I Cannot Believe . . .

 . . .  I have spent so many years of my life studying, revering and teaching about the Supreme Court of the United States.

In TImes Like These . . . We Need the Bible

I cannot read, watch or listen to the news without being so terribly discouraged by the evil in the world and in our own government. The President is currently visiting Ireland where as  he addressed young people in a speech he called  for them to abandon Catholic schools. Unbelievable. I feel that if he had the time, he would launch a campaign against homeschooling--anything that allows the family to teach rather than the state to indoctrinate certainly represents a threat to him and his ungodly agenda.

Tonight while I was doing some school work, I listened to my beloved  Bible Broadcasting Netowrk, and the music there soothed my soul. On the one hand, I want to retreat into the enclave of my family, church and school. On the other, if we all withdraw from the arena, the enemy will continue to walk with impunity through our culture and our lives unabated.

We must teach our children and arm them with the Word of God and we must know what we believe and why we believe it AND be ready to take a stand.

My Baby Boy

Our 17-year-old, 6'4 baby boy graduated from high school this past month. He had a great day at his Graduation and Senior Recital ceremony.  He has the kindest and most  innocent heart of anyone I know. We are so very grateful that the Lord gave us this precious gift!

Relocating . . .

We moved this favorite book shelf from the dining room to the living room. The rocking chair was given to DH by his mom a number of years back. The beautiful afghan was made by a dear friend at Church. The red books you see on the second shelf were purchased at an impromptu flea market at a children's park when we lived in the Volunteer State. All of the books on that particular set of shelves are like members of our family.

Ruskin Tomatoes

We stopped at a local vegetable stand yesterday, and I found these beautiful tomatoes. The nice lady volunteered that they were from Florida. When she told me they were actually from Ruskin, Florida, I was thrilled beyond measure!  I have picked tomatoes aplenty down there. It is a county over from my home town, and it is situated on the Gulf  Coast. I think there is something about the salt air and the brackish water that makes these tomatoes beautiful and so tasty. There are many things I don't miss about my home state, but many more that I do.  I love where we live more than anywhere we have been in our 22 years of marriage, but sometimes I miss those Gulf breezes, the pelicans and gulls and the beautiful tropical foliage.

Having said that, I was just thinking the other day that this must be the most beautiful part of the entire world.  Isn't God, our Loving Creator, magnificent in the variety and vastness of His Creation?

Finished!

This is probably the only blog you see which includes posts about bathrooms. I am sorry, but I have to post this picture of a completed home-improvement project. DH and I are NOTvery gifted in this area, but the Lord has given us the blessing of perseverance. We moved in this house almost 10 years ago and it has been the most wonderful blessing you can imagine for our family.  

The main bath, pictured here, had lovely, lovely wallpaper. It was in its prime, a nice print. Unfortunately because the room tends to be dark and because there is no fan, mold and mildew became our constant adversaries. I was getting to the point that I scrubbing off the wallpaper just to get the yucky stuff off as well. 

Boldly going where I had never been before, several month ago, I began stripping the wallpaper from the walls. Needless to say, I looked on every web site I could to get proper directions, and I followed those directions to the letter. Unfortunately, this wallpaper clung to life (and to the walls). It did not want to leave after probably about 30 years of dedicated service. The battle became a real clash of wills between the paper and me! The paper was easier to get off than the coating of glue underneath.

The Pastor helped and made such a difference. I couldn't have finished without his help and encouragement. 

Once we got the walls cleared and cleaned, he painted with a mildew-fighting primer and then later a beautiful top coat. He did the same on the ceiling. I painted the trim and door facings and he painted the doors.  We had begun to wonder if it would ever be completed!

I am grateful on so many levels to have been able to do this. We were out of comfort zone to say the least, and we didn't have a lot of money to pour into it. Our school and church schedules have been so full that we didn't have a lot of time to put into until after the semester was over.

But, it is done and we are grateful that the Lord is involved in our every day lives. He is with us in the big projects, the little projects, and the moments in between.

Summer Reading

This summer is going to be interesting. All of DH's classes are on line. I have an online and an "in person" class.  The children are all attending music camps here in the next couple of weeks. DD has a nice art group getting started today as well. I don't want the summer to get by us without doing some significant reading together. The boys and I are going to revisit Ivanhoe and maybe Captains Courageous. DD is enjoying Francine Rivers, but I want her to read Daniel Defoe's great story of brokenness and redemption, Robinson Crusoe. The boys and I have read this together in several forms over the  years, but I really love these Windermere readers. I even ordered a second copy from the Amazon market place (for a song, may I add). DD and I can work through it together. I have some activities to go along with it, and we might make a notebooking project out of it as well.

This is not only a great literary work, it is a story of a man broken by his own willfulness. He loses everything and finally becomes a man God can reach.  Robinson is the ultimate literary prodigal.

Look at This!

Well, this is just about the prettiest girls' room linens I have ever seen. I stumbled on this add the other day.I will post a picture of DD's sheet set soon. We washed the one we found and she put it on her bed. I haven't found any pillowcases yet, but her plain yellow ones go perfectly with the sheets.