I would like to take a moment and thank Pearables.com for allowing me to type and post two of their wonderful stories.  I would highly recommend the pearables books as part of your homeschool and Sunday School class material.  http://www.pearables.com/

The Conquered Village

There was once, in the land of the One True King, a village that was near the border of the Kingdom.  On the other side of the border were foreigner who did not have a King that ruled over them and lawlessness abounded.

The subjects of the King could see that these poor foreigners would be much happier if they would allow the King to rule in their lives.  If they would obey the commands of the One True King, they would find contentment and lives that were fulfilling!  So...they decided to see if they could sway the foreigners into the Kingdom!

The people of the One True King's land were very different from any of the other lands.  Their speech was different, as they were commanded to speak only kind and true things to one another!  Their manner of clothing was different, as they dressed modestly and in a way that they did not call attention to themselves.  In fact, ever since the alchemist left town, the women found that there were far more important things to do then glorifying their forms and face!

Their music was different as it was played to please and give honor to the King!  The way they trained their children was different in that the people of the Kingdom trained their children themselves, to love and follow the ways of the King.

On the other hand, the foreigners sent their children away each day to have others train them up in the lawlessness of their land.

The men of the villiage decided that they would go out and tell all the foreigners that they could find that they could have true happiness if they followed the One True King!...That they could actually belong to the Kingdom if they wanted to!

For the next few weeks, the men told as many foreigners that would listen about their wonderful King and His mighty Kingdom.  Some of the foreigners received this news with joy and immediately moved their families into the land of the King.  Many of those who heard this GOOD news rejected the King and wanted to stay where they were in their own land.  After all, they had lived in their land for many years and didn't want to change their way of life!  They were foreigners to the Kingdom and they would have to learn a whole, new CULTURE!!!

Some time went by and even though the men were telling many foreigners about their King and His Kingdom, not very many foreigners were willing to accept the King and have Him rule in their lives.  The men decided this needed some discussion and called for a meeting in the villiage square.

"There ar enot many foreigners that are wanting to follow the King," one man stated.  All the men murmured in agreement.  "SOMETHING MUST BE DONE!!!"

So the men pondered long and hard over a solution to this very difficult problem.

"I HAVE IT" one man exclaimed.  "You know how much the foreigners love their music!  If WE played the same music as they do, we could draw them into the Kingdom!  They will ahve this music that is the same in their land, and it will make them feel at home!  But, they will still be in the Kingdom!

The men were all enthused over this wonderful plan and quickly set out to put it into action. 

The people of the Kingdom started playing music just like that of the foreigners and soon, some did come...but they came for the music not because of the Kingdom or the love of the King.  The villagers kept the music were content to stay.

Still, the men of the village knew that there had to be a way of getting more foreigners into the Kingdom.  They came up with another idea.  If they all dressed like the foreigners, the foreigners would feel more at ease, and could better relate to the Kingdom!  This would give them an even better reason to move into the Kingdom!  Soooooo... the people of the King put away their own clothing and dressed JUST like the foreigners.

Soon, some of the foreigners truly did feel much more comfortable with the Kingdom and now, BECAUSE of the dress and music, didn't feel they would have that much CHANGE to contend with and moved into the village.

But, there still must be some way of getting MORE foreigners into the Kingdom!!!

If the people of the Kingdom sent their children to the places where the foreigners were training up their children, the children of the Kingdom could then sway the foreigner's children into following the King!

So, they dressed their children up just like foreigners, and sent them off to the foreinger's training centers so they could be with foreigners ALL DAY LONG!!!!

One day, the One True King decided that it was time to go and visit His little village on the border....

To His SHOCK and SURPRISE, He found that FOREIGNERS HAD TAKEN OVER THE VILLAGE!!!!

As He rode through the village square He heard AWFUL music beging played.  He covered His ears with His hands, but still the horrendous sounds filtered through, and... He heard His NAME mentioned!!!  Being sung to this ..."MUSIC"~!!!!

He saw children running in the streets, chasing dogs, hitting one another, and IGNORING THEIR PARENTS AS THEY CALLED FOR THEM TO STOP!!!

He then looked around at the people that were bowed low as He passed.  The people of this village were all dressed as foreigners, but....

He looked closer and then stated, "You may rise!"  As He gazed at each face, He was ASTONISHED to see the familiar faces of His loyal Subjects!

"My People!  Why have the Foreigners overtaken your village?"

A large, burly man came before the King and said with a big smile on his face, "My King!  We are so happy that you have come to see that a wonderful thing has happened.  We have found ways to get the foreigners into the Kingdom and to follow YOU!  We decided to make our village more like the foreigner's land and ever since this has happened MANY of the foreigners have moved into the Kingdom!"

The King's mouth dropped open at this philosophy.

The King threw his arms up in exasperation then said loudly,  "You are NOT to conform YOURSELVES to the ways of foreigners in order to get them into the Kingdom!  If the foreigeners did not come to the Kingdom because of hearing aout the Kingdom and Your King and wanting to obey Me because of LOVE, then you do NOT BRIBE them into the Kingdom by turning the Kingdom into a foreign land!!!

In doing what you have done, truly, the foreigners have swayed YOU into living like them rather than them living like Subjects of the Kingdom!!1  The FOREIGNERS HAVE TAKEN OVER THE VILLAGE!!!!  Please!... Rid yourselves of this foreign music, of the foreigners ways, and start to TRAIN YOUR CHILDREN!!!

"DO NOT CONFORM YOURSELVES TO THE WAYS OF THE FOREIGNERS!!!"

The people of the village rid themselves of the foreigner's ways and many of the foreigners went back to their own land and their OWN customs.  But, there were a few who had come into the Kingdom SOLELY because they loved the King and wanted to obey His ways... And they found true contentment and happiness!

Romans 12:2 "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."

Offenses

What a wonder devotion this morning! Watching another S.M. Davis video. "Did you know it is impossible to do right, walk right, live right, dress right, talk right, teach right, preach right without becoming a stumbling block to people. You bother people when you do right." After hearing that some verses came to my mind. Romans 6:1-2 "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" When I stand before God I will not give an account before men, but before a thrice Holy God. I do not want to stand there ashamed and have others going to hell (my children, spouse, parents or whoever) because of my ungodly life. So I hope and pray I don't offend, but I would rather that then have God be offended with me.

Happy Birthday America

Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?

Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army, another had two sons captured. Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.

They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. What kind of men were they?

Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated. But they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.

Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.

Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.

At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.

John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion and a broken heart. Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates.

Such were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution. These were not wild eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. They were soft-spoken men of means and education. They had security, but they valued liberty more.

Standing tall, straight, and unwavering, they pledged: “For the support of this declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of the divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”

They gave you and me a free and independent America. The history books never told you a lot of what happened in the Revolutionary War. We didn't just fight the British. We were British subjects at the time and we fought our own government! Some of us take these liberties so much for granted...We shouldn't.

So, take a couple of minutes while enjoying your 4^th of July holiday and silently thank these patriots. It's not much to ask for the price they paid......

The author to who put this information together is unknown.

Jacob's High School Graduation

The Olinger Family would like to thank all those that helped us to celebrate our son's graduation.  We are very proud of him and in the man he is becoming.  We were also very happy that our parents were all able to attend as well as his aunts.

Laundromat Adventure

 Today we had our first adventure in a laundromat.  I once read something to the affect that joy is a choice, smiling is a choice, how you respond in a situation is a choice.  This is something I have been working on lately and boy is it so true.  I could have been frustrated since I have not been in a laundromat since the teens were very young.  I could have taken out my frustration on them and everyone around me and been a bad example, but I chose joy and to respond in joy to this relearning for me and another teachable opportunity for them.  First we had an issue with the dollar exchange, I put the dollar in expecting four quarters in return.  When I only got one coin back and I thought that is odd and not right.  Now Erica tried to explain then that it wasn't a quarter, but I walked off before she could explain, yep I ignored her, I shouldn't have cause she was right it was a $1 coin.  In a way I am glad that I did speak to the man in charge of the laundromat/dry cleaners since he was able to tell me how much it would cost to dry clean a coat of mine and I was able to get a dry cleaning price sheet.  So, first oops down second one was figuring out the white washing machines since it would not start of course it might have helped if I would have pushed the coins all the way in and pulled out the coin slots, but again relearning.  Jacob and Erica thought it was a totally neat and different experience.  We even got to visit with an old friend from one of our old churches which was neat.  We then got witnessed to, yep you heard me right we got witnessed too, by an older gentleman who asked if I was a Pentecostal due to my skirt and due to the hot weather I had my hair up in a clip.  Of course I explained kindly that I was baptist.  But you know that got me to thinking, many christians just assume that if someone says their a christian or that they seem to dress and act right they must be a christian.  Well, let me be one to stand up and say you should never, ever assume.  You see I was exactly that way I walked, talked, and dressed as a christian should since I was twelve years old.  I taught Sunday School, I went out door knocking (since our Pastor was a very very wise man he made sure us girls went to where he knew the people mainly the nursing home and to the children in our Sunday school classes, every week we went).  I could quote the bible better then most, but I was still lost, I still thought salvation could not be that easy, there must be something I had to do.  So from 12 till my thirties if I would have died I would have gone to a sinners hell.  I was unsaved pretending to be saved.  Never, I can never stress this enough never assume someone is saved and treat them differently.  Jesus treated all people with the same compassion and love.  He let them come to Him, He still was a living witness where ever He went, which is what we should do.  I hope our paths cross again and I am sure they will, I pray the Lord may open a door of utterance.  

A Tale of Two Roads

Our story begins long ago with a tale of two brothers.  The road you see before you is a drive way to their homes.  These homes were connected with one drive way.  The brothers were obvious close and had a good relationship with one another.  One day that changed you see the brothers had an argument about the drive way, no one exactly knows what was said or what caused the issue, but everyone knew the issue was over the driveway. EVERYONE heard about the issue and everyone saw what happened next.  One of the brothers made a separate drive way as you see here today.  Now they both went to the same set of houses but because of this argument over the driveways the brothers never spoke again.  

So I told you this true, yes true story cause of the lesson that can be gleaned from it.  While people do not remember the exact reason why the brothers had an argument over the drive way that split them up for the rest of their lives.  They sure did hear about it and thought of how foolish it seemed to end a friendship and brotherhood over a driveway.  Anger is a foolish thing.  Oh don't get me wrong I have been guilty of anger more then I would like to admit.  While I could blame my hot headed, Cherokee blood I think it has more do due with that old sin nature that we all have.  When we are in the heat of anger though we do not see things as clear as if we would just calm down and reevaluate what we are upset about and why we are upset.  After doing that we should give it to God and let Him handle it with no strings attached on how or when He deals with it.  Easier said then done, but still true.  Job 6:25 "How forcible are right words! but what doth your arguing reprove?"  also a new verse I am trying to learn is Proverbs 15:23 "A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in due season, how good is it!"  What a testimony those brothers left all those years ago and the driveway is still there today and as people who remember pass by it they are reminded only of those brothers hate and foolish anger and pride.  What are we leaving behind?  Are we leaving behind a testimony of anger, hate, or love?

Why I homeschool

I was over on Raising Clovers and I have been watching her youtube channel for a little while now and she had made the statement that you should write down why you homeschool.  I had never thought of actually writing it down, just is strange for me since I write EVERYTHING down.  Either I share on my blog or facebook or I write in my journal so anyway I thought it was a neat idea so here it goes. 

The first reason I choose to homeschool our two beautiful children is I love them very much and wanted them to know and love the Lord first and foremost.  I knew the public school would teach them everything else but that one central and most important thing.

The second reason is I did not want the influences of others impressing their values and their world views on my children.  They would get that enough when they were adults and I wanted them grounded on a firm foundation.  

Once public school kicked God out of school.  God's children have no business being where God is not welcome.  Your children are not to be put in the school as a missionary.  They will be turned toward the world rather then the world being changed by them.  Our children are impressionable and growing.

The bible also has a few words to say about teaching your children.  Deuteronomy 11:19 "And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up." 

“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”  Proverbs 22:6

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