!

How deep the Father's love for us

How vast beyond all measure

That He would give His only Son

To make a wretch His treasure ...

How great the pain of searing loss

The Father turns His face away

As wounds which mar the chosen One

Bring many sons to glory

Behold the Man upon a cross

My guilt upon His shoulders

Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice

Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that held Him there

Until it was accomplished

His dying breath has brought me life

I know that it is finished

I will not boast in anything

No gifts, no powr's, no wisdom

But I will boast in Jesus Christ

His death and resurrection

Why should I gain from His reward?

I cannot give an answer

But this I know with all my heart

His wounds have paid my ransom

Comedy of Errors!

I have never wanted my children to be afraid of Shakespeare. My oldest daughter (age 7) actually loves Shakespeare. She's never actually read the plays but I've read stories to her based on the plays from the time she was old enough to listen. I want my kids to know that even though it's spoken in what amounts to a different language, if we figure it out like a puzzle it's a wonderful story. Her favorite thus far is "Midsummer Night's Dream". This is probably her favorite because this was the first story I read to her.

Last Friday night we were blessed to be able to go to our local college's production of "Comedy of Errors". This was a play that I was unfamiliar with myself. However my husband knew of it and was able to give us the short version before it began. Throughout the first act my husband kept leaning down and explaining things to her. By the intermission dd7 politely told Daddy that she understood and he didn't need to explain it to her. I was amazed. She laughed in all the right spots and got concerned just when she should have. She really got it!

If we aren't afraid of Shakespeare (or if we don't let on to our children that we're afraid) then they won't be afraid either. I was amazed that a couple of college student's sitting behind us were asking us (my daughter included) about the play so that they could write a paper on it for class. They just closed off their minds because they assummed that they wouldn't understand it. I don't want my children growing up that way. Life is full of difficulties and it's how we approach them that can make all the difference!

Free Pilgrim's Progress Audio Download

I found this on one of the yahoo groups that I belong too...thought you might be interested.

Pilgrim's Progress Audio Download

It's Spring Break here so we're actually taking one this year. I've had a wonderful two days so far. I have lots of things that I need to do (clean out closets, organize the bookshelves, and switch winter/summer clothes) but I'm enjoying procrastinating at the moment! Isn't that what a break is all about!?

Jill

"...and a little child shall lead them"

Being a Christian, we are told that we will come under fire, endure trials, be mocked and laughed at, etc. Yet that does not make it easier when it actually happens. I know that by living in the U.S. we have been spared a lot of the persecution that goes on in other parts of the world. So when the persecution starts to hit closer to home it really gets to me. I am speaking of the news articles and polls that have come out recently in response to our homeschool science books teaching creation rather than evolution. I was forwarded a poll the other day (which I took) asking if people thought it was ok for us to teach creation as homeschoolers. This poll was generated by MSNBC so the results didn't surprise me to begin with. When I voted the count was about 3 to 1 against us being allowed to teach creationism. I read some of the comments and was just struck at the anger, resentment, malice that came from these people voting against creationism. There are some very angry and resentful people out there that would love nothing more than to force us into teaching evolution, which is one of the main reasons I homeschool.

Then in another email I received just this morning I came across this article from Fox News (the more conservative of the news networks) that made me angry again. In those news reports I listed above some homeschoolers who aren't Christians were complaining about the lack of non-Christian resources available on the market. I say, "yay!". Don't we live in a world that typically caters to non-Christian's? This is how we have to live daily. I'm glad we have a little section of society that caters to us.

After prayer and time alone in the Word with God here is what HE showed me this morning. (Isn't God so very faithful?!) I will need to break them up into a couple of posts because He showed me quite a few verses and I feel led to share them with you as well.

Isaiah 11 begins "there shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit." He is speaking of the coming of Jesus. "And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth..." He is here and He is for us. He hasn't forgotten us and He will settle our disputes and the righteous will prevail.

I see something happening in our homeschooling generation. I wonder if God is raising up a generation that will follow Him and bring this country back to Him. There are untold millions of children that are being homeschooled right now (some reports say 86% are evangelical Christians) and are being taught God's ways, God's history, God's Word. Yes, they are able to perform in society even after they leave the home. Not only are they performing, they are excelling! These are the future leaders of our world. We have such a responsibility to make sure that they are taught the truth and taught to fight for the truth. God is doing some amazing work right now! Isaiah 11:6 says, "...and a little child shall lead them"! Wow!!!


Psalm 25 was the next passage the Lord showed me. "To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. O my God, in you I trust; let me not be put to shame; let not my enemies exult over me. Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame; they shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous." This verse gave me hope, hope in the future grace that is to come, hope in the future world that will live in (either in heaven or in the NEW earth).

"Make me know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. leat me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long." (Psalm 25:4-5)

"Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble in what is right and teaches the humble his way. All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies." (vs. 8-10) This is simple reassurance that what we are teaching our children is the truth and the only way to follow the Lord.

Remember I mentioned the hate that was displayed towards Christians in the poll comments that I read? Well, the Lord showed me this in response, "Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. The troubles of my heard are enlarged; bring me out of my distresses. Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins. Consider how many are my foes, and with what violent hatred they hate me. Oh, guard my soul, and deliver me! Let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you. May integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you. Redeem Israel (I added America in my prayer), O God, out of all his troubles." (vs. 16-22)

The Lord is so faithful. He knows when we're burdened and He sees our worries and fears. He gave us His Word as a comfort and if we only look we will see the promises and remember that HE is in control.


more to come...

Jill

Pine Villages

Oh, what a wonderful afternoon we've had. I love that the weather is finally allowing us to be outside to rediscover God's beautiful creation. I heard the man mowing our "back-back" earlier this morning and I knew we'd be going out later in the day. There is still an ever so slight chill in the air yet considering what we have to look forward too (the blistering heat of 100+ degree weather in the summer) I wasn't upset at all.

We were last out in our "back-back" (the area beyond our backyard for those new to us) right after the snow. That was about a month ago. Since then it's been cold, wet, and rainy. Yuck! But slowly the Winter is making way for Spring and today we were able to do our first nature study of the year.

I gave the children their very own notebook for nature study. They LOVED them. Now, when I say notebook I mean a spiral wide ruled notebook that I picked up at Wal-Mart a couple of years ago for 5 cents each! They've been sitting on the top of a shelf ever since and to see the reaction from the kids you would have thought they'd been laced with gold (or candy). I even gave dd2 one. She likes to be a part of our school and thinks she's as big as the others.

We went out and I asked them to pick their favorite part of the area and draw a picture of it. I also asked dd7 to write about it. This is their notebook and I'm not going to be correcting it or grading it. All of my ideas on nature study are from the Outdoor Hour by the way.

Dd7 drew a picture and chose to write about the "Pine Village" that they've discovered. We have a lot of trees in our back yet right now there are none with leaves on them. This causes our "Pine Village" to really stick out. There is a group of 6 pine trees all clustered together amidst the other dead looking trees. We were able to discuss evergreen trees and look at the leaves/needles and even smell the trees. Oh, they smell great. She also wrote about some of the birds that she saw and was very good at describing them.

Dd5 drew a pine tree and he also drew a picture of some of the birds that he heard. I thought this was neat. He heard the sounds of two different types of birds and though he couldn't SEE them he drew what he thought they might look like. He's still too young to write words so he chose this way to express his thoughts.

Dd2...well...she drew lots of circles. That's her new talent of the month! It's precious though b/c she pretends to be drawing all sorts of other things yet everything is squiggly lines and circles. I love it! She really loves being involved.

"Nature-study cultivates the child's imagination, since there are so many wonderful and true stories that he may read with his own eyes; at the same time nature-study cultivates in him a perception and a regard for what is true, and the power to express it. All things seem possible in nature; yet this seeming is always guarded by the eager quest of what is true. Perhaps half the falsehood in the world is due to lack of power to detect the truth and to express it." (Handbook of Nature Study pg 1)

Jill