While we were at the retreat(see previous post) we went to Sunday morning service.  My 22mo. old goes to no one he does not know.  If a stranger even looks at him he’ll pitch a fit.  He’s very attached to us and his some of his aunts and both sides of grandparents. 

Well my 22mo old was sitting in my sil’s lap at service(right in front of me) and he started kicking and cutting up just to get out of her lap and we were perplexed as to why…he stretches his arms out to the man sitting next to my sil for this TOTAL STRANGER to pick him up.  This man was in our ‘group’ and he had been playing with the baby.  We were all floored…I don’t know what the minister was saying at this point.

The baby lays on this man’s chest and was rubbing the man’s chest with his one hand.  The baby’s other hand he held onto my sil’s finger.

He layed on this man’s chest and rubbed this man’s shirt for a few minutes and then he starts to play with the man.  

We figure there was ’spiritual connection’ (shoulder shrug goes here)

Then the baby holds his arms out for me to take him.(note: upon getting my baby back my baby had cigarette smoke smell all over his little hands and shirt. He had grabbe the man’s head and was playing with him like he does with my dh also)..service let out and we went back to the lodge to eat lunch and pack and leave.  On my way to the car this man hugs me tight and says ‘I want to thank you’…long story short…he had been in and out of jail and had substance abuse issues and tobacco-related issues.  He said that he had struggled with God’s love and forgiveness.  When my baby went to him and laid on his chest God confirmed to him that He loved Him and forgave him…thru my baby loving on him…He loved him just as he was..filled with cigarette smoke and God knows whatever else..that God loved him.

I don’t know how to convey the look that was on this man’s face…the look of joy and love and appreciation of what God did for him thru my son.  He had fallen in love with my baby(he kept telling him he loved him-my baby-while he was in my arms mind you)..and even though he kept trying to kiss my baby this man KNEW God was speaking to him thru this little one.

That was such a precious moment for me and dh as we stood in awe at how God used our baby.  Mind you the baby would not go to this man after we left church.  I still stand in awe at the manifestation of the power of God I witnessed with my own eyes.  I know my child and I know he does not go to strangers..but he did for a moment in time…for the moment that God had need of my little baby…to create a moment in the life of someone who needs to know the love of God…to give them a moment in His arms…to give them a moment in His presence…to give someone a Holy moment thru one of my dc is just so awesome to me.  I don’t even really know what to say about it…maybe I should stop here and stop trying to explain it….just let it be what it is…A HOLY MOMENT.

This past weekend my dh and I and children went to a gospel music ‘retreat’ that my sil treated us to.  I don’t know what I expected…I guess I thought we were just going on a vacation. 

Well, we went 1 hr. into the mountains of NY to a Presbyterian Camp.  It had rustic lodging but we stayed in a lodge that had private bathrooms just like a hotel room.  There was a double bed and a single bed and the staff had rolled an extra cot into our room (nice size room) and we had brought the portable crib for the baby.  So each child had their own ‘bed’ and my and dh had the double bed…

This place gave us dinner on Friday eve, 3 meals on Sat. and 2 meals on Sunday…I was in heaven with that…it’s been so long since I have not had to cook regularly.  A portion of this camp had been rented out by some friends of my sil so it was about a crowd of 30-35 people that did everything together. They had activities planned for us and late night and early morning we had singing/devotion service…just singing to the Lord in song and sharing what was on our hearts with one another.

On Sat. morning we made homemade bread.  I made 2 batches b/c after I made one I realized what an ‘educational’ experience that would be for my dd6 so I helped her make one also(and that was logged as school that day).

After we made the bread and let it rise we went to a puppet show.  How wonderful that was for the children.  There were only 4 children out of the whole lot of us and mine were the oldest.  The puppet show was put on my the puppet ministry of a church.  The puppets ministered about salvation and how all have sinned and how Jesus came to save us.  Then after the show my children were so intrigued they went behind the little ’stage’ they had set up and these nice people let my children play with the puppets for as long as they wanted(I had to tell them it was time to go after about 30min).  They showed my dc how to work the puppets and how to do the ‘voice’ and move the mouth at the same time..how to move the hands with the rods that were attached to them.(educational?  I think so)  The puppet staff then shared about how some of the puppets are handmade and then some they bought on ebay. 

But what blessed me was the rain.  Yes it rained the ENTIRE weekend and it was cold(to me), kind of miserable.  We went to a gospel concert at the affiliate church on Sat. night and the presence of the Lord came down in that place like a heavy rain.  I felt like I had gone thru a carwash when I got home b/c my spirit was so refreshed and clean and clear and had been ’soaked’ and saturated with the presence of Almighty God. 

Like I said before I don’t know what I expected but I did not expect that(don’t ask me why)  I think b/c I had gotten so caught up in the busyness of house, teaching children, dh, etc. that I just did not think it would be a time of refreshing for me.

In Sunday morning service the Lord spoke to my heart concerning the physical rain that I had grumbled about earlier that morning.  He told me that the natural rain was a prophetic symbol of what He was doing while we spent that time with Him at the camp.  So for me not be dismayed at the ‘inconvenience’ of the wet cold natural rain….it was needful.  The grass and trees, the earth need the water from the rain…just as our spirits need the rain of the Holy Spirit to pour (not just shower) but to fall heavy(like it was doing outside) on our spirits to wash away the discouragement and the debris left from everyday life.  To give us a new fresh, new, clean start; To cleanse and heal battle scars;  To invigorate and nourish our spirits with the life-giving moisture that we can only find in God.

Oh how my heart received that word…how my heart received the fresh living water from LIFE Himself…and just like u begin to see the leaves bud a little more, they begin to open up and the flowers after the rain lift their head to the sky from where the rain came from and open up to it so my heart just opened up to God.  All I could do was just worship Him after that and let the water flow from my eyes as I realized the Providence, the goodness, the mercy and lovingkindness of God in moving on my sil to pay for our whole family to go and experience this precious, holy time with the lover of my soul….in appointing us THIS time with Him.  He knew I need to be revived and refreshed.

I will never look a rain the same again.  I appreciate the natural rain and the needs it provides and I so appreciate the spiritual rain that washes over my dry places and give them life…

…from now on I say ”let it Rain let it Rain!!!” 

Praise You Lord Jesus!  I give You Glory and Honor and Praise for all that You are and for all that You do. I worship You with everything within me.  I am Yours.  I belong to You.  I serve You and will forever love You!!

love,

deidra

I am way too tired to share all that I want to tonite but I do want to say that we had a swell day…I signed up for Flylady’s email notifications(again) and became a (Homeschool) Flybaby (again)….what a sense of satisfied accomplishment I have as I go to bed because my sink is shining…thanks to Flylady!

Check her out…she just may be a help to you!

A Guide to American Christian Education written by James Rose  addresses how the Principle Approach is applied to education.  This is the part I understand and have fallen in love with this approach to teaching, learning which both comprise homeschooling. :-D  Quoting from ACE guide by J. Rose:

“The Principle Approach is America’s historic Christian method of Biblical reasoning which makes the TRUTHS OF GOD’S WORD the basis of every subject in the school curriculum.” 

That is a summary of a very scholarly approach to teaching the ‘academics’ that our children need to know and it is rooted in biblical principles therefore it is very life-giving.  I’ve never experienced such ministry to my heart outside of a church setting or church-related topic.  In teaching this approach and applying it to ‘academics’ one is edified and built up in the knowledge of God…and this is just in teaching ‘academics’…you will begin to see a more unified view of God and how God relates and is the ‘LIFE’ in every good thing there is on this earth.  He is the reason for EVERY principle that operates on this earth FOR GOOD whether seen or unseen.  All of this cannot be understood merely by the mind it must be revealed to the spirit of man by the Spirit of God…

I Cor. 2:13-15-

And we are setting these truths forth in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the [Holy] Spirit, combining and interpreting spiritual truths with spiritual language [to those who possess the Holy Spirit].

    14But the natural, nonspiritual man does not accept or welcome or admit into his heart the gifts and teachings and revelations of the Spirit of God, for they are folly (meaningless nonsense) to him; and he is incapable of knowing them [of progressively recognizing, understanding, and becoming better acquainted with them] because they are spiritually discerned and estimated and appreciated.

    15But the spiritual man tries all things [he ^[a]examines, investigates, inquires into, questions, and discerns all things], yet is himself to be put on trial and judged by no one [he can read the meaning of everything, but no one can properly discern or appraise or get an insight into him].

Then once the teacher(mom) gets the necessary understanding of the biblical origin and purpose of whatever topic is studied(science, math, history, geography, etc.) then she ministers that knowledge about God and about the principles the make up the world He created(science, arithmetic, grammar) then the child is given that life-giving ‘food’ and nourishment.  How wonderful and awesome is our God!!

Now…

The Principle Approach applied to America’s Christian History and Government is where my trouble spot is.  Although I do see the relationship of educating a child in biblical principles so that they may know how to live a life pleasing unto the Lord.   Once a person learns to ‘govern’ himself(self-government) according to the Word of God he will then influence his surrounding community(local self-gov’t.) and eventually civil government. The bible bears the principle out in this verse..

I Tim 3:1-5

1This is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.

 2A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;

 3Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;

 4One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;

 5(For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)

and also

Titus 1:6-9

If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly.

 7For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre;

 8But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate;

 9Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.

These scriptures show forth the principle that one needs to be submitted to the dictates of God’s Word in their ‘daily’ life(not just Sunday life) and live a life(not for show to others) that is pleasing to God and then he will be able to hold greater and more influential positions in his surrounding community and affect a change for the upbuilding of God’s kingdom.

My question comes in when the statement is made that God wants to restore America to her ‘gospel’ roots or restore her to a time like unto when our founding fathers trusted in and established our gov’t. on the bible.  These men believed in God and while holding the office of President made known the fact that it was God’s providence that brought America, the New Land, into existence.

Maybe it has been my church teaching that says the world is not going to get better evil will wax worse and worse that keeps me from ’seeing’ and believing that God wants to restore America.  I always thought God wants to wrap this thing up so He can rapture the church, deal with the enemy, and come back victorious and glorious ruling and reigning with His bride beside Him.

This is where my search for the truth continues…is anyone else seeking the same truth? or have you attained some answers for yourselves?  If you don’t mind sharing with me some insights that you have from the bible and what God has shown you concerning this topic I would like to hear it them

I just received (a word from the Lord really) some insight into BPA lesson execution that so encourages me.  This has been so freeing to me b/c this is what I had envisioned to do but I did not feel like I was doing BPA ‘right’…but the Lord used this lady and her experience in BPA to encouarage me(unbeknownst to her) and others I’m sure. 

Here is the link to her post…take a gander and be blessed!  Those of you on the bibleprinciples email list have seen this already from Lisa…

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/meandmyhouse/121298/ 

Here is another EXCELLENT article from Marilyn Howshall.  This just echoes my heartbeat about God and what He is showing me about gentle, loving education.  I seek His aid in helping me to accomplish the ‘gentle’ and ‘loving’ part of the education

I’m sharing these articles b/c these thoughts are where God has me right now and are my heartbeat…His Way of doing things…

http://www.homeschooloasis.com/art_the_heart_of_true_educ_and_lol.htm 

I believe I am in a time of refreshing and even re-focusing in our homeschool journey.  This article written by Barb Shelton was like a breath of fresh air and it encouraged my heart.  Many of the things she discusses were a re-confirmation and just made me want to jump up and down and holler AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.homeschooloasis.com/art_refreshing_and_re-focusing_the_hrt_of_the_hser.htm

I believe this article serves as a word to me from the Lord especially the part about being liberated from what public schools do and even think about homeschool(ers)(ing).  I would find myself comparing our day with the public school and we would come up short each time-in my mind that is…how discouraging.  But thru this season of burnout and much discouragement that I felt God allowed me to go that far down so that I could really see what HE defined as education and what was really happening was that He was taking me on a road that was yes different from what public school was about-we did things different and think differently therefore that is why everytime I compared us with them we looked different.  Well, that is how we are supposed to look-that is how God was taking our homeschool.  After I came to the ‘end’ of myself(I had no idea what was wrong with me and had no idea how to make it better or how to get out of this ’stupor’ I was in) did the Lord begin to show me that His definition of education is different than what the world says…that is echoed in this article. 

In her 7 Pillars of Education Barb points out in item #6 she did not find that in the Word but I say it is in there…The ‘dominion mandate’ that God gave Adam and Eve(and to us) to have dominion, subdue, master our environment all to the glory of God will fit in with item #6 and #7.

I encourage you to take the time to read this article.  Barb has many, many articles on her website that just bless me and I’m sure will bless you too.

http://www.homeschooloasis.com/art_refreshing_and_re-focusing_the_hrt_of_the_hser.htm

I guess today is confession day b/c here is another one:  I suffer from the “I DON’T WANT TO’s “….

What is that you may ask?  The I DON’T WANT TO’s are the times when the thoughts come to me “Do math now, or read a story to them, go cook something in the kitchen with them, etc” and I say to myself ” I DON’T WANT TO”  and I usually don’t.  I’d prefer to sleep(b/c I’m exhausted) or try to relax but rest never comes.  Disobeying God does not bring rest or peace.  As a matter of fact, I believe, that continual disobedience or going in your own strength, your own wisdom, and your own way can result in burnout…which is what I’m still coming out of.

So I find I struggle with my flesh many times in the area of keeping our schedule thruout the day.  We do not have a rigid, fixed schedule but rather(as one mom put it) we have a Plan…a loose structure of how things should GENERALLY go. 

Since I”ve decided to resist my flesh for the past 2 days I have had such a wonderful feeling of productivity.  No my house is not ‘perfect’ but it is very presentable and I’m satisfied with it.  One thing that I believe God put on my heart to start emphasizing(I say emphasize b/c we do it but it has not been consistent nor have I spent time on JUST these things alone)in our schedule is Domestic Duty(another name for chores…I feel if u call it a chore that is what it will be…death and life is in the power of the tongue.  I prefer to teach my children that cleaning up their rooms and house is not a chore but a responsiblity and that is what I’m trying to convey in the term Domestic Duty…Duty not being a chore but a duty is a responsibility-I need to 4R this topic!!!!!!!!!) 

The other area to emphasize and do more of is Read-Aloud time.  Since our 4th quarter is winding up I think this is a good time to focus on these two areas and prayerfully that will set the foundation for next year(we start in July.)

So here is a little peek into our last 2 days.

Since I consider Domestic Duty a learning activity( definition of learning activity:  learning to organize, clean, straighten, put things away decently and in order, etc. are all things that need to be learned and become a discipline) then it constitutes school and it is marked as such.

On Monday: 

we had breakfast.  I had my dd6 washed the dishes…for the first time…she seemed to enjoy it and she did a good job.  It helped me tremendously while I cleaned up after my other 2. 

we took care of personal hygiene and cleaned our rooms-made bed neatly(no wrinkles), picked up toys , clothes, trash from floor and put each thing in it’s proper place.  I did my room as they did theirs.

we did Bible Study.  I decided to have us reflect on the meaning of Easter(as the children call it.)  I asked them what is the meaning of Easter and they said CANDY!!  Well, that was a barometric reading for me to let me know we had not communicated the real meaning of the Easter season effectively.  So that is how we spent our bible study time on Monday-discussing Jesus resurrection, what His resurrection means to us, etc.

After bible study I had both my children help me fold 2 loads of laundry.  My 4 yob went AWOL but my 6yog stayed with me and did a fantastic job.  I guess I thought she was too young to fold her clothes.  I could never imagine giving her a bundle of her own clothes and telling her to fold them…I still don’t think she would BUT because she was doing it WITH ME I think that made all the difference in the world to her.  With both of us working we were done in NO time.

Since we wake up late we get a late start, it was about 3pm when we finished the clothes.  We ate a hurried lunch and we had to take 4yob to gymnastics class.  Got home at 6pm

Dinner

Playtime

6yog played 2 games of chess with her father…(he taught her how to play when she was 5) and by then it was beddy bye time.

On today, Tuesday:

breakfast

personal hygiene, clean rooms

bible study-we are studying the ABC’s of salvation-A-All people are sinners, B-The Bible is God’s word of love and salvation…..These ABC’s are on the inside cover of dd bible so I am going thru these and we discuss them…not too much notebooking on them…I’ll come to that eventually.. we did B today and we read the story of Jesus birth and Him teaching in the temple…had behavior issues so we did not finish the 2nd story.

Ate lunch

dd6 played tic-tac-toe with dad before he went to work

dd6 played 1 game of chess with mom

Math- we did oral lesson 7….Ray’s is more comprehensive than I thought.  This lesson took a little time for us to do but I love the methodology!!

Made brownies-taught children how to read recipe and reviewed what 1/4, 1/2 means, taught them how to measure and they helped me cook spaghetti for dinner.  All was done by 3pm today…hence the many postings on this blog.

I share this b/c this is such an improvement over what we have been going thru.  My mood is better and I feel like we are being productive…learning and education is happening just not in the ‘way’ education is defined by the world.  I’m not totally exhausted and my spirits are up..not beaten down…Thank You Jesus!!!  I keep feeling like I’ve been thru some type of sickness or surgery and I’m on the mend…any overexertion will push me back into ‘it’, you know what I mean?  So I am careful now to hear God and to OBEY Him when He speaks….

Burnout is a terrible thing to go thru and I think I had it bad.  I felt like my whole schedule and homeschool had fallen apart and was hanging on by a thread.  I had no motivation to be creative and it seemed like a bucket of water had been poured on my fire.  But I’m drying off now.  I will continue to share our progress.

I have another blog on HSB called www.homeschoolblogger.com/lovinghim4ever.  It mirrors this blog…I keep them both the same(for the most part.  This entry is not on my old blog.) I was reluctant to get rid of the first one…I did not know why…now I do

Because the editor on my old blog gives me more functionality than this one right now.  Sorry Andrea!!  I can get my smilies and insert a link and change the background color and size, style, and color of font here.  So I type up my entries over there and cut and paste them over here….

But let me quick to say that I am fully confident that once this support team on homeschooljournal.net work out the kinks and things that this editor is going to be THE BOMB!!!!!!!!

All kidding aside I am happy here…I love my blog template…and I’m so appreciative of the hard work that I’m SURE must go into supporting this venture!!!  Kudos to our support team here!!!!

I have a confession to make.  I did not study the lessons that Brenda shared with the SDS group but I’m logging this under my SDS study for this week; you will see why a little later  

It seemed as if my time just ‘got away’ from me this week…BUT as I did my own 4R to construct my own bible study lessons the first word I researched in the scriptures was WORD..meaning THE WORD OF GOD or THE WORD OF TRUTH…JESUS IS THE WORD.

I got very blessed by my 4R of this topic.  This is not all I came up with but this is just what stood out to me…

Psalm 119:25 - My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word.

That says to me that the Word of the Lord, written or spoken, has life in it.

Matt 4:4 - But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God

That says to me that every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God has life in it enough to sustain us and is NECESSARY to live this life…bread alone won’t do it.

Prov. 4: 20-22 - My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.

 Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart.

 For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.

Then it hit me…The word of God doesn’t just have LIFE IN it…IT IS LIFE!!  It doesn’t just give life…it’s very essence and being is life. 

I think about the health experts who tells us to eat food that is alive, has life in it like veggies, plants, herbs, etc.  Well the Word of God goes a step beyond just having life in it, it IS LIFE.

This is proven by

Heb 4:12(Amp) - For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the ^[a]breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart.

How does this connect with SDS study?…Heb. 4:12 was in our lesson this week for us to break down and do a 4R on (I think- I don’t remember although I read thru the lesson I did not do it on the day assigned…but I did do it unbeknownst to me)

Anyway, this is such a powerful truth for us to keep in mind - that the Word of God is alive…it doesn’t just have life in it…it IS LIFE!!!!!

What is also precious to me is that the bible tells how the Word that God spoke (and had written down) is precious to Him.  He does not take lightly what He has said.  If He said it He will do it!!!  He did not just speak (or have men write by the Holy Ghost) just for the sake of speaking…He had purpose for His words and He had a purpose for speaking what He did speak.  How many times have I spoken frivolous words or went back on a word I gave?

God is not like that.  It says so in Psalm 105:8 - He is [earnestly] mindful of His covenant and forever it is imprinted on His heart, the word which He commanded and established to a thousand generations

God so esteems and has bound Himself by His own word that the bible says this in Psalm 138:2 - I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.

God has made us promises that He means to keep and perform in our lives..I believe He soooooooooo wants to bless us with all that He has(not just materially, with even the thoughts and desires of HIS heart..how precious are HIS own thoughts to HIMSELF?  How much do we esteem His thoughts?  to desire to know His heart about whatever but especially about how to go about homeschooling the children He gave us?)

II Chronicles 16:9 - For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.

He is looking for those whom He can bless…who will receive what He has to give…who is able to receive it what He has the way He wants to give it…those who don’t put Him in a box…

I sure want to be a candidate for His blessing of His wisdom and knowledge in insight!!!!!

The last point I want to make is the scripture found in Psalm 103:20 -  Bless the LORD, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word

A question popped into my mind as I turned to write down the next scripture…It was ‘how does the Word of God have a voice?’ Answer:  WHEN WE SPEAK IT!!!

What a powerful principle!!  When we speak the Word of God, or speak what God has said, we are speaking LIFE!!  Life to our situations, to our lives, our bodies, our children.  I believe we activate angels to assignments when we speak the the Word of LIFE and give it VOICE!  Put LIFE  into the atmosphere and KEEP putting the Word of God into and over whatever situation needs to be changed to align itself with God’s will and we will see change.  Life begets life not death and death does not beget life….only life begets life so I challenge myself to start speaking life…not that I speak death, I just don’t speak the word of God as often as I think I should.

So that is what I learned this week from the SDS study(by no intention of my own but) by God’s providence.  He kept me on course after all!!

Isn’t He marvelous?