The journal of a NEW homeschooling Mommy of many. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/wakeforestmommy/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Sun, 21 Jan 2007 07:24:00 -0600 Sun, 21 Jan 2007 07:24:00 -0600 So, I know that I have had this information for some time now.  YOU have had this information for some time now.  However, between anxiety over another abruption, early labor, BEDREST, etc I don't think that I thought about HER a lot until yesterday morning. I woke up early yesterday, the morning of my baby shower, and I just thought, "There is going to be another sweet, baby girl herein 5 1/2 weeks!!"  I began to sob and I continued sobbing through the shower and through the girls b-day party in the afternoon.  They were extremely good tears. I was just so happy and joyful about wondering what she would look like and what personality she wold be.  Will she be a fat, chubby little baby like two of my girls or will she be long and lean like my oldest and my son?  Will she have the curly hair that dawns the heads of all but one of my children or will she have my board-straight hair?  Will she cry a lot or will she sleep through the night early.  It is amazing that, even after four babies and KNOWING that I will be exhausted and tired those first several weeks, I can't help but be excited about the buzz that surrounds a new baby coming home. So now the preparations REALLY begin.  I have been baking for a week. Today, I am starting to direct the organization of the house again.  We got the cradle up from GA this weekend, so I am really ready to get everything settled just so. Ya know? This is going to be hard to do from the bed : ) While the kids and Nathan are at church this morning, I will come up with a plan.   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/wakeforestmommy/272573/ Sun, 21 Jan 2007 07:24:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/wakeforestmommy/272573/   HELP!!!!!!!!!!!! HELP!!!!!!!!!!!! HELP!!!!!!!!!!!! HELP!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't find a way to visit all of my friends here at HSB. What is the deal?  When I go to my "friends" page, there is a "non-working" message there. What are my options?  I want to catch up and see what is going on, but I suspect that is why my visitors have been few and far between as well.  Any ideas for me? http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/wakeforestmommy/267396/ Thu, 11 Jan 2007 06:04:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/wakeforestmommy/267396/ Let me say first how grateful I am that I haven't been put on restricted bed rest.  We have been doing what we can; which includes me taking it as easy as possible with four little ones during the day alone and then going straight to the bed (or couch) as soon as Nathan gets home from work.  This has helped a lot and I have had only one small bout of contractions and not nearly as much pressure.   Today, I felt pretty good  and had a little burst of energy, so I dusted and vacuumed the living room while the kids were tidying up other areas in the house.  I didn't have any physical repercussions yet, so I am taking that as a large encouragement.  I am praying that I don't have any tonight.    Even with all of this going on, I can't shake the feeling I have that everything is going to be okay and that little Annagayle will come closer to her due date. As of now, she will come via C-section around the 22nd of March.  If the u/s in a week or so shows anything else then we will adjust accordingly.  In the meantime, I am just going to keep snuggling with the kids in bed for as long as they will let me.  We have played a hundred rounds of the game TROUBLE and have actually seen the kids start learning some very valuable lessons for through the game.  They have chosen graciousness and mercy more times than not rather than bump their brother and sister back to "home". (If you re familiar with the game, then you know what I mean.)  That being said, we have discussed strategy and healthy sportsmanship, but it has been nice to see the kids not automatically "go for the throat" of their opponent/sibling.  This is one of the good games we got the kids for Christmas this year.  We also got them "Let's Go Fishing."This one takes patience for the parents, but I think teaches them patience also. It also seems to help with hand-eye coordination. So, we may not be cracking the books, so to speak, these days, but we are most certainly learning and teaching the days away. With all of the reading we have done together over the last few weeks and the fun we have had playing games together, the girls especially have learned leaps and bounds.  I can't help but to think that this is EXACTLY what the Lord intended for me to see through this. He knew how much I needed to relax where homeschooling was concerned and recognize His sovereignty over even the education of my kiddos.  He prepares so many teachable moments for us that I am seeing how little I need to stress over WHATEVER route we take.   Have a good day! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/wakeforestmommy/265734/ Mon, 8 Jan 2007 09:23:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/wakeforestmommy/265734/ The  OB recommended bed rest for me until at least my next appt.  Then they will do an ultrasound and see how the baby is doing.  I have been having some bouts with contractions and a lot of pressure with any activity at all.  Since my water broke at 36 weeks with my last two babes, they don't want to take any chances of it breaking earlier. I am in good spirits, but simply not able to stay completely of off my feet during the day when I am home alone with my four babes.  We are seeking someone to help out while Nathan is at work, but so far we haven't had much luck.   We are doing everything we can, so I pray that it will be enough to keep this newest blessing in and staying put for as long as possible.  The Dr's said that the next step would be hospitalization and that would be nearly impossible. Please pray for us as we get through this together.  God is taking care of us, we know.    Angela http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/wakeforestmommy/263671/ Thu, 4 Jan 2007 07:57:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/wakeforestmommy/263671/ ...a sweet, older lady comes over to your table at a restaurant and says, "Your children are adorable and you should be commended for their behavior" and you burst into tears!!!!! Admittedly, it was a VERY nice compliment and I was EXTREMELY proud, but I began boo-hooing!!! I mean, I was wiping my eyes with the napkin and getting mascara everywhere.   I hope that you all had a Happy New Year!  Nathan and I managed to stay up until about 12:20 am, but I paid for it severely the next day and was SOOOO blessed to have Nathan home for the holiday to help me carry the load. I am just either too old, too pregnant, or with too many little ones (or a combination of the three!!!) to stay up past 10 anymore.  We got a picture of us at midnight with the self-timer, but I am destroying it . It was AWFUL and we both agreed that the only thing sit would be good for is as a "before" picture!!!   Have a wonderfully blessed new year! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/wakeforestmommy/262414/ Tue, 2 Jan 2007 06:38:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/wakeforestmommy/262414/ The Lord has given me a gift this week. I was sort of dreading this week with Christmas on Monday and Nathan going back to work on Tuesday. Normally, it would be a crazy week with all of us still on holiday/vacation mode and Nathan gone. Instead, I resolved early to just bounce right back into our normal routine, schedule and all, and it went perfectly. We have had one of the best weeks we have had in a long time.  The kids have been enjoying their toys during their free time and we have gotten a lot of purposeful reading done.  The house has stayed clean, because I added clean up time to our schedule and everyone helps, even my two year old.  Yesterday and today have been a little more difficult just because we are all ready for the weekend, but all-in-all it has been a  breeze.  I am seeing a lot of hope in our future of homeschooling now that I am finding my balance in rigidity and flexibility.  The thought of doing this next year with 6 under 6 isn't as frightening as it was a few months ago. My 3 yr old son is in an off and on battle of wills with us as he tries to bridge the gap between being a little boy and a "big boy" now that he is potty-trained.  He is still so little physically that it is hard not to laugh when he asserts himself over silly things like putting his underwear on : )  This to shall pass, as they say.  HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR & God Bless You all!!!!   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/wakeforestmommy/260731/ Fri, 29 Dec 2006 12:48:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/wakeforestmommy/260731/ Yesterday, our pastor preached on the Magi. It was really a great and informative sermon.  We learned about the MANY significances in their journey and placement in the Christmas story.   It was such a great service.  We sang "We Three Kings", but with a revision to the "Kings" part.  One of our worship leaders revised it, because they weren't actually kings. That is legend that has been added and we enjoyed the revision.  I had never sung all of the verses and I just LOVE that song.  Here are the words to the "NEW" version that We sang. Only the first verse was altered to be Biblically correct. Everything else is the same. "The Gifts of the Magi"                             Magi, we are traveling far. Bearing gifts, we follow a star. Heaven tells us; Christ compels us: Worshippers now we are.   O star of wonder, star of light, Star with royal beauty bright, Westward leading, still proceeding, Guide us to thy perfect light.   Born a King on Bethlehem’s plain Gold I bring to crown Him again, King forever, ceasing never, Over us all to reign.   Frankincense to offer have I; Incense owns a Deity nigh; Prayer and praising, voices raising, Worshipping God on high.   Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume Breathes a life of gathering gloom; Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying, Sealed in the stone cold tomb.   Glorious now behold Him arise; King and God and sacrifice; Alleluia, Alleluia, Sounds through the earth and skies.     I haven't mentioned homeschooling in a while.  We aren't operating anything formal here.  Instead, I am using this pregnancy as a time to enjoy teaching my oldest two daughters. I think that formalities got in the way of the first few months we had in homeschooling.  Now, we are reading a lot of books.  My five yr old is reading chapter books without a problem and my four yr old is reading books like "The Story of Ping" and Apples to Oregon: without needing any assistance from me.  They have learned ten times more since I relaxed than they did when I was planning, planning, and planning.  They are writing in journals and my oldest has taken to creating her own evangelism tracts : )  She is such a little Missionary in the making!!  We begin our family food drive tonight and are looking forward to seeing God work through it to minister to not only the people we will serve, but in the hearts of our children too.   Have a Merry Christmas!  If I don't get back before New Years, have a great one of those too!! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/wakeforestmommy/256015/ Mon, 18 Dec 2006 07:40:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/wakeforestmommy/256015/ ******WARNING!!!  This blog is a reflection of OUR choices and our beliefs****   I have to say that I am absolutely baffled by the dissection Christmas!  To us, Christmas is a respectable, honoring of the fulfillment of prophecy back from the beginning of time that told us that a Savior would come.  In our family, we celebrate Christmas (Christ's birth) as a Religious Holiday. Why? Because we are Christians and Christ is our Savior; a key figure ( to say the least) of our religion. Do I think that there is a verse in the Bible that says, "Have a tree on My birthday or you will pay!!!" No, I don't. Do I think that there are mandates (as a Christian) as to how you celebrate Christmas. Nope!  Do I think that everyone should follow a set guideline on how to celebrate within your own family? NO.  So, why is it that so many people feel the need to define Christmas as religious or not?  I have elaborate birthday celebrations for my children each year. I take time to honor them and to thank God for the gift of their life. Why wouldn't I do the same for my Savior? The difference is only that Christmas Day is a day set aside to corporately celebrate this day.  This is why the real Saint Nicholas chose this day to begin with.   We have a Christmas tree; not because the Bible says to (which it doesn't), but because we think it is pretty.  We open presents, because we think it is fun, not because it is a commercial overtaking of our home or because of any other mandate. Nor do I think that opening presents should be the center of the day.  Again, it doesn't say either way in the Bible, but just like any other day, greed shouldn't become the focus of the day.  For that reason, we don't allow our children to make Christmas lists.  We want them to be gifted by someone. If someone asks me for a suggestion for our kids, my standard answer is, " It is your money and an acknowledgement of your heart, so you choose."  There have been times when I have said no to items that I felt weren't appropriate for our kids, but that would happen anytime of the year and the people the buy for my kids are respectful enough to call and ask.    We don't "do" Santa.  For us, It was a decision based on prayer and contemplation of the future with our kids.  We made it before we even held our first blessing. We, personally, didn't want to present any falsehood as real to them at any time; however innocent it may be. They know who Santa was and they know he is a legend.  IN the same way that they don't believe that The Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, or Bob the Tomato are real, they don't ever think that Santa comes into our home and leaves them gifts. It was a tradition that we decided didn't line up with the truths we wanted to present to our kids, because to continue in the tradition, we must tell them things as facts that were simply not true.  Smaller issues have caused some to stumble and we didn't want to contribute that knowingly in the lives of our kids.. That was what we decided.  We don't condemn those that do. Just like clothing choices and teaching choices, we choose what is best for OUR kids; not anyone else's.  At the same time, we don't expect our children to lie in order to honor this tradition for someone else.  What would that teach them?   It tells them that traditions are more important than truth.  That is a scary journey I don't want to embark on with a new little Christian or one that is so close to surrendering her heart at all!! Why can't people respect that? ARGH!!! (Sorry-sore subject for me.)   So why is it that people need to define Christmas so much?  Is it a "Christian Holiday"?  What does that mean?  Does it mean, is it sanctioned by the Holy Church of whatever?What does it matter?  It seems that defining it as a "Christian Holiday" may force people to cut things out of their traditions that conflict with their faith and maybe that is real the issue over the labeling.  I consider it as a "Christian Holiday", because it is the day that we corporately, as a religion,  honor the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  Does it make me less of a Christian, because we put a tree up and that isn't in the Bible? No, and I defy anyone to say that it does.  We don't worship it. We don't covet anyone else's. We don't lie or murder to get it. We just think it is pretty.  We also use it as the entry into which we read the true account of Christ's birth from the Book of Luke every year.  During our gift opening time, someone will open the gift that holds our family cross ornament. At that time, we stop the gift opening (wherever we may be in the course of it), they hang the cross on the tree, and DH reads the story from Luke. It is a wonderful tradition that has brought me to tears of joy in past years as my children have one by one begun to recite the Scripture from memory with DH..  I am confident that having a tree with lights on it isn't in conflict with my faith, so I can continue it.    Maybe I am naive. Maybe I am just simple-minded, but I don't know why it must be so complicated. If you want to sing Jingle Bells (which by the way is a Winter song, not a Christmas song in any way), sing it.  You are responsible for what you choose to do on a daily basis, not just on this day. We live and we try to make decisions that glorify the Kingdom of God and fulfill the great commission DAILY.  If you choose to celebrate the holiday in a way that would honor Christ just as you choose to honor him on any given Tuesday, it won't matter if it is called a "Christian Holiday" or not.  There may be more garland and lights, but I don't bake birthday cakes every day either.   I wouldn't do anything on my family's birth days that would conflict with the faith I am teaching them about and yet  those too are days that we (as a family) honor God's gift to us. So, I guess in a way those are "Christian Holidays" to us too.  Halloween is a truly pagan holiday that we choose not to participate in.  We do celebrate Reformation Day (the same calendar day as Halloween) as a religious holiday. We aren't commanded to, but we feel that the Reformation is an important day in the history of our family's religion.  We don't use it as an excuse to invoke fear in others, throw safety measures we would ordinarily adhere to out of the window, or to participate in the ghoulish traditions that society commonly does.  We don't see that the "holiday" itself is a reason to make exceptions to our lives just as we wouldn't on any other day.   So, all that to say, you don't have to call Christmas a "Christian Holiday" if you don't want to.  However, you should be careful to follow the same set of commandments that you choose to adhere to M-F on any given week. (May I suggest the BIG 10 as a starting place) Whether you choose to label it or not label it something else, doesn't make it a day off from our faith, our message, or our instruction to our children. As long as you are holding every tradition, every act, and every deed up to the light of the Word and it proves valid, who cares what you label it? That is the point.    Have a good CHRISTmas,  however you choose to celebrate!     http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/wakeforestmommy/251070/ Wed, 6 Dec 2006 09:44:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/wakeforestmommy/251070/ Long stories made short, we have spent the last two weeks on the road. One week was for Thanksgiving and the other was for business (DH's work).  Through all this I have been dealing with a left leg that is twice the size of Rhode Island.  Clots have been ruled out, so that is good, but the finding out has been an ordeal.    Then tonight, on the way home, our van went Kaput and I was barely able to steer it over to the side of the road (right by an unsavory bar/dive that was Packed on a Monday night!!).  The battery died and AAA still hadn't showed after two hours.  Someone tried to use a battery starter on it and it wouldn't hold the charge. We were tired and cold (all six of us!!)  The kids were over it and so was the Mama.  We finally got a  hold of a friend who came and tried to jump it off. It held the charge longer, but not long enough to get out of the parking lot.  AAA FINALLY got a tow truck there and they said that if he couldn't get it started, he could carry two of us home.  My friend could get my three girls (in car seats) and myself home, so we went ahead and took off. Ten minutes later, DH calls telling me that the tow truck driver had LEFT HIM AND MY 3 YEAR OLD SON in the cold, because, "He was only called for a battery boost and wasn't on a tow call!!"  WHAT!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?  So my friend said that she would go and get them after she dropped us off.  We both just reeled about how unkind that was and how mean it was.  Then he called back and said that the bar owner had come out and told him to move the car as it was to close to his entrance!!!!  HELLO!?!?!?!?!?!?   We got home and were waiting for DH and DS when my 5 yr old DD came in and said, "Mommy, I think that we should pray for the tow truck man. He must not know God if he left _______ and Daddy there like that. I was thinking that maybe tomorrow we should find him and tell him all about Jesus."  That was about the time my heart felt a strange mix of total joy that this little creature has so *gotten it* at such a young age and also a sense of sorrow that I had let myself be so bitter in front of her over the man's insensitivity to MY needs.  Hmmmm....She is the oldest of (soon to be) five little messengers God has given me.  I think that I have a LOT to learn from these littlest hearts : ) http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/wakeforestmommy/250168/ Mon, 4 Dec 2006 21:25:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/wakeforestmommy/250168/ A little while ago, my 4 yr old DD did something not-so-nice to my 2 yr old DD. Without realizing the consequences, she did something to her that could have hurt her very badly.  After I calmed my little one down, I went to talk to my 4 yr old.  As I explained what she had done to her and gave her her disciplinary consequences for her sin, I saw no remorse.  That is an awful feeling.  I spoke to my DH and he reminded me that this child has shown a sense of remorse before and probably just really didn't realize the gravity of what she had almost done.  I hung up the phone and started to prepare lunch.  My 4 yr old came in withe her lip quivering and told me that she was sorry and that she didn't want to hurt her little sister. She even went on through tears to tell me of how much she loved watching her be silly and dance and that she would never want her to not be here.  I forgave her and she asked me if I would pray with her to ask God to forgive her.  I sat down with her at the table and she prayed a sweet prayer asking God to forgive her for specifically what she had done.  Then, my 2 yr old, the one that had been hurt and had been sitting at her chair at the table too, asked if she could pray.  Her standard prayer is, "Thank you God for Papa", but this time she said, "Deaw God, please FFFGVFGH  M.E. fo pooshin me. AMen"  It was so sweet and such a blessing to me today.  I called my husband and he said that he had taken a few minutes aside to pray for all of us after I had called and that he specifically prayed for Grace to rain on us all.  I would say that we got a shower :) http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/wakeforestmommy/239638/ Thu, 16 Nov 2006 11:11:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/wakeforestmommy/239638/