31 Days...

I may be taking on the craziest idea that I’ve ever encountered, but after reading the nester and hearing about doing the 31 days from other bloggers, I’ve decided to (try!) to blog every day during the month of October.  Crazy, huh?  The point is to pick a topic that you can write about for a month without wearing it out.  So, for 31 days, by the grace of God, my insanity will become a little more sane.  

One aspect of my life that has definitely been different over this year is my walk with the Lord.  I have felt the most distant from Him than any other time in my life.  Yet He has never moved.  I have been the one to allow other things to move in between He & I.  I have allowed complacency to creep into my daily life.

Over the past year, I have struggled with feelings of inadequacy as a mother, wife, teacher, even as a believer.  I have had times when I felt I was literally going insane!  Some days I would feel normal again and things would look positive, but the next day I would struggle to get out of bed and the thoughts of my responsibilities as a mother would overwhelm me.  I turned to books, blogs, vitamins, and even family to help me get out of this fog that has been consuming me. 

I know without a doubt that my time with Him DAILY is so essential in transforming my insane life into one of peace.  In John 14:27, it says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled.  Do not be afraid.”  My desire is to get up between 5:45 and 6 am, so that I can have that quality time with the Lord before the rest of the house wakes.  Right now, I’m using the devotional, The Frazzled Female by Cindi Wood.  It’s perfect for where I am right now.  My sweet hubbie found it for me last year, but I’m finally taking the time to use it now.  I know that there will be days that I oversleep or a little one wakes up earlier than usual, and on those days, I pray for His grace to spend time with Him throughout the day and not beat myself up. 

The hardest job I've ever had...

This has been one of those weeks that I'm reminded how hard this job of motherhood really is.  Before having children, I would have thought it would be the potty training, sleepless nights, and continual explosions of clothes and toys throughout my house that would make this job so difficult at times.  But after this week, I've realized it's so much more.  It's watching your child be shunned by so-called friends.  It's crying with another as you break some difficult news, knowing it's for the sake of the family as a whole, but how much it will hurt the one.  It's choosing to make decisions as a family that may not be in line with society or even friends.  It's in those times that my heart breaks.  I know it's only going to get harder as they get older, but I'm so glad that I get to be there to walk along side them.  For all the jobs in the world, I wouldn't trade mine for any of them.

The newest member of our family!

A few weeks ago, I scared several people on facebook by announcing that I was about to witness my little girls' dreams come true.  Immediately, I got responses of Disney World?, a new baby?, a pet?  I was hoping to download a video of the girls and their surprised faces, but had to run out the door soon after getting our little package of expectation.  Of course, the place I was at all evening had no phone signal, which caused me to kill my battery, but not before I got in the comment, "It's a dog!"

Having a dog has been Chloe's dream for years.... really, years.  If you could have seen her last Christmas list, you could have counted the word "dog" at least thirty times.  She has refused to spend her money over the last year because she was saving it for a rabbit (which Papa & Nana now have!) or a dog.  We promised when we had a yard with a fence, we would get a dog.  It's been a year now since we've moved... to a house... with a fence.  Then, I pleaded for mommy's sanity sake to wait till she turned ten.  

God had different plans though.  Our sweet little Tinkerbell was given to us as a gift, one truly amazing gift that we could never have afforded on our own.  We honestly couldn't pass her up and I'm so glad we didn't. There have certainly been harder days than others.  But to see the overwhelming love that my girls have for her on a daily basis is enough to make it all worth it for me.  

Helping Chloe with her math

Only a few days before we got Tinkerbell, Marty and I knew it was most likely going to happen.  But one morning at breakfast, Naomi lost an eyelash and blew it from my finger, making a wish.  What did she wish for?  A dog, a real dog...  My heart skipped a beat in that moment.

Making sure she'll be comfortable at night.

True love!

Trying to be like her big sisters (Can't you see Tink shaking?)

Tinkerbell helping Naomi with some school work.

Our little 4 pound guard dog.

A Day in the Life of a Homeschooler...

It is so hard to believe that we are beginning our fourth year of homeschooling.  It really doesn't seem possible.  This is our first year of officially doing two grades (3rd & Kindergarten) and I'm excited to be able to watch Naomi grow in her knowledge of phonics and reading as we learn together over the next several months.  This is our homeschool room (pictured above and below).  We had hoped to have finished our unfinished downstairs, but God's timing is perfect and it's not finished yet.  So, since we knew we had another year of school upstairs, we decided to make it as functional as possible.  Marty built my new IKEA shelves a few weeks ago and I've pulled out many of our boxes of books and school supplies to make our room feel as welcoming and learner friendly as possible.  

Instead of backpacks this year, I made the girls their own canvas bags using the simple tools of a ruler and sharpies (Thanks to Pinterest!)  They were a lot of fun to make and the girls were excited to have new bags with their names on them.  

 

French Toast for breakfast!

Excited to start school ... seriously!!

Some new school goodies (mostly freebies or super cheap items from Staples & Target).  I have recently discovered Mike's Used Books, which has been great for purging through our old books and finding some new ones.  All of the girls received "new" books in their bags (American Girl doll book, The Art Lesson by Tomie de Paola, and If Jesus lived in my Heart - board book)

Sophie got in the spirit and got all these puzzles out herself before we even began our school work.

I am blessed with three precious students!

The principal and his girls!

Our precarious, I mean... precious preschooler

Our kangaroo of a kindergartner (always jumping) 

Our thriving third grader (constantly learning and reading)

Sophie's attempt at the Pledge of Allegiance

Proud to hold the Bible

Watching Super Why on the Ipad 

A little mammal classification with the help of Pinterest

Science Experimenting

One morning we went to the park first thing to avoid the heat of the day.  Our Sophie can certainly be full of "joy" on mornings like this.

My little explorers at the park

Once again, avoiding the heat by staying inside with my artists.

Overall, the week was a success.  Did I accomplish everything?  No way!  Was coffee an extreme necessity every single morning?  For sure.  Did Sophie cover herself with chapstick during naptime one day?  Oh, yeah!  Did I get stressed that my schedule wasn't going as planned?  You betcha!  But at the end of the week, do I still want to do this homeschool thing?  Only by God's grace, YES!  

Some of the best memories 

are made in flip flops - Kellie Elmore

As school started today, I see our summer coming to a close.  What a full summer it's been!  Here is just a glimpse of my girls enjoying their time off from school, playing with cousins, tea parties, pool time, and even a day trip to the beach.  

A few things that I'm grateful for...

• I am so thankful to be settled in our home after going through a difficult move last summer.
• I am thankful for my parents being back in the States, especially when Marty was gone for much of July.  
• I am thankful for our air conditioning as the heat this year has often seemed unbearable.  
• I am thankful for our neighborhood pool in which flip-flops are the regular foot attire and the walk is just down the street.
• I am thankful for the opportunity to be home with my girls.  Let me not take it for granted.

In case you are wondering, we did not get everything done on our list.  Most of it... but not everything (notice there is not a check mark beside potty training).  We still hope to do our outdoor movie night this month and go bowling one Friday before the schedule gets too busy.  But I'm ok with not completing "the list".  It was fun putting it together and I hope it will be a jump start for next summer when the girls will all be a little older and nap times won't be such a necessity.

(School pictures to come soon...)

While a parent is away...

As some of you may know, our summer has been busy... BUSY!!  But whose isn't?  Anyone who has been in youth ministry can understand that summers aren't really vacation times, but often the most hectic time of the year.  This is not a bad thing, but since having children of our own, it's definitely different.  

My husband just returned from a ten trip to Ukraine, which I think is the longest he's been away yet.  But thanks to my parents, the girls and I spent half that time with them and time went by faster. Another thing that helped to pass the time for my girls was all of the surprises left by Daddy.

My husband has always been good about leaving notes when he goes on trips, but he really outdid himself this time.  I've been happy with a few post-it's or a card just reminding us how much he misses us.  But this past week, he did so much more.  Everyday the girls had a gift to open (sometimes individually, other times for them to share).  These ranged from glow-sticks to a new Adventures in Odyssey cd to even their own frog kit.  Some of these they had even picked out themselves, but didn't know what day they were getting them.  He also prerecorded devotions on his I-pad for the ten days he was gone.  This was priceless to me!!  It wasn't anything elaborate, but simply Daddy reading to his girls from Naomi's Jesus Storybook Bible.  He encouraged them to follow along and left them with sweet words (like "Be good for Mommy" ha! ha!) at the end of each devotion.  

I have to brag on him even more by mentioning that he not only left our girls sweet gifts and messages, but he also did the same for me.  I had cards and gifts hidden around the house with instructions to find them on certain days to help the time go by and ease some stress (aka Starbucks gift card, dark chocolate raisins, Subway gift card for a meal out).  He also left me his I-pod with sweet messages for me, encouraging me each day to hang in there, and reminding me that I was not alone.

I write all this to encourage parents that our little ones (& big ones!) love simple acts of kindness while a parent is away.  It doesn't have to be much.  Like I said earlier, a few post-it notes can go a long way.