Category: Wisdom

Posted in Believe it or not!, Blessings of Habit, Good ol' days, Home School, Inspiring, Recipes, Who's the mom here?, Wisdom, Womanhood

Postaday Challenge – January Favorites – 2

Posted on by Katharine
Snowflake
Snowflake

I look out my window and see dead trees, grass that’s brown and crunchy like Wheaties, cat dish always needing water . . . with all the heat we’ve had, isn’t it hilarious to read these old posts! Enjoy!

DAY OFF #2

Repairmen of streets, wires, and buildings will get our roads safe and everyone back in their places eventually.

In the meantime, we play in the snow.

The day begins with Dad shoveling snow and bleary-eyed offspring wandering into the kitchen to ask, “What is that noise?” We so seldom have the pleasure.

Now our snowman stands watch. Our cars are decorated with snow objects. Lots of hot cocoa has slipped away. I enjoyed the crazy antics of our two home-bound adult kids, playing in the snow as if they were grade-schoolers. How thankful I am for the snow! Realizing they can still find joy in each other’s company is bliss to this mom.

ALSO (here comes the fun part) THEY CAN PUT ON AND REMOVE THEIR OWN WRAPS!

THEY CAN HEAT THEIR OWN WATER AND STIR UP THEIR OWN HOT COCOA!

THEY CAN HANG ALL THEIR WET THINGS TO DRY!

THEY REMEMBER TO SHUT THE DOOR!

THEY THINK ABOUT NOT TRACKING THE HOUSE WITH SNOW AND MUD!

I get all the same fun as when they were younger, with none of the work.

Another amazing thing: No one grumbles today that the Internet is “down-ish”. We all have decided to do traditional snow-day fun and forget about the rest of the world. I love it. Board games, non-electric musical instruments, laundry hanging on wooden racks by the wood stove, homemade food, and wild birds have risen to the top of our most-selected interests list and everyone is content.

And I wonder: How is it in other homes? I hope you and yours enjoy a great day, today. I pray God grant you peace and contentment.

And snow.

Posted in Believe it or not!, Home School, Husbands, Wisdom

Postaday Challenge – January Favorites – 1

Posted on by Katharine
Sleighing

They recommend we repost something from January. I think I’ll do that for this week. Since the temperature jumps far above 100 degrees almost every day, for us, I have chuckled, reading past entries about snow days, and hope you enjoy them, too. And remember: the special effects folks at WordPress were sprinkling snow all over the place on our blogs, as we read them. 🙂

SNOW AND ICE AND SLUSH, OH MY!

Whew! What a treat this blast of winter has been!

We returned last night from visiting our Texas granddaughter for her birthday, to find our world quite cold and bleak. Now our fires are rebuilt, house is re-warmed, chick water is thawed, and icy crud on the car is knocked off. We literally had to plow our way through winter precipitation along a three-hour drive.

That took four hours.

I was surprised and blessed at how excited our passengers were. Our twenty-something offspring, home on winter break, were like little children as they recalled rare snow days from their past and giggled in excitement over the frightening but beautiful scenes around us.

We all learned much about snow tires, black ice, legalities, and travel safety in snow-slush-ice. My husband, born in Iowa and raised in northern Missouri, practiced every safety tip he knew, as he drove us home. Since we were experiencing his expertise first hand, he used it for an old-time, teachable moment, in hopes the rest of us could somehow be safer one day, should we have to drive in such conditions.

We probably won’t drive anywhere today, though. When universities and government buildings close, it’s time to stay home.

Instead, we will build a snowman. The snow will be perfect and it is deep, from our southern viewpoint: six inches. We will make snow angels and have at least one good snowball fight, although, YES, we’re all adults. We’ll have a huge breakfast with meat, and I’ll cook chili for lunch. Of course, we need more hot cocoa mix, so I’ll stir that up, too.

It’ll be a family day off. Why not join us?

Posted in Believe it or not!, Blessings of Habit, Inspiring, Scripture, Who's the mom here?, Wisdom

Supernormal Children

Posted on by Katharine

Children playingMy husband and I have been keeping a couple of sweet kids for a week, while their parents take an anniversary trip.  It has been a most enjoyable and profitable experience.

These children’s parents have made them behave since they were first born. It was not easy, either. The children have normal stubbornness and selfishness enough to test any mom or dad. But Mom and Dad have constantly and consistently met that test with something immoveable: the Word of God.

Therefore, the children know right from wrong. They also practice a strong grasp of mercy and overcoming, so that although the big brother may be right, he also may give in because he loves little sister, and she is much more apt to quietly point out his mistake to him, than to tattle. What an eye opener this has been!

The biggest lesson I have learned is in the area of sowing and reaping. It is the diligence and faithfulness of the parents that has formed these normal kids into such uncommon sweeties. No guessing was good enough for them; they went with the best child-rearing Manual and so far have done their best to understand and follow it. Though at times their decisions have been unpopular with friends or family, they have not backed down.

And we are enjoying a bit of their peaceful harvest.

Posted in Inspiring, Scripture, Wisdom

Sunday Scriptures: Entrance

Posted on by Katharine

PE

Thy testimonies are wonderful: therefore doth my soul keep them.
The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.
I opened my mouth, and panted: for I longed for thy commandments.
Look thou upon me, and be merciful unto me, as thou usest to do unto those that love thy name.
Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.
Deliver me from the oppression of man: so will I keep thy precepts.
Make thy face to shine upon thy servant; and teach me thy statutes.
Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law.
Psalm 119:129-136

Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
2 Peter 1:10-11

Posted in Inspiring, Sayings, Wisdom

Saturday Sayings: Entrance

Posted on by Katharine

Beware of entrance to a quarrel . . . –Shakespeare, Hamlet

All the world’s a stage,/ and all the men and women merely players./ The have their exits and their entrances . . . –Shakespeare, As You Like It

Music, verily, is the mediator between intellectual and sensuous life . . . the one incorporeal entrance into the higher world of knowledge which comprehends mankind but which mankind cannot comprehend. –Ludwig van Beethoven

Posted in Believe it or not!, Health, Inspiring, Rain, Wisdom

TOO MUCH RAIN!

Posted on by Katharine

No.

We have not received too much rain.

But once, we did. And this is the story of how it went.

It had rained and rained and rained. People were griping about too much rain. People were whining and wailing about too much rain.

And then it happened.

A guy was working on his car with it propped up only on the cheap jack that comes with the car. Dangerous. As was his custom. To top that off, he did not have the chocks by the wheels as he should have.

You guessed it. The car slipped and came crashing down directly on this man’s forehead.

And did not kill him.

No, because we’d had too much rain, the frame of the car merely pushed his head down into the sodden earth and gave him a grisly gash on his brow. His wife was able to visit him in the hospital, where they kept him for observation, instead of at the funeral home for visitation.

And SHE thought we’d had just the right amount of rain.

Don’t we always?

Posted in Believe it or not!, Home School, Who's the mom here?, Wisdom

You’re NOT Gonna Believe This.

Posted on by Katharine

Some folks in Florida adopted a little girl. They mistreated her and her siblings for years. People turned them in to the social workers OFTEN. Nothing was done. Not really. There were so many cases, so few workers, blah, blah, blah.

Then the family withdrew the children from the public schools. Then the girl died from the abuse.

Suddenly, although these people had a long history of abusing the children in their home and no one knows if they were homeschooling or not, the court recommends penalizing ALL HOME SCHOOLERS, the implication being that all homeschoolers are child abusers, the state did not do its job because its hands were tied, blah, blah, blah.

Of course, maybe the judicial recommendations will not become official policy.

In this case.

There always is that hope.

Though becoming more and more bleak.

However:

  1. Did the child die because the state failed to act on already-existing laws? (Probably.)
  2. Will all the abused children in public schools still suffer because of lack of personnel? Or if the policy is enacted, will they suffer even more because of it? (Probably.)
  3. Will the state somehow provide funding for even more caseworkers? (Probably not.)
  4. Will the caseworkers somehow suddenly develop a higher level of caring or a deeper level of investigation? Or whatever? (Probably not.)
  5. If the recommendations do become policy, will the policy be unenforceable except on a whim-basis? (Probably.)
  6. Is it true that all caseworkers and all judges are totally unconcerned about the actual children? (Oops. Didn’t mean to say that.)
  7. Didn’t we ordain and establish our government to circumvent this precise problem? (Yes. Yes. A thousand times: Yes.)

Will we fight this as the U.S. citizens that we are, who are provided with innocence until proven guilty? (Your answer goes here.)

In case anyone is confused, let me say it again:

HOME SCHOOLING IS A LEGAL, PROTECTED ACTIVITY IN THIS COUNTRY.

THE PROBLEM IS FAILURE TO ATTEND TO ACTUAL CHILD ABUSE.

GET THAT AND DO NOT FORGET IT.