Saturday Scripture – Psalm 119:1-11

1 Blessed are the undefiled in the way, Who walk in the law of the Lord!
Meditations on the Excellencies of the Word of God.

2 Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, Who seek Him with the whole heart!

3 They also do no iniquity; They walk in His ways.

4 You have commanded us To keep Your precepts diligently.

5 Oh, that my ways were directed To keep Your statutes!

6 Then I would not be ashamed, When I look into all Your commandments.

7 I will praise You with uprightness of heart, When I learn Your righteous judgments.

8 I will keep Your statutes; Oh, do not forsake me utterly!

9 How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word.

10 With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments!

11 Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You.

We had such a great time sitting on the sea wall eating our donuts and drinking our coffee while watching the people and shore birds go by.

Our family did "beach school" many times during our years of homeschooling. I would wake up in the morning, look at the lesson plans I had made, look around our school room and think to myself that I would go nuts if I had to look at the same four walls again that day. So I would pack 3 kids and most of their school work into the car along with snacks and limited beach gear (for when school was done), and off we'd go to have "beach school".

#3 son really loved these days. He would finish his work, then dig in the sand for hours. Spending this morning with him at the beach was a wonderful way to bring back a little of those bygone days into his young adulthood. It was a lovely morning.

He's only 24, yet he has a title with the word 'senior' in it. Parents, don't be afraid to let your students immerse themselves in the computer.

My husband is a hardware guy, so he taught my son how to take apart, tinker with, build and repair computers. We also allowed gaming (both my boys are huge gamers) and we encouraged all kinds of software use in our homeschool. As #1 son got into middle school, we bought him coding language books, and he taught himself.

He became very interested in the graphic design side of gaming, so started writing code for his own game graphics. He picked up web site design knowledge in high school from a gamer buddy who had a side business. I will say that his IT career began at age 4 when daddy let him see inside the CPU.

My son worked very hard in college, graduating with cum laude honors. His employer appreciated his diploma, but what landed him the job straight out of college with no previous experience (and in the worst economy in decades) was his portfolio of coding work that he had developed as a hobby. My son would attend classes, put in his hours of flight training (he earned a degree is aeronautical science, professional flight) then go home and study. In the wee hours of the morning, when his school work was done, he worked on his own projects. These projects developed into a portfolio of work that  proved his IT skills, and made him very marketable.

IT jobs are the future, and they are lucrative for those with the necessary skills. Even if your child is not wired to be a computer nerd, proficiency in Word, Excel and Office Suite type programs are basic requirements for most entry level office jobs. Innate comfort with the computer cannot be learned in a few weeks or during a semester community college class. This level of comfort and knowledge is built over long periods of time.

(And he does have three monitors on his home desk)

During our discussion of the "Santa Question" last night, my 22-year old daughter told us about her defining moment of truth on the topic. She was about 7, and she was skeptical. Her older brother had already told her that there was no Santa, and my husband and I never tried to convince her keep believing. We would just always smile when she asked questions, and we asked her who she thought put the present out at night. That year she decided to leave milk and cookies for Santa on the fireplace…with a note. I read the note, and wrote her an answer. When she read the answer, she recognized my handwriting, but never let on. She told us last night that she was content that she had discovered the "truth" and that she had caught me! She told us that she really did enjoy the fantasy, and was glad that we let her naturally discover reality on her own. She related that she never was confused between Jesus and Santa. Today she is a devoted Christian, who has been called to the mission field.