The winners are:
Educational Sightings
Tracy
Heather
Katalina
Chevaughn
Congratulations to our winners! We will notify you via e-mail and get your details so that we can send you your book.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Announcing the winners
Thank you to everyone who entered the draw for the 'His Heartbeat for Women' give away.
The winners are:
Educational Sightings
Tracy
Heather
Katalina
Chevaughn
Congratulations to our winners! We will notify you via e-mail and get your details so that we can send you your book.
The winners are:
Educational Sightings
Tracy
Heather
Katalina
Chevaughn
Congratulations to our winners! We will notify you via e-mail and get your details so that we can send you your book.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Driving Miss Dorothy
For the past eighteen-plus years, my daughter and I have spent countless hours with each other. Even though she will reach her eighteenth birthday in a couple of weeks, I date our relationship from the day I went to the local pregnancy center for a pregnancy test. Having been a supporter for years, it seemed a fitting location to confirm that my third child was on the way.
Yesterday, that “baby” passed her driving test and today she took her first solo voyage, since the restriction of driving with a licensed driver in the car has been removed. I vividly recall my angst when my two older children reached this milestone. Maybe it is the passage of time or a better sense of how things go, but today angst was not among the emotions I experienced.
Yesterday, that “baby” passed her driving test and today she took her first solo voyage, since the restriction of driving with a licensed driver in the car has been removed. I vividly recall my angst when my two older children reached this milestone. Maybe it is the passage of time or a better sense of how things go, but today angst was not among the emotions I experienced. One of my observations about this transition is how different the parent/child relationship becomes when children no longer need to rely on parents for transportation. And although it will be pleasant to sleep in sometimes and not spend huge blocks of time chauffeuring her around, there are things that I will miss.
I will miss the study time I enjoyed while waiting for her piano lessons or golf practice to be over. I’ll miss the time I spent knitting and listening to audio sermons during those waits. Most of all, I will miss the bonding time that came when we travelled to and from her classes, tournaments, or lessons. I will miss her help with shopping runs we made on our way home. Somehow, sitting side by side rather than face to face often allowed for greater freedom in sharing important topics. With my older children, I never fully appreciated how much I needed to replace those car times with times for us to catch up on the events of our day. With younger children still requiring transportation, I didn’t notice the negative effect of that lack soon enough.
One of the most precious aspects of the homeschooling life is the opportunity to develop strong relationships within the family. As we reach milestones, the years of growth and nurturing turn into years of maturing friendship and respect. With a good foundation, change can foster growth rather than inhibit it.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Great Giveaway - The Biblical Trustee Family book
To enter this drawing, simply post this giveaway on your own blog or facebook page and then leave a comment in the box below with a link to your post.
Be sure to check back here on May 15th to see who the winners are.
To listen to Andrea talk about her new book click here
God's basic institution is the family, and the Biblical family lives and operates in terms of a calling greater than itself - the Kingdom of God. In an age when the family is disparaged, warred against, and treated as a mere convention, it becomes the duty of Christians to bring God's plan for the family to listening ears. That's what Andrea Schwartz has accomplished in this collection of essays on The Biblical Trustee Family. Stemming from her long years in homeschooling. Andrea elevates the Kingdom mandate as the driving purpose behind God's creation of the family, and the family's central task: education. Her passion is to equip Christian families - especially homeschooling mothers - not only with the tools of learning, but the tools of dominion.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
It's a boy!
This is the view from our patio, and the photo was taken by my husband when we got back from the birthing center
After weeks of wondering what day Benjamin would arrive, it turned out to be the day we got a record amount of snowfall here in Texas. 12.5 inches of snow fell in 24 hours. My husband and I joked that it would not be a good night for our baby to arrive because the temperatures were below freezing and driving conditions were hazardous. No way we could race to the birthing center in the event of a quick labor!! Well, God and Benjamin had other plans and I went into labor that night at after 12:30 AM, February 12th. My husband woke our 2 sweet girls and strapped them in the car and we left for Inanna Birthing Center, traveling very carefully as the roads were pretty slick.
The snow fell steadily and my treasured husband Mike, encouraged me the entire seventy minutes it took to get to the birthing center in Denton (it normally takes 40 minutes to get there). Mike sang songs of worship to the Lord as we made our way and there was a peaceful calm that surrounded us. I know that angels accompanied us giving travelling mercies, thanks to all the prayers of precious friends and family. My contractions were 2 minutes apart and very painful but I could feel the hand of the Lord on me, giving me strength and keeping me focused. We arrived at the birthing center at 2:15 AM and Benjamin Paul was born at 2:30 AM. Even though everything happened so quickly I still managed to have the water birth I wanted. What a wonderful surprise it was to discover that our baby was a boy (I had no ultrasound scans and so we could keep the gender of our baby a surprise). Tears of joy filled our eyes as we held him for the first time. My daughters were delighted to meet their new little brother as he entered the world.
We left the birthing center at 5:15 AM and made our way carefully home. The lights from street lamps and cars reflected off the white snowy blanket that covered everything, the trees were laden with the beautiful snow. The scene before me was breathtaking as I sat in the back of the car next to our new little miracle. He held my finger as he slept and my heart was just bursting with joy.
My husband and I want to raise a warrior for God, one that will champion the crown rights of King Jesus. A man that will live to establish Christ's Kingdom in all areas of life. We know our job has just begun and we pray the grace of God will ever so strongly rest on our lives and the lives of our children as we raise the future of many generations.
Thank you for celebrating with us!
Benjamin ten days old
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Vintage People
One of the mistakes we can make when meeting elderly people whom we have not known in their younger days is to fail to appreciate their unique personalities. I learned this lesson when my son was little. Since we did not live near either his paternal grandmother or maternal grandfather, we used to visit nursing homes to spend some time with their residents. I discovered how prone I was to stereotype the “grandmas and grandpas” (as my son called them), as though white hair adequately defined them as a demographic I could easily categorize.
We made this a “family affair” and my husband often joined us. Over time, each of us had our “favorite” person to share our time with during our visits. My son was a big hit with the group of women who sat around and played cards. Because he was not a shy person, he endeared himself to them with his jokes and funny faces. I enjoyed my time with a woman who told me about her husband who had been a surgeon and had passed away almost two decades before. She was eager to share about her six grown sons who had followed in their dad’s profession. My husband’s friend, Earl, was quite a character. He would repeat the same stories over and over again about the “good old days” and never failed to express his gratitude for the “ratios.” At first, my husband did not question him about this, feeling as though he should have known what Earl meant. Finally, he inquired, “What ratios?” Earl bent over and whispered in his ear, “The ratio of women to men. It’s great to be this outnumbered; there are women all over the place and I am one of three men!”
These stories came to mind today when I received an email from a friend from childhood. She and I remain friends, having first become acquainted because our mothers were each other’s best friend. She keeps me up-to-date with news about her mom. Aunt Carrie, as I used to refer to her, is now in her late 80s and unable to live alone due to a number of strokes. I have fond memories of summer vacations and holidays spent with her and remember her as a fun-loving, spirited woman with a pronounced sense of humor. As the story below will demonstrate, she hasn’t changed all that much. Her daughter writes,
We made this a “family affair” and my husband often joined us. Over time, each of us had our “favorite” person to share our time with during our visits. My son was a big hit with the group of women who sat around and played cards. Because he was not a shy person, he endeared himself to them with his jokes and funny faces. I enjoyed my time with a woman who told me about her husband who had been a surgeon and had passed away almost two decades before. She was eager to share about her six grown sons who had followed in their dad’s profession. My husband’s friend, Earl, was quite a character. He would repeat the same stories over and over again about the “good old days” and never failed to express his gratitude for the “ratios.” At first, my husband did not question him about this, feeling as though he should have known what Earl meant. Finally, he inquired, “What ratios?” Earl bent over and whispered in his ear, “The ratio of women to men. It’s great to be this outnumbered; there are women all over the place and I am one of three men!”These stories came to mind today when I received an email from a friend from childhood. She and I remain friends, having first become acquainted because our mothers were each other’s best friend. She keeps me up-to-date with news about her mom. Aunt Carrie, as I used to refer to her, is now in her late 80s and unable to live alone due to a number of strokes. I have fond memories of summer vacations and holidays spent with her and remember her as a fun-loving, spirited woman with a pronounced sense of humor. As the story below will demonstrate, she hasn’t changed all that much. Her daughter writes,
The other day, I took [my mom] to her monthly “aphasia” meeting at Greenwich Hospital with a group of aphasia patients. Aphasia is the communication problem that people get with words and thoughts due to brain injuries.
Anyway, the group was humming some obscure 1935 song. I think it was called Melody of Love. Everyone was humming and only my mother was singing the words, which actually sounded great. The doctor who runs the meeting said, “Caroline, you knew all the words! That’s wonderful.”
My mother, upon leaving the group, came over and whispered to me, “I made them up".
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Remembering April
April Joy Lemons was a woman of many talents and interests. She loved to cook, host teas, extend hospitality, knit, play the piano, sing, garden, sew, and quilt. Her faith in Christ was not an add-on to these many activities, but was an integral part of all of them.
My girls and I spent a lot of time with April in her sewing room as she worked with them as they jointly designed some elegant dresses – ball gowns for a special party or for their bridesmaid dresses for their brother’s wedding. When we would return for fittings, I would peruse the pages of April’s scrapbook of the many brides whose dresses she had sewn.
Although April sewed for many women, she had a ministry to women who were about to be married. She loved working with these women, helping them select a fabric and pattern that would be most flattering to their body type and economical at the same time. She would spend hours on the detail work that would give them a garment with special elegance. Ecclesiastes 9:10 comes to mind: "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might." You see, much more was taking place for these privileged clients than just acquiring a wedding dress; these women were benefitting from a Titus 2 woman.
I come from grandparents who were professional tailors and I know something about excellent quality. Somehow, that skill set bypassed me so I asked April if she would teach my daughter Dorothy to sew. About eight years ago, she agreed to do so. I did not want her to do it free, but she charged me so minimally that it practically was. I would bring my daughter once a week for about an hour and a half, and together they would make doll dresses and small sewn gifts.
The very first lesson involved April going through the sewing basket, teaching Dorothy the names of all the various items and their uses. Dorothy was about nine at the time and persisted in calling the needles pins and the pins needles -- a habit April desperately tried to break. One night when I came to retrieve Dorothy from her lesson, I remember both of them laughing hysterically because Dorothy’s confusion had finally rubbed off on April. She was now calling pins needles and needles pins!
The benefits my daughter received from spending time with April were priceless. Dorothy would recount in detail the stories April would share about her mother and earlier times in her life. Dorothy never knew either of her grandmothers, both having passed away before she was born, and I cherished the time she got to spend with this older, godly woman.
Their final sewing project together was a 3` x 3` quilt which April dubbed the $5000 quilt, considering how many months the project took them. She wanted to let me know that she wasn’t trying to draw it out, that they just got to talking, and the lesson time would be over before they knew it. By the time it was completed, rather than keep it for herself, Dorothy presented it as a gift to a friend who took in foster infants. To date, about ten little ones have received the benefit of the $5000 quilt.
April was diagnosed with cancer in late 2008 and underwent chemotherapy treatments for the better part of a year. I wasn’t able to spend as much time with her as I would have liked due to scheduling conflicts and the necessity of staying away if I was even likely to be sick, so as to shield her from illness. I was able to visit her the Monday before she died. We had a nice visit, where we laughed and reminisced some. I was struck by the fact that she displayed no fear whatsoever about what lied ahead for her. April was thoroughly ready to go and be with Jesus.
April’s attitude from the time she received her diagnosis was that she had a win-win situation. If she died, she would be with her Savior. If she lived, she would have more opportunity to be with those she loved. For April, to live was Christ and to die was gain.
I have come to a point in my life where the number of loved ones waiting for me in Heaven increases yearly. Knowing that April is with those she loved and among those who are special to me is gratifying. However, I must admit that the idea that gives me the greatest pleasure is that April Joy Lemons sees Jesus face to face and has been blessed by His words, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter now into the joy of your Lord.”
My girls and I spent a lot of time with April in her sewing room as she worked with them as they jointly designed some elegant dresses – ball gowns for a special party or for their bridesmaid dresses for their brother’s wedding. When we would return for fittings, I would peruse the pages of April’s scrapbook of the many brides whose dresses she had sewn. Although April sewed for many women, she had a ministry to women who were about to be married. She loved working with these women, helping them select a fabric and pattern that would be most flattering to their body type and economical at the same time. She would spend hours on the detail work that would give them a garment with special elegance. Ecclesiastes 9:10 comes to mind: "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might." You see, much more was taking place for these privileged clients than just acquiring a wedding dress; these women were benefitting from a Titus 2 woman.
I come from grandparents who were professional tailors and I know something about excellent quality. Somehow, that skill set bypassed me so I asked April if she would teach my daughter Dorothy to sew. About eight years ago, she agreed to do so. I did not want her to do it free, but she charged me so minimally that it practically was. I would bring my daughter once a week for about an hour and a half, and together they would make doll dresses and small sewn gifts.
The very first lesson involved April going through the sewing basket, teaching Dorothy the names of all the various items and their uses. Dorothy was about nine at the time and persisted in calling the needles pins and the pins needles -- a habit April desperately tried to break. One night when I came to retrieve Dorothy from her lesson, I remember both of them laughing hysterically because Dorothy’s confusion had finally rubbed off on April. She was now calling pins needles and needles pins!
The benefits my daughter received from spending time with April were priceless. Dorothy would recount in detail the stories April would share about her mother and earlier times in her life. Dorothy never knew either of her grandmothers, both having passed away before she was born, and I cherished the time she got to spend with this older, godly woman.
Their final sewing project together was a 3` x 3` quilt which April dubbed the $5000 quilt, considering how many months the project took them. She wanted to let me know that she wasn’t trying to draw it out, that they just got to talking, and the lesson time would be over before they knew it. By the time it was completed, rather than keep it for herself, Dorothy presented it as a gift to a friend who took in foster infants. To date, about ten little ones have received the benefit of the $5000 quilt.
April was diagnosed with cancer in late 2008 and underwent chemotherapy treatments for the better part of a year. I wasn’t able to spend as much time with her as I would have liked due to scheduling conflicts and the necessity of staying away if I was even likely to be sick, so as to shield her from illness. I was able to visit her the Monday before she died. We had a nice visit, where we laughed and reminisced some. I was struck by the fact that she displayed no fear whatsoever about what lied ahead for her. April was thoroughly ready to go and be with Jesus.
April’s attitude from the time she received her diagnosis was that she had a win-win situation. If she died, she would be with her Savior. If she lived, she would have more opportunity to be with those she loved. For April, to live was Christ and to die was gain.
I have come to a point in my life where the number of loved ones waiting for me in Heaven increases yearly. Knowing that April is with those she loved and among those who are special to me is gratifying. However, I must admit that the idea that gives me the greatest pleasure is that April Joy Lemons sees Jesus face to face and has been blessed by His words, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter now into the joy of your Lord.”
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Stages of Life
God made Eve to be Adam's suitable helper (helpmeet) -- to complement him (complete) -- to be the perfect fit in physical, emotional, and spiritual ways. Although a woman has a subordinate role in the family, that is not a statement regarding her intellectual capabilities. Rather, it is a position which affords her great power and responsibility and from which she can do the most good.
Yet, women of all ages would be very lonely and misunderstood if they didn't have other women to learn from and relate. Contrary to all the romance novels or movies, men do not satisfy all the needs women have. However, in a humanistic society, women compete with each other rather than serve and support each other. Sadly, this is very prevalent amongst professing Christians.
From a very early age, girls need to be a part of the greater discussions among older women -- either in family settings or at church. Sitting in a some "grown-up" female conversations can prepare them for the changes they currently expereience and issues to expect in the future.
I made a point with my daughters to give them time with women of various ages to acquire a new skill and to learn not all women do things the same way. It is important that young women are not left to discuss all the important stages of life with others of their own age or level of experience. Of course, a mother needs to be selective in whom she allows to speak into her daughter's life, but the criteria need not be agreement on every minor issue of doctrine or practice. You want to "widen the circle" for your girls with God-fearing women who have works that demonstrate their faith. In the process, they will learn what it is like for a menopausal women, a post-partum woman, a newly pregnant women, a newly married woman, etc.
The stages of a woman's life definitiely have their challenges. But with faithful sisters around to help us manuever through the waters, they can also be intensely rewarding.
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