Notebooking Pages

Notebooking Pages is a wonderful resource for homeschoolers!  In fact, it's a wonderful resource for anyone needing some interesting printable pages.

There is a reasonable membership fee for those wanting access to all the pages (and there are many, many, many pages!).  We have greatly utilized these pages for the past couple years.  But, before we had a membership, we used their free pages.

Click here to go to the freebies. They have a good variety of pages in each subject: bible, arts, history, science, famous people, geography and more.  It was a great start for us to see just how much we would use notebook pages, and also how much the children would enjoy them.  It was a wonderful addition to our studies--so much so that we obtained a membership after just a couple years.

I am writing this post to be entered into a drawing for a prize on Notebooking Pages, but truly I would not do it if I didn't endorse the pages!  We have benefited from them, and I highly recommend them.  The owner also designs new pages about every month.  With a membership, you can have access to them/download them forever.  Good deal!

Have fun looking at all you can get, even just in the free section to get you started!  Happy Notebooking!

~J

The 100th Anniversary of the Sinking of the Titanic

On April 10, 1912, the Titanic set out for her maiden voyage.  Everyone thought they were quite safe.  Some even had the audacity to say that God could not sink the Titanic.  However, things did not happen quite how they thought.  During the night of April 14, the Titanic hit an iceberg.  The Carpathia's warning to them that they were nearing an iceberg had been ignored.  The ship's first mate quickly made the ship go in reverse away from the iceberg, but it was too late.  The Titanic already had numerous holes along the starboard side below the waterline.  Water started rushing into the holes.  Unfortunately, there were only enough lifeboats for half of the passengers.  The sailors quickly started loading the women and children onto the lifeboats.  They had not planned for the ship sinking, so the untrained sailors sent some of the lifeboats off only half full.  Many of the men bravely stayed on board, letting the women and children survive.  When the ship was nearly completely sunken, the band played "Nearer My God to Thee."  68% of the passengers were lost, even with the Carpathia coming and rescuing the survivors.  Those who pridefully said that not even God could sink the Titanic were proven wrong.  Just as God stopped the building of the Tower of Babel, he stopped the people from boasting about the Titanic being unsinkable.

~ Aidan

Aidan Becomes Certified!

What can one accomplish with hard work, lots of perseverance, and the blessing of the Lord? Anything, of course! Aidan took a terrific online computer course last summer from ITonRamp called Home Track (Computer Essentials) and really enjoyed it. He was interested in taking a more difficult class: A+ Track. We were nervous--it was going to be a big commitment. But he was willing to work at it, so he began that class last September.

I quickly realized that "big" commitment was turning into "HUGE" commitment, and I rearranged his schedule accordingly. He finished the class in December, and studied and studied for the next 2 months. At that point he felt he was ready to take his certification tests.

All went well, he passed the tests with flying colors (he said he was relieved to discover the tests were easier than he was expecting), and so now Aidan is officially CompTIA A+ Certified!

{Amara made him this cake as a surprise while he was gone taking his tests! We also made a quick sign we attached to the door to see before he even walked in!}

We are understandably proud of Aidan, not only for becoming certified, but for showing himself to be a man in disciplining himself to study--even the times when he would have rather been doing something else.

He also had the wonderful opportunity to meet his instructor, Nathan Maxwell, in person when we went to the Family Economics Conference in March. He had been hoping to meet him since we knew the Maxwell family would be there, but we weren't sure if Nathan would be there as well. We were so excited when we saw him sitting with his family during the conference. Aidan was able to speak with him a few different times and when we were able to chat with him at their book tables, we snapped these pictures (yes, I'm posting both because they were both such good pictures that I could not choose between them!) Sarah also took pictures for the Maxwell family's blog. You can see Aidan there (count down to pics 17 and 20 to see David and Jordan talking with Nathan {also pic 19 has Aidan just barely in the pic on the left}; pic 26 to see Aidan and Nathan).

And yes, we highly recommend the ITonRAMP courses for anyone interested in them. They offer the ones Aidan took, as well as Website Design.

~J

Happy 22nd Anniversary, My Dear!!

Today is our 22nd wedding anniversary and as I (David) survey what has happened from the time that we got married, my heart is filled with gratitude!

Jill,

I am grateful that you are a woman of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and are seeking to grow in your walk with Him day by day! I am so thankful that I have had you with me during times of joy, as well as times of sorrow. I greatly appreciate your loyalty and your willingness to stand by my side. As I look to the past, I have great thanksgiving in my heart for you.

In looking to the future, I have great hope! I have the hope that we will continue our journey of faith together. I have hope that we will be diligently working to raise up a godly seed for the honor and glory of Christ. I have hope knowing that we serve a God Who has prepared good works for us to accomplish and that He is able to carry them out through us.

You are my dearly beloved bride. I pray that God will continue to work in us and that He will use us mightily in His work that He is doing here on this earth.

Happy Anniversary, my sweetheart!

Happy 15th Birthday, Aidan!!

Seeing our children grow in godly maturity is one of the greatest blessings that God provides to us on this earth! Birthdays are a great time to reflect on the growth that we see in our children and offer praise to the Lord for that growth.

Happy Birthday, Aidan! We are so grateful to see you growing and maturing in godliness. We see that you are becoming increasingly responsible and other-centered. The future is full of great hope knowing that God has a plan and a purpose that He is working to accomplish - including using you in good works that He has prepared for you in advance (Ephesians 2:10).

Aidan, we are blessed to celebrate your birthday, which is a celebration of your life and God's grace working in and through you. Our prayer for you is that you will continue to grow, learn, and mature into the man that God has called you to be. We are committed to helping you in that process by discipling you along the way and by helping you develop godly character.

Aidan, we love you very much and are filled with gratitude that God has allowed us the privilege of being your parents. We will always strive to show our love for you and seek what is best for you. We will pray for God's blessing on you and that with that blessing you will be fruitful and productive for His kingdom work.

Happy 15th Birthday, Aidan!

Celebrating Jordan's Faithful Sonship and Manhood! (Part 5 - Final)

This is the final part of the letter celebrating Jordan's entrance into manhood, concluding with the last gift categories that we selected and our excitement and commitment as his parents to helping him in his future! It was indeed a very special and very blessed evening together as a family and one that we pray will be etched into Jordan's mind giving him joyful inspiration for the coming days, weeks, months, and years.

• Forging Your Character – In this special category will be resources that will be helpful in the development of godly character in your life. The gifts that are a part of this category will be books, teaching videos, and audio resources that will be challenging your thinking to build the foundation of your life on God’s perfect and inerrant Word. These resources will help you take every thought captive to the lordship of Christ and will serve as a starting point for your family library so that you can pass on the knowledge and wisdom that you gain to your own children.

• Planning for Your Future Family – The future is filled with great hope because we serve a God who is the giver of that hope. One of the greatest gifts that God provides on this earth is the gift of family. Our hearts are continually filled with gratitude that God has allowed us to raise you in accordance with the teaching of the Holy Scriptures. We are praying for your future family—that you will be blessed with a beloved help-meet who will be unified with you in purpose and that you will be blessed with the treasure of children. The Bible teaches that a good wife is worth far above rubies and that children are a heritage, a gift, and a blessing. The gifts in this category will be targeted toward helping you in your role as a husband and father, as well as blessing those that will become a part of your future household.

• Blessing Your Faithfulness – A faithful, covenant keeping child will be blessed by the Lord in many ways. As you are obedient to God’s commands, you will know His favor. This does not necessarily mean that you will be given an easy road to travel or that everything will always follow the course that you desire. However, you can always maintain the perspective that God will work all things together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. Being a child of His, you are included in that promise! We pray that these gifts will be a great treasure, will be a continual reminder of the blessing that results from faithfulness, and will give you a tangible reminder to share with the next generation of the favor that you receive from living a life that is dedicated to the principles of the Bible.

We love you very much, Jordan! We are grateful that God has allowed us to be your parents, we rejoice in you entering into manhood, and we are very excited to be helping you plan and prepare for the future! May you live by the verse that we have chosen to be etched onto the plaque for the special Captain’s Trunk that we joyfully selected for this very special and memorable occasion:

By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures.

(Proverbs 24:3-4, NIV)

Pursue wisdom, understanding, and knowledge in the fear of the Lord and you, as well as your household, will be blessed!

Love Always,

Dad and Mom

Celebrating Jordan's Faithful Sonship and Manhood! (Part 4)

After the challenges that we gave to Jordan, we provided him with special gifts all carefully selected for their significance and their fulfillment of specific categories that we had decided would be important for Jordan's future. This post contains a part of those gifts.

With this celebration, we have selected many special gifts for you—gifts that will aid you in preparing for and establishing your own household. This celebration is more than a single, one-time event since we plan to give you additional presents in the coming years in the particular categories that we will outline today—provided that you will be a faithful, covenant-keeping son. It is not the intent that each year will have a representative from each category—but that every year there will be a significant addition to one or more of these groups. Each of the areas that these classes represent will play a very important role in you being a godly, righteous, and holy man. Here are the categories that we have selected for helping you in establishing your future household:

• Saving for Your Future – To start and maintain a household, you will need financial resources. Let us remind you that everything that you have is a gift from God, that He is Jehovah Jirah providing for our every need, and that our future is in His hands. Do not allow the savings for the future become your security. At the same time, it is important to be planning for the days that are to come, which will include monetary savings. Your role as the provider for those whom the Lord will graciously give to you is a great privilege and responsibility. To help you, we will be providing you with financial gifts that are intended to serve as an assistance in your saving for the future—for both yourself and for your own family.

• Building Your Home –A home is a big investment in terms of the finances required and the time that is needed for its upkeep. The home should be a place of industry, education, hospitality, and ministry to others. In order to establish and sustain housing for yourself and your family, you will need to have tools. These tools include construction tools, as well as aids that will be used in caring for and maintaining the dwelling for which you will be primarily responsible.

• Remembering Your Heritage – Everyone has a heritage and it is our prayer that you will have a godly legacy on which to build for your future and the future of your family. Our heritage is filled with the work and the providence of Almighty God and this category will be reminding you of the family history that is a part of your past. May you be filled with gratitude as you reflect on your heritage and may the gifts that are in this category serve as reminders to you of how you are an heir to the past, as well as the importance of passing on the legacy of faithfulness to the generations that are yet to be born.