We just returned from a week visiting in Texas. It was great to spend time with friends and family.

We began the trip 16 hours straight through to our friend's Gus and Debbie. Debbie and I scrapbooked Saturday -she has a once a month group that gets together. We started around 12:00 and ended at 11:00. Gus, Gary and the kids fished a little.

Sunday we slept in, watched football and worked on our scrapbooks a little.

Monday Gus and Gay went fishing. The kids and I hung out and I washed clothes. Later I went to Hobby Lobby for some scrapbook items. Then we went out to eat that night.

Tuesday we went to Austin with Taylor and Jessica. We went shopping at Barton Creek Mall.

Tuesday night we headed to Aunt Lanna's. We stopped by to see Nana on our way.

Wednesday we rested some, visited with Gary's mom and Dad a little.

Wednesday night we spent with my family-Nana and PawPaw.

Thursday we spent with Gary's family-and watched the Titans win! Yeah, Dallas win! Yeah again and the Longhorns win! Triple Yeah!

Friday we spent with my family again. We got to see my brother and his family.

Friday night we left and drove to Texarkana and spent the night. We left early Saturday morning and returned home.

Sunday we spent washing clothes and putting up some Christmas decorations.

It has been a very busy 10 days...(And this week doesn't offer much down time either.)

Here are the jeans. We cut slits in the sides and front and back. (About 5 -6 inch slits.) Making a total of 4.

I used 2 different materials. SInce my friend Lisa had left over materials from her skits. They matched great with the Mary Engelbright fabric as a coordinate.

I just glued the fabric into the triangle. (You spread it a little b/c you want a flare.)

Then I cut off the bottom to make it even with the jean hem.

We also use a little liquid stitch on the ends so the fabric doesn't fray. Here you can see them completed.

Close up of back pockets. I just cut material out from scraps and glued them on. 

 Close up of the bell bottom.

Once a month some of us moms try to get together and work on crafts. We usually scrapbook or make cards. But Leah who is very crafty, came over to show us how to make these no sew bell bottoms and skirts.

I began with a pair of pants that were too short for dd. I cut off the bottoms, making it the desired length for the skirt.

Then I cut on the front and back seams. We cut up partially on the side seams.

Well this poncho came after hours of work and ripping out what I had made twice....I only had two skeins of yarn and wanted to make a poncho for my dd's friend. Her birthday is coming up soon and I thought it would be a nice gift.

I tried to knit the two colors together but could not make it large enough.

So I decided to knit squares. I knit the sqares 6x6. Some I added in other colors in order to stretch the yarn I had.

Then I tried sewing them together but it looked dumb and you could see that I had tried to sew them together. So I crocheted a border around each square. Now the squares are about 7X7.

Then I laid the panels out like this to see how I wanted to arrange it.

 Then I sewed it up, this time not quite as noticeable since I sewed with white yarn.

Then I added some yarn and fibers and buttons for embellishments. This is the Front.

This is the back. (But I made it so it really doesn't matter if she puts in on backwards or not.)

Here it is modeled with DD sitting.

The girl it was made for is taller and has longer arms.

So it will be a better fit on her.

  Here is the other side.

This is my third poncho.

I am working on one for me now...

Nana and Papa sent DD a Build A Bear Workshop gift card for her birthday.

She also got some money from Granny and she saved some of her own money.

Here is what she got. 

 An Angel Outfit

Skates, pads and a helmet for Danci.

Now she just needs to learn how to skate.

Thanks Nana, Papa and Granny!

These are pictures of our Magic Tree House Notebook. For every book we read we add activity pages to it.

 The Outside Cover we made..Just a regular folder with brads and pockets.

This is the passport you can get on the MTH site.

You get a passport sticker every time you answer questions

about the book.

On left, I have highlighted the books we have read.

On right an activity page from MTH site.

Some of our own work and an activity page.

Our own work and another related page from the internet.

MIdnight on the Moon Drawing by ds.

Well I must admit I like it much better on him. It is called a boatneck sweater and is supposed to be for beginners. My friend Leah, is the one teaching me to knit..SHe helped me add the ribbing to the bottom.

I was pretty disappointed with the way it looked when I finished. The sleeves are really too small for the sweater. But It looks pretty good on him and you cannot really tell it.

So anyway he will have a nice fishing sweater to keep him warm this fall. That is-if he gets a chance to fish, before it gets too cold Maybe I can redo the sleeves, because the sweater is definitely long enough to last him a year or two.

I think I might try a vest next!

If you are a Christian in America, you have probably heard of the Rapture teaching.

Many Christians believe this teaching. Many just have not taken the time to really study and find out about this teaching. I, myself for many years pretty much held to the rapture bellief. Hoping that the pretrib view was correct, but really being unsure in my convictions.

The reason I accepted it for so long was mainly because that is what I was taught. That is what I heard the prominent ministers saying. Why almost every TV evangelist today preaches this message.  I just figured that these other men who spent so much time in the BIble must be right and know more than I. Perhaps they could interpret scripture better than I.

But I must admit, when reading Revelations especially and other books I kept seeing so many holes in the doctrine. In fact if you had never heard of the Rapture theory, you would not be able to come up with it for yourself by just reading your Bible.

There is an old saying "When the student is ready...The teacher will appear." Well I began searching for myself. And I began to see that there were other views about this theory I had not known before.

One of the biggest truths I found out about this teaching is where it began.  The rapture theory came from a 15 year old girl who fell into a trance.  (She was not under the covering of a local church.) Basically due to her vision, some men greedy for gain, began preaching a new message and Jesus coming in 2 parts.

Now today those thoughts and ideas have been added to many of our Bibles in notes.

Hmm Sounds similar to a teaching from Joseph Smith-saying the Angel Moroni appeared to him. Thus today we have Mormonism and a whole new book in addition to the BIble.

At anyrate-I am not trying to persude you. But I really do believe that as Christians we should study for ourselves to be approved. Get a variety of books on the subject, for and against the teaching.

But mostly pray to God for His insight into the teachings

I think as a Christian we should look at other views and not just take to a belief because it is what our church etc. has taught.

Did you know that the early church did not believe in the rapture. They believed Rome was the Beast.

So why is it that the early church has to go through the tribulation, but we American's get to escape it with a rapture? (I guess God likes us more.) Ridiculous! I wonder what they would think of our rapture teaching.

Another note. This is predominantly an American held belief. If you encounter other Christians around the world they don't have this teaching. (I guess they just are not enlightened enough.) I am being sarcastic here...

How long will we hold to the traditions of men?

(Just a little disclaimer here-I have not read all these articles thoroughly, and I don't believe everything I see in print.) So there may be some content that is infallible. I don't know there view on everything here. But the history is there-where the teaching came from and how it got into our Bibles etc.

But as Mary did, I ponder these things in my heart and then ask the Truth giver to show me the truth.) For it is He, Jesus that I put my trust in.

Luke 11:9  "So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

http://www.light-n-life.com/newsletters/09-12-2005.htm 

http://www.angelfire.com/mi/Malkaynu/rapture.html 

http://www.askelm.com/doctrine/d760201.htm

http://www.reformedonline.com/view/reformedonline/rapture.htm

And for the topic of a third temple...

Well here is some reading.

http://joeland7.blogspot.com/2007/10/third-jerusalem-temple-dome-and-rock-of.html

My hope here is that you don't just jump on a bandwagon without carefully knowing why you believe what you believe.

For Dd's birthday we had a sleepover party. We set up a tent for all of us to camp in. (In the back yard.)
I made this sleepover cake. Using twinkies as the bodies. White icing under part, pink for the blanket and yellow for the bed ruffle. Then we added a marshmallow for each pillow. The girls all got a vanilla wafer, iced it and decorated the face with candy. Then they added skittles. stars and sprinkles to their body to decorate their part of the blanket.
After the decorating, we roasted weiners, and had hot dogs and chili and capri sun. Then we added candles to the cake, sang Happy Birthday and opened the gifts. We ate some cake and roasted marshmallows for smores.
Then we went in and played with Dance Praise on the dance mat. Each girl took a turn. It was a big hit.
Then we went and sang by the fire for a few mintues.

Around 10:30 we got ready for bed.

It was pretty cold that night, and I am writing this as a reminder. (No more outside camping when it is 42 degrees.)  Next time we will stay indoors in November.

The next morning we made a fire in the fireplace inside and warmed up. We had a good breakfast before the girls left.

But we really did have a great time and it was a great party.  2 moms stayed too, so the grownups got a little companionship as well.

My son has decided to sell his Imaginext Dinosaurs and T-Rex Mountain.
(He does not play with them anymore.)

They are all in excellent condition and he is offering them below 1/2
the retail price.

You can see the detail here on his blog.

www.homeschoolblogger.com/gaminguru

Please leave a comment with contact info or email us if interested.

Blessings
Michellel

I got this idea off Crayola.com (They have a video that shows how to do it.)

So I told the kids I wanted them to design a triarama about something we have been learning about.

 Here is DD's. It is about the daily life of Indians.

The front picture is of a canoe and a boy and dad Indian fishing.

With the dog on the beach.

Ds's is about the Indians having to move often when the white men came.

It is a snow scene of them leaving camp and moving on.

We took pictures out of books by copying them onto cardstock and making

backs to hold them up.

Hopefully next time, we can get a little more creative with color, etc.

Ds' wasn't into it and did not want to do it. (Thus the snow scene kept him from having to color, etc.)

Selling MAC"S!  I wish I had bought a MAC!

I installed the Vista Update Service Pack about a week ago.

They send you a notice telling you they have an update available.

I was thinking "Great, maybe now all these crazy problems will be solved."  Well they are, because within 1 week of that download my computer did a crash dump.

Now it boots up into windows, then crashes and reboots up again.

(Over and over).

So dh took it to one of his friends at work. (A tech guy).

And he says he will fix it by dumping Vista and putting on XP.

So if you don't hear from me much over the next few days it is b/c I am using dh's laptop. (Uh and I have a ton of stuff to do with DD's birthday slumber party coming up.)

Don't participate in the things these people do. For though your hearts were once full of darkness, now you are full of light from the Lord, and your behavior should show it! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.

Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in (have no fellowship with)  the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, rebuke and expose them. It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. (NLT)

The word fellowship derives from the Greek “koinonia” which means, literally, “commonness.”  Those who follow the Lord should have no commonness with the unfruitful works of darkness.  Halloween is filled with darkness.  Dark, evil, wicked occultist practices makes Halloween Halloween.  The Bible specifically commands us to avoid every kind of evil (1 Thessalonians 5:22).  How could we possibly, knowing the Bible condemns the practices and ideas of Halloween as intrinsically anti-Christian, partake in such a day?