Homegrown Thoughts

I have this habit of blogging about things that are going to happen and then forgetting to post about how they turned out. So I’ll try to tie up some loose ends here and hopefully I won’t forget any.

1. Lapbooking and Notebooking presentation for our homeschool group - This went pretty well. My co-presenter and I have different approaches (I’m all about colored paper and customization and she is all about simple, easy and basic), so we were a good match. We didn’t have nearly enough time to cover both lapbooking and notebooking (and mini-offices, for that matter), but we tried! I had an outline of things to cover and we didn’t use it much at all - we just kind of went with the flow and answered questions. If anyone is interested in seeing some of what we were teaching about lapbooks, you can see my page on lapbooking here. :-)
2. My son’s MRI - He did have to be sedated for the MRIs. This wasn’t as bad as I feared it would be and he’s actually glad that’s how it worked out because he wasn’t scared that way. Well, once the iv was in. That was an ordeal. The worst part was getting the bill - it was almost 3 times as much as I’d been led to believe it would be. And we get to pay most of it out-of-pocket. Ouch. But the good news is that it ruled out any neurological or spinal conditions and he got a completely clean report. The next step is getting approval from the insurance company for leg braces that he will wear at night to stretch out the tendons in his calves to where they should be. Homeschooling bonus: I was able to save copies of his x-ray images on my computer for future use in science lessons. How many people get to use their own body for anatomy?!?
3. Our Compassion child - We got our packet this week, so we’re officially official. There wasn’t a lot of additional information in it, but we are able to write to her now. I’ll be doing that very soon. I’ve been learning some Swahili, which is fun! It’s an interesting language. It’s fun to say “good night”. Lala salama! From what I can tell, the words for airplane and bird are the same - ndege. That’s fun to say, too. I don’t have a lot of need for this knowledge in everyday life, but I tend to make a habit of storing information with limited use in my noggin. Every once in awhile it comes in handy or at least surprises people.
4. My exercise program - I’m about to the end of my 10 week program. We have final testing next week. I’m testing early so that will be next Wednesday night. I did see improvement at my 5 week evaluation, although I haven’t really lost weight. I have lost inches and I can tell that I have more energy and endurance. So I would say I’m more ‘fit’ even if it doesn’t really look like it so much. I’m not sure how the testing will go this week. I don’t feel like I’ve improved as much in this 2nd five weeks, but we’ll see. I did my own mile walk/run test this week and I took a couple minutes off of my time, so that was better. I’m opting out of the group run because my legs just can’t take it. I think I have issues with my calves, too, and I simply can’t do a lot of running or even fast walking without serious pain, even after all this exercise I’ve been doing. And I’m fine with that. There are plenty of other things I can do with pretty much the same results. I’ll try to remember to report in with my final numbers next week.
5. Mission: Self-Control is going pretty well. I don’t think I’ve really bought too much ‘extra’ stuff. I try not to look too closely at the ads in the newspaper and delete the ones I get via e-mail without even looking at them, most of the time. Removing that temptation has helped a lot. I’m still working on clearing out the accumulated ’stuff’. Our spring cleanup day is coming up soon and hopefully I’ll have a lot to put at the curb that day!

I think that’s about it. Feel free to remind me, my faithful handful of readers, if I’ve forgotten anything.

So many movies today, even the ones marketed for kids, are full of material that is objectionable to parents. It’s nearly impossible to know just by movie descriptions and trailers how much profanity and ‘adult situations’ will be included.

I thought I’d share some resources to help you find out the ‘family-friendly’ level of movies before you head to the theater or rent a video.

• Common Sense Media - Besides movies and DVD’s, this site also reviews books, games, tv, and music.
• Plugged In Online - Online version of the magazine. Also includes reviews of games and music.
• Kids-in-mind - Unique rating system that immediately shows the level of objectionable material in 3 categories.
• Dove - Make sure you read each title’s review here. Some movies are ‘Dove approved’ but only for those above a certain age. The Dove approval does NOT indicate that it is appropriate for the entire family.

There are other family movie review sites but I find these pretty much cover anything you’d need to know before making a decision.

Are you looking for some fun things to go along with the “Horton Hears a Who!” movie or the original Dr. Seuss book?  I have a mini-unit in my articles section that might help you out!

This could easily be turned into a lapbook, too. 

Horton Hears a Who! mini-unit

I hope you enjoy it!

Here she is!

Meet Selina, a 4 year old little girl from northern Tanzania! She has 2 siblings, attends church activities and Bible class and likes playing with dolls and group games. Isn’t she cute? So solemn. We hope to put a smile on that precious little face.

I guess I may have to start learning some Swahili. Unless she uses some other local dialect, of course. Good thing they have interpreters for the letters!

We should receive our information packet in a couple of weeks, then we can start writing to her. It says she is in kindergarten, but I’m not sure if that’s accurate, given her age. She is almost 5. Someone will read our letters to her and write to her for us until she can do it on her own, so no worries.

I’m so grateful for this opportunity to reach out and touch a child on the other side of the world in Jesus’ name. I pray her life will be blessed by our love.

Selina is 9 hours ahead of us and about 8,233 miles away. It would take us more than 16 hours of actual flight time to reach her. Here are the current weather conditions near Selina’s home:

We’re going to sponsor a child through Compassion International!

I need to back up here a little bit and begin at the beginning. Ever since I was pretty young (late grade school, I’m guessing), I’ve wanted to sponsor a child through one of the charitable organizations out there. Now that’s been a lot of years that I’ve waited to do it! For one reason or another, it just never happened.

Fast forward to this last week, when I began reading about the trip some bloggers took to Uganda with Compassion. They rounded up a group of bloggers (some of whom I read somewhat regularly) and took them to see the work Compassion does in Africa. The bloggers posted about their experiences even as they were still in Uganda. I didn’t read these until after they were back (they went in February), but once I started I couldn’t stop! Some met the children they sponsor. There are blog entries, photos, videos… I almost feel like I was there with them - you know, other than the fact I was in my comfortable home surrounded by snow. I was really struck by the quality of the Compassion program and their commitment to transparency in their finances and showing these children the love of Jesus.

I’m convicted in a much stronger way than ever before that I NEED to do this! No more excuses, no more putting it off until I could think about it… I would have signed up right away if it were up to me, but there was a little hitch in that plan. I’m a married woman who needs to run these things by her husband first. A husband who does NOT make quick decisions. A husband who needs details and time to think and think and think…

So I gave him information to look at and tried to wait patiently. I tried very hard to only ask him about it once a day. I prayed about it. And I waited some more.

Today my husband asked me to print out information for several children and that we could pray together about it tonight. I am taking this to mean that we will decide *which* child we will sponsor, not *if* we will sponsor. And this will be a very difficult decision, one that will certainly require prayer. There are so many children in need, how do you pick just one? I’ve looked through the photos and stories of the available children for several days and have chosen 6 ‘finalists’ for us to choose from. How I wish we could sponsor them all!

So I’m rather excited! I’ll share our experiences with this here, for sure!

I urge you to prayerfully consider sponsoring a child. If you’d like to read and see some of the things I’ve been watching, visit Boomama’s blog and look in the left sidebar for the blue Blog Compassion Uganda box - click on the options there to see Uganda through these bloggers’ eyes. Your heart will break, but if you are like me, you will also be struck by the hope shining from these children’s eyes. A small sacrifice in your lifestyle can greatly improve the life of an impoverished child on the other side of the world - even into the realms of eternity. And I believe your life and heart will be richer for it.