Hello again! Thank-you so much Paige for the comment! Since it was my first. I want to write what I remember from our church bullitin. paraphrase: It's strange how boring one chapter of thw Bible is yet how we can't put down a popular book. It's strange how 20 dollars seem so much when we give it to the church but how little it is when we go shopping. It's strange how we can't think of a word to say in prayer, yet how easy it is to spread gossip. It's strange, isn't it? I'll get the whole text next time. It was a thought provoker. As I read it, the word GUILTY ran through my haed. And even though it convicted me, it shed light on the things I need to change. So the saying is true: "No pain, no gain!"

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha,

Major LOL
aka:Charne
aka:Strawberry Shortcake

Buddy

This is a poem that I wrote about our dog Buddy. The grammar may be a little off here and there (microsoft word said once) but I felt the need to get something on the blog since I haven't in awhile. Enjoy!

He didn’t used to be crooked
He was actually quite solid
With perked up ears and wagging tail
He loved as most dogs did

His fur is grey and soft
His eyes a deep cocoa brown
His claws go click on the ceramic floor
I smile when I hear the sound

I remember when we first saw him
And his brother too
Mom and Dad only wanted one dog
But we ended up having two

Not long later we lost a dog
That bit the neighbor and ran
He met his end brutally
Playing catch me if you can

So the dog that we ended up keeping
Was the one we had not planned on
But he still remained happy
Even with his brother gone

As the years went by he killed some mice
And a few squirrels and too
Chased some cats and momma possums
Even went after a raccoon

He always loved attention
As he still does now
He would jump up and nudge your hand
Then we told him to get down

As the years have gone by
Dad has tried to get rid of him
He returned faithfully as good dogs do
Though Dad might try again

Now he is old and deaf in both ears
And blind in his right eye
He walks tilted over with a wobbly step
But his spirits seem rather high

Now as I remember the times that we’ve had
I don’t think that I regret them
He nuzzled up when I was sad
I know I will never forget him

Now there is more to the story than that. For instance, when Dad tried to get rid of him he ran away from the person we gave him to, was found, and returned to us with a St. Patricks day bandana on. Now he is around seventeen years old (very old for a dog) and so far doing OK. I wonder if he will get to be twenty. Well, that's all for now.

-Paige

Hello my favorite adopted family! Questions, questions. Everyone has questions but who has answers? If Adam never sinned, would we still live in a garden? Do spirits sleep? Where did Cain get his wife? Did dinosaurs really exist? Is fusion a future energy that will be used? There are complicated questions and simple questions. Simple questions being like, What will I have lunch?(even though it can become complicated) But one question everybody asks is, Why am I here? What is my purpose? Why is there life? Evolution doesn't give a very good answer. Being created by chance gives me the feeling of unwantedness.Unneeded.A mistake. I did a Bible study on my existence and found that I here because God WANTED me. He wanted a family. He created man so that he could share His very nature with someone. and if that isn't enough, He sent His son,Jesus, to die for us. He didn't give up on us when we made a mistake. He, instead, took that mistake and bore it Himself. Instead of giving up on us,He provided an escape lamb to redeem us. If your going through a tough time and you can't see how He's helping, all I can say is don't give up on Him. He didn't give up on youand He won't. So just chillax(chill and relax). God knows what He's doin'. If your unsure about my integrity and truth in this note,ask Him yourself. Call 1-800-YOU-PRAY or www.Yaweh.com Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

Live,Love,Laugh
Charne
P.S(Hey Big Sis! I pushed the orange button!)

A Little Help From Our Friends

Ok, Mrs. Arkanblogger is wondering why no comments have been made to her one and only post, which only took place at the threat of Buddy the Wonderdog's untimely demise. I told her that there was a possibility that she was un-inspiring. Then I saw that there were no comments on my last 2 posts. "Hello pot, it's the kettle calling". We know that we don't have much of a following yet but we need some encouragement here...Somebody throw us a bone!

You all that read us and don't have a username and password, go to blogspot.com and get one. There is no fee, you do not have to give your real name, you don't have to set up a blog, and a government employee, sporting a medium grey polyester suit and dark sunglasses won't come knocking on your door because of it. Well, we hope they won't anyway.

A little conversation please?

-The Arkanblogger

The Dog Must Be Dead

The dog must be lying dead in his bed downstairs as I type this, since it was predicted this evening that he would die before I, Kathryn, posted something on this blog. And since it is my Husband's fondest wish that the dog not be with us here on the earth anymore, here I go. If you're wondering who I am, I'm the Mother of the 5 young Arkanbloggers and the wife of The Arkanblogger. I'm also headmistress of our homeschool, a piano teacher, and after the past few days of flu, root canals and bronchitis I might be Florence Nightingale re-incarnated. Things always happen to our family when an ice storm makes it's way to our city. This last weekend, it was the above mentioned ailments. The last ice storm, which happened over the Christmas 2004 holiday, Mr. Arkanblogger got an infection that caused his throat to swell so much his airway was restricted. As it got worse, and realizing that an ambulance would probably not make it to our house if I called, I got a doctor from a local emergency room on the phone, explained the problem, and was told to give him 1/4 cup of benadryl and keep him upright, since people have died from this problem. Have you ever given anyone a 1/4 cup of Benadryl, then asked them to stay awake, much less upright? It was an interesting night, let me tell you.

But on a joyful note, our dear friends who had been waiting to adopt an infant brought a precious baby girl home last Thursday. She is an answer to many prayers. We've seen pictures of her but not the real thing yet, since we don't know what wonderful ailments we might be harboring that we could pass on to her, so we are waiting impatiently for good health before we go and visit the beautiful gift from God. Besides the fact that her new protective Daddy, knowing our health status, wouldn't let us get within a city block of her. It reminds me of some video we have when our oldest, Caitlin was born. Family was visiting us in the hospital the night after she was born, and my dear protective husband made all of them put on a hospital gown and rub disinfecting foam all over any exposed skin on their body that might come in contact with his new little princess. They all patiently complied with his request for the privilege of holding the first grandchild born on his side of the family, at least while he was taping them. Who knows what they said when they left the hospital room. I imagine they wondered if hospital gowns and disinfectant were going to be standard procedure and then, for how long.

The real reason I haven't posted is mainly the speed and frequency with which my everyday life happens. I'm sure with practice I'll become more proficient and prolific with my postings, and much quicker too, so bear with me. I feel pretty inadequate after visiting some other home school mom's blogs, and realize what alot of catching up I have to do. Right now, bed is calling loudly, so until next time............God Bless.
Kathryn

The Real Thing

Taken from the beach, directly behind the resort in Cabo San Lucas, looking toward the East in the morning. Shot from the same beach, but looking to the south a bit. We actually had an option to play the golf course that's in view, which would have required taking out a second mortgage on our home and a trip to the Oral Roberts prayer tower to pay for it. So, we just looked at it from a distance and took a picture for free instead. We had the vantage point of being just barely on the inside of the Sea of Cortez on the tip of the Baja peninsula. A long way from the old Arkanblogger homestead.
This was snapped (the photo, not the flower) on a stroll to the beach in the courtyard behind the resort we were staying in. Mrs. Arkanblogger ('a tip of the hat') has always had an eye for capturing the details on our journeys.

After reading a recent blogworthy post by our friend Bryce (you can go to his blog by linking at the top right of this page), I decided to post these pictures, though a few months dated, as a reminder that only God is the great artist. Even the impressionists, such as Claude Monet (whose work is displayed in our home) could only put their "spin" on what already existed. The same rules apply to photographers. Ansel Adams could only capture stark black and white versions of time and space, that had already been created in the glory of color that they were intended to be seen in. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate art and am thankful for the good folks stationed around the globe for taking that allow us visions of places we would not otherwise have an opportunity to visit and lay our own eyes upon. But I will always have a deeper appreciation for the originals and the One who created them.

Romans 1:19-32
19 Since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. 20 From the creation of the world His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse.

Just a reminder to the unfamiliar...you may click on the pictures to make them larger. Enjoy.

-The Arkanblogger

A Root Canal

"Second door on the left", I heard her say
As I entered the building
The tiny room was brightly lit
And decorated with a sterile touch
Leaving a large white chair to sit all alone
Though it looked comfortable enough,
Even reclining at a nice sleepy angle
I placed my hand on the narrow armrest,
Slowly easing myself down into a restful position

Once settled in, I looked up
And noticed that, directly in front of me,
hanging on the wall, was an unusual painting
I patiently took notice of the details in the artist’s rendering of
A window in twilight
The panes of glass were bathed in soft shade,
Reminding me of the half-light of a late summer evening

As I closed my eyes
My hearing became heightened
And I was bathed in silence,
But for a soft word or two of counsel in the background
Then the intrusion began

The event was well calculated, swiftly executed
And was carried out by a team of two,
Whom I saw out of the corners of my eyes
Their faces were covered with masks,
Obviously to hide their identities
I overheard one calling out precise direction in a pleasant voice,
With the other following the commands in quiet obedience

The leader began to display odd motions of picking, tugging and drilling
"the right tool for the right job", I heard one say
Instruction continued to be given and received in short intervals

Taking all this in,
I took pause and swallowed hard
As a feeling of helplessness swept over me

My mind raced
My pulse quickened
My feet shifted back and forth,
Rubbing against each other in nervousness,
Causing my shoelaces to come untied

I heard hushed conversation,
Of measurements in small fractions and irrigation
Wanting desperately to speak but unable,
I wondered to myself,
What was this dastardly plot?
I wrung my hands in silence,
In an attempt to keep them warm
And tried not to be noticed

Time was passing in stop motion,
As I tried to distance myself from the activity around me
Then…it stopped

The only noise was that of quiet admonition
And the slight ringing in my ears

Taking notice that I was alone, I rose up in a quick
And moved quietly down a long narrow hallway,
Pausing only briefly to pay homage and deliver my toll to the gatekeeper

Finally, I put my hand on the doorknob and turned the handle
To make my escape
And a voice from behind me said,
"We'll see you again on Monday the 6th at 9:00"


-The Arkanblogger

(This little effort was inspired by today's visit to Dr. Wendell Thompson's office and his valiant and successful effort to save my molar from extinction. I highly recommend he and his excellent staff.)

A Canceled Weekend...

"Two inches of ice!" That is what I heard today. The weather man predicted snow, sleet, freezing rain, and freezing temperatures for this weekend. Well, from what I saw on the radar and from what I saw outside, I don't think that the weather man is completely accurate. But my opinion is not shared. People flocked to every store stocking up on bottled water, candles, food, and whatever else they might need if we lose power. The electric company went around trimming branches here and there making trees look a bit crooked, but lowering the risks of a branch falling on a power line. It's the latest subject to talk about. There went my weekend.

First I found out that all basketball and cheer leading were canceled. I volunteer coach for Upward, and coaching those little girls is one of the highlights of my weekend. Second of all, play practice for Pride and Prejudice was canceled. I was really looking forward to that. Especially since performance is coming up soon. Our singing at church on Sunday might be canceled. All because people think that Jack Frost is on his way.

I could go on for a long time talking about snow and Arkansas but I am sure that most of you know how it goes. It's times like this I miss living in Denver. Life went on when the snow came down you could sled on real snow, not ice. I hope that your weekend goes as planned and very smoothly at that. Right now I am not quite sure about mine. I'll post more as long as we don't lose our power :)

Paige ;)

The Guitar ;)

That's it. An Ovation model CK047-5F Celebrity with a built in tuner and amplifier plug. Compliments of Grandfather. (Thank you very very very very much Grandfather!) It's story is an interesting one too. Here, let me tell it to you.

I was first introduced to the Ovation Guitars by my cousin Justin. He knows a lot about guitars and said this kind was good. I was particularly fond of the rounded back on the guitar. So I started looking. I was with my Mom and little brother out to get piano books for one of my Moms students and had not planned on finding a guitar. So we went inside and Christopher and I went one way while my Mom went to the books. First we looked at the Red Piano. It was beautiful. A player baby-grand piano that you could play on too. Not to mention that it could also record and came with two remote controls. And the price for this piano was...60,000 dollars. That's just the baby. You can pay and extra 40,000 to get the real grand piano. Since we already have a wonderful baby-grand, and Christopher wanted to look elsewhere, we left the piano room and headed to the acoustic instrument room.

As we walked in the door I saw it hanging there. On a tree of Ovation guitars was this one. Black and sparkling. It was perfect. The salesman came in and we talked for awhile, I played it some, then I liked it even more. The salesman said that it was a last years guitar, so the price was a lot lower than it was normally. An interesting thing happened after the salesman left the room to get a correct price on the guitar. A tall man with a tan cowboy hat walked in and picked up a guitar. He played three songs for Christopher and I. One of them sounded like a song that a cowboy would sing by the campfire under the stars. A nice experience. After he left Christopher plucked a banjo (a whole other story) then I went and found my Mom. She came and looked at the guitar then talked to the salesman. He set the guitar aside for us and then we left. We called my other cousin who also knows a lot about guitar and said we were getting a great deal. The salesman said we could have the guitar with new strings and a hard shell case for a low price. And the guitar is good quality too. I called Grandfather and told him.

The next day I got to go pick it up. I was so exited! My Mom, Christopher, Elizabeth, Grace, Caitlin, and I all went into the music store to get it. Mom talked to the same salesman about home-education. He seemed to think that home-educators do not get to socialize very much. I would beg to differ. I think the kind of socializing he was referring to was a kind that we can live without. That is also something for another post though. Since I got the guitar I have not wanted to put it down. My fingers get sore every now and then. I also learned some new things. Like how to hold the guitar, that the F major chord is very painful, and that I should learn palm muting. Or I think that's what it it called. I want to continue to learn more chords and songs. It does help that I already learned the piano. I am so blessed to have a guitar. Elizabeth and Grace have been playing a bit on it too. Who knows, maybe we'll all learn.

Well, that is my story about how I got the guitar. Thank you SO much Grandfather! I will try and post tomorrow. Now I have to go journal then get to sleep. I will try and post something tomorrow.

Paige :)

A Position Statement With High Purpose

It's a rare thing to be asked why we decided to take the road of Home Education with our children. Most folks just politely nod their head and respond with, "that's interesting". Many have responded by asking the age old question, "how are your children socialized?"

I recently came across an article by Gregg Harris, who probably needs no introduction with many of the home school crowd but for those not familiar, he and his wife are considered pioneers in the home education movement as it is known today. The following article, written by Mr. Harris, expresses one of the strongest position statements on the merits of home educating one's children, that I have ever heard or read. For me, as a father, whose choice and privilege it is to home school, it is quite inspiring and I thank our Father in Heaven for men such as Mr. Harris. Would that all fathers be so focused on the raising of their children through the inspiration of our God through Christ Jesus. In this regard, Mr. Harris practices what he preaches. To read and enjoy the article click on this link:
http://www.hofcc.org/articles.php?articleID=42

That's Snow In Them There Fields

Never try and take your own picture. I was trying to concentrate and stuck my tongue out, as my son does when he's playing basketball. It's obviously a man-trait from my dad's side of the family. And that's not dandruff on my sweater. It's snow!!! There I was in the mid-afternoon, dutifully working away on the phone and using my battlescarred, yet trusty Dell laptop, sitting in my wholesaler's office, on the outskirts of the city, when low and behold, the white stuff began to fall. Thinking quickly and on my feet (as opposed to pondering and sitting comfortably in a chair), I wanted to get myself in the photo as proof that it actually happened, so I snatched up the digital camera and moved swiftly (yes, I often do that as well) from the office to the window in the conference room. Realizing that I was alone in the building, I had no choice but to take the shot. I briefly considered holding today's newspaper up as more proof that it was a "local scoop" but I feared that the paper would block the view of the snow. So, I held the camera steady, then CLICK. OUCH! MY TONGUE IS BLEEDING!!!

Local meteorologists all predicted the event, yet, I believe most of the residents of Arkansas still thought it was nuclear fallout. Maybe even a sign of the end of the world. Even I began to wonder (as I often do) if I would be........"left behind?!" Kidding. They know exactly what it is. Which is precisely why the schools shut down at the very notion of snow and the masses flock to their local grocer, on a frenzied mission to wipe out the inventory of sugar, milk and bread for fear of being trapped at home for days with no staple items. Can you imagine living for 24 hours without your normal intake of hormones, steroids, processed sweets and preservatives? YIKES!

About two hours into the white out, I received a call from a relative in a nearby town who excitedly told me, through an intermittent signal and fuzzy transmission on a cell phone (caused no doubt by the anomalic weather), that there was "blizzarding" going on where he was, some 60 miles southeast of my exact location. Now...I've lived in Colorado and traveled the highways and byways of Wyoming, Western Nebraska and South Dakota in the wintertime and I know "blizzarding" when I see it. And let me tell you that this was no "blizzarding".

But it was SNOW. Large, moist flakes of pure white snow, falling gently in the quiet of a Friday afternoon in the country. It was exciting and it was...Beautiful.

-The Arkanblogger

Good Evening To All

Hello once again everyone! It has been a lovely evening tonight. The main event was our choir rehearsal. My sisters and I are in a youth choir at a church nearby. But there is something that sets this choir apart from all other youth choirs. Our director is constantly pushing us to NOT sound like a youth choir. He wants us to sound mature. He also does not tolerate any sort of horse play, bad posture, disrespect, or laziness. That is what makes it so enjoyable. When everyone is striving to be the best they can be it sounds so good. What makes it better is that when we sing, we are not singing to just please our coaches or our director, we are singing to please God.
My main reason for blogging tonight was to ask for comments on what topics you would like to see written about. Or any other sort of comment. I would love to hear from anyone who reads this. At present I am not quiet sure who all of you are though. I might ask for your opinion on a few things later on too. Hope you have a blessed week.


Paige :)

A (very) Late Post

Hello everyone! It's late so I have to make it short. As you know today was the Super Bowl. Well, I am not a fan of football because personally I don't see much of a point in it and don't understand it well. But occasionally I do cheer for the Broncos since we lived in Denver.
Today we started out with the Souper Bowl. That's what our Church does every Super Bowl Sunday. We try and have each member of the congregation bring a can of soup or a dollar and we donate it to our local Ministries food pantry. This year we had the best turnout ever. Over four-thousand cans and dollars. We then went as a group and took the food to the food pantry at the ministry and unloaded and sorted it, for which the ministry was very grateful.
Later today we headed over to our friends house and gathered together with other home-educators to watch the Super Bowl. Or at least that was what was planned. The only people actually watching the game were the Dad's. Including mine, which is different since he usually doesn't watch football. But tonight he actually watched the whole game. He called it "male bonding". I ended up having great fellowship playing games and talking with all of the other people who didn't watch the game either.
When we got home I called my Grandfather and we talked for awhile. Grandmother talked for a bit too. I can't wait until December when we get to go skiing with them. I heard there is snow on the ground there. It hasn't been very cold here lately. Just last week if the grass had been green we could have played golf. I really love Montana. The mountains are so beautiful. I could live without all the cold though.
This is where I will end tonight. It is a lot more than I planned on writing. But then again, that is how it usually turns out. Once again I find myself so thankful. For all of the families we spent time together with, my Grandparents, my family, and so much more. It would take a very long post to list all of the things I am thankful for. God has blessed my family and I so wonderful. Have a lovely Monday! I will try and get my next post up sooner and apologize for the wait.

-Paige :)