This is Maxx's favorite spot, right outside the back doors where he can watch all that is going on inside. The boys even put a patio umbrella out there for him when it rains so he doesn't get soaked. He just loves to watch us.
Life is good here at home. Studies are going really well and the boys are getting into some pretty serious math. I've started looking at tutorial DVD's just in case we get to a point that I need help. Charles is really good at math and helps when we get stuck, but even he said we should look for some back up sources for higher math. Piano is going fantastic and they are really being challenged by Mrs. Judy's expertise. They are just about ready to graduate to the next level of piano books which will include classical pieces in their level.
We are beginning a pretty big undertaking in our community soon. My best friend and sister in Christ, has joined me in starting a new Christian Homeschooling Group in Crawford County. We have prayed about traveling so far for all our homeschooling activities and feel led to put our efforts into our own community. The only homeschooling group from Washington to Rolla is a secular group that's had leadership problems for awhile. Christian homeschoolers in this area have had nothing to call their own and spend a great deal of time and cost traveling to Christian homeschooling groups in other communities. So in faith, we will start F.A.I.T.H. (Families Advocating Instruction Through Homeschooling). Please pray for as we seek to do His will in our community and develop something that will glorify Him. We have our first planning meeting March 14th and are excited about where He will lead us from there.
The boys and I attended Living Word Ministries Church in Leasburg. My friend attends church there and has always extended an open invitation to us. I have tried several churches and committing to a church has been a struggle for me. Growing up, my "churchgoing" was primarily being exposed to three different churches... Catholic, Lutheran and Presbyterian. Doctrinally different but similarly conservative in worship. Then after moving out here we tried Christian Churches, Church of Christ, Spirit filled churches, Pentecostal churches, Baptist churches etc... and I was AMAZED by how different they all were from each other. Nothing in my previous experience had prepared me for that! We went to churches where you felt disruptive if you coughed during a sermon to churches that got so wild you were waiting for the them to bring out the rattlesnakes! I have held an extremely high standard for churches and congregations which I have measured them by and which has kept me a "visitor of churches." In all churches I have found politics which I abhor!
To make a long story short, God has really laid on my heart to be in His Word continually and to realize that a body of believers in any church is not perfect. To find a place where I can be fed biblical truths and be a light. If I want the boys to know how to be the spiritual heads of their households someday then for now that rests on me to show them and plant the seeds. So we will continue to attend Living Word Ministries and see where God leads us. They have graciously offered the use of their facilities for FAITH and the health food cooperative we run, and for that we are very thankful. It's closer to my home and the home of my co-coordinator.
I know many of you are so ready for spring but we celebrate any snow that comes with great joy! We are so jealous of my friend in Canada that got 21 inches in one weekend!!!! My friend Judy taught me the secret of making perfect cookies much to my familes delight and now with every burst of cold weather there are requests for cookies! I complained to my friend how my cookies never turned out the same and after describing to her the method I used she instantly saw what needed to change and my method was fixed and my cookies are now perfect everytime!
Well that's our update for now. Be blessed and be a Blessing!
