Happy Thanksgiving

Hello Everyone:

I hope that this Thanksgiving finds healthy and happy and enjoying the company of family and friends.

This year, I have much to be thankful for as always. I am thankful for the little things and the big things.

I am thankful for:

• The mercy of my Lord. Without His rich grace and mercy I would still be dead in my sins, lost - destined for hell - and without hope or purpose.
• The love of a good husband. He is my other half, we are truly blessed to have enjoyed 19+ years together as husband and wife. Second only to my Lord, he is my encourager, my rock, my strength.
• My precious children. I am blessed to have two beautiful girls here on earth and to have one daughter already on deposit with the Lord. I will be glad to see her again in heaven.
• I am thankful for freedom from the curse of sin and death, the law, and the guilt and burden that goes along with not being able to keep it.
• I am thankful for Jesus Christ who kept all of the Law on my behalf, and who died a horrific death that I might have life, and that He offers that same sacrifice for all who will believe.
• I am thankful that we live in a free Country, and I pray that it will remain that way for me and my posterity.
• I am thankful for the blessing and privilege of discipling (aka homeschooling) my children.
• I am thankful for a beautiful home that is Warm in the winter and cool in the Summer.
• I am thankful that I didn't break my legs, arms, or neck when I fell down our basement stairs and shattered the disc in my neck. It has been and continues to be bad, but it could have been so much worse.
• I am thankful for you, and the fact that you just spent time reading my list of things for which I am thankful. Spend time thinking of at least 10 things you are thankful for today and reflect on them.

Happy Thanksgiving,

Lori

Be sure to visit my website to see the new E-books I've created and put in the "Products" section of the site. I am working on other books. www.AtHomeForHIM.com

Celebrating 3 !

This weekend we had the

privilege of celebrating

Sarah Beth's 3rd Birthday!

Here are some photos I

wanted to share...

Sarah with her cake and cupcakes.

She was so ready to eat "take".

I made the cake... didn't I do good??? For those of you who know me, cooking really isn't one of my strong points, but I do love to bake!

It's time to get down to business! Now, where are the presents???

We found this sweet little dress at Belk here in town, and she is wearing a bow made with the cutest ever ruffled white ribbon, made by my friend Leslie. Visit her site if you need bows for your girls http://www.bowsbowsbows.com/.

Sarah with one of her new gifts -

individual alphabet puzzles!

Among her many gifts were Dora books, a Princess dress-up set and book, a play vacuum cleaner, some stringing beads and shapes, and a pop-up tent with tunnel! I'm sure we'll have some pictures of that soon.

This gift came from Uncle Chris, Aunt Barbara and (cousin)Rachel - some really awesome bubble blowing wands, a big bottle of bubbles and a nice pan to pour them into. This will be thoroughly enjoyed. She loves bubbles!

We all enjoyed a nice little party at home and went out for Mexican food afterwards. They all sang to her and put the huge Sombrero on her head. I've pictures on another camera of this that I will have to post later - it wasn't a digital!

Happy Birthday Sarah B!

Love, Mommy

Dining Library

Oh my, this has been such an eventful day. This weekend we celebrated Sarah Beth's 3rd Birthday!!! So hard to believe she's been home almost 2 years now.

In the past two weeks her speech has totally taken off. I knew that it would, but I admit to feeling somewhat anxious about it when we were around others who's children were much younger and talking very well. She still has a good bit of trouble pronouncing some letters correctly, or at all, but I know that with lots of practice that will work itself out in time as well.

Other than my precious little one turning 3, Todd has been so busy this weekend, making one of my 10 year long dreams a reality! We've lived in our home now 10 years. Since we built it, I've wanted to have a sort of "library/dining" space. This concept is very often found in French Country design, which is my favorite style. Most importantly, we are a family of readers and homeschoolers, and we need every inch of bookshelf space we can get!

So, recently we spent a day in Atlanta and went to Ikea. I'd already been once to see the different colors and styles and make a decision about what I thought would look best with the furniture that I have. We then went back several weekends ago and bought the shelving that we needed. It fit perfectly between the window casing and the wall! It was the exact width we needed! Todd got them all put together, and finally today we got them upstairs and in place.

It wasn't long before I was loading those shelves down with all of our "floating" school supplies. Those are all of the books, notebook paper, pens and pencils, highlighters, white-out tape, and other school related items that float around all over my dining room table - the only space we have to eat besides a breakfast bar. All of the book bins I'd had sitting in the floor, and tripping over for months, were unloaded in a flash and put up onto the shelves for easy access during school.

At the beginning of the school year, I learned about Sue Patrick's "Workbox" system. I loved the idea, I am an organizing freak. So, I started using the system at the beginning of the school year and I LOVE IT!!! You can find her book at http://www.workboxsystem.com/. There are also several Yahoo boards for workbox users that have lots of people with loads of good ideas on implementing the system in your schooling.

We are using My Father's World's "Exploring Countries and Cultures" curriculum this year for a number of our subjects including Bible and Social Studies topics - Geography, and more. You'll notice on the far wall a large World map. The map we recieved with our curriculum was fine, just your average world map, but not really something I wanted to put up on my dining room wall. So, I went to Books-A-Million and purchased an "old World" style map and had it framed at Hobby Lobby. While it was definately a more expensive option, I am happy with the results. We now have instant access to a World map to locate the areas as we study through them.

So, without further ado, I will post some pictures here and you can see my new "Dining/Library" space that includes our workbox system (they are the numbered white drawers on the shelves). For those of you who've seen the turn around bookcase I purchased before, I still have it and plan to use it somewhere else later on, but it would no longer work once we bought the larger dining room table and chairs.

I am in Heaven! Well, as close as I can get while still being on Earth!

Abiding In His Amazing Grace,

Lori

This is an overall shot of the dining space. It is quite small, about 11'x11'.

This is a shot looking into my dining room from my kitchen area.

This is a shot of Anna's "workbox" space. For each drawer stack, I used the extra space on that shelf to put other books often assigned for the subjects in those current work boxes.

The shelf on the left, contains some miscellaneous book sets and reference items, and also houses my pre-school things for Sarah Beth.
This picture also shows the framed map a little more closely, and Sarah's highchair. :o)

"The Church in thy house."

WOW!!! Let this writing from Charles H. Spurgeon give us all pause to think about our own homes.
In His grace and for His glory,
Lori

“The church in thy house.” — Philemon 2

Is there a Church in this house? Are parents, children, friends, servants, all members of it? or are some still unconverted? Let us pause here and let the question go round—Am I a member of the Church in this house? How would father’s heart leap for joy, and mother’s eyes fill with holy tears if from the eldest to the youngest all were saved! Let us pray for this great mercy until the Lord shall grant it to us. Probably it had been the dearest object of Philemon’s desires to have all his household saved; but it was not at first granted him in its fulness. He had a wicked servant, Onesimus, who, having wronged him, ran away from his service. His master’s prayers followed him, and at last, as God would have it, Onesimus was led to hear Paul preach; his heart was touched, and he returned to Philemon, not only to be a faithful servant, but a brother beloved, adding another member to the Church in Philemon’s house. Is there an unconverted servant or child absent this morning? Make special supplication that such may, on their return to their home, gladden all hearts with good news of what grace has done! Is there one present? Let him partake in the same earnest entreaty.

If there be such a Church in our house, let us order it well, and let all act as in the sight of God. Let us move in the common affairs of life with studied holiness, diligence, kindness, and integrity. More is expected of a Church than of an ordinary household; family worship must, in such a case, be more devout and hearty; internal love must be more warm and unbroken, and external conduct must be more sanctified and Christlike. We need not fear that the smallness of our number will put us out of the list of Churches, for the Holy Spirit has here enrolled a family-church in the inspired book of remembrance. As a Church let us now draw nigh to the great head of the one Church universal, and let us beseech him to give us grace to shine before men to the glory of his name.

Spurgeon, C. H. 1995. Morning and evening : Daily readings (November 1 AM). Logos Research Systems, Inc.: Oak Harbor, WA

Thriving on Less - Simplifying in a Tough Economy

I had the privilege of receiving the link to this free download today through a homeschool site I receive emails from. It is a 27 page PDF ebook entitled Thriving on Less - Simplifying in a Tough Economy.

The site below welcomes others to share this link as well. So, I'm sharing!

I haven't read mine yet, it's printing out as I type, but I'm going to read it in just a minute. If you decide to download it too, I hope you enjoy your copy.
http://thepowerofless.com/2008/12/free-ebook-thriving-on-less-simplifying-in-a-tough-economy/

If I can learn just one more way to simplify my life, or save more money, it will be worth the paper I printed it on.

Saving along with you, and thankful most of all for saving Grace!
Lori