The HSBA Post (via Mowser)

Saturday Swappish Reminder…

Written by Sprittibee on October 11, 2008 – 3:51 pm -

Remember the SWAP?

I know I need a swift kick in the rear quarters to remember anything these days - pregnancy tends to wrestle your remaining brain cells to the ground and leave you in the fog of defeat.

Consider this post your friendly SWAP reminder!

Here are the dates again so you won’t forget…

MAIL SWAP: By October 11th (Saturday) *That’s Today!!!
POST PHOTOS: By October 25th (Saturday)
EMAIL LINKS TO ME: By November 1st (Saturday)
NEXT SWAP: November 8th (Saturday)

…and don’t forget this either:

“This month we are going to do something special. In addition to a swap, I would like for everyone to buy a special card for Marsha Drews (who lost her son a few weeks ago) and mail it to her! Hereâ€™s the address:

David and Marsha Drews
c/o Rachel Harris
12830 N. Cypress Lane
Tomball, TX 77377″

Be sure and get your cards and gifts in the mail soon!

Thanks for playing and Happy Autumn!

Share or bookmark this post:

Posted in Saturday Swap | No Comments »

Foto Friday: Remembering Why We Homeschool!

Written by Sheila Wray Gregoire on October 10, 2008 – 9:07 am -

I’ve been on the road speaking a whole bunch to different women’s groups over the last week. In fact, I’ve had seven engagements in the last seven days and I am exhausted! But for the last two I decided to take my kids. I wanted them to see what I do, and I wanted an outing with my girls! Plus, if I had them with me, they could videotape, which they did, and now I can upload some of my clips on YouTube! I haven’t done it yet, but you can see other stuff of mine here.

Anyway, as we were finishing up in Cambridge last Tuesday morning (I talked about sex to a MOPS group; very funny!), I was hurrying to get home because the girls had piano lessons at 3:45, and it was a three hour drive to get there.

And then I saw the sign for the Wings of Paradise butterfly sanctuary. And I made a split second decision. I have been running like mad trying to get everything done, and I’ve been running almost on empty. And we never do anything spontaneously anymore! So I called the piano teacher and looked at butterflies instead. What do you think?

For some reason the rest of the pictures won’t center; I don’t know why!

We had a great time, and I’m going to try to do spontaneous things more often again! That’s what memories are made of. And the piano can wait…

Sheila is the author of four books, including Honey, I Donâ€™t Have a Headache Tonight: Help for women who want to feel more in the mood. You can find her at her To Love, Honor and Vacuum blog or at www.SheilaWrayGregoire.com

Share or bookmark this post:

Posted in Foto Friday | 2 Comments »

Of Pressure Cookers and Staying Present

Written by bunnytrails on October 9, 2008 – 10:04 am -

[image]

Sometimes, the pressure gets to me.

Come noon, and I am feeling it, like someone turned the heat to searing high.

Farmer Husband walks in back door looking for a heaping plate of steaming hot food, toddler is rubbing her eyes with her pudgy fist, whimpering loudly for sleep, one child needs to know what 9 books would cost if 3 books cost $76, while two others scuffle and yelp over a disputed eraser.

Anyone know the escape route to the big flashing exit sign? But I have to feed them all first.

I toss the potatoes into the pressure cooker and lock on its lid. Levi, waiting for me to announce his next spelling word, looks up from his stool perch at the island. â€œWhat is a pressure cooker, anyways?â€

Scooping up a crying little Shalom whose yanking desperately on my pant leg, I mumble out an explanation.

â€œA pressure cooker is a pot with a lid that doesnâ€™t let the steam escape. Put the pot on the heat, the heat brings the water to the boil, and if the steam doesnâ€™t escape, the food cooks faster.â€

I look around at counters with books and papers, sideboards of teetering stacks of laundry. Over the whistle of the pressure cooker, I think I hear Caleb ask me something about how to figure out the plural accustive case of the first declension in his Latin exercise.

Iâ€™d like to escape: read a few pages of the book in the washroom, check email, see if anything on the pantry shelves can sweetly transport. Let off some steam.

I have forgotten:

Habitual escapism, when the heat of life gets turned up, circumvents the efficacy of the Refinerâ€™s Fire.

It’s why I cook in the pressure cooker: to dramatically lessen the cooking time. Pessure does the work faster than the slower means of low boiling, steam escaping from lid. And isn’t that why living in a pressure cooker does His work faster in me?

So I’m learning:

Lock the lid on.
Let life get hot.
Stay present.
Donâ€™t escape.

Let the pressure do its quick, good work.

Lord, I long for You to refine me. Let Your heat do its work…

Isaiah 48:10 I have refined you, but not as silver is refined. Rather, I have refined you in the furnace of suffering.