Spring Bag with Chicks

One of the first forms of support I found in my homeschooling journey was the message board at Five in a Row . I love the ladies there. :)  I've found much support, help, advice and prayers there.  The community at FIAR just can't be beat!  One of the most inspiring ladies I've met there is Paige Hamilton.  When I first chatted with her, she was a military wife and had lived in my hometown during her husband's time at the military base.  Since then, she's been through much....hard knocks , good times, scary moments and some very inspiring days as well.  I love reading her writing and hope that she continues to inspire us all by following the dreams God has put on her heart. Paige Hamilton's blog can be found here.

She recently shared that she received a scholarship to a writer's conference coming up this summer.  And now she just needs to come up with the money for her travel and associated expenses.  Times are tight for All of us, I know.  And I'd love to lay out the cash to just bless her with and it would bless my heart  to see her follow that dream.  I don't have that ability...I can only do what I can do.  I sew.  I love to sew.  These are a few of the spring projects I've been working on at my sewing table.  They aren't extravagant but they give me a creative outlet. 

So, for auction today, in support of Paige I am offering my spring chicks and this fabric tote bag.

The tote is made of three layers of cotton fabric and will get the "shaggy" look along the edges when washed.  The bottom is made of two layers of denim, to withstand being dragged around by children ;) .  It's just a simple library type tote bag in beautiful spring colors.  The chicks are just a cute project I made with some fabric pieces in my stash..I just thought they were a cute spring addition to a little basket around the house:)   

If you need a new tote, please bid and all the proceeds will go to Paige's travel fund:)  If you don't need a tote and you'd like to bid on it to send to someone else, feel free and I will ship it to the recipient of your choice.

Please use comments section to bid.  :) Bidding ends Friday, April 6, 2012.

Superlative: Class Clown

At five years old and still under 40 lbs, Jenna's personality sure packs a punch.  She's got to, to keep up with the crew around here.  And she does it well ;)

Dylan

Random shot.....just a reminder to myself to live in the moment.

Happy Anniversary

Yes, this is a proof pic of some portraits we had done last year.  But it's the most recent we've got. 
And, just for the record, I Love This Man. 14 years ago.....and more today and every day.

Christmas Mantle

I meant to post this at Christmas time. I just loved this picture.  It looks soo homey.  We had a beautiful Christmas, our first in our new house.  We've even had a few fires in the fireplace in spite of our doubts that we'd give in to the "cold" down here.

My New Hideaway

Well, I can't hide from much because my sewing area is in the entry of our bedroom, but I can pretend :)  I just got down to getting it together and finding a place for the things that I keep nearby while working on projects.  It's not designer, but it is functional for now.  The cutting board is on top of an old desk which is painted pink so I just covered it with some fabric so that it doesn't catch the eye.  Hopefully one day there will be  real cutting table involved;). 

There's also my bestest Christmas gift there.  My sewing chair.  My mama made it herself.  Well, she bought the chair.  Then she refinished the whole thing and built a storage compartment into the bottom of it.  And she covered the cushion and made the ruffle, in a color that she would only choose for ME.  I love it. I mean I really love it.  I've been asking for one for twenty years.  Yep!  Twenty years.  I've been sewing for a looong time and I've always wanted to "earn" my own sewing chair.  That no one would dare touch.  It's  a love gift..a labor sacrifice...from my Mama.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone

Reminders of Time Past

While trying to carve out a small space in our closet ( it still needs a lot of help, but I'm getting there) I came across this award.  The frame/box was broken and it was just laying there.  It felt so sad.  All that was given, sacrificed and suffered and this token was just laying broken.  I took hold and repaired it the best I could.  There was no way I was leaving it there, though.  So I had to hang it.  It was the first thing my husband commented on when he came in the door that day...and he had a smile to go with it. 

That year...so hard, so many lessons learned, strength gained,  emotions all over the place and then the reunion.  Delightful.  We've all grown so much since that  time and I am more proud of my husband as the years go on. 

Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone

Sounds of Love

I cannot begin to describe the annoyance the creaking sound of this rocker makes.  Nervewracking, really.  No matter how tempted I am to involuntarily rock once my body relaxes in a rocker, I cannot force myself to do it in this one.  This rocker is not pretty.  No one in the house claims it as his favorite.  But the sounds that come from it come with love.

I sit and read to my littles in this chair, as many have done along the way.  As a child, I loved to twirl this rocker around in circles, knowing that my grandmother was going to get on to me-and good .  Many children have read and been read to in this chair.  My own children try to twirl it, but not so much anymore as it won't give much.

This chair is upholstered in a itchy wool plaid fabric.  Itchiness worsening with age.  So, I happened upon some heavy duty denim and did my own job of recovering it so as to recover the lovely moments with my little blessings as it had given others.

There are chips, scrapes, scratches and the crookity-ness when it even tries to rock.  This is no sight to behold.

But,

The infants rocked in this chair....more than two handfuls, I believe...and entire generation.
The stories read in this chair.....classics repeated over and again.
The fabric of this chair.....handpicked to please the one who loved greatly from its fibers
The arms of this chair wrap my grandmother's love around me gently once again.
The rhythms of this chair rocking soothe like the beating of a mother's heart next to her baby's chest.
The sounds that come from this chair......love well.

Just Another Day at Homeschool

Another reason we love homeschooling....just hanging out together.   We are loving our new (to us) house.  It has been two months and we just love living out in the country.  Up these stairs is our little game room.  All living quarters are on one leve.  Upstairs is optional (my body is soo glad!)..and only for game time...or DATE NIGHT!  That's where we send the kiddos when we call a date night....and we have one coming up this weekend.  Woo Hooo!  We get excited about uninterrupted conversations around here :)

A Surprise Blessing Today

Breakfast in bed, courtesy of my two oldest children. Woo Hoo! I feel sooo special!
Unsolicited, no special occasion, just because...oh, these are the best of moments !

Sometimes this is how it gets done. Love this little guy's free spirit.

Five on a Row Ornament Exchange Tree

We didnt have am extra tree running around and weren't going to buy one since we just moved out to "the sticks". So we gathered some unique limbs from our woodline and made do:). These ornaments are what we have collected from our exchanges over the last 3 or 4 years. We just love our FIAR family!

Math for Mom Part 2: Budgeting our Homeschool Space

Math is a most dreaded subject for many moms, and possibly moreso for homeschooling mothers.  Numbers are not my best area, for sure.  But this series is not for giving you pointers or hints for how to better teach your child math.  This is Math for Mom!

First in this series, it's the homeschool budget. Finances are different for each family. Sometimes, time=money or the opposite. You will have to make the best judgement on that for your family's needs. But I've given my points of consideration in this post.

When my children were younger than they are now and we first began homeschooling, it was my dream to have a school room. I wanted my own classroom, with charts on the wall, a great big chalkboard, little nooks for 'centers'……the works! The reality is, we live where we learn and we learn where we live.

Desks: I have found that each child likes to have his own desk, but no one is bound to it. Actually, the children seldom use desks during 'school' time. Each one has a desk in their room. More often than not, it is used for things like building, legos, setting up battles, writing notes to friends and other miscellaneous pursuits. Most of our written school work is done right here:

(Yes, that is a keyboard stand with no keyboard in the sideground.  It was moved out for the  work that was done in here.)

 Yep, you got it right….on the couch, at the coffee table, or even using a clipboard or lapdesk. It's what works. We even use the kitchen table / bar area when we decide to. We are not traditional in that way. J

Chalkboard / charts / manipulatives: We do have one white board in our dining room on the wall. We used to use our dining room only for schooling, but have migrated to the downstairs family room, so it's more of an occasional spot now. I have found that we still like having the white board there. It goes with our contemporary elementary theme! ;)

 I print charts, helps, make manipulatives and whatever else we end up needing along the way. I try to provide a home for each item , but I don't always get that right, as you can see in the pics here. I have given a half hearted effort at organizing my bookshelves by subject, but with a 4 yr old helping out, anything is subject to change! We do have maps and a globe (which is still alive but handicapped at the present moment) around for quick reference.

Storage:  I have three bookshelves, partially arranged by subject.  There is also space that is verbally designated to house library materials so that we are not also having to budget for library fees!  We also have a few plastic rolling carts that hold things that we have on hand but aren't necessarily pretty to look at.  Some of those items are: more math manipulatives, stacks of scratch paper , a place to throw pencils/paperclips/etc.  I hope to collect a few 'pretty' storage baskets over time so that it is a little more visually appealing. 

Common areas vs. personal space: This is just a note with my personal thoughts on this matter and no one who does things differently should feel judged. I believe that the Lord has given our family this home so that we can build ties together. I do appreciate the need of each person to have private space. I, myself, enjoy alone time that is private to recharge. It is not more important that we allot each person a great amount “me space” than it is for our family to have a warm, cozy home that provides togetherness for our family (as opposed to making one or more persons comfortable.) So, in the numbers, I’d say that our “all” space outranks our personal spaces. We could close in our garage and give every single person here their own room. That is not our priority. To some, it is not a “fair” situation. We are not in the business of making everything fair for our children. We are in the business of providing a loving, nurturing family home that will serve the purpose of bringing them up with Godly character. ( I also find that there is plenty of value in learning to live peacefully with others early in life! :)  )

Here’s the rest of the tour (please excuse the mess, we just redid parts of this room and there is still plenty of drywall dust to go around). Remember, this room multi-tasks as our family/game room—so go easy on me.  Also, there is paint on the walls now, but nothing else.  So sorry :) 

 This post is load-bearing so we cannot remove it, only live around it.

 This rocking chair was my grandmother's and she rocked me and many other babies in it. I recovered it myself last year.  It's still rocking.  I'm almost 36 now.  And the afghan, crocheted by my other a few years ago for Christmas makes a cozy spot for a budding reader.

 Desk area that will likely be the last to recuperate from the moving/drywall scenario, but is functional at least.

 Our growth chart that I refuse to paint over.  The memories--one day.

The upstairs couch might also be used for videos as it sits squarely in front of our new (to us) 52" TV.  (I am too cheap to buy something like that new--bought off of craigslist for a STEAL! when our other TV died) At the time of this picture, the 11 yr old princess you see here was thoroughly enjoying Little House on the Prairie--I love that they still love the simple things.

We definitely want our children to love our home--their home. Our goal is to meet the needs of ALL in providing an environment that will be conducive to strong relationships with the Lord and tying heartstrings among everyone who lives here.

Next up:  Budgeting Time

Reconciliation

Reconciliation - the process of making consistent or compatible.
My wonderful, hard-working husband works the evening shift and so I lead devotion time with my children before bed. Some nights are quick and easy and they're off to bed in a flash. Tonight has not been such a night. But I am oh-so-thankful! The Lord showed Himself mighty tonight. Having absolutely nothing to do with the devotional book that we use this night, we spent over half an hour in reconciliation time. We go through the catechism using the devotional book mentioned here. I've been inconsistent in using this resource and have bounced around a bit but will keep it up for the sake of consistency for a while. If we don't find ourselves having further discussion on the material in the day's reading, we move into encouragement and reconciliation.


During encouragement time, each child is to look to the person beside him and encourage or compliment three or more attributes of that person. Most of the time there are giggles, great big smiles and even a little embarrassment. There are comments on talents, abilities, physical features and just lots of love going around during this time. Mom is included in this time. I am always interested to hear what they say about me. There is not a lot of hesitancy in the words of our little ones J


Next is reconciliation time. We take the down time to make anything right with someone anything for which we feel we need to ask forgiveness. It is becoming a more open and honest time. Sometimes, the other person has no idea that the offender has thought or felt the emotion or thought for which they are asking forgiveness. Other times, there was a clear and verbal/physical spat that will bring obvious acknowledgement. Again, Mom is not immune. I get frustrated, impatient, rude or otherwise unloving and must be reconciled as well.




It is the latter about which I am writing tonight. This was such a sweet time this evening as the Holy Spirit prompted an unusually wonderful number of confessions. Some even taking place years ago-thoughts that were never revealed, words murmured, hateful attitudes, and the list goes on. The tenderness in the hearts of my young ones was palpable and so precious to my heart this evening. I am so thankful that He has been faithful to help make our family more consistent and compatible. I have heard my children voice their recognition of wisdom brought about by discipline and teaching in their lives. I am sure that we are all coming into better focus as we head toward our family's vision of training up children who will love the Lord and serve Him alone. I will have to keep details among family since they are so close to our hearts and we must be painstakingly cautious with their trust. But I would encourage you, if you don't include these things in your family devotional time, that you are missing out on many, many blessings in your family.

Baby Steps - A Lesson From the Flylady

It's the Flylady's mantra.  I believe it might be on nearly every page of her website.  It's probably on every single email that comes flooding into the inbox.  Baby steps.  Baby steps.  Baby steps.  When I first discovered her website and method, I was not only on the wagon, I drove it.  It made me feel sooo in control.  (I'm sure that's a problem)  I didn't regularly get behind on anything, as can happen these days.  Most areas of our home stayed in  company-ready-in-15-minutes condition. It made soo much sense.  If you're on top of things, they don't get bad enough to get you all worked up and then you find yourself on a cleaning frenzy (and therefore, neglect other areas as well).  These days, I have a somewhat blended method of homekeeping that allows for more, shall we say, balance.  But that binder is  not what this post is about.  The Flylady is on to something when she gets on those fits.  It works so much better my heart than it does in my home. 

Yes,  you read that right.  I am enjoying the day having had that thought streaming across the eyes of my heart again and again.  If we get things done as the junk begins to seep in, we won't be as likely to find ourselves in an all-out conniption. A little pride here, a  little selfishness there, bitterness is always looking for a corner to sink into.  But, if we keep it cleaned up in baby steps and leave no area untouched, we keep our hearts constantly hospitable to the Holy Spirit. When there's even a splinter of unforgiveness, greed or vanity hanging around in there, the Holy Spirit is quenched in my heart.

 My husband and I heard a teaching on the principle of short accounts a while back.  We began using it to keep check on anything that might be said or unsaid between us.  Just the daily (actually many times each day) looking into each other's eyes, even if we're busy, and asking, "Are we OK?".  Now that is probably annoying to some, but we know what the other one means by the phrase.  We are conveying that we want to always be willing to hear an issue that may come up in the other's heart that might need some "housekeeping."   Usually if nothing's amiss, a smile comes to our faces.  But if the other one looks down or away, or tries to busy themselves, there needs to be some quality heart-to-heart ministry time.  Those times are wonderful!  Think of the smell of lavender in a freshly cleaned home with the breeze blowing in.....the accomplishment--of a clean heart.

Tuesdays

I discovered I'm a Tuesday kind of girl. I've always been a Monday girl. I love, love the freshness of a new week. It's the perfect day to start. To start everything. Fresh. New. A whole week ahead just waiting for Monday to plan it all out and make it happen. The whole week rides on the Mondays. Or they did. My calendar (a fresh, new on in January, no less) , school, exercise re-starts, diets, good habits, bad habits, new ventures, even my relationship with God. But today, God met me fresh and new on a …….Tuesday. I'm always trying to get myself together in order to put my foot out into the waters of something new. Don't get me wrong, God is not new to me. I've been saved a whole lotta years. Not all of them held evidence that I was saved, but I am thankful for the Grace that covers that. So, today is Tuesday. God was there when I hit snooze on the alarm. He opened my eyes first thing to the idea that Tuesdays are just as important as Mondays. He convinced me that I could begin Bible study anew with my children on a –Tuesday. I could start reading aloud to my children at bedtime on a Tuesday. Yes, Mondays have the "new car feel" to them. But Tuesdays require His mercy to cover what we flopped at when our best laid Monday totally flops. The momentum and energy of Monday is flushed out by the exasperation of another hum-drum week of feeling like nothing gets accomplished. These are the days that we have to call out to Him for patience, rely on His mercy to cover our heart-attitude, plead that the Blood cover the frustration and pride that showed up just as soon as the rest of the crew got up and busy and my own plan is shoved to the side. Yes, Tuesday, we realize the week is no longer ours to hold, to plan, to keep. We have to give it back to Him. We hold our fallen Monday in the palm of our hand and offer it back to Him, a pitiful offering, at best. Our finely crafted plans for the week lay in the dust and rubble of our pride. But, take heart, Tuesdays can be the most triumphant day of the week, by far!! They are victorious! It is on Tuesday that our burdens are no longer our own. We don't have to hope and have faith in our own plans and wonder if it's enough to make it happen. On Tuesday, it is sure to happen. It's guaranteed. Tuesdays carry the pride of being able to walk upright, with the confidence that He's got your back (or your week). There's no appointment that He's too busy to see you through. The schedule, well, He made it and He gave you the job, too. He wrote the handbook to your children AND your spouse. There's a good reason God made Tuesdays—and He's good enough to offer them to us.

I hope that you find yourself having a Tuesdayonce in a while!

I linked this post with Courtney over at Women Living Well

My Man

This is a pic I found on his computer...this is how so many soldiers still serving conduct their family bonding time.

Today, being that my husband has been working extra hard lately, I thought it would be a good day to start my Love List.  Hopefully it will be an encouragement to him and a reminder to me of  10 of the many, many reasons why I love him .

He has been pulled in so many different directions lately with his civilian job and the military and some days he just collapses into bed.  I have hard days, too, but mine are mostly dealing with my little people whom I love dearly and in situations where I have a great deal of control. 

I love this man because:

1.  He works awfully hard for our family so that I can stay home with our little people.

2. He is very determined.  It doesn't really matter what it is.

3. He can be very goofy.  I love it when he makes me laugh.

4. He's Brave.

5. He is a wonderful Father.

6.  He does Bible study with our children.

7. He is a very strong leader.

8. He is sensitive.

9. He is always looking for family time.

10. He is strong. (physically and otherwise:)  )

Life After Homeschooling

there life after homeschooling? What will I do with all that free time? Whom will I then nurture? What will my husband want to do with some extra time?

You know the saying, ' the days are long but the years are short.' It's soo true. Some days, it seems like I will never, ever, ever get through the ABC's with some of my children. In the same day, I am amazed at the complexity of other children's lessons. And I know that very soon, like tomorrow, I will look back and wonder where all the littles that ran around here went. Is there something I can do to prepare for that? Where is my heart? What am I called to do at that point in life?

I'm writing this blog to remind myself what it's like to be where I am now. So that when I am in the "older women" category (Titus 2), I can see through the eyes of the ones coming behind me. I want to be the lady who calls up a mom of little ones to give her a few hours to run her errands while her little ones are well loved on by someone who will care for and pray over them. Someday, I hope I get the chance to allow a younger wife to spill her heart regarding the difficult times in the early years of marriage and be there to let her know that we all had to start somewhere and His Grace will get her through and pray with her. When my years of homeschooling are done, I want to be the one encouraging others in their journey and maybe even lead them.


Yes, I want to have time for myself and for more sewing and more time to go out with my husband. And I'll have plenty of time for those things. But I really want to continue to give and to nurture the younger women coming up behind me, whose path I have also traveled. I don't want to get into "retirement mode" so much that I cannot follow Biblical mandates. Titus 2 does not give us an option on this. I think it's kinda like God's mentorship program, but without the fancy title. It is the command for Biblical womanhood. My heart is to continue giving to those whom I can bless, in whatever stage of life I am.