Grid for How to Think

Lately, I’ve seemed to be tempted to walk in unbelief or hopelessness about a situation. Thankfully I am reading a great book called Living From the Unseen by Wendy Backlund that challenges my wrong thinking. In Chapter Five, she speaks about “thinking on purpose…whatever is of good report.”

This really hit home with me that there are so many things that God has faithfully done for us, things we never would have imagined, that why do I doubt now? So, I had this idea to make a grid of all the things we should think about from Philippians 4:8 that I could fill in and post somewhere for me to remember!

It is nothing fancy at all but I thought it might be helpful to someone else too. You can download or print the grid by clicking the link below. It will open in Google docs where there is an arrow to download or a printer icon to print.

Think on These Things Grid

The Sounds of Pruning

All the leaves are off the pear trees now. Instead, green emerges between the rows of trees after the November rains.

Four times now in the last month I’ve heard the farmers out pruning the orchards. It’s amazing how rhythmic it sounds. Turn up your volume to hear the clipping along with some birds chirping, a rooster crowing, and some girlies giggling (while Mommy films!). You can see the back of our neighborhood and house in the background.

I am most familiar with pruning from John 15:2, but it is neat to see it happening literally:

He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

I smile to think that He finds it as lovely to hear the pruning in our lives as I hear outside my door.

Homeschool Curriculum, Part 2

You might see more from this list of our second-part-of-the-day curriculum that I’m loosely following a Charlotte Mason style of homeschooling: short lessons, good literature, narration, nature study…  Most of these things we do together versus the earlier-in-the-day items are one-on-one with each daughter.

For what we do first in the day, check my first post on our homeschool curriculum.

Literature: Ambleside Online

We’ve been following the reading schedule for Year 1 on Ambleside Online’s curriculum guide. We’re reading books like Our Island Story—learning the history of England in a story format from 1905. I would have never imagined we’d be reading literature that I now find so rich in comparison to other less classic books. I really wondered how the girls would do when we began! It’s been wonderful to see them really pick up what they’re hearing. We also practice oral narration after a story or poem is read. They never know who I’m going to call on, and I always let the other girl fill in anything the other may have forgotten.

There are some stories in our books that I do not feel are appropriate for the girls now {ie: gruesome death details}, but overall I’ve found we have all enjoyed the literature recommended. Many times they ask me to read ahead! One plus is that many of these classics are available for free online.

Portuguese: I make it up

It hurts a tad when I see all the great teaching helps out there for kids to learn Spanish. Then I have to remember my children are already speaking a second language, and I just need to reinforce what they’ve learned. I have found Portuguese/English sticker books to use and many dictionary-type kids books that we can review words with. Once a week the girls listen to a story on CD that goes with some books they have or watch a kids’ show in Portuguese. Of course our best learning goes on when our neighbors’ kids come play!  I don’t plan on teaching Portuguese grammar until 4th grade or so.

Bible: Positive Action Bible Curriculum

Because I have one daughter in kindergarten and one in 1st grade, I felt I should wait on starting SCM’s Bible Modules. Now I think I could have just followed a Bible reading schedule/highlighted stories as per Penny Gardner. However, I had already bought two levels of curriculum from Positive Action Bible Curriculum. When I got them I realized I’d be doing a lot of separate teaching for each level. My husband encourage me to go with the kindergarten level so both girls could do the workbook activities. That has worked out fine.

The lesson plans appeared like way too much to me at first, but I’ve found a groove that is simple to follow. Usually there are two days worth of Bible readings of a story with a introduction and discussion questions at the end. The 3rd day I follow the teaching strategy with the workbook pages. The 4th day we read the Bible verses and fictional story in the guide. Lastly we focus on that week’s character trait, fitting it in on Friday or whenever it seemed fitting.

The girls have enjoyed the workbooks and stories. I am thankful for the questions and comments that get at the heart. I haven’t decided if we’ll continue with this next year, but it has been a good experience for this first full year of homeschooling.

Science: Simply Charlotte Mason and others

We recently finished the Outdoor Secrets book and Outdoor Secrets Companion, a recommended “living book” and it’s teacher guide published by Simply Charlotte Mason. We would do a lesson two times per week. Many lessons gave direction in our nature study time and nicely followed up one of the readings.

My mom brought us sturdy sketch books from America that the girls take outside to draw in for our nature study time. I need to do a better job planning time for them to be outdoors for this in different settings besides our backyard {which is not that big} and street.

Now that we’ve finished Outdoor Secrets, we started reading Among The Forest People—a book from 1898 that personifies the animals and helps us learn about them through the story. The girls are enjoying it as well as science-oriented selections in our Ambleside readings.

A huge help has been owning a bird field guide for our region of the world. We like our RSBP Birds of Britain and Europe. It is a bummer when many of the birds in the stories we read are not the same as those found here {they were written in America}, but we find the closest species that we may have here.

Geography: Expedition Earth

I purchased Expedition Earth: A Journey Through God’s World last summer after seeing my girls’ interest to learn about a certain country. I thought we could continue to use it this year, and it has been a great base to learn about many nations. Beware that there are many books that you need to borrow/purchase since I did not understand that when I first bought it. One our our favorites we did buy has been Children Just Like Me: A Unique Celebration of Children Around the World.

I do not do all the recommended ideas in the guide provided, or I feel like we’d be doing a geography project all the time. I’ve found the few things that we really learn well from without having to do all the extras. I’ve not made it something I test the girls over—I am more pleased with their increased awareness of other nations and cultures. It’s peaked their interests in all kinds of other things we go searching to learn more about.

Art: Artistic Pursuits

Once a week we do a lesson from Artistic Pursuits Grades K-3 Book 1 An Introduction to Visual Arts. It has been a jump for us to move from crayons and markers to learning how to use watercolor pencils and oil pastels! But a fun jump I must say! The program does complement the study of fine art by usually highlighting some fine art for each topic we will learn. It also shows other children’s work as examples for each lesson so that encourages the girls that they can do it as well.

Picture Study: Simply Charlotte Mason

Both Ambleside Online {AO} and Simply Charlotte Mason {SCM} have a recommended order of artists to be studied. We have studied the SCM Module 3’s Rembrandt, Velasquez, Van Eyck, and now Cezanne so far—one time a week for six weeks. SCM has created some picture study portfolios that come with nice copies of the art and a teacher guide. I’ve done my best to make sure we’ve got some other books to supplement our learning of the artist and their art. SCM has a link to available books on each artist.

Composer Study: Simply Charlotte Mason

We are following the SCM composer study modules so we’ve just begun Tchaikovsky—also one time per week for six weeks each. Funny enough, the girls are excited about him since they’ve learned a song of his on the CD: Beethoven's Wig: Sing Along Symphonies. They would highly recommend this CD because they really enjoy it!  I also found a list of all the composers highlighted in Little Einstein’s episodes. Doesn’t sound like a very classical approach, but the girls get excited when they recognize the music in one of their favorite shows! We also utilize the online show called Classics for Kids that talk about each composer and multiple You Tube videos of these famous pieces being played or danced to.

Hymn Study

Both AO and SCM have lists of hymns to be studied, but I decided that we’d learn hymns the girls are already singing in worship songs we have. For example, we love Laura Hackett’s version of Joyful, Joyful, so I thought this would be a great place to start learning verses from hymns! I’ve heard hymns sung by Chris Tomlin and other worship leaders these days that we will also learn. This brings some practicality to learning hymns for us, when we don’t attend a church that uses a hymnal per se—at least it’s a place to start.

Handicrafts and Life Skills

Once a week we do some sort of handicraft or life skill that could be baking muffins or learning to use the knitting fork the girls got for Christmas. SCM has a list of what this time could include. Often I see that we’ve already done some kind of life skill learning that day so we don’t need to do something extra. I want to be more intentional about the girls learning craft skills so they can become proficient. For example, my oldest enjoys a latch-hook rug set she was given, but does it so infrequently that she has to be retaught each time it’s pulled out. I know this is par the course for this age, but I know their abilities are increasing as well.

So, lots of info. I hope it is helpful to someone out there like many of the blogs I’ve visited in trying to figure out what we were going to be doing! Please contact me with any questions—I’d love to be more help!

Weights of Worries, Unforgiveness, and Sin

Hefty title, heh? Pun intended!  My husband, Sunday School teacher extraordinaire, came up with a brilliant idea to help our girls understand how worry, unforgiveness and sin can effect our lives and those around us. {We have Sunday School at home with our kiddos here in Portugal.}

First, he had the girls “practice” obeying God by walking to the table and back as if God had given them that instruction. He held their hand as if God was going with them {and He does!}.

He first put a belt around their waist, and bungee-corded “a worry” they might have, then another onto the belt. Then he asked them to do the same obedience exercise, walking to the table with God. This time is was more difficult for the girls to keep up the pace with him and not get hurt! Hmm…how does worry affect our walk with God?

He used the same weight example with sin that we don’t confess to God and receive forgiveness for.  As with worry {it is really a sin in itself: Matthew 6:25-34; Philippians 4:6}, unconfessed sin interferes with our relationship with God, our ability to receive His love and walk in all the good stuff He has for us!

We also talked about unforgiveness—how it is a weight on us to not let the other person off the hook, whether they ask forgiveness or not!

Lastly, we talked about how we can give these weights to other people if we’re not careful—interfering with others’ ability to receive God’s love, and to obey and worship Him. Nothing like a little weight to make a worship time difficult!

My heart in sharing this is more than documenting our own family’s journey with God. We hope YOU can know:

• the LOVE of the Father in such a way that His TRUTH replaces worries
• His plan of forgiveness through His Son, Jesus, for EVERY sin
• how we can FORGIVE OTHERS because we are forgiven
• how we love others by not defiling them with information about others, stirring up fear, and things like this

If you have any questions, I’d love to field them as I can. We’ll be working on not carrying these weights at our house!

Notes From Home

This past weekend we had three great visitors from our home church in America. One came specifically to love on the kids at each stop the group made. Of course the girls ate up the attention! Thanks Jessica!

Jessica brought some notes the kids in the preschool department made for our girls. So fun to see!

A few of my favorite small notes, one written by a child we’ve known since he was bitty:

Encouragements come in all shapes and sizes and from all ages! Thanks home base!!!

Changed By a Book

You may not be able to help but notice the flashing book “widget” I added to the sidebars. Those are the books I’m reading or recommend that you can find on Amazon. I was bummed you wouldn’t see this book since it isn’t sold there, but when I finished it I knew I had to tell you about it still.

I actually won Igniting Faith in 40 Days from the writers at our international conference we attended this summer in America. God knew I needed it! It has a daily reading and declaration of truth along with 3 lists of declarations in the back. So many of the readings opened my eyes to lies I’ve believed or unknowingly spoken over my life versus walking in the truth of God’s Word. It’s no magic formula, just believing the Word. Some examples:

“Let the weak say I am strong.” Joel 3:10

“Jesus answered, ‘…if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.’ ” Mark 11:23

I’m not asking for physical mountains to move. Instead I have seen the mountain of FEAR be done away with in my life (by faith)! We were on our first flight back to Portugal, and I normally struggle to not have fear in flying.  Several minutes into our ascent, I clearly felt the Lord say (in my mind) “Be as if you never had fear.” And the feelings of anxiety vanished! Really!!!  Instead I had a joy like I haven’t experienced in a long time on a plane! I believe this is fruit of my declarations (and thus hearing the Word) becoming belief and faith!

I could tell you more stories about how I feel reading this book and following it’s direction in getting in the Word and declaring God’s truth has changed my life. I will hold off and let you go check out the book!  You can buy Igniting Faith in 40 Days and others by Steve and Wendy at the Ignited Hope store. I’m starting the next book by the Backlund’s. Can’t wait to tell you about it!

Apple of Your Eye

This week I found some amazing blogs and websites for preschool and kindergarten homeschooling with a definite Godly influence! (Click on the buttons for the links.)

One of the ideas I started using right away was memory verses for each letter of the alphabet. We just finished going through the alphabet (about 1-2 letters per week), so it’s fun to have new material to put to use as we start over!

The verse for A was “Keep me as the apple of your eye…” Psalm 17:8.  Ever noticed you can see yourself in another’s pupil (apple of their eye) when you look in their eyes? This is what I explained to the girls--that this verse reminds us that we are always in God’s sight.

Today for our church time at home, we included this verse and a small craft to remind us of this truth. Based on the Totally Tots idea of an eye with an apple in the middle of the pupil, I printed out a large picture of an eye, the memory verse and then pictures of the girls cut in a circle for them to glue to the pupil. The girls glued each section on a piece of card stock and colored the iris (colored part of the eye). They promptly went to hang their reminders in their rooms by their beds!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One more recommendation to check out:  Songs for Saplings are songs of the alphabet verses listed on Totally Tots. We downloaded them on iTunes, and our girls are singing the songs (Scriptures) already! (See the In My Heart page for the link.) Worth every penny!

A Place of Rest—Part 2

Here are the other changes and additions I made to my craft area after finishing the scrapbook paper edged table. See Part 1 for the details on that.

We covered a ratty old bulletin board with burlap and man, what a simple transformation! Large old buttons hot-glued to flat push pins were an easy addition.  Fun to have a place to put the vintage “Make” flashcard amongst other special things. I have several inspirational ideas or future to-make’s I want to print out and keep before me there as well.

 

I made the fabric flowers from a tutorial on Tatertots and Jello. The only thing I missed but figured out was to fold your fabric strip in half for a tighter flower. You can see how the middle flower with the wood bead is a little bigger. I love seeing fabrics before me that have a history (fabrics I used for one of my daughters’ crib bumper, pillows when we first got married, and a tag blanket for a friend’s baby plus an old favorite shirt from Banana Republic that’s fit is out of style)!

  

I also made a fabric flower for one of the cans I covered in fabric I had left from a old quilt topper (I’d used it to make a crib skirt in the past). The other got a chenille rick rack and yo-yo treatment.

Next, I hung up two exciting finds: one a vintage baby doll dress from a favorite antique/junk store in America and the other a Portuguese embroidery and cross stitch pattern foldout from 1948. I love the fabric and rick rack of the dress and the bird print of the foldout! I found cheap unfinished frames at our dollar store here and used a dark stain we had on hand. I used card stock behind the dress and velcro to suspend it in the shadow box frame. I didn’t have any card stock big enough for the other frame so I used stiff tissue paper instead.

The last quickly transformed addition to the wall was a magnetic chalkboard we’d bought at a Pottery Barn Outlet years ago. It came with magnetic words like “Menu” or “To Do".” I like the industrial look but it needed a bit of femininity to fit on the wall.  First step was to hot glue a line of yo-yo’s I bought on sale at JoAnn’s in the States.  Then I put the “To Do” sign at the top thinking I could use it for my list of things to make and do.

Later I remembered I’d found vintage game pieces that spelled REST. They were too small to replace the “To Do” sign so I printed out my own letters on card stock and inked the edges with a marker. It suddenly became a reminder instead of another list! {Rest is a command I’ve felt from the Lord for years (Hebrews 3-4) , and it has more to do with trust and belief than taking it easy, although the latter is something I can use too!}

Amazingly enough, this change really brought peace to the area. You know that feeling of awe when something comes together? It is such a place I enjoy to be!

I’m sharing this at the following “parties”—places to get great ideas!

Frugal Friday at The Shabby Nest

Weekend Wrap-Up Party at Tatertots and Jello

Saturday is Crafty Day at Along for the Ride

Just Something I Whipped Up at The Girl Creative

Craftastic Monday at Sew Can Do

Anti-Procrastination Tuesdays at New Nostalgia

Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Design

Make it Yours Day at My Backyard Eden

Where is my guest room?

This was a verse I have probably read over multiple times in the account of Jesus’ preparations for the Passover feast.  Jesus told his disciples to ask the owner of the house this question (Mark 14: 14), “Where is my guest room…?”   Notes in my Zondervan NIV Study Bible say: “It was a Jewish custom that anyone in Jerusalem who had a room available would give it upon request to a pilgrim to celebrate the Passover.”

This line of the verse stuck out to me today as we’ve nearly finished our new guest room upstairs. We have felt it was a priority to get it done so there would be a place for missionaries to stay if they needed to before The Haven duplexes were purchased. So, this line came as an encouragement, like Jesus was asking me where His guest room was.

That may sound strange to some of you, but I believe hospitality is on his heart! There are several Scriptures that touch on this:

• Matthew 11   ⁴⁰"He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me. ⁴¹Anyone who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man's reward. ⁴²And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward."
• It is a command to practice hospitality in Romans 12:13 and 1 Peter 4:9.
• It is a prerequisite for an overseer in 1 Timothy 3:2 and Titus 1:8.
• Paul noted the hospitality of others in Acts 28:7 and Romans 16:23.
• 2 Kings 4  ⁸ One day Elisha went to Shunem. And a well-to-do woman was there, who urged him to stay for a meal. So whenever he came by, he stopped there to eat. ⁹ She said to her husband, "I know that this man who often comes our way is a holy man of God. ¹⁰ Let's make a small room on the roof and put in it a bed and a table, a chair and a lamp for him. Then he can stay there whenever he comes to us." 

Study notes on this last Scripture say: “By her hospitality the woman was able to assist in sustaining the proclamation of God’s word through Elisha.”  I like that a lot since that’s what we’re called here to do by faith!

I know that everyone does not have the space for a guest room. I think the alternative would be having a plan in place that would accommodate guests for various purposes. Jesus wasn’t staying over night in the guest room he asked for. He was sharing a meal with his disciples. Are you mentally ready for guests?

The Reluctant Entertainer is a great blog that encourages laid back hospitality over perfection, if any of you need a good dose of that like me! Check out her posts on Hospitality and Inspiration.

Addendum: This post was written a few weeks ago, but delayed in publishing due to a small crisis in the guest room and bath. Nothing like a deluge from the 2nd floor through your ceilings and lights to get you to wash all those towels that have sat in the cupboard too long! Really, it was a blessing in disguise: We had to re-do flooring that needed it and received a nice compensation from our insurance company. Thankfully it’s all put back together for our first international guest coming today!

Very Special Drawings

February 21st will be a special day to remember for our family! It was the first time we gave a clear explanation of God’s plan of salvation for to our daughters, and they both said they wanted to make Jesus their Savior!  I know they are only 5 and nearly 4 years of age, but it seemed they were sincere in their understanding and decision. At one point, my younger daughter said unsolicited, “It makes me sad how I’ve been mean.” It was nice to emphasize God’s plan of forgiveness for our sin to her. The girls have continued to talk about it their decision over the  last few days.

My husband remembered a drawing he had learned. You can draw it for anyone to visually understand what God has done for us through giving his son Jesus as the means to eternal life with Him.  My husband drew this picture out for the girls explaining each step (Adam and Eve’s relationship with God before and after their choice to sin, man’s attempts to get to God, God sending Jesus to die for our sins, and our choice). It really kept their attention to listen and watch him draw the next part. After we finished talking about it and praying with the girls, he gave the girls a copy of the drawing for them to color. Here is my older daughter’s colored version:

 

She was actually sick that night but felt great during our our home Sunday School time. In the middle of the night, I let her color to get her mind off her stomach. This is when she colored her drawing and added the pool with people around it. She is excited to be baptized—can you tell?! She added her name on the top line too, showing the path she’s chosen!  We are so thankful!!! These pictures will be a great memory for the girls one day too!

I’d love to give more specifics or answer questions if this is something you’d like to use or understand too!

I’m sharing this at:

Posting the Numbers

I have wanted something to hang with a favorite picture on a blank wall in our living room. I remembered an old cheese box lid I'd kept. I think the box got crushed in a move.

I have wanted to incorporate the numbers/letters look somewhere--see The Shabby Nest blog for some great examples. Also, Susie Harris has a tutorial to make a names of God painting--similar in technique to what I tried, but so much more amazing! 

First I decided on a font we liked (I chose Modern No.20), and then what numbers. One of my favorite Scriptures is Psalm 126, so we thought that would be worth hanging on the wall. So I printed it out as big as I could get on one page, then cut out the numbers.

Next I had to determine where the numbers would look good. There is a crack/line in the middle of this lid, so I had to think through what part of the numbers would look OK going across it or not.

Then I taped the paper to the lid and traced inside the numbers with a pencil. You can see the traced numbers in the following picture:

Using black craft paint that I bought in America, I carefully painted the edges of each number with a tiny brush before filling in the middle with a larger brush. It reminded me of "cutting in" that we do when painting a wall near the trim. The small parts of the numbers became a little thicker than the original. It was not an easy or quick task with all the texture of the lid, but well worth the effort.  Don't look too close or you can tell it's handpainted!

It's new location in our home (along with the Tinker Toys!):

Psalm 126:2-3 Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, "The Lord has done great things for them." The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.

Powerful Testimony After Tragedy

As I've been packing boxes down in my basement, I had the idea to try to find a humorous radio program I'd heard once on James Dobson's Focus on the Family radio program. When I looked for it, I found a whole list of daily broadcasts that sound really interesting, like "Encouragement for Stay-At-Home Moms" and "Toddlerhood: Answers for Parents" . That last one is next on my list!

I got sidetracked seeing the program where James Dobson interviews Steven Curtis Chapman one year after the tragic loss of his daughter. I wasn't sure if that was the best idea to listen to (I didn't want it to produce fear about losing my own or make me sadder in my own loss of a family member recently). I felt ok about it and went for it--so glad I did!

Today I finished listening to the 3rd part of that series called "The God of All Comfort" aired May 19-21 (scroll down the list to find it). It has been a powerful teaching in a sense of God's sovereignty, the reality of eternity, and valuing those around us while they're here. There are some things Steven Curtis Chapman said that I think I will never forget--amazing examples of the fathomless mercy of God. My husband got hooked into listening when he was packing too, and we are both forever changed by this testimony. We're asking for continual comfort for this family, as we are for our own.

John 10:10 dishes

What? Yes, Dayspring has come out with these great dishes with John 10:10 on them or just the word "Life." They are beautiful. So, I've commented about them in hopes to win some. Even referring you to check them out to (to give me another chance to be really honest). The blog We are THAT family is great too--worth subscribing to if you do that kind of thing!