It seems this winter is dragging out as long as it can! I know its still February, but its almost March and that means its time for winter to hit the road! Being the lover of hot weather and sunshine that I am, I have house fever! Which is cabin fever except I don’t live in a cabin. But there are definitely plenty of things to keep me busy waiting for this winter to finish out!

Things like learning about different festivals and holidays…

NerdMom of the Nerd Family is learning about Purim.

Amy whose Hope Is the Word shares about what they did in their home/homeschool to celebrate and learn about the Chinese New Year.

Denise of Let’s Play Math! is participating in World Maths Day. Act quickly if you want your student to participate in the (free!) World Maths Day.

Or learning how to be better at finances…

Kristie who lives on This Side of Eternity shares about Frugal Homeschooling and how to give your children the best education with the Lord’s direction and avoid the pitfalls of comparing yourself to others. How to avoid falling into the curriculum trap. It is possible to give your children a great education without spending a fortune.

Audrey of Homeschooling Income is Putting my children to work and shares about how her children can also start to earn pocket money by working online with help from a parent.

Mrs. White at The Legacy of Home Teaches Home Economics through Apprenticeship.

We can be grateful for homeschooling…

DeputyHeadmistress who resides in The Common Room shares what a homeschooling week looked like with a kindergartner recently removed from public school in The Further School Tales of Blynken.

Alasandra’s Homeschool Blog gives us A Dim View of Public Schools.

Linda Dobson who is a PARENT AT THE HELM shares A Brief History of American Homeschooling.

At Why Homeschool, Henry points to some great posts Janine wrote four years ago: Homeschooling highlights from November 2005

We can take some time to look at why we do or don’t do things…

Monica at Educating Magpies wonders why some home schooling moms do not use support groups in their home schooling journey… its just The kind of mom who baffles me.

Tiffany who lives Life on the Road asks Is Co-Schooling an Option?.

Dana who lives at Roscommon Acres is wondering if its a Reading Breakthrough, or Victory of the Bribe…

Rayann presentsRayann @ The Nuthouse rants against asking for permission to make curriculum changes.

Mrs. C of Homeschool and Etc. shares about The Bad Homeschooler You Know. Does everyone know at least one “bad” homeschooling family? What are our responsibilities to the families with children in these situations?

We can take some time to help others…

Jane Doe of Count By Homeschoolers just kicked off a fun survey blog for homeschool graduates, and would love to join your party: Press Release: Coca-Cola Versus Pepsi.

Vikki Lawrence over at Vikki’s Verandah is doing some Book Research: Calling All Teens.Writing an adventure series for teens, starring a homeschooled 15 year old girl. Need help with researching! Go to: http://vikkisverandah.blogspot.com/2010/02/book-research-calling-all-teens.html

Denise who is Blogging 2 Learn helps by talking about Spam Comments. Spammers are tricky, and inexperienced bloggers can be easy to fool.

Robin who is seeking a Heart of Wisdom gives us Lapbook and Scrapbook Folder Differences

We can fellowship with other homeschool moms…

Barbara Frank Online knows that after many years of homeschooling can leave a mom with a much shorter attention span than she once had and then you have to get back to the point of Productivity.

ChristineMM who is The Thinking Mother story about teaching her seventh grade son about writing composition, cause Writing is Talking on Paper.

Jacque who is Walking Therein shares about Teaching the Littles the Scriptures.

Penny Raine shares some recent ponderings about parenthood.

And then we can just have some fun!

Rachel Lynette who has Minds in Bloom shares 3 More Games to Play While Waiting.

Michelle Dennis Evans has a great, easy French Toast recipe for young children.

Lara DeHaven, the Texas Homesteader shows some beautiful 4-H Photography Contest photos she got when the sun decided to come out for a bit!

Pamela of  Blah, Blah, Blog reminds us to remember the Little things.

Michelle of  Delightful Learning has some really neat Delight Directed “Science” Play and projects to do!

The HSBA Post has some Fun with Geography: Learning the Highest Peak on Each Continent

Finally…

Tiana Krenz of God Made, Home Grown shares The Most Important Thing, and that is truly the MOST IMPORTANT THING!

Hopefully doing these things will help keep my house fever low and will make the time go by just a little faster!

If you enjoyed this edition of the COH, would you mind sharing about it? You can easily grab the icon and put it on your site to announce this edition! Make sure to send in a submission for next week’s carnival hosted by HomeschoolBuzz.com.

©AmandaDixon2010

Tags: apprenticeship, Barbara Franks, blog, book, cabin fever, Carnival of Homeschooling, Chinese New Year, co-op, coke, curriculum, Dana Hanley, economics, education, festivals, finances, frugal, frugally, fun, games, geography, Heart of Wisdom, help, Henry Cate, Homeschool, homeschool graduates, homeschool mom, homeschooling, house fever, HSBA Post, Jacque Dixon, math, money, parenthood, pepsi, photography, public school, Purim, reading, recipes, research, Robin Sampson, save money, school, science, Scriptures, spam comments, study, teaching, The Thinking Mother, Walking Therein, Why I Homeschool, writing

I have an obsessive personality and lately I’ve been listening to the Sons of Korah songs over and over… I wish I could find the music for them because they are just so beautiful and powerful.

Psalms 67
“God, be gracious to us, and bless us. May he make his face shine toward us, (Selah) so that your way may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations. Let the peoples give thanks to you, God; let the peoples give thanks to you, all of them. Let the nations be glad and shout for joy, for you will judge the peoples fairly and guide the nations on earth. (Selah) Let the peoples give thanks to you, God; let the peoples give thanks to you, all of them. The earth has yielded its harvest; may God, our God, bless us. May God continue to bless us, so that all the ends of the earth will fear him.“

I am making that my song the cry of my heart! I want Him to be praised and given thanks to. I want Him to be given everything He deserves that I can give Him. As I was listening to this song I started thinking about His face shining on me. It brings to mind when I read about Moses coming down from His presence and his face was shining so much that they people were afraid and Moses had to cover his face.

Exodus 34
“When Moshe came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, he didn’t realize that the skin of his face was sending out rays of light as a result of his talking with [ADONAI]. When Aharon and the people of Isra’el saw Moshe, the skin of his face was shining; and they were afraid to approach him. But Moshe called to them; then Aharon and all the community leaders came back to him, and Moshe spoke to them. Afterwards, all the people of Isra’el came near; and he passed on to them all the orders that ADONAI had told him on Mount Sinai. Once Moshe had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. But when he went in before ADONAI for him to speak, he would take the veil off until he came out; then, when he came out, he would tell the people of Isra’el what he had been ordered. But when the people of Isra’el saw Moshe’s face, that the skin of Moshe’s face shone, he would put the veil back over his face until he went in again to speak with [ADONAI].“

I want Him to shine His face on me just like Moses. I want to be like Moses in so many ways. Moses was called friend of God.

Exodus 33:11
“ADONAI would speak to Moshe face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.“

It is my deepest wish to have God talk to me face to face; to be my close friend! He is the only one who will always be there for you. You can always count on Him. Everyone needs a friend like that.
Sometimes it feels as tho I can’t hear Him when I pray, but I know He always hears me and I have to remind myself that just because He doesn’t answer right away doesn’t mean He won’t answer at all. I pray that I am always open to hear whatever His reply is and to do it.

Our God is wonderful and awesome and deserves all our praises and thanks! He has done so much for us and there is no way we could repay it. THAT just shows His everlasting love to us: even though we can’t ever repay what He has done, He continues to give it!
What a loving God He is!

©AmandaDixon2010

Tags: Adonai, Awesome, Exodus 33, Exodus 34, face shine on me, friend, friend of God, God, Jacque Dixon, Meme, Moses, Moses face shone, music, Praise, Prayer, Psalms 67, Saturday Psalm and Praise, Scriptures, shining, song, Sons of Korah, talk, thanks

Psalms 24
“The earth is ADONAI’s, with all that is in it, the world and those who live there; for he set its foundations on the seas and established it on the rivers. Who may go up to the mountain of ADONAI? Who can stand in his holy place? Those with clean hands and pure hearts, who don’t make vanities the purpose of their lives or swear oaths just to deceive. They will receive a blessing from ADONAI and justice from God, who saves them. Such is the character of those who seek him, of Ya’akov, who seeks your face. (Selah) Lift up your heads, you gates! Lift them up, everlasting doors, so that the glorious king can enter! Who is he, this glorious king? ADONAI, strong and mighty, ADONAI, mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, you gates! Lift them up, everlasting doors, so that the glorious king can enter! Who is he, this glorious king? ADONAI-Tzva’ot he is the glorious king. (Selah)”

I’ve really loved the Sons of Korah’s music! They have simply taken Psalms right out of the Scriptures and put them to music as a praise offering to our God! What a novel idea! Teaching simply the Scriptures!

There are so many things we can learn from this Psalms. It reminds us that everything is God’s; tells us how we are to come to Him and what our character should be; and it tells us who God is!
When I listened to this song, it reminded me of the Scripture where the Savior is told He needs to reprimand His Disciples when they sing praises to Him on His way to Jerusalem. His answer is one I think we all need to ponder:

Luke 19:40
“But he answered them, “I tell you that if they keep quiet, the stones will shout!”“

If we don’t sing praises, then the stones will cry out. He is so worthy of our praise! I don’t want the stones to have to cry out because I’m not praising my Awesome creator, do you? That would be kinda weird…

I want to praise Him with everything! and that’s what I’m gonna do it! What about you?

©AmandaDixon2010

Each Saturday join Jacque (Mama) @ Walking Therein, and many others who are taking their Saturdays and expressing their praise to the Lord. To participate, you can post a Psalm or a praise and tell what impact it has had on you. Make sure to link up your SP&P too! I hope to see you on there!

Tags: Adonai, Awesome, creator, Jacque Dixon, Jerusalem, Luke 19:40, Meme, music, Praise, Psalms 24, rocks cry out, Saturaday Psalm and Praise, Savior, Scriptures, sing praises, song, Sons of Korah, the earth is God's, the stone will shout, worship

Tags: Adonai, clean, complaining, Facebook, Indiana, Isaiah 1:18, Jacque Dixon, Meme, mom, photography, photos, pictures, positive, Psalms 51:7, reminder, Saturday Psalm and Praise, Scriptures, sign, sins are like scarlet, snow, weather, white as snow

Yes, this is a shameless plug on behalf of my familia. I’m sure y’all have heard that the Home School Blog Awards are going on… if not… they are. Well I would like to present to you where my votes are going…
My familia:
In the Best Homeschool Mom Blog, I’m voting for Walking Therein
In the Best Teen Girl Blog, I’m voting for A Pondering Heart
In the Best Teen Group Blog, I’m voting for Feelin’ Feminine
In the Best Teen Guy Blog, I’m voting for On The Road To Manhood
In the Best Homemaking or Recipes Blog, I’m voting for A City on a Hill
In the Best Family or Group Blog, I’m voting for Gleaning the Harvest
In the Best Blog Design, I’m voting for Gleaning the Harvest

And also for these supporters of Gleaning the Harvest:
In the Best “Live-What-You-Believe” Homeschool Blog, I’m voting for A Dusty Frame
In the Best Variety, I’m voting for Penny Raine
In the Best Nitty-Gritty Homeschool Blog, I’m voting for Heart of Wisdom
In the Best Crafts, Plans & Projects Blog, I’m voting for Seven Sisters
In the Best Eclectic Homeschooling, I’m voting for Delightful Learning
In the Best Thrifty Homeschooler, I’m voting for Money Saving Mom
In the Best NEW Homeschool Blog, I’m voting for Delightful Learning
In the Best Geographical Blog, I’m voting for  For the Time Has Come (Costa Rica)
In the Funniest Homeschool Blog, I’m voting for Always a Work in Progress!

I would sooo appreciate if you would take 5min or so of your time to go vote for these choices. The voting ends at midnight on November 21st which is Saturday, so hurry over!
And that is my shameless plug. Thanks y’all!

©AmandaDixon2009

Tags: A Dusty Frame, A Pondering Heart, best, blog, blog awards, crafts, Crystal Paine, design, eclectic, family, Feelin' Feminine, funniest, geographical, Gleaning The Harvest, Heart of Wisdom, Home School Blog Awards, homemaking, homeschool mom, HSBA Post, Jacque Dixon, Jocelyn Dixon, live what you believe, Money Saving Mom, new, nitty-gritty, Penny Raine, recipes, Robin Sampson, teen boy, teen girl, teen group, thrifty, variety, vote, Walking Therein

Today, October 26th, is the anniversary of the birth of my first child. I can’t believe it has been 20 years since that day. I can’t say anything more than I love her today as much as the first time I held her in my arms. I love her giving heart, her beautiful smile and all she means to me. She is precious to me and to Yehovah, and I am so grateful she is in my life.

I love you Amanda.

I hope you have a super day today.

I hope we grow closer this year than we have before. (Can’t believe this photo is a year old already… we need a new one together!)

I hope you are blessed more this year than you ever have been and walk closer with Yehovah and Yehoshua than you ever have.

Love you daughter~

Momma

Tags: Amanda Dixon, birth, daughters, Graduate, grateful, Jacque Dixon, love, Momma, Yehovah