Homeschooling Friends

Music by Darin Warren.

New Creation Warriors

Calling all home schooling families. If you are looking for a family-style co-operative, check out New Creation Co-op, which offers both academic and enrichment courses.

New Creation Homeschool Co-operative

The past three years every Tuesday during the home school year, I have had the blessing of teaching general science and biology at New Creation Home School Co-operative. Revealing the glory of God's creation through science to awesome students and seeing them grow in their appreciation for science was a huge blessing! However, my heart overflows to think that beyond science, I have had a small part in encouraging my students to seek after God with all of their heart, mind, soul and strength. I will not forget the unique callings and destinies of the students who patiently listened to me lecture on everything from protists to plants to deoxyribonucleic acid. Students, you have blessed me beyond comprehension! In addition, to the moms of New Creation- I will never forget your friendship, your prayers, and your love! May the Lord bless you with double that which you have given me!

Seeing into the Unseen, Taking Authority, and Infusing Love

It started the beginning of last week with a phone call from a friend. She had a heavy prayer request. After agreeing to pray about the situation she faced, I knew I needed to seek the Lord as to how to even begin to pray. I asked the Lord for a dream that night and I believe He gave me direction on how to pray. But did you ever experience heavy prayer issues do have the potential to weigh down the pray-er?

Wednesday evening, I was faced with a choice which stirred a little anxiety in me. I prayed about what to do, and then felt to push through the fear.

On Friday, someone said something that stirred my flesh and anxiety came a little heavier on me. I even started to get a little nauseated. I commanded my stomach to quiet and it immediately obeyed, however, I did not command the anxiety to leave.

On Friday evening, as I was walking through my kitchen (which I believe represents my heart/soul), I saw out of my left peripheral vision a thin mist. I turned to actually see it, only to see it immediately dissipate. I believe I saw an angel sent to minister my heart/soul.

Friday night was difficult for sleeping because anxiety hung like a weight on my chest. I prayed, but still no resolution of the heaviness.

Finally, on Saturday, enough was enough and God's Spirit rose up in me to command anxiety to go in the name of Jesus!!! Guess what...immediately anxiety flew off my chest. I'm not exaggerating! It actually felt as though something was perched on my chest and left at lightning speed at my command. In anxiety's place, I could feel God infusing me with Peace and Love and Joy!

A little later, I gave a "Love Infusion" to a girl who had been having chest pain. "Love Infusion" was what Jesus told me to call it. It simply was a hug in which I prayed for the Love that Jesus infused me with would be transferred to the girl.

This past Monday, Mom started to experience dizziness. I checked her and her vital signs were stable. We had her checked in the afternoon and nothing definitive was determined.

Tuesday, while driving to co-op, I was singing and worshipping Jesus. I started to feel holy electricity strongly over various parts of my body. I was being infused again. The Lord instructed me to pray for a friend, who reported that she could feel electricty coming off of me as I placed my arm around her back.

Early Wenesday morning Dad found Mom on the floor beside the bed. I immediately went to check her and found her heart racing at 140 beats a minute. She was having an attack of atrial fibrillation. The ambulance was called and they actually gave her an IV push med to slow her heart rate before leaving for the hospital. Mom was admitted to the Harrisburg Hospital. Her white blood cells are elevated (indicative of infection) and I also discovered she hadn't been taking her heart medicine. Please pray!!!
The awesome thing about all of this is that the whole time, I could feel Jesus' Presence (electricity) and Peace...not a bit of anxiety.

I spent the majority of Wednesday at the hospital came home for about 20 minutes and then headed back to the big city to attend Youth service. My husband ussually doesn't come with us on Wednesdays, but did because he knew I was tired. Isn't that sweet?

While turning into CCC I saw out of my right periphery, a white mist hovering around the CCC sign. Again, I believe an angel assigned to protect. Awesome!!!

Thank you, Jesus, for Your Infusions, for Your Love and Strength in me. You are my Beautiful Friend!!! I love You!!!

All Your Pretty Leaves Have Fallen to the Ground

Below is a repost of an article written by one of my biology students. Read her heart and "see" the awesome insight of one so young. I am privileged to be able to speak into her life.

Have an awesome day!
Beautiful Grace

Reposted by permission of author, Sarah.

"all your pretty leaves have fallen to the ground"

on sunday i was taking a walk with my amazing little brother. i'm serious. my little brother is amazing. annoying, yes, but more amazing than annoying.

so anyway, we were walking together and talking about God and stuff, and i came up with the most amazing analogy! :)

or, i didn't come up with it. God gave it to me. i don't make this stuff up, folks. lol..

leaves look the same. they do. if you hold two leaves from the same tree next to eachother, they both look the same. but they AREN'T the same. they have slightly different shapes and their little leaf vane thingies are at different spots on the leaf, you know? leaves LOOK the same, but the AREN'T the same. and eventually they will all fall off of whatever tree they live on, and they will land on the ground. and these very similar leaves will be at spots that are perhaps very close to eachother, but they won't be at the same spot. they might be next to eachother, but they can't both be at the exact same spot in space.

this kinda reminds me of the body of Christ. the world is full of people. people in general look the same. we all have eyes, noses, mouths, hair, arms, legs, hands, feet. some of us share the same interests and talents. but does that mean that we're the same? no. people are most definitely NOT the same. some of us might LOOK the same, but we're NOT the same.... and God has plans for all of us. it says that in Jeremiah. i forget where, but it says that God has plans for us to give us a hope and a future. and God calls us all to do different things for Him, right? and some people will do the same thing. there's naturally gonna be more than one missionary and more than one pastor and more than one of everything. and anyway, just because you're doing something that's extremely similar as your brother or sister in Christ doesn't mean that what you're doing is unimportant. what you're doing is IMPORTANT, kuz God told you to do it. think about the leaves again. the leaves fall off the tree and land really close to eachother! the leaves falling off the tree is kind of like when God calls you to do something, and you go do it. and... like, what if one of the leaves wasn't there? even though they're next to eachother on the ground, they both still cover up a piece of ground. if one of the leaves wasn't THERE, there would be a blank piece of ground, right? and that's no good. just like, it's no good if there's two pastors who are sitting here being jealous of eachother because they're doing the similar things. it doesn't matter that you're both doing the similar things. the point is, God called each of you to do that thing, right? so DO it. if it wouldn't work, God wouldn't have called both of you to where you are, so get over yourself already. and when leaves fall off the tree, they don't sit there going, "ew, you're touching me, go move somewhere else and do your own thing." no. they don't say ANYTHING... mainly because they're inanimite objects. heh. but for real. be like leaves. land where God tells you to land, and don't pick on other people for landing where God told THEM to land. even though you're both doing similar things, you can't do the SAME thing that the other person is doing. like if pastor A tried to be pastor B, it wouldn't work, because pastor A is a different person than pastor B is. pastor A adds his own personal touch to his ministry, and pastor B has a completely different personal touch to add. and neither of these pastors could do what the other person is doing, simply because they're not them. they're themselves.....

i hope that made sense. sorry if it was disjointed or whatever... my family is watching a movie in the other room and the noise is carrying over, which makes it hard to think. slightly.

im gonna go knit. yuns have a great day. :)

peace,-Sarah

Mom Update and Prayer

Thanks all for praying for my Mother. My Father and I saw her this afternoon, and she is much more alert. Thank you, Jesus. She did have a fever though, so please keep on praying for resolution of these infections.

I'm grateful for the lovely ladies from New Creation Co-op who called me to find out what they could do besides pray. You are a blessing to me ladies!!!!

Also, thanks, Riley, for your encouragement. Sending me the "Thank You" award at a time that I needed it. You are a blessing to me, Dear!!!

Didn't Your Mom Tell You to Wash Your Hands? The Wonders of Kingdom Monera

Did you ever wonder why you Mom told you to wash your hands before eating? Well, my biology students at New Creation Co-Operative found out the answer to that question this past Tuesday.

One of my awesome students, ZD, volunteered to have the microorganisms (a living thing too small to be seen with the naked eye) on his hands cultured (placing an microorganism on a nutritive plate to encourage its growth). We allowed the growth of the microbial colony for one week and wow...the amazing microscopic world of God's creation.

I'm not a microbiologist, but I'm thinking the pictures you see below are Staphylococcus aureus, the bacteria which live on our skin. This "germ" is the culprit for a myriad of minor skin infections including, but not limited to, pimples, impetigo, boils, cellulitis folliculitis, furuncles, carbuncles, scalded skin syndrome and abscesses to life threatening diseases such as pneumonia, meningitis, osteomyelitis endocarditis, Toxic shock syndrome (TSS), and septicemia (Information from Wikipedia).

You may have heard about MRSA or the "Superbug" on the news. This virulent strain of S. aureus, Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus, resists traditional antibiotics and is difficult to cure concerning those in the medical field. As a former infection control nurse, it was my responsibility to monitor this type of infection and insure proper handling of it to prevent spread to others.

But what can we do to protect ourselves?

#1. Do as your mother said and wash your hands. Hand washing is the most effective way of dealing with this little culprit.

#2. Follow your doctor's instructions in taking antibiotics. Always complete the course of treatment. By only taking enough antibiotics to make you feel better, you risk only decreasing the bacterial population. The bacteria that remain have ways of "learning to" resist the antibiotic in the future.

#3. If it's wet and it's not yours, don't touch it! I learned this humorous statement in nursing school and it has stuck. It was drilled in our heads to WEAR GLOVES in this type of situation.

These beautiful golden spheres are magnified 600x.

This image is without stain.

Magnified 600x with methylene blue stain applied

A huge thank you to Mrs. Knowles for allowing our class to borrow her cool microscope with a camera!!!

Also, thanks New Creation biology class for your co-operation and interest. We're going to have an awesome year learning about God's creation!!!!

I am Blessed

Yesterday, while teaching General Science to my New Creation Homeschool Students, Fire stuck his head in my classroom door and stated, "I love you, Mommy." For Fire to do this in front of his peers, really touched my heart!!! Later, we hugged in the midst of the lunchroom.

I AM BLESSED!!!!

We Are a New Creation

"Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come!" 2 Corinthians 5:17

When God instructed me to Home Educate my sons, I was filled with many reservations..."I'm not a teacher," "How do you teach another human being to read?" "Oh, my gosh, ALGEBRA!!!!" But the most heart-stirring question remained..."What about relationships with other kids?" Yet, I trusted God knew what was best for my boys.

God, Most Faithful, responded to all of my reservations and many more of them that have crept up over these last dozen years. One of His provisions has been making available New Creation Homeschool Co-operative.

A co-operative wonderfully fills the needs about which I cried out to the Lord. I can use my background in the life sciences to teach general science and biology, and my sons benefit from taking classes from other moms who excel in subjects such as, ALGEBRA!!!! But a co-op mostly fills the deepest desire I had for my sons...Christian friendships.

Thank you, God, for calling, empowering and providing for everything we needed. You receive all the glory for these last 12 years!!!

The picture above shows myself and two of my New Creation general science students. I love to speak of the glory of God's creation through science, and I love that I am able to form relationships with awesome, godly students!!!

If you are interested in what New Creation has to offer, you are gladly invited to attend our Open House on March 18th from 6:30 to 8:30 pm at South Mountain Church in Dillsburg.