My Four Miracles - Homeschool Blogger

HE is in the house!

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 02:17:00 -0500

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

Let me fill you in.

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

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

Until next time...

Trusting in HIM,

Shirley

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

Noisy sleepers

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 01:19:00 -0500

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

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

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

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

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

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

In Christ,

Shirley

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

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 13:32:00 -0500

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

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

In Christ,

Shirley

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

my hungry girl

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 05:59:00 -0500

Guess who is eating from a spoon!!!

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

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

In Christ,

Shirley

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

Loving this Christian based Unschooling!!!!

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 22:50:00 -0500

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

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

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

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

Bye for now!

In Christ,

Shirley

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

THANK YOU JESUS!!!!!

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 18:47:00 -0500

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

Trusting in Him,

Shirley

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

Give them an inch and they take a mile!

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 07:28:00 -0500

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

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

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

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

In Christ,

Shirley

Wed, 9 Sep 2009 06:28:00 -0500

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

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

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

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

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

In Christ,

Shirley

They all love the snake!

Mon, 7 Sep 2009 12:42:00 -0500

The pictures I promised

Sun, 6 Sep 2009 19:01:01 -0500

Bess Beetle

Rat snake?

The mating of the mantis

thought this was a neat picture of the female mantis

"writing" spider

Love bugs

Sun, 6 Sep 2009 19:01:00 -0500

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

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

New critters

Sun, 6 Sep 2009 12:55:00 -0500

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

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

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

In Christ,

Shirley

Looking for a local support group for special needs homeschoolers

Sat, 5 Sep 2009 11:38:00 -0500

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

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

In Christ,

Shirley

A very important prayer request

Thu, 3 Sep 2009 07:08:01 -0500

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

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

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

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

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

Trusting in Him,

Shirley

Excited about day 4!!!

Thu, 3 Sep 2009 07:08:00 -0500

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

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

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

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

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

Bye for now!

In Christ,

Shirley

Loving school this year!

Wed, 2 Sep 2009 19:08:00 -0500

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

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

A Lesson from a Cicada

Wed, 2 Sep 2009 08:44:00 -0500

We are doing nature studies this year. That means that we pay attention to all the things growing, flying, creeping and crawling all around us. We catch a critter when we can and observe it. We look it up so that we can find out what it is and how it lives. Right now we have a pretty good sized praying mantis. We have and inch worm. We have some kind of caterpillar (we haven't correctly identified it yet). We have what we call a writing spider (it is some kind of orb spider). And we have a cicada. This is our second cicada. The first one perched on a stick and died. The spider was bitten by the mantis and is also dead. I'm hoping that the mantis intends to eat the spider and only killed it in advance so that the spider didn't strike first.

I am writing to share with you something I observed with the cicada. They are more like people than I realized!

We have put the spider, the cicada and the mantis together in a 10 gallon aquarium. We expect the mantis to eat the other two. In the short time that the spider was alive it spun a small web in the bottom corner of the aquarium. It is very, very small. The cicada walked into it and got stuck. I freed it. A few minutes later it was down there again. So, I freed it again. I think this same thing happened about 4 times. Guess where the cicada is right now at this very moment? Yep. It is in the web again. Now this web is so small. It isn't the kind that they spin to catch food in. It is just a few thin strings around the bottom corner where the spider was moving around. Yet the cicada keeps getting stuck in the same small trap in the same tiny corner of a pretty big space. even though I kept rescuing it, it kept going right back into the same trap again and again. You would think it would have learned to avoid that corner after getting caught a time or two, but it didn't. It just kept going right back into the same mess.

This made me think of how we are. We go wandering around our world and sooner or later we get caught up in some trap or another. While we are hanging out in the "web" we are looking around, thinking about our predicament. We think, "How in the world did I end up here? Boy I wish I had that last move to make over again. I wouldn't make this mistake again!" We see our error clearly when we are stuck in the middle of our mess looking back at the decisions that got us there. Hind sight is 20/20 isn't it?! We usually struggle and fight and work and work to fix our mess and try to escape the "web". Then we end up with a bigger, stickier mess than we started with. finally, we put our problem in the hands of God. He frees us from the mess and we go on our way. But then after a trip around the "aquarium" we get caught in the very same trap again. It happens over and over. I wonder if God watches us like I was watching the cicada and he shouts "Don't go that way! There's a sticky mess ahead! Turn around!" I know he does. He speaks to us and guides us, giving us the directions we need to navigate this life. But so many of us are in a dead run. We are in too much of a hurry and we are too distracted to hear Him and follow His leading. So, we end up in the same messes again and again.

Thank God that His mercies are new every morning!

In Christ,

Shirley

It has begun!

Tue, 1 Sep 2009 12:24:00 -0500

Yesterday was our first day of school. It went pretty well. I feel pretty good about this approach (Christian unschooling) but I have to say I am a little nervous about it. I'm not worried that it will not be effective. On the contrary, I think this is going to be the way they learn best. It is fun and spontaneous. It is much less stressful. They are always interested in what we are studying. I am mostly only worried about what everyone else will think about it. I mean, we aren't following the same path as the public school so my kids won't learn the same things in the same order. Other kids their age may learn some things before my boys do and my boys may learn things that they aren't teaching in school yet. Of course most people are going to focus on the things the boys don't know yet. I'm sure you all know how it is. I guess I need to stop worrying so much about what everyone else thinks. I've always had trouble with that. Maybe you guys could pray for me about that.

We are almost finished for today. We just have to finish our nature study notebook entry from yesterday. It is about the Mantis. During the nature study we were able to address the following subjects: life science, math, phonics, spelling and handwriting. Many birds- one stone. I like that!

Jacob has fallen asleep so break time is over.

Bye for now!

In Christ,

Shirley

A Jellyfish Bad Day

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 19:03:00 -0500

A friend emailed this to me (thanks, Marie!) and I thought it was so funny I had to share it.

If you don't laugh out loud after you read this you are in a coma! This is even funnier when you realize it's real! Next time you have a bad day at work think of this guy.

Rob is a commercial saturation diver for Global Divers in Louisiana . He performs underwater repairs on offshore drilling rigs. Below is an E-mail he sent to his sister. She then sent it to radio station 103.2 FM in Ft. Wayne , Indiana , who was sponsoring a worst job experience contest. Needless to say, she won.

Hi Sue,

Just another note from your bottom-dwelling brother. Last week I had a bad day at the office. I know you've been feeling down lately at work, so I thought I would share my dilemma with you to make you realize it's not so bad after all.

Before I can tell you what happened to me, I first must bore you with a few technicalities of my job.

As you know, my office lies at the bottom of the sea. I wear a suit to the office. It's a wet suit. This time of year the water is quite cool.

So what we do to keep warm is this: We have a diesel powered industrial water heater. This $20,000 piece of equipment sucks the water out of the sea. It heats it to a delightful temperature.

It then pumps it down to the diver through a garden hose, which is taped to the air hose. Now this sounds like a darn good plan, and I've used it several times with no complaints.

What I do, when I get to the bottom and start working, is take the hose and stuff it down the back of my wet suit. This floods my whole suit with warm water. It's like working in a Jacuzzi.

Everything was going well until all of a sudden, my butt started to itch. So, of course, I scratched it. This only made things worse. With in a few seconds my butt started to burn...I pulled the hose out from my back, but the damage was done. In agony I realized what had happened.

The hot water machine had sucked up a jellyfish and pumped it into my suit. Now, since I don't have any hair on my back, the jellyfish couldn't stick to it. However, the crack of my butt was not as fortunate.

When I scratched what I thought was an itch, I was actually grinding the jellyfish into the crack of my butt.

I informed the dive supervisor of my dilemma over the communicator. His instructions were unclear due to the fact that he, along with five other divers, were all laughing hysterically.

Needless to say I aborted the dive. I was instructed to make three agonizing in-water decompression stops totaling thirty-five minutes before I could reach the surface
to begin my chamber dry decompression.

When I arrived at the surface, I was wearing nothing but my brass helmet. As I climbed out of the water, the medic, with tears of laughter running down his face, handed me a tube of cream and told me to rub it on my butt as soon as I got in the chamber.

The cream put the fire out, but I couldn't poop for two days because my butt was swollen shut..

So, next time you're having a bad day at work, think about how much worse it would be if you had a jellyfish shoved up your butt.

Now repeat to yourself, 'I love my job, I love my job, I love my job.'

Now whenever you have a bad day, ask yourself, is this a jellyfish bad day?

May you NEVER have a jellyfish bad day!!!!! Pass this on to all your friends, just in case they’re having a bad day!!!

Autistic Teens Master Social Cues, Find Friends

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:19:00 -0500

Filed at 12:35 p.m. ET

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Thirteen-year-old Andrea Levy ticked off a mental list of rules to follow when her guest arrived: Greet her at the door. Introduce her to the family. Offer a cold drink.

Above all, make her feel welcome by letting her choose what to do.

''Do you want to make pizza now or do you want to make it later?'' the lanky, raven-haired teen rehearsed in the kitchen, as her mother spread out dough and toppings.

This was a pivotal moment for Andrea, a girl who invited just one acquaintance to her bat mitzvah.

Andrea has autism, and socializing doesn't come naturally. For the past several weeks, she's gone to classes that teach the delicate ins and outs of making friends -- an Emily Post rules of etiquette for autistic teens.

For Andrea, this pizza date is the ultimate test.

The bell rings. The door opens. Can she remember what she needs to do?

More important, will she make a friend?

Even for socially adept kids, the teen years, full of angst and peer pressure, can be a challenge. It's an especially difficult time for kids with autism spectrum disorders, a catchall term for a range of poorly understood brain conditions -- from the milder Asperger's syndrome to more severe autism marked by lack of eye contact, poor communication and repetitive behavior such as head-banging.

An estimated 1 in 150 American children has some form of autism. There's no known cure. Some research suggests autistic kids who get help early can overcome some of their deficits. But the social skills they learn as a toddler may not be so useful to a teen.

''A lot of our kids need a tune-up. They need new skills to help them survive in their new social world,'' said clinical psychologist Elizabeth Laugeson of the University of California, Los Angeles, who runs a 3 1/2-month friendship program for high-functioning autistic teens like Andrea.

Growing up, Andrea hardly had friends at all. They either moved away or grew tired by her inability to emotionally connect.

When she was 18 months old, her parents noticed something was amiss. Instead of babbling, she would cry or scream to get attention. She had no desire to play, even with her older brother.

Some doctors said not to worry; others thought she had a speech impairment.

None of the answers made sense to Andrea's parents until two medical experts, including a pediatrician who specialized in developmental disorders, diagnosed her as autistic.

The family soon enrolled Andrea in special play therapy.

''We try and help her make friends, but she's always a step behind her peers,'' said her mother, Gina Levy.

In some respects, Andrea is a typical teenage girl who is crazed about celebrity gossip magazines, romance novels, drama and chorus. But she can be withdrawn and doesn't always get the subtleties of body language and other nonverbal signs.

Whenever she gets stuck in a conversation, she tends to stare, making people around her uncomfortable. She doesn't mean to be impolite -- it's just her way of watching and learning.

''I know I'm weird and I know I'm not normal,'' said Andrea, who looks like a young Anne Hathaway with braces. ''I've always known I'm not normal.''

Andrea found company from nine other high-functioning autistic teens who enrolled in a 14-week friendship boot camp earlier this year. More than 100 teens have graduated from the UCLA Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills, or PEERS for short, which costs $100 a session and is covered by many insurers.

Unlike other autism interventions, parents also must participate. They learn to become social coaches for their children so that their new skills can be retained when the program is over.

Every week, Laugeson, a peppy clinical psychologist known as ''Dr. Liz,'' leads the students through a maze of social survival skills: how to have a two-way conversation, how to trade information to find common interests, how to gracefully enter a conversation and how to be a good host. In class, the teens role-play with one another and also must practice what they've learned outside of class in weekly homework assignments.

Laugeson peppers the lessons with friendly reminders about proper etiquette:

''Don't be a conversation hog.''

''Give a cover story for why you are calling.''

''Don't be an interviewer.''

''Say you're sorry when you make someone angry, sad or upset.''

''You need to trade information at least 50 percent of the time during the get-togethers.''

Earlier this year, Laugeson published a study in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders on how the parent-involved training has worked so far. In a study of 33 autistic teens, those who went through the program had more friends come to their houses than those who did not.

''There isn't much research on social group training that incorporates parents. That's a key factor for success,'' said Barbara Becker-Cottrill, who heads the West Virginia Autism Training Center at Marshall University. She has no connection with PEERS, but has reviewed Laugeson's research. ''Parents are children's first and probably best teachers.''

Despite the gains, Laugeson said the program is not a cure-all. Parents know this and don't expect their children to blossom into social butterflies overnight.

Andrea's mother has two goals: ''I hope she becomes a better conversationalist and feels more comfortable around her peers.''

Andrea's journey through an unfamiliar social world has been filled with some stumbles.

During a role-playing exercise, she was paired with a classmate to talk about their favorite book. Andrea was so eager to share her love of ''Gone with the Wind'' that she lapsed into a two-minute monologue about the plot. A counselor stepped in and reminded her not to be a ''conversation hog.''

One of Andrea's early attempts to inject herself into an existing conversation revealed some awkwardness. As a group of classmates chatted away about an animated movie, Andrea stood aloof, avoiding eye contact and unsure of what to do. Laugeson pulled her aside, advised her to listen and find a pause.

By the time Andrea rejoined the group, the discussion had switched to macadamia nuts. Andrea saw an opening and chimed in: ''Well, I've tried macadamia nuts and they're pretty good. When I was little, I would eat a lot.''

As time went on, Andrea's confidence improved. Through practice, she has let go of her tendency to be an interviewer during phone calls. On her own, she came up with the idea of asking the kids who were signing her yearbook to jot down their phone numbers too, a ploy that won her praise from the counselors and gave her a pool of potential friends to call.

Other teens in the class also progressed, but at a slower pace.

A fellow 13-year-old, Elias Cazares Jr., was diagnosed with autism two years ago. He displays more outward signs of the disorder -- rocking back and forth, constantly blinking, fidgeting with his face. Elias is obsessed with video games and talks of nothing else.

Unlike Andrea who got therapy growing up, this is the first time Elias has had professional help.

At times the pressure is too much. One day after class, Elias had a meltdown and refused to do the following week's homework -- calling someone outside of the group. Elias confided to Laugeson that he was teased at school and did not want to befriend the bullies. She calmed him down and said he could dial a cousin instead.

Despite the struggles, Elias' father is proud of the small steps he's taken: He recently called his neighbor to schedule a get-together. He also started making small talk with a younger kid in his hip-hop class, but he's been too afraid to ask for his phone number.

''What I want for him is a more normal life, to have at least one or two friends,'' said Elias Cazares Sr.

As the teens hone their bonding skills, parents gather separately for their own lesson.

UCLA postdoctoral fellow Alex Gantman, ''Dr. Alex,'' runs the parent session. It is a chance for them to talk about their kids' problems and progress and for Gantman to give pointers on helping the teens navigate their social surroundings.

One hard truth to face: There's a 50-50 chance that a kid will be rejected by peers, Gantman said, and it's OK to let them know that.

He points out that follow-up phone calls are critical in a budding friendship.

''Teens move on really quickly. Somebody else gets their attention and boom, they're gone unless you really develop a strong friendship bond,'' he said.

Gantman is working to expand the training to young autistic adults. They often struggle with dating skills as portrayed in the summer romance movie, ''Adam,'' about a young man with Asperger's who falls in love with his neighbor.

The PEERS program deals only with friendships, and teens must use the skills they learn in class in the real world. As part of their homework during the last month of the training, they had to play host to potential friends outside of the group.

Andrea invited over a fellow drama classmate with something in common. Both had a digestive problem that meant they couldn't eat foods containing wheat. So the two girls were going to make a gluten-free pizza.

Before the guest arrived, Andrea, dressed in a denim skirt and blouse, went over the steps of being a good host. The door bell buzzed. Her ponytailed guest was five minutes early and wearing a shy smile.

After exchanging pleasantries, the two gathered in the kitchen. Andrea got off to a slow start, standing at times with her arms crossed in front while her mother chatted away.

Then, she remembered her hosting duties and asked if the classmate wanted to add the pizza toppings first.

The guest deferred. ''You can go first.''

Andrea demonstrated: ''So you put a little bit of sauce ... and sprinkle on the cheese.''

''Perfect,'' the classmate replied.

After pizza, Andrea, with some prompting from her mother, asked what to do next.

The guest was indifferent so the two migrated to Andrea's room to watch a movie. After they got bored, they headed to the living room to play video games where Andrea got a chance to practice good sportsmanship.

Despite beating her guest in almost every round, Andrea threw out words of praise: ''Good job'' and ''Come on. You can do this.''

''You did well,'' Andrea said after winning the last round.

The two haven't hung out since the culinary experience. It's been an up-and-down time. But Andrea managed to have four get-togethers with a girl she met in chorus. And she's felt those familiar teen pangs of loss when she was stood up by another girl.

The older, wiser Andrea shook it off. She focused on a new set of possible friends she met while awaiting her turn to dive at the local swimming pool.

After overhearing that her schoolmates were on Facebook, she persuaded her mother to let her create a profile. She sent out ''a gazillion friend requests'' hoping a few will bite.

She has 33 friends and counting.