Baby Quint is Here!!

If you did not see it on our Facebook page, Miss Quint has arrived!!  She weighed 7lbs 4oz and was 21 inches long.  She also waited to arrive until I was 39 weeks and 5 days pregnant, making her only the second of my babies to be full term.  

She had some meconium in her waters and developed pneumonia, but after an extra week stay in the hospital, we FINALLY made it home.  I will be getting the full birth story up in the next couple days.  

We have been so blessed by our fifth and final addition to our family!!  I am so thankful to finally have completed our crew and look forward to what life holds in this next phase of raising our (not so) little family.  

I hope you all have been having an enjoyable spring!!

God Bless,
Lisa

Weekly Wrap Up Week 10 {2014}

Well, it was bound to happen.  A week where there was more life then school.  But, well, that's life, right?  :)

Our week started with our annual gym night at the gymnastics center in town.  This is the night that all the kids look forward to and talk about all year long!  They get 3 hours to run, jump and play on all the gymnastics equipment.  The parents get 3 hours to sit, talk, eat some yummy snacks, and let their kids run wild.  It's really a great night!  (Yes.  This is homeschool socialization).

Sunday night we went to Mustang's Spirit Squad recital.  To mark the end of their season, the team hosted a pizza and awards night, and then the girls performed their routines for all their family and friends that wanted to come and see.  Mustang received a certificate for participation.  Sorry that the picture on the right is a bit blurry, I had to crop it close so that the other girls on the team weren't in the picture.

The rest of us enjoyed pizza, snacks, hanging out with other families, and a performance.  (Also considered homeschool socialization, ha ha).

On a not as happy note, we received word that our Great-Grandpa passed away on Wednesday night.  He lived far away, so we will not be attending his funeral.  But, we have spent a lot of time this week remembering him and discussing what happens when we die.  We, thankfully, have the hope of knowing that he knew Jesus as his Lord and Savior, and someday we can see him again if we, too, know Jesus as Savior.  So, we've had some conversations about how one gets to Heaven, too.  It's been a good week of discussions.  

For the 'official' school front, we were able to spend 2 days doing work.  

This week we learned about Vincent Van Gogh.  I found a wonderful book (left) of huge and colorful prints of his work.  It was great for giving the kids a true chance to view and appreciate his paintings.  

We started watching a biography about Van Gogh and really enjoyed it (but we need to finish it on Monday-it was kinda long!).  I learned a lot of things I never knew about Van Gogh.  Did I mention that I LOVE homeschooling my kids? I learn so much!! :)

The booklet to the right is free from Confessions of a Homeschooler.  I added this booklet to their workplans.  Mustang chose to do it right away, so this is her book.

One of our two days of school included 'outdoor learning' AKA soak up the 72 degree day in March!  Well worth it!

We've continued with our calendar days about space.  The space cards are from 1+1+1=1.  This has been a blessing, because on his days off school.  Charger has begun his own learning about space exploration, space stations, rockets, and more.  

He brought me his homemade NASA station (interesting because I didn't even know he had seen a picture of it).  Apparently Daddy had shown him a few photos online that I didn't know of.  

I have to be honest I was rather impressed.  No one told him to make this, or how to do it.  On the right you see the space station control center-with a window to see out to the rocket launching.  Not sure if that's exactly how it looks in real life, but Charger thinks it should.

To encourage his interest, I picked up a nice stack of books at the library this week.  He seemed very interested, but has yet to start reading them.  He has been more interested in building instead.  So, we may end up reading a few of these together this coming week.

Mustang turned her free days to reading American Girl books.  I'm always pleased at the history she learns from reading them.  These were her picks for the week.

We did get some math in.  I thought I'd show you this photo just in case you have a kid that just doesn't do well with the Montessori layouts.  If you have the strip board, you know that all the little sticks are supposed to come out of the boxes and layout next to it.  He refuses to take them out of the boxes and say that it's too much work-he will just take out the one he wants wen he needs it.  You also know that the idea is to put the rug UNDER the work-not wadded up next to them.  But, he got a rug, right?  LOL!!  Good news is that he completed his subtraction problems and got them correct.

Mustang used the gold beads for a review of various math problems.

We continued reading Leprechaun in Late Winter (Magic Treehouse) and read about Franklin Pierce, but pretty much this was our week.  I hope to get back on track this next week and hopefully spend 4 days doing school.  But, overall, I am quite pleased with the learning that went on this week.

I hope your week went well, too.  

Thanks for stopping by!

God Bless,

Lisa

Things we used this week (Amazon widget contains affiliate links).

And Baby Number 5 is....

Well, I think the picture says it all :).

New Year's Eve 80's Costumes and Party Dip

Every year we go ring in the new year with an awesome group of friends that we don't see nearly enough. But, we always have a lot of fun! This year was no exception!!

For the first time, there was a theme-the 1980's. After searching a bit on Pinterest, I realized that most of what we needed for our costumes were...already in our closets! A quick trip to the thrift store finished them off. I have to admit I was really excited about this and was pleased with the results!

For Explorer, we took the Punky Brewster look.  We grabbed a jacket that was a bit too small and rolled up the sleeves.  Top is from Gap, and the necklace is from my drawer.  Miss-matched crazy shoes and piggy tails finished it off.  The little barrettes didn't show in the photo.

Mini Cooper got a cross between Punky and Michelle Tanner.  The Muppet's tee-shirt came from the thrift store, and the jean jacket is actually 2 sizes too small for her, but fit perfectly with the outfit.  High-top tennis shoes, side ponytail, and her new Hello Kitty necklace made it perfect.  I think her outfit was my favorite :).

For Mustang, I was thrilled to find this super tacky, acrylic, straight from the 80's sweater!  It even has metallic thread.  I swear I had this shirt at one point, lol!  Paired with a skirt and leggings directly from her closet, handmade leg-warmers we found at the recent homeschool swap, and a pair of stylin' heals, she was rockin' it!  Big hair was so fun with her hair, and her fingernails are each painted a different color.  I loved it, she didn't really.  

And there there was me!  I got most of my outfit at the thrift store.  I found these stylin (or not) maternity jeans with the tags still on them.  Lol!  Yep they were cute.  The jacket came from the same place.  Now the shirt, I had, but hadn't thought to pair it with a hot pink blazer and awesome hot pink shoes.  Too bad you can't see my earrings...as they won't be part of my daily wear!  I soo wish I had thought to pick up a broach, but hopefully my big hair and hot pink lipstick made up for it.  

Charger dressed up, but somehow we don't have a picture.  He was really hard, as the current clothes are 'almost' the same but just not quite.  We paired a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles tee with a pair of tight-rolled jeans.

My husband was not interested in dressing up, lol!  But, that's okay we still had a great time!

My snack to share was a recent Pinterest find and boy was it yummy!!  It includes artichokes, crab meat, cream cheese, and best of all a crock pot!!  You can read the entire recipe at Real House Moms. Lots of compliments and just a little left over to munch on today :).

So, how did you ring in your New Year?  I hope you had a lot of fun with your family, friends, or whomever you spent your night with.  

Happy New Year!!

God Bless,

Lisa 

Making Everyday Tasks Special

I am finally starting to feel a bit more normal, thanks to prayer, medicine, and hitting week 12 :).  This means I have slowly started trying to venture out to do really exciting things like...go to the grocery store!  Yipee!  Actually I am quite thankful, as I was just so sick before!  But, I realize that most times we do not think of the grocery store as an exciting outing.

One thing I couldn't do was to take all 4 kids with me to the store, it would have been too much.  So, my wonderful husband watched 3 kids while I took just Mini Cooper with me.  I decided to make it a fun day as much as possible since she hardly ever gets to go with just me.  I took advantage of having just one child with me to do the things that are too overwhelming to do with 4-or too expensive.

So, first up we went to the gas station.  I picked up a drink and so did she.  She chose to get a little squirt bottle of apple juice because it had Dora on the top.  $2.49 for about 6 ounces of juice, lol!  Would I have bought four of them?  Probably not, but one seemed very affordable and she loved it :).

Then, we headed to the bank.  Instead of the drive-through we went INSIDE!!  She was so excited.  She even got a sucker-and got to pick the color herself.  I even let her eat it right away.

Next up, lunch.  It is a 30 minute drive from my house to town, so I was hungry.  I have to be VERY careful not to get hungry or I get sick pretty fast.  I wasn't interested in fast food, so we headed to Panera for some tortellini (something I am craving BIG time this pregnancy).  She loved it!

She got to pick our booth, we talked about the art work in the room, we talked about how she was the only kid in the whole store, and we also talked about what she thought the workers there did when they were there.  She ate macaroni and cheese, yogurt, and chocolate milk.  She ate every last drop-instead of running to play in the play place and only drinking the soda.  We even split cupcakes at the end.  And MAN were those yummy!!

This was the art above our booth.  Mini Cooper decided that the dog did, indeed, get the bread-without breaking a dish-and without getting caught.

We had to run one extra errand while we were in town-shoes for Mustang.  She has her first pom pom performance on Friday and needed new jazz shoes.  I had her try on a friend's pair so I knew the size and was able to go without her.  

The mall has these cheesy little ride-on toys that my kids always beg to ride and we walk right past them, but this time, I let Mini Cooper ride them.  75 cents for a 60 second ride on a pink 3 wheeler.  Once again, she loved it.  We also stopped off at the play-yard for her to run around and me to rest.

Last up, was the grocery store.  The store has these little carts for little shoppers.  They are so cute.  The kids love them, and always want to push them around.  I, however, have learned that shopping with 3 or 4 mini-shoppers creates mass chaos and makes an already long shopping trip twice as long and 10 times longer.  Making sure that they don't run over the little old ladies, or that the speedy shoppers don't run over them. Or that they don't take up the entire isle, or that they don't run into the back of your heals...yes the fun leaves quickly.  So, we don't usually drive the tiny carts, as adorable as they might be.

But, this trip, I let Mini Cooper have a cart.  This meant she didn't have to RIDE in mine (which is where she usually is), and she got to zoom about.  Yes, I still had to keep her from running everyone over, but with one kid it was much easier :). 

By the end of the trip she was completely beat.  She ACTUALLY was crying because I didn't let her do something else she wanted (I think she told me she deserved necklaces at Claire's), but I knew that just meant she was exhausted and had a great day.  Many times throughout the day she told me I was a great mommy for letting her get a sucker, a cupcake, and a cart.  I really didn't do it for the praise, but I was happy that she was feeling special.

Now, I went out of my way to find little ways to make the trip special for her.  She probably would have been happy with just being the only kid along, or by getting to do just one little thing, but I wanted to do the things I could think of.  There were still things that we didn't do-no new jewelry or headbands, or makeup (yes she asked for all), but still plenty of fun and memories being made.

The way I knew she really had a good time?  She was fast asleep before we even left the grocery store parking lot.

What little things do you do to make everyday tasks special?  Do you need to do them more often?  I hope I have given you a few ideas.  

God Bless!

Lisa

Homeschooling While I Am Sick

The last month has been trying to say the very least.  There are days where I haven't gotten out of bed, 2 days I spent the night in the ER and many days where sitting on the couch was a major accomplishment.

To say that homeschooling has been a challenge is an understatement!!  For the first couple weeks our workboxes actually helped out a lot.  They were already loaded up with things to learn and all Mustang and Charger had to do was pick work and do it.

But, the workboxes are running a bit thin and I've not been able to refill them.  Sooo, I started looking for other options.  My main goal was to find something that Mustang could do, without my help, and actually learn something.

I asked around and was pleased to come up with Easy Peasy All-in-One Homeschool.  They offer a complete, Christian, curriculum that all Mustang has to do is read and follow the links.  I may need to help her with materials, so hopefully that won't be too demanding of me.

Mini Cooper is spending a lot of time on Starfall.com.  And I am still looking for something for Charger, though he seems to like Starfall, too.

We are also trying to read books when we can and we have found out we can stream Youtube videos through our Xbox and have found some very fun things to watch and keep us entertained.

I am very curious, though, if you have schooled through illness and not being able to prepare, what did you do?  I would love to get some more ideas to make this a good year in spite of my being sick.

God Bless,
Lisa

The BIG Announcement

I promised a few weeks ago that I would be sharing some big news over here.  Sorry it's taken me so long!

But, the exciting news is that this wild and crazy crew:

Is growing!!  Yes!!  We are expecting a new addition in May!!

Mustang swears it's twins, and more people have said twins then I can count...so I'll just say an addition until I know for sure it's just one.

We are very excited!!  Unfortunately, I have been terribly sick from this pregnancy (something new to me) and it has been very hard to just get out of bed, let alone do extras like blog and such.  We ARE doing school, but it has taken some unusual turns.  I plan to blog all about it as I feel well enough.

I hope you are having a great fall!  I can't wait to get back to blogging regularly!

God Bless,
Lisa

The Regular Old 'Mom' Blogger

So I tried to type up this post a few weeks ago about why I haven't been blogging so much.  And, while everything in the post is true, it's only 1/2 the reason that I haven't blogged.  I am not sure I can really say why I haven't blogged without digging myself a bit of a hole, but I'm still going to do it.  Otherwise, it will be the elephant in the room.  Not that YOU likely saw the elephant, but I did and it's bothering me ;).

At different times throughout my time as a blogger I have joined various 'promotion' type blog groups.  Essentially, I share a blog post and my blog friends share that post with their friends, and they share their posts with me.

There are a LOT of GREAT things about this set-up.  I meet more bloggers, read more blog posts, and maybe even get a few more readers to my blog.  Cool beans!

But, after awhile, there are always complaints.  The biggest one being, so and so is not sharing a blog post that other people actually want to read...

Now the so and so may not have been me-it was never directed at me-but it still gets you thinking.  Why?  Well because the next 'group rule' is always that you need to be sure that your post is 'share-able.'  That seems fair, I mean you are asking a group of people to share your blog post and if it's not worth reading that is on their shoulders.  So, yeah, it should be share-able.

There in lies the problem.

I began kinda over thinking my blog posts.  I mean, who wants to read about our little day to day activities.  Who wants to read that we made hand-print carrots?  So what?  Who really wants to read that I spent the day cleaning my house?  I pretty much picked apart every single post that I had to write, and didn't write them.

Now, here is where I am likely digging my hole.

Because, I am assuming that at least my own readers want to read those things.  And, maybe they really don't.  BUT, I look back at my posts and realize that's what I a post about.  Why???  Because when you are a homeschooling mom of 4 little ones, you are LUCKY that you cleaned your house!!  And, I know it!!  So, I share that with the world because-well-other moms of 4 can relate and secretly want to know how you pulled it off so that they can do the same.  Is that the kinda post that is share-able with everyone?  Maybe not.

I have been thinking a lot lately because I have been missing my little blog over here.  I didn't know why, exactly, and I had gotten to the point where I didn't feel I had anything to write :(.  It wasn't until today that I put it all together and realized WHY I had nothing to write.

I was so worried about 'pleasing' everyone that I just stopped blogging all together.  Yes, there was the part where I had a busy month, but the main thing was that I stopped thinking of things to type because I'd already talked myself into thinking that no one wants to read it.

So there you have it.  My elephant.  Now, I hope my hole isn't too big.  And, hopefully, I will start blogging some more.  We've been having a great week of school.  I have some 'random' photos to share.  I've got some BIG news.  And, I've even got a fantastic give away coming!! So, please stay tuned.  I promise to stop being so quiet and get back to my regular old 'mom' blogging.  And, hopefully it won't be too boring.

Thanks for stopping by!!

God Bless,
Lisa

A Birthday Interview

Last week was Mustang's EIGHTH birthday.  Yes, I am feeling old, and that time goes way too fast!  But, I wanted to remember this sweet time in her life with a little interview.  I am sure we will look back at this someday and wish she was still just eight :).

What was the best thing that happened to you while you were seven?  That I got to go down the huge water slide at the swimming pool.

What is your favorite color?  Red

What is you favorite book?  American Girl Books

What is your favorite TV show?  Superbook

What is your favorite food?  Ice cream

What do you like to do when you have free time?  Chase my brothers and sisters.

What is something you want to learn this year?  Science

What is something you want to do this year?  Have a sleep over

What do you plan to do with your birthday money?  Buy things for my American Girl doll

What do you want to be when you grow up?  An animal farmer's wife

Getting answers from her was kind of a challenge, lol.  My normally talkative daughter clammed right up.  I'll probably get more answers this week after she thinks about it all day :).  But those were the quick answers.

Actually, I can elaborate on the animal farmer's wife.  She wants to have a small farm that has lots of different animals and wants to help her husband take care of them.  I think she wants to be a homesteader :).  I'd be interested to see if that is what happens!

Looking forward to this new year of craziness.  I have heard that when you are 8 and 9 years old, you are the most like you will be when you are an adult.  So, I'm looking forward to getting to know my daughter.  Praying that the Lord will open her heart to His will for her life this year and that He will do amazing things through her energetic spirit!

We have another birthday today, Explorer's, but I'll save that for another blog post :).

God Bless,
Lisa

Mini Cooper Turns FOUR!!

Can you believe it?  My tiny little lady is now 4 years old!  Crazy enough, she has completely lived up to her blog nickname of Mini Cooper-still a tiny girl (with long legs).  She is such a sweetheart and is such a blessing to us.

Ever since the Barbie Megablox party we had last spring, Mini Cooper has been planning her party.  Finally, the party came!  We had a great time.  We had the party at a place very similar to a Chuck E Cheese (if you have one of those).  It was awesome.  We brought a cake, and they did everything else.  That way, I got to play with my kids instead of stressing over the party.  Perfect!!

Here are a few peaks.

My crew-all looking at the camera (only took 15 tries).  They are getting too big!!

Mini Cooper's favorite present-a paint your own jewelry box :).

Future motorcycle club member :).

I told you I got to have fun with my kids, right? There's my 210 tickets I won by making a deal with the game, lol!  We used these and other tickets to buy goggles for swim lessons that start tomorrow.  

So yep, I blinked

And she grew right up :(.  Thank God she is healthy and becoming a wonderful lady.  My favorite thing about her, is when we ask if anyone wants to say prayers, she is almost always the first one to volunteer.  May God continue to keep her heart soft to His love.

God Bless,
Lisa

Upper Stories and Lower Stories

The current sermon series at our church is following a book called The Story.  If you haven't heard of it, it is essentially what I like to think of as a Children's Bible for adults :).  It doesn't have pictures or anything, but the authors have complied the major stories of the Bible, in chronological order. They took out the genealogies and minor stories, and then put them together as a chapter book-no verses or Bible books, just chapter titles.  There is also a little commentary connecting the different stories.  Certainly not the way to do an in-depth study, or build a doctrinal statement, but an awesome way to get to know the stories of the Bible.

The Story has been the focus of our sermons this year.  Each week, we have a chapter or two we are supposed to read at home, and then the pastor teaches about that chapter at church that weekend.  There are 31 chapters, so it will take us the better part of the year to get through.  It has been an awesome thing for our church, and I'm really enjoying the readings and the sermons.

One thing our pastor keeps saying over and over is that the Bible has 2 stories-the upper story, and the lower story.  As he reads the stories, he points out that the upper story is always the main story-God, sending Jesus to save us from our sins.  God, continuously being faithful to His people.  God, always having a plan that is bigger then any of the people in the Bible could understand (and us, too).  The lower story is always the muck and mayhem that the people in that story have gotten into.

The Israelites getting stuck in the desert for 40 years...lower story.  David and Bathsheba...lower story.  The Israelites getting carried off to Babylonian captivity...lower story.  And so on.  These are the challenges, and hardships, and sometimes punishments that the people in each story were going through.  But, they didn't change the Upper Story that God already knew was going to happen.  And, each part of the story pieces together to pave the way for the Upper Story.  Our pastor has been pointing out that the Upper Story is still going today and our lives are part of the story, even though we all have a bunch of lower stories.

As I sat in church last night, I began thinking that, in addition to THE Upper Story, we've all got our own-individual-upper stories.  We've also got our own lower stories.  Every decision we make, every place we go, every thing we do, every sacrifice we make, contributes to the upper story, or the lower story.

As a mom, I have so many ways I can spend the moments God has given me.  I can cook, clean, shop, organize, teach, plan, play, sleep, socialize, exercise...the list is quite long of all the things I could do.  In general, not one thing on it's very own is bad and the next good.  It is not bad for me to cook a meal from scratch, it is not bad for me to organize my closet, it is not bad for me to vacuum out my car.  In fact, all of these things are good things!  It is also not bad for me to go shopping, spend time on Facebook, or go to dinner with a friend.  It's not even bad for me to take a nap!  However...any of these things I just named-if done at the wrong time, or with the wrong attitude, CAN be a bad thing.  They can contribute to the lower story of my life instead of the upper story.

My upper story is the mission for my life-why God put me here.  From the Bible, I know he has put me here to be a light for him.  He has given me a husband and children that are MY responsibility-no one else's.  He has asked me to be a light for him to my husband and children before any other responsibilities.  So, I have to look at the choices I am making and determine if they are beneficial to my husband, my children, our family, and my challenge to be a light to them.

If I am being asked to build up my family, but instead I'm grumbling and complaining, I'm getting caught up in my lower story.  If I'm constantly doing things that take my time away from my family, I'm again getting caught up in my lower story.  The upper story is still going to continue.  God has a way of bringing us back to His plan, even if we go our own way. But, it's soo much easier if we are trying to do His will and focusing on what he has asked.

I am going to be taking a deep look into our family story.  I want to be sure that the choices I'm making are part of our upper story.  I want to be building up my children and encouraging my husband.  I also want to be an encouragement to you as you, hopefully, strive for your upper story.  I hope to write more posts in the future to do just that.

For now, I challenge you to begin looking at how you spend your time, where you put your focus, and start figuring out WHAT your upper story even is.  Are your choices pointing toward your upper story, or are they muddled somewhere bringing you down to the lower story?  It's never too late to turn things over to God and let him help you start writing an upper story.

Thank you so much for stopping by.
I hope you will come again.
God Bless,
Lisa

Impersonal Church

You know when you go to the grocery store and you come up to a person?  You look their way and they look yours, but there is this unwritten rule-or so it seems-that you quickly look away.  As if it's almost impolite to see them.  It's as if you are supposed to know they are there so that you don't accidentally run them over with your cart, or reach for the same package of bread.  You're even supposed smile-interestingly enough.  BUT, you aren't supposed to look them in the eye!

I don't know how many times I've looked at people and tried to be friendly, only to have them look away at the moment I would have said 'hello.'  Like they feel they have been caught staring and are trying to pretend they didn't.

For the record, I'm usually pushing a cart with 3 little kids in it, and have a 4th kid behind me with another cart full of groceries...so maybe they ARE staring, or feel that they are.  And, they feel that if they look at me in the eye they are confirming that they are staring.  Really, I don't know why people do this, but it happens ALL.THE.TIME.

I used to join in the part where I would divert my eyes to keep from having to greet complete strangers.  I used to think it was easier then being friendly.  But, I got tired of pretending that the people weren't real!  I would see them other places in town and wanted to be sure that I was saying hello to all the other shoppers that I came into contact with, because I didn't know if they were part of my church, part of our homeschool co-op, a distant relative...yes I live in a big small town where everyone is connected to everyone else in some way and it's better to be friendly at all times then run the risk of having to try and be a totally different person when you find out who they are.

Okay, so now that you {hopefully} understand the eye-avoidance I'm trying to explain, I want to get to my point.  Church.

We go to a big church.  Big, at least, for this area.  The church has 3 services and something like 8 campuses, so there are a lot of people.  The crazy thing, is that with all the people that go to our church, I often feel like I don't know anyone there!

Now, I want to dig deeper into that statement.  You see, I DO know lots of people that are there.  We know all the teachers of our kids by name.  I *think* they know my name, or at the very least know me as Mustang's mom or Charger's mom.  I'm okay with that, because they know my kids' names and that's the important part to me.  That, and the part where they will only release my kid to me cause they know I'm mom (and they don't have to check my parent ID sticker numbers).

I also know a ton of people who go to our church.  People from our little town that's close to us, people from our home-schooling group, and even our family. We are also part of a small group and we know the people in our small group (though in our case the word small is very applicable).

I talk to people all the time (outside of church) and find out that they attend our church.  It's really unbelievable the amount of times I find that out.  You see, with the 3 different services, we can all go to the same church, but go to different services and never see each other.  And with 5 different exit doors, you can go to the same service and not see each other.  That happened with my SIL.  Turns out that I had been praying for her to start attending church...and God had already answered that prayer!  But, she had been going to a different service-and never said anything to us about it until about 6 months later!

Now, where am I going with this?

Tonight in church, as we were singing, I was imagining how great it will be when we (as Christians) get to stand before the Lord and worship together forever.  Then, I was reminded how I was doing that right now....but I didn't KNOW any of these 500 people standing next to me praising God right now!  (Okay I DID know my husband, and 2 friends sitting with us so 497).  How on earth am I supposed to help encourage others for Christ when I don't KNOW THEIR NAME??

So, after church, I was on a mission to say hello and meet people.  Do you know what I found as I walked through the crowd towards the kid's area?  EYE DIVERSION. Yep!  Sigh.  I felt like I was in the grocery store isle!  And, this time I wasn't pushing a cart, so I know it wasn't staring.  It was down right, no one knows how to SEE EACH OTHER anymore!  It doesn't mean they don't WANT to see you, they just don't know HOW!!!

Everyone was on a mission to get their kid, kid out the door, and get to the restaurant/ball game/friend's house/home/facebook...whatever the NEXT thing was.  No one was worried about RIGHT NOW.  No one seemed to be looking around thinking...hey, these people here, these people are my FAMILY!  My brothers and sisters in Christ.  Nope, they just don't see each other.

And, you know what?!  I am just as guilty.  On the way into church, I was eye darting like the rest of them.  It was only when God opened my eyes during church that I noticed on the way out.

Now, before you think I'm ripping on my church, I am not.  I am quite sure this is not just at my church.  This is a normal human interaction in 2013.  You are not supposed to see people.  You can text them, you can email them, you can Facebook them, but you can't actually TALK to them in person.  It doesn't matter if you are at the grocery store, walking down the road, or sitting in the same room.  And, our churches are not immune to this.

I challenge you, if you go to a big church (I single out big churches because tiny churches DO seem to have the upper hand on personalization), I want to challenge you to start talking to the people around you.  Nope, you may never see them at your church again.  But, you WILL see them again in Heaven, and don't you want to be able to turn to them and say-hey, we went to the same church?  Or maybe, it will be the start of a friendship that you have been praying for-or they have.  Or, if nothing else, both of you will realize that you do go to CHURCH with other people, and that it's different then the movie theater or a concert where you sit around people and ignore they exist.

Our church pastors can preach a great sermon, our song leaders can lead us in an amazing worship time, but if we as church members just go in, sit down, listen, and leave, then we are not doing our part.  The body has to know the other parts for it to work together.  A visitor to such a large church runs a HUGE risk of feeling 10 times as lonely IN church when 500 people can't take the time to say hello as when he was all by himself outside.

We talk about getting ready for the mission field outside the church...but I believe our current mission field is INSIDE the church.  People are coming, people are hungry, people WANT to learn about God, but what they really are...is lonely.  They want to know that someone-ANYONE-knows they exist and cares.  You can take that first step for the Lord, by simply saying "hello."


So glad you stopped by.
I hope you will come again.
God Bless,
Lisa

Too Busy for School

Okay, I'll admit it.  We haven't really had much school the last few weeks.  It wouldn't be a big problem, except I had intended to have school.  We don't have a set schedule.  We school year round and just take breaks when we feel like it.

I'll be honest when I tell you that these are the days that I start to question the whole, are we doing the right thing by homeschooling?  I mean, are they missing things they should know because they aren't 'having school' right now.  Or because they don't have a set amount of school days each year?

But, we have just been too busy for school lately!

We have been taking field trips to local landmarks.

We have been celebrating holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, and family.

We have been spending many afternoons at the library and many evenings reading library books.

We have been working in the garden, weeding (kinda), harvesting, watering, and exploring.

We have been riding bikes, playing kickball, playing hide and go seek.

We have been trying out the new telescope to find constellations.

We have been playing with friends, cousins, and our family.

In addition, we have been trying to work on keeping the house a bit cleaner and get some big projects done-like the kitchen painting project that starts tomorrow, and the list all the clothes we aren't wearing to clear out space project, and the relax a little more on Sunday's project (aka naps).

I have to remind myself sometimes that not all free days should be school days.  I also have to remind myself that our culture has created the idea of 'learning' confined to a textbook, a schedule, a lesson plan, and a 'subject.'

When I look at this list, I realize that my children are too busy to sit in a desk and fill out a worksheet, but they are learning so much about the world around them.  I have not failed them.  This homeschooling thing is going to work out after all.

How about you?  Is your summer going the way you planned?  How do you fit 'school' into your summer?

Thanks for stopping by & God Bless,
Lisa

F is for Flood

Yep, I missed E.  E was for exhausted.  Catching up from vacation was surprisingly hard!!!  But, I'm back for F.

Yesterday, we took a field trip down to the Mighty Mississippi River.  We had a crazy storm last week that dumped anywhere from 2-7 inches of rain in about 12 hours time!!  EVERYONE had water in their basements, and our road had all kinds of new ruts in it!  Well, all that water dumped QUICKLY into the river.

Last week it was normal or below normal levels.  But, yesterday it was more then 11 feet above flood stage!!  It rose that quickly in just 3 days time!  The kids weren't really all that thrilled, but we had to go see history being made.  I think it was the first flood on the Mississippi they had ever seen.  2 summers ago we were able to see a bunch of flooding on the Missouri, so I guess flooding isn't completely new to them.

To be fair, I have read of some crazy amounts of flooding going on in other parts of the Midwest.  Ours didn't cause any damage that people aren't used to.  While the flooding doesn't come up this high very often (they say this was the 5th highest in recorded history) these are still areas that are 'used' to or at least have preparation measures for floods.  The levees have all done what they are supposed to.  But, it's still very neat to see!

The river does not have a levee here, so there is a lot of ground underwater!  Maybe a mile or two.

The only house we saw under water, but as you can see it was built up.  

Road closed :).

The Mighty Mississippi.  Looks a lot different then it did last year!

The old bridge.  It was closed, but it used to be the only way to get across here!

They have since built the bigger bridge that I was on while taking the photo.  They had traffic going both ways on what is usually a one way bridge.

The riverfront.  Looks a little different normally!

What the farmers do with their equipment during a flood.

This is our good friend's field. I guess it will be a bit before he gets to plant!!

I know that the kids weren't too excited about this Sunday drive to look at water, but it will be nice to have a frame of reference when we study floods or talk about them in our learning.

To see what other people found for letter F, be sure to check out the weekly link up at Ben and Me.  Feel free to join us, too!

Thanks for stopping by!!

God Bless,

Lisa