Let Them Dream!

Did you have big dreams when you were little?  Kids aren't embarrassed to dream big (like most adults are).  Don't you love that?



When I was little, I dreamed of becoming...
A Olympic gymnast and runner, a famous singer,  a professional outdoor person of some kind, a writer, and probably many other things that I can't even remember.  I do remember that I never dreamed of being a dancer, a mother (can you believe it!?) an actor, a doctor, a pilot, or a nurse like so many people do.  
Jonas thinks Jesus did a miracle and made him part Chinese.  He does Kung Fu, eats with chopsticks, wears the closest thing we have to a karate outfit, and meditates with his legs crossed and his hands folded (but I did tell him he should always only meditate by glorifying God in his spirit).  Jonas is my action/adventure kid and he dreams... Oh! That boy can dream!  For one thing, he wants to be Chinese when he grows up! (ha!)


Don't you hate when you hear parents say things like this...


"You can't do that!""Well, you have to do something that makes money when you grow up or you'll be poor your whole life.""You're still a kid, just be a kid and don't think so far ahead!""You can do that on the side, but you need to do something responsible for a living!""That's impossible!""Stop wasting your time!"
I guess I don't see the harm in allowing a child to dream - even if their dreams are impossible - like becoming Chinese.  (Perhaps God's preparing him to be a missionary in China or something.)





I remember thinking I could build a roller coaster in my backyard out of bamboo!  I really thought it was possible!  I also remember recording my voice on my little tape recorder and seriously considering sending it to the address on my record albums.
Letting our kids dream is letting them experience God!  God is the creator of their creativity!  He gave them their inquisitive minds.  He spiced them up with talents, ideas, and abilities.  Many of the things they dream of when they're little will be the things they pursue when they're older.
So, while some dreams aren't possible long term, assume they're part of something bigger in their future.
Let them dream!  (And do a little dreaming yourself!)




NO! I don't think I'm a super model.  (Sort of looks like it though huh? HA!)  Silas accidentally snapped this picture when the wind suddenly forced me to close my eyes.  Even though I wasn't dreaming - it looks like I was - and actually I still do! I dream of becoming a famous writer and blogger (well, maybe not exactly famous)! I dream of being an organic gardener (and I don't actually even garden)! I dream of having another baby.  And don't even think about saying "Give it up!" I'm not listening! Because I'm dreaming big! (hee hee)

Let Them Dream!

Life, Love and the Pursuit of ... well... God. That's all. Just God.

Daisy - My mamba 15 passenger van beast is going into the shop tomorrow for a $1900 repair.  Who has $1900 right?

In the meantime... Today Daisy overheated -  not a little... a lot!  Kyle looked at it (her) when he got home and thinks it's also going to be something expensive to fix.  (Might as well prepare for the worst, right?)

Life.  That's just the way it is.  It stresses us out and makes us want to quit sometimes doesn't it?

Yet, this evening (Wednesday), all eight of us Krafties sat in the living room and talked about life - mostly the spiritual side of it.  Harrison fell asleep in my arms, and Silas and Jonas kissed us goodnight way before we were done, but it was a meaningful and good talk - very very  good.

By the time we were finished, I came away with these thoughts.

1.  God is out there with wide stretched arms ready to embrace us and work in our lives.  He wants to show us how faithful and true he is in the midst of a world full of uncertainty and chaos.

2.  God wants us to be free!  Not bound by unnecessary rules that mean nothing to him.  He wants us to avoid sin, not life!

3.  He wants us to love those around us.  We shouldn't force our agenda or our way - we just have to love others and share Jesus Christ.  That's what will make the difference.

 
When we stop - for just a moment - and reflect on what really matters (who really matters) - the chaos in life isn't so consuming and hopeless.  In fact, I'd venture to say the more we stop to contemplate the power of God, the more we relax.  The more we relax, the more unimpressed we are with the powers of this world.  
We let life's crises' overwhelm us.  We let man discourage us.  We let circumstances rule us.
Let's let God overwhelm us.  Let's let God encourage us.  Let's let God rule us! 
Then we'll be able to say, "It's all good", and even if it's not... it is.  Ya know?

Life, Love and the Pursuit of ... well... God. That's all. Just God.

The Results of My Blog Survey

First of all - THANK YOU for taking time to do my survey! I've had 150 chums take it so far and I've enjoyed reading the results so much!  I really do feel like they helped me know what direction to go with my blog.    *If you still haven't taken it and want to, the survey is collecting data until September 3rd, so feel free to share your thoughts. (Survey)

There were a few things I did decide to change.

1.  Getting to know YOU!  I was surprised that the majority of my readers don't participate in Getting to know YOU!  However, I DID wonder because the comments on the featured blogs were going down.  While it started out as a fun activity (1 1/2 years ago) that many participated in, I think it became cumbersome for you.  I found myself worried that I was stressing you out - giving you too much to do.

Because of that - I'm going to do away with Getting to know YOU, BUT WAIT!  That doesn't mean I'm not going to offer shout outs because I LOVE sharing you guys with each other!  Here's the plan:

• I will close the comments on Getting to know YOU, but I will continue to go through them and will randomly share blogs that have interesting, funny, cute, inspirational, etc. posts.
• If you have something you think might be of interest to other bloggers, just pop me an email and I'll try to squeeze it in somewhere - at least on my announcement bar, perhaps in a blog post if it fits!  

2.  Giveaways - All giveaways are at least fun, but you guys didn't seem to care much about them.  I guess that means you come to my blog for something other than "getting stuff", and I'll admit, that makes me HAPPY!  Honestly, I gave away some very nice gifts ($250 Champion juicer, $300 Kitchen Aide Mixer, $200 Cuisinart Food Processor), and there wasn't really that much participation - considering.  

Because of that - I'm not going to worry about giveaways.  Now, that doesn't mean I'm not going to do them - I can't help myself some times.  But, if I do them, it'll be random, fun, and the only thing that will be required of you is that you enter!  That's all!

3.  Advertising - Most of you didn't care whether I advertised or not, but a few of you did and since it wasn't that big of a deal to me, I decided not to.  Saying that, you might see a random something pop up when I want to share something, but it won't be for money, it'll just be because I want to share something.  

4.  Comment System (Intense Debate) - Most of you like my comment system and SO DO I!  

Because of that - I'm going to keep it!  But, WILL YOU DO ME A FAVOR?  Will you please hit "subscribe to replies" before you hit "submit comment"?  If you do, you will receive my responses to your comment by email.  Otherwise you won't and I'll be talking to myself.  I got this comment system so I could reply and I would love it if you saw those replies.  *It'll just be to my replies - not to all comments.

5.  How does my blog make you feel?  124 of you said my blog makes you feel "Happy".  I just want you to know that that makes me HAPPY!  And 103 of you said my blog makes you feel "Inspired".  Well, that inspires me to write inspiring posts!  So THANK YOU for that encouragement!


If you'd like to view the results (minus the personal comments), you can view them here:

Survey Results for Dancing Barefoot on Weathered Ground

*Here's the rest of the picture - the cutest part is that little guy on the right. *Picture taken by Silas John.

The Results of My Blog Survey

Allergies have kicked in and I'm a zombie head.

I was going to do a meaningful, inspirational post.  It was going to make you think that I was the next C.S. Lewis.  You were going to be so impressed that you were going to share my blog post with your local newspaper.

But, this is the time of year when my nose says, "Die!  Everything just die!"  Why?  Because Ragweed and I are enemies.  It's the only thing I'm horribly allergic too and every related plant is also my enemy.  I can't eat watermelon... because it's in the ragweed family.  I can't eat sunflower seeds or bring Kansas sunflowers into my house... because sunflowers are in the ragweed family.

So, instead of  writing that post that was going to change your life - I'm going to... go... to... bed.

And since I don't do blog posts without pictures, I leave you with two pictures pictures that seemed to NEED to be here on my blog.

*Goofy blue eyed guy is my awesome brother in law, Brad.  Goofy wide eyed weirdo - well, you know who that is!

*Sweet smiley cutie - my niece Bailey.  Goofy cross eyed lady (with the awesome hippie shirt) - my spastic little sister Lonna.  Six foot seven calm, normal man - Lonna's boyfriend Dave.

So, that's all for now.  

Hope your nose is happier than mine.

Goodnight. 

Allergies have kicked in and I'm a zombie head.

A Hippie Classroom

I used to be a traditional home schooling mom. Some of you know what that means... some of you don't. I would say that the traditional home schooling mom purchases a ton of curriculum, puts all of it in front of her kids - typically at the dining room table - and sits there with them and "does school".  The traditional home schooling mom goes to a support group and plans field trips with other home schooling moms.  She looks for opportunities to pull other things into the home schooling day, but usually runs out of time... runs out of energy (and sometimes creative juices) and just falls back on the books.  Not necessarily a bad scenario... often creates smart kids...just one that doesn't seem to suit me and my kids.

When Jared and Abigail were little, I did all of that, but when Anna was born and we were staying home to keep germs away from her delicate body  (and had moved away from our support group), school changed for us.  It became more fun and sort of explorative.  I started calling life "school".  I started to see the value in every day activities.  Instead of just doing, we began learning through it all.  Think of all that can be taught (and learned) from: milking goats, raising chickens, scooping dead guineas off the road, getting ring worm from infected cats, English tea parties, illnesses, moldy food, sore muscles, arguing with siblings, cooking meals, compost piles, etc.  

Not don't get me wrong, I still use books... tons of them! I LOVE books - so do my kids, but I only (always) use workbooks for three subjects in elementary years: Language Arts, Handwriting, and Math. The rest is spontaneous.  Why?  Because I find that my kids are more interested in learning when they find the subject interesting, and let's face it, most workbooks aren't that interesting.  So, we use books that ARE interesting for most things.

One really interesting and beautiful Science book is the one on the blanket:  The Kingfisher Science Encyclopedia(It's not a Creationist view, but even that creates opportunity to share the truth with the kids and helps them to understand what's being said by scientists and why we don't believe that way.)

We also do a lot of nature study, real life application of practical principles and creative arts studies (art, music, writing, etc.). 

I think one of the best parts of being a homeschooling mom is that you have time with your kids to help them discover who they are... and they are all so unique.

I'm not going to lie and say, "It's alllll good!"  Some days our homeschool is boring. (There said it.)  Some days my kids say, "I hate school".  (Confession.)  I fail sometimes because I don't always put forth the effort to make learning interesting.  BUT, you better believe every time I hear my kids say, "I hate school!" I'm ON IT, trying to bring them back to the love of learning that they were born with!




Kids go through stages where they ask ten thousand questions a day.  They go through stages where they want to do everything by themselves.  So, what is it that takes a child from curious to dull?  I believe it's when they don't have time to be curious - so I give my kids time to be curious... to explore... to learn!

Hey, look what my oldest home schooler (graduated 2 years ago) did!
Jared's latest composing job (He scored a book trailer for this book: Soundtrack Nation: Interviews with Today's Top Professionals in Film, Videogame, and Television Scoring

A Hippie Classroom