Sheep are Dumb!

Sheep are Dumb!

 

 

 I have felt the need to share this with you all for about a week now.   Our pastor shared this with us last week and it has been weighing on my mind all week.

Did you know sheep are dumb?  Apparently, they are as dumb as rocks.  They can't do anything for themselves.  They rely on their shephard for EVERYTHING!  Well, we should treat the Bible like our shephard.  In fact, Psalm 23 has ALL the answers we need.

 Sheep lack direction, they are defenseless, and they are dependant of the Shephard.  Well, verse one is about the shephard, and verses 2-6 is about the sheep.  Yep, we need that much direction.

**Do you have worry?  Well, let me share verse 1 with you:

"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want." (Psalm 23:1 ESV)

This verse tells us, to turn all of our worries to God.  He will show us the way we are to go.  IF we turn our worries to Him, He will not let us faulter.  Now, we may not like the answer He gives us, but He will answer.

**Do you experience stress?  Verse 2 has the solution for that:

"He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. "(Psalm 23:2 ESV)

We have to lay down our stress to Him.  And you know....... Sometimes He MAKES us lie down, if we won't slow down and and do it ourselves.

**Do you have guilt?  Verse 3 has the solution for that.

"He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake." (Psalm 23:3 ESV)

He pardons our sins.  Simple as that!  If you ask the Lord into your heart, He restores your heart and refreshes your soul.  Praise God for this!!!!!

**Do you have a fear of death?  Verse 4!

"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me." (Psalm 23:4 ESV)

Enough said!

** Do you have Hurt?  Verse 5 is for you.

"You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows." (Psalm 23:5 ESV)

Did you know, God will stick it in your enemies face?  Yea, you don't have to do anything, God will do it for you.  If somebody does something for me, I try try try to not do anything.  I try to let God work.  I do not like confrontation at all.  But, if you push me far enough, I will snap.  Well, I try not to snap too often, #1, its not pretty, #2 God doesn't like it when I snap.  He snaps back at me when I snap.  So, just sit back and let Him work for you.  Talk to Him about it.  And sometimes, He presents you with your blessing right in front of the person.  Talk abut in your face!

**Do you fear the future?  Verse 6 has your answer

"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever." (Psalm 23:6 ESV)

If you turn to God, He will prepare a mansion in heaven just for you.

Yes, sheep are dumb.  We are sheep, we are dumb.  See, we try to handle all of our problems by ourselves.  We think, oh I don't need God, what can He do for me?  Let me tell you, He can do EVERYTHING for you.  I am a true example of His works.  I had nothing, I had no direction in my life.  I knew I loved working in bookkeeping, but no idea where to start.  Well, Gid led me to each and every one of my jobs.  Then, He led me to start my own business.  Let me tell you, God led me to every one of my clients.  He is a fair God.  I have had my ups and downs.  I've tried to handle situations on my own.  Those never turn out pretty.  But, He has led me to where I am today.  And let me tell you, I wouldn't want to be anywhere but here.

 God bless you all!
Sherie

Realistic Homeschooling

Monday - It was one of those days.......

The little guy was not interested in school whatsoever.  All that hard work getting the desks in here and all he wants to do is goof off and eat.  But, you know what?  I let him eat till his heart was content.  Otherwise, I would have heard him whine allllllll dayyyyyyy longgggggg!  I told him, you can eat and eat and eat, but you will finish school today, even if you have to do it all the way up till bedtime.  He finished around 4:30 in the afternoon.  We can usually get done by noon. 

He never got mad, like he sometimes does, he just wasn't interested in doing anything in the morning.  But you know what?  That is what homeschooling is all about.  We can choose to do school anytime we want to.

I hope you have a great day!

God Bless you all!
Sherie

A Classroom in progress

And so it begins...........................................

I have been asking (ok, nagging) my husband for a few weeks to change out the playroom and make it into a school room.  Then, I read somewhere that one of the reasons we chose to school at home because we didn't want our kids to be stuck in a schoolroom all day. 

After that, I had an epiphany.  Why do I need an office all to myself?  I can share, right?  I mean, I teach my boys to share...... well, I try to teach my boys to share, they are 7 & 8.  I mean, sharing to them is once they get in trouble for not sharing, they throw whatever it might be at the other brother.  OK, that is sharing to them.  So, I need to share myself and be a good example.

So, last week, I moved my desk to the front corner of my office (I'm not showing a picture of my desk because it is a disaster!)

And, yesterday we absolutely tore my office up AND the playroom and moved two more desks into my office and created a "schoolroom" and office all in one.  I could not do school in the kitchen one more day.  I had ran out of counter space to do any prepare things to cook.  Well, the desks look good, but the rest of the room is a disaster and the playroom is still a disaster. 

Slowly, but surely, I will get it all put back together. 

I have a bunch of decorating stuff on the floor of my office.  I need to have a yard sale to get rid of all of it.  But, that will have to wait.  It seems I live in Florida, the state that USED to be known as The Sunshine State.  Yea, it should now be known as the wet, rainy state.  You only THOUGHT that was Washington State.  NOPE!  if you want rain, thunder, lightening, wind, we've got you covered.

And about the cooking, I actually slow cooked a ham in one crockpot and slow cooked dinner in another.  Something, I could not do last week with all of the school books piled up on my counters.  YAY! 

God Bless you!
Sherie

Realistic Homeschooling

We have had a very uneventful week of homeschooling.  We ALL got up with great attitudes and got ALL of our work done.  YAY!!!!!!

We really didn't have any crafts that we did this week, so not much to report.

However, last night about 8:30, our small dog decided to scratch open a cyst that has been on his back for a while and it started bleeding, and bleeding, and bleeding.  So, me and my daughter started doctoring him.  Well, he is a very hairy dog, so medical tape was not going to work.  An ace bandage type thing didn't work.  So, we got out the Duct Tape.  Yep!  You read that right, duct tape.  IT WORKED!

So, when life shows up, use what you have, even if its Duct Tape!  LOL!

After staying up half the night making sure he was ok, we got up bright and early and took him to the doctor.  The doctor got a kick out of our bandage.  LOL!  She is treating it as an opened wound with 2 different antibiotics.  We will doctor it for about a month and if it doesn't heal (she said some don't heal on their own), we will then go to plan B which is surgery and stitching it up.  I'm going to pray real hard for it to heal up this way and not have to go to plan B.

                                                                 (kids at the vet)

She also told us to put a t-shirt on him.  Well, we didn't have a doggie t-shirt, so he got one of the boys old t-shirts.  LOL!

                                                                  (Isn't he cute?)

Needless to say, we didn't get any schooling done today.  My boys did read their library books.  OH, let me tell you about the library!  We went to a different library yesterday.  We went to the MAIN library in town.  OH MY GOODNESS, we were in library heaven!  The library we were going to?  Well, you could fit the WHOLE library in just the kids section of the main library!  I am going to take pictures next week.  It is AMAZING!!!!!!

I asked the librarian if they did anything for homeschool kids after school starts.  She said they didn't have anything specifically for homeschool kids, but they do have a thing coming up in August for any kid.  It is a make and take model.  The kids make a snap together model and then they can take it home.  That is cool too!  Its on the calendar!  This is on top of the exhibit that starts at the end of July about astronomy.  I am THRILLED to have gone to this library.  THRILLED, THRILLED, THRILLED!

Have a great weekend!  We are hoping to go play tennis tomorrow, but alas it is supposed to rain......again this weekend.

God Bless you all!
Sherie

My Big Berkey!

Well, since we don't have to pay $400 per month for school this year, we decided to buy a Berkey water filter system.  We are trying to buy and do the best we can for our family in the way of diet and health.  We already eat several salads per week, we are trying to buy better meat, but it is soooooo expensive, so we are easing into that.  So, this was our next step. 

Isn't it beautiful?

 

 

Me and the kids drink water all day long.  We are also in the south, so sweet tea is on the menu a lot too.  Not to mention coffee.  The dogs are drinking it too.  LOL!

 

 

I can tell you that there was definitely a difference in taste.  I didn't think there would be, but there is. 

 

We use it for everything, cooking, cleaning, drinking, everything. 

 

The only thing this doesn't help is with our showers and baths, and washing our hands and clothes.  But, we will eventually get to those too.  We aren't planning on staying at this house much longer, so we are having to weigh out the cost of the upgrade and then if we could get that cost back out of the sell of the house.

 

Do you use a water filter?  Do you have a whole house filter?  Let us know!

 

 

God bless you all!

Sherie

Watch Your Mouth

 

 

This morning during Bible study, God spoke to me through His word.  I started reading the Bible all the way through on January 1st.  I am little behind, but I'm still going.  I also do a Bible study every morning.  Some mornings, I can get 3 days worth of reading done.  Other days, I can't even get one day of reading done.  I alternate reading through the Bible and the Bible study from the time I get out of bed until the kids get up for the day.  I'm not real strict on when everybody gets up, its just as soon as the first one is up, I get everybody up (or at least I try, teenagers can sleep through ANYTHING!).

Anyway, I got several days of reading done today, but when God speaks to me, He SPEAKS!  It seemed like everything I read had the same message and He told me to share it with all of you.

You see, we have a situation in our family right now.  I mean, its to the point that my family (hubby and kids) don't even associate with my Grandmother nor Aunt and Uncle. 

I will start at the beginning.  A couple of years ago, my Grandpa died.  He owned a business.  It was a specialty business that he only worked part time.  However, it could have been built to be a full time business.  In fact it was at one time, but over the years, he got tired and slowed down.  I mean, he was 82 when he passed away.  And was working the day he told my grandma to take him to the hospital where 3 days later, he passed.  So, it was a sudden death and yes, he had work still waiting for him to do.  Well, years back, he had trained my husband how to run the machines.  So a few days later, I asked my grandma if there was work to be done and she said yes.  I asked her if she wanted my husband to do the work and she said yes.  So, he started working on the stuff that was left to do. 

To honor my grandpa, all of that money that was collected went straight to my grandmother, we received nothing.  Then more and more of my grandpa's clients kept calling or stopping by and wanting us to continue the business.  So, about a month after my grandpa passed, I approached my grandmother to continue the business.  I told her that we could do it, if we split the income 50/50 and we would buy all of the supplies needed to get the job done.  She agreed.  I mean, what a great deal, right?  She had no expenses, just income. 

Well, this worked out for about a year.  We built the business back up to almost full time work.  My husband would work his full time job, then come and work the business every night until the work was done. 

Let me back up a minute.  My Aunt and Uncle did not like the idea of me and my husband doing this business.  They wanted to hire somebody to come in and work the business.  Now, #1 why would you want to hire a stranger to come in and work a FAMILY owned business?  #2, my grandmother had been diagnosed with dementia and was not making decisions very well, and was known to practically give things away.  I mean, she almost sold my grandpa's prize 57 Chevy for $3,000.  So, again why would you want to hire somebody that was not family to be at my grandparents house every day while grandma was giving the place away.  Wouldn't it be smarter to have somebody (me) there to make sure that nothing was given away?

So, the next Christmas after this all took place, my grandmother goes and spends a week at my Aunt and Uncle's house.  Well, the day she gets back, I showed up after taking the kids to school and a truck and trailer are parked in front of her house.  So, I immediately go to investigate it.  (I also should say that until this day, my grandmother LOVED when I would come check on her)  Well, this was a guy that had grown up in the neighborhood, but I had not seen him in years.  He was there to load up a machine that he said he bought from my grandpa several years back, but just never came to get.  The hairs on the back of my neck stood up.  I mean, when do you buy something that you just don't get for several years (other than a cemetery plot or funeral arrangements).  That just didn't make any sense whatsoever.  So, I call my mom, my sister, and try to call my aunt.  My grandmother then starts yelling at me that this had happened and that she remembered it happening.  I said, ok does he have a receipt?  I mean, if you buy something and don't get it immediately, what if something happens to the person you have bought it from?  There is no way to prove that it is your machine, unless you have a receipt.  Anyway, before it was all said and done, my grandmother had accused me of never purchasing my office building from my grandpa (which I did have a receipt from, not to mention a copy of the title of the building)  And then, she raised her fist to me.  Again, remember she just spent a week with the aunt and uncle that did not like me running the business.

So, I left the property and have not spoken to her or my aunt and uncle since that day.  Oh, I forgot to say, my aunt called and cussed me out over the phone.  I don't speak those type words, nor do I like causing confrontations.

Well, this has brewed inside of me for about a year.  But, when I started reading my Bible, God gave me peace about the whole situation.  He has helped me realize, until my aunt and uncle are out of my grandmothers life, she will not be the same as she was before my grandpa passed.  So, we just need to not worry about it anymore and not have any contact with any of them.  Our faith will be stronger if we don't have contact.

So, today I came across these verses and God reinforced it in me that I am doing what is right in His eyes. 

Read Mark 7:15 - "There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him."

Therefore, watch what comes out of your mouth, your actions, your everything and make sure EVERYTHING you do is for His glory.  I can say, I have lived this for 2 years now and every day I feel closer and closer to Him.

Read Psalm 1:1,2 - "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night."

Read your Bible, get INTO the word and he will bless you.  I can say, He has definitely blessed us with TONS of things I cannot even explain.  Thank you Lord for being with my family.

Read Mark 8:12 - "And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, "Why does this generation seek a sign?  Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.""

I took this as.... Don't look for "signs", you will know when I am working in your life.  Amen!

Daniel 12:10 - "Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be refined, but the wicked shall act wickedly.  And none of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall understand."

I can say that we have been blessed beyond belief.  I "hear" that my aunt and uncle are struggling with their health constantly.  They are financially in a bind.  They have no insurance, therefore they cannot get the health care they need.  God does bless those that need blessing and He does punish those that need punished.

Mark 9:1 - "And he said to them, "Truly, I say to you there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.""

This translated to me as keep doing what you are doing.  Reaching others for God is what He wants you to do.  Keep publishing your thoughts and spread My Word, so that more people will come to know Me.  Even doing all of this, there will be people that will not accept Jesus Christ as their Savior until the tribulation.  But, don't quit!

And finally, Psalm 3:1-9 - "O Lord, how many are my foes!  many are rising against me; many are saying of my soul, there is no salvation for him in God.  But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head.  I cried aloud to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy hill.  I lay down and slept; I awoke again, for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around.  Arise, O Lord!  Save me, O my God!  For you strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked.  Salvation belongs to the Lord; your blessing be on your people!"

So, join with me in spreading God's word to all of the worldwide web.

I tell you the story of my family to show you that you don't have to be "perfect" for the Lord to work in your heart and soul and use you to His glory.  He will take all kinds of people.  I am just human.  I have resigned myself to not even admit that those people exist.  Because they don't exist in my world.  But, the one that does exist in my world is God and He is the one that SHOULD exist in my world. 

Thank you for reading!

God bless you all!
Sherie

Realistic Homeschooling

I am starting a series today called Realistic Homeschooling.  It will be my journal of the ups and downs of homeschool.  As I was bouncing around the web, there are so many websites, blogs, etc. that are so peppy and happy ALL of the time.  Well, let me be one of the first to tell you, ITS NOT ALWAYS PEPPY AND HAPPY, IN FACT SOMETIMES ITS VERY VERY VERY FRUSTRATING!!!!!!

Yes, I have just started homeschooling and Yes, I am already experiencing the frustrations.  Would I change anything?  Nope!  I am learning my kids inside and out.  We just work through the frustrating parts.

Last Monday, was probably the hardest day so far.  I know I will be comparing all of our frustrating days to that one from now on.  My youngest woke up (granted it was the day after the long 4 day Fourth of July weekend) that morning screaming at me, "I DO NOT WANT TO DO SCHOOL!"  To my response of, "TOO BAD, WE ARE DOING SCHOOL!  NOW GET OVER IT!" 

Well, that day it took him 5 hours to get through 2 math worksheets.  And the math worksheets were not even that hard.  He had to write 1-100 twice and skip count by 10's twice.  Big whoop!  FIVE HOURS of me saying, "Do your work!" over and over and over and over again.  I prayed, I walked out of the room, I sat beside him, I sat across from him, I walked outside.  He got under my skin so bad, and I could not hide it.  He FINALLY got done with math.  But, he still had Calendar work, Reading, and History to do.  Needless to say, we got done with school just in time for me to start cooking supper.  Did I mention that I haven't even done any of MY work yet?  In case you don't know, I own my own tax and bookkeeping business.  And this was a particular week that was going to be super busy with business stuff to do.  I think I got to work on my work at 7:30 that night.

                                                  (this is how I found him at one point)

Tuesday, was close to as frustrating, but not as quite because he actually got his work done 30 minutes before I needed to start supper.  Then, I got to my work around 7:30 again that night.  Wednesday, was better again.  It was about an hour before starting supper when he got done that day.  Thursday, we take off because I have to go around and do payroll for all of my clients.  Then Friday he wakes up, EARLY and in a great mood.  He got all of his work done in 2 hours.  I almost fainted.  And we didn't skimp on anything.  He had just woke up with his mind going in the right direction and got it done.

Now, you would think after all of this talking about one child, that that is all I have.  NOPE!  I have 3 kids.  My daughter is 17.  She is a senior in public school and doing great!  I homeschooled her from 5th - 7th.  She then went to public school because she had gotten too advanced for me.  I didn't understand virtual school back then.  She is doing phenomenal in school.  She is taking honors, AP, or dual enrollment in almost all of her classes and making A's and B's in all of them too.  So, I guess my homeschooling worked out.  Then I also have an 8 year old and he is advanced for his age/grade.  His favorite show is Mythbusters.  He is constantly watching it on Netflix and he doesn't care if he has already watched it, he will watch it a million times.

                                                                       (All 3 kids)
My daughter is volunteering this summer at Hospice. I am so proud of her, not many teenagers would do something like that.  She plans on going to college to be a nurse practitioner once she graduates next June.

My 8 year old gets up, gets a bath, eats breakfast and gets to work.  He is usually done and waiting on his brother to do History together.  I have not (yet) had any problems with him complaining about school.  Well, the only complaint is, its too easy.  Like I said, we have just started.  I told him that in math, I had to pick a place where I thought he was.  Now, we will have to get through the stuff he already knows to get to harder stuff.  I chose Math U See for math for both boys.  I had good success with my daughter using it, and the youngest is definitely a hands on learner.  So, I figured lets do it for both.  My 7 year old is in the Alpha level.  My 8 year old is in the Gamma level.  We are doing 2-3 worksheets every day on this easy stuff, just to get through it.  Then, we will slow down and do 1 worksheet per day.  So, some weeks he may have 2 tests, other weeks, just 1.  It all depends on how fast we move through it.

(My 8 year old working hard.  You would think the 7 year old was working hard too, but no he was still goofing off.)

God Bless you all!
Sherie

Weekly Review 7/12/13

What a week!  We started out Monday with my youngest (7) screaming that he did NOT want to do school.  So, Monday was VERY long!  Tuesday, he still didn't want to do school, but it didn't take as long that day.  Wednesday, he woke up not wanting to do school again.  He started at 10:30am and finished at 3:30pm.  Thursday, I do my bookkeeping errands, so no school.  Friday, was excellent.  He woke up in a great mood, started school around 8:30 and finished at 10:30.  And we did every subject, no skimping.

Here is a picture diary of what we accomplished in History this week.  Of course, we did math, calendar work, reading, and writing also.  And we also read and answered questions about history.

 I found the above idea on Pinterest here

 

 Above is the animals my boys created and named.  God created the animals on day 6 and Adam had to name them.  So, my boys had to create new animals and name them.  I can't remember the names of their animals, but aren't they cute!

Again, another Pinterest idea.  We took the idea and made days on the timeline of what happened on that day.  I have found that with my boys, repetition is the key for them to remember things.  So, we read about creation, we created 2 different crafts about creation and we placed the days on the timeline so they will have a visual reminder every day of what God did for us.

God Bless you all!
Sherie

F is for Fourth!

F is for Fourth

Well, this Fourth of July was a wet soggy one.  We have a sort of tropical system (sort of because its not named, but has tropical characteristics) sitting right over the top of the Panhandle of Florida.  And this year, we actually made plans for the WHOLE weekend.  We never make plans ANY weekend, so for us to make plans is amazing.  LOL!  We were "supposed" to go to the beach on Thursday, the Florida Caverns of Friday, and have a yard sale Saturday.  But, what we ended up doing was going to the Navy Museum on Thursday, sit around on Friday because the weather was just too wet, and go to dinner at my mother in laws tonight (Saturday).  We have had a great long weekend despite the yucky weather.  Here are some pics of some crafts we did on Tuesday, and then a pic of my daughter and youngest son at the museum.

Colored rice is really easy.  1 Tablespoon of Vinegar, and food coloring, mix in 1 Cup of rice.  Then, once its the color you want, spread the rice out on parchment paper to dry.  I let mine dry over night.

I didn't know how messy it would be, so I had the boys take their shirts off.  This is one area my mom is shocked at that we school in just shorts.  I told her that sometimes the boys don't even have on shorts, sometime we homeschool in underwear, that is the beauty of homeschooling.  :-)
 

 

 Happy Birthday America!  May God Bless us all!
Sherie

E is for Emotions

E is for Emotions

I don't know about you, but my emotions can be like riding on a rollercoaster.  I can wake up happy, and 30 minutes later be sad, then another 30 minutes and I am excited, then another 30 minutes I am frustrated.  I hate this about myself.  In starting this homeschooling journey, I have had every emotion possible.

I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God has led me to this junction in my life and that He is leading me to homeschool my boys.  But, it does not stop my emotions of doubt, guilt, disbelief.  It also conjures up the emotions of elation, excitement, joy, pride, and exhilaration.  I believe God gives us these emotions to keep us on our toes.

I've also been struggling with my personal emotions about myself.  Lately, I have hated everything about myself.  My hair is driving me crazy!  I feel like its just a mop on top of my head.  I hate my body, but do I work out?  NOOOO!  If I would get off my butt, I would feel better about myself.  But, I make excuses and then when its time to eat, I choose bad foods instead of good foods.  I HAVE to get this under control.  As far as my hair?  I haven't made up my mind what I want to do.  I have a few more weeks until my next hair appointment, so I can think about that for a little while longer.

So, if you read an emotional post by me, just know that the next one will probably be a lot happier.

Have a great day!
Sherie