Hello there friends!

I was just over at my friend Carri's blog and learned about an awesome giveaway...$150 of Vision Forum goodies that, get this, you get to pick yourself! Check out this link, http://inashoe.com/, and enter your blog to get your wish list too! There are going to be 5 winner drawn, so after me and Carri, some of you can win too!

Here is my wishlist....

So Much More $20

Passionate Housewives:Desperate for God $16

Verses of Virtue $20

Teach them to Your Children$17

Ten P's in a Pod` $20

Twenty four Hours Is All You Get $10

Raising Maidens of Virtue $20

Home is Where the Heart Is $10

I'll have to write more about our catalog day later!

Have a great day and check out this giveaway!

If you don't already get the Vision Forum catalog, go to 

www.visionforum.com , and sign up for it. Have fun checking out all the great products they offer for families.

Ashley

Praise the Lord! We had such an awesome week! I put into practice the various things the Lord had shown me and as always...He was SO right! I was relaxed and joyful, which is my normal state of being but had been somehow lost in the shuffle of daily life in our little kingdom. Joy has been restored and praise the Lord relaxation once again dwells in our home! I noticed such a blessed peace with the children...sure we still had daily training and such going on, but I was well equipped to handle each situation. It was so good. I pray that this week we continue to have this peace with no end. Amen!

Much is also happening around our home. Friday school was shut down so we could receive delivery of our kitchen cabients! We also had a wonderful visit with my friend Carri Peterson and her sweet gaggle of children! She has 8 precious little ones! They are very blessed and it was such a great time for us to get to know one another some more. In our large circle of friends, all of us with 4 or more children, it can be hard to build a close relationship, so every afternoon spent together is precious. Although, our group gatherings are also terrific!

Anyhow, this weekend was spent installing the majority of our cabients with the help of my father. Time spent with my folks is so much fun for our family. The children love being with Nana and Papa! My father was a carpenter by trade and so his help is priceless,not to mention the time spent together as a famiy!

Well, I had better tuck my little ones in. Have a gret week and may God bless you and your family.

Ashley

               Smile + Pray + Play = Happy Homeschoolmom

Pretty nice equation...the Lord gave it to me this past weekend as I was praying for our homeschool...which just 'started' back up this past week. Actually, the Lord used the word Supermom!

Pretty cool huh!?!

This past week was unusually hard...trying to add a new student to our time, still trying to settle in, a superbaby to literally chase around, and trying to implement a SCHEDULE!

So, Saturday evening I spent several moments alone in prayer. I cried out to God for wisdom. For strength and endurance...it was such a sweet time of reflection and vision. Praise the Lord!

He showed me some things I had seen, but thought I could work out...turns out I just needed to give them to Him.

Do you have some 'Supermom' tendencies? Thinking that you can or need to do it all? Most of us do...especially us, the mothers of homeschooling families. There is so much to do and so 'little' time. Take a few moments today to talk to the father and seek to root up those little tendencies that may keep you from living in the moment with these little ones.

What about the schedule you may ask? Well, He said not to throw it out...quit trying to make my day fit the schedule and make my schedule fit my day! Will I go back to THE schedule?...maybe. I made a 'Routine' the way that I always have and am implementing that now. I also made a Chore Games Chart...fun ways to cover all out cleaning zones and chores...by playing with each other and racing! Thanks Beka Anast!

Well mothers...I pray that you are able to find the key to 'Supermom-ness' too!

God Bless you all ladies and enjoy those children!

On the road again....

Ok, so we arn't back to traveling, at least so to speak! We are in Louisville for a 'vacation'. Actually, my husband, Jesse is her for business. There is a Police Fleet Convention...so we got to come hang out at a pool! Hey, that's not to bad! Which brings me back to my topic...traveling with the kiddos.

"Can we stop yet?"

 " I gotta pee!"

"I'm hungry!"

Does this sound familiar? Well, after 9 years of traveling...pregnant, with a nursing baby, a potty training toddler, and energetic 6- year old boys....I figure that I have some experience in this area, hahahaha! I am always asked, " How do you do it? How do you keep them happy?" Well, to be honest, it hasn't been easy every time, nor has it always been hard. Our family really loves to travel. For several years we owned an RV and that was really fun and much easier all the way around. We have been so packed that I had to squeeze the toddler a bottle through a 3" gap in 'stuff'! Now we have a 12-passenger van which is pretty nice. It got a little old after 15 days of driving in the time frame of 3 months! When we learned we'd be driving from Winter Harbor, Maine to Bremerton, Washington for nine days we broke down and bought a DVD player...I know, I know....no razing for that!

DVD Players aside...we have always made liberal use of drawing pads, coloring books, lacing shapes, books on tape, singing, and landscape discussions. The kiddos always have a few toys, but battery powered, noise toys are NOT a good idea! Trust me, Leap Frog Radio is very agrivating after about 25minutes!

Anyhow, the subject of food, drinks, and potty breaks..

Well, we are potty break kinda people! Hahaha! Actually, My husband and I are coffee drinkers, so 200 miles or so and we stop, but manage 500 to 600 miles atleast each day. This is pretty manageable with a crew under 8...as far as food....we don't really snack so it is a decent hot breakfast at home or the hotel and a late BIG lunch and then snacks in the hotel room. It works well for us. Also, we do limit the kiddos to a water bottle inbetween stops.

I am really glad that this is just a "fun' trip for a change. It is quite pleasent! I am relaxing at the pool and enjoying my kiddos, if you travel anytime soon, I encourage to not stress! Sit back and enjoy the ride...these days are short and there is no time to fret. So embrace these moments with all your might!

Hello and welcome to my blog!

I am the mother to four wonderful children so far. Emily age 8, Jeremiah age 6, Joshua nearly 4, and Bethany 14 months.We homeschool our children, following the example of our family and friends. My husband homeschooled starting in the seventh grade and I homeschooled my Junior and Senior years of highschool. Our mothers have both homeschooled for 10+ years. It is just the normal course of things for us. This school year proves to be both busy and exciting! Let me set the stage...

We have been married for nine years this September and have had a traveling lifestyle due to my husbands job. We have lived in Kentucky, Maryland, Virginia, Maine, Ohio, Flordia, California, Oklahoma, Washington, Georgia, Texas,and South Carolina. About 5 years ago we bought 30 or so acres from a brother in the Lord. We always looked forward to actually getting to live on the property...we started building our home and devolping the property, but the Lord had other plans. We prayed and prayed that His Will would prevail and waited. Then in June a job oppurtunity arose and it could only have been the Lord. My husband took the position! On June 23rd we moved home and are getting settled! Praise the Lord!

So, here we are...for the first time in our homeschool experience...books all on the shelves...at the SAME time. There are charts on the wall. I created our schedule...WOW! That is amazing in and of itself. We are all so excited to start 'school' this year!

We will be using a mix of materials....Sonlight Core 2, MOH 2, Singapore Math, math drills and flashcards, journaling, and some notebooking. We will listen to some of the Children's Classics Collection and study some art masterpieces. And learn to care for our new kitty, Tigger. That is another first for us, a cat.

I will blog here on the happenings, calamities, and funny notions that go on around here; as well as new revelations and testimonies from my day-to-day walk with the Lord. So, please, make a cup of 'warm beverage', pull up a chair, and spend a few minutes with me as we walk down this most blessed of seasons in our  lives. Our job is of greatest importance to our Father in Heaven. Their is no other ministry we can partake in that will please Him more, than the hours, days, and weeks we spend molding our little ones into His image.

God Bless your day!

Ashley, mother and missionary to four precious little souls...