As Christians we constantly hear "God is good" sometimes to the point of it becoming just a phrase. His goodness is so beyond our tiny comprehension. I wanted to share today exactly HOW He has been good in my life...

1. I am accepted - in my faults, my arrogance, my pride, my foolishness - He has accepted me and called me daughter. It is so good to be 'daughter', because of my messed up relationship with my earthly father, I was well into my twenties before I could welcome being someones 'daughter'. I have the greatest Father and I love Him dearly.

2. God ordered my steps even before I served Him. He caused my husband and I to cross paths as young people and I am so thankful that I have 'grown up' with Andre' - he is a great husband, caring father and faithful friend.

3. God planted us in a thriving church family where we are loved and challenged. We have such amazing friends - we really DO LIFE together. The church we came to Christ in was not proactive about members getting together between services. Sad really. We NEED others to walk along side us and encourage us and lift us up and also for us to encourage and lift them up. My friends, you know who you are, and I praise God for allowing our journeys to join one another.

4. God blessed us with five amazing, beautiful, talented, creative, rambunctious children. It has been a joy to be their mom. Of course we have our days - sometimes whole weeks- where I long for the yellow bus and noone seems to really like anyone else. But on the whole, we have wonderful children. I delight in spending my days with them, I miss them like crazy when we are apart and I still am allowed to kiss all of them on the face!

5. God has always met our needs. We have a lovely home that fits our family and our budget , which according to all I am hearing in the media, is not the case with lots of families across our nation. We have never gone without our basic needs being met. And most of the time life has been exceedingly, abundantly above all that we could ask.

6. God has allowed pain in my life and used that pain as a point of ministry to others who are broken and hurting. I never understood the pain as I was experiencing it - we never do. But each time my heart has been broken - He has been faithful to mend it - and I have become softer and more tender towards those suffering a similar wound.

7. God has provided mentors to me. As I have grown up in Christ, He has faithfully placed Godly women in my life to sharpen me. Some of these women know me well, and some of them have simply been obedient in writing a book or preaching a women's event, both have touched my life in a profound way and I am a more mature Christ follower, more honoring wife, more patient mother and more loving friend because of them.

8. God has allowed me to witness miracles. My dear friend was in a terrible accident with a drunk driver last week. Her family of four were all injured to various degrees. She is also expecting their third child. For a couple of days we were ever present in the Throne Room because the report was not good, but Praise God - the doctors were wrong, there is no danger and the baby and mom will be fine. When I was delivering my daughter I was suffering from preeclampsia and HELLP syndrome, they did not know if I would make it. I was told that if I had any more children I would be blind and on kidney dialisys - if I lived. We refused to recieve that report and God blessed our family with three healthy pregnancies giving us three more children. We have experienced miraculous financial blessings too numerous to recount. A 14 yo local girl went missing recently, the body of Christ mobolized in prayer and she was brought home safe, she had been with an 18 yo boy she met online. God is good, He is faithful and He is just.

How have you experienced the goodness of God in your life? (now for the shameless plea!) Please post a comment with your praises of God's goodness. If you are not a Homeschool Blogger Member - you can still leave me a comment. Simply press 'leave a comment' below and post as anonymous - just be sure to sign your name too!

Thanks - I look forward to hearing from you!

I had just finished using this...

When Geoffrey did this...

Which of course left me looking llike this...

My sweet husband surprised me with this... just because he likes me!

And now my floors are shiny and I feel like this...

Thank you so much sweetie - you win the Best Husband Award hands down!!!

Ok, I am not really one to do spring cleaning. I try to keep up through out the year, but there are times things just gotta go and a big overhaul is in order! I LOVE flylady's system during the summer, but during the school year it is too overwhelming. The kids all have chores that rotate monthly, but right now, there are lots of areas that need MY attention!

So today I began to take over my home and give some things a new home. First, I tackled the master closet - got rid of a big ole bag of clothes (mostly his - mine were purged just a few months ago!) Sheesh, the man still has more clothes than I do - how did this happen? There is something terribly wrong in the universe - me thinks I need some shopping money to bring our closet into proper balance . Not really, I don't even wear all the clothes I kept, though I am sure my friends would appreciate it if I did, they are surely getting tired of my "uniform" of comfy shorts or jeans and a tshirt!!

The quest continued into the bathroom, boy oh boy! We have four cats, one inside only (and he is not too partial to the litter box- even though it is clean ) and three in and out cats. We have open shelving in the bathroom and the litterbox is on the floor below the shelves. Until today the linens were on the last 2 shelves and occasionally the cats would knock a pillow case or blanket off the shelf and it would land in front of or *shudder* IN their box. NO MORE! I have divided up the sheets and given each bedroom the sheets needed for the beds in that room - which has freed up 2 shelves! Now all of our bathroom items are easy to access and organized neatly. Even the drawers! It feels sooo good!

My next mission is to reorganize our school books, everything is so cluttered and we are only in week 5! We have too many books - is that possible? Let me rephrase, we have too many books to keep all of them available in our 1300sqft house! I am going to let the kids pick 5-6 of their favorites to keep on the open shelves and redo where we keep our school books. Would you like before and after pics? Of course you would, I am off to take my before pics and get to work....

While in Branson we visited the "Wild Woody", which is a go cart with an elevated wooden track. Follow this link to see Geoffrey having a blast as his daddy takes him for a ride... (you can also get glimpse of Cuyler and I waving from behind them) Definately the best go cart track we have ever driven on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gq3ondKbbM0 *woozy warning* this is filmed from the driver seat of the go-cart so it is a bit wobbly - but Geoffrey's comment at the end is worth the ride he is screaming the whole ride and then.... ! (if you have a weak stomach, let it download and fast forward to the last 30 seconds to hear Geoffrey's comment)

And be sure to notice his beanie cap - Preston brought it to him from Ghana in June and he has worn it every day since - no matter that it is sweltering hot and his hair is soaked from sweat! He even takes it to bed , tis a very cool cap!

Hurricane Gustav gave us all a scare, esp Post Katrina. We did evacuate, all the way to Branson,MO. We picked Branson because we found a hotel there that (with a timeshare presentation) was $20 for 3 nights including breakfast and 2 tickets to IMAX. What a steal! My generous father in law (we love that guy, for so many reasons) let us use his company's cargo van instead of our van (which has nearly 300k miles!) we put a mattress in the back of the van, packed the suitcases and comuters and food around the kiddos and took off. Fourteen hours later we arrived in Branson and it is beautiful, we love the mountains and this was our first visit to the Ozarks. Breathtaking. And we discovered again just how amazing our God is. You see, about a month ago, my very best friend from Junior High found me online. We had not talked in over 10 years. It was nice to chat online with her and catch up on our lives. Turns out she lives very close to Branson (didn't know that when we booked - just excited about the 20 bucks!) We were able to spend some time with her family and catch up in person. It was such a blessing. This is the girl whose family took me to church as a young teen and really lived the Christian life, I was an unsaved kid from a messed up home, and they loved me anyhow and made me feel like family. It was wonderful to visit with them, Rae and Shawn - thanks again for dinner - next time we will play host to you!

While in Branson there is soo much to do, we will have to go back again. I really had no idea this town was such a great place. The first day we took the kids to see Table Rock Dam, they understood how a dam works from watching a special on the Hoover Dam a few months back, it was awesome to see one in real life! Under the dam, Missouri has a fish hatchery where they breed Rainbow and Brown Trout to stock the rivers and lakes. The kids did not even realize they were having 'school' the hatchery was very interesting, and they loved feeding the fish. Geoffrey was on the hunt for spiders (there were several webs outside by the fish), his awe struck face admiring the spider web just choked me up. He is so.darn.cute! We spent the afternoon at the Branson Mall - I had never seen a mall with Wal-Mart inside - what a strange thing! At the mall there is a free music show featuring local talent. We stayed and watched the cutest little girls sing. There was a most adorable redhead about 7 yrs old, she tapdanced to the 'Hampster Dance' ~ the highlight of the show!

The next morning we had to do the timeshare presentation. We arrived promptly at 9:30am (no small feat for our family of late sleepers!) After filling out some paperwork, we were told that we were in the wrong place and had to go back to the hotel. OOOKKK, so we did, and of course they had no clue... turns out the timeshare people saw us piling out of the refugee van and decided we were not a 'good prospect'. We did tell the lady selling us the deal we were not interested in buying a timeshare, we were honest with our situation, she knew we were fleeing the storm.... anyhow, the company we booked through ended up honoring their end with the room (not the tickets -big whoop - we just really wanted a safe place to sleep away from Gustav!) and we avoided sitting through the speel. However, at the mall, we booked another timeshare deal in exchange for tickets to the "Acrobats of China" show. The timeshare dude kept us there for THREE HOURS!!! Ugh, but the show was AMAZING! What those people can do with their bodies was incredible. It was very similar to the Circue de Soleil acrobats, but to see it live was wonderful. And we had great seats, right in the center, just a few rows back. There was also a really talented magician, we love to watch magic shows and always try to figure out the trick, but live is just so different. It was captivating.

After the show, we went back to the room and cleaned up - by then Gustav had made his way north and we were beginning to feel the rain and wind. We checked out at midnight and started toward home. We did take a detour through Keller, TX (near Dallas) to visit dear friends who moved away after Katrina. Andre' got some much needed rest and I got some much needed "Katie time!" They treated us to dinner and some laughs, almost convinced us to move in down the street from them! It was difficult to leave...our next evacuation vacation will be to their home! The kids loved being together again, and it was pure joy to hold Nathalie again! Thank you my friend - I am tearing up just remembering yesterday - I miss you already!

We pulled into our driveway at 7am Thursday. We are exausted, but filled with joy to see our home and city spared - except for spotty areas that are still without power. We do have power, and have no damage except a fence board down and a messy yard! Today we clean up and tomorrow it is back to reality! Thankfully, because we began school in July we did not lose much by taking this 'Evacuation Vacation' and we will get back to school in the morning. My local friends and family, who fled to areas near for saftey and those who stayed, I am glad to hear all is well, and challenge you - next time - go far enough away where you can enjoy your time and where the weather is nice!

In other news, we have a new school name. We began our homeschool adventures as "The L**** Institute for Advanced Learning" (guess who came up with that doozy  and Preston was only in first grade!) we changed our name along the way to "Joy Learning Center" we wanted our school filled with JOY and teach our kids to focus on J - Jesus, O - others then Y- yourself. so it was fitting. But now we are nearing graduation for our oldest and Joy Learning Center engraved on his class ring and his diploma just did not sound right! We held an election. The names nominated were "The Academy", "Things Go Better with God School", "Candy School", "M********* Street School", "Life Academy", "PCCCG Academy", "Academy of Joyful Learning", and "L.I.F.E."

Drum roll please.....

We are officially announcing the new name for our school: L.I.F.E. (L**** Institute For Education) it is a fitting acronym and encapsulates what we teach here... "LIFE".

Our family motto seems to be 'Just Do It'! One of our goals is to create great memories with our kids and this weekend we made some great ones. I love that my dear husband is so spontaneous. Thursday we decided to surprise the kids with a mini vacation, we enlisted Preston and Catherine's help Friday evening and swore them to secrecy.

Saturday night I put the boys to bed at eight and told them to go right to sleep bc "tomorrow is family fun day!" I refused to elaborate, they finally crashed about 10pm and at midnight we put them in the van, the boys stayed asleep and did not stir till we were in Georgia! The little guys did not know where we were going, every time they asked we told them we were going to Family Fun Day and it was a surprise. About seven am Cade wakes up and sleepily announces that he KNOWS we are going to the beach because he heard us talking. (While I was trying to be sneaky while packing Cuyler saw me grab their swimsuits and decided we must be headed to the beach! hehehe) Andre' and I acted disappointed that he was so smart to figure it out, gosh, it was supposed to be a surprise. Then we start pointing out the Six Flags signs and Cuyler tells us "Too bad you forgot the coupons, oh well, maybe next time we come this way we can go to Six Flags." (like we 'come this way' all the time )

Preston got the map and showed Cuyler we were still about 4 hours from the beach, which kinda bummed the kids out that we had that much more time in the car - yep, we took a short cut through ATLANTA to get to the beach.... maybe we need to focus on geography more, or map skills!?!

Andre' finally set them straight "We ARE going to Six Flags." and they were so excited. When Cuyler found out I had in fact remembered the coupons he shouted "Aw mom - You rock!" It is nice to be complimented - ya think that is what Solomon meant when he said "Your children shall rise and call you blessed."?

I brought water bottles with lanyards and fanny packs with snacks for the kids and we packed a backpack with water bottles for the big people. Security did not bat an eye at our stash - . The kids also had flavor packets for their water (which was great bc the water from the fountains tasted funny.)

We had a great day, the weather was beautiful - 89 degrees, the lines were so short we only had to wait one or two rotations on even the biggest coasters for our turn. We got soaked on the water rides and all shook up on the big coasters, spun round and round on the 'Wheelie' and ate way too much icecream! Thankfully we all held our lunch (though Dre and I did sit out on the Shake, Rattle and Roll ride  we are no longer 16! - it is really weird to be the 'old people'. somehow I never thought it would happen to me...)

The most exciting thing was that Geoffrey was tall enough for the Mind Bender - a big coaster that goes upside down TWICE! It was his first upside down ride - he rode it 7 times in a row!!! We did not stop in at Thomas Town - that is for babies you know ~yes I know, I enjoyed the baby years, but seeing our little guy's face light up because he is big was so awesome.

The park closed at 7pm and we were at the very back playing on the water slides, they very nicely invited us to leave! We went to eat at Golden Corral and realized again that we are not kids anymore. I used to be able to eat a big salad, two plates of yummy carbs and dessert, not to mention a few of their incredible soft rolls with honey butter. I could only eat one plate and a roll for dessert. I tried to eat dessert, I really did, just can't do it. I was sad, so I took a roll home, and ate it for breakfast! MMMMM!

We got back on the road about 9pm and pulled into the driveway at 4am Monday! Crazy spontaneous trips, just another perk of homeschooling and being blessed to set our own schedule! (Of course we did school Monday... NOT!)

Btw, thought I would post the budget in case anyone else is feeling crazy...

4 lunchables with Six Flags coupons - $10 (the coupons are $10 off adult admission and free child admission -child is 3-11yrs)

Tickets for family of 7 with above coupons - $128

Snacks from grocery - $15

Lunch in Park - $50

Icecream in Park - $40  (Ben n Jerry's Mint Chocolate Chunk - yum! totally worth it!)

Golden Corral dinner - $60

Gas - $200

Drive time - 14 hours round trip

Surprising the kids - Priceless!

I know I am not alone. But I just have to say I am hooked. I am a political junkie - Rush, Sean, the great one --- Mark . Levin. I listen to these guys as I drive the kids around keeping up with the political landscape. As the bumper music for Rush came on the radio Geoffrey sighs from the backseat with rapturous joy exclaiming "This is my favorite song!"

But right now, I really am not interested... Sorry Sean, I will not be tuning in for a bit - because I have become an Olympic Junkie!!! Usually Andre' and I could care less about sports. We only tune in when LSU or the Saints are in a major championship. Realizing the 'educational' value that this is the kids and I are tracking the medals and marking them on our map. I never knew how much fun the Olympics could be - I am cheering for people I have never heard of before like they are my own children!  Boy oh boy - Michael Phelps - how amazing is this guy? ELEVEN GOLD MEDALS - the world's greatest. This has been so fun! And beach volleyball, sychronized diving (I did not even know this existed), gymnastics - my family now knows a little what it is like to have an armchair quarterback in the house. I cannot wait for the track and field events to begin...

Right now it is like there is nothing else newsworthy in our life, the world has come together and there is seemingly peace on earth. I am sure I am not the only one who tears up everytime our National Anthem is played. Reality will kick back in soon, until then we are enjoying the ride!

Geoffrey was working in his math book today. The assignment was to make a story about 5 penguins. The picture showed 2 tall penguins standing with 3 small penguins standing in front of them. The little guys had their wings crossed over their bellies.

Geoffrey's story - "There are two big penguins and three penguins that have to go pee!"  At my shocked look he said "What? They are holding themselves! Or maybe they just got hit in the *sweet spot*!" My boy is growing up too fast - sweet spot? sheesh!

We were at IHOP and Geoff was coloring the kids menu. The picture showed a sleeping bear with "ZZZZs" above his head. Geoff asked his dad what the "zzzzs" were for and Andre' told him they were to show the bear was sleeping. Shocked he announced "I don't have 'ZZZZs' coming out of my mouth when I sleep!" So Andre' teasingly asked him how he knows that - since he is sleeping and can't see wht is coming out of his mouth.... poor boy was so befuddled! We did eventually assure him he was correct - it is just in drawings to show the 'action' of sleeping. We love sharing the world with this little guy, he is so much fun!

Preston was repeating a comedians joke that goes like this "... I accidentally put my car key in the front door and my house started up, so I drove it around town. I parked it in the middle of the street and yelled at the other drivers for being in my driveway. I got pulled over by the cops and when he asked where I lived I said, Right here..."  Cuyler is so literal - he comments "A car key would not ever start a house." before anyone can reply Geoffrey quips "Well, it will if it is a MOBILE HOME."

We have begun our year a little early. The kids were not too happy! They think they should be able to watch Hannah Montana and Sponge Bob all day and play Webkinz when the get tired of the tv.  Um NOT!

As it is sweltering hot here, Andre' and I decided to begin school early so when we get to the beautiful days of September and October, we can visit the park and play outside. The children do not yet see the wisdom of this idea - I am sure they will get it come fall!

My sweet mama gave us a membership to our local zoo and aquarium and we have been able to visit each this summer. Thursday the kids and I met my sisters and neices & nephew at the aquarium. We got to see the oil spill in the Mississippi River - boy did it smell ! (fyi There was an accident on the river that caused several barrels of oil to spill - the boat sank) So the hazmat guys were out there cleaning up, it was an amazing site and really impacted us all. The aquarium was wonderful, as always. My favorite attractions are the jelly fish, they look so peaceful and graceful. Oh and the sharks! The sea otters are adorable, we got to catch the show and see them playing with their toys - too cute. And oh my goodness, the penguins were misbehaving! One of them was diving at the corner of the exhibit and pulling on the rubber seal - and causing the tank to LEAK, just a little bit - a few table spoons worth! You should have seen the staff member run for help, unfortunately the help took too long and the kids got tired of watching the penguins, so we had to move on. I would love to know how they fixed it - I suppose they got a diver to make the repair, would have been neat to watch.

After the aquarium we walked through the RiverWalk Mall. The kids enjoyed running in the rain between the aquarium and mall. (The adults did not!) Geoffrey and Cade splashed in so many puddles their pants were soaked to the knees, not to mention the state of their shoes and socks - boys - sigh - . We told the kids we would only go into the mall with the understanding that we were not buying ANYTHING! They agreed to only tell us "This is neat or that is cool" NO "I wants!" I am very proud to announce they did just as we asked. We took them into Brookstone and they had a blast (so did we!) sitting in the massaging chairs and the leg massager - oh boy how wonderful! We wandered through the toy store and made it just in time to see the fudge show. If you have never seen fudge being made, oh what a treat. And in New Orleans it is done New Orleans style! The staff of the fudge shop sing and dance and get the crowd involved. Crowd involvement is very very important, you see - the bigger you open your mouth to participate and sing along - the bigger your free sample! We sang and danced and enjoyed fresh, warm peanut butter fudge. MMMM so yummy!

We made our way back to my sisters house where she had prepared a delicious beef stew for dinner. After many laughs and hugs we headed back home. It is so nice to live close enough to family to be able to spend time with them - I love getting the cousins together.

Monday morning it is back to the grindstone!

It is official, Preston has safely  landed in Ghana, West Africa! He and the team have had quite an adventure already ~ you can read about their missions trip at http://www.reachourworld.org/ , click on the Trip Blogs tab and scroll down to Ghana, West Africa. They will be spending the next week organizing a concert for the local church in Accra, street witnessing through skits and visiting an orphanage.

Please pray for the team to continue to work in unity and that God uses them in a real and powerful way to reach the hearts of those they minister to. We are believing for miracles to take place this week in the lives of the citizens they are working with and in the lives of our precious missionaries.

I am excited to see the impact this trip will have on Preston's life ~ I know he will come home a new man, forever changed by the miracles he is privledged to witness this week.

We were driving through Louisiana's capital on the way to a family reunion this weekend. Our family lived in the great city of Baton Rouge for many years, since we have moved away the city has erected cement sound baffles along the interstate. When Cade saw them, he matter of factly told Geoffrey that it was the Great Wall of China!

We did set him straight after having a chuckle, really, what other kids but homeschoolers discuss geography in the summertime?

I am having a great week! I have seen the power of God at work in my life this week and He is good. The last week of April, I was not feeling so great! But we live by faith not feelings, right? So, my back was achy and I had to keep going, ya know care for the family n stuff. Wednesday afternoon the kids were enjoying the slip-n-die (slide!) and after their play was over I had my eldest put the slip-n-slide on the fence to dry. After bringing him to Youth Group I noticed it was not "right" on the fence, so I take my aching back over to the fence to fix the slip-n-slide, raised my hand over my head and could.not.move! I was seized with a pain that can only be compared to back labor at 10cm minus the pain meds I tried to walk, nope, crawl, nope. Here I am in my FRONT yard in a crawling position, it hurt so bad I put my head down on the ground. Picture this - rear in the air, head on the grass, in oh so much pain. But still my vanity held up - I realized how ridiculous I must look so I slid my legs down (with mucho oucho) until I was laying down flat, I propped my head up with my hands and was so thankful that I had not landed in one of the dozens of ant hills in the yard (time for some bug killer...) Praise God I had my cell in my pocket, called Andre' who rushed home from work to rescue his damsel in distress. He had to pick me up from the ground and carry me (wailing and crying - it hurt so so bad) to the couch. We ended up in the ER - Thank God we have wonderful friends who came and spent the night with the kids. 5 hours later we were headed home, still in a bit of pain, but thankful for Loritab  and with a perscription for muscle relaxers, an anti inflamatory, and strict instructions to 'try and stay in bed tomorrow, just get up for *ahem* hygeine reasons!' Yeah right - I can't walk dude, I will be going nowhere tomorrow or maybe ever . I figured the kids could be on their own, eat whatever they can find and consume large amounts of Disney Channel and Nickelodeon while I stayed in bed with my muscle relaxers wishing I also had a catheter so I did not have to move at all! Sweet Andre' had to carry me to the facilities and back from Thursday until Saturday. My precious friend Julie came over Thursday, unannounced and oh so welcome, acted like a substitute teacher and had the kids complete their school work! I am so blessed to have such great friends. My sweet mommy went to the grocery for me and made sure the kids and I were well cared for after Julie went home to her family and Friday and Sat. so that Andre' could work. Sunday, glory to God, I was able to hobble to the couch and begin to get around. Monday I began seeing a chiropractor, oh how wonderful she is! She dx me as having a bulging disc and my rt hip is 1" higher than my left. We continued to pray for complete and speedy recovery and as of this Thursday, she says I am much straighter and my pain is now a 1-1.5 instead of an off the charts 10+! I can walk and move and pick up things off the floor without hurting. God is so good! I am content at home with my chickies and delighted to be able to serve my dear husband again. And oh goody, we will be finished with school in the next two weeks!!! Friends, if you are healthy, remember to thank God for your health. If you are not, I lift you up before the throne and ask for your healing, He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that you can ask or think. He is faithful and He is good.

I have the greatest husband in the world. I know you may disagree, you think you have the prize mate, but alas, you are decieved - he married me!

I am so blessed to have such an amazing partner. Andre' will do anything for us. He works hard to provide for us, thankfully, he has a job he absoultely loves. But he puts in long hours to keep his clients up and running. At home he loves to hang out with us, he is helping Preston and the boys build a skateboard ramp - we are all very excited about it! Of course he is totally wrapped around Catherine's little finger! And the greatest testimony to what a great daddy he is  - the kids can't wait for their turn to spend a day at work with him. He is so kind and loving to them, and so much more patient than I am. I hit the jackpot!

There were some concerns though, mainly, what would I do without him? Last August Preston went into our room when Andre' was sleeping and came out very scared. "Mom, Dad stopped breathing for a few seconds when I was in there. Is he ok? Does that happen a lot?" Well, actually son, yes it does, several times a night. I was either awakened by his outrageously loud snoring, or by the silence, far more horrifying, of him not breathing. Do I nudge him and risk waking him up,? His sleep is so restless, I hate to disturb him. Will he wake up? Then the sharp realization that he was not breathing would alert his body and he would gasp for air and resume snoring. He slept late nearly every day. We blamed it on his work schedule or late nights chatting or playing computer games. But deep down, I knew differently and I was afraid. Worried he would develop diabetes that is so prevelant in his family, afraid one night I would not be awake to nudge him so he could take a breath and I would wake up a widow. Occasionally I would share my concerns, but mostly I pushed my fears aside and continued to sleep the sleep of a new parent. Not fully asleep, always just at the edge of consiousness, just in case I was needed.

Andre' and I celebrated 15 wonderful years of marriage last August. We were able to get away for a night and his incredible mom kept the kiddos. We drove for hours, just talking, reminiscing, renewing our promises to one another. In the course of our conversations I shared what Preston had witnessed just days before we left. It was as if a light clicked - he realized I was not making this up, and he had frightened his son. It was time to make some changes.

I am so proud of him! It has been a challenge to put aside our favorite junk foods and start feeding our family healthier - and we are not perfect, but I would say we have made a ton of progress! Congratulations Andre'! You did good babe!

Before - taken June 2007

After - Taken April 20, 2008

We both sleep easier now! His sleep apnea is completely gone. He does not snore! He wakes up refreshed and energetic, ready for a new day. And I am not afraid.

Andre', Thank you honey, for taking such good care of the man I love. Yours, Jes

Hooray! I am so excited! Andre' gave me the goahead to order our fall curriculum...

Here is the rundown for those who are interested in such info...

Preston - Sonlight Core 300 - 20th Century World History (sounds fun huh! - we are both so excited to be returning to Sonlight after spending a year with Christian Liberty Press. He actually told me to NEVER order CLP for him again and that under no circumstances should I use it for any of his sibs - it is good info, but we are not a text book family! - I am grinning inside and thinking 'told ya so!') He will also be taking IEW (writing course) at our Co-op, Teaching Textbooks Geometry (so happy about a break from Alg!), and Apologia Chemistry (I am a little scared of this one - chemicals and equations and alchol burners ~shudder~) He is also looking into teaching guitar at co-op - a big step for him (pray it works out and the admin allows it - he will be only 16 after all!)

Catherine and the boys will do Core 7 - World HIstory from the Reformation to today. I can not wait! It is so tempting to start as soon as the box arrives - but I will hold off and give em a summer!

Catherine and Cuyler will do Teaching Textbooks 7, Apologia General Science and will taking the IEW class at Co-op for their writing.

Catherine will continue with Spelling Power (she is on Level G now - I believe it goes to Level K and we are doing about 2 or so levels per year)

Cuyler and Cade will continue with Sequential Spelling - love it!

Cuyler, Cade, Geoffrey and my neice (3yo) will do Handwriting Without Tears on their respective levels.

Cade will continue with Singapore Math and Geoffrey will do Miquon and Singapore combined. It is my first trial with Miquon and if I like it I will add Miquon for Cade. These guys will take a Science class at co-op.

Now if I can just keep my hands off till August! Actually I will spend my summer by the pool reading all of the Core 300 books (or at least a good chunk of em) so that I can have intelligent conversations with Preston discussing his history and literature.

In other random news - just an observation really. My daughter was making an account online at Millsbury.com and wanted her user name to be 'Jesus is 2good 2be 4gotten' she was denied because it contained OFFENSIVE material! Doesn't the Bible speak about Jesus being an offence to some? She was actually offended that her Jesus was considered offensive. Esp when tried 'God Rocks' and found it was already used??!!  So apparently only the Son is offensive ~ sheesh!

The lady on the phone made me feel so important. My opinion was needed to provide better television programming - at least that is the gist of what I heard over the constant hum of noise that is ever present in the background of our home. I would watch a new sitcom "Rocky LaPorte" and fill out a questionnaire expressing my thoughts on the show. "Be sure to watch on Monday night and be available to answer some questions Tuesday afternoon when we call you."

OK, no biggie, watch a flick, answer some questions, chat on the phone a bit and win $100. Not exactly. Here is really what happened. The packet arrived Monday afternoon, I put aside schoolwork to look over the information. I was instructed to fill out a booklet noting my favorite brands of several different products before watching the show. Check - I filled it out and went about finishing school and beginning dinner.

After dinner the kids and I settled down to watch the program. It was mind-numingly bad. Kinda like your typical sitcom, dad is a dolt, mom is hard-working, teenage daughter has an attitude, young son is smart but looked down on and felt sorry for bc he is a geek. And there were the commercials. Which is REALLY what the survey was about. The show was a front to get me to watch the commercials -which could not be fast forwarded (we tried). I filled out the questionnaire about the show (one page - they were not interested in my answers!) I filled out the second packet of "Which product do you like most". Ah hah, I am on to you now Mr. Survey Taker Guy - I am no dummy, the second list was similar to the first, the products that stayed the same were the ones I just watched a commercial for. But guess what, your tricky ad shinanigins will not work on me - I know what I like. So far I have spent a little over an hour dealing with this survey.

Tuesday afternoon. We have been interrupted so many times by the phone (I know don't answer it - sigh - so tough for me!) and kids who did not want to cooperate and a 2yr old who did. not. want. to. nap. And now it was 3pm and the baby needs to get up from the nap she finally took, and the boys are running in and out of the house with their toy weapons shouting like banshees, and the girl needs help with her math, and the teenager does not understand his science questions. And I am on the phone with Mr. Survey Taker Guy. We have been chatting for 30mins. I have answered no less than 900 questions. 600 of the questions were dealing with a baked bean commercial (I am having a sneaky suspicion this guy works for the bean company). My blood pressure is rising. I ask Mr. Survey if we were going to chat about each of the commercials in equal depth. He assures me he does not know. I smile and tell him that is because noone will stay on the phone long enough for him to finish his job. I have the best of intentions, I really want to finish this, I like to complete things. So we continue - another 50 questions about baked beans - this is really getting old mister.

Chaos is swirling around me. I open my mouth to correct the children and remind them that "Mommy is on the phone darling - stop shouting and attacking your brother, no baby girl - do not go outside alone - hang on Cici I will be off in a bit...." But instead of the above I ask Mr. Survey "What is the most important thing?" He is silent. I continue, "My children are the most important thing right now, I hope your next call is to someone who has time to finish the survey and does not need to tend to a bunch of children. Have a great day." He stayed silent. I hung up.

And it felt so good! I will not be held hostage by other peoples demands on my time. My family is too important. Especially when the "prize" is actually a drawing for $100 in coupons and discounts on my 18 favorite products. And he never did ask me ONE question about Rocky LaPorte.

So what are you being distracted by? The phone, the latest curriculum catalog, Oprah or Dr. Phil, useless surveys? I am going to take care of what is the most important thing and let the other things go. How about you?

I overheard the strangest thing the other morning...

But first some background. Cuyler is our third child, he is 19mos younger than our only daughter and 6yrs younger than our oldest. When he was born I began dressing him and Catherine (and sometimes Preston - esp for pictures) in similar outfits of the same color.

Two years later, Cade arrived. Preston was 8, I let him wear what he wanted - mostly! But the three babies (3.5yrs,22ms and newborn) still needed mom to help dress them. So if I was in a blue mood, everyone wore blue. Or an orange mood, you get the idea. Then I began searching for outfits that were the same for the boys and got Cici a dress in the same color. They looked so adorable.

Two years later Geoffrey arrived. Preston was 10 - he was NOT going for this wear the same as the little guys thing - I actually only tried a couple of times, plus his clothes were in a different dept and kinda hard to match to the little ones. BUT those cute little stairstep guys! I bought a newborn, 12mos (Cade was always little) and 3T in the same outfit. Actually the only clothes they had that did not match each other were hand me downs from friends!

And life continued in this happy little way. At about 7 Catherine began to fuss about matching the boys and I let her alone (mostly! If we are going on field trips we are ALL matching!) But the little guys did not protest, just accepted it as par for the course. These are our clothes, no biggie.

Cuyler is almost 10. He is not a little guy anymore. He is actually not a big boy, he is (gulp) a tweenager. No can't be he is still my little boy right please! Ok so he is growing up and has asked me - very respectfully- if he could not dress like his brothers.

So we came to a little agreement. If there are pictures, dress similar, fieldtrips or family outings, dress the same. Day to day stuff (deep breath mom) ok, you can dress differently. And life is happy again.

It was Co-op day, ya know the day you see all your friends. I picked out weather appropriate, stain free, hole free clothing. (Purposley did not match them to eachother). From their room I hear Cuyler telling Cade, "No dude, put back that shirt mom got you, we need to wear our red shirts today."

WHAT! (slighlty grinning to myself - they do look so cute!) Next thing I saw, Cuyler and Cade in matching shirts and shorts. and Geoffrey - jeans and a green tshirt - different drummer kinda guy!