The Bible in 90 Days--Finished!

Good Morning Everyone!

Well, I have to confess--it is finished. Yesterday I finished my third time doing the Bible in 90 Day program. I feel wonderful. And terrible. All at the same time.

Wonderful because I am SO very happy to be reading in God's Word. I feel closeness with Him. I love being immersed in His promises.

Terrible because I hate for it to end. After the initial elation at having reached my goal, there comes an emptiness. What do I do now? How do I make it through my day without God's Word? And I know the answer--I can't.

Which is exactly why after I finished my first Bible in 90 Days session, back in March 2011, I signed up to do the whole thing all over again starting that July. And when that session finished, January 1, 2012 found me starting time number 3. I can't help it. How often do you need to breath? Every day. How often do I need God's Word? Every day. All. Day. Long.

Though I have to confess, it IS nice to have some time for a slower pace. For more reflection. For more in depth study. I know I want to do more with Bible Memory. I have started the Memory verse for each week, but have had to let my Bible in 90 Days take priority. Perhaps now I can let my memory projects become priority for a while. . .

And I do have an idea that is swimming around in my mind. It's crazy. Every bit as crazy as reading the Bible through in 90 days. But it appeals to something inside of me. (What does THAT say about me--maybe "I'm" crazy!) That is the idea of copying the Bible. By hand. Yes, I know. We have printing presses now. And computers. I have the Bible on our ipad. On CD. Even a pocket version that I carry in my purse. So why in the world would any SANE person want to copy it out by hand? I don't even have good handwriting!!! Why? To think. To reflect. To listen.

I haven't actually decided to DO this crazy idea--yet. But a couple weeks ago I actually read a short article about a 72 year old Korean gentleman who had done this very thing--seven times. One time he copied in Chinese. Believe it or not, I had already been thinking of this idea before I read about this man--but reading about him only made me want to do it more. When asked why he did this, he said to get God's Word in his mind better. That's what I want. He also said that copying the Bible by hand is in his opinion worth seven times reading it. There is NO WAY I can do what this gentleman is doing--he said that he actually is spending six hours a day in copying the Bible. I don't have six hours a day to spend in that type of an activity, no matter how wonderful. But God hasn't asked me to do that.

Will I copy the Bible? I don't know. I am still thinking about it. And praying. And pausing. There are many things that I do not know. But what I DO know is that I want God's Word in my mind. Whenever my brain starts to search for an answer to something, I don't want it to find my thoughts. I want only His thoughts there.

"Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book." Revelation 22:7 How can I keep them if they are not in my mind?

"The Spirit and the bride say, 'Come!' And let him who hears say, 'Come!' Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life." Revelation 22:17

I am thirsty. Are you?

52 Weeks, 52 Verses--Week Thirteen

Good Morning Everyone!

And "Happy Monday" to you as well! I have been having a hard time choosing a verse for memorization this week. I was reading through Hebrews, and there are several wonderful verses there that I WAS going to chose. . . but then I started into James, and I found another verse that I wanted to do! Finally, James won out. Really, the older I get, the less I know. Things that I thought I used to know, well, I guess I have lived long enough to see that things do not always work out or go the way you expect them. This much I DO know: I know no thing. God knows every thing.

Which brings me to this weeks verse:

"If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him." James 1:5

Isn't that a precious promise? I need this promise in my life. Because often I do not know what to do--but God does. May I learn to ask Him--listen to Him--follow Him.

Have a beautiful week with Jesus!

Live Eagle cam!

The following is a guest post from my very wonderful teen-age son. :) I was wanting to write about the eagle cam we have been having so much fun with this afternoon, but when I went to write about it I just didn't have the right inspiration. Too tired I suppose, as I went to bed way past my bedtime last night! Anyway, after I wrote a pathetic little paragraph and posted it on my blog here, my son shows me his blog post. I am not a dumb bunny. I looked at him and said "Guest post on my blog?" to which he replied "Sure!" So here it is--a guest post from tnphotobug about a really COOL thing you can do with your kids for FREE. Or just with yourself! Check out his blog at www.tennesseephotographer.blogspot.com

Susan :)

Today at church, a really nice lady--one of the other church janitors, in fact--gave me a piece of paper with "Alcoa Eagle Cam at Davenport Works" written on it. She told me to Google it...so I did, as soon as I got home! What I found was really cool. It is a live cam of two bald eagles in Davenport, Iowa! They have been living in Davenport for the past three years or so, and since 2010 the eagles (named "Liberty" & "Justice") have raised a family there, in a nest 80-85 feet above the ground.

Since the pair started raising a family, Alcoa (whoever they are, probably a company or something) has installed an "Eaglecam" which streams live video of the nest (and the eagles when they are in the nest, which is most of the time) 24/7, at least in the exciting part of the year when Liberty & Justice are raising a family. The eggs (three this year) were laid last month, and this month's big thing is the hatching of the eggs. According to the blog (at the link which I'll give you in a minute), two of the eggs have already hatched. The third was being hatched today! I got on board and found the live cam at around lunchtime today, but could see no baby birds yet. I wasn't surprised though, as the process probably takes a long time.

I come upstairs and tell my sister and mother about it. Alison--my sister--gets real excited, and very enthusiastically asks to watch the eagles, hoping to watch the actual hatching. To be honest I didn't offer her much hope, but I got the Internet up for her anyway. Well, about ten minutes later, we were both very privileged to watch the final baby bald eagle hatch from its' egg!!! I thought that was really really cool, I've certainly never seen a bald eagle--much less one hatching--up so close.

You can see the newly hatched baby right above the big stick...Mother "Liberty"
is watching over her brood proudly!

So that's what we've been doing this afternoon. It's fun to watch Liberty & Justice feed and care for their brood, and to hear the babies' little chirps! Occasionally you can hear geese flying overhead as well. The hatching isn't the only exciting thing, however; the eaglets grow quickly and I am told will fledge around late May or early June. So go head over to the link below, and watch America's icon in family life up close! I'll tell ya though, it's quite addicting! :D

http://www.alcoa.com/locations/usa_davenport/en/info_page/eaglecam.asp

~Photobug

Campus Tour

Southern: You Are Already Here from Brandan Roberts on Vimeo.

Just a little bragging here. This video was made by a student here at our school for his Senior Project. I think he did a fantastic job!

52 Weeks, 52 Verses--Week Twelve

Happy Monday Everyone!

I am very glad for the start of a new week--mainly because last week was so difficult that I am thinking this week MUST be better! I am still working on reading the Bible through--I'm almost done! Can't believe it! I still have this week to read, and then four days of reading next week and it will be finished. It's hard to believe. I had never ever read the COMPLETE Bible through before, and here I am finishing my third time through. The Bible in 90 Days program works well for me. I realize a fast paced reading program may not be for everyone. But for me, I had tried one year reading plans before, and I have finally come to the conclusion that my attention span does not last for a year! I do much better committing to three months. Knowing that I will be spending much time in God's Word--knowing that I am making that three month committment, and that when I finish I can take time to do other devotional things. I feel now like I have a better picture of the Bible--of the whole, complete story. It's not just little unconnected verses here and there.

While doing my Bible reading this past week, I ran across a verse that is so beautiful in it's simplicity. It's not complicated--yet comes out of a God's love for us that is impossible to understand. This is the verse that I have chosen for this week's verse:

"And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." Acts 2:21

That's it. Simple. Yet profound. God loves us SO much--I cannot even pretend to understand it.

Have a beautiful week. And spend some time with the God who loves you.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

May the road rise to meet you

May the wind be always at your back

May the sun shine warm upon your face

And rains fall soft upon your fields

And until we meet again

May God hold you in the hollow of His hand.

~Irish Blessing

Happy St. Patrick's Day Everyone!

I have always loved this Irish Blessing, and thought today would be a great day to share it. I think my favorite phrase in the blessing is the last one--"May God hold you in the hollow of His hand." Just think about that--being held in the hollow of God's hand. Safe. Secure. Loved.

But better than being a "wishful thinking" sort of phrase, the best part is that this is true! It is not just a "I wish it was." This blessing makes me think immediately of these verses--just read them and see how they match this blessing:

"Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me." Isaiah 49:15,16

I am not only "held" in God's hands--where by mistake He might drop me. I am "engraved" in His hands--and so are you.

Swagbucks = Free Amazon gift cards

Hi Everyone!

Thought I would write about a neat thing I have discovered lately. Well, I actually heard about it first off a while back, but didn't really understand how to use it and then finally learned how recently!

Have you ever heard of "Swagbucks"? I think the name is a bit misleading, because it makes you think that it is the same as dollars and it isn't. I think Swagbucks are better thought of as "Swagpoints." ANYWAY, Swagbucks are points that you earn doing different things and you can then redeem those points for different items. What I learned recently from reading another mom's blog was that you can redeem them for Amazon gift cards. As a homeschooler and book lover, I can ALWAYS use Amazon gift cards!!!! Not to mention that you can get so many other non-book items as well from Amazon. I looked up the Nylabones that my dog loves, and I can get them cheaper from Amazon than I can from PetSmart or Petco. Not to mention that if I have a gift card it makes it even cheaper yet.

So, the big question is how does one earn Swagbucks? They have tons of different ways--but as a super busy homeschooling mom I do not have time for doing a lot of them. But the main way I earn points is by using Swagbucks as a search engine--just like I would use Google. When you log into your Swagbuck account, they have a search box on that page and you just type in whatever it is you are wanting to do a search on. You do not earn points EVERY time you do a search--it is a random thing. Sometimes I get points awarded the first thing when I search something. Sometimes I will search five or six different things real quick, just to see if I can get some points awarded, and I usually do. Anyway, so that is the main way that "I" earn Swagbucks. They also have a daily poll, which is a super quick question about anything, really. I will cruse over to the daily poll, answer the quick question, and I am always awarded one Swagbuck just for participating in the poll. Other things that they have on their site for people to do and earn Swagbucks include playing games or watching little short video clips on all sorts of topics. Some of the topics are really interesting things, like cooking or home improvement. Anyway, there are even more ways to earn Swagbucks than these, but this will give you an idea.

The FUN part--redeeming your Swagbucks--is what I like best! They have all sorts of things that people might want to buy, but I personally am only interested in the gift cards. They do have gift cards to Amazon, Lowes, different restaurants, etc. And not all gift cards are equal in Swagbucks. One of the lowest "cost" gift cards is one for $5.00 to Amazon, which is 450 Swagbucks. For comparison, a $5.00 gift card to Lowes is 690 Swagbucks. I'm personally thrilled with the Amazon cards, and I have just redeemed some of my Swagbucks today for my first gift card--now just to narrow down my "wish list" and decide what I am going to use it towards!

Anyway, so in a nutshell that is what Swagbucks are all about. If this is something that you think you might be interested in, I would appreciate it if you would sign up for an account using my link, because it will give me some referral points. Hope this helps to explain things more clearly, and gives you an idea as to whether this is something you might be interested in.

If you want to sign up with me as your referral, just click on the "Swagbucks" icon at the top right hand column on this blog. (If you are reading my blog posts through e-mail, you would have to come to my actual blog to follow the link.) Thanks!

52 Weeks, 52 Verses--Week Eleven

Happy Spring Everyone!

Or at least, it FEELS like Spring around my corner. I sure hope it stays feeling this way. The trees are all blooming and our woods are filled with my daffodils and I sure would hate to see them get frosted, which "could" still happen. But oh well! For right now, I am just going to enjoy all the loveliness that is around me! :)

So, it's time for a new verse for this week! (Did you notice I am posting this "on time" this week? Are you impressed?) I had a friend share with me a beautiful verse after my post last time, so I thought it would be great to chose the verse she pointed out to me for this week. The whole verse is good, though the last part is especially good for scary times like I was experiencing a little bit ago with the tornadoes in our area.

So here it is--the verse for week eleven!

"Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, 'Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.'" Hebrews 13:5

Isn't that lovely? NEVER will I leave you. NEVER will I forsake you. I just have to ask myself, "What part of NEVER do you not understand????" Never--in our English language, anyway, is not really left open for discussion. It is not "maybe." It is not"sometimes." It is "never." As in, "never-ever-EVER!"

A beautiful promise, from an even more beautiful God. I would love to have you memorize it with me this week!

52 Weeks, 52 Verses--Week Ten

Hi Everyone!

Believe it or not, I have not forgotten my weekly memory verse! I have had lots of things going on, and by the time I sat down to finally post this week's verse I couldn't even get the 52 Week button to work on my blog! But I decided even if I don't have the button this week, I can still post my verse! :)

I "had" been working through some verses in Matthew 6, and I still LOVE that Bible chapter. BUT--circumstances around our part of the country have been changed a bit, and I read a verse that REALLY jumped out at me so I chose it for this week's verse. You see, last year our area was hit badly by tornadoes. Our personal house was spared, but we know quite a few people who lost everything but their lives. Driving around on the roads where the tornadoes touched down felt like driving in a war zone. Houses smashed, trees broken off around three feet above the ground--whole forests were like this. Well, over the past year, slowly houses have been rebuilt, though the area is anything but completely recovered.

Then, this past Friday our area was right in line for tornadoes again. We are blessed to have a basement in our house, and we certainally were in it. Our weather radio was giving a continuous warning for our county. A friend of ours who is exploring the career option of "weatherman" had arranged ahead of time to shadow the "real" weather people that day, and he was giving much appreciated updates for our little town on his Facebook page. All in all, there were six tornadoes in our area, and radar confirmed baseball sized hail in the storm that was above us. We prayed for God's protection, stayed in the basement, and tried to protect the littliest one under the most sturdy piece of furniture. And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

One tornado would pass, and we would breath for a bit--then the next one would be heading towards us. This repeated itself for a couple of hours. Finally, exhaustion was taking over. The "worst" had already passed us, but we were still having severe thunderstorms for a couple more hours--and they would have the potential of spurring off tornadoes.

But I was too tired. My kids were sleeping in the safest most underground part of the basement, and finally I laid out my sleeping bag, prayed for God to protect us, and went to sleep.

I found this verse for this week's memory project--it is perfect for our experience.

"I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety." Psalm 4:8

This is my new "tornado" verse. Maybe I will find a few more to add to it! Do you have any verses that get you through difficult times? Feel free to leave a comment and share your favorites!