I am officially the mother of eight beautiful children. My husband and I have 2 lovely teen-aged girls followed by six very handsome young men.  I have always wanted eight children, at least that is what everyone tells me.  Ever since I can first remember being asked the question, my response has always been eight.  I don't know why. I don't have any real reason for wanting that number of children.  The truth be told, God is the determining factor of our family size, so whatever number I gave when asked really didn't matter anyway, but I digress.

This entry is really about my experience giving birth to child number eight - Christian David King.  Don't you just love that name? I even like the way it sounds backwards - King David (a) Christian!

My pregnancy with him was pretty normal.  I made my routine appointments with my OB, ran the regular battery of tests (all of which came back normal), and gained a decent amount of weight.  Two days before delivery I was 140 lbs, not bad.  My due date was Saturday, May 30.  All that week we looked for contractions and when I started having them my eyes were glued to the clock.  After watching for about an hour, they would just stop. Now, I am not one of those women who like to run to the hospital at the first sign of pain. I have a couple of reasons for this:

1. When I make it to the hospital, I am meaning to stay.  There is something discouraging about being worked up for delivery and anticipating the arrival of a sweet little baby, only to be told to go back home.  Uuughhhh!  I have decided that this would not be for me, so I wait until I know for sure!

2.  I am determined to believe that Sue Mize, author of Supernatural Childbirth, is absolutely right that women of God can have children without pain!  Although I have not experienced this at 100%, by the end of this post you will understand why I fell the way that I do.  I don't want to relinquish control of my labor to the doctors and nurses at the hospital.  I need to remain in control for as long as I can, without putting the health of myself and the baby at risk  So, no rushing to the hospital.

This is the mentality that I and my husband had coming up to due date.  He kept his cell phone on him at all times, waiting for the 911 text message that meant "read this message as you are leaving the building".  Due date came - no baby, no significant contractions.

Okay, no problem.  Surely we will have this baby in the next day or two.  We never miss a due date.  I can set my watch by my body's biological clock.  So that Sunday and Monday we watched and watched and waited and waited.  Nothing.  Tuesday and Wednesday we watched and waited.  Again, nothing.

This is a little strange to me.  I can hear some of you saying, "due dates are not an exact science" or "babies are born when they are supposed to be hear and not a minute before", etc.  I know all of that, but still - we just don't do it like this! So I found myself returning to my OB's office on Thursday.

My obstetrician, worried that I would have the baby too fast, was pressing for me to have labor induced.  I didn't really take him seriously because we had been through all of this before.  I absolutely refuse to have my labor induced.  I have not yet heard from one woman who, compared to labor beginning and progressing naturally, had anything positive to say about the experience.  I also did not want to schedule my baby's birth around my doctor's vacation schedule.  Know what I mean?  So, I left my appointment on Thursday thinking that I just might have to show up for another appointment in a couple of days.  Not so…

 Saturday, June 6 - 3:25 am

I awaken with a strange pain near my navel.  It didn’t feel anything like a contraction so I assumed that I just needed to go to the bathroom.  It is not a strange thing for a pregnant woman to need to empty her bladder – often!  Off I go to the bathroom for just that purpose.  I figured that since I was in there, I may as well move my bowels but my body didn’t seem to want to do that at that time.

I return to my bedroom.  It’s quiet in the house, way too early for any children to be awake, so I decide to review my Supernatural Childbirth scripture list.

3:42 a.m.

Just as I am preparing to get back into bed, I feel it.  This was a real contraction, there was no mistaking it.  This wasn’t the tingly feeling sensation that I had been timing before.  My body was most assuredly making some adjustments and movements. 

Quick, look at the clock and make a mental note of the time!

Okay, let’s remember our scriptures and talk through this.

Wow, that contraction lasted a long time.  Breathe.  We made it through…

3:43 a.m.

Is this another contraction?  Oh my….  This is really hurting me.  I can’t seem to remember my scriptures.  I need to start walking, we have to walk through this.

I started walking up and down my hallway in order to gain a sense of control over my body.  I figured that two contractions that close together is okay.  I’ve had contractions close before and then they usually spread out and regulate.  By the time I made it back to my bedroom the second contraction was beginning to end.

3:44 a.m.

I look at the clock in order to get a sense of how long the contractions are lasting.  Just as I do, another contraction hits!  Okay, I think perhaps we should stop playing around and wake up the husband and call the doctor.  So, I wake up my husband, tell him I am having contractions and in a couple of seconds he is out of the bed.  Now, I am trying to figure out how to let him know that this is progressing quickly and painfully!  I don’t want to actually say the words “I am in a lot of pain” because that would defeat the purpose of me commanding my body to do this without the pain through scripture.

My husband goes off to the bathroom and I feel another contraction.  At this point, I am losing control over this quickly.  I still needed to try and walk through it.  For some reason that makes me feel better, but my legs were finding it difficult to stand, let alone take steps.

I go to the banister and call out for our children to get ready to go.  We were taking our 11yo son to the hospital with us for the first time to witness a birth.  The children had been on alert for about two weeks and didn’t think that this was really going to happen.

“Are we really going to the hospital this time or is this another fake-out?” asks my eldest daughter.

“Oh, we are really going,” I reply through the pain.  Why isn’t my family moving any faster than this?  I need to get to the hospital pronto!

I go to the bathroom door.  “Honey, what are you doing?” I ask.

“There’s a fly in here.  I’ll be out as soon as I kill it.”

You have got to be kidding me, I’m thinking.  I really need to relay to him that I am in a hurry. 

“Sweetie, I really need to go” I tell him.  “I am having real contractions now.”

“Well how far apart are they?” he asks through the door.

“A minute.”

“How long are they lasting?”

“About a minute!”

“OH!  We had better get moving!”

The bathroom door flies open and out comes a husband who looks as if he finally got the picture.  By this time, that need for a bowel movement had returned.  I returned to the toilet and my body was working with me this time.

I apologize for this, but I have to tell you that this is the best BM ever.  Every time I get the opportunity to go before delivering, I am convinced that my body clears out as much as possible.  This is a good thing because if you ever have to have stitches after delivering a baby, you know how difficult it can be to make a movement after that.  This is why the hospital has you take stool softeners.

I exit the bathroom, take three steps and there’s another contraction.  I barely made it into my room!  This one was going to knock me off of my feet!  My prayers suddenly changed and became most desperate!  I think it went something like “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Oh Jesus!”

I am so glad that God knows the entire prayer that is contained in His Name when you can only get that out!  What I was really praying was:

“Lord Jesus, I am such great pain right now.  This is really hurting me much more than I thought it would.  I believe that it is possible to have a child without pain and I want to experience that so much right now, but I seem to be losing this battle.  Please help me to gain control over this pain or help me to get to the hospital right away so that I can have something to manage it.  I really need you right now!”

I, obviously, couldn’t get that entire prayer out, but I am sure that I was clearly understood.

I decided to go sit down on the bed.  I couldn’t stand anymore.  I had given up trying to time contractions.  I knew all that I needed to know.  I was truly in labor and we needed to talk to my doctor.  My husband was already dressed and was trying desperately to get my doctor on the phone.  The problem was that he couldn’t remember his phone number.  Now, this is a little funny because the same phone number has been dialed for labor with all of our children.  I took the phone from him and pressed in the number, all the while thinking that sitting isn’t working any better than standing was.  I hand the phone back to my husband in order to lift my legs up onto the bed so that I could lay down on my side.

As I am lying down on the bed, I begin to feel a lot of pressure. 

“Ohhhhh! I am feeling a lot of pressure.” I say to my husband.  I hear him giving information to the operator of the answering service.

“What?!  Turn over, let me check you!” He answers.

 Now, I’m thinking this is a little funny.  I mean, what does my husband know about checking a woman in order to determine if she is ready to deliver?  I know that he has been present at the birth of every child we’ve had, but still…

I comply and let him check me.  “I can see his head, Chanin” he answers incredulously.

“You’d better dial 911,” I reply.  As the words are coming out of my mouth, my baby’s head is coming out of me.

My husband picks up a cell phone to dial 911.

I can hear my doctor on the house phone, “Hello? Hello? Hello, hello, hello?”

“Dr. XXXX – I’m delivering.”

“Right now?” he asks calmly.

“Yes.  The head is already out.”

I feel another great surge of pressure.  I suppose that I was having a contraction then, but I felt more pressure than pain.  By this time, my husband is talking to both the 911 operator and my doctor on two different phones.  I am moaning with the pressure, but didn’t push.  To tell you the truth, I was in shock at the sight of this little head (which I never get to see because of the bedding and protective coverings that the hospital personnel always drapes over my legs) and really didn’t know what to do at that point.

“Is that another contraction?” my husband asks.  I nod my head yes.  “Then push!”

That sounds like a good idea.  I push and the baby comes out.  He just sort of slid out onto my bed.  Then it hits me that I just delivered our baby – at home!  He is screaming and red, with that gray colored gunk on him.  My mommy heart kicked in and I reached for him.  My husband picked him up and laid him on my chest.  He was a little pudgier than I remember the other babies being, but I never really held them immediately after birth.  They were all whisked away to the baby warmer and cared for by a team of Neonatal professionals.  I usually get them back after they were cleaned and swaddled.

This time, however, I was the neonatal unit and I needed to get my little sweetie warmed.

“I need a towel or something, he’s cold!”  All of the blankets that I bought him were in the car along with all of our bags.  We wrapped him in a towel and my husband and children began searching for something to tie off the umbilical cord.  It was at about that time that fire department truck arrived.

Let me explain, in Chicago the fire trucks are always dispatched with a call for the paramedics.  In the event the person(s) needing to be transported are up a flight of stairs, there are strong bodies there to assist.  This happened to be my case.

The firemen are led upstairs to my room by one of our sons and quickly assess the situation.  Upon hearing that we were in need of something to tie off the cord, they announced that they had clamps on the truck.  When they returned with the clamps, instead of taking over and clamping the baby themselves, they handed them to my husband.  With my doctor still on the phone giving instructions, my husband double clamped the chord and reported our condition to my doctor.

At about this time, the paramedics arrived.  After finding out that my husband had already successfully clamped the chord, they cut the chord and prepared to transmit us to the hospital.

“What time was the baby born?” a paramedic asked while completing some paperwork.  Apparently all of this information would be important for the emergency room physicians.

“3:55 am,” came the answer from my doctor over the speakerphone.

It took only 13 minutes for Christian to make his entrance into the world!  And he decided to do it at home!

This is one of those entries that is coming from my heart (and I think a little bit from my head) and is really a plea for some feedback from you.  I have been struggling over the past few weeks with something and the truth is I am having a difficult time making heads or tails of this.

For years now I have understood the importance of family and my place in my family.  I have been a strong proponent of putting family first and following the biblical blueprint for being a wife and a mother.  Obviously, having our children home to educate them was a decision that my husband and I made in order to disciple them more efficiently.  And yes, it is working.  I do not regret that decision at all.  Nor do I regret being a wife and mother of a large family.  The truth is - I really do love my life!

So, where am I having difficulty?  It's in the area of ministry.  Allow me to explain.  First, I know that my primary ministry is to my husband and children.  I know that there is nothing else that can replace my family and my success in any other ministry depends on whether or not I am first taking care of my home.  I know all of this.  But here is my question, how do I know when enough is enough?  How do I decide when I have taken on too much or when what I once did with ease is now overwhelming and I should back out?

There are a number of things that I participate in that are extremely important to me.  Each one of them is a form of "ministry" and each one of them is an offshoot of family.  I could work at home and work within these ministries with very little problem (albeit with much planning), but with each new child I am finding it more and more difficult to continue.  Each time I think that I have figured out a way of moving forward, I discover that I am pregnant again.  More than anything I want my large family and would be ecstatic to have 10 or more kids - seriously.  But the closer I get to that goal, the harder it is to hold on to other things that I do.

We are not talking about whether or not to continue as the girl scout troop leader, that would be a much easier decision to make.  Instead, I am trying to decide between - Deaf Ministry (only 4 interpreters in the church and I teach the deaf Sunday School class); Married Couples Ministry (I have chaired the committee for the past 12+ years); Nursery Ministry (an elected position with another 2 years left in the current term); occassionally I conduct a workshop in our Youth Church, but that truly is sporadic.

See, it doesn't seem like much when listed, but it feels like way too much for me now.  I am concerned that I will either hold on to more than I can handle or that I'll choose to quit something that I shouldn't.  It is welcoming to think that I can just walk away from everything else and concentrate fully on my family, but I don't know if I really believe that.  The idea that God wants us to become inactive in outside ministries when we think it conflicts with family seems like an easy route to slothfulness or laziness.  At the same time, I know that I have to guard myself against things that are good to do when it means that I am not doing what I should at home.

I am really having a tough time with this.  I have talked it over with my husband and he feels just as lost as I do.  He feels most of the pressure on his job which is taking a tremendous toll on his family time.  But he can't just walk away from his job.  Help!  Has either of you felt like this?  How did you reach a conclusion?  What scriptures helped you?  I am sure that the answer is already in my head somewhere, but I can't find it.  I don't want to yield to the Lord less than He expects of me, nor do I want to allow pride or my need not to disappoint people to keep me working in places that I need to really let go.

Thanks for reading and if you have any insight (even opinions), I welcome them!

I reached the first milestone of homeschooling - my first graduation!  Wow.  It seemed that I would never see this day, but Saturday it seemed as though this day came waaaayyy too soon.  I suppose that it was easy to ignore the inevitable because we haven't really exerted much effort in the way of maintaining grade levels in our homeschool.  Over time it just seemed that the use of "grades" was such an antiquated idea when neither of our students fit in the prescribed grade level for every subject.  So, we dropped them.  Naturally, this was met with some opposition by well-meaning, inquisitive individuals - you know, the ones who give your children impromptu quizzes to make sure that they are really being educated - but we have learned to get pass them.

One area that we did not want to overlook, however, was the necessity of "calling out" our daughters/sons when they reached their late adolescent / early teen years.  Every culture has a time when their children are introduced to society (and particularly themselves) as young adults, though it seems that American culture seriously lacks in this area.  The closest thing to it we could come up with was the "sweet sixteen" which really meant driving privileges.  It would take another hour or so of consistent typing to adequately put down our views on this, so I won't do that now.  Nonetheless, eighth grade graduation offered us the opportunity to embrace this practice in a way that "society" would also recognize our youngster as more than a mere child.

It has been only a couple of weeks since we began to formally plan for the graduation.  It began with a telephone conference between the parents of the graduates, each outlining what would be important activities to include in the ceremony.  It was amazing.  Every father felt that this was the time to "Barakah" their graduate and special time was dedicated to that.

I can't possibly put down how beautiful an event this graduation was.  I didn't have anything like this when I completed 8th grade.  For one thing, there was no involvement from my parents at all.  Parents had absolutely nothing to do with my education or that of my peers.  My education belonged under the auspices of the state and they "invited" my parents to attend the graduation, but that's all.  Saturday, each parent was involved in this special day.  Each mother had the opportunity to read their child's biography, telling of their strengths and academic accomplishments.  This gave us all the chance to share, in public, how proud we were of the young people our children were becoming.  I think all kids need that.  They need to hear their parents brag on them a little bit.

At the conclusion of the reading of their bios, each child was asked to share a unique gift of theirs with everyone.  One graduate played a musical instrument, one did a poetic recitation and my daughter did a dramatic sign language interpretation of a worship song.  They were beautiful and I was so very proud of each of them (especially my baby!).  Oh, the 8th grade graduations also did something that I thought was really precious...  Each 8th grader was given the name of a Kindergarten graduate and they were to write a special message to them prior to the graduation ceremony.  During the graduation, with their messages rolled up like scrolls, the 8th graders "passed the baton of elementary education" to the Kindergarteners!  It was so cute and meaningful.  Wouldn't you know that my daughter drew the name of her own little brother!! I can't remember who came up with the idea - but it was a wonderful one!

We then had the keynote speakers address the graduates, one of which was a previous homeschool graduate.  For our support group, she was among the first to complete her education at home and has been a model of purity and holiness for young ladies ever since.  She shared her own feelings of being homeschooled (even those that were negative) and the benefits of having had such an education.  It's one thing for your parents to tell you something and totally different when your peers' message is the same.  Thanks "Tony" for your imput.

After the keynote speakers, was the "Blessing Ceremony".  I can't tell you how many tears were shed during this portion of the graduation!  Each father (or representative - explained further down) was introduced and with his wife at his side, called their 8th grader to the podium.  I can't remember the wording for everyone and will put my husband's in a different post (provided I can obtain his and my daughter's permission to do so), but overall they told "blessed" their child with words of affirmation, identity, and destiny.  It is so important for fathers to do this.  There was a visible difference in each of the young people who were so blessed after this.

The father of one graduate passed away some years ago.  It was even more important to her mother that her daughter's identity & destiny be confirmed during this graduation ceremony and she asked a male figure who held a special place in her daughter's heart to stand in his place.  What was most moving was the reading of a message that her father penned to her before his death.  He confirmed her identity, told her how special she was to him and her mother and the joy that he felt at her birth.  He shared nuggets of wisdom with her for her to maintain her virtue and how she should conduct herself until she is married.  I am sure that she had read that note many times since her fathers death, but to hear these words spoken to her by her surrogate father (if I may)....  We all cried to hear them.

After speaking the blessings over the children, each father introduced them to all as young men/women.  My husband specifically said, "Ladies and gentleman, may I introduce to you B..... King, my daughter in whom I am well pleased!", amidst tears.  I don't know who cried more - him, me, our daughter or the audience?!?!

When each of the graduates had been so blessed, a special prayer was prayed over them all, and their parents as well, that God would continue to direct their education into and throughout their adulthood.  Closing remarks were given by our Youth Pastor and the graduation was adjourned.  The graduates all wanted to fellowship together over pizza, so we descended on a nearby pizzeria and just enjoyed the rest of the evening together.  It was such a special day!

I wasn't sure that I wanted to be involved in a public ceremony like that.  My original mindset was to keep it private and personal, involving only the family.  I am glad that we did not do that now because I believe that she and the other graduates needed to experience the ceremony publicly.  Unfortunately, noone had a video camera - noone!  I would have loved to view that day over and over and over again.  We do have pictures, but even though they are worth a thousand words they could not possibly portray accurately the emotions experienced that day.

Well, it's almost time for me to begin making arrangements for our family's vacation.  I'd like to think that I have a better grasp on things than to let them wait until the very last moment, but this year would not be a good year for me to use as an example of my "awesome preplanning capabilities".

My daughter is graduating this Saturday, our four oldest kids and I are leaving for camp a week later and I still have no idea how we will celebrate my son's birthday - July 4th!  Last year we had a "staycation", you know - we didn't leave the city, but took in all that the Windy City has to offer.  The above picture is from the day we decided to visit the Adler Planetarium.  I think it's kinda neat that my children's clothing color matches their advertisement!

I don't really know what we are going to do this year.  We have put quite a bit of money into our house, updating and winterizing it.  We are nowhere near done with that, so spending alot of money on a vacation just doesn't seem like a good idea.  We've already seen Chicago - I mean WE LIVE HERE!  I am fresh out of ideas.  We don't have a backyard (well its about 13'x7'), so camping out at home is out of the question.  We do have vacation ownership and could use bonus time to stay during our vacation.  The only thing about that is, there is nothing around this place but fields.

I am so open to suggestions!  What does everybody else do when money is low, gas prices are high and you really don't want to waste the nine days that your family gets to spend together without interruption?  I know the Lord will help me figure out something.  Now, back to graduation preparation....

It is here - the first real milestone of home educating at KAAH - Ms. Brit's 8th Grade graduation!  I have mixed feelings about the momentous occasion.  On the one hand, I can hardly believe that it has been 8 years since we began this journey.  I still remember sitting on my couch when our first books arrived via UPS.

Well, it's hard to forget because I had only arrived home hours before from giving birth to our 4th child.  I was so excited to get those boxes, that I immediately opened them and began pouring through everything!  It was like being a kid in a candy store, except someone had discovered how to send the candy home to the kid!  I should have been in the bed, resting.  I couldn't - I was an "official" homeschooler!!  We didn't have much room in our tiny apartment, but we sectioned off a teeny bit of space in our small living room where I put a small plastic table and two chairs.  Our desk was beside it and I plopped a little dry erase board on top of the desk, got a couple of bookends to hold up the textbooks on my desk and after a quick run to the nearest Teacher's Supply Store, I put a school boarder up on the wall and I was ready.

Our first day of school, I walked into the living room and my two students (and their 2 yo brother) sat at the little desk with beaming faces and big "kool-aid" grins on their faces and said with a very loud, preschool voice - "Good morning Teacher"!  I was so proud and excited.  I looked at my desk and wouldn't you know they had even convinced their dad to buy me an apple!!

So much has changed since then and even more has remained the same.  Although their adulthood is staring me in the face, in my heart all of my children are still the wrinkly faced little babies that I first looked at in the hospital.  Even when I see Ms. Brit in her cap and gown, I still see my little Nupe Nu Nu (pronounced Nupee New New).  She will die a million deaths if all of her friends read this - LOL!  Seriously though, this time really did come around a lot faster than I expected, even though the older mothers said that it would.  So let me sound really original here, new mothers: hold on to your babies and cherish every moment you have with them.  Because week after next, you will be blogging that your child's 8th grade graduation arrived years before you thought it would - or so it will seem :)!

 Let me begin by saying that until now, I didn't really think I wanted a "school room".  I really wanted our learning to be so integrated into our family fiber, that learning would happen anywhere & everywhere.  My problem, however, was that my school materials were stored "anywhere & everywhere"!  This was really challenging when it came time to get busy on our next project.  Part of the supplies would be in the front room, some in the kitchen and others on the back porch.  If we started school in the living room, we may need to move to the kitchen for the project - after searching for all of the components, which really means that many projects were postponed or cancelled because of the hassle.  I simply chose a path of lesser resistance to make the same point and we moved on.   When the opportunity arose for me to centralize - I jumped at it!

 Combination Library and Schoolroom  

This is a photo of the main bookcase which houses most of the materials the children need.  These are Billy Bookcases from Ikea.  The larger corner unit is comprised of the tall bookcases with the additional height extension shelves at the top and just to the left are two of the shorter bookcases.  The Lord truly blessed me when I purchased these (there are more in other parts of the room).  I was able to buy these from other owners on Craigslist for less than half the original price. 

Each shelf is organized by subject matter or type of book.  I even tried to be sure that the younger children have a place specifically for their materials towards the bottom where they could reach them.

My main goal in planning this space was to keep the room from looking too "schooly".  I wanted our family to enjoy being in the room while we were working on school work and especially when we are not.  I made sure to put pictures of the children on the shelves and walls so that they knew this room was for them. 

This photo shows our work table (chairs have been moved for photos) and the other bookcases that complete the library.  The doorway between opens to the living/family room where we gather for group reading and tv.  The family computer is still housed in that room.  Disregard the basket at the top, it serves no purpose there.  That just happened to be an out-of-my-way place for it to land! LOL! I also bought this previously owned conference room table from Craigslist.

My husband and I both enjoy reading, so I put our books on these shelves.  Since we are still training the preschoolers not to destroy things, I also put our Nest Family videos and Moody Science DVDs up high on these shelves.  

This is the most recent professional photo of our family.  I know, I know, its a shame that there are two faces missing!  We're working on that.  Originally, another bookcase was supposed to be put here, but that little light switch is in too far by about 2.5" so the bookcase had to be relocated.

This file cabinet is actually sitting inside of the doorway that leads from the schoolroom to the dining room.  The previous occupants in the home broke all of the glass out of the french doors that belong here, so we took them down for safety reasons.  The file cabinet actually belongs to my husband and he keeps his tools in it now, but he just hasn't quite gotten around to taking it to the basement yet.  I just purchased the corkboard a few days ago and planned to mount it on the wall beside the MOTH schedule, but I forgot that I needed a masonry bit in order to put any hardware on that wall (it used to be a fireplace), so it's just sitting atop the unwanted file cabinet until I can solve this problem.  I need a place to showcase the children's work and accomplishments and this will do just fine.

  Student Central 

The tall bookcase to the left belongs exclusively to our children.  Each one of them has been assigned their own bookshelf to keep their school supplies.  They are responsible for having the necessary writing utensils, paper and Bibles when we begin our school day.  We used to waste so much time in the morning waiting for kids to "find" something.  This is really helpful because everyone keeps their things in the same area, while giving each one of them space of their own.  This bookcase should have been on the other wall (the one with the badly located light switch), but it is actually better over here because it is out of the way.  The yellow & white door leads to the bathroom, which we are ripping out and redoing - eventually.  This is not my paint job, I inherited it.  We'll paint the place later.

and last, but not least...

 The Mommy Corner!

Okay, truth be told, this little corner makes me so happy!  For the first time ever, I have a workspace at home that belongs exclusively to me!  My corner is comprised of the Elfa drawer system to the left, the Elfa desk in the center, and the short bookcases to the right.

This little guy is Brian, my soon to be 4yo!  I don't know exactly what it is he's decided to fight, but he's ready isn't he?  Behind him is my expanded teacher resource center.  The shelves hold my Weaver Volume 1 materials, teacher's manuals and binders and yes, art & printer paper.  On the top shelf are pictures of my students, pointed toward my desk so that I can remember why I am doing this.  Above the bookcases is our master MOTH schedule.  I cut down two large posterboards and wrote in the time slots and squares on them.  Then, I took it to Staples and had them laminated.  The individual squares are cut from cardstock paper and are taped onto the boards.  This is much longer lasting than the paper version that comes with the book and this is much easier to read by my children. 

I like to call this "Control Center" because this is where I spend most of my time.  The desk chair we got free, along with five others that the children use, when my mom's previous employer moved offices.  The laptop was a gift from my parents when they upgraded theirs.  I've wanted a laptop for years now, but it just couldn't find its way into the budget.  This one allows me to lesson plan, search the internet for additional resource material and keep records - all away from the rest of the family.  I can even blog without keeping the children from some important school work.

The organizer unit will one day help me organize their school papers, but I haven't felt overly motived lately to set this up any differently.  Between it and my handbag are some homeschool catalogs.  The wooden blinds were another IKEA purchase - $9.99 in the AS-IS section.  I needed to buy a mount from Home Depot for another couple of bucks and I have a very nice window covering!  The window looks out to the backyard and keeps me from feeling like I really am in a corner!

I've tried to keep my desktop relatively clear so that I can study, write, and use my mammoth sized binders to prepare our next Weaver lessons.  The calendar on the wall is supposed to help me stay abreast of our various church, family & support group activities but I don't know how I will ever write on it.  For now, it is screwed into the wall making it impossible to just snatch it down to write on it and hang it back up.

For Mother's Day, my children bought me the label maker on the higher shelf.  Of course, I'm still trying to figure out how to work the little thing! LOL!

These shelves hold my most used and important binders.  The lower shelf keeps the Math U See blocks (would hate for those to become the family's new legos), the 1828 Webster's Dictionary, my Teacher's Friend binder for Weaver and my Home Management Binder that I put together myself.  The upper shelf keeps the full Volume binders as well as the supplemental Weaver material.

 On the left side of the shelf, I keep my study materials - you know, the things that will keep me from losing my mind!  Since I choose to review the MUS materials, I keep those DVDs close by too!

Well, there are only a few little additions yet to be made before the school room is complete.  The children have decided that we should have school colors and paint the school room accordingly.  I have an area rug for the floor that hasn't been put down yet, the french doors still need to be reinstalled and my pre-readers have their own MOTH schedule that needs to be mounted.  I used pictures and digital and analog clocks for theirs.  I figure we may as well teach time while helping them move through the day. <>!

Thanks for checking out my school room.  I really like it alot and I thank the Lord for teaching me the importance of planning with this room.  I would never have been able to take advantage of the extraordinary sales/discounts on the furnishings for this room if I didn't have a written plan for the space and a budget.  I priced everything brand new, so I knew what was a good deal when I saw it.  You know, only the Lord can teach the "teacher" while helping her put together a space to teach!!

Wow!  Has it been that long since I entered my last blog entry?  It's funny how the days and the weeks seem to melt into one another.  I am finally coming up for a breath of fresh air after dealing with all types of fevers and colds in my household.  I've decided that since Jesus was never sick, I don't have to be.  (More on that in another blog entry), but my children and my dh seem to be touched with this bug at some point this past week.

The most miserable of them all was our littlest member of the family, CTK, who is only 1 yo and is the most pitiful little thing when he is sick. (sob)  It just breaks a mommy's heart...  Aside from that, I have been in the trenches with the family and schooling and, well, you know.

So today finds me wrestling with a little project that has been rolling around in my head for a while.  For those of you familiar with the Weaver curriculum, the entire unit study is organized inside of 3-ring binders.  Those of us who have been using it for a while get pretty good at flipping pages and really like having all of our necessary schooling information in one place.  I have now become the lover of  "binders" and I am trying to incorporate this same idea into a "Mommy Binder", if you will.  What I am really trying to do is localize everything that does not relate directly to schooling in a single binder, with school stuff in its own binder.  I have searched all over the web and think that I have a pretty good sense of how to put it together.  As it comes along, I will keep you posted.

My husband announced to me this past Sunday that it was time for us to take another family portrait.  He wants me to set up a time in March for this monumental family event which, I must agree, is long past due.  The last time we took a family picture only five of our seven children were visible in the photo (I was still pregnant with number 6)!  Suffice it to say, we have let life push and push and push until, four years later, we can put off this photo no longer!

It feels pretty good to look over at the happy, smiling family in the last picture.  There is something in the eyes of the children and the parents that seem to say that this is the best time of their lives.  I find myself trying to remember what was going on in our lives at that time to explain why we looked so happy.  Then I recall that we were probably at one of the lowest points of our lives then.  Both our home and income property were in foreclosure (and were both subsequently lost) and bankruptcy loomed over our head.  I spent many nights in tears before God during that time, but when you look at the picture - none of that is evident!

I have believed for quite some time that God uses families to witness to the world.  Just as noone would be able to know of the internal turmoil being experienced by the smiling faces on our family picture, the world looks at our families and can only see the beauty of Jesus.  We know that we are depressed at times, afraid at times, worried at times, perplexed, sick, distressed, etc., but when we hide ourselves in Jesus, all the world can see is JESUS!

While I am looking forward to taking another family picture, I am more excited about the portrait of our family that God Himself has painted for all the world to see.  Unlike the the snapshot taken with the camera, God paints a living portrait.  I am thrilled that the Lord has put our family on display that the world may know that Jesus still lives and loves mankind.  I know that we are not perfect.  I know that we have our family "issues".  But in all these things, we are more than conquerors! (Rom. 8)

A friend of mine was so excited when she called me some weeks ago.  A neighbor of hers had stopped by to speak with her and through the conversation she learned that this neighbor had been watching her family from a distance.  Katie (name changed) began telling my friend what an inspiration she was, how Godly a family they had and how she was inspired by them.  My friend was literally blown away!  She wondered how Katie had come to such a conclusion when they had never really held a long conversation and certainly had not spoken of spiritual things.  I believe that Katie was shown the living portrait of this family that had been painted by God.  I believe that God began speaking to her heart through this portrait, without the knowledge of the original family.  I believe that God is willing, even desirous, to do the same through each of us.

No matter what your circumstances are today, no matter what you are going through, remember that God has painted a portrait of your family too.  When you hide yourself in Jesus, you will find the grace and strength you will need to make it through anything that life throws your way, and you will also help others to see the true source of your strength - Jesus!  Our family, neighbors, co-workers/clients, and even our enemies are pointed towards us everyday.  I can imagine God saying, "Do you see this family?  I want to do the same thing for your family, if you will let me."

The question is whether or not we will allow God to paint His portrait.  This means that we will have to allow him to choose the canvas, the brushes, the paint and the colors.  If God chooses to paint your portrait using grays and browns and blacks, will you be as willing a subject as when He chooses cheery yellows and calming blues?  Should God select to use a rough canvas on which to paint your portrait(like foreclosure and bankruptcy) will you allow Him to complete His masterpiece?

Here's the thing, I didn't know what God was doing then.  All I knew is that I was hurting and I wanted Jesus to fix it.  Now, in hindsight, I can see so much clearer.  I feel a little like Joseph in beholding the Hand of God in operation in my life.  I believe that our new family picture will show a much happier, more secure family.  Today's portrait would show a family that has literally grown (seven kids, not five!) and its members have matured!  (And yes, mommy is much closer to 40 than she was in the last photo).  

I pray that these same things are evident spiritually, in the living portrait that God is daily painting of my family.

I have always been intrigued by the directions of Moses to the Children of Israel, just prior to releasing them into the Promised Land.  It seems that much time and thought was given to what "final instructions" needed to be communicated to this great nation that he had led for well over 40 years.  Much like a parent, Moses had waddled through this nation's development as a "newborn" upon leaving Egypt; its infancy and teen years at Canaan the first time and then through the wilderness.  Now, he was about to essentially release them out into the world on their own, and he wanted to make sure that he impressed upon them the most important of all of his lessons - walk with God!

I am sure that you have all heard the text in Deut. 6 referenced so many times, that you have probably memorized it by now.  Well, me too.  But that isn't the particular part of the story that I want to concentrate on.  (Am I allowed to do that?  Will the Christian homeschool police come after me for skipping that oh so important text?)  Instead, I'd like to look at something else that the people were instructed to do by their new leader, Joshua.

"And the people came up out of Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, in the east border of Jericho.  And those twelve stones, which they took out of Jordan, did Joshua pitch in Gilgal.  And he spake unto the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones?  Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land.  For the Lord your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, until ye were passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red sea, which he dried up from before us, until we were gone over:  That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty: that ye might fear the Lord your God for ever."  Joshua 4:21-24

Wow!  Did you see that?  Joshua had just brought this younger generation through the Jordan river and since many of them were either too young to remember or simply not born when they crossed the Red Sea, this must have been a tremendous and remarkable occurence!  I know I would have loved to see that!  Truthfully, I'd love to see the waters of Lake Michigan miraculously cleaned, but that is a different blog entry...

 The crossing of the Red Sea was a miraculous event.  Nothing like that had ever happened before and it was supposed to prove the awesome power of our God.  Unfortunately, after a little bit of time in the desert, the people forgot what God had done.  I mean, they didn't have it wiped from their memory, but apparently the testimony of it was no longer powerful.  The days in Egypt during which God performed His miracles, the "cloud and pillar" that God used to both guide and protect them once they left, and the parting of the Red Sea were all distant memories.  Now they were faced with new challenges and their hearts wavered at them.  And not long after, they simply "forgot" how miraculous these events had been.  Well, you know what that cost the people - denied entry into the Promised Land!

Joshua remembered all of that.  He knew the importance of not only noting God's Hand in our lives, but also the importance of recalling it in the future.  He set up a memorial for the people for the purpose of causing them to constantly remember what God had done, so that they would fear the Lord forever.  He also knew that as children were born to them, their naturally curious nature would cause them to ask questions about it.  These children could also benefit by this memorial because the parents would recount the story of the Jordan, as well as tell how their ancestors had been brought through the Red Sea on dry land by God Himself.

 I believe that this same principle should be operating in our lives today.  I will be the first to admit that I am neither a scrapbooker, nor keeper of prayer journals.  Something has to change though.  I don't want to risk "forgetting" what God has done for me and for my family in past years.  We have been brought through some really tough times.  Everytime, every single time, God has placed a praise in my heart and a song on my lips!  Only Jesus can provide a deep set joy in your heart while tears flow from your eyes!  He is an AWESOME, AWESOME GOD!

I don't want the miracles that I have seen in my life to "wax old", you know like that protective covering that covers ice cream left in the freezer too long.  The ice cream no longer tastes good because of it, it is undesirable now.  What if the works of God have lost their savour because "time" has made them either unexciting or just plain common knowledge now?  It is said that time heals all wounds, I wonder if that is always a good thing. In the midst of the pain, deliverance means so much more to me!  I need to remember the hurt, the pain, and then the miracle will keep its true essence.

I want my children to experience God in miraculous ways too!  I want them to desire God, to have a very personal relationship with the Saviour of their soul - Jesus Christ.  Between now and then, I can excite that desire in them through our family's memorials.  Just as reading of the parting of the Red Sea makes me desire to have a similar experience in my life, recounting past miracles that we have experienced as a family can do the same for them.

Now, I need to develop some way of "memorializing" these experiences and miracles.  I don't know if I can do a scrapbook - I'm still trying to make lapbooking a real part of our homeschooling experience.  For all of my regular blog readers, you know how often I get an entry in here, so journaling is probably out!!!!  But maybe we can do a Testimony Tuesday or a Thankfulness Thursday and let each member of the family write in an entry into a big bound book of some sort....

Whatever the method, we all need memorials.

Has the thought ever crossed your mind that maybe the decision to have children wasn't such a good one, considering how wicked the world is today?  Sometimes I get a little nostalgic for the "good ole days", days that apparently happened before I was even born.  I hear my parents talk about the times when nobody locked their doors because the neighborhood was safe.  I listened to them go on and on about how everyone looked out for you and your children.  I secretly wish for the days when sex wasn't a marketing tactic for incresing shampoo sales!  Yeah, the good ole days...

I hate to admit that I have allowed myself to think that, although my children are the greatest of blessings to my husband and me, maybe this is a terrible time for them to have been born.  Just look around, the world is so very wicked.  It is such hard work to keep them innocent and pure.  Cartoons aren't safe, commercials aren't safe, actually... TV isn't safe!  I can't think about not locking my doors (and even deadbolting them), my neighbors looked terrified when I walked up to them to introduce myself, and let's not even start in on the current fascination with witchcraft... Harry Potter, Twitches and the sort.  Homosexuality has become the new and popular "minority agenda" to fight for (Romans 1:26-27) and Christians, well, we are the people that the world loves to hate! (St. Mark 13:9-13)

It can be a bit saddening and even depressing if I don't stop to think - Who Is My GOD? 

One of my children's favorite videos is by NEST Family Video - Esther.  One of my favorite lines in the movie is when Mordecai tells Esther that she could have been born for "such a time as this".  Mordecai must have been terrified of the thought that the young woman that he raised as his own child may have to lose her life to save her people.  He was sending her to a king that was hateful, destructive, unreasonable.  Still, Mordecai instructed her to go and plead for the lives of her people, perhaps this is the reason why she was here - this could have been her purpose... (Esther 4:13-17)

That started me to thinking.  I have taught my children that their God is omniscient (all-knowing) and I have taught them that their God is omnipotent (all-powerful), I have even taught them that their God is omnipresent (everywhere all the time and all the time, everywhere).  Could it be that my children, your children, were born by Divine Providence to be here for such a wicked time as this?  I think so!

It is true that the world is growing to be more wicked than it has ever been since Creation.  Mankind's heart is growing increasingly hardened against the knowledge of God and His Christ.  We've read through to the end of the story (the Book of Revelations) and despite the many ministers that would have us believe that better days are coming, the Bible bears witness to a different tale.  It is not going to get better, it's going to get worse.  Think about that.  Of the millions of people that have been born since Adam and Eve, God has chosen to allow us to live NOW!?!?  Not everyone is alive now.  Peter and Paul and the early Church, they are no longer on the scene.  Moses and Abraham died centuries ago.  Who will God look to to continue His work here through to the end?  He will look to us and our children!

Parents, our children were born for a specific purpose - to contend with the enemy in the gates!  We have been entrusted with the awesome responsibility of preparing an army for the Lord that will march fearlessly into this spiritual battle during the most wicked times in history!  God is preparing His army, an army of young soldiers who have learned the scriptures from infancy and believe that God is Who His Word says that He is!  More so, they will believe that THEY ARE who God's Word SAYS that they are!! (St. Mark 10:14-15)

The more I think about this, the more sobering a thought it is.  I don't have time to be selfish.  I don't have time to be wrapped up in my own little world of sorrow.  I don't have time to worry about obtaining the trappings of the world!  (St. Luke 21:34-36)  I have a very important job to do.  My children will either walk with God or they will fall victim to the world system that is trying so desperately to destroy them.(St. Mark 8:34-38)  I believe that if I prepare them, if I fall humbly at my Saviour's feet and request His direction, if I sacrifice my little life for theirs, then they will not only survive these end times, but they will thrive under the mighty Hand of God and bring many souls to Calvary!

Moms, Dads, we have been called to prepare this mighty army of God!  What a tremendous honor the Lord has placed on us!  Not every parent has been called to this specific duty.  Many parents have lived and died before now.  Here WE are!  This is an awesome (and weighty) responsiblity!  Let us not be like the parents of that generation which rose up and did not know their God!  We must do more than march our children into church!  We must do more than pray over our food.  We must do more than wear the uniform of Christians.  It will not be enough to "have a form a godliness, but deny the power thereof"!  We must model a holy life before them, we must show them how to live a dedicated life, a sanctified life, a spiritually warfaring life.  We must demonstrate to them what a life full of the Holy Spirit can do!

Our children are not here due to bad timing.  No, they are here by Divine Order.  I would like to think that the only one wishing that they had been born at an earlier time in history is the enemy whose kingdom they will help to destroy!  Our children were born for this specific purpose and we were born to prepare them for such a time as this!

Before you even start, I know that there are many homeschooling mothers that are single.  I take my hats off to you, because the journey is difficult with the support of a husband, so I know that your challenges must be great.  I suppose that you can say God has proven to be faithful in your home too!

For the rest of us, the married crew, I wonder if sometimes we forget that homeschooling is not our primary home ministry.  It is so easy to become overwhelmed with our daily list of things to do.  What with lesson planning, special projects, paper grading,,,whew.... it's no wonder that we err in believing that this is what we are placed on this planet to do.  Yet before there was a child, there was a marriage.  Before being a mom, I was made a wife.

My husband, God bless him, is such a sweetheart and a tremendous blessing to me.  I can't begin to list all of the ways that he uplifts me and encourages me.  Not to mention all of the days that he walked through the door and I was on my very last leg and he took over so I could get a break.

It would take all day for me to list the ways that my husband blesses me, the ways that he looks after my well-being and that of our children and home.  What is on my mind, however, is whether or not I am returning the same to him.  In the midst of "homeschooling" have I remembered that my primary ministry in the home is to my husband?  Sometimes, I think that I forget that.

In Genesis 2:18 we read "And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet [comparable] for him" (emphasis added).

What is interesting about the above scripture is that God designed woman for being a wife, that was His first purpose.  We don't read that Adam was created a child and God said that it was not good for the child to be alone.  God mades us, women, to be wives. 

Every day, my husband is met with numerous challenges.  Some challenges he meets in route to work: the unfriendly person on the bus, the many perverse advertisements on the billboards, etc.  Other challenges he meets when he reports to his desk: the disgruntled employee who didn't get their way, the full Inbox and calendar of meetings, etc.  Let's not even start in on the challenges that meet him at home: bills, bills, hungry kids, tired wife and the list goes on. 

As his wife, I should be aware that he meets such challenges on a daily basis.  Moreover, I should be moved to action because of that knowledge.  Just as I welcome his arms to comfort me when I am feeling saddened or overwhelmed, my husband needs to be comforted by me.  I can be the listening ear that lets him unload at the end of the day.  I can be the confidante that keeps his secrets.  Most importantly, I can be the intercessor that take his challenges to the Lord in prayer.

As a wife, I can be much more than a chief cook and bottle washer.  In order to be a blessing to my husband, I must pay attention to him.  I must make time for him and make time to meet his specific needs.  Furthermore, I must understand that I cannot do this on my own, but only through the wisdom and power of the Holy Spirit will I be able to identify his needs and join him in his spiritual battles.

Now, I am not my husband's pastor!  I am not put here to "teach him a thing or two",and talk him to death!  I am to be his most loyal supporter and helper, his "good thing".  The beauty in this is that God has built in a blessing to me also when I give myself to the ministry of being a wife.  God will teach my husband how to operate in his ministry of being a husband and he will provide the leadership and protection that I need.

Let us not forget that our marriages must be maintained in order for our children to be discipled .  Let us ask God how to address the problems every marriage faces, so that His righteousness can be seen in it.  Wives, let us continually pray for the spiritual growth and development of our husbands.  Let us never fail to seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the wisdom of the  Word of God in the administration of this office.  Let us constantly remind ourselves that more than being a homeschooling mom, I am a wife!

My blog now has a new theme!  A special thanks to the designer/writer of the Daniel Academy (here on homeschoolblooger) for helping me out with the HTML coding for this.  HTML may as well be Ancient Greek as far as I'm concerned, because I have the most difficult time learning it!

The picture - the "old path" - is dear to my heart.  Some years ago, I was praying and asking the Lord to help me be a good mother and a good wife.  I knew that God required more from me than simply bathing, clothing, and feeding my children.  I just didn't know what that was.  A day or so later, my father gave me a book called Ancient Paths, which led me to this scripture in Jeremiah.  Reading that book was such a blessing to me and made me hungry for the "good way".  I was no longer satisfied with modern Christianity, modern motherhood, or being the 90s woman!  I wanted the old path, where the good way is.  I wanted rest for my soul.

Since then, the Lord has been ever faithful in uncovering His Word and His Will for motherhood to me.  I am so glad that God knows that plans that He has for me and our children.  God has a vision that reaches far beyond my lifetime and into future generations of Kings.  He already sees every one of our children in their adult lives, fighting the war against Satan, training their children after them.  He sees their victories and their struggles.  He hears their prayers and reads their thoughts - God is doing that now.

My prayer is that, as their mother, I will succeed at providing them with the foundation that they need to help them along the way.  Since God is not limited to the boundaries of space and time, I ask Him to move on my heart today, so that I will feed into my children what they need as an answer to their prayers of tomorrow, the ones that God is listening to today.  Then, He only needs to remind them of what their mother and father has taught them, from infancy, concerning His Word and His promises.

I truly believe that as mothers, through prayer and seeking the face of God, we are able to touch the lives of our great, great, great, great-grandchildren.  We are in the position, now, to place God into their hearts.  We only need to be dilligent, steadfast and purposeful in the work that we do today.  I fight daily against complacency, slothfulness, and the idea that my work is mundane and of very little value.  All of this is a trick of the enemy to keep me from accomplishing my true goal, to raise up generations of Apostolic, Bible-believing people that will share God's love with a dying world. 

This is the "old path".  This is the "good way", and modern society needs us to point them toward it more than ever before.

It has been a while since I've been able to post anything to my blog!  Between my former blog and now, I've packed up my family and moved to a single family house - Hallelujah!  I would love to say that there were no interruptions to schooling during the process, but that just wouldn't be the truth.

Like most homeschooling moms, I really hate interruptions to my school day.  I don't like it when the telephone rings and the caller doesn't have something earth-stopping important to say.  I can't stand it when the utility guy shows up to read the meter, without calling to set up a time to do it.  And topping the list, the "pack up everything you own and relocate it for the 5th time" move!  It is during the interruptions that the thought comes to me that if I worked in a brick and mortar school, I wouldn't have to entertain these nuisances.  Nobody would contact me at work to ask me a "quick question".  The utility guy wouldn't be able to find me and the school probably wouldn't be moving into a new building.

I think that perhaps these types of things, interruptions that are common to homeschoolers, will cause my children to be a step or two behind their public school counterparts.  Then, God shows how faithful He is, even when school has to suffer another interruption.

I was going through our Skills Evaluation this week (Weaver resource) and noticed that my children are still improving and learning - even without what I call "school".  I was shocked to see that my 3 yo son has actually learned most of the skills at the Kindergarten level.  When did he learn this stuff?  When did my 5 yo son learn so much math?  Where was I?

I was doing what a wife/mother does.  I was doing what needed to be done for our family so that we could continue to move forward (literally).  During that time, God was teaching my children Himself.  Through His Word, He helped my children improve their reading, reasoning and critical thinking skills.  He taught my little guys to identify their numbers (chapter and verse) and they even memorized scripture through the Nest family videos that they watched over and over again.

I would that I could tell how God did what He did.  Mostly so that I could repeat it myself since His methods are so much more successful than my own, but this happens to be as big a mystery to me as the rest of His ways and thoughts.  All I could truly say is that all Glory belongs to God and I am both thankful and in awe of what His mighty hands have wrought.

Now, we are settled in to our new house and SCHOOL ROOM!!!!  I am glad that 2008 is finally here because I am ready to get back to the daily grind.  I've missed schooling and teaching.  It felt really good to sit across from my children and pour myself into them.  This is going to be a fantastic year!  Lord, I thank You for allowing me to be here!

Happy New Year everyone!

It's turkey time again and I find myself wondering - what do we really have to be thankful for?  For all of you homeschooling moms out there, what are the five things that you are most thankful for?  What have you learned since last Thanksgiving?  Do you think you've grown in the last year?  How?

This past year has been amazing for me.  What five things am I most thankful for this year?  Okay - here we go:

1.  Since last Thanksgiving, I have given birth to our 7th child, our 5th son.  He is so cute, with a head full of curly hair.  I think he has a smile that is to die for!  I am certainly thankful for him and his six siblings. 

2.  I can't be thankful for children without being equally as thankful for the wonderful man who helped to bring them into existence, my husband.  He is such a wonderful person and I am incredibly blessed to be married to him.  Next month will mark our 15th Anniversary (I still feel waaayy too young to have been married that long) and he still makes my heart skip a beat when he walks into a room!  I praise God everyday for allowing me to be his wife!

3.  As tough as homeschooling is, I am thankful not only to have my children home with me, but also for small victories!  One child I thought would never have a love for reading.  I honestly believed that I started her on formal schooling so young that I killed a love for learning in her.  Just this month, I was shocked to discover that this same child is outreading all of my other children.  She has become a voracious reader and I give all glory to God for it!

4.  I am thankful that God upholds me day in and out.  I am thankful that the Lord brings my attention to those small victories that I need so badly to keep going.  I am thankful that His Word is absolutely TRUE and that my children are in fact "taught of the Lord" and live in great peace!  He is such a Good God!

5.  I believe that I am most thankful for "do-overs"!  Remember them?  Remember playing a game when you were little and things didn't work out quite the way you bragged that they would so you called a "do-over"?  Well, this has been my year of "do-over". 

I am ashamed to admit that my past has not been "squeaky clean"!  There was actually a time when being a submissive wife was not a term that would have accurately described me.  The details are too numerous to bore you with now, but God is giving me an opportunity to get it right.  It is amazing how many circumstances have repeated themselves from years ago.  The major difference is that I am wiser this time around.  I know what happens when you make the wrong decision because that is what I did the first time.  I didn't like the result.

Now, I get to allow the Lord to work in my life through my husband and trust their judgments.  It should go without saying that the Lord is worthy to be trusted, but when he asks me to place that trust in the hands of my husband, things sort of changed in my head.  Don't get me wrong, I have a wonderful husband and I love him dearly.  He just doesn't always decide to do what I want done when I want it done and I kinda find that, well, irritating.  Sometimes, I just want to be able to call all of the shots, then I know that I will get what it is that I want!  The problem is, this is no at all what God has required of me as a wife.  Boy, has it taken a long time for that to seep into my head!

I know that many of the things that we have suffered through as a family is my fault.  I know that if I would have only obeyed the Word of God and been the wife that I was supposed to be, I would not have found myself in many of the difficult situations that I was in.  Worse than that, my family had to suffer through all of that with me.

So, I am thankful that God has given me the opportunity to revisit those challenges and make the right decisions this time.  I am thankful for the "lean years", the time God used to stand me in front of the mirror and really look at myself.  That was really hard.  I am not the picture of holiness that I thought I was.  But you know what, I am so glad for every test, trial, tribulation, heartache, pain, and tear that came between my first time around and now!  Only Jesus could do that!  Only Jesus could force me through the fire and have me come out thankful for the experience.  I appreciate the woman of God that I am now.  I appreciate the maturity that the Lord has brought me to.  And I am thankful that He is standing me in front of the mirror again, only this time the reflection resembles Him so much more.

I pray that each of you will take the time to really consider what you have to be thankful for this year.  Moreover, I hope that you are thankful for the process that God is putting you through to perfect you.  Maybe you are enduring pain or discomfort in your current circumstances and it seems like even God doesn't care very much for you.  Nothing can be further from the truth.  He loves you and wants to "buff" His reflection into you.  It could be, like me, that you will get a "do-over" and He wants you to be pleased with yourself the 2nd time around!

Have a wonderfully blessed Thanksgiving.  And number six on my list, I am thankful that you stopped by to read my blog today!

Until the next time....

How many of you have found yourselves in a predicament like mine - you are in the midst of the school year and needing to pack your family and move?!  Not moving would be turning away from one of the greatest physical blessings your family has known, but moving means turning your schedule upside-down for a couple of weeks!

This isn't the first time that I have had to pack up my family for a move.  We are not a military family, but a growing family.  This time, we are moving into a 4-bdrm house that has 2 bathrooms!  Woohoo!  This is the most space I have ever had and I am really looking forward to turning it into our home.  I am so blessed of God to have this house!

I just have one itsy, bitsy problem - I DON'T WANNA PACK A THING!!  The big day is Dec. 1 so I have less than two weeks to get 2 years worth of stuff packed and ready to go.  Considering that nothing can be done during Thanksgiving weekend because of the major amount of food to be prepared - by me - I don't really have time to waste.  I am excited about having so much room to spread out, but getting from here (literally) to there just seems like so much work!!!

Is there anybody that understands how I feel?  Am I just being a little whiny?

The good news is that I have started purging already.  I mean, if I already don't want to pack, then why would I pack the junk?  This is making the entire process even longer to me.  I can't just throw all of the files into a makeshift, paper file box and call it a day.  No, I have to go be all "systematic" and responsible here!  Good-grief!  Enough already!  Let's just put it in a couple of Aldi's bags and sift it all later.  (And that will be the week that the "school officials" will come knocking on my door demanding to see proof that we are adequately educating our children by checking records.....)

Okay, I admit, I am whining.  I just want to get to the fun part, you know?  I want to get to the part where all of the walls are painted the colors that make us feel warm and fuzzy, all of the necessary repairs are done, and we are back on homeschooling schedule in a house so immaculate that even Martha Stewart would stand in awe!  Well, that has never actually been our reality, but wouldn't it be nice to live there?

For those of you who have made it this far into my sickening descent into self-pity, I would appreciate your prayers.  I have such grand visions for my old house and I know that there are many talented "do-it-yourselfers" out there who could give me a little help!  Well, I guess I should get off of this computer and go put something in a box!  Until next time....

Last night I had the pleasure of hosting my parents for dinner.  This didn't start out as a formal get together, we have dinner together quite often because we currently live in the same building.  Many times I have gone to their unit for dinner (or just to have a snack or whatever), but on last night they actually climbed the stairs and joined my family for dinner.

My mother is one of those women that every kid dreams of having for a Grandma.  Actually, both she and my mother-in-law are like that.  My husband and I often laugh because they don't seem to be the same women that raised us, you know the "no-nonsense", "do-it-now" because "I said so" mothers!  These women seem to believe that their grandchildren are the greatest creations since sliced bread!

Our kitchen table is pretty small, so it takes a little work to get eight people around it.  I opted to sit on a stool, off to the side, and allowed my parents and my children to sit together at the table.  While I was holding the newest addition of our family in my arms, I watched the interaction between my children and my parents.  It was really neat.  I was reminded of a few months ago when my parents last "climbed the stairs" and spent the evening in our unit.  The occasion at that time was to give my children an opportunity to hear "history" from people who lived it.  My parents told us what it was like to grow up during the 1960s when this country was involved in the Civil Rights Movement.  Of course, my children wanted to know more important things like: did my parents get whippings when they were little?  Were there cars when you were a little boy?  How did you have fun without tv?  You know, the really important information that you just can't get from a book!   What a wonderful experience it was for our family

After my parents left last night and returned to their home, I continued to think about my mother.  There were so many emotions bubbling up in my heart.  First, I thought about what it was like growing up with her.  I remember thinking that no matter what was wrong, how I was hurting (whether a scratch or a broken heart), my mother could fix it.  My mom was the "safe place" to run to for comfort.  My mom was also the person that wouldn't let me do everything and go everywhere, which I really didn't like at the time, but I am so thankful for now.  She was then, and sill is, my MOM.

Well, that is me now, to my children.  It is a frightful thought because maybe I won't do as good a job as my mother did.  I embrace my children because my mother embraced me.  I talk to my daughters because my mother would curl up on my bed and listen to me talk about some boy that didn't like me anymore (grin).  I challenge my children because my mother seemed to always find a way to volunteer me for something when I was young.  It used to drive me crazy because I didn't think I could do the thing she was "making" me do, but I soon found out that I had the ability to do many things.  Talk about building up your confidence!

My mother used to tell me I was so beautiful (she still does as a matter of fact), but I never believed her because I didn't have the trappings that society said made one beautiful.  Actually, it wasn't society that I was concerned about, it was my peers.  I hear the same words coming out of my mouth to my own girls ("You are so beautiful and you have a cute face too!) and I see the look in their eyes that seems to say they want to believe me, but find it a little difficult.  I wonder if that was what my mom saw in me.

Being a mother is a tough job.  My heart aches so much for my children.  I can't begin to tell the number of times I have worried, cried, prayed (when I finally remembered that it works better) and toiled for my children.  I never knew that you could love something so much that it hurt.  Just being a mom now makes me love my mother so much more.  I can't say that I took her for granted because I was completely ignorant of what she was experiencing being a mother.  This I know for sure, of all the women on this planet that I could have been entrusted to, I am so glad that the Wisdom of God placed me in the heart and arms of Regina B. for my nurturing and upbringing.  Much of what I am today is because God worked in me, through my mother.  So, although it isn't anywhere near "Mother's Day", I want to take this time and say to my mom - Thanks for being my blessing!

I find that I am far enough into the school year to begin asking myself a very familiar question - who is really being educated in our homeschool?  To the untrained and inexperienced, it is the children who are embarking upon this educational pursuit.  I disagree.  It is not the children at all, but us parents.

My husband jokingly says that homeschool mothers are by far the smartest people on the planet.  This is especially true for those of us with large families.  Why?  Well, you figure that we will have gone from Kindergarten through High School atleast 3 times, we should be smart!  This is funny, but also very true. The homeschool mother is truly being educated.

I have discovered over this past week that there is so much of my history that I really don't know.  In preparing for the lessons I am to teach my children, I have discovered things about my country that I never read once during school, not even in college.  Of course, the world-wide-web didn't exist in the form that we currently enjoy and it does make a huge difference when it comes to what information is available to us during our research phase.  Nonetheless, I find myself wondering how it is that so much pertinent information could be left out of my education.  Am I alone?  Do any of you wonder about the "quality education" you received as a youngster?  When you compare it to the education that your children are receiving from you, do you still think that it was pretty good?  I don't.  Sometimes I would that I could just homeschool myself.

Wait a minute, I am!

My education is going far beyond the discovery of information, but it is also teaching me things that I would never have been capable of learning during my younger years.  There really wasn't much opportunity to teach my peers, to condescend with those of low estate, or to multi-task in the way that I must now.  Being responsible for the spiritual, character, and educational development of my children makes it necessary for me to learn all types of new skills.  I find myself reading everything from my Bible to How To Win Friends and Influence People  to Different Children, Different Needs.  I am learning to be a mom, home organizer, project manager, social worker, bible instructor and teacher.  In order to be confident that I am doing a good job, I have decided to pursue my "master's" degree in each area.  It means many hours of prayer and study, but it is the most valuable education that I can imagine right now.

For the next few years (actually about 17+), my children will be enrolled in our homeschool, but I will be the one who is being educated the most.

This is my little star pupil, the only one I had back in 1994!  Of course, back then we were working on simple things like - "I am mommy.  This is daddy."  Now, she is in 8th grade!  Oh, High School is coming, High School is coming!