The Gould Family

I’m not sure if you have ever read the story of Esther but it is truly an amazing story. The Israelites have been taken captive by the Babylonians for 70 years and they have finally been allowed to return to their homeland after so many years in exile. There are a few Israelites who remained in the land of exile for whatever reason but God is going to use them to save His people from annihilation. (I love the fact that God uses ordinary people to accomplish His plans in this world because I am one of those ordinary people.) King Xerxes, king of Persia, is having a banquet for all his officials and the last day of the banquet (party) the king summons Vashti, his wife, to come show off her beauty to the people and his nobles. She refuses and this makes the king angry. Actually the Bible says he was furious and his anger burned within him. Why is he so angry? I feel his pride has been wounded and he doesn’t look too good in front of his people. In his anger he banishes Vashti from his presence forever and makes it a law for the women of the land to disobey their husbands. God will use this situation to place Esther in the palace as queen at just the right time. She has come to the kingdom for such a time as this.

What about us? We also are here for such a time as this. God has a plan for our lives. Are we available (like Esther) to be used by God? Our purpose for being in God’s kingdom is this: For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith– and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God– 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:8-10

Why not ask God today what good works you can do for Him?

The first day started out terrible. I was starting to get crabby at about 9:00 a.m. I know a little ridiculous. But if you knew how my children were behaving you would understand. I finally calmed down and we got started shortly after that and the rest of the day went fairly well. I have to say I was totally shocked! Today was a little rough because one of my children was in a crabby mood. It is okay for mom but not for the kiddos, right? He finally came around though because I threatened to take away his all-nighter. The older 3 did some extra reading and schoolwork so that they can stay up all night and watch movies. I know probably not a good idea but it got them reading. This was really for one of my sons who just dislikes reading but he finished the book he was suppose to in record time. So I told him next time we would have to double the books he had to read. I don’t think he like that too much.

It was a crazy week but I remained calm and even finished my housework today. So tomorrow I can spend time helping my husband and preparing for the upcoming Bible study. Which I am totally excited about! We will be studying the book of Esther. What a great book!

Well back to the grind…Blessings, grace & peace!

My two youngest sons during science class today decided to give their lives to Jesus.  Yea!  I know they are young and do not understand everything but childlike faith is what it is all about.  It is wonderful to see them grow and mature in their walk with God.  As parents this verse sums up what we strive for:

3 John 1:4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

  This is a picture of our boys taken this summer out on our front porch. 

The summer has gone by so fast!  I cannot believe it is almost time to start school again.

We have had a great summer so far.  My sister and her husband moved to Michigan from Maine and spent some time here with us while looking for a place of their own.  When they moved out a couple of weeks later my husband’s sis and hubby came from California for a visit.  We had a blast with them!  We took the kids to the movies, went to a little beach town and browsed the shops and played at the beach, went to Michigan’s Adventure, took the kids to Chuckee Cheese for a bday party for our 8 year old son, and had a great time of fellowship together.

We spent a lovely day at Lake Michigan.  It was gorgeous.  We had so much playing in the waves.

It has been extremely hot here of late.  We lost the electricity last night and it was off for about 15 hours.

I have been getting the upcoming school year in order.  I think I have the schedule all set  and I filed all of last years papers.  I still have a few books to pick up but for the most part we are ready to get started.   I look forward to relaxing the rest of the summer.  Yea!

Hi, I am glad to stop by.  Our homeschool journey has been such a learning experience for me.  I thought I was the one teaching?  My children have taught me humility, patience, love, grace, to be willing to let them lead sometime and branch out into areas of study that interest them.  What difficult lessons to learn!  It has been worth it and I am so thankful I have had the opportunity to be home with them and see them mature not only in their studies but as young men.

Our boys are 13, 11, 8, 6 and 5.  They are all unique and wonderful gifts from the Lord.  They have taught me (and my husband) to be flexible as I have struggled to teach them and disciple them.  We begin our homeschool journey teaching one child and as we added the other children I had to learn to adjust my teaching style.  This is hard for a person who like order and routine.  I could have taught them all the same but I wanted my children to have the best education that I could give them.  I have changed curriculum and style many times trying to find the best thing to use for each child.  It is not an easy task to homeschool but the rewards are amazing.

My husband, Alex, is a pastor and we have been married almost 14 years.  He has been pastoring a small church plant and we have been at the church about 3 1/2 years.  The Lord has helped me to grow during our stay here.  We have had to depend so much on him and we have been stretched in our faith.  It is wonderful to see what things the Lord can do if we give him the chance.

I will write more later…we are off to the beach today.  Dad’s day off!  Yea!  It is suppose to be close to 100 today. Thank you for stopping by!