Understanding of the Times

I Chronicles 12:32 was the focus of Paster Bruce's message yesterday.


             And of the sons of Issachar, men who understood the times, with knowledge of what 
              Israel should do, their chiefs were two hundred; and their kinsmen were at their
              command.


A call to action to seek the mind of God and act on His will.  We prayed last night as a family for God's direction for all of us and His wisdom and discernment to understand it.  Even more the ability to obey.
Then this morning as I  open up my Bible study of Ruth this is what I read:


"I wonder if God is calling you to spread your wings over someone.  A person who might not look like you, think like you, or shop where you shop.  You may have to go to Africa or Brazil to find them; he or she may live next door or be related to you.  Either way, it is time for us to give of our lives as Boaz gave of his." The Living Room Series Ruth by Kelly Minter


God hears.  He knows what's in our heart.  Quite frankly it's a little scary to me to follow where God leads 100%.  I like to be in control--or at least the illusion that I am in control.  What if God asks me to do this..... or that......Really though, being in God's will for our lives is the safest place we can be---even if it is outside our comfort zone because God is our Comfort in that Zone.

School November 7-11

This weeks topic in History: The Russians and the Ottomans

•          L & J will read and answer questions from SOTW 
•          find pictures of the Hagia Sophia when it was a Christian Church and when it became a mosque         
•          Finish the book:  Catherine, Called Birdy

Packers, Wings, Butternut Squash, and Angel Food Cake

That's what's going on in our house right now.  Logan is the menu planner tonight.  Okay, I admit he didn't request the squash but we've got a few to use and I love this recipe.





Yum.. Butternut Squash Bake: All Recipe  


This is the dipping sauce I found for the wings:

Blue Cheese Dipping Sauce:

• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 8 ounces blue cheese
• 1 teaspoon hot red pepper sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Place all the ingredients in a food processor or blender and process on high speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. Pour into a decorative bowl.

We'll see how it goes....

Thankful

Last weekend Kevin, Logan, and Jonah spent all day Saturday working with a bunch of wood cutting  guys.  You can see the result.  A very generous man that Kevin works with donated the use of his huge dump truck, wood splitter, time,  and the wood.  Friday night our whole family unloaded and stacked one dump truck load of wood.  Sat. Kevin and the older boys spent the entire day cutting, stacking and hauling wood with everyone involved---including another dump truck load for ourselves.  What a great feeling to have this all ready for the cold winter a head.  It was actually fun doing this together and seeing the stack get bigger and bigger.  I think it gave the boys a sense of accomplishment too.

We took this picture today after church so we could sent it to Jerry (the generous donator of all the wood) as a thank you.  

Spring Ahead--Fall Behind!

Maybe it was my frantic pace of working all day yesterday to clean out the storage room that befuddled my brain into settle the clock AHEAD instead of behind.  But...I am VERY ready to church this morning having two extra hours.  

Cleaning the Storage/Project Room

I wish that I would have taken a before picture.  Wow.  This storage room mess has been bugging me for quite a while.  A couple of years ago it really looked much like this because we used it to do some school work and art/craft projects.  I'm not sure how it became designated a dumping ground for everything I didn't know what to do with.. but somehow it morphed into a room I dreaded to go into.  And I had to go into it often because our big freezer in located in the back corner.
Since we live in a small house, I don't have a lot of room for the boys to do craft projects and leave them set out until finished.  This room is perfect for that.  It was weighing on me that they couldn't really do any projects until I cleaned it up a bit.  Like most jobs of this nature, once you get started it isn't as bad as you think and I didn't take nearly as long.  So note to self....just get started!
And Yeah---  It looks great!!  It feels so good to get something done.  And--I've got four whole garbage back of stuff to get rid of.  

Halloween Fun

Mary, Cindy, Susan, and I took the kids out for a little trick or treating fun.

Zach, Luke, and Jackson

The whole gang ready to go.

BLOGGING--UGH!

I have a love/hate relationship with Blogging.  I love to look at the pictures that capture what we've been up to--especially since I have a total hate relationship with scrap booking.  Blogging is my way of compensating for not scrap booking all those cute pages which take up way too much time (for me because I'm not naturally creative--not knocking anyone else's hobby)
Hate--because I seem to not find the time to blog either.  One more thing to feel guilty about.  But recently I unplugged myself from facebook.  Now I have some added free time to my day, not to mention a more positive out look on life.  This really should equal more blogging hours for me.  So...this is my experiment.  Does no face book=more blogging time?  Time will tell I guess.
Possibly.. if I can quit playing with HOW my  blog looks and just start typing.

Books read February-April

Books Logan and Jonah have read: 

My Life in Dog Years by Gary Paulsen

White Fang (Logan) by Jack London

Pompeii: City of Ashes

The Mystery of the Roman Ransom

The Ides of April
Terra-Cotta Soldiers by Arlan Dean
Hannibal Rome's Worst Nightmare by Brooks

Books I have Read to Logan and Jonah:

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place (book 2)

Treasures in the Snow by Patricia St. John

Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff

Luke:

Lately I've started reading chapter books to Luke (actually all the boys) at bedtime.  Our first couple were Junie B. Jones books.  Now we've graduated to Charlotte's Web--which I love.

Books I have read to Logan and Jonah for school from Aug.-Feb.

Maura Daughter of the Nile
The Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt
Black Ships Before Troy
The Wanderings of Odysseus
The God King
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
A Single Shard
The Samurai's Tale
Victory on the Walls

Books Logan and Jonah have read for school from Aug.-Feb.

The Golden Goblet
The Cay
The Phantom Toll Booth
The Hittite Warrior
How To Train Your Dragon
D'Aulaires Greek Myths
Theras and His Town
The Well of Sacrifice
Archimedes and the Door of Science
Alexandar The Great by Robert Green
The Giver