God and Government Series...

• The first principle of a governmental system is self government. Self government relies on wisdom and the Fear of the Lord. For the Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
• The motivation for self government begins in the knowledge that we are here to do the Lord's work. This in turn requires... Read more HERE

Jessica

Robert E. Lee Quotes

1. Fame which does not result from good actions and achievements, for the good of the whole people, is not to be desired. Nero had fame, who envies him?
2. Hold to your purity and virtue. They will sustain you in every calamity.
3. A Union that can only be maintained by swords and bayonets, and in which strife and civil war are to take the place of brotherly love and kindness, has no charm for me.
4. (Of the Capitol Building) That beautiful feature of our landscape has ceased to charm me as much as formerly. I now fear the mischief that is brewing there.
5. It is well that war is terrible-or we should grow too fond of it.
6. We may be annihilated, but we can not be conquered.
7. We failed, but in the good providence of God apparent failure often proves a blessing.
8. No man can be so important in the world that he does not need the goodwill and approval of others.
9. There is always a hazard in military movements, nut we must decide between the positions of inaction and the risk of action.
10. Do your duty in all things... you can not do more and you should not desire to do less.
11. Gods will aught to be our aim, and I ma quite content that his design be accomplished and not mine.
12. My experience with men has neither disposed me to think worse of them nor indisposed to serve them.
13. Those who oppose our services are not always to be regarded as our enemies.
14. I am of the opinion that all who can should vote for the most intelligent, honest, and conscientious men eligible for office.
15. I feat the liberties of our country will be buried in the tomb of a great nation.
16. The dominant party can not reign forever, and truth and justice will prevail at last.

Jess

He Leadeth Me through the New Year!

He leadeth me! O blessed thought! O words with heav'nly comfort fraught! Whate'er I do, whate'er I be, still 'tis God's hand that leadeth me.

He leadeth me, He leadeth me, By His own hand He leadeth me;
His faithful foll'wer I would be, For by His hand He leadeth me.

Sometimes 'mid scenes of deepest gloom, Sometimes where Eden's bowers bloom, By waters still, o'er troubled sea, Still 'tis His hand that leadeth me!

He leadeth me, He leadeth me, By His own hand He leadeth me;
His faithful foll'wer I would be, For by His hand He leadeth me.

Lord, I would clasp Thy hand in mine, nor ever murmur nor repine; Content, whatever lot I see, Since 'tis my God that leadeth me!

He leadeth me, He leadeth me, By His own hand He leadeth me;
His faithful foll'wer I would be, For by His hand He leadeth me.

And when my task on earth is done, When by Thy grace the victr'ys won, E'en death's cold wave I will not flee, Since God thru Jordan leadeth me.


May the Lord lead you through 2010!

Happy New Year!!

The P family!


P.S. This is a great song. We sing it at Bible Study and we play it on our violins, it is beautiful!

Worlds Best Mom

"How can it be a large career
to tell other people's children about arithmetic

and a small career to tell one's own children about the universe?

How can it be broad to be the same thing to everyone
and narrow to be everything to someone?

No, a woman's function is laborious
because it is gigantic,

not because it is minute."



G. K. Chesterton



I love you Mommy
jessica

Out of the mouths of children and nursing babes

And heaven and nature sneeze,
and heaven and nature sneeze,
and heaven, and heaven, and nature sneeze!

Thus sang one of my sibling. She was singing at the top of her lungs for the fun of it!! I almost snapped at her and told her to please be quiet. And then I stopped. That would be wrong.

More and more our world is stealing the joy of having children. When they steal this joy they steal it from not only the people who could have been parents, but also from the children who could have been siblings! I need to think of everything my siblings do as a blessing! Singing and Screaming, Talking and testing my patience, Smiles and Struggles. I love them all! (Or i need to) :)

Fight the battle! Be a soldier! Hug and smile at your siblings today!

Jess

Prayer!

In this time of financial struggles my family is finding the saying, 'it's an ill will that blows no good' is very true! While we are struggling we are drawing so much closer to God! We find that when your circumstances take away your belief in your self you turn to the One you should have trusted the whole time! Isn't it ironic that just when you think God has turned his back on you he reminds you that no it was the other way around!

My uncle a.k.a Pastor Chef gave Mommy George Muiler's diaries as a gift. As she has read them she has been challenged more and more to pray to God for even the smallest things. Most of the time we find it is only when something really bad happens you pray to God. Not when anything occurs that you need.

Well anyway, right now my dad's buisness is really struggling. So my mom has been praying for the means to buy our school books for the year. We have a lot of stuff, but there is some stuff we need.

Mainly we have been praying for Apoligia's Biology book. This book costs about $85 when bought brand new out of a catalog. Right now this is not possible to buy. Obviously!!
So we were praying. Today we took a trip to our local thrift store. We found that book for 3 dollars!!! We were so happy and... and... what more can I say.

Taste and see that the Lord IS GOOD!!!

Posted by Jess

Watering the dog with a cheerful heart!!!

Here at our house we have four dogs so everyday at six in the morning we get up and walk them. That is not hard, but the walk in the afternoon is hard. Our sinful human nature leads to complaining, discontentment, and slothfulness. In the=hottest part of the day it is so much easier to stay inside and sew or read that to go take care of a dumb beast.

But!! Our animals are a gift from God so... everyone outside with a cheerful heart! The dogs are thirsty!!!



Don't take this to mean that just because you have animals you don't have to get outside!
You probably have SOMETHING useful you can do with your life!!!

Garden Snacks!!

My dad got this idea from a man he works with...

When your out in your garden and you are feeling rather hungry, you can have a quick, easy, healthy, and tasty snack right then! First take a cherry tomato, then pick a basil leaf, wrap the tomato in the leaf, and pop it in your mouth! I do this all the time and it its so good!

Also something we do for dinner is put cherry tomatoes, basil leaves, and feta cheese in bowls on the table. Everyone gets a toothpick and the spear the different "toppings". This is a great way to taste your garden fresh! No added things. No corn syrup or high fructose corn syrup. Just you and the garden!!!

Not Gardening I know but...

If you give a mom a muffin,

She'll want a cup of coffee to go with it.

She'll pour herself some. Her three-year-old will spill the coffee.

She'll wipe it up. Wiping the floor, she'll find dirty socks.

She'll remember she has to do laundry.

When she puts the laundry in the washer,

She'll trip over boots and bump into the freezer.

Bumping into the freezer will remind her she has to plan for supper.

She will get out a pound of hamburger.

She'll look for her cookbook ("101 Things To Do With a Pound of Hamburger").

The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail.

She will see the phone bill, which is due tomorrow.

She will look for her checkbook.

The check book is in her purse that is being dumped out by her two-year-old.

She'll smell something funny.

She'll change the two-year-old's diaper.

While she is changing the diaper, the phone will ring.

Her five-year-old will answer and accidently hang up.

She'll remember she wants to phone a friend for coffee.

Thinking of coffee will remind her that she was going to have a cup.

And chances are... If she has a cup of coffee, by now...

Her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it!

~~~~ Author Unknown ~~~~

I got this from one of our followers the Pauls...

Here is their blog - maprap.blogspot.com/

And here is the post I got it from - IF YOU GIVE MOM A MUFFIN

A use for milk jugs!

Okay all you money saving guys out there! Here is a great way to save money!

When you use a milk jug... rinse it out, punch ONE SMALL hole in the bottom, bury it to the top beside your plants, and than fill. We water our garden and then fill the jugs once a day. This is great for your peppers, watermelon, and tomatoes because they need slow constant water!

Why we love the South!

A possum is a flat animal that sleeps in the middle of the road.

If it grows, it'll stick ya. If it crawls, it'll bite cha.

'Onced' and 'Twiced' are words.

It is not a shopping cart, it's a buggy.(Amen)

People actually grow and eat okra. (At least I do!)

'Fixinto' is one word.

There is no such thing as 'lunch.' There is only dinner and then there is supper.

Iced tea is appropriate for all meals, and you start drinking it when you're two.
We do like a little tea with our sugar! (Amen)

Backwards and forwards means, 'I know everything about you.'

The word 'jeet' is actually a phrase meaning, 'Did you eat ?'

You don't have to wear a watch, because it doesn't matter what time it is. You work
until you're done or it's too dark to see.

You don't PUSH buttons, you MASH EM.

You measure distance in minutes.

You switch from heat to A/C in the same day.

You know what a 'DAWG' is.

You carry jumper cables in your car --- for your OWN car.

You only own five spices: salt, pepper, Texas Pete, Tabasco and Ketchup.

You think that the first day of deer season is a national holiday.

You find 100 degrees Fahrenheit 'a bit warm.'

You know all four seasons: Almost summer, summer, still summer, and Christmas.

Going to Wal-Mart is a favorite past time known as 'goin' to Wally World.'

You describe the first cool snap (below 70 degrees) as good stew weather.

Fried catfish is the other white meat. (I like squirrel better, but that’s just me)

When mothers teach their young children phonics, they explain how the ‘g’ in some words is sometimes silent. For example: fishin, huntin, tresspassin, eatin,--the list goes on.

While ya’ll is the proper contraction for you all, the contraction for “did ya’ll” is “jaw”. Example: “Jaw see that buck?”

A wallago is not an animal that lives in Australia, it is a phrase meaning a little while ago. Example: "Naw, I didn't see it, but I did wallago."

If you don’t fix collard greens and black-eyed peas at least on New Year’s, you might as well be shot.

Every young girl should know how to make Brunswick stew. If she don’t, she ain’t fit to marry.

You get beef jerky in your stocking at Christmas.

You own at least two pets that bear the name “Dixie”

I got this from Dixie Farm Girl...Why I Love Georgia.

Homeschooling - an excuse or a gift?

" Are these all yours?" (No! We picked them up on the side of the road!")

"You have your hands full!" ("Not as full as I would like!)

"Is this your daycare?" (No! Do people usually bring their daycare to the grocery store?")

"Hey you still have all your hair!" (No Comment!")

These are the comments that we hear from people as we walk through the world. These are the comments that we hear all the time! It has gotten so that when Erin sees people counting us in the store she holds up eight fingers and says, "yes it is eight!" Then they gape at us as we pass.

Of all the comments we hear the most common are the four I posted above. But there is one more... The "So where do y'all go to school?" question. Then there is the pause then we say we homeschool. Then they stare at us... and stare... then they say, Oh.

After we tell them that most usually drop it, a few ask how we like it (We say we love it.), And then some say, "Really that's wonderful!" (We love those people)

And then the other day we were at the store and we were talking to young lady in her twenties. We told her we were homeschooled and she answered in a way I had never heard before. She said, "Oh so do you get to sleep in?" And I just stared, because I was shocked that that was what our society has come to - that they think we homeschool just to let our kids sleep in! Not to keep them out of the school system! Not so they can enjoy the world around them. Not so they can learn about God! But so that they can sleep in!

What a bad reputation!

P.S.

This is not aimed at the kids who DO sleep in, but at the people who think that's the only point of homeschooling!

A Prayer For the Nation

O God of earth and alter,

Bow down and hear our cry.

Our earthly rulers falter,

Our people drift and die.

Our walls of gold entomb us,

The swords of scorn divide.

Take not thy thunder from us,

But take away our pride.

From all that terror teaches,

From lies of tongue and pen.

From all the easy speeches,

 that comfort cruel men.

From sale and profanation, 

of honor and the sword.

From sleep and from damnation,

Deliver us good lord.

Bind in a living tether,

The prince, the priest, the thrall.

Bind all our hearts together,

Smite us and save us all.

In ire and exultation,

Aflame with faith and free.

Lift up a living nation,

A single sword to thee.

Gilbert Keith Chesterton, 1906

Kings Lynn (7 6, 7 6, D.) 

Traditional English Melody

arr. Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1906

This is a hymn we sing at church. We love it!

Are we really slaving away??

With summer approaching and the temperature rising we tend to complain a lot. Maybe not out loud, but still our sinful human nature causes us to think complaining thoughts.

 But if you think about it we really don't have that anything to complain about! We have lawnmowers, weed-eaters, hoses, tools made for us, seeds delivered to our door, and a glass of water always in the house! 

Compared to the 18th century when they hauled water, made tools by hand, and cut their grass with a sickle!

So when we think of our hard time planting our "large" gardens think about it and go read Farmer Boy or Little House on the Prairie! They were out planting whole acres of crops! And they didn't complain. Why? Because if they didn't - NO FOOD!! You starved!

posted by jessica