I am first daughter of our WONDERFUL Heavenly father, second wife to Sonny for 12 years. Homeschool mom to three amazing kids Savannah 11, Wilson 8, and Logan 6. Doing our best to provide our kids the Firm Foundation of Jesus they need to walk in this world, while providing them with an education!! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/cummingsx5/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:12:00 -0500 Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:12:00 -0500 It is so nice when you can have a pretty simple (inexpensive) weekend, and your kids feel like you have given them the world....ahhh what a feeling! Friday night we went out to dinner with my mom in law for Sonny's birthday, then went to the mall just to walk around, then to the Petco, because we told the kids we would get a fish. Picked out a fish, came home and got "Grover" all situated in his new home. Sat morning I had plans to go to some yard sales with my mom; Logan and Savannah wanted to go with me and Wilson and Sonny went on an ALL DAY FISHING TRIP! We hung out with my mom for the day, after the sales, stopped to see my Mema (g'ma) and got to visit my cousin who has recently moved back here (I haven't seen him for years).  We got home and the kids were thrilled to help go through the yard sale stuff, and did a lot to help me around the house, sonny and Wilson got home a bit sun burnt, but WoW, they were a couple of happy, happy guys!  I believe Wilson really enjoyed his alone time with Dad (usually both boys go fishing) I know they have a good time when it is all 3 of them, but once in a while it is nice to have the one on one time. We even heard the kids saying later that night that their weekend was like having a birthday!!  That was awesome to hear!!! We didn't do anything major, but just hung out and did something "different" and for not being major, it seemed to have major impact. Especially for Wilson, who got some good building memories time in with Dad.  Sunday we had an awesome worship time and sermon, went to lunch with some friends from church and came home to just relax. Now here we are Monday....and getting back into routine, but so thankful for these simple weekends with beautiful weather and just some time to hang out!!! Hope everyone is having a blessed week! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/cummingsx5/722695/ Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:12:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/cummingsx5/722695/ Today was our first day of school and it went great! As I stated in my last entry we are starting out a bit different this year, but as of next week my kids all have an assignment from dad!  I love it when he gets "hands on " involved in school with us. He told the kids that since we are holding off on some of our subjects for the first couple of mo. that he had something they could work on. Tonight he blindfolded them and turned them in circles and then sent them towards the world map on the wall. It was quite funny to watch! Anyway the place that their finger landed is the place they have to research and tell him about in a couple of weeks.  This week we will get back in the swing of school, and get some books ordered from the library and then they will start their "projects" next week, they are soooo excited! They can't wait to impress daddy. Obviously what is expected of each will vary with their ages, but he still made sure everyone has something to study.  So here is the list: Savannah ~ Vietnam, Wilson~ Somalia, and Logan~Turkey. I think we have also decided that in Jan. when a very sweet young lady from our church leaves on a mission trip we are going to study the areas she will be in. On to other news, tomorrow my dear, sweet, wonderful hubby will be 34!  He really doesn't care much about birthdays, and since we are limited till the weekend on finances his gift will have to wait, but the kids and I do plan to do our best to make it a special day for him anyway. Hard to believe I have known him for 22 years!  So thankful for this wonderful blessing God has given me! Speaking of blessings and birthdays, Sonny shares his with my dear step momma, Cathy.  For the second year in a row, Cathy is out of town on their b-day.  So I am sending her long distance love and hoping she realizes how important she is to my life.  Feeling overwhelmed with blessings this evening and WOW, it's a good feeling to have!! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/cummingsx5/720401/ Mon, 24 Aug 2009 21:28:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/cummingsx5/720401/ Oh my ....last time I blogged was before summer really hit and now here we are at the end of it. So much has happened since then. Our move was first, we moved at the beginning of June and absolutely love it! We love our new house, we are only about 15 min. from our church, this is so much better than 45!! And still only about 3 min. from my mom and mom in law, and maybe 10-15 from my dad and stepmom. We are walking distance (bike ride for the kiddos) from dear friends which is nice to be so close to homeschooling families with my kids the same age!  All the kids are thrilled with that, and it's pretty nice for us moms too. At the end of June my baby boys turned 7! Don't know how that happened but it did and he is crazy thrilled about it! I love seeing the changes in my kids as they grow and mature in everything, but WOW, I miss my little babies and toddlers!!! The kids really don't get that though.  Since we gave up the big birthday parties, which really just boil down to being headaches and lots of money out the window.  Logan picked a friend to stay over and we took Wilson, Logan and their friend Jarrett out for pizza and bowling.  Savannah was gone for the evening and the boys loved it! They stayed up late crashed in the living room floor and had some fun "boy time". On his actual birthday we went swimming with friends and had a quiet dinner here with other friends it was so much better than the big party where you don't even get to speak to everyone and everything gets trashed!! LOL July around here was mostly quiet....and now here we are in August.  I am planning to start school next Monday, Savannah is excited and ready to get started, Wilson would like to pick out just a couple of things he "wants" to do and skip the rest (lol), and Logan really sees no need to start at all!!!! So we'll see how it goes.  I am ready to get started, ready to have a schedule again!!! We are doing things a bit different this year. I have really prayed about how we "always do things" and am realizing that part of homeschooling is being able to do what works for us, not what we have "always done". So when we start on the 24th, we will be working on our Bible, Math, Reading, Grammar (Spelling/Phonics), and in October we will add in our History and Science. I am very excited about the History and Science this year, but feel like we need to spend some time REALLY WORKING on the basics before we go in head first into everything else!  Sonny and I discussed this a couple of times and we both feel like this is where we are being led, and the best decision for our kiddos at this time. Very excited to have had these talks with hubby and feeling confident in what we have decided as a team!!! What a feeling! So now that summer has flown by, I am really planning on keeping up on this blog with some type of consistency....we'll see how that works out as well. Hope everyone is off to a great new year of school ! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/cummingsx5/718420/ Tue, 18 Aug 2009 11:03:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/cummingsx5/718420/ Yes, today is my mom's birthday, and it was a good day.  Obviously with the move and trying to get ready for all of that there isn't a whole lot of "extra funds" floating around.  Not that she expects anything, but my kids were so sweet, in the last 2 days they have spent all of "their own earned money" on other people and for very good reasons!!! Yesterday the boys bought flowers for my stepmom, they said Grandma would need cheered up, since the funeral and all that, and they also bought a flower for their Aunt Mel, since she was in the hospital last week, then this morning they spent the 3 of them spent the rest of their money to buy flowers for mom for her birthday.  Such proud mommy moments....they are thinking of others.  It is so cool to see their excitement to be doing for others. So anyway our day today, we ran a couple of errands, then over to wish my mom a happy birthday with cupcakes, and the flowers from the kids.  We had lunch there and sat outside to visit while the kids played in the sprinklers.  It was a great day! In other news, my dad had his 5th surgery on his thumb today!!!! I am so hoping that this is finally the last one!! He always says it's no big deal, but surgery is surgery!!! And when they keep doing the same one over and over something just  doesn't seem right, but I am still praying that this time the surgery did it's job!! I did manage to get a few things done around the house today too, so all in all it was a good day hope everyone else had the same!! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/cummingsx5/691356/ Thu, 21 May 2009 18:04:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/cummingsx5/691356/ It has only been a few weeks since I last blogged, yet it feels like forever!!! I am guessing because things have been absolutely CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!  So where to begin, we are all so excited about the upcoming move we have 18 days till we are officially moved! But with moving as we all know comes packing, going through stuff, extra cleaning and MORE PACKING!  Not so much on the fun side, but we are slowly getting there. With the decision to move, came the decision of how long to do school up till the move. I had the best of intentions to school till Memorial Day; and with the "fun" of packing and doing school my husband came home to find me,  a little crazy!  So he made the call that it was time to concentrate on the move, and get back into lessons after the move, then we will school till the end of June.  At first I felt pretty guilty not getting all of our lessons done, and only reading library books, but looking around my house and what we have accomplished, I will say Sonny made the best call possible! Funny how when I give up the control things work out! Savannah also had her dance recital last weekend, yea another busy weekend, with rehearsal and recital and all the fun that comes with that, but it was so much fun to watch her.  She has been in dance for 8 years now, and was acknowledged on stage for that; along with a personalized t-shirt...pretty cool for her!  She is growing into such a young lady, I miss my little girl, but so pleased with the young lady taking her place! So now I guess we are up to this last week, my dearest, bestest friend gave us all a HUGE scare this week passing out at work and ending up in the hospital for 2 days.  Through all the tests they have found some type of mass on her brain, more tests are required to find out what it is, so obviously much prayer going up for Mel!! The Dr. called it a coincidnence that they she fell and had to have the tests that found the mass, we have decided God knocked her on her butt, so it could be found.  A week ago today I went with my stepmom to check out possible nursing homes for my Grandma to go to in order to finish her recovery before she went home.  This wonderful dear woman went into the hospital in Jan. for surgery (which went very well) and all sorts of other things started going wrong with her after the surgery.  She was on a roller coaster of better, worse and back & forth.  The nursing home day was rough to think about, because you see my Grandma is the one who took care of things, not had people waiting on her! I think the most I ever seen, was her letting someone get her a cup of coffee.  But Cathy and I did it, and we leaned on each other, and went in knowing it would be temporary.  After Monday, Grandma took a turn for the worse, and on Friday morning she went home to dance with Jesus!  Oh, the mixture of sadness and joy....so much to try to balence! I just knew a nursing home wasn't the place for Grandma, but sure wasn't ready for her to go either. Sad because we won't have her with us anymore, and so VERY VERY SAD for my Grandpa.  But so happy for my Grandma and what she is experiencing right now.....Wow, just trying to imagine, it is simply impossible!  Our family has had huge support from our friends, church family and just each other through all of this. My dear cousin spoke at Grandma's funeral today and did a wonderful job, it is so great to see her at 18 get up there with such love and faith in the Lord and KNOW where Grandma is and be happy for that. So my prayers are, and I ask that you reading pray with me, for Mel and her tests as well as for Grandpa who has lost his beautiful wife of almost 55 years, as well as my stepmom, Uncle and the rest of the family. So that about sums up the last couple of weeks, school around here has been our Bibles, a bit of library and a whole lot of "real life"! Blessings to all! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/cummingsx5/690354/ Mon, 18 May 2009 22:18:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/cummingsx5/690354/ I am so excited.....we went and looked at another house last weekend, and at the beginning of June we will be moving!!! I am so happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!  We will actually be renting the house for about a year and then have the opportunity to buy it, which in the long run works out better for us anyway....hmmm....think that is the message I was supposed to be getting all along?  Funny, how once we stopped stressing about it, OK I was mostly the one stressing....but anyway that stopped and we really went into prayer with thanksgiving...you know praying knowing that God knows best and WILL  provide, and in one week, we find a house, meet the owners (who by the way are sooooo nice), look at and agree on the house, and have furniture given to us by a GREAT family at church!!!!  My kids are so excited about the move, they can't wait to pack and move, we are taking them on Saturday to see the house, and take some measurements.  We are going to sell a few items we have that won't work at the new house, it is like anything else, there are alway a few things that you wish were different, but over all it is just what we have been waiting for! The living room will be a bit smaller, and the kitchen a bit bigger, big plus is the bedrooms are all bigger, and there is an extra bathroom....wooooo hooooooo!!!!! Fenced in yard...loving this!!! And Sonny's dream of a garage comes true at last!  We will be about 30 min. from my mom and mom in law, and about 15 from my dad/stepmom and church.  So all in all the location will be great for us. Besides a few other home school families already in the area. So with all the excitement we are doing our best to get some school work done as well, the last 2 days have only consisted of reading and Math.  My plan is to continue school up to Memorial Day take a week off since Sonny is going to be on vacation, and we will be moving, then pick back up the 2nd week of June till the end of June.  The break will probably do us all some good, because I am having a very hard time getting motivated these days, and as you know if mom can't get motivated, it really carries through to the kids.  So that is my update/blessing report for the day!!! Blessings to all! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/cummingsx5/685952/ Tue, 5 May 2009 14:23:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/cummingsx5/685952/ First of all we had a wonderful Easter, the service at church was great! And then we had a great day with family...although a bit sad since my grandma is still in the hospital and was very missed by all.  School is going great, we took off Thursday, Friday and Monday for Easter, so back to work tomorrow.  We are all ready to get back into our routine....to many days off and we have a very hard time getting back into everything. So as for my title "prayer', I am feeling like I need some lately.  I find myself really struggling with just "letting go", I have been really trying to not "be anxious" and let God take care of things, knowing full well that he can do SO MUCH BETTER THAN I COULD EVER DREAM OF!  So why do I let myself stress about "stuff" and get so anxious?  I keep giving these unspoken requests to God, then I am taking them back, by lettin myself worry about whatever the issue is.  So that is my request tonight, please pray with/for me as I work on this.  Without going into details, I just have so much on my mind lately and it really is ridiculous, knowing that there is NOTHING I can do, besides give these things to God, and wait.  http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/cummingsx5/678982/ Mon, 13 Apr 2009 23:11:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/cummingsx5/678982/ I haven't kept up on this blog like planned...but I am here now so what's new?  Last Wednesday (April 1st) my dear, sweet beautiful little girl turned 12!  She was so excited.  While part of me can't help but be sad at her getting older and growing up, another part of m is just as excited as her to see the young lady she is becoming!  My Savannah is such a sweet, giving, person!   I am so proud to be her mom.  So on her birthday she picked out her menu for "birthday lunch"  which consisted of Chicken Alfredo, Baked potato, corn and rolls, with a surprise ice cream cake!  After Sonny got home, she opened her gifts...a Nintendo DS, and this SUPER COOL NEW BIBLE for teen girls, it is so cool, we have been going through it reading all the "love notes" from God.  She also had a new purse and t-shirt from her brothers, which they actually picked out and bought with their own money....ok yes another proud mommy moment, they spent their own money on their sister!!!!!  Sweet boys.  We usually go to church on Wed. nights for dinner and then classes for the whole family. We love it, lots of fun! Savannah was given the choice last week, if she would like to go, or have an evening at home with the family.  She picked going to church so she wouldn't miss out on the monthly service project her youth group does!  YAY!!! She didn't think of herself, but of going to volunteer her time for someone else's needs.  I am so thankful to God for the wonderful blessing Savannah is to our lives, as well as everyone else who gets to know her!  I am so happy that I have the chance to homeschool my kids, and teach them what should come first, and to see them "getting it" and wanting to go out and share the love of Jesus with others! As for school stuff....our year is moving along pretty well, with all that happened with Sonny's injury it did have an impact of how much we got done at the beginning of the year, so we will be doing school through June, taking July off and hopefully starting around the 3rd week of August.  I am pretty happy with everything we are using this year and plan to continue with most (maybe all) of it, with just a few possible changes.  I will definately continue with My Father's World for Bibe, History, Science.  I am going to use Easy Grammar again with Savannah, along with Spelling Power, she will continue her Spanish with The Learnables, I think I am going to keep using Saxon for her, but not definate on that yet? I will also add in Apologia Science for her along with what is offered by MFW.   Wilson loves the MFW as well, and will continue with Singapore Math, and probably continue with the Explode the Code, still trying to decide if I am going to add in a Grammar for him??? As for Logan, he also does well with MFW, obviously what is at his level, he also will continue with the Code books, and probably with Happy Phonics as well.  He is having some struggles with some of the phonics right now, as of right now the Saxon Math seems to fit him pretty good.  So that is my list for now, I really need to actually do some purchasing, but that is still on hold!  Luckily everyone ships pretty quick so it isn't going to hurt for me to order a little later this year....or at least that is what I keep telling myself! As for the hope and plans of moving....we are still waiting...praying....waiting....praying!  Hopefully something will come along and we'll get to be in the area we really want to be and my hope and prayer is soon, but I am so trying not to be anxious about all of this! Not always an easy task, but still really trying! So that is my update for now, hope all are doing well, and getting ready to celebrate OUR LIVING LORD in just a few more days!!!! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/cummingsx5/677365/ Wed, 8 Apr 2009 22:24:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/cummingsx5/677365/ Ok, not much time to blog this morning...we all kinda slept in a little!  But I just had to get on and share my news from Sunday!! Wilson made his decision yesterday morning and Sonny baptized him at the beginning of church service!! What a moment...I remember when Savannah made the same decision, and now to add one more of my kiddos to the kingdom....wow my heart is full!!  He was kinda nervous about all the people watching, but told me later that he really only seen a couple of faces in the crowd, he was listening to Mr. Steve (our youth minister) and concentrating on his dad!   I was so proud of both of them, to watch Sonny holding our son right before and after his baptizim was such a beautiful moment; wouldn't trade it for the world!  The funny part is that Wilson is my quiet one (usually because he is planning something..lol) but doesn't like a lot of attention on himself, so he was a little overwhelmed by all of his hugs and well wishes after church!  Also mentioning my day and it's events on my facebook page gave me the chance to "talk" with an old friend about church and God and she is searching and not finding any place for her family to feel connected.  She was asking me many questions, and it sounds like she may be interested in visiting our church!!! I am sooooo EXCITED by this, we probably haven't really talked for 15 years....I ran into her once when Savannah was a baby just enough to say hi, but we were so close when we were very young, I would love to stay in touch with her, and love even more to be a part in helping her reconnect with God! So praying for wisdom in how to minister to her and her family!! After church we had a baby shower to throw...there are usually 4 of us that head up the shower ministry but this time we had 1 out of town with some well deserved husband time, and 1 down sick! So it was just 2 of us and probably the biggest shower we have ever had!!!!  Little overwhelming at times...but it turned out great and mom & baby got lots of cool stuff! And WOW we were soooo tired after this was all over!  Now a comment for our ladies who were missing at the shower...Shari and I totally understood, and missed you both very much....but WE EXPECT TO SEE YOU BOTH IN APRIL FOR THE NEXT ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So those are my wonderful and busy updates from yesterday...and I am expecting a wonderful week of school this week! Hope everyone is having a great Monday!! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/cummingsx5/669133/ Mon, 16 Mar 2009 09:07:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/cummingsx5/669133/ Every year the high school kids from our church go "Inner City Mission" it is a Christian Homeless shelter, there is an amazing group of adults who go with the kids every year and they spend the first day working on things, fixing, painting whatever they need help with, then they spend the night and get up and worship with everyone before coming home!  Sonny has gone for the past 3 years and loves it, he always comes back recharged and "on fire" it is so cool to see.  Well this year he decided that he thought Savannah should go with him, she isn't actually old enough it is supposed to be only for the high school kids, but since Sonny always goes, and got permission ahead of time she was able to go.  I wasn't sure how I felt about it at first, I kept thinking she is Jr. High age, why throw her in with a bunch of high schoolers???? (even though we have a great group of kids)  Sonny's response was I will be there with her and after experiencing this myself I think it is something that she should experience, regardless of age, to see this group of people who live there and have barely a thing, but are so thankful and in love with the Lord NO MATTER WHAT!!  As we are seeing our little girl become a young lady (she'll be 12 in a little over 3 weeks) we are seeing so many changes in her already and yes they are pretty much all positive, but it never hurts to be sure your kids have some perspective!  And the fact that she was so excited to get to go with her daddy and help other people!!  Priceless!! Besides she told me this morning before they left that she thought she should go and watch out that dad doesn't "do to much with his bad hand"  So even with my reservations in the beginning I understood what Sonny was saying and stood back (where I should be more often than I am) and followed his lead on the decision to take her.  This meant a day for me and the boys after we dropped them off at church EARLY THIS MORNING, we came home and got the bikes out and they were riding like crazy all morning!! They came in and helped me do some organizing (all there idea) .  After lunch outside we did a bit of running around.  We took the dog for a walk, and now tonight it is movie/popcorn time and they get to "camp out" in the living room!!  Pretty simple, but all in all a great day with my little men!  And I can't wait to hear about Sonny and Savannah's day tomorrow. I'm off to get the snacks out! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/cummingsx5/666384/ Sat, 7 Mar 2009 18:12:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/cummingsx5/666384/