We had a great week and half up in Wisconsin together.. re-roofing our old house in preparation for a family who is moving in this month. It was a wonderful time, yet grueling at times! There was plenty to keep us all busy until we finally HAD to head back to St Louis.
The weather was just right for roofing, everyone was healthy, and we had some good visits with friends.
We arrived back home in the middle of the night Saturday, during that time when you are supposed to set your clocks back an hour! When we woke up, the house was 55 degrees inside! No heat! We got off to church and when we came back, it was warmer outside the house than inside, so we opened the windows and turned on the whole house fan to warm up!
Later that afternoon, our friends came over and Jerry was able to find and fix the problem, so we are toasty this morning! Praise the LORD!
Now we are unpacking and putting things back to normal. We will complete the rest of our "schedule" post soon. Would like to post some roofing photos, too. We are so thankful to the LORD for helping us and keeping everyone safe up there!
Kleins
Monday, November 08, 2010
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Good stuff!
We will get back to our schedule soon, hopefully, but we wanted to share some really challenging and encouraging messages on the family which we recently discovered!
These are by an older brother, Robert Gessner. His words are full of wisdom and sincerity and have been a blessing to us.
First message Introduction, describing the fact that families today are in trouble.
Second message Regarding the problem of permissive parenting.
Third message Regarding the problem of encouraging covetousness and materialism in our children's hearts!!
Fourth message Regarding the fear of our family and children being different from the world and "What is planning your family life?"
We hope you can check them out! Please try!
The taping wasn't perfect, so one message cuts off too soon at the end and one seems to start late, but you can hear them fine.
The next couple of weeks we are doing a major project, and we'll update as we are able! We will really be enjoying the fall weather!!!
These are by an older brother, Robert Gessner. His words are full of wisdom and sincerity and have been a blessing to us.
First message Introduction, describing the fact that families today are in trouble.
Second message Regarding the problem of permissive parenting.
Third message Regarding the problem of encouraging covetousness and materialism in our children's hearts!!
Fourth message Regarding the fear of our family and children being different from the world and "What is planning your family life?"
We hope you can check them out! Please try!
The taping wasn't perfect, so one message cuts off too soon at the end and one seems to start late, but you can hear them fine.
The next couple of weeks we are doing a major project, and we'll update as we are able! We will really be enjoying the fall weather!!!
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Morning schedule
As previously promised/threatened, we are now posting our current schedule.
After trying to make a PDF to post and not being able to figure it out, I asked Abi to take photos of our schedule on the wall, which we have covered in clear contact paper to keep from getting frayed and splattered. So, you won't make out the fine details, but just the general idea....which helps to keep things brief!
We use Microsoft Word, with lots of columns, printed horizontally. I use the Word Art feature to label big blocks of time. You will notice a few rows with fine print for Zak and Ben, who work at their own business during the day, so don't join in for all of our daily activities. Ben still does do chores, and Zak largely helps in supervising little brothers, though he has been known to plunge a toilet or split wood on occasion.
The first three rows represent one hour each. The rest of rows on the schedule are in 30 minute increments, even though they may have more than one activity per block.
So, we start our day at x o'clock. Ha ha. Early risers like to get up by 5, though we do not always make it for that hour. Those who do have uninterrupted quiet for doing some or all of their Bible copy, which the rest of the family does later in the day. It allows quiet time with the Lord. They also have personal grooming time, enjoying a much shorter wait in line to use the facilities.
We wake up the next group at 6, and then things begin to get more lively. There is sometimes cocoa or mint tea involved in this time slot.
At 7, we start morning devotions, which includes learning and/or reviewing Bible verses which we have studied using the Verse A Day method. We usually start with some songs and end with prayer.
After devotions, in our 8 to 9 slot, we have several components that can shift around to suit our needs. Someone prepares breakfast. Now, sometimes the preparer had the foresight to stick this in the oven earlier. Sometimes they have to prepare it and bake it, and we have more time to do the " Daily A.M. Chore Packs" before we eat. And sometimes, breakfast is just yogurt with dry oats and Grape Nuts, so it takes no time at all to prepare. So the contents of this slot can be modified as needed.
On the schedule, we have things kind of modularized, so there is not a lot of detail on the main schedule. We do have lot of instruction sheets posted around the house for the details, so as not to crowd the schedule. Here are some explanations:
Morning Routine - everything pertaining to bedroom clean up. This is done first after devotions, before breakfast.
Daily A.M. Chore Packs - daily chores done in the morning, some are on rotation, each child has their own Chore Pack, which Mommy produces using Chore Ware. (During this time, Mommy and/or one of the big sisters circles the house with their Chore Checklist. This is produced through Chore Ware, and is a work of art!) Chore assignments are scientifically designed to minimize slow downs in the bathroom. Daily A.M. Chore Packs do not include meal clean up; that is on a separate Chore Pack called "Meal Cleanup". Chore Packs are the signature components of the chore system in Managers of Their Chores...
Finally, Meal Cleanup Chore pack is a special routine which encompasses not only kitchen and dining cleanup, but bath schedules and general house cleanup (tidying areas).
And that takes us to 9:30....
When we first attempted scheduling, we had the various children in various activities and it was very complicated. Dave suggested we make things kind of modular. So, we start with Bible copy for just about everyone. Our oldest sons are working most days, so they have time allotted earlier for their Bible copy and head downstairs at this point (sometimes earlier).
During Bible copy time, we are trying to emphasize accuracy and checking our work, so we have things broken down in more detail for partners in checking. They do a certain amount of work copying, and then we stop in time to select a favorite verse, which is written in a different notebook with a comment, and shared in evening devotions. (We are currently trying to revive this portion of Bible copy, as we have neglected it for awhile!)
The dynamics of having the children partner for Bible copy are wonderful! First, there is the potential for deepening sibling friendships. (We say potential because we are always wanting to work on making these relationships what they should be -- not that they are perfect already!) Second, the checking is helpful teaching time for younger children and reinforcing time for the olders. With older partners, who are closer in age, it just makes it "fun" to spot errors and omissions. With Bible copy, we have seen the need to really emphasize checking almost as much as the copying: both penmanship and accuracy.
The blue text in the far right column refers to one-on-one time with Mommy for the younger children. We rotate turns, except for Gideon, who is learning to read, and this includes oral reading of the Bible, phonics, calendar work (recording upcoming events, checking off days, counting down to birthdays or events), practice with penmanship or copywork, nature walks, organizing projects, making shopping lists and sometimes artwork or letter writing.
Joanna (or another big sister) usually keeps Joshua (2) during her activities, and he does chores with her and sits with her when she does her Bible copy. When she's copying, he looks at book and plays with blocks. We simply do not permit him to roam the house, unraveling toilet paper or drawing on walls. But during the majority of his day, rather than looking for toys or videos to occupy him, we are learning to occupy him with real life! He loves it! What a concept, huh?
After Bible copy, we do some clean up and laundry folding and putting away. There is always laundry to put away! Since we have a room dedicated to laundry, we can just keep it moving without having to have it all finally put away so we can use the space for something else. That is an example of how our schedule is affected by our living space. Years ago, we had a dedicated school room, so things were kind of left on tables, but we no longer have that.
Actually, we don't mind not having a dedicated school room because we want our home overall to be conducive and used for learning.
Comida means lunch! We allow 30 minutes for actual eating, so we have to wrap up discussions. We are blessed to have every meal together as a family. Dave's mom, early on in our family, made a good case for not eating until every family member is at the table. We are so thankful for that input!
Again, the Meal Cleanup Chore Packs, again, include chores that are not necessarily related to kitchen cleanup. They can be straightening rooms, or taking a bath.
While it really helps to have things minutely detailed so that everything is in a certain sequence, we find it necessary to keep things a bit more flexible, since we have children paired up and things often come up that make it more convenient to vacuum or mop out of sequence. And of course, if we drop a Corelle bowl or have a toilet overflow, that REALLY impacts things in our day! Again, the schedule is just a tool to make sure we are hitting the priorities, but sometimes God allows things in our day to work on EXTRA priorities, like giving thanks in all things!
Lunch cleanup finishes at 2 PM, and we'll continue on in our next post with that. In the future, we hope, Lord willing, to share on how we fit in various errands. We will also solicit comments on how people keep track of their toothbrushes! (Does anyone chain them to the wall???? We are clueless!)
But before we click, we would like to remind you that our schedule, though we REALLY like it, is not perfect and we still have struggles and confusion at times. We also have peace and productivity at times. We are by no means experts, and we love to see what works for other people. It has taken us 12 years of trial and tweaking to get where we are so far. Each day requires walking in the Spirit.
Our schedule is not "the law" but rather an expression of how the Spirit is leading us to live our days, unless God allows other factors to override. By persevering in his Spirit, we allow the Lord to grow his fruit in our lives.
We are always encouraged to seek to apply the words of our Lord in Matthew 6:31- 33 to keep our perspective about meals, laundry, and everything else:
After trying to make a PDF to post and not being able to figure it out, I asked Abi to take photos of our schedule on the wall, which we have covered in clear contact paper to keep from getting frayed and splattered. So, you won't make out the fine details, but just the general idea....which helps to keep things brief!
We use Microsoft Word, with lots of columns, printed horizontally. I use the Word Art feature to label big blocks of time. You will notice a few rows with fine print for Zak and Ben, who work at their own business during the day, so don't join in for all of our daily activities. Ben still does do chores, and Zak largely helps in supervising little brothers, though he has been known to plunge a toilet or split wood on occasion.
The fine print above is who wakes up the little boys and gets them dressed!
The first three rows represent one hour each. The rest of rows on the schedule are in 30 minute increments, even though they may have more than one activity per block.
So, we start our day at x o'clock. Ha ha. Early risers like to get up by 5, though we do not always make it for that hour. Those who do have uninterrupted quiet for doing some or all of their Bible copy, which the rest of the family does later in the day. It allows quiet time with the Lord. They also have personal grooming time, enjoying a much shorter wait in line to use the facilities.
We wake up the next group at 6, and then things begin to get more lively. There is sometimes cocoa or mint tea involved in this time slot.
At 7, we start morning devotions, which includes learning and/or reviewing Bible verses which we have studied using the Verse A Day method. We usually start with some songs and end with prayer.
After devotions, in our 8 to 9 slot, we have several components that can shift around to suit our needs. Someone prepares breakfast. Now, sometimes the preparer had the foresight to stick this in the oven earlier. Sometimes they have to prepare it and bake it, and we have more time to do the " Daily A.M. Chore Packs" before we eat. And sometimes, breakfast is just yogurt with dry oats and Grape Nuts, so it takes no time at all to prepare. So the contents of this slot can be modified as needed.
On the schedule, we have things kind of modularized, so there is not a lot of detail on the main schedule. We do have lot of instruction sheets posted around the house for the details, so as not to crowd the schedule. Here are some explanations:
Morning Routine - everything pertaining to bedroom clean up. This is done first after devotions, before breakfast.
Daily A.M. Chore Packs - daily chores done in the morning, some are on rotation, each child has their own Chore Pack, which Mommy produces using Chore Ware. (During this time, Mommy and/or one of the big sisters circles the house with their Chore Checklist. This is produced through Chore Ware, and is a work of art!) Chore assignments are scientifically designed to minimize slow downs in the bathroom. Daily A.M. Chore Packs do not include meal clean up; that is on a separate Chore Pack called "Meal Cleanup". Chore Packs are the signature components of the chore system in Managers of Their Chores...
Mini-review of Managers of Their Chores: A Practical Guide to Children's Chores by Steve and Teri Maxwell.Laundry catch up is there just so we can make use of time left over if chores are done quicker than usual. It happens. "Check laundry" refers, of course, to the moving of the laundry from one machine to the other.
This book lays an excellent biblical foundation for the use of chores in teaching servanthood to our children. It gives lots of suggestions and examples for specific ages and such, but the practical part of it, in our opinion, is how it combats the world's idea that "kids need to just be kids". You will probably not be surprised at the results of their poll of homeschool moms in which they compared moms who had chores as children and those who did not have chores: which group felt most prepared for their role as mother?
This book will encourage you to think beyond the laundry room floor and into your child's future. Highly recommended! End of mini-review.
Finally, Meal Cleanup Chore pack is a special routine which encompasses not only kitchen and dining cleanup, but bath schedules and general house cleanup (tidying areas).
And that takes us to 9:30....
When we first attempted scheduling, we had the various children in various activities and it was very complicated. Dave suggested we make things kind of modular. So, we start with Bible copy for just about everyone. Our oldest sons are working most days, so they have time allotted earlier for their Bible copy and head downstairs at this point (sometimes earlier).
During Bible copy time, we are trying to emphasize accuracy and checking our work, so we have things broken down in more detail for partners in checking. They do a certain amount of work copying, and then we stop in time to select a favorite verse, which is written in a different notebook with a comment, and shared in evening devotions. (We are currently trying to revive this portion of Bible copy, as we have neglected it for awhile!)
The dynamics of having the children partner for Bible copy are wonderful! First, there is the potential for deepening sibling friendships. (We say potential because we are always wanting to work on making these relationships what they should be -- not that they are perfect already!) Second, the checking is helpful teaching time for younger children and reinforcing time for the olders. With older partners, who are closer in age, it just makes it "fun" to spot errors and omissions. With Bible copy, we have seen the need to really emphasize checking almost as much as the copying: both penmanship and accuracy.
The blue text in the far right column refers to one-on-one time with Mommy for the younger children. We rotate turns, except for Gideon, who is learning to read, and this includes oral reading of the Bible, phonics, calendar work (recording upcoming events, checking off days, counting down to birthdays or events), practice with penmanship or copywork, nature walks, organizing projects, making shopping lists and sometimes artwork or letter writing.
Joanna (or another big sister) usually keeps Joshua (2) during her activities, and he does chores with her and sits with her when she does her Bible copy. When she's copying, he looks at book and plays with blocks. We simply do not permit him to roam the house, unraveling toilet paper or drawing on walls. But during the majority of his day, rather than looking for toys or videos to occupy him, we are learning to occupy him with real life! He loves it! What a concept, huh?
After Bible copy, we do some clean up and laundry folding and putting away. There is always laundry to put away! Since we have a room dedicated to laundry, we can just keep it moving without having to have it all finally put away so we can use the space for something else. That is an example of how our schedule is affected by our living space. Years ago, we had a dedicated school room, so things were kind of left on tables, but we no longer have that.
Actually, we don't mind not having a dedicated school room because we want our home overall to be conducive and used for learning.
Comida means lunch! We allow 30 minutes for actual eating, so we have to wrap up discussions. We are blessed to have every meal together as a family. Dave's mom, early on in our family, made a good case for not eating until every family member is at the table. We are so thankful for that input!
Again, the Meal Cleanup Chore Packs, again, include chores that are not necessarily related to kitchen cleanup. They can be straightening rooms, or taking a bath.
While it really helps to have things minutely detailed so that everything is in a certain sequence, we find it necessary to keep things a bit more flexible, since we have children paired up and things often come up that make it more convenient to vacuum or mop out of sequence. And of course, if we drop a Corelle bowl or have a toilet overflow, that REALLY impacts things in our day! Again, the schedule is just a tool to make sure we are hitting the priorities, but sometimes God allows things in our day to work on EXTRA priorities, like giving thanks in all things!
Lunch cleanup finishes at 2 PM, and we'll continue on in our next post with that. In the future, we hope, Lord willing, to share on how we fit in various errands. We will also solicit comments on how people keep track of their toothbrushes! (Does anyone chain them to the wall???? We are clueless!)
But before we click, we would like to remind you that our schedule, though we REALLY like it, is not perfect and we still have struggles and confusion at times. We also have peace and productivity at times. We are by no means experts, and we love to see what works for other people. It has taken us 12 years of trial and tweaking to get where we are so far. Each day requires walking in the Spirit.
This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh:
and these are contrary the one to the other:
so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law...
But the fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance:
against such there is no law.
For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh:
and these are contrary the one to the other:
so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law...
But the fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance:
against such there is no law.
Galatians 5: 16- 18, 22-23
Our schedule is not "the law" but rather an expression of how the Spirit is leading us to live our days, unless God allows other factors to override. By persevering in his Spirit, we allow the Lord to grow his fruit in our lives.
We are always encouraged to seek to apply the words of our Lord in Matthew 6:31- 33 to keep our perspective about meals, laundry, and everything else:
Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or,
What shall we drink? or,
Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
But seek ye first the kingdom of God,
and his righteousness;
and all these things shall be added unto you.
What shall we drink? or,
Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
But seek ye first the kingdom of God,
and his righteousness;
and all these things shall be added unto you.
Thursday, October 07, 2010
On schedules
A new friend was interested in our schedule, and so we are going to be sharing it. But we wanted to first have some introductory comments, lest anyone get the wrong idea. So, we will post these comments first.
First off, we are not "natural schedulers", but rather, we NEED a schedule!
We were blessed many years ago by the Lord bringing a book into our lives, Managers of Their Homes. It provided the practical, SPIRITUAL information we needed to convince us of the need to budget our time. Really, time is more valuable than money, and may of the same principles apply to budgeting time as money. In fact, many years ago, Dave was in a Christian men's group where a brother suggested that everybody bring their checkbooks and lay them open so they could be accountable for how they spend their money! It is by looking at this record that our real priorities are seen. Same thing goes for how we spend our time; it shows our priorities.
So, one of the biggest benefits of scheduling for us was not the schedule in itself. It was the benefit of prayerfully setting our priorities before creating a schedule. It was not a mom thing either. Both of us parents were involved (though one did more pencil pushing than the other), and that was also a huge blessing and help in being on the same page, so to speak. When we look at our schedule, we recognize that we have reasons for everything on it. So the exercise of putting our schedule together has been by far one of our most profitable accomplishments, because it forced us to compare what was on the paper with what is in God's Word.
Our schedule, and our adherence to it, is far from perfect. In our early years, we would detect deficiencies in the schedule, and lapse for weeks at a time intending to revise it. Then in desperation, we'd go back to the original schedule and find it wasn't that bad after all. Now it is far more ingrained in all of us, though we still need improvement in self-discipline and there are certain parts of the schedule that are still challenging for us. But, we really are thankful for God's wisdom and his Word for helping us to establish priorities.
Of course, every day is different and we want to keep in mind each day that the interruptions God allows are for our good. Discipline issues, illness, visitors, special or seasonal projects, plumbing emergencies, ministry...these are things that we want to be available for! We are trying to remember they are real life opportunities! They do frequently cause interruptions to the schedule, but as we learn to see them as God's tools in our lives, we don't get so stressed out by them. (Some of these interruptions can be plugged into the schedule, however, in the same way that you can combine errands instead of go out every time you need an item.)
The real problem with our schedule is when we get distracted by things that are not really contributing to doing what God wants us to be doing! In reality, it's the time wasting distractions, the bunny trails, and our lack of discipline that really mess things up! But God is merciful and we can always just repent, refocus and get back on track! When you have a schedule, its a lot easier to get back on track, because you have a track to get back on!
Anyway, our current schedule (which we will include in the next post, Lord willing) has been overhauled quite a bit since our first one 12 years ago. Things that bring about changes in our schedule include: having more children, having different aged children, shifts in priorities, our increasing ability to realize our goal of having the older children working with the younger (and vice versa!), a desire to teach our children as much as possible using real life tasks and events rather than those which are contrived and even the size and configuration of our house.
So next we will work on posting our current schedule, with some explanatory notes. (It takes a while for me to be concise in writing!) We hope that by posting this information, it will be an encouragement to someone.
First off, we are not "natural schedulers", but rather, we NEED a schedule!
We were blessed many years ago by the Lord bringing a book into our lives, Managers of Their Homes. It provided the practical, SPIRITUAL information we needed to convince us of the need to budget our time. Really, time is more valuable than money, and may of the same principles apply to budgeting time as money. In fact, many years ago, Dave was in a Christian men's group where a brother suggested that everybody bring their checkbooks and lay them open so they could be accountable for how they spend their money! It is by looking at this record that our real priorities are seen. Same thing goes for how we spend our time; it shows our priorities.
So, one of the biggest benefits of scheduling for us was not the schedule in itself. It was the benefit of prayerfully setting our priorities before creating a schedule. It was not a mom thing either. Both of us parents were involved (though one did more pencil pushing than the other), and that was also a huge blessing and help in being on the same page, so to speak. When we look at our schedule, we recognize that we have reasons for everything on it. So the exercise of putting our schedule together has been by far one of our most profitable accomplishments, because it forced us to compare what was on the paper with what is in God's Word.
Our schedule, and our adherence to it, is far from perfect. In our early years, we would detect deficiencies in the schedule, and lapse for weeks at a time intending to revise it. Then in desperation, we'd go back to the original schedule and find it wasn't that bad after all.
Of course, every day is different and we want to keep in mind each day that the interruptions God allows are for our good. Discipline issues, illness, visitors, special or seasonal projects, plumbing emergencies, ministry...these are things that we want to be available for! We are trying to remember they are real life opportunities! They do frequently cause interruptions to the schedule, but as we learn to see them as God's tools in our lives, we don't get so stressed out by them. (Some of these interruptions can be plugged into the schedule, however, in the same way that you can combine errands instead of go out every time you need an item.)
The real problem with our schedule is when we get distracted by things that are not really contributing to doing what God wants us to be doing! In reality, it's the time wasting distractions, the bunny trails, and our lack of discipline that really mess things up! But God is merciful and we can always just repent, refocus and get back on track! When you have a schedule, its a lot easier to get back on track, because you have a track to get back on!
Anyway, our current schedule (which we will include in the next post, Lord willing) has been overhauled quite a bit since our first one 12 years ago. Things that bring about changes in our schedule include: having more children, having different aged children, shifts in priorities, our increasing ability to realize our goal of having the older children working with the younger (and vice versa!), a desire to teach our children as much as possible using real life tasks and events rather than those which are contrived and even the size and configuration of our house.
So next we will work on posting our current schedule, with some explanatory notes. (It takes a while for me to be concise in writing!) We hope that by posting this information, it will be an encouragement to someone.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
A quiz
1. Jesus did not come to save good people because
Which answers would you choose? (See bottom of post! )
John was on his feet all day long!!!
We had such a full week, but Saturday proved to be even fuller! We got to help with our church's annual outreach at a local festival. We had such a good time and wanted to share what we all did.
Several years ago, a brother in our assembly helped initiate an outreach using Bible quizzes. We never met him, as he went to be with the Lord several years ago.
The way the quiz thing works is: people are offered the opportunity to do a short Bible quiz. The quiz has some general questions about the Bible, such as "Who was the first man and woman?" or "God told Noah to build an ark -- true or false?" The last few questions zero in on the gospel, such as the ones above.
After the person completes the quiz, they bring it to one of us to be graded. The answers are all explained on the back of the quiz. So we just show them the answers and explain anything they missed, encouraging them to base their answers on the Bible.
This same brother also purchased a pop up booth tent which continues to be used for this outreach.
The quizzes are offered with no obligation; we don't take phone numbers or make appointments to visit or anything. Plus, everyone is offered a coupon for a free soda at the Boy Scouts' booth across the park from us.
Drew shares with a young quizzee.
Once she got started, Joanna really enjoyed talking to people. The focus was not on any person, but just on what the Bible says.
Sarah jumped in and did a dozen or so quizzes. People were always surprised when we flip the quiz over and there are all the answers!
Zak and Solomon enjoyed taking people through the answers.
Charles was a great encouragement to go out and QUIZ!!
We had enough people quizzing that just about everyone who walked by our booth was offered a quiz.
Dennis and his wife Sharon were there all day long. At the end of the day, Dennis went to square up with the Boy Scouts. Close to 200 redeemed their ticket for a free soda. But we used up just about all our quizzes, and that was close to 400!
Hannah would describe herself as SHY, but she had a great time quizzing folks!
Abi enjoyed explaining the answers! She said when people missed a question, they seemed really interested in hearing the correct answer from the Bible.
We are so thankful for this opportunity! May the Lord cause the seed that was planted to GROW in many hearts!
And for those wanting to know if they got the answers right on those questions, the correct answers are
a. they can save themselves
b. they don’t need to be saved
c. in God’s sight there are no good people
2. For a person to go to heaven he must be
a. a church member
b. baptized
c. born again
d. good, earnest and sincere
Which answers would you choose? (See bottom of post! )
John was on his feet all day long!!!
We had such a full week, but Saturday proved to be even fuller! We got to help with our church's annual outreach at a local festival. We had such a good time and wanted to share what we all did.
Several years ago, a brother in our assembly helped initiate an outreach using Bible quizzes. We never met him, as he went to be with the Lord several years ago.
The way the quiz thing works is: people are offered the opportunity to do a short Bible quiz. The quiz has some general questions about the Bible, such as "Who was the first man and woman?" or "God told Noah to build an ark -- true or false?" The last few questions zero in on the gospel, such as the ones above.
After the person completes the quiz, they bring it to one of us to be graded. The answers are all explained on the back of the quiz. So we just show them the answers and explain anything they missed, encouraging them to base their answers on the Bible.
This same brother also purchased a pop up booth tent which continues to be used for this outreach.
The quizzes are offered with no obligation; we don't take phone numbers or make appointments to visit or anything. Plus, everyone is offered a coupon for a free soda at the Boy Scouts' booth across the park from us.
Drew shares with a young quizzee.
Once she got started, Joanna really enjoyed talking to people. The focus was not on any person, but just on what the Bible says.
Sarah jumped in and did a dozen or so quizzes. People were always surprised when we flip the quiz over and there are all the answers!
Zak and Solomon enjoyed taking people through the answers.
Charles was a great encouragement to go out and QUIZ!!
We had enough people quizzing that just about everyone who walked by our booth was offered a quiz.
Dennis and his wife Sharon were there all day long. At the end of the day, Dennis went to square up with the Boy Scouts. Close to 200 redeemed their ticket for a free soda. But we used up just about all our quizzes, and that was close to 400!
Hannah would describe herself as SHY, but she had a great time quizzing folks!
Abi enjoyed explaining the answers! She said when people missed a question, they seemed really interested in hearing the correct answer from the Bible.
We are so thankful for this opportunity! May the Lord cause the seed that was planted to GROW in many hearts!
And for those wanting to know if they got the answers right on those questions, the correct answers are
- c) in God’s sight there are no good people
Romans 3:23 - For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. - c) born again
John 3:3, 7 - In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. <…> You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.’”
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Things that little ones can do that can't hurt
We feel that one of the lies of our time is that children must be entertained and have lots of toys. It is a lie we once believed, but through various events in our lives (living in small homes, for one), we came to realize that children acquire a taste for what is set before them, especially if we eliminate inferior competition.
Our children enjoy playing with toys, but we've discovered a secret: they can learn to enjoy what we offer them to do. We have discovered they also enjoy detail cleaning the washing machine. Or stacking firewood. Or tearing out old carpeting. So we have for many years been transitioning to more real-life activities for our little ones, and it has really wonderful!
So, on a daily basis, we are looking, looking, looking for real useful things they can do...from our littlest one on up.
One major benefit is that this keeps the little ones with us more, instead of off in their room playing, and so we have much less incidences of children writing on sofa, writing on walls, covering their bodies with zinc oxide, etc. because they are usually with all of the rest of us, doing real things.
Here are a few things that our little ones can do with help.
Sure, it's definitely easier to give them a box of toys and let them be occupied. And we do have a few toys. But the interaction with siblings and the real skills and character gained through real activities is so much better than toys. Most toys are cotton candy. The best of toys simply imitate real activities.
Our children enjoy playing with toys, but we've discovered a secret: they can learn to enjoy what we offer them to do. We have discovered they also enjoy detail cleaning the washing machine. Or stacking firewood. Or tearing out old carpeting. So we have for many years been transitioning to more real-life activities for our little ones, and it has really wonderful!
So, on a daily basis, we are looking, looking, looking for real useful things they can do...from our littlest one on up.
One major benefit is that this keeps the little ones with us more, instead of off in their room playing, and so we have much less incidences of children writing on sofa, writing on walls, covering their bodies with zinc oxide, etc. because they are usually with all of the rest of us, doing real things.
Here are a few things that our little ones can do with help.
- Empty dishwasher and put away silverware, tupperware, lower shelf stuff (we have organized our kitchen with most serving/eating dishes on lower shelves for that reason).
- Organize tupperware.
- Put away canned goods on lower shelves
- Put away or inventory or neaten toilet paper.
- Wipe down woodwork, walls, rails, kitchen appliances, dressers, bathroom or kitchen cabinets.
- Furniture diving! They use a stick or ruler or long utensil to retrieve things that are under the couch, chair, dresser, table, fridge.
- Wipe lower windows when given a paper towel moistened with window cleaner. (Since we realized babies could be taught not to put non-food items in their mouth, including teething toys, this has become a possibility-- with supervision of course.)
- Sweeping a porch or kitchen/dining floor. It was great fun when we made a masking tape large square on our tile floor, and allowed him to push debris into it -- fun for a 18 month old! (Yes, we teach him what a broom is for and don't allow playing/fighting with it. Just as Ben Franklin was darning his socks at age 4, and in times past, young children carried and used pocket knives, it is possible to teach children what tools are for, and it really helps prevent misuse of them.) Joshie enjoys this so much, after he swept up a dirt pile on our porch, he reached into a planter, grabbed a handful of dirt, threw it on the porch, and kept sweeping!
- Mopping a floor. It doesn't hurt a thing! If its not perfect, its still better!
- Vacuuming a floor. We found a small, weakling bagless vacuum cleaner. Its not a Klein-proof type, but for a little one working near a sibling, its perfect. And it doesn't hurt a thing!
Sure, it's definitely easier to give them a box of toys and let them be occupied. And we do have a few toys. But the interaction with siblings and the real skills and character gained through real activities is so much better than toys. Most toys are cotton candy. The best of toys simply imitate real activities.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Precious moments
Tuesday, August 03, 2010
A very open house!
On July 18, we finally had our much anticipated open house with our whole church, as we have wanted to do since we moved here! We decided to have it on the Sunday nearest our 25th anniversary. The theme of the open house was thanksgiving, because we are so thankful to the LORD for 25 awesome years of lawfully wedded bliss. It was an awesome time! Including us, there were about 80 people in our house!
We had decided to serve haystacks for lunch. If you don't know about haystacks, you need to wise up. Basically, its taco salad, set up like a buffet and you make it yourself. Yummy!
As the RSVPs began to stack up, we started trying to figure out how much food to get, and we did really well: we had enough left over to eat off of for about a week, plus enough onions to do anything else we wanted (we heard some were used for an ice cream topping!).
Of course, we were all glad to have the sewer problem behind us, as that was severely threatening the comfort of our guests! However, on cooking day, our cooktop stopped working. A gracious neighbor allowed us to borrow their kitchen, and the girls hauled umpteen pounds of beef, beans, and rice up and down the street. Phew!
We also had to move our furniture around and set up tables and chairs, many of which we borrowed from church. We were just about ready, when our friends the Morells showed up!
The Morells were on a summer road trip, and we had already scheduled our open house before they let us know they were coming. But we decided to kind of surprise them, and didn't mention that we were having some other people over, too.
After being welcomed with some strange comments from their hosts and then looking at the strange arrangement of our furniture, they surmised something was up.
We didn't get too far into our visit before they learned of our timely stove problem. Without much ado, they whipped out their electrical gear and were on the job!
In no time, we were back to cooking with coils! Thanks guys!
The Klein girls were thankful for friends to help blow up balloons and decorate!
We wanted it to be a general thanksgiving theme and plastered the walls with thanksgiving scriptures that the kids made. However, on the morning of the open house, we found a surprise conspicuously plastered on a wall....
That was Abi's handiwork and it made me cry. Wow, does that say 25?
After a great time at church with the Morells, a Klein team rushed home in the bus to set up for the meal. Also, to make sure we got a parking place before our guests arrived.
We were pretty excited and tried to make sure everything was ready in time, and we were just about ready with the first folks trickled in.
The haystacks went over pretty big; they were soooo yummy. We set up two food lines in our kitchen. This house is just so huge, so nearly everyone was sitting at a table. It's also so huge that the air conditioner has to work pretty hard on hot days! We were thankful that we had some good thunderstorms that very morning, so it didn't get nearly as hot as we anticipated. We had fans all over the place to try to keep the air moving.
We were so happy that so many folks came. It was really great.
Sarah surprised us with tons of beautiful pink and white handmade paper carnations for table decorations; they looked absolutely real!
The cake was made by our sweet friend Mary, and it weighed a ton and was so beautiful and proved to be very yummy!
After everyone was fairly stuffed, we gathered in and near the den had a thankgiving sharing time. It was great to hear the ways the Lord has worked in other's lives. He is so good to us!
Dave opened the time up with some very sweet sentiments...sniff sniff.
We are so thankful for the brothers and sisters we have met here in Missouri!
After that, we lingered and visited, and some people had to go...hopefully it wasn't because Dave threatened them, I mean offered them, more ONIONS....
Click on the photo above if you want to see how many we had left in that white serving bowl after 80 people had their lunch!
Leftover haystacks for dinner with our houseguests....no complaints from anyone!
We saw the Morells off the next morning, as they continued their trip south.
The next morning was also our TWENTY FIFTH ANNIVERSARY!
"What do you want to do?" Dave excitedly asked me. It was easy to answer...
You see, for a couple of weeks, our dryer had been out of commission. After a failed repair attempt, we broke down and bought another one. But, mysteriously, it wound up having the exact same problem! Know why? Because the electrical connection was messed up! Both dryers worked fine! So, until we could get that fixed, we were back to the laundromat."I want to go to the laundromat!!"
Dave sweetly agreed, and the children happily loaded 6 hampers, 4 laundry baskets, the detergent, and about a dozen pink and green balloons into the appropriately attired station wagon. We got a bunch of quarters in the change machine, hit the McDonald's drive through across the street from the Clean Connection, and ate lunch in the car while watching a cool thunderstorm.
It was wonderful!
Happy Birthday Grandpa Bill!
We send belated birthday greetings to Grandpa Bill with this fun video featuring picking and grinning! Joshie's narration is in subtitles!
Some dear friends gave us these used marble tiles from a demolition project and we are beginning the slow process of cleaning the stuff off the backs of them so we can use them! Even though its 102 degrees out, they are begging to go "work on tile".
Monday, July 19, 2010
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Monday, July 12, 2010
What goes up should come down - epilogue
Today we returned to normalcy after a few days of water restrictions....
And cleaning up some backups in the basement....
The long-awaited appointment with a plumber and a city inspector arrived! We had eliminated many possibilities and suspected our sewer lateral was busted. So the city inspector had to be there to verify a break or work could not be authorized. As soon as things began, almost the whole family took up stations around the yard to observe. The first attempt to camera the line failed due to a blockage, so the plumber had to get out the big guns.
There was a rumble of moving water. "Do you hear that, guys? It's the sound of victory," the plumber said to the kids gathered with him around the cleanout. He shut off his cable running device.
The city inspector, Sammy, Gideon, Noah and I all listened at the opened sewer manhole in our neighbor's yard. It was unclogged!
A delegation ran inside to turn on all the sinks and flush all the toilets. The mystery was solved.
Last week, the boys had snaked our sewer lateral several times with a 100 foot powered snake, using all the attachments. We thought for sure 100 feet should more than cover the distance from the cleanout to the sewer connection. When that hadn't helped, we were sure it had to be something with the city's side. But, our plumber had a longer snake, and was able to put 130 feet into the lateral until he hit....
Yes, they were accidentally flushed when they were being rinsed out weeks ago.
So the Lord allowed the least expensive and fastest route for our solution!
What was neat was that we were able to have some interaction with the city inspector. He made the traditional comments about all the children ("Are you mormons?") but began to enjoy the kids and their interest in sewers, etc. He asked about different kinds of "christians", homeschooling, going to Mexico, etc. The finale was when he asked if he could check out the bus. The big kids cringed because we hadn't cleaned it out. We gave him a quick tour, and he said, "I've always wanted one of these."
When we moved in to this house last December, we had to do a bunch of things for our occupancy permit, and the inspector who signed off on it at the time warned us, "When spring comes, your neighbors will complain about the bus, and you'll have to get rid of it." Even though its legal to park in our driveway, it is a little ....how shall we say....unusual.
The man who came today was the supervisor of the man who warned us about the bus.
As he said goodbye, he said, "That's a fine looking bus."
And cleaning up some backups in the basement....
The long-awaited appointment with a plumber and a city inspector arrived! We had eliminated many possibilities and suspected our sewer lateral was busted. So the city inspector had to be there to verify a break or work could not be authorized. As soon as things began, almost the whole family took up stations around the yard to observe. The first attempt to camera the line failed due to a blockage, so the plumber had to get out the big guns.
There was a rumble of moving water. "Do you hear that, guys? It's the sound of victory," the plumber said to the kids gathered with him around the cleanout. He shut off his cable running device.
The city inspector, Sammy, Gideon, Noah and I all listened at the opened sewer manhole in our neighbor's yard. It was unclogged!
A delegation ran inside to turn on all the sinks and flush all the toilets. The mystery was solved.
Last week, the boys had snaked our sewer lateral several times with a 100 foot powered snake, using all the attachments. We thought for sure 100 feet should more than cover the distance from the cleanout to the sewer connection. When that hadn't helped, we were sure it had to be something with the city's side. But, our plumber had a longer snake, and was able to put 130 feet into the lateral until he hit....
Joshy's training pants.
Yes, they were accidentally flushed when they were being rinsed out weeks ago.
So the Lord allowed the least expensive and fastest route for our solution!
What was neat was that we were able to have some interaction with the city inspector. He made the traditional comments about all the children ("Are you mormons?") but began to enjoy the kids and their interest in sewers, etc. He asked about different kinds of "christians", homeschooling, going to Mexico, etc. The finale was when he asked if he could check out the bus. The big kids cringed because we hadn't cleaned it out. We gave him a quick tour, and he said, "I've always wanted one of these."
When we moved in to this house last December, we had to do a bunch of things for our occupancy permit, and the inspector who signed off on it at the time warned us, "When spring comes, your neighbors will complain about the bus, and you'll have to get rid of it." Even though its legal to park in our driveway, it is a little ....how shall we say....unusual.
The man who came today was the supervisor of the man who warned us about the bus.
As he said goodbye, he said, "That's a fine looking bus."
Thursday, July 01, 2010
What goes up should go down
Sunday, June 27, 2010
We're not in Missouri anymore!
We're not in Kansas...yet!
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
At the CHEF Conference!
Monday, June 21, 2010
Neither Whig nor Tory, but friend of both
We have finished the last of our printing for our literature table at the homeschool conference which begins tomorrow, and we are pretty ready to go.
We have added one new article that has been such an encouragement to us. It was written by, of all people, the writer of the hymn, "Amazing Grace," John Newton. Apart from a few unusual words (thraldom?), it seems like it could have been written yesterday. It is taken from a letter Newton wrote to a fellow minister of the gospel, regarding biblical principles of political involvement. You can check it out here.
Dave's article on "Reasons for Homeschooling and Why They Matter" is also now available on our site. It's so important to know what we are trying to accomplish before we decide how to do it, and that is the point of this article. We have found through the years that as we really sought for wisdom from the LORD about what our goals for our children are, the path became so much clearer.
(The unusual title to this post comes from the article by John Newton.)
We have added one new article that has been such an encouragement to us. It was written by, of all people, the writer of the hymn, "Amazing Grace," John Newton. Apart from a few unusual words (thraldom?), it seems like it could have been written yesterday. It is taken from a letter Newton wrote to a fellow minister of the gospel, regarding biblical principles of political involvement. You can check it out here.
Dave's article on "Reasons for Homeschooling and Why They Matter" is also now available on our site. It's so important to know what we are trying to accomplish before we decide how to do it, and that is the point of this article. We have found through the years that as we really sought for wisdom from the LORD about what our goals for our children are, the path became so much clearer.
(The unusual title to this post comes from the article by John Newton.)
Friday, June 18, 2010
Getting ready for the next conference
We are counting down the days until the CHEF conference, here in the St Louis area. We are looking forward to meeting new families and seeing friends. Conferences are always a highlight of our year. The Lord has worked out Dave's schedule so he is home and free during this mid-week conference. And we won't need to camp out, since we are only a few miles from the venue.
Missouri is really heating up, which helps to cement our memories of last year's conference, on some of the hottest days of last year.
We still need to plan our conference menu, and figure out some logistics, print more literature, and lay out clothes for everyone. And more Wisconsin photos are coming to the blog soon!
Missouri is really heating up, which helps to cement our memories of last year's conference, on some of the hottest days of last year.
We still need to plan our conference menu, and figure out some logistics, print more literature, and lay out clothes for everyone. And more Wisconsin photos are coming to the blog soon!
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Letter to Romania
We were sending letters to friends who recently left for the mission field.
Gideon, 5, looked up from his page and asked Abi, "How do you spell 'Nathaniel?'"
Before she could answer, he continued, "I already know it has an o and an s."
Gideon, 5, looked up from his page and asked Abi, "How do you spell 'Nathaniel?'"
Before she could answer, he continued, "I already know it has an o and an s."
Saturday, June 05, 2010
PART 5: A funny thing happened on the way to St Louis....
When he opens no one will shut,
When he shuts no one will open.
Isaiah 22:22
When he shuts no one will open.
Isaiah 22:22
We continue our saga (remember, this is the short version!), where we left off here.
Again, it seems good to reiterate that buying a home, or buying this home, is really not of utmost importance in our lives at all. We feel believers should apply the principle that Paul lays out in 1 Corinthians 7:29: But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that ... they that buy, as though they possessed not; And they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away. After all, this world is not our home!
But our whole experience with this move has been one of learning to wait on the LORD, learning to really say, "Not my will but thine be done," and leaving it up to him, and following. And really desiring that his will will be done in our lives, recongnizing that he really is our shepherd leading us, as long as we recongnize our need for his leadership, NOT leaning on our own understanding, but acknowledging him in all our ways, and seeking him first. That really is our desire, and that was really the only way we could persevere with our 4 month escrow with our sanity. Our options in Wisconsin seemed to be such that we needed to move, and that is what led to the job search which seemed to be taking us to St Louis. But really, the Lord was taking us through a crash course in following him! It just seemed to be via St Louis!
So, we left off where the loan officer said, "I'm sorry, you're not getting the loan."
Well, since we already let the cat out of the bag, that we ARE in St Louis, our bright readers must realize that something happened to change the situation after the loan officer called and told us "You're not getting the loan." What is so weird is that it was nothing we did or tried to do that changed it, but it did, kind of, change!
When she called, I dashed out the door and went to walk in the backyard, as it was relatively quiet. Dave, of course, was in St Louis, working. I was looking around at the changing trees, enjoying the November breeze which hinted at the arrival of winter.
You see, as she said the words, "You're not getting the loan," all I could think of is,
"We're not moving to St Louis.
We're staying in Wisconsin.
It's over!"
We're staying in Wisconsin.
It's over!"
So as she explained the different criteria and what had happened, I was mentally already done with the conversation. Now, I was trying to adjust to the new plan of not moving. How could we make things work in Wisconsin? As she spoke, I was thinking, "Maybe we could extend the basement here, and maybe put a breezeway to the garage there." I was back in Wisconsin. Yes, it would be rough with Dave finding a local job, but the waiting was over.
But I had to focus on the conversation; I was still on the phone.
"You're not getting the loan. The problem is Dave's length on the job. It's only been about 2 months and it's only a 6 month contract, and if he were to get the loan, and then lose his job, what would happen then." (Foreshadowing alert #3)
She was genuinely disappointed and found it hard to tell me, but I assured her that we had just been waiting on the LORD and trusting that he would show us if we should move or not, and we would be fine with whatever he directs us to do.
Thinking that I should at least make an effort to hold up my end of the conversation, I asked, "Well, how much time on the job would they require to approve the loan?" while I compared the level of the garage entry to the mudroom.
"It would have to be at least 6 months on the job," was the answer.
That made it pretty cut and dried. No loan. He did not have 6 months on the job, and that was the criteria, and it could not be changed. Wasn't that the answer we had been waiting for? We were out of escrow! Yipee!
I compared the orientation of the garage roof with the main house.
"Hmmm," I mused aloud, as I counted how many paces from the back of the house to the big maple tree, "...it just seems strange. Everyone Dave works with is on these kind of contracts, often just 6 month at a time, or a year, and they just keep renewing them indefinately..." 12 feet, 13 feet... "and he's been working this way for 10 years."
As I checked the diameter of the tree, to see how much work it would be to tear it out, she asked, "Wait a minute....what did you just say?"
"He's been working this way for 10 years?" I answered. Why would she ask me that?
"Let me look here... didn't you already send a letter explaining that?" she asked. "Boy, your file is HUGE! Yes, here it is. I'm going to send this back to underwriting, and I'll call you right back."
And we hung up.
We were back in escrow.
My thoughts of remodeling suddenly were halted. I called Dave to relay the strange conversation to him. Before we were done, the phone signaled that new call was coming in. It was the loan officer.
"I sent this to underwriting again, but they are still denying the loan. But I think they are wrong about this, and I spoke to my supervisor and he agrees, so I am escalating it, and it will take at least a week to get an answer. I can't promise anything. They rarely overturn the underwriter's decision."
To make a long story short, we were back to waiting. Our hopes for finally knowing were dashed to bits, as we waited for the higher-ups to respond. After a few days wait, we learned that the higher up was in Hawaii for the week. So, back to the same old thing....waiting....clueless.
Ever hoping to save some time, Dave and I had this idea: Since we are going to the higher ups anyway, and since we are waiting anyway, could the loan officer also mention to the higher ups the basement waterproofing issue, and could they decide if we were good to go with that. (You may recall that we accidentally learned the house had work done on the basement which carried a 20 year guarantee. The bank was requiring that the basement be waterproofed, but we had not received confirmation if the previous work had been accepted as sufficient.) So, we asked our loan officer if she could get that in the pipeline as well.
We waited. We spent more time with friends as we were able. Dave's weekly commute to St Louis continued, usually by 7 hour drive each way each weekend. He was getting tired.
Finally the ambiguous response from the higher ups was recieved: "We're going to move ahead with this loan." The loan officer felt encouraged that this was a big deal. Rarely does a decision by underwriting get reversed. However, we were wondering, "What does 'move ahead' mean? And also, what did they say about the basement waterproofing issue?"
Well, we finally learned that the bank was requiring an inspection to determine if the basement was waterproofed. Our research indicated that this was kind of tricky to do, because if there was no rain, it would appear to be waterproofed. However, the Lord took care of that, because there were several inches of rain 24 hours before the basement inspection could be done!
No, it was not waterproofed.
The inspector from the waterproofing company explained that the warranty did not cover the leakage because it was from a portion of the basement which was not worked on. The amount of work required would come to $3,500.00.
Again, because this house was being sold "as is," this seemed to mean that we were at an impass. We did not have the money. In fact, the four months of escrow had caused us to pay for many non-refundable inspections and services. Humanly speaking, we felt discouraged that this could not have all been disclosed from the start, because we had already sank so much money into this deal. But we did see that the Lord had led us step by step through the process. Hmm.
Our realtor explained the situation to the sellers. We could pay a very nominal amount, but not $3,500.00. We were past the contingency period, so we expected to also lose our earnest money. Unexpectedly, the response from the sellers was quick in coming.
The sellers responded that
they would pay for the basement repairs!
they would pay for the basement repairs!
So, again, we were back in escrow. Again, Dave was revitalized to continue his commute in hopes that we would soon all be in St Louis. Again, I seriously considered packing up to move.
The waterproofing company said they could begin work as soon as they had some rainy days, because our job was an inside job. So we waited for more rain.
When the waterproofing company was ready to begin work, there was a mix up with the sellers which caused the waterproofers to pack up and leave, saying they needed more clarification before they could begin work. Ug.
A new closing date was set.
The work was completed.
We packed up our stuff.
And thus and so and by and by, we closed on the house.
There wasn't anything really exciting or thrilling about the close, except, as the reader may surmise, it was pulled off without much stressing out on our part, since we had been conditioned to constantly assume something would backfire, and maybe things would be put on hold or not go through. It was definitely a time of just waiting for the LORD to work out the details.
We hope to finally close this series with an epilogue, which will wrap up some of the foreshadowing for you so you can keep it straight. Stay tuned; it gets even better!
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