tis the season

i'm inspired to make these again this year. i can taste them already. it's just not the holidays without them. :)

new chore charts

i spent a little time this morning making a chore chart for the kiddos. they've been so helpful lately, and i wanted to keep track of how helpful they are and to get a little more organized so they can take initiative and get it done without me having to keep track in my head.

i like to use pictures and clipart i find online instead of just a list of words. also helps with the 4yr who can't read yet. :)

maybe at the end of the six weeks checking off at the bottom, we can do something special.

God and Dog

Just love this little song.

how do you explain...

this morning's challenge was in trying to explain why some people choose to believe other explanations for how the world came into existence. (like two stars running into the sun and exploding and forming the universe and all it contains).

we've been enjoying the documentaries on netflix. there are many previous imax films and there are some pretty incredible things to see. however, they are usually loaded with anti-creationism and anti-intelligent design theories, which is not a surprise but it is kind of a bummer. and it certainly isn't easy to explain away. i don't ever want my kids to just believe something because i tell them they have to.

i tried to explain that as they grow up they will have to decide for themselves who to believe is speaking the truth, but that their decision of who to believe will not change what IS true. i also tried explain that adults sometimes think they know better than what the bible teaches. and i made sure that they knew it was ok and good to ask questions and talk about their own ideas or other things they may hear or think of with me and daddy and with the Lord. we closed that small discussion with a prayer for understanding.

Motivate Me Monday??

**quick announcement**

Motivate Me Monday has not been forgotten, believe me i feel guilty for every monday that passes by without one, but i also figured that if i didn't hear an outcry, then i wouldn't worry about it either.

However, somebody DOES miss it... and Miss Sarah from Fifth Street Palace has so graciously offered to host it for a season! here's a new button for ya too...

<a href="http://sarahlscott.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="Fifth Street Palace" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_DdjgnICgz_E/Sse9Vy8aMQI/AAAAAAAAL0w/KRZSlOu1WAE/s320/100_2060-1.JPG" /></a>

so now off you go! check her out and give her a holler on monday! :)

Thanks, Sarah!

KST!

last night i purchased some cardboard file boxes and this morning we set to work!

sam and micah had to pull all the stuff out of their desks (which they have done many times before) and sort everything into three piles. Keep (in the desk or schoolroom), Save (in the file box for memory's sake) and Throw Away (Trash or recycling bin filler).

i, on the other hand, went to work in the bathrooms. going through each drawer and threw away a bazillion bottles of this and that {thank goodness for EXP dates, it gives us "savers" a good reason to let go of things!}.

the two youngest. sat and watched tv. sometimes you just gotta. :)

Surrender

Like the pot that is chipped
And broken
Ground into dust
Tossed into the wind
Stained fragments
Blown away
I wait
Hope reborn
Strength rising
Your love poured out
Filling the soul
Healing
Consuming
What was broken
Is now flexible
And willing
Like the heart that was chipped
And broken
Is surrendered
And new