• Jun. 8, 2007
I've been tagged! Oh, the dread!
It dawned on me this week that I am no longer "ahead of the curve" when it comes to computer technology. In middle and high school I worked in my church's youth ministry and was constantly teaching my adult co-workers how to use the internet and Microsoft Office. Well, life has come along now (in the form of houseparenting 9 high school girls now, over 100 kids in past 7 years, having my own 2 children, homeschooling them and all kinds of other misc. things). My friends Charity and Kristina, are now always showing ME how to use some website, blog or how to download and organize my pictures and music. I'm a computer idiot!!! Well, I have a new mission...learn more than them!!!
(You're impressed I figured out how to put that little smiley-thing on here, aren't you???)
So, today I checked my comments (something that I recently learned!) and I have been tagged by Kristina. TAGGED??? Is that like running-around-on-the-playground tagged, or like squirming-every-which-way-trying-to-reach-the-annoying-thing-sticking-you-in-the-neck-in-order-to-rip-it-out-only-to-realize-you-ripped-your-shirt tagged???
Well, I guess I'll just follow the instructions and see how it goes...(I have questions on this, but I was just informed by Kristina's assistant that they have taken their boys at the children's home on an outing. So, I will highlight my questions and get answers later).
Here’s how it works: Each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves (random or unknown?). People who are tagged need to write on their own blog about their seven things, as well as these rules. You need to tag others (how?) and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment (comment where?) telling them that they have been tagged and to read your blog. (Oh, so much to learn!)
Facts/Habits
1. I HAVE to put chapstick on my lips EVERY night before bed, or I will not be able to sleep!
2. I am a compulsive organizer...in my head...transfering my obsession to my house is a different story.
3. I feel that people who are pro-life must also be pro-adoption (not only in agreeing with it, but doing something about it)...otherwise, where would all of those new babies that are saved go? Into the foster care system...not a happy prospect. (I am pro-life and pro-adoption)
4. When I was 9 years-old I did a complete mid-air flip on rollerblades...I landed it, but continued the momentum right onto the concrete! OUCH!
5. I count my footsteps between cracks in the sidewalk to make sure they are even.
6. I would like to have 10 kids. (If you count the kids in my house that I houseparent for at the children's home and my own 2, I currently have 11!!!...WOW...that just occured to me!)
7. I have 11 kids!!! 
OK - here's another fact...albeit a sad one...I have no other friends to tag except one. She's a GREAT one though. So Charity...you are tagged!!! Charity is a fabulous friend of mine who homeschools her 2 kids. She also is a foster parent and currently has a baby that my parents fostered for. So, he's pretty special to my family and of course, Charity is, too, because she hopes to adopt him if he comes available. If you are reading this please say a little prayer that she will be able to keep him...we all love him dearly and want him to stay in our lives.
It took me TWO days to finish this entry!!! 
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• May. 8, 2007
Introducing...
Jackson Scott Connelly
Born 'Thursday, May 3rd, at 3:52pm.
Weighs 7 lbs. and is 19 1/2 inches long.
The delivery was quick and easy and he is very healthy! Hunter is enjoying having his new baby brother finally here.
Here's some of his very first pictures!!!
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• Apr. 29, 2007
A New House, A New Baby!!!
Two weeks to go until Jackson Scott Connelly is born! And, boy am I impatient. I forgot how difficult the last weeks of pregnancy are for me. Well, at least we are ready for him to come now...everything's prepared, washed, folded, bought and cleaned...all except a House!!! The retreat we are waiting on to be finished is not finished yet and there's not a due date for it. Even the baby is more predictable than that!!!
Here's a picture of Mike...he's one of the boys we had at the Children's Home when we first cam seven years ago. He just graduated from Marine Boot Camp. Scott and Hunter got to go to California to be at the graduation!!! His wife's name is Marie and she is due to have a baby in June! Yay!!! Boy, I feel old, though! ;)
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• Jan. 20, 2007
Yikes! Karaoke!!!
Last night my girls decided to do karaoke. Sounds fun, huh? Well, you should hear some of them...a little hard on the ears! :)
Just kidding, some of them are actually pretty good!
Singing..."Bye, Bye, Bye"!!!
They had a great time! Scott even wowed them with his ability to sing. None of them knew it! He sang From This Moment On by Shania Twain with me. It was the our first dance song at our wedding. The girls were shocked at how good we sounded together...Nobody will probably ever hear it again for another 10 years! Although, the girls did threaten to tell the music director at the children's home that we need to be in the yearly talent show. We'll see if we can get Scott anywhere near that stage!
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• Jan. 18, 2007
Pictures!!!
I finally got a new Smart Card reader, so here are all of the photos I've been waiting to post...
I made this bag! It's the first sewing venture I've finished and I'm darn proud!!! Isn't it cute?
This is Tessa, one of my girl's at the children's home, modeling for me! Oh yeah...it is made out of kitchen towels from KMart!!! They are Martha Stewart brand and I just couldn't use them in the kitchen, although, I am going back to buy more, since I cut these all up!
Here's new pictures of the baby!!! In the first one, his mouth is open and he's looking up. In the second one, he's looking right at the camara and you can see his eyelids! He was EXTREMELY active during the whole thing, so I'm glad we got pictures this good. I'm 23 weeks pregnant now.
This is my mom's new foster baby, Isaiah, with Hunter. Hunter's really good with him!
Can you believe the size of him??? He just turned 3 months old the day of these pics!
Here's Hunter's new mohawk hairdo...He's very excited to have found out that his friend Austin got one, too!
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• Jan. 16, 2007
Crafty Momma!!!
I can't believe how crafty I can be!!! I made this...well not this one, but one just like it. Except the one I made is different pink fabrics with an A on the front for Andie...my niece. My camara USB cord has misteriously vanished, so I can't post a picture yet, but it turned out really cute!
I also made a book bag...also VERY cute...and I'm in the process of making a "Maya"-type baby sling...it's turning out awesome!
I was searching people's blogs and came accross some sewing ones and for some reason I thought, "hey! I can do that!!!". So, I bought a $25.00 sewing machine from a thrift store (which turns out to be a fabulous one according to my sewing genius mother) and started sewing!
I feel so motherly! Ha! I've been a mother for 7 years and NOW I feel motherly! It most definately must be a pregnancy thing. My husband says he will be impressed if I am still sewing in a week! But, hey, for $25.00 I found a good hobby even if it does just last a week. I'll keep you posted...
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• Jan. 12, 2007
Hush and Be Still!
"Speak, Lord, in the stillness,
While I wait on Thee.
Hushed my heart to listen
In expectancy."
I read this today in the devotional emailed to me by Back to the Bible (The link is on the previous entry). Elizabeth Elliot was talking about how when we fill our lives with chaos and never take the small opportunities to hear God we will miss Him.
I do often feel like I am in the world alone...not really alone, but that God is just a spectator. Well, He is if I don't invite Him in. I don't have to drop everything in my life to spend a daily 60 minutes in devotions, prayer and Bible reading that I've tried over and over to schedule in. God is in every moment. I could invite Him in continuously and talk to Him as if He's a friend sitting next to me, because He is. The "rules" I often associate with Christianity are the sort of "rules" imposed by the Pharisees. And, clearly they had it wrong. It's not about "rules", it's about a personal relationship with Christ. So, today I'm going to strive to invite Him into every part of my day.
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• Jan. 8, 2007
The Love of Reading
I get an email daily from Back to the Bible. It's a devotional by Elisabeth Elliot. Today's was educatioally inspiring. She talks about her love of reading and how she was surrounding by books as a child. There are tons of references for great books and great authors that shaped her life in general and spiritually. There are great children's books mentioned as well as books she read as an adult that had an impact. It really caused me to think about the importance of reading to Hunter and even for myself...
Here's the link to get to the actual page, but I suggest to anyone to have it emailed to you daily. It keeps me accountable for getting even a little devotional in every morning even if I neglect my longer studies in the evening. Also, when it's emailed it comes in a pretty pink format that looks a lot better than the page itself.
http://www.backtothebible.org/devotions/devotion.php/elliot
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• Jan. 7, 2007
It's a Boy!
Well, Hunter can relax, because he won't be sharing his room with "girly things". This is what the baby might look like now. I think we are going to name him Eli Scott, but I probably will change the name several times before he's born. If anyone has any cool name suggestions you can leave them in the comments! Maybe I'll give a prize if we pick someone else's idea!!! I really like slightly unsusual names, but spelled normally. Some of our other ideas are Tate and Aidan. Good luck!!!
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• Jan. 7, 2007
Letterboxing
I've been learning about Letterboxing lately. I researched it before, but didn't really have the time to start then. I think Hunter and I will give it a try. We're excited about making a special journal and picking out a stamp to start us out.
The idea is to go on the website www.letterboxing.org and find clues to letterboxes hidden in our area. Then we follow the directions to find them. We stamp a copy of their stamp in our journal and a copy of our stamp in their journal and recoed some info on where we found it, etc... We may also try Postal Letterboxing. We were going to do Flat Stanley, but that involves a lot of waiting so I think we will try this first.
We also are in a group called Postcard Kids. We send postcards to people all over the world and they send us some from their State or Country. Hunter did this from about a year and has received hundreds of great postcards. We then look up the areas they come from and learn something about it. GREAT for Geography!
So, we're starting out this new year with one new adventure and an old one we liked a few years back. We're definately in the mood to start school now!!!
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• Nov. 10, 2006
Stay at Home Mom?
So, I was thinking today, (and many other days) about what I say if people ask if I work. The answer is...sort of. Although, in my head I consider myself a stay-at-home-homeschooling-mom, I do have a job.
Here's my life...you tell me...
I have two houses.
At one house I have 1 child.
At one house I have 9 children.
At one house I cook for 3 people.
At one house I cook for 12 people.
One house is 700 sq. ft.
One house is 3000 sq. ft.
One house has 1 couch.
One house has 5 couches.
One house has 1 frig.
One house has 2 frig's.
At one house I homeschool.
At one house I do over 100 sheets of paperwork for the state.
At one house we go to a 14,000 member church.
At one house we go to a 100 member church.
At one house we are completely safe.
At one house my husband and I (mostly my husband) can be physically attacked by a person who'd like us to be dead, at any time.
I'm even surprised at myself for being able to change lifestyles every week for the six years we've been houseparents. If someone else explained this life to me as their own I would think they were crazy!!! And, what about our own child. Is it healthy for him to be thrown into such an environment? Well, it's normal to him. Since he was six years old we were working here. Here is his life...
At one house he is an only child.
At one house he is one of 9 children.
At one house he has us all to himself.
At one house he gets to see us share our love and God's love with many others.
At one house he is sheltered.
At one house he learns valuable lessons on love and compassion.
At one house he is lonely.
At one house he makes lifelong relationships with kids who will continue to keep in touch with us even as they are adults because we are their only family.
Yeah, if Hunter was an only child and I spent all my time with only him I guess you could say that would be a charmed life. But, he'd miss out on so much in life. He's learning that to love others means to sacrifice. That there are children in this world that have no family...no Mommy or Daddy. The day he realized this he cried for them. He will grow up to be an amazing man. Compassionate and giving to the needy. He'll never be able to just forget that there are many with no one to love them at all. I am excited to see what he does with his life. My hope and prayer is that he'll change the lives of many by showing them the unconditional love that comes from our Lord.
But, why do I hope for that in the future? He's already shown love to hundreds of children who have no other siblings and consider him a brother. This may be one of the best lessons on life, and I consider it a charmed life to be able to show compassion and forgiveness and to show God's love to those who have never seen it before.
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• Oct. 28, 2006
Art Center
Thought I'd be a little artistic since this entry is about art..Ha. I was reading an education magazine at the doctor's office yesterday and the article was about an art center in the house for kids. It really was a great homeschool article (even though the people in the article didn't realize they were homeschooling!). One of the houses had art tables under each of the kids beds, so they could be pulled out at any time to have impromptu art sessions. Another family had personalized (and of course decorated) tackle boxes for each child filled with art tools and supplies that didn't need adult assistance. The house was FILLED with pieces of "artwork" that the kids were very proud of.
I think that this week I will work on making art come that easliy to us as a family. Hunter loves drawing comic books and lately has been on this kick of trying to sell them to anyone who will give him a penny. I've squashed that idea after having spent several dollars and it turning into a "job" for him instead of fun. So I think we will collect lots of misc. items to add to a tackle box and I will also set up place to hang artwork for him. When we get the new retreat at the children's home there will be SO much for room for a complete art center. Until then, a tacklebox will have to do.
I haven't checked it out yet, but the website that the article mentioned for more ideas was www.wondertime.com. Anf of course www.familyfun.com always has tons of ideas.
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• Sep. 27, 2006
Baby on the way!
There will be a new addition to the Connelly family! We are expecting "Puny" (Hunter's name for the baby) to join us next May. Boy, we have a LONG way to go!!! Each week Hunter and I look in a book to see what the baby looks like now. I love the age he's at (6) because he really understands what's going on.
My Dad is coming home from the hospital today. He had his two kidney's removed last week (Scott's kidney was added last year and is still working great!). The kidneys together weighed about 40 lbs!!! That's like giving birth to large quintuplets! Needless to say it was like an extreme makeover for my dad. My dad jokingly said that they should give us the kidneys in REALLY large jars so we can study them for school...ok, NO. That's disgusting. We think that they did, however, take pictures of them.
So, with all that going on we haven't really done enough school each day this week. We got a new camara, though, so there will be lots of pictures to come!
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• Apr. 30, 2006
Blinkie Obsession
So, as I was searching and reading other peoples blogs, I started noticing a strange trend...Blinkies. At first, I thought that a lot of people had way too much time on their hands to be having a hobby in collecting them. Then I started seeing ones that described my personality or family dynamics. Wow, this could be a little fun, maybe. I searched on Yahoo for some blinkie sites, and Man!!! was I overwhelmed by all the graphics out there. I started collecting one or two here and there by saving them to my computer. Well, then 3 hours later, I ended up with a ton!
So here are the Blinkies I've "adopted"...
EDITED: Somehow all of my blinkies dissappeared? I guess it was a short lived obsession...HeHe
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• Apr. 27, 2006
Curriculum I Like...
I 'd love to hear about what curriculum are your favorites...I'm not sure what I'm using yet...I always like new ideas. Here are some of our favorites from last year...and some websites and Hunter's extra-curricular activites, too.
Explode the Code
Abeka History
Magic Schoolbus Books (science)
Magic Tree House Books (history)
Lapbooks (history and science)
PE at the YMCA
Karate
Piano Lessons
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• Apr. 27, 2006
1st Day of School...last year.
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• Apr. 27, 2006
The joys of choosing new curriculum!
One of my favorite things about a new school year is picking new curriculum. It's a duanting, but enjoyable task for me. All the possibilities are endless. We'll be starting homeschooling in the summer to get Hunter up to where he was last year. He was at the end of 1st grade and about to start 2nd when we put him in private school kindergarten. He seems to be back to the 1st grade level again. We'll see what we can accomplish in the summer while still keeping it fun. He'll also be going to summer day camp at the Children's Home. Houseparents' kids get to go free!!! He'll get to go on field trips and have swimming lessons there, too.
Along with homeschooling, we'll be embarking on adoption this year, also. We're VERY excited! Hunter can't wait to welcome Xavier home. Xavier probably isn't born yet, but Hunter prays for him and talks about him as if he is.
We do, however, have a new member of the family. Max is a 6 year-old yellow lab that we welcomed 2 weeks ago. He's keeping Hunter company while we wait for Xavier. Hunter likes him a lot and Max is great with the kids at the home. They really enjoy him as well.
Well, now I'm off to be bored and miss Hunter while he's at school. I know some people enjoy the time while their kids are at school, but being from a homeshcooling background, I just hate not having Hunter with me all the time.
Lonely at home...Megan
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• Apr. 13, 2006
Homeschooling Again!!!
Yay! We will begin homschooling again in May! Currently, Hunter is enrolled at Deltona Christian School in K5. When school is over in May, we will start homeschooling to review the areas where school was lacking. Hunter was previously homschooling in 1st and 2nd grade and his Kindergarten class was quite behind that. Although, I will say that Hunter has benefited greatly from the discipline and structure of a full-size classroom experience.
I'm very excited to be able to hang out again with all of our homeschool friends. Also, because of the money and time involved in school, Hunter has not been able to continue enjoying his extra-curricular activities like PE at the YMCA and karate. So, he is excited to begin those again in the fall.
We don't have any pictures yet, but will be posting about our new homschool adventures soon.
We'll also post some adventures from the Children's Home as well.
Happy homeschooling all!!! We'll join you soon!
Megan
