Church...

We're still talking about 'church'.  Why we're doing what we're doing and where it is going.  Will we ever go back to a corporate church?  Possibly.  Will we stop doing what we are doing presently?  I hope not.

We are not content to just show up on Sunday morning and sit for an hour or 2 putting in our time.  We want to be able to ask questions when they come up, to add to the lesson.  This is what we can do in a less formal setting, this is what we are doing as a family, together.

We do not want to be age-segregated.  What good does it do to separate families? 

When we used to attend a church, we would get in the car after services and I'd ask the kids what they had studied.

Most. Of. The. Time.  they could not give a good answer because they had spent the hour trying to pay attention amidst all the distraction that the other kids brought to the class.  Daniel even went so far as to talk to his teacher after class one Sunday and asked him to please exert more control over the class.  To stop the horse-play and cutting up.  (This was a class of guys in the 7th grade and up).

This is in the same category as homeschooling.

We believe that it is our responsibility to:

1. Train up our children in the way they should go. Proverbs 22:6
2. Talk of these things when you rise up and when you sit down. Deuteronomy 6:1-9
3. Teach the younger women to love and respect their husbands. Titus2:3-5
4. Teach them to be self-controlled.  Titus 2:6
5. Teach them to fear the LORD.  Proverbs 1:7
6. Teach them to be hard-working and productive citizens.
7. Teach them to love their country and stand up for what is right.
8. Teach them to think for themselves and make decisions that will glorify God regardless of what the world says.
9. Teach them to honor and obey their elders.
10. Teach them in a way that they can learn and grow.  If it takes focusing on a math concept for 2 weeks to get it, so be it.  If we come to a list of spelling words they already know, then skip them and move on. 

Homeschooling gives us the freedom to teach our children in the way they need to be taught.

Home churching does the same thing for the whole family.  I cannot tell you how many times we have started with a question that has turned into a 2 hour investigation of what God's Word says.  This is not a lecture by Dad, though we have those too!  But it is an open discussion with everyone adding their questions and thoughts to the mix and with all 4 of us learning something.

Because we have chosen to home church for at least a season, some people are concerned about us.  Kinda like they were when they learned we were going to homeschool.  Thank you for your concern..  We have not gone off the deep end and written God out of our lives.  We have discussed this together and come to the decision that for this season of our lives we need to be at home.

We will in the future return to a corporate church.  We will continue to meet with other believers to fellowship and strengthen each other.  We will continue to pray and grow together as a family.

We will continue to seek His face.

Trader Joe's

I don't get it...

                    Maybe I'm not young and hip enough but I just do not see the fascination with TJ's.  I liked the atmosphere, the friendly staff, the decor...

                   But I didn't find enough there to warrant a regular trip.  I went there on the recommendation of my Naturopathic Doctor.  She said they have really good bacon that has no nitrites or nitrates.  So we tried it last night.

                  We slowly wandered the aisle, carefully looking, reading labels, comparing prices.  We ended up buying:

• 3 pk sampler of Montchevre Crottin Goat Cheese, 10.5 oz, $4.99
• 2 Salami/ Provolone snack packs for the kids, 3.98
• 2 bunches broccoli,   3.98
• 2 pkgs tiny frozen Brussels sprouts, 2.38
• 1# bacon ends & pieces, nitrite/ nitrate free, 2.99
• Lemon Pepper spice grinder, 60 grams, 1.99
• Dried Dill weed, 14 grams, 1.99
• 1# organic yellow popping corn, 1.99

Total spent $24.78


So far I've tried the

• goat cheese, LOVE it!
• bacon, LOVE it!
• Dill, Very Good!

 Verdict?  I'll go back occasionally for the bacon and dill, maybe the Brussels sprouts, we really like Brussels sprouts, if needed at the time I'll pick up popcorn.  But over all, I don't see what the big deal is.

Trader Joe's

Re-Thinking Church

Guest post by, David, my husband, my comments are in blue.


A few months ago, we decided to leave the Corporate Church.

We left because of the many negative experiences we had. 

We were tired of at least five different church experiences where we were never fully accepted as members with full relationships that would endure past membership within those particular churches.
 
We also never felt that we were accepted within those churches. 

Although we were "open", (painfully so, often "airing the dirty laundry" of our families which is verboten in Southern Culture ) in the various small groups of these churches, our "openness" was often used against us in efforts to manipulate or control us.
  
We were not just bystanders at most of these churches.  We were heavily involved. 

At the last church we were members of, we opened our home to times of Corporate Prayer, Small Group Meetings, we even led a small group one summer, Home Made Pizza (just come hungry), and Pork Bar-be-que, Hamburgers, Hotdogs, Potato Salad, and Cole Slaw.  We also had individual families over for a meal on many occasions.
   
I served by running sound (which included driving the church van, unloading the van, setting up the sound system, recording the morning message, tearing down the sound system, reloading the church van, and driving it back to the pastor's house). Susan served by working in the Nursery or Singing on the Praise Team.

Although leaving the corporate church may seem foolish, it has actually been a great time spiritually. Although we both are gifted with Service, we didn't need to work at church. This was no different from the last church we attended, however.

The big difference was that not going to church required me to step up the discussions that we had as a family since we weren't attending at a corporate church. So we have started to have "formal scheduled" times of discussion and Bible study, usually on Sunday morning (appropriately enough) and these sessions aren't a 15 minute quick session where we're just doing our "required time" for the week. They usually last about 1:45 -2:00 hours.  And we don't limit the discussions to Sunday.  We had a great discussion yesterday on Matthew 5 and 6:1-15 on how Jesus said we are to pray.

We've been studying Jesus' life, using the Narrated Bible (which claims to be a chronological sequence of the Bible) as a reference. We pray and then go over a section (either from my ancient copy of the New English Bible or from the ESV as defined in Matthew), discussing what we read and how it applies to the world in which we live.

Recently, Susan expressed a desire to go to a church where she'd been invited by one of the local homeschool Moms, whose husband is the pastor. Although I have other Christian friends, Susan said that she would like to go somewhere (with me along beside her) to try to find other Christian friends. 

I realized this past Friday after crochet club was over that there are 4 Moms who come to crochet that I feel close to, that I can talk to and ask for their prayers.  Even though we don't meet at a 'church' I value the time we can spend together.  What I need to do is pursue these relationships.  This can be difficult as we all homeschool and have to intentionally carve out time to spend with others.  But relationships are important and I need to make the first move.

After a couple of days of sometimes contentious discussion (by me), including discussions with two dear Christian brothers, we came to a conclusion: As long as we continued to have our weekly discussions and I would not be required to take our teenage children to a church to which I would not go, when Susan did not feel like going, I would acompany her to a local church. Otherwise, I would go along with her to support her.

Susan agreed to this arrangement because of the richness of our discussions.
 
Our children, Daniel and Sarah Kate made a commitment to follow Jesus as Lord and Master one Sunday evening when we "skipped" church service.  It was not an emotional decision made from guilt, but instead a sober conversation, initiated "out of the blue," by Sarah who asked about "bearing good fruit.". I was surprised that it happened and the GOD allowed Susan and me to be involved watching our children be born into the Kingdom of Heaven.

So, the lessons learned from this detour in life have been: (1) gathering at home to study and worship GOD can be MORE fruitful than corporate worship when you feel like an outsider and (2) that you don't need to have a preacher, elder, deacon, or Sunday school teacher in order for your children to know and make a decision to follow Christ.

HE Is ALIVE!

He is risen indeed!

My GOD, I Love Thee

by St Francis Xavier
Translation of Edward Caswell

My God, I love thee! not because
I hope for heaven thereby;
Nor yet because who love thee not
Must burn eternally.

Thou, O my Jesus, thou didst me
Upon the cross embrace!
For me didst bear the nails and spear,
And manifold disgrace,

And griefs and torments numberless,
And sweat of agony,
Yea, death itself,- and all for one
Who was thine enemy.

Then why, O blessed Jesus Christ,
Should I not love thee well!
Not for the hope of winning heaven,
Nor of escaping hell!

Not with the hope of gaining aught,
Not seeking a reward;
But as thyself hast loved me,
O ever loving Lord!

E'en so I love thee, and will love,
And in thy praise will sing,-
Solely because thou art my God
And my eternal King.

MY GOD, I LOVE THEE

On this Resurrection Sunday, 2012  we focused on the stations of the cross.  

I had heard of "The Stations of the Cross"  but never knew what it was other than it was a "catholic" thing.  Anyway, this past Friday, Good Friday, (Good? Friday)  we were taking the kids to Discovery Place, http://www.discoveryplace.org/.  So we decided to have lunch at the Methodist Church http://harrisburgumc.org/ here in Harrisburg since they were having an 'all-u-can eat' fish fry.  Good food, money goes to support a good cause etc.  What we did NOT know was they had set up in the sanctuary 'The Stations of the Cross'. 

We went through the stations after lunch.  It was very simply but tastefully done.  Quiet music played, lights were dimmed, beautiful art prints portrayed each step, candles and incense burned...  for me it was a very solemn and VERY emotional journey.  It really brought it all back to the front of my mind... 
      What Christ chose to go through for sinners such as I.   It's not just the physical torture, although that was horrific... It is the fact that He CHOSE to go through it.  All the humiliation, the pain, the anguish, the SEPARATION from God...

Read the scriptures.  Don't take my word for it. 

Station 1, Jesus Prays Alone, Luke 22:39-44
Station 2, Jesus is arrested, Matt. 26:47-56
Station 3, Sanhedrin tries Jesus, Mark 14:61-64
Station 4, Pilate tries Jesus, John 18:33-37
Station 5, Pilate sentences Jesus, Mark 15:6-15
Station 6, Jesus wears crown, John 19:5
Station 7, Jesus carries cross, John 10:17-18
Station 8, Simon carries cross, Luke 23:26
Station 9, Jesus speaks to the women, Luke 23:27-31
Station 10, Jesus is crucified, Luke 23:33-34
Station 11, Criminals speak to Jesus, Luke 23:39-43
Station 12, Jesus speaks to Mary, John, John 19:25-27
Station 13, Jesus dies on the cross, John 1928-34
Station 14, Jesus is laid in the tomb, John 19:38-42

Watch "The Passion of the Christ" amazon
      
Read Max Lucado's book, "He Chose the Nails"  amazon.com.  See how Christ reacted, really did not react, to the spit on His face, to the purple robe meant to mock Him, in the sour wine offered to slack His thirst...


But it did NOT end with His death....

March is over...

I told David, "If I can just get through March I'll be alright."   Well, I made it! 

We have chosen to intentionally not be overly busy with out-of-the-house activities. 

But in March we had Science Olympiad Competition....

This is a video of David and Sarah sanding down a component for her Mouse Trap Vehicle using a hand drill as a lathe.



Enrich Science Olympiad Team "Fusion"

From L-R

Sarah, Connor, Jared, Nathan H., Jon, Alexander, Phillip, Joshua, Ricky, Matthew, Daniel, Nathan

Sarah and Connor partnered in Mousetrap Vehicle and placed 5th.  Daniel and Nathan H. partnered in Bottle Rockets and took 4th. 

Overall our team did really well.  This was our first year in SO and Fusions 2nd year as a team. 

Sarah and Connor getting readt to launch the mousetrap vehicle.



There it goes!

Sarah and Connor made a great team.  They worked well together, pushed each other and brought different strengths to the event.  If they work together on this even next year they should have an incredible run.





Speed Stacking Article, Time Magazine

Here is an article about Speed Stacking which is the sport Sarah  participates in  World Class Speed Stacker

Here are some still shots of her practicing:

Going 'No-Poo'

There are a lot of articles on the www that tell you how to go 'shampoo free' in your hair care.  Some thoughts are getting rid of the chemicals, some thoughts are better care for curly hair.  I initially fell into the latter category.  Going 'No-Poo' for better curl care.

But as my migraines worsened I started looking at ways to eliminate as much chemical exposure as possible.  Remember you can't control everything you are exposed to but you can control the things in your home and on your body.

 I started my 'No-Poo' journey reading Lorraine Masseys book Curly Girl which is available through Amazon.

She advocates using conditioner instead of shampoo because of the moisture that curly hair needs.  My hair did quite well using this method, but I was still using chemicals on my hair.  I did this method for several years.

Fast forward...

About 3 years ago (at the most) David discovered an all-in-1 shampoo/body wash by Zest.  He used it and really liked it, because he only had a single product in the shower.  Being a bar soap, he thought he would use less soap than with a liquid.  About 6 months later we could no longer find it and even contacting the company proved fruitless, as the company discontinued the bar soap, but they had something in liquid form if he wanted it.  He did not!

So a search began for a good bar shampoo.  During this time he also started to travel for work and taking the right size bottle that might leak was a pain and he really did not like the hotel products . We found a bar shampoo at Duluth Trading Company.  So we ordered 1bar, David tried it and loved it. I was 'resistant' to change.  He asked me several times to just try it but I was SO sure that MY hair care choice was better that I refused.  Finally, just to appease him I tried it.

WOW!

I was wrong.  This stuff was great.  I didn't need any conditioner to soften my hair.  I needed very little product to style my hair and my curls just keep getting better and better. 

So I am a believer.  AND the best part?  The ingredients are Tea Tree Oil,  Hemp Oil, Almond Oil, Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, Caster Oil, spring water and sodium hydroxide to bind it together. Unfortunately the binder is a chemical, but for me the alternative shampoos are much worse with many chemicals.

J R Liggett Bar Shampoo

We buy 12 bars at a time and this lasts the 4 of us at least 12 months if not longer.  We put the bar on a piece of plastic so instead of any of it dripping away on the soap dish it sticks to the plastic with no waste.  When it gets down to a stamp size sliver I can still get 2 or 3 shampoos out of it.  Then David adheres a new bar to the plastic and the cycle continues.

Happy Shampooing!

And, Yes, We highly recommend this product.

Remembering Axel

Axel and his mommy, Jenna

Axel and his daddy, Jake

Axel and Michelle, Jenna's mom, my sister

Axel and Autumn and Terry, my b-i-l, Michelles husband

Autumn Jade, Axels sister

You have ordained every breath...

...we take.
In pleasure or pain there is no mistake.
Gladness and grief, both are in your hands,
and sufferings brief carry out Your plan....

Joy in My Sorrows

Valley's come for every one of us.

It might be in the form of divorce or death.  In financial woes or even prosperity.

In 2 Corinthians 12 the apostle Paul tells us that he  asked the Lord 3 times to remove a "thorn in the flesh".  I don't know what this thorn was but I believe that it wasn't something little.  This was something that was really affecting him, this was a "valley".

Paul tells us, "Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.

⁸ Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.

⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

 We will all have thorns. 

Do you have Christ's sufficient grace to go through the trial?

His grace will support you and give you peace.

It is only because of His grace that I have full faith that Axel is in heaven.  Yes I still have sorrow, I still mourn for him.  I have great sorrow for his parents.  They are so young and have gone through so much in just a few short years.

I do and will continue to pray for them.  I pray that if they are not Christ Followers they will turn to him, the one who holds the word in his hands, the one who created Axel and took him home, the one who can grant them a peace which surpasses all understanding.

He's Gone

Axel Paul

January 26, 2010-January 18, 2012

We knew he would die very young.

He had a very serious congenital disease, Chiari Malformation.

In the back of my mind I had always thought he would start to decline over time and we would know it was coming.

Instead he was gone in an instant.

Now his Mommy and Daddy are grieving for their son.  They are so young yet they have proved themselves to be excellent parents.

They chose life for a child who would never grow up.  He was almost 2 and still the size of an infant.

But his smile!

That beautiful smile!

His Gramma, my sister, said Axel was the happiest baby she had ever seen.

He was so healthy in the ordinary sense of the word.

He didn't get a lot of colds or ear infections.

He wasn't a fussy baby.

He was a happy baby.

So pray for his Mom and Dad.  Pray for his Grandparents.  They knew this would come someday...but it came so swiftly, one minute he is as fine as he could be considering his Chiari.  The next he is gone.

Axel and his little sister Autumn. She is 3 months old.

No Yellow Roses Ever pt 2

In my last post I left you with a cliff hanger....

Remember the roses?  The beautiful yellow roses?

I put them in a vase with water and put them on the bookcase in the dining room/school room/music room/ sewing room.....

About 2 days later they were not looking so nice...

By day 4 they needed to go.  And there was an odor.

We couldn't find the source of the odor.  It reminded me of a potato or onion gone bad.
The taters and onions were fine.

Oh well, time to throw out the roses.

I pulled them out of the vase and kept the baby's breath to put in a vase with some other dried flowers that we had on the piano.

Then I dumped the water in the sink and S.C.R.E.A.M.E.D!!!!!

There were 4, four, 4 dead mice in the water.

I don't know how they got there.  Dad's theory was that they had somehow gotten into the vase and not be able to get out and subsequently starved.  Then the water helped along the decomposition and smell.

YUCK.  Believe me bleach was my friend that night, after the guys disposed of said dead bodies. 

I still don't know we managed to get the vase out, fill it up with water and flowers and not notice 4 bodies in it.  It is a large vase, one of those from the florist and it's a dark green so I guess it could have happened.  Blech:(

No Yellow Roses. EVER. pt1

My darling husband kindly went to the store Tuesday night to replenish my diet ginger ale supply. I had been hit with another of my famous migraines complete with nausea and vomiting. While out he also bought me yellow roses.  I love him.

I NEVER want to see another yellow rose in... my... life!

Why?  Why would I make such an 'ugly' statement when most wives would be thrilled that their hubby bought them roses just because? 

Because... I... Hate... Mice...

To be continued...