Tag: Fair use

365 Snap Shots of Life: Day 109

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I was journaling earlier today and I did a little exercise called a gazillion questions day. I allowed myself to write down all the questions  swimming around in my head. Some I answered. Others, I had no answer for and I just left blank.There is something very freeing about writing down those questions even if you don’t have an answer or if the answer is something you don’t want to accept. At least it’s out of my head and I anchored it down on pen and paper. Or in my case, hammered them down with each strike of the keys on my key board. So now that I’ve told you what helps me clear my head, I feel a nap coming on :). Chao for now!

365 Snap Shots of Life: Day 108

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Mojave Desert  Showers

I like the sound of rain,
it makes me feel like dancin’,
Sube y Baja (Up and down),
Pa’ riba pa’bajo (Side to side),
Cha-cha-cha!
Ooh yeah, the rain it makes me dance inside,
saturates my soul,
fills me with delight.
Agua santa, pura y ( Holy water, clean and pure),
Me llena de esperanza (I’m alive with hope),
Se me alegra el Corazon (My heart has found the cure).
The rain drops: Diamonds from heaven,
out in this desolation,
washes over and refreshes
lonely, lowly ,anguished souls.
Diamonds falling from the sky:
Psshh, psshh,psshh,
Sshhm sshh, sshh,
Trssh, trssh, trrrssh,
Music to my ears-
makes me feel like singin’,
songs of sheer delight.
The sound of rain,
moves me in thanksgivin’,
to the one who sent me diamonds from the sky.

Eva Santiago © 2002

365 Snap Shots of Life: Day 107

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I took up painting during a time in my life when I needed a friend close by. We had moved out west and I had 4 kids under 10 years old. Painting became a trusted friend; I could turn to my paints and brushes at any hour of the day and they’d be there faithfully waiting for me to take a little road trip and see where the journey would take me. With paint and brushes I managed to brighten my spirit and uplift those of  people I gave my paintings to. I still paint now and then. Now, I’m busier with teaching and writing but I’ll never turn my back on painting-my still trusted friend.

365 Snap Shots of Life: Day 106

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SWEET SPIRIT

I drew this horse for my daughter a while ago. She wanted to know if I could draw her a horse and I took out some butcher paper I had lying around the house. I wasn’t going to color it because I didn’t think she’d like it. Once she saw my finished sketch she squealed in delight and begged me to finish it. So I used Prismacolor pencils and markers. It’s now framed hanging in her bedroom. When your child believes in you more than you believe in yourself, that’s the BEST feeling in the world! Happy Sunday to all!!!

365 Snap Shots of Life: Day 103

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10 Things and then Some…

10 Things I have learned in 17 years of home schooling:

1. Children are children until they grow up so let them be kids for as long as they can get away with it. You are training them to BECOME adults. So don’t treat them as “little adults”; they’ll be there soon enough.

2. Nobody is perfect so don’t expect perfection from your kids. Instill in them a sense of excellence instead.

3. Practice what you preach. Kids see right through their superiors and if you’re phony they’ll call you out on it.

4. When your child does her best, accept it.
5. Don’t even think that you’re going to pretend that you know everything. We don’t and kids learn that soon enough.

6. Sometimes kids ask questions not because they want an answer, they want to see how much you know.

7. DO NOT lie, especially to kids, in the guise that you’re trying to protect them. As they get older, they’ll see right through the BS.

8. Kids are honest as long as you’re honest with them.

9. The home schooling journey tends to get lonely at times for both parents and children.

10. Now a days education is a big money-making business. It doesn’t take a lot of cash to give your children a good education.

 

This is just a VERY brief over view of some of the things I have learned in this amazing, challenging and at times frustrating journey. I had never stopped to think about it until now. If you were to ask me 25 years ago when I graduated from high school what I’d be doing 25 years later, this would have never popped into my head. I was headed to live out a completely self-absorbed life style and then what happened? Faith took over and led me here. I’m so glad I listened to her instead of following my way. My 25th class reunion is coming up this summer.  I dare say I’m pretty sure I’m not going to hear too many of my fellow classmates of the class of ‘87 saying they are in my profession. I’d probably get the usual bewildered looks that I’ve grown accustomed to over the years. But alas, I don’t see the point in going to a reunion where I hardly knew anyone back then and I’m certainly not going to know any of those people now. It’s time to celebrate my daughter’s accomplishment and that’s what I’m going to do this summer!!!

365 Snap Shots of Life: Day 101

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LIFE LONG LEARNERS

Last night my oldest  daughter was working on one of her last essays and she  said this,” I can’t remember when I started school.” WOW! My job is accomplished here because I set out to make life long learners of my kids and this statement proves to me beyond a shadow of a doubt that I have accomplished one of my main goals in my home schooling journey. Just think of it, most kids remember their first day of school like this: Johnny with his cute back pack waiting for the dreaded yellow school bus that would take him away to a place where his real learning journey would actually end instead of begin. In the first few years of his life, his parents or main care takers were his main teachers and they allowed him the freedom to explore and learn on his own. Now as he rides the yellow dog he’s about to embark on  12 years of in the box learning where his natural abilities to soak up knowledge like the sponges they are at that age, will be curtailed if not squashed. So today I am a happy, happy teacher knowing that my kids love learning and they will carry that hunger with them to serve them well in their lives.

My daughter then went on to admit that as her home schooling journey wraps up, she will miss it because she can look back at all the ups and downs we’ve faced together and her heart aches because she knows from here on out it’s up to her to make her life the way she wants it. We both teared up

Funny, I told my daughter that on my last day of high school when the last bell rang and all the seniors let out a happy freedom cry, the last thing on my mind was whether I was going to miss 12 years of compulsory education. No way, I told her I was so glad my time was done. And here her sentiment was so different and my heart ached a little.

 

365 Snap Shots of Life:Day 100

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Today is the 100th day of 2012. That means that you who made New Year’s resolutions have 265 more days to either stick to your resolutions or abandon them already because you know by now, it’s not happening 🙂

I am happy to report to you that we have a good future to look forward to in this country. Why am I so sure? How can this Eva person be so certain? My answer comes from a report presented to me today by my oldest daughter who is in her last year of home schooling. Her assignment was to research the 5 candidates who are currently running for the republican party nomination. She did a thorough job too.

Folks, I want to inform you that many of America’s young people are more awake and in tune with the current state of affairs of our country than the average adult. No, they are not naïve because of their youth. They are more fed up about what’s going on than most grown ups. These future leaders of America can’t be bought and I am proud to say I had a hand in molding 4 young minds and preparing them to be citizens in good standing.

The Bible says that like arrows in the hand of a warrior are children born when one is young and that to have your quiver full of them is double the blessing Psalms 127:4-5. Why does the Bible refer to a quiver full of children? Because children are as arrows that need to be guided in the right direction. They need to be pointed at the right target. They need direction and a target. Those of us who took the educating of our kids into out own hands KNOW for a fact that America still has a fighting chance because we are training the future leaders of this country. To all of my fellow home schooling parents out there, I salute you because our hard work is already paying off!

365 Snap Shots of Life: Day 98

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John 8:1-11

But Yeshua  (Jesus) went to the Mount of Olives at daybreak,He appeared again in the Temple Court where all the people gathered around Him and He sat down to teach them. The Torah-teachers and the P’rushim (Pharisees) brought in a woman who had been caught committing adultery and made her stand in the center of the group. They said to Him.” Rabbi, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now, in our Torah, Moshe ( Moses) commanded that such a woman be stoned to death. What do you say about it?” They said this to trap Him so that they might have ground for bringing charges against Him; but Yeshua bent down and began writing in the dust with  His finger. When they kept questioning Him, He straightened up and said to them,” The one of you who is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” Then He bent down and wrote on the dust again. On hearing this, they began to leave, one by one, the older ones first until He was left alone, with the woman still there. Standing up, Yeshua said to her,” Where are they now? Has no one condemned you?” She said, ” No one, sir.” Yeshua said,” Neither do I condemn you. Now go, and don’t sin anymore.”

-The Complete Jewish Bible– David H. Stern

I love this Bible story because Jesus showed us true compassion so that we may do the same with others. Enjoy your  week end!!

 

365 Snap Shots of Life: Day 97

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PROTECT THEM AT ALL COSTS!

CAREFUL! Young eyes are watching. We must be so careful with the young souls of our children. I am deeply grieved lately at how kids are losing their innocence at younger ages these days. No matter how hard we try to protect them, and I emphasize protect and NOT overly shelter, there is a difference; they still get exposed to age inappropriate things before their time. My youngest girl asked me the other day to tell her what a certain sexual reference meant. I let her see the shock in my face because I remember her older siblings hadn’t heard of that at her age. So she told me that she had over heard one of her older sister’s friends telling them about her sexual escapaes with her boyfriend. I was very upset.  So I had my daughter call her friend and tell her to please refrain from sharing her stories with her when she comes over; my daughter admitted to me that frankly, she was tired of hearing about it too. Folks, our kids will grow up it’s a fact of life. But when my 11 year old tells me she didn’t want to know about certain things yet, well I had to act.

Our children are being bombarded daily with adult material that is too much for their young brains and tender souls to deal with. I thank God I’m able to home school mine so  I can keep the onslaught at bay, at least for a little longer than the kids that have to face it everyday in regular school. I wonder what the people of a few generations back would think of all of this that kids have to deal with everyday?

365 Snap Shots of Life: Day 96

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The proverb says to train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it. The hardest aspect of parenting is knowing that even though you did your very best to pour good things into your children, that they are free moral agents and at times they will choose the wrong way.

When my kids were all younger I changed our eating habits by introducing the blood type diet; a way of eating that is blood type specific in order for your body to assimilate the nutrients it needs. I saw how right away we all felt better  and healthier. I didn’t ban junk food though because to ban anything creates rebellion so I still allow for all of us to junk out when we crave it that way we satisfy the craving. A few years back, my oldest daughter was consuming a lot of ice cream. She was getting a nice shape and was starting to notice her body changing from that of a girl to a young woman. That summer she was flabbergasted when the ice cream she was eating began showing up in her belly as unwanted flab.

Astounded, she marched up to me demanding to know why she would get such an unsightly thing on her body. Nature  is the best teacher. I asked her what she’d been indulging in lately and right away she hung her head and admitted the ice cream was the culprit. She swore to never go there again and she hasn’t since. That is one example of how I believe God deals with us. He doesn’t ban anything from us, He lets us make choices.

A long time ago I read a book about The Proverbs in the Bible and it blew me away when the author explained that the proverbs are principles to live by and they aren’t set in stone laws that guarantee that your child will be perfect. As I pondered that I understood in that instant that my kids are human like me and they will make mistakes just like I do. When you train up your children in the way of the Lord it creates a safe passage for them into adulthood. When you don’t train them up, you set them up to fail…it’s inevitable. Whether you train them or not they’ll still make mistakes, but if they have the right foundation, they’ll have something to return to, a place to anchor themselves to so they can handle life and its storms.