Check out:

www.expelledthemovie.com

It is supposed to be a documentary exposing the opposition to and persecution of those who believe in Intelligent Design. I think you can see a video clip of the movie on this site, but I am running out of time and need to get dressed for Bible class tonight.

So far I only saw 10 theaters nationwide listed who will be showing this movie. I think that FCers ought to be able to get at least one theater in Tampa to release it, too, if you will get together on this and swamp a theater with phone calls and possibly emails.

Just wanted you all to know.

By the way, what you read is what I know so I don't know anything else and can't answer any questions you may have that are not already on the website.

Only during a day of homeschool can a student look up from her chemistry book or her history lesson and ask her teacher how many meals we need to plan for the coming week. And then the teacher makes a comment about the paint color on the walls of the school room reminding her of the green "black"boards of days gone by. And then students and teachers alike laugh at the dog who is sitting on the sofa in the schoolroom chewing on her rawhide who has one ear up and one ear down and seems to be studying the walls about which the teacher is commenting. And then the youngest student who is impatiently awaiting her teacher to begin a lesson with her asks if she can play Nintendo while she waits but before commencing with that exercise in small muscle dexterity decides a cup of decaf coffee is in order. And the teacher, by the way, is comfortably sitting in her pajamas. As are some of the students. Yep. Only in homeschool.

Come to think of it, that cup of coffee sure sounds good.

Weeks ago in a sermon, the preacher said, "The Lord doesn't expect us to do everything; but he does expect us to do everything we can."

Now we've heard this many, many times though it is usually more along the lines of how the Lord has given us different talents and if we don't have a certain talent in an area, then we are not expected to use it. At least that has been my experience.

But this time it was said in a different way and it put the emphasis on action rather than sitting by and letting someone else do work that we don't think we can do. And it made me think.

"How do we know we can't do it if we haven't tried?" Now, granted, there are a few minor limitations. Women, for one, cannot get up in the pulpit and preach a sermon or lead a Bible class. Even if they are wonderful public speakers. But then, the limitation is not in the woman's ability but in what she is allowed by the Lord to do.

So, again, I wondered, "How do we know we can't do it if we haven't tried?" And how many times do we have to try before we know we can't do it?" When we were crawling babies, did we try to pull up on the furniture to stand only to end up sitting--sometimes hard--and give up? (And did our parents let us give up?) When we first tried to learn to read, did we experience difficulties remembering the basic sounds for each letter and say, "I can't ever read?" I've taught all but one of my children how to read and I don't recall ever hearing this from them. When we first got behind the wheel of the car and drove erratically a few feet, did we put on the brakes and say, "I can't drive?" I may have felt like I didn't ever want to drive--still do, actually--but I can drive and I do.

My kids have heard this story from me, but it illustrates what I'm trying to say. When I was still living with my parents, I tried to make a pie. The filling was wonderful, but the crust was so tough that you couldn't cut it. I didn't know the in's and out's of how to make a flaky pie crust--that there was a reason that the crust was tough--and I decided that I couldn't make a pie crust. No pie crust, no pie.

When I got married, my father-in-law gave us some green apples. My beloved wanted me to make him a homemade apple pie. "I can't make a pie," I explained. "Then find a recipe." "No, you don't understand. I tried to make a pie once and the crust was so tough you couldn't cut it. I can't make a pie because I can't make the crust." Did my beloved say, "Oh, I'm so sorry, dear, for asking something of you that you can't do?" No, he said, "Then learn how to make a crust."

I will admit, I was upset with him! He was not sympathetic. He was asking me to do something I just couldn't do. He was so unfair. But he had said to do it and so I had to do it. I got out my step-by-step cookbook and made the pie crust dough, rolled it out, put it in the pie pan, put in the apple pie filling, laid the dough for the top crust on it, crimped the edges, and made the steam vents. I thought, "Ha! This is the last time he will ever ask me to make him a pie!"

Guess what. The pie turned out beautifully. I had brushed the top with milk and sugar and it was a warm golden brown. The crimped edges over which I labored looked picture perfect. And when I set the pie in front of my husband and handed him the knife--this of course was so he could see for himself that it was impossible to cut--the crust was so flaky that I knew he was having a hard time believing my previous story.

I'm not writing this to brag. But I was taught a lesson when my beloved asked me to do what I thought was impossible.

And that Sunday the preacher strengthened the lesson by showing its application to my work for the Lord. How do I know I can't make communion bread? Have I ever tried? How do I know I can't teach a Bible class? Have I ever tried? How do I know I can't prepare my own lessons to teach if there is no lesson book from which to teach? Have I ever tried? How do I know I can't teach a younger women to love her husband and her children? Have I ever tried? How do I know I can't knock on my neighbor's door and ask them to worship services? Have I ever tried? How do I know I can't teach the gospel plan of salvation so I can take someone to heaven with me? Have I ever tried? And, even if I did try once and it didn't work out--did I try enough times?

There's a lot of work out there to be done for the Lord. We can't hire someone who is not one of His to do it either. If it gets done, it will have to be done by His children. His vineyard workers. His servants. We have to do it. Or else it won't get done.

At least I made a noble effort.

I got up when I meant to. That was a good start.

Then I came into our game room which we want to turn into a school room and started unpacking boxes. I had thought, "Oh, this will take about an hour; after all, what's left?" Apparently a lot.

And I continue to discover that things were packed strangely by the packers with the moving company.

I had bought a special plate before we were packed up. You could write on it. It had a wedding cake on it and it had a special pen. You write your sentiments and well wishes, then bake the plate for permanency. I had decided not to take it with us in the van because we were quickly running out of room so I put it in my bedroom on my dresser. We didn't have that much stuff in the bedroom to unpack and I figured, look for the boxes with "Master Bedroom" on them and look through them and I can have it out for the wedding (which was 10 days after our stuff was delivered). Wrong! I finally found the plate at the end of February in a box labeled "living room."

My bedroom lamps. Shouldn't they at least have been in a box labeled "master bedroom?" And yet, I unpacked every single master bedroom box one night and there were no lamps. They were finally found in boxes labeled "girls room."

And I still haven't found my cast iron frying pans. They will probably be in one of the few boxes left marked "shed."

So today I unpack a box and find the test booklet for Math-U-See's Algebra 2 level. No teacher book. No student book. Eventually it turned up in a box with scrapbook paper, paperback books, and Disney videotapes.

But I do believe I have finally unpacked all the boxes of which I am in charge except for the ones with the girls' baby and toddler toys that I am saving for grandchildren. That is such a relief.

And now here I sit on the floor, my back up against the half-wall overlooking the stairs, stumped. I haven't figured out yet how to arrange the furniture we have in this room and the furniture we are supposed to add to it. I'm sorely tempted to put the sofa at the curb come "big trash pick-up day." And take a saw to the coffee table which is way too big even if it is our new tv stand. But my brain was growing weary, so I decided to get online and do a puzzle and then check out pleo and tell everyone my sad little tale of the neverending unpacking and arranging.

For some reason when everyone left us Friday, Kate Blanchett's line in The Fellowship of the Ring crossed my mind: "It abandoned him." It did kind of feel that way.

So we went back to bed! The girls and Chloe piled into the one queen bed in the little girls' room and hubby and I went back to ours. And I can't really remember much of the rest of the day except that I said somewhere in there, "I think I have another cold."

Which, incidentally, makes 3 colds in 3 months. Back in Alabama I got a cold an average of once every two years. I tell you, it's Texas! It's not good for me!

Saturday was spent doing laundry. Now I have a lot of nice, clean clothes. And I still have a cold.

Sunday was worship services with some good sermons. I think I shall write an email to the preacher to tell him so since everyone else was surrounding him after services and I didn't get a chance.

And then Chloe got sick again. Only this time we think it was something she ate that I won't go into because of the gross factor. Dog owners can probably figure it out. The washer, the Spot-Bot, and the Febreeze got a lot of use. She's back to her ornery, sassy, mind-of-her-own self. Not sure what we are going to do with her come May.

Speaking of which, hubby was supposed to get off two weeks in May. We were going to go to the daughters graduation at FC and visit family. Then he found out that LM messed up his request and at the moment he only has 4 days off. Just enough time to make a quick dash down and then back up. Hubby gave a copy of his approved leave sheet to the guy that does the scheduling, but it may be too late to change it.

We are supposed to be having severe thunderstorms as I write this. Of course, it didn't happen. Which is good, but I sure wished I had known this so I could have gotten up to Walmart to buy some string, masking tape, and a tennis ball (though I think any ball would have worked). We were supposed to get moving with school now that I have finally found all of our books! You know it's chaotic when you bring the school books you need with you in the car, but after the movers unload the truck you can't find them anymore! The wedding might have had a little to do with that, too.

Note to my unlisted friends: I will do that just as soon as I figure it out! With Rebekah at my side!

Note to our children and our new children: We miss you something fierce! We had a wonderful week! Jonathan, I'm happy you were told that once you have eaten and slept here, you are considered "ours." glad that meets with your approval.

Anyone else out there needing "adopting?"