Friday, November 30, 2007

I'm Stickin' with Blogger

Well, you all know my little story. I went over to Pyzam, found a template I just loved, and added it to my blog. Poof! All my sidebar widgets disappeared, and I've spent a long time getting them back. I don't think all my links are up yet, but I have most of them, and acquired some new fun things as well.

When I went to make the change, I was warned that I would lose some information, and it was recommended that I save the template. I did, but it's all in code. I don't write code, so I was up a creek.

After loading the new template, I loved the look of the blog, but as time went by, I found myself unhappy with the fact that the words looked like they were written on vellum and you could see right through them. This made my pictures look odd, and some of the lettering was hard to make out. But I didn't want to change my template again and lose everything I'd worked hard to reconstruct.

I was also becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the idea that I couldn't go in and change the template whenever I wanted to. I don't know what's up with me -- I have to have something new from time to time. I need to change blog colors. I have to order checks in different patterns each time -- having the same check style for too long just rubs me the wrong way. My Christmas tree has to look a little different every year. I must have change, and the Pyzam template made me feel suffocated.

Tonight I decided to move everything back to Blogger. I started at the top of my sidebar and copied all the code from all the page element boxes into a Word document, which I know how to use, unlike all that html mumbo-jumbo. This way, I reasoned, when I leave Pyzam and go back to a Blogger template, I'll just copy and paste everything back in and I'll be good to go.

But then guess what happened? Blogger kept every single widget and moved them back over in less than five seconds. That's right -- my Christmas tree, my Bookshelf, my list of links -- all of it. Pyzam stripped them out, but Blogger kept every one of them. Thank you, Blogger!

So I didn't end up using all the code I'd saved, but I'm hanging on to the file anyway. Who knows when I may need it again. And in the meantime, I'm going to change my blog whenever I want to, skipping around between all the Blogger templates. It's true, they don't have as many as Pyzam, but you can go in and change the fonts and colors, and that makes it easy to personalize. Don't get too used to this navy blue -- now that I have options again, I might change the blog every single day, just because I can. You all know how that is, right? Sometimes we have to do something just because we can.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

When You're Good, You're Good!

I put up our Christmas tree tonight. I'm wishing I had a digital camera so I could snap a picture and show it off -- I'm really proud of it. I got all kinds of new decorations last year on the 75% off clearance Wal-Mart does the week after Christmas, and for the first time in my whole entire life, my tree is color-coordinated. We started with white lights, then silver tinsel. Then we added (why am I saying we? I did it!) I put a garland of silver and blue beads around it, then hung silver, blue and white ornaments all over it. I then accented with small blue bows and put a white (wingless) angel on top. It's downright gorgeous. If you live in my neck of the woods, you should come check it out.

And the Season Ends

Helio and Julianne are the winners of this season's Dancing with the Stars. Marie and Jonathan were sent home toward the start of the show, and Mel and Maks danced it out with Helio and Julianne. I think all ended as it should, but it's sure sad that Mel didn't get more of an award for all her hard work. Of course, I would have said the same about Helio if Mel had won. They both did a great job.

I was sad to see how upset Marie was after the doll routine last night. They showed a clip of her crying -- that's never a good thing. But I did really enjoy seeing Mark and Sabrina again, as well as the other contestants. This was a great results show -- usually they just drag it out forever, but this year it was really entertaining.

Now, let's see. American Idol starts up again in January, I think -- I need to find myself a new reality show to tide me over until then.

Monday, November 26, 2007

Dancing with the Stars Angst


I'm having serious angst right now. It's the finals tonight and I'm trying to vote, but the website keeps freezing on me. I sent an e-mail to ABC.com in the hopes that they'll get it worked out, but chances are, they won't and it's going to mess up the voting.

Now, as to my thoughts on tonight -- this being the final, I'm going to make this an actual post instead of just putting it in my sidebar. It's that important.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I love Marie Osmond. I have my entire life. I was even listening to an Osmond Family Christmas earlier. But her performances tonight were not up to par. Jonathan did not choreograph her samba very well, and her doll routine, while cute, was not up to the standard of this show. This said, I'm worried that she's going to take this competition on the strength of her tremendous fan base alone, and if she did that, it would be a shame. She is not up to the abilities of the other dancers.


Mel has come so far. She's got some serious talent and I'm voting for her. I voted ten times and I would have continued, if the website would let me. Grrrr! I like Helio and I have from the start, but over the last several weeks, Mel has turned in more consistent performances. I don't care much for her personally -- she's a little crass and bawdy -- but man, that girl can dance.

I'll be dashing home from Pack Meeting tomorrow night to watch the results and see how it all plays out. If Marie does take the trophy, I think the show is going to need to seriously evaluate how the judging works. I think I would much rather see the three judges pick the winners -- America is clueless sometimes. Look how long Wayne Newton stayed. Look how long Master P stayed. This shouldn't be a popularity contest -- this should be judged on talent alone.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Deep Thoughts . . . on Friendship

I recently read and reviewed "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan."* You can read my review by clicking here. In a nutshell, it's the story of two girls who are sworn to be life-long friends and have a falling-out along the way because one girl misunderstood what the other girl meant to say, and they spent years with feelings of remorse and bitterness in their hearts. At the end of Snow Flower's life, they realized that it had all been a misunderstanding, and they made peace.

Reading this book was painful for me. I had a falling-out with a friend of mine three years ago, and we still haven't patched things up. She was struggling with certain difficulties in her life and so was I, and for some reason which I still have not yet figured out, she stopped taking my phone calls. After repeated tries, I realized that she had chosen to stop communicating with me, and so I've respected that, although I don't understand why. I'm sure I must have said or done something that hurt her, but I've thought it through from every angle and can't come up with what I did. We had been as inseparable as the two girls in the book, and now I haven't spoken to her in three years. I hope that we will someday have the chance, as Snow Flower and Lily did, to iron out the misunderstanding and figure out what happened, but for now, she's in my prayers and always will be.

*If you choose to read this book, and you should, because it's good, I strongly recommend that you skip the chapter called "Catching Cool Breezes."

Friday, November 23, 2007

Holiday Food, Everyday Food . . .

Just like all of you, I'm sure, my refrigerator is full of leftovers right now. I didn't get the chocolate cream pie this year, although temptation did raise a feeble head for a moment -- instead, I went with coconut cream and apple. We have turkey, a little cranberry sauce, gravy and yet we're out of potatoes. We have some Jell-O in there still, and lots of salad. I'm so grateful for the salad -- nothing balances out a breakfast of coconut cream pie like a lunch of turkey salad.

As a recovering chocoholic and as one who is cutting back on all forms of addictive food, I have to step back and contemplate this whole food-holiday connection. We get together to celebrate the season (whatever that season may be) and food is the star of the show. We eat chips and dip to bring in the New Year, chocolate on Valentine's Day, we all know how fattening St. Patrick's Day can be, down to the Easter and Halloween candy. Thanksgiving is, of course, a veritable feast, and Christmas isn't a whole lot better. We look forward to the holidays, but we also look forward to the food. Piles and piles of fattening, unhealthy food, eaten in vast quantities. It's not considered a proper holiday feast unless you can't move when you're done eating.

Why? Why is this? Why do we celebrate the blessings of life with clogging our arteries? Why can't we get together without making food the most honored guest?

The obesity rates in this country are staggering. Our children are fatter, earlier, than ever before. We even have television shows dedicated to helping children lose weight and get out and get active. Why?

Children aren't playing outside like they used to. They're sitting inside, watching TV or playing video games, eating crappy food, and getting more and more unhealthy. Their parents are busier than ever before and don't have as much time to deal with their own health, either. The more technologically advanced our society becomes, the farther we get away from health. Used to be, we all lived on farms and got a ton of exercise, ate what we grew on the farm, and got plenty of fresh air. Not so much any more.

As I've analyzed my own health and the things that prevent me from being slender, I have to say that there's a scary trend toward food worship built in to our very culture. I think our guests would rebel if we ever served a nice green salad buffet and trays of vegetables at a Super Bowl game. Tell me honestly -- if you were getting together with someone for Thanksgiving and discovered that there would be no pie and no gravy, wouldn't you feel less excited about going? Food has become the reason to gather, the meaning of the holiday taking a back seat.

I'm working on this in my own life, and will continue to do so until I die. It scares me, the power food has over us, and I'm working hard to break that power. I don't know how to reach out into America and whap everyone upside the head and bring them into a realization of what we're doing to ourselves in the name of the holiday. Can't we focus a bit more on the meaning of Thanksgiving and a little less on the fragrance of the pumpkin pie? No, apparently not. And we're going to eat ourselves to death if we don't stop the trend.

If you're brave and if you've been impacted by anything I've said in this blog, I encourage you to think about your Christmas menu. What are some things you can do to make it a healthier meal? Can you serve a leaner meat? Can you leave out the rolls? Can you increase the vegetables? Can you make a sugar-free dessert? What can you do to back off the fat and the calories, even by a percentage? I know it's hard to do this on the holidays. Everyone expects the all-mighty meal to be the same as always. But if we can start modifying our traditions, even just a little to start, we will take a huge step toward making the holidays truly merry instead of filled with Peptobismol and potential heart attacks.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Reaching Greater Heights

"We will yet have Miltons and Shakespeares of our own. God's ammunition is not exhausted. His brightest spirits are held in reserve for the latter times. In God's name and by His help we will build up a literature whose top shall touch heaven, though its foundations may now be low in [the] earth." -- Orson Whitney


I've been hearing a lot about this quote lately. I'm on the Academy for the Whitney Awards, which will present trophies to the most outstanding books by LDS authors published in 2007. I'm tickled to be a part of it.

As I've participated in the blog hoopla surrounding this cool award, I've begun to have deep thoughts. The most quoted portion of this statement is, "We will yet have Miltons and Shakespeares of our own." Orson Whitney was speaking of the LDS people and the potential we have to build our talents. It's exciting to me, as an author, to think that if I persevere and continue to work on improving myself, that I might someday be considered a Milton or a Shakespeare. It's something to shoot for, certainly.

But I think the most important part of that quote goes overlooked much of the time. It reads, "In God's name and by His help." We can't expect God to prosper us if we aren't writing according to His desires for us. If we turn to Him, dedicate the things we write to Him, and ask for help, that is when the doors of Heaven will be opened to us and we'll be able to be wise in the execution of our crafts.

I know that the times when I have really taken myself to the Lord and turned myself over to Him, my writing is better. I find research information more easily. I can get more done in less time. The words simply flow better. When I don't turn to Him, my writing is stiff and clunky. I can't figure out how to get from Point A to Point A and a half, let alone B.

So this is my challenge to those of you who read my blog and are authors. Turn your projects over to the Lord. Make Him your writing partner. Pray for guidance and direction on your plot, your dialogue, your characters. He will open your mind and make the words come.

Friday, November 16, 2007

Chocolate Show Update -- Friday Night

Wow, I'm tired! It's a good kind of tired, though -- an "I've accomplished something good" tired. Today was a fabulous day. We were busy almost constantly and had really good sales. Both my products and the books are going over well -- in fact, I've run out of three of my lip balm flavors and one of my lotion fragrances, and I'm really low on all the rest.

Karen Hoover came and hung out with us for a while today, and it was great to see her. She helped out with the booth and basically cheered us up. She's so fun to be around.

And then there was the bee that came flying through the air and landed on a table right in front of me. I got to play Bee Hunter and squash him -- sorry, animal rights activists -- but he had to go. There was no way to get him out of the building humanely, and he was already injured when he landed -- he couldn't take off again. I put him out of his misery. Put down the placards and stop the marching and chanting!

It was a great day -- although I was really hoping some of my bloggy friends would come and say, "Hi! I read your blog!" and hang out a minute. You've still got tomorrow! It's not too late!

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Answering Keeley and A.Riley

After my post about the Utah Chocolate Show (which, by the way, is going very well and I'm worn out, but in a good way) Keeley and A.Riley were curious on how I'm managing to cope with my chocolate addiction, while surrounded by it.

To be honest, I'm doing extremely well.

Keeley said it would be like putting an alcoholic in a whiskey store to take her to a chocolate show. Keeley, I absolutely hear you. I was to chocolate what an addict is to cocaine. I had to have it.

But it all goes back to what I was saying before. I truly, literally got down on my knees and asked Heavenly Father to take away my craving, and He did. I do not even crave it any more. He performed a miracle in my life.

Now, it didn't just happen because I knelt down and prayed. I had to come to a point of realization first. I had to admit that I was in over my head and that I couldn't do it anymore. I had to fully come to Him, admit defeat, and really, deeply understand that He has all power to deliver me. And then He did it.

I really encourage anyone who wants to learn more about this to go to the top of the page where it says "search blog" and put "chocolate" into the search. You'll find all the blogs about my struggles, and you'll find the things I've done that have really helped. But not one thing you ever do to overcome an addiction will work until you turn it over to God completely. He is the only one who can do it, and we have to allow Him to do it.

I never thought, in a million years, that I would get to the point where I could say I no longer crave chocolate. That's because I was doing it on my own. I thought I was tough enough to do it. Yeah, well, not hardly. But He is, and He did it for me. I am a walking, talking, non-chocolate eating miracle. I can't even express the gratitude I have to Him for doing it. I have so much hope for my future now that I didn't have before. I honestly thought I was going to end up weighing a thousand pounds and have my own special on TLC. Sure, that's a joke, but it's only partly said in jest -- my weight was out of control.

I do realize I'm rambling, but it's late and I'm tired. Suffice it to say, it can be done. It really, truly can. If I can do it, absolutely anyone else on earth can.

Utah Chocolate Show


Okay, all!

Head on down to the Sandy Expo Center in Utah and come see Candace and me at the Utah Chocolate Show. We have a huge booth on the left-hand side of the display floor, and we have literally hundreds of books from fabulous LDS authors for sale, as well as my incomparable products.

The admission is $7.00, and if you get your hand stamped, you can return the second day for free. Friday and Saturday, from 11-8. Head on down and come see me! Oh, and there are scads of free chocolate samples too.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Musings on a Chilly Morning

I haven't had enough sleep in a couple of days -- Candace and I set up for the Chocolate Show today and I've been up until all hours making product. I think that's the only thing wrong with handmade items -- they have to be made by hand.

I used to do any number of things by hand. I crocheted, I tatted, I did cross-stitch, I even tried my hand at knitting (although all I ever accomplished there was a scarf -- I can't do anything fancy). But that was BK -- Before Kids.

With every pregnancy, my patience drained out. Now I have four kids and no patience. One would hope that one's patience would increase as one had children -- well, I don't know who one is but one certainly isn't me. I can't sit down and spend hours creating things now. If I don't see results immediately, I'm out of there. My scrapbook pages are done in less than one minute or I won't do them. None of those twenty-minute layouts for me, thanks!

But where did my patience go? Certainly not into my children -- they're just as impatient as I am. I think it must have all just seeped out from my feet into the floor. I'd sure like to have it back.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

A New Neighbor!

That's right, there's a new blog in town. A good friend of mine has decided to parlay his genealogy experience into a blog and can be found at The Bloodhound. Given that this blog is only an hour old, he's asked me to help spread the word. Do you have an interest in genealogy? Have questions about how to get started? Want to share experiences you've had while researching your own lines? Come check it out!

And if you like it, would you pretty please put a link in your sidebar?

Catching Up

As my cute picture here would indicate, I've been running around like a chicken with my head chopped off all month and it won't end any time soon. I'm appearing at the Utah Chocolate Show with Candace Salima this weekend (and I've got scads of product to make) then Thanksgiving's at my house this year, followed by a probable day trip down to Ephraim the Saturday after that. Believe it or not, December is actually a pretty slow month for me.

I'm sorry I haven't been as responsive to questions and comments in my comment trail. I'll take a minute to answer some of them now.


Ronda said:

I--please don't hate me for this--didn't vote for referendum one, but my decision had nothing to do with homeschoolers.


Ronda, I absolutely don't hate you. My frustration wasn't aimed at referendum one, but rather the comments that arose after the fact targeting homeschools. Your house shall not get toilet-papered by me.

Lauri said:

I would love to hear more about your homeschooling education and how you currently homeschool your children. Do you follow any style? Somedays I really question my decisions.


Lauri, I don't follow any particular style. In fact, I'm quite ridiculously unstylish. When my child needs a math book, I look around for one I like and then I use it. My curriculums are from all different companies, even. I just use whatever seems the most applicable to that child at that time. I get a lot of my supplies from Christian Books, and also from our local school supply stores. Sometimes I'll find a book I like at a store, come home and see if Amazon has one. That's a great way to save some money while I'm at it.

As far as questioning your decisions, as long as you make them with your child's best interest at heart, you'll be completely fine. The Spirit will guide you in what your child needs to know and to learn. You'll also be guided to notice the ways in which your child learns best so you'll know how to approach the topics.

Keeley said:

Could you let me know what programmes/texts/whatever you do to teach writing? I'm feeling really inadequate in that area.


Do you mean writing as in handwriting, or as in creative writing?

Either way, let me share what I do. I don't know if this will work for you or if it even answers your question, but we'll give it a shot.

My children have inherited their father's art skills and my writing skills. They love to draw and illustrate their own stories. I give them plenty of paper (we go through a ream about every two weeks) and they draw and write to their heart's content. When they're done, I go through and correct their spelling. I also encourage them to use their nicest handwriting.

I find that by letting them loose on a project of their own, it's more fun for them than just sitting down to a page of "make the letter A." Of course, they do that when they're first starting out, but I try to get them writing their own things as soon as I can. They have more of an emotional investment in it, and it keeps them going.


I hope this was helpful! Please ask anything else you'd like -- it may take me a little while to respond, for which I apologize, but I will get back to you, I promise.

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

The Right to Home School

I'm feeling a tetch fractious right now, and you know me -- I feel better once I've let off some steam. Here we go with the steam-letting.

The voucher referendum didn't go through. As a home schooler, that doesn't affect me directly, although I was hoping it would open up the floor to the idea of home schoolers getting a tax break on school supplies, which they don't right now. What's driving me nuts is the way that those opposed to vouchers are now cheering, some of them even vocalizing their glee that this puts more of a pinch on the home schools. Now, home schools weren't involved in this at all -- but I guess they, like me, could see that eventually there would be a connection.

It's not the fact that the vouchers didn't go through that has my knickers in a knot. It's the way these people are talking about home schooling.

Now, I will admit that there are some really bad home schoolers out there. I've even heard tell of families who keep their older children home to tend the younger ones, under the guise of home schooling. Those families are in the minority.

One blog I read today had a really dumb comment. "Referendum 1 didn't pass, just like most home schoolers." I don't know where he got this information. Home schooled children don't have a hard time passing. They get into colleges just like public schooled children. They get masters degrees and head out into the world to become doctors and lawyers and other contributing members of society. Some of them even grow up to be LDS historical fiction authors. Yes, I was home schooled my entire life.

I'm not saying that everyone should home school. I completely understand that there are families and children who do better in a public school environment. I would just appreciate it if others would be more lenient in their opinion of me and my fellow home schoolers. When it's done right, home schooling is a marvelous thing. The children thrive. They develop closer relationships with their parents and other siblings. They are not socially inept, contrary to popular belief, and those that are probably would be in a public school setting, too. I mean, there are nerds and dweebs all over the place -- you can't confine them to just one demographic.

I home school my children because I believe that for us, it's the right thing to do. I enjoy doing it. It's natural to me because of how I received my schooling. I don't run around lambasting people for sending their children to public school, and it frustrates me that there are those who run around lambasting home school, especially when they don't have all their facts straight. Home schoolers do excel academically. They aren't just existing, drifting along in the river of life.

I found some quotes today that I think help prove I'm not totally insane:


In many places it is literally not safe physically for youngsters to go to school. And in many schools-and it's becoming almost generally true-it is spiritually unsafe to attend public schools. Look back over the history of education to the turn of the century and the beginning of the educational philosophies . . . which have led us now into a circumstance where our schools are producing the problems that we face.
President Boyd K. Packer, BYU, Oct. 9, 1996



The duty of the mother is to watch over her children, and give them their early education, for impressions received in infancy are lasting. You know, yourselves, by experience, that the impressions you have received in the dawn of your mortal existence, bear, to this day, with the greatest weight upon your mind. It is the experience of people generally, that what they imbibe from their mothers in infancy, is the most lasting upon the mind through life... Children have all confidence in their mothers; and if mothers would take proper pains, they can instill into the hearts of their children what they please. You will, no doubt, recollect reading, in the Book of Mormon, of two thousand young men, who were brought up to believe that, if they put their whole trust in God, and served Him, no power would overcome them. You also recollect reading of them going out to fight, and so bold were they, and so mighty their faith, that it was impossible for their enemies to slay them. This power and faith they obtained through the teachings of their mothers. Brigham Young (Journal of Discourses 1:66-70)



There is a spirit working among the Saints to educate their own offspring. If our children will be all we will have for a foundation of glory in eternity, how needful that they be properly trained... There are wolves among us in sheep's clothing ready to lead astray our little ones... Wolves do not devour old sheep when there are any young ones. I have herded sheep long enough to know that. Look after your children. John Taylor (Collected Discourses 2:138.)



We feel that the time has arrived when the proper education of our children should be taken in hand by us as a people. Religious training is practically excluded from the District Schools. The perusal of books that we value as divine records is forbidden. Our children, if left to the training they receive in these schools, will grow up entirely ignorant of these principles of salvation for which the Latter-day Saints have made so many sacrifices. To permit this condition of things to exist among us would be criminal. The desire is universally expressed by all thinking people in the Church that we should have schools where the Bible, the Book of Mormon and the Book of Doctrine and Covenants can be used as text books, and where the principles of our religion may form a part of the teaching of the schools. Wilford Woodruff (Messages of the First Presidency, 3:168)



We have given our public schools a great trust; and have endowed them with tremendous power. Our children are in their keeping during most of the formative years of life. As the schools teach so will the coming generation think and act. The conditions in our land today, good or bad, may well be laid at the doors of our schools, which nourished us in our immaturity with ideals which in our maturity are being translated into action... If the schools shall be powerful factors in building defenses against evil, and in preparing against the enemy, they must face about from traditional views and give undivided attention on the one hand to moral and spiritual training, and on the other to practical education. Such teaching, for that matter, has been the counsel and advice of the Church from the beginning. Never was it needed more than now. John A. Widstoe (CR, October 1940, p.62-65)



We urge families to protect their children in every way possible. We live in a permissive world, but we must make certain that we do not become part of that permissive world... The home is the teaching situation." Spencer W. Kimball (Ensign, Nov. 1974, p. 7)



Since public schools are supported by taxation, parents are compelled to finance them. Even though the law may allow them to send their children to private schools, in order to do so they must support two educational systems at once, and this the vast majority of them feel themselves unable to do. Since the law compels them to go to some school, the net effect of all this is to force nearly all children into the public system. Therefore, those who favor socialized education take the position that the state and not the parents should have the responsibility of training children during a certain period of their lives. Nor should it be imagined that the parent can control the education of his child in the public system. When the state hires the teachers, selects the courses and textbooks, and dictates where the child shall attend, it is impossible for individual preferences to be respected regarding these vital matters. (The Great and Abominable Church of the Devil, p. 134) H. Verlan Andersen



The Lord holds parents personally accountable for the teaching of their children and if they fail to discharge this duty properly, the sins of the children rest upon the parents (D&C 68:25, 2 Nephi 4:4-6). If parents are to be held accountable, then they must be given the right to control what is taught to their children and who teaches them. Both of these rights are denied under the typical laws providing for public schools. (The Book of Mormon and the Constitution, p. 185) H. Verlan Andersen
The tenth plank in Karl Marx's Manifesto for destroying our kind of civilization advocated the establishment of "free education for all children in public schools." There were several reasons why Marx wanted government to run the schools. Dr. A. A. Hodge pointed out one of them when he said, "It is capable of exact demonstration that if every party in the State has the right of excluding from public schools whatever he does not believe to be true, then he that believes most must give way to him that believes least, and then he that believes least must give way to him that believes absolutely nothing, no matter in how small a minority the atheists or agnostics may be. It is self-evident that on this scheme, if it is consistently and persistently carried out in all parts of the country, the United States system of national popular education will be the most efficient and widespread instrument for the propagation of atheism which the world has ever seen."
Ezra Taft Benson (in Conference Report, October 1970, p. 25)

I love the idea of religious and secular education going hand in hand, and that's what I try to accomplish with our home school. I firmly believe that a secular education does you no good if you aren't educated spiritually, just as I believe that reading is absolutely essential to everything else you do. Our home school is a religious institution first and foremost. We add math, reading, and everything else on top of the religion. There is no other school organization that will provide that kind of concentration on the religious aspect of the education. I want my children to have the freedom to ask religious questions at any time of the day or night, and not have to save them for when they get home from school. I want to incorporate principles of the creation in to our science lessons so we can express appreciation for God's hand as we examine the rocks He formed and the oceans He gave us. It is entirely possible and appropriate to study science and religion at the same time. God is the author of science.

I'm sorry that those who oppose home school have had such rotten experiences with it. I'm sorry that they feel the need to so vehemently oppose it. I, for one, have had marvelous experiences in my own school career and am enjoying them with my children. I have no doubt that they'll grow up to be well-adjusted, well-read, well-educated adults who will make a positive impact on this world.

Saturday, November 03, 2007

I'm Baaaaack!

Wow -- I'm totally trashed. The boutique went really well -- I sold most of everything I took, which was great. Several of the people remembered me from last year and were so glad to see me again -- my body spritz apparently made quite the impression last year. Shirley Bahlmann was a great help and sold a bunch of my stuff this morning before I got there. We were sampling out lotions and lip balms like crazy. It was great!

I only sold two books, but once I get another one published, that should change. Nope, no word on that yet.

Meanwhile, I'm exhausted beyond words and I really want to go to bed, but my two-year-old is being outrageously awake. Who knows if I'll get to bed anytime soon. At least it's daylight savings time, so if I do have to stay up all night, it will be one hour less. Right?
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...