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YEAH! Bryan is home! YEAH! We have done so much this past few months that Bryan has been away - way too busy! It has been hard, but the good news is that Bryan came home safe and happy to be home! we have him until November and then he deploys for 6 months. I look forward to having each day with Bryan until he leaves and then starting the count down for his return as soon as he deploys! As for school - I have to say that so much has changed with the children. It has been exciting and an education for all of us! Our dear friends the Jurkoic's have started home schooling and they now live in Hawaii. It is so awesome to have a friend who parallels what we are teaching not just in school but in life for our children! My AutumnRae has grown so much over the past two months and she is doing so much better with school! I have been giving her a list of what needs to be done and what she must work towards. She works well within those confines. It is so great that I feel like I want to shout it from the roof top honestly! We have many things to do during the week & the choice is to WORK first PLAY second! She makes the right choice most days! Loving TaeKwonDo on MWF & then wanting to play soccer on TH & Sat, Church class on Sunday *(which she loves!) and we go to the pool a few times a week if we get done with school early! It happens! It is nice! My dear Bryanna is plugging away so hard at her first grade work! I am so proud of her - though she is a reluctant reader she can do it and she pushes through! It is really nice! Her desire to get the work done in speed is great - some days I have to slow her down to make sure she is getting everything right and sh really dislikes having to correct her work. Presentation Forum has been good for her - she likes to engage the other children in the group & present to them! (Baby doll in tow too!) Camden decided he wants to do K work! So, we started the reading lessons! :) fun! slowly but surely! He thinks he can read...but it's all good! No more time to spare here so I will leave now...thankyou Kat for writing me an email - YES! School is better & I came to the same end result as you. Thank you for sharing! Much love to friends & family! Until next time... |
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So, I am feeling better and so are our children! We have abandoned the rigourous schedule and have block learning now for spelling, vocabulary, history and reading time (though this is daily & they just don't see that yet). YEAH! Prayer, time, being willing to try something different, and me LISTENING to what AutumnRae was asking for even though she couldn't articulate the feelings was key! What a relief! I feel so much better! Thought I'd up date on that one first today. Now, we have had to start another challenge. As many families in this area and across the country, the children's father is away for months now. He left this past Monday to return in October and leave again sometime in November. Big changes as we come of 3 years of shore duty...I must admit the children are dealing with it all WAY better than I am! We have been so blessed with having church family here that is trying to pull us in and loving on us! In fact, we were honored to have our Ohana group over this past Sunday for services - the day before Bryan left and that was great! Then on Wednesday the women met here for 4 hours for Bible study and talking. I feel so close to these women that except for Christ I may have never met! God is good!
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I am encouraged by their attitude to and being brutally honest when they are sad - they are sad, when they are angry they are angry and when they don't know what is bugging them they are saying "I don't understand what is wrong with me". I have changed my approach to it all too. Instead of being the domonant mommy in charge, I am feeling like I need to be in it with them and work through my stuff too. I am sure there are pros and cons to both. I figure that I am being taught a lesson in humility!
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I jsut want to cry. No, truth is I have been crying! A & I have just not been seeing eye to eye ever since we started back to school in Hawaii. She is challenging EVERYTHING I have her do from math to handwriting to eating lunch to dishes to brushing her teeth! There have been excellent days! WHen I think we are through this, but then there are days like today... She was so angry at me today when I set the pool up for the other children while she was having a silent temper tantrum up in her room (consequence was that she had to be in her room alone if she didn't want to do her school) that she yelled "I hate you" and "I want to hurt you" with clenched fists. oh my gosh! She is only 7 1/2 ... what am I doing wrong and what is it going to be like in 5 or 7 years?! I was terrible to my mom. I thought I was doing things differently than my mom did so I'd avoid some of (not all) that junk between moms & daughters / authority & children. I have tried to put my faith in God and guide our children that way to follow God. Now I am thinking I have done everything wrong and that she is not only going to hate me but that she will not want to follow Christ because of my failures! Which getting my husband & children to God is why I have felt like I was put here on earth. This is such a scary thought!!! I have delt with today quietly with my voice and broken in my heart. I know she is extremely tired - she woke herself up at 4am and was dressed & ready to play! So I expected there would be rough parts of the day today - but telling me that she is NOT going to do math or any school today and that she is NOT going to listen to me is something I can not tollerate no matter how much sleep she did or didn't get. The math is easy for her - in fact all of the work is easy for her when she pays attention to what she is doing. she is very easliy distracted and has trouble focussing on anything but science and that is only for 20 minutes at a time. She can read a book of interest (Fairies, StarWars, Encyclopedia of History) for hours at a time though! I don't know. I do know that others have gone through this & I know we will get through it - but I want to do more than just get through it. I want to make right Godly choices in how we get through it. Where God's grace, love & plan is obvious to us in the end. Unfortunately, everyone that I know at our church and in my family first identifies homeschooling as the reason she is rebelling at me at such an early age. It might be why it is early, but in my heart I know it is not b/c of homeschooling! We elect to home school to teach our children about Christ & to protect them...I miss being in Iowa where there was a strong non-judgemental home schooling group that would be able to offer me guidance. More tears again, so I should stop...but this is terraputic. Thanks again to you Amy! :) xoxo off to play in the pool with B & C...and to pray some more! Please pray for us... |
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I just wanted to say thank you for someone letting me know about posting my new website - In my excitment I didn't know I was breaking the rules! thank you for kindly giving me the heads up!!!! |
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Birthdays kind of sneak up on me in some ways. I will be 38 on Saturday & it actually feels good! I feel confidnet, happy, energetic, and comfortbale in my skin (though I wish it wasn't as BIG as it is now, but that too isn't so bad anymore). I am starting to see why women in their 60's develop a certian attitude - it isn't a "Know it all" bad attitude, maybe it is a "I've been there & get it - and believe me in the end it wont really matter" attitude. Makes me want to call my friend Barbara and talk with my mom more!
School starts for us on Monday. Have been praying about it and everything seems to be falling into place with schedules and books and hearts of all of us. I'll keep everyone posted!
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Okay, so I am such a novice at technology, but this is so exciting to me! I am embarking on a Pampered Chef business and have no idea what I am doing, just keeping faith that God wants us to do this. Setting up the website was suprisingly easy - like this blog was so easy! So, anyway, so far so good. Feeling happy & wanted to share! Have a super day & check out the fun stuff for Pampered Chef when you have time! In Him, |
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On Sunday it was announced that the teen camp was not going to be in July like usual, but in June. Gretchen said that she didn't know how teens would fund it but to see her after church if they were interested in traveling to LA for camp. As I left during the last song to go get our children from Children's Ministries (as directed to do so from the song leaders) I swung over to hug Gretchen thank her for presenting the Special Olympics project they had done. I was very moved by it. Then, out of my mouth came the fact that I am a Pampered Chef consultant and we do fund raising for organizations. I told her that I'd love to help if there were teens that wanted work towards camp. Frankly, I have no idea how to do this yet! I am brand new at PC and have only one show under my belt that will be turned in this week. Tonight when I went to sleep I laid there praying at midnight that God would lead me where He wants me with the Pampered Chef business. I started with Pampered Chef as a business in an effort to support our home school adventures. The children are getting older now and really want to participate in more outside activities not to mention organized team sports & we want them to have those opportunites too! However, we just can't afford very much honestly. TaeKwonDo is only $60 per month for the ENTIRE family! That is in my budget! LOL! Anyway, about 2am I woke up from a dead sleep! My mind is racing with how to present to different groups how Pampered Chef is a unique fun way to raise money for their group! I am trying to think out of the box fun ways to present the opportunity Pampered Chef offers & what groups might be interested. I was thinking special missions at our church - church wide fund raising! Soccer teams that make it to finals or want to travel off island for competition! Cheerleading squads. Girl Scout troops! They could even earn a cooking badge if we did it right! Women's organizations like United Methodist Women! I thought about how I could do up to 4 projects a month realistically, and keep them organized! I keep thinking that 4th quarter would be best - b/c people buy gifts then & would be more generous to support a group during that time of the year. But, I don't want to put limitations where there don't need to be any. Funny thing is that when we no longer have children in our home to teach or raise on a daily basis my thoughts were to work for the American Heart Association helping to raise money and spread awareness through education & Jump Rope for Heart activites! Isn't this just right up that alley - good ground for me to work in the same vein of fund raising?! God. It is all GOD! I LOVE it when I can see the big picture! Thus, I can't sleep any more now! It is 4am & Bryan will be waking up soon which means our babies will be up soon too. :) But, it is okay. I really feel like God was planting the ideas! Now it is my job to make them happen! God is faithful and does answer prayers. I now need to do my part - get over the shy bug, make phone calls, put packets together, find the answers from Carol/Robin with PC and MAKE IT HAPPEN! God is good! |
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WOW! What a great thing this is going to be for all of us! Camden, Bryanna, AutumnRae & I (yes, even I am doing the class!) just finished our first TaeKwonDo class. I know this is going to be so good for my waist line - especially as I just had the realization that I can't do a regular sit up!!!! AutumnRae is all over it! She is self disciplined and controlled! She is really trying hard. Camden & Bryanna are learning body control. It is encouraging to see the instructors work patiently with them within their physical limitations. This is the first time we have tackled something that I too am a student on all levels! I think the children enjoy that fact. Speaking of being a student though, the best part about today was not this first wonderful TaeKwonDo experience though. Today, all of the children sat down to read their Bibles with me for 15 minutes after breakfast!!!! I am moved to tears right now thinking about it! AutumnRae told me that she likes the days I read my Bible better than the days I don't. Now, if that isn't convicting I don't know what will be for me! I am a better wife, mommy, friend, playmate, person in general when I read God's word & apply it daily! Each one of the children took time to pray with me after reading & the ants in their pants weren't too bad. Today was a good day b/c we started it with God!
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Today is our first entry. We were inspired by our friend mom2kateandella to do a blog for school and our adventures. This will help us to also keep We are still in a few mixed up boxes in most rooms - especially our master bedroom. The school room & the kitchen have been my main mission. I can tell that I have made progress because I find the children camping out in those rooms reading, playing games or just spinning on their chairs. I hope we all can log in a few times a week adding pictures and home schooling adventures for our family & friends! What a terrific avenue to share, vents, talk and document! For His Glory! |
