God is so GOOD

This evening I prayed with my dear friend Keren before home church started… We just had abotu 20 minutes, and I wasn’t sure if God could really reveal much and how deep we could go in 20 minutes 🙂 And He DID!!

I’ll back up.  I read a book called “Theophostic Prayer”.  written by a southern Baptist, I believe, it is all about mind renewal… allowing God to take us back to those places where we have embraced a lie, and then EXPERIENCING his truth.  (as opposed to logically KNOWING the truth, and telling yourself the truth over and over, and it still doesn’t seem to stick)  That is a very loos recap of what stuck out to me the most.

I gave the book to my friend, she asked me to pray with her.  I really was not feeling up to it.  At all!!  I had a bad… BAD day.  Yelling at children, tired and grumpy and wanting to just go to bed and cry but needing to be ‘together’ enough to cook dinner and dessert and host home church… And God used me to sit with her while HE spoke to her and revealed himself in one of her sore spots… the healing has begun… PRAISE JESUS!!!

This is not the only book that explains this… there was one out by the Navigators as well, on healing prayer, and there are others.  Its not new… its in the Scripture!!  Be transformed by lots of hard work and telling yourself truth over and over… the renewing of your mind…

blah blah… time for bed… not being coherent here… but check out this book, or something like it… truly God can and will heal us from the lies we struggle against in our mind.

Ancient Rome, gladiators and the Colosseum

So we’ve been in Rome last week, and this week, and probably next week too as we head into the catacombs.

The gladiators have DEFINITELY been the big hit.  🙂  They played this fun computer game where they have to dress their gladiator and send them into the arena to fight, and see how well you do.  It was very educational, and not gory or detailed AT ALL.  They each ended up ‘owning’ one style of gladiator.  They drew that particular gladiator… and then dressed like them to fight in their colosseum… which they were happy with not decorating. hmmmm… OK!! 🙂  They were happy with the cardboard up in a ‘circle’ (very loosely described as such) and their orops.  a Blanket for a fishing net, swords, medieval helmets and shields… 🙂

I wrote in his description of everything, then added in a different color the ‘official’ name.  I especially liked the ‘red cloth to cover his privacy’ 🙂

Keenan drew his IN the arena.  Complete with the ‘left’ on the left for the animals to come in.  And the exit on the right for the dead bodies of animals and people.  such detail… You can see the fishing net the guy is holding, his trident (pitchfork thing), dagger in his belt and shoulder guard.  He did a really good job.

Besides some maps and listening to Story of the World, we do have a couple more things planned this week.  Try a recipe I ran across with boiled eggs and a pine nut sauce… I have the ingredients so we’ll try it.  And some internet stuff with Pompeii and volcanoes.

Halloween pictures – before Christmas is upon us

So, I went earthy this year 🙂  I REALLY didn’t want anymore pirate stuff for our dress up box.  We thought about Egyptian costumes, since we have been studying that.  BUT that sounded like a lot of work, so I was very relieved they didn’t love that idea!!

Thad chose something different every day the week leading up to Halloween from the dress-up box… This was my favorite.  He wore it all day, and most of the time used the antennae to ‘write’ with 🙂 GREAT form for penmanship!!

Then I came upon some idea in some magazine, and I can’t find it so I’m not sure where it was…

BUT… juse dress your HEADS.

So the boys were grass, courtesy of some bugs, ants glued on 🙂 and a WHOLE lot of green hairspray.  (they were SUCH good sports about their showers that night… I was needlessly ready for mutiny, crying and much struggle)

And Shand… I MADE – write it in the books mom!! – I MADE her hat. 🙂  True, I used mostly glue, and just a wee bit of sewing.  And I waited until too late, forgetting glue must… DRY to stick!… so I had to put it in the oven to dry it 🙂  And it didn’t fit QUITE right, so it looked more like a white-spotted red pirate’s hat than a toadstool mushroom.  BUT still.  Isn’t she just cute?

We just did the end of the street that is a cul-de-sac, dropped by Grandma and Grandpa’s (on the way, Shand picked of 1/2 of the spots) and on to a party.  so we are done eating our candy.  That is a first!!

Great Wall, Trojan Horse and the Parthenon

Yup.  We are in the Ancient Times in our studies.  We haven’t progressed TOO far though, as we have really gotten into Greece.  Keenan and I are really enjoying all the Greek Myths and Thad is putting up with them, as long as we have some good picture books to go along with them.  Which there are some GREAT ones out there, by the way.

SO here are some pics of what we have been doing the last few weeks.

WE made one portion of the Great Wall of China.  Bryan is so sweet… as you can see here, it is THE most perfectly square kid’s project there EVER was… I had to include the pic of Shand helping… because, you know, that is what 18mth olds do best!!  And its lovely when you look back at pics and realize your kids hair wasn’t brushed, and needs to be cut, and they don’t match and they have food on their face from lunch.  Lovely.  Real life, you know?

On to Greece… we made a shoebox version of a Trjoan Horse, head drawn by Keenan while he waited for Bryan to find the perfect horse head pattern 🙂  Same with the tail!  Thaddeus working with a toy in his hand… always… Trojan Horse meets transformers…. They didn’t want to paint it… they liked the brown that it was (they apparently didn’t notice the STICKER on the top… but, OK!  no paint.  I can deal with that!!)  I was so proud of Bryan.  He didn’t even measure, God bless him!  It was just about killing him.

I may seem a little odd that our trapdoor is on the top… but how else will the knights and soldiers get in and out, you know?  (we are fresh out of Trojan and Greek fighters…)

And finally… the Gingergread Parthenon.  You know, these projects are NOT educational.  At all!!  BUT I bet they will always remember the name of the Parthenon, as it has been said 5o million times over the last few days… “Can I have a piece of Parthenon?”

Aren’t they just cute… I could not convince Thad to take off the police stuff.  “But mom, I”m a police!!”  ok! 🙂  GOTTA love the dirty dishes in the background and the mess and clutter… its impossible, really…

SO there we are.  our ‘stuff’ we’ve been working on.  We’ll start on Rome next week and finish that up before Christmas and take a break from History before exploring Medieval stuff in January.  Hmmm… I wonder if the boys will like that.

i WANT to blog… I really do…

But I just can’t find it in me… there’s words, but at this time of the day, the energy to form coherent thoughts eludes me.  I feel bad… all those Australian pictures I’m supposed to post.

HANG ON!! That’s blogging with obligation… I don’t do that, even though I never stuck the cool button on my sidebar!!

SO – my homeschool pics will wait, or never appear from our journey to Ancient Egypt, China and Greece.  (Though its been good)

AND- my Australia pics WILL make it up at some point… even if its much later than anyone cares but me.

AND my deep thoughts will stay tucked in my head for another time or until they disappear and change into new ones – which I’m sure will be more profound and grown up ANYWAY! 🙂

I have enjoyed keeping up on all of you and your fun adventures and great thoughts and cute pics and inspiring challenges… I’m just being a silent observer.  But observing nonetheless, and wishing you all a Thankful November.

For we have MUCH to be thankful for, yes?