Just Our Thoughts

Hey all! I just wanted to post a quick plug for things going on over at Simply Sensational Divas Review. If you wanna read my thoughts on some of the books and products I've reviewed you can click here. Some of those items include: books by C. L. Talmadge, and Sally Shields. I've reviewed children's books. I've reviewed music and I've talked about companies that support breast cancer research.

We also have a couple of giveaways going on over there. Both are ending December 15th. Los Lobos Goes Disney and IBW-Books. Sign up for our RSS over there too, because coming soon I will be posting a chance to win one of 5 copies of Jonny Diaz' new album.

I hope you'll come by Simply Sensational Divas Review and enter our giveaways. I hope you'll stay and look around for a bit.

Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

We sang this song as children in a school Christmas production. So fun!


Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

I've been MIA (missing in action) because we've been making memories.

My parents were here at the end of October. Then Halloween. Then things calmed down a little but during that lull we discovered Tapestry of Grace so we've been trying that out. Then J's family came (7 extra people for 3 days, including J's parents, a bro and his wife and 3 kids). We had 8 kids ages 8 and under; what fun.

Now the Christmas season hits. Tonight we saw fireworks in a neighboring community. Next week is our community's light up amongst other things.

So, if I'm a little MIA in the next little while, just know I'm doing something really productive - making memories with my babies.

Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

Today I am thankful for:

teachers. Today was the recital for K and CJ's classes. K did both dance and choir. CJ did dance. They did so very well. The place was PACKED! I am so thankful for the instructors that love the children so much that they love to teach using the skills they've been given and developed.


Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

Today I am thankful for:

being able to spend time with friends, helping each other, just visiting, playing games, watching the children. Thank God for in real life friends.

Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

Well, I'm here to update on my Fall Into Reading Progress.

1. Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends
2. The Daughter-in-Law Rules
3. Every Thought Captive
4. Fallout - I have about 50 pages left as I type this post.
5. The Scorpions Strike
6. The Magician's Book
7. Fascinating Womanhood - a pdf book
   
8. A Promise to Believe In
9. The Shack
10. Beautiful Mess
11. Sand Sharks
12. The Captain's Wife
13. The Blessing
14. Families of the Bible

And I have to add in here that I've been perusing Great Games by Matthew Toone as well.

Well, 3 of fourteen done! oh my. Four started. not bad. So much for my goal of one book a week. I think I need to pick it up a notch. or not.

A lot of these books are listed on my Good Reads shelves (look in the sidebars).


Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

I have always loved a cappella groups. I listened to an a cappella station on Live 365 until I was hearing the same songs over and over again. So this afternoon when I went looking for a song to post for Then Sings My Soul, I went looking for an a cappella group. Well, I found Vocal Union. Hearing these men's voices calms my spirit and my heart. I hope you will give it a listen. Enjoy the amazing amazing harmony. God is good to create such beauty for us to hear.

Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

Today I am thankful for:

my television and satellite. I know it's something silly to be thankful for but I love to watch Survivor on Thursday nights. I also use the TV to help educate and entertain my children and my man.

Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

K and my my friend Tammy-Lee had a great day together. They did some baking. And honestly, I don't know everything they did. K is a pretty private person and doesn't tell me a lot of what goes on when she's other places. Here's some pictures of their day together.







Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

Good morning, Company Girls! We have had a very productive week, in my opinion. Sunday morning I got a phone call that my grandfather had died; although expected it has been tough. We were unable to go to the funeral. Tuesday we had a Party Lite party! We had a good visit with friends. On Wednesday my homeschool facilitator came for a visit. On Thursday, I totally forgot the girls dance class and it was the last class before their recital that comes on Sunday! And that's just the "extras". We've also kept up with housework and school!

We are getting into Building A Life and enjoying that. So far we are learning about obedience and wisdom. Through this course, we've learned to use a dictionary. K grabbed at the concept right away; CJ is picking it up.

We also got started on Tapestry of Grace Year One Unit One. We are still just doing the trial but the plan is to buy at least year one. The books came in from the library (most of them) and have been quite interesting. We will get into those books a little more over the course of the next few weeks. I think we will be taking Tapestry of Grace slow this year; we'll take two weeks to do one of TOG's weeks. I think this will work well for us; giving us time to keep up with our math and our relaxed pace of homeschooling while still having a direction and a topic of learning.

I added some widgets to the bottom of my sidebars. On the right I have the books I am currently reading as well as the ones waiting for me. On the left, I have the books we are looking at for Tapestry of Grace. Or if you'd rather go to my Good Reads page, I've linked the shelves here: to read, currently reading, Tapestry of Grace.

I did do a little better with the Small Things this week. Having the tab come up when I open Firefox meant that at least I read them. Reading them is one step in the right direction.

Thanks for coming by for "coffee" today.


Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

Today I am thankful for:

the children God has entrusted to our care; they are each unique and special. I am thankful for the wisdom and patience I've been given to raise them for the Lord.

Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

Entertaining is a lot of fun! I love having people come into our home and feel comfortable interacting with us. I love to serve others and allow them to relax for even just a few minutes in our busy lives. I have toyed with the idea of having an adult only party - a more formal affair - after my children are in bed. I think that would be fun. Not this year, maybe next year. With Christmas coming up ( and Thanksgiving in the US) entertaining is even more on my mind. It was no surprise to me that Regina Leeds has entertaining as the topic for the month of November.

Regina Leeds suggests writing about something we are thankful for each day, for the whole month. I think that this is a great habit to get into; I think I will try it with what is remaining of this month and carry on into December.

In the first week of November, Leeds asks us to think about Thanksgivings past to analyze why we feel the way we do about the holiday. She then moves on to the present and asks us to dream about our perfect Thanksgiving. The questions she asks are a great guidle for digging into those sometimes painful memories.

Weeks two, three and four of November are final preparation and organization for Turkey Day. (I'm going to have to remember this chapter for October next year!) Week two is the clean sweep - getting the whole house ready for company. I have company in week three, so this information came at just the right time! Week three is nailing down the menu including the budget. ( I don't think I've ever budgeted for Thanksgiving, but it just might be a good idea!) Week four is a day by day plan including cleanup after the big meal. What a great resource! Thank you, Regina Leeds.

Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

Today I am thankful for:

my husband who is a good man, a caring father, a hard worker, a great friend, and a handsome fire fighter!

Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

Today I am thankful for:

a warm, unique home to raise in which to raise my kids; a home that is a blank slate that we can develop and make into exactly what we want. The process is fun, long and costly, but we love it!


Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

Today I am thankful for:

The Word of God; there are so many promises and precepts, so many things I want to learn and know.

Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

Well, it's already the middle of the month and I'm just getting to post this month's habit, but it's a good one. Following along with Regina Leed's One Year to an Organized Life has given me a great focus for each month. This month the United States has their Thanksgiving Day, so Regina encourages us to be thankful each and every day! I thought this was such a good idea that I'm going to try, for the next 39 or so days (until Christmas, maybe longer), to post a brief thankful post, each day.



Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

¹⁷ No weapon formed against you shall prosper,
And every tongue which rises against you in judgment
You shall condemn.
This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD,
And their righteousness is from Me,”
Says the LORD. (Isaiah 54:17, New King James Version)



Here is another blogger's new favorite verse.



Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

My dad and his family have had a rough year.

I am sad today. My grandfather died this morning. I didn't know him well, (I knew him better when I was a child) so my sadness is not for my loss, but for the loss and pain of my dad and his siblings and their families.

I love you all. I am sorry that you must go through another event such as this again this year.


Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

I finally decided (because of some comments I got on my Company Girl Coffee post) that I needed to just read for enjoyment. I've been reading for reviews and I've been reading for homeschooling; I've been reading blogs and I've been researching Bible topics. I wanted to have a good novel; not too meaty, not too easy. I remembered that I had C. L. Talmadge's books to read (to review) but also that I really really enjoyed the first one when I read it. So, I decided to put the baby to bed and have a hot bath and read in the tub! I haven't been able (haven't choose to) to do that in a long long time - before Baby R was born, maybe longer. So while I will be reviewing this book over at Sensational Divas Review, I am also reading this book, just because I want to.

Do you stretch your reading genre? Do you read outside your comfort zone? This book is way out of my comfort zone! But I love it! I am only three chapters in and totally wrapped up in the story; I don't wanna put it down, not even to type this post for me readers!

When I started the Fall Into Reading challenge I wasn't sure I would do very well with my challenge to myself; and really I haven't. lol. I have started a lot of the books on my list but just haven't found my niche (I think that's the word I'm looking for). I haven't gotten into any of the books really. I know it doesn't help that we've been sick and had company but that's just an excuse. If a person really wants to read that person will make the time to read. At least that's what I thought at one point.

Right?? When something is a priority to us, we do it. Homeschooling became a priority for me again and we are doing more sit-down work. Blogging here at Just Our Thoughts became a priority for me again and here I am just typin' away. Writing reviews became a priority for me again, and I'm poppin' them out.

Oh, so this stuff became a priority? Or did it? Maybe I just got better. Maybe I'm getting more sleep. Maybe weaning Baby R has given me more energy. Maybe it's the weight I'm loosing (without trying. No tomatoes, please. I don't know what's going on. It's just going.) Maybe it's the fact that my DH and I have cycled back out of our depression and so things are just getting done again. Maybe I'm organizing my time better. I wouldn't say that I'm spending less time at the computer, but it's more productive time. Well, maybe Facebook isn't all that productive, but we all need Facebook's -ville games sometimes.

All of this to say that I'm reading for pleasure. Are you?

The comments on my Company Girl post were along the lines of "you read so much, I wish I did". I went back and looked at what I'd posted that I was reading and I'm like, yeah, I'm reading but look at what I'm reading! Man, I'm no fun! Let's have some fun reading. Thanks so much readers for your comments. If any of you are bloggers and, like me, love comments then you know how much those comments mean to me. I love the dialog. It gets me thinking. I like to think.

Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

Beautiful Mess: The Story of Diamond Rio
by Diamond Rio with Tom Roland

Are you a country music fan? Have you ever wondered about the lives of the artists / groups you listen to? I have. With a chapter for each member of the band Diamond Rio, you will get an in depth view of each man’s life before he joined the group including how his life often intertwined with other members before the group was formed. This group of God-fearing men has a wonderful message to share and knowing their history helps the reader / listener to understand that message and that desire they have even better. Knowing where this group is coming from and learning about their families gives a different kind of insight to why and how this group has worked, lived and stayed together over so many years.

I truly enjoyed reading about the different backgrounds of each individual. I was amazed at the intertwining of their lives – one was the hero of another! Reading this book (or listening to it) was easy, kind of like sitting down for a visit with a friend over a favorite beverage.

I wouldn’t say that this book was life changing or earth shattering. If I didn’t like country music, I wouldn’t change my mind based on what I read. However, as a country music and Christian music fan, I was delighted to read about their rules of the road and the difference they want to make in the lives of those who listen to their music. Reading this book helped to solidify my desire to support their business of music.

Beautiful Mess is available at Thomas Nelson as well as at Amazon.

Want a chance to review books, just like me, for Thomas Nelson? Go here and sign up today!

Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

I cry every time I sing this song. It is so powerful! So simple. I can't help but get to a state of worship.

The last verse, last two lines. They get me every time!

"Till He returns, or calls me home Here in the power of Christ I stand."


Here are all the lyrics:

In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save
'Till on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again
And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost it's grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Brought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life's first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
'Till He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand

For more inspiring music check out Amy's blog.


Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

Well, it's been a while since I had coffee with the Company Girls. Have you read the Company Girl Story? I'll be telling it to my girls because they are forever asking each other to go with them to the basement. We have a "furnace-kicker-man" down there that can be a little scary sometimes. The bathroom, kids' bedrooms and kitchen are downstairs so we have to go there often.

I haven't been doing the Small Things to make my home a sanctuary. It's really been a struggle, so tonight I set up a start up tab for Home Sanctuary; now when I load up Firefox I'll see it first thing and I'll be more likely to participate.

Anyway, on to the business and busy-ness at hand . . . .

So what have we been reading? Here are just a few of the books we had out regularly this week:

1. Beautiful Mess (Diamond Rio)
2. One Year To An Organized Life (Regina Leeds) - did you know she has a new book coming out in December???
3. Great Games (Matthew Toone)
4. Tut's Mummy (Judy Donnelly)
5. Mummies Made in Egypt (Aliki)

So what have we been learning?

• We are starting the trial of Tapestry of Grace. We started by learning a little about Egypt. We are waiting for the books to get here from the library. If we like the trial (and maybe even if we don't) we are going to purchase Year 1 Unit 1 and give it a good shot. I think we'll love it - history and reading and hands on.
• We got our character studies books this week and are digging in right away. The Bible person we are going to be learning about is Daniel. Our books are called Building A Life. So far we've learned about Daniel and his friends being taken from their country and why. We've learned about blueprints and created a blueprint of sorts from our imaginations.
• We are learning about fractions and geometry in Math. We won't be done our math book by Christmas like we wanted to be, but we won't be too far off. Before spring we'll be starting the next one.
• The girls requested to learn handwriting a while ago but it was a little too difficult at the time and got put aside; we've pulled it back out and they are loving it.
• K really took to her journal about a month ago and hasn't quit. I require them to write at least two sentences, the date and to draw a picture showing what they wrote. I have seen incredible progress in both girls.
• K has had some extra instruction from our friend Mo and is improving with leaps and bounds. He has a way of teaching them that she just "gets". I don't mind either because she and I can clash heads something terrible. I can tell her something and Mo can tell her the same thing; then she'll do it. CJ doesn't respond quite the same to Mo and is better with what I tell her to do. It's great though, because one of Mo's constant reminders is obedience to Mom and Dad.
• Doing our chores has kinda fallen by the wayside, but this week we've picked it up again and the house is coming back together. The program I use is Let's Clean Up. It's free to try (for a month, I think) and inexpensive to buy (under 10 dollars US). I've used it 95% of the days since I've had it. I didn't even wait for my trial to end before I purchased the program. Easy to download and install. Easy to use.
  

Thanks for stopping by for coffee and an update on our reading and learning.

Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

Check out Grace Alone for more thankful posts.

Today I am thankful for:

• having my hubby home so much.
• my hubby attempting and succeeding to quit smoking (not quite there yet).
• kids that love to learn so much that they keep us on routine.
• food in my fridge and freezer.
• a great library and librarians.
• veterans.
• stories my dad tells of my grandfather.
• friends that love my kids.
• friends that keep me accountable.
• Facebook.
• blogs like: Adding Zest, Simple Mom, Home Sanctuary and Kirk Thoughts.
  

Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

A video they played at our Remembrance Day service today.

Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

Today I took my oldest two children to a Remembrance Day service. This was their first real introduction to such a service. I was very glad I took them and could teach them a little about what Remembrance Day is about. We did start a little last year with some coloring pages and some books, but this was a little bit more.

So why was I appalled? Well, we sang our national anthem - O Canada - and I didn't hear pride; I didn't hear clear words; I hardly heard anything at all! I heard the words mumbled and stumbled all over all around me! I was so sad that I was even one of the ones stumbling. I know not every one is a song leader, but surely in the crowd that was there I would expect that someone would be bold enough to sing loudly and clearly and proudly our national anthem on such a day as today, a day of remembrance!

We moved on from the anthem to a church-like service. I made sure to sing loud and clearly In Christ Alone. Such a beautiful and heartwarming song! And then the "God Save Our Queen" was sung a little better by everyone.

I am shocked and now determined to teach my children to sing with pride our national anthem. Our country is far from perfect, but we can't get better if Christians keep quiet and stumble and fall all over our national anthem. I was sad that there was no chorus of children singing proudly. I was sad that there were no cubs or scouts or brownies, that the 4-H Club representatives didn't show up.

I was glad to hear at the end of the service, that most of those in attendance knew The Lord's Prayer. My children need to learn that. I know two new things going to be added to our homeschool regime. I want my children to be proud of the country they live in; I want my children to be proud enough of their country that they will act in ways that will make this country an even better place to live; I want my children to act in ways that would make their grandparents and great-grandparents proud.




Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

Well, I'm here to update on my Fall Into Reading Progress.

1. Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends
2. The Daughter-in-Law Rules
3. Every Thought Captive
4. Fallout
5. The Scorpions Strike
6. The Magician's Book
7. Fascinating Womanhood
8. A Promise to Believe In
9. The Shack
10. Beautiful Mess
11. Sand Sharks
12. The Captain's Wife
13. The Blessing
14. Families of the Bible

Well, 2 of fourteen done! oh my. Four started. not bad. So much for my goal of one book a week. I think I need to pick it up a notch. or not.

Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

I am thankful for girls that learned to read.

I am thankful for my DH and his great attitude.

I am thankful for the wood furnace that's in and just needs it final inspection (should be by Monday).

I am thankful for my IRL friends. I had a convo with one the other day about wishing I would get sick enough to be hospitalized, just so I could really get better - get a break and some sleep. But then I thought, no, because J would be all alone with the kids and I don't know how long he'd be able to hack it. (I know he'd do fine, but if I was that sick he'd want to be with me.) And I said then he'd call on this friend in particular to help with the kids. She's like, of course I'd take them all! So thankful for this friend.

I'm NOT thankful for this mouse I hear chewing at my wood in the corner!!!

(Click on the pic to be taken to the linky.)


Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

I remember being newly married, pregnant, moving to a new community, far from family. I guess those years were hard now that I look back.

My train of thought was started by a Criminal Intent we started watching but quickly changed. The story appeared to be one of a mother in the very very depths of post-pardum psychosis. She's sitting in the bathtub, shaking. The two boys, one with a burn on his arm, are in the kitchen, trying to care for themselves and keep the water dripping from the ceiling (falling out of the bathtub upstairs) in buckets. The mother called to the older boy who cautiously went to her. And we changed the channel. I don't need to watch other mom's hurting their babies.

I have never hurt my kids, but I remember a time, after CJ was born, that I saw visions / images / ?? of myself throwing a child against the wall. CJ and K are 51 weeks apart. J was working 6 PM to 6 AM and sleeping during the day. I had no IRL friends in the community that I felt comfortable enough with, despite being in the community a year. I know some of my friends there now would be sad to hear that I felt that way, but that's the fact of the matter, at that time.

It was a crazy, scary time for me. Just the thought of what I would be / could be capable of was enough to scary me into action. I thought I was insane. I guess I felt crazy. I did get help in the moment - called J at work and talked to him as long as he could; got settled down - both me and the babies.

It was a crazy time for J too. I wasn't doing any housework; he would come home from his job(s) and have to make meals and do laundry so he had clothes to wear. We were even using cloth diapers. I was nursing both babies. I remember trying to do "school" with my one year old. I remember lots of Baby Einstein because it was the only way K would fall asleep on her own. We didn't have internet and only "peasant view" for tv. I do not know what I did with my time. Those years are very fuzzy.

Now I think, what was I thinking? About any of it. I guess I wasn't. It was hormones and depression. Years of experience, education and I don't know what has made me so much more aware of myself and my body. I know better what makes me tick. I've had a few more children now too. I've learned that I need to take more time to heal after a birth. I've learned that I pass out every time. I've learned that I struggle with ppd, before the baby even gets here.



Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

Sparrow's Nest Academy - Ladylikeness?

Things to do when battling H1N1 or other mysterious viruses

Build a Better Marriage by Having Sex

DIY Decorative Clothespins

and to use with the above link - Modge Podge Recipe

http://www.blueletterbible.org/

http://www.e-sword.net/index.html



Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

1. Mars bars
2. water
3. Caramilk
4. ketchup
5. brushing my teeth
6. swallowing
7. milk
8. meat
9. potatoes
10. carrots
11. hard candies
12. bacon and eggs and toast
13. let's just say, just about anything and everything I put in my mouth!

Eating is a joy again!

Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

I've discussed this here on my blog before and the topic continues to come up, so I'm still thinking about it. My dad went looking for some sites and research on this topic and he came up with a couple of sites. I've included some of the paragraphs that caught my attention.

http://www.christiananswers.net/dictionary/sabbath.html

After his resurrection, which took place on the first day of the week (Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:2; Luke 24:1; John 20:1), we never find Christ meeting with his disciples on the seventh day. But he specially honored the first day by manifesting himself to them on four separate occasions (Matt. 28:9; Luke 24:34, 18-33; John 20:19-23). Again, on the next first day of the week, Jesus appeared to his disciples (John 20:26).

http://www.christiananswers.net/q-acb/acb-t007.html

However, the New Testament makes it clear that the observance of a particular day was not imposed as a binding obligation. Romans 14:5-6 makes it clear that there was some freedom in the matter of special days. Colossians 2:16-17 commanded the church not to allow anyone to act as their judge in regard to sabbath days. And Galatians 4:9-10 warns against going back under the Law by insisting on the legal requirement of special days.

The records that remain in the New Testament show that the first day of the week soon became a day of worship. When Paul wanted to collect an offering from the church at Corinth, he asked them to gather the money on the "first day of the week" (1 Cor. 16:2). And when he wanted to meet with the believers at Troas, the gathering took place "on the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread" (Acts 20:7).

Striving to learn and live God's purposes,