Works-for-Me-Wednesday~~Mega Memory~~

I think I am now something like 3 and a half weeks late posting my Mega Memory Month wrap-up post.  *Sigh*  And it has been months (and months...and months, maybe) since I have participated in Works-for-me-Wednesday.  So...since I have been wide-awake since 2:45 a.m., I thought now would be an ideal time to remedy both situations.  (Not that I don't have a list of things a MILE long to do to catch up from this past week, but since most of those require the participation of my children--i.e. schoolwork and working Christmas musical parts--or noise--i.e. piano practice and housework--the wee hours of the morning are not exactly the optimal time for catching up. *rolling eyes* ;-))

Around the beginning of October, it seemed that God was prompting me from every direction that we needed to expand our Scripture memory time to include larger portions of Scripture.   In the midst of my planning to make that happen, I ran across a post by Ann Voskamp about Ann Kroeker's Mega Memory Month challenge.   I decided that it was just what we needed, and posted about my motivation and our plan here.   (For those who are interested, you can read intermediate updates here and here.)

I was supposed to post a wrap-up post at the end of October; however, our final "presentation" for dad kept being postponed due to "life happening".  So...I kept putting off my final post thinking "we'll have our presentation tonight and *then* I'll post."  And then we finally had our presentation a week or so ago and I still haven't posted.  *hanging head*  Ugh.

But...there *is* an upside to my procrastination.  One of the best parts of the story didn't happen until last week, so now I can post about it, too. :)

We did complete Psalm 1.   I have all kinds of books of "scripture memory activities" that I had planned to use during the month, but we ended up keeping it very simple.  We had "Mega Memory" time every day during our group time in school to work on our memory work.  (That has now become a permanent part of our school schedule.)   We discussed the Psalm in detail during the month, turning it into an extended Bible Study on the Psalm.   Every couple of days we added another verse, learning sign language to go along with it to aid in memory (a tool we used to use in our Character First VBS for learning longer Scripture passages).  Once we had them all learned, we continued reviewing and polishing.  I had also recorded the Psalm (and our poem) on a small cassette player, which the kids thought was amazingly cool, and they loved to review with it on their own.  (More on the cassette player and our Mega Memory folders here and here. )  

We ended up not doing as much with our poem as I had planned (at least not in October...we're still finishing it up!)  The Psalm was our focus, but the kids loved the Robert Louis Stevenson poem I'd picked (My Shadow), and ended up doing a lot of work on it on their own.  We read through it a few times during our Mega Memory time early on, then didn't do anything with it for a few days.  I was amazed when we came back to it that Emlyn had the first verse and most of the second memorized almost perfectly!  We began to work a bit harder on it at that point, although only *just* a bit, and by the time we recited for Daddy, they had two verses down pat and could do the rest with a little help.  

Several observations:

1. The kids love the memory work.  Because we've always done *some* sort of memory work, even if it was just a verse a week, and because we have approached it as fun, they enjoy it and don't see it as drudgery. :)  

2.  A little work done consistently goes a long way.   We didn't spend a huge amount of time on this.  There were days when all we did was recite once what we had learned so far.  Other days we put more time in, but never a huge amount.  They learned a 6 verse Psalm  and two verses plus of a poem by putting in an average of ten-fifteen minutes a day, four days a week.  

3.  Simple works.  I still hope to use some of the activities in that stack of books on "helping kids memorize Scripture" from time to time during our memory work.  But they accomplished a great task with only copies of the Psalm and poem printed off my printer, a sign language book, and an obsolete cassette recorder given to us by a friend.   We spent no money...this was one of those times I decided to "use what we had"...and there was no complicated planning or preparation involved.   Just good old-fashioned learning. :)

4.   We got to see a little miracle. :)  For those who might not know, a tiny bit of background:  Our youngest, Ammah Grace was a 30-week preemie who spent 6 weeks in NICU.  She had a whole host of preemie-related medical issues, including severe apnea and bradycardia and a brain bleed that had us less than 24 hours away from neurosurgery when it finally began to clear up.   We spent weeks listening to very scary prognoses...predictions of brain damage that most likely would lead to lifelong disabilities ranging from blindness to CP to various types of learning disabilities.  We were told it was possible she would never walk or talk.  At the very least, she would need several years of therapy to catch her up to her peers.  (Read more of her story here and here and here.) 

Ammah Grace is now four, and as bright and healthy as any four year old could possibly be.  None of the dire prognoses and predictions came true...from the day she came home from the hospital (only hours after turning blue and having to be "bagged" yet again)...she has actually been the healthiest of all of our children, and has shown no sign of *any* brain damage.   She thinks she can do anything the *big kids* can do, and she has sat in on group time during school since she first came home from the hospital. :)   I'm used to her joining in on whatever we are doing, whether she really *gets it* or not.  But I was shocked last week when we were reviewing Psalm 1 and I realized she was prompting the older girls when they made mistakes.  I asked her if she could say the whole thing by herself...and she did.  All six verses!   Wow.  What a blessing and a testimony to God's power and faithfulness to watch the little girl who so many prayed for so hard reciting those verses.  

5.  Bonus!  Peter recited the verses we learned from Psalm 1 in his R.A. class at church.  As a result of learning those and other verses, he received a medal during our R.A. recognition at church Sunday.  He is now even more motivated and excited about memorizing Scripture!

A word on these photos...the night we finally recited for dad, it was *cold*.  The kids had had baths (and some still had a bit of wet hair :)), and had dressed for warmth and not a photo shoot.  Of course, that didn't stop me from snapping a few pictures anyway!  

Ammah Grace reciting Psalm 1 for Daddy...

I didn't manage any good, serious photos of the occasion, but here is a silly one of them doing their sign language for Psalm 1...

Mega Memory Month worked for us!  So much so that "Mega Memory Time" is now a permanent part of our school day.  We have started on the Beatitudes now, and hope to start a new poem next week (as soon as I decide on one!)  Many thanks to Ann and others who have encouraged us in this challenge!

For more "Works-for-me-Wednesday", pop over to Rocks in My Dryer (I love her open-faced English muffin sandwich ideas this week!) 

Mega Memory Month, a bit late...:)

My mom started me memorizing Scripture from a very young age...somewhere around 4. I remember learning verses from strips of construction paper backed in felt and stuck to a feltboard. A few years later, through the work of Heber and Steve McKissack, we became involved in the Bible Memory Association program in our church. BMA was the single-most important organizational influence in my life, other than our churches themselves. We were challenged and held accountable to learn books of Scripture verses each year, and then spent time each summer at the BMA camp in Ringgold, LA. Not only were those weeks packed with solid Biblical teaching (plus tons of fun and superb food :)), we built relationships with some incredible Christians who impacted my life in huge ways.
.

So...Scripture memory has always been a priority in my mind and heart, even if we haven't been terribly consistent in making it happen lately. It *usually* has a prominent spot in our school day, but I have realized recently that we aren't nearly where I want to be with it.

I had decided a week or so ago that I personally was going to learn Psalm 91. About that same time, I decided that the kids and I were going to begin working on a longer Scripture passage, rather than individual verses, during our Scripture memory time in school. I finally settled on Psalm 1, and the kids and I did some study on it week before last, in preparation to get serious about memorizing it next week, after Billy's vacation.
.

Then the other day, I happened across a couple of pertinent articles. One was a post by Ann Voskamp about their participation in Ann Kroeker's Mega Memory Month. I loved the Mega Memory Month idea immediately, so even though we are a bit past the October 1 start date, we are going to jump in and participate anyway!
.

The Ann Voskamp post is, as usual, truly excellent and so perfectly expresses the main reason I want to participate in this project. Love, love, love the last line of her post..."We thoroughly intend to blaze with your glory..."
.

The other article I ran across brings up a secondary reason I want to participate in this project. Andrew Pudewa, director of the Institute for Excellence in Writing, discusses the importance of poetry memorization in building good writers here. I found his article fascinating and challenging. This is another area in which I have good *intentions*, but we've been pretty hit and miss in reality. My children *love* to memorize poetry, and I need to take advantage of that!

So...here's the plan.
.

We are going to start with the Scripture passage we had already planned to memorize in the next few weeks...Psalm 1...




We are also going to memorize a poem. Another thought I had a week or so ago is that my children aren't nearly as familiar with my favorite children's poetry as I would like for them to be, and that I would like to remedy that. Andrew Pudewa gave me the perfect excuse to pull out some of my favorite poetry books from my childhood. We are starting with my all-time favorite, Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses. This copy was a gift from my Granny and Papa Marks on my first birthday. :) It is inscribed by my grandmother, and is one of my most treasured books....

My very favorite poem in the book is "The Land of Counterpane", but for some reason, I didn't feel it was a good choice for our first memory project from the book. So, I chose another favorite, "My Shadow"....

The plan is that I will post on our progress each week, including any memorization tools that we find helpful along the way (Ann Kroeker has some great suggestions at her blog, linked above), and then link to it at Ann Kroeker's blog. Hopefully the accountability will keep us on our toes! (Feel free to comment with questions about our progress if we go too long between MMM posts! :))

Mega Memory Month: January Edition!!

Last October, the children and I participated in Ann Kroeker's first "Mega Memory Month" challenge.   We learned Psalm 1 and Robert Louis Stevenson's "My Shadow".  It was a great experience for us, and just the motivation we needed to tackle some longer pieces by memory.  (More on our Mega Memory Month experiences can be found here.) 

I was so excited when Ann announced that she would be hosting a new challenge this month.  December has been a crazy month, and the motivation and accountability of this challenge should be a great help in getting back on track with the new year.  

We started working on the Beatitudes before Christmas, but then got sidetracked with another "Mega" memory project...Peter and Bayley learning their rather *long* parts for the children's choir Christmas musical.  

So..we are going to get back to the Beatitudes...Matthew 5:3-12.  It's been so long, and we had learned so little to begin with, it will be like starting from scratch, I'm afraid. 

3"Blessed are the poor in spirit, 
      for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 
 4Blessed are those who mourn, 
      for they will be comforted. 
 5Blessed are the meek, 
      for they will inherit the earth. 
 6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, 
      for they will be filled. 
 7Blessed are the merciful, 
      for they will be shown mercy. 
 8Blessed are the pure in heart, 
      for they will see God. 
 9Blessed are the peacemakers, 
      for they will be called sons of God. 
 10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, 
      for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 11"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

~Matthew 5:3-12

We are also going to try another poem.  Even though we didn't *officially* finish "My Shadow" in October, we enjoyed working on it, and I was amazed that they learned quite a bit of it independently...Emlyn actually ended up learning the entire poem!   So...our January poem will be "Grammar in a Nutshell".   I found it in a poetry book my aunt gave me for Christmas when I was about 7, The Home Book of Verse for Young Folks, by B.E. Stevenson.  It has been much used and well-loved. :)

Grammar in a Nutshell

Three little words you often see  
Are articles - an, a, and the.

A noun is the name of anything  
As school, or garden, hoop, or swing.

Adjectives tell the kind of noun,  As great, small, pretty, white, or brown.

Instead of nouns the pronouns stand -  
Her head, his face, your arm, my hand.

Verbs tell of something being done -  
To read, count, laugh, sing, jump, or run.

How things are done the adverbs tell,  As slowly, quickly, ill, or well.

Conjunctions join the words together  
As men and women, wind or weather.

The prepositions stand before  
A noun, as in or through the door.

The interjections show surprise  As Oh! How pretty!  Ah! How wise!

The whole are called the nine parts of speech,  
Which reading, writing, speaking teach.

~Anonymous

We are excited about starting our MMM work on Monday!  Many thanks to Ann for hosting again!! 

"This is God's Word...Memorize It!!"

Already behind on my chicken-scratched "schedule" of blog posts on camp...and now ditching the schedule altogether and starting right smack in the middle...all because of this post by Ann Voskamp today...

Today's post by Ann is actually a repost...I'm not sure how I missed it the first time, but today it caught my eye due to her photos of stacks of little books...Scripture memory books...familiar little books from Bible Memory Association, a program that had a huge impact on my life and my family as I was growing up.  

I spent all last week thinking about those books, and how I needed to dig them out of their dark, dusty storage soon...book upon book of verses I learned throughout childhood and my young adult years.  I also have a few of my dad's books...the adult books pictured in Ann's post...while still more of those books, both my mom's and my dad's, sit in my mom's bookshelves.  I also thought about Heber and Steve McKissack and the tremendous impact they had on my life through the BMA program and the relationship that we developed through it.  

I thought of those books, and the verses contained in them, last week as we memorized and meditated upon and just all around dug into Colossians 3:1-17.  I thought about the many verses I'd learned through BMA over the years...the many verses the kids and I have learned more recently during our "Mega Memory" work in school...and wondered at how difficult memory work has become for me in recent years.  

I thought about how many verses I've forgotten over the years...and yet how many I still remember in the translation in which they were originally learned...many from the old faithful KJV, and many more from our translation of choice for many years, the NIV.  The kids and I have in more recent years begun memorizing from the ESV...unless it is something I remember too well from an older translation to teach/re-learn it in the new.  

Colossians 3: 1-2 say 

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.  

Verse 10 says that we "have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its Creator."

And then verse 16 says

Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing songs and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

I love the way that God brings things together to get His point across to us about certain things.  Before we left for camp I had been convicted that I needed to not only be more consistent in our family "Mega Memory" time during school (and when we aren't having school), but that I also need to make a priority out of personal Scripture memory.  Even when we were very consistent with our Mega Memory work as a family, I tended to be more the "coach" than a fellow memorizer.  I struggle these days with remembering what I had for breakfast, and I excused myself with the fact that brain fog brought on by physical issues makes memory work more than a challenge right now.


So...God had already begun to "prick" me about that before camp, and during camp He made it even more plain that this needs to be a priority in my life right now.  Here are some of my notes...(a mix from Lyndel's youth Heads Up! class and Andy's evening chapel sermons):

* Meditation is not only for insight, but for intimacy (with God).
* Re-memorizing is as good as review...enjoy it again!
* Koinonia is fellowship based on the Word.

* Seeking and setting our minds...Col. 3:1-2...we not only need to seek Him (actions), but we need to enjoy Him with our minds.  

* We are to use our minds to glorify God...THINK to glorify God. (We forget how awesome our brains are.)

* We need to stretch our brain muscles...through memorizing and meditating.

* "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength"...often we only use the other three, but not our brains/minds. 

* We are to think DEEPLY about Scripture.

* Col. 2:8 ~ If what we think doesn't match up with Scripture, then we need to throw what we think out!

* Deut. 6:4 ~ God is God. 

                     Love God with your whole being.

                     God's Word in your heart.

                     Teach it to your children diligently

                           -at home

                           -out and about

                           -when you lie down

                           -when you rise up 

                           (actually means "and every time in between")

                     God's Word is the curriculum for your life!

* Col. 3:16 ~ Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly.  What does richly mean?  With all your senses, deeply, greatly, extravagantly, elaborately, lavishly..."Go crazy with it!"

*"This is God's Word...Memorize it!!"

I've been pondering memorizing, with the children, a complete book of the Bible between now and the end of the year.  This week at camp, during our Colossians 3 study, I began to think perhaps we should memorize the book of Colossians.  Then I opened Ann V's post this morning, and she has a printable memory guide for the book of Colossians!   I think that sealed the decision.  Check back here for updates (and if I don't post any, send me an email and bug me about it! :))

Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O LORD, God of hosts. ~Jeremiah 15:16

Mega Memory Month...Behind as Usual!

Ack! I feel like the White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland: "I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date!"

Mega Memory Month started July 1 at Ann Kroeker's, and here it is July 9 and I am *just now* deciding what we are going to work on this month! Eek.

However, after MUCH thought and prayer, I have rejected, for one reason or another *every* passage I had initially thought about doing, and settled on one I hadn't even considered before this morning. Typical. :) All of those that were "rejected" this time are going on a list for upcoming months, but either I wanted to save them until we are actually doing more formal "school" again, or I felt like we needed to devote an entire month to them (without a late start :)).

So...July's Mega Memory Month passage is...

I Corinthians 13.

I've decided we could all use this right now. Besides, it is just one of those passages everyone should know and *I* have never even memorized the whole thing.

We are memorizing it from the English Standard Version (ESV). The ESV is replacing my beloved NIV as my preferred translation, and earlier this year I got a great deal on a new ESV Study Bible...I love it!! However, we aren't necessarily doing all of our memorizing from it. I usually look up what we are going to memorize in ESV, NASB, NIV, and KJV. I'm trying to memorize mostly from ESV or NASB, but occasionally (especially if it is something I know well in NIV or KJV), we will use one of the others. This time I just felt like the meaning of the ESV was more clear.

This one is going to be a challenge. Not the passage itself, but our memorizing of it! Although we do school year-round (mostly :)), our early summer break ran a bit longer than I anticipated this year, so we are still *on* break this week. The plan is that we will go back to a light school week next week, and then add in a bit more the last two weeks of this month. This will be the first time we've started MMM when we weren't actively schooling, so it should be interesting. :)

By tomorrow I will have new Mega Memory Month folders made for everyone, as well as a new cassette recording. I haven't decided if we will sign this one or not, but I'm leaning toward signing. :) I also hope to add in a few activities from the various scripture memory activity books I have but have trouble pulling out to actually *use*. :) We'll see how that goes...:-)

I Corinthians 13 (ESV)

¹If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ²And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³ If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

⁴ Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant ⁵or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ⁶it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

⁸Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. ¹¹When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. ¹²For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

¹³So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Mega Memory Month Update

Note on this post...I typed this last night (Monday)...so proud of myself that I was getting it done on time. Then I realized that MMM reports are now on *Tuesday*. ;-) So, I saved the draft and thought "I'll edit tomorrow and post it then." Then I completely forgot about it until just this moment...10:30 p.m. :) Now I'm too tired to edit/update...so you're getting Monday's report instead. :-D Someday I'll get my act together...maybe!

"Better late than never." I guess that would apply here. It is the 13th day of July and we actually started working on our July MMM passage this morning. Eek! We have a long way to go in the next 18 days!

This morning everyone got a new Mega Memory Month folder, with a copy of 1 Cor. 13 in the ESV. We read through the chapter and discussed vocabulary words and the meaning of the verses. We will do this more in depth as we go along; today was an overview. We also started learning verse 1.

Hopefully by tomorrow I'll have the cassette recording made, and at least one other activity ready. Guess I need to pull out the books and decide what that will be.

The children *really* don't want to sign this chapter. I'm still undecided, but I'm leaning toward not. The signing was fun in the beginning, but has somehow become drudgery along the way...and I don't want to take the joy out of memory work for them. (They really do enjoy it! :))

We'll probably sign again someday...but I'm thinking we'll probably take a break this time.

Not much to report, but at least we are started! Given the past few weeks, that is an accomplishment. :)

For more on Mega Memory Month, visit Ann Kroeker.

Simple Woman's Daybook--Update

I had planned to post an update to my Contentment post and last week's Daybook over the weekend.  I never got that far, so I'm going to try to incorporate that into today's Daybook post. We'll see if that works. :)

FOR TODAY...  January 19, 2009

Outside my window...  It's very dark!  I woke up at 4 a.m. again...I'm already thinking about a nap. :)  

I am thinking...  that it is time to pick up the pace and get with the program so that I have more progress to report next week!  It is the 19th of January, and I am behind!!  

I haven't read a single book from my 999 reading list...I am going to have to get *really* busy reading to even begin to catch up! 

Last week was almost a complete flop as far as my commitment to "one beautiful thing every day".  Part of that was due to a need to be flexible, which was a good thing...but part of it was allowing myself to be "derailed" when I shouldn't have.   Billy and I did hang new "window mistreatments" in the kitchen...which I love!  And I did completely clean out/clean the refrigerator one day (and if you had seen the "before" to that project, you would agree that my newly cleaned and organized fridge was definitely a thing of beauty! ;-))  I'm determined to get on top of my "Daily Touch of Beauty" this week.   There are still 346 days left in 2009.   "One beautiful thing every day" would be 346 new touches of beauty in our home.  Wow!  

We've also slowed way down on our Mega Memory Month progress.  Eek.  We are down to 11 days to finish memorizing the Beatitudes and "Grammar in a Nutshell".  I know that if we are diligent we can do it.   I am loving the ways I can almost *see* the "Mega" memorization stretching their minds. :-)  We are seeing improvement in areas other than just memorizing...in focus, in reading, in thinking skills...which I think is related a great deal to the memory work we are doing.  Neat aside from yesterday...we had a guest preacher yesterday while Bro. Kent is on vacation.  As much as I miss Bro. Kent when he is gone, I always love to hear Lyndel's brother, Craig, preach when he is here.   I thought it was interesting that in several conversations yesterday with various people, Bro. Craig's Scripture memorization was brought up...the fact that he doesn't open his Bible and "read" the Scripture passage...he quotes it.  No matter what he's preaching on, or how long the passage is.   Sure enough, not only did he do that yesterday morning, with a fairly short, familiar passage, but he did it last night with a longer passage thatI've never seen on a  list of "top Bible passages to memorize".  (Anybody happen to have 2 Kings 6:8-23 memorized?? :))   What a neat example for the kids as we work on our Mega Memory Month challenges!

I am thankful for...  God's blessings in this season of contentment.   I shared here what God had been doing in my life in the area of contentment.  I continue to be amazed at the ways He is giving me contentment in areas in which I have struggled for a long time.  And I am amazed at the blessings He is bringing along with that.  

In the Contentment post and in last week's Daybook, I mentioned our anniversary last week.   Despite the brief but intense bout of discontent over our current season of "datelessness" that I mentioned in the Contentment post, I was completely content over the prospect of spending our anniversary watching movies with the kids in our living room. :)   Our anniversary wasn't until Tuesday, but Billy was off work on Monday, so we were planning to celebrate then.  I had planned to cook a "big breakfast" brunch (one of Billy's favorite meals) on Monday while he was home "for our anniversary".  But...God's ways are not our ways, and He surprises us with showers of blessings sometimes when we least expect it...which in this case led to my not fixing that "big breakfast" meal until Thursday night!  

A few days before, I had mentioned a particular snack that I missed, from years ago when we used to have  game nights at our house once a week or so.  A friend used to bring the same thing every week, and because no one else in my family was particularly fond of it, I hadn't had it since those game nights died out several years ago.   I mentioned it during a random conversation with Billy and didn't give it another thought...but obviously he did, because he went out to run an errand Monday morning and came back with that very snack. :)  A small thing, but a huge part of what I love about my sweet husband...he pays attention to everything, and in his super-thoughtful way actually follows through with the little plans he cooks up.  :)  (I, unfortunately, am really bad to have great plans for thoughtful things to do, but never get around to actually *doing* them. :-(   I'm trying to work on that.)   Anyway...my thought Monday morning was that that little gesture was worth several dinners out. :)

But God wasn't finished with surprises on Monday.  My sweet and sneaky friend had called Sunday afternoon and said that she had something to drop by on Monday, and what were our plans for the day?  I don't even remember exactly what I told her...something about having no real plans but cooking brunch for Billy and the kids, I think.  I didn't think much about her "dropping something by", as she has been moving and sorting and purging, and "bringing by" all kinds of wonderful hand-me-downs in the process. :-)

However, when she arrived on Monday morning, she had a card.  An anniversary card.  An anniversary card with the gift of a "date" for Billy and I.  She had been planning and scheming to take the kids Monday night for a little "Wii party" so that Billy and I could go out.   

Billy and I figured it up that afternoon...it had been 18 months since we had been out together with no children.   What an incredible blessing that gift was!  Both because of the sacrifice I knew it was for my friend at this point, and because of the blessing of a couple of hours to go out and spend time together and talk like grown-ups, with no interruptions. :)  

So...I am thankful for 13 years with my wonderful husband, for the blessing of the best friends ever, for the fabulous time my children had at their "party", and for God's gentle goodness as He teaches me lessons in contentment every day.   God is so good to bless us above what we can ask or think!

From the learning rooms... We need to make major progress on our Mega Memory Month work this week, as well as just having another good, solid week of school after some bumps in the road last week.   And like many others, I'm planning to incorporate some "history in the making" into our school time this week with the Inauguration tomorrow.  I still remember as a very small child watching the Nixon/Ford transition unfold on TV with my dad...I can still remember some of his commentary about the situation, so many years later.  So despite my wish for a very different cast of characters tomorrow, we're going to make the best of it! :)

From the kitchen... Saloon beef sandwiches from the crock pot tonight...yumm!  

I am wearing...  Still in my PJs :)  It's early!

I am creating... I am hoping to actually get some "fun" creating done this week in the form of scrapbooking projects.  A friend and I are planning a scrapbook day on Saturday, for the first time in forever, and I'd really like to "warm up" my rusty fingers a bit before that.  Not to mention that I need to create some class samples for an upcoming "Not-So-Basic Bookmaking" class for our homeschool co-op.  

I am going... to post an update soon (I hope) on my "One Little Word" for the year...Authentic.  I started to post it with the other updates above, but decided it deserved its own post. :) God is teaching me much in this area, too!!

I am reading... Must get busy on my 999 reading list!!  

I am hoping...  that this week is more productive than last!  Somehow we got off track last week with Billy being off on Monday and our anniversary on Tuesday, and never got back "on".  It was a good week in many ways, despite some very rough patches, but not a very productive one. 

I am hearing...  Billy getting ready for his morning walk.  It is dark and cold and I can't imagine getting up this early to walk...but he is disciplined and determined.  He walks every day. For years he ran 6 miles a day, every day, rain or shine (or ice!)...even with the flu!   His ankle won't take the running anymore, but the dedication is still the same. 

Around the house...  Getting back on track from a bit of derailment last week.  I hope to make curtains for two more rooms this week and have much more progress to report next Monday. :)

One of my favorite things... Seeing God work in my life and in the lives of those around me, and being able to rest in His sovereignty and goodness no matter what the situation.   

A few plans for the rest of the week:  Church Wednesday, scrapbooking Saturday, a  quiet week with no birthdays/holidays/anniversaries (rare for us from Thanksgiving to Valentine's Day:)).  

Here is picture thought I am sharing...  in honor of our 13th anniversary last week...:)

Thanks to Peggy for hosting the Daybook each week! 

Mega Memory Month...Signing In

I think I was actually supposed to do this *yesterday*, but somehow the whole "first day back after vacation" thing knocked us for a loop. I was off-schedule all day until I found myself nodding off at my desk last night while working on last-minute prep for today's school and decided to give up and go to bed.

Anyway...we kicked off our Mega Memory Month challenge yesterday, a bit slowly, but with great enthusiasm. Basically I announced what our plan is (Psalm 1 and "My Shadow", by Robert Louis Stevenson), we read through both selections, and talked about *why* we are doing this. We had already begun working on vocabulary and comprehension on Psalm 1 before vacation.

This morning I printed copies of the Psalm and the poem for all three *big kids*. Each child will get a new portfolio this morning--one side will be for MMM materials, the other will be for papers from the study on *Holiness and Reverence* that we are starting. They will be able to keep their portfolios nearby to work on memorization at various points throughout the day.

To aid in our auditory learning, I pulled out this little gadget this morning. A friend recently passed on a brand new, still in the package compact cassette recorder and some blank cassettes. (Shhhh...my children have no idea that this piece of equipment is considered decidedly obsolete by many these days...they think it is the coolest thing since sliced bread!) I had decided the other night that we would make use of it in learning our memory work. This morning I got up and recorded our Psalm and our poem on it. Peter came in while I was testing the playback and said, "Ooo...we get to use that in school?? Cool!!" ;-)

I have a few other memory helps planned for this week...hopefully I'll have time to post a bit more soon.

Many thanks to Ann Kroeker for her encouragement in this challenge. Her blog is a delight...I'm letting myself have a few minutes a day to go back through her archives. I have gotten some great ideas from her Quiet Time Round-up post. (And I was very tickled to find a name for what my two middle children have been doing since before they could read in her "Scribing" posts.) Not to mention the fact that I feel a definite kinship for someone who has an entire blog category labeled "Nutella"! Yum!! :-D

Mega Memory Month Update...

Maybe before the end of the month, I'll actually post one of these on Monday. :)

We jumped in on this challenge a bit late, so I didn't really have time to put together a *plan*. Once I decided what we were going to memorize (Psalm 1 and "My Shadow" by Robert Louis Stevenson), it was time to hit the ground running.

I printed out copies of the Psalm and the poem for each of us, and gave everyone a portfolio folder, which is serving double duty for Mega Memory Month and our study on Holiness and Reverence. Ordinarily we would have dressed them up a bit, but in our hurry to get started this time, we just left them "as is".

Also, as I mentioned last week, I recorded both the Psalm and the poem on our handy-dandy compact cassette recorder. The kids are still fascinated with it, and I find one or another of them listening to it at all manner of odd times. :) The combination of the cassette player and the printed copies has helped my struggling readers learn to read the bigger, more unfamiliar words.

We didn't have a lot of time last week to work on actual memorization. We read through both selections several times, worked on comprehension and vocabulary words, and then I had planned to really hit the *memory work* hard this week.

So...I was pleasantly surprised when we began to work on the Psalm on Monday morning to discover that they had a pretty good head start on memorization. Just through the work we had done on reading and meaning, and the "playing around" that they had done with their print-outs and the cassette player, they had already begun to memorize.

This week we have been learning signs to go along with the Psalm. We've learned that this not only helps us remember the words, but it also helps us focus better when we are working on it...especially for the more active, wiggly people among us. :)

Turns out that we have already been using a modified version of the "stacking method" to work on this as well. I really appreciated the links Ann K. posted this week in her MMM update...especially this one, by a man who is memorizing the book of James with his sons. They are using the "stacking method", and he posts several good links on the subject. This one in particular is excellent.

We haven't spent as much time with the poem so far. We are planning to start hitting it hard tomorrow. We probably won't get it learned completely by the end of October, but hopefully we'll have a good start. As Ann said in her post, we may not get completely finished with it all by month-end, but we have made *much* more progress than we would have otherwise with the accountability of this challenge prodding us on. Thanks to Ann and the other participants for the inspiration and encouragement!

Be on the Lookout...

...for a couple of special posts this week:

1. Book review for this week's blog tour for the book Rest: Living in Sabbath Simplicity, by Keri Wyatt Kent. I'm excited about this book, and this review!

2. It's Mega Memory Month again! This one almost snuck by me, and I haven't decided yet what our memory project for this month will be, so check back soon for "the plan." Ann's Mega Memory Month challenges have been such a blessing to us, as we've learned passages such as the Beatitudes, Psalm 1, and Ephesians 6: 1-9, plus poems such as Robert Louis Stevenson's "My Shadow". To participate in July's challenge, visit Ann Kroeker.

Spring Monday Daybook!

FOR TODAY... March 29, 2010 (Where in the world did March GO, anyway??)

Outside my window...  A truly beautiful spring day!!  Temps supposed to be near 80 later this week.   I don't want it any warmer than that, but *this* is perfect weather.  Ahhh...

I am remembering... last year this time, when we had just had Emlyn's baptism, and were preparing for Bayley's (along with a number of others).  That Easter Sunday baptism was truly glorious.   It seems like so long ago...it's been quite a year!   Looking forward to another beautiful Easter this Sunday!

I am thinking...  about all that needs to be done this week!!  Such a busy time of year, with Easter, testing, and the Growing Kids Sale all approaching.  And then before we know it, summer will be upon us!

I am thankful for...   improved physical strength and stamina and mental clarity recently.  Praying that that continues as we move into a very busy season (while trying to overhaul this house at the same time!)

Noticing that...  my kids are growing up!  No, definitely not the first time I've noticed, but there are signs everywhere of how quickly their childhoods are progressing.  Just a few months until Peter will move into the "student ministry" at church...eeek!  Seems like just yesterday he was a stocky little 15-month-old with a white blond bowl cut, throwing an Easter egg at my mom because he thought it was a "BALL!!"  (She didn't realize she was supposed to catch, and got hit between the eyes instead.  Uh-oh. :))  And Ammah Grace moves into the children's department in a few months...for the first time in 12 1/2 years, I won't have a preschooler!  Wow. 

I am praying for...  continued strength, stamina, and clarity, and wisdom in decisions large and small...

From the learning rooms...  a good, solid "last full week of school before the test", I hope!

On my mind...   keeping up the "sorting, organizing, cleaning" momentum from this weekend in the midst of a busy week.  

Pondering these words... 

"Rejoice in the Lord always. 

I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."

 ~Philippians 4:4-8

This is our "Mega-Memory" passage for the next few weeks.  It's shorter than usual, because I want us to delve into these verses even more deeply than we usually do with our longer memory projects.  I want us to not only hear the Words, and memorize them, and talk about them, but LIVE them.   I want us to be intentional about living them, and then I want them to become such a part of us that we don't have to be intentional about them anymore...they are just *who* we are in Jesus.   No matter what else my children learn in our "home of learning" (which has to be way more than just "school at home"!), I want them to learn to be 

Rejoice-ers

Gentle-people

Close to Jesus

Pray-ers

Thank-ers

Peaceful people

People of protected minds and guarded hearts in Christ Jesus

Intentional thinkers, taking every thought captive and dwelling on what is excellent and praiseworthy.

And for me to teach them to be those things, I need to be those things!   Which means I need to get these Words under my skin and into my heart and permeating my mind.

   

From the kitchen...   Cereal for breakfast, and then I have absolutely no idea!  I planned a loose "this is what we're eating for the next two weeks in general" menu and shopped for two weeks worth of groceries, but I have absolutely no clue what we are eating TODAY.  :-D  Guess I need to figure that out pretty quick and get something simple started for supper so I can get out the door for a baby shower tonight...

I am creating...  order from what seems to regularly turn into chaos....the dining room!   (Which could be because it is more of a multi-purpose room than a dining room...dining room, schoolroom, studio, office, and library all rolled into one!

I am reading...   as fast as I can through a stack of book review books! :)  

I am hearing...  busy children working on chores.  

Around the house...  deep cleaning the dining room and entry hall this week, and the Great Spring Clothes Switch...EEK!! :)  

One of my favorite things...  an odd thing I thought of yesterday, which is heartwrenching and yet such a blessing as a parent...seeing my children experience true brokenness and repentance and restoration.  

A few plans for the rest of the week:   Baby shower tonight, choirs on Wednesday as usual, a full day on Friday since Billy is off for Good Friday, Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday, Easter Celebration on Sunday.  Whew!  

From the photo archive...  A little of what I've been up to this weekend...:-)

To see what others are doing this week, visit Peggy at The Simple Woman's Daybook.

"25 Random Things"

I was tagged for the "25 Random Things" note on Facebook by 7 people, so I finally decided to post my list the other day. :)  My husband (who wants nothing to do with Facebook :)) has been "suggesting" that it's been way too long between posts on my blog lately, and that I really need to remedy that.  So...I decided that for anyone who may read my blog but not be my Facebook friend, I would copy and paste my list here for a "quick and easy" blog post. :)   (I promise I am going to get to some more substantive posts soon...I have updates to the  "Daily Touch of Beauty", "One Little Word~Authentic", and Contentment posts, as well as a LONG overdue Mega Memory Month update, and a few random posts that have been percolating.  Hopefully once co-op sign-ups are over this afternoon, I'll be able to get started on that list. :))

Here's my list:

1. I married the first guy I ever really dated. He spoiled me rotten from the day we met. In those days it was flowers, candy, and/or cards *every* day. (He was the talk of my office! ;-)) Now it is bringing me a Diet Coke or chocolate, sending me out for some "mom time" when he knows I really need it, or doing the dishes for me. The things he does now are even *better* than the flowers, candy, and cards (although he still does those sometimes, too :)). He is amazing (and in answer to the question I always get, no, he has no brothers :)). 

2. We met in court. Our first date ended in the ER.

3. I have played the grand piano that sits in the Supreme Court building...*before* it was there. :) I also played the white grand that was on the cover of one of Dino's albums. When Daddy worked at the Baldwin plant in Conway, all Baldwin grand pianos were manufactured in that plant, and I occasionally got to play the "special order" pianos before they were shipped. 

4. My first *real* job was in a Chinese restaurant. I was the only non-Asian person working there, and sometimes the only one who spoke English! Quite an experience for a 16-year-old. (My first boss there was Charlie Trie, who was in the National Media spotlight a bit during the Clinton scandals.)

5. I sleep on my side. I cannot sleep on the *same* side twice in a row. If I get up in the night, I have to sleep on the side opposite to the one I woke up on. I realized this several years ago and I think it's weird, but I can NOT change it. If I have to lie on the same side twice in a row, I can't sleep. 

6. I have a shoe signed by Robert Wagner. My grandmother saw him in Hawaii. She knew I was a fan of his at the time, and asked for his autograph, but neither of them had anything to write on. My grandmother stuck her shoe up and said, "Sign this!" I still have the shoe. :)

7. I whistle, hum, or sing almost all the time. Most of the time I don't realize I am doing it. It doesn't matter what my mood is. This is genetic. Those who knew my dad well know from whom I inherited it. :) My middle daughter is the same way. When you have to ask her to stop singing, she looks at you with complete surprise...because she had no idea she was singing. :) 

8. I have been singing in church choirs in some form or fashion for 37 years. Neva Havens and Shirley McCone were my first choir teachers at FBC when I was three. I learned to sing alto at 14, sitting between Myrtle Lee Selig and Wanda Landers in the FBC adult choir. I LOVE being an alto.

9. I still love singing in choir. Adult choir rehearsal is one of my favorite times of the week. I'm having to sit out for a while right now, and it is about to kill me. :) I am SO blessed to be in a church that still sings hymns from the hymnal and still has a traditional choir. I hope that NEVER changes. (I'm blessed all around with our church, btw. We have an incredible church family, and I am so thankful for both Bro. Kent and Lyndel. Who would have thought we could spend almost 4 years in the book of John on Sunday mornings?? But God speaks to me through Bro. Kent's expository preaching every week!) 

10. One of my favorite places when I was growing up was BMA camp in Ringgold, LA. I went from the time I was 9 until I was 18 or so. Heber and Steve McKissack got us involved in Bible Memory Association when we were all at FBC, Conway, and between the verses I learned and my experiences at camp, they were probably some of the most influential people in my Christian walk during my childhood and teen years (followed closely by Bro. Roy and Mrs. Jimmie and Gilbert and Susan, and then a host of others). I wish BMA Camp still existed for my kids, but OCBC Church Camp is a close runner-up. :)

11. I am extremely competitive at games. (That is genetic, too. :-D) I am NOT a sports person, but I LOVE board games, especially strategy games. Some of my favorites: Stratego/The Generals, King Oil, Arkansas Bluff, Pit, Scrabble, Nerts, and Axis and Allies. 

12. My first car was a 1973 Karmann Ghia, candy apple red, in mint condition. When I was a little girl, my grandparents had a Ghia that they had bought new for my aunt in 1959. Theirs was two-tone...green with a white hardtop. I loved riding around town it it with Papaw Brown, singing silly songs and hearing his wonderful stories. I had wanted one for as long as I could remember. 

13. Yet another thing I inherited from my dad...I have an incredibly weak stomach. I'm a total wuss. I don't do needles, blood, or anything else that could *remotely* be classified as *gross*. This is why God allowed me to marry a man who used to eat lunch while watching GI/abdominal surgeries!! He is my Knight in Shining Armor who handles all the icky stuff and holds my hand when I have to have blood drawn. :-)

14. I once nailed a board to my own foot. In deference to my friends who are as weak-stomached as I, I won't tell the story here. 

15. I narrowly missed a chance to fly from Fort Smith to Little Rock by helicopter. When my water broke at 30 weeks with Ammah Grace, the helicopters were grounded due to ice/snow, so I ended up being transported from St. Edward's in Fort Smith to UAMS in Little Rock by ambulance in the middle of the night in a snowstorm. I had a fabulous ambulance crew who were Christians and who prayed for me all the way there. They were a bit put out because the trip messed up their speed average from SEMMC to UAMS. Their average was just over an hour and a half; it took us like an hour and 50 minutes due to hitting ice at Russellville. Eek. I was so concerned about the premature labor that I never thought to be scared of the crazy ride.

16. I am gephyrophobic. I hate bridges. When I first started driving, I had a very hard time driving over bridges at all. Now I'm fine unless it is an unfamiliar bridge or one of those little country one-lane bridges...ugh! I'm pretty sure my phobia stems from watching news coverage of a barge hitting the Lake Pontchartrain bridge 1974, not long after we had been on the bridge while in New Orleans. 

17. I've mentioned several things I inherited from my dad; I guess I should mention some things I inherited from my mom, as well: My love of pens, paper, and notebooks. My fear of spiders. A love of little yellow wildflowers. :-) 

18. I got my first gray hair when I was 17. When I was 30 I had more gray than my then-87-year-old grandfather!

19. I am amazed and delighted by my children every day. How incredibly blessed I am to be able to be a homeschooling mom to them!

20. Speaking of homeschooling...no list about me would be complete without something about homeschooling! We started homeschooling when I was a junior in high school, and I LOVED it and knew then I wanted to homeschool my children someday. My first "homeschool field trip" was to the 1985 Special Legislative Session in Little Rock that *legalized* homeschooling in Arkansas. Little did I know then that Billy and I would spend four years as Activities Directors for our homeschool group, scheduling field trips! 

21. I have the most wonderful friends in the entire world. God has blessed me with wonderful friends ever from Susan O. and Julianne M. from the age of 3 :), to Jodie, Kathy, and Tauna now, and many others in between. I don't know how I would have made it through the past few years without friends who have helped bear our burdens in so many ways...and made me laugh until my sides hurt all the way through!

22. I am a published scrapbooker. :) I had a page titled "Most Thankful" published in the November 2002 Creating Keepsakes magazine. (I thought I had the story on my blog, but apparently I don't. It was a page about my dad losing his sight for a year and a half, and finally having his vision restored...maybe I'll blog about it soon.) I haven't submitted in years, but keep saying I'm going to start again. One of these days...:)

23. When I was in college, living at home, a man was shot in our front yard, a few feet away from my bedroom window. He had burglarized a convenience store (it was closed due to an ice storm), and was considered extremely dangerous...and he was trying to get into our house. :-O Kathy W. happened to be spending the night that night and got to share in the excitement. :)

24. I was a Razorback fan before I was born! My dad called the Hogs from the balcony of our apartment in downtown Birmingham the day I was born. (The Hogs were playing in a bowl game that weekend.) I care very little for sports *other* than the Hogs...except that I have become a Tim Tebow fan in recent years. :) It was a sign of my dad's great regard for Billy that he was thrilled for me to marry him *despite* the fact that he was/is a Tennessee Vol fan!

25. I have experienced my greatest fear in the world coming true. That was a horrible thing, but God has shown Himself...His goodness, His love, His faithfulness, His Sovereignty, Glory, and Holiness...in ways I could never have imagined through it. We serve an awesome God and I am thankful that He has held me in the palm of His hand throughout it all.

Ack! Had to edit because I left out one of the people who tagged me...I knew there was someone else! :) I guess I should add another random thing, too, so my "things" equal my "people". ;-) 

26. I love political science. I minored in Poli Sci, because I couldn't figure out what I would do with a *major* in Poli Sci...so I majored in Psychology instead, because Psych is such a *useful* and *marketable* degree. Ha!!