Friday night Sabbath Dinner/Stolen Computer

Friday night we had Sabbath dinner at a friend's house. I had an idea of exchanging ideas with other families of how to bring in the Sabbath. I love to see the traditions of others and am always looking for new ideas for the kids. At any rate, we had dinner a month or so ago at my house to share our traditions and now it was time to see the traditions of this family.

It was time to sit down to an authentic Japanese meal (Miso Soup, Egg rolls and some kind of quiche like pancake) when I decided to check my phone. There were three missed calls and a message. Everyone who knows me knows it's Friday night and I'm having worship with my family so the 3 calls was not a good sign. The missed calls were from one of my brothers and my Mother. OK, this is NOT getting any better. I listened to my message and it was my Mother saying to call her as soon as I get this message. OK now I'm afraid to call!

Knowing that I would not make it through dinner not knowing what has happened, I go ahead and call. My Mother's computer has been stolen. Someone broke into the house, went straight to her locked bedroom, jimmied the door and stole the computer. They even took time to place the computer in the laptop bag which contained the portable hard drive and a few cherished DVD's.

My Mother called the police and filed a report and just maybe the person will pawn the computer and we'll be able to get the computer back. To bad they didn't just smash it and leave it. At least then it would be covered by the warranty. Crazy, huh?

Rearranging

Here are a few pictures with the chair on the other side of the couch.

I changed the angle of little bit to see if made any difference.
And now here is another picture with the bench in front of the sofa again.

My New Chair Came Today

The house decorating continues as my new chair and ottoman arrived today. Now that I have the chair, I can buy coordinating pillows, rugs, curtains etc.

For a long time I thought I knew exactly where I wanted the chair to go but then a few hours before it arrived, I chose a new spot. Of course once I buy the rug I may change it again! So Ladies (and gents) I need your help.

Right now I have the chair at an angle to the couch as shown below. When I put it up against the wall it just didn't look that nice. I'm thinking of adding a lamp on the side and maybe a small table.

I put the bench over by the window just to see what it would like like. I kind of like it over there. Especially once the curtains go up.

Here is a coming in the front door/garage view.
I kind of like having it in front of the couch as well as an ottoman or coffe table.

So tell me what you think! What colors for pillows, rugs, curtains. Where to put the chair,etc...

MLK Day

Today we went down to the State Capitol to partake in the MLK celebration. This is the first time I have ever been with my kids. It is usually cold and rainy and so I keep them in. Today it was cold and rainy, but we ventured out anyway.

The program was supposed to begin at nine, but didn't start until almost 10 due to the bad weather. The Greater Mount Zion Baptist Church Choir started the program off by singing "Let the Glory of the Lord Rise Among Us", and Amazing Grace. They had to sing acapella. The musicians were not able to set up since there was so much rain. The city didn't want anyone to be electrocuted-Good move.

After the choir sang, there were speeches from several elected officials, several of which were the first black official elected to that particular office.

The speeches were informative and inspiring. They encouraged young black people to finish their high school diploma or get a GED, get a Bachelor's degree, or get a graduate degree whichever applies.

I am thankful for the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I wish that more people would embrace it, but what I desire more than anything is that the people in this country and the people in this world would come to know Christ as their personal Saviour. What example has ever been greater? What sacrifice? None that I know of. He led the ultimate Civil Rights Movement.

Aren't you glad you know Him? Don't you wish everyone did? Be sure to tell someone about Him today.

Sew Crafty Friday

I haven't made anything this week, but I have working on decluttering my home and making look more like a woman actually lives here. :-)

Yesterday, I went to Kirklands and found this cute little cube on sale for $9. The space where I put it has room for two so I'm going back today to get another one. It's a great place to store my books and keep my room from looking so cluttered. I plan to put the second one right next to the first one and then cover it with some kind of cloth or runner. I'm thinking of putting some nice pillows in front of it as well.

I bought this set of elephant bookends as well to go on my fireplace. I love elephants. I have several of them in my bedroom.

I bought 2 of these candle sconces to go on the side of the windows in my living room. Now I need to find some nice candles to go in them and get some curtains to finish off the window.

Visit Shereen's blog for more project ideas.

The Maxwell Family

On Tuesday of last week we went to a homeschool meeting held by Steven and Teri Maxwell. One of the older daughters held a meeting for young women and an older son held a meeting for young men.

I have read Mangers of Their Homes, Managers of Their Chores, Keeping Our Children's Hearts and am currently reading Homeschooling With a Meek and Quiet Spirit. I recommend all of the books and also recommend attending the meeting if they come near you. I drove an hour and a half to see them and it was well worth it.

It was nice to see a family who is actually living what they preach. All of the children had a part to play. They were responsible for the sale of the books. They answered questions. Each one of them had a pleasant countenance.

Teri was candid and transparent in her presentation to the Moms. She shared her failures. She shared her successes. She gave God the glory.

They talked of how they do not have a television in the home. I am not here to bash t.v., but what I have noticed is that the families who live wholeheartedly for God either do not have one or watch it very sparingly. I still have images in my mind of things I saw on t.v. when I was as young as seven or eight years old.

I have seriously considered getting rid of my television. I could get a portable DVD player for the DVDs we have (Jasmine uses Math U SEE and it has DVDS and I have some spiritual DVDS that are wonderful), I'm not sure what in the world we will do with all the Veggie Tale Videos we have! The truth is that God is impressing me to get rid of those as well.

Do you watch television? What do you watch? Why do you watch it? Would you watch those things if Jesus were sitting on the couch with you?

At the end of the meeting, the family played a few songs. What was most interesting is that none of the children have had lessons for the instrument they played.

Homeschool/Daily Routine Update

Today was our first day back to school since the Christmas break. I spent a lot of time putting together a schedule for us that we never seemed to really follow. I found out that the major problem was that I let the children sleep until they got up on their own.

What I noticed is that they had no incentive to go to bed at night. They weren't all that tired since they hadn't gotten up too early. So last night I told them when it was time for bed and assured them that even if they didn't go to bed on time that they would still have to get up at 7:00.

Sure enough it was 10:00 p.m and my daughter was reading a book in the bed with no intentions of going to sleep anytime soon. My son was not even in the bed. He says he was waiting for me. Apparently he came to see me around 8 and I told him I would be there in a minute. At 10 he was still waiting for me to come. What a great excuse to not go to bed, right? :-)

So this morning came and at 7am sharp I woke them up by singing Rise, Shine and Give God the Glory. I'm not too sure just how shining they were doing or how much glory they were giving, but they did rise . And so far we are off to a good start.

We started Lesson 3 today which is centered around the character quality of alertness. The first part of the lesson, which is on health, covers the heart. We learned about the physical heart and the spiritual heart and just like the physical heart is protected by the rib cage, we must protect our spiritual heart or possibly suffer death.

The children listened intently and even asked questions. Looks like we are off to a good start.

Update on Car Repairs

When I originally took my car in to have the estimate done, I was told that they could not begin repairs until the 28th of this month. I was not pleased with that answer and so I called the insurance company back and asked if they could recommend someone else.

The referred me to a Ford dealership and the manager there said he could take me the next day. So I called and set up the rental car arrangement and took my car in on Tuesday. Originally they told me that since I drive a Honda Accord, they would give me an intermediate car. When I got to the rental car office, they offered me a Ford Focus or a PT Cruiser, neither of which is an intermediate sized car. The kids LOVED the PT Cruiser so much that we settled for it. It's not as spacious inside as my accord, but they don't seem to mind. :-)

The manager from the Ford dealership called to say that the estimate had doubled from $2,000 to now $4,000 and possibly more. I figured as much. My whole trunk shifted forward so I knew that there had to be some internal damage that wouldn't be seen until the car was taken apart. He estimates that the car will be done in 3 weeks which puts me at right about the date the other guy wanted to start. God is good!!

Rolling Once Again

Friday I went to the auto part store and got a battery. When I got home, I couldn't get the other battery out. The negative post came off with no problem, but the positive one would not even budge because of corrosion. My neighbor poured some Coke on it and it came almost completely clean. Now why exactly do people drink that stuff??

At any rate, I had a new battery that was of no use because I couldn't get the old one off.
I called the tow truck this morning and had it towed to a part store. When I got to the part store I found that the previous gentleman had sold me the wrong battery so that even if I had gotten the other one out it I couldn't have used that one. Oh well.

The gentleman there changed the battery for me and now my baby is running smoothly again.

The fact that I had a dead battery means that I have a car and for that I am thankful!

Computer Problems

I had an issue with my computer AC adapter where it wouldn't always keep a good connection and sometimes without notice my computer would just shut down because the battery had been drained. I fidgeted with it until I just couldn't take it any more and finally I called tech support to have it fixed. They sent a technician out a couple of days later who replaced the mother board and the AC adapter. So voila my power was good again.

Well wouldn't you know it, a couple of days later I was trying to listen to something and my sound wouldn't work! I tell ya, I can't seem to win with this computer for all the losing. Good thing I bought the extended warranty (which I HIGHLY recommend). I have had this computer since April of 06 and so far I have had to replace the Hard drive, DVD burner, AC adapter, and speakers.

Seems like it would be easier and cheaper to just give me a new computer. I prayed for more patience a while back. Never in my wildest dreams did I think God would use my computer to teach it to me! He certainly does work in mysterious ways. :-)

And Like a Good Neighbor...

My next door neighbor called me today asking if I would come and help him by giving him a jump. He was driving his wife's car and the batter was dead. "Of course I will help you",I'll be out in a few minutes, was my response.

It was cold outside and so I put on my boots and my jacket, grabbed my keys and headed to the garage. I sat down in the car, put the keys in the ignition, and when I turned the keys all I got was click click click click click.

After my accident my trunk would not close and because of that, the light in the trunk would not go off which I'm sure is the source of my now dead battery.

My neighbor's wife came home as we were discovering that I was going to be no help to him. Now I need to work on getting my battery charged...

Christopher's Loses His First Tooth

Christopher finally lost his first tooth. It was loose for a long time and the finally he was able to pull it out.

He asked me if he could put his tooth under his pillow. I was a little thrown off by the question since my children have never believed in the Tooth Fairy. So I asked, "Why do you want to put it under your pillow"? And I'm sure you can guess his response..."So you can give me some money!"

This is the child that make me laugh EVERY single day. :-)l

Happy New Year!!

On New Year's Eve I went to church for a candle light communion service that began shortly after sunset. Before going I looked on line for some information regarding preparing your heart for communion. I found this website that I believe explains it nicely. I printed out the pages and read them to my family on the way to the church.

I was surprised to see that the parking lot was nearly full when we arrived. We quickly went in and found a seat. We sang. We prayed. We partook of the Lord's supper. I bid Happy New Year to many church members in both English and Spanish. It was a joyous time. The Pastor spoke of it being a time of "New Beginnings". It's what I love most about the start of a new year. Everything seems fresh. We are ready for new commitments, ready to decorate the house, ready to get fit, ready to conquer the world it seems.

I pray that your New Year will be filled with love and joy.