Christmas Costs Less at Wal-Mart!

Just what does (did) Christmas cost?

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. John 1:1-4

Jesus Christ; God himself; creator of all things, gave up a life in heaven for a 33 year life on earth. On earth he experienced the physical discomforts of pain, fatigue, hunger and thirst. Why? To show people the very face of God. To live among His creation and teach them... SHOW them God's love for them. He sacrified a life in heaven, a life in the daily presence of his father God. And while many people were accepting of his message and sought to follow him, many others ridiculed him and sought to do him harm. But he endured this for every one of us, even those who spit in his face, lied about him, and beat him brutally. He loved us all so much that he willingly, and literally, gave up his life. Can any of us imagine the pain of having someone you love so much you'd die for spit in our face, ridicule us, beat us, and sentence us to death?

He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. 1 John 1:10-14

In just the final hours of Jesus' life look at what it cost:

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Lake/3894/easter/cruscourg.html
Scourging Practices (this is graphic)

Scourging, practiced by the Romans was a cruel punishment that usually preceded crucifixion. The only ones exempted from scourging were women, Roman senators and soldiers except in cases of desertion. Normally there were between one and six trained Roman officer called lictors who were responsible for dispensing the blows to the victims. The lictors chosen to administer the scourging had previously received special medical training. They knew how to wield the whip so as to open bruises which had already formed. The instrument used for scourging is a short whip called a flagrum or flagellum to which was attached several braided leather thongs of variable lengths. Knots were tied in the ends of each thong, and sheep bone or iron balls were inserted into the knots at the end of each thong. This whip is called a flagrum or flagellum.

The person to be scourged is stripped of his clothing and his hands are tied to a post. Roman soldiers repeatedly strike the victim's back, buttocks and legs with their full force causing deep contusions. Lacerations from repeated blows cut into the underlying muscles and rip the overlaying skin of the back to a point where it hangs in ribbons of bleeding flesh. The capillaries and veins were often torn causing intense bleeding and at times leaving the entrails exposed. Even once the victim fainted, if the lictors could feel a pulse and detect sufficient respiration, the beating would continue. Once the centurion in charge determined that the prisoner is near death, the beating is halted.

According to Jewish law the prisoner was to receiver no more than forty lashes. The Pharisees, always making sure that the law was strictly kept, insisted that only thirty nine lashes be given in case an error occurred during counting.(Deuteronomy 25:3) The Roman law did not have any set limit on the number of blows which could be administered.

The object of the scourging was to weaken the victim to a state of collapse and bring them as near to death as possible without killing them. Many did not survive this punishment and it was given the name "half death." The extent of blood loss may well have determined how long the victim would survive on the cross.

After the scourging, Jesus was mocked more, had a "crown" of thorns pushed onto his head, and made to carry his cross beam.

But, somehow, Wal-Mart has made Christmas cost less.

The "Freedom" to Homeschool

The last few months I've been reading through the laws, codes, and requirements of homeschooling in PA- one of the most restrictive states to homeschool in. This is the year, now that SK is 8, that I must file my affidavit with the school district saying I'm going to homeschool or, in my case, use my teaching certification to teach as a private tutor (completely different law). I've learned that Pennsylvania is so gracious that back in 1988 they passed a law giving parents the right to teach their own children. Excuse me? I believe GOD gave me that right when he gave me the child. It doesn't take a village, it takes a family. I have been appalled reading through the requirements of the homeschool law. It's ridiculous.

This morning I read this: "The supervisor of the home education program [that's the parent] must certify on the affidavit that the supervisor [parent], all adults living in the home and persons having legal custody of the child have not been convicted of the criminal offenses listed in section 111(e) of the School Code." So, if you send your child to the state's school you, any adults in your home, and anyone that has legal custody of your child (x-spouse) can have a criminal record, no problem. If, however, you want to teach your own child you have to prove that no one in the home or with legal custody has a criminal record. Brilliant!

The other part of the law that gets me the most is that a private tutor must teach "loyalty to the State and National government". This is required in elementary school, but not required in secondary school. It's also not required in the homeschool law at all. Ah, consistency. In this case, it may just be the feelings the word "loyalty" evokes in me that gives me concern. I will teach my children our country's history and to obey the laws of our nation, but loyalty to the government... I don't know. Loyalty to country, or respect of country, is different in my thinking than loyalty to a government.

If you're bored for some reason you can read the PA homeschooling law & codes here http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/laws/blPA.htm or here http://home.comcast.net/~askpauline/hs/homeschoollaw.html. Yes, you'd have to be really bored ;)

That's my morning vent!

Obituary

This is worth posting ;)

Please join me in remembering a great icon of the entertainment community. The Pillsbury Doughboy died yesterday of a yeast infection and trauma complications from repeated pokes in the belly. He was 71.

Doughboy was buried in a lightly greased coffin. Dozens of celebrities turned out to pay their respects, including Mrs. Butterworth, Hungry Jack, the California Raisins, Betty Crocker, the Hostess Twinkies, and Captain Crunch. The grave site was piled high with flours.

Aunt Jemima delivered the eulogy and lovingly described Doughboy as a man who never knew how much he was kneaded. Doughboy rose quickly in show business, but his later life was filled with turnovers. He was not considered a very smart cookie, wasting much of his dough on half-baked schemes. Despite being a little flaky at times, he still was a crusty old man and was considered a positive roll model for millions.

Doughboy is survived by his wife Play Dough, three children: John Dough, Jane Dough and Dosey Dough, plus they had one in the oven. He is also survived by his elderly father, Pop Tart.

The funeral was held at 3:50 for about 20 minutes.

If this made you smile for even a brief second, please rise to the occasion and take time to pass it on and share that smile with someone else who may be having a crumby day and kneads a lift.

Note to self:

Don't wait 6 months to upload pics from my digital camera...

I take TONS of pictures. No, you wouldn't know from my blog. I hear you. I have two cards with a total of about 12oo pictures on them. Maybe a digital camera wasn't such a good idea for me. It's going to take hours to upload them so I can get prints!

I promise I'll add some pictures soon of everyone's birthdays and all the happenings over the last 6 months (There have been a lot.). I just haven't taken the time to write about them since I didn't have the pics on my computer yet.

Right now we're getting ready for two camping trips. Next weekend is our church camping weekend. Last year we went up Thursday night and had much of Friday to ourselves. That was relaxing. The campground has a really cool water slide. We'll get back Sunday afternoon then Tuesday morning we head to Creation '08 with our youth group. We offered to organize everything for the group since we've taken other groups, but somehow we ended up going along, too. That was NOT my plan. I know the children will love it, though. Sawyer may be the difficult one, especially after just coming off the weekend camping trip. If you're not familiar with it it's a 5 day Christian festival with about 20 bands and a dozen or more speakers. All day, every day is worship, teaching, and music. It's ALL outdoors on farm fields. 70,000 people in the sun. Porta-potties. No electricity... J is such a handyman, though, that he has made a battery powered sink and shower. We have to carry buckets of water daily from the spigots on the grounds. We also have to buy ice every day.

I hope to post the pics and things before we go, but there's so much to do for such an undertaking (we're planning and packing food and supplies for 24 people) that I don't know if I'll be able to.

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Later that day... There were 3 cards from my camera with a total of 1802 pictures since 10-19-07. We did have a really big trip in there when I took a lot of pics. See, I have no memory, so my pictures will be my memory! Thankfully, prints are just $ .09 each and there was a free shipping offer. It took hours to upload them all :0

Irresistible!

It's hard to get out of bed in the morning when
you have these four snuggled up with you!

The Facts About Mustard

"I don't like mustard. Some people don't like mustard; except for the people that do." T, age 3.9

The Lecture

Yesterday SK, in tears, tells me that A told her she didn't love her. We had this discussion about words; that even if we say we're sorry, we were joking, etc. the pain is still there for the other person. We talked about different scenarios with their friends. I then related a story that circulates on email about driving nails in a fence. They listened intently, understood, and hugged each other. I thought it was a nice time.

Last night at bedtime SK proceeds to tell J the same story (about A). I walked in to hear him talking about the pain our words cause others. I said "we went through this already". SK said she tried to tell him that I'd already talked to her about it, but he started talking and she didn't want to interrupt him. Then she says "He told us basically the same thing you did, but shorter." ... Now my own child accuses me of talking too much ;)

And on that note, I'm off to clean the basement!

Here's the story I mentioned:

NAILS IN THE FENCE

There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His Father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence. The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.

Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper. The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said, "You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won't matter how many times you say I'm sorry, the wound is still there."

They won't ask forever.

Yesterday as I went out for the mail it dawned on me that no one had asked to go with me for quite a while. They used to ask every time and it really was a pain to get 3 children's shoes on just for a walk down the driveway.

They used to always ask to drive "the long way" home so they could see the neighbor's horse. Then he sold the horse.

SK used to always ask me to read her a book. Now she reads by herself.

There are so many things that they used to ask for that they don't any more. Some of them were cute things we enjoyed with them. Some of them bothersome. Either way it's a reminder that time is passing quickly when we realize they don't ask any more.

Whenever possible, take the time youre children are asking for, because before you know it, it's gone.

A new year!

Here we are in another new year. SK will be turning eight in just 17 days! Every year I almost (or do) cry before her birthday. Eight, though... it's like the beginning of a journey as a young lady. I can see it in her face. She made breakfast twice in the last week. She helps mother the other children. I have a chance to make it or break it right now. It's my last chance to keep her heart. I feel like I'm teetering on the edge. If I don't give her the training and responsibility she needs I'll miss the opportunity. She wants to learn and grow and be fed. I can't fool around here! We've found the hardest thing is finding a balance in what we expect from her.