The Blessings of God

I am sorting through items for a garage sale this weekend that my 25 year old daughter and I are doing together. Today I was going through books in my room.  As I pick up a book, I always check for a dedication.

I picked up a book called, "Great Days with the Great Lives", by Charles Swindoll - vaguely remembering reading it and seeing it had a marker in it that showed I hadn't gotten very far I opened it up to see there was inscription from my sweet prince.  I then remembered getting the book - but as I read the inscription it was if I was reading it for the first time.

4/28/06 (my birthday)

My Dear Wife,

When the road seems long, and the days even longer, remember that the blessings of God always follow the trials of life.  I love you beyond measure, and am honored to walk with you through the trials of this life.  God chose you to walk with me, before He laid the foundation of the earth, and I am eternally grateful for His flawless selection.  He makes no mistakes!!

I love you without end, my Love!!  I hope the encouraging words contained here 

are a small source of comfort to you as you read.

Love Always,

As always, God's timing always, always, amazes me!
I needed to hear these words and be reminded that God makes no mistakes and that the blessings of God always follow the trials of life.  This sweet man that the Lord gave to me in my youth reached out again and has comforted me and encouraged me - I am so thankful to the Lord for this treasure.

Rest and trust in God - He makes no mistakes - be secure in Him who has your future in His hands and planned it out long, long ago.

In Christ Alone, we shall live.....

The Lamb—the light

‘And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.’ Revelation 21:23

Suggested Further Reading: Luke 20:27–38

They need no social ties in heaven. We need here the associations of friendship and of family love, but they are neither married nor are given in marriage there: their God is enough. They shall need no teachers there; they shall doubtless commune with one another concerning the things of God, and tell to one another the strange things which the Lord has wrought for them, but they shall not need this by way of instruction; they shall all be taught of the Lord, for in heaven ‘the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.’ There is an utter independence in heaven, then, of all the creatures. No sun and no moon are wanted—no creatures whatever. Here we lean upon the friendly arm, but there they lean upon their beloved and upon him alone. Here we must have the help of our companions, but there they find all they want in Christ alone. Here we look to the meat which perishes, and to the raiment which decays before the moth, but there they find everything in God. We have to use the bucket to get water from the well, but there they drink from the well-head, and put their lips down to the living water. Here the angels bring us blessings, but we shall want no messengers from heaven then. O what a blessed time that shall be, when we shall have mounted above every second cause and shall hang upon the bare arm of God! What a glorious hour when God, and not his creatures, God, and not his works, but God himself, Christ himself shall be our eternal joy.

For meditation: God’s people, having his perfect presence in heaven, will no longer need the pleasant things they enjoyed on earth and will no longer face the unpleasant things they suffered on earth, such as hunger, thirst, excessive heat, tears (Revelation 7:15–17), death, sorrow, crying and pain (Revelation 21:3–4). The lost in hell will suffer all of these and miss all that they enjoyed in their earthly lives (Luke 16:23–25).

Sermon no. 583
31 July (1864)

Faith

Do have faith can move mountains? Or could your mountains move and misplace your faith?

Hebrews tells us that our faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

When it does seem that our mountains and our problems in life are moving us to and fro, we have an Advocate - one with ultimate and sovereign power.

I pray you know Him, for He is indeed faithful in all, even when we are not.

Examination

I was reading a devotional just recently and it spoke of having the following virtues found in Psalm 23, I am currently under examination :)  Want to join me?


Psalm 23: a heart that is believing (v 1), meditative (v 2), humble (vv 2–3a), holy (v 3b), brave (v 4), contented and grateful (v 5), constant (v 6).
Can you see these marks in yourself?

1 The Lord is my shepherd;

I shall not want.

2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside the still waters.

3 He restores my soul;

He leads me in the paths of righteousness

For His name’s sake.

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil;

For You are with me;

Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

You anoint my head with oil;

My cup runs over.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

All the days of my life;

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord

Forever.

Rivers

When you think of a river what comes to mind?  A peaceful, calm, transparent surface of water where your reflection is visible? A raging, tumultuous moving body of water?

I have had many different experiences with God's bodies of waters - rivers, streams, lakes and oceans - and puddles :)  Water has always brought me a sense of peace and tranquility.

Rivers in Scripture are often pictures of God’s blessings to his people—

bringing to them fruitfulness (Psalm 1:3), 

pleasure (Psalm 36:8), 

gladness (Psalm 46:4) 

and peace (Isaiah 66:12). 

Think on these things.

Pictures by youngest daughter

Forty Seven Years

I received this video EARLY Monday morning from my 27 year old son - he is behind the camera - soon after was a call from my 25 year old girl with her youngest son, singing to me.  Then a text from my brother, a call from my 30 year old daughter with all her littles singing and more and more blessings throughout my day.  I am incredibly blessed. I am rich.  I am thankful and humbled by the love that surrounds me - may I always focus my eyes on my Savior who is the Author of my life and began it a very, very long time ago when He first thought of creating me.  I am thankful for each of you as well ♥ 

And below is just a snippet of another video that will make you smile.

Heirs of Grace

Titus 3:1-8

3 Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, ² to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men. ³ For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. ⁴ But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, ⁵ not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, ⁶ whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷ that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

⁸ This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men.

Gardening time

Our favorite seed place.....

Click on the link above that is highlighted to visit the site.....

From Spurgeon

Jesus appearing to Mary Magdalene

‘Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.’ Mark 16:9

Suggested Further Reading: John 20:11–18

He said, ‘Go tell my brethren;’ and away she went to tell others that she had found the Saviour. If you have the privilege of seeing Christ, do not eat the morsel behind the door. Have you found honey? Taste it yourself, but go and tell others. You cannot have seen much of the Saviour, unless you desire to let others see him. Your piety is a mere sham if it does not lead to practical service. Are there not some Mary Magdalenes here who have had seven devils cast out of them? You have felt the power of divine grace in your heart; you love the Saviour; you long for communion with him. My dear sister, as soon as you have fellowship, do not be afraid to speak to others what the Lord shall say in private to you. We do not want women to enter the pulpit; that is a violation both of grace and nature, and as much an offence to good manners as it is to God’s own law; but you have your own sphere, you have your own place of work, you can gather your own sex about you, also your children; you have many opportunities; tell others that Jesus has risen, that there is a risen life; that you know it, and that you pant and long that others too should rise from the grave of sin to the new life in Jesus.

As for you, men and brethren, to whom it pertains more particularly to be teachers and pastors, I charge you, whatsoever you have found within the circle of fire where the closest communion is, whatsoever Christ has revealed to you in hours of retirement when you have come nearest to him, tell it to his family, feed his flock with it.

For meditation: Women are not to exercise spiritual authority over men (1 Corinthians 14:33–35; 1 Timothy 2:11–14), but men should value and encourage their numerous God-given ministries both at home (Acts 16:15; 1 Corinthians 7:13,16; 1 Timothy 5:14; 2 Timothy 1:5; 3:15; Titus 2:4–5; 1 Peter 3:1–2,5) and in the wider church family (Luke 8:2; Acts 9:36,39; 18:26; Romans 16:1–6; Philippians 4:2–3; 1 Timothy 5:10; Titus 2:3–4).

Sermon no. 625
16 April (1865)

Wordless Wednesday

For meditation

Can you call Jesus ‘My Lord and my God’ (John 20:28)? 

Do you take time to count your possessions in Christ (1 Corinthians 1:30)?

‘All things’ (Romans 8:32; 1 Corinthians 3:21) would take more than eternity to exhaust!

Another first.....

Even almost five years after losing my sweet prince I find myself experiencing another "first" without him.  I had noticed my emotions being quite, well, I will say ridiculous lately.  My mind seems scattered and tears are unwelcomed but frequent visitors to my eyes over the most foolish of things.

I had a friend remind me that I had not yet gone through planning a wedding of one of our children without him beside me and all the sudden, so many things made sense.  Not that I will use that as an excuse to be weepy or quiet, but that reminder helped me understand better why I had been struggling and looking at it from that perspective I can better comprehend and the battlefield is leveled.  My faithful Father is so good to me in many, many ways.

He is my support and my very strong tower, we are to run to Him and His Word daily.

I am thankful for my friends and family who lovingly and patiently gather around me in prayer and time spent in talking and just being together.

A couple of weeks ago I received a text from my 27 year old son asking what I was doing - I told him and he said knowingly that he thought I may have been taking a nap (a known activity for me on the weekends), I told him I had decided to make cheese instead - I then asked him what he was doing.  He told me he was going to come over and have a talk with me.  I teased him and said, "uh oh, have I been bad?" And he told me he would find out.

He came over and we went downstairs where his brothers had a nice fire going and we chatted for over an hour.  He basically wanted to see how I was doing with everything.  How am I doing as the wedding approaches. I did get weepy a few times and we talked about how things were when he was courting his wife, my 24 year old daughter.  We talked about the rough times and how the Lord helped us all through it - and I told him Dad was such a vital part of helping me through that time because even though I was not on board with them getting married so soon he said that he never knew that and I was able to be loving and supportive - I explained that was because Dad helped me to focus on things above and the Lord helped me.  He told me that he understood that and knowing I didn't have Dad to talk to wanted to check on me and wanted me to know I could talk things out with him. He told me I have and will have many boys (sons) who love me. I was humbled and still am by the love of God shown to me through my children, each one of them.  Their love, kindness, gentleness and willingness to give me some of their time in letting me TALK things out and just listening and praying for me, helping me in any way they possibly can.  We then talked about him and how things were going with his young family - he shared and I listened and now I can better pray for them.  It was my turn to listen and to encourage and praise how he and my daughter are desiring to raise their family.  What joy that time was, what a treasure to my mother's heart.  And such an encouragement.  His wife, my 24 year old daughter is one of my sounding boards - we have always had such a close relationship - and now that she is a wife and mother, our relationship has grown and deepened into a treasured friendship as well - it is a blessing I cannot put words to.  She welcomes me daily into her home, texts me, hugs me, loves me and puts up with my forgetful mind, - she is always doing small labors of love that seem to be big to me but she would tell you it was no big deal.  I praise God for each of them, my love for them runs deep.

I have another set of adult children the Lord brought into my life just a couple of weeks before my sweet prince died - this family the Lord has weaved into our family as if we have known each other forever.  I gained a son, a daughter and now seven more grandchildren.  Again, their home is open to me, whenever I may need it - my 30 year old girl has told me more than once I do not need an invitation I am always welcome to come over.  The love and support they shower upon me builds me up and encourages me in so many ways.  Their little ones make Grammy feel so special. This daughter too is a sounding board for me and is bold and blunt in her opinions and advice.  Just what we all need.  I praise God for each of them and my love for them runs deep.

Then I have my children who are still in my home - oh, how loved I am and how happy I am to see all of my children loving the Lord, each other and desiring to do what is right in the sight of God.  None of us in this family are perfect, we have so much to learn and learn it on each other most of the time!!  Then patience is required and longsuffering - we all make mistakes but at the end of the day we are secure in the gift of Christ and His love for us and in the love we have for one another, endeavoring to keep unity and peace among us. I praise God for each of them and my love for them runs deep.

Oh, and I have not mentioned the son the Lord will bless me with in the coming weeks.  My future son in law who will become my son is a blessing and so is each of his family members.  I am continually amazed at how the Lord works and builds families.  It takes work and effort though to blend and become family - so many different personalities that we each have and learning to love and accept each others faults and recognizing our own.....continually we need to remember to die to self and look at our own self in the mirror before passing judgment on others.  My future son in law is a treasure and I am thankful for him and look forward to witnessing how the Lord will use he and my daughter to His glory in the coming years.  I am thankful for his precious family who, even before courtship were like family to us.

If I can sum this post up in one word it would be
thankfulness.

I am thankful.

Always remember to run to the shelter and loving arms of our Savior - He is always there ready to hold. And remember also to love and do for others without selfish ambition - sacrificing our time for another is our reasonable service - think of how Christ loved.  I think of the time when the disciples rebuked the little children as if the Savior did not have time for them, but indeed, he said let the little children come - so give to others your time, words, love and attention - it will be such a blessing to that person and to you and most importantly to our Heavenly Father. I am so thankful for the sacrifice of my Heavenly Father, who gave His own son for me and you, my love for HIM runs deep, I pray yours does as well ♥

The Royal Law

How are you doing with the royal law listed above?

If we are honest we will say it is not easy and I have failed and continue to fail to do this and keep it.  With the Lord's help I hope to do better. 

Our sermon today was a message on not losing heart - look up that phrase and read the verses - 

Do Not Lose Heart

It was most encouraging.  

Scripture Memorization

What do you do personally or as a family for Scripture memorization?

Our pastor has challenged us continually to hide the Word of God in our hearts and our children's hearts - that is just one of the many things I am thankful for in my life since my sweet hubby passed away - is the way God puts people in our lives that help us to grow.  Our pastor and our church have done that.  And no, we have not found the perfect church - an imperfect church for an imperfect me ♥ However, I do want to say that I have never grown or learned more or said, OUCH so much - nor have my children gleaned so much.  Even in the things we might not always agree on we strengthen our foundation by discussing, communicating and getting into the TRUTH of God's Word.

Have you ever looked at this website?

A friend brought back a publication from a conference last year that was published by them and I have just now had time to look through it. Youngest daughter has also looked through it. Thought some of you out there might like to check it out.

"For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword,

piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow,

and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."

Hebrews 4:12

And another good article here 

I have many young grandchildren and they are like sponges and yes, they have BIG ears.

My oldest son was explaining some verses out of Deuteronomy a couple of weeks ago to his children - and he commented that "you can't pick your parents, but you can pick your nose." Yes, you read that right. And if you know my 27 year old son you are laughing and shaking your head - and if you know my 4 year old grandson, Gid the kid you will really be laughing as he repeated those words of wisdom to his Grammy the very next day.  Mommy explained the scene and I had to laugh outloud.  

Are you taking time to read Scripture to your children, commit it to memory even as an adult?  

I did not grow up doing this nor did I do it with my own children as much as I do now.  I encourage you to take the time to do so - it will be something that will stay with them all their life.  God is faithful and will bring it to them when they need it.

Google Scripture memorization and you will find a lot of info out there.

Here is another article that you may glean information from

Have fun and treasure God's Word in your heart.

I made up a ring of laminated cards for one group of grandchildren and I think it has been handy for my daughter to have - I will ask her to send a pic of it to me and I can post it - it was super easy.

Birthday Celebration

Middle daughter turned 19 yesterday - the Lord blessed her day and made it special in many ways.  We all went over to her fiance's family's home for March birthday celebrations and he picked us all up in a limo - that was quite fun  - below is one of her favorite hymns that she has been singing lately and a  few pics of the evening.

 beautifully set tables 

 special reading for the littles 

 silly girls riding home in the limo

 Creed called it the lemon zine and looks like he was having fun but told me: 

"hold onto me tight Grammy, I scared!" 

 birthday girl in the front with the driver

 he was telling us something silly......

All That Thrills My Soul

Who can cheer the heart like Jesus
By His presence all divine
True and tender, pure and precious
O, how blest to call Him mine

Chorus
All that thrills my soul is Jesus
He is more than life to me
And the fairest of ten thousand
In my blessed Lord I see

Love of Christ so freely given
Grace of God beyond degree
Mercy higher than the heavens
Deeper than the deepest sea

What a wonderful redemption
Never can a mortal know
Oh my sin, though red like crimson
Can be whiter than the snow

Every need His hand supplying
Every good in Him I see
On His strength divine relying
He is all in all to me

By the crystal flowing river
With the ransomed I will sing
And forever and forever
Praise and glorify the King

Quote of the day

Respectability and being religious are among Satan’s most effective weapons to 

blind men and women to their true sinful condition and to their need of the Lord Jesus Christ 

as the only one who can save them (2 Corinthians 4:4). 

Is Satan successfully pulling the wool over your eyes?

Great Grandpa Dean

Great Grandpa Dean came for a visit not long ago on his way to Tulsa - He is from Iowa and drove up in a bright, orange truck much to Creed's delight.  Creed loves trucks and the color orange ♥

 

Here he is with the newest great grandchild - he's never shied away from holding one of these new 

little ones and they all seem to feel quite comfortable with him.

I was able to visit a little with him and get a Grandpa Dean hug - then he made some memories with 

the rest of the family in town.  His visit was a blessing to each of them.

The Lord is good.

1 John 4:7-8

King James Version (KJV)

⁷ Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; 

and every one that loveth is born of God, 

and knoweth God.

⁸ He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

Abortion and Adoption

If either of the above topics interest you, give this a listen.

Common Core - FAQ's

1. What is the Common Core?

The Common Core State Standards (“the Common Core”) are two sets of K–12 academic standards that outline what students are expected to learn in English language arts and mathematics each year from kindergarten through high school. The goal of this checklist is not literacy, proficiency, or increased graduation rates but to make students “college- and career-ready.” The Common Core was written by the National Governors Association (NGA)—an organization of governors, their head staff members, and policy makers—and the Council of Chief State School Officials (CCSSO). States receive Race to the Top (RTTT) federal funding for committing to adopt and implement the Common Core and to collect student data from preschool through the workforce.

2. Is the Common Core already being implemented?

The NGA released the Common Core standards on June 2, 2010. Since then, 45 states, four territories, the District of Columbia, and the Department of Defense Education Activity have adopted the Common Core State Standards. Minnesota only adopted the English language arts standards. Alaska, Nebraska, Texas, and Virginia have refused to adopt the Common Core.
As the pedagogical weakness and ballooning implementation cost of the standards becomes evident, many adopting states are scrambling to delay or defund implementation. 

3. How is the federal government involved in the Common Core?

Three sets of laws prohibit the federal government from prescribing the content of state curricula and assessments, yet the United States Department of Education has propelled the Common Core more than any other organization and is funding the creation of standardized assessments. First, the department conditioned education grants on states’ commitment to implement the Common Core.
Second, the department offered waivers from the most burdensome portions of the No Child Left Behind Act in return for states’ promising to adopt the Common Core’s college- and career-readiness standards and corresponding assessments.
Third, the department awarded millions of dollars to consortia of states to craft the assessments based on the Common Core. 

4. Does the Common Core have a philosophical bias?

Three philosophical threads weave through the Common Core—statism, moral relativism, and progressivism. The statist goals of the Common Core are implicit in the lockstep uniformity that is the central thesis of the program. Relativism’s influence on the Common Core is evident in the open-ended and research-based assessment questions and the expansive new student tracking systems, ideas which have been strongly promoted by relativist Howard Gardner. Progressive educator John Dewey argued for standardized curriculum to prevent one student from becoming superior to others and envisioned a workforce filled with people of “politically and socially correct attitudes” who would respond to orders without question. Workforce readiness is one of the Common Core’s main goals. 

5. Does the Common Core provide for individualized education?

The Department of Education has praised the Common Core for its focus on “computer adaptive testing” to supply teachers with data so that they can adjust their teaching styles and provide their students with individualized instruction. But in practice, the Common Core's rigid and technology-laden approach to learning makes individualized education almost impossible.
The Common Core standards require students to master a checklist of skills every year. Teachers all across the country must teach from the same prescribed list and at the same prescribed pace. This one-size-fits-all approach will supposedly makes children “college- and career-ready,” but will it produce young men and women capable of careers that call for independent analysis and creative problem solving?
The Common Core’s required expansion of statewide longitudinal data systems to include assessment and homework scores means that students will spend more time using computer-based learning programs and less time interacting with their teachers, while teachers will use printed-off data analyses to make pedagogical decisions. 

6. Is there any evidence that centralized education works better than decentralized education?

In the United States, experimenting with centralized reform has done almost nothing to improve the performance of students. From 1971 to 2008, American students’ scores on the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) mathematics assessments have only improved 3.4% and reading scores just 1%, despite billions of federal education dollars spent. In 2011, the Cato Institute found that the achievement gap between students of different socioeconomic backgrounds has not improved since the beginning of federal education spending in 1958.
On the other hand, deliberate decentralization of education in Finland has produced one of the foremost systems in the world, with Finland’s students ranking at the top of international assessment charts in 2000, 2003, 2006, and 2009.
The success of homeschooling in America offers domestic proof of the benefits of decentralized education. In 2013, Robert Kunzman of Indiana University and Milton Gaither of Messiah College reviewed 10 independent studies that found that homeschoolers outrank their traditionally schooled counterparts in collegiate grade point average, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and strength of religious and political views.
The evidence indicates that the designers of the Common Core have chosen the worst possible approach to make students “college- and career-ready.” 

7. Will the Common Core impact homeschools and private schools?

The Common Core will impact homeschools and private schools in at least three ways. First, designers of the expanded statewide longitudinal databases fully intend to collect data about homeschool and private school students. Second, college admissions standards will be affected: Common Core standards for college readiness will be used by institutions of higher learning to determine whether a student is ready to enroll in a postsecondary course. Third, curriculum and standardized tests are being rewritten to conform to the Common Core. 

8. Does the Common Core lead to a national curriculum?

The consortia receiving millions from the federal government to write standardized assessments for the Common Core are also being paid to produce curriculum guides for their combined 42 member states. The Performance Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) consortium is developing “model instructional units” for teachers, and the SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) promised to build “curriculum materials…to support states’ transition to the Common Core State Standards.” The efforts of the federal government to develop curriculum models confirm the analysis of two members of the Common Core Validation Committee who refused to sign the standards: the Common Core is “a laudable effort to shape a national curriculum.”
Implementation instructions for the states written by the authors of the Common Core suggest that a national curriculum is the goal of the standards. NGA recommends that “States and districts…share the costs of developing new curricula and instructional tools and not each develop their own at greater expense for each.” The groundwork for a national curriculum is also being laid by groups of states and private organizations—such as the Gates Foundation and Achieve—collaborating to develop common curricula. 

9. Does it matter that testing is being aligned with the Common Core?

Proponents of the Common Core, including U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, emphasize the need to imitate some countries with high-ranking education systems by creating consistent assessments across the country that measure student progress through open-ended and research-based questions. This has spurred the federal government to fund a set of nationalized tests aligned with the Common Core. Two consortia of states—PARCC and SBAC—received $170 million and $160 million from the Department of Education to craft standardized assessments.
Additionally, the SAT, ACT, and GED will be redesigned to align with the Common Core, and the latest version of the Iowa Test of Basic Skills is based on the Common Core. Combined, the new assessments and revised tests will create de facto national testing. 

10. Does the Common Core include a national database?

All 50 states have had statewide longitudinal databases in place to track their students’ scores on assessments for the past decade. Yet the authors of the Common Core are clear: the success of the standards hinges on the increased collection of student data—including demographics and postsecondary education performance—from preschool through the workforce. States that have adopted the Common Core to receive Race to the Top funding and states that are members of the assessment consortia have committed to expanding their data collection.
Additionally, in 2012, the U.S. Department of Labor announced $12 million in grants for states to build longitudinal databases linking workforce and education data. And in 2013, the Department of Education unilaterally altered the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) so that any government or private entity that the department says is evaluating an education program has access to students’ personally identifiable information without parental notification.
The new data systems are not confined to public school students. FERPA does not currently protect homeschooling families in states where families must submit documentation of intent to homeschool.
Massive new databases are already being built. In 2012, the Gates Foundation used $17 million to launch inBloom, a company that has built a $100 million database to track students from kindergarten through college. The databases identify students by name, address, and sometimes Social Security number. Combined with the changes to FERPA, the implementation of the Common Core is unleashing what is arguably the most comprehensive tracking of citizens that America has ever seen. 

11. Who supports the Common Core and why?

The support of liberals such as Joel Stein (former chancellor of the New York City Schools) and Michelle Rhee (former chancellor of the District of Columbia Public Schools) for the Common Core is not surprising. But several prominent conservatives are also backing the Common Core.
Supporters of the Common Core such as Chester E. Finn, Jr., president of the Fordham Institute, Jeb Bush, and Chris Christie contend that the Common Core will rebuild state standards that crumbled under the No Child Left Behind Act. However, almost no independent evaluations of the Common Core by education experts have praised the academic rigor of the standards.
Backers also use the mobility argument, summarized by the NGA: “When a student moves from Utah (a member state of SBAC) to Arizona (a member state of PARCC), parents and teachers need to be confident that the understanding about a student’s knowledge and skills gleaned from the state test means the same thing in both places.” A devastating flaw in this argument is that it banks on the unstated premise of a national curriculum: gaps in education when a student transfers from a school in Vermont to a school in Texas can only be avoided if the same things are being taught at the same time across the entire nation.
The final argument—standardization—hinges on the premise that one textbook, or just a few aligned with the Common Core, would be an improvement over the numerous and varied textbooks available today. William Bennett, secretary of education under Ronald Reagan and founder of K12 Online Learning, adds a sociological component to the standardization argument by presuming that the common knowledge imparted by the Common Core will lead to more fervent national discussions. 

12. Who opposes the Common Core and why?

Education professionals, policy analysts, and government officials center their critiques of the Common Core on four points.
First, the standards are academically deficient. Three of five members of the Common Core Validation Committee who refused to validate the standards have published reports condemning their academic merit. One of the reports concludes that the Common Core English language arts standards do not make students “college- and career-ready,” arguing that the lack of literary material required by the standards does “not ensure…sufficient literary and cultural knowledge for authentic college-level work.” It also examines the Common Core mathematics standards, concluding that the Common Core leaves students one or two years behind the National Mathematics Advisory Panel's recommendations, the requirements of some states, and the standards of leading countries by students’ 8th-grade year.
The second argument against the Common Core is that the standards will not repair the broken education system. Brookings Institute policy analyst Grover Whitehurst observes that high academic standards and high student achievement are not connected. Statistics show that states with high academic standards score about the same on standardized assessments as states with low standards.
Third, critics of the Common Core condemn the way the standards are being implemented. Randi Weingarten, president of the second-largest teachers’ union in America, and Diane Ravitch, an education historian who has pushed for national standards for years, criticize the government’s use of RTTT funding to coerce states into adopting the Common Core. Critics also point out that states will have a difficult time shouldering the cost of implementing the Common Core. While estimates for implementing the program range from $12 to $16 billion, the federal government has given states only $4.35 billion.
Finally, members of Congress, U.S. senators, and the Republican National Committee oppose the Common Core because it has handed the education authority of the states to the federal government. Lawmakers have raised concerns about the Department of Education’s unilateral revision of FERPA, its push for expanded state longitudinal data systems, and its close involvement in Common Core implementation. 

Wordless Wednesday

He is with YOU

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed,

 for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” 

  Joshua 1:9

As you go throughout your day, this is a wonderful verse to commit to memory today.

And it is an old testament promise that is still made good today because our Lord is not a promise breaker but THE promise keeper.

We have a pastor that challenges us in many ways.  We actually had a church home/family before we had found a house here in Missouri.  Our Lord had that which we were seeking hard after in Iowa, waiting for us here.  Our church family is a blessing in many ways.

This year our pastor came up with a list of verses for us to memorize during 2014.  He chose at least one verse out of each book of the Bible for us to hide in our heart.  Joshua 9 is part of the next set of verses we will be doing next week.  We are finishing up committing to memory Deuteronomy 6:4-9 this week.

The above verse covers something we all most likely battle day to day

feeling weak, overwhelmed, afraid, discouraged - the enemy wants us to cower and think we are alone.

We are NEVER alone friends, never.

Our Lord is with us wherever we go - there is no where he is not with us.

Trust in Him whose everlasting arms are most capable of guiding and holding ♥

Workday

I haven't posted any personal pictures on here for awhile - so here are a few from a workday.

14 year old son worked with big brother over the summer and with some of his money invested in a log splitter.  Here are the boys, friends and a couple of the grandchildren having fun with sawing, cutting, chopping, splitting and rolling wood. 

 Here big brother is keeping an eye on the 14 year old who is backing up his truck - he has been letting him drive since he was about twelve.  He is very comfortable behind the wheel and is looking forward to getting his drivers permit this summer.

Grateful for friends and family and the time the Lord gives us to be together ♥

As my daughter said just recently, there is nothing like a close family - it is a sincere blessing.