The day of Pentecost

WHAT IS PENTECOST?

Pentecost is the great festival that marks the birth of the Christian church by the power of the Holy Spirit. Pentecost means "fiftieth day" and is celebrated fifty days after Easter.

WHAT HAPPENED ON PENTECOST?

Ten days after Jesus ascended into heaven, the twelve apostles, Jesus' mother and family, and many other of His disciples gathered together in Jerusalem for the Jewish harvest festival that was celebrated on the fiftieth day of Passover. While they were indoors praying, a sound like that of a rushing wind filled the house and tongues of fire descended and rested over each of their heads. This was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on human flesh promised by God through the prophet Joel (Joel 2:28-29). The disciples were suddenly empowered to proclaim the gospel of the risen Christ. They went out into the streets of Jerusalem and began preaching to the crowds gathered for the festival. Not only did the disciples preach with boldness and vigor, but by a miracle of the Holy Spirit they spoke in the native languages of the people present, many who had come from all corners of the Roman Empire. This created a sensation. The apostle Peter seized the moment and addressed the crowd, preaching to them about Jesus' death and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins. The result was that about three thousand converts were baptized that day. (You can read the Biblical account of Pentecost in Acts 2:1-41). ~ http://www.stpaulskingsville.org/pentecost.htm

Yesterday I received an email from some of our most loyal friends with an attachment regarding Pentecost which you can read here ~ Wind and Fire: The Double Portion of Pentecost

I really appreciate them reminding me of such a moment in history, the day when the Holy Spirit came to Earth as promised by Jesus the Christ in the gospel of John 14:15-17; John 16:7-11. It has really never occurred to me that as a Christian we celebrate the coming of the Saviour, the death and Resurrection of the Saviour but have forgotten to celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit. We are already planning our celebration feast for this Sunday May 31st, be sure to drop back to hear what we did.

God of Wonders

Over the last week, David, Joshua, Grace and I watched an incredible presentation of the Universe and all it's displays. What words in all languages can describe this phenomenal creation? Just like God it is indescribable, hard to comprehend and fathom just how everything is placed. Watching this video totally leaves you breathless, absolutely amazed and once again reminds you of how everything is a miracle.

One fact that just blew me away was the size of Earth against the Sun and that if the sun were hollow 1 million earths could fit inside....incredible! That's not it though, they then put the sun up against the next largest star and yet again the sun could fit inside that star numerous of times!

Sitting back in the lounge trying to make sense of the galaxy around us just left me in awe of this magnificent God and His creation, but in all that He sees me and totally loves me, He knows how many hairs are upon my head, He knows my thoughts even before I think them.

This DVD is presented very professionally with so much detail on the galaxy, DNA, plants and animals, I highly recommend this for adults and children who are questioning creation! For home school this DVD is fabulous for Astronomy, creation science and nature study.

RIGHT CLICK HERE

RIGHT CLICK HERE

Compassion Day 2009

Compassion is an incredible cause! The child you sponsor not only receives nourishing food, cloths and education but they learn the truths of the bible and what Jesus has done for them. Our compassion child Kaleb is so beautiful in his letters, he always tells us how much he loves us and how thankful he is for supporting his health, schooling and teaching about the Lord. At the end of every letter he always asks for us to pray for him and his family.

We hope to meet him one day!

'Each year, on one action-packed day, Compassion unites with Christian radio stations across Australia to take up a mighty challenge – changing the lives of 1500 children living in poverty'.

-http://www.compassionday.com.au/

Preparation is the key!

Today I have spent a couple of hours preparing for starting term 2 on Monday! As I was putting together the book list for this term, I began to feel very excited and confident about what we are going to do. You see after the end of last terms examinations I was shocked (to put it plainly) in how well the examination week went.



Joshua and Grace exceeded my expectations in what they had learned and picked up in each subject which then left me feeling so encouraged. I have seen such a difference in putting in the prep work and writing down what books you would like to have read and finished by the end of next term.



As I was looking at http://www.amblesideonline.org/ and what composer and artist we are studying this term, joy flooded my heart for I am so grateful for amble side putting together this fantastic curriculum for all who would like to use it.



Here is a quick over view of what is on our book list for this term -


Bible - We are studying the lives of the apostles in the book of Acts


Science - Pagoo - We actually started this book last term and the children were very intrigued so I am looking forward to picking it back up again

Australian History - We continue to read 'Our Sunburnt Country' - This is a very well written and illustrated book, the children love it.


Australian Literature - We have 2 more chapters of the very wonderful 'Dot and the kangaroo', (this read-aloud has been Joshua's absolute favourite) we then start 'The Magic Pudding'


Literature - Continue reading 'Robin Hood' followed by 'Tales from Shakespeare'

History tales - Joan of Arc

World History - Columbus

Geography - Seabird

Poetry - We begin ' The animals Noah forgot'


Reader's - McGuffey's Eclectic readers


For Grace we will be completing the tales from the wonderful Miss Beatrix Potter,






we will then start the beautiful series of A. A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh - the original series




For art we have Lot's of books on our shelf. One that we love is 'A child's book of prayer in art' by sister Wendy Beckett -





Art Appreciation - This term we are studying the works of Caspar David Friedrich (Romantic Painter) "The artist should not only paint what he sees before him, but also what he sees within him. If, however, he sees nothing within him, then he should also omit to paint that which he sees before him." - C.D.F

Composer - Franz Liszt - He was taught the piano by his father; establishing himself as a remarkable concert artist by the age of 12.



Nature Study - We continue the 'Real-Life Bugs and insects' series





We continue to read 'Parables from Nature' for our read-aloud.



Maths - Last term we started 'Memorize in Minutes: The Times Tables' - we are finding this just fabulous, I won't go into detail tonight for this book deserves a whole separate blog which i'll do later on.








Once again the preparation work has been the key to unlock readiness, confidence, joy and eagerness in my heart to begin our next term of learning.



BRING IT ON!