Night School

So, we took time out from the regular routine to watch the meteor shower for an hour and a half. It centers around Orion and is supposedly debris from Haley's Comet. Since it's going on all night, we're hoping to go back out in a while. A cup of coffee sure gets cold out there. ;-) The fog was light and kept coming and going right above our heads, which looked really cool in between us and the stars. The constellations are so bright tonight. The only downside is that I don't have beach chairs (heehee). My son's making cocoa for our warm-up break.

School's been busy and great lately- many in depth discussions and discoveries on the path of knowledge. And we are very aware that the road of knowledge best not be traveled without God- it's fake and pointless without him. But, he's really been blessing in that department.

I highly recommend going up to the Britannica shop online and ordering one of their WONDERFUL encyclopedia packages. They have a reasonable down payment and easy payment plan. And, if an EMP happens from the sun or some bored hacker, you still have access to information. So nice- gilded pages- purrr...

We've been blessed to visit with many friends and family lately. I had to make a decision between Christmas and homeschool materials or travel and the former won out. But, God blessed us to be able to see many of our dear ones anyway. Maybe next time I get a little ahead, I'll be able to make the trip to Kentucky and Indiana. And I am going to pray like crazy that I can put things together to get to NJ for that reunion Aunt Judi was talking about. Maybe I'll be able to see my NJ kinfolks then, too. :-)

And how wacky is this? We all thought Ghandi had starved himself to death and it turns out he was assasinated. Huh. We thought maybe it was a history revision just to make him look cooler (yea, I know) but even in the 1954 encyclopedia it had him assasinated in January in the '40s. I also thought he was a little closer to our timeframe. Was there some relative of his that starved himself in the '80s?

Kell- congrats on your marriage! God bless you, sweetie. We're praying you and Cyndi both feel better soon. (opposite sides of the family, but both are feeling poorly, so...)

The drama of the heavens. When you get out there just stargazing for more than the usual short span, it's like the imagination really starts to bloom. I can't get over how many stars show up more clearly the longer you watch. And how very many pictures one sees. Funny how some of the Orientals see Orion as Nimrod- that for his hubris, God did indeed let him reach the heavens- separated from the humanity he was seeking to rule over, chained there as a sign of bad weather and bad luck. But, God named him Orion (though he looks very Roman to me) long before Rome and I'd love to know the story behind him and the Pleiades.
I couldn't find it online to my satisfaction, but the Oriental info was new to me and was pretty cool.

We're in Proverbs right now and they are so much fun. Full of object lessons and wacky examples to make them come alive. Sure, the poetic forms in them are really cool, but the sheer enjoyment of going through God's word together and laughing, learning, and contemplating is another thing- a wonderful thing. :-)

So, the kids are teens. It is disturbing to us all. Mostly we don't think about it, just try to grow together in God's grace and love. Do you reckon the Lord's coming soon? I figure there are a lot of things that point to it, not the least of which this sudden reappearance of amillenialism. And the times of the Gentiles... now there's a subject worth hours upon hours of discussion.

Mama gave my youngest girl a copy of Luther's Psalms in German and she is learning quickly. Our theory that sign language helps while learning a language has proven itself as well as the one that the Bible is still the best way to learn a language. But, the experiment is not completely conclusive since we are only one family... ahh...Nerdspeak... gotta love it! (Garden Gnomes cackling with glee in the background. Ok, for the uninitiated, Garden Gnomes are the nerds of the faerie realm. They impersonate Leprachauns and took over the Lucky Charms- it's terrible, really.)

And yes, I know. Things like that are why I'll never make my mark on the Blogosphere. But I don't really care, cause ya know- dorks are people too.

Ok, so I've got to get to my cocoa now and get a thicker pair of socks for our next foray into the starry night. God bless y'all.
Rose