I had resolved to start eating salad…and I have an update: I have been successful! I have had a salad 3 times in the last week. Not big salads, mind you. Just a couple bites. But I am eating more with each one. Any good dressing ideas? I think the key to me loving salad will be a signature dressing LOL. Here is proof (again, sorry for the lighting issues!):
It has become a new family tradition for the boys to shave with David before church. It is TOO cute. Sorry these pics don’t do justice to how cute it is. The lighting on the camera has been so off. Plus, I couldn’t get a good angle with the camera in a tiny bathroom!
First of all, I just finished chapter 2 of Stepping Heavenward. I am really enjoying it! Like I said earlier, I see so much of Katherine in myself at times. Let me share an excerpt from chapter 2 that nearly floored me. It is what Dr. Cabot shares with Katy as she fumbles to articulate her attitude concerning love for God:
“…You cannot prove to yourself that you love God by examining your feelings toward Him. They are indefinite and they fluctuate. But just as far as you obey Him,just so far, depend upon it, you love Him. It is natural to us sinful, ungrateful human beings to prefer His pleasure to our own, or to follow His way instead of our own way, and nothing, nothing but love to Him can or does make us obedient to Him.”
I love it!
Secondly the idea of schooling actually becomes fun once you stop obsessing about it! I am very much more confused than ever, but I am learning, and that is all I need to be doing right now. Regarding Noah, whether I like it or not, it just makes more sense to hold out on anything formal until I can start Sam too. I hardly think he is going to suffer and I think it would be just plain silly to not “kill two birds with one stone” so-to-speak. A few things I have learned this week:
1. I L-O-V-E 100 Top Picks! It is so helpful and I know it isn’t the end-all to selecting curriculum, but it is great for a novice like me who needs to learn more about her own learning styles as well as her children’s!
2. I am so relieved that the more I read, the more I find out that most homeschooling programs do not even suggest schooling your children til at least 4. Classical education, in most cases, doesn’t even begin formal schooling until around 6 years old!
3. I am starting to get a better idea of what my goals are for the boys in the beginning. For example, what I am capable of teaching them and what I may need some help with.
4. I am finally actually looking at curriculum. I am going to write The Well-Trained Mind into our next budget… or perhaps Teaching The Trivium as I am not exactly sure how I feel about the “Great Books” lists and that might help. I know that Classical is where my top interest is right now so I would love to learn more about it. It does help that mine and David’s close friends in Louisville teach at the Dorothy Sayer’s school!
5. I am also learning more about all-in-one programs, which would be phenomenal for me I think. Sonlight is what has been suggested, but I am sure there are others. Is Sonlight very Charlotte- Mason-y? LOL. I don’t hate the whole idea of Charlotte Mason’s philosophy, but it is SO not me at all. Maybe my boys would like it though.
6. Which brings me to my next point…coordinating my teaching style with their learning style. I have learned that I may need to stretch my comfort level a bit to better accomodate them, not the other way around. And also, Duffy said to keep in mind that it is pretty difficult to peg the learning style of a 2 or 3 year old so don’t even begin to try it yet. I kind of agree with that. I can definitely see a lot of the analytical/control-freak learner in Noah and the hands-on learner in Sammy. We’ll see. That could all change!
That’s all I can think of right now. But I am super excited!
1. What is the difference between salt and sea salt? I have heard a lot of people say sea salt is better for cooking.
2. I started Stepping Heavenward and Seeing With New Eyes. I read one chapter a day in each- one in the afternoon and one at bed time. By my own definitions, Stepping Heavenward looks like a long read, but I am enjoying it. I finished chapter one and I can already see a lot of Katherine in myself. I wonder if that is what Prentiss intended?
3. Noah and Sam have been pulling each other in a wagon all day playing pretend for the first time ever. They have gone to Granny’s house, the beach, school, and Califormia LOL.
4. Tomorrow is date night! Yay! Now…if we only had money to spend on a date. I think we are going to the coffee shop and doing the August budget LOL. WOO- stinkin-HOO! Any other cheap ideas?
5. I am really excited about going to KY in September. I can’t wait to see so many people! We are booking our flight today. Yay for Frontier Airlines and direct flights with multiple babies.
6. Is it nap time yet?
7. Too much laundry to fold! But I am using my clothesline for the first time today!
8. I have this nagging pain at the top of my right leg!
9. I did my weigh in at Curves today and my body fat % is down almost 8%!
10. Lastly, at 5 p.m. David is home for the weekend! YAY! I love him! I should probably show him more=(
on a Wednesday afternoon=)
The boys went to the library today for story time. They had a great time. I was at a doctor’s appt. and a friend from church took them. When I got back she handed me the Harry Potter cards that were in their “goodies bags” and said “I took these out cause I didn’t know if you wanted them to have them.” LOL. I just think it’s funny b/c you have half the Christian circle that says that they don’t want their children exposed to witchcraft and sorcery. Then there is the other half that believes much of Rowling’s work parallels Christianity in many different ways. I have never read ANYTHING by Rowling and do not even claim to know what she writes. If I had any opinion at all at this point (and I would take this very lightly if I were you), I suppose it would be that my only hesitation is to allow my kids to read something that I am just going to have to turn around and explain why it isn’t true. It’s just more work for me, I suppose. I have already had to deal with dragons and unicorns and that was a headache in and of itself.
We went to a birthday party at noon for one of the girls in the youth group. We had a fun time, but the boys were wild as usual. They were serving DQ ice cream cake and Noah just didn’t get the “ice cream plus cake together” deal. He would say “Are we having cake?” and the grandpa of the girl would say “No, ice cream.” Noah said “Oh!” Then Noah would say “Are we having ice cream?” and Grandpa said “No. Cake.” Again…”Oh!” It was too cute. By the end, I think he got it. He was walking saying “ice cream cake… ice cream cake” over and over.
I found a great site. It is called Family Manager and is looking more awesome by the minute. I haven’t had a chance to look at a great portion of its contents, but I can see there is a lot of free (very awesome!) downloadable forms to help with the process of organization (which I am always working on)! Enjoy=)
*Side Note* When I get on these writing frenzies I wonder if some of you think “Does she even care for her kids?” Yes, I do. If I have something on my mind, I just stop in the middle of playing or doing housework and randomly post something. That’s how my mind works. Mandy is my name. Spontaneity is my game!
Anyhow, we were at our church-wide picnic this past Sunday and were catching up and chatting with the couple that kept Noah and Sammy while we were in California. We were discussing the different things that they did and the common theme was going to the ball park. Their son is in Little League and they took the boys there for all his games and practices.
During this time the boys met lots of people, one lady whom I may never know her name…and don’t want to. Another lady approached and asked a group of people, including this lady, who the boys were and how old they were. I know no more than this. Upon being asked, this woman replied: “The pretty one is 3. The other one is two.”
Ummm…ok. So in no way am I implying that I think my kids are the most gorgeous things on the face of the earth, but they aren’t bad looking kids. And most people tell me that. Arg…if I ever meet that woman. I am kidding. I am not a fighter. I am a lover.
Each year in January (well, we have only done it once…) we travel to Albuquerque for the BCNM state-wide Evangelism Conference. It was a wonderful and refreshing time last year as we had just come through a very exhausting move. Last year we were blessed with many talented speakers such as Thom Rainier, Rob Zinn, and John Avant. Last week our pastor (yes, David still doesn’t have a picture on the website!) was called upon to preach at the conference alongside Avant and Frank Page, SBC President. What an honor! And we are super excited about it!
I love the writings of Charles Spurgeon! Each day I am so uplifted and strengthened by his words. He truly was a man sold out and gifted! I highly recommend Morning And Evening. I start out with it first thing every morning and Mr. Spurgeon always knows just what I need to hear!
Yesterday’s passage truly pierced me and I was changed. I pray it will do the same for you!
“Brotherly kindness was due from Edom to Israel in the time of need, but instead of showing kindness, the men of Esau joined with Israel’s enemies. Special stress in the sentence is laid upon the word you… A bad action may be all the worse because of the person who has committed it. When we sin, who are the chosen favorites of heaven, we sin with an emphasis…If an angel should lay his hand upon us when we are doing evil, he need not use any other rebuke than the question, ‘What, you? What are you doing here? Having been gloriously forgiven, delivered, instructed, enriched, blessed, do we dare give ourselves to evil? God forbid!’”
He then goes on to point out much of what I can oftentimes see in myself, a believer:
“At an evening party certain men laughed at uncleanness, and the joke was not altogether offensive to your ear- even you were as one of them…”
“When hard things were spoken concerning the ways of God, you were bashfully silent…”
“When they were pursuing vanity without restraint, were you not as greedy for gain as they were?”
And he sums it up:
“Side with the afflicted people of God, and not with the world.”
AMEN, AMEN, AMEN!
For quite some time, I sided with the world. I laughed at uncleanness. I was bashfully (and sometimes blatantly) silent. I was vain. And that is just where the list began. I am so ashamed and saddened by this time I spent focused on me.
As the Lord has continued to grow me and, especially since we moved to New Mexico, purge me, I have found myself “letting go” of the world and its ways. It has been a slow process for so long but it seems as each day passes, I am growing more disgusted with sin and more in love with who God is and what He wants to do through me. Praise the Lord!
I still have so far to go, but isn’t that what sanctification is? A process. I know so many believers who get discouraged because they wake up to a Romans 7 experience each and every day. But every day for the believer will be a Romans 7 kind of day because the old nature will forever be competing with the new nature until the day comes when each of us are glorified and conformed into the image of the Son.
I used to be get very discouraged as well (and sometimes still do), but now I take heart in the fact that if I am battling the old nature each and every day, then that is a good thing. What this means is that the Spirit truly is at work in you. Rejoice in that! And as time goes by, you should start to pull yourself further and further away from the world and love it less with each passing day.
Thanks Mr. Spurgeon for the reminder that I have been “gloriously forgiven, delivered, instructed, enriched, blessed…” And because of this truth…side with the people of God!
If I showed you a picture of this, what would you think? If I mentioned David+ 10 year reunion+ September 13-22, would you have any more guesses? Anyone?
That’s right!!! We’re coming home… I mean, to Kentucky!!! I have been working on calling New Mexico home. This is home now and accepting that has given me much needed peace these last few weeks. I know I was like just in the Bluegrass State…but David got word that his 10 year reunion is September 15 and he has always said that he wanted to go.
We don’t know what this will mean concerning December/Christmas (b/c he obviously had to use it as vacation time) but it will at least leave him a little over a week then. I guess we can work that out later! HOORAY! We really hope we can see everyone!!!
P.S. Kacie- I did it! I inserted a link!!!! My Internet Explorer is funky and David’s brother is always telling us how much better Forefox is than Explorer so I tried it and it worked like a charm=)
