This Rugged JoyFull Home

"He who did not withhold or spare [even] His own Son but gave Him up for us all, will He not also with Him freely and graciously give us all [other] things?"   Romans 8:32 Amplified Bible This early, I have encouraged my children to start writing down their Christmas wish-lists already! Their beaming faces lit up our gloomy kitchen that rainy afternoon. I was quick to reiterate though that it is just a wish-list and a wish-list is just a wish-list. But the thought of this stirs us up because we know that as a family it is something far more than just a list of things. The activity itself is an integral part of our exciting homeschool journey and our commitment as their parents to make God known to them and teach them about trusting Him. Time seems to fly around here, this photo was taken 2 yrs ago. As I've always said, we encourage our kids to be inventive and creative with their toys. We love it when it's low maintenance. This big brown box served as ...

I had to tame myself at the sight of this package of pretzels neatly tucked in my pantry. It is salty, it is screaming with tons of calories! The label says, "CRISPS, thin, and crunchy...parmesan" to add to my agony. And it also tasted oh so good for the begging hormones. Well, a few nibbles won't hurt for a late afternoon snack. "COCO JAM Made in Oriental Mindoro,Philippines," says the label in bold letters. With that on cue, I finally gave in and let inventiveness take its course in my journey to a fusion of afternoon delight. I'm calling it a marriage between the West and the East, my pretzel crisps dipped in silky-caramelized coco jam; something salty and something sweet, something so European and yet so Oriental. And I was all swept away in blissful wonder as the two contrasting flavors blended beautifully in my mouth. Now, for my coco jam rant. How it's made the old-fashioned way. Coconut is t he main ingredient of this kind of jam. For the sw...

About.com defines t actile or kinesthetic learners as those who learn through experiencing or doing things. For this reason, tactile learners may become bored more quickly than other students while listening to a class lecture.   My 6 year-old boy fits right in this learning style and it may sound a bit tangent but he is also a big fan of Angry Birds.  More often, he finds it quite a challenge to sit down for longer periods of  time to accomplish a worksheet. Learning a new concept is another story.  Take our Math lesson for one about ODD and EVEN numbers.  What to do with this poor lil boy whose wired at learning outside the box, that is, outside your conventional tools for learning like textbooks, pencil, paper, chalkboard. One morning, he came up with this brilliant idea of how to easily remember the odd and even numbers. Now, I'm pretty sure that most teaching Moms like me encounter the same predicament with their kids; making them remember their left ...

This was one of those moments when I had to run at the feet of Jesus for words of comfort, soothing words for the tired soul. Homeschooling two young kids could at times take its toll on you. I mean, school is not what we do 8 hours a day, but it could get tough at times.  So, this was just one among those times when a little creativity, my love for photography and print would just jump off out of me, God's way of telling me that He is in control of everything. And my goal was to encourage and remind myself that, "hey, you're doing well, you're doing just fine, stop being anxious, God is in control." "THRIVING NOT JUST SURVIVING," my daughter saw this printed on the cover of my personal ring-binder seating nicely on our family table over lunch time. This was a cover design I have just printed the night before, my girl remarked in a nonchalant manner, "Mommy, we are a shrimp family." I chuckled, I asked her to repeat what she said, althou...