First Day of School

First Day of 8th Grade. Ally had a fun week! She encountered so many crazy things in only 5 days. Already experienced some secular philosophy from a teacher, is loving volleyball, and although it is going to be easy, she is having a great time.

5th Grade! Gracie would rather be homeschooled, but she is enjoying some experiences I hadn't thought of. After the first day she told me she didn't think she'd be going back. Sorry, Charlie. She is making some friends and coming around. I made the mistake of sending a juice box in her lunch. Apparently, I wasn't aware that that was uncool for 5th graders. Keep up, mom!

3rd Grade! Daniel had a pretty good week despite the snarl in this picture. All the girls are in love with him. All 3 kids are really over-tired. Not just because of school, but we've had many late nights this week. It has been a very long week! Here's some of what I've been up to this week. These are some large murals for the student ministry I loved havin' time for projects like these this week. What? You don't think Jesus has yellow, orange, and blue highlights?

school choices

Byron and I have decided that this year the kids will be in public school. Now I know that freaks out an awful lot of our homeschool friends, but we decided that we would seek the Lord each year and do as he leads. He may lead us to private school in the future, to homeschool again, or to Africa for all we know. But, we will seek His leading each day, and prayerfully encounter each situation with His guidance. I always hesitate to classify myself as anything but a Christ-follower - are we a homeschool family? Am I stay at home mom? Am I a teacher? Am I a Texan? Maybe, unless God calls me tomorrow to be an Ohioan, or something different. Each day I am a Christ follower and that exciting path means that I am what He says I am in that day. Tomorrow He may ask me to go to a neighbor's house and be a plumber for all I know. Hopefully he'll grant me that ability and realize my weaknesses in that area. :) But, if led, I'll go. I'll still be blogging about homeschooling and sharing our journey with our schooling choice, and I'll be helping out my sister down the road in her homeschooling as well.

One of our major convictions has been that as student pastors we have really targeted the school system here- the only school system here -and set about to reach it for Christ. With this fresh, specific conviction laid on us by God, it seems at this point and time for us almost hypocritical not to have our kids in there too. Not only that, but this is THE one school system I feel almost comfortable with. A sweet, small school where so many teachers - 2 principals, the superintendent, members of the school board, and a large number of the students are related to my kids - and believe as we do.

I know I will desperately miss homeschooling this year. I will miss having the kids around me all day, teaching art, and reading the classics aloud. (Not that we won't do plenty of those things after school.) My favorite year of all is 3rd grade - we really get into some Biblical truths through history and science - and I will miss that, Daniel will miss it. My oldest is going to be terribly bored. Last year we kind of moved ahead academically to the next grade levels with her. For her at least, junior high was kind of redundant. Gracie, the middle child, is most reluctant, and after this year I will glad to teach her at home again if the Lord leads.
Here is an excellent article about homeschooling that really contains a lot of truths. Homeschooling is something I really believe in, and I plan to try to support and build homeschooling in this area. For now, there are just a handful of families in this area who homeschool. We've been so spoiled by the incredible homeschool community we had in Waco, with so many options and opportunities, and a constant stream of friends and programs to interact with.
So, I'll send them off next Monday, just like my parents sent me off - with a blessing pronounced over them, and some major prayers said on their behalf.

And what, pray tell, am I going to be doing? Wow. I am asking myself that question too. My eyes are wide with crafting and writing possibilities. I'm pretty sure I'll end up teaching some art classes somehow or another. First up - some major painting projects for our student ministry I can't wait to get my hands on. I'll be spending a couple days a week preparing for youth events and programs. I've always been Byron's creative muse, writing his scripts for dramas, and the creative things we do in our ministry. I love writing Bible studies for teens, so I'm going to tackle some of those -thinking about releasing some of that as an e-book or two. Quality devos; revelant, but Biblical are hard to find for teens. I have a book I am going to re-explore, and another one that has written itself in my head. Except for a year or 2 when I was teaching; I have NEVER been without kids at home in the last 13 years, so this is going to be an interesting time for me. I'll keep you updated... and I'll spend some extra time praying-uninterrupted prayer time mind you - for those of you I know homeschooling. It's an amazing and difficult life that I love and I know your challenges! Please send me requests, prayer or academic, and I would love to help you! I love creating curriculum and creative things! If you know me at all, you know that education is dear to me and I won't be away from it long - one way or another! I might get inspired and write up some homeschool curriculum! Only God knows!

Cooking!

Boy, I haven't blogged about cooking in forever. No wait, I know why. Oh ya, I haven't cooked in forever. Right now my husband is on a very limited diet - so all my cooking creativity has gone into trying to make his 5-6 choices interesting. And, then well it is summer, it is 106 degrees, and yuck, who wants to cook?

However, this summer I have stumbled onto some really interesting things I am going to work on. First, making flour out of oats (just in the blender) and using it for pancake mix. Very interesting. Needs some further experimenting - and for me to get up earlier. For the first time this summer, my kids have all totally handled their own breakfasts. It has been wonderful, and I have gotten lazy.

The second very interesting cooking thing I am experimenting with is - I have eaten this summer two wonderful meals where the meat and vegetables were wonderfully prepared in a crockpot and then added over rice. I know this is not a new concept, but the two meals I ate were really wonderful - one being kind of gumbo-ish and one chickeny and tangy. Have you ever eaten something somewhere and thought about it for several weeks later? I do that. Usually by the time I figure it out, I forget where I had it.

So, those are my two cooking projects for the rest of August - to perfect those two ideas/meals. I am open to suggestions and recipes! I'll share my findings when I figure something out.

My inlaws gave my husband an awesome set of cast iron cooking stuff to make neat dutch oven meals outdoors in the fire pit this fall and winter and we can't wait to try that out. Right now, one spark might set the whole county on fire, so those recipes will have to wait.

I recently purchased a brand new breadmaker for $10 at a garage sale, and have been really enjoying breadmaking again. My previously well-loved breadmaker broke about 2 years ago, and although I have been making bread some the old fashioned way -breadmakers are just SO easy. I can grab a kid and have them dump everything in in 10 minutes. The kid part really makes it easy.

I have had two people ask me this week for my Taco Soup recipe - which is really strange because I cannot even think about any kind of soup in this heat. It is absolutely ridiculous here, the cracks in the ground are so big I worry we might lose the dog (or a kid). Anyway, here is the recipe. And you know...technically this would be a good summer recipe to put in the crockpot so you didn't heat up your whole kitchen. And, by the way, it is quite good over rice instead of chips. Mmmm....possibilities?

Tara's Taco Soup

Such a simple dump in a pot recipe! Works great in the crockpot too.

Brown 1 lb of ground beef with a chopped medium onion. I also sometimes use shredded chicken. When I am in a huge hurry, canned chicken makes this recipe less than 5 min. to prepare.

Add:

1 can of tomato sauce

1 can of pinto beans

1 can of Rotel (I use mild)

1 can petite diced tomatoes

1 can of Ranch Style beans (Texas style beans)

1 pkg. taco seasoning

1 pkg. ranch dressing mix

1 small jar picante

Optional things I add:

1 small can of chopped black olives

1 can of corn

Serve over tortilla chips, top with grated cheese and sour cream.

Young and In Love - A Review

I absolutely LOVED this book by Ted Cunningham. The title is Young and In Love: Challenging the Unnecessary Delay of Marriage. The book contains very interesting ideas, however rather radical to most people. A lot of parents would freak out if they thought someone might give their children this kind of advice! Cunningham does an excellent job supporting his ideas with Biblical theology and practical advice. Not only do I love this book, I totally have lived it! One of the many reasons I believe my marriage of almost 20 years is so amazingly wonderful is that I married young. My parents did also and they would agree totally with the ideas behind this book. By marrying young, my husband and I not only grew into our ways of thinking together, but we also faced a lot of difficulties that have made our marriage much stronger.

Our society has this philosophy that in order to be successful we have to follow a standard progression that includes college graduation, financial stability, finding oneself, and then marriage. No wonder such a small percentage of college students make it to their graduation without compromising their purity!

I so agree with Ted Cunningham that one of the greatest hindrances to our young people having successful marriages is a vastly growing adolescent phase that we give them in their teen years and beyond, way beyond in many cases. We give them a time free from responsibility, to explore, and to experiment. The Bible has two phases, childhood and adulthood - no in between. Up until the late 1950's our society did as well. Suddenly we have created a new, idyllic period of life that is not like reality at all - we are setting them up for failure.

Man, I could go on and on about this book, so many ideas that I feel so strongly about. The author makes some excellent points about the way we as parents, the church, and society are downplaying, even discouraging marriage. We need to be honoring marriage, presenting it as good, desirable, and wonderful! I could so get carried away on several soapboxes here - you are just going to have to read it for yourself. I highly recommend this book.

You can see a book trailer - or buy the book for $14.99 HERE

I received Young and In Love from David C. Cook and B&B Media for the purposes of review only.

Why Students Need Student Ministry

I have several friends who are not a part of a traditional church - they are part of a home church. Now, in all the cases I have encountered personally, these have been good situations, really embodying the Acts 2:42-47 challenge. I am not saying that these aren't good situations, but I would like to outline WHY teens need a youth group. Now, some youth groups, I know, do more harm than good, but I am talking about a good youth group. These are certainly things which can be gained without a youth group, if parents are intentional and work hard to really build their students spiritually, but I think each of these items is a real need students have that warrants some consideration by parents. Parents are so vital, but some things are so important that we need to pound them into their heads at home and away. Parents need to be reminded that in order to grow students with a faith that lasts - student ministry is meant to supplement what they are already teaching at home, not the other way around.

1. Students need help fitting cultural trends into their lives. A good student ministry should be tuned into students and the latest trends, music, and other junk. Students can be easily blinded by the flashy draw of the latest cultural trend and not have the spiritual sense to see the enemy's ploy to steal, kill, and destroy them.

2. A good student ministry will speak the hard things. Now, as a parent you should certainly speak to your child about the hard things - especially sex, & other tough stuff, these things are way too important to leave up to a student pastor or anyone else! However, we have learned that their are a lot of things that parents assume kids know, or just didn't realize they needed to say. For example, apparently, Bill Clinton's parents neglected to properly define what sex is - I am always amazed at how many kids have a similar view, if you catch my meaning. A good student ministry will be prepared to offer straight answers for students on a variety of topics.

3. A good Student ministry no matter how small, will offer some non-parent role models. They should have the opportunity to see these leaders interacting with God, sharing their faith, serving, and displaying the joy of the Lord in various circumstances. Ideally, they need to see others applying and considering spiritual concepts to their normal lives. You've heard it said that, "You are the only Bible most people will ever read?" That goes triple for teens - they need to see lots of walking Bibles in their lives to see that faith is real and it can be lived. Hopefully, they are walking with their parents and seeing these things too, and the influence of these other people will just be the icing on the cake that helps them develop their identity in Christ.

4. Students need CHRISTIAN community, a group they belong to and feel comfortable with. WAY, WAY too many Christian kids turn to an unsaved friend or worse yet, the Internet or Facebook when they have a problem. They need opportunities to get face to face & comfortable with a group of peers and a leader, be encouraged, be supported, and cry or work through problems with a Godview.

5. By-golly Students need to SERVE! They need to get off of their lazy technologically driven hineys and work. They need to sacrifice and give of themselves and submit to the authority of others, humble themselves for a greater good, and be needed. I think every student should go on at least one mission trip during their high school years - better yet one a year.

Whether you are in a church with a youth group or not, I hope you will analyze where your teen is headed and really be intentional about raising them up to have a faith that lasts. If you feel that your youth group is not meeting these needs, by all means, get yourself involved and make sure it happens, be the change. I've never met a youth minister that shunned help.

A Protected Life? Armed for Battle?

Yeah. You thought this was going to be some spiritual post or something, didn't you? So not. Although I can see this turning into a great Ephesians 6 sermon illustration by my husband about wearing the full armor.Have you ever wondered what daily life is like for the football greats? Okay, me either. Maybe it might look a little like this... It doesn't look very comfortable to me. (I made him take off the helmet to eat, although I must say, he tried.) Boys will never cease to amaze or confuse me. From his early days when I complained to my husband about my boy's boyness, my husband always says, "Tara, when you're a boy, sometimes you've just got to ____" (fill in the blank here with various bone-head, daring, or otherwise puzzling activities). I guess the same logic applies here: When you are a boy, sometimes you've just got to wear your football pads and helmet all day. Okay then.

Pray For Rain

Boy do we ever need rain. Our front yard is a criss-crossing maze of these huge cracks.

Many of them are big enough to stick your foot into. All of our friends and neighbors who raise cattle put up hay for the winter and have only been able to put up 1/3 of their usual amount. This means that lots of people are having to buy VERY expensive hay from other places, AND sell off some of their animals to make it through the winter.

On the upside, we just might be able to pick up a cheap horse this winter - if we can afford to keep it! Please pray for rain - and lots of it!

Summer can't be almost over!

I guess all the cool kids are getting mohawks this summer. At least for a week or two till Dad shaves it off.

Can we just have one season of the year that is truly restful? You'd think it'd be summer, but the constant stream of camps and activities makes life pretty crazy. We just finished up Ally's busy summer activities, all that is left is VBS and a week of golf camp for Daniel. I resolve to set aside week long periods (at least 2) each season where we will be home every week day as a family. Well, except Wednesdays because of church.

Hanging out with cousins.

Daniel started football practices yesterday and proceeded to almost pass out on the field. Freaked his daddy out to have him go limp in his arms. I guess it was kinda my fault. I let him swim and didn't push fluids all day. If you are going to do anything in 109 degree heat, you'd better be prepared.

Our pool still feels pretty nice even though the water evaporates in bucketloads everyday. Have I mentioned it is crazy hot and hasn't rained in forever?
Gracie Pearl is too cool. She has started to hate the crispy way her hair feels after swimming so she swims with it up and doesn't go under. Daniel on the other hand is convinced that swimming means you don't have to shower. I can't believe the summer is actually winding down! It has gone way too fast. Fall has always been one of my favorite times, though, and I can't wait for cooler weather! Fall just has a predictable rhythm about it that other seasons don't have, yet there is still plenty of excitement and things to look forward to. I had hoped to be putting in a fall garden shortly, but the ground is so hard and dry I can't imagine anything growing!