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

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!