Recipe tips from my daughter

Making brownies to take to a church dinner Sunday afernoon, my daughter declared, "The way to make sure you get perfect brownies every time is to lick the batter first." No wonder my brownies always turn out----I always have been a licker : )

I Guess the Phonics Worked

Last week, my just turned 5 yo daughter came downstairs from her rest time and announced, "Well, I finished Moby Dick. It was really good!" Had it been a different child I would have laughed, but my daughter has been reading since she was 3--when I was trying to teach her then almost 5 yo brother. She sort of hung around as we worked our way thru 100 Easy Lessons, and by lesson 50, she had it. It took her older brother another year and a half to really master reading to the point where he will now choose to read (the new glasses helped too!).

Now here is the shame: after asking her some basic comprehension questions about Moby Dick, which she got right, I had to confess to my husband that I had never read Moby Dick. I do not like Melville. I had to read some of his other works in college and his style about killed me. But I own a whole set of Children's Illustrated Classics, and Moby Dick is one of the titles. Now it is abridged and does have an illustration every 5 or 6 pages, but it is still about 200 pages.

My daughter is now on chapter 16 of On the Banks of Plum Creek. It was supposed to be our next read aloud (continuing in the series from a break because we didn't own it until yesterday). But if she has read it already, I wonder how much she will be interested once we finish Elsie Dinsmore.

Not a terrible problem to have that's for sure!

Hymns of the Week

The children have been learning Holy, Holy, Holy in children's choir at church, so we thought it appropriate to reinforce it at home. At the same time, we added Nothing but the Blood of Jesus for this week also. I am thoroughly enjoying this part of our mornings and evenings.

What Can Wash Away My Sin?

Nothing But The Blood Of Jesus;

What Can Make Me Whole Again?

Nothing But The Blood Of Jesus.

For My Pardon This I See,

Nothing But The Blood Of Jesus.

For My Cleansing, This My Plea,

Nothing But The Blood Of Jesus.

Nothing Can For Sin Atone,

Nothing But The Blood Of Jesus.

Naught Of Good That I Have Done,

Nothing But The Blood Of Jesus.

This Is All My Hope And Peace,

Nothing But The Blood Of Jesus.

This Is All My Righteousness,

Nothing But The Blood Of Jesus.

O Precious Is The Flow, That Makes Me White As Snow

No Other Fount I Know, Nothing But The Blood Of Jesus.

The other thing I love about this hymn is that EVERYBODY can really get into the refrain, "Nothing but the blood...."

Halloween

We are for the first time, allowing our children to participate in Halloween. We had attended a church that help a "festival" that we went to. We decided that being new in our neighborhood and still not knowing any neighbors besides the 3 immediately around us (either side and across the street), we would go to them and meet them on Halloween and be home to meet their children as well. Truthfully, I am really looking forward to it, but not as much as my children who have begun a countdown to trick or treating.

Lest you think I have lost my mind, I do offer money in exchange for candy they want to surrender, so there is not too much left : )

Tim Challies has a very good discussion of Halloween here

Hymn of the Week

I think that more than ever I am keenly aware that my heart is prone to wander, and does wander. Thankfully, I have a Great High Priest Who intercedes for me!

1. Come, thou fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount!
I'm fixed upon it,
Mount of God's redeeming love.

2. Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Hither by thy help I'm come;
And I hope, by thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.

3. O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be!
Let that grace now, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to thee.
Prone to wander--Lord, I feel it--
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here's my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for thy courts above.

Congratulations

To RC Jr. and Denise Sproul on their new son, Reilly Justice.

Family...the ties that bind or I wish I could bind them with ties

When non-homeschooling people discover that we are a homeschooling family, it seems their first concern is for our children's "socialization." I have heard several comebacks for this from other HS families, but I usually ask them how well they got along with their siblings vs. their friends while they were growing up.

I know that I treated my friends much better than I ever treated my brother (or my parents to my own shame). So, I point out that if my children can truly love one another, it is actually easier to love those outside of our family. If I can see my children and myself loving each other then I am confident that they/we have discovered the reliance on God to love our neighbors as well.

That said, what do you do with extended family that you struggle to get along with? The pastor of Westminster Church is finishing up a sermon series on I Corinthians 13. It has been amazing and convicting. So much of the exhortation to love is glossed over. This is tough stuff.

As well it should be. This is the Christian life here. It is about sacrifice. The whole story of Christianity is full of blood. This is not a simple, happy calling. There is bloodshed. And we are called to crucify ourselves daily.

That said, our family is about to embark on a 3 day trip to be with extended family. Our relationship has been strained for years. We live so differently and while they claim to be redeemed, the marks of true repentance and regeneration are not there.

So it's time to put into practice what the Holy Spirit has been teaching me for the past 2 months. Love is kind, long suffering, is not envious, does not boast, is not proud, does not shame others, is not self-seeking or irritable, does not delight in evil (or in the evil of others, ie. "Thank you God that I'm not like them."), hopes in God, endures with God......love never fails.

Hymn of the Week

1. All hail the power of Jesus' name,
let angels prostrate fall!
Bring forth the royal diadem {}
and crown Him Lord of all! { }

2. Crown Him, you martyrs of your God,
who from His altar call,
Extol the Stem of Jesse's rod {}
and crown Him Lord of all! { }

3. Ye seed of Israel's chosen race,
ye ransomed of the fall,
Hail Him who saves you by His grace, {}
and crown Him Lord of all! { }

4. Sinners, whose love can ne'er forget
the wormwood and the gall.
Go, spread your trophies at His feet {}
and crown Him Lord of all! { }

5. Let ev'ry kindred, ev'ry tribe,
on this terrestrial ball,
To Him all majesty ascribe, {}
and crown Him Lord of all! { }

6. O that with yonder sacred throng
we at His feet may fall;
We'll join the everlasting song, {}
and crown Him Lord of all! { }