Dear Hope Chest readers,
The November issue, on the theme of "A Fruitful Family" is shaping up nicely, and I'm looking forward to sending it out in about a month. It's full of goodies such as encouragement about family life, book reviews, general unit study planning ideas, a unit study on fruit, and even some fruity recipes. Meanwhile, I have several extras and announcements to send out right now, so here goes!
- Hope Chest Contact Information
- If You Give a Mom a Muffin by Kathy Fictorie
- Husband Looking for Job!
- Free Shipping on Book Orders Until December 31!
- Prayer Requests
- Beach Condo Getaway
- Update on the Farley Family in Maine
- Escape School (Abduction Prevention)
- Did Anyone Write to Me from South Africa?
- Mission World Catalog
I hope these are helpful to you!
Blessings,
Virginia Knowles
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HOPE CHEST CONTACT INFORMATION
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The Hope Chest is a free, bi-monthly home school e-magazine sent to over 1600 families around the world. The publisher is Virginia Knowles, the mother of soon-to-be nine children.
It is a huge help to me if you can do any address changes automatically using the subscribe and unsubscribe e-mail addresses above.
Your comments are always appreciated and read, even if I'm not very fast at replying!
I also encourage you to forward the Hope Chest to anyone who might be interested in it.
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IF YOU GIVE A MOM A MUFFIN
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I thought you all might like this little gem to brighten your day. I am sending it with the permission of the author, Kathy Fictorie, who lives in Iowa. It is based on Laura Numeroff's picture book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, and was originally published in MomSense, the newsletter from MOPS International (Mothers Of Pre-schoolers).
If You Give a Mom a Muffin
If you give a mom a muffin,
She'll want a cup of coffee to go with it.
She'll pour herself some.
The coffee will get spilled by her three year old.
She'll wipe it up.
Wiping the floor, she will find some dirty socks.
She'll remember she has to do some laundry.
When she puts the laundry in the washer,
She'll trip over some snow boots and bump into the freezer.
Bumping into the freezer will remind her she has to plan supper for
tonight.
She will get out a pound of hamburger.
She'll look for her cookbook. (101 Things To Make With a Pound of
Hamburger.)
The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail.
She will see the phone bill which is due tomorrow.
She will look for the checkbook.
The checkbook is in her purse that is being dumped out by her two year old.
She'll smell something funny.
She'll change the two year old.
While she is changing the two year old the phone will ring. (Of course!)
Her five year old will answer it and hang up.
She remembers that she wants to phone a friend to come over for coffee on Friday.
Thinking of coffee will remind her that she was going to have a cup.
She will pour herself some.
And chances are, if she has a cup of coffee,
Her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it.
Written by Kathy Fictorie
Based on the book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff
Carl & Kathy Fictorie
[email protected]
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HUSBAND LOOKING FOR A JOB!
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As some of you know, one of the major transitions that our family is experiencing right now is my husband's job change. Thad recently resigned from his job because it took him away from the family too much (often 60+ hours a week) and was overly stressful. He has enough freelance work and educational commitments to keep him busy until around December 1, but after that, he is available for full-time work. (He may also need some short-term work in the meantime.) If you know of any open Facility Manager or related positions, especially in the Central Florida area, please contact me by e-mail at [email protected]! As I've mentioned many times in the Hope Chest, Thad is the most diligent person I know. He is very conscientious about health, safety, hygiene, and all of the administrative/planning details that make a facility run smoothly. He has spent the last several years managing the maintenance and housekeeping functions of a large facility, and also has extensive experience (but no degree) in Civil Engineering design. He will soon have his Facility Management Administrator designation certificate from the Building Owners and Managers Institute.
Please also continue to pray for us during this time. We need to watch our household budget very closely, which can be difficult for a family of soon-to-be eleven people! Also, Thad will be traveling out of town more than usual in the next few months. Pray for my sanity as I'm not very good at keeping things together when he's gone.
Thanks!
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FREE SHIPPING ON BOOK ORDERS UNTIL DECEMBER 31!
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I am extending a special
free shipping offer until December 31 on any orders over $10. That's a saving of at least $2.50 for you! You can check out the descriptions of my three books,
Common Sense Excellence: Faith-Filled Education for Preschool to 5th Grade, The Real Life Home School Mom: A Book of Help and Hope, and The Learner's Journal resource log and lesson planner at
www.hopechest.homestead.com/resourceorders.html
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PRAYER REQUESTS
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I have two other prayer requests this time:
My friends Jane and Joe have a 3 year old daughter, Julia, who is very ill right now. She has been running high fevers for over a month, with unsuccessful diagnosis and treatment by their family doctor. Jane took her to the emergency room on Wednesday, and found it was much worse than expected. The doctors have already found e. coli in her blood, and suspect that she also has Kawasaki's disease: (
http://www.kdfoundation.org/parent%20guide.htm). Both of these bacterial infections can cause permanent heart damage, as well as death. Julia's fever was down by the time I saw them on Friday night, but her bacteria count was still high. They tried doing a bone scan, but she kept waking up. She will have another one in the next day or so under general anesthesia. They don't know how long she will be in the hospital. Jane is five months pregnant, so I know she must be uncomfortable sleeping on the little pull-out couch beds at Florida South. (I spent two nights on one of these when one of my children was there last spring.) Also, it is probable that the infection was caused by exposure to contaminants after their house flooded. The insurance company would not pay for them to stay in a hotel during the repairs, so they have been sleeping among lots of yucky germs. They also have two other children. Please pray!
My next door neighbors, Dean and Donna, are en route to China to adopt their new one year old daughter, Deanna. Do you remember reading their adoption-in-process story in a Hope Chest issue a year or so ago? It's finally happening! Please pray for safe travel, smooth adoption proceedings, warm bonding, and their sons (ages 5, 8, and 18) left at home with their grandparents.
Thanks for your prayers!
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BEACH CONDO GETAWAY
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This is from my friend Becky Kelly:
Need time with God and family? Try our place at New Smyrna Beach, FL.
The ocean is just across the street. Pool and tennis are on-site.
2 bedroom, 2 1/2 bathrooms, full kitchen and washer/dryer. Furnished, sleeps six.
Bring your own personal items and relax. Regularly $675/week.
Special for homeschoolers! $345 per week, plus $100 security deposit.
Available April, Mary, September, October, November and December.
Contact homeschooling Mom, Becky Kelly at 407-321-8313.
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UPDATE ON THE FARLEY FAMILY IN MAINE
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The Farley family is rebuilding their house after it burned down! Here is an e-mail from their friend Annette Jurczak (
[email protected]).
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Hi Virginia,
My husband and I go up and take pictures of the Farley's house as it is being built. Homeschoolers of Maine will be putting the pictures on their web site soon. Two of the pictures were taken in September. The building progress is going well. Many thanks to your subscribers. I believe homeschoolers raised close to $5000 for this family, which really goes a LONG way in building their house since they do the work themselves. They do have enough money from the donations to rebuild. They hope to be in the house soon but are trying to get as much done as fast as they can before they move in. ~~ Annette
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Virginia's note: I wish I could include the photos with this e-mail. They look great. Thanks to all of you Hope Chest readers who pitched in to help make this happen!
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ESCAPE SCHOOL
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This past week, some of my children and I had the opportunity to attend an Escape School at a friend's house. This program is designed to teach children how to prevent being abducted, and what to do if they are. It is free (sponsored by the Dignity Memorial company). You can arrange for a representative to come speak to your home school support group or other organization, or even just a group of friends in a living room. Part of the time is spent watching a video, and part of the time is spent on discussion and demonstration. We learned several strategies that I had never thought about before. For more information, visit
www.escapeschool.com.
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DID ANYONE WRITE TO ME FROM SOUTH AFRICA?
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I often get letters from far-flung places like Indonesia and Kenya, and I always enjoy reading them. I may be dreaming, but a few weeks ago I THINK I remember seeing a letter come in from South Africa. I was walking out the door at the time, so I put it with the rest of the mail on my husband's desk. When I went back to look for it, I couldn't find it anywhere! This has really been bothering me! If I'm not dreaming, and you wrote to me, please let me know what was in the envelope. It may have been from someone who read my article on Mentoring in Above Rubies magazine and how is not a Hope Chest reader. I sure hope there wasn't cash for a book order in it! Can you help me solve this mystery?
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MISSION WORLD CATALOG
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Speaking of far-flung places, I just received a really neat catalog entitled
Mission World: Literature Resources for Mobilizing World Christians. It is from Gabriel Resources, which I think has connections with both OM Lit (
www.omlist.om.org) and Pioneers (
www.pioneers.org). This catalog has the widest selection of missions related books, videos and posters that I have ever seen. Here is the contact information:
Phone: 1-8MORE-BOOKS or 706-554-1594
Mail: Gabriel Resources, PO Box 1047, Waynesboro, GA 30830
Web:
www.omlit.om.org (this will take you to the appropriate Gabriel web site based on whether you are in the USA or not)
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Virginia Knowles
