God of Grace and God of Glory

God of Grace and God of Glory,
On Your people pour Your power.
Crown Your ancient church’s story,
Bring its bud to glorious flower.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
For the facing of this hour,
For the facing of this hour.

Lo! the hosts of evil ’round us,
Scorn Thy Christ, assail His ways.
From the fears that long have bound us,
Free our hearts to faith and praise.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
For the living of these days,
For the living of these days.

Cure Your children's warring madness,
Bend our pride to You control.
Shame our wanton selfish gladness,
Rich in things and poor in soul.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
Lest we miss Your kingdom’s goal,
Lest we miss Your kingdom’s goal.

Save us from weak resignation,
To the evils we deplore.
Let the search for Your salvation,
Be our glory evermore.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
Serving You Whom we adore,
Serving You Whom we adore.

-sigh-

It's become tough to blog again. Part of the fun for me is taking pictures that I can use to illustrate. But my camera is, again, AWOL. Maybe this is the time to look for a new one, one that I can take on my trip to Europe.

Yes, I am planning a trip. When my mom passed away, she left me money with instructions to take my two sisters to England, Germany and Italy. I am planning that for next May, and I'll need more than my point-and-shoot. Does anyone with more camera savvy than me have any suggestions? I tend more toward mid-range in price and features, by the way, and I have access to lenses from my husband's stash. So, recommend away!!

Where Were You?

We returned about 3am from one of our best family vacations ever, to the Smoky Mountains. Along the way, we had visited Fort Knox, where Jay was at Basic Training. Of course, we didn't see him, but we did learn later that we parked the motor home in the parking lot of his barrack. No one questioned us as we drove around post, seeing what we could and soaking up the atmosphere. (Those of you who have served are smiling at that, I know!)

We had disconnected our television antenna that summer. Our kids, 16, 11 and 6 at the time, had become zombie-like in the presence of a television, and the summer is just reruns, anyway. We went to video-only mode for the summer, and had just reconnected things for my sister and brother-in-law. They stayed at the house, caring for our animals, while we were gone, and John wanted them to be able to have TV if they wanted.

We slept in, which meant about 9am, and I had just sent John out to bring in suitcases so we could dress. The kids were up, some on the computer, and Mary watching Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, when my mom called.

"Turn on the TV," she said, knowing we wouldn't be watching. "The Arabs have blown up the World Trade Center." About 10 minutes after we tuned in, the second plane hit the south tower. (About two months later, we drove back to Fort Knox to see Jay graduate from Basic. We waited 45 minutes for a security check at the same gate we had entered in late August. At that time, no one had manned that gate.)

And now I have three kids in the Army, all of whom are off this weekend, drilling with their units of the National Guard. Thank you, guys. I miss you.

This Dog!!

This dog had me grinning from ear to ear. And it looks like the dog liked it, too!

School

School began today at Pine Ridge School. With only one full-time student, my workload should be reduced this year. But beginnings are always awkward.

We should have, and planned to have, started yesterday. But there were Interruptions, not the least of which was having to go to Kinko's to do the errand that got sidelined by a bashed vehicle on Tuesday. So today we started with Morning Prayer, then Geography, History and Math. Tomorrow we'll add Science, as Mary will be heading to the vet clinic to job shadow. Those vet clinic visits will be her Friday Science, but she'll still be doing bookwork at home.

History looks good. We're using The History of the Ancient World, by Susan Wise Bauer. We'll read this to each other, alternating chapters. (She was ever so happy to learn she'd be reading this to me. Ever so.) I'd like to get through it by Christmas, so we can move on to it's sequel, The History of the Medieval World. We are planning a trip to Europe next May, and I'd like her to have a handle on the history of the places we'll be seeing. But I'm not going to rush it. If we make it through, yay. If not, well, we didn't.

The Seanster also joined us for half of our morning. I'll be teaching history to him, using the junior version of Mary's book. I have been using these for eight years now, and they're great. Even if you just have one around to hand to a bored child for reading, it's worth the money. The writing is clear and engaging, and reads like a really, really good story. It is not boring history, like you might remember from grade school. This one puts you in the action and makes you think. He was very interested in the story, not so much in the writing I had him do afterward, but left with homework that he got started on right away. One of the problems with living in this Eden is having a less than complete library. Our seems more geared to books as entertainment and pop culture than as learning instruments. Of the four well-known childrens' books I suggested to him to read about archaeology, our library had exactly...zero. Sad. But at least he went looking.

So much for the first day. They say it's not really momentum until you've been moving ahead for three weeks. Only 20 days to go...

Good News, Bad News

Bad news was, John had 5 furlough days and 5 mandatory vacation days.

Good news, my dad has a motor home, he lent it to us, and we planned a trip to Devils' Lake with all our kids.

Bad news, two of the kids couldn't make it, and John ended up working many of those furlough and mandatory vacation days.

Good news, we did get out of town for a bit.

Bad news, everyone left me with an errand to run yesterday and no cars to run it in.

Good news, the motor home is still in the driveway. Yeah, I'll look a little odd driving a motor home into Kinko's, but, hey, the errand will get done.

Bad news. Turning around in the driveway, I saw the tree. I cleared the tree. I didn't clear the limb hanging over the driveway. I tore the front side off of the motor home.

Good news. The material I tore off was soggy. There must have been a leak. Now the leak will be fixed.

And my dad said he wouldn't shoot me. This time.

Pro-Life Corner

We cannot rely on worldly institutions to fight our battles for us. Christians have been called to be hope and light to a fallen generation; so let's speak God's truth in love and care for the most vulnerable in our churches and society. May God bless your efforts to really make a difference!

Life Quote from Lutherans For Life

Saturday Farm Report

Missed a couple of blogging days...I was out working. For pay. Really. Someone pays me to do things. It's a wonderful world.

Today, after sleeping in, we got right on all those chores we've been putting off because we're busy working. For pay. First up; mow the lawn and garden. Next up, find out the push mower is shot, as is the belt on the riding mower. So the garden will wait until we find and buy another push mower. And the lawn will wait until about 2 hours from now, when Matthew returns from his "just an hour, Mom," lunch and trip to buy a new belt.

Next up, buy feed. I did that, having a nice conversation with Sue, the feed lady. Nice is relative. Actually, I learned that, if I find raccoon scat in my barns, I should wear a mask when cleaning it up. Apparently a friend of theirs didn't, inhaled some sort of spores from the dust coming off the dried feces, and ended up in the hospital with a horrible lung infection. Yuck.

After the feed, I cleaned out the turkey hut. It had been horribly neglected, and smelled gaggingly nasty. But I got all the yuck out and replaced it with fluffy bedding. Wait, no, didn't do that yet. Matthew took the truck, which had the bedding in the back of it. So the turkeys are chilling outside of their clean hut. Have no fear, little flock. When Matthew is back, you'll have your hut back, too.

Next up is digging through this archaeological region I call my desk. I would be mowing the garden, but, well, you know about that. I stayed up late last night, looking up information for our trip to Europe next spring, and made a mess of my desk. Before I go to work, I need to bring some order to it. So I'll end my report and let you get back to your lives! Toodles!

A Wal-Mart-ing We Will Go...

Although most of my hunting and gathering was accomplished yesterday, we had to head home a little too early to get it all done. We really needed to head to the Wal-Mart, though. In fact, we were out of such essentials as toilet paper and paper towels.

I don't really like to shop there. I prefer local, small places. But there are times when only Wal-Mart will do. Like when you're out of toilet paper and paper towels. Where else can you get those things so cheaply?

I got up a little late this morning, but still had time to think through a few things while I prepped to go. Should I wear this? Or this? Actually, I'm not sure I have the build for the latter...snicker. And my hair. Should it be arranged like this? Yeah, no.

Actually, I ended up looking a lot more...boring. Plain red shirt, mid-calf denim skirt. -sigh- Such is my life.