The Well-Educated Mind Homeschool Update: History

I am pretty excited about this school year of history. So, I am going to write about what I am doing. I'll do the other subjects on the other days. Someday. LOL!

We are studying

US HISTORY!!!!!!!!!

We are starting off by using this:

A Biography of America

This is a 26 lecture film series put out by the Annenberg Media. Each lecture lasts 30 minutes, and it is FREE Video on Demand. It gives a good visual for what we are studying.

Here is the web address for this:

http://www.learner.org/biographyofamerica/index.html

We are also listening to Joy Hakim's delightful series A History of US. It is geared toward a younger audience, but we really like the interesting stories, and she isn't TOO politically correct for our sensibilities. She seems pretty fair and balanced compared to some other texts. We are just finishing up The Making of Thirteen Colonies.

We are supplementing this with two high school texts that are used in AP US History classes:

I like A People and a Nation too.

This is all being reinforced by our American Literature course that we are taking through:

http://www.thelmaslibrary.com/

She has a 400+ page syllabus where the kids are reading orginal documents like the "Arabella Covenant" and the "Mayflower Compact." It is great reinforcement.

This is all done with the goal of preparing for this:

The College-Level Examination Program

There is a great 150 page general overview of American History that we are using to review what we have learned in our studies of the above texts and American Literature.

Then, there are three computer-generated test to prepare the kids for taking the test at Linn-Benton Community College some time this year.

As we go, we are using the AP United States History Flash Cards.

We also use this website to help in our being ready to take the CLEP:

http://clepprep.tripod.com/ushistoryiclepexam/id1.html

If we get ambitious, I might also have the kids take the CLEP American Literature exam, but I haven't checked into that yet.

We are continuing with our Timeline Figures from Home School In the Woods too. GREAT thing. In addition, I am using the timelines in The History of US and having the kids paste the wording in the timeline book.

True Forgiveness

Good thought,
Hurt you not.
Gossip never,
Friends forever.

Another Threshold

. . . the starting point for a new state or experience; "on the threshold of manhood"

When I wrote this definition over a month ago about our trip to Southeast Asia, I never thought it would be applicable for our trip home, but it is!

I didn't think about until today, but we are on the starting point of a new state or experience with this job situation. It is not a struggle, but there is much more energy being put into the realm of possibilities that abound for us.

I hit a wall on Monday, and I knew I was edging toward it when I went to the first co-op meeting of the year with a NEW co-op. I really wished that I had stayed home from the meeting. I needed some quiet time to reflect, and I haven't had much of that lately. When we came home from Southeast Asia, we had to do a TON of follow up that took hours and hours (still have one more piece to accomplish). We also needed to get things going with school and outside activities. I was still trying to get into a groove and also into a good sleep pattern.

I also made the MISTAKE of staying up late to watch the closing days of the Olympics. Then, I was watching both the Democratic and Republican Conventions. So, by this week, I was pretty fried.

Should have stayed home. I cried through most of the meeting, and I felt like a fool. I know that they may think it is because George lost his job. People just assume things. They assume we are going to move. They assume we are probably worried and anxious and stressed about it, but we are not. We planned for a rainy day. We never thought this HP gig was forever. In fact, this is the longest George has ever had a job at any one place! We weren't HP lifers. We weren't cozy in the job. We aren't even cozy in Corvallis, but we need to stay here because of the dental issues with our kids. So, we aren't planning on moving.

I will say that we ARE processing the options, and this is taking time and emotional energy. The job has been on "auto-pilot" for years. Now that we are landing the "HP plane" and thinking about our future flight plan, there is MUCH more "pilot to copilot" communication. We are more on our toes, and THAT is exhausting me.

More recently, I stayed up late and poured my heart out and then listened to God. It was so good. I guess He was speaking to me about being open to self-employment. When I told George about this the next morning, he said he had been praying about this for a week and was "easing me" in to the idea. Interesting.

I have always thought we are not self-employment type of people, but George has had a self-employment component since he left HP. So, there is a possibility that he could draw from all his contacts and do contracts with all of them.


We are on the threshold. It is exciting . . . and exhausting.

A Bend in the Road

I told George today that I am excited about our future with his being let go at HP.

I love bends in the road!

Bill Wardrop's Celebration of Life

Bill_VB_mag_cover, originally uploaded by carolfoasia.

Here is the magazine cover God allowed me to find for his memorial on August 23rd.

April 18, 1945 - July 7, 2008

On the Threshold of a Dream

Thresh-hold: the starting point for a new state or experience

We are going to Southeast Asia after seven long years of being away! I am excited. I can't contain it.

I gotta' go.

Ministered to Me Tonight

This really spoke to me after I heard an aching heart tonight.

Sunday Reflections

It has been almost two weeks since I blogged here. I started a new blog to document my fifty celebrations to fifty! (www.fiftycelebrations.blogspot.com).

Oh my, I hear the car with George and Paul. I have to go to church now. Really, I GET to go! I love going to church now. :)

Oregon Shakespeare Festival And Porch Reflections

Oregon Shakespeare Festival, originally uploaded by carolfoasia.

I spent the weekend at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. It was a celebration for Laura's (second row on the left) 40th birthday which will be in December. She invited ten friends from different eras of her life. I am the most recent "era" in that, while I have known her (and admired her from afar) for about three or four years, we just started really getting to know each other since last July when we started meeting for accountability. Laura is a deep and kind woman. So, of course, she has attracted deeply spiritual friends over the years. The weekend was overwhelming for me in that I would have loved to connect more deeply with each person, but there was no prior history other than with Laura and Cathi (standing at the top), and I probably won't see any of the rest of them again.

I was a bit lonely and depressed on Saturday night until I realized I could revel in the solitude of my own room even as I listened to the hushed murmurs of midnight conversations in all the rooms around the house. I realized that I have this healthy desire to connect deeply that always seems to be frustrated in large groups of women stuck in the same place for a limited amount of time (women's retreats, Trapdoor/Lamppost getaways, etc). That desire can easily become a demand if I am not careful.

I woke up very early Sunday morning really THANKFUL that I didn't have a roommate that I would disturb! I stole away to the deserted porch and had a long and wonderful time with God where I started out with this verse from Face to Face by Kenneth Boa:

"Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed,
Save me, and I will be saved,
For You are the One I praise" (Jeremiah 17:14).

So funny that this has been my healing verse since 2006, yet I never realized it is in the context of a teaching about a deceitful heart - something that God has been speaking to me about all summer!

_________________
"Cursed is the [woman] who trusts in mankind
And makes flesh her strength,
And whose heart turns away from the LORD" (17:5).

I wrote:

Oh Lord - my deceitful heart has turned away from you this
morning. Yesterday, I was making FLESH my strength. Deceitful heart - when will
you learn!?

What is my end if I am like that?

"For [s]he will be like a bush in the desert
And will not see when prosperity comes,
But will live in stony wastes in the wilderness
A land of salt without inhabitant"(17:6).

Lord, a heart set on people will always be a heart dry and
longing for water because people were never meant to be my
lifespring even though my deceitful heart longs for it to be
so!

"Blessed is the [woman] who trusts in the LORD
And whose trust is the LORD" (17:7).

Lord, help me to trust in You. Become my trust. Wretched woman.
When will I learn to not make flesh my strength?

What is the biproduct of this blessed life?

"For she will be like a tree (then I drew a picture with my meditations)planted by the water,
that extends its roots by a stream.
And will not fear when the heat comes.
But its leaves will be green,
And it will not be anxious in a year of drought.
Nor cease to yield fruit"(17:8).

"The heart is more deceitful than all else
And is desparately sick;
Who can understand it?" (17:9)

Lord, I am only beginning to really understand my deceitful heart.

"Lord, you search my heart
You test my mind" (17:10).

Lord, don't give to me according to my ways,
According to the results of my deeds
but remember mercy and Jesus,
and Holy Spirit, transform me.

LORD, our sanctuary is a glorious throne.
LORD, my hope.
LORD, help me not to forsake you, the fountain of living water.

Hope. Now the verse I started with:

"Heal me, O LORD, And I will be healed;
Save me and I will be saved
For, You are my praise."

Lord, you have commanded Your lovingkindness
this morning. THANK YOU. You ALONE do wonderful things. Fill today with your
glory, LORD.

It ended up being a very glorious end to a wonderful weekend. I ended up loving it. My perspective was right once again. Praise God for course corrections in midstream.

I am a little down today, but again, I am having to learn the longing I have to connect is not always met in some friendships, and that was quite clear to me as I went out with two friends last night. So, today I am a bit empty again, but it has been good to be rereminded of what God taught me one Sunday morning on a porch in Ashland. Another course correction for my deceitful heart.

There is more to say about the plays, but I will stop for now.

Double Pass

234 - Brother Bill, originally uploaded by carolfoasia.

This is the last picture of my brother Bill. He died last Monday at the age of 63. What a lovely time of sitting on the lawn outside of Balboa Park near San Diego last August. We talked of him moving to Oregon. I wanted to help him. Here is my post from last August 22.

Today, it all caught up with me, and I need to breath and grieve. I went for a walk/hike with Rosemary and enjoyed the view from up above toward Chip Ross hill. I need a higher view right now in everything.

I made a mistake in a rendezvous point for lunch with friends today. It meant Jean driving all the way to Corvallis only to to drive all the way back to Salem when she couldn't find LeAnne and me. I realized I had topped out in trying to prepare to go overseas, doing a writing class with my kids, meeting with friends, discipling women, having Bible study. Jean (who had two hours of driving) was so gracious when I told her I was an idiot. She said . . .

"Carol, you get a pass on this one. You have so much going on right now. In fact, you get a double pass. I enjoyed my drive down and trip to Jamocha Jo's (friend Nancy's coffee shop) and Bed, Bath, and Beyond. It was a great drive back up. Double pass, Carol."

So, I am NOT going berry picking tomorrow. I am slowing down in the writing class. I canceled something someone wanted me to do right after I get back from Southeast Asia. I canceled a time meeting with someone close to the time that I was leaving. I am going to give myself a double pass and grieve.

Carol out

Happy 4th of July

I am so happy this 4th.

The Cowdens cancelled their annual party, and the Stews had to back out of a get-together tonight because Jake has a game.

So, we didn't know what we would do. Felt sort of lonely, but NOT for long.

I took a walk and told George that I needed a hammock! So, we went to five different stores and found one at RiteAid. We set it up. I read Plato. George watched Wimbledon and baked an apple pie. I took a nap. We went to Applebees. We took a bike ride to the river and watched the band. We came back, invited Eva for a apple pie and fireworks. We also asked Marg who said, "Do you like cherries?"

Do I like cherries!?

We picked a whole bag! Now, we are starting the fireworks in our driveway and will bring pie to Eva and Marg.

Life is grand. I love my life more than anyone will ever know.

Peaceful Middle of the Night Reflections

I just finished Thucydides, and I am too excited to sleep. This was a huge hurdle, but "little by little gets the job done." What a bear! I liked Herodotus much better because he had more observations about the peoples throughout Persia and their social customs; some things were even hilariously funny! But Herodutus was just called Histories while Thucydides was called The History of the Peloponnesian War. So, there was very little commentary and 21 years worth of battles! UGH! Susan Wise-Bauer suggested we just skim the battle scenes, and I took her up on her advice.

I did like his observations of human nature; that we are basically bent toward our own gain, that human nature is always rebelling against the law, that the Athenians didn't respond to initiations of peace because they were always grasping for MORE. That was interesting.

It got me thinking about peace. As I was reading that the Athenians refused Sparta's offer of peace and alliance, and instead "grasped for something more," I had an epiphany. I realized that I love peace! It made me grateful for a culture of peace at my church, in my immediate and extended family, in all relationships. It is cultivated everywhere I go, and I LOVE the peace that I now enjoy in every area of my life. Why wouldn't Athens want that? Well, Thucydides answered that by explaining the essence of human nature: we are bent toward always "grasping for more."

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James 4:1 says:

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"What causes fights and quarrels among you? Aren't they caused by the selfish desires that fight to control you?" GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)

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Selfish desires always get in the way of true peace.

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It grieves me. Once, I was in a culture that didn't allow for that. The culture said, "We will make you the bad guy." That is how that culture has always dealt with conflict. I saw employee after employee be forced to resign, and it was always the employees problem, never the cultures. After about the sixth "forced resignation," you start to wonder if it isn't always the employees fault.

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There were no fair negotations of a peace treaty where both parties came to the table and discussed terms of peace because the culture doesn't really want to have peace: they want to be right. They hold out until, years later, the other party says they are sorry. Then, they graciously "forgive" and never admit their part in the conflict. In the middle of the apology is character assasination, gossip, slander. (All attack responses even though they aren't directly to the person's face). I saw it over and over again throughout the 28 years of being in that culture until one day I woke up and smelled the coffee (and I don't even like coffee). Before that, I heard the rumors and chose to keep my head in the sand because I didn't want to gossip. Others tried to convince me in hushed whispers of the "just cause" for the "war" with that person who had now become the "enemy." Of course, the former employees weren't called the "enemy" because we are all Christians, right?

.

It is also interesting to note the same person was the person trying to convince me of the "just cause." In fact, they were behind almost every forced resignation when they "shared their concerns" with those who "needed to know." This person never had an official role either, but they had the leaders' ears. My experience with that person was that they look at situations through their own lens, and it is often a very distorted picture of what really has happened, but the culture doesn't allow for the other person to come and tell their story. That distortion become reality, and the employees goose is cooked.

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It still grieves me to know how many wonderful people have been hurt by that culture. They are wonderful because they go on to other places and do great and wonderful things! It grieves me that my former culture is so arrogant that they can't take a long, hard, objective look at their culture and change it. People who have tried become labeled "the problem." Most people in the culture don't stand up and say "That is wrong!" for fear of judgment and character assasination being directed at them because of what has happened in the past.

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Some of the Athenian people did not stand up to the murderous oligarchy when they started murdering those who oppossed them:

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"The People remained motionless, being so thoroughly cowed that men thought themselves lucky to escape violence, even when they held their tongues" (p. 518)

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No, there is no physical murder in the culture; but there ARE attack responses in their gossip and slander. Yet, the people in the culture all breath a sigh of relief and say, "I'm glad it is not me." It made me think of a friend who sat on my couch and told me she was forbidden from talking to another friend who had expertise in a certain ministry because that friend had "left." That person regrets not speaking up and defending. She was afraid. What right do the leaders of that culture have to stand in the way of a friendship and helping make a ministry better by picking the former members brain? It seems like a no brainer to me, but that is where the whole jelousy and selfish ambition thing comes in.

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I had the same thing happen to me when I was there. I had a friend whom I knew to be an expert in team-building exercises who used to be an employee there. I was going to do some of those with a group I was leading, and I want her to come and run the games. That was very much FROWNED upon. Fraternizing with the enemy, you know?

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It really makes me sad. It grieves my heart. So sad to think that people would control other people in such a way, but I was controlled by it at one time too.

But I am free now! Just people "always grasping for more" for a multitude of unhealthy reasons. It honestly doesn't make me mad, but it makes me very sad. I grieve because the war still rages in muffled tones, and I feel guilty that I am free, and they are not.

.

I am grateful for the culture of peace in which I reside now that has mechanisms to negotiate "terms of peace" in case of hostilities (that are normal and natural when you have selfish people trying to work together). There is no fear of standing up when people need to be accountable for their actions there either. There is no fear to stand up and disagree. Everyone has a story - no one is the "enemy" there. We all know we have that basic human natural bent of selfishness that causes fights and quarrels, but there is a mechanism of grace in place. I love it. The only thing that is not allowed is to not forgive. I love that too.

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It make me glad that my 28 year (got you beat by 7 years, Athens and Sparta!) war is over. AWWWWWW

Summer Reading Goals Update

MOM'S WELL- EDUCATED MIND SUMMER READING LIST:

H=History, D=Drama, P=Poetry, A=Autobiography

H - Peloponnesian War by Thucydides (Done 7/2 - I will shout this from the rooftops!)
H - Plato's Republic (Done 7/22)
H - Plutarch's Lives (2 Volumes: Roman and Greek )
H - City of God by Augustine
H - Ecclesiastical History of the English People by Bede
D - Everyman (Done 6/19 - contrast with Dr. Faustus - loved this play!)
H - Prince by Machiavelli (Done 6/24 - Richard III blew it)
H - Utopia by Sir Thomas More
P - Sonnets of Shakespeare (Done 6/26)
A - Essays of Montaigne
A - Life of Teresa of Avila
D - Doctor Faustus by Marlowe (Done 6/21 - Heavy and great for discussion!)
D - Richard III by Shakespeare (Done 6/21 - Shakespeare ROCKS!)
D - Midsummer Nights Dream by Shakespeare (Done 6/24)
D- Hamlet by Shakespeare (Done 6/28)

Beyond Goals:

D - Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (Done June 29)
D - Tartuffe by Moliere (Done July 2)
D - A Doll's House (Done July 14)
D - The Cherry Orchard (Done July 14)

Amazing Grace: Stories of Newton, Wilberforce, and Equiano (audio)

Saturday, Sunday Shakespeare

Any way you slice it, Shakespeare rocks in my book. I really enjoyed this Saturday flight through the 108 pages of this classic English play, Richard III.

Susan Wise-Bauer gave a good visual for me of the family tree of Richard III in her excellent book, The Well-Educated Mind. I transferred it to the inside cover of my book sot that I could refer to it throughout the reading.

Richard was a villain who killed his brother, George Clarence, and the two sons of Edward IV (his other brother), Edward and Richard, so that he could become king of England. It is character study in evil.

Famous lines like "Now is the winter of our discontent" and "My horse, my horse, my kingdom for a horse" come from this famous historical drama. I highly recommend it. I do hear that the Folger Shakespeare Library Edition will make Shakespeare more accessible to neophytes because it has facing pages with explanations. I did just fine with this one, but Shakespeare doesn't scare me like it might scare some people.

In order to add to my enjoyment and understanding, I watched the 1956 Lawrence Olivier movie version while I was reading. I would read a few scenes. Then, I would watch those scenes in the movie. This is the Criterion Collection version with amazing commentary by playright and stage director, Russell Lees, which opened my world to understand Shakespeare and Olivier. He also inserts a commentary done by John Wilders who was the former governor of the Royal Shakespeare Company. I am someone who loves movie commentaries, and this is the absolute BEST commentary I have ever heard. If you want to understand more of Shakespeare, check this out from your local library and watch the movie with Russell. You will be the better for it!

After Richard III (finished the play last night and the movie this morning), I went on to read The Complete Sonnets of Shakespeare. Now, this was a bit tougher for me. I downloaded them from the Oregon Digital Library Consortium Library2Go and read along as I listened. It was tough until I found the "No Fear Shakespeare" section of SparkNotes with original text and modern text in parallel form! So, if I don't get it, I can read this. I am through about 35 of them.

I anticipate tackling A Midsummer Night's Dream next. I have seen two different movie versions of this, and I will see the play this summer at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland in July for Laura's 40th birthday extravaganza with nine other women (along with Othello and A Comedy of Errors). AMND is also being performed in the OSU Quad this summer! I may wait to read it in mid-July. Then, I can read The Prince by Machiavelli because apparently Shakespeare's Richard III is a Machiavellian character!

It was a good and restful weekend for me with Shakespeare!

Blood Clots and School Year Next Year

It appears I have a blood clot in my right leg above my right knee. So, I am going in for an angiogram/angioplasty on Friday. Stay tuned. :(

So, to totally keep my mind off of this, I am writing out the plan for next school year:

2008-2009 School Year

US HISTORY using:

A People and a Nation
The American Pageant
The Story of US by Hakim
CLEP Exam Study Site with links to the
Annenburg Foundation A Biography of America with Video on Demand
Critical Thinking in US History: From Colonies to Constitution (Led by Linda H. in Thurs. Coop)
American History Timelines Figures from: Homeschool in the Woods

US CIVICS & GOVERNMENT

Led by Linda H. in Thursday coop - presentations and group projects around the election in the fall.

AMERICAN LITERATURE - http://www.thelmaslibrary.com/

Here is our list of books and ones that I will read with them because they are on my Well-Educated Mind List (TWEM):

Anna Bradstreet - To My Husband and Other Poems
Thomas Paine- Common Sense (TWEM)
Benjamin Franklin – Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (TWEM)
Ralph Waldo Emerson- Self-Reliance and Other Essays
Henry David Thoreau – Civil Disobedience and Other Essays
Henry David Thoreau – Walden; or, Life in the Woods (TWEM)
Frederick Douglas – Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas (TWEM)
Louisa May Alcott- Short Stories
Mark Twain- (Samuel Clemens) Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (TWEM - Read already)
Mark Twain- Humorous Stories and Sketches
Great American Short Stories (Poe, Melville, Harte, London, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Hawthorne, others)
101 Great American Poems (Poe, Whitman, Robinson, Melville, Holmes, Frost, Dickinson, Pound, Eliot, Stevens, others) (TWEM - Dickinson, Frost)
O’Henry- (W.S.Porter) The Gift of the Magi
Harriet Beecher Stowe- Uncle Tom’s Cabin (TWEM - Read already)

Other authors in syllabus reading include William Bradford, Cotton Mather, Michael Wigglesworth, Mary Rowlandson (TWEM), Jonathon Edwards, Phyllis Wheatley, various Founding documents, letters, and covenants.

It should compliment our American History studies nicely. We hope to have this class with about eight other kids from 8th-12th grade in our home on Thursday afternoons after coop.

MATH

I have all the textbooks for next year, but I am seriously considering purchasing Teaching Textbooks Geometry or Algebra II for Michael. I will stick with BJU Pre-Algebra for Paul.

SCIENCE

I had every intention of moving Michael on to Chemistry next year, but I am going to wait until Paul can do it with him, and that will require Paul being through Algebra I. So, I will wait until Paul's sophomore year and Michael's senior year in high school. So, Paul will start a two year study through the BJU Biology Text, and Michael will review his biology and study for the CLEP Biology Exam.

In addition, they will be doing Biology Lab with Sheri P. at the Thursday homes chool coop.

Once Michael reviews his biology and takes the CLEP (hopefully by Christmas). I will have him start the Cornell Bird Biology Course or physics or earth science or marine biology. This will be his choice, but I bet he chooses the bird biology! He can continue this into his junior year in high school since this course is like a college course.

WRITING/GRAMMAR

I am setting up a writing class with a friend this summer, and we will continue the things we learn from there. Nikki also mentioned an excellent writing course that she has had Alita take that I want to look into.

I am hoping to go through Nitty Gritty Grammar with Michael and pick Katrina's brain for how she has used it. Paul will continue with Daily Grams.

PLAYS and FIELD TRIPS

We haven't gotten the new schedule, but I want to do less of these this year, maybe only once or twice a quarter for a total of 3-6. This years we did about seven plays and five field trips. That was a ton! In addition, we are going to be involved in a play through our coop this year. I think Michael will act. I don't think that Paul will though.

PE

The Timberhill Athletic Club has been a sound investment for keeping the boys physically active. They are also playing badminton and hiking with dad now that the sun is out. Good movement around this household

MUSIC

Paul is reducing to six lessons for the summer term. I may continue this through the school year too since we will be busier with coop and American Literature.

BIBLE

Paul finished the New Testament this year, and Michael did many Old Testament books and Acts in connection with Classical Literature. Michael has already started in Genesis, and I think I will have Paul do the same.

They are also continuing with their prayer and Bible lessons with the Boys' Group every other Friday night.

DRIVER's EDUCATION

Michael needs to take that test! We need to get him driving with us. I don't think he needs to take the course, but it depends on what our insurance wants us to do. He is in no hurry though.

MOM'S WELL- EDUCATED MIND SUMMER READING LIST:
H=History, D=Drama, P=Poetry, A=Autobiography

H - Peloponnesian War by Thucydides (Done July)
H - Plato's Republic (Done July 22)
H - Plutarch's Lives (2 Volumes: Roman and Greek )
H - City of God by Augustine
H - Ecclesiastical History of the English People by Bede
D - Everyman (Done 6/19 - contrast with Dr. Faustus - loved this play!)
H - Prince by Machiavelli (Done 6/24 - Richard III blew it)
H - Utopia by Sir Thomas More
P - Sonnets of Shakespeare (Done in June)
P - Poems of Donne
A - Essays of Montaigne
A - Life of Teresa of Avila
D - Doctor Faustus by Marlowe (Done 6/21 - Heavy and great for discussion!)
D - Richard III by Shakespeare (Done 6/21 - Shakespeare ROCKS!)
D - Midsummer Nights Dream by Shakespeare (Done in June)
D- Hamlet by Shakespeare (Done in June)

I may just skip the history/autobiographies and just do the drama and poetry books and come back around to the ones I skipped in the future. They are LONG books. I want to be up to the 1600's so I can read along with the American Literature books. :)

MOM'S MISC. GOALS:

Tidy up all closets (done with Master and Office)

Tidy up all drawers (done with Master)

Tidy up kitchen cupboards and drawers

Digital Scrapbooking for 365, Michael and Paul's books

Out of the Mouth of My Babe

Paul has been saying such neat things lately. I know that I will forget them if I don't write it down, and I used to type these sorts of things on my word processor. Then, I change computer a few years later, and I can't find it on my old one.

We came back from a delightful dinner in Jefferson, Oregon with the family of a young man who is going to SEA this summer. Paul's comment on the way home in the car. I wish I could remember it just right.

"I am realizing that people are not just 'things.' They are not strangers either. They are people with a story. They all have unique backgrounds that make them who they are. There is a reason why they do what they do because of that background. I am just seeing that I see people on the street and they may seem like strangers, but they have a story." (Paul - 13 years 6 1/2 months)

I may edit this after I talk more with him this morning about he said. We had such a nice discussion in the car as a result of it which ended in insane and hysterical laughter about something or other.

I love our family time. Car time is always so precious.

Barocha

The Lord bless you and keep you
The Lord make His face shine upon you
And give you peace
And give you peace
And give you peace, forever . . .

We closed our Bible Book Club tonight with this song and prayer. Anna shared how her mother would pray this over her every night when she was growing up. How absolutely precious.

I sensed God's presence there tonight. I was so blessed.

Cranford on Masterpiece

I just LOVE every single Elizabeth Gaskell story I see on PBS! Cranford was such an endearing story. There was love, loss, tragedy, kindness. Oh, this mini-series has it all! It just warms my heart just thinking about it.

It is a story about a town called Cranford and the stories of the lives of the people in it.

Perfect for a Sunday evening

On to another subject: why am I so darn happy? I never knew that so much of my highs and lows were connected with the orb I used to be in.

I guess this is what flying really feels like?

Finished Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

It was much easier than I thought it would be! Sir Gawain was a hero! I loved the principles of integrity that are brought out in this story. This is a piece of medieval poetry that is accessible to anybody. It is short enough to not bore and meaty enough for discussion. Loved it.

It has been a while

I have started a few posts, but I never got back to them.

I looked for the words to the song Welcome to Love the other day, and I coudn't find them. I found the song on Rhapsody here:

Welcome to Love (the song is listed in the list of songs on the right of the page)

This song was given to me over and over again by the LORD when I was going through the horrific experience two years ago. I kept praying it over and over again for another person, but now I know that God had it for me to hear. He has welcomed me into a loving and kind place that shows His love like I have never experienced before. Before, I felt all the paranoia that this song talks about. I don't feel that in my new situation. The difference is as different as day and night.

Thank you for welcoming me to love, Lord. I am in such a good place.