Encouraging Moms Who Homeschool

Well, I'm an avid reader and I especially enjoy books that inspire me to honor Christ more and more with my life as a mother who homeschools. I've been flying through my pile of books and am ready for some suggestions for a few good reads. So, leave a comment with your favorite authors, books, magazines, etc. They don't have to be "just for those who homeschool". I enjoy biographies of amazing Christians, inspiring true stories, encouraging reading material of any sort so long as it honors the Lord. You can leave as many suggestions as you would like - the more the better! The reader who leaves the most suggestions will "win" a copy of a book (I have 2 options so I'll let the winner decide which they would prefer). I guess I can't really have an open-ended contest, so the contest will end of Saturday, February 6th (which is also my hubby's birthday, so feel free to give me some great ideas to make his big day loads of fun!) Thanks for sharing

So, did most of you watch the State of the Union on Wednesday evening? I watched it - there is a strange part of me that really enjoys seeing our country's traditions in action, and the annual address by the President to report the state of our union is one of those traditions. As the wife of a soldier, I especially appreciate the tradition maintained by the Joint Chiefs during the speech - no applause, no facial expressions, no rising from their seats. They do what my hubby does when in uniform - have no personal opinion & always behave respectfully toward the President in attitude and speech because he is the Commander in Chief. Part of why I appreciate it so very much is because I have seen my husband in action, displaying this noble attitude of service to his country when people approach him to "vent" or "discuss politics" simply because he is in uniform. Trust me, not everyone who has "shared" with him has been polite or pro-Army!! It's n

Have you ever noticed how certain verses stick with you? I mean, almost stick to you? Sometimes during my Bible reading I'll read a verse I'll realize that the passage I'm reading contains a "sticky" verse...or I might suddenly stumble upon it when I read the verses assigned to a devotional for the day...perhaps one of the verses just pops into my mind. For me, these aren't the verses that I've chosen to commit to memory, and they aren't usually the verses that so many of us know and love - the ones that speak of our salvation, our forgiveness, our great hope that comes through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. The verses that "stick" to me are ones that I tend to need to ponder - like pieces of a puzzle, I have to invest some extra time to see how they fit together with my life. The book of Job and the book of Jonah each contain some of my "sticky" verses. This week I've been reading in Job, and when I read the NLT version of Job

My kids have discovred Throwback Mountain Dew and Pepsi. And guess what? They like it better than "modern day" Mt. Dew & Pepsi. Hmmm...is that because it tastes that much better? Is it the novelty? Maybe the idea of drinking the same kind of Dew their dad had way-back-when? Personally, I think it tastes different because it's made with sugar, not high fructose corn syrup. But that's my opinion because of my preference for sugar grown from the cane rather than corn turned into sweetener that that has the consistency of motor oil... Do I need to have a "Throwback" in any area of my life? Maybe I need to remember what it was like when my children were babies - you know, that sweet newborn smell that doesn't last long enough, the tiny fingers and toes, the way they stretch when they wake up and then snuggle right back down in your arms. Perhaps I need to remember the toddler years, when everything they learned was amazing and new and somehow made the who

I've been reading the book "A Lifetime of Wisdom" by Joni Eareckson Tada lately and boy, is this a keeper for my library! Joni is one of those people that has so much to share, I knew that this book would be a blessing and I would be challenged by it. Of course, I had no idea how the Lord would begin to challenge me through this book. I find myself asking hard questions, probing around the dark places of my heart and asking Jesus to shine His light in those dark places, yielding ground to the Holy Spirit that I may not have fully yielded before. This book fits the definition of a "great book" and as Chip Ingram says, "Read great books!" The book begins shortly after Joni's diving accident and Chapter 1 opens onto Joni in her hospital room in November of 1967. After recounting some very real and painful struggles with her quadriplegia, Joni moves forward to the current day and writes from her heart what the Joni of today would say to the Joni of 40

Okay, it's official. Thursdays are very busy around here. And I probably should not have decided to clean the carpets today...it's not gonna happen, and now it's on my list and won't be crossed off :( I LOVE crossing things off my to-do list. The list itself never gets any shorter, but that doesn't matter so long as I can cross some stuff off daily. And writing down what I did AFTER I did it and THEN crossing it off doesn't get it for me. I've tried that method several times in the past, but it just doesn't have the same calming effect. So, since my Thursdays are VERY busy, and I tend to forget some major things that need to be done each Thursday (eh-em, I'm talking to Janette - she knows what I mean!) I suppose I had better come up with a way to cope with my busy Thursdays while getting done what must be done. For example, dinner on Thursdays is difficult to pull off. GKB & Big AMB skate at 5 pm. SGB has Christian Youth Theater (CYT) at

So, for quite a while now our worship leaders (hereafter known as J&J) have been hoping to have an all worship service on a Sunday morning. Yesterday was the day they were able to make it a reality - so today's blog is about Psalm 113, which is a psalm with a whole lot of guidance regarding our worship. When I opened my Bible this morning, I was pretty excited to read this psalm. After yesterday's worship service, and after enjoying the blessing of spending time in prayer daily last week for the all worship Sunday, reading the 113th psalm was like opening a surprise present from the Lord. In the NLT it reads as follows: Praise the LORD! Yes, give praise, O servants of the LORD. Praise the name of the LORD! Blessed be the name of the LORD forever and ever. Everywhere - from east to west - praise the name of the LORD. For the LORD is high above the nations; is glory is far greater than the heavens. Who can be compared with the LORD our God, who is enthroned on high? Far below

Congratulations to Miriam - she won the "contest" from my last post about the movie quote. She determined that the movie I quoted from was "Surf's Up". Which was not the most popular movie of 2007, and so it's all the more impressive that she figured it out. However, Miriam is no slouch in the brains department, so I'm not at all surprised by her ability to reason out the answer to my odd contest :) Miriam's prize? A $10 gift card to Starbucks. Which I know for certain she will enjoy. Happy coffee, Miriam! Jan L. Burt www.homeschoolingmothersbiblestudy.com

In our house we often quote movie lines. Now, before you wonder how I can allow my family to watch movies in this day and age, with the abundance of "filth" in film, we own two Clear Play dvd players and we don't watch movies without the filter. And beyond our filter, we have a family standard about what we will watch. We use pluggedin.com to review any movies we are considering viewing - another wonderful resource for the Christian community. Some movie one-liners are funny, some are catchy, and some make a point. The quote, "No joy dude...fail." is one that makes a point. How often could that short phrase characterize my life? (Hmmm, do I want to answer that in writing?) How often SHOULD it characterize my life? Well, never, if I believe God's Word. It really is something for me to think about. If I believe the joy of the Lord is my strength, shouldn't I be joyful? If joy is a fruit of the Spirit, shouldn't I yield more and more to the Holy

This afternoon the UPS man had a bit of misfortune - his truck got stuck in the slushy snowy mix. He was revving the motor, probably sitting inside trying to will the truck to move. You know the feeling - "Oh, boy, here we go. This could get messy. What a doozy. Can't I just get out of this mess quickly and easily?" But the UPS guy had an advantage - he wasn't working alone today. He had his partner with him. Between the two of them, with some serious effort and concerted attention, they got "unstuck" and were able to get on with their work day. I was glad to see them drive off; it's been pretty cold here in south central Kansas as of late, and I feel for anyone outside in this weather. But then I thought about something Solomon wrote in the Old Testament, and I was grateful the Lord used the stuck UPS truck to minister to me today. In the book of Ecclesiastes it says that it's not good when one falls down and has no friend to help him up,

Today we started back to homeschool following our family's Christmas break. If you had asked me yesterday if I was ready to get back to work, I would have said, "Nope!" And yet this morning as I read my Bible and spent time in prayer, I realized that I was more than ready. What changed? Nothing and everything. I was certainly not ready, able, prepared, or equipped in my own strength to home educate my children today. Or any other day. But after spending time focusing on Jesus, His will for my day, His educational plans for my children, His desires for our family, I was more than ready to get going on the day's work. My everything accomplishes nothing - the One Who is Everything is able to make anything from nothing. Very cool to think about. Now, if I can keep this same attitude of total dependance on Jesus as I homeschool tomorrow, and the next day, and so on...that would be fantastic! Day 6 done :) Jan L. Burt www.homeschoolingmothersbiblestudy.com

Doesn't the new year bring with it all kinds of anticipation? What will this year bring? Surprises - good and bad. Great memories will be made. It's like a blank canvas that the Lord is just beginning to paint on. Optimism is high on the first day of January. Really, my optimism should not wane as the year progresses. There is no reason I should be any less enthusiastic about "what's next" on June 1st than I am on January 1st. God has not changed from 12/31 to 01/01...so why should my attitude change? Maybe the first day of a new year is a good time for me to remember that God is with me always, He never changes, there is no shadow of turning with Him. Tomorrow is not unknown to Him, yesterday's errors are not written in stone with no redeeming value, and His mercies are new every single morning. Even when we are faithless, He will remain faithful, for He cannot disown Himself (see Paul's letters to Timothy). That's pretty good news, on Janua