A New Year!

There are years when I don't think that I really thought much of New Years Resolutions. The truth is that when we have a great year, we reflect positively on it and don't see the need to change much. We might say something like let's lose a few pounds or something trivial. However, when you look back at the last year and you didn't really get out of it what you hoped for, you have a lot more to think of at this time of the year. This last year was a season of change for me. I see the blessing that the changes are, but I still feel the sting and the pain that change so often causes.

In 2011, we had blessings. We went on two wonderful vacations: one to California (a dream vacation for me) and the other to Minnesota(such a special time with my sister and with all my relatives. I have watched my girls grow so much. Lily at age 6 is becoming an awesome "little lady" of God. She is studying the word and singing praise songs all the time. She had been a challenging little girl and I am in aww of how God has been maturing her and making her more like Him. She is so generous and talks about serving God. I know that we did several service projects this year and it really did have an impact on her. Valerie at age 3 has always been my easy child, but right now is trying to show her independence and self-reliance. What a stage that can be! Daphne is my runt. She is little, but mighty and always into something. I have loved watching her go from a little 6 month old to a crazy 18 month old this year! Jason also got a new boss this year (the company got sold to new owners). They have been such wonderful people.

So after saying all of that, why was this year so hard? Hmmm. That would be something to answer wouldn't it! I guess the only simple answer is that I feel God moving and in that moving, I think my priorities needed to change. I don't think I wanted them to change. In my own selfishness, I would just stay the same. However, I know that God has a greater calling for my life and I need to get my priorites all straight!

So to start this year out, Jason, Lily, and I all completed New Years Goal sheets. I had a friend post this on facebook.

http://thirtyhandmadedays.com/2011/12/new_years_resolution/

I printed them out and we each filled them out. I intend to post them somewhere that we can look at them often and encourage each other in our goals. I really intend to not let these things escape us. These are really the things that we want for this year. I thought about sharing them on here, but really, I think they are personal so maybe they can be shared when they are fulfilled!

I will end this by saying that my one word is "Hope"! This year may I never lose hope in what God has for me! :)

Meeting the Duggars!!

A few weeks ago, I was able to go to a women's conference and the highlight was meeting the Duggars! What an awesome family of God! The most valuable thing that I took from them was probably the most simple thing. "Children are a blessing!" They said this over and over again and I realized how much our society does not see kids that way. Yes, parents love their kids, but do they truely see them as a blessing. I hear parents all the time complaining about their kids instead of rejoicing in the journey that their kids are going through. When our children are going through the terrible twos, do we stop and feel thankful for the ability to be disciplining them into amazing people of God? Do we feel like we have given up things for our kids or do we feel blessed that God changed our focus from ourselves and onto others? Do we send our kids to school so that we can get a break or do we rejoice in the time together? I just found their deep commitment to children to be refreshing!

My wonderful friend, Mandy blessed me by taking me with her into the small group Duggar time. That was really awesome! I even got to stand up and ask them a question.

Their kids were amazing. Even the little ones sat while their parents talked. When they did start to get restless, one of the older siblings quietly took them out! Later they played the violin and sang. One of the older girls was asked if she liked being homeschooled or if she wished that she had gone to public school. She started by saying, "I have only been homeschooled so it is all I know." Then she continued by saying, "We get to travel and do stuff that other kids don't. I love it!"

The funniest part was when someone asked her what her perspective on fertility treatment is. She started by explaining her belief on birth control until she realized that wasn't what they were talking about. Then she got all tongue tied and said, "I really don't have any experience with this so I don't have an answer right now!" It was sweet and funny! She is a very kind and joyful woman!

The kids loved signing books. They said that they have done 4-5 hour signings before.

Last, I got to speak with Kathy Troccoli. I met her years before when my Pastor's wife introduced me at another women's conference. Kathy is such a fun lady! Love her attitude and love her music!

Slow down this season of life!

With Halloween now over, I am excited for the Thanksgiving and Christmas season.

I really want to enjoy this time of the year with the girls. When I was young, it seemed like it took forever for Christmas to finally arrive. That is not the case now that I am an adult. It comes way too quickly. I struggle to fit all of the acitivities in that I want to share with them.

I also don't want to spend time stressing so I am trying to get everything organized on the calendar and getting shopping done early so that I can look forward to seeing everyone's happy faces when they get their gifts! I love giving gifts. I must say that is probably my strongest love language. I just love watching people open a gift! :)

Last week, we fell behind on homeschooling. So this week, we are getting caught up and spending more time at home to do that! We are also starting to enjoy the Christmas cartoons that I just got out of the attic!

This weekend, I am going to see Michelle Duggar speak. I am so excited. I think she runs her home so smoothly and has children with great character and love for family. I definitely strive to be just like that.

Suppose that is my main ramblings for today!

Our schedule

I had a friend ask me yesterday about my schedule and how I fit everything in. I really think that I am no expert on scheduling, but I have read several books on the subject and I feel pretty content with my schedule so I will share.

7-7:30: Jason starts Lily on math while I get ready for the day
7:30-8: Lily's reading and Valerie's alphabet work
8-8:30: Get girls dressed and we clean house
8:30-9:15: Bible time (JBQ questions and worship or odyssey)
9:15-9:30: Silent reading time
9:30-12:30: Mon.-playgroup, Tues.-homeschool co-op, Wednes-Stay home and get stuff done or run errands, Thurs.-Volunteer or playgroup, Friday-Mops

*No watching t.v. before noon...even if I do like Good Morning America! :)

12:30-1: Lunch
1-3: Daphne's nap and Lily finishes school work (writing, social studies and special classes such as p.e., music, art, etc.)

3-7: Family time- cooking, playing games, dancing, neighbor kids over, dinner, movie(but no t.v. on when we are doing other activities) etc. We also have Jason coaching JBQ on Wednesday nights and lifegroup on Sundays. Once or twice a week, I go out with girlfriends.

7:00: Bedtime for the kids and time for Jason and I to connect.

*Also I believe in the quote at the top of this blog. A schedule is great for organization and living a balanced life, but I am always flexible so that I can be there for others. "Only a life lived for others is worth living." Albert Einstein

*When I look back on my life, I want there to be no way that I can count the number of times that I danced around the house with my girls! Those are the best moments! Looking at their smiling faces never gets old! :)

Homeschooling in a Pubic School World

Tact! Let me start with saying that I am writing this from my own persepective and thoughts and that I hope to write this tactfully so as not to offend anyone!

I constantly see the struggles that moms have with deciding what they want to do for their children's education. Just this week, I saw one mom talking about how her son was getting bullied and hit by another boy who had been in trouble at school a lot, two of my mom friends decided to put their daughters back into public school after homeschooling for a year to a few years, and another mom decided to pull her son out of public school and homeschool. Wow! I feel for each mom as she makes the decision that is right for her children!

For me, I think that the norm is public school. It seems easier to decide to send your child to get educated. You then get a little bit of a break and they get to be with friends and learning. However, I knew even before my children were born that I intended to homeschool. I knew this based off my own school issues. I remember the stress that I had at school and I know that my dad helping me with homework was truely what helped me learn. I needed his one on one attention and knowledge of how I learn! I also taught for several years and I knew that the social interaction wasn't how I wanted my daughters learning about how to treat people.

So is homeschooling an easy decision? No, our world says that sending them to school is the norm and why not! Lily came into my world and she was a handful! Wouldn't it be easier to send her to school? I wouldn't have to worry about scheduling her school work and what about when life is hectic and their is a new baby in the home? Or, I struggle with Valerie's learning style. Would it be easier on me if I just sent her to preschool? On the other side though...What if my daughter gets lost in the school system and they don't even notice that she isn't learning to her full potential? What if my child is getting hurt by another child and I don't even know until it is too late? What if a teacher is unfair to my child and it breaks her spirit? I am not saying that there is a right or wrong answer!

At the end of the day, I love homeschooling my daughters! I love that they don't leave my side for 7 hours a day! I love that I get to help my kids through their issues and that I get to see first hand what they are learning. I don't have to wait until parent teacher conferences to know how they are doing. I get to move their education along at the rate that works for them! I love that everything we do together is a learning experience! I get to bring the bible into their education! We also have more time for extra curricular activities like music and sports! I love that my girls are so close because they spend most of their time together and are best friends! Being with my girls each day is the greatest joy that I could ever imagine!!!

Being Purposeful!

Lately the cry of my heart has been to be purposeful! It is easy to live a life of staying busy or of getting distracted by chores and responsibilities. We can think of all the small things or we can look at the big picture.

First and foremost, I want to live a life for God. I want to serve Him and others. Galations 5:13-14. For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”        

So to live a life of serving, I know that I need to do that through loving and serving my husband and kids first. I was created to help Jason as his wife and then raise up my children in the way they should go so that they will not depart from it. That sounds pretty simple, but I am learning that I need to be purposeful so that I do those things to the fullest. Jason and I do devotionals with the girls each day and we have bible time as part of our homeschooling (and so that I can get in my quiet time). However, I realized that I do this almost to check it off my list of things to do. I have always wanted to teach them the word, but was I really thinking through what things they should be hearing right now.  Picking a devotional to use doesn't allow us to really decide what our family needs to hear that day. So based off of that, Jason and I are trying to plan our own topics to teach the kids about. Praying about it and then choosing to teach them about the fruit of the spirit, baptism, serving others, etc. Also my friend Rae-Ann has a weekly family night that involves a bible, character building lesson. The first lesson is on becoming a new creation when Jesus comes into our heart and we will be reading the Pumpkin Gospel while carving our pumpkin! I think we are going to try to implement something like that. I know it will take more planning on my part, but building my children up is my priority!

I have also learned that to be purposeful, I need to get rid of activities that aren't aiding in the purpose. I don't just need to fill my time to keep myself busy and having fun. I need to make sure that my time is going to the right things.

Relationships

So this blog post is born out of a bumper sticker that someone posted on facebook. lol. Funny how simple words can get you thinking.

I love people. For the most part, I try to invest in everyone I can. I know that we are all flaud and let others down, but I value people and do try to give my best! Sometimes I think that facebook has made this easier because I get to talk to people often and see their needs. However, facebook can also make it harder by giving us almost too many people to be close to. Is it better to give more people a little effort or a few people alot of effort? Just a thought!

So another thought on relationship. Relationships are hard! They take work and effort! I have a friend, Katie Gibson and I love reading her blog. I just read this statement that her husband told her and I loved it so I am borrowing it!

"Investment sometimes hurts, that is why people don't do it. You will lose someone, or be hurt by someone, sometime. It is easier to keep everything on the surface. When you love someone, you are vulnerable to anything."  Daniel Gibson

Courageous

A few days ago we wateched the movie Courageous, which is in theaters right now! It is made by Sherwood Films and is being distributed by Sony Films. I think even if you don't think they are as high of quality as some main stream movies, they are still worth your time and money. First, the message is such a needed one in our society and second, I want more of these family friendly movies for myself and my children. I hate that I give my time and money to movies that don't represent my values.

So really, I didn't mean to get on here and market the movie. lol. I really was getting on here to talk about how important fathers are. Besides this movie, I have also been reading Dobson's book on Raising Girls! These two things have echoed each other in the same message! 

One of my favorite scenes in the movie was when one of the dads spoke with his daughter about courtship and purity. He didn't go into great detail, but his words were so profound. He is to guard his daughter's heart until it is given to her husband! The other thing that impacted me is how important it is to be intentional in our parenting. This movie was blunt and didn't just shyly add their view in small areas. God should be the biggest, most important thing in our lives! That means that it shouldn't be where He just sometimes comes up in conversation. We should be talking as husband and wife about our relationship with God and how we are going to follow Him and then teach our kids to follow Him!

For Jason and I this movie was great for us to talk about how to intentionally teach our children and show our children love. It also reminded us to not let other things distract us or our girls from our priorities. On that note, we got rid of our wii for the the month. That means that we aren't playing video games or watching hardly any t.v. since we also don't have cable. We had decided in Eureka Springs that it was a distraction and hard to monitor time wise. I thought it would be hard on the girls, but they haven't asked for it once. They are enjoying more time playing outside and doing board games and puzzles and talking as a family! We will probably allow the wii back on occassion, but I am enjoying more quality time with my girls right now!

Okay, one last thing! I am so excited that Christians are stepping up and demanding Christian values in films. This movie has made over 8.8 million in just a few days and beat out 50/50 in its opening weekend and that was open in more theaters. We are making our voice heard! Also Dolphin Tale did really well which is suppose to be another great family film! :)

Eureka Springs

I think Eureka Springs was the first trip that Jason and I have taken with less emphasis being on all of the experiences we could share and more on just connecting as a couple and talking about our hopes, dreams, and plans for the future. We still did have a few first together like a train ride and horse back riding, but we mainly sat on the deck and talked. It was a perfect three day, two night trip!

Out of this time, I decided that I would write this blog. I already have the blog with fun stuff that our family is doing, but I wanted this one more as my journal. I think that I find it much easier to just tell people what I am up to and fun projects. However, I am just at a place where I want to write and try to open up about what God is teaching me and what is really going on in my head. I guess that I will find out if I am any good at that. lol. I have a few friends who are excellent at blogging and I feel intimidated to even try!

This last year has been one of trials and struggles for me. Everytime I think I know what is going to happen in our lives, something stops it. It has been discouraging, but I feel like I am starting to look back on it with added wisdom and that God has used this time to really talk to me and maybe even change some of my thoughts. I am thankful for a God who is always faithful! I will share more and hopefully often! Blessings on all my friends and family!