We just discovered this hidden little gem that displays a variety of artwork. The inside of the home is as magnificent as the outside.
Castle Gallery
Reply
Apparently we bought a wonderful piece of property. 🙂 Some features we didn’t know about?
1) Lakefront property with private beach ~ at least 2 seasons of the year (late winter and in spring)
2) Castle ~ even our shed has a mote! Doesn’t that mean our house is a castle? 🙂 
As I wade through struggles in life, I need to remind myself that . . .
1) Yes, God is in control of every little detail! Matthew 6:25-34 challenges us to stop worrying since our heavenly Father takes care of us.
2) I can trust Him to walk with me. “Never will I leave you.” Hebrews 13:5
3) When I walk in obedience and grow in Him, He promises to produce HIS fruit in my life ~ the fruit of walking in the Spirit (see Galatians 5:22) ~ fruit that will last eternally (see John 15:16)
For His promises I am thankful today.
We were privileged to participate in a chicken embryology program. They supplied us with an incubator, 6 eggs, and a binder packed full of educational learning resources. We received the eggs at the end of their incubation cycle, so we did not have to wait for 21 days for them to hatch. We picked them up on Monday, and 5 of the 6 eggs hatched on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday – just in time to return the supplies on Friday. These little chicks are so cute and are growing quite rapidly. What a wonderful unit study for our daughter.
Hatching out
Whew! That was hard work!
Exploring outside
Only 2 weeks old, but their adult white feathers appeared quickly.
About a month ago we were asked if we could food shop one time each month for our church food pantry. We gladly accepted this challenge and privilege. Of course, I had to document our first experience with a few pictures. It was a challenge to see if we could purchase everything on the list and fit it all into 2 overflowing cartloads, then into our car – all in one trip. We made it! We also worked out our muscles of bit that day lifting those cases of food . . . from the store shelves into the cart, from the cart into the car, then from the car onto a cart to transport them into pantry, then stocking the shelves of the pantry. We look forward to ministering in this small way every month.
2 overflowing carts of food
1 overflowing car
stocking the shelves
We attended the local home and garden show and our eyes feasted on a few beautiful vibrant spring flowers. Love the colors of spring!
Do you need something fun to do inside to add some spice to your home school day? Create an indoor snow ball fight! 🙂 Roll up lots of socks into little balls, aim and fire! Use sofa cushions and blankets to make a fort. Just make sure you do this in a space where there are no valuable breakables.
Hoarding all the snow balls at her fort.
Ready to fire!
Venturing out of her fort with safety goggles for protection!
The past couple months, my daughter and I have been spending some time sewing fabric blocks together. Since my sister is president of their church sewing circle, we were able to obtain the blocks already cut. My daughter had the privilege of “designing” the blanket by coming up with the pattern / layout. At the next scheduled sewing, they will have this ready to knot and finish. The blanket will then be sent to share with someone in need. It was fun to spend some time sewing again ~ something of which I have not done much in years. Praying this blanket will not only warm the heart and body of the recipient, but it can also warm their soul.
5/7/13 UPDATE: Last week we were able to help finish the blanket by knotting the corners of each square. Then my sister finished sewing the trim along the outside edges. It is now ready to give away.
Click on the images to find more detailed information on Amazon.
  The Kingdom Tales trilogy is for all ages. |
  Every time I read them, I see new truths. |
  Children love it just for the story, but start to gain deeper understanding as they mature. |
  This is for preschool age. I read this often to my daughter and just can’t part from it even tho she is now older. |
  Uncle Arthur’s Bedtime Stories ~ This is a 20-volume set. We do not own the whole set, but my daughter has read all the available copies numerous times. |
  Devotionals geared for ages 5-10 years every Monday through Friday with special related activities for Saturday & Sunday. |
  The Promised Land Diaries series brings Bible characters and stories to life. Geared toward pre-teens, but I enjoyed the book as much as my daughter. This book is the only one we have been able to read so far, but we are hoping to obtain others in the series soon! |
  The Chronicles of Narnia Series – Focus on the Family did an excellent job producing all 7 books into audio drama. |
Max Lucado Books
  |
  |
  |
  |
  |
  |
Christmas (advent) and Easter (lent) Favorites
  These 3 Advent Books are action packed. |
  Each day you are left hanging at an exciting moment. |
  We love the way the same characters appear in all 4 of his books! |
  Story of Christmas from the viewpoint of the animals in the stable. Lovable book for younger ages. |
  Board book, but text is for all ages. |
  Easter/Lent Story (same author as advent books above) |
If we are honest, many of us will admit that there are those days when we just don’t feel like we accomplish much, yet feel like we were busy the entire day. What on earth happened? It’s not a good feeling to close out a day without a sense of at least a little bit of accomplishment. How can we make that happen EVERY day???
A number of years ago, I learned about the OHIO principle. When I am consciously following this principle, jobs are completed and progress is made. I admit that it still takes a conscious effort on my part, sometimes even saying it out loud, so that I actually follow through on it. What is this principle? It’s a rather simple concept:
O H I O = Only Handle It Once
Look around you and quickly choose just 1 job that needs to be done or 1 item that needs attention. Then simply complete that job and don’t quit until it’s finished. Or pick up that piece of paper and don’t put it down until you have completed whatever it is you need to do with that paperwork (read it, make a phone call, grade it, pay that bill, file it, recycle it, or trash it). Then if you still have time available, choose the next item and follow the same procedure. Do NOT allow yourself to get distracted by emails, phone calls, facebook, texting, etc!!!! This will destroy your efficiency! 🙁
Often, I think we tend to look at ALL the jobs that need attention which leaves us feeling overwhelmed, and it paralyzes us from accomplishing anything. By applying this principle, it helps to eliminate those overwhelming and paralyzing feelings and moves us onward toward reaching our goal.
It’s easy to apply this for any time period whether it be a 1-minute job, 5 minutes, or an hour or two. Just start doing and completing 1 thing, and then stop when your allotted time is up.
I know that with home schooling, it seems like there is an endless mound of papers and books that collect on my desk. Application of this principle works wonders with that stack since many of those items do not require more than a couple minutes of my time. So I can start to squeeze this into my day whatever my schedule may be.
Go ahead – try it just once – say it out loud (OHIO – only handle it once) to remind yourself to finish it completely!
YOU CAN DO IT! 🙂