Teach Them Diligently

Deuteronomy 11:18-21 Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates: That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD swore unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.
Keeping in the spirit of conviction (what a weekend, I think I have knots on my head), this verse has hit me square between the eyes. Do I really teach my children diligently? Do I really impart the most important knowledge to them? Do all our conversations revolve around the most important things?
As a homeschool mom, I constantly assess whether or not our curriculum is working for each child. We've grown and changed through the years. And we have studied the Bible, but I really had to step back and take a long, hard look at things. We recite part of this Scripture every Friday night, but I really started questioning myself this weekend on whether or not I am fulfilling this command. Am I diligent to teach the commandments to my children?
I believe that Scripture and the application thereof is the most important thing, but I've not been applying that to our schooling. Our curriculum has evolved over the last years, and continues to change each year to compliment each child's learning styles and needs. However, it's about to change once again. I'm not exactly sure about the logistics and intricate workings yet, but we are going to begin using the Torah portion as our curriculum guide. I will be pulling most/all of our lessons from the week's reading--history, science, language arts, math. My thought process is that since G-d created everything in the beginning, then all knowledge stems from creation. And since the Torah (books of the Law) contain all the information we need to live G-dly lives, then all knowledge should be taught from there.
Now, before you get your jumper in a bunch, I do understand that higher skills will need direct teaching. (I didn't loose my mind...well, any MORE of my mind, anyway.) But I will use the Scripture reading as a starting place and branch out from there.
I also am going to start incorporating more memorization.
Psalms 119:10-11  With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
The Psalmist, David, understood how essential it is to KNOW His Word to keep us from committing sin. Memorization has also been proven to sharpen the mind and hone study skills.
Word studies will be the other new addition--which will also support etymology.
Proverbs 2:1-  My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.
These Scriptures indicate that wisdom and knowledge is something you have to go after, seek out, find. Verbs. You must DO something--receive, hide, incline, apply. So, we begin a new chapter of schooling. We will receive His instruction, hide His Word in our hearts, incline our ear to His Voice, and apply His commands to our daily life.
~Shalom!
Matthew 12:36  But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.

Life (Re)Adjusted

For the past 3+ years, my focus has been off. Life has overtaken me and consumed my scope of vision. I just was dealing with more than I knew how to handle. Yes, I know He's the One who sustains me during trials, and HE DID, but I lost sight of how I'm supposed to be living in regards to my husband.
When my husband came home from Germany, things were different. He was different. I was different. I don't think you can go through extended separation(s) without it changing you--sometimes for the good, sometimes the bad. Hurts can be accentuated; healing can be long-coming. But God. (I had to steal it Sarah.)
This weekend, I met up with the most wonderful bunch of ladies. Most of us had never met in 3D before, right Tiff? Now, I know you're not supposed to run off and meet up with random people you met online, and I would kill severely disable any of my children who tried. But...this was a unique group. And we do know each other because we meet up EVERY. SINGLE. DAY on Facebook to talk and share our lives! But I digress.
I just had the most wonderful, amazing, Bible reading, praise singing, uplifting, encouraging, awesome weekend. And God smacked me on the head a few times. Over the weekend I had several opportunities to brag on my husband...and not just about his incredibly cute dimples.

That's when I got a big, fat lump beat on the top of my head. (Don't worry, it was metaphorical.) God gently, subtly, unceremoniously reminded me that it is those good qualities that I am supposed to be focusing on. My husband is an incredible man, and not just because he does the laundry, cleans the kitchen, takes care of the pasture and animals and vehicles, and a huge list of other things. He also has some amazing gifts from God, and I've not been supporting his gifts or encouraging him to hone them. And I've been wrong. So starting today, I'm making it a priority to uplift my husband. I'm striving this month to become (or at least attempt to be) a Proverbs 31 wife. To help move me in that direction, I'm participating in the Nehemiah Challenge. For the next 30 days, I will be joining an ever-widening circle of praying people; people who are expecting Him to perform miracles and reveal His truth to us. So join me! What's your prayer focus going to be?

The Homeless Chicken

I know the theme lately seems to revolve around animals, but at least this story has a happy ending.
Friday evening, I was taking the children to visit their dad. As we were driving along, Tori said, "MOM! There's a chicken living under that bridge!" I have to say that I *did* see some kind of bird out of the corner of my eye on the side of the road. *But* I really didn't believe that it was a chicken--mostly because there weren't any houses near there.
Yesterday, Dimples and I had to make a run to Corsicana. Along the way, I did indeed see a chicken living under a bridge and yelled, "Oh my gosh! There really IS a chicken living under the bridge!! Let's stop and get it on the way back!" Dimples, I'm sure thinking that I'm STILL crazy, said yes.
Well, our trip took longer than planned, (I HATE grocery shopping in a crowd!) and we had to get home to pick up the kids. I called ahead and explained the plan. They were all for it.
We loaded up in the van with a dog kennel and *a* (Mom had said bring several) blanket and trekked northward once more.
Upon arrival we found the chicken roosting in the trusses. We whooped and hollered and threw empty soda cans until she flew down. Now, at this point *if* I had been smart, we would have caught the chicken as she ascended, but I wasn't smart. Nope. I stood there laughing as she made her way to the ground where upon she began to run, head still intact, but in somewhat the same manner. This is the part that might have been interesting video feed, but fortunately it was too dark. We ran around like headless chickens after the non-headless chicken in circles and around and around and around and around and....well, you get the picture.

Up in the trusses

Then suddenly she ran over the road that went over the bridge, down the hill on the other side and out onto Interstate Highway 45. I held my breath as she made it to the median. *WHEW* Fearless Leader waited for an opening and darted across. It was very dark by this point. I saw her outline running along the median by headlight and motioned to Fearless Leader. He ran up and down the median while we ran up and down the side of the road trying to yell back and forth over the noise of the vehicles. I was so afraid that she would go into the road and be killed. Then she disappeared. Fearless Leader couldn't find her anywhere; I figured she had hunkered down in the weeds. Finally, he flushed her out and the chase was on. Again.
She disappeared once more, but Fearless Leader saw where she was trying to hide, and he threw the blanket over her. Finally, he caught her and brought her back to the side of the road unharmed but scared. We put her in the kennel to inspect her.

In the kennel at last

On the way home we discussed how she might have gotten out there. Ideas flew around: She escaped from an 18 wheeler that was taking her to slaughter, she flew out of the back of a moving van/truck, she was chased away from home by coyotes, she got scared during a storm and ran then was lost... At any rate, she was safe now, and Peace Keeper claimed the right to name her.
Arianwen (are-ee-an-wen) is a beautiful young girl. Mr. Whiskers (our rooster) is already quite taken with her and is not happy that she's penned right now. In a few days, she'll be out free-ranging in a safe new home away from the dangers of the highway and with plenty of food and water.

Arianwen, in her temporary home with Mr. Whiskers standing guard

Mr. Whiskers, posing for the shot

The Cow in the Road

Yesterday, we went to a teaching by Bill Cloud in Waco with the kids and another couple from down the street. The speaker was long but good. One thing he talked about was the protection that YHWH gives to his people. He gave a personal example of how last April when many tornadoes hit near his home town--7 in one day in his county alone--that one tornado in particular skipped over their neighborhood. The tornado had originated in another state, was half a mile wide, and had traveled for thirty miles prior to getting to about 400 yards from his house. It lifted up, went over a large section of his neighborhood to about 400 yards beyond his home where it again touched back down. The tornado then continued for another twelve miles. He made it very clear that he doesn't consider himself special or that he was saved for something special that he did but to make the point that He does provide protection for those following His path. (Yes, I know that bad things DO happen to good people but bear with me.)
On the way home from Waco, we came upon an accident. We were on Highway 84 a few miles past the split with Highway 31. It appeared that a truck had hit a VERY large cow that was now lying in the middle of the road. There were only a few cars stopped at that point and no emergency responders yet. Dimples pulled over behind a black truck, got out and crossed over to the other side to check on the people that had hit the cow. He came back very quickly and told us that the people didn't speak English. I decided to get out and so did my friend. (She has an extensive background in natural medicine.) Fearless Leader also got out then so did Peace Keeper. I told them to get back in the car, Peace Keeper did, but Fearless Leader argued with me. I had to be very firm with him and wasn't sure if he really had gotten back in. A white truck pulled in and parked behind our van.
We crossed the road and had just gotten to the group from the truck when we all realized that a vehicle was coming--VERY FAST! We started waving frantically, and there was someone up the road just a bit waving a flashlight as well, but the truck didn't slow at all. As it got nearer to us, it pulled to the middle of the road and hit the cow causing the vehicle, a blue truck, to jump a little and head straight toward the parked cars on the opposite side of the road--my van now between two trucks, and my husband standing just behind our van.
I screamed and my friend was screaming, "NO! NO!" as we watched in slow motion.
The blue truck fish tailed a bit, over-corrected and was heading straight toward the black truck. We could tell they would meet head on at about the drivers' side headlights. We both knew that the blue truck would smash the black truck, push it back into our van, scrape down the side of both, and push our van into the white truck. I knew my husband would be between the van and white truck. That is what SHOULD have happened. But it didn't.
The blue truck did strike the black truck head on just to the middle of the drivers' side headlights. The front of the black truck turned toward the ditch as the blue truck "bounced" (for lack of a better term) out just slightly away from the rear end of the truck. We screamed as the blue truck skidded, sparking and smoking, past our van, then "bounced" back to grate down the driver's side of the white truck. The blue truck finally came to rest in the ditch about a hundred feet past the last impact.
I ran across the road to chaos. There were five people in the black truck, a man who was in the driver's seat, a lady, two teenage girls and a young girl around five. The females were screaming. My three kids and the husband of my friend were climbing out of the van, shaken but mostly calm. I couldn't find Dimples. I told the kids to get back in the car, buckle up and not move. Fearless Leader argued and argued but finally got in. My friend was assessing the girls from the black truck. I grabbed napkins and took them over and began trying to assess who was injured as well. There was screaming coming from all around us and the smell of burning rubber filled my nose and throat. To keep myself as calm as possible, I began to mentally go through first aid instructions. I glanced up to see Dimples standing in the grass near us on the phone with 911. Relief!
I got the kids out of the van and moved them further into the ditch huddling together. More people were walking around trying to help by this point. One lady was going around asking if people were hurt; I realized her nose was bleeding. She was on the phone and I was trying to ask her if she was hurt. She said that her truck was down there in the ditch. I looked where she was pointing, and it was the blue truck. I tried to walk her to the grass to sit down, but she was trying to tell someone on the phone what happened. She kept saying she was okay and finally squatted down on the side of the road. I left her with someone and went back to check on my kids and the people from the black truck.
Finally, I could hear sirens. First responders began showing up, then police and fire rescue. The highway was (finally!) blocked off and EMT began making rounds. My kids told us that something had hit the front of the van and rocked it. Upon inspection, our tire had a bubble in the side wall but no other damage.
The black truck in front of us had no front tire. It had been ripped off. The driver's door was crumpled in and the windows on that side broken out, the front windshield was cracked into tiny pieces, and the air bags had deployed. The white truck behind us was smashed all down the driver's side.
We learned that there had actually been two vehicles prior to the blue truck that had hit the cow. Her calf had also been hit sometime earlier by an eighteen wheeler an officer reported. There were five vehicles that had been totaled and had to be towed but unbelievably only minor injuries. The lady from the blue truck did go to the hospital, but the EMTs believe she only had minor injuries as well.
Over two hours later, we had given statements to an officer, and Dimples was able to change the front tire. As we hobbled home on our spare, we spoke about the miraculous occurrence. There is just no natural explanation as to how the blue truck missed our van and Dimples. After passing through Mexia, incredibly we saw TWO MORE COWS out on the highway. Dimples swung around to go back toward them, honking. The cows ran up through a gate, and he followed them, honking the whole way. I called 911 to report it. There didn't appear to be anyone at the house. We waited around for about ten minutes and finally left because a sheriff hadn't shown up. I do hope those cows stayed in the gate, and/or the sheriff located them and got them penned up. All in all, it was an adrenaline rich trip--one I hope not to repeat.

Pay It Forward

We just watched a movie from 2000 titled "Pay It Forward." My kids did see it, but I caution that there is bad language and suggestive material. The basic idea from the movie is that if one person unexpectedly helps three people with something that could potentially change their life, then ask those three people to help three more people and potentially change the world. In the movie Kevin Spacey plays a Social Studies teacher that assigns a project to his seventh grade class to think of something they can do to change the world. Haley Joel Osment is a student in his class and thinks up the pay-it-forward idea.
The movie really got me thinking. What if we could change the world? Really. Change the world. Would it be worth it? Would it even work? I don't honestly know, but Dimples and I talked to the kids and we decided that we're going to try it. We're going to try and really help three people every month with something that can possibly change that person's life or circumstance and in return ask those people to help out three more people.
What about you? Can you change the world? Maybe just your community or family? Will you take the challenge with us?

Debt Free Friday

It's DEBT FREE FRIDAY! Every week, I will (try) to post what we've done to reduce our debt (to help keep us accountable.) This is not an original idea of mine, it's from Dave Ramsey.
http://www.daveramsey.com/
Dimples sold car parts, got free lumber, and worked on the raised beds for the garden.
I picked up a massage job.
We're working on our savings balance, too.
Check out Dave Ramsey's "7 Baby Steps" to get your finances in order and get out of debt.
http://www.daveramsey.com/new/baby-steps/
These resources are available for free on his site. You can purchase (of course!) the programs or tools, but it's not necessary.
Let me know what you've accomplished this week! We can all encourage each other to GET OUT OF DEBT!

Scramblin' for Calves

Fearless Leader was selected for the calf scramble Saturday night. The prize was $500 to help with 4-H show animal expenses. 14 kids running after 7 calves--get the idea.
If you've never seen a calf scramble, this is how it works. First, a group of kids line up on the chalk line. Then, the calves are released into the arena. When the shout goes out, all the kids run after the calves, catch one, put a halter on it, and lead drag it back across the chalk line. It may sound like a simple task...but it's not!
Calves have a tendency (not unlike children) to want to go their own way. They don't like to be told what to do (see, I told you they're like children) and do NOT like to be caught or lead around. There is a good deal or running around in circles and falling in the dirt. Just because it is a *young* cow, doesn't mean it's very small. A calf can pull many an adult around, so you can imagine what it does with kids.
So Fearless Leader and the 13 other kids lined up. Honestly, I knew he'd catch one, but I was still nervous. He left the line at the lead, ran around in circles for a bit, then got one cornered. After it drug him around for a bit, he tried flipping it over on himself. Meanwhile, I'm screaming my head off and cheering him on. The calf wasn't cooperating and it took him several minutes to get it down. He layed on top of it while trying to get the halter on. Finally--it seemed like 30 minutes, but was really only a few--he got it haltered and up. Then the dragging starts...and continues. When you pull on the halter of an animal that's not used to being lead, the animal digs in its feet and sets back on its haunches a bit. This makes it very difficult to pull the animal. It's not unlike dragging a square boulder. With some ear bending and tail twisting, he finally got the calf across the line, got it down again, and sat on it. He was the FIRST to catch one and thus netted a nice prize. Now all he has to do is decide what animal to show at the fair...