My Grandma is doing much better now. She is getting the kidney shunts out soon and may even go home next week. Very good news indeed!

Today we went to the library to get prizes for reading. As I expected Grace and Hannah broke their whistle/flashlight key chains within minutes of receiving them. Am I psychic? No just a mom with better sense than to think something little would not get broken quickly.

Joel made an A on his history test today, Bethany wrote a report on her reading of an Indian myth and read about Dante in history. This made us want to read part of the Divine comedy and see poor Dante’s anguish over his never loved Beatrice and her eventual happiness in Heaven. We have read Pilgrim’s progress so I think the wording and imagery of Dante will be fine. We also had a discussion today (courtesy of Dante) about how Heaven is not for the good, but for the reborn. If goodness gets you into Heaven then wouldn’t it be fair to say that badness keeps you out? Then every sinner would never hope to get in. But to say that Jesus offered His blood for your sins, no matter what they are, to restore your soul to a Holy cleanness; that makes sense. Take these verses:

John 14
1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”

6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.

12 I tell you the truth; anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.

Anyway here are the devotionals and our thougths:

Isaiah 55:8

8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD.

**Of course our thoughts aren’t His, we are human and prone to selfish behavior. I wish our ways were His ways, but even trying to be the best, we still fail. If not for the grace and mercy of Jesus, we would have no hope! These verses also let us in on the fact that we can try to know God’s thoughts and ways for our life. Maybe we want to do something and we think ‘Is this God’s way for my life?’ We can try our best to discern what He wants, but the closer we are to Him the better we get at it. On the flip side maybe there is something God wants us to do, but we don’t want to do it. Then we aren’t even trying to know His thoughts and ways.

Genesis 32: 24-30

24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27 The man asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered.
28 Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.” 29 Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.” But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there. 30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”

**Bethany says in these verses we see Jacob once again asking for a blessing, but should he have it? He’s on his way to ask his brother for forgives and now he wrestles with a man and finds out it is God! He is shocked, but he is still Jacob asking for a blessing. Does he deserve a blessing? Bethany thinks that God must want to bless him since He then changes his name to Israel and blesses his descendants. These verses make us think that God is ever patient with us and wants to bless us when we follow Him.

Deuteronomy 4:32 -40

32 Ask now about the former days, long before your time, from the day God created man on the earth; ask from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything so great as this ever happened, or has anything like it ever been heard of? 33 Has any other people heard the voice of God speaking out of fire, as you have, and lived? 34 Has any god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation, by testings, by miraculous signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, or by great and awesome deeds, like all the things the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?

35 You were shown these things so that you might know that the LORD is God; besides him there is no other. 36 From heaven he made you hear his voice to discipline you. On earth he showed you his great fire, and you heard his words from out of the fire. 37 Because he loved your forefathers and chose their descendants after them, he brought you out of Egypt by his Presence and his great strength, 38 to drive out before you nations greater and stronger than you and to bring you into their land to give it to you for your inheritance, as it is today.
39 Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other. 40 Keep his decrees and commands, which I am giving you today, so that it may go well with you and your children after you and that you may live long in the land the LORD your God gives you for all time.

**These verses are reminding us that children don’t always know what has happened in the past. That is why we must tell them the stories of the generations before them. About wars and plagues, about death and life, about wandering and finding hope. Moses saw God in a fire that did not consume, the people of Israel wandered in a desert for 40 years, commandments were given and broken, the people sinned and repented and rejoiced. Above all these verses say that we must remember and acknowledge that God is awesome.

Luke 6:46-49

46 “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? 47 I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. 48 He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. 49 But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”

**Grace says this means build who you are on Jesus, because He is like the rock. He will not break or make you fall off a cliff. If you build who you are on sand, then watch out! Waves can beat you down and everyone knows that sand castles turn back into sand at the end of the day.

Isaiah 65:1-2

1 “I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me;
I was found by those who did not seek me.
To a nation that did not call on my name,
I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.’
2 All day long I have held out my hands
to an obstinate people,
who walk in ways not good,
pursuing their own imaginations-

**Joel says these verses show him that God is calling out to people even when they don’t know it. He is there reaching His arm out and people are throwing it off. That even if you don’t seek God He can come and try to find you.

We went on a hiking co-op today with our HS group. It was at Mt. Falcon park, which I have been wanting to go check out.


It was very cool. We had a great time hiking to the ruins of an old house built up there. This is why you should build out of stone and not wood and don’t forget to put a lightning rod on top of your house here.

After all you’re 7, 300 feet closer to the lightning! The man who built this house had a dream of also building a house for the President to stay at up here. Little schoolchildren gave dimes to the project, but after laying the foundation for that house, his own house burned down, his wife died and he lost all his money by not speculating on Henry Ford (he went with the steam engines. I guess he’s one of those people who say later, “I should have bought Microsoft!”) Oh, and he died penniless after the great depression.

So now you can see the historic ruins of his house with grand views on every side and a nice courtyard in the middle.

It was no easy feat back then (early 1900’s) to haul rocks and lumber up here for this house and no easy feat getting there on horseback I’d assume. Even bunny thought it was neat!

We walked back up the trail and took another path toward the eagle’s eye shelter to eat lunch.

The kids found a caterpillar on the way and they were all clamoring to hold it. We also saw the brightest bluebirds, butterflies and damselflies. The shelter was a summer home until 1972 when the family gave it over to the park.

Again I can’t see how in the 30’s people managed to haul their crap up this mountain to get there, but they did.

The kids had fun climbing on the rocks, going in a little cave and looking at the view.



After playing for a while we hiked back down the path and back to the car. Hannah brought up the rear and was ambling along talking to her little stick. I could hear her saying, “Yeah, bub, sissy, tree. See tree? One, two rocks. Oh! Two shoes!” Then she would stop and wait for the stick to respond, then back to walking and talking again! The fun you can have with a stick!

I loved this place. The trail was pretty easy, Hannah walked most of it by herself and the views were great; also the temperature was wonderful! I just had to watch the kids by the castle walls because there was a drop off on the front of the house. Also next time I’ll bring more water. I was going to bring more but I left my second bottle at the house. By the time we got back to the car (it was much longer getting back than it seemed to be going the other direction) everyone was thirsty. Well, at least we didn’t have to ride a horse the 20 miles back home!

The first is of Hannah and her love of shampoo. The second is from our devotionals last week.

Shampoo

Hannah found out-
that shampoo,
cleans not only hair,
but carpet too!

So Hannah pours it-
on the carpet.
She looks happy,
I say, “Darn it!”

She thinks it’s nice-
to put in on the stair,
and then remembers
to put some on her hair.

Hannah tries to clean-
with shampoo in her clutches,
all the marks on the floor
and whatever she touches.

I hope one day soon-
Hannah will learn this:
That shampoo is for your hair,
not for making a big mess!

restore

bind my wounds
i am tattered and torn
i am weak and alone
forever forlorn.

heal me with
Your hands of love
remind me that
You are God above.

revive my soul
i long to recall Your name
refresh my heart
restore this sinner who’s lame.

as sure as the sun rises
i see Your unfailing grace
as sure as the spring rains
fall gently on my face.

once a sinner now loved
and comfort I now know
my awesome God in Heaven
the Creator loves me so.

I’m sure the people at Wendy’s thought we were a little off last night. We went there about 9pm to get a frosty. So we sat there eating them; Hannah was spilling hers everywhere, Grace was slurping so fast she got a brain freeze, Joel was eating his and Bethany was taking bites of molecules of ice cream. I said ‘remember last time when Hannah ate her frosty so fast she got a brain freeze? Then when I offered her some more she screamed ‘noooo’ and ran off?’ This prompted Bethany to burst out laughing with frosty in her mouth. I covered her up quickly with a napkin, but then Grace saw it and started rolling on the floor. James thought it was time to go at this point and we almost made it out the door without further incident and then….there was this goofy song on and Grace started dancing this goofy dance just as I had taken a sip of root beer. I tried oh so hard to NOT let it spurt out my nose. I was turning red with the giggle inside and the root beer stuck halfway between my throat and nose. And the while time Grace was still dancing. The other customers turned to see what was so funny and was I choking? Finally I managed to swallow almost all of the root beer, I just had a little stinging in my nose, but it was close.

But, that incident wasn’t half as funny as when we ate at Texas roadhouse the other night. They were a little slower than usual and we had extra rolls on the table. So we started making puppets out of the rolls and putting peanut puppets on forks. We drew eyes on the peanuts and rolls and had lengthy conversations about hash. (Hannah has an otter and we make it say hash, hash, hash. It’s to remind us of the time Grandma Carberry said we needed to make more ham hash to save money on food; which might work if my kids ate either ham or hash!) Hannah took her roll puppet and said ‘rarr, rarr’ and then tore him to pieces. Then we stuck crayons in the rolls to give them arms and feet. I think I heard the waitress snicker once as she passed by and then she came back with eating food. So, we were forced to quite playing star wars with roll puppets and eat our food instead.

Life lesson: Sometimes you have to just look goofy and have fun with your kids, despite the stares of others. (But try to do it without root beer in your mouth!)

Oh yes, and we went to the library today and Joel had a science class. He made a circuit to light a small bulb out of a battery, rubber band and foil, it works well.

Park day

Yeah, three other moms showed up. The problem with COVA people is that they say they want to do things and then they never show up. Hopefully at the next park day we’ll have more older kids, Joel was bored. He would have just yo-yo-ed but his string broke. He’s gotten really good at all kinds of tricks. Just like I told him, practice, practice, practice!
Here’s the rainbow from last night:

I only had six kids in Hannah’s class today, so I don’t know if that made it easier or if I was just prepared, but it went well.

We talked about forgiveness, joy and love. The forgiveness part was easy because one boy had hit another with a ball and had said ‘sorry’ and the other boy forgave him. Talk about a prop for the lesson! Then when I asked what joy was, one little boy said ‘I don’t know!’ with a grin on his face. It’s like that I said, happy! Love was the easiest one to get across. Then we tried to say the memory verse, ‘love others as much as you love yourself’, Hannah said something that sounded like it….but she’s much better at saying unhelpful word like ‘bowling shoes’ and ‘roadhouse’ (But I guess those are helpful if you are talking about bowling or eating at Texas roadhouse.)

Usually I am quite verbose. But right now I have lots of things swirling on my mind, my Grandma is in the hospital (doing much better though), it’s hot, and Hannah literally can make a mess in a room just by entering it.
I’ve given up on the carpet; it’s just not worth constantly cleaning it up after her. I wish I could rip it out and live with whatever is underneath it. Or maybe I could buy really big throw carpets and put them on top of the offending ones.
This week flew by, school every day, one park day and BK day rolled into one and bowling at Brunswick zone.

Joel and I had a major discussion (argument) over finding the mode of a set of numbers in math. We talked for nearly 30 minutes, each stubbornly refusing to back down from our explanation. Then we called James. He said it was a case of the glass half empty-glass half full. We were both right, to a degree, though we looked at the problem differently. I said fine, still not wanting to give in, pick out the mode of theses 8 problems. Joel did and got them all right. So, what are we arguing about I said, if you can get the right answer do it (and all of that was just the warm up problems that had nothing to do with the actual lesson, which were word problems.) Joel also ended the week with having to write a 3-paragraph essay for literature. He had to write about a character that he had read about in the previous unit. But, he didn’t want to write a rough draft. I told him fine, write a perfect paper the first time or I’ll tear it up and make you write it over; he wrote the draft first. Bethany wasn’t so lucky. On her spelling words she started 3 times before she had them written correctly, with good penmanship and how I wanted them written. Grace fared the best this week. She got through 4 lessons and I think she’s on lesson 37 now. She’s gotten better at remembering the words after she reads them, so she doesn’t have to sound them out each time. Her remembered words are ‘little, is, it, the, and.’

All the kids wrote letters to their friends in Illinois and I got those sent off this week. We got a package off last week for my Grandma with pictures and drawings in it. She had a shut down of her pancreas and kidneys when they admitted her. Also pneumonia. But, she’s doing much better now, getting up and walking around, the pancreas is back to normal, the kidneys are almost back to normal and she’s eating real food. The hospital visits are taking a toll on my Grandpa though, he has to drive 1 hour each way to see her. Hopefully they will be moving her a rehab place closer to their home in Pointblank, TX, that would be nice.

After a good week of school I rewarded the kids with a trip to the bowling alley with two of their friends tagging along too. They had free bowling coupons from the library. It’s good that we went, I found out that kids get a free game for every A they get and Bethany and Joel have all A’s and a fun package for perfect attendance (the kids have 187 days of school with no missing days, they only need 180 days for the year.) The bowling place also has a deal where you can bowl 1 free game every day during the summer. I’m all over the free part. Grace even had a few strikes (of course they were playing with bumpers and a ramp to push your ball off of) when she played. Even Hannah can play with the ramp; it looks like a roller coaster, you put your ball on the top and then push it and it sails down the ramp and into the pins. They thought that was the coolest invention ever!

Today we cleaned up the backyard, it was weed city, and mowed. I’m going to have to get some major weed killer for the back sides of the house, too many to pull. I also found that we have two trees growing on one side of the house! I never go on that side so I didn’t see them until today. A seed must have floated over from the neighbor’s house last year and started growing. One tree is about 4 feet tall, the other 3 feet tall (I know you’re thinking how could you not see them, but there are no windows on that side of the house except for our small bathroom window.)

So in a few hours we’ll go to the park with our HS group for the end of the year party. Of course, in our house the end of the year was April and the beginning of the new school year was June, but that doesn’t matter. It’s just a time to have a picnic, play in the water, celebrate with friends and have fun. So we’re off to have fun, hope you do too!

Hosea 6
1 “Come, let us return to the LORD.
He has torn us to pieces
but he will heal us;
he has injured us
but he will bind up our wounds.
2 After two days he will revive us;
on the third day he will restore us,
that we may live in his presence.
3 Let us acknowledge the LORD;
let us press on to acknowledge him.
As surely as the sun rises,
he will appear;
he will come to us like the winter rains,
like the spring rains that water the earth.”

Psalm 147:11

11 the LORD delights in those who fear him,
who put their hope in his unfailing love.

1 Corinthians 13:1-13
1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

John 14:15

15″If you love me, you will obey what I command.

This week instead of having one devotional or passage that we went over each day I decided to let each person pick out a verse or passage that we would study each day. The passage would also be read and studied every day by the person who picked it out.

I chose Hosea 6:1-3. I love the way it shows that the sinner can come back to God and be restored. I love the way it says we will be revived and then restored so we can live in His presence. The way it talks about knowing that God will always be there, every day, coming just like the sun rises and the rains come to the Earth; that is awesome imagery about a loving God that is unfailing in love and grace.

Grace came up with Psalm 147:11 after flipping through the entire Psalms. I told her to pick one fast or she would run out of chapters. She said her verse let her know that God won’t let her down. I told them that fear doesn’t mean afraid it means respect. We know that God is always there and now we know that He will never be unloving towards those who have accepted Him and His son.

Bethany picked the love chapter. We’ve really been working this week on what love is. Not the kissy-kissy love, but the love of the heart. Love that is earnest in helping others, not being rude or selfish, protecting and trusting God to answer us in our time of need. Thinking about how we can share God’s message of faith, hope and love.

Joel picked out John 14:15. A very hard verse in some ways. It is easy to say ‘ok, I love You God and I will do what you say’…..um what are You telling me to do? Do we love God enough to trust Him in every day things even though we trust Him with eternal? Is He asking us to do something that would make us ‘step outside our comfort zones’? If we really love Him, will we do what He wants even if it’s not what we want? Funny isn’t it? The smallest verse in our devotional this week actually caused the most questions. I find that it often the case.

So restoration, unfailing love, love, obey; they all kind of go together. We can repent and be restored with the unfailing love of God and show His love to others when we obey Him. Simple, right?

Bethany and Grace gave James cards and pictures they drew. Hannah didn’t spill any shampoo and Joel promised not to yo-yo or talk about yo-yoing all day.

Sounds like great gifts to me!

After church we went home and watched TV and rested, then headed out for a hike. I thought that you could get to this one trail from the Lookout mountain picnic area, but you can’t. So we enjoyed the view and then hiked up to the Buffalo bill gravesite. We picked up a metal cup with Bill on it as our souvenir.

Hannah was a bit of a whiner on the trip and then whined that we were going back in to the car. At home James grilled hamburgers and we watched a Perry Mason and went to bed.

To all you fathers, Happy Father’s day. To all you who have lost fathers, remember them today.

Oh, Hannah found the shampoo again. Now all liquids are out of her reach. She poured the whole bottle on the stairs, bottom of the stairs and her head. We spent the afternoon cleaning it up.

That’s really all we did today besides chores and napping.

I’m bored.