Welcome to our family's blogging home - where I share life beyond our red door! I hope that you will enjoy your visit with us.
Today's Verse
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Things That Make Me Smile
Seeing the kids reading their Bibles on their own
Hearing the ocean
Smelling a cake baking
Remembering our wedding day
Singing in the church choir
Shopping for my family
Feeling good
Reading in the tub
A quiet house
Watching a funny movie with the kids
Seeing my kids playing a game together
Ron's little finger dance
Hearing my kids being excited about church
Watching Ron play with Faith (our dog)
Hearing Ron snoring beside me after he has been gone on a long trip
Chatting with special friends
Feeling hot sand under my feet on a beach somewhere
Game night with Brian & Kim and kids
Spending one on one time with Kim
Double Dating With Brian and Kim
A clean house
Sitting on my front porch in my new rockers
Walking on a cool evening with my family
Losing weight
Seeing my kids make a great play on the soccer field
About The Hunters
My dear sweet hubby, Ron, and I have been married for 20+ years. We began dating during my freshman year at Free Will Baptist Bible College in Nashville. He is my college sweetheart. We have ministered together in various ministries during our lives together. We pastored for 10 years in Florida. We moved to TN in 2000 to Co-Pastor with some friends of ours. The Lord has given me a fabulous provider whom I love more than any words I write could ever express. He is now the CEO at our denomination's publishing company, Randall House Publications. I am honored to support him.
Our oldest child is named Michael. He is now officially a teenager, although I don't think I'm old enough to have a teenager. He is a very sweet and considerate young man. He is my thinker and my reader. He absorbs every piece of new information that he comes across. He loves playing soccer, riding his bike, skateboarding, reading, watching the History Channel, the Military Channel, ESPN and any documentary on TV. I am privileged to be his Mother.
Lauren is our youngest child. She is just 15 months behind her brother in age. She is wise beyond her years. She has a sharp-witted tongue (which sometimes has to be tamed), a quick sense of humor and a heart for people and animals. She loves organizing anything and everything. She loves being with her friends, singing, talking on her cell phone and playing soccer. I am blessed to be her Mother.
Just the knowledge that a good book is awaiting one at the end of a long day makes that day happier.
- Kathleen Norris
Last week's BFS assignment was to share a situation when someone has made you doubt your ability or choice to homeschool.
This is a fairly easy assignment for me to complete because the person that has made doubt my ability to homeschool is myself. I have a very supportive family. All of my in-laws are supportive. Ron and I are both only children. However, he does have 2 step-sisters. They have both homeschooled their children at some point. My parents are supportive. All of our friends are supportive. I realize that this is a rare case. I have heard "horror" stories from other friends who have not been blessed in this respect.
The only person to doubt my abilities is me. Because of my physical limitations I am always second guessing myself in some area of my life - in friendships, in parenting, in being a wife, in being a homemaker and, in this case, homeschooling. It seems that I am forever feeling inadequate to meet the educational needs of my children. I have never been a really smart person. I was a B/C student in school and college. That never really bothered me - which is probably most of the problem. I never expected much from myself. But I find that I am forever wishing I had challenged myself more and been less satisfied with the status quo. I want better for Michael and Lauren. I want them to strive with the best of their abilities to be the best that they can be. I don't them to be satisfied with "just passing".
Ron is a perfectionist. That is definitely not my problem. Some days I wish that it was actually. I think that I would be much happier with who I am. Then again - probably not. I'm thinking that the best place to be is right in the middle somewhere. Not too far one way or the other. This isn't limited to just homeschooling. This is a feeling that invades all areas of my life.
Wow, now you know TOO MUCH about me. Much more then you probably wanted to know, huh? Yeah - me too!
I think I missed last week's assignment. So, I will just pick up from this week's assignment. This is my favorite thing to do so I knew I had to do this one FOR SURE!!!
Our teacher, Tamara, has instructed us to pamper ourselves and share what we do. Woo Hoo!!!!!!!!!!! I have had an INCREDIBLE week and a MARVELOUS day. I shall end this MARVELOUS day with a bubble bath.......I can't wait!!! It will be the perfect ending to a perfect day. Ron has been out of town all week. He always brings us home something special. My gift this time was bubble bath from Bath & Bodyworks. I got two scents - one is pomegranite and the other is cucumber melon. I will use the cucumber melon tonight. I will settle in with the book I'm currently reading - reflect on my MARVELOUS day - and soak till I'm a prune!
Our BFS assignment this week is to share why we began homeschooling. This is a story that I love to tell because I think it is very typical of our public school system in more ways then one.
Let me preface the actual beginning by saying that I remember being out Trick or Treating with some friends at our church in Tallahassee in 1994. I was pregnant with Lauren and pushing Michael in the stroller. I don't remember exactly how the conversation started but I do remember saying "I believe it is my responsibility as a parent to teach our children that's why I intend to homeschool them". From that night until Fall 2001 homeschooling didn't pass through my mind again. But I believe that the Lord planted that seed in my mind way back then so that when it was necessary it wouldn't be such a foreign idea to me. Know what I mean?
We moved away from Tallahassee when the kids were 3 and 4. It had become necessary for me to work for the last 8 months that we lived there. The kids were attending The Gingerbread House preschool. The lady who ran the school was a Christian. Therefore, the curriculum that they used was Christian - Abeka to be exact. So, when we moved from there to pastor in Auburndale Florida I took their books with me and continued teaching them at home. I didn't consider it homeschooling. I considered it "getting them ready to go to school". However, once again I believe the Lord was preparing me for this journey. Eight months later when it was time to enroll Michael in Kindergarten we applied to a wonderful Christian school in the town next to us, Lakeland. Until one week before school started I thought we had it all figured out. But I talked with some people at church about school and they said that the elementary school in town was the best in the county. And our county was the largest in the state. So, Ron and I discussed it and decided that it would be ok to send them to the public school - besides it would save us a boatload of money every month. So, we called Lakeland Christian Academy and told them we wouldn't be there. The next week we took Michael to start school at the public school. I told the teacher that she would get tired of seeing me because I intended to be one of those active parents. i told her that I wanted to keep my eye on what was going on. I was true to my word - I volunteered every chance I got.
Speed ahead 3 years to East Cheatham Elementary School in Cheatham County TN. I was volunteering every Friday in Michael's class. I assisted the teacher with anything she needed me to do. During that time I saw a lot of things that I didn't like. I was just there in the mornings. In 3 months of school I never saw her teach a single thing. They either watched a video or had show and tell. What I saw one Friday during show and tell was the straw that broke the camels back. The kids were allowed to do or say anything they wanted. One little girl sang what I thought was an inappropriate country song that talked about sleeping around. Now, I was extremely bothered by that but was even more bothered when I looked back at my son and saw that he was mouthing the words along with her. Then I saw him get up and proceed to dance to the music. That was it!!! I went right home and told Ron what I had seen and had been seeing (or hadn't been seeing). By Monday morning we had decided that the kids would not go back to school after Christmas break (this was the beginning of December). Thus began our homeschooling journey.
There has been many difficult days since then. But God has walked the journey with us. He has sustained us and will continue to do so in the days ahead.
Take voice lessons
Lose 100 pounds
Take a yearly vacation with just my girl friends
Break completely free from the strongholds that have a grip on me
Find a hair style that I'm totally happy with
Become a great grandmother
Live on the beach
Drive a racecar on the race track
Learn to swim confidently
Go sky-diving
Learn to knit
Scrapbook our family's life
Build a house with an inground pool
Own my own laptop
Visit Alaska
See the REAL Eiffel Tower
Take a short term family missions trip
Own a black Jaguar X-Type car
Be a REAL wife/mom who cooks/cleans and everything
Have Lasix Surgery
Bungee Jump
