Family Reunion in South Carolina

We finally got to come to South Carolina to visit Gary and Patrick.

Last week, I was struck with an inner ear infection that gave me vertigo. It made me so sick I thought I was going to have to call 911. If you know me at all, you know I had to be really sick to even consider such a thing. I was planning to drive us all down to South Carolina last Thursday, but I could hardly walk let alone drive. Especially a 10-hour drive! Gary ended up having to fly up to PA, and then he drove us down. The trip took us 12 hours instead of 10. The kids were great. It just takes a while, you know. We ate at Cracker Barrel instead of fast food. Gary was so sweet to do that for me.

And with potty breaks and traffic and everything, we didn’t get to the apartment until after midnight. I prayed the last 2 hours of the trip that Gary would stay awake. All the while, I was falling asleep myself.

But we’re here and having fun being together again. We went to the beach Tuesday. It was a fun, SANDY time. The little ones have been really good. They must have been ready for a vacation.

Last night Gary came in with a bunch of balloons and a box full of Arby’s sandwiches and fries. He looked like a party ready to happen. It was a fun moment. The kids went ballistic when they saw the balloons. (Ballistic and balloons – are those words related?) He had one for each of the five youngest. They were so excited.

We’re planning to go to downtown Charleston tomorrow. Saturday we’ll celebrate Kelsey’s birthday.

We’re so happy to be together again.

We’re praying about where to settle at least for the time being – PA or SC? We still don’t know what He wants. But as soon as we do, we’ll start packing again.

Are You Passing Your Faith on to Your Children?

I mentioned a new mentor in previous posts here and here. Her name is Marilyn Howshall. I’ve never seen teaching like hers anywhere else. She teaches parents how to be parented by God at the heart level. In turn they can parent their children at the heart level, and they can relate to them in such a way that their faith and moral values are transferred to their children. I find her teaching fascinating.

If you want to know more about it and start learning from her, visit the website for her new book and sign up to receive an email series of articles that describes the process of Transferring our Moral Values to our children, www.TransferMoralValues.com.

He Made Me so He Could Love Me

I was under attack this weekend. It came out in a physical manifestation of headache, tiredness and some stomach trouble that came on me very suddenly. Then dizziness came with it later. But my prayer warriors sought the Lord about it and discerned a spiritual attack that was able to happen because of lies that I believed and a father wound.

They led me through deliverance by having me repent, renounce and come out of agreement with lies about my self-worth and how God sees me. There were lies like “everybody is more important than I am”, “I was an aberration and a disappointment”, “I’m not worthy of a father’s love”, “I’m not much of a daughter”, “I have no real value, I shouldn’t have been created” and “I’m replaceable, a throwaway”.

After I broke those lies off of me, my prayer warriors replaced those lies with the truth by speaking what God says about me. They were the opposite of those lies.

One phrase that struck me deeply was, “He made you so He could love you.” That replaced the lie that I shouldn’t have been created. That’s why He made me. Just so He could love me. Not for what I could do for Him. Not for what I could do for others. Just so He could love me.

I offer that to you for your own meditation today.

He made me so He could love me. Selah.

Our Favorite Quick, Easy, Cheap Meal

I just made this last night when we ran out of time to make hamburgers and french fries, like we had planned.

I was commenting on how this is the quickest, cheapest meal I make, and we all love it, when my son said, “You should share that on your blog!”

So here it is:

Creamed Dried Beef (adapted for a family of 12)

6 packets of Carl Buddig’s dried beef (2.5 oz packets)
1 stick of butter
8 T flour
5 c of milk
3 t worcestershire

Melt butter in a skillet. Shred dried beef and put it in the butter. Stir the flour into the butter mixture when the edges of the dried beef curl. Add the milk. Stir it until it is thickened like gravy. Add the worcestershire and salt to taste, pepper if you like.

Serve on toast.

We all really like this. It fills us up, and only costs about $10.00 or less!

The Civil War, an Allegory about God’s Plan of Salvation, Constantine and Creation Science

Those are a few of the topics we have been reading about during the last several weeks.

We are planning a trip to Gettysburg since it’s only about a half hour away from here, and we now have a van to get there.

So I got a bunch of books from the library about Gettysburg, Lincoln and the Civil War.

I chose a couple of them to read aloud to the older kids.

I even had the twins (7 years old) listen to a biography of Abraham Lincoln. It was the Childhood of Famous Americans’ biography of Abraham Lincoln.

Then I read a book by Jim Murphy called The Long Road to Gettysburg. It told the story before and after the battle of Gettysburg, using journal entries from a Union soldier and from a Confederate soldier. It was interesting. I enjoy the way he simplifies army movements and puts a personal touch on historical stories.

There are a few more Civil War books I would like to read to the kids before we go.

A wonderful follow-up to that, besides our trip to Gettysburg, will be our trip to South Carolina to see Gary and Patrick. While we are there close to Charleston, we are planning to go see Fort Sumter. So we’re getting to take some neat field trips.

We are still reading The Wormling Series. We’re on the fifth book, the last one of the series, called The Author’s Blood. We are still enthralled with the story. Morgan, especially, can predict what is going to happen next. He is very engaged with this story. We are now at the End Times in the allegory, and many parts of the mystery have now been revealed, such as the mystery in Ephesians 1:10 of “that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth – in Him.” We’ve also gotten a better understanding of the mystery in Colossians 1:27 “which is Christ in you, the hope of glory”.

Speaking of mysteries, I’m reading The Mystery of History, vol. 2 and we are now at the part about Constantine. I’m reading it as a continuous story, not really stopping to go in-depth. I think I will order Diana Waring’s History Revealed for the same time period, Romans, Reformers, Revolutionaries and go back over it in more detail.

I read a book about Eleanor of Aquitaine last week. The kids were not crazy about her personally, but the book gave us a taste of the time of Henry the Second and the relationship between England and France during the 12th century. I thought she would be the perfect person to study to get an overview of this period and these countries since she was queen over France and then queen over England, married to two different kings! Her story is very interesting. The book is a very entertaining book called “A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver” by E. L. Konigsberg. A good follow-up for this is the Disney movie, Robin Hood, since it covers the same time period and mentions King Richard and Prince John, both of whom were Eleanor’s sons.

Another book I’ve been reading aloud to the kids is a book by my friend Felice Gerwitz. I know her through Cindy Rushton. Yes, she is an online friend, but I have listened to her a lot, and I feel like I know her. I was attending a Mommy Jammy night online and won Felice’s mystery series that she wrote with her daughter, Christina. I started reading the first book and enjoyed it so much that I read it all to myself. I couldn’t put it down. Then last week, I read the second book to myself. I finally decided to share these good stories with my kids, so I’ve started reading the first book to them. It is called “The Missing Link: FOUND”. Felice has sprinkled lots of Creation Science facts throughout this exciting mystery. I plan to write a review of this series on my blog, so be watching for it.

So, as you can see, Safe Haven Academy is still going strong. Yes, we continue school through the summer because if we didn’t we wouldn’t be living. Homeschooling is our life and our lifestyle. But school is so interesting and fun that I don’t feel like a slave driver or abuser of my children. Family time is education time. Shouldn’t it be?