1 Corinthians 12:11

1 Corinthians 12:7

Pomegranate Sardine Salad

Some people like to spend time cooking and creating masterpieces in their kitchen. I am not one of those people. I prefer quick, easy recipes that satisfy my hunger while still being nutritious and delicious. Pomegranate sardine salad is one of those. It makes a wonderful, healthy lunch for at home or on the go. This recipe makes two salads. Simply divide each ingredient into two salad bowls or reusable containers. If you're taking the second salad for lunch tomorrow, just add the salad dressing in the morning before you leave home. :)

Pomegranate Sardine salad - serves 2

4 cups washed and chopped lettuce (romaine or leafy green)
1 avocado, diced
1/2 cup cheddar cheese (grated )
1 can Wild Planet Sardines (in water or olive oil)
1 cup Juicy Gems pomegranate arils
Honey mustard salad dressing

Enjoy your lunch!

Proverbs 1:7

The End of Homeschooling ~ Part 1

Suddenly it hits you, and for the first time ever you realize that homeschooling is coming to an end. 

Not for the entire world - but for you! Homeschooling ends. Occasionally this happens because of a life change. Maybe Dad was injured at work and Mom now needs to get an outside income to keep the household running. Not just temporarily, but maybe forever. Or maybe your family has decided that the children will attend a private High School after eight years of home education. 

Or maybe - just maybe - you are like us. You are running out of kids to homeschool and the truth has finally hit home that there is an end to your homeschooling adventure. It does not mean that your adventures are over - far from it - but it means you are about to hang up your Mom/teacher hat and take on a different role. 

Perhaps this fills you with a bit of dread, simply because this is what you have been doing for the past 5, 10, 15, or even 20 years. Or maybe you are filled with joyful anticipation. Wherever you fall along that spectrum, there are a few things to think about as you reach the end of your homeschooling years. This short series of posts is designed to help you think through the steps and travel them with joy, not fear.

But first, let me tell you about when I realized the end was approaching. A few years ago I was at work. Yes, I've worked outside the home the entire 15 years of this journey. It has not been easy - it was often really difficult - but it was necessary, and God's grace is sufficient, and sleep is a wonderful thing - don't take it for granted. Anyway, I was at work and I reminded one of the store managers that I would be gone the rest of the week. He asked where I was going and when I told him to a homeschool convention his comment was: "It won't be too much longer you'll need to do that will you? Your girls are almost grown up."

WHAT?!?

I had seriously never thought about getting to the END of the journey. Not that I had not thought about quitting, because there are always some days when you just want to stop doing everything and just sit still - for a really long time. This whole homeschooling adventure can be overwhelming at times. That's why you need friends - praying friends! Friends who stand beside you, who encourage you, and lift you up when you stumble.

Once I realized that he was right, I really started thinking about what I wanted the girls to MOST remember about the end of their high school years. Emily only had a couple years left, and while Arlene had a few left, I knew the time was limited - so I wanted us all to make the best of it! I also realized it was time to get on the ball about changing those pen and paper notes about Emily's classes into a transcript.

When your children are little, you may never think about the day when they will be grown up. It seems too foreign of an idea to entertain even for a minute. But, I am here to tell you it happens! My little giggle box has grown into a 20 year old young woman. She owns her own car, drives herself to work and to college, and goes out with her friends. Sometimes, she even takes her little younger sister with her.

Our other daughter just turned 18. How did my little munchkin get so big? When did she surpass me in baking skills and how does she know so much about textiles? It happens one day at a time. With all that you and your friends pour into them, some of it sticks!

So, whether or not you are at the realization stage yet - know this - one day there will be and end to your homeschooling. God knows when the perfect timing for that is. He knows what will come afterwards - for both you and your children. But that is a post for another day!

In the meantime. Enjoy the days. Even when they seem really long. 

The days are long, but the years are short!

Do not be afraid of the end. Know that it is coming, and remember that God will be right there beside you the entire journey! Find the joy in the journey - it is shorter than you think!

Books With Bean ~ Bruno and Boots

Title: Bruno & Boots: This Can’t be Happening at McDonald Hall

Author: Gordon Korman

Published: 1978

Genre: Comedy, Middle Grade

Summary: Life at boarding school might seem boring to most, especially when your school is only good at academics instead of sports. After many years of defeat at the hand of their arch rivals of York Academy the boys of McDonald Hall are fed up with never winning. Most boys would just play harder but not Bruno Walton. No, things are never that simple. Instead of putting in a bit of extra practice before the game he decides (with the help of his best friend, roommate, and unwilling accomplice Melvin “Boots” O’Neal) to steal the York Academy mascot (a large cat named Myrtle). The plan works well at first as the McDonald hall team wins the game but when the boys go back to their dorm room where they were keeping her they find out she had kittens during the game and they now have to get all the cats back on the York bus before the team returns. They seem to get out of hot water until their Headmaster Mr. Sturgeon, a.k.a the Fish, calls them to his office for both the catnapping and several other recent offenses. While they are there Mr. Sturgeon tells them that because of all the trouble they have caused together in their time as students he is separating them. They will no longer share a room and they aren't even allowed to talk to each other during classes, lunch or free time. They boys are each given new rooms, Bruno with the “Mad” Scientist of room 201 Elmer Drimsdale who cares more for plants and insects then for people, and Boots to room 109 home of the very rich, very annoying and overly clean freak George Wexford-Smyth III. Boots is unhappy with the arrangement but Bruno will not have it so they boys meet in secret at night planning on ways to get the Headmaster to put them back together.

What I liked about it: Goodness, what do I not like about it?! I first read the first 4 Bruno and Boots books several years ago when we were looking at books at my Grandmother’s house and my mom pulled them out saying that she had read them as a kid. I recognized the author as he has written a lot of children's and middle grade books since Bruno and Boots first came out (they were some of his first books, this one having actually been a 7th grade school project before becoming the start of the series several years later) and so I decided to read them. I think one of the reasons I love them so much is that they are juts plain fun! Yes the kids do occasionally break the rules but its usually for a good cause and they have a ton of fun along the way. These books never get old and they never get any less funny with each time you read them. To some kids now a days they may seem a little old but they never loose their charm. I think one of the other reasons I love them so much is because Bruno and Boots (and the two main girls Cathy - who is like Bruno - and Diane - who is more like Boots) remind me a bit of my sister any I. Not in what they do exactly (I’ve never stolen cats, collected 41,000+ soda cans, or had to go to boarding school) but we have a smiler dynamic of she wants to do a lot of different stuff (some of it it bit weird) and I’m always there whether I want to be or not. Not because I want to be a part of what she is doing (sometimes I do) but because I’m there to make sure she doesn’t hurt herself or get into trouble in the process. Besides just Bruno and Boots and Cathy and Diane the boys have lots of other friends at school who have all sorts of different and entertaining personalities and while they may be unwilling followers of Bruno’s plans at first are always there to lend a hand if it means helping their school stay the amazing place that they love. 

Language: None

Romance: None, there is a girls school across the road and the boys have friends there (who they occasionally visit at night to plan strategies with) but it never becomes inappropriate in any way.

Violence: Miss Scrimmage has a shotgun but she has such bad aim she never hits what she means to. She just waves it around as a show of force to deter anyone who might hurt in her words “Her poor defenseless girls” (who are anything  but defenseless)

Magic: None

Recommended Age: 10-11 is a good age although you are never too old for them as I just reread them and still love them at 18. 

1 Corinthians 1:17