In Which Flat Stanley Goes to a Church Picnic

You may have noticed that Flat Stanley is visiting us for a while. About a week ago we took him with us to our church's annual summer picnic. A kind gentleman (who lost his wife not long ago, yet still manages to be a most gracious host) sponsors our group each year at his waterfront home. This year was no exception, and as always, the kids were thrilled to be able to go. What is there not to like about a church all-you-can-eat potluck buffet, the promise of a big potful of crabs to pick, water to splash in, a boat ride, red-neck horseshoes (don't even ask) and football, and a huge bag of silly quirters, bubbles, and more fun kid-friendly games than I can mention?

In my enthusiasm to enjoy the good eats (and with the challenge of juggling plates for four young ones and a Stanely, plus a dog...yes, we took the chihuahua who recently adopted us and he was the life of the party), I neglected to take pictures of all of the food. But you can take my word that Stanley loved his burger, the ambrosia salad, the mac and cheese, and of course, the scrumptious chocolate cake that was absolutely overloaded with icing. In fact, he got some on his face, but I wiped it off.

Next, we got a chance to ride on a church member's boat. The incredible thing about his boat is that not only did he build it himself from scratch, but it runs on vegetable oil, which he gets used. Now that's my kind of recycling.

Hubby loves the water. I guess it's good he's in the Navy!

I could get used to these rides. I think we all could.

Well, all of us except for Stanley. He seems a bit afraid of the water, or maybe it was the wind. He's a bit skinny, you know. He needs to eat more. I think I saw him heading back for the dessert table. There was delicious apple pie there, too. Yum.

Definitely not seasick. Sea-exhilarated!

Boo notices that his thumb is salty. Mmmmm.

A family picture, short a few members who were having too much fun on shore to join us. Notice we are wearing Bubba's new horseshoeing business shirts. They say: No Hoof, No Horse. It's an allusion to that old saying, "For the want of a shoe, the horse was lost..." He gave us each one as a gift. I think he just realizes the kids are so adorable that they will be free advertising. :-)

I could do this for hours. Do you enjoy the water?

Cowboy was fascinated by the waves, the boats, and the many osprey nests we sped by.

On the left is a picturesque waterfront town. On the right is a lovely farm I wouldn't mind having...

Our pastor is a fun guy. His wife is as sweet as they come.

 Back at home port, we find that Peppy (the chihuahua) has been pleasantly entertaining the ladies who volunteered to babysit him. He performed his usual adorable begging poses and big-eyed mournful faces. And apparently, he missed me,, because they said he whimpered for me. Why is it that dogs always bond to me when I am just not a dog person? It's like my near indifference to them draws them in. Weird. Well, if I ever liked a chihuahua, I like this one. He is cute, quiet, and mannerly. Not to mention, he is very tolerant of the kids.

See what I mean? He even lets Boo walk him.

Apparently, Bubba has passed the time playing Redneck Horseshoes.

Don't ask. I really don't get it. It's two colored balls tied together with a length of rope, then you toss them at those PVC pipe contraptions and try to wrap them around one of the bars, which correspond to different point values (I think). Whatever it is, they seem to like it!

Then it was time for a game of Skins vs. Shirts. It appeared to be Bubba and Hubby against all the younger guys. I don't know how it turned out because I was busy watching the kids play in the water over by the pier. I heard that the "old guys" wore the younger guys out. Good on ya!

Fun in the water...a hallmark of summer days. How can playing in the water ever not be fun? It's even more fun with friends to share it with, and hard to leave behind. But all good things come to an end...

Hubby helpfully helped corral the water babies and we headed back to the picnic to get a few photos and visit for a while...as they leave, Boo chases them with a...what is that? A shark chomper? Too funny! Apparently, they had to have some "chomper battles" on the way back to the fun (sharks vs. lobsters),  with promises of a second trip to the dessert table to persuade them it was time to dry. I don't know how they can still be hungry. I am stuffed.

My boys. They grow up too quickly.

When learning is a lifestyle, you find moments to explore nature and God's wonderful fingerprints that we see demonstrated in its marvels everywhere we look, from an artistically curved, delicate snail, to a curious crab scuttling over the rocks.

 My adorably sweet girls.

A few final moments to be silly with special friends, visit with fascinating folks, and find all of our stuff that has spread itself all over the yard, thanks to Boo.

 One final picture of a dear church member who wanted a picture of the two younger boys on his lap, because one of them has his first name and the other has his middle name.  How sweet.

Blessings,

Heather

Next up: Stanley reveals a surprise. You are gonna love this one.

Menu Plan Monday (plus, a movie and a read aloud!)

Flat Stanley says, "Hello!" from our annual church picnic...

Gotta love a good old church potluck.

Can you say, "Yummy!"?

Stanley's favs were the ambrosia salad, a juicy burger, and of course,

the chocolate cake with loads of gooey icing. Heavenly.

Our Menu for the Week:

Monday: Pizza (I had a BAD migraine). Delivered. Done. We watched A Bear Called Winnie about the bear who inspired A.A. Milne to write Winnie the Pooh. It was very good. There are brief war scenes at the end, but nothing gory or too traumatic (well, people get killed, but it is not shown, just known). The lessons of loyalty (even to animals) and bravery in spite of fear are timeless. All the kids (ages 13-2) enjoyed it.

Tuesday: Cheesy egg and garden vegetable scrambled egg breakfast burritos. Pears from our trees, cooked with butter and brown sugar until scrumptious, served over vanilla yogurt...delicious!

Wednesday: Cheese quesadillas. Spanish rice. Lettuce and tomatoes on the side. Lots of sour cream.

Thursday: Tater Tot Casserole and chunky applesauce.

Friday: BLT wrap ups...one of our favorites. Macaroni salad on the side.

Saturday: Spaghetti and cheesy garlic bread. Salad. Extra tomatoes. I just can't keep up with the tomato crop this year. There are worse things.

Sunday: "Surprise me" day...Tex said he'd like to cook more. He doesn't want to get out on his own and only know how to heat up stuff in the microwave. He came up with that on his own. Good on ya, Tex! I can't wait to see what we are going to have. I'll bet it is delicious. I am so blessed.

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Read Alouds for the Week:

We checked The Railway Children out from our library and listened to a bit over half of it in the car, but we haven't been doing much driving since my folks have been out of town, so we never finished it. Alas, we had to turn it back in, so I found it on Project Guttenberg and we are going to try to listen to the rest of the story this week during the hottest hours of the day. It has been a very good story so far, showing how children can find things NOT electronic or parent-led with which amuse themselves and how they can pull together and help out when times are tough. It also shows siblings taking care of each other, and holding each other accountable, as well as strong family loyalty, and a healthy dose of "random acts of kindness." Pretty language and good morals. I love E. Nesbit and old books.

We will be starting our study of Egypt in October (September is for Creation through the Sumerians...we are using Mystery of History as our spine). Since Mummies in the Morning, the third Magic Treehouse book is one of the books on our LONG list of books to read for Egypt (most are much more serious and realistic), I figured the kids needed to hear the first two books so they won't be lost when they hear it. Here are some nifty activity and question pages you can print for each chapter, if you're interested.

The family that reads together...reads together.

I love seeing the kids so engrossed in a book.

Have a blessed and book-filled week!!

Heather

See more menu plans at Organizing Junkie

New Toys for Big Boys, or All's Well That Ends Well

Hubby and his new "toy"

They say that if you look at a family's finances, it sometimes appears that the woman is spending more because she tends to spend her money on more small items at many places (like me picking up trinkets at the Antique Mall and the flea markets). However, if you add it all up, it is often the man who has spent more because he tends to spend his money on larger, more expensive purchases such as boats, electronic equipment, and stuff for their cars.

While I do believe this statement to be true, based on my personal experiences (I tend to "fritter away" my spending money in small doses while Hubby buys bigger items once in a while), I will disagree with the commonly spread myth that in general men do not like to shop (which is supposedly why they do not "fritter" like we ladies do). My guy, for example, has a very friendly relationship with the guys at our local home improvement chain store, as he is often over there two, even three times during a day when he is working on a project, asking advice, looking for a part, picking up something else they just figured out they needed. This is sometimes a point of contention at our house (I am a planner, who would prefer to make a list, buy it all ahead of time, and make do with just the one trip...what fun is shopping if you HAVE to do it?), though I must now admit that this good working relationship has recently come in handy and has been of benefit to us all.

Prior to our moving to our current home, we just had .6 of an acre to mow, and thus only needed a push mower. Once we purchased our 15 acres (five of which we maintain), we knew our exclusively push mower days were at an end. Finances being what they were at the time, with the house needing many repairs and a barn to be built, plans for a tractor were put on hold and we went our in search of a riding mower, or lawn tractor, as some like to call them. We found what we thought was a good deal, based on a few recommendations and a strategic rebate offer, and invested in a ****. I won't say what brand it was. I don't want folks coming here and making comments, but it was a commonly sold brand and its color was neither blue nor green nor red nor orange nor brown nor black...I think you can figure it out from here.

Within the first week, there was a problem. The folks at the store assembled it improperly, so when Hubby went out to mow for a long period of time, a missing screw or two (or three) allowed the hood to slip, overheat, and melt on the engine, causing the mower to, uh, smoke a lot and quit working. Hubby took it to the licensed dealer, they supposedly fixed it, and weeks later, he was back mowing. In the meantime, the lawn went un-mowed and got quite wild. A few weeks after getting it back, something else happened, and back it went. Another month or so of overgrown lawns, and we tried again. Nope. Still broken. 

Well, by now, thankfully, the grass had stopped growing as it was autumn, and the mower that was finally returned was put away carefully to winter in the garage. Come spring and it was brought out only to find that it wasn't really fixed correctly. Argh. Another season of almost constant belts falling off, parts going loose, fluids leaking, etc., and the whole time I was imagining my annoyed neighbors driving by, wondering why our family can't get our lawn mowed. After all, our oldest son does lawn and garden work for most of them. Why does our yard look the worst on the entire road?

Suffice to say, I was beyond annoyed (I wanted to wait for a tractor in the first place), and the kids were all sporting connect-the-dot puzzles in mosquito bites on all of their legs and arms from all of the bugs that were breeding in our long grass. The horses sure would have loved it, if there was fencing around the yard, but no such luck. Thankfully, this summer, before the warranty expired, Hubby finally had his fill of trips to the store to get the machine repaired and decided to take it back and report it as a lemon. After all, it had been in the shop more than being used by a factor of at least two, if not three or four.

So, Hubby took it back and asked that the store we purchased it from honor the warranty, or report it as a lemon, or something. The store shook their heads and offered to send it to a special company factory that would finally FIX IT RIGHT...guaranteed! Snicker. They sent it off, it came back a month later...still broken. Hubby didn't even get it in his truck...he lifted the hood and saw a problem right away. They sent it again. Keep in mind that our lawn is not getting mowed during this time, unless we drive over to pick up my dad's mower, or use the push mower (which had its own troubles as it was old). 

By this time, everyone knew our story at the store, and when it arrived back the second time, Hubby dutifully brought it home and mowed exactly ONE stripe of lawn before it started smoking. He reloaded it, took it back to the store, and told them it was still broken. They could hardly believe it. In fact, one newbie manager did not believe it and asked Hubby to drive it over to the field by the store and mow a strip. On the way over to the grassy spot the mower started pouring smoke and POOF! it exploded smoke and fluid everywhere (nobody was hurt). Well. Yup. It's broken.

Here's where the benefits of a great relationship with the local home improvement store workers comes in. Even though the company who produced this lemon of a mower refused to do anything at all to help, the folks at the local store agreed to replace the mower immediately. Wow!! Of course, by now, Hubby had had his fill of mowers of this brand and refused (politely) the offer, asking for his money back so we could just get a tractor instead. Well, they insisted they could not do that, BUT they'd be happy to replace our old mower with a classy John Deere of comparable size, or they'd let us add a bit to it and size up one class. This is what Hubby chose to do and as you can see from the picture above, he is very happy with the outcome.

I am certainly happy with the outcome, as our house is no longer the only one on our road that needs mowing. I am so grateful to the wonderfully honest and principled folks at our local store who did right by us, and grateful that Hubby was persistent and got the right folks to do the right thing.

Though sometimes I wonder if his persistence might have had a little bit to do with the fact that I told him the other option for getting our lawn mowed was to buy a herd of goats...and I knew just where to find some...or maybe not.

Any way you look at it, all's well that ends well.

Blessings,

Heather

Menu Plan Monday--August 1-7

Check out more menu plans at Organizing Junkie

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A look at our week:

It will be a busy week at our house. We will be doing a "trial run" of our homeschooling schedule, as well as finishing up any planning and buying any needed supplies (this week is tax break week where we live). We like get back to school in August since the heat takes the fun out of outdoors activities, and then we take most of December off, when there is so much to do and enjoy. 

Our project of the week (for the Three Amigos) will be to start a Bug Alphabet Book, since insects are a topic all of the kids seem to enjoy. We are starting with "A is for Ant" and "B is for Butterfly." They are making a few pages for each bug, and we have all of our insect books out of storage for them to enjoy and to use as read-alouds.

It is still very hot here, so we won't be outside any more than necessary, except for any time the kids decide to spend in their "water park" (a tarp spread on the grass with the sprinkler and two baby pools on top, plenty of water bomb balls, water squirters, and some dish soap to make it slippery). 

My nephew's first birthday is on Wednesday, so Happy Birthday, Little Bear! He is one of the sweetest, smiliest (is that a word? The auto-corrector thinks not) babies I have ever met, other than my own. My brother says he loves anything to do with balls, so we will be finding him something round for his birthday gift!

Tex has promised to watch King Solomon's Mines (starring Patrick Swayze) with me one night. I have heard it is pretty good and I am looking forward to it.  

Our annual church picnic is on Saturday, so the kids are gearing up for LOTS of good church-lady food, swimming in the river, all-you-can-eat crabs, boat rides, football and ultimate-frisbee games, a church band sing-along, and good times with their friends.

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Our Menu:

Monday: We will have "Pizza and a Movie Night" early, because I missed it last week...the kids watched the Amazing Panda Adventure since their VBS theme included pandas this year.

Tuesday: Steak for mom, dad, and Tex, hot dogs for the kids, seasoned fries, mac and cheese, and corn.

Wednesday: Baked chicken, au gratin potatoes, green peas, and french bread...Happy Birthday, Little Bear!!

Thursday: Chicken Enchiladas, Pico de Gallo, tortilla chips, refried beans, and Spanish rice...served with lots of tomatoes and lettuce from the garden. 

Friday: Nachos to use up last night's leftovers and more tomatoes from the garden, with the new Queso Blanco from Velveeta on the side...yum!

Saturday: The Annual Church Summer Picnic...ie. HUGE yummy potluck and all the crabs you can eat!

Sunday: Baked Spaghetti, salad, and french bread.

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Read aloud of the week:

After the fun of reading aloud the Flat Stanley book in which he goes to Mexico week before last, the kids were eager to hear the first book again. It seems some of them had only hazy memories of hearing it a year or two ago, which is hardly surprising since Firefly would have been barely two, and Cowboy just four. It is interesting hearing their changed perspectives and more detailed questions as they grow older. Last time they all expressed dismay at Stanley's getting flattened by a bulletin board falling on him. This time they hypothesized how it might have felt and where they would like to go if they were so unfortunate (or fortunate, depending on your perspective) to have the same thing happen to them.

A nifty surprise came for us in the mail last Saturday. A friend's son's Flat Stanley, for which we'd been waiting a long time, finally arrived in the mail from Pennsylvania! So, Stanley was here last week when Hubby took time off to do some needed work around the property, and he helped build a stall for Merry, our Shetland pony (who might be expecting??!!). He was also here for some water park fun earlier in the week, but he is a bit shy of the water...go figure...so he just watched from a safe distance with me. The kids have been eagerly making a list of local things we can do with Stanley next week, so stay tuned for his adventures!

I pray you have a blessed week.

FREE! Digital Summer Issue of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine

Check out this FREE! digital issue of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine.

Take a look at the brand new Summer digital edition of The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine. TOS is offering this digital issue of the magazine totally free with no strings attached! Enjoy this free gift from TOS—no registration or email address required to view the magazine. Grab a cup of tea and sit down to take a peek here...then share the link with your friends by clicking on the share button at the top of the magazine pages. Enjoy!

Blessings,

Heather

Menu Plan Monday (and a good read aloud!)

Is summer flying by, or what?  I can hardly keep up. No matter how much I get done, I just keep feeling like there is so much to do before the school year starts (for us, in August, as we take December off completely) and I just need MORE TIME!!!

In order to find more time, I am going SKIMPY on the meals this week. The munchkins will just have to deal with simple foods, I say. I never did suffer from a few meals of cereal, sandwiches, and that spaghetti out of a can. I loved that stuff. I can't figure out why, but I did.

Hopefully, by the end of this week, IF I use my time wisely, I can feel more in control and less like I am going out of my mind. Aaaaaaaahhhhh! It's summer, folks. Aren't we supposed to be relaxing? I need to get a grip.

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Monday---It's hubby's first night of a big conference that he's in charge of at work, so we plan to have our Easy Chicken Alfredo (recipe below) served with corn (sprinkled with Mrs. Dash's Italian medley and butter for a savory flavor) and a fruit cup for the kids, salad for the adults.

Tuesday---I have an afternoon meeting to firm up my recertification paperwork, so Tex will be babysitting in the afternoon. I figure I will stop by the bread store on the way home and pick up some of their thick-sliced Texas Toast bread so we can make easy french toast (I always add a touch of vanilla and a sprinkle of cinnamon to mine...how about you?) Topped with a pool of butter and warm syrup. Turkey Bacon on the side.

Wednesday---I have an afternoon online seminar to attend, so easy is the plan. We have plenty of eggs, so I was thinking fried egg sandwiches with cheese all around, served with fruit, cherry tomatoes (we have a ton of those...Boo calls them "balls"), and carrots chips.

Thursday---I'm in the mood for...something else easy. How about chili in the crockpot? I know, it sounds odd when it is blazing hot outside to have chili, but those boys can add the hot sauce to theirs, and they say that hot sauce opens up your pores and helps you cool off, right? Isn't that how it works? Anyway, we have so many jalepenos we are so not going to use, I think they need to make some pico de gallo to go with it (and Santitas for dippin'). Anyone have a good recipe for jalepeno jelly? Maybe I need to consider making some.

Friday---Traditionally pizza and a movie night, I am amending it to Nachos and a Movie Night. A bit of Velveeta in the chili and some lettuce, tomato, and sour cream on the side turns chili and tortilla chips into Nachos on the second night. It is hubby's last night of his conference, so maybe he will make it home in time to watch the movie with the kids. I hope so.

Saturday---Tacos. I am just in the mood for Mexican this week. It must be our read aloud that is affecting me this way (see below). Besides, there's all that pico we will need to use up...and there is no shortage of tomatoes around here. The bushes are overflowing with tomatoes of all shapes and sizes. Yum.

Sunday---Chicken strips and mashed potatoes with corn on the cob. A perennial favorite and simple since I've made it so many times.

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Our Easy Chicken Alfredo recipe

One can of Campbell's Creamy Chicken and Mushroom soup
One jar of Alfredo sauce
1 package of chicken breast tenders (or pre-cooked chicken strips will do)
1 tbs or so of olive oil
garlic salt
Cooked spaghetti (or other noodle...as much as is needed for your family)
about a half soup can of milk
parmesan cheese

Heat the oil in a skillet. Take your chicken tenders and sprinkle them with garlic salt (lightly). Cook until cooked through (I like mine starting to get golden), chopping them into smaller bites as they cook (I chop mine about the size of a quarter...it goes farther that way). Set aside. Combine the soup and the alfredo sauce. Split the half can of milk between the can and jar to swish and get the rest of the soup/sauce out. Heat up, being careful not to scald it. Serve on top of spaghetti or linguine noodles, and top with the chicken and parmesan cheese. Serve with garlic bread and salad.

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Our Read-Aloud of the Week:

Flat Stanley's Worldwide Adventures: The Amazing Mexican Secret

Our local library is sponsoring a reading program called One World, Many Stories this year, and part of that program includes a selection of Flat Stanley Worldwide tales to places like Mexico, Japan, Canada, Mt. Rushmore, Africa, and Egypt.

Coloring Sheets

Each of the stories has its own backpack kit, in which you find a few picture books on topics related to the world area from the story (our kit has a book called Cinco de Mouse-o and a book called I Wanna Iguana), a few manipulative items (our kit has marracas, a puppet armadillo, and a Spanish song cd), and our very own Flat Stanley to color.

Whether or not you are close enough to a library to participate in this year's reading program, you can join in on the Flat Stanley fun! Just print up your own letters of introduction for a your flat journey, and the accompanying journaling pages, then send your Flat fellow out to have adventures unknown. If you don't like the classic look of Flat Stanley, have a look at these different flat folks. Check out the Flat Stanley Project for more ideas and information. I hear there's even a Flat Stanley app in the iPhone app store. Kinda makes me wish I had a fancy phone...

Here's a few more Flat Stanley ideas from Homeschool Share.

Here's a fun library song to go with the One World, Many Stories theme...and it's free, too.

More information on exploring your world can be found at Growing Up Global.

Enjoy your week and keep on READing!!

Blessings,

Put Your Dream to the Test

In Put Your Dream to the Test: 10 Questions to Help You See it and Seize it by best-selling author John C. Maxwell you will answer ten powerful questions to help you determine whether your dreams will stay dreams, or become a reality. John Maxwell, an internationally respected leadership expert uses his many years of counseling and experience to encourage and prepare readers to achieve their dreams. He offers a step-by-step action plan that you can start using today to visualize, own, and reach your dream. In 286 inspiration-filled pages he will help you filter out the daydreams that serve to distract, the pie-in-the-sky dreams with no strategy, and the destination dreams (those in which you believe that a place, position, or person will make you happy) to find the true gems that are valid and worthy of the investment of a person's life. He defines those dreams as being, "an inspiring picture of the future that energizes your mind, will, and emotions, empowering you to do everything you can to achieve it. A dream worth pursuing is a picture and a blueprint of a person's purpose and potential."


I have dreams. We all have dreams. At least, I hope we all do. We all should. God planted within us special things, and has a specially mission for each of us being here. One of my pastors used to say that if you are still here, you haven't fulfilled your mission yet. Well, I am still here, so how do I take the next step to find out the rest of my mission? Not that I am in any hurry to leave here, but I do want to be doing what the Lord intended for me to do. I do not want to stand before Him and have him say, "Well, I put ----- on your heart. Why did you ignore me all those years?" That is the reason I picked this book to review. I have several dreams that I believe in and I wanted to see what Mr. Maxwell had to say about whether they were even viable, and how to go about embracing those dreams as goals, if they were something I should pursue.


Basically, in the book, he asks you ten questions to help you find out in what stage your dream is, and how committed you are to pursuing it. Then points you in the right direction for how to take the next steps in achieving your dream by asking pointed and challenging questions revolving around the following topics: Ownership, Clarity, Reality, Passion, Pathway, People, Cost, Tenacity, Fulfillment, and Significance. 


One I went through the process of analyzing my dream and my response to it, I determined that it was something that was viable. The next thing was to develop a plan and to learn how to make that dream a reality. He teaches you the steps to make this happen through a series of inspiring stories about people who have made dreams, sometimes dreams that defied all odd, a reality, as well as widom gleaned from his years of personal experience with striving to achieve dreams. These incredible testimonies to the power of living your dreams made the book extra-special for me. I am all for how-to books, but if you can mix a bit of "here's how he/she/I did it" into the information, then it seems more personal...more like having a mentor or friend to walk beside you all the way through the process. I like that.


To make the process even simpler, John Maxwell provides journaling ideas, targeted questions, and action-plan suggestions at the end of the book for every chapter. This feature makes this book ideal for use in a group setting, which I actually think would be the best way to use it. I often "hear" online gurus chatting about the usefulness of having a group of people who have similar goals to work with on achieving your own goals. These days, finding such a group can be just a click away, if you do not have people you can meet with in person. You will likely want someone to discuss the important points in the book, and to help you to evaluate, understand, and apply the information. Of course, if you don't have anyone with which to read the book, the information is still a valuable resource, and I would highly recommend it. I am planning on passing the book to my two older sons next, so they can clarify their life-courses, and then, perhaps, we will be able to discuss the topic thoroughly. I know that so far, this book has been helpful to me. I will continue to use it and to go through the rest of the activities over the next month or so.


I highly recommend this book if you have ever had a dream that you entertained for a day, a week, a year, a decade. This book will assist you in finding if your dream has the qualities it needs to become reality, and if YOU have the ability and tools to make it become true. If you don't currently have a dream, this book will help you find one. Having a dream that is aimed at some specific goal, and working to achieve it diligently, will not only bee good for you, but it has the potential to influence others who see you striving toward a goal...not to mention the help that your idea could provide to others.


Do yourself a favor. Find a copy of this book, read it with an open mind and heart, and give yourself permission to dream a little. You will be glad you did.

Blessings,


Heather

I received this book free from the publisher through theBookSneeze®.com book review  program for bloggers. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own based on my personal reading and understanding of this book. 

What's New in July? You decide!

This is the view off of my deck. It's very peaceful in the country.

Those of you who know me personally, or through Facebook, may realize that I took June off from blogging because I was so burned out by my graduate classes in April and May. I couldn't even think in full sentences after writing nearly one hundred pages of essay answers per class (I took two to renew my teaching certificate). By the way, my hard work paid off and I received "As" in both classes. Yay!!

In any case, I am back, and have been busy making lists of what I want to do posts on this month. So far, I have kept busy catching up on old happenings and sharing photos that I want my far away friends and family to see. That's great for my family, but leaves a gap for anyone who doesn't know us. I can personally look at photos of my adorable kids all day, but most of you would probably prefer to look at photos of your own family!

However, I was thinking that since several folks locally have contacted me in the last month to find out information about how to homeschool, that perhaps I should throw in some posts on basic homeschooling ideas and tips. This is where you all come in. If you have time to leave a comment, please do, and share with me some topic ideas on which I might focus. You don't even have to have a need to know the information...you just need to know that it is needed! I have been homeschooling for twelve years now, following three years as a public school teacher, and I am just full of information, but I do need help with cutting it all down into smaller, readable bites.

So, I am looking forward to hearing from you...I do appreciate your help and I am excited about seeing what you all come up with.

Blessings,

Menu Plan Monday--July 11-July 17

Join Laura at Organizing Junkie for more menu plans and recipes!

Monday: 7-11's (a convenience store) birthday bash means a free Slurpee for all and a death dog (a hot dog with all the fixins'...do I dare?) for everyone...well, maybe we just use ketsup for the kids. They have VBS all week and are raring to go! I just love summer.

Tuesday: We are rolling in tomatoes, so I am going to make our BLT Wrap Ups for everyone to enjoy before VBS, served with macaroni salad and sweet tea.

Sermon Sunday---Divided

Have you heard about the movie Divided? For some time, my husband and I have been convicted that the currently popular model of youth church is not the way the Lord wishes our family to pursue. One signal we had that we needed to rethink the whole idea of youth church was when we were attending a large church in Florida and began to see negative attitudes and behaviors in our oldest son. We prayed about it and the Lord showed us that some of them were coming from some of his experiences in the youth group at church. We decided to leave the large church and sought a smaller fellowship with a different vision for youth, and within a month we began to see a positive change in him. 


I am not saying that every youth group or youth group activity is inherently bad, but I am suggesting that maybe folks need to step back and objectively look at what their individual church is doing with their youth, and how it compares to what the world does...is the difference discernible, or does your "youth church" look like something you might mistake for MTV if you take out the lyrics? Every individual needs to pray and make a decision based on the Lord's leading, but a bit of research is always a good thing. Take an evening with your spouse (or by yourself if you are a young person, or with a friend) and watch this interesting, well-researched video about one young man's investigation into the true calling of Christ on today's youth while the movie is still available online for free. Let me know what you think.


Official Divided the Movie (HD Version) from NCFIC on Vimeo.