Homeschool

I figured I would start with homeschool as my first entry of the things the Lord has taught me. I hope this will encourage you along your road wherever God may lead you.

I knew I wanted to homeschool the moment I had Hunter. I couldn't dare leave him and it was such a burden, the funny thing is I didn't even know the Lord at that time. I wasn't saved. But my heart yearned to always have him near.

Once my divorce happened unfortunately that couldn't be a reality until everything was finalized through the courts, because the court system frowns on homeschooling. So I had to send him off to kindergarten.

After everything was finalized, he was home with me. First grade on the way and teaching Lauren to read and the world was great, and Emma was a litte one just rolling around. It was awesome. I will tell you, I have never, even on my worst day ever wished for my children to be anywhere else, but with me. That isn't to say that others have been there and I know of a few, but God didn't make me like that and though our days aren't always smooth and perfect, I couldn't imagine being anywhere else.

Homeschooling was a burden put on my heart by the Lord long before I knew him. I was saved and it was still a burden, I followed what the Lord has called me to do and I feel completely blessed. I couldn't imagine my life any other way.

We use mainly textbooks because I want my children to be independant learners who are eager to learn. I also don't want to be the one that leads them in any direction, but that they feel responsible and then held accountable for their work. That leaves me time to cook, clean up and care for the little ones that aren't quite ready for table time. I can also be a better manager of my time with textbooks because I can easily figure out how much work needs to be done each day in order to finish school at the right time.

I also enjoy homeschooling because it lends itself to me being able to see where they may be lacking and stop any further momentum and work on what we need to till it is mastered. No where is any child ever going to get that kind of education.

I have been able to teach my children to read, to do math, to do chores, clean up and they are each other's best friends even though like all siblings have their moments. I get to help them with character development, read the Bible, pray, teach the piano and so much more.

Homeschooling has bought our family closer, it has taken me at times out of my comfort zone, it has taught me a lot of my sinful nature, and shows me each day how dependant I am on my God. Because without Him I wouldn't be able to do half of what I do.

My husband is a wonderful support who loves his family in ways I am so proud of. He truly is a man of God trying so hard, even though he works out of the home. He loves to play with the kids, wrestle, read books, and play outside with them, which gives me a little quiet time.

Homeschooling gives me the opportunity to protect my children from things I don't want them to know or see. Though I can't protect them from everything as I am learning, I will not send them into the lion's den until they are ready. I want to equip them the best that I can for the world, and fill them with so much of God's love that nothing else will matter to them

Am I perfect? Some think so. :) Am I saint? (I hear that one a lot). No I am not. I get angry, yell, lose my cool, get impatient, frustrated, and most of all I am selfish. But I choose to obey the Lord in what He has asked me to do and I see his blessing and most of all his pruning me and growing me to shape me more like him.

I hope that if you have the choice you will weigh the choices carefully. But for our family it has been such a tremendous blessing I couldn't imagine anyone else choosing anything different because I don't want anyone else to miss out. Our children grow so fast and before we know it they are gone, I feel blessed that I get to spend a lot more extra time with them.

God bless.

Any questions or comments please leave them, I would be happy to share about our curriculum as well.

Small Blessings

This may sound so crazy but I am so thankful for my husband and the way that he provides for our family. Our house hasn't been really cleaned for quite a few weeks because I just can't right now. So we hired cleaning ladies. They were here today and so awesome! I can't even begin to tell you how nice it is to have a clean house, and feel the clean and to smell the clean. What a blessing! The kids and I can now keep it up since it isn't so daunting and my darling husband will have them come out every 3 weeks until Madeline arrives. What a stress relief that one is. God is good and way too good to me!

I Am Here...

I have not fallen off the face of the earth, just extremely busy as I get used to a new schedule. Both Hunter and Lauren are on swim team and that has been very interesting. They have workouts Monday - Thursday from 4pm -5pm, which means I have to leave the house by 3pm to make sure we make it on time. Because we live WAY outside of town. It has been challenging and tiring. We make it home late for dinner and so I try and have all that prepared and ready to be heated when we get home. Definitely makes for me being super organized on the dinner end. So we are working on learning how to manage that time to make sure we maximize it to our best ability.

I have been reading "Family Driven Faith" and highly, highly recommend this book. I am almost done and it has been absolutely encouraging and wonderfully family oriented. I am really enjoying it.

We have about 6 weeks left if Madeline decides to join us around the same time the other kids have. So we are excited and getting the house ready. We had our tile and grout cleaned, the carpets cleaned, purchased a few big area rugs and will have someone come in and deep clean for us. The house will be in perfect order at that point. I am very excited.

Life has just been normal and trying to work on school and finishing school to accomodate our new schedule. But God is so good and teaching me so much about myself and him. Here are a few things I have learned and am working on and I hope to post more indepth about each subject to give you a practical way to handle these situations should you come across them.

1.) Homeschooling
2.) Clothing
3.) Church
4.) Reading His Word
5.) Praying
6.) Teaching
7.) Being a godly family
8.) My Divorce
9.) My Children
10.) Meek and Quiet Spirit

I hope to post on these individually just so you can read how these have impacted my life and perhaps help others to either not fall into these deceptions or different ways to overcome them in your own life.

Have a blessed day.

Great Mornings Start With This...

This is how I spend each morning. And though I try to be diligent, sometimes little one wake a little earlier than normal, but I always find time for my Savior who loves me and deserves my first. I hope that this will challenge you to make Him your first each day. You will definitely see a difference, I guarantee it.

Have a blessed day.

Anniversary Pictures!

So here we are back home safely after 4 days of bliss. My mind is still on the ocean and the cool breeze blowing. It was the most incredible time with my husband.

Here is another view of the Hotel Del. I love how everything is so green and beautiful.

We decided to splurge and rent a convertible, which of course with almost 5 kids we couldn't do, so we took a pic to capture the moment. It was so much fun driving that car. :)

The entrance into the hotel, the lobby area, it is so beautiful and full of rich history. Truly magnificent woodwork throughout the hotel.

There is wood everywhere and the chandelier was so pretty. Very grand upon arriving.

This is the view from our room, we had a full ocean view, slept with the door open and were lulled to sleep by the waves crashing on the beach.

These are dessert nachos.... Who wants a banana split when you can have two scoops of ice cream on top of waffle cone chips with caramel, chocolate and marshamallow sauce and a huge piling of whip cream and cherries...mmm, don't worry I just ate all the chips and some of the ice cream. :)

There it is in full view, ready to be devoured.

Our all time favorite breakfast spot...Kono's. Well worth the wait in line for this pregnant lady.

One of the magnificent sunsets we saw every night.

A baby octopus we found in the sea weed on the beach, of course we rescued him.

A crab we found in the sea weed, I thought it was a rock, so of course we had to rescue him as well.

Our rental car....way too fun and fast.

Another beautiful sunset from our balcony.



We had the most incredible time together just doing nothing. It was so nice and wouldn't trade it for anything. Thank you Nana and Abbey for helping us out to get out. :) It is really nice to be home and got lots of love and hugs. Now it is back to reality and routine.

Have a blessed day!

This is where we will be staying for our 4 day excursion. Hotel Del Coronado. Now we wouldn't normally do this at all, but with it being our anniversary and some time alone before Madeline comes, we felt it was worth the splurge. Now from what I understand they have the best banana splits...I will let you know.

I will be the whale on the beach with lipstick and sunglasses. :)

I will definitely update when we get home, I would love to take the laptop, just haven't decided if we will or not. :)

I pray that you all have a wonderful week and we will be home late Saturday afternoon.

By the way, Danielle is doing a better, not 100% but she is smiling and playing which means a lot to me.

Enjoy!

Sick Day

A few days ago Danielle came down with what I thought was just allergies or even cutting teeth, but, today has been an awfully miserable day for her. She is so sick and after going to the doctor's we find it is nothing more than a really bad cold. The best part (or not), there isn't anything we can really give her to relieve her symptoms. So here we are. She has just fallen asleep on the couch after wanting to be held the entire day! I don't mind she is as sweet as can be.

So I gave her a bath in eucalyptus oil to help sooth her passages, well, she started falling asleep because she was so tired. I quickly took her out, dried her off where she feel asleep in my arms. I gently laid her on the couch with a nice fluffy pillow and she has been there since. I am so thankful for her sleeping, not to get things done, but because I can see how much she really needed it.

It is 2 days before we leave for our anniversary and my heart is a little anxious because I don't want to leave nana with a sick little one. So we are praying for a quick recovery.

Nothing else has been too exciting. The Lord is doing amazing things and showing me so much. One thing for me is just enjoying each personality he has given me in the kids. They are all so different, and they are all so funny. I always tell Bret that we are all made in the image of God, well God is pretty fun and has quite a sense of humor. It really makes me smile at my kids.

Our Easter was so wonderful, and I am thankful for our Lord and all He has done in our lives. We are so blessed.

I pray that your Monday is not a sick day, but that you rest in the arms of the Lord, casting all your cares on him.