Am I This Bad?

Laine said that this commercial reminded her of her parents................

First Week of School

Wow! What a week! This K12 curriculum takes some getting used to. I don't know if we'll stick with it or not. I'm going to try to get super organized this weekend and see if that helps.

The great part of this week was being reminded of the joy that comes with seeing your children discover things for the first time. The joy of seeing them get excited about learning new things. Kind of like when they took their first step or said their first word but on a different level. What a privilege.

We learned about Adam & Eve and how they tried to hide their sin from God just like we do today. We learned how Satan sneakily twisted God's words instead of just lying. Just like he does today. We learned from Cain & Able that God wants our best and is very displeased with less. We learned that Adam was Noah's great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather.
And that Methuselah, Noah's grandfather, died the year the flood began.

We learned Oremus means let us pray and much more in Latin. The boys think Latin is really cool. Kind of like a secret language.

Math is really fun. I get to refresh and relearn with them so I'll be ready when they reach the higher levels. It's cool to see the light go on when they learn a new concept.

History right now is geography, my weakest subject, so I'm learning right along with the kids. I think I'll always be directionally challenged, though. No comments, Chill.

Eli thinks science is cool because he gets to do experiments, Mason would rather just learn the info and take the test.

I pray each day that I will be a good student of my kids and that God will lead me to be the mom he wants for his children.

I strive to be a mom like this...................

First Day of School (Forced to blog by dear hubby)

What a day! Our first day schooling at home after 2 years. We are trying the Georgia Virtual Academy this year. It was just approved for Georgia in July. Basically, it is public school at home. Our tax dollars pay for the materials (math, language arts, history, science) and even a loaner computer. We follow the lesson plans provided, some online, most offline, and report attendance.

It started out well. We started with Old Testament History and Latin. I teach these to the boys together. They were exited and loved both subjects. Then came the insanity. Curriculum I've chosen in the past has followed the basic format of 1.present the lesson 2. assign work the child can complete independently. You present to one child while the other(s) are working independently. Works great for multi-child families. Weeeeeeeell, it does not seem possible to do this with k12. All lessons seem to require the teacher to be with the child for the entire lesson. Another problem is the fact that each child is studying a different topic in history, and science. This really adds to the length of the day. Most multi-child families teach the same topic in history/science to all children and assign tasks according to the ability of the child.

Hopefully, I can work all this out. The curriculum seems sound and the price is certainly right.


The following video cheered me up. At least my day wasn't this bad...........

Happy Belated Birthday, Chill

Happy Birthday, dear. I've never known anyone as excited to be one year closer to senior citizen status as you. Strange but somehow inspiring.
I <3 U

Human Lightning Rods

So, last night I hear Bryan walk out the door and say "Boys, that's not funny! Don't ever do that again." I run to see what they are doing and this is what I see: Mason, 9, and Eli, 8, standing in the driveway each holding a golf club straight up over his head while lightning flashes in the background.



This is not unusual behavior for Mason. He has spent his entire life amazing us with his "accident" prone behavior. It does bother me that he talked his usually rational brother, Eli, into participating in this stunt.

• It started with the bottle of benadryl he drank when he was 2.
  
  
• Not long after he pulled a large glass of water off the bar onto hardwood floor. There he stood in the middle of broken glass and slippery water.
  
  
  
• Then there was the time he got a 'stretchy' ball wrapped around his neck so tightly he turned blue. His dad and I were only a few feet away when this happened.
  
  
• The time he broke his arm (in our backyard) trying to climb a chain link fence on a large exercise ball.
  
  
• The time he and a friend were in an battery powered car and he decided to stick a large limb (wedged into the ground on one end) in his mouth just before his friend started to drive. The limb jammed into the roof of his mouth. It barely missed the soft spot.
  
  
• The time he and Eli found wooden dowels and pretended the ceiling fan light in their room was a pinata.
  
  

This is only a partial list. I hesitate to even post these things because it sounds like I don't watch him closely enough, but all these things happened while I was watching him. I'm going today to get the book Wild at Heart. Maybe this will help me understand these odd creatures called boys.

Boys & Forts

What is it with boys and forts? Each day Mason and Eli confiscate every chair, couch cushion, blanket, comforter, etc. to make a huge fort in our living room. At first, I let them do this thinking they would tire of it after a few days. It's been more than a month now and they still find this activity highly exciting. The last few days have been a little different. They built a huge "playpen" for our cats. This consists of all of the afore mentioned items arranged in a large circle. A laundry hamper and a few play mice reside in the middle of the circle to tempt the cats. The cats enjoy the attention for a while and then decide they've had enough. The seriousness and teamwork of the boys while they are creating amazes me. I just can't bring myself to say no to this daily activity that is so much fun for them but makes my house look like it's been ransacked.

Faith

Streams in the Desert. The title of a wonderful devotional book given to me by my beloved Aunt Lynn. She is one of the most godly women I know and such a blessing to everyone who knows her. Yesterdays devotional on Faith really spoke to me so I wanted to share it here.

"I have prayed that your own faith may not fail." (Luke 22:32)

Christian, take good care of thy faith, for recollect that faith is the only means whereby thou canst obtain blessings. Prayer cannot draw down answers from God's throne except it be the earnest prayer of the man who believes.

Faith is the telegraphic wire which links earth to Heaven, on which God's messages of love fly so fast that before we call He answers, and while we are yet speaking He hears us. But if that telegraphic wire of faith be snapped, how can we obtain the promise?

Am I in trouble? I can obtain help for trouble by faith. Am I beaten about by the enemy? My soul on her dear Refuge leans by faith.

But take faith away, then in vain I call to God. There is no other road betwixt my soul and Heaven. Blockade the road, and how can I communicate with the Great King?

Faith links me with Divinity. Faith clothes me with the power of Jehovah. Faith insures every attribute of God in my defense. It helps me to defy the hosts of hell. It makes me march triumphant over the necks of my enemies. But without faith how can I receive anything from the Lord?

Oh, then, Christian, watch well thy faith. "If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth." ----- C.H. Spurgeon.

We boast of being so practical a people that we want to have a surer thing than faith. But did not Paul say that the promise was by FAITH that it might be SURE? (Romans 4:16) ---- Dan Crawford

Faith honors God; God honors faith.

Swimsuit Shopping

What do I dread more than anything? What is it I would put above even childbirth (and I went non-medicated all three times) on my list of most painful things? Swimsuit shopping. YUK!!!!!!!! The 10% of women who don't dread it - runway models, victoria secret models, etc. - along with their airbrush artists, make it heck for the rest of us.

Maybe it's just me, but why is it swimsuit shopping, more than anything else, is such a blow to my self esteem. Is it because we live in a society where physical beauty is valued so highly? As a Christian I know that God looks at my heart, not my figure. Is it because I'm afraid others who see my much less than perfect body exposed will somehow think less of me? I don't know.

Why do we allow society to put such unreasonable physical standards on feminine beauty? The average size woman in the U.S. is a size 14. The average runway model is a size 0. I'm not sure, but I think print models are allow to be a little larger, maybe a 2 or 4. Why, why, why, don't we stand up to advertisers and demand real models for our clothing. I have no problem with presenting a nice look but when the standard for the perfect woman is a woman who starves herself to the point of serious physical problems, sometimes even death, then we as a society have crossed the line.

Why is it this strange phenomena does not affect men to the extent that it affects women?

The reason for this random post is that Laine and I have to go swimsuit shopping today. It is two weeks until our Florida vacation and neither of us has a suit, so we must go. I can promise you the day will not end well.

What frustrates me most is that even Laine, who, for those of you who have never seen her, has a figure that any woman would be glad to have (5'9" tall, 138 lbs, 39-27-41 - these figures will mean nothing to you men but women will understand) will end up in tears, saying that she is just going to wear shorts and a t-shirt. One year she actually shopped for boy's swim suit bottoms to wear with a swim top.

Well, off we go.

Homeschool Journey Continues

It's finally here. My Montessori time is over and my home school time is beginning. I'm sooooooo excited. I'd forgotten what a joy and a blessing it is to be allowed to focus my energies on developing the personalities that God has entrusted to me.

Allow me to stop for a moment here and say that Montessori was definitely a needed experience in our lives. As schools go, I think Montessori is by far the best. It strives to allow children to develop at their own pace and in their own style. I worked with teachers who truly cared about each child.

That being said, there is no doubt in my mind that this is the direction in which God is leading our family. I feel a peace now that I haven't felt for the past two years. The saying that you don't know what you have until it's gone comes to mind.

Three years ago, the last year we home schooled, I was feeling overwhelmed with a jr. high student, a first grader, and a kindergartner. Two of these children have very strong-willed personalities. The third lives life at a dead run. When the Montessori opportunity came along it seemed like the best thing for the kids, as I felt that I wasn't meeting their needs adequately. I felt completely lost the whole first year they were in school. The boys for the most part seemed to be doing o.k. and Laine, our then 8th grade daughter, though having some issues, seemed to be adjusting. I assumed that I just hadn't found my calling yet. Then I was offered the opportunity to be an assistant teacher in my youngest son's classroom. I accepted. God, in his infinite wisdom and grace, used this past year to show me that my true calling is homeschooling. I now know that I, with God's grace, am well capable of providing much more to my children, both academically and spiritually, than even the best schools.

A final thank-you to my wonderful, godly husband. There is no way I am strong enough to have made this leap with out Bryan's encouragement and outspoken confidence in my abilities. He gave me the push I needed to make the leap. Thank you honey. Chill Academy could have no better principal.

Man looks on the outside, God looks at the heart

Destiny, a friend of my daughter, Laine, committed suicide last night. Laine goes to a high school with a population of about 1500 students. Destiny was a friend she talked to each day after school. Apparently, none of Destiny’s friends had any idea how depressed she was. Destiny always had a smile on her face. Apparently she hid her pain well. Please pray for Destiny’s family.

One thing that is very disturbing is that Destiny was the target of many taunts and much gossip by the “good” kids. (You know the ones. They keep up appearances for their parents and other adults. It seems they get away with whatever (sex, drugs, alcohol, etc..) because they look good on the surface and that is all that matters to their parents and the other adults in their lives.) No one bothers to look too closely into the activities of these kids, probably due to a fear of what they would find. Anyway, these kids seem to have no regard for life other than for those in their own crowd because they were laughing and saying that she was a “_________” anyway and her life probably wasn’t worth living. ***** Did you get that? Kids are laughing and making jokes about a fellow student's suicide.****** One girl said that she was in hell now anyway because she committed suicide. The most disturbing part of this scenario is that some of the kids that are doing these things are kids that my daughter has grown up with in church. These are kids I know. These are kids I taught in children’s choir. What has happened to our society when we can’t even teach our teens to at least be respectful, if not empathetic, when a human tragedy occurs. Have we made them so self centered?

I am truly at a loss over this one. The kids that probably played a key role in this tragedy have no remorse and some even think it is funny. We need to stop focusing on the outward appearances of our kids and teach them about what is truly important in life. We are raising a generation of shallow, selfish, Barbie and Ken dolls. Is this what we want to leave behind as our contribution to God’s kingdom?

Does God Need a Cell Phone?

Man, don't you just sometimes wish God had a cell phone. I'm in the process of trying to choose the correct curriculum for the boys and would really like to just fast forward to having the decision made. (It reminds me of the time I sent Bryan to the store for feminine products.........he came back shaking his head mumbling something about too much to choose from.)

"Hi, God, sorry to bother you but I've searched the scriptures and can't find anything about homeschool curriculum. Bible was easy, duh, we're using the Bible. But I'm really stuck on math. What do you think.....Saxon or Singapore?"

"What's that, you think I'm stressing too much.......trying to be too much of a perfectionist."

"No, I didn't forget that you alone are perfect. I'm just trying to.......uh........"

"Yes, of course, I believe that as long as I'm trying to glorify you that you've got the rest covered."

"Before we hang up, what's your opinion on the grammar programs?"

"God?"

Oh well, so much for the cell phone idea.

Coffee, Candles, and Colored Pens

My first blog. Wow. I'll start by explaining the title of my blog. Coffee, candles, and colored pens are three things to which I am quite addicted. I'll start with coffee. Each morning my sweet hubby brings me my first cup (really a soup mug) of coffee......he sets it down on the bedside table and backs away slowly. All joking aside, I love anything coffee. I also adore scented candles. And colored pens.....sharpies, flair, uniball, etc. My current favorites are Bic Expressions. Each color has a related design on the pen. I can't go into any store without stopping by the office/school supply aisle to see what's new.
I'd love to hear your strange addictions. Come on. You know you have them.