Changed By Love

Changed By Love

Following the Lamb wherever he goes… Revelation 14:4

What’s in the Bible?

I feel that God has shown me the way to teach my kids about Him in a way that will cause them to know that He is real. I have been careful to only do things that will show them that God is real and the Bible is true, not a book of fairy tales or fantasy. I have guarded against a religious spirit that could cause them to do things outwardly that seem to be Christian while leaving their hearts untouched. I have prayed and asked the Holy Spirit to show my children how much God loves them and how real He is. I want them to realize that the spiritual world is more real than this natural world that we live in.

I believe that the What’s in the Bible series of DVD’s from VeggieTales creator Phil Vischer, which gives an overview of what the whole Bible is about, are a great tool to help me reach these objectives. They fit in with my desire to help my kids understand that we are to take the Bible literally and apply the lessons to our lives. In these videos, Phil Vischer tackles some tough topics and explains them in a way that children (and adults!) can understand. They are really good for the whole family to watch together and learn the “Big Ideas” of the Bible and the broad scope of God’s plan of Salvation. Even parents will probably learn things that they didn’t know and gain understanding that they didn’t have before.

We are always amazed at Phil’s talent and versatility. He does the voices for ALL of the characters. And there are a bunch of them! I verified this by sending an email to Phil, and he answered me himself. I asked if he did ALL of the voices, and his answer was “Yep!” So there you have it. From the horse’s mouth, as they say.

We only have the first 7 videos right now, but the kids really enjoy them and have learned a lot from them. So I plan to get all of them in the future.

You can find the DVD’s here at 20% off at their website.

Weekly Wrap-up Sept. 20

We had a colorful week full of manipulatives! I got a box from Rainbow Resources today which contained several new copywork books and two containers of Pattern Blocks. My kids have always loved making things with Pattern Blocks. We had a big bucket full of Pattern Blocks in Ohio, but I don’t know where they ended up. But this is a new day, and God has blessed us with finances to get everything we need, including Pattern Blocks!

But first we did some more activities with M & M’s from Confessions of a Homeschooler’s Letter of the Week – letter M.

http://youtu.be/DtVsY1KCDG0

Several of the kids worked on squeezing lemons and limes, and then I made lemon-lime-aid for them. They loved it!

Garrett memorized a poem which I already shared about. Fiona has almost memorized it, too.

http://youtu.be/2HTJIuYqNno

Here are the Pattern Blocks that everyone got so excited about. They have been making things with them all week.

Emma built this tower. This is very good for her to practice her fine motor skills. She was very proud of herself!

We did Coloring Pages about The Constitution that I will send in to a coloring contest at Knowledge Box Central. Garrett, Fiona, Kelsey, Morgan and Emma and Abby colored these. We discussed what The Constitution is and the three branches of the government it established. We talked about the way it is being disregarded by the present administration and how some are trying to denigrate our Constitution and label it outmoded and outdated. We watched the Schoolhouse Rock video on YouTube about The Constitution, too.

We studied the Book of Acts from Picture This! Kelsey, Morgan, Fiona and Garrett did this.

We have read the Book of Acts before, but drawing pictures to go with it is helping them to remember it better. As I was reading about the angel setting the apostles free from prison, Kelsey asked why nobody has made a movie about the Book of Acts. I don’t know of a really good one, but it would be great if somebody would make one that shows how cool and awesome it was when the angel came into the prison and let them out and told them to go to the Temple and preach some more. Then the priests sent for them and were all full of themselves and were planning to interrogate them and rough them up some more, but the guards came back and said that nobody was in the cell. It was well-guarded, and there was no way out, but somehow they were gone! Then someone came in and told them that the apostles were at the Temple preaching again in the name of Jesus! It’s funny in a way. I think my kids are seeing how powerful and amazing God is and how He wants to do great things through us in the power of the Holy Spirit. Which is exactly what I want them to learn.

I linked this post at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers Weekly Wrap-Up.

Garrett Memorizes a Poem

Garrett memorized a poem that we got from Emma Serl’s Primary Language Lessons. I got this Language program from Living Books Curriculum. I have been using some things from it for the twins. We have enjoyed it so far.

Garrett and Fiona have both memorized this poem. Garrett is a natural. He’s also a ham!

We have also done some copywork and picture study from the book. It is based on the Charlotte Mason method, and I really like it.

Patrick in Training

Patrick likes to do things differently. We have about 4 kinds of cakes that we make for each birthday party. So I asked Patrick what kind of cake he wanted. He said, “Let’s try something different.” So he looked through a cookbook and said, “I want cheesecake.” Cheesecake?!!! I’ve never made cheesecake. Well, when Patrick asks for something I try to make it happen. So I made cheesecake. It actually turned out pretty good. It was kind of soupy at first, but it tasted good. The first one was devoured at the birthday party. We refrigerated the second one overnight, and it was perfect. The symbol made out of strawberries on the first one was the Halo 2 symbol. That’s a video game that the kids and Gary and lots of their online friends like to play together. Katie arranged the strawberries for me, and she came up with that idea.

We had two actual guests come to our party! They were friends from our new church we just started going to. Patrick met a guy named Aaron who knows all kinds of martial arts the first Sunday we visited Northwest Believers Church. The following week he started training with him. He has been so blessed by his training sessions even though he gets beat up! He loves it! I’ll never understand boys. So we invited Aaron and his sister Lisa to Patrick’s birthday party. The cheesecakes were still baking when they arrived, so I laughingly told them to play some party games while they waited. They all got a light in their eyes and set everybody up with controllers, and our birthday party turned into a Halo party!

After everybody got all set up, I said, “Hey, that’s not what I meant. Where’s the Pin the Tail on the Donkey?” They all just ignored me.

Emma and Abby are not playing Halo. They played Webkinz Jr. with their new Webkinz puppies.

These four played upstairs. The other four played downstairs. And 8 other people joined the party online. So they had 16 people playing at one time.

Gary and I went and got Arby’s sandwiches for everybody. When we got back the game was over, and we started the festivities.

Our two guests!

Morgan is growing so fast, I told him to wear his tux every chance he gets before he grows out of it. So he dressed up for the occasion!

Yes, we know how to throw a party at our house!

Kelsey’s Birthday Poem – Faith Like a Child

Dear Mother,

Your specialness to me has always been high,
My love for you reaches the trees, mountains, and sky.

And just so everything for you is as lovely as a flower,
Here are some words for a very encouraging hour:

Never forget to be yourself anytime and anyplace,
always remember that God is our saving grace.

Never lose your kindness, honesty, or gentle love,
God respects all of the above.

Never stop loving the One that’s kind and true,
for God Himself won’t stop loving you.

But most of all, dear Mother,
When the world seems cruel and defiled,

Never forget to have FAITH LIKE A CHILD.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kelsey wrote this for my birthday this year. My faith has been stretched again. I had some deep fears that were exposed and dealt with while Gary was gone in South Carolina. I thought I was full of faith. But the threats and accusations of several property management groups caused me to be anxious and worried after I already survived foreclosure, losing just about everything, traveling across the country with very little money, then ending up in Colorado, far from Ohio, with no money.

One of the groups, Strano, in Belleville, Illinois effectively stole most of our security deposit after stealing $800 from us on a house that they didn’t really clean or fix up to our standards so we backed out on renting it. It smelled like a dog, and it still smelled like a dog after they supposedly cleaned it. They kept half of the security deposit because they couldn’t market the house for a couple of days since we had said we wanted it. Then another property management group in Illinois, Christone, rented a house out from under us because they said the owner had decided he didn’t want to rent to us on a month to month basis, so we had to move out even though we had no where else to go. Well, we couldn’t do that, so we stayed until Gary had another job and we moved to another state. They forced us to sign a year lease by putting so much pressure on us, and then we had to breach that lease when Gary got that new job. Then in York, PA yet another property management group has stolen our security deposit and expects us to pay another $1400 for so-called damages. We left that house in very good shape, paying to get painting and cleaning and repairs done.

They even took me to court the week I was getting ready to move to Texas because they wanted us out of the house so bad, not because we were ever late in paying the rent or anything like that — because we wouldn’t sign a lease for a year. We couldn’t sign any kind of lease because we had no idea where Gary’s next job would be. We asked for month to month, but they refused. They wanted to raise the rent and hold us to only 3 months and then we would have to leave. So much for rewarding people for paying rent on time and taking care of the place. They even withheld a bill for trash and sewer until they wanted to force us out and then told us we owed $900 for that. So they took me to court for that bill, half of which I paid before the court hearing, and for the next month’s rent, calling it unpaid rent (the month before it was due). We kept the owner from losing the house. She would have lost it to foreclosure if we hadn’t paid rent on time every month and helped her get it back out of foreclosure proceedings. Of course, we didn’t know that when we agreed to rent it.

All of these threats and accusations and mean-spirited treatment took a toll, and I’m having to press in to God to restore my faith and trust. I always expected people and companies to treat me fairly and do what’s right. But I guess it’s different when it comes to renting a house from a property management group.

We are determined to press in for guidance and wisdom and a miracle to be able to settle in our own house on our own land. We need a large enough income from a full-time job instead of contracting. Or whatever the Lord wants to do as far as provision. And we need to know where He wants us to settle. We are believing God for a great harvest on seed we’ve sown. We are believing for victory over the giants that occupy our Promised Land.

He gave us $20,000 out of the blue in 2008. He can do greater things than that. And we know He answers prayer. We have definitely been making our requests known, with Thanksgiving. And I haven’t been anxious anymore. (Phil. 4:6) I got victory over anxiety caused by the most recent property management group’s shenanigans just 3 weeks ago.

The Lord is good. His mercy endures forever. He loves us, and He delivers us from fear, dread, intimidation and doubt.

If we lay it all at His feet, He takes it and handles it for us. Then we can walk in faith, peace and joy again!

My kids are glad to have their peaceful Mommy back. I’m glad, too.

Now I have to work on forgiving a few property management groups and realtors.

I know that God will restore to us all that has been stolen from us.

We are praying Matthew 19:29 because we left houses and brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers and land to go where He sent us. Now He said we would receive the hundredfold.

We also know that the thief has to give back seven times what he stole, and the devil has stolen a lot from us.

So I’m taking Kelsey’s advice. I’m going to HAVE FAITH LIKE A CHILD. Our sermon Sunday was on “The Just Shall Live by Faith”.

We are so grateful to be all together again as a family, and we are becoming one cohesive unit again. God is working all things together for our good.

He is faithful to His promises, and we are expecting all that He says is ours. He has a place for us. We are full of faith and looking forward to exciting things in the future.

I will report to you the great things the Lord does for us as they occur! And you will see that the Lord can be depended upon to take care of His children who are called according to His purpose.