In Pursuit of His Call

Faith...Spiritual Maturity 7-25-11

2011-07-25T14:52:00.003-04:00

I was very relieved that I didn't have to get out of the house before 8:30am today and I was very excited to have some time to spend with the Lord before the girls woke up.

I meditated much on Hebrews 12:1-17, especially on how to apply it to life. One thing I meditated on was Spiritual Maturity (Sanctification) and how to achieve it. How do I grow in Christ-likeness?

As I meditated on that question, the girls woke up and began to fight and argue in their room. Their fighting and arguing reminded me of spiritual immuaturity and as I thought on how I ought to corect them and lead them to spiritual maturity I thought that my guiding them ought to be the same way I ought to grow myself.

In Psalm 119:11 it says, "I have stored up your word in my heart,that I might not sin against you." How can storing God's Word in our hearts cause us not to sin? The Word works by the power of the Spirit. The Bible is not some sort of spell book that if we say a verse over and over again, something magical would happen. Rather, the power of God's Word comes from the power of the Holy Spirit to convict and change our hearts. Therefore, it is good to store God's Word in our heart so that when we come to a situation where we have to make a decision we know what God's Word says and by having God's Word in our hearts, by faith, we are convicted by His Word and actually choose what is right.

So, as I listened to the girls fight and argue this morning, I thought about going through the fruits of the spirit, looking up a verse for each fruit, and applying a fruit each day. So, today, I chose kindness as it just seemed like the girls were not being kind to one another.

I walked into the girls room and I told them that today we will learn a fruit of the spirit and see what the Bible says about it. I got out my study bible and looked up the word "kindness" in the concordance. The verse I chose for the day comes from Ephesians 4:32, "Be kind to one another..."

DearDaughter2 was singing very loudly and DearDaughter1 did not like the singing so she was yelling at DearDaughter2 to stop. I told DearDaughter1 that if she didn't like the singing, to practice kindness, she should ask DearDaughter2 in a soft tone to please stop singing. I told DearDaughter2 that to practice kindness she had several options. She could consider her sister's request and stop singing all together and do something else like get a book and look through it quietly, she could lower her singing voice so that it doesn't bother DearDaughter1, or she could ask DearDaughter1 if there was a song she wanted to sing and they could sing that song together.

I then asked them what the verse was and they both said, "Be kind to one another..."

I reminded them again that we are going to practice kindness today and they stopped arguing at least for that moment.

Throughout the morning, the girls acted out in their usual ways, still often being mean to one another. I needed to keep reminding them about what God's Word said on kindness and I needed to keep asking them if what they were doing was kind and if it wasn't then how should they show kindness? It made me realize that growing in Christ-likeness, becoming more spiritually mature, takes patience and time.

So, how do I grow in Christ-likeness? First, know what God's Word says about a sin and if I don't know it, look it up. Second, do what God's Word says. Third, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice... Fourth, don't get discouraged if at times I fail. God is a forgiving God and if my desire is to grow in Him, with that constant practice of choosing what is right, I will, by faith and His power, choose to do right more than to choose sin, because, afterall, His goal for me is to be holy as He is holy.

"...let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." - Hebrews 12:1,2

The Gift of Friendship and the Godliness of Good Friends Series by Kevin DeYoung

2011-07-15T13:53:00.000-04:00

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Home Life...June 28, 2011

2011-06-28T18:47:00.000-04:00

So, I just received a call from DearHubby. He's stuck in the parking lot at work. The starter on his car quit working. He's had this trouble before, like last Thursday when he called at dinner time to get him at a gas station, and he's known that his starter needed to be replaced, but he couldn't decide whether to take a chance and go to the junk yard to find a starter for cheap or to purchase one at the parts store for quite a whole lot. We've been really tight financially and I didn't budget for any car repairs this year, so we don't have the money for this part. However, DearHubby's been jumped several times in the past few weeks and last night we finally decided that he would just go to the parts store to buy the part. This situation in the parking lot just confirmed the decision we made last night.

I had a chiropractor appointment last Wednesday and I told the doctor about the baby being breech. He told me that from now until I go into labor he's going to just work on a technique to turn the baby and keep it turned. It's called the Webster Technique and it's used to loosen up the pelvic joints and ligaments. It was something different that my routine visits and I was actually sore at the end of the appointment. I was so sore that at the end of the day, I wasn't able to lift my leg without any assistance and the ligament that the chiropractor put pressure on was sore too. It made me wonder if this was all worth trying to deliver vaginally. In the end, for some reason or other I could still end up with a C-section. I guess the one thing that would comfort me is knowing that we did everything we could to deliver Baby vaginally.

Nothing too exciting happened on Thursday. We had breakfast at my DearFriendPatti's house. We usually stay for the whole morning, but for some reason, I was behind on laundry last week and still had clothes to put away so we left a little earlier than normal. After lunch, DearDaughter1 and I skipped school and I sat down to catch up on my reading for our Small Group meeting. I was behind by 4 chapters. I was able to read the current chapter of the book we're going through plus 2 more. I even got dinner started in time to get to our Small Group meeting on time. The day that I actually planned to be at Small Group early is the day that DearHubby called me to go and get him at a gas station. When I got there, he wasn't even there. He was able to get the car started, but I didn't even hear my phone ringing when he tried to call. It ended up being a longer night than usual because we had a little ice cream social afterwards as a little good-bye to the facilitator and his wife. They are moving to Washington.

For Funday Friday I took the girls to Target for a little Pizza Hut lunch after a trip to the doctor (DearDaughter3 had a tick bite and I didn't get all of the tick out) and then afterwards we went to Rita's Water Ice. I'm not sure why, but I was really exhausted and didn't do much of anything. School was hard to get through because all I wanted to do was rest. I think my back was still bothering me from Wednesday. When DearHubby got home I asked him if we could go out to eat. We went to a burger joint. When we got home, I started to feel really uncomfortable. The Braxton Hicks contractions that I felt were accompanied by a little cramping. The contractions even got stronger throughout the evening and I was afraid that I was in labor, yes preterm labor. I kept warning DearHubby that we might be going to the ER that night. It turns out that DearDaughter2 had diarrhea and DearHubby had an upset stomach. So, I think I had gas which intensified the Braxton Hicks. I was able to fall asleep and I woke up feeling better.

I made up for Funday Friday by doing a Funday Saturday with the girls. DearHubby has been working on our Ford Focus and he's so close to being done with the repairs to sell the car so while he worked on the car, the girls and I did a few fun things. Before lunch, I took the girls to a bike path and they rode their bikes for about an hour. Later in the afternoon, the girls and I "swam" in their little pool. I can't believe how quickly the day went by!

Sunday was a day of rest. We went to church and then spent the rest of the day resting at home. We all needed it.

I spent yesterday working on our budget and doing the normal grocery run. Later in the evening I made blueberry muffins from scratch. I purchased 2 pints of blueberries 2 weeks ago hoping to get to them and I am so glad I got to those muffins last night before the berries rotted.

Today, the girls and I were scheduled to go swimming, but before that I cleaned the floors. It wasn't scheduled to rain until later this afternoon so I was excited about getting the swimming in before the rain, but it started pouring on the drive over to my friend's house. I didn't even make it there. I turned the car around and came back home. The rain was coming down so hard that it took us almost an hour to get home. We're scheduled to go to the zoo tomorrow and I rescheduled the swimming for after the zoo, so I did school with the 2 older girls today. It went really well. I felt like I had a lot of energy today.

Dinner is actually ready and waiting, so I'll go now...

Homeschooling Thoughts...June 24, 2011

2011-06-24T08:04:00.009-04:00

I just wrote a note to a DearFriend expressing some thoughts on homeschooling...

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Hi DearFriend D,
I didn't mean to be so discouraging about homeschooling last night nor was I telling you not to do it. I only wanted to be honest about the challenges and difficulties with homeschooling. When I was in college I visited many of my friends' homes who were homeschooled and they displayed or I saw a very idealistic picture of what homeschooling is about and I didn't think there would be any challenges or difficulties.

One of the difficulties I have discovered with homeschooling is developing a routine of doing school at home. It's so easy to say, "Oh, well, let's just skip school today, because we always have tomorrow to make up the work." The next thing you know, you've got an overwhelming amount of work to make up because something always comes up the day you want to do school. It takes planning and discipline to establish and keep a routine.

Homeschooling also takes up a lot of time. I currently only do school with DearDaughter1 2 times a week and that's already overwhelming to me. Ideally school should be done in the morning, but I've been doing school in the afternoon when the 2 younger ones are napping and I just feel like on the 2 days I do school, my whole day is gone because I would only have a couple of hours to do anything in the morning before lunch and then after lunch we do school. By the time school is done, it's time to get dinner ready. My point is, I feel like I'm always behind in house work and it's hard to make outside committments because of the time commitment school takes up.

The last challenge I'm going to share is the challenge of finding good material. I think it's really neat that you have established a homeschooling mentor for you to help you in that area because it is hard to find the right material. I am going to start 1st Grade with DearDaughter1 in the Fall and I have been researching all year for the right material for her. I am trying to follow a Classical method myself and I needed to learn about the Classical method to understand it and be able to choose the right material. I thought I had my curriculum down pat, but when I went to the homeschooling convention, I realized how much more material there is out there and it was overwhelming! Perhaps you were going to strictly follow Stratford's curriculum, but maybe you'll find that something's not working for you or working for the girls, and you'd want to change material. It takes time and research to find just the right material.

After all that's said, I personally would not trade homeschooling for anything, especially while the girls are still young. I've gotten into a discussion with several people about whether the Bible mandates homeschooling and I personally don't think the Bible commands and makes it a law unto parents to homeschool their children, but, I, personally, would not send the girls off to school right now. There's a lot of areas that I need to improve on and often I think about sending the girls to school. However, I really believe that our children are our disciples at this moment in life, and I think that parents, at this young age, should play the greatest role in teaching and training them about living a life of Christ and for Christ. For me, sending our girls to school would mean, every day, being aware of the influences that they would be getting from their peers and teachers, and correcting that. If I did not stay on top that, then those influences would slowly change my girls' hearts and the change would be so subtle that I wouldn't notice it, and at the end of the year, we'd have girls who have been influenced that much away from thoughts of Christ. So, although I don't think it's wrong to send children off to school, I, right now, would not do it.

Lastly, above all, my greatest desirefor homeschooling is discipling and training my girls in Jesus Christ. The whole point of education is to give our children the right set of lenses to see the world and that is to see the world through the lens of Christ. Why do we teach our children to read? So that they can read the Bible. Why do we teach our children about Science? So that they can appreciate the wonder of God our creator. The whole reason for education is to see the World in light of Scripture and I don't think that education should be separate from Scripture. So, although I want to follow the Classical method, my first and foremost goal is to just saturate the girls' education with Christ, and if I don't completely follow the Classical method as it was intended, but have taught the girls and grounded the girls to see everything in light of Christ, then, I would feel that I was successful in homeschooling. Yes, getting a good job after college, is a good goal to have, but that shouldn't be the end goal of education. Our end goal for our children should be that they are Crazy in Love with our God and that they would live a life Radical for Him.

So, that's my few words on homeschooling...

HOME

Home Life...June 21, 2001

2011-06-21T20:38:00.045-04:00

I cannot believe that today is the longest day of the year. It sure did not seem like it. It’s 8:38pm as I’m beginning this post and sunset occurred 7 minutes ago. It wasn’t a very sunny day to begin with, mostly cloudy, so it seemed like the sun set even earlier tonight. It seems like sunset should occur after 9pm on the longest day of the year, but I guess that isn’t true. Maybe it gets dark after 9pm. Oh well.

I am sitting here, alone, on my rocking chair waiting for DearHubby to come in. He’s outside working on our Ford Focus. It’s the car that we totaled in THE accident last year. He’s almost done repairing it and the hope is to put it up for sale soon. This should help us pay off some debt.

Anyway, while I am sitting here, alone, I am thinking about how much I really miss DearFriendBecky, her kiddos, and her company. On Tuesday, after my OB appointment, when we got home after dinner, and after we got the girls in bed, I plopped down on the couch and cried. I was so exhausted. Well, after a good night’s rest, I felt so bad for not showing more emotion over DearFriendBecky's departure because I was so tired. Then, I began to really miss her, and even longed for her company.

I’ve thought about calling DearFriendBecky while she's in Washington, but when I finally have the time to remember, it’s either too late or too early. I hope she's having a wonderful time with her in-laws and her brother and his family.

I wanted to give more details about last Tuesday’s OB appointment. Overall, it was a very encouraging and comforting appointment. I really like the midwife I saw. She has the most experience at that practice and knew exactly the right way to treat my situation. We are not sure what the current position of the placenta is, but she gave me hope in 2 ways. First, Diane told me that she’s seen enough diagnosed Total Placenta Previa move out of the way by the end and so she still thinks I am able to have a vaginal birth. Second, even if I needed a C-section, she gave me hope in finding the best doctor to do the C-section, who will take into account our future desires for more children. I didn’t feel this kind of hope and encouragement from the last midwife that I saw. She only gave me fear and despair about the Total Placenta Previa, even making me believe in the worst case scenario of a hysterectomy. So there is hope in the Placenta Previa situation. Yet, there is another obstacle to a vaginal delivery. Baby is in a breech position. Although it is still very early, the midwife suggested that I tell my chiropractor about manipulating certain joints to help turn the baby now before she gets too big. I have a chiropractic appointment tomorrow.

Last Wednesday I watched LittleR, DearDaughter1’s friend, for 4 hours in the afternoon. After watching her, I thought about the discussion on home schooling vs. sending our kiddos to school and how I would do anything to home school our children. After just one year in a Christian pre-school, this little girl’s sweet personality has changed. She was very mean, especially towards my 2 younger girls, and she was very selfish. Her parents are very godly parents and they always want to do what is best for little LittleR and so I wondered if the changes in LittleR have been so subtle that they haven’t noticed it because they’re with her all the time. Yet, since we’re not with her all the time, the change is quite noticeable. LittleR even put DearDaughter1 in a difficult situation, one that I did not like, but didn’t find out about it until after she left. She told DearDaughter1 not to play with DearDaughter2 because she was boring and not fun. I could hear the sadness in DearDaughter1’s voice as she expressed this to me afterwards. I instructed DearDaughter1 to correct LittleR the next time and to tell her that DearDaughter2 is not boring and that she is fun and that they are going to play with her. I could see the dilemma DeaqrDaughter1 faced because she considers LittleR a best-friend, but DearDaughter2 is also her sister and best-friend, so I could see her dilemma about whom she should play with. Anyway, seeing this sort of influence on LittleR only after one year made me want to continue in our homeschooling efforts regardless of how difficult it is. It makes the girls’ rambunctiousness very innocent and in contrast to LittleR’s attitude, I can see that the training we’ve done has pointed our girls’ hearts to want to do what is pleasing to the Lord, even if they don’t always do it, they are conscious of it. I’m not saying that LittleR’s parents have done a bad job because I think her mom is a wonderful mom and her dad is a wonderful dad, but I can see how these outside influences have, maybe, dulled her consciousness a bit. So, I am more convinced now that it is critical to train your children in the Lord, especially, when they are young, so that they will be grounded in God’s word and are able to deflect these worldly influences and be a light among their peers, and I think homeschooling, at least at a young age, is the better route.

DearDaughter1 and I had a difficult school day on Thursday. I have been teaching her basic piano and we worked on the unit on half notes. She could not understand the concept of holding the note for 2 beats and I got impatient with her. I stopped the lesson so that my mind could process a way to teach her the concept and to give her mind some time to process what I was trying to teach her. We finished our other lessons and, I, the not giving up type, went back to the piano lesson. The break helped and DearDaughter1 was able to get the concept. School took much longer than normal.

We went to a Homeschooling Convention on Friday. We left the girls with a couple of babysitters and drove 2 hours north to the convention. We were able to quickly walk through the whole convention, but did not have enough time to really stop at any one booth to look through any books in detail. After 1 ½ hours of walking around, we attended a homeschooling workshop. It was called Worldview 101. I was disappointed with the workshop because we didn’t hear anything that we hadn’t heard before, but apparently, subsequent workshops were better and good. We ran into DearFriendPatti while we were there and she was the one who informed me of the other workshops later on. We told our babysitters that we’d be back by 6pm and so we left the convention right after the workshop. As we drove back, DearHubby and I discussed the worthiness of returning to the convention in the future. Our admission fee was free this year because our oldest child is 5 and parents of preschoolers got that privilege of attending for free. The normal price per couple was $53. We decided that if we could find a babysitter to watch the girls for the whole convention weekend and if we had the opportunity to stay for the whole convention, then it would be worth it. It’s very nice to see a good amount of homeschooling material in front of you to look through in detail. You just need the time to do that. Even if you don’t purchase anything at the convention, it’s good to get the exposure. Fortunately, I had a few books in mind that I already wanted to purchase and I somewhat had an idea of the online price. The convention price was still higher than the online price, but I thought that it would have all balanced out because I probably would have had to pay for shipping online. I do have to say that if we return in the future and I found a book I was interested in but I didn’t know the online price, I wouldn’t purchase it at the convention, but would just wait until I got home to order it online. For example, I saw Saxon Math 2 on sale at the convention, but the convention sale price was still $20 higher than what I could get it for at CBD. So, the convention price is not necessarily the best price. We also got there right when the doors opened and the first 800 people received a CD full of coupons for online purchase, which makes shopping online all the more attractive.

I looked through the free CD on Saturday and found a good Christ-centered curriculum that I am considering for DearDaughter2 and DearDaughter1 in the future; Christian Liberty Press. I don’t know if it follows a Classical Education model, but I like the Christ-centered material. As I thought about how I will choose my material, I think I am leaning more towards saturating our material with Christ than the classics, at least at the early stages. Jeff Baldwin, the speaker of the Worldview 101 workshop, spoke about choosing the right eyeglass to see the world as it really is and the right eyeglass is Christ. It’s so critical that our children’s worldview is formed through the filter of Christ. I spent most of Saturday and a lot of Monday reworking DearDaughter1’s 1st Grade curriculum for the Fall, putting together a Preschool curriculum for DearDaughter2, and planning what I will do with DearDaughter3 while I work with both DearDaughter1 and DearDaughter2. I would like to switch our school time from the afternoon to the morning so that I will have the afternoons to focus on the new baby, rest, and keep up with chores.

I am feeling the weight of adding a new baby, especially, coming in the Fall.

We didn’t do much for DearHubby on Father’s Day. Our church has a little playground, so he took the girls to the playground after the service. Then we were invited to an impromptu lunch with 3 other families. It was nice. When we got home, we just rested.

I had quite a stressful morning yesterday. I was on my way to the grocery store when the engine suddenly stopped on. I slowly hit the brakes and pulled over to the side of the road. I called DearHubby and he was able to coach me to get the car running again so that I could get home. He came home early to fix the car.

Today, I took DearDaughter1 to her 2nd swimming lesson. We are making great progress. She was able to get her whole head under water and was able to jump into the water from the pool ladder. I was very proud of her! Next week I will try to get her to float on her back and to jump into the pool from the edge. I think that if DearDaughter1 is able to float on her back and feel like she can get out of a difficult situation by turning to her back she will feel more comfortable in the water and I can start teaching her how to kick. Adding swimming strokes will come last, but I am hopeful that by the end of the summer she will be swimming!

So, I am at the end of my post. Good-night.

Home Life...June 20, 2011

2011-06-20T17:50:00.004-04:00

Here's a quick summary of what's happened since the last update:
Sunday, June 5th
- DearHubby left for Mexico
- Took the girls to church. Had planned to take girls only for Sunday School, but then stayed for the whole service. It was nice as a family provided a homemade frozen dinner for us.

Monday, June 6th
- Went grocery shopping
- Prepared our home for DearFriendBecky and family
- Finished up laundry for the week

Tuesday, June 7th
- Got up early to put away last of laundry
- Picked up DearFriendBecky and family at the train station. They missed their train twice so twice, I got the girls loaded into the car. The first time I was actually on my way. The second time, DearFriendBecky caught me before I got in my car. Got home in time to make a good grilled chicken dinner...

Wednesday, June 8th:
- Got up early and cooked a fancy breakfast for DearFriendBecky and family. Her hubby is a pastor and they were here because her hubby had a conference at Sandy Cove, MD. He was picked up about 10am.
- Went to Wal-Mart to get some essentials for DearFriendBecky.
- Had a nice lunch and then rested a little. Spent the rest of the day brainstorming with DearFriendBecky about a car. She hadn't reserved a rental and when she tried, they wouldn't allow an out of stater rent without a credit card. I posted something on Facebook and blessedly a friend responded.
- After dealing with the car issue I got dinner ready. Glad I cooked the ground beef beforehand so making the tacos went really quick.
- Stayed up late with DearFriendBecky to chat. Probably went to bed around midnight or afterwards.

Thursday, June 9th:
- Spent the morning at DearFriendPatti's house. Talked a lot about everything and took a tour of DearFriendPatti's new library. This was DearFriendBecky's favorite part of the day.
- Received coupons for free Chick Fil A meals from a friend so we went out to Chick Fil A for lunch. This was my favorite part of the day, saving over $35 worth of food!
- Got home and prepared the little kiddie pool to warm up.
- Spent the afternoon with the girls outside in the kiddie pool.

Friday, June 10th:
- Went strawberry and pea picking in the morning. It was very hot and humid.
- DearFriendBecky took us out to lunch at Moe's.
- DearHubby was home from Mexico about 4pm. He was feeling very sick and tire. He got Montezuma's Revenge while he was in Mexico.
- Took DearFriendBecky to pick up the car at our friend's house.
- Had a nice steak dinner at home.

Saturday, June 11th:
- Got up early to help prepare an on the road breakfast for DearFriendBecky and to bid her and kiddos good-bye for the weekend. They left to meet up with her hubby in Sandy Cove.
- Cooked a nice breakfast for DearHubby and girls.
- Took the girls to AC Moore to see their big Sidewalk Summer Sale. Didn't find much, but allowed time for DearHubby to rest from his travels and illness.
- Cleaned the house and did laundry in preparation for the following week.
- Rested a bit and then went to the mall with the family to enjoy a liesurely walk around the mall and to eat dinner at our favorite Japanese Cafe. Then, we took a trip to the bookstore to enjoy another liesurely walk.

Sunday, June 12th:
- Went to church
- Attended our church's fundraiser for the teens' mission trip to Jamaica. Signed up to bring dessert and completely forgot to bring it. So, I left during the service to pick up a few sides because the organizer of the event said there were enough desserts. Spent quite a bit of money on the event.
- Rested the rest of the day because tired from the week

Monday, June 13th:
- Got up early to fold and put laundry away
- Went grocery shopping
- Did school with DearDaughter1
- Picked up DearFriendBecky and dropped off car at friend's house
- Had a nice burger and hot dog dinner

Tuesday, June 14th:
- Got up early to prepare breakfast
- Took DearDaughter1 to her 1st swimming lesson of the summer. We accomplished blowing bubbles in the water and getting part of her head under water.
- While out with DearDaughter1, DearFriendBecky watched the 2 other girls, did her laundry, packed, and prepared sandwiches for our drive to Philly.
- When we got home, I quickly prepared more food for the drive, then we drove to Philly. Stayed to chat with friends a little.
- Rested a little before heading back out again for my OB appointment.
- Had a pre-school graduation to attend, but was too tired to go.
- Went to Chick Fil A for dinner because I didn't have time to prepare dinner and forgot to defrost dinner that was given to us last Sunday.
- After putting girls to bed, I cried because I was so exhausted.

Thoughts about the week:
- The time flew by so quickly and I didn't have time to long for DearHubby like I did the first time he was in Mexico.
- It was one of the most exhausting week I've ever had. I felt like it was non-stop work for me. I enjoyed hosting DearFriendBecky and her kiddos and we had a lot of fun and a great time of fellowship. However, I wanted to make DearFriendBecky's stay very comfortable and enjoyable and so I wanted to stay one step ahead. The house was picked up more than usual and I didn't rest as much I normally do. It was nice having an extra set of eyes on the girls and extra kiddos to keep the girls occupied, but it was still very tiring.
- I miss DearFriendBecky and the girls cried when we said good-bye to the kiddos. Wish we lived closer to visit more often.

Home Life...June 6, 2011

2011-06-06T12:35:00.000-04:00

12:35pm
Just got home and putting groceries away...On the way home I picked up a car seat for DearFriendBecky's DearDaughter2. Now, she doesn't need to bring a car seat for her.

1:22pm
Whew...Just got the groceries put away and I'm going to sit for a few minutes before I get lunch on for the girls.

So, I have our "Master" bedroom all set up for DearFriend Becky and her kiddos :) There's 2 Pack N Plays set up, one for her DearSon1 and one for her DearDaughter2. Her DearDaughter2's Pack N Play has wheels and it is currently sitting at the foot of the bed, so that I can get to my clothes, but when DearFriendBecky goes in to put her down, she can roll it out to have more access. DearFriendBecky wasn't going to mind sleeping in the living room, but I think letting her stay in the "Master" bedroom will be so much better. She will have about 99% privacy in that room. I will need to get in and out of there to grab my clothes for the next day and maybe a diaper and wipes supply when I run out, but her kiddos will be able to privately take naps and we are able to stay out in the living room as late as we'd like, just in case we'd like to visit.

I also have our dinner menu figured out, at least 'til Friday:
- Tuesday - Grilled chicken w/ Chicken flavored rice, and a garden veggie stir fry
- Wednesday - Tacos
- Thursday - Spaghetti w/ California veggies or a chicken meal that a friend from church gave w/ salad
- Friday - Grilled steaks w/ Chicken flavored rice, and a garden veggie stir fry

Here's a few more things for me to think about:
- I was just informed that there is a lunch for the Women's Bible Study on Wednesday. Should DearFriendBecky and I go to that? We would need to leave by 11am.

- As far as taking DearDaughter1 to the lab on Wednesday, I have actually decided not to do that. I thought that if the younger girls wake up to strangers, they might not like it too much, because they probably would not be up when I need to leave with DearDaughter1. So, DearHubby is taking off on June 17th because we are going to a Homeschooling Convention that weekend and I can stop by the lab with DearDaughter1 before we leave for the convention.

- I also just looked at my Calendar and our Small Group meeting is this week. It is on Thursday night at 7pm. Our Small Group knows that DearHubby's gone and DearFriendBecky will be here, so I don't think we're expected to be there. We will already have a full morning with DearFriendPatti and we may just want to rest in the evening. I am leaning towards staying home, but if I get to doing this week's study and feel like I have the energy to bring all 3 girls with me, I may consider going. I won't obligate DearFriendBecky to go, though. It usually goes to 9pm and we usually don't get home until 10pm.

- Lastly, it will be hot and humid this week. I am planning on letting the girls swim in their little pool. I should let DearFriendBecky know so that she'll have her mind set on letting her DearSon1 play and splash for a time. He might enjoy playing in the water while it's hot out :)

4:18
So, I got word from DearFriendBecky and as I expected she would rather stay home over going to the Women's Bible Study lunch and Small Group meeting. Being away from home is hard enough and so having a busy schedule on top of that is even harder, especially with an almost 2YO and a 5MO. I am not expected to be at either meeting, so if I feel like I don't have the energy to go to either one, I will not.

I am currently working on 2 loaves of banana chocolate chip bread. One loaf is take over to DearFriendPatti's and the other loaf is for us to enjoy at home :)

I will also bake some chocolate chip/m&m cookies. The girls have been asking for them and I decided that since I've already got all the ingredients out, I should just go ahead and bake the cookies.

Hmmm, I have a loaf of cinnamon bread that is getting old (that's what DearHubby usually eats for breakfast and he's not here this week) and I was thinking for breakfast on Wednesday I would make a French Toast Casserole, eggs, and bacon. That way we could send DearFriendBecky's hubby off to Sandy Cove with a full stomach :D

Alright, back to my cookies...The loaves are in the oven and I thought I would mix up the cookie dough while the bread is baking. Then I'm hoping to finish up laundry tonight so that I won't have laundry to do tomorrow and I'll be free in the afternoon.

4:36pm
Along with the French Toast Casserole, eggs, and bacon, I thought I would have strawberries and blueberries available on the side...

4:51pm
One loaf is out of the oven...16 minutes left on the other loaf...I did mix the 2 loaves separately...Wasn't sure if I had enough ingredients (blush)

Cookie dough is mixed...Just gotta put them on cookie sheets now :)

Girls are nicely playing, but I will soon be putting on a video for them...

But first, let me get them a snack...Strawberries and grapes...

5:16pm
2nd loaf of banana bread out...2 batches of cookies in oven...

One advantage of DearHubby not being here is that the girls and I can have leftovers for dinner. There usually isn't enough leftovers the next day to feed all of us again. So, I'm happy that dinner is already cooked and I just have to warm it up. I made BBQ chicken with mac and cheese and green beans for yesterday's dinner and all I have to do is nuke it tonight :D

11:11
I was just thinking of something funny...I don't think DearFriendBecky has seen me not pregnant since her years at Westminster :D I was pregnant for her wedding. I was pregnant when we saw each other in California...and I'm pregnant now :D

Anyway, I'm signing off for the night :)

May the Lord give DearFriendBecky and family traveling mercies and I will see them at the train station at 2pm or a little after tomorrow. I am looking forward to this visit with this long time DearFriend!!!

11:51pm
Heading to bed...

Home Life...June 1, 2010

2011-06-01T07:52:00.003-04:00

7:52am
It is Wednesday morning and our "at home vacation" is over. DearHubby really enjoyed his vacation time and we enjoyed all that time we got to spend with Daddy. Now back to reality :D

I was sitting here this morning thinking about the month of June and remembering that I will be "busy" with doctor's appointments again. Some time this month, I need to take DearDaughter3 to the pediatrician and the allergist. I also have my regular OB appointment and chiropractor to go to.

While I was thinking of doctor's appointments, I remembered that I needed to take DearDaughter1 to the lab for some blood work. I was hoping to do that some time while DearHubby was on vacation, but completely forgot. I wonder if my DearFriendBecky, who will be with us, would mind if I took DearDaughter1 to the lab while she is here? I would need to leave the other girls here at home because I would need to hold DearDaughter1 down while they draw blood. DearDaughter1 is very fearful of needles and at her 5 year old well appointment I had to hold her in a bear hug just so they could administer her shots. I will need all my strength to hold DearDaughter1 down for them to draw blood. I am thinking that I will take DearDaughter1 to the lab on the Wednesday my DearFriendBecky is here or on the Monday she is here. It has to be done first thing in the morning before she eats (and I would need to take her 1st urine sample) so we would probably leave between 7-7:30am and be back at least by 9am. It wouldn't hurt to ask for her help, right?

I'm also thinking about other issues while my DearFriendBecky is with us. My DearFriendPatti emailed me last night confirming our June 9th meeting date. We meet every other week just to get together for a time of fellowship and our next meeting is during the time DearFriendBecky will be with us. There's 3 options I can think of:
1. The girls and I could just go over to DearFriendPatti's house while DearFriendBecky stays at our house. She would have our house to herself for at least 3 hours.
2. DearFriendBecky and kiddos could come with us to DearFriendPatti's house and she already knows DearFriendBecky will be with us and is happy to have her over.
3. I could reschedule with DearFriendPatti for another day.
My personal preference is either #1 or #2, but since I will give DearFriendBecky an Option #3, if that is what she is most comfortable doing, then I will reschedule.

Lastly, I know DearFriendBecky flies out of here on Wednesday, June 15th and she was planning on going to another friend's on Tuesday, June 14th. I have been thinking about swimming lessons for DearDaughter1 this summer and I looked into the Y and also into private lessons. The Y was a little too costly and the private lessons are during VBS week. So, I talked with a friend who has a swimming pool and she is allowing me to use her pool every Tuesday to teach DearDaughter1. She's taking a vacation the last week of June and the first week of July. We talked about when to start these lessons and as I looked at the Calendar, if we waited until DearFriendBecky were gone, then I would only have 1 week of lessons before my friend leaves for vacation and then we wouldn't start again until mid-July. So, I told this friend that we could start June 14th. In addition, if DearFriendBecky won't be here until Tuesday afternoon, on June 7th, I might see if the girls and I could do that date too. That would give us 3 swimming lessons before she leaves for vacation. Just thinking out loud about next week's details.

10:33am
I need to head to the store this morning...but I just got word from DearFriendBecky!

She is willing to watch the girls while I take DearDaughter1 to the lab :)

I will also let DearFriendPatti know that DearFriendBecky will be coming with us. I am happy the 2 will finally meet!

OK, gotta get ready to go to store...

10:35am
As for the swimming schedule, I'll try to work the swimming schedule around so that I'll be home before DearFriendBecky leaves on the 14th. I want to be there to bid them "farewell."

2:06pm
So, I went to the store today because I had some items to return. Ms. Greiner, the girls' benefactor, purchased matching tops and bottoms for them and gave it to them on Sunday. I had them try on the clothes today and the bottoms didn't work for the girls. They were all too small. So, before the bottoms sat here at home waiting to be returned and they were no longer available at the store, I decided to return them today. They were Target brand shorts so we went to Target. I got a $12 gift card back.

We went to the clothes section and I found replacement skirts for the shorts. The tops the girls were given is very colorful so I decided to allow the girls to choose the color of their skirts. I purchased a purple skirt for DearDaughter1, a yellow skirt for DearDaughter2, and a torquoise skirt for DearDaughter3. They were so excited to put on the skirts when they got home and they have been dancing like little ballerinas since.

While we were at Target, I decided to check out their shoes section because the girls didn't have any white dress shoes/sandals for the summertime. My "tradition" has been to purchase black dress shoes for the fall/winter time and white shoes/sandals for the spring/summer time. They had a cute pair of mary janes on clearance and so I purchased the girls' summertime dress shoes. They kind of look like ballerina shoes, so they've had their new shoes, new skirts, and new tops (from Ms. Greiner) on playing ballerina. They are so CUTE!!! It makes me wonder if I should try dance lessons for DearDaughter1. She really looks like she'd be into it.

I used to be into completely matching the girls outfits, meaning, if I did match them, everything would be completely the same. However, as I'm looking at them in their different colored skirts, I am really enjoying how they all match but yet there's also variety. It really makes each of the girls look their personality.

2:22pm
Well, I was just resting for a little bit, but I do need to get DearDaughter3 down for her nap and then do school with DearDaughter1.

Oh...Although I haven't talked much about housekeeping these past few days, I have actually been good at keeping up with chores. It seemed easier while DearHubby was home because he was able to watch the girls while I worked. I do have to say that I don't get to do much detailed cleaning so the nooks and crannies hardly gets done (blush)

4:40pm
Well, now I'm going to do some reading to the girls and then they will go out and swim in their pool...

Home Life...May 31, 2011

2011-05-31T22:09:00.001-04:00

Storybook Land was a very nice place to take the girls! It's a mix of rides, catered to little ones, and displays of classic children's stories and nursery rhymes. It brings all these stories and rhymes to life! I would recommend parents taking their kiddos to this park.

The other nice feature about the park is that it's shaded. Whoever planned the park planned it really well to cater to children. It was up in the 90s today, but because the park was shaded, we were not as hot.

Despite the park being a fun place to be, it was quite a stressful day. We went with a friend's pre-school group and we did not communicate how we were going to go around the park. We got there earlier and started our tour of the park as a family. When our friends arrived, our tour as a family was disrupted. DearDaughter1 and DearDaughter2 ran off with our friend's daughter because she had been there before and she had an idea of all the rides she wanted to go on. DearHubby and I wanted to take our time so that the girls could enjoy looking at all the displays. It was very difficult keeping up with our friend's little girl. Once a ride was done, she'd just run off to the next ride she wanted to go on and our friend just allowed it. Since our girls are good friends with our friend's daughter wherever she would go they would run off and follow. So, for a little while, it was all about chasing our kids around the park. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore because I spent $13 for each of us to enjoy the park and not chase kids around. DearDaughter2 and DearDaughter3 couldn't keep up with DearDaughter1 and her friend so they finally came back to us. We finally called DearDaughter1 to us and told her that we were there as a family and that she should stay with us. We explained that she was not being considerate to her little sisters who could not keep up with her and that we were not enjoying running around the park. Our friend heard us explain that to DearDaughter1 and she tried to be considerate to us and tried to be considerate to our needs by asking her daughter to choose rides that we'd want to go on too. Well, then, she complained that she wanted to go on this ride and not that ride. Finally, in a nice way, I told my friend that they could go ahead and do whatever rides they wanted to do and we would just meet up some time. For a little while, DearDaughter1, was then rebellious about being with us because she wanted the same independance that her friend had in choosing where to go. I had to take DearDaughter1 aside and explain to her that whether she is with her friends or not, she is always to be obedient to Daddy and Mommy and that she is always to be considerate of others over herself and by whining and crying the way she was, she was being both disobedient and inconsiderate. DearDaughter1 eventually had a good time with us, but once in awhile she would complain about wanting to be with her friend. When we finally saw the whole park as a family I called our friend so that we could meet up with them. Nothing had changed. Her little daughter was still dictating where they should go. At that point, I finally didn't mind because we got to see the park.

Anyway, later on, I asked DearHubby how we could have handled the situation better. It was really nice of our friend to invite us to go with them and because of going with them we got the tickets at a discounted price. It would have been nice if we did stay with them. DearHubby said that all we needed to do was communicate with our friend that we needed to go at a slower pace than what we were going because we hadn't seen the park before. I told DearHubby that our friend was trying to be considerate of us but I just saw conflict after every ride and that's when I thought splitting up was better to avoid the conflict. DearHubby said that in order to avoid conflict the parent should dictate what ride to go on next and not the child...So, after he said that, I thought, maybe splitting up was probably the best choice because I couldn't see our friend stopping her daughter from choosing where to go next...

I was really disappointed that I got stressed out over today. There are people all over the world who are so poor and don't have a house to live in or food to eat every day and I stressed out over what ride or activity to go onto next at an amusement park. This is why I talked it over with DearHubby afterwards about if we could have done it better. Was I being too selfish about wanting to enjoy the park as a family and was I not being considerate enough about DearDaughter1's fun with her friend? Should we have just let our girls run wild with their friend? We had missed so much while they ran around that we actually had to back track because of it, but should that have mattered? As I think about those questions, I keep thinking: "No, I wasn't being selfish, I think DearDaughter1 and her friend were being selfish and inconsiderate and at least DearDaughter1 needed to learn about one anothering..."..."No, we should not just let our girls run wild and dictate to us what she wants to do because our girls' responsibility at this age is obedience to Daddy and Mommy and not the other way around..."..."The only reason savoring the park mattered is because we did pay $63, almost $100 to go to the park, and if we didn't savor all that the park had to offer then it would have been a very unwise use of our money."

So despite being able to Biblically "justify" us splitting up, I feel bad about doing so...I know I hurt our friend's feelings by splitting up from them...I did apologize and explain to our friend as we walked out why I felt like we had to split up. She told me that it would not have been fun for us if we didn't have the flexibility to enjoy the park as we would have wanted to so it's good that we did what we did. I guess I wanted to hear her say, "It's ok. I understand." But she didn't say that, so even though I can "justify" us splitting up from our friend, I can't "justify" hurting her feelings...So, I guess the question is, "Though I was able to justify splitting up from our friend, was it the right thing to do if it hurt her feelings?"

Well, that's today's update...

Home Life...May 30, 2011

2011-05-30T12:38:00.000-04:00

12:38pm
We are on Day 5 of our "at home vacation" and we are grilling hamburgers and hot dogs for lunch. I purchased a small swimming pool for the girls on sale for $15 while I was grocery shopping today and so we'll have a little down time here at home today.

We went to Sesame Place on Thursday (then to Small Group afterwards). It was a very full and fun day! I was a bit disappointed that I had to pay "full" price for DearDaughter3 because she was still very limited in the rides she could go on. She spent most of the time in the stroller. (I put "full" in "" because we did get the tickets at a discounted rate.) However, despite that little "glitch" with paying for DearDaughter3, Sesame Place is really a fun place to go for both parents and kiddos!!! It was great that the school kids were still in school and we went on a Thursday so we almost had the park to ourselves! Our MOPS group went and it was nice walking around the park seeing familiar faces here and there. The park also has enough rides and activities to keep the fam busy for a whole day, but small enough so that you don't spend the whole time walking getting from one ride/activity to another. In addition, the stormy weather finally stopped and we had a nice sunny day. It was actually like mid-summer weather, so it was very hot and humid. We were all glad they had a water park and that was where we spent the last half of the day. I can't say it enough, we had a lot of fun!!!

On Friday, we went to the Philly Zoo!...

Interrupted for awhile because the girls came in soaked. They couldn't wait for the pool water to get warm and they basically just went swimming in their PJs :D So, I got them changed into their swim suits...

We went to the Philly Zoo on Friday. It was another hot day so I think a lot of the animals stayed inside or were asleep. However, there are a lot of indoor exhibits too and so there were a lot of places for us to find relief from the heat (whew) The girls got their pics taken next to their favorite animals. DearDaughter1 got her picture with a sleeping piggy. DearDaughter2 got her pic taken with the crocs. DearDaughter3 got her pic taken with the giraffes. Mommy got her picture taken with the gorillas. Though I was looking forward to seeing the gorillas because I was so awed by them last time, I actually enjoyed the giraffes this time too (which was closed last time we were there).

On Saturday, I took the girls shopping a little at The Children's Place. They had Vans like shoes on sale for $5. I got each of the girls a pair. Great deal being they are normally $12.50! We also got their friend a birthday gift. When we got home from shopping, it was time to take the girls to their friend's birthday party. It was perfect because our Missionary Friend visited us that evening. He's here in the states from India. So, we were able to have a nice and peaceful dinner with Missionary Friend while the girls were at the birthday party (DearDaughter3 stayed with us).

Missionary Friend's in a dilemma as he left his new and pregnant bride in India. She was denied a visa and his plane ticket out of here is July 23rd. He's been here since mid April. He was hoping to get a flight out early, but there is a $750 fee to change his flight. So, he's not sure if he should change his flight to go home on June 20th or to just stay until July 23rd. Being the "selfish" wife that I am, my 2 cents advice was for him to get the earlier flight out and trust that God will provide the money.

I wish I could give all his updates now because they have so many prayer needs. Maybe I will do that another day this week :)

Yesterday was our day of rest. Spent the day at church and then had a lot of down time here at home :) My body needed that down time as my back was really stiff. I was able to recover my back good enough to go grocery shopping today.

So, we are up to our Monday update. As I said earlier, we are going to have another nice day here at home. We are grilling burgers and hot dogs for lunch and then either grilling steaks or chicken for dinner. I burned down our grill last year :D so it's been out of commission. We are initiating it today because DearHubby got it fixed on Saturday while the girls and I were out. The grill is old and while I was grilling last year, the hose to the propane tank fell off and the grill went into flames :D So, technically it was not my fault (blush)

This evening, DearHubby's going to do a little camp fire and we're going to make SMORES!

It's "vacation" time like these and even other great memory making family moments that I really do feel so blessed to live in this country and am thankful for all the military men and women who have fought for our freedom. We really are a free nation to be able to take times off like this to enjoy God's blessings. In the book I'm currently reading, Disiplines of a Godly Family, it talks about how 10% of Israel's income was set aside just for feasting and that it is a biblical pattern to enjoy the blessings God has given to us. So, I am thankful for God blessing our nation and am thankful that we have the opportuntiy to enjoy His blessings.

I am also thankful that we have the freedom to worship God, but I pray that this freedom doesn't make us so comfortable that we put our riches and our gains and our comfort and our happiness above and before God, whom we are free to worship. I have been thinking on the life that Missionary Friend and his wife have chosen to live in India and I pray that if we are called to give up all for His name's sake that we would do it in a flash and that as I am here now that I learn to be thankful and content where He has us to do His will and not complain.

1:50pm
Oh, just to clarify, we are, daily, to give up of ourselves to follow Christ and that nothing should be put before Him, but I do admit that we have alot here in America and so if God calls us out of the material "wealth" we have that I would be delighted to do so but since we have been blessed with much (at least much more than others in other nations) that I ought to be thankful and not complain and even use what we've been given to honor and minister to others.

4:30pm
I took the girls out to Old Navy because they had a 30-50% of Clearance Price sale so I wanted to see if they had any Fall/Winter clothes for DearDaughter1. They had Fall/Winter clothes, but not in DearDaughter1's size.

I checked out the Male and Female Infant/Toddler section and I purchased a couple of tops and a pair of shorts for a friend's DearDaughter2 as gifts. They didn't have anything good for her DearSon1:( These are the friends who will be with us next week.

I'm excited for my friend to see what I got for her DearDaughter2. I think she'll like them :)

Well, I need to get some chicken marinated...

4:45pm
Oh, by the way, the graduation gifts came in just in time and they look great. I'll have to take a pic of the book and the bracelet. I think both were appropriate to get :)

9:10pm
Nite (hug)

Headed out early tomorrow to go to Storybook Land...

Home Life...May 25, 2011

2011-05-25T11:22:00.002-04:00

11:22am
I have about 30 minutes before the banana bread I'm baking is done, so I thought I'd sit for a few minutes to say "hi."

I have already gone to a Chiropractor's appointment, put in a loaf of banana bread in the oven, and washed the dishes from last night. It has been a full morning.

I think while I'm currently online, I will order the graduation gift for our pastor's daughter and the Little House book series. I've decided to give our pastor's daughter one of my favorite...

I was interrupted because I needed to change DearDaughter3's diaper. Our DearFriends The V's gave us a good supply of diapers but they are the really cheap and generic kind and if I'm not on top of the diaper changing, DearDaughter3's pants gets soaked. Her pants were soaked.

Anyway, as I was saying, I've decided to give our pastor's daughter one of my favorite fictional books, Stepping Heavenward, and the bracelet engraved with the verse "In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight."

When the banana bread is done I have a marble cake to bake. Our Small Group started a "tradition" with revealing the gender of babies through a reveal cake. If a couple is having a boy then the cake is blue and if the couple is having a girl then the cake is pink. So, DearHubby and I have decided to do a practical joke cake, which is why it will be a marble cake. We thought the marble would represent the white skinned husband coming together with a brown skinned wife :D On the top of the cake will be the word "elpis", which is the greek word for the name we are giving the baby. We are going to make our Small Group work for this gender reveal :D

Well, I need to change DearDaughter3 again. She just informed me that she went #2 :D

If I come on again, it probably won't be until after lunch...

11:55am
I just placed the order on the book and bracelet. Wish I made a decision about the graduation gift sooner. I'm not sure if the items will come in on time. I decided to give the 2 gifts because I thought the story of Stepping Heavenward went hand in hand with the inscription on the bracelet. That book is always so inspiring for me because it is so practical and it is a great example of living out the verse on the bracelet. I wanted the graduation gift to mean something and I needed to work that through in my mind. Wish my mind had worked faster :D

11:56am
I'm going to get the marble cake in the oven before lunch...

1:27pm
Marble cake is out of the oven and cooling and lunch is done.

It's dessert time. Then, I will be putting the younger girls down for a nap and do school with Gracelyn...

I have a very dear friend staying with us from June 7th to June 14th. Here is a list I gave her of things to expect.:

- I do give the girls about 2 to 2 1/2 hours of TV time a day because that gives me some time to get stuff done or to just sit and relax...The first show is usually Curious George (8am) OR The Cat in the Hat (8:30am). The second show is usually Sesame Street (10am). The third show is usually Clifford (1pm). The last show is usually a video so that I can cook dinner.

- When the girls are not watching TV and I am not spending time with them (ie reading, playing, homeschooling) they are playing with their toys. The house will usually seem messy because toys will be all over the floor, but the toys are usually picked up some time in the middle of the day and then once again before bedtime. If they are not picked up in the middle of the day they are definitely picked up at the end of the day. Toys on the floor usually are not a big deal to clean up, so I try not to stress over it and I don't want you to stress over it either (which is why I'm giving you a head's up about this). What I'm saying is to please not feel like you need to pick toys up and put them away while you are here.

- I remember when I went to visit my sister there seemed to be a lot of refereeing going on from my part and from my sister's part. I wanted to give you a head's up that there MIGHT be some "rivalry" between DearDaughter3 and your DearSon1. You'll also see the girls' normal rivalry. If you see that, it's not because my girls are bad or your DearSon1 is learning to be bad. They are all works in progress and especially DearDaughter3 and your DearSon1 are in a stage where they do not have an idea about sharing. So, since your DearSon1 is a "stranger" coming into "DearDaughter3's territory" she may be protective of her toys. This is one reason I am not planning to do much while you are here because I am anticipating spending a lot of time guiding and refereeing the kiddos. It's not going to be quiet, that's for sure :)

If I think of anything more, I will let you know.

2:13pm
I was too excited to share the picture of the reveal cake. The girls were excited to watch me "build" the cake. I have never made a layered round cake before so this was all new to us. I ran out of the letter "S" so I used the number 5 in "Elpis" :D

Off to put the younger 2 down for their naps...

9:40pm
I really like the name Victoria but DearHubby didn't really like that name and then we were at the mall this past weekend and we passed by the Victoria's Secret store and all the revealing pictures on the wall just really made me gag and I decided her name will not be Victoria. That is not why DearHubby didn't like that name. He just didn't like it. Then, I was wishing another friend Hope a happy birthday on FB last week and I asked DearHubby what he thought about that name and he liked it right away. It had to grow on me because I was really set on Victoria. Then, I looked up "hope" in the concordance and I really liked the verse Titus 3:7 and that's when I was at peace with the name, "so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the HOPE of eternal life."

9:51pm
Hope goes really well with being able to share the gospel through our girls' names. I have actually had the opportunity to do that on a few occasions because of their names so I'm glad that I can share that eternal hope through baby #4's name :)

10:27pm
Well, I'm off to bed...Good night!

Homeschooling Thoughts...May 23, 2011

2011-05-23T14:53:00.001-04:00

2:53pm
A friend recommended reading DearDaughter1 The Little House series over the Narnia series because she thought the Narnia series might be too hard for a 5/6 year old, even for a read aloud.

I am so thankful for this friend's opinions about the Narnia series and I am considering her recommendations :)

3:35pm
Currently, I am thinking that if I don't do the Narnia Series, I will do Winnie the Pooh, Little Stuart (coz I don't have Charlotte's Web), Amelia Bedelia, and The Little House series...I only have the Little House books a friend gave me...

3:46pm
Just looked up the Little House series and the whole 9 volume set is on sale for $36.84 on Amazon.com! I think for $36.84, that's a good deal + FREE shipping!!! If I buy this set, I may give those books my friend gave me to DearDaughter1's friend, Rebecca. I am so thankful to my friend's suggestion :) I think DearDaughter1 will enjoy the Little House series better. I don't regret purchasing the Narnia set at all because I've never read them myself, so I may just read them for my own liesure and I am still excited to read that series to our children :) DearFriendPatti's children have fond memories of their parents reading the Narnia set to them, so I want my own children to have that same fond memory...and now they'll have fond memories of listening to the Little House series too :)

Home Life...May 23, 2011

2011-05-23T07:06:00.002-04:00

7:06am
For the past week, the girls have been getting up earlier than normal and I feel the trend is just going to continue. I think the sun light through the blinds is what's making them think it's time to get up, so they've been waking up around 6:30ish. They had been waking up about 7:30ish. They will usually be good about staying in their rooms until 7:30 so activity in our house won't start about 7:30. It had been 8.

I'm working on our budget (bookkeeping) before we head out to do groceries.

2:53pm
The girls and I got home about 1ish from grocery shopping, I just got done eating lunch, and the girls are working on their desserts (about 2:15pm).

It has been rainy/stormy/cloudy with minimum sun for over a week now. It also looks like it will be rainy/stormy/cloudy with minimum sun this week too. I'm a little bummed because DearHubby took off Thursday, Friday, and Tuesday for a mini-family vacation. We're not going anywhere, but we got 1/2 price tickets for Sesame Place and Storybook Land (2 kids' amusement parks in the area) through different groups. We thought these would be good substitutes for not going to Disney World this summer. So, I hope the dates we are scheduled to go to these parks will be somewhat nice to be outdoors.

DearHubby will be gone from June 5th-June 10th. He'll be back Friday evening.

...Well, I need to get DearDaughter3 down for a nap and then I need to get our weekly laundry done today. Since we're doing a mini-family vacation, I need to try to get as many chores done before Thursday. Tomorrow morning I'm headed to DearFriendPatti's house and tomorrow afternoon I'm planning to do school so that we don't miss out on any school this week so I need to try to get my Tuesday chores done today.

9:51pm
Signing out for the evening. Still want to get the laundry folded and dishes washed.

Home Life...May 21, 2011

2011-05-21T19:13:00.000-04:00

If there's one thing my mom did/does well, it is cook. I am horribly missing my mom right now because I am horribly missing her cooking. My parents were very picky eaters, particularly my dad, so we hardly ate out at all. They really enjoyed their filipino food :D So, it didn't matter what time my mom got done cooking, she cooked every day of the week. Growing up, we probably ate out once a month, if that. [sigh]

We ate out a lot this week. I didn't plan my Tuesday well enough and my doctor's appointment time snuck up on me. By the time I was done with my appointment, it was past dinner time and so we thought it was best to do fast food rather than for us to go home and wait another 30 minutes to 45 minutes for me to cook dinner. We ate out again on Wednesday because we went to visit our freinds at the hospital who just had a baby. I should have had dinner prepared when DearHubby got home so that we could have eaten before we left, but I didn't. So, we decided, again, to eat on the road.

Growing up, I refused to go into the kitchen with my mom to learn how to cook. Since she worked, I did most of the housekeeping for her. I thought that if I learned how to cook she would expect me to do that also and then she'd have no other responsibilities at home to do. So, I didn't learn how to cook and I never even thought about the idea that I'd have to cook for my own family one day (blush)

Anyway, today was a very busy day, but I got up early to cook us breakfast and after a short playdate for DearDaughter, this morning, I also cooked us lunch. DearHubby was busy working on our car and was bummed that he missed out on a beautiful day so after he was done with the car he asked me if I wanted to go out for dinner. Normally, I would be excited to hear that question, but tonight, no so much. Well, I think the busy-ness of the day wore me out and I wasn't in the mood to expend more energy going out. In addition, I just didn't have the appetite for Chick Fil A, which is where DearHubby wanted to go. You can only take so much of Chick Fil A in a week. He asked me if I wanted to go somewhere else, but when I thought about what I was craving for, none of the restaurants I could think of could satisfy my craving for my mom's cooking. So, I sent DearHubby out with the girls. They're out eating Chick Fil A and I'm going to have some of the leftover fried rice I cooked this afternoon for lunch. I was waiting for an appetite before eating dinner, which is why I'm sitting here blabbing away about my mom's cooking. Yes, I'm just sharing tonight :D

7:16pm
I think I'm going to warm up some fried rice now and eat dinner :)

7:20pm
Hmmm, I guess today wasn't the end of the world :O I don't know if that was big in Kansas, but it was really big here in our area. Bill boards flashing May 21st as the end of the world and even vans sporting ads about today. Makes me mourn for those "Christians" who were falsely led to believing this "prophecy". What are they going to think of the Bible now? That it's false also... Anyway... Lots of prayers needed for those who were led to believing this lie...

7:44pm
I'm waiting for water to boil. I decided to do Ramen Noodles (Oriental Flavor) with my fried rice...I wonder if my body is craving salt right now?

I was just looking out the window and it's raining, again! It was sunny all day and the rain just started...

Oh, so I was looking out the window at our garden and started to feel sad for DearHubby. He had such high ambitions for our garden this year, but I told him that I wouldn't help him out and I haven't. So, he's only gotten half of the plants we started indoors planted and the rest are dying. The other half of the garden plot that has no plants in it yet it being taken over by weeds and grass. Makes me want to do for him what I did last year, but I know how much work it took and how back breaking it was for me and I don't think I'd be able to handle it with this pregnancy. Makes me feel sort of helpless not being able to help DearHubby with this "dream."

Water boiling...

Homeschooling Thoughts...May 20, 2011

2011-05-20T14:40:00.000-04:00

The books I ordered last week came in, so I just spent a little time looking through them. I'm really excited about the Draw Write Now series for DearDaughter1 and I think the Narnia set will keep us busy all through next school year. A friend's suggestion of the Little House series is a good one and if we finish the Narnia set, I will go ahead and do the Winnie the Pooh book this friend gave along with the Little House series.

This morning, I was just thinking more about homeschooling and the classical method and the logic behind the classical method "clicked." I remember a few months ago I mentioned that I wish I was an education major and a friend encouraged me that God's plan for me to be an engineering major was perfect and purposeful. As I think more and more on the classical method, I think of how "orderly" it is and how "methodical" it is, very suited for an "engineering" mind. I can see why Christians call the classical method very scriptural. God is a God of order and there is purpose to everything He created. The classical method follows that mindset, or at least that's what I am understanding of it.

Anyway, it kind of clicked with me this morning because I was thinking of the spelling book that I got for DearDaughter1 for this summer's session. Well, each lesson has a list of words for the student to learn. However, before getting into the list of words there were lessons on learning about beginning sounds and ending sounds and exercises for the student to determine what sound a word made at the beginning and what sound a word made at the end. We finally started the lessons with word lists last week and this week, I wanted to review the words with DearDaughter1. So, I asked her, "How do you spell such and such?" To help her out, I asked her, "What sound does this word begin with? What sound does this word end with? Ok, now what vowel makes this sound?" As she answered the questions, she was able to spell her word list by knowing her phonics. So, it made me realize how the classical method works. In the grammar stage, you teach the basic skills, mostly by memorization and repetition, and through their knowledge of these basic skills, the student can then build on their basic knowledge. Anyway, It was such a good revelation to finally click in my head because I was feeling so inadequate about teaching. Anyway, since the classical method is so "methodical" it really suits a mind like mine that thinks in that manner. So, I can see how even an "engineer" like myself can be an adequate teacher.

Anyway, I ordered the Cedarmont DVDs last week (we had the whole series on video tape but our VCR broke) and the girls have been watching that while I sit here. However, I only wanted them to watch 30 minutes worth of the video, so I ought to get the 2 younger girls down for their naps so that I can get to doing school with DearDaughter1 before I deliver a meal tonight. I spent time with DearDaughter2 and DearDaughter1 yesterday afternoon doing the B Lesson from Danielle's Place and didn't get to DearDaughter1's other lessons. Today we are doing piano, spelling, and phonics.

Home Life...May 20, 2011

2011-05-20T14:39:00.022-04:00

The girls and I just got home from our "Funday Friday" outing. I'm glad they haven't been too picky about what we do on Funday Fridays because for the past few weeks, except for last week's mall outing, I've been taking them to Target for pizza and then the $1 section. So, that's what I did again today. I needed to get food for a meal I'm delivering tonight and so our Funday Friday outing had to be a quick and easy one.

6:40pm
So, I'm chatting with DearHubby so that the girls don't hear our conversation :D

Chatting online...

9:05pm
I was searching online for a good graduation present.

We were invited to the pastor's high school daughter's graduation in 2 weeks. She is a very sophisticated young lady, very intelligent, who loves reading and writing. Her dream is to be a writer of fiction books.

I was thinking of a giving her The Valley of Vision book (leather bound). I was also thinking of giving her Stepping Heavenward as it is one of my favorite books. I also found a pewter bracelet on sale for $12 at CBD with the inscription "In all your ways acknowlegde Him and He will make your paths straight." Do you think that's too much?

Do you have any graduation gift suggestions (for high school, but she seems much older)?

Home Life...May 19, 2011

2011-05-19T11:30:00.000-04:00

I am so sorry for being so down. It's difficult hearing bad news and easy to feel discouraged and disheartened. However, I am not remaining in this discouraged and disheartened "state" because that would mean there is no hope, but there is hope in God. He is faithful and His will, His plans, are GOOD and PERFECT, even our own struggles and suffering. So, though it is difficult to hear bad news and easy to feel discouraged and disheartened, there is no reason to stay discouraged and disheartened because we have HOPE in God alone!

Well, just wanted to let you know I am ok. It's time for the girls' snack time, so I will go get them something to eat :)

Home Life...May 18, 2011

2011-05-18T09:38:00.003-04:00

I hope I didn't seem regretful last night about this pregnancy. It was a bit discouraging to get the news from the midwife last night that my chances of having another c-section is high. For some reason, having a knife cut me, and I seriously gag everytime I think about it, really terrifies me more than a vaginal child birth. However, I am always thankful for this precious gift He has given. After 3 losses, I am thankful for all the miracles of life God has given to us. What a privilege!

I am sitting here this morning resting my back a little until it feels good for me to get up and start the day. The girls are playing nicely.

In the meantime, I have a friend who is going the route of cloth diapering and so I'm doing a little research on that. I'm still very intimidated by the amount of laundry that will be needed to do cloth diapering as it's already been a challenge for me keeping up with regular laundry. So, I'll need to think about what's more important and time over money right now is looking like the better route. I could ask for a few cloth diapers as gifts so that I can give it a try and if it doesn't work for us I can always go back to disposables. That is what I might do.

5:49pm
I did more research on Total Placenta Previa and everything on the internet said that if I have a total placenta previa at 20 weeks its most likely to stay that way. Another complication that I read about is the placenta attaching itself to the uterus c-section scar and that would require a hysterectomy. I know I can't tell what will happen 19 weeks from now but I just started crying at the thought of never being able to have another baby if I did need a hysterectomy.

Anyway, we are on our way out. One of our friends just had a baby last night and we are going to visit them.

Home Life...May 17, 2011

2011-05-17T23:42:00.001-04:00

It's late in the evening as I'm writing this and I'm actually headed to bed, but wanted to make a little prayer request. I had my monthly OB appointment tonight and they gave me the results they received from the ultra sound report. The doctor I spoke to at the ultra sound didn't sound negative, but the midwife I saw tonight almost made me cry. The report said that I have Total Placenta Previa which means that the placenta is totally covering the cervix. She said that even if the placenta moves away from the cervix, with a total previa, there is a high chance that it will still be partially covering the cervix at delivery. So, she was trying to convince me that I will have a c-section. Didn't even give me any hope that I would be having a vaginal delivery. I am thankful for her honesty and if another c-section is needed I will do it. It was just very hard to hear the news :(

In addition, if the placenta remains low, when they go in to do the c-section, they would need to make the cut higher, which would then eliminate any other chance for a vaginal delivery :(

My placenta has been low for all my other pregnancies and in the end they were far enough away from the cervix that I was fine. Initially, I wasn't even concerned, but after tonight's visit, I am. Apparently, placenta previa is not a common condition in pregnancy and if not monitored it could cause death to both mommy and baby. I'm not showing any bad symptoms, which would be vaginal bleeding, so I am thankful for that. Needless to say, please pray that this is not placenta previa and that the placenta will move away from the cervix.

A normal placenta would be near the top of the uterus.

Recipe...Orange-Scented Chicken Breasts

2011-05-16T18:50:00.000-04:00

Orange-Scented Chicken Breasts
from Prevention's Super Foods Cookbook pg 252

2 Tablespoons paprika
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon cumin
3 gloves garlic, minced
1/3 Cup orange juice
3 Tablespoons lime juice
2 Tablespoons red-wine vinegar
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast

In 9 x 13-inch baking dish, combine the paprika, oregano, cumin, and garlic. Whisk in the orange juice, lime juice, vinegar, and oil.
Place the chicken breasts between sheets of waxed paper or plactic wrap and pound to an even thickness (about 1/3 to 1/2 inch) with a mallet.
Add the chicken to the dish and turn to coat well. Arrange in a single layer.
Bake at 400F, basting occasionally, for 20 minutes, or until cooked through.

Faith...A Prayer for Moms With Lil Ones

2011-05-16T15:49:00.002-04:00

Dear Lord,
I pray for all moms with lil ones that you would give us the faith to lean on you to give us strength, patience, and perseverance to make it through this day and every day to respond in Christ-Likeness. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

DearHubby confronted me this weekend about my sin of anger and impatience. He's noticed that I've been struggling with it even more lately and he's been praying for me more fervently about this struggle. Then, yesterday in Sunday School we talked about how the Lord will use others in our lives to help steer us back in the path of righteousness and that went hand in hand with the sermon about leaning on the Holy Spirit to help us respond in Christ-likeness. It was a very convicting weekend for me. Raising children, and we have 3, is one of the hardest jobs a person could have and I've been feeling the weight of this challenge on my shoulders, especially as I've had little help from DearHubby because he's been so busy. Despite these challenging times, I have no excuse to get upset or angry, but I have, and it's because I've been leaning on my own strength and wisdom to carry these burdens that I feel. So, I am thankful that the Lord has continued to bring out this sin, and even through my husband, to help me learn to overcome it by faith.

I said that prayer for all moms with lil ones because I completely understand those busy, busy, busy days with very little sleep and little children running around, demanding every moment of your time, while having your own plans and agenda that needs to be done. May God give us all the grace to trust in His plans, His strength, and His comfort :)

Home Life...May 16, 2011

2011-05-16T15:31:00.001-04:00

I can't believe how hot and humid today turned out to be! We left the house to do groceries at 9:30am and at that time, the temperature was 64 degrees F. Even after living here for years you'd think I'd learn that 64 degrees F in the Spring/Summer is way different from 64 degrees F in the Fall/Winter because of the humidity; it feels much warmer in the Spring/Summer time. Just going by the temperature on the thermometer, I dressed the girls and myself in long sleeved shirts, pants, socks, and shoes. By the time I got to the grocery store I realized that I dressed us inappropriately because the temperature was already rising and I was already sweating. The worse part of it all is that I planned to do a lot of running around today so that I don't have to run out again for the rest of the week.

Well, it's now 3:17pm as I'm beginning this post and I just got the groceries put away and DearDaughter3 down for her nap. It's been a long, hot, and busy day! We went grocery shopping at Wal-Mart, then stopped by the bank to make a deposit, then stopped by Target to get a few household items, and then to the Post Office. I forgot to stamp my letter at home and I was just going to get a stamp from the desk, but when I went into the Post Office the line was very long. I had left the girls in the car so I decided that the line was too long to make the girls wait and I went back to the car and just drove back home to get a stamp.

If you're wondering what I did with my refrigerated goods, I purchased a bag of ice. I put my milk and cheese in the cooler that I usually keep in the trunk of the car and I put ice in my meat and other refreigerated goods bags. I put the cold items on the bottom of the trunk because I knew that when I got home there would be a nice water puddle, and there was. Next time I'll put towels on the bottom of the trunk to absorb the water puddle and maybe bring along another cooler.

Well, I'm tired so I'm going to sit and rest for a little while. Ahhhhh!!!

Homescholling Thoughts...1st Grade Curriculum

2011-05-14T00:00:00.000-04:00

So here's what DearDaughter1's Curriculum for next year will look like:
BIBLE:
- will use My Father's World Bible Curriculum
- supplement with Get Wisdom!: 23 Lessons for Children about Living for Jesus by Ruth Younts

PHONICS/READING/SPELLING/HANDWRITING/GRAMMAR:
- will use My Father's World Curriculum
- will supplement with Rod and Staff Readers, Pathway Readers, more Rod and Staff Readers, Christian Light Readers

MATH:
- Saxon Math 1

SCIENCE:
- will use My Father's World Curriculum

HISTORY:
- New Jersey My First Book

ART:
- Draw Write Now series
- will supplement with My Father's World Curriculum

LITERATURE (Read Alouds):
- Narnia set
- Winnie the Pooh

MUSIC:
- Christian Elementary Music Curriculum by Pfeiffer House Music
- My First Piano Adventure Lesson and Writing Book B
- will supplement with My Father's World Curriculum

PE:
- ?

Homeschooling Thoughts...Placed Our Order!!!

2011-05-13T21:41:00.001-04:00

Just placed my order on CBD:
- Narnia set @43% off (Literature)
- Draw Write Now series @43% off (Art)
- My First New Jersey Book @3% off (History)

I was thinking about getting Charlotte's Web as part of DearDaughter1's Literature Curriculum, but decided not to. I remembered a DearFriend giving me a Winnie the Pooh book by A.A. Milne so I will use that instead of Charlotte's Web. I also have EB White's Stuart Little that I could use too. I was also thinking that the Narnia set may last us the whole year to read so I may not need another Literature book. That "saved" me about $7 and I saved about $17 in shipping. I spent over $100, but I did have money saved up for Homeschooling books. I still have the Music curriculum to buy and the readers, but I'll save those for another day since they are not coming from CBD.

DearFriend Patti showed me the Draw Write Now series. I was looking for a Drawing Curriculum for DearDaughter1. We did a Scholastic Drawing Book this year which was FANTASTIC and we actually just finished her last drawing today. I was looking for a book along the lines of the book we used this year and was a little disappointed in the Drawing Curriculum included in My Father's World. While DearFriend Patti and I were discussing homeschooling on Thursday, I was able to peruse through some of her books and she happened to show me the Draw Write Now series and I "fell in love with them" immediately. They're filled with great facts for little kids and they show kids how to draw different things with simple and easy steps, sometimes using the actual word, like boy, to draw a boy. Here's a link to the series:
http://www.drawyourworld.com/drawwrite.html

Here's the music curriculum I am planning to use for DearDaughter1:
http://www.pfeifferhousemusic.com/curriculum.html

I just noticed that there's free shipping on this site today also, so I may order the music curriculum tonight (blush)

Homeschooling Thoughts...Feeling Hypocritical

2011-05-12T14:47:00.000-04:00

I always enjoy visiting with DearFriend Patti, but she always challenges me.

I told her about my hectic day yesterday and from that we talked about a lot of different topics, one of which was public schooling as well as age segregation.

DearFriend Patti is of the mindset that there should be no reason a parent should send their children to school. So, I asked her what she thought about women who feel like they have to work because their husbands don't make enough and she kind of just chuckled because she had 5 kids while her husband worked at McDonald's and they made ends meet. She believes that if a family truly desires to homeschool their children and if a family truly believes that a wife is the keeper of the home then no matter what income the husband makes they can do it. So, DearFriend Patti does not believe there is any excuse why a mom should work to supplement the income.

We then talked about how many of the Christian faith are leaving the church because they have been influenced by the public school system. They are indoctrinated 5 days a week for 8 hours a day on worldly views and so by the time they graduate from high school they no longer believe in the God of the Bible.

Anyway, so when I listen to DearFriend Patti speak her opinions, I sit and listen and I agree. However, then I go to my Small Group and listen to mommies struggling with their decision of whether to homeschool or not and I tell them "If God is not calling you to homeschool, then it's ok to send your children to school." So, I feel like such a hypocrite for agreeing with all that DearFriend Patti says yet I turn around and give such a different perspective when I give "advice."

I agree with DearFriend Patti because what she says is true. Yet, does that mean because A is true that B is now false?

Anyway, so my point is, I can go to DearFriend Patti's house and agree with everything she says, but then turn around and comfort other parents and say, "The Bible does not make it a law for you to homeschool so if you want to send your children to school you have that option to send your children to school."

If DearFriend Patti heard me speaking to these other mothers, I know she would feel like I was slapping her in the face by agreeing with her and yet being able to advise something completely different.

And in a sense I too feel hypocritical.

After I told DearFriend Patti about my hectic day with all the playdates she told me that yesterday was influenced by the view of age segregation. She advised me not to accept that sort of playdate again where only one of my children are invited. She told me that the message I am sending to my children is that their siblings are not their best friends, but their friends are. Even though I am teaching my girls that they are each other's best friends, she told me that separating them like that is sending a different message.

Anyway, so as much as I enjoy visiting with DearFriend Patti, I am always challenged and conflicted afterwards because the life they live is so different from even the Christian culture that we are surrounded by. It's so hard because we are friends with people at church and we are friends with the V Family and the family I want to emulate are the V Family, but the people we are surrounded by don't necessarily live the same kind of life. But the V Family's choices are not necessarily more Biblical than the friends we have at church nor are our friends' choices unBiblical. Yet, even these choices are a WORLD of difference and it's hard having one influence on the one hand and another type of influence on the other hand. It gives me such a big head ache because all I want to do is do what is pleasing in God's eyes and wow there's so many different ways.

The funny thing is that the V Family would probably think that what other families are choosing is unBiblical and these families may not necessarily think the V Family's choices are unBiblical but are old fashioned and legalistic (so tending toward being unBiblical). Headache...

Home Life...May 12, 2011

2011-05-12T08:07:00.001-04:00

Random Thoughts:
8:07am
So was my Tuesday as busy as I described it would be? I decided not to bring DearDaughter1 to the lab early in the morning and I will just have to find another day when DearHubby is home to do that. We also did not go to the mall to do pictures. I think I will do that tomorrow. I wanted to make Tuesday a special day for DearHubby and the day went well, I guess up until dinner time. That's when the day became a sore point for both DearHubby and I so I'd rather keep that part of the day quiet. There was a miscommunication and a misunderstanding on both our parts and I have my point of view and he probably has his point of view. Tuesday has now past, we were able to talk a little last night, and whatever happened on Tuesday, I guess, we are both just going to overlook. I know that if I continue to dwell on the actual situation, I will just grow angry again, so I have to move on and pray that DearHubby and I will communicate better.

Yesterday was a very challenging day for me since I didn't get a lot of sleep the night before. It was very hard getting the girls up and out the door by 8:30am to get to DearDaughter1's play date by 9am and then back home for DearDaughter2's playdate by 9:30am. It was also very hard hosting a playdate while being so tired. In the end though, everyone had a lot of fun at their playdates.

The little nap I took before doing school with DearDaughter1 did not help and I was dragging through school with her. It didn't help when DearDaughter1 requested not to do school because she doesn't think school is fun. So, we had two fighting spirits against school yesterday and the session did not turn out so well :( School has not been fun since we have started focusing our time on reading. DearDaughter1 does not like reading at all. I need to figure out how to make reading more fun so that DearDaughter1 doesn't dread it so :(

It's time to get going...We are going over to my DearFriend Patti's this morning. It's been several weeks since we've spent time with her family. I'm looking forward to our visit.

8:43pm
I asked DearHubby if we could skip small group tonight so that we could spend time as a family since he was sick until Tuesday and then he worked on a car repair yesterday after work.

We had a wonderful evening with the girls :)

Before dinner we played 2 games, Hungry Hippo and Uno. Those games are great because all ages starting from age 2 can play! I did a frozen pizza tonight so while the pizza was baking we played the games.

Then, at dinner time, we had a fun time dinner conversation. The girls were talking about how old they want to be. DearDaughter2 said she wanted to be 4 because she can't wait to be just like DearDaughter1. DearDaughter1 said she wanted to be 10 because she can eat bubble gum. DearDaughter3 just kept staring out the window and saying there were pigs out there :D Mommy said she wanted to be 1 because I could wear a diaper and not have to go to the bathroom and there would be someone to feed me and I could sleep whenever I wanted to. I said being 1 was the dream age. The girls laughed and laughed and laughed.

At bedtime, Daddy decided to do a family story rather than read from their Bible. So, DearHubby told the girls of when he first saw Mommy and then the first time he talked to me. They laughed so hard when DearHubby said he introduced himself as [his name] and Mommy introduced herself as [my 1st name Hipo----]. "Hippo what?" he said! And they just laughed and laughed and laughed.

It was a great family night and I am glad we had it because we needed it :)

Home Life...May 11, 2011

2011-05-11T12:36:00.001-04:00

Random Thoughts:
12:36pm
Sitting for awhile before I have to head out to get DearDaughter1 from her playdate. Our playdate here at my house is done and I just got done picking/cleaning up. Gonna make lunch for the go.

2:15pm
Just got back from picking DearDaughter1 up. I'm going to nap for 1/2 hour before I put DearDaughter3 down for her nap and do school with DearDaughter1. I'm really tired. I didn't get much sleep last night. DearHubby and I had an argument before bedtime and though things seemed resolved before we went to sleep I tossed and turned over our argument all night and hardly slept. So, I am so tired and because I'm so tired it seems like everything is making me cry. I'm probably not at the right state of mind to blog. I may say things I may not mean, so I'll hold off from blogging until I am not so emotional :)

5:06pm
Yesterday's ultra sound showed a healthy baby but it also showed I have placenta previa, where the placenta is covering my cervix. I had a low lying placenta for my other 3 girls so I'm not worried about it. However, I got a call from the OB office last night and they said no intercourse. I don't remember that recommendation for my other 3 pregnancies. So, I'm torn because we won't get this condition checked for another 10 weeks. Usually, for all my pregnancies the placenta moves away from the cervix later on in the pregnancy. It's hard not giving what my husband needs for 6 weeks after delivery so 10 weeks? [I'm still a bit emotional and so I may sound a bit moody, ... :(]

Gonna start dinner...

Home Life...May 9, 2011

2011-05-09T17:57:00.000-04:00

It's been a productive day.

I went grocery shopping with the girls this morning and this afternoon I've been working on some much needed paperwork that I've neglected for a few weeks now. I was also able to get a load of laundry in and I am hoping to get at least another load of laundry in, if not 2 more, by the end of the day. I'm trying to get a little ahead with my laundry work since I have a full morning tomorrow. I am planning on taking DearDaughter1 to the lab for some bloodwork, which is required for her 5 year old well appointment, early in the morning. Then, at 10am I have my 20 week ultrasound. I had hoped to take the girls to the mall for their monthly pictures with DearHubby in the afternoon, but he has a doctor's appointment, so I'm not sure if I want to squeeze so much in in one day. The girls and I did purchase DearHubby's birthday gifts today while we were at Wal-Mart doing groceries, we purchased a cheap browny birthday cake, and I'm planning on cooking spaghetti which is really quick, so tomorrow's celebration for DearHubby should be all set and if I get a lot of laundry done tonight, I would have tomorrow afternoon free to go to the mall. However, I feel like if I went to the mall without DearHubby, it would be a very stressful day, so I may just postpone the mall trip for Friday. Just "speaking out loud" wondering what I should do...

DearHubby got sick on Saturday evening and felt really sick yesterday, so we ended up staying home from church and he ended up staying home today also. He described his symptoms as flu like and he's been in bed basically the whole day yesterday and today, only coming out to eat. The pollen saturation in the air has been high and he spent all day Saturday outside. His last activity was planting some potatoes in our garden and then afterwards he started complaining about not being able to breathe well. I did a little research today on the internet and found that allergies can cause flu-like symptoms, especially pollen and mold allergies. I think DearHubby just had an allergic reaction to being outside all day Saturday and I am suspicious that while he planted the potatoes, he must have stirred up some mold and breathed it in. Hoping that he doesn't develop Pneumonia if he breathed in any mold.

I spent some part of the morning working out 2 playdates for Wednesday. On Saturday morning, a friend randomly dropped off his car for DearHubby to repair and asked if it could be repaired by Monday. DearHubby couldn't finish fixing the car. So, he called this friend up and told him that he couldn't finish the car and that he'd loan him our van until the car is fixed. This friend and his family came by yesterday to pick up the van. The girls only had a few minutes to play and so the daughter begged me to set up a playdate for them some time during the week. Her mom called me first thing this morning to work out the play date details. Since the daughter is DearDaughter1's age and she is the only child, she thought that it would be best if I just dropped DearDaughter1 off at her house. Usually, when I set up a play date, I bring all 3 girls, but since she had requested for just DearDaughter1, I thought I'd give it a try. Well, for some reason, I tend to make things more complicated than they should be. Whenever I set up a play date for a friend with DearDaughter2, DearDaughter1 usually dominates the play date and DearDaughter1 and DearDaughter2's friend usually plays and leaves DearDaughter2 out. So, I thought this would be a good opportunity for DearDaughter2 to have a play date too. Anyway, it took a bit of coordinating to find a good time for both DearDaughter1 and DearDaughter2 to have a play date at the same time. Their play dates will be this Wednesday morning. I will be dropping DearDaughter1 off to her play date, come back home, then DearDaughter2's play date will show up, after DearDaughter2's play date leaves, I will go pick DearDaughter1 up. This is one reason I enjoy going to DearFriend Patti's house because she has kids of all ages that I can have a play date for all my girls when I go to her house, lol :D

Gotta get the table set and dinner on...

Home Life...May 7, 2011

2011-05-07T16:59:00.001-04:00

Worked on our budget this morning...I guess that's all I have to say about that...

I am sitting here for a few minutes resting, again (as it seems like I'm always writing when I'm resting). I was working on dishes. I probably have another 15 minutes worth of dishes left, but I really needed to sit...

After lunch I took the girls to a park. It's been awhile since I took the girls to this particular park and so I didn't know their Calendar of Events. As I arrived at the park, there were policemen directing traffic and they sent me to the overflow parking lot. I was so confused about the amount of traffic. I knew this was a popular park, but I didn't know it was so popular to have an overflow parking lot. It turns out today is known as Super Saturday at the park and there was a Spring Festival going on. The girls were excited to see the festival, but it turns out that you had to pay for everything. So, I made the girls a deal. I forgot to bring a bottle of water and snacks, which I usually bring snacks and water with, so I told them that we could play at the playground and then afterwards go to the festival to get a cup of lemonade and a pretzel. I only had $5 cash with me and I spent all of it on the lemonade and pretzel :( The girls also didn't have much time to play. We had to walk such a long way from the overflow parking lot to the playground that the walk to and from the car took 20 minutes each way. We left the house at 1:30 and arrived back home at 4pm. I guess what matters is that the girls had fun.

I had a sink full of dishes to do so I got started on that right away as we got home. My feet were getting so tired that I just needed time to sit. However, I should get the dishes done now so that I can start on dinner. I'm doing meatloaf tonight and that takes about an hour to bake. While the meatloaf is baking DearHubby is planning to take the girls out to plant our garden and if there's time I'll go out there too and play T-ball with them.

Well, it's back to work for me...

Home Life...May 6, 2011

2011-05-06T15:14:00.002-04:00

The girls and I just got home from our Funday Friday activity. I took them to Target, again, to get Pizza for lunch and then I bought DearDaughter1 a pair of flip flops and a bathing suit for the summer time. I got a bathing suit for DearDaughter1 last year for free, but when I got it out during the clothes changeover and had her try it on, I didn't like it. It was too skimpy :( I couldn't believe that they make bathing suits so revealing for little girls :O I'm not sure why I didn't notice it last year. I guess it didn't look too skimpy on the hanger.

We then took a trip over to Famous Footwear to check out their flip flops. I bought a good pair of flip flops about 3 years ago, but it is now worn out. They are the best pair of flip flops I've ever had!!! Comfy on the feet, legs, and back. I tried purchasing a new pair last year and it just wasn't the same. I did find a pair today, but they didn't have it in my size at the store I went to so I had them put a pair on hold at another location and we'll go there later on this afternoon.

DearHubby's mom gave DearDaughter3 a $30 gift card for Wal-Mart so after going to Famous Footwear, we walked over to Wal-Mart to use up the gift card. I got her a new LEGOs set. I decided on getting her the ALPHABET set and it's also the one DearDaughter3 chose.

We're now home and I decided to rest for a few minutes before I put DearDaughter3 down for a nap and do school with DearDaughter1.

We had a grand time at our last MOPS meeting yesterday! The kiddos put on a small concert for us and then Mother Goose put on a little story/magic show. It was so much fun watching the kiddos sing their songs. DearDaughter3 was so confused about why she was standing in front of a crowd on the stage and just kept looking around the room the whole time. DearDaughter2 and DearDaughter1 both did a wonderful job! I was very proud of them. Mother Goose was very entertaining for both kiddos and mommies. She told nursery rhymes while she did a magic show. It was a lot of fun. They then served the kiddos and mommies lunch.

Amazingly, despite all the activities yesterday morning, we were able to get back home in time for school! I was a little concerned that we may have to skip school this week, but it's looking like we will be able to stick to our "schedule."

This morning I made the girls our regular Funday Friday Breakfast, chocolate chip pancakes with bacon and eggs.

Before heading out for our lunch and shopping trip, I spent some time writing out 29 greeting cards this morning. I wanted to stay in touch with most of the ladies from the retreat and thought it would be great if I sent out Mother's Day cards. I only purchased 30 blank cards and I made out 10 cards to ladies outside of the retreat group. It was difficult choosing 20 ladies to send cards to since there were about 45 ladies who went to the retreat. I decided I would cover 20 ladies this week and then next week I will send 25 more cards out to the rest of the ladies.

While I was working on my cards, the girls decided to work on a Mother's Day card for me and a Birthday card for DearHubby.

Well, I have been sitting here for about 15 minutes now, so I best be going so that I can put DearDaughter3 down for her nap and do school with DearDaughter1.

Oh, one last story before I leave...I spent some time doing school with DearDaughter2 yesterday by doing some activities with her from Danielle's Place. She showed DearHubby all the stuff she worked on yesterday and DearHubby asked her if she had school. She said, "NO! I didn't do school!!!" I was very excited to hear that from DearDaughter2. I think DearDaughter2 still is intimidated by the thought of school and so to know that I was able to do school with DearDaughter2 without making it seem like school gave me a little relief.

Ok, now I will really get going...

Home Life...May 4, 2011

2011-05-04T16:55:00.001-04:00

I am sitting on my rocking chair icing my back and skipping school. I needed to get our clothes changeover project done today before another week of laundry goes by again. I am finished with our family's changeover ((party)) I usually wait a few weeks before I do my own clothes, but I decided that since everything was out I should just go ahead and finish. My back is sore, but I was as sparing on my back as much as I could be. My main concern is that the baby will be born at the start of Fall when I usually do my Fall/Winter changeover and I am already anxious about that ;(

Not too much else going on around here. I've been working on laundry and the clothes changeover since yesterday. While I've been working I've let the girls have a lot of free play and lots of TV time ((blush)) This is one of those projects where I can't really prolong and do a little at a time each day. It's a do it all now type project. I think that's why I pushed to finish everything today so that I don't have to worry about this project anymore.

Tomorrow is our last MOPS meeting. We're having a tea party for the kids and we're giving the kids a Mommy & Me Book which we worked on throughout the semester at the meetings. It will start at 9am so it will be an early morning for us and then lunch is also being served for both the kids and the mommies. I will probably be skipping school tomorrow too as I anticipate getting home later in the afternoon.

I was thinking about when I ought to make up this week's missed school days. I could do school on Friday and Saturday, but that would mean skipping Funday Friday. That may be ok. I was planning on taking the girls to the mall to get their monthly pictures done, but I could probably do that next Tuesday. My 20 week ultrasound is next Tuesday and it's also DearHubby's birthday so he's going to take a day off and come with to see if it's a boy. I keep saying I'm on the fence about finding out, but I think DearHubby would like to know what it is next week on his birthday. I've just always wanted to know what it feels like to wait. Anyway, we could probably then head over to the mall to do the girls' pictures afterwards. That would be a better plan since he could help me. Yes, I still try to do these monthly pictures because my mother in law asked me to do it with DearDaughter1 and I think it's unfair not to do it for the other girls :| I haven't been very consistent with them though.

Well, I don't have much more to update about this afternoon, so I should get up and dressed. I am still in my PJs. I was so focused on this clothes project that I didn't even want to get myself dressed.

Home Life...May 2, 2011

2011-05-02T14:39:00.001-04:00

The girls and I just got home about 20 minutes ago and I just got done unloading and storing the refrigerated goods. I still have the pantry goods to store, but I thought I'd sit and rest for awhile.

It's been a difficult day getting back in the groove. Before I left for the retreat I was able to get the house in pretty good shape. I got all my clothes bins back in storage and I got the house picked up and cleaned. DearHubby did a really good job keeping up with the house through the weekend, but both DearHubby and I both let our guards down yesterday and now the house is once again a big mess. It's amazing how when you put your guard down for just a little while and you're not on top of things how quickly the condition of the house goes downhill, lol :D

Anyway, though I missed my family this weekend, it was really nice to just rest and not worry about picking this up from the floor or planning this meal or cleaning this up or etc...

Well, I'm trying to find the energy and motivation to get moving...

Faith...Women's Retreat 2011

2011-05-02T08:37:00.000-04:00

I ought to be getting ready to go grocery shopping right now, but I'm currently sitting on my rocking chair waiting for the Tylenol to kick in. I must have slept in a bad position, but I am feeling a pinch on my back when I walk and I also have a very big head ache. I think I'm having withdrawal symptoms from not being on the beach this morning, lol :D

Our Ladies' Retreat was at Cape May this weekend and I woke up every morning (Saturday and Sunday) to see the sunrise on the beach! It was very breathtaking! I spent some time praising Him in song and in His Word on Saturday morning.

The Lord was able to use me as a vessel of encouragement, at least twice this weekend.

The first time was during our 1st Discussion Group time. One of the ladies in our group had expressed a problem she was having and every one was trying to give her advice through their own experiences. By the grace of God, one of the books of the Bible that I read that morning on the beach had a passage that addressed this particular problem. So, I shared that passage with the whole group and talked about it a little. That passage comforted this woman and a peace came over her about this situation.

The second time the Lord used me as a vessel of encouragement was on Sunday morning with my roommate. I was very tired after the events of Saturday and I did not spend any worship time on the beach after sunrise. I went back to my room and hopped right back into bed. My roomie had already gotten up and started getting ready for the day and packing for check-out. While in bed, the Holy Spirit just kept prompting me to ask my roomie some questions. She did not go to our church and I did not know if she knew Jesus or not as her Lord and Savior. We had briefly talked on Saturday about her own background so that established a "friendly" relationship between us.

The theme of our retreat was called The Lost Art of Lifting and the subject was all about one anothering. Our 2nd session was about how we use our words to either tear down or lift up others and then the speaker concluded with different practical ways we can use our words to lift another up. The one area that I know I am weak in is using words of concern and the speaker talked about a conversation being like a ping pong game. She pointed out that a conversation should go back and forth between the 2 parties and if both parties are truly concerned about the other person, they ought to be asking questions to show their care and concern. The Lord has been showing me lately that I need to work on my question asking skills because I have found that when I ask questions it doesn't prompt the other person to give more than just a one word or a one sentence answer and even though I truly care about that other person I'm talking to, I may not be necessarily be asking the right questions to let that person feel and know that I do care about their answers.

Anyway, so while I was in bed on Sunday morning, I just felt a prompting from the Holy Spirit to ask my roomie some questions before parting ways. The first question I could think of was "What church do you go to?" My roomie didn't go to church, but she has been searching for something, so she had a very difficult time answering that question. That gave me the opportunity to ask more and more questions. To make a long story short, our conversation did become like a ping pong game. As I asked her questions she asked me questions. It eventually came to the point where I asked her what she thought about Christ death on the cross and where she asked me what the Bible says about sin. I was able to give her the full gospel message from man's sinfulness to our salvation in Jesus Christ. We did not end with my roomie confessing Christ as her Savior. She was not yet at that point. I ended our conversation by leaving her with 2 books of the Bible to read, Ecclesiastes and Romans. They were the 2 books that opened my eyes when I was not yet saved. I pray that our conversation challenged her enough to go into her Bible and read and I pray that the Holy Spirit would soften her heart to receive the truth of the gospel. Her name is Liz. I don't remember her last name. Please pray for her also.

I can see that the Lord had a couple of purposes for me to be at the retreat and I am very thankful that He made that purpose very evident and I really enjoyed the speaker, but one thing I will change is choosing different people to spend time with during my free time. The friend and her friends that I spent time with were just a bit too loud and too focused on having fun. What they did was not wrong, but by mid-retreat I just could not keep up with them and I did not want to keep up with them. I wanted my time to be a time of worship to God and a time of rest. I don't ever get that kind of time here at home and that's what I would like to do at a retreat rather than filling my time from running to one activity to another.

Homeschooling Log...April 28, 2011

2011-04-28T17:16:00.002-04:00

3pm to 4:30pm - Training time with 5YO

BIBLE:
2YO:
- The Toddler's ABC Bible Storybook - B is for Baby Jesus
5YO:
- "My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth." -1 John 3:18

PHONICS & READING:
Reading Lesson:
2YO:
- ABC to Z Flash Card to review alphabet
- Focus on letters A, B, C
Read Aloud:
2YO:
- Our Kind of Bird (Sesame Street book)
- Waiting for Cookie ((Sesame Street book)
- Snug House Bug House by Susan Schade
- Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb by Al Perkins
5YO:
- The Children's Book of Virtues by William J. Bennett to p.18
Read:
5YO:
- Sing Spell Read & Write Phonetic Storybook 6 to p.57
Spelling Lesson:
5YO:
- Lesson 3 (2nd half of lesson) in Spelling Workout A

MUSIC:
5YO:
- My First Piano Adventure for the Young Beginner Lesson Book A p. 23-25
- My First Piano Adventure for the Young Beginner Writing Book A to match Lesson 20-21, 23

ART:
- Follow the Directions & Draw It All by Yourself! p. 57

Homeschooling Thoughts...Home School Legal Defense Association

2011-04-28T17:03:00.000-04:00

I wrote to a DearFriend about the whole New Jersey law for home schooling and she gave me a great resource, HSLDA, Home School Legal Defense Association. I only looked at it briefly this morning and read about New Jersey's State Law summaries. However, it's a great site for all homeschooling parents anywhere in the US. I haven't researched further, but I think HSLDA is established to help legally support homeschoolers so that if a situation arises where a parent is accused of improperly educating their children, HSLDA is there to defend them.

Homeschooling Thoughts...Teaching Multi Age Children

2011-04-28T16:59:00.002-04:00

I've been trying to really work on our routine here at home and I did homeschooling with both DearDaughter1 and DearDaughter2 yesterday. DearDaughter2 did soooooooooo well that I am excited for her. I am using the Rod and Staff preschool curriculum that I used with DearDaughter1, but I am not using their Bible curriculum. Instead, I subscribed to Danielle's Place and they have a wonderful ABC Curriculum. It's something I started with DearDaughter1, but never finished.

I never finished this curriculum with DearDaughter1 because I found the Rod and Staff Preschool Curriculum and ended up doing that with her instead. However, now that I know of both resources, I am going to integrate both into DearDaughter2's curriculum. I am doing a summer session with DearDaughter1 to help hone her reading skills and so I thought this would be a perfect time to start integrating DearDaughter2 in with us. The Rod and Staff gives good workbook work and that will help DearDaughter1 learn how to sit and focus while the Danielle's ABC Curriculum makes education more "living" with lots of hands on experiences.

As for DearDaughter3, my mom and mother in law gave me some money for DearDaughter3's birthday so I have been looking into some good items to purchase for her. We have a set of Mega Blocks and so I purchased another type of building blocks set for DearDaughter3 with instructions to build a helicopter, a race car, and another vehicle. There's also 2 really cool LEGO sets I was looking at that has numbers and alphabets on the blocks to help reinforce counting and saying the ABCs. I just have to decide between the numbers and ABCs before purchasing the set. Currently, DearDaughter3 is playing with a Potato Head set I bought for DearDaughter1 when she was a litle toddler. It was a great buy because it came with 3 characters, it's called Spud Buds. I have not seen the set since. My sister wanted to know what she could get for DearDaughter3's birthday so I asked her for a 9 piece woodboard puzzle. I had 1 for DearDaughter1, but I think in one of our toy swaps, I never got it back, and I don't remember who I loaned it to. I think I will have some money leftover from my mom and if I do, I think I will purchase the Cedarmont Kids Toddler videos. We had the complete set in VHS but a power surge blew our VCR and it doesn't work anymore. I really miss those videos!!!

Home Life...April 28, 2011

2011-04-28T08:15:00.002-04:00

Well, DearHubby went to the benefits department yesterday to look into our dental insurance issue and it seems that DearHubby authorized the change, but he probably didn't realize it. I remember talking to him about it over the phone back in November and at that time we decided to keep our plan the same. DearHubby thinks that since we were discussing the HMO plan he must have accidently marked it because we were discussing it and then never realized he did so. The bad news is that we have to pay all 3 of our dentist visits made in March out of pocket. I just got the girls' dentist bill yesterday and that was $305. I'm waiting for mine. I had a routine check up and a small cavity filled, so I am expecting about $200 or maybe more. It's a very frustrating situation. The good news is we can change our plan back to the FLEX plan when the baby is born. So, no dentist visits between now and September or if we need to, then go to the one that's on the list.

I had a chiropractic appointment yesterday and DearDaughter1's well appointment.

I am so glad that DearDaughter1 passed both her hearing and sight tests. The oddest thing happened, though. The doctor asked DearDaughter1 if she would be going to Kindergarten next year and so I said that I am planning to homeschool her. It was as if this was her first time hearing about homeschooling because she kept asking me questions about testing and registration. I told her that New Jersey law is very laxed about stuff like that and I don't have to register DearDaughter1. I think that's right, but I wasn't absolutely sure.

Since we had Small Group on Tuesday evening and my day was so full yesterday, my house is a mess. I am in the midst of the girls clothes changeover and I didn't quite finish all the laundry on Tuesday. So, I have clothes, toys, and homeschooling material spread out all over the place and I am hoping to get some of this stuff cleared out before I leave for the retreat tomorrow. So, I have a busy morning ahead of me and then school this afternoon.

12:28pm
Of all the house projects, one project I don't ever look forward to is the clothes changeover for the girls. It is such back breaking work moving bins around just to find the right bins containing the right size clothes. Then, when I find the clothes, it takes time to go through all of them, getting rid of the clothes I no longer want and replacing them with clothes I've aquired. Then, since we're still in the middle of Winter/Spring/Summer weather, I have to keep some long sleeved shirts and pants out and since the changeover is not done, there are dirty clothes now waiting to be washed. So, even if I have most clothes stored, I can't put the bins back yet because there's clothes still in the laundry room so the house is cluttered with bins and clothes. In addition, the daily chores get pushed aside for a time and I have to let the girls have a lot of free play/TV time so then the house is even more cluttered and it looks dirty.

I'm just venting at the moment because I was hoping to get both DearDaughter1's and DearDaughter2's Spring/Summer clothes out and it's already past 12 and so I now have to stop to give the girls lunch and then I won't be able to continue with this project because I have school to do after lunch. I won't get to this project tomorrow morning as I'll need to get packed up to go to the retreat because I'm leaving at 1:30. Therefore, I won't get to this project until sometime mid-week of next week. I am a bit frustrated at how quickly the time just always flies.

I'm not looking forward to being gone this weekend. The last time I went away for a retreat, DearHubby only had DearDaughter1 to watch and when I came home from the retreat, I had their mess to clean-up. I will be leaving for the weekend with pending projects in the way and I am not looking forward to seeing what the house will look like after I've been gone.

I am a bit stressed out. I need to take a DearFriend's advice and my own advice to just stop, and go to God in prayer to find His strength and peace.

Time to get lunch on...

Homeschooling Log...April 27, 2011

2011-04-27T17:28:00.003-04:00

3pm to 4:30pm - Training time with 3YO & 5YO

BIBLE:
2YO & 3YO:
- The Toddler's ABC Bible Storybook - A is for Ark
5YO:
- Review A-L verses
- "My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth." -1 John 3:18

PHONICS & READING:
Reading Lesson:
3YO:
- Finding the Answers workbook pp.2-3
5YO:
- Review Lesson 39, 69, 70 in The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading
- Lesson 71 in The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading
- Sounds of /m/ in Basic Phonics Skills Level B
Read Aloud:
3YO & 5YO:
- The Children's Book of Virtues by William J. Bennett to p.11
Read:
- Bob Books Set 2 Book 3
Spelling Lesson:
5YO:
- Lesson 3 (1st half of lesson) in Spelling Workout A

MATH:
3YO:
- Counting With Numbers workbook pp.2-3
5YO:
- Review counting to 150
- Review counting dimes, nickels, pennies

PENMANSHIP:
3YO:
- Do it Carefully workbook pp.2-3
- Everywhere we Go workbook pp.2-3

Homeschooling Thoughts...1st Grade Curriculum & Other...

2011-04-26T16:42:00.002-04:00

I have chosen part of My Father's World 1st Grade Curriculum for DearDaughter1. It follows a Classical and Charlotte Mason approach. I will not use their math because I like the Saxon Math, but I will be using their Bible, Reading, Science, Art (partly), and Music (partly) curriculum. I kind of enjoyed planning my own curriculum, but it was nice finding this all inclusive curriculum and I will be getting it used for about half the price. I think it was the cost that motivated me to go this route.

Another cool thing about My Father's World is they have a link to their toddler/pre-school page and there are some cool learning toys they have to offer. I have a lot of similar toys, but I think I would like to purchase a few toys that I don't have.

Rod and Staff is another good resource.

Ministry as a Mom...Some Advice to the Disheartened Mom of Lil Ones

2011-04-26T16:25:00.002-04:00

I used to be a very detailed housekeeper, before kiddos. Even when the house was under construction, every crack and corner was cleaned and dusted, I kept up with the paperwork, etc... Having children have caused a reprioritization of a lot of things and I don't get to many things I would like to. It disheartens me, but I have learned to let things go (a lot of the times). I am still trying to figure things out myself and the conclusion I've come up with and even heard from other moms is that keeping up with the housekeeping will get easier when the oldest is able to help. Therefore, training the oldest to help should be a priority or even training the kiddos to help should be a priority. This time, with little kiddos, is a difficult time. There is only so much you can do.

One DearFriend I had dinner with often reminds me of this challenging time and she often encourages me to make my children the priority and to not be so worried about all that is around me. She has 4 children and I met her when her youngest was 3. Her youngest is now 8 and her oldest is in college. Let me tell you how quickly the time flew by!!! I can't believe DearDaughter1 will be 6 this year...6...The time really goes by like a blink of an eye. The "extras" will always be there, but the time with the kiddos is always passing.

With the "extras," is it possible to work at it a little at a time? I know it would be ideal to just have a large lump of time to work on a project, but sometimes with kiddos, it's "work on it when you can." I like breaking up big projects into little projects. One part of the project will be the planning of it. Sometimes it takes me weeks to plan a project, mulling it over in my head of the order I should do things, then when I have a good idea of what I'd like to do, I take the time to outline the project. Then, I will follow the outline, working on the little projects when I have time.

With regards to prayer and the reading of his word and praising Him, I fail often in that too, and so I would be hypocrital to say, "Oh, I do this and I do that..." and make it sound fine and dandy. However, one thing I am grateful for is that the Lord is always forgiving and He is very patient and long suffering and He offers us grace. One thing that often discouraged me is the length of time I spend with the Lord. I like spending a long quiet time with Him and it used to burden me if I didn't get that. However, I found that I was putting that burden and making it a "law" unto myself that in order to worship the Lord properly this is what I have to do. Again, not that I do it moment by moment, but it is my prayer for my whole family, that in everything we do, whether it is playing or sitting or reading or eating, etc... that we are worshiping and glorifying God. And I know I am preaching to the choir when I say all of that.

Here's an example, how do we respond to our children when they are doing the wrong thing over and over again? Do we grow impatient or do we respond with the same long suffering that our Father responds with us and do we discipline them the right way? I often think of one a DearFriend's advice where she tells me to pray over every detail. We are praising God when we acknowledge Him in all we do. I've been working on 26 memory verses with DearDaughter1 and I often think on them because they speak so much to me as much as they do to her. Anyway, sometimes we get discouraged because we think we ought to pray to God, read God's Word, and worship Him in a certain way, but as I read in Proverbs 21 last night, "A person may think their own ways are right, but the LORD weighs the heart. To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice."

Home Life...April 26, 2011

2011-04-26T09:11:00.000-04:00

Random Thoughts:
9:11am
...As I wrote my post yesterday about my bout of bitterness, I figured out why I was still bothered. I was still bothered by how my friend assumed we had the money for me to pay the extra balance for the retreat. So, I have a choice. To go to this friend and tell her that I didn't like her assumption or to just overlook it and then pray that the Lord will give me peace. I think the choice I have decided on is to just overlook the offense and pray that the Lord will give me peace. If a similar situation occurs again, I will not bring up this situation, but I will address it up front.

9:47am
DearDaughter1 just got our first load of laundry in...When training little ones, you will need to spend time with them until they have "mastered" something...Repetition and routine is the key...I will probably stand beside DearDaughter1 while doing laundry for a few more weeks, but I am hoping that she will be independant enough to where I can just tell her it's laundry day and depend on her to do 2 loads by herself :)

Home Life...April 25, 2011

2011-04-25T08:03:00.003-04:00

I can't believe how quickly last week flew by!

One reason I think it flew by so quickly is because my evenings were scheduled with appointments.

After several weeks of not going to the gym, I went back for the first time last Monday. When I started Curves, I was really motivated about being dedicated to getting and staying in shape and didn't realize the time commitment it would take. I stopped going to the gym for awhile because DearHubby had taken on those extra jobs to fix cars and then he went on his business trips. After several weeks of having extra time here at home, I really felt the time commitment it takes to go out and exercise. Each trip and workout takes up about 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours of my time and I did go to the gym 3 times this week.

I finally went to my regular OB check up on Tuesday evening. I was scheduled for an appointment 3 weeks ago, but I rescheduled because DearHubby was away. Then, the OB practice had to reschedule my rescheduled appointment because the midwife I was seeing had a family emergency. Anyway, so after 2 rescheduled appointments, I finally made it in. It was a routine visit, so they had me see a midwifery intern. I gained 5 pounds since my last visit, my blood pressure was normal, and the baby's heart rate was in the 150s. They also got the results back from the 1st half of the Sequential Test and my "chances," according to the tests, of having a child with Down Syndrome or a Chromosomal defect is low. I was happy to hear the results, but I know that ultimately God is in control and I should trust all in Him and not these tests.

On Wednesday, after my gym workout, I had a dinner date with a friend. She invited me out to dinner while DearHubby was in the middle of his business trips and so I told her that I'd reschedule with her when DearHubby was back. It was a nice visit. My friend enjoyed the visit too and mentioned that we should do that again. However, I'm not sure how often or even when I would be able to do that again.

I am thankful that DearHubby was willing to watch the girls and give me the opportunity to meet all those evening appointments last week.

I am behind on my chores, especially laundry.

Not only did I have full evenings, but the day time was full also.

I scheduled lunch with friends we hadn't spent time with last Monday and I ended up babysitting the daughter afterwards for the rest of the afternoon.

Of course, we did school on Wednesday and Thursday afternoon.

On Thursday morning we went to MOPS.

On Friday, DearHubby had the day off, but he was scheduled to fix a car, so in the morning I ran to the hospital to get my blood drawn for the 2nd half of the Sequential Test and then I took the girls out to a farm in Pennsylvania so that we didn't bother DearHubby while he worked on the car.

In the midst of such a full week, I also battled with another bout of bitterness against the same person I battled with bitterness with a few weeks ago. I am going on the Ladies' Retreat this coming weekend and there was a change in the rooming situation. I originally was going to room with this friend and her sister. However, several weeks ago, she approached me about being flexible and rooming with another one of her friends. I was willing to be flexible to change roommates, but I didn't anticipate having to pay extra for that change. Some time last week I received a call from one of the coordinators of the retreat informing me that I had a $158 balance to pay. This news was all new to me because when I submitted my payment, it was in full, for the original rooming situation that I had. I called this friend up to inform her of the balance and she told me that since I never mentioned the balance to her before that she just assumed that I was ok with paying the extra balance. It was that statement that really brought the bitterness into my heart because I felt like I was deceived into changing rooms and changing roomates. I felt like this friend knew I would have to pay an extra balance and assumed that I had the money to pay the extra balance and was not up front with me about having to pay. In fact, she just came up to me one Sunday and told me she switched the rooms. So, when I talked to this friend after hearing about the extra balance I owed, I was very honest with her and told her how upset I was about the extra balance. After hearing how upset I was she told me that she was willing to pay the extra balance since she asked me to switch rooms. That upset me even more because she couldn't even pay for her own fees. This is the same person whom we have given money to her family before and even bought the new dryer for and several weeks ago she informed me that she didn't have the money to pay for the rest of the retreat. I didn't have the urge to give her the money this time so she went to the church to see if they had a scholarship for the retreat. An announcement was made in the bulletin for the need for scholarships and she received the money to go on the retreat. So, I asked her how she would pay for my balance if she didn't even have the money to pay for her own fees and she told me that her scholarship would cover it. However, when I talked to the coordinator about the situation and how I didn't know I had an extra balance to pay, she also told me that there was no more money in the scholarship program to cover the extra balance I had. So, I asked if I could just get a refund and not go, but I was informed that it was too late. I didn't feel comfortable haivng this friend pay my balance with the scholarship money and I felt cornered into paying. I talked to DearHubby and he told me to go ahead and pay the balance. Well, it turned out that the coordinator miscalculated my balance and I only had $21 more to pay and not $158. She didn't realize that I had paid in full for the original rooming situation and she had to look through her books to confirm my actual balance. Although the balance was significantly less than we all thought, I still struggled with the bitterness issue. I didn't like how my friend assumed I had the money and I feel like it was my fault that she assumed we had the money because we had established a pattern of giving away big amounts of money to her family. I don't know that she realizes that each time we have given money to them it was out of the money we set aside for Giving. This retreat money for myself would not have been taken from our Giving budget but from our monthly budget. This retreat money came out of the money we got back from our Tax Return and I had budgeted the original amount and budgeted the rest of the money for our other needs. In fact, I felt like it was because of my using the original amount that we didn't have enough money for heating oil and I had to ask DearHubby to work out in the snow on car repairs just to make enough money to get us oil. So, I really did struggle with bitterness by my friend's assumption that I had the money to pay. I have no choice but to overlook this offense. She did try to make restitution by offering to pay for the balance and she even apologized for putting me in this situation. I feel like I should be ok and I haven't expressed any bitterness towards her when I have seen her, but for some reason I still feel some unresolved turmoil within, but I'm not sure what's causing that turmoil.

Hmmm...

And in the midst of all that, I was able to work on my laundry room organization project and I have made 50% progress!

We had a very quiet Resurrection Day celebration. We went to Sunday School and the regular church service.

Well, it's almost 8am so I ought to get myself and the girls up and ready for the day!

3:32pm...
I just spent over an hour on the phone trying to straighten out some dental insurance issues. Apparently, our dental plan was changed from a FLEX plan to an HMO plan and the dentist visits that I made and that the girls made at the end of March are not covered. It's just a little alarming to get a phone call from a dentist office informing me that I will need to pay for visits out of pocket. It's also a bit frustrating to know that this should not happen because we have insurance. If we have to pay out of pocket, we would need to use money from our savings. That's a bit disheartening since the money we were saving up was to be used for DearHubby's mission trip that he had hoped to take to Haiti in November. It's also a bit disheartening because DearHubby needed some major dental work done that wouldn't have been completely covered by the insurance company and the money we'll be using could have been used for his work instead of being used for routine visits that would have been covered if we had only used the right dentist. I talked to DearHubby about the changed plan and he said he kept everything the same so he's not sure why we are under an HMO plan now and not a FLEX plan. From what I have learned today, a FLEX plan allows you to see any dentist you like where an HMO plan assigns a dentist to you. We were previously under the FLEX pland and had no clue that this had changed, so I asked DearHubby to speak to the Benefits Department tomorrow to see how this change occurred.

This is one of those situations where you'd like to just ask, "Why, Lord, why?"

9:43pm
Whew, my feet really hurt. It's been hot, like summer, for the past 2 days, and I have been wearing a pair of different shoes, and they're not as comfy as my winter shoes.

So, we all went grocery shopping as a family and I bought a really long sub sandwich at the Wal-Mart deli for $6. It was enough to feed my family dinner and I packed drinks for us so we ate in the car after shopping.

I just got done putting away last week's laundry and my hope is to wash, dry, fold, and put away this week's laundry tomorrow.

I have the weekend dishes that still needs washing, so that will be my first goal to accomplish tomorrow.

It's going to be a short day tomorrow because, for this week only, our small group meeting is moved from Thursday to tomorrow evening. So, I hope I will accomplish all that I need to before dinner and Small Group because I have 2 doctor's appointments on Wednesday morning. When will these doctor appointments end????????

Anyway, I'm going to sign out for the evening so that I can just sit and relax for awhile before bedtime. I really need to buy a new pair of summer shoes because the ones I'm in are not too comfy for these preggo feet and preggo back.

Notes...Teach Them Diligently by Lou Priolo

2011-04-24T21:57:00.003-04:00

Chapter 4 - Correcting With the Scriptures

Correct your son, and he will give you comfort; He will also delight your soul. -Proverbs 29:17

Key Points:
- the Bible not only has power to convict, but it also has power to correct
- as a parent, you should know how to use the Scriptures not only to expose the sin in your children but also to put them back on their feet
.....- you must function not only in the capacity of prosecuting attorney but also as a skillful physician of the soul who is thoroughly equipped to treat spiritual maladies - even performing "corrective surgery" if necessary
- key components into the concept of correction: repentance, confession, forgiveness, forsaking sin, restitution, and restoration

What is Repentance?
- change is what repentance is all about; repent = "to change one's mind"
.....- the initial result of having been convicted is a change of mind, which is the first step toward changing your life
.....- repentance is changing your mind about your beliefs, attitudes, and behavior; it involves regret concerning your sin and produces a change in your lifestyle as outward evidence of your desire to be different
-the Bible is a necessary part of the repentance process because it provides specific information about the changes that must be made and you cannot bring your children to genuine repentance without it...GET THE WORD INTO Your CHILD
.....- ideally,...your child...will be more dependent on His Heavenly Father's leading then he is on yours
- you must explain to your child from Scriptures, in specific concrete terms, what it is God requires of him if he is to repent of the sin for which you have convicted him
.....- correcting children in general terms does not often produce the kind of fruit Christian parents long to see and, more importantly, the kind that is pleasing to God

What About Confession?
- confession means "to say the same thing"; your child will be in agreement with the indictment and acknowledge (confess) in some way that he has truly sinned against God
- the essence of confession, then, is a willingness to plead guilty before all the offended parties to the wrong for which one has been accused
.....- confession is to acknowledge one's culpability to those against whom he has sinned so that he might seek their forgiveness and be reconciled to them

What is Forgiveness?
- when we sin, we displease God and can no longer enjoy fellowship with Him until we deal with our sin
.....- If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness -1 John 1:9
.....- confession and repentance go hand in hand...there can be no forgiveness without confession, and there can be no enduring correction (or cleansing from unrighteousness) without first sweeping away the debris from past sin

Restitution: The Missing Ingredient
- when children have committed any sin in which those who were sinned against lost something, correction involves making restitution...asking forgiveness in such cases is not enough
- the appropriate passages of Scripture should be cited or reviewed to underscore that what you are requiring of the child is no less than what God, Himself required

Forsaking (Putting Off) Sin
- sin must be let go of, left behind, abandoned and forsaken

Zap Theology: The kiss and make up with God syndrome
- progressive sanctification is an act of God, but it is also a process which requires our cooperation...it is not enough merely to pray that God will change us...we must also DO what the Bible says is necessary to "put off" the sin and "put on" Christ
.....- Christians replace bad habits with good ones
..........- it is not enough for the Christian who habitually lies to simply stop lying...he must make it his goal to become truthful
- this put-off/put-on dynamic can happen only as the mind is renewed through the Scripture
.....- the Holy Spirit takes the Scriptures you have internalized and changes you from the inside

What is Involved in the Forsaking of Sin?
- the first essential of forsaking sin is self-denial
.....- explain self-denial from Scripture (Galatians 5:16-24; Romans 8:13,14)
.....- teach your child to pray daily that the Lord will give him the wisdom to identify his sinful desires, and the grace to forsake them and replace them with alternative God-honoring desires
.....- talk to your child regularly about the thoughts and motives behind his words and actions
.....- remind your child regularly that one of the reasons God allows Christians to go through trials is to reveal to them what kind of evil still exists in their hearts
.....- train your child at an early age to be obedience-oriented rather than feeling-oriented

The Doctrine of Radical Amputation
- the next essential of forsaking or putting off sin has to do with removing fomr one's life anything that is a stumbling block
.....- as a parent, you certainly have the authority to perform radical amputation on those things in your child's life that need to be removed,...but...it seems best to first give the child an opportunity to remove any provisions for defeat on his own
- the third essential of forsaking sin: putting a structure in place that will make it difficult to relapse into sin

Accountability
- the more difficult you make it for your child to fall back into sin, the easier it will be for him so forsake his sin

Restoring Relationships
- sin not only affects our felloship with God, it also fouls up our relationship with others [and] correction is not complete until valid biblical attempts at restoration with all parties are made
.....restoration means that the [offending child who has repented] should be viewed and treated as someone who has repented and has been forgiven

Guidelines for Correcting with the Scriptures
1. Identify the specific patterns of sin with which your child is struggling
- identify the patterns of sin then convict your child of his sinful habit patterns
- by focusing on the broader pattern, parents can often indirectly help children correct a myriad of other individual sins
.....- sins of the flesh; sensuality, intemperance, uncleanness, sloth, self indulgence, excess in animal gratifications
.....- sins of the spirit; pride, malice, covetousness, ambition, wrath, revenge, envy, and the like
- take a moment to zoom out and see the bigger picture and it may save you a little time and a lot of unnecessary aggravation
2. Identify those portions of Scripture that specifically address the correction of your child's sin
- look for passages addressing the specific things that need to be put off (or forsaken).
- think alos in terms of "who else in Scripture had to face the same or similar circumstance (temptation or sin)?"
.....- pay careful attention to how those individuals handled their circumstands and note whether they did it correctly or incorrectly and whether or not God blessed their efforts
3. Consider the answers to the following questions to help insure you're thoroughly correcting your child
- does my child need to change his mind about anything?
- have I discussed with my child the thoughts and motives of his heart (Heb 4:12)?
- has he confessed his sin to (and asked forgiveness of) all appropriate parties?
- is restitution in order?
- is there anything (people, places, activities, etc.) which must be (at least temporarity) removed from his life?
- is corporal discipline in order?
- will additional accountability help?
- does my child understand what God expects him to do next time he finds himself in the same or similar circumstance?

Homeschooling Log...April 21, 2011

2011-04-21T15:07:00.003-04:00

2pm to 3:30pm - Training time with 5YO

BIBLE:
- "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." Matthew 5:16

PHONICS & READING:
Reading Lesson:
- Sounds of /s/ in Basic Phonics Skills Level B
Read Aloud:
- Chapter 12 of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Read:
- Sing Spell Read & Write Phonetic Storybook 6 to p.49
Spelling Lesson:
- Lesson 2 in Spelling Workout A

PENMANSHIP:
- Write the letter "b"

MUSIC:
- My First Piano Adventure for the Young Beginner Lesson Book A p. 22
- My First Piano Adventure for the Young Beginner Writing Book A pp.18-19

ART:
- Follow the Directions & Draw It All by Yourself! p. 57

Homeschooling Log...April 20, 2011

2011-04-20T15:01:00.001-04:00

2pm to 3:30pm - Training time with 5YO

BIBLE:
- Review A-K verses
- "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." Matthew 5:16

PHONICS & READING:
Reading Lesson:
- Review Lesson 69 in The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading
- Lesson 70 in The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading
- Sounds of /b/ in Basic Phonics Skills Level B
Read:
- Bob Books Set 2 Book 2
Spelling Lesson:
- Lesson 1 in Spelling Workout A

Notes...Teach Them Diligently by Lou Priolo

2011-04-17T21:17:00.005-04:00

Chapter 3 - Convicting With the Scriptures

You would count him unworthy the name of a friend who, knowing a thief or an incendiary to lurk in your family with a design to kill, or rob, or burn your house, would conceal it form you, and not acquaint you with it in his own accord. There is no such thief, murderer, incendiary, as sin. Silence or concealment in this case is treachery. He is the most faithful friend, and worthy of most esteem and affection, that deals most plainly with us in reference to the discovery of our sin. He that is reserved in this case is but a false friend, a mere pretender to love, whereas, indeed, he hates his brother in his heart. -David Clarkson

A foolish physician he is, and a most unfaithful friend, that will let a sick man die for fear of troubling him; and cruel wretches are we to our friends, that will rather suffer them to go quietly to hell, than we will anger them, or hazard our reputation with them. -Richard Baxter

Key Points:
- conviction and teaching go hand in hand
- effectively using the Scriptures to convict [your children] of their sin is a necessary element of biblical parenting
.....- it is God's will (not yours) your children must obey

What is Conviction?
1. A strong personal belief: "I have a conviction about bringing up my children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord."
2. Feelings of guilt about a sin of which one has not yet repented: "I'm under conviction for my addiction to nicotine."
3. The legal process of being found culpable for a crime: "The district attorney was delighted to get a conviction on three of the four indictments against the defendant."
.....- your children do not always realize the extent to which they must change...you must helpt them comprehend these things and you must do so with the Scriptures
......- you must learn how to use the Bible to convince your little lawbreakers that they have broken God's law and that apart from Christ they stand condemned
.....- you must learn how to effectively use the Word to appeal to the consciences of your little lawbreakers

Why is Conviction So Important?
- conviction is important because your child's relationship to God is dependant upon it
- your supreme motive for raising your children according to the Bible is to be that they may please and glorify God
- conviction of sin is a prerequisite to repentance and change
.....- no child, born a sinner, can be changed into the likeness of Christ without first being convicted of his want of Christ-likeness

Sharpening Your Sword
- understand what the Bible says about the sinfulness of the specific sins with which your child is struggling

Dispensing the Word vs. Ministering the Word
- you must develop the ability to thoroughly explain the Scripture protions you are using
- you cannot be content merely to dispense Bible verses (as though Scripture is some sort of magic pill that comes without instruction on the bottle)
- your job is to minister the Word to the hearts of your children in the power of the Holy Spirit

Additional Considerations About Conviction
1. Examine your motives
- your motive should be to restore your child, not to expose him, make things easier for yourself, or extract personal vengeance on him by humiliating him
- don't try to convict your child of sin when you are more angry because he has sinned against you than you are because he sinned against God
2. Use Biblical terminology when convicting children of their sins
3. Argue your case so as to make it clear to the child that the indictment is for sins against God
- children must understand not only that their sin is against god but that the standard of comparison is Jesus Christ as revealed in the Scriptures
4. Choose the right time
5. Choose the right words
6. Ask questions that appeal to your child's conscience
- you must provide your children with the knowledge that he is in need of confessing and forsaking their sin and seeking God's forgiveness
- one of the most effective ways of awakening the conscience of others to their sin is by asking them questions
.....- certain types of questions put presure on the conscience of those we convict by forcing them to examine themselves more closely than they nmight have done on their own
- the use of convicting questions can be seen throughout Scripture and they often start with "Why?"
7. Comfort as you convict
- a personal goal could be to commend your children seven times for every reproof
- don't reduce reproof but increase the frequency of approbations
8. Give the reproof with a gentle spirit (Galatians 6:1)
- scolding is never in order
- prayerful pondering (cf. Prov. 15:28) is probably the best precaution you can take to insure your child will focus on the truth of your argument and not be distracted by your own struggle with anger

Home Life...April 16, 2011

2011-04-16T16:46:00.000-04:00

We have had a very profitable family day today! DearHubby received a call to help a friend put trimming on for a baby nursery and I was very relieved that DearHubby said no. It made me feel like he put spending time with our family as first priority today.

This morning we took a trip to Lowe's to purchase supplies for our garden. Since I will be very pregnant during the summer, DearHubby is going to fully take care of our garden this year. Anyway, while at Lowe's we purchased some seeds and an indoor starter kit, all for free (DearHubby received a Lowe's gift card as a gift for fixing a friend's car).

We then went to Chick Fil A for lunch.

While the girls were enjoying their free Icedream dessert at Chick Fil A with DearHubby, I walked over to Target. I purchased milk, a birthday gift for a birthday party we're attending, and ingredients for spaghetti (I am inviting guests over for lunch on Monday and wanted to prepare the spaghetti sauce ahead of time so that I can still go grocery shopping on Monday morning).

When we got home, I put DearDaughter3 down for a nap and then we spent some time planting part of our veggie garden in the indoor starter kit. We planted pumpkin, brocolli, tomatoes, carrots, watermelons, cantaloupe, bell peppers, egg plant, and corn.

After planting our veggie garden starters I sat down with DearDaughter1 to write out her chores chart. She will get paid for doing 2 loads of laundry a week, making sure all shoes are in the shoes cubby hole daily, and making sure all dirty laundry is in the laundry room daily. She will not get paid for daily making sure all her toys are picked up and daily making sure her room is clean, but she still needs to do them. At the end of the day, we will inspect her work. If she does her jobs correctly, she will get paid for them. If she doesn't do her non-paid jobs correctly, she will be fined for it. As part of earning, we have also taught her that for every $.10 she earns, she puts $0.01 in a Giving envelope and that will be the money she gives as her offering to the Lord.

DearDaughter1 wants to save money for a Build a Bear pink poodle and we have calculated that it will take her 12 weeks to earn enough money to purchase this. Providing that she will not have to owe us any fines, she will be able to purchase this poodle on July 9th.

The girls are playing now and I'm resting before I need to get dinner on.

That's today's update.

Home LIfe...April 14, 2011

2011-04-14T16:47:00.001-04:00

Just sitting here at our dining table, resting a little before getting dinner on, and I am feeling Baby move :) That always makes me happy...

I had a difficult school day :( The girls and I met my DearFriend Patti at Chick Fil A this morning, something we haven't done in a long time. Well, the girls played for 3 hours and I thought they would be worn out. However, when I went to put down the 2 younger girls down for a nap, neither wanted to go down. So, I put DearDaughter2 in my room to look at books, and I put DearDaughter3 in her crib to look at books. We were interrupted, it seems, every 5 to 10 minutes. It made school go much longer than we usually go and not so fun. I wondered if I should have just put our stuff away...However, when I do school 4 or 5 times a week, I know I'm going to have to deal with these interruptions...I'll need to learn how to respond to these interruptions with a more positive and gracious attitude.

I am currently reading the book "Teach Them Diligently" by Lou Priolo. It's been a very encouraging book for me...I am only on Chapter 2, but Mr. Priolo's whole premise to the book is that a child's heart can only be transformed by the working of God's word and Spirit in her heart. Therefore, he encourages parents, first, to know God's word in our own hearts so that second, we are able to teach our children when they wake, when they lie, when they sit, or when they walk. Basically, we should see every moment as a Bible teaching opportunity. It's been a good challenge for me, because it has really revealed how much more of God's word I really need to learn and soak up so that I can also teach it to my own children. It's also been a good reminder for me that it is God who will change my children's hearts with His Word and I need to be faithful in exemplifying obedience to God's Word as well as have faith that it is really God who will change my children's hearts.

I need to be reminded of this a lot because I want to change my girls, especially DearDaughter1, who we're struggling with back talk, now, and it's not my job to change her. It's my job to teach my girls the Bible and even how God's Word is to "govern all of life." Yes, part of that instruction is correction and even correction through discipline... However, it could be easier to have trust in the rod of discipline than the Lord and my faith should lie in God and not the rod.

Well, just spilling my thoughts while I sit and rest, but I do have to get dinner on now.

Homeschooling Log...April 14, 2011

2011-04-14T14:52:00.003-04:00

2pm to 3:30pm - Training time with 5YO

BIBLE:
- "Keep your tongue from evil." Psalm 34:13

PHONICS & READING:
Read Aloud:
- Chapter 11 of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Read:
- Sing Spell Read & Write Phonetic Storybook 6 to p.47

MUSIC:
- My First Piano Adventure for the Young Beginner Lesson Book A pp.15-21
- My First Piano Adventure for the Young Beginner Writing Book A pp.16-17

ART:
- Follow the Directions & Draw It All by Yourself! pp.53, 55

Home Life...April 13, 2011

2011-04-13T13:29:00.000-04:00

I am resting for a little while before starting school with DearDaughter1.

We had a playdate over at a friend's house this morning and then we ran out to the store to get some things I forgot on Monday.

We just got done with lunch. We had breakfast for lunch. I made French Toast and bacon. I had been feeding the girls mac and cheese for lunch and they wanted something different today. They asked for turkey sandwiches, but I didn't have enough turkey for DearHubby's lunch this week and to give to the girls, so that's when I decided to do the French Toast and bacon.

My book order that I made last week finally came in today, just in time for school! We took a break last week from formal school only doing review work, so this week we'll be starting back up on our formal schooling and DearDaughter1's new Bob book readers came in. Her new math books are also in and our summer session books are in too. I'm excited for these new materials.

Yesterday, I took the time to train DearDaughter1 on doing laundry. She'll probably have to do a few loads to get the hang of it. When she does, that will be one of the chores I would like her to earn money for. I think I have the list figured out, of tasks for her to get paid for and of tasks that she has to do just because it's her daily chore to do.

...3:49pm

DearDaughter1 and I just got done with school. Continuing to work on her reading. I am happy with how she is progressing.

We ended our school session with a reading from "Alice in Wonderland." For the last several weeks, we have been laboring through this book. I thought since I had gotten as far as chapter 5 a few months ago, I should finish it with DearDaughter1. We finished Chapter 10 today. We have 2 more chapters and we are looking forward to being done with this book. I don't know that I'll read this book to DearDaughter2. It didn't make much sense.

The next book I would like to read aloud to DearDaughter1 is William Bennett's "The Children's Book of Virtues." This is the description on the slip cover, "The stories have been chosen especially for a young audience to help parents introduce to their children the essentials of good character: Courage, Perseverance, Compassion, Faith, Honesty, Loyalty, and Friendship."

Homeschooling Log...April 13, 2011

2011-04-13T07:31:00.002-04:00

2pm to 3:30pm - Training time with 5YO

BIBLE:
- Review A-I verses
- "Keep your tongue from evil." Psalm 34:13

PHONICS & READING:
Read Aloud:
- Chapter 10 of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Reading Lesson:
- Review Lesson 66-68 in The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading
- Lesson 69 in The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading
Read:
- Bob Books Set 2 Book 1

MATH:
- Review counting to 100 by 5s & 10s
- Review counting pennies, nickels, dimes

Home Life...April 11, 2011

2011-04-11T22:01:00.001-04:00

It was a difficult weekend. DearHubby arrived home in time to put the girls to bed on Friday evening, but soon afterwards he started complaining about feeling nauseated. He was sick all day on Saturday and stayed in bed, only getting up to throw up on both ends. So, though DearHubby was home on Saturday, it seemed as if he wasn't. DearHubby was really worn out and the girls had mild colds so we stayed home from church on Sunday. DearHubby left for for his next business trip Sunday afternoon at 3pm.

Today was a challenging day. It started off really well, but things got challenging around lunch time. The girls complained about their lunches and that just started the trend downwards. It seemed like the girls complained about everything afterwards. I reminded them of the verse "Do all things without complaining and disputing" as well as the verse "Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" and tried to explain that when they are complaining about something they are being ungrateful to God for all the blessings He has given to us. I tried to explain that when they feel like complaining they should do the opposite, which is to give thanks. To no avail, the complaining went on. It made me wonder if our morning run to the grocery store wore the girls out and they just needed time to rest because after DearDaughter3 awoke from her nap, I took the girls to the park, and DearDaughter2, especially, kept breaking down in tears over everything. The girls then ended up fighting over a swing and that's when I called it quits and took the girls home. I disciplined DearDaughter1 for the swing incident because I believe she had the better "sense" to give up the swing to her sister. I told DearDaughter1 that 2 things could have been done in that situation. First, they could have taken turns on the swing they were fighting over and DearDaughter1 could have instigated that move. Or second, one of them could have gone to the empty swing next to the swing they were fighting over and DearDaughter1 could have instigated that move too. I want DearDaughter1 to learn that her sisters are her best friends and because she is the older sister she has the greater responsibility to watch over them and to protect them. I desire DearDaughter1 to learn this humility so that she can exemplify it to her sisters, but it's a little frustrating because DearDaughter1 is stubborn about getting her way and she thinks she's always right. I'm still learning how to deal with these difficult attitudes and this morning I did a wonderful job, but my patience wore thin when the complaining just did not stop. So, I pray for more of God's grace to help me endure with Christ-likeness days like this.

Part of it is the girls' attitudes and part of it is mine. I was also tired when we got home from grocery shopping and all I wanted to do was sit and rest for just a few minutes before having to get lunch on. I did well this morning instructing the girls' hearts because I was both physically and mentally fresh. By the time we got home and I got all the groceries put away, I was physically drained. In addition to that, I was thinking of the tasks I still had left to do for the day and that mentally drained me. So, when the girls started complaining, my own attitude was also not good. I didn't want to deal with their complaints so in a sense I was also complaining on the inside saying to God "But do I have to do this right now? I just want to rest..." So, I also pray for God's help to help me depend on His strength and wisdom more.

On the laundry room organization project front, I was able to complete 90% of Step 2. So Step 1 is 50% complete and Step 2 is 90% complete.

Well, DearHubby told me last night that his boss has one more business trip planned out for him on Wednesday to central Pennsylvania. He should be back home that night, but it sounds like he won't be home until late. I told DearHubby to ask for a free day off on Friday because I feel like he's been gone for 1/2 of April.

Ok, I guess that's today's update.

Notes...Teach Them Diligently by Lou Priolo

2011-04-10T20:17:00.009-04:00

Chapter 2 - Teaching the Scriptures

Children should be taught early the important truths of God's Word. They should early be taught that there is a God; that He is a being of infinite power and wisdom, knowledge and goodness, justice, mercy, and truth, one God in three persons; that He is to be loved with all the heart, and obeyed in all things with the most dutiful respect; that His law is holy, just, and good; that all mankind are by nature sinners, and are exposed to everlasting destruction; that God has freely given His own Son to die for sinners, and to bring in everlasting righteousness for their justification; that everyone ought immediately to repent and embrace the Savior; that all the unconverted reject the mercy of God, and will continue to reject it to their eternal ruin; and that all who are thus renewed and made alive to God will be pardoned and sanctified, and finally received to honor, glory, and immortality.

These and other gospel truths connected with these should be taught to our children with diligence and faithfulness. They are truths which concern their eternal salvation. Nor are we to say that children cannot understand them; for it has been found by pleasing experience that, if proper means are used, children will very early get so much knowlege of divine truth as to be of the greatest benefit to them in all their future lives. -Samuel Worcester, D.D., October 1811

Key Points:
- ...commit this passage to memory. When properly understood there is probably no other portion of God's Word that consistently inspires parents to use the Scriptures in child training more than this:
.....- And these words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and whn you lie down and when you rise up. And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. -Deuteronomy 6:6-9

- loving God and knowing His Word are inseperable; "If you love Me,...you will keep My commandments."
.....- if you are going to teach your children God's Word, you must know the Scriptures yourself
..........- through regular Bible reading and Bible study
..........- through biblical discourse
..........- through listening to the teaching and preaching of the Word
..........- through daily meditaion on the Scriptures
.....- having God's Word on your heart means that the Scriptures are governing all areas of your life; your whole life (inner and outer) is to be controlled by the Word

Teaching the Bible is an Imperative
- YOUR job is to indoctrinate your children in the Bible; it is not the responsibility of the pastor, youth leader, or Sunday school teacher, but they augment your children's Bible education as your agent

- teaching the Bible to your children is non-optional; nothing else you do to, for, or with them is more important than this

Teaching the Bible is an Explicit Imperative
- one must learn the truth, but repeatedly he must show its application to everyday, real life circumstances; truth must be integrated with life -Jay Adams
.....- the goal is not simply to teach, but to explain how [Scripture] relates to the child...and its application
.....- Do everything without complaining or arguing. -Philippians 2:14
..........- you may not argue or complain when you don't like your breakfast
..........- you may not argue or complain when you have to stop playing
..........- you may not argue or complain when you are told to do your homework
..........- you may not argue or complain when your will conflicts with the Lord's

Teaching in the Milieu
- not only must you teach the Scriptures diligently to your children, you must also talk of (or about) them continuously; God wants you to teach and apply the Scriptures to your children in all kinds of places and in all types of circumstances, whenever and wherever life takes you
.....- we should teach our children that the Scriptures are to govern all of life
..........- God's word has relevance to what you do
..........- everywhere and in all circumstances the Scriptures are to be applied to life

What are the Benefits of Teaching in the Milieu?
1. we all learn better, faster, and more eagerly when we can see the value of what we are learning to our life (when we are personally motivated to apply the truth to our own life)

Family Time
- family worship and Bible study; informal or formal to teach in the milieu, to teach how to apply Scripture to life, to prepare a child to receive the Word by showing him its relevance

Teaching to Observe
2. we are able to put what we are learning into practice immediately because we are learning for the purpose of doing
.....- for the Christian learning is not facts to be learned, but rather truth to be lived
.....- Christians are not to use what they learn for their own glory and personal benefit, but rather for God's glory and the benefit of others

- it is your job to make clear how the turh you are teaching is to be practiced experientially; your child must be shown how to apply the Scriptures you are teaching to the various situations and circumstances in life

Practical Considerations for Teaching the Bible to Children
1. Milieu teaching opportunities may be extended beyond the moment of incidence.
2. Break down complex and abstract theological terminology into more age appropriate, easily understood, and concrete concepts.
3. Keep teaching sessions relatively short depending on your child's attention span. 4. Consider using role-play to apply the passage you're teaching.
5. Encourage him to ask questions about the passage.
6. Ask him to create (imagine) hisown milieu in which he might have to apply the passage.
7. Teach in the context of a loving relationship with your child.
8. Teach young children who are unable to read how to memorize Bible passages.
9. Consider using a variety of child-oriented videos, CDs, and audio cassettes containing Scripture which has been set to music.

Home Life...April 7, 2011

2011-04-07T16:47:00.000-04:00

Just taking a little break before I need to get dinner on.

Yesterday I planned out my steps to organize/clear out our laundry room and today I completed 1/2 of Step 1 of the plan. I hope I can stay diligent on this task.

I ordered some homeschooling books at the beginning of the week and today, part of my order came in. It's Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace Jr. Kit and 6 board books to teach kids about work and money. I will need to think of tasks that DearDaughter1 can get "paid" for and which ones she has to do just because she has to do. There's a sheet called the Commisions Page and there's 2 sections. The 1st section is paid tasks and the 2nd section is the penalty section where the child gets penalized for not completing a task. Anyway, DearHubby and I will have to look the whole kit over and see how to incorporate that into our household. When we figure it out with DearDaughter1, we can do it with DearDaughter2 as the kit starts at age 3. One task I was thinking of for DearDaughter1 to get paid for is laundry. I've been observing how I do laundry and about 75% of our loads goes straight into the washer without any stain treatments. It would be helpful if DearDaughter1 can load that 75% in the washer, so I'll have to teach her how to use the washer. It's tasks like these that I've been thinking of for DearDaughter1 so that she can start helping me around the house. I'll update as I figure things out...

Didn't do much today except for work on some bookkeeping (which took some time this morning) and my laundry room project. In the midst of that, I had the girls make Welcome Home signs for DearHubby. He'll be home tomorrow evening right before the girls go to bed. We also had some reading time. Other than that, the girls have had a lot of free play today along with some TV/Video time.

So, that's today's update.

Home Life...April 6, 2011

2011-04-06T15:54:00.001-04:00

I took advantage of a sunny morning and trecked over to the library. I made a list of books to check out last night, which made our trip very efficient. We were out of the library in 35 minutes. That's about all the time DearDaughter3 had the patience to sit in her stroller.

We got your classic children's books like "The Little Engine that Could," "Caps for Sale," and "Blueberries for Sal" and we borrowed many, many books! The girls and I have spent this afternoon reading. My throat started to hurt and so I asked the girls for a break. I was glad that they were soaking the stories up!!!

DearDaughter1 is really into pigs and we found this book, not on the list, called "Little Oink." So far, it is the funniest book we have read. It's about a little pig being trained by his parents to be a PIG. He is told to go and unclean his room. He has to unmake his bed, unfold his clothes, make his clothes all muddy and dirty, etc...The girls had so much fun watching Little Oink unclean his room and wished they could be Little Oink. Yet, Little Oink didn't like being a PIG and his type of fun was playing house where he swept and cleaned. It was too funny, a delight!!!

We also borrowed some Frog and Toad books, which are collections of short stories about Frog and Toad's adventures. There are some funny stories in the collections to.

In short, it's been a very fun day reading. We have a lot of books here at home, but I think we've read them so many times that the girls have probably gotten bored of them. Wish our home library were bigger, but I guess that's what the public libray is for.

I did borrow a book that I did not like at all. It's called "Danny's all Done with Diapers." Horrible book that doesn't leave anything to the imagination and is not modest at all. I have other potty books here at home that are well done and I expected the same with this one or actually even better because it's an ABC one. The book showed males going potty standing up with their pants down and bottoms showing. That's something the girls have never even seen before and I was shocked that the book contained it. I briefly looked it over at the library and I didn't catch it. Anyway... so that's the kind of stuff that I don't like about this library. You really have to know what you're looking for because if you don't know the book and don't carefully inspect it at the library, you just don't know what you'll get.

Though we're taking "Spring Break" this week with our homeschooling, I did review DearDaughter1's Bible verses, math, and reading with her. She can easily forget after a week of not looking at this stuff.

Anyway, the girls are watching a little TV while I just spent a little time planning out my laundry room organizational project. It may take several weeks to complete this project, but if I am diligent in working at it, I hope it will get done before the summer time.

Ok, that's today's update.

Today...April 4, 2011

2011-04-04T08:56:00.001-04:00

Priorities:
- Pick up from the weekend
- Girls' baths
- Reschedule OB appointment
- Start laundry
- Write out check for Zamp- baby shower gift, $30

Wants:
- Start planning laundry room
- Mail check for Zamp- baby shower gift
- Finish Pastor Dennison's sermon

Ministry as a Mom...12 Days to Stop Yelling Day 4

2011-03-29T07:19:00.002-04:00

You need to take care of yourself and your own needs. If your anger and frustration consistently stay between 5 and 10, I invite you to entertain the thought that you are communicating a message to the world. You might be communicating, “I need a break! I need support! I need to rest! I need solitude!”

There’s absolutely no reason to feel guilty about needing to be away from your children now and again! In fact, it is absurd of you to expect yourself not to have regular times away in order for you to refuel, to re-energize.

To see rest of post go to:
http://www.noblemother.com/2009/12/day-4-12-days-to-stop-yelling/

Faith...Notes From a Sermon on Sin

2011-03-27T21:30:00.000-04:00

Sermon by Pastor Charles Dennison

What is wrong with us? What is wrong with the world? The truth of the matter is, as difficult as it is for any of us, all of us to admit it, the problem, the difficulty with us in the world is sin...There is a tragic failure, generally, in the world to come to grips with this truth...

What is sin? Have you wept over it? Has it broken your heart? Has it broken the heart of somebody else you love? Do you know it first hand? What is sin?

Sin is described for us [in the bible], defined for us as a fate, as a doma...in into which you have entered, an environment. "All mankind is born in an estate of sin and misery." It's a condition, it's an environment, it is a state, into which we have been introduced, and according to David, from birth.

But sin is more than an estate. Sin is an act, sin is lawlessness. It is rebellion against God, against his law, against him, against the standards we find in Jesus Christ.

By Jesus and by the word, sin also is an attitude, attitudes of heart. Whatever is not of faith is sin. Malice, envy, hostility...

Sin is original. Originally, our head, Adam, transgressed, and we, his children were in him, in that act, and therefore we too come into this world sinners. "Just as through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, so death spread to all because all sin."

Sin is actual.

Sin is universal.

Sin is personal.

The effect of sin is total. It affects the entirety of our personality. There isn't one aspect of our personality that isn't infected by the disease, by the cancer of sin. At the center of our personality is what the bible call...s the heart..."It is desperately wicked. Who can understand it?"

How do we as sinners appear before God? We cannot please God. We are rendered completely incapable of pleasing Him, we who are affected by sin. Before god, we are [spiritually] dead, utterly incapable of saving ourselves. That is what neccesitates a savior. If you are not a sinner, you don't need a savior. If you are not a sinner, the Christ of the bible is of no help to you what so ever. The Jesus of the Word is of no value to you. "God sent His son into the world to save sinners."

The only way we can go from here is up. You see, you started from the bottom. How do i get out of this condition? Is there any rescue at all? Not from me, that's clear enough. Looking into my heart, I know the truth, and I know that there is no good thing that dwells in my flesh. In and of myself, I stand in condemnation.

Answering the full description of sin is the Lord Jesus Christ the one sent as god's answer to sin. After you have been confronted and sobered by your sin, Jesus Christ greets you, He who gives life to those who are dead. Now this He does in order that you might not live in sin anymore so that already, for you who believe already, that magnificent power of life is at work in you. No more a slave to sin. The state of the Christian lives as a slave to righteousness.

What has God done then for sin? He has sent His son into the world to die upon the cross, taking our sins upon Him that this one who is without sin might become sin for us in order that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

What has God done about our sin? He has sent to us His Spirit to give us life from the dead that we might in this life yet resist sin unto glory.

What has God done about our sin? He has promised us through his Son and through His spirit that he is going to come, He is going to remove all sins from us, He is going to wipe every tear from our eye that we have shed in contrition before Him and He is going to introduce us to an environment, to an estate, to a world, in which acts and attitudes of sin are utterly impossible.

And that is your hope! Can you imagine? A world and a life in which sin can't even happen? Hasten the day. Bring it quickly! Come lord jesus, come quickly!!!

Home Life...March 25, 2011

2011-03-25T11:29:00.001-04:00

The time just flew by again so quickly this week. In addition to the daily chores and school, I had 1 doctor's appointment, 1 babysitting appointment, 2 social appointments, and a Small Group meeting this week. I am looking forward to staying home for most of the day today, but the girls and I do have to go shopping today for 2 parties tomorrow. The girls and Ty will be going to a birthday party while I will be going to a baby shower. One reason for jotting some thoughts down today is because I've been thinking about why we homeschool. I had the opportunity this week to visit with a friend whom I haven't seen since December and I had the opportunity to once again visit with DearFriend Patti. Well, this friend whom I haven't seen since December just shared with me that her 16 year old daughter is currently sexually active. As she shared that news with me, I almost cried. The only reason I didn't was because this friend really held her composure. However, it really disheartened me that her daughter has made that choice. As this friend shared this news with me she said, "Whatever you're doing, it is the right thing. You may think it's hard, but if you continue on this track, hopefully, you will not have to see your own daughters make these decisions." So, as much as I know that there is no wrong in sending our children off to public school, I am keenly aware of the battles that our youths face today in that setting. As I sat in DearFriend Patti's dining area and watched her family's daily routine unfold before my eyes, I couldn't help but thank DearFriend Patti for the wonderful example she has been to raising a godly household. In the 4 hours I spent with her family, her eldest daughter finished a day of homeschooling with the younger kids and her eldest son came home with a passed CLEP exam score, adding 3 more credits towards his college degree. In just a few months, he has earned 54 college credits through these CLEP exams and his goal is to earn an associates degree by the end of this school year. DearFriend Patti's oldest daughter has chosen to help her homeschool while she continues to take some CLEP exams and waits for God to guide her future. As school finished, DearFriend Patti's middle children came out of school and started preparing lunch. It was very refreshing to see DearFriend Patti's 2 oldest finding contentment in the place God has placed them and wisely and with faith taking forward steps towards God's path in life for them and to see her teenagers submissive in their training. Last night as we were in Small Group, one of the mommies came up to me and said, "Gen, today my daughter had a playdate and she was put down because she didn't have the right kind of boots on. My daughter didn't quite understand why, but I know that next year in Kindergarten, my daughter will probably know what Twinkle Toed Uggs are and will probably want a pair." The start of peer pressure that my children haven't really experienced yet. As I thanked DearFriend Patti for her example, she said that her desire is not to keep her children in a bubble away from the world, but to provide them with the best environment now to make the right decisions. Why would she want to open up her children to unnecessary temptation, like premarital sex, when she has the opportunity to keep them from that temptation now and give them the freedom to make good and wise decisions. So, as much as I don't think sending children to school is wrong, I myself remember my own experience in public school. I went to the worse middle school and the worse high school in San Francisco. The schools were surrounded by a barbed wire fence and a police was on campus at all times. There were fight outbreaks constantly and many of my classes were more about the teachers getting through a day of babysitting rather than a day of teaching. I learned very little in school except how to take and pass tests and how to be cool so that I wouldn't get picked on. I am so thankful that even before I was a Christian God was already protecting me because I was faced with the opportunity to get into the drinking scene, the smoking scene, the drug scene, and the sex scene, but I didn't. My greatest testimony is of a time when I was 14 years old and I somehow was at my boyfriend's house. We were in his room and he started to make moves on me to have sex. As much as I wanted to do that with him, I kept thinking back to my parents telling me that premarital sex is wrong and I stopped him. He was very upset, broke up with me, and denied that we were ever boyfriend and girlfriend. Ironically, he couldn't stop thinking about me, and in college he called me while I was home to see if I wanted to see him. I think he respected me a lot for turning him down. Anyway, so thanks to my parents' words that premarital sex is wrong and praise to God for His faithfulness towards me even before I was saved, my purity was saved for marriage. I was also a latch key kid, meaning that a house key was latched to my person and I came home to a lonely house. There were days after school when I would take the bus into the city just to roam the city streets by myself. My mom had no clue where I was or what I was doing. So, as I think back to my experiences at school and even what I did on my free time due to the lack of supervision, because I love my children I really don't want that for my children. I want my children to have a meaningful life with purpose. I want them to grow up knowing that DearHubby and I love them and through our love for them they see God's love for them. I want them knowing God and loving Him. Anyway, DearDaughter1 finished her math curriculum last week and this week we started our focus on improving her reading. She's getting better and I look forward to where she will be in a few months!!! We picked up reading Alice in Wonderland again and Christyann joined us. To make sense of Alice in Wonderland you have to realize that she is in a land full of nonsense. Keeping that in mind, that's what the book is all about. Still not sure what the deeper meaning is or maybe there isn't :D There's a book called The Children's Book of Virtues. I might choose that as our next read aloud. I haven't started DearDaughter's piano lessons back up again. I may do that next week, not sure. I've got a lot of appointments again next week and for DearDaughter3's 2nd birthday we're taking her to the zoo on Friday. No birthday party for DearDaughter3 this year. I've been thinking about my curriculum for next year and I think next year I may add a Science curriculum. I was looking into a couple of Science curriculums. There's 2 that I'm really interested in, Apologia and God's Design. I'm also thinking of adding a History curriculum too, but not sure. So that's it. 'Til next time...

Ministry as a Mom...12 Days to Stop Yelling Day 3

2011-03-22T08:55:00.002-04:00

Adjust your expectations. Acknowledge your child’s age and keep development in mind.

To see rest of post go to:
http://www.noblemother.com/2009/12/day-three-12-days-to-stop-yelling/

Ministry as a Mom...12 Days to Stop Yelling Day 2

2011-03-21T08:47:00.001-04:00

Create more predictability for your kids. Jot down your own daily rhythm.

To see rest of post go to:
http://www.noblemother.com/2009/12/day-two-12-days-to-stop-yelling/

Ministry as a Mom...12 Days to Stop Yelling Day 1

2011-03-17T11:05:00.003-04:00

Choose not to yell or shout or shame your child when she won’t listen to your request...

To see rest of post go to:
http://www.noblemother.com/2009/12/day-one-12-days-to-stop-yelling/

Update 3-17-11 & 3-18-11:
"If at first you don't succeed, try try again."

I notice that I begin to feel anxious and easily irritated when we need to get out the door in a timely manner and the girls are not moving fast enough or when I am under a schedule and the girls are not moving fast enough or obeying.

Homeschooling Log...March 17, 2011

2011-03-17T09:14:00.001-04:00

8am to 9am - Breakfast
9am to 11am - Training Time with 2YO and 3YO; Free Play for 5YO
10:30am - Snack Time
11am to 12pm - Chores for Mommy; Free Play for Kiddos
12pm to 1pm - Lunch
1pm to 2pm - Pick up toys
2pm to 4pm - 2YO & 3YO naps; Training Time with 5YO
4pm to 5pm - Chores for Mommy; Free Play for Kiddos
5pm to 6pm - Cook dinner for Mommy; Pick up toys, Video time, Daddy time for Kiddos
6pm/6:30pm - Dinner
7:30pm - Bedtime routine/Bedtime

BIBLE:
2YO, 3YO, 5YO:
"Honor your father and your mother." Exodus 20:12
5YO:
Review A-G verses

PHONICS & READING:
2YO:
Say ABCs & Watch Elmo ABC video
Read Aloud:
- Nursery Rhymes for Little Ones
- Pajama Time by Sandra Boynton
- Buzz-Buzz Busy Bees An Animal Sounds Book
3YO:
Lesson 1-5 in The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading
Read Aloud:
- Are You My Mother? by PD Eastman
- There's a Wocket in my Pocket! by Dr. Seuss
- One fish two fish red fish blue fish by Dr. Seuss
5YO:
Review Lesson 61 in The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading
Lesson 62-64 in The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading
Read:
- Bob Books Set 1 Book 9

MATH:
2YO:
Shape & Color sorting box
3YO:
Number Recognition to 10
5YO:
Math Lesson 110 & 112 (Assessment #14) in Saxon Math K

PENMANSHIP:
2YO:
Color in a Coloring Book

Recipe...7 Layer Salad

2011-02-12T09:50:00.004-05:00

7 Layer Salad
Adapted by In Pursuit of His Call using several recipes
Serving: Party size

INGREDIENTS:
1 head Romaine lettuce (shredded)
7 Eggs (hard boiled and cubed)
1 bunch Brocolli (uncooked and chopped)
10 oz Shredded cheddar cheese
12 oz Bacon (crumbled)
10 oz Frozen peas (completely thawed)
1 c. Mayonaise
1 c. Sour cream
2/3 c. Parmesan cheese
2 T. sugar

DIRECTIONS:
**For each layer, use as much of the ingredient to just cover the layer below it.
1. Find appropriate sized bowl for the number of servings you'd like, preferrably a cylindrical type bowl.
2. First layer - cover the bottom of the bowl with shredded romaine lettuce.
3. Second layer - cover romaine lettuce layer with a layer of cubed hard boiled eggs
4. Third layer - cover egg layer with chopped brocolli
5. Fourth layer - cover brocolli layer with shredded cheddar cheese
6. Fifth layer - sprinkle bacon over the shredded cheddar cheese layer, to taste
7. Sixth layer - cover cheddar cheese and bacon layer with thawed peas
8. Seventh layer - cover peas layer with mayonaise/sour cream mixture (see below)
.....Mix mayonaise with sour cream
.....Add parmesan cheese and sugar
9. Bring 7 Layer Salad to party and before serving, completely mix salad.

Ministry as a Mom...An Appointment for the Ordinary

2011-01-14T17:10:00.003-05:00

Have you ever made a doctor's or dentist's appointment and automatically blocked off 2 hours of your time in your calendar because you know that a wait at the doctor's office takes that long?

What about social gatherings, dates, and church events? We jot these events on our calendars and set aside at least 2 hours, if not more, for each of them.

We block out these portions of time because these events are "important" to us. But how about the ordinary and mundane? Do we make appointments for them?

Life had been a bit hectic here at our home. I tried to juggle creating craft ideas and making the craft samples and kits for MOPPETS, tried to juggle the planning of our church's Ladies' Christmas party, tried to juggle homeschooling, tried to juggle an at home birthday party for my 5 year old, tried to juggle a dinner party for a few ladies at my home, tried to juggle a morning bible study and an evening small group study, tried to juggle going to the gym,tried to juggle lunch dates and play dates, the preparation of Christmas cards, shopping for Christmas presents, a Christmas dinner party at my home (which never happened because of the snow), blah, blah, blah blah blah.

There would be overwhelmingly huge piles of laundry waiting to be washed, dried, folded, and put away. There would be piles of dishes on the counter, the sink, the table, and the stove top waiting to be cleaned. I was unmotivated to cook because of the mess so I would talk my DearHubby into going out to eat with money we didn't have. Mold forming in the bathtub and toilet. Food on the floor for days. My girls would go a while between each bath and they would complain about itching bottoms. Skipped nebulizer treatments. Unscheduled doctor's appointments. And in the midst of all that I felt OVERWHELMED and I wanted my DearHubby and girls to just leave me alone. I was very mean to them, impatient, unkind, and frustrated. My husband didn't know that I loved him and my children's behavior became increasingly poor and they became very disobedient.

How did all this happen?

I underestimated the true value and importance of these mundane and ordinary tasks and I did not plan for them. I didn't have a routine and I just reacted to whatever task seemed to be screaming the loudest at the moment.

Then, I was reminded of 3 passages: Proverbs 31:10-31, Titus 2:3-5, and 1 Timothy 3 and their emphasis on the HOME. Women are encouraged to love their husbands, love their children, work at home (Titus 2:3-5), and minister to the poor and needy (Proverbs 31:20). Men, are encouraged, before becoming an overseer of the church, to be husbands of one wife, have submissive children, and to be able to manage their home well (1 Timothy 3:2-5; 12). You mean washing clothes so that my husband has something to wear to work the next day has value to God? You mean cooking food so that my children will have something to eat has value to God? You mean wiping up runny noses, giving hugs, laughing and playing, and spending time with my children so that they know I love them is important to God? YES! YES! and YES!!!

Ladies, we have a very important role to play in the kingdom of God in our homes!!! With our husbands, through our love and submission to them, and their love and sacrifice for us, we are reflecting Christ's relationship with the church (Ephesians 5:32). With our children, we are raising future soldiers for God's kingdom. And what better place to start than in the home?

Do a time study and see how much time it requires to do the tasks you need to do in your home. For me, I am a mommy of 3 young children. Although my eldest is now 5, and I can delegate some tasks to her, I am still the main house keeper here at home. How long does it take to do laundry? If I do not fall behind, it takes 2 hours 2 times a week to wash, dry, fold, and put away all the laundry. If I am doing sheets, towels, and floor mats, maybe add another 2 to 3 hours. How long does it take to do nebulizer treatments? Currently, 2 of my girls require 2 nebulizer treatments 2 times a day. Each treatment is 20 minutes long. That's another 1 1/2 hours. How long does it take to give baths? Each child takes 20 minutes to groom so that takes a whole hour just to get all my girls cleaned. How long does it take to prepare a meal and then clean up from it? It takes about 30 to 45 minutes to cook a meal, about 20 minutes to eat a meal, and then another 30 to 45 minutes to wash the dishes (since I don't have a dishwasher). As you can see, the time for all these tasks add up. So, mommies, with little ones who are totally dependant on you, don't feel guilty if all you are doing is cooking, cleaning, washing, and wiping dirty bottoms and runny noses. This is what God has called you to now and it IS important and valuable to His kingdom work!!! Sometimes this value and importance gets lost amidst the busy-ness and so say tid-bits of prayer through your day to find rest in God (Matthew 11:28-30). As the little ones get older and they are able to help out with the home, there will be more time for those good works to the poor and needy that God calls us to. In the mean time, make your ministry count in the home, make appointments for those ordinary and mundane tasks, set aside those blocks of time to care for your husband, children, and home and your reward will come when your children rise up and call you blessed and your husband praises you (Proverbs 31:28).

Just a disclaimer, if the Lord opens an opportunity for you to minister and you are able to manage your home well without being unkind and unloving towards your husband and your children, by all means, do not quench the work of the Lord. God's grace is sufficient but remember what God calls you to first!

Health...Back to the Gym

2010-11-06T10:38:00.002-04:00

I took some time this morning to go to Curves, an all ladies' gym, to sign up for a membership. We have some money coming in to us from a few sources and I convinced DearHubby that we could afford it. Exercising at home is very challenging and I have been missing and needing exercise. I've been talking about joining the gym again with DearHubby for several weeks now and his main concern was the financial issue. Well, if I am diligent about going 3 times a week, our insurance company will also reimburse us the whole membership amount. So, I am hoping to go Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays when DearHubby gets home. I'll have dinner ready and he'll do dinner with the girls while I go to the gym. Then, I'll get home and eat my dinner and then we'll do their bedtime routine together. We'll see how it goes. I am up to my heaviest weight and I can feel its effects. I've tried different things here at home, but it's just been so difficult trying to exercise with the kiddos.

October 4-9, 2010

2010-10-04T15:02:00.000-04:00

1. Store spring/summer clothes and take out fall/winter clothes.
2. CDs for Doris R., Margie C., Crystal H., Becky B. Mail CDs.
3. Look for Crystal H.'s homeschooling curriculum book and mail.
4. Deposit money in bank.
5. Return Russell dishes to the church.
6. Clean bathroom.
7. Paperwork.

Today...September 27, 2010

2010-09-27T07:43:00.001-04:00

1. Daily reading - Isaiah 23-27
2. Walk & back stretched
3. Laundry
4. Clean toilet & tub
5. Send off mortgage payment
6. Purchase and deliver Kellie C's b-day gift
7. Dishes

Health and Faith...Time to Heal

2010-09-23T07:51:00.000-04:00

I stepped on the scale today and I weighed 144 pounds. I am 1 pound to being the heaviest weight I have ever been, which was back in 2003. It wasn't too long ago that I was on the right track to being back to my desired weight of 120 pounds. I was 125 pounds in March and then I got pregnant. Though I never made it back to my goal weight, I was still determined to eat healthy and exercise as I have mostly done in my pregnancies.

I was about 8 weeks along when 2 tragic events happened within a week. The first event was the loss of our baby. The second event was a car accident that totalled our car. I was devastated by both events, but praise the Lord, He was very gracious and allowed me to find peace and comfort in His arms. Though I was sad over our losses my heart did not grow hard. Yet, I have to admit that I did not completely find comfort in my Father. Food, especially fast and easy food, helped soothe the turmoil going on within. I never returned back to a healthy diet or to exercising.

3 months later, in August, I once again discovered that I was pregnant, but within 2 weeks of discovering this pregnancy I once again lost the baby while we were on vacation. This time the miscarriage was even worse than the previous. I bled heavily and lost a lot of blood. I grew weak and faint and I literally did faint at one point in a public bathroom stall. I was on bedrest for most of the week that we were on vacation. I had lost so much blood that my hemoglobin count went down to 5.7. My head, even after taking 3 ibuprofens, throbbed and my heart felt like it was going to burst out of my chest. I literally felt like I had just ran a marathon and could not find rest. I was taken to the ER and needed a blood transfusion. They gave me 3 units of blood which is equivalent to 1 Liter. This miscarriage was very traumatizing and even to this day I am discouraged and I am still trying to work out my emotions.

This heavy weight that I am in is a good reflection of where I am physically, emotionally, and spiritually. As a friend put it, "I am broken."

This week, my back went out on me. I woke up on Monday morning and could not move. My excuse was that I ran on full throttle while my in-laws were with us and my body just crashed after they left. It's a good excuse and it is also true. Yet, my back going out on me has been such an eye opener as to how out of shape I am in. I looked in the mirror the other day and I looked just as pregnant as I would if I were still pregnant. I also lifted up my belly and I literally felt a weight relief lifted off of my back. It was then that I determined that it is time to heal and heal not only in my physical brokenness but also in my emotional and spiritual brokenness.

Jesus was physically, emotionally, and spiritually broken on that cross, but He gave Himself up to this brokenness because He loved His Father and He trusted His Father. Jesus now sits at the right hand of God in heaven and is in perfect glory. Brokenness is a result of sin and through Scripture we know that through Christ, a broken man can be healed. Lord, please help me mend this brokenness and heal me.

...

After I weighed myself, I got on my running clothes and shoes. I attempted to run, but my back didn't allow it. So, I just walked briskly for 10 minutes and then came back in to stretch out my back.

My next goal for today is to read in God's Word. It's been difficult for me to do so, but I know that by trusting and obeying and going to Him, His Word is powerful to change my heart.

May this be the beginning of my journey to healing.

Today...July 20, 2010

2010-07-20T10:15:00.001-04:00

1. Amos 1-5; Amos 6-9 (7-11/12)
2. Blog
3. Dishes
4. Laundry catch-up
5. Toy pick-up
6. ~~Put away winter gear~~
7. ~~Put away unused shoes from entryway~~
8. ~~Put away groceries~~
9. ~~Put away toy & sleeping bag~~
10. ~~Vacuum and dust entryway~~
11. ~~Clean glass doors in entryway~~
12. Daily devotions w/ the girls
13. Budget
.....- Input June expenses
14. Game time w/ the girls (game of their choice)
15. Store run: bath soap

Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Leftovers
Dnner: Teriyaki grilled chicken w/ rice & garden veggie stir fry

This Week...July 19-23, 2010

2010-07-19T06:00:00.002-04:00

1. Continue working on paperwork every day
2. Finish June Budget
3. ~~Clean out entry way~~
.....- ~~Put away all winter gear~~
.....- ~~Dust & vacuum~~
.....- ~~Clean glass on door~~
4. Continue working on June Picture of the Day on Blog (5 pics/day)
5. Clean bathroom
6. Clean "master" bedroom
.....- Wash sheets
.....- Dust/clean floors
7. Pay bills

Today...July 17, 2010

2010-07-17T06:00:00.000-04:00

1. ~~Isa. 1-4; Isa. 5-8 (7-9/10)~~
2. Blog
3. ~~Dishes~~
4. ~~Laundry catch-up~~
5. ~~Toy pick-up~~
6. Put away winter gear
7. ~~Clear out entryway~~
.....- ~~Remove unused shoes~~
8. Vacuum and dust entryway
9. Clean glass doors in entryway
10. Daily devotions w/ the girls
11. Budget
.....- Input June expenses
12. Game time w/ the girls (game of their choice)
13. ~~Bake Zucchini Blueberry Muffins~~
14. ~~Bake Brownies~~
15. ~~Prepare church clothes~~
16. ~~Cut the girls' nails~~
17. Store run: ~~sheet for couch, Wally's Ear Oil, cinnamon, milk, eggs, plastic container~~

Breakfast: Zucchini Blueberry Muffins
Lunch: Leftovers
Dnner: Chicken Corn Soup

Today...July 16, 2010

2010-07-16T06:00:00.001-04:00

1. 2 Kings 15; 2 Chron. 26; Isa. 1-4 (7-8/9)
2. Blog
3. Dishes
4. Laundry catch-up
5. Toy pick-up
6. ~~Mail High Point paperwork~~
7. ~~Wash winter gear~~
8. ~~Daily devotions w/ the girls~~
9. Budget
.....- Input June expenses
10. School w/ DearDaughter1
11. ~~Game time w/ the girls (game of their choice)~~ Read a book of their choice each
12. Bake Zucchini Blueberry Muffins
13. Store run: sheet for couch

*Spent the afternoon with the Vanderhoffs and my excitement and enthusiasm for homeschooling was renewed! I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening researching different books and planned out DearDaughter1's curriculum for this coming school year. Very excited that's done!!! As a result, I didn't get to work on much on my To Do list.

Breakfast: Bought breakfast @ McDonald's & Dunkin' Donuts
Lunch: ~~Lunch w/ the Vanderhoffs~~
Dnner: ~~Pizza~~

Today...July 15, 2010

2010-07-15T06:00:00.001-04:00

1. ~~2 Kings 14; 2 Chron. 25; Jonah 1-4 (7-6/7)~~
2. ~~Blog~~
3. ~~Dishes~~
4. ~~Laundry catch-up~~
5. ~~Toy pick-up~~
6. ~~Paperwork~~
.....- ~~High Point paperwork~~
7. Wash winter gear
8. ~~Daily devotions w/ the girls~~
9. ~~Pay mid-monthly bills~~
10. ~~Budget~~ Completed Balancing Bank Statement, need to input June expenses
11. ~~School w/ DearDaughter1~~
12. Game time w/ the girls (game of their choice)
13. ~~Girls' baths~~
14. Store run: sheet for couch

Breakfast: ~~Cereal~~
Lunch: ~~Ramen noodles w/ chicken & summer veggies for Mommy, hot dogs w/ Mac & Cheese for girls~~
Dinner: ~~Dinner w/ the Zampitellas~~

Today...July 14, 2010

2010-07-14T06:00:00.004-04:00

1. ~~Read 2 Kings 9-11; 2 Kings 12-13; 2 Chron. 24 (7-4/5)~~
2. ~~Blog~~
3. ~~Dishes~~
4. ~~Laundry catch-up~~
5. ~~Toy pick-up~~
6. ~~Vacuum~~
7. ~~Remove all winter items from entry way to laundry room ready for washing~~
.....- ~~Keep light jackets out for chili evenings~~
7. ~~Daily devotions w/ the girls~~
8. ~~Play Curious George w/ the girls~~
9. ~~Girls' dentist appt - 10am (get directions)~~
11. ~~School w/ DearDaughter1~~
10. Store run: ~~hair spray, turkey, laundry detergent, dryer sheets,~~ sheet for couch, ~~Sensodyne, lawn & leaf bags~~

Breakfast: ~~Zucchini Blueberry Muffins~~
Lunch: ~~Leftovers~~
Dinner: ~~Rotisserie Chicken w/ Chicken flavored rice & summer veggies~~

This Week...July 12-16, 2010

2010-07-13T20:43:00.002-04:00

1. Continue working on paperwork every day
2. Finish June Budget
3. Clean out entry way
.....- Wash and put away all winter gear
.....- Dust & vacuum
.....- Clean glass on door
4. Continue working on June Picture of the Day on Blog (5 pics/day)

Today...July 7, 2010

2010-07-07T07:56:00.003-04:00

1. ~~Bake Zucchini Blueberry Muffins~~
2. ~~Swimming @ Kellie's - 10am~~
3. Paperwork
4. Blog
5. Budget
6. ~~Pay DearHubby's ER medical bills~~ - DearHubby called and said not to pay them because his work will take care of the bills

Today...July 6, 2010

2010-07-06T09:23:00.005-04:00

1. Store run: ~~toilet paper~~, white vinegar (not in stock), ~~turkey (bought Chicken, no turkey), mayonaise, bread & butter chips~~
2. ~~Gift Purchase: Jessica F. baby shower gift~~
3. Paperwork
4. Clean up from weekend
.....- Cleaned dishes put away
.....- Toys put away
.....- Miscellaneous items from weekend put away
.....- Vacuum floor
5. Catch up on laundry
6. ~~School w/ DearDaughter1~~
7. ~~Jessica F. baby shower - 6pm~~
8. ~~Blog~~

Breakfast: Zucchini Blueberry Muffins
Lunch: Chicken Salad Sandwich (for Mommy), Turkey Sandwich (for girls)
Dinner: Spaghetti (start cooking @4:45pm and eat @5:15pm)

This Week...July 6-9, 2010

2010-07-06T09:13:00.003-04:00

Tips...7 Ways to Save Money on Groceries

2010-06-14T06:34:00.001-04:00

http://www.bankrate.com/finance/personal-finance/7-ways-to-save-money-on-groceries-1.aspx?pid=p:cmct&cid=hero_mainlink2

Home Life...June 13, 2010

2010-06-13T11:45:00.003-04:00

Aaahhh, the silence! It's been awhile since I've known silence and I can actually hear the whirring of the ceiling fans and the humming of the air conditioner. There isn't a baby crying or a toddler screaming or a little girl yelling out for mommy. It is silent and for me this is a break!

DearHubby took the 2 older girls to church while I am at home with baby. We had a long day yesterday and though baby had a good night's rest, I didn't. After 10 hours of sleep, baby decided it was time to get up with the sunrise, but sunrise was about 5:30ish this morning. So, I, on the other hand only got about 5 hours of sleep after a long day in the sun. This morning I asked DearHubby if he would allow me to stay home and rest while he and the 2 older girls went to church. He did.

Yesterday we went to one of the lovliest gardens of the world! Everything was so perfect! You could even say that the garden was a site for sore eyes! All the plants, flowers, trees, and even bodies of water were strategically placed amid 1,050 acres of land to create a breath taking and picturesque place of beauty! If it weren't for the hot temperature yesterday, I would have thought that I was in heaven!

I took many pictures yesterday and even wished I had more than 1 memory card for my camera to have taken more. I am learning that to get great pictures, you have to take more than 1 shot of a subject. Unfortunately, I only had about 100 shots on my memory card and so I was limited in how many pictures I could take. I was quite relieved that I was somewhat conservative in my picture taking and I ran out of memory at the end of our adventure. I have many favorites, but I will share my most favorite pictures. They are my favorite because the camera actually captured the picture I saw in my mind.

This is my very favorite picture because it captured the bright pretty pink flowers in great contrast to the bright green leaves. I like how the camera captured the definition of the plant and blurred out the the window in the background.

I like this picture because I like how the sun is shining on the pretty light pink flowers casting shadows on some areas and highlighting others.

I like this close-up of the group of cacti and how you can see the prickly thorns because of the detail sharpness.

This was taken in The Children's Garden and I like this action shot because it shows the girls playing with the play rain and behind them is a blurred view of another mommy with her child at the fountain.

Lastly, I appreciate this close up picture of DearDaughter1 and the highlights from the sun.

There are lots more pictures to share, but these are my favorites.

I wanted to dwell on this weekend, yesterday's family day and this morning's quiet, because I know that it will be some time again before we will have another family day like that or another opportunity for quiet time. My DearHubby has a lot of home projects he'd like to accomplish this summer and as I count the weekends in the summer compared to the projects he'd like to do, I am counting more work than there is time. I am a little nervous about this idea as I am planning to start homeschooling with DearDaughter1 next week. I had not been able to get back onto a good regular homeschooling routine after all our little trials with baby being in the hospital for a week, my miscarriage, and the car accident. Now that the doctor's appointments are slowing down and we are at the tail end of tying up the car accident issues, I need to get back on the ball with DearDaughter1's education. She will only be considered a Pre-schooler this coming fall, but at the rate our homeschooling has gone, I feel like she would fall behind rather quickly if I didn't start now. So as every one else is excited for school to get out and start their summer vacation, we are looking forward to our summer school session, but that means there's a lot of hard work ahead of us within the next few weeks.

Last Sunday they made their plug for VBS helpers at church. I picked up a sign up sheet hoping that I would be able to help out. May the Lord give me direction in this.

Well, I have about 15 minutes before baby will wake so I will take that time to pick up a little and maybe even get dressed and read my Bible a little.

1600-1800 Calorie/Day Challenge...Hitting a Wall

2010-06-08T09:40:00.000-04:00

I don't think I am quite ready to continue on in this challenge or if I do I will need to take it one day at a time and take it step by step.

I am wondering if this is a result of my miscarriage? I've read that even after a miscarriage, the after effects of it is the same as after child birth. I can certainly believe it as I felt like I was going through labor while miscarrying, with the contractions and dilation of the cervix and all. I am wondering if what I am feeling is all part of the hormone changes.

Emotionally, I am much at peace with the miscarriage and understand that this is all a part of God's perfect and good plan. What I've been experiencing is something like I feel before my period. I become so overwhelmed so quickly and the slightest event can set me off into frustration and anger. In addition, I haven't been getting enough sleep and I think the lack of sleep is contributing to my edginess.

Lastly, I am constantly with the children and constantly trying to keep up with the house work. I have not had time for myself since all of this has happened and it is all beginning to wear on me. I want a break and I need a break, but I can't. I have a visit scheduled with a friend on Thursday, but I could not find a sitter for the girls. I was looking forward to this visit as I was hoping it would be some time to get away. I was so disappointed when my sitter got back to me informing me that she already had a prior commitment for that day.

Therefore, I admittingly have been taking comfort in food. For me, food brings back great memories from great times with friends during college to those dates with my DearHubby. I guess food right now has been one way I have been able to find that get away that I so longingly crave for. Just thinking about keeping to 1600-1800 calories a day is adding another burden to my already edgy state and I thought I should work on keeping the stress level down to a minimum until this post partum state is relieved. I hope that will be soon.

As I find the motivation to get back on track to this challenge, I will once again resume my record keeping of daily calories.

1600-1800 Calorie/Day Challenge...Day 3

2010-06-03T22:42:00.000-04:00

Breakfast:
1 Chicken Breakfast Burrito - 450
1 c Coffee - 45
450 + 45 = 495

Lunch:
2 slices whole wheat bread - 80 x 2
3 oz chicken - 175
1/2 c spinach - 20
1 tbsp salad dressing - 65
2 strawberries - 8
1 oz candied pecans - 190
1/8 c grapes - 13
2 slices apple - 6
1 tbsp mayonaise - 57
1 can Coke - 140
160 + 175 + 20 + 65 + 8 + 190 + 13 + 6 + 57+ 140 = 834

Dessert:
1 slice browny - 100
1 c coffee - 45
100 + 45 = 145

Snack:
2 slice browny - 100 x 2
1 c 2% Milk - 136
200 + 136 = 336

Dinner:
2 slices whole wheat bread - 80 x 2
3 oz chicken - 175
1/8 c grapes - 13
2 slices apple - 6
1 tbsp mayonaise - 57
1 bread and butter pickle - 41
1 can Coke - 140
160 + 175 + 13 + 6 + 57 + 41 + 140 = 592

Dessert:
1 slice browny - 100
1 c 2% Milk - 136
100 + 136 = 236

Total: 495 + 834 + 145 + 336 + 592 + 236 = 2,638

Note - Horrible day! Had a luncheon at my house and overdid it on the brownies. No moderation practiced today :( I almost ate 1,000 more calories than I need :(

1600-1800 Calorie/Day Challenge...Day 2

2010-06-02T23:59:00.000-04:00

Breakfast:
2 slices whole wheat bread - 80 x 2
1 egg - 70
1 slice Cheddar cheese - 80
1 tbsp ketchup - 65
1 c coffee - 45
160 + 70 + 80 + 65 + 45 = 420

Lunch:
1 tsp Country Crock spread - 25
2 slices whole wheat bread - 80 x 2
1 slice American cheese - 70
1 c tomato soup - 155
1/2 c water ice - 150
1/2 can Coke - 70
25 + 160 + 70 + 155 + 150 + 70 = 630

Snack:
1 granola bar - 100
12 Teddy Grahams - 65
100 + 65 = 165

Dinner:
3 oz chicken - 175
1/8 c cream of chicken, celery, mushroom - 13
1 c California style veggies - 38
1/2 c Uncle Ben's rice - 85
1/2 can Coke - 70
175 + 13 + 38 + 85 + 70 = 381

Dessert:
1 slice browny - 100
1 c 2% milk - 136
100 + 136 = 236

Total: 420 + 560 + 165 + 381 + 236 = 1,762

1600-1800 Calorie/Day Challenge...Day 1

2010-06-01T12:10:00.002-04:00

Breakfast:
1 Chicken Breakfast Burrito - 450
1 Chocolate Frosted Donut - 230
1 small decaf caramel coffee w/ cream and sugar - 120
450 + 230 + 120 = 800

Lunch:
1 fat free turkey hot dog - 45
1/4 c Country Crock mac & cheese - 95
1/4 c blueberries - 21
2.5 med strawberries - 10
1 can Coke - 140
45 + 95 + 21 + 10 + 140 = 311

Snack:
25 Teddy Grahams - 130
1/2 c soy milk - 50
130 + 50 = 180

Dinner:
1/2 c romaine lettuce - 20
1/2 c spinach - 20
1 slice pizza - 250
1/4 c blueberries - 21
4 med strawberries - 16
1 tbsp salad dressing - 65
20 + 20 + 250 + 21 + 16 + 65 = 392

Dessert:
1 slice browny - 100
25 Teddy Grahams - 130
1/2 c soy milk - 50
100 + 130 + 50 = 280

Total: 800 + 311 + 180 + 392 + 280 = 1,963
Note: I could have skipped the browny and cut the Teddy Grahams in half to make 1800.

----------

Comments:
Sasha said on June 3, 2010 5:08 PM...
That's awesome!! I have really been trying to exercise, I have started walking/jogging in the evenings. But we keep having these rainy days and so I will miss a few days and then it takes a lot for me to get back out there and go again. What I am lacking is the calorie counting. When I get back from my walk I am usually famished and I will eat a bowl of ice cream (you know my family and ice cream!). SO I just basically worked off what I ate in ice cream! I think you just inspired me to consider my calorie intake a bit more closely. My goal was to loose this baby weight (2 years later!) it is SLOWLY coming off. Anyway good for you for sticking to a great plan! Just a little bit of encouragement everything that I have read says to give yourself one "treat" a day, so the brownie was probably a good thing. They say is you limit yourself too much you wont stick your plan is. BUT as Rachael Ray always says "Everything in moderation!" ;)

1600-1800 Calorie/Day Challenge...Intro

2010-06-01T12:02:00.000-04:00

At the beginning of the year I challenged myself to eat between 1600-1800 calories per day. In addition to that, I exercised regularly. I lost 15 pounds within 2 months.

As soon I found out I got pregnant, I stopped the calorie counting.

Well, instead of finding comfort in Christ alone, I must admit that I have also been finding comfort in food. Since my miscarriage and car accident I have gained 7 pounds and the weight just keeps coming on.

Therefore, I have decided to return to my 1600-1800 calories/day and exercise regiment and my goal is to lose 15 pounds before getting pregnant again.

Home Life...June 1, 2010

2010-06-01T07:57:00.001-04:00

I am quite surprised at how quickly this year has gone by already. It is June 1st and at the end of this month, half the year would have already passed. Time sure flies when chores, children, illnesses, and trials are in the mix.

Our family made its debut back into the world this weekend after a month of isolation here at home.

We went to church. The 2 older girls were looking forward to seeing all their friends again. I was looking forward to being back with the body worshiping God. Yet, to my expectation, I once again missed 99% of the pastor's sermon. DearDaughter3, being a typical 1 year old, could not stay quiet or still in the pews and so I walked out with her into the foyer. She just got over a viral rash, called Roseola, this past week, and I thought it best to keep her out of the nursery to protect her and even the other babies from another illness.

I did have a nice talk with Amy, a woman whom I've been aquainted with through the years from Bible Studies and Sunday School. She was also in the foyer with her 4 month old baby boy. Since we both had babes in arms we talked about our delivery experiences. Our stories were very similar. For her first baby, she labored and pushed for awhile and then the doctors decided that the baby wasn't going to naturally come and so they did a C-section. For this second child, she decided not to go through the trauma of the first delivery, and had a scheduled C-section. Blessedly this procedure was scheduled because her baby was not completely head down and even with the C-section, the doctor had a difficult time delivering the baby. With every word she spoke, I could relate to Amy, as I experienced very similar situations with my own deliveries. However, my story can be told another time.

After talking about our deliveries, Amy asked me if DearHubby and I wanted more children. That's when I expressed to her about my recent miscarriage. I normally wouldn't be so open about sharing our loss, but I remembered praying for Amy a couple years ago in Sunday School when she had a miscarriage herself. I knew we had a bond in this subject and so I shared. Being able to openly share our loss and to be understood was really such a great comfort and encouragement for me. Although I was excited to return to church to worship God with His body, I was really dreading facing people and feeling like I needed to put up a front, pretending that everything is ok and I am happy. Well, for the most part I am ok and I am at peace with all the trials that have come our way, but I am still sad, very sad. After our talk Amy left to change her little one's diaper and that was the last I saw of her during the service. However, as we picked up our children from Children's Church, I passed Amy in the hallway, and she glanced at me and smiled. And so God embraced me in His own House that Sunday morning.

We went to a surprise birthday party. This one was hard because I had no clue who knew about our situation and who didn't and so I knew I had to keep a smile on my face even if inside I didn't feel like smiling. It would be rather inconsiderate to the birthday celebrants not to be happy for the blessing God gave them of another year of life!

The surprise was great! The surprise party was held at a local park and someone decided to greet the birthday celebrants, father and daughter, at the park entrance as they drove in. The birthday celebrants had no clue we would be there and as their car pulled into the entrance gate, the kids blew their noise makers, while all the adults waved and yelled at the top of their lungs, "SURPRISE!" The look, especially, on Matt's face, was classic. It was a "Do I know these people?" and "What's going on?" kind of look. Denise, Matt's wife, did a great job planning the surprise party, and it was a lot of fun!

We had water ice. Our spontaneous and funloving DearFriends Brian and Deb called us on Sunday evening and invited us over to have water ice with them. I had an interesting conversation with Brian. We debated over technology, particulary the use of the internet and such networking tools like Facebook. He sided with not using the internet at all because of how the internet puts sin at one's fingertips. His point, "Why open yourself up to temptation if you don't have to?" I sided with using the internet with Biblical conviction to do the right thing and to even use the internet as a means of spreading the gospel and ministry. It was interesting. I could see his point, but I wasn't convinced to stop using the internet.

We went to a welcome home party. My DearFriend Patti and her son Hudson Jr. just arrived back from Ethiopia with 3 precious girls from an orphanage there. Salam is the oldest, Frianny is the middle, and at the moment, the youngest's name is not coming to me, but I know it started with a B. With the addition of these 3 girls, this brings our DearFriends' children up to 21. I think they have surpassed the Duggars, who have 20 children. If this isn't a display of how loving this family is, I don't know what is.

My DearFriend Patti has a very giving and loving heart. She was due to leave for Ethiopia the next day and yet she spent 3 hours with me at the hospital after the car accident. We didn't get home until midnight that evening and she still had a 3 hour drive ahead of her to DC where she was to catch her plane. They left around 8am. What a display of sacrifice DearFriend Patti is and this adoption further displays the living sacrifice that they are. It was good to see her home.

I have to admit that I am a little saddened that I no longer have an excuse to stay home. DearHubby and I don't know how to say "No" and it was nice saying, "I can't come because the doctor ordered me to keep the girls home for a month." We truly enjoy fellowshipping with other brothers and sisters in the Lord and it is always an encouragement when we do so. It also keeps us connected to see how we can serve others as we have been served. However, we also have our home and family to care for and even in the month we were home it was hard keeping up. Thus, the juggling act begins.

Menu Plan...May 24-30, 2010

2010-05-24T23:59:00.000-04:00

Update from Last Week:
We ate out 10 times last week. Horrible week as far as eating in goes. Just trying to recuperate from the miscarriage and car accident:
- Monday Lunch - Chick Fil A
- Wednesday Breakfast - Dunkin Donuts
- Wednesday Lunch - McDonald's
- Thursday Breakfast - Chick Fil A & Dunkin Donuts
- Friday Lunch - Wendy's
- Friday Dinner - McDonald's
- Saturday Breakfast - Chick Fil A
- Saturday Lunch - McDonald's
- Sunday Breakfast - Dunkin Donuts
- Sunday Dinner - Moe's

Monday-Friday Breakfast: Cereal

MONDAY
Monday Lunch: Leftovers or sandwiches
Monday Dinner: Spaghetti

TUESDAY
Tuesday Lunch: Leftovers or sandwiches
Tuesday Dinner: Slow Roast w/ Rice & Green Beans

WEDNESDAY
Wednesday Lunch: Leftovers or sandwiches
Wednesday Dinner: Hamburgers, hot dog, mac & cheese

THURSDAY
Thursday Lunch: Leftovers or sandwiches
Thursday Dinner: Tacos

FRIDAY
Friday Lunch: Leftovers or sandwiches
Fiday Dinner: Leftover Slow Roast w/ Rice & Green Beans

SATURDAY
Saturday Breakfast: Cereal for girls, Egg & Cheese sandwich for Daddy & Mommy
Saturday Lunch: Pizza w/ Salad (for Mommy)
Saturday Dinner: Creamy Chicken & rice & boiled California style veggies

SUNDAY
Sunday Breakfast: Cereal for girls, Egg & Cheese sandwich for Daddy & Mommy
Sunday Lunch: Grilled Cheese Sandwiches w/ Tomato Soup (for Mommy)
Sunday Dinner: Creamy Chicken & rice & boiled California style veggies

Breakfast (8am)
Morning Snack (10am) - Apples
Lunch (12pm)
Afternoon Snack (2pm) - Banana/Baby Carrots
Late Afternoon Snack (4pm) - Grapes
Dinner (6:30pm)

Desserts for the Week: Chocolate Chip M&M Cookies/Ice Cream

Home Life...2000 Ford Focus SE Car Damage Photos May 2010

2010-05-18T23:59:00.000-04:00

DearHubby picked up the car at the tow truck lot on May 17th. He believes the insurance company will deem the car totalled as the damages seem to cost more than the worth of the car. Yet, DearHubby believes the car is repairable with time and money.

We currently are renting a Chrysler Town & Country mini-van. We hope to find a replacement for our car by the end of the week as we don't want to rent a car for more than a week just in case the insurance company does not cover our rental fees. We sure need wisdom about this family car situation.

Menu Plan...May 17-23, 2010

2010-05-17T23:59:00.000-04:00

Update from Last Week:
We ate out 5 times last week, 24% eating out:
- Wednesday dinner - Chick Fil A
- Thursday dinner - McDonald's
- Friday dessert - Chick Fil A
- Sunday breakfast - Dunkin Donuts
- Sunday lunch - McDonald's

Monday-Friday Breakfast: Cereal

MONDAY
Monday Lunch: Leftovers or sandwiches
Monday Dinner: Chicken pot pie from Travers

TUESDAY
Tuesday Lunch: Leftovers or sandwiches
Tuesday Dinner: Slow Roast w/ Rice & Green Beans

WEDNESDAY
Wednesday Lunch: Leftovers or sandwiches
Wednesday Dinner: Leftover Slow Roast w/ Rice & Green Beans

THURSDAY
Thursday Lunch: Leftovers or sandwiches
Thursday Dinner: Dinner from the Mosers

FRIDAY
Friday Lunch: Leftovers or sandwiches
Fiday Dinner: Hamburgers, hot dog, mac & cheese

SATURDAY
Saturday Breakfast: Cereal for girls, Egg & Cheese sandwich for Daddy & Mommy
Saturday Lunch: Pizza w/ Salad (for Mommy)
Saturday Dinner: Spaghetti w/salad

SUNDAY
Sunday Breakfast: Cereal for girls, Egg & Cheese sandwich for Daddy & Mommy
Sunday Lunch: Grilled Cheese Sandwiches w/ Tomato Soup (for Mommy)
Sunday Dinner: Meatloaf w/ Chicken rice & boiled California style veggies

Breakfast (8am)
Morning Snack (10am) - Apples
Lunch (12pm)
Afternoon Snack (2pm) - Banana/Baby Carrots
Late Afternoon Snack (4pm) - Grapes
Dinner (6:30pm)

Desserts for the Week: Chocolate Chip M&M Cookies

Menu Plan...May 10-16, 2010

2010-05-10T23:59:00.000-04:00

Update from Last Week:
We ate out 3 times last week:
- Wednesday dinner - Chick Fil A
- Friday dinner - Chick Fil A
- Saturday dinner - Sonic
- Sunday dessert - Rita's

Monday-Friday Breakfast: Free breakfast entree at Chick Fil A

MONDAY
Monday Lunch: Leftover Hearty Hashbrown Dinner
Monday Dinner: French Fried Onion Chicken w/ Chicken Flavored Rice & Green Beans

TUESDAY
Tuesday Lunch: Leftover Hearty Hashbrown Dinner
Tuesday Dinner: Creamy Chicken & Rice w/ Boiled California Style Veggies

WEDNESDAY
Wednesday Lunch: Ramen noodles
Wednesday Dinner: Leftover Creamy Chicken & Rice w/ Boiled California Style Veggies

THURSDAY
Thursday Lunch: Turkey sandwich for DearDaughter1, Peanut Butter & Jelly sandwich for DearDaughter2, Chicken salad sandwich for Mommy
Thursday Dinner: Spaghetti w/salad

FRIDAY
Friday Lunch: Turkey sandwich for DearDaughter1, Peanut Butter & Jelly sandwich for DearDaughter2, Chicken salad sandwich for Mommy
Fiday Dinner: Roast Beef w/ Rice & Green Beans

SATURDAY
Saturday Breakfast: Chocolate Chip Pancakes for Girls and Egg & Cheese Sandwiches for Daddy & Mommy
Saturday Lunch: Pizza w/ Salad (for Mommy)
Saturday Dinner: Eat Out

SUNDAY
Sunday Breakfast: Cereal for Girls and Egg & Cheese Sandwiches for Daddy & Mommy
Sunday Lunch: Grilled Cheese Sandwiches w/ Tomato Soup (for Mommy)
Sunday Dinner: Leftover Roast Beef w/ Rice & Green Beans

Breakfast (8am)
Morning Snack (10am) - Apples
Lunch (12pm)
Afternoon Snack (2pm) - Banana/Baby Carrots
Late Afternoon Snack (4pm) - Grapes
Dinner (6:30pm)

Desserts for the Week: Poke Cake, Chocolate Chip/M&M Cookies

Home Life...Catching Up

2010-05-06T08:05:00.000-04:00

What a week this has been, but I am thankful for it all!

On Monday DearDaughter2 was having a coughing fit, it looked like she had trouble breathing, and she threw up a few times and DearDaughter3 was coughing really bad so we were back to the doctor's office. I was worried that the girls are asthmatic because of all they've been struggling with lately with their lungs. However, the doctor didn't seem to think they're asthmatic (yet) because she didn't hear much wheezing in their coughs. The doctor also doesn't think my girls are sickly because their records show that we are normally only in for their well visits with a sick visit only here or there. She believes that the reason the girls have been sick lately is because their immune systems haven't been given enough time to fully recover before catching another virus and I agree! So the doctor ordered us to stay in or to stay away from nursery type settings and public play areas for a month. I am going to follow doctor's orders and our plan is to keep the girls home and get them well!

I was quite relieved when I heard those doctor's orders because now I have an excuse to stay home. As much as I like getting together with other mommies, ever since DearDaughter3 and I got home from the hospital, I've really been struggling to get back into a good routine here at home. When I got home from the hospital, I was already more than 1 week behind in house chores because DearHubby didn't have time to do them and although my in laws came to help out, their stay wasn't long enough to get me caught up. In addition, because DearHubby is more lenient about how the girls can play, I've been having to "reverse" some of those habits in the girls and deal with a lot of disobedience issues. Therefore, on top of the illnesses I've had to contend with, the time it's taken to nurse these little ones back to health, the time of running around from doctor's visit to doctor's visit, and struggling to get back into a good routine from house cleaning to school work, I've had to juggle in play dates with our "Chick Fil A mommy's group" (and Bible study). It was all getting very overwhelming and I just really wanted some time here at home to focus on getting the house back in order and a good routine set up. The doctor's order to stay home was an answer to my prayer! God knew my struggle and desires and He gave me a way to do what I need to do. As soon as I got home on Monday, I communicated the doctor's order to stay home to my friends right away and told them that we would probably not see each other for a month. Again, as much as I enjoy getting together for playdates, juggling the time to get them in was starting to get difficult, especially as I was having such a difficult time juggling everything else.

My morning "routine" has consisted of getting the girls and myself fed, giving the 2 little ones their breathing treatments and medications, and getting the girls and myself dressed. DearDaughter3 lost a couple of pounds at the hospital and at her well appointment, she was under the 5th percentile for both weight and height. I have been trying so many different ideas to get her to gain some weight, but it's been hard because I am drying up and even if I put her to the breast 20 times a day, I just don't have enough milk to get her weight back up. In addition, I am convinced that she has a milk allergy because the other day I tried PediaSure which said it was Lactose and Gluten Free, but it still contained Milk. She broke out in hives all over her face and torso just with a few drops of it. I've usually depended on milk to give the girls the "fat" and calcium they need and finding a good substitute has been hard. So, for the past few weeks, I've been experimenting and trying different food ideas to find that good milk substitute. A couple days ago I think I finally discovered how I can get DearDaughter3 to gain weight. I found a discussion on a mommy's forum about weight gain and one mommy used Olive Oil to give her infant the fats she needed. Another friend had suggested peanut products, but I also believe DearDaughter3 has a peanut allergy, so I was excited about the Olive Oil idea. I have been putting Olive Oil into most of what DearDaughter3 eats. To give her supplemental vitamins, I bought PolyVisol drops with Iron (DearDaughter3's blood test also showed she had a low hemoglobin or iron in her blood), and have been adding the drops to her cereal. So, this week, I crossed out finding a way to give her supplemental fat and supplemental vitamins to DearDaughter3's diet. I now just have to add in the Calcium and I am thinking that if I bought the Calcium fortified orange juice, she might be into that. Anyway, feeding DearDaughter3 takes some time in the morning. Then, each of the girls' breathing treatments take about 20 minutes to give. By the time all the girls are fed, breathing treatments and medications given, and dressed, it is time for lunch :D Half the day is gone!

The house was literally a mess!!! On the floor in one corner I still had all the stuff from the hospital. Behind the couch, which is where the girls "play area" is, there were toys just scattered all about. Then, since the girls play area was crowded, they scattered their toys all about the house and it seemed like I couldn't take a step without stepping on a toy. Our laundry room has about 3 loads of laundry waiting to be folded and another 3 loads waiting to be washed. The bathroom needs to be cleaned as mold is starting to grow in the toilet. ETC... Aside from the other reasons listed above, another reason the house was this way was because I gave myself a 15 Day No Eat Out Challenge and aside from all the other stuff, I was trying to cook more to save us money. Well, that personal challenge ended last Thursday, but I was trying to stay disciplined as I had been during those last 15 days. From this challenge I realized the discipline and time cooking and eating in really takes. Once one meal was over, I was cleaning up and preparing for the next meal. Yesterday, I just had enough of the mess in our house and I called DearHubby and asked if we could eat out for the night. We drove through Chick Fil A. Anyway, by not having to prepare for a meal, I was able to get my dishes and kitchen cleaned and rested. I was able to get all the toys picked up. The reason the toys hadn't been picked up for weeks is because that's what I depended on to keep the girls busy while I cooked. I actually had time yesterday to pick up the toys with the girls. We got everything that doesn't belong on the floor off of it and I was able to vacuum! Today, my goal is to keep the toys that were out so that I can rotate new toys out, try to get to all the laundry, and keep all the stuff that was on the floor.

Anyway, I hope that we can finally get back to a good routine this month. I was able to get back to homeschooling just for a little bit in the past several weeks, but that too has been difficult. I've been trying to at least keep up with DearDaughter1's phonics and last night I finally ordered her Early Reader books called the Bob Books Series. I am looking forward to getting our home back in order so that I can spend more time doing the important stuff with my girls, especially with working on training their hearts. I feel like with all the other stuff I've been trying to juggle, I've not concentrated on ministering to my girls' hearts and I know that if I focused more on training their hearts I wouldn't be struggling as much with disobedience issues.

Well, it's 8:03am and the girls are up and ready to get out of their rooms.

Have a wonderful and blessed day,
In Pursuit of His Call

Home Life...Good and Bad News

2010-05-03T15:20:00.001-04:00

The girls and I just got back from the doctor. GOOD NEWS: 1.Doctor does not believe, yet, the kiddos are asthmatic :) 2.DearDaughter3's lungs are clear. Just keeping an eye out & continuing neb treatments. BAD NEWS: 1.DearDaughter2 now has an ear infection and is now on more drugs for the infection & cough on top of the neb treatments. 2.Doctor ordered all the girls to stay in for a month to allow their immune system to fully recover.

Home Life...Are They Asthmatic?

2010-05-03T07:31:00.000-04:00

I think our 1YO and 2YO may be asthmatic :( Both had coughing fits in the middle of the night and were only relieved with a nebulizer treatment :( When they get hit with an illness, even a mild one for anyone else, it takes them down in their lungs. It's back to the doctors for us :( Maybe it's our house and we need to ...move...out of state... This is wearing and it's hard to be thankful and joyful.

Menu Plan...May 3-9, 2010

2010-05-02T23:59:00.000-04:00

Monday-Friday Breakfast: Cereal for girls and Oatmeal for Mommy

Day 3
Monday Lunch: Turkey sandwich for DearDaughter1, Peanut butter sandwich for DearDaughter2, Ramen noodles w/ summer veggies for Mommy
Monday Dinner: Roast w/ Rice & Green Beans

Day 4
Tuesday Lunch: Hot dog & Leftover Mac & Cheese
Tuesday Dinner: Leftover roast w/ Rice & Green Beans

Day 5
Wednesday Lunch: Ramen noodles
Wednesday Dinner: Grilled chicken w/ Rice & Summer Veggies

Day 6
Thursday Lunch: Leftover grilled chicken
Thursday Dinner: Tacos

Day 7
Friday Lunch: Ramen noodles
Fiday Dinner: Bacon chicken w/ Rice & Summer Veggies

Day 0
Saturday Breakfast: Chocolate Chip Pancakes for Girls and Egg & Cheese Sandwiches for Daddy & Mommy
Saturday Lunch: Pizza w/ Salad (for Mommy)
Saturday Dinner: Eat Out

Day 1
Sunday Breakfast: Cereal for Girls and Egg & Cheese Sandwiches for Daddy & Mommy
Sunday Lunch: Grilled Cheese Sandwiches w/ Tomato Soup (for Mommy)
Sunday Dinner: Hearty hash brown dinner

Breakfast (8am)
Morning Snack (10am) - Apples
Lunch (12pm)
Afternoon Snack (2pm) - Banana/Baby Carrots
Late Afternoon Snack (4pm) - Grapes
Dinner (6:30pm)

Desserts for the Week: Chocolate Chip/M&M Cookies, No Bake Cookies

Home Life...Thoughts on Gardening

2010-04-29T16:22:00.000-04:00

I went out to weed the garden and couldn't tell which ones were weeds and which ones were planted veggies :( So, I came back in and replanted all our seeds in a Jiffy Greenhouse kit to transplant outside later. Can you tell I have no clue what I'm doing?

Menu Plan...April 26th-May 2nd

2010-04-26T23:59:00.000-04:00

Monday-Friday Breakfast: Cereal for girls and Oatmeal for Mommy

Day 12
Monday Lunch: Turkey sandwich for DearDaughter1, Peanut butter sandwich for DearDaughter2, Chicken salad sandwich for Mommy
Monday Dinner: Cheesy Enchilada w/ Southwest Style Corn

Day 13
Tuesday Lunch: Ramen Noodles w/ Spinach, Leftover Salmon & Rice
Tuesday Dinner: Mac & Cheese w/ Chicken, Boiled California Mixed Veggies

Day 14
Wednesday Lunch: Leftover mac & cheese
Wednesday Dinner: Spaghetti, Boiled California Mixed Veggies

Day 15
Thursday Lunch: Ramen Noodles w/ Spnach, Leftover Salmon & Rice
Thursday Dinner: Grilled Steak w/ Rice, Green Beans

Day 0
Friday Lunch: Teriyaki Chicken Bowl (at the Mall)
Fiday Dinner: Chick-Fil-A

Day 1
Saturday Breakfast: Chocolate Chip Pancakes for Girls and Egg & Cheese Sandwiches for Daddy & Mommy
Saturday Lunch: Pizza w/ Salad (for Mommy)
Saturday Dinner: Roast w/ Rice, Boiled California Mixed Veggies

Day 2
Sunday Breakfast: Cereal for Girls and Egg & Cheese Sandwiches for Daddy & Mommy
Sunday Lunch: Grilled Cheese Sandwiches w/ Tomato Soup (for Mommy)
Sunday Dinner: Leftover Roast w/ Rice, Boiled California Mixed Veggies

Breakfast (8am)
Morning Snack (10am) - Apples
Lunch (12pm)
Afternoon Snack (2pm) - Banana/Baby Carrots
Late Afternoon Snack (4pm) - Grapes
Dinner (6:30pm)

Desserts for the Week: Chocolate Fudge Cookies, Chocolate Chip/M&M Cookies

Beth Moore's Live Simulcast - So Long, Insecurity

2010-04-24T22:59:00.001-04:00

- Insecurity is not the same thing as humility
.....- Insecurity is not a weakness, it is UNBELIEF
.....- Jeremiah 9:20

TODAY'S FOCUS PASSAGE: Ephesians 4:17-24, but start and end at Ephesians 4:1-5:2

***Live a life worthy of your calling suited to you (v.1)
***"Remember what you were taught..." (vv.21, 22)
.....- PUT OFF the OLD & PUT ON the NEW

A SECURE WOMAN IS:
S - Saved from herself
.....- the human mind is twisted in idolatrous self-interest
.....- if left to ourselves, we will just curl into ourselves more and more

...- Can humility and security co-exist?
.....- insecurity IS PRIDE because we are absorbed in ourselves
.....- being secure or our security in Christ frees us from being so self-absorbed

E - Entitled to truth
.....- the more we live separated from God, the darker our minds get
..........- our minds are fueled by deceitful desires and our hearts become hard & caloused
.....- the truth is that we have freedom in Christ and we are secure in that freedom
..........- renewal begins with our minds and moves down to our "feet"

C - Clothed with intention ("dressed" with a purpose)
.....- DELIBERATELY PUT OFF the OLD and DELIBERATELY PUT ON the NEW
.....- we cannot wait until we "feel" secure
..........- a secure woman is not accidental

U - Upended by grace (Ephesians 2:8, 4:32 - "charis", grace)
.....- How much more likely are we to forgive if we were more secure?
.....- GRACE turns everything upside-down
..........- grace makes the weak strong
..........- grace makes the poor rich
..........- grace makes the unworthy worthy
..........- grace makes the insecure secure
.....- people who have been deeply GRACED will deeply GRACE others

...- Hebrews 10:19-23 - guilt traps us
.....- do you TRULY BELIEVE that you are forgiven? if you do, you will freely forgive just as Christ forgives you

R - Rebounded by LOVE
.....- be imitators of God as His dearly loved children and live in love (Ephesians 5:1-2)
.....- being secure means knowing that someone unfailingly loves us
..........- you cannot out-sin God's forgiveness
.....- when you know you are loved you also love

E - Exceptional in life - "Except YOU!"
.....- a secure woman will be an exceptional woman in her culture and stick out like a "healthy" thumb
..........- "Every woman or no woman is _______________ except her!"
.....- You are the light of the world...A city on a hill cannot be hidden!!!

Menu Plan...April 17th - April 25th

2010-04-17T23:59:00.000-04:00

Day 3
Saturday Dinner: Leftover Meatloaf w/ Chicken Flavored Rice and Green Beans

Day 4
Sunday Breakfast: Cereal for girls and Egg & Cheese Sandwiches for Mommy & Daddy
Sunday Lunch: Pizza & Salad (for Mommy)
Sunday Dinner: Grilled Garlic Herb & Wine Chicken w/ Chicken Flavored Rice, Grilled Zucchini, Corn & Carrots

Monday-Friday Breakfast: Cereal for girls and Oatmeal for Mommy

Day 5
Monday Lunch: Leftover Grilled Chicken
Monday Dinner: Tacos

Day 6
Tuesday Lunch: Leftover Tacos
Tuesday Dinner: Glazed Salmon w/ Chicken Flavored Rice, Boiled California Mixed Veggies

Day 7
Wednesday Lunch: Ramen Noodles w/ Spinach, Leftover Salmon & Rice
Wednesday Dinner: Chicken Corn Soup w/ Corn Muffins & Salad (for Mommy)

Day 8
Thursday Lunch: Leftover Chicken Corn Soup
Thursday Dinner: Grilled Chicken w/ Rice, Boiled California Mixed Veggies

Day 9
Friday Lunch: Leftover Grilled Chicken w/ Rice
Fiday Dinner: Creamy Chicken w/ Rice, Boiled California Mixed Veggies

Day 10
Saturday Breakfast: Chocolate Chip Pancakes for Girls and Egg & Cheese Sandwiches for Daddy & Mommy
Saturday Lunch: Pizza w/ Salad (for Mommy)
Saturday Dinner: Leftover Creamy Chicken w/ Rice, Boiled California Mixed Veggies

Day 11
Sunday Breakfast: Cereal for Girls and Egg & Cheese Sandwiches for Daddy & Mommy
Sunday Lunch: Grilled Cheese Sandwiches w/ Tomato Soup (for Mommy)
Sunday Dinner: Cheesy Enchilada w/ Southwest Style Corn

Breakfast (8am)
Morning Snack (10am) - Apples
Lunch (12pm)
Afternoon Snack (2pm) - Banana/Baby Carrots
Late Afternoon Snack (4pm) - Grapes
Dinner (6:30pm)

Desserts for the Week: Chocolate Cupcakes, Chocolate Chip/M&M Cookies

Home Life...Our Nerve Racking Purchase

2010-04-15T14:35:00.000-04:00

Last week my mom called and told me that my grandma's cousin died at the age of 84. Tears welled up in my eyes when I heard this news. It wasn't that I was sad for my grandma's cousin, though it was very sad news. I was moreso sad that I hadn't seen my grandma in years and the news of my grandma's cousin's death was just a reminder to me that life is just a vapor and that any one could go at any time. My grandma is 81 years old. If she will follow after her cousin, she will be gone within a few years.

Airfares to Hawaii, where my grandma lives, were up to $807. DearHubby and I had given up any hope of visiting Hawaii this year. However, we are members of Travelocity and kept the Fare Watcher on Honolulu. Well, fares went down to $456 on Tuesday evening. DearHubby and I prayed about it and thought this was a good opportunity to take advantage of. We purchased 4 plane tickets to Honolulu and we will be using our Federal Income Tax to pay for it.

I had such a difficult time pushing that "Confirm Purchase" button because I knew that once the purchase was made we could not turn back. Although we prayed about the decision, I still had a bit of unrest about the purchase, knowing that we have so many other uses for the time and money we just committed to.

Well, I just checked my eMail and the Fare Watcher on Honolulu just showed prices went back up to $807. I'm still not sure if this was the wisest decision, but today's Fare Watcher price at least confirmed that it was a good purchase.