More quick takes for you to explore over at Conversion Diary.

This morning the kids and I spent a couple hours outside "gardening." (really playing in the dirt.) I basically know nothing about gardening. I have neither the time nor the patience to really learn much right now. Or at least I can't delve into thick gardening books or spend hours planning, then hours outside weeding and planting. (Hello, still nearly 7 months pregnant over here, oy.)


I have pinned some cool ideas on Pinterest and we used Square Foot Gardening (loosely) last year to plant some veggies and flowers, but about that's the extent of it. We got some peas, corn, carrots, lettuce, dahlias, and strawberries but alas, the bunnies and deer pretty much consumed everything in the end. Also, gardening, we've found - can be pretty expensive when you're first starting out!
Mike has more experience than me since his dad and mom like to garden (and Mike enjoys it too), but since his time (and money) is limited he hasn't been able to do as much as he'd like to in the 3 years we've lived in this house.
My hope is that we learn little by little each year and one day will have a giant garden with vegetables, flowers, herbs, and other lovely things and the children will be right there learning along side us! The trick for me is slow and steady. While I'd love to have all of that right now - I know it's just not realistic.



What are your plans for your garden this year??

 I love her eye for trinkets but her ability to keep clutter kept in check. It's something about the way she arranges things that to me, never feels cluttery but always feels interesting. There is always something to catch your eye. I would also describe her taste as eclectic. If she likes something she likes it. I tend to like most of what she likes :) I feel like I've taken after her a bit in my own home. Or at least I try. Right now I can't exactly afford the kinds of things she has but that's ok. Thrift stores are great places to look for fun trinkets without spending too much.


The kids watching a little show today while we visited.

Well, that's my grandma's house. Actually, it's her current house and not the one I used to come visit as a little girl. Due to basically making good decisions their whole lives, my grandma and grandpa were able to build their own home a couple of years ago. This is a beautiful house and something they totally deserve. My grandma grew up on a farm in Tacoma with 6 siblings and very, very poor. She talks about how she owned one doll, and she loved that doll to rags.

So she wasn't always able to have what she wanted. It was only after so many years of working hard, being frugal, and working as a team with my grandpa that she's been able to get to where she is. I have learned a lot of good lessons from her. She is a gift to me, and I don't know who I'd be without her influence...

In the context of starting to read bible stories to Louisa (and her actually understanding them), I've begun to find myself stumbling over the right words to say sometimes. Especially over the question of sin. What is sin? How do you explain it in an appropriate manner to children under 6? Sin is a scary thing: at least it is to me, and I'm a mature adult!

So far it's been very basic. Don't worry: I'm obviously not going into detail about sin, suffering, punishment, redemption, hell, and all that! So far, I've just found that in order to facilitate an understanding of the biblical stories of Adam and Eve, Noah's ark, and Cain and Able, I have to at least start to explain what sin is. (And of course, this is a task both Mike and I are currently undertaking together.)

I think so far what we've said has been quite gentle: "Honey, in the story of Adam and Eve, God gave the first humans this beautiful garden to live in. He gave them one rule to follow, but they did not follow that rule. They decided they knew better than God what they should do. That was the first sin. That was the first time man disobeyed God. It's all very sad, isn't it?"

Not such a hard thing to explain, right?

But then I find myself floundering a little bit when it comes to the story of Noah and the Ark. It's kind of a jarring thing, isn't it? To hear how the whole earth was wiped out by a flood (yes, that means all the "mean" people died) Even as an adult, this story has always been jarring to me. As it should be! We of course then go over God's promise to never destroy the earth again by flood, and we talk about how God still had hope in mankind, which was shown through Noah and his family. We talk about the animals God saved and the plan he always had to re-populate the earth. Still, I find it a hard story to tell.

Perhaps it's because I am an adult convert that I'm having more trouble with this? Having never heard any bible stories growing up, explaining the story of salvation to youngsters is turning out to be harder than I had imagined it would be. (Bring on the "where do babies come from?" question! That'll be easy-peasy compared to this undertaking :)


In college, I read many books before I converted. I loved reading C.S. Lewis, and gobbled up many of his works, including the Problem of Pain. It seemed to me that so many of my peers found it hard to come to grasp with a God who would allow such suffering in the world. This is the premise of Lewis's book, and he tackles the subject well and with such style! Now days people tend to be even more guarded about the Christian religion (Lewis published this book in 1940!) One of the biggest arguments Lewis would hear from people is that there is no way a loving, personal God could exist because; PAIN. Horrible, senseless human suffering that takes place every single day in every land and every age. To many, it just doesn't add up. Therefore, any Christian who approaches them with this story of how much God loves us is treated with suspicion and outright disbelief. They can never bring themselves to want to be a Christian because of this seemingly huge stumbling block.

Not to mention how the whole concept of sin is lost on the people of my generation (and my surrounding generations.) How is it possible that we don't know whats best for ourselves? It seems awfully oppressive to suggest something I could do would be considered "sinful." The culture we live in pretty much tells us to do whatever we think will make us happy, and that any person who tries to tell you differently is at best misguided; and at worst, a self-righteous person on a power trip. It makes no sense to tell others what to do. Suffering exists for other reasons, certainly not because of disobedience to God! Don't bother me with that sin talk, and definitely don't bother your children by it!

Well, I'm hear to tell you that not all of it made complete sense to me, either. I still wanted to make my own decisions, and I definitely did not want to believe that my actions could have consequences. It was scary believing what the Church had to say about matters of sin and suffering. And yet, I was still drawn to Christianity. In fact, among my reasons for converting, it was actually the state of human poverty, disparity, and suffering that was one of the most compelling! You see, in reading the gospels, I discovered the answer to all this suffering....

Basically, I just couldn't swallow the idea that this world, in all it's messiness, was all there was! Sure, I might still not be able to explain why God would allow so much to happen to His beloved people, but at least I could bank my hope in the next life; where all would be made new and all this suffering would make sense.


Which brings me back, sort of, to sin. Sin is essentially disobedience to God, but the reason God hates sin so much is because it's bad for us, right? It's when we willfully work against our nature that we cause harm to ourselves and to those around us. Mankind suffers greatly because of sin. But's not like God is up there demanding total servitude because it builds HIM up - no, He desires the utmost good in us because that's what we were created to be! I know it's a cheesy analogy, but it's like how a car engine was built for a certain type of fuel. If you put sand in the tank, you won't be getting anywhere and you will most likely cause a lot of damage! Sin (yours and mine and everyone's) screws us up and causes all the problems of pain in the world. God isn't punishing us, God loves us and he hates sin. He doesn't want to see us put sand in our engines.

The alternative to God not "allowing" suffering to exist would be, what? The elimination of free will. God gave Adam and Eve the gift of free will so that they could freely choose to love Him, just as he gives us free will. It was much more important to God for us to choose to love than to be forced to! But the hard part is that sin becomes an option too. We can reject God. And we do, all the time.

(*And trust me, Lewis explains all of this a while lot better in his book. Please give it a read. In fact, I'm planning on re-reading it because I feel as though I don't remember all of what he said perfectly. Hopefully I'm not terribly misinterpreting what he said!)


but all my (imperfect) understanding of sin came to me as an adult. If I had heard the bible stories as a child and grew up being aware of the story and message of Christianity, perhaps I might have a bit more confidence in explaining it to my children. How do you go about this task when a lot of it is so weighty?

As of right now, I have done but little research in how to go about doing it well. I know there isn't a specific formula, or a script out there we need to follow, but I think perhaps we would benefit from a bit of guidance. If you have any books to recommend I'm all ears! And friends, don't worry. I know we have lots of time. There is no rush to explain the deepest theological concepts to our 5 and 3 year old children. I know there's time but since it's so important, I figure it's never too early to plant the seeds.

Basically I want to get across the message that God loves us. God is love and God is goodness. God wants us to be good, but a lot of times it's hard for us because of sin. We choose to do things that are not good for us, and not good for those around us. I have repeated many times to Louisa that one of the reasons we are kind to each other is because God wants us to be kind. God wants us to love one another, and in doing so we show that we love Him!

God loves us, isn't that wonderful??

But if you close your eyes,
Does it almost feel like 
Nothing changed at all?
And if you close your eyes,
Doe it almost feel like 
You've been here before?

How am I gonna be an optimist about this?
How am I gonna be an optimist about this?

We were caught up and lost in all of our vices
In your pose as the dust settles around us

Oh where do we begin?
The rubble or our sins?
Oh where do we begin?
The rubble or our sins?

I'm feeling inexplicably grumpy today. I honestly don't know what it is. Did I eat too much sugar yesterday? (of course I did.) Is there some project left unfinished that's eating away at my unconsciousness? (like a junk drawer somewhere left unorganized?) Is it a full moon....?

hm. I don't know. But folks, right at this moment, at 1:58 in the afternoon, with the kids laying down, and the house pretty clean, there is something eating away at me that I can't pinpoint. Honestly the only thing I want to do is post some pictures. That's what'll make me feel better. I know it. I don't want tea, I don't want a phone conversation, I don't even want to take a nap. I just want to look back at the photos I've taken this week and post em'. For some reason this activity is very soothing for me.

This is probably a big reason I've kept up blogging for this long. Yes, I love recording my days so I can look back, I love sharing my little corner of life with people who I might not get to see regularly, and I love the blogging community. But most likely the reason I keep coming back is just makes it makes feel better to open up a blank white post window and start typing away. Then I open up my camera memory card and browse through the faces of my children, my home, or some other random object I took pictures of. (I tend to take a lot of pictures.) I don't know how to explain it really, but it just gives me energy and if I'm in a bad mood it usually mellows me out.

So after reading three paragraphs about my need to post - here are 7 random pictures I've taken. I hope you enjoy them. I enjoy sharing them. Sharing is caring, right? :)

-feeling lots of movement, especially on the left side of my tummy. I wonder if his legs are over there.
-I've already gotten out newborn clothes. I didn't have to pack baby boy clothes away for very long :)
-I am not worried about labor and delivery, I'm looking forward to it! My friend Briana just had her little girl last night and I was looking at her pictures tearing up. I can't wait for my turn! (Though I'm not going to have a home birth like her ;)
-I am doing a little better sleeping. Though with the recent bought of illness, I was still getting pretty interrupted sleep. Hopefully I can get back to sleeping without waking up or with only waking up once (usually to pee) A few helpful things have been not drinking coffee after noon, and not going on my cell phone when I wake up...just trying to fall back asleep without it.

Well I have to get going but I just wanted to jot down some things for me to remember. How unfair would it be if Louisa, Josie, and Michael got all the bloggy attention? :)

Many home education philosophies emphasize the importance of weaving nature into learning. Charlotte Mason, who was English educator and author wrote extensively about what she called "nature studies."  (and I would link you to a few helpful websites but my computer is acting all crazy, so just do a search if you want more information)

She highly encouraged mothers and fathers to take their children out every single day to view nature, breathe fresh air, and develop a deep appreciate for God's green earth. From what I've read, many homeschoolers try to shoot for once a week, depending on where you live, which is a little more doable for the likes of a pregnant mother with three. I've written before how I'm generally an indoor person, but even so, I can handle short outings with my little nature observers. Especially when I know how good they are for all our spirits.




Charlotte Mason has lots of specifics to keep in mind while on your nature walk, but from what I can tell, you can't really do them wrong. In this case, yes I took my camera which probably affected the whole learning process slightly, but it's not something I do every time. It's important to let the child do the leading (although some children require more prompting to make observations or at least to share them with you) because you don't want to be simply lecturing. It's all about them coming to their own appreciation of the beautiful earth God created for us. You should be available to answer all their questions, though!


Today basically consisted of a very short, simple walk around our neighborhood then coming inside to draw some of the specimens we collected. The weather has been finicky lately; one moment it's rainy and windy, and then for a brief moment the sun will peak out through the clouds. Such is the PNW in February though, so I'm not sure why I'm surprised.


Nature walks and nature studies are just aspect of homeschooling that make me believe there is so much great potential in this style of education. Children are not separated from the outdoors as much when they are not limited to a classroom setting for the vast majority of their educational careers. I find it so lovely and freeing. I think about myself as a child, and I bet I would have loved to go outside more and keep a nature journal as part of my schooling. Who knows, had I done that I might not have grown into such an indoor girl after all*?



*though I should note that my mom was really wonderful at taking my brother and I to parks and fun places as children. My younger brother was truly a ball of energy so she had to! So it's not as if anyone failed to take me outside. I'm just saying that in the context of school I see so many benefits to childhood development. The power of observation, appreciation of nature, and breathing fresh air, just to name a few.