Katherine Grace Bond

I was not so sure about this particular field trip when we were told about it. First of all it wasn't really a field trip, we were heading off to the school to meet and hear from author Katherine Grace Bond. Second, I had never heard of her before. Hm. Well, it turned out to be a very fun adventure! She read us one of her stories "Legend of the Valentine". It was a lovely story about a black boy attending a mostly white school during the time of segregation. He runs into a school bully over and over and all of the other kids side with the bully. One day he comes home and his mom brings out paper and supplies to create valentines. The little boy is very sad and angry, telling his mom he has noone to give them to because nobody likes him. In the end his Grandmother counsels from the bible, telling him to love his enemy and to share with him a valentine anyway. The story ends with the other children sticking up for him in front of the bully and things really turn around. A very sweet story, with a wonderful lesson. This picture is of Atira being interviewed as the character from her story a girl named Joy Ann who is from England. It was a wonderfully funny little interview as she played her role. This week the kids are finishing their stories at home and will come in costume to perform as their character. I am really looking forward to watching this progression of their stories, wonderfully creative!

Um.

Um, I am wondering who's bed is this anyway? From this picture it appears to be Gunners bed and Jordan just squeezes in wherever he can fit. Goofy dog. Goofier kid, he likes it!

TALL Tales

Our literature selection for right now is a book called "American Tall Tales" and includes several short stories. This was our first story and we read about Paul Bunyan. How giant he was, how big Babe, his ox was as well. How he adventured over the United States chopping down trees and starting different settlements. Very cute story, we thoroughly enjoyed it. So after our reading time together the kids made breakfast! On the menu was Paul Bunyan sized pancakes, and they did it all! The only thing I had to help with was flipping this mondo giants! None of us could finish even one pancake, they were really huge! It was a very fun morning, I love homeschool days like this!

Hebrew

11-03-06 / Fish (דג dag, Strong's #1709): In the original pictographic script used to write Hebrew, and other Semitic languages, this word was written with the picture of a door, the letter dalet, representing a "back and forth movement" and the picture of a "foot," the letter gimel. When these two letters are combined we have "the back and forth movement of the foot/tail," a perfect image for a "fish." Interestingly, the "a" in the Hebrew word dag is pronounced with a short 'a' and would therefore be pronounced like our word "dog," another animal with a "tail that moves back and forth." Because of the abundance of fish caught in nets this word is the origin of another Hebrew word - dagah [str:1711] meaning "abundance."

Parental Rights

I have just learned of a change that is in the works with our government concerning parental rights. Please check out the website, sign the petition if you agree and forward it to your friends!
Thank you!

www.parentalrights.org
Below is a copy of the letter that was forwarded to me. 

Dear Friend of Parental Rights,

I was in the United States Senate this past week meeting with lawyers for a Senate office.  They told me directly what I have been hearing indirectly on a regular basis ever since the election.

Those who want to change family policy in America to comply with international law are preparing a full-scale effort to seek ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child during this next Congress.  Barbara Boxer recently told a planning group that they intend to use children’s health care as leverage to seek ratification of this UN children’s rights treaty.

Please link to our website to see a succinct summary of the problems with this UN treaty.

The strength of their forces has been greatly increased with the addition of Hillary Clinton as the nominee for Secretary of State.  She will have direct control over the submission of this treaty to the Senate and will acquire the authority under international law to sign any other treaty on any subject.

Hillary Clinton was the person who made the announcement for the Convention on the Rights of the Child when her husband’s administration signed the treaty.  Seeking its ratification is a lifelong dream for her.

Our situation is grim if we were to look only at the position of the elected officials.

However, recent post-election polling demonstrates that almost 70% of Americans do not believe that the use of international law in American courts on such matters is appropriate.  Less than 20% favor the use of international law. (The rest are undecided).   Virtually every sub-group in America opposes this kind of use of international law.

America is on our side. However, we have to be able to get the word out to help people hear the truth about the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Our proposed Parental Rights Amendment will permanently stop this treaty.  So we have a one-two punch planned for the internationalists.

First, we must build a huge grassroots movement of patriotic Americans who believe that good families should be able to raise their children without worrying about compliance with international law. 

Second, these same grassroots forces need to convince our elected officials that we are not content with defeating this treaty for today alone.  We insist on a permanent solution.  We need the Parental Rights Amendment. 

I need you to do two things to help this become a reality.  First, please send a copy of this letter to everyone you know who believes in parental rights and American patriotism. 

Second, we need to raise a war chest to get prepared to launch a massive grassroots campaign.  The other side has millions of dollars left in their campaign coffers, and they have the President of the United States, the Secretary of State and all the media waiting to carry their message. 

We can win the debate because we have the truth on our side.  And we have public opinion.  But we won’t win if we can’t reach people.

Will you please make as big a gift as you can to support Parentalrights.org?

Here is what they are saying about us.  At the hearing which featured Barbara Boxer, one of the speakers said that the people who will oppose this treaty are the “narcissistic sovereignty crowd.”  In other words, those who love America first are so guilty of excessive self-love that he describes us as having the mental illness of narcissism.

This is their real heart.  Not only do they want international law to control our families.  They think that we are mentally ill for loving America.

It is time for those of us who believe in loving our families and loving America to rise up!  We will not surrender this country or our children to such people.

Get involved today!  The battle is about to begin.

For God, family, and America,

Michael Farris

Flood pictures

Flooding

MY GOODNESS! What happens after we have record breaking snow fall? Flooding. Lots of it. These photos are taken as we drove around the Snohomish to Everett area. On Thursdays the kids have homeschool PE. We left our home around 12:30 as we went through Snohomish we saw the flooding and the exits were closed off the highway. We made it fine to our class and I was asking the other moms if they heard when the river should crest and they were saying not until 10pm. So, we headed home after class and what we saw was that first photo up on top. Road closed. Thankfully I had a friend who had taken a different route and after calling her she gave me a sneaky way around (not the longggggg way). On our drive home we caught more of these photos, thanks Jordan for helping to take pictures! Yesterday we got a call from Lynn, who asked us if we wanted to see downtown Snohomish, so off we headed for that too! INCREDIBLE! The last two shots are from the river running right behind the main drag through Snohomish. The kids thought the "road closed" sign was kind of funny, after all it is almost covered half way in water! We have also had frinds who have damage from the flooding and I am sure there are many more. We are so sorry for all of those losses. Water is an incredible thing. It is life giving and a blessing, but too much of it and it causes death and destruction. What an amazing winter we have had this year and we are only in the beginning of January.

Ted Pearce Concert

Oh, we had such a great time! We attended the Ted Pearce concert this last week with several of our friends and it was wonderful to hear him in person. He also shared his testimony of how he came to God, incredible and inspiring. He was a man on a mission, determined he could prove that the biblical history was completely inaccurate and false. It turned his life around, this obsession, and he is now a good and faithful servant of the Most High! He has also had the incredible opportunity to perform in Germany where he participated in a walk to one of the concentration camps, remembering the horrors and atrocities that occurred there. They had a service of remembrance and it was incredibly touching to see the photos and hear the stories. Our night ended with meeting some new friends and enjoying laughs with current ones. I walked away with he new CD as well, and that was a great blessing!

Hebrew

11-02-06 / City (ער ar, Strong's #6145): Do cities sometime appear as 'dark' places? The Ancient Hebrews seemed to think so. The Hebrew parent root ar can mean a 'city' or an 'enemy.' Take a look at these other Hebrew words, all with the ar root within them. Ariyph is a cloud; sa'ar is a storm; arav is to grow dark; ur is blind; ya'ar is a forest; iyr is a city; sho'ar is offensive or vile and arphel (origins of awful?) is a thick darkness.

More pictures

Poor meowdy...poor wallet....

Stupid cat. Why can't he pass a little tiny microscopic crystal when he has to go potty? Why does there have to be a record breaking snow storm making our lives crazy at the same time? Why do the vets charge so darn much money to cure a cat but make it a bargain to have "the shot"? Why do we love our pets so much that we are willing to cough up an obscene amount of money to save their lives? Why don't I post the picture of my cat's bare butt on here? (I have the answer to that one, I am afraid you all will finally figure out just how crazy I am if I did that, especially considering I took the picture. I thought it was funny, it made him look like a cowboy wearin' chaps.) So, Shaggy almost died a couple of weeks back, he had crystals in his urine, it turned into an actual emergency and we decided to have him "re-routed" so to speak. He no longer has real boy parts, as a matter of fact, in many ways he functions more like a girl down there now. I asked Scott if we have to hang a rainbow flag or bumper sticker now. Anyway, I think I may call him Shagalina now. Stupid cat.

Atira & Elizabeth

So beautiful! Atira and her doll Elizabeth are wearing their beautiful matching dresses from Grandma Sheila! I love it that they make doll and matching kid clothes! Atira was thrilled with this match! (And I really think that Elizabeth enjoyed herself too!)

Happy Feast of Dedication!

We had a wonderful eight nights of celebrating the Feast of Dedication aka Hanukkah. Each night we lit candles, ate a fun and scrumptious dinner, read the scriptures and had a family activity. I think on this night we played dreidel, but my favorite night was when we each drew the temple menorah based only on what we read in the bible. It was incredible to see how differently we each interpreted the verses and what incredibly different drawings we came up with! We enjoyed having friends and family over on different nights, ate traditional latkes as well as not so traditional foods that we just enjoy. It is such a precious time to remember the awesome acts of our God, His promises and evidence of His care for us. As well as the promise of a future for us as we celebrate the evidence of His past victories, we know He will overcome in future battles as well! I also love the significance of the light, each night our Hanukkah menorahs have one more candle added, each night our light grows. So symbolic of us, and how as each day passes our light should also grow and become more brilliant for Him who has redeemed us and given us the Light of life!

Our little tadpole

Our little tadpole is growing up! Flick now has arms in addition to his legs! Way to go Flick!

11-09-06 / Dry ground ( יבשה yabashah, Strong's #3004): To understand the original Hebraic concrete meaning of English abstract words used in translations of the Bible it helps to look at the roots of the Hebrew word and other words derived from the same root. For instance, the word shame is an abstract word but is related to a dried up ground. When a lake or pond dries up, all of the organic matter begins to decay and stink, which is the Hebrew word ba'ash [str:887], derived from the same root as yabashah. The word bushah [str:955], also derived from the same root, is translated as "shame," but is Hebraicly understood as something someone does that really "stinks."

So wrong

Can you see it? And this is in a low point in the snow, nearly 12" of snow? Where do I live anyway? What happened to global warming? I think I am going to go and use some aerosol hairspray now and hack open the back of a few refrigerators. Free the FREON! Busy day.

EVIDENCE - CASE CLOSED

You know, I find it incredibly ironic how Scott is always blaming me for having a daughter who is filled with spunk and personality. The fact that she is feisty, is somehow my fault. Funny isn't it? How two clicks of the shutter of a camera and an entire lifetime of stories can be told. Not to mention how kind I am being, if I were to upload every picture I have of Scott's tongue, well let's just say that it would take too long trying to upload to blogger and I don't have that kind of time right now. In my own humble opinion, the evidence is abundantly clear, who is the feisty one and the instigator of feisty personalities in this house. Me? I am just a little angel dusted in whiteness and purity. I have to go and polish my halo now, if you will excuse me.

That is too freakin' cold

This is just too freakin' cold to believe. Can you see that? 9.1 degrees? I cannot remember if I have ever woke up and saw a single digit temperature on the thermometer before. And guess what? There is a storm rolling in today. A big one. So far this winter is just so much fun I could spit. I have been stuck in this house for a week straight. My two exciting excursions have been, 1. to the grocery store and 2. to the vet because Shaggy was sick. Woo freakin' hoo. My psyche is being gnawed at by the bitter cold and icicles hanging outside my house. My hair is overdry and I am starting to look a little like Einstein. Let's hope things thaw out soon....