I'm Back

I would love to write a post about all that has happened since the last time I posted, but I think that would be way too long. So how about just some *highlights*?

In March we moved out of our home of 2 years on the Bridgers to a home God miraculously provided in Bear Canyon on the other side of the valley.

We didn't stay much longer than to unpack necessities before we drove over the mountains to Washington and into Mom & Dad's lives for the next month +.So as to not get behind on school, my mom gladly had us down to her place each morning. We left all our books there and just picked up each day where we had left off.

J. continued to seek God's plan for a new job and began filling out 20+ questionaires for Acts 29.

A29 is a church planting network that has had great success with the churches they have begun and pastors they have approved for lead planters. We had begun this process even before we moved from Washington, but put it on the back burner when we got the call to Bozeman.

In the meantime, Shaun, Anna, & Conner came up twice from Portland to be with us; Mom, Dad, J. and I went on a Rattlesnake Hills wine tour; Friends, Peter, Naomi and Kalen Moore (and Peter's brother, John) stopped in on their way through from Yakima; A day was whiled away in Leavenworth and Blackbird Island; We got together with oodles of friends at their homes & at Starbucks - (ahhhhh, Washington...); had meetings with elders to seek wisdom and find their hearts toward us one of love and excitement for our future; attended an MFI regional; and learned to knit!

At the end of April, J had finalized all the steps in A29 up to the assessment. Tyler (co-ordinater/director) called Wed. afternoon to tell us our appointment was set for Thurs. at 8 AM!! We packed quickly, made hotel reservations, and headed out!

J. and I hadn't had any time away (for anything other than a conference) for 3 years or more. We decided to do the assessment and then stay on San Juan for 2.5 days before driving back to Moses Lake.

It was beautiful. There is nothing, NOTHING like western Washington when the sun is happy and the wind is breathless.

We got the news on San Juan that we had been approved to be lead planters! Our next step would be to return to Bozeman and gather a core team of 40 adults. We already knew we had 4. One couple had approached us about this possibility, & another couple had come in on the prospect while we were in ML.

Sunday, our church family in ML prayed over us, layed hands on us, and commissioned us to be sent out to Bozeman.

God has done some miraculous things since we arrived home. Seeing Him working is truely amazing. We find ourselves at a loss for words often, but I never seem to be at a loss of tears. My heart is overwhelmed by His love.

This past Wednesday was the pay-off of the last 18 years of homeschooling. The kids officially graduated from Highschool!!! Onward into the big, wide world with hearts filled to the fullest with God! So blessed that their delight is in Him. I'll keep you posted on what happens next, but for now they are job hunting and getting drivers licenses, and want to be a part of this plant with their dad!

We had a big gathering at the house Friday to celebrate the Grads, Tofer turning 18, and our arrival home. 60+ people ended up coming out for hotdogs, bratwursts, ultimate frisbee, and fellowship. It was fabulous!

Across the valley, in a pool of water, surrounded by family, our dear friends had their baby while we were all partying. Lucia Mae (Lucy) Janssen arrived to be a little sister to Bella. I love you Sara (& Matt) - Can't wait to hold her and hear Bella chatter on about all her wonders! Hugs, sweet mama.

That about wraps it up. Please keep us in your prayers, hearts, & thoughts as we have a long road ahead and need God to be the One opening the doors and leading the way. I'll be updating a bit more regularly now - Promise!

A Time to Let Go

(Card made by my friend Danni ~ she is so awesome!)There is a time and a season for everything under Heaven. This is a season of change for the Pauls. Change in job, location, and of seeing at least 2 of our 3 young adults off to college.
Last week was full of college apps, transcripts, references, and essays in the Paul household. Finding out that the deadline for applications to the college they wanted to apply to was 3 days away sent us into a scurry. Each of them needed 3 references, + 4 500 word essays (that's 2000 words each!) on different subjects!! Besides the fact that we had to order SAT scores to be sent and move money from their college funds into my bank account so I could pay the fees. In the end it all came together. God allowed all the people we needed references from to be home and available, for us to be able to file the app online so the deadline postmark was achieved and each of them were able to quickly write out 2000 words on the required subjects. Amazing!

Reading their essays, after they had been sent, brought tears. I love my kids. As parents, we aren't always sure we are doing a very good job; constantly questioning God's decision to allow us to be part of raising these little souls. We have had many that have told us we how wonderful they think our kids are, but when I read it their own words, words uncoerced and without knowing I would even read them, of how they feel we did, I was humbled. An odd sense of wonder filled me. Wonder at all the struggles, discipline, the talks, frustrations, & hard decisions being worth the cost because of the joy. I have a little more experiential knowledge of how Jesus felt in enduring the cross for the joy set before Him.

I asked their permission to post them here. It's more for me. This is our family blog where I put memories and thoughts, struggles and triumphs. This, to me, was a triumph. I want it preserved - because something tells me there are more struggles ahead. (2 Peter 1:15, Heb. 10:32-38)
I am pasting them here as they wrote them - no corrections...

Tofer's Essays - in snippets:

I have grown up in a Christian home (both parents being Christians). My relationship with my parents is more than a lot of guys my age have. My dad & I are a team when we are together. Though our wills clash and we butt heads sometimes, I never doubt his love for me. My mom is an amazing woman of God, & I know I often take her for granted. She is there for me when I am down, always, and expects nothing in return for the constant outpouring into my life.
For the most part I am submissive to authority and function well under leadership. I believe God has placed authority in everyone’s life to keep order, structure, & discipline in community. Without it the community is in the highest danger of failure and doomed to chaos. A family is not complete without a father and mother. The Father should lead and love his household according to Christ’s standards. The mother should lead the family in unity with and in submission to the father. Lastly, the children should come under the authority that God has placed in their lives. The past 2 years have been a trial and a joy as my dad took the role of Worship Pastor here in Bozeman. I never expected what God had in store for me or my family when He brought us here. God showed me through my dad and other men of God that pride, jealousy, bitterness, and anger were in my life just beneath the surface. Those things were brought into the light and dealt with. I let a lot of things go, and am learning to not hold onto wrongs done to me and to lay down my pride & get comfortable with confessing sins and asking for forgiveness.
As a family we take a Sabbath. It is very important to us to let God recreate His life within us as we rest in Him, #1 because He commands it and #2 because it is a necessity.
I write a lot of music. My dad and my sister join me every once in awhile to write a verse or a chorus with me. Music has always been a part of my family.
I say this, not out of pride but, because it is the truth - as a family we pour our time and energy into the church.
I have 2 sisters, one older, one younger. They are a joy to me and I wouldn’t trade them for the world.
God is my everything. I couldn’t live without Him. I have a passion to see those who don’t know Him come to the realization that they need a savior. They are blind to who He is and what He has done. I want to help them see. With that said, I want my life to be that of a missionary! My commitment to Him is full and always will be, by His grace.
Grace is what I am most thankful for. I am just beginning to grip the value and necessity of it.
As for my history with drugs, alcohol, tobacco, and pornography, I don’t really have one. I’ve never craved sin. I have craved adventure, adrenaline, and attention. However, the more I continue to know God, the easier it is to let go of earthly ‘feel goods’ & set my desires on Christ alone. I’m done testing out sin for myself, heeding the warnings of The Word and other in my life.
As with any ‘walk’ of forward, ongoing motion I pray that my spiritual walk with God will always be just that. On May 24th, 2000 I received Christ into my heart, though I had asked Him to save me from Hell when I was 3 years old, I had suddenly come to the realization of who Christ is and what He did for me (though, I still don’t fully understand it). I know, beyond a shadow of doubt that I am a Christian. A sinner who was saved by grace, through the cross of Jesus Christ, in pursuit of glorifying my Lord. (Which includes bringing others to a saving knowledge of Him, listening and following His calling on my life, &, in that, being a positive example for others to follow.) Because I professed with my mouth that Jesus is Lord of my life, & I believe in my heart that He is risen from the dead after taking the sins of the world upon Himself and conquering them through the obedience of death, I know that I am a Christian.
The Word of God is my light and my way, my guide for (I wish I could name them) all my decisions. It’s a comfort & a challenge, an inspiration & a joy, it’s the only Truth in which I place my trust, it’s firm & never fails to keep me on the right path!
My prayer life needs improvement, and always will, but I am learning to live my life as a constant prayer unto God. Thinking of Him more often, consulting Him for everyday wisdom, learning His will, and walking in accuracy and alignment with His plan for my life. I’m not ashamed of prayer. In a large group I can be bold and pray out and feel comfortable, but I enjoy seeking the Lord in my room with the door shut as well. I love talking to God, knowing He is right there with me.

Growing up, like most kids, I dreamed big. NBA, NFL, CIA or FBI were on my list! I began to let go of those dreams as I got older and realized that what I viewed as successful and important wasn’t God’s view of those things. When I first read the scripture, “Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations”, I started to get excited and a dream started to form in my heart of a life of adventure in God’s plan.
As I got older, the kindling of the desire to be on the mission field grew in intensity through studying Christ’s life here on earth. I began to see that people were His mission in life. He would always stop to talk, heal, preach, & encourage; sharing the love of their Maker with them.


Cassia's Essays - in snippets:

Both of my parents gave their hearts to God long before I was born and, now 18 years later, they are more His than ever. They’ve had heated disagreements in the past but always sought reconciliation. Forgiving, forgetting and moving on afresh. Mom and Dad have always seen parenthood as season of fashioning arrows who, when their shot out, hit the mark. They made a decision even before they had kids to homeschool. And as of this May my Mom will have taken all three of us through our senior year in Highschool. My dad has worked long weeks for as long as I can remember so that my mom can be home, but takes his responsibility of Father and not just provider seriously. He’s constantly speaking truth and love into our lives.

Both of my parents have never been shy to discipline us when they’ve seen a need for it. We grew up being taught that honoring and respecting the authority figures in our lives was indispensable and didn’t enjoy the consequences when we chose to disregard this. I’ve always appreciated the people who have held positions of authority within my life , and have been blessed that the said men and women have really sought to love me and been individuals of integrity.

In our family we often do devotions of our own throughout the week but like to gather together for them as well. We also recognize a Sabbath every week. On these days we make a point to be alone with God and each other, taking a brake from work and allowing God to recreate us and breath on our relationships with eachother. It’s been a time to being still as well as a time to celebrate who He is and what He’s done/ is doing. We definitely haven’t always been the perfect family or example but God has continually been alive and at work in our home, and each year finds us closer to God and each other.

I became a PK just before turning 17 and have grown up within the church. I love the body Christ and am so thankful to have had that privilege. I wish there was a lot less confusing religion with the Gospel however. A lot fewer facades and a lot more vulnerability between each other. Something that God’s been teaching me is that the more acquainted and accepting we become with ourselves the better were able to know Him and be used by Him. We should know who we are without Christ and who we are as redeemed sons and daughters of God. Familiar and at peace with our strengths and weaknesses. Knowing and rejoicing in the promise God made when He told Paul : “My grace is sufficient for you: for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”

I’m told by my parents that Jesus came to live in me when I was about 3, following a brief question and answer exchange around our dinner table :

[from my highchair] “How does Jesus come into our hearts?”

Momma: “By us asking Him to. And, (with a comforting smile) you will when your ready.”

Wherein, hardly missing a beat, I bowed my head and proceeded to tell Jesus I loved Him, asking him to “please, come into my heart”.

As the years progressed and I became better aware of what that petition entailed, I never regretted making it. I became more and more fascinated with Jesus. The things he taught and the life He lived. Horrified at the death we were guilty of helping Him suffer. Yet in spite of this I subconsciously entertained the belief that salvation was something to be earned. The result was a very religious, self righteous young lady. All this time however, I hadn’t been able to grasp the truth that God really desires to be in relationship with His children.

During my 13th summer I attended camp with my youth group and all the seeds that my parents had been sowing in my heart concerning the relationship factor of walking with Jesus sprang up. By the time I returned He wasn’t just my Lord, He was fastly becoming my best friend.

There’s definitely something to be said for not simply knowing God in your head but also in your heart. You can only love someone so much when your not in relationship with them and the love that was ignited in my heart towards God, through our new found friendship, was deep and transforming.

I wish I could say that from that time forward I ceased to sin or obsess about being the perfect Christian, but I can’t.The growth I’ve experienced since then, however, has been tremendous.Slowly but surely God began the process of uprooting all my convenient deceptions, convicting my heart about the things in my life that were pulling at our relationship, and directing my focus off of me onto Him. Truth has been setting me free.

As far as continuing to cultivate my heart goes,it’s been amazing actually experiencing and realizing that the Bible is alive and life giving…I need it. I suffer when I’m not feeding it to my heart and allowing it to renew my mind.
Just as imperative for me is prayer. When I’m not consistently seeking God through prayer my relationship with Him becomes handicapped and my heart grows less soft. Prayer also helps me put things in back in perspective and see the bigger picture.

I’m still a work in progress and always will be, but my heart is hopelessly lost to my King and I am thoroughly enjoying the adventure of being His daughter.

Times of Tradition - #3

This is one of our FAVORITE traditions. We have to wait on pins and needles for it sometimes because it is totally dependant on God's graciousness! It requires one very important ingredient that only He can provide!

Tradition #3:

Snow Ice Cream! When I was a little girl my mom would wait for the second snowfall of the year (the first one often cleans the air of dust and pollutants, she said, so she would never take the 1st snow) and then she would set out a bowl to catch enough to make us ice cream! It's simple, but OH so good! It doesn't keep, so you have to have your "eaters" armed with spoons and ready!

The process is simple. Get a bowl full of snow. This is my Kitchenaid mixer large bowl.

To that add a Tablespoon (or a little more) of flavoring (your choice), & 1/2 c. of sugar. Then gradually pour cream over the snow. (Add a bit - stir - add more - stir) Until the snow pulls together and has the consistency of soft serve ice cream. It is usually flaky and powdery until you get enough cream on it. Then it looks like this -19, 17, & 15 and they still ask when we are going to have snow ice cream. They still stop me as I'm walking through the dairy section and point to the cream with big puppy dog eyes, begging for me to not pass it by. They still act like little kids when they finally get to have it!

Progress Report

(Cold mornings call for a little sustenance of the warmifying sort, wouldn't you agree?) It's been a long week! Getting back into the rhythm of math has been esp. difficult. Both Tof and Minda have struggled with remembering functions, processes and the manner of execution in Pre-Calc. We have worked as late as 8:30 a couple nights to get a problem set finished. You should see their faces, though, when they get a problem right without asking me for steps or help of any kind! Joy unspeakable, and full of glory!

(Aren't they blessed? What other teacher would make Cocoa for her students on a drizzly morning?)As for the other subjects... Physics is going fantastic! They are understanding and we have even done an experiment. Tof wrote at the end of his Lab Report ~ "This was fun. I didn't want to finish!" :o) Poetry has been a bit of a let down. I've decided I'm definitely NOT a J Weston Walsch fan. What a boring, incomprehensive book. Oh well. The kids are enjoying writing. Demolishing Strongholds has been FABU! As was the Logic in 100 minutes. I'll be researching today to see if I can find some ways to implement much of what Hans and Nathaniel taught. SAT will be Nov. 1. We are continuing to practice and review for that. Vocab bridges is wonderful as well as Wordly Wise. We have our first two tests on Tues. One in Calc. I think I can safely say that the kids would appreciate your prayers. :o)

Cassia's job is going well. She is being stretched, but loves her co-workers and meeting new people everyday. She brings home so many stories to relate at the end of each day. She is so thankful for Sabbath when it comes. The meaning of it has become very poignant ~ a chance to be re-created, to rest from labors.
They are all so ... so ... grown up ~ When did that happen?

The Seniors 09

Most of our school books arrived yesterday! We are starting earlier than planned because J is (hopefully) taking vacation and we need to be on track with scheduling. So, official start date is Aug 28th. This year we are studying:
Trig & Pre-Calc
Physics + Labs
Poetry
Rhetoric & Logic
Vocabulary
Speech
World View
+ there will be SAT Prep. stuff (practice tests, etc...)
and our reading list includes:
GK Chesterton's Father Brown Stories
Gilgamesh
CS Lewis' science fiction series - ThePerlandria Chronicles
Last of the Mohicans
& some others I can't think of right now :o)

SAT's are in Oct. - Pray for us!

Minding the Mission

Wow! What a week!!

J and I spent most of the week in Billings hearing about the Great Commission and building relationships with other pastors and their wives and families.

It was also some great time alone as a couple. :oD

J got to lead worship Tuesday night with some of his buds. Our prayer during the preparation week was that the pastors would feel built up and edified, and energized in their spirits as they were lead into the throneroom. God definatly did all that and more than we could have asked for. It was an evening of anointing. Both the worship and the message of what He is accomplishing throughout the world, exalted and glorified God alone! I was very proud of my guy and our friends.

Our kids stayed home and did their school work and chores! We have THE BEST kids in the universe! You can not convince me otherwise! They are simply awesome, by the grace of God!

4 days, 3 nights, and no time apart from eachother, yet we came home to a clean house, happy siblings, no broken bones, and school assignments totally completed!

They recorded the worship song that I blogged about, so as soon as I figure out how to embed an audio track onto blogger without it being a video... I'll let you know!

A Rant & a Praise for Grace, Grace, Grace

The worldwide churches' model of youth ministry from the last 50 years or so doesn't flip my flapjacks. (Like that one babe?!) But that isn't simply what this post is about. I hope it is more about the grace of God in the life of this hard headed, freight train of a daughter of His.

I'm not normal. If you have read this blog very long, I'm not sayng anything new. Look back through the archives and you'll see it crop up. (*here, *here, *here, *here are some examples)

Before I married J, God got ahold of me hook, line and sinker. I had been a 'believer' but not a Christian until that point. I began to devour the Word. What spoke most to me were the verses where God revealed how to raise a family, what a Godly wife looked like, and what it meant to be His child in His family (that is pretty much the entire Bible... :o) ). Deuteronomy 6:7 became my mantra. J & I discussed it all. We would homeschool our kids. Raise them without TV and very few if any movies. We would teach them to love God and seek Him and listen to Him. Our kids wouldn't date. We would make sure they were socialized through hospitality in our own home, under our authority. Dreams formed into values and study of Word and resources formed foundations.

We were told we were overprotective, that our kind of kids were needed in the public school arena, that they were going to grow up ignorant and naive ~ Do you get the picture that 20 years ago these were not popular ways of thinking. They still aren't, but as our kids are older and are able to expound their own thoughts and values to others; they have taken on much of the "Burden of Proof". Who they are speaks for the fact that God's ways are perfect.

Every now and then we hear someone else's voice that supports us in our shaping and sharpening of the arrows in our quiver that they might hit the marks God shoots them toward. 16 years ago we got ahold of a tape series by a (then) little known pastor, named Gregg Harris. (He's the dad of Joshua Harris, and Alex & Brett Harris and others who are shaking the world) I walked away with a key phrase from this series; I want my kids to be the missionaries and not the mission field .

We began homeschooling and lapping up everything we could get our hands on that would help us to not just fill them with knowledge, but train them in the way they should go. The Vision Forum began sending us catalogs, and I shamelessly ordered their books and tape series through our local library. We were filled with vision and purpose!

7 years later (that would be 9 years ago for those of you who don't like to do the math!) Monte Swan came into my life. Not literally. Just his book. It gave raising a family beauty as well as purpose.

When the teenage years (5 years ago) began and it was time to decide what to do about youth group, our spirits were in turmoil. We wanted to support our church, our youth pastor, and our youth, but we couldn't reconcile what we were doing with what we had always taught our kids ~ with what our convictions were. So again we began to dig for God's Truth. We didn't want to say "No you can't" simply because our hearts were unsettled, we wanted to bring it back to the Gospel. We knew the Word said clearly - "Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children " (Deut. 4:9) "Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads." (Deut. 6:5-8) Simple as that. Was there a model out there? Something and someone we could point to that could back us up when we presented this highly unpopular belief to our circle of friends and family? Stats? Anything? What a joy the internet became. We had the world at our fingertips. :o) cliche' but true. I now have a favorites file entitled "Reimagining Family and Life" where I have bookmarked sites of people and organizations that point us ever onward in this journey being a Christ Centered family.

Again we found a book. Parenting with Kingdom Purpose both reiterrated what we had always held a conviction in and gave us new weapons to fight the battle ahead. We were refreshed in our zeal, steadfast in our purpose.

2 nights ago, J came home and had us all gather in the lvingroom to hear a podcast. This is nothing new, but J was impassioned by this speaker and we could tell the next 20 minutes were going to be important. Family Driven Faith is a new book on the old subject (in our house anyway) of shifting your paradigm of how you think family should be done; not going with the flow, not doing what everyone else is doing, or what is the easiest... but what God ordained from the beginning of time for our families to be. I was in tears by the end. My heart was just so full of the grace of God.
Thank you, Father for the fortiftude you placed in our hearts and continue to refortify. Thank you, for not allowing our shortcomings to derail Your divine purposes.

It isn't over yet.

A New Era Begins

We have been homeschooling now for 16 years! (Wow! Do I ever feel old saying that!) It never fails that with the onset of each new school year we change something that irritated me about the previous year. You would think that after all this time we would just fall into place and never miss a beat... HA! I wish!
This year we have a nice, sturdy table. Odd thing to bring up? It wouldn't seem odd if you had been in our school room all the previous years and heard the kids griping about the others not saying when they were going to erase, or when they were going to get up because they table wiggled and messed them up. It had gotten to the point where I would have one do their work at the coffee table and the other at the table. The problem with that was that I had to be in 2 places at once and/or running back and forth between them, or they weren't getting their work done because I wasn't there to crack the whip. With the coming of the gloriously solid worksurface, we all do school together in one place, at one time, with no interruptions!! Yay, God!
We've only done 2 days so far, but it is going well and our Jr year of highschool is going smoother than it would have at the squeaky, rickety, wiggly table of the past!
For those interested, this years subjects include:
*Forensic Science
*Social Studies -
~Role of Family in Culture
~Current Events
~God & Government Book #1
*Language Arts -
~Proofreading & Grammar
~Journalism
~Essay Writing
~Advertising (which also falls into some SS)
~Novels and Poetry -
>Cantebury Tales, Chaucer
>Paradise Lost, Milton
>Pilgrims Progress, Bunyan
>The Abbott, SW Scott
>The Black Arrow, Stevenson
>Crippled Splendor, Ivan John
>The Man Who Was Thursday, Chesterton
>Many More
~Vocabulary
*Math -
~Advanced Algebra
~Geometry when AA is finished
*Geography
*US History Cont...
*Music (instrumental, vocal, and therory)
*Art
*PE
(Not all of these are everyday. We finish one and begin another or they are once or twice a week..)

Call to Encourage

The 2005 Homeschool Blog Awards are about to end, get over to stillthinking.com and give 'em props!
Some I chose...
Family:
The Beehive
Canadian:
Dewey's Treehouse
Current Events:
Strangely Normal
Photo:
Spider's Last Moments
(jonathan. few, but wow!)
Dad:
Quirky Outtakes
Humorous:
Obstepreous Heart
Teen:
The Rebelution
Foreign:
Two Red Boots

Books! Books! Books!

This is the kids' book cupboard. As you can see, every shelf is lined two rows deep. The funny thing (actually there are 2 'funny things') is that when we began homeschooling my husband's first comment was, "I want our kids to love reading." For a while it didn't look like that was going to happen. I resorted to bribery (an American Girl doll) in order to get Cassia to read her 1st 'big' book. But since then she hasn't stopped, and the others seem to have followed her lead! Here's funny thing #2 ~ What you see above aren't all there are in our house. The girls have their own stash in their room (on shelves, window sills, dressers...) and so does Tofer! James & I have the entire top of our closet lined with 'grown-up' books, and then there's the school cupboard too...
I mentioned in the last few posts that I am a sucker for kids' books, & that I entertained the thought of being a writer at one time even ~ so, maybe this is my way of living vicariously. I am seldom without a book in hand or close at hand. They are in the bathroom, on the nightstand, the coffee table... and stacked here and there and everywhere when I am in the middle of 3 or 4 at a time! Old bookstores are magnetized to the core of me, even stronger than Starbucks!
Tofer and I have a dream of owning a chunky, old brownstone book store where he can play guitar in a corner and people can wander into another era just by walking through our door. (He's drawn out the plans.) Cobbled walls, hardwood floors, sconces at intervals along arched, cherry shelving. The floors scattered with handwoven wool rugs, and big, over stuffed, gentlemens' club-style chairs with little round tables to set your espresso on while you peruse one of the volumes. Did I say espresso? (it's tucked into another corner of the shop!) Spiral staircases that lead to more books and more cozy nooks... I'd even have a kitty curled up somewhere if I wasn't alergic!
I think James got his wish!

Cassia Rocks!

I'm excited because my beautiful, well adjusted, talented & God filled 15 year old daughter has graduated from highschool! You Doubt?
We are a homeschool family! Cassia, Christopher and Malinda's hearts and attitudes are a great reward for the labor of love in teaching them Deutornomy 6:7 style. God has honored the time, but I have not considered it a sacrifice. We have endured much through the years (esp. at the beginning). The world would have me believe that I have given up the best years of my life and that my children have suffered greatly by not being in our governments school system or at least taught by a credited/certified teacher. I love who my children are becoming. I love that their hearts are towards God and their father and I.
I thought I would post some stats for those out there who mock the effectiveness of homeschooling.
Basic Statistics
Academically
Home school students scored significantly higher than their public and private school counterparts on SATs, ACTs, and PSATs. The studies below show homeschool students do exceptionally well when compared with the nationwide average. In every subject and at every grade level of the ITBS and TAP batteries.
Socially
Studies also show homeschoolers have accelerated maturity and are better socialized than are those sent to school. Dr. John Wesley Taylor's nationwide study revealed that the self-concept of home school students was significantly higher than that of public school students for the global and all six subscales of the Piers-Harris Self-Concept Scale. The Galloway-Sutton Study (performed in 1997), showed that from five success indicators (academic, cognitive, spiritual, affective-social and pyschomotor), comparing with public and private schooled students, "in every success category except pyschomotor, the home school graduates excelled above the other students."
Cost
The average amount spent on home schooling per child in the US is $450. Although ours is significantly lower than that. (public education systems get avg. $3600 per child (depending on the size of the institution) - see gov. edu. budg. )
Household Income
18% of home school families earn less than $25,000, 44% of households between $25,000 and $49,000.

Stanford University "last fall accepted 27% of home-schooled applicants -- nearly double its overall acceptance rate.
About 10% of top contestants for this nation's largest scholarships are homeschoolers, even though they make up less than 3% of the student population.

This website has all my stats and more articles you can read and links to follow.

WAY TO GO CASSIA!! You Rock!