Apr. 4, 2008 - And the Final Answer Is...
Bronchilitis (No, Not Bronchitis)
10 Weeks
3 Doctors
3 Rounds of Antibiotics
2 X-Rays
2 Prescriptions of Cough Medicine
2 Types of Inhalers
1 CTscan
1 Round of Prednisolone
1 Worn out Mama
Blahhhhhh!!!!!
I have no idea what the difference is between the two, but according to the Pulmonary doctor, this is the unofficial name for the flu virus that they forgot to include in the flu shot this year. I wish I could get indignant with the flu shot makers, but I never got the shot. I never intended to get the shot. I hate shots.
In addition to having Bronchilitis, the doctor believes that I acquired viral induced asthma. He is not diagnosing me with asthma at this time. He did caution me that sometimes when viruses trigger asthma, you may continue to always have asthma. I am hoping this is not the case, but am so thankful that I am finally feeling better.
The doctor also had a chance to see my CT scan. He agreed with the primary care doctor that the "nodule" may be scar tissue from this virus or another one that I had earlier in my life. It was a relief to hear him say that, as there were many days that my imagination ran wild with fear. He concurs too that I should have a follow up just to be sure though.
Well, as much as I want to complain and feel sorry for myself for being sick for so long, I have to stop and remind myself that there are so many people who are far worse off than me. When I look at it from that perspective, I can genuinely feel thankful for what I have.
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Mar. 14, 2008 - Five Years Ago Today
My Mother Went to Be With Jesus
I am thankful that my brother and I were with her at the end of her life here on earth, but it was one of the most heart breaking experiences I have lived through. I love her dearly, and will miss her all the rest of my life. Knowing that she is in heaven and that I will see her again one day gives me reason not to dwell on the sadness of loosing her. Instead I would prefer to take this day to remember a few of the many reasons that I love her.
I was born on my mothers 34th birthday. We would tease each other about that. She would tell me that she gave me her birthday and that she would stay forever 34. I would joke with her and tell her that I was the best birthday present she ever got. Actually though, she was the gift to me. I am truly blessed that she was my mom.
Ever since I can remember, I enjoyed spending time with her. Just having her near me was a comfort when I was little. In some of my earliest memories, I recall that when I was maybe 2 or 3 years old I would sit on her foot and curl my arms and legs around her leg tight while she would tote me from room to room doing the dishes and who knows what. It was great fun and I was content being next to her. She gave me lots of hugs and kisses and often told me how much she loved me. When I started school, she was a room mother, assisted in my Brownie troop, and went on many field trips with me. I loved every minute of it.
After I grew up and moved over 1,000 miles away from my mom and the rest of my family, she and I kept in close touch by telephone. If things were not going right in my life, I knew I could pick up the phone and call her. She would be a listening and sympathetic ear who would encourage me as she was giving me moral and common sense input.
After David and I were married with our 1st 2 children just 17 months apart, my head was spinning trying to manage them as infants and toddlers. My mother, who through life experience could see a bigger picture than I could, was often amused as I shared the latest antics of my children, She would tell me to remember that these are the best and easiest years of my life, and they go fast. I sometimes questioned that opinion, but as I look back I realize how accurate that statement was.
She loved my children and my sister's children, and would listen to whatever they wanted to talk about for hours on end. My son a sports nut would tell her every bit of trivia that he currently knew while she sat and listen attentively the entire time he spoke, as though he was speaking pearls of wisdom.
My mother spoiled our family. She understood that the way to my heart was through my children. Maybe she was that way too. Every time she did something for them, it was a gift to me. I loved and appreciated her so much for that. On several occasions, she bought season passes to the Disney parks for herself and all of us. When we lived in South FL, we would all stay in a fantastic hotel near Disney that was super kid oriented. She would make sure that we (the parents who were always in a rush) took time for the kids to go have fun playing in their pool, playing bingo, karaoke, face painting, arcade games and more. The hotel was a vacation all in itself, adding Disney to it was over the top bliss for our children.
She spoiled us all at Christmas with lots and lots of gifts. Some years she spent Christmas or Christmas Eve with us. When my brother and sister-in-law moved to the area ~ they brought my mom to live with them. After that, we began a new tradition of going to their house on New Year's eve and having my side of the family's Christmas then. Regardless of where or what day we celebrated Christmas with my mom, she gave the kids and all of us an abundance of joy through her love and thoughtfulness.
Speaking of gifts... The biggest gift of all that my mom gave me was to share about her faith in Jesus Christ. Though life was messy during my childhood, and going to church was often sporadic, I believed in Jesus from an early age. I knew He was there, and I knew He was with me. I prayed and trusted that my prayers would be answered. But until I became an adult my relationship with Him was one of convenience to me. My mom knew this and had many talks with me about her rock solid faith. She didn't talk to me as though she was better than me because of her faith. She spoke words of love so that I would understand what I was missing, often setting me straight when my heart would wander. If she was ever disappointed with me (at times she had good reason to be) she never showed it. Instead she always, always gave me her unconditional love.
Once someone I highly respected told me that the Bible is fallible. It just so happened that it was around the time that my mom was coming for a visit. When the subject came up, I told her what I had heard. She paused for a moment and said, "Just what part of the Bible do you want to believe is inaccurate?" I was puzzled. Then she said "That is like calling God a liar." Ouch!!! Mom rarely minced words. I still was unsure though ~ But she backed her belief up with scripture. When I thought about it, and prayed about it I could clearly see that she was right. How could I ever tell my children to obey this part of the Bible and believe that part of the Bible, but the rest doesn't count. That is an inconsistency that would make my children doubt their faith, or worse yet, doubt the Lord's omnipotence. I am very grateful that the Lord placed my mom there at a pivotal time in my faith.
Over the years, my mom and I had many discussions about our faith. Hers seemed to deepen, and mine was strengthened. I am thankful that the Lord gave me a mother who had a heart for Jesus.
Other things about my mom I am thankful for:
- She deeply loved each of her children.
- She had strong bonds to her mother, sister and other family members.
- Mom had a great sense of humor.
- As a single mother, she worked hard at her job to get ahead.
- She genuinely listened to what we had to say, trying to understand what was important to us.
- She had a good personality and taught me how to step outside of my shy self and speak to others.
- She was a great encourager.
- She was the perfect mom for me.
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Feb. 29, 2008 - February is Finished!!!
We Made It!!!
I don't ordinarily like to wish time away, but I am so happy to see February over! The main reason being, that my son comes home from college for Spring Break tomorrow! It will be really good to see his handsome face!!! 
I have many other reasons to be thankful that February is behind us. I am still struggling with a bad cough. I just can't seem to get over it. But, I did get past several concerning doctor appointments, and all turned out well. If this cough doesn't begin to ease up, I will need to make an appointment with either my general practitioner, or a pulmonary physician. My surgeon recommended a couple of doctors, so I will consider doing the later. After looking at my X-ray's and CT-scan, she feels that everything looks good, and I should follow the radiologist's advice and retake the CT in 2 months, so seeing a pulmonary doctor would only be because of my cough.
It is difficult to keep up with my busy life when I am feeling well, but I have been quiet tired from this cough. It was a struggle to look at the calendar at the beginning of each week and see what I was facing. However, it is amazing to watch how the Lord worked the details out for me each day. From field trips that were canceled out of the blue ~ to extra help from my husband ~ to friends coming to my rescue. I really need to reflect on the faithfulness He has shown me this past month and etch it into my mind for instant recall the next time I begin to worry about something.
I am thrilled to say that even though we had an extra busy month, even though Alexis lost a week of school time, even though I have been sick and had to add doctor appointments to the schedule , even though we had several unexpected things take place this month, Alexis is almost completely back on track with schoolwork! 
I can't tell you how good that feels!!!
Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His love endures forever. 1 Chronicles 16:34
Here are some miscellaneous photos taken this month:
One of our Keeper's Moms set up a field trip to a Butterfly Encounter when the
girls were earning their Butterfly Badge.
The Butterflies were very active that morning
The girls were inside an atrium feeding butterflies on their fingers with
red Gatorade!
Keeper's Valentine Exchange
A not so local Nature Preserve education center. It was definitely worth
the drive to us! The girls are dissecting Owl Pellets.
There's nothing more fun than finding a few rat and bird skeletons! Yuck!!!
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Feb. 15, 2008 - Expect the Unexpected
Our Week In Review
This week was extremely busy. I kept our schedule intact, plus tried to play catch-up with Alexis' school work. One big problem with me being sick is that there are no Substitute Teachers in this house. We were slightly behind with everything before I got sick ~ then I didn't try to push much school for a full week. If you are familiar with Sonlight Curriculum, you know that it can sometimes feel overwhelming when you get behind in your read-alouds. We should just skip a book or something, but they are all such great reading material that I find it difficult to choose one to pass on.
I was still feeling weak on Monday, but we did school work and tried to go to one of our many activities. Everything was going as planned as we got in the van to go. I drove out of our driveway and down the street. (Unexpected Situation #1) Suddenly, the van began to sound strained like it wasn't changing gears. I drove up a hill and realized that there was a huge problem. It acted like the transmission was broken. I promptly made a U-turn and coasted back to our street. We got out of the van and saw smoke and smelled an electric burn smell. I called David and he left work for home at once - then I called AAA to tow the van to the car shop. Before they got here, David was home and had figured out the problem. Thankfully it was not the transmission. Sadly, it was the compressor to the air conditioner and some sort of belt that goes to it. I am extremely thankful that we were in my neighborhood when this happened.
Tuesday, I still felt weak - no better than Monday. David worked at home while I worked on more schooling with Alexis. Then we were off to our activities in David's car. I ran errands to get ready for co-op and we got Amanda from school. We got the van back and ran more errands for Amanda. I was quiet worn out by the end of the day and wondered how I was going to get through Wednesday.
Keeper's at Home and co-op came on Wednesday. It was enjoyable to be there, not hard - just long. I am very thankful for friends. I was blessed to receive a lot of help from a couple of truly wonderful friends who eased my workload. I have to admit though, I was downright happy to return home that afternoon. I basically did nothing for the rest of the evening except reheat leftover Vegetable Beef Soup for dinner.
Thursday - Valentine's Day 
started off lovely with flowers, a balloon, and a strawberry cheesecake from David. I woke the girls up and gave them their Valentine surprises. We dropped Amanda off at school and Alexis and I returned home and had "pajama day." We got even more caught up with school, and I took a nap while Alexis worked on math. We picked Amanda up, bought some flowers for the girls to give to their Grandmother and went over to my in-law's house bearing gifts. Afterward, I was planning to pick up take out as a treat - but I ran out of steam and came home. David took Amanda to work and went and picked up a nice dinner that we all enjoyed. I am so thankful for my family ~ My husband who takes care of his family and is always there for me when I need him. My son whom I dearly miss, but is considerate and calls me almost every day. My oldest daughter - who is a very hard worker but has been feeling ill this week. She stayed a trooper even though she was on work overload between her job and school tests and quizzes. Last but not least... my baby daughter - who has written me get well cards almost every day, gives me hugs, and tells me that I am the best Mommy in the whole world.
I was still feeling tired today - if I would only stop coughing!!! I tried to keep a gentle pace so that I didn't feel stressed, and so we didn't get farther behind with school. (Okay I admit it, I am a box checker - and I wanted to go into the weekend with a peaceful outlook on school next week) So here we were, reading a book on the sofa in the family room ~ minding our own business ~ when (Unexpected Situation #2) the lights began to dim and hum. Then the electricity went off. There were no storms, so I was a little perplexed, but we went back to our reading. After a few moments, the power surge began again, only this time the lights were popping, and there were loud booming sounds coming from almost every direction in the house! 
I looked up at our ceiling fan because the sounds coming from it made me think that the light bulbs on it would be exploding all over us. Thankfully not though. However, as I was looking at the fan, Alexis was looking at the TV in the armoire and saw smoke coming from it. She immediately told me that I should call 911 - and as I did, the smoke began to get thicker. By the time I was through giving our information to the 911 operator, the smoke was fading. I still wanted a firemen to come because I couldn't get a good enough look inside the armoire to see if there was an actual fire in there. I was afraid that if I told them to wait and there was a fire - we would have a serious situation on our hands. Alexis and I did as the operator said and walked outside. I called David as we headed out the door to wait for a fire truck, and realized that there were 2 gentlemen working for the electric company digging in my front yard. 
This was finally starting to make sense to me. I walked up to them and described what had just happened in my home and explained that a fire truck was on its way. They assured me that they had nothing to do with it, as they were working on our next door neighbor's electricity. I had my doubts, but wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt as long as they were looking into it. The fire truck arrived, and 3 nice firemen assured me that I did all the right things. I mentioned to them that the men from the electric company did not think that they had anything to do with our house problem. I am sure the firemen must have known better, because one of them said that we might find out differently after they look into it. Sure enough... it was the electric company. Both gentlemen came knocking on our door with lots of apologies and said that they had disconnected something that they thought was our neighbors, but was in fact ours. When they plugged it back in, of course the main electricity to our house was not off, so we had a huge power surge. They immediately had their supervisor out there - who was also nice - and he and David went through our house checking everything out. The following is a list of the items that were ruined:
1 TV
2 Satellite Receivers
All Lights Around the Pool Area
Pool Pump Timer
Pool Solar Switch
Clock built in to Roll Top Desk
All in all we have much to be thankful for. We are all safe. We have our house. We have all of our appliances, air/heat, computer - I have not backed anything up in awhile. 
God is Good!!!
While David was making rounds through our house with the electric company supervisor, I went for a mammo. (Unexpected Situation #3) I will not go into details, but "Digital" is the way to go. The comfort level is a drastic difference from the "old" way. I was told too, that the pictures are much clearer. This is the 2nd step in trying to determine if there is something I should be doing concerning the nodule in my lung. I will see another doctor - who is a surgeon - in a couple of weeks. She is very good, and I trust her a lot. In addition to the mammo results, she will be looking at the CT-scan and X-ray. I am praying that she will be able ease my mind the rest of the way - or guide me to an appropriate physician to look into this further.
As I look back on this week, I am bombarded with reminders of how the Lord works out all of the details big and small, in our lives perfectly. I have so very very much to be thankful for.
Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
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Feb. 7, 2008 - Be careful what you wish for...
2 Weeks Ago
I was looking at my calendar for February and realized that in addition to homeschooling, I had something scheduled for every single day of the month until the 29th. This included field trips, co-op, dance, piano, Keepers, and doctor appointments. Usually I don't get unraveled about a heavy schedule, but for some reason, that day I was feeling the weight of the world on my shoulders. I was feeling very angry at the load that I had put on myself, and was wishing that I could back out of all of it and just stay home for awhile and do nothing but homeschool.
Be careful for what you wish for...
The very next day - I woke up and felt like something was wrong physically. I didn't have a cold, or a fever, but I felt something heavy in my chest. As time progressed throughout the day, I began to cough. This was not the type of cough I usually get. This was a deep, bottom of the lung, hard to breath, stabbing pain type of cough.
I waited for a week before I made an appointment with the doctor. He seemed concerned after he listened to my breathing, and told me that I probably either had pneumonia or bronchitis. He sent me home with 2 RX's and told me that if I didn't feel substantially better in 72 hours I should come back in. Well, 72 hours came and went. If anything I felt worse. so I scheduled another appointment. This time, my doctor changed my antibiotic RX to a mega strength, and promptly sent me for an X-ray.
I drove straight to the radiologist and in no time I was taken back for my X-ray. I got an indication from the lady who took it that I may have pneumonia, as she told me to be careful around Alexis because pneumonia is contagious. However, while I was still there a radiologist read the X-ray and said that there was no indication of pneumonia. After leaving their office, I got my prescription filled and went home feeling relieved, but perplexed about my illness. I called David (husband) and told him what was said. We both felt hopeful that the new RX would work and life would be good.
(By the way - a little side note here - please don't tell me that our health care system is broken and that the government needs to fix it. My private insurance and non-government doctors are working just fine. Thank You.)
About 1 hour later my doctor called me to give me the results (that I had already been given) concerning no pneumonia on my X-ray. I expected him to say - Good News! But he did not. He was concerned that this may mean that there is a blood clot - so he sent me back to the radiologist immediately for a CT-scan.
By 4:45 Monday afternoon, I was cleared to go home from the radiologist office. I did not have a blood clot. I was told that my doctor would be in touch. When I did not hear back from the doctor right away I anticipated good news. On Tuesday the antibiotics seemed to be kicking in and I was beginning to feel better ~ I still had not heard back from the doctor ~ so because of family pressure, I called and left a message asking if they had received the CT-scan report. Wednesday afternoon I received a call back. They had reviewed the CT-scan report and there is a nodule on my lung. They recommend that I have another CT-scan in 3 months. I got off of the phone feeling stunned - I did not ask a lot of questions, because I have to mull things over in my mind before I know what questions I want to ask.
The internet is a good thing - and a bad thing. The good thing is that I was able to research lung nodules - the bad thing is that I was able to research lung nodules. Because of the internet, I was able to learn enough about lung nodules to ask the doctor some good questions. However, because of the information available on the internet, I have great concerns that I may not have otherwise had if I had just kept my head in the sand.
Once I became aware that this may be quiet serious, I lost my ability to relax and trust God. It was easy to panic. I wanted to fix this and make it all go away ~ now. I wanted to control my own destiny rather than allow Him to see me through this process. I was praying every moment I wasn't reading or talking to my husband, but I wasn't "giving" this worry to the Lord. I knew I had to do that. It is hard. But, it is also futile to think that anything I can do is better than something He can do.
As I said prayers with Alexis and read a story with her last night, I was praying silently that He would give me comfort and peace. I prayed that He would allow me to open the Bible and read something - anything that would make me know that He is with me, that He cares for me, and that everything will be alright.
The great thing about the Lord, is I am constantly being reminded of how He cares about the details of our lives. I crawled into bed frazzled from the last few days, opened my NIV Bible and this is the verse that He showed me:
"I saw the Lord always before me,
Because He is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.
Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will live in hope,
because You will not abandon me to the grave,
nor will You let your Holy One see decay.
You have made known to me the paths of life;
You will fill me with joy in Your presence." Acts 2:25-28
I don't know where this journey of concern will lead me, but I do know that He is with me every single step of the way. He will give me the strength that I need, and I can rejoice and rest in knowing that.
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Feb. 1, 2008 - I'm It!!!
I Got Tagged
Until now, I did not know the game of “Tag” existed in the world of blogging. I am still just a newbie here trying to figure out what to write about, and how to make this blog work properly. Anyway, it was a fun surprise to get tagged! 
I feel like I “met” someone in this blogging community. I was tagged by Aiming High, and have enjoyed going back to her site several times to look around.
Well in order to play the game right, I must post the rules:
(1) Link to the person that tagged you.
(2) Post the rules on your blog.
(3) Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
(4) Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs
(5) Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.
The 6 random people that I chose (because I like their blogs) are:
A Five Smooth Stones
B Camp Creevey
C Palms of His Hands
D Six Kids and a Small Farm
E White Oak Adventures
F Beauty For Ashes
Now for the hard part~~~
Six non-important things/habits/quirks about me: (In no particular order)
1. I have to have my house clean before we go on vacation. Partially because I don’t want to come back to a messy house. But here’s the “quirky” part. I have this little bit of fear that if something happens to us while we are gone, or if something happens to the house while we are gone, someone will have to go inside – and I don’t want them to see that I left the house in a mess!
2. I have to bring a sweater with me most everywhere I go. If I don’t, I freeze. I guess we must keep our
house temperature warmer then most people’s homes, stores, offices, etc. Our church keeps the temperature so cold that if I forget to bring my sweater, we travel half way home in July before I'm ready for the car’s air conditioner to be turned on. I need time to “thaw.”
3. Shhhhh!!! Don’t tell anyone, but my closet is stuffed with crafts! I have a big walk in closet in our bedroom that is all mine. (Dh has a good-sized closet of his own.) My closet has some clothes, some shoes, a tall bookcase, and the rest is full of crafts. Every time I go in the closet to use something, I seem to bring more items back to it to be put away then I started with. I’m not sure how this happens, but I think that my crafts secretly have babies while they are out of the closet.
4. Speaking of closets, we have a bookcase in every closet in the house – except the linen closets. Our homeschool books become memories to me and I have a hard time parting with them. I am to the point now where I check as many books as I can out of the library so that I have no choice but to part with them.
5. The older I get, the less strict I have become. Maybe I am practicing for the day we will become grandparents. I don’t know what it is, but it seems less important to me that my youngest child is in bed at an exact time then it did for my older 2. It also seems less important to me that she keep a perfectly straight room, although I don’t like it when game pieces get separated from their games.
6. If I had my way, I would love for each of our children to live very close to us when they are grown. My biggest fear is that one or more will move out of state or even worse, overseas. I moved away from home at a very young age, and now wish that I had been able to spend more time with my family up north – especially holidays.
There you go. Six Things You Really Never Needed to Know About Me. Errr… I mean Six Non-Important/Habits Quirks About Me.
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Jan. 24, 2008 - SeaWorld - Orlando
A Christmas Gift
As part of our Christmas gift to my step-mother this year, we gave her a ticket to SeaWorld. The ticket had a bonus to it - she could go back another day for free. 
David (husband,) Alexis and I also got Annual passes as part of our Christmas. So... Alexis and I took Grandmum to see Shamu and all the other animals twice in one week.
Here are some photos that we shot while there:
Alexis is excited to get through the Entrance Gate
A beautiful McCaw Parrot we noticed on our way to the first show just perched
loose in the park
1st show we saw - Clyde and Seamore - Very Cute!
Penguin Encounter - See the penguins posing for the camera!
A Cuckooboroug outside of Penguin Encounter
On the way inside Shark Encounter - We encountered this Blowfish
We also encountered these Australian Leafy Sea Dragons - Can you
spot them?
You can't go to Shark Encounter without watching sharks swim over your head!
It's hard to capture the awesome beauty of this gorgeous Clydesdale when he's
behind bars
A bonus that we weren't expecting - The Polar Express Attraction was still set
up at the Wild Arctic.
We saw some Polar Bears sleeping while there
We truly enjoyed the Polar Express attraction. It had the scents of Christmas
and ice and snow!
Outside of Wild Arctic
New since we were there a few years ago - Rides in Shamu's Happy Harbor!
A Dolphin at The Blue Horizons
More dolphins at Blue Horizons
Alexis took this photo - I think it's great!
Pets Ahoy is always one of our favorites. The dog and girl are jumping rope together.
This was our 1st experience feeding and petting the dolphins. This is Alexis
petting one.
Alexis and Grandmum feeding a dolphin.
I am petting this dolphin. Twice birds swooped down on me and grabbed the
fish that I was trying to feed the dolphin!
After we fed the dolphins we walked into an alcove where you could see them
swimming around. Notice the Bubble Ring? It was truly a unique surprise!
A peaceful Manatee
These baby American Alligators look peaceful too! They are relaxing in the sun.
Grandmum and Alexis preparing to board the Flamingo paddle boats
I took pictures of ducks while they were on the paddle boat
This picture reminds me of one of our favorite Five in a Row books - Ping
A Kodak moment
A man offered to take a group shot of us. It's not the best, but it's
the only one of the 3 of us.
How would you like to be tossed around by a Killer Whale?
The trainer was giving this whale a little snack.
This is a little blurry, but wow you would have to have a lot of trust
in this mammal to do what the trainer is doinw! I wonder if she knows about
Jonah?
This might feel good in in the summer, but not in January! Look at the powerful
splash made by the Killer Whale's fins!
Spectacular Animal
Alexis and I had a great time at SeaWorld with Grandmum. We look forward to
going back with her Dad soon!
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Jan. 23, 2008 - Our Son Returns
From College With Some New Habits
What is that commercial - Life comes at you fast..... Getting a credit card for this reason is debatable, but I can truly attest to the fact that life comes at you fast. Too Fast!
As time was approaching for David to leave to go off to college, it was terribly hard on me. I kept reflecting on my son's life remembering many of the cute little habits or things he did as a child. He had a passion for sports and when he was between 7 and 8 years old, every night he would line up all his stuffed toys along his bed (after bedtime) and depending on the season, he would play football or baseball games with these toys. Each animal actually had a position and he would have them make plays by throwing a plastic ball in the air and swinging the stuffed toys to hit, punt or catch it. Then he would move the toys to their new positions and write down all the statistics of the game - play by play. I thought it was cute and I was even impressed with his sweet little strategic mind, but when he would stretch his bedtime by a couple of hours we would end up fussing at him over it. As a young parent, I had no appreciation for the fact that he was using his brain in a very productive way. If I had it to live over again, I might just close my eyes and pretend that I didn't know he was still up. The years are so fleeting! When he was preschool age, it felt like I would have him around forever. Before I knew it, he was driving, working, and saving money for college. My mind knew David would be leaving, but my heart was not prepared for the empty chair at the dinner table.
Our son came home from college for Christmas break. I can not express how ecstatic we felt to know that he would be here for 3 1/2 weeks. He had been home for a few days at Thanksgiving, but that felt like a whirl-wind trip. I was truly looking forward to having him spend time at home for a good long visit.
When the anticipated day finally arrived... he walked in the door, gave us all hugs and proceeded to head to the laundry room with close to 10 loads (counting bed linens) of laundry. The good news is, he washed it all himself. The bad news is he tied up our washer and dryer for about 2 solid days and somehow used up an entire bottle of detergent (that is supposed to wash 25 loads.)
It was so good to have David fill that empty seat at the dinner table on his first night back as we ate a home cooked meal altogether. He was extremely grateful to have it, and truly appreciated every bite. He didn't eat a lot, which surprised us, until we found out later that he has some new eating habits. Did I mention that our master bedroom is right off the kitchen? That is a great place to have your room when your children are young, but when they get bigger and can feed themselves, watch out if you are a light sleeper. Let me explain... at 11:00 PM when our dear son was returning to the kitchen to feed himself, dh and I woke up and smiled at each other happy to hear the sounds that confirmed that our son was home. We probably were asleep for less than a 1/2 hour at that time. At 1:00 AM when he returned to the kitchen for a drink of water, we woke up and realized that we were going to have to get used to these new late night noises. However, at 2:30 AM when David decided that he needed to graze through the kitchen again! dh and I wondered if we were going to get any solid sleep until he returned to college!!!
The following day we found out about another new habit we weren't aware of... chatting, texting, IM'ing - all of it - and a lot of it. Whatever happened to voice communication??? I think our kids have stepped over a threshold that dh and I are either unable or unwilling to go over. It's called the generation gap! It wasn't too bad at first, but coincidently a few days after David arrived we connected a wireless internet system because my brother had just given me his old laptop. I suppose it may have been naive of me to not understand the cause and effect of this, but I should have. It's called *have computer will travel* And that is exactly what our dear son did - right to his room - and with his laptop and cell phone. There he stayed for several nights (only coming out for food) attached to his mobile communication devices. Thankfully after several days he backed off of this new habit - somewhat - and we got to see his handsome face again.
While David had secluded himself in his "cave," so that he could converse to his new college friends in the various forms of written exchanges without family disruption, I was pleased and also aggravated to see his next new habit. He has become much neater since living in a dorm. So... he decided to declutter his bedroom. I was pleased because it is a good moment for a parent to see that their child who can be more than sloppy has finally arrived at the stage of taking care of their territory. I was extremely aggravated because he was playing give away with his sisters - Did I mention that his youngest sister is a pack rat - and has no room in her bedroom to take in extra items? This was only a few days before Christmas with company coming and more presents to fit into an already overstuffed room. We did have him drop several items off at a donation place, I just wish I could have curtailed the amount of objects thrown his sisters way.
Christmas was great. We have always started our day with just our small family before our extended family arrives for a big lunch/dinner and gift exchange. It felt good to have our family of 5 altogether in the morning opening up presents and joking and teasing with each other. As I watched my children unwrap their gifts, it occurred to me that there may not be that many more Christmas' left before the dynamics of this family changes. I am not saying that would be bad in any way - just different. I can already tell you - I will miss our tradition of Christmas morning. I have big dreams that my future daughter-in-law and sons-in-law will want to spend every Christmas with us. I know that's not realistic and actually selfish though. Sigh... For now I will stay thankful and aware of the gift of each of these years.
The day came when we got used to most of David's nightly noises. At the same time, I watched my baby boy pack his belongings into his car in a very organized and neat manner. I knew this meant that he was going to return to the place where parents aren't. The place where children have to make their own decisions about time management, studying, work schedules, morals and more. He had already managed this for half of a school year, and did a great job. Wow! Lots of new habits! Somewhere between the hugs goodbye and the tears streaming down my face I took a moment to reflect on the fact that the Lord has allowed me to become the mother of a boy changing into a fine young man. Sigh... I miss the kitchen noises. It's too quiet.
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Jan. 21, 2008 - Florida Crackers
If you've read this book... you know what they are
During the Christmas season, I like to lighten our homeschool load. It makes our lives a whole lot easier. There are just so many great things to do - I don't want to miss them, and I don't want to stress out during my most favorite time of the year. So... this year between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Alexis worked on a Florida unit study.
I lived in South Florida for almost 20 years before we moved to the middle of the state. Until we did, I had never heard of the "Florida Crackers." Little did I know that just a couple of hundred miles to the north west of where we used to live, there once lived a group of colorful mostly Scot-Irish pioneers who came from the deep south to try their hand at making something out of the seemingly un-farmable sandy soil. Historically speaking, it was not that long ago either. The last of what are called "Cracker Houses" were built somewhere in the 1930's. Now that we live in the middle of the state, I am continuing to learn about the Crackers. Alexis is too!
Part of Alexis' Florida unit study included reading Strawberry Girl, by Lois Lenski. It is a great historical fiction book that is slightly hard to read at times because of the Cracker's slang, but quiet amusing and enjoyable. As we were wrapping up the final chapters, I noticed in the newspaper that Ft. Christmas was having their annual Cracker Christmas celebration. I love when things like that happen. How could we resist this field trip? Well we couldn't. As it was a spur of the moment thing, we went by ourselves.
Below are photos from the field trip. Alexis took most of them. As she was taking them, she was trying to capture things in the book. Very cool! I thought she did a great job.
So... if you've read the book, (and you have a good memory) you'll understand what some of these pictures are all about.
When Birdie went to church, we somehow didn't picture it being one this small.
Do you suppose the wood burning stove that Ma got looked like this?
Remember when Mr. Slater branded Birdie's brothers heifer?
This whip is at least 20 feet long. When the gentleman "cracked" it, the sound it
made was as loud as a gunshot. It is believed that the cracking sound of the
whip is what gave the Florida Cracker's their name. Many were ranchers who
horse drove their cattle to Tampa for sale cracking their whips all along their route.
This is a Cracker house that was just recently brought to Ft. Christmas. They will
restore it and add period furniture. Obviously we could not tour this house.
A tour guide in this Cracker home mentioned that a descendant of the original
owner had been there the day before as a tourist. She was actually born in this
house. This was her Grandmother's bedroom. Most or all of the furniture in
this room was original to the home.
Both Alexis and I have toured parts of Ft. Christmas before, but this time we
went with new eyes looking for the many details that Lois Lenski described in
Strawberry Girl. In addition to the tours of historical homes and Pioneer
demonstrations, the event included a craft show. Normally the craft show
would be the highlight of a visit to anywhere for both Alexis and me - anytime
hands down. We both love crafts and we both love to shop. This trip was
different. History was the highlight. Yes!!! I encourage anyone who reads
this to buy or borrow a historical fiction book and go take a field trip!
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Dec. 12, 2007 - I Love Christmas Time!!
Our Keeper's Christmas Party
Today which is the day after Alexis' birthday, we had our Keepers Christmas Party. Since I had Book Club at my house yesterday, and a get together for Alexis later in the evening, I was grateful and thankful that I did not have to plan this party. One of our wonderful Moms did. I know she worked hard planning the party, and everything turned out great! The room looked very festive with red and green tablecloths and centerpieces on each table.
This year we have our biggest group of girls ever. !!!25!!! Each one of our Moms has truly been a blessing to the group, and I am thankful for all of them.
We held our party at our church. What a huge blessing it is that our church lets us use the facilities to hold all of our meetings and events. Each mom brought a dish to share. I enjoy doing this, as I love tasting other peoples recipes. The Mom who was in charge of the party made a delicious eggnog trifle dessert. It was so good that I just had to ask her for the recipe. I plan to serve it at our Christmas meal. I don't know what else we're having yet, but the important part of the meal is now planned.
Each year as a Thank You to our church staff, several of the Moms and their girls bake Christmas cookies to give to them. After our luncheon, some of the moms took the girls around the church to pass the cookies out to everyone.
Here is a photo of one of their stops
:
While a few of the Mom's took all the girls to do the cookie round, some of us stayed behind and cleaned up and got ready for a craft extravaganza. Our sweet Mom who planed the party had many craft activities waiting for the girls when they returned.
This was the chocolate spoon dipping station. After crushing some candy canes with the bottoms of their mugs, the girls dipped several spoons into melted chocolate and sprinkled candy cane pieces onto the spoons. Then they wrapped them up to give as gifts, although I suspect that some of the girls made a snack out of them later that afternoon.
At this station they painted salt dough ornaments...
Here they were making mitten bookmarks...
I wish I had taken a photo of the last craft station, but somehow I missed it. The girls made swirl paint Christmas ornaments there. Alexis' turned out beautiful and is hanging on our tree now.
After the food and the fun, we had our award ceremony.
Each of the girls earned their Plastic Canvas Badge, Special Needs Badge, and Soap Making Badge. Some worked on additional badges at home with their Moms.
After the awards were passed out, the girls had a book exchange. They all left the party with their arms full. I am sure they had a wonderful time - I am so thankful for my sweet friend who worked very hard to make all of our Keeper Girls happy.
I am looking forward to the 2nd half of our Keepers year. It has been a lot of fun so far!!!
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Dec. 11, 2007 - Double Digits
My Baby Turned 10 Today!
I can hardly believe how fast the years have flown! Alexis is our 3rd and youngest child. I call her my bonus baby. She is 7 and 8 years younger than her siblings. The Lord had a plan, and He knew what He was doing. I remember when my sweet girl was born. She came into the world quietly. She did not cry, instead she looked around the room as if to say, what are you doing, I must be missing out on something! She has been trying to catch up on all that she has missed out on ever since.
Alexis asks a lot of deep questions. She wants to understand everything! She challenges me almost every day when we do our Bible reading. When she was young, maybe 4, she asked why God let Adam name ALL of the animals and did not save any for her to name. Too funny!!! On a more serious note, she has asked such questions as, "Where is the Garden of Eden located?" and "Why did God put the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden in the 1st place?" and oh so many harder questions than these!
She is my social butterfly. Somewhere between the ages of 1 and 2, before she could speak well, Alexis decided that she wanted to go out. Where? I do not know. She could not tell me. What she did do is go get my shoes and try to put them on my feet until I went ahead and put them on myself. Then she pushed me to a door in my kitchen that led into the garage where the car was. I asked her if she wanted to go bye bye and she nodded her head yes. When I asked her exactly where she wanted to go, she began to fuss and repeat the words bye bye! I will never know what she had in mind, maybe she just didn't care as long as we got out of the house. She still is like that today. She is not content unless she has gone somewhere and done something. A few weeks ago my husband's car had to be put in the shop so he used mine and we did not go anywhere for a few days. I was perfectly content being "forced" to stay home and enjoyed the down time very much. Alexis on the other hand had a totally different outlook. She said that we were home too long, and that it was one of the longest weeks of her life. (The car was in the shop 2 1/2 days.)
Most of the time this on the go girl gets to go. She stays busy with piano lessons, acro and jazz lessons, book club, co-op, Keeper's, AWANA, Sunday School and lots of field trips. If she weren't homeschooled, I would be concerned that she wasn't getting enough social time!!! LOL!!!
She enjoys playing the piano and practices without being told. We have always called her Tigger because she is extremely active ~ so tumbling twirling, bouncing and rolling fit well with her personality. She loves spending time with her friends and looks forward to seeing them as often as possible. She loves the Lord and works hard at memorizing her Bible verses for AWANA and Sunday School. Alexis has a quick wit. She even laughs at my jokes! She has a strong continence, she's amazingly generous, tenderhearted, and kind to her friends. She is also kind and caring toward her family. When I am sick, she wants to nurse me back to health. She will bring me a platter with water, medicine, crackers, or whatever else she thinks I need to get better. She is always sure to add a homemade get well card to go with it.
She is also loving and kind to her Grandparents. Last week we were scheduled to take my in-laws to the doctor. My mother-in-law called me and asked if we could come over early because my father-in-law was weak and she thought that he may need the wheel chair once we got to the doctor's office. We left promptly, and as soon as Alexis and I got to their house, she hopped out of the van and went inside. I opened the trunk and got the wheel chair to go in it. My plan was take care of that and then go inside and get my father-in-law to come to the van. Well, as I was closing the trunk, I looked up and Alexis was guiding her Granddaddy out of the house and marching him to the van. I can not tell you how relieved I was that she was able to do this. With him having Alzheimer's Disease, it is sometimes very difficult to get him to follow directions. Alexis saw that a job had to be done, and just comfortably took care of it. I love her take charge attitude!. I also love to spend time with her and feel blessed to be her mother.
I am not wishing the time away, but I am looking forward to seeing what the Lord will bring her way in the next 10 years.
Here are a few photos:
Alexis made the cake, I made the frosting and spread it for her. Then
she decorated it all by herself. She was quiet proud of the fact that she
did this mostly independently.
We did not have a party this year, but her Book Club was scheduled
on her birthday. We had it at our house and she chose some fun
"Revolutionary War Era" crafts to do to go along with the book Toliver's
Secret. Here she is happily sharing her cake with her good friends.
Alexis waited patiently until the end of the day to open her
presents from us. She still had enough energy to be really
excited! I love that!!!
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Dec. 6, 2007 - My Most Favorite Co-Op Event of the Year
Christmas Craft Day
Maybe it's because I love Christmas... or maybe it is because I love to see the look on each child's face when they get ready to take their craft home. Probably a little of both - but each year I truly look forward to this day.
First I get to plan out what the students are going to make. Then I get up early on the Friday after Thanksgiving - yes! - Black Friday - and do my shopping for it. Sounds crazy... but that is the day that Michael's and JoAnn's give you 20%-25% off of your entire order - even on sale items. After I buy my bargins, I go home and spend a few hours trying to find a place in my house for about 15 bags full of craft supplies. My husband just shakes his head and says, "Here we go again!' He says this because he knows that there will be something he has to do to help me make this happen.
This year 18 of our 3rd -5th graders made Snowmen! Not just any old snowmen, but candy dish snowmen.
We used fish or ivy bowls that can be bought at any craft store. My dear husband sprayed each of them with a matt base spray paint so that the children could paint them with acrylic paint and it would adhere to the glass. (See my husband was right... he knew he would be helping with this project.) He also helped with the hats. They are made out of craft foam. You can't see it, but I used fancy scissors to cut the brims of the hats. I used a salad plate to make the pattern. Then I cut a tight hole in the center. If it is too loose, the hat will flop. From there, I cut straight strips of foam that would encircle the tops of the bowls. I found another object in my house smaller than the salad plate to make a circle pattern for the top of the hat. Then my husband wrapped the strips around the circles and stapled the strips so that the circle/tops could later be placed just inside the top of the circle/strip (to be used as a lid.)
We had the students use cut up kitchen sponges to paint a white acrylic textured pattern on the snowman. The noses are actually wooden spruce trees - found at Michaels. After the children painted their bowls, we had them paint the trees orange to turn them into carrot noses!
While the bowls and carrots were drying, we started our sock snowmen. (More on that later.) Once they were mostly dry - about 20 minutes - the children worked on the faces. For time sake, I found sticky googly eyes at JoAnn's to use. The eyes could easily be painted on though. It is just that we had 2 projects to complete in 50 minutes with 18 students. Time was of the essence! Even though the eyes had sticky backs, they still needed reinforcing with a little extra glue. While gluing the eyes, they also glued the noses to the bowl. [I found this great glue at Joann's called Beacon's 3-in-1 Advanced Craft Glue. It drys super fast and works as good as hot glue. It is waterproof though so be careful.] After gluing, the children made their pink circle cheeks with some round paint brushes. Finally they finished their part by using the back point of a paintbrush to paint dots of black for the mouths. This was the suggestion of my daughter Amanda - who has quite a knack for coming up with great easy helpful hints when it comes to arts and crafts. After the students placed their snowmen on some wax paper outside, two moms completed the projects by spraying high gloss finish on them and then sprinkling some sparkely glitter over it for a cute finish.
As I was saying... They also made sock snowmen.
We have 3 because Alexis enjoyed this project so much that she came home and made more! Thankfully I tried making a demo of this before our craft day. I used suggestions off of the internet, but had great problems combining rice with fiberfill. I also had problems keeping it steady using just rice. I almost scrapped this project, but then went on the internet one last time to see if I could find one more idea to help keep the sock snowmen supported. The Lord is good!!! I found an idea that worked! Wide mouth canning jar dome lids - this size worked well using mens ankle socks. First place the lid down into the sock before you add the rice Next add 2 cups of rice to the bottom of the snowman. Straighten and adjust as needed, then place a rubber band around the sock. After that we added 1 cup of rice and then last, another rubber band. To finish, you just pull the remaining part of the sock down over the head of the snowman to make it look like they have ski type hats on. The children decorated them by gluing buttons on the body, and wrapping a scarf around the neck. They also used fabric markers to create their faces. Some children used googly eyes, some drew their own eyes. Some decorated the hats with pom-poms too.
As each child came back to my room at the end of the afternoon to pick up their snowmen, they seemed so pleased with their work. I was pleased too, that their projects turned out so well. I love working with homeschooled children. We are so blessed to have a great group of them in our co-op. We are blessed too, that our church allows our co-op the opportunity to use the facilities for fun times such as these. Above all, we are blessed that God sent His only Son down to us, so that we can have eternal life - and a Christmas to celebrate each year.
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Nov. 27, 2007 - Important!!! If you use Original Country Clipart by Lisa
Please see the following link:
Original County Clipart by Lisa
I am so sad for Lisa and her husband and family.
I can't even imagine the pain they must be feeling now.
If your heart feels led to, please e-mail Lisa and let her know you are thinking of her.
Blessings,
RuthAnn
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Nov. 26, 2007 - How to Make a 9 Year Old Girl Happy
Sewing!
At least this 9 year old!
This is not the best picture, but I had to share it because she absolutely loved making this scarecrow. I am so proud of her efforts. I think she did a great job! This is the 1st time that I let her use the sewing machine mostly unsupervised. If you can see the details, you can tell this is definitely a 1st for that. (She actually has used a sewing machine before - our Keepers girls made wall hanging quilts a few years ago, but it involved straight lines and much supervision.) The scarecrow is the fruit of a 3 week unit study on Seamstress and Sewing Machines. Alexis learned all the necessary parts of the machine, and enjoyed her time running it. We did not get to the hand stitching that I had hoped to work on with her. Hopefully we will have some time for that during the Christmas holidays.
The Good: The Best of Sewing Machine Fun for Kids was a good book for her to start with. I gave my review of it in an earlier post (and guess I should have waited until we actually tried it out) but I have to say that it was a big hit with my sweet daughter. I photocopied all the allowable sewing practice pages and she went to town using the machine with no thread. The author has several fun learning activities included. There are even a few small cute project in it too.
In Their Own Words: Betsy Ross - This was an easy reader. That worked out well because it gave Alexis more time to sew. An added bonus; since we visited Philadelphia over the summer, her memory was quite fresh of many of the locations mentioned in the book.
The Bad: 3 Weeks went by way to fast. I felt terrible putting the sewing machine away, but we had to get ready for guests at Thanksgiving.
The Ugly: Well, I would have to say it was reading about Isaac Singer. I knew that he led a colorful life, but had no idea just how much so until we read a short biography on him. Wow! That is all I can say. I will never look at a Singer Sewing Machine the same way again.
Anyway, again it was a fun 3 weeks and we are now moving on to The Jesse Tree and notebooking our state history!
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Nov. 16, 2007 - My Father-In-Law
A Man Who Is Commendable Before The Lord
I am writing this before Thanksgiving because it is a holiday in which we reflect on what we are thankful for. The Lord has blessed me with a wonderful husband and 3 beautiful children. I am so thankful that He chose them to be a part of my life. Never in my wildest dreams could I have envisioned a life so rich and full as the one I am living with my family. I can only give the credit for this to my Savior.
One of the biggest blessings our family of 5 has is our extended family. At this time, my thoughts are especially reflecting on my father-in-law. You see, he is in the final stages of Alzheimer's disease. Only the Lord knows for sure, but the upcoming holidays may be the last that he spends in our home, or his. That is so painful to say. So, it is with a heavy heart that I write a few of my thoughts about how blessed we all are to have him a part of our lives.
After first meeting my Father-In-Law, I walked away with the impression that he is a man with quiet strength. He did not talk much, but had quick wit, and came across as a true gentleman who is extremely devoted to the Lord, my mother-in-law, and his two sons.
As time passed, I could see that he is a man who "walks the walk" of his Christian faith. With so many outstanding qualities, there is much good that can be said about him. If ever there was a real life hero, he is that to me. I can not emphasize enough what a gift he has been to us all.
As a husband, he loves, honors and cherishes his wife. They stood united always. If he disagreed with her in anything, it must have been done it in private - he never disagreed with her in front of us - including my husband when growing up. His love for her was very evident. They were and still are, best friends.
He led his sons by example to show them how Christ wants us to live. He has given them sound advise, and has been a witness to them on how a man should love his wife. Whatever situation one was in, he was quick to say, "What can I do to help?" From the time David and I started our family, his parents were always there to celebrate holidays with us. In addition, whenever we needed them, they would travel almost 5 hours to help us out. When at our home, my father-in-law would just look around and see what needed to be done - then do it. Hedges trimmed, trees cut back, repairs inside the house - he was a tremendous support to us.
What has touched my heart the most about my father in law is that he is a remarkable Granddaddy. He play wrestled with our son when he was little, played checkers with our middle daughter, and taught all 3 of our children how to play pool on a child sized pool table. How many grandfathers out there would let their grandchildren clip Legos together in their hair until his head was covered? He did. When they were babies he held them when they were sleeping, and strapped them carefully in their car seats to take them to the grocery store. When they were older, he spoon fed them their dinner when they got fussy, and took them fishing in our back yard. My children have been given a priceless gift from their grandfather - the gift of his time and attention.
He was active in his Baptist church as a deacon, and volunteered for numerous charitable events along the way. All the while he kept a good balance so that he could be attentive to his family's needs.
He was a good son and son-in-law. When I met my husband his parents were in the beginning stages of caring for their parents. Without complaint, my father-in-law was a noble son and son-in-law through the end of their parents lives. This included 7+ hour trips to the north of their home - sometimes close to 20 per year. He kept up their finances, paid their bills, combed their hair, trimmed their nails, worked on their houses, and did anything else for them that needed to be done.
There are 2 things I never heard come out of his mouth. A complaint or an unkind word.
As I read back over some of what I wrote, I felt a sting of pain in my heart because so much of what I said has been written in past tense. This is the reality of Alzheimer's disease. It prevents a person with the illness from continuing to be who they are. For the remainder of their time on this earth it is now who they were. Not spiritually, I understand that one day he will be free from all this ~ I take great comfort in the knowledge this. But, it does change the dynamics of relationships within the family. Once this strong vibrant man helped us all, now we help him. My husband helps with their finances and repairs around their house. He and our older children work in his yard. My youngest daughter buckles him carefully in the car so we can take him for an outing. My mother-in-law combs his hair, trims his nails, and continues to love him and be his best friend.
My father-in-law's legacy ~ the gift of giving has been passed on.
Dear Heavenly Father,
I thank you so much for the opportunity to know this precious son of yours, my father-in-law. Through the love that he has shown his family, we are able to see a glimpse of how much Your Son loves us. Through his kindness, we are able to comprehend a glimmer of how much Your Son cares for us. Through his quiet strength, we can better understand how to be more like Your Son. I thank you Lord for allowing us to be a part of his life as his mind deteriorates from this disease. Please help this to be a comfort to him, and help us to honor You by honoring him until you call him home. In Jesus Name, Amen
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Nov. 8, 2007 - Seamstresses and Sewing Machines Unit Study
It's Fun-ucational
We are taking a break from Sonlight through the holidays. We did this last year, and having some flex time during the busy Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons worked well for us.
So, for a little "fun-ucational" activity, I let Alexis choose whatever she wanted to study about. She chose Sewing Machines. She had an ulterior motive. She is dieing to get at my sewing machine. From a time-line perspective, this could not have worked out better. We are right in the thick of the industrial revolution era with Sonlight.
Because Isaac Singer is so "colorful" I decided that it would be a smart idea to add Seamstresses to the mix of studies. A good read about Betsy Ross may be just the thing to counter the character of Singer. Also, hand stitching is always a good skill to concentrate on, and may help slow down Alexis' urge to be at the sewing machine. One plan I have is to do a comparison on clothing availability in the Revolutionary War vs. clothing in the Civil War. We will also do a timed test on stitches (machine vs. hand stitching) and then test the 2 products for endurance.
These are books that we are reading now:
We are doing this unit study "Lapbook" style and will include some fun activities from a great book that I ordered through Keepers At Home called The Best of Sewing Machine Fun for Kids. It has all types of activities included in the book, from puzzles to sewing exercises to naming the parts of a sewing machine to spelling and more. I highly recommend this book for beginning sewing instructions for children.
I am happy that my 4th grader will enjoy this busy time of year with some fun things to look forward to. I will add some photos of Alexis sewing and the Lapbook as we progress more into the unit study.
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Nov. 7, 2007 - Baby Steps - Adding to the Side Bar
I am learning how to make changes to my blog!!!
I am so excited! Yesterday I learned how to add new additions to my Side Bar. I added a category with links on Notebooking and Lapbooking. I love these links, and use them as go-alongs with Sonlight's or when we take a break from Sonlight to do a random unit study. .
I actually made these additions in just 1 day! I used directions from Tammy's blog again. (Thank You Tammy) It worked, but not exactly like I needed it to work. The color of the title to the category was so light, that I could barely see it. Also, everything in the lower part of the side board was crowded altogether. So, after searching through the template and experimenting ~ many mess ups included ~ I was able to change the color of the Header Title and add more space between sections. I added this just below my Site Meter. See below for example of what I did:
I am wondering if I needed to make these changes to the html because we have different templates.
Two things I wish I could figure out. How to make lines across the Side Bar to separate the sections, and how to make the font size larger. If anyone out there would like to help me with this, I would truly appreciate it!
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Nov. 7, 2007 - Germany and Austria
Amanda's Amazing Adventure
The photos on the side bar above are from Amanda's trip to Germany and Austria.
Amanda and her friends had an incredible time in Germany and Austria. The International Leadership trip that they took was through Joshua Expeditions. From the time their plane landed in Europe, they hit the ground running. They first saw Dachau Concentration Camp which was a model concentration camp for the Nazi's. Amanda said that it was a very sad and harrowing place to be. From there their adventure brightened as they went to downtown Munich to see some beautiful sites and eat dinner at the Hofbrau Haus. After some good food and an entertaining evening, they got on their bus, fell asleep and woke up in the Alps of Austria.
While in Austria, they stayed at Schloss Mittersill Christian Conference Center which is housed in an 11th century castle. The main purpose of the trip was to attend a leadership training program. Amanda enjoyed the sessions very much, took many notes, and prayerfully took to heart what the Lord would have her take.
There was no snow on the ground where they were, but they could see it in the high mountains. (My children are easily impressed with any snow they see!!!) They had a chance to walk through the village, speak with the local people - who all were very nice and extremely polite, ride bikes and more. Amanda enjoyed this time of fellowship with her friends. It will be a lasting special memory for these lovely Christian high school seniors girls.
Before leaving Austria they had a chance to see the location for the setting of The Sound of Music, and the birthplace of composer, Mozart. Last before they left Europe, they were able to do some shopping in Austria and Munich.
I am so thankful to the Lord that He allowed Amanda to have this amazing adventure. May she use what God has taught her through this trip in marvelous ways.
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name. Psalm 100:4
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Nov. 5, 2007 - Blog Intimidation
Is It Just ME?
I think I actually set this blog up in May. I wasn't happy with my template choice, but not knowing even one thing about html I decided it was best that I leave it alone and read others for a while until I figure out how to make changes. Several months later... I had not even begun to write in my blog. Why? Because I wanted to customize the look, but I still didn't know how. Why did I want to do that more than write?
I got brave and changed the template to the one I have now - I liked it better, so I began to write. I added pictures. I wrote some more. You know, blogging is catchy! I am starting to like it! But I still want to make it "my own."
I am embarrassed to admit that it took me 3 days of trial and error just to get a site meter on this blog. I don't even know if I have it in the right place. Why do I even care if I have a site meter? 
My next goal is to try to add a Flickr. Amanda just returned from a trip to Germany and Austria and I would love to add a slide show of some of her special photos. I got my Flickr account and added the photos, but now for the hard part... Figuring out how to copy it to my blog.
I am looking forward to the day that I understand the "tools" of blogging. It would be a pleasure to focus on creative changes instead of major mess ups.
By the way, if you want to know how to add a site meter, a Flickr, or a number of other fun things to your blog... Please don't ask me how to do it. Instead, visit Tammy : She doesn't know me, but she has taught me everything I know (which isn't a lot yet) about customizing blogs. If you talk to her, please tell her I said Thank You again for her help! 
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Nov. 3, 2007 - Meet Our Friendly Scarecrow
Fun = Fall Festival
Alexis was able to attend our church's Fall Festival. We did not think this was going to happen because we had to pick Amanda up from the airport that evening. My good friend who was in charge of the Festival called and invited Alexis, so she got to go and spend some quality time with her best friend. Imagine how excited my little girl was when she found out that she would get to go! I am so thankful for my wonderful friend who even in the most hectic of moments, took the time to include my little girl. I don't think there is anything kinder that can be done for a Mama then to make their dear children happy.
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