He is Risen INDEED!

We had a great time celebrating the Resurrection with my parents. They came on Good Friday and left after church Sunday. We colored eggs, did an Egg Hunt, had a girls tea party while the guys went to the gun range, had yummy food, ate way too much, and watched some great movies to get us in the frame of mind for Easter (if you haven't seen Louie Giglio's "Indescribable" and "How Great is Our God," you've GOTTA see them!)

Here's Ally Beth and Grammy making one of Easter desserts.
Big Daddy bought the kids chocolate bunnies. His favorite part is the head and here are the kids about to bite off their bunny heads. Big Daddy is acting shocked! The kids thought it was hilarious. Now, they say that eating the head is the best part.
Instead of the traditional dyeing of eggs, the kids colored theirs. Blane used markers and Ally Beth did water colors. Here is one of Blane's eggs.Caleb didn't want to hunt eggs. He just wanted to put them in his mouth!
Here are the kids on the porch Sunday morning before church. It was a cold morning!
my mom got Caleb a singing/hopping bunny that is ADORABLE! Caleb was entranced...after he got over the initial shock! The first time we played it for him, he didn't know what to think. Towards the end of the song, he accidentally kicked the bunny and it fell on his foot and TERRIFIED him. It was pretty amusing to us adults!

Hope you all had a blessed Easter full of the joy of our Risen Lord!

Caleb is Crawling...Yahoo! or Yikes?

The first child you have, you encourage to crawl and walk ASAP. The second one, you are not so eager. The third one, you know that you don't want it to happen! But, happen it does.

One of my friends at church who has a large family said, "Whenever we see that the baby is trying to crawl, I yell, 'Somebody go pick up the baby! He's trying to crawl! Stop him!' "

Too funny...too true!

Nevertheless, here is Caleb's first crawl (or crawling? Which is proper?)

God bless home schoolers...and God bless TEXAS!!!

Disclaimer: This entry is for my home schooling friends and is no way intended to downplay other forms of education or to insult others who do not home school. I just wanted my hs friends to know about the awesome rally today!

Ally Beth and I took this picture today with her camera. She wanted me to make sure to give her camera credit!

The kids and I had the most amazing afternoon! We had the privilege of attending the Texas Home School Coalition's (THSC) Parental Rights Rally on the south steps of the capitol building in Austin today. We got to stand with one of our pastors and his family. Also, we got to stand with the president of the home school co-op we belong to and her son (who also attend our church) and listen to some GREAT speeches!
We heard numerous pro-home schooling legislators speak to us about their support of the Parental Rights Restoration Act (which will be heard in the Texas Legislature on Thursday). The most amazing speech we heard came from our governor, Rick Perry. It is amazing that he took time out of his day to come and encourage us. He is an AVID supporter of home schooling. Today at the rally, he said,

"All children in Texas have a right to a public education.
However, public education does NOT have a right to all children in Texas."

AMEN!!! Thank you, Governor Perry!

Current law in Texas allows grandparents to intervene on behalf of their grandchildren if they suspect that they are being neglected or abused. This is a great law when children are legitimately in danger, but many grandparents have used this law to gain custody of their grandchildren simply because they don't like that they are being home schooled. Many families have been torn apart by this law. There is one home schooling military family who experienced devastation. First, the father was killed on duty in Iraq. Then, a week after his funeral, his parents filed for custody of his children because the mother was planning on continuing to home school them. Those poor children lost their father and were yanked from their mother. This is obviously not the way this grandparent's law is meant to be utilized.

Due to stories like this and many others, THSC is supporting an amendment of the grandparent's law, enabling parents to choose what is best for their children in regards to education and morality. This amendment allows for grandparents to still intervene if there is physical abuse or neglect. So, this still allows protection of children while also assuring parents of their freedoms in choice of education.

We heard many awesome legislators in favor of this parental rights legislation. Some of the quotes I heard today (wish I had written down the name of the legislators who said these):

"Parents are a child's first and best educator."

"God designed the parents to oversee the upbringing of their children, not the government."

"Home schoolers in Texas have many friends in this legislature."

"We will do whatever we can to assure that you as parents have the most freedoms possible to home school in Texas."

"The best lobbyists we know are home schoolers."

We were so inspired today! It also helped that we were on the steps of the most beautiful capitol building in all of the USA. (Again, all pictures from Ally Beth's camera)

God bless Texas!

Words of Wisdom

God Made Us Family, Prozac Made Us Friends

What If the Hokey Pokey IS Really What It’s All About?

Liberal Arts Major..Will Think for Food

Don’t Treat Me Any Differently Than You Would the Queen

Gravity…It’s Not Just a Good Idea. It’s the Law

Love May Be Blind, But Marriage Is a Real Eye Opener

If at First You Don’t Succeed, Skydiving Isn’t for You

I’m Going to Graduate on Time, No Matter How Long It Takes

A Day Without Sunshine is Like Night

Old Age Comes at a Bad Time

In America, Anyone Can Be President. That’s One of the Risks You Take

God must love stupid people…He made SO many.

When blondes have more fun, do they know it?

What happens if you get scared half to death twice?

I’m not tense, just terribly, terribly alert.

I don’t have a license to kill, but I do have a learner’s permit.

I like cats too. Let’s exchange recipes.

Red meat is not bad for you.Fuzzy green meat is bad for you.

If you think there is good in everybody, you haven’t met everybody.

After I cook the vegetables, what do I do with the wheelchairs?
Give me ambiguity or give me something else.

There are 3 kinds of people. Those who can count and those who can’t.

I feel like I’m diagonally parked in a parallel universe.

He who hesitates is constipated.

Reality is for people who can’t face science fiction.

The problem with the gene pool is that there is no lifeguard.

Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

Prunes give you a run for your money.

Born free…taxed to death.

Some people are alive only because it’s illegal to kill them.

A bartender is just a pharmacist with a limited inventory.

If you can read this, I’ve lost my trailer.

You’re just jealous because the voices only talk to me.

LOTTERY: A tax on people who are bad at math.