Hello friends, I pray you have a safe holiday however you celebrate the harvest. Focus on the Family had a very good article about Halloween and it is below. God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover
Snowball took her pictures weeks ago. She didn’t really like the hat 😉
Hi folks! Here is a reblog from my sister’s page. She just got back from a book festival and has some good tips. Also prayers for all those affected by Hurricane Sandy. God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover
It was such a pleasure to meet and listen to Tad Hills this weekend at the Texas Book Festival. I was sad to see on his Facebook page after the festival:“Stuck in Austin TX for I don’t know how long. My only other option at this point is to fly to Chattanooga then train to Richmond and sail up the coast to Brooklyn.”
He lives in Brooklyn, NY, but Hurricane Sandy has stranded him here in Austin. This is especially sad since he might miss Halloween, his favorite holiday, with his kids. Each year he designs elaborate costumes for them. Visit his website to view masterpieces ranging from buildings (Leaning Tower of Pisa, Eiffel Tower) to a furry monster that has iPhones playing a moving and blinking eyeballs video loop! http://tadhills.com/about/costumes#4
UPDATE: On 10/30 at 10:45 a.m. Eastern, Tad Hills posted: “They [My wife and kids] are fine. We…
View original post 496 more words
Hello friends! I hope you’re having a great day :). Last weekend we traveled to our home town for my Granny’s 80th birthday. It really was like a family reunion.
Granny blowing out her candles
What a neat thought to think that so many people are alive because of one woman. Granny’s faith has touched so many.
Everyone brought lots of food!
I got to spend a lot of time with Granny, growing up. My Mom was a single & working mother so I would stay with Granny when I was sick. We lived with Granny and she with us several times. I call Granny my sunshine.
Granny ready to blow out the candles
While we were there I asked a lot of questions. I’ve always been taught that we should cherish our elders while we have them. One day they will be gone and we will want to hear their stories. Below is a picture of Granny and my Stepdad’s father (they’re good friends). I asked them about growing up during the war and the last years of the Depression. Mr. Hubert (Step Dad’s Father) told us about his father’s fire truck, which was basically a pick up truck with a ladder and a siren. They talked about when everything was dirt roads and milk and ice were delivered to houses. Things were simple and families were close.
Mr. Hubert & Granny
There were SOOO many kids at the party. I didn’t know most of their names. I couldn’t remember most of the older family members either. I sat with my cousin Kala and she couldn’t believe that most of the kids came from the few main grand kids (us). I told her that they came from her and her siblings. They were the baby makers not me lol. I only have one. We reminisced about when we were all so close.
A few of the kids at the party. I couldn’t get a panoramic view unfortunately. You can see Michael in the solid red shirt.
Some of my cousins and their spouses
I sat with my Aunts and Uncles and they talked about how now they are the old ones. Many of the great aunts and uncles are gone. I remember my Aunts and Uncles joking around so much. They still do but now you can tell their bones ache. It’s strange that I can relate to them more…..that I understand. Everyone my age seems younger than me. But I’ve always felt aged…….way more than my years. I really feel it these days. I spent a good portion of the evening curled up on a sofa with my handy dandy heating pad and covered with blankets. I didn’t expect it to be so cold. When I woke up I could hear everyone laughing and talking. Not everything has changed.
My Granny and her kids. My mom is right behind her in the white sweater.
My bunch with cousin Ben at the end.
Michael and I visited my Dad’s grave as we always do when we go home. My Dad loved to cook so I put an owl chef on his grave. Michael reminds me so much of Daddy. My cousin thought so too. Michael is also beyond his years. I think that happens to people who experience pain & death early on. It changes them. It makes the world look different. Because I was an only child for part of the year (my half sister visited on Holidays and during Summer) I really got close to adults. I got to know my great aunts and great uncles…some great greats…2nd and 3rd cousins etc. I got to know the generation that died off when I was a kid. Some of my cousins have seen even more…..with their own siblings dying in their youth. You can see how it’s changed them. How one life can affect so many.
Daddy’s grave
Then I think of Granny. In her eighty years she has lost siblings, parents, grand children, friends, and even a spouse. She has seen so much but she still pushes on. She encourages and counsels so many….even other people’s kids and grand kids. So many come to her. She holds our family together. One woman…….praying all alone in the quiet of her small home can affect the lives of so many.
Granny & Mr. Hubert at the special table. They look like prom queen and king lol.
Granny isn’t a movie star. She’s not world famous. But I know she is famous to the angels. God sees her faithfulness. I pray Granny has many years left. I pray she continues to touch so many lives. She is my sunshine. She is one of my heroes. We should seek out people like her. The stories of our Godly elders should be more important than celebrity gossip.
The main family back at Granny’s place for coffee and good times. The rest are inside.
You many not have living grand parents but there are so many elderly sitting alone day after day in the nursing homes. They have amazing stories to tell. They need someone to listen…to love them. These people should have a place of honor but so many of them don’t. So many are left and forgotten. I pray we will learn from our elders and teach our children to respect them. So maybe one day when we are elders (Lord willing), we won’t be thrown aside and forgotten. Hopefully our children will take care of us and treat us with respect. I pray we will be treated like fellow human beings.
Granny isn’t just my grandmother. She’s my friend.
God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover
Remember: You can click on the links to visit these virtual places! 🙂
Hello friends and welcome to Virtual Friday! Today I take you to the virtual world of Second Life. I’ve been searching for fun family friendly things to do this fall in SL. Autumn is tricky because most of the virtual world is focused on Halloween. Back in rl (real life) we don’t celebrate Halloween. I enjoy fall festivals and dressing up but I don’t like spooky things and I don’t celebrate death.
I also believe that ghosts a.k.a familiar spirits are demons. Demons like to mimic humans. It’s a great deception Satan uses to make people think their loved ones wander the earth. Thankfully there are only two choices when someone dies…Heaven or Hell. I know which one I choose. So don’t expect me to haunt your neck of the woods. Sorry but I won’t be here ;).
Anywho, I have not been on SecondLife in weeks. I was very surprised to go out my door and find my neighbors houses all spooked. My blue house is on the right (completely unscary) and you can see the pumpkins and ghosts on my neighbors’ houses.
What?!
With a little bit of investigating, I figured it out. My neighborhood is having a Halloween contest.
Well, what am I to do? Decorate of course……..for Fall. I know I won’t win the contest but still it’s nice to have pumpkins everywhere. I went on a fall leaf hunt through SL and won a few freebies. Still, most of my decor I had to buy. Voila!
This great kiddie sim has a fall festival. Get over there before it ends and scrounge up some great deals! I found my lovely fall decor at these vendors. Remember you can click on the pics to make them bigger.
Visit EverLasting Family (85, 73, 24)
For all of you adult avatars, check out the french shopping district, Rue D’Antibes. Most of the shops look classy and pretty modest. The streets have a nice atmosphere.
Visit Rue DAntibes (90, 85, 28)
Rawnie Lane has this lovely Fall art gallery. You can purchase her pics to decorate your own virtual home.
Upstairs her gallery features artwork by Babydoll.
Lastly, I took some great pictures at Wondering Dew. Warning: this place is a bit creepy but thankfully it’s not terrifying.
Visit Wondering Dew (167, 60, 22)
I stuck around to listen to the radio theater. It’s supposed to be scary but it’s not. Old horror movies and radio shows don’t bother me because they are way too dramatic to bring fear. It’s all the gory horror movies these days that bother me and ones that are based on real things like demonic possession. That’s the kind of stuff I don’t want in my over-imaginative head!
When I acted with Family Theatre, I did a few “scary” plays but really they had more comedy than anything.
Arsenic & Old Lace- I played the fiance of a man whose elderly aunts were poisoning old bachelors to “help” them out of their miserable lonely lives. Then they buried the men in the basement and had funeral services. The creepy thing was that they thought they were good Christian women. It became funny when the nephew, Mortimer, found out and tried to thwart their plans. Throw in a brother who thinks he’s Teddy Roosevelt and another brother that’s an ex-con and it gets really crazy! The worst part for me was nearly being strangled.
I’m bottom left and second to top right.
Ten Little Indians a.k.a And Then There Were None– This play based on Agatha Christie’s book is not nearly as creepy as her book. It actually has a happy ending so to speak. I played the “sexy” secretary, Vera Claythorne, which in Family Theatre mean’t I had to wear very uncomfortable high heels. I actually tripped and skipped backwards over a couch in these high heels while stealing a “gun” from my character’s love interest.
I’m in the middle, the one with the painful heels of death.
Ten Little Indians is about a group of not so innocents that are invited to a mysterious island. Trapped on the island they are picked off one by one. Since they are the only ones on the island the murderer has to be one of them. It sounds like Clue doesn’t it? What makes it super creepy is that the murders are based upon the poem “Ten Little Indians” and every time someone dies an Indian figurine goes missing. I did a lot of screaming in this play. I also got slapped….not fun.
By golly, I think she’s dead. Now repeat this 8 more times.
Oh, and I almost got hanged by the “real” murderer.
We did this play the weekend of Halloween a couple of years ago. It truly was a strange play. We had several actors drop out…some by illness and some for other reasons. Our director was mugged the day of dress rehearsal. She was actually playing a part in the play because an actress was too ill to play it. Then she was mugged and hurt in the mugging. Thankfully she’s fine. Another actor’s wife had to step into the part last minute.
It was crazy. Some of us were thinking the play really was cursed with all the accidents etc. It was an emotional play for me because I had to shoot a fake gun. The noise from the gun was really loud and traumatizing. So they had to use different bullets to muffle the sound.
I’m really nice in real life 😉
I had to induce a panic attack to get into character for my scene with the murderer. Thankfully I knew the “murderer” very well and he’s really a sweet old man in real life. Also, try eating tuna fish on stage and trying to say your lines…not pretty.
He really is a sweet guy I promise 🙂
Anywho, I took this little tangent to say……..well nothing really. It was just nice to reminisce. Have a safe holiday however you spend it. Please be careful and put your animals indoors on Halloween (especially if you have a black cat..like us) because people do horrible things at this time. If you trick or treat I hope you know your neighbors well. There are usually great church Fall festivals as a safe alternative too. God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover
Hello friends, I know I already posted for today but I had to share this. 🙂 (Pics are from Helen, Ga)
Let’s begin with a well known verse that is often taken out of context. Verse 20 helped inspire my prayer today. Notice it is written to the church. We were never mean’t to live separate lives from God. He is to fill up every part of our world. We are to be in constant communion with Him….whether in church or at home changing the baby.
“17Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
18I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
19As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
20Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
21To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
22He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”
Revelation 3:17-22
Here is an excerpt from my Bible study today, also inspiration for my prayer.
James: Mercy Triumphs by Beth Moore
“We woefully shortchange our earthly experience if we, with well-meaning hearts, relegate Christ to the top of our list of priorities and demand that He stay put.
We’ve been taught to live by lists of priorities but, if marriage is second on my list, what will happen without Christ’ intervention? If children are third on our list, what will become of them if Jesus sticks to our church category and doesn’t invade our parenting? If friendships are fourth on our list, how can we ever hope to break our cycle of broken relationships without Him who is wholeness incarnate? Colossians 3:4 doesn’t call Jesus number one in your life. It says He “is your life” (emphasis added).”
Here is my prayer:
Father God,
I have often thought of you as this foreign force that turns my world upside down. I’m wrong. I’m the unnatural one…like a member of the undead. You are how it should be…how it once was. You are the blood and oxygen that brings me back to life. You are Spring to my Winter. You are how I began…created by your hands. You are natural. You are right. You are true. I was cursed by the poison of sin. You are my cure. You are my love. I will not run from my source, my creator, my savior, my friend. Jesus, I let you in.
Love always, your Amber
God bless friends & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover
Another good reblog. 🙂 Thanks J.S.! Happy Inspirational Wednesday folks! God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover
In this post: Owl crafts and fall treats!
Hello friends! I hope you are well. We just got back from visiting our home town. I always feel a bit icky when I travel. Maybe it’s because I’m a homebody. I felt bad yesterday & didn’t have internet most of the weekend. So I’m just getting around to posting something. Last week in homeschool we learned about owls. I say “we” because I learn too. We took the apples off our tree and now it’s a fall tree with owls and pumpkins :).
Rachel, I did make a lapbook :). Thankfully we checked out the right books to go with it. As always you can find most of these ideas & crafts on my Pinterest.
Owl Lapbook
That’s not the book that goes with it. It’s just a book we read this week. You can find the lapbook info on my Pinterest.
Inside- Owl facts, My favorite owls, etc…
Back- James 1:5 copywork
We read the Owl babies book and we made our own owl babies
Owl Cupcakes– I made vanilla cupcakes and gave them owl faces with frosting. They’re a bit pathetic but Michael thought they were awesome. That’s all that matters right? 😉
Owl Math- So I got these owls from a teacher store. I put masking tape on them because it comes off easy. I wrote multiplication problems on some of the owls and the answers on the others.
I told Michael that most owls have only one friend but there is one owl that has several (the zero owl).
We were multiplying by one and zero. I love math games because Michael forgets that he’s doing actual “school”. They’re just fun!
Paper plate Owl– we made this handsome owl and read about two owl buddies.
Sometimes you just have to do math on the trampoline :). This was a coin toss worksheet.
Oh, and what’s school without dinosaurs (dragons)?
Fall Brownies- I just poured brownie mix into fall molds and added colored sprinkles. Easy peasy 😉
If Michael wasn’t so cute this mask would be a bit creepy. We got this scarecrow mask from Hobby Lobby and Michael used markers to color it.
Michael forgot his listening ears the beginning of the week. He was a little gremlin and I promise I didn’t feed him fried chicken! Sooooooo… I came up with this chart. He gets smiles for listening, writing neat, finishing in time, and talking with respect in each subject. Then the smiles tally up at the end of the day. Lots of points mean rewards or getting something back that was taken away. Hardly any points means losing privileges or toys. This worked the first day I used it.
This was a great owl mask. I can’t remember where we found it.
Pastel Resist Owl in the Moonlight- Michael’s owl
The moonlight owl went well with our book.
This is my owl. It looked too fun not to do!
Chris and I helped a lot with this Jug Owl
This paper bag Owl was cute!
We ended our week by watching “The Owls of Ga’ hoole” . I had never seen it before. It was a really good movie. There was tons of owl info in the movie as well. It was great reading our owl book and Michael saying he remembered that owl type from the movie.
This week we have a mixture of fall themes. See you next week, Lord willing!
God bless & remember the High King lives!~Amber Dover
Apples Study: https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2012/10/01/crafty-monday-apple-week/
Bats, Falling Leaves, & World Pasta Day:
https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2012/11/05/crafty-monday-bats-falling-leaves-world-pasta-day/
Candy Corn, Crows, & Homemade Rootbeer:
https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2012/10/15/crafty-monday-candy-corn-and-homemade-rootbeer/
Pumpkins & Scarecrows:
https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2012/10/08/crafty-monday-pumpkins-sukkot/
Just had to share this. Thanks J.S.! Spot on 🙂 God bless & remember the High King lives!~Amber Dover
So has anyone tried NaNoWriMo before? It’s a contest where you write a novel in the month of November. It has to be 50,000 words to submit it. I’d like to try but the problem is that the rules say you have to start from scratch. I just want to finish the one I’ve started whether I win or not. I wonder if I could just sign up for the peer pressure to write and not worry about winning etc. Is that allowed? If you’ve tried NaNoWriMo please let me know how it went :). Thanks
By the way, yesterday I finally got to check out many of your pages. I didn’t get to everyone but still it was nice to read what I did get to. You are all so beautiful and talented. I don’t know if all of you read my posts still but it’s awesome to see such a diverse group of creative people. It shocked me to realize ya’ll are from all over the world. It’s amazing how blogging can reach so many outside of our little bubbles. God bless and please keep reading. Please keep sharing your dreams and interests with the world. It reminds us that there’s still light out there…..that there are still good people.
Love to you all & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover
PS: for those of you who have been praying for me I am very thankful 🙂 ((hugs))
Hello friends and happy Monday! 🙂 Well, the first part of the week we were in Helen, Ga. I posted that last night. So our school work was hands on. Wednesday through Friday was normal except I’ve been rather sluggish. So one of our experiments happened over the weekend. I had hoped to use my candle making kit that I got weeks ago but that didn’t happen. On a good note, I got a basket weaving kit in Helen and that’ll be great for November & our study of pilgrims/native Americans.
We did make some candy corn crafts, a crow, and fall inchies. Then we made root-beer Saturday. Enjoy the pics 🙂 and please let me know if you try the root-beer etc.
First off, we picked up our pottery we made over Sukkot. The tea canister turned out great and I’m putting cookies in it.
Michael’s owl looks like it’s crying but it’s very cute. We are learning about owls this week so I’m glad he painted an owl :).
We made a candy corn chain and candy corn garland.
This is our crow 🙂
I love making fall inchies. It’s always a joint effort. We got the idea from thatartistwoman. She’s on my blogroll. This years turned out so much better than last year.
We used a lot of her methods (like flicking paint in a box and using saran-wrap. Also contact paper).
Surprisingly we had some early multiplication in our 2nd grade review book. So I used candy corn to teach the concept.
Saturday we experimented by making our own root-beer brew. This is on my fall cooking board on Pinterest. It was neat seeing the dry ice react.
The drink was clear but still tasted like root beer sort of. Michael said it tastes like Sierra Mist.
I’m praying I’ll have a good week this week and get a lot done. I’m really excited to be doing owls and we rented “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” from the library. The fair is this week too and I really hope we can go. I’m a stubborn mule and I really don’t like being limited physically. I just get mad. I’m going to enjoy my Fall dog gone it lol (kicking a gnome). Anywho, hopefully I’ll have a bunch of owl crafts next week..maybe a lapbook?
God bless and remember the High King lives!~Amber Dover
Owls Study: https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2012/10/22/crafty-monday-owls/
Apples Study: https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2012/10/01/crafty-monday-apple-week/
Bats, Falling Leaves, & World Pasta Day:
https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2012/11/05/crafty-monday-bats-falling-leaves-world-pasta-day/
Pumpkins & Scarecrows:
https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2012/10/08/crafty-monday-pumpkins-sukkot/
Welcome! My name is Amber Dover. I am a homeschooling mom, happy wife, and a devout follower of Jesus Christ. I am also a writer. I am currently working on "The Truth Seeker's Chronicles" (an inspirational fantasy/allegory). You will find everything from craft ideas to writing tips on my blog. So please pull up a chair and hang out :)
amberdover 