Dear Lord Launches Today!

The time has finally come to launch Dear Lord. For all of you who are in need of spiritual counsel, we are now open for business. You can find us
here.

The Booger Contest At Church

I have to tell you guys of the events at Church this last Saturday.

My dad is the minister of our home church and sometimes he behaves quite humorously.
Right before the singing started my dad caught my nephew Nathanael (7years old) picking his nose. Dad thought it would be funny to mock Nathanael by having a "booger picking contest" right then. Dad had all of us, adults and children alike put our fingers on our noses in the "start" position. He said the first one to pull out the biggest booger would win a prize.

We all knew that Dad was being funny except poor little Nathanael, who at the second Dad said "go," started digging like he was a boy possessed. We all just stared in horror as Nathanael pulled out the biggest, slimiest booger which took up two fingers of his little hand. He flashed those two fingers to his grandpa for a fraction of a second before stuffing them in his mouth.

Our horrified gasps and "eeewwww's" did nothing to disrupt Nathanael's enjoyment of his salty treat. He just grinned as we all sat and stood there in shock.
My dad was purple in the face and doubled over gasping for air due to his vigorous laughing at this new turn of events. His whole body was shaking with mirth. We didn't know which was funnier, Dad red faced and paralysed with silent laughter, or Nathanael grinning from ear to ear as he chomped his chewy snack.

Now I wish to say that we put this little fiasco behind us and started the singing immediately following, but I cannot say that. My sister Theresa(not Nathanael's mom) asked what Nathanael had won. This question sent Dad into another fit of laughter. After his laughter subsided, Theresa told Dad that it was completely unfair for Nathanael to not get a prize when he soooooo obviously won the contest. After searching the house a few minutes, Dad finally came up with the idea to give Nathanael a quarter for his prize.

As we sang that night, Nathanael looked extremely happy as he played with his quarter. From this event, we have all realised that sarcasm is completely lost on our Nathanael.

My Son's Run In With The Dump Truck

This gruesome picture is of my 7 year old son Nehemiah. He ran his head into the dump truck parked in our yard. I told him that he looked like a killer so I had to take a picture. I told him to try to look feirce so the picture would be scarey. Ha ha ha.

The cut is quite small, no bigger than a quarter inch long, but those darned head wounds look so much worse than they are and end up scaring the crap out of parents. lol. Oh well, just one more scar for my adventurous little boy. Here he is showing me that he is okay but a little hungry. ha ha ha

Ever Ride A Water Bull?

A few weeks ago my brother and hubby tried to ride this large red buoy as if it were a water bull. This is just one of the video's we took of the "event," and just incase you were wondering... they never did succeed. Ha ha ha

My Daughter, The Songwriter

Ok, my 9 year old daughter wrote this song recently after our dog died. I'm going to post it here so you all can see it.

When your family dies their spirits are still with you
You will feel them
You will remember them
And you will remember how much they loved you
And how much you want to see them
But you can't, and you wish they were still with you
And they will be watching over you.

Britain's Got Talent- Connie

I know most have you have seen this, but just in case you haven't you should definately check it out. A friend sent it to me and I just loved it. Connie is just adorable and that voice! You have to listen.

New Comic Banner

Hi all! Did you notice the new comic banner? As it will be updated every Monday on Jason Holm's cartoon website, I will update it here. If you home school or unschool or are interested in either one, you should head over to his site and see what's happening. Its had a makeover so if you have visited it before, stop in again to see its new face lift.

My Latest Hobby

My two brothers, Kristopher and Branden have gotten me into Hacky Sac. I of course am uncoordinated, fat, and slow, so this is a great sport for me. ha ha ha!!

I'm the one in the middle with the black shorts. Nice huh? lol.

Anyway, this new sport is quite fun, and when I am not missing the sac, or kicking way to hard, the boys do say I am improving.

Dear Lord Launching in 30 days

Hey all,
I'm am just writing to let you know about our upcoming launch date for our website Dear Lord. It is a website that will be offering spiritual counseling for those seeking it.

We will be offering this counseling free of psychology and of course, free of charge. We will be giving you advice and counseling directly from the Word Of God.

The home page tells what the website is about and you can look through the pages on the side that link to each of our testimonies, our doctrine, articles written by the minister and others and much more. Of course you will be able to click on Dear Lord... and write in your problem, issue, question, comment, or encouraging thought.

There are 5 of us who are Born of the Spirit of God who will be offering counseling to those in need. We range from 10 years old to over 30 years in Christ. There are also 2 "fleshly" Christians, which means they are not saved, know they are not saved, but are in the church and content being there. Each of us 7 have something unique to offer those seeking counseling and you may feel free to request which ever one of us you feel will be the most helpful to you and your problem.

You may wish to write in anonymously, or leave us your name, it is completely up to you. You may chose to have your question posted to the site for all to view or send us your personal email address for us to reply to. The one thing you need to keep in mind if you would like accurate counseling, is to give all the information without holding any truths back. Without accurate information, we can not give you accurate counseling.

On July 14, 2007 I will post the link to the website on the side of all my blogs so you will have easy access to it. We look forward to seeing you there, even if the Lord had to lead you by the nose. Ha ha

WORK AT HOME MOMS AND DADS

Ok, I have joined a site for work at homers and it is pretty neat. There are people working from home now that share their success stories with all of us and it's fun to chat and make friends with other mom's, dad's, studens, etc. that work from home. You can post as many pics of you and your family that you want so we can all get to know you. There are new articles posted almost every day to keep us up on all the newest things that people are doing from home. Check it out and see what you think, if you want to sign up, just click on the yellow Join Work At Home Now! up in the top right corner of your screen. Good luck all, here's the link:
http://workathome.ning.com/

The Foundation of My Faith

Isn't this a beautiful picture? My Mommy painted it when I was very young and when my sister and brother painted her a new one about 9 years ago, I inherited this one. My husband took the rugged barn wood surrounding it and framed it. This picture always makes my house a home. Whether I just moved into a place, or if I've been there for years, this picture is the first to go up and the last to come down. This picture serves as a reminder of the love God has for me and what was completed on that cross.
The cross is my foundation and it is where I run to when I am scared, tired, or threatened in any way by the Opposer. There is no way he can move me from the base of that cross and the more he tries, the more solid in my faith I get. My picture of the crosses is not only on my wall, but in my heart. It's simple message stresses the fact that my Lord overcame death by remembering the love his Father has for him, and the love he has for his Father. I know that the foundation of the cross is love, and that is untouchable.

Essay on Reasons to Home School Your Children

Hello all, I know I have told you that my sister and I home school our 6 children but I haven't told you why. You see, it would take too long to post it here on this blog so I posted it on Associated Content's website so you all could view it if you would like to. It's about 4 pages long, so get ready for a kind of long read. If you happen to stop by the site and want to drop me a line or rate my post, please feel free to do so. Some of the topics are a little controversial guys so be prepared for that as well. Thanks for looking and here's the link: www.associatedcontent.com/article/258568/the_seperation_of_home_and_state.html

My Sister the Dork

Hey guys, just sharing a humorous little story with you. I have a nine year old daughter and my oldest sister Theresa has a nine year old daughter. If any of you have one, you know they are concerned about a lot of things at that age, including their fingernails. They ask to paint them every Friday and they try to keep them pretty the rest of the week. Last night my sister Danyiell was feeling very ornery and thought she would play a joke on our girls. We had eaten banana splits for Danyiell's birthday so we had a bag of peanuts that was mostly left uneaten at the end of the night. Danyiell took the peanuts, peeled them and broke them apart. She grabbed Theresa's youngest daughter Hannah, who is four years old and who could care less about her nails, and rubbed the peanut on her little fingernails. Hannah just stood there, letting her Aunt Danyiell rub this nut on her nails and when Danyiell was done she asked Hannah if she could see a difference in the way her nails shine now. Hannah said yes, so Danyiell sent her outside to get the other two girls. My daughter Redemption (9) came in first and Danyiell did the same thing with her. She showed Redemption how to do this every night and had her put the dumb peanut in a bag so she could take it home. Next was Mariah (9) who came in and got the same treatment, same pitch about nightly grooming, and got a bag to take her peanut home in.

All the kids (all 6 of them) spent the night at Danyiell's last night and Danyiell went into her kids' room to check on the brood of kids before calling it a night. She was tickled to death to find ALL THREE girls rubbing the peanuts on their fingernails. Danyiell's husband noticed this same thing and asked Danyiell what the girls were doing, to which Danyiell replied, "they are using the natural oils in the peanuts to make their nails stronger." The confidence in which she said this as well as her disbelief that Sean did not know this convinced even him who said, "oh, okay," and then left the room.

Oh my gosh people!! Can you believe this strange little prank?!

So this morning, we are at Mom and Aunt Shannon's and Theresa decides she will buff Danyiell's nails with a peanut. They laughed as Theresa did one whole hand of nails. As Danyiell compared the buffed nails with the non buffed, she realized the ones that had been buffed were considerably shinier. Ha ha ha, so the joke was on her! Her goofy prank turned out to not be a prank after all.

DISCLAIMER
Danyiell told me to put this little disclaimer in here:
For those of you who are allergic to peanuts or peanut oil... DO NOT try this at home!!!!!
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

Hand casted memories

Hi all, we went to a S.S. Subs today and we picked up this business card that has a weblink that you guys may want to check out. It is a pretty neat idea. You can get your hand casted as well as your children's hands too. Or you can get your children's hands linked together if that is more what you would like. These are really cute, take a look and see if it might be something you are interested in.
Here's the link:
http://castingtreasures.com/

Weightloss Quest

Hey guys, just braggin about my sister again. She has another blog that is for the weightloss challanged. If you are a stay at home mom and have some weight to lose. JOIN THE CLUB!!!! Seriously, you are not alone! My sisters and I are working on losing some unwanted weight that we can no longer blame on the babies,(who are 9,8,7,4 years old) as baby fat. If you want to know our success and failures, check out the weightloss quest blog. Here's the link:
http://weightlosstrail.blogspot.com/

Unschooled Children Needed For Comic

Hey guys doesn't that sound like fun? Your child being in a comic. This artis Jason Holm, is on a mission to explain unschooling from a child's point of view. He is looking for "I'm looking for boys and girls ages 9-12 who have
access to a decent microphone and have an interest in reading from a
script, improvising, and talking about their interests." He is working on getting the charactors sketched up but has the personalities already down. See if one fits your child:
Sai (The Media-Master) : Video Games, movies, music, comic books. Some
think Sai just rots his brain with these things. What they don't
realize is that he's learning more about the world than they would
ever imagine. Not only does he soak up info from these sources, they
also inspire him to create his own work. Whether it's learning how to
program his own online games, making home movies for YouTube,
recording songs or drawing his own comics, creativity is his number
one goal.
Quote: "I've got an idea! I saw this in a movie once..."

Cara (The Socializer): Her homepage is MySpace, she suffers
from "Texting Thumb" and she is constantly on her cell phone. While
some wonder if she does anything but talk to her friends, they fail
to notice that she is six degrees from nearly anyone in the world --
celebrities, politicians, scientists, business owners. When she comes
across a problem she doesn't understand, she has a "friend of a
friend" on the line before others can crack open a book.
Quote: "Power stations? I know a girl who's dad works at the plant in
town!"

Rashid (The Bookworm): When asked what he didn't like about school,
Rashid's answer was "They don't let me read enough". A nose
constantly in a book, he has worn down his library card ten times in
the last year. Luckilly, Wikipedia is always online for quick
reference. His friends worry that, if the technology to allow someone
to plug an internet cable into you head is invented, he'll be first
in line.
Quote: "I don't know off hand, but I know where I can find it!"

Abila (The Engineer): Albia loves to build things, and is obsessed
with instructables. com. Whether she's in the workshop trying out a
new power tool, or hunched over a circuitboard, she's quite content
working with her hands. She loves the latest in technology, but is in
awe with the ability of ancient craftsmen. If you need something
repaired or constructed from scratch, she's your girl. Just don't
leave any new toys around her that you want to keep in one piece.
Quote: "Well of course I took it apart. How else am I going to figure
out how it works?"

Mato (The Jock): Reading about plants and animals isn't enough for
Mato. He has to experience the world first-hand. After charting a
course with Google Earth, he's hiking through trails and through the
streets of his own town. Not only does Mato appreciate the nature
found in open spaces, but the chance to hone his physical skills is
just as alluring. Whether he's practicing fencing or just learning a
new yoyo trick, Mato is a master of motion. Keeping this boy tied
down in a chair is out of the question.
Quote: "What are you all just sitting around for? Let's get out of
here!"


If you guys are interested go to his web page and shoot him an email. Here's the link: http://www.inflatablestudios.com/

Searching 4 Work At Home

Hey all, just thought I would let you all know that if you are looking for great tips and or ideas about working at home, my sister has the blog for you. She is researching what jobs are legit and posting the good ones on her site. If you are like us and are Mommy's at home who need money, this blog is definately something for you to take a look at. Check it out y'all.
http://searching4workathome.blogspot.com/

Technorati Profile

Unschoolers Group

Hey guys, I just wanted to let you know that you could join an unschoolers, or home schoolers group through yahoo.com. My particular group is for people in Colorado Springs, CO but if you want to take a look at it here's the link: http://groups.yahoo.com/

What Is Unschoooling?

I know you guys are probably like me, wondering what the heck unschooling is. Well let me brief you. ha ha.

Unschooling is a branch of home schooling, except without formal schooling. Unschooling teaches children by practical application instead or in addition to book studies. The children that my sister and I home school are ages 4 years to 9 years old. They do not do book studies at all.

They play games to learn what they need to learn such as math: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. English: reading, grammar, rules, spelling, sounds and phonics. The games are educational that they play every day and are called The Phonics Game for English and The Phonics math game too. In addition to those games our kids play Yahtzee- for their math and writing skills, boggle- for their spelling and writing, monopoly jr- for money learning, scrabble jr- for spelling, 'smath for more math and a few others.

In addition to all the games we were blessed enough by our mom's work Red Noland Cadillac with a cash register. They pay for their lunches with play money and each day one of the children takes turns being the "lunch lady." The children read to each other each day from a story of their own choice and help each other when they get stuck. They have learned that family, above all is essential.

The kids also have a ton of gym class, being that we live on 5 acres joined to our mom and dad's 5 acres. They have bikes, go carts, a monster sized trampoline, a two mile block to walk or ride around and my hubby is going to get them a 4 wheeler. Not to mention that we have dinner once a week at our mom and dad's and church once a week as well. We have gardens in front of our house as well as a larger one down at mom and dad's. It would be a miracle if our kids didn't go down to Mom and Dad's more than once a day. They are always down there.

Our kids do 3-4 hours a day of "school" and spend the rest of most of their days outside.

That, in a nutshell, is unschooling. We have our children enrolled in a private school so that we are not obligated by the state to get our children tested in conventional ways. With that said, you would be astounded by the amount of learning our children have undergone from taking them out of public school and unschooling them. It is an absolute miracle, but when you take the obligation of attending school, opening and reading worthless books, spending countless hours repeating the same boring information and replace it with an easy atmosphere, where a child's natural desire to learn and play go hand in hand, the children thrive.

Why homeschool?

My sister and I home school our own two children each and our other sisters two girls for a total of six kids. Our first Born's, (Zech, Mariah and Redemption) who were in Kindergarten, didn't seem to be learning anything. Anything they did seem to be learning was with us after school. The next year, the three children above headed into first grade while my youngest (Nehemiah) went into kindergarten. Our first graders were struggling with reading and the teachers asked us to do some work with them at home. We ended up spending about four hours a night with our children teaching them what we thought the teacher was supposed to be teaching. When the school year was over, I was none to pleased to learn that my kindergartner could not even spell his own name. Our first graders had improved drastically (with their after school tutoring sessions with us) but we had spent so much time after school with them that we figured we were already doing the teaching, we might as well bring them home. If we home schooled them, they at least wouldn't have to do spend eight hours a day at school and then four more at home at school.

So we took them out of school and found a public school in our area that was online. If you haven't heard of it, it is a school system which provides the computer printer and pays you for Internet service and supplies and your child learns the same things that they were learning in public school except they learn it at home. This worked out for a year, our kids were learning how to type and navigate the computer and surf the web. The problem was they still weren't learning. The curriculum was exactly like the other public school we had taken them out of, which meant, it was crap! So we looked into traditional homeschooling that summer for the next school year. What we found was something called Unschooling. Weird word huh? I know, I was pretty confused when I first read about it. For those who don't know what it is I will give a brief description. Unschooling is teaching a child with experience rather than a book. For example, our children play the game Yahtzee one of their math classes. I know you must be thinking that our kids are not being taught. But for anyone who knows how to play Yahtzee knows they add, subtract, multiply and divide countless times in only one game. Our children have learned the fundamentals of math without the boring book that just confuses the issue and makes learning no fun.

When I found the pic above I thought I had to share it with you guys. It is exactly what people need to see. If you don't know it already, home schoolers have home school groups. We get together for field trips, play time, full day recess, etc. Home schoolers also get a lot of help from the companies and parks because they home school. We are offered free days at parks, museums, zoos, and given discounts where the free days are not offered.

Our kids are learning in an environment that encourages individualism, learning and experimentation without having to suffer the mundane tasks that comes with public schooling. If you are a parent you must have, at some point thought to yourself, that your children would be better off at home. They wouldn't have to deal with daily violence, harassment, peer pressure, and favoritism, not to mention that they may learn better in an environment they are comfortable with, and know they are safe in.

The "Mommy" in me

Every young girl dreams of the day when she hears the adoring word "Mommy" coming from her own precious child's mouth. When that day finally comes, pictures are taken, the video camera runs, we send the video to anyone who acts remotely interested and we cherish that very special time. We try to get our child to say it for anyone who walks within a one mile radius and every time they do, we clap our hands, tears fill our eyes and we feel as if our childhood dreams have finally become a reality. Soon the cherished word is no longer said out of love or adoration, but out of pain, or frustration, or just pure spite. We no longer want everyone to listen to our angelic children saying that most sacred word. That is because we don't want to hear it anymore ourselves. The once cherished name now gets on our nerves. It has been repeated time and time again until our little angel's get our attention, and every mother knows from the sound and tone of the "Mommy" being yelled what is coming next. Mommy can I have... Mommy I want... Mommy he did... Mommy she won't... Mommy I can't... Mommy can't you... Mommy won't you... and a thousand other phrases that are repeated until we want to tell the child using the forbidden word, that we are not in right now and to leave a message after the beep!