GOD's my island hideaway, keeps danger far from the shore,
throws garlands of hosannas around my neck.
(Psa 32:7 MSG)

10.31.2008

getting ready...

...for a weekend away and couple days off!

T and i are going "away" for the weekend. just the 2 of us. thank you, Grandma and Grandpa for watching the boys! we'll have a nice dinner, maybe go see a movie if there's anything worth watching at the theater, and take some time to relax tonight at the hotel. then tomorrow we have a ton of shopping to do. (Sam's Club and Wal-Mart here we come!) we like to stock up on the stuff we use a lot since the closest wal-mart is over an hour away and the closest sam's is 2 hours away. after over 10 years of living at the edge of the world, you think i'd be used to having to drive for good shopping, but the fact is i still wish we lived closer to a wal-mart or target and a mall would be nice once in a while too!

you might be wondering if the boys will dress up and go trick-or-treating since it's halloween. the answer is no. we don't do halloween. when T and i were newlyweds, we watched a special tv program with Carman about halloween and what it really is all about. so before bubba was even born, we had decided our family wouldn't "celebrate" halloween. it was difficult for me at first, because i used to really get into it with decorations and i loved dressing up in costumes. but it honestly really creeps me out now. if my kids want to dress up, there are 364 other days that they can do it on! (and even then we do only "nice" costumes...nothing creepy or scary.)

10.30.2008

a comment...

yesterday's post = me on a soapbox. ;-)

i know not everyone will see eye to eye with me. i also know that i have strong feelings when it comes to the education of my children. and i am not ashamed--nor afraid--to share what i think. i only hope that whoever takes the time to read the post (i know it's long) will prayerfully consider the educational choices they make on behalf of their children.

"our children are our future."

blessings on your day!

10.29.2008

why homeschool?

T and i watched a 2-dvd set the other night called "The Children of Caesar" with Dr. Voddie Baucham. i highly recommend it. the first disc is about education. the second disc is about what an "orderly" christian home should look like. i will probably blog about that later but for now i'd like to talk a bit about the education issue.

my purpose in writing this is so that other christian parents who might read this may really consider (and maybe re-consider) the educational choices they've made for their kids.

WHY SHOULD CHRISTIANS HOMESCHOOL (or Christian School) THEIR KIDS?
reason #1: we're losing our kids--both mentally AND spiritually
the public school system is teaching christian kids to think like the rest of the secular humanistic world. i'm a public school graduate, so you can't convince me it's not true--i've "been there, done that"--and i know it's only getting worse. one thing Dr. Baucham said was something like "If you send your kids to Caesar for their education, don't be surprised when they come home Romans." isn't that a profound statement? what it means is that when we choose to send our kids to government-run public schools with anti-christian curriculums for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, we are letting THEM "raise" our kids, THEY are the ones indoctrinating our children--not the parents, not the church, and definitely not Jesus. the little time parents have left each week to try and unteach the things we disagree with isn't enough and it doesn't work. it's appalling to me and a bit shocking, but i suppose it should be no wonder that over 75% of kids that grow up in christian homes are no longer following the christian faith by the time they are freshmen in college. we need to reclaim our kids for Christ!

reason #2: i want to know that my child is learning and not struggling in school
it's my opinion that a loving parent can and would do a much better job at teaching their children themselves because we, as the child's parents, naturally want our kids to excel! when you homeschool, you know exactly what your kids are really learning. so if a child is having trouble reading, you know it and you work with them until they can read well and oftentimes they end up liking it too. if they don't understand a math concept, you don't go on to the next concept until that "little lightbulb goes off above their head." plus there's no need for parent-teacher conferences (unless you really like to talk to yourself!) because you are your child's teacher. you know.

reason #3: socialization
i love what Dr. Baucham said about "the socialization question." basically, he says that the socialization that kids get in public schools is unrealistic. (not to mention oftentimes very negative!) once you're in the "real" world, you rarely find ourselves in actual situations where there are 25-30 other people your age like in a public school classroom. in REAL life, we work with a variety of people--not just our "age group." so the social skills (socialization) we learn in a public school classroom really aren't very useful in real life where it's more likely we'll find ourselves in a group (at work, at church, etc.) where some people are older and some are younger than ourselves. that takes different social skills altogether. in fact, he says about the only real social skill that public school teaches kids is how to stand in line. hmmmm...we do that every sunday at church so my kids are well on their way to being standing-in-line pros even though we homeschool! ;-)

reason#4: christian kids should be "salt and light"
one reason many christian parents give for sending their kids to public schools is that they think if all the christian kids were pulled out of public schools and either put in christian schools or homeschooled, there wouldn't be any "salt or light" left in the public school. at what expense? yes, we are called to be salt and light to the world, but the only way to be that is to be DIFFERENT than the world! how is sending our kids to public school any different than anyone else? and can christian kids ever really be different if they are being taught ("brainwashed!") with the same humanistic views as the rest of their peers? it's much more likely that the christian kids will become just like the secular world surrounding them.

i'm glad that T and i made the choice to homeschool our kids from the start. my son's education is oozing with our christian faith. we read Scripture daily and we pray in school. EVERYTHING from science to math to history is taught from a Biblical THEISTIC perspective. can anyone with children in public school say the same? no.
...read entire post

10.28.2008

video of cj

i actually slept all night in my own bed last night! woohoo! sleep! hopefully tonight we'll get another night of uninterrupted slumber again.

i've been playing with my still-relatively-new camera, a canon powershot sd1100. i just figured out last night that it not only takes video clips (which i already knew), but it has a feature that allows you to edit (and save) clips from a video. so here's a sample from a video of cj that was originally 4 minutes long. using the camera's edit feature, i cut it down to 47 seconds.

btw, isn't cj just adorable???? "Dr. Seuss' ABC is one of our faves.

today was a pretty good day. bubba and i got done with school a bit earlier than we have been lately. that was really nice. i had my afternoon more or less free, so i decided a little baking was in order. made a batch of soft molasses cookies (yum!) and have a batch of chocolate chip mixed up that i'm going to go bake now.

just had to post to my blog first!

i didn't realize how LONG adding a video would take! my apologies to anyone who may have trouble viewing this on a dial-up connection.

10.24.2008

to sleep or not to sleep...

that is the question of the week!

i'm coming down with a cold and my throat's been sore a couple days. i'm wondering if it's somehow been irritated by the strong smell of the new futon. and the fact that i've slept there just as much as my bed this week. why? because our dear little cj doesn't stay asleep at night like he should. he's back to waking up in the middle of the night. (yes, we've been through this many times.) he yells and/or cries until one of us comes in and gets him (and don't even think about laying him back down 'cuz he'll SCREAM really LOUD). that probably wouldn't be so bad if he didn't share a bedroom with his big brother. we've tried putting him in bed with us, but we usually don't get any sleep that way. however, we did learn a while back that if we bring him downstairs and lay him in his pack and play with his blankie, pacifier, etc. he usually seems to settle and will go back to sleep. but then one of us must sleep downstairs with him (lest he feel lonely and/or afraid). i know. he's trained us well. so this week i had the privilege of sofa sleeping tuesday night, T did wednesday night, and so last night was my "turn" again. although the new futon is quite absolutely and most positively a TON better on my back than our old sofa (even without laying it flat), the smell of it is not very nice so i hope it doesn't smell like that forever.

oh, cj, won't you please sleep all night tonight!!!!!!!!

10.20.2008

friends, fun, & futon!

here's a pic of thropots with her hubby and my new futon.


we had a really fun visit yesterday (and this morning) with them. it was a rather short visit, but a good one nonetheless. we, that is, mostly i, did a lot of laughing while they were here, but that's what i love about them. it is rather easy to make me laugh. i believe there were more than a few moments last night when i was laughing so hard that i stopped breathing! it was so much fun catching up with them, hanging out and playing Quiddler and Turnabout until it was way past our bedtime.

thank you, dear friends, for coming to see me and my family. i miss you guys already. i think i maybe even lost a pound or two from all that laughter! *tee hee!* come back again SOON!

let's see. picture of futon--posted. picture of friends visiting--posted. i think that was everything for now.

10.18.2008

so tired.

my house is basically clean now. miracles do happen. about once every 3 years or so, i think. at least that's about how often my house is ever this clean. *wink*

the futon is set up and ready to use. (sorry i don't have a picture of it to post. will try to take one tomorrow if i remember.) it's really nice. mocha color mattress. mission style arms w/magazine racks tucked inside. and it has little tray tables you can put on each arm if you want.

i am very happy to have company coming tomorrow, but am very, very tired. so as soon as the kitchen floor is dry, i'm getting ready for bed.

'night y'all!

10.17.2008

where has the week gone?

i can't believe it's friday already. only 2 days 'til thropots comes to visit me! yay!

housecleaning is still underway. futon is still in boxes. hopefully we can will get it put together and figure out where it's going to go by tomorrow.

here's a pic of a mug cozy i made in my "spare" time this week. it was a fun little project...like making a sweater for my mug!

10.15.2008

i've succumbed!

...and finally joined the world of facebook. thank you, annie, for your continued encouragement to get on there. T, on the other hand, isn't too happy that i have yet another computer-related addiction! ;-)

10.14.2008

it's here!


my futon has arrived! yay! it's still in need of assembly, but we have it now! T hopes to find time tomorrow or the next night to put it together. in the mean time, i must continue my house decluttering and cleaning, AND bubba and i have to get some schoolwork done too!

i threw out 4 big bags of junk yesterday from the "junk room" along with two old infant car seats (if and when we have another child we'll get a new one) and a suitcase that had it's zipper pulls removed by airline security on our trip home from orlando 2.5 years ago. argh! i hope to never check luggage when traveling again! there's still a lot of stuff in our old junk room, but it's a LOT better than before. you can walk through without stepping on or tripping over something. and we now have a place to keep our huge telescope where the kids won't damage it. it's a lovely telescope. unfortunately, the really neat motorized feature that's supposed to allow you to punch in a specific star or planet to view has never worked. it doesn't rotate like it should. yet another project T hasn't had time or energy (or money!) to deal with. maybe when bubba's a teenager he'll want to use it and fix it for us! LOL!

time to do some schoolwork with bubba while cj's still napping.

10.13.2008

attack of the junk room

maybe i should have titled this post "attacking the junk room" instead.

so is it just me? or is the phrase "junk room" just plain scary? it's even scarier having to admit that we have an entire room being used to store stuff that includes so much junk. this particular room that is currently overrun with junk was at one time a sort of exercise room since T's weight-lifting machine is in there. which is literally buried at the moment. it was also a good place to store the kids' extra toys, our suitcases, extra pillows, sleeping bags, etc. unfortunately, the "etc." has taken over the room.

so this morning i'm tackling our junk room. i already have one large black garbage bag full of stuff i'm throwing away. and i've barely begun.

yikes. this could take me longer than i thought it would.

10.11.2008

lazy saturday afternoon

today's title about sums it up. i'm feeling extremely lazy today. it's raining and cold, so no way do i want to go outside. it's the kind of day for curling up with a good book in front of a fire (if only we had a fireplace!). or watching a movie (while knitting, of course!). T had some not-work-related work to do at his office today, but it's extra income so i'm not complaining too loudly. hey, it's helping to pay for my new futon which is scheduled to be here next tuesday! yay! i can't wait! hopefully it won't be too terribly hard to set up either. yet another job for T to tackle. in the meantime, i'm enjoying having two clean rooms (amazingly they've stayed that way for more than two days! LOL!) this week i get to tackle the rest of the house. i plan to have the majority of my home cleaned up before thropots comes to visit.

but for now, i have to go help bubba with his art project. he's complaining that he just "ruined" it. gotta scoot!

10.07.2008

happy birthday to me!

it's my birthday. another year added to my age.

*singing*
happy birthday to me.
happy birthday to me.
happy birthday to mee-ee.
happy birthday to me.

okay, that's enough celebrating.
now to get the boys some breakfast and get on with our day...

10.06.2008

cj's bday and other pictures

i was planning on posting a picture from cj's birthday celebration and realized that bubba still had a black eye in those pics. so i figured i'd better tell that story first.

the boys spent the weekend at grandma's and bubba was out riding his bike and was turning too quickly and wiped out. it must've happened so fast that he didn't really even react and although he was wearing a helmet (and thankfully we had no skull fractures!) he did manage to hit his eye/brow on the pavement and it swelled shut.

this is how it looked 2 days later.


and a few days later...


so that by cj's celebration on the 28th, it was better, but not completely gone yet.



now isn't that a cute pic? i love cj's expressions. he got a kick out of us helping him blow out his candles. you might have noticed that we had a sort of "blue's clues" theme going on. cj loves his blue's clues dvds, videos and books. and he's so funny when he runs through the house shouting "a kwoo! a kwoo!"

10.05.2008

pics from my mother

mom says i can post some of her pics on my blog so here goes.



me and my boys at the mennonite heritage museum in steinbach, mb. went up for "fall on the farm" and they had a little petting zoo with farm animals. cj had fun chasing the poor little bunny rabbit around the pen!


here's bubba pretending to be a preacher in one of the old churches at the mennonite museum. now if he'd just memorize a sermon or two, he'd could fill in at our church!

that's all for mom's pics for now. i used one of hers for my profile pic too. funny that i don't have more pics of myself. must be that i'm often the one taking the pics! lol!

of reading and racing

it was getting late last night, so i didn't get any more pics posted. we went to church and s.s. this morning as usual, and are spending this afternoon at my mom and dad's. mom made a yummy lunch with cheesy potatoes--one of my faves.

i had trouble falling asleep last night. i think i was so excited to have a new blog and my mind went into overdrive about all the things i could write about! LOL! of course, today i'm so tired i can't think of any of the great ideas i had.

and T finished reading our book to me last night before bed even though he was getting really tired. we're reading a series by karen hancock--The Guardian King series. we'll be on the fourth and last book next. it's been an exciting tale so far. i can't wait to find out how it all ends!

that's one of the fun things about books. and probably why i read as much as i do! a good story gives me something to think about when i'm doing housework or yardwork. i love trying to think like the author might, imagining what i'd have the characters do or how some problem should be resolved. then to read how the author actually did so is even more fun--especially when it's completely unlike my ideas!

T and dad are watching the nascar race right now. i find i have to be in the mood to watch a race, otherwise i'll just watch the last 25 laps or so and am good. my favorite driver is probably carl edwards because i get a kick out of his backflips he does when he wins. dad and T like to watch mark martin. T cheers for a bunch of other drivers too depending on the race. on the other hand, there are definitely drivers we don't like. but i won't name any names. it does make for okay background noise when knitting, but isn't nearly as interesting as a good book or movie. speaking of knitting i want to finish the baby sweater i'm working on today if i can. it's my first ever attempt at making a sweater, but i'm finding it's not as complicated as i thought it would be especially since i'm doing the sleeves in the round with picked up stitches so i won't have to sew them on later.

10.04.2008

introducing.....

my new blog! yay! i decided it's about time i started a real blog. so here it is.


i decided on the title knitwit at whit's end because i love knitting (and crocheting) and seem to always have one or more yarnish projects started, thus making me a knit-wit as opposed to nitwit which some might consider me to be as well. whit's end refers to the soda shop run by john avery whitaker in adventures in odyssey which has become a family listening staple in the past year or so (we're gradually building our aio cd collection) and the fact that i quite often feel i'm at my wit's end.

my boys are my life--all three of them:
#1] dear hubby T, who works hard so i can stay home with the kids and still has time to read to me before bed (while i knit).
#2] bubba, who is our #1 son, age 8 (9 in dec.), reader extraordinaire, and mostly good kid.
#3] cj, who is our sweet baby boy, the baby who grew not under my heart but in it, and just turned 2 this week!

i homeschool because i want to and i can. bubba and i are using sonlight's core 3 this year which is the first year of american history. i'm already learning things that i either never knew or forgot. as a believer in christ and the bible, i like being able to incorporate scripture, bible reading, and christian literature in our everyday school work. this is our fourth year of actual schoolwork homeschooling, however actual learning, of course, begins in infancy. bubba was an early reader--age 3.5--and no i didn't do it so don't ask me how to teach your 3 year old to read because i have no idea. anyways, this is just one reason i have chosen and why i love sonlight curriculum. tons of books: books for him to read himself, books for me to read to him, books books books!! yay! books make us happy. hee hee. i'm getting giddy just thinking about it.

so that's my little intro. i suppose i could mention that my b-day is in 3 days. another year. whatever. i'm getting a new futon sofa. it's my christmas and any other holiday gift for something like the next 2 or 3 years. (and T thought he took care of that when we went to Maui in March! ha!) we really need it though and i'm even a LOT excited to get it. my only prob will be figuring out where to put it. might have to try and sell our current sofa to make room. we'll wait and see.

i think i'll see if i can post a pic or two of cj since he just had his 2nd birthday.