One of the boys favorite films growing up was Wild America. In so many ways....they remind me of those brothers.

Close.

Cautious. Grounded.

Adventurous. Ready (or getting ready) to fly.
_______________________________

Is it easy letting go?

HECK no!

But ....after we get over ourselves ....we see things w/more clarity.

How else are parents & kids supposed to build and walk in bonds of trust?

Thank the Lord for cell phones. Los Angeles doesn't seem that far away.

And, I don't have to be embarrassing them all the time w/every hour on the hour phone calls. Texting is great. Their friends have no idea it's Mommy they are talking to :)

Hip Hop Class

Time...as it Flies

Happy 19th Birthday, my dear dear boy.

Brave Sage Gregg

Brave Sage Gregg..... filmmaker/actor.

Higher Education in the news.

Steve Hickok & The Pioneer Woman

Some of you might remember this post....or this one re: the fabulous Steve Hickok (btw....he is a descendant of Wild Bill.....l which I think is so beyond way cool.)


This was a fun link to find in my in box tonight.

Steve's site is fun to peruse.

Galilee's hand print is found in the piece titled, Running in My Dreams. Jemima's is found in Waiting to Dance and Jemima Close-Up.

Acrostic Poems

I am aware of a handful of local college aged students who read this blog. That's really sweet btw....and as a "thank you"...this post is especially for you.

Right now the Keirland Anthropologie store is hiring visual interns (must be over 18 & enrolled.) No pay...but what a great thing to have on your resume and what a fantastic way to spend some time...bathing in beautiful things.

I usually post stuff like this over at my photography blog...but today...decided to upload here.

Mostly because this particular set at this particular time in history has more to do w/home-education than it does w/photography per say.

Mcabe Justus has vocalized his heart. He wants to be an actor...and sometimes model.

He would love to somehow see the world while following this dream of his.

He's a funny kid. While shopping @ Anthropologie this week...he nonchalantly mentioned as he was assembling two diverse, inspired & eclectic gift baskets....the fact that he plans to make a living without making a "normal living." Meaning....no nine to five desk jobs for him.

He smiled and waited. For my reaction...I'm sure.

If you knew him at all....this makes perfect sense.

I smiled back and said, "Son...if anyone could do it...it would be you."



Excited to see where his walk with the Lord married with this deeply rooted sense of adventure and his unconventional thinking takes him.

_______________________________

It's also a home-education sorta post due to the fact that the girls were there too...watching and learning. What they should have been doing was reading those books in their hands ...but they weren't.

Dear Prayer Warrior Friends,

Detox is not easy. Detox is painful. Facing a future w/the thought of going through rather than numbing out the pain in your heart is torture. Prayers for Damon, please.

Love,
Dawn

"Lord, throw down the Jezebel of our unbelief, and let the dogs devour it."
CH Spurgeon

Thanks, Christine.

PAUSE my Music Player first.

It's only Wednesday and it's already been quite a week. Enormous spiritual battles. Fought with prayer. Fought with obedience.

A humbling week.

Idols have been ripped away one tightly clenched finger at a time.

It's usually this way with me. I struggle with letting go. I am am often tempted to and sometimes give into kicking... screaming.....borrowing.... begging & stealing before I am ushered into to a place of restful surrender.

Surrender.

Ozzie.

Spurgeon.

Come what may. Surrender.

Rest in Him for He is good and His yoke is light.

Do what He is telling you to do when He tells you to do it in the manner in which He reveals.

Surprise 13th B-Day Sleep Over Party!!!!!!!!!!

Jemima, you are a joy. Pure joy.

Sensitive. Caring. Diligent. Hardworking. Determined. Thoughtful. Other-centered. Talented. Creative. Beautiful.

Also...sometimes stubborn :)

Happy Birthday to our Happy Flower.

Poor kids have no idea how to eat sunflower seeds...so we had to teach them.


Hipster Girls walkin' in their heels talkin' on their phones.

Here comes the bridesmaids.

Here comes the bride.

Is THAT a TARANTULA?????!!!!!!!!!!???

Autumn

I love Autumn. It's my favorite.

Praising the Lord for this particular season of bounty.

Vintage Earrings

They are vintage and I believe they are real opals!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Desert Kids

What Sonoran Desert kids do when it rains.

All of the Above

Why did my flesh rise up and want to take control when Zion asked if she could make her own turkey sandwich?

A. I have an elevated sense of self importance.
B. I don't trust that it will get done correctly without me (similar to A)
C. I am fearful that it will get done correctly without me (similar to A&B)
D. I am fearful that there will be a mess and that I will have to clean it up (similar to AB&C)
E. I have control issues. (similar to ABC&D)
F. I am operating in full blown sin mode (similar to ABCD&E)
G. All of the above.

Prayers for Damon

After months in a hospital reducing his methadone levels...Damon is currently at a residential detox center. The next few weeks will not be easy. If all goes according to our hopes...he will leave this place and begin down the the brave road of long term rehab.

Prayers, please....if you are so led.

Safe Living & Small Dreams

A quote passed on from a dear friend via someone else.

"Don't you dare insult God with safe living and small dreams."

Trophy Kids

Do we have our children's hearts? If not....over time....it's possible that we are doing something wrong.

Another layer.

Food Network Wisdom

Food Network Wisdom:

Do you have the ingredients w/out an idea.....

or

....an idea w/out the ingredients?

Lifted Burdens

Have you ever had a burden lifted only to realize upon it's removal that it was ever there in the first place?

Pharisees

For this is always the basis for the Pharisees rejection: "This man receives sinners."

Spurgeon

For My Love.

PAUSE my Music Player first.

I Saw the Angel in the Marble

I awoke to an encouraging message in my inbox this morning and feel like sharing it here because this is one of the places where I share my heart.

________________________________________

In my book, I Saw the Angel in the Marble, I describe Identity-Directed Homeschoolers by pointing out the two opposing versions of how to think about children. One is to see children as our culture sees them: As blank slates on which will be written all that is necessary for them to become useful citizens. Said another way, children are empty vessels to be filled with all that society has decided is "necessary" so that they will grow up into productive adults.

I would like to suggest a different way of thinking of children: Children are neither blank slates nor empty vessels. Rather every child comes into the world with a fairly complete set of giftings, talents and callings that his Creator wants him to express during his life. One could articulate it this way: "The infant you hold in your arms was created, by God, from the foundation of the world, and in that child God has put all the giftings, talents and callings He wants expressed from this individual so the child is able to serve his generation well." At a point in time, God said, "OK, [insert your child's name]. This is your generation. Go into it and serve it well with what I have already put within you. Then return to Me for a 'Well done, good and faithful servant'."

The reason this is so important is that, should a set of parents realize the truth of this idea, a dramatic change occurs in the way that child is going to be raised.

In the middle decades of the 1800's a new philosophy entered into this country’s intellectual community and it even permeated the halls of government as well. It was a new idea that children were more the responsibility of the State than of their own parents. Therefore the State had a right to determine what children should learn as they grew up. Eventually, the accepted definition of "education" became, "passing the culture from one generation to the next." The culture spoken of here included a well-defined set of academics. All children were to learn the same information. As our culture slowly shifted away from its Judeo-Christian foundation, what children were to learn also shifted—slowly and subtly—but the requirement to "learn it" remained.

Most parents have accepted that their children should be filled up with what society has predetermined needs to be "put into" the child. If, however, that child's parents can accept that the child already contains specific input from his Creator, parents will seek to determine what is "in there", will prioritized what they discover as the child matures, and will spend whatever time and resources are necessary to bring those giftings, callings and talents to maturity.

What do I mean when I use the phrase Identity-Directed? I will put it this way: Each of us has both an internal and an external identity.

First, we have an internal identity. If you are a spiritual person, your internal identity transcends this life, even this world. Christians site their scriptures which say their spiritual identity comes from their having been adopted by The Father.

Second, each of us also has an external identity. This is how a person lives out his life, giving his giftings and talents to his world to serve the generation in which he has been called to live.

The two perspectives—“filling the bucket" or "identity-directed"—are mutually exclusive. Each dictates an entirely different set of experiences during the years our children are growing up.

One says, "Long ago, our society decided what a child should know and learn, and we must be sure these things are what gets put into every child before he or she leaves our home." The other says, "Let's discover this child and give him the time, the resources and the encouragement so that, when he leaves our home, he has become awesome at what God has already put within him to do."

One says, "The highest form of child rearing is to create an employable individual. Everyone already knows what kids need, so just purchase someone's Scope & Sequence, prepackaged curriculum and make the child learn what it contains."

The other says, "Train up a child according to his way, and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6). This is because he won’t want to depart from it. He won’t experience a mid-life crisis. Why not just help children become skilled in what God has already gifted them to do. Then they will fulfill the scripture, "Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will stand before kings; not before ordinary men” (Proverbs 22:29).

Most home schooling parents will give more thought to what they will use to teach a subject then they will give to why they are teaching that subject in the first place--or to why they are teaching it now. They just assume that what was done to them in school is what they should do to their own children. When this goes on for years, children eventually conclude that adults will tell them what is important in life and what they should be learning. Finally, the child will come to believe that what he has a heart to do is not important and he will eventually disconnect from his own heart's purpose. If asked, "What do you want to do in life?" he will say, "I don't know." And he will be telling the truth.

The other response is even gloomier: The child’s very spirit will reject what the parents are trying to do because the gifting cries out to be acknowledged and the child doesn’t know an appropriate way to say, “Hey, somebody, God’s gift is in here, and it needs to be expressed!”

Chris Davis

Communion & Children

When is it appropriate for younger children to receive communion?

Our personal story of working this very issue out under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Ozzie

Can I face things as they actually are in the light of the reality of Jesus Christ, or do things as they are efface altogether my faith in Him, and put me into a panic?

Good question. Thanks, for asking, Ozzie.

Eternal Beings

Politan reminded us recently that when we deal w/people we deal with eternal beings. Every single person we come into contact w/is an eternal being...whose life will go on for eternity. This truth should have us dealing very thoughtfully with all people. Each person we encounter is far more awe inspiring than we could ever imagine.

Our response should be humbleness.

It's a challenge, I know.

"Let the Lord Jesus Christ be for ever endeared to us, for through Him we are made to sit in heavenly places far above principalities and powers. He it is whose camp is round about them that fear Him; He is the true Michael whose foot is upon the dragon. All hail, Jesus! thou Angel of Jehovah's presence, to Thee this family offers its morning vows."

C.H. Spurgeon

I think having older kids forces you to realize how fast time flies and prompts you to see beauty in the simple things...... like bath time.

Field Trip

Montezuma's Castle.





Montezuma's Well.




Tuzigoot.




Jerome...a copper town.

Barbie mini skirt.

If anyone ever wonders what to get Zion for a gift?

Canvases, paints, sketch pads, pastels, charcoals, paints etc.

This kid wants to do something artistic...wants to create... every day of the week. And she's a business woman too.

Just the other day she pitched and sold me an original work of hers. I was able to haggle my way down to $15...although the piece was way worth the asking price of $20.