I’ve moved!

Again. I know, I know…

My WordPress blogging was just too jumbled and not focused enough. It was time for a change.

For the Family’s Sake…

Flower Child 2011

Princess 2011

 

Public Service Announcement :)

Bear with me… I’m moving my blog to Blogger and it’s taking a while to get the hang of the new format.

Why am I moving? I love that I can have categories AND tags on WordPress, but in the end the inability to custom design my blog without a) paying money to WordPress and b) finally overcome my inability to understand CSS has let me to move on. I think that little ‘followers’ widget is pretty cool, too!

In any case, as soon as the details are in place, I’ll post the link. I’m sure my three readers will be happy to know I’ll be back!

Thoughts on Christian culture…

TODAY’S VERSE:
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 2 Corinthians 4:7

While there are many talented and successful Christians in the world today, they are merely vessels for God’s message of grace, hope, and power. Our focus should never be on the container for the message. Instead, what is most important is the integrity of the messenger no matter the situation, so that the message can be seen without distraction. God’s power, not our own, is what sustains us; we are simply a vessel, a tool, in the hands of the Lord.

Interesting thought. But if that’s truly how Christians operate in this culture why all Christian music artists beautiful? Is there no one who is less-than-perfect who can sing and perform? No one who is too short or too fat? I also wonder if I’m the only one who ever thinks about this.

Cultivating an attitude of gratitude – #386-394!

sharing pictures on Facebook ~ made possible by our Lexmark printer/scanner

red meat

friends who will stop at the University book store for you, saving you from trying to find a parking place on campus and waiting in mile long lines on the first day of class

listening to the choir sing on Sunday morning – breathtaking!

rice socks

big three-ring binders

text messages

summer

beaches with soft white sand and warm waves

I blinked…

What?!

Hey! Wait just a minute….

I see something familiar…

Those are MY boots!

Alas, who can get mad at faces as sweet as these?

Wait. Forget that last question.

Weekly Wrap-Up ~ AND IT WAS GOOD!

Our week started with one sleepy teenager spending the day napping after a senior high youth lock-in at church Sunday night. Messed with my new discipline of Monday morning meetings.

Completely unrelated to the grouchy, sleepy teenager, I somehow got a bee in my bonnet and decided I NEEEEEEEEDED pizza for dinner. “Somehow” happened to be a friend posting about Gino’s East and me remembering the awesome pizza we had when we were home in November and then me suddenly realizing that was the last time I had pizza. More than six weeks without pizza! For the record, Papa John’s is a poor substitute for good Chicago pizza.

Tuesday basketball practice got cancelled because of a last-minute game against the Catholic school in town. (Go Lady Blazers! Another win: 39-31!) Rather than rushing to get things done before practice, we had all day for school. I held our ‘Monday’ meeting and discussed the rise of Islam in the Byzantine Empire. Argued whether the correct way to say it is ‘BIHzantine’ or ‘BUYzantine’.

Wednesday, we headed to town so Princess could take her driver’s test. Around here that is an all morning adventure. Unlike the bigger county next to us where you schedule an appointment, our county is walk-in. You get there around 9:30am and then hang around until it’s your turn. Unfortunately, she didn’t pass the first go-round so we’ll be back in B-ville next week (weather allowing).

Thursday the girls had a game scheduled in a town two hours away. A game that was causing me much anxiety as I watched the weather forecast all week. The weather was merciful and the snow started hours before scheduled so the game was cancelled early in the day. It turned out to be a serious work day – the girls working on school and me finishing printing and planning the rest of our Tapestry of Grace unit.

The part came for our wood stove, so I got to have my day sitting in front of the fire drinking hot coffee while a blizzard raged outside. Awesome! (Okay… just a Kentucky blizzard, but that was good enough for me!)

Being stuck at home all day Thursday gave the girls time to finish their work, so on Friday they got their first SNOW DAY of the season! They spent the afternoon sledding at their uncle’s. I stayed home and finished the last of the lesson planning. Then into town last night so Princess and a friend could work on their yearbook pages. I got to eat RED MEAT while they were working!

It was incredibly normal, somewhat boring to the outside observer. And it was good.

That’s what we’re up to here in Wingfield. Wonder what other families are doing in around the world? Check out the WEEKLY WRAP-UP on weird, unsocialized, homeschoolers.

Cultivating an attitude of gratitude – #354-385!

pizza

homemade chocolate chip cookies

watching television with the kiddos

leftovers

sharp cheddar cheese

extra basketball games thrown into the schedule

“snow” days that keep us home all day

Sonic ice

online ordering: stove latches & grinder bowl lids

watering cans

peace lillies

new vacuum cleaner filters

bathroom tile laid by daddy

maps

blogging friends

hope for the future

generous parents and in-laws

headlights

someone else to do the dishes

orange kitty cats

space heaters

gas powered wood splitters

four lane divided highways

zantac (see #354 & #355)

PhD mechanical pencils

fingernail clippers

a husband who wants his kids homeschooled

prayer

community

early service

being a mom

longer days of spring

Weekly Wrap-Up ~ SNOW DAYS

Monday. Tuesday. Wednesday.
No basketball practice.
No basketball game.
No confirmation class.
No choir.
No yearbook pictures.

Not enough snow to build a decent snowman.

It snowed all day Tuesday and much of the day Wednesday, but there was barely two inches of accumulation. I’ve never in my life seen it snow for so long and have it amount to so little. So we did school. No outside activities, but not enough snow to warrant skipping school to go out and play in it.

Everyone finished their school work by Thursday morning.

The end of the week was more normal. Basketball practice on Thursday and a game Friday night. Another big win for the Lady Trailblazers! Both Princess and Flower Child played a great game.

That’s what we’re up to here in Wingfield. Wonder what other families are doing in around the world? Check out the WEEKLY WRAP-UP on weird, unsocialized, homeschoolers.

Chinese Parenting ~ A Rebuttal

Thanks to my friend, Amy – who blogs at birthblessed! (working title) - for linking this on Facebook.

Is Amy Chua’s Chinese Parenting Strategy Good for America?

Contrary to Chua’s belief, it’s possible to raise happy, well-adjusted, high-achieving kids with kindness, love, and respect. We don’t need to be their best friends, but we also don’t need to berate them. We can allow them the privilege of sleepover parties and school plays, along with enforcing the hours of practice and homework.

Personally, my thoughts were like… “If every kid in America played the violin and piano, would we import the rest of the orchestra members from overseas? Not from China, of course…”

Cultivating an attitude of gratitude – #345-353!

home. all. day.

sparkling clean bathrooms

a son who takes down the Christmas tree for me

Saxon Teacher

words

e-readers: nook and kindle

books

purple

on-line bill paying

Laugh or Puke?

Someone is obviously very full of herself…

Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior

Since I don’t think Chinese mothers are superior, obviously her reasons why mean nothing to me.

I know the kind of life I would like each of my children to have and an Ivy League education and virtuoso violin ability don’t factor in the equation. They aren’t even in the top 100.

Things that are important to me? A life that’s a good witness, a faithful spouse, a peaceful home, confidence that they are doing what God created them to do, contentment with the things that they have, ability and courage to never stop learning new things…

Weekly Wrap-Up ~ NEW YEAR, NEW PLAN

Tapestry of Grace Year 1 Unit 4 was a big hit with my youngest and I am impressed with the integration of subjects in their units, so my oldest daughter joins us with Year 2 Unit 1. Her primary focus is Government and Philosophy, while she’ll read the history to help set the stage and literature because… Well, because I love it when literature and history are specifically intertwined. With Sonlight there is some correlation between history and literature, but no notes or comments to really pull the two together. Books are either literature on their own or historical novels specifically for history. Even in Flower Child’s dialect literature assignment this week they discussed some of the reasons why a certain kind of literature was popular at that time.

We started our new year with a trip to the Twilight of the Western Roman Empire. I must say, the huge sigh of relief that we are FINALLY done with Ancient Rome just about blew the walls of the house out. :p The three of us me Monday morning to discuss the topic of the week and about the new layout of their lesson planners. I enjoy teaching these two because they are both actively participating in their education – not just the doing of the lessons, but also the planning of how to do the lessons.

This week Flower Child started using the Kindle for her core history assignments – The Story of Europe by H.E. Marshall. For in-depth history she’s reading Famous Men of the Middle Ages which is also available on Kindle, but we already own it. The ToG literature gave her a taste of Beowulf and now wants to read more about that story. No problem! Free Amazon download! The two week break from math seems to have helped, too, as she finished all assignments ahead of time without any grumbling. Her only complaint was that there wasn’t an art project this week. I’m working on that!

Princess was introduced to the concept of freedom (and some interesting definitions of that word) and St. Augustine. The new format caused a little stress since it is so different from anything we’ve ever done, but by the end of the week she agreed that the method works well for what she’s doing. Rather than spread each assignment out across the five days, each subject is only assigned on one day. Monday she read history, setting the stage, and then government, philosophy, art & music, and church history/worldview each have their own day. For literature, Monday she reads Frameworks (in effect, setting the stage further for the week’s literature selections) and then spreads the actual literature reading across Tuesday to Friday. Another change she made on her own is to spread each Advanced Math lesson across two days, rather than trying to do one in a single day. She felt that made the day less monotonous and she didn’t dread math as much.

Austin is working for his great-uncle when he’s needed and doing school when he’s home. There’s really nothing to report. He has four more weeks before he’s finished with high school. He won’t be taking any college classes this spring and he’s still not sure what he wants to do next fall.

Our first week back was supposed to be a nice, slow, home every day week. Unfortunately, I forgot Princess’s orthodontist appointment on Tuesday and Austin’s endocrinologist appointment this morning. I would love to see if we could spend an entire week – seven whole days – without leaving Wingfield. I won’t be betting any money on that any time soon…

Two basketball games this week – two more victories for the Lady Blazers! It is so much fun to watch my girls play. Watching Princess and her friends grow into fine players, watching Flower Child learn new skills and discover the strategy of basketball. That last part has been especially interesting since she hasn’t played basketball since was 8 and has played soccer almost non-stop for the last five years. As keeper for at least half of every game. So even in soccer she has trouble keeping offensive and defensive strategies separate. The absolute best part, though, is watching how much fun they have on the court – that is PRICELESS. I wish I had some action shots to post, but I don’t get to take pictures since I do the stats.

That’s what we’re up to here in Wingfield. Wonder what other families are doing in around the world? Check out the WEEKLY WRAP-UP on weird, unsocialized, homeschoolers.

Real life ways to support the military

Let’s be clear. Buying a five dollar yellow ribbon and sticking it on the back of your car does not mean you support the military. Buying a hundred yellow ribbons and sticking them on the back of your car does not mean you support the military. It means that you are supporting the companies who make stupid yellow ribbons so they can make a profit off people who feel guilty for not supporting the military.

Voting Republican does not mean you support the military, either. Conversely, those who vote for Democratic candidates are not military-bashers who would rather move to Canada than serve their country. (Interestingly, in my life, the people who are loath to serve tend to be Republican. Of course, that is only my life, yours may be different.)

Posting on your blog, sharing on Facebook, or emailing to a thousand of your closest friends heart-wrenching stories written for or by military members serving in a war zone does not mean you support the military. Actually, there are some military family members who find those staged stories revolting. Please don’t belittle my family’s sacrifice to bolster your ego.

Okay. So what CAN you do? Here are a handful of some less-than-obvious suggestions. I think one of my two readers is also a military spouse, so maybe she’ll reply with some of her suggestions.

1) First and foremost, when a military family moves to your neighborhood or town, WELCOME THEM. Don’t shut them out of neighborhood get-togethers because they are ‘new’ or ‘transient’. Take time to talk to them and get to know them. Military families don’t have the luxury of taking five years to ‘get to know’ you in the friendship way. They will be gone in three years. This is especially crucial for military families serving in recruiting positions or in other areas where they aren’t near a base or port.

2) Be willing to allow children of military families to register late for sports teams, clubs, classes, and other activities. Be willing to waive the late fee, if you want to go the extra mile. Even if your Brownie troop is full, be willing to make room for one more.

3) Encourage your health care providers to accept Tricare health insurance. Don’t buy the story that they pay too little. Personal experience has shown me that Tricare consistently pays more per service than Blue Cross, yet you don’t see them dropping Blue Cross, do you? Oh… except Blue Cross Medicaid and Medicare plans, because doctors only choose to drop insurance plans where they can make it the government’s fault they don’t accept them.

4) Encourage your doctors, dentist, orthodontist, massage therapist, stylist, babysitter, and other service people to take on new patients or clients who are military new to the area. I wish I had a dollar for every time we tried to make an appointment with one of the above folks when we were new in town based on recommendations from locals, only to be told that so-and-so wasn’t taking on new patients.

5) Happily go through the hoops necessary to get a day-pass to your local military installation so the military mom who has offered to host your Bible study doesn’t have to pay a babysitter or haul her small children around by herself just to get to your easier-to-access home. What may only be a minor inconvenience to someone used to having a husband around day-to-day helping out is a HUGE nightmare for the single military mom trying to keep everything together with no outside help.

6) Encourage your children to make an effort to get to know the military kids new to your neighborhood. Yes, they may talk funny, wrinkle their nose at your new-to-them food, and play different games. Look at it as an opportunity to find out more about different parts of our country or even different parts of the world. Ensure your kids (AND YOU) don’t make fun of those families because they may not know the social rules of your TINY corner of the world.

7) Don’t assume that because Jane deals with deployment and the stress of military life in one way that Sally is going to deal with it in exactly the same way. There are as many ways of dealing with military life as their are military spouses and children. Throw away that psychology text book or article that outlines the sure-fire way to help a kid with a deployed parent. Real life has a way of showing all the holes in psychology textbooks.

8) Don’t assume that because a family is now retired that they are suddenly free of all the problems and trials that haunt military life. Military families carry a lot of baggage because of the above issues and many others. Some are better able to toss it at retirement than others.