Happenings

All sorts of pleasantries have been happening lately, I just don't feel like blogging. Public school is out and the 2 children that my children play with have been hanging around lots. I am happy about these kids becasue they are relatively young and pleasant to be around, 8 year old girl and a 7 year old boy. I am going to have to set aside play time, because we still have 4 weeks of school left, and I plan to do school with them most of the summer.

We are headed to the beach soon and will camp along the gulf. Most of the family will be coming along, it has been several years since we went to the beach, and the boys are ecstatic. I went shopping to find a swimsuit. That was an experience I don't want to have again for a long time. I was looking for board shorts, the kind surfers wear, but they were pretty much non existent. I found one pair, but they were the wrong color and were $58 bucks. I settled for some shorter swim shorts and they matched the tankini top I already had. I think I will have to order board shorts online.

While shopping I popped into Victoria's Secret because they were having a sale. It was not a sale I could afford to be at. The bras were $45 bucks and the sale was 25% off of that, way to expensive undergarments in my opinion. I was saddened to see that the only people shopping in that store were girls under the age of 16. They were buying all sorts of thongs and sxy stuff, and one girl was there with her mom who kept pointing out skimpy things to her 13 or 14 year old daughter. I sighed heavily and left.

My homestudy is scheduled for the next Wednesday, it didn't take too long to update all our paperwork. I only have to get the cat her rabies shots and pick up the kids medicals. The process wasn't as daunting as I thought it was going to be. I only hope that the report to defacs last year won't interfere with the process. I have heard very little info out of Haiti, I feel like I am holding my breath. I just want my paperwork to move, being stuck this long in one place puts fear in my heart that something is amiss with my paperwork.

I am loving my house this spring. The boys have been catching fish in the pond, snakes in the woods, and crayfish in the creek. I am enjoying thinking of this place as our permanent residence, not somewhere that we will only live for a few years. I planted a lilac bush, gardenia bush, and am making a rose garden.

Occupied

I just realized that it has been almost a week since I posted anything at all. It was not due to a lack of content, but rather so much happening that it seems a waste to put it down.

I was a high powered, executive, working woman this week, negotiating deals, settling disputes and formulating plans. This on top of my role as school marm to my youngins. They only missed one day of school, despite the fact that at least 4 days were taken up with the meetings. Nate needed me this week to help traverse some sticky situations with work. I would love to be able to divulge all the details, but I have been forbidden, suffice to say in spite of the tremendous amount of stress that it was, I found it exhilarating. I am going to have the opportunity to continue some of it this week, and in the coming weeks. Of course it was easy to be a working woman this past week when the boss is your husband and you have his ear. I have definitely decided to try and do this sort of thing more often, for one, I was really, really good at it. Two, Nate likes my input and for me to be involved, and three, I was rejuvenated by it.

I think that I perform so much better under pressure. When I have the whole day ahead of me to get my tasks done, I linger here and there, and slowly plug away. When I am pressed, I get down to business, accomplish my goals in record time and feel so much more productive.
Some people are so great at motivating themselves, like my husband, and others, like me need the prodding.

I still love my hair. (so easy)
Spring fever has finally hit me and I am planting shrubs, flowers, vegetables and so forth.

Whatever

I've been up early but am still in my robe. There is not much happening around here that is of any particular interest. We have started with all the new homeschool curriculum and since so much of it is review we are whizzing through it at a blinding speed. I am trying out a new math curriculum called Math U See, and since it is a different format than grade sequencing I am starting everyone at a lower level so that if they had any holes in their learning, they can catch up. Austin should get through at least 2 of these books this year. He is doing the multiplying book right now and then will move to the division book. Evan is back to addition and subtraction and then will do the multiplying book that Austin is using, and Luke is back to number sequence. The actual writer of this program was at the conference and we talked a lot. He suggested that if their math work was a struggle, taking way too long, and they were frustrated, to just go back and make sure all the basics were nailed down. If you don't have all your multiplication facts down pat, then division is hard.

We are listening to The Story of the World for history and then doing oral exams after each chapter. This is working splendidly. They must all get at least an 85 before they can move on to the next chapter. Our read aloud for history is the YWAM hero stories, Thomas Edison is who we started on.

They are doing Handwriting W/O Tears and this is also going better than our old handwriting program.

We are on to Spanish 2 with La Clase Divertido, and if they don't remember something from level 1 we just review it.

Science is all these really cool motors and circuit boards and mechanical things that Nate bought for them to make robots and electrical things, plus an Earth Science book that we have not started yet.

Reading is going well with the 2 older boys, they now read on their own for the enjoyment of reading. Austin more than Evan, but I found Evan in bed the other afternoon reading. Luke on the other hand is still not reading things on his own. If we sit down to read he can read the basic 1st grade type stuff, but he doesn't read signs in town or labels or anything else that my other kids used to do when they "started getting it".

I bought a computer grammar program but I haven't started it yet either. I am probably going to add that at the end of summer when the new year starts for me.

Creative writing will be implemented after summer also, I want them all to get a little better with their handwriting so that it will be a more positive experience.

In adoption news, I am on the paper chase again with updating my homestudy. This time we all need to have complete physicals since it was 2 years ago that we had them last. Our pets have to be up to date on shots. We have to get local police clearance, new fingerprinting done in Atl, taxes and blah, blah blah. Updating this time is going to be a pain in the rear, and I hardly have the patience to do this for the 3rd time.

I will say that Mother's Day was quite nice, my mom cooked a roast and brought it over. I baked a cheesecake for her since she loves them, and we hung out a bit. Nate and the boys took care of cleanup all day, and they even fixed me a sandwich for dinner. While I so appreciate the fact of being remembered and honored, I am uncomfortable with these types of celebrations. I don't really like Valentines, Mother/Father days, girlfriend, grandparents, secretary, etc... day. The only one that I like is my anniversary, and maybe my birthday. When I say like, I am stating that I can enjoy them, maybe because their is no one pushing us to perform. I don't like the marketing push for all these days. I like to be remembered and maybe do something fun or get away for our anniversary, and I like to eat out on my b-day, but that is all. Presents and cards are nice but not necessary. Since the boys are getting older, if they buy, give, make something on their own accord then I really appreciate it, but the most satisfying expressions of love are the ones that come for no particular reason and without any outside prompting. My parents think that I am weird and I probably am. In any case, I so appreciate being a mother and I am thankful for my own. Nothing has ever stretched and grown me as much as motherhood.

Renewed

It is Thursday evening and I am at home for the first time this week. I got invited to the movies but declined even though they got a babysitter for me since Nate has been gone all week. My dad came over today with 3 tomato plants, 2red and one yellow) and planted them for me, while my mom helped me clean the house. AHHH!

Monday night hung out at the Java Station with 12 or so of my closest friends from church. We have the best group of ladies that I have ever been around. They could all be my best friend.

Tuesday I went out for Mexican with my 2 cohorts T and M, I ate chips and salsa and beef fried mechanic's (yum!)

Wednesday night was church instead of homegroup. On the first Monday of the month, every month, we participate in the bridegroom fast, modeled after the OT, but more recently the IHOP stuff (Mike Bickell and the house of prayer) Our prayer room is open 24 hours a day for 3 days while we fast and pray. This week was for Haiti, and the families that are adopting from there, and we are electing new elders so we prayed for that as well. We also always pray for healing for the sick and afflicted. I used to be a regular attender of these meetings and participated in the fast, but ever since we moved into this house I got out of the habit. I don't know if it was the fact that I was personally invested in what they were praying about or not, but I realized how important it is for the "church" to regularly pray together instead of just being taught or having discussions. Several times last night I felt like wailing for no particular reason. (I didn't btw) It felt so good to be in the presence of God with the people that God has given me to be "family" with. I realized that my apathy came because I had grown weary of doing good and discouragement came in and settled. I was also feeling condemnation for having let so much time pass that I didn't even have the fortitude to plug away at it any longer. Fasting (as I've mentioned before) is the hardest spiritual discipline for me, because food has power over me. The best cure for apathy is prayer with people that care about you, sometimes we tend to discuss our problems with people but hardly ever get around to praying about them. I'm pretty chatty so this is also difficult for me.

P.S I posted pics of the family riding dirt bikes below my hair.

Homeschool Conference

The best adivce that I could give a h.s mom, besides to pray often would be to go to a homeschool conference every year if at all possible. I mean that I would sacrifice eating out for months, no entertainment, if it meant that I could attend a conference. Every year it is so important for me to browse curriculum with my hands, and be inspired by the speakers and the people I meet there.

It is so good to see the diversity of techniques and ideas that people bring to the table of homeschooling, and every year when I am wishing that I could quit, I get inspired to push myself harder and see the vision that God has for my children. In the day to day grind of things I so easily lose sight of the prize. I am easily beaten down and discouraged by the doldrums of being with my kids 24/7 and being responsible for their education and training. I know that this is what I signed up for, I just had no clue about how much it would require of me. It has been a life changing experience for me to homeschool my kids and I feel that I am the one getting the most training and education. When I sit back and think about it, so much of my flesh has died, so much that was selfish and prideful has been stripped that it is getting easier and easier to see myself in a clear light and make the changes that I feel God prompting me on. Before kids I knew that I had problems, but they were harder to define and so much easier to excuse, now I am without excuse and more is required of me, which I am so grateful for.

Every year I make the decision to homeschool, since I have never felt "called" by God to do so. Every year I commit to that year only, and once again I find myself committing to the coming year.

Stick Straight

This is the new me. After years of wanting to be straight, I finally took the plunge and did it. I was sooo nervous about the commitment to go straight, because the only way to rid myself of this is cut it out, or perm curl back in. I know to some of you with stick straight hair you are mourning my madness, but you know the saying "you want what you can't have", or "the grass is greener", well I have often wondered about the grass in straightville, and now thanks to modern vanity I can experience it. I am LOVING it, the grass in not only greener, it is also so much easier to tend to in straightville. Frizzies and hair that triples in volume due in part to the tremendous amount of humidity in the south is a thing of the past.

I would like to be able to curl it once in a while with hot rollers, but it is so slick that I am not sure it will take. Maybe a curling iron will do the trick if I get the urge for some of my curls back, but I am not holding my breath. This look should last close to a year before I have to touch it up.

pics courtesy of Evan

Nates Day Off

We were headed out to go fishing but the plans changed unbeknown to me. The men brought the boat home and then loaded up the dirt bikes and said we were headed off to the ATV trails that are about 10 miles outside of town. There were only 2 other vehicles up there, so we had the place to ourselves.

Even though the ensuing pictures looked like I was having fun, I was actually quite unnerved and realized that I will not be participating with the boys much longer. Austin and Evan are getting way too good and going way too fast for this old mom's heart. In another year they will probably be out riding me and then I can no longer watch them, not because they are going to be better than me, but because of risks that they will be taking. They were already trying to wheelie off the tops of small hills, take the jumps instead of rolling up and over them, and just ripping through the straightaways. If Nate takes them out and they come home with injuries it won't be nearly as bad as if I was there to witness them.

It was really muddy

Luke can barely keep his bike from getting bogged down in the ruts.
Austin has no trouble zipping along. He wiped out later in the day.
I was getting a little cocky in the mud holes, and one got the better of me.

This was a common occurrence, one kid stopping in the middle of the trail to see if I was "ok" and becasue their concern for me I ended up wreaking a lot more than I would have if they didn't keep stopping to check on me. (it was sweet of them)

This is how we looked in the begining

Our Last Meal

This was one of the last decent meals that I cooked in over a week.