Be sure to watch this one too.  I love where she says that she’s a bit shaky!

As I’m watching this I’m wondering if my kids would handle the situation as calmly as Savannah did, I’m not sure.  How about yours?

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Related posts:

1. Solving Sibling Squabbles
2. Not Me Monday: Mid-Week Addition

This post was an encouraging reminder to me and I recommend it for any of you who’ve ever had one of THOSE days.

Yes, I did this to my husband's hair!

You may also be interested in Lord, Help My Unbelief,  Pregnancy is Hard,  Real Needs? or  Thoughts From Gideon’s Mom (a good friend of mine who recently experienced the death of her 4 month old son).

God is good, even during THOSE days!

This is linked to WFMW at We are THAT Family.

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Related posts:

1. Lord I believe, Help my unbelief
2. God’s Sovereignty – 90 Days
3. The Baby Bump: 30 Weeks 5 Days
4. More Hair Talk
5. Read through the Bible in 90 Days: Will You Join Me?

Amy points out that what we consider trials are ‘problems’ that many people pray for and would consider an amazing blessing in  Somebody Wants What You Have from Amy’s Finer Things.

Kristen reminds us just how very rich we are and we’re not talking about the people in the big houses with nice cars, but you and me who work hard to save money and live frugally.

If your family income is $10,000 a year, you are wealthier than 84% of the world.  If your family income is $50,000 or more a year, you make more than 99% of the world.

I’d love to hear if you think that perhaps our focus is not where it should be as a people who have been blessed materially above and beyond the vast majority of the world.

Do we recognize our wealth?

Are we grateful?

Are we using what God has given us in a manner that is pleasing to Him?

Do we act as if we really believe Phil. 2:3-4?

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.  Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

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Congratulations to Dagny who blogs at Scarlet Nest who won the painting.

These paintings make great gifts for both children and the adults who love them, so head over to Fine Doodles look around and order a meaningful gift or book mark the Fine Doodles site and keep it in mind for those hard to buy for grandparents or great grandparents.

Coming to Raising Olives, Life in a Shoe and Smockity Frocks beginning the second week of March:  A series about how moms of many manage.  Stay tuned, you don’t want to miss this.

You may want to read “Thoughts on Child Training“, a very honest look at the first day of potty training in the Olive house or my answers to questions about pregnancy, child birth and more.

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2. Early Bedtimes: Tuesday’s Tip For Moms
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4. Let’s Talk
5. 4 Moms, 35 Kids

I started a discussion in my BlogFrog Community where I open up the floor for your questions about our large, homeschooling family.  I know you have them feel free to ask away and I will answer to the best of my ability.

There are already some interesting questions and answers (like wondering about the noise level) posted.  Also feel free to leave questions in the comments.

A Peak into our Background:

A while ago I did an interview about our family with Shiloah @ Homemaking Cottage.  She posted the interview which includes why we decided to have a large family, knowledge that has helped us along our journey, funny stories, favorite recipes and on her blog and you may read it  here.

Blog Awards from my friends:

Thank you to my friends who wished to give these awards to Raising Olives.

Dawn at Just Call Me Woman thinks that Raising Olives is “Over the Top!”

Thank you Dawn.

Mama Mirage at Every~Precious~Joy gave me the “Mom with a Mission” award.  

“This award is presented to a Mommy blogger who is on a mission! So tell us, why do you blog and what do you love about it?”

I began this blog with the purpose of encouraging other moms who desire to walk a similar path and who feel alone or overwhelmed.  I wanted to share the joys and blessings of homeschooling  and walking in the blessed path of motherhood.  I love getting emails and comments from you letting me know that this blog is a blessing in your life.

Lauren at Home with Olivia thought that this was “One Lovely Blog”.

Thank you Lauren.

Jessica at Jumping Waves and Heather at It’s Twinsanity both gave me the Lemonade award.

I’m supposed to tell you five things about me that you don’t already know or I’m supposed to tell you ten things that make me happy.  I’m going for a combination, five things that you don’t know about me that also make me happy.

1. I love to sit down and have a cup of hot tea, but if I’m with a friend I will happily drink coffee.  (Hubby hates the smell of coffee, so I rarely drink it at home.)
2. I love snow and whenever there is even a sprinkling on the ground I let the children have the day off of school and play in the snow all day long, or until they get cold.  They make snow cones and I am sure that there is plenty of hot chocolate to warm them up.  I often let them go out before breakfast and then allow them to eat outside because snow here in Knoxville is a rare and fleeting gift.
3. Our family loves the Summer Olympics, especially gymnastics.  I was the Tennessee State Gymnastic Champion for two years in a row.  The third year I broke my wrist and was unable to compete.
4. I love it when our kids come and get in bed with us, so long as it’s closer to morning than night.  I love that special snuggle time.
5. We’ve never carried any debt outside of our mortgage.

Now click over and read the interview and then  ask some questions about what it’s really like living with a husband and 9 children.

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Related posts:

1. You Know You Are a Large Family When…
2. Reason to Have a Large Family #472
3. Reasons We Have a Large Family – Post
4. Updated Chore List for Our Large Family

Want more laughs?  You can read about Savannah Waiting to Grow or her conversations about Death and Heaven (don’t miss the second one in that series Robes of Righteousness).

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1. Robes of Righteousness
2. Giggles from the Grove: Death and Heaven
3. Why Can’t You See God?
4. Knoxville is Sick, Very Sick
5. “Not Me!” Monday: Bulk Cooking

This is what our family does when we’re expecting a baby:  no company, no extra activities, no deep cleaning, no fancy meals (unless we can pull them out of the freezer ) and lots less blogging.  We do keep up with laundry, do basic chores and spend lots of time together as a family, resting, snuggling, praying, and reading.

Sorry for the dearth of quality posts recently.  Please don’t give up on me, I usually feel marvelous about half way through a pregnancy and I still have lots to say.    In the meantime head over to Raising Arrows and read Amy’s great post about being a quitter.

Oh and before you go, leave a comment to say “hi” to let me know you’re still here.  Also, tell me if you are interested in reading our birth stories.  I’m trying to get motivated to write those out…

You can help benefit The Children’s Hospital and be entered to win a fun blogging T-shirt by starting or replying to a discussion in the Olive Community.  Head over and take part in the conversation about large families, teaching reading, homeschooling and celebrating the season or start your own topic.

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1. Not Me: The Day Before BABY
2. Our Birth History: Because I Know You’ll Pray…
3. So Life Doesn’t Get Too Boring
4. Her Name…
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Our family has decided to do a (simple) Jesse Tree this year.  If you are unfamiliar with this (as I was), it consists of a scripture reading each night beginning Sunday 4 weeks before Christmas (that was 2 days ago, but it’s not too late to catch up).  The children make an ornament to illustrate each reading and hang in on the Jesse Tree.  The tree can be a simple drawing of a tree with paper ornaments or as elaborate as a full size evergreen with hand crafted decorations.

Here are some free resources online for help with creating your own Jesse Tree:

• Here are instructions to make an elaborate felt tree with ornaments created with felt, wood-burning, sewing and other techniques.
• Scroll down to Celebrating Advent in the Home and this is includes the scripture reading schedule and printable ornaments for children to color.
• This  site includes a reading schedule and has full-color, printable ornaments.

Please note that I’ve not looked over these links thoroughly, so please check and make sure that the resources they offer are in line with your family’s beliefs concerning this time of year.

Our family will be doing the scripture readings and our children will make their own ornaments using some of the above ideas as a guide.

So click over, read and share your plans for Advent.  I’d also love to hear about your other traditions both holy and secular, your ideas and the ways that you celebrate and make this a special time of year.  I started a new discussion for favorite Christmas traditions and shared several of ours (we have some strange and wonderful traditions), so go check ours out and share yours. Want more details?  Feel free to ask.

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Related posts:

1. Christmas Ornament Tutorial: Kids Can Make This
2. Thankful Tree Project
3. Christmas Bandits: Not Me Monday
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The idea is to create a tree and on each leaf to write something for which you are thankful.  Often families will start a thankful tree at the beginning of November and have each person add a leaf to it each day.  It’s a great way to help all of us get into the habit of being more thankful.

We obviously didn’t begin at the beginning of the month, but this morning I saw this post with leaf printables at Robin’s Heart of Wisdom Blog and knew that it would be quick and easy enough to pull off even with my limited energy.

Our thankful tree is rather large, too big to fit into a picture, but it turned out so cute and the children enjoyed the project and are thrilled with the finished result.  I appreciate simple craft projects that allow us to spend time talking while our hands are busy creating something.  This was project was super easy to include even the youngest children.  Nicholas (1) made a thankful leaf, thanking God for “Mommy’s lap”, a place where he spends a significant amount of time these days.

Me? I’m thankful for my amazing family and the blessing of spending time with them.  Thank you Lord!

Hope that you all have a blessed Thanksgiving and are able to reflect on all that our God has done for us.

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1. Celebrating Christmas
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3. Thanksgiving Traditions
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As part of Design Dazzle’s 1st birthday celebration, my post about installing rain gutter bookshelves has been selected as one of the top 10 (out of 400) design ideas and you and I have the opportunity to win. BIG!

This week you are allowed to vote which of the top 10 design ideas that you think is the best.  The design that receives the most votes will win $500 in gift certificates from some very nice companies.  Here is the fun part, Toni of Design Dazzle will be selecting 3 of the voters to win their share of ANOTHER $500 in Gift Certificates.

How to vote/enter:

• Head over to this post where Toni features my rain gutter bookshelves and leave a comment.  You may say anything that you want.  That’s all there is to it!
• You may comment one time each day beginning today and ending Friday at 1pm (Pacific).

While you’re over there be sure to enter her other amazing giveaways.  Today’s featured giveaway is $500 worth of children’s clothes.

Sorry there’s no Not Me today.  I’m fighting a sinus infection and nothing seems very funny right now.

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Related posts:

1. A Personal Note
2. Rain Gutter Book Shelves: Tutorial
3. Car Preparedness
4. All I Can Say is, “Thank You!”

Morgan @ Confessions from the Desk of a Teacher and Tracey @ Grace Comes by Hearing both gave me this blog award.  Thank you ladies!  But there is a catch, to accept this award I must answer the questions below using only one word. 

1. Where is your cell phone? None
2.Your hair? Wavy
3. Your mother? Friend
4. Your father? Humble
5. Your favorite food? IceCream
6. Your dream last night? None
7. Your favorite drink? Water
8. Your dream/goal? Heaven
9. What room are you in? Bedroom
10. Your hobby? Knitting
11. Your fear? Sorrow
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Kingsport
13. Where were you last night? Bed
14. Something you aren’t? Patient
15. Muffins? Chocolate
16. Wish list item? Furniture
17. Where did you grow up? California
18. Last thing you did? Shop
19. What are you wearing? Skirt
20. Your TV? Dusty
21. Your pets? Variety
22. Your friends? Patient (One word is not enough on this one.  My friends are also faithful, loving, priceless!  Thank you!)
23. Your life? Blessed
24. Your mood? Grateful
25. Missing someone? No
26. Vehicle? Huge
27. Something you’re not wearing? Shoes
28. Your favorite store? Yard sale
29. Your favorite color? Yellow
30. When was the last time you laughed? Minutes
31. Last time you cried? Hours
32. Your best friend? Hubby
33. One place that I go over and over? Grocery
34. One person who emails me regularly? Mother-in-law
35. Favorite place to eat? Park
Now I get to pass this award on to 6 of my favorite bloggers.  Let me just say that I honestly HATE this part.  I have “met” so many amazing women since I began this blog that to ask me to pick only six of them is torture.  Here we go.

1. Tara @ Too Many Kids in the Bathtub – Don’t miss her post about teaching your children what to treasure.  We have done something similar, but we will be implementing her method.  I’ll let you know how it goes.
2. Nicki @ 400 Things – Nicki writes a good bit about politics.  I enjoy how she uses original documents and includes lots of quotes, so be sure to browse around and see if you learn something.
3. Celee @ Miscellaneous Musings of a 5x Mom – Don’t miss her post about being fit to be a sacrifice.  She also has a giveaway going on right now for a wonderful book about family worship called “A Church in the House”, so go read about their family worship and enter her giveaway.
4. Roan @ Joyful Always – Roan is my cross country expert.  If you have been interested in CC, she is a good resource.  She also blogs about homeschooling and her family and is super friendly.  Read this post about rushing through our day and then slow down.
5. Tristan @ My Busy Homeschool – Tristan has a lot of helpful homeschooling information on her site and she’s much better at hands-on things with her kids than I am.  She is also a member of the TOS Crew, so offers a lot of curriculum reviews.
6. Kristin @Little Miss Suzie Homemaker – Kristin just had her 6th baby (it seems like just, but I suppose he’s already a few months old) and she love to cook, so if you want kitchen inspiration don’t hang around here a moment longer go check out some of her recipes.

One thing that I did not expect when I began blogging is building friendships with people I have never laid eyes on.  So to you 6 bloggers and many, many more, thanks for leaving comments, sending emails, tweeting and otherwise staying in touch and taking the time out of your busy days to build a friendship.

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In the meantime, RO has received some award love that I’m happy to pass on.

Jenny a mother of 7 who blogs over at Zack’s Gang gave this award to Raising Olives. Pretty nice, right?

April E. who blogs at ElCloud Homestead: Room to Breathe passed along this Sisterhood award to Raising Olives.  Thanks April.

My nominees for the Sisterhood Award are my real life friends who have their own blogs.   How fun is that?

• Ami’s Thoughts – Ami and I met at an Above Rubies Conference that I helped to organize and we’ve run into each other at a few of our Mom’s group get togethers.

• Cardamom’s Pod – Kimarie’s father and my father have known each other for years and the two of us met when we were young teens.  I get credit for inspiring Kimarie to start her own blog (right?), where she blogs about her life with 9 children.

• Kingdom Arrows – Heather and her family recently moved to our town after more than a year of driving an hour to frequent our church on Sunday mornings.  I think that Heather may have been the one to inspire me to begin my own blog.

• Life in a Full Shoe – Jama and her family are some dear friends from “back home” where we lived until 4 years ago.  An email from Jama inspired this post where I attempt to express my gratitude to God for the amazing church family where Mark and I were blessed to begin and grow our family.  Jama is one of those friends, through thick and thin, who God has used to grow, encourage and bless me.

• The McCurdy Family – Kelli is the grown daughter of one of the elders in our church.  She graciously came to our house to teach piano until a second baby on the way called her to stay home.  I couldn’t ask for a better reason to lose a piano teacher.

• The Other Olive – Suzanne is our resident college student (she lives here during the school year) and although I take credit for her knitting addiction, I’m not sure the blogging introduction took.  (Psst, Suzanne, I’m linking to you and you haven’t updated since May!?!)

• His Heritage – I met Julie at a Bible study group where I was asked to share about submission and honoring your husband.  Julie keeps threatening to come to one of the Mom’s meetings at our house.

Chris from MaMa Bird’s Blog, who I think should homeschool (just being honest ) gave Raising Olives  this award for being brutally lovingly honest.

For the Honest Scrap award I’m supposed to list 10 honest things about myself:

1. I tend to overestimate how much I can tackle and over commit myself, which is why God gave me a husband who helps me figure out what is important and what I should drop.
2. I’ve never experienced homeschool “burnout”.  I’ve always enjoyed homeschooling the kids.
3. I want to be the best at everything I do.  I have a very difficult time doing something, if I don’t feel that I am giving it 100%.  Probably why I have difficulty with #1 and why I keep thinking that I should stop blogging.  (Don’t worry, Mark thinks that the blog is a great ministry and is one of the things he wants me to do.)
4. I don’t have many close friends and sometimes feel like my husband and I are alone on this path.
5. Because of #3 I’ve been procrastinating getting a SLR digital camera.  I don’t feel that I have the time to dedicate to photography.
6. I am a morning person and enjoy being up before 5.
7. I don’t enjoy cooking.
8. I’m a bit of a neat freak.  (That may be an understatement, but with 9 children I think I can add the “bit” in there because my house is rarely as neat as I would like it to be.)  (When Mark was reading over this before I posted it he laughed that I qualified the neat freak part, he thinks that I’m still at the top of my game.)
9. I procrastinate.
10. I’m horrible about returning phone calls and generally getting back with people.  Hmm, think that explains #4?

Here are my nominations for the Honest Scrap award (hint, hint):

• Connie from Smockity Frocks
• Kris from Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers
• Ami from Ami’s Thoughts
• Kimarie from Cardamom’s Pod
• Jenn from Girly Do’s by Jenn

To accept the Honest Scrap award post it on your blog with a list of ten honest things about yourself, not that you would post a list of ten dishonest things…

Anyone else want to join in the fun?  Leave a comment with a list of ten honest things about yourself.  I love getting to know my readers, besides I bet it will make for really interesting reading.

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Five girls means five times the fun and since we have no shortage of willing models, here are a couple more sites with fun and inspiring ideas;  The Story of a Princess and Her Hair and Babes in Hairland.

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Today I found a blog.   An amazing, wonderful creative blog about fixing your little girls hair while spending special one on one time with her.  I love, love, love all of her hairstyles and tips.  There are step-by-step instructions with loads of pictures and the hairstyles are so unique and so cute.  I honestly think that I can do this and my girls will be so happy to have some hair variety!

Head over to Girly Do’s By Jenn and see for yourself.  Me?  I’m off to make my girls happy by playing with their hair!

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I’m not much of a blog reader, I know, sorry.  I actually spent more time reading blogs (which still wasn’t a lot) before I started writing one.  However, some of my favorite reading and resource blogs made the list as well as some of my blogging friends.

Here are a few to check out:

Handbook of Nature Study – If you liked my post on nature journals, you will love this blog.  Handbook of Nature Study is home of the Outdoor Hour Challenge which gives a weekly nature challenge using the book  “Handbook of Nature Study“.  She also includes a link where you can download the Handbook for free!

A Day in the Life – Kristen is one of my blogging friends.  She shares a lot of practical homeschooling ideas, including a series on teaching multiple ages.

Life in a Shoe – KimC is on my blogroll and has been a regular read for over 2 years.  She is also the one who inspired me to stop using shampoo.

Resolved2Worship – Her photos are amazing and you absolutely must see her $10 kitchen makeover.  You will not believe your eyes.

Home Where They Belong – This blog is great for keeping your finger on the pulse of homeschooling in our society and includes a lot of homeschooling in the news posts.

Spunky Homeschool – Spunky is another of my long time reads and is on my blogroll.  Spunky posts about homeschooling and politics and is a terrific researcher usually linking to direct sources.  If you visit Spunky make sure you read the often lively discussions in her comments.

Smockity Frocks – Connie is another who I consider a friend (right Connie? right?) and has made it onto my blogroll. (I must have good taste in blogs all three of my homeschooling blogroll friends are in the top 100.)  Connie at Smockity is hilarious in a way that I admire.  She wrote the terrific series on Why So Many Children? and I recently found this account about How Not to Dress for a Wedding Three Weeks Postpartum

A Pondering Heart – This is a blog that I have bookmarked to share with my daughters.  It is written by an 18 year old homeschool student who has some deep thoughts.

I haven’t seen the other blogs on the list, but am sure that there are some gems.   Did some of your favorites make the list?   Please let us know so that we can check them out.

I have lots of posts ready and nearly ready so stay tuned for a SpellQuizzer review and giveaway, my second post in the How We Homeschool series: Teaching Reading, my yard sale rules, and since we will be bulk cooking with four other families this Saturday I may even remember to put up some recipes, maybe!

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How can a loving God allow a young mother to die and a murderer to live to a ripe old age?  This is a long video, but I believe that it is worth your time.   You may want to turn up your speakers and listen while you fold laundry or wash the dishes.

Death is not Dying video from Rachel Barkey

God is God, what we believe or think about Him does not change who He is.   If we do not believe in the God revealed to us in the scriptures then we do not believe in God.

We are sinners and the fact that I am alive today and the fact that you are still breathing, testifies that God is merciful and has given us both much more than we deserve.  Are you healthy?  Do you have a home?  Children?  A dishwasher?  God is indeed gracious and gives us good gifts.

Rachel says this and much more, beautifully as she shares what she has learned on this path toward death.

Thanks to Heart of Wisdom for pointing me to this video and website.

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2. Not Me Monday: The Death of a Fly and Belling the Cat
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4. How Much Do We Really Need?
5. Disagreeing with Love

I admit it.  I’m a slacker.  I have procrastinated, BUT I’m catching up right now.  Does that count for anything or have I been forever blacklisted as a non-participant?

Danetta over at Things That Make You Go Yay! gave me a blog award.

Thanks Danetta!

Vicki over at Joy Home Living gave me a Passionate Blogger Award.  (Sometimes a little too passionate I’m afraid.)

I’m supposed to post 5 things that I’m passionate about besides blogging and then pass the award on to 5 other passionate bloggers and tell why I chose them.

5 things I’m passionate about:

1. God’s Word
2. My husband and children
3. Accepting God’s blessings
4. Homeschooling
5. Cleaning/organizing, although you may not be able to tell if you come over.  Sometimes those other passions impede progress.

5 bloggers that I give the Passionate Blogger Award:

1. Kimarie at Cardamom’s Pod for her passion for all things “from scratch”.
2. Spunky at Spunky Homeschool for her keep-the-government-out-of-my-homeschool passion.
3. Kristin at Little Miss Suzie Homemaker for her baking passion.  That girl can seriously turn out lots of good food, even when she’s pregnant.
4. Darci at Homegrowing for her new passion for pink.  Darci lost a son at the age of two, but God has now brought them full circle with a 911 call and ambulance ride that ends in all JOY!    Click here to read the rest of the story.
5. Kate at Our Quiverfull for her passion for helping her kids enjoy life to the fullest even in the midst of dealing with an ill son.

Here are my rules.  You do not need to blog about your award.  Just know that I appreciate your blogs and keep up the good work.  I’m also not opposed to you blogging about the award, just no obligation.

I’ve also been tagged for a Meme. twice.  ( I did mention that I have been procrastinating, right?)  JenT from Many Blessings Equals a Busy Life and Sasha at Small Town Mamma both tagged me, so how could I refuse?

8′s Great Meme!

8 Things that I look forward to:

1. Having another baby, Lord willing.  I love feeling a baby kick inside me.  I love that newborn smell, look, feel.  I love watching them grow and change.  I love the snuggable 2′s and the more independant 3′s.  The sweet and helpful 6′s and the more mature 12 year old.  I love every stage!
2. Seeing my children’s children.  Maybe even spoiling them too.
3. Meeting my children’s spouses.
4. Having more time alone with Mark to just enjoy being best friends.
5. Having more time to help younger moms.
6. Gaining wisdom.
7. All nations bowing to Jesus our King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
8. Buying furniture. Hmm, this should go under the things that I wish I could do.

8 Things I did yesterday:  (You;ve got to be kidding,  I’m expected to remember 8 things from yesterday?)

1. Prayed and read my Bible.  (That’s easy, I do that everyday.)
2. Ate ice cream.  I know, bad, it was right before bed too.
3. Read books to the kiddos.
4. Fixed dinner.
5. Vacuumed and swept.  (That’s another easy one, I also do that everyday.  I love to clean floors, remember the whole vacuum conversation?)
6. Talked to an adoption agency.
7. Finished helping paint the kids bedrooms.  (I can’t remember if that was yesterday or not) Nope, that was Wednesday. I remember now, I went to a mom’s group in Loudon and enjoyed meeting and enjoying some fellowship with new friends.  They children also brought half a dozen frogs home and have turned our garage into a rain forest habitat for their cold blooded friends.
8. Blogged about our new Greek books.

8 Things that I wish I could do:

1. Have more time to draw.
2. Have more time to knit.
3. Have more time to read.
4. Travel to Greece and Italy with the kids!
5. Take the children out west, where I grew up.  Yosemite, the Pacific Ocean, Grand Canyon, and those flat western lands where the sky streches from horizon to horizon.  I still miss the sky!
6. Honestly, can’t think of anything else.  I have a wonderful life.

8 Shows I Watch:

1. Well, we don’t watch TV much so I just have one that we used to watch.  Law and Order.

8 Bloggers Tagged:

I’m tagging the same 5 from my Passionate Blogger Award.  Same rules apply, but if you choose to do this, please let me know so that I can come read yours.

I do realize that 5 is not 8, but we have 13 children for the weekend and are taking everyone fishing tomorrow, so I’m going to run have fun with the kids.

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2. Large, Homeschooling Family: Want to Know More?
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Connie’s post Why So Many Children: Part 3 is especially powerful.

She explained to me that they didn’t have a large family because they thought it would be fun or easy. They welcomed children as God provided because His word tells us children are a blessing, and that He will provide for our needs.

They had a large family because of their faith in God’s blessings and promises.

So head on over and be prepared for an honest and humorous look at why we have so many children.

You may also be interested in Reasons We Have a Large Family or Have a Large Family Reason #472.  You may also browse my blog by the categories listed across the top of the page.

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Irena Sendler died last May at the age of 98. In 1942 she joined the Polish underground and began rescuing Jewish children.  During her time of doing this, she managed to smuggle out and save 2500 kids / infants.  It is believed that she may be responsible for saving 500 adults previous to joining the underground. Once she was caught, and the Nazi’s beat her severely breaking her legs and feet.

Irena kept a record of the true identities of all the kids she smuggled out and kept them in a glass jar, buried under a tree in a friends garden. After the war, she tried to locate any parents that may have survived and reunite the families.  For the vast majority there was no family left.

Her response to those who sought to honor her was, “Every child saved with my help is the justification of my existence on this earth and not a title to glory.”

In 2007 Irena Sendler was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, but was beat out by Al Gore for his work on the global warming documentary Inconvenient Truth.

What does it say about a culture when it glorifies to the point of idolatry a girl who is cute and can sing or act and neglects to honor someone who is truly courageous and self sacrificing like Irena Sendler?

You may be interested in reading Irena’s Children (A True Story)

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Today I would like to introduce you to one of my new friends. Meet Roan of Joyful Always blog. Roan and her husband Jimmy home school their 5 children and enjoy running together as a family. After you find out some more about Roan from this interview go check out her blog and read more about their homeschooling (can you say fun hands-on co-op?), running, menu plans, and more.

1. What is the name of your blog and how did you come up with that name?

Joyful Always.  I chose that name because it is a phrase from one of my favorite Scriptures:  “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

2. When did you start your blog and why?

I began blogging in May, 2008.  I began my blog as a way to record and preserve memories of our family.  I know that when my children are grown they may have questions for me about homemaking and child-rearing.  I am afraid that I will forget how I do things if I don’t write them down! 

3. What do you enjoy the most about blogging?

I enjoy seeing my thoughts in print.  I love the ease and quickness of blogging.  It requires much less time, planning, and effort than scrapbooking.  I also like that I may have a positive influence on someone.  I like sharing my faith with others.

4. What other hobbies do you have?

running, reading, scrap-booking, planning, organizing

5. What do you want people to remember you for?

My faith in God, and my willingness to serve Him.

6. Tell us about your family in 1 or 2 sentences per member:

My husband, Jimmy, is a wonderful Christian man.  He is kind, loving, sympathetic, supportive, and generous.

Olivia, age 13, loves animals, and her hobbies include running, sewing, drawing, reading, knitting, and crocheting.   She is very poised, kind, helpful, loving, dependable, and hard-working.

Julie, age 11, enjoys writing, running, reading, crocheting, cooking, and knitting.  Julie is very caring, generous, loving, and responsible.

Clay, age 10 is such a sweet little boy.  He loves the outdoors, his four-wheeler, fishing, knives, rocks, string, legos and the wii.

Leah, age 5, is unpredictable, but very loving.  She likes to draw, collect stickers, ride her bike, and cook.

Sam, age 3 is a Mama’s boy.  He loves playing with my hair, riding his four-wheeler, and playing with legos.

7. How do others describe you?

I think most of my friends would say that I am organized and energetic, and that I love my role as a wife and mother. 

8. Tell us at least one thing about you that your faithful blog readers don’t already know.

I appeared on Wheel of Fortune in 1998.  I was the big winner, but I failed to solve the final puzzle.  I won a big screen (huge)TV, a DVD player (didn’t even know what that was at the time), and about $7500 cash. 

9. How do you fit it all in?

I don’t!  Really.  If all of the laundry gets done, then I may have skipped the vacuuming.  If I cook a really good meal, then I may have skipped folding the clean clothes.  I have a routine for completing all of my household responsibilities, but rarely do I “do it all”.  But, I do most of it every day, and at the end of the week, it just all gets done.  I am a hard worker.  I can push myself to do one more thing on most days.  I really do find joy in being a wife and mother.  I love my job!

10. When and why did you start homeschooling?

I began officially homeschooling in January, 2001.  Olivia was in the first grade.  I chose to home school after years of prayer, research, and conversation and correspondence with other homeschoolers.  The passage in Deuteronomy 6:4-9 really sums up our reasons for homeschooling.  Our ultimate goal for our children is heaven.  Teaching them of God’s love for them and His plan for their salvation is THE  most important lesson we will ever teach them.

 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
“And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.  You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.  You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates
 
Now head on over to Joyful Always and wish Roan and her family a happy spring break.

If  are interested in having your blog featured on Raising Olives please email me.

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