What is "wordless Wednesday"?? TIA. :)

I hope you don't mind my butting into this thread since I am only teaching Spanish, but I have a friend who lives in Denmark where they learn English and German as well as their own language. Her English is excellent in spite of the fact that she's lived in Denmark all her life and hasn't had the benefit of going abroad and being immersed in English and she is equally fluent in German. She's had nothing but state education all her life and I asked her how the state taught languages so successfully. She told me that they start one language at around 7 years old and teach only that one foreign language until the child is around 12 years old and has quite a foundation in it. At that point they introduce the second foreign language and they study both simulataneously from that point on. Since the child has already been studying one for so long he/she will not be on the same level as in the new language and it helps with confusion. Also the second usually comes even quicker since the child has already well rooted study habits. I dont' know if this will be useful to you or not, but I thought I would pass it along just the same if it would be helpful. My best wishes for you in your endeavors. :) Blessings, Jennifer

Thank you so much for your kind words. :) I hope so too! I cannot imagine what a boon that would be to her aspirations. She tells me already that she wants to be an author. :) I think the story is good, but it just needs to be cleaned up a bit as far as grammar and such, but it is a very creative story and I think it is good enough. We'll see if any publishers agree. :)

I have to agree with Michelle. Although I love Jodi Foster, I was really disappointed in this movie. It was lame. I think the only thing you are in danger of is your kids being disappointed. You might want to rent another classic film, like Princess Bride perhaps, to wash it down with after the disappointment. :p hehe :)

Awwww that is so cute!! I wonder too! You have to post her stories up after she gets it. :) You know, I have to tell you, my dd was very much like yours writing books all the time, she is now 12 years old and is writing a book series!! She finished her first book (120 pages!) and is working on the second. I told her once we finish our school for the year (in the next couple of weeks) that we can edit her book together and send it around to publishers. It sounds like you have a budding author as well. Best of luck to you. :) Jennifer

Oh!! Bless you for posting this!! I just can't live without my coffee but I often wonder if it is bad for me because I drink so much. I drink Cuban coffee so I should be extra covered, no?? ;) :p hehe

I think it starts in 7th grade. We have not used one all the way through 6th. My dd is starting NEM for 7th next year and I flipped through the book when I first got it and I think I saw a reference for calculators in it. Sorry I'm not of more help. I'm sure someone else will chime in with a more "definitive" answer soon. :)

No. Thank YOU!! :grouphug: It's so nice to hear my state called something other than a "hell hole" hehehehehe. I forgot to mention the pine trees. I love them too and the sounds of the tree frogs living in them. Man! That takes me back to my childhood! The neighborhood I lived in in Ft. Lauderdale had a big clump of pine trees that bordered our house. They were laden with tree frogs. I too love the storms. I know they are scary for some, but I love water of all kinds and after the lightning and thunder quiet down and the storm starts to die out, to me that is perfect napping weather, with the cool breeze, the sound of the rain... ah beautiful. I also love that the rain is warm. My mom lives in North GA and when it rains there the temperature changes drastically. I have to go and get a sweater when it rains at her house. hehe I love the Atlantic too. So many reefs, good fishing, boogie boarding, boating, etc. I live not 2 miles from "my" beach and it is a great comfort to know that it is so near. If I ever have to move away, that is what I will miss the most. The ocean and the sunsets. sigh.

I always feel funny talking about my love for my state because so many people hate it here, but nevertheless I am a proud Floridian. :) For all of it's overcrowdedness, problems, weather etc. etc. I have so many places that I love in this state and it has features that are unique in the world. The Floridan aquifer runs under the entire state of Florida and up into GA and part of the Carolinas I believe and is one of the most productive aquifers in the world. There was a program on our local public television station that I saw a few years back with scientists who were scuba diving all through the caverns and caves of the aquifer, testing the water as well as exploring, while a team on land was monitoring their position with a tracking device. They had underwater video cameras and they showed a perfectly preserved mastodon that they found in one of the underwater caves. It had fallen in at some point. Wild! We used to have beautiful fresh water springs that I loved to swim in when I was a kid, but I went back recently after many years and they have drastically changed due to people, pollution etc. We used to have some beautiful reefs that I dove when also I was a kid but a lot of them are in distress or have died from ship wrecks and pollution. This state has a lot of problems and environmentally it is a state in distress, but I remember how it used to be and that is the Florida I fell in love with. There is a particular beach that is up by Kennedy Space Center that is a wildlife preserve. No people are allowed on this beach, in fact it is all chained off, but I could see through the chains crystal clear waters all the way to the bottom. It is still one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen in my life. I love St. Augustine. The light in that city reminds me of a pastel painting. It is just so beautiful. It just glows at sunset like a jewel. I love the sunsets in Naples and the seashell hunting too. :) I love to go to "my" beach at night and sit on the shore and watch the waves. It is like therapy for my soul. I love that I can swim in the ocean in summer and it's like taking a bath it's so warm. I love that the winters are so mild (I really don't do well in the cold). I love that we have such a diversity of life here from land to marine animals and I love that we are a popular nesting ground for sea turtles. Oh and fishing!! I love fishing. :) I wish that I could go back in time and see what Florida looked like before it got all messed up, but there is still enough beauty left that I still love my state even if that beauty one day might be completely gone. It is my home, the only home I've ever known and it will always have my heart for better or worse. :)

I'm so very sorry. :( :grouphug:

sell my guitars (hopefully I will never have to). :)

That is so cute! hehehe :) My dd used to write little animal stories all the time too when she was younger. :)

So sorry for your loss, Sandy. :( :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

I start immediately after Christmas buying my cards and giftwrap while it's half off. If I find a general gift like a holiday scented candle assortment or something of the like I will buy those as well for white elephant situations or for a general gift for someone. Other than that, I will buy things throughout the year if I find something on sale and it makes me think of a person I know will be on my Christmas gift list. I have a closet in my room that I dedicate to stashing presents and wrapping paper. :p hehe

Oh Denise. I can't even imagine your emotions right now. Lots of :grouphug: to you. :grouphug:

Yes I saw Spy Car's comments and responded to them just now. As I said to him I have no doubts that Christianity has a long presence in Iran and the statistics, that I was relying on my memory to quote to you all, do not deny that Christians are there. The issue I was brining up really was not the number of Christians but rather that western missionaries are not allowed into that country to proselytize and yet there are many accounts of Iranians that I have heard of who are being saved through having visions and dreams of Christ appearing to them. I am not an expert on this topic, again as I said before I was just passing along what I have heard. I'm not trying to argue with you so please don't take this comment this way. Rather I just see the coin from a different side. While you may contend that there are places that Christianity will never be preached, and you certainly are entitled to believe whatever you want, I won't argue with your belief, but I still contend that there is nothing that is impossible for God. I don't think He needs any person to do anything on His behalf. He is big enough to do things for Himself and He does. There are a myriad of ways that God can appear to a person. I certainly wouldn't say "oh no He can't do that." I have heard these stories of Christ appearing to people in visions and dreams and those people are being saved. I have also heard stories of people who have had death experiences (and came back to life) and Christ appeared to them and gave them another chance. To me those stories just underscore for me the goodness and mercy of God that I myself have experienced. God appeared to me when I was 17, not in a vision, but He spoke to me and I was saved. I know that some may say that is crazy or whatever else they want to call it, but I am not a liar and I am not crazy. This year will be 20 years that I have been walking with God now and He has been an active presence in my life ever since that first day that I knew Him. And for the record, when I got saved it wasn't through the preaching of the Gospel. I heard Christ say to me, "Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest." and I just responded to God by saying "okay". That was it. I never said a sinner's prayer, the gospel wasn't even preached to me, but God spoke, I heard Him, I believed and I was radically changed in that moment. With God nothing is impossible.

I didn't come up with this. I'm just passing along what I have heard. I have never been to Iran and have no first hand knowledge of these proselytes, but I have heard of these conversions from many different sources now so I am inclined to believe that these accounts are true. I have no doubts that Christianity has a long presence in Iran. It is a 2,000 year old religion, but to my understanding missionaries are not allowed into that country for the sake of proselytizing. BTW, all of these things I have heard from an Iranian pastor.

I realize that your comments were directed to another poster so I hope you will forgive me addressing this point of yours, but I have heard of a recent phenomena that is happening all over Iran. Iran is one of those places where no missionaries are allowed to enter, but I have heard story after story about people in that country having visions and dreams of Christ appearing to them and they are being converted in that way. I cannot remember the exact statistics as I don't have them in front of me, but it was something like 15 years ago there were only about 500 known Christians in Iran and now there is something like over a million and many of them have converted through these visions and dreams. There is even a prophecy about this in the book of Acts. Acts 2:17 (New King James Version) 17 ‘ And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams. Again I hope that you don't mind my jumping in on your reply to the other poster. I don't mean to step on any toes, but rather just share what I have heard in this regard. :)

My aunt lives in the country and she has a cat for this very reason. She only feeds it once a day and lets it eat mice and bugs for the rest of her meals. The cat only stays outside or in the barn. :)

Thanks. I need to see if I can get him to stand still long enough to get a picture of him in one of his new outfits. He's always so fidgety and runs away and he never smiles for the camera. sigh. I never expected him to be excited about new clothes. This is the first time that I have seen him so, but he is maturing so much in these last years and is really becoming aware of his suroundings. He just gets better all the time. :)

Oh gosh! My daughter is going to summer camp for the first time at the end of this month and she really IS different. Thankfully my husband is going too as a leader on the boy's side so she'll be able to tell him if the other kids start to bully her. I hope that this doesn't happen to her. I'm so sorry it happened to your ds. :(

My son is SOO cute! hehehe I bought him some new clothes two days ago and when we got home and tried them all on he got so excited!! I would put an outfit on him and say, "Now go show daddy" and he would run away squealing and laughing to show his dad. He was beaming! hehehe It was just too cute! hehe :)

My Bible study group did Beth Moore's video study of Daniel this last year and it was AWESOME!! One thing that Beth said I really loved. She said, "Now ladies, what are the chances that all of the kingdoms that were prophesied have come to pass exactly as Daniel predicted but the last one somehow won't?" I also loved learning in that study how God called Cyrus by name 150 years BEFORE he was even born! Awesome! Daniel is such an awesome book. What a great man of faith he was and Beth Moore's study really helped bring it to life for me. I always had trouble understanding the prophecy passages and it really helped me to have done the study. :)

Oh Denise. I'm so so sorry. :grouphug:

I know that some people believe that based on Matthew 24:32-34 that the generation that was living at the time of Israel becoming a nation (Israel being the fig tree in the parable) that this generation will not pass away before the end. So in other words the last baby to be born on May 14, 1948 would not pass before the end according to this theory. It is an interesting theory and I guess we wont' know until the time comes and goes if that particular interpretation of the Scriptures was true or not, but for me, I know that I have settled my spiritual affairs and I am ready to go whenever my Lord should call me. If I die I will be present with my Lord if I am Raptured I will be with my Lord. It really doesn't matter to me either way... as long as I am with my Lord. :)