Please change your links and follow along…  Previous content will stay here, as I slowly work on transferring to the new diggs.  See you there!

http://www.amberbishop.com/blog

I also use some great educational websites to spice up our day.  The kids have really learned how to get around on the computer so I am working that too.  Here are two great sites that our family uses often.  Hope your family enjoys them as much as we do.  Now if I could just find a fun Latin website for kids.

• the happy scientist
• national geographic for kids

Have a wonder filled week everyone~

I don’t do that enough.   I need to go back to the way we lived our life 5 years ago.  We scheduled out silent retreats, and alone time, and date nights and weekends away.  Shoot, Dallas Willard schedules that stuff out for 5 years in advance so NOTHING ever comes in the way of it.  Having a hour break during the day where the kids and I all have alone time, and set standard bedtimes are good at keeping you sane day to day, but they don’t do what they need in terms of deeper soul care.  God is all over me about that right now.

I did start to do the blog redesign and as I stated  I love/hate css.  When you crack it you love it, when you inadvertently erase some bracket or essential word like <center> and don’t know where it is at or how the heck to get it back, then you have a jacked up tool bar like you see to the right, or should I say the very bottom of this screen, you HATE it. Note to self, copy all the code on a note-page before you begin fiddling with the original so if you mess up you can fix it quickly.  Oh well, I will figure it out…one of these days.   I also started to upload new WP software, and design some new headers.  FYI - I am so NOT feeling the one above, but it will have to do for now.

Grace and Peace to all wanna be web designers today.  Seriously, if I could just get over the need to conquer this, I would hire this mess out, because the fun of it was lost on me about 36 hours ago.  Don’t worry, I will move through that eventually and will most likely say in the next post at how enriching the whole dang experience was after all.

I’m out! Paz all!

So, I will be back to the drawing board, with my blog design and basic CSS.  Trust me I have a love hate relationship with that but I will not let it conquer me.  The problem is, I wait too long between redesigns that I can’t remember what I did last time, and have to learn it all over again.  Nice. I also need to update my linky love because it is terribly out of date and sparse, so I will work on that too.

I think I am finally laying to rest my thoughts on moving this blog to a different domain name. It’s gonna stay right here. Other then that, my kids are doing some art at the table, my son is reading through Robinson Crusoe and I am packaging stuff to send out from an ending eBay auction.

Have a great weekend everyone…..look for some changes coming shortly.

The 2 BIGGEST enemies of the gospel of Jesus are consumerism and individuality. Well, I must say we have that in SPADES here in south Florida. I think money, and the topic of money really deceptively weaves those two enemies of the message of Jesus and the gospel right into it.  Save for you, you, you so you can spend, spend, spend and then play, play, play and where the heck did the whole gospel of “prosperity come into play in western culture”?  I say this politely when I say that that crap is from the PIT for sure.  I mean when God told his people He wanted to see them prosper, he didn’t mean with monetary wealth, he meant with his Presence so that they could be a blessing to a broken world so that ultimately HE would be glorified.  That whole thing has gone awry in our culture don’t ya think?  Jesus wasn’t kidding when he said the LOVE of money is the root of all evil.  Man, that junk will come in and mess you up on so many levels.  I will just hint at saying that even saving, 401k’s, college funds, etc. etc. could be a tiny bit out of balance in our hearts and minds as Christians. AND I only say that because I have fallen head long into that trap in my life.  Thankfully I am blissfully free of it, and have never been more content with much less stuff in my whole life. I love Burkett, and financial responsibility but ummmm, how do you “teach” that stuff to those in other cultures who are making do with day to day?  Just asking the question is all.   I think the message is the same across cultures and circumstances.  “Don’t worry about tomorrow, seek His kingdom and all of the other details work out”, or something like that. Sorry.  Am I being too simplistic?  I do that some times, anyway moving on.

I also think Jesus wasn’t kidding when he said “Don’t worry about what you will eat or drink, or your kids college or what you are going to do when you get old, just worry about today it has enough crap of its own to think about.”Okay that was my paraphrase, but you get what He was saying right?  So how do we responsibly teach our kids about money and saving and giving and so forth without letting those two enemies we talked about in the beginning creep in?  Good question…glad you asked.  Like I said yesterday, we don’t give our kids a weekly allowance for a few basic reasons.  #1 our budget. Even a small weekly allowance X 3 X 4 weeks a month adds up to a lot, and really how much money do little kids need to learn how to be responsible with it? #2 I think it devalues me as the Mom who does all this junk around here all the time, with no thanks and no money.  I mean what the heck?  Do you think these clothes just magically wash/fold themselves and put themselves away.  Okay, they don’t always get put away right on time, but lets not split hairs. Nope, we work as a team, and we get it done together.  I think it helps build character AND life skills all at once which are JUST as important as learning how to rightly manage money.

Here are a few practical things you can do for your kids to help them get prepared for God to move on their hearts in regard to money.  Because ultimately we sow the seed but God will make it grow right?!

• Open a bank account.  $5 bucks will get you going.  It was a big “Ahha” moment for our kids when the realized you don’t get money out of the bank without putting money into it. Plus if it is harder to get to, it will be harder to just get spent on Bubble gum if you get my drift.
• Ask some family members to give them a few dollars at Christmas and birthdays.  Think about it.  Say they get 10 bucks for Christmas and their Birthday, that is $20 a year for a 5, 6 and 8 year old. I mean come on, how much do they need to really learn how to use money rightly? The last thing I want is them day dreaming about how much money they are amassing so they can go buy whatever the heck they desire.  Remember consumerism and individuality?  It can creep right in, right there, and I well tell you right now I am going to guard the heck out of it here in our own home.  That is also the reason we stopped playing monopoly right now.  I saw a little greedy seed crop up, when they all were reveling in owning the world.  Oops, I saw that and in my heart, I was hearing, “ABORT, ABORT like fast.”  I quietly put it away and will take it out maybe later.  Hey better yet, maybe I will invent one based on giving instead of amassing wealth.
• We offer a small monetary fee for jobs above and beyond their normal chores, if they are really wanting to work towards getting something that we have said isn’t in our budget.  It isn’t an every week thing, just here and there.  I think it is good to makes kids work towards what they want.  I don’t buy them every new thing that comes down the pike.  I mean I really don’t buy them much at all. Would you be shocked to know we didn’t buy or kids a single thing for Christmas last year? Really, not one single thing and you know what, they still got more then they could ever use.
• Once they have an account, take a day, where you sit down together and talk about what money is.  Nothing more then a tool.  We spend it, we give it, we save it, we don’t hoard it.  That’s it.  Jackson realized the other day, that at one point in history money had no value, you traded what you had.  Hey I will give you a bushel of apples if you will give me a slab of meat, and it all came together.
• Then pray with them about how much they should give and where they should give it.  I think that helping your kids begin to hear what God is saying in their heart about the poor and marginalized will give them deeper joy in giving then in just making them do it.  I did this with our crew a few months ago, and it was crazy what they felt lead to give to.  Jackson was lead to a local migrant community, Chloe’s was sent to Africa and Hudson wanted his to go to Old people. I also don’t make them do a certain percent at this point.  I tell them, it is all God’s and He gives it us so we can steward it correctly.  Listen he will tell you how much to give.
• A little business isn’t a bad idea either.  Our kids have a lemonade stand.  They pull it out from time to time to make a few bucks.  It is cute and another real world math example that REALLY sticks in their minds let me tell you what.  They have also made some cash by dog sitting and walking while friends are away.  Hey, win/win in my book.  They get to see what it is like to have a dog without out us actually having to,you know, buy one.
• This year for the first time, we gave them all a clothing budget.  Here they sat, at this computer, and shopped at old navy for some new clothes for this school year.  They had to put whatever they wanted in their bag, with the right size and color without regard to cost. Kind of gave me an idea of what they like in regards to style.  I said you must put in 2 shirts, 1 short, 1 pant, 1 dress etc.  They had to follow the task.  Then we saw how much it all cost and how FAR it was outside of their budget.  Then they had to think it through and figure out what they really needed and what they really wanted, and what to put back.  It was fascinating to watch them.  Our youngest who is 4.75 GOT this with no problem.  Now this year, they will have to take care of the things they budgeted and spent for. We also said, you can’t get this until the tax free week, so they are having to WAIT. Did I say waiting was a good thing.
• Well it is, teach them to wait…..and that will flow over into every area of their life. Delayed gratification is a very, very good thing for little guys and Mommy’s and Daddy’s too.

So there are a few of my thoughts on money and kids and apparently laundry too.  Be blessed all of you out there counting the cost even when it comes to a silly little piggy bank.  It is a bigger deal then we think.

I have re-read our homeschool philosophy, and it still inspires me to keep moving forward, so here we go moving into our third year of education at home.  This year our oldest will be working year 3, our middle will be working year 1 and our youngest will be working his way through pre-k at a local preschool.   One of the things we will be doing this year, is waking the kids with an alarm.  That and they will be given their chore list on small dry erase board, that they can keep in their rooms and check off each morning. It will have this written at the top. ” Have these tasks done and be ready for school at a ___________am.” I have got to ween them off of me constantly reminding them to do their chores.  This puts the responsibility in their hands as part of their work.  On an added note, this is not something I pay them for.  I don’t get paid to do the laundry, we are a family and work as a team.  I understand wanting to teach kids the value of working to earn money and how to manage that wisely, but doing standard family chores is not how our kids are going to get that.  I will write about what we are doing in another post.  This one is already long enough. Geesh.

• brush teeth
• use fluoride
• put away tooth brushes etc.
• wash face and hands
• get dressed in clothes OTHER THEN WHAT YOU WORE YESTERDAY.  Think color, you know mix it up for Pete sake!
• make bed
• straiten room and put away pj’s (strip beds and wash linens on Mondays)
• wipe down counter and mirror in the bathroom. (Chloe)
• Take out bathroom trash (Hudson)
• CAREFULLY open bedroom and bathroom window blinds to let in the morning light. (Jackson)

I am creating a spiral bound copy work book for the older two, that they can do directly in the book.  That way I don’t have to store tons of loose leaf paper, and our oldest will take over reading 50% of his course work and be working towards fully reading it all by  the end of the year.  This is the year that parents traditionally transition their child into reading a portion of their own course work in AO even though it will be a bit of a challenge,  I need to free my time up to focus on our middle.

One of the new things that we have been blessed with this year is a co-op in our local area. Our oldest will be taking a few classes there, and getting a “school vibe” complete with lunch and study hall.  He is very excited. They will continue with their Saints PE co-op and swim team has been added in to the mix too, along with children’s choir and a few other things. With all of this, we will be more then busy in the afternoons.  Which brings me back to point one, setting alarm to start our day.  I have to get all core work in by lunch time, or we won’t get it in.  I hear it all the time.  Homeshooled children are not socially competent.  Don’t they get bored?  Do they interact with kids their age at all? etc. etc.  Let me tell you people, there are so many things for these kids to do, that if I am not careful, I will never get the core work in.

So, here we go again, for another fun, at times frustrating, and grueling yet rewarding, always challenging yet gentle and nurturing, relationship building year of educating our kids at home.  I had a major boost when a dear friend who has three grown kids tell me that if she had to do it over again, she would of homeschooled.

Grace and Peace to all those Mama’s getting it done, whatever way they can.

See you soon~

So until then,  pretend you are at the beach watching your kids play.

Grace and Peace to all~

First I would recommend taking stock of were your child is, physically, mentally, relationally, emotionally, spiritually and academically.  Make a list if you have to. Maybe we get things turned around when we hyper focus on academics and leave other very important formational stuff out?  Let the Lord lead you, on things that you see that your  child needs.  Do they need a good dose of habit training, how to do chores or how to take care of their hygiene?  Do they need to read some deep literature, other then fast food type stuff that is typically marketing to early elementary readers?  You get the idea.  I don’t know, only you will now that for each of your children.  Hey, and if you don’t know, maybe you are just too  busy and you need to slow down a bit so you can take stock or where you and your littles are at.

I would recommend you intentionally add a few things into your family rhythm to help give you some well balanced nutrition for you growing brood, weather home educated or not.  Pick a family read aloud.  Stretch and pick a classic or even, shock….. some Shakespeare.   This is also a great resource for those wanting to steer their children into some really good literature.  Living literature will take you and your child into deeper things like geography and history and science.  These books are simply outstanding and every family would do well to read through them together. We have gone through seasons of this on and off in our family and are right now back in this season.  Make your children earn video game or TV time by reading  2 for 1.   For every 2 minutes they read, they can earn one minute of TV or video game time.  It works for us.  Instead of filling your house with the sound of a TV on, play some music quietly in the background.  There are tons of online math helps out there or even some interesting math books that will help your kids.

Think through some practical things you can do with your kids.  Take them to the post office and have them do the whole deal, buy the stamp, address, and mail the letter, use the automated kiosk etc. Go to the hardware story and but the supplies for a family project and involved them in actually checking out and paying for the items.  Involve them in your whole life.  Even the simple things can be a learning moment.  You don’t have to be teacher or a school to schedule a field trip.  You can make a few phone calls in your local area and set up some family things for you all to do together.

Life is short, and there are so many things you can do and accomplish when your kids are big and have flown the coop.  Take a little time, in whatever way you can, to add a little richness to your child’s education.

Hope this helps some of you out there.   I am going to go take some of my own advice and do some phonics games with the kids.

Grace and Peace to everyone out there

I wonder at how the summer seems so  frantic.  It is always so much busier then the rest of the year.  Is is that way for you all too? The kids and I are steadily working our way through school very gently this summer so as not to loose any of their competency in any area.  I took a large break last year and realized it wasn’t a good plan for us.  They get plenty of breaks through out the year, and it is so hot here mid-summer that our time is better spent schooling then playing.

I’ve had several emails and facebook comments lately about how I homeschool  etc. that I thought I would write a little post tomorrow at how you can implement these methods with your family whether homeschooling fully or just supplementing your child’s traditional school schedule.   I think life is learning and “we” as parents are responsible for making sure our kids get what they need to be ready for life. Anyway you slice it, that doesn’t just deal with making sure they can read, and write and do their arithmetic. It is a whole lot more then that.

As far as where I am at right now…..what I said the other day, still holds for me today.

Grace and Peace to all those testing the waters and learning something new! See you all tomorrow.

Read my post on this flickr stream.  Click each picture in sequence to see what is up with me.

Grace and Peace to all those who are punching their flesh in the eye, and telling it to sit down and junk because the King is in charge around here!

So many people worked to pull it off.  We all just pushed a little.  No on person pulled the wagon, we just played and prayed along and before you  knew it, our home looked like a tea lounge.  Actually it still does.  We finished so late, no one wanted to break down, and because we didn’t have to , we said, oh just grab it next time you are over. Our kids were HOT because they missed the celebration. We sent them to sleep over at Grams and G’pas house as we knew it would get a bit loud.  Somehow they have it in there little minds that they get to play and participate in this whole expression of faith too.  I have no idea where they got that wacky idea? I laugh, because even in my wildest dreams or best plans to pull something like this off, it never would of happened as beautifully.

We did have one surprising and unfortunate casualty in the whole thing.  We killed our fish.  Yeap we “rocked” him to death.  It was so sad, the rhythm and sound just shook him right out of his mind.  The kids still do not know.  I am breaking it to them gently tomorrow.

Grace and Peace to everyone seeing their dreams unfold before them~

PS - pix taken by our friend Shawn who is handy with a camera too.  Thanks man!

I am working on a post right now about discipleship to Jesus. I have been reading some of NT Wright’s work and it is, as always, ROCKING my world in a good and deep and holy way.  I am also mulling over a few things that will take some thought in research in regards to presenting a lesson on the kingdom of God to our oldest. I actually think I will you tube it so anyone else out there can use it too. Photography is moving along at God’s perfect pace, so life is generally good.

Our kids have been in VBS this week, and I have been like a fish out of water without them around.  God is leading me into some deeper seasons of things, that I wont share on this blog right now, as they are just for me in him. We are hosting a worship night this weekend, so I am cleaning and worshiping all morning. (A little side not about Hill song.  I have had my nose up in the air about them for awhile because they are so freakin’ mainstream, I almost can’t take it. I wouldn’t even go there, because I get so hacked off when I see organizations making money and fame and all other types of crap that come with that off of worshiping the KING. Really it makes my skin crawl and I get all nauseous. It is a bad scene…….and then… a friend asked if we would learn this song to sing with him.  I politely didn’t roll my eyes and said “okay” feebly.  I heard this song and it was like I hit the deck weeping all by myself.  Just asking for forgiveness because I was so snooty about them being co-opted by the marketing machine.  I love when God breaks your boxes, even your non-traditional ones.) Pray for us on Sat. night.  I am sure I will have some pics to show you all:-)

Guess I just dropped by to  say, I am here, just processing, and thinking, and worshiping.  I am at a place right now were I am almost out of my skin in adoration to the KING of Kings.  Won’t you worship with me?  Really, like right now, stop what you are doing and just do it!  In whatever way you can.  Really I am not kidding.

Blessings to all you thinkers, dreamers, worshipers…

Another rainy day, which in my book are good days to think. I’ve been reflecting the last few days on how essential certain things are in life. It is so important to have a small group of deep friends that you can be truly honest with, that challenge you to dig deeper with Jesus, that hold you accountable in an appropriate and Godly way, and that sharpen you.  I am blessed to have this in my life.

Today Mike and I have officially been married 14 years.   I can’t even remember what is was like not being married or with him.  It is fun to watch how he has grown and changed over the years. I love you honey.  Thank you for a beautiful weekend away, just the two of us. It was raining just like this, 14 years ago, as I was trying to run around and do all the things a bride is doing before her wedding.  Mike and I were laughing at how we know each other so much better now.  It is so good to laugh with your spouse.  He still makes me laugh, and blush, and feel safe.  He is a good, deep, thoughtful caring man and a wonderful Father to our children. I love him so.

I’ve also been thinking about how parenting is full time job.  People occasionally say to me, “Are you just a stay at home Mom?”  and I quietly chuckle inside. I do a little photography on the side, just to keep a small non-Mommy part of me active but on the whole, I’ve been called to tend this little garden, and trust me it will shake you to your core, if you let it.  The older our kids get, the more fun this is, to walk with them, and model to them, and train them and be with them as they walk through hard things.   We are constantly adjusting, readjusting, checking in with the Father in regards to our sweeties. What a gift this all is.  I am still perplexed when I hear Mom’s say they need a break.  Trust me, I know what it is like to have lots of kids close together, and never know where you stop and they begin.  I struggled with that in the early days.  I think it is funny, friends who see me out without my kids don’t even recognize me without the three in tow.   Now, I embrace it. Life just moves too fast, and you just don’t EVER, EVER, EVER get these days back.  I just want to keep working on relationship with these little guys who are fast moving into big guys. I can do other things when they have flown the coup.

Wont it be fun to see where the next 14 years takes us babe? The world is our oyster.  I love you!

~a

We will be going to my FAVORITE local place for a little R&R married 14 years style.  I will kill the pictures and leave a tiny peek….

Grace and Peace to all those who know that life just keeps getting better and better!

See you next week.

I did a little diving. I took some pictures but they are not nearly as good as my Dad’s.

Now, I am off to upload some pics to flickr and finish up some school work.   This week, we are celebrating our wedding anniversary, with half of the rest of the married world:-)  So, between, school and play  I may be spotty on posting here.

Grace and Peace to all those celebrating life with those they love.

That being said, I hardly ever use a flash, even though I have one.  Now that I am pushing farther to learn a few new things….I super heart my flash especially right at dusk.  It gives you crazy definition and color, that a low f stop and high ISO alone will not give you. It will allow you to have your shutter speed set so that you don’t get that blur that happens when hand holding your camera to capture an image. Everything I have learned with photography has been self taught.  I am in good company. Some of the best photographers in the world are self taught.  I read, I study, I experiment, I read, I study, I experiment…..it is one of my favorite things to do.  So, I have been reading and studying about off camera lighting and strobe work.  Wow what a cool look you can pull off with all of that info.

if you only have an on board flash, one of the things you can do to diminish that hot spot glare, is to put a piece of wax paper, tracing paper, parchment paper or a coffee filter over your flash to diffuse the light.   So go play around with your flash and show me what you got!

Grace and Peace to all those who love learning~