College process, FASFA.......what is that????
As we begin the college process,
I am told I need to
fill out
my "Fasfa" paperwork?
Is there a "Fasfa for dummies" book on the market?
I totally do not understand
this college process??
I want to make sure I check under every rug
for scholarship dollars, but don't
know (a) which rugs to look under
and
(b) where the rugs are! HA HA
Seriously, if you have been through this process
and can make some sense of what
to do, I would appreciate
your feedback.
Thanks
Shayna and Jeffie
Dora and her family from church came by last night for me to worm and give their dogs a set of shots. It is so funny how people see things . Dora was watching Jeffie how he was with Michelle (she stopped by for a bit) and she also watched how Jeffie is with Shayna.
Dora told me with tears in her eyes " Shayna is his mom" I gave a sad smile and said I know. She remembers them from church events and other home schooling events. Dora knows Shayna is his aunt (tea as he calls her) and that Shayna has raised him for a lot of his life.
We are blessed that Shayna at 15 years old took on the roll. They have such a strong bond. He cries every time he has to go.
Here are some of Shayna's senior pictures taken last year at this time. Shayna was 17 and Jeffie was 2.5. We bought the hole cd so we have the funny ones too:
  Jeffie will be 4 in January.
God Bless, mj
The Economic Situation. How its destroying humans.
I am watching this economic situation destroy a human being.
What does God have to say about this???
Matthew 6:19-21
19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
I know this, you know this, but I know people who don't know this, and are not approachable to hear this.........it's horrifying.
A month ago this person was smiling, laughing, enjoying what he does (job wise), enjoying life........good mood most of the time......
Today, and for the last 2-3 weeks.........he is surly. He is overwhelmed with anger. He uses foul language, directed towards us. He is not friendly, he is overwhelmed with anger.....and everyone notices. No one wants to talk to him, no one want to work for him anymore........The life has been sucked out of him.
Why?
The huge hit in the stock market.
The huge hit to the economy.
The huge hit to his business.
And it all has to do with money...........
Don't get me wrong. I lost money too. I have 529's for the kids.
I have IRA's for my dh and I. He has a 401k.............
But you know what?
It's just money. What am I going to do?
My kids know the Lord, I know the Lord....if He comes tomorrow, we will be with him for eternity. That's really all that matters.
Really.
These things must come to pass.
Matthew 23 tells us what NOT to do!
Matthew 24 tells us WHAT to expect!
Matthew 25 tells us WHO is going with Him, and who is not!
Pray for those who are lost in the money.
They are real people, really hurting.
Nuts!
Its pretty quiet right now. Except for the thunking of copious amounts of walnuts tumbling out the three in the back yard. I’ve been watching Sassafras out their in the yard with buckets- diligently filling each with walnuts- dumping and filling some more. She’s about got hit a few times with the ka-thunking nuts but continues to steadfastly fill buckets. I am amazed at her diligence and stick-to-it-iveness. I doubt I’d be out there singing and talking to myself and continuing picking up (well, I would be doing the talking to myself part)- I’m sure I’d have quit after the about the 3rd five gallon bucketful. I would probably have shaken my fist at that tree and murmured a few things when it kept showering down more nuts. I doubt I would have persevered as she is. She’s been out their for a good half hour or so. It is a joy to watch my beautiful daughter in the warm afternoon sun.
I do believe I have it in me to join her and fill up a couple of buckets.
And then
Perhaps
a bit of sweet chocolate for the two of us.
Interesting blog on home schooling...........
Sarah over at "Gonna Get There Someday" has a great blog entry that I wanted to share. I also shared my answer. Check her out!
We 'public schooled' thru the 6th grade.
5 star school rating.
Middle class part of town.
Low crime rate.
Brand new high school.
It looked great, on the outside.
Inside?
No physical science. Nope none. Only "social science".
Anti-American projects for grades.
The removal of the National Anthem.
The feminization of the boys.
The masculinaztion of girls.
My daughters 5th grade teacher was SO STONED when we did the parent teacher conference, I told him next time he showed up that high I was gonna call the police.
He laughed.
13 pregnant 6th graders (650 total 6th graders, you do the percent)
Porn is not seen as disgusting.
I could go on and on....
So. We prayed, together, every single day when I dropped them off..........every day for one school year.
God said "GET THEM OUT".
I said "Ok".
Funny you mention unkept, nonverbal kids.
We don't do home school groups, co-ops, youth group, or any "group" activity.
My daughters were just complimented the other day for their ability to carry on an intelligent, and interesting conversation with adults. She went on to say that most kids she encounters they talk with their heads down, and mumble............
Hmmmmmmm
Mine were raised from the time they could hold their heads up........EYE CONTACT.
So I guess this falls on the parents.
If they don't train the children to be IN the world, not of IT, they are doing them a huge disservice. And they are not doing what God has asked of them...........which we all know that's not going to end well :-)
I see your point. It's a good point.
Public School and God's Word didn't line up.
He called, we answered.
And I take "train them up in the Way they should go"........seriously.
Great post!!
Laura
Check this out Statist Education Is history repeating itself ?
Do a google search of Adolf Hitler brainwashing through the school systems.........it's chilling.
Test the Spirits
1 John 4
Test the Spirits
1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.
Muslim fingerprints in Obama's history
By Janet Porter
I've misspoken before. I've misspoken before on national television. I've mixed up words, reversed orders, but I have never once misspoken concerning my faith and the God in whom I trust. Even in the most heated debate on Islam, never did I ever utter the words "my Muslim faith." Nor, even when talking about Buddhism, have I ever slipped up and referred to "my Buddhist faith." Ever. Why? Because my Christianity is so ingrained in me, so a part of who I am, that the thought of adhering to a false religion is so foreign, so blasphemous, that the words would never cross my lips.
Not the case for Mr. Obama. On ABC's "This Week" with George Stephanopoulos, Obama said:
"Let's not play games, what I was suggesting – you're absolutely right that John McCain has not talked about my Muslim faith. And you're absolutely right that that has not come."
Watch it online.
Matthew 12:34 says: "For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks."
Notice that Obama didn't correct himself. He was "corrected" by George Stephanopoulos who interrupted Obama, with the words: "Christian faith."
Let's just say he misspoke. Did Obama misspeak when he told the New York Times that blasphemy was one of the "prettiest sounds on earth at sunset"?
That's right. In a Feb. 27, 2007, interview with the New York Times' Nicholos Kristof, that's how Obama described the Muslim call to prayer. That prayer, which Obama recited with a "first-class [Arabic] accent," begins with this:
Allah is supreme!
Allah is supreme!
Allah is supreme! Allah is supreme!
I witness that there is no god but Allah
I witness that there is no god but Allah
I witness that Muhammad is his prophet ...
Really? No god but the false god Allah is the prettiest sound on earth? Really.
Speaking of slip-ups, here's the clip of Obama saying he's visited 57 states. He's such a "global citizen," perhaps the 57 member states of the "Organization of the Islamic Conference" was more second nature to him than our own 50 U.S. states.
While Obama's campaign site declares: "Senator Obama has never been a Muslim" and "was not raised as a Muslim," the records say differently.
As was documented by Jerome Corsi in his best-selling book, "The Obama Nation," in January 1968, Obama was registered as a Muslim at his primary school under the name Barry Soetoro. Even the Associated Press has released a photocopy of the document where Barack Obama is registered as an Indonesian citizen of the Muslim religion. (Listen to Dr. Corsi on yesterday's Faith2Action radio program at www.f2a.org discussing it).
Obama also claimed he never attended a mosque. Not so, according to eyewitnesses. As was reported in WorldNetDaily, childhood friends and even his school principal said they saw Obama attend the mosque with their own eyes. In response, the Obama campaign issued another statement: Instead of claiming Obama was never a Muslim, as they had previously posted, they then claimed he "has never been a practicing Muslim."
Even in Obama's autobiography, "Dreams From My Father," he called his school "a Muslim school" and admits he studied the Quran during his formative years from age 6 to age 10: "In the Muslim school, the teacher wrote to tell mother I made faces during Quranic studies."
He could have never made faces in Quranic studies if he wasn't studying the Quran.
So this weekend on national television, he referred to his "Muslim faith." Last year he said that praising Allah as the one true god was the prettiest sound on earth. He said he was never a mosque-attending Muslim, but eyewitnesses say otherwise. Despite what Obama and his campaign have claimed, by his own admission, he studied the Quran.
Add to the fact that on June 13, 2008, Obama's half brother, Malik Obama, who lives in Kenya, told the Jerusalem Post that "if elected his brother will be a good president for the Jewish people despite his Muslim background."
In that same article was a picture of Malik with his half brother Barack in traditional Somali elder dress with a turban on his head in 1985. Like many pictures of Obama in Muslim attire readily available on the Internet, he was not between the ages of 6 and 10 when the photos were taken.
Let's pretend all of this is just part of some smear campaign. Forget everything that I've said and take a look of who's backing this guy.
According to Islamic expert Brigitte Gabriel, author of "Because They Hate, A Survivor of Islamic Terror Warns America" and her new book, "They Must be Stopped: Why We Must Defeat Radical Islam and How We Can Do It," there are some very interesting campaign supporters of Barack Obama. Beyond the support of unrepentant terrorist William Ayers, Obama has backing from some other notorious groups, from "al-Qaida to Hamas, to Hezbollah," to "Islamic Jihad" to the "Muslim Brotherhood," to "all the terrorists organizations" who "are coming out in force for Obama for president," stated Gabriel on the Sept. 3, 2008, Faith2Action radio program (on the "Archives" section of www.f2a.org).
On the same program, she spoke of the Muslim Brotherhood project for North America, in 1982, whose plans were to get Muslims actively involved in politics.
Gabriel claims that the Islamic websites and terrorist organizations are calling Obama the "first Muslim president of the United States."
As far as they are concerned, said Gabriel, these groups claim "Obama can say anything he wants to get elected – he is a Muslim." They claim that if he had renounced his Muslim affiliation declared early in life, he would have changed his Muslim name.
What is interesting is the Islamic world has not renounced Obama for becoming a Christian – a capital offense under Shariah law.
What is perhaps more interesting is that Sen. Barack Hussein Obama has never renounced his Muslim ties. He was too busy pretending they didn't exist until the documents and eyewitness accounts surfaced recently.
Let's not play games. By way of review, on national television Obama "misspoke" about "his Muslim faith." Last year he said the words "there is no god but Allah" were "one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset." Then he said that he's been to "all 57 states" (57 states coincidently belong to the "Organization of the Islamic Conference"). According to eyewitnesses, he was a mosque-going, Quran-learning, Muslim (according to official documents released by the AP). His friends say so. His principal said so. His own brother said so. He wears the Muslim turban and Somali elder dress for photo-ops, apparently for fun. While he hasn't renounced any of this, not one Islamic extremist has called for his death as an apostate from Islam.
Obama is right about one thing. Sen. John McCain isn't talking about Obama's Muslim faith. But the rest of the country is beginning to.
Obama Nation? Abomination? Which is it? Or is it the same?
Distributed by www.ChristianWorldviewNetwork.com
Getting it back on track
Today I am not frustrated (yet) and not frayed at the edges. It is my hope that I remain intact.
What helped me today (so far):
getting enough rest. I’ve been staying up too late and waking up earlier than I want to. My body just can’t take that and be happy about it.
Must adjust to the reality.
Often my expectations of myself and what I want to accomplish are bit, shall we say: UNrealistic. Ahem.
I still try to be supermom. Super homeschooling-work-at-home-youth-director mom.
And don’t forget loving-supportive-helpmeet-extra-sweet wife.
Can you see my cape? Oh drat, its half stuck in my pants.
This skewed view can lead to periods of great success and just as successful crash and burn- as in goingdowninablazeofglory crashing. Fun for others to watch (like rubbernecking) yet extremely un-fun for the spiraling an*l retentive person whose expectations just smacked pavement sotospeak.
I am determined to get enough rest.
I am determined to not even attempt to climb out of bed until I’ve prayed and had my quiet time. Yes, even if I am running late I WILL do this. A day can go from back to worse just that fast.
Bad- blink-worse-blink- and we are into ohsoverymuchworsewordscannotexplainyouwould
havebeenbetterofftoberunninganhourbehindinyourschedule worse. Yeah that bad.
I decided I needed to get back in the habit of committing my day to the Lord during morning prayer time. And the habit of praying over my schedule asking God to rank the priority of matters- not me. Sometimes I get to thinking that clean underwear supersedes morning devotions with the kids or that really good part in the book I’m reading is more important than starting dinner on time. Or having a clean kitchen is more important than that way cool science experiment that must ultimately live in said kitchen for two weeks.
I am aware my priorities need a bit of adjusting. But I do stand by the fact that clean undergarments are incredibly important. BUT not more important than devotions. Maybe I could have the kids stand around me, reading the devotion while I stuff clothes in the wash? I’m Kidding! Really. I would so not do that. Be tempted, yes, actually have that happen- no.
My inability to stop multi-tasking can be compared to a kid skimming a test and only getting half the answers right. You miss a lot and get some things wrong when you skim the surface. I’m always telling the kidlets to “read the directions- ALL the directions.” Someone should take their own advice.
My reply to "HOW TO KEEP ORDER"
IN THIS BUSY LIFE OF MINE
asked a question
How do I keep house?
I have three teens, and they are an enormous help.
When they were little?
At the age of 2
they learned to drag an empty laundry basket
behind them and we cleaned the living room
right before daddy got home.
As soon as they were old enough
to clean.
They did.
And they always have.
There is no choice.
I have told them as soon as they could understand:
You are 1/5 of a whole family.
It takes a whole family working together
to make this home function.
The big thing for us now is that the house is
picked up and dinner is cooking
or done
when my dh gets home.
I want my girls to love their husbands this way
I want my son to be loved this way.
Do we have schedules?
No not really. Never have.
If it needs done, do it.
Now. Not "in a minute".

Do we have a loud house?
Yes ma'am.
We live life at full volume!
In the evening though, it's time to quite it down.
It is the silence, that will deafen me
when my kids move away.

Do we use the TV / VCR?
When they were babies, they were allowed to
watch ONE 30 min "sing along" tape
a day.
That is when I slammed in a 30 min nap
before I had to go to work.
Again, we all cleaned up so there was not really a
"kids do this while I did that"
situation.
What does a typical day look like at my home?
Here are the things that happen
every day.
So far, and thank God
We wake up.
I throw in a load of laundry
We eat.
The kids work on school
They shower.
Throw load of laundry in dryer.
I shower.
Lunch is eaten
I fold and put away a load of laundry
Dinner is made
Dinner is eaten.
We watch some sports on tv
We go to bed.
Otherwise, there is no real rhyme or rhythm to
our day.
We just do what needs done.
Some days we have lessons.
Some days we have practice.
Some days I have Bible study
Some days we have games.
Some days I work.
Some days we just go to the park.
We are pretty flexible.
And really always have been.
Even when they were babies!!
HTH!!
Frayed
Today I feel frayed at the edges.
It’s my fault.
I completely woke up on the wrong side of the bed.
I didn’t even want to get up.
The blanket cocoon was so very comfy and warm and it was so dark, cold and dreary.
It didn’t help matters that I knew there were a couple of things I had to attend to today that I just didn’t want to do.
Cranky.
Then that frustrating email.
Ugh.
And it seemed like I couldn’t quite get in sync with teaching all 3 children simultaneously this morn.
I ended up letting Mr. Conductor color with sharpies on a large piece of heavy paper. Right next to me.
The fumes quickly gave me a headache.
He didn’t seem to mind the least little bit.
We made a huge mess on the table and on the floor with schooling.
Which is normal.
Except that it helped perpetuate the continual fraying of the edges.
Mr. C and I are discussing circles this week.
I let Mr. C have a hole punch.
The floor is peppered with bits of colored paper.
I need to get my perspective back- there is still a lot of day left.
I gotta get past these grumpies.
Are you tired [grumpy]? Worn-out [frayed at the edges]? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Matthew 11:28-29
[my additions for today]
Pulling into Frustration Station
I am currently fighting a growing frustration.
My frustration is with email. I am amazed at the amount of “between the lines” reading that can go into email and the trouble it causes.
I have learned, with some job/ministry related emails to say a prayer before even opening them.
Sometimes I feel like opening my email is like walking through a mine field- some days I make it through alright and other days . . . . .
Boom!
Ker-blooie!
So I pray when I get emails from certain people and I pray when I read the emails and I pray when I am forming my replies and I pray when I hit “send”.
I think to myself that I do not want to perpetuate the frustration they are making me feel. I work hard to answer the email words not the tone.
And there are times when I fail to make that happen. Times when what I perceive to be the “tone” of an email pushes my hot button down so far that I don’t think it will ever pop back up.
Some emails I do not reply to right away- I have walk away, think about it, pray about it- talk it over with Mr. Steady.
Email can be an ugly thing.
I often find myself saying to Mr. Steady, “Does so-and-so think or proof read before sending emails? Does so-and-so have any idea how they come off in this email?”
Or “Boy, I wish so-and-so understood how their emails made me feel- I wonder if they would continue?”
Unfortunately for me I do not feel that I can speak to the two biggest so-and-so’s who send me frustrating emails.
Right now it seems that the frustrating emails are job/ministry related but in the not-so-distant past there were frustrating, confusing and misunderstood emails within a group I belong to.
I know there is email etiquette but how many people use it? It is so very VERY easy to whip off an email to someone- and very tempting to do it when you are mad/angry/frustrated and want to share all your thoughts without someone butting in- you have your say, your rant in all it’s glory.
Email is easier than phoning. Email is easier than face-to-face. But I’ve learned that it is not better. There are times we take our rants too far in emails and do irreparable damage. Yes, I know this for certain. I’ve been on both ends of the rant and no lasting good comes from it.
I often hear myself mumbling that the emailer is too narrow-minded. Can’t they see it from another point of view, I ponder. Like mine? Don’t they know that a little sugar with a complaint makes it easier to swallow?
Does anyone keep “some thoughts” to themselves?
Benjamin Franklin is quoted as saying, “A slip of the foot you may soon recover, but a slip of the tongue you may never get over.”
and
“Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.”
And here is something I wrote down in my quote journal and try to remind myself of when I wallow in frustration and more- just like this.
Its alright to sit on your pity pot every now and again. Just be sure to flush it when you are done.
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