I can't believe I completely forgot yesterday that it was my one year blogging anniversary. Goodness, my day was just too busy. We had our monthly homeschool meeting last night, so I never had time to blog, and it went out of my mind. I still haven't decided the direction of this blog yet, but I'm blessed to have it. You are all a blessing to me, and I'm always looking forward to your comments with encouragement and words of wisdom. You are all so very sweet, and I'm blessed by the friendships I've developed through HSB. Thank you Lord for bringing me to HSB and the friends I have made through here. I pray that You bless all my friends in blogland.
I just looked at my start date of my blog here on HSB, and it's March 10th. I can't believe that next week I will have been officially blogging for a year. It's been a great year.
I wouldn't change anything about the last year I've been blogging. It has been a great opening in my life, and the Lord has used it in so many different ways in my life. He has brought so many good friends to me through my blog, some I get to chat with, and some I might actually get to meet in person. These friends have brought me so much encouragement, sweet words and friendships that I truly can't picture being without. I am so glad that I took the plunge and started this blog.
I'm not sure what direction this blog is going to take. I've been praying about it, and I have a few different ideas. I'll let you know once I know what direction and changes I feel to make. Until then, I guess a sort of count down is on. Only one week until my 1 year anniversary. How fun.
I know I haven't talked a lot about valentine's day. It's not a big celebration around here. We try to love on each other every day, and not just one day out of the year. But there are a few different things we do. I'm not going into specifics. Paul prefers to keep it between us and not show pictures or go into details. But like he always does, whatever he does get me he always gives me on the day before valentine's day. I think its the sweetest thing. He's always done this, as he likes to do things different. I love him so much. The kids did make each other some cards, and they made us ones. So though we did do some things, it wasn't a big issue. Fun but nothing big.
I don't think I've updated about my brother, sorry about that. He had his shoulder surgery last week, and all went well. He's home now with a neck brace on, and not suppose to move around too much. He's actually going to be off of work for about 4 weeks. He has a very physical job, that's why he's off for so long. Besides not wanting to sit around the house, he's doing great. Thank you for all of your prayers.
My sister is spending the night again next week. She has an consultation doctor's appointment about her back and the shot they want to give her. They want to go over the pros and cons, and what's expected of the procedure. She has some shopping and things she needs to do, so she's going to come out the day before her appointment and spend the day here, then go to the appointment the next day. We are all looking forward it, especially the kids.
I guess that's about it. I hope everyone had a great day.
I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do, but I was a bit tired of the snow. We have enough real snow around here, I didn't want to see it on my blog. So these are the colors I picked for now. I might change it again later. :)
Yep, I did it, I've changed my template. I decided to go with a winter theme instead of Christmas. That way I don't have to rush to change it after the holidays. I might add some falling snowflakes, I haven't decided yet. Sarah and I worked on her blog for a couple of hours, she wanted the falling snowflakes so bad. I couldn't figure it out at first, but between surfing the internet and help from a friend, we got it figured out.
Other than that not a whole lot is going on. I'm going Christmas shopping tomorrow. I think I have checked things out pretty good. So after I get home, whatever I couldn't find in the stores, I already have it all ready to order online. So if all goes well, I'll be completely done shopping tomorrow afternoon.
Lessons went well this week, and the kids flowed through them pretty good. We went to a craft fair and book sale at the library today. We didn't really find anything we liked, but it was fun to go to it.
I have been given two awards in the past couple of days. I got the Blogging with a Purpose award from Valarie. She is such an encourager herself, and I believe she truly does blog with a purpose. If you haven't been by her blog, please stop by, it's a great blog. Plus I was given Blog Friend Forever award by Vicki. She is such a sweet person herself, and her blog is great. Again, if you haven't stopped by her blog before, you have to go by. So I say thanks to both of them. As everyone else is just as busy this time of year, I'm not going to be able to pass these on. I think I'm going to take an 'award and tag' break for a while. So this entry is to say thank you very much for the awards. You are both very sweet and I enjoy reading both of your blogs. Thanks for thinking of me.
I can't believe how long it's been since I've blogged. This time of year is so extremely busy at times, like it is for all of you. So we'll see how often I can get an entry out.
The house is feeling more and more like home. We had a friend over last night for dinner, and we had a great time. He is an older, single gentleman, that truly is a testimony to God's love, grace and mercy. He is a Veteran and 8 years old in the Lord. He truly puts me to shame with his humbleness and knowing he deserves nothing from the Lord. I know I can forget how I deserve nothing, I sometimes think I deserve everything. We had a nice spaghetti dinner and some strawberries on angel food cake with whipped cream for desert. I should have taken a picture, but I didn't think about it.
I have realized a list of things that need to be done some before Christmas and some before Thanksgiving. The ones before Thanksgiving I need to get moving on. So like all of you, we'll see how blogging goes during this time of year. This is my first time blogging during the holiday season, I'm just not sure how much time I'll have. But I will blog as regularly as I can.
We had a real good day yesterday. We went to the mall for a bit, before all the kids dressed in costumes started to show up. I signed up at Barnes and Nobles for the teacher discount, 20% off of books. I like that. We then went to the library, which was very pleasant. The kids learned more about the card catalog, and finding books on the shelves. We went to Wal-mart, then met Paul for dinner. We really enjoyed the new restaurant. It's new to us anyway. After that we went back to Barnes and Nobles for a Starbuck's coffee. It truly was a great night. Thanks for all the encouragement and your comments, they were very sweet.
Then today I unpacked 11 more boxes. I have all my knick knacks and extra things either put out on display or packed away so I can rotate them out later. I also have my laundry room straightened up. I worked on our bedroom closet on Tuesday. And now that I have gone through those boxes, I can now park our vehicle in the garage. I've never had a garage big or clean enough to park my car in, so I'm pretty excited about that. The last main group of boxes I need to go through are my craft boxes. Half of them will be repacked and left in the garage so I can get things out of them when I need them. The other half will be set up in our living room. I have a small multi-purpose area there, and I'm going to buy a rubbermaid type drawer/shelf unit there to hold some of my things. It's actually turning out quite nice. So once that is done, the main parts of the garage will be arranged and done. After that it's just some odds and ends things. It feels good to be getting things organized. I'm hoping to have the craft part done this weekend. If I can find the drawer/shelf unit tomorrow, I think I'll have it finished. We don't have any other plans this weekend, thankfully, so I should have the time.
Our lessons are going well too. We are working on some character traits a bit more lately. It seems like we are hitting new 'areas' in their lives lately. It's funny, when these new areas hit, it takes a while to realize they are new growth areas that need to have some fine tuning. Then, once we notice that, we start to focus on it more, and things smooth out a bit. I guess maybe I just don't always see it for what it is at first. But, at least I get it, eventually, right?
So that has been our past couple of days. For some reason, ever since we moved, I can't seem to get back to blogging every day. I guess that's probably a good thing, but it feels strange. I can't get into my regular morning routine either, but I'm sure it will come eventually. I'll just keep pushing through.
Paul had a job interview today, and it went really good. The person he was talking to said Paul was the first one to answer the ad. It sounds like a good job, and Paul really like the production factory. It's about .50 cents less an hour than what we really need, but they said there would be an increase after a 90 day review. We are suppose to hear back from them by Tuesday on whether he has the job or not. Paul is really excited about this possibility. We also looked at another house today. It was nice, but it was right in a neighborhood. It had a nice privacy fence around the yard, but I have been spoiled with where we live right now. We have a beautiful view, and it's hard to give that up. I've said it many times, I wish we could just pick up our house and yard and bring it with to the bigger towns. So right now our two major options is the house on a sand hill, with no yard but a gorgeous view, 2 bathrooms and about 25 minutes from this potential job. Or this other house we looked at today which has a nice yard, no view, only 1 bathroom and only about 10 minutes from this potential job. Decisions. We won't have the money to move until Monday at the earliest, plus we won't hear back from the potential job until then, so we will be praying over the weekend and looking in the papers on Saturday and definitely Sunday and see if there is any better houses out there we can afford. We do have friends at the church we are going to that has a rental house in the exact area we want to be in, on an acre of land and they would lower the rent for us. BUT, they have renters in it right now. But if it's the house the Lord wants us in, He will make a way. There was another house that looked nice in that same town we want to be in, but it was out of our price range. So I feel a little stuck right now. But I know I need to continue to trust in the Lord. I do know I've been spoiled in the house we have now because it is big and spacious. I need to be o.k. with downsizing and knowing that right now, we just might not get exactly what we want in a house. It's just hard sometimes to accept that. Plus, I am tired from driving around all day, so I'm starting to ramble a bit.
The kids stayed home with my mom today while we were out for Paul's interview and to look at the house. My mom was a 'substitute' teacher today. It actually turned out very good. My mom did a good job, and the kids didn't harass the substitute to much. I'm glad, since I use to harass my substitutes a lot.
Snow is on it's way this weekend. The mountains will definitely get it, and we are right on the border of it. We might get a snow/rain mix. If we get some, I will share pictures.
I looked back and realized that we are starting our 7th week of school. I have to say, it truly doesn't feel like it's been over 6 weeks already. We've done pretty good, I think. I've changed a few things in our schedule and what I have the kids do. I like how it's going, so we'll see what happens. I've been known to change schedules a couple of times before I'm happy with it. The kids are liking it o.k. too. The grumbling and complaining is slowly stopping. We have some new consequences for it, and it seems to be working.
We are trying to accomplish as much as we can, even with our crazy days. Paul was out all day job hunting. He said there was some good prospects out there, so we'll see what happens. We are heading out that way tomorrow again too, for a follow-up dr.'s appointment. So we'll look at the papers tomorrow before we head out and see if there are any new jobs and/or houses to look at. We will keep on seeking and searching until there is nothing else to look at, then go from there.
Our fall has officially started. We turned on our pellet stove for the first time yesterday, and had it on this morning too. I am wrapped in my cuddle blanket, and we all have long pants on. It's nice though. I have always liked fall with the cool breezes and pretty colors outside. So I am enjoying the time. But it does remind me that winter is coming, which can be hard out here sometimes. We already had snow on our mountains yesterday, so winter is on it's way.
I am a wife and mother of two. I started this blog to share the things the Lord shows me in my journey as a wife, mother, homeschool mom and His daughter. And in it all to "grow in the grace and knowledge of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."
II Peter 3:18
I can't believe that next week I will have been officially blogging for a year. It's been a great year.
These friends have brought me so much encouragement, sweet words and friendships that I truly can't picture being without. I am so glad that I took the plunge and started this blog.
We had a nice spaghetti dinner and some strawberries on angel food cake with whipped cream for desert. I should have taken a picture, but I didn't think about it.
But, at least I get it, eventually, right? 
But if it's the house the Lord wants us in, He will make a way. There was another house that looked nice in that same town we want to be in, but it was out of our price range. 
It actually turned out very good. My mom did a good job, and the kids didn't harass the substitute to much. I'm glad, since I use to harass my substitutes a lot. 
