in Memory of Terri

Greetings from Me and My House,

I just heard that Terri Schindler-Shaivo died this morning. Though of course, we didn't know her personally, she profoundly touched our hearts and our lives. She taught us much about life, death, and the injustices of our nation - just how far it has fallen from its original intent.

Though we didn't know her personally, God did. He created her in His image, with a divine purpose for her life, whether man valued it or not. It mattered not whether her husband or parents or courts felt they had the right to choose whether she was to live or die. Nor whether she herself would have not wanted to live. There is no such thing Biblically as the 'right to die". Though it is obvious that her parents would care for her, and her husband would not. True love is that which would lay down its own life for the life of another. It is obvious that her husband had long ago broken his vows to love and cherish and care for her, forsaking all others. But the world says, "He can love two women." By killing one and committing adultary with the other. The sanctity of that marriage was thrown away many years ago.

What is not obvious to the world, and sadly not obvious to all that proclaim to be the church of God, is that all life has intrinsic value, not based on its mental or physical capabilities, but just because it is human life, created in the image of God. That what makes us "human" is not our "self-awareness", nor level of brain function, but the fact that we have a living eternal soul, made in the image of God. What is no longer evident in our country is that civil government is ordained by God for two purposes (and it is God who ordained it), to protect life and property of its citizens, and to punish evil doers. It obviously is doing neither in this case. Terri's suffering and death have amplified the message that our government no longer operates on the checks and balances provided for by the Constitution in our government of three branches, two of them made up of elected officials, so that the tyranny of an oppressive oligarchy, such as our judicial system has become, would never have this power it has taken to itself.

It is a travesty that not only was an innocent woman sentenced to the death penalty, because some deemed her life "not worth living", but that she was sentenced to a cruel torturous prolonged murder, a method of killing that has people in our country sitting in jail for inflicting it upon animals. It is a travesty that the medical community, that swears to "do no harm" has murdered this innocent woman. It is a abomination that our civil government, that is to protect life and liberty, ordered the murder of an innocent one, while those that are Biblically required to receive the death penalty, will be protected from it by that same government.

God help us as a nation. May we repent for the sins of our nation, committed against the Almighty God and His Word, against the innocent, against those that are unable to speak for themselves. Their blood, that of those incapacitated and those yet unborn, cries out for justice, to a Higher Court than that of our nation, to the Just Court of God, who will judge all in His timing.

Our only prayer now can be that Terri's death will not be in vain. That she will be as a seed, planted dead in the ground, that brings forth new life. That multiplies its effect for Life a hundred-fold. Our hope is that Terri is no longer suffering, but found her way to the Savior's arms. Our grief mourns for both Terri and for our nation. Our condolences go out to her parents and siblings, and other family and friends who loved her, and knew her as we never could.

At Jesus' feet,
Lisa

Puzzled About Home Education?

Greetings from Me and My House,

Puzzled about Home Education?
Imagine a pile of puzzle pieces all scattered on the table. Do they all fit together? Do they all make one picture? Perhaps if we squish and bend these random pieces from different puzzles, we can make them all fit into one picture. We all know that isn’t the way to put a puzzle together. The way we put together a puzzle is to look at the completed picture first. To study what it is supposed to look like. We throw out the pieces that belong, that don’t fit, and are designed to make a different picture. Then we can spend our time knowing we are working with the right pieces to make the picture we want to see. First we build the frame, then we gather all the various sections together, the blue pieces for the sky here, the green for the grass there, and the brown for the trees there. All the while we are looking at the Big Picture on the box, as we start fitting in the individual pieces, and locking them together, to create an image after the Big Picture given to us by the Creator of the Puzzle.

Many Christian parents try to put together their children’s education in the same backwards way as building a puzzle by randomly choosing pieces and trying to force them together to form some sort of picture. Then they wonder why it is so frustrating. But God’s Word never tells us Knowledge is the most important thing, the thing we start with. In fact, it tells us, “Knowledge puffs up”. God tells us, “Wisdom is the Principal thing.” He tells us to seek diligently for it. It is to be our foundation. And He gives us this model in Proverbs 24 to build by. In Lifestyle Education through Discipleship we follow this model, beginning by developing a Biblical Philosophy of Education. Then we add methods of Freedom & Simplicity that fit within that framework and are family-friendly. From there we apply these to develop a personalized curriculum, built on Wisdom’s 7 Pillars, as we are LED by the Holy Spirit.

To develop that personalized curriculum for your family, you will follow these same steps we teach you. You will seek God and His Word to see the Big Picture and build a framework of the Biblical Principles, then you will study them through the Freedom & Simplicity methods, as you apply them to the Knowledge of God’s HisStory throughout all Creation.

We'd love to be a "helper of your joy" for you and your friends in these ways of Proverbs 24:3-4. On May 21st we will be holding our Freedom & Simplicity of Lifestyle Education through Discipleship seminar in North Platte, NE. We invite you to join us.

At Jesus' feet,
Lisa

New/ Old Posts

I've added some previous posts to the archives - April - June 2003.
Lisa

Teaching Civil Government

Greetings from Me and My House,

We've done it. Finally! We've completed (for now, this aspect of) our study of Civil Government. It's been a pretty drawn out study, but fruitful. And truth be told, we're still finishing up our "Family Read-Aloud" of Abigail Adams' biography. But it's purely for pleasure, no assignments or "studies" remain on my "really want to do" list. Most importantly I'm pleased at the children's understanding of the Biblical Principles we have learned - and the Notebooks they have produced.

This study was quite different from the last time our family went through this study. I was teaching primarily to teens then, now I have primarily young children again. I knew adjustments would have to be made. Gary DeMar's God and Government series, Steven McDowell's Liberating the Nations, Slater & Hall's Rudiments of American Christian History and Government, and Clarence Carson's American Government would be way over their heads. But there were many concepts within these books and many others that I wanted to incorporate, on their level. F.A.C.E.'s Teaching and Learning America's Christian History, and Noah Plan History and Geography Curriculum Guide helped give me some ideas to bring it down to their level.

I based this study on 7 Biblical Principles of Civil Government, that we worked through, with plenty of "enrichment" added in, mostly in the form of biographies and projects related to them. Our HisStory focus for this study was the Constitutional Convention and first years as a nation (thus the Abigail Adams book - our oldest is also finishing up a biography of John Adams). We also read about and studied Benjamin Franklin and George Washington, and read several short biographical sketches of other men from the Convention.

The 7 Principles we studied were:
1) Civil government exists to protect its citizens and punish evildoers.

2) God establishes thrones and rulers, no matter what type of human government is in place. (covered various types of governments)

3) Godly government is based on Biblical Principles of Law & Liberty. (looked at Federal Christian Constitutional Republic)

4) God’s Story of Liberty & Law follows the PIPEline of HisStory westward. (looked at the history of government and liberty as it led up to this point - Declaration and War for Independence)

5) The first and fullest expression of Christian Civil Government was established in the United States – “One Nation Under God”. (studied the Constitution itself, and 3 Biblical aspects of our government: Principle of Representation, Separation of Powers, and Dual Natural /Federal - State)

6) If Principles of Godly government are not guarded & protected, they will be lost. (looked at the decline of our nation & 3 things needed to guard and protect liberty: prayer, education, and action)

7) It only takes a remnant & God to restore the foundations. Me and the Future – regaining “One Nation Under God” (looked at: My duties as a Christian - (commanded in scripture) pray, obey the law, pay taxes (and when not to, to obey God first) and My duties as a citizen - vote, jury duty, fight, petition/write civil officials.

Each of these was based on Scripture, and supporting Scriptures were added to many. Each Principle also branched out into studies in other areas. Our study of Ben Franklin led to my daughter's discovery of his invention, the Glass Armonica, which she fell in love with and had to find and buy a music CD of.

Now for a couple of days of relaxing, before I put my head back in the books to discover the next place God desires to lead us in discovering His Principles, His Hand, and His Plan in His big, wide world. To Life and Learning! God is Good!

At Jesus' feet,
Lisa Me and My House ministries