The Parable of the Sower

I woke up this Monday morning to find peaceful rain falling outside, so I grabbed my Bible and my coffee and headed for the back porch to start my week with some quiet time.  I happened to be in Luke, Chapter 8, which is the parable of the sower.  The Word of God is living, so it speaks differently to your heart at different seasons of your life.  Of course I've read and heard this parable many times in my life, but I've always pictured myself as the one along the path.  Today I put myself in the farmer's shoes. 

 

"A farmer went out to sow his seed.  as he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path;

it was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up."

 

 

"Some fell on the rock, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture.

Other seed fell among the thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants."

 

 

 

"Still other seed fell on good soil.  It came up and yielded a crop,

a hundred times more than was sown."

 

 

I once heard that when you're growing seedlings, you don't immediately put them outside in the harsh elements, but instead give them a head start in the shelter of a greenhouse.  I think Jesus was sharing this idea with me today in his parable in regards to raising my little seedlings. 

 

As I scatter the seeds of truth into their lives, I have the important job of protecting it from those the devil might use to trample it down and steal it away.  As those little seeds of truth are growing and taking root in their hearts they must be strengthened with prayer and time to develop their own relationship with God.  When given this time to mature in a safe environment, their roots will grow deep and the tree will not be easily withered when a time of drought comes. 

 

My seedlings must also be protected from the thorns of this world - life's worries, riches, and pleasures.  These worldly thoughts will attempt to choke the truth and must be guarded against.  I must also keep our greenhouse weeded of external influences who will try to compete with their worldly pleasures against the truth. 

 

The seedling grown in this safe environment of good soil will mature and have a noble and good heart, retaining the truth, and by persevering produce a crop a hundred times more than was sown.  This is my prayer for my children; that they would grow strong and mature in Christ, not easily swayed, and when they leave my greenhouse, produce a crop of their own.  



Just an Ordinary Tuesday Moment

I was lying in bed this morning, avoiding getting up, while LD watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse next to me.  He suddenly said, "Mom, can I have blueberry muffin?"  I'm not sure if Minnie was cooking muffins or how he got the idea, but it reminded me of the huge container of blueberries getting mushy in the kitchen.  Blueberry muffins?  I can do that. 

 

There is no one way to be a perfect mom.

 

But there are thousands of ways to be a good one!

Not very much baby left.

I just tucked LD into his toddler bed for the night.  He would be happy to continue rocking and being tucked into his crib, but Daddy thinks we need the crib soon for the new baby.  He's been sleeping in his toddler bed for naptime for a few months now, so hopefully he'll be comfortable there and sleep well.  (Hehe, I just ran upstairs because he was calling me - his stars had turned off.  I guess that's another chance for one more goodnight kiss.)

LD's been doing a great job using the potty for almost a week now!  He filled up his rocket ship potty chart and is so proud of himself.  We've even made a few trips out this week, accident free.  Now that's some growing up I can get on board with. 

Wrapping up Reading

This is the first week of May and our last official week of school for the year!  EM and JR have been wrapping up their Language Arts programs, so I wanted to write down some thoughts about the year. 

EM used Abeka's 2nd Grade Language Arts program very successfully.  My biggest goal for her for second grade was that she would learn to read fluently.  I believe Abeka has helped her to accomplish this!  She went from struggling to sound out words at the beginning of the year to reading smoothly with good comprehension at the end.  She has even learned to enjoy reading and has read several non-picture books on her own.  I couldn't really ask for more! 

Some cons about the Abeka program:  The spelling lists didn't explain spelling rules, so it was a memorization-only type program.   Once EM mastered the special phonics sounds, the special sounds drills became busy work. 

JR completed All About Reading Level 1 this year.  It was a great continuation of where we left off last year using AAR Pre-Reading.  He can sound out single syllable, short vowel words and knows about 20 sight words.  He was recently introduced to long vowels.   AAR made the process of beginning to read an easy process and even fun on occasion!  He especially enjoyed the games. 

JR also used Explode the Code Online to reinforce phonics concepts.  It has been nice because it's something he can work on independently.  He enjoys using the computer, so that is a plus as well.

I plan on continuing to read with JR through the summer and having him continue using ETC so he doesn't loose ground. 

I'm very proud of my 2nd Grade and Kindergarten graduates! 





Our 2013 Garden

As soon as we returned home from Florida, the whole family was excited to start planting flowers and vegetables.  Josh still had two days left of vacation from work so he got started right away building planter boxes.  We now have two beautiful 6'x4' boxes that are a foot and a half off the ground - hopefully to deter rabbits!

This year we planted three different kinds of tomatoes, yellow bell peppers, broccoli. carrots, sugar snap peas, watermelon and cantaloupe.  We also think we may have a pumpkin plant growing!  EM planted some seeds from last years pumpkin in hopes that they would grow.  The sugar snap peas and carrots were started as seeds and are already popping out.

Whenever Josh asks if there is anything I would like for Mother's Day, I usually go right for flowers!  Our front flower garden has really taken off this year with all of the perennials we've planted in the last two years. The only plant that hasn't survived was the hyacinth.

This year we added window boxes to our front windows and they look so beautiful!  I chose to fill them with pink and white geraniums and ivy.

My sweet family also gave me a beautiful hanging geranium pot, which has been claimed as a nest for mourning doves.  We don't mind though, it will be so much fun to see!  Hopefully they will allow us to water it once in a while.

EM and LD helped me make plant markers for our vegetables, didn't they turn out cute?!

    

Looking forward to lots of delicious things in the months to come!

Field Trip to Lake Katherine

Today was a gorgeous, sunny, 72- degree Monday.  It was surely worthy of more than sitting inside with books and dishes.  Thankfully my good friend invited ours and a bunch of other homeschool families to spend the day exploring Lake Katherine and having a picnic lunch at a nearby park.  We really enjoyed it! 

The wildlife were not camera shy.  We saw turtles, ducks, swans, snakes, and even a squirrel mama carrying her baby.

EM ran away with the camera for a while.  I love to see what she finds beautiful and picture worthy. 

The egg EM captured.  It was much bigger than a chicken egg, maybe a swan?

I tried to take a picture of all three kids looking at the stream.

So I wasn't close enough to catch LD before he fell in.  There he goes!

Climbing on the same rock and sitting the same way his big brother did a minute ago. 

It's so much fun to get together with a handful of moms and dozens of kids!

 

 

Brothers and Sister

I have a few memories of playing with my sister growing up, when we were getting along and enjoying each other's company.  Most of my memories of our childhood relationship, however,  include us teasing and torturing each other mercilessly.  I thought that was just the normal relationship siblings were supposed to have.  We are great friends now, and I'm very thankful that they have gotten over the torture I caused them in our childhood.  :) 

I'm not exactly sure why, but my kids seem to get along pretty great.  Oh sure, they have their moments and for a long time I thought they would start fighting when they got older, because I thought that's what siblings did, but they haven't so far!  (crossing my fingers)  Maybe it's because they're home together all day and have each other as companions.  Or maybe it's because they're pretty close in age and have similar interests.  Whatever the reason, I'm enjoying it every day and so happy that they love eachother and love to be with each other.