Pretty soon the beautiful hydrangeas will stop blooming for the year… For now, each morning I love to walk around the yard and see the beautiful variety and lovely shades of blues, greens, purples, lavenders and red hydrangeas… these are my favourite flowers… but the roses are quite lovely, too. in the rose garden are candlelight roses, lavender, various pinks, yellow, peach, coral and white… the whites are particularly beautiful this year! produce from the garden this morning… in addition to many(!) zucchini, yellow squash, beans and onions, Naomi and ‘melia picked some carrots. They came running in to show…
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I’m still pondering: The old paths… A few days ago I was looking at photographs and was trying to recollect those days… actually, those and a lot of other “days gone by” and I began to consider and ask myself: what good things did I do in those days do I no longer do? What did I leave off doing — and why? Did I get weary? Did I get overconfident? Did I get tired? Did I get lazy? Did I forget? Why did I stop doing the things that were working well? And, when? When did I veer off…
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I’ve been thinking about paths lately… spurred on by reading in Jeremiah and considering ‘the old paths’ and doing the things we know to be profitable in our home/life. I had to smile at the following video. In our home, through the years, we’ve had many, many opportunities to train up boys and girls in the way they should go. This, most notably, is a spiritual training – but, it’s also training in life skills, work ethic and manners. Repetition (both in direction and practice) is the key to accomplishing the objective and to developing abilities. But, more than all…
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and I suppose if I could choose any photo… it would be this: or this. If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free… If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” –John 8.31b,32,36 He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” –Jim Elliot
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I was thinking this morning that God’s grace is sufficient for the day… and then considered: how much grace does God have? How much mercy? The Word says He is plenteous in mercy and that He gives liberally. Can I exhaust the grace of God? Can I ask Him too often for mercy – for grace – for wisdom? Is His ear far from my cry? No… to all of these things, no… His arm is not shortened that it cannot save, His mercy knows no end and there is no accounting of His grace and wisdom – for if…
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I read with some interest a news piece about a man who is auctioning off his life or, rather, his lifestyle and material goods, on eBay. Seems Ian Usher wants a fresh new start. I cannot help but feel sorry for the man… not for what he wants to leave behind, but for what seems to be an empty life. During the last several days I’ve been helping my parents pack, move, unpack and settle a bit in their new home. At some point after some conversation seemed to spark the thought, I wondered, for a split-second, what it would…
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The longer I live, the more I am amazed at the Hand of Providence in my life and in the lives of our children and. in. my. husband’s. life. I’m sobered, humbled and stand in awe of the marvelous grace of God and His immeasurable kindness. You know, I’m so thankful for the difficult times – for it’s not in the seemingly ‘easy’ times we see (or seek) God so readily or clearly as in the darker, more uncertain, times. The sweet thing about learning this is that when suddenly faced with calamity or trials it’s easier to see a…
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I think we forget that sometimes. I think we get all caught up in the dailies that we miss a whole bunch of the deeper importance and imperatives of motherhood. I think in the busyness of life we forget the deeper calling, the noble endeavor and the consequences of how we spend our time and our days and the evidence of what we become devoted to or distracted by — a sobering reality is the evidence of the work of our hands. O, may the Lord be our guiding Light. O— I know I need the messages of Mother’s Day……
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Today When she gets off the plane she’ll likely look much like all the passengers — probably weary, probably shifting the backpack and carry-on and probably looking around to see familiar faces. But to us she won’t be just any ordinary passenger and this won’t be just any ordinary trip to the airport. She’s left behind hundreds and hundreds of orphaned children, muddy red clay, deeply rutted unpaved roads and a world of poverty, famine and loss. Now she’s become very familiar with a whole different way of life and a culture that’s no longer foreign to her. She’s left…
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Whenever we attend a HomeSchool conference or listen to a message espousing the benefits of home education, we tend to talk about it for days — weeks, even. But our enthusiasm or dedication to home education is not limited to or sparked by those times. Our dedication to homeschooling is strengthened, though, by such times as we just experienced this past weekend. Our enthusiasm is occasionally dampened by some failure or some personal discouragement, but truly, for twenty years, our enthusiasm to press on has not waned. I suppose I could just say that occasionally we run into those 2…