Posted in My Ramblings

Military/Civil Service is coming your way. We are a country with a voluntary military or at least we where. In February Congressman Charles Rangall introduced the bill called the "Universal National Service Act of 2006 - HR 4752 H" yesterday the house was to convene and possibly adopt this bill.

This bill can be summed up as a Mandatory Draft. It will require all persons between the ages of 18 - 42 to register with selective service and perform a period of military or civilian service.

There are a lot of individuals who agree with this bill on both party lines. I am not one of them. While I understand that our country is falling short when it comes to how many soldiers are in the military, we are a voluntary military non-the-less. To require all persons to join ignores the fact that God has called everyone according to His purpose.

Furthermore our country is failing to support the men and women who are currently serving their country. They do not make a "decent wage" as some suggest, a majority of military families fall below the poverty line enough that they are on welfare. When the men and women return from Iraq poisoned by the depleted uranium our government turns their backs on them. This is the same thing which happened with Vietnam & the previous Gulf War. To many times the military is not given the equipment they need to perform their jobs. So how are we going to pay for more soldiers whether they are in the military or performing a civil job? I do not see congress taking a cut in pay to provide for the men and women who risk their lives because they believe in our Constitution and are serving their country out of Patriotism and the simple fact that it is a job that provides the necessary means to care for and support their families.

In case some of you do not realize your daughters are not safe. In today's society the feminist movement that began years ago has taken over. Women are expected and taught that they can do any job that a man does and more than likely do it better. This bill does not make an exception. Regardless of sex, women will now have to register with the Selective Service. They will be required to fulfill the same duties as our sons. While we may raise our daughters to be "keepers at home" as the Bible instructs the government will put them in the workforce for their own purposes. They will be expected to live up to the feminist standards and not only do their jobs which does not glorify the positions the Lord has given them but do it above and beyond the call of duty in the name of equal rights.

We as a nation must make a stand and not allow the government to force our children and even ourselves into a position in which the Lord has not called us. Mothers will be torn away from their families, our children will be thrown into a Godless society where the government will be able to "raise them" according to their pagan standards and Fathers will be left with an even lower sense of worth because their wives are no longer their helpmeet but instead working not for the betterment of their families but for a government which does not appreciate nor support the role the Lord has given women.

Posted in My Ramblings

I have decided that I am a walking contradiction, lol. It is funny how life works and how things you thought you want you don't and things you didn't want you do. 3 years ago a girlfriend and I started a secular (well an inclusive homeschool group). We tried to get it going but nothing came of it... until this past spring when it has taken off and has boomed. Problem is that as much as I wanted this and it is kinda mine in the sense that I was one of the founders I am stuck in it. In a lot of ways I really like it and how it is growing, in other ways I am struggling with it. Over the past 3 years the Lord has changed a lot of things in my life and now I am left trying to sort it all out. It is sad to think that what I wanted from this group has finally come into place but I just am not so sure I want it anymore. So I am greatful in a lot of ways that we will be moving. It is an easy way out but in the end I know that even if I wasn't moving I wouldn't be able to stay in the group for long. Yet, I still care how it goes.

Then there is a whole 'nother thing. For a few months I was really studying what the Lord has to say about clothing and modesty. Then I kinda just left it, for awhile I was trying to wear skirts but it is so easy to wear shorts and pants. But lately... it has been bothering me. Especially now that I am pregnant and am hoping for a girl. I don't know why but it has been 7 years since I had a baby and I have learned a lot of things since then and there are a lot of things I would like to do different.

Anyways, in the end I guess it comes to down one thing. I have not been spending a lot of time with the Lord lately. Which I need to do. So that I may see where it is I am going and where it is he is leading me.

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I am doing a happy dance. I know I am weird but I am really looking forward to moving. New place, new people, new life - hehehe. The only problem we are going to be where it is freezing! Michigan of all places, who'd a thunk?

The boys are real excited at the fact that they will see snow. I am looking forward to it also but am more realistic and know that after I see the pretty snow for the first time I will want summer The boys just don't know. I on the other hand am planning on living under a blanket come fall/winter.

Hopefully we will find out today where exactly in MI we will be. Now I just need to get on the move and start cleaning out my house.

Posted in My Ramblings

I took a little bit of a hiatus because we had a lot going on but thought I would come and blog a little before we go on another hiatus within a couple of weeks.

We have been busy with my brother's wedding. The boys were the ring bearers and needless to say they were adoreable! The wedding was beautiful and the reception a total blast. Xavier danced the night away while Micah took photo's of everything.

I want to thank you guys who prayed for me. It is much appreciated. I am pregnant - YAY! I had a little bit of a scare (why I asked for prayer) but went to the doctor Friday and everything looks good and the baby is fine. So thank you again!!

On another note... without a set schedule the past couple of weeks things in the house have gone haywire, especially my boys. They really need a schedule and for some reason between all the going on's and with Dad going away to school for a few weeks they are getting mean. So time to kick things back into gear.

I will blog more later...
God Bless

Posted in My Ramblings

Ok I admit, I have been a really bad mom. Micah has been wanting to make cookies (gingerbread ones to boot) since Joel got home. I have been real lazy and had not taken him into the kitchen to make them. So today he asked me and although I really did not want to since I just got home from running to 20 different stores in search of a bird house kit (which I did not find) I decided to to quit putting him off and go make the cookies. He did a wonderful job and now we are waiting for the dough to get firm so he can roll, cut & bake them. Of course to make me feel even worse the dough tastes good, real good and I normally do not like gingerbread. The Lord taught me a real lesson though through this. Which could not have come at a better time. To often I will push something they want to do aside because I have other things to do or am to lazy or tired. But the things that matter most to them are not me running errands but me spending time with them and who knows maybe the cookies you don't normally like - you will like this time.

Posted in My Ramblings

*This is a crosspost from my other blog at blogspot.*

Here are some pictures of the boys dying Easter eggs this morning.
Xavier



My boys



Micah



Me & my 2 boys



The Finished Eggs

Posted in My Ramblings

    According to the gov. websites hormones are not used in the raising of poultry. However, my dear neice (who is 6) had to go to the doctor this week and found that she is already starting to develop. Her doctor told her not to eat any chicken because that is a big contributer to early development in children. The pediatric said that "she sees it all the time" and they will run some tests to make sure it is not something else. However, she is pretty sure this is the cause. I knew that shampoo's contained things which could speed up the onset of puberty. But this tops the cake!

Posted in My Ramblings

It has been a week since I posted last - WOW! A lot has been happening so I will use this blog to catch up.

Decluttering/Cleaning~ I finished the living room and went through my closet. I have been weeding out some of the boys clothes during laundry time. We switched up the boys chores charts a little bit. Instead of spending a week on a chore they switch after 3 days. This has worked really well and keeps them on their toes. It also helps in the "I have done dishes all week" attitude. I also changed some of the major chores that I want done into zones (thanks flylady). This has been a lot easier on me as I don't get overwhelmed to do everything in 1 week.

School has been going really well. The boys are almost done with Shurley English and we have been using Rod & Staff English 2nd grade to review and learn to write better. I figured they will be done with this school year by the end of May. Then we will take a week off before moving on. We are going to school through the summer so we can take some time off when we move in between July - August.

We just finished learning about fish and the boys have each made a poster about one fish. Micah picked the mudskipper and Xavier picked the tiger shark. Now we are starting a unit on birds. We will work on birds in general for the next 2 weeks then concentrate on owls the last 2 weeks of our study. It looks like we will be able to do some things with fellow homeschoolers during the owl study. Which will be fun for them.

Other than that.. things are moving along at a fast pace around here.

Posted in My Ramblings

Today is Joel's birthday. So it is celebration time  He has been bugging me to make him a cheesecake so I figured that I will do that while he is at work. Unfortunately though I need to go to the store still to get what I need for his birthday dinner. I would have gotten it earlier except he didn't tell me what he wanted until 8 o'clock last night. But that is okay because the boys and I can run some errands and pick up the stuff for dinner tomorrow afternoon.

Last night's jog/walk did not go as well as planned. Meaning my time was way off it took 30 minutes to go 2 miles. This really bugs me but since I am walking with an 8 year old I have to go at his pace not mine. I should be proud of the fact that it is getting easier and easier for me to jog. But I am no where near jogging the entire length yet. Tomorrow we are taking the boys bikes with us so they can ride circles around while we jog. As good as that sounds for helping me beat my time it is also frightening. Because I know I will have to really be moving and I can not use the boys as an excuse as to why I am going slow.

I am suppose to be in bed right now. Way past my bedtime and I know that tomorrow I will be hurting because of it. I am still getting up at 6 am. Not my favorite time of the day by any means. But since I have started charting my BBT at that time I can not exactly change it without messing up my reading. (Not like staying up late won't mess it up - haha).

So before I loose any more precious sleep hours I will hit the sack.

Posted in My Ramblings

We headed down to FL on Thursday. The trip was nice overall but there was a lot of traffic due to Bike Week. Friday morning I went running with Joel. I walked more than I ran but I made the 2 miles in 25 minutes. Not bad for someone totally out of shape but not good enough for me. We had left the boys with my mom so after we ran we went back and picked them up then headed out to OC to surprise Joel's mom. We went up to her work and took her out to lunch. It was a nice treat and surprise for her. The boys ate pretty good (it was chinese) and considering it was an all you can eat buffett place the food was really good. After lunch we went to visit Joel's grandparent's and spent the rest of the day with them. Papa went walking with us in the afternoon. My time was better technically (26 minutes) but it was also uphill and a little over 2 miles. We have not been running since though. So I know when we go tonight my time will be horrible.

I have found that by keeping track of my time it motivates me more to do better. I have a beat the clock type attitude. So as long as I keep improving my time I will be okay. I did look up army standards and I would fail by about 3 minutes or so. Good thing I am not in the army, lol.

Saturday we went out Bike Week. We were at the Harley Davidson Shop so we saw all sorts of displays and vendors. Micah was totally into the bikes. He prefers the big ones - not choppers. He likes the ones that are built for comfort. I like the ones that are real clean and smooth looking. While Xavier likes the hard edges and choppers. Joel likes all sorts of bikes. His fave are the exile bikes and we didn't see any of those. Lane was downtown Daytona (Main Street) so we didn't get to see his bikes but we managed to see OCC. They had the Nasa bike, POW, Fire Engine & Black Widow on display. My fave of the 4 is probably the POW or Black Widow.  They did a real good job on the Fire Bike and I liked a couple things on the Nasa bike but for the most part I was not very impressed with the Nasa bike. Nor was I impressed with some of the bikers.. Okay here is my rant: the older bikers are cool, you say excuse me/us ( I do have a kid with me) and they are real polite. The younger bikers and the women bikers were rude and wouldn't even pay attention to you trying to get by. As far as I am concerned the rude ones can go back home to their own state. The nice ones can stay and hang out. I just find it very irritating that when one says excuse me or is polite others do not recipricate and I don't mean just bikers but anyone for that matter.

The rest of the weekend went by fast we visited more family and went to church then headed back home to Savannah. Now to get back in the swing of things. I am not sure how one weekend can throw off a week but I know it can (it threw off today) so I have to get everything in order before the week goes to the dogs.

I am putting together an etiquette class for the boys. I have decided the boys need to learn more than just basic manners (althought eh basics is a good start for them). Plus I want to learn the stuff to. So I am looking for a good etiquette book. I have been debatin gon buying Emily Post's book but since it is $35 I have not made up my mind yet. I saw one in the Christian book store but it was so small and I just wasn't impressed with it. I think it leaves a lot out. So I will make up my own. So off to research I go :)

Posted in My Ramblings

You ever notice that on the days that you plan for everything to go right, you are giong to wake up and accomplish all those things you have planned, and the kids will get the school work done without fighting is the same day that you wake up in a grumpy mood?

Of course that's how my day went. I had the best intentions for today only to wake up a total bear. It took a little while but I did manage to change my attitude. Thank goodness! Or else the day would have been a mess and it was really a beautiful day! The sun was shining and it was warm.

The boys did their school work without complaining and goofing off to much. They rode bikes while Dad and I watched them do tricks and then helped Dad clean the backyard. We had a nice time hanging out  together until Micah found my umbrella which I have not been able to find for the past year. It was in a box outside in the backyard. How it got there who knows but it was broken and on it's way to the trash.

Or so I thought but my 2 boys had other plans. X-man and Micah decided to see if they could use it to float in the air when they jumped off the picnic table. Ok, that's not to bad. It was funny watching them try. They threw it in the air and watched the wind take it across the yard. But couldn't figure out a way for it to propell them. It became a satellite dish and a discussion of what wires needed to be hooked up to it and how it should be connected to the tv to make it work soon followed. It was funny to watch them and listen to them talk about using it in their future tree house they want Dad to build. But I tried to draw the line when they decided (thanks to Dad's encouragement) to try and pull it through the fence. All I could see was spokes gouging out eyes and them getting hurt but soon they were trying to pull it through. It did not work as they had planned so they decided the spokes should be broken to make it fit. Soon the stomping of the umbrella began. Dad laughs, kids have a ball and I am headed inside since they have lost their marbles and all I see is a trip to the emergency room because they stabbed themselves in the leg. I am not sure how long they spent tearing that poor umbrella to pieces but I just could not watch.

Now I know that this is normal boy behavior. Joel and I have had many conversations lately about our boys and what I think they should be allowed to do and what he thinks they should be allowed to do. Unfortunately I am loosing this battle. It is mom against testosterone and the testosterone is winning. According to him I just don't understand because it is a boy thing and they need to do things like destroy an umbrella and a million other things. He is right - I don't get it and I am not sure I ever will.

After they finished torturing my poor umbrella (did I mention it was a Monet umbrella and I have been missing it). The guys headed inside and watched tv while Dad worked on getting his pizza sauce and toppings ready so when we got back from our walk the "boys" could finish making dinner.

This time the 2 mile walk/jog went by real fast and we probably would have gone further except for the time. We are so proud of our boys for going the 2 miles without complaining. In fact they are the ones making sure we go. So that is a real blessing since I would probably opt out if I could not because I don't want to go but because I can be lazy about things like this. I did better this time, jogged more than last time. It will take some time before I can run the whole thing. I have never been much of a runner. Let me rephrase that: I have never been a runner at all. My goal is to run in a 5K or something of that nature. My brother use to run cross country and still does 5 or 10k's. I have watched him run but never would have dreamed of running or even walking one of those things. But depending on where we are at next Thanksgiving we may be able to do the Turkey Run they hold every year back home.

By the end of the day we were all worn out. The pizza turned out great and we sat around and watched tv while waiting for Lost to come on. Xavier did not make it to
9 o'clock so we taped it fo rhim and he will watch it in the morning.

Tomorrow we are headed for Florida for a few days to visit family and to get my tags for the car since I didn't mail it in. I was hoping to stay for only a couple of days but it looks like that male testosterone is winning in this area to because they want to stay until Sunday. Especially Micah because he wants to go to his Sunday School down there. I think he has other plans for us to although he has actually told us yet what they are. But knowing him he has something up his sleeve for when we get there. It should be interesting though.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.
God Bless~

Posted in My Ramblings

It is official, Joel signed his re-enlistment paperwork this morning. I can not believe we are going to be staying in the army. This is not exactly the choice I was wanting but neither was getting out. Either way we feel that this is what the Lord wants us to do and that's the most important thing. The funniest thing about him staying in is that all our family that wanted him to get out is glad he is staying in the army. After they realized he is only 9 years from retirement they decided that would be their pick. How weird?

School has gone to the dogs today I am feeling better but not fanatastic and Joel is sick now. So we are taking the day off and the boys are spending it playing video games, watching The Future Is Wild and messing with Bionicles. Tomorrow is our first park day with some new homeschoolers. I am really looking forward to it and the boys are interested in meeting other kids.
I was going to order Math-U-See when we get our income tax money but now I am debating between it and Saxon. Now I am just looking at phonics/spelling stuff. I have the book Writing Road to Reading and I really like it but just don't know how to use it. In a lot of ways I really like having a teacher's manual that lays it out for me. Which has me looking at Saxon but I just don't know. We are still using some of Ambleside Online but we are not following it to a T. I am picking and choosing from their books. We are probably going to stick with more of a classical approach even though I won't say our schooling is classical.

I reserved the bowling alley today for the boys birthday party. Micah never had his party because to much stuff was going on. So we are throwing them one together. It is going to be a surprise party down in FL. Which they will really enjoy. Since they want to have their cousins at their party. All I need to do is mail out invititations and order a cake and stuff. It will be fun!

Now I just need to make dentist appointments for the boys (been lazy and have not gotten around to calling yet). Then lay down for a nap. I was up again most of last night because of the medicine. Thank goodness I have not had to take it today. So I will be able to sleep tonight and not be sick any more. Yay!! So off I go...

Posted in My Ramblings

I have been blogging for awhile over at blogger.com (Click Here). However, I decided to try out HSB. So far I really like it. The lay out and the amount of time it takes to load is a lot better. The only downfall is the bar across the top. I like being able to random blog but it really does not do much for the design of my page, not that I have been doing much in that area to begin with. I would really like to make my own "design" but I just don't have the patience

I wanted to get up and cook breakfast this morning. Joel had other plans though, he let me sleep in because I wasn't watching my neighbors kids before they went to school. I have been walking them to the bus stop the past few days.He thought he would be nice and he is. The only downfall is that I wanted to start school around 8 this morning but I am one of those people that takes an hour to wake up. So instead of cooking or getting this ready I am sitting here on the computer typing away while the boys eat cereal and play the PS2.

I really can not complain though about them playing games in the morning. The boys use to watch way to much tv but we have cut them WAY back. Yesterday they only watched tv, played games or got on the computer for about 2 hours total. Not bad at all since if they could they would be doing those three things ALL day long. Plus the amount of cartoons they watched was about 30 minutes total otherwise it was on Animal Planet. I have a few friends that have gotten rid of cable and as nice as that sounds. I think I would go crazyIf I could get cbs, abc and nbc it would be ok but we mainly watch Animal Planet, National Geographic and Discovery. Plus I am a Blow Out fan. Joel rolls his eyes at that one but I am a reality tv addict. I can not wait until tonight for Survivor to start or for Amazing Race to come back.

Well I better get to work. Today's to do list consists of:
School~ reading a selection from Lit., History, Science books
              math
              writing practice
              grammar
              spelling
Laundry
Daily House Cleaning
Cleaning out guinea pig cages
Sewing a skirt~ if I get the time to squeeze it in

I know I am forgetting a few things... My goal is to not be idle today...unfortunately I think playing on the computer counts as being idle so I better get going.

Posted in My Ramblings

I don't know how many times I have read Genesis, especially where the Lord creates the world. It is one of those things that you have to read a different version of or else you just skim it without realizing it because you know it so well. Yesterday the boys and I were reading the creation story so we can put it in our timeline notebook. While reading it occured to me that the sun was not made until the fourth day. Now this is something I have read millions of times but it hit me this time. That up until the 4th day there is no telling how much time has actually passed. Because it is only after the Lord makes the sun and moon that they are given the job of governing the night and day. Of course this doesn't really mean anything in the whole scope of things since there were not any animals made yet. But it could mean (not sure if this is what I believe) but it could mean that the world itself could be millions of years old. This does not mean that dinosaurs lived millions of years ago though :-) It was just food for thought for me...

We started Ambleside Online a couple of days ago. So far it is working good. The boys are really into some of the reading (some they would rather not listen to though). They love Parables From Nature and 50 Famous Stories Retold. They even enjoyed Just So Stories but I am really dreading Pilgrim's Progress. I just don't think they will like that one at all, well at least the apology. But I plan on starting it tomorrow so we will see. The only real problem we have so far is that I was trying to break it up between stories and academics. This is not working though (well at least not for math, writing, copywork, spelling) because X-man takes twice as long as M to do the work. So M is sitting around or finishing his other academic stuff while we wait for X-man jsut so we can read. I am going to try and do it in a different order tomorrow to see if it helps. I also was thinking I would make some of their "academic" type work more independent so they can work on it by themselves and we can do the other things together before they set to work on it.
Another thing I am dreading is Shakespeare... I can not stand Shakespeare myself so trying to read it to the boys is like birth pains to me. (Plus I only own Hamlet). So I went through some of my books and while not plays and along the same line as him I decided to read some other classics. I am debating on which I want to start with though. It is either going to be 20,000 Leagues or Count of Monte Cristo and I can not forgot Kafka (he is one of my favorites).

On another note. We are really debating the getting out of the army thing. It has been in a lot of prayer lately. Unfortunately or fortunately (not sure which) it is one of those things that we are being led the way we should go but would rather be led the other direction. One of those makes your stomach go ughh because you know it is what you are suppose to do but not want you want to do per se. Which until we have a definite answer I am kinda leaving the push vague. I don't want to say we are doing one thing when it may end up we do another. We just want to make sure we doing what the Lord wants us to do. So we will keep praying and waiting to make sure that the answer we get is the right one in the eyes of the Lord. Unfortunately though I think He is going to have to hit us with a 2x4 so we see the answer.

Posted in My Ramblings

It has been a long weekend. Friday I found out that DH has a little over 1 week to decide on whether he is getting out of the army or not. He came up DA select recruiter. No way to get out of that assignment without getting out of the army. We originally had planned to get out this June but we had not been adamant on the decision. Even though we both would prefer to drop the whole recruiter thing it has put a dilemma in front of us. The problem is that we don't know what to do. DH will have been in the army for 11 1/2 years when he gets out (if he gets out). That is halfway to retirement. If he sticks it out until then he will be retiring when he's only 42. Not bad... However, if he stays in he will be a recruiter - UGHH!! That is a horribly hard life. Long hours and hardly seeing him will be devastating to the boys who can not wait for Dad to be able to spend time with them. So we are sitting here hashing it out and praying for guidance. My heart please be still so that the Lord may guide me. I pray he will guide my husband to the correct decision. I did put out a prayer request to a few of my online friends and even though Joel's mom came up I suggested he not discuss it to much with her and I have not discussed it with my mom either. This is hard for us but we know what both of them will say and which side of the coin they will be on and I do not believe we should listen to others but to the Lord. In so many ways this is almost an answer but I question it all. Oh how do we hear the voice of the Lord? It seems I need to check myself. I know he has been leading me towards a certain life and I have been arguing with him. It is so hard to separate yourself from the world. When that separation comes between not just the outside but family and friends.

On another note, M see's the dentist to get his teeth cleaned tomorrow. Which he is actually looking forward to. M and DH have given me the beginning stages of their colds. So I am feeling under the weather but want to be back in the saddle again tomorrow. I am so tired of things coming up and messing up school. I always have the best intentions but then life happens.

However, I have school all planned out for the week. We are finally starting
Writing Road to Reading and I have all the math, science and grammar lessons planned (I am doing good). I also have a new chore chart for the boys. They have asked about getting an allowance. Which DH and I have discussed and have figured out what the chores are and how the allowance will be handled. We have decided that an allowance will be a given. They will get paid their age x's 2 twice a month. BUT if we have to take care of one of their chores then they will be docked a certain amount per chore. We have also decided that they need to save a predetermined amount and their tithes will come out of their allowance also. Both of the boys love to put money in the basket at church and always are asking us for some. So this way they can do it with money they have earned.

So I will go pray and look towards the Lord for guidance in many areas of my life. I know He will show me the way. For He says: