We have a winner!

Hi Everyone!

Thank you to everyone who has entered our drawing for the Schoolhouse Expo!  We have contacted our winner by e-mail (so quick go check it might be you)!

Have a terrific weekend!

Let's Get Encouraged! Schoolhouse Expo Giveaway!!!

I don't know about you, but this is the time of year that I start to feel challenged about Homeschooling.  Not a bit challenged, I mean it's more like, "Egad, run for the hills!"  However, it is my job to remember the Lord has not called me to anything He has not already prepared me for.  And fortunately for me, and you, He provides encouragement along the way.

One source of encouragement that He has set along my path is the Schoolhouse Expo.  Now, May might be some months away yet, but they started selling the tickets for this online webinar this week.  AND I have one ticket to give away.  This ticket includes entrance, all of the freebies and copies of the MP3's from each session.  There are also a couple of pre-show sessions in the weeks leading up to the Expo.  Oh!  There are also door prizes for each session.  (Quick note, US & Canadian residents are eligible for all prizes.  However, anyone outside of the U.S. or Canada are eligible for the downloads but not any physical prizes that need to be mailed.) 

I attended both Schoolhouse Expos last year and they were well worth the investment!  The great part was (besides all the freebies) everyone in the family got to hear what the speakers were sharing.  It led to great family discussions about why we homeschool, what our worldview is, how to serve others...etc.

Everyone who leaves a comment here on this post or sends me a note on Facebook about the Expo by midnight Friday, January 28th will be entered!  To get more information on this terrific tool, checkout the link on the side of this page.  Be quick!  I will draw a winner from all of the entries Saturday morning and post it here around 12:00 pm EST!  Remember to check back on Saturday to find out if you are our winner!

It's a Hole in One!

Well, here we are at the end of January.  I just watched "Julie and Julia" this weekend.  What a fun and encouraging movie!  Maybe it was because I had spent the last 24 hours cleaning up from a two year old with the flu, but I felt inspired to start a blog of my own.  I don't know what insight a mom of three boys can add to the constant barrage of information on the web, but I'll have a go at it!

Check out this ancient Hebrew proverb, "Happy the generation where the great listen to the small, for it follows that in such a generation the small will listen to the great."  Do you remember being young (or younger) and wanting so badly to share something you learned only to be dismissed without the chance to share?  What a bummer!  And now, when that person wants to share with you, how do you respond?  Is it the same way?  Guard up, ears closed, "Sorry, too busy here.  Gee, how nice you have an opinion, I've more important things to do."  Here we are in a society so itching to validate and give a person worth through programs and strategies.  How many books will we write to all different generations trying to tell them their worth?  Maybe just five minutes listening would make all the difference?

I could use to take the five minutes, between dishes and dirty diapers; to stop, make eye contact, and actually listen.  Not that funny time where my face is positioned for listening, but my mind is on all of the other uncompleted tasks.  Real listening -- where I am completely engaged in what someone else is saying.  Taking time to stop and share in someone's life and the elements that make it exciting for them.  I need to do this more.  Hit the "pause" button and listen.

I pray today that you are able to share with someone who actually hears what you are saying.  I pray you are able to share yourself with another and experience the love of Christ through listening and hearing what is said by another.