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Showing posts from May, 2010

Memorial Day Musings

I started pondering Memorial Day last night when a Facebook friend posted a link to the Lee Greenwood Song "God Bless the USA" This song stirs up many emotions inside of me. Last night was no exception and as usual, the song moved me to tears. I thought of the fact that both of my grandfathers served during World War 2. I thought of my father who served in the Army during the Korean War. I thought of my uncles, especially my Uncle Wayne who went to Vietnam. I even thought of my cousins who have served in the military. I thought of my husband who served in the Army National Guard during Desert Storm thought his unit was never called to active duty and thought of my friends who did serve active duty during that time and I thought of my husband and all the soldiers I knew who served during the recent Gulf War and who continue to serve in dangerous places to ensure freedom. I did not like having my husband "playing in the big sandbox" when a war was going on eve

What a week!!

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It has been a long and busy week. Since Sunday is the first day of the week, I'll include Sunday's activities in my list. The weekly schedule included a special vespers with kneeling prayers following Divine Liturgy, Altar Feast for Spirit Monday followed by a luncheon, Bible Study, Physical Therapy for Supergirl, seeing a friend perform in a school play, playing piano for the local nursing home and our weekly piano lessons. Are you tired just reading that? And that doesn't include home school lessons, housework and meals!! But God knows just what I need and just when I need it. Just as I begin to think I don't have it in me I see this: This is the new Byzantine Cross we hung above our bed this week. The top bar is where the title "King of the Jews" would have been. The diagonal bar at the bottom is the foot board. This is the board the crucified person would have used to push himself up to relieve the pressure. When I look at the cross, I am r

Chocolate Math

A very dear friend of mine sent me this fun little "math joke". Your Age By Chocolate Math DON'T CHEAT BY SCROLLING DOWN FIRST! It takes less than a minute . Work this out as you read . Be sure you don't read the bottom until you've worked it out! This is not one of those waste of time things, it's fun. 1. First of all, pick the number of times a week that you would like to have chocolate (more than once but less than 10) 2. Multiply this number by 2 (just to be bold) 3. Add 5 4. Multiply it by 50 -- I'll wait while you get the calculator 5. If you have already had your birthday this year add 1760. If you haven't, add 1759. 6. Now subtract the four digit year that you were born. You should have a three digit number The first digit of this was your original number (i.e., how many times you want to have chocolate each week). The next two numbers are YOUR AGE! RosieBear asked me how does it work? Or rather why does it work. So I did some i

The unsurmountable pile of laundry

Once upon a not that long time ago, I had a laundry system that worked for me. I didn't have to worry about conquering Mount Washmore because it was only a mole hill and I refused to make a mountain out of a mole hill. It was a very simple laundry system. Each day I would do 1-2 loads of laundry and I would fold each load *as it came out of the dryer*. Sometimes I would start a load at bedtime, transfer the load in the morning and start my second load. My sorting system was very simplistic. I had two sets of two hanging mesh bags. In one set were the clothes: one bag for colors, one bag for whites and very light colored clothes. In the other set I had a bag for towels and another for sheets. All clothes were washed in cold water. All sheets and towels in warm water. I redefined what "caught up" on laundry meant for me and this was one area that I had completely conquered. I ruled over the laundry; it did not rule over me. Whatever bag held a full load of

TOS Review Crew

I am so excited! I get to be a part of The Old Schoolhouse Homechool Crew for the 2010-2011 year. As part of the Crew, I will have the opportunity to review different products. The current year is winding down and the new year will begin in July. I don't know what this year will bring, but I believe God's hand is all over this opportunity. TOS solicited applications earlier in the spring. Although my dear friend Debra encouraged me to apply, I just did not have peace at that time. I really struggled with whether or not I should apply, but life was so overwhelming and I choose not to apply. Fast forward several weeks to early last week and I was praying about our home school. I even thought "it's too bad I didn't apply to the Crew". Meanwhile, I also felt the "it's time" pull to return to my blog and start blogging again. Coincidence? I thought so at first, but then my friend Debra posted (with permission) a request from TOS for bl

Revenge of the stinging creatures?

I don't know if it's some strange sense of cosmic irony or just a mere coincidence but yesterday a wasp decided that my BooBooBear was the enemy. Boo was happily playing "Waterballoon Toss" with her friends and sisters when she felt something in her skirt. She wasn't even sure at first if it was a bee sting or just an insect bite of some kind but looking at it we determined it really was a sting. We weren't sure *what* stung her though but our wonderful friend Kim grabbed some baking soda and made a paste. But here is the amazing thing: It was *still* in her skirt! We didn't know it was there. She stood up and it fell out of her skirt. I think it is a miracle that it didn't sting her again! And she said it didn't hurt that bad. It was a very mild reaction. Ok.. can I be done now with stinging things? In my van? Up my daughter's skirt? I thought they were supposed to pollinate flowers?

My van is a magnet for Cling Ons

That is the kind of stinging creepy crawly insect variety that seem unusually attracted to my van. A week ago, during piano lesson time, I took super girl to McDonalds. I thought I was being really smart with my parking choice. This time, I parked in the handicapped spot (Supergirl has Blue Handicap Placard). It's a little farther from the door but the last 3 times I parked closer to the door I ended up blocked by a delivery truck! So, I'm a little slow at this parking spot planning idea but by last week, I had learned my lesson. I didn't really pay attention to the fact that next to this particular spot is tree. Not just any tree though. A tree in bloom. After she ate her chicken nuggets, and refilled my Dr. Pepper, we headed out to the van. To my *horror* there were not one, not two, not even three but FOUR, yes FOUR wasps who had decided that my van was the place to hang out. One decided the door on driver side was the perfect place. Two more thought the driver

Boy is my life different: an update of sorts

I haven't been keeping up with my blog and here we are nearly halfway through the New Year. My life and views have radically and dramatically changed since I started this blog but yet I am the same person, loving and serving the same Lord; I just look at life from a different angle now. Oh some things are still the same. Our faith is still the grounding and centering of our lives. I still believe that my husband is head of the household. We still have four beautiful daughters and we are still committed to home education. But some things are different. We pray more regularly as a family. We have more peace and contentment. We are more actively involved with our church. So what brought about this change? In my last post from last September, I mentioned that we were striving to answer the question "What do we believe and why do we believe it?" As we began to study early church history, our paradigm began to shift. We left our old church and began to experience