Do you know about the Holocaust?

*warning* there are some strong images in this film that may not be suitable for your young children.

Reason # 2304

There are lots of reasons that we choose "homeschooling" (although in our family we prefer to just call it "living and learning").

Hopefully soon I can share more about what our days look like, but for now, here is just one of the reasons we choose to educate our children without sending them to state schools.

Whatever Schools Teach, Parents Have No Rights

Thinking about (not) Homeschooling?

This is worth reading

"What's So Great About Public School?"

and what about "early learning opportunities?"

I wish I had time to write more, but for now ponder with me:

What do children REALLY need?

On my Computer Today

Well, you could try:

The President Who Would be King for a little on what the President is up to this week.

or take your kids and head over to:

Meet the Giants for a fun music video about the Periodic Table of Elements.

For a painfully truthful look at ourselves this Lenten season:

visit our good friend, Ann's post - The Real Fast of Lent

Need a new dinner plan? Stop by and get some great recipes:

Black Bean Soup is on the menu at Large Family Recipes.

Haiti: How can you help?

There are so many ways to help the people of Haiti right now.

Here's one really great way you can help get the pre-earthquake orphans out of Haiti and into their waiting adoptive families:

CALL your ambassador and/or the State Department and encourage them to stop this insanity of letting crazy world-organizations (U------) dictate their policies to the U.S.!

Click here for more info on who to contact and for more on what is SO wrong right now!

If you love(d) Laura. . .

I LOVED Laura Ingalls Wilder when I was a child. I read The Little House Series over so many times that I completely wore out my cherished boxed set (I still have it though; couldn't bare to throw it away!).

I'll have to admit here that I still REALLY love to read any of the Little House books aloud to my children and I always hope they will love Laura just as much as I did (oh, o.k., as much as I still DO!).

I'll have to admit, I've never really thought about the political views of Laura before, but this post is quite enlightening and has got me wondering how much her writings may have actually helped to form some of my political views! LOL! Who knew!

Check it out!
The Politics of Laura Ingalls Wilder

Posted using ShareThis

The Wonderful Wisdom of a 9 year old

It seems the children are just full of wise words lately and it sure has been making us laugh around here!

Some background info:  Mr. Z (9) and I have been reading about the founding fathers, The Declaration of Independence, the basic set-up of our federal and state governments,  etc. . . 

So, we are sitting at the dinner table having a family discussion about how it is ILLEGAL (in the state where we live) for anyone to sell, give, or RECEIVE raw milk unless it is from a USDA inspected and approved facility.  Practically speaking, this means that, if I go to my friend's mini-farm and bring home a gallon of raw goat's milk for my family to drink. . . both her and I are committing a crime that is punishable by 6-12 months in prison.  Are you kidding me???

O.K. - I will refrain from launching into how incredibly insane this law is (other than to say that I cannot fathom how it can be LEGAL to buy and sell cigarettes which contain known carcinogens but punishable by jail time to milk a goat!?!?!?).  Sorry, I digress.  

Back to the story at hand:

So we are talking about the legalities of receiving raw milk and about whether or not the government should really be making laws about such things when Mr. Z has a sudden "lightbulb" moment and says, with a grin:

"Hey, they can't do that because I'm pursuing my happiness by drinking raw goat's milk!" 

If only the politicians were this intelligent!  LOL!

The "messiah" who promises to murder

Elizabeth Foss over at In the Heart of my Home asked this to be passed along since it has not appeared in the newspaper she originally wrote it for.  I couldn't agree with her more that

THE IRONY IS HEARTBREAKING

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back in February, my children rudely asked a woman we know how she had cast her ballot in the Virginia primary. She named a candidate who is adamantly pro-choice. They were horrified. “How can you vote for someone who is for abortion?” one of them blurted indignantly.

“I’m more concerned with the people who are already alive than the ones who aren’t yet,” came the steady reply.

I’m ashamed to admit that an uncomfortable silence settled over the room. We were stunned and I was too intimidated by the context of the conversation to say anything more. I still regret that.

Within a few weeks of that conversation, I learned I was pregnant. I had a raging case of the flu at that time. As I fought to keep my fever down in order to protect the tiny being growing within me, I was very much aware that my baby was alive and I wanted her to stay that way.

As the flu subsided, hyperemesis set in. Now, the goal was to control vomiting and stay hydrated in order to protect the baby. I got a glimpse of her via sonogram. I was eight weeks pregnant and we could see her heart beat steadily and surely—a perfect little person who only needed time to grow.

Just as the hyperemesis began to wane, I had another sonogram. There we discovered that the placenta, the organ created by God for each pregnancy to nourish the baby, was in the wrong place and its location threatened both the baby and me. At that sonogram, we also saw her wave her arms and touch her feet to her head. And we clearly saw that she is a girl. But that placenta was troubling. Thus began the odyssey of frequent sonograms and very careful management of a high risk pregnancy. A whole team of doctors was called into to guard the life of this baby—a baby who was already very much a part of our family. A baby with a name we remembered constantly in family prayers. A baby who squirmed and wiggled and kicked and delighted her siblings with her gymnastics. A baby who could have been legally aborted.

And so this pregnancy has progressed. It began early in the election season and has unfolded rather dramatically, a parallel story to the drama in our nation. I lie here on my side now, day after day, counting every precious kick, taking care not to turn the wrong way or sneeze without protecting my belly. Just one life—just one precious child—has a whole army of people working hard to protect her very existence, while out there in the world thousands of people throng at campaign events for a man who has said he wouldn’t want his daughters punished with a baby. In the years since our country legalized abortion, nearly 50 million tiny lives have been ended. While I lie here and pray that my baby is healthy and is born well, I watch in horror as throngs of people cheer a man who would make abortion even more accessible.

I want to show them the latest sonogram. The one where you can see the tiny hairs on her head. The one that always calls to mind those words from Matthew: Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and not one of them shall fall on the ground without your Father: but the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore; ye are of more value than many sparrows. Matthew 10:29-31

What treasures women are privileged to hold within them! What creatures of infinite value! Our Lord tells us to fear not. He values us and He values the tiny baby whose wisps of hair can be seen and counted by us well before she is born. Who knows the plans He had for those 50 million babies? And who knows the plans He had for their mothers, plans for their good and the good of their souls? There is a man out there being likened to a Messiah. He promises to allow harm to come to the babies. From my horizontal perspective, here in this bed, the irony is heartbreaking.

Straight talk - pass it on!

Some straight talk on the candidates, the parties, the media, and the election.  

Warning:  although funny, some of the sarcasm is not appropriate for young ears!

A Must Read before the Election

THIS is a must read if you still don't know who you are voting for (or if you are thinking about voting for the already presumed winner).

Sorry to get political here, but I'm constantly surprised at how many people just don't know some of the simple facts!

He was right

Yep, everyone was laughing at him during the primaries, but he was right on.  He knew (and still knows) what he was talking about and yet the mainstream media continues to give his message of Liberty little to no coverage.  Surprise, surprise. . . 

If you want to know what is going on with our economic system, listen in to this series of video messages from Dr. and Senator Ron Paul over at Campaign for Liberty.

Reason number 15,301

Yes, I think we're up there in the double-digit thousands now!  

THIS is just one of the MANY reasons we choose to educate our own children rather than throw them out there to the increasingly secularly humanistic, socialist indoctrination factories that were once called public schools.  

My apologies if you are one of the rare public school teachers that still believes and practices that public schools are for educating children in reading, writing, and arithmetic and are attempting to work within the system.  I am so thankful for you and pray that you may be encouraged to stand strong in your endeavor (which, I realize, is extremely difficult and discouraging).  May God grant you the strength to continue.  

However, if you are a parent who has a choice, may I gently suggest that you take a SERIOUS look at what is really going on?   Start with the link above, but then check out some of the statements coming out of the NEA.  Look up some of the recent education bills that have almost been passed in states like CA.  Public school IS NOT what it used to be and it is certainly not an encouraging, nurturing, spiritually uplifting environment for the tender souls of our children.  Even if you are still going to choose public schooling as your primary means of educating your children, please don't stick your head in the sand about what is really going on.  Be (and stay) informed!

If we are going to raise godly children for His Glory, we must be intentional in our choices.

Obama, Oprah, and the Guru: Malignant Narcissism

O.K.  I don't think I've ever really gotten "political" on this blog, but I just had to encourage all of you to go and read this article (from the American Thinker blog) before you go and vote.   Please encourage everyone you know to really check this out (and check out the other facts too - just look up the Born Alive Infant Protection Act and see who voted AGAINST it 3 times!).  I know so many people who are very blind to the realities of what is going on here and just wanted to spread the word.  

I think this article really caught my attention because I have seen what Malignant Narcissism can do to a person and a community and how it can so easily destroy and hurt people.  I also have seen how DECEIVING the M.N. person can be and how so many are completely unaware and blinded to the fact that they are being led astray by their "wonderful" leader - who is really LYING to them in order to prop up and protect their own self-absorbed image.  It is really an interesting phenomenon and it is going to happen on a much bigger scale here if we don't wake up and SEE the TRUTH!  May the Lord grant that the eyes of many would be OPEN to the TRUTH!

They are home!

Thank you for all of your prayers!  I haven't heard the details yet, but another group of Liberian orphans are home with their adoptive families after God worked some more incredible miracles so that they could leave Liberia.  Check out the Steps Established By Him blog (link on my sidebar) to hear more of the incredible story. 

Also, to learn how you can help Addy's Hope and Greater Love Children's Home to build a new facility that will be able to serve 100 Liberian orphans, click on the "Help Orphans" button on my sidebar and make a small donation towards the effort!

Liberian Adoptions

Please pray for Addy's Hope (the adoption ministry that helped us bring home our children) right now as they are in Liberia and hoping to bring home more children TODAY (if they are allowed out of the country).  There are a lot of "political" issues and games being played right now within the Liberian government and the adoption agencies and ministries are taking quite a beating.  You can read more here.  

However, we serve a GREAT and LOVING God who wants these children to know His love.  We know that He has a purpose and a plan for their lives and trust in His Sovereignty in all situations - be they seemingly awful or wonderfully blessed.  

Please pray for the Lord's favor for these families and children this week.  We pray for them to be allowed to leave Liberia soon and be "carried home" to their adoptive families who are waiting to pour out God's love upon them.  Pray also for the children who are left in Liberia, that they might be provided for. . . 

ask yourself how you might show the Love of God to them . . . 

No one to vote for in 2008? Wait! Maybe there is. . .