Homeschooling mom of 5, former public school music teacher, excited to be able to stay home to teach my own children! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/eastlandacademy/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:33:00 -0500 Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:33:00 -0500 My baby is graduating from Air Force Tech School! We are in Wichita Falls, TX, to see Zach graduate from Tech School tomorrow. He has been here at Sheppard Air Force Base for several weeks (we haven't had him at home since last April)! His next assignment is at Shaw AFB in South Carolina...and he has to report there by Saturday! David and I drove up early this morning and will head back home Friday. Thanks, Grandma, for keeping all the kids for us! And congratulations to my first baby...I am so proud of you! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/eastlandacademy/740222/ Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:33:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/eastlandacademy/740222/ I am a sad, sad Mommy. I asked my husband and the kids to clean out the van today while I was teaching my piano students, with the idea that we would rearrange the carseats to make things a little easier to get the baby into his seat (currently in the middle of the WAY back) and give Grandma a nice, comfy easy-to-get-to seat in the middle. Right now, we regularly transport 7-8 people, and we are using one regular adjustable carseat, now facing forward, for Andrew. We are using two booster seats with backs, armrests, and headrests for Thomas and Mary Clare, and John sits in one of two fully integrated carseats that came with our van...interestingly enough, seats that no one knew were there until my oldest, Zach, was messing around one day and flipped one open by accident! I know that the van salesman didn't know they were there, or we would have paid dearly for them three years ago when we got the van! :) Things went a little too well today.   :(    I am now the regular driver of a van that looks quite decidedly UNbaby... The WAY back now holds two small regular booster seats (no back...just the van headrests!) for Thomas and Mary Clare and an ADULT seatbelt in the center for John! Aaaack! Andrew will move into the middle seat and use one of the integrated seatbelts, leaving plenty of space for Grandma! I agree with my honey...it is the best use of space. But I am a sad, sad Mommy. Time for a new baby?  :) http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/eastlandacademy/739539/ Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:51:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/eastlandacademy/739539/ Goodness, has it really been that long since I've blogged? Bad blogger! Bad blogger! Oh, well...at least I'm back! :)   We've done lots of digging and looking and reading and praying and cost-comparing and have finally made some decisions about our curriculum choices for next year. We'll have two in First Grade (Congratulations to our recent Kindergarten Graduates, John and Thomas! Way to go, guys!) and Mary Clare will be in Kindergarten. Andrew is now 16 months and he'll continue to ransack the house and chew on unsharpened pencils while we're schooling! Sigh...   We'll be doing Saxon 1 for Math, Five in a Row for Language Arts (with Science, Social Studies, and Art combined), Explode the Code for Phonics, and a mix of workbooks for handwriting. We're also going to try a new Co-op group that I was invited to join. We'll let you know what we think!   Gotta run...did I mention Andrew is also a world-class climber and he likes to scale the kitchen cabinets now? Pray for meeeeeeeeee........! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/eastlandacademy/699498/ Mon, 15 Jun 2009 16:45:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/eastlandacademy/699498/ My daughter...my precious angel girl...is now MY SISTER IN CHRIST! Woo Hoo!   Mary Clare has been very close for a while now in her understanding of salvation and her own personal lostness, as well as Christ's perfect atonement for her sin through the cross. She has watched the boys accept Christ and seen others in our corporate worship services accept Christ and follow our Lord in belivers' baptism and has taken it all in with wide open eyes.   Well, tonight her conversation turned toward my Uncle Tom, "Grandma's baby brother" (who happened to have been the only 6'5" man in this family of "you're lucky to have made it to 5'4"ness...)! He passed away about a year and a half ago, and we speak often of missing him and, since he had asked Jesus into his heart a long time ago, getting to see him again in Heaven.    Well tonight, Miss Priss said, "I miss Uncle Tom." And we talked again about the joy we have in Christ in that Uncle Tom had Jesus in his heart, and if we have Jesus in our heart we will get to see Uncle Tom again in Heaven. To this, Mary Clare replied, "And have a big party, right?!?" That's my girl!   We went through the steps of salvation and just asked question after question, not pushing her but kind of guiding her conversation as she clarified to herself and to God what was going on in her heart and mind. She prayed her own sinner's prayer, telling God exactly what she was thinking and doing and why. Our eyes were open the whole time as she just talked to God like He was sitting right there at the table with us...and He was! How awesome is that?   Afterward, she wanted to call all of her friends to share the Good News! That's the best way to spread the Good News that I know of!   She is excited to go forward at church tomorrow to share her decision publicly with our church family. She is thrilled that Daddy will be baptizing her soon, and she is so excited to be able to participate in the Lord's Supper service ("I get to eat the bread and drink the juice now, right Mommy?")! Sweet.   Please pray for Mary Clare and her decision. Obviously, a four year old's understanding of salvation (albeit extremely accurate and on the money!) will grow as she gets older and understands more and more about Christ's sacrifice and our response, but she said it best in her prayer. "Jesus, I want you to come into my heart and take away all my sins and be my boss." It doesn't get any simpler than that!   I may not get any sleep tonight! :)   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/eastlandacademy/663745/ Sat, 28 Feb 2009 23:19:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/eastlandacademy/663745/ Our son, John, has been asking lots of questions about salvation lately (especially since his brother, Thomas, accepted Christ and was baptized a couple of months ago). Well, we were on a family vacation in Disneyworld last month (Dec. 7-12...it was awesome! Thank you, Grandma!) when things came up again.   Picture it...Epcot Center...World Showcase...Mexico Pavilion...the San Angel Inn Restaurant...table for seven for lunch... The kids were coloring in their children's menus, we were trying to decide what to eat, and the baby was gnawing on a Ritz cracker... and John leans over to me and says, "Mom, I want to ask Jesus in my heart." cool.   I said, "Ok...why do you want to ask Jesus into your heart?" (This is because his answer to this question several times earlier than this has been, "So I can eat the bread and the juice in church like Thomas!" He really wanted to participate in the Lord's Supper when Thomas did!)   He gave me a "Duh!" look and said, "Because he died on the cwoss for my sinses (sounded like senses) and I want to yive in Heaven wif him yater when I'm dead!" Ok! Sounds like he's figured this stuff out!   We prayed together right there at the table and my baby became my brother in Christ! So cool. He made his public profession of faith the next Sunday (after we got home from Disneyworld...they refused to let us stay there without paying for another week! :) and Daddy baptized him on Dec. 28. It was even more special because our beloved Bubba (our oldest son, Zachary) was home from the Air Force for Christmas break and got to watch the baptism.   John, I am so proud of you. I love watching you in worship as you give so fully your love to our Lord. You are a special boy and I am so happy to be your Mommy.  http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/eastlandacademy/644292/ Sun, 11 Jan 2009 23:28:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/eastlandacademy/644292/ We are in Abilene, TX, getting ready to leave for the court house...Andrew's adoption day is here! We brought the whole family, including Grandma, with us, and David's parents met us here. We'll meet with our lawyer at his office at 10:15a.m., Court is at 11:00a.m., and then we'll go back to Christian Homes (the best adoption agency ever...check it out at christianhomes.com ) for his Consummation Celebration! Thank you, Lord, for strong healthy babies and for the wonderful birthmoms who love them enough to choose life for them! And thank you, Lord, for Andrew Charles Eastland! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/eastlandacademy/606379/ Thu, 9 Oct 2008 06:20:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/eastlandacademy/606379/ ...is my son's new title! Zachary graduated from Air Force Basic Training and we are all here in San Antonio to celebrate with him! He will be here on this base about two more weeks, waiting for Top Secret Security Clearance (wow!) stuff and then he will get his orders to report to tech school. We are so proud of you, Zachary! Love, Mom and Dad Way to go, Bubba! We love you! Love, John, Thomas, Mary Clare, and Andrew http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/eastlandacademy/606373/ Fri, 10 Oct 2008 17:16:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/eastlandacademy/606373/ Grrrrrrrrreat news! My son, Thomas, asked Jesus into his heart!   He is only 4 years old, but he has been asking tons of questions ever since Vacation Bible School. At the end of August (before our evacuation saga), we were finishing up a worship service with the invitation hymn and he leaned over to me and said, "I want Jesus in my heart!" His Daddy (and my wonderful hubby) took him in the back to talk further about where he was in his understanding of everything, and a few minutes later they both came back in the sanctuary beaming! David said he really had a good understanding of what salvation was and what Jesus did for us on the cross!   He told the congregation that Sunday, but we didn't push the idea of baptism on him. I figured when he was ready, he would bring it up. Well, he did! This Sunday, he went up to talk to "Uncle Carl," our pastor, and told him he wanted to join the church and get baptized "and stand there so everybody can shake my hand, too!" He and Daddy toured the baptistry after church and talked about how it would work, and he seems very excited. His biggest request was a towel RIGHT THERE (indicating his left hand) to use on his face as soon as he comes up from the water. That's how my poor water-fearing baby gets his hair washed, too, so I wasn't surprised at the request! It doesn't matter if the towel is dripping wet, just as long as he can wipe his face with it ASAP! :)   My heart is so full...thank you God for your promises!   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/eastlandacademy/606372/ Mon, 6 Oct 2008 20:06:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/eastlandacademy/606372/ We made it back home to the land of email, internet, and cell phones! Yeah!   But ya know what? I kind of miss our little house in the country where the boys could run freely and we watched three channels (3, 6, and 12 baby!) and worked on scrapbooks and played Mexican Train Dominoes and visited with old family friends and could get away with looking a little ratty (we were refugees, after all!)   God protected us and our house and our jobs and church from Hurricanes Gustav and Ike! God even helped us make it home in a record 11 hours with very little crying from Baby Andrew! Thanks be to God for His many blessings of the last month!   And thank you, my bloggy friends, for praying us through this time! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/eastlandacademy/594035/ Mon, 22 Sep 2008 23:20:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/eastlandacademy/594035/ We are safe in Northeast Texas, but I am without cell phone and internet and it is killing me! ...Uh...what I really mean is...Thank you, Lord, for providing us a place to stay free of charge while our parish recovers from Hurricane Gustav. Even without my usual technological vices. Amen.   OK, I feel thoroughly chastised. But I want to be transparent, and I am definitely not used to being without my trusty cell phone and laptop!   Praise Reports: Our house is OK! I survived a 13 hour van ride with a screaming baby and 3 restless preschoolers! And me! Daddy is OK, but away from us right now. He evacuated to MS and has already returned home. He has been very busy at his funeral home and their partner homes and doing some Disaster Relief Chaplaincy work, too. We miss you, Daddy.   The boys have been in heaven here in the country. In fact, they were out in the pasture area as I was driving away (I am at the grand metropolis--NOT--known as the Naples, TX Public Library in the computer) playing with the neighbor's goats and looking at the horses. There is an old barn they've been playing cowboys in and an old garage has been the site of many "Texas Ranger" play scenarios. They come in each day covered in dirt and cobwebs and are as happy as can be.   May Clare, on the other hand, is enjoying being inside away from the boys and the dirt and the (ew!) bugs and has enjoyed having Baby Andrew all to herself cuddle. He has been great, eating and crawling and pooping and drooling...your typical 6 month old on an extended "evacu-cation" as we have begun to call it.   In fact, all the kids have been great through all of this. From watching Daddy board up the house to packing their favorite toys in a box to bring in the van "just in case the mean storm takes them" to driving so far and sleeping on pallets on the floor for two weeks and then to be in the middle of nowhere without their regular stuff...they have been remarkably adaptable and sweet and loving. God is gracious and good and has loved us through this...and He continues to lift us up when Mommy misses Daddy so much and would love to be home again.   Thank you for your prayers for us and for everyone displaced by Gustav. We won't be returning home until their is power and gas and a regular supply of diapers and milk (even Wal-mart is still closed).   Jennifer and David (and Grandma Clara) Zach, John, Thomas, Mary Clare, and Andrew http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/eastlandacademy/585640/ Fri, 5 Sep 2008 14:56:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/eastlandacademy/585640/