Pumpkin Science

Only a homeschool mom would turn a traditional Halloween activity into homework.  In my defense it was really fun - albeit educational. 

Earlier in October we bought two pumpkins at the farmer's market.  Time for some pumpkin science!

First, I had Gman make observations about each pumpkin. 

Here is what he said:

Pumpkin A - Rough and smooth, 8 Stem Points, Heavy

Pumpkin B - A lot lighter, Looks the same, 8 Stem Points, Smaller Stem Points, Rough and Smooth

Then a chart...

	PUMPKIN A				PUMPKIN B
	ESTIMATE	ACTUAL				ESTIMATE	ACTUAL
PUMPKIN					PUMPKIN
SEEDS					SEEDS
	AFTER BEING GUTTED				AFTER BEING GUTTED

Then the fun began!

Our scale wouldn't weigh the pumpkin by itself...

So Gman was our "control!"

Control = 65.2
Control + A = 77.8
Control + B = 75.0

	PUMPKIN A				PUMPKIN B
	ESTIMATE	ACTUAL				ESTIMATE	ACTUAL
PUMPKIN	12	12.6			PUMPKIN	8	9.8

THEN THE FUN BEGAN!

Don't let the smile fool ya...Gman was not impressed with the gutting

Kiki got in on the action too!

Here are our final results after gutting:

(be careful...you might learn something)

	PUMPKIN A				PUMPKIN B
	ESTIMATE	ACTUAL				ESTIMATE	ACTUAL
PUMPKIN	12	12.6			PUMPKIN	8	9.8
SEEDS	157	474			SEEDS	424	737
	AFTER BEING GUTTED				AFTER BEING GUTTED
PUMPKIN	10	11			PUMPKIN	8	8

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!





What's your Nineveh?

What's your Nineveh?

If you remember Nineveh was the city in which Jonah was assigned to preach; but instead of rising to the challenge unbelieving Jonah ran the other way.  We all know what happened to Jonah...

So what is your Nineveh?  What challenge has God sent your way that left you paralyzed in fear, wishing it were someone else or found you running and screaming in the other direction?

Is it patience?

Colossians 3:12-13 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

Is it worry?

Matthew 6:34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

A wise pastor of mine once said "worry is a mild form of atheism."  In other words, if you're worrying, then you're not trusting that God is in control.

Is it fear?

Psalm 27:1 "The LORD is my light and my salvation-- whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life-- of whom shall I be afraid?"

Is it mission work?

Matthew 4:19 "And He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men."

Tithe?

2 Corinthians 9:7 "So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver."

Boredom?

2 Timothy 2:22 "So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart."

Homeschooling?

Proverbs 22:6 "Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it."

Deuteronomy 6:5-9  "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."

Work?

Colossians 3:23 "Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men,"

Health?

Proverbs 25:16 "If you find honey, eat just enough -- too much of it, and you will vomit."  

Okay, that one (while true) is silly--just seeing if you're still paying attention...

Isaiah 46:3-4  "I have carried you since you were born; I have taken care of you from your birth. Even when you are old, I will be the same. Even when your hair has turned gray, I will take care of you. I will sustain you and I will rescue you."



Whatever your Nineveh; whatever your challenge...rise up, meet it.  Otherwise, you may end up in the belly of a fish.

10 things about Wednesday

1) Coffe tastes better when shared with your spouse.

2) But it's a good idea to make two pots...

3) Halloween is a week long event.

4) Progress is a direct result of the effort put in.

5) You don't need a vacuum when you have a dog.

6) Sometimes 10 things are hard to come up with.

7) Phorts (and fonix) are phun.

8) Wednesday is library day...

9) We didn't make it to the library.

10) No one can say no to a popcorn selling Cub Scout.

What We've Been Up To...part deux

It's been a busy month!  If only my GPS could talk--it'd have some stories, such as the wrong turns, u-turns and "oh, whoops, I was supposed to turn there."

It's been a month of discovery. 

Mashed Potato finger painting

Public library

A month of adventure. 

And sometimes...a to just chill. 

We dove into activities with other homeschoolers.  Gman has joined a wonderful Cub Scout pack chock full of other homeschooled kids and so he's made several friends already.  He even had a school picture taken!!

They have weekly activities like playing at the park...

and roller skating. 

Yesterday we went on a wonderful field trip to our state's capitol...

Kiki was not so thrilled with the hat...

a state park...



They had a fascinating program on snakes...

I convinced Gman that touching the live snake was safe

Kiki had no reservations about the snake...he called them "toys"

and of course ice cream!!

Here is an excerpt from Grant's report on the day:

Inside the capitol was amazing! There were so many history artifacts and symbols! There were so many history reminders inside, I thought the year was still 1746! ( Date to add humor.) Anyway, the capitol was a great place to go, if you’re interested in Missouri history! First, a lady gave us a tour around the place.  The last thing she did was take us up flights of stairs, where a man was waiting at the doorway. He told us not to take pictures, bring food or a drink of any kind. He also said some other rules, then led us in the room. He told us that above all, be quiet. We could talk, but only murmur softly. Where he led us next was the House of Representatives! It was amazing! How did I know? TV. Also, you could read the electric billboard, but I knew the House’s meeting room like the back of my hand! After a little bit, the Reps moseyed on in, took a seat, and started business like we weren’t there. A couple of people started getting in an argument, which eventually got in a REALLY heated fight! It was AWESOME!



 Next month Gman is really looking forward to participating in a s-p-e-l-l-i-n-g bee--that is if I can find it...

What A Ride!

The last 6 weeks have been a roller coaster!!

This about sums it up:

The great news is we sold our house!!  We accepted a contract at the end of July and promptly started looking for a new home (as if we'd ever stopped). 

Sometime around May, T-Bo, my hubby's new blog-friendly nickname, had seen a great house on the market with 4 acres.  We didn't look into it seriously at the time because we couldn't afford both mortgages on a single income.  Then, when we accepted a contract on our home we decided to, well, think seriously about it. 

We went through all of the motions of buying a house.  The offer, the inspections, etc etc.  The process takes forever (for those of you that have bought a house) and we had to extend the closing on our house so that we could possibly close both homes the same day (an effort to not render us homeless).

In an effort to not draw out an entirely too long story, I'll summarize by saying the inspection wasn't entirely satisfactory to us plus the house was pretty close to a flood plain and we were having doubts.  We couldn't see where God was leading us.  The answer just wasn't clear.  We prayed without ceasing; we talked about it with everyone we knew; we just didn't know.

My Facebook status August 30, 2011 read, "Lord, you know I'm thick-headed...make it obvious...thanks."

The whole process reminded me of some other thick-headed people in the Bible:

Jonah and his whale

Abraham and his disbelief

Moses and his self-doubt
   and on the flip side Pharaoh and his plagues

and of course, Doubting Thomas!

I can hear God now, "Seriously?  What will it take to convince you?!"

We found out...

Our most wonderful local loan processor sent T-Bo a map of the property and neighboring flood plain.  T-Bo took one look and called me.  He said, "you're not going to believe this...they (underwriter, not our most wonderful local processor) ran a (certified) flood map on the WRONG HOUSE."

There was our answer...pretty plain.  Get us off this ride!

That was September 9th. With our current house still going through (and we Praised the Lord for that) we needed to find a place ASAP.

We searched the Internet for rentals; looked at 3 Monday the 12th and applied for one that afternoon.  We closed our home Tuesday and moved into our new home Wednesday!!

We were only homeless one night!


So a rental in the middle of the city wasn't what we were looking for, but there is a reason for this.  We're going to settle in for the winter and take our time to find our land of milk and honey. 

Fasten your seat belts.

Three Words...

A lot can be said in only three words. 

You have mail.

I love you.

Pray without ceasing.

Those last three words, "pray without ceasing," can pack a punch.  This is the subject Gman is currently studying in his Bible course.  These three small words from Thessalonians are so important they are repeated through the Bible multiple times:

Psalms 72:15
Matthew 26:41
Mark 14:38
Luke 21:36
Acts 1:14, 2:42 and 10:2
Romans 12:12

Just to name a few...

One of Kiki and Gman's favorite games is praying...no, not kidding.  We pray before meals and very often just random points in our day...grocery shopping, the car, getting haircuts, even once while waiting for Chinese takeout.  Kiki usually initiates the prayer by folding his hands.  He also initiates it's conclusion, whether we're finished or not, with a rousing "MAY-MEN!"

While it's a game for Kiki, these weighty words are not to be taken lightly--pun intended.

We should pray as we wake, pray throughout the day and pray at night.  Always pray...without ceasing.  We pray when we eat, work, rest.  We pray when things are bad but more importantly, pray and praise when things are great, like when Grant got a 97% on his Science test!

Pray without ceasing.


Other powerful words are:

"It's Feline Leukemia."

"We said goodbye."

and

"Rest In Peace."

Unfortunately, last Friday we had to use these words in reference to our precious Ellie May.  My hubby and I found her unresponsive early Friday morning.  I rushed her to the vet where the prognosis was not good.  Her body temperature was very low and she was in the process of total organ shutdown.

Therefore...Momma had a hard decision to make.  I held her one last time and she tried to purr.  I said my goodbye, told her I was so sorry, and let her go.

Then I prayed.


We spent the day remembering Ellie and the two short weeks we had together.  We printed pictures of her and we're making an album.  We'll miss her like crazy.


So...remember to:

Say your prayers

Hug your family

and

Check your mail.

This is only a test...

This week has been a week of tests...not just homeschooling tests...but LIFE tests!!

Gman had his first homeschool test on Monday!  He was nervous!  Here is an excerpt from his journal: "...but then, the dreaded Test! Ahh!!!  I went over things like lesson and review games.  Then, I sucked it all up and when I took the Test, let it all out.  And guess what happened?!?!  I got a 97%  That's an A! Woo hoo!"

I second that, "woo hoo!"  Gman is really learning valuable study skills and time management using this program. 

Gman and I also had a MOST AMAZING conversation at lunch yesterday.  We'd gone out to do some errands and it was nearing lunch.  I still had to grocery shop so in lieu of going home for lunch I decided we'd stop in the Subway inside the store.  We got our sandwiches and sat down.  Gman asked me to say the blessing which I gladly did.  I was initially proud of him for being willing to pray in public...let's be honest...who actually does that like we should?

As we began our meal Gman suddenly said, "oh Mom, I forgot...we shouldn't have done that!  What if there had been someone here that didn't believe in God?  He might have shot us."

Well, he was remembering the story of Cassie Bernall, the young lady from Columbine High School who, when asked if she believed in God, answered yes and was killed anyway.

I responded to Gman that I would rather die professing my faith in God than to die of any other circumstance.  We went on to discuss how important it is to always be ready to defend your faith, no matter the circumstances. 

I asked Gman what he thought would have happened had Cassie said, "no."  I told him the shooter probably would have killed her anyway.  And then, what do you think Jesus would have said to her when she arrived in heaven? 

I taught Gman Matthew 10:33 which states, "But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven."

So, a pretty deep conversation for lunch...but such an important one.  It's conversations like these that make me SO glad to be at home with my boys and homeschooling.  It makes every rough or stressful day, every sacrifice and inconvenience completely worth it.

Because Cassie said yes her death served as a witness to millions of Americans. The faith of a young girl shined through in a terrible tragedy.  How many of us, when staring down the barrel of death...would do the same?  That's right...I'm testing ya.