May Update

I know, I am a terrible blogger. I used to be better then I discovered facebook. I have always been better at writing short things rather than rambling. I ramble when I talk not when I write... and posting pictues and captions is much easier on Facebook, at least for me. Anyway I wanted to update, so I will backtrack to May. It was a very busy month as all May's are. First came Kati graduating from Forsyth Tech with a degree in Radiography. The ceremony was not too long and we (of course) were very proud parents. Its hard to believe she has a degree, where is my firstborn baby. Just yesterday I was rocking her to sleep.

A short week later it was Meghan's turn. Another high school graduate (as Richard said two down, two to go. If that doesn't make me feel old, nothing will. The ceremony was great. It was alot of aggravation planning it, thinking we should have just had a family ceremony, but in the end it all worked out and was wonderful. One of the many blessings of homeschooling, she get to graduate your child, what a feeling of accomplishment!

Crazy Busy Week

This week has been slightly crazy. Started off wonderful - Resurrection Sunday!! What blessed worship services. What a wonderful Savior we have!! Actually I must backtrack to our Maundy Thursday service. Pastor Bitterman commented on a column that had been in our local paper the previous week, written by a local pastor. Of course being the curious woman that I am I had to go online and look it up to read the entire thing for myself. I don't know whether I was more angry or shocked that such blasphemy had been written by a pastor of a very large church here in town. Basically his premise was that Jesus died to show us what love looked like. He did not die to "appease an angry God." Apparently this man has never read Johnathan Edwards "Sinners in the hand of an Angry God." Maybe he "skipped class" the day in seminary when they read in Isaiah where it please God to bruise Him. Or maybe he skimmed over Romans where it reads "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God", and "the wages of sin is death". Our God is a just God, He tells us "be holy as I am holy." Unfortunately we can never measure up, there must be justice dispensed. He left out the part where God in His mercy provided a sacrifice once for all time, to take away our sins. God is angry, he hates sin, he demands justice. It saddens me to think the number of people this man is leading astry, with a false view of a Holy, Just God. I thank Him that I have a wonderful Pastor who preaches the whole counsel of God, teaching us the dangers of heresy. Thank you Chris!!! Well, enough venting, more about my crazy week next post. Bedtime!

Homeschooling

As I watch the goings on in Washington one thing comes to mind. Government pretty much wants to take over every aspect of our lives! First there was Smart Start, a preschool program for those who can't afford to send their kids to traditional preschool. Now President Obama is talking about a birth - age 5 type of smart start program. What I want to know is when did it become the governments job to educate our children?!! They are a gift to us from God, why do we want to be so quick to give them over to someone else to eductate, therefore giving those who don't share our views and values to impress their values on our children, and now from a very early age. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!! It is MY job(an my greatest privilege) to pass my values and knowledge down to my children. Why do we think it is someone else's job - unless of course it is the church. That is biblical, not gov't instructing and raising our kids.

It makes me very sad when I hear women say "i can't wait till the kids go back to school, they are driving me crazy". I think someone needs to hit them over the head and say "wake up, they are not this way very long." They grow up way to quickly. Even when I was a young mom with preschoolers I didn't understand when people would say this, I would think "your kids are with you all the time when they are preschoolers, what is the difference. Now before you think I have the patience of Job, my kids ages 20, 18, 17 and 12 drive me crazy every day (as I know I drive them just as crazy), however this is life, and life at its best!!!

I never thought I would take this stand, and I'm not even sure I agree with it yet, but I am leaning toward it. There is a movement among some Christians callling them to take their children out of public school and homeschool. I think there is some merit to this. Who knows our kids better than us, much of what they are taught in public school is revised to suit the powers that be. They are sent for 8 hours to people who want to un teach them the values you have taught them. Many come away confused and not sure what to believe. They are not allowed to pray and read their bibles in many schools.

Just some food for thought. I have homeschooled for 9 years, I have never claimed to be a teacher, not good at it but yet God, through me blesses the effort. It is not me that is homeschooling, but God thru me!! It has been my greatest joy to see my children walk in the truth. All u homeschool moms that follow my blog, press on and if u ever need guidance don't hesitate to ask.

Comments on March Snow

What an awesome surprise - snow on March 2nd. We got somewhere between 3 and 4 inches and it was beautiful. Not really enough to sled in but we built a little snowman, the snow would not stick well so we couldn't get the snowballs any bigger. We used starburst candy for the eyes and Skittles for the nose and mouth. Zoe, the border collie loves snow. She goes crazy running and jumping at snowballs. It was so beautiful in the morning, but as soon as the sun started coming out strong it began to melt very fast leaving a very mushy, muddy yard - GROSS!!!!

After lunch we walked around the neighborhood to check out some more snow creations. Then Emily and I made some chocolate chip cookies, homemade hot chocolate, and played Wii Mario Cart. What a fun, lazy day!! Luke shoveled the driveway, without a snow shovel, just using a regular garden shovel but by the afternoon everything was melted so it probably would have melted by itself without his hard work. Sorry Luke!!

March Snow!!!

Crazy Hectic Life

It seems like things should slow down after Christmas and they do for about a week. February has been crazy, mostly due to basketball which is now over. Luke and Emily had tournaments on Friday and Saturday. They played well but not well enough to advance in the tournament. This is the first Tuesday in many weeks that I have not had to travel for a game. I traveled to Winston to get some much needed exercise shoes. I hope i picked good ones, I have been exercising in shoes that bug me for too long.

Richard's birthday was Saturday and we decided to go to Concord Mills and to Charlotte for dinner. Maybe not such a great idea. Older children do not seem to enjoy family days so much. There was way too much arguing. I told Richard I think for my birthday I want some alone time, I may let him come along.

As much as I hate the extreme heat and humidity of summer I think I am ready for some warmth and green. I am tired of cold. Tired of mud and brown everywhere. Come on Spring!

Following in the footsteps of fellow bloggers

A few of by blogger friends have started a trend that I think is cool. They are writing flashbacks of their family. Now most of these ladies have young children and so they don't have to remember so far back, but I must dig a little. I am fully confident that once I start digging I will have more than enough memories. Most of my funniest memories involve my son Luke, who is now 16. He is and always was one who made us laugh.

Maybe it has something to do with how he came into this world. When Richard & I started out we planned on having children about 2 years apart. Things were going along as planned. Kati was 2 when Meghan was born. Meghan was a more high maintenance child than Kati but she was starting to settle down. She was 6 months old and a very happy baby. I figured it was time to lose the extra baby weight. I started on my diet in earnest and after a few days was not feeling well. It got worse and I thought, "I know this feeling." A got a pregnancy test and sure enough it was positive. I remember putting the stick on Richard's dresser and when he came home from work and saw it all he could do was pace back and forth and say "oh my gosh, oh my gosh." Needless to say, we got over our shock and Luke was born, quite a surprise when Meghan was only 15 1/2 months old. So much for our well ordered plans. Anyway Luke was a wonderfully easy baby and a joy. The 3 kids were so close when they were younger and Richard and I were very careful for a long time after that. I was not ready for any more children for quite some time.

Snow and other stuff

We don't get much snow here in NC but I have managed each winter with the one meager snowfall to make a snowball and put it in the freezer. Then when summer comes and the kids are swimming I will pull out the snowball. It is a fun tradition. I am praying for at least 1 inch of snow. We shall see. If it is more, I will post some pics tomorrow.

On another subject I thought I would share how we got started homeschooling. 10 years ago, one morning God totally changed my outlook on homeschooling. I had friends who homeschooled, I was perfectly happy with having my kids in Christian school. I woke up with the thought on my mind and it wouldn't leave. Then I opened my bible to Exodus 35:36 And He has put in his heart the ability to teach, [in] him and Aholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. Well that was pretty much it. How could I argue with that. My only argument was that I am not a teacher. I still say that, but God somehow manages to educate my children through me. That pretty much shut down any arguments. I think Richard had already come to this conclusion but was waiting for God to reveal it to me.

Anyway it has been a wonderful journey. We used to take it year by year whether or not we would continue homeschooling but now we are hooked. We are in it for the duration, which is in sight considering we have graduated one, the 2nd one is a senior and Luke is a junior. That leaves Emily with 5 more years and then I don't know what I will do. It has been a wonderful journey. I would not change it if I could. What a joy obedience brings. Not that there were not many hard times but that is a subject for another day.

Random musings

I was talking to a friend in church this morning telling her I really enjoyed reading her blog and that I am not much of a blogger, my kids are older and not doing the cute little kid things anymore and she encouraged me to write about homeschooling(of which I am a veteran) and I thought I could vent frustrations. I love to read when others do that, it makes me feel like I am not the only one with these feelings so I will try to share my wisdom (big LOL). The only wisdom I have is a wonderful gift from God above. He has blessed me tremendously, guided my every step, even when I have forgotten to seek His will. I don't know where I would be without Him, how anyone gets by in this life without Him. As I begin a new week Lord help me to depend on you, to seek Your will in everything, to extend Your Mercy and Grace to others. Help me to lead my children by example, and give me a heart that quickly repents!!!

Finally an update!

Ok so its been way too long since I blogged something. I love following other peoples blogs. They all have young kids with such cute stories. Mine (with the exception of Emily - 12 and Kati - 20) are teenagers, not such cute stories, mostly arguing. I wish there was blogging when they were litte. I always said that when they said or did something cute I should write it down so I could remember. Of course I never did. We have some great stories on Luke, however, tucked in our memories. He did some of the funniest things when he was a young chap. I'm still laughing.

Here we are, almost at the end of January already. Surely something exciting has happened since Christmas. Well we did take a ski trip with the youth last week to Sugar Mtn. NC. It was a blast. The first day it snowed all day. It was beautiful!!! The second day it was still lightly snowing but FREEZING. The high was 10 or 11 degrees. They were blowing snow all over, that was miserable. Luke skied for 4 hrs straight, no warm up breaks after lunch. I couln't stay out more than 1 - 1 1/2 hrs. I wish we could go more often. He really enjoys skiing. Of course I forgot my camera so sorry no pics.

Basketball is in full swing and I am getting tired of sitting through games. The bleachers are uncomfortable, or I am getting old. Anyway both Luke and Emily are doing really well.

More Christmas Pics

Kati is always making me take pics of her and Timmy.

They are both very photogenic.

My kids, niece and nephew and Auntie D.

The annual group photo in front of the tree. They know to expect

this picture will be taken sometime during Christmas Day.

Thanks Mom and Dad for my cool JMU hoodie, I love it!!

Me and my "baby boy".

Lauren fixing Meghan with her new hairdressing station.

Worn out from the eventful Christmas Day!!

Luke and Emily waiting for more presents!

Christmas was wonderful. On Christmas Eve we went to our parents house in Virginia. My sister and her family were there as well. It all flew by so quick, all those weeks of careful shopping and cooking gone in just 1 day. I already miss the beautiful lights and decorations. I am ready to start the new year out slow though to recover from a very busy fall. We'll see how that works out. My aunt (who is almost like a big sister since she is only 11 years older than me) came to my mom's house. It was great to spend Christmas with her, it has been long time since we did. A few things did not fit and we returned them. Five days after Christmas and there were s till lines. When will all the craziness end. No more shopping for a long time, I need to recover.

December pics

My brother, sister & I all chipped in and bought our parents
a Wii for Christmas. Their excitement was priceless.

Kati, Meghan, Luke, Emily and my nephew Josiah and my

niece Lauren

Bopa reading the traditional "Twas the Night Before Christmas"

which he has been doing as long as I can remember

My children did a beautiful job of decorating sugar cookies. Not

only did they look beautiful but tasted yummy too!! How

very creative.

Meghan's birthday

A New Year 2009

Unbelievable 2009 is here already. Where did 2008 go, as a matter of fact where have the last 20 years gone. My oldest, sweet Kati, turned 20, my beautiful Meghan turned 18. Luke(who just yesterday) was my baby boy got his drivers license and my baby, little Emily, is not so little anymore, on the edge of her teen years at 12. If someone had told me 20 years ago how it would go so fast and all seem like a blur I am not so sure I would have believed them. I feel so blessed to have been home with my children their whole lives. My wonderful husband has shared and encouraged my desire to be a stay at home mom and I would not change this for anything. There were and still are so many days that I think I will not last but I have no regrets only wonderful memories. I pray that every Mom would realize the value of being a Mom. It is a calling from God, not one to be taken lightly. We have the opportunity to impact the next generation, so Mom's out there - ENJOY every moment, from changing diapers and cleaning spitup to potty training and eventually driver training. It goes by all too quickly and we are left wondering what do we do with ourselves now that the kids are self sufficient (we get dogs?). Never fear, though, at 20, 18, 16, and 12 there is rarely a day that goes by when one of them (at least) does not need Mom for something. Come to think of it, it is something you never outgrow (I still need my Mom too!!) Happy 2009 everyone.