Back to Writing

I have been gone from the blogging world for awhile and thought it was time to start writing again. Life has passed quickly these first 6 months of 2012 and now we are getting ready to finish up our 11th year of homeschooling. We now have rising 11th, 8th and 5th graders in our homeschool. Wow! 

 The time is slipping by so quickly. At our homeschool association meeting last night we received our beautiful yearbook for the 2011-2012 school year. I get all misty eyed when I look through the pictures of families doing their family things and all of the activities homeschool kids find to do during the year. It gave me a new sense of urgency to make sure we are hitting all of those things I always wanted to do before our first student graduates from our homeschool. Wonder if he will mind making salt maps, picking apples, and going to the rodeo in the coming months. 

All kidding aside, it did encourage me to once again make the days count as I see them slipping by.  Back to writing and back to being more deliberate in living each day.

The Blur That Was October

Well, amazingly enough October 2009 has come and gone. The month has faded into one big beautiful blur! Our family begin the month traveling with dear husband who was home for 16 days on R&R. Our travels took us to Busch Gardens at Williamsburg and the Great Wolf Lodge, followed by a few wonderful days at the beach, soaking up some sun, but mostly enjoying one another and making memories, the weather was a little wet!


Dear husband returned to Iraq October 9 which left us with the rest of October and we continued the whirlwind of activities with birthdays, Ginger's and mine, the State fair with the chocolate covered bacon and finally our church's Fall Festival.



Our time with dear husband was fleeting, but having what one of our friends calls a "Practice Homecoming" was wonderful. I can only hope the rest of our deployment time will fly by as quickly. I surely appreciate having a completed family time because nothing really is the same without dear husband. God continually reminds me daily even when I feel so very overwhelmed how blessed we truly are, and what an honor it is to have my husband who is following God's call on his life to serve his country and set an example for our children. Yes it is hard, but it is so worth it. Hope you enjoy the pictures. I am going to try to get back in the habit of posting more regularly. I will always remember the blur that was October!

Climbing up the Attic Scrapbook Pile

I have been working in the attic for the last several days. I had to stop for a couple of days because it has gotten so hot here, near 100 degrees for two days. I realized that the attic had become a sort of scrapbook pile from our last 8 months or so. I came across fall decorations, Christmas odds and ends, winter clothes and outgrown clothes, wreaths from the seasons, Easter eggs, lots and lots of Easter eggs... I realized that since dear husband has been away that I have not put away things like I use to. The attic door gets opened and items are placed strategically so that they will not topple over onto the other piles.

I finally realized that I must address the situation because we are going to start repeating the time frame, and I will not be able to find what I need because it will be on the very bottom of some pile. Sigh...I cannot believe I will be repeating the same time frame without dear husband. Well, on a bright note I am making progress. The kids say the playroom looks like a hurricane went through with the explosion of clothes everywhere. I have finally learned that I procrastinate the jobs I do not want to do because I am forced to make a decision about what to do with something so it is much easier to just put in on the pile! Put it in a pile and put off making the decision.

Perhaps I will show an after picture when I am all done. I need to work on school stuff next. That is another area I have been putting off because I just do not want to make the hard decisions about what stays and what goes out of the house to someone else. I did get two bookshelves and I bought the paint for them. Now I need to get them painted up, then they will find there way up to the playroom area and immediately be filled with books. It will be great and I will be so excited to see it all done. The hard part is getting to the end product!

We have VBS this coming week. I will be teaching the Missions lessons to 400 plus Outback Trekkers preK-5th grade. Always a fun but exhausting week! Not sure how much I will get done on cleaning up the attic scrapbook piles, but I will keep plugging away. Fall is not too far away and I would like to hang my wreath and find my fall flag and youngest son keeps on growing so he will need some clothes that have been tucked away for him and...

Let There be Posting

Well, about another month has flown by and I have had every intention of posting on my blog, but no time to put my intentions into actions. My dear husband is missing the postings so I need to catch up again and hopefully I can really try to stick with once a week in the future. We have had another birthday, beginning of baseball and puppy training class, the end of our first year of TOG Year 2 (Tapestry of Grace for all of you who may not know), and the winding down of the school year. I am going to post some pictures and more comments with the pictures as soon as I find the cord to go with the camera! That should be later on today. Now we are off to the YMCA to let the oldest take his swim test for summer water activities in Scouts!

Time out!

I need a time out, you know the kind you get when you are running around crazy in a game of tag and you almost get caught and you yell TIME OUT! Things around our house are in overdrive and trying to get a schedule going is just not working out as easily as I had thought it would. My Dad fell and injured himself seriously, one of my children is battling allergies terribly this week and everyone else is just moving like we are in JELLO. Will we master division, will George Washington survive the Revolutionary war, are all Bob Books so much fun ? I am so glad that I know this too will pass, but man, I need a TIME OUT! I also remember playing tag and to keep from getting caught you could sit down and say the name of a cartoon show! Wouldn't that be great if we could do that now! Well, school is winding down for the year, testing is going on, spring fever is in high gear and life is crazy, but it is life and I am glad to be living it, even if it is crazy. Captain Caveman!!! Phew...I am safe! Hope you have a great day playing tag too.

God is Good!

God is so good! No really, I mean it God is so GOOD. I am physically somewhat better today and that is a blessing. Rest is the ticket I believe. When I sleep I feel much better. However, I am talking about more than just feeling better physically. I never cease to be in awe of God and how when you take your cares to Him, He meets you right where you are. My circumstances really have not changed, dear husband is still training, school is still happening, chores need to be done and I still do not feel 100%. The difference is I feel God's presence like a warm, fuzzy blanket wrapped around my shoulders. I feel supported and loved from family, beloved friends, church family and co-op family. Thank you for the encouragement, offers of help, calls and e-mails. I truly feel so blessed. Sometimes, it is not that God has gone anywhere, it is that we have wandered off on our own, trying to make it on our own. I really am so glad for God's patience with me. I had not really wandered off, I just was not looking around for His daily assurances. I felt so under everything that I could not look around or up and that is where the trouble begins. He lifted my head. Psalm 3:3 "But Thou, O LORD, art a shield about me, My glory, and the One who lifts my head." God is Good!

I am starting a new Beth Moore Bible study on Esther-It's tough being a woman. I am so excited to be doing the study. Beth Moore is one of my favorite Bible teachers. I will post more as we continue over the next few weeks with it. I was blessed to see my sweet friend that just had to say good-bye to her beautiful baby girl such a short time ago sitting in the same row as me last night at Bible study. Her baby is resting in Jesus' arms. Her face radiated with God's love. That is a testimony. God is Good!

Going to a birthday party for my nephew and my brother who both celebrate birthdays this week was another example of God's goodness. My brother's wife died last February 1 after a battle with cancer. She was here this time last year. Sitting with my family, watching us all carrying on over my brother and nephew was a blessing. My sister's present to my nephew was special. My precious sister-in-law wanted my nephew to have a guitar for his birthday, but thought last year he was still too little for it. She asked my sweet sister to make sure he got one the next year if she was not here to get him one. My sister went out last year and got a guitar and took it to my sister-in-law's hospital room for her to see. Sunday my nephew received the guitar. That story was shared with me yesterday, it brought tears and the reminder once again. God is Good!

Co-op friends have returned from Africa with their long awaited precious gift from God, a new brother for their family. They are safe, he is here with them and they are blessed. They have been challenged and expanded by their trip and experiences in Africa. They will never be the same again. God is Good!

So, we will start this week anew, with Mom having a fresh breath from God and ready to go with whatever the week, the days, the hours,the minutes bring. Thank you dear Lord and thank you sweet family and friends for the reminders of God's goodness to me.