Tuesday, April 25, 2017

1 John

I have been listening to Paul Washer a lot this spring.  And he often preaches from 1 John.  I never really spent too much time in 1 John, I have read through it a few times as a part of a larger Bible reading and I have used it to answer fill in the blank questions for various Bible studies...but I have never just hung out in and meditated on 1 John.

What a mistake on my part!

There is such reassurance, such direct instruction.  Especially if you question whether or not you are truly His, truly saved.  It is a weighty matter to question salvation.

Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did.  1 John 2:6


PS - please, please take the time to go read this post today.  It is by far one of the most beautiful, most beneficial blog posts that I have read.  Hands down.


Monday, April 24, 2017

loneliness and tidbits

Why is it so hard to make friends, good friends, as an adult?  I know part of my particular circumstance that makes it difficult is the fact that I have three kids with varying special needs and that, by its very nature, means we have unpredictable days.  And we spend a lot of time at home.

But still...it is HARD.  

And lonely.  :(

But through it all, God has provided.  I have this one friend who lives near me that I absolutely adore.  I have found so many neat books and blogs recently.  And my husband, although very busy, is literally my favorite person on the planet.  He is my very best friend.  I am so thankful for that. :)

Do you ever have those moments where you realize you aren't as smart (or clever) as you think you are?

Did you know that a linking verb 'complement' is indeed spelled differently from the word 'compliment'...that is was not a printing error in the teacher manual.  Ha!

Did you know that you can do one small test to know for sure whether a verb is a linking verb or an action verb?  If you are not sure try substituting a form of the verb "to be" in place of the verb in question, if the meaning is altered...the verb is a linking verb.

Example:

Is tasted a linking or action verb in the following sentences?  Well, let's check it out....

The sandwich tasted yummy.     The sandwich is yummy.  Obviously tasted is a linking verb here.

I tasted the sandwich.  I am the sandwich.  Tasted is an action verb here because I am most certainly not a sandwich :).

Thursday, April 6, 2017

National Poetry Month

Did you know April was national poetry month?  I didn't until just a moment ago, when I read a post from Modern Mrs. Darcy...and I found this really COOL list of ideas to celebrate it!

We read a bit last month, not as much as I had hoped to, but any progress is progress no matter how small, right?  I think someone famous said that at some point, but I am not sure who.

When I was younger I would pick up one book, read it all the way through before moving on.  As I get older, I rarely have the luxury of picking up and reading a book from cover to cover in my "free" time.  I have also noticed some days are "non-fiction" days and some days "fiction" days, whereas in my youth and early 20's it was rarely a "non-fiction" day, week, or month, and certainly never a year.  :)

Anyways on some days I will struggle more with one thing than another, so I have quickly learned to treat books as friends and mentors.  I will find trusted voices, steeped in the Word of God, and I will glean from them.  I am not as careful with my fiction choices as I am with my non-fiction choices, that is something that I am actually struggling with right now.  When is it ok to enjoy a book that is fiction, and when is it time to draw the line?  I am of course talking about the not so obvious topics, but this is a post for another day

My Books for March :

The Broken Way by Ann Voskamp - I just finished chapter four.  I started this book several months ago.  I am purposely reading it slow because I want to think it through.  I am a very fast reader, but since I devour books, I don't remember a lot of what I read.  I get caught up in the story or someone's words and enjoy them in the moment, but rarely pack away things for later.  I wanted this book to be different.  I want it to impact my life.

The Prayer of Protection by Joseph Prince - this was a gift to me.  It is one I am hoping to finish this week, but will have to go back through again and dwell on the truth of Psalm 91.  I love the Psalms, there is literally a Psalm for just about every feeling you can have.

On The Edge by F. Parker Hudson- this is a tough book to read through.  I just finished book one and am going to make myself go on to book two, but ACK.  This was recommended to me from someone else, and I am stunned by the realness of the unseen battle, but it weighs heavy on my heart.

A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton-Porter - This is my first Gene Stratton-Porter, I have wanted to read her books for years, but never got around to it.  However, I got so mad at the Momma in this book I had to put it down.  Will she ever come to her senses?!?!  I plan to finish this in April.

The Curate of Glaston (trilogy) by George MacDonald.  This book also was a recommendation from someone else and it arrives at a very interesting time.  I just listened to a sermon this past weekend by Paul Washer  and it goes hand in hand with this book.  I have to think some more and read some more before I share my heart.

I have been invited to read through The Celebration of Discipline, this is a book I have had on my shelf for years, but have never gotten around to reading.

To My Kids -

Five Children and It - we are delighting in this book by Edith Nesbit.  We bought it on audible, speaking of audible, have you signed up for Sarah Mackenzie's kindle/audible deal alerts?

We are (sadly) finishing up the last Clementine book.  We have read this entire series by Sarah Pennypacker as read alouds.
 
We are currently reading through the Magic Treehouse series with my youngest.

The Secret Unicorn by Kathleen Duey.  My oldest is reading this aloud to my youngest.

Ginger Pye - we started this book but had to put it on pause, so I will more than likely just start over from chapter one.  It looks like it's going to be a great story.

What are you reading?

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

ick

SO that was a nasty cold virus.  It took all five of us out.  I am still really, really, really tired.  :(

I have been thinking about some things while we have been sick.

One - what worked for us and what hasn't worked for us this school year?

Two - why is my house always messy?

Three - a sermon by Paul Washer called "A Sermon That Has Angered Many".

Four - how can I read the Word so that I then think on it all day?

So - one - what worked for our school year so far?  The lay-out of our day works really well, when medical conditions cooperate.  I have three kids with varying special needs, so some days...ok a LOT of days are really, really tough.  Making sure I have a routine down that flows is really important.  

This year I used Saxon Math with two of our kiddos.  This is our first time trying Saxon, we have tried just about every other curriculum out there it seems, but Saxon is working really well for them.  Our Language Arts is working really, really well...except for writing.  We struggle here.  I am going to order these for the summer and come up with a different game plan for the later summer/early fall.  We school year round, but our focus/intensity changes with seasons.

I heard about an awesome idea from Modern Mrs. Darcy.  I am hit and miss with reading her blog posts, but I am SO glad I did not miss this post about how to track what you are reading.  I found THE neatest idea.  I LOVE the five year, one line a day journals.  My husband ordered two extra for me this year, so I grabbed one and started using it to capture what I am reading and what I am reading to my kids.  Genius idea.  SUCH a neat way to track.  Reading aloud is so incredibly special and important to us, I am so glad I have found a way to keep track of where we have been :).

What hasn't worked?  Planning.  It is so hard to make lesson plans because we might have a great morning and a horrible afternoon, or we might have a great Monday, hard Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday and then a great Friday.  My planner arrived last summer with a LOT of printing errors and it made it hard to use, then I had a great idea to do weekly lesson plans, instead of planning the year out...yeah, not one of my best ideas.  It made for so much extra work.  So next year I am going to color code my lessons plans.  I will write the year master list out with a blue or black pen and as we go through, as we complete each lesson plan I will color it in with a colored pencil, so at first glance I can see, "Oh we got through Monday's lessons, but Tuesday's afternoon subjects need to be completed before we go on to Wednesday's afternoon lessons."
 
Two - I have no idea how to balance housework with everything else we have going on.  My idea to focus on one room for March did not go as planned.  I procrastinated and then we got sick :(.  I need to tackle this and I need to get a plan in place that works.  Any ideas?

Three - still chewing on this sermon and reading "The Curate of Glaston" by George MacDonald. As I sort my thoughts I will write more about this later.

Four - I am thinking of ideas to keep the Word before me all day, not just in my morning reading.  Any ideas?