Barn Owls...Homeschool Project

Austen made a Owl Box for his science project, and then Friday we will have a science lab and we will dissect owl pellets.

The baby owlets..Carrie and Ashley

screen shot from today

Owl Box Live Cam

We have been having fun studying Barn Owls for Science this year! I was doing a search this summer and found a live owl cam in San Marcos, California. Austen did a wood project and made a owl box. It turned out GREAT!

Check out the Live cam below

http://www.sportsmansparadiseonline.com/live_owl_nest_box_cam.HTML

Back To School 2010-2011

I can not believe that it is that time already! Summer went so fast. We had some great family time this summer, camping , motorcycle riding, and the Great Wolf Lodge trip.
It sure didn't seem like the weather got warm until the end, but I am thankful we had some days w/out rain ;)

Austen is in High School now and Blake is

in 2nd grade. We had some fun coming up with our school name this summer...

and it's official.....as you see above it is RIVERVIEW ACADEMY ;)

Driving school this year for Austen...eeek he turns 15 in November.

Well, it is off to bed. I am looking forward to getting back to blogging

more this fall. Hope to be able to visit some blogs as well.

I do more now on facbook then blogging, catch me there as well at

Branmadetags

Blessings,

Brandie

Beautiful Days ;)

I am so exited to have this beautiful weather! We needed some sun and the Lord has brought it to us! Yae! Summer has began for the Richards Family, we have lots of projects planned. Austen is getting calls right and left to work for people. Little man Blake turns 7 a week from today! I picked up a new Bible study book called 'Precept Upon Precept' , and I am looking forward to digging into Gods Word with this study. It has been hard to plan things in advance such as the group Bible studies, because I just never know how I am going to feel.

I have been enjoying my Paint Shop Program creating new scripture tags. Last night Wayne spent quite a bit of time digging the holes to find the septic tank lids....and Hunter (our pup) was out helping too..lol. I got some funny pics of them. This weekend is the homeschool conference in Portland....I planned on attending, but I am just not feeling up to it. Next school year I am planning on making some adjustments in our homeschool schedule, and curriculum. Austen is going to be in high school and Blake in second grade. I am going to do some research on the different learning styles so I can make some changes.

Looking forward to a nice warm weekend with my family.

Blessings,

Brandie

Where Do You Find Contentment?

Are you looking for contentment in all the wrong places?

Often times we get stuck as Christians, we look at our life and think, but Lord this is not the way I envisioned my life to be? What does success mean to you? This is something I have really been pondering lately...NOW I don't mean success in the eyes of the 'World' but success that God will be pleased with. Our desires should be to please the Lord. But many times I will look at my circumstances or what I don't have and not be satisfied. How about you? May the Lord help us stay focused on godly contentment...that bring true peace and happiness!

Let's Look at What God has to say here:

1 Timothy 6:9-11

But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and [into] many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.

Let's look at the word contentment....

1) a perfect condition of life in which no aid or support is needed
2) sufficiency of the necessities of life
3) a mind contented with its lot, contentment

1 Tim 6:6

But godliness with contentment is great gain.

The key here is godliness WITH contentment

"God may allow His servant to succeed when He has disciplined him to a point where he does not need to succeed to be happy. The man who is elated by success and is cast down by failure is still a carnal man. At best his fruit will have a worm in it."- A. W. Tozer

Christian Families

The Christian family was the bulwark of godliness in the days of the Puritans; but in these evil times hundreds of families of so-called Christians have no family worship, no restraint upon growing sons, and no wholesome instruction or discipline. See how the families of many professors are as dressy, as godless as the children of the non-religious! How can we hope to see the Kingdom of our Lord advance when His own disciples do not teach His gospel to their own sons and daughters?

~C.H Spurgeon

Is Your Home A Refuge?

An ideal Christian home ought to be a place where love rules. It ought to be beautiful, bright, joyous, full of tenderness and affection, a place in which all are growing happier and holier each day. There should never be any discord, any wrangling, any angry words or bitter feelings. The home-life should be a harmonious song without one marring note, day after day. The home, no matter how humble it is, how plain, how small – should be the dearest spot on the earth to each member of the family. It should be made so happy a place, and so full of life, that no matter where one may wander in after years, in any of the ends of the earth – his home should still hold its invisible cords of influence about him, and should ever draw resistless upon his heart. It ought to be the one spot in all the earth, to which he would turn first, when in trouble or in danger. It should be his refuge, in every trial and grief.

J.R. MillerHomemaking, 1882.

The Family~

The family was God’s first earthly institution. Before there was a government, and long before God instituted the church, He ordained marriage and the family as the basic building block of society. The destruction of the family we are witnessing today is, I believe, a harbinger of the ultimate collapse of our entire society. The more the family is threatened, the more society itself is in danger of extinction. We’re living in the last days, and nothing shows that more graphically than the deterioration of the family.

John MacArthur
Successful Christian Parenting, 1998, p. 217.

Winding Down..........2009/10 School Year

Winding Down...Reflecting

We are almost finished with our 2009-10 homeschool year. Yae!

As many of you know there have been some rough times this past school year,

but we persevered!! The Lord has taught us so much. This world we live is is totally against what we stand for and believe,

(Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker? Job 4:17)

but we know that we don't serve the world we serve a mighty God. He has given us a PERFECT instruction manual to go by!

The statutes of the LORD [are] right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD [is] pure, enlightening the eyes.

Many times I have doughted my homeschool capabilities, but then when I look at Gods Word...I am assured that I have made the right descision. When I see my children be kind to others, help the elderly, teach the younger, work hard, and be respectful to their elders...I look up and thank God! It is not by us as parents, but the mercy and grace of God!

We strive to teach our children the truth (The truth will set us free!)

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, [and] easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. James 3:17

Blessings,

Brandie

Thoughts For Today.... On Sin

A Wise And Happy Heart

Being willing to humbly and honestly acknowledge sin and turn from it makes us happy.

A Deceived Heart

Not being willing to acknowledge sin and turn from it.

Psalm 51:7-12

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Make me to hear joy and gladness; [that] the bones [which] thou hast broken may rejoice.
Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me [with thy] free spirit.

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

No One Ever Cared For Me Like Jesus...

No one ever cared for me like Jesus!

There's no other Friend so kind & true!

No one else could take that sin & sadness from me,

Oh, how much He cares for me!

Storms In Life.....

Some through the waters,

some through the flood,

Some through the fire,

but all through the Blood.

Some through great sorrows,

but God gives a song,

In the night season & all the day long!

Funny Funnies ;)

A mother was preparing pancakes for her sons,5 year old Little Johnny,

and 3 year old Little Ryan.
The boys began to argue over who would get the first pancake.

Their mother saw the opportunity for a moral lesson.

If Jesus were sitting here,

He would say 'Let my brother have the first pancake, I can wait.'

Little Johnny turned to his younger brother and said, "Ryan, you be Jesus!"

A godly wife......

A wife is someone cherished in a very special way,

Who puts the joy in living with her sweetness day by day.

A wife is someone close enough to really understand,

To inspire & to encourage & to lend a helping hand.

A wife is one who makes a home a happy place for all.

Who shows her special thoughtfulness in ways both big & small.

A wife is someone wonderful who always has smile,

Who keeps her husband happy & makes his life worthwhile.

Homeschool Poem

Whatever you write on the heart of a child,

no water can wash it away.

The marks in the sands are erased by the tide;

inscriptions will crumble with clay.

The words in a book will decay with the years

and even engraving in stone disappears

But God’s Word inscribed on a little child’s heart

for time and eternity shall not depart.

(Author Unknown)

Excuses~

Excuses, excuses, you hear them everyday. Now, the devil he'll supply them, if from church you stay away. When people come to know the Lord, the devil always loses, So to keep them folks away from church, he offers them excuses!

In the summer, it's too hot, and in the winter, it's too cold. And in the springtime, when the weather's just right, You find some place else to go. Well, it's up to the mountain Or down to the beach or to visit some old friend, Or just to stay home and kinda relax and hope some of the kinfolks drop in.
Well, the church bench is too hard, and that choir sings way too loud. And, boy, you know how nervous you can get when your settin' in a great big crowd. The doctor told you you'd better watch them crowds, they'll set you back, But you go to that ballgame, cause you say it helps you to relax.

Well, you have a headache Sunday morning and a backache Sunday night. Well, one of the children has a cold, pneumonia, do you suppose? Why the whole family had to stay home, just to blow that poor kids nose!

The preacher, he's too young, maybe he's too old. His sermons, they're not fired enough, or maybe their too bold. His voice is much too quiet, sometimes he gets too loud, He needs to have more dignity or else he's way too proud.

His sermons, they're too long. Maybe, they're too short. He ought to preach the Word with dignity, instead of stomp and snort. Why, one of the members told me the other day, "He didn't even shake my hand."

~joyfulministry.com