Heart Of Virtue - Homeschool Blogger

Win A Family Pass to the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival!

Tue, 1 Sep 2009 10:30:00 -0500

I am so thrilled to announce that a dear, sweet, long-time friend of mine, Natalie Wickham, has a fun contest going on right now in conjuction with her new book, Pajama School: Stories from the Life of a Homeschool Graduate (which I highly recommend reading, by the way), that you won't want to miss!

Here's the scoop...

The Contest
Create a 30-60 second video promoting the book, Pajama School: Stories from the Life of a Homeschool Graduate.

The Giveaway
A Family Pass to the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival on October 28-30, 2010

- OR -

Admission to the Advanced Specialty Filmmakers Bootcamp in February, 2010

Another Giveaway
Even if you don’t produce a film, you can be entered in a drawing for a great giveaway package by simply helping to spread the word about the contest.

The giveaway package will include a copy of Pajama School, a DVD of Come What May, the soundtrack for Come What May, and a $25 gift card for the store of your choice! You can enter the drawing multiple times – once for each of the following things:
1. Post about the contest on your blog/website. Link to the Contest Page.

2. Twitter about the contest with a link to the Contest Page.

3. Update your Facebook status with “Win A Family Pass to the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival!” and a link to the Contest Page.

4. Include a contest announcement in your print or e-newsletter or in a special e-mail to your mailing list.

5. Grab the code for one of the Pajama School banners and add it to the sidebar of your blog/website.

Natalie is such a Godly young woman with tremendous talents and gifts from the Lord. I am thankful to count her a close friend and sister in Christ. Her book is a wonderful resource for homeschooling students and families, as well as anyone even just interested in what homeschooling is all about. I hope you will be sure to stop by Natalie's blog and the official contest page for more details on her book and this exciting contest!

Decorating Style

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 07:37:00 -0500

So we've been in renovation/decoration mode in our home for the last several months now, and it's great. I love it! I've been color-swatching, picture-framing and wall-hanging like crazy. Inspiration for this began when we finally got our icky, old country blue carpet out and our beautiful hardwood floors in. (Before and after pictures to come SOON! I promise. :)

But the question remains as I hustle and bustle my way around with vases, flowers and rugs, what style am I actually going for? I mean, what is MY style? One thing I have discovered over the years is that my tastes are an evolving, ever-changing part of me based on the many different life factors going on at the moment. I can change my mind on a color I've been set on for months in a moment's notice given a sudden burst of inspiration in my sleep one night.

So, all of that is to say, I found this quiz online (a tip of my hat to Carkay!) that helps you determine your own personal style. I think the below results are pretty close to my current decor style...

43% Wine Country Style

Tuscan sun, here we come! The Wine Country style reflects the feelings evoked by the seaside regions of Europe such as the South of France, Spain, Italy and Greece. The style manages to be both refined and casual, such that you can mix beautiful antiques with more rustic wrought iron or wood and the result is both sophisticated and cozy.

Furniture is large and comfortable, colors are bright and cheery, and regardless of the color palette the spaces almost always feel warm. You can easily translate the style into the perfect family environment but you can just as easily emphasize the more formal pieces and make your room the perfect adult getaway.

29% Classic

What's old is new again! The beauty of Classic style is how well it takes all of the beautiful forms, colors and textures of the past and reinvents them in a way that feels both fresh and inspired. The style itself is a mix of European influences and French, English and Italian antiques and replicas are often used together. Furniture is well proportioned and comfortable and the rooms give off an air of sophistication and grace. Oil paintings depicting still-life or nature scenes and emphasizing symmetry of pairs helps maintain the traditional nature of the room. Windows are often covered with opulent fabric shades and/or drapery.

Traditional rooms give off an air of history that seems to say "I was here long before you, and will remain long after you've gone." And yet, even with this level of sophistication, the rooms are soft and inviting.

28% Cottage Chic

Who says that cottages can't be modern and chic? Who says that they have to be floral and cheesy? Not you! You love the carefree spirit that the cottage interior inspires, but you are also serious about your appreciation for modern art and hip treasures. You love old and new alike, and love to highlight them all to expose the uniqueness of each. What better way to show off these treasures than with a light background?

How about you? I'd love to see what your tastes are! You can take the quiz at: http://www.sproost.com. :)

Mommy/Clarke moment

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 13:47:00 -0600

...A tiny snippet of the countless mommy/Clarke moments that transpire throughout our day...

Mommy: "Clarkey, it's time to take a nap."

Clarke: "Nat. Nat. Take Nat."

Mommy: "No, Clarkey. It's 'nap'. Puh-puh-puh."

Clarke: "Puh-puh-puh. Nat. Take nat."

After months of silence, Myklin emerges from the land of the neglectful bloggers!

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 10:52:00 -0600

My word. I am getting old. Time is truly only going faster and faster every single year of my life. My grandmother told me when I had my 10th birthday that once I hit those double digits, it would be all down here from there... Little did I know how right she was. To say that I'm shocked that it's been so long since I last posted would be quite the understatement. My head is just spinning these days.

I cannot begin to catch everyone up fully on all that has transpired these last 9 months or so, nor would everyone like to know all of the itty bitty details of our little lives, but suffice it to say we have been moving at break-neck speed. It seems that things are settling down somewhat for the time being, though. And for that, we are extremely thankful!

So, how about just a quick little family update?

Health-wise, we are ALL doing well. Praise God, Travis is just doing fantastically. Between the two of us, we were in the hospital 5 separate times, not including 2 emergency room runs that didn't result in being admitted over night last year. I don't even think I ever told you all that during all of Travis's health trauma last year, my appendix decided to rupture, resulting in a 5 day-long hospital stay and then two weeks later another 3-day stay due to an infection that I developed from the appendectomy. What a wild year! Thankfully, the Lord healed and sustained us through it all and has blessed us above and beyond anything we ever could hope for.

Travis is still working and going to school, and is set to (finally!) graduate in May. He plans to pursue his Master's as well, but hasn't decided on a school just yet. He is still my heart song and the love of my life. I continually marvel at how lucky (blessed) I am to be married to such a kind, loving and strong man.

Little Clarkey is now 2 years old and really not that little anymore. Can you believe it? It feels like yesterday that I was posting blog entries about Baby V and wondering what day he would make his appearance. He is now talking up a storm and keeping us in stitches at his antics and great sense of humor. His favorite meal is beans and "bread-corn" (cornbread) and he truly is all BOY, which is evident by his favorite past times: the great outdoors, dogs, cars (he has a hard time understanding when we're in a parking lot why we can't just get into any car he likes and drive away in it), FOOD, his stuffed bear and any book he can get his hands on. We so proud of him.

And with that, I will leave you for now with a few of our favorite pictures taken by a dear friend of ours. Hopefully next time it won't be next year when I post again!

The Lord's goodness never ceases

Wed, 7 May 2008 09:00:00 -0500

Wait! Don't give up on me ever posting again! I apologize for giving ya'll such deep news about Travis last time (3 whole months ago), and then practically falling off the face of the planet. Our life has had so many, many, MANY things going on this year that I can literally barely keep up. I do want to share the tremendous news that we have concerning my hubby, even though it's a little late in coming.

After the overwhelming and semi-scary diagnosis of an immune disorder, God sent us the PERFECT doctor for Travis. At long last, we were able to sit down with an allergist/immunologist who looked at ALL of Travis' health history and was able to see the whole picture. He had no doubt that all of Travis' problems were a direct result of a severe allergy to something that triggered an acute case of adult onset asthma. Going without a diagnosis on this type of thing for so many months had only made everything worse, causing more and more problems. Yes, he did have low IGG levels, which means his immune system was having some difficulty, but this doctor assured us it was totally within normal limits and that with the right type of focused asthma and allergy treatment, Travis would be able to bounce back without having to go through the costly and extremely complicated IVIG infusions.

That was six weeks ago, and praise the Lord from whom all blessings flow, Travis is now almost completely back to normal! Whatever special combination of asthma/allergy medications and treatments that this new doctor gave Travis finally did the trick. Just two weeks after the initial consultation with this allergist, Travis told me he actually felt like SUPERMAN! Can you believe that? I nearly wept for joy when he told me that because it had simply been ages since my baby had felt healthy, let alone like a super hero!

Travis continues to improve, with only relatively small set backs along the way. The adjustments now are coming because he is learning to live with asthma. He was able to go back to work a week ago and he seems to be right back into the swing of things. He even finished up another college semester with three more A's under his belt!

We truly feel that it is GOD who has done a tremendous work in Travis' health and we give HIM the praise for everything that has happened in our lives these last six months. We also cannot tell you how much everyone's sweet prayers and encouragement have meant to us. The love we have experienced from the calls, notes, gifts, comments, etc., have utterly overwhelmed our hearts.

This has definitely been a journey of faith, trust, patience and seeking the Lord's face like nothing we have ever experienced before. I cannot begin to explain how many times our prayers have been directly answered as the Lord has provided for us in ways we never thought possible. It is amazing how our family has been strengthened through all of this, as well as our faith in our most gracious heavenly Father. Of course, our journey of faith is not complete, and will not end until we at last meet our Lord face to face, but this one stepping stone along the way has taught us so very, very much. There is still a great for us to learn (and most definitely re-learn!), but our gracious Heavenly Father has most certainly revealed His love and mercy to us in ways we will never forget.

~//~

My Man...

Thu, 7 Feb 2008 08:06:00 -0600

Hello dear ones!

It seems that I have been completely MIA these last few months when it comes to correspondence and family updates, and for that I am terribly sorry! Some of you may already know a little about the ongoing health saga we have been experiencing since November. Well, just yesterday, after months of Travis being mysteriously sick, having countless doctor and various specialists visits, ending up in the emergency room twice, being hospitalized twice (the most recent of which they kept him for nearly a week), a million needles poked in his body, and too many different tests run on him to count, it seems our prayers for a diagnosis has been found. (But now that we know what he has, in some ways I think it would have been easier NOT knowing... :)

The official diagnosis for my hubby is hypogammaglobulinemia, also known as Common Variable Immunodeficiency (CVID). Essentially, it is an auto-immune disease (appearing to be genetic in nature, although it has been acquired later in life) that is the milder version of the "Bubble Boy" disease where children have to live in plastic bubbles because they do not have enough immunities in their bodies to fight off germs and sickness. The dr. told us it was the opposite of leukemia, meaning he doesn't create enough of the components in his body known as IGG, where as someone with leukemia has too many of these in their body.

While there is no known "cure" at this time, the treatment is very expensive (it can be up to as much as $8,000 a shot) intravenous gamma globulin infusions, which normally people need every month for the rest of their life in order to stay healthy and out of the hospital with every little cold that simply won't go away. It takes 12 people donating blood to make one shot. Without these infusions, people with this disease are completely susceptible to sickness because their bodies have no way of fighting things off, which means they are chronically ill and in and out of the doctor's office or hospital.

The doctor was very honest with us about the serious implications of all of this for Travis and our family, but he did say he had a gut feeling Travis would improve, especially since he is so young. He said he has seen that happen before, but only a couple of times. He suggests doing the IVIG treatments for a year and then taking him off of them so they can see if Travis' body is able to take care of itself again.

So, we are praying and discussing our options and waiting to hear from the insurance company to find out if there is a possibility they will cover the IVIG infusions. In the meantime, they are also doing a little test for the next 5 weeks to see if there is any way that Trav's body can bounce back on its own when given a few small virus challenges to overcome. This will be the extra proof they need that he indeed has hypogammaglobulinemia.

Because this can be a hereditary disease, there is a possibility that Clarke could have the mutated gene as well. This is something we will be watching for as he grows, but thankfully it appears he doesn't have any of the signs right now.

I do have to say thank you to everyone who has been praying for us, giving us sweet cards, making phone calls, coming to visit, making dinners for us, leaving kind comments, and helping us watch Clarke during doctor's visits and hospital stays. Ya'll have been so sweet and encouraging with everything going on in our lives. We thank the Lord for you with all of our hearts!

While this is a new and seemingly daunting road that we are traveling down right now, we praise the Lord we do not have to do it alone! :) When I am tempted to worry about the future, the potential struggles ahead of us, I have to remind myself that our God is so faithful and loves us more than we could ever possibly know. He is our strength when we have no strength left at all (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).

How grateful I am for His unfailing love. :)

Where did October go anyway?

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 15:10:00 -0600

Hey there!

Well, yeah. So it's pretty much going on 2 months since ya'll last heard from me. (My, my! Does this life never slow down? ;) Really, all's been quite well with the Vinsons these days, minus some of that sickly flu junk going around. My husband is working, working, working, and when he's not doing that he's schooling, schooling, schooling. I am blessed beyond words to have such a diligent, hard-working, selfless man as he. We are both excited to be nearing the end of our semesters. We have big plans to rip out our dated old carpet in the living room and hallway as soon as school is out and replace it with some lovely engineered hard wood floors. We cannot WAIT. It'll be our Christmas present to each other this year. I'll have to post before and after pictures so ya'll can see the beautiful transformation that will be taking place. ;)

Now, onto all of the fun new antics of our bouncing 10-month old boy...

Clarke is truly growing and developing in leaps and bounds. (And yes, I am following close behind him as he leaps and bounds from wall to wall! ) Every day I'm amazed at the new thing he's learning. For instance, he's picking up sign language now. He's getting better at asking us for more to eat. It's precious!

He's also toddlin' all around these days, gettin' into literally everything. He has almost convinced himself that walking is more fun and nearly as fast as crawling. But, until this revelation truly hits him, he'll still do a combination of crawling and walking.

Clarke has decided that he is such a big boy when he sits in his rocking chair. He'll sit for the longest time and rock back and forth. (His daddy and I love those moments of stillness because he rarely stops long enough to stay in one place for very long. )

Also, he simply ADORES his daddy! He'll chant to himself "Da da da" and make a be-line for the door when he hears the garage door open every afternoon when Travis comes home. He's usually standing in the kitchen, waiting excitedly and squealing with delight when his Daddy walks in. This is their chase each other around the house, wrestle and play time and Clarke knows it. I love sitting back and watching my boys have such a great time together.

Now, did we name our son Clarke, or Mr. Friendly? Our little man is SUCH a people person! There's hardly one person that he won't talk to or give a huge ol' smile. My goodness, he just won't stop flirting with and charming all the ladies. (*whispering* Hopefully that part will only be a phase.... :)

As my dear boy is now needing some attention, I shall have to close this entry. We are anxiously anticipating the start of the holiday season this week. We are planning on spending some time with TX family, thinking of our dear KS family and hopefully just enjoying time together as our own little family of three.

May God bless you all and keep you safe this Thanksgiving! May you take the time to reflect on all of the Lord's wondrous blessings.

And there he goes!

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 13:27:00 -0500

From crawling...

...to walking!!

Okay, so he's not ready for any marathons just yet, but after all, he's only 8 months old. He's been able to stand alone for short periods of time for about a month now, as well as take a couple steps on his own, but Sunday he figured out he could take a couple MORE steps all by himself! His fear of falling is fading fast, but now it's time for his mommy to start worrying about that.

I miss blogging

Wed, 5 Sep 2007 09:32:00 -0500

Ahhhh, for the days of yore when I used to be able to find time to actually blog...

*little sigh*

*big grin*

Of course, running hither thither and yon all day after my nearly walking baby boy is something I wouldn't replace for anything. In the mean time, I guess the luxury of blogging will just have to wait.

Two amazing years

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 15:15:00 -0500

Two years ago today I married my very best friend and soul mate. While a great deal of things have changed in our lives since then, quite a lot remains the same...

My heart still skips a beat at the sound of his voice...

I could spend all day looking into his eyes without getting tired...

His smile and laughter never fail to lift my spirits...

Holding his hand still gives me "warm fuzzies" inside...

I cannot imagine knowing anyone more kind or considerate...

My admiration for him continues to grow deeper and stronger with each passing day...

I love my sweet husband with all that is in me and I cannot thank my Savior enough for allowing me to be his wife!