The Coalmine

Currently,I am reading "The Freelance Writer's Bible" by David Trottier. So far it has been very helpful. There are some slightly off mind-games that the author recommends for creative writing. But as a whole, he really knows his stuff and I just ignore the weird parts.

As you may have guessed, by the above-mentioned book title, I am considering (prayerfully) writing as a career not just a cathartic daily activity. I was in seventh grade when my teacher Mrs. Olfert discovered my untapped talent as a writer. I think that our first writing assignment was a poem. Oh how I remember the despair I felt-- "How can I write a poem? I'm not a poet!" But it was mandatory, and I was an 'A' student, so not wanting to fail, I completed the assignment. Most students wrote about deeply inspirational things, or beautiful events and places. What did I write about? A desk. I wish that I had kept a copy of that first poem....sigh. Needless to say, Mrs. Olfert saw the diamond potential in that coalmine of words. She proceeded to cultivate the writer within me. I am forever grateful to her. After that, I couldn't stop writing. I had found a way to express myself! I kept pages of journals, chronicling my journey to adulthood. Sadly, those too have disappeared throughout the years. Writing was my faithful friend throughout many painful life lessons. I don't have to try to write, I just do. I also recall that in preparation for eighth grade graduation, Mrs. Olfert had us write out a speech of what we had gleaned from our junior years at school. I hated speaking in front of people so I tried my hardest to write a TERRIBLE speech, because she told us that the best ones would get read in front of the auditorium audience by the AUTHOR. I revisioned and rewrote it a bunch of times, finally confident that I had done poorly. Well, I ended up having to memorize it and say it in front of the audience. I touched Mrs. Olfert so deeply that she cried. I guess it wasn't that poor of a speech after all...lol!

Mrs. Olfert greatly influenced me. She always told me that I should write a book someday. Perhaps I shall, but it won't be today! However, I am seriously pondering writing for money. It would be nice to have a supplemental income that required no start-up capital, no college degrees, and no commuting! So I am researching how to get into the writing business. If anyone is reading my blog and you have experience in this area, please feel free to comment :)

So that is all that is on my heart and in my thoughts right now. Maybe I'll see one of my creations in print some day. For now, I just write for me!

Thoughts of Clay

How do you cultivate your child's God-given talent?

With my thoughts on homeschooling and how I want the curriculum to go (curriculum, not necesarily meaning textbooks, but rather a form or schedule of study), I am also compelled to search out how to recognize and harness the God-given creative abilities of my two rambunctious boys. The more I include their natural interests, the more learning will be a pleasure rather than a pain---for them and me! But I really want to pay attention to the talents I see emerging in them. In Mr. Dramatic, the love of storytelling, a beginning love of photography (he got ahold of my digital camera and took some very good self-potraits for a five year-old!), verbal special effects (yes, there are special effects for everything...lol!), the ability to be in constant motion--that is a talent right?, his almost obsessive love of orderliness, and his affinity for drawing. Mr Independent often bursts into song, sometimes he sings known praise and worship, other times he makes up silly songs to sing to his baby sister. He loves to play guitar and drums. He is not obsessive about anything, but is rather the polar opposite of his brother! I can always tell which side of the room is whose...lol! (It reminds me of my sister and I when we shared a room!) Like his brother, Mr. Independent loves to draw. He is also very verbal but he likes to make up different voices for the characters he likes to play. My darling Miss Precious is still too young for me to get a glimpse of her talents. But she does love to giggle!

Both of my boys have an astounding ability to recall events with great detail. But they also share a love of embellishment as well...lol! Not lying, we don't tolerate that in the FITPH household, but shall we say "poetic license" with the recounting? Some of the embellishments they come up with tickle the funny bone! They both share a love for music that permeates everything they do.

I cannot help but wonder what God has planned for Mr. Dramatic and Mr. Independent. It is so awesome to be a part of the molding and shaping process. Such an awesome (and sometimes terrifying) responsibility Mr. Querido and I have been given. Such precious clay we hold in our hands as the Master Potter guides our fingers.

I'm baaaaack

First of all, let me start of with a yell of celebration. I HAVE MY BLOG BACK!!! The sign in process is a little cumbersome, but I figured out a way to circumnavigate the glitch! YAYYYYYYY!!!!

I can't post much more than this because I have to get to work cleaning. We have an ant infestation and I have exhausted every natural means available to deter them. So we are going to annhilate them. We bought RAID foggers yesterday and we are going to set them off on Saturday while we are visiting my parents. You have to be out of the area for 4 hours and then you have to ventilate for 30 minutes. But I don't care how long it takes just as long as they are all DEAD when we get back. Gross... Hundreds of dead ants, spiders, mites, beetles, etc. Ewwww. But dead ones are better than live ones! Oh yeah, back to the cleaning. You have to make sure that all foodstuffs and dishes are not in the area. So what am I going to be doing today and tomorrow? Taking everything out of my kitchen and trying to find another place for it to safely stay until the nuclear warfare is over. Yay. ( Can you tell how enthused I am about having to take EVERYTHING out of my kitchen? ) Sigh.

So the evacuation awaits me. Gotta go!

Getting Ready...

Lately, in the blogosphere, I have been seeing references to emergency stashes of food and supplies. And for some reason, I have been coming across this topic more and more frequently. It has gotten me to thinking about how prepared my family is for an emergency...

We wouldn't even last a week based on what we have now. Because, I don't even have emergency rations! We have no way to maintain clean drinking water. Certainly don't have an adequate supply of food. Not anywhere near enough blankets for a family of five. Heck, we don't even own a tent!

For some reason, I sense an urgency to prepare. Not sure why God is talking to me about this. But I need to obey. April is going to be my month to take stock of what we do have and get what we need.

I remember reading a fictional novel called "Night Light" (I cannot remember the author's name) which is basically about what a family does to survive when a star supernovas and knocks out everything that runs on electricity. The community is brought to its knees until people start getting resourceful. They become self-sustaining and grow closer.

How much knowledge of living off of the land have we lost in our McDonald's world?