Make a Smilebox slideshow

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

We will be leaving for my parents tonight after church, so I wanted to say "Happy Thanksgiving" to everyone! You are some of my greatest blessing this year. I am also going to share a photo of my kids, my blessings from God. More photos will be added at the bottom! God Bless You, because He certainly has me!

Happy Thanksgiving !!!!!

Caleb Got Saved Today......

Caleb accepted the Lord as his Saviour, this morning during church service. I knew the Lord had been dealing with him for a while. I could just tell that he was more aware of things. Pastor Spurlock was preaching a message about the flames of hell, and Caleb started crying, and told Peter that he didn't want to miss being saved. Peter took him into the church hallway, and Caleb asked Jesus to save him. When he came back in church he had the big smile on his face! You could tell he really truly got saved! He was so excited! We had watched the new "Pilgrim's Progress" last weekend, and I think that really explain things to him. I highly recommend that movie! Just wanted to share our big news!

A Homemade Christmas......

I found the instructions on how to make a paperbag scrapbook, so I decided to try it out. The pictures are kinda blurry, but I loved making it. My mom has invited me to make some crafts for a craft show in a few weeks. I like I will make some pre-made books to sell.

Marriage is all about compromise.....

This was our tater tot casserole on Sunday. Peter likes the soup on the top. I like the soup on the bottom.

Daddy's Little Girl........

My family is sick......

It finally happened. After staying well the last couple of months. Peter came home from work sick on Tuesday. He tried to go to work yesterday, but called to have me come and get him. Caleb was sick on Sunday and Monday with a stomach virus, now Liberty has dirahea (sp?) and won't eat. I am just so thankful they are sick this week and not during Thanksgiving! Hope everyone else is fairing better...

Have you ever....?

I saw this on Miss Tori's and I thought I would try it. If your want to post this on your blog...copy my post and highlight the things you have done.

1. Started your own blog

2. Slept under the stars

3. Played in a band - Junior high and high school marching band

4. Visited Hawaii

5. Watched a meteor shower

6. Given more than you can afford to charity

7. Been to Disneyland/world

8. Climbed a mountain

9. Held a praying mantis

10. Sang/played a solo

11. Bungee jumped

12. Visited Paris

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch

15. Adopted a child

16. Had food poisoning

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty

18. Grown your own vegetables

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France

20. Slept on an overnight train

21. Had a pillow fight

22. Hitch hiked

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill

24. Built a snow fort

25. Held a lamb

26. Gone skinny dipping

27. Run a Marathon

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

29. Seen a total eclipse

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset

31. Hit a home run

32. Been on a cruise

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors

35. Seen an Amish community

36. Taught yourself a new language

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

39. Gone rock climbing

40. Seen Michelangelo’s David

41. Sung karaoke

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant

44. Visited Africa

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight

46. Been transported in an ambulance

47. Had your portrait painted

48. Gone deep sea fishing

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling

52. Kissed in the rain

53. Played in the mud

54. Gone to a drive-in theater

55. Been in a movie

56. Visited the Great Wall of China

57. Started a business

58. Taken a martial arts class

59. Visited Russia

60. Served at a soup kitchen

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies

62. Gone whale watching

63. Gotten flowers for no reason

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma

65. Gone sky diving

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp

67. Bounced a check

68. Flown in a helicopter

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial

71. Eaten Caviar

72. Pieced a quilt

73. Stood in Times Square

74. Toured the Everglades

75. Been fired from a job

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London

77. Broken a bone

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person

80. Published a book

81. Visited the Vatican

82. Bought a brand new car

83. Walked in Jerusalem

84. Had your picture in the newspaper

85. Read the entire Bible

86. Visited the White House

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating

88. Had chickenpox

89. Saved someone’s life

90. Sat on a jury

91. Met someone famous

92. Joined a book club

93. Lost a loved one

94. Made a baby - 3

95. Seen the Alamo in person

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake

97. Been involved in a law suit

98. Owned a cell phone

99. Been stung by a bee

Homemade Chinese Eggrolls

I got this recipe from TEACH magazine's newsletter. I modified the original version just a little. My family absolutely loves this recipe. It is a meal by itself.

1 bag cabbage/carrot slaw mix
2 green onions, cut up
1-3 cooked chicken breast, cooked and diced in small chunks, (I usually used leftover breast from a previous meal)
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. sesame oil
1 tsp. dried ginger
2 Tbsp. Rice Wine Vinegar
Egg Roll Wrappers
Vegetable oil to fry egg rolls
Sweet and Sour sauce for dipping

In a big skillet, add 1 Tbsp. of olive oil, and 1 Tbsp of sesame oil. Heat over medium high heat. Add bag of slaw mix, ginger, and green onions. Cook until mixture reduces to half of size. Add Chicken and heat through. Turn off and pour Rice Wine Vinegar over mixture. Let cool. Heat your vegetable oil to 350 degrees. Place an egg roll wrapper on cutting board in a diamond shape. Towards the bottom corner place 2-4 Tbsp of cabbage mixture on wrapper, and start to roll. Bottom corner over mixture first, wet edges with water, then the two side corners over the mixture, than the top corner comes down making an egg roll. Wet the edge of the top corner so it will stick in place. Fry your rolls 2 to 3 at a time, don't overcrowd the oil. Fry for about 3 minutes, then flip over. Fry till golden brown. Set them aside on a plate lined with paper towels, to drain off the grease. Enjoy with Sweet and Sour Sauce.

Proverbs 18 - Our Words and Friends

I have been really convicted lately about not using more scripture in our everyday lives. (Especially in the disciple part). I decided to start with my daily Bible reading. Here are some verses that really stood out to me today.

Proverbs 18 - Our Words and Friends

Proverbs 18:4 "The words of a man's mouth are as deep waters, and the wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook."

Proverbs 18:8 "The words of a talebearer as as wounds , and they go down deep into the innermost parts of the belly."

Proverbs 18:17a "He that is first in his own cause seemeth just:"

Proverbs 18:19 "A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city: and their contentions are like the bars of a castle."

Proverbs 18:21a "Death and life are in the power of the tongue..."

Proverbs 18:24 "A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friends that sticketh closer that a brother."

Simple Woman's Daybook

Outside my window... Outside it is dark, snowy and cold. I'm glad we are in the middle of global warming....it's snowing before Thanksgiving!

From the Learning Rooms... state studies, birds, math, and Thanksgiving

From the Kitchen... Hamburger Helper Chili Macaroni

I am wearing...Long denim skirt and black t-shirt

I am hoping...Caleb sleeps all through the night tonight

I am readingKJV Bible

I am creating... Christmas goodies to freeze for Christmas

I am hearing...The movie "Bedknobs and Broomsticks, and Liberty pulling out books from a bookshelf

One of my favorite things Chocolate covered oreos that come out near Thanksgiving!

A few plans for rest of week mid-week service, Lunch out with a friend and her kids on Friday, Family time on Saturday

More women's daybooks are found Here

Here is a picture of what I am sharing.... Playing in the snow last winter

Christmas Card List....

I am reviving the tradition of actually sending out Christmas Cards this year. Since we have been married we really haven't had our own Christmas card list. Please email me your address! If you read my blog, send me your address! scrapquilt79@yahoo.com

Changing of the blog...

I know that I change my blog frequently. My blog will be like my living room, it gets changed around every month or two. That's just me.

It's Snowing....

It is snowing this Sunday morning. Just barely, but it is the first sign of snow in western West Virginia. I stayed home from church with Caleb and Liberty. He started throwing up last night. It always puts a wrench in things when one of the kids are sick on Sundays. I am the piano player, and Peter teaches the adult Sunday School class. It is always a toss-up between music that morning or a teacher. I am staying home this morning, and Peter will stay home tonight.

I have really enjoyed reading everyones blogs lately. Sometimes I get on the computer just to read blogs, and not post, which I know I should post more. It takes time to post....

School is starting to get into the holiday mode. For us that means, we don't get to have school everyday. The need to run errands is almost an every other day thing. It will get worse as the Christmas nears. This is the reason we do school work year round. If I had to fit a school year in the time that regular school go, I would be in trouble!

Honoring our Military........

These are my military heroes, my two little brothers, Christopher and Benjamin. They will both be leaving for Kuwait in Feburary. They are my heroes because they are putting all on the line for our country. Even for people who don't believe in what they are fighting for. I love them both very much... Please be in prayer for them as they serve our country overseas.

Simple Women's Daybook

Outside my window... Outside it is dark, snowy and cold. I'm glad we are in the middle of global warming....it's snowing before Thanksgiving!

From the Learning Rooms... state studies, birds, math, and Thanksgiving

From the Kitchen... Hamburger Helper Chili Macaroni

I am wearing...Long denim skirt and black t-shirt

I am hoping...Caleb sleeps all through the night tonight

I am readingKJV Bible

I am creating... Christmas goodies to freeze for Christmas

I am hearing...The movie "Bedknobs and Broomsticks, and Liberty pulling out books from a bookshelf

One of my favorite things Chocolate covered oreos that come out near Thanksgiving!

A few plans for rest of week mid-week service, Lunch out with a friend and her kids on Friday, Family time on Saturday

More women's daybooks are found Here

Here is a picture of what I am sharing.... Playing in the snow last winter

The Nutcracker....

We are studying the Nutcracker Ballet, so I hope you enjoy the music of one of my favorite songs.

This is the real truth about Homeschooling.....

The room was brightly lit and cold. She was sitting at a table, across from an empty chair. She knew the questioning would begin any minute. The door opened and a man bearing a remarkable resemblance to Hugo Weaving walked in and sat down in the empty chair.

“Mrs. Anderson,” he began, “we’ve been monitoring your homeschool. Apparently, you have been living two lives. In one life, you’re Katherine A. Anderson, homeschooling mother and wife in a respectable community. You have a homeschool curriculum. You have a schoolroom. You volunteer . . . to help out with your homeschool support group. The other life, Mrs. Anderson, is lived in your pajamas. Your kids are unable to complete their assignments, and if you can get them bathed and dressed before your husband returns from work, you consider it a good day. One of these lives has a future, Mrs. Anderson. The other does not.”

She just stared across the table at this man. “Who was he?” she wondered. Why was he accusing her of these things?

The man opened up a folder and began leafing through it. “As you can see, we’ve had our eyes on you for some time, Mrs. Anderson. I think that you should look long and hard at how you are failing in your role.” He pulled out a single sheet of paper. “Your son is 6 years old and yet he cannot read. Your 11-year-old daughter spends half her time daydreaming and staring off into space. She hasn’t scored better than a D on her spelling quizzes all year. Your teen, this . . . Melissa, I believe her name is . . . she hasn’t prepared for the SAT test. If you really loved your children, Mrs. Anderson, you would have your children at their desks and hard at work by 7:30 each morning.”

Tears started to well up in Katherine’s eyes. Was she really that bad at homeschooling?

“As far as your curriculum goes, you’ve switched back and forth from A Beka to Saxon to Bob Jones and back to Saxon again in just two semesters. I have to wonder, Mrs. Anderson, if you are teaching them correctly. How can you jump from curriculum to curriculum without causing your children to become hopeless, blathering idiots?”

Mrs. Anderson made no effort to wipe away the tears that were now flowing down her cheeks. She knew all these accusations were true. There was nothing she could say to refute them.

“Tell me, Mrs. Anderson. What’s it like, living in your pajamas? Do you enjoy being a slob?” His words began to cut deep, and somewhere deep inside her soul, a wave began to form.

“How many times did you yell at your kids yesterday, Mrs. Anderson? Can you really say you love them if you treat them this way?”

The wave began to build, quickly becoming a surge. Mrs. Anderson’s anger was rising above and beyond the shame and fears this man was exploiting.

“Your best friend, Laurie, doesn't have any trouble getting her six children ready to go to eight different activities each week, yet you always manage to run late . . .”

“That’s enough!” Her waves of anger burst over the dam and began to pour from her lips. “I don't have to listen to these accusations. I am a loving wife and mother, and I care deeply about my children. We may not get to every activity on time or complete every assignment, but we are trying. My children are well fed and clothed, and they are learning so much more than they would learn anywhere else. My son is a gifted engineer. He dismantled three phones last week to understand how the buttons work . . .”

“You consider that school?”

“Absolutely! He is learning mechanics and science. If I can get him to put things back together so that I can answer the phone, I’ll be all set. By the way, Melissa doesn’t need to study for her SAT test right now. She’s 14! We will prepare for it when the time is right.

“Another thing. My daughter may not always study with perfect concentration, but she draws the most beautiful pictures. She understands forms and shapes so much better than her brothers or sisters do. She is a very bright girl, no matter what your files say.”

These bold statements took the man aback. Mrs. Anderson’s outburst, though somewhat controlled, was clearly not what he had expected to hear in response to his accusations.

“You say I yell at my kids, and that’s true. I do lose my temper when I clean a room and come back in thirty minutes to find it in worse shape than it was before I cleaned it. But your files don’t show the breakfast we had yesterday when we sat around and talked about three things we like about each other. I enjoy my children so much more than you could imagine. And we truly love each other.

“I stay in my pajamas some days, that’s true. But we are at home and like to be comfortable while we do our work. Learning is more important than appearances.”

“But are your children really learning, Mrs. Anderson? I show that you have lost ground every time you’ve tried to set a schedule. How effective are you if you can't even maintain a schedule?”

“We may struggle sometimes. I admit, we don’t hit the mark with schedules, but we do a good job setting goals. We know what direction we’re going, and we do a good job, even if we don’t end up completing our workbooks. If anything is out of line, it’s my own expectations.” An idea began to form in her mind.

“What? We are not to blame, Mrs. Anderson!”

“Of course,” she thought, “it all makes sense now.”

Katherine looked straight into her accuser’s eyes as she spoke calmly and deliberately. “I know who you are! You’re my own expectations. You’ve been trying to trap me.”

“Nonsense. We don’t need to trap what we already own.”

“You don’t? Then you would have no problem if I made pajamas the standard school uniform?”

“Uh . . .” Suddenly, the man became quite anxious.

“And you wouldn’t mind my going to thrift stores to buy more phones and other things for my son to dismantle?”

“Wait . . . this isn't what we wanted. Stop!”

“Why? Don’t you want to hear about how we’re going to stop going to so many activities and start spending more time together as a family? I've got some great ideas, including a bug collecting expedition and a board game night.”

“Board games don’t constitute an education! They . . .”

“Oh, yes they do. Colors, numbers, counting, reading, and strategy all work together to educate my children. And the best part is that they don’t even realize it’s school.”

The man was becoming transparent, and he was quickly fading from view. “But what about your curriculum? You can’t change in the middle of the year! It’s . . . ”

“I can change our curriculum whenever I think we need to. If something isn’t working, we can try something else. That’s one benefit of running your own school. I would rather find something that works than have my children suffer through an entire year of work that doesn ’t meet their needs.”

She could see that the man was livid and shouting angrily, but now, along with his appearance, his voice had faded. He was almost gone from view when she said, “Oh, by the way, school starts at 10 a.m. from now on.”

With that, he disappeared.

Mrs. Anderson was about to scoot away from the table when she awoke with a start. Rolling across the screen on the television in front of her were credits for a fantasy film about people fighting the forces of artificial intelligence. She quickly pushed the “off” button and headed upstairs to bed. After all, she had a bug hunt to plan tomorrow.


Steve Walden lives in Colorado with his wife, and together they homeschool their three children (ages 12, 9, and 5). Steve is a freelance writer and editor. When he’s not blogging at www.HomeschoolBlogger.com/SteveWalden, he’s searching for new opportunities to write about a variety of topics, including homeschooling, coping with disabilities, and connecting with God. Steve’s desire is to help others rediscover God as their first love and the source of their strength.

Her first Oreo........

I am adding more pictures at the bottom....

Simple Women's Daybook

Outside my window... The evening sunlight is shining on fall trees acrossed the street. It is still warm outside.

I am thinking...I am glad the day is almost over.


From the learning rooms.... We are learning about birds in the Bible, the state of Delaware, and thinking about making some Christmas presents

I am thankful for...my great life, but yet fearful our way of life is in jeopardy.

From the Kitchen.... Dinner is cooking...a new recipe called Yummsetti.

I am wearing....a long brown skirt, a t-shirt, and my skeechers

I am hoping...everyone like the new recipe. Sometimes is goes good and sometimes it doesn't....

I am reading...KJV Bible and various other things

I am hearing...Peter and Jacob play with Liberty

Around the houseComfy Chaos. This is my new term for my home. (It makes me feel better!)

One of my favorite things.... Visiting with my brothers

A few plans this week Wed.- mid-week service.

Here is a picture....of what I am sharing...Liberty sleeping in Grandma's bed