Morse code

Have you ever wondered if something is really worth learning; wondered if it really made a difference in the world? Morse code is probably one of those things. Wasn't that just something used a long time ago with telegrams? It was originally used with the telegram, but did you know that it enabled people to communicate long-distance before telephones were everyday items? Did you know that this code enabled prisoners of war to communicate with each other and strengthen each other's faith, without a word, right under the noses of Vietnamese guards? Did you know that now the SOS signal is recognized all over the world? Samuel F.B. Morse certainly has made a difference in the world by creating Morse code.

Morse code was invented simultaneously with the telegram, in a successful attempt to communicate faster than sending a letter by post. In 1844 Samuel F.B. Morse and his friend, Vail, worked together to develop a code made of dots and dashes, representing individual letters, which could be memorized easily. The first message, "What hath God wrought?" was typed on paper, but later a mechanism which made short and long clicking sounds became more widely used. The messages were relayed by electrical pulses in wires, which ran between major cities in the United States. As time went on, telegram wires were installed in smaller towns. Operators used the telegram and Morse code to send messages all across the country, allowing people to communicate long-distance long before families dreamed of having their own telephones.

Morse code has also enabled Prisoners of War (POWs) to strengthen each other's faith, even when they were not allowed to speak. In the Vietnam war, POWs tapped coded messages through the walls of their isolated cells, letting each other hear memorized Bible verses. When a prisoner was led through the hallways he would drag his feet in long and short patterns, relaying the news of Jesus to dozens of other prisoners at a time. All of this happened, without a word being spoken, because of the invention of Morse code.

Common people have been saved because they knew the easy SOS (... _ _ _ ...) signal. SOS is recognized as an international distress signal, so cavers, mountain climbers, campers and sailors all over the world know it. This signal has been sent dozens of times over radios, through smoke signals and by flashing lights. Morse code is so simple that everyday people can learn it easily.

Do you see how important Morse code is? Without it, the world would not be what it is today. However, appreciation is not enough. Without continued use, Morse code will remain a thing of the past. You should learn Morse code. You never know, you might be one of those people who signal SOS and are saved by the invention of Morse code!

note: For some reason unknown to me, my writing is better when it is in the form of a blog post, rather than an essay. This post was originally a writing assignment, posted here to help improve it's quality. If there are ANY corrections or suggestions which could help improve my writing, please leave a comment.

52 Books In 52 Weeks

photo source

"She is too fond of books, and it has addled her brain." -Louisa May Alcott

"The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who can't read."- Mark Twain

Through various blogs I found out that there is a challenge called 52 Books In 52 Weeks. I don't care for joining in challenges like this, because of the likelihood of dropping it partway through, but I will be doing the same basic thing on my own: Reading 52 books in 2012, one book for each week.

For those of you who don't know me, I love to read. Reading 100+ pages at a time is common place for me. To me, a house without whole wall of full bookshelves is not a home, and I have always preferred the company of books over that of people. I have had several lists of books, but after hearing about this, I made one long list of all the books I would like to read. It was amazing how easy it was.

Here is (the beginning of) my list:

1. *I Will Die Free by Nobel Alexander
2. *God's Smuggler by Brother Andrew
3. *Gladys Aylward: The Little Woman by Gladys Aylward
4. *It's Not That Complicated by Anna Sofia and Elisabeth Botkin
5. *Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo
6. *Ponammal, Her Story by Amy Carmichael
7. Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton
8. *The Third World and Missions by Dennis E. Clark
9. A Short History of the Confederate States of America by Jefferson Davis
10. The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas
11. The German Underground by Allen Welsh Dulles
12. Jonathan Edward's Greatest Sermons by Jonathan Edwards
13. *Beyond the Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot
14. Let Me be a Woman by Elisabeth Elliot
15. Love Has a Price Tag by Elisabeth Elliot
16. *Behind the Ranges by J. Frazer
17. *Islam and the Jews by Dr. Mark Gabriel
18. The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis
19. Miracles by C.S. Lewis
20. Grief by C.S. Lewis
21. The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis
22. Home Education by Charlotte Mason
23. Ourselves by Charlotte Mason
24. Formation of Character by Charlotte Mason
25. Unleashing the Word by Max McLean
26. *Irena Sendler: Mother of the Children of the Holocaust by Anna Mieszkowska
27. The Nazi Connection to Islamic Terrorism by Chuck Morse
28. *A Martyr's Grace: Stories of Those Who Gave All for Christ and His Cause by Marvin Newell
29. Assumptions That Affect Our Lives by Christian Overman
30. Abortion: the Silent Holocause by John Powell
31. Stepping Heavenward by Elisabeth Prentiss
32. In the Presence of Mine Enemies by Howard and Phyllis Rutledge
33. A Way of Seeing by Edith Schaeffer
34. *I Dared to Call Him Father by Bilquis Sheikh
35. The Case for a Creator by Lee Strobel
36. *A Prisoner and Yet… by Corrie ten Boom
37. *In My Father's House by Corrie ten Boom
38. This Day is the Lord's by Corrie ten Boom
39. *Into the Den of Infedels by the Voice of the Martyrs
40. God's Mighty Hand by Richard (Little Bear) Wheeler
41. *Alone With God by Richard Wurmbrand
42. Tortured for Christ by Richard Wurmbrand
43. Living Waters by Brother Yun
44. A Shattered Visage by Ravi Zacharias

44-52. To be found at a later date. As the list changes I will update this post.

*books which I do not own and would like to borrow/buy
finished books

I do not recommend any of the books on this list yet, since I haven't read them before, but the majority of these are from trusted authors and sources. Once I have read a book and liked it, I will post it on this page. Please comment here if you have read any of these books, and tell me if you liked/disliked it or if there was any questionable/objectionable content. If you are interested in reading any of the ones I have, you are welcome to borrow them for a while!

Lauren Ashley

I'm Here Again!

 Some of Elder H's children at the Anti-TSA Outrage rally at the Capitol.

A perfect picture of Texas.

It has been quite a long time since I have posted, several months in fact. But what is done is done and here I am to start up blogging again. During this summer there were many things going on here in Texas. Here are some of them:

• Our animal count got up to 18 goats, 9 ducks, 2 geese, 2 cats, 5 chickens and 1 cow.
• I flew to Mississippi by myself to visit my Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins for 2 weeks in April.
• We are surviving the longest recorded drought in Texas.
• We attended an Anti-TSA Outrage rally at the Capitol.
• We butchered 1 goat, sold 10 goats, and predators ate 2 ducks and 4 chickens, bringing our animal count down to 7 goats, 7 ducks, 2 geese, 2 cats, 1 chicken and 1 cow.
• Our family and two other families from church started a co-op with my Dad teaching Physics, and Mr. O teaching Singing and French.
• Thomas, Pierce and I were in the Filmmakers Academy for six weeks this summer, making one video each week.
• We are still surviving the drought and temperatures up to 100 degrees every day.
• All of us have grown.

There are many other everyday things which have taken up a lot of time and effort this summer, but these are the ones which I remember the most.

For the next three weeks I am going to be going on a trip to California to visit my good friends Mr. and Mrs. S (or Auntie M). Even though Texas is my home now, I lived in California longer than in any other place (4 years, one quarter of my life) and it will feel like I am going back to visit home. While I am visiting Mr. and Mrs. S we will take a road trip from California to Montana to visit Auntie M's family. I am especially looking forward to meeting E, Auntie M's niece, who I hear is very similar to me (or am I similar to her? In any case we are extremely similar to each other). I will be posting updates here for my family and friends while I am traveling.

Lauren

P.S. Well... I intended to start posting again during this trip, but alas, it did not happen. There were too many great conversations happening in the free time for me to even think of writing a blog post. What's done is done.

Goat Birth

We knew that our Nubian does were both pregnant, but we didn't know when they were due. So there was a lot of watching. Daphne's belly was so large that I could feel the kids move when I put my hand on her side. I read that the doe's udders would fill with milk soon before she kidded, so on Friday when we saw that Daphne's udders were larger than normal we started to check on her more often. Two of our other does have kidded since we bought them, but both births took place while we were away. Saturday morning we were rushing to leave to the San Antonio zoo, and as we were getting in the car we looked toward the goats to check on Daphne one more time. She wasn't there. I walked along the fence until I saw her through the trees, about to give birth. We watched as the first sack came out and broke with a little baby goat head following. Now this is not the normal position for goats to be born in. Normally they come out with their front legs first and then their head as if they were diving, but with their legs back it makes their shoulders wider and the birth harder for the doe. I helped pull the baby goat out and clean off his face, and after Daphne partially cleaned him off she delivered another buckling, this time with one of his legs folded up by his side. The older buck is black with white ears, a white speckled nose and a small white spot on top of his head, and the younger one is black with a white belly and brownish markings along the edge of the white, and they both feel like velvet. We cleaned up the mess, trimmed the buckling's cords and made sure that they were nursing before we continued on our trip from the to the zoo an hour and a half after we started to get in the car. We have been naming our goats 1950's names such as Nancy, Daphne, Sally, Betty, Lorraine, Mary, George and Jack, so Dad chose the the names Edward and Albert for the two new bucks.



Our other Nubian doe, Nancy, should kid sometime tomorrow. Her udders have filled and we fully expected to come home from church to new goat kids, but it wasn't time yet, so we are guessing that it will be sometime tomorrow. I was the one who was studying up on goat births so I was the "baby catcher" for the kidding and I will probably be the one handling the goat births from now on since everyone else thinks that it is gross, though Zoe will have to help since she wants to be a midwife.

None of our Nubian does are full Nubian; Daphne is 1/8 Nigerian Dwarf, Nancy is 1/2 Nigerian dwarf and our buck Brandon is 1/4 Boer, making Edward and Albert 1/16 Nigerian Dwarf and 1/8 Boer. These are definitely not breeding animals, but we bought them for milk and the fact that they are multiplying is enough. In about two weeks we will start milking them, letting the kids drink all of the milk directly off of them until then.

Soon to come: Butchering our troublesome goat STEWart

A New Blog

The Overworked Elocutionist

Narrations from a Large Homeschooling Family

http://theoverworkedelocutionist.blogspot.com/

Thomas, Pierce, Zoe and I decided to start a blog on which we could post written narrations of what we are learning in school and on the hobby farm (Zoe especially was thrilled to write on a blog). Due to our difference in age and interest there should eventually be posts about history, science, math, government, poems, stories, farming, etc. Basically, anything which we find interesting or which Mom wants us to write about. I hope you enjoy reading and learning with us!

Lauren

Jane and Her Lamb-A Poem

In the field I play with Jane,
Not a thought of worry or sting of pain,
Jane's blue eyes in her innocent face
Look at me with gentle grace.

When, at the smooth, strong fence
My dark yes would wistfully glance,
Jane's small, firm, leading hand
On my back would smartly land.

So in the pasture safe and free
Jane and I play happily,
Away from sin's dark dread sway
In the field I willingly stay.

Lauren Ashley

P.S. My Mom and I am taking Mrs. Morecraft's School of Elocution and Composition, a writing webinar offered through Vision Forum. We were asked to write a short piece about a picture of red-headed, blue-eyed Jane and her fuzzy black lamb. Mom and I both wrote poems, though Mom's poem is much longer and doesn't have an ending yet!

You Must Be a Home Educator If...

Lucas and Stephen holding our TEA Party signs

You live in a one-house schoolroom.

You know what math manipulatives are.

You have mold growing in your fridge... on purpose.

You've mastered the fine art of vacuuming a floor without sucking up a Lego or K'nex piece.

Your students have to clear the breakfast bowls off the table before sitting down to do their school work.

Your house is mess, but your kids are happy.

You shop for birthday presents at educational stores.

All you want for Christmas is a Barnes & Noble gift certificate.

You'd rather buy books than clothes.

Your friends don't want to help you move because you have so many books.

You get nervous about what people will say when you take your kids to Wal-Mart in the middle of the day.

When you see a parking lot full of 15 seater vans you wonder if there's a homeschooling conference.

You take a suitcase full of books along on your family vacation.
You're willing to drop what you're doing at a moment's notice to go look something up in a dictionary or encyclopedia.

You don't get fired for teaching your students about God.

Some days you learn as much as your students.

Lauren Ashley