You are my strength when I am Weak

"You Are My All In All"

Na na na…holy

You are my strength when I am weak
You are the treasure that I seek
You are my all in all
Seeking You as a precious jewel
Lord, to give up I'd be a fool
You are my all in all

Taking my sin, my cross, my shame
Rising again I bless Your name
You are my all in all
When I fall down You pick me up
When I am dry You fill my cup
You are my all in all

Jesus, Lamb of God
Worthy is Your name
Jesus, Lamb of God
Worthy is Your name

You are my strength when I am weak
You are the treasure that I seek
You are my all in all
Seeking You as a precious jewel
Lord, to give up I'd be a fool
You are my all in all

Jesus, Lamb of God
Worthy is Your name
Jesus, Lamb of God
Worthy is Your name

Jesus, Lamb of God
Worthy is Your name
Jesus, Lamb of God
Worthy is Your name

Jesus, Lamb of God
Worthy is Your name
Worthy is Your name
Worthy is Your name 

This song immediately popped into my head when I saw the word Weak was our word prompt for the day.

It's funny you know.

The older I get the more I realize that God is my strength.

When I was young I knew that God could move mountains if he so desired.

I knew this.

I didn't count on it though.

I counted on my strength and ability to see me through by the end of the day.

But as I mature... I'm a whole 51 years old eh... I see more of God in action.

As  he helps me through a day when I feel grumpy because my body is yelling at me.

His strength keeps me from yelling at the lad or making hubby feel horrid just because I do.

Knowing that he has my back helps me from feeling discouraged when an highly anticipated litter of bunnies proves to not come about, or dies, or a possum gets into the rabbitry and wrecks havoc. 

These small things help me to rest secure when bigger things happens like church closures and job searches begin.   

I can't say that I always rest easy (because that would be a lie) but it helps me to rest more secure that in the end, God will work it out.

------------------------------------------------- 

This is a five minute friday post 

Hosted by Dear Miss Kate. 

Today the word prompt is Weak. 

Five minute free write.

 Link up.

 Encourage others.

 Join the community.

STEM: The Making of a Sword

What does cardboard, duct tape, a dowel and a ball of yarn have to do with each other?

It's a weapon for an 11 year old boy that's what it is.   My son has been making or using swords for a very long time.   As he gets older they are getting more elaborate with better details.  He has a weapons book that is frequently a source of inspiration.

Take one dowel, add some cardboard and wrap it with yarn.  Judicious use of duct tape is must.

Make sure you craft your cardboard carefully so you can make a good hilt.  Protecting one's hand while swinging a sword is vitally important.   A good grip equally so.

Take time to form your foam to make your sword blade.  Think enough to provide cushioning, thing enough to not look horrible. 

Safety is very important...no accidental injuries needed.

After applying the foam to either side of the dowel there was a space in either side that just didn't look right.  Here is where some thin foam came into play.

And of course, no sword is complete without the knight to go with it eh?

He used to have boots and leg protectors but they just proved a pain to deal with so he discarded them.  His shield can take quite a beating. His gauntlets provide a good range of motion and give him more protection then you'd think.  

The sword, unless swung with determined force, doesn't hurt when it hits, but is long enough that we need to be mindful of lamps, candles and overhead lights.  :)  I'm looking forward to the spring when I can use my scimitar the lad is going to make me, against the lad's sword.  :)

The Lad is getting practical experience in how difficult it would be for students of the knightly arts to control what their sword was doing.    He's built a sheath for it (needs a bit of fine tuning so no pictures allowed).

I love how my lad will spend hours creating, changing, adding, and learning about the armour and weapons of old.   Doing STEM and not even realizing it.   AND it works and works well.  He's due for a refit of his chest-plate etc and he's gone through a growth spurt and is finding it just a tad bit tight now....  

So tell me... would you want to face this young warrior in battle?? 

If my son has peaked your interest, some books that might appeal.  Affiliate links used to help my family without cost to you.
 

Review: Same Kind of Different As Me for kids

This lovely book is based on the book "Same Kind of different as Me".  It is based on a true life story of Denver Moore and Ron Hall.

I have to admit... it's a intriguing story.

A lady with a vision of a fellow in her mind.  A man who she said would be wise.

Denver Moore, a hardened street man, criminal, living a life that is tough.  And suddenly Miss Debbie spots him and knows that he is the man she's been waiting for.

It took him, but eventually Denver Moore became friends with Debbie and her husband Ron.  This led them onto a road of change.  Keeping alive the cause of homelessness in cities across America.

My thoughts:
This is a gentle book.  Giving the history of a man who as a child wanted more and as an adult failed to get it and found himself beaten down by his life choices.  Then something happened.... LOVE stepped in.

Love changes things in dramatic ways at times.  This time it took a street man and changed his life into a helper of other street people.   From a man who only could look to his own interests, to one who saw to the needs of others just like him.  

 Should you get this book?

Yes.  It's an easy way to show children what God can do if we direct our love at his people.  How he can effectuate change through our obedience.   And just to promote the fact that we aren't called to change the world, we are called to influence the people in our world.

Same Kind of Different as me for Kids
by Ron Hall and Denver Moore
32 pages
Published by Thomas Nelson
Age Range: Elementary
Hardcover
Non-fiction

Amazon.ca: Same Kind of Different As Me for Kids

Amazon.com: Same Kind of Different As Me for Kids

Art Series: The Painting-In Book

Today I have a NEAT book.  It's  one of those use it up type books, but could easily, be adapted for a classroom setting.

It's called the Painting-In Book, it's written by Anna Rumsby, and it is just a fun book... meant to teach young children about paint and how to use it.

Book Synopsis: 
Can you give the gorilla a jungle to hide in? Can you create some honeycomb for the bees? And can you mix up some delicious flavors of ice cream?

Create paint masterpieces with nothing more than your poster paints and Anna Rumsby's entertaining activity pages. A great big book of painting fun!

Also contains an introduction to mixing colors and simple, easy-to-copy painting techniques. 

My thoughts:
This is such a neat little book.  64 pages filled with one sided sheets to help young children express themselves with paint, learning to mix colours, and use differing paint techniques.

Can you give a dog some long hair?

Can you help this boy have fun with the elephant?

The instructions on each page are written clearly and simply.

I am not sure if it is the copy that I received, but the pages pull out very easily.  This makes it easy to pull individual pages out in order to let your little artist create, and later display.

Recommendation:
If you have young children, and want to let them show their artistic side and learn a few things while doing so, this book will work for you.   If you KNOW someone with young children this would make a great gift, along with some washable paints.

The Painting-In Book: 30 Paint and Play Activities
By: Anna Rumsby
Pages: 64
Geared for ages 3-5
Published by: Laurence King
Size: 14.56 x 10.29
Reviewed for: Raincoast Books.

Amazon.ca: The Painting-In Book: 30 Paint and Play Activities

Amazon.com: The Painting-In Book: 30 Paint and Play Activities

I Linked up at the Virtual Fridge this week. Good place to go to for Art Inspiration!

Lab Report: What happens if put bones into vinegar.

My son's lab report for studying human bones and learning how a base will dissolve the calcium in bones.   I needed to assist my son in preparing the bones, but otherwise he did the experiment himself.  He asked me to handle the bones after they sat in the vinegar.  He took the pictures.  :)

Hypothesis: Vinegar would weaken the uncooked bone, and it would not weaken the cooked bone in vinegar.   The bones not in vinegar... The uncooked one would not break and the cooked one would break. 

Procedure: We put one cooked bone and one uncooked into vinegar and let them in there for five days.  After five days we took them out too see what would happen.   We put one uncooked and one cooked bone on a plate and left them to sit for five days.

Observation: 
The bones in vinegar were both bendable.  The uncooked bone was more bendable than the cooked bone.  You could bend the ends of the cooked bone but not the middle.   With the uncooked bone you could bend the entire thing.   The ones in vinegar, the cartilage came off, it was gloppy with the uncooked one... spreadout with long strands, the cooked one stayed together but was mushy.  Both bones not put in vinegar were not bendable. 

Uncooked bones in Vinegar

Cooked Bone in Vinegar

Conclusion: Vinegar weakens bones and cartilage.  Letting bones air dry makes them harder.   Vinegar is a base and bases dissolve things.

Book Series: Parenting - be an ambassador parent

Paul David Tripp wrote an interesting parenting book called Parenting: 14 Gospel Principals.  I thought it might be interesting to read through this book.  Join in if you would like.

I decided to start with the introduction rather than digging into the first of 14 chapters.

In the introduction Mr. Tripp talks about how as he has travelled the world helping parents learn to do this job better, he has discovered that what they need help with is "big picture parenting worldview".   Having this worldview will give us grounding in what God calls to do as parents.. it explains, guides and motivates all that we do.   Ergo as he writes this book he wants parents to understand the gospel behind good parenting practices.

To start with, we have to know who we are in relation to God, to what life is all about and to who your children are.  This knowledge is of paramount importance.

Mr. Tripp wants us to move away from the ownership idea of parenting to the idea that we are ambassadors.   We need to remember, these children aren't ours.  They belong to God and we need to parent them with that idea in the forefront of our minds.

As we parent, we need to be aware of something.   As much as we desire to be ambassadorial parents..... we will fail.  We will want to do things our way, to meet our needs, to just want the short run satisfaction.  We'll fail.  But that's not the point.  The point is to keep striving to do God's will.

Questions we could ask ourselves.
1. Identity - where do we get our identity from. 
2. Work - working to turn your children into something?  or helping them develop into something more?
3. Success - which is more important the end product or what you are doing?
4. Reputation - Living with the craziness that children can bring... does it affect who you are or does it reflect your children?

An ambassador is called to represent the message, methods, and character of the Owner to their children.  (p.20)

The next 14 chapters will introduce different principles to reflect upon to help us do the job of ambassador of God to your children effectively.

....

I read the thought of "you will fail" and it made me smile.  I so often feel like I am failing in what I am doing as a parent.   But it strikes me that seeing oneself as an ambassador of God before the eyes of my son... strikes me as a grave responsibility, as well as taking a load off.  It's not my job to make my son into anything...it's God's job.  Mine is simply to show God to him.  That's it. 

Recipe: Homemade Marinara Sauce

Take a few marina sauce recipes, see what they have in common, and find a way to make it work.  This is what my hubby came up with.

Here is how we put it together:

Blogging Alphabet: E is for Edgewalk

Welcome to week five of blogging through the alphabet.  I am SO pleased that you have come to join us.  :)

Check out this link to see the rest in this series eh?

Anyways, as I go through the alphabet I am focusing on all things Canadian and this week we couldn't get much more Canadian than the CN Tower.   Did you know they have added an Edgewalk?

Imagine being able to walk around the highest building in Toronto?   Wouldn't that be breath-taking scary!!!  (at least in my eyes, my son says "that would be so cool!!!")

 Defining the Toronto skyline at 553.33m (1,815ft5in), the CN Tower is Canada’s most recognizable and celebrated icon. The CN Tower is an internationally renowned architectural triumph, an engineering Wonder of the Modern World, world-class entertainment and dining destination and a must see for anyone visiting Toronto. Each year, over 1.5 million people visit Canada’s National Tower to take in the breathtaking views and enjoy all the CN Tower has to offer. (source)

Canadian National built the CN Tower in 1976.  Their desire was the demonstrate the strength of the Canadian industry through building the tallest tower in the world.  It was a very ambitious product that involved 1537 people working 24 hours a day, five days a week for 40 months.   Worked started February 6, 1973.

Throughout it's history, improvements and changes have been made to the CN Tower.  The Edgewalk was added in 2011.  The Edgewalk gives people a chance to walk hands-free on a five foot walk completely encircling the tower.  It is 1168 ft above the ground. 

Adventure lovers can go around in groups of six.   As they walk they are attached to an overhead safety rail.  A trained guide walks with them.   The 30 minute walk is part of a 1. 5 hour event. To learn more check out Edgewalk CN Tower. 

So what do you think?   Want to join us?

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Review: Undefeated

I am so not a sports person it's almost laughable.. well though I really shouldn't say that.  I enjoy watching soccer, and seeing my lad and hubby do archery, and seeing my son's improvement in Karate brings joy to my heart.

But reading sports oriented book...not really my cup of tea.

So imagine my surprise when this book "Undefeated" captured me completely.   I started reading the book and simply didn't put it down (except when I HAD to...one needs to be safe while driving) until it was finished.

Undefeated is the story of the Carlisle Indian School football team, back when the game was just starting.  I never knew the start of football (can't say I ever really cared) but boy oh boy was it a rough and tough, let's potentially be killed game.   Not at all like the clean cut game that we see now-a-days with full protective gear, rules that are enforced, and various safety measures taken.   Games change as people take action to maintain the joy of the game, whilst protecting the young men who play them.   This book did a good job of spelling out the why and how some of those changes were made.

Steve Sheinkin does an excellent job of portraying the difficulties of life in the Indian Schools both in terms the deliberation of the administrators of the schools (whose aim was to force assimilation into white culture) and the harsh realities of being a student in those schools (who would rather have stayed with their families).  He did so in a manner that didn't sensationalize either end.    It was simply difficult and continues to have repercussions among Native Americans to this day.

What kept me spell bound though ... was the writing of the story, of the seeing how these Indian boys reacted to the pressures exerted upon them... the school, the racism of the day, the hard work, just the hardships of life that were thrown upon them.   These boys acted with a grace and dignity so often was found lacking in their opponents. 

This book captured my thoughts, spoke to me of the history of my southern neighbours, and enlightened my imagination to how people can live above how they treated.   There was indeed a nobility to be found among these young men.

Fighting hard.
Pride in their victories.
Stolid in their defeat.
Battered by the world around them.
These young men proved their mettle in the world of men in their day.

Jim Thorpe was an interesting boy... by today's standards you'd say he was all jock, not wanting to look at books or do his studies, only wanting to be out playing sports or running on the land.   A lad (and later a man) with a determination that was set deep within.   He would train, he would win, and he would persevere...and he did. 

Winning in football, winning at the Olympics, standing by what he knew to be right, and being loyal to his friends.   This was Jim Thorpe.

This book speaks mostly about Jim Thorpe, but also talks about his football coach Pop Warner.   A selfish, egotistical man, who knew how to play football, who bent his will when needed to the needs of his team, who struggled to understand the students he worked with, and looked out for himself in the end.  He always thought with pride on his Carlisle Indian School Football Team.

Throughout the book were pictures of the history of Thorpe and football.

What other reasons can I give you for getting this book yourself?   

1. It would be a great book to give your youth, to ask them to do a book report, or have conversations with them about the themes...how they would preserve under these situations, what their solution to the Indian problem could have been, and such like, even discussing how they might have reacted to the danger of early football.
2. HISTORY...it's part of the history of this world, and if you are American, it's part of the history of your land.   It's not an easy part in many ways, but in others, it's a glimpse of what strength of character people can have.
3. It's a good read.  It just is.  My hubby was so surprised at how quickly I went through this book, and how much I enjoyed it.  "It's not really your type of book hun".   It really isn't, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.   I'll be keeping it for my lad to read when he gets a touch older. 

 
Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team.
Author: Steve Sheinkin
Roaring Brook Press
6.56 x 9.26 
288 pages
Ages 10-14 years

Reviewed for: Raincoast Books.

Song Study: I am Not My Own

This is a song produced by Jeremy Zeyl, it is based on the Heidelberg Catechism Lord's Day 1.   But don't let that scare you away.   :)   The song stands on it's own without as a biblically based song, meant for today's congregations. 

At age 21 "I heard Heidelberg Catechism Question and Answer 1 read at a church service. Those words about “my only comfort in life and in death” leapt out at me and inspired me to write the song “Not My Own.” " (source)

Here are the lyrics: 

 

 Verse 1

This my only comfort in my life and in my death
You have fully paid for all my sins and all my debts
With your precious blood you’ve set me free
With your precious blood you’ve set me free

Chorus

I am not my own but belong body and soul
In my life and in death to you Lord, Christ my Lord
Verse 2

You preserve my life in such a way that without you
Not a hair can fall from me unless you will it to
All things work together for my salvation
All things work together for my salvation

Verse 3

Therefore by your Holy Spirit you assure me
Of eternal life and make me willing and ready
From now on to always live for you
From now on to always live for you

This song had my hubby singing out strongly beside me which is unusual with songs that he is not familiar with.  He tends to just listen until he's sure of the tune....but he sang with this one right from the start as loudly as if he'd known it all his life.  :)

No real history to it other then Jeremy is a CRC kid born and raised close to home in London, Ontario.

If you'd like to know more about him, read this interview with Calvin Institute.

Independence at Work

 This has over all been a pretty good week for us schooling.  It had it's ups and down with health issues and hubby needed to work through a disappointment.   We had a funeral at the end of the week for a dearly loved member of our former church.   With a new schedule made for his schooling it has furthered the lad's independence. 
 
Monday
Introduced chore chart and new schedule.
Started learning about Saturn and how it is the only planet that would float, it is gaseous, has storms, Galileo thought the rings looked like handles because of the poor quality of his telescope.
Weekly visit to Gramma
Hubby and I had a lovely walk on this warmish winter day in the park...we caught some pokemon and just enjoyed the quiet of the park together.
I sold a rabbit who didn't seem to be able to have babies, she's gone to the kind of home I wanted for her.  A rabbit experienced home.  Their first rabbit is dying and they wanted to have a new bun to love on when their first passed away.  BrightSparrow should be a good girlie for them.

Tuesday
Big job today!   The lad is going to cook his first meal for the family!!!

POUTINE!!!  The lad wants to try poutine for the first time ever and it's an easy meal for a lad to make so off we went.  We bought the poutine gravy, fries and cheese curds.

Wednesday
Foodbank this morning.
The lad wrote his first ever research paper... did it on the blog, also learned how to embed video, copy and paste from a website and is learning about citing sources.   Writing in his own words yet...that is still to come...though he's starting.  :)
Started our human body experiment.  Have to admit, I don't have high hopes for this working well....

 

Struggle to do multipliers and division in word problems apparent.
Played Sabateur as a family.

Thursday
Oh.. what did we do today?   I finished  cleaning up the book room.
The lad did his normal schooling... got done 20 minutes early.
The lad wrote a letter for his Waodani assignment today. He was supposed to write for 15 minutes but liked his assignment so much he kept going til it was done.  This is a review product from Home School Adventure Co., you'll need to stay tuned for a review.
Worked on making his helmet better for his Knight's outfit.

Started to learn how to play the "game of life".

We've been learning about Canada's woodlands and seaways this week, today it was the St. Lawrence Seaway.   Did you know it would take 8 days of sailing to cover it all?

Friday
Funeral today with a luncheon.
I had planned to do a Rocket Experiment and testing his improvement of his story grammar, but that didn't happen.  He did do his veritas history and bible and got his reading done.
 
Saturday
Karate and board games along with a movie day.   Just a nice day together.

 Reviews
 Art Series: One Last Word.   A great book based on Harlem renaissance.  Poetry, Art.
 Silver Soldiers.   Christian comic book
 

Faith and Life
 Showers of Blessing.  Devotion on Ezekiel 34:25-31
 Thoughts on Being ... Safe.   Word prompt post. A poem.
 The Lord Seeks his own.   Devotion on Ezekiel 34:11-24
The Prayer Saturated family, a book study, chapter one. 
 Should Shepherds not feed the sheep?   Devotion on Ezekiel 34:1-10
 Recipe: Seasoned Teriyaki Chicken.
 Come and Hear.   Devotion on Ezekiel 33:21-33
 
Homeschooling
 The Building of DaVinci's Clock.
 The Raven.   The Lad's first written report ever.  Much learned, much to learn yet.
 D is Dogsledding in Canada.   Blogging alphabet series.
 Hymn Study: For the Beauty of the Earth.  

  Linking up at the following Places:
 
Homeschool Highlights.
Family Friday Link Ups:
Weird Unsocialized homeschoolers: Weekly Wraps Up.
Homeschool blog and tell.