September 11

We were given a prayer on our way out of Church today.  I would like to share it:

Almighty and Ever-Loving God,

we remember September 11, 2001,

and pray for all those who were

affected by the terrible events of that day.

We remember, with love and respect,

all of those who went tragically to their deaths.

We remember those who still suffer from their

injuries of that day ten years ago and pray for

their recovery.  We remember the still

grieving families and friends and all who

lost loved ones.

Gracious Lord, comfort all who mourn,

embrace all those in sorrow, give courage to all who suffer.

Continue to console them in the hope that all who trust in You

will find peace and rest in Your Eternal Kingdom.  Bless them

with Your presence and surround us all with Your love.

God of peace, who vindicates all injustice, bless all those defending

and protecting our country and its ideals of freedom and liberty.  God

of all nations, look with love on this world and on its people.

Restore tranquility to all nations and bless the work of Your creation.

Heavenly Father, answer our prayer and bring us hope through Christ,

Your Son.  May Your kingdom of justice and of peace reign and may the

earth be filled with Your glory.  Amen.

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Church was so touching today.  Not only because of the patriotic hymns or the meaningful sermon, but because of the Scripture readings.  How fitting (and a complete God-incidence, for sure, as these readings were chosen decades ago) that we were to hear Sirach 27:30-28:9 "Wrath and anger are hateful things.....the vengeful will suffer the Lord's vengeance......Forgive your neighbor's injustice," Romans 14:7-9 "For this is why Christ died and came to life, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living" and Matthew 18:21-35 "Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive?  As many as seven times?  Jesus answered 'I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times." Wow.  This speaks volumes.  How difficult and what a challenge to all of us, especially on this day.

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I know we all remember where we were 10 years ago today.  I was in my living room, six months pregnant with our 3rd child, playing with our 2 year old.  I had just dropped off our 3 year old for his first "preschool" morning at the church down the street.  My dad called and told me to turn on the tv.  I saw the towers fall live.  Those images, as I'm sure they will with you, will haunt me the rest of my life.  All of our lives changed forever that day.  Being a soldier's wife, I knew our lives would change, too.  It wasn't immediate, but he was deployed to the Middle East and was there when our 4th child was born.

Looking at our now 13 year old, who is now about 6 feet tall, it seems like yesterday that he was that eager 3 year old wanting to go hear Bible stories and color!  Yet, looking at our now 10 year old, it has hit me that it has been a lifetime, his entire lifetime.  The emotions, as I'm sure it is with everyone, are hard to describe and are still as raw as they were that fateful day.

Watching the ceremonies on tv today, the lump in my throat and the pit in my stomach were hard to ignore.  We must remember.  always.  It saddens me that the flags are all gone, the churches are no longer filled and American's love for money and all things material seems to have returned with a vengeance.  We must continue to pray for our nation, our brave servicemen and women and for each other.

God bless America.



The Week in Review

This week was a good one in many ways and a sad one, as well.  As many of you know, my dear grandmother passed away last Friday and was laid to rest on what would have been her 94th birthday, this past Wednesday in Arizona.  My dad preached at the funeral.  I know she was very proud of him.  Many have already asked for copies of his beautiful sermon.  We were blessed to have her in our lives.  She was a excellent example of what it means to be a godly woman-- always forgiving, always smiling and always praying.  She was a dedicated wife to my grandfather until his death 4 years ago, a few months shy of their 70th wedding anniversary.  I pray that I may live up to that example in my life and always have God and family being the top priorities.  Here is the photo that was in her obituary.  She was only 18 and it was always a favorite photo.

In our homeschool this week:  We did start school this week and it went really well!  I actually put together a daily schedule for each child in 15 and 30 minute segments; and although committed to not being "controlled" by it, it was a great guide and the kids followed it easily and seemed encouraged that they knew what they needed to be doing and when.

I also became committed to having their lessons and material being much more hands-on, which not only kept them engaged, but was fun and they were much more able to recount what they did and learned.

The photo below is of the "Bowls of Mercy Sock Toss"  activity found in the book "52 Family Time Ideas."  The kiddos all loved it and not only were able to explain what they were doing and why to their father later on that day, but were so helpful to each other in trying to "accomplish" the task.  :-)

The first few days of Pre-Algebra were really successful for kiddos #1 and 2.  I love to see the cooperative learning between them.  Kiddos # 3 and 4 started Apologia's Zoology 3 and I cannot say enough about the program, even after just a few days.  Kiddo #3 is already telling everyone about Dr. Jane Goodall and how she "habituated" with the animals.  :-)

We went out to lunch on the first day, a Phillies game on Wednesday night and went bowling with some friends on Friday.  A great way to end a great first week!

What I am reading: I have several books going at once!  I am reading "Beyond Band of Brothers" by Major Dick Winters (yes, I am a history geek, lol!), "Warrior Prayers: Praying the Word for Boys in the Areas They Need it Most," "31 Days to Clean: Having a Martha House the Mary Way" and "Raising Real Men."  :-)  There are probably more that I am forgetting to list! 

A quote or photo to share: "If you don't behave as you believe, you will end up believing as you behave." ~ Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

Prayer to begin a school year

A friend sent me this prayer for the first day of school that I wanted to share.  We are beginning our studies tomorrow.

Prayer to Begin a School Year

Blessed are you, Lord God,

Creator of body and mind and heart;

You have sent the Spirit of wisdom and knowledge

To guide your people in all their ways.

At the beginning of this new school year

We implore your mercy;

Bless the students and moms,

That together we may grow in faith, hope, and love

As we learn from You and each other

How to follow Your Son Jesus.

Expand the horizons of our minds,

That we may grow in wisdom,

Understanding, and knowledge;

Deepen our commitment to seek the truth of Your ways;

And enliven our faith to reach out to those in need.

Glory and praise to you, Lord God,

In the Church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever.

Amen

Wordless Wednesday- Fishing! :-)

Earthquakes, Evacuations, Hurricanes, Tornado warnings, oh my!

What a week this has been!  The earthquake, thank God, was more of a "wow, that's cool" and "it'll be something to tell our grandchildren" type of moment.  Yes, the ground shook, the furniture rattled and the chandelier shook, but that was all and it was over in seconds. 

Unlike people of many years ago, we have the benefit of knowing about major weather events like hurricanes far in advance.  Thus, our evacuation (and that of millions of others) was ordered from the New Jersey beach where we were on vacation.  A 1 1/2-2 hour ride turned into 5 hours.  But, in a spirit of gratefulness, I explained to the kiddos that we were leaving a vacation rental, there were people here on the island who were leaving their real homes.  I can't imagine their fear of not knowing what they were to face when they returned and packing up only what could fit in their car.  I thought of that a moment.  What would I take? 

We returned to my parents' house since they have a generator.  So, unlike many who were spending the night in a shelter, we were in a warm home with food, water and a gassed-up generator.  Thank God.

The tornado warnings did come out of nowhere and were frightening.  I thought it an ironic end to a crazy week-- what other "natural events" could we possibly experience, well other than a volcano.  lol.  Not to scare the kids, we made it be an "adventure" and blew up the air mattesses and told them what "fun" they could have camping out in the basement, lol!  My parents' basement has a rug and a tv with a dvd player, so they were happy and set for the night.  Only their parents worried and watched, as well it should be.  And that we did, for hours and hours and hours....

When I awoke in the morning and looked outside, it was eerily still.  The rain was no longer pounding, the winds had died down.  So, this was the closest to what an "eye" of a storm looks like, I thought.  I looked outside, the street was not flooded and the trees were still standing.  The electricity was even still on.  We were truly blessed.

As I sat to again watch the unending news coverage, I saw devastation, I saw flooding, I saw loss of life.  My family was spared and I am grateful beyond words.

"Give thanks to the Lord, proclaim His greatness; tell the nations what He has done..." 1 Chronicles 16:8

We returned to the vacation rental yesterday and my husband will finally get some well deserved vacation days. (he was able to get one week off )  I am so happy that we will be able to spend some family time together.

Happy 12th Birthday Kiddo #2!

Our precious second child arrived at 7:59PM on August 25, 1999.  Induced a week early because of his size, he was still a whopping 10 pounds 12 1/4 ounces!  What a horrible labor it was for both mom and son.  I still remember the nurse having to climb on top of me to literally push down on me to help him out.  The doctor was a blessing.  He had come on shift when it was already too late to begin a c-section.  Kiddo had already descended into the birth canal and they would have to either break his collar bone or my pelvis.  He promised us he'd do his best to try to avoid both.  God bless him, he did it.  It wasn't easy, in fact, it was hell and the poor baby looked like he did a few rounds with a championship boxer, but he was here!  We were so blessed that that same doctor delivered all 4 of our children.  He is a wonderful, compassionate man who I will never forget. (a bit of an aside-- while he was delivering our 4th, and dh was on the phone from Iraq, the doctor made a special point of getting on the phone to thank dh for his service and to assure him that wife and daughter were fine.  He also called my room from his home the next day, Thanksgiving, to tell me that his family was grateful for mine)  Sorry for the tangent!  :-)

Kiddo #2 is such a blessing.  He is super-smart, funny as can be, and just amazing with his younger brother and sister.  He has the patience of a saint with them and can teach them almost anything!  He makes up games for them, practices math with them and teaches them how to do power point! (oh, yes with full graphics and animation!)  In fact, he just walked in the room and announced to them that there are multiplication facts hidden in certain rooms and gave them hints to find them!  :-))))

If you want any statistic about sports, just ask Kiddo #2.  He can tell you every team that has been in a Super Bowl, what year it was and the final score.  He wants to be a math teacher.  I think he'd make a great sports commentator, lol.  Whatever he wants to do, he will succeed, I'm sure.

Most importantly, his faith is so strong!  He received a beautiful letter from his CCD teacher complimenting him for his kindness and patience, but most significantly, his knowledge of the Bible and his devotion to the Lord.  A parent couldn't be prouder than I was when I read that letter!

Happy Birthday, dear Kiddo #2!  We love you very much and are so very grateful for the gift of you!

making homemade pizza



on a recent trip to Colonial Philadelphia

Kiddo volunteered as a group leader at VBS and this was during their final show as he and the other "crew" were leading the younger children in song.

during our recent trip to Hershey, the kids "made" their own candy

a prayer book Kiddo made during our online VBS



Wordless Wednesday

I will break the rules and add words just to explain the reason for the photo of the chandelier.  This was what was swinging from side to side during the earthquake today!