Contest for a name...

After seeing what Rachel L. did with her leanto contest, I decided to do one as well!!! Soo, I have a squirrel that I finished a few days ago. Yes, I knitted it. :) But I don't have a name for him. :( So here he is!!!!!!



This is Mr. squirrel. :)

Isn't he cute!!!! look at that smile!!!




He even does tricks!!!!!!! OK...not really. but he does sit upside down!!!







Anyway, he needs a name. So if anybody has any ideas, please leave a comment with your idea!!!!! You can leave as many as you want!!!!! So have fun!!! You will have a week or two, so start thinking!!!




U Got A Name For Me?????



Bekah

Chewing On Words

'Tis the season... for choosing next year's school curriculum. And I've run into a snag. I'd like some meaty history books that tell the TRUTH! Seems like a simple request, doesn't it. However, I'm feeling seriously duped, misled, lied to, taken advantage of, get the picture?

All this time I've been fed the line that the Christian authors who write for the homeschool market were bringing back the best of the best, digging for the truth, scouring the pages of dry and dusty tomes to bring out the stories of the heroes of the past. That's probably true of some. But there are rats on the ship and to a large extent I believe that homeschoolers are the unwitting fleas feeding on their poisoned blood!

Who are the rats? Have you heard of Christian Reconstruction? If you haven't, it's time you did. The leaders of this movement are authoring the most highly recommended history, government and civics books that homeschoolers are reading. The names are familiar: R.J. Rushdooney, Gary North, Gary DeMar, David Barton, Mike Farris, George Grant. These men are very persuasive writers and speakers and have influenced countless others. Some don't embrace all of the teachings of the Reconstructionists (such as stoning Lawbreakers!) but pick and choose their favorites from the buffet.

Personally I like a good conversation about ideas. I'm open to having mine challenged and changed. I'm feeling so offended now because of how sneaky these guys have been - if it had ever been presented as an 'alternate view', I'd have considered it. It is presented as fact and it makes me madder than any evolutionist ever has!

Oh, and they've done something else that makes me mad! They're taking phrases that mean one thing to me, like 'Biblical world view' and when they use it, they mean something else like 'Reconstructionist world view'. GRRRRR! Whatever happened to honest communication? Isn't that the foundation of communication anyway - the sharing of ideas from one person to another? Isn't clarification of terms foundational to the idea of communication? These people call themselves Christians and then purposely subvert their meanings. No wonder the world thinks Christians aren't to be trusted!

Here are some links you can try. Or just Google Christian Reconstruction and you'll get plenty.

http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/HistoryOfReconstructionMovement.html

http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/Psychology/cor/notes_on.htm
http://christianreconstruction.org/

Camping with Teens!

Last weekend we had the privilege of going along on the Thrive Youth High School Campout. We left Friday afternoon for Ocala National Forest where we took over the Kiwanis Camp for the weekend. We were blessed with absolutely perfect Florida weather and some really terrific kids!

We did a lot of cooking, eating, playing and studying God's Word. The theme of the weekend was our identity in Christ. My heart was filled with gratitude that these teens were able to hear teaching that is so essential to being able to function in a healthy way in this world. I didn't begin to understand my identity in Christ until I was in my early 30s and for these young people to be able to grasp that now is amazing!

Everyone worked hard - each student was part of a team that had cooking duty for one meal and clean up duty for another. All the teams had jobs on the last day in order to leave the camp in good shape when we left. Mrs. JLW organized the teams (thank you randomizer!) and the meals. We ate really well - cooked breakfasts, sandwich bar lunches, cooked dinners, fresh fruit for snacks!

Mr. L and Mr. W and young Mr. L prepared an orienteering course for our Saturday afternoon adventure. The students were grouped in 3s and sent out (after instructions, of course) on a mission to retrieve an important message from an operative. Along the way they had to be silent in order to avoid the aggressors. I'm happy to report all teams made it back with the message - although some did have contact with the aggressors!

Scary aggressor!

Any time the kids weren't in a teaching session or assigned a task, they were free to play. There was a horse shoe tournament, volleyball, frisbee, swimming, canoeing, board and card games - plenty to do!

Zach and Chico decided to go for a swim Saturday morning before breakfast - I think that was after a fishing trip in the canoe even earlier. They made the most of every moment. I watched them getting into the water early that morning - the photos are on Mrs. JLWs camera. Of course Zach fished but several others did too.

There are some special Circle camp out traditions that we enjoyed again this year. One of them is the Saturday night entertainment. Tali and Jessie once again made us laugh ourselves silly. Zach S. shared a song he wrote. All of the acts were entertaining. We had everything from contortion to beautiful music coming from an old, out of tune piano. What amazing kids! The thing that struck me during that event is how different but uniquely wonderful they all are!

Shopping with Teens!

I had an amazing privilege week before last. I took my kids shopping.

Hannah has worn out her shoes. Literally. You can see light through the sole right under her heel. She said she wondered why her feet got so wet when it rained. Now we know. Between growing and wearing everyone was in desperate need of some new duds. So we all went to the mall. And to Target. And to WalMart. And to the New Center of the Universe (huge new shopping complex south of Winter Garden). That's just our name for it - the developers gave it something nicer. Can't remember what... Anyway, we shopped ALL DAY! Those of you who know us best understand that this is not what Rigels do. We tend to limit our shopping to very carefully planned, quickly executed missions designed to get the job over with as quickly and painlessly as possible. There are a few exceptions: RK could live in JoAnn's, bookstores are for lingering, antiquing is fun anytime.

So what made this day so wonderful? These amazing young people are fun to hang out with and they are amazingly thrifty shoppers. There wasn't a bit of fussing or whining. Everyone had to wait sometimes and it was done willingly and patiently. By the end of the day we were all very TIRED! They all shopped for quality items at reasonable prices - it was great to hear some of the conversations about the high prices for seemingly already worn-out garments. I believe the Lord blessed these attitudes by providing some fun clothes at great prices. We were able to almost complete the list in one day!

During the day I noticed a few young moms with kids in tow. I remember those days. I remember when H loved to look at the fancy dresses with sequins. J once hid inside a rack of coats and watched me panic. Those days passed quickly but I think these teen years will go even faster. I don't want to hold them back but I want to savor each moment.

Bog Bodies

OK, now to address the hot topic of Bog Bodies...

Doesn't everyone sit around discussing them? We do occasionally. And it totally freaks Zach out. Hannah thinks they're fascinating. Her eyes light up and I can just picture her out in a peat bog imagining the histories of these people. Who were they? How did they end up there? What kind of lives did they live? Zach just shudders... and shudders... and shudders. He doesn't even want us to say... bog bodies...

So thanks to National Geographic, our scanner, and the technical abilities of our children...

Bog Bodies!

Far Too Long No Blogging!

Long overdue: Quilt update!


Bekah finished her rag quilt sometime before Christmas. Isn't it lovely?

OOPS!!!! That isn't her quilt! It's a BOG BODY!!! The pale NJ version anyway...

You know, I could have just deleted that photo but I'm laughing so hard and I needed that laugh so badly that I thought just maybe you did too. The kids heard me laughing and came to check it out and now everyone is cracking up. More on bog bodies later... now for the quilt.

I love the bright fun colors of this quilt. It's nice and snuggly too. Since it was quilted block by block and then the blocks were sewn into rows and the rows sewn together, Bekah was able to do the whole thing on her machine - with lots of help from Mrs. G, of course.

Cute pets!!!

Here are some Cute pictures of the

cats that I thought you might enjoy.

Bed time!!!!

Crazy Green eyed Benny...sitting on a chair...

Cute snuggles!!! With licking!

My little Darling Emmy. (or not so little)
But she is sweet!!

Bekah

Poosey News

Since my original post about Poosey back in October, we have been in an all-out battle to restore her quality of life and at some points literally to save it. Yesterday we got the first little glimmer of the possibility of healing.



If I recall, I said we were exploring the possibility of trying some acupuncture in an attempt to relieve some of her pain. Little did I know that was just the beginning. We met a great vet who has a holistic practice - www.cedarbayvet.com - and she quickly ascertained that the kidney disease was acute. We changed her food, increased the sub-q fluids to twice a day instead of twice a week, and added three supplements. By that time she was also in the midst of a full blown upper respiratory infection that we treated with antibiotics. Poosey was one very weak kitty. I remember one particular Friday that I just lay on the floor beside her and prayed that she'd keep breathing at least until Hannah got home from school. Every breath was an effort and she just looked too weak to keep it up for very long. She didn't want to eat and was losing weight rapidly. We sort of poured food into her with a pastry bag and metal cake decorating tip.

We have been doing the acupuncture - and Poosey often purrs the whole time!

She recovered slowly from the URI but the damage was done. Her liver was very unhappy with the weight loss and although her kidneys were doing better, more blood work revealed that a new monster had reared it's ugly head - hepatic lipidosis. If you're curious you can Google it. I guess it mostly happens to cats and it's 100% fatal without aggressive intervention. That's where we are now. For the last two-plus weeks we've been syringing food into her every 1-2 hours in an attempt to reverse the condition. We added a couple of additional supplements and a medication to help her GI system to move the food along and prevent nausea (and vomiting!). I can't tell you how frustrating it was to force feed her all day every day only to go to the vet and have her lose more weight! I calculated the time and literally 1/4 of my daytime hours have been spent force feeding/cleaning up this precious creature! Finally yesterday we had a small weight gain!!!! We are by no means finished but at least there is hope. I expect to continue this all through the Christmas season and possibly a few weeks beyond. I told the vet yesterday that all I want for Christmas is for Poosey to eat on her own. She smiled and said she hoped I got that gift.

Is it worth it?


Yes.


I don't know how long it will help her, but I know we did our best. She's now strong enough to express her opinions, sometimes vigorously. I love that! She can lie in the sunshine. She can purr. She hangs out with Hannah and sleeps on the box in front of her window - all the normal things we take for granted.

Thankful!

The week is here! The day is coming! The attitude will remain - I hope!

Living in Florida causes a celebration of autumn in a big way in our household. The kids delight in putting up the fall decorations. They grumble about stores that skip fall and go right into Christmas. Our landscape doesn't display the colors that we associate with fall so we bring a little of the color into our home. I find myself touching fabric rich in fall colors at the fabric store - and buying bits and pieces of it sometimes. We have garlands of leaves that we drape here and there. We've accumulated a few fall tablecloths over the years. We don't go nuts about the decorating - no time and too many cats! - but we genuinely enjoy every one.

And then there's Thanksgiving Day... the excitement builds... who is coming this year? Mom, did you buy turkey hearts? Can we buy some new balls for backyard games? Will it be cool? Will it be hot?

Why do our kids love this holiday so much? I think it's because it is one of the only traditions that we keep very close to the same every year and it isn't commercially overdone. It's all about being thankful to God for all He has given. Sometimes we've had difficult years. Sometimes our friends have had very difficult years. I hope I never forget the overflowing gratefulness I felt the year GG was here barely a week after surgery for colon cancer.

I'm not just thankful for the big things. I'm overwhelmingly thankful that I have a husband who loves me and whom I love. We have children who are learning and growing and who I honestly enjoy. We have friends - genuine friends - who really know us and still want to hang out with us. We have a great extended family. We have a church family that I wouldn't trade for all the tea in China (and you all know I like my tea!)

Last year we put a piece of paper on the fridge for everyone to write on listing things for which we're thankful. Thanks to my friend JS for the idea!! I'm a bit behind but that is going back up today. We'll see how many things we can think of by Thursday. I can start right now. I'm thankful for this computer and the internet access that allows me to write the blog entry and for each person who cares enough about us to read it.

The Quilt!

We had a very happy girl the day RKR finished her first quilt top! Here she is!

And this is LG, sewing teacher extraordinaire!

We took her quilt to a shop to be machine quilted. She had to have the backing and batting ready to quilt. It was a very interesting process. Each layer was placed on the frame and pinned, zipped, clamped or basted into place. Even with all this preparation, the shop owner had to keep a close eye on the process, smoothing any puckers and making sure the machine was doing the correct thing. Several times she had to replace the bobbin thread - just like a giant sewing machine bobbin. Bekah got to choose the quilting pattern and the thread. She chose a daisy pattern in a variegated blue. It looks lovely!

Photos of the finished quilt coming very soon...