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11/10/06 was our 8th year wedding anniversary. Noah was able to get the day off. We spent it all together as a family during the day. And then Liz came over in the evening and watched Belle and Ryllan.

Noah and I went to a very, very yummy restaurant. We had delicious meals. And then we shared a huge slice of brownie cheesecake that was mouth-watering good. When we tried to pay with our debit card it took forever. Their machine wasn’t working. So Noah and I sat there and chatted while we waited. That was actually quite nice.

Because of the unexpected machine malfunction we had to reconsider what we were going to do next. Lowe’s opened recently up here. The kids and I had gone on Wednesday and we picked out a new vinyl flooring for the diningroom, kitchen, and front entryway. I had we had looked at carpeting for the livingroom and hallway, but were undecided on what we liked best. Belle wanted a bright pink carpet.
Noah was at work when the kids and I had gone, so Noah and I decided to go to Lowe’s for him to see the vinyl the kids and I had picked out and so that he could help me select a carpet. He liked the vinyl too! And we picked out a carpet. Once we decided what kind we wanted we had to decide between the two colors we liked best. Laurel and Misty Willow. We went with the Misty Willow (it is a medium, neutral green).

We paid for it that night. Dh joked that it was the most expensive anniversary for us so far.  lol.  Can you tell we are an old married couple (okay, actually we are still young–26&27 and we have only been married for 8 years)–going to Lowe’s on our anniversary.  We had a blast though.  We usually have fun together whether at home, in the car, in the store….  We had a good laugh about some of the “colors” of the rugs.  Noah joked that since we couldn’t decided between Misty Willow and Laurel that we should choose Misty Willow just because it would be fun to say “We carpet is Misty Willow.”  lol
Hopefully the vinyl will be in this week if they have enough there. If not they will have to order more. And the carpet we picked had to be specially ordered. It should be here in 7-14 days. I am soooo excited.

Siblings Without Rivalry by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish

Genius Denied by Jan & Bob Davidson

I am soooo excited to read them. I have read a bit of Siblings… tonight. I think this is going to be a great book. I have found Faber/Mazlish’s other books extremely helpful.

I added two more pages today to my site. They are works in progress, but feel free to check them out. My pages are found at the very top of my website and on my side bar (to the right). The new pages are “Definition of a Christian” and “Why I think the Nicene Creed is Wrong”.

I just started doing a little more studing of the Creeds…so far the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed (both the original and the revised). I know there are many more creeds. I do not think creeds are necessary. I believe that there is still revealation given for the whole Church, but most Christian denominations do not teach that. And thus, I am surprised that so many other Christian churches say that it is wrong to believe in anything other than the Bible and yet they put soooo much stock into the Creeds. In fact many Christian denominations consider the Nicene Creed to be the benchmark of what it means to be a Christian. I full-heartedly disagree. Thus I made the two new pages I have to talk about that.

I read Mark 7-8 and 10.  I had stopped part way through and ended up accidently skipping Ch 9.  I will be reading that hopefully tonight.

Mark 7:6-7  “…This people honoureth me with thier lips, but their heart is far from me.  Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”

This scripture is soooo revelant today.  And this scripture is so revelant today as well:

Mark 7:9  “…Full well ye reject the commandments of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.”

Mark 8:34-36  “…Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.  For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain teh whole world, and lose his own soul?”

Marriage is to be forever:
“But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.  For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; And they twain shall be one flesh:  so then they are no more twain, but one flesh.  What therefore God hath joined together, let not man out asunder.”
The reason “until death do you part” is in marriage vows now is because the power to marry for eternity was lost when the apostles died.  Marriage is not meant to be a temporary union, but an eternal union when sealed with God’s power.

Jesus loved children.  He prayed for them.  He held them.
“Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not:  for of such is the kingdom of God.  Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.  And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them.”

Sometimes little phrases are very touching:  Mark 10:52  “…thy faith hath made thee whole.”   If when our hearts feel like they are breaking and our world seems to be falling apart we can just remember that our faith makes us whole…that God will not give us more than we can handle if we trust in Him…we could get through this life so much more joyful.

I read Mark 4-6.

This scripture seems to contradict once saved always saved that many Christian believe in:

Mark 4:16-19  “And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness; And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time, afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake immediately they are offended.  And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear teh word, And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and teh lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.”

Brings to my mind James 2: 14-18 “What doth it profit, my brothern, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works?  can faith save him?  If a brother or sister be nakes, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warned and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those tings which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?  Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.   Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works:  shew me thy faith without thy works, and i will shew thee my faith by my works.”

We are saved through our faith in Jesus.  Through Jesus name alone.  But faith without works is dead.  If we have faith there will be fruit of that faith.

I read the introduction and then pages 1-18 of The Unschooling Handbook. I really like the focus on the individual child and his/her interests:

“No two unschooling households look alike. There is no common schedule, no common curriculum, no common set of meterials among unshooling families. In Fact, because their interests may diverge radically, even the expereinces of children in teh same family can differ significantly.”

“Whatever the nature of the environment, though. It is imperative that unschooling children have access to what interests them.”

I just started it. I am not far into it yet at all. I am not exactly an unschooler, but I am interested in learning more about it. I am not exactly an kind of schooler. I just tailor Belle’s education the best I can for her and her interests and her abilities. But I think I have more structure than would allow me to be considered an unschooler. I am really interested in this book.

The first pic in the psot below cuts off part of my face because of the side column and I am not going to change it right now.

Here is an outside one:

Another outside one…Ry is smiling way big in this, and Belle is kindn of sucking her lips in; but it is still cute.

Here is one of us indoors:

Isaiah 1-6; 22; 24-26, 28-30; 50-53; 54-56; 63-65.

Because my blog has been neglected for a month I cannot possibly talk about everything that really struck me as I read or that I loved.
Possibly my favorite verse out of all I read is Isaiah 25:8 …and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces…  I wrote quite a bit about this in my “Why Gentle Parenting” page.  I just LOVE that verse!!!!

Other verses that really meant a lot to me:

Isaiah 28:16 Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a sure precious corner stone, a sure foundation…

Jesus is certainly our sure foundation!!!!  If we build our faith and lives on his teachings and he is our foundation we will not crumble under the pressures or tempations of this world.  Reminds me of another verse I really love–1 Corinthians 10:13 There hath no tempation taken you but such is common to man:  but God is faithful, who will not suffer you te be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.  That promise has been so important to me at many points in my life.  I know that I will not give given more than I can handle with the Lords help.  There may be things I go through that I would not be able to do so own my own, but if “God is faithful.”  he will not leave me alone.  Jesus is our sure foundation!  “I can do all things through Christ who strenthens me.”

Isaiah 25:4  For thou has been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from teh storm, a shadow from the heat, when teh blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.  And to go along with this Isaiah 32:2  And a man shall be as an hiding place from teh wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.

Amen!  Jesus is my refuge from the storm, a shadow for me from the heat, he is my hiding place from the wind, he is my covert from the tempest, he is my water in dry places, and he is my rock!!!!!!!!! 

Isaiah 51:6  Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath; for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, adn the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner:  but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not abolish.

Things of this world do not last.  But Christ’s sacrifice for us, our salvation, that is eternal that is everlasting!!!!

Another of my favorites!  Isaiah 53 2-6  For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground:  he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.  He is despised adn rejected of men; a man of sorrow, and acquainted with grief:  and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.  Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows:  yet we did not esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.  But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was buried for our inquities:  the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his strips we are healed.  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Every part of that is poignant!  “…with his strips we are healed”  And he took upon him all our sorrows, our sin, our inquities…we suffered all that anyone who ever had lived and anyone who ever shall live has suffered…and so many of us still “esteem him not.”

John 3:16&17  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world though him might be saved.

What a wonderful scripture to end this post on!  I cannot read those verses without feeling the love of Heavenly Father and Jesus surround me.  The peace and joy that fills my soul.  What love!

Okay, after some mentionings of the neglect of my blog I am back!  I won’t mention any names of these so called mentioners of the aforementioned neglected blog that happens to be mine (Heather and Tammy!!!!)