Bummed

I am so bummed today. Well, it actually began last night. Elizabeth found about her surprise birthday party that I have been planning for weeks. It totally stinks, but at least she is excited. Now I have to gear myself up for having a house full of girls this weekend.

Faith

It is not faith to trust God as a saint when you feel you are a saint. Faith is to trust Christ as a sinner—while you are conscious that you are a sinner. To come to Jesus and to think yourselves pure, is a sorry coming to Him—but to come with all your impurity—this is true coming.”
Spurgeon

I love Oswald Chamber's definition of faith:

“Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time.”
Lastly C.S. Lewis:

“Faith is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted in spite of your changing moods”

Our brains finally arrived!

More on the brains in a moment. This week had been a very busy week. The kids had their regularly scheduled academics, plus a trip to the park on Tuesday to visit with friends, writing club with friends on Wednesday, followed by a trip to the local library for a Hanukkah presentation, where they ate latkes, jelly donuts and learned to play dreidel. Thursday, Liz went to her sewing class to finish working on Lorelai's Christmas present. She is making Lorelai a robe. It is too cute. She also began making my youngest sister, Hannah, some pajamas for Christmas with some extra fabric. Friday, we went to another local park for a nature class that is held for homeschooling families.  It was a very cold and windy day, which equals a terrible day at the park. The class was not that great according to Jon and Liz. Supposedly, it was geared for 4-8th grades, but no. My children were extremely bored. They were most thankful that the class has been cancelled, due to the park ranger leaving the area. What is worse about our park outing on Friday, is that Sophie is now sick again. The poor thing started coughing badly again, Friday night. The cold wind is not good for her.

Yesterday was supposed to be a busy day baking cookies for a cookie exchange Sunday, making a freezer meal, and taking the children out for their Christmas shopping. Plus, we were going to go sledding at the local park that brings in snow, then visit Santa at the library for cookies and pictures. Two things were accomplished: making the freezer meal and the childrens shopping trip. The shopping trip was not fun and the meal wasn't made until late Saturday night. Sophie was so sick that I had to take care of her most of the day, then add in Mike was not well either. Suffice it to say, I will not be going to the cookie/ornament exchange today. I am a bit disappointed, but the Sophie is just not well enough for me to leave her.

Anywho, back to the brains. Seriously. Our sheep brains arrived this week for our dissection this week. I decided to continue our study of the human anatomy, since the children had been studying that at Smith Prep. Neurology is our next topic that we will cover.


Well, I need to tackle my to do list.

Jon's Poem

Jon has been re-reading Jesus Freaks by DC Talk over the past week. In his writing class they had to write a poem. Here is his work:

 The Martyr


The walls are dark

Almost like wood’s bark

The food is cold

While the cell’s corners grow mold

And though my eyes are swollen

My love for the Lord cannot be stolen

They beat and scare me till I’m gray

Yet, for them I shall pray

On me, they extinguish their cigars

So I bear Christ’s scars

When they said I die alone,

I smiled and said, “I’m going home.”

Menu Plans for the Week

Monday - BBQ Pork Burritos, black beans and rice

Tuesday - Kielbasa and cabbage skillet, tossed salad

Wednesday - Cheesy Cauliflower Soup, salad, and fresh bread

Thursday - Teriakyi Chicken, steamed rice, broccoli

Friday - Spaghetti with meatballs, italian chopped salad

Changes

Our family has been undergoing some changes lately. We have brought the older two home from Smith Prep. Unfortunately, it was not working out. I know many people rave about the education there, but it was just not for us. I do think it was a good experiece for the kids though. So far, their first week back at home has been good too. We started using Mystery of History Vol 1 for history. They had to write a four paragraph compare/contrast essay regarding evolution and creation. They read The Christmas Carol by Dickens this week and will have some assignments this coming week on their reading. Elizabeth had to interview her dad about his life and career for her online writing class. Jonathan had to search for onomatopeias in literature readings this week for his Descriptive Writing class. We discuss and looked for examples of skeletal joints in everyday life, then dissected a tooth, made castings of our own teeth, and a few other experiements about our teeth. In Bible, we discussed the book of Exodus, specifically when Moses and the Israelites made their covenant with God. Good stuff.

Another change that will be happening soon is that Lorelai will be coming home from preschool beginning in January. There are two reasons for this change. The first - finances (obviously this needs no explaination) and the second reason - Jon and Liz. Weird, I know, but the older two are drifting from their work each morning and afternoon, when I leave the house to travel to drop Lorelai off and pick her up each day. So, I am taking all of my outside scheduled activities and making sure they are scheduled for late afternoon. Really, there is not much on the schedule anyway, except preschool. We will be getting down to the nitty gritty and making sure we complete the tasks at hand. They need to learn to be responsible for their own work, chores, real life, etc. and I need to focus on getting them ready for the real world. Hopefully, this will help. This decision did not come lightly. It was prayed over for months.

I have been praying for some really cool things lately. One of the biggies on my list is finding Godly women to mentor Elizabeth. I have specific designations for each woman to mentor Elizabeth over the period of a year, this is in an effort to prepare Elizabeth for a Rite of Passage ceremony or a Christian Bat Mitzvah (although we will be doing this a year later than the traditional Jewish Bat Mitzvah). Over the course of the next year, we will be preparing, praying, learning, and growing while covering certain areas with Elizabeth and her mentors. Mike is also going to be doing this with Jonathan.

Today the Christmas tree is finally going up and the decorations. It was fun until a little while ago and I really am over it. Mike put the lights up on the house without testing them first. Of course, only one strand worked. He is off to Lowes with Elizabeth and Lorelai to purchase more lights. He vented, "I don't know why we do this. We are just celebrating like the Pagans." Oh. my. I told him that don't worry about the lights then, but he went off to buy them anyway to make everyone happy. I just wish it could be a quiet, peaceful day.

I have been sick the last four days. I thought it was a simple case of laryngitis, but no. A terrible cough has crept into my lungs and it hurts to breathe. Not fun, I tell you. I can talk a bit now, but I sound very hoarse. Hopefully, I will kick this thing to the curb soon.

Yesterday was a somber football day. Poor Florida. Maybe Urban should go to ND after that game. The most spectacular game though was Cincinnati and Pitt. Wow! We were literally sitting on the edge until the final seconds. Brian Kelly rocks! He is an amazing coach and ND would be an interesting fit for him: he's Irish Catholic and from the Midwest. But wait! There were some amazing rumors and commentary on various sport shows yesterday calling for Lou to come back. That would be amazing, but I do not see it happening.   

My kids love me today!

Well, I hope they love me everyday, but today I know they really do. Why, do you ask? I have laryngitis. I cannot talk. They love that I cannot tell them to get their work done. Really it is true. I am just wondering when I will get my voice back, because it is difficult trying to get a housefull going in the morning with no voice.

So today I will ---- "Be still".