Monday Madness: Kimchi and Veggie Chips

Dear Friends and Family,

If you have been following my blog for any length, especially since the beginning of the year, you know that I have recently discovered that a majority of my health issues in my life have come from wheat and corn intolerance.

Monday Madness: Where Have I Been and Where Am I Going?

Welcome to Monday Madness where I will talk about pretty much anything that comes to mind. From homeschooling to special needs to strange blog posts about silly objects to interviewing a family member...you never know what you might read on Monday Madness! Enjoy!

Today....it's about this blog...

Blast From The Crazy Past: Ode To Our Christmas Tree...

Back in the day....before we realized I was deathly allergic to Christmas trees, or rather the spores that start growing on them once you cut them, we used to have a tradition of going and getting a real, live Christmas tree...in 2008, I looked out my sliding glass door and apparently felt sorry for our tree.....

Blast From The Crazy Past- Things That Make You Go Hmmmm.....

About ten years ago, we visited my parents in Wisconsin....it was Christmas time and we were enjoying our time with them. One day after church, this happened:

When we were in Richland Center, town of 5000+, we decided to take a drive around the little town. We found their cemetery which was the largest I

have ever seen. It must've gone on for a mile or so, wrapping around and around. There were more statues and headstones than I had ever seen at one time. While we were looking at it, we hear George pipe up and say,"Wow, there's a lot of dead people in there!". Mac replied in a awed voice, "No WON-der there are so few people in this town!"

Till next time...

Have a blessed day and embrace the craziness in your life!

Heidi

Guest Post: He Has Come...

He has Come

Felicia

Last year at around Christmas time I was not happy. I have struggled with depression and anxiety for many years, and there are good times and bad times. Last Christmas was not the best time. There were days of lying in bed, feeling pain and wishing that I could just get through it somehow. The year marched o, regardless of my inhibitions, fears, and sadness. I put on the best face I could. I was, I believe, genuinely happy about what God has done for me. I did love, and still do love, my Jesus. Still, the joy that at times pervaded my life seemed to be absent. I couldn’t stop or even pause, and everything was difficult.

Everyone has something they do when life gets hard. Some read, some paint or draw, others participate in sports or other physical activity. I choose to sing. It was, for a good portion of my life, the only ‘treatment’ I had for my depression, and I used it to its fullest extent. True to my nature, I was enrolled in my universities choir during this time last year. We were singing many beautiful sacred pieces, mixed of course with some secular selections, for our holiday concert. One piece really stood out to me.

The song is called My Lord Has Come, written by Will Todd. The song takes place the night of our Lord’s birth and is sung from the point of view of someone looking for Him. I loved how the piece brought out the journey of anyone who would seek God, but there was something in it more precious to me than any other message it contains. There is a line of the song ‘His love will hold me! His love will cherish me. Love will cradle me.’ This line, sung at a climax of the song, really struck a chord with me. At the time, whilst going through depression, I was wading through feelings of loneliness, inadequacy, and failure. I longed to be loved, cared for, by someone. This line, this song, reminded me that I am, indeed, loved. Through all my failures, I am loved by the very God who spoke heaven and earth into existence and breathed into our race a living soul. I am loved by the Creator, and there is no love greater than this. This song helped me remember this, and it helped me to hope to see my Jesus once again and to be embraced by him once more at Christmas.

My Lord Has Come

Written by Will Todd

Shepherds called by angel.

Called by angels.

Called by Love and angels.

No place for them but a stable.

My Lord has come, my Lord has come, my Lord has come!

Sages searching for stars.

Searching for Love in Heaven.

No place for them but a stable.

My Lord has come, my Lord has come, my Lord has come!

His Love will hold me!

His Love will cherish me.

Love will cradle me.

Lead me, lead me to see Him.

Sages and Shepherds and angels.

No place for them but a stable.

No place for me but a stable.

No place for me but a stable.

My Lord has come.

My Lord has come, My Lord has come!

Guest Post: Light of Love and Hope...

This post comes from my husband's Aunt Rosemary. I have always enjoyed listening to her stories and was so happy to have her share this one. Enjoy!

Guest Post: Merry Christmas...From Space!

This guest post was written by my husband Peter.

Christmas has always been my favorite time of year. Far beyond the receiving of gifts, I have always looked forward to gathering with friends and family around warm fires and good food. In my blessed experience, Christmas is a season of wonderful tastes, smells, sights, and sounds. But, as a father, my greatest joy has become watching my children's faces light up as they open a gift I have given them. Truly, giving is my joy and is what makes Christmas most special for me. This, of course, reminds me of the greatest gift that was ever given to mankind - the Son of God, born as a babe in a manger.

As I read the Christmas narrative in the Bible, the entire story is amazing. So many accounts of danger, intrigue, wonder, and perfect love leaving heaven to become humanity. It's hard for me to pick a favorite part of the Christmas story, but if I had to pick one, it might be the account of the Magi following the star to find the Christ Child. I suppose it is of particular interest to me because I love all things having to do with space and astronomy. The sense of wonder and excitement that I feel as I discover new heavenly sights through my telescope on a dark night must be similar, in a very small way, to the joy that filled the hearts of the travelers when they saw the star and "rejoiced with exceeding great joy" (Matthew 2:10 KJV). What awe must have gripped the hearts of those faithful searchers as they opened their gifts before the King of Kings.

Thinking about space and the part it plays in the Christmas story gives me an idea for how to wish you happy holidays. A few days before Christmas in 1968, NASA launched Apollo 8 with three astronauts aboard: Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders. They would become the first humans to celebrate Christmas at the moon.

To set the scene, I'll take you back to December, 1968. NASA is engaged in the space race, and is trying to prepare for the eventual mission that will put an American astronaut on the lunar surface. However, up to this point, no humans have ever ventured out of low-earth orbit. So, a few days before Christmas, our three brave adventurers are sent into space aboard Apollo 8. Their mission, though obviously complex, has a fairly simple purpose. Fly to the moon. Prove that humans can actually do that. Once they arrive, they are to take up-close pictures of the Sea of Tranquility - the eventual landing spot for Neil Armstrong's lunar module. But, this also means that this will be the first time in history that a human being will see earth from a distance. Never before have we seen ourselves from another world. We have no idea what the earth looks like from space. We have no idea what we look like to the rest of the universe. But that is about to change.

Apollo 8 launches from Florida and begins heading toward the moon. Of course, they are heading away from the earth at this point, so no earth views yet. Then, when Apollo 8 reaches the moon, it enters lunar orbit - flying around the moon. But again, the rocket is pointing in a direction that prevents our astronauts from seeing the earth through the window. Finally, as the astronauts come around the edge of the moon for the fourth time, the earth comes into view. Suddenly the mission is set aside as the first humans in history to see us from the vantage point of the moon stare in amazement at our home. As Bill Anders would later say, "We came all this way to study the moon, but when we got here, the most significant thing we saw was the earth."

Still reeling from this excitement, NASA informs the astronauts that NASA is going to publicly broadcast their evening news transmission which is to take place just a few moments later. In part because it is Christmas Eve, and in part because of the excitement surrounding the space race, NASA informs the astronauts that this evening news transmission will be broadcasted to the largest audience in history to hear a live human voice broadcasted over radio and television. As Frank Borman relates, the only instructions that NASA gave them were to, "do something appropriate."

I've included a couple of YouTube videos that will help you understand this exciting event. But I promise that you will be blown away when you hear what the astronauts had to say to the earth that Christmas Eve! 

Video #1: A little bit of background.

This video is, admittedly, a bit dull and technical. But, stick with it to the finish. It will help you understand the next two videos.

Video #2: Christmas at the moon.

This is the same event as depicted in the first video, but this time from the perspective of the astronauts who were there.

Video #3: Apollo 8 Christmas Eve Message.

This video contains the full audio of the Christmas Eve message that was sent to earth from the moon by the astronauts aboard Apollo 8.




As you plan your holiday festivities, I hope these videos give you a sense of just how special you are. Providence has placed you on earth: a tiny mote suspended in the vastness of space, an oasis of life. As you plan your holiday festivities, know that you are living in the one place in the universe where we can say with certainty that God has taken on human form and walked among people, the one place in the expanse of space where God's love has been made known to humankind. Truly, your life has been spectacularly arranged so that you might have the best possible chance of encountering God's gift of perfect love.

My hope and prayer for you at this holiday season is that you will experience, in a new and life-changing way, the love, peace, and grace that comes only from the Christ Child.

Merry Christmas from our house to yours!

Dear To My Heart: My Father-In-Law...

I'm pretty sure that when this post comes out, my father-in-law will want to know why I would make a fuss about him...

Blast From The Crazy Past- Wow! (Part Three)

Here is the final episode in my Thanksgiving Trilogy of Answered Prayer From The Past: (Originally posted in 2009) You can find Part One here and Part Two here. Enjoy!

I'm Thankful For: Homeschooling

Sis making a nest...

Most anyone who has been reading my blog for very long or knows me personally, knows that we are a home school family.

What I Am Learning....

About blogging....what I have learned so far probably makes professional bloggers roll their eyes.

Someone Dear To My Heart....

I met this person 20 years ago......no....no....the VERY first memory I have of him was when I was 13 years old.

EEK.....

I. Am. So. Excited!!!

Blast From The Crazy Past (TBT) - Cutie Patooties

Before I started this blog back on February 27, 2011, I had had a couple blogs before. One was called luvmymunchkinz on Xanga and the other.....I can't remember. 
(Someday I will remember and I will update this.)

Anyway...if you look at my past blog posts you will see that I did several posts dating back to 2005 called "Blast From The Crazy Past" in which I posted old blog posts from old blogs. One to keep the memories, two for posterity's sake and three to combine things into one spot.

Today, I decided to go check out my old Xanga account so that possibly I could do some more Blast From The Crazy Past posts like this one for future posts. Do I have you confused yet???? No?? Rats.

I found some photos that tickled me and I thought I would share them. Let's see if you know who anyone in this picture is:

Recognize these kiddos and the handsome man??

Here are a couple more:

So...as you can see, I found pictures...hoping I can open old posts. Xanga has changed a bunch of things and while they say they still have my old posts, I have to figure out how to get to them. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this trip down memory lane! 

Meanwhile, I'm trying to figure out what happened to my babies!

Numbers 6:24-26

Testing Mobile Out...

The other day my mom clued me into the fact Blogger.com uses a mobile app as well. She wanted to know if I had used it. So....here I am!
I will say that I am not sure I care for it so far. I can't figure out how to add pictures which would be one reason why I would like to use the mobile app. Right now I take pictures, usually on my phone, upload them to Google Drive, then go to my computer and download to my computer so I can upload to my blog. If I could cut that out...that would be easier.....
(Time passes...)
Ok....I figured out how to add a picture...question is: where in the blog will it show up??
I really don't know....but if you see a pic of me...we had success. By we, I mean me! Lol

UPDATE:

Check This Out: Clear back in 2011 I tried to post from my phone! 

Where To Go From Here....

I'll be honest...I really haven't known where to go with this blog. I had numerous family members and friends let me know over the past couple years that they missed my blog and wanted me to write again...

So I did. On October 9, 2016, I got back on the band wagon and was really excited to do it!

However...

Growing Up...

When my girls hit about 8, I have a talk with them about what is coming up in their future as they grow up into young ladies as well as a little about the "birds and the bees".


  I make it into a girly time full of little presents to make things fun.







 I also include a neat book I found that talks about everything a girl needs to know about taking care of herself as she grows into a woman.


With my older two, a friend and I took our same age daughters together so they could share this growing up moment with a friend. When my next daughter came of age last year to have our little talk, she plugged her ears and said, "No, I don't want to hear about it! LALALA!" Pretty typical for this kiddo! However, a couple months ago, the older girls and I were talking in "girl code" about "stuff". Fred looked at us and said, "What are you talking about?". Her oldest sister looked at her and said, "You know, if you would go on your talk with mom, you would know what we are talking about." Fred looked from her to me and said, "Ok. When can we go?" It was decided that Fred and Bob would go together to make it "more fun and less embarrassing". (LOL)


Today was the day for their talk. They chose to go to a local Mexican restaurant where they decided it would be nice and loud so "no one would hear"!

We had a lot of fun, the girls enjoyed their lunch and presents. They surprisingly were not shy and asked lots of questions about stuff they had heard their sisters talking about. We really enjoyed ourselves and had a nice bonding moment, one of many to come with growing up and becoming young ladies!

I feel so blessed to see my little girls turning into beautiful young ladies!

Playing Slit Drums

In April, we had a field trip downtown....thought I would post one of the fun videos from that trip!

Where Do YOU School?

Last week on my website Yes, I am a teacher, I homeschool, I asked everyone where they schooled. We had some funny responses. I decided to take some pictures of where we were schooling on Thursday. Now you can see where WE school and yes, it is all over the place!

Fred, using beans on the Living Room floor to do her Math.

George enjoying the great outdoors in the garden wagon!

Mac soaking in some morning sunshine on the patio...

Bob counting her jumps on the trampoline!

If you have a blog that shows where you school, put a link in the comments section! I would love to see how you school!

Learning Home Ec In The Home: Using the Laundry Line

Today my daughter wanted to help hang up clothes on the clothes line. So I bestowed upon her the method to my madness....I regret that I didn't think to take pics till after she was done. However, she did most of the work in the photos below.

Mothers, remember that everything can become a learning experience. It all depends on how you spin it. If you view every chore as a drag and nothing but work, your children will think the same thing. Instead, work with a happy heart, and instill in them the desire to bless others with their offerings of help! Sure, it can be challenging, especially when we are not feeling well or just having a bad day. However, the blessing will be yours when you see your children jump up to help you as George did with me today!

God bless you this week!