Sunday, January 31, 2010

THEOLOGY

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I love this picture. These books are on my kitchen counter, and I used flash bounced off the ceiling which gave a nice reflection on the counter (just in case you were interested in the technicals). I have been reading these books the past few weeks, and for whatever reason, I seem to be caught up in this war inside my head about theology. Where is this coming from? Probably from years and years and years of "stuff". I'm not necessarily the kind of person to get caught up in opinions of the mind. And I really don't even care much about "religion" per se, but I DO get caught up in having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We have found ourselves at a crossroads, and I have actually enjoyed really diving into God's word and figuring out exactly what He is trying to say to us, on so many levels. I have experienced many different kinds of "religions" in my life, and I would never say that there is any one that is more "right" than another. But I am slowly learning what is NOT right. It is very interesting to learn about different ways of thinking, to be sure, when it comes to theology. Lately, we have been attending a church that preaches the Doctrines of Grace. I have been in church all my life, and have never been taught these doctrines until this past year. Now, I'm not going to say that I am sold - hook, line and sinker on these views, but I am going to say that it has caused me to evaluate my spiritual life, caused me to really reflect on the passages I read in the Bible, and my family now reads the Bible together on a daily basis, by my husband. What a blessing. Here is an excerpt from one of the books that is something that has been on my heart for years, and I have never been able to eloquently state exactly what it was, but this book says it for me....
Sadly, this is not the church's finest hour. We live in an age of weak theology and casual Christian conduct. Our knowledge is insufficient, our worship is irreverant, and our lives are immoral. Even the evangelical church has succumbed to the spirit of this age. Perhaps the simplest way to say this is that evangelicalism has become worldly. This can be demonstrated by comparing it with yesterday's liberalism. What was once said of liberal churches must now be said of evangelical churches: they seek the world's wisdom, believe the world's theology, follow the world's agenda, and adopt the world's methods. According to the standards of worldly wisdom, the Bible is unable to meet the demands of life in these postmodern times. They believe that by itself, God's Word is insufficient to win people to Christ, promote spiritual growth, provide practical guidance, or transform society. So churches supplement the plain teaching of Scripture with entertainment, group therapy, political activism, signs and wonders - anything that promises to appeal to religious consumers. According to the world's theology, sin is merely a dysfunction and salvation means having better self-esteem. When this theology comes to church, it replaces difficult but essential doctrines like the propitiation of God's wrath with practical techniques for self-improvement. The world's agenda is personal happiness, so the gospel is presented as a plan for individual fulfillment rather than as a pathway of costly discipleship. The world's methods for accomplishing this self-centered agenda are necessarily pragmatic, so evangelical churches are willing to try whatever seems like it might work. This worldliness has produced the "new pragmatism" of evangelicalism.
Whoa - I know..... But it really makes you think. Now most churches would never say "yeah, thats what we are all about", but if you really look closely - that is EXACTLY what they are doing!!! Whatever happened to simply preaching the black and white truths of the scriptures? It seems like most churches today, especially those one might call a "mega church" want to reach out to the lost to the extent of conforming to the world's standards. I'm tired of it. Why do churches want to appeal to emotionalism and sensationalism instead of simply preaching the gospel? If we walk out of church feeling all butterflies and roses, then we haven't been to church.
Stepping off the soap box now....

SABBATH REST

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Saturday, January 30, 2010

SNOW AND STUFF

It's a snowy, slow Saturday here. The kind of day that I sometimes long for, but when it arrives, I find myself wandering aimlessly, being completely unproductive, and doing nothing at all. I guess we all need those days every now and then. I spotted this bright red cardinal in the woods out back. I wish I had a better zoom lens, but this one is taken from pretty far away and cropped in.... I'm always amazed at how bright red the cardinals become in the winter. I did nothing to enhance the color of this picture...

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This picture reminded me of a Haiku poem that Banana wrote this past week (thanks for the inspiration Deb!!)
The Cardinal
Bright red spot in tree
Eating berries bright as me
Winter's favorite bird
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This is the view out the front window of my desk today....
and this....
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is another pair of little girl "underclothes" (so as not to flag inappropriateness) that the dogs scrounged up and decided to snack on again. I mean REALLY - what is that??? WHY??? Do they really need to actually ingest them? Can I tell you how many packages of those things I have to buy around here?
Just keepin it real....

Friday, January 29, 2010

ICE SKATING!!

Today we had so much fun ice skating with all our friends from our school!
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Boo seems to be a natural - that third child with no fear thing...
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And Banana is a PRO!!! She is our most coordinated/athletic girl in the family!
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So fun!! Miss Beth with Maddie...
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Lots of friends hanging out in the lobby - because they spotted something.......
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Do you see who Boo is intently watching in the distance? Someone who was "walking" through her professional ice skating routines with her trainer......
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It's Kimmie Meissner!!!
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She trains at our local ice skating rink.
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She was very kind to stop and sign some autographs and snap a few pictures.
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Back out for more fun on the ice... Whoever came up with this little contraption for teaching new skaters is a genius! Can I tell you how many years I bent over the toddler sized skating bars trying to help them learn???? This is genius I tell you - GENIUS!!!
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Precious little ice skating toes....
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Sneaking a peak at Kimmie training in the private rink...
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I think somebody is all tuckered out..... ready for her hot cocoa.
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Showing off their newly autographed ice skates!! What a fun day! Now I'm off to deliver Punkin to church for a youth group snow tubing outing!!

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

HOMESCHOOL DAYS

Today is my Punkin's last official day as a homeschooler. She starts back tomorrow and Friday (as shadow/transition days), and then the new semester officially begins on Monday. It's kinda sad for me, but she is so excited. Who am I going to double check with when I have a question about Banana's grammer rules, or math rules..... all those things that I tend to forget? I'm sure it will all work out. Today we have enjoyed a little bit more of a casual day, doing the kinds of things that make such sweet memories of homeschooling.
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Boo enjoyed spelling with her letters - she amazes me at how quickly she progresses. She is reading her little beginner reader books quite fluently now.
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And after Punkin did some reading in "Great Expectations", she enjoyed some art sketching time.
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And Banana was changing her settings on her laptop after completing her math lesson (we love Teaching Textbooks for math) - she changed her mouse cursor symbol to a BANANA!! What else?
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And while I was drilling Banana on her multiplication facts with flash cards - Punkin jumped in and a fierce competition to yell out the answer first began - with Boo joining in yelling random numbers for good measure!
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Sweet homeschooling memories - and a new chapter begins tomorrow!

Thursday, January 21, 2010

I WAS COMPLETELY UNPREPARED

For the way my 14-year-old daughter would look after leaving the hair salon today. COMPLETELY UN. PRE. PARED. The same thing happened the day she walked out of the orthodontist office without her braces. We have GOT to stop blinking.....
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Wednesday, January 20, 2010

SCIENCE PROJECTS

We have had a busy homeschool week enjoying Punkin's last full week home with us. We enjoyed some fun science experiments!

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We learned about hydrophobic molecules by adding milk to a pan, then dropping in food color and adding a drop of dish detergent. The colors explode and make such interesting designs. Love the look on Boo's face here when she saw the colors exploding!
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Meanwhile, Punkin was working on a model of a Eucaryotic cell for Biology class.
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She used Karo syrup which gives it a thick consistency which makes for a pretty cool cell! It's very fun to hold and squish! (shhh!!) I love the endoplasmic reticulum, ribosomes and nucleus that she made out of wire, clay and a bouncy ball! Pretty creative!
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And Banana has quite a radish seed adventure going on in the kitchen window! She carefully labelled 20 radish seeds and is keeping a daily log of how they are progressing through each stage of the growth cycle.
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This is what they looked like after 24 hours of being in their little seed tray. She learned to draw and identify all the parts of the seedlings - the cotyledon, hypocotyl, radicle, root hairs, tap root and seed coats. Our little green thumb gardener has been very happy to learn about the cycle of seed growth!
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Lots more experiments are in the works! My kitchen window is starting to look like a small laboratory!