Changes For Us In the Past Few Months

     This past few months has been a whirlwind!  First, about 3 months ago, we decided that we wanted to move closer to our children and grandchildren, because where we are currently living is so much further away from our children where they all live now, that I was feeling very much secluded from everyone, and even to friends.  So, I explained to my husband how I was feeling, that I never could really connect with this house since we couldn't have chickens, a big garden, or our grandbabies over like they used to be able to do.  My husband liked the "city look in the country," and I wanted "country in the country."  With not having any of those things, I was staying in the city more and more, with my best friend/sister, and our kids we still have in the nest.  I just was so lonely, bummed, and wanting to be around the people I love more, other adults to talk to, and an opportunity for my children to be around more children to play with.  We didn't have the farm animals that we used to have, no garden to spend time with, and no one in the immediate surrounding area to play with.  Yes, we have bikes, dirt bikes, 4-wheelers, a basketball hoop, riding mower, and a big pool up (for the summer),   However, even those things end up boring if you have no one to do anything with.
     So, PRAISE GOD (and I do mean literally!), we put our house up for sale, sold it, found another house in a very tiny (518 people to date), but peaceful, nice town, and also bought a new, beautiful home, and in less than 3 weeks!!!  God is so good!!!  Oh my gosh!  And so faithful!!  YOU JUST HAVE TO HAVE "FAITH!"  NO MATTER WHAT THE CIRCUMSTANCES LOOK LIKE!!  And TITHE!  It's really God's anyway!  So hopefully, by the middle of next month, we will be moving!  I am so excited!  It is a gorgeous home, double lot yard, heated garage that holds 4 vehicles, a shed, and we are so blessed!  For God selling ours, and Him finding this one for us, when we almost made a huge mistake and bought a different one.  :0)
     Also, officially as of today, our granddaughter we have been raising since birth, was diagnosed as having high spectrum autism, and having ADHD.  Her pediatrician felt this was the case about 6 months ago, but we had to have her professionally diagnosed by the specialists at Monroe Myer Institute in NE first.  Well it is official, so now we can get her the specific help she needs, and encourage her progression so that she will be able to function as a normal adult one day.
     ANOTHER blessing from God, is that our 3rd oldest daughter, Ashley, and her husband Perry, are having another baby!!!!!  WE ARE SO THRILLED!!!!!!   Grandbaby #14!  (And 6 more in Heaven). 

Minecraft - the Game

     Our children have been playing the game Minecraft.  I typically try to limit time on their electronics, but I was impressed when I found this article about the educational benefits of them playing this game.  Here is the review, taken from The Old Schoolhouse Magazine.

Why buy?

LearnToMod is the perfect way to channel your child's passion for Minecraft towards a skill that they can nurture and develop as they grow up. Professions in computer science are not only some of the highest paying jobs out there, they are also some of the highest satisfaction jobs! Because computer science isn't being taught in most schools, these jobs are ripe for the taking.

What is included?

Tutorials, videos, and puzzles guide students through basic and complex mod building; soon students will be dreaming up and creating their own mods from scratch. Today's purchase will give your student access to the LearnToMod software and their own private Minecraft for 1 year.

Modding Studio
The studio is where you bring your ideas to life with code. It's where you write your mods. You get to choose from two powerful programming languages. You can even share your code with others and remix code that others have written.

Private Server
Test your mods on a private server. Invite friends to play too. You control everything about your server: The weather, the time of day, who's banned and who's not. You can install texture packs. And, of course, you can mod it with mods you've written.

Lessons
Even if you've never coded before, you can learn to mod. We have hundreds of video lessons, puzzles, and quizzes to teach you. Unlock cool badge and start leveling-up as a coder. Soon you'll be designing and coding multi-player mini-games of your own."

NY Teen Tyler Madoff Killed While Kayaking In Hawaii; Family Blames Colorado Tour Group

Parents, beware of who, and where, your children are with.

HONOLULU (AP) — Lawyers for the family of a New York teen killed during a kayak excursion in Hawaii last year said Tuesday that the trip's organizers didn't properly vet or train its leader.

Lawyers for the family of Tyler Madoff, 15, said Tuesday in federal court in Hawaii that Bold Earth Teen Adventures ignored or didn't know about marijuana and alcohol use by trip leader Andrew Mork, and ignored safety rules for a state park on Hawaii's Big Island where Madoff died when he was swept out to sea.

"This young man never, ever, ever should have been in charge of children," said Loretta Sheehan, an attorney for Tyler's father, Michael Madoff.

Lawyers for Mork and Colorado-based Bold Earth Teen Adventures declined to comment to The Associated Press after the court hearing in Honolulu.

The details surfaced as attorneys argued whether potential punitive damages in the wrongful death lawsuit would be guided by Hawaii or Colorado laws.

U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway has already ruled twice this year that the case must move forward in Hawaii and not in the state where Bold Earth is based. She said she would likely decide by next week on whether the case would be governed by Hawaii laws on punitive damages, which are less favorable for defendants than in Colorado.

"What happens if every company that offers recreational activity in Hawaii decided to incorporate in Colorado and incorporate at least some activities in Hawaii," Mollway said.

Douglas Stevens, a lawyer for Bold Earth, said Madoff's family agreed in their contract arranging the trip that issues would be resolved under Colorado law. He said the language was clear in the contract.
Mollway previously rejected a similar argument the company made for moving the case, saying the contract's clause was not enforceable.

Sheehan said Tuesday that Bold Earth didn't perform a proper background check on Mork, which would have found three marijuana-related convictions. She said Mork was also kicked out of a bar on the Big Island while there for a previous trip for the company in 2011.

Sheehan said that while on the excursion, the group took too many people and stayed too long in the park, and didn't know about warnings of high surf.

A Letter from a Reader

A letter from our reader...

     Hi Kelly:

I love your blog -- your post about your child, Samuel, was simply beautiful. It's so brave of you to share your story with us.

As parents, our number one priority is always the safety of our children. When they're at school or camp, or anywhere outside of the home, we're forced to trust them in the care of others. I recently came across this story about a high school boy on a travel excursion with Bold Earth, who was swept out to sea and died when the tour guides ignored warnings about the area. You can read more about this tragedy here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/19/teen-killed-kayaking-hawaii_n_4305555.html

I don't have a blog of my own, but as a reader of so many parenting blogs, I think it's really important to spread awareness of incidents like this that can easily occur to any family during travel. I hope you'll share this story with your readers so they can think twice before sending their children on these types of trips.

Kindly,
Sue

Charlotte Mason Writing Course

Hello CM Writing Moms,
Whoo, hooo. I am posting to let you know the Writing the Charlotte Mason Way week-long intensive will run Feb 16-20.
IMPORTANT PART: It is the webinar which introduces moms to the course (like you did) please help me get as many people to the webinar as possible. It will mean more for this group and all that creative energy is good for you and for your children. Please help by posting this on your FB and sending by email.
...

http://charlottemasonhomeschooling.com/

See More

Charlotte Mason Homeschooling – www.CharlotteMasonHomeschooling.com

www.CharlotteMasonHomeschooling.com

charlottemasonhomeschooling.com

The Fence

No Greater Joy Ministries

"The Fence"

There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a... nail into the fence. The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily, gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.

Finally the day came when the boy didn’t lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper. The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone.

The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said “you have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one.” You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won’t matter how many times you say I’m sorry, the wound is still there. Make sure you control your temper the next time you are tempted to say something you will regret later.

- Author Unknown

Happy 7th Birthday My Son, Samuel

                          Dedicated to Our Son...Samuel Jacob Benedict
                                             Stillborn or Miscarriage?

     Today, my beautiful son, you would be 7 years old.  How can 7 years have gone past already, if I still feel like it was just yesterday that you were born?  Do you realize that you are only 8 days older than your nephew, Kaden?  And only 27 days older than your niece, Alona.  You were supposed to be born last, but were born first.  I miss you...still today and always.  Not a day goes by that I don't think of you.  I held you in my arms, played with your tiny fingers and toes, and kissed your tiny little nose. Mommy knows that you are in Heaven with Jesus, and I am thrilled that one day I will see you again, but some days, I still feel that initial pain, the day they told me that your heart had suddenly stopped beating.  I prayed, I begged that they were wrong, but 28 hours of labor later, you were born.  I don't regret one single split second for the time  that I carried you inside of me.  It was almost like "you and me against the world."  I love you my son, Samuel Jacob Benedict, now and forever.  Happy Birthday my son!!  Mommy loves you more than you will ever possibly know!

     If you are a mom who has ever had a stillborn baby that you've held in your arms and clung to the hope that miraculously your baby would take a breath, or a mom who has had a miscarriage, after already so closely bonded that it was like your heart beat as one, and lost that baby...you are not alone.  I can feel your pain, and I empathize and sympathize with your feelings.  I have been there, and I would be so happy and blessed to take your pain away for you.  Truly I would.  That is a promise I would make you if I had even an ounce of hope of making it come true.  I hurts.  It hurts like heck!  You will never know how sorry I am for your loss, or that of my own for that matter.  But one thing I do believe, is that one day, in Heaven, I will see and hold my son again.  One day...I don't ever want to do ANYTHING that would ever stop that from happening.  I know that he is with Jesus.  He is happy, healthy, content, and that he knows who I am personally, and that Jesus will take wonderful care of him until the day I get there to see him.  He will do the same with you.  God will not let your child even be alone, sad, lonely, unhappy, hungry, or anything else bad.  Only good can come from God!  So your son, or daughter, is in a wonderfully remarkably beautiful place.  Have no doubt, not the slightest glimmer of doubt, that they are happy and waiting, just for YOU!

     If I can listen to your story, pray with you, share my story with you, support you, walk you through the rough times, or anything else you can think of...please contact me here, or feel free to email me.  I will ALWAYS be here to do whatever I can, if only just listen.  I will do the very best that I am able to do to help ease your hurt.  And please know, no matter how recent it has been, or how long it has been, I can feel the pain, and am ever so sorry for your loss.  A child should never die before their parent, in my opinion.  Please know that I will do my best to be here for you.

     God Bless you, your family, and your child/children,
Kelly

Our 2015 Theme..."HOPE" (for our True North Family)

 

"HOPE"

 

      I have just finished taking a one year training course through True North, on Charlotte Mason and her theories and philosophies.  We were a small group of 11 students and our instructor, Shelia Carroll.  This was an awesome year, we bonded together, prayed for one another, and learned and grew close over this past year.  These wonderful ladies have become a part of each other's lives in a real way...Sheila Carroll (our instructor), Terri Hitt, Elizabeth Falckh, Nichelle Bilinski, Yuko Muhling, Katrina Snyder McAllister, Annie Zimmerman, Dana Combs, Charissa Deuser, Michele Miller & myself.

     I believe that we all have a common theme this year..."HOPE"

     This is the verse that God brought to mind to Annie, which is very fitting for our group.

     "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." 
                                                                           Romans 15:13