Our Garden

I guess that dh and I were feeling energetic yesterday. I didn't know that we were, but I guess we were. I thought that we were going to plant our veggie plants yesterday. Dh planned on putting the seeds in the ground. In the end, we planted the whole thing.....in 2.5 hours. Did I mention that our garden is HUGE? We extended it out this year by about 4 ft. on the south side. I would guess that it is 60 ft long by 25 ft. wide. That makes it bigger than our house. Anyway, this is what we planted: (our rows are 25 ft. long)

4 hills of watermelon
8 3/4 rows of sweet corn (Kandy Corn variety - yummy)
2 hills spaghetti squash
2 hills zucchini
2 hills cucumber
1 row radishes
1 row red onions and yellow onions
3 rows potato hills
4 sweet potato plants
1/2 row of brussel sprouts
1 row okra
3 1/2 rows of green beans
6 cherry tomatoes
24 regular tomatoes (several varieties)
3 jalepeno peppers
3 caribbean red hot peppers
11 sweet banana peppers
9 bell peppers
6 cabbage plants
3 broccoli

That makes me tired just thinking about it. Everything wasn't in that order necessarily. We have corn and green beans in 2 different places. Our new things this year are brussel sprouts and okra. We will see how they do.

It is supposed to rain the next couple of days so we got everything done just in time.

Today's To-Do List

I quit doing this a while back, but am going to try to take it up again. It works great to keep me accountable and I love to see what others are doing with their days!

Morning
school work
laundry
work in garden
lunch

Afternoon
sweep kitchen
declutter living room tables
declutter desk
fold and put away laundry

Evening
read aloud with boys
bath baby
supper
order my mom's Mother's Day gift (I am late!)
private Bible reading and prayer
maybe some knitting????

I hope that everyone has a wonderful day!

The Simple Woman's Daybook

To participate you can go HERE



FOR TODAY May 6th...
Outside My Window... Sunshine and birds singing

I am thinking...about planting the garden this morning and the finishing up of schoolwork

I am thankful for...a hardworking husband

From the kitchen...might bake something yummy

I am wearing...grubby garden clothes - black sweats and a t-shirt

I am creating...socks and a wrap

I am going...nowhere today!

I am reading...Ephesians, Psalms and Acts

I am hoping...the beautiful weather will continue and the rain will be gentle

I am hearing...my little dog sniff around the house

Around the house...things are still quiet as everyone sleeps

One of my favorite things...homemade quilts

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: babysitting my niece, shopping with dh, working on my herb bed and flower beds

Wrapping Up Our School Year

We should be wrapping up our school year soon. Once the boys found out that we could very well be schooling until the end of JUNE....they decided to double-up on assignments and get some books finished. They have been very persistant and it looks like we should have no problem finishing up by the end of the month. I am very relieved about that. Last year we schooled on and off all summer and it was mentally tedious for me. Not really hard, but I never got the time to plan and work at the next years stuff and get excited about it. I hope to get excited about this next year's studies.

I am really, really enjoying the audio recordings from Cindy Rushton's Ultimate Homeschool Expo 2008. I enjoy them so much that I am going to get a button soon. I can't say enough good things about this Expo. It is worth the money in so many ways. I am feeling so refreshed and rejuvinated and I have probably on listened to 3-4 speakers. What a wonderful blessing!!!!!

In wrapping up this year's stuff, I am already mentally planning next years. How do you like to plan your school year? Do you plan a month/quarter/semester/year at a time? Do you work at it all in one day or over the course of a week or more? How do you organize the resources that you will be using for the new year (and those that you have but won't be using?)? I guess that I am full of questions tonight. Please share how you plan your homeschool. I love to glean great ideas from everyone!

Have a good night!

What is New with Us

Hello!
We are enjoying spring so much here! I planted a flower bed of beautiful annuals last week. I hope that they are hanging on in the cooler weather this week. Spring is here and I am so glad!!!!

Today we did our schooling, houseworking and I have been downloading the preview chats from Cindy Rushton's Ultimate Homeschool Expo. If you haven't heard of this you can go here . I am going to have some fantastic CD's from this!

Well, little Bear is grumpy and needs Momma.....better go!

Revolution Money Exchange

Here is the competition for Paypal.

Join Revolution Money Exchange by clicking on the button below and you will receive $25 for signing up. No strings attached!
To be fair, I will also receive $10 for refering you. If you refer your friends and family you will receive $10 also.

You Knit What??

Socks

Yes, I knit socks. My goal is to have all of my personal socks handknit by the end of 2008. Cool huh? I thought so too.

Now, I am not writing this blog post just so that you can think that I am cool. In fact I am writing this to encourage you, my reader, to embrace some kind of hand-craft. Choose something that is both practical and pretty, something that you can poor your creativity into, something that will be YOU. I love cutsie socks. I knit myself cutsie socks. Some people (dh) think that cutsie socks are......weird. Most people think that cutise socks are at least cool for me, even if they wouldn't wear them themselves. Cutsie socks in interesting styles and color are ME. And I love to knit them.

There is something very calming about creating something for yourself with your own two hands. It is almost like a link to the past. I can almost imagine my great-great-grandmothers sitting next to the fire knitting socks for their families. How much closer to your heritage can you get?

So, my challenge for you today is to play around with different things that interest you. Find your creative outlet. Let that creativity flow!
(And when you do, please comment and let me know what is inspiring you!)

How Does My Garden Grow? Pt. 1

I am hoping to make this a biweekly part of my blog where I share how my garden is growing.....interesting things that I have planted or beautiful scenes that I would like to share. Gardening wasn't something that I was fond of at first, but it is quickly becoming a passion!

This afternoon I planted 18 petunias, 12 marigold, 2 mums and 12 salvias in my flower bed adjacent to the house. Dh was able to buy these plants discounted at work and it was such a blessing to me to have them and be able to fill this flower bed up! I don't think that there is an inch to spare except for the spot I reserved to plant a clemantis next to the wall. If everything lives and fills in nicely like I hope it will, this flower bed will be a sight to behold this summer.

Dh also brought home tomatoes and peppers for the veggie garden and chives and cilantro for the herb bed. I hope to get the herbs planted later this week. I have a problem with my hands swelling when I do a lot of gardening and could barely bend my fingers by the time I came in this evening. Greg blessed me by doing about half of the digging but the work still took its toll. Little Bear played in his walker in the yard and enjoyed squealing at the big dogs, Jasmine and Mixie, while he played. He hasn't really interacted with them much yet and Jasmine, especially, seems to like him a lot!

As that bed fills in I will share some pictures with you!

Please tell me, how does your garden grow?

Busy Days

This week has been busy so far and looks to continue that way. I hate a week of constant "busyness". I love to just be able to take a deep breath when I wake up in the morning and stay at home. I am frequently criticised by members of my family for my frequent "busyness". As most of you know we attend taekwondo classes 2-3 nights a week. In a town that is 25 minutes from home. I have worked hard over the past few years to consolidate my other errands on the days that we already have to be in town. That has been working fantastically, and has freed me up for other things at home. What I have found though, especially in the last few months, is that other people (more often than not, family members) expect things from me that cause me to be "busy" several other days over the course of the month. I am given responsibilities that belong to others and asked to do things that a "working woman" wouldn't ever be asked to do. I sometimes wonder why. Why would you ask me to do something when you know that I have 3 kids at home that I need to school, feed and clean up after? Why would you give me ONE MORE THING to do when I am already near the point of exhaustion? I find that I don't really know what causes some people to feel compelled to give me these jobs but I have recently decided to look at these things as ministries to others. I am able to do these other things. I have figured out, for the most part, how to juggle my schedule to fit these things in with the least amount of disruption for my family. So maybe, for this season, some of these things are important responsiblities in my life. Maybe instead of asking God to take these things away, I should ask Him to help me fit them in. I should thank God that I have the ability to relieve the burden of others. I thank Him daily for the strength that he gives to me.
If you feel the "added" responsibilities of life weighing you down, ask yourself if maybe this is where God wants you right now. Maybe this is the time of your life when you will be busy, doing the work of God, and hopefully shining an example of his love for all the world to see. Remember to serve with a smile!

Meet and Greet Monday (a day early)

I have been playing with my new digital camera and the software on my laptop. Even with highspeed internet it is a pain to upload pictures. But that's ok. I am learning! So I thought that I would share some of the new ones with you.




That is me, feeding Baby Bear (obviously!) at Christmas. He has grown a lot since then!



This is Leland and Norman. They love to snuggle together!



And here is Leland pretending to be asleep on the back of the couch with our cat, Tiger. Tiger and Sadie (our cocker spaniel) always sleep on the back of the couch.



Gregory with Norman. Now that Norman can play more, him and Greg get along a lot better. They are becoming great friends!



This has got to be my favorite photo of the bunch. Dh Norman gives Bear his baths when he is home off work....they take one together in the big bathtub. Thursday Norman put bubble bath in and ran the jets to make lots of bubbles and him and Bear played for a long time. They had so much fun splashing and eating bubbles!

Enjoy!

Children a Luxury Item?

I just finished reading this article HERE. I am just flabbergasted that someone would consider children a showy, luxury item.

My children are PEOPLE. I love them. I didn't have them to "show off". My dh and I, our family, is far from upper class. We don't even aspire to attain upper class status. We are happy where we are. We have 3 children, and (drumroll please) we might have MORE.

I will let your shock wear off.

Children do not cost a fortune to raise. That is why there are resale shops and yard sales. You don't buy new equipment with every child. In times of financial trouble (gas is $3.55 a gallon here today!!!!!) you switch to cloth diapers, clip coupons and grow a larger garden. If you think that children are exhorbitantly expensive then I suggest that you have a look at your checkbook and consider your priorities. Yes, the hospital bill will need to be paid if you don't have insurance. Yes, some equipment will need to be purchased (but only select things will need to be new, ie car seats and bottles if you use them). I bought my cloth diapers used. We were given a bouncy seat and walker. With this child we bought a new crib, playpen and swing. With boys #1 and #2 we had all that stuff used (through 2 children of our own too, mind you). If there wasn't a 7 year gap in children, we would have used that stuff again (or at least most of it). I don't nurse so we are buying formula. We buy ours in huge cans at Sams Club. That is our biggest expenditure at about $50 a month. That will last no more than one year from birth and then the little tyke can eat what the rest of us do.

I have encountered resistance to "more than 2". I couldn't believe at a family reunion less than 4 weeks after son #3 was born when a "well-meaning" aunt (several of them actually, over the course of 2 days) told us that we wouldn't be able to raise all those kids. When my dh told them that we might have some more, God willing, they about fell to the floor. We started getting lectured like we were obstinant 3 year olds. I don't think that most of them knew that I am a STAY-AT-HOME MOM. We only see these people once a year. I don't think that they would be happy if we caused them to have a heart attack. People honestly believe that you can't afford to have more than 2 children. That is so very, very sad.

I also want everyone to know that our children aren't deprived. We live in a new (4 year old) home. Our main vehicle 6 years old. Our children have a playstation 2 (bought used). They also have gameboys (Christmas gifts), cellphones (Christmas gifts - different Christmas), shotguns (Christmas gifts), nice bicycles.......all the trappings of a middle class life. They also understand that we SAVE for things that we want. They had a 4-wheeler fund. We made up the difference and bought them dirt bikes instead. The look on their faces as they did extra work every week to put into that fund was priceless (and I wasn't the one paying them to do the work - regular chores don't get paid for around here). Now, they are saving their money for our trip to Florida in October........that's right....we travel too!

I hope that Christians, especially, will stop listening to the nonesense that is coming from these people. Children are only as expensive as you make them be!

Garden Plans

It is that time again. Are we all ready to garden?????

I started some seedlings on Friday. I know that I am late, but I figure that any head start that I can give the little things the better. My cabbage has already sprouted. I haven't seen anything out of my broccoli or the flower seed that I planted. I tend to be impatient.

Most of what we are planting will be the usual stuff. I am going to plant some okra this year. That will be new. I am also hoping to can a lot more stuff. Hopefully, we will be investing in a pressure canner. I have always been afraid to pressure can so I was limited to things that I could hot-water-bath. With the price of groceries goign through the roof I really need to stock up on as much home-grown stuff as possible.

Dh will be getting some veggie and flower plants from work next week I think. I am eager to see what he will get me. Last year he brought home lots of veggie stuff and some mums for our new flower bed. I am sad to say, I don't think that the mums made it through the winter. The didn't get the attention that they deserved last summer with me pregnant and I think suffered for it.

So what are you planning in your gardens this year?

Still Here

I apologize for the lack of posting lately. Little Bear is a handful some days. I have been setting up new routines, exercise habit, Bible reading habit, daily goals, etc. and have barely had time to read email, let alone blog. I hope that you will forgive me.

I have also been dealing with some heart issues of my own lately. They came to a head with an argument with my dh yesterday. We hashed everything out today (over the phone, we do better that way for some reason) but I have a lot of work to do within myself. I have been convicted of my unsubmissive spirit. I have also been placing undue pressure on my dh in areas that he CAN'T change (ie, work, etc). That is not what God would have me doing. I realize that now, and am thankful that I came to this realization now while it will be easier to undo the damage to our marriage relationship.

I realized today how much I idealize the "normal" marriage arrangement. By normal I mean the dh working 9-5 with weekends off; able to spend time coaching teams and camping with the kids; sitting next to his family at church and during the monthly potluck. This is the ideal that I was hoping we would eventually reach. This is NOT going to happen here. My dh works 3-11. He works 1 hour away from home, so he leaves at 1:30 p.m. and doesn't return until midnight. He winds down after work (when the rest of us are asleep), going to bed around 2 a.m. He wakes up after 7-8 hours of sleep; usually around 10 or 11 a.m. Of course, that is if he doesn't work overtime. He works a lot of overtime. His days off are on Thursday and Friday. We spend the better part of those days at taekwondo (dh is part owner of the school). My dh is a wonderful provider, and he tries his very best to spend quality time with us. I am thankful that we can homeschool; otherwise my boys would almost never see their father. We miss out on the weekend camping trips, sitting together at church (dh doesn't attend), going to local football games together; evening dinners with friends are out. If we wanted to invite friends for dinner, they would all be at work. This is the part that I struggle with. I wanted the perfect "family life". I realize that I need to accept that our "family life" is perfect for US. This is the way that our family operates. Me wishing that it is going to be different isn't going to help matters any. I know that God can give me contentment in this area if I am willing to seek His will.

All of this rambling is to say, that if your family doesn't look like the "perfect family" that is ok. All families are different and yours is unique to your unique personalities and circumstances. My relationships with friends may not be as strong as they could be if we were available to fellowship together, but my relationship with my dh and children is more important and I can nurture that in the common atmosphere of our home.....where we all belong!!!!!

I hope to post some more this week. I hope that everyone is enjoying spring!

Crystal Wetherholt

Crystal is a very dear friend of mine. After much anticipation on my part, she has finally gotten her new website up and running. Crystal is a wonderful mother and example of godly womanhood. She speaks with the gift of God on the topics of mothering and godly womanhood. I am excited to see that she is speaking nearby in May and can't wait to be there. I encourage you to check out her website and blogs (linked on her website!) and see where God is taking her fantastic ministry.

Maybe a Lamb

Yesterday was a lamb day. We enjoyed it profusely. After lunch we went for Little Bear's first walk. It was 60 degrees and sunny with almost no wind at all. We walked for a while before he went to sleep. I am glad that he was able to enjoy his first "outside" experience. Before that he had only been outside long enough to go from house to car, car to store and back again.

Greg walked Sadie on her leash. They ran for almost a mile. She was more excited to be outside than the rest of us I think. Lee rode his bicycle. We really enjoyed ourselves. Next time I will try to remember to take pictures.

Today is a rainy day. I know that we need rain as well as sunshine, but it is such a bummer after such a beautiful day. I hope that it is short lived and spring sunshine returns again soon.

Out Like a Lamb

The old saying is that if March comes in like a lion it will go out like a lamb. I think that we can classify the ice storm during the first week of March as "in like a lion". I am having trouble classifying this last week though. What is up with SNOW all day on Easter???? And does that mean we will have snow for the next 7 Sundays????? Please someone help me figure this out!

While my mind ponders the mysteries of the world, my body works. The house was in such a state of dissaray that I couldn't even think. I have pretty much finished the Emergency House Clean-up posted by Candy and linked to by Crystal. The kitchen looks better. The main bathroom looks better. The rest of the house......not so good. But the laundry is folded so that has to be worth something. When I get done here, I am going to pick up some and then call it a day.

The main focus of the past few days is the revival being held at our church this week. We started with services last night. I think that it was a smashing success. I was honored to be asked to lead the music part of the service. This is the first time that I have done this for a revival. The topic is Restoring God's Church with John Blackmore speaking. Last night he urged us to consider what I will be willing to give up to bring others to know Christ. That is a big question! I have trouble coming out of my comfort zone. I want others to know about Christ, but what do my actions show? This is something that will require prayer over the next few days (maybe weeks!) to sort out in my mind. I am excited to hear tonight's message!!!!

Greg celebrated his 8th birthday on Friday. He got fishing gear, a metal detector and lots and lots of $$$$$ in the form of cash and gift cards. I don't remember ever having as much money as he does when I was 8!!!! Happy Birthday sweetie! We love you!

Well, I guess that I will go for now. Please let me know if you can help me out on any of life's questions......I will be waiting for someone to figure it out!

A Day in our Homeschool

Candy has been posting about how her homeschool works and encouraged us to share what a day in our homeschool is like. It isn't exciting, but here it is!

We get up around 7-8 a.m. It kinda depends on what the plans are for that day and how late we were out the night before. Days after taekwondo classes usually start later than other days.
We begin with Bible. Right now we are reading through the book of Luke. Sometimes we split the reading, sometimes I read to them. Then we share prayer requests and praises and have a time of prayer. I think that this really helps start our day off on the right foot. Then the boys take turns taking baths while the other starts school. Then they switch. I limit bath time to 15 minutes, otherwise they would stay in there all day.

In the morning, both boys must complete the following:
spelling
language lesson
math
latin
handwriting
writing (Lee - once a week)
reading practice

They are allowed to do these things in whatever order they choose. Some of them they can always do on their own (handwriting) and others always need my supervision (reading practice). Most of them vary from day to day depending on the assignment. During this time I also work on laundry and try to either play with the baby or put him down for a nap. He has decided that he doesn't always want to take the morning nap.

After their subjects are done then they are required to read for 30 mins. We alternate between a book of their choosing and a book of my choosing. When that is done they are free until after lunch. They will usually get most of their chores out of the way for the day and then play with Baby Bear for me while I get lunch fixed.

Norman leaves for work and then we commence history and science studies. We also read some poetry at this time. They do any notebooking, mapwork, timeline work and also complete lyrical life science at this time. Hopefully Baby Bear is asleep at this time as well, but if he isn't we just roll him in with what we are doing. He plays really well in his walker so that helps.

The boys have the afternoon free. Depending on the day of the week we may be going to taekwondo. On those days we also usually go to the library. The boys love the new library! If it is a "stay at home day" then they play outside, in their rooms or work on crafts. Right now, Greg has a study on turtles that he and I are working on during his free time.

We try to have read-aloud time during the evenings when we are home. This doesn't always happen. I need to be more diligent about it.

There is our current school day. I look forward to seeing how everyone else works their days!

Are you a Hearer or a Doer?

Are you a hearer or a doer? Am I?

That is the question that I asked myself this evening as I sat down to the computer. I sat down with the express purpose of looking (once again) for the perfect homekeeping system. I am absolutes sure that it is out there. I look for it about twice a month. As I sat down, it occurred to me that I have read about every practical homekeeping article out there (although if you have a new one, I would love to read it!) and tried every organizational system. You would think with all of this knowledge under my belt that my house/household/schooling would be in ship-shape condition.

Sadly, that is not the case.

I am here to admit that I am a hearer/reader/seeker. I am, in fact, NOT a doer. I don't tend to put the things that I learn into practice. I will sit and read about homekeeping/organizational systems. I will make up detailed cleaning rotations and charts. I will delegate jobs to the children. However, I don't follow any of those things. I do what I NEED to do to get by and no more. I am barely keeping my head above water. As I look around my house right now, I stress the BARELY part. How embarrassing!

This tendency of mine tends to follow into my spiritual life. Jesus warns us not to be hearers of the Word only, but doers also. I can't begin to count the times I have noted in my journal or Bible something that I think God is saying to me. I can count on ONE hand how many times I have actually followed through with what God wants me to do. That is truly sad.

Right now, I am challenging myself to be a DOER. I am going to keep a list of the things I need to DO and keep myself accountable to doing them. Homekeeping, homeschooling, ministry are all included here. Most importantly though is my spiritual life. From today on, that will be my main priority.

I urge any of you who read this to challenge yourself to be DOERS, in all areas of your life. Make this a priority in your spiritual life. Post about what your neglected area is and how you are working to improve it. Please leave me a comment! We can encourage each other!

200th Post

I just wanted to note (for anyone that cares) that this is my 200th post :) I don't have anything fascinating to say though!

Family Emergencies

I am praising the Lord today as we are recovering from a family emergency. My youngest brother Daniel was in a severe motorcycle accident on Friday evening. He was transfered from our local hospital to a level 1 trauma center north of here. It seems that God has choosen to bless him with a full recovery! He is still a patient there, but has become fully conscious, and has only a broken clavical and road rash to show for the experience. I am so thankful for our friends and church family as they "prayed" us through this time. I know that I couldn't have made it without them!

I am still trying to catch up on sleep. This week is full, with dog grooming and children's doctor's appointments. Next week will be a 3-day revival at our church. I was honored to be asked to lead the music. I haven't ever led music for a revival before so I am anxious to be pleasing to God. I hope and pray that he will lead me in the selection of music and appropriate speech.

I will try to update with some scripture that I have been reading lately. There are many great gems I have discovered and applied to my life over the past couple of weeks!

PJs and Coffee

I was just wondering if there was anyone else out there in internet land who was chronically drinking COLD coffee?

I swear that it isn't my fault, maybe I have a touch of ADHD, but it seems like every time I get a new cup of hot coffee something happens, I set it down, and when I come back to it, it is cold...and then we go around again. Lukewarm coffee isn't very good either, btw. I know that mornings are so busy around here and that is part of the problem, but that is precisely why I NEED the coffee :) And to top things off, the last 2 days I haven't managed a shower before 10 a.m. Today is was after 11 a.m. It seems that the boys don't mind that I am doing school in my pj's......in fact, sometimes they are in their underwear.....so I guess that it all works out.

It is a blessing that we very rarely have visitors :)

So Very Busy

I don't know what is going on around here. I feel like I am barely treading water! I seem to be sooo busy but I can't really think of anything that has been added to my schedule to make me feel that way.

On Monday the boys and I went to the library. We live in between 2 towns. We hold an in-residence library card to one of them. Unfortunately it is the town that we almost never go to....(((sigh))). Recently, I discovered that we could have our library card stickered with the bar code of the library in the town that we ARE in 3-4 times a week. Praise God!!! And this library is a lot nicer than the other one (although in its defense, library #1 is in a slightly smaller town). So we are excited and spent 1.5 hours at the library before taekwondo Monday evening. Just hanging out. Cause we could :)

Yesterday I worked like an ant with school, laundry and housework. My parents returned home from their FL trip on Monday (yeah, guess what they were doing during the ice storm?????). So we went to their house to visit Tuesday afternoon.
I was finally able to check email and blogs at 8 p.m. on Tuesday evening. The first time since Saturday.

Today I was busy again with school and housework and laundry. The busyness was compounded by the fact that Little Bear has spent most of the day screaming his little head off and refusing to take a nap. That is not conducive to cleaning. But I have managed and even have a minute online. Then I need to fold the last load of laundry.

Cloth diapers are going great. I don't really know what all the fuss is about. It really isn't any different and I can just hear the money hitting the bank every time I DON'T use a disposable. With the price of gas and groceries going up EVERY DAY, I am relieved to be able to save some money somewhere.

I am planning for school next year. It doesn't look like Sonlight is going to be in the budget....as sad as that makes me. But I am having fun putting things together from Hands of a Child. They have a lot of very interesting Project Packs for a wide spread of age groups. I joined their Super Membership Club and have already downloaded 3 project packs that just happen to be for things that we were wanting to study!!!!! God is great.

I am hoping to find some time to knit. It just isn't working right now. That's ok. I know that this season of life will pass so quickly!

Back In the Swing of Things

I am slowly getting back into the swing of things.

So far today I have:
washed/dried/folded several loads of laundry (I still have at least 2 loads left to do)
decluttered the kitchen table, coffee table and breakfast bar
put away some of our extra grocery purchases
swept the kitchen and dining room
loaded and ran the dishwasher and handwashed the rest
had the boys do their chores
check email
made lunch (fried shrimp and cajun rice)
decluttered baby stuff
picked up living room

We are having chicken and noodles, mashed potatoes, biscuits and fruit for supper.

I also made some phone calls and scheduled Little Bear's 4 month doctor's appt. At this point though it will really be an almost 5 month appointment :)

I am going to go do some reading, bible study and maybe watch some TV before time to start supper. We are having a stay-at-home day. It will be a relief after our hectic week!

Ice Storm

What a few days these have been!!!!

Monday evening an ice storm started. It continued all night and into the morning on Tuesday. At 11 a.m. Tuesday we lost our power. Norman had to go to work so the boys and I hunkered down in the warmest room of the house (an interior bedroom). At 5 p.m. I called our electric company only to be told it could be 48 hours before power returned. We were still warm in that bedroom, but the rest of the house was getting cold, quick. So I opted to go into town to my mil's house before it got any colder.

We just got our power on today (Thursday) at around 11 a.m. (exactly 48 hours). We stayed at mil's until around 5 to let the house warm up. We are very blessed that although it was very cold in the house our water pipes didn't freeze. We were blessed to have somewhere warm to go. I feel very blessed that we were able to come home this evening and sleep in our beds!!!! You have never seen 5 people (and 1 dog) so happy to come home to our messy home :) We appreciate it (and electricity) so very very much now!!!!!

I have a lot of catching up to do (dishes and laundry are going as we speak) but I am very thankful for our many blessings!!!

Cloth Diapers Day 2

I purchased a lot of all-in-one cloth diapers from a Craig's list posting for $50. This was an answer to prayer regarding my contemplation of cloth diapering. The diapers are very nice and as easy to use as disposables. The package included 18 diapers, extra inserts, diaper cover wraps and some flushable liners. Dh gave his consent to the purchase and helped me set up a dry diaper pail.
So far, everything has went well. We had a leak after a 4 hour nap yesterday morning, but it could have been much worse and that was only the 2nd cloth diaper we had used :) So we are still learning. He slept in a disposable last night, but tonight we will use cloth and see what happens. I think that it will go ok cause he isn't a heavy wetter at night.

Course, this morning the dryer died. We knew that it was ill, but this morning when I went to turn it on, it flashed blue and the nob dropped off in my hand. That can't be good. Dh has already repaired this dryer multiple times (it is almost 10 years old). I am going to try to just get by without telling dh for as long as possible. Things like this tend to cause him anxiety. Hopefully spring will show up quickly and I will be able to hang clothes outside again. Then there will be no problem! Today, it is still very cold and the ground is muddy from all the rain that we have had. I think that slopping through mud to get to the clothes line might be counter-productive......so I hung up the first load of clothes on hangers in the boy's bathroom and above the washing machine. After dh goes to work at noon I will do the same with the 2nd load. This evening, I will wash a load of diapers and hang them up in the morning when some of the other clothes are dry. I will make this work! They say that "where there is a will, there is a way".....we are just going to find the way!
And honestly it could be a lot worse. We have a working, almost new washing machine (it would be much worse to live without a washing machine!), running water (hot and cold), working heat (my mil's furnace was broke for over a week in bitterly cold weather while waiting for a replacement this week), plenty of food (scored great deals at Kroger yesterday) and disposable diapers if I have trouble keeping up with the laundry for a while. We are truly blessed indeed!

My back hurts :(

That just about sums up my day.

How pathetic is that????

Anyway, my mind has been whirring with ideas about organizing the bathroom cabinets (be still my heart!) and about some new knitting projects (hats for Baby Bear and a friend). I am deeply troubled by the thought of grocery prices increasing dramatically over the next few months. Norman and I have been seriously stocking up on things that are on sale, and getting the great deals at Walgreens and CVS, but we haven't really had any way to organize the massive amount of stuff (food, tolietries, etc.) So we are thinking of putting floor to ceiling cabinets somewhere.......maybe in the kitchen, maybe in the living room. So I am pondering that.

Today we had school, I did 4 loads of laundry (compared to yesterday's SEVEN!), fixed spaghetti for lunch (with homemade sauce, yummy!), finished school and the laundry, cleaned the back part of the living room (you know, the place where all the ODD stuff lives LOL), ran the dishwasher twice and comforted a very grumpy baby on and off ALL DAY LONG.

Baby Bear has been out of sorts the past few days. I don't know if he is teething, feeling bad, or getting ready to feel bad. I guess he could be having a growth spurt. He just cries and is difficult to comfort. I look forward to Norman's days off.

I am tired and my back still hurts (amazing that blogging didn't help that :)) so I am going to bed. Tomorrow will be another day :)

P.S. Lest you think that I am ungrateful, I am so very thankful for everything that God has given me today including an aching back, cause that means that I was able to work and snuggle a chubby baby. Good night!

Some more pictures

This is a picture of my older boys.
Greg is on the left and Lee is on the right. They really are best friends.



This is my Sadie. She is a black cocker spaniel....and my only daughter :) She sleeps most of the time so this is a typical picture of how she spends her days.




This is a Bear and a Tiger (Tiger is the cat). I wasn't sure which one is bigger so I laid them side-by-side for a size comparison. I am not sure who the winner is.



Ironically, Tiger doesn't really like people. He is anti-social. He especially doesn't like ME. He is dh's cat. He bites if you rub his tummy. So I don't....EVER. Suprisingly, Tiger loves Bear. Tiger wants to sleep with Bear, wants to rub up against Bear and goes out of his way to check on Bear. So the anti-social cat likes the baby. Who, ironically, will probably spend the next 2 years pulling Tiger's tail. I guess that every good deed doesn't go unpunished. Especially not in this house :)

Contemplation

I have been mulling around ideas for our homeschool in my mind for a week or so now. I tend to embrace change.....even when change isn't need (or in some cases WANTED). I love Sonlight. The kids are enjoying it and even have embraced reading (even my reluctant reader). Sonlight is working for us.

And yet, I am seeking something else.

Although we are solidly in the middle of our 2nd term (we took off a lot of time when Bear was born) we are only starting the 12th week of Sonlight. I am looking at us still working through Core 3 till the end of 2008....at least. That's ok. But part of me says you need to get something else. Why part of me says that, I don't know. I told that part to shut up, but it isn't listening.....got figure.

Sonlight is pretty expensive. However that isn't relative if we are still using it for half of next year also. And that will also let Greg expand his reading skills enough so that he can stay on the same Core as Lee at least for a few more years. I thought that I would have to split them up after Core 4 due to Greg's lower reading ability (he is in 2nd grade now - using Core 3 - and doing fine, I might add). So if we can't start Core 4 until Jan. 2009 then Greg will be halfway through 3rd grade and that wouldn't be working to far ahead. Lee is my reluctant reader so it works great that we are working a little behind his grade level. That keeps the reading right where he needs it to be.

Speaking of reading. Lee is reading the advanced readers for Core 3. He is doing very well. He is reading them faster than they are scheduled. Part of that is because I assign reading based on 30 minutes a day rather than so many chapters a day. So he is ahead. I have started letting him alternate assigned reading books with books of his choosing (after mom's approval of a book). He is pleased with this arrangement and so am I. I started doing this for Greg also so that he can read some for pleasure as well as assigned.

I am trying to integrate notebooking into our curriculum more. We are doing some narrations after reading history assignments. The boys like the science worksheets but I don't think that I will purchase Sonlight science again. The boys love science topics and I would love to be able to follow their interests in this area. So next year we will probably follow a unit study approach when it comes to science. Apologia elementary science looks very interesting to me.

So I am searching for ways to spice up our studies and get us through these mid-winter blues. Any suggestions?

Maybe when Sonlight's 2008 catalog comes out I will be inspired.

Little Bear

This is a picture of Little Bear. He was up on his dad's shoulder and looked so sweet that we snapped a picture. We do that alot.

A Picture of my Boys

I am trying my hand at uploading pictures to my blog. If this works, this will be a picture of my boys. Greg is on the left, Norman in the middle and Lee is holding Sadie on the right.

Quick Post - Homeschool Links

I have ran across several cool homeschool related links in the past few days that I thought that I would share. I am typing quick cause Little Bear is waking up.

The Master Planner



The Chore Busters

Enjoy!

Saturday Savings

I thought that I would post some fantastic deals that Norman and I managed to find this week. For starters, Norman has really become a money saving fanatic. He does great! He goes to IGA after work and walks up and down the aisle looking for the "unadvertised" sales. His great deal this week was frozen bread dough, IGA brand. There were 5 loaves in a bag and they were $1.38. Normally they were $4.85!!!!! And the bread was delicious :)

At Walgreens I finished getting the "free with rebate" items. I also got the general mills cereal (Honey Nut Cheerios and Lucky Charms) that were 3/$7 with a $2 RR. Incidentally, the register also gave us a $1.50 off 3 boxes coupon for next time.

I am new to CVS shopping but I didn't do bad there this week. I had around $14 in ECB's to spend. I got Cascade dishwashing detergent, 2 jumbo packs of Pampers, a Soy Joy bar, a Gilette Fusion razor and a Gatorade G2. I spent my ECB's and $13 out of pocket and got $6.29 in ECB's for next time. I had a lot of coupons to spend on stuff there (2 $1.50 off coupons for Pampers and a $4 off 1 razor) so that helped with my total a lot.

I am interested to see the great deals when I am able to get a hold of more coupons. We have a new printer so now I will be able to access all those wonderful online coupons.

I can't wait to see the sales flyers for next week! And just one week after that till the new Easy Saver Books are out! Woo Hoo!!!!!! Norman says that I am an addict :)

Happy Saving!

Current Reading List

I thought that it would be interesting to post my current reading list. These are all books that are either in my "quiet time" basket or living on the coffee table. I have started them but not finished them at this time :)

Issue #57 An Encouraging Word
Winter 2007-08 The Old Schoolhouse Magazine
March 2008 Fitness Magazine

Beautiful In God's Eyes by Elizabeth George (2nd time through)
The Genesis Record by Henry M. Morris
Loving God with All Your Mind by Elizabeth George
Language Arts the Easy Way by Cindy Rushton
Notebooking! Yes, You Can be a Binder Queen by Cindy Rushton
The Ultimate Lap Book Handbook by Tammy Duby and Cyndy Regeling
The Bible - Deuteronomy

So, leave a comment and let me know what you are currently reading~

Icy Day

We had sleet and freezing rain last night.

Everything is under a layer of ice this morning. That means that I get to stay home today. The roads aren't in a good enough condition to justify me getting out with the kids so I juggled my schedule and arranged for us to be home today.

I LOVE staying at home!

We finished school work a few minutes ago. I wrote a letter, made some phone calls (juggling our activities) and am checking email. I will be making pork chops for lunch. We will do afternoon school and maybe I will get some knitting in. Little Bear was so fussy yesterday that I didn't get any knitting done yesterday. And now he is awake again. Guess I had better go!

Have a great day!

Moving Into the Technology Age

Well, with much anticipation we have moved into the technological age :) For Valentine's Day my wonderful husband bought me a new Gateway laptop, a wireless 3-in-1 printer and high speed internet. WOOOHOOOO!
I have done more this afternoon in 1 hour on the internet than I have done in the last 3 weeks combined. I am flabbergasted by how FAST this thing is (I am sure it is a combination between fantastic computer and fabulous internet service).
I imagine that I will be doing a LOT more blogging. I will also try to get some pictures posted of my boys and some of the projects that I have been working on.
This will open up so many creative doors for me :)

Website Links for Submission Post

I am sorry that I forgot to add these at the end of my post on Biblical submission. These are some of the sites that helped to encourage me to seek the Bible and God's will with regard to submission in my marriage. I hope that they will also encourage you!

www.titus2.com
www.yoursacredcalling.blospot.com
www.keepingthehome.com
www.biblicalwomanhoodonline.com

Also, here are some book titles that I have also found useful:

The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace
Created to be His HelpMeet by Deb Pearl

Homekeeping Happenings

Things around here have been very quiet. It is a dreary, rainy day...even week around here. The temps have risen to the 50's and the snow is all melted. The boys had to go from snow sledding to mud sledding. Currently, they are wittling sticks on the kitchen floor.

School is going well. We are studying Jamestown and the Pilgrims. I really enjoy this time in American History so that makes the study especially enjoyable for me. I taped some educational shows from that time period off the History Channel and we watched one this afternoon (about the building of the GodSpeed - ship that brought settlers from England to Jamestown). The boys really enjoyed it.

Baby Bear is a little fussy. I think that he may be teething. Shortly I will bathe him and spend some time with a lotion massage. That always seems to calm him down. We watched the first part of a new Baby Einstein video about sign language today. The older boys picked up the signs for baby, mommy, daddy and kiss very quickly. I hope that we will be able to naturally work them into our daily lives so that Baby Bear will pick them up quickly in due time.

I have got to finish cleaning my closet and find the rest of my material. And I am still working on the LONE sock.

I am reading through the Bible and am in Deuteronomy. There is a lot of good stuff in there. I hope to share by the end of the week some of the things that I have learned. If you haven't already noticed, I did manage to finish my article on biblical submission and have posted it below. I will add another post with links to websites that promote biblical submission.

I hope that everyone is having a wonderful week. Spring will be on its way soon enough!

HomeKeeping

Today is a homekeeping day.

I woke up at 5 this a.m. and showered....donned a cute turtleneck with hearts and bears on it and a tan jumper; ate breakfast, fed baby, talked to mom. I spent a few minutes decluttering the hutch countertops in my dinning room. They are next to the door that we all use and tend to pick up lots of clutter. That accomplished and laundry started, I baked chocolate chip cookies. While they were baking I loaded the dishwasher, cleaned out the fridge and got frozen egg rolls out for lunch. The boys have been playing outside in the snow and are now eating warm cookies and hot cocoa. I am taking a break now, sipping tea and reading some wonderful articles that Miss Peggy posted on her blog. Her writing is inspiring me to apply myself as a better hommeaker.

I am gazing out my window.....looking at the snow and thinking of all the possibilities for spring. I am also mentally planning our 3rd annual 4th of July cookout. We always have it on the Saturday following the 4th and invite all of our friends. We have the most wonderful time and I am really looking forward to it this year. Most of all, I am looking forward to warmer weather! And that little groundhog in PA saw his shadow so I guess we get 6 more weeks of winter......I sure hope that they are mild!

Anyway, better get off here and get back to work!

Updates

First, I have updated the Sites I Visit and Homeschool Links on the right-hand sidebar. If you are inclined check out some of my favorite sites. There are many helpful and godly sites out there to glean from!

Now, we have been snowed in. Not really, but we have about 4 inches on the ground. The boys have been sledding all afternoon. Chicken noodle soup and hot cocoa have reigned supreme around here!

We have all been feeling better. That truly is a blessing. We had a windstorm on Tuesday night that wrapped our trampoline around an old light pole. We didn't suffer any other damage though so God was very gracious to us!

I am still working on the lone sock. Hopefully I will get it finished next week. I am having a very dear friend over on Monday. We will have a wonderful day catching up and sipping tea.

Homekeeping duties will keep me busy tomorrow and then on Sunday my grandparents celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary. It is a blessing to me to have such a wonderful example of a dedicated marriage in my family. I will be enjoying spending time with my family then. I hope to check back in on Tuesday!

Sick and Tired

I am sick and tired.....and sick and tired of being sick and tired. HaHa!!!! That probably wasn't near as funny as my tired brain thought it was. Oh well......

Anyway, today was a productive day even if I was sick and tired. We got homeschooling done, plus a rough draft of Lee's very first ever history report done. All but 2 of my daily housekeeping chores are done. We went to my mom's house to borrow encyclopedias for the report and she made us supper. We had a lovely visit.

Little Bear and I have the worst ends of the cold. It is just a cold but it makes a 3 month old horribly miserable. And that makes momma very miserable. I am praying that tomorrow will be a better day.

On the projects lists....I finished the 2nd baby hat. I love this little pattern and it knits up pretty quick. I started the LONE sock yesterday. I am hoping to have it done by the weekend and then I can wear it and its mate.....maybe to church Sunday. The colors on it are pretty funky.... I will have to work to make it match something subdued enough for church. Tomorrow I will be beginning the cleaning of my sewing area. My sewing area is in a corner of our master bedroom. Some of my sewing/knitting stuff is in my huge master closed (which doesn't seem so huge when it is filled with JUNK). I have alotted all of my free time this week to cleaning up the area and supplies. Then I am hoping to cut out my favorite jumper pattern in a floral corduroy on Saturday so I need to get this area cleaned up.

Thanks to my new friend Tilly I have the fantastic idea to make some new bedding for my older boys. I was wanting to update their bedrooms but finances just hadn't allowed it. I think that I will just make most of it and take care of that problem! So my mind is busy churning out ideas and plans.

I have an article on biblical submission started and saved. When my head clears up I will polish it and post it. I hope that everyone has a fantastic week!

Planning and other Happenings

My mind has been making plans. Normally that is very scary. I have yet to decide if it is this time.

I think that I have most of the plans for the garden ready. I know what seeds/plants I am ordering from Burpee and when I need to place the orders. I have the whole shebang broke down into 4 separate orders to make it easier on my budget. We are going to try okra this year! I also need to set up (and use) a gardening notebook so that I have a record of sucesses and failures. So far we have been muddling along with my memory and that just isn't working. LOL

I have a list, somewhere, of knitting projects that I want to complete by the end of the year. I hope that I haven't lost that list. (((sigh))) I got my new Knit Picks catalog yesterday and have about 4 more projects that will probably need to be added to that list. I need to start saving some yarn money. I also got my new Connecting Threads catalog. There is some fantastic fabric in there that would make a wonderful jumper (or 2 or 3). Their fabric is reasonably priced so I guess that I need to save some fabric money.

I am also thinking of making some new curtains for the living room, a tablecloth (or table quilt) for the dining room table, some placemats and maybe, just maybe quilts for my bed and the boys. I made a quilt 9 years ago for Lee (it was tied rather than quilted) and it finally gave up the ghost this year and had to be discarded (so sad). I need to get some quilts made for my boys!

I think that is all right now. My mind is just a whirring and there aren't enough hours in the day!!!!!

Here's to creative planning!

A Wonderful God-Given Day

Every single day is a gift from God.

Today we had a good day. From the outside others might not see it that way. It is 5:30 p.m. and I am still in last night's jammies, but that is ok. My wardrobe doesn't indicate the happenings of a day.

I got up at 6 a.m. with Little Bear. He took his bottle while I watched the news. I am sick of the election talk already. I spoke with my mom via phone and the woke up the older boys for school. We have been starting at 7:30 with breakfast, bible reading and discussion and prayer. That has been a wonderful way to start our days. We seem to be able to maintain our focus and we all have goals. Our memory work has been much for profitable also.

The boys clean up breakfast and get themselves ready for the day. Little Bear was asleep by now and we started school. All of our school subjects have been going very well. Lee has resisted writing assignments but hopefully as he gets used to doing them there won't be so much "debate" :)

Lunch was meatloaf, mashed potatoes, rice and broccoli with cheese. Norman woke up just before lunch was ready, fed the baby, showered, dressed, ate quickly and then went to work early to get his hair cut. The older boys and I finished up schoolwork while Bear slept again. Everything seemed to be timed just right today! Then I practiced taekwondo and did housework while the boys practiced.

I got a new quilting catalog and knitting catalog that has so many fabulous projects in it. I am wanting to do so many of them and I know that there isn't new enough time! I am taking a few minutes to bop around the internet while eating some gumbo that my mom made for lunch today. She was very kind to bring me some leftovers. I love gumbo but nobody else here appreciates cajun cuisine like I do so I never make it.

We finished reading The Witch of Blackbird Pond this evening. It was a wonderful book. At first I didn't know if the boys would like it but I think that they enjoyed it more than I did. Sonlight has done a wonderful thing for our homeschool. It is such a blessing to me to see my boys with a book on the couch or hanging on my every word during storytime.

God has been so gracious to us today. May all the praise be given to Him!

Submission

I have encountered many women lately who I believe are in rebellion toward their husbands. This makes me so sad, as I was that woman 6 years ago. The difference in my life and in my marriage today is so remarkable that I want to shout it from the rooftops. However, I am frequently met with criticism and doubt. Many women don't want to believe that following their husband will help to make him a better husband. But ladies....it DOES!



Seven years ago my 2nd son was born. My husband and I barely co-existed together. I despised him.....he had a terrible work ethic and was frequently out of work, refused to help around the house, etc. After the birth of my 2nd son I was fired from work and decided to stay at home with my boys. My husband agreed at least temporarily. He started a new job (the 3rd in 12 months) about 3 month later and had to do 6 weeks of training away from home. Then he was working 3 hours from home and was only able to come home 2 days a week. I had plenty of time to think about our relationship.



At the counsel of several godly women from many different sites I learned about biblical submission. At first I didn't want to believe that God wanted me to submit to my husband. He wasn't even a Christian. He made wrong decisions every day! I just knew that if I left any major decision up to him that we would be in the poor house. What good would that be for our family???? I decided (because, of course, I know better than God!) that I would submit in the small things. Token submission. That way I could feel good about obeying God's command without actually giving up control.



My husband took the little bit of leeway I gave him and ran with it. He became responsible! He started expecting that I follow his lead. Now mind you, he had no idea what I was doing (and as far as I know he still doesn't). He just began taking control of our family. At first, I fought him some and we argued a lot. I felt justified in saying that this submission thing just wasn't working. We didn't fight this much before so why should I put my family in the middle of one constant fight about EVERYTHING??? Finally I got tired of fighting and just let it go. Everything. Almost instantly our marriage improved 110%. And my husband changed some more.



My husband has held that same job all these years. He diligently goes to work and fullfills all his responsibilities there. He became a better father. He takes pride in spending time with his family rather than out with the "guys". His whole outlook on life has changed. Is he perfect? Absolutely not, but then again, neither am I. Every once in a while I feel the old me rise up and want to fight about something (usually trivial) just to get my way. God is gracious in letting me take one day at a time.



Many women I meet assure me that they should be allowed to make decisions in their marriage just as much as their husbands are. I agree. I voice my opinion (and most the time my husband asks for it) on almost everything of importance. I make many decisions in areas that my husband doesn't want to deal with. He has delegated that responsibility to me. If I have questions about anything, I take it to him and he has the final say in the matter.



I hope and pray that my boys see their dad taking the lead in our family and understand that this is the way that God made families to operate. Our family has been so blessed because I took the first very difficult step and submitted....wholeheatedly!

The most important part of a wife's biblical submission is her attitude. If you begrudgingly submit, then you might as well not. Submission needs to be done with a meek spirit, a smile on your face and joy in your heart. I ask God every day to give me that joy and if I feel that I am missing it then that is a prime indicator of my need to spend more time with Him.



I pray that you will also seek God's word and consider submitting to your husband. Submitting to God's will for your life will always lead to bountiful blessings!

Quick Catch-Up

It seems that I am always checking email while holding baby bear and that makes it very difficult to post to my blog. He is sleeping in his swing right now so here goes a quick update about the goings on around here!



We started school back up last Monday. It went well and the older boys adjusted to the new schedule and routine well. We are starting earlier; 7 a.m. up and breakfast and devotions. That also means that most of the time they are getting done earlier in the a.m. for lunch break. If not, at least we can get stuff done before lunch. Baby bear is adapting to not being the center of attention :)



Baby bear and Greg both have colds. This makes Bear very grouchy :) And he sleeps a lot. I find it ironic that he would be irritable when we restart school. I am learning patience!!!!



I have been keeping up with the housework pretty well, but if you miss a day it all goes downhill. I have some catchup to do tomorrow. I am usually home all day on Tuesday, but Baby bear is scheduled to have his 2 month shots tomorrow. I scheduled it for around lunch time so that it wouldn't interfere with school. I hope the shots don't make him more irritable than he already is.



I guess that is all here for now. I will try to be more diligent in posting :)

Knitting Again

I have been waiting to say this for quite a while..............I am knitting again!

Somewhere along the line this summer I lost all desire to create. I guess that creating a new little life inside of me was enough! So I have been anxiously waiting for the desire to knit or sew to return and it has. With a vengence! I just finished the cutest little knitted hat for a friend of dh's whose wife is having a baby girl. I made it white with a baby pink drawstring tie along the top. It turned out so sweet!

On the sewing front.....I have a million ideas in my head that want to come OUT! I have some cordouroy for a jumper that I think I will try to get made up within the next week or so. I have made the pattern before, but I am wanting to play with it a little bit.

I wish that I could post pictures. Dh is thinking of getting us wireless internet. That would be such a blessing! Then I could post some pictures!

Creative blessings to you!

Catching Up

I am finally getting some things under control around here. Today I did quite a lot of housework and laundry. Tomorrow I will finish my housework and laundry and then I have to get a handle on school work. I have some high goals for us (me as teacher and boys as students) and I need to get a map to keep me going in the right direction. When I get that hashed out I will try to post. I have some thoughts about some things I want to write about. Hopefully soon I will be able to get everything straightened out in my mind and out onto the keyboard.

Also, I started a new exercise/weight loss/healthy eating blog HERE. I am by no means the "know all" on the subject, but I thought that sharing my struggles would keep me accountable and maybe encourage someone else.

Have a Happy Homemaking Day!

Living, Loving and Learning in 2008

Welcome 2008!!!!

We had a lovely time last night (and early this a.m.) at a friend's house bringing in the new year with our dearest friends. We had a wonderful time and are bumming around the house today recuperating.

As of today we are LIVING in 2008. I want to spend this year LOVING my family and friends. I also want to LOVE others as Jesus loves. LOVE isn't only an emotional feeling....LOVE is an action. God wants us to show LOVE to everyone we meet. That is one of my goals for 2008. We will also be LEARNING in 2008. LEARNING about God and His will for our lives. LEARNING in our school subjects, new hobbies and about those around us. We are excited to be LIVING for God, LOVING for God and LEARNING about God in 2008! I hope that you will decide to make that one of your top priorities this year as well :)

Happy New Year!!!!!!

I am the Most Protected Woman in the World

Most of you know that my 10 year old son is a 1st degree black belt. My 7 year old son achieved his 1st degree black belt in Oct. On Dec. 20 my dh also earned his 1st degree black belt. I am not sure that there is another woman on the planet that is as safe as I am :)

Gearing Up For the New Year

I am planning for the new year. I usually enjoy that task, but this year I am feeling overwhelmed. I am anxious about starting school back up with the baby in tow. If you really knew me, you would know that something like this wouldn't normally bother me at all. I have worked school around much larger distractions than a sweet little baby.

I suspect that part of my anxiety is due to the fact that my house is a disaster. I am not just saying that, this place is trashed. I am embarrased to have anyone over, but unexpected guests have arrived the last 2 days. And I felt as tall as an ant. I don't know what kind of character flaw I have that has allowed this to happen......and don't try to tell me that I can be excused because of the new baby.....this place was in bad shape before then. And pregnancy wasn't an excuse either because it wasn't all that clean before that. I admit it....I am a messy person, who happens to live with people who are also messy and don't care about the results. I am also lazy (which is a main character fault that I need to work on with God's grace).

I also need to start working on healthier eating. So far that isn't going well, as I have been eating every BAD thing that I come into contact with.....in large quantities. And I feel bad about it. Just not bad enough to STOP.

I fear that maybe I am depressed. I know that a good dose of exercise would probably help my outlook on life, but I don't have the energy to even think about that. I need to seek out time with God and His word, but I crave sleep so badly that I don't get around to it. I need to clean, but I want to snuggle with my baby. I struggle to see where to drag myself out of this hole that I have created.

So I am getting ready to go to God in prayer and ask his assistance in all of this. I am going to seek out his promises in my life. I am going to ask for help to conquer my lazy tendencies and for guidance in my housekeeping duties. I will listen for his leading in our homeschooling schedule. I am grateful that God is available to me through his son Jesus Christ.

Send on the New Year......I think that I will be ready to face it!

Ladies Against Feminism

There are some really great, new articles over at Ladies Against Feminism. I was especially blessed by the one about going from a messy to a neat person and the ones about modesty. I needed the encouragment of these articles today!

Time Marches On

Can you imagine that my baby is 6 weeks old today? I am only to aware of how quickly they grow up, evidenced by the 10 year old and 7 year old building a fort in the bedroom. For now, Little Bear is asleep in his bouncy seat; safe, warm and comfortable under a veggie tales blanket.

I am sitting now typing this in my blue jumper, blue t-shirt and grey/black sweater; gazing out the window into the fog. At 3:30 it is just as foggy as it was this morning. A dreary day, if not a cold one.....Norman said it was 54 degrees. But I can still feel the chill.

Today was productive. I worked on laundry, fixed lunch and worked on Christmas cards. I actually managed to get them done too! For lunch I fixed Creamy Italian Chicken. I thought that it was yummy served over rice, but we will wait for Norman's verdict before I put it on the menu rotation. Even the boys like it and I liked that it quickly went into the crockpot.

If Little Bear isn't grouchy this evening I may knit a little. I have one sock of a pair done and it would be a wonderful pick-me-up to have the other done....they are my favorite color....pink :)

I am happily settled into my home for the evening. God has truly blessed me with this winter season to rest and regain control of my household duties. God is merciful and always gives help when asked. I am a blessed woman indeed!

Passionate Housewives

Jennie Chancey and Stacy McDonald have written a wonderful book called Passionate Housewives: Desperate for God. This is a wonderful book that gives a Godly perspective on what our job as home makers truly is.....God given and God ordained. I have been blessed by this book so much as I get back into the swing of things after the birth of Norman. It is available from Vision Forum Ministries.

A Little Bit About Me

Candy posted her autobiography and urged that we share a little about ourselves as well. Most of my readers are also my friends in "real life" but maybe they will learn a little something about me that they didn't already know :)

I am the oldest of 3 children, I have 2 younger brothers. My parents are farmers. My dad is something of a "renaisance man". He has done a little bit of everything. When it isn't time to farm they currently travel around the US on their Harley Davidson Motorcycle. My parents are conservative and did a good job raising me and my brothers. They always did what they thought was best for us and I will always be thankful for their guidance, even if I didn't always follow it. I was a budding feminist.....I wanted to grow up to be a lawyer, astronaut, doctor and even the president!

I developed a rebellious attitude in my heart during adolescence. Although I was outwardly obedient, I was inwardly disrespectful and hateful toward many people in my life, particularly my parents and brothers. I dated a nice boy throughout high school and I suppose that many thought we would marry, but I resented the fact that he wanted to wait until I was through with college. I finally knew what I wanted to do with my life....be a stay-at-home wife and mom and that didn't jive with his idea of a working wife. We parted ways soon after my high-school graduation.

When I was 18 I met the man that I would marry. I moved into his mother's house 3 months before we married (the time between when we met and married was less than 6 months). My dh and I contintued to live with is mother for a while and then finally rented our own house. His idea of our future and mine didn't always coincide. My dh wasn't and still isn't a follower of Christ. He believes but he chooses not to follow Christ and his will for dh's life. I pray for him every day. At our first house we conceived our first son. We felt moved to go back closer to home so we moved when I was 6 months pregnant. For a while after Leland was born I stayed at home with him and enjoyed it, but felt satan's pull to be something more. I returned to college to get a degree in History. Dh lost his job so we moved again....into a trailer near my parents. I had a miscarriage about 6 months later. I was devasted. I got a job as a legal secretary and then conceived our second son. I worked all through that pregnancy while my mom and others cared for Leland. I was a wandering soul....searching for what I needed in my life. I had been baptized when I was 14 but had fell away from Christ. I had begun attending church again after Leland was born but still hadn't developed a personal relationship with Him. That began to change as I searched the internet for something.....I don't think I knew what I was looking for....but I began researching homeschooling and was led to other sites that embraced biblical womanhood. Finally a breath of fresh air!!!! After Gregory was born I didn't go back to work. I decided that no matter what our circumstances that I would stay home with my sons. My dh agreed that this was acceptable and even approved my homeschooling for a year! Praise God!!!!

We continued on in this fashion.....life changes as you go.....we bought a new manufactured home in 2003. We are still homeschooling. In 2005 the boys began taking taekwondo lessons. Within a year, dh and I were also taking classes. Both boys are now black belts and dh should be by the end of the year.

During these past few years I have done some "flip-flopping" in my walk with Christ. I tend to wear dresses only for a few months and then decide that I am being legalistic so I quit. I have since decided that I wear dresses because I want to honor God by being lady-like....like he made me. I love to wear dresses and am a real "girly-girl" so this works good for me. I struggle with teaching my boys everything that I feel that I should. I struggle in my daily walk with God. I am inspired by other homemakers that I know and the ones that I have "met" on the internet. God teaches me and leads me more every day.

All during these years we have been confronted with secondary infertility. I was diagnosed with PCOS in Oct. 2006 and we pursued fertility treatments shortly thereafter. We were very blessed to conceived our third earthly child in February of 2007. Norman Matthew was born on Oct. 30th 2007. We are truly blessed indeed!

My walk with God has its ups and downs almost on a daily basis. I am discouraged some days and don't know how I will have the strength to continue. Other days I am encouraged and blessed to know that what I am doing will have an impact on those around me. Every day has new struggles and challenges that I know God is using to grow me closer to him. I want others to know that I DON'T have everything all together. I am striving to be closer to God just like everyone else.

My worst struggles appear to be with scheduling and housework duties. I wasn't trained properly in the management of the home. I knew how to do cleaning and such but I didn't know how or why certain things were done that are intregal in the running of a home. I am learning as I go. God is faithful to teach me.

I enjoy many hobbies in my spare time. I love to knit (especially socks). I sew, garden, scrapbook and love a good mystery. I also love to sing. I try to be frugal in the money that dh's entusts me with. We are striving to be debt-free. I wear dresses and skirts because I love to. I sometimes wish that I had been born 150 years ago. Times and circumstances were more difficult but women knew how to be women and they knew what God wanted them to do. If I travel back in time I would take my washing maching with me :)

I hope that you have enjoyed this little glimpse of my life. I am a woman seeking God.....hear me roar!

5 Things I Am Thankful for Today

1. disposable diapers
2. my mom and grandmother
3. yesterday's beatiful, warm weather
4. dog kennels so I don't worry about Sadie when we travel
5. that I don't have to fly this weekend!

Probably won't post again till we get back. Happy Thanksgiving!

5 Things I am Thankful for Today

1. the internet (makes shopping and information gathering so much easier)
2. a reliable vehicle
3. clothing (packing makes you realize how much you have)
4. the funds to make this trip
5. extended family and friends

James 1-2

In addition to my bible reading this morning, I am also doing an indepth Bible study of the book of James. This was begun with my Sunday School class, but since we are in limbo about where we will be attending in the future, I decided that I would finish it myself. Today I just looked at the background of the book (using Halley's Bible Handbook) and read chapters 1 and 2.

The verses that really spoke to me (actually they hit me over the head, repeatedly!) were James 1:22-25, James 2:10-11, 14:26

The theme of these verses can be summed up by James 1:22-25
"But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves, for if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was, but whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therin, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed."

The part of the passage in chapter 2 is discussing how faith without works is dead.

On this past Sunday, Doug reminded us that people are watching what we are doing, not necessarily what we are saying (we also discussed this in sunday school). How do my actions measure up? I know that I tend to talk the talk.....I know all the "right" things to say, but are my actions those of a mature Christian? Are the things that I say and profess reflected in my daily life? How about in my though life? Do my thoughts line up with the things that I say are true?

I think that as a Christian I have fallen very short in this area of my life. Like I said, I have attended church all my life. I know what I am "supposed to say". I have the right words and I fear that in certain situations I have the proper actions. But what about in my day to day life? I know that I don't always read my Bible every day (although I know that I should). I don't always speak with love to everyone I see (my children must be included in that everyone, no matter how irritated I am at them). I let laziness rule my day sometimes (even though I know that slothfullness is a sin). My heart isn't always into being a "keeper at home" (that is my mandate from God!). I let fear rule my life sometimes (fear isn't from God). That is just the beginning! What about the way that I treat those that aren't "loveable"? Or those that I disagree with? I know that my behavior is probably deplorable in the eyes of the Lord.

So that is my challenge as I live my life today....and the rest of the week. I am going to pray before I speak/act/think and ask God to guide my ways. I pray that what the world sees of me will glorify God.

Psalms 1-9

Since the baby was born I have been very apprehensive about some things. I tend to suffer from post-partum depression. Thankfully this time around it wasn't as severe as previous times. However I am still very anxious about the baby, especially his health. I have become like a Nazi about people being in his presence.....even my other children. I, myself, and Greg have cold so that doesn't make my anxiety any better. I am just positive that Baby Norman is going to fall ill and require a hospital stay....or worse. I know in my heart that this fear isn't from the Lord. I began praying every day for his health whenever these thoughts would overwhelm me. Today I started reading the Psalms, looking for verses that would encourage and comfort me.

Psalm 4:8
I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety.

Psalm 5:11
But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.

Psalm 9:10
And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.

I am going to continue to read through the Psalms and post here when I find verses that encourage me. I hope that someone else will find encouragement in them as well.

Blessings,
Carie

5 Things I am Thankful for Today

1. a washer and dryer that WORK (even if the dryer is on its last leg)
2. boys that help with the housework
3. my baby sleeping on the couch
4. my little dog Sadie that loves me unconditionally
5. cool fall weather

Happenings Around Here

I am typing this while holding a sweet cuddly baby. He is swaddled up in a flannel blanket. I am so glad that I made these blankets last spring for him. They are flannel on one side and cotton on the other. Really cute and warm. Baby Norman likes to be snug when he is sleeping so they come in very handy.

Baby Norman is a wonderful baby and we have all enjoyed getting to know him. He stays awake for longer periods now; babbling and cooing. The boys love to hold, sing and talk to him. They are great big brothers.

My husband Norman (we haven't figured out a good way to distinguish between the two!) has another couple of weeks off work. We (especially ME) are very grateful for his paternity time. He has been such a blessing to me during my recovery and it was wonderful for him and baby to have some time to get to know each other. Since we didn't have that time with the other 2 we realize how very blessed we are.

Due to some changes at our church the boys and I are now looking for a new church to attend. I hate "church shopping" so you must realize how difficult this decision was for me. We have several options that don't require going somewhere totally unknown.....but still......I fear change. I honestly feel that this is what God is calling us to do so I am going. I just don't like the unknown. We will be slowly feeling the whole situation out and see what we think would be best. Norman was going to talk to the boys today about different options and their feelings about them to see where they stand. They always talk better to him than me.....maybe because my emotions tend to get in the way. We have only been at this church for about 3 years......I was hoping to not have to change again so soon.

On a more cheerful note, we will be making our annual "pilgrimage" to visit Norman's family this Thanksgiving holiday. I am looking forward to a change in scenery :)

We are studying James (today chapter 4) in Sunday School class and the last verse in that chapter said something to the effect of "if you know what you should do and you don't do it, then you are sinning". That really hit home with me. I know that there are many things in my life that I SHOULD be doing......actions and activities that I KNOW should be part of my daily life......my inaction is a SIN. It isn't simply I didn't do it.....I choose not to do it. And that is sin. I hope to examine some of those areas of my life in the next few weeks.

Since Thanksgiving is upon us I am going to post some things that I am thankful for. I should do this more often. I have so very much to be thankful for.

1. healthy children
2. loving, hardworking husband
3. our home and the things in it
4. my husbands job that provides for us
5. my health and the ability to care for my family

For the rest of the week I will try to post more things that I am thankful for. I encourage you to think about what God has blessed you with and thank Him for those things! God is Good all the time!!!!!

Norman Matthew

Just a quick post to let everyone know that Norman Matthew was born on Oct. 30, 2007 at 11:42 a.m. He weighed 7lbs 15ozs and is 20 inches long. Delivery was relatively quick.........the doctor almost didn't make it to catch him!!!! I have some recovery issues, but otherwise we are home and doing good!

Just Gabbing

I have spent the last half hour or so looking through my blog archives. That is an interesting endeavor. I realize how much I have really been slacking during this pregnancy! I know that there is a season for everything, but I hope and pray that I am able to overcome my tendency for laziness after this baby is born! That is something that I will really have to work on.

Even though I am not running at anything near full force, I thought that I would post what we did today and what I have on my list for tomorrow.

Today
went to church services
fixed lunch (leftover pork chops, cornbread stuffing, sweet potatoes)
walked in the Halloween parade at a neighboring town with our taekwondo school
Home to REST
Trick or Treating to Grandma's, Great Grandma's, Aunt Marge's and Uncle Buck's. Norman will take them into town on Wednesday night for the big event.
Reading blogs and email

Tomorrow
up/showered/dressed
pay bills
fix lunch (don't have any idea what)
work on laundry (mom may do it for me, but I will still need to put it away)
change sheets on my bed so I come home to clean sheets
double check baby's bag and my bag
help the boys pack their bags to stay at friend's house

I think that is it. I am hoping to be in bed early Monday evening cause we have to be at the hospital by 5:45 a.m. so we will be getting up very early (probably 4 a.m. for me). I have no idea why I need to be there so early......I wonder if there are even doctor's or office staff there that early??? Oh well, I am hoping that maybe after they hook me up to everything that I can go back to sleep for at least a little while.

All of your prayers are appreciated. I will post when we get home!
Blessings,
Carie

Teach Magazine Reviews

I have been asked about how I got started doing reviews for Teach Magazine. I answered an ad on an email group I was a part of several years ago. Not very helpful for the rest of you, since I am no longer a part of that group......I don't even know if it exists anymore, I just didn't have time to participate anymore. I would assume that you could contact someone from their website (see sidebar for correct link) and submit an application from there if they are looking for new reviewers.

Baby update

******Sing along to the tune of We are Going To the Chapel******

We are going to the hospital and we're gonna have a baby.......We're going to the hospital and we're gonna have a baaaabbyyyy........

Anyway, sorry, I have been wanting to do that for 9 months so I decided that now was as good a time as any :) My doctor's appt. went well. Little guy looked fabulous on the ultrasound. He weighs 7lbs 5 ozs. My amniotic fluid went from 28 (something - I don't know the unit of measurement) to 32. My doctor says that's still ok.....but regardless, with too much fluid and a bigger baby there isn't any room in there for him to grow. So I am scheduled for an induction at 5:45 a.m. on Tuesday Oct. 30. I was 50% effaced and dialated to 1.5 centimeters so I could go before then.....but that is d-day if I don't.

I know that I should be frantically nesting, but I am not. I am tired and I am resting. We have a busy weekend and fall has hit with a vengence here, so all I really want to do it huddle under the covers and drink cocoa.....so that's probably what I am going to do.

I will probably be online some this weekend, and I will need to post my Walgreens deals tomorrow. Rest assured that I will post baby's birth announcement as soon as we get home. I appreciate all the prayers that have been answered even before I got pregnant this time. All of my blogland friends are very, very precious to me.

With that said, I hope that everyone has a wonderful day!
Blessings,
Carie

Supplemental Income

As a stay-at-home wife and homeschooling mother, I am always on the lookout for ways to supplement my husband's income. Most of the time the money that I make is used for "extras", ie. dinners out, treats for the kids or me, or gifts for dh. Crystal at Money Saving Moms has encouraged us to post about the things that we do, or have done in the past, to earn some money from home.

Here are my ideas:
babysitting

ebay (I tend to sell school books and the money goes back into the school fund)

handmade knitted items (For a while I was selling knitted shawls on a group that I was a part of. I am no longer part of that group, however they could be easily sold on ebay if I had the extra time to knit right now! I also do specialty knitting for family and friends. Word of mouth is a great way to get this started!)

cleaning homes (I will admit that I don't do this. I can barely keep up with my own house. I have a friend that does this and is able to make money to help her family financially. If you clean offices - like a family member of mine - you can do that late at night when your dh is home to care for the kids. Like I said, I don't do this, but it is an option for those of you who are cleaners!)

product reviews (I do homeschool product reviews for TEACH magazine. I don't get paid, persay, but I do receive for free the item that they would like for me to review. After the review is completed I am free to resell that item if I wish. Most of the stuff I keep, because I really like them, but it is an option and a wonderful way to try out all that great new stuff out there!)

That is all for now. I hope that this might encourage some of you to think outside the box in terms of supplemental income.

Fall

I am soooo enjoying fall this year. My body temp is all messed up with this baby and I am HOT all the time! So the cooler weather has been a relief for me.....while most people are in jackets, I am in shirt-sleeves!

Yesterday I finished working on the baby bib. It is really cute. My grandma made the baby blanket. It is really cute.

We are going to another cook-out tonight. This one is local so we won't have to drive far. And it is mostly people that I only see once or twice a year. So that should be fun.

Laundry is on the line........fleece sheets are on the bed - they are so soft!

Baby has his little butt up against my rib cage. I have to sit almost straight up to keep from being uncomfortable....there isn't any room to lean over at all. I guess that maybe my posture will improve. LOL

All in all, things are good here. We are just waiting in anticipation for baby's arrival. We can't wait to hold him and kiss him and love him :)

Have a good weekend!
Blessings,
Carie

Walgreens Savings This Week

I did this transaction on Monday but laziness struck and I apologize for not posting it sooner. Due to faulty technology on my end I can't post pictures so I will itemize what I purchased. It wasn't the best that I have ever done, but it wasn't bad and we got stuff that we needed.

Tylenol Quick Release (100 count) $7.50
Motrin IB (100 count) $7.50
Tylenol PM (100 count) $7.50
(for this purchase I had a $2 coupon and 2 $1 coupons - plus it made me eligible for RR)

Joy Dish Soap $0.89 (I got 2)

Pantene Conditioner
Pantene Shampoo
Infusion Conditioner (2 of these)
The sale was 3/$20 (I paid $4.99 for the smaller conditioner) plus I had coupons - $1 off 2 Pantene and $1.50 off 2 Infusion. This also qualified me for $10 RR

Vicks Hand Sanitizer (2 of these)
Vicks DayQuill Liquid
These were 3/$15 plus 3 $1 off coupons. This also qualified for a $5 RR

Trident Splash Gum - I had a store coupon making it $0.59 and a $0.50 coupon making the gum $.09

My total after sales and coupons was $49.91 but I got $25 in register rewards for next time so my total out of pocket was $24.91. I will be glad when I start getting my rebate rewards back.....should be sometime in November for the first one. Then I can completely stop spending out of pocket at Walgreens....that is the hope anyway! But I have register rewards for next week. Hopefully the sales are good!

Blessings,
Carie

36 Week Appointment

Hello everyone!

It is time for my weekly doctor's appt. update. I think that it is sad that this is the only thing of note I have to write about. I guess you now know how very pathetic and boring my life really is LOL.

Anywho......the doctor's appt. went well. Baby looked good. Amniotic fluid was at the same level as last week which I guess is good (if it would have gotten higher that would have been bad). They didn't take measurements of the baby this week, that will be done again next week.

Doctor said that if I didn't go into labor on my own in the next couple of weeks that he would induce 1-1.5 weeks before my due date to try to avoid a HUGE baby. I really appreciate that! I hope and pray that I go into labor on my own before then though.

I have another appt. next Wednesday so as long as nothing exciting happens around here before then, I will update after the appt.

Blessings to All!

35 Week Appointment

Off we went to the doctor this morning for my 35 week ultrasound and doctor's appointment. The ultrasound went well. Baby weighs approximately 6lbs. 12ozs (that is way above the 5.5lb average). He has an above average sized head and stomach and below average size femur bones. What that means is that he is short and chubby LOL The other problem that they found was that I have way too much amniotic fluid. Apparently, this poses no problem for the baby or me, but it could cause me to go into labor early. At this point I don't think that it would hurt anything, but they are going to monitor me more closely. Therefore, I will have another ultrasound at my appointment next week. The 3-D pictures that we received of little guy are so cute!!!!! He is adorable! I know that I am biased, but I can't wait to meet this handsome little fellow.

My mil found use a crib mattress so now we have the crib all set up, sheets on, and ready to go. She also found us a high chair. Hopefully we will pick up the rest of the "must haves" after payday on Monday. My mom gave me a Walmart gift card which we will use to get the rubbermaid dresser for little guys clothes. Soon enough we will be all set!

Blessings,
Carie

Just Another Day

Today, I have accomplished:

2 loads of laundry (on the line)
made my bed
school (morning only)
picked up the kitchen
made lunch (steak, mac and cheese)
swept the kitchen
mopped most of it :)

I still need to bring in and fold my laundry and then I am going to try to finish cross stitching the baby bib that I started 6 months ago.....I shouldn't be such a dawdler :)

I hope that you all have a fantastic day!

What I Accomplished Today

Here is what I have gotten done today:
laundry (4 loads washed and hung on the line - getting ready to fold)
school (morning and afternoon)
lunch (tacos)
changed the sheets on my bed
ran the dishwasher
Grandma came to visit (she made me a cute maternity top and brought it down)

All that I have left to do is fold laundry, feed the boys supper and take the trash to town on the way to taekwondo. I am sure that I will be exhausted when we get home tonight cause I haven't been sleeping well, but that is ok, it will all be worth it in the end.

Thanks to Mrs. Brigham for reminding me that it is always better to look at what got done rather than what still needs to be done!