Category: Series

Has it come yet? Mom? Has it come yet?

10/13/2016

Recently my lad ordered something in the mail (which I am not allowed to tell you about),and the estimated delivery date was pretty large...sometime between Oct 4 and 26... he ordered it the beginning of September.

And boy oh boy...that's a long time to wait if you are an eager 11 year old waiting for something that you really really want to have arrive.

"MOM!   How many days yet?" was the daily question.

Until finally.. "HEY LAD... look, I think this is for you. Want to check?"
And then oh joy oh joy...it arrived!!!

Happy child.

Makes me think of how happy I am whenever I get a notification that a friend has left me a message in my inbox, or I've received an email from a loved one, or even snail mail.   Ah...but that comes so rarely these days...and then I'm left with...what do I do with this now? Keep it? Toss it?   With email...I can save it and it's there forever and takes up no space eh?   But I love it regardless of what form it takes.

Letters are communication...a note from me to you.

hmm... communication eh?   Like... God's word is a letter to us, a form of communication.   And prayer..that's like talking, talking is communication, communication that is between you and God.

Just as a letter brings joy to the reader, don't you think prayer brings joy to God?

Should do more of both don't you think?

Visit Kate Motaung to see what others have to say about this week's word prompt MAIL.

Five minutes of free writing, not editing, just writing.
Link up, Encourage the person before you.
It's a good time held by all.

31 Days: Aware

10/13/2016

Aware
Define:

having knowledge or perception of a situation or fact.
concerned and well-informed about a particular situation or development

Alive
I came to know
To be aware.

I am
Mindful of
the fact that
sensible though
I be.

That there is
a consciousness
greater than I.

And that
Consciousness
Is cognizant
of me.

And in my
growing I was
alerted to the fact
that this
consciousness
is
God.

And God
is always
Aware of me.

Hop on over to here and here to find more 31 day writers. :) Oh and Lisa from Canadian Homeschooler is doing a Canada series. See the rest of my series here.

Art Series: Create your own Collage

10/12/2016

Affiliate links may be used throughout this post, they are not an additional burden to you and only help support my efforts with this blog. Thanks! :)

My son said "This is a book made for girls mom!"

And I have to admit that Lizzie Lees' Create Your Own Collage book hits me that way too. This is a use it up, have fun making different items with it, you go girl type of book.

And that my friends, is the point of the book, creative projects with all the paper and stickers and encouragement you need to do them.

There are two, two page spreads like this one:

Sticker pages

Tons of colourful pages, with idea pages of what you can do with those pages.

Projects to complete like this neat pineapple

Off and on throughout the book you will find quotes to encourage you along the way.

So what do I think of this book? It's a cute book and I plan to find some daring youngster to give it to, and simply say.. HAVE FUN! Create, enjoy, be an artist in your own way. Make collages if you want, but here's a book with lots of paper, just go and create! (unless of course my lad changes his mind and thinks we should add it our stash of creative supplies). :) He does that you know. :)

I have to admit, she comes up with so many different ideas on what you can do with collages, it surprised me. I really liked some of her projects, like the boat and pineapple, with the right pages and the patience, those projects could come out really really well....but maybe that's the slightly girlie part of me. (big grin)

Lizzie Lee's Create your Own Collage,Cut, Color, and Paste Your Way to Fabulous Artworks and more.

Published by St. Martin's Press, it is 160 pages long and about 7 x 8 inches.

Canadians can find this book through Amazon here: Create Your Own Collage: Cut, Color, and Paste Your Way to Fabulous Artworks and More And Americans can find it here: Create Your Own Collage: Cut, Color, and Paste Your Way to Fabulous Artworks and More

31 Days: Sky

10/12/2016

For the couple of weeks I've been studying the Book of Ezekiel. Learning about how as a prophet he was God's mouth piece to the people but he had to go through a whole lot of physical pain in order to bring God's message to the people.

In the beginning of Ezekiel, we find these words   "the heavens were opened".   And with those words, Ezekiel's life was forever changed. I haven't gotten far enough into Ezekiel to see if what he did matters to the people of Judah and Israel.

What Ezekiel saw though... God's glory forever changed his life. He wasn't necessarily happy about it, but he still did all that the Lord required of him.   He was called the "Son of Man" and he went through so much (and that's only in the first eight chapters) and I honestly can't see a fellow doing all that he did unless he was profoundly changed.   He sat in bitterness for a week and then got on to it.

From lying on his side, to shaving his head bald and building a siege works.   Ezekiel was kept busy.... and it all started by God's glory coming down out of the sky.

Makes me wonder....how has God's glory changed my life?   Can people see the change?

Letters to Pastor's Wives: The Lord's Day: A Hard Day's Rest.

10/11/2016

As a pastor's wife, part of your job is to model to the congregation a biblical approach to the keeping of the Sabbath.

Some reasons why keeping this fourth commandment is still important today.

The Sabbath, along with marriage and work, was instituted by God at creation. These three creation ordinances are binding on all humanity.
It is a binding moral law. God relates this commandment to his work of creation. (Exodus 20:8-11)
alkj;j

So how does one live out the Sabbath as a binding moral law?

The Sabbath is holy to the Lord, when men prepare their hearts.
Order their affairs before the Sabbath.
Observe a holy rest all the day from their worldly works, words, thoughts and recreation.
And use the whole day for public and private worship.
And perform deeds of necessity and mercy.

My thoughts:
I was talking with my hubby over the thoughts found in this chapter since I found them rather surprising, and he said "Pipa does not follow the continental approach to the Sabbath". Though what the term for it escapes him at the moment. I look at these rules for the Sabbath and I think NO...that would be more work to be done before the Sabbath and then not being able to do stuff on the Sabbath (like go for walks and swim and what not).. that would be hard to work through.   I do think people NEED to remember that Sunday is the Lord's Day and doing things differently that day MATTERS.

In our house we don't do unnecessary work (for the most part).   I don't cook (I let the fellows forage). We attend services. We don't pay for our recreation (so we won't go to a fair, go shopping, or attend rabbit shows for example).

I do think people need to think through what the Lord asks us of in regards to the Lord's Day.   We need to be mindful of where our hearts and minds are at. We need to consider what we need to do so that we can come to worship WANTING to worship. (so no staying up late on Saturday night).   I do think that the Lord is quick to forgive us though, so if you have a day where you do some laundry, or cook a meal, or go out for dinner or whatever... The Lord, if our hearts are right, will forgive us.

But that's my take on it. :)

What do YOU think?   How do you make Sunday a day of rest?

31 Days: Question

10/11/2016

This is a word my lad came up with for an alternative for me to the word Post-it that simply ground me a halt.

When I think of the word question I think of laying down on a bed with a lad as he prepares for a time of play with his mom.

Of reading books and having a lad break in with "tell me if I am wrong mom".. and then proceeds to tell me what he is thinking about what we were just reading about.   It is often expressed as a question, but sometimes comes out as a statement with the qualifier of wanting to know if he's right.

Sometimes the interruptions bother me...especially if I feel like I am running short on time, but I remember his thoughts and comments.   I know that as he gets older and doesn't want to play with his mom any more that I will miss our reading and playing time.

I will miss having Dutch revolt against the Spanish (as happened tonight.. we've been reading history books lately)... I will miss the bears learning that gambling on the ponies is a horrible thing to do ... especially if you get hooked on it and start to steal things.   A

And I will mostly miss the question of "Correct me if I am wrong mom, but is what I am thinking right?"

Hop on over to here and here to find more 31 day writers. :) Oh and Lisa from Canadian Homeschooler is doing a Canada series. See the rest of my series here.

31 Days: Thanks

10/10/2016

The original word for the day was "unknown", and yesterday's was supposed to be "Post-it".... but that didn't resonate with me at all, and today is Thanksgiving Day here in Canada, so I thought I'd jump ahead a day and use the word Thanks.

Yes, I know.. we celebrate it earlier than our neighbours to the south. We also celebrate it for different reasons.

Did you know that Thanksgiving Day was first celebrated by the arctic explorer Martin Frobisher in 1578? He was giving thanks for safe arrival for himself and his crew mates. Though it wasn't until November 1879 that it officially became a holiday, being a conglomeration of four traditions: :

harvest celebrations in European peasant societies,
formal observances such as Frobisher's thanksgiving of safe arrival AND
the influence of the Pilgrims’ harvest celebration in Massachusetts
and the indigenous peoples of Canada have long celebrated thanksgiving with feast.

It has gone through changes as to when it is celebrated going from November 6, to the third Monday in October until parliament decided it should be on the Second Monday of October. No more confusion, just a national day to celebrate and offer thanksgiving.
(source) It's rather interesting to think about how our tradition has melded together, kinda like how we work as a nation eh? :)

I just want to take a moment to wish you all a great Thanksgiving. Have fun rejoicing with your families over a turkey (or a pot of soup). The food matters not, just enjoy your day and celebrate it with family and friends, thanking God for all the bounties he has blessed you with.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

31 Days : Unknown

10/9/2016

One thing that has kept with me for years is the knowledge that Paul (I think) preached to folks who worshipped the unknown God and a story I heard about a man who evangelized a people who worshipped the God of the Thumb.

Lately I have been reading a book with my lad "The Cat of Bubastes" where the high priest comes to realize that all the Egyptians are worshipping with their many gods, are various attributes of the One God.

Also, as my son and I read through various history books, we see all the different ways that people worship "god" and some of those ways, in our eyes, are pretty horrific, but if you search out why they do it, you can see within those worship practices, a desire to truly know the One True God.

Since people are so steeped in sin, it so easy for us to only see part of God, and for those who don't have the scriptures readily at hand, to twist what we see of God in the world around us, into something it is not meant to be.

Ergo human sacrifice, gods of death, gods of the thumb, and so forth will spring into being... and it all points to this one thing.

WE ALL have an innate desire to know God. To know the one that created us.
To see, what for us in our sin is, the Unknown God.

Oh that we who know him would help people see who this God truly is. Oh, that we could meet there where they are and point them to the knowledge that they really are seeking. Let us show people who the true KNOWN God is eh?

A good thing no?

31 days: Muddle

10/8/2016

31 days of words, and today's word is muddle.
I asked my lad what he thought about the word muddle and he said "I don't know what that word means".

Even when I defined it for him, he still drew a blank.
I figured it might be good to provide a definition in case there are others who don't know what it means: Muddle: to bring into a disordered or confusing state OR to be in an untidy or disorganized OR to have a disorganized, untidy collection.

M essy
U nkempt
D isorder
D isarray
L ess than neat
E ncumbered

It's a great descriptive word, and I can see my lad using it in his book that he is writing, for as I was writing this post we were chatting about how it would describe Ratagas from Lord of the Rings.   Then a light bulb went off and he said "Mom, that's a good word!"

I am using story writing to help him really understand how grammar helps you to write a better story.   I find the more he is writing and edits his work, the less muddled his writing is becoming, and the more clear he is becoming in defining adjectives, adverbs, phrases and such like. It's a rather neat process watching a lad learn by using his creative talents.

31 days and #fmfparty combined: TEST

10/6/2016

Test

That's the word of the day.

Oh my... that word means different things to folks eh?

Some folks have a test and they get all worried about "what if I get something wrong?   What if I don't excell?   What if ...." and the anxiety goes into over drive.

Others encounter a test and take it in stride.   Assuming they can learn the material sufficiently to do as well as they wish on the test.   Yet, I knew others, who if they had a test, would not study, assuming they knew all they were going to.

Different responses to the same stimuli. People are SO fascinating aren't they?

My son and I started a new course of study today, the human body, we'll be studying some of the different systems of the body, see how God put us all together.

Today we were talking abit about Psalm 139.. where God knit us together before we were born and how we knows all of our days and what that means for us.   How God knew that I would have gimpy feet in my middle age, and how my lad is soft-hearted and smart, and how Dad would have to struggle with how things are in our church. God knew it all ahead of time.

God made us all the way we are.   In all our differences and samenesses, God knows us all full well.

So tests or not and how we respond to them, this fact remains... God knows us full well, from before we were born til the end of our days.

So if you are one of those that stresses over tests and how you will do in this, take heart... God knows ALL your days, every single one of them, and perhaps that knowledge will help you to stress less as you study.   :)