Love One Another

"A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another" - John 13:34-35

Sometimes God speaks to my heart, not in some booming voice, or even a fluttering spiritual whisper, but through the world around me. Lately, through tv, the radio, songs, magazines, books, and others around me-I am picking up a clear message about judgment. We are not asked to judge, merely to love.

I often find myself thinking,That person has choosen a bad life. It's really all their fault they are in the situation they are in and having the trials they face. It's so easy to discount them as people, to minimize them, and categorize them into a little box marked JUDGED AND FOUND WANTING.
The truth of it is we are all children of God. The THEY's in our life deserve just as much as any of us do. We all deserve all the blessings of heaven, in spite of who we are, what we have done, where we live and what we believe. We are not asked to judge one another, only to love.

I was visiting my sister and we bumped into a friend of hers. He was leading a less than desirable lifestyle. As I stood their while they talked and caught up with one another, he suddenly turned to me. In the most humblest of voices he said, "Please,Don't judge me." I was totally taken aback. I hadn't said a word. I really hadn't thought I was judging him. Then after thinking on it, I had judged him after all. I had felt sorry for him. Sorry that he was so weak and in that single judging thought I had failed to love him.

The most we can do for one another, is to love one another. Loving one another is so simple, so profound, and so very hard to do sometimes. We are not somehow tainted by one another. If we reached out and touched someone, just to love them, we ourselves would not be infected by their life. We must not let Satan's most powerful tool, fear, prevent us from fulfilling such a simple commandment. A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

Kaleb's 5 Sense's

Lapbooking: Have you tried it?

Lapbooking has been all the rage in homeschooling circles the last few years. Have you tried it in your homeschool yet? If your kids are tired of filling in worksheet and notebook pages, lapbooking may be for you.

We don't use lapbooks for everything we learn but when we do use them to add some spice to our homeschool topics-The boys LOVE it! In fact the older two boys often get upset if I am making a lapbook with the younger boys and they don't get to make one too.

Lapbooks themselve are not the learning, they are more like a visual and hands-on catalog of what the child has learned about a specific subjects. We often use them along with literature units. For Example: We made Pig and Rat Lapbooks when we read Charlotte's Web. We read the book and included some trivia, character descriptions and plot details, along with learning more about the specific animal and including information about it in the lapbooks.

There are many free lapbooking resources. I hightly recommend doing a predesigned lapbook for your first time, so you can get the hang of it. After you have caught on to the brilliance of lapbooking, you can start designing your own and using the many mini booklet templates, your word processor program or a publishing program.


The following are my favorite lapbooking resources. There is no wrong or right way to make a lapbook, so be creative!

Lapbooking on Squidoo-best intro to lapbooking
http://www.squidoo.com/lapbooking

Homeschool Helper Online: Lapbook Section

Lapbooking Lessons 
http://lapbooklessons.ning.com/



Homeschool Share
http://www.homeschoolshare.com/
They have the best Minibook and template library-just click and print!

Free Museum Admission

The Smithsonian is hosting a FREE Museum day on Sat. Sept. 26th

Please visit their site to sign up and receive your free printable pass card: http://microsite.smithsonianmag.com/museumday/about.html

Limit one pass card per family, one pass card is good for two admissions into the museum.

Somethings Gotta Give

Something’s Gotta Give
April M Mitchell
July 8th, 2009 from journal

You know those times in your life when you can feel that you are on the cusp of change. The feeling that at any moment, everything will turn upside down and you won’t even recognize your own life. This feeling hangs over you like some dark cloud about to burst forth with rain.
I get anxiety from change. Sometimes the anxiety helps me cope better when the change comes. Most often though it just adds to the overall sense of doom. Not that all change is bad, but in my experience nine times out of ten, it isn’t good either.
So what’s a girl to do with a dark cloud of change about to drown her in a healthy dose of dread. Well, something’s gotta give and it usually isn’t what’s about to change.
We’ve got to learn to be more flexible, to bend and twist to accommodate all the change in life. There is certainly no short supply of it. So the next time you feel that black rain cloud of change overhead. Remember…something’s gotta give and it’s usually you!

Quiet

It is quiet
I can hear my soul
Trying to speak to me
I almost want to
Turn on the radio
Just to drown it out
Because I'm afraid
Of what it might have to say


~April M Mitchell 9-09

A Simple Woman's Day Book: September 13th, 2009

Start your own daybook: A Simple Womans Daybook


FOR TODAY August 13th...

Outside my window... squirrels are eating and its sunny.
I am thinking...maybe I should take a nap.
I am thankful for...my husband who works so far away sometimes, I know he misses us.
From the learning rooms...I'm trying not to think about school today, my brain is resting.
From the kitchen...HA! I am not cooking today either. Took the kids to Sizzler to use their free kids meal coupons.
I am wearing...ponytail, t-shirt and yoga pants, bare feet
I am creating...peace and relaxation.
I am going...to run many errands tomorrow.
I am reading ...The Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens

I am hoping... to get lots done tomorrow.
I am hearing...The boys move playing in the next room.
Around the house...we need to pick up a bit -but hey! We live here ya know!
One of my favorite things...lazy Sunday afternoons and NAPS!
A few plans for the rest of the week: Monday-errands and doctors apts, Tuesday-Homeschool PE and, FHE,  Cub scouts, Wednesday- Idaho Reading Indicators Testing, Thursday-Pokemon Club, Friday-TGIF!, Saturday-Is all mine!, Sunday-Church
Here is picture thought I am sharing...