He Is Risen...

He Is Risen Indeed!!!!!

18 ~ ten and eight ~ eighteen

18 seems to be our magic number this year! We will have been married for 18 years in July- YAY! And- drum roll please- we are moving for the 18th time!! NO YAY!!!

Due to the wondrous and exciting merger of our church with Harbins Church, the Ferrells need to find a new place to live. We have lived on the 13 acre church property for almost 4 years now- that's the longest we have lived anywhere. We have so much more stuff than we ever had- the kids are bigger, we have all of our school stuff, and Roger's office is in our home. We used to be able to move with a 27 ft truck- NO MORE!!

I am completely bowled over by the amount of packing I need to do. Larry, a friend of ours, brought me 66 boxes the other day-add another 6 and you see how I feel about packing! Larry so sweetly brought me the boxes, tape and two markers. He kindly said "I am sure this will be enough!" I also sweetly just smiled at him! It was so hard not to laugh in his face, but that would not have been sweet- so I said "we'll see!" and can you get more?!

Next week, our church is traveling to New Orleans to help rebuild a church. Em and I are going to stay home and you guessed it- pack!! (AT least I won't have to fix meals and teach school- that should give us a lot more time!)

God is Faithful!

Thanks to everyone who made the Yard Sale for Adoption a success!! It was such a wondrous thing to watch the outpouring of love from our church and homeschool community! God's love had hands and feet this weekend through Woodland Creek Church, Harbins Church, and the CMers of Georgia homeschool group. The Webb's needed $2833 to make their requirement for their homestudy on Tuesday, and the Yard Sale made $3200. You can read all about it at their blog!

Here are some pictures of the sale:

Marietta- a.k.a the Bookworm!

(this girl can work!!)

Natalie and Liz
(organizers extraordinaire)

Cindy- a.k.a the "Barter Queen"
(Thanks to Cindy for sticking to it!
"No- we won't take $20-
it's to rescue an orphan!
$25 or bust!)

David - a.k.a the "Enforcer"
(David was our policeman, and I asked him for his best "po po" look!)

Dana and Reneyda

The Junk

More Junk!

Ethiopian Orphan Rescue a.k.a. Adoption

Our good friends the Webbs are called by God to rescue an orphan from Ethiopia! This has been a very exciting for us (and exhausting and exciting for them). They are about to complete their home study, and we are having a HUGE yard sale at our church on Saturday. Come by if you can- if you can't, go to their blog and contribute $ on PayPal. They are a wonderful Godly couple giving everything that they have and more to make this happen- won't you help?

Reasons To Adopt From Ethiopia

• One in six children die before their fifth birthday
• 44% of the population of Ethiopia is under 15 years old
• 60% of children in Ethiopia are stunted because of malnutrition
• The median age in Ethiopia is 17.8 years
• 1.5 million people are infected with AIDS (6th highest in the world)
• 720,000 children have been orphaned by AIDS alone, and there are 4.6 million orphans in Ethiopia.
• Per capita, Ethiopia receives less aid than any country in Africa
• In the 90s the population (3%) grew faster than food production (2.2%)
• Drought struck the country from 2000-2002 (first year no crops, second year no seeds, third year no animals)
• Half the children in Ethiopia will never attend school. 88% will never attend secondary school.
• Coffee prices (Ethiopia’s only major export) fell 40-60% from 1998-2002.
• Ethiopia’s doctor to children ratio is 1 to 24,000.
• In 1993, after 30 long years of war, Eritrea broke from Ethiopia and became an independent nation leaving Ethiopia landlocked without any major seafaring ports.

Blog Award!

I received a blog award from my friend the Bookworm!!! Thanks so much! Your blog rocks too!

Wow! It's so hard to decide who to pass the award to! There are so many great blogs out there! Here are a few of my favorite!

1. Our All in All
2. A Season for Everything
3. Higher Up and Further In
4. The Homespun Heart
5. Ponderings from a Picket Fence Cottage
6. Renaissance
7. Pleasant View Schoolhouse
8. Lazy D Ranch
9. Be Bold Jen
10. Inside SCM-Simply Charlotte Mason

Here are the Rules:
1. Add the award logo to your blog.
2. Add a link to the person who awarded it to you. (That's me!;-)
3. Give the award to other blogs. (However many you choose!)
4. Add links to those blogs on your blog.
5. Leave a message (in the form of a comment) for your award recipients on their blogs.

Thanks so much Bookworm!!!

Lifelong Learner

What better way to enjoy a book than sitting on a "big wheel" in the Spring sunshine!

Brussels Sprouts

Okay- I know that the very mention of brussels sprout causes you to scrunch up your face! BUT- you haven't had them like I make them! They taste great and are so good for you! Try them this way some time.

Yummy Brussel Sprouts
1. Cut off the ends and slice in two.
2. Steam in basket until bright green (around 3-5 minutes)
3. Run cold water over them in a colander (to stop them from cooking)
3. Chop a medium onion ( I like sweet onions- I'm Southern!)
4. Melt 1/2 stick butter and saute onions until tender.
5. Put drained BS in pan and stir until coated with butter and onions
6. Toss in 1/4-1/4 cup sliced almonds.
7. Watch carefully and stir occasionally until BS are beginning to brown.
8. ENJOY!

Check out the BS that we grew in our garden!