Direct My Path, Father. - Homeschool Blogger

I've been tagged...

Mon, 2 Oct 2006 07:43:00 -0500

This is the first time I've been tagged and it's thanks to Christy.

Here's what I'm supposed to do.

Book Tag

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog along with these instructions.
5. Don�t you dare dig for that �cool� or �intellectual� book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest.
6. Tag five people!

O.K., so the nearest book to me is a Baby Bop's Toys book and only has about 10 pages! So, I will look to my right and grab the 1st book I see from my dining room table...and it turns out to by my son's Chemistry book. Here is what I read...

"One common use of stoichemetry in the lab occurs when we must relate the masses of two raw materials that are needed to make a compound. Chlorophyll, the green pigment in leaves, has the formula C55H72MgN4O5. If 0.0011g of Mg is available to a plant cell for chlorophyll synthesis, how many grams of carbon will be required to completely use up the magnesium?"

I am soooo glad that my husband has his Ph.D in Physiology and can teach our son this stuff! I am really not a science-minded person, so God really knew what He was doing when He put my hubby and me together! I also love the fact that God has blessed us with such a large spacing in the ages of our kids--It's wonderful having Barney books around the house alongside Chemistry textbooks!

Now, I will tag the following 3 people:

1. MinistryofEncouragement

2. si344

3. zeph317

It's Fall and I'm Baking!

Sun, 1 Oct 2006 05:36:00 -0500

I love Fall when the weather turns crisp and the leaves start changing. We have begun seeing Fall weather around here this past week and it is so nice! When it starts getting cooler outside it really gets me in the baking and cooking mood. Yesterday I made a big batch of Black-Bean soup for our lunch today. I also made some Oatmeal-Cranberry bars and Rice-Krispie Treats. The other day I made some French bread and tried a new recipe for a Tomato-Onion bread and it was delicious! My husband told me last night that he really enjoys when I get into the baking mood. He asked me to make croissants again--I haven't made these in a few years and I am very rusty. We'll see if I can turn out a batch for him later this week. I'll have to find some other new recipes to keep him pleased!

Another great thing about Fall is that we can turn off our air conditioner. My family is so hot-natured that the air conditioner is constantly on, but with the cooler weather we've been able to leave the windows open and enjoy the breeze. It's also helping to air out the house a little after it's been closed up all summer long. Isn't God amazing with His infinite wisdom and the wonderful gifts He gives us all year long in the form of the seasons? After living in Florida and Arizona where the seasons are Hot and Not-So-Hot, I am so thankful to now live in a place where I get to experience all 4 seasons!

3 Mile Walk

Tue, 26 Sep 2006 10:26:00 -0500

Well, I feel so much better now! We walked for 3 miles and it was such a nice morning. I came home and showered and now I have so much more energy. It's funny how that works--when you're tired but you exercise it makes you feel better! I need to do this more often, but life always seems to get in the way. I definitely will work on making this more of a priority in my day!

Tired Today.

Tue, 26 Sep 2006 06:55:00 -0500

I am tired this morning. My husband is out of town for business and I don't sleep very well when he's not here. I couldn't fall asleep until after midnight and then woke up periodically throughout the night. Then the baby was up at 5:30am! It's almost 8 now and I can feel myself being very sluggish. I hate feeling this way. I'm supposed to meet a couple of friends in an hour for a walk (the weather's been beautiful here the last few days!) I need to get going and get the kids ready and my older daughter still needs to eat breakfast. I may need to take a quick nap this afternoon to keep going.

It's Friday!

Fri, 22 Sep 2006 15:29:00 -0500

Have you ever had one of those weeks that you were counting down to Friday? Earlier in my life when I worked outside the home I always did this. I would start the countdown first thing Monday morning and couldn't wait until Friday! When I quit work and started staying home I found that I LOVED Mondays. It was a fresh start to a new week. I could get back on my schedule and enjoy being home with my kids. But this week, I noticed that I had a little countdown clock ticking away in the back of my head all week long. I knew from the beginning that this was going to be a busy week and I really dreaded it. I found myself looking to just hurry up and get past certain days and move on to the next. I would say to my husband, "I just need to get through tomorrow night."

I really dislike living my life like that! It frustrates me beyond belief to constantly be trying to get past where I am and into the future. (Does that sentence make any sense?) In other words, I hate it when I get into situations where I have obviously over-committed myself and then end up regretting it. As I get older, I try to say yes less to things that I really don't want to do, but sometimes they still creep in.

So, long story short--IT'S FINALLY FRIDAY and yes I am very HAPPY!!

Early Mornings, Sourdough Bread and Colossians..

Wed, 20 Sep 2006 03:37:00 -0500

I don't know what's with me this week, but this is the second time in 3 days that I've woken up and been wide awake very early. I'm talking 3:30am one morning and 4:00am the next! I have always enjoyed getting up before everyone else in my family. It's really the only time I have to myself throughout the day and I am able to meditate on scripture and just collect my thoughts. But by waking up this early I have also been starting some projects that I need to get done and boy it's feeling pretty good! I'm kind of enjoying it as a matter of fact.

This morning with the extra time I am going to start a batch of sourdough bread. This will be my first attempt at making "real" sourdough. My starter has been sitting on my counter for a few days "starting" and it looks good and I think it is ready to be used. I proofed it last night, so this morning I will attempt to make it into a loaf of bread. I'll report later how it worked!

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I have still been studying Colossians this week and I never really got into it like I am right now. I am really enjoying meditating on it and God is revealing things to me left and right! The verse I want to share with you is from Colossians 1:28,29. It says "We proclaim Him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end I labor, struggling with all His energy, which so powerfully works in me." As a homeschooling mom it's my job to seek God's wisdom in my daily life and teach that wisdom to my children. My ultimate goal is that they become Christians who live a life for Christ and seek His will and follow the path He has put down for them.

Verse 29 is a scripture I have been clinging to for the past several days and when things feel too tough for me to handle I repeat the verse over and over to myself. I love that when I am laboring and struggling through my day that HIS ENERGY, which is POWERFULLY working in me helps me to go forward and work towards the goals I have set for myself and my family. It has really inspired me to press on and not give up because sometimes things seem too overwhelming to me. I have always called myself a "defeated perfectionist." This coming from the fact that I see how I would like things to be done or handled, but don't believe that I can do it in the perfect way I would like, so I just don't try. I defeat myself before I even try it! I know this isn't the way God wants me to be, but honestly I have never been able to get out of that mindset. This verse has given me the strength to look past my feelings of defeat and move forward knowing that it's not my energy or power that will help me, but it is all God's energy flowing through me and helping me to far exceed my expectations or goals. God is so good and He truly loves me and wants the best for me and He wants me to be my best!

Spiritual Wisdom

Fri, 15 Sep 2006 05:08:00 -0500

This week I've been meditating on Colossians 1. It's a section of scripture that's chock full of encouragement and strength I need. I've been focusing on verses

10-12 where it talks about living a life worthy of the Lord and pleasing Him in EVERY WAY. It goes on to say that we should bear fruit in EVERY good work, GROW in the knowledge of God, and be STRENGTHENED with His power so that we might have great ENDURANCE and PATIENCE and can JOYFULLY give thanks to the Father.

These verses are so powerful! So often I go through my day and admittingly I don't give thought to how I am pleasing the Lord in EVERY WAY. This week I have been really trying to dwell on this and bring my daily focus back to pleasing Him throughout my day. So often I focus on "trying" to be there for my husband and children and "trying" to meet their needs, but usually it gets turned around so quickly into my giving up and focusing back on myself and what I'm not getting out of it. I've found this week that when my focus is on God in EVERYTHING I do then I am so much more enabled by God to focus on my family and love them the way He wants me to. As I serve them and meet their needs, I am really serving God and He allows me to truly be JOYFUL about it.

I have by no means been perfect this week, but boy it seems that it has really made my life a little easier when this simple principle was realized! So often I find myself banging my head against the wall trying to do things "my way" when it is so much easier to just follow God and the path He has laid out for me. I am so stubborn sometimes!!

Finally, another post.

Sun, 10 Sep 2006 05:55:00 -0500

O.K. So I'm not so good at posting every day. The best time for me to add a blog entry is early in the morning, while it's still quiet. Lately, as soon as I get up then the baby gets up and it's almost impossible to think, let alone write. This morning I set my alarm a little earlier and here I am with both girls already up. But the older one is playing with the baby so it's actually allowing me a few minutes to type!

We started school this past week and it went well, but we didn't get to it as often as I would have liked. It seemed like things kept popping up that kept us from finishing everything. Madison is in 1st grade this year and I wonder if I am too laid back about her schooling. It seems that so many I talk to are very regimented in their schooling and I'm not so much. I don't mean that we never do school at all. I am a planner, so I do have blocks scheduled throughout the week where we will sit and get things done. It's just that I don't worry too much if we don't finish it when I have us planned to. I guess because I know that we can double up on lessons if we have to. Also, I let Madison go at her own pace in the math book, which means that very often we are going through several lessons at one sitting because she gets it. I have been homeschooling on and off for 11 years now and I guess my being laid back is from having done this before with my son. Still, I think some times I need much more structure!!!

My mind is racing...

Sun, 20 Aug 2006 06:25:00 -0500

I have so many things constantly running through my head! I haven't slept well the last week or so because I keep dreaming all night long about things going on in my life. It's really driving me crazy. I wish my mind would just calm down at night and let me sleep.

I have been looking for ways to organize myself this coming school year. I am a big planner and I do so well if I have a "list" to follow. I went to TheHomeschoolMom.com and printed out a calendar and some chore charts and weekly schedule forms. At donnayoung.org I found some forms to help me keep track of my high-schoolers grades. I now just need to get these all put in a binder and make up my weekly schedule. It seems that I will be quite busy this coming year with MOPS, sunday school teaching, my business and of course homeschooling. I am such a homebody so this really stretches me and makes me get out of my comfort zone. I know I will feel better about things when I get my schedule made--now it's just a matter of finding the time to make it!!

I'm Back!!!

Thu, 17 Aug 2006 16:14:00 -0500

O.K. So I have taken a very long time away from blogging!!! This summer has been so busy and I just couldn't seem to get the time to sit down and type out my thoughts. I am so looking forward to school getting started so that we'll be on some type of schedule. I am a planner and like to know how my days will be spent. This summer we've just been flying by the seat of our pants and it has drained me.

A lot has been changing since I last posted. I started back as a consultant with Close To My Heart, which is a stamping/scrapbooking home-based company. I love being a consultant with them and my business is doing very well. Sometimes I think too well as it seems that some weeks I'm not home very much at night. But I really enjoy teaching others the art of stamping and scrapbooking, so I will continue. We are still homeschooling Ryan and Madison and I will begin the classical approach with Madison for 1st grade this year. I am so excited and really looking forward to beginning!!

We will not officially begin schooling around here for a couple of more weeks, which is good since I just placed my order for my books this morning. As I said earlier, I am really looking forward to having a great school year.