Mom's Heart

Twaddle-free!

2012-01-16T16:53:00.000-06:00

This is a great, simple list of twaddle-free books grouped together by grade level. It's a good start for my friends who are waiting, ever so patiently, for me to get my master list online! Love you guys!

Source: charlottemasonhome.com via Dawn on Pinterest

(Just click on the picture)

Brain fog and Blessings

2011-12-28T21:12:00.001-06:00

Obviously, blogging went straight to the bottom of my priority list this semester. Even if I had tried to blog, I'm not sure I've had the extra brain space to come up with a creative thought! You've gotta love brain overload!

The reason:
As a youngster, my parents warned me about the dangers of drugs and alcohol. It was an effective scare tactic for me. But I think they may have forgotten about another potential problem area. I'm almost positive now, that potty training a little one kills this mother's brain cells. This semester has proved doubly challenging, as I've been "finishing" the late-trainer's new potty habits, and beginning training with her early-trainer (for me) sister. The littlest one has proved the easiest to train of all my sweethearts, but a late-developing hiccup has presented itself. So, I've essentially been potty training two at the same time, with coordinated accidents. One day, they'll both do perfectly, and then the next day, they try to outdo each other with oopsies of all kinds.

On the other end of the spectrum, I've got a high school Junior, with whom I am walking down the uncharted path of ACT's, CLEP tests, Scholarship applications, and the search for direction in colleges and majors. And then there is everyone in between.

We also communicate a GREAT deal at our house. So, besides the usual noises that go on in a house full of 8 people, we discuss, and discuss, and discuss, which is how I want it to be. And with three little girls that have been bountifully blessed with the gift of nonstop gab, and an eleven year old boy who is a self-described chatterbox... and piano playing, music-listening, tickle chasing, etc, etc, etc... whew! We've got a lot of sounds and action going at our house!

I find myself fuzzy in the head, and fantasizing about a dream vacation at the end of most every day, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I have no struggle this year-end at figuring out which goals to set for the new year...

Simplify as much as I can, in order to appreciate my todays. Lord, help me to know how to fashion my days, my thoughts, my prayers...

The good news:
I still have little ones to potty train! I remember praying for more babies, when I only had three children. When I cried out to God, I hoped for at least one more. And look at me now... three little princesses are running around my house! I can imagine what I might be feeling right now, getting a son prepared for college, if I didn't have younger ones and lots more years of homeschooling memories to make.

It is such an extreme pleasure to watch my son come into his own. To see him carefully and thoughtfully making wise decisions about his future! And what a privilege it is to get to be the one who helps him work through all of the unique challenges that college prep presents. Having such a good boy makes it such a proud mom moment.

We do communicate at our house! This has always been my homeschool mom dream. I love to discuss, and my awesome kiddos have allowed me to teach them in a way that makes learning about real life. Oh, how thankful I am that we talk about everything!

Yes, I'm foggy, fuzzy, and not very creative right now, but how very blessed I am!

Been hiding out...

2011-09-27T19:29:00.000-05:00

Sorry, I disappeared for a little while, there! I twisted some muscles in my back a bit, and felt it best to stay away from my desk and computer for a while.

Actually, for a few days, even just the thought of sitting at the computer made my back wrench! But I am mostly healed up now, and anxious to get back to blogging and all other things cyberspace.

Besides my moments of disability, we've been doing school and life. We had the privilege of a two week visit from a dear friend, Heather, who is a huge blessing to our family.

Macy had a 48 hour fever thing, and we've had a couple sneezers and sniffers in the house. Even poor Heather got to share our germs while she was here. (I'm so sorry, Heather!)

Since we're quite a few weeks into the school year now, we've gotten accustomed to our flex-schedule, and have worked out what is expected of each of us. Also, having a guest with us gave me some new ideas and perspectives of some things I want to improve on. Isn't it funny how having an outside observer around can cause one to notice the cracks?!?

With a surprise visit from my very dear mother and father in law, this week has become a special treat away from any boring routine. So, between this week and the last two with company, there are some extra hearts to love and be loved by... this is what life is all about, isn't it?

Kids & Nature Study pics

2011-09-12T14:46:00.000-05:00

I snapped this picture Monday morning. The girls were ready to get this new week started! Andrew was still just waking up...in good company! (Yep, those are pj pants)

The rest of the pics were taken by Sydney when she took the girls outside for a little nature study...

Charlotte Mason Help

2011-09-08T18:43:00.000-05:00

Here's an additional post to the Literature Series I had posted over the summer. This topic is ALWAYS on my mind:

I've been scouring websites and blogs for Charlotte Mason inspiration as we enjoy these beautiful first weeks of our new school year; going on nature walks, studying Leonardo da Vinci, pulling out the time-lines and maps, snuggling together with our favorite picture books, having great discussions about our Bible lessons.

I like to use Charlotte Mason methodology as much as I can.

In addition to Ambleside online and other curriculum sites (listed in a previous post) that use a literature approach, I've found some incredibly helpful blogs. Just click on the pictures below to visit each site.

Simply Charlotte Mason is a valuable resource (full of book recommendations, organizer/planners, a blog, articles, and curriculum helps). This is at the top of the list! (picture credit: from SCM website)

Charlotte Mason Home Education is a wonderful one. It's packed full of tips, how-to's, and freebies. (pic from CMHE)

Handbook of Nature Study blog. She gives many free downloads, and nature study challenges. She also posts lots of pics of their family's nature study finds. Good stuff! (pic from HNS)

Practical Pages (blog). Every post includes a printable download. Lots of practical tutorials notebooking, copywork, art appreciation, etc. (pic from PP)

Click this link to access a nicely done "Living Books" book list at Charlotte Mason Home Education. (pic from CMHE)

Temper tantrum love from this mother of six

2011-09-06T22:00:00.000-05:00

So, my littlest sweetheart just turned two. The five that went before her, were two years old at one time also. Yes they were!

I've seen some tantrums!

Just so you know, my kiddos are pretty incredible... smart, sweet little things! But every now and then they have their moments. We try to be consistent. We try to use some good psychology. We don't have situations where our toddlers rule over the house with their whims and desires. They know this house is run by Mom & Dad, not them. But that selfish desire to have their own way rears it's ugly head from time to time.

My Janie is giving me a little more practice in dealing with tantrums than any of her older siblings. She's so darling, and her little moments of self-indulgence just melt my heart. I've seen stubbornness in children before, but she is not ashamed to let her feelings be known. I am sure it is the sign of a girl who will one day become a strong, godly woman! Don't ya think?

Like I said, we've done this before, so we've had some practice. Between that, and the fact that I've been dealing with these tantrums as of late, I've come up with a pretty good system. There's really never a one-size-fits-all answer for anything, but here are some tips for new parents who may be dealing with tantrums for the first time, and don't know which school of thought to follow.

1.) If your child doesn't throw tantrums: Congratulations! Enjoy that! I've had a couple of kids who made things easy for me in that way. Just please try to be understanding of the parents around you who are struggling to find the right solution for their families. It's the "you haven't walked in their shoes" thing. You know.

2.) Every child is different: You can keep having babies and keep having babies, and they will keep coming out different than the rest! I know I'm stating the obvious, but after you have a few children, you really do realize this truth in a very big way. Once you think you have things figured out, you realize you don't! Keep this in mind when you have to tweak and adjust your methods with the varied tantrums that come from varied persons. The same goes for these tips... take what works, and leave the rest.

3.) Be proactive: In many cases, if your discipline is consistent and your (loving) authority has been established, you can prevent most tantrums by avoiding triggers. Triggers for tantrums can be being hungry, tired, or frustrated. For instance, I rarely see a tantrum from Janie on a day when I have kept her belly full, made sure she got to nap/bed before she became overtired, and when I explain what is expected from her in new situations before they occur.

4.) Explain, explain, explain: I learned this valuable lesson from my firstborn's piano teacher. This lady started teaching children when they turned three, and would have a room full of little squirmers for group lessons, all lined up along the wall, sitting like statues. She would tell a new three year old when they came in the room... "I expect you to sit here, like this, with your hands this way, (for a 40 minute group lesson). This is how we do it here. You are big enough to do this, and you will do great." She had confidence that they could, and they heard it in her voice. Those kids knew they could sit still, behave, and obey, because she believed they could. Watching her do this blew my "young new mom" mind. I now employ this way of explaining what's expected (when I'm on top of my game, of course) with the smaller kiddos when we're going into any new situation. Children have a much better reaction to a situation when they know ahead of time how they will be expected to act.

5.) Talk, talk, talk: Same thing, huh?!? But communicating does wonders, doesn't it? If I can see that Janie is overtired and there is the possibility of a meltdown trying to put her in bed (which is now my fault for not putting her to bed on time), I try to distract her when I see her start to complain. I shower her with love and smiles, and we talk about what great fun thing she is going to get to do in the morning when she wakes up. Instead of trying to discipline that bad attitude out of her, I avoid an unnecessary battle by loving her lots and talking about how big she is, and how well she obeyed today, etc. We can work on "how to have a good attitude" and "how to obey" in the morning when she's fresh, by explaining, talking, role playing, and training.

6.) Try to look through the actions, into the heart:   When I was a new mom, I saw tantrums as a challenge of my authority. I thought it was as simple as a battle of the wills. Things may sometimes be that simple, but feeling upset and threatened by a lack of respect for my authority can keep me from a real understanding of what's going on my little child's heart. I like to try to think, "Is my sweetheart scared of this new, big situation? Does she feel like she has lost control of her whole world, and doesn't know how to cope? Is she upset about more than this, and I haven't been paying attention to what may have led up to this?" Children's minds and hearts are complex, just like an adult. Just because they are under our authority does not make them less of a person, with less important feelings. Look into those little eyes and try to see if they are searching for understanding, trying to grasp why that fleshly nature can't have what it wants. Take time to whisper a quick prayer for wisdom and understanding. And try not to react as if your little one is your enemy.

7.) If necessary, ignore: Once Janie has "tantrumed" to the point of no return, we have to just leave her alone for a while (not REALLY alone, of course- just not paying attention to her). It's not a punishment and it doesn't scare her. She actually doesn't want anyone talking to her or trying to fix it when she's that upset. So, intentional ignoring works great once she's decided she'll settle for nothing but a good cry on the floor. She actually only has her tantrums at home or in the car. (I think I do a better job of being proactive when I'm in public.)

8.) Timing is everything: When your child has lost their emotional control, it is not a good time to "teach them a lesson". They have lost their capacity for rational thought at this point. For instance, once my littlest sweetheart has reached the climax of her meltdown, crying and writhing on the floor, it's time to step back. I try to approach her every few minutes, and for Janie, it takes several attempts of asking if she's ready for a hug (reconciliation). But I don't hover over her, begging or lecturing while she's out of it. I keep trying every  few minutes with an opportunity for her to choose a good alternative, and choose peace and reconciliation. If she's unapproachable when I try again, I make it quick and leave her to her fit. Eventually, I get to make my last pass, with open arms and smile, and she is finally ready to melt into my arms when I again say "are you ready to be done, and hug Mommy?"

9.) Do obedience and behavior training in the good moments: In case it sounds like I'm a pushover, I'd better add that it is a VERY good idea to obedience train and teach self-control! It is just most effectively taught when a child is well rested and in good spirits.

A Pilot's Story from Sept 10-11th

2011-09-06T11:24:00.001-05:00

Leading up to September 11th, I always spend time reflecting and remembering 2001. Here is an amazing testimony that is definitely worth watching!

Lord's Day Thoughts

2011-09-04T20:14:00.000-05:00

God is big, truly AWEsome, and more amazing than I can comprehend! How desperately I need Him and His mercy and grace. When I think of how hugely powerful my God is, I am overcome with thanksgiving because I am His child. I am His.

Here is what is on my mind and heart today...

God is our refuge and strength, a verypresent help in trouble.
Therefore will not we fear, though theearth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of thesea;
Though the waters thereof roar and betroubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.
There is a river, the streams whereof shallmake glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.
God is in the midst of her; she shall notbe moved: God shall help her, and that right early.
The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved:he uttered his voice, the earth melted.
The LORD of hosts is with us; the God ofJacob is our refuge. Selah.
Come, behold the works of the LORD, whatdesolations he hath made in the earth.
He maketh wars to cease unto the end of theearth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth thechariot in the fire.
Be still, and know that I am God: I will beexalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.
The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacobis our refuge. Selah. Psalm 46(KJV)

Oh my God, He will not delay...

my refuge and strength always.

I will not fear. Hispromise is true.

My God will comethrough always!

Lyrics (KristianStanfill- Always)

I feel so safe, protected, and confident in Him, my Sovereign God.

Here is themessage of HaKadosh (the Holy One), the True One, the one who has the key of David, who, ifopens something, no one else can shut it, and if he closes something, no elsecan open it. (Rev 3:7 Complete Jewish Bible)

Week One: How we did

2011-09-04T10:44:00.000-05:00

We did our thing!

Of course, real life took over. Yes it did.

The schedule was very helpful. Without it, our week would have led to complete frustration. That schedule hanging on the wall gave us the ability to embrace real life, knowing that we could get right back on track as real life would permit. The tasks would still get done. (At least the important ones.) The day would have some order. And Mom would keep her sanity!

I remember a time when real life would have frustrated me to the pointing of giving up on a schedule. I also remember a time when real life would have been ignored for the sake of "school". What a nice place for me to arrive at, six kids along- real life and organization walking hand in hand. Not the perfection of a "dream" homeschooling day, but children who are learning about hard work, disciplining themselves, being flexible as life happens, and having some fun, too!

Andrew- 6th grade

Macy- 1st grade

My high school aged kids don't seem to hang around when I'm pulling out the camera. I hope to sneak up on them some this year, to capture a kodak moment here and there when they have their noses in the books. But for now, here are some moments from this week:

Austin (11th grade) reading to baby Janie

Macy invited her little sisters onto her blanket at blanket time , so she could read to them.

More musical blankets- Tessa (3) and Janie (2) wanted to be together

This is how the girls came down on Tues morning... play dresses over their jammies and climbing all over the place. That's Macy climbing over the chair onto her sisters.

Another pic from our impromptu nature walk.

Part of our welcomed "real life" this week... a visit from one of our favorite friends, Crystal! I think she's dancing with the girls for a video Sydney was making... now that's love!

More real life love... dog-sitting a fence jumping, cat eating Rhodesian Ridgeback.

We sure fell in love with this big sweetheart of a dog, Rowdy.

New pics of Macy... Thanks, Syd!!!

2011-09-01T10:53:00.000-05:00

First nature walk (not quite worthy of nature "study" status)

2011-08-29T14:07:00.001-05:00

Our first nature study, on our first official day of our first 100% schedule-following, checklist-checking day of school...

Did not go as planned...

But it was very cute, and a simply sweet way to start a new year of learning and discovering.

Janie was acting very tired, and crying about "nature walk" because she knew it was coming, and thought it was taking entirely too long to come about! I could tell she wasn't going to make it to nature walk time if I put her down for her nap when she really needed it. So Janie, Tessa, and I left our puzzles and books, and headed out the front door to do our own quick, mini nature study.

We found this fallen nest, and tried to look closely to see what Mommy Bird used to build it out of. We also chased grasshoppers, followed ants, and listened to the sounds coming out of the woods. Tessa tried to catch a butterfly, too.

Andrew and Macy had been having their "together" break time, and found us, so our mini nature walk turned into the official nature study of the day. Our nature study bag remained inside, neglected and unused, along with everyone's shoes! And the first order of business once they joined us was a lesson in tree climbing from big brother.

She's still a tired girl, she just doesn't know it.

Smile and wave, girls!

2011-08-26T07:32:00.000-05:00

I'm just not quite sure why my otherwise brilliant husband, who doesn't prefer to have piles of candy in the house, told the girls to smile and wave REAL BIG, so candy would be thrown their way during a parade this month.

They did smile and wave real big.

They did look cute!

They did have candy thrown their way.

They did end up coming home with entirely too much candy.

Their daddy did admit that maybe he shouldn't have coached them so well.

And they did make their mommy and daddy's hearts glad... darling girls!

Thoughts about Motherhood

2011-08-24T16:21:00.004-05:00

Yesterday was a thoughtful day for me. I was thinking so much about the challenges my children and grandchildren will face in their lifetimes. When I think about the changing world, and how quickly things progress and change in this day and age, instead of being discouraged, I become energized!

I say this over and over again... God made me for now!

God made my children to serve a purpose in their generation!

We are here for His glory in THIS moment in history!

So, these thoughtful days remind me of the HUGE role I play as a mother in this epic story of our world. (The word epic is really overused lately, I know!)

But when it comes to God's supernatural plan for His children and the way He chose to let His story play out on this "natural" sphere of water and land, the perspective of considering timeless eternity causes me to feel the responsibility that comes with being a mother. The lives of my children are so greatly affected by mine... I can feel the awesome weight of that influential position!

I am responsible for teaching my children about the God of creation.

I am responsible to train my children to trust God's Word.

I am responsible to be an example of godliness.

I am responsible to disciple my children like Jesus disciples.

I am responsible to prepare them to defend their faith in this world.

I am responsible to point out God's handiwork all around them, so they will see and know Him.

I am responsible to show them what God's love looks like coming through a human vessel.

Ultimately, God calls them and draws them, but I have a very important job to do! Creator God gives his creation a chance to glorify Him by affecting GENERATIONS!!!

LORD, HELP AND EMPOWER ME TO DO YOUR WORK!

...Toward the end of my thoughtful day, I was able to have a wonderful conversation with my own mother. Thank you, Lord, for the gift You gave me in a powerfully godly influence!

What a gift, to have the chance to be encouraged by my mother...

Encouraged to stay strong... not grow weary!

Encouraged to teach my children God's truth, so they can stand up for what they believe in.

Encouraged to equip without overwhelming.

Encouraged to keep praying and believing when the days are long.

Encouraged to remember God's grace and mercy when I can see my human limits.

And thank you, Mother, for your witness in faithfulness. I love you! Thank you for ending my evening with a conversation that reminded me of the blessing that is passed from generation to generation... down from mother, to mother, to mother. As we train our little ones, we are training them to train their little ones, and on and on.

... And then my day ended with bittersweet tears, as I read another's blog article about saying goodbye to her own mother. Oh my...

...what a way to end my thoughtful day- sad for a sister in Christ, but more than that-

reminded deeply of the influence of a mother. How greatly the heart is affected by the relationship of mother and child! This is God's plan... His way.

Oh, that I can be faithful in my calling...

May the Lord continue to empower me and other mothers like me who hear your call, and long to touch the hearts of generations!

Schoolroom 2011

2011-08-22T09:03:00.011-05:00

The schoolroom is ready for action! It will only be this clean and organized once, so take notice!

The right side of the schoolroom:
Left bookcase-
Landmarks, Trailblazers, and other history
Sydney's shelf (bottom shelf)

Right bookcase (top to bottom)-
Extra curriculum
1828 Dictionary, 5 in a Row books, lapbook supplies
Macy's shelf
Austin's shelf
Andrew's shelf
Tessa's shelf

Left side of the schoolroom:
Far left bookcase (top to bottom)-
Previous years' binders, National Endowment for the Arts freebies
Bible/Character/Inspirational picture books and study guides
3 1/2 shelves of fiction
Anthologies and Poetry
Childcraft books

Middle bookcase (top to bottom)-
Trixie Belden set and misc
Boxed sets (Little House, A.A. Milne, Homer, etc)
DVDs (Moody Science, Vision Forum, Diana Waring) and Audio Books
2 shelves of Science readers and reference
Picture books
Board books
Misc bulky books and empty boxes ready for girls to fill

Far right bookcase (top to bottom)-
First 3 shelves History and Biographies
Little Golden books and Dr. Suess
Last 3 shelves Preschool (puzzles, leap pads, blocks, etc)

Preschool area

Bulletin board
My desk
Pick up/drop off station (blanket time baskets, binders, and shelves for finished work, craft box and Handwriting Without Tears box underneath)

Incomplete schedule (still working on afternoons)

The bookshelves usually stay fairly organized. The greatest potential for quick mess are the preschool shelves and picture books shelves that the little girls use. And then, there's the fact that my desk is usually piled with "stuff" by the end of the day. The table collects stuff also. And the girls leave books all over the floor. Besides working more with the girls on putting things away when they're done, I'm hoping having a "Librarian of the week" will help keep the books on the shelves.

It feels good to have the room ready. The kids have started somewhat of a school schedule today, while I continue to work on printing out their school checklists, chore lists, and reward charts. By next Monday, we should be running like a machine! At least, as much as that is possible with six kids' worth of unpredictability! Let the learning begin!

(This blog post was a little early for Living Well Wednesdays, but I couldn't help but link to it... hope that's OK!)

Our Bible study tools this year

2011-08-21T08:15:00.010-05:00

We will be beginning our first week of school tomorrow. This week will be a simplified version of our schedule and studies, but will be gettting back into the grove of all things schooly. I love this part!

So, here's a peek at our Bible study tools for this year...

The little girls will be read to from The Child's Story Bible by Catherine Vos and the Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones. Even though these books are officially for the small set, it certainly never hurts to have the big kids listen in on these too. So, I will use The Child's Story Bible as part of our family's morning devotions. My two favorite homeschool speakers, Sally Clarkson and Carole Joy Seid, recommend this story Bible. And it really is worth buying and using over and over! There are so many junky story Bibles out there, so it's nice to know which one is worth purchasing.

For the older kids, I've got a lot I want to go through this year. They will be watching the DVD series of Francis Schaeffer's How Should We Then Live. I'm very excited about this, since it's been on my list of things to buy and do for a couple years now. Since Austin is a Junior this year, and Sydney is a Freshman, I think it will be perfect timing for them to watch it together. I'm hoping I can fit in it to watch with them. Good stuff! It comes so highly recommended.

I'm also very excited about going through What Jesus Demands from the World (John Piper) together. The book is laid out in small chapters, each one being a demand of Jesus; from "you must be born again" to "make disciples of all nations, for the mission cannot fail". This will be a lot of fun to go through together and talk about. The chapters are just a few pages each, and Piper gives permission to skip around without reading from front to back. I think we will go in order, but leave room for flexibility if a reason comes up to look at a chapter out of order. I'll probably read this one to the kids while they're eating lunch.

We have our first honest-to-goodness Bible curriculum workbook, Practical Proverbs. I usually shy away from workbooks and packaged homeschool curriculum, especially for Bible, BUT... We met the homeschool mom who put this study together at our local homeschool curriculum fair. She was a wonderful lady, who took seven years to put the study together. I have to say, I have tried, unsuccessfully, to go through Proverbs with the kids so many times over the years. I planned on going through Proverbs, pulling out all the examples of the fool versus the wise man and other things like that. I've also done the "read one chapter of Proverbs for each day of the month" thing. It was OK, but it was hard for me to be content with that. It's better than nothing, for sure! And keeps one reading the Bible on a schedule. But just about each verse is independent, so when you just read a whole chapter through without stopping, you can barely internalize a thought about one verse before the reader has moved on and is halfway through the next verse. That's a little bit frustrating for me. When we have tried that method, we have to keep stopping, because we are a discussion type family. We can't help ourselves, and we stop to discuss a verse at least every three verses. Before you know it, we have spent way too much time talking and are only 1/3 of the way through the chapter.

Keep in mind, I have not used Practical Proverbs yet, and have only looked through it, but I think it will be a really nice change to take a lesson (1-2 pages) on a particular verse, or verses that compliment each other, and pull from other books of the Bible to reinforce the proverb. I'm not yet sure whether I will assign the lessons to be done independently and discuss them together during our morning devotions, or whether I will read the lesson aloud during devotions and discuss it.

We've got a lot ahead of us this year! But because so much of the last two years has been more "hands on" and real life learning, which has it's place, I'm looking forward to spending quite a bit of planned time digging into some structure when it comes to our Bible lessons this year.

Ketchup & Jelly

2011-08-19T07:12:00.004-05:00

Back when we did The Maker's Diet, my pantry looked like something out of The Waltons. Since then, we have added back in more "average American pantry" items than not. It is regrettable, but it's reality. My dream is to have my kitchen 100 percent healthy again someday, but the realist in me would really be happy with MOSTLY healthy.

I am so excited that the local grocery stores are making it cheaper and easier for me to buy healthy. Just a year ago, I had to pay big bucks for jelly and ketchup that have no high fructose corn syrup. But here is my pantry today... stocked with jelly that cost under two dollars and ketchup that was on sale for under two also! (With NO hfcs!) When food prices are rising, and people are trying to make the right choices AND save money, these are exciting changes!

Beginning Reading with Phonics

2011-08-17T10:14:00.011-05:00

Just about every homeschool curriculum company is going to have a phonics program as part of their package. Since I'm not a big fan of following a certain set of curriculum (school in a box), I like to use a variety of fun ways to learn phonics. Here I will let you in on what I like to use to teach phonics at our house.

If I use any actual curriculum with my children, it is ABeka. If you did not learn to read with the phonics method, or if you just want to make sure you are teaching the phonetic sounds properly, it may be a help to you to get the cd of phonics sounds for yourself. As much as I don't like curriculum and work books, for most of my kids who enjoy getting to do something "schooly" looking when they are little, it turns out to be pretty fun to go through those colorful phonics workbooks in K and 1st grade. You may have to open an account on ABeka's website to see these links. Don't worry, there are no strings attached to do that. Their website is the only place you can purchase their curriculum, unless you are looking for used.

A lot of people like Explode the Code. I've bought it in the past and like the format, but it doesn't seem quite as organized and systematic as ABeka. It is made up of many smaller workbooks, which makes for a lot of repetition and practice for a child who may be starting young (preschool), and needs that. The inside of the workbooks is black and white, so it's also not as colorful as ABeka. But, like I said, if you want to start "workbook" phonics with them before Kindergarten, you will probably need something like ETC, or you may go too fast, which could lead to a frustrated little one. Personally, I recommend using the DVD's and games I will list below with a preschooler.

Apart from actual workbooks and a reading program, the best thing in the world that I have found to teach phonics is a card game. As far as I can tell, the Hooked on Phonics company no longer makes The Phonics Game. But it would be well worth your effort to find one used via amazon or ebay. This is an incredible way to learn to read! I can't say enough good about it, really. If you did not know one thing about phonics or how to teach it, you would learn right along with your child. The game comes with cassettes, VHS tapes, books, and sets of playing cards. The only potential drawback is making a way to watch VHS and listen to cassettes if you don't have the "older" technology to play them on.

Leap Frog has made some phonics DVD's that practically teach your phonics for you. The kids love to watch them, and since all of the letters sounds are easily memorized because of the songs in The Letter Factory, your kids have them memorized in a matter of days! The next step is the Talking Words Factory, where they put the sounds together to make words. I would just make sure that the child has mastered the sounds before trying to put the sounds together to make words, with any program you use. If the child forgets the sounds they learned from the first DVD after taking a break from it for a couple weeks, they have not internalized it enough yet to move on to the next DVD. I bought mine at Walmart, so they can be found just about anywhere.

Bob Books are great first readers. They are easy to find. I got mine at Barnes & Noble. The order each sound is introduced makes sense, and nicely accompanies any of the other phonics tools I've mentioned. The books come in sets, and if you are moving along with your phonics studies, you should only need the first two sets, and then the child will be able to start reading regular books. I have a Bob Books Magic Lite free app on my iPad that the girls play too. That's fun!

From what I've studied, I've come to feel very strongly that sight words should not be introduced until the child has begun to make sense of putting some short vowel sound words together and understanding how to sound out some three letter words, like those that would be introduced in the initial phase of any phonics program. Learning words as a picture verses sounding the word out are two completely different skills, and it makes most sense to me that sight words introduced before an understanding of sounds is present, can lead to confusion down the road.

I do not advocate teaching a child to read too early. In fact, here is an article I've come across lately that explains some of the reasons why. I've read much more than this on the subject, but haven't kept track of the data, so I am referencing the latest thing I've come across. And here is an article that references Dr. Raymond Moore's philosophy on not rushing into learning too much, too early.

Teaching reading can be the most rewarding and most fun part of homeschooling, especially if you have found a good phonics program and watch your child's cues for readiness to avoid frustration. Enjoy those precious "learning to read" moments!

Janie's Birthday

2011-08-16T20:51:00.002-05:00

Sweet little baby, Janie Kate, turned two on the 12th!

She had been singing "happy birthday" to herself for a few days, and had been practicing blowing out imaginary candles for days too... BUT she had not expected to be sitting so close to a FIRE! She was pretty scared. I'm not sure she heard any of us singing Happy Birthday to her.

Daddy and big brother had places to go, and we didn't want to wait until evening to sing to her and give her her presents, so we celebrated when we first got up in the morning. I had sent the girls upstairs to get out of their jammies and into something pretty so we could take pictures. Big sister Macy helped the two smaller girls pick out dresses and fix their hair. Janie came down in this dress that had a big messy drip (of yogurt?) right on the front. Too precious! As you can see from the above pictures, I got a replacement dress on her. But the photographing had already begun in the dress she selected!

Priceless picture! Three adorable and sweet little sisters... all so excited to be celebrating Janie's birthday! And you just can't beat the yogurt drip on Janie's dress, and Tessa's hair! The big kids couldn't be coaxed into dressing for pics that quickly, after being called out of bed to attend a bright and early party.

Happy Birthday, darling Janie! You bring such joy to each person in our family!

Hi there, August, my friend!

2011-08-01T14:58:00.003-05:00

This HAS to be my favorite time of the year! There's still summer fun to be enjoyed, but my heart is excitedly anticipating the start of our school year!

What happens during the next two weeks will determine exactly which day we will officially start our school year. Because of how busy this summer has been, I definitely want to make sure I get at least two weeks of some quiet time with less activity to rest, plan, and get our school room and supplies completely organized and ready. And, of course, August brings that slow transition to earlier bedtimes! ...(that always sounds SO much easier than it really is to do!)

I still have a few friends that I would love to see before school gets into gear, so I am anxious to squeeze that last bit of freedom out of the month. But I can hear the end of the month calling my name! BACK TO SCHOOL TIME!!!

The public schools in our state have moved the beginning of the school year to the very middle of August instead of the usual end of the month. That's nice for me, since my kids will be aware of that, and will be excited that we're starting our school year "late".

Enjoy your August, friends!

21 years of memories!

2011-07-28T09:12:00.006-05:00

On the 14th, Kurt and I celebrated 21 years together!

Do you know how many memories a couple can squeeze into twenty-one years? It truly boggles my mind to think of it. Like any other married couple, we have been through...

emotional highs and lows;

hard work and hardly working;

times of seemingly endless tears and times of laughing until our stomachs hurt;

healthy eating and living on junk food like kids left alone;

hospital trips and vacations on the beach;

birthing children and mourning babies that were gone before we even had a chance to hold them;

watching our friends get married and watching them go separate ways;

parenting children and building houses;

enjoying handfuls of dogs, cats, and guinea pigs, and starting businesses;

moving to new homes and visiting the same old places we like to go;

interrupted sleep and singing together around the piano;

going for walks and nice long "discussions";

easy afternoons of lunch and a matinee, and stress-filled evenings working on our budget;

and the memories go on and on...

Here's to the next twenty-one years!

My apologies

2011-07-13T22:53:00.002-05:00

When I last opened my blog, a profane song started playing on my playlist. It wasn't a song I had chosen, and the name of the song that was supposed to be playing was not. Until I can figure out what went wrong, I have disabled my playlist from this page.

I am very sorry if any of my readers have ever heard a song that was offensive here on my blog. Please know that it was unintentional.

Swimming, Tea, and Worldview

2011-07-13T20:51:00.006-05:00

We have been thoroughly loving our summer! Besides the usual summertime routine of swimming, swimming, swimming, we have been spending our time off enjoying our friends! I usually space out the kids' visits from friends, and definitely am not a big fan of sleepovers. But I believe I have been taken over by a much more accommodating alien body snatcher. We are having sleepovers in abundance around here, and I'm also saying yes to everything that I can. Could I possibly be hoping for future credit on these investments when it comes time this fall to say no and knuckle down on the school work? Maybe.

Anyway, besides the kids' friends, I have been having a great time visiting with my friends also. In fact, today I had three ladies over for a tea party. We discussed some things on our hearts about our Biblical worldview, and what we see going on around us. It was very encouraging, and was also one of those moments for me where I felt like my mother's daughter. I neglected to take a picture of the table, but one of the ladies said it reminded her of my mother's teas. Lord, don't let me get proud! But anyone who knows my mother would understand my desire to become half the hostess that she is!

I used my blue and white dishes with a simple white linen table cloth. I put just three tea lights in clear votives as the centerpiece. I served cucumber sandwiches, lemon bread with glaze, vanilla bread, orange and cranberry scones, shortbread cookies, dark chocolate covered almonds, and glazed pecans. Wish I would have taken a picture... of the table, AND of the guests!

Christian worldview and the state of the world and the church are hot topics for me lately, and I love to take any chance I get to talk with like minded friends. Today I got to be part of one of those great conversations. There are not many things better than a stimulating conversation with ladies who are bright, positive, and encouraging. Each of these homeschool mothers today knew where her help comes from! They all so wonderfully expressed their desire to be all that God has for them to be at this particular time in HIStory. God is sovereign over time and space, the universe, planet, our country, our town, and every aspect of our days... even just trying to get through teaching a math lesson!

Only one problem came out of the day. My new book wish list grew by a few more books. I already have Brannon Howse's Christian Worldview for Students, Christian Worldview for Children, and Building a Worldview Verse by Verse. Now I am excitedly adding Grave Influence and Put Your Beliefs to the Test to my wish list. Ah, now if I could only get all of that practically new, barely used curriculum sold, so I can have some extra book money!

What a moment it must have been...

2011-07-04T09:33:00.006-05:00

(Excerpt from The Light and the Glory by Peter Marshall & David Manuel)

The decision was twelve to none. The Colonies had just become the United States of America.

In the silence that followed the announcement of the vote, the late afternoon sun cast its soft rays through the tall windows- on a brass candlestick standing on a green felt table-covering, a carved eagle over the door, a pair of spectacles lying on a polished desk. The magnitude of what they had done began to weigh upon them, and they realized that they and their countrymen were no longer Englishmen, but citizens of a fledgling nation barely a few minutes old. Many stared out the window. Some wept openly. Some, like Witherspoon, bowed their heads and closed their eyes in prayer.

John Hancock broke the silence; "Gentlemen, the price on my head has just been doubled!"

A wry chuckle followed, and then Samuel Adams rose: "We have this day restored the Sovereign, to Whom alone men ought to be obedient. He reigns in heaven and... from the rising to the setting sun, may His Kingdom come."

Happy Birthday, Macy Claire!

2011-07-02T11:21:00.005-05:00

Six candles today!!!

Some birthday posing

Jump rope, silly bands, big box of craft supplies, Polly Pocket splash & fun set, and two Disney princesses

Sprinkle cake, sprinkle icing, and a few fresh blackberries on top
(all Macy's requests)

Chasing bubbles... you can tell how hot it is by the expression on the birthday girl's face (100 degrees)

Went straight from this to change clothes for a dip in the pool

Sweet birthday girl, I love you!!!

A Charlotte Mason-style Education

2011-06-21T09:05:00.003-05:00

A curriculum that follows Mason's recommendation of centering education around good literature looks very different from the typical curriculum used in American public and private schools. In Educating the WholeHearted Child, Clarkson states that, "Instead of lifeless, pedantic textbooks and workbooks that expected children only to remember the right answer, she insisted on reading only living books that made literature, history, geography, and science come alive, and that focused more on insights and ideas about the subject than on dry and lifeless facts."

According to Andreola, in her book A Charlotte Mason Companion, whole books are ones "that are written by a single author who shares personally his favorite subject with us, and we pick up his enthusiasm." Along with learning the above-mentioned subjects through whole books, Mason's students learned through nature studies. Nature studies consisted of long walks in the outdoors observing nature and wildlife, collecting specimens, and keeping a nature journal of their observations.

The key points of Mason's philosophy are that children are persons; children love to learn; children need a supportive atmosphere for learning; orality is essential to literacy and learning, living ideas are the natural food of the mind; active involvement is vital to learning; and that the formation of effective habits leads to a productive life.

Who is Charlotte Mason?

2011-06-20T11:44:00.005-05:00

Charlotte Mason (1842-1923) was a British educator during the turn of the century. She became a highly respected voice in education in England; and she had great influence on British education in her time. After teaching for about a dozen years, she began traveling, writing, and lecturing about a new way of education. Since her ideas arrived on the heels of the British Industrial Revolution and Victorian English thought, they contrasted greatly to the perspective of the day. At a time when most British saw children as cheap laborers, or at least, lesser citizens than adults, Charlotte Mason challenged their thinking. She proposed that, instead of thinking that "children should be seen and not heard in a culture that viewed children as sub-persons that needed to be formed and civilized," they were in fact "a whole, maturing person with an active intelligence and an enormous capacity for learning".

Before finishing her career teaching in the school she founded in Ambleside, England, she published some popular geography books, Home Education, and the six-volume The Original Homeschooling Series. By the time of her death in 1923, almost every public school in Gloucester County and several other areas in Great Britain were using the Mason method.

The strengths of Mason's approach are an emphasis on living books; fine arts, music and poetry; verbal and writing skills; self-motivated learning; real life; and dignity of the child. Her way of educating emphasizes character development; basic learning skills, which were reading, writing, and arithmetic; the reading of many living books; the study of the fine arts (art, music, poetry); and learning through real life experiences like nature and museums.

(Quotes taken from Educating the WholeHearted Child, by Clarkson)

Daddy's Rhythm

2011-06-16T22:42:00.010-05:00

Daddy's rhythm was a steady, steady beat

In the ears of this little girl

It never stopped-

This knowing that

Everything was right with the world.

As Daddy kept beat, I knew I was safe

I knew that no harm could come near

Nothing was too hard

Or strong or big

To cause MY dad any fear!

If Dad wasn't worried, then neither was I

Not at all, just ready for fun!

Dad had a good plan

For something to play

And if he had his way, I always won!

He was full of ideas for fun things to do

Rug becomes ship on the make believe sea

In the living room

All of the lights turned out

While he guided our boat back to safety

Keeping busy, we played his games of guessing

As we sat in the car while Mom shopped.

People passed by,

We imagined,

And laughed at our make believe plot.

Dad's drum beat had also a tune

It emerged from that strong, constant beat.

The words were,

"You're perfect"

"I'm so glad you're mine," and then again it would repeat.

His beat slowed a bit as I took my special place,

Standing on his toes for our dances together.

Those sweet moments

Tender and loving-

Memories that will last forever!

Dad's rhythm became part of this girl,

Self-assured, unafraid, and so grateful.

The beat of his drum-

The beat of his heart

Makes love real, unconditional, faithful

He still makes me feel like a small girl

He can melt me my heart with just a tune

When he talks

I hear drumbeat

And melody... Thank you Daddy, for all that you've done

Curriculum for a Literature Approach

2011-06-15T10:49:00.008-05:00

Here are some links to websites that offer literature based homeschool curriculum:

Love of Lit Series

2011-06-15T10:03:00.009-05:00

I will be writing a series of posts over the summer about the Love of Literature. So many friends have sent me questions about reading aloud, book lists, and resource ideas on homeschooling with a literature approach. I would like to post some of those resources for you.

Using a literature approach, either partially or exclusively, in your homeschool can be extremely rewarding. The method uses "classics" and other "real" books, written by quality authors. The typical standardized textbooks, lectures, and simplified reading passages are replaced with quality literature to be read by and to the student. There is more to this method than just the reading itself, but I will touch on those ideas in later posts.

The two most highly recommended books about Charlotte Mason's educational style, which is most often the model in a literature-based homeschool, are pictured below...

Susan Schaeffer Macaulay's, For the Children's Sake

Karen Andreola's, A Charlotte Mason Companion

Hello Summer!

2011-06-13T14:07:00.006-05:00

Every year, the beginning of summer break fills me with the excitement of the prospects of a new school year! Next year, I will have a Junior! That means ACT tests, transcripts, and a year full of cramming in tons of books that I want Austin to have read before he graduates. Even though we will still have his Senior year left, I think it may fill up with college classes and college prep that I am not even yet aware of. So, I really want to make the most of the coming year with him.

Sydney will be in her Freshman year, which means a second child in high school. Seems unreal! So, I am looking ahead to what we need to cover to begin her first "transcripted" year. Andrew will be entering the middle school years, starting 6th grade. 6th is typically the year that I bump things up a notch and expect more "grown up" work from the kids, which is a big deal. And Macy will be in 1st. Pure sweetness! So much of what makes 1st grade fun is the one-on-one time with an eager little darling. That takes some strategic planning, though!

That leaves my precious little "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star"-singing preschoolers (by fall they will be 2 and almost 4). They require so much attention and energy at these ages, so we must find a way to have plenty to keep them busy while the rest of the schoolwork gets done! I plan on us each taking shifts reading to them and playing with them, but with each person having quite a bit to do now, it will take careful planning.

For now we will enjoy some summer fun (and, yes, a few lingering pages of math and grammar for a couple of the kiddos). But I will be doing what I do every summer... daydreaming about another new start in the fall!

Tessa (cont'd)

2011-06-09T11:03:00.003-05:00

Tessa (cont'd)

2011-06-09T10:53:00.004-05:00

Tessa

2011-06-09T10:25:00.003-05:00

Now, where was I... ?

2011-03-02T12:43:00.005-06:00

Wow, so it's been since the beginning of December since I've blogged? That's a real shame as far as blogging standards go, I realize. But for me, these last few months have been a time of taking things slowly, and regaining my focus.

In a way, the kind of year I had last year removed me so far from my life's usual circumstances that I have had to spend some time getting reacquainted with myself. I have spent much of this new year thinking and analyzing, making attempts at living a normal life again, and simply vegging and resting (otherwise known as "crashing").

I have had a tendency, at any time in my life to spend way too much time and energy thinking and thinking about why I do what I do; why the kids do what they do; how to best reach and train their hearts; why the world spins the way that it does; how I'm going to prioritize and do my job like I desire; what God wants me to learn, and how he wants me to go about this work of mine. Lately, just the over-analyzing alone has been enough to zap me of any creativity which could have remained after the day's basic responsibilities.

Despite the lack of focus to blog or do much of anything creative or intellectually impressive, I have had a glorious time of "capturing". This is where I have been. It hasn't always made me look very productive, smart, or particularly accomplished, but I have been filling up my heart with the fuel of memories.

To me, capturing is when I take a moment to notice the blessings around me, breathe in the beauty, and try to tuck the memory away in a part of my mind that will hold it tightly for me.

I have needed this time to put aside expecting so much of myself in a day, that I am too stressed and tired to notice...

The beauty in Baby Janie's swaying, bobbing dance.

The adorable stories that come from Tessa's soft, tiny, feminine voice.

The handful of onion-grass and dandelions that my compassionate Macy brings in to send to the girl whose picture is on my Voice of the Martyrs calendar (she knows what a good gift that is because Mommy always reacts so gratefully to such a presentation!).

The sweet, caring instruction coming from big brother Andrew to his little sister, who he calls his buddy.

The look of anticipation in Sydney's eyes as she waits for her sister to recite the memory verse she is teaching her.

The desire to learn and the work ethic Austin embraces as he begins to enter adulthood all too quickly.

The love that is displayed by a mid-day phone call from a husband, tirelessly dedicated to his family's well being.

And so, I feel myself slowly returning... The homeschool schedule I need to implement is becoming clear and focused, I am diving into the list of books I am anxious to read, and I am here again, writing. There is so much to do, think about, and accomplish; meanwhile capturing the precious, precious moments of perfection that are sprinkled throughout each day!

Photo shoot

2010-12-11T22:47:00.008-06:00

Yesterday was my big kids' Christmas program for their theater class. I'll post soon with some pics of the production after Sydney shows me how to make some pictures out of the video I took.

Well, I had the genius idea of taking some pictures of the little girls in front of the Christmas tree while we waited for the program to start. I hadn't thought about the fact that they had probably used up all their good behavior earlier that day. (After I had pessimistically given in to my kids' and husband's begging to see Narnia with the little girls in tow, rather than taking the whole gang to the more preschool-friendly Tangled, I was blessed miraculously with being able to sit through the whole movie with a sleeping Janie in my lap, and the red-heads watching the movie like angels.)

Instead of calling the day a success, with returning home from enjoying the movie, successfully painting a Grinch face on Austin, and getting to the Christmas program at the teacher assigned time, I attempted a photo shoot by myself with my big kids off stage somewhere and Kurt saving our seats.

First I had to wait for the dad who was posing his ONE, agreeable, cute little boy for pics, while he snapped shots with his professional looking camera. This is the same man who just HAD to stick around and watch me fumble around with my silly, energetic crew of tired out girls, and my regular old digital camera with cracked viewing screen and missing lens cap... (Incidentally, his presence kept me from using my serious mom voice, and I was stuck in sweet, pleading mom mode- quite the handicap with these little ones at the end of a long day.)

"Okay girls, now, just sit here in front of this tree by the snowman."

"Tessa, don't hide behind Santa, I mean Frosty, I mean the snowman." ( I don't think the girls have seen the Frosty the Snowman TV special yet??)

"Uh, everybody look at me! Janie, look here at Mommy."

Hmm... Janie's not gonna sit still. "Okay girls, just smile for Mommy."

"Good job girls, very cute! Now, I'm going to go get Janie." (aka: chase down the runaway baby)

"Alright, Janie Mommy's going to take your picture, see? Wait! Where's Macy?"

*Quick break to look for where Macy ran off to, and talk to fancy camera dad.*

"I'm going to sit Janie down again girls, but you have to be ready to smile when I sit her down. Macy, stop hugging the snowman now, and just sit and smile. Don't try to pick Janie up when I sit her down. Just smile. And Tessa, stop sitting behind the snowman. Come out from there and look at Mommy and smile, OK?"

"Ready, set, smile... too late."

"Everybody up. Now, one, two, three... stay on your bottom Janie."

"Sit down, Janie. Good girl... for a split second, there."

"Here Macy, see if she'll stay on your lap now. Tessa, I can't see you! Please stop hiding behind Santa, I mean the snowman... "

"Oh well, I give up."

"Alright girls, go sit down with Daddy. I'll keep Janie back here for a few more minutes until it's time to start because I don't think she'll sit in our seats very well right now. Maybe once the music starts she'll be OK."

Stepped away from the tree to watch the girls get to our row of seats...

Went back a few steps to see if Janie was around the tree or if she was starting to wander again...

Proud of herself! I guess she wanted to pose alone!

Content little stinker, huh?

My parents' house

2010-10-18T00:02:00.011-05:00

A smile and hug at the door. Love and peace flow.

Water goes into the tea kettle. Cups sat out in a row on the counter. We will be sipping tea soon

On the couch. Mom in her chair, Dad in his.

They want to know how we are... every detail.

A safe place

My little girls grab a book off of the lowest shelf on Mom's bookcase. They know where she keeps their special books... everything has a place and everything in its place....

there is order here

Sweet little girls climb up on Grandma's lap with that book. She reads every word with feeling.

Then it's Grandpa's turn. After the story, a tickle fight

We talk and talk...

about life
about God
about family
about struggles
about victories

I rest here

Dad tells a story about growing up. Life was hard. Such big, interesting escapades. His stories take our imaginations to flight.

My teenage son feels love and unity during the Steelers game. Grandpa pats his grandson's arm as he goes past to put on another pot of water on in the kitchen.

My boy gets his heart filled up

Mom goes to the kitchen to put out some snacks.

Pretty platters, carefully selected

She knew two weeks ago what she would be serving at this moment

This home is lovely

Ordinary visits, not an ordinary atmosphere

This place is full of warmth, not accidentally
Very intentional nurturing here

And holidays-

Tea parties...

tea pots, tea cups, beautiful table linens, egg salad sandwiches, muffins, cookies, proper etiquette, beauty

Christmas Eve...

pile of presents, Dad's train around the tree, delicious meal, Christmas platters and serving dishes, cousins, thumbprint cookies, grandparents watching for children's smiles

Thanksgiving...

the best stuffing and gravy in the world, Mom's good china, warm house, good smells, and lots of relaxing on the couch after the meal

Easter...

don't take off your church clothes until we take some pictures!
ham, Grandma's potato salad, special chocolate from Grandma to each child

A special place, unique place, just about my favorite place in the world-

a gift

Graduation Testimony

2010-09-27T14:36:00.006-05:00

I wanted to post my graduation testimony speech in May, but couldn't find it anywhere...not on the computer or on paper. But I finally came across a copy of what I shared.

Twenty years ago this month, I celebrated my graduation from high school. It is amazing how twenty years ago can seem like a very long time, and yet still feel like just yesterday. In 1990, I was still a child who had no idea what lie ahead down the path God had for me to travel. I've heard it said that the verse in Psalm 119 that says "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path", gives a good picture of God's direction in our lives. It seems as if the light that God sheds just in front of our feet shows us where to step next, but not where the entire path will lead us. I believe that God provided direction for me these last twenty years, but if I had known the whole picture of where God would take me, and what I would go through to prepare me along life's journey, it may have been too overwhelming to take in.

Now, I can look back to even my childhood and see the evidence of a loving, sovereign God, gently guiding me. My parents' testimonies, and their example to me were instrumental in God's shaping of my worldview. My parents are seekers of truth, of information, and of God's ways. They are wonderful examples of the way God uses His people... willing vessels to minister to the Body of Christ; in their case by pastoring, teaching, and leading. God was preparing me as a child, to seek knowledge and then be willing to pass it on, to teach, to make my life a ministry.

Even as I was graduation from high school those two decades ago, my head was in the clouds as I planned my wedding and prepared to head to college as a newlywed. I was on top of the world and dreamed of love, adventure, and white picket fences. I married the man of my dreams, my strong and steady protector and provider. I became Mrs. Kurt Maddox, and God merged our paths together. It is because of Kurt's support, encouragement, and desire like that of myself and my parents to continuously keep learning, that God made a way for me to finish my senior year of college here at Ecclesia this year.

I had entered college all those years ago, with a dream to become a teacher. After three years at the University of Arkansas, I found that God was pulling my heart towards educating a family of my own instead of the classroom full of students that I had imagined. My desire to become a mother and have children of my own that I could love, nurture, and teach kept me from finishing my education at that time.

God has given me six incredible children: Austin, Sydney, Andrew, Macy, Tessa, and Janie. Like I spoke of earlier, had I known that I would be a mother of six, it may have been overwhelming to imagine. But God's lamp that showed the way for the small steps along my life, brought me to desire and treasure each of my special students that God has placed into the Maddox Family's HomeSchool, where love of learning goes hand in hand with love of God. And had I known beforehand that I would take on finishing my degree at a time when I had a newborn and five other children, was homeschooling, and would be helping my husband with life-changing business and political undertakings, I would have said it can't be done. But I have found that it is the times like these in my life that I have ended up exactly where God wants me to be... in complete dependence on Him, trusting Him, and leaning on His love, grace, and mercy. And I am excited about the future: to see what lies ahead next on the path that God is preparing for me.

Again, I want to thank my parents, for being my example. Thank you to my incredible husband and children for all of their support and extended grace. And thank you, Ecclesia College for making it possible for me to complete my degree this year. God bless you all!

Summer in Review: Janie's birthday

2010-09-26T22:49:00.002-05:00

In August, Janie Kate celebrated her first birthday...

Happy Birthday, my sweet girl!

Summer in Review: Anniversary

2010-09-13T14:45:00.008-05:00

We celebrated 20 years of marriage this summer! Yay for us! I've planned for a couple of years that when we hit 20 years we would take a big romantic trip. Well, real life, politics, and a nursing baby dictated otherwise. Maybe we'll do that next year... who knows? But in the middle of the "summer of craziness" we decided it might be fun to go down memory lane on our anniversary. We took our camera with us on a tour of all of the places we've lived throughout our marriage... and that's a lot of homes! What we both thought of as a great idea, nostalgic and memory filled, ended up having us laughing at ourselves trying to get our faces in front of each house in the snapshots. You'll see that most pictures have us caught in the various stages of forced smiling while trying to keep from completely cracking up...an unintended but fun result of the tour. We each recorded a memory at each stop, and I'm hoping to some day compile our recorded memories and photos into a memory book.

Here is the cross where Kurt proposed to me:

This cross overlooks the city. In the evening you can look down and see the city lights... very pretty!

The duplex we first lived in is now demolished... too bad :(

The one right next to it is still standing... ours was just like this.

We rented this house, and then Kurt talked our landlord into letting us buy the house from him without a down payment, because of all rent we had already paid.

We eventually sold the previous house and rented this one for a very short time.

This was Kurt's parents house. We bought it from them, remodeled it, and settled in to have our first baby here.

From country life to condo life! We don't let things get boring.

We rented here from a very dear, sweet friend of the family.

Time to stop renting for a while and buy a home again. We ended up staying in this home for nearly five years!

We survived the trial of building a home! It was actually fun most of the time... and it turned out so pretty.

On the move again... (Syd took this picture for us while we were still close to home)

Finally, my Taj Mahal Kurt built for me!

After our anniversary, we did end up moving again. But as of our walk down memory lane, this was the completion of the tour. Thank you God, for giving us the grace to be husband and wife for twenty years! I pray we are blessed with many, many more years to come!

Never forget... Sept. 11th

2010-09-11T08:20:00.002-05:00

Summer in Review: Macy's birthday

2010-09-10T22:36:00.001-05:00

On July 2nd, Macy celebrated a birthday!

A Princess Birthday for one of God's little princesses

5 Years Old! That's a big one!

Sweet

God's little princess devotional

A big hug for a great big brother who bought her a present with his own money

Summer in Review: Look-a-like Cousins

2010-09-10T07:35:00.001-05:00

Here are Macy and her look-a-like cousin, Kassandra, during cousin camp...

Three red-heads! So cute!

Summer in Review: Cousin Camp

2010-09-09T12:09:00.006-05:00

What's a summer without cousin camp? It just wouldn't be the same!

Cousins Bethany and Lauren in the pool...

My Macy with Cousin Lauren...

Macy getting ready to dive with Cousin Kortnie waiting in line...

My Andrew preparing to dive...

Cousin Kassandra with an abundance of flotation devices... cute! :)

Almost the whole gang (at least the whole gang present this year)...

Cousins Kristen, Cailey, and Kortnie playing cards with Grandma...

Cousin Hannah...

Cousin Kristen...

Playing pool and more cards...

Cousin Karley...

Cousin Cailey and the Queen of Cousin Camp, Saint Joanna!

Summer in Review

2010-09-09T09:57:00.001-05:00

The summer was crazy, stressful, and nerve wracking! It was hard to blog much. But now that "back-to-school" time is here and life is getting more of a schedule again, I'd like to post some of our highlights of the last few months.

Warning: Lots of pics on the way!!!

Letter to a hurting friend

2010-07-11T14:45:00.007-05:00

Dear sweet friend,

What a lovely woman of God you are! You reflect His beauty in your loving, accepting smile and radiant glow of femininity. You reflect His love in the way you reach out to your precious family and your friends. You were created to be beautiful, feminine, nurturing, compassionate, strong... He had your future in mind when he directed the paths that brought you here.

You were created for here and now. You have tremendous purpose in the lives of those who are blessed to call you lover, mother, and friend! You are an amazing testimony of God's grace!

When you are weary, rest in your Heavenly Father. When you are hurting, feel His arms wrapping you in love. When you feel alone, hear him whisper that He is all you need. When you need an encouraging word, bathe yourself in His Psalms.

God's love for you is amazing and incomprehensible! You are His treasure; and He paid the very highest price for you! Meditate on God's pure and holy love that took His son to the cross. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5)

God will carry you through this place He has brought you to. You will testify of His mercy and grace! Our Father is so proud of you; and has an incredible plan for you, my dear friend. Be encouraged...

Your sister in Christ,

Dawn

Moving and Growing

2010-07-08T09:29:00.002-05:00

My family moved a lot when I was growing up. And I liked that.

Each time we moved, I got excited about the chance to meet new people and introduce myself in a new way. I could change the things I didn't like about myself and turn over a new leaf. I could bring out attributes that I had wished I would have exhibited in the last place we lived. I could evaluate my strengths and weaknesses, and become a brand new me!

I'm realizing what a great preparation that was for my life as Mrs. Superman.

Certainly, the moving prepared me for living in 12 different homes in 15 years of marriage to my "change-is-fun" man. But that's a different kind of flexibility. The ability to adapt as a wife to new situations is what I am thankful to have been prepared for.

How many different identities have I had as a wife? Oh, the countless hats I've worn, like so many women do! And each time my life changes... as my ministry as a mother grows, and as my personal goals and interests develop, I morph into a new me. That's what we women must do, isn't it?

Besides those personal changes that I go through, I am also a product of my husband's changes. I find myself there now. As my man evaluates business transitions and new political involvement at this time, I am in "ready...set...adapt!" mode. It's time for my overly-analytical mind to go into overtime; thinking, planning, assessing, re-inventing. Thank you God, for your peace and your still small voice that I can rely on! Thank you for showing me throughout my life that change is indeed good, moving along to the next stage is part of life, and growing as a woman is your plan for me.

I have not always been perfectly graceful in my transitions. At my core, my personality craves consistency, structure, stability, and routine.

So often it takes me some time to get used to the idea that it's time to grow again. I almost always start out holding on tightly to what was the last version of myself. It feels good to just stay still. And then I slowly begin to let go of what is comfortable, and little by little I give in to what God has planned next for me. I'm in the middle of that particular phase of the transition God is working in me right now. But I am confident that God will see me through to completion, like He is always so faithful to do!

I am so thankful that God saw fit to gently teach me as a child that I can embrace new times, new experiences, and new demands without fear.

My flowers!

2010-06-26T20:29:00.002-05:00

My Sydney has a plaque hanging in her room that says, "If little girls were flowers, I would pick you!"

She had some fun taking pics of the three little flower girls...

Thanks for being such a great big sister, Syd! I'm glad God "picked" you for me!!!

Campaign's over- political life's just getting started

2010-06-14T15:04:00.004-05:00

I didn't realize how much our lives would change when God called my husband to run in the race for Congress! Officially, the campaign is over; but people have gotten to know him and his particular strengths. So, not braggin' or anything... but yay for my incredible man!!! It's almost four weeks after the primary election, and he's still making news. Here is today's paper...

Congressional Campaign Snapshots

2010-06-10T11:24:00.011-05:00

I'm sure I will post more in the future about our family's life on the campaign trail. But for now, here is a peek into February through mid-May of our life...

Here is Kurt on filing day in Little Rock

National Day of Prayer gathering

Video interview with Jerry Cox of Family Council

Our sign at a Tax Day Tea Party event

Janie hangin' out in the sling at the Tax Day event

Austin on Tax Day (he was a great campaigner!)

Star Power! Patrick Hall of American Idol fame was Kurt's campaign manager, and Josh Duggar helped with the campaign also. Good guys!

On stage with Dick Morris

Working the phones at campaign HQ

Kittens

2010-06-10T08:16:00.007-05:00

I'm not a cat person. I tried a couple cats as fur babies before we started having kids, and we somehow always got the bad ones that messed all over the house. But about a year ago, a pathetic little orange kitten with matted eyes showed up in our woods. She needed us, and she was really so sweet that we let her stick around. Frisky has been a very good cat, and we decided, after much begging from some of the children, that we would let her have one round of kittens before we got her fixed.

Well, our little kitty-momma is barely out of the kitten stage herself, but she did a super job! She blew up like a balloon, birthed four kittens by herself early one morning, and now nurses and watches over her babies attentively. She does look tired and worn out now most of the time now. Her hair looks wild, her sides hang loose, and she has new knowing look in her eyes. I really never thought I would be blogging about or even complementing a silly cat (don't hate me, cat lovers). But since I have recently given birth, and am still a nursing mom myself, I find myself feeling for all that our Frisky is going through.

I said all that to say, my heart hurts just a little bit today. Two of our little furballs went out the door in a cardboard box this morning. I thought I would feel relieved to have two less animals around, since we seem overrun now that the kittens have taken our grand total of pets to 10! But it's just unsettling watching a family be separated. My hormones and motherly feelings that are so strong when I'm nursing are making way more out this than they should. In my mind I know that it's not the same for a cat that it would be for me. But in my "Mom's Heart" I imagine what it would feel like to have two of my children just disappear! Aaahh!

Frisky is looking for her kittens. She is looking in all the usual places, meowing for them... gulp. I'm glad all four didn't leave at once, and if my daughter has her way, we will keep one. In the meantime, I will try to remember that they are not humans and this happens all the time. I think I'll call today to schedule Frisky to see the vet ASAP. I see retirement in her near future.

Graduation

2010-06-03T12:57:00.004-05:00

The Diploma!

I was asked to give a graduate testimony

With my encourager and supporter...

With my wonderful parents and sweet little Janie

'09-'10 School Year

2010-06-01T13:45:00.008-05:00

So... I never thought I would say something like this, but homeschooling was NOT the thing that got most of my energy and attention this school year. The children did fine, and got most of their work done. But my high, idealistic standards were nowhere near met this year. God had a more hands-on, real life learning year in store for us. Of course, the lessons learned in those times are usually the best lessons of all.

Along with giving birth in the middle of August, I had to work with little Janie on some nursing difficulties. I invested a great deal of time and effort to keep my little darling breastfeeding and gaining weight. Breastfeeding troubles in the first few months can really try a mother's emotions, but I could feel God sustaining me through it. I felt like I was right in the middle of a miracle! I knew just what lesson I was learning as it was happening. I could clearly tell that I had to trust in God for the motivation and direction that I needed to make decisions on what to do about daily challenges. I had no choice but to have total dependence on God if I wanted nurse my baby, which was definitely my hopefull desire. Thank you God, for seeing us through that!

Besides the incapacitating nursing situation, five other kiddos with needs, and trying to homeschool, there were two other major life experiences going on this school year.

I mentioned in earlier posts that I was going to finish my degree this year. That experience felt a little less miraculous. I did it... I got straight A's... but I did have my moments of frustration and stress. I felt some guilt on this one stealing from our homeschool. It wasn't a neccessity to finish my schooling right at this time. But the opportunity presented itself, and it seemed like a shame not to take advantage of the program that became available to me. In a way, I thoroughly enjoyed handing in my work and getting graded and praised for a job well done. Actually, I may have enjoyed that a little more than I should have. But it really comes down to God working in me there too, and even though I didn't feel real spiritual when I was shoo-ing the kids out of the room so I could do my homework, I know there is no way I could have finished in my own power... I just don't have that much energy and brain power! And I called out for God's grace and mercy to cover my parenting gaps on this one as it distracted me from my real job more than I would have liked.

The other major project in my life this school year was political. In January, my husband decided to make a run for U.S. Congress. When he asked me if I was up for a political campaign, I had no idea what I was saying "why not?" to. I could tell my husband was right on about God's direction on it, so I stepped forward in faith. I knew God wouldn't give me more than I could handle! Kurt actually told me that he would take care of the campaign, so I could keep on track with my college classes. Realistically I should have known that it wouldn't be quite that simple, but when it comes to leaps of faith, ignorance is bliss, and then God steps in! I felt God completely carrying me through what could have been the craziest four months of my life. Again, I could feel myself being sustained in away like I have never experienced before.

In the middle of May, I graduated and the campaign came to an end. I am now attempting to transition back to a "normal" life. I will be extending our school year through the summer, because there are things I want to cover before we start next year. But things feel different now. I am suspicious that God has a new normal for me. It seems as though, even though my flesh would love to reach back into the past that seemed like a simpler time, God is ever moving me forward, stretching me and pulling me. I am so greatful for the flexibility that comes with homeschooling, and that we can, if we will, submit to God's plans and timing for our family.

No Greater Love

2010-05-29T11:07:00.003-05:00

From, The Lady of the Lake; Soldier, Rest! Thy Warfare O'er
by Sir Walter Scott

Soldier, rest! thy warfare o'er,
Sleep the sleep that knows not breaking;
Dream of battled fields no more,
Days of danger, nights of waking.
In our isle's enchanted hall,
Hands unseen thy couch are strewing,
Fairy strains of music fall,
Every sense in slumber dewing.
Soldier, rest! thy warfare o'er,
Dream of fighting fields no more:
Sleep the sleep that knows not breaking,
Morn of toil, nor night of waking.

No rude sound shall reach thine ear,
Armour's clang, or war-steed champing,
Trump nor pibroch summon here
Mustering clan, or squadron tramping;
Yet the lark's shrill fife may come
At the day-break from the fallow,
And the bittern sound his drum,
Booming from the sedgy shallow.
Ruder sounds shall none be near,
Guards nor warders challenge here,
Here's no war-steed's neigh and champing,
Shouting clans, or squadrons stamping.

Huntsman, rest! thy chase is done;
While our slumbrous spells assail ye,
Dream not, with the rising sun,
Bugles here shall sound reveille.
Sleep! the deer is in his den;
Sleep! thy hounds are by thee lying;
Sleep! nor dream in yonder glen
How thy gallant steed lay dying.
Huntsman, rest! thy chase is done,
Think not of the rising sun,
For at dawning to assail ye,
Here no bugles sound reveille.

The Many Faces of Janie

2010-05-27T07:42:00.004-05:00

Baby Janie is nine months old now. This photo shoot by Sydney caught about 15 different expressions. Here are a few of my favorites:

The Tempting "Two's"

2010-05-25T11:32:00.004-05:00

I've never liked the term "terrible two's". When I heard people using the alternate nickname of "terrific two's", I found it too cutesy to be clever. So, today I decided that my Tessa is smack dab in the middle of the "tempting two's". That enemy called "self" just pulls at you hard when you're two! You want the world to revolve around you (hopefully, you outgrow that, at least to a degree!) Self control is the farthest thing from your mind.

In the last few days I have been studying Charlotte Mason's writings on Habits, The Will, and Reason. And I find it so easy today to observe little Tessie-pie as she gives in to just about every temptation that surrounds her on a day that the rest of us are preoccupied with our own chores.

Here are just some of the activities that Tessa was involved in this morning, before she eventually fell asleep on the recliner watching Boz: breaking into the guinea pig cage (this is not easy), climbing up to the kitchen sink to play in water that was soaking in a pan, drawing on herself with markers, drawing on her sister with markers, drawing on doll furniture with markers, drinking out of the dog water bowl (yes, face down like a dog, red-headed ringlets dunked), letting all the dogs into the house to join her in fun, feeding the baby some popcorn (just to spite the American Pediatric Association!), and getting into Daddy's cough drop stash (she calls them drop-drops, and boy, does she love them!), to list a few just off the top of my head.

Of course, we're always close enough to catch her giving into tempation! Don't worry, Grandpa, we got the popcorn out of the baby's mouth before she swallowed any!

I'm back!

2010-05-24T20:30:00.003-05:00

I am looking very much forward to writing many posts in the near future about what has been going on in my life for the last several months! For now, here is a more updated picture of my sweeties. What a journey I have been on, and God has put so much on my heart to share. Watch for more regular posts to come!

Cards

2009-11-19T19:37:00.004-06:00

After a long break from card-making, I made a few cards when I should have been doing other things! I now see that you can't get the camera too close, or they look like they're in a fishbowl. Well, that's the best I can do for now... there's lots to do to get ready for 3 kids' birthdays and Thanksgiving!

That was then, this is now

2009-10-29T13:48:00.010-05:00

I was talking with a mother of three the other day, and it made me remember the days when I had three little ones, instead of six...

Then: My kids all took their naps at the same time, so I could have some "me" time.

Now: Remind me... what's "me" time? I've even learned to blog without concentrating!

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Then: My kids all went to bed nice and early, so Daddy and I could have peaceful, quiet evenings together.

Now: Who wants to miss out on those extra hours together as a family?!! We've all adjusted to teen time... late nights and sleeping in!

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Then: We could fit into a sedan. Going on a trip? Throw that family of five's stuff in the trunk!

Now: Extended SUV for us! Going on a trip? Attach those luggage holders! There's not much storage space in the back of an eight-seater.

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Then: It was such a good feeling when all of the laundry was done.

Now: Laundry... I actually love doing laundry, but there is always more waiting. There is no such thing as being done.

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Then: All my little ones gathered around to hear The Trumpet of the Swan.

Now: I read Hop on Pop in the mornings, The Lightlings in the afternoon, and discuss Sproul's Essential Truths of the Christian Faith in the evening.

I love my life! It's a little crazier than it used to be... a little busier and a lot noisier. But I wouldn't have it any other way.

Never say never

2009-10-23T20:36:00.004-05:00

I remember the day I said "I'm not a cloth diaper person."

Look what's hanging to dry in my laundry room......

And look at this sweet diaper! If you could only feel how soft it is. It's made of cotton fleece.

And diaper cover...

I was talking with one of my sweet friends the other day. She is a mom of four little ones. We decided that she could be described as a "homeschooling, home-churching, home-birthing, breastfeeding, baby-wearing, cloth diapering, co-sleeping mommy". After discussing her description, she asked me how I could be described. My first reaction was just to say I was very 90's.

I had my first baby in the 90's. I was young, inexperienced with babies, and armed with my faithful, What to Expect books. Everyone in my circle of friends at the time was doing the same thing as I was. I had never heard of homeschooling, or home birthing or churching for that matter. I had never seen anyone wearing their baby in a sling. Cloth diapering seemed old-fashioned and unnecessary. And I was warned not to put my baby in bed with me or I might smother it.

Well, the things that seemed old fashioned then are in vogue again now. OK, they have been for some time now, but I'm slow to change. Yep, that's me! I started mothering my babies a certain way, and just stuck with what had worked for me. I had switched to Seventh Generation disposable diapers on my last few babies. So, I felt good enough about that. I really don't like thinking of bleached diapers on my sweet little newborns.

But after seeing some of my new friends using cloth, I asked them some questions about how much work it is. They assured me it was as easy as using the sanitary cycle on my washing machine. So, I got on youtube, watched some videos about cloth diapering, and decided to go for it! The cuteness of these little diapers alone was hard to resist. And here I am now, with Bum Genius and Kissa's hanging in my laundry room.

I'm not a die hard. I use my chlorine-free disposables when I leave the house and overnight. But I am having a blast! Who would have thought that I would love cloth diapers!

Flu season

2009-10-20T12:00:00.003-05:00

Here is a great link to a Shonda Parker's blog, which has a great article about flu prevention and treatment. She is a very knowledgeable lady, who's advice can be trusted...

Shonda Pedia: Swine Flu Update

In addition to this great article, I'll mention a few things we are doing at our house:

Since it takes a day or two for the virus to make a home in our bodies, we do these things after we have been out around other people ...
1.) Swab out our noses with salt water on a cotton swab, or do a nasal wash with Xlear or our netti pot.
2.) Gargle with salt water or Listerine.
3.) Rinse our eyes with saline drops.

I have also heard that colloidal silver (be careful what you use is made by a reputable company and taken in proper doses) is knocking the swine flu out successfully and is also being used as a preventative treatment.

Favorite Green Household Products

2009-10-16T08:21:00.008-05:00

I've tried just about all of the more environmentally safe automatic dishwasher liquids, and this is my favorite. Mrs. Meyers gets my dishes the cleanest and has the best fragrances. It is important to me to go green in the dishwasher because a soap residue stays on the dishes, so I'd rather the soap that I use not contain harmful toxins. I order mine from amazon.com.

I like Seventh Generation laundry detergent. We always have clothes on, so we tend to wear the laundry soap we choose. Besides the old reasons for avoiding the wrong surfactants and detergents, I just heard a report about the ingredients in typical laundry detergents bringing on puberty prematurely.

I love Dr. Bronner's soap! Our favorite fragrance is the almond. It's great to feel good about using this soap on the little ones, besides the rest of us.

I was ordering other brands of dish washing liquid on amazon.com until Walmart started carrying this. I read a consumer report on the different green brands and whether or not they really were green. They gave the Clorox products a thumbs' up. I also use the glass cleaner and bathroom cleaner pictured below.

Reality Check: We do not use ALL green products at our house. We just try our best. The healthy alternatives are not as easy to find at the store and are generally more expensive. I just treat each good choice as a victory. It's easier to stay positive and encouraged when I allow myself to fall short of perfection and just do the best that I can.

Happy Birthday, Grandma!

2009-10-15T18:03:00.004-05:00

This week we had another family reunion featuring our favorite birthday girl, Grandma. Janie gave Grandma plenty of smiles and baby coos for her birthday.

Curriculum we love

2009-09-25T19:49:00.006-05:00

Here are some of our curriculum choices this year. If I've listed it here, that means we love it! The kids love it... I love it!

Rosetta Stone Spanish: The easiest way to learn a language... for the student AND for Mom! Believe the commercials.

Truthquest History: The ultimate living history book list! If you enjoy learning history through literature, this is an incredible resource. Michelle Miller's commentaries through the guides are extremely helpful.

Teaching Textbooks: Everyone I know who is using this curriculum for math is ecstatic. The teaching DVDs are easy to navigate and lessons are taught very well. My kids rarely need any additional help. And they love the graded lessons and quizzes and the grade book feature.

A Reason for Handwriting: This is great for practicing handwriting for any elementary grade (beginners through cursive). Where other handwriting books may give sample sentences to practice, A Reason gives scripture verses as the copy.

Institute for Excellence in Writing: This is a big hit with many homeschool families I know. This is our first year to use it, so I'm still in the learning process. I am very excited about it! I've tried teaching writing on my own without any curriculum at all because English is my favorite subject, and it's time to call in some reinforcements. Gotta love the DVD teacher when things get tricky!

Six weeks!

2009-09-23T10:31:00.004-05:00

My sweet little baby number six is six weeks old today! Oh, could I be any more in love?

I'm so glad someone told me many years ago, that those first six weeks are a blur and that it's hard to mess things up too badly. I was advised that at that point, it is more of a beginning time for starting good habits with the baby, and that the goal for the first six weeks is to just survive. That is a big relief to any new mother who is stressing about "doing things right".

I actually usually write off the first three months, myself. Until Janie, all of my babies have had pretty bad colic for the first three months. So, by this time, I have come to expect life to revolve around caring for a newborn for three months, and letting a lot of other seemingly important things slide. OK. I also let a lot of important things slide. I'll admit it.

Janie doesn't have colic. That's just a miracle that I'm still trying to even comprehend! So, I'm quite excited about being able to establish a new six-kid schedule sooner than I had anticipated. The kids are doing school again... at least about 80% of what I would like them to be doing. Yay for checkmarks on those daily schoolwork checklists! It's good to see those again. And since it's really the beginning of a new school year, they are MOSTLY excited and motivated to be studying again.

Besides schoolwork, I'm anxious to get 3 square meals a day going! In anticipation of a new baby, I bought a pantry full of things that the kids could fix for themselves. So, there's been a lot of spaghettios and macaroni and cheese eating going on around here. That's a far cry from our Maker's Diet days! Sydney did learn how to make healthy homemade mac'n cheese when we ran out of boxed. Kurt has been making his own extremely low-calorie meals since Janie was born, which is when he started his diet. We have benefited from some of his cooking, but he's on a different schedule than us, so many times he's offered us great healthy stuff but we had already eaten.

So, now that we have made it to the six week mark, and life is starting to feel a little more like normal, or at least our new normal, I am adding two more tasks to my days besides mothering a newborn. 1.) schoolwork and 2.) feeding my children vegetables. Any other moms out there have such high aspirations as me? Ha ha!

I actually have my own school work to do this year, too. So, I've got papers to write in all my "spare time"... good one, huh? I'm finishing up my degree, finally. Thankfully, I'm able to do almost all of it from home, and Kurt and the kids are very supportive, so they don't mind pitching in and helping with things so I can have some computer time.

Well, this post was supposed to be an encouragement to moms everywhere who have newborns. I know so many right now who have brand new babies in their homes! But instead it became more of an update of my life. Sorry! I really do want to encourage moms with tiny ones that even though it's a tiring and trying time, it is only temporary. Life moves so quickly, and it's alright to extend some grace to ourselves. This is a precious time, and it's quite alright to take things slowly, lower expectations for a little while, and drink in this moment that will someday be a memory...

The Cocoon

2009-09-21T13:45:00.004-05:00

A sweet lady at church made Janie a "cocoon" as her shower gift. It's an adorable wrap to take baby pictures with. I've been trying to get a good picture in it since she was born over five weeks ago. Between the full days that come with a newborn and houseful of kids, waiting for her face to clear up a bit from the newborn pimples, and unsuccessful attempts at taking the pics, it took me a while. But here she is... emerging from her cocoon! She wasn't happy about posing at first, but after nursing her to sleep in the cocoon, we tricked her into it. I took my little sleepy girl over to the bed to pose her while Sydney grabbed her hat, the camera, and the blanket to lay her on.

Baby toes are my favorite!!!

Got her all posed...

Sweet little angel...

I love her so much!

My six

2009-09-15T10:29:00.004-05:00

Here are a few pics taken recently. Sydney took all of them, except the one of her and Janie, of course. Thanks Syd!

Janie Kate

2009-09-06T11:35:00.008-05:00

Sweet little Janie came out to meet us on Wednesday, August 12th. She was born at 11:02 a.m. weighing 7 lbs 6 oz. She tied her big brother Andrew for biggest baby status. She tied her big brother Austin for overdue baby status. She came 5 days after her due date.

It feels really neat to have so many girls in the house! She has dark hair like her biggest sister, Sydney, which is a little blast from the past, since I haven't had a dark-headed baby since 2000!

For now, life is all about Janie! Our days revolve around her.... filling her belly, burping her, wrapping her up, holding her close, breathing in those baby smells, trying to make her smile, changing diapers, and peeking in at her while she sleeps. I know very well how quickly these precious moments fly by!

Cousin Camp (part two)

2009-07-23T12:05:00.003-05:00

Any occasion is not complete without "Chubby Bunny".

Cousin Camp

2009-07-23T11:42:00.006-05:00

My wonderful sister in law hosted a cousin camp for 12 of the family's cousins. My two little ones made it 14 on this day of cousin camp when we met at the park.

The kids spent a few days together making summer fun memories. Here they are having a jumping jack contest and an egg toss. Notice my little Macy with her big look-alike cousin, Kassandra! And there is Aunt Joanna taking care of one of her campers, cousin Karley.

The kids' picks

2009-07-16T13:35:00.005-05:00

While working on the computer today I noticed my little preschooler on the floor flipping through a book, making up a story. I looked over to see what she had pulled off the shelf, and it was one of our Come Look With Me books. It makes me so glad when I see the kids selecting their own favorites off of our schoolroom shelves. It's always so interesting to see what appeals to each different personality. That's why I like to try to keep a variety of books available for them to peruse.

I thought I might take an opportunity to give you a glimpse of what my kids' favorites are at this moment. If I've approved it because it's come highly recommended to me, and then my kids fall in love, then it's definitely worth mentioning.

Macy's (preschool) pick:

Come Look With Me books are a series of fine art books. They aren't the type of books we sit and read from cover to cover, although you could since they are well written. Mostly I've let the kids look and read as much as they desire. The littlest ones often bring them to me to look at like a picture book, and we sit together enjoying the artwork together, commenting as we go. These are great for very small children through the elementary and middle school years. If you are new to fine art yourself, you will appreciate the commentary that helps to explain how to talk about art with your children. Love these!

Andrew's (3-4th grade) pick:

Magic Tree House series. Andrew is devouring these right now. They are mysteries, which also touch on history. There are definitely more serious, classic choices for this age range, but for a reluctant reader, these are a great way to get the reading desire jump-started without compromising your library with other series that bring in bad attitudes and too much "junk food" for the mind. There is some magic, but definite lines are drawn between good and evil.

Sydney's (jr high) pick:

Alone yet not Alone by Tracy Michele Leininger. This is Syd's all time favorite book. It is part of Vision Forum's Beautiful Girlhood series, which is based on the lives of women in history who demonstrated godly character during times of incredible challenge.

Austin's (8-9th grade) pick:

He has loved the last three classics that he's finished and said he recommends them all. They are Moby Dick, The Three Musketeers, and The Count of Monte Cristo.

God gets the credit (Part 2)

2009-07-02T09:13:00.005-05:00

I'm really not sure where I fall on the whole "Quiver Full" debate. I haven't fully studied it nor have I even read a book on it. The sum of my knowledge on the subject comes from reading articles, blogs, and having some friends who have looked more deeply into it. So, I am by no means able to speak on the matter.

But I do know that God has put in my heart the deep desire to have children. After having my first baby, I knew for sure that I wanted to have a sibling or two if I could. But when my first two children turned out to be a boy and a girl, all the reactions from people were that we now had the perfect family and that there was no need to bother having any more. Even though I knew that the choice was up to me, I couldn't help but feel that yes, we had accomplished the goal and now I could just enjoy my perfect family.

Two years after my second child was born I started to have baby fever. I couldn't understand why I felt the need to have another one, and tried to figure out what to do with this desire. The best solution I could come up with was to get a puppy! That would help. In fact, we went ahead and got two for good measure. It only took a few months to realize how silly that idea had been and so on went the analyzing and agonizing over what to do about this dilemma. We finally decided that we might as well just "have another one". I enjoyed this third baby, little Andrew, immensely. After having him in our lives, I wondered why I ever debated about whether to have that "one more".

Well, I supposed we were done with this baby business now that we had our three. I didn't know many people who had more children than that anyway, and it seemed normal and the usual practice for the typical family. So, I stayed busy with my three sweethearts and every time that little feeling would creep up, I would dismiss it. Thus, the five year gap between babies number 3 and 4. Obviously I still couldn't make that persistent desire to appreciate another sweet little person in my life go away.

Baby number six will be here soon, and I am just as in love with her already as I am with my others. I have come to understand much better why I want to have babies, and why I love large families. I now have a more Biblical understanding of children. I now see that our culture tends to see children as more of a burden and an expense instead of as a gift, blessing, and an addition to that testimony that God is working in us. It's another one of those things that is an evidence to the world around us that we rely on our Heavenly Father to provide us with the grace, skills, and provisions necessary to do the job of parenting these blessings.

See what kind of list "the fruit of your body" is included in:

1 “Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. 2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God:3 “Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country. 4 “Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks. 5 “Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. 6 “Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out. 7 “The LORD will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. 8 “The LORD will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you. Deut 28

When I realized that children were part of this blessed life that God has planned for us, I began to see them as He intends me to. I already had that God-given instinct and appreciation for family because of what God had already done in my life to shape me towards godly motherhood. But in my more recent years, I have now learned that children add value instead of cost. God has confirmed to me and assured me through many scriptures in His word that that love for bringing children into the world is indeed good!

When people now say "Wow!" to my waiting for baby number six, I can give God the credit for my thinking that yes, it is a good thing to have six children, and yes, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!

God gets the credit (Part 1)

2009-06-30T11:22:00.003-05:00

The longer I'm married, the more years I've homeschooled, and the more children I have make me realize how God has made this Christian walk thing work itself out. It's through the daily, real-life stuff that our testimony is made known. Of course there are so many other variables and life lessons learned along the way too that contribute to my testimony. But in this blog, I will focus on these wife and mothering issues that are so close to my heart as I prepare to welcome our sixth precious child into the family. I adore my family! I love my husband and children so dearly that sometimes it overwhelms me to think about it. I also love being a stay at home mom, and homeschooling. It's my dream life. But I want to take a moment to give some perspective on how Christian wives and moms have to rely heavily on God's working through us to be able to be good at what we do.

It's funny how people can watch our lives from a distance and guess how things must be for us in our family's life. So many times people have made comments to me about my choice to homeschool that revealed their "perceptions" about me. People assume that you must homeschool because it's easy for your particular personality, or that your children were born obedient and eager do multiplication drills, or that must you not have any desires like they do for appreciation, time away from home, and goals met from a career or even just the freedom of running errands without kids, having lunch with girlfriends and lots of "me" time.

The truth of the matter is that I decided to homeschool because I felt that it was God's plan for my life as a mom and for my children. That's the beginning. Then comes the growing! This is what makes my life a testimony. I absolutely do not have what it takes to be a homeschool mom. I am so flawed, so human, so selfish. But the growing that I've had to do to be the kind of wife and mother God wants me to be is what makes me more like Christ... the ultimate goal. It would be easier to make choices that would free me up from these "growing (in spiritual maturity) pains". But then what would I be accomplishing for God's kingdom?

Isolate yourself in your home with your children and try to do character training, school work, and the usual cooking, cleaning, and kid-friendly recreation, and see how long it takes you to figure out you need God's help in this venture. Learning to deal with your children using the fruit of the spirit is truly a miracle that proves that the Christian walk is all about becoming more Christlike from our daily challenges. Just about every day I feel like I'm still learning how to deal with my "moments" in ways that make the Lord proud. Honoring God with my actions and attitude is a constant struggle. But each small victory is becoming part of my testimony.

Each prayer prayed for direction and guidance with a particular child and the struggles I see them facing is an investment in God's kingdom and our story. Every deep breath taken before a whispered call for help from me to my Heavenly Father becomes a prayer of thanks given to Him for doing the work that my humanness was inadequate to perform. All good things that have come from my life... especially my life as a wife and homeschool mom have been God working through me, in spite of me. He deserves the credit for those comments people make about not knowing how I do it, because they think they couldn't. I can't either. God can though.

Happy, Sad

2009-06-30T09:37:00.022-05:00

I've blogged before about my daughter Sydney's love of photography. You never know when she's going to come around the corner with camera in hand. I found these two pics (among many others), downloaded to my pc recently.

I couldn't help but notice the spectrum of emotion she was able to capture from little sister Tessa... happy... and not so happy!

Notice the food around the mouth on both... I believe the first is candy of some sort, and the second is yogurt. She really does love yogurt... not sure why she's so upset.

Nuts

2009-06-22T15:10:00.004-05:00

Any time I can prepare food for my family the Nourishing Traditions way, I feel like I have something to really be excited about. Our ups and downs in healthy eating are many. So any time I can fix something out of the very strictest of all traditional cookbooks is a big deal to me!

The information I am passing along in this blog entry is taken mostly from Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions. Enjoy the recipe and enjoy some delicious, nutritious nuts! The flavor of nuts is enhanced by preparing them this way... I highly recommend it.

Nuts are best soaked or partially sprouted before before eaten. This is because nuts contain numerous enzyme inhibitors that can put a real strain on the digestive mechanism if consumed in excess. Nuts are easier to digest, and their nutrients more readily available, if they are first soaked in salt water overnight, then dried in a warm oven. (You may also use a dehydrator.)

Preparing walnuts, pecans, peanuts, and almonds:

4 cups nuts

2 tsp sea salt (1T for peanuts)

filtered water

Soak nuts in salt water (enough to cover) in a warm place for at least 7 hours or overnight. Drain in colander. Spread nuts on stainless steel baking pan and place in warm oven (no more than 150 degrees) for 12 to 24 hours, turning occasionally, until completely dry and crisp. Store in an airtight container. Refrigerate walnuts. This method not recommended for cashews.

Thanking God for Marriage

2009-06-21T18:47:00.003-05:00

In July, my husband and I will celebrate 19 years of marriage. In some ways, it seems like just yesterday that we were so young and had such big ideas. But in some ways it seems like we've always been together, and it's hard to imagine that we were ever individuals instead of the team that we have become. I am truly grateful that God has extended us such grace to allow us the opportunity to use our home as a training ground for becoming more like our Lord. When we first got married someone told me that marriage would be more about our learning to become more Christlike than it would be someone making your dreams come true. I didn't understand what that meant then, but I can now say that after many years full of experience "working out" this marriage thing, I can truly appreciate God's wisdom in using marriage as a model to show us His ways.

A dear friend of mine was blessed by Beth Moore's talk on marriage on Focus on the Family recently. So, I looked it up in the archives (http://listen.family.org/daily/A000001921.cfm ), and listened. After doing so, I would like to recommend it. Just be sure not to miss part two also (http://listen.family.org/daily/A000001922.cfm ).

In the talk, Beth refers to "good" marriages and "great" marriages. I have to say that I am so grateful to have a "great" marriage myself. But I can't say that I've always thought it was great. I perceived it as just "good" at certain times in the past. And I've even thought it could stand much improvement at other times! But that's the thing about marriage... it's a covenant, if taken seriously, that should make us strive to improve. I've been way less than ideal to my poor man at times. And I've had my moments of praying the "please change him, God" prayer myself. Thankfully, I learned a great deal from Godly women friends and Martha Peace's The Excellent Wife, and learned to change my heart on that one! This talk by Beth reminds me of some of the chapters out of that book. Lessons I learned about acceptance and Godly love, ridding myself of any selfish, prideful, judgemental and ungrateful thinking about my man changed my marriage in a huge way. And this teaching that I linked above may be able to do that for someone who is learning how to be a wife, like I was, and still am for that matter. Isn't it true that the more you improve in your walk with the Lord, the more you realize how far you have yet to go?

Before signing off on this one, I want to mention to my wonderful husband how much I appreciate his love and patience towards me. His commitment to our marriage is something I have grown to be more and more thankful for with each passing year. The longer we are married, the more I realize how his providing, protection, and servant leadership has gently shaped who I am becoming. He is my superhero! Not because he is perfect, and I certainly don't expect him to be (at least not any more), but because he has made himself faithfully mine.

Enjoy the link. And if you like it, you may want to read The Excellent Wife too. It is full of good stuff, even though I have to say that I did not agree with everything that she says, but I guess, what book fits my thinking 100% anyway? I'm such an independent thinker! But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good, 1 Thes 5:21. God's Word alone is my truth.

Who designed this road sign?

2009-06-15T12:32:00.003-05:00

As we crossed the border from Arkansas into Missouri last week, heading to Branson for a camping trip, we saw this strange sign. HIT A WORKER!

OK... I think we'll pass on that one! That's not something we want to make part of our stay in Missouri, but thanks for the opportunity I guess...

Long time coming

2009-06-08T10:06:00.002-05:00

The last few months' blogs have not made it from my mind to the computer, but I have been blogging! Bloggers think in blog form. When I made a great new recipe for dinner; or a gorgeous salad made with my own garden-grown lettuce; or adapted a recipe to the taste of our family... I blogged the recipe...in my mind as I fell asleep in bed. When I planned and gave my husband's grad-school graduation party I thought of many aspects of the planning and my pride in his accomplishment and blogged about it all... in my mind as I packed the kids' clothes for our camping trip. When we went camping, I payed attention to the details of our family's first time in our new camper. I took pictures and savored the memories to record in my blog... in my mind as I made the hamburger patties to put on the grill. When I felt the precious little baby squirming away inside of me and took in the magic of the miracle that is a new life I carry with me everywhere I go, I blogged about it... in my mind as I laid down to rest while my little ones were napping. When I saw my plants in the garden sprouting up preparing to nourish us, I planned to take pictures and share about organic, raised-bed gardening and then I blogged it... in my mind as I pulled weeds. When I got a new picture book in the mail, sat with my wee little ones to read, and become surrounded by big kids who didn't want to miss a great timeless story with beautiful illustrations, I recommended the book on my blog... at least in my mind, as I fixed the kids a snack after the reading/snuggle session. And when God taught me one of the many, many lessons I have yet to learn, I wanted to share how He affects my life, changing me little bits, day by day. So I blogged a lot about that... in my mind as I rode in the car on the way to our many camping getaways.

Hopefully, jumping back into my blog with a confessional will help to get me started back on the path to blogging. I look forward to leaving some evidence of the many things that go on in my heart, my head, my family, and my home.

Lent

2009-02-25T08:40:00.003-06:00

Lent takes my focus from the bare trees, cold weather, and sniffles of the winter season, toward the sacrifice of my Saviour! What a wonderful opportunity Lent provides... one that helps me to simplify my time and thoughts and bring a sharp focus onto preparing my heart for Easter.

Simple Gifts

'Tis the gift to be simple,
'tis the gift to be free,
'tis the gift to come down where you ought to be
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
It will be in the valley of love and delight.

Refrain:
When true simplicity is gained,
To bow and to bend we shan't be ashamed.
To turn, turn will be our delight,
'Til by turning, turning we come round right

Tis the gift to be loved and that love to return,
'Tis the gift to be taught and a richer gift to learn,
And when we expect of others what we try to live each day,
Then we'll all live together and we'll all learn to say,

Refrain

'Tis the gift to have friends and a true friend to be,
'Tis the gift to think of others not to only think of "me",
And when we hear what others really think and really feel,
Then we'll all live together with a love that is real.

written by Shaker, Elder Joseph Brackett, Jr. in 1848

The Ministry of Rebuke

2009-02-17T18:14:00.011-06:00

It's funny how you don't notice certain aspects of instances in life until you've experienced them yourself. I've been close (not involved, just in touch with some involved parties) to a big-sin situation. (I have to mention here that my theology on the ranking of sins is still forming... I'm not sure if sin ranking is God-imposed or man-imposed.) These were, and still are my brothers and sisters in Christ. I stated my love for my friends, and my concern for consequences that will result from the willfull sin.

And then I watched the fallout come their way. The consequences are certainly huge and so complicated. I can't help but feel sad and grieved by the hurt that sin causes God's children, including those who were just innocent standers by.

With that being said, I am almost equally grieved by a spirit of pride that wells up within the community of believers when they realize that someone they know has committed one of the "bigger" sins. I completely understand that there is a place in the church for rebuke. It is definitely Biblical. But I am highly suspicious of self-righteousness as being a potential catalyst for people's anxiousness to grab a stone as quickly as they can.

What possible motivations could be behind massive amounts of people who have so many things to work on in their own lives to cause them to feel a strong need to put pen to paper or type out email sermons? Validation of their own guilt over "not-so-big" sins? Spiritual pride? The need to try to fix other people's problems (a common female characteristic)? Now, there are people in our lives who have the right to blast away at us when necessary... our close family members, our very best friends, the brothers and sisters we have covenanted with for times such as these. But when every Christian and their dog all of a sudden see fit to be someone's conscience, it makes me suspicious of wrong motives.

But I'm thinking now... if this is an effective and acceptible Christian practice, I may just start a new ministry for myself. I would be really good at this! I could easily spend hours a day finding sin in people's lives and writing letters telling them what to do differently. In fact, from what I've seen of this type of communication, you don't even need to bother offering any listening ear, make an attempt at grace, love, or understanding, or offer future mentoring. All you have to do is point out the wrongdoing! Starting the letter with "This is because I care about you" seems to be an optional addition to the note. This sounds like a piece of cake. Call it God's work, and then I'll feel so good about what I've done!

Or maybe not... when's the last time prideful harping worked at changing my children's hearts? At best it changes the behavior, and just hardens the heart. Hmm... Maybe I'll be very careful to check my motives... I mean REALLY check them, before I go starting a "ministry" of rebuke.

Garden time

2009-02-11T08:00:00.003-06:00

At this time last year, my spring garden was tilled, seeds were planted, and I was watching out for frost. That was my first garden ever... and it was all thanks to my green-thumbed (the rest of his fingers are green too!) father in law.

This year is quite a different story. It's all up to me. Well, my wonderful husband is there for me, too. But he has delegated himself to the role of "tiller extraordinaire". Outside of that, he is quick to remind me that it's my garden, and points to the house full of helpers I have at my access! The kids just love when Dad does that...

So, in true procrastinator's fashion, I am noticing what time of year it is, pulling out my Johnny's Selected Seeds catalog, and checking for delivery times. OK, web orders ship the next day. We can do this! Now, where did I put those notes I made about last year's garden reminding me what to do differently this year?

Since most of my friends were astonished at the early start of my garden last year, I don't feel too bad yet about not having anything planted yet. But let's just wait and see how long the seeds sit on my countertop once they get here.

I'm going to visit my dear father in law this coming weekend, so I'm hoping to come home feeling energized. Is it possible for a pregnant woman to feel energized? I sure hope so. Because I so enjoy reaping the benefits of a backyard garden!

Seasons of a Mother's Heart

2009-02-02T20:33:00.003-06:00

I read Sally Clarkson's book about the different seasons for a mother more than 10 years ago. Little did I know then what seasons lay ahead for me. Since that time, I have gone from being a young mother of two preschoolers to being a homeschool mom of 5 with another one on the way. Along the journey I have experienced the roller coaster ride of life. My years as a mother have been filled with times of high energy and excitement, calm and contentment, and just being plain worn out. Some days have left me feeling like I'm kind of getting good at this mom thing. Some days have tried my patience and won.

Because the kids and I get to spend so much time together, even the hardest days are still sprinkled with precious, precious moments... the unexpected "I love you, Mommy", the silly faces only a three year old can make, the inside joke I laugh about with my teenage son, the ideas that come flowing out of my creative daughter, the way the baby lays her head down on my shoulder and pats my arm when I get her out of her crib.

This most recent season, one of another first trimester of pregnancy, has been draining. I was nauseous and very tired. I had pregnancy brain to the point where I wondered if I would ever be able to think clearly again. Obviously, I didn't blog much. Getting through the day was about all I could do for a couple of months. But I really did know that it was just for a season. My fog is beginning to lift, and I don't even need a nap every day anymore. I am finding a new, revised schedule and have adjusted my goals for schooling this year some. I'm getting myself back!

My new season of energy will only be temporary. I keep reminding myself of this. Make the most of this time, Dawn! Before long, I will be tired again, and after that will be the season of a newborn's first few months. So, I will enjoy my season of productivity once again. And then comes the sweet season of a very different kind of productivity altogether... the seven people in our home getting to bond with our newest little love! Each season is so necessary and makes life so full...

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Devotions on a Tuesday morning...

2009-01-06T11:55:00.006-06:00

My pregnancy hormones have been waking me up at 5:30 every morning now for a while. Most days I just lay in bed and try to fall back asleep, but that hasn't been working the last couple of mornings.

Since today was our first day back to a good "school" schedule, I decided to go ahead and hop out of bed at 6:00 to get the day started on the right foot. I was mostly excited about a chance to have some devotions before any of the kids woke up. As I was gathering up my sweater and socks, a squinting eyed little three old came running into the room for a morning snuggle. I put aside my Bible study desires and replaced them with the practicality of the spiritual act of kissing a precious little red-headed girl's nose with a Piglet stuffed animal laying nearby. There's nothing like starting a day with the sound of innocent giggles.

We spent the next 30-40 minutes playfully greeting big brother Andrew and the baby, fixing morning drinks, and saying goodbye to Daddy. I hadn't given up on devotions. I just knew it would have to be a little less of a "quiet time" and more like "wild west worship time". Thus is the life of the homeschool mom of many!

I finally sat down with my Bible and a few kids, who had been given things to keep them busy for a few minutes. And here was my devotion time:

Timothy 1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope;

"No Macy, you can't come up here on Mommy's bed with a Danimals yogurt drink." Macy promised to be careful and not to spill, but I set aside the yogurt on my nightstand for her to finish when she was ready to get back down. It wasn't worth it for her at the moment. Being close to mom superseded her need for the routine morning treat.

2. Unto Timothy, my own son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.

Andrew says, "Hey mom, one time I was in the bathroom and once I was done going, I realized there was no toilet paper..." the story went on in detail...ick.

3. As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine ,

Macy thought she would copy her big brother's story about the toilet paper and make it her own. She had some original thoughts though, and added a monkey and a Bible to her version.

4. Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do. 5. Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:

Andrew started remembering the questions he obviously been storing up for quite some time, so I suggested that they go find some coloring and puzzles to occupy them in the school room so Mommy could finish my Bible time. They left for a few minutes, so I sped through the rest of the first chapter of Timothy. As I heard the baby wishing Mommy was present in the mix there in the school room, I whispered a prayer:

Honor and glory forever to you Father! You are surely the eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God! (v17) I'm yours today. Use me to teach your children. Help me to remember obedience to You (that's patience, love, tenderness, selflessness)... obedience!...obedience!... Amen.

Maybe tomorrow they'll sleep til 6:30. But that just wouldn't be nearly as much fun now, would it?

Just David

2009-01-05T20:51:00.003-06:00

Even though it's been a month since we finished Just David as our read-aloud, I want to take a moment to pass along a recommendation. The book was written by Eleanor Porter, who wrote Pollyanna. It's a touching story about a boy who is raised in an unconventional way (sound familiar?). He is thrust into awkward relationships with people who don't understand his strange (but very positive) outlook on life and the world around him. I got a bit impatient waiting for quite a few chapters for SOMETHING good to happen to this poor little boy, but once things finally started to look up for him, I didn't mind the build up. It was a good balance in the end between the bad things that can happen in this fallen world and the good that comes from a pure heart. This is a very sweet book, and it had us squeezing in extra reading time each day towards the end because we just had to see how it ended.

December update

2008-12-30T08:17:00.004-06:00

Since my last blog entry there has been a new development at our house. Along with the last minute craziness of Christmas, hosting two big family dinners, and the usual ins and outs of our days, I got an early Christmas present that comes with strings attached... nausea, overwhelming urges to nap, and irritability. Yep, we will be expecting our sixth child next August.

This is the time of year that I normally evaluate our school year's progress. I usually refit our schedule and goals for the remainder of the year. So, this week I am looking not only towards the spring semester, but what we need to do this summer to be ready for a fall baby. Normally we would be ready to dive into school in August, but this year we will probably do summer school, and then take our summer break in August and September.

So, off I go to figure out how to squeeze a nice "Mom nap time" into the Spring and summer schedules. And in no time at all, we will all be enraptured by another little cherub-faced person around here. Can't have enough of those!

The true meaning of Christmas?

2008-12-08T07:47:00.012-06:00

I am entertained by all of the controversy that comes up around this time of year. People sure get all fired up about Christmas. They go on and on, talking about the TRUE meaning of Christmas. What does Christmas really mean? Has it been hijacked by consumerism? By humanism? By worldliness?

So what is it about, really? Is it about giving? Peace on earth? Baby Jesus' "birthday"? Tradition? Saint Nicholas? Charitable acts? God's great love for humanity? Prophecy fulfilled? Joy? Hope?

History always gives perspective. Winter celebrations started out as pagan. Early Christians didn't celebrate a Christmas holiday. In the fourth century, church officials created a holiday (Feast of the Nativity) to celebrate the birth of Jesus. They intentionally picked the date for the holiday to coincide with pagan winter celebrations to ensure acceptability. By blending it with the pagan holiday, they allowed the influences and traditions of the pagan celebrations to become very much intertwined with the Christian holiday. By the middle ages, the Christian Christmas had pretty much replaced the pagan holidays, but was celebrated with very worldly practices including partying and drunkenness after mass. It actually resembled Halloween, with the less fortunate going from door to door for charity while threatening terroristic mischief if goodwill wasn't bestowed.

The Puritans and our beloved Pilgrims knew that Christmas was a worldly holiday that had been hijacked by "Christians", not the other way around. So, they didn't celebrate it at all. Of course there are some churches today that feel the same way about it and don't celebrate the holiday.

I guess I'm not a very good Puritan. I love to study their beliefs and customs. I even like their hymns. I'm a wanna-be Purtian, I think. But my house is filled with unnecessary things, I eat more than my body truly needs, and my asceticism (extreme self-denial just for spiritual purposes) abilities are just not what they could be. I also can't help myself but celebrate Christmas.

We regular, church going folk in our time in history, here in America, try to keep Christmas focused on the birth of Christ. We try. We do nativity scenes, go through Advent, have extra church services, etc. And some, but not all, include some of the worldly traditions and give them spiritual sounding names to make them into religious ones. You know, like consumerism called "the gift of giving" and Christmas trees have upward pointing branches that represent praise to god.

I'll just admit that I can't resist the recent traditions of the last few generations of Americans. I grew up playing Mary in the Sunday school pageant. I watched as the Advent candles were lit. I teared up at every candlelight service on Christmas Eve when the lights were lowered as we sang Silent Night. I overindulged on Grandma's fudge and bird's nest cookies. I loved seeing big piles of presents to be unwrapped. I looked for Rudolf's nose light in the sky on Christmas Eve. I sat on Santa's lap. I've seen every Christmas Coca-Cola commercial.

What is Christmas for? To me, Christmas is a chance to remember the redemption that comes through Jesus being sent by Our Father to this earth. My world isn't rocked if it means worldly things to the world. What else would we expect from the world? Along with the deep meaning that I ponder at this time of year, I also have a little fun with the holiday. I try to create a little magical fun for the kids. I overspend and overeat. Yes I do. I sing Frosty the Snowman AND Oh, Holy Night. Like I said, I'm not a very good Puritan. If I was, I would have a right to complain about what the world is doing with Christmas. But since I'm not, I'll let the world do with the holiday whatever they wish. It was theirs in the first place. We'll just enjoy our family's version of Christmas: the birth of our Redeemer. You may also catch us peering out the window on December 24th looking for Rudolf's nose while we stuff in one last piece of Grandma's fudge.

Fun books

2008-12-02T09:59:00.006-06:00

At any given time, the kids each have at least two books going. I assign them a book that is for history, science, character, or another thoughtful subject. And then they get to choose (within limits... no twaddle!) one that we call their "fun book". Here are the books they have chosen to read at the moment.

Austin is loving a birthday present, The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas. It was a gift from his aunt, a fellow book-loving, homeschooling mom. Perfect choice, Aunt Joanna, he loves it!

Sydney is into the Grandmothers' Attic series by Arleta Richardson. She's such a series girl.

Andrew is on a big Eddie books kick. Syd used to read Carolyn Haywood a lot. Now it's Andrew's turn. I'll pull out the Penny books after he's done with Eddy. I highly recommend anything by Carolyn Haywood for readers new to chapter books.

First snow!

2008-12-01T10:08:00.003-06:00

Goodbye pumpkins and fallen leaves, hello snowmen!!! I can't believe Sydney could make a snowman from a dusting of snow. But sure enough, we have an eight inch snowman on our back porch. Cute, huh?

Assessing November

2008-11-30T19:46:00.007-06:00

November and December are historically our worst homeschooling months. I pretty much know they will be far under par compared to my usual expectations. Even though I know that it's OK, and that we will end the year just about exactly where I would like to, I can't help but feel the pressure come this time of year. Since November is the time of year for us to have many extra family get-togethers, get things prepared for Christmas, practice extra for the early December recitals and concerts, celebrate 3 of the 5 kids' birthdays, and have Thanksgiving, we forgo the typical schedule and checklists more often than not. As you can see in the picture, we started off the month of November going on a trip to Branson to get us all geared up for the holidays.

Losing some of the structure and normalcy during these months, and replacing it with a lot of family fun and holiday traditions makes January something to really look forward to. I certainly come "back to work" with a new excitement, ready to take on any challenge. So, I try to just enjoy the change and then be ready to dive back into the routine at the new year. I try. It's not easy though. The loss of structure brings with it some of the downfalls of summer break... kids getting to bed too late, a bit more bickering, and some frustrated mom moments in the chaos. But all in all, it is the way our school year usually goes. And real life is what we're really all about, isn't it?

So, until January, enjoy... making and decorating cookies, snuggling together to look at big beautiful picture books about the nativity, being Santa, helping little ones work on their handmade gifts, taking that holiday family picture, making red and green paper chains, encouraging the little maestros as they nervously prepare for recitals, sewing those Christmas pageant costumes, drinking hot apple cider and hot chocolate around the Christmas tree, visiting Grandma & Grandpa, listening to the Chipmunks Christmas CD over and over again, reminiscing of holidays past, and telling your wide-eyed 3 year about baby Jesus. There's really nothing better than that... not even homeschool.

Good reminders in a bad economy

2008-11-29T17:36:00.007-06:00

We read Smart Money by Jerry & Ramona Tuma years ago. It's the best book I've ever seen on how our personalities and marriage dynamics relate to our views on money, saving, and spending. My husband pulled out the book to look for a quote for one of his school papers, and we ended up going for a stroll down memory lane. It's amazing what a difference a decade or so makes in your understanding. It was definitely worth going through again, under new, completely different circumstances than when we first read it.

While we were in smart money mode, I pulled one of those "someday Ill go through this with the kids" books off of my bookshelf. Money Matter for Kids by Larry Burkett seems like it's going to be a great find to go through with the kiddos. I've been talking with the kids a lot about using wisdom in finance lately because of the current financial mess that's on the news every day lately. Kurt is reading to us, since we didn't want to miss out on his perspective on the topic. So far, the book is extremely biblical and really speaks to the heart of the matter. In just the first chapter, the kids learned that everything is God's, what stewardship means, to trust God, spend time with Him, and give Him our hearts, about procrastination, how money gets its' value, responsibility, and the rewards of an obedient life. There are breaks in the lesson for jokes and trivia to keep the kids' attention.

Favorite Thanksgiving Books

2008-11-22T09:51:00.005-06:00

Here are my favorite books for this time of year for elementary level kids...

Stories of the Pilgrims by M. B. Pumphrey (Christian Liberty Press)

The Landing of the Pilgrims by J. Daugherty (A Landmark Book)

Squanto Friend of the Pilgrims by C. R. Bulla

The Pilgrims of Plimoth by Marcia Sewall

Sarah Morton's Day (A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Girl) by Kate Waters

has real photographs of the outdoor living museum in Plymouth

Historic Communities A Child's Day by Kalman & Everts

1621 A New Look at Thanksgiving by Grace & Bruchac (National Geographic)

also has photographs from the Plimouth Plantation

A vocabulary lesson

2008-11-19T14:26:00.010-06:00

I'm anxious for the day that I can post about some deep theological truth I've found. I've got more questions about doctrine right now than answers. I am looking forward to being able to share some of my theological discoveries in upcoming posts, but for now I'm going to keep my theo-ramblings to myself. Believe me, it's better that way for now.

In lieu of a revelation from God, I've decided to pass along some silly things I find myself learning from my 12 & 14 year old sweethearts. Now, since the kids are home schooled and unsocialized, they shouldn't really know anything culturally relevant, you know (absolutely meant to be tongue in cheek!). Somehow we seem get more than enough exposure to the trends of the present day. Whether that is a good thing or not remains to be seen. But I have to admit, I rather enjoy hearing the cute words that the kids add to our family's vocabulary by picking up on the new words that are created within the preteen and teen subculture.

Now, you'll have to let me know how up to date we are in the new slang arena. For all I (and my kiddos) know, we could be speaking from the "what's not" side of the "what's hot, what's not" list. We may be way behind. Feel free to point it out in a comment to this post. I would love to hear if I'm completely making a fool of myself! I'd also love to hear any other words we may want to add to our silly times as we hang out here together every day in our sometimes deep and sometimes completely goofy HOMEschool. This post will also serve to let the grandmas and moms with little ones out there know what's going on in our world here. This is some of the fun stuff of having kids the age I do right now.

So here goes... we've been using this one for a while, so it may not be that trendy anymore, but it's an easy one to implement...

Coolio... it's just a basic substitute for cool... You can say it relaxed like "cool' eeo" with a soft calm voice reminiscent of a 70's hippie kicked back in a bean bag chair, or you can say it with excitement about something you are really and truly impressed with... "cool ee Oohhh!" (the last Ohhhh is said sing-song like the ding dong of a doorbell)

Is this helpful information?

Own or Owned... this is what you are doing if you have mastered something or if something has got the best of you (ie: "I owned that math lesson" means it was easy for me; "You owned that, Mom" means good job, Mom).
Ownage... When you do well at something you get to yell, "Ownage!". This means I owned that.
Purely owned or pure ownage is shortened to Pown or Pownage... This is even better than "owning" something... purely owning is a step above! (ie: "I powned you in that game. "Pownage!" is used to declare a great victory)

Good to know, huh?

Chillax... This one's easy... "chill out" plus "relax"... This is a good one for when you really want to tell your kids to stop nagging you about something. Love to use their slang against them... hee hee.

Hope this is useful information for ya! Let me know your new vocabulary words!

Supreme & Sovereign God

2008-11-18T10:11:00.003-06:00

Project Day

2008-11-17T19:35:00.007-06:00

After an extra long weekend of family visiting and celebrating an early Thanksgiving, the kids were in project mood today. Mondays are already hard enough to tackle, but after a weekend full of fun with cousins, they were especially resistant to the normal routine. I had extra cleaning up to do, so I left the kiddos to their own to spend time productively.

Andrew decided that he had had enough of a broken bunk bed ladder. He took matters into his own hands and got out the power drill (yes... a little scary!), screws, hammer, and super glue (for good measure?). I suspected that the ladder pieces would still be on my floor when Kurt came home from work, but to my surprise he came through some early struggles with the rungs not wanting to stick, and completed the job. He was so proud! And I was proud too.

Sydney knew that she wanted to great straight to work on her Christmas sewing. She made homemade gifts for the whole family last year, and she's busy at work again this year. What a little sweetie. She loves to give.

Austin went after the basketball hoop. I guess the basket was crooked. Of course, that was news to me. But the boys were getting annoyed by an uneven hoop. So, he went out in the cold and went to work on fixing that. That only makes sense since he was the toddler who would arrange his toys in a perfect line. He loves orderliness.

Great baby book

2008-11-12T15:16:00.006-06:00

Over 14 years of motherhood I've heard and read a lot of advice about babies. It can get confusing sorting through all of the opinions, for sure. Sleeping Through the Night... How Infants, Toddlers, and Their Parents Can Get A Good Night's Sleep by Jodi A. Mindell, Ph.D. has been one of the most valuable finds I've come across in my search for good information. The author explains the science behind sleep patterns and habits. She goes through the different stages and ages of a baby and toddler, which gives an idea of what to expect from the varying times in your baby's first few years.

I didn't find this book until just before having baby #4, and I wished that it had been around before baby #1. I sure could have used it back then. I skimmed it again before having my last baby and just pulled it back out a few weeks ago to reread the sections pertinent to Tessa's present needs.

The tips and advice in this book are invaluable! If you don't like structure and routine, this book is probably not for you. But if you want to be sure that your baby is resting completely and securely; and you want to feel less like a zombie, then this book is a great source to go through. I highly recommend it.

My favorite veteran... my dad

2008-11-11T10:45:00.008-06:00

Happy Veteran's Day! Thank you to all of the superheros that fought and fight for our country.

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13

I am so proud of all of my family members who have served in the military. My grandfather served in WWII. Two of my uncles were career servicemen. My brother and cousins have served. And my hero, my dad, was one of the few and the proud in Vietnam. There's not much tougher than a Marine!

As a child, I loved hearing Dad tell us the stories of narrow escapes and MacGyver-type maneuvers that he experienced back in the war. I just knew that my dad could do anything! And just last week, my fun-loving Daddy came and spent the night with my kiddos in their treehouse. Like I said, he's a brave guy...

The kids came in from the cold the next morning to snuggle up next to the fireplace as Dad rode off into the sunset. (He deserves a medal. Well, actually he's already got one... a purple heart) They were full of stories about Grandpa's soldier days. What a blessing it is to have such a patriot in the family! Love you Dad!

Coffee and Tea

2008-11-10T12:12:00.018-06:00

Now that the temperatures are dropping enough for it to really feel like fall, I'm enjoying a daily cup of coffee or tea. After pretty much staying away from a lot of caffeine during my last pregnancy and then for nursing, I had almost forgotten what an indulgence a warm mug in hand can be.

In my new life of having two "tiny ones" around while homeschooling three "big ones" I have been searching for my new me-time activity. What used to be quiet afternoons (the kids stole away to play together) and evenings with my husband (the kids went to their rooms early to read before bed), has been replaced by a pretty mug filled with a yummy hot drink at my desk while helping Andrew with his math. The leap to 5 kiddos and one of them now being a teen has somehow made any quiet moment a very rare thing.

So, the addition of the coffee cup to my daily tasks makes me feel like I'm sneaking in a little grown-up time without ever leaving a room full of my sweethearts. Silly, I know, but these are some of the things I think about lately when I'm taking a breather from thinking about politics and theology... brain crash? I just don't feel nearly smart enough to blog about those, though. I end up sharing my silly thoughts on my me-time!

My favorites right now: Constant Comment tea and Starbucks organic coffee (freshly ground, thanks to a gift from my sister... a Starbucks grinder... love it!!!)

Revised Schedule

2008-11-09T18:16:00.004-06:00

It's far enough into the school year now to assess the schedule thing. The benefits of a more structured schedule are outweighing the drawbacks. So, I'm definitely glad we're following a daily plan.

The extreme preciseness of The Managers of Their Homes recommendations are definitely a bit much for us. We watched the clock like hawks when we first started, and I was constantly making announcements like "It's 9:00, is everyone doing what they're supposed to right now?" I was kind of like the old town cryer... 10:00 and all is well, look at your schedule and checklist. The relief of not always being asked "what should I do now, Mom?" was replaced by an urgency to keep the kids moving... chop, chop, chop.

We've now moved to a pace that suits our home style. The kids pretty much know the order of the day now. So, we do more of a system where I check in with everyone as I get chances to take my breaks. Like, I'll make sure everybody is up and eating by 8:00. Then tell them to go straight to morning chores. The biggest kids automatically go to their schoolwork after they're finished chores, following the time chart and order of subjects posted on the schedule. So, they stay on target for the most part. Andrew needs more prompting, and I give him more leeway. I've added more freetime and breaks for him than I originally had, because Macy needs him as a playmate more in the mornings than I had anticipated. And he has so much energy in the mornings, that it seems to fit better for him too.

The original schedule I made tends to fall apart in the afternoons. I had planned to keep up extra studies (like art history and extra reading) toward the end of the day. Realistically, I should have known that we would be tired by then and that I would release the kids to their freedom. I probably did know that I would end up doing that. But it felt good to have such an ambitious goal. Oh well. The new plan is to take one afternoon a week to go crazy on extras and have fun with it.

Another adjustment I made is to let the kids have delight directed days every now and then. They are particularly interested in burying their noses in a good book after we've taken a long weekend or been running like mad for a couple of days. I just can't get myself to enforce the schedule when I have the chance to watch them love learning! Those kind of days are also a great chance for me to really focus in on some extra time with Andrew and Macy.

Overall, I love having a schedule. It has become my ally. I'm not so sure that other, more strict "schooly" moms would be impressed. But we are finding what works best for us. Oh, the benefits of a tailor-made education!