This is a link to a blog I saw on a friend's Facebook page about a month or so ago. It isn't a bash against those who don't homeschool. Actually, it's a bit of information for those who don't to help you understand those of us who do. Take a few minutes to read this; hey, it's helpful for those of us who DO homeschool our kids! :)
http://www.fromdatestodiapers.com/what-non-homeschoolers-may-not-know
Enjoy the article!
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Thursday, September 15, 2011
"Fearfully and Wonderfully Made"
You may (or may not) have noticed that I changed the title of my blog. My focus is still on family and how we raise our kids to serve the Lord with all of their heart, soul, and mind. But I've changed it for one good reason.
We're about to become a family of 6!
Yep, you've read correctly. And before anyone asks, yes, I know what causes pregnancy. We didn't just find out. :) I have all of these wonderfully snarky comments that I'd love to say to the next person who asks me if I "know what causes that," but I just don't think I'd be bold enough to share them. Especially not within earshot of my kids.
But all of that aside, we are going to be blessed with another baby in March 2012!
Everyone in our house is pretty excited about the new baby, except for Ruth because she is just too young to understand. She's only 18 months old. This will definitely be a new experience for us, as all of our other children have been about 3 years apart. Ruth and the new baby will be almost 2 years apart exactly! In fact, at my OB appointment today, I asked the doctor how early they schedule c-sections (because this will be my third c-section, but my first planned one), and he said that they schedule them no earlier than 39 weeks. He gave me a new--and supposedly final--due date today. March 21, 2012. My due date has been all over the map during that week in March, but this one is supposed to be it. And according to him, the baby would be born no earlier than March 14. Whew! That means that both Ruth and the baby will have their own birthdays, but separated by just a very few days!
Since today's appointment was an ultrasound appointment, he asked me if I'd like to know the gender if he could tell. I told him yes. That just isn't my kind of surprise. Sorry! I had hoped that he would be able to tell the gender, but I certainly didn't count on it. Both Hayden and Ruth were extremely shy at this early ultrasound and I had to wait until the one later in pregnancy.
You know, I've seen ultrasounds of all of my children, and have even seen several of this child already, but the view never ceases to amaze me. To see that tiny heart beating, the sweet little movements, and even the hiccups--all of those things point to God. David said it so beautifully in Psalm 139:13-18:
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts,[a] God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.
When watching the ultrasound today, I couldn't help but to think on this passage. God has formed this child so perfectly, so lovingly, so beautifully. He knows all of the inner workings of this baby. He has plans for this baby! Honestly, my heart rejoices to know that my Heavenly Father loves this child even more than I already do.
And now, to answer your question, yes, the doctor was able to tell me the gender of the baby today. And Hayden was quite the excited little guy to learn today that he is finally getting a baby brother!
We're about to become a family of 6!
Yep, you've read correctly. And before anyone asks, yes, I know what causes pregnancy. We didn't just find out. :) I have all of these wonderfully snarky comments that I'd love to say to the next person who asks me if I "know what causes that," but I just don't think I'd be bold enough to share them. Especially not within earshot of my kids.
But all of that aside, we are going to be blessed with another baby in March 2012!
Everyone in our house is pretty excited about the new baby, except for Ruth because she is just too young to understand. She's only 18 months old. This will definitely be a new experience for us, as all of our other children have been about 3 years apart. Ruth and the new baby will be almost 2 years apart exactly! In fact, at my OB appointment today, I asked the doctor how early they schedule c-sections (because this will be my third c-section, but my first planned one), and he said that they schedule them no earlier than 39 weeks. He gave me a new--and supposedly final--due date today. March 21, 2012. My due date has been all over the map during that week in March, but this one is supposed to be it. And according to him, the baby would be born no earlier than March 14. Whew! That means that both Ruth and the baby will have their own birthdays, but separated by just a very few days!
Since today's appointment was an ultrasound appointment, he asked me if I'd like to know the gender if he could tell. I told him yes. That just isn't my kind of surprise. Sorry! I had hoped that he would be able to tell the gender, but I certainly didn't count on it. Both Hayden and Ruth were extremely shy at this early ultrasound and I had to wait until the one later in pregnancy.
You know, I've seen ultrasounds of all of my children, and have even seen several of this child already, but the view never ceases to amaze me. To see that tiny heart beating, the sweet little movements, and even the hiccups--all of those things point to God. David said it so beautifully in Psalm 139:13-18:
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts,[a] God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.
When watching the ultrasound today, I couldn't help but to think on this passage. God has formed this child so perfectly, so lovingly, so beautifully. He knows all of the inner workings of this baby. He has plans for this baby! Honestly, my heart rejoices to know that my Heavenly Father loves this child even more than I already do.
And now, to answer your question, yes, the doctor was able to tell me the gender of the baby today. And Hayden was quite the excited little guy to learn today that he is finally getting a baby brother!
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
A Great Article on Motherhood
I realize that I haven't written anything at all in a few months, and I promise to catch up soon. In the meantime, please go read this wonderful blog post on motherhood. It will really bless you!
Motherhood is Calling (and Where Your Children Rank)
Now go enjoy your children! :)
Motherhood is Calling (and Where Your Children Rank)
Now go enjoy your children! :)
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
We really need to just get away...
I am SO ready for a vacation.
I want a vacation from cell phones, TVs, and computers.
I want a vacation from sickness, antibiotics and breathing treatments, diarrhea, diaper blow-outs, and vomit.
I'm not even complaining about the housework or cooking or anything like that. I just want a vacation from the last several months, a time when our family is completely well and free from all distractions. I want us to have time to just focus on God and each other and get our relationships back on track. Everything has seemed so disrupted lately, and everyone is more grumpy than usual.
I get the whole flexibility thing, Lord, and honestly, I'm trying and I'm trying to teach the kids about flexibility in the process. They hate it when daddy is gone, so we try to schedule some fun things during that time. But is it possible for us to have some quality family time anytime soon? There are days when I just want to flush the next phone that rings down the toilet and unplug the TV and the computer. (Is it that obvious that my love language is quality time?)
The kids and I have had some fun movie nights when Ben has been gone. We've read some really great bedtime stories, too! Hey, we even racked up a pretty good library fine on overdue books that we just couldn't bear to return on time. But do you want to know what has been our coolest night recently, one that the kids still talk about? As Ben was coming back into town, he called me and asked if we had dinner plans. I told him that I hadn't started dinner yet, and he told me not to; we were going to go bowling as a family! That was Hayden's first time to go bowling and my first time in several years. Abby won the first game and Ben won the second. (Yes, I got beaten--no, completely creamed--by my six-year-old daughter!) The kids still bring that night up to me individually and ask when we can go bowling again.
But they, too, are also looking forward to a family vacation. They don't even care where it is, just as long as we are together with no distractions. Someplace where they can be outside, playing until they can't play anymore! (They have some serious cabin fever right about now.) They also want mommy's and daddy's undivided attention.
I know that "this too shall pass." But honestly, it can't pass quickly enough.
I want a vacation from cell phones, TVs, and computers.
I want a vacation from sickness, antibiotics and breathing treatments, diarrhea, diaper blow-outs, and vomit.
I'm not even complaining about the housework or cooking or anything like that. I just want a vacation from the last several months, a time when our family is completely well and free from all distractions. I want us to have time to just focus on God and each other and get our relationships back on track. Everything has seemed so disrupted lately, and everyone is more grumpy than usual.
I get the whole flexibility thing, Lord, and honestly, I'm trying and I'm trying to teach the kids about flexibility in the process. They hate it when daddy is gone, so we try to schedule some fun things during that time. But is it possible for us to have some quality family time anytime soon? There are days when I just want to flush the next phone that rings down the toilet and unplug the TV and the computer. (Is it that obvious that my love language is quality time?)
The kids and I have had some fun movie nights when Ben has been gone. We've read some really great bedtime stories, too! Hey, we even racked up a pretty good library fine on overdue books that we just couldn't bear to return on time. But do you want to know what has been our coolest night recently, one that the kids still talk about? As Ben was coming back into town, he called me and asked if we had dinner plans. I told him that I hadn't started dinner yet, and he told me not to; we were going to go bowling as a family! That was Hayden's first time to go bowling and my first time in several years. Abby won the first game and Ben won the second. (Yes, I got beaten--no, completely creamed--by my six-year-old daughter!) The kids still bring that night up to me individually and ask when we can go bowling again.
But they, too, are also looking forward to a family vacation. They don't even care where it is, just as long as we are together with no distractions. Someplace where they can be outside, playing until they can't play anymore! (They have some serious cabin fever right about now.) They also want mommy's and daddy's undivided attention.
I know that "this too shall pass." But honestly, it can't pass quickly enough.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
New Year, New Approach
Okay, so I know that today is March 2 and this is my first posting of the year. Between sicknesses, Ben's work schedule, and trying to maintain some form of daily schedule and routine, blogging has been a low priority.
In this new year, there are two things that seem to be things the Lord would have me work on, at least right now: organization and flexibility. Yes, the two actually do go hand-in-hand. As a parent, you know that organization is important; it aids in establishing routine for your children, which is something that they desperately need. As a homeschooling parent, I am learning that organization is a weak area for me, not so much in the area of having a regular, set schedule for things like getting up and going to bed, but for things like actually setting a plan on paper for the week for our studies instead of trying to go off of a mental list. Things get forgotten that way! (Imagine that!)
I'm also trying to become more organized with meal planning. We already shop off of a menu that we decide upon, but it has become a goal to write down exactly what we are having for which meal and on which day and posting it on the refrigerator door. This eliminates the whole, "What do you want for dinner?" time waster and actually helps me to be much more efficient in the kitchen.
Have I been consistent with both of these things? Nope. But I am trying. I think that writing about it here will help me to be more accountable.
Another new approach this year is one for the kids. In the past, it has been a chore to get the kids to do their chores without grumbling and to do them the right way. Through an email that I receive every day, I learned about this great online chore chart program called My Job Chart. The kids earn points for completing their chores each morning and evening, and the points can be saved, shared, and spent, which also teaches them about handling finances (even though they don't realize it yet). This simple, online chore chart has really changed the way my kids think about the jobs they need to do. I hear a lot less, "I can't" and "I forgot" when the kids have been told to do something because they look forward to checking it off of their list each day. An added bonus for Hayden is that he is learning to recognize his letters in a practical way as he learns to enter in his own password!
A great bonus for me with My Job Chart? It's free! That works out great for this frugal mama's wallet!
One more thing that is new in this year, but not really new for me, is that I have started running again. How I missed running! It probably took a good 9 months to for me to be able to run without discomfort from the c-section, but now that I'm back in the swing of things I'm preparing for the Ukrop's Monument Ave 10K in Richmond. I ran it for the first time back in 2009 and am excited to go back again this year. New this year: Abby is going to run the kids' one mile race that same morning! We're going to run that mile together; it is so exciting to get to run with my daughter! I'm not the most fit person; hey, I'm still overweight. But my daughter is learning the importance of exercise at an early age and she is learning that it can be fun. It was her idea to run in the kids' race, not mine, and I am proud of her for wanting to do this.
It seems that this is a year for change; change can be a positive thing, especially when we let God do the changing in us--and when we actually submit to His will. As a parent, I can see things that my kids need to change so that they can be more successful at this or that. God, our Heavenly Father, is certainly no different. Just as I desire for my kids to listen to what Ben and I tell them, God also wants us to listen to Him. My kids will learn to listen to God by watching me listen to Him. And that is one example that I want to be sure to set for them.
In this new year, there are two things that seem to be things the Lord would have me work on, at least right now: organization and flexibility. Yes, the two actually do go hand-in-hand. As a parent, you know that organization is important; it aids in establishing routine for your children, which is something that they desperately need. As a homeschooling parent, I am learning that organization is a weak area for me, not so much in the area of having a regular, set schedule for things like getting up and going to bed, but for things like actually setting a plan on paper for the week for our studies instead of trying to go off of a mental list. Things get forgotten that way! (Imagine that!)
I'm also trying to become more organized with meal planning. We already shop off of a menu that we decide upon, but it has become a goal to write down exactly what we are having for which meal and on which day and posting it on the refrigerator door. This eliminates the whole, "What do you want for dinner?" time waster and actually helps me to be much more efficient in the kitchen.
Have I been consistent with both of these things? Nope. But I am trying. I think that writing about it here will help me to be more accountable.
Another new approach this year is one for the kids. In the past, it has been a chore to get the kids to do their chores without grumbling and to do them the right way. Through an email that I receive every day, I learned about this great online chore chart program called My Job Chart. The kids earn points for completing their chores each morning and evening, and the points can be saved, shared, and spent, which also teaches them about handling finances (even though they don't realize it yet). This simple, online chore chart has really changed the way my kids think about the jobs they need to do. I hear a lot less, "I can't" and "I forgot" when the kids have been told to do something because they look forward to checking it off of their list each day. An added bonus for Hayden is that he is learning to recognize his letters in a practical way as he learns to enter in his own password!
A great bonus for me with My Job Chart? It's free! That works out great for this frugal mama's wallet!
One more thing that is new in this year, but not really new for me, is that I have started running again. How I missed running! It probably took a good 9 months to for me to be able to run without discomfort from the c-section, but now that I'm back in the swing of things I'm preparing for the Ukrop's Monument Ave 10K in Richmond. I ran it for the first time back in 2009 and am excited to go back again this year. New this year: Abby is going to run the kids' one mile race that same morning! We're going to run that mile together; it is so exciting to get to run with my daughter! I'm not the most fit person; hey, I'm still overweight. But my daughter is learning the importance of exercise at an early age and she is learning that it can be fun. It was her idea to run in the kids' race, not mine, and I am proud of her for wanting to do this.
It seems that this is a year for change; change can be a positive thing, especially when we let God do the changing in us--and when we actually submit to His will. As a parent, I can see things that my kids need to change so that they can be more successful at this or that. God, our Heavenly Father, is certainly no different. Just as I desire for my kids to listen to what Ben and I tell them, God also wants us to listen to Him. My kids will learn to listen to God by watching me listen to Him. And that is one example that I want to be sure to set for them.
Monday, December 6, 2010
In Retrospect, It's Kinda Funny!
Decorating the Christmas tree has been quite the adventure this year. It all started just before Halloween.
You see, I had this grandiose idea that we could make all of our ornaments this year and have an old-fashioned (except for the lights and the lighted angel on top) Christmas tree. We were going to string popcorn and make all of these wonderful, homemade ornaments. So before Halloween, I started collecting ideas. My mom gave me some really great ones, too. But, I only implemented one of them. She told me how to make these really wonderful string ornaments using crochet thread, balloons, and liquid starch. First of all, I thought crochet thread was yarn. Mom crochets and was a little put-off by my ignorance. Once she set me straight, I went to the store to get the thread, balloons, and starch.
I came home with the thread (not yarn), balloons, and liquid starch, and Ben and I blew up an entire bag of balloons.Thirty balloons. Because I'm overambitious like that. And because I way overestimated my children's ability to do and to remain focused on these ornaments. I think Hayden might have done part of one. Abby might have done an entire one and started a few others, which I finished. I did the rest. All 13 of them.
Once they dried and it was time to pop the balloons and remove them from the thread, I discovered that I didn't effectively communicate to the kids. I told them to hold the balloon near the knot and wrap the thread around the balloon. What I didn't tell them was not to wrap the thread around the knot. Over and over and over. You see, once the balloon is popped, it should just easily come out of the ornament. Only it doesn't work that way if the thread, which was fully soaked in liquid starch and has now dried quite hard, is wrapped tightly around the balloon knot. So I had to cut several ornaments. This left a gaping hole in the ornament. So, those ornaments got thrown away. We were left with a few ornaments.
I just realized that I haven't told you WHY I had this wonderful idea for making ornaments this year. Last year, we celebrated our first Christmas in our house. Previously, we lived in a two-bedroom townhouse. With carpet in every room. Our house has hardwood flooring in the living room and the hallway. The only carpet is in the bedrooms. Why is this a problem, you ask? Because 99% of our ornaments were glass ornaments. That wasn't a problem when we lived in a fuly-carpeted apartment. Even with two kids and a dog. However, when we went to decorate our tree last year, I had just a little bit of foresight and said to Ben, "Don't you think we should go buy some shatter-proof ornaments? Almost all of ours are breakable." Ben said, "No, they'll be fine. The kids just need to learn to leave the tree alone." (The dog didn't make the move to the new house; he lives with my in-laws now due to Hayden's allergies.) From the day that we decorated the Christmas tree until the day we took it down, I swept up at least one broken ornament a day. Thus the need for new ornaments.
Back to this year: We finally got our Christmas tree this past Saturday. We usually get our tree Thanksgiving weekend, but we were a week late this year. There was a tree at the tree farm that we all fell in love with. It was this beautiful blue spruce that had the perfect Christmas tree shape and, according to Abby, "lots of room for loot!" (Guess we need to really hammer home the true reason we celebrate Christmas and that it's better to give than to receive.) When we found out the price of the beautiful blue spruce, we decided that we'd better choose another tree! So we found a wonderful Norway spruce that is just as beautifully shaped as the blue spruce and has "lots of room for loot" because of Ben's trimming job once we got the tree home. Some of the lower branches had to be trimmed so that the tree would actually get into the tree stand; he just got a little carried away. It kind of reminded me of that "I Love Lucy" episode where Lucy kept telling Ricky to trim a little here and a little there... and eventually there was nothing left to the tree! (Okay, so it wasn't quite that bad, but I do think that Ben actually thought for a minute that he would have to go buy another tree.)
Once we had the tree in the stand, it was time to put the lights on the tree. Only we had to go buy lights because ours from last year were no longer safe; Ben had to splice them together to make them work. The tree had been decorated for a couple of weeks when about half of them decided to work intermittently, and there was no way that we were going to take everything off of the tree so we could put new lights on. So the old lights went out with last year's Christmas tree. Saturday afternoon, I went to Walmart to buy lights because we had none. So I bought this box of 400 lights, took them home, and we tested them. They all worked. Got them on the tree, and half of one string (there were two strings total) quit working. Ben found out that it was a connector issue, not a bulb issue, so he took the lights back to Walmart and got some new ones. He had to get four boxes of 100 lights each because they had no more boxes of 400 lights. He tested each string, and only three strings worked. (Figures.) We were optimistic that three strings would be enough to cover the tree. Um, wrong! There was about 18 inches of tree that didn't have any lights. By this time the kids were tired and really, really wanted to decorate the tree, so we let them put a couple of ornaments each on the tree and told them that we'd get one more string of lights after church on Sunday and we'd finish decorating the tree.
Sunday, we went straight to Walmart after church let out (thankfully, we went to the early service) and got our string of lights. We came home, had a quick lunch, and set to decorating the tree. We discovered once we opened up the boxes of ornaments and Christmas decorations that we had this nice, unopened box of FOUR HUNDRED LIGHTS in with our Christmas decorations! It was then that Ben and I remembered that we had gone to Kmart after Christmas last year and bought lights on sale. Because we knew we would need them this year. And because we were saving ourselves some money by doing this.
After getting over the initial disgust of this finding, we started decorating the tree. We found out that we had quite a few unbreakable ornaments after all, and there were a bunch of applesauce ornaments that Abby and I made a few years ago, and then the few string ornaments that survived to be decorated with, and then the two boxes of candy canes. All in all, the decorations on the tree look really pretty this year. I think this is one of my favorite trees in our 11 years of marriage.
Then came Hayden's favorite part: putting the angel on the tree and lighting it. Once we finally got the angel on the tree, we discovered that she didn't work. Talk about frustrating! So Ben and Hayden went off to Walmart to buy another angel for the tree while the girls and I stayed here. Ruth was napping, Abby got on the phone with my mom, and I swept pine needles from the floors. The boys came back with a beautiful angel, and it works! :)
While in the moment, everything seemed to go wrong, I can look back and see the humor in it all. It is definitely a Christmas we won't soon forget!
Next on the agenda is to spend time during the next few weeks teaching and reiterating the whole reason we celebrate Christmas...
Monday, November 22, 2010
Baby Food, Anyone?
We have three children, and until very recently, I have never made baby food. Yup. I've always bought the Gerber jars and packages of baby food. Actually, we've spent a small fortune in baby food!
My adventures in making baby food began a few months ago, before Ruth was even eating solids. We had gone to a local peach orchard and bought a lot of peaches. We ate some of them, and I made a cobbler or something with some of them, and we still had some leftover. They were starting to get soft, so I got the bright idea of cooking them and making baby food so that we wouldn't lose the peaches. There weren't enough left to make a pie or anything, so this was the best use I could think of.
Being ignorant of making baby food, I did this the only way I knew how: cook the peaches like I do apples when I make applesauce. Since they were really tart peaches, I added some sugar. My food processor was still packed up in an unknown box in our shed at that time, so I used my hand mixer to puree the peaches as best as I could. After they were as thin as I could get them, I put the mixture into ice cube trays and froze it. I found out that Ruth couldn't eat the peaches until a few weeks ago because they were just a little too chunky for her.
But then a few weeks ago, while looking for something else in the shed, I found my food processor! My wheels started turning... what could I do with the food processor? I used it to grate up a huge block of cheese that we purchased from Costco, but I knew that there must be something else I could do, something that wouldn't take a lot of time.
Fast forward to this past Saturday. I was at the grocery store picking up some baby food for Ruth, and I noticed that the price per pound for the jar of sweet potatoes listed on the shelf sticker was something like $2.50/lb. Wow! This jar was $0.63. My lightning-fast brain said that I wasn't going to get a pound of baby food sweet potatoes for $2.50. I happened to be on the phone with my mom at the time and remarked to her about the cost. She said, "Why don't you make some baby food for her instead?" So I went over to the produce section and saw that a pound of sweet potatoes was $0.49. Hmmm.... this is really starting to make sense here. So I spent $0.88 for three sweet potatoes, took them home, washed them, baked them, and scooped the potato out of the skin and threw it into the food processor with some water. After I got it to the right consistency for Ruth, I put the sweet potato puree into the ice cube trays and had enough leftover for two more servings. Assuming that Ruth will eat two of the cubes of sweet potatoes in one sitting--because that's how much of the peaches she eats--I got 18 total servings for just $0.88! I pay more that than for a two-pack of Gerber sweet potatoes at Walmart! Oh, and guess what? Ruth likes these a lot more!
So in an effort to save money and feed my family a little healthier, I have decided to start making baby food whenever possible. It doesn't take much time, and it freezes well, so there is baby food on hand in the freezer--much like some of the healthier food items I've been making for my family lately. If I can cook healthier and a little cheaper for the rest of the family, and cook enough to freeze for another time, then why not do the same thing for the baby?
You know, the Proverbs 31 woman was a pretty resourceful lady. I'd really like to be more like her.
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