Go and read As Life Goes On blog.

Her entry on the 25th of April this year titled The Things he says is a hoot!

I enjoyed reading about her son and his sayings.

I have that feeling again. It is as if the whole world full of God’s creation is holding its collective breath. What will happen next? I read revelations recently and I don’t feel like I have any more answers than I had before. One truth that was very sure is that God will take care of His children; no matter what happens we will be in Heaven with Him in the end. I take great comfort in this truth.

Politics weigh heavily on me. I see the degradation of common sense being played out in the race for the White House.  Who people stand for and what they don’t stand for, if they stand at all. The degradation of common sense was concocted by the evil one and put into action in the mass dumbing down and situational ethics taught in the public schools. There are today whole generations of public school students because of their training can’t tell the true right from all the grey.  I wonder if the few that weren’t dumbed down by the public schools will rise up and stand and bring us back to our roots.  

Many tragedies are happening more and more with an intensity that defies my desire to have a stable life. I wonder if any of this is bringing humans to their knees and come to the Great Comforter and Savior for Salvation. There are rumblings of a full blown awakening in America. Will America respond? Or will America again defy common sense and turn their backs on God?

Satan is working overtime. He knows his time is short. He hates God and His Creation. Satan will do anything to keep our eyes off of the Lord.

Keep your eyes on the Lord and don’t lose heart. We will be victorious!

How is everyone? I pray that you are doing well enough.

As always a large amount of time has passed since my last visit. I really struggle with knowing what to write down.

Maybe the next time I come thru will be sooner and I will have something substantive to add to this blog.

We are almost settled from moving from the Netherlands to Florida last December.

Our move went both smoother and more difficult that I thought it was going to. So many things happened and it happened quickly. The Lord blessed us with a new vehicle and we got to spend time with family along with too many things to list.

After we received our household goods and got everything unpacked and put the house in order we stepped back into the school routine. It was not easy at first and it took time for us to get back into the rhythm of school. Due to the size of this house we no longer have a school room. Now we are getting close to our break. We had to work hard to make up for the school that we didn’t do during the move. Another 5 days and we will be officially done with the school year.  

I am so excited for our oldest. She has worked so hard and starting in August she will almost be caught up. She is working so hard and I am so proud of her. 

The kids and I, Daddy had to stay home, went to VA to participate in some of the 400^th anniversary activities planned for Jamestown and Williamsburg. The trip up we got stuck on I-95, it took us 20 hours to get to our destination. We visited both Jamestown and Williamsburg and had the time of our lives. The trip home was a little less eventful and it only took us 13 hours coming home back on I-95.

It is taking us much time to feel at home, find a church and get plugged in with the local homeschool group. We think we have found a church but only time will tell if this is the one.

In May my hubby blessed me by watching the kids so that I could go the FPEA 2007 Homeschool Convention. It was great to be at a convention again. I loved the energy and seeing all the homeschooled teens in attendance. Being a homeschool graduate myself it was encouraging to see parents stay the course with their teens. I was able to attend several classes and buy the audio recordings for many more. The exhibit hall was so busy but I found the curriculum I was looking for.

Right now we are gearing up for the Hurricane season. I suppose you can never be prepared enough for it but I feel so unprepared. With all the hoopla in the news it is hard to leave this in the Lord’s hands but I am continueing to work hard at doing so. I find myself with a very unnatural fear of a Katrina like storm coming thru. It has been a long time since I have been through a hurricane. When I was a kid living in VA we lived thru a Hurricane and the memories are still vivid.

I was reading past posts and noticed that the curriculum info that I put down last year is a little out of date.

 I have since changed our language arts program from Rod and Staff to Learning Language Arts Through Literature. The kids are really enjoying it.

We never got around to spelling power. I just never took the time to figure it out.

Science is working out very well and the kids are retaining the knowledge.  We are now on the second Zoology book.

Also something new that did this year was A Child’s Geography. The kids really enjoyed that one. A new volume is out and I look forward to doing that with the kids.

What more can I say about Beautiful Feet. We all love this history curriculum. The books that are used are great. I also love watching the notebooks grow with the kid’s creativity and knowledge.

I wrote up an entry and I was trying to copy it so that I can do a spell check in Word and whalla the entry dissapeared. Don't ya just love that?

We only have our PC until this coming Monday the 13th. After that we will have to rely on other sources for access to a computer.

It is sunny today. I am happy about this as I am battling a sadness today. This sadness always hits me when we move. It is very unsettling to move and all that goes on with moveing. I want to snap my fingers and be there at our new place moved in and everything put away. 3 weeks and we get to fly.

Hello and good day! I hope it is sunny where you are at. Here in the Netherlands it is cloudy and foggy and dark at 7.35 in the morning.

I blended another blog with this one so that I don't have two.

If anyone reads this on this election day GET OUT AND VOTE!

Well... enjoy the extra blog entries.... Most of them are at the bottom of the blog as I am entering them during the time that I wrote them.

I have a love hate relationship with the Air Force. The Air Force is moving us again. Now don't get me wrong I am sooo happy to be leaving the Netherlands. It is just that I am tired of moving. Both my husband and I are military brats who grew up in the Air Force. We have 4 years left till we hit 20 years.

School is on hold for the time being except for the odd day here and there where we crack open the books. We worked hard thru the summer so that we could take our time with school during this season of moving.

All of us are very excited about moving back to the States. We want to do Wal-Mart, Sams, Sunday drives, cheap gasoline (at times we pay nearly double of the national average), find a church home, and the list goes on and on. Living in Europe has its up and downs and we are ready to leave.

Each of us in our big family have learned some very valuable, hard, and sometimes painful lessons. The Lord has brought us a long way indeed. Each of us can honestly say that our relationship is stronger with the Lord. Our financial standing is stronger. Even though we have yearned with a passion to leave this place I don't ever want to trade the lessons we have learned along the way.

One of the reasons why dread this move is because of all that will have to be done. A house needs to be found, a church we can call home, the unpacking, learning the new rules for schooling the kids and once again the list goes on and on. Moving always makes me tired.

As far as homeschooling goes we will be doing something that I thought we would never do and that is sign up with an umbrella school. We have been spoiled living overseas and the umbrella school will allow us to continue as we have been. I have very strong aversions to the state having even the slightest control and say in our school. I am sure some of this comes from when I was homeschooled and then we didn't dare go outside during school for fear that mom and dad would be sent to jail and us kids heading to who knows where. So the umbrella school it will be.

So, here it is the beginning of November, we are packed out and waiting. The house still needs to be cleaned and we have another shipment of goods that will go out and then we move into the hotel. We fly out on the 1st of December. The first thing we will do after we land in VA is eat at McDonalds !

I was going about my morning and heard my youngest yelling about something.

So, I go upstairs and see what she is yelling about. I find her on top of a 6ft high wardrobe, with no clothes on.  She didn’t know whether to be pleased with herself or be scared because she was up very high off the ground. I know my heart skipped a beat and then my brain hits me with, ‘How did she do that?’

As I got her down off of the wardrobe in front of an open window; my girls love open windows. The thought goes thru my mind of how silly I must look doing this thing with my daughter flying her thru the air with no clothes on.

She is fine now and dressed and I am sure she is pleased as punch about her antics this morning.

P.S. In case you were wondering she is almost 3!

What a day today.

We are working on preparing for our trip back to the states. We will be doing school while we are gone. Much preparing has to be done so that school will run smoothly without, among other things, our printer.

Steven’s new English came in. I am impressed with what I have seen so far. The only thing that bugs me a bit is that there isn’t enough of a how-to for the curriculum for my taste. Even so, I can see how Steven will enjoy this new curriculum. Depending how it goes I will be moving Stephanie into this English as well. She is struggling with her current English.

The kids and I are enjoying the Olympic Games. It is wonderful to get excited with them. We watched live two Americans win Gold and Silver. We all were very proud to be Americans. I do miss some of the commentary though. To watch the games live we watch the EuroSport channel which is in Dutch. I didn’t realize how much I learned listening to the commentators. I still think that, though, they can get a little long winded.

A lot got done today. And we even had some sun this morning.

Still more to do tomorrow!

    Living in Europe is really hard. For the last 3 years I have been trying really hard to live in denial of this, I can't do it anymore. It has all caught up to me and I am finally admitting that it is just plain hard.

    I think one of the reasons I have been denying this is because as soon as I stop denying this truth I will have to deal with the pains of living in Europe. Pains bring lessons which of course bring wisdom and a patience for life. What if I don’t want this patience? Ah well, this patience is coming whether I like or not because at the end of the day I hate living in denial.

    School has taken on some new nuances.

    I could not keep up with math with Katherine. We are concentrating on getting her thru the 100 easy lessons book and penmanship. She is already more than halfway thru the book. She is so easy to teach; even half way thru the book she still amazes me at how easily she reads. She is the youngest yet to read out of each of the kids. I am hoping that the youngest will wait until she is at least 6 before she wants to do school. J

    Steven will be changing his English curriculum. He is on his 4^th time thru the book he is using and it is not clicking with him. What is interesting to me is that his oldest sister does wonderfully with this English. So I ordered LLATL. I have eyed this curriculum for years and have finally decided to take the plunge. I really like how there are worksheets. I love worksheets.

    The kids and I love History. Beautiful Feet has done a phenomenal job putting their history curriculum together. The kids talk about history now.

    We just finished Apologia’s Botany book written by Jeanette Fulbright. I highly recommend her books. I really enjoyed watching science come alive for the kids.

    Next we are going to do Around the World in 180 days. I am not sure how well we will be able to do this but I will try my best. We don’t have a good library here because our base is very small and NATO. The nearest base we could get to for books is 2 hours away. I wonder if I could use the American International School’s library….. Obviously I am still planning this out. J

    Little Victoria is doing well. She is mostly potty trained and doing well in that department. We did go thru this spell where she refused to go stinky in the toilet; boy I am happy that is over with. I can’t believe she will be 3 this year. We came to the Netherlands pregnant with her.

Do you ever read something that you wrote and wonder, "What is the world was I thinking when I wrote that?" I am so mellow dramatic or maybe it is just that it is late and I should be sleeping? In any case I am feeling better today and off to bed I go!

I thought I was doing better only to get worse. I am pretty sure this "It" thing is the flu and all the symptoms that come with it.
This upsets me as there were a lot of things planned for this upcoming week that will delayed a bit while I get better.
At least my kids are doing better and are on the mend.
Well, I guess I can get to some planning activities that I have been putting off!

It has been a while since I last posted. And as usual a lot has happened.
Family came to visit; that was good but I am happy to have my house back. Even good things can completely drain you.
I started something new... loom knitting. I like it! It won't replace the crochet work that I do but now I can do things I couldn't do before. I do have several projects going; a pair of socks, a baby blanket, and a fine art filet crochet piece.
Last week I went to a PWOC conference in Willingen, Germany. It was a good week spent with about 600 other ladies from the protestant military community. The Lord moved mightily in my life and in the life of others. Many ladies came to the Lord last week and one of those was in my group. I saw her just this past Sunday and it was wonderful to see the joy written all over her face and oh the peace that flowed from her; it was beautiful.
During the conference there was a semi-formal banquet. I was going to make a asian style dress but at the last moment my machine broke and to complicate things my mom who was coming in on a military flight couldn't make it out to help me out with sewing the dress. I scrambled at what to do for this formal. The Lord was good; everything worked out and I made a formal sweater and wore that with a long linen black skirt and a pair of very dutch black shoes. That sweater got many comments as many ladies saw me work hard on this sweater all week.
I took my machine (the one I mention above that is not working) to a Pfaff dealer only for the machine to work. I really need to find my international warrenty card so that I can take it in becuase it has problems it is not supposed to have. My older daughter needs clothing so I need to get that machine in ASAP. I just wish the Pfaff dealer wasn't 3 hours away, in another country no less!
This year might actually see the Christmas cards that I made last year sent out. I am so bad about this; over the 13 years hubby and I have been married we have gotten cards out maybe twice?!? I will be impressed if I can get those out.
I think some of the Christmas spirit is coming back. It got killed when my hubby was deployed over the holidays during 2 separate deployments. I tell you what you really don't want to do Christmas when you have sick kids and have to go to someone else's place just to get a Christmas dinner. The second Christmas that hubby was deployed for I was getting very sick. So, now that I am feeling some of that old spirit come back I have downloaded some organizing forms to help me get things in gear. Something else to add to my ever growing to-do list.
The "IT" cold has hit our house and we all have "it". It is awful; our little one couldn't sleep the other night and daddy was up with her fighting the croopyness. Even hubby is sick with "it". I think we all are feeling a little better today.
After a two week break I will be starting T-Tapp up again. I hate these breaks they make those first few days back into it very hard! I miss doing it though and look forward to exercising again. I am still loosing inches and I am fitting better in my size 8's jeans. The size 10's I have are getting bigger on me and are starting to put weight on me.

  I started this blog back in July.... Now it is September. There is no excuse for this other than I have been so busy that I can't see straight.

   The kids by God's grace are doing well in school. It is so exciting to see all of them grow and learn.

   Here is what we are using at the moment:

        Bible copy work

        Rod & Staff English

        Saxon and R&S math

        Italic handwriting series

        Apologia elementary science (Botany book)

        History (I am putting this together as I go) we will be using Beautiful Feet's American History when it comes in

        Spelling Power (I am just not sure when to get this into our day-and I am having trouble figuring out how to do the whole thing)

        How to Teach your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons

       4 out of the 5 are schooling. The youngest is potty training... This has been hard lately but getting better as we find our groove.

I did it or rather we did it! The new desk looks great. The best part is that our place looks more like a home instead of a office. I love how neat everything has become. There are still some things that need to be tidied and put away but it all looks good and welcoming.

The weather is nasty. We are now on day 2. It is windy and rainy and quite dark. I know this weather is so typical but it still strikes me how much I don't like it. It is hard on me to yearn for something that won't be. I would be perfectly happy to live in a place where the sun shines all the time.

Tonight I am having a stampin up party. I invited 15 people. I must be the most boring person alive because for various reasons there are only 1 firm and 2 possibles showing up tonight. Sigh. Quaint parties can be very nice. OH well! maybe I will be surprised and have all these people show up. Only one person showed up for the party the demonstrator.

I can't believe it has been all this time since I last posted. There has been so much going on.
We finally got a taste of summer just when it is supposed to start feeling like fall. It was wonderful. The only thing that got us was the fact that there was little to no wind. I tell you what hot weather with no breezes and high humidity will test the most diehard summer lover. Today we are seeing the more typical weather for this time of year; dark and dreary. When this weather comes I remember how much I don’t like it here. It takes a lot more work on my part to keep my focus on the Lord. He is my sunshine even when I can’t see or feel the sun.
Well I haven’t had another egg fiasco. I did get some larger eggs this past Thursday. What I can’t remember is how big the eggs are stateside so I can’t say how big they are really. I must say though it is wonderful to have some eggs that are not tiny.
I can’t wait! We are replacing the desk that has served us well over the last 5 years. It has served its purpose and getting on my nerves. It takes up way to much space with inadequate storage options. We found some wonderful shelves that have loads of features at IKEA this past Saturday. Getting this desk out of here will be a blessing. I am going to love the fact that all the school stuff will have a place to go. This shelf will have lots of organizing tools. What’s more is that it will be lockable. I get tired of keeping my young ones out of things they are not supposed to be into.
Hubby is starting school again this week after a two week break. He has 16, 5 week classes to go; he takes these classes through the University of Phoenix Online offerings. I cannot wait for this time period to be over with. It has been more of a sacrifice than I thought it was going to be. Of course he still works; it leaves us so little time together as a family.
My MIL is coming to town. She hasn’t seen our two youngest children. The kids are all excited about her upcoming visit. I am looking forward to seeing her again but I am getting a bit nervous as the time approaches. We are so different from each other. I homeschool she sent her kids to public school. She was a working mother and still works and I stay at home. I am artsy and she is not. I am concerned the kids and I will overwhelm her and she will never want to come back. It has been over 6 years since her last visit.
The kids are so excited; they got new Sunday shoes and pajamas today. Steven got some more Sunday pants and shirts as well. They all are wearing their new pajamas. It is only a couple more hours until bed time.

Today the kids, neighbor, and I went to the Sittard market. We got the vegetables and fruit. Even found some very nice bread at a good price. Then the last thing I did was buy a flat of 30 eggs.    Fast forward to late this evening.... I was trying to put stuff away in the fridge and couldn't because it needed to be cleaned out. I found a dozen eggs from before my partial hysterectomy. Threw those out!  I then proceeded to weed out all science experiments. It wasn't too bad; I mean I have thrown away more than that in the past. So..... I find that I have 3; I say again, 3 dozen eggs. This is on top of the 30 eggs that I bought this morning. OH! Someone please tell what I was thinking buying more eggs? There are now over 60 eggs in this house.     Now of course I have to use up the 3 dozen so I am boiling them. We will have deviled eggs, doesn't that sound yummy!!!! And yes we will have egg salad sandwiches and the kids will be thrilled at the fact they will have something different for lunch.     This to me is a hoot! I can't stop laughing about it! Hubby doesn't find this as funny as I do but then again he is buried in school work. I still can't get over that I bought more eggs. Who else does this sort of thing!?!

This is so unnatural! It is not supposed to be this cold in August. I was at the door kissing hubby as he was leaving and you could see your breath. Now, granted we live in the Netherlands and we are a ways up north but still..... I am sure this wouldn't affect me so if I had lived here all my life. We haven't had a warm summer at all and I am suffering from withdraw. I like to have summers where it feels good to be in the A/C because it is stinking hot outside. Alas, what the Dutch call summer is winding down. We even have trees that are changing colors. The days are already a couple of hours shorter. It is raining more, soon we won't see the sun but once in a while.