My goal.

My aspiration. My desire. My aim.

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

Let your graciousness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Don't worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

And the peace that surpasses every thought , will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable--if there is any moral excellence and if there is any praise--dwell on these things.

Philippians 4:4-8

Something to consider.

Also from M. Wayne Hines:

"In the culture that God set aside for His chosen people, all of the celebrations that God established pointed the people to Him. Most of those celebrations have a prophetic significance. When writing to the Colossians, Paul called them shadows of things to come.

"I wrote all of this to encourage you to be sure that your focus with your family stays on the things of God. Don't spend all of your time and money trying to convince your children that a fat elf in a red suit knows all about them and will reward their good behavior - eventually they will find out. When they do, will they believe you when you tell them that an unseen God knows all about them, loves them and has a perfect plan for their life? Play games with your children, but make certain they realize it is only a game. The integrity of your witness is crucial, don't waste it on candy canes, chocolate bunnies, jelly beans, and certainly not on witches, ghosts, and goblins."

Sad Stats.

The following is an excerpt from the November 2008 letter from M. Wayne Hines, of Lanexa, Virginia.

"It is early October and stores are decorated for Halloween. Churches are planning "Fall Festivals" to provide Christians with an alternative to the ancient pagan celebrations that also figure prominently in Satanism. Millions of Americans are spending money on decorations, candy, and costumes. Retail experts are estimating sales in excess of 5 billion dollars. Only Santa Claus spending surpasses Halloween. The Easter Bunny's candy only reaches about 1.6 billion per year. What amazes me is that only about 1.2 billion is spent by evangelicals on missions. The vast percentage of Christianity's financial resources are in the hands of American Christians. how does God view our stewardship of the blessings He has rained down upon us?"

Anna in her new glasses!

Glasses for Anna

I have noticed Anna squinting some. Thinking I would do a simple vision screening at home, I kept my eye on her. At the start of September, my mother asked about it. I downplayed it, but became more attentive to her vision. Sunday, the 28th, we were at church together and Anna couldn't read the screen with the scripture reference on it.

Tuesday, we were at the optometrist's office. I was astonished by how little my Anna could see! Yes, my daughter needed glasses. She was elated! I suppose, for girls in particular, glasses are more of an accessory! She has been such a good steward of them, taking great care to keep them clean and safe.

If your child is a friend of Anna's, she would appreciate you not showing him/her this picture or telling them about her new specs!

She loves them!

We are experiencing trouble loading photos at this time. Please check back later to see Anna in her new glasses. Thank you.

Book it!

Our family enjoys Pizza Hut's Book it! program. I love that they are willing for homeschoolers to participate too! October is the first month for this school year.

So...what do I chose for my fifth grader? I want to challenge her, but it needs to be realistic, achievable, if you will. She loves to read. She reads every possible moment! She does not enjoy reading aloud, though she is so expressive when she

reads. She is able to read much faster silently, of course. The goal I set for her is to complete the book Midnight in the Dollhouse, read aloud to her sister. She wasn't thrilled with the idea initially, but she has found it a delight! What fun!

Sarah, who is still in the early stages of reading, has resented her sister's love for reading, wishing her to play imaginative games and stories instead.

Midnight in the Dollhouse is a wonderful story of imagination! http://www.amazon.com/Midnight-Dollhouse-Apple-Marjorie-Stover/dp/0590449249

I did pre-read it and found a few references to voodoo. As they were unnecessary to the plot or the rest of the story, I covered these small sections (maybe 4?) with Sticky Post-Its and they are ready to go!

I suspect this project will result in good fruit for sisters and reading alike!

Nearing September's End...

Is it just me? Or is life sailing at immeasurable speed?

Yesterday, I had a three year old and a baby... Now, my daughters are ten and seven. How does this happen? Time passing like water through my fingers, and I am powerless to stop it...

We have had a busy summer. Our remodel is complete. I have enjoyed going from 13 1/2 square feet of counter space to 43 1/2 square feet! It has provided me an amazing amount of space to stack more things upon! And a dishwasher! Oh, what a help that is in keeping a tidy kitchen!

Anna has become a regular book worm! Last fall, she still struggled terribly with reading. For Christmas last year, we gave her some young fiction, from the Cul De Sac Kids. She devoured them, and in her a switch was flipped! This summer, she completed her goal of reading more than 2,500 pages. You can imagine how pleased she is to have this new past time. Now, I hear "I don't have anything good to read!" Right now, she sits beside me begrudgingly reading a book, "even though I've read it before!" She was reading and re-reading books, of varying degrees of difficulty. I started to feel a bit insecure about it all, as it was all she seemed to want to do for a while. And then she started to write her book. I was shocked at the maturity in her writing style! As my friend, Tracy, said, "I guess you know what she was doing now! She was taking writing lessons!" Indeed! Be on the look out for The Chicken Pox Mystery, which is expected to be completed by the year's end.

Last night, she tickled us all with many jokes at a bon fire with friends. Some, we had never heard her tell. She is growing into a beautiful young woman.

Sarah is... How do I describe Sarah?

She is a burst of bright energy, going full speed ahead nearly the day long. She is often up and going strong long before she is required to rise in the morning and thrashing in her bed, trying to wind down at the day's end. Once she is still, it's usually just a few moments before she is fast asleep.

Her current favorite song is "I'll Fly Away", which she loves to sing at very top volume for anyone who will listen. She is adamant that she knows how to sing "opera" and does so at glass shattering pitches and sound!

She loves to dress up with all the prissy, girly things she can find. It is not unusual to find a trail of clothes in the house, where she has changed and changed and changed, in the course of, oh, say, a half hour time span!

Watch her with her skirt and glitter shoes, as she chases a toad in the back yard, which she calls her "Boy". She squeezes him with great affection until I expect to see his "innerds", as my mother calls them, become "out-erds"!

We have seen significant growth in her sense of responsibility. Now, if Steve is running late, we can ask Sarah to tend to the animals, with full confidence she will do it well. We have seen good growth in our animals this year, too!

In July, we welcomed goat twins to Mama Goat, Annie. Spots and Socks are strong and healthy. The "he-goat", Spots is the black one and he seems to be interested in all the things one would expect a "he-goat" to be interested in. Enough said!

Socks, our "she-goat", is gentle and very tame. She is dear and follows Steve all around. They have grown considerably this summer and we rarely see them nurse any more. We had discovered that their mama is not interested in being milked! Also, she has gained significant skills in jumping away! Suffice it to say our hopes of milking her this fall are dwindling!

Steve is enjoying his animals greatly. We currently have a dog, 2 cats, 2 baby goats, 2 adult female goats, 1 adult male goat, four ducks, 3 laying hens, 2 roosters, a slew of maturing hens, and an undisclosed number of baby chicks waiting to hatch in the next week!

This week, Steve is on vacation and we are so excited to have some extra "Daddy-time"! Our current theme at church has been...

Psalm 84

Blessed are those who dwell in your house;

they are ever praising you. Selah
Blessed are those whose strength is in you,

who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.
As they pass through the Valley of Baca,

they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools.
They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion.
Hear my prayer, O LORD God Almighty;

listen to me, O God of Jacob. Selah

We are praying for revival in our hearts, home, our church and our nation. On October 5, our church will begin revival services and we pray the Lord will meet us there.