Very Late Update on Our Farm

We are slowly creeping into Spring here in the Pacific Northwest.  Our baby chicks have grown into young adult hens and roosters.  The tulips in the front are exploding through the dirt to reach for the sun.  And we’ve actually seen the sun and not just buckets and buckets of falling rain.

Homeschooling is going along pretty smoothly lately.  We still have our little bumps here and there.  But I can see the progress that have been made and it is very encouraging.

We just finished the History book that we have been reading for a while.  This would be the second book in the series written by Susan Wise Bauer.  The enjoyment that we get out of reading these history books beats any text book, any day!

I have a few videos, well, about 24, lined up on YouTube for the kids to watch before we start reading again.  This is basically to go back through the times that we’ve learned so far.  The kids like the change of pace.  I’m not sure what they will think of these videos though.

The guy seems a little cheesy to me, but hey, kids like cheese, right?!

Anyway, after we are finished with the videos, we’ll start reading The Story of the World book three.  I really can’t see starting a different History program now.  We will finish this out with book four when we’re done with three.

Watch soon for a review on book three.

I have tried to schedule our days a little more.  Mostly because I have so many things to do, that if I don’t follow a schedule and work on certain things at certain times, I’ll just run around like a tazmanian devil and accomplish many areas of nothing.

And of course, it doesn’t work at all on days like today, when I just do not have the motivation to do anything.  The kids wanted to take off President’s Day, like public school students, but I had said no.  This morning, my body was screaming YES!

Life on the farm goes on though.  The animals don’t stop laying eggs or ahem…depositing waste, just because I am not motivated.  And today was one of those days that work on the farm needed to be done.  I’m very thankful that the sun was able to hang in the blue sky, with very little clouds dancing in front of it.  It made working outside just a little exciting.  But just a little because I was still freezing cold.

I was also able to visit with the girls and roos while I was out today.  Even snapped a photo of one of the babies that we had last Summer.  She turned such a black that she is has glossy green feathers.  Very beautiful.  I named her Raven.  She is almost completely black, except for a little bit of white on her legs, and maybe beak.  And that’s only been the past couple of months, before she was all black.

So while we all anxiously await Spring here, we’re taking the time to enjoy the beauty and crispness of Fall.  Hope you are also enjoying your Winter!

Serving Others

Jesus spoke many times on people serving others.  “And whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 10:44-45).  It is something that Christians should all be doing, as a witness to Jesus.

What are some ways to serve?  If you are ready to venture our into your community and serve, there are many places that you can start.  Churches are almost always looking for people to volunteer to teach or help out with different things.  Food banks in your area will probably also be looking for volunteers.

Sometimes you can volunteer at a school or a library.  Even as a tutor.

Don’t think that you only have to participate in organized volunteer work.  Any time that you are picking up litter or cleaning up a public area is volunteer and makes your community look so much nicer!

Many communities have clubs and organizations that you can also volunteer at.

Ways that I have volunteered in the past.  When I was a teenager, I volunteered to be a teen leader in my community’s 4-H club.  After my children were born, I volunteered to be an AWANA Sparks Leader, a Sunday school teacher, watching the young children during church for their parents and playing flute and handbells for our church.

I believe that it’s important for my children to learn about serving others.  They see the work that I do and how much time I put into my jobs.  I consider something that I volunteer to do the same as a job.  I’m not getting paid an hourly wage with money here on earth for it, but I am getting a wage that I’ll receive in Heaven.  That will be even greater than any reward or amount of money I could ever get here!

My Volunteering Now.  Right now, I currently am volunteering for an organization called 1 Million Moms Against Gun Control.  I am the State Coordinator for Washington.  We aim to educate and inform others in 2nd Amendment issues, firearm safety and training and other self defense areas.

Being able to carry my pistol to defend myself and my children is definitely something that I believe is worth volunteering my time for.  I strongly believe in our Constitution and Amendments.  I do not believe that those should ever be messed with.

Serving others is a necessary part of a Christian life.  If you aren’t serving somewhere or somehow, please pray about where God wants you to be helping.

Luke 6:38 says “Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

Name Change…Again, and More

I’m sure that most of you have noticed that the name changed again.  The family didn’t care for Fruits of Galatia, so we went with something different.  I feel this is a better suit anyways.

Today was an extremely relaxing Sunday.  We stayed home from church because I’m not feeling too well, the kids shared their cold with me.  Lovely of them, isn’t it?  I spent the majority of the day in the recliner, with either my laptop or my book opened up in front of me.

I am currently reading Law of Self Defense written by Andrew F. Branca.  It’s a great read so far and something that everyone should read.  Especially if you are carrying any sort of weapon to use to defend yourself.

Working with 1 Million Moms Against Gun Control has given me the opportunity to get into touch with some really great people that are important to the 2nd Amendment community, and Mr. Branca is one of them.  He sent me 7 of his books, all of them autographed, and one especially for me!

If you are interested in winning one of his books, please follow along at 1mmagc-wa for updates on how to get one.

I also took the time to schedule our homeschool week and what my day looks like for tomorrow.  Last week so much was happening and I had appointments most days, so there was not much done in either of those areas.

My kitchen sink got clogged and we still haven’t found where the clog is to unclog it.  Dishes are piled up everywhere.  We are going to have to break down and wash some dishes in the bath tub tomorrow.  That is really going to hurt my back and neck, but it will have to be done.  But everyone else is going to have to share that misery with me.

Some of the other plans that I have for the week include starting a work out routine, planning a strengthening routine for 1MMAGC, plan for Spring event for 1MMAGC-WA, researching colleges to go back to school and get Bachelor’s degree and making Daughter’s comp card for Sweet Dream Models.

I love all of these little graphics.  These are called Candy Bar Dolls.  They are so cute!  I like to decorate things so I use a lot of graphics in my posts.  Which I’ve sure you all have noticed.  Makes my posts more pleasing to my eyes.

Something that I am exploring to teach Daughter soon is about becoming a woman.  She’ll be in “6th grade” for next school year.  I use the parentheses because that term is used loosely in our home.  It is basically just used as an identifier for other people.  For every subject but Math and English, the kids learn together.  I about choke when someone wants to know what grade they are in.

It’s also about that time to figure out our school plan for next year.  I should hopefully be done with the Science curriculum that we are using now.  I’d like to get an Apologia Science curriculum set.  I definitely want to stay within the Christian curriculums.  Or, we may just leave out Science for a year and do some Social Studies.  That’s another option for me to look into.

I love this sooooo much!  Homeschool planning is one of my most favorite things to do.  I’m hoping to be able to attend the WHO (Washington Homeschool Organization) Convention this year at the Puyallup Fairgrounds.  If I have everything planned out for the most part, I can buy some curriculum there, along with gathering new ideas.

If you are in Washington state, and have never been to the WHO Homeschool Convention, you should go!  I love it!  You can get more information on it by clicking here.

Well I have probably rambled on about enough randomness to bore you all for an entire week!

If you’d like to keep up with us throughout the day, go to our Facebook page and “like” us!

Homeschool Lessons – March 10, 2014

 

• BIBLE: Confusion Pt. 1 – The Tower of Babel
• MATH 4:  Roman Numerals
• MATH 3:  Multiplication Table
• HISTORY:  The Long Journey of the Maori, the people of New Zealand
• READING:  The Water of Life by Grimm’s Brothers
• SCIENCE:  Journey that a salmon takes in Washington, pt 1
• ENGLISH 5: Sentences, Spelling test, New spelling words
• ENGLISH 3: Intro lesson of English 3, Spelling test, New spelling words

Stand Your Ground Rally – January 2014

Stand Your Ground Rally – January 2014.  Definitely read this blog post if you are interested in standing up for your rights!

via Stand Your Ground Rally – January 2014.

Washington State Elected Officials and Your Gun Rights ~ Governor Jay Inslee

First, I want to start this blog post with an introduction of sorts.  I do not believe that I ever shared on my blog the new position that I took on with a new organization called 1 Million Moms Against Gun Control.  If you have not yet heard of us, you can read our Mission Statement here.  On August 23, 2013, I accepted the position of State Coordinator for the Washington state chapter of 1 Million Moms Against Gun Control (1MMAGC).

The past 4 months have been an awesome learning experience and has been a great honor.  I am so glad to say that I am involved in the fights for our 2A rights!  Thank you to all of the ladies, and men, who have allowed me to work with them.  🙂

Since part of our mission is to educate the public, I have decided that Washington needs to know about our public officials and their gun sense.  Politics is something that I have only started to really pay attention to in the past 6 or 7 years, so I’m still pretty new to it all and still learning.  Many of you may already know this information, but I think it’s pretty safe to say that there are others out there like me who just don’t know about politics.  So this is my attempt to clarify a little and educate.

With that said, let’s begin our first post.

Washington state recently turned over the governor’s seat to Jay Inslee.  What does his new role have in store for us?

Jay Inslee is a 5th generation Washingtonian and has been in the public eye since 1985, when he and his wife, Trudi, were involved in building a new public school for Selah, Washington.  He has since climbed the political ladder and even had the time to write and illustrate books.

But where does he stand on gun control?

According to the NRA and On The Issues, Jay Inslee receives an F on his gun control issues.  You can read more about this information by clicking this link here: http://www.ontheissues.org/House/Jay_Inslee_Gun_Control.htm.

Inslee has been quoted saying that “the availability of guns that hold 30 or 100 rounds doesn’t make sense“.   In 1994, Inslee voted in favor of the Federal Assaults Weapons Ban.

Be watching for the new initiatives that are coming out for Washington to vote on.  I will blog more about them at a later time.  If you’re not registered to vote, please do so here, and help us all to keep our rights.  You can also find a voter registration form at any Driver’s License office.

If you are already a voter and would like to join the fight, please find an organization near you to join.  There are many of them out there.  If you’d like to join 1 Million Moms Against Gun Control, please fill out the volunteer application here and we’ll get back to you shortly.  There are many different positions available.  It’s not just for moms either, men are welcome and appreciated!

****All information that was gathered for this blog post is included in the links.****