To the Policeman Who Put My Life in Danger

Dear Mr. Policeman,

Perhaps by the title of this post you're already on the defensive, wondering what you've done wrong this time.  It seems like you can never please anyone no matter how hard you try.

But maybe it will surprise you to know that I am not angry nor am I going to accuse you of wrongdoing.

In fact, my purpose is just the opposite.

I'll spare you and anyone else reading this the details of what happened, but while you were headed to an emergency, you did something a little out of character and put me in potential danger by the way you were driving.  It shook me up pretty badly when I realized what had just happened.

But the more I considered the incident, the more I found myself appreciating you and hoping that I could encourage others to do the same.

Perhaps you had assessed the situation much more rapidly than I could have and you knew there was no real danger even though it felt that way to me.

Or perhaps you were so pumped full of adrenaline that your brain didn't quite react the way you knew it should have had you not been in such a high intensity situation.  I actually did a little quick search on adrenaline and found several forums where policemen and other emergency workers were discussing how they were frustrated at the way they'd driven in an emergency situation and were hoping for some pointers so that it wouldn't happen again.

I appreciated that these policemen were concerned for the safety of everyone on the road and wanted to do everything in their power to make sure they were protecting everyone involved.  I believe you feel that way too.  Just because you may have made a mistake one time doesn't mean that cops are power-hungry jerks who don't do anything except drive fast, eat donuts, and hand out tickets just for fun.  I hope more people will realize that.

If this incident wasn't a mistake – awesome.  That means you knew exactly what you were doing and even though it felt scary to me, I can trust that you are protecting me.

If it was simply an adrenline-induced lapse of clear thinking, may I remind anyone reading of a pertinent fact?

Heroes are still human.

None of us should expect a policeman to have superhuman abilities.  However, sir, the difference between your human body and that of an average civilian is that yours has the word hero attached to it.

So instead of calling  you out for yesterday's incident, I want to thank you for putting your life on the line day in and day out for the citizens of this country.  You endanger your own life and work so incredibly hard with so little to show for it.  I for one would like you to know that I'm grateful.

I'll close with Paul Harvey's thoughts on “What is a Policeman?” because I feel it is so true and something I wish every citizen of this country would understand.

Thank you for all that you do.

*This post has been heavily edited from its original version for the sake of clarity.  I want my point to be perfectly clear. I want every policeman and civilian to have no doubt that our policemen deserve a great big “Thank You!” instead of the disgraceful treatment that seems to be popular these days.*

Free Coconut Oil From Tropical Traditions

Every July 4, Tropical Traditions offers a free quart of virgin coconut oil with any $19 purchase.  This is a fabulous deal since the coconut oil is normally much more expensive than that on its own!  It’s the highest quality coconut oil I know of.

This offer goes through July 5 and you can combine it with current sales to get the best deal.

The best deal I see is to purchase the Buy 2 Get 2 Free pure coconut oil.  You'll end up with 4 quarts of pure coconut oil plus the free quart of virgin coconut oil.  That's 5 quarts for the price of 2!

To get in on this deal, just go here and you’ll see the offer for the free coconut oil on the right side.  Add it and at least $19 worth of other stuff to your cart and it will show up as $0 in your cart.

If you've been wanting to try coconut oil for its many health benefits, now is a GREAT time to do so!

(Here's a list of 30 different uses for coconut oil!  We use it daily in our house!)

If you're not sure of the difference between the pure coconut oil and the virgin coconut, the pure is odorless and flavorless and is great for cooking so that you don't have a coconut taste.

The virgin oil retains a slight coconut taste and smell and is great for any use, but just be aware that you will smell and taste it slightly.

Hope you're having a fabulous 4th of July!

P.S. Don't forget this offer only goes through tomorrow, July 5, so order quickly as there will not be another deal like this for a long time!

Grab it here.

Don’t Judge a Book By Its Cover (My Thoughts on The Books I Purchased From the Bundle Sale)

The Build Your Bundle homeschool sale has ended; however, you can still purchase these products individually through their respective publisher's websites.

I got all of my products downloaded from the Build Your Own Bundle sale and took a look through them.

Let me just say – you can't judge a book by its cover!  Just to be helpful, I thought I'd go through what I bought and tell you what I thought in case it will help you make your final purchase decisions.  Obviously I didn't buy one of everything, but I'll tell you about all 30 of the items I got.

1. Frank Webster audio collection/Petticoat Warriors/Little Pioneers

I know my kids are going to like these.  I've just got to figure out some way to get them off the computer because my kids will not want to sit in front of the computer to listen.  Probably the best way to do that will be just to burn them to a CD

Found in: Boy's Bundle (Frank Webster collection), Girl's Bundle (Petticoat Warriors), 1st-3rd bundle #2 (Little Pioneers)

2. Considering God's Creation – Science curriculum

Love!  This is written out purposely for use with multiple ages, which is exactly what I was hoping to do this year (combine the kids into one class.) The lessons are laid out for the teacher to know exactly what to say (which is great since I never was the best at science.)  They are based on Scripture, which means there is a Scripture reading each day and a discussion of what the scripture says about the particular topics.  There are the basic lessons, along with student activities, plus a number of suggestions each day for “digging deeper” – like videos to watch, books to read, or experiments to perform.  Lots of learning styles are incorporated – hands-on, auditory, visual – with suggestions for activities to do that will involve all of the different learning methods.  I'm VERY happy with this purchase.

Found in: Charlotte Mason Bundle

3. Growing in Wisdom and Proverbs People

I loved these so much I did an entire post about them.  Read it here.  In short: they're going to be just the thing my young readers need for doing their daily devotions.  They make it easy for children to understand and apply the Scriptures without being watered down.

Found in: Character Bundle

4. American Wars Volume I

My kids are not old enough for it yet, but there is a WAR GAME in this package!  How fun is that?!

“You are the leader of a four-member reconnaissance team. You receive your orders at headquarters at the beginning of the game. The orders—make your way to the destination and collect all intel on enemy troop positions and troop movements that you can—then make it back to headquarters with that intel.”

 

Found in: Boy's Bundle

5. Delightful Planning – A Unit Study planner

I actually probably won't use the planning pages from this because I work best with my own (mad scientist type) methods.  But, the first half of the book is a great resource for learning about delight-directed learning, how to make it work, how to make sure you include everything you need for a well-rounded education, etc.  It's a good resource in that regard.

Found in: Unit Studies Bundle

6. Elementary Foundations – Parenting Wisdom for Ages 5-8
Home Improvement: The Parenting Book You Can Read to Your Kids

Since these are parenting books (which means lots of words and no quick skimming 🙂 ) I haven't looked at these in great detail.  I really felt I didn't need to because they are from the National Center for Biblical Parenting.  I've read their Motivate Your Child (review here) and Motivate Your Child Action Plan books and found them both to be top-notch.  I'm not expecting anything less from these books.

Found in: 1st-3rd Bundle #2

7. Human Body Detectives

I chose the “immunity” one, but I'm considering going back for another purchase.  These just look cool.  The .zip file was LOADED with files when I opened it up.  Enough to keep us busy for quite a while.  (And I don't really know when we'll even get to it since I'm planning on the other science curriculum for the school year – this would make a fun summer study maybe.)

Found in: 1st – 3rd #1

8. Character Collection

I'm really excited about getting ALL these good books for my kids to read.  My only problem is figuring out how to get them into a format where they can read them. I don't really want them sitting at the computer to read (and I doubt they want to either.)  I've gotta get a little techy and figure out how to send them to some kind of cloud so I can at least put them on the Kindle or iPad.

Found in: 1st -3rd #1 and Character Bundle

9. My Journey With Jesus Christ

This is a nice little book that teaches kids about God and their relationship with Him.  It helps them understand concepts like prayer, God's promises, and learning to let God speak to them through His word.  I would not use this for personal devotions, but I would not mind my kids going through it to grasp these concepts.  I think the strongest takeaway from the book is teaching how to pray by confessing sin, praising God for his blessings, and bringing their petitions to God.  I also wish they had a King James version of this since that is what our family uses.

Found in: Character Bundle

10. Warfare by Duct Tape – beginner

I want to love this, and I know there are tons of other people out there who do love it and their boys use it regulary — but I just have to be honest with myself.  As “cute” as it is (if I can use that term about little boys doing battle with swords and shields), I know that in our family we will probably never get around to getting the materials needed (PVC pipe and PVC foam — along with cardboard and duct tape of course!)  I think when my boys are older and able to take their own initiative to find what they need to craft their weapons they will love it, but right now I just know I will probably never help them with this (brutal honesty here!  Hey a mom can't do everything!)

Found in: Boy's Bundle and Secular Bundle

11. 28 Days to Timeliness

I actually got this because I needed a couple extra products to finish building my bundle.  It looks like a great book; I'm just not sure I will have time to read it (ha!)

Found in: Mom Bundle #1

12. Creation vs. Evoluation: Learning How Science Supports the Bible

This wasn't as in-depth as I was expecting.  It is scripture-based, which is good, but I was hoping for more detail than it included.

Found in: Middle School Bundle

13. Family Bible Bites

This contains a lot of fun hands-on activities to help make your family Bible time and scripture memorization more…well…memorable.  I'm not sure we'll use it as we already have a good system in place, but it has lots of good ideas.

Found in : Character Bundle

14. Princess Training

There are parts I like and parts I could easily skip.  If you are a mom in need of some direction with training your daughter to be a godly young lady, this could be a good resource.  I don't think I will personally end up using it, but it does have some creative ideas for moms of girls.

Found in: Girls' Bundle

15. Elementary Spelling Fun: 1-3

I couldn't believe this is 3 YEARS worth of spelling!  That's a great deal!

I like that the spelling words are based on scripture, and that it also contains handwriting practice with Scripture copywork. (Great for memorization too!)  The daily activities for practicing the spelling words are switched up every day to keep things exciting.  The only thing I'm not sure about is how well the spelling words are going to match up to the kids' phonics lessons.  I like to teach things “in order” (even though I know that's not always necessary or the best way, but it drives my brain crazy to skip around.)  If you're not terribly picky about the spelling words perfectly matching up with your phonics lessons, I think this is a great deal and a good curriculum.

Found in: 1st – 3rd Bundle #2

16. Your Business Math Pet Store

My kids aren't old enough for this yet, but this is going to be SO FUN!  Why settle for boring exercises to learn business math, when it can be so fun?!  It will probably help the kids solidify the concepts even better anyway since they are actually learning how to keep a start-up business afloat through a simulated pet store ownership.

Found in: Charlotte Mason Bundle

17. Lads and Ladies of Wisdom

This is a really good character training curriculum. It's better than I thought it would be, to be honest.  I think we'll get some good use out of it.

Found in: Character Bundle

18. Teaching Science and Having Fun

This one blew my expectations out of the water.  I almost didn't buy it, but I'm so glad I did!  It is so much more in-depth than I expected it to be.

It gives tons of suggestions for teaching based on what style best fits your family and helps you know what you should be teaching to what age chidlren.  If you like a unit study approach it gives suggestions for teaching phonics, grammar, spelling, etc. along with what you're currently studying in science.  So helpful!

Found in: Mom Bundle #1

19. People of the Bible Volume 1 and 2

I could live easily without this one.  If you've never done any sort of notebooking before and need some guidance, this could be helpful, but I didn't really find it necessary for us.

Found in: Notebooking Bundle and Character Bundle

20. WriteShop

This is another product that I feel like I got a really good value from! I never dreamed I could teach my 1st and 2nd grader creative writing!  I also love how this is going to integrate language arts as well as penmanship.  They're learning what I consider the absolute essentials (language and penmanship) as well as getting some great practice on the “extras” (creative writing.)  I plan to use this curriculum this coming school year.

Found in: 1st-3rd Bundle #2

Time is running out to make your final decisions!  I hope my thoughts on what I bought will help you out a little bit!

Purchase a Pre-made bundle here.

OR

Mix and Match to Build Your Own Bundle here.

Disorganized Homemakers Rejoice! Get Pre-made Menus in Your Inbox

Have you heard about the new feature from Build a Menu?

 

Huggies Snug and Dry Ultra Diapers (And How to Win $2000 Toward the Project of Your Choice!)

Want to win $2000 toward a community project just by loving on your babies?

Of course you do!  And it's easy!

Here's the scoop:

1. Share a selfie of you and baby on Twitter or Instagram and nominate a community
   project in need such as a local park, playground, or rec-center. Tag the post with
   #UltraHug.
2. You can post between now and June 25 to enter. Beginning July 6, Huggies will feature
   20 of the nominated projects HERE. The top 10 will receive community project grants of $2000!

Here's my selfie on Instagram:

Just enjoying a morning cuddling with my little princess! #Ultrahug

Before I posted my selfie, though, I took my little sweetie on a quick trip to Walmart to grab some Snug & Dry Ultra diapers.

She had fun picking them out!

The new Huggies® Snug & Dry Ultra Diapers, which are available exclusively at Walmart, now
offer improved protection at a better value.  With up to 12 hours of long-lasting leakage protection, they keep baby dry and comfortable.

Mom certainly doesn't mind the Walmart price for such long-lasting protection!

And of course, one just absolutely cannot beat the loads of fun to be had unloading the diapers from the box!

And closing the box back up nice and neat when we're finished is a must!

I'm looking forward to seeing your #UltraHug selfies on Twitter and Instagram!  Follow me there as I'll be posting reminders throughout the month!

Tell the Story Scripture Plaque Review

Isn't this sign just gorgeous???!!!

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