Meet the Husband.....and learn some American History too.

Go here for the story. On that page is a link to see the video - Yup, that is my Mister - Mr. History. 

Vacation - Rock City and The Hermitage

We just returned from a week long vacation.  The focus was four days of a homeschool convention - but we wrapped the front and back ends of the trip with stops at some fun places. At the front end we visited Rock City. Yes, we were drawn by all the roadside ads on barns and birdhouses! We enjoyed it very much. The above picture is just one of the spectacular sites. What we didn't quite understand was the picture below:

Why the need to pipe in distracting music? While it was nice music, the kids were the first ones to ask why it was needed when the birds, bugs, and water were all so wonderful and noisy on their own. The music only competed with the beauty of the natural that surrounded us. 

On the back end of our trip we visited the Hermitage (Pres. Andrew Jackson's home.) When asked what their favorite parts of that site were - we all had some variation of the beauty of the grounds. I loved the walk out through the far fields. There was a brook along the way and beautuiful wildflowers, trees, and fields. Dh liked the formal garden best - just now in spectaular bloom with lots of magnolias and roses just to name a few of the magnificant flowers. No piped in music here - just lots of robins, squirrels, noisy bugs and babbling brook. It was wonderful and so peaceful.

God does the job of creation best - and it is best when left to him. Our messes are only the noise of piped in music.

MOSI Trip

For her birthday last month, the Princess requested a trip to MOSI. This is the first chance her dad has had to take her. (I chose to opt out and have it a Father/Daughter day.) The Body Works exhibit is still here. A very good biology class.

             And here is a friend from the Butterfly Garden. 

New Brake Pads

I love that my kids all like each other and help each other out. This was definitely a 2-man job. #2 son (under the car) needed new brake pads on his car. #3 son (kneeling) helped out.  

Old - left side.

New - right side

Family Helps

This is a poster you can download and print (it probably needs some resizing) from the website of Dr. SM Davis. We probably have about 70 of his videos now - and we have viewed almost all of them - only a couple still waiting for us to watch - and some we have seen multiple times.  They have been a huge help to our family. As with any help, we take that which is of benefit to us, and leave the rest, but with Dr. Davis we have never had much we didn't take to heart. 

The Lord has given Dr. Davis an extensive ministry helping families.  Parenting is hard work, and it seems that most of our society is inclined to activities rather than training. Even the most well-meaning parents have little to follow in the way of godly examples.  

We beagan with the Wisdom Series he offers, and now have the Anger Series, the Courtship Series, most of the Parenting Series, and the Doctrinal Series. We also have various tapes/dvd's of other sets we haven't yet completed, but will eventually purchase. 

Last year Dr. and Mrs. Davis visited our area and preached in our church. Funny, he was just the same as on his tapes! We were so privileged to meet him and his wife. But even if you can't hear him in person, you will feel he is there with you after watching several of his illustrated sermons.