School has started!

 
Our school year is kicking back into full time, but for this first week... not a heavy schedule.    I changed up how I do the schedule this year.. putting in a column that covers everything I want to cover this year, then I can write on the individual days what needs doing.  

We always change it up even after I type it up.. for instance.. Writing Radar he wants to do five days a week (go figure he likes it!!!)

Review: Time Stoppers Quest for the Golden Arrow

Book two of the Time Stoppers Seriesm Quest for the Golden Arrow. has me eagerly awaiting book three!  :) Oh, sometimes I can hardly wait, I have so been enjoying this series!   Carrie Jones did not disappoint in this second book of the series.

Field Trip: Gettysburg National Military Park Museum

 know I know!  It's been a while since we did our trip to Pennsylvania...but I finally  have found the time to talk about our trip to the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum.

The Poetry of Work

I am feeling doggone tired tonight.
As I sat here I thought.. where does that expression come from?

You know what I learned?  It is a "polite" way to say Darn it or .... well you know.  :)  It does fit though.. I am VERY tired tonight.  :)   Let's just pretend I never researched where the expression comes from....

Anyways, What does that even have to do with the word prompt this week, which in case you didn't know already is the word WORK.

Well...

Work!

Time to move.
Stuff to pack.
Oh no!!!
Oh no!!!!

We're dealing with two pack rats!
Will I move it?
No I say.
Get this stuff out of my way!

Cold cellar there
And it's a fright.
What's the smell
I don't feel so well.

Kick out the boys
Sweep and mop
Spider webs sucked up
Keep going hup hup.


Garage cleaned.
Garbage is full.
Hooray Hooray
The floor sees the light of day!

Look around 
More I see.
Scrap metal I find
New Money, I don't mind.

Load it up
Cart it away.
Garbage bins full
Oh so hard to pull

Another day done
Tired I am
My feet so sore
Tell me not, there is more?

 -----

  This is a five minute Friday post. the word prompt is brought to us by Miss Kate over at Five Minute Friday.  What is Five Minute Friday?  Well it's a party of a group of like minded folks who gather on Friday to do a five minute free write around a singular word.  AND THEN (and this is the most important part) we take the time to offer up encouragement to each other on this writing journey.  It's fun, though it's not always easy, but it is always good.   Come join us won't you?  You are always welcome.

------

This post may contain affiliate links - using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool - thank you! ©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time . We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites

Pearl Seeker: I Gotta Be Me!

Becky Blackmon paints the picture of three owls in a tree.  Two of the owls are being ordinary owls, but the third is a bit of an odd duck, hanging upside down and doing his own thing.   Life isn't easy for that owl... and life isn't easy for people stuck on doing their own thing as well.

Grace would no longer be grace ....

Today we are reading from Romans 11:1-10.

I have to admit, after yesterday's reading I have to wonder... is God rejecting this original chosen people?   Is he turning his back on them or what is going on?  Paul says this:
  I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! 

Consider this: Paul is an Israelite himself!  He hasn't been rejected by God.  He's a member of the tribe of Benjamin, a descendant of Abraham himself. 
For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.

God hasn't rejected any of the people that he foreknew.  God always has a remnant of his chosen people who have been chosen by grace. For instance, when Elijah thought he was the only believer left, God reassured him that he really wasn't.   Just as he had a remnant saved to himself then, he also has a remnant saved to himself NOW.  
  ² God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? ³ “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.” ⁴ But what is God's reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” ⁵ So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace.
Do you see it?   It's not a chosen by works..it's chosen by grace.  Even in the time of Elijah, these people were chosen by grace!  Grace was at work even in the Old Testament!   

I do love this line: 
  ⁶ But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace. 
Makes sense eh?   Grace can't be grace if it's based off anything, otherwise it would no longer be grace. 
  
⁷ What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, ⁸ as it is written,

“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
    eyes that would not see
    and ears that would not hear,
down to this very day.”

⁹ And David says,

“Let their table become a snare and a trap,
    a stumbling block and a retribution for them;
¹⁰ let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see,
    and bend their backs forever.”

Again.. it all comes down to God's choice.  God's choice alone.  If he has elected them (chosen them ahead of time) they obtain what they are seeking.  IF he hasn't, their hearts are hardened, and work as they might, they won't find what they are looking for. 

So what does that mean to me?

God's choice.

He's the one who leads us to seek for him.

That seeking is a sign of his grace upon our lives.

Those that are chosen of God will find what they seek... The Lord God himself and his saving work on our behalf.  

So if you are a seeker...know that you are the elect of God.  Destined to become one of his own.  That's a good thing no?  :)

What say you?    Click here follow along in my Romans Series.

This post may contain affiliate links - using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool - thank you! ©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time . We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites

Art Book:1 2 3, I Can Sculpt

 1,2,3, I Can Sculpt is colourful book geared to helping your young ones have fun creating sculptures.  The book starts off explaining what a sculpture is

"a piece of art that has more than one side to look at".

Isn't that just the most straight-forward definition of a sculpture that you have heard?

Review: Is There Anything Better Than Candy? Box-Tract

Getting in interesting products to review is always a fun thing to do. And this one is a FUN one.  Imagine having a fun way to present the gospel to children, in a way that is non-threatening and provides a double benefit?  Is There Anything Better Than Candy? Box-Tract, produced by Let the Little Children Come come is one such a product, it comes as a ready made halloween tract.

How did we use it? 
My lad and I made up three of them at a time, we took them with us on our weekly trips to the foodbank.  This was our main way of using them.  I also brought them along to a homsechool get-together and some of the teens put a few together to give to siblings.

They were really easy to put together, though if you look you'll see that one of them somehow got put together just a bit incorrectly.  There's really no excuse though, as Let the Little Children Come provides an easy to follow diagram for putting it together. 

Anyways, while at the foodbank we would hand them out to the youngsters who came by.   It was fun to see their delight.  It was such as easy way to bring the word of God into needy families.   Such an easy way to share the gospel with children.

I was amazed at the amount of candy I could fit in and there was even room to spare!  Chocolate, taffy, caramels, peppermints and more!   

We reserved four of them for our annual trick or treaters!  :)

My thoughts:

• It holds a good amount of candy, I was surprised how much fit in and I still had room to spare.
• In making them with a couple of young teens I discovered there was a bit of a learning curve in how to put it together and fill it.  Some got the idea quicker than others, but once the pattern was learned, each pumpkin thereafter went easily.
• It holds a good message, I loved that the message included a prayer.  A nice message for doing child evangelism.
• I can see a variety of ways to make use of these little pumpkins.  They are big enough you could put in a small baked good (tartlets/cookies/donut holes) and bring them along to nursing homes, siblings can give to younger sibs, kids can use them as a surprise for their folks, as rewards at a harvest festival or Hallowe'en party, your imagination is the only limit.   
• How can you share the gospel with children in your life?

Comments from parents:
"This would be a fun craft before Hallowe'en with my girls club"
"Oh, that's such a cute idea!"
"Can I put one together?   Are they hard to do?  Oh!  That's easy enough and oh.. they hold quite a lot don't they?!"

Comments from children:
"Mommy look!  It's a pumpkin!"
"MOMMY  I gots a chocolate!"
"Can I have one mom?  Please?"
"Can I make one for the girl my mom babysits?"

Let the Little Children Come
Is There Anything Better Than Candy? Box-Tract

20 boxes in one pack.

Price per Pack:

US$ 15.95 (1 - 10 packs)
US$ 14.95 (11 - 20 packs)
US$ 13.95 (21 packs or more)

Reviewed for: The Homeschool Review Crew

 Social Media Links:

• https://www.facebook.com/LetTheLittleChildrenCome/  

This post may contain affiliate links - using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool - thank you! ©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time . We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites

Believe in Your Heart

Today we are learning from Romans 10:5-21

Canada Book: Jasper Explores the Pacific Coast.

If you are ever studying Canada you need to pick up the Jasper books, seriously.   They give a good look at Canada while following the tale of a cute stuffy and his friends.   

Faith Matters

Today we are reading from Romans 9:30-10:4.

Keeping it all straight when doing reviews

The question was recently raised on one of the review boards that I am part of, how do you remember to do a review, not forget anything important and such like?   I thought I'd post what do in hopes that it might encourage (or help) others.

Hymn Study: Come to the Saviour

Last Sunday we sang this song at church. It's been running through my head ALL WEEK LONG so I thought I should share that joy with you. (and yes, it actually HAS BEEN a joy). So today.. enjoy Come to the Saviour. 

Lyrics

Come to the Savior, make no delay;
Here in His Word He has shown us the way;
Here in our midst He’s standing today,
Tenderly saying, “Come!”

Refrain

Joyful, joyful will the meeting be,
When from sin our hearts are pure and free;
And we shall gather, Savior, with Thee,
In our eternal home.

“Suffer the children!” oh, hear His voice!
Let ev’ry heart leap forth and rejoice;
And let us freely make Him our choice;
Do not delay, but come.

Refrain

Think once again, He’s with us today;
Heed now His blest command, and obey;
Hear now His accents tenderly say,
“Will you, My children, come?”

Refrain

Written by George F. Root, a American man with a love of music.  By age 13 he could play several different instruments, he played organ as an adult, and taught in the New York Institute for the blind.  He wrote both sacred and secular music, both tunes and words.  By the time of his death he had published more than 500 pieces of music.   He sometimes used the German name Wurzel (Also meaning root) in his music.  

Come to the Saviour is a simple invitational hymn.  I read this story over at CyberHymnal 
 
“In 1879 I was as­sist­ing in re­viv­al meet­ings in Dan­ville, Cal­i­forn­ia,” writes the pas­tor of a Pres­by­ter­ian Church at Oak­land. “The meet­ings were well at­tend­ed and good in­ter­est was ex­hib­it­ed, but for a long time there were no con­ver­sions. In the neigh­bor­hood there was a man who, with his wife and child­ren, at­tend­ed the church re­gu­lar­ly, and he was one of its lib­er­al sup­port­ers. They were most ex­cel­lent peo­ple, but could not be in­duced to pro­fess Christ, and did not call them­selves Christ­ians. One day, while the men were hold­ing ser­vic­es in the church the wo­men were hav­ing a pray­er-meet­ing in the manse near by. In the course of the meet­ing they sang ‘Come to the Sav­iour, make no de­lay.’ The sing­ing over, they were about to en­gage in pray­er, when the la­dy above re­ferred to asked them to sing the last verse of this hymn…The la­dy was great­ly af­fect­ed and when the sing­ing ceased she said with deep emo­tion: ‘Yes, I will not stay away any long­er.’ The wo­men were all deep­ly moved, and prayed and praised God with warm hearts. When the word reached the men they were great­ly en­cour­aged at the good news. A re­viv­al fol­lowed, .... This hymn seemed to have been the means of reach­ing the wife’s heart, and of open­ing the way for the bless­ing which fol­lowed.”
 
I love listening to men singing hymns.  Enjoy this version from Guam.  :)

Sources: 
Cyber Hymnal
Wordwise Hymns.
Hymnary.
Hymntime. 
PDMusic. 

This post may contain affiliate links - using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool - thank you! ©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time . We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites

Review: Berenstain Bears: Bless our Gramps & Gran

 I have to admit, my 12 year old thinks I'm weird.. I know a shocker eh?

BUT WHY does he think I'm weird?   Because I've always liked the Berenstain Bears.  He unfortunately has never liked them.  He's never connected with bears.. but if the book were about cats... DIFFERENT STORY!  :)  

Nevertheless, I was delighted to review Mike Berenstain's recent book called Bless our Gramps and Gran. 

Hidden Blessings

A phenomena occurs regularly in our household. 

My hubby's phone will ring and the lad and I will immediately burst out in chorus causing hubby to shake his head at us. 

What do we chorus? 

Ring ring pick up your phone. 
Ring ring pick up your phone. 

This is his ring tone and it makes the lad and I laugh and sing every single time.  (of course I can't find the version he uses and if looking for it be careful...there are some not so good versions of it out there)

It's a blessing indeed that hubby dear rarely gets phone calls.  A hidden blessing if you will.

It means .. it never gets old (so the lad and I get to share a fun moment). 
AND
No long term annoyed hubby... in fact.. he always grins after the fact.  

This silly family of his. :)

But it makes me think eh?   

All the hidden blessings we have in life, things we don't think of.  Like if anything changed with the phone.. it would no longer be funny, or would become an annoyance to my sweetheart.  

I learned a hidden blessing this past week.  I breed rabbits.  I've been hurt by animal rights people in the past and they are normally associated with rescues, and I've learned to avoid some rescues.  BUT I had a wee bunny with a missing foot and I wasn't sure what I should do with her so I took a chance and contacted a rescue from out of town, and the person was EVER so helpful.  Where's the hidden blessing?  My stubborn Dutch heritage and my mom's influence of looking for the good.   You can't let one person sully your thoughts about someone completely different. Blessings I don't regularly see or look for those things in my heritage...but this...this is helpful eh? 

All the ways the Lord God has provided and protected me and mine eh?  Good stuff those hidden blessings.  :)

Join in won't you?  This is part of the Homeschool Review Crew's instagram challenge.  Today.  PHONE.

This post may contain affiliate links - using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool - thank you! ©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time . We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites

Love Your Neighbour, a poem

Love your neighbour as yourself.

Love...
action
determination
willingness 
present
future
there
more than feeling
doing
being
ready

your neighbour...
the person living with you
the person next door
.. down the street 
.. in the next town
.. in the next province
.. in the next country
.. across borders
.. across oceans

as yourself...
selfish
consuming
self-centred
total
active
internalized
deeply felt
considered

 -----

  This is a five minute Friday post. the word prompt is brought to us by Miss Kate over at Five Minute Friday.  What is Five Minute Friday?  Well it's a party of a group of like minded folks who gather on Friday to do a five minute free write around a singular word.  AND THEN (and this is the most important part) we take the time to offer up encouragement to each other on this writing journey.  It's fun, though it's not always easy, but it is always good.   Come join us won't you?  You are always welcome.

------ 

original picture from

Photo by Sadman Sakib on Unsplash

This post may contain affiliate links - using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool - thank you! ©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time . We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites

Anguish and God's Choice

Today we are looking at Romans 9:1-29.   I can't say I'll get through the whole section as it's a whole 29 verses.  Let's see how we do eh?

Review: Psalm Hymns: Books 1,2,3

Do you love to sing scripture?  Singing back to God the words he gave to his people?

L.L. Larkin has come up with a book to do just that and I really really like it.  It is called :  Psalm Hymns, Books 1, 2, & 3: Dramatic, Contemplative, Singable, Recitable Psalms!

No boring unsingable tunes.  But simple easily recognized tunes with the words of the Psalms.    

Let me tell you more. 

I actually received two versions of this book, which appear to be identical within.  The only different being the cover.   You'll see the one cover here, and the other cover pictured below.

This book is FILLED with scripture written to the tune of familiar songs and hymns.

Pearl Seeker: I want to be a pearl seeker

When my friend Lori learned that I was seeking a book to do from my weekly book read, she sent me a book by Becky Blackmon called "A Pearl Seeker".   I think it's an interesting book and therefore wanted to share it with you.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I am.

 This book has 11 chapters, so if all goes well it won't take too long to go through.  :)  I haven't delved into it too much, just read snippets here and there, so I'm eager to see what it has to say.

The first few lines of this chapter remind me of the lesson from Romans that's been sticking in my head.  God.. our ever present protection. NOTHING can threaten us, not one single thing.  For you know who God is?  God is superman!   From Deuteronomy 33 "he rides the heaves to your help, and through the skies in his majesty."   Neat huh?   Doesn't that imagery help you to see the grandeur of God?  It just captured my imagination.

Seek the Lord and His Strength.

Seeking..it's an active thing, it's asking questions, not being afraid to ask those questions, to look for answers, to wonder why and to discover it.   

The question that faces us is this.  If we have questions about God, where do we go for the answers?   Do we ask anyone we meet or do we go to his word?  Becky helps us see that there is really only one place to go.  God's word.  It's his book about himself.

So you can see that God doesn't hide himself away.  He makes himself ever so clear if all we do is ask questions and look for the answers.  It's all right there.  Open heart, open mind, seeking after God. 

To that end a question is raised.  Do we treasure what has been given to us?   Are his words ever so important to us?   Do we seek after him daily, looking for that ever present help?

Treasure it, let it become so very very important to you. 

...

I have to admit I struggle with the repeated "it's up to us to learn, grow and change" message found throughout this chapter.

I agree.. we NEED to seek the Lord.
BUT you know who puts that's seeking within us?   
The Lord himself!

So yes, we need to seek the Lord, but we also should be acknowledging that he helps us to seek him and that perhaps that should be our prayer as well.  that he helps us to seek him more keenly.

Sometimes we DO have to make a choice.  Watch that TV show or spend time in God's word.   Go for a walk or dig into scripture.  Care for the critters or take time with God.  It's hard to make choices sometimes.  But we can determine to make better decisions about our time so those choices come easier...finding the needed time to seek out the Lord in his word.  It's THAT important.  :)

This post may contain affiliate links - using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool - thank you! ©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time . We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites

Art Book: Stick Sketch School

I want you to imagine that you have just taught your children about this amazing animal called the blob fish.  It comes out of Tasmania, and you asked your children to draw a picture of it and they give you a blank look... How can you help them draw this amazing fish?   Well, if you have the Stick Sketch School book it will be easy peasy.. just turn to page 86 and before you know it your children will have created a beautiful image of the blob fish.  :)   Might be a sketch figure but it will be "beautiful" enough to colour in and create an underwater world.

Allow me now to introduce you to a wonderful book called "Stick Sketch School"