New Traditions ~ New Normals (My guest post . . .)

Today I am guest hosting at Chelsea’s blog, Sharing the Journey, for her series, 25 Days of Christmas Traditions.  Each day someone shares their traditions.  Please click the link below to continue with my full post as we have found New Traditions ~ New Normals.

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unday our forever 16 year old son will be gone 7 years.  Matthew died exactly two weeks before Christmas and it changed many Christmas’ afterwards for us. He had bought a tall skinny country type Christmas tree from his workplace and set it up, behind our piano, just days before he died.  It stayed up for several years, making it into a seasonal tree.   Finally we took it down.  It took several years before we put another Christmas tree up.  So many of the Christmas decorations reminded me of his funeral.  Red was his favorite color, so there was lots of red poinsettias and red ribbons and greenery. An evergreen grows by his gravestone.  I knew and know, Christmas is about Jesus and His birthday, but it was very hard celebrating when our hearts were broken.  Slowly finding new normals and new traditions is what has helped us the most . . . to do things a little differently.

New Traditions ~ New Normals
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In Other Words: Tuesday’s New Quote

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ext week’s In Other Words, will be hosted by Lori on her blog, All You Have to Give.  She has chosen the quote below.

Think and ponder on this quote and share about it on your blog on Tuesday. Then, visit Lori’s blog on Tuesday, leave the link to your blog there and visit the other gals who have also written on it.

 

4th of July

Free Valentine Notebooking Pages, Cards & More!

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alentine’s Day is in two more days!  The Homeschool Estore.com once again has this free Valentine theme related download and this one is from NotebookingPages.Com.    Available for download is: a set of 33 Valentine Notebooking Pages great for letter writing, copywork, and narrations and much more.  There’s also six foldable Valentine cards and fourteen decorated envelopes and three pages of Valentine recipe cards and labels. 

So, if you are a little like me this year, with the lack of energy and time, this will be a great help for the children to make memories and be creative (and even work some language arts and writing into it!).  We did make a few special Valentines with a little treat that we are sending out, and will show you on Wednesday since I don’t want to spoil the surprise for a few readers.  🙂

Free Valentine Notebooking Pages, Cards & More!

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alentine’s Day is in two more days!  The Homeschool Estore.com once again has this free Valentine theme related download and this one is from NotebookingPages.Com.    Available for download is: a set of 33 Valentine Notebooking Pages great for letter writing, copywork, and narrations and much more.  There’s also six foldable Valentine cards and fourteen decorated envelopes and three pages of Valentine recipe cards and labels. 

So, if you are a little like me this year, with the lack of energy and time, this will be a great help for the children to make memories and be creative (and even work some language arts and writing into it!).  We did make a few special Valentines with a little treat that we are sending out, and will show you on Wednesday since I don’t want to spoil the surprise for a few readers.  🙂

Free Valentine Notebooking Pages, Cards & More!

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alentine’s Day is in two more days!  The Homeschool Estore.com once again has this free Valentine theme related download and this one is from NotebookingPages.Com.    Available for download is: a set of 33 Valentine Notebooking Pages great for letter writing, copywork, and narrations and much more.  There’s also six foldable Valentine cards and fourteen decorated envelopes and three pages of Valentine recipe cards and labels. 

So, if you are a little like me this year, with the lack of energy and time, this will be a great help for the children to make memories and be creative (and even work some language arts and writing into it!).  We did make a few special Valentines with a little treat that we are sending out, and will show you on Wednesday since I don’t want to spoil the surprise for a few readers.  🙂

Free Valentine Notebooking Pages, Cards & More!

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alentine’s Day is in two more days!  The Homeschool Estore.com once again has this free Valentine theme related download and this one is from NotebookingPages.Com.    Available for download is: a set of 33 Valentine Notebooking Pages great for letter writing, copywork, and narrations and much more.  There’s also six foldable Valentine cards and fourteen decorated envelopes and three pages of Valentine recipe cards and labels. 

So, if you are a little like me this year, with the lack of energy and time, this will be a great help for the children to make memories and be creative (and even work some language arts and writing into it!).  We did make a few special Valentines with a little treat that we are sending out, and will show you on Wednesday since I don’t want to spoil the surprise for a few readers.  🙂

Free Valentine Notebooking Pages, Cards & More!

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alentine’s Day is in two more days!  The Homeschool Estore.com once again has this free Valentine theme related download and this one is from NotebookingPages.Com.    Available for download is: a set of 33 Valentine Notebooking Pages great for letter writing, copywork, and narrations and much more.  There’s also six foldable Valentine cards and fourteen decorated envelopes and three pages of Valentine recipe cards and labels. 

So, if you are a little like me this year, with the lack of energy and time, this will be a great help for the children to make memories and be creative (and even work some language arts and writing into it!).  We did make a few special Valentines with a little treat that we are sending out, and will show you on Wednesday since I don’t want to spoil the surprise for a few readers.  🙂

Free Valentine Notebooking Pages, Cards & More!

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alentine’s Day is in two more days!  The Homeschool Estore.com once again has this free Valentine theme related download and this one is from NotebookingPages.Com.    Available for download is: a set of 33 Valentine Notebooking Pages great for letter writing, copywork, and narrations and much more.  There’s also six foldable Valentine cards and fourteen decorated envelopes and three pages of Valentine recipe cards and labels. 

So, if you are a little like me this year, with the lack of energy and time, this will be a great help for the children to make memories and be creative (and even work some language arts and writing into it!).  We did make a few special Valentines with a little treat that we are sending out, and will show you on Wednesday since I don’t want to spoil the surprise for a few readers.  🙂

Free Valentine Notebooking Pages, Cards & More!

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alentine’s Day is in two more days!  The Homeschool Estore.com once again has this free Valentine theme related download and this one is from NotebookingPages.Com.    Available for download is: a set of 33 Valentine Notebooking Pages great for letter writing, copywork, and narrations and much more.  There’s also six foldable Valentine cards and fourteen decorated envelopes and three pages of Valentine recipe cards and labels. 

So, if you are a little like me this year, with the lack of energy and time, this will be a great help for the children to make memories and be creative (and even work some language arts and writing into it!).  We did make a few special Valentines with a little treat that we are sending out, and will show you on Wednesday since I don’t want to spoil the surprise for a few readers.  🙂

Christmas 2006

~ ~ ~Tomorrow we will have an update on our room remodeling. 
What a gift we received!

Preparing for Advent

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ast Wednesday on my post, Two Months Until Christmas, I shared about one of my favorite bloggers who gave some enlightening perspectives at how to look at Christmas, even when all our "plans" don’t go our way.  This blogger, Ann, has written a very lovely advent book called, The Glorious Coming (you can see sample pages at that link).  Today I discovered on the blog, Enjoy the Journey, that Lindsey is beginning her Christmas blog, Advent for Evangelicals and will be sharing about the Jesse Tree from Ann’s book, complete with an interview with Ann regarding her book.  AND you have the chance to win this book on Enjoy the Journey!  Isn’t it great to get support and ideas to help us in our Christian journey?  I am looking forward to this book and new blog!

Two Months Until Christmas

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wo months from today is Christmas, and I have not even begun to think of what we are going to do.  This time of year has such mixed emotions since it was exactly two weeks before Christmas that our son died.  Last year was survival.  We did not do much.  The last several years anyway we have given family gifts (games, family movies, etc.) to the children, and we concentrate more on their birthdays to give them individual, personalized gifts.  I have been thinking we need to bring some newness into this year, without all the commercialization, but the real meaning of Whose birthday it is.  We need more changes.

Today I was checking on Ann’s blog, Holy Experience, and Monday’s post is about her writing for another blog about a Christ-Centered Christmas.  You won’t want to miss reading this, as she gives glimpses into teaching her children to give, celebrating Advent, book suggestions, and keeping the busyness of the season limited.  She shares a precious story of how God taught her last Christmas, having to change their last minute plans because of sick children.  Instead of self-pity and the woes of not being able to be with extended family, God tucks a special meaning into this day, and like Mary, she pondered these things in her heart.

Our flu-derailed Christmas is right on track. This is exactly why Christ came. His point of destination was to sick people like us who writhed for a healing touch, who burned for living waters, who moaned for new bodies.

Ann shares a unique gift with her readers to contemplate and to begin a new tradition or just a new look at Christmas.  Take a peek.  It’s a gift that will keep on giving.

Labor Day History Lesson

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ABOR DAY ~ how much do we know the meaning of it?  Besides knowing the basics, I did a little research to learn more.  It actually took 12 years of making for Labor Day to become a national holiday.

On September 5, 1882 the first Labor Day parade was held in New York City, marching up Broadway, led by the Knights of Labor. The Knights of Labor was a labor union founded in secrecy in December of 1869, by a group of Philadelphia tailors whose intentions were to protect all those who worked for a living.  The parade was the reaction of disillusioned Americans upset with the 12- to 14-hour workdays in dangerous factories and underground mines. Twenty thousand workers marched in this parade carrying banners that read "LABOR CREATES ALL WEALTH," and "EIGHT HOURS FOR WORK, EIGHT HOURS FOR REST, EIGHT HOURS FOR RECREATION!" After the parade there were picnics all around the city and workers along with celebrants ate Irish stew, homemade bread and apple pie, ending the night with fireworks.

The next year, on September 5, 1883, the Central Labor Union celebrated the second Labor Day holiday. In l884 the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday and the Central Labor Union urged similar organizations in other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a "workingmen’s holiday" on that date. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in l885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country. In September of 1892, union workers in New York City took a day without pay to parade around Union Square in support of a Labor Day holiday that would occur midway between Independence Day and Thanksgiving. Finally, in 1894, President Grover Cleveland, in an effort to boost his presidential campaign, signed legislation making the first Monday in September a national holiday honoring labor. Despite his trying to appease, Cleveland still lost his bid for re-election.  Today, Labor Day is observed not only in the U.S. but also in Canada, and many other industrialized nations.

Labor Day may now seem like just another holiday, an extended weekend, or the end of summer vacation.  But, how about a time of thankfulness, for the jobs we have to sustain our family incomes, and for the many workers, be it doctors, firemen, police officers, nurses, garbage men, postal workers, farmers, truck drivers, etc. who make it possible for us to be protected, and have the daily needs and wants of everyday life. 

Remembering Our Soldiers

Independance Day is another opportunity for teaching our children (whether home educated or not) about the freedoms we have in our country and the sacrifices that have been made and continue to be made.  Below are some interesting websites to possibly help children and adults alike reach out and be an encouragement to our soldiers.  What a great opportunity to share Jesus, our prayers for these people, and allow our children to be creative in words, drawings, and even easy sewing projects to encourage a soldier. 

"Therefore, encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing." 1Thessalonians 5:11

Here are some opportunities:

SOLDIERS’ ANGELS – Adopt a soldier by committing to sending a card or letter a week and AT LEAST 1 or 2 care packages a month. This is important to help bring home a healthy hero, (care packages do not have to be expensive and you can put together your own), duration of adoption is usually 6 to 8 mo.

A Million Thanks Organization was founded by a teenager in 2004 aiming to collect 1 million letters to send to soldiers.  That goal was met, and now the new goal is to receive 2.6 million letters – one for each U.S. servicemember (300,000 more letters are needed).  The site gives rules and guidelines for letters and cards (which can be homemade)

Operation Gratitude gives numerous different ideas including financial donations, items needed, letter writing ideas (along with a guideline letter for do’s and don’ts), Fleece Neck Cooler Directions (perfect first sewing project idea that will make a thoughtful gift).

Send an e-card.

Sew a "Cool Tie" or a Polymer Cool Neck Band– a cotton neckerchief filled with water-absorbing polymer granules from a garden center. (These polymer crystals can provide up to 15 hours of relief from heat after a 15 minute soaking in cold water.) Another great first sewing project.  (Only tan, brown or desert camouflage colored cotton should be used to make for soldiers.)

Remember 9/11 – On September 11, 2006, ~  2,996 volunteer bloggers will join together for a tribute to the victims of 9/11. Each person will pay tribute to a single victim, in a positive way remembering the person and their life.  To learn how you can help out by either posting a tribute on your blog or offering your services to promote, visit this website,  2,996 STORIES.