THe Duggars are a Christian family in Arkansas - check out their site and read about their beliefs and lifestyle.
http://www.duggarfamily.com/
http://www.duggarfamily.com/
6 years ago
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Holidays - Part One
You know several years ago my family stopped celebrating Halloween. I really felt good about this decision and suprisingly so did my 2 older children. I thought they would have trouble with it. They understood our explanation as to why people celebrate it, whats its origin and meaning and what has it become. How does Halloween improve our lives and bring us closer to God? (Being closer to God is the goal) That is the question I've tried to teach my children to ask themselves about everything that they do.
At first we would go to Church on Halloween. You know most churches of most denominations celebrate Halloween in some way. Surprising but true. A very wise man said the other day, that churches lower than standards to make church more popular to the masses. When the goal should be to raise their standards for the Lord. Well we no longer go to church and celebrate Halloween. We don't work to make it a special day for the kids so they don't feel like they are missing it either. We were making it a special family night with board games and or movies. What I want to say here is yes we love family nights that work out with board games or movies. But, we don't single that night out to be close as a family because we should be close all the time. If we try to make it special that night of all nights then we are celebrating Halloween.
At first we would go to Church on Halloween. You know most churches of most denominations celebrate Halloween in some way. Surprising but true. A very wise man said the other day, that churches lower than standards to make church more popular to the masses. When the goal should be to raise their standards for the Lord. Well we no longer go to church and celebrate Halloween. We don't work to make it a special day for the kids so they don't feel like they are missing it either. We were making it a special family night with board games and or movies. What I want to say here is yes we love family nights that work out with board games or movies. But, we don't single that night out to be close as a family because we should be close all the time. If we try to make it special that night of all nights then we are celebrating Halloween.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
The Latest Happenings
Well its been a long time since I've posted. Let me just skip around on a bunch of happenings in the Clemons home.
New Arrival to the Family - Welcome to my niece Lila Cade - My step-brother Ben and his wife Lindsay had their first child this week. So happy for them. I think back to Wayne and I having our first born - 15 years ago. It changed our lives and it changed who we are completely. I thank God for all my babies. They are precious gifts.
We have started going to a home church. At our previous church, our Pastor left and the youth Pastor left and the Worship Leader left and we were left with all the board members and church members squabbling over what direction to go. Our church was going thru a lot of pains and we aren't part of the problem and we'd like to keep growing in the Lord. Also, our kids really didn't have a place in the church. Very Very bad sign. Families need to stay together and grow strong in the Lord. So if we believe this then why do we continue to stay at a church that doesn't follow that belief? Anyway, we have 6 or 7 families joining together to worship praise and study. It feels great. I'll be posting more on that topic in the future.
Grace has been ill with the mysterious stomach problems. (for 2 years) Went to specialist at Hospital twice. Will meet with Dr. on Thursday this week to get test results from endoscopy. Please pray. It is so hard to see my baby in pain.
10 yr old with serious pain in abdomen.
My husband redid our bathroom. YEah!!!!!! I love it. It looks so modern and nice. Very nice floor. The old one was the original and very rotten underneath. You can feel the difference when you walk on it now. We still need a new bathtub/shower but its such an improvement already. Thank the Lord for skilled husbands. (makes things so much more affordable when you can do it yourself.)
Home schooling has been great. DC is in high school now and he is really working hard. Lots of subjects - Latin Derivatives, Latin, Literature, Language Arts, Algebra, Physical Science, History, Computers, Reading, Writeshop, etc. He is loaded and he works really hard. I'm so proud of him.
Rose is in 1st Grade and she is so excited about reading. She works real hard when you can slow her down to work. She buzzes. I'm not thinking its a problem yet. But I am watching it. I need to work with her on scheduling and self discipline. Thats hard for everyone (she's 6)
The home school group is growing. This year we have 19 families. Some are very active and some are just watchers. They watch the emails go by and they join us or comment when needed. That is fine with us. The purpose is to be a Christian support for Home Schooling Families. They don't have to join in on the activities we do together. Sometimes they just use the group for information. To stay connected to the Home Schooling World.
Anyway, we meet 1x a month plus do field trips together. This month we have a speaker a home schooled student who grew up and is now a missionary. We will hear of her adventures.
Then we are planning to sing some songs and do the Lords prayer in sign language for the church where we hold our meetings. It is a thank you to the church for letting us use there facility for everything we need to do. We have our Christmas dinner there every year. We have our play in there fellowship hall. We have our meetings in their childrens playroom every month. We had our co-op classes there, as well as any other activity we need a place for. They are very generous. We are also collecting food for the food pantry the church has.
Well thats it for now. God bless!
New Arrival to the Family - Welcome to my niece Lila Cade - My step-brother Ben and his wife Lindsay had their first child this week. So happy for them. I think back to Wayne and I having our first born - 15 years ago. It changed our lives and it changed who we are completely. I thank God for all my babies. They are precious gifts.
We have started going to a home church. At our previous church, our Pastor left and the youth Pastor left and the Worship Leader left and we were left with all the board members and church members squabbling over what direction to go. Our church was going thru a lot of pains and we aren't part of the problem and we'd like to keep growing in the Lord. Also, our kids really didn't have a place in the church. Very Very bad sign. Families need to stay together and grow strong in the Lord. So if we believe this then why do we continue to stay at a church that doesn't follow that belief? Anyway, we have 6 or 7 families joining together to worship praise and study. It feels great. I'll be posting more on that topic in the future.
Grace has been ill with the mysterious stomach problems. (for 2 years) Went to specialist at Hospital twice. Will meet with Dr. on Thursday this week to get test results from endoscopy. Please pray. It is so hard to see my baby in pain.
10 yr old with serious pain in abdomen.
My husband redid our bathroom. YEah!!!!!! I love it. It looks so modern and nice. Very nice floor. The old one was the original and very rotten underneath. You can feel the difference when you walk on it now. We still need a new bathtub/shower but its such an improvement already. Thank the Lord for skilled husbands. (makes things so much more affordable when you can do it yourself.)
Home schooling has been great. DC is in high school now and he is really working hard. Lots of subjects - Latin Derivatives, Latin, Literature, Language Arts, Algebra, Physical Science, History, Computers, Reading, Writeshop, etc. He is loaded and he works really hard. I'm so proud of him.
Rose is in 1st Grade and she is so excited about reading. She works real hard when you can slow her down to work. She buzzes. I'm not thinking its a problem yet. But I am watching it. I need to work with her on scheduling and self discipline. Thats hard for everyone (she's 6)
The home school group is growing. This year we have 19 families. Some are very active and some are just watchers. They watch the emails go by and they join us or comment when needed. That is fine with us. The purpose is to be a Christian support for Home Schooling Families. They don't have to join in on the activities we do together. Sometimes they just use the group for information. To stay connected to the Home Schooling World.
Anyway, we meet 1x a month plus do field trips together. This month we have a speaker a home schooled student who grew up and is now a missionary. We will hear of her adventures.
Then we are planning to sing some songs and do the Lords prayer in sign language for the church where we hold our meetings. It is a thank you to the church for letting us use there facility for everything we need to do. We have our Christmas dinner there every year. We have our play in there fellowship hall. We have our meetings in their childrens playroom every month. We had our co-op classes there, as well as any other activity we need a place for. They are very generous. We are also collecting food for the food pantry the church has.
Well thats it for now. God bless!
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Made a new recipe today
Its called a Jewish Apple Cake or Mom's apple cake
Here are the ingredients - you can google it.
Trying it tonight - I'll let you know what we think
Homemade Laundry Detergent
We have been making our own laundry detergent for 2 months now. I spent $6 for the supplies. This week I just bought dryer sheets. $4.55 for 180 sheets. It is cheaper than softener in the wash. You get the same results from a large box of generic as you do a more expensive name brand. I do like using softener sheets. It gives a nice fresh smell. The homemade laundry detergent doesn't give a scent. It does however clean really well. We haven't had a problem for pennies a load we wash our clothes and get them clean. We've saved a lot!
There are a lot of recipes on line if you google homemade laundry detergent.
I use the following:
Shave 1 bar of basic (no scent) soap into a pan and add some water and melt.
1/2 cup Borax is a naturally occurring mineral: Sodium Borate. It is a white powder. It’s purpose is as a laundry whitener and deodorizer.
1 cup Washing Soda: This is not baking soda. They are not the same thing. Washing soda is sodium carbonate or soda ash (baking soda is sodium bicarbonate). It is a white powder. Its purpose is to help remove dirt and orders. The brand I use is Arm & Hammer Washing Soda.
Put all in a 5 gal (some recipes us 10gal with same ingredients) I can't carry it.
So put in a 5 gal container and fill up with hot water. More concentrated already than 10 gal.
Stir and it will get gooey.
I then put it into several old laundry detergent bottles I saved. Its convenient. You can just take out of the 5 gal tub if you want. When I use it I shake container first to mix. Or stir tub with a stick first. Then use a cup of detergent for each load. I have to admit I use 2-3 cups because I have trouble with trust. :-) But it cleans. Will it clean with one cup - recipe says yes. It still is only pennies a load.
There are a lot of recipes on line if you google homemade laundry detergent.
I use the following:
Shave 1 bar of basic (no scent) soap into a pan and add some water and melt.
1/2 cup Borax is a naturally occurring mineral: Sodium Borate. It is a white powder. It’s purpose is as a laundry whitener and deodorizer.
1 cup Washing Soda: This is not baking soda. They are not the same thing. Washing soda is sodium carbonate or soda ash (baking soda is sodium bicarbonate). It is a white powder. Its purpose is to help remove dirt and orders. The brand I use is Arm & Hammer Washing Soda.
Put all in a 5 gal (some recipes us 10gal with same ingredients) I can't carry it.
So put in a 5 gal container and fill up with hot water. More concentrated already than 10 gal.
Stir and it will get gooey.
I then put it into several old laundry detergent bottles I saved. Its convenient. You can just take out of the 5 gal tub if you want. When I use it I shake container first to mix. Or stir tub with a stick first. Then use a cup of detergent for each load. I have to admit I use 2-3 cups because I have trouble with trust. :-) But it cleans. Will it clean with one cup - recipe says yes. It still is only pennies a load.
Monday, March 16, 2009
School Year - Mid March
We are deep in the midst of the school year. Rose is in Kindergarten and Grace is a fourth grader. I can't even express my shock that my baby boy is headed into High School in the fall. The homeschool group now has a co-op and we have Science class and Gardening / Hydroponics and Sign Language and Manners/Etiquette. Next we will start Public Speaking. The young girls go to a group that is part playgroup and part lessons. One week they made a volcano. Another week they worked on a 3 week lesson on the 1800's set to an American Girls doll "Felicity". They study that area of the country and make foods from that time and do projects. They also had a chance to watch the movie. So far its been lots of fun. But sometimes they just want to play. :-) which is also what they are there for.
I taught the Manners and Etiquette to a bunch of boys last week. (Ages 7 - 13) They had a fun time. I was nervous they'd be bored. But I used "Manners with the Millers" series and we covered phone etiquette. We pretended to answer the phone and all the mistakes we could and do make and we talked of the dangers of saying too much to a stranger and also of being polite when people call. We laughed and had a good time with it. Next week I have to teach on introducing people.
D.C. is in 8th and we are getting him ready for High School Math. Pre-Algebra, Lots of World History. We are also starting A+ Certification Training. That is your certification as a computer Technician. It is a great foundation and 1st step to getting into the computer field.
I taught the Manners and Etiquette to a bunch of boys last week. (Ages 7 - 13) They had a fun time. I was nervous they'd be bored. But I used "Manners with the Millers" series and we covered phone etiquette. We pretended to answer the phone and all the mistakes we could and do make and we talked of the dangers of saying too much to a stranger and also of being polite when people call. We laughed and had a good time with it. Next week I have to teach on introducing people.
D.C. is in 8th and we are getting him ready for High School Math. Pre-Algebra, Lots of World History. We are also starting A+ Certification Training. That is your certification as a computer Technician. It is a great foundation and 1st step to getting into the computer field.
Glasgow Lands Scottish Festival
16th Annual Glasgow Lands Scottish Festival
At Look Park 300 North Main St, Florence (Northampton), MA 01062
Saturday, July 18, 2009 9:00 am to 9:30 pm
RAIN OR SHINE!
This is soooo much fun!!!!
For my relatives Note: Our relatives helped start this and it is in honor of our relatives with the Scotch-Irish Heritage who founded New Glasgow which is now Blandford MA. I love to experience the heritage. You must try to be there. Let me know if you decide to go. I'd love to see you there. Terry
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