Angie

I am a child of the KING! I am also a full-time mom, the home school teacher of 2 wild but precious boys for going on 7years now and I have been married for 20 yrs to the love of my life!! I am B.A.M. (born and made in the image of God) and I love my Creator, Lord, Savior, and Friend with all my heart!!

When GOD Stirs Things Up

 Heavenly Habits  2 Responses »
Nov 012012
 

Yes, GOD, my heavenly FATHER, has been “stirring things up” in our relationship. Actually HE has been doing that for a while. For about five years HE has “stirred up” in me a hunger for HIS word that is beyond anything I have ever known in my whole life. GOD can “stir things up” through all kinds of different people and experiences in our life, but I do believe the best “stirring up” is when HE takes us directly to HIS word!

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, …And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us… John 1:1-4a & 14a

How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!…Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Psalm 119:103,105

So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” John 6:67-69

When we follow the leading of the HOLY SPIRIT, GOD the FATHER will “stir us up” in amazing ways. Though the “stirring up” isn’t always easy, matter of fact I would say that it can be down right difficult.

 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.~~2 Timothy 3:16-17

You see GOD doesn’t just use HIS word to make us feel good, or to learn history, and it is not just a way to pass the time. HE uses it to teach us, correct us, and to train us in righteousness. When we accept what GOD is “stirring up” in us, in the end it will be a very, very good thing. Why does he “stir things up”? Look at 2 Timothy 3:17 above, it is so that as believers we will be competent and equipped for every good work HE calls us to. In the most simple term, HE “STIRS THINGS UP”, to GROW US UP in HIM!

So when GOD “stirs things up”, don’t get in his way, humble yourself, submit to it, and let HIM grow you up so that HE can do in and through you those wonderful things HE has always planned to do!

~ by Angie, The One Thing

“W.A.I.T. With Anticipation”

 Heavenly Habits  1 Response »
Oct 042012
 
“W.A.I.T. With Anticipation”
Would you say you are patient or impatient? 
Isaiah 40:31 says, “But they that wait upon the Lord will….”  and Psalm 40:11 says, “I waited patiently for God to help me….“ God promises wonderful things to us when we wait for him. But I think our attitude may very well determine how long we have to wait. What is your response when you have to wait in line, or in traffic, or when you are waiting on the answer to your prayers?  Most of us get very impatient, because we think we are wasting time.  We seem to have this idea that waiting is passive, but when you look at the definition of the word, you find it is a very active state of being.  We are going to look at two uses of the word wait; here is the first one.
Wait: 1. To stay in readiness or in anticipation (until) something expected happens or (for) someone to arrive. 2. To be ready. 3. To be in expectation or anticipation of.
Expect: 1. To await. 2. To look for as likely to occur or appear; anticipate. 3. To look for as due, proper, or necessary.
When you are waiting for God to answer your prayer, do you really expect him to answer you?  Do you anticipate the answer?  Do you believe an answer is due you or that it is proper for God to answer you?  Think about it for a moment; “to expect implies a considerable degree of confidence that a particular event will happen, and to anticipate implies a looking forward to something with a foretaste of the pleasure it promises, or a realizing of something in advance and a taking of steps to meet it.” (Webster Dictionary)
God calls the things that do not exist as though they did (Rom. 4:17).
We should be doing the same thing! Now let’s look at the other definition of wait:
Wait: 1. To serve or wait on a person. 2. To act as a servant. 3. To supply the needs or requirements of someone.
As we WAIT we should be serving the Lord by meeting the needs of others; we should be asking him what he wants us to do.  Is there someone he wants us to help or is there a place we need to go?  That kind of waiting is productive and certainly not a waste of time.  So, are you WATCHING with anticipation to see what God is going to do?  Is you ATTITUDE one of expectation?  Are you seeking God’s INSTRUCTIONS about what he wants you to do?  Do you TRUST that he knows exactly what you need and that he will supply it at just the right time?
The rest of Psalm 40:11 says, “…and he turned to me and heard my cry.”  and Isaiah 40:31 ends like this, “…renew their strength. They will mount up on wings as eagles.  They shall run and not grow weary.  They shall walk and not faint.”  God’s promises are for you and your children and your children’s children, so let’s wait with anticipation.  Waiting on God is never a waste of time.
While you are waiting, God is working.
~ Written by Beth, “My husband of 46 years and I recently retired from full time ministry and we are looking forward to discovering what God has in store for the next part of our journey.  I am a very proud mother and grandmother and I love to encourage others through the word and my life experiences.  My life verse is Psalm 118:24 – This is the day that the Lord has made; I choose to rejoice and be glad in it.”

GOD…the FATHER…Should be our ONE THING!

 Heavenly Habits  2 Responses »
Sep 132012
 

It seems as if everyone has that ONE THING that they desire, hope for, seek out, and pray for over and over. There are so many things that in different seasons of our life we want so badly. Such as: to get married, to have a child, then another, a good job, more money, time off, a new home, a new car, money to go to college, a dream vacation, a dream wedding, to be great at something, and so on, and so on, and so on. If you look back at your life I imagine you can think of all the times you actually thought ” if I can just have this ONE THING”, then I will be so happy. I won’t need anything else if I have that ONE THING. Then when we do happen to get it, something else takes the place as the ONE THING we desire, hope for, seek out and pray for over and over.

You know what? GOD wants to be our ONE THING. HE wants to be the ONE THING we desire, hope for, and seek out with everything in us!!

“ONE THING” have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek, inquire for, and [insistently] require: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord [in His presence] all the days of my life, to behold and gaze upon the beauty [the sweet attractiveness and the delightful loveliness] of the Lord and to meditate, consider, and inquire in His temple. Psalm 27:4

But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but ONE THING is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her (Luke 10:41-42)

We (GOD’s Creation) were created NOT for an individual purpose for ourselves. We (humans) were created for a relationship with GOD. HE wants to commune with us, HE wants us to come into HIS presence, and HE wants people to want to abide with HIM. Of course HE goes on to create an individual plan for each of us, and makes sure it gets carried out when we are in relationship with HIM through JESUS. Though the reason we (people) are here is for HIM, not for ourselves.

I pray that I will more and more choose as Mary did. I  pray that you will also choose HIM more and more. As JESUS said, when we choose HIM, we choose what can’t be taken away!

Let GOD be your ONE THING and all the other things will fall into the proper perspective according to HIS amazing plan for you.

Finding JOY in Creation (Nature) Study…Again!

 Habits for life, Homeschool Habits  6 Responses »
Aug 282012
 

(Praying Mantis Egg Case)

“Nature study has a purpose that is deeper than some of us may realize. I encourage you to take advantage of nature study and use it as a tool to teach children to behold the face of their Creator. “~~HUFI

What do the children do? The children are to be “let alone, left to themselves a great deal to take in what they can of the beauty of earth and heavens.” Give them time and space to wonder, grow, watch, see, hear, and touch. During the nature walk, they may sketch and record their observations. In addition they may want to collect small natural treasures in a bag to take home for further study. If they would like it, the children may take along magnifying glasses, binoculars, nets, and containers for viewing up close and catching small creatures. But don’t encumber them with too many things. Let them be free to explore with open hands most of the time. ~~Inspired by CM

I have to confess I really messed up, I let go of a true treasure. This treasure is called Creation Study a.k.a. Nature Study. We used to have the wonderful habit of including Creation Study in our home school every week, and unfortunately I let this treasure go. I was recently reminded of how wonderful it really is, it is a treasure and a true JOY!! Creation Study has such value, but at it’s core, it is a JOY because it brings GOD’s creation to our attention. If you give it your attention, you can’t help but be amazed by our amazing Creator! I have decided to do what I have to do, to make this a habit in our life again. I think the best way to do this is to start all over. Yes, I am going back to the basics!

“As soon as he is able to keep it himself, a nature-diary is a source of delight to a child. Every day’s walk gives him something to enter: three squirrels in a larch tree, a jay flying across such a field, a caterpillar climbing up a nettle, a snail eating a cabbage leaf, a spider dropping suddenly to the ground, where he found ground ivy, how it was growing and what plants were growing with it, how bindweed or ivy manages to climb” (Charlotte Mason, Vol. 1, p. 54).

We will be using The Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock, along with the wonderfully planned Creation study topics and challenges by Barb at the Handbook of Nature Study blog. Barb calls her weekly challenges the Outdoor Hour Nature Close to Home. I am going to begin “again” with Barb’s very first Challenge Outdoor Hour Challenge #1 Let’s Get Started. Here is a link to her first 10 challenges, which I will be completing with my boys. We need to go back build a foundation of Creation study before we move onto anything new.

Miss Mason recommended two activities during a nature walk 1. Sight-seeing or exploring expeditions In this activity, you send the children off to a specified area with a task: “Go explore over there and come back when you can tell me all about it.” When the children return, let them share verbal descriptions of everything they experienced. 2. Picture-painting or mental photographs Picture painting is more stationary. You choose a scene to study and then sit and look at it for several minutes, taking in as much detail as possible. Then ask the children to close their eyes and recreate the scene with words. If they are not sure of something, they can open their eyes and look. This activity will develop both observation skills and narration (telling back) skills.

I also want to really emphasize sketching and painting in our creation journals. It is said that the exercise of sketching and painting will really cement the image onto your mind. Sketching and painting has the same effect as when someone narrates (tells back) what they read. (All about Narration HERE)

One of the reasons a child should draw what he sees in the natural world is because we want to develop the habit of attention within him. The habit of attention simply means the child has learned to observe his surroundings very carefully whether it be the intricacy of a leaf, the patterns in a flower, the habits of a scurrying ant or the changing cloudy canvas in the sky. When a person develops these skills of observation while young, they begin to see the world in a heavenly light. ~~HUFI

Great links for Nature Journal and Outside time:

I’m submitting this entry to the Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival.

Do you make a habit of nature study?

~By Angie, The One Thing

A Day in the Life of a Charlotte Mason Inspired Home School

 Homeschool Habits  20 Responses »
Aug 062012
 

A Day in the Life of a Charlotte Mason Inspired Home School.

(Family time – an important part of our lives together)

I have been using or should I say inspired by the Charlotte Mason (CM) method since I started home schooling. But lately I haven’t been following it as much as I had planned. My goal this coming school year is to fully get back to the CM method. I found it when I first starting researching home school and I knew it was the right way to go for our family. Over the last two years, I unfortunately got lazy and started leaving out the beautiful extras that the CM method has. Or I started falling into a more traditional method for the core subjects. So my plan for this year is to go back and follow the CM method just as much as I possibly can.

So as I came up with the plan for this upcoming school year, I kept this goal in mind! Right now I have to say that this post is more of a “hope to be” a day in the life of a Charlotte Mason inspired home school. This is the goal but it has never in all my years of home schooling been daily reality! This is a new year and a new season of life and I am hoping (in the LORD) for this to be reality for most of our days! I know one thing I have to do to make this a reality, I must work on Habit Training for my kids and especially for myself. I always say I am a work in progress and I acknowledge the LORD has a lot more work to do in me and through me. So I know for this to become reality (at least most days), even with habit training, and hard work in all areas of our life, it will still only be by HIS grace!!

*Here is the daily SCHEDULE I created to help me have days like I describe below.*

* See my All about Charlotte Mason post HERE*

(Creation *Nature* Study  and Nature Journals are a BIG part of the Charlotte Mason Method)

  • Wake-Up (Me: 6am (Bible, Computer Time , and hopefully  a little exercise). The boys: 7:30am)
  • God & Me Time (This is where the boys have their own time with GOD)
  • Breakfast *8:00am (Read from one-two of our table books * Poetry, Church History, AIG resources, VOM magazine, etc* )
  • Morning Duties (morning chores, taking vitamin, get dressed, etc…)
  • Practice Piano

  • Bible* 9/9:30am (This is our time to get in the word together), keeping with the idea of short lessons, and using narration as a key component to the lessons as CM suggested.
  • Exercise or once a week a Creation walk

(Walk outside, observing and enjoying GOD’s amazing Creation)

(Hands-On-Art) 

  • The Extra’s*1:45 Outside Time, Artist/Picture Study, Music/Composer Study, Hymn Study, Folksongs, Hands-On-Art, Handicraft/Life Skills, Piano Lesson, P.E. games, Park-day, Creation Study & Creation Walk, Driving Range, Golf game, board/card games, blogging, e-mailing friends/family, Educational websites, t.v., dvd’s, games, etc.
  • Free Play*3:30pm
  • Dinner *6/6:30pm (Read from one-two of our table books * Poetry, Church History, AIG resources, VOM magazine, etc* )
  • Evening Time: Outside play, a walk, game night, movie time, literature read-a-loud, and free time

(Golf with daddy)

What is your inspired method of homeschooling or parenting?

 ~ written by Angie @ The One Thing

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