Good morning to all! It's a lovely morning & so much peace in the air. My wee ones are still in the bed. We had a family night last night & watched some movies together. Our bedtime was late so I am letting them sleep in this morning.

     Our home is starting to look like Christmas. Usually, I drag all of my Christmas things out of our shed & in one day I bring my house up for Christmas. This year I have done a little along since Thanksgiving. It has been so much more enjoyable this way. It's as if the Christmas spirit has been hubbering over our home the entire month of December. It has been nice & not rushed.

 I am just sitting here listening to the soft breathing of my DH sleeping & the quiet sounds coming from my wee one's rooms & I can just feel my blessings. My family is in good health, we are together, & we have a loving home. I couldn't ask for any greater blessing.

     This peace that I am feeling makes my mind wonder back to Mary in the stable. My, the peace she must have felt that night. I believe God sent an extra touch of peace in the air that night, giving the calm assurance of hope in this life. Letting the world know a Savior had been born. The birth of our Savior. Years have passed since that night, but His mission still stands. He came so that we could have everlasting life. It is for all who will receive, a free gift. His birth was only a portion of His love. His love was even deeper when He went to the cross that the mission might be accomplished. All for me, you, & whosoever will receive. What love. Many turn this gift away, but I gladly receive it into my heart. I love you Jesus. Merry Christmas. Traci

     Its been a while! We have been on vacation since September 17. We went to Oklahoma to see our granddaughter for the first time. She is 7 months old now. The visit was great & she was a little sweety. I think she stole her Pa Pa's heart. We took pictures & I'll be posting some soon.

     We also went camping for a week at the Wichita Wild Life Refuge. I don't know who enjoyed it more, the children or the parents. Seeing God's nature with live animals, hiking, sleeping in tents, & cooking over an open fire or grill. It was great! My DS is excited that he got to make coffee like the old cowboys used to do it. I also got many pictures of our camping trip that I am going to post soon.

     Well, just wanted to get an updated post on my blog so I'll go for now. Hope you all have been having a great year with your schooling. Blessings, Traci  

     Well, not a whole lot around our house today. The children are playing, I am on the computer, & my DH has been getting everything situated outside for the storm we are expecting this evening & on through the night. I just praise God that it is not another hurricane.

     I am sitting here for the first tiem trying to learn how to categorize my posts on my blog. Hopefully I will figure it out.

     I have two blogs now. The other one is: www.homeschoolblogger.com/minutebyminute It's a long story why I have two blogs now. I won't get in to it. I'll Post on the both of them from time to time. Some posts may be the same, but more than likely they'll both have some of our happennings on them.

     Well, if I am going to learn anything about categorizing, I'd better get off here. Blessings, Traci

     Drop in over at VeiledGlory's blog & enter the great give away she is having. She is going to give away three books. They are:

    "The Power of a Praying Wife",

   "Excellent Wife", &

   "Beloved Bride".

     I have "The Power of a Praying Wife" & it is pretty good. It gives lots of scriptures on how to pray for your husband & family. The other two I haven't read, but are books that I have heard were great material & want to read them.

     So here is the link VeiledGlory Go join in the give away. Blessings, Traci

     Hi everyone, hope all is well with you all. I know it's been a while for me posting, but things have been a bit hectic.Between schooling, my mother being sick my nephew being sick, & my grandmother getting sick & us having to take care of her around the clock until her passing last week, I have not had time to get on the computer for nothing.

     Now things seem to look like they might slow down for a while so I can blog again.

     We did go to our Art banquet & had a marvelous time. My DH & I both won awards and sold a painting. I am so excited about my award! I won what they call "The Traveling Exhibit Award." That means my painting travels for six months to different galaries & in October will be on display in our state capital, woo, hoo!

     We finished up our school year using the Charlotte Mason method & my children & I were well pleased with our end of the year results. It worked so well the last few months of this past school year, we'll be starting back up in August with the same school setting.

     Through all that has been going on, I am looking forward  to our family getting back in our family routine of being at home, schooling, enjoying our back yard, etc. I just have to sit down and get things lined up for the things we will study this year.

There is just so many directions my mind is racing, I'm not sure which direction to let it race. I'm sure as soon as I take time to pull aside & get alone with my Lord, He'll give me a sure road map. He has not failed us the past 4 years & I know He won't fail us this year. 

     Well, time is up for now. It is time for us to get ready to leave for church, so until next time, blessings to you all, Traci

     I have had more excitement today! When we checked our mail today, there was a letter in there that I didn't know I was going to get.

     We (elton & I) had an opportunity to send some of our art work to the Very Special Arts in birmingHam Alabama so we did. Your art work has to go before a juror to be judged to see if it is good enough to be placed on display for this art exhibit. I wasn't sure how we would do, but thank's be to God, the letter we recieved today had complimentary tickets to the art exhibit April 15, 2008 on Tuesday of next week. Our art pieces had been chosen!!!! So Lord's willing we'll be heading to Birmingham next week to see if anyone buys our pieces. 

     We desire all of your prayers. With me being legally blind  (no income) & Elton on disability, we are hoping that my art work will boost our income one day. I am just now venturing out & putting my work on the market as a blind artist.  Hopefully this is just a beginning break through for what God is about to do in my art work.

     On another exciting note, today we went to a thrift store just for the purpose to see what books we might be able to find. My DS was so tickled because he found him a science book. When we got in our van & was on our way home, he was looking at his new science book (a high school science book) and he said, "Wow! Mamma we don't have this stuff in our science book we've been using." He was so excited at the new things he was reading & learning. (Only a third grader)  I was sitting there thinking, yes son, I know that stuff is not in our science book because that is on a much higher level than you should be studying for your grade level, but he was so excited & reading & discussing so many things, I just kept my mouth shut. I figure, if he's excited over the material & understanding it even though it is much higher than his level, why should I set his goal. If god is giving him the knowledge to understand that material, then I need not step in the way of God's hand moving.

     It blesses my soul to know that this child is the one that I have so many problems in the past trying to coach him in to reading and after a month of Charlotte Mason's Approach of mainly consisting of reading, now I see my son picking up book after book realizing there's some important information in the book that he might could learn. wooWho!!!! God is helping us so much. He gets all the Glory! Nothing in our self, all Him.

     Another late night, so better go. Hope all is well in each of your homeschools. Bless you all, Traci