Considering Caged Birds

We've been reading a really cool book for school lately called "The Land I Lost."  This is the second time we've read it since this is the second time that Eastern Hemisphere has rolled around in our Sonlight curriculum, since I'm on my second batch of kiddos.  Secondly.... it is about Vietnam, a very long time ago.  A man tells stories about his boyhood adventures-- lots of giant snakes, water buffalos, monkeys, alligators, wild boars and birds.  One of the bird stories that we read the other day really impacted me and got me thinking.

How I Roll

I just heard the school bus drive by my house.  My kiddos are still snoozing.  The house is completely silent and dark.  The sound of that school bus reminds me of how blessed I am to home school.  What a privilege it is. What a responsibility.

Truth is, I've been having one of those freak-out-about-everything weeks.

W.W.?.D.?

 

Thanks to my crazy busy life, I haven't been keeping up with the ole blog too much lately.  But, here's an oldy that I thought some of my new blog friends might appreciate....

Remember the old WWJD days? Yep, been there, done that, even got the T shirt. When faced with a dilemma, you were supposed to ask yourself, "What would Jesus Do?", and then you'd supposedly know what to do. Sounds pretty straightforward, right? Only one major problem... Jesus was a single guy.

It's A Bummer

Sorry I haven't written much lately.  I'm taking this whole college thing alot harder than I expected.  It feels too much like a funeral.  I know he's busy and if he needs me he'll call.  But, dude, it's hard.  H-A-R-D.

The Big Day

Today was the day.
My first little fledgling flew the coop.
My boy went off to college.

Bye, bye, Jacob.

Back 2 School

Glad to see that the kids are getting good use out of their outrageously expensive calculator!

All these Back to School ads really crack me up.  Just today I saw a Wal-mart challenge to get all your back to school clothes for under $100.  Are you stinkin' kidding me??? For ONE kid??  And that's a challenge?  I think I could get all seven ready for under 100 bucks!

(except for the calculator, of course.)

Seriously.

A Recipe That Works

Lately I've been on a quest for good, reliable canning recipes.  Thanks to all that rain, I've got lots of veggies to deal with.  It's a good problem to have, but a problem, none the less.  You'd think you could just look up what to do with banana peppers and there would be some sort of consensus on how to safely and easily can them.  But there's not.  There's 45 recipes for the same thing.  And they're all different.  Different ingredients.  Different processing times.  Different etc.   Now, if it was just cooked peppers that I was wanting, I would just pick any old recipe and wing it.  Then eat it.  And not really give it much thought.  But canning is a different story.  Improperly canned foods can kill people.

Tip Tuesday: Let It Be

You know that old Beatle's song?  Yeah, now that's some good stuff!

I can get so stinkin' wrapped around the axle sometimes about the dumbest things.  And before I know it I missed out on a whole day of good things.  Or a week.  Or in my case right now... a month.  Just because I'm mulling over something that is really bothering me.  Alot.  And it shouldn't be that way at all.  Especially for a Christian!  It's pathetic.

A Good Flick

Have you seen this movie?

We just found it at our local video store.  That's right, folks, and honest-to-goodness video store!  Not a Redbox.  Which is like the Wal-mart of the movie world.  But that's another story.

Anyways, our video store also has bunnies and exotic tropical fish--  how cool is that?  I love supporting local stores.  I'd gladly pay a little more just to keep them in business.  But their movies are only 99 cents for the first day, so take that redbox!  And they have every movie that you can think of (mostly) and they even know where it is and have seen it, too.  For a non-movie lover like myself, that's pretty impressive.

And I'm curious what you guys think of this...  would you rather watch those cheesy, church-made movies with corny religious lines, so-so acting and an in-your-face moral message, or do you prefer to watch a movie with a GOOD redeeming story about real people working through real struggles and overcoming-- even though there's cussing and a few other funky things thrown in?

We've seen tons of both.  Some are better than others. 

This movie, Joyful Noise, had some of that funky stuff-- teens sneaking/dating, yelling at mom, cussing (I absolutely hate God's name in vain cussing and don't even know why they put that junk in a perfectly good movie) and other random bad stuff.  But it also had such a redemptive story line.  Real struggles.  Real people.  Religion vs. Christianity.  Hard questions.  Leaves you feeling good.  And happy. 

So, what do you think?


What are your favorite movies that you watch over and over and quote on a regular basis?

One of the 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership

I'm doing much better today.  Not really pingin' anymore.  Everybody's happy and thank you all for your prayers!  The thing that was totally stressing me out is done.  Sometimes you don't even realize what it is exactly until it's over and you're not stressed anymore.  A great night's sleep really helps, too.

Anyways, I've been reading this book that is totally uncharacteristic of my normal reading habits.  I usually read about how-to type stuff relating to home and garden mostly.  Sometimes schooling or relationships or psychology or art.  But not leadership.  I guess it's about time I learned some of this stuff, then.

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership just turned up in my house somehow.

In Defense of Contentment

Hey Jen,
I had a question for ya.  What do you think of Pinterest?  I've noticed that you're not joining and I wondered why not.
--An Avid Pinner

OK, good question.  I'm glad you asked.

First off, I'll tell you that Pinterest is very cool.  Every time someone has introduced me to it and I've browsed it for a few minutes I absolutely Loved it.  Like tiramisu.

How to Surpass Them All, Part 2

OK, so what if you're not The Proverbs 31 Super Amazing Woman?

What if you’re not Mrs. Dugger?

  Or "Total Mom", Hannah Keeley?

What if you’re just a regular mom like me?

I mean, geez, some days I don’t do ANY of those things in Proverbs 31.  And none of my kids play violin!  What a guilt trip, right?

So, here’s what I’m thinking....

Let's Just Be Honest People

Have you ever seen the movie "Apollo 13"?  I'm not sure why, but I've seen it about 20 times.  Anyways, there's a scene where the astronauts were all buckled in their spaceship, getting ready to blast off to the moon, possibly into oblivion and the news reporters are interviewing their wives.  One of the wives had been through the whole ordeal before and the other one was brand new to the terrifying experience.  Right before the reporters arrived, the wise, older wife smiled confidently and said to the younger, "remember, you're proud, happy and thrilled."  Guess what the younger wife said when asked how she was feeling?  Yep.  She was proud, happy and THRILLED!

Really?? Why couldn't she just tell the truth?  "I'm pregnant, terrified and about to throw up... but I'm also very proud."

Castles and Crybabies

Some people who look like this:

Feel like this:

Let It Snow!

I was starting to get a little worried that there wasn't gonna be enough snow here in Kentucky.  So far we've had a ton of rain and then some Spring-like days in between.  Noah's been begging for the snow.  The kid hardly ever even wears a coat.  So, needless to say, he's been pretty happy the past few days.  All the kids have been sledding all over the place.  It's nice to have so many hills.  We've only got a few inches of snow, but that seems to be enough to make everybody happy.

College Is Upon Us!

O MY GOSH!  I was totally unprepared for this!

Yes, I remember saying that when I was in transition labor, too.

But this time involves thousands of dollars and my son's future success.

I'm not sure where the time has gone!  Seems like yesterday I was just embarking on the high school journey with him.  Now we're looking at college application deadlines.  Scholarships.  Financial Aid.  ACT scores.  My baby moving far away.  YIKES!  The really bad thing about it is that stressful things tend to bring out the ostrich in me.  I want to bury my head and ignore that it's actually happening.

Obviously, that's a bad idea.

Held; Finches

Here's where I'm at, right now.  Just glad to be held.

2012, The Year of ????

Happy New Year!

I don't know about you, but I've been curious for quite a while about 2012.  I've heard that it was going to be "The Year of Woes."  Boy, that really makes you want to look forward to it.  There's been a massive amount of predictions and prophecies circulating for a few years now.  It's hard for me to be hopeful when I'm expecting the world to end.

But I'm not.

I'm definitely curious, though.  I'm glad that it's finally here so we can get on with it.  Remember Y2K?
Yeah.

Surviving Relatives

We've done almost all the shopping.  We've baked our cookies and decorated our tree.  We've planned our menus.  So, now that we're almost there...only a few days to go...it's time for a whole new Christmas challenge.

Relatives.

Yeah, all those people that you love and hate at the same time.

That you miss like crazy, but who drive you crazy when you're with them.

Changing Tradition

OK, so I said that I wasn't going to stress out this Christmas.
I've got less than a week.  I haven't stockpiled any cookies.  I am not done shopping.  My craft projects are still unfinished.  I still need to take seven kids to do their shopping.  Our second car's transmission bit the dust last week.  Thus, I do not have a car with which to complete these tasks.  I am not going to stress out.  I am talking to myself.  If I was a yoga person, I'd be doing yoga right now.

But I'm not, so here's my plan...