Rose Cottage

Weekly Wrap-Up

jamiescottage@gmail.com ({ jamie }) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 19:38:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, I began making up a weekly schedule and printing it off for each of the girls. This accomplishes a few things: they like highlighting off the things they've completed, I can see at a glance how much they still have left to do, it's an easy way to keep a record of what we've been doing, and most importantly, it's given me freedom from our pre-written curriculum. I love the Winter Promise program, but if it's all there staring at me, I feel like I have to do it all. Homeschooling is suppose to be flexible -- or at least, for me it is! But I'm a box-checker at heart, and I tend to become a slave to something that was intended to help me. Making my own schedule frees me from that. Seems like a ridiculously simple solution, but it took me months to figure it out.

Last week Kathryn finished up Horizons 3 math, so she began Horizons 4 this week. I love that homeschooling allows us to work at our own pace, at an appropriate level for each child, no matter what we call their grade number. I actually really dislike the concept of being in a certain grade, but I we go with it for the purposes of state record-keeping, and because it's easier to explain to friends and family. Anyway, Lindsey is still doing Life of Fred, and that's going fine for now, but I'm already considering what I want to do when she finishes that.

I bought both girls their own nature-themed copywork books from Queen Homeschool because I've discovered that Lindsey loves copywork. It's one of the few school-related things she enjoys so far, so I want to encourage that!

We've added creative writing to our weekly schedule, and I'm using lessons from The Write Stuff Adventure. This week the girls both wrote about a spider, based on the itsy bitsy spider song. Kathryn's story amused me greatly. Lindsey did a good story last week about being the only person on earth and then hearing a knock at the door.

Handiwork is something both girls enjoy. Kathryn has done some cross-stitching before, but Lindsey is new to it. We bought a few small (not overwhelming!) cross-stitch sets for the girls and they wanted to start on them right away! This kind of thing is great for practicing patience, too! (I love these kinds of homeschool days!)
In geography this week, we're starting our "visit" to the continent of Africa, which is really cool since it's the only one I've ever been to (other than North America)! We actually even have a few things around the house that we brought back from our trip last summer, and we have lots of photos! Kathryn was labeling the Namib Desert on the map this week, and I told her I'd seen and taken pictures of it from the airplane: that still amazes me!

Despite a few parts the girls have both declared gross (like when the boy has to lick sweat off cow noses to keep from dying in the desert), we're enjoying a new book called Facing the Lion: Growing Up Maasai on the African Savanna. Last week's visit from Beth, with her first-hand stories of women in Uganda and Zambia, and those great necklaces made by the women there, was a perfect intro into our study of Africa.

We still use News Current for current events. Lindsey and Kathryn both read it, and Ken and I always learn something from every edition ourselves!

Nature study this week was quite literally right outside our window! See yesterday's post for photos of a pair of red-tailed hawks having a meal in our yard!

For assigned reading this week, Kathryn began Pollyanna, and Lindsey finished up Understood Betsy. I have no problem choosing books Kathryn loves, but Lindsey has disliked all my picks so far. I don't think she liked my explanation of it being like food; if you're accustomed to junk food, you don't love fresh veggies, and if you're used to twaddle, you don't love good books. Oh, well -- we'll get there! And she is reading it without too much complaint. But suggestions for twaddle-free books for teens are very welcome!!!

Our Bible reading this week has been in Job; heavy stuff to explain to a nine-year-old, but I do love the part where God answers back because I love imagining things like storehouses of snow. The girls have started making pages for their Bible notebooks. Our goal with these notebooks is to cement their learning, and to have a lovely record of what we've been studying. I'll share some of those pages soon.

Nature Study: Hawks

jamiescottage@gmail.com ({ jamie }) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:19:00 +0000

I've been lax in the nature study department, but this week we managed to accomplish a wonderful bird study right from our kitchen window!

Thanks to Lacy the very observant WonderDog, we've noticed a pair of red-tailed hawks in the yard quite often lately. Lacy doesn't usually bark when she sees something like that, but watches intently out the window and sometimes gives a little whine. Wednesday morning, after noticing that Lacy was studying something, Kathryn and I had a chance to observe a hawk as it ate it's breakfast. (Not as graphic as it sounds; we couldn't see it's meal well enough to be grossed out!) It's not often I get a photo of a hawk right outside my window (through the screen, which is why it isn't more clear) with snow still on the ground!Then another hawk -- its mate, we're assuming -- joined it to keep a look-out but never joined in the meal. I believe the one on the left is a female because they are typically bigger than the males. Their coloring was quite different, though; the one I'm calling the female was more brown, and the male was more of a slate gray, almost with a blue hue. From what I've learned online, the color of their plumage can vary greatly. I stepped outside to try to get a better shot (not through a window screen), and it flew off. I am obviously not a wildlife photographer. Especially when I'm in my robe and slippers on the patio covered in melting snow. So forgive the poor quality of the photos, but I'm still sharing because this was really amazing!We read about hawks in our Handbook of Nature Study, and in an old North American Wildlife book I have from when I was a kid, and I looked a few more things up online. Hawks have something called a crop that is in-between the throat and the stomach; it holds food when they've eaten a big meal, and slowly releases it into their stomachs as they digest. This hawk won't have to eat again for a few days. In the photo above (totally blurry--sorry!), you can see how hugely bulging her crop was!

I did my own nature journal entry, and I plan to try to do that more often to encourage the girls in doing theirs. I'm always torn about how much to push them to do it, so I'm hoping if I do it myself, I'll do less nagging and more inspiring.

Uncomfortable

jamiescottage@gmail.com ({ jamie }) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 01:32:00 +0000

I am comfortable. Yes, there are things I'd change if I could, and my life is far from perfect, but I am comfortable. There's one problem with that: God doesn't call me to be comfortable.

I've already learned that God doesn't like me in my comfort zone. Last time He called me out of it, I ended up on an airplane to Africa. The time before that, we decided to adopt a teenager. Both scared the daylights out of me. And both have been huge blessings.

I pray for big things, like, "Break my heart with the things that break Your heart," and then I'm dumbfounded when He does exactly that.

He puts friends in my life who challenge me: those who have chosen to downsize in a world of more; others who are trusting God to determine their family size; some who have adopted medically fragile children...

I want my life to look different, because I am different; Christ has changed me from the inside out. I don't want my life to make sense to unbelievers; I want to live a crazy-love kind of life. But it's scary. I wonder how long it will be before I'll learn to recognize His voice immediately and do what He calls me to do right away, without question. {sigh}

In years past, I sometimes I stuck my figurative fingers in my ears trying my best not to listen to Him -- so maybe I am making a little spiritual progress after all. {wink}

He's calling me to be uncomfortable. I just don't yet know exactly what that looks like...

Not Your Ordinary Necklace

jamiescottage@gmail.com ({ jamie }) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 02:00:00 +0000

Aren't these necklaces great?

Last week, we hosted Beth from a ministry called God is Grace ( I wrote more about the ministry here) and invited a handful of friends who wanted to know more about the ministry. Soft-hearted Lindsey was in tears the whole time Beth talked, and while we watched the video, seeing the village where these women live, what their "kitchen" looks like, hearing how most of the women are widows or have been abandoned by their husbands, and yet still care for their own children -- as well as orphans in the community -- and seeing how happy and thankful they are for so little. Lindsey and Kathryn both asked if we could sponsor a woman. Ken and I let the girls choose which woman to sponsor, and they chose a widow named Conslata who cares for seven children; two of her own, plus five orphans.

There is more than one way to live out God's command to care for widows and orphans (James 1:27); we believe this is one of the many ways we can do that. Beth is still looking for sponsors for a few other women in Zambia; if you're interested in helping, or making a one-time contribution, I'd be happy to put you in contact with Beth.

Beth brought a bag of beautiful necklaces, and let each of us choose one to keep. Mine is the colorful one on the right. Lindsey's is similar. Kathryn chose a smaller, mostly darker blue one, and then I bought the one on the left as a gift for my mom. These necklaces are great for several reasons: they benefit the women in Uganda who make them, they are beautiful, and they are made of recycled paper! Yep, those beads are all made of tightly rolled paper, and then shellacked. Want one?

You can buy your own necklace here, and they'd make awesome birthday/mother's day/holiday gifts!

Slandering God's Message

jamiescottage@gmail.com ({ jamie }) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:04:00 +0000

In my personal Bible time, I've been studying Titus. Sometimes it's easy to breeze through parts of the Bible I think I already know, but if I let myself go into it thinking that way, I'd miss so much!

I knew the basics: elders in the church are to set a good example, that older women are to instruct and encourage the younger women, and the younger women are to love their husbands and children, and so on... but I'd missed a very important part -- the reason why to do all these things!

"...so that God's message will not be slandered." (Titus 2:5)

In all my years of growing up in church, I didn't realize that I was an ambassador for Christ, whether I liked it or not. Because I called myself a Christian, I was his representative. Period. I certainly wasn't a good one. I knew that sin would affect my personal relationship with Christ, but I never thought of how unbelievers might view God because of me. That grieves me greatly now. Even though I wasn't truly trusting and following Christ in those years, I still professed belief in Him -- but the things I did while wearing a cross around my neck and calling myself His follower must have angered and saddened Him. I join with Paul in saying, "we too were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, captives of various passions and pleasures..." I was all those things, but Christ rescued me from myself.

So now, I want to be mindful of how I live. I want to "walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God." (Colossians 1:10) I want to live joyfully because Christ is with me -- and within me; I want to honor Him with my life, in how I love my husband, my children, my friends, my literal and figurative neighbors; I want to honor Him in how I manage my (His, really) finances and material goods. I never, ever again want to do anything to slander God's message.

I've been thinking more about good works, too. It's not how we're saved, but we should be eager and ready to do good works (see Titus 2:14, 3:1). There are people in the world who have never heard the gospel of Christ, but most of the people I know have heard it over and over -- maybe incorrectly, or missing parts, but they know the basic message. The problem is they don't see Christians living any differently Monday through Saturday than anyone else. They need to see Christ's love in action, and it needs to look different than the good works done by kindly philanthropists who want to better the world. So many people have very low expectations for Christians, and that grieves me -- but does it grieve me enough?

My Heart -- in Pictures

jamiescottage@gmail.com ({ jamie }) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 02:40:00 +0000

Every time we shoot a wedding, I feel like I have a new baby to show off. Part of our heart is in every photo. It's also so wonderfully sweet to see a young couple starting out life together in such a worshipful marriage ceremony as theirs. It's the first wedding I've been to where they had a time for their parents to come up and give them a blessing. This couple incorporated such sincerity and such fun into their whole wedding day. A perfect way to start a marriage.

So, come see the new blog post about Alli and Michael's wedding on the Worley Arts blog. (Just have to share one of my "babies"because it makes me smile...)

Weekly Wrap-Up: New Stuff!

jamiescottage@gmail.com ({ jamie }) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 20:07:00 +0000

Last time I did a weekly wrap-up, I mentioned plans for some changes. We've been implementing those changes this week, and I am pleased with how it's going so far.

One big change is simply in our morning routine/schedules. Lindsey loves to sleep late, but with the promise of a Starbucks on the weekend as incentive, she has gotten up and ready by our goal of 10AM every day this week. "Ready" means showered, dressed, breakfast eaten, teeth brushed, and bed made. Last year I worked hard on developing the habit of a morning quiet time, and it's been a great blessing. But the past few weeks, I've been trying to figure out when and how to incorporate my work-out without messing up my habit of quiet time. After some experimenting, I've figured out I do best with tea & quiet time immediately after I get up, then a workout, then shower, then breakfast. All of that means I have to get myself up on time (6:30ish - 7AM) to get all of my stuff accomplished to be ready by 10AM, too.

The way we start our school days has changed significantly, too. At 10AM, we meet on the sofa to start our school day with prayer and Bible reading. This is the main how of how we're shifting our focus back to what's most important, reflecting our priorities by starting the day in God's word. For months, I've felt the importance of this, and I've been searching for ways to implement this focus in practical ways. So I read "The Heart of Wisdom Teaching Approach," and was delighted to find some answers I'd been seeking in regards to the hows of what I'd been wanting to do. Once I had bookcases {yay!}, I raided other areas of the house and ordered a few books online to stock our new Bible reference shelf.

Now we have a chronological "One Year Bible" we read from every morning, an illustrated Bible dictionary, a Bible commentary, a Bible concordance, the fabulous "Victor Journey Through the Bible," a couple of other Bible translations, "Family Guide to Biblical Holidays" (which we'll work into doing as unit studies), "What the Bible is All About for Young Explorers," a Bible atlas, and more. After our morning reading time, we pull out a couple of these and see what we can find to expand upon what we've learned in our reading. We haven't officially started creating a Bible notebook/portfolio yet, but we've talked about ideas for them, and will begin those soon. To help me learn more about what I'm teaching, I'm working through "30 Days to Understanding the Bible in 15 Minutes a Day."

More new stuff:

we've re-instated daily copywork
we're trying to do at least one somewhat fun craft each week
we're doing a weekly creative writing assignment, currently using "The Write Stuff Adventure"
we're doing a weekly art lesson, mostly using "The Wonderful ART of Drawing Horses" by Barry Stebbing
we're re-instating focusing on a weekly character trait.
This week was appreciative, with 1 Thessalonians 5:18 as our coinciding verse
I'm assigning a novel for each girl to read (one to a few chapters each day, depending on length), and we'll be re-instating narration (totally new concept for Lindsey) next week, I hope.

Lindsey is still totally loving her tumbling class, and currently trying to master her back tuck. Kathryn is still loving Girls In Action, and this week, she enjoyed meeting two ladies from Romania who work as missionaries. I think our readings, like in "Cry From The Streets" have peaked both girls' interest in missionaries.

My aunt Beckie currently has five 6-week-old Schnauzer puppies in her care, and the girls spent a few hours at her house loving on the pups yesterday afternoon. I consider that a great nature study. {grin} Now they are begging and begging for us to let them have the one pup who has not yet been claimed. Confession: it is very hard to be the reasonable-thinking mom here when I'm just a puppy-loving girl at heart!

What we do with our free time...

jamiescottage@gmail.com ({ jamie }) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 23:24:00 +0000

We're planning to debut a photobooth set-up at the reception for the next wedding we're photographing. In order to make sure we had everything we needed, we've had it set up in the living room since Sunday. And, of course --simply for testing purposes, you know-- we had to try it out, complete with props.
(We've fixed the backdrop since then; I don't like the wrinkly in these.)

I think everyone should have a photo booth in their living room. ;)

CM Carnival

jamiescottage@gmail.com ({ jamie }) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 22:36:00 +0000

Come on over to enjoy the latest edition of the Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival, hosted this time by Jessica at Established Work. We'd love to have your entries for the next edition; you can submit those using this form.

Snowy Fun in the sunny South!

jamiescottage@gmail.com ({ jamie }) — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 20:42:00 +0000

This is a view I don't often see out my window...On the rare occasions we do get snow here, it tends to be mostly ice, so it's not very fun to play in. Yesterday, however, we had a nice fluffy snow -- about five inches, which is the most Kathryn has ever seen, and maybe Lindsey, too! Lindsey attempted to build a snowman in the backyard, but Lacy is a crazy snowman-killing dog, so that proved impossible.
The front yard, beyond the reach of Lacy's snowman-demolishing paws, proved to be a better place to build a snowman. The snowman was SO big that Ken and Lindsey had to transport his parts in a wheelbarrow!
Georgia snowmen are kinda hairy because of pine needles!

This morning, we went sledding across the street. This was a first for both Lindsey and Kathryn! As a matter of fact, my dad gave Kathryn this sled about four years ago and this is the first time we've ever been able to use it!

Lindsey...

Kathryn...

And Ken...

I gave Lacy her first lesson in becoming a sled-dog. (Although, admittedly, there is not much call for that here in Georgia!) Every time I said, "mush," she ate snow. But finally, she took off!
This was fun!
The girls made snow angels, then we had to go in and warm up Kathryn's toes. Once everybody was thoroughly thawed, we walked over to my mom's house. She had cinnamon rolls in the oven for us, and brewed fresh coffee for Ken. As we were leaving, Ken noticed bunny tracks in the snow; I should really expand on that for a good nature study!

Now the snow is melting, but it's been fun. I'd been saying I wanted at least one good sled-able snow before spring came, and we got it!

Father-Daughter Valentine's Dance

jamiescottage@gmail.com ({ jamie }) — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 01:26:00 +0000

Every year, our church has a Father-Daughter Valentine's Dance. Last year Ken went as the photographer; we didn't even know Lindsey yet, and Kathryn wasn't old enough to go to the big girls' dance. But this year, Ken was blessed to be able to take both daughters! Lindsey borrowed a dress from a friend (also named Lindsey!), and it fit her perfectly. Kathryn didn't have anything suitable, so we found an adorable dress on sale; it met her Valentine-ish requirements, and will work well as a church dress, even in the spring. Both girls decided that they wanted to surprise Ken with their dresses until the night of the dance. How cute is that!?

In the afternoon, we turned Rose Cottage into a salon. {grin}
First, I painted the girls' nails to coordinate with their dresses. Then it was time for hair: Lindsey requested an updo, so I had to pull from my memory banks for back in the days when I used to do my (both now grown) nieces' hair for prom. Kathryn was my assistant.Lindsey let me do her make-up, too, and I offered to let her borrow some earrings that perfectly matched the "bling" on the dress.
When Lindsey's 'do was done, it was Kathryn's turn.
She wanted a retro hairstyle to go with her retro dress. I think I have created a retro monster! Aren't my girls positively g-o-r-g-e-o-u-s???
(I let Kathryn wear red lipstick just for a photo, because it was very retro, but had her blot it off before leaving the house.) Doesn't Ken look like a proud papa?
He is a wonderful blessing to me, and to our girls as well.I know this night will be a special memory for the girls, but also for me, and for Ken. I enjoyed quality time with the girls as I helped them get ready, and Ken was able to escort these beautiful young ladies to a dance. He is showing them by example how a gentleman ought to treat a lady. We want our girls to have very high expectations for the kind of young man who will someday be trusted with their hearts. For Lindsey's 15th birthday, Ken took her on a "Daddy Date" and presented her with a purity ring, and discussed what that means: that she is promising God to keep her heart and body pure, and Ken, as her father, is promising to protect her and to help her keep her promise to God.

I treasure times like this. I am so very blessed, and so very thankful.

My Really Good Reasons to Exercise

jamiescottage@gmail.com ({ jamie }) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:09:00 +0000

I don't need to lose weight, but skinny does not equal fit. It just means I have scrawny parents: Mom usually wears clothes smaller than me, and Dad is 5'11" and has recently bulked up (ha!) to about 150 pounds. Because I've been really convicted lately about the importance of taking care of myself physically, and because we were recently given a very nice Nordic Track treadmill for FREE, I have made a commitment to get fit. To help with motivation, I made this list to hang on the wall right by the treadmill...

Really good reasons to Exercise:
to have more energy/stamina to enjoy my family, work, and daily life.

to be healthier now and in the future
(control asthma, avoid osteoporosis, etc)

to avoid expensive doctor visits.

to be physically able to do whatever God call me to do.

to look cute (let's be honest!) for myself and my husband.

because the very glory of God inhabits my body: “Do you not know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

because a healthy, holy tabernacle provides the best possible environment in which a healthy, holy soul and spirit can thrive:"...present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship.” Romans 12:1

because how I treat my body is just as important as how I care for my spirit and soul: "... may your spirit, soul, and body be kept sound and blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Thessalonians 5:23

Even though I love the idea of listening to podcasts while I work out, I just can't do it. The ear thingies (yes, that is a technical term!) drive me bananas, and I'm such a visual learner that my mind totally wanders if I don't have some way to connect visually (taking notes at church during sermons, for instance). I've figured out that reading while walking on the treadmill works well for me, but it has to be a good, engaging book, and to add a bit more motivation, I have to make a rule for myself that I can only read that particular book while on the treadmill. (Right now I'm reading Embrace Me by Lisa Samson.)

After 20+ minutes on the treadmill, I'm using my exercise ball and hand weights to work out my upper body, do sit-ups, and so on. I listen to music (on the computer) while I'm doing that. I seriously have to start getting up earlier in the morning so I can get a work-out, quiet time, and a shower all in before breakfast. For the past couple of weeks, the time of day has varied greatly for my work-outs, and that just won't work long-term.

A new idea I'm starting this week is to keep a log of my work-outs: how long I exercise, how many miles I walk, and what my weekly goals are. I'm such a list-maker and box-checker that this should add a little more motivation. Maybe blogging about it will help, too, and add a bit of accountability. Every little bit helps!

Isn't it annoying how HARD it is to create a good habit?

I looove organization!

jamiescottage@gmail.com ({ jamie }) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 16:05:00 +0000

I'm diggin' the new "pages" feature on blogger. It's one of the main things I've always liked better on wordpress. I'd worked around it here, but it just wasn't as good. So, thank you, blogger!

To celebrate, I've created a few new pages. Check out the "About" and "Contact" pages listed just below my header. I may try to streamline a few other things using pages, too. I don't enjoy clutter, on my blog or in my home.

More clutter-control happiness is found in my brand new IKEA bookcases in the dining/school room:

At the moment, they look empty, but that's just because I'm not done organizing yet. We just got them Saturday. In an ideal world, I'd have built-in cabinets with bookcases above, and I had designed some like that, but we couldn't even buy wood and paint for what these cost, and they fit perfectly! (Yay me, for measuring more than once!) So I'm very pleased. When I get this space "done," I'll share more photos!

Weekly Wrap-Up: Sick Days

jamiescottage@gmail.com ({ jamie }) — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 15:48:00 +0000

Would everybody in our household PLEASE just stay healthy?
Kathryn wasn't feeling well this week; not sure what she had exactly, but she sure didn't feel good. Already in this very young year, we've had three weeks when one of the girls wasn't well. When one of us is sick, I'm even more thankful that we homeschool because we can still do some of our work, and I don't have to send them off when I'm not sure if they are all better yet. Here's how Kathryn spent most of the week, camped out on the sofa with her pillow, books, and stuffed animal pals...
This week, we've "visited" Canada, continued with all of our readings, Lindsey kept with Life of Fred in math, and both girls are working on typing skills (and having a blast doing it) with Dance Mat Typing. I had only planned to assign a lesson each week, but they both love it so much they asked if they could do a lesson each day. They've already met a belly-dancing hippo named Dainty, a flamenco-dancing flamingo, a break-dancing turtle, and a giraffe that does the limbo. It's silly fun, but they both feel like their typing skills are already improving. And it's free! (Free is good!)

It's extremely windy and drizzling a very cold rain today (brr!), but if we don't blow away, I hope to get a bit more organizing done this weekend so it'll be easier to start on some of those changes I mentioned in yesterday's post. I'll also be eagerly anticipating another package from Amazon. Is it just me, or does a package at the front door get you just as excited as a little kid at Christmas?

Seeking Wisdom

jamiescottage@gmail.com ({ jamie }) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 20:26:00 +0000

Hardly a day goes by without me praying for wisdom. Wisdom is absolutely required in parenting, but it doesn't come automatically! Some days I make a point of praying for wisdom as a part of my morning routine, but there are a whole lot of times I have to pray on-the-fly as challenges of life come up. There are just w-a-y too many things that are beyond my human capacity for figuring out, so I need all the divine wisdom I can get!

This passage is one that inspires our homeschool, but I reread the passage yesterday and paid more attention to the second part:

"For wisdom will enter your mind, and knowledge will delight your heart. Discretion will watch over you, and understanding will guard you, rescuing you from the way of evil." Proverbs 2:10-12a

True wisdom --the kind that comes from God-- is what I desire for myself, but I also want to impart it to my kids. In fact, it's what I'm called to do as a parent: disciple my children. I've been praying about how we can reflect this as a main priority in our lives. Wisdom is what will enable us to live in a way that glorifies and honors Christ.

So we'll be working more on making changes in our homeschool and our daily lives so we may "be transformed by the renewing of [our] mind, so that [we] may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God." (Romans 12:2) As we make these changes, I'll be sharing about them here in blogland. First up (next week, I hope): a revamp of our schedule and a few additions/modifications to our schoolwork.

Grief and Joy

jamiescottage@gmail.com ({ jamie }) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:53:00 +0000

Our car is not one of those aerodynamic, super-quiet vehicles that just float down the road. Ours has quite a lot of road noise, so it's very difficult to have a proper conversation. Talking to someone not sitting directly next to you requires yelling. (Maybe we need a megaphone.) This led to Lindsey commenting while riding in the car recently, "I gave up trying to talk to y'all in the car like three years ago!" She (like me) tends to use hyperbole. [That sentence is really just an excuse to use one of my favorite words; "hyperbole" just does not get used often enough!] Obviously Lindsey's statement was an exaggeration because we didn't even know her three years ago. That's so weird: this is my teenage daughter I'm talking about, but I didn't know her three years ago. I didn't even know her one year ago.

I've said it before: adoption is wonderful, but it's also weird. There are emotions and plain ol' practical things that go along with it that really just don't exist outside of adoption.

In my quiet time this morning, I was thinking about things, and praying for people God laid on my heart, including two families we know who both lost a child within the past two years. The anniversary of two-year-old Brock's going to be with Jesus was this past Sunday, and I started thinking more about something his dad (Drew) said that day: Drew talked about grief mixed with joy; mourning Brock, but celebrating their new baby Lila Jane. Such conflicting feelings at the same time. It's not the first time I've thought how difficult that would be.

But this morning, I realized that Lindsey experiences that mix of grief and joy on some level, too. Just as little Lila Jane doesn't replace Brock, we aren't replacing Lindsey's birth mom and dad. She loves us, and she is happy to have a "real" family (her words), but that doesn't mean her other family didn't exist. Adopting her into our family did not erase her past -- and it shouldn't! Even though her original family had troubles big enough to result in her being removed from the home, the memories aren't all bad. And they are part of what makes Lindsey who she is.

Back when we began to consider adoption, the thought of adopting a young child appealed to me, and I believe that's because I reasoned that a young child wouldn't have so many memories. I thought they wouldn't, or couldn't, love us as much if they remembered their birth parents. I thought the memories would be too painful for them, and maybe for me, too. I believe this is the reason many potential adoptive parents are afraid to adopt any child older than an infant. I've been told "you've gotta get 'em young" so as not to have trouble with them. But it's just not true. I think perhaps Lindsey loves us more than she would have if she'd been born to us because she knows we have chosen to love her and to become her parents. God truly can redeem anything.

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28

Weekly Wrap-Up

jamiescottage@gmail.com ({ jamie }) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 17:39:00 +0000

Funny how homeschooling is a total learning experience for ME. Not just in learning alongside my kids (which is great!), but in learning about my kids: their learning styles, their preferences, their strengths and weaknesses -- and what to do about all of those.

Even though our Winter Promise curriculum is written to a wide range of grade levels, I don't think Lindsey fully "gets" that yet; it's certainly not how things are done in public school, and it'll take a while before she stops thinking that way. She seems to feel like she's doing third-grade work if I assign too many of the same things to her and Kathryn, so I'm working on finding other things to incorporate for Lindsey, and I've decided that she doesn't need to do all the same activities as Kathryn. This semester is her first doing school at home full-time, so there is a big learning curve for both of us.
She does enjoy the travel journal portion of our study, though:I think we all agree that our favorite book right now is "A Cry from the Streets: Rescuing Brazil's Forgotten Children." It's about a missionary family, and their journey of faith as they seek to follow Christ in helping the street children of Brazil.

Theoretically, I have planned to do tea time with the girls each week, but it hasn't happened in quite a while. This week I actually wrote it into our schedule, but I hadn't really prepared goodies and all of that, so I considered skipping it until I realized how much Kathryn was looking forward to it. We went ahead and made a pot of tea and threw a fancy tablecloth on the table. Voila! Tea time. (I'll do better about preparing next week!)Even though I look sooo sleepy, I love this photo of me and the girls doing a bit of snuggling after Bible reading and prayers, just before bedtime. My super-cozy wrap (super clearance sale from Coldwater Creek) is the envy of both the girls.I know there will be many more changes in our school days to come, but all things considered, it's going well. Even in the frustrating times, there has never been a moment where I did not absolutely feel called to do this, so I know the Lord will equip me for any challenges. This is His work. My kids are really His, but I'm so thankful He has entrusted them to me, and allowed me to be their mom.

A Note of Encouragement

jamiescottage@gmail.com ({ jamie }) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:06:00 +0000

Our days are far from perfect. But notes like this from my little encourager go a long way in helping me through them. I found this on my planning notebook yesterday...
(My mom manages a doctor's office, so we get a bunch of free notepads with drug company names on them. Not as cute as ones I'd buy, but free!)

A Women-to-Woman Opportunity

jamiescottage@gmail.com ({ jamie }) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 13:53:00 +0000

When we were in Botswana last year, we met a bunch of great people, including Beth and Kelly Green. I got tickled about his name because it's a color. ;) They are from Florida, but Kelly had been working for a few months as an interim pastor at the satellite church of Open Baptist (the church we were partnered with in this mission trip). Thanks to the world of facebook, Beth and I have been able to keep in touch, and I'm excited that she and Kelly will be coming to our church next month, along with a few folks from Open Baptist.

Kelly and Beth have partnered with a local pastor's wife in a fabulous ministry in Uganda where women like you and I have the opportunity to sponsor a woman there as she learns skills to start her own business to feed her family, doing things like sewing, making necklaces, farming, or tending animals. The goal is independence, so they are sponsored and trained for one year, and then "graduated" so that a new group of women have the opportunity to be sponsored. In 2009, thirty-one Ugandan women participated in the program. This year, thirty-six women (a whole new group) are sponsored in Uganda, so the ministry is growing already. Check out this video from last July when Beth went hut to hut to check in with the women in the program.

Now they are being led to start a group of women in Zambia. They need at least ten sponsors. The monthly commitment is $40, and of course, it's tax deductible. The sponsorship pays for a woman to learn a trade, to purchase supplies for her trade, and to help feed her family during that year. I still need to talk to Ken about it, but I'd like to be a sponsor myself. And I'd love to have an opportunity to go meet the women in Zambia, too!

You can view a PDF brochure about the program here. A brief exerpt:

"The women of the village... live in mud huts. Each day they must work hard to produce enough food for themselves and their families. Many of these women are widows or have been deserted by their husbands. Most of these women support not only themselves and their children but also orphans. They have to face devastating disease such as malaria, typhoid and HIV/AIDs. They have no electricity, no running water and no toilets. Their meals are prepared outside their huts over an open fire. When they are sick, there are no clinics to help them."

Beth shared a few testimonies from the women who graduated from the program last year. Here's one example (keep in mind this is translated by someone who does not speak English as her first language):

Angela's Testimony --

Before: Her family was not peaceful and the husband used to beat her, chase her away, and he used not to buy for the children food. She was fed up of the situation and she was going back to her parents.

And now: She is so grateful to sister Beth for getting her the person who has helped her and the situation at home is back to normal and her husband is now saved. The money she gets, has helped her to buy food, pay school fees, buy them clothes, medication for her children. She learnt how to use the tailoring machine. Bought material and now she is sowing people’s clothes for money. She is so happy and thank you so much.

Local friends: Beth would be happy to meet with us while they are in town in February to answer question or explain the program more in-depth, so please let me know if you'd be interested in meeting with her! We could meet right here at my house. Not-so-local friends: email me with any questions, and I will put you in contact with Beth!

Weekly Wrap-Up

jamiescottage@gmail.com ({ jamie }) — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 15:23:00 +0000

I'm so delinquent in posting this, but that fits with how our week has gone.
A few quick highlights:

Our rusty old furnace (heater) finally died. A very good thing it wasn't a couple of weeks ago when the high was 20 degrees. But it sure made getting out of the toasty bed in the morning rather difficult, so our school days started late every day this week.
Lindsey started tumbling class and loves it.
Kathryn started learning to crochet in GA's (Girls In Action) at church, and loves it.
We got a new furnace.
Lindsey got strep throat and has felt miserable the past couple of days.

Figuring out how to do school with both girls is proving difficult, but in ways I hadn't anticipated. So I'm still tweaking things, still praying for direction about specifics. I know this is where they both need to be, but I just have to figure out how to make it work well for them both. For instance, Kathryn loves me to read certain things to her, but it's distracting if Lindsey's doing something else. I'm not yet accustomed to having to work around things like that. Kathryn is very thorough; in fact, she tends to be a bit of a perfectionist, which is something we're working on. And she tends to dawdle. Lindsey, on the other hand, tends to rush through things; she does her work, and I can't find specific fault with it, but I know it's not the best work she's capable of doing. So I have to help Kathryn learn not to get upset if she makes a mistake, and I have to help Lindsey learn to take her time and do things to the BEST of her ability.

For the time being, they are both still doing Winter Promise "Children Around the World" for geography and culture studies. We just began Barry Stebbing's "Wonderful Art of Drawing Horses" for our art lessons, and I think they're both going to enjoy that. I might do it along with them, because it looks fun. Kathryn and I loved his "Joseph the Canada Goose" last year.

Kathryn is close to finishing up Horizons 3 in math, so we'll start on Horizons 4 when she's done with that. I stumbled across a math curriculum called "Life of Fred" for Lindsey, and although I'm not yet convinced that it is the most effective program, she doesn't hate it, which is saying quite a lot. It's math told as a rather amusing story about a boy named Fred; we're doing "Pre-Algebra with Biology."

Last year we did quite a few things that we haven't been doing this year -- yet. So we're working on adding them back in. Things like poetry, copywork, and more Bible study. I'm letting the girls choose a poem they like (for now) to copy and asking them to memorize at least part of it; by reading it aloud every day, that's pretty easy to do. We're using Lamp and Quill for our Bible curriculum, plus adding a weekly memory verse. We're also trying to start having family Bible-reading time most evenings.

And now, because every post is better with pictures, and because anything we spend this much money on deserves to appear in a blog post, I give you this photo of our brand new furnace in our lovely attic...

Please feel free to oooh and aaah over it.
(If you haven't already, check out yesterday's post for Kathryn in our take of a Norman Rockwell painting!)

A Norman Rockwell Re-Creation

jamiescottage@gmail.com ({ jamie }) — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 02:52:00 +0000

Kathryn has been wanting to do one of our re-creations, but we hadn't thought of one to fit her until we were flipping through a Norman Rockwell art book. When we came across "Girl at Mirror", we immediately thought of Kathryn: slender girl, long brown hair, even similar facial features. This was painted in 1954, and I absolutely love it.

We couldn't think of what would work as a dress/slip until last week, when a friend gave us some hand-me-down clothes and I realized one of the dresses would be perfect! With the help of Kathryn's doll, my brush and lipstick (and braiding skills!), plus Ken's creative lighting, here's our take of it (with canvas texture added in photoshop):

CM Carnival

jamiescottage@gmail.com ({ jamie }) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 14:00:00 +0000

Be sure to set aside a little time to enjoy another great edition of the Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival, hosted today at Holistic Homeschooler.

We'd love to see your submissions next time! Use this form to submit your blog article.

Frankly, My Dear...

jamiescottage@gmail.com ({ jamie }) — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 03:45:00 +0000

One day, in browsing for some fun old photos to re-create, I came upon the Gone With The Wind movie poster. I joked that we should do that one, since we wanted to do one with both of us in it. It sounded fun, we're both Southern (yes, you have to capitalize that!), and madly in love (though not so stormily as Rhett and Scarlett), so...

We did this the same afternoon as the Fred Astaire. This one was harder since we were both in it. It required several lights, and we used orange gels on two off-camera flashes aimed at the background to achieve the orange glow. One of those shot through a couple of water bottles to make a little ripply. We set up an umbrella light shining straight down on Ken's shoulder, and the main light was set up to the right of the camera. Once we had everything set up, Lindsey clicked the shutter for us.

The outfits: Ken's was easy since it was just a white shirt. I drew on his mustache with an eyeliner. Lindsey and Brandon cracked up laughing every time they looked at him, and somebody started singing a Jimmy Buffet song about a pencil-thin mustache. I used to have a red velvet dress that would've been perfect, made by my mom for a senior high dance. But I have no idea whatever happened to it. So I got out the pale pink dress I wore in our wedding. I wanted more lace at the top, so I put on a short slip upside down. I opted not to show cleavage, though Scarlett showed quite a bit in the original.

The only thing I did to edit was add a tiny bit of grain, and then overlay the original poster and erase everything except the buildings at the bottom. I had to stretch a few to make them in the right spots. I also darkened my dress a bit. And, of course, added some text.

The hardest part was getting the posing just right. I am relatively light, but the way Rhett is leaning over makes it very awkward to support any weight, so Ken couldn't hold me for long. And then there's the looking-serious thing. We don't do well at that. (It's the same reason we can't tango worth a darn.) I kept giggling at Ken's serious Rhett face. Or he'd say "Frankly, my dear..." and I'd bust out laughing. Lindsey snickering the whole time wasn't helping us stay serious either. But finally we decided this was close enough to the original poster. We used it to make a new About Us page on our website, to reflect what great big goofballs we are, and hopefully, to show our creative fun side. I'd love to know what you think!

Ken as Fred Astaire

jamiescottage@gmail.com ({ jamie }) — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 01:14:00 +0000

We love re-creating old photos. It's one of our favorite things to do when we have free time. Ken has never played model, so I wanted him to be in front of the camera for a change. I love old Hollywood, especially old movies with lots of dancing. My dream date is going to one of those fabulous 1940's dinner-and-dancing places, minus all the cigarette smoke. Ken is quite the hoofer (a good dancer), so this photo of Fred Astaire was my inspiration:

Ken is also usually the lighting guru, but this time I wanted to do all the lighting stuff as well. I want to show you my set-up because good photos don't require amazing backdrops or fantastic locations. This is in the living room with Lacy the WonderDog checking things out. I had one main light with an umbrella, controlled manually by my camera. A secondary slave flash was on the other side, just sitting on top of the craft cabinet. I didn't pull out the big backdrop; instead, I just used our reflector since it would be a tight shot.

We didn't have to use quite as many odd things to make up Ken's outfit here as it seems like I usually end up using. He borrowed Brandon's shirt, cuff links, and bow tie. It would've been better to have white like the original, but we didn't feel like going to buy one just for this shot, especially since we had a black one already in the house. The "cane" is another light stand, adjusted to the proper height. But let me tell you a cool story about the top hat: I put on facebook one day that I needed a top hat for a photo, and one of our bride's moms (who has known me since before I was born!) said she had a top hat that her grandfather wore in his wedding in 1912; she shipped it to me from Florida the next day. How awesome is that??? So here's our results...

So what d'ya think? {grin}

ImagingUSA!

jamiescottage@gmail.com ({ jamie }) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 02:42:00 +0000

We just got back from a fantastic weekend in Nashville, Tennessee! The last time we went away for a weekend was a disaster; what was supposed to be a romantic getaway turned horrid when Ken and I both became violently ill (I'll spare you the details!) within an hour of arriving. That was over a year ago, so it was time for another get-away! In this case, we combined it with a photography convention/trade show. That might not sound romantic to you, but we LOVE this stuff! We had plenty of time for just the two of us, and lots of time to talk and dream. Although Ken is not typically a man of many words, he gets really chatty when it comes to anything photography-related; we didn't once turn on the radio on the four-hour drive up there or back. Instead, we just talked. My husband is my best friend -- but with knee-weakening kisses. ;)When all the icy weather and school closings happened last week, I was hoping it wouldn't prevent us from going -- and it didn't, but it almost did! Just before we left, with the car already loaded and everything, I slipped and fell on the ice in my mom's driveway. I didn't get bruised, but I twisted so much in trying not to fall that I sort of pulled a couple of muscles. For just a few moments, I actually thought I'd broken something or ripped a tendon or something in my leg because it hurt so bad and I couldn't move it at all. The first thing that went through my head was that we wouldn't get to go on our trip, which would be very disappointing and a waste of money. The second thing that went through my head is how expensive a visit to the ER would be. Everything ended up okay, though, and I am praising God for that! (For a few days, Advil was my friend, and I did walk a bit like an old lady!)

The drive was icy, though. Once we were out of our neighborhood, which still had some very icy patches, we had no problems with ice on the road, but we saw a good bit of snow, frozen lakes, and ice that looked like small waterfalls on the rocks by the highway in Tennessee. It was beautiful!There was no shortage of photographers at the conference, so we asked someone to snap a photo of us. I've recently realized that there are very few photos of the two of us together, so I'm trying to work on that! (Love that dog photo on the sign!) For all the non-photographers reading this, ImagingUSA is a ginormous trade show and a whole bunch of great training classes by many of the leaders of the photography industry. It is hosted by PPA (Professional Photographers of America) and sponsored by some fantastic vendors. We were like kids in a candy story at the trade show, but we resisted the temptation of buying everything in sight. I did love getting to see and touch and feel some of the products I've been eye-balling online. We made one purchase, but that was a product we'd already planned to buy, and I knew they were going to offering a special price during the conference. So, hurray for good deals!

**For those of you who are new to the photography business and have never been to a convention like this, let me share a few thoughts now that we've attended our first. In my opinion...

Do NOT go to one of these shows if: you are brand new; if you don't know much about equipment (or get overwhelmed at technical talk); and especially do not go until you have at least started developing your own individual style and have something of a vision for what you want your art and your business to be. If I had gone two years ago, I would have been completely overwhelmed.

DO go to one of these shows if: you want encouragement/inspiration, as well as some practical business ideas; to touch and see products at the trade show; and to network with other photographers.

One of the highlights for me was meeting some wonderful Christian photographers in a group called UNITE, which is described on the facebook page as "A group of photographers uniting for the glory of God." How cool is that!? We sat and chatted and prayed with these great folks, ranging from relatively new photographers to well-known leaders of the industry. Awesome. One of the group took the photo above with their iPhone. (We're in the back, near the left.)

We are so excited about 2010! We have already been blessed with some fantastic weddings booked for this year, and we are looking forward to seeing what God has planned for our business and for every other aspect of our lives!