You can find me at my new blog:  http://chroniclesofgrace.wordpress.com/

Blessings!

-J

So my last post here was in February.  Here's a quick list of what's happened since the last post, and maybe you can see why there wasn't really time to post:

Boy8's 8th b-day party, Moving into our new house, A week spent unpacking in the new house, Girl9 participated in Awana Games, making of cars for Awana Grand Prix, BW gave his senior testimony at TMS, we started attending our church's parenting class on Sunday afternoons, I was able to go the Seminary Wives brunch hosted my Mrs. Patricia MacArthur(something I had been waiting for 4 years), Ladies Bible Study through Ephesians, Van died again, BW completed finals on his last two seminary classes, Planning for BW's graduation reception, We attended his graduation banquet followed by  graduation followed by his reception, followed by two days at Disneyland just the two of us followed by his ordination the next Sunday, purchased a new van, Awana awards night, Backyard prepped and then concrete poured, all while homeschooling 3 children and now finishing up our school year.  Whew! 

What a busy 5 months!  But God's grace was amazing to us in so many ways.  Despite several flu bugs that were going around our church and the seminary God protected all of us from major illnesses!  The Obama stimulus package included an $8,000 tax credit for new homebuyers which we were able to receive and use for the backyard and down payment the new van.  Our family and church family has been such a blessing in helping us with the home buying, praying for us constantly, making shelves in the garage, moving us, pouring concrete, digging trenches, generous gifts, driving 2 hours down to BW's graduation, making meals for us without being asked, towing our van to the transmission shop, lending us a vehicle while the van was in the shop, watching our kids when we needed, helping with the reception and I am sure there is much more that I'm forgetting.  Our cups were filled to overflowing with all the love we received.  And it was such a blessing to be able to look back to where God has brought us in the past 4 years and see His hand and His work in all things. 

We are now enjoying a season of respite before the busyness of summer begins.  I am enjoying the planning of the coming school year and am so thankful for the flexibility of homeschooling during these months! 

Blessings!

J

We are on our 4th week of studying the Revolutionary War.  I was just wondering how much of it they are picking up or if it was over their heads.  Well, I got a glimpse today. 

I parked the car outside the library to p/u the George Washington book that was on hold. When I got back into the car, the kids asked what it was about and I told them.

Girl5: George Washington - ugh! He's disgusting!(she doesn't like the picture on the timeline character or that he wears a wig)

All at once:
Boy7: What? He was our first president - he wasn't disgusting!  I want to be a soldier like him when I grow up.

Girl9: No, he's not! He's a genius - do you know how smart he was during the siege of Boston?

Boy3!!!!: He's not disgusting; He's a hero!

Girl5: Ok, he's not disgusting, but I don't like his wig.

Boy7: Mom, is George Washington in heaven?

Me: Well, we can't know for sure what's in someone's heart, but if we look at some of the things he wrote and the fruit in his life, it certainly seems that he was a Christian.

Dd5: Mom, do you think if he's in heaven he still has his wig on?

Me - Glad I was in the front seat so she wouldn't see me trying not to laugh!

Blessings!

-J

About a year ago, I made the determination that I was not going to purchase anymore sippy cups.  When the ones we had were gone, they were gone.  Well, we had been down to the last one for almost 2 months when yesterday, it was missing.  Everyone searched the house.  I even offered a double treat to the kid who could find it!  But it hasn't resurfaced anywhere.  Boy3 has a ritual.  Each night around 8:00, he asks for milk, and each morning the same happens for breakfast.  I pour the milk in his sippy cup, he puts it in the microwave and pushes the button for 30 seconds(he likes it warm).  Then he takes it out, and depending on how his allergies are, I pour some Benadryl in it - on nights when he doesn't need it I "pretend" to keep the peace.  Well, this ritual is highly interrrupted if there is no sippy cup.  A regular cup will just not do.  He refused to drink milk for 2 days straight!  Last night, Boyalmost8 came up to him and told him "I know just how you feel.  I remember when my sippy cup was gone back when we lived in the jungle house(we've named all the houses we've lived in - I had no idea that he remembered the last time I rid the house of sippy cups!).  But now you can be a big boy like me!" 

Well, that was all the encouragement my little guy needed.  This morning at breakfast, he took great pains to select just the right "big boy cup" to use.  He chose it, let me pour the milk in, placed it in the microwave, pushed the buttons, sat down to breakfast.  He took a sip and pointed out to everyone that he had a milk mustache like the big kids, something that just doesn't happen with a sippy!  So, yet another milestone as our family transitions officially out of the world of sippy cups...

-J

The recent snow days have allowed me a chance to read a bit and I wanted to share a book that I've really been enjoying.  It's called A Chance to Die: The Life and Legacy of Amy Carmichael by Elisabeth Elliot.  Amy Carmichael was an amazing missionary to India who began a home for children who were being sold to temples for idol worship.  Her story is very convicting as it has given me a heart for the country of India which even today is hostile to Christians as a threat to their caste system.  It is also interesting to read how she came up with a style for parenting and educating the many children in her "Family". 

"In Amy's Bible, on a card pasted inside the front cover, are these words: 

'These children are dear to Me.  Be a mother to them, and more than a mother.  Watch over them tenderly, be just and kind.  If thy heart is not large enough to embrace them, I will enlarge it after a pattern of My own.  If these young children are docile and obedient, bless Me for it; if they are froward, call upon Me for help; if they weary thee, I will be thy consolation; if thou sink under thy burden, I will be thy Reward.' The words are followed by a picture of the Shephed, reaching for a lamb while a vulture hovers overhead." 

Blessings!

-J

Moving up to 4000 feet, we knew that we would encounter a new experience - snow.  But God had been very merciful to me and we hadn't had any real snow since moving here...until this week.  It started Saturday morning.  I needed to drive into town, and since the temps were still fairly warm, I drove in snow for the first time!  BW called because he needed to know where I had hid the snow pants - supposed to be Christmas presents for the kids, but they needed them.  My brother came to visit on his way home from college just after the snow stopped.  This allowed him to get into our community without chains(which he didn't have).  The whole family was out throwing snowballs. 

Sunday morning, I came into the kitchen where I found Boy8 sitting in front of our sliding glass door just staring at the snow.  I whispered to BW, "I think he's worshipping it".  We went to church and on the way home I looked in my rearview mirror.  He had a very worried look on his face as the sun was out and he was just sure that the snow was melting.  He was right.  We got home, he ran in to put on his snowboots and got into the backyard to find a slushy mess.  But the timing was perfect so that my brother was able to get home.  We also were able to attend our church's Advent service which was so much fun!

Monday morning, we awoke to Boy8 yelling, "Wake up everyone!  It snowed!".  Sure enough, overnight, about half a foot of snow had fallen and we were in the middle of a winter wonderland.  It was amazing!  I couldn't believe how quietly it had fallen.  We are used to rains or storms where you know they are there.  It also muffles all other noise so that there is such a quietness.  I felt like a kid myself as I ran with the kids from room to room looking at the views and watching the snow come down. 

There was a huge difference in this snow.  Our neighbor next door showed us how to roll the snow into a snowman.  We also pulled out some other Christmas presents - a snowball maker and a mold to make blocks for snow forts.  We all had lots of fun outside and inside watching movies and playing games together. 

The public schools had been closed for a snow day so our school followed their example.  On Tuesday, BW and I attended his staff Christmas party and the kids had a great time sledding at a friends' house.  Then we got the call that Boy8 had a bad spill and we should come back right away.   Turned out he had the wind knocked out of him pretty bad, but God protected him. 

Wednesday it snowed and snowed and snowed.  It really didn't stop all day.  We are not used to this - that everything just shuts down and people just stay home for days.  But it was so cozy to read books and watch movies(even opened another Christmas present) and do some baking.  What a blessing to have a God ordained vacation! 

This morning we woke up to blue skies, but temps down to 10 degrees.  After being cooped up the day before, we went on a family walk.  The kids had fun sliding on the icy roads under the powder, but it confirmed for us that we weren't to go anywhere again...and maybe need to start thinking about getting a 4WD vehicle in the future. 

Overall, I love it!  I love that my kids have 4 seasons to experience.  I love the cozy feel.  I'm learning to love the lack of control in my planning and accept that God has other plans for our family sometimes. 

You can get a taste of it by watching my new slideshow. 

Blessings!

-J 

We started school back today after 2 weeks off for the Thanksgiving holiday.  After school time with Girl9 and Boy7, it was Girl5's turn.  We finished her math and started her Language Arts workbook.  She said "I have an idea, Mommy.  Today let's pretend that you are my teacher and I'm your student and I have to do what you say."  ??????????????????????????????????????????????  Isn't that what we do every day, but it's not pretend?  Don't know what she thinks we do the rest of the time...

This morning at breakfast, BW announced he was taking the day off!  A treat because I wasn't expecting it.  We drove into town to see the progress on the house.  The drywall is done and they were painting.  A nice surprise is that they made a mistake and drywalled the inside of the garage!  Then we took the kids through the McDonald's drive thru and to a nearby park.  It was a little cold, but the big kids didn't mind.  Boy3 and I stayed in the van and hung out to keep warm.  He enjoyed pretending to drive. 

We came home and BW made some yummy Chicken Tortilla Soup for dinner.  After dishes and baths, we made homemade chocolate chip cookies and will soon sit down to watch The Grinch Who Stole Christmas(came from Netflix today and the kids have never seen it!).  After the kids go to bed, I will lose to my husband in playing Scrabble. 

Don't think it gets much better than this:)

Blessings!

-J

God blessed us with a great Thanksgiving week.  On Tuesday, as I was getting ready to start the day, BW ran in, waking everyone up because there were deer in our backyard!

I know for some of you this would be an everyday occurrence, but for us City Slickers, it was a momentous occasion!  We couldn't believe that they had been able to jump over our fence and we watched for about 30 minutes or so as they hung out in our backyard and ate from our bushes.  BW had the bright idea to share some salad with them.  So he opened the sliding glass door very slowly and threw a plate of leftover salad at them.  They didn't touch it.  Live and learn!

The night before we were to leave, we discovered that our van was leaking transmission fluid.  Yes, that would be the van we had just got back from after it being in the shop for a month getting a replacement transmission.  We praised God that He had shown this to us before we left on our 350 mile trip, and tried to figure out what to do.  Ultimately, the same dear church family that had lent us their car for a month, graciously let us borrow their car yet again.  So we caravaned(ironic - since our broken Caravan was the reason we had to caravan) up to the bay area. 

Also, just before we left BW had a walk through at our new house.  Because of great weather and no shortage of contractors, the completion date has now been moved from March to the end of January!  Umm...that's like next month!  I couldn't really process it at the time because we were still trying to get out of town.

We got off to a later start and ended up getting into the Bay Area around 4:30.  Though traffic was lighter than what would usually be due to the holiday, I have to admit that I am no longer used to traffic at all (after living in the country only 8 months!) and it really tried my patience.  Didn't convince me that I'm missing out on anything.

We visited my sister and got to see her apartment.  We took her out for pizza before heading over to my sister in law's house where we stayed until Saturday.  It is always so wonderful to see how great the cousins get along even though they only see one another a handful of times per year.  It was like a 4 day playdate/slumber party! 

Grandma & Papa gave each child a pre-Christmas gift, individual fleece blankets(which we will defnitely be using as the temps got down to 28 degrees last night).  Here's all 7 cousins together:

We are so grateful for the hospitality and company of family for Thanksgiving.  I know that looking back these will be fond memories.

Blessings!

-j

My oldest turned 9!  And, for some reason, hers always seems to get a little more spread out.  We've been celebrating for quite a while it seems.  The Saturday before Thanksgiving, my parents came over to celebrate.  My mom made cupcakes, we opened presents and sang Happy Birthday.

Then, on Tuesday, we went up to Northern California and got to visit with my sister.  Aunt Kelly had presents for her to open. 

Then, on the Friday after Thanksgiving, we celebrated Girl9 and her cousins' birthday complete with cake, presents and the singing of Happy Birthday.

Saturday was her actual birthday.  We were travelling back home that day, but she got to pick out where we stopped for lunch.  That night, with a lack of food in the house and the exhaustion of her parents, we had pancakes and put a candle on her pancake and sang Happy Birthday.

Then on Monday, we had her birthday party with her friends.  In honor of her first winter in a place that actually has winter, we had a Winter theme. We assumed, when we started planning a month ago, that by now there would be some colder weather, and possibly some snow to play in.  We were very wrong as it was about a 75 degree day as the girls were arriving.  But it was a very good time anyway.

 As the girls arrived, we played a game of how many words you could make from the word SNOWFLAKE.  Then we made snow themed beaded bracelets.  Unfortunately, I am a horrible knot tier so a few of the girls had to repeat their efforts.  Then we played Winter Charades.  The girls were divided into teams.  A player came and had one minute to pop a balloon, find the paper that was in the balloon and act it out.  It was fun to watch the different ways they tried to pop the balloons.  The winning team got to be first in line for our Snowball Hot Fudge Sundae bar.  We stuck a candle and we sang Happy Birthday.  They also got to have Hot Chocolate with marshmellows.   We opened presents and then played a few games of Telephone before parents started arriving. 

This was the first friend birthday party Girl9 has had for a few years as we were on "sabbatical" from birthday parties during much of seminary.  I had to hold back tears as I praised God in my heart for bringing us to this place and blessing my daughter with so many friends in just 8 months.  And at the same time, I also realized that my firstborn is growing up and we are halfway done in our raising of her.  We pray that she will continue to "grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom; and that the grace of God will be upon" her(Luke 2:42). 

Blessings!

-J

I can't believe it's only her 3rd tooth!  So she put it in her little tooth box and left it under her pillow and, can you believe the tooth fairy forgot to take it!   I told her that since yesterday was a Sunday, the tooth fairy took the day off(actually, the tooth fairy did remember but my almost9yearold was up late reading last night and then woke up before mom did).  Hopefully the tooth fairy will remember tonight.  Pretty sure my smart little one is on to us, but it's cute that she wants to keep pretending.

Blessings for a happy Monday!

-J

Wow!  Fall has just blown by and it's been a while since I've been here.  Once the school year started, I found out that adding one additional student exponentially increased the amount of workload for this teacher.  It is now often that we are not finishing the 3R's until well into the early afternoon and finishing the rest well after the school bus has dropped off the public school kids.  We are getting into a rhythm, but working with 2 students who aren't reading independently yet is just going to be more time consuming.  I think I'm finally coming to grips with it, realizing that it's just a season and in 6 months I may well be in another one. 

I wrote a while back about our experiences with potty training our youngest.   Thought I would give you all an update.  Praise God that we are staying dry all day!  We have BM's under control and he's even wiping himself!  He is sleeping in regular underwear and is staying dry all night long!  So....forgive me if I'm not in a huge hurry to "fix" this little glitch in his use of the potty!

Shhh!  Don't tell, but he doesn't like to stand when he goes to the bathroom.  He prefers to undress from the waist down and watch the stream like this:

...which is fine when we're at home, but in a situation when we're in public or when we're out, well, like in Sunday School, this means that he needs to take off his shoes, his socks(though I've been keeping him in sandals to make this easier), his pants, his underwear in order to use the facilities.  Then he needs to be dressed again and disinfected.  So, I know that at some point I'll need to break this little quirk of his, but how can you say no to a face like this?

Any tips/advice would be welcome:)

Blessings!

-J

Pictures from our trip to Stockton are now in my slide show!  The kids really look forward to spending the week with grandparents and cousins.  BW really enjoyed the fact that this was the first time in a long time that he got to visit his family without having a paper due, a sermon to preach or for a funeral.  Playing two days of golf didn't hurt either:)  The week was jam packed with activities to entertain the 7 grandchildren who invade Grandma & Papa's empty nest for a week.  I enjoyed the chance to watch the Olympics since we are on "no cable" at home.  Unfortunately, staying up until 1:30 am several nights straight while keeping to the jam packed kids itinerary left me feeling like I needed a vacation from my vacation!  But it was worth it to watch all the gymnastics - my alltime favorite event - and see Michael Phelps win by the smallest margin a human being can imagine. 

New on the itinerary was a lunch and shopping trip for my mother in law, sister in law and myself while the men watched the kids!!!!!   I was so excited to shop at some of the stores we don't have in our small town!  When we returned at the end of the day, we asked ourselves, "Why didn't we think to do this before?"  Another new addition was watching movies in the backyard  courtesy of a sheet and Papa's powerpoint projector.  Unfortunately, it is quite hard to find a movie that will interest all 7 cousins aged 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 8, 8 AND their parents AND grandparents.  So the parents chose to watch the Olympics instead:)--and left Grandma & Papa outside(but isn't that what they are for)  It makes me so excited that my kids will have these summer memories to treasure, though maybe we'll choose a month next year when there is smaller chance of temperatures in the 100's. 

Blessings!

-J

We've started school!  I have to admit that a couple weeks ago I was dreading this week.  But as I started planning, I started to get excited.  Of course, for me, the planning is my favorite part.  If only I could plan and then just by osmosis the information could get into my children's head, I might be positive that I would homeschool forever!   Truly, I just love the start of the new school year.  It's a chance to start over, try new things, buy school supplies and just have a fresh outlook on our homeschooling. 

I am excited that we are starting a new math curriculum!  We have been using Making Math Meaningful since the beginning, but I've always struggled with teaching it as it's not the way I was taught math.  But since I had a resident public school math teacher as principal who assured me that it would work, I tried persevering.  This year, our "principal", agreed that it wasn't working for our family and though we will continue to supplement with it(I really don't think there is much better in getting kids used to solving word problems), we have settled on Right Start Math.  It has lots of games to cement math facts and lots of manipulatives.  Our "principal" has also agreed to teach the older kids math a couple days/week before he goes to work so I can honestly say that I am excited about math this year.

We will also be doing the Konos Online co-op this  year and though I wasn't all that excited about the topics that were to be covered, the planning has excited me about this too.  I am looking forward to spending some time on American History and filling in the gaps to my own education:)  The co-op starts with Explorers and eventually gets into Settlers, Revolutionary War and the Founding of our country.  This means we will talk about elections after the elections have happened, but I don't think any permanent damage will be done.  Since the co-op hasn't started yet, though, we have gone back to a Volume I unit that we weren't able to cover last year.  The kids are really excited about studying the Medieval times for a few weeks. 

So what did we do on the first day of school?  BW took the kids to Magic Mountain!  We had some free passes that needed to be used and I just love this perk of homeschooling.  While he took the big kids, I had the priviledge of helping one of my dear seminary wife friends pack up for their pending move to Montana where God has called their family to minister.  We also brought home the newest member of our family - their goldfish Gilbert who they weren't sure would be able to make the long journey.  Gilbert joined our Goldfish Lisa who has been in our family since Boy7 turned 3.  A friend from church is giving us a bigger tank, but so far they seem to be getting along well. 

Although almost 5 months ago I was the first in our circle of seminary families to leave for ministry, it is still bittersweet to let other friends go.  It was somehow easier for me to know that they were all still down there.  But I am so excited to see how God is placing everyone (in His timing) at just the right place. 

On our second day, we started with the kids receiving their new Chorepacks.  I am trying to change their chores every six months or so and hadn't really changed it since we moved.  This helped to introduce some to some new chores.  I am thrilled that my 2yo can put the silverware away and my oldest can clean out the birdcage!  We also outlined our daily schedule though we have yet to completely keep it. 

One of my new plans for this year was to implement specific things for the kids to play with while I am doing individual schooltime.  So I pulled out some of my homeschooling books and made a list for each day.  Well, Tuesday happened to include letting the kids play with pots, pans and water on the kitchen floor.  After all, so the book said, after they spill you can just mop it up!  Well, I should have been more specific about just how they were to play with these items.  While in the middle of math with Boy7 I realized that Boy2 had dumped his whole pot of water on the floor and was dancing in it in his socks and Girls8 & 5 were starting to go through the spices to "make soup"!  I'm debating whether that will be a recommended activity next week.

I love the flexibility of our schedule because after a solid week of school we will be getting a vacation!  We will be going to Northern Cal to visit our family up there next week.  Oh the joy of making our own schedule and easing back into this school thing!   I am excited to visit and to go shopping at some of the stores we don't have here like Michaels and Target.  I am making a list of craft supplies we may need for some of our units so they I don't have to worry about how I'll get them later in the year. 

When do you start back, and if you did, how's it going?  What changes are you going to make?

We really enjoyed our first 4th of July in our new small community.  At breakfast, BW was giving the kids a small version of "What Independence Day is all about".  As he was talking, he stopped and looked out the sliding glass door and said "There's a hot air balloon in our backyard. "  Of course, that cleared the table pretty quick.  One of the traditions in our community is the hot air balloons on 4th of July.  This year, they went Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning.  Saturday morning, BW woke us up and drove us down the street where we could get a better look.  It was really cool and the day couldn't have been more beautiful or the sky so blue.  I once again exclaimed(which my kids get tired of hearing) "I can't believe we get to live here!"  We even got to watch one land on our street and see them squeeze the air out.

After breakfast, we went to watch the parade which included everything from horses to classic cars to riding lawnmowers:)  Then we walked around the park where booths and tents were set up and there was a civil war reenactment camp including a cannon that we got to watch and cover our ears to hear!  We enjoyed a nap in the afternoon and then went to a friends' house for a BBQ complete with slip-n-slides and vollyeball tournaments(BW played pretty well considering he hadn't played in about 10 years!).   While there, we asked about the fireworks show in town.  There were conflicting views.  Some decided it was just too much of a mob and created too much traffic to bother to go.  Some said it was a must to go and sit on the football field.  Some had found a spot in a parking lot several blocks away where they could watch them.  We opted for this middle ground and met some other families there.  

Saturday, we surprised my Dad with a 60th Birthday Party at my parents' house complete with BBQ and swimming.  At the beginning of June, my dad sent out an e-mail telling us that he did not need or want any gifts for Father's Day or his birthday.  Because his birthday is June 23rd, we all called him on his birthday, but no one gave him a gift.  He was so pleased that we had listened to him, but actually, we had been planning the party for a while now.  He didn't realize it was a surprise party for him until his friends started arriving.  It was great to see all of my siblings and my nephew!  Unfortunately, I am out of "scrapbooking" mode, and didn't get as many pictures as I would like to have.

Sunday, was our 12th anniversary.  BW announced it to the church from the pulpit.  Only thing was, that I don't know exactly what he said because I had to take 2yo out of church for "excessive babbling".  All I know is that people started coming up and saying "Happy Anniversary."   BW arranged for a babysitter, and we enjoyed a great dinner together followed by a walk.  Then after the kids went to bed, we watched our wedding video. 

Overall, we had a great weekend and feel incredibly blessed!

Blessings!

-J

We have had so many blessings since our move, but one of that I thought I'd share is Abundant Harvest Organics.  Every week, we get a crate of local organic produce at a very reasonable price.  The added bonus is that it is forcing our family to try fruits and vegetables that I would probably never actually purchase (or even notice to purchase) at the store.  Because the produce was picked that very week, everything tastes so much better!  If you are in California, I would look to see if there is a pickup location near you and, if not, send them an e-mail to let them know that you are interested.  If they get enough interest from a certain area, they will definitely try to get a truck going your way. 

Blessings!

-J