Dec. 9, 2006 - Late night

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Dec. 7, 2006 - Yikes!!! Has it been that long???

     Good Grief!!  I can hardly believe it's been five months since I logged on here!  And here it is almost Christmas!  Shame on me!!!  It was such a nice suprise to read everyone's comments on my last entry, I had no idea anyone visited me!!!  You guys are all so nice!! 

      Minnesota was a lot of fun, as usual!!!  We just love the drive out there from the East Coast.  It is like a breath of fresh air!!!  The drive out is just as much a part of the vacation for me as being there!!  I get to have my hubby trapped inside the car for at least seventeen hours with me!   (hee,hee,hee)  

     Anyway, we just love the scenery through the plains. The landscape in the midwest is so pretty.  You can tell you are in the plains, because of the flat land and tall grass; not as much brush as here in PA.  And I just love all the dirt roads!!!  ("gravel roads" as my husband calls them!)  I remember when I was a kid, we used to have dirt roads like that.  Unfortunately, asphalt has been claiming practically everything in sight. 

     Our vacation, once we arrived in Rochester, was spent visiting family and friends.  We stay with my husband's parents for a few days and then usually travel to Morristown, MN to visit his sister and her family.  This is our children's favorite place, since they have five cousins there, who they are suprisingly close to.  I wish I could post a picture of that little town, but I must not have loaded my pictures onto my computer.  It feels like it is set back in time!  It has a little convience strore/gas station right in the middle of it called "Morrismart"    Refreshing!!!   

     We also visited the place where my husband grew up and showed our children his old school and old fishing hole.   

     It is always sad coming home, because we know that we won't see most of our family for another year, and yet we know that each year's trip is a treasure that we will hold dear in our hearts for many more years to come!   

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Jul. 10, 2006 - 5 days until Minnesota!!

     Well, these are the last few days before we leave for vacation.  Every year we travel out to Minnesota to visit my husband's family.  What a blessing it is to see the excitement of our children as the time approaches!  They are so excited to see their grandma, grandpa, aunts, uncles, and "the cousins".  Dispite the long distance, I am amazed at the close relationships our children have with their extended family.  We have even been enjoying the drive to get there,(about 17 hours), now that the children are getting older. And this year we have two new cases of "Adventures in Odessey" to listen to together (ten hours of it - to be exact).     

     I was actually finding myself dreading the vacation because of all the work that goes into preparing to leave, but I think the Lord is trying to freshen up my attitude and helped me to see beyond the work, and join in on the anticipation.   

     This summer really wasn't much of a break at all.  It seems as though there was something constantly going on that we had to plan for.  When we return from vacation, we will have about two weeks until we start back to school and I am still waiting on some good deals on ebay for our curriculum.  I'm not sure if life is actually getting busier, or if I am just not able to handle what I used to. 

     It occured to me today that it's easy to be happy and friendly when things are going well, but how much more important it is for us to find joy and have a good disposition even though our circumstances are challenging.  "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine!" and "Do all things without grumbling or complaining" are two verses that the Lord just brought to my mind.  I need to make up my mind to obey Him and trust that He will provide all that we could ask or need.

     Thank you Lord.          

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Jul. 7, 2006 - The Excellent Wife

     This is fast becoming my favorite time of the day!  Our children are peacefully sleeping, our dog is laying at my chair, the house is quiet, the candles are lit in the kitchen/dining room, I have a cup of hot tea sitting beside the keyboard and warm cozy socks on..............ahhhhhh.  "Thank you Lord for these times of feeling renewed."  Three nights ago was very similar to this one, except that all of the sudden while sitting at my computer I heard the sound of a loud steady rain out the windows, which was very soothing.  Sometimes, I think these are little shadows of the peace that is to come in heaven. 

     Just this week I began reading the book The Excellent Wife, by Martha Peace.  This is something that after 14 years of marriage, I need to brush up on.  You would think that after all these years I would have things down pat, but actually, I believe Satan has been attacking both my husband and me at this stage in our life.  I just told David this evening that I miss the tenderness we used to feel toward each other.  He responded by saying that it's still there, we are just feeling consumed with the everyday living "stuff".  Anyway, all the time I have spent on reading books about how to raise our children and homeschool them, I guess it's time to focus on my husband a little more.    

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Jul. 7, 2006 - playing with graphics

These graphics are so fun.  Now, to figure out how to get them on my template!

Back to the drawing board!

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Jun. 26, 2006 - Getting back in the ring

Yikes, I don't know what else to call it, except spiritual warfare, but the past three weeks have been like riding a roller coaster.  Things can be going along just fine, I'll be enjoying my family, admiring the newly arriving hummingbirds, keep up with everyday responsibilities and then..........wham!  I feel like I hit a brick wall.    The trials just keep coming, and it usually involves my husband. 

I am so thankful that we forgive easily and don't hold grudges long, but these times of trial are really taking a toll!  The constant spurts of negetivity are draining.  I think I really need to look into the "challenge" of being an encouragement to my husband and make some changes.  I've had enough of satan gaining victory. 

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Mar. 18, 2006 - St. Patrick's Day

Today was a fun day.  Last year my daughter (11) made St. Patrick's Day very special for her little brother(now 6).  She hid little treasures around the house/yard and told Thomas that the leprechan left it for him.  He absolutely loved it.  We even made him a paper leprechan and a green hat to wear.   

Well, this year was even more fun, because my oldest son joined in on the fun too.  Tyler who is 13 was also hiding treasures for his little brother to find.  (Usually little toys we already have and small pieces of candy).  It was so cool seeing my oldest children making this holiday special for their brother.  We ended the day by hiding a baggie of gold chocolate coins for Thomas to find.  Yummm! 

I guess I was just thinking how thankful I am that I am able to homeschool my children. Some of the issues the public school children are dealing with are so "grown up"!  They are dealing with strong pressures to live up to an image......to have a boyfriend/girlfriend, to have lots of friends, to look like the stars on Disney.  My heart goes out to them.  

Today, I was just thankful that my children enjoyed being "kids".    

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Mar. 11, 2006 - A little about our homeschool

     Welp, this has basically been a day off school.  Two of my children are sick with a stomach virus, so we didn't get anything done.  It was kind of nice to just let them rest and take the day off.  I also have to admit, I enjoy taking care of them when they are sick.  They tend to be a little more snuggly!   Although, I know that we will have to double up on our reading. 

     We use Sonlight Curriculum.  The first year we homeschooled, we used Sonlight, and then I experimented the next two years with other material (hoping to save us money) which I regret!  Now, we are back to Sonlight and I am loving it!!!  They have a schedule which we try to follow as close as we can, omitting some things that we don't have time for.  This year we are using Core 6 World History. We studied ancient history and are reading about the middle ages now.  I love that the readers and read alouds go right along with the history that we are learning about. 

     Right now I combine my two oldest children for Bible, history, science, and reading.  We do English and math seperately, and use LLATL, supplimenting creative writing from sonlight, and Singapore Math for them.  Our ds is 13, dd is 11, and ds is 6.

     For the youngest one, I am teaching him how to read using Sing, Spell, Read, and Write.  For Math we are using Saxon 1 and add some of Sonlight's books, (which I borrow from the library), here and there whenever we have time.  I use Sonlight science K for him also. 

     This year has been very rewarding, because I feel like we are making progress!  Seeing the youngest learning to read has been an awesome encouragement!  I didn't teach the oldest ones to read, they went to ps for the first few years before we decided to hs, so seeing Thomas read just amazes me.  I am so proud of him and thankful to God for the priviledge to be able to homeschool. 

     I have to confess, I love that I am learning right along with them!

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Jan. 31, 2006 - A Newbie Here

Welp, here goes..... 

This is my first blog.  Neat! 

I'm not quite sure what to write about since it's after 1:00am and I really should be upstairs in bed snoozing next to my husband, but I was having so much fun reading everyone else's blogs and creating a template, that I had to try writing my first entry. 

Just like most of you ladies out there, my time is consumed with caring for my husband, raising and teaching our children, and keeping a home.  I regularly draw on the Lord's strength just to accomplish these tasks.  I am not a multitasker and get distracted easily!  Sometimes I wonder what God was thinking by putting me in charge of such a huge responsibility!!!  But I am truely grateful for the opportunity to minister to my family.   

We have three wonderfully crazy children, Tyler who is 13, Faith who is 11, and (talk-alot)Thomas who brings up the rear at 6 yrs. old.  They definitly take after their father in the sense-of-humor department and keep things pretty exciting.  I usually have to tone down the drama in our home!  

Well, it's time to "hit the sack", 7:00am will be here before I'm ready!   

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