(Sorry, this is a bit long and I don’t blame you if you skip it but it is my blog and my process so I write it my way. Live with it peeps!)

Little did I know that when I started this thread on Homeschool Scheduling, I would end up with a 5 part post on the topic. It has been very good for me to review all that God has done as I prepare to dive into our second year. There was no accidentally doing this, or just throwing things together. There has been an underlying process all along the way that has been shaping my thinking and my practice. So now you understand a bit more about our family and how we have come to this part in our journey and how I am able to do some of the things I am going to do this year.

Firstly, I have 3 children all roughly 18 months apart at 3 entirely different stages developmentally. They each need something different and because their abilities are so stretched out, one reading and writing, one staring to read and write, one just starting to hold a fat crayon, I realized a few weeks ago, that next year would need some sereious scheduling on my part in order to make sure that they all are getting what they need developmentally. I started to see, that I needed to be 3 places at once, and didn’t know how in the world to do it. I was falling asleep one night and had the thought, I wish I could hire someone a few hours a week to help me manage the three stages. So Mike and I had a talk about it and reviewed our budget and decided that that would be a perfect plan for this year.

I think as a child begins homeschooling, habit training is one of the most essential skills needed in order to move into successful life long learning. That takes time and focused attention, and to be honest, my youngest has not had enough of my undivided attention because our middle is starting to read, and write. Our oldest is reading and writing well, however, I am still doing most of his school reading because with AO you typically read several years above their skill level and don’t transition independent reading over to the student until about year 4. So I have 2 more years of having to meet three very different needs, and now because of the miracle of our budget, I am able to hire someone to come in a few hours a week, to implement very specific goals for my youngest, along side all the work that I am doing and overseeing with the others. We are also able to have our 2 oldest attend a PE program for homeschoolers in our area one day a week, while I have our youngest do a gymnastics class where he is working and interacting with his peers. So I will be running a 4 day week of schooling, with the 5th day being PE and doing art/music study and nature study in the afternoons after their quiet times.

Some of the practical things I will stick to, is morning schooling for our core work, done by lunch time leaving afternoons for “specials”. This ensures that we are all at our brightest and ready to move through our material. There are days we will have to do some things in the afternoon, as we did this year, but I am honest in saying it is not ideal for attitudes etc. so for our family, the morning is the best(getting copy work, math and reading out of the way first thing).

To make sure we all are having healthy boundaries (mommy included) as we all move along, we stick to a firm quiet time for all of us mid day. This allows us all to have some time to ourselves, to think and play without anyone else grabbing from us or directing us. We can sleep, or read, or pray and talk to God, or build or create, just as long as we are by ourselves for 1 hour each day. I am also making strong efforts to be up 1 hour before the kids so that I can exercise and be prepared for the day ahead. Getting each weeks materials ready before the week begins, so I don’t have to rely on the computer and the ringer turned off on the phone, helps us all stay on track. I am realistic that this is the ideal and that many days I will fall short of this, but I will just get back on my horse the following day, and get back at it again. There is no perfection in homeschooling, only trying to do better then the day before and you will stay the course.

We will start our school day at 8:30 with everyone doing a little poetry, memorization work and bible immersion (I hate the idea of bible stories. It seems so trite and contrived so instead we are immersing them in a thread of theological and biblical content. I’ll post on that later) . Before that, we will have breakfast, and do general chores before the day begins.

From there the older two will have a little copy work at the table. I am teaching them both cursive at once, and then back track and refine Chloe’s print skills the second half of the year. My youngest will do some patterning work/sandpaper letter or tracing work on the floor with our “helper” .

Jackson will “watch”/do his math lesson with “Mr. Steve” with Math U See (Golly I love this program - it takes all the stress out of it!) The littles will go to the kitchen and have a math lesson while preparing snack. Counting grapes, plates etc.

Jackson will do 20 minutes of out loud reading to our “helper” and I will do 20 minutes of reading with the littles using 5 in a row curriculum. Then a snack break and a quick bit of outside time. After that, I will move on to reading with Jackson some of his lessons that require narration and the Hudson will do some fine motor skill work with some of our Montessori materials and Chloe will watch her math lesson. I will then do a phonics rotation cycling them all through a 10-15 minute time of one on one time with me as the other two work on putting lunch together with our helper.

Before lunch we will all clean up our school work, say good bye to our helper and then have lunch and quiet time. In the afternoons I will teach them as follows: Monday piano lessons, Tuesday art study, Wednesday Nature Study Thursday Latin lessons and Friday library outing to get books for the next week.

There you have it. I’ve decided it is too blooming hot here in the summers, so we will probably do a yearly rotation of 3 months on one month off, because honestly, more then one month off gets boring for all of us. That way we have break months during the most beautiful weather all year. So, I will give this a good dry run starting in August and tweak and adjust as needed. I’ll keep all you good people posted!

(Hey don’t let any of this stress you out! If you are thinking of homeschooling or your kids are younger then mine relax. You grow into this for sure. Your first year is just trying things on and getting in to a good habit and routine. I always say, if you can read a recipe and bake a cake, you can homeschool. It just takes a little discipline and you grow right along with your kids. Deep breathes, excellent resources, patience with yourself and your kids and a strong support network will get you on the right track.)

Okay class, any questions? Anyone, anyone, Behuler?

(OK - who are we kidding here? I will get to the schedule when I get to it. If you haven’t yet, read the other 3.)

At the beginning of this year, we began preparing to go to Peru for 5 weeks. Through a combination of people giving spontaneously, and inventive money raising ideas(we rented our home out as a vacation rental for 5 weeks), me homeschooling and Mike telecommuting, we were able to go to South America for several weeks to be a part of a conference that friends of ours were preparing for national pastors there. We had no idea how this time would go. God sharpened our vision, renewed our hope in what He is doing here in South Florida, and spoke some new things.

Once home, we finally did our taxes dreading the outcome. We thought we were going to owe thousands of dollars and were not sure of how in the world this would all work out. I was actually dreading it. However, much to our shock and amazement, we received a refund that paid off almost all of the remaining debt we held. A few weeks ago, we were also contacted by a lawyer advising us of some mortgage relief that we are eligible for that we had no idea was possible. Our van is one payment away from being paid off, and it looks like by the end of the year, the last bit of the debt will be gone, our current home will no longer be upside down, and our family is right were we always wanted to be. Me at home, with a peaceful, non- stressed environment( well as non-stressed as 3 littles underfoot all day can be) and living well within our means, so that we can afford to be generous. It looks like it will take 2 full years of faithfully taking one little step in front of the other, following Jesus, to get us back to square one on paper but light years ahead in the kingdom. Really and truly being obedient one day at a time, leads you into greener pastures and beside still waters.

In all of this, God has been calling me to be even more available and present to the kids. Things like setting up boundaries and schedules that will protect our schooling time are a must for us. Little things like no computer and no phone calls during day time school hours are simple little tricks I throw into the mix. The reality is, if I am not able to be present here, listening to what God is saying each moment here in my little homeschool, I will not be able to minister anywhere else with any authenticity. The kids and myself for that matter, do really well with morning scheduled time, so if it works why mess with it? I am also learning, how to have guidelines, to help myself get alone time, insist on each of our children having their own alone time, and rediscovering what I was made to be, outside of kids and homeschool. I wont be a homeschooling mom of 3 littles 15 years from now, so I keep working on me outside of them. (Shocking I know but Moms must have something other than their kids and home to occupy their time.)

So, now you see why the schedule I will give you tomorrow has been a long while in coming. This schedule was bought with a very high price tag and it is very dear to me. As always a work in progress, changing and morphing to fit our needs. It is very specifically a tool to keep us moving forward, allowing me to observe our children and listen to the Father while staying connected and present the entire year as we move along in our sweet little God given homeschool.

My first year homeschooling was all about observing. Trying on a few things, seeing what fit and what didn’t. Watching the children interact, and learning what they need emotionally, spiritually, physically and cognitively. No one else will do that with as much love and passion as Mike and I will. Now, as we move into our second year I feel like I know right where I am going and how I am going to take us there. I have found some lovely resources that line up perfectly with our families overall schooling plan, and I can’t wait to see where we go over the next few years. Follow along~ it is going to be a wicked good ride!

Really cross my heart a schedule will be on tomorrows post:-)

Peace to all this day~

I FREAKIN’ LOVE THE NEW COLD PLAY ALBUM!!!!!!!!!!

Husband home, grill goin’ children dancin’, music playin’ wine flowin’, it has been a lovely week.

Sorry, more schedule stuff tomorrow.

Peace to all music lovers this night~

(Read the other two people!)

So, it was almost the minute we picked up the clue phone, said we missed it, asked for help, took responsibility for how we had gone wrong and were willing to make drastic changes in order to be obedient, the cloud began to lift. Mike and I could almost feel it. It was if we were back in the flow of God’s good graces, and the wreckage around us wasn’t a big deal. We knew, somehow God had good plans for us, and that doesn’t necessarily mean a positive checking account. Nothing changed with our finances. But we stopped trying to make it all work. We just said, this doesn’t work and what ever it takes Amber is staying home and pouring into our children. Heck - homeschooling wasn’t nearly as scary as possible bankruptcy. I called our Montessori school and said, we wont be back. They were gracious enough to work a payment plan out with us. This was in Feb. I had three months to start working out what the heck I was going to do with homeschool that was authentic to us and our story. (a VERY important part for any homeschooling family). We put the Mercedes up on a lease trader site and waited to see if anyone else would take it off or our hands.

I was praying one day and I just got this impression that within the week the Mercedes would be gone. I told Mike at lunch and he said, “You know it is funny, but I got the same thing today.” Later that day we got a call and within a week it was gone. I had to pay them 4k to take it off of our hands, but trust me I was happy to do it! Mike and I tease and call it blood money. The clouds were lifting and all I could think was “IT IS SO GOOD TO OBEY!” No matter what obey people it always ends up right.

Our other town home was still rented, and leaking, the kids were out of school so we now longer had that payment we did not have the Mercedes any longer. Our budget was starting to come into alignment but we were still leaking and upside down everywhere. But I started to school our kids in May. It was then that we met our Realtor who gave us the tough news about the reality of this market and what stood ahead of us. She was the one who taught us about short saleing, why we needed to think about it and why holding it as a rental was a bad idea. We drastically reduced the price and within a few weeks had an offer that the bank accepted and we were able to get rid of that part of our budget.

We still had the debt but at this point Mike got a raise and we were happy to only have the 36k in debt and nothing else. We were starting to be able to breath and for the first time in almost a year we were living within our budget and not leaking onto a credit card. In the midst of all of this, whenever I got stressed about where we were at, I would think, “This isn’t my job.God said he was rescuing me. He will do it.”

For the previous 18 months, I was rarely present with our children. And previous to that, I was too infant/pregnant tired to be available to anyone. I was always somewhere else, talking to someone else, doing something else other then being with them. I was there in body, but never in mind, or heart. I was ether striving or trying to escape. They felt it too. I was too stressed to enjoy them. No matter what, I was going to be with them and no where else. When Mike and I went into “ministry” we made a conscious decision to never put our kids on the alter of “ministry” and after this whole episode I was now convinced that I would never put them on the alter of building a business ether. They are our kids and our most precious resource and I wont hand them over to any else to shape or mold them and I wont do anything that doens’t allow me to be present enough to observe what they need. No matter what.

So it was then that we decided, in order to balance our debt load that we accumulated over the previous 18 months, we liquidated our kids college funds in order pay off half of the balance. It was one of the hardest and most freeing things we have ever done. We skrimped and saved pennies to put into those funds, and it was now, that we realized, God will cover them every day of their lives. They will be okay and when we need money for college it will be there. Right now, we needed to get rid of this debt so that we may pay it off in 5 years instead of 10. That brought our debt down drastically, our budget was solid and in the black and I was learning every month how to weed out bad parenting habits that crept in over our time in the barrel, and how to build a little home school that nurtured what God was doing in our family.

So at the beginning of this year we were down to 16k in debt, only a few months left of paying off our van and living within our budget for several months. A strong pattern of financial discipline was forming. One of the things that happens when you are that far gone in debt with no way out, you tend to not care at all. The thinking being oh well what is another 100 bucks on top of mount everest. Now, we were seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. We still live in a townhome that we bought at the hight and it has now dropped 150K from what we purchased it for, but we are a step closer to getting out of debt, and then God surprised us again.

Honestly, tomorrow I will put up a schedule. I am on a roll now!

(If you have not done so, please read my previous post. Or not, you can do what ever you want but this one will make a heck of a lot more sense if you do!)

So when I finally came to grips with the idea of homeschooling, I realized that I had been gently led to this point. I honestly don’t think I would of ever gone for it, if I hadn’t been forced to. You see, 2 of our 3 children went to a very prestigious Montessori school in the area, that I was able to work a “deal” on barter to get them in there. Basically, they owned me and I was their slave but that is another story, and I henceforth have determined to never enter into another situation like that again. I now know, I can give my children every bit as developed and appropriate education as any private or public school for that mater, but I could not see that then.

We live in a very affluent and expensive region in the country. Bottom line, we didn’t make enough to live on, since moving here 7 years ago. So I have always worked up until 18 months ago. There was no option, and some of that time, my business income was our only income, as ministry work in our field does not pay. So, I worked during all of our pregnancies, up until the day before delivery, had c-sections all three and went back to work 2 weeks later. Every time. When you own your own business, you don’t work and you don’t eat, so I just put on a happy face and was happy to have the work. At that time I taught music classes to moms and young children and had tons of families that I was servicing. Somehow along the way, I realized that everyone else’s children were getting the best of me, and our own dear children where getting the bottom of the barrel so to speak. So I was open to doing something else but what?

We also, were moving, and moving and moving. Playing the leap frog game, working our way towards moving our family into more than a 2 bedroom which doesn’t work well well with three kids and one that was hurricane safe. So in the past 7 years we have moved 5 times, heaven help us. We hope to be here for a good long time. The almost laughably ironic thing is, our children all still sleep in the same room because that is what they have done since birth. Even though we now have a 3 bedroom no one actually sleeps in it unless we have overnight guests.

In the midst of this, another business came along. Out of left field really, but after Mike and I prayed about it, we decided to give it a go. Now for all of you skeptics out there, we felt like God lead us into it. It was very important training in how the actual culture we live in here works. I have whole new perspective and compassion for the masses around here and a deeper way to pray but I am getting off topic again. Sorry. Anyway, It was actually a network marketing business with a company called Arbonne. As far as business goes, I am pretty good at building things. So, before I knew it, I had a huge business and made close to 50K a year and drove the company car which happened to be a white Mercedes. (OK - really I drove our mini-van and Mike drove the Mercedes) Honest to Pete people, I just looked around 12 months later after starting the business and said, “How the hell did I get here.” Yes is did say hell, actually I may of said something else but I digress! Just because you are good at leading and good a building doesn’t necessarily mean you should do something. We only wanted to make a few hundred a month with this thing, and then it was bringing in as much as my husband, and you know what - “IT OWNED MY LIFE”. My phone rang off the hook, the end of the month was a stressful day every month and I had the pressure to bring in X amount to meet all of our bills. I wanted to stop one business so my kids got my best, and now I was giving them even worse then before - not to mention I felt like a consumerists sell out and the high maintenance aspect of our lives made Mike and I SICK - SICK - SICK! You know what, I wouldn’t trade any of it. I learned so much about myself, about good business, about what I really want that I wouldn’t trade any of the past several years.

Remember I said 18 months ago I was in the midst of watching a business dying a miserable death. My entire Arbonne team were Christians. All of us almost simultaneously felt like God was calling us to lay down our Arbonne businesses. It was actually quit hysterical when we all started comparing notes. I am not sure many people knew how bad it really was. They saw we drove a white Mercedes, lived in a new town home, our kids went to private school and thought we had all the money in the world. 18 months ago was the peak. We hit the glorious wall so to speak and we were asking for forgiveness for being duped, and thankfulness that we unlike many others had Jesus to fall back on. So Where did we go from there?

I said “Wow -God we have made a real mess here. We moved before you said go on some things, and now we are stuck. I was trying to provide for us, instead of trusting that you ALWAYS give us exactly what we need.” From then on, I let go and said, “I will trust you.” I knew somehow that as Mike and I began to work through this horrifying mess, we would learn so much, and gain so much out of it. I knew we would be paying for our mistakes for many years to come, so we just prepared to take our medicine like good little children. I some how deeply knew that pain, although hard, isn’t bad. I knew this is also part of our training and formation into Christ likeness.

So just in case you are lost, 18 months ago, I was left with a business that instead of bringing in 4k a month was bringing in 10% of that, my children were in a high priced private school that was killing us with tuition, we had a townhouse that hadn’t sold and were floating 2 mortgages and, 36K in credit card debt and oh yeah, I was stuck with a Mercedes lease that I couldn’t get out of. Remember God said “He was rescuing me.”? He wasn’t kidding.

So, I know, I know, you are saying - enough already - when do we get to the blessed schedule already?

Tomorrow friends, tomorrow.

Wow I kind of feel like Mr Miyagi. Peace to all Daniel-son’s this day.

I have had a few requests recently on how my typical home school day goes. The first thing I would like to say is that, nothing is typical in homeschooling. That is what is so great about it and what makes it equally as hard. I thought I would spend some time writing a few posts on the very thing, so that I may more completely “own” the reasons why I feel we should do and not do the things we are doing in our sweet little homeschool here in sunny south Florida. If you have read my blog much at all you know that we use the Charlotte Mason method for homeschooling via Ambleside Online and I am heavily influenced by Maria Montessori. For those of you who know who those people are, you may understand me a bit better, and if you don’t know who those people are, no big deal. Google them and you can learn a bit but it isn’t important for this story necessarily. After having a full year under my belt, there are some things I have learned and many things I have unlearned. This little exercise will give you a bit of a glimpse of that from my view point.

As I began thinking about this, I was thinking about the road that brought me here and how it has shaped and continues to shape what we are doing as a family that schools non traditionally. The story starts many, many years ago, but I don’t need to start there for you all. I only mention that to say, there is always more to every story then these few inscribed lines. I distinctly remember 18 months ago, sitting here at this very computer, feeling the most depressed, stressed and overwhelmed I had ever felt. (I will tell you about that in a second.) I was crying out to God again for Him to lead me and guide me. I remember shifting slightly in my seat to grab something on the floor, and felt like God said, “I AM RESCUING YOU!”. It was not audible but it was as clear to me as my own breathing. Have you ever read the story of CS Lewis and how he came to faith in God through Jesus? He said he went out for a bike ride to the zoo. When he left his home, he did not even believe in Jesus Christ and when he got to the zoo He did. Just like that. I love how the Holy Spirit can give you almost instant understanding of something that up until the point of his supernatural working, it is fuzzy and unclear, and then in that moment it becomes as clear as crystal. In that moment, I realized some how I had gotten lost and off track. I was out in the thicket somewhere and the Good Shepherd was coming to find me. (Oh how I love the parable of the Good Shepherd. I am always that little lost sheep who is being found. Maybe you are too.)

So why was I overwhelmed you ask? Well to make a long story short, we were in a state of utter financial disaster. Firstly, the town home we are now in, we unfortunately bought at the highest point in the market, without having our other home sold. We took some time praying about it before we moved to this current home, and felt like God said to move, so we did, and then we continued to wait for him to deliver us. We continued to try to sell as the prices fell and fell and fell, and then finally, because we had no way of covering 2 mortgage payments any longer, we rented it out and hoped the market would somehow rise again. Well, we all know were the market is now. A few tenants later, and a marvelous real estate agent who really educated us about the market and were it was going, and how we may move forward in our current situation, we “short-saled” that home and were free from the financial burden of it. I know you are thinking, “What does this have to do with homeschool schedules?” You will see!

At the time of sitting at the computer we where unable to sell the now seemingly “cursed” previous home, and I was sitting with a business that was in the throws of dieing a miserable death. (Maybe I will tell you about that business some time, and how that story shapes what I am now doing, but not today dear friends. Read on!) We were in so deep, I saw no way out. We now had 36K in credit card bills (thanks to trying to hold the house) and I had a business that was no longer “viable” and our budget was all based on my income coming in. When I no longer had an income coming in, we found ourselves leaking 2k a month in our monthly budget. Now you know why we had the 36K in credit card bills. No we were not buying boats or Prada shoes or anything. It was in the midst of this reality, that I heard God say he was rescuing me and that I needed to just let go and stay home with the kids. I knew down deep that we all would be better for it and that the next season we were entering into was one of discipline.

Wow this is getting good. I love how God makes “beauty out of ashes”.

See you all tomorrow~

Today Mike and I have been married 13 years. He has taken me away for a few days just the two of us. I highly recommend it for all you married couples out there with a few kids running around.

We have been reflecting on who we are , where we have been, where we are and where we are going. To be honest, if feels like we are just getting started. Can’t wait to see what the next 13 years hold.

I will be back home later this week, and hope to be back to regular blogging.

Peace to all those with wedding anniversaries this month! I know there are a ton of us.

Today I had a ton of fun taking some pictures of friends and their out of town family. When you are shooting this many people, you have to keep it fun and moving fast. Not to mention, the rain was eminent, so I was a shooting fool, yelling out orders like a drill Sargent.

This is one of my favorites. I love the composition and my favorite part is the little yellow flower. Isn’t it sweet?:-)

Wow look at those clouds, the rain was running us down for sure.

I love this little interaction between the Daddy and his boys. So sweet.

Gardens are always in some state of growth, even when dormant, there are vital things happening to promote overall health to the garden. It is true that what you put into a garden, in the way of care, is directly proportional to what you get out of it. There is no “low maintenance” garden. They all need tender loving care. Here are a few fun facts that I found when I was studying about gardens and gardening. (I also read through Genesis 1-6 several times. That however took me another direction that I will post about another time. Read it for yourself and see what comes up for you.)

• To have a healthy garden you have to have healthy soil.
• You must always prepare and fight against weeds and pests.
• Water deeply, regularly and infrequently to promote a strong root system.
• Use companion planting to help all plants to thrive together.
• A healthy garden produces good things for those around it, clean air, healthy food, visually stimulating.

So the other night, as I was falling asleep, I started seeing all styles and types of gardens run past my minds eye. Each one had someone walking through and working on the garden. It was then that I thought “Gardens are not low maintenance. They take consistent work.” Even when they are dormant, they need some form of care. Lately, I’ve been relearning the idea of baby steps, consistent small things adding up over time make long lasting results. I’ve been thinking about how a garden is a great metaphor for life. Good gardens, beautiful gardens are ones that are well tended. Those are the gardens that people are drawn too, they want to sit down and stay awhile, enjoy the stages of growth contained within.

So what do I need to be tending in my garden? I think it is good practice to always be asking the Father what he is working on in you, so that you can be more aware, working with him instead of against him. For me I am going back to the spiritual disciplines. Disciplines are kind of like tilling the soil of the garden, they don’t really produce anything in the moment of doing them, it is more like they create the environment for good spiritual things to grow. They create space for fruit to naturally occur.

One of the things I will do this summer, is take a day away, by myself with my journal and a calender to map out a “soul care” plan with God. Then I will block things out in the calendar that I must do for my own spiritual development. One of the challenges of homeschooling, is the fact that you don’t really get a break to think about other things. I need to do that for myself. Things that are vital to my spiritual health. I heard Dallas Willard say once, he blocks his calender out for 5 years at a time, otherwise life just happens and you have never put your hand to the task of taking time to ponder. Pondering is good for my soul.

So what “disciplines” do you need to throw into your mix that will help your garden grow well?

Peace to all gardeners today~

for Chloe

whenever I see a red hibiscus in bloom I think of our dear daughter. Yes, she loves them and is forever picking them, but that is not why I think of her. Her name means “blooming and verdant faith” I was praying for her one day, and this was almost exactly the picture God gave me in my minds eye. So I painted it for her and it now hangs in her room. The only problem is, I love this picture so much more than my painting. I paint so much better with my camera then I do with my hands. Alas, this is why I love it so much, Sigh!

I am still working on my garden post. I am still thinking, soaking and reading -be patient dear friends - they say it is a virtue:-)

This is a very dynamic time for me. That dreamy time before you are not really sleeping yet, but you are not really awake. It is when, I begin to let go of the day, and leave it with the Lord. I let go of last remaining remnants of control I “think” I have over any situation and I climb into a peaceful slumber where I believe the Lord still speaks and calls and sings over his people.

We have actually prayed a very similar prayer over each of our kids almost every night before they go to bed.

Dear Lord,

Give ____

a mind to know you, a heart to love and feet to follow you all the days of their life. Send angels to protect them as they sleep and sing beautiful songs over them about your kingdom. Give them supernatural understanding of your mysterious ways, and lead them and guide them. In your name we pray, Amen

We haven’t ever modified it. Actually, we may just pray it over them until our last breath. It covers all the bases. The kids expect it and add any portion that we may absently forget. There are some nights we forget but generally we have done this most nights since they were infants.

I know for me, that the Lord usually highlights something, that I feel He is supernaturally working on in me while I sleep, so I figure it must be the same way for them too.  Do you ever do things for your kids when they are asleep because they just don’t fight as much, leave a note, cut their nails, wake them up to use the bathroom, take their temp, give them medicine? I think God does stuff like that for us too. I myself like to cheer the Lord on just as I head of to sleepy land.  Kind of like saying, I trust you God, you do good things,

So the other night, God started teaching me something new about gardens, gardening, low maintenance, no maintenance and consistent, daily maintenance. So if you are good, maybe I will tell you tomorrow.

Peace to all today~

Journaling is one of my favorite things.

I have journaled off and on since I was 18 years old. (It is interesting and kind of “trippy” to go back and read yourself as an 18 year old.) This blog is a simple form of my journaling. It doesn’t go as deep and raw as my hand written journal, but it does help to guide me along in my process. That is why I don’t have a certain theme I cover on certain days of the week. I need to keep this about right where I am at in the process. The trick is to stay present, caring only about what God has set out for me this day, with the confidence that He will take care of every tomorrow. We do have goals and plans of where we want to be in 5 years, 10 years etc. but I never want to live there today, I just want to take a tiny step today and trust God for all the rest.

I have always been an advocate for journaling when people tell me they can’t slow down, or their mind races a million miles a minute, or they need direction on something. Culture doesn’t allow for us to be still and silent. Even when we do carve out time for this, our mind has been conditioned to fly a million miles a minute. It takes discipline and consistent training to cause our minds to stop thinking about ourself and start thinking about someone much bigger than ourselves. That is why I so dearly love theologians like Foster and Willard who promote the disciplines of silence and solitude. I have so far to come in this regard. But I keep taking tiny steps forward.

Somehow the act of writing out your thoughts helps you to organize, process, throw out the unneeded thinking, hold onto the precious pieces, make since of the hard ones. It gives you a big picture view, a clean sweep every day that allows you to get rid of you and take in more of Him. Well you can’t hear what God is whispering to you when you are full of you. It also allows me to see the finger prints of God in my life, shaping, guiding, forming, correcting.

So tonight, I made myself some tea, lit the candles, and wrote out all my cares, my thoughts, my failures, my dreams out on paper, again. Almost like an act of getting rid of me and sitting silently with the one who knows me better than I know myself. Sitting with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is a favorite thing.

Sometimes I draw, sometimes later I come back to find that they have drawn. I used to get angry and say this is Mommy’s journal. If you want to draw I will get you a piece of paper. Now, I just enjoy the little tiny fingerprints left here for me to remember years from now. Now, Chloe will ask me to sit and sketch with her, in her own journal. It is her favorite Mommy/Daughter time, that and doing dishes - go figure.

In the past I have seen a little bit of me, that needs a little fixing, a deeper healing. A piece that keeps running ahead of God, thinking the grass is greener, the sky is bluer, and that there is somewhere else I should be. Now, when I journal, I see a deeper understanding that the grass isn’t greener and that I am right where I am supposed to be, doing what I am supposed to be doing, and that He will provide for every day in this life and in the life to come. Funny thing is, I would of never seen it, if I hadn’t looked back at my journal and witnessed all that God is doing in me and all that He is leading me into. If I would of continued to look to being somewhere else I would of missed all that He is doing right here.

Peace to all that are working on being present to what the Father is doing in their lives, even if it is kind of painful, and you don’t get it all, but you refuse to run away and hide like it isn’t there etc. etc. etc.~

I was in major despair when one of my favorite groups, Nickle Creek disbanded.  But now, one of Nickle Creek’s alums, Chris Thile has a new gig going and I am super happy.I do miss the female vibe, but I will get over it.

Punch Brothers!  Check them out! Here is a musical review. 

I will send you a Star bucks coffee card if you know what that is without using Google to find it:-)

I am working on that right now. OK I will save you the trouble and give it to you here.

Trouble is, with my short lens, I don’t seem to get killer bokeh. I tricked my camera a bit and shot in macro and got a little, but I need to keep working on it. It gives me good reason to share something else we have been up to. Right after we got back from Peru we started sprouting an avocado pit.

This little baby drinks water like there is no tomorrow. I need to get it in a pot soon, but it is so fun watching it here on my window sill. The kids love it. I think it will take 5 years to bear any fruit, but hey, most things are like that.

Grabbed a fairly good silhouette shot here.

I can’t believe how many leaves this thing has so quickly. Before I know it, it will have limbs. It is crazy how God causes things to grow. It really has me mind boggled right now. Now, what to do with it once it outgrows the pot? Currently we are working on sprouting a peach pit. I will keep you posted.

I am dreaming of several new lenses even as I type. Anyone have an extra grand laying around that they want to donate to my artistic cause?

Peace to all Bokeh enthusiast today!

Yes - today is the day!

From steam to stern, I will call my little troops and myself into a cleaning battle.  With Daddy gone the past few days, the house has become less then tidy.

Plan of attack.

• Jackson strip beds and sort laundry.
• Chloe help with unloading and loading dishwasher.
• Hudson - take out the remaing trash.
• All - pick up and tidy bedrooms so Mom can vacuum etc.
• Mom - sweep, vacuum and clean the bathrooms, generally oversee little troops making sure they are cleaning and not recreating the mess.

So here we go.  We’re gonna’ rock out to The Decemberists, Shins, Deathcab for Cutie, KT Tunstill and Worship Circle. It’s going to be a wonderful day!

to follow Jesus. She was right. A few days after she turned 5, she felt big enough to do it.

A few nights ago at the dinner table, we were talking about God, Jesus, heaven and other such mind blowing topics, especially for little guys. In the course of the conversation Jackson said, “I decided to make Jesus my king and follow him when I was five have you decided yet Chloe?” She said, “Not yet.” and we all went on with the conversation.

Last night she woke up twice calling for me. That is not normal. She had some itches and couldn’t sleep, the second time she was hungry. Both not normal for her, so I wondered if God was doing something with her. So the second time, I gave her a piece of an apple and said, “just lay still and you can talk with Jesus”. She said “I am, he says He loves me and wants to be with me and with all people.” I gave her a kiss and prayed for her and went back down stairs.

This morning she declared to me that she made Jesus her king and that she is his Queen. Well, way to know who you are in Christ. Not just a princess but a Queen. Welcome to the kingdom baby girl, take it and run. It is an amazing adventure.

Grace and Peace to you my little Queen:-)

Mommy

Yeap - I learned that from my Dad. When my brother was a new teenager, he was IN to football. He still is for that matter. My dad, not so much, but because my brother was in to it, so was he. It was something they could talk about, do together and bond over. Especially when there is not much else to bond over when you are in the dreadful awkward teenage years.

So for me this is how it translates. Our almost 7 year old, LOVES bionicles. A new teenager in our group had grown out of them last year and gave him 2 huge bins full of bionicles. Trust me peeps, they are EVERYWHERE in our house, the couch cushions, the bathrooms, drawers, laundry. I can’t ever get away from them. They even go with us everywhere and pieces of them are usually left at our friends house. Like a trail leading back to home. At the time, we knew nothing of bionicles or their kind, but eventually found our way to the lego website and “learned” all about them. There were things we didn’t allow Jax (as he likes to be called now) to view or watch. We said, use your imagination, make up your own story. I taught him a few weeks ago how to make those little animated thingies on a pad of paper. You know when you flip the pages the story moves along. Well, he took that and one upped it. Now he has created a bionicle movie of his own. Inspired by a kids on youtube, my photography and his Daddy’s techie skills, he has now become a director, screen writer, set designer, choereographer and stunt man. As we are working along he says “Why don’t we ever have family time in the house, doing things like this?” (Sorry dude but the littles need massive amounts of outside time.)

We havn’t even gotten this “film” in the “can” yet and he is thinking and dreaming about his next feature short. The story line, the names, his mind is spinning. Now the kids favorite book is Viking Tales so it is all about a battle and such, but at least I am thankful the good guys won. I guess I would be more concerned if they were baking cakes. All I could think as he was doing this is , HE IS SO MUCH LIKE HIS DAD! So, I am getting into it. I am learning the names, the battles, the weapons. Mama is getting her armor on and big boy is rockin’ the you tube!!