Well, it's a new school year and boy, do we have a lot of changes, some obstacles to hurdle but NOTHING is impossible with God on our side. We're homeschooling four of our five children this year, with ages ranging from 5 to 11, kindergarten through seventh. We're at a new church. And we have a walking 10 month old who is curious and eager to follow his older siblings around all day long who I'll have to try and keep up with, plus, the biggest change of all: the absence of my husband for the most part.

Due to lay offs at work and the near non-existance of employment in our surrounding areas, we have had to take a different avenue when it comes to jobs. So as a last resort he got a job as a truck driver and starting the 10th of August will be gone for nearly a month for training and then his life on the road begins. I'm not sure how this will affect our family, our five children, him or me.

Me and the boys will be taking on a bunch of different responsibilities that we're not used to doing and even the girls will be pitching in a lot more with laundry and extra household work not counting school. For all I know, my house will be turned into a total wreck by the time he comes home!!! :) It's not something that we want but something that we have to do. But who knows? Maybe God has something in store for my family that I'm not seeing right at this moment but I have to keep my faith in He who has NEVER FAILED ME and trust that HE knows best for me.

I'm hoping that this will help me to be a little more independent because in the past I have wondered how my life would be should something tragic happen to my husband. That probably seems a little depressing to think about but it's something that no wife wants but something that happens everyday and would change lives totally if the unthinkable happened. I am a stay at home mother who knows nothing but taking care of children and the home. I would have to leave my children and go out into the workforce. Would my children have to be put into the public school system? Oh, I shudder to think of that.

Nevertheless, on the 9th of August he is leaving for school. I think I'm kinda still in shock or perhaps I'm still waiting on that miracle that his old job will call him and offer him his job back. Last week I recieved a call from a neighbor who had caught a burglar or a peeping tom on the outside of my house just after I had gone upstairs to bed. And then last night my husband and I stayed up a little longer than normal and were sitting in the living room watching a bit of tv when we heard this noise outside my living room windows. When William turned the porch light on and opened the door someone who'd been crouching at the window stood and ran off. That really scares me, especially now that my husband is leaving in about a week. I don't even like to think of it.

But regardless of my fears, I think I'm looking forward to the challenge and we'll meet it head-on with eyes and minds and hearts open with the hopes and prayers that we'll only come out stronger in the end because of this. Any other truck drivers' wives out there? I'd love to talk to you.

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Valley of Decisions...if you're a Bible reader then you probably know of this famous Bible verse from the book of Joel. This is where I got the theme for our vacation bible school this year. We're turning one side of our church into a forest. We're having a tent set up, a campfire, and we're leading a group of kids to the "Valley of Decision". The Valley of Decision is a very important place for us all. It's a time when each of us makes the choice of whether we're gonna serve Him or not. The script for the puppet show is coming slowly to me this year for some reason. Perhaps it's because of the 'valley' that I've been in. And maybe, just maybe, God is using my valley to help me to be able to help others this year. I'm not going to try to figure it out. I've decided I'll just put my trust in Him and let Him lead me when it comes to this. We're gonna top it all off with a Friday Night Campout at Around the Pond Campground with a cookout and marshmallow roast and then our awards ceremony Saturday evening before we all pack up and go home.

I've been the director for VBS for the past 6  years and I love it. The first year we did one of the store bought themes, Construction Zone. After that, I really felt God's leading me to write my own. With His help, we pulled it off. We live in a farm setting so one year we did a farm themed one and decorated our church to where it looked like a barn. We had 4 puppets that year that my children and I made. Jacob the Well, Barney the Barn, Lucy the Lamb, Woody the Tree and of course we had a farmer, Farmer Brown, who was me. I borrowed some of my brother's old worn out overalls and put on a straw hat. We made tables out of square bales of hay outside each evening for snacks and after our party at the end of the week, we went on a hay ride. year before last we did Let's Go Fishing (for men, of course) and we turned our church into the "Ship of Zion". We found some chrome plates that we added pictures of the ocean to and created portholes. We took white tablecloths and created sails, used real paddles and purchased some nets and oars, some life vests, and we even made underwater scenes with fish that me and the kids colored and cut out and the water was white sheets that we dyed with blue dye. It turned out really really great.

Last year I was pregnant so I had some help with the directing but I wrote the scripts for the skits. The theme was "Almost Home" and we focused on being runners in a race. On our first scene we portrayed Apostle Paul as a runner. He jogged the whole skit long and talked to the kids about not giving up, no matter what and that one day you'd reach the end of your race. It was wonderful. We portrayed the prodigal son and Steven as well. It was very spiritual. We had a good time, had a nice bunch of kiddies and teenagers and just enjoyed being together and knowing that one day we'll make it to the end of our race. One day we'll get to see the face of Jesus, get to touch those nail scarred hands and feet. And all these trials and heartaches will be worth it. It will be worth every mile of the trip! I'm glad that I chose Jesus as my savior.

Thank you Lord for a little SON shine in this heart of mine today. I don't deserve it but I thank you for it!

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I'm a little behind in getting to my blog tonight but hey, it's all right. Boy! We sure have had a lot to do today. Although I'm sure it wasn't a drop in the bucket compared to some but it was enough to get your heart pumping. First of all, we were up by 7:00 am. I taught Isaac how to make homemade cinnamon rolls. He did an excellent job. We ate those for breakfast. We were at the table for Table Time by 8:30 am with our Bibles. We each read aloud in 1 Peter 4. Even Zanna, who can't read but she can repeat what we say and she's learning that a group of words make up books and Bibles. After that, I had everyone write their name on a note pad and fold them up. We mixed them all up and drew names. Everyone has to write a letter to the name of the person they drew and let them know why that person is special to them. We did some summer review work and William and I discussed the pros and cons of having school year round. He didn't really want to be tied down all summer long. He had a good point but it's my opinion that it would actually free us us a little more during the rest of the year. I know I wouldn't feel so guilty come this fall and something happenes that knocks us out of school for  a week. I know that we all enjoy Table Time when we all sit down at the table, study the Word of God and then do some summer school work, including Dad. This is the first year he's been that involved but he's laid off. I think he needs to be more involved. I can see a difference as I look around the table. They're all working a lot better. They even had some fun at the table this morning. Now, Isaac still gets distracted. Zoe still doesn't like to sit for very long but we're working it all out. The boys went over Area, Perimeter and Square Feet this morning. They went around the house measuring things and, Lord willing, they'll be getting started on that dog house this week. Now my husband is a little worried about the doghouse because he's not a carpenter but I think it'll be okay. He's asked me to find some "Doghouse Blueprints" (ROFL!!!!!!) online for him. Anyways, we went riding around this evening. The baby's been sick and he's still a little puny like so I didn't want to take him to the grandparents' for fear that he'd get them sick with colds so we loaded up in the van and went for a drive in the boonies just to get away from the house for a while. I found my dream house back in the woods, just a little clapboard house with a porch across the front, a porch swing swaying in the breeze. If we had our own land we could build a house like that for under 10,000! YES, IT IS TRUE! My dad is a carpenter. The houses that he builds only cost about 20,000 to build. On the market, they sell for $70,000 - $100,000. You can get away with building a house pretty cheap but when you have to pay for labor, that's where you run into your money. My dad's house is a small 2 bedroom, 1 bath home out in the country. He built it in a couple of weeks. Costed $6,000 for everything. I'll get back to my day instead of dreaming. LOL! Anyways, we went and picked up a new bed. My sister in law was giving it away. Had never been slept in! We went to take the box springs upstairs when lo, and behold, it would not fit so my hubby (did I mention that he isn't a carpenter?) had to take down the door molding and pretty trim work, the door frame and we still almost didn't get the thing up there. But finally, with a little elbow grease, lots of pulling and pushing we managed to get it up there. It was still a tight squeeze. So tomorrow, my husband has to put the door frame and all the stuff back. But something wonderful happened in the meantime. I learned that under the ugly tan carpet on my stairs is the same beautiful hardwood flooring that I have everywhere else in my house! I just smiled really pretty at my husband and said, "I know what we'll be doing this weekend." I'll try to take BEFORE and AFTER pictures for you all. I can't wait. Well, I'll end for now. Night ya'll and God Bless!

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Do I have to tell you that my God is amazing? Probably not. But even if I said the words a million times it wouldn't do Him justice.

Let me introduce my husband to you all. His name is William and we've been married for about 10 years. He instantly became my best friend. Anyways, he was working at a local automotive factory here in Rogersville, just a minute up the road from the house. And with the deal about Chrysler and the bankruptcy thing, they are shut down. He lost his great job permanently. We have 5 children to care for ages 10, 9, 6, 5 and 8 months. Homeschool the oldest four of them. This weekend we went to buy their school books and spent 91.00. That's not bad at all but it's a lot of money when you've gone through your savings to pay bills and buy groceries. Anyways, no big deal. We knew God would make a way for us. So we tried not to worry about the empty purses.

God worked it out again. This morning my husband wen't to church where he's the pastor. Keep in mind that it's one of those small country churches where you don't get paid a salary. I had to stay home with sick children. When he got home he looked at me and smiled, "Do you want to know how amazing God is?" A nodded my head. And he pulled out 5 $20 bills, $100!!!!!!!!! The Lord knows we were about to go the next morning and spend our last on groceries. But the Lord supplied through a lady who knew nothing about our situation!

God Is Amazing!

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This is my first post on homeschoolblogger.com and after reading a few other blogs, I have to admit, I'm feeling a little inadequate. Gosh, everyone seems so much more experience than I am and I've been homeschooling for going on five years. I'm looking forward to learning all I can!

Today we went to a used curriculum book sale! LOVE LOVE LOVE those! Got about $300-400 books for only $91.00 bucks! That included all my 7th, 4th, 1st, Kindergarten books plus extra stuff like a great atlas, dictionary, thesaurus, and art books  My husband is one of those employees who felt the impact firsthand when Chrysler filed bankruptcy. The factory shut down where he worked as a Pinions Technician and Asst. Supervisor. So we're finding all the deals we can.

Let me give you a list of things we've done to save our family. 

First of all, we invested in a deep freezer. My aunt taught me how to bake and freeze my own breads, rolls, biscuits and she even showed me how to make cakes from scratch. Since then, I've learned to create my own freezer jams, buttermilk cornbread, vegetable soup, homemade chili, and whatever else you can imagine. We know which days our local supermarker put out the best beef at the cheapest price and only shop for groceries on those days. We buy many items in bulk. We don't buy things like potato chips and store bought cookies such as Oreas anymore. We don't even buy cereal anymore. Instead, we make our own home-made breakfasts like biscuits and gravy, homemade pancakes. Every now and then we will buy some oatmeal. And our kids don't miss the cereal or all the candy.

We are also learning a few home remedies, we don't go to the dr. for runny noses and coughs. We don't buy cough syrup or other OTC cold meds. We've learned that the best medicine for colds are lots of love and liquids. When you can't foot the bill from going to the doctor, you learn that you will get over the regular flu without taking Tamiflu.  Your favorite fever reducer, rest and relaxation will work just fine, although, a flu shot does at the beginning of the flu season will make all the difference. (My daughter is the only one in our family that had the flu shot this year.) She's the only one who didn't suffer nearly as bad as the rest of us.

We've also realized the healthy benefits of changing our eating behaviors and are currently looking into purchasing Farm Fresh Eggs, too. We try to eat as organically as possible. We even make our own peanut butter and almond butter. That way you don't have all the extra stuff in it. I was watching something on TV a few weeks back. A lady on there said, "Only eat foods that come from the ground or that have a mother." In my opinion, it was good advise so ever since then I've been reading food ingredient labels and doing research on words that I can't produce.

It's kind of scary but for as long as I can remember my mother bought Shedd's Spread County Crock. All along, I'm thinking I'm eating butter. And up until 6 months ago, like my mother, I loaded down everything I could with Country Crock. And then my blessed aunt, Michal, showed me that I wasn't eating real butter at all, only a small percentage. Try to stay away from anything that says "Partially hydrogenated oil or soybean oil". It's one step in the right direction.

Right now, when money is short, we can't afford extra things like Karate lessons, gymnastics, clogging. As a matter of fact, just last week we recieved a disconnection notice for our phone. Times are hard, that's for sure. So, instead of dwelling on how much money we don't have, we kind of realize exactly how much we do have. We've been checking out all the local parks for the past couple of weeks and have found that experience to be a very pleasant one. We're saving money but more than anything, we're spending quality time together as a family.

It makes you wonder why I didn't figure this out a long time ago, BEFORE I had 5 kids. I'm growing as a mother, growing as a woman. And I hope that when I'm dead and gone that my children can liken me to the woman in the last chapter of Proverbs.  Until then...

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