Matthews Family Herald

Well, I voted today! Yep, it may seem odd that I'd vote considering how I often feel about the way of things but it's not a contradiction after all. I have no intention of letting the devil render me ineffective in the world around me by convincing me that it's all going to crud anyway and why bother. Our leaders AFFECT our lives. Yes. From the moment they take the reins of whatever office God has entrusted to them, they make decisions which affect the lives of everyone under their authority. Those leaders need our prayers. They need our encouragement. They need our chastisement too! They need us. And so, our vote may well determine who it is that takes the reign. I think if we don't care to get involved, then God may give us the fruit of our apathy and allow people who will hurt us to take control. You've heard maybe that it's all corrupt and your vote won't matter. Don't believe it. It's likely another lie to render you ineffective. Those with authority to act are authorized to act. We are blessed with individual authority excerised by our vote so use YOUR authority from God. If your vote is lost through corruption, you will not bear the guilt of that affect; the one who corrupted the process will.

Thought I would share what our educational goals are for our family. Some people have asked and many more wondered I’m sure, “Does this educational style really prepare our kids for the “real” world, for college, for being a productive member of society in their well-paying 9-5 job to provide the American Dream for their children?” The answer is a purposeful, resounding “NO!”

We are anti- “real” (pseudo) world, anti-college, and anti-American Dream 9-5 lifestyle. When one’s ultimate end goal and priority is Not the American Dream then the educational paths and vehicles taking us in a different direction will look very different from the traditional, mainstream educational methods. We believe that this world and its system, including college and a material lifestyle are contrary to the Christian faith and biblical principles. Not only that, but scripture makes it clear that it will only become more hostile to Christians, so much so that one won’t be able to buy or sell without the “mark of the beast”. This is perhaps a shorter time away than we might think. Why would we prepare our children to fit into an anti -Christian system that is faulty and harmful in every way? Wouldn’t our time be better spent learning the skills necessary for survival ; (food ,clothes, shelter, and herbal medicine) and preparation for the furtherance of God’s Kingdom through outreach, service to each other in a community of faith, and preparing them for marriage and parenthood?

I have been appalled to realize the many years wasted preparing my children for the world’s system by pumping them full of facts that the “world” says are important to know with methods that the “world” approves of. Much of homeschooling, even by Christians is nothing more than secularized education geared for success in a secular world- which makes for very unhappy , and unhealthy families and relationships. Not our idea of success. You can put a Christian label on it, have a curriculum full of Christianese lingo, refute evolution, but basically the end goal is the same: to prepare the children to become successful in this world, servants to an un-godly , materialistic, self-serving society.

Our picture of success looks more like this. We want our children first and foremost to have a totally devoted and intimately personal relationship with God, demonstrated by Godly lives of obedience and service to others. This alone would be enough. With God’s leading, they would become and do everything God wanted them to be and do, whether it is a doctor, or pilot, or sanitary worker, farmer, homemaker, entertainer, artist, teacher or hamburger flipper . They would hear God, know and be submitted to His plan for their life and He would equip them through whatever methods He chose. We tell our children, that they don’t get to chose whatever they want to be, but that God already chose and wrote the days of their life designing inside of them the desires and talents necessary, before they were even born. (That is another worldly lie- “you can be whatever you want to be if you just believe in yourself!”) That is totally unbiblical. The Bible says to believe in God- not yourself. That is humanistic, “We don’t need God, we can build a tower to the sky ourselves” kind of thinking. This kind of thinking is very prevalent, not just in public schools and public educational television, but even among Christian homeschoolers. We don’t even tell our children that it is their job to find out what God wants them to be or do. We don’t want our children identifying who they are by the job they do- those titles are not who they are. They are a redeemed; second Adam generation, new creations. They are only to identify with their new life and identity in Christ (being crucified and raised with Christ, hid in Christ, no longer they that live, but Christ who lives in them). They may “do” many things throughout their lives to provide food, clothes, and shelter for themselves and their families.
Learning how to provide these things without being dependant on others is ideal and gives them more freedom, especially as Christians. These are the practical skills we wish to teach our children. The journey, the purifying of Christ’s Bride, each and every step or moment walking with our God, being a light to those around us furthering the kingdom of God to which we are loyal citizens, IS our mission here on this Earth. In contrast to society’s mindset of preparing one’s whole life to reaching a pinnacle of occupational height or wealth, material goods or reputation (which are usually unreachable and at the cost of much family destruction and misery.) Man’s nature is such that it is never satisfied; not with these things anyway. God designed man to only have satisfaction and total contentedness, peace and Joy when being restored to Himself. Farmers, on the other hand, experience less divorce and health problems, and live a generally longer, healthier life with strong family bonds.

The other goals/skills we wish to train or teach our children are relationship skills, such as pertains to marriage and parenthood. Much of a successful happy life depends upon these two factors. Society does a good job at downplaying the family (which is their goal), but ask any married person (or divorced) or parent. They will tell you the largest bulk of their woes are related to their children and/or spouse (or lack thereof). We aren’t the perfect model of parenthood or marriage at all times, but when we blow it we acknowledge that to each other with apologies, and tell our kids that that is Not the right way to behave. As we grow in Faith to Walk more and more after the Spirit, these things take care of themselves, so everything, really, relates back to that walk with God. The children are trained in and practice daily with one another very vital skills, like: selflessness, preferring others above you, forgiveness, not returning evil for evil, self-control, patience/longsuffering, kindness, not being envious or jealous, generosity. These are the skills that will make for a happy, successful life as it pertains to all relationships whether it be your children, spouse, boss, co-workers friends, or neighbors. This is the “socialization” we prefer to give our children. Not the dog-eat-dog, cliquish, competitive, cruel, me-first, sexually saturated, foul-mouthed, disrespectful to authorities, governmental/political; brainwashing and often violent socialization that the world has to offer( I know , I went to public school and things are 100 times worse now.) This is how children are trained in relationships in the world. Is it any wonder that more than half of marriages end in divorce and children are rebellious and estranged from the family? Well, I’ll get off this soap-box for now.

Do we think all other book learning is irrelevant? NO. Of course not. Reading , writing , and arithmetic, as well as history and science, all play a very important role in everyday life ( especially rural living). For example, when we were picking apples yesterday at an orchard, Micah, found too kinds of flavors he liked to eat together, came home and decided to plant some seeds, and got very excited when I told him how farmers breed two kinds together to get hybrids ( this is NOT genetical engineering , mind you!) So we will get books about how to do that at the library today hopefully. Jacob has a renewed interest in navigation( stars , compass, etc.), and Hannah, is enjoying her newfound freedom to make all kinds of projects and write letters to friends, now that she is writing independently. I mean, come on, deep down in every man, they long to build a log cabin with their own hands- it takes quite a bit of math and science there to do it properly. (Micah is itching to build his own skateboard ramp! I see a great geometry opportunity.)

WE love discovering how the gospel message, is hidden in all of nature, including every system of our body/ math and the sciences that have math and formulas all contain spiritual truths in them as well. Literally, EVERYTHING (in this natural world (natural laws included) SCREAMs to us “ILOVE YOU” from God. The Bible tells us this about nature as well in Romans 1:19, 20; “Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them: for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His external power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.”

Generally, as a guideline our learning choices are based upon these three goals/priorities:
(a) To know God
(b) To be known by Him
(c) To make Him known to others

These are the reasons we learn anything that we learn: it keeps us on target, constantly vigilant to weed out the worldly, unnecessary things (there are many, many things to learn out there). We select only the best that line up with these priorities and the Christian Faith ( biblical, God-glorifying truths.) Truly, all the subjects can/are, used to fulfill these three criteria. I could list many specific examples; if you’re truly interested, just comment to this blogpost.

So we don’t learn “just for the sake of learning” or just because society says it is something you should know. We don’t learn for the end goal that most people get an “education”. Education being the cure-all to all man’s ills, is another very popular deception out there (even among Christians, sadly). WE learn to learn more about God and how much he loves us, this in turn, leads to the second reason we learn- to grow in our relationship with God, and this in turn, leads us to the third reason we learn, to further God’s kingdom here on earth. We also learn, to be able to sustain life on this earth (independently of society, if need be) so that we can fulfill the first three goals. So there you have it- Our educational goals.
Hope this blesses and encourages someone or at least clears up some confusion. Happy Whole-life learning!

Hi, we recently had the opportunity to go to the Heidelberg Zoo. (Thank you very much Heise Family!)

You can click on any of these images in order to enlarge them and enhance your view of them.

Lots of turtles were there! They were not as active as the ones our family viewed in Tucson, though...

There was a whole barn full of these, as well as those outside. This mother and child were cute. It looked like the two donkeys behind her might have been teenage sons or males who were interested in her. She kept kicking at them if they got too close!


Another shot of the donkeys as they came around us. .

This donkey looked like he might have been sick. He was moaning and breathing heavily.

Rabbits and hampsters, etc. You can't tell from looking at the picture, really, but the critters lived in a town constructed to look like a human town. These guys eat pretty well, huh!

When we first entered the zoo, there was a large playground filled with many things to do. Among those things to do were many wooden carvings of animals which were life sized. You'll find several pictures of here of the kids playing on them. In this image, Micah is standing behind a Hippo's rear end and flung his shirt back just as I snapped the shot. It made for quite a gas!

This is not a self portrait! I can't believe you'd say that. It's not Sally either. But it is one of the many camels that were at the zoo.

Here is wise grandfather. He sat above our head levels and looked down with an aire of wisdom and judgment. Perception often is NOT reality. Micah and the boys say that one of the apes, probably this one, earlier had "gone # 2" and then ate it. We've seen them do some strange things at other zoos also. One time we saw a mama ape nursing herself. That was odd but yeah, okay...

Just about all the kids wanted me to take a shot of them getting "eaten" by this hippo.

Here's Jacob at the playground.

Poor Hannah's turn to be eaten alive.

The best petting zoo area I've ever seen. There was a little machine just outside the gate that dispensed feed; a handful for 1 Euro. Lots of fun watching the kids and helping them. Eden was too scared unless I held her above head level to the goats. There's Nathan feeding them.

Heather is helping Eden feed the goats and you can see Hannah and Nathan here feeding them too. One of the goats almost got out. I had to catch him and steer him back inside the fence. Also inside were shaggy haired sheep and an occasional chicken. The chickens must eascape rather easily because I saw one here and there wandering throughout the zoo.

Here's Nathan on the ropes.

(I could not get these two photos to act properly! Nathan sitting on this sleeping (wooden) camel. He just won't wake up! You know, my Grandfather and Dad would always tell me about how they once rode dinosaurs. Bet they never rode a fake camel!

Hippo girl amazes the crowd with her feats! How did she get the hippo to hold still that long, anyway?! Mind control! There's a joystick between the Hippos eyes that Hannah is using to control it. Works on me!

Jacob couldn't resist being eaten alive when it was his turn.

I guess I couldn't resist some things either. Tried sneaking this kiss in when Heather was looking elsewhere. Reminds me of a family favorite movie..."I dooo"

Micah was having his share of fun on the ropes.

Ah, no words are needed to convey how sweet and wonderful this photo is. That's why I didn't bother writing anything at all for this photograph. There just wasn't any need to. And so, since I've not bothered writing anything here, let's go ahead and move on to the next photographic representation. Wait, there isn't any more. Ah, man. Is it time to leave the zoo already?

(Clicking on any of these photos will give you much larger, and more importantly, much clearer views of them. The photos look MUCH better once you click on them.)

Rachel went to North Carolina to get married a little while back. She and her new husband are doing very well. They are decorating their new place for fall and getting settled into life together. One of the things that touched me most was when Rachel told me what she's really been enjoying is just getting to know her husband more. That was such a sweet thing to hold so dear and it means a lot to me. Well, she and her husband recently sent our family a care package filled with gifts for everyone. This dress for Eden was in it and doesn't she looks so cute in it?! I had to laugh because they bought me a coffee mug that looks like it's made of titanium. That's funny because Thomas has bought me several coffee mugs since he and Rachel met. They've all, for one reason or another, broken in relatively short periods of time. So far, I've had this one for about a month...




There are beautiful forests surrounding every city here in Germany. Connecting each city, aside from the streets that automobiles use, are trails through the woods. I believe that most of these trails are very, very old because of the landmarks within them, such as very old looking benches, stone forks in the road with chiseled directions and names, etc. Trust me, it looks and is likely very old. Kinda neat to imagine townsfolk coming down with packhorses carrying fruit, etc. Anyway, we have learned by watching the Germans to take walks nearly each day through the woods, especially in the wintertime. We took a family walk recently and while taking a break and letting the kids play in a wooded section, Heather and I picked blackberries and harvested apples from the ground from a nearby orchard. We snapped this shot of Nathan taking a break.




Here's Hannah playing with some of her most favorite toys. Prior to her birthday, I took Hannah to something akin to a shopping mall here named "Kaufland." "Kauf" in Deutsch is a reference to commerce and, of course, land is land. So while there, I steered her to the toy shop and watched what all she showed interest in. She really thought a mood ring there was neat but what she loved the most were these horses. I purchased the one she liked the most later on for her birthday, in part, with money sent to us for our birthdays from Grandpa Ray. Thank you, Grandpa and thank you, Dale, for your love and friendship. After Rachel married, she sent the care package I mentioned earlier. In it were more horses from the same series of toys which Hannah loves and that we saw at Kaufland. Oh, that table she's sitting on is an "L" shape bench table kitchen table which tucks into a corner and thus provides more kitchen space. It's made entirely of solid wood and was a gift from our friends and missionaries in Europe but from America, the Macy family. We've mentioned them before here and they live about 20 minutes from us.





Here is a picture of Micah, on the right, and Jacob just before going for a run held for all those in our area. The sweatsuit Jacob is wearing was bought with this occasion in mind. Jacob has always been athletic and competitive, and a good runner as well. I've taken him running on the trails with me before and he did over 3 miles with me, with little trouble. He's faster than many adults I know and has more stamina for distance. Micah has lots of talents and among them are his ability to entertain and amuse others. He's very good at impromptu and this picture captures just such an example.

Well, we recently went to the zoo and I want to upload those scenes for you but the boys are not here. They are out skateboarding and playing. They often take our camera and use it to make silly videos. Often, it doesn't make it back into the camera case and so I'll need to get it from them first. Grrr....it's one of my "pet peeves." I have about a million of them. :) Kids and pet peeves! I think each kid makes new pet peeves for me. :) Speaking of that, we leave it to God to decide whether we have any kids more. We've gone back to this way of doing things for the last couple of months but no baby yet. Must not be what He has for us right now. But we'll see...

Love from The Matthews,

James

Yesterday was a very cold, rainy day. We started out the day with steamy, creamy, blueberry oatmeal. We read a lot together,(Little House) and had fun building a tent in the living room. We made some homemade butter(yum!) We plan to obtain some raw milk from a local farm and try our hand at cheese, yogurt and keifer. My friend has some keifer grains and I discovered that our amazing nettle can be used as rennet. ( yah, we watched our homesteading dvd recently)

We also watched vol. 2 of Making Herbs Simple. I can’t wait to make salve! I might even be brave enough to try a Henna hair dye. The kids got a big kick out of that.

Jacob started reading Oliver Twist and is halfway finished. He had a lot to share and questions to ask. He is very big-hearted and would wipe the world of injustices, if he could. I can foresee a lot of great discussions later. Not on the literary aspects. For we do not praise these, but how people without God/hope deal with problems, and the sad truth of reality vs. fiction and romanticized tragedy. About how to recognize Satan’s tactics to discourage someone through his lies; that there is any good in man aside from God. And mostly how to wisely choose reading material that is lovely and pure, noble, and of Good reportand glorifying to God. I believe it is time for the Illustrated Classics to go. (Except perhaps Swiss Family Robinson, and Heidi)

Hannah realized she had missed a couple of her friends’ in the States birthdays, and made cards for them and wrote letters yesterday. She started to ask me how to spell some things and I made her do it. She was thrilled and surprised that she could! I have been so pleased to see her whole mindset shift about reading and writing (unprompted) from total disdain and aversion to joy and eagerness!

Micah spent most the day down in the woodworking shop carving a sailboat from a log he obtained in the forest as a gift for someone. It is looking pretty good! He ahs been reading a lot form How to Do Just About Anything and The Darign Book for Boys.
And of course, I am making sure he learns diligence with the clean-up and care of tools.

Nathan spent a lot of time watching his bros and playing, making butter and being my general helper. We have been doing a lot of training with him on obedience, joyfully and willingly, without asking twice or whining. Eden as well. They get lots of hugs, praise and kisses when they do it right. When they do it wrong, we redo the whole scene. He was excited and interested to learn how to load the dishwasher (!!!!!) His siblings were excited about that.

I realized that I still have some secular educational ideals to discard when I was secretly pleased that they were doing things that were more “academic” for me to blog about. Either that or I still have a fear on how others will judge/critique us. Or both. I suppose it is warranted somewhat in the fact that the government can take your kids away if you are not teaching them the way they believe is the right way. Oh well, I suppose I will have to trust in God.

Today, I am Very Thankful that not one child coughed all night( causing me to have to get them some more herbal cough tea- which works within seconds, by the way!) Nathan was running fever a little last evening, so I gave him immunity tincture( in OJ, cause I made the mistake of making it with vodka instead of glycerin last year-Hey! We’re talking a half a teaspoon in a cup of juice here- Don’t call CPS yet!!) Not too tasty. I really had no clue how bad the stuff tastes. On the bright side, I don’t think they will ever be tempted in that respect. Hee Hee Hee. I have new cough and immunity tinctures brewing in glycerin that I made yesterday- will be ready in a month or so. Then I rubbed all his lymph nodes and feet with the infused garlic oil, that I made last week, and gave him herbal tea, and he was good as new before bedtime. And I had a good night’s sleep.

My poor little guinea pigs. I wouldn’t be surprised, if they drew up a Doc. Mom comic strip, with my apron tied on as a cape. “ Is that a sniffle I heard?” ZOOM? SWOOSH!! “ Here Take this!” AAAHHH!,
“But mom, I’m not sick!” “Take it anyway! To keep you from getting sick- It is the season!”
Ah, but I digress- time to go look on line for herbal oil diffusers for my new essential oils!

I frequently post about my thoughts or bring some kind of message which is on my heart and put that on this blog. I know this is supposed to be a family blogsite. I do intend to give updates at time and I think one is coming soon. There was a nice zoo trip we had and I'd love to share about that. So the first "In case there is any doubt..." is that yes, this is still a family blogsite and there are still plans to make family updates. :) Now, my wife makes frequent blog posts about what all they are doing at home and so you can read about it at:

www.whole-lifelearning.blogspot.com

The other "in case there is any doubt..." is about followers of Jesus Christ and the use of physical violence. Sometimes, my posts become rather spirited, so to speak, and may cause a person to wonder about my intentions. I want to ease your mind if that is the case. I do NOT believe that ANY Christian has ANY business trying to use weapons, fists, or anything else to harm anyone or anything in order to bring about what they want to see happen or to stop what they don't like from happening or continuing to happen. We are to love ALL person and only to hate evil. People cannot come to God if they are not alive to do so. People must come to God out of their own free will. It is never our job to force a person, a group, a State, a Nation, a Government, a comany or corporation, an international group, or whatever to seek and obey God.

I know the New World Order is wrong. Most day to day people are really just inside the Matrix, so to speak, and have no real idea about it. Others who do recognize it and promote it likely believe that no God exists. They look through history and they see all the violence and the unrest and they feel like the New World Order is the best hope we have on Earth for peace, stability, and security. They want that, just like we all do, and are determined to see it established, whatever the cost in the end, for the good of everyone, in the end. It's a nobel intent, but it's incorrect, arrogant in some ways, and it lacks confidence and faith in God. There are some too who seek to establish the New World Order for selfish reasons and exploit it for personal gain as well.

There's no way I could accurately explain the exact plan or show how it all unfolds. I can tell you who is to blame, and it's NOT people. It's Satan. Our enemy is NOT people. The Holy Bible says that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood. The Holy Bible tells us not to take up the sword for all who live by it will die by it. We are to watch, to pray, and to believe in God.

In the end, whatever New World Order that persons attempt to build WON'T be successful. But it won't be me who stopped it. It will be God Himself. He will one day return to establish His Kingdom and I have total faith and hope in that. I can speak out about things that are wrong, I can call others to come away from the influences that corrupt and to come towards God with all their hearts, and I can pray and wait patiently for His return. But that's the extent of my involvement.

I do think that as the New World Order continues to develop, serving God with all of our hearts and still maintaining involvement within that system will be harder and harder. It will look like all of the stong delusions that are pumped into people from the New World Order propaganda will seem true. But whoever endures to the end will see God's Kingdom established and all their hopes and faith will be realized.

But those who get wrestless and decide they have to take matters into their own, physical hands will be defeated and removed. It's the same mistake that Israelies made when Jesus first came. They wanted their Davidic Messiah to give them a military victory and set up an Earthly Kingdom. They tried with their own hands to both establish it and to force Jesus to do it. But He died on a cross instead. They lost faith and looked elsewhere. They were only half right. Jesus will come back as a Davidic King and establish His Kingdom, but He first suffered and paid for our sins. We must wait, encourage, pray, continue to be used of God to keep arms open and to reach out in love to all who would come to Him, and let God take care of everything else in His timing.

Well, it's been a good long while since I've lasted blogged and I regret that. Things are finally reaching a level where I can write.