Stuff I Love, Week 2

Let's see, last week I talked about my hopelessly dry skin.  This week I think I will switch gears a little!

Between grading, writing cards, working Sudoku puzzles (guilty pleasure), making lists, and countless other activities, I do a lot of writing.  I have tried countless different pens in all shapes, sizes, and tip sizes.  Recently, I found one that I absolutely love.  (Is it wrong to love a writing instrument?  I hope not!).

Foray Pens - Gel Ink style

I love everything about these pens.  The body (shell? case?) is contoured and fits perfectly in my hand.  These are a .7 mm tip, which suits my writing style perfectly.  The pens pictured above are the gel ink version, however, I also love the roller ball version.  These pens are sold by Office Depot - Foray is their house brand.  Which reminds me - just to keep things honest here - I have not received any free pens or other compensation for this little product plug.  However, if anyone out there from Office Depot is reading, I would certainly not turn any free pens down! (Just kidding.  I think.)

And now for something completely different...

I never leave the house without at least a little make-up.  If nothing else, I always wear foundation, mascara, blush, and lipstick.  Because it is part of my every day routine, wearing make-up doesn't really make me feel particularly girly.  So, when I want to feel a little more feminine, I turn to my jewelry.  When I add a fun necklace and earrings to an outfit it definitely makes me feel happy and pretty.

This photo does NOT do these justice!

This is my (current) favorite set.  Trust me when I say they look way better in real life.  This set is sold by Premier Designs - it is the Allegro necklace with the Classical pendant and the Classical earrings.  Six months ago, I had never even heard of Premier jewelry, now I am a big fan.  Their pieces seem to be of good quality and I love the fact that their earrings are not too heavy.  I really like the above necklace because it is so versatile.  I can wear it with a fancy dress (because I am simply always going to fancy dress parties!), or with a sweater and jeans.  I love the length too.  I have a sweater that has a neckline that is a little lower than I like.  It's not immodest mind you, just a little lower than I am used to.  This necklace is just the right length to draw the eye-gaze back up a little!  I have a Premier jewelry lady that I love.  If you are interested in learning more about the company or the jewelry you can check them out on-line.  I think you can even search for a jeweler near you.

Corn Tortillas

I was going to post this last night, but we lost power for several hours.  We learned a few lessons during the power outage, which I will summarize later, but I wanted to share my (very comical) first attempt at making corn tortillas.

We bought a bag of masa a couple months ago to make tamales, but never made them.  Last night was chicken taco night so I decided to drag out the masa and make homemade corn tortillas.  I decided to just make a few, since I had never tried them before.  I think we can all agree from the pictures below that I need a little more practice.

It looks a little more like a lily pad than a tortilla

 

I have no idea where the rest of this one went

  

They say no two snowflakes are alike...apparently that goes for tortillas too!

  

The first few (very artistic) tortillas

Fortunately the tortillas tasted a lot better than they looked!  I definitely think I need a little more practice.

Call For Science Help

Both Rebecca and Timothy enjoy science, but they really miss the hands-on activities that they had when they were in public and Christian schools.  I love science as well and am not afraid to "get my hands dirty" to teach them.

I have been looking around on-line and reading the many wonderful experiments and activities other homeschool families use for science.  Since I am always excited to hear what other families are doing, I decided to include a plea on my blog.  I would love to hear any suggestions or ideas that you have for science class.  Anything that has worked for you - I want to hear about it.  It can be experiments, activities, books, on-line resources, curricula that you really like - anything.  You can e-mail me or leave it in a comment.

Thank you in advance for your suggestions!

Home School Update

Monday was the first week of our second semester.  Since I haven't posted anything about school for a while I thought I would give a quick update on where we are and where we are going.

Rebecca (our seventh grader) just started algebra on Monday.  She loves it and is finally being challened a little in math.  Seventh grade math was a lot of review for her, and I think she spent much of the time on autopilot.  It is good to see her having to work and enjoying it.  She is starting to feel more comfortable with science and history/geography.  She likes science but it took her a while to get used to the tests in her Likfepaks, which are a different type of test than she is used to taking.  As for history/geography, she just isn't that interested in it, but knows we want her to learn it.  However, I am happy to say that she did very well on her Lifepak on American settlement and Native American cultures.  Language arts is going well, which is not a surpirse becasue she loves to write and is quite good at it.

Timothy (our fourth grader) is speeding through math, and just finished a rather intensive section on improper fractions.  He enjoys math and is also good at it, but has a tendancy to lose points on tests because he rushed through something.  He loves history/geography and is moving rather quickly through that as well.  He just finished a Lifepak on the Arctic and Antarctic, which seems appropriate now that the cold has returned to SW Michigan.  Science tests were also a struggle for him, but he is doing better while learning about elements and molecules.  As for language arts, he is also a good writer but has a tendancy to race through assignments rather than writing everything that he knows to the best of his ability.  I am told that this recurring issue of racing through things has to do wtih the fact that he is a boy, but I hate to point to that.

Both Timothy and Rebecca are doing their Bible coursework using Switched on Schoolhouse (from Alpha Omega) and they are really enjoying the computer format for this course.  They both enjoy the games and the interactive portions of the work.

Linden (our pre-schooler) is finally starting to get interested in learning.  At least a little bit.  I must admit that she has been a challenge for us becase she has such a different attitude about learning than her brother and sister did.  Both Timothy and Rebecca were confident readers before they were 5.  Linden only knows a handful of letters and is resistant to our efforets to teach her any more.  Thankfully, I recently read about Starfall.com on Tracy's blog and it has been such a blessing.  In the last week Linden has spent more time working on letter recognition and phonics than she did over the last several months combined!

The whole family started Spanish this week and we are having a lot of fun with it.  My husband and I each have student profiles just like the kids and we have to do the same assignments.  While my husband and I both had several years of Spanish when we were in school, that was a long time ago and this refresher is really helping.

My daughter, the pirate

Yesterday my youngest decided she was a pirate.

Here she is in all her pirate glory.

I believe she is trying to strike fear in our hearts...little does she realize she is just too cute to be scary!

Carnival of Homeschooling

(Once again, my double life rears its head)

I recently submitted an article from my blog(s) to the Carnival of Homeschooling.  My article was selected for addition to the most recent carnival.  I encourage you to check it out as it is a fun way to see what other homeschool families are doing.  Also, if you have a blog of your own, think about submitting a post!

My Hope

The Lord has promised good to me, His word my hope secures.  He will my shield and portion be, as long as life endures.  (From Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone), performed by Chris Tomlin).

It's fair to say that our family is going through a time of transition and uncertainty.  In the last year we have gone through job changes and income reductions (who hasn't), my husband is most likely going to be heading back to school this summer or fall, and we have moved our children from Christian school to home school.  Whew, that makes my head hurt a little just thinking about all the changes.

During times of uncertainty and change it is really easy for me to get overwhelmed and wonder how we are ever going to get where we are supposed to be going.  I move on from feeling overwhelmed to planning out how my husband or I can do something to change things or make things better.  At times like these I need a reminder that our provision, our security, and our hope come from God.

The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.  Lamentations 3:24.

Winter is back

It had to happen I suppose...I couldn't really expect there to be no more snow in Michigan for the year.  The snow is falling again.  That means more of this:

and this

and this

and this

Hurry up and get here Spring!!

Homeschool Showcase

For the last month, I have been maintaining two blogs.  I post the same articles on both sites, but because I am new to blogging, I wanted to try out two different blog hosts to see which one I liked the best.  I imagine I will eventually slim down to one blog, but for now I am leading a double life (hee hee).

Anyway, I recently submitted an article from my blog(s) to the Homeschool Showcase.  My article was selected for addition to the most recent showcase, which can be found at http://www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com/2010/01/homeschool-showcase-39.html. I encourage you to check it out as it is a fun way to see what other homeschool families are doing.  Also, if you have a blog of your own, think about submitting a post!

Happy reading!

Stuff I Love

I thought about calling this “Stuff I Can’t Live Without,” but I was a little uncomfortable with that hyperbole.  After all, there are lots of things we can live without, if we must.  Anyway, for the near future, my Saturday posts will focus on things that make my life a little easier, brighter, happier, or just plain fun.

I have incredibly dry skin.  I am constantly fighting to keep my dry, itchy, flaky skin hydrated (TMI??).  Because this is a daily struggle for me, I thought I would highlight two of my favorite dry-skin-fighters in my first “Stuff I Love”.

I love this stuff.  When I buy lotion from Bath & Body Works, I always go for the Body Cream, because it is thicker and a single application in the morning keeps my skin hydrated all day.  I especially love this scent, which is warm and subtle and not at all perfumy.  That last quality is a bonus because my husband has terrible allergies and they act up whenever he is subjected to strong scents for very long.  This seasonal scent has been around for the last few Christmases and I each year I try to stock up so I have enough to get me through until the next holiday season!

When this product first came out, I really didn’t want to like it.  Even though I love trying new Mary Kay products as soon as they are available, I resisted trying this one for over six months.  I already had a Mary Kay moisturizer I loved, which I had used for years, and I see any reason to try anything new.  Besides, I knew that my old moisturizer worked just fine to tame my incredibly dry skin.  Anyway, about a year ago I ran out of my tried-and-true moisturizer and (of course) didn’t have any more on hand.  I did, however, have one of the tinted moisturizers on my shelf in my shade (surprise).  I gave in and tried it and never looked back.  I absolutely love this.  I love the moisture, I love the sunscreen, and I love the way it blends with my foundation.  I love the fact that on days when I am in a hurry I can just skip the foundation all together and rely on this for my base.  I could go on and on, but the bottom line is, I really like this moisturizer.

There you go, two products that make my days a little easier!
 
Yet another disclaimer – when I decided to do this post, these were not the two products I wanted to feature.  However, my camera battery is completely dead and someone (most likely me) did not return the battery charger to its home.  Rather than spend all morning looking for the charger so I could take pictures of the products I WANTED to write about, I decided to just do this post featuring products I had already photographed.  My pens and my kitchen gadgets and everything else will just have to wait!

Mini Fruit Tarts

Okay, last week I saw the recipe for these on a blog that I follow (Sugar, Spice and a Little Bit of Life - Thanks Jana!).  The post included a beautiful picture of these tarts, along with her Tomato Mozzarella Tartlets.  I tried both, but only had a chance to photograph the fruit tarts.  Because it's Friday, adn because I seem to have lots of time this morning, I decided to blog about it.

Like Jana, I used Pioneer Woman's pie crust.  I have tried many, many pie crusts over the years, with varying levels of success.  The first time I tried this recipe, I found all my other pie crust recipes, tore them up into tiny pieces, and made it rain confetti in my kitchen.  (Seriously, I actually did this - but it's okay, because the floor needed swept anyway, so why not.)  Anyway, it's just that good.  But back to the fruit tarts...

I made these tarts while my kids were doing their school work.  At several times during the process, I was interrupted by, "you're taking a picture of that," or "mama, no one is going to want to see a picture of a bag of dough!"  Well, anyway, here are a few pictures from my tart making morning.

Big Bag O' Pie Crust Dough

 

Pie crust dough rolled out and cut into stars

Linden questioning her mama's sanity...oh yeah, there is a tray of cut

out pie crust stars in the background

Star crust cut-outs cooling

Almost finished now, just waiting on the blueberries

This photo doesn't do them justice - they were delicious!!

If you would like the pie crust recipe or the tart recipe an the links I posted don't work (I certainly wouldn't be surprised to find that I didn't link them correctly!) please let me know.  The tarts were very easy to make and absolutely yummy!

Happy baking!

How Many Bibles Do You Have?

As with nearly everyone, Haiti has been on my mind a lot lately. Turn on the TV or log on to the Internet and the pictures and stories are inescapable. Rather than post about my children, our home school, or our family, today I want to post about a ministry that is close to my heart. I had fully intended to write about this ministry "at some point", however, with it's close ties to Haiti, now seems like just the right time.


My husband and I did a little research in our house recently to determine how many bibles we own. It turns out, our little family of five owns a staggering 21 bibles. There are differences between the Bibles. Some are small, some are quite large. Some are well read, some have barely been touched. We have study Bibles, children's Bibles, parallel Bibles, heirloom Bibles, and devotional Bibles. However, they all have one thing in common - they are all our native language, English.

I will be the first to admit that there are passages in the Bible that don't make any sense to me. I read them over and over, scan the notes in my study Bible, skim through a concordance (or two) and discuss them with my husband. Yet sometimes the meaning of certain passages seems just beyond my grasp. Even with all of these resources in my native tounge, I struggle sometimes to hear God's message in His word.

Despite these struggles I am still very blessed because my Bible, and all of these resources, are in my native English. Several years ago, I learned that there are millions of people throughout the world who don't have access to a single book of the Bible in their native language. (Remember the 21 Bibles we counted in our house?) Some of these people have access to Bibles, or portions of Bibles, in a secondary language. Others have only oral accounts or summaries translated in sermon form from local missionaries or pastors. Imagine how hard it is for these souls to hear God's message for their lives when they can't read from it in their own langauge.

Our church supports a mission outreach called Bibles International, which is the Bible society of Baptist Mid-Missions. If you are unfamiliar with this organization, you can learn more about them on their website, http://www.biblesint.org/. The mission of this organization is to create accurate, literal translations of the Bible without adding to or distorting the text.

At this point you may be wondering what any of this has to do with Haiti. For the last several years, Bibles International has been working to produce a translation of the Old Testament in Haitian Creole. There are already numerous translations of the Bible in French, a secondary langauge to many Haitians. Perhaps you took a year or two of Spanish in high school. If someone handed you a Bible in Spanish would you be able to gain wisdom and insight from it? This is the situations many Haitians find themselves in when presented with a French translation.

Right now, the people of Haiti have immediate, physical needs that must be met. Food, water, medicine, homes, clothing...the list goes on and on. These are urgent, physical needs that must be addressed right now. However, they also have spiritual needs that will continue long after these physical needs are addressed. I believe that having a Bible in their native language is one of these spiritual needs.

As you might imagine, Bible translation is both costly and time consuming. If you cannot personally financially support this ministry, I urge you to pray for it. Pray and spread the word, so they can spread the Word.

If you made it to the end, I thank you for indulging me as I jumped up on my soap box. This ministry is so near and dear to my heart that I just had to share it.

Home Economics update

On Saturday, our whole family took a "field trip" to the grocery store so the kids could finish their grocery price lists. I toyed with the idea of taking them to more than one store so we could compare prices, but I decided against it because


          A) we really only shop at 1 store; and
          B) the Saints were playing at 4:15

So, with our master grocery lists and pencils in hand, the five of us set out for the store. I also tossed my camera in my purse so I could get some good pictures of the kids on this expedition. Of course, we were half way home before I realized that my camera never left my purse during the shopping trip - so you will just have to imagine what they looked like!

We really tried to take full advantage of all the learning opportunities on this shopping trip, which is admittedly a mundane task. The children got a better understanding of the relative cost of certain items we purchase each week and other items which we rarely buy. We also started talking about unit pricing since they had to find out the price of multiple sizes of various items. My son, who was dreading "boring" trip the most, probably had the best time. He even told us on the way home how much fun he had searching for prices!

With our lists complete, it is time to turn our attention to using that information. We will be having a more detailed lesson on unit pricing, pricing out a few of the kids favorite lunch meals, and then (my favorite) learning about coupons and using the weekly sales ads to plan the weeks menus.

In other news, we made it home and had the groceries put away before game time!

What home school looks like for us - at least for today

Today we are busy learning about the polar regions, improper fractions, spelling words, tracing numbers, and handwriting.  Here is a glimpse into our school day.

Rebecca and Timothy working on History and Geography. Rebecca is finishing up her History assignment and studying for a test tomorrow.  Timothy is taking his final self test for this unit of geography (and complaining about all the pictures).

 Timothy - up close - taking his test

 

Rebecca practicing her study skills for History class

Linden learning about Letters and Numbers with Sesame Street

We have had a very good day for a Monday.   This is the last week of our semester, so the kids will have several tests this week.   Of course, we have also had some fun today too - as evidenced by the snack time silliness below:

 

That grape was a little sweeter than he expected

Grape Face

Hope that banana doesn't end up in her ear

The Altar and the door

Thinking a lot about this song today, so I decided to share it. Hopefully I will have more time for writing tomorrow.

Our Office/Sewing Room

Last spring, I gave up my rather large sewing/craft room so our oldest daughter could have her own bedroom.  The plan was for me to relocate my sewing room into a portion of my husband's office.  Our summer and fall were so busy that we never did get around to unpacking my stuff and reorganizing the room.  We are (finally) in the process of doing that now.  Here is a little glimpse of our progress:

The view upon entering the room

Continuing around the room - so much fabric and yarn still unpacked

Boxes and bags and bunches of stuff

So many books - so many packed away

Back around to where we started

As you can imagine, not a lot of work or creativity can take place in this room right now.  Hopefully that will change in the very near future!

This is my entry into the My Messy Room Contest sponsored by Mabel's Labels on their Facebook page.  Do you have a messy room too?  Visit the Contest section of the Mabel's Labels Facebook page to learn how you can enter it in the My Messy Room Contest.  The winner will be announced in February - I'll be sure to let you know how I did!

Surrender

Just how close can I get Lord to my surrender, without losing all control? (From Somewhere in the Middle, released by Casting Crowns on The Altar and The Door).

A few years ago, I gave my testimony at a women’s retreat held by our church. Months later one of the other women from our church told me that the most memorable part for her was when I recalled the point in my life where I realized I was not in control. I was a Christian for over 15 years before I was ready to completely acknowledge that I relied on God for everything. When I hear Somewhere in the Middle, it almost always makes me think back to that day when I finally accepted that.

Lately I have thought about posting my testimony on this site. However, the story of my life isn’t just my story, it is the story of everyone who has wandered into and out of my life. I can’t tell my story without telling the story of the people who shaped my life . I have given my testimony to a number of small women’s groups, but I don’t think I’m ready to share everything in this type of setting quite yet. I will, however, share a little bit about surrender.


Growing up, I was innundated by the ”we can have it all” doctrine of feminism. I made up my mind early that I would not be dependent on anyone for my needs. My salvation at age 12 only altered this independence, I certainly didn’t allow it to completely replace my independent mindset. I earned an engineering degree and then a law degree. Somewhere in all this I met my husband, got married, and started a family. I passed a few bar exams and got a job as a patent attorney. I loved my husband, attended church, and yet was still clinging to the belief that my education and experience would allow me to never be dependent on anyone.

One rainy Sunday morning I was driving home from the store when another driver failed to stop at an intersection and forced my van down an embankment. That one instant changed everything. I went through numerous treatments, therapies, and tests. My back and neck were in constant pain. I worked off and on during this time. In addition to the physical pain, however, I was battling things I had never dealt with before. I would forget deadlines and conversations. I would start talking and be unable to finish my sentence because I forgot what I was talking about. I would see someone I had known for years and not remember their name.

Finally, after nine months, my denial had to end. I still remember sitting in the little office with my doctor as if it was yesterday. I remember the sounds and smells – funny that the memory is so clear when it was my memory that was the problem. I was sitting across the desk from a specialist who told me that I my memory problems were the result of the accident. I could no longer practice, although by this point I hadn’t even attempted to work for months.

That night, as my husband and I talked about next steps, I finally acknowledged the truth I should have embraced years before. I realized on that night that I was not in control. I was completely dependent on God for everything. Of course, God was in control all along. I just failed to accept it. Wonderfully, he is still in control!

I have been so blessed in the years since then. While my back did not heal completely, I now spend most days pain-free. God has also restored a great deal of my memory. Through it all, God has also been faithful to meet the needs of our family. Even better, I got the chance to stay home every day with my children in my new career as stay-at-home mama. While I have worked some in recent years to supplement our family income, I am thrilled that God got my attention and reminded me of his sovereignty and gave me a life far richer than I ever could have secured on my own.

My Life With a Mini-Martha

Over the last few months, my daughter has really taken an interest in cooking and baking. She will stand in the kitchen when my husband is cooking asking him all sorts of questions about different spices and cooking techniques. During the weekly visit to the library, she will check out at least two cookbooks along with her other finds. She was thrilled at Christmas to receive two new cookbooks by Sam Stern – a Brit teen who reminds me of Jaime Oliver. One of her assignments is to write a book review for her favorite of these new books – I will be sure to post it when it is complete.


I am not a good cook – let’s just get that out of the way right now. I love, love, love to bake all sorts of breads, cookies, muffins, you name it. But I am just not that great at cooking dinner fare. Oh sure, I have a rotation of about 8 or 9 meals I can prepare that don’t elicit pained expressions on my kids when I serve them. I am still amazed when I prepare a meal and one of my children says something like “will you make this again, it’s really good”. On the rare occasions that happens, of course. Let’s just say that I am blessed to have a husband that loves to cook and is really quite good at it and leave it at that.

Baking has always been my turf in the house. My husband won’t even attempt it. He doesn’t even like to be left in charge to determine if a loaf of bread or a batch of cookies are ready to be taken out of the oven.

Last night I spent a few hours trying to catch up on paperwork and filing while my husband was at his game. At some point during this time, my daughter announced that she wanted to bake something – like brownies – but she couldn’t because we didn’t have any chocolate chips. All we had in the house were peanut butter chips and peppermint chips. I didn’t think much of it, but told her to just substitute the peanut butter chips for chocolate and give that a try. I remember at one point wondering to myself why in the world she needed baking chips to make brownies, but that thought was chased away by the papers that needed filing.

And then, at some point before the oven timer went off, I realized that my daughter was making brownies FROM SCRATCH. I have never, ever, made brownies that didn’t come from a box. Not a single time. Me, the one who loves experimenting with muffin recipes and making home made pizza crust for my kids.

When my husband returned home last night, I told him about the brownies and the fact that my not-quite-thirteen-year-old daughter had done something that I had never done. He stood there in the kitchen with a blank stare on his face. It turns out that even my hubby - you remember, the one who claims to not be able to tell when a batch of cookies is ready to come out of the oven, yeah, that one - even HE has done this.

Oh yeah, the peanut butteries (that’s the name we settled on) were delicious

Home School Convention

A good friend just invited me to go along with her to the Michigan Home Education Convention this spring. She has been home schooling for over 15 years now and she used to regularly attend this convention. As a new home school mom, I am excited about all the workshops and classes - I know enough to know that I still have a lot to learn about homeschooling!


The Michigan convention is a Friday and Saturday in May (Yippie! Girl's weekend!). It is also just far enough away that we will need to stay overnight there, but not so far that it will be an exhausting car trip.

I just got the workshop list and the schedule. I know my friend has lots of great suggestions for what to do over the weekend. I am really excited about this experience! Anyone have any tips, suggestions, or comments about home school conventions in your areas?

Winter Blahs

The Christmas decorations are put away. The kids are back in their school routine after a two-week break. Everything outside is covered by a blanket of snow several inches deep. Yep. Here they come right on schedule – the winter blahs.

We have lived in Michigan almost 9 years now – wow is that hard to believe. I typically love the summers here. Lots of sunshine and warm days with very little humidity. This past summer was a little cooler than I would like, with only one day in the 90s, but usually, I love Michigan summers. Fall is beautiful in our town once the leaves start to change, showing off all the colors in God’s paintbox. Spring is a little cold for my taste, but new life can be seen everywhere you look. Grass starts to peak out from under layer upon layer of snow, trees start budding, and my roses awaken from their slumber.

Winter is another matter altogether. The ground is covered with snow for weeks and sometimes months at a time without melting away. It is cold and windy. It is not uncommon for us to go an entire week without seeing the sun through the clouds here. Not even a hint of blue sky during these times. A doctor once told me that our area is the second most cloudy area in the continental United States. I never bothered to fact check that one for fear that I might find out we were number 1 instead of number 2.

For the last few days, I have had very little energy. This weekend I let dishes sit in the sink and laundry go unfolded for a lot longer than I care to admit. I caught myself staring out the window for at least 5 minutes this morning before I snapped back to reality. I dislike feeling like this, quite the opposite of my usually joyful and energetic personality.

I need a cure for the winter blahs, or at the very least a good treatment. I thought relocating a few thousand miles south seemed like a good idea. My husband was not “on board” with this suggestion, however. So for now I will have to look into alternative treatments to snap out of my funk. My (admittedly short) list of alternatives includes:

• making some chai tea and starting a book
• going down to our basement office/sewing room and starting that quilt I need to make for my daughter or doing some long overdue filing
• picking out paint colors and finally painting my dining room or bedroom
• making plans to take the children to the next homeschool day at our local indoor water park

Swimming and fun with the kids might be just what I need to bust through these blahs and get moving again. Perhaps one Friday in the not to distant future we will hit the water park for some splash therapy. I’m feeling better just thinking about it.

Daily Dose of Cute

Yesterday, my husband was getting ready to leave to take our son to a birthday party. Our four-year-old, Linden, was eating dinner while the boys were getting ready to leave. As my husband went to leave, he stopped to give me a hug and a kiss (as he always does before he is leaving). Linden rolled her eyes and disgustingly asked, "man, why do you guys love each other so much?"

Be In Prayer in 2010

Pray without ceasing. 1 Thessalonians 5:17


I pray in the multiple church services our family attends each week. I pray before meals. I pray when I think the semi driver behind me on the interstate is driving just a little closer than I would like on an icy, snowy road. However, I am not as faithful as I should be when it comes to praying for my friends and family and their daily needs.

For a long time I kept a prayer journal. I had pages for missionaries and their general and specific prayer requests. I had a page for my husband and one for each of my children listing my prayers for them. I had pages for general friend and family prayer requests.

I'm not quite as organized with in my prayer life as I used to be (or with my finances or in general, as you may recall from prior posts). I have been convicted that I need to get my prayer life back in order this year.

There are so many who need prayer right now. We have friends and family members who have health needs, financial needs, job needs, and spiritual needs. That is just in our little corner of the world. Turn on the news or surf the internet and you can't miss the signs of a world that is in need of prayer.

I pulled out a new notebook last night and started up a new prayer journal. Our family has also committed to pray for a few families in Mexico we were connected with through missionary friends of ours. I am going to recommit myself to prayer this year.

My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up. Psalm 5:3.

Veering Off Course, Ever So Slightly

When I talk about our home school, I am always quick to point out that we rely on a prepared curriculum. Possibly this is to validate our school choice in the mind of my listener. Perhaps it is to reassure myself that I can't be doing too much damage to my children because I am using a curriculum put together by educators and used in some school. Probably it is because I just feel the need to talk a lot and give lots of details about our children and our home school.


As we start back to school in the new year I am feeling the desire to make some changes to our school routine. I suppose it is just my wish to test a little of the freedom home schooling is able to offer. Of course, these aren't major changes at all - they are more like baby steps. However, they are changes nonetheless, and so I thought I would share them.

As I mentioned previously, our oldest daughter will be starting Algebra at the semester break. Her 6th grade teacher worked with her on a number of 7th grade math topics, so this year was a lot of review in math for her anyway. We told her that we wanted her to complete 7th grade math this year, but she could do it at her own pace. She will complete the coursework for the year in the next two weeks. We did not want her to go for 9 months without having any math, so we decided to let her move ahead when she is finished. If she was in school, she would be skipping 8th grade math and moving to Algebra, so that is what we decided to do. She is really excited about it. I have to say that she is really taking to home schooling and has already asked several times if she ever HAS to go back to school.

Our entire family is going to start taking Spanish at the semester break. Both Rebecca and Timothy took Spanish in school and my husband and I took several years when we were younger. We are using the Switched On Schoolhouse Secondary Spanish course for this, which will allow us to set up a separate student profile for all of us. We are hoping to improve enough that we can correspond better with pastors and families we met in Mexico and so we can better communicate with them on our next mission trip.

Writing assignments are also going to get a little retooling this spring. We have mostly had to children do the writing assignments that were included in each of their books. We have also been having this children do additional writing assignments as well, including writing letters and book reports. In the spring, we would like them to continue with writing letters and book reports and also add in camp scholarship writing assignments and book reviews. That's a lot of writing. To keep them from getting bogged down with too much writing, we are going to cut the number of textbook writing assignments they are responsible for finishing.

Home Economics is also going to expand in the spring. The children already have worked on cooking and baking, laundry, and general cleaning. This spring, they are going to be learning to sew and learning budgeting. Our plans for the budgeting lessons are way too long to include here, so I will save those for a future post.

Finally (I think!), we will be enhancing our music offerings. Rebecca and Timothy are already taking piano lessons, and have for three years now. In the next month, they are both going to start taking acoustic guitar lessons.

Making Over Our Money

My husband and I have been reading through the Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. We bought the book a few years ago, read it, placed it on a shelf, and promptly forgot about it. Surprisingly, financial freedom did not follow. With all the job and income changes of the past year, and with an eye toward my husband being back in school this year, we pulled the book out, dusted it off, and are reading it again.


Here is what we have learned so far: We are blessed to have no car payment and a lot less credit card debt than most people - but the fact that we still have credit card debt means that we are not patting ourselves on the back. Any credit card debt is too much. We need to get back to budgeting. For years we had a detailed budget - everything down to love offerings and gas for the vehicles was included for each month of the year. In the last few years we have gotten away from that. We need to find extra sources of additional income and work more diligently to maximize the sources we do have. An excellent opportunity to work on my goal of being diligent this year!

Long term goal: Be debt free, of course!

Short term goal steps to reach our long term goal: By the end of the week, we will have our budget for January drawn up and have a draft for February completed. We will also have a spreadsheet detailing exactly what we owe to every creditor. By the end of the month, we will have our emergency fund in a safe but accessible location. By the end of the year, we will have all of our medical bills, credit cards, and a small loan paid off.

Goals, Goals, Goals

We were challenged this Sunday in church to set goals for the year. My husband and I sat down Sunday afternoon and made a list of long-term goals and the short-term steps we would need to take to meet those goals. I am still debating whether or not to post the entire chart. In the meantime, here is a glimpse into our family goals for 2010.


Finances: We are going to pay down remaining debt (student loans, mortgage debt, and a remaining medical bill). To do this we have decided to set aside all of the money my husband makes refereeing in a separate bank account. At the end of each week, we will write a check for the amount of his earnings and use it toward payment of a debt.

Educational: We will get my husband back in school by the fall, so he can get his teaching certificate. We will continue to find educational, athletic, and art activities for our children to enhance our homeschooling. I will also get the children started on more home economics projects in addition to the cooking and cleaning they do now. Budgeting and sewing classes are on the horizon!

Spiritual: We will each read our Bible at least 5 days a week and have more regular family devotionals.

Personal: My husband and I will continue to get back in shape. We are not getting any younger and between my back and his knees we need to continue losing weight and working out. We will make better food choices and work out on a regular basis.

Back to School

All good things must come to an end, as the old saying goes.  Christmas break 2009-2010 was definitely good around our house, but today we had to say good-bye to sleeping in and lazy days.

Our big kids started back to school today in full force.  Reading books and articles about history and science, writing paragraphs and papers on foreign cultures and significant people, studying for quizzes and tests, and beginning research projects.  All this while continuing writing, reading, and service projects for camp scholarships. 

Our youngest is (finally) interested in learning to read, so she is constantly asking anyone she can find to sit and read to her.  That is definitely not a complaint!  We are all excited that she is starting to get interested in reading.  She is still having trouble pronouncing a number of letters and blended sounds, so we are working with her on pronunciation and praying that this speech problem will be corrected soon.  However, we are not opposed to bringing in some help for her if she doesn't outgrow it.

New school project for this half of the school year include Algebra for Rebecca, Spanish for the whole family, and Home Economics for Rebecca, Timothy, and Linden.

Be Diligent in 2010

Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him, in peace, without spot, and blameless.  2 Peter 3:14.

I have a tendency to get very excited about an idea, or a ministry, or a goal.  At first, I am into my new venture 100%.  Whatever it is, I am totally faithful.  Read my Bible in a year - no problem, I'm doing two days worth of reading every morning.  Send cards and/or letters to all the people on my husband's monthly prayer list - all cards written, stamped and addressed by the second of the month.  Lose a little weight - piece of (fat-free) cake as I am tracking every single bite I eat and working out like a mad woman.  You get the idea.

Then, little by little, I start to fall behind.  Now, I'm barely getting through the entire reading assignment for the day in my Bible reading program.  Cards and letters are all getting out, but most are postmarked the last day of the month.  As for the diet, my entries are more like summaries vague ideas than detailed entries.  It's not that I care about these things any less, but that their importance is overtaken by day-to-day realities. 

Now of course, every project or whim of mine is not work done for the glory of God.  With some tasks, it's most likely better than my excitement fades and my attention is diverted.  However, when it comes to Bible reading, prayer, extending support for those who need encouragement, I must be diligent and continue on with the same enthusiasm I exhibit at the beginning of a project.  This year I will diligent about being diligent!

But without faith it is impossible to please him:  for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.  Hebrews 11:6.

Happy 2010!

Our Christmas decorations are put away for another year and we are well into our annual January cleaning projects.  Here are a few pictures from our Christmas festivities.
 

 Our living room - before the madness

Timothy, Linden, and Rebecca showing off their Christmas pajamas

 Linden got the movie she wanted and Timothy was thrilled to get a

New Orleans Saints outfit for his Build-A-Bear

Rebecca is holding fabric that was later turned into 2 denim skirts. 

We looked all over and could not find any denim skirts that were

longer than 6 inches - it was very depressing shopping for clothes this year.

Fortunately for us, we have a daughter that loves to get mama-made clothes!