plans and the purpose that prevails

Art Nook or boy Magnet?

Our home is 3 years old.  It is the newest home we have ever owned. The walls are painted like the experts say they should be painted in order to sell a home:  neutral.  I think they are boring and lack character.  Our furniture showed character in our previous 2 homes where color reigned on the walls.  Now set against the backdrop of neutral, everything we have looks tired and worn.

The carpet in our new home is neutral,this means it shows our tracks, our crumbs, our popsicle drippings.  Homeschoolers should not have neutral carpet. 

Our new home has art nooks.  Art nooks.  The nook above the mantel is useful, it displays a piece of wrought iron we brought from our last house.  The ceiling in the family room is 14 plus feet so there is a second large nook above the mantel; our symbolic star for the Lone Star state hangs there.  Another art nook is in the master bedroom/nursery.  It is in the half of our room where baby sleeps.  I have antique stuffed toys sitting on that nook shelf.  The rest of the nooks line our entry way.  There are 3 of them, 2 on one side and one opposite those.  They are  higher than my neck likes to bend so I rarely look up to see them.  We don't have art large enough to fill those spaces but something caught me eye the other day so I had to investigate.  It appeared that the shelves had been mysteriously lined with  empty water bottles, Nerf balls, Beanie babies, Barbie and a couple other items I couldn't  identify.  I discovered that the nooks have a magnetic property which challenges my 12 year old son.  It's like a quirky carnival game.  How many tosses does it take to get an item to stay on the nook shelf?  I tried and got a Nerf basketball to stay put after only 3 tosses.  Somehow I don't think this is what the builders had in mind when they crafted our art nooks.  I also don't think builders ever have homeshoolers in mind when they build a house.  We'll make this house our home eventually.

Grace and peace

Decisions

I'm in the midst of deciding how school will look for our family in August.  We "do school"year round in order to take longer breaks at the holidays and when family comes for extended visits.  Summer is a light schedule of reading, math, and catch up work.  I have decided on our math, science, Bible and foreign language; now I need to finalize what we will do for social studies. 

It is hard to find time to sit and review all my options and figure out scheduling when I have to stop and feed the baby, hug the 2 year old, talk about friendships with the 11 year old and listen to the latest techno updates from the soon to be 13 year old.  In between needy children I am fielding phone calls from the husband, cooking, cleaning, doing yard work...!!!

We have homeschooled from the beginning, that's 13 years.  I had gradually developed a system that worked great for the 1st 10 years.  I am having to re-adjust everything since J5 and J6 joined the family.  I think I'd better go to bed now; decisions are much harder when I am sleep deprived.

grace and peace

A day in the life of the 6 J's

5:30am:  I dragged myself out of bed for a few precious moments of quiet alone time before the day began.  I’m spending time in 1 John these days as that is where our pastor is preaching.  Mountain Blueberry is my java flavor of the day.  I sip it from the green mug J1 got me when we stayed at an inn in Virginia a few years ago.

6:10am:  Time to start breakfast for J1.  Today he has toast and a cheese omelet.  While breakfast is cooking I pack his lunch.  His office isn’t near many restaurants so I’m starting to send him nourishment for the day.

6:17am:  J5 joins me.  His nonstop chatter makes me glad I had some quiet time.

6:30am:  J1 eats breakfast while J5 and I visit with him.  J1 and I wonder if J5 is turning into an early riser like J3.  Before we left SC he was sleeping till at least 7am.  I don’t think J1 minds too much that he is up this early; at least they get to spend some time together.

6:45am:  J1 is out the door to join the rat race.  He sticks his hand out and waves as he drives away, pausing at the corner to yell “Bye!”  J5 loves that routine.  On our way in the house we retrieve the paper.  Now it is time to fix breakfast for J5 and I.  J3 has been up since 6:30.  He likes to watch Spider Man, then he comes down and eats a bowl of cereal.  I make cheese omelets for all 3 of us.  Mine is topped with pico de gallo and jalapenos.  The last month of my pregnancy with J6 I started craving jalapenos; I still am…must be because we now live in Texas.

7:30am:  J4 has wondered down the stairs and is eating cantaloupe for her breakfast.  I am in our room for my first weightlifting session in a year.  I quit last June when I was sick and pregnant.  J5 is in the crib with J6.  She is all smiles in the morning. 

8am-11:30am:  I am doing laundry today.  We gathered it from all rooms except J4’s; I’ll do hers tomorrow when I wash my bedclothes.  Randy from Perfection Pest Control arrives and sprays a barrier outside and the baseboards in the house.  Now we are safe from spiders, ants, and roaches for 3 months.  J5 asks him the customary questions:  “What is your name?” Where do you live?  Where is your mommy?” Then he states the very exciting fact that he poo pooed in the potty.  I’m sure Randy was glad to hear that.

J3 and I worked on putting our brown braided rug under the kitchen table.  J1 and I tried going rugless for a month and just can’t do it.  With a rug under the table you don’t see the crumbs;  I will still know they are there, but won’t feel so guilty is I don’t sweep them up every day.   The table also doesn’t scoot across the floor when pushed by a 2 year old or a 12 year old.  J3 had fun vacuuming with our new Dyson Red.  He enjoys seeing all the dust and debris swirling in the clear container.  The kitchen looks cozier with the rug. 

J6 only napped about an hour this morning.  She was awake when we were getting ready to make lunch.  Before that happened I hung a valence over a window in our bedroom and another in our bathroom.

11:30-12:30pm:  LUNCHTIME!  J3 made himself grilled cheese.  J4 had fried bologna sandwiches, cantaloupe and chips, J5 had bologna, a banana and peanut butter and some chips and I had a taco salad.  We all had vanilla cream sandwich cookies for basert (that’s 2 year old for dessert).

1pm:  A very tired J5 goes down for his nap.  I spend a little time online researching appraisers in Greenville.  Our house there didn’t sell in the 120 days so we are taking the  buyout.  It will be a relief to be rid of that house and only own one!  I also catch up on a couple emails from new contacts I’ve made here in the neighborhood.

2:30pm:  J5 is still sleeping and now J6 is also….time to swim!!!  J4 and I float in the pool and discuss writing, the sky, birds and other things of interest to an 11 year old girl.  We have about 45 minutes alone until J5 wakes up and joins us.  J3 gets in too.

3pm:  J6 is awake and content to sit in her rocker in the shade while I swim a bit longer.  J5 is getting a bit braver to float with his preserver on.  Next week the safety fence people will come and fence in the pool so you have to go through a child safe gate to get to the water. 

4:30pm:  We all decide to go in.  I do some laundry while J5 plays and J3 and J4 are off somewhere.  J3 shows me a funny video on his Lego page.

5pm:  Time to start dinner.  We usually don’t eat until 6:30 but J1 has to go to a dinner tonight and won’t be home till after 10pm.  We are having spaghetti pizza pie.  That is leftover spaghetti in a pie plate topped with provolone cheese and pepperoni and baked till bubbly.  The kids love it.  We have garlic toast and salad as sides.

There is a big storm from the north east while we are eating dinner.  The wind lifts the easel and throws it in the pool.  I think that was the most exciting event of the day.

6:30pm:  J6 has taken another short nap and is upstairs with J3 and J4 while they watch Walker, Texas Ranger.  Pap Pap got them interested in that show.  J5 is in his room watching the Aristocats.  Time for Mommy to get a shower!

7:30pm:  J5 is not happy to be going to bed but he is very tired.  He also has a stuffy nose and needs a decongestant.  The book he likes before bed currently is “Moose, Goose, and Little Nobody.”

8pm:  J4 and J3 are watching America’s Funniest Home videos.  I tidy up a bit and put J6 to bed.

9pm:  Tuck in J3 and J4, finish cleaning the kitchen and sit down to make a list of my day.  Makes me tired reading through it.  It is now 10pm and J1 is still at Brenner’s Steak House.  He had to go there for a going away dinner for one of his colleagues.  Mike is another HR guy and is going to work in Angola.  He’ll have to live in a secure compound and be driven to and from the office…yikes.

I’ll catch up on some of my favorite blogs now.  J1 should be home in the next couple hours and we’ll be in bed by 11pm.

Good night all, hope you enjoyed the tale of my day.

Books

Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails.  Proverbs 19:21

My plans in life have been many, but in 4 decades I see a thread of divine purpose in spite of many of those plans.  I am a homeschool mother of J3, J4, J5 and J6.  I am in love with J1.  We have relocated from the Southeast to the great State of Texas.  As of now we have lived in 1/5 of the 50 states.  In 3 years I have had 2 babies and we have moved twice.  Homeschooling has become chaotic. 

I am not sure what direction this blog will take...I will see what purpose prevails. 

On another note...

I love books.  I always have room for more books in my home.  The problem now is organizing my books.  There was order 6 weeks ago.  The moving truck that relocated my collection 1000 miles away created disorder.  I got them on the shelves in some order but it is not perfect.  They were perfect, or close to perfect 6 weeks ago.  The next time we move, and there will be a next time, I will label the shelves so the packers won't mix the Suess books with the marriage books.

We begin school again Monday after a 2 month break.  At least I found the books we will need.

Grace and Peace,

J2