Home schooling - the numbers are in.

HOMESCHOOLING -- the stats say it all. 

All four of my children were home schooled to various degrees and all four went to college.  Two have bachelors, while the other two are working on associates.  I so think it would be nice to retire early and school my grandchild but I know that isn't an option.  In a country were two parents sometimes have to work due to circumstances, homeschooling becomes difficult.  Yet the facts are in and show that most home educated children are far ahead of their public schooled peers.

All of my children have a respect for adults, knew the importance of communication and all have good work ethics.  Because they were schooled at home - probably not BUT I do know they are better people than if I would have sent them to our local central school.  They know how to think critically, aren't followers, and my list can go on and on.

As a believer in Christ and what the Bible says, I don't buy into the notion that our children should be educated by the government (in my eyes Egypt) but by their parents and family.

Joyce Meyer - part 2

Something I seem to always struggle with is giving out.  Seems I have no trouble taking in - worship, prayer, fellowship at church, reading my Bible, hearing the Word preached.  But when or even how do I give back.  Joyce made an analogy that it is like breathing.  If we only take in breathe and never breath out what would happen.  I think you can figure that one out.  But doesn't it really apply to everything in our lives.  From giving our time to giving our tithe we need to return to the storehouse (church) were we are being feed. It's not just enough to show up on Sunday morning week after week but not a midweek time for prayer or Saturday to do something for the community. And there in lies my problem.  I work all week and selfishly want my Saturday's to clean the house, do the laundry, sew, knit, blog..... and the list can go on and on.  So what am I to do?  Well for one thing I need to die to self, because all those Saturday "chores" will be there later and so will all the things I want to do for me.

Joyce Meyer part 1

August 9th I had the privilege of going to Hershey Pennsylvania to hear Joyce Meyer speak.  I had never really followed her but two of my best friends from church love listening to her so I went with an expectant heart.  I wasn't disappointed either.

Joyce's husband Dave has a real passion for the history and heritage of America.  I was nice as well as encouraging to be reminded of what is happening here.  How our freedoms are slipping away and we are allowing it by not saying or doing anything.  As with anything satan does, it happens subtly that unless we are watching for it we don't even know it has happened and then we wondered how is it that God can't be mentioned in school if we are talking about the God of Isaac, Abraham and Jacob.
Now longer are children taught what is behind the writing of our Constitution let alone even taught what the Constitution says.  Then we send our teens off to college where they will grasp at anything that sounds good whether it is Godly or Constitutional or even just morally right.  Whether we accept it or not our Constitution is crumbling.  Our Constitution was God given and has been upheld since it's beginning.

Something that Doug and I often debate about is - where was the turning point in American History.
I have always held to what happened in the 30's with the New Deal introduced by Roosevelt.  Yes, it was needed at the time BUT is was never to be continued.  However, how do you take away something the people like when it is no longer necessary. The church stopped it's role of helping and started to let the government because the "church".  Now people could go to the government for the help the church once provided.

What sealed the "deal" was this concept of separation of church and state.  Because the people no longer knew what the law truly said and where this concept came from, they sat back and allowed it to happened.  Even if we knew that there was no basis for this separation, we refused to believe anything bad would come out of it, so we chose to do nothing.

to be continue

Saying good bye to fear

This past weekend I had the privilege of attending a Joyce Meyer conference in Hershey Pa.  It had its challenges - mostly in my attitude, but I learned years ago about getting that under submission.  Sometimes I am successful.  Much of what Joyce spoke about were things that I already know BUT have either forgotten or just wanted to ignore.

One of the first verses that spoke to me in my early years of being a believer back in the 70's was God hasn't given me a spirit of fear....... Yes, even then I knew that fear was holding me back from being all that God wanted for me. Over the years I have struggled with various fears and have conquered some but not others.

Dale Carnegie said, “You can conquer almost any fear if you will only make up your mind to do so. For remember, fear doesn’t exist anywhere except in the mind.”

My faith and battle against fear was put to the test once more tonight as it was nearing 9 pm and I needed to find a place to stay for the night.  One that was under $50.00 total and safe for Kate, Tyler and myself.  Part of me is saying - just drive through to Louisville, then you won't need to confront any weird people in the lobby.  Part of me was saying stay at the $90.00 because you deserve it  and part of me was starting to worry about finding this place in the dark anyway.   

But then I remembered what I had heard over the weekend.  Pray about it and then let God.  God - you know are needs and where we need to be.  With Kate's directing we made all the right turns and found a Day's Inn that meet our needs.  I secured a room, bought a pizza for $10.00 and feel pleased that I was able to over come me fears.

So here I am, sitting in bed.  Tyler and Kate sound asleep (I love watching Tyler when he sleeps).  The bed is comfortable, it is quiet, the room is clean although dated and I am happy because I serve a great and loving God.