Love this song and video!

I vanished for a while!

I apologize for anyone who was reading my blog last May when I up and vanished. I am still here. I just needed some time with my husband. I realized last May that my evenings were being consumed by the computer. So here I sit in the middle of the afternoon typing to you.

I have been enjoying the BEST school year I've ever had! Heart of Dakota is definitely the right fit for me and my kids!! Now if I could only find the right Math....I'm not so sure Singapore is the right fit. I think I'll be diving back into Saxon next year. We will see what happens at the end of the year.

I did decide to do another word for the year....with a twist. I think I'm going to do a word and a phrase. Focus is my word and my phrase is Live in the Moment. I thought about combining them to be Focus on Living in the Moment. What do you think? Any suggestions? Hope to hear from some of you again. I'll try to do better. I'm hoping to get the hang of this whole blogging thing. There is a conference in the DC area for Christian bloggers that homeschool. Maybe that would help me learn how to do this thing better and still maintain my family. I'd love to connect with other homeschoolers who love to blog too....even if they are not professionals at it!! :-)

Geting Ready for 2011-2012 School Year!!!

So excited to have figured out my schedule for next year tonight! I will be using Heart of Dakota with both of my kids next year and am having trouble making myself wait until July to start! So for now I can post what I've accomplished tonight and dream about when we actually get to start.

July 11- Aug.5 HOD, Latin for Children Ch.1-4
Aug.15- Sept.9 HOD, LFC Ch.5-8
Sept.19- Sept.30 HOD, LFC Ch.9-10
Oct.10- Nov.18 HOD, LFC Ch.11-16
Nov.28- Dec.16 HOD, LFC Ch.17-19
Jan.3- Jan.27 HOD, LFC Ch.20-23
Feb.6- Mar.2 HOD, LFC Ch.24-27
Mar.12- Apr.5 HOD, LFC Ch.28-31
Apr.16- May 18 HOD, LFC Ch.32-33

I still need to figure out which Math curriculum to use for my dd and where to place her in R&S for LA, other than that and finding a few odds and ends we'll be needing and I should be ready!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Remember today is not about eggs and bunnies! It's about our eternal lives!!

Thank you Jesus for loving us!!

Praising God!

Two years ago my dh learned that his job would be cut at the end of June '09. Today Is The Day he starts a full time position with a God honoring ministry! The first song that came into my mind as soon as he told me was Our God Is Greater.

Then searching for a song that I would post on facebook to tell everyone our praises, I ran acroos one of the songs that has meant so much to me over the past two years and found it has new meaning for me today.

We are praising God for ALL He has taught us these past two years! I am so proud of my sweet husband and how he has let Christ shine through him with his unwavering faith. I am so blessed to be married to this wonderful man!

Waiting!

We are waiting this week to see if my husband gets hired on full-time at a job he has been working at temporarily since the end of October. We are praying that God will only open doors that He wants us to go through. We have been unemployed since the end of June 2009 and have been living by His provisions alone. Which we always have, we just never realized it until now. God is so kind and faithful! He has taught me so much during this time and right now He is teaching me even more about waiting! I would have thought that by now that I would have learned quite a bit about waiting, apparently not enough yet!! Here's the song and scripture God is using right now in my life.


Yet those who wait for the LORD
Will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary.
Isaiah 40:31

I survived the convention....barely!

Do you ever have one of those days where your kids prove to be smarter than you?
There I was the day after my birthday out of town with girlfriends at a homeschool convention and the stomach bug attacks me.... and HARD! Once I was able to lay down for a while, I was a little upset that my weekend was not going the way I had planned. I had the chance to talk to my kids and my dd says
"I'm so sorry that you got sick on your trip Mommy."
me: "I know, I am too."
dd: "But God has a purpose for it."
me: speechless for a moment...then "You're right."
dd: "What were you suppose to do today?"
me: "I was suppose to go to the convention and book fair."
dd: "Maybe there was something there that you weren't suppose to buy."
The conversation went on for a while after that, but the next day when I was able to go to the book fair, I kept hearing her sweet voice and avoided buying all kinds of things that were not necessary for us to do school. Thank you God for speaking the truth to me through my sweet girl!
I have purchased most of my curriculum for next year and will be using Heart of Dakota with both kids. Little Hearts for His Glory for ds who will be 5 and Preparing Hearts for His Glory for dd who will be 9. Still trying to determine what to use for Language Arts, Math, and Foreign Language (if we start it this year) for dd.
I'll try to post again soon. Hope you have a blessed day.

Fabulous 40!!

My birthday happened since I last blogged, so now I am the big 40!! I'm so excited!! As a young girl I use to think that women in their 40's were so beautiful and now I'm there!!!! YEAH!! Sorry this is going to be so short, I have lots of cleaning to do today. I'm also leaving for the convention today!! So I need to get packing. Have a wonderful day blessed by the Almighty!!

Getting Ready!

Sorry I haven't posted much lately. I've been preparing to go to a homeschool convention. So, I've been looking at ALL of the exhibitors who will be there and speakers so that when I arrive I'm prepared and not overwhelmed. I'd much rather be overwhelmed at home first and have a pretty good idea of the things I'd like to do and see when I get there.

Things have been going well with school here. I've fallen in love with FLL4. My dd loves it too! She is doing very well with it!! Ds is getting his letter sounds down and sometimes even creating words with our homemade flash card.

I've seen people on forums ask what do you love. So I'd thought I'd ask my sweet homeschool followers and anyone who homeschools and stops by to tell me, what curriculum items do you love and what have you tried and not loved? Please include the why you love it or the why you don't love it. Thanks!! I hope to get some wonderful ideas from you before heading to convention. :-) Very selfish of me I know, but I love listening to the experiences of others and gaining wisdom from them. Have a blessed day!!

Prayer request

If anyone reads this I'd like to ask you to please take a second and pray for me. I enjoy blogging, however, I'm terrible at putting my words down. Apparently no one ever did narration work with me to help me put my thoughts down on paper. So I stumble over the things I'd like to say and just pray that people will understand my ramblings and be able to hear my heart. I appreciate any of you who take the time to read my ramblings. Please know that my desire is to glorify my Lord and Savior here and I'd love for anyone who stops by to join in here and comment about your day or your experiences with God or homeschooling. And if I say something here that you disagree with, please feel free to let me know. I'm still a work in progress and never want to say anything outside of what God would have me say and never want to contradict His Word. So, the prayer request is that I would only speak truth and glorify God through this blog! Thanks to those of you who said a prayer for me. May God bless each and every person who happens upon this blog.

Journey with God and food

Every 1st and 15th of the month I'll be changing my memory verse. This next one relates to a journey I'm taking with God through a book some of you may have heard, Made to Crave by Lysa Terkeurst. The main theme of the book is that we are made to crave God, not food. The book and time I've spent with my accountability partner going over the questions at the end of each chapter has changed my walk with God! It has truly changed my life!

Lysa did a 6 week free live simulcast that was so helpful to me and they are replaying it on Tuesday's here. Before the book, food was my comfort and......maybe I should just let you see the video that played before each simulcast. I'm a little hesitant to post this video, because I don't want anyone to take it wrong, so please make sure you read my comments that follow the video so that you can hear my heart on this one.

When I first saw this it made me a little uncomfortable, because it was messing with one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. I still laughed at it, because, well, it was funny. Now I can see that the reason it bothered me was that it held some truth for me. Obviously I had my focus on things of this world (ie. my taste buds and my stomach) and not on my sweet Savior! I had made an idol of food. Now I can read this scripture and it has so much more meaning to me. Even the first verse takes on so much more for me now.

The LORD is my shepherd,
I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside quiet waters.

He restores my soul;
He guides me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil, for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You have anointed my head with oil;
My cup overflows.

Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life,
And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

God is teaching me so much through this book/study and His Word.

My new verse is:

"Everything is permissible for me"--but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me"--but I will not be mastered by anything. 1 Corinthians 6:12 NIV

Which is a truth I'm excited to be writing on my heart!

I'm humbled!

I was going to update you on my week some more, but God has shown me something I want to share before I forget. I was invited to our Sunday school's fellowship for the ladies and decided to go. I was looking forward to getting to know these women better, but had no idea what God had in store for me. We talked and talked, but then prayer time came and one of the ladies shared how busy her life seemed and that she really wanted to slow down. Several of the other ladies were in agreement with her, but they stated that they didn't know how to stop (not necessarily in those words). I sat there listening and then God showed me that I was not living that life, but that I was actually living the life, where I am spending time with my kids and husband. I don't have a busy schedule!! I said something to the effect of "I can tell you how to stop, but you won't want to do it...have your husband lose his job and then you stop, because you can't afford to do all of those things". WOW!! God showed me tonight that I who by American standards have nothing, I have everything! I know that doesn't make much sense, but I know some of these ladies have nice homes and cars and such, but my dh hasn't had a full-time job since the end of June 2009. We don't own a home, we rent. Our cars are not new, they are a 99 and a 04. And obviously with no job since 09 we don't have much monetarily. I don't even own a pair of jeans that fit that don't have holes in them. BUT I HAVE SO MUCH MORE!! I have peace that surpasses all understanding. In the midst of all that we are going through I have peace. Praise You Lord for what you have taught me over this past 2 years!! I love you and thank you that you have shown me that you love me no matter what I do! You have no list that I have to do to know that I am loved and beautiful in Your eyes! To think that what I thought I always wanted was the beautiful home and money to spare and really ALL I'VE EVER NEEDED OR TRULY DESIRED IS YOU!! I am humbled Lord that You would use me in any way to help these wonderful ladies to see that they are loved by You and they do not need to worry about giving their children every opportunity that passes by, when all their children truly want is their love and time. Help me Lord to only say and do the things You would have me to say and do to help these beautiful ladies to draw closer to Your heart and learn how much You love them just the way they are and that they can live out this verse even now. "You have circled this mountain long enough. Now turn north" Deuteronomy 2:3 NASB

Our week!

We've been having some really productive school days here this week. I've recently changed to First Language Lessons and we are loving it! The script for me to read is so natural and if there is a word that I may not know how to pronounce, they supply the pronunciation the first time the word is presented for me.
For example:
Instructor: A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun. There is a special name for the noun that is replaced. It is called the antecedent (pronounced "an-tuh-SEE-dent").
Now all of you who knew that are laughing at me, but I found it comforting that I didn't have to hesitate and try to recall this word from WAY back in my school days in the middle of a lesson and make my daughter question my knowledge.
My son has been doing Little Hands to Heaven and I've added in some more alphabet fun. We mixed up some flash cards and then he told me each letter and the sound it makes. Then he put them all back in alphabetical order for me. Not much, but it is seems to build his confidence. In my book that's a winner!
I have to cut this short, because we are heading out to go to PE at our local college where they have a wonderful program for homeschoolers!!
Thanks for stopping by! :) I'll try to add more about our week later today or tomorrow.

My man!

We just celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary. I am so thankful for the man that I married.

I pray that we will live the rest of our lives glorifying our Savior together!

FREE!

Here is the next song and the one that gives my word away. The video would not let me embed it here, so you'll have to follow the link to watch it. Sorry! The song is Free to Be Me by Francesca Battistelli. Yes my word is free! Free to say yes to God and my family and free to live out loud for my Savior! I'll probably post again today, right now I've heard "Mommy look" so many times that I can't focus on what I'm typing. Hope you have a blessed day!

Flu! :(

Went to the doctor today and I have had the flu since last Tuesday. The good news is I now have medicine for my sinuses! Anyway, here is the next song I know it's seems crazy to list all these songs, but God has spoken to me through each one. This one a sweet man spoke over a group of us during a devotion. Very powerful! I don't think there was a dry eye in the place.
God bless!

Happy Day After Valentine's Day!

I hope everyone had a nice Valentine's day. Mine was pretty simple. We don't do a whole lot for it because our anniversary is a week after. This year was more low key than normal because I am still trying to get over the flu. I made the kids Nutella sandwiches and cut heart shapes out of them for lunch. My sweet hubby was willing to take the kids and I out to dinner, but my head hurt so bad I asked if he'd just get take out and bring it home. He did, so we had Japanese take out. It was delicious! So thankful for how understanding he was. Still glad I married that man!!
Ok, so here is the next song.

What's up with the name change?

I decided that maybe I'd be more likely to blog if I actually had a little more fun with it. I'm hoping to learn more about adding pictures and stuff. So you may see lots of changes....or you may not!

I picked a word for the year. I've never done this before, but heard about it on the radio and decided to give it a try. I really want to say yes to God more this year and from now on. My family will also be receiving more yeses from me. I don't want to live each day and not feel like I was even in it. I also don't want to worry so much about what others think of me, only what God thinks. Not that I'm going to go around upsetting people...that wouldn't please God, but I want to live for Christ and listen to the Holy Spirit and not ignore the promptings that are sent my way. I'd like to be able to see myself the way that God does too. I have a few songs that are theme songs for me this year that go along with my word. I wish I could remember the order they came to me, I'll do my best to list them in order so that you can follow the journey and maybe God will touch your heart too through them.

I'll start with this one and share one each day until I share them all. I didn't realize how many there were until today.

So, about my word.....I think I'll make you wait through the music then share it with you. :) A hint is that I mentioned it to help explain why I changed the title and why it may keep changing.

Have a blessed day!!!

I've been such a bad blogger!

Wow! I can't believe I haven't blogged for this long. Sorry! We had a wonderful Christmas. January flew by and my husband is still working his temporary position, however, there is a possibility they will keep him on permanently, so we are praying. This month seems to be flying by as well. I think that's because I have been in the bed since Tuesday with the flu and today is my first day with no fever!!!! So I feel like I've lost a week.

School Stuff:
I'm excited to report that school is on track! The main reason I started this blog was to keep myself on track with school. Good thing school didn't rely on me reporting in on here or I'd be in big trouble. We've have had a great beginning to our year. Dd finished up her grammar books for this year, so I went ahead and bought something so we can keep on going and so far we are loving it (mind you, we just got it and have only done two days worth)!! We are also switching up how MUS suggests doing their curriculum. Dd just learned the last of her multiplication facts (Gamma) and so now we are moving on to her division (Delta), then we will learn more about long division and such. The difference here is that I am not finishing Gamma, I'm moving straight into Delta and doing the first twelve lessons, then we will finish out both books together.

Me stuff:
I've been on a wonderful journey this year of going through the book "Made to Crave". God has been teaching me so much through this study! I'll have to tell you more later...just pray it's not two months later again. Thanks for listening to my ramblings if you've made it this far!! God bless!!

So much to tell, but I'm so tired! I'll at least start.

Time has flown! I thoroughly enjoyed my temporary position and dh is still enjoying his. The hard part for me was leaving my kids. God has taught me a lot during this time. I'll have to go into that more later though.

We are enjoying our time of Advent this year. My dh found an old radio broadcast on this website called The Cinnamon Bear and each night we have turned off the lights (except the Christmas tree) and sat on the couch together listening to the radio. It has been such a sweet time and I'm surprised that my 4yr. old has been still and listened. Once The Cinnamon Bear finishes (it's only 12 mins. each night) we cut off some Hershey Kisses from a candy chain I make each year to count down the days to Christmas visually for the kids. Then the person who cut them off of the chain passes them out and tells each person a reason they love them and in return each person tells the giver a reason they love them. This is something new for us this year and has been really sweet to hear the kids share why they love each other. The Advent Log then gets lit by my husband or myself and we read our devotion and pray for people that we received Christmas cards from that day. The singing then begins! We rotate who picks a song each night and then our little guy stands in front of us and sings his version of Jingle Bells. We've also read some books about Christmas during Advent and we are doing What God Wants for Christmas .

I tried added some photos of some of this, but unfortunately I'm not very good at that and was unable to because the pictures were too large...so someday soon I'll get those posted, but for now I'm tired and need some sleep. I've rambled on in my sleepy state for too long as it is. Not sure any of this made sense.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!

Ok, so I couldn't wait I wanted to share at least one thing God has been teaching me recently before Christmas.

It's strange the way we meander through life, thinking we are moving forward, only to discover that we have left our hearts behind. We can so easily sleepwalk through our days-out of touch, disconnected. Life is not a journey you want to make on autopilot. God wants us to live from the heart. It's the key to so much-to trust and willingness to forgive; to laughter, wisdom, and sacrifice;to being able to love others in a real way.
- These words are taken from a book I'm reading by Paula Rinehart, just thought others might need to hear it too! I've written them a little differently, so that I didn't have to write a whole chapter for you to read.

OK, now Have a wonderful Christmas!! May God fill your day with His presence!