I am thankful that my dh is coming home - he will be here by 6/7 tonight.

I am thankful for each of my children - even when they give me gray hairs.

I am thankful for my salvation and the eternal life with Jesus, that I have been so graciously given by God, through His son.

I am thankful for friends.

I am thankful for good forums.

I am thankful for enough food to get by, plus some.

I am thankful for a roof over my head.

I am thankful for the clothes on my back.

I am thankful for the vehicles we have for transportation.

I am thankful for so many things today!

Thank you Jesus!!!!

 I have joined Blogger Friend School! I am so excited to meet other homeschool moms and to do these weekly assignments! Join me if you are interested! Blogger Friend School

Between kids, school and tornado warnings yesterday was quite interesting and VERY un-nerving for me. There was a point where a tornado was approximately 9-15 miles away from us going at 23 miles and hour...the sirens were going off and we were in a warning so I calmly (mind you, inside I wasn't feeling very calm but I was putting on a pretty good front for my kids) told the kids to stop what they were doing, grab their pillows, shut their bedroom doors and sit in the hallway next to the linen closet. (It is the closest to the center of the house we can get). Surprisingly, they all listened immediately - now, usually they are good at listening the first time, but lately it seems I have to repeat myself - so I must have had "that tone" in my voice where they KNEW they needed to just do it! I got in there with them with my laptop & cellphone so I could keep an eye on the storm at least until the power went out (which it never did). I called dh in Alabama & told him to help keep and eye on the storm and if something happened to please make sure to call the police here after the storm and tell them to come find me & the kids. My dc were frightened so I was busy calming them down - praying with them etc. DS asked me if I was sure we would be safe...hmm, what DO you say? Do I give him a false sense of security by saying yes & risk something happening & having him lose trust in me or do I tell him the truth. I chose the truth - I told him that no, I wasn't sure we would be safe, but that the Lord knew and that He was watching out for us. I told them that the worst case scenerio would be that we would end this day in Heaven with Jesus, which would be far better than being here. I didn't know what else to tell them, but they seemed to be relieved by what I said and they kept saying their little prayers. Then it was over. All gone. *Big sigh of relief on my part*. Then there were more storms, which weren't as bad. After the kids went to bed, however, there was another big storm and I was frantically (trying to be calm) watching the weather to determine if there was going to be another warning where I would have to get 3 children out of bed & to safety. There wasn't...it passed and eventually I went to sleep. The Lord is always good and He always knows best, even if we aren't sure. And I think that was one thing that I learned yesterday - to have the faith of a child. To trust HIM in everything regardless of the outcome because He knows and IS watching out for me even if it doesn't turn out the way I "think" it should. Thank you Jesus for your lessons!!!!

We have AWANA tonight and the kids are really excited about it. I am not too sure that I am, though, because I don't like sitting in Bible study in a different church without my dh. I don't like being the "new/odd" person. LOL

Dh comes home tomorrow, PTL!!! I can't wait for him to come back and neither can the dc. Dh can't wait either...we have all missed having him here and he has missed being here. It will be so nice to have him back. Plus he gets a 4 day weekend because of Labor Day so that will be really, really, really nice!!!!

Have a blessed Wednesday!

Tuesday is here and it is yet another rainy, dreary day. Granted, I am thankful for the rain and all because we need it. It does make it so hard to  maintain a cheerful attitude on a gloomy day.  

School is going better today, thank the Lord!!! I am thankful today for all the great friends that the Lord has blessed me with. I am even more grateful to Him for my husband and children...the Lord is AWESOME!!! Praising Jesus today for all of His goodness and mercy!

Today started out great! I was up at 6:20 - Walked the Walk (1 Mile) - Showered - Got dressed -emptied the dishwasher - got the kids up, fed, dressed - Got laundry going .... then it all came crumbling down! To start with when I was talking with dh, there were tornado sirens going off in the area - they did this periodically for about 2 hours! Nobody there was bothered by them, yet when I looked at the weatherchannel.com for Montgomery, there they were "TORNADO WARNING".... hmmm, so that scared me because I don't want anything bad to happen to my dear, sweetie. Then school started pretty well with 'Lil Buddy - he was doing great until about lunch time, then he started playing imaginary planes etc. 'Lil Princess decided she "didn't WANT to do school" so gave me a hard time all morning - it wasn't pretty...there were tears, (mine & hers...hard to say who had the most) and frustration. It was raining, that never helps. So by 2 - I stopped everything - laundry was done, I put school up and gave up! It just wasn't worth it. I made dinner, Chicken roll ups - leftover chicken breast shredded on a tortilla with bbq sauce, mozzarella cheese & cheddar cheese cooked in micro - they were good. But my munchkins didn't want them. So they will be hungry tomorrow. LOL Add to that everything else that happened today that I am just not going to bother writing about and there you have it! By 7:15 the kids were all in bed...I needed the break. I am trying to maintain a good spirit - I am in constant prayer and just trusting in Jesus. That is all I can do! So, this was my day. Thank you Jesus, for the good days and for the bad ones, when my faith it you grows even stronger!!!!
Blessings,
JAD's Mama

FOR TODAY - Monday, August 25, 2008

Outside my window: It is raining and blowing due to the storms we have been having.

I am thinking: About how much I miss my dh and how glad I am that the kids are in bed.

I am thankful for: My family, house, food & clothes.

From the kitchen: Silence   Wonderful Silence!!

I am wearing: A flowered skirt and yellow top.

I am creating: A post for my blog

I am going: To bed soon, hopefully.

I am reading: Keeping Our Children's Hearts

I am hoping: Tomorrow is a better day.

I am hearing: K-Love on my laptop radio

Around the house: All is silent, shut down for the night.

One of my favorite things: York Peppermint Patties.

A few plans for the rest of the week: School, AWANA, Cleaning, Baking

Here is a picture thought I am sharing:

It is Friday once again and once more my week has just passed so quickly! Though I can't say I am really excited for this weekend because my dh leaves on Sunday for Alabama. He will be gone until Thursday - and please don't get me wrong, I am so glad that it is only for a couple of days and in a state nearby instead of overseas for months or years, but I just dislike it so very much when he is gone. I love having him around - he is my soul-mate, my very best friend and so much more! I feel so lonely when he is gone, even though he does call and talk to me. Oh well. Last week I didn't do much school - we worked on our frog lapbooks, which was enjoyable. This week, I have only gotten 1 day of school done...hopefully next week I can get caught up. I felt so tired this week - completely & utterly exhausted and though I don't know why it has been nice to know that I didn't HAVE to do school. That is one of the benefits of homeschooling, we can take time off if we need to. That is a real blessing! 'Lil Buddy & 'Lil Princess are going to Lowe's tomorrow for the "Build & Grow" clinic -- it is a free clinic every other Saturday where the kids build something. Last time it was a little locker - tomorrow it is a GMC truck. The kids enjoy it and so does dh!

On March 11 our dear friend passed away from colon cancer and I posted this post. In Loving Memory... Well, last night we found out that her father passed away from cancer on August 11th ... 5 months to the day from when Terri passed away. Can I tell you just how much pain we felt last night??? It was horrible! Dh especially is having a hard time with this and I can only imagine how much pain Mrs. Toummia and Nancy are in right now. Please, if you think about it, say a prayer for them! In 5 months time their family has gone from 4 members to 2 - ouch!!!

I am still so thankful to the Lord for all of His blessings! Life is always smooth or without it's problems, but the Lord is ALWAYS here with us to walk us through it. I thank Him for that and that he never changes. Thank you Jesus!!!!

Wow! This is my 100th post!!! I have so enjoyed this blog and I have met so many friends through it. To think that we have been blessed with the internet so that we can be encouraged by other homeschool moms around the world! Amazing!!! The Lord is so good to us and we have so much to be thankful for.

Now, on to my darling, sweet, black angel! Thank you all for your compliments on my kitty. Her name is Sheba and she is almost 9-1/2 years old. When we moved to England the end of July 1999, we had nothing, literally. We rented a little bungalow and we got a kitten. She was about 12 weeks old and she was so itty bitty. She was all black with just a touch of white under her neck. We named her Queen Sheba because she looked like the black cat on the "Sheba cat food" cans and partially because we were in England and thought a "royal" name was fitting. After we had her about 2 weeks, we finally got furniture. LOL She has been a wonderful cat - never scratched the kids,(she has never been declawed) unless she had given fair warning. She would always start with a tap on the head with no claws, then she would literally poke them with ONE claw, then if they still didn't leave her alone she would swat them and run! Now, I always got on her for that, however I also told my children that they didn't listen to me, their daddy or Sheba's warnings to "leave the cat alone" and if they don't heed that warning then sometimes the consequences are not so nice. My children all learned after the first time that when we said to leave her alone, that she was done playing (I could always tell by her face, still can, when she was done) they needed to stop. She always sleeps at my head at night and kneads my hair! I LOVE THAT! She always has a ready purr & meow for me and she is my kitty cat.

I have another kitty cat that is special too, but maybe I will talk about her next week. LOL

Blessings,

FOR TODAY August 18, 2008...

Outside My Window... there is a yard that is full of squirrels playing and grass that needs mowed

I am thinking... that I need to get school started for the day

I am thankful for... my husband

From the kitchen... I hear nothing, all is well in that area

I am wearing... Kacki capri's and a black shirt

I am creating... lesson plans

I am going... to praise the Lord today for all of His blessings

I am reading... Public Schools, Public Menace - How public schools lie to parents and betray our children written by Joel Turtel

I am hoping... that my Creative Memories party closes out well and that I get my order quickly

I am hearing... my children on the other side of the house - cleaning, um make that playing, in their rooms

Around the house... there are the sounds of pets, and just daily life

One of my favorite things... sitting in my husbands arms at the end of a long day.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: School, close out my CM party, catch up on the laundry, get the spreadsheet done for next years curriculum fair

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

Today is Thursday and I have been contemplating what I should write about since I haven't posted anything in a few days. I decided to just write about anything and everything that came to mind tonight, so that is what I am about to do.

Sunday - we went to church as normal. Had a great 2nd week with our new first graders and then we had a wonderful church service. We love our pastor and since we are having a renewal of vows to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary, we wanted him to perform the ceremony. So we asked him and he said yes! Then, during the invitation, our 'Lil Princess whispered to her daddy that she wanted to go up front ... she kept pointing at the baptismal and saying, I want to be baptized daddy...so she went forward and told everyone of her big decision. Now, how or why she changed her mind is beyond me because when we had talked to her about it Friday night after she was saved she said, "It's okay, I think I will just be an unbaptized Christian". LOL Sunday night was nice - the dc had their separate classes, dd's went to Mission Friends and ds went to BMX (Boys Ministry Extreme). We went to service without any kids...big change because we usually have our kids with us and since we didn't go very often to evening services this summer, it seemed odd to not have little ones around us. But it was nice, too.

Monday - I don't remember what I did on Monday other than catch up on the laundry. Oh yea! We did have our homeschool groups first parent meeting of the year. That went well and we are so excited about a new school year!

Tuesday - The dc and I worked on frog lapbooks most of the day. Then dh & ds cleaned up the front yard and the girls and I did some things around the inside of the house.

Wednesday - We took the dc to AWANA..this is their 2nd week and they just love it! 'Lil Princess got her Sparks vest last night and was so happy. 'Lil Angel gets hers next week & 'Lil Buddy gets his T&T shirt as soon as he finishes the book he has. (shouldn't take him too long).

Today - We worked more on lapbooks. When dh got home we went to the blood drive at our church (I was going to meet dh there but the ants decided that my van was a good place to have a home...I am not driving a van full of ants! That is another story in itself...), then went to the El Bronco (a wonderful Mexican Restaurant) for dinner, then went to Wal-Mart for groceries. We only got half of what we needed because I was feeling really exhausted and overwhelmed, so we came home. Got the kids in bed and now I am on here. We also got the hamster a new cage ... one without a ball on top...grrr! she would sleep in it and live in it and no matter how much I cleaned it, it would still smell! If we removed it there is a big whole on top where she gets out, so we bought a new cage with a wheel instead and no top pieces! She looks a bit disturbed right now.

Tomorrow - I clean the house from top to bottom! I have a Creative Memories party going on at 6:30 and I want my house PERFECT! I have to make brownies, Reese's Peanut Butter Dessert...I bought Chips Ahoy (I know, I should have baked them but my house is going to be hot enough with the brownies) & Nutter Butters, Pretzels, Veggie tray, Coke, Diet Coke, Dr. Pepper, Sprite & flavored water. I am so excited that I get to serve my guest on my china saucers & crystal glasses...heheee. You would think that I don't have a life...I am not so excited about the party itself because I don't care for selling parties, but I am looking forward to the company & girl talk!

Saturday - I need to finish preparing my Sunday School lesson & get my lesson plans done for the next week of school. I LOVE MY HOMESCHOOL TRACKER PLUS! It has been a lifesaver...thanks again, Jen! Then we get ready for Sunday.

I am going to be helping with Boy's Club this year and I am so excited about that! Keepers of the Faith have come out with these new books "Little Contenders for the Faith" and "Little Keepers at Home" for boys & girls ages 3-6. Well, I am going to teach the little boys 3-6 at the same time/place that their older brothers (if they have them) are doing their Contenders for the Faith meeting. Then we decided that since there are going to be some sisters hanging around (2 of them are mine) between 3-6 years of age, we decided to combine them since alot of the things in the Little books are similar. But, the girls have to have a brother participating in Boys Club (either the regular one or the Little one)...otherwise we would end up with too many little girls and that would be overwhelming for me! Maybe it will open the door for something new next year! Anyway, I am so excited about this because I wanted something to do other then just sit and watch for 2 hours while ds does Boy's Club...not that I don't like watching him do things, but sometimes it gets boring. LOL And I was going to do the Little Keepers with the girls anyway, so why not open up the opportunity to more kids??? After all, isn't that part of the reason Keepers of the Faith printed the new books???

I was reading in the news about the Swedish wrestler today, Ara Abrahamian - how he took the bronze metal from his neck, stepped off the podium and threw it down on the mat (well one part says dropped another says threw...I tend to believe, based on the rest of the story that he threw it) and said, "I don't care about this metal. I wanted gold!". Now what is that all about!?!?!?!? How childish is that?!?!?!? I mean, I try to teach my kids that it doesn't matter who wins or loses...it's all about being a good sport. Being a good winner AND a good loser. Nobody wins all the time & nobody loses all the time. I sure am glad we aren't watching TV this month because I wouldn't have wanted my kids to see an adult act so childish! Then again, it could be a teaching moment...hmmm, maybe I will have to find a U-Tube video of it?!?! Anyway, it just really reminded me of how our society has turned into a "me, me, me" society. It doesn't matter what happens to you as long as I get what I want, type of society. Very sad if you ask me. But I will step off my soapbox now! LOL

Adoption....well, we are still waiting. The other set of 3 we wanted have now found a home. I have to admit that when I found that out Saturday, I became very down. I know that it is a good thing that they found a home and I know that God has children for us somewhere out there, but I just wanted to give up! I was even at the point where I told dh that we should just set our hearts on every child out there, then maybe someone would take them all and then there wouldn't be a need for the "system" anymore. I know that sounds so wrong but at the time, I felt justified...I mean, that is the 4th group of kids that we have set our hearts/minds/sights on and they got taken by someone else. I am trying to remain in the Word and just keep praying that God's will be done. It is hard right now, but I am working on it..rather HE is working on it for me. On the bright side, our case worker turned our paperwork in for approval last Tuesday. Now we wait...more.

Still trusting Jesus and thanking Him for all of His blessings!