Learning Joy

close-up of Polkadot. 

My three boys. You can’t tell, but Daniel has his arms around Jonathan & Nicholas. 🙂 Taken 9/18/06 

The other day, my husband walked out on me mid sentence, and I thought, “Wow! What if this is how God feels when we read our chapter for the day, and say ‘I’m done!'” What if He had more to say in the next chapter and we’re too busy checking off our agenda list?”

Evva gave me a set (service for four) of dishes last week. I really like them, but since there are only four, and they are more breakable, I don’t think I’ll be using them on a regular basis. 🙁 However, here is a picture, and a link to my wishlist (click here). You can see the pieces I put on my list on amazon.com. 🙂 They have a sugar & creamer set (something I’ve never had) in this pattern!

Apparently Brad Pitt will not be marrying Angelina Jolie any time soon.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,213711,00.html
I like the article because the writer says Pitt’s statement is ridiculous, which it is.
Read the article & tell me what you think!

Hi all!
Things have been busy here. It’s Fall!!! I love Fall!!!
Let’s see, last Saturday, we were able to go to part of Jacob’s (our nephew) football game. His team won, of course! 🙂 Jacob is 12 (will be 13 at the end of Sept., I think) and almost 6′ tall already! He’s taller than Jef, so he’s more than 5’10”. I can’t remember what position he plays, but I know it is on the line. I think he’s an offensive lineman. 🙂 Anyways, that was very fun! After the game, we drove out to Orting to Josh & Anita Cline’s house. Their son, Rye, is heading off to college (I feel so old!). They had a going away party for him. It was really fun. We had a good time visiting. The kids had a blast & everyone liked them! 🙂
I’ve been helping make a quilt at our church. There is a guy who has cancer. So the ladies are making him a quillow. It is a quilt with a pouch, so you can fold it up and it turns into a pillow! 🙂 It has been a lot of fun. I’m learning all sorts of new things and getting to know the ladies better. This morning we worked on putting the front & back together and securing the batting. Tonight we will be tying it. That is where you take yarn or thread and make knots on the quilt to keep the batting from shifting. This morning, we just secured the batting with safety pins. I am hoping to go back, but I think I will be late. We are making focaccia for the after-service snack on Sunday. Since it needs to sit in the fridge overnight, we have to make it today.
Saturday we have a community kids gardening thing at Lakewold Gardens. Then we have a birthday party to go to. Then at 6 p.m. we have an AWANA potluck to go to! So we are pretty busy.
Hopefully the kids will get their curriculum soon. I have them working on parts of speech and math in the meantime. I’ve enrolled them in a virtual academy through the public school system. We will have to see how it goes. Some people don’t like it because they think it is another way for the government to take away your rights as a homeschooling parent . I haven’t signed up full-time, though, so I am still considered a homeschooler. I am most interested in the free curriculum! 🙂 I’ll keep you posted.
Oh, the boys took the placement tests! That was fun. Jonathan came in right at third grade (however, he was sad, because he thought he was supposed to be in fourth grade!! Poor thing thought he’d done poorly on the test & got held back!!!). Daniel came in at first grade, second semester for math (because I haven’t taught him time or money yet). He also came in with a third grade reading level. So we are letting him do third grade language arts & science, but second grade history.
That is all for now. I need to get back to work!

FOXNews.com – Some Playground Equipment Targeted by Child Safety Groups – Local News News Articles National News US News

We’ve noticed for some time now that playgrounds are getting “safer”. This article says they aren’t safe enough! They say that children shouldn’t be allowed to play on monkey bars and the carousel. One of our favorite parks to go to, the Tot Lot, recently remodeled. The new big toy is cool, but the bridge doesn’t swing anymore. It looks like it is supposed to, but it does not swing. Thankfully, they left the tire swing. 🙂

“Safer playgrounds aren’t an excuse for parents to be lazy,” Kenny Kramm, a Bethesda, Md. businessman and father, said. “But I don’t think there are many parents who, when they go to a park, actually go on the equipment with the children and take the fall with them. These things may seem minute, but when it happens to your family, it’s not minute. It’s not good parenting to say kids will be kids.”

We need to teach our kids how to play, and what is safe, etc. That is common sense. What gets me are the parents who send their kids to the park/playground ALONE. We live right by a school and there are kids who go there to play with no parental supervision. Now, not only is that bad because of all the weirdos out there, but who’s to be watching out for them? Isn’t that your job as a parent, to guard your children? Oh, and today I saw two kids – they were young, one of them may have only been 6 or 7 – skateboarding THROUGH the Home Depot parking lot!!! They weren’t even in an area where there weren’t any cars! They were right up where everyone was parking.
These people, the ones who send their kids to the park alone, or let them skateboard in parking lots, are the ones who will sue when something happens to their kid. Maybe there should be a test before you can conceive. Then we could weed out people like this.
Things like playground “safety” and not allowing kids to play games (if you read the article, you will hear why children shouldn’t play dodgeball) just makes it harder for kids to be kids. They need time to just be silly. It helps them discover who they are. And when people start making rules, things get less fun to do. Like the article said, safety is an issue, but getting kids out and moving is an even bigger concern in America today.

Lately I’ve been finding (well, to be honest, Jef has found some of these and passed them on to me) kewl sites – written by women. Women who are thinkers, not just fluffy. 🙂 Came across this one tonight (http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/BattlementsofRubies/) and am drawn to her, maybe because she mentioned “The Clash”(I’ll have to ask Jef if “we” like The Clash … ), but more because of her thoughts on current events. Will have to see what else she has to say!
The one Jef found for me is this (http://www.neurotic-iraqi-wife.blogspot.com/). It is a blog by an Iraqi woman who is living outside of Iraq, in America, I think. Anyway, it is an interesting perspective on life over there.
Might have to add these to my links. 🙂

Read this today & it made me very happy!
Cloud 2,996
Bloged in Progress by D.Challener Roe Monday August 28, 2006
On August 28, 11:19 PM EDT the 2,996th name was assigned.
Howard (Barry) Kirschbaum, age 53, a resident of New York, N.Y., will be honored by El Rider at the blog Flying Debris.
There will be more to come. But every name will be honored. It took exactly 90 days, and more hours than I’d care to count–and not just from me.
But for tonight I’ll take this victory and sleep well.