Fruitbearers

1. On June 16th, my husband started his new job as an assistant city engineer. 2. We have made quite a leap this leap year.  We sold our house in July; after living in the same area for about 12 years, we relocated to a new city to be closer to my husband’s workplace.  We moved into our current home on July 31st. 3. We had always wanted to live in the country; the dream finally came true .  We bought two goats (a Nubian and a LaMancha) to be our pets and our lawnmowers. 4. Both my husband and I turned 40!  My birthday this year was an unforgettable one . 5. Our niece gave birth to a baby boy on Nov. 6th.  His name is Javari.  He is so adorable! 6. Our daughter, Alyssa , has been a contributor at Growing in Grace (free online Christian magazine for ladies) since February. 7. Both Alyssa and I have become book reviewers for Thomas Nelson Publishers. 8. Some of our cool outings/field trips include: Seaside/Cannon Beach , Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm , Champoeg State Park , Do

Yesterday was my 40th birthday.  I had a wonderful, relaxing day filled with love (and chocolates, too ).  I received lots of hugs and kisses.  Several friends on Facebook and the Homeschool Lounge left me sweet birthday greetings.  My 10 year old son played Chinese checkers, Mancala, and Battle ship with me.  My 7 year old son nibbled a piece of ham into a heart shape for me (isn’t that sweet?)  My daughter made me this beautiful ring.  My sweetheart gave me a gorgeous heart-shaped blue topaz pendant on a white gold necklace.  I love heart-shaped stuff .  In the evening, we (the whole family) went to see A Christmas Carol (with a twist) performed by the international students at George Fox University’s English Language Institute.  Some of our Taiwanese friends were part of the cast.  I enjoyed singing the Christmas songs they sang between scenes.  We sang God Rest ye Merry Gentlemen, The First Noel, Angels From the Realms of Glory, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, Away in

The Homeschool Lounge is having a weekly theme/giveaway each week this month.  Week 1 (Dec. 1st to Dec. 5th)’s theme/question is:   In this day of over commercialism, how does your family keep a meaningful and Christ-centered Christmas? We strive to live a Christ-centered life everyday.  Our children see how we live…living simply for God…each day, not just at Christmastime.  Thankfully, commercialism does not affect our family.  Our children do not ask for presents…never make any wish list.  They are grateful for whatever gifts they receive.  They know Christ, the Heart of Christmas…who gives us the greatest gift of all–the gift of salvation! We focus on giving, rather than receiving.  Two years ago, I wrote a post titled, " It is more blessed to give than to receive !"  Please click on that to see ideas for giving.  Our family enjoys shopping for those in need and for things that transform lives like Bibles, Gospel tracts (Did you know that you can buy 200 tract

My first-born son enjoyed himself very much (literally) during his first encounter with cake (his 1st birthday cake).  This is my entry for the Fun with Food Photo Contest hosted by 5minutesformom .

I take my job as a daughter and servant of the King of kings seriously.  I desire to honor and please God in whatever I do and say…voting included.  I have to admit that I don’t like politics.  Most politicians are insincere and only say what they think will persuade people to vote for them.  They put down their opponents mercilessly.  Very, very few truly care about people and even fewer really care what God thinks/wants/says.  I am pleased to see that the "Constitution Party" shares my desire in honoring God and obeying His Word.  They " believe in Divine Providence and recognize our Creator as the author of human life ;" therefore, they " believe in the absolute sanctity of human life ."  I agree with what they say about liberty: " Far from granting license to ‘do whatever we want,’ true liberty comes from God and real freedom is born of self-government ."  They also value the importance of family: " Our Creator set in place the f

Today is Noah Webster’s birthday.  He was born on this date 250 years ago; however, his legacy lives on.  He was one of America’s most influential Founding Fathers.  He was a famous lexicographer, best known for his dictionary: An American Dictionary of the English Language .  I posted a " report" on Noah Webster written by my daughter on my other HSB blog .  The following are some of Noah Webster’s quotes:-  "The Bible must be considered as the great source of all the truth by which men are to be guided in government as well as in all social transactions.” "All the miseries and evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery and war, proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible.” "In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed.” "No truth is more evident to my mi

The Lord blessed us with fabulous weather today as we celebrated our boys’ birthday (one turned 10 yesterday and the other turned 7 today).  It was wonderful to visit with our relatives and friends.  The kids and teens had fun doing a nature hunt, flying disc croquet (using wire hangers and small frisbees), and hot present.  After that, the boys opened their presents.  We gave our 10 yo son Boyhood and Beyond (by Bob Schultz), The New Encyclopedia of American Birds (this son is a birdlover), an international flags shirt, and basketball cards.  We gave our 7 yo son the Cranium Word Worm Book of Outrageous Fun, Grip-Rite Throw-N-Splash, Wheelee Ball, and basketball cards.  My daughter/their sister gave Birding Oregon to her 10 yo brother and a Swiss army knife to her 7 yo brother.  From friends and relatives, the boys received birdfeeders, birdhouses, books, cash, more basketball cards, Seahawks hooded jackets, Snorta (game), Pylos (game), Thredz Flex, and a swordfish fig

Last week at Pogy’s Subs, on our table there was a laminated card that had this saying : Dear God, So far today I’ve done all right.  I haven’t gossiped, I haven’t lost my temper, I haven’t lied or cheated.  I haven’t been greedy, or grumpy, nasty, selfish, or overindulgent.  I’m very thankful for that, but, in a few minutes, Lord, I’m going to get out of bed.  And from then on I’m probably going to need a lot more help.  Amen. We all smiled after we finished reading it…except my 6 year old son.  He had a serious look on his face while he claimed, "That’s not true!"  We asked, "What do you mean?"  He explained, "This person said she hasn’t done anything bad so far but that’s not true.  She has been boasting."  Wow…my son had a deep thought!  It is often easy for us to think that we are doing all right or that we are doing better than that person or those people.  We need to be very careful not to let pride creep in our heart and mind.  Pr

On Sept. 14th, we took the kids to the Oregon Zoo.  A baby Asian elephant has been the main attraction lately.  We waited in line for about an hour and a half to get a peek at this cutie.  He was born on August 23rd.  "Samudra" is his name (nicknames: Sam, Sammy); it’s a Sanskrit word meaning ocean (the calf apparently likes his bath time).  He weighed 336 pounds (as of Sunday when we were there), up from 286 pounds at birth.  His mom, "Rose" kept close eyes on him . Other animals that we visited included black bears, bobcats, mountain goats, beavers, bald eagles, Steller sea lions, sea otters, polar bear, penguins, lorikeets, tigers, leopard, babirusa, chimpanzee, mandrill, gibbons, African birds, rhino, hippos, zebras, pygmy goats, giraffe, crocodiles, duikers, Nile monitor, fruit bats, and python.  We also saw the Frog traveling exhibition featuring frogs from around the world, including the endangered Oregon spotted frog.  We had fun and got lo

My 9 year old son told me today that Barred Owl and White-Winged Dove say, "Who cooks for you?"  and California Quail’s location call is "Chicago."  Inca Dove should become a spokeperson …a spokesbird for "Whirlpool" (they continually repeat "werl-pool").  Yellow Warbler certainly doesn’t have any problem with self-esteem; its song sounds like "sweet sweet sweet I’m so sweet."

On Labor Day (Sept. 1st), we purchased 2 female goats to graze our land.  They are sweet and friendly.  Our kids enjoy spending time with them.   This is Nubi (1 1/2 yr old Nubian).   This is Vicki (3 yr old LaMancha).   Our boys like hanging out with our goats and our neighbor’s sheep, Midnight. We have seen 3 deer in our pasture.  We enjoy the visits by a variety of birds.  So far…we have seen mourning dove, scrub jay, steller’s jay, woodpecker, American goldfinch, house finch, house sparrow, white-breasted nuthatch, red-breasted nuthatch, black-capped chickadee, dark-eyed junco, cedar waxwing, robin, hawk, and hummingbird.  My 9 year old son has turned into an ornithologist!  We love trees, especially fruit trees .  We have 3 hazelnut trees, 2 pear trees, grapes, and blackberries on our property.  We have wonderful neighbors (only 3 other homes besides ours sit on our road).  They have already brought us apples, green beans, cucumbers, canned salmon, and berry cak

  Today my beloved and I are celebrating our 17th anniversary.  I never stop thanking the Lord for blessing me with the best husband/friend in the world.  He has always been and will always be the love of my life.  He gave me this beautiful amethyst heart-shaped pendant and necklace (he already gave me in the past anniversaries an amethyst heart-shaped ring and amethyst heart-shaped earrings).  He is very sweet, loving, and thougthful as usual.  He knows I love heart-shaped stuff .

In June, my husband accepted a new job as an Assistant City Engineer.  As a result, we needed to relocate to a different city (closer to his new workplace…still within the same state).  We put our house up for sale and it was sold in a month.  We were so busy house-hunting and packing during June and July.  We stored our belongings in 2 PODS and stayed at my mother-in-law’s house for 2 1/2 weeks until we closed on our new home.  Last Thursday (July 31st) was the first day we moved into our new home.  We finally get an opportunity to experience country-living.  We have 1.76 acres of land and an incredible panoramic view here.  We feel so blessed!  The Lord beautifully worked out every step of the way for us to get this awesome home (it’s a long story ). " There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot ." Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 We all are very excited to see w

All three kids - Bible study/Prayer Time : Bible, Firm Foundations: Creation to Christ, Remembering God’s Awesome Acts, and Bible Atlas - Classical music and composers : Christian Kids Experience Composers (online study) by Maggie Hogan and Melissa Craig, Lives of the Musicians by Kathleen Krull, tons of CDs - Read-alouds : Luther: Biography of a Reformer, Saint Patrick (Christian Liberty Press), Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends, etc. My daughter (14): Grade 9 - Math : BJU Consumer math - Science :  Apologia Physical Science - Health : ABeka Health in Christian Perspective - Literature : ABeka Themes in Literature, Exploring Christian Literature (Christian Liberty Press) - Geography : ABeka World Geography in Christian Perspective - Government/Civics : The Land of Fair Play (Christian Liberty Press), Generation Joshua (co-op) - Speech : Defending the Faith (online) by JoJo Tabares - Drama : co-op - P.E. (basketball, badminton, volleyball, soccer) : co-op - Writi

My daughter loved her long hair.  However, last week she decided to say good-bye to her hair for a good cause.  She’s donating her hair to Locks of Love , a non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to children suffering from hair loss from medical reasons.  I cut over a foot of her hair out.      My pretty girl looks quite radiant with her new hairdo, doesn’t she?

Murdering Rampage: A Homeschooler Refuses to Stand by and Do Nothing      According to statistics , abortion (the killing of innocent, defenseless babies) mercilessly takes away the lives of 1.5 million babies each year; 4,000 babies every day; 1 baby every 20 seconds; approximately 40 million babies since 1973; and that’s just here in America.  While this murdering rampage is going on, many people are rallying for it to continue because they want to exercise their right to choose what is convenient to them and to get rid of an unwanted "obstacle" in their lives.  Some people do not agree but yet do nothing to help stop this rampage.      However, other people including many homeschoolers refuse to just stand by and do nothing.  Alyssa , a 14 year old homeschooler in Oregon, is one such example.  She has a strong conviction and passion for saving the innocent and defending the defenseless.  Since she was 5 years old, she has been participating in Steps for Lif

This is not a good picture (in terms of photographical quality…I used my digital camera to take a shot from an old photo).  However, this photo means so much to me because you see…that’s the moment  "my motherhood" became a reality!  The original picture was taken moments after our first baby daughter was delivered.  She was born prematurely.  She weighed only 4 lbs. 5 1/2 oz.  The nurses took her away immediately to hook up a bunch of tubes to help her breathe.  We were not allowed to hold her.  That was one of the hardest things I had to deal with.  My heart was filled with mixed emotions of love, joy, elation, concern, and longing (to hold her and nurse her).  In this picture, it was the first time I had a chance to see and touch my baby!!!  She looked so fragile that I only used my pinky finger to gently stroke her clenched fist.  What a joyous & thankful moment that was to see God’s miracle/precious blessing before my eyes!  The adventure of motherhood

Our Flat Smiley has recently arrived home safely from his first trip.  At the end of last month, he went to visit the Neill family in Griffin, Georgia.  On the Resurrection Day, they took him to enjoy a family feast and an Easter egg hunt.  The family graciously introduced him to some of their favorite local attractions such as Atlanta Motor Speedway (1.5 mile race track), Stone Mountain (which has a carving of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, General Robert E. Lee, and Lt. General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson), and the Georgia Aquarium (the world’s largest aquarium featuring more animals than any other aquarium in more than 8 million gallons of water).  The family also took him to Chuck-E-Cheese and Toys-R-Us.  It was a sweet treat for Flat Smiley to visit Marble Slab Creamery; he brought home a napkin from there .  Flat Smiley had tons of fun with the Neill family during their spring break vacation.  They took him to Edisto Island in South Carolina.  He c