We will be live blogging from the conference next Thursday and Friday.  So, what should you expect on the site?  We will be posting highlights from the conference and sessions we attend.  I have been impressed by speakers in the past including Norm Wakefield, John Stonestreet, Jeff Myers, Todd Wilson, Phil Downer and Mark Fox.  The topics run the gambit of strengthening families, relationships, learning styles, financial tips, etc.  Even if you don’t homeschool I think you will enjoy the content of the posts.

We are looking forward to this new aspect of the conference and hope you get something out of it too!

Stay tuned…

There’s certainly no way that you could have known that mothering two children on this earth years apart would yield the grandchildren that tug at your legs today.

Motherhood is about sacrifice and that, you sure done your part of.  You loved and you lost and you’ve just kept on loving.  You taught us to love with a whole heart.  And, well, we all know love multiplies.  (see photo above)

In the end their have been more toes to play with and necks to kiss on then you could ever imagine.  And the love, it’s still going strong.  From the carefree laughs that you give to the toddlers funny words, to your concerned looks for the older kids trying out experiments in the backyard, to the whispers of love for the slobbery toothless babies rolling around on the floor.

God gave you the gift of love and there’s not doubt in my mind you’ll use every ounce he’s dosed out before this life is over.

Thank you mom for teaching us to love, for loving the sometimes unlovable, and for being a part of raising a generation who loves God.

We Love You!

Field Day with our homeschool group.

Let’s take these arguments that anti Amendment One voters have been sharing and line them up against abortion.  Do you really believe in equal rights for everyone?  So, next year we can have an Amendment banning abortion and you will vote for it?

I do not appreciate everyone who jumps to the conclusion that I based my vote on an “obscure” verse in the Old Testament.  Questions like,”Do you eat Pork?”, “Do you wear mixed fibers?”, “Are you for stoning?” are regurgitated arguments that come from those who don’t know any better.

We vote from a Biblical Worldview.  I do not take scripture out of context or twist it around so that it will justify my sin.  I have read behind Biblical “scholars” that pick and choose scripture and interpret it how they want it to sound.

Love the sinner not the sin.  You may hate me for how I stand, but understand I do not take it personally.  You do not hate me, you are rejecting the Bible, you are rejecting the truth.

Christians, stay in the Word, stay in prayer.  Know what you believe, believe what you know.  Pray for our government, our leaders and those who stand against the word of God.

The More You Know……

Anyway, this week I decided I had to get back into the routine.  Even though I normally get some kind of walk in during the day, I needed to get back to my morning workout.  So I set the alarm for 6 am.  Monday I woke up at 5:55 am, turned the alarm off and headed downstairs.  I did  some yoga that worked out my abs. Did I mention that I had a baby 6 months ago?  Yeah my abs, not in the best working order of their life.  Tuesday I felt like I had been hit by a truck, in the abs of course.

Tuesday morning I did ab work again.  I have no idea why, possibly I forgot.  I was a glutton for punishment.  I secretly enjoyed the severe pain, I have no explanation.

Wednesday my abs still hurt, my ribs felt like they had been smashed, and my feet were cramping.  I dragged myself out of bed, the cat licked my feet, and then….. I smelled coffee.  My dad had left earlier and there was still coffee on, it smelled    so    good.  The house was quiet and the cat had even retired back to sleep.

My house is rarely quiet and when it is I’m not normally awake.  That’s when I remembered, ah…the brownies we had for dessert the night before.  I imagined this picturesque moment where I was eating brownies and drinking coffee alone in a quiet house.

I stumbled over to the remote, put on some 20 minute workout thing and grabbed some hand weights.

Then I shared the brownies with the kids at lunchtime, I mean you have to compromise sometimes right?

Since our oldest kids were really young we’ve always involved them in the election process. We read books about elections and presidents and of course government structures come up in school. As young children their questions were pretty basic but it’s interesting to see how their questions have gotten more thoughtful with age. Today we discussed how much power our elected officials really have and the idea of “checks and balances”. This was a great year to discuss the constitution and about making amendments to it. We had great conversations about the whole process and the best part was we didn’t even have to crack open a social studies book. I would encourage you to take you kids to vote, it really is a great way to start conversations about things that they need to learn about, they will be even more interested if you aren’t actually trying to teach them something and that’s the education we love to give as parents.

I tend to get as specific as they kids want to get with candidates. If they really want to know what a candidate believes about a particular subject then we look it up and discuss it. If they ask why we vote for a particular person they we talk about why. We discuss topics in a very age appropriate way and line them up with what the Bible says on those topics. We are teaching our kids to have a biblical worldview so this is very important to us. My hope is that 20 years from now they don’t believe what they believe because that’s what their parents believed but because that’s what the Bible teaches. I want them to base their beliefs on words they can actually point to, not words that come out of my mouth.

In short, go vote! It’s fun and you get to use a touch screen, you might even get a sticker!