Leaves of Joy

Oh the joy of falling leaves....and throwing them at one another...

Wow, another month gone by....so much has been happening around the Gerhardt household but I thought this picture captured something special and simple....joy. 

It's school days spent in the sun, or together in the schoolhouse with other families....

1888 old school desks with little metal ink well holes

 little children of 2016, to fill them up...

Enjoying our children and students....

Yes, there's even room for toddlers in this school house

Antique wooden easels held together by a piece of rope...

Here's the front of the 1906 school house

Here's the inside of the gym built in 1931

What we've enjoyed the most over the last year is watching God bring people, supplies, equipment, and encouragement to grow whatever He is growing here.  I wish I could tell you exactly what's happening but I can't.  AND for once, I'm OK with not knowing the direction God is moving us in.  It's His work, done His way, with His people.  I'm so blessed to be a part of whatever He is doing.

All I know is there has been lots of laughter, a few tears, prayers, singing, piano playing, volleyball and basketball games, tag, encouragement, fellowshipping in Christ Jesus, sharing memories, making things, a grammar class, an art and PE class, birthday parties, a recital coming up and hopefully more classes and events on the way.....

We are so excited to watch people coming together here from all walks of life enjoying one another, enjoying life, learning together and growing.  It's a real community forming and it ebbs and flows with such a gentle pace. 

May you all be blessed with peace, joy, and contentment this day no matter what the political climate may bring....after all, our country is made up of real people like you and me and it will be what it will be. 

A field trip to the Historic Brunk House

How long do we have to stand here and pose?

Having fun with an old hat...

This wreath was made of human hair! 

Enjoying my babies and munching on apples too....

We went to the Apple Cider day at the Historic Brunk House last Saturday.  It was so much fun looking in all the old rooms at all the things from yester year....1860 to be exact.  There was an old pair of spectacles from Scotland that had been handed down for what they thought may have been 200 years.  We can be handed down all sorts of "world views" from our forefathers without really stopping long enough to pause and reflect on whether or not that world view was correct. 

As I strolled along I mused that they were perhaps not that different from us....they had all the trappings and vanity of man as we do today.  They had an eye for beauty, they were well educated, they lived in a comfortable home and worked with vigor.  Nothing stands out as extraordinary to me except that their house is still standing along with a myriad of other items from long ago.

Time...people.... come and go...homes....come and go......marriages....friends......health.......money in the bank.....come and go....ideas.....work.....projects....jobs.......hobbies.  You get the picture...

But, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever."  Hebrews 13:8

I'm realizing more and more that we really only have moments and in those moments are made seconds, minutes, hours and days.  They turn into weeks, months, years, and the passing of time.  Moments are more important than memories.  You cannot pick your true memories, they somehow choose themselves.  Sure, you can preserve snap shots or mementoes to help you, but ultimately, memories are made in moments and then they are gone....

SO enjoy all the precious moments you have today with all the precious people around you that God puts in your life day to day to day.  They were meant for you...gifts from God to you.  Don't waste time in vain pursuits even if those around you assure you that you might be missing out.  CHERISH your moments today.

Obsidian Flow in Sun River, Oregon

A lot of kids = a lot of bikes

Enjoying friends, a lollipop and a road trip to Sun River....

Hiking up the mountain of Obsidian Flow near Sun River, OR

We are nearing the top....

Just a little further....

Look how strong I am?  It's pumice:)

View from the top...

Resting on Obsidian might not be the best idea....

There's actually something alive!

Life and death, huge difference, absolute line between the two....
 

What do we do when the lines of morality (who's alive spiritually and who's asleep and why is it dangerous?) become blurred in this life, perhaps even in our churches...we go to the Lord in prayer as usual.  We go to one another in a loving, mature discussion, using our spiritual gifts to build up one another in the body of Christ, bringing glory to God.  Business as usual despite what is going on in the world around us....

The Genius of Vicki Bentley

A Paper Management System that Works!

What's inside...

What's outside....

 Is anyone buried under paperwork from home, ministry, business, school, church, etc?  How do you keep it all straight?  Wonder no more.....Vicki Bentley to the rescue.  This woman is a genius.  Whether you home school or not, you'll benefit from her written works.

"The Everyday Family Chore System,"  "Home Education 101," mentor manual, and "My Homeshool Planner,"  are the spiral bound notebooks I recently purchased. 

I am so thankful to the Lord for creating this woman and so thankful that this woman shared her experience in notebook form for others to glean from.  Her notebooks are simple, black and white, easy to follow and easy to reference. 

I've spent the last few days reading in "Home Education 101," the sections entitled, "I Know It's Here ....Somewhere," and "I've Tried Filing, But it Just Keeps Piling..." 

So I can now see my desk area....yet have a little more to do...

Love this tip...have children deposit a quarter when borrowing office supplies:
Upon returning, they get their money back,
if you have to retrieve supplies from them, you keep the money.
At this rate, I'll be saving up quite a lot....

LOVE this chore chart, it actually works.  Paper cue cards
are glued on clothespins...easily distracted people can clip
them onto clothes as they go about chores.

Vicki Bentley has taken the chore out of thinking and writing up
the details of completing each chore by typing them all up neatly on
3X5 cards that we keep in the yellow box.

What comfort and joy I have found in finally understanding why a typical filing system has never worked for me....I'm so easily distracted and full of creative ideas and love to implement new projects and strategies and encourage others to do the same (sorry to all my poor family and friends).  

I have sticky notes all over the house, and scraps of paper here and there and……Vicki understands and says, it’s OK!  Hallelujah, I’m not insane, I’m just highly distracted at times and God loves “highly distracted at times people”….we’re part of his gift to the body of Christ.  We just need to be disciplined to keep ourselves and ideas and projects organized and under self-control….

I've been using Vicki Bentley's strategy for a couple weeks now and both my husband and I are amazed.  We are feeling on top of things, planning better, freeing up more time because we're not thinking about all the things we need to do, talk about, or constantly trying to remember when to do everything. 

We now have an allotted time and place for all paperwork and project ideas and a time in which to discuss each.  Now we have time to look at each other and enjoy one another and our seven children without thinking of all the other things that are pressing. 

This woman has lifted a HUGE burden off our shoulders!  What a gift to the body of the Lord Jesus Christ!  We got to listen to this woman at the OCEAN Homeschool Conference and were so blessed by her humble, yet full of wisdom and encouragement talk.  She probably wouldn't like that I'm calling her a genius and amazing, but it's true and I want all Mom's and Dad's everywhere benefitting from her style and advice...she's flexible, yet has a realistic framework in which to put things.  This is something rare and lacking in a lot of organizational books and help out there. 

I would like to host a "Home Education 101" workshop for new and seasoned moms here at the "Old Orchard School House and Gymnasium."  We need to learn from one another and now I have a new tool to bring it all together under one roof, thanks to Vicki Bentley.

Back to School with a Flock of Wild Turkeys

Follow the leader....

These wild turkey's were God's analogy to me during my quiet time this morning....OK, not so quiet because my 3-year old was awake witnessing God's handiwork as well....

Six little baby turkey's...goslings I suppose... scampered across the lawn following mama and daddy turkey.  They happily puttered along.  Sometimes they formed a straight line, other times they all spread out.  They arrived on my front lawn in a wild frenzy, having been separated by a car zooming by.  They regrouped, calmed down and continued on their journey. 

The night before they were roosting in our neighbor's gigantic fir tree.  As I've observed these wild turkey's in the past few months I've noticed that they travel everywhere... together...teaching and learning together.  Their day to day life experiences are the training ground for success for the next day and so on and so forth.  They are learning about safe places to roost at night, how to cross the road, where to find food, etc.

It reminded me again of God's command in the OT to teach and train up our children as we rise up, sit, and walk together, going about our daily work and duties.  Daily life provides ample training grounds for a well rounded and solid background for...ahem....daily life which all added up together create history and future. 

Do you ever wonder how the masses of people from 1000's of generations back taught and trained their children for the disciplines and duties of adult life?

(I have three teenagers this upcoming school year, as well as two elementary aged children who happened to learn to read over the summer, a 3-year old not far behind and a toddling one year old) I ponder a lot these days....

Did the generations before us have the tools and resources that we have today?  We share something in common...we all have a brain...we are learning from birth....growing and maturing with the aid of curiosity.  We were all born into a family or lack thereof, and someone made a decision for us, regarding our care.

So we don't share modern day teaching resources, what of it?  Is it all the resources, books, and learning opportunities that make us smart?  Or could it be...simply that the fear of the Lord is truly the beginning of wisdom? 

Strangely enough, 22 years ago, I spent some time helping out on a huge turkey farm in Canada.  To make a long story short, these farm turkey's had absolutely NO sense.  Instinct was bred out of them.  They reacted to life....from being herded with a long handled push broom to laying eggs in neat little nests provided for them in rows and rows of boxes. 

The turkey's couldn't respond, they could only react.  They never questioned why their eggs disappeared every day.  They just knew the easiest and cleanest place to lay them. (They are turkey's, of course they wouldn't, you say...yet for the sake of analogy, stay with me.)

They never understood freedom.  They never experienced life like those wild turkey's in the above photo, who were guiding and teaching their children to be wary of all the dangers of living life day to day.  Those turkey's were so obviously a real family having a grand adventure out in the real world and lived.....really lived.....yes in real danger and real victory....they lived.

Let it be said that we really live.  Whether you choose, as a parent for your children to be educated at home or educated abroad, or educated in the local public or private school, you are free to choose.

Let it be said that we Christians really know how to live.  Yes, in real danger...in real victory...in hard times and in good...we know what it means to be content.  We know what it means to forgive and love.  We know what it means to endure fiery trials and come out unscathed by the grace of God. We know what it means to serve our neighbor, our country, or the globe and do it joyfully!

The same grace that saves us is the same grace God wants us to operate in as we work for him.  We are his workmanship created to do good works which he prepared in advance for us to do.  Are you walking today in that same grace that you first experienced at the cross?  That grace doesn't change and it's bottomless, never ending.  I just learned that literally, the word works means, "the results of grace."  Have you found God's grace today?  Did you find it years ago and get distracted?  It's never too late.

I'm finally reading a Bible study guide that my husband's sister gave me years ago, "Using Your Spiritual Gifts," by Eddie Rasnake and published by AMG Publishers.  One of the verses I read today was a charge from I Peter 5:2-4 to, "Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.  And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away."

Let's teach our children daily what it means to follow God and sense His voice amidst the noise and clamor of the world.  He's a gentle teacher, a "chief Shepherd" as I Peter 5:4 proclaims.  We are to be examples to our children, modeling what it means to be a follower of Christ.  As God leads us, so we lead our children.  What a blessing and privilege to be a parent...we should do it willingly, wake up early, ready to serve, not ready to lord it over them.  Ready to be a living sacrifice and example to them of day to day Christian living in the 21st Century. 

Are you In?