Nov. 22, 2008 - Sick But Thankful
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I'm still battling this mystery illness in spite of being on antibiotics. For this reason I'll start with being thankful for a friend who had us all over to dinner. With my dh being gone, it really means a lot to have company and with being so tired, having dinner made for us was a huge blessing. Of course, my dear son peed his pants and left an unknown puddle that others walked in with socks on; Willow cried numerous times; and Rose left her epi-pens there. With my horrendous cough I'm sure we were not the sunniest visitors ever. But this friend is gracious and kind so hopefully she had a nice time with us anyway!
1. I'm thankful Rose enjoyed the movie this morning without any fuss.
2. I'm thankful Willow ate all her dinner tonight and then some, and said thank you.
3. I'm thankful Forest went to bed without much trouble because I'm too weak to deal with a big drawn out bedtime.
Nov. 22, 2008 - Moving
While I may come and visit here from time to time, I'm finding that my writing ministry is leaving me with little time for multiple websites. So...I'll be sending some of you invitations to my writing website and if you wish, you can join me there.
On another note, two of my three daughters will be hometeaching:) My third isn't married yet but intends to homeschool when the time comes. What a great compliment to God's ministry within our home. Blessings.
Nov. 21, 2008 - Want to Be Notified?
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I've just found the cool feature that lets me put the same little blurb at the top of each of my posts. How cool is that?
Nov. 21, 2008 - Thankfulness Today
I'm thankful Rose enjoys listening to me read aloud so much. It is nice to be able to count on at least one captive audience member.
I'm thankful Willow enjoys putting on dances for us, and that she said she missed Forest being a part of tonights dance since he is already sleeping.
I'm thankful Forest went to bed with no fussing tonight and that he was pleasant all afternoon even though he did not get a nap.
I'm thankful for my home being layed out as it is. I enjoy that the downstairs feels like a private get-a-way after a long day or week.
I'm thankful my husband never complains about having to work , and that he is the type of man that believes it is his responsibility to provide for his family.
"Lord, thank you for loving me and setting me free. Thank you for this family You've given me for however long You allow. Please help me to learn from the trials that come through our door and give me words of grace and wisdom to share with those who cross my path and are struggling. Please use our family to show others Your love in the big and small ways. And most of all, please forgive me for the times I fail You and am a hypocrite or prideful or selfish. You are so good to us and I am asking you to provide for us and watch over us. Please heal me of this sickness that just won't go away. In Jesus Christ's name I pray, Amen."
Nov. 21, 2008 - Hands On Learning
Any of you who have been following our family time in Hendersonville NC know that one day was filled with a trip to Hands On Children's Gallery in downtown Hendersonville. It was so much fun. The kids got to practice being doctors and lawyers and such.
A crowd favorite was the stage, complete with high drama curtain and clothes to dress up in. Baby girl had quite a few costume changes.
One
Two
Three
Big Brother was her wardrobe assistant and dance partner
While son #3 was entertained by son #2 with a puppet show
Then we moved onto shopping at the grocery store
Then we were off to the Ambulatory Medical Center for a little doctoring...
I'm wondering if this might be a mother's dream? All her kids in white doctor's coats....
Good thing dummies can't file malpractice suits because the one they doctored up got treated for all kinds of things that day!
Have a great weekend....
Nov. 21, 2008 - Friendship Friday
I did this once, several months back and never got around to doing it again. Mainly because most of the blogs were inactive and then I lost my "linked friends". LOL
I thought I'd give it another try and see how long I can keep it going.
I often visit other people's blogs but don't leave a comment. My goal with my Friendship Friday is to visit 4 blogs, leave comments and then share those blogs here with you all.
My first blog I visited today is from someone I know in real life! Kim and I met years ago when her oldest, now 9, was just a wee little baby. I have a picture of them in my backyard from a Welcome Tea I hosted, only I won't post the picture because I don't think Kim would like it. It wasn't taken of them, but of the general setting. The picture consists of her husbands profile, a glimpse of the little one and Kim's backside. LOL Kim's latest entry is videos of her kids in their tae kwon do tournament. You should go check it out, they did a great job! Love to Learn
The next blog I visited was Candace at His Mercy is New. Candace is one of the many women I've "met" through the Five in a Row boards. Her blog is full of things they do throughout their school day as well as things on her heart. She has a beautiful family.
I next journeyed over to my pal Kristina's blog at, My Family Life Rocks. We met on the FIAR boards as well, and through this last year I've gotten to know Kristina better. She is a beautiful woman, inside and out, with a beautiful family. Kristina is a runner and inspires me with her dedication and talent. (I've never been a distant runner, only a sprinter ;-) ). Kristina blogs about all sorts of stuff, cute pictures of her kids to video's of her pastors sermons.
I then journeyed over to Lynn at A Mother's Journal, and what a journey it was. Lynn's blog is a wonderful peaceful oasis in the busy wide world web. She loves nature and has oodles of pictures of her gardens and their nature projects. Everything about her blog oozes peace and tranquility. Lynn is someone that I also "met" on the FIAR boards, but got to know a little bit better when we were both part of a round robin letter exchange. She is someone I long to meet in person one day. She exudes such a calm demeanor, I'd love to soak some of that up along with her knowledge of herbs and flowers. :)
Well, that's four blogs, enough for today! After visiting Lynn's, I'm inspired to go on a nature walk with my munchkins. The weather is perfect, 77. Cool w/ a slight breeze but lots and lots of sun! First, I need to go leave a comment on Lynn's blog, I forgot. Old habits die hard. ;-)
I hope you've enjoyed journeying through some new blogs today. Maybe they are new ones, old ones revisited, either way, an encouragement to you today. Also, I hope I've inspired you to leave some comments along your blogging travels today. :-)
Nov. 20, 2008 - What I Love About My Family
Rose (7yo) and I have started something new this week, keeping a notebook in the center of the table where each day we write one thing we are thankful for. It has been helpful for obvious reasons; she is very similar to her Momma.
Being inspired by an old friend's daughter who is relatively newly married with just one sweet daughter (so far), I've decided to also do a thankfulness activity about my children. She is doing this toward her home and her husband, something else I could do later! Her parent's taught her well.
- I'm thankful Rose is able to help around the house when I am not feeling well.
- I'm thankful Willow is loving toward her brother during playtime.
- I'm thankful Forest gets excited to have one of his sisters help him pick out his pajamas at night. It's a little game he's made up by himself where he asks each of them on different nights if they want to please help him pick out his pj's.
Nov. 19, 2008 - Hendersonville Park
After the fun we had on Veteran's Day downtown we sought out a local park. It was a huge complex filled with baseball fields, bike trails, swing sets, and fields of fall colored grass.
We found a great spot to throw football and play on a couple swing sets. After playing for a while I took out the camera to try and catch a Christmas Card shot. Beforehand though I was amazed at what a huge field we had and my boys stayed in a 20 foot radius doing this!
After watching his brothers #3 son jumped in...
BOYS!!!
But baby girl was not to be outdone.
"Look what I can do mommy!"
See the boys in the background? This was just before the third one joined in all the wrestling!
Resting in HIM,
Nov. 19, 2008 - FALL BOOKS
With the days finally getting cooler (except for this week, but we won't talk about our 89 degree weather!!! 
) , I've pulled back a little on the schooling to let the kids have some free time outside. We've still been plugging away at our normal studies, only about half time though. We've added in some fun read alouds both from our public library and our home library.
Here are some of the books we've been reading:
Thanksgiving at the Tappletons' by Eileen Spinelli
Don't Eat too Much Turkey by Miriam Hoban
The Memory Cupboard by Charlotte Herman
Thanksgiving is Here by Diane Goode
Thanks for Thanksgiving by Julie Markes
Thelonius Turkey Lives! by Lynn Rowe Reed
Beauty and the Beaks a Turkey's Cautionary Tale by Mary Jane and Herm Auch
A Thanksgiving Wish by Michael Rosen
Turk and Runt by Lisa Wheeler
Fall Changes by Ellen B. Senisi
The Very First Thanksgiving Day by Rhonda Gowler Greene
The Thanksgiving Visitor by Truman Capote
Apples by Gail Gibbons
One Fall Day by Molly Bang
An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving by Louisa May Alcott
Thanksgiving is... by Gail Gibbons
Silly Tilly's Thanksgiving Dinner by Lillian Hoban
The Thanksgiving Door by Debby Atwell
Apple Picking Time by Michele Benoit Slawson
The Pilgrims' First Thanksgiving by Ann McGovern
When Autumn Comes by Robert Maass
The Thanksgiving Story by Alice Dalgliesh
A Turkey for Thanksgiving by Eve Bunting
It's a Family Thanksgiving! by Deborah F. Fink
Possum's Harvest Moon by Anne Hunter
If You Sailed on the Mayflower in 1620 by Ann McGovern
If You Were at...The First Thanksgiving by Anne Kamma
County Fair (my first little house books) by Laura Ingalls Wilder
What have you been doing to make fall extra special? Are you all tucked in for the cool weather or are you like us desert dwellers just breaking out of our summer hibernation?
Our years spent in Ohio made me appreciate many things. One was the changing of seasons. Fall was by far my most favorite. I loved the crisp cool air, the beautiful changing leaves and an overall anticipation of change in the air. Fires burning, piles of leaves to jump in, family and friends gathered together for hayrides and bonfires, all in preparation for hunkering down for the cold months ahead. Those times definitely kept you going through the long bleak winters where, come March, the anticipation of Spring was on everyones minds. It's harder to find the same feeling here in the desert, but it's there, if you look hard enough and ignore the near 90* temperatures! 
Over the next week or so I'm going to take my kids out in search of fall in our neighborhood. There are some trees that turn colors, although most have probably already peaked (peaking lasts about a day around here LOL). Other trees are budding and blooming thriving in the cooler weather. One big change is the citrus ripening. We've already picked some lemons from our tree. By Christmas the tree is in it's full yellow glory. Maybe that tree would be a good place to start for the kids to note the changes in their nature journals.
Enjoy your fall weather, while it lasts, wherever you live!
Nov. 19, 2008 - How Much is Perspective?
I've been thinking about how much of our happiness depends on our perspective, particularly as it pertains to our opinion of our marriage and home life. We wives can find ourselves questioning so many things: does he really love me; does he really like me; does he see how hard I work; does he mean it when he says I'm doing a good job with the children (especially if we home educate!); am I beautiful to him; am I a good mother? If we've weathered storms in our marriages, and let's face it, who hasn't at one point or another (if you haven't just give it time, but God is faithful to see you through!), we may revert to thinking of truths from the past and applying them to the present, valid or not.
Sometimes we wives differ in what we think about all of the above regardless of what our husbands say or do. Herein lies the problem. We are then faced with two choices: keep believing what we have convinced ourselves of or change our thoughts to match those of our husbands. It has occurred to me that sometimes we can choose to be more unhappy, filtering what our men say so suite ourselves, even if it means looking upon ourselves negatively (some of us are more comfortable with that).
It can be hard to write about a topic like this in generalities, and I hope my heart is coming across. Psychologists would tell us how we feel is our reality, but you know, I think reality can be very subjective since it is based on each person's perspective. So, why then is it so wrong to adjust our thoughts to line up with our husbands, so long as we aren't talking about abusive situations or blatant sin? That is not something we should convince ourselves is ok. If we are using the only true measure for our reality marker, we will avoid doing that.
My point is this, sometimes it is in the best interest of all involved for us to choose the highest common denominator of thought, not the lowest.
Here is an example for homeschoolers. A lady may have a husband who says how easy she has it as a wife. A first thought is to be highly insulted, sure he has no idea how hard she works, thinking she has the life of luxury even! My first question is this, why do we think he needs to say we have it rough? Does that somehow validate us or our commitment or work? Aren't we to do all things as unto the Lord, not men?
My second thought is this, perhaps he is saying that he feels he's done a fine job providing; he's given a comfortable life and home. Perhaps he's trying to help her see that her life is blessed and he feels insulted if she goes on about how hard her job is. Afterall, how many women like to hear their husbands go on and on about how rough they have it because they have to go to work each day? As homeschooling mom's we don't have to work out of the home full time usually, which is surely more difficult than homeschooling in many regards.
I think from a man's perspective life is supposed to involve hard work, and just because something is hard doesn't mean it is bad. That is where we wives can get ourselves into a rut. We want sympathy for all we give and sacrifice, yet our husbands have dealt with trials, persecution, temptation, early hours, late hours and more for a long time. Do we make sure to show him how much we appreciate him and all he gives as much as we ask him to do that for us? I for one am guilty of asking for more kudos than I dole out, far more.
Our husbands surely are struggling with sin in some areas just as we are, but we should be all the more faithful to pray for them and show them Christ. That is part of what we agreed to on our wedding day, is it not? How easily I condemn and forget to pray for him when I am annoyed with him.
If God has called us to something, should we really lament the difficulties that go with it? Would we think highly of missionaries or pastors who would do the same? I wouldn't, I'd be wondering why they were serving if they had such a terrible attitude. Which brings me back to the title. How much of our difficulties are based on our perspective? As a woman I am not ashamed to say that I am easily deceived as was Eve. My husband has been correct more than once in assessing my moods, intentions, and problem areas. He does it in a kind way usually, and I see that sometimes I'm so stuck in hearing what he is saying that what he means. Bottom line, if I'd focus more on my duties and responsibilities as given by my loving heavenly Father, I'd spend less time assessing how good I do or don't have it. I'd give the benefit of doubt more, and I'd give to my husband the things I crave. Generally when I do that, I end up getting much more than what I sought in the first place.
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