Browsing the Getting Started w/ L.E.D. category...


Ever get tempted to go back to "Egypt"? Perhaps you were getting free to follow God and shake off the shackles of the world’s ways and ideas of education, but … you get scared. You wonder, "Can I really do this? I don’t know HOW to do this. Is God really going to get me through this? At least I knew what I was doing in the "old way"."

This is my general advise for getting started – or restarted – with olders and youngers – when you don’t know what to do – or are tempted to go back. (Quoted as sent to a mom asking somewhat the above questions.)

Don’t despair. God has given your children to you and He knows best for them and will work it through YOU! Some curriculum company does not know your child, your family or where God has you or is leading you. They don’t know best. God does – and He will guide YOU. When you know you are weak and inadequate, He can work HIS way through you – then you know you must lean on Him and can’t do it in your own strength. HE does it through you! I’ve also found that all those pre-packaged curricula at various grade levels and schedules to keep creates MORE burn out and stress on Mom, than just working with the children together on your own timetable. I continually hear moms saying, "we’re behind" and feeling like a failure (in some way or another) because they can’t keep the schedule, or stressing their kids out trying to keep the schedule. And I know way too many hs-ers who have quit because of this.)

What’s my solution?
Take your children – all of them. Get out the Bible – and read to them. For the little ones sake, perhaps a familiar story will hold their attention better. Talk about it. Ask questions about it. Questions that make them think about it. (Questions that make MOM think about it!) Not just who did what, but why God told us this, how does it change my life, etc. Even a familiar story has more to dig out than what lays on the surface. Then go run and jump – or sweep a floor or do some dishes, whatever. Then draw a picture of the story, or copy a verse, or make some type of project or notebook page to remember what they learned. OR just play-act the story in the run and jump time!

Next head back to the couch and grab a living book that you know they will all enjoy (not so "school-y" that the little ones won’ think it’s fun.) Cuddle up on the couch and read together again. Don’t read so much that the little ones lose it. You want your older ones begging you to go on. But if the littles are getting restless, quit. And talk about it. Same routine – dig into it. Any words they didn’t understand? Look them up. Anything they/you want to know more about – look it up. (Same goes for Bible on these.) Go back to the table to draw, copy, chart, write – whatever. While olders are working on this, you can work/play with youngers, if they don’t want to do the activity at the table. Or they can act it out again. Run, jump and play again.

Are there things you really need to work on individually? Many times even the things we typically think of that way can be done together. Spelling and reading? How about dumping a tub of letters in the middle of the floor or table, giving the first word to your older ones (to spell with the letters) and your younger can find the letter that makes the beginning sound of the word. He doesn’t know it yet? Find it for him and teach him. I made a game called "Mailman" (that I need to get redone electronically, so I can sell it again.) The children roll dice and draw a card – they are color coded for difficulty, from letters to HARD words – if they can read/spell (id the letter/sound) they can move forward. The whole family can play!

Math you can do somewhat the same in learning math basics/facts. Roll dice, littles tell you how many, olders add or multiply, etc. You can even use different colored dice for place value. "Story/Word" problems can be given throughout the day – with real life things.

You just have to think outside the box, and realize if they are learning something new – or increasing understanding of something old – or personally applying something they’ve known "forever" – they are growing in wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. And that is good and fine. It doesn’t have to be according to someone else’s scope, sequence, or time table. Things you really want them to do/learn? (think they "need" to) Include them. They will be YOUR book choices, activity choices.

If there really is more – work with big ones while little ones nap. Work with little ones while big ones work or read independently. Have one big one work with little ones while you work with other big one, and vice versa.

God always creates a way.

For Me and My House ~ At Jesus’ feet,
Lisa @ Me and My House ~ Discipleship for Life!
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from Ponder the Path

If you are ready to begin this L.E.D. Journey, this will guide you through the steps and resources to get started. Read In the Beginning … for ideas of what you can do with your children while you are doing this renewing of your mind as you start this L.E.D. Journey.

To begin studying Lifestyle Education through Discipleship you will follow the same pattern you’ll follow for each of your "subject" studies.

Begin by laying the Foundation, getting a Big Picture overview of what L.E.D. is. Take a look at the "puzzle box top" – you know, where you look at the whole completed picture before you begin piecing it together.  Freedom & Simplicity™ of Lifestyle Education through Discipleship™ – The Seminar is your best resource for seeing this Big Picture of L.E.D. It will give you an overview from principles to practical application of teaching and learning for Biblical Wisdom by reasoning through every topic to biblical principles.

Once you see the Big Picture, begin building the Framework. You will start building the frame of this puzzle, one piece at a time, connecting the pieces together. Learning the study method is a great place to begin. You’ll find bits and pieces on this throughout the L.E.D. section of our website, but our comprehensive Learning Guide to this is not quite finished. Watch for R Road to Biblical Wisdom – coming soon; your prayers are appreciated!  It will be an extremely helpful Learning Guide to you as you learn to think and apply this biblical method of education. In the meantime, the method is presented in Freedom & Simplicity™ in HisStory. You will get a pretty good understanding of it through internalizing what you read there.

Next, begin filling in the inside of  the puzzle, adding the Furnishings. This is done by beginning to look at the areas of study themselves, applying the philosophy and methodology of L.E.D. that you have learned through The Seminar and R Road. Bible, as mentioned yesterday, is of course our first area to dig into. Freedom & Simplicity™ in Bible (when it is finished) will walk you through how to teach and learn the Bible. Next we recommend HisStory. These 2 will cover much of your studies. Add the other Pillars of Wisdom as you are able, clear down to such primary skills as Handwriting. Yes, we have a Learning Guide for teaching Freedom & Simplicity™ in Handwriting, from a biblically principled perspective.

But you don’t need to wait for an L.E.D. Learning Guide for each area you want to teach, to hold your hand and walk you through the study. They will do that, but you can step out on your own. Once you’ve got the idea down from Freedom & Simplicity™ in HisStory you have the tools you need to branch out and do your own studies.

Enjoy the Journey!

For Me and My House ~ At Jesus’ feet,
Lisa @ Me and My House ~ Discipleship for Life!
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New articles have been posted in the L.E.D. section of our website.

7 Pillars of Wisdom was just posted today – L.E.D.’s 7 areas of study oulined and related to "traditional subjects"

If you missed it, Stepping into Freedom & Simplicity™ was posted a couple weeks ago, outlining 7 Pillars of Excellence used in our methodology of learning.

Ponder the Path is new today too. I will post it here tomorrow.

For Me and My House ~ At Jesus’ feet,
Lisa @ Me and My House ~ Discipleship for Life!
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I could go many different places with that title. And many of you probably know my ultimate answer – renewing your own mind. But what I want to look at today is what area of learning should we start to renew our own mind in when beginning to apply a biblically principled education in our homes.

I believe we begin with our foundation, the Bible itself. We need to KNOW the Bible, to have it internalized. Learn how to study the Bible, how to deduce principles – find wisdom therein, and apply it to our lives, and also learn the content of the Bible, its unified message and stucture. This will be completely fleshed out in Freedom & Simplicity™ in Bible, and bits and pieces can be found in the L.E.D. Bible & Worship category of this blog and on the L.E.D. webpages.

The other area I believe is key to begin in is HisStory. Just as the Bible reveals God’s Plan. HisStory demonstrates the outworking of His Plan, in the lives of men and nations. Everything we study will connect to these two things – God’s Word and God’s World. In our studies of HisStory we apply our methods of study through reasoning, to apply Biblical principles, apply the lessons learned to our own lives and the world around us. We first lay down the foundations of the origin, purpose, principles and rudiments of HisStory, and then begin to study through the content of HisStory, looking at it through this Big Picture foundation, and studying it through our reflective methods. Freedom & Simplicity™ in HisStory fleshes this all out, leading you through how to learn and teach HisStory. In addition, you will find bits and pieces on the L.E.D. HisStory category of this blog and on the L.E.D. webpages.

What can you do in the meantime, while you are renewing your mind and learning how to teach by biblical principles? Check out this article.

For Me and My House ~ At Jesus’ feet,
Lisa @ Me and My House ~ Discipleship for Life!
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What things are really imoprtant to study? What do our children really need to learn well? What facts do they need to remember?

In deciding what to study these are questions I look at:

Why am I studying this (do I need to remember this):
    – to know God and His Word
    – to understand His Plan
    – to understand His Creation
    – to advance His Kingdom

All facts we need to remember should fit within one of these categories.

For Me and My House ~ At Jesus’ feet,
Lisa @ Me and My House ~ Discipleship for Life!
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I recently posted this on a forum, when a lady asked why those that home educate had chose to, and “don’t you go crazy?” In addition, I posted several benefits.

We chose home education because I read too much. Really.

I read all that was happening in the public school system (and checked it out in the actual schools we were in) and I knew as Christians we couldn’t keep our children in that environment for their teaching and training. (Dh agreed.) And I read so much in the Word of God that confirmed for us that our children shouldn’t be trained by “fools” that say “there is no God.” And that there is no wisdom or knowledge apart from the Fear of the Lord. I wanted their education based on the Fear of the Lord. That first year we would have perhaps gone the Christian school route if we could have afforded it at all.

But then I read “too much” more in the Bible, that showed me it is our responsibility. It showed me that parents are to teach God’s Word when they rise up, lie down, walk along the way, sit in their homes. This sounded like pretty much all the time to me. Not after school, after sports, after homework, etc. For us, this was the only way to go in obedience to God’s Word. (For others, Christian schools have been their answer. That’s between them and God, not me.)

Some of the benefits we believe home education can offer, even over Christian schools, are:

Relationship of parent to child – truly teaching and training your own children in the ways of the Lord and the life He’s given us. No one knows your child as well as you, nor is as concerned about their growth as a whole, year after year, equipping them for the plan God has for their lives. Even in Christian schools, they will probably have different teachers each year. Not a consistent “mentor” like mom and dad. I know what they are learning in every subject, every year, and can build on that for them personally, and relate the subjects together. They have a very intertwined, cohesive course of learning.

Sibling relationships. Yes, it can create conflict being together all the time, they have more time and chances to fight. But they also are learning to work out relationships properly. (If mom and dad are training them.) They are learning to honor and serve one another – (not usually high on the institutional schools list of priorities, but very high on mine.)

Learn to relate/socialize (positively) with people of all ages. Home educated children normally interact with people of many differing ages, not primarily people their own exact age. I don’t like the age segregation in school settings. I think we learn more from a mixed age group.

More teacher time. More one on one tutoring can take place within the teaching hours in the home (no after school extra work). It is a far more efficient way of learning. (Far less teacher time is needed when it is one-on-one or small group.) Also the students can progress at their own individual pace – no class group to hold them back, or push them beyond their abilities and leave them behind.

Tailor made curriculum. Not only can the student move ahead at his own pace, but his entire curriculum can be tailored to what is best for him and the family.

Focus on life training. All education is not academic. And in a school setting that is what much of it is (and then there are sports and other after school activities, that most likely won’t be part of your “real” life) and then more academic homework at night. Because home ed is more efficient in the academic department, and because we highly value these other things, some even more than academic training, we are able to include those other very important things during the day. As mentioned above, relationship building and skills, life skills in a natural environment, spiritual training, etc. School may have had a class that taught me to cook, but it didn’t have a living room, library, bathroom, kitchen etc. that I had to clean and pick up baby toys, trash, clean cobwebs, sort through papers, etc. in. :-) There were no real babies that needed attention, fed and changed. (And no fake ones when I went to school.) And the schools I attended didn’t have bookcases full of godly training; Bible study tools, Christian biographies, theology, apologetics, etc. that I could sit down and read whenever I wanted, that would help me to live the life God has called me to.

As for going crazy? It is like any other worthwhile thing. It can only be done through the grace of God in my life. I am nothing. He is all in all. He guides me, or I fail. We are completely committed to it, so there is no other option for us. I love it because I am called to it. I do it as unto my Lord. (Even when I don’t particularly “like” what’s happening at the moment.) There are plenty of other things I could be doing with my time. Many things I love to do, but don’t do as much (or maybe at all) because I am educating my children. (DH could no doubt do more and other things too, even though he doesn’t do the day to day teaching. He is sole support for the family, buys all the resources we use, etc.) BUT there is absolutely nothing that is as worthy as what I am doing with my time. All those other things are just “things” that will pass away. My children are eternal. I am training eternal beings – the ones God particularly gave to us to train. Whoa! How can anything have higher priority, or be more worthy than that?

My (and my children’s) outside social lives will be whatever we choose them to be. If we want to be active and involved outside the home, we will be. If not, we won’t be. We’ll make a way for what is important to us. I am a person that “needs” alone time. I usually get it after children are in bed and dh goes to work (night shift). I also like to go visit with a friend now and then. I have a good friend that I get together with, either we bring all the children to one house or the other and they play while we visit, or occasionally her and I leave the kids and go out for tea or something.

Oh, 3 other benefits.
1) your children have time to help you with household chores. It is part of their training for life skills. So YOU don’t particularly need more time for this, you just need to bring them alongside.

2) SUPER BENEFIT! Mom gets a 2nd chance at a great Christian education that she probably didn’t get when she was young.

3) BIGGEST BENEFIT of all!! no greater ground for God working in us, conforming us to the image of His own dear Son. Yes, I believe the primary reason for home education is for MOTHERS (and fathers) to grow in the Lord (not just our children). Our character will be challenged and found wanting over and over and over again. We will grow and learn so much more than our children.

2 of my favorite, more recent books (not around when we were forming our convictions on this) are Doug Wilson’s Excused Absence on why parents should provide good Christian education (hard hitting, but Biblical) and RC Sproul Jr’s When You Rise Up, on following God for our children’s training, not government schools ways – educating for God’s goals, not the world’s. There are several others I like too, but these are 2 of my faves. [Update: Voddie Baucham has a new 2 DVD set, The Children of Caesar, I haven't seen the DVD yet, but have listened to audios of both sessions. They are excellent also. (I don't have a link to order it from us (yet?). Order from americanvision.com)]

I also invite you to consider my Choose Ye This Day. audio workshop, an introduction to home education. (Scroll down on the page.)

Yes, home education – as parenting itself – keeps us humble and on our knees.

For Me and My House ~ At Jesus’ feet,
Lisa @ Me and My House ~ Discipleship for Life!
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Freedom & Simplicity™ is truly that. It isn’t hard. But it is intentional! Below are "7 simple steps" – OK I wouldn’t call them that, because L.E.D. is not a check off list, but for those of you who need a list, there it is. Again, it isn’t hard. It is freeing. But you do have to do it. These points below correspond to our 7 Pillars of Excellence in education.

1. Renew your own mind. This is the first and most important aspect in Biblical education (discipleship) in the home. A student will never be more than their teacher. If you want lifelong learners who love to learn, you must become a lifelong learner who loves to learn. If you want a biblical foundation, you must lay one in your own life. If you want biblical thinkers, you must become a biblical thinker. As R.C. Sproul, Jr. says (paraphrased, because I’m out of town right now), "If you can’t teach physics, you can’t teach physics. But if you can’t teach the Bible, learn the Bible!"

2. Bring children along side you in living a life pleasing to God – in worship, praise in song, prayer, planning and preparing nutritious meals, providing modest clothing, changing the car oil, building a shed, studying to show yourself approved unto God, everything! "You follow me, as I follow Christ." We are not just academically teaching our children. We are training them to live a life glorifying to God. And building relationships with them.

3. Read great books to them. The Bible, stories from long ago and yesterday. Read books with heroes of character! Read true stories, biographies, could-be-true stories, documents, great expressions – to read, listen to and look at – poetry, music, art. Fill your child’s heart with stories that touch their heart, in ways that will inspire them to greatness.  Yes, continue to read to them long after they can read to themselves. Hearing a great story doesn’t end when you can read it yourself. You are sharing more than the story. You are sharing yourself. Our Resources and Recommendations pages are full of great books – it starts here.

4. Copy greatness – literally, both physcially do what they did, and the words out of books. Young children naturally act out the stories they hear. That is great! Encourage it – the little boy who pretends to be Daniel slaying Goliath, or Daniel Boone living in the wilderness, trusting in God; the little girl pretending to be Ruth, gleaning in the fields, or Abigail Adams raising her family on the Word and journaling; the whole family acting out the story of the Sower and the Seed (as mine did last year, and had a blast!) Children will act out, not only in their play, but also in real life, after the heroes they have. See #3 again.

But go beyond just the physical acting out, and actually Copy the words of those great books and documents. Never underesteminate the power of Copywork. It is true learning and has much more value than many give it credit for. It should be a lifelong daily habit.

5. Retell greatness. Become a story teller. Tell the stories you’ve learned in your own way – orally, in pictures, act it out, write it out. Again, you may think this is a simple exercise, of little value. Do not underestimate the power of Narration. The Story (Mashal) touches the heart whether read in a book or told from the heart.

6. Put it in a book – make your own books of your Copywork and Stories and notes and whatever else you produce. Notebooking again is not a difficult thing – and need not be made difficult by worrying about if you are "doing it right" or "putting the right things in it". Notebooking (Journaling) is a natural thing that all learners do. Journaling,  includes not just your Copywork, or Retellings, or Research findings. It also goes beyond these to include your own thoughts, reasoned from what you’ve learned.

7. Live and tell your own story. Your Journals become your Books, as you share them with others. Your studies and life lessons bring out your own Life Story, who God designed you to be. You Life Story may not be written as a written biography, but the message God has designed you to bring to the world may be written and published in a book – or it may just be lived out in front of your neighbors, whether next door, in a vocation, or around the world. Share the message God has given you to share.

Did you really thing education (discipleship) was harder than that? L.E.D. brings Freedom & Simplicity™ in Spirit LED home education!



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Many home educators, perhaps even most, begin this journey backwards. They decide to home educate and then the first thing they do is pick a curriculum. They may ask friends what they use and buy that. They may pour over catalogs looking for the latest "best". They may do an internet search to find free.

Now, when we began home educating it was no different, except it was hugely different. We had very little to pour over. There was no internet. We may not have known another home educator. (We didn’t.) And if we did, they were using one of the very few curriculums available.

Today you have it much tougher. I can’t imagine how difficult it is for a new home educator to begin to wade through all that is out there. But I think that is an even greater reason for beginning this journey at the right end of things – and that isn’t by choosing curriculum.

I don’t know why our minds tend to work backwards in this area. Perhaps it is human nature. No doubt it has something to do with the way we were educated. We tend to look at the externals, the effects, rather than, or at least before, the internal, the causes. We look at the what before the why or the how. The problem with that is the why and the how dictate the what. So even if we aren’t discerning the why and the how first, someone else has and the what you choose is based on someone else’s why and how.

This backwards approach even works itself out in how we teach our children.

To be continued… Lord willing, tomorrow.

For Me and My House ~ At Jesus’ feet,
Lisa @ Me and My House ~ Discipleship for Life!
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Which is the basis of your education? What do your goals generally look like? Are they to learn the names and dates of Presidents and Kings or are they to understand the ways men govern and how man’s character affects his governing? Are they to memorize the parts of speech and list of prepositions or are they to communicate clearly God’s message they have to share? Rather than going on with examples I’ll just ask, do you think the goal of education is to memorize reams of information? Do you think little children can’t learn ideas such as these?

Surely you’ve heard the old adage, “Great people talk about ideas. Small people talk about other people.” (I’ve seen it attributed to Tobias Gibson.) Think about what people talk about in society – the weather and other trivial facts, other people, themselves (the smallest of people surely fit here), and ideas. Can you not see that the adage is true?

Yes, religion and politics can bring disagreement in discussion, but they are the seedbed of ideas. All of life goes back to the core questions all of man has, whether he seeks their answers or seeks to avoid them, “Who is God?” and “Who is man?” and “What has God done?” and “How then is man to live?” You cannot escape religion and government in discussing ideas, because these are core to life itself. It is in the discussion of ideas that the mind grows – that society grows. And in discussing ideas, a child and a child’s mind grows.

There are educational philosophies that believe in teaching the great ideas, but — only in the later years of education. They spend the early years filling the child with facts to memorize. They believe the child will have something to think on and understand later, if he is full of facts first.

I respectfully disagree. A young child truly can reason and understand. Granted, not at the level of an adult, we grow in wisdom and understanding. But a child wants ideas; he longs for ideas; he continually asks “Why?” We’ve given a child a false misconception of value by granting our exuberant praise for rattling off a list he has memorized, rather than for his question of “Why?” Do we not see that a child who asks “Why?” has a hunger for learning. He desires growth. A child trained to rattle off information for praise has a hunger for self-acclamation. Knowledge truly puffs up. Surely we desire our children to hunger for growth in life and character more than self-acclaim and pride.

Does our basis of ideas mean we do not teach facts? Of course not! That would be impossible. As a Christian growth (not education) seminar I attended years ago taught, “Knowledge does not lead to wisdom. Wisdom always leads to knowledge.” It fits perfectly in our style of education. Information does not of itself lead to anything but parroting of knowledge. Ideas always apply to information. They are studied out in their very applications.

Learning ideas is our goal. We teach information within the context of ideas to give the information meaning. Learning is not just “knowledge.” It is wisdom, understanding, and knowledge – the proper understanding of knowledge and application of truth. As God’s Word teaches, “knowledge puffs up.” Men are “ever increasing in knowledge but never coming to the truth.” Yet, the “Lord gives wisdom, from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.” “Add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge….” In my words, teach information within the context of ideas, with the understanding and application of the ideas being the goal of the lesson. That is, above all teach Biblical ideas (principles) as the foundation of all of education and life.

For Me and My House ~ At Jesus’ feet,
Lisa @ Me and My House ~ Discipleship for Life!
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Greetings from Me and My House,

Does that sound scarey to you? Do you think you can’t possibly write your own curriculum? I hope by the end of this series of articles you will change your mind.

Years ago I got a book called, You Can Write Your Own Curriculum (or something like that). It was so common sense and easy to integrate, that once I adapted and developed some forms to suit our needs I got rid of the book. I wish I still had it to share its simplicity with you. But instead you will get my version.

For some the question may not be can I do it, but why would I want to? Writing curriculum is work. It takes time. And who knows if I’d do it right. So why write your own curriculum? In one word, Liberty.

Here in America we’re generally losing the understanding and the care about what that word means. We think freedom is doing whatever I want while someone else foots the bill. But in truth Liberty can be summed up in having self-government so no one needs to control me. It speaks of character and growth. Neither comes without Labor. Both require that four letter word that many don’t like to hear, work. But it is through Labor that we grow in wisdom, knowledge, understanding – and character.

Yes, writing your own curriculum requires work, but that is not a bad thing. It is the thing that will cause your own growth, and help develop good character in you. That which we are handed, whether it be curriculum or welfare, does not cause growth or develop character. It does not cause increase. It is only through Labor that we produce, cause increase.

How does this connect to Liberty? Increase through labor brings freedom. We live in a society that seeks ease above freedom, constantly giving away liberties in exchange for someone else to take care of everything for them. We do not have freedom when we are dependent upon others to take care of us. This mindset can pervade our thoughts of education also. We don’t see that freedom comes from laboring for production for ourselves. Laboring to write our own curriculum brings Liberty by freeing us from someone else’s ideas of what education should look like for our family. It frees us from being dependent upon someone else for our increase of knowledge.

Writing our own curriculum causes us to exercise our creativity through labor to cause us to grow and produce. It frees us from a consumer mentality. It allows our family to operate in the individuality God has created within us. It keeps us dependent upon the Lord.

Writing our own curriculum exercises our faith. We need to trust God to lead us to educate our children in the way He would have them go. We write in “fear and trembling”, acknowledging our own weaknesses and inadequacies but His ever present strength when we are weak that enables us to “do all things through Christ who strengthens me”, and knowing that His grace that is sufficient. He will see us through, and all glory goes to Him. And when we are most glorifying Him we have our greatest joy!

We write our own curriculum because of the freedom, individuality, and creativity, variety, growth and joy in it. It allows our family to show forth who God is making us to be.

I will continue this series, showing you the Freedom & Simplicity™ in Curriculum Writing.

For Me & My House ~ at Jesus’ feet,
Lisa @Me and My House ~ Discipleship for Life!
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