Illness

Lately I have been having a lot of health problems. I have learned a lot about trusting in God during this time though I am still a work in progress! God is really working me over to just LOVE time in the Bible. My hunger for the things are God is renewed and strengthened!

Sunday I really did not want to go to church. My body was weak and weary and so was my spirit. Just walking, (err riding) into the building was overwhelming. But once there I could just feel myself being encouraged. The goodness and grace of God just washed away so many concerns and lies in my mind. We sang "All I Have is Christ". I kept waking up singing the song that night. God is so good, and He LOVES me. Not just loves me in the impersonal way that I used to think, but me, Lisa, specifically and affectionately. God really DOES work ALL things for the good of those who love Him. You can listen to part of the song both on iTunes and at the Sovereign Grace site. This really is an amazing song.

All I Have Is Christ

I once was lost in darkest night
Yet thought I knew the way
The sin that promised joy and life
Had led me to the grave
I had no hope that You would own
A rebel to Your will
And if You had not loved me first
I would refuse You still

But as I ran my hell-bound race
Indifferent to the cost
You looked upon my helpless state
And led me to the cross
And I beheld God’s love displayed
You suffered in my place
You bore the wrath reserved for me
Now all I know is grace

Hallelujah! All I have is Christ
Hallelujah! Jesus is my life

Now, Lord, I would be Yours alone
And live so all might see
The strength to follow Your commands
Could never come from me
Oh Father, use my ransomed life
In any way You choose
And let my song forever be
My only boast is You

© 2008 Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI)

Avoiding

This morning I was reading my Bible in 2 Timothy 3. About the last days, and the kinds of people who will be around. There was a fly buzzing around. I hate flies. Last night one was flying around the family room. I told Eric I thought they were from the pit. He laughed, and then he said before the fall they had a different purpose. That since they eat dead stuff God would have created them to do something else. This is something that I look forward to learning about. Flies???

So one of the verses I was just reading came to mind. Verse 5 says "Avoid such people". That sounds like something I should DO. Not think, but DO. I don't believe that I should feel trapped by my circumstances (harassed by the fly from the pit), but I should look for what I can do. So 30 seconds later I dumped the dead fly in the trash, and I thanked God for the reminder that there is a time for action!

Sophie's Garden

This year a lot of our gardening efforts have been using seeds. Our lettuce has done well, and that encouraged me to keep trying. We have a small concrete pad to the side of our garage surrounded by a planting area. We call this area Sophie's garden.


The area is not big. Just big enough for a little girl's big planting dreams though! There is a retaining wall around the area, and on the other side is my blueberry bushes.

Recently we got this area planted. It was fun looking at the different seed sizes and trying to follow the directions for planting. It will be interesting to see what happens. We got the seeds in, and then we had a downpour. The poor seeds may all be washed away! We will have to wait and see what happens.

This is our "dirt". We are using the square foot gardening "soil" mix even for this area. It took us a long time to find vermiculite, then we got too much. It has been interesting comparing this "soil" to our yard soil.

Gardening

We are currently using Amanda Bennett's Gardening Unit for homeschool. I am not really sure it has been a good fit for our family, but it has helped me pull our family garden into our homeschool more.

Our garden is a square foot garden this year. The last two years we have done the traditional row garden. Truthfully we have plenty of garden space. Our soil is just so bad that we had very few things grow last year. My garden is a little behind right now. We have lots of lettuce though!



The spinach is on the left side of the picture. The other plants are various lettuces. The spinach is what I most wanted to do well. Maybe this fall is will work better.

The girls have had fun helping pick the lettuce.

Hopefully the rain will stop, and we finally can get the rest of the garden in.

Workboxes Day 4

Dh is out of town today, and over the weekend I have realized what a major slacker I have been with our homeschool stuff. Being sick got a LOT of things behind. That's okay. I have been doing my best to catch up! That's why I am up at this horrible hour of the day. Today was a teacher workday. With dh gone we ate leftovers and sandwiches, and I worked and worked and worked. The girls watched TV, well our version of TV at least.

This is what I did today / this past weekend. I installed Homeschool Tracker Plus. I highly recommend it! I took a bunch of the stuff I have been doing on paper and put it in the computer. I have terrible handwriting, haha yeh I know a homeschool mom who can't write. Plus I don't like rewriting everything from day to day. I finally went through some of my curriculm that we have only been partially using. We use Scaredy Cat, and there are a bunch of games and activities that go with it. I am pretty good at getting the basics done, just not the fun stuff. So all of that is pulled out, and at least partially organized.

Speaking of organization!!! Well, I did a lot of that. I stocked up on manilla folders at Sam's a couple of weeks ago. Good thing I did too. Oh, last Saturday I went to Staple's and loaded up on clearance workbooks and teacher stuff. I prefer printables, but the workbooks were cheaper than paper and toner. Not to mention I am getting worried about my printer.

Let's see, I laminated a bunch of stuff. Especially stuff I want to use for 4 or more children. I figured out curriculum and accessories that I need to buy. My head hurts thinking about spending all that money.

Oh most important I read and prepped our unit study we are starting on Gardening. I am a week or two behind getting in the summer garden, but hey I've been busy. So tomorrow we pull weeds with the lettuce, plant flower seeds in "Sophie's" garden, and decide what veggies we want to plant.

Whew. Just thinking about it makes me exhausted! Wait. It's midnight no wonder I'm exhausted.

So far so good. I NEED this workboxes to keep me organized and on track. The main problem is how to work with *3* that have "Work with Mom" stickers on almost all of their boxes?