Category: Youtube

How Wolves Change Rivers

10/28/2016

I saw this on facebook and thought, cool!

Then I thought I would look up a couple more wolf videos cause I was on youtube anyways.... hmm.. perhaps I should do up a workbook on wolves eh? Might be a fun study to do.

Hymn Study: Love Divine, all Love's Excelling

7/28/2016

“God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.” 1 John 4:16

Lyrics

Love divine, all loves excelling,
Joy of heaven to earth come down;
Fix in us thy humble dwelling;
All thy faithful mercies crown!
Jesus, Thou art all compassion,
Pure unbounded love Thou art;
Visit us with Thy salvation;
Enter every trembling heart.

Breathe, O breathe Thy loving Spirit,
Into every troubled breast!
Let us all in Thee inherit;
Let us find that second rest.
Take away our bent to sinning;
Alpha and Omega be;
End of faith, as its Beginning,
Set our hearts at liberty.

Come, Almighty to deliver,
Let us all Thy life receive;
Suddenly return and never,
Never more Thy temples leave.
Thee we would be always blessing,
Serve Thee as Thy hosts above,
Pray and praise Thee without ceasing,
Glory in Thy perfect love.

Finish, then, Thy new creation;
Pure and spotless let us be.
Let us see Thy great salvation
Perfectly restored in Thee;
Changed from glory into glory,
Till in heaven we take our place,
Till we cast our crowns before Thee,
Lost in wonder, love, and praise.

I chose two different tunes to show case this hymn, neither is the tune that we sing regularly with this hymn in our church. in fact, there are six tunes this hymn is sung too! Amazing eh? For more info GO HERE. The important part is the words to the hymn though right?

Written by Charles Wesley, a prolific hymn writer, who was the 18th of 19 children, born into a musically oriented family.    He could write up to 10 lines of song per day, his brother John acting as his editor (source).   He was a preemie, thought to be born dead, lying still wrapped in wool for the first few weeks of his life. Initially educated by his mother, he later attended Westminster School and later Oxford.

First published in 1747 in his brother John Wesley's collection, rather dauntingly entitled Hymns for those that seek, and those that have, Redemption in the Blood of Jesus Christ. (source) Some think this song was inspired by a popular pagan song of the day "Fairest isle, all isles excelling".

He was ordained in 1735, ministering in Georgia for a year, then returning to England dejected at his lack of success, God used this time though to help the Wesley Brothers to be more alert to the state of their souls, leading them to deepen their faith.   His songs were wildly popular within his Methodist denomination.

Wesley frequently composed verse while riding from Church to Church on his preaching tour, jotting down rough notes so he could transcribe them later.   (source)   He was a man with a poet's heart, easily taking his thoughts and putting them into verse.

When I read that Charles Wesley wrote 8,989 hymns I was staggered. That's A LOT OF music!!!! He composed some of the most memorable and lasting hymns of the church: "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," "And Can It Be," "O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing," "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling," "Jesus, Lover of My Soul," "Christ the Lord Is Risen Today," "Soldiers of Christ, Arise," and "Rejoice! the Lord Is King!" (source)

It's fascinating isn't it? To learn about some of these authors of hymns? :)

In Sweet Communion, Lord, With Thee, A Hymn Study

7/19/2016

Psalm 73:23-28 (ESV)
23 Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
    you hold my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
    and afterward you will receive me to glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
    And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
    but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
27 For behold, those who are far from you shall perish;
    you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.
28 But for me it is good to be near God;
    I have made the Lord God my refuge,
    that I may tell of all your works.

Lyrics

In sweet communion, Lord, with thee
I constantly abide;
My hand thou holdest in thine own
To keep me near thy side.

Thy counsel through my earthly way
Shall guide me and control,
And then to glory afterward
Thou wilt receive my soul.

Whom have I, Lord, in heav'n but thee,
To whom my thoughts aspire?
And, having thee, on earth is nought
That I can yet desire.

Though flesh and heart should faint and fail,
The Lord will ever be
The strength and portion of my heart,
My God eternally.

To live apart from God is death,
'Tis good his face to seek;
My refuge is the living God,
His praise I long to speak.

All I can find out about this lovely hymn/prayer is that it was written by William U. Butcher. He was a 19th Century fellow who lived the United States.

I know, it's not much, but it is a lovely hymn and I hope you enjoyed listening to it. :)

Hymn Study: He Leadeth Me, O Blessed Thought

5/16/2016

“He leadeth me beside still waters, He restoreth my soul.” Psalm 23:1-3

Lyrics

He leadeth me, O blessed thought!
O words with heav’nly comfort fraught!
Whate’er I do, where’er I be
Still ’tis God’s hand that leadeth me.
- Refrain:
  He leadeth me, He leadeth me,
  By His own hand He leadeth me;
  His faithful foll’wer I would be,
  For by His hand He leadeth me.
Sometimes ’mid scenes of deepest gloom,
Sometimes where Eden’s bowers bloom,
By waters still, o’er troubled sea,
Still ’tis His hand that leadeth me.
Lord, I would place my hand in Thine,
Nor ever murmur nor repine;
Content, whatever lot I see,
Since ’tis my God that leadeth me.
And when my task on earth is done,
When by Thy grace the vict’ry’s won,
E’en death’s cold wave I will not flee,
Since God through Jordan leadeth me.

This lovely hymn, was written by Joseph H. Gilmore, who was born in Boston in 1834.   He died in 1918.

He was preparing to preach a sermon on Psalm 23 and got stuck on the line "He leadeth me". This was a sermon he had preached on several times before, but this time he was stuck on the enormity of the thought that "God leads us".

After the sermon, he and some colleagues got into a discussion about God's divine guidance, and in the process Glimore wrote this poem.   Gave to his wife and promptly forgot all about it.

His wife thought the words would be a blessing to others, and so sent the words into "the Watchman and Reflector" where they were published. William Bradbury saw the lines and put them to music, which led to their inclusion into a baptist hymnal. Gilmore only learned about this when he went to preach a trial sermon at the Second Baptist Church in Rochester.

Gilmore taught for many years at the University of Rochester in New York and authored several books on literature.   He also worked as a professor of Hebrew.   For a while he as a pastor at a Baptist church in Fisherville, New Hampshire.   He penned text for a few other hymns, but none have had the enduring quality of "He Leadeth Me".

Sources:
Christianity.com.
The Hymnary.
Cyber Hymnal.
Song Scoops.

Giant Forest Hog

4/6/2016

Giant Forest Hog (Hylochoerus meinertzhageni)is a HUGE hog... I tell yah..... My lad and I wanted to see what this shaggy hog looked like and were amazed at the sheer size of some of these hogs.

The males are bigger than the females, they are a dark brown or black in colour covered with hair, this hair becomes more sparse the older the hogs get. They have swellings below their eyes, which can get quite large in the males. They have a bristle like mane which they raise when alarmed or excited. They also have tusks.

Check it out:

This video below gives some good information about them. Did you know that these wild hogs prefer to live in areas with a dense understorey, a large variety of plants and a good water source?

Giant Forest Hog is large wild hog weighing from 100 to 275 kg. They are found only in Africa.

There are three recognized subspecies, each with distinct ranges. The forest hog H. m. ivoriensis inhabits the area near the Ivory Coast, H. m. rimator lives in two areas near the west and central equatorial zone and coexists in the east equatorial zone with H. m. mienertzhagheni, the "true" giant forest hog. A potential fourth subspecies exists to the north of H. m. mienertzhagheni. (source)

Unlike most wild hogs, the African Forest Hog primarily eats grasses, sedges and herbage. These plants may contain carrion or eggs, but they mostly eat the plants. They engage coprophogia, which is the eating of feces.

They live in family groups of 6-14 animals, with a dominant boar. Boars will fight when they first meet to decide heirarchy, thereafter they won't fight anymore as the loser will make himself scarce should the family groups meet up again.

In forested environments, forest hogs communicate with quiet grunts to maintain group coherence; a barking call serves to locate individuals at a distance. Males produce a long grunting call. In competing for females, males fight like wild sheep, charging at each other from 20-30 m apart and ramming heads together. This combat may cause skull fractures, although this is often not fatal. (source)

click image to go to source

These hogs are not threatened despite being localized in their populations and well-hunted. Their numbers are not declining and they continue to create crop damage, carry swine fever and are part of the cycle for sleeping sickness. Though according to this site, more people are starting to hunt them for food and so they are starting to disappear more quickly.

Even though these giant hogs damage crops, through their activities they help with dispersing plant species. They keep to trails that connect their grazing grounds, latrines, wallow holes and anything else they use regularly.

If you click in the image below it will take you to a worksheet directly connected with this blog post.

Sources:
ICUN. Animal Diversity. Ultimate Ungulate. National geographic. Wildscreen.

Today was better, not great, but better

4/5/2016

After two weeks of not getting much done in the way of schooling due to cold/flu running through the house, WOOT WOOT.. today I woke up with energy! (granted that energy ran away quickly and by 1 p.m. I was barely function and by 330 was shivering in a warm house). :) BUT HEY!!! Got some schooling done so YEAH!!!!!

Anyways, what did we get done?

The lad worked his way through Veritas Press History and Bible.
Then attacked his A+ Interactive Math.. he loves the short lessons. As long as he gets 80% or higher I don't require extra work.

After this we worked on our Homeschool Copywork. Took a bit of figure out what was wrong with my printer (hubby needed to help) but finally printed off enough sheets for the next bit. The lad is really enjoying the copywork for the Dragons in the Bible book.

Math, reading, science all done. YEAH!!!
To end our time as I was running out of brain power we did some reading.

The Natural World book had us reading about eels today, so we looked up garden eels on Youtube. They made us laugh.

Isn't God amazing with some of the creatures he has made??? Just amazing. :)

Review and Giveaway for FishFlix.com

3/23/2016

I recently was given a chance by FishFlix.com to review the movie The Gospel of John:The visual bible. I was so glad I had this opportunity.

About the Movie:
The Gospel of John: the visual bible is the movie I chose to view. This movie is done using the words of the Good News Bible Translation. It runs for approx 180 minutes. The Gospel of John DVD works it's way through Jesus' early ministry through his death on the cross and more. To learn more about the creation of this Christian movie visit Gospel of John at FishFlix.com. This DVD is rated PG-13 and is directed by Philip Saville. It stars Henry Ian Cusick and is narrated by Christopher Plummer.

Who is FishFlix.com?
FishFlix.com was started by a man from Turkey named Dr. Enis Sakirgil. Dr. Sakirgil got involved in the making of Christian movie called Apostle Paul and the Earliest Churches. His heart was for helping the western world learn about Christianity in Turkey. Upon immigrating into the USA he started selling this movie, and as one thing tends to lead to another he started selling more and more movies and Voila! FishFlix.com was born. This company sells all sorts of Christian movies to suit a variety of audiences and age ranges. Prices run as low as $5 for solid entertainment.

My Thoughts:
I sat down to watch this with my lad, who is 10 years old. As we were watching it he said "Mom, I've read everything they are saying!" He was so surprised by this. Shows how closely they do indeed follow the gospel story.

So what did I like about it?

The acting was realistic.
It really brought out to me how much the Jewish leadership was against Jesus right from the very start of his ministry.
Given my son's reaction, it made it clear how good this would be to show to people who haven't been exposed to the Gospel of John before.
The narration by Christopher Plummer was clear and easily understood.
Gave my son a chance to see what life would have looked like for Jesus, the dirty feet, the long walks, the noise of the animals etc.

Product Details:
Received: DVD movie
Title: The Gospel of John: Visual Bible DVD
Vendor: FishFlix.com
Price: $6.95
Running Length: 181 minutes
Type: Bible based, book of John

Visit FishFlix.com at the following Social Media outlets

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fishflix
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/FishFlix @FishFlix
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/ChristianDVD @ChristianDVD
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/fishflix/

FishFlix.com is hosting a giveaway. Entry is easy, just join their email list. You can find the subscription form HERE. So what can you win? Check it out.. over $80 worth in movies, you get a 5-Movie prize pack – including War Room, The Ultimate Gift, Superbook: A Great Adventure, My Son, My Savior and Owlegories 2. Would it not be great if you could win? What are you waiting for? :)

Learning about Azerbaijan

3/4/2016

For the past three weeks the lad and I have been learning about Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan is a country in Europe that is dwarfed by Russia, Turkey and Iran. It predominately a Muslim country were peoples of other religions are free to worship. They do a lot of oil, natural gas etc. The Capital City is Baku. They are divided into two areas...a larger land mass and then the area of Naxcivan.

The Music from Azerbaijan has a different sound than we are used to. We weren't quite sure what to make of it. We found the instruments intriguing. In fact my lad had us look them up as the spiked fiddle made him wonder if it could also be used as a weapon...and was disappointed that it was only a rest spot.

Azerbaijan food uses a lot of sherbet (a fruit based sweet drink), meat from mountain type animals (sheep goats etc) and fresh vegetable (like tomatoes).

One of the things that caught my lads attention about this land was their acceptance of other religions. In a day when we hear only of how Muslims are against people of other faiths, to find a Muslim based country that is tolerant was a "that's nice of them mom" moment for my son and I.

A short history of Azerbaijan, especially in relationship with the USA.

I found this funny After viewing the USA film I wondered if Canada had anything similar, and found this video about Sittlng Volleyball. My lad made me smile though... he saw the players coming on to the court and was horrified!

"MOM!! why did they do that? Why do they cut off their leg so they can play a game? Who would do that!!!!" I needed to explain to him that they didn't do that so they could play volleyball but that it was a way for people who got hurt to be able to have fun playing a physically active sport. His response then was "Oh, that was nice of them. It's good to play games mom. But I was wondering why anyone would let someone cut off their leg to play a game. I am glad it's not like that."

Tonight we had some friends come join us for our meal. A mom with her five children..   Her children were quite used to helping to cook so were quite eager to lend a hand.   We were so busy and talking so much I completely forgot to take pictures.

Items we made together:
Pan Kabab.   Ground lamb into a meatball. We were supposed to put them on skewers, but we just turned them into patties and cooked them up.   I made them without the sauce because it was getting on time to eat.ched almonds.

Milk Sherbet.   Sweetened milk.

Azerbaijani Plov. A pilaf.   Using basmati rice and blanched almonds.

Items I made ahead of time with my lad as the dough needed to set, or the food needed to steep or rest.

Mint Sherbet.   My son actually made this by himself.

Caraway Sherbet.   This was really good.   :)

Shekerbura.   These were a bit tricky to make, it took me some time to figure out how thin was just right and what size was ideal.   I made the rounds, the lad did the sealing.   Not as pretty as the professional ones, but turned out well.

Sticky Donut Fingers.     These were good. My son cooked them... his first time deep frying anything. I made the sauce but I didn't let it cook quite long enough.   Still tasted good. :)   The children really liked these.

I'll leave you with this last video.   Pretty horses.

Chris Tomlin - Good Good Father music video (contest linked)

3/2/2016

I have to admit that I am not real familiar with this artist. BUT Chris Tomlin has a music video out called "Good Good Father" which sounds pretty good. :) So I thought I'd share it with you. It's not what I would call a deeply theological song, but it is a nice song that speaks to God's love for us and his concern for us as a father. It speaks to how God is perfect and loves us.

We all have a picture of who we think God is. When we get down to the foundation of what we believe, the truth is that God is exactly who He says He is – a good, good Father.

If you would like to learn what the story is behind the song, this video linked below will help you understand it a bit better. :)

If you want to download the video on itunes you can find here.

Did you know that he is currently running a contest?
It's Flyaway to see him in concert. Pretty cool eh?
You can learn more about that concert at this link.

CHRIS TOMLIN LYRICS

"Good Good Father"

Oh, I've heard a thousand stories of what they think you're like
But I've heard the tender whisper of love in the dead of night
And you tell me that you're pleased
And that I'm never alone

You're a Good, Good Father
It's who you are, it's who you are, it's who you are
And I'm loved by you
It's who I am, it's who I am, it's who I am

Oh, and I've seen many searching for answers far and wide
But I know we're all searching
For answers only you provide
Cause you know just what we need
Before we say a word

You're a Good, Good Father
It's who you are, it's who you are, it's who you are
And I'm loved by you
It's who I am, it's who I am, it's who I am

Cause you are perfect in all of your ways
You are perfect in all of your ways
You are perfect in all of your ways to us

You are perfect in all of your ways
You are perfect in all of your ways
You are perfect in all of your ways to us

Oh, it's love so undeniable
I, I can hardly speak
Peace so unexplainable
I, I can hardly think

As you call me deeper still [x3]
Into love, love, love

[x3:]
You're a Good, Good Father
It's who you are, it's who you are, it's who you are
And I'm loved by you
It's who I am, it's who I am, it's who I am

You're a Good, Good Father
(You are perfect in all of your ways)
It's who you are, it's who you are, it's who you are
And I'm loved by you
(You are perfect in all of your ways)
It's who I am, it's who I am it's who I am

Canada: Nova Scotia

1/22/2016

Today my son did our introductory work for Nova Scotia. I found this page from Crayola and printed it off and used it as the basis of some study.

As you can see on the page it talked about Canada's provincial flower. We learned more about the Mayflower here. and then had a chance to see a real one via video. We were amazed by the huge proboscis on the bee fly.

The Osprey in the provincial Bird. The Osprey is a fish eating bird. Therefore they are generally found around water... streams, lakes, oceans etc. The gripping pads on their feet help them hang onto their fish after they dive 9-30 metres into the water after them. it's rather neat... if osprey have to carry a large fish for quite some distance they will orient the fish so that it has the least wind resistance. :) Cool how God built that intelligence into them.

Bald eagles will share the same habitat with them, being larger they will often force an osprey to drop it's fish and take it for it's own meal. Osprey have a black stripe extending from their eye to their back, and it's one of the ways you can distinguish it from the bald eagle.

They have a staggered nesting season, which means in times of poverty the older bigger offspring eat while the smaller ones will starve.

My son really liked what happened in this video.

We filled in our Canada map showing where Nova Scotia was located and it's capital.

click on image to go to source

We also learned the history of the flag. The crest being from old Scottish roots. It is the St. Andrews cross in the reverse colours with the Scottish coat of arms. Nova Scotia stands for "New Scotland". For a brief period of time they used a different flag/coat of arms issued by Queen Victoria, but it was not well received, so the old flag and coat of arms was again put to use.