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.