Put Yourself in My Shoes, Please

I was listening to my brother preach and he mentioned someone who has gone back to drugs and is suicidal, and I thought if the church stopped preaching a message of lives of perfection and started preaching that we all fall and get back up (Proverbs 24:16) perhaps suicide wouldn't seem like the only way to deal with an ongoing issue like drugs.

Found a similar sentiment expressed in this blog post by Boz Tchividjian, Words Matter.

Oh, that everyone would stop and think about what they're saying before they say it!

Housekeeping as Art

Housekeeping as Art is going to be my...not a resolution, but an idea I'll try to keep in mind in 2015. 

The original thought came to me while I was reading Holy Curiosity by Amy Hollingsworth.  She is talking about the steps to creativity - wisdom, knowledge and understanding.  She uses verses from the Bible, including Proverbs 24:3-4 "By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures."  The paraphrase from the Message says it thusly:
"It takes wisdom to build a house,
    and understanding to set it on a firm foundation;
It takes knowledge to furnish its rooms
    with fine furniture and beautiful draperies."

The idea of knowledge required to make a house a home intrigued me, and was followed by the thought of housekeeping as artistry.

I admit and accept that I will never be an artistic, creative person in the traditional senses.  I have absolutely no ear for music (my poor music when I was a kid!), I can not reproduce something lovely with pens or pencils or watercolours or markers or chalks or paints.  I can, I suppose, write well, but I can't control my thoughts enough to produce anything of substance, plus, it's not something I enjoy.

But I *do* love my home, and I do love my family, and I do believe I should be able to keep my house in a way that I wouldn't be ashamed to open my door to guests.  And that - the knowledge of how to make my house my work of art will be my focus in 2015.

Leaving this Here so I Don't Have to Search!

Who Would Jesus Love 5th song down.

Art Corner In The Garden

I'm thinking garden thoughts - ready for spring!  - and planning for a "patio" area behind the house this year.  We have long-range plans to put in a real patio, with a brick bread oven built into the bank at the far end, but those will be later....someday...

This year I'm thinking just an area to put out our lawn chairs, a couple little tables to hold our drinks, and maybe a few whimsical things about to pretty it up.  That's where this idea came in.  I looked online to see if it had already been thought of, so I could pin it, but didn't find one, so I decided to write it myself. ;)  Here is the idea:

An Art Corner, for fairy houses. 

(potential spot for a fairy house.  I couldn't find any photos of houses we've built in the past.)

In my idea, there are small baskets of things to be used to build fairy houses: 
pinecones
pebbles
twigs
dried leaves
grasses
bark
acorns
shells
sea glass
feathers

and while we're enjoying our new backyard sitting area we can play around with them and build and re-build houses. 

I'll come back later when this idea is more than a partly formed scheme and post photos. :)

Emma's Graduation!!

 Our oldest daughter graduated last night.  We had planned a party at the park - rented a shelter and everything - and it was COLD yesterday!  So we commandeered the food pantry and set out to make it as nice as possible....as nice as it's possible to fix up what used to be a garage. ;)

 Decorations were silver, black and purple.  With diploma accents.  And books.  You know, because Emma's all about books.  The books are actually a set she was supposed to read before she was finished with high school, but I needed to have the party before my sister's kids head to OK to spend the summer with their dad, so she didn't quite finish these books.  Perhaps she will someday...

 The cupcake stand was a donation to the food pantry.  The lady who donated it said it was a fruit stand (maybe used in a small store near the register to hold a few apples and bananas?  Seems I've seen one like that before), but I spray painted it silver and added a couple bows and it became a cupcake stand. ;)

Anna said it looked like Halloween with black, purple, silver and green icing on the cupcakes. ;)  They tasted good, though, which is what matters with cupcakes.

Her Daddy made the name cut-out for her, and we bought balloons to tie to it.  $8 for 3 balloons!  Should have gone to Dollar Tree... ;)  I think all-together for the decorations we spend a little over $50. 

 There she is - our Graduate!

Her and her Daddy, and the all-important diploma!  (Shout-out for Homeschool Diploma - Beautiful diploma and Super Quick shipping!)

 GIFTS!!!  I found a tassel keychain with '13 at Hobby Lobby. 

She had a good night, I believe.  I am so proud of her. 

Mother's Day 2013

Emma sent me this on facebook today - my favourite Mother's Day gift!

"HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!! :DD I love you so so so so much! You have always supported me and been there for me when I needed you, and I can't tell you how much that means. I am thankful for everything you've done for me and so blessed to have you as my mother. Kids have a terrible habit of complaining about their parents and resenting them and their role... But I have never been anything but grateful for your presence in my life. You are cool, and incredible, and brilliant, and beautiful. And, although, the 'swooping' is embarrassing (You know what I'm talking about!) I have never been anything but proud to know you. I hope you have a wonderful day!!! ~Your Loving Daughter, Emma"

 
I'm saving it here and there and all over the place...I'll probably print it out, too.  I don't want to forget to see myself as she sees me. :)

Homeschooling in 2013

Homeschooling has changed so much since we first started - you know, a million years ago. ;)

Tonight, I picked up a little bag of Holy Land souvenirs we bought at the used curriculum sale last year and said to Anna that we really should look through it since we've had it a year and hadn't even opened it to see what we'd bought.  It was an interesting little packet, mostly tiny bags of things stapled to cards that told about each item, where they were from, what they are used for and so on.  We began with a large sheet of papyrus paper.  Well, of course we already knew the basics, but we didn't know exactly *how* it was made - so we went to youtube to find out.  She's hard to understand, but we caught the important parts. ;)  Next up - flax.  How DO they turn a plant like that into thread?  Back to youtube again!  No one talks, but we understood better. ;)  Oh, and look!  A hackle (heckling tool) looks like the flower frog I found at the Salvation Army thrift store!  I wonder if it's really a hackle, or really a flower frog?  (Google couldn't, or wouldn't, tell us.)  If we *could* use it as a hackle, could we buy some flax to try to make our own thread?  Off to ebay!  :)  I couldn't find flax to buy, but we can buy flax seeds, and attempt to grow our own. 

So we're just a few cards into the bag, and already we've been all over the place online.  Back in the day, as they say, we could have wondered, perhaps pulled the set of encyclopedias out to look things up, but there would have been no way to find videos of it !  Try to explain scutching without being able to see what is being done.  Difficult, no? 
Homeschooling in 2013 is worlds easier than homeschooling in 2000 was - and not just because my kids are older.