Tagged!

This game is great to find new sites to visit! Janet at Grannymom's Spot tagged me for this one. Take the time to visit her site - she has some great wisdom to share on many topics.

THE RULES OF TAG:
1. link to the person who tagged you;
2. post the rules with the entry;
3. list 6 random things about yourself;
4. tag 6-ish other sites;
5. let them know they are tagged!;
6. let the tagger know when the entry is up.

MY LIST:

1. I am a preferred vegetarian - that means that I eat meat but if I have the choice between a meat dish or a veggie, I will choose the veggie.

2. I love lists! I make lists for planning my month, week and day; for planning my groceries and school and even blogposts (I made a written list for this post before coming to the computer) - it's really a sickness.

3. I would rather be barefoot.

4. One of my favourite house jobs is laundry - I like the sense of accomplishment when the clothes are clean, folded and put away.

5. My least favourite house job is cleaning the kitchen floor (usually my loving husband will do it for me) - it only gets dirty again in a few short hours anyway!

6. I have a special chair in the livingroom that is MINE. The whole corner surround my chair is organized for sitting in my chair and having crafts to do, or books to read, or school to organize, etc. It is a great inconvenience when someone else takes the chair, but my family has been trained to stay out!

Well, that's six not-too-weird things about me. When it comes to tagging other sites, I have to say this particular tag game has reached most of the sites that I visit and they have an entry in place. Other than the sites listed on the sidebar (and Janet), I don't visit too many more. But, for the sake of sharing, I'll just list their sites for others to check them out.

1. Mrs. Parunak
2. Mary
3. Chasity

Camping Pictures

We survived our three days in the wilderness, um, provincial park. It was raining when we arrived and had to set up the tent. It rained the whole first day, only stopping in time to go to bed (wet and sleeping in 4 degree Celsius weather). It was a good, partially sunny day-two, only starting to rain after spending $7 on dry wood and 45 minutes trying to get the fire going. It rained in torrents all through night-two, but did stop in the morning when it was time to pack up and leave.

This is a picture of our 'kitchen'. It's hard to see, but that is an abandoned vinyl table cloth we rescued from an empty campsite and used to shield our picnic table and stove. It's held precariously in place by two dead tree limbs and actually did a good job to ensure we could cook with our kerosene stove.

Please don't misunderstand me, we had a really good time! Hence the dancing you see here. For a bunch of amatuer campers, we managed to feed ourselves and stay fairly warm in the cold nights. My lovely husband was a great camp cook and my dear Duck actually went swimming in the lake that was 'refreshing' to say the least (we don't call her Duck for nothing)!

We liked it so much, we're going back this weekend. Only this time we have extra tarps and warmer sleeping bags - that should ensure it is sunny and warm, right?

They're Ba-ack!

Take a good look at these pictures and tell me what you see.

That's right, no gardening season would be complete without a visit from Bambi and his friends. Those little patches of white you see on the squash and cucumber are taste tests that occurred in my garden last Tuesday night (not a great pic of the cucumber bite - it's on the end of the one at the left of the shot). It's almost adding insult to injury when the deer decide to just take one bite from each vegetable!

I have already picked the majority of bounty from our garden, but there are still three squash, 1/2 dozen cucumbers and one honey dew melon that are maturing. So, since the visit, I have used a big tarp to cover the areas at night - this is effective for the frost warnings that are occuring, too.

So far, Bambi has not been successful at finding his way under the tarp - unfortunately he is knocking all the tomatoes off their vine in his attempts! I'm not too terribly concerned about the tomatoes as they were very poor production this year - so I will sacrifice those as long as I can bring in the squash, cucumber and melon!

As a side story, I must tell you that last year most of neighbourhood thought I was crazy - one night, at about 1 AM, I was chasing a buck down the street. I was wearing my nightie and throwing my green Croc shoes at him. Never have I been so mad at an animal, he would run about 10 feet away from me and stop to wait for me to go back in the house so he could return to my garden! Even though I won the battle that particular night, he just returned the next...sigh.

If anyone has suggestions on dissuading these monsters from my garden, I would love to hear them.

(BTW, I'm not on a country lot - our house is two minutes walking distance from downtown, and the deer still come and eat from the back yard buffet).

For more Show and Tell, go here.

The Gift - Exchanged

This story starts here.



Daughter and Authentic began to meet together weekly. They both talked openly about the self discipline that had kept them out of the dating scene (Romans 13:10; Hebrews 12:15; 1 Thessalonians 4:3-6; Titus 1:15&16). Both sets of parents were directly involved as these get-togethers were held in one of their homes.

Because Authentic had spent so much time with her dad, Daughter already knew that he met the standards she had previously set for any potential spouse:

1. Authentic was a growing, born-again Christian;
2. Authentic was already involved in church and seeking to glorify God in his service there, as well as within his own family;
3. He was stable in his employment, with clear goals for the future;
4. His leadership qualities were already proven through his work with younger men and in business;
5. He had shown an understanding and commitment to follow 2 Corinthians 10:31.

These were standards that Daughter had determined over the last several years and was unwilling to accept anything less in a husband. It was very exciting to find these characteristics in Authentic. But, she made it clear to him that the authority she afforded to her dad would not be given to another man until there was certainty and trust in that man as a husband(Ephesians 5:22-29 &33).

Authentic explained his commitment to treat the girls he had met in his life as sisters in Christ. He had repeatedly witnessed that it was always easier to get to know the true person through friendships rather than when emotions entered into a relationship and people began to "act" for each other. He saw his single years as a time to observe his sisters during Bible studies, group events, church functions - all in a safe arena for both genders to get to know each other. It was in this way he had discovered the character in Daughter that he was searching for in a wife.

When he approached Daughter's dad about Bible studies and then about pursuing marriage, it was because he believed himself to be emotionally and spiritually ready to be a husband and he believed that he saw Daughter was ready to be a wife. He was very pleased that Daughter and her dad had agreed to move forward. However, he also knew there was more to discuss with each other and it was important to continue to protect his heart, not to mention refrain from harming Daughter's heart until they were both prepared to make a commitment(Mark 14:38; Romans 13:14).

Sure enough, although their meetings went smoothly with great discoveries of being like-minded on many subjects, they did come across a situation after a few weeks that became a sticky subject. Although both of them confessed to believing in God's total sovereignty, Authentic stated he believed God gave a married couple the decision on the size of their family. Daughter believed that the number of children a couple received from God should be left in His hands. This gave cause for scriptural study and prayer on both sides and they agreed to put off meeting again until after a short trip Authentic was taking with his dad. This meant almost three weeks apart to consider where their discussions had lead.


Daughter was disappointed at the disagreement, but at the same time she treasured that her gift remained intact. Her heart had not been given away and both she and Authentic had been careful to avoid showing any emotional affection - they were sharing an intellectual and spiritual friendship. Still, the thought of this friendship ending at this time could have brought frustration to her. Instead, her friends and family commented on the contentment she showed day to day (Philippians 4:7).

During the time that Authentic was away, Daughter spoke often with her parents about her belief to leave the size of her future family completely in God's hands. With prayer and study she only confirmed this belief and prepared herself for ending the meetings with Authentic. A disappointment, but she was confident enough to maintain a friendship with him as a brother in Christ.

When Authentic returned several weeks later, his first meeting was with Daughter's dad alone. It was later the same day he asked to sit down with Daughter. Facing each other across the table, Authentic explained that he had spent time studying the whole doctrine surrounding the sovereignty of God. He expressed how he had truly believed in this doctrine, but had never considered some aspects of it in his life now and his life in the future.

"I wanted to thank you for showing me an area that, I believe, God wanted me to examine. After talking to my folks, studying and praying, I believe you were right. Not only about leaving the control of childbirth in God's hands, but several other areas of my life, as well."

Daughter could not help but smile openly at this honest testimony. It was always a blessing to realize how she had been used by God, even in a small way. She continued to listen to Authentic.

"After this amount of time together, I spoke to your dad this morning and he gave me his permission to propose to you." Authentic walked around the table and kneeled beside Daughter's chair. "I want you to know that I will forever seek out ways to be the best husband I can be for you. I will honour your opinions and will lead you and any future family that God gives us in the way He would have me lead. I promise to protect you, love you and serve you for the rest of my life. Will you marry me?"

Daughter was already crying as she felt the joy rise in her chest. The emotions that she had held safely within her were coming to the surface quickly as she simply answered, "Yes."

Now the true romance began as both Authentic and Daughter expressed the feelings they had for each other. They were safely in a committed relationship and they talked freely about their dreams of a life together (Ephesians 5:31-33).

On the day of their wedding, they committed their marriage to the Lord (Colossians 3:17) with all family and friends watching as the matching gifts were exchanged. When they were introduced as Husband and Wife, they smiled at each other with the final understanding of the blessing of God's plan for marriage, not to mention the value of the gift they were both given.

And, yes, they did live happily ever after!

THE END - OR, IS IT THE BEGINNING?

The Ruby Club, update

Actually, the Ruby Club has had it's final meeting already. We had a set schedule that ended with the summer, but since I have not posted on the studies when we did them, I get to remind myself of the lessons we (I) learned.

As I mentioned previously, here, we spent much time searching scriptures for the meaning of mercy, and for examples of it. Another topic we covered that is valid for Christian women was confidence.

We questioned what it means to be confident as a Christian. We searched the scriptures for examples of confidence, both good and bad. For instance, Jezebel (2Kings) had alot of confidence in everything that she did - but it was confidence in herself, bad example. David, as a young man, however (1 Samuel) had great confidence, as well - and it was confidence in God, good example. The end result of each of these lives speaks clearly of where our confidence is to be built.

Confidence for Christians comes from a growing relationship with Christ (Proverbs: 26&27); we find confidence in His love (Deuteronomy 7:6-9); confidence in our ability to make it through trials (Luke 1:37, Phil. 1:6, Phil. 4:13); confident in our future (Psalm 27:14); confident in our relationship with Him (John 10:25-30).

Lack of confidence comes with a limited relationship with the Lord, or no real relationship at all (Ephesians 4:14). As a group, the Rubies considered how easily Satan can pull our focus away from Christ and onto ourselves and our weaknesses/failures. Each of us had an example from our own lives where we were not confident enough to accompish "something" for the glory of God; whether that be missing an opportunity to witness, ignoring God's lead to serve in some way, or following our friends in an action/behaviour that we knew was wrong.

To end our meeting on a positive note, we helped each other find areas in our lives where we were showing confidence in our faith and therefore being the peculiar people we are called to be (1Peter 2:9).

As Christian women we can stand up to adversity and criticism because...God loves us, that makes us valuable - that is where our confidence is found.

And Away We Go

As you read this, I am on vacation. My husband has taken us camping - actual sleeping in a tent camping...pray for me ;o]

I thought I would post my weekly schedule. A schedule has been set up every year since Duck has been school age. Mostly it is a guideline, flexibility is a key to sanity, after all.

It is likely too small for anyone to be able to read the details, so allow me to expand:

We accomplish school (actual text book stuff) on Tuesdays to Saturday - Monday is my husbands day off and we make this family day. I do attempt to schedule a specific day for cleaning individual rooms (i.e. B&B on Tuesday is bed and bath, L/R on Wednesday is livingroom). This particular practice keeps me on track for in-depth cleaning of these areas - meaning Wednesday is the day we find out what is living under the couch.

Saturdays are scheduled with the lighter side of homeschool. That is when we practice our sign language skills, or crafts, or bake for others (there is still math on that day, but it goes by pretty quick), plus we plan an active event for phys-ed. I have learned to get the heavier subjects in at the beginning of the week to help keep them on track. By Friday and Saturday, we are ready for more fun stuff. Take a minute and zoom in on the extracurricular section at the bottom left of the schedule pic - this is some of the best parts of having school at home.

That was a serious comment at the top about being flexible for sanity sake. There may be some moms who can set a schedule in stone - I am not one of them.

Happy homeschooling!

Show and Tell

I really like this game! Thank you, Mary.

Today let me share some of the photographs I am submitting to the fall fair tomorrow (yes, I know it is kind of repeating my last S&T, but I want to show off my pictures):

My entry for reflections:

This is taken in a nearby village - the water was perfectly calm to make beautiful mirror image.

This one is for photographer's choice:

This is actually one of two sunset shots - luckily there were categories for them both.

Wildlife:

These swans were in the river at Stratford when we visited last fall - aren't the black ones cool?

The other picture for the sunset category:

And, finally the tree category:

The stipulations for the photography section are pretty simple. First, even if it is a digital picture it cannot be adjusted in anyway. Second, it must be a picture taken during the last calendar year (since the last fall fair). The competition is friendly, but fierce! How do you judge my efforts?

For more Show & Tell go here.

So Much...Too Much!

Well, I know it's September...it is soooooo busy in this house right now. As I mentioned in an earlier post, we are spending our first week of school creating for the fall fair in our area. I also have more notes about the Ruby Club to share. Then there is the plans I have for school this year...


Unfortunately, with all that is happening I do not have time to post it all right now. I will get back on board (on-line) very soon and share the many happenings in our house, church, lives...but right now my husband is taking us camping and I haven't got a clue how to get organized for that when I'm still helping Duck make her vegetable person and drop cookies.


Truly I am thankful for so much during these busy times. But is it too much to ask for an extra pair of hands? Cloning? Miraculous housecleaning? Ah, well...be patient with me, ladies, I shall return!