Wednesday, May 26, 2010

In the kitchen

I love it when he spikes his hair.  Well, what I mean is...once I spiked his hair without him knowing it and I loved it!  Getting a picture...I shoulda bribed him.  After about a billion attempts:

So I left him alone hoping he'd think I moved on to other things.  That usually works.  The girls were sweatin' it out in the kitchen making cookies all by themselves.   My heart's always aflutter when my kids are working together creating.  Whether it be creating food, art, music, food, or (especially) relationships.  Flutter away, my heart.


And then! he snuck in to ogle the cookie dough.  He quickly tried to flatten his hair, but I got him!  He knew it...this might possibly be my most favorite expression ever. 


Here's my favorite treat ever. 


Good.
Finger lickin' good, I tell ya.


Thank you, ladies. 
Please come again...
my bowl's empty!

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Creating and Becoming

So I have a new blog.  Not exactly sure why.  I've been thinking of a homeschooling blog for quite some time.  Two years in fact.  I wrote a nice 6 paragraph post here earlier, that has met the recycle bin.  Too wordy, too opinionated, too jumbled, too...me.  Or something.

Anyway.  Going with the flow of the title, I'm hoping to use this blog to document some of the creating and...how'd ya guess...becoming.  Whatever that means.  (I really don't mean to be so confusing, so sorry.)

Since I can't quite explain what I mean, I'll share some of the inspirational quotes that drove me here.  In a nutshell, it's the best I can give for my "philosophy" on homeschool.

Creating
The Work of Creation  (click for the full article, I just took some of my favorite parts)


. . . Everyone can create. You don’t need money, position, or influence in order to create something of substance or beauty.

Creation brings deep satisfaction and fulfillment. We develop ourselves and others when we take unorganized matter into our hands and mold it into something of beauty....

. . . remember that you are spirit {children} of the most creative Being in the universe. Isn’t it remarkable to think that your very spirits are fashioned by an endlessly creative and eternally compassionate God? Think about it—your spirit body is a masterpiece, created with a beauty, function, and capacity beyond imagination.

But to what end were we created? We were created with the express purpose and potential of experiencing a fulness of joy. Our birthright—and the purpose of our great voyage on this earth—is to seek and experience eternal happiness. One of the ways we find this is by creating things.

If you are a mother, you participate with God in His work of creation—not only by providing physical bodies for your children but also by teaching and nurturing them. If you are not a mother now, the creative talents you develop will prepare you for that day, in this life or the next.

You may think you don’t have talents, but that is a false assumption, for we all have talents and gifts, every one of us. The bounds of creativity extend far beyond the limits of a canvas or a sheet of paper and do not require a brush, a pen, or the keys of a piano. Creation means bringing into existence something that did not exist before—colorful gardens, harmonious homes, family memories, flowing laughter.

. . . If you still feel incapable of creating, start small. Try to see how many smiles you can create, write a letter of appreciation, learn a new skill, identify a space and beautify it.

. . . The more you trust and rely upon the Spirit, the greater your capacity to create. That is your opportunity in this life and your destiny in the life to come. ...trust and rely on the Spirit. As you take the normal opportunities of your daily life and create something of beauty and helpfulness, you improve not only the world around you but also the world within you. --President Dieter F. Uchtdorf
Becoming

I ran across this the other day in the titled "The Book of Virtues" by William J. Bennett. I just love it! Lots of classic stories and poems. Here's a bit that spoke to my soul.
Today we speak about values and how it is important to "have them," as if they were beads on a string or marbles in a pouch.  But these stories speak to morality and virtues not as something to be possessed, but as the central part of hman nature, not as something to have but as something to be, the most important thing to be.  ...{there was a time when} there was little doubt that children are essentially moral and spiritual beings and that the central task of education is virtue.

There you have it...my two (borrowed) cents. 

I think they're beautiful.

:)
 
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