Friday, September 30, 2011

Lazy!




This was my last challenge for the month of September at Cookin' Up Creations. The 'infamous' lady I chose for this Friday was Cruella DeVille. I challenged everyone to use mainly Black & White for their layout colors. And the above layout was my example. Charlie was s.p.r.a.w.l.e.d out on his blanket on top of the dryer snoozing away. He's so funny! In the little photo, he peeked at me, looking like 'would you PLEASE leave me alone & let me sleep!'

The Burnt Grilled Cheese

Too funny! Alli & I came home from town this evening & the boys met us at the door ready to help bring in the groceries like usual. But they were bursting at the seams to tell me how Michael had decided to fix his own grilled cheese sandwich today for lunch. Seems it didn't turn out quite as expected the first go round.

They said it was so burnt that none of the critters even wanted to eat it. He was asking me what temperature he was supposed to cook it on & I told him medium- low. He laughed saying he had tried to cook it on high the first time around. When that didn't work, he tried again & did it on medium that time & it turned out edible. I had to laugh! Was very impressed with his spunk at making his own grilled cheese & then not giving up on it til he got it right!

*****************************

Like I mentioned earlier....Alli & I went to town today. We picked Ashley up after her Bible class & we met Maw, Shelly, Mike, Ella & her kids for lunch at Cracker Barrel. We were able to go to a 'sit-down' restaurant because Ashley didn't have English class today & so she didn't have to be back until 2:55pm. We enjoyed a nice lunch & even had time for a little Target shopping afterwards. After dropping Ashley back off at school, Alli & I got our stuff at Sams & then made a quick run by AC Moore just to look around a bit. 


Couldn't resist taking a picture of Alli's artwork that she created while playing around with the Sharpie markers.
Mine isn't nearly as pretty as hers, but just wanted to share with y'all the fun we had in the craft store today.

************************

Also wanted to share a few pictures here.....especially for Sandee! I took my Bible cover to Maw last Sunday & after I ripped the seams out, we pinned it in place with the actual Bible & then I left it in her capable hands. She brought me the finished product today & I was so tickled that I just had to snap a few pictures when I got home to show you. 

THANK YOU so much!! I really, really love it!

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Happy Day!

Ok, so I didn't realize that today was National Coffee Day until Ashley told me earlier this afternoon as she & her prayer leader were headed to Starbucks for coffee. Just saw on Ashley Cates' blog that she was celebrating too with a Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino. Not to be outdone.....Jon just HAD to go in there & fix us a cup of coffee to go with our just-from-the-oven banana bread. Yum!

***************************
The other day at Cookin' Up Creations we were challenged to find inspiration in the paintings of
Georgia O'Keeffe
When I clicked on the link & started looking at her paintings,  this one immediately caught my eye. I knew right off the bat that I would use this as my inspiration for these pictures of Clay taken at the hunting seminar we went to at Bass Pro back in August.
As you can see, the Bone Collector logo (which I printed off line) looks very similar to the European mount in the painting. I also pulled the same colors from the painting too.....the blues, browns, tan, cream/white.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

History Boring??

I received this in an email from my mom....who got it from her other son-in-law (David not Clay). Thought these were just too good not to share. Would make a great History lesson for some of you Homeschoolers!
 
 
Some of our expressions are interesting in their origin. Thought that I would pass these along to you so from now on when you hear one of these expressions you will know how it came to be.
 
 
Where did piss poor come from ?
Us older people need to learn something new every day..
Just to keep the grey matter tuned up.

Where did "Piss Poor" come from?
Interesting History.
They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot
And then once a day it was taken and sold to the tannery...
.if you had to do this to survive you were "Piss Poor".
But worse than that were the really poor folk who couldn't even afford to buy a pot...
They "didn't have a pot to piss in" and were the lowest of the low.
The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature
Isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be..

Here are some facts about the 1500s

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May,
And they still smelled pretty good by June. However, since they were starting to smell,
Brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor.
Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water.
The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water,
Then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children.
Last of all the babies.
By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it.
Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the Bath water!"

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath.
It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals
(mice, bugs) lived in the roof.
When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof.
Hence the saying, "It's raining cats and dogs."
There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house.
This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings
Could mess up your nice clean bed.
Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection.
That's how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt.
Hence the saying, "Dirt poor." The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery
In the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing.
As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door,
It would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entrance-way.
Hence: a thresh hold.

(Getting quite an education, aren't you?)

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire.
Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables
And did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers
In the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day.
Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while.
Hence the rhyme:
Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old.”
Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special.
When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off.
It was a sign of wealth that a man could, "bring home the bacon."
They would cut off a little to share with guests
And would all sit around and chew the fat.

Those with money had plates made of pewter.
Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food,
causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes,
so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status.
Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle,
and guests got the top, or the upper crust.
Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey.
The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days.
Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial.
They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around
and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up.
Hence the custom; of holding a wake.

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people.
So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave.
When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks
on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive.
So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin
and up through the ground and tie it to a bell.
Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift.)
to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be,
saved by the bell or was considered a dead ringer.

And that's the truth.
Now, whoever said History was boring!!!
So get out there and educate someone! ~~~
Share these facts with a friend.
Inside every older person is a younger person wondering,
'What the heck happened?'

We'll be friends until we are old and senile.
Then we'll be new friends.
Smile,
it gives your face something to do!

Monday, September 26, 2011

Fabulous Fall Monday

Just a little Rocky cuteness for your viewing pleasure.
He loves to sit about three steps down from the top.
He jumped up on Clay's belly & was snoozing away. I disturbed him when I snapped this.
I needed to mail a couple of cards today, so I decided to grab my camera as I went out the door. I haven't taken a 'photo walk' like this in a while & decided I'd just have some fun with my camera. This is Ralph our Rooster.
As I headed on down the hill from the chicken pen, I met Jon coming up on the 4-wheeler.
These pretty purples & bright splashes of red were so much more vivid in real life!
By the time I got back from my little stroll, Jon was our front target practicing with his bow. It's hard to see in the picture, but they have worn a path from where they shoot out to the target. Gearing up for bow season which opens here this coming Saturday.

The Baby IS The Lesson

New book!
You can read all of
Diane's homeschooling articles
in this big spiral-bound book:
Happy Homeschooling

This book is written from my heart to yours, both to help new homeschoolers get started and to help veteran homeschoolers get some fresh ideas. Nothing we offer generates more positive feedback—especially the article entitled, "The Baby is the Lesson!" Maybe it is because we all need a little help to keep going, along with some creative ideas, encouragement, and inspiration. Even though I wrote it, I go back and reread it when I wonder if homeschool is really worth the sacrifice. Topics cover social life, schedules that work, child discipline, a rotating academic plan for making sure you cover everything, the value of memorization, best books for read-aloud time, getting kids to do their schoolwork, how to make grammar fun, what to do with your toddler during homeschool time, father's role in the homeschool, dividing up the chores, preparing for college. . . and much more! Unique and essential information. 


*********************
  
I happened across this amazing homeschool article this morning during my blog-reading & just HAD to share it here with y'all. It's taken from the above book.

**************************

The Baby IS the Lesson

One morning on my daily walk, I was fretting and stewing over what I could possibly do with my one-year-old during school time. I was feeling some despair with a new baby on its way. I couldn't see any end to the disruption of babies in my home school for many years to come. I was praying and scheming at the same time: I could wait until the baby's nap to teach school, I could rotate the children with baby-sitting chore away from our schoolroom, I could get a playpen, etc.: all solutions that didn't feel right--babies needs their moms!
As I walked and pondered, suddenly the Lord introduced one sentence to my mind and revolutionized my mindset entirely! "The baby IS the lesson!" I thought I was trying to teach Math, but in reality I had been teaching, day by day, how an adult values the precious gift of children. My children, by watching how I deal with the frustration of a crying baby or keep a toddler happy and busy with some of his "own" pieces while we play a math game, are soaking up "the lesson". Unfortunately, I had occasionally been teaching that the baby interrupts our learning.
How to be a Christlike person is the most valuable lesson a child could ever learn! The lesson is learned moment by moment; watching a parent being patient, handling frustration with kindness, pressing on for the goal in spite of numerous interruptions, valuing each child's needs regardless of inconvenience. That valuable insight--how Mother handles the baby is the real lesson--has dramatically changed how I view my home school. I am teaching foremost my values: godly character, kindness, respect for others, individuality, sacrifice and a host of other Christlike attributes. Teaching them reading, writing, math, etc. is very important to me but my perspective has been altered. "Mimic me, follow me and I will show you the way a Christlike person acts and what he values". That is the message every parent relays to their children whether they are aware of it or not. Children try to copy everything anyway (our mannerisms, our daily activities, etc.). We must be certain that we are providing a correct pattern for them to copy, not only in our daily activities but in our attitude, our tone of voice, and our facial expression. We need to conduct our lives so that we can say "follow me". If our children are to "buy" our values, what a tremendous responsibility we have to make sure we are living our best so the lesson is clear and well learned! What more could you ask for from your homeschool than to produce Christlike people?!
Teaching your children basically means getting your own personal life in order and striving daily to be the leader for them to follow. Of course, we fall short and they must look to Christ for the perfect being but they need to see daily how one acts, speaks, lives, solves problems. We are acting as a proxy, in a sense, for Christ. Since they can't have his daily role model, then he has given his children parents to be an example, to point the way. Along with lesson preparations, we need to prepare ourselves by asking: is the pattern I live the way Christ would act? Can I say today that I have marked the path for my children to follow? Children learn from seeing their parent's role model. Watching an adult make a simple mistake (such as being too punitive with a child) and go through the process of repenting is 100 times more effective than your devotional lesson on repentance. This means children must be intimately involved with you in your daily life. A few hours a day after school won't do it.
Children should be involved in the adult's life rather than daily life rotating around the children. Research has shown that children who have grown up to be productive well-adjusted adults are those who have been drawn into the parent's world; their daily activities, work, and interests; rather than having parents who centered their world on the child. When I began home schooling, I never could find the time to do the things I felt were important for my life; such as writing in my journal, corresponding with relatives, studying my scriptures, and more. Somehow, in my busy-ness of trying to teach the kids how to write in their journals, I was neglecting my own journal writing. Thankfully, we now have journal writing time in school daily, and we write letters to relatives together as a family on Sunday. Homeschool life should help parents do the daily necessities, rather than usurp the time needed for them. Home maintenance, chores, food preparation, gardening, food preservation, budgeting, clothing care (mending and sewing), planning family social relationships, caring for small children, record keeping, quilting, wallpapering, etc. are all wonderful life skills that can be done together that enhance a child's education!
The parent's joyful task is to lead and guide the child into the real world--not set up a contrived pseudo-world to teach skills that the children would easily learn if they spent their time around adults who were striving to live good lives. What constitutes an adult trying to live a "good life"? Being a productive adult would constitute a full-time curriculum! Plant a garden, read good literature, serve the needy, be politically aware, keep a journal, vote for honest men, develop your talents, etc. The exciting part about leading a child into the real world is that they are self-motivated. The moment I sit down to play the piano, all my children want to play and want me to teach them to play something. No sooner than I begin typing on the computer, I have the whole family "needing" to type. My efforts at writing have, humorous to me, stimulated the production of "books" from my youngest children. Modeling is so much more effective than lecturing.
Studies show that the biggest determining factor for a child's success in reading in school is if they have seen a parent reading in the home on a regular basis. This is especially true for boys if the parent who reads is their father, rather than their mother. Somehow, the example says far more about the value of reading than endless hours in school reading groups.
In every area, it takes instruction to teach skills to little people. Children need to master the basic academic skills (reading, writing, arithmetic), social manners, music competence, and a host of other abilities and that does take focused concentration and time from mother/teacher to accomplish. It isn't realized just by living in a family. But shared family life practices and contributes to those skills. Having taught my little girl the numbers and the plus, minus and equal signs and how they worked, she jumped right into figuring out how many plates she needed to set the table using her new skills: ("We have 9 and the boys are gone to college so that is minus 3, so we need six").
When we think of homeschool, sometimes we get tunnel vision, and think "academics", "keeping up to speed" and other worrisome concerns that don't really tell the whole story. Homeschool is the growing and nurturing of fine, upright people. So, how we treat and value the baby really is the lesson.
Class never dismissed.

—Diane Hopkins


Saturday, September 24, 2011

O Happy Day!

Today's scrappiness. I just happened to pick up a new stack of paper yesterday at AC Moore.....all their packaged paper was 50% off & I absolutely LOVED this Mariposa paper stack by DCWV. I love all the butterflies, birds & bird cages. Oh so yummy! Anyways....I was just itching to scrap today. So once I shooed the guys out the door to go hunting.....today was the Youth Hunt & so Clay took Michael & Jon went along to video.....I put some music on & sat down to scrap! I just love these pics of Ashley & Logan together. They have been friends since they were about 8 or 9 years old. And even though Ashley was homeschooled & Logan went to public school, they kept in touch by writing letters & hanging out at church. Now they are in college together at LU & they both just turned 18 within two weeks of one another.
This was done for a sketch challenge....with more of the same Mariposa papers. Alli took these pictures of Ashley Cates taking pictures of Jon. LOL! The journaling reads: Only in our family.....could we find such joy & entertainment in watching Jon take down Maw's shutters for painting.
A little behind the times, but I just watched Secretariat last night. Such*A*Good*Movie! I had started watching Rango the night before & caught myself dozing off......whether it was that boring or I was just that tired....I don't know. But, not so with Secretariat. I know I fell asleep with the song 'O Happy Day' going through my head. And I have been singing it all day today!

*********************

I have to brag a little on my 'little' girl here. I knew I was going to miss My Ashley-Girl & the help she was around the house. She kept track of whose turn it was to change/clean the litter box & whose turn it was to change/clean the rabbit cage. She let me know when we needed wood chips, kitty litter & all that kind of stuff. Was just wondering how that would all play out once she left for school. Would Alli step up to the plate or would it be a challenge for me to keep track of everything & to remind her what to do & when. Well, I must say she has most certainly stepped up to the task at hand! I haven't had to remind her ONCE since Ashley's been gone to change the litter box or to feed the rabbit. She keeps up with it all. Even down to writing the stuff on the grocery list when we need it. Then Thursday evening when I went upstairs to watch my movie I happened to catch her laying across her bed READING HER HISTORY for the day. All on her own! She said she hadn't been able to do it earlier because Michael was distracting her. I just couldn't believe that she was doing it on her own.....instead of me asking the next day if she had read it & her telling me 'No' & then going through all the moaning & groaning when I told her to get it done! And if all that's not evidence enough that my little girl is growing up.....I came home from town yesterday to a nice clean house with candles burning. It smelled so good. The kitchen was clean....all the dishes done....tea was made & the floor had been swept. Wow! It was like that with Ashley.....somewhere along the way someone flipped a 'light switch' & she became this responsible young lady who was ready & willing to help out around the house. I just never could quite pin-point when this happened. Somewhere around the early teen years, I know. So, I guess we're right on target with Alli now. ;-)

Thursday, September 22, 2011

The New Birthday Bow

I scrapped these pictures today of Michael's new bow that he got for his 14th birthday. It was for a challenge to use circles on your layout. I started off with a circle mask on my background & I inked all the way around it & then removed the paper circle. I then stitched an outline of the masked circle. Fussy-cut the border on the left-hand side. Added my photos, pleated paper, chipboard title & some other little fussy-cut embellies. Lastly, I added my computer-generated journaling. I NEVER do that....I usually prefer to use my own hand-writing, but this time I just copied & pasted from my blog & made it fit the space I had on my layout.

A Peek into my Day

This layout of Ashley's dorm was done for the 'Paula Deen' challenge at Cookin' Up Creations. We were given a list of 'ingredients' that we were to use on our layout. They included: 1 piece of cardstock,3 pieces of patterned paper, die cut or punched shapes for background & mist. I used a doiley for my background masking along with some liquid walnut ink. It doesn't show up very well in the scan, but the misted doiley shape peeks out above & below my main photo.
 
These cards were done for my Martha Stewart challenge......which you can check out HERE. I pulled out my butterfly punch & my stash of paint chips which I've accumulated & began to punch away!
Just a little close-up so you can see the dimension.
And a little sneeky-peek into the inside.....where I added one or two more butterflies.......just for fun!

********************
Yesterday was another one of those busy- from- start- to- finish- with -all- manner- of- SAHM- tasks that seem to keep my days full. The morning included the usual.....quiet coffee time spent browsing my favorite blogs on the computer. Clean up the kitchen & get the laundry started. Kids begin to wake up & trickle downstairs one at a time. Give out school assignments for the day. Head upstairs to the shower. By now it's lunchtime & I need to make a run out to Food Lion to pick up some freezer bags & ice cream......because Mason had given us about half a bushel of peaches the night before & I needed to cut up/freeze the most part of them.....thus the freezer bags. And the icecream......well, it was to go with the peach cobbler I was going to make, of course. Before I left, I remembered I had to put the two chickens in the oven to roast for supper. Back home....clean up the lunch dishes & proceed to whip out these peaches real quick so I can have some scrappy time. (or so I hoped!!) The peaches took longer than I had expected....with a few pauses in between to do this or that for whoever. Finished that just a little before 4pm & thought I just might squeeze in time for one layout before supper.....especially since I already had the chickens  which had been in the oven roasting since noon...I was a step ahead with my supper preparations, right?! About the time I sit down at my scrapping table....here comes Jon needing help with math! Isn't that the way it goes. All thoughts of scrappy time go flying out the window! After helping Jon with his math, I decided to just go sit on the couch for a few minutes & finish the row on my Hexagon Afghan while watching a smidge of NCIS. Suppertime.....clean-up.....fold the clean laundry from the day & change into my comfy pjs then back downstairs to make some yummy Paula Deen peach cobbler for dessert. I must say....that was THE BEST cobbler I think I have EVER made. And Clay even said so too.....as he went back for seconds! LOL I'm definitely tucking her recipe away & WILL be using that one again!! And so there ya have it.......a sneek- peek into a day here at the Bunner House.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Honeycomb Bee-uty

Oh.My.Goodness......I have found another afghan that I'm in love with! I was checking out another one of my favorite crocheting blogs.....Meme Rose when I happened upon this loveliness. She was inspired by the work of Ceitaspasaule  and her version here of the Beekeeper's Quilt.
Below is the beginnings of Meme Rose's version of this amazing afghan. I can't wait to see the finished product!! And I SO want to make one of these too! This would be another awesome scrap-buster-type of pattern. Gosh I'm in the mood to crochet now!

Monday, September 19, 2011

Busy Monday

First of all, I thought I'd play catch-up with posting my most recent layouts. The one above of Ashley was done for a challenge at Cookin' Up Creations. This month's challenges are all about Famous/Infamous/Important Ladies.....real or fictional, it doesn't matter. The above layout was a sketch challenge & it featured Jackie O. We were to create a page about a beautiful/classy lady in our lives. I just couldn't resist scrapping this picture of Ashley snapped right before she moved off to school. This is one beautiful young lady......inside & out!
These are pictures taken at our church's annual 'Back-to-School' pool party that we have each year. The challenge here was to use stitching on our layout. I just used the actual design in the paper as my guide & added some hand-stitching for texture....along with some magic mesh & lots of white paint on the edges & splattered here & there too.
Once a month we choose a random layout from our gallery at Cookin' Up Creations & then surprise the person by having our whole Design Team 'lift' their layout. This was my creation. I loved the shaped background matt & the pleats/scallops along the border of the photos. The kids took these pics of little Edgar one day when they went for a walk.  



**************

Ok, so today was a fairly busy Monday for me. I'm always playing catch-up on the laundry on Mondays it seems. I did three loads today. All folded & put away now too! Ran out to Dollar General to get some more Dayquil & tissues......some of us are getting over this now & others are still coughing/snotting & sneezing! Also made a quick stop at the library. Jon had a book on hold there that he wanted me to pick up. Believe it or not, he's on a reading kick now. On his ipod, he's already read 'Alice in Wonderland' & 'Huckleberry Finn', I believe. If he hasn't already read, Huck...he's planning on it. From the library I got him 'The Bourne Identity'. We've seen all the movies, but he's decided he wants to read the books now. I'm not complaining!! After that, I baked some banana bread using up those two 'rotten' bananas that I had in the fridge. Somewhere in the midst of all this busyness, we got school done AND I was able to scrap one layout while Clay was grilling our chicken for supper. Whew! Just finished a nice cup of coffee along with a piece of banana bread & now methinks I'm ready to head upstairs to read until I fall asleep. Which shouldn't take too long. LOL!

Yum!

Oh my goodness.....I want to make one like this!! I was browsing through some of my favorite blogs this morning & came across this little bit of yumminess here at Fiddlesticks. She found this awesome pattern on Ravelry.....it's called 'Ribbon Afghan' & you can check it out HERE. What a fun way to use up those little tid-bits of yarn in your stash!

Sunday, September 18, 2011

I'm So Thankful!

I have another one of those God stories to share with y'all. I hope Ashley won't mind that I copied her IM conversation with me just a little bit ago.......but it's just too good NOT to share. A little background. Ashley has been LOVING her time at LU......but her English class has really been testing her to say the least. We've battled back & forth about whether or not we should encourage her to drop the class for this semester......it's not just getting accustomed to college life for her....but life in the classroom(taking notes/studying/homework, etc) after being homeschooled all her life. And since she was loving all her other classes, we thought maybe she just needed some time before jumping into a hard class like this one. But for some reason I just didn't have peace about this. As hard as it's been for me to sit back & watch her struggle, I still felt like God wanted her there in that English class. So, I've been praying. I mean REALLY PRAYING. Praying scripture & claiming promises on her behalf. It's almost like I feel like God is teaching ME through all of this. Teaching me better HOW to pray for her & also how to let her go.......to totally release her into HIS care. Because I know He cares about her way more than I ever possibly could & He won't put on her anymore than He knows she can handle. I also realize that SHE needs to know where her strength lies & where to run when she feels overwhelmed. So, anyway....we've been plodding along, doing our best to help her write this first comparison/contrast essay. She has chosen to compare/contrast the differences between a big church like Thomas Road Baptist vs. a small church like our Calvary Chapel.......with her target audience being LU college kids. Leaving Maw's this evening she was debating about whether or not to go to church tonight. She really wanted to, but knew she needed to spend time getting this paper finished. In the end, she decided to go & here's our IM conversation from just a little bit ago AFTER she got back from church:


Pixchic93: Yeah I just got back from churchPixchic93: Oh my gosh!! It was just what I needed!Pixchic93: Like seriously.....I got ideas for my essay from the message tonight
Pixchic93: Yeah I started taking notes and I was just like oh my gosh.....this is just what I need :) God totally meant for me to go to church tonight!
Pixchic93: Here are some of the things that I got tonight.....Pixchic93: The church is meant to connect people with God and people with other people....Pixchic93: ....you can't just attend church and say you are connected with other people
Pixchic93: you need to get involved in smaller groups with other people to connect with them and with God..
Pixchic93: you know like how I was saying TRBC has all of these groups that you can be involved in..
Pixchic93: God meant for people to come to together and worship Him and connect and build relationships...
Pixchic93: Big groups are good but to really connect with others you need to get involved with smaller groups...
Pixchic93: There are preachers who preach and preachers who teach...Pixchic93: You know how we were saying like the old stern pastors that pound on the pulpit and PREACH instead of teach!!Pixchic93: I'm just sooo glad I got all of this stuff.....
Pixchic93: I debated whether I should go to church tonight or not!
Pixchic93: Yeah thanks for helping today and thanks for all of the prayers!!
Pixchic93: It's the power of prayer!!! When you get enough people praying for you...it really is powerful!
LFUNNYFARM: Yes Ma'am!!LFUNNYFARM: Im so glad you KNOW this!LFUNNYFARM: It's an awesome thing!LFUNNYFARM: Now git.......go get it down on paper!Pixchic93: Thanks! I'm learning SO MUCH here at LU and I love it!!!
How awesome, is this! She was so excited.....she said she just HAD to tell me before she headed over to the computer lab to type up her paper & print it. I am SO, SO proud of my girl & the lessons she's learning at LU! Thank you, Jesus!



Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Daily Light -- Sept. 14

I, even I, am He who comforts you. * Blessed be the God & Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies & God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. * As a father pities his children so the Lord pities those who fear Him. * For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust. * As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you. * Cast all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. * You, O Lord, are a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering & abundant in mercy & truth. * He will give you another Helper...the Spirit of truth. * The Spirit....helps in our weaknesses. 

-------------------------

Isaiah 51:12, II Cor. 1: 3-4, Psalms 103:13-14, Isaiah 66:13, I Peter 5:7, Psalms 86:15, John 14: 16-17, Romans 8:26

Getting Back into the Groove

Catching up a bit on some of my scrappy posting. I love these pics that Ashley took of Jon & Alli while taking a walk one day. They can fuss & squabble & carry on, but yet it's moments like these right here that I really love most of all. 'Be ye kind to one another.' Eph.4:32
Just a quick, fun layout of Miss Ashley with this ginormous coffee mug that she found one day at Cracker Barrel. It says 'With enough coffee I can do anything'
This one is kind of blurry because of those little turquoise brads in the flowers.......they are really lumpy & made it scan wonky. Oh well....these are the pictures that I captured the night that Ashley C. surprised Chris at Maw's house. The title reads 'Reunited....& it feels so good!' 
****************

As far as school goes....we're trying to get back into our groove after being off  last week. Finishing up the loose ends from their Labor Day unit, math & Pest Control. Yes, I said PEST CONTROL. LOL! Clay has been studying to take his certification test for work & on Monday he had everyone helping him. Taking turns reading out loud & asking him questions at the end of each chapter. Jon was a huge help here & actually learned quite a bit himself. Clay called me yesterday to say that he had passed his test & is now 'Armed & Dangerous'......so, you pests....you'd better watch out!!  He's dubbed himself  'Leslie, the Exterminator'. Ha!Ha! I told him that I was going to give Jon an 'A+' in Pest Control too since he learned so much himself. Seriously....these books are from Virginia Tech/Virginia Cooperative Extension/General Pest Control & Applying Pesticides Correctly. It's got to fit somewhere in the Science/Biology area, right. ;-) Next week we will be adding some writing activities into the mix. I'm learning right along with Ashley as to what I need to be teaching these guys here at home to better prepare them for college. Poor Chris & Ashley....I feel like they were/are my 'Guinea Pigs' in my Homeschooling. I just pray for them all the time, that God will make up for my short-comings in those areas!!!

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

More pictures from the weekend

Thanks to Ashley C. for all these pictures. Hope y'all don't get too tired of seeing birthday & reunion pics....but these are just too good NOT to share.
Birthday gifts
Jon painted this picture of 'Pride & Prejudice' for Ashley.
Tis good to always have a supply of Starbucks coffee in one's dorm!

Love these pics with the pretty little patio lights!
April's twins playing at the reunion Saturday.
The youngest member of the clan.....little Nathan was just barely over a week old. Isn't he just precious?!
Ashley & her Peaches
Peaches says, 'You canz take me home with you, PLEEZ!'
Wendy....LOL! No, we're not showing him pics of you when you were little!!
David Purvis
I saved the best for last. This has got to be my very favoritest picture from the reunion!! Daddy with little Baby Nathan!! 
'Jesus said, Suffer the little children & forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.' --Matthew 19:14