What an awesome night I had with my hubby! My brother and Nicki (his girlfriend) kept our kids...all four of them! They are keeping them for most of the day today. We stayed up late and slept REALLY late. I'm not sure what time we will go pick up the kids. We may wait until my brother calls and begs for mercy! LOL! It has been so great just to have time to spend with Tommy. It is so rare that we get to do this but when we do, we are reminded of all the things we loved about each other in the beginning. We have so much fun together. Don't misunderstand, we love our kids and wouldn't trade them for all the free time in the world. But every now and then we really NEED to just spend time with each other. Every time we do we rediscover the excitement in our relationship. We never do anything special. Last night we want to Wal-mart and bought baby food. We came home and actually had uninterrupted conversation (it was wonderful). Then we watched a movie and went to bed. A calm and peaceful and stress free night. It doesn't sound like much but I'm sure all those with more than 1 child understand. It's always harder to find someone brave enough to baby sit for you the more kids you have. That being the case, you never have time away from them and when you do....it's great!

Just thought I would share the joy I found in just spending time with my husband. That's all for now.

Trusting in Him,

Shirley

"Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer."(Psalms 19:14)

Well, it is officially a brand new year! It's 12:39am. As I get older and as more and more I realize the true value of time, I am less excited by the markers of it's passing. Another year has passed and as I look back over the happenings of it, I find that I accomplished much less than I should have. While I am a bit saddened by the slipping away of yet another year, I look ahead into the coming year with hope and enthusiasm. I've so much growing left to do and so much more to learn. My goal is to know Him more intimately. I know that He longs for fellowship with me and I am humbled by the thought of it. It is so hard to imagine that the Creator of all things; The King of kings and the Lord of lords, not only knows my name but wants to be intimately involved in every part of my life. That is such an overwhelming thought! It's amazing to me that He would give me a second thought. But I am so important to Him; Important enough that He offered up His Son to save me from my own sinfulness. I am important enough to be called His child and to have the honor of calling Him my Father. What an amazing and exciting thing! I look forward to drawing nearer to Him and in turn, having Him draw nearer to me in the coming year.

There is so much yet to be accomplished for our Lord. There are still so many people who need to hear of His grace and feel His love. There are so many opportunities ahead to share the good news of salvation with those still in need of a Savior. I pray that He would use me for His glory and for His kingdom; And that He would offer a fresh anointing of His Spirit every time I stand to bring His word to those He puts in my path throughout this brand new year.

"Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer."(Psalms 19:14)

Wow! it's been a while. Is anyone even still checking in to see if I'm blogging? There really has been lots going on around here I just haven't had time to blog about it.

Sam is growing quickly! She's still a little thing. She weighs 11 pounds and 12 ounces now. She will be 6 months old on the tenth of January. It really doesn't seem like she should be that old yet! Today she laughed out loud! It was so cute. I don't think she had ever really laughed before today. Tommy was playing with her and picking her up above his head...you know, that thing that all Daddies just have to do; the thing that makes all Mommies' hearts stop for just a second...He was doing that and she started do kind of squeal and it went from there to this funny little laugh. Then later I was playing with her and she laughed again. It was SO cute!

Jacob is FINALLY potty trained. He rarely has accidents but sometime still makes stinky in the floor when he's mad at us. He talking SO clearly. Sometimes I am just amazed at his communication skills. It may be normal. I don't know. But I'm sure the older two didn't communicate as well this soon. Of course Isaac has developmental delays and Tommy has his own issues. But back to Jacob. He sometimes talks in 8 to 10 word sentences and they make sense! I don't mean weird sentences that no one understands. He's making sense. I'm so proud of him. Unfortunately he likes to talk A LOT! This little chatter box hardly ever shuts up! He will make the same statement or ask the same question over and over again even though he's already gotten a response. I think he just loves to talk. Tommy says he got that from me. I can't deny it.

Little Tommy is growing like crazy. He's so tall but SO skinny! He has finally stared going to a therapist to have some testing to find out what in the world is going on in his head. He is always in trouble. He can be such a sweet heart but he chooses to be MEAN. He seems to have so much anger in him. I'm just not sure what to do with him anymore... and he's only 5. I didn't think we dealt with issues like this til they hit 15 at least! I know he has ADHD. That diagnosis won't surprise me at all. I think he may also have Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD). I don't really care what the label is. I just want to know how to deal with it! On the bright side, he is hilarious! He loves to make people laugh. I told him he would make a great comedian. He liked that idea. I swear, the child is SO goofy. He's just like his daddy in so many ways. Silliness is one of them.

Isaac is changing. Just when I think I have him figured out, he goes and morphs into something totally different! He gets more and more affectionate every day. He's having some major issues with separation anxiety. He's fine if he's the one leaving me. If he's going to a friend's house he's raring to go. But if I'm leaving...well then, get ready for the meltdown. It gets pitiful. He cries and says, "I just want to be with you." It breaks my heart.

Big Tommy is still getting to work more hours. He even gets some overtime. We are so thankful for that and we should be caught up on our bills soon...if I manage well. I'm not very good at that.

Christmas was awesome. Even though Tommy and I had very little to give, our Father who owns everything made sure the kids had PLENTY under the tree. It was amazing!

Well, there is more I could tell you about, but I'm so sleepy. It's pretty late and 4 comes early in the morning. Thankfully, I will get to go back to sleep after my hubby leaves for work.

I know this has just been a general update. I hope to have something more interesting to share the next time I have a few minutes to blog. I'm sure there will be plenty of neat stuff to share when Christmas break is over and we start school again.

Bye for now!

In Christ,

Shirley

"Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer."(Psalms 19:14)

I just wanted to check in. Things have been so chaotic around here for the past month or so. I haven't had much time for anything...especially blogging. I do have so much to tell though, so I hope to give you all a real update soon.

Here is a brief overview:

Our guests are no longer with us. LOTS of their belonging s still are.

My hubby is getting more hours at work! Thank you JESUS!

The boys are reading now! YAY!

Sam is growing so fast. She's babbling and grabbing at things. She has been eating cereal from a spoon since 2 months old...it helped a LOT with the reflux. Her appetite is GROWING everyday...and so is she!

Jacob is ALMOST potty trained...but will go stinky in his bedroom floor when he's upset at us.

There is SO much more. I hope to update you soon!

In Christ,

Shirley

"Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer."(Psalms 19:14)

You know how our children fight sleep because they are so afraid that if they give in and snooze, they will miss something while they are sleeping? I am doing that very thing right now! I have no idea what is going on with me but I am barely able to keep my eyes open and I have dozed off and jerked back to life more than a few times in the last few hours. It is 3:20 in the morning right now. Did you get that? 3:20am! I am the only one up. Everyone else is sleeping peacefully...as I should be. BUT I CAN'T BRING MYSELF TO DO IT! I have even gone so far as to make coffee. At first I only made 1/2 a pot. but then when that was all gone, I thought, "I really don't want to go to bed. I REALLY DON'T!" So I made a whole pot of coffee this time and I took 3 super guarana (a natural source of caffeine). I'm still nodding off. I think I know what the problem is. I am alone and it is SO quiet. I don't want to fall asleep and miss out on the silence. I mean... the kids are ASLEEP!! So much has been going on around here lately. I haven't been able to blog much... but I'm hoping to catch up. It has been hectic here but at the same time it has been awesome. The Holy Spirit has been hanging out a my house....

Let me fill you in.

Tommy and I know this young couple (He's 24 and she's 22) with two daughters (Cheyenne is 7 and Mackenzie is 1). They suddenly needed a place to live and The Lord told us quite plainly that He wanted us to invite them to live with us for as long as it takes for them to get solidly on their feet again...even if it takes several years. So we did something that unfortunately, is very uncharacteristic of us. We obeyed Him right away. We did not complain or question Him. We just did what He said. And that was that. They moved in. You would think that squeezing this many people (10) into a house of this size (small 3 bedroom/ 1 bathroom) would be a recipe for disaster. You would think that we would be tripping all over each other (physically and emotionally) every time one of us moved. You would think that. But...you'd be wrong. Amazingly, this has been a wonderful experience so far. Jess and I ...as well as Tommy and Daniel, are growing closer everyday. We are all so much alike. The kids get along and haven't fought (except with their own siblings). We have been having SO much fun. We are comfortable with each other. Their kids like us and our kids like them. Tommy and I have no doubt that God is planning to do something huge with Jessie and Daniel. Just a few days after they moved in...we had the awesome privilege of explaining to them The Father's unconditional love for them. We told them about the sacrifice that Christ made for them and why. We explained why only He was worthy to pay our debt. And we explained God's amazing grace to them. The Holy Spirit confirmed it in their hearts. He drew them to Himself and they accepted Christ as their Savior that night. The joy that filled this house... it was indescribable. And that same joy is still lingering today! We just know that this is the beginning of an AWESOME plan for them and we are SO thankful to be a part of it! Our Father is SOOO AMAZING!!!

So, that's what's been going on around here that has kept me from blogging. I'll try to check in more often.

Until next time...

Trusting in HIM,

Shirley

"Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer."(Psalms 19:14)

It is after 2 in the morning and I am still awake. My whole family is sleeping peacefully... even Samantha! I laid in bed for a while and tried to sleep but I couldn't. So, I got up and had a bowl of ice cream. What else is there to do in the middle of the night? There are so many things on my mind that I just can't seem to shut it off tonight. Nothing bad. I'm not worrying about anything... just thinking about a lot of things.

This has been happening more frequently lately. During my late night/early morning bouts of insomnia, I have discovered that Isaac talks in his sleep. It really is quite funny. I can't always understand him but most of the time he is yelling at someone. He will yell, "Tommy!" or "Mom" in a really irritated tone. Sometimes the yelling is followed by loud mumbling. It is so funny.

Jacob does it too. The other day Jacob was asleep on the love seat and suddenly he stood up and started climbing the up back. The whole time, he was fussing about something. It was obvious that he was mad but we couldn't understand what he was saying. When he had climbed the back of the seat, he grabbed the curtain behind it and started pulling on it. He was fussing the whole time! He was trying to wrap up in the curtain. We think he may have been upset that his blanket wasn't covering him to his satisfaction and he  was trying to right it. But for some reason, he climbed up and grabbed the curtain instead. It was hilarious! His daddy took the curtain from his hand, laid him back down and covered him up without Jacob ever waking up.

Little Tommy sometimes walks in his sleep. He usually does it when he needs to go potty. He gets up and kind of shuffles to my room screaming the whole way. When he gets there, he stands beside the bed crying and sort of hops around as if he is in pain. After he peed in my floor a few times, I realized what the problem was. So now when he gets up screaming like that, I quickly redirect him to the bathroom. He goes to potty and then goes back to bed...but he is sleeping through it all. My husband laughs in his sleep quite often. He sometimes talks in his sleep, but mostly he just laughs. I also talk in my sleep. I have woke myself up doing it before. I've also snored so loud I woke up. What a bunch of active sleepers we are!

Gosh, I just realized that it is really never quiet at my house...even when we are asleep!

I think I'm ready to stop writing about sleeping and actually go do it! I'm going to bed! Bye for now!

In Christ,

Shirley

"Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer."(Psalms 19:14)

I haven't been around in a few days. I've been hanging out on facebook, cafemom and circle of moms. When I logged in to homeschool blogger it was like walking through the door of a dear friend. It is comfortable here. Reading some of the posts on those other sites only made me sad and caused me to long for the fellowship of Christians. It is heart breaking to see the shape the world is in. Their idea if right and wrong is so horribly skewed. People's hearts are hard and full of hate. I know that these things must be. And I know that they will get much worse before the return of our Savior. If it saddens me so...I can't imagine what Jesus must feel I sacrificed nothing. He sacrificed everything for this world.

I pray that the things I write and the advice I give will reflect the love of Christ in me. I pray that I will never be a discouragement to anyone...especially one seeking hope.

In Christ,

Shirley

"Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer."(Psalms 19:14)

Guess who is eating from a spoon!!!

Well yes, I am...but I have been for years! Guess who else is eating from a spoon! Samantha is eating rice cereal. The only problem we had was when I wasn't getting it to her mouth fast enough!

This is how it happened. The poor baby has been so gassy! She's got reflux really bad and she spits up everything. Lots of times it comes forcefully out her mouth and nose and she gets choked. So, she's been having some really bad days lately. Lot's of gas pain and crying. Last night was rough and when we went to bed she whined and grunted and cried for a while and I thought, I think I can mix up a paste that will help her belly. I mixed ginger paste, lemon grass paste and peppermint (all herbs that are used for upset stomach, gas and indigestion) together with a little bit of water. I put in in my magic bullet (it's like a small blender) and made sure it was all chopped extra fine and mixed well. Then I gave her a small amount from a spoon. She loved it! and she wanted more...so i gave her more. Then she wanted more, so I made some rice cereal and mixed it in with the cereal. She ate it all and wanted more. I didn't give her more but I did nurse her and then we both went to bed and slept peacefully all night!!! Did you get that? We slept all night. Thank you God!

In Christ,

Shirley

"Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer."(Psalms 19:14)

I am so grateful for how school is going this year. Unschooling is Awesome!!!! When I say, "Hey guys, let's go get started on our school work for today" one or both of them always whines and complains. But this year, instead of trying to get them to do formal lessons, they are just learning from the different life experiences that they have every day. Of course the daily "experiences" are not always random and spontaneous. Sometimes I will plan something educational for us to do together and they have no idea that this is actually a planned school project! We are very laid back this year. It is less stress for everyone. Last week several of our school subjects were very conveniently included in a pretty fun activity that we did. We wrote and mailed  letters to a person of their choice. They both wrote very simple letters to Mamaw. That one activity addressed letter recognition and letter sounds and phonics. It addressed spelling and punctuation. They practiced their handwriting. They learned the format of a letter.  Then Mamaw wrote them back. And when we got the letters from Mamaw we had another lesson disguised as just something fun for them to do. While reading Mamaw's letter they learned more about letter recognition and letter sounds. Phonics and spelling was included. They are learning how to sound out words to find out what they say. Tomorrow we are going to write another letter. I wonder who they will write this one to.

One day Isaac and I were sitting at the kitchen table and he started writing math symbols on a napkin with a crayon! I seized that opportunity! I grabbed a piece of their drawing paper (there seems to always be a stack of it laying there) and I started writing math problems. Then Tommy wandered into the kitchen and he got involved. We practiced counting with a bag of glass stones. We used them as the manipulatives as we added and subtracted. We did a set of 10 addition and 5 subtraction problems before they got tired of it and wanted to quit.

Life science and biology are just ongoing things at my house. They are always exploring and bringing in different critters. We usually put the critters in a jar and observe it for a while. We look it up and find out as much about it as we can. The first thing we try to find out is if it is harmful to us in any way (does it sting, bite or pinch). Then we find out what it eats and we feed it so we can watch it eat. We find out everything we can about how it lives and the habits it has and why. Then, if it is one of the lucky ones that survives being "investigated" by my boys, we let it go. I'm sure it runs (or limps) away and tells all the other critters that will listen, "Stay away from THAT house!!"

So that is how school is going at our house this year. They are learning a lot about a lot of different things. It is fun and they are excited about school without even knowing that it is school! Now that is how homeschooling should be!!!

Bye for now!

In Christ,

Shirley

"Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer."(Psalms 19:14)

Wow, what a day this has been. Most of it has been good; and some of it, not so good. The day has ended on an awesome note. Without going into too much detail, I have to let you know that we have been having a really hard time with our finances lately. Tonight, I found out that things are about to get a bit easier for us. I am so thankful. God always provides for us. He has always taken care of us and He always will. We are always waiting expectantly for what blessing He will send our way next. Tonight we got a pretty big one. He is, always has been and always will be pretty awesome! He truly is our provider!

Trusting in Him,

Shirley

"Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer."(Psalms 19:14)

I am so disappointed in what the boys did yesterday evening. Anyone who knows me knows that I am extremely protective over the boys. I have actually been accused of being over protective (imagine that...is that even possible in today's world?). When we moved from the country to town I wouldn't let them play outside without an adult. I mean...they were only 4 and 5 years old at the time. But as we got use to our new home and the kids became familiar with the boundaries I agreed to let them play in the back yard (behind the house, away from the street) alone. Then they met a few boys from down the street and after meeting the boys parents and talking with them a few times we agreed to let them play in the other boys' yards. They were not allowed to go inside for a few reasons; 1) one or both of the parents of the other boys are smokers and my kids are allergic to cigarette smoke; and 2) I can't see what is going on inside their houses. I don't know them well enough to say that I would trust them with my kids behind closed doors.

So anyway, I let them go down to play in the other boys' yards and a little while later a neighbor who knows how protective I am, came to tell us that all of the boys were nowhere near any one's house. They had taken their bikes down onto a completely different street and were riding from one end of that street to the other and back. Well, at one end of that street is the busiest highway in the county! I freaked out. Needless to say, the boys are Grounded...with a capitol G! They are not allowed to leave our yard or have their friends over until further notice! They are allowed to play outside in our yard (but not with their friends) just to preserve my sanity. If I kept them cooped up in the house with me 24/7 we might all lose it! I'd say it won't be long until we allow them to have friends over but they will not leave our yard to play anywhere else in the neighborhood until they are responsible enough to be trusted with that freedom. That may be a while!

I thought I had found a home-school group for us to join. But I'm not so sure. It seems like a great group except for a few things. They seem a bit strict for my taste. It's not that I don't agree with their rules and standards. I think I do agree with the majority of them. One of the things I take issue with is the fact that they have a strict dress code. I agree with the way they say we must dress but I don't agree with the fact that they take that choice from the parent. It is my choice what I wear and what I put on my kids. I do dress modestly (Very modestly) and I don't allow the kids to wear anything inappropriate. I just don't like the fact that they have made rules about everything. Isn't homeschooling about freedom? And if it is truly a group of Christians there should be no problem with dress or conduct that requires that much control by the leaders of the group. I don't know, but I think I'll keep looking.

Well, the phone is ringing. Gotta go for now.

In Christ,

Shirley

It is so quiet here right now. All the kids are still asleep. I'm having my coffee in silence. Yep, this is going to be a good day...I can feel it!

Yesterday we started writing letters (they both picked Mamaw to write to). They each have a piece of lined paper with a picture of them holding the snake. We are only writing a simple letter. Something like, "Dear Mamaw, This is our snake. We found it at the river. It is still a baby. I like to hold it.". We need to keep it simple and short so they don't get bored or frustrated. Neither of them can read fluently and Isaac still struggles with some letter sounds. I figured that since they both seem to learn best by doing, then we would learn to write by writing to someone they love, about something they are interested in. Then when they get letters and cards in return we can practice reading.

I am really trying to keep this year as stress free as possible...for all of us. It has been an effort for me not to plan lessons and to just go with the flow. I'm getting use to this unschooling thing. I think it  is great but I kind of feel a bit guilty because we aren't doing things like other people do them. But then, when have we ever not been the odd balls?  I don't really care if we don't fit the same mold that everyone else does. I just want the boys to learn at their own pace and enjoy it. Isn't that what homeschooling is about? I have always been worried about the approval of others so this whole homeschooling thing has caused me a lot of stress because almost no one supports the decision and most of the family and some of our friends are always pushing public school and telling me how great it is for the kids and how much more quiet and free time I would have if I would just give in and send them off to school every morning instead  of insisting on acting like a fanatical nut job and keeping them home where I am "sheltering them from the real world". I wonder how comfortable they would feel if the tables were turned and I attacked their decision to put their kids in public school. What if I said things like, "They probably wouldn't have done that if they were not in public school having someone else's moral values pushed at them." or "They have learned such bad habits from all those "friends" they have made during the all important social interaction they are getting in school."

But of course I would never say things like that. Would you?

Gosh, I'm not sure where all of that came from. I think I will hush up now.

In Christ,

Shirley

Bess Beetle

Rat snake?

The mating of the mantis 

thought this was a neat picture of the female mantis

"writing" spider

The new mantis appears to be a female. And I believe the other one may have a bit of a crush on the new one. They appear to be mating. We have looked up the mantis before and we knew they were cannibalistic. We thought they would fight to the death. Boy were we wrong! There is no fighting going on in there! I got a few pictures of what is going on. I still haven't gotten any pictures of the beetle yet. I intend to do that some time tonight.

Tommy and the boys aren't back yet. I'm still waiting on them...and the snake.

We have two new creepy crawlies. Our friend found a spider and a beetle in her house. Normally, she would have squished them on sight. But, she knew that we are doing nature studies and are really interested in the creepiest critters we can find... so she captured them and brought them to us. We haven't identified the spider species yet but I have found out what the beetle is. Most people would call it a Bess Beetle or a Bess Bug. I will post pictures of it as soon as I get some taken. My camera battery is charging right now. Anyway, the beetle is a Horned Passalus. (read more about it here) It eats fungi and decaying wood. I was switching the jar that we had it in and I put in a piece of a very old tree branch in so that the bug would have something to crawl on and it wouldn't just be sliding around the bottom of the jar. The thing immediately started chewing on the wood! During the transfer from one jar to the other, I discovered tiny little parasites on the beetle. They are mites of some kind. Apparently they plague these particular beetles in every stage of their life cycle. These beetles are very strong. They can push/pull quite a bit of weight around. They aren't as strong as the Rhinoceros Beetle though. Those little things can carry 850 times their body weight! If we are talking about proportional strength they are the strongest creatures on earth! You can read about them here. 

The kids caught a new mantis. This one is much bigger. Apparently it had just had lunch because it's belly is huge. It looks as if it is stretched to the limit. The other mantis finally ate. It ate a grass hopper. Oddly enough, it didn't eat the whole thing.

Tommy and the boys are fishing. He just sent me a text with a picture of a little snake wrapped around his arm. I told him to bring it home (he will be taking it back to set it free). Nature studies are so much fun!

In Christ,

Shirley

I have looked...and looked for a group in my area that serves special needs homeschoolers. I have not found what I am looking for. I don't want a co-op. I really just want a gathering of Christian homeschoolers who have special needs similar to my boys'. Of course every child in the group need not have special needs. But there should be a special needs kid in the family. There are already groups for "normal" kids who home school.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to start a group. I have to pray about it a bit more first. If it isn't what God wants it won't be successful. I'd like for you all to pray that I will receive and follow the Lord's guidance.

In Christ,

Shirley

I'm not sure what is going on with Isaac. He has been very negative lately. I keep hearing the words "I hate" and "That's not fair". When he doesn't get his way he gets extremely upset. He has been playing with some little boys in the neighborhood and he's been very excited about making new friends. I am not all that excited about it. They don't seem to be very nice little boys. Now I know that kids are kids and they all say and do things that aren't very nice from time to time (actually they do it quite often). But these kids seem to be mean more often than not. But Isaac insists that they are his best friends and he just has to play with them.

He says he wants to go to school like they do and he hates home school. Of course we know that most kids don't like going to school and would stay home if they could. They like the fact that they get to play with other kids their age (unless they are among those who get picked on) but they don't like the actual school part of it most of the time. But the boys don't understand that. Since they have never been there, they think public school is this cool place to go where you just hang out with other kids and goof around all day and they don't believe me when I tell them otherwise. Tommy usually doesn't say very much about it but Isaac is always complaining about being home schooled.

Isaac just seems to be struggling with his emotions lately. Anger and sadness seem to be the ones he is dealing with the most.

I'm sharing all of this with you for a couple of reasons. One reason is just so I can get it out. The other is so that you can pray for him. I don't even know what I want God to do for him. I just want him to make it better. I also need your prayers. I need the Lord to help me to know how to deal with the kids. I need Him to help me to discipline them in love and not anger (I've been having a bit of a problem with that lately). I need Him to give me wisdom so that I can raise my boys to follow Him and make right decisions that are pleasing to Him. I know He has an awesome purpose for each of them. I know that He has given them each gifts and talents that they can use to honor Him and further His kingdom. I need Him show me how to identify those gifts and help bring them out in the boys. I need to know how to help them feel good about themselves (especially Isaac) and to know that they are awesome kids and deserve to be treated with kindness and love. I need them to know that they don't have to settle for "friends" that don't treat them well. I need Him to show me how and where to find real friends for the boys. Friends who love the Lord and have parents who love Him as well. I desperately want my kids to be happy. I want them to be safe and I want them to know how much I love them and that love is what has driven me to make the decisions that I have made about how they should be raised. I want them to know that God also loves them...more than even I am capable of loving them. I want them to know that He has created them for a good work and has an awesome life planned for them. But I also need them to know that in order for them to live the life He has planned for them they have to follow the path He has laid out for them and that is the path that we are trying to start them out on by raising them in the way that we believe the Lord would have us to raise them. Please pray that He will give me the wisdom to make the right decisions and that the boys will know that these decisions are made out of love for them.

Okay. I feel better now that I have gotten it out and I know that you all are praying about it. It would also make me feel better is you would leave a comment to let me know that you are praying. Thank you all in advance.

Trusting in Him,

Shirley

Well, it is morning and the flies are still alive! I am very surprised. Maybe the spiders are on strike because of the change in environment. If they don’t eat today we will release the little critters.

The mantis seems to be on strike as well. In the aquarium with it, there have been several menu options. We have had two cicadas, several crickets, a spider, several small slugs and a grasshopper. We haven’t seen it eat anything. It did bite and kill the spider though. I read that they only have to eat every 2-3 days, so maybe it just isn’t hungry yet.

I think we may explore some rocks today. Or, I may save that for the weekend when Tommy is home to enjoy that with us. I’m sure there will be some smashing involved so that we can see what each rock looks like on the inside. I found this neat site that tells how to identify different kinds of rocks. I think it will be useful. Here is the link for anyone who is interested. http://geology.about.com/library/bl/blrockident_tables.htm

Yes, I think the rocks will wait until tomorrow evening. Today we will continue with the leaves. I want to make a leaf notebook. I think the kids would enjoy that. They like to save their work so they can show it off when people come over. I think a leaf collection notebook would be something they could be proud of and share with people for a few years. I need to find the best way to preserve the leaves so that they will last…even in the hands of the boys.

Jacob is up and this would be a good time for him and me to have some time to ourselves. He misses being the baby now that Samantha is here and he is acting out in several different ways… none of which are very pleasant. So, I think I will go and spend some time with my little sweetie.

Bye for now!

In Christ,

Shirley

This was our third day of school and aside from a few extremely frustrating moments, it was great! I didn’t plan it this way, but we are fitting everything in with our nature studies. We are practicing our reading, spelling, handwriting and science when we do our nature notebook page for the day. As we learn about whatever piece of nature we have chosen for the day, we use math too (count the legs, measure the torso, how many eggs does it lay, how long will it live…stuff like that)! Things are going pretty well. The kids are having fun and learning at the same time. The world truly is our classroom!

Today we collected and identified leaves from some of the trees near our house. Hidden in the leaves that Isaac collected were 2 little spiders! Guess what we did with them! We put each of them in an empty transparent medicine bottle with a child proof lid. Then we captured flies and put one in each bottle to see what would happen. One spider had folded a leaf and created a kind of funnel (it appears to be a one of many different species of funnel-web spiders). It is tucked safely in the little tunnel and I’m sure it will come out tonight. It is nocturnal. The other spider is small and reddish-brown with dark banded legs. I have no Idea what it is and I haven’t been able to find a picture of it on the internet yet. I’ll update you tomorrow on the status of the flies!