Unconditional

The hardest thing you will ever do,

Is Love the one who despises you.

“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

(1 John 4:10)

~ posted by Betsy ~

Recipe--Pepperoni Bread

One of our family’s favorite foods is pizza. One of our favorite appetizers for special occasions is pepperoni bread! This bread is very simple, and we almost always have the ingredients on hand. This is definitely a crowd pleaser!

Pepperoni Bread

1 loaf frozen bread dough, thawed

4-oz. pkg. sliced pepperoni

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Roll out bread dough into a 15”x10” rectangle; arrange pepperoni slices and cheese on top. Roll up lengthwise; secure closed with toothpicks. Place on a greased baking sheet; bake at 325 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes. Slice to serve. Makes 12 servings. Optional: serve warm pizza sauce on the side for dipping.

Homeschool Blessings Part 3 (Last One! :-))

~ posted by Rubia

Here is one last post about some of the things I’ve enjoyed working on this past semester in homeschool! Two main subjects that were covered were English and Science.

I have almost always enjoyed English because I love to read and write. (Believe it or not I’m starting to miss my grammar!) Along with many “good reads” over the last few months, I had worked through a fun writing portfolio course with Roma, my twin sister and writing partner! This short course was on “How to Write a Report” by Sally Speer Leber. We started out with some rules about how to work together as writing partners, which helped us keep each other accountable and become better writers. J

The assignment given in the book was to conduct an interview with someone and write a report based on what you learned, both from the interview and from further research. The fun part was that we each got to interview someone in our field of interest for our future lives or jobs.

Because of my interest in missions, I decided to interview a former missionary to Costa Rica who goes to my home church. Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures from the interview, but it did go very well. What I learned from this former missionary was very encouraging. Like all who are striving to serve and obey the Lord, he went through many trials with his wife when they were in the mission field. But through those trials, they learned from the Lord and grew closer to Him, while falling in love with the Costa Ricans and the work that God had for them there. I was very refreshed and encouraged by his stories and testimony, even though an actual field trip to Costa Rica was not included. L J (I would’ve liked that!)

Roma interviewed her music teacher, and after she and I both had our drafts written out, we compared them and asked each other questions to make sure that we were writing good reports which accurately, and in the right order, shared all the information necessary.

Though reports can sometimes be hard to write, I hope that it will be easier once I get used to writing them out well, and become a better writer!

We have read some neat books so far this year for Science, English, and God’s Witnesses. These include: “Flight of the Falcon” by Paul Thomsen, “Mountain of Fire” also by Thomsen, “The Great Alaskan Dinosaur Adventure” by Buddy Davis, Mike Liston, and John Whitmore, “Rebekah’s Diary” by Rebekah Pearl, and “Paula the Waldensian,” by Eva Lecomte.

Science was one of my favorite subjects last semester. The course that Roma and I went through wasn’t actually deep science, but rather more of a Biblical apologetics course, giving an introductory overview of astronomy and geology. Bianca and Ben had both completed this in 9^th grade as well. It was the “Answers Academy” course with Ken Ham, Terry Mortenson, and Jason Lisle. It was challenging and encouraging, as they all talked about how important it is to be prepared to give an answer to those who ask you—to be prepared to defend your faith. (1 Peter 3:15) I learned about the many ways that creation proclaims that there is a God; that science backs up the Bible; and that evolution cannot be possible. It cannot be proven. Thus men are without excuse. (Rom. 1:20.)

The Word of Our God

“The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever."

Isaiah 40:8

Girls Night

Last Sunday night, the twins and I got to join a Girls Night at a friend’s house! A couple of months ago, I started meeting twice a month with one of the ladies from our church. She used to be involved in youth ministry, but she is now the children’s ministries director at our church.

Anyway, we’ve talked about having a Girls Night at her house for quite awhile now. But we finally made it happen last week! We decided on a Valentine’s Day theme.

The twins and I were the first ones there. We started helping her prepare Valentines Day pretzel treats (pretzels topped with Hugs and pink, red, and white M&M’s.) As the other girls started arriving, we worked to make Red Velvet Oreo Chocolate Truffle bars. Yes, that was hard to remember! J

Once that was out of the oven, the pizza arrived. After we ate, we piled onto the couches in the living room under blankets to watch “Heaven is Waiting.”

As soon as the movie was over, we dug into the bars. Yes, we were a little uncivilized about it. J They were tasty though!

Then we just sort of plopped onto the kitchen floor and talked. We called our youth pastor and had him tell us a story over speaker phone, and then tried to take some group pictures.

Chatting in the living room. Excuse the mix of facial expressions! J

It was a really fun evening! I’m grateful for the chance to get to know some other girls from our church and the area. We’re looking forward to getting together again (hopefully soon!)

Skate Night

Last Wednesday, our youth group had its annual skate night! This is always a favorite with everyone, especially in our family. J

Josiah having fun.

Limbo always proves hilarious. J Everyone was a good sport about it though!

The twins with their friends E and C.

Enjoying the rink.

This skating “train” ended up wrecking. J Thankfully nobody was seriously injured, but it was pretty funny for the rest of us.

It was a fun night to spend time with some of the other teens from church! We look forward to doing it again next year!

One Last "Hurrah"

My Aunt’s last day in Texas was last Monday. We decided to have some fun, despite the unpredictable weather we’ve been having. My Aunt had never seen the movie “Frozen,” and some of us *cough, cough* wanted to see it again. J So we piled into the minivan that afternoon and headed over to the theater!

Getting ready to enjoy the movie!

Afterwards, we met up with Daddy at one of our favorite BBQ places for dinner!

This place doesn’t look like much, but the food is incredible! Some of the best pulled pork I’ve ever had!

One neat “décor” item in this restaurant is the signed dollar bills taped on the ceiling. Our family joined the ranks of dollar-bill-signers. J

Sadly, my Aunt had to leave on Tuesday. But we are so grateful she had the opportunity to come visit us! We hope we’ll get to see her again soon!

Gratitude

“I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.”

--G.K Chesterton

“Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him.”

(Luke 17:15-16)

~ posted by Betsy ~