The question this week is "What do you do for halloween?"

My family has almost always attended Harvest Festivals at our local church. These have been fun for us and allowed our children safe places to play games, get treats, and have a fun meal and fellowship with friends and family.

Costumes have always been optional but we've tried to do fun things with a Christian theme whenever we wore them. Our children have been many different Bible characters: Mary, Jonah -- very easy as you pretty much just carry a stuffed whale around with ya :-), Noah -- because we actually have one, and so forth. They've also done simple things like a ballerina (cause we had a tutu in the dress up box), and a scarecrow (because we had overalls, a flannel shirt, and a bale of hay handy), and a pumpkin (because we owned an orange set of sweats and I had green felt on hand to make a hat), and a pirate (cause who doesn't have boys without having pirate stuff in your toy box).

Me, I don't do the dress up thing much. My favorite costume I ever saw though was a girl in a housecoat, pink sponge rollers, and cold cream on her face. I mean, gosh, you party for a while, and then just fall into bed... pretty simple and truly does border on multi-tasking, which of course I'm a fan of ;-)

My husband always does things a bit silly. One year he wore a black shirt with a large red "c" on it. Get it? The red sea? Another year I painted his eye black (yes, it WAS paint....I didn't really give him a shiner..lol) and he wore a shirt with a large "p". You know, a black eyed pea? LOL... he always seems to have the most fun!! Last year the booth he worked at for our Harvest Festival was a story telling booth. He had tons of children sitting on his lap for hours as he told Bible stories. They always tell him he looks silly but they never seem to want to go back to mom and dad, either! He's a good storyteller with loads of good sound effects! Maybe I should put a video of HIM online!! 

This year we are in a new town, and a new church but the Harvest Festival continues at our new church! I am making three cakes for tonights cake walk and will be working in the hotdog line. I've never tried the line "Would you like mustard, ketchup, Jesus with that?" but tonight I just might :-) 

Whatever it is that your family does, I hope you have a blessed time of fellowship together!! Remember, Jesus is the reason for the season.. oh, wait.. wrong holiday.. oh, whatever... it still fits because, I mean, He IS the reason for our joy!!

Click here to read what other homeschool families are doing tonight with their families...

Sallie

 

Our menu (breakfast and lunch choices for the day are usually majority rule with no two things being had two days in a row so it all kind of works out for everyone having favorites sometime during the week) :

Breakfast choices for the week: cereal, oatmeal, waffles, pancakes, eggs and sausage

Lunch/ snack choices for the week: tomato soup with 1/2 cup goldfish crackers, ham or turkey and provolone cheese sandwich, apple slices, 1 cup of grapes, clementines, cheese stick, gogurt

Dinner: Monday - marinated pork roast with sesame stir fry veggies; Tuesday -whole roasted garlic chicken with steamed veggies; Wednesday - hamburgers and fresh veggies; Thursday - lasagna (with baby spinach) and salad; Friday - pizza/movie night; Saturday - out of town for baseball game with church fellowship ; Sunday - fried chicken drumsticks, mac n' cheese, salad

 

1) Devotions -- Spend time in the word of God every morning. Continue with my studying of the Greek and Hebrew meanings of words so that I have a more indepth understanding of the Word. We are studying Revelation at church on Wednesday and Sunday night. I find people have their beliefs on this chapter of the Bible more about what they grew up learning than what is actually there. I've deeply studied Revelation at least twice before, and Daniel as well, so I feel I do have a bit of understanding. I need to make sure I have all my scripture references handy in order to be able to point people away from what they think the Bible says to what it really says.

2) Homeschool -- Print out at least one month of each child's schedule and organize it in binders. School start date: August 4th!!

3) Homekeeping -- Finish boxes on back screened in porch (they are half gone!!! YEAH) and call housing office to fix screendoor so we can enjoy our porch :-)

• M,T,W,TH,F -- vacuum
• T, TH -- bathrooms
• M,F -- dust
• W -- windows and doors  

4) Exercise -- Walking has turned out to be a bit skimping on my part the past two weeks. I think I have too much in my mind regarding miles because I used to walk at least three miles at a time. For now, I am setting my goal to walk 20 minutes AWAY from my house and back again everyday. I am adding some indoor things as well such as some resistance band stretching and weight lifting with my husband. He is up to 50 pound weights. I'm still on about 7...LOL

5) Interviews with grama -- these are going great.. talking with Grama is slow sometimes and she doesn't remember things like she used to but I am just asking a few questions at a time.

Sallie

Sallie

I have so much even more stuff (since last week) that I've decided to get rid of but haven't been sure about how to go about it yet. Should I just give it away to Salvation Army? Should I have a yard sale? Maybe even an online yard sale like this one at Twice Remembered Cottage? (I'm really leaning towards this idea and may have more posted about it later this week!!!) 

Anyway, without any further ado, and not really in an particular order, here's my list:

1) Devotions -- Spend time in the word of God every morning. Continue with my studying of the Greek and Hebrew meanings of words so that I have a more indepth understanding of the Word.

2) Homeschool -- Finish Victoria's transcripts from this year. Get rid of everything else that doesn't fit and simplify our schedule for our start date of about August 4th.

3) Homekeeping -- Finish music room/office, reading nook, and kitchen this week. Purchase some potted plants (probably geraniums, one of my favorites!!) to sit on the patio wall out front.

4) Start Walking -- I am walking more but not like I wanted so I am going to start walking three nights a week with one or two other ladies from church... can you say accountability?!?

5) Begin interviews with grama -- My husbands grama is 94 years old. She has recently been diagnosed with cancer behind her eye. She is a two time breast cancer survivor but because of her age, and her readiness to go home to Jesus, she is refusing all treatment. She and I have been talking several times a month for many years now and she has shared some great stories with my husband and I. We asked her this past May when we visited with her if I could start asking her questions and writing down the answers. She told us how she met grampa and giggled like a little girl again. I took that as a yes answer and so last week we purchased a phone with a recorder connected to it. I have my list of questions and I'm ready to just take it slow and easy and let her talk. My plan is to put it in a small journal with some family photos and print it up so that everyone in the family will have a copy.

Our menu (breakfast and lunch choices for the day are usually majority rule with no two things being had two days in a row so it all kind of works out for everyone having favorites sometime during the week) :

Breakfast choices for the week: cereal, muffins, waffles, eggs and sausage

Lunch/ snack choices for the week: peanut butter and jelly sandwich, tomato soup with 1/2 cup goldfish crackers, ramen, grilled cheese sandwich, apple slices, 1 cup of grapes, 3 cookies, cheese stick, gogurt

Dinner: Monday - vegetable beef soup; Tuesday - meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans; Wednesday -  pork tenderloin, stir fry rice and veggies; Thursday - whole roasted chicken, wild rice, and fresh veggies; Friday - pizza/movie night; Saturday - lasagna and salad; Sunday - sandwishes and salad

Sallie

Heather over at Titus 2 Woman has started a meme to share special women who have made an impact in her life. She is just starting this meme up and would love for all ya'll to participate :-)

This week I'd like to share Mrs. Ruth Ambrose. She was my very first Sunday School teacher and she was very patient and kind. My mom worked late nights, and she was offended by something someone said at some time or another, and so she didn't go to church with us much when we were little. The ladies at our church were very good mentors and examples to me of being a Titus 2 woman. I think that is one of the reasons I am still drawn to older women when we arrive at a new church. Mrs. Ruth was also one of my music teachers for the kids choir and I remember the extra special kindness she showed my brother and sister and I during Vacation Bible School in the summer as well. She was just a really sweet lady who loved kids and showed them kindness through teaching them stories from the Bible.

If you have a person you'd like to share, hop on over to Heather's and join in! 

Tags: This One's For the Girls Meme, Titus 2 Woman

Sallie