My Cozy Nook: 2008

25 November 2008

Dear Lulapalooza,

Wow! I can barely believe that you are nine years old! I hope that you had a wonderful birthday yesterday. I loved watching you playing with all of your new things; you seemed to be really enjoying yourself. I still remember so clearly that November early morning when you were born ~ the day before Thanksgiving. Of course, we were very thankful for you then, and we are even moreso today. You are such an amazing boy. You are kind and gentle, smart, athletic, and fun. I love how patient and caring you are with animals and younger children. I love listening to you read and watching you run and jump and climb. I love hearing your laugh, and I am glad that I get to hear it often. I am glad that you are not too big to still want my hugs and kisses and sweeet dream wishes. And, mostly, I am just so very happy that I get to be your mama.

Youth is happy because it has the ability to see beauty.

Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.

~ Franz Kafka

For {you} are his workmanship,

created in Christ Jesus unto good works,

which God hath before ordained that {you} should walk in them.

~ Ephesians 2:10

23 November 2008

Not creative enough to come up with a title

Well, I am still here, even though it has been 7+ weeks since my last blog post.

So, in no particular order, here are some of the things we have done over the past two months:

attended a wedding

attended a funeral

voted

made autumn fairies

learned to play Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star on the recorder

went camping

went ice skating

began rehearsals for our children’s Christmas program at church

finished off our formal academic studies

got Advent candles before all of the stores were completely out of purple

Now, we get really busy, during this last week of November:

Tomorrow is Lulapalooza’s 9^th birthday

Thursday, of course, is Thanksgiving

J~Man celebrates his 11^th birthday the following Sunday, which is also the first Sunday of Advent.

December:

6 Saint Nicholas Day ~ a very big day in our house

14 The children’s Christmas program at our church

23 Our 20^th wedding anniversary

24 Christmas Eve

25 Christmas Day

31 New Year’s Eve

January:

1 New Year’s Day

6 Epiphany

The beginning of a new academic year

A trip to Seattle with Sgt. Elf

Two birthdays to celebrate in February

Three more birthdays in March

02 October 2008

With her Saviour now.

Mamasmurf, Chrissy, is in her eternal home now, but she will be so dearly missed by her husband and son in their home in England. Please keep this family in your prayers as they grieve.

There is more information here.

I had discovered her blog only a couple of weeks before she went into the hospital. She had left some kind remarks on a couple of my posts, and that is how I became aware of her blog. I had been reading back through it, getting to know her better, but had not gotten around to adding her to my Friends' list. I am sorry that I did not know her in real life, but I am so thankful that I got to meet her here, and I look forward to knowing her for all eternity.

29 September 2008

A Quote for Today:

Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

C.S. Lewis, from God in the Dock

22 September 2008

My Favourite Season

"Behold congenial Autumn comes,
the Sabbath of the Year."
- John Logan, 1748 – 1788

~~~

"O Autumn, laden with fruit, and stained
With the blood of the grape, pass not, but sit
Beneath my shady roof; there thou may'st rest,
And tune thy jolly voice to my fresh pipe;
And all the daughters of the year shall dance!
Sing now the lusty song of fruit and flowers.
- William Blake, To Autumn, 1783

~~~

"Come said the wind to
the leaves one day,
Come o're the meadows
and we will play.
Put on your dresses
scarlet and gold,
For summer is gone
and the days grow cold."
- A Children's Song of the 1880's

~~~

"No Spring nor Summer Beauty hath such grace
As I have seen in one Autumnal face."
- John Donne

~~~

Autumn from Vivaldi's The Four Seasons

Fall Reading Challenge

Read Alouds:

Narnia (by C. S. Lewis):

finish Voyage of the Dawn Treader this week

then The Silver Chair

then The Magician's Nephew

then The Last Battle

Literature:

The Complete Milne

The Complete Beatrix Potter

Just So Stories by Kipling

History:

On the Shores of the Great Sea by Synge

Poetry:

Hiawatha's Childhood

w/Toodles:

A Flower Fairy Alphabet by Cicely Mary Barker

Mary Poppins from A to Z by P. L. Travers

Personal:

Reimaginning Church by Frank Viola (read & critique per a friend’s request)

Sabbath by Wayne Muller (finish)

How to Study the Bible by Kay Arthur (re-read as I am teaching it to a Jr. High Sunday class)

H. P. 4 & 5

Persuasion by Jane Austen

I hope to read more fiction books, but I will wait to see what I find at the library (or on my own shelves) as the weeks progress.

13 September 2008

Congratulations Belinda!

My blogfriend, Belinda is this week's featured blogger. If you've not visited her blog before, you really should. Her motto is "Live life with your kids!" and I love reading about how she does just that. From her writing, I can tell that she loves the Lord, brings honour to her husband, and is a great mum. She is so gracious and encouraging as well as sensible and wise. Some day I would just love to have a cuppa with her down under in Australia. She has a great getting-to-know-you post here, and she also has a website, Lifestyle Homeschool.

11 September 2008

One of the fallen:

Robert T. 'Bobby' Hughes (click on his name to read about him)

Age 23
Sayreville, N.J.
World Trade Center

Bobby's Alma Mater:

Bobby's favourite team:

Bobby's dream job:

Project 2,996 (click to read other tributes or to participate)

In Memoriam, [Ring out, wild bells]

by Lord Alfred Tennyson

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
   The flying cloud, the frosty light:
   The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
   Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
   The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind
   For those that here we see no more;
   Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,
   And ancient forms of party strife;
   Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care, the sin,
   The faithless coldness of the times;
   Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes
But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,
   The civic slander and the spite;
   Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease;
   Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
   Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,
   The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
   Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.

God is our refuge and strength,
         A very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear,
         Even though the earth be removed,
         And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
Though its waters roar and be troubled,
         Though the mountains shake with its swelling.  Selah

There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God,
         The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High.
God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved;
         God shall help her, just at the break of dawn.
The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved;
         He uttered His voice, the earth melted.

The LORD of hosts is with us;
         The God of Jacob is our refuge.  Selah

Come, behold the works of the LORD,
         Who has made desolations in the earth.
He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
         He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two;
         He burns the chariot in the fire.

Be still, and know that I am God;
         I will be exalted among the nations,
         I will be exalted in the earth!

The LORD of hosts is with us;
         The God of Jacob is our refuge.  Selah

~Psalm 46

28 August 2008

Today is:

Tasha Tudor Remembrance Day

17 weeks until CHRISTmas Day

start working on my gift list

Thankful Thursday

Dear Father in Heaven,

I have so much to be grateful for.

I thank You that my family is safe and healthy and whole, and I ask You to help me to remember what a precious gift from You they are, and to treasure each and every moment I have with them.

I thank you for my home, and I ask You to help me to be a better steward of that which you have provided.

I thank You for my life and this day which You have made, and I ask You to help me to rejoice and be glad in it.

The day my husband and three of my cubs travel to Saltillo, Mexico for a mission trip

27 August 2008

Praying...

for this family.

Dear God,

Please comfort them and give them the peace that only You can.

26 August 2008

In the interest of honest blogging

A blogfriend posted about pointlessness and failing at what matters most and about whitewashing it all and putting on a happy facehere in blogland (my very rough paraphrase.)

The relative anonymity of the internet makes it easier to be who I wish I was rather than who I actually am. Like her, I fear that if you saw the real me, then you would probably not want me on your friends' list. Unlike her, I am not on very many people's friends' lists anyway.

I do cling to the fact that God's mercies are new every morning. And when I get really overwhelmed and discouraged it usually helps me to read the book of Ecclesiastes.

So, as my title states...

(You have been warned!)

My house is beyond messy. no. seriously. I could be on Oprah, getting her shocked looks as the tape rolls and she queries, "But how can you let your children live like this?!" The upstairs hall is strewn with dirty laundry, the trash in all 3 bathrooms is overflowing, there are dirty dishes stashed in my oven and moldy ones in my fridge, and so on. This is the worst it has been in a while, but it has been this bad for a few months now, and normal really isn't much better.

I'm lazy; which explains why my house is this bad after two weeks of no lessons, during which my first priority was to declutter, clean, and organize.

I waste far too much time at the computer (without actually creating anything like blog posts or menus, etc.) and in front of the television (which i don't even really enjoy.)

I feel guilty for my laziness and time-wastiness, but instead of working at changing i generally take it out on the ones i supposedly love. i grumble. i yell. Sometimes i even utter shameful things.

I don't pray for my husband every day. or my kids.

I am the chief of sinners. totally depraved.

I have so much to be grateful for, and yet i complain. a lot. at times i even question God's judgement in saving me.

So there you have it. No good ~ just the bad and the ugly.

22 August 2008

Scripture Memory

This is the passage that we will be working on this fall.

Psalm 8

1 O LORD, our Lord,
         How excellent is Your name in all the earth,
         Who have set Your glory above the heavens!

2 Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants
         You have ordained strength,
         Because of Your enemies,
         That You may silence the enemy and the avenger.

3 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
         The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,
4 What is man that You are mindful of him,
         And the son of man that You visit him?
5 For You have made him a little lower than the angels,
         And You have crowned him with glory and honor.

6 You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands;
         You have put all things under his feet,
7 All sheep and oxen—
         Even the beasts of the field,
8 The birds of the air,
         And the fish of the sea
         That pass through the paths of the seas.

9 O LORD, our Lord,
         How excellent is Your name in all the earth!

11 August 2008

The Simple Woman's Daybook

to read more or join in please visit Peggy

FOR TODAY

~ Monday, 11 August, 2008 ~

Outside My Window...the sun is breaking through the clouds

I am thinking...about how great my kids are and what wonderful relationships i have with them

I am thankful for...an a.c. repair company that can get out here this morning, and for clouds and a bit of a breeze this morning

From the kitchen...not sure at this point

I am wearing...my hair up in loose bun, brown v-neck t-shirt, denim shorts, bare feet

I am creating...computer files

I am going...nowhere yet, because i am waiting for the repairman

I am reading...Sabbath by Wayne Muller found at Half Price Books for $1

I am hoping...praying, actually, that the air conditioner can be fixed quickly and inexpensively

I am hearing...the dishwasher and Lulapalooza's Lego Star Wars video game

Around the house...lots of fans are going

One of my favorite things...naps

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week:

watching the Olympics ~ a trip to the new local Salvation Army thrift store for 50% off Wednesday to look for some skirts ~ adults only dinner with friends Thursday night ~ a special teatime with Toodles

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you...

I found this photo at stock.xchng

09 August 2008

Because everybody else is doing it

If anybody actually reads this blog, then you probably know that we homeschool more-or-less year-round; you probably also know that we do not follow the traditional school year, but begin each year in January.

And yet...

There is just something about this back-to-school season, so...

I have been buying new notebooks and pencils and markers and glue, because they are all on sale.

I have been tweaking our routine, because, well, okay, actually, I do that all the time.

I am adding a few new things and changing a few things up.

So, as we begin our final term in about ten days here is what an ideal week could be like:

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

6am-730

Mama's personal time:

morning tea,

prayer time

& walk

Mama's personal time:

morning tea,

prayer time

& walk

Mama's personal time:

morning tea,

prayer time

& walk

Mama's personal time:

morning tea,

prayer time

& walk

Mama's personal time:

morning tea,

prayer time

& walk

730-9am