Oh my has this last year gone by fast! My little puppy is all grow'd up. (At least she'll stay small.) She's a purebred Mini-Daschund. She loves cuddling, snuggling, hugging, kissing, running, barking at her reflection, jumping, taking walks and car rides, playing keep away, playing with the ferrets, people, sleeping in the sun and chewing her raw hides.  We've trained her to sit, stay, shake, twirl and fetch. She has brought us hours and hours of fun, laughter and love. She is a great blessing to us all and we are so glad to have her as a part of our family.

~Happy Birthday Sweet Puppy!~

ok, so i had a great little post and it kinda got lost...and i don't even remember what i wrote...ok, well, i know i ended it with a little prayer. something like this:

Praying for a great 2008!

traci  :) 

So, I have been a neglectful blogger, I admit it. But if you only knew how busy we've been this summer! Not only that, but I've been going through a few things and haven't really known how to articulate them. It's been about deeper things with the Lord and changing my life and all sorts of really good things.  Also a lot of family drama. Not to mention field trips and finishing up a few things for school and all the decisions about next year and...and...and...I'm sure you get the picture!

Hello and thank you to the sweet people who have stopped by to say hi. It has been encouraging. I haven't had/taken the time to respond or visit for a long time and I apologize for that. I was seriously considering hanging up my blogging hat. I'm still not quite sure about that one. There are a lot of things to weigh. You guys are just too sweet!

So, I have to go again. Things to do and get ready for. It's Friday ya know.

One last note:If you guys have the time or think of it, could you please be praying for the people of Minnesota? This last Wednesday a major freeway bridge collapsed into the Mississippi River during rush hour. There were a lot of victims and there are people still missing. There are people who have been located but haven't been recovered that are still in their cars under the water.

A Google search with Mississippi Bridge collapse or something similar will bring up the story. A local news website that we usually watch that is not as sensationalistic as some others is www.KARE11.com.

It really could have been any one of us here in MN on that bridge at the time. It's one of the main freeways in the heart of the Twin Cities Metro Area. Growing up here, I've driven that stretch of freeway so many times. Asa just recently switched jobs with Target and moved to one of their suburban locations, but he used to drive that way a lot. Pretty much if you are a driver in MN and you need to get to the Cities or out of the Cities for anything/most things, you drive I-35W and cross the Mississippi River on that very bridge.

That day my own sister crossed that bridge 10-15 minutes before it collapsed. She had my neice and 3 of my nephews with her. That's about half of my entire immediate family right there. A friend of mine's husband was travelling on it about the same time-just minutes before it collapsed-and I think he was leaving at a different time than usual. My daughters father's girlfriend's friend made it mostly to the other side avoiding the river but the part of the bridge her car was on landed on a train car. She was injured, but she survived. That's how it could have been any one of us or any one we may know.

It seems like you can't go anywhere without 'knowing' someone in Minnesota. Or even know someone who knows someone you know. Most often there are only a few degrees of seperation between people around here. I have met so many people who know someone else I know or went to school with so-and-so or married so-and-so who I used to hang around or is a cousin or aunt/unlce or relative of so-and-so and so on and so forth. (It's not in-breeding either!) Minnesotans just have this dynamic of comraderie and feeling connected to other Minnesotans and relating to eachother. We are a close knit community here in this way. That's why this has been a really devastating blow to our entire state. (It's kinda funny/interesting but even as I write this, I can see some of the Minnesota mindset emerge...)

But God...He has a plan and I have heard so many people talk about spiritual things that normally probably wouldn't. I've seen how Christians have been affected and have shared their faith boldly on the news. This has gotten not only national, but INTERNATIONAL coverage. Asa and I looked online and found countries like Australia, Malaysia, Russia, the UK, Thailand, Iran, New Zealand and Switzerland and so on who have covered this story as front page news. There have been tons of testimonies of miraculous things/circumstances surrounding this catastrophe. May these peoples questions get true answers and may the Lord be glorified!  

I hope this made sense. It's still a bit surreal all that has transpired the past few days. Thanks for your prayers and I hope to post again soon.

Blessings,

traci  :)

my absence lately. No, there is too much. Let me sum up...

We have been busy wrapping up school and staying focused with getting schoolwork completed. There is a lot to get through before we start 8th grade this fall and I want to be ready. We have been having a great time plowing through our subjects and we have seen some really great dvd's to enhance our learning. We are nearing the end and it feels so good!

I have also started a knitting blog because my knitting hobby has gotten bigger and has turned into an opportunity to make a little money on the side. I am having a lot of fun with it and have a few projects going to keep me occupied. Come on over to see what I've been up to in that arena!

I have also taken on a 2yr old boy 3-4 days a week for some extra money as well. He is a really good kid and we have fun while he's here, but another chunk of my time has been going to taking care of him. That makes it hard to get online for any real length of time, especially when there are server issues and login problems. HSB is wonderful, don't get me wrong. I'm still here aren't I? This is a great community that I don't intend on giving up. Life has just gotten a bit busier, that's all! Where else would I get to meet and read about homeschoolers and their fun adventures in homeschooling?

Well, as you can see there have been a lot of recent developments  that have taken up some big chunks of my time and with summer approaching, which brings camping, cookouts and field trips, I will do my best to keep up with it all!  ;)

blessings,

traci  :)

The roller coaster of homeschooling stops for NO ONE! We have been working really hard at staying on task to finish up the school year with a bang. So far...so good! We are finishing up qiute a few subjects and are getting quite a routine down. Of course I would like to see more progress, but I am thankful for how far we've come and believe me, it's borderline miraculous!

Orchestra has been moving along with another recital down and many more practice sessions. Love is making such strides and we are very pleased with her. She is really enjoying herself too, so that in itself is a nice reward.

The MACHE conference went well and I had enough people using my affiliate code when buying Tapestry Of Grace products to be able to buy another year for free and then some! Or, I could just raid they're bookshelf and get more great titles for our ever growing family library. I'm not sure how I'll decide, but either way I'm ahead! YAY!

Well, I'm knitting up a couple of Baby Hoodies for Blue Sky Alpacas and need to get back to them. I am really excited about learning to knit. It has been a great adventure so far. It's well worth the sense of accomplishment you feel when you finish a project. Even the ones that take awhile! 

blessings,

traci  :)

i have been learning how to knit for a few months now and have completed a very basic 'garter ridge' scarf. you can see a few flaws but that's to be expected with a newbie. however, i didn't let that stop me. i then received a skein of cotton from my MIL and started to work on a washcloth. well, the pattern was a little confusing and i really wasn't ready for all the 'repeat rows 10-15 3x's and then go to step 4 and then repeat that 12x's'...so i lost count. it was starting to look like the picture at least! so, i unravelled it. (not a good habit to have) she also gave me a book w/some stitch patterns to practice with. so now i've worked on the basics some and i am still liking it! 

i have limited supplies of things so it makes for not a lot to accomplish. i only have a few sizes in needles and some scratchy acrylic yarn so i don't want to really do anything big and fantastic until i have some nicer yarns. i do like the needles i have. my faves are my circulars (aluminum). they are soooo cool/easy to use, they look intimidating, but i think they are so nice to use. you can just slide your work to the middle and it keeps all nice and safe-like. simply wonderful!

my favorite site to drool at for knitting needles/accessories is probably Lantern Moon. they offer some of the greatest needles, bags and carrying cases. my dream yarns would come from Blue Sky Alpacas. i pretty much want ALL of the yarns they sell. you wouldn't believe how soft it is! my IRL friend Ali has a few knitting patterns on their site. this woman is talented! she's got her own knitting blog too called 'skeins her way'. she recently finished up this amazing shrug. hop on over and check it out!

kpixie and purlsoho are a few more fun sites to get lost in for awhile. then there's the standard Lion Brand stuff and JoAnn Fabrics, but they are kind of like the 'Walmart' of the knitting community in my opinion. don't get me wrong, they've got some good stuff. (confession: i think i may be turning into a yarn snob!)

what happened was i started out on Walmart acrylic yarn and some cheap needles and let me tell ya, it's great to start at but once you get a taste for real fibers and nice needles...oh, ho, ho...you don't wanna go back!  now, you can find some decent needles (i don't recommend plastic) and they do have some basic cottons that work really well. and there are some fun pattern books for washcloths.

well, i've got to get back to my stockinette stitches for a baby hoodie i just started...but i'll share that another time... 

ok, i'm downplaying it a little...

If you look up the weather for where we live you will read the following:

periods of snow with areas of blowing snow...

widespread blowing snow and a chance of snow...

heavy snowfall and blowing snow...

when I look out my window I see the following:

periods of snow with areas of blowing snow...

widespread blowing of snow and lots of snow...

heavy snowfall, blowing snow and lots more snow...

and even more than that, I see snow! It's literally white out conditions around here.

So to make a long story longer...we've had A LOT of snow and it's still coming! I'd say rough estimates for where we are would be at least 20" accumulatively so far--at least. Not mentioning what's on its way--still.

It's so pur-ty! I can't wait to post pics. You won't believe your eyes! Yes, I actually LIKE it! Hey I'm a Minnesotan. This is MILD!You should've been here in '91!

There is a downside to all this fluffy white fun. We don't have a snowblower, so yours truly has had to put her fair share of hours in shovelling the driveway...which needs to be done again. AND, it's a good thing we aren't using the backyard. We can't find it anyway! Asa went out to get some wood for the fireplace(through the backyard) and I thought I'd lost him. Good thing he was wearing a black hat and that he's 6 ft tall. That's about all I could see of him, his black hat covered head! We're gonna tie a rope around his waist and put bells on his boots the next time he has to go out, just like they do on Arctic expeditions! Well, maybe not the bells...

So we are having fun watching the snow fall and it's so nice and bright because it's so white. Maybe the sun is shining a little, I wouldn't be able to tell you. You see there's been some snow...

blessings,

traci  :)

Well, it's mostly done! I have been working on this new blog template for a week or so now and I think it's coming along swimmingly. I have most of my links up now and can sit back and work out the little things now. I will be starting to visit my friends again and hopefully finding new ones to share with on our adventures through homemaking, motherhood and of course, homeschooling. YAY!

I will be posting a lot more and hopefully, it will be a blessing to you. I am also adding new links to my sidebar, as I find them, so if you have any that you would like me to share on my blog that you just love and would fit into one of my categories, just let me know!

Also, I will be going through a few books and sharing my thoughts/ideas about them. I'll probably have a few blurbs about the curricula we use too. The first one will be 'Managers of Their Homes' by Teri Maxwell and another will be 'Raising Maidens of Virtue' by Stacy McDonald. Stay tuned for those posts and please feel free to stop by and share your thoughts on these books too!

 blessings,

traci  :)