Random Life from Winter to Spring and Back to “winter”

This was posted on April 20, 2021 by Sarah Maxwell.

Random life is just that: random pictures to give you a glimpse into the Maxwell family. This spring is beautiful and full, and we praise God for giving us opportunities to share with others.

While the United States is in turmoil, it seems for us as Christians, persecution is coming closer. We’ve known nothing of what most Christians in other countries live under, and yet so many of them REJOICE.

“But and if ye suffer for righteousness’ sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled” (1 Peter 3:14).

I’d love to hear something the Lord is teaching you.

Love,
Sarah
PS: I hope to post a health update soon!

A Benji birthday evening, so we played a game with him.

Everything looks some brown, although you can see a hint of green. Amazing what some time does to green things up.

Dad cleaned up the garage after all the grit from the snowy roads

A Sunday lunch cleanup chat going on here.

The Springfield animal drive-through safari

A morning walk with a friend of Ellie’s 🙂

Installing a gate we received at no cost, and it’s perfect for the deck. Ellie likes to spend time out in the sun.

Dad and Joshua on a project, more on that later

Easter baking (Mom, Mary, and Jesse’s Anna)

Our friend from church wanted to surprise Anna one day with coffee, and she stayed for lunch.

An outdoor vet tune-up for Ellie with our favorite vet

This morning, we woke up to probably the most snow we had all season!

Spring can’t be hidden, and it will burst forth in even more beauty soon.

“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to
give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope
that is in you with meekness and fear” (1 Peter 3:15).

The HSLDA Resource Winner

This was posted on April 16, 2021 by Steve Maxwell.

Yesterday, we did the drawing as mentioned in the HSLDA post. We used a random number generator to give us the winning comment. I was surprised to see #1 be drawn. I did it again to make sure it was working correctly and it was. Here is the winning comment:

Nancy M says:
April 9, 2021 at 5:07 am
We joined HSLDA since our first year of homeschooling which was 2005. Even though we have never had to use their services (thankfully) we loved that our membership help give others the legal representation they would need. We did purchase our graduation diplomas from them and we’ve lived in different states or be praying about a potential job change and was always grateful to search out the homeschool laws for a different state. Even though MO is a homeschool friendly state, I have always encouraged families to join HSLDA. My youngest will be a junior in HS next year and this would be a great resource to add to his curriculum.

We will be asking Nancy for her address so we can ship her the resource. We are grateful that the Lord has used HSLDA for many years to be a blessing to homeschoolers. If you aren’t a member, we would strongly encourage you to join.

“O taste and see that the LORD is good:
blessed is the man that trusteth in him” (Psalm 34:8).

Resurrection Sunday

This was posted on April 14, 2021 by Teri Maxwell.

We were blessed and rejoiced in Resurrection Sunday. This was our first year to be back in a church building for a Resurrection Sunday service, and we loved celebrating our Saviour’s resurrection with our church family.

We navigated our holiday meal around being at church for 3 hours since our family planned to gather and eat at our house at 1:00 p.m. to allow us to be back to church at 6:00 p.m.

This year Gigi was able to join us, whereas last year Covid restrictions meant no one else could be here. Because Gigi was here, Nathan’s family chose to stay back since several in their families had colds. Christopher’s family also didn’t come since they continue to social distance until later in April when they reach the 1-year mark for Anna Marie’s chemo treatments.

For the two families who couldn’t join us, we plated their food, and they picked it up from our house. That was a bit of a feat since we sent food out to 15 (Anna Marie is on a very special diet so she wasn’t eating our meal.) while trying to keep food hot for the 17 eating here.

It was a sweet time to be together and also to enjoy, what is for many in the family, our favorite meal of the year. We have that meal at Christmas too.

“He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come,
see the place where the Lord lay” (Matthew 28:6).

HSLDA is a Blessing Giveaway

This was posted on April 9, 2021 by Steve Maxwell.

In March, we had the post Don’t Homeschool Without It and invited those who aren’t current Home School Legal Defense of Association (HSLDA) members to join HSLDA. HSLDA graciously gave a resource to everyone who joined after reading that blog post.

To our surprise, HSLDA gifted us with the same resource after the post, which is the Constitutional Literacy DVD. Since that original offer was only available to new members, we thought we would give our resource to someone who is currently a member.

To join our HSLDA is a Blessing Giveaway, simply comment on this post with two things. Tell us how long you have been an HSLDA member and why you like being part of HSLDA.

We will then have a random drawing on April 15th to give away the copy HSLDA gave us. (The giveaway is for U.S. addresses only.)

BTW, there is still a few days left (April 15th) to join if you are not yet an HSLDA member and receive a copy of the Constitutional Literacy resource from them.

“Well done, thou good and faithful servant…” Matthew 25:21

Don’t Homeschool Without it

No Longer Recommending

This was posted on April 6, 2021 by Teri Maxwell.

After glowingly telling on the blog about the LETSCOM U8I bluetooth headphones we use, we had quality problems with them. Last month, my first pair totally died. I felt 6.5 years of almost daily use, considering they cost less the $20, was reasonable. So I ordered a new set. Then two weeks after that, I ordered yet another set to have paired with my computer.

Both of the new sets had problems. One wouldn’t stay paired. The other didn’t offer a verbal warning when the battery got low. I contacted the company about the problem with the first set, and they quickly said it was in warranty, and they would replace it.

I also asked about the pairing issue, thinking maybe it was an incompatibility problem with my computer. They gave me a list of steps to work through before trying it again. I still had the problem. Then I decided to use it with my phone rather than the computer. It didn’t say paired with my phone either so that said it was a defective set.

That first replacement set arrived today It was to replace the headphones that didn’t give the low battery warning. Would you believe, when I went to use them, they wouldn’t stay paired. I was shocked. It was the same problem that my second new set of earbuds had.

Because of three defective sets of new earbuds, I decided to send the two I purchased back to Amazon since I was within the 30 day return window.

If you purchased a set, and it is defective, and it is outside the Amazon return window, I can say the company is good to work with. They were offering me a refund or to try another set.

Since I had highly recommended these headphones, I wanted to let you know right away about these recent issues and withdraw my recommendation. Has anyone ordered a new set and had them work well? Does anyone have another brand you like? I need to try some others now.

Trusting in Jesus,
Teri

“But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you” (1 Peter 5:10).

The Messy Towel Drawer

This was posted on March 31, 2021 by Teri Maxwell.

When we built our house eleven years ago, we planned the kitchen to be efficient and productive. One of those enhancements was two large drawers beside the sink where items that are normally used with the sink could be stored. One of the drawers holds our dish-drying towels.

For all my married life, I folded dish towels after laundering them and neatly put them in the drawer or on the shelf where they belonged. We go through several dish towels each day so we wash them two or three times a week.

One day, one of our sons questioned why I went to all the work of folding the dishtowels when they were stored in a drawer, out of sight. It didn’t matter if they were wrinkled since they were used again so quickly. My best answer was that the drawer looked nice with neatly folded towels.

Pondering that discussion, I decided it was worth trying dish towels going directly from the dryer to the drawer. Practically speaking, it was great. Aesthetically, it left something to be desired. I enjoyed the five or ten extra minutes I gained by not folding the towels, though. In the end, I decided a tidy drawer where it didn’t matter, wasn’t worth the time.

I think that was about three years ago. If I spent 20 minutes a week folding dish towels and haven’t had to do that for 3 years, I just figured out that netted me 52 hours of time to do things that do matter.

What about you? Any things come to mind that you might be doing that have outlived their reason to do them and that you could gain time if you let go of continuing to do them?

Trusting in Jesus,
Teri

“Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”
(Ephesians 5:16)

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