Homeschool Diva

Lord willing we will be heading down as a family in Feb of 2010.  Pray for us and our community as we begin to make our plans and allow God to direct our steps.

Blessings to all world travelers~

I now have the soar throat thanks to my dear children.  This is not the week I wanted or needed to be sick.  Maybe I will find somthing inspiring to say once I feel better.  Until then I am taking a break all the way around.

Grace and Peace to All~

We have lived in good old sunny south Florida for 7.5 years.  Guess what,  It took me 7 years to actually enjoy it.  There are so many factors involved as to why I was not really feelin’ it.   If you read this blog at all  you may know a little of our church planting story and all that we have had to unpack. So many things you need to process through when you have a dream of planting a missional community of people. If you want to know a bit more about us and our story or what the heck a missional community is, give my husbands book a read. It will fill in a few blanks for you.

Just a little FYI, it takes a long time to break in down here. I guess for us, it took us a little longer than most.  But now, I am here to say, we LOVE IT!.  I am thanking God everyday, that he lead us here and is planting us deeply and firmly into what he is doing. Thankful that He has connected us with some seriously kingdom minded people who want to see deep things break out in this area and seriously thankful that we don’t have to deal with snow.  Okay, that was a cheap shot but I really am thankful for that.  It is a serious good time.

Grace and Peace to all those who are waiting for it to be worth it~

Yesterday we spent the entire drizzly afternoon at the beach.  The wind was blowing, the tide was low and we were able to go out and observe a reef that was partially exposed just a few yards off the beach.

We had fun looking at all the life that grows on a coral reef. Snails, barnacles, sea fronds and other fun discoveries. Did you know that live coral feels funny on your feet? Not at all like mountain rocks.  Kind of crinkly and squishy. We hunted for driftwood and seed pods, we dug holes, built castles, and strung necklaces out of shells and sea grass.  We even ended our time with a treasure hunt.  The hunt started with the children having to work as a team to find several natural items and building activities to do together.

Today we go about the task of drawing what we encountered on the reef yesterday. It will be fun to see what we can remember.  All of this goes along nicely with our Pagoo reading. Flickr has pictures from our day.

Its going to be a great day.

Well, I have had a nice little blog/online break.  We have slept in, and spent tons of family time, as my husband has been home for the last two weeks.  We watched a few family movies and just generally relaxed with not much schedule.

I did some much needed reorganizing around here.  Cleaned my desk area of junk mail etc., cleaned out my hard drive of all the junk you accumulate over a years time, got a stack of papers ready for the kids to shred, organized my year of photos worth keeping and ruthlessly pitched deleted the rest, reworked my photography site online, cleaned out one child’s closet, got several boxes together to go off to goodwill, and last but not least thought through some things I want to add to our homeschool in the Spring. I guess I do my spring cleaning….in December.

Last night Mike and I went out for a date and saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.  I read the short story almost a decade ago and due to having all of these children, and my old age;-) I could barely remember the story.   I did, of course take along my camera to grab a few night images.

So, I am off to enjoy my last vacation day.  Next week back to my normal schedule.

Grace and Peace to all this year~

I have been in a home school tailspin the last 2 weeks. There are days you feel like you are not moving forward, like you are standing still, repeating yourself over and over again. I loose a little focus, combat thoughts of irreversibly screwing my kids up, and wonder if I am giving them enough food for thought. This is a VERY common phenomenon among homeschooling moms. I steered clear of this my first year, but mid way through my second I have walked headlong into the “swamp of despond”. I used to hear Mom’s who homeschool say this, and wonder about it. From my take, their kids were great, well adjusted, and well rounded, from their take, they were missing the mark.

Little clue phone about me. I like doing things “right” and I like it even better when I do them well. So lately I’ve been hearing the Holy Spirit knock on my heart about this whole homeschool thing. Would I be willing to lay it down, if He said so. What? That was a something shocking for me to hear. Then over the past few weeks, God has been reminding me that this is his journey with the kids that is a gift to me. NOT something that I can “hit out of the park” so to speak.

I get to be a part of watching them unfold before him, I get to pray into it, I get to let them make mistakes, and learn how to be okay with things not being perfect. I get to listen to the Father every day, and follow his lead, not my plan for them. I let go of having a clean house years ago, marriage and kids forced me to do that, but now I am letting go of having perfect kids, and the reality is, there is NO perfect homeschool.

Ahh, yes I said, I am not perfect, they are not perfect, my lesson plans are not perfect. I have loud kids and my boys are ALL boys. They climb, they wrestle and punch. I have no yard for them to go dig, we don’t live on a farm, so the hours of day that are not filled with school time, are filled with me working on how to engage them without having a farm to do it in. Most days I fail miserably at it. A girl can only drive around so much taking her kids to a park to play. I am tired of the pressure I put on myself for how my kids, especially my youngest should act. It is hard being the youngest in every situation he is ever in. Church, family life, school etc. The further I go down this home school path, I realize it is so much more about me than it is about them. If I am willing to be stretched and change and trust God in this whole process, then we all will be better for it on the other side.

I am re-reading my homeschool philosophy and letting God speak to me in those places I want to control. Ouch! I am letting go, I am giving myself grace, I am loving my kids right where they are, and I am trusting that God has my back.

Grace and Peace to all Homeschool Mom’s today.

One of the things that will take your photos to the next level is how you choose to crop the image. At first you may want to do this after the fact in an editing program. It is a good way for you to train your eye to see things naturally. Pull up any old image and start cropping the heck out of it and see what you like. You may even develop a bit of a style that is all your own.

Here is the first shot. The lighting is nice The composition is okay, but you don’t really appreciate the main subject, the flower, because it is lost in all the clutter.

So get a little closer. Make the main thing the main thing. Open up your aperture a little bit to create that fuzzy background otherwise known as bokeh. (If you are using a point and shoot, trick you camera by shooting in landscape mode, and make sure you focus on the object in the foreground) This is getting better, but it is missing a little something.

Now, swing it around a little, crack that baby wide open. On a standard kit lens, you can get down to a F3.5 so go as low as you can go. Offset your main subject to one side. This will create even more bokeh. I always tend to gravitate towards landscape layout over a vertical layout. As time progresses you will train your eye. You will start seeing stuff like this all the time. Your eye will be drawn to all that yummy light, you will look at the ordinary just a little differently and viola….art for your home.

Now, Give me your best shot! Whatever you like and want to share, no theme this week. Leave a link to your image on your blog or flickr in the comments, and go visit the other links and leave a nice little piece of encouragement for all our artist friends!

Have Fun!

In case you have not noticed, I LOVE homeschooling. I was also terrified before I jumped in. I know for as many of us that choose to home school, there will be just as many who feel led to go public or private school, or do not have the choice to be home because they are single moms or can’t afford for the Mama not to work. My way isn’t necessarily the right way for you, it is just one method out there and I hope you are encouraged by it. DON’T compare yourself in anyway, just take what you need and leave the rest.

I have friends in every camp: public, private and at home varying between unschooling to Abeca workbook style learning. There is something for everyone, if you look long enough. My hope is that in all these little glimpses of my real life, you would stop and think and pray and ask God how you can more deeply engage in your little tribes life where ever you may be, whether you stay home or are the chief PTA’er at your child’s school every time the doors are open.

I had a commenter specifically ask about our method, so I thought I would take a minute and address it here. In case any of you want a Charlotte Mason style education or love the idea of “classical education” and you don’t have a clue of where to start, you might find it helpful. I first read the book For The Childrens Sake by Susan Schaeffer McCaulay. I couldn’t stop, I just kept reading and dreaming. At the time I was heavily influenced my the Montessori method (I am big on methods:-) and was bringing the kids home and didn’t know where to start. I started to poke around, ran into a few homeschool bloggers who where giving me the Charlotte Mason vibe and the rest is history.

I do not have the time or energy to reinvent the wheel and create my own curriculum. Everyone says that is so simple, but that overwhelmed me. Kudos to you who do, you are my “sheros” . I really believe their is freedom within structure, so when my blog friend directed me to Ambleside Online, I felt like I had fallen in to a pool of women who knew what the heck they where doing, who spoke my language about developmental learning, giving me a road map to move forward yet the freedom to do what was best for our brood. I like big picture stuff, and I got to see the whole educational thread for 12 years laid out. I could see where it was all going, and I liked what I saw. Ah, niiiiccccce, not to mention it is a free curriculum and you can find most of the classic literature at the library or free online as ebooks. Now you are talking my language.

We supplemented a little Math-U-See with Mr. Steve (Love ya Mr. Steve!) got a few packs of lined paper from Walmart, downloaded our free ebooks and just got going. So, I will have to tell you a little more tomorrow. This post is already long enough and besides I have some killer shots of a super flexible kid that just have to go with these posts;-)

Sorry Christine, come back tomorrow and I will try and flesh it out more for ya. I want to go play with my kids.

Peace to all who want to play today~

It is amazing to me, to see how God gives you such wonderful things to think about with your own children. This one is my “mini-me”. God knew what he was doing for my overall formation, when he gave me the care of this little pixie. I see myself so clearly in her. You know those parts of you you don’t really look at or can’t see and those parts that you hope to be again one day? They are perfectly illuminated in our children, well they are for me at least.

Not just the things I need to work on, but the things that I have forgotten about me. Those child like, spunky, fearless things that this wee one hasn’t learned to stuff yet.  So right now, I am finding a deeper, more authentic me who feels really safe right now. Kinda like a kid, kinda like her up there playing.  I know most of you wont “get” what the heck I am even saying, but I know the shift that is happening in me and I am liking it a WHOLE heck of a lot!

Okay, I am not going to lie. I have been needing a new blog skin for some time. The old one was wearing me out and not giving me the visual affect I was after. When you spend time looking at amazing photographic images from all over the world, between blogs, websites and flickr, you aspire to put a better foot forward.

Would you look at these crazy, PHat, clear, crisp, images? I am out of my mind because I just figured out how to pull this off, with a few quick key stokes from my techie husband and a couple of pixel pointers from my new blog friend Lisa. The old template made me have to compress my images which made them look HORRIBLE.  I am now fighting the urge to go back and resize every image ever posted on this blog.

I am in a crazy bliss right now, I don’t think I will be able to sleep. I know, I know it is the little things in life that really get me going. So, now I can get back to writing. This whole visual thing has been throwing me off of my game.

I am back with a vengeance. See you all tomorrow:-)

Today we started work on our core subjects early so we could spend the better part of the day at the beach with homeschooling friends.

We really got some nature study under our belts today. It always amazes me how children will play for hours with nothing more then their hands and a ton of sand.

We found seed pods, and drift wood, and various kinds of leaves, and shells. It was a glorious day, and we all are better for it.

They dug so deep , the sand changed colors and water filled their holes. It was a fun day of discovery.

and so bit by bit, we move along in our great big homeschooling adventure. The amazing days far outweigh the hard ones. It is more fun then a barrel of…well you know the rest.

Peace to all and a little fun and the sun to all my northern friends.

I gasped in shock as our little family minivan made a slight bump-bump only moments after we saw a squirrel run across the road and turn back sharply to avoid an oncoming vehicle. It missed the other car and ran right under ours.

I put my hand to my mouth in shock, the kids asked “Mommy, why did you put your hand on your Mouth? and What was the bump bump sound?” We both remained silent. Mike then averted their attention to a kite flying off in the distance.

Poor little fella~

Last week, I’ve been cleaning up, organizing and getting ready to host tons of family for the next week. I’ve been painting, and playing with the kids, and fixing up holes in the walls (don’t ask) and touching up paint. I love doing that. Having fresh clean walls feels so gratifying.

Just a little FYI - I freaked on Monday, thinking I was totally messing up with all of this home school stuff, and I should just send the kids off to school, because I was missing the mark. My girlfriend calmed me down, and then showed me her second graders school work form the local public school. I calmed down. She joked with me and said I was just having a day. She was right. So I put a plan in place to just relax…thus the reason for no blogging.

Gracious, sometimes I think too much and I need to just go play. I went for some long runs and had Jackson ride his bike along side me. Talk about fun. He just talked and talked the whole way. I got to see a little bit of him that I don’t normally see. I felt like God gave me a million bucks in that one little bike ride. It is going to be our weekly date night:-) He said “Mom you don’t go very fast!” I said, “I am not supposed to go fast I am supposed to go far.” Wow that’s a metaphor.

So, now let’s see where we go this week. I am not going fast, but I am going to go far:-)

Peace to all those who need to remember to go and play!~

or at least that is what they think. Let me explain.

Lately, I’ve been PULLING my hair out over the issue of food with our children. The reality is, if I let them, they would stuff them selves on goldfish and pretzels all day. We do not eat out a ton, and I don’t have tons of junkie snacks in the house, so I had the false idea that they were eating a balanced amount of all food groups. I was wrong. Now, I have 2 choices, roll over and give up saying what is the use, or rethink our previous plan so that our little guys start to get the reality of this. I will be honest and say, I was about to roll over and throw my hands up in frustration because the simple “Eat whatever is put in front of you” family rule, wasn’t producing the actions we wanted.

My friend uses a chart for her son, to keep track of his snacks during the day, so I took a cue from her, and modified it a bit for my brood and have come up with a mini science lesson all in one little task. I told the children that I was going to teach them how to manage themselves when it comes to food, because one day, Mommy wasn’t going to be right next to them to show them what to do, so they needed to learn a good plan so they could stay healthy and strong as long as they live. I sat down with the children, giving them a detailed description of what are good foods to eat, what they do for us, and not so good foods we can eat and what they can do to us, along with a little talk about what it can do to our teeth. I then presented them with a little experiment that we were going to conduct for the next 30 days, to see how we feel and how we act based on what we are giving our body for fuel.

We created a foods chart, that they must monitor what they are eating by checking off in each column, fruits, vegetables, proteins, snacks, along with any observations they discover about how they are feeling during the day. Now when they say , “Mom, I am hungry I need something to eat.” , I say “Go look at your chart and find something appropriate.”(I help our youngest with the chart but the older two work at it mostly on their own)  My daughter who is the picky one of the bunch, is eating everything with joy and a twinkle in her eye because somehow it hasn’t become a battle between her and I, it is simply a decision she has to make based on guidelines I have given her. (Note to self: remember this as life moves along with this one!)

I have noticed a huge change in their overall attitude. They are not as cranky or seemingly as hungry all the time. They are still required to try new things I make, and do the best they can to eat what has been put in front of them, but somehow a shift has occurred among them that makes the whole situation much more enjoyable. I know as an adult, for me, there is a HUGE correlation in my attitude and how I feel based on what I am eating, so it must be true for them as well.

Sometimes, it is just a little tweak, and a previously challenging family exercise becomes fun.

Peace to all “tweakers” today~

Mike and I have put our money where our mouths are.

Remember us on December 7th starting at 5am.

posting my be spotty next week as we have a couple of these coming our way!  So I want to know, would you keep homeschooling in the midst of a CAT3 hurricane?

Pray with us!

It is essential. That is the reality. The truth is, with this, it is always one step forward, two steps back. You just keep plugging away and staying consistent, and over time little habits are trained. Here is a great article on the whole topic.

Right now, I am doing a happy dance, as our children, cleaned up their breakfast dishes all on their own, without being reminded. Yesterday, our youngest, with great enthusiasm, ran in to our room before the house was up to proclaim that he had made his bed. I feel like I am succeeding, if our children, are following through without constant reminders.

As with anything, there is no perfect ideal. Children are not robots and will not perform perfectly in every situation. That isn’t the goal. The goal, and the hope is that they can learn to control themselves and think beyond their own little bodies. The habits they are acquiring now, will take them through life, so we better think about that shan’t we parents?

So I am off to think about what habits I am modeling to them today.

Peace to all~

perfect penmanship (trust me for a boy this IS perfect)

and puddle play.

Ah yes, a perfectly splendid, orderly, efficient, yet gentle, done by noon, day of education. I was TERRIFIED that we wouldn’t fall back into the routine, because no matter how hard we tried this summer, things just kept getting postponed. Well, today, it was like riding a bike. All cylinders firing, and happy children. Oh Happy Days! Now, tired children will be going to bed early and we will hit it out of the park again tomorrow. I am doing a serious happy dance.

Peace to all Homeschoolers Today! It’s going to be another great year.

Poor kid turns 7 tomorrow and is sick as a dog.

I was gently stirred this morning at 5am, by his little brother yelling “COME QUICK IT IS AN EMERGENCY” and the subsequent sounds of wretching in the background. That is always a good way to start any day I am here to tell you!

Boys are sick, Sissy is fine, but wants to stay in her PJ’s and drink Gatorade too. Only thing we did different, I took the boys to the Super Wal-mart (first time, new germs) to kill some time while sissy was on a princess play date. They are sick, she is fine, you do the math! So who’s up for Gatorade and Ice-cream today?

Mommy wants a nap! Mommy is thankful for the stupid box TV on days like today, and Kleenex and flushing indoor plumbing and washing machines and air conditioning,and Gatorade and…..and…and….. I am a spoiled western American. Every time I go through this, I think what do single working Moms do, what do Moms with no medicine and sanitary conditions living in third world countries do? Mommy is thankful in the midst of vomit, and you can’t say that everyday now can you!

are on the way! I can’t wait. Here is our book list for year two.

I splurged and bought both the audio cd version and the written version of Pilgrims Progress.

This summer we did school a bit. Math, reading and a few family read out-louds. Heidi was a favorite. We got through half way reading out loud, and then found the audio version from the library and finished up listening to it.

Now, to assemble our handmade Book of Centuries and off we go again. I CAN’T WAIT TO GET STARTED! I feel like I need to lay my clothes out and get all my pencils in order.

Peace to all book lovers today!

(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~

(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.

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.

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. 

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!!

 is family day! That is what our kids call Sat. and Sun. The day where we all get to be together.

Today we spent some time outside down in Palm Beach. They have their gates and hedges trying to keep riffraff like us, out. We sneak in anyway.

This Banyan tree has to be hundreds of years old. It is right next to the water and its roots creep up out of the ground like some underground snake yards away from the trunk.

A sweet older woman on a bike, stopped and asked if she could take our picture. That was sweet of her. You get an idea of just how big this tree is. You could hide among its roots.

Mike played candy land with the kids under the tree. As you can see, Hudson was not interested. He wanted to explore some, so I followed along. One of the things I have come to observe this first year of homeschooling is how unique and different each child is. What sparks their interest and what does not. It is fun to tag along and think of ways to nurture those things that are blooming within them. I think that is good parenting, it is also good pastoring or leadership too, but that is another post.

I have had a hard last 3 days with Hudson. He hasn’t been very “able” to listen to Mommy. Whenever he gets like that, I have to look back at what has been happening the previous few days. Too much stimulation, not enough sleep and no outside time will make him and me nuts. So I got his little system back on track and today was much more pleasurable.

I highly recommend family days.  They are the highlight of our week.

and I love you!

Just a few simple words that should be said to your kids as often as possible.

If possible while looking directly into their eyes.

That is all for today!

Have a good weekend.

I was able to take some super cool shots of Shawn and his Canadian girlfriend Jenn last weekend. It is a ton of fun to capture priceless moments. I think last weekend was pretty priceless for them on many levels. Just read his blog. Well, since you asked so nicely, here are some of my favorite shots.

One of the things I feel like God is calling me into with my photography is finding beauty in ordinary, broken things that most people walk right by and never think another thing about. I’ve driven by this cement factory for 20 years or more, ever since I was a kid. It wasn’t until recently that I saw the beauty there.

Most things here are sqweeky clean. Nothing dirty or old, or so it seems. I am looking for the reality that is everywhere that somehow gets quietly hidden away in Palm Beach County. I keep digging for the “real” life that resides here and not the super glamorous one that everyone assumes it the norm here.

Urban Legend has it that they are putting an Old Navy in this partially built structure. Yuck! I will be so sad to walk into this newly built store when it is done, and remember this lovely light. I pulled up and kept the car running, and said, “Let me check the light.” I ran in and saw it there as if it was calling to me. We all jumped out and 20 minutes later I had this.

As my friend Lora says STELLAR!

Grace and Peace to all those in love today~

Yeap, that was my favorite line in the Prince Caspian movie.  It is true, imagination is at a premium these days.   It is so easy for us to follow the “party line”, do what has always been done and forget that there is always an unseen way. A path that is just itching to be blazed. I recommend seeing the movie, and reading Prophetic Imagination with a prayer that God will reveal the “unseen way” to you.

There is one you know.  A specific path that you have been called to blaze in your local context.  If you ask God to show it to you as well as give you the deep imagination to see it, you may just initiate a kingdom revolution that will not be sparked until you say yes and move forward.

I wonder what things would look like if more of God’s people could imagine things differently?

We found a wonderful nature trail near our home and found all sorts of things. If you look close you may even

find a few little monkeys.

We will be the proud parents of 5 children. Mike and I are happily hosting the teenage kids of dear friends of ours for 10 days. They are great kids and we are going to have a blast together. Giving them a little taste of our three ring circus will scar change them for life, I am sure in all the good and appropriate ways. Our three are thrilled and I hope to goodness they don’t wear those two out. So my posting may be spotty at best.  I hope to at least throw up some pics for your viewing pleasure.

I was also reflecting last night on our first year of homeschooling. For something I was so fearful of in the beginning, I now, couldn’t imagine our life any other way. The other day, we bumped into the owner of the old Montessori school we used to attend. They are expanding to 8th grade, building an all green, state of the art building that is within bike riding distance from our home. She has always made it clear that she wants me to work for her. A few years ago, I may of considered it. Now, I just smiled and said thank you. People often ask, “How long do you think you will home school?” Our tentative answer right now is all the way. I may change my tune when they are teenagers and of course, we are open to what God is saying at each step and phase and if it become apparent that a traditional school situation is best for all involved, then of course, that is what we will do. But for now, I love our family rhythm.

It will be a learning curve the next 10 days having teenagers and toddlers.  Pray for me!

We started our week enjoying a lovely little lagoon by our home with close family friends. It feels a bit more like a lake except for the gentle current. It is actually a tidal creek, so lots of natural marine life can be found there. We even saw a Manatee swim through. A large sand bar in the center, mangroves surrounding the exterior, it is a little slice of paradise. Think “Gilligan’s Island” with bathrooms.

I work very hard to have school work completed by lunch time so that we can go and enjoy all the beautiful things we have around here. Outside time is so important for all of our sanity:-)

All three of our children are roughly 18 months apart. They do almost everything together and are becoming close friends. It is fun to see and at times, Mike and I refer to them as the “three amigos” or “the brat pack”. Make no mistake. There is a reason we call her “scrapper”!

Book ended by two boys, she has to be tough to survive! I shudder to think of the things these three will think up to do together. It doesn’t help that our daughter has no fear. We are training the boys now to protect her and take care of those who are smaller and weaker then they are, hoping and praying that it will run through their minds at different points in their lives.

It was a beautiful, sandy, wet and breezy time. Great memories! Wish you all could of been there!

Peace to all beach rats today!

The house is open, the wind is blowing, the kids are catching bugs and blowing bubbles, I am listening to KT Tunstall, cleaning the kitchen and thinking about things like….

• follow through - without it the best laid plans are impotent.

• the horribly disrespectful action of multitasking…..I do this too much!

• the power of recording your story/journey through various mediums. Leaving tracks is a good thing for me.

• how recording your family life with images, helps you remember when your memory fails…..I have to do my family photo albums, not so much for me and Mike but for the kids. I want them to remember their life too, how they were loved, and what we did and how they were formed. Can you say nostalgic, I am not sure if this is good or bad.

• frustrated that I can’t find our wedding pictures “lost” in the mess of our garage (I HAVE TO CLEAN THAT OUT!) I just can’t do it by myself so I am waiting for help from my better half. Our 13th anniversary is on our doorstep and I like to look through the album and remember the night I married my prince charming.

I thought I would record some thoughts, and then flesh them out later. What are you thinking about today?

Peace to all chick rockers today!

If you have worked through the book The Artist’s Way, you are familiar with morning pages. Simply put, the author recommends that every morning you hand write three pages of whatever is on your mind first thing in the morning and with consistency you will begin to sort through your process in a deep and meaningful way, and that it will actually work itself into a form of prayer. I knew this to be true before I even began them. Since I was 18 years old, and maybe even earlier I have journaled as a way to get outside of myself and really own what I am going through…make sense of it etc. This blog is actually an extension of that.

I have fairly consistently done these morning pages, and have enjoyed what I see God guiding me in and to with them. It is actually very interesting to see yourself being moved in a direction you have NEVER in your life considered before, but somehow, now that you see it, it feels like it has always been there. I know that is very cryptic but hey, this is my process, I will flesh it out when it is a bit more tangible. Right now, I feel like a pot of water just before it boils. You see the small bubbles on the bottom and you know things are really getting ready to cut loose.

This is an exercise the author recommended. Join along if you feel so inclined.

Buried Dreams an Exercise: as recovering creatives, we often have to excavate our own pasts for the shards of buried dreams and delights. Do a little digging, fast and frivolous. Be sure to write your answers quickly.

1. List 5 hobbies that sound fun.

• sewing
• painting/photography
• scuba diving
• horseback riding
• flying

2 List 5 classes that sound fun.

• conversational Spanish
• painting
• pottery
• piano again after almost 20 years
• photography

3. List 5 things you personally would never do but sound fun.

• going to culinary school
• performing in a play
• surfing
• I don’t understand this one. Even as I write them I think, I am not sure I would NEVER do these things?

4. List 5 skills that would be fun to have.

• speaking Spanish fluently
• being able to reno an old house personally
• cooking for fun and not for necessity
• growing a fabulous garden
• rolling my own sushi rolls

5. List 5 things you used to enjoy to do.

• horseback riding
• flying
• diving
• dancing swing with my husband
• gardening (when I had a yard)

6. List 5 silly things you would like to try once.

• For the life of my I can’t think of anything silly to do?
• Maybe I am way too serious and not silly enough?
• Maybe it is because I think silly isn’t respectable?
• Oh my goodness I am a silly snob. Do I let me kids be silly enough?
• Oh wait I thought of one - perform in a circus - maybe there is hope for me yet.

• 5 in a row and the books that go with it.
• Laminated World Map for the wall. 

 Well, I thought I would try this again.  My new friend has an abacus for me and is sending it my way:-)  Isn’t blogging/social networking fun!  I have made many new friends and relationships through this blog and it never ceases to amaze me how people find me, and how I find them. 

So - I have decided to use 5 in a row for my youngest 2 starting this summer.  Any Diva out there have it and the books that go with it they want to pass along?  Also a laminated wall map or know where I can get a non-laminated one for free?

 I will pay for shipping and swap you something as well. 

Mike did not go to Chincha.  The plane flight was cancelled and the kids,and secretly I, were thrilled that he stayed home.  Now  I know it was God because he is sick in bed (again) with a dose of cipro in his body. You can actually buy prescription drugs over the counter here.  Just tell them what you want and they give it to you.  Hopefully that will knock things out and he will be back on track tomorrow.  I am thankful he didn’t end up sick in Chincha.  The kids and I are doing well and hope to stay that way until we return home.

Your Personality is Very Rare (INFP)

Your personality type is dreamy, romantic, elegant, and expressive.Only about 5% of all people have your personality, including 6% of all women and 4% of all men You are Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, and Perceiving.

How Rare Is Your Personality?

Not so sure about the introverted part, but I guess at times I am.   I generally work at being extroverted in order to include the “outside” people in a given group, not because I necessarily like it.  I guess it is a throw back from grade school.  Of course, every kid feels left out at one time or another, but it was particularly bad for me in our church growing up. I didn’t go to their “in” private school. It is interesting how those early things form you.  That, and there was this one boy who was teased mercilessly in grade school.  My heart went out to him and I did what ever I could to protect him.  So, to this day, I can’t stand exclusion or people who walk around thinking they may be better than others.

In the kingdom of God, everyone gets to play. From the youngest to the oldest, any color, any gender and no title is needed. I guess that is why I am so passionate about the kingdom of God.  Because in Jesus we are all equals.

Do:  Pick up, clean and take care of what God has given you in terms of housing.

Don’t: Assume that the paint color you just purchased from the paint store is an exact match.  It probably isn’t and you will be seeing spots on your walls, which is only slightly better than thousands of dirty finger prints.

I knew it was a strong possibility that this would happen, but I was hoping against hope that it wouldn’t.  I am going to let it dry overnight and see if others notice it the way I do.  

It is always good to be prepared to laugh at yourself and your many, many mistakes.  I do have some GREAT calm and peaceful music playing so I am peaceful in the midst of unending spot-age.

Living and learning!  Peace to all painters today!

**** Update - Yeah,  the paint dried out over night and not a spot in sight:-)  What a pleasant surprise to wake up to****

Let the decorating begin!  I want to be done by the 2nd so we can move into Advent peacfully.  Who wants to join me?

Lindafay has a beautiful post.  Here is a small excerpt. Please read it in its entirety for yourself.  It is Lovely! 

As soon as my children are old enough to understand whose bosom they came from and that he is calling them back to him, I begin to reason with their soul, reminding them of this great beautiful thought. “You were meant to be a prince/princess of God, He is beautiful and holy and wants you to reign with him one day. But earth is our training ground. He loves you dearly, let us not disappoint him. Let us make him proud of us.”

I have come to see that your first year of homeschooling is all about creating routine and forming family habits.  Not only for your kids but for yourself as well. I have been digesting and reading over Charlotte Mason’s 20 Principles. I really “dig” big picture philosophy and it helps me stay motivated in the day to day repetitive routine. Like I have stated in our HS philosophy it is very important for Mike and I to encourage our children towards thinking critically about the world around them.  #19 and #20 have really been speaking to me.

 19. Knowing that reason is not to be trusted as the final authority in forming opinions, children must learn that their greatest responsibility is choosing which ideas to accept or reject. Good habits of behavior and lots of knowledge will provide the discipline and experience to help them do this.

20. We teach children that all truths are God’s truths, and that secular subjects are just as divine as religious ones. Children don’t go back and forth between two worlds when they focus on God and then their school subjects; there is unity among both because both are of God and, whatever children study or do, God is always with them.

It was interesting to me the other day when Jackson asked me “Mom before Jesus walked on the earth, were all people heathens?”  He was making connections with some of our reading and the time line we have started.  It is true that children really do make connections all over the place in a holistic way if they have the space and time to think about it. 

So I am betting that if we help our kids to think, and give them enough good information to make connections and not necessarily discipline them towards morality and shelter them from the world we may end up with stronger, more grounded, thinking, adults who can live this “way of following Jesus” without it being fragmented and something that is just “fire insurance” or a code for morality.

Just my thinking out loud thoughts today. Peace to all~

a tropical depression darkened our door. 

Our poor weary travelers are ever so worried that treats and goodies will not be forthcoming.  A wonderful gala event has been planned for neighboring children and their parents at the gates of our humble abode and we fear that all might be lost.

Oh the scandal, oh the injustice, the travesty.  The earnest and humble prayers of three young saints have been on their lips since sunrise.  Me thinks there will be no “trick or treating” if 40MPH gail force winds persist but we believe that prayer does move mountains and in our case weather systems.

Please pray with us!

Mama Squirrel has the next CM blog carnival.  As usual I have picked up so great tips and tricks. Wander over and see what she has cooking.

Peace to all~

Today our youngest is 3.  We took him to the fire station.  He had so much fun and loved driving the fire engine.

We named our little “tank” Hudson Taylor after the missionary.  It is almost erie how he randomly talks of China and how it is far, far away. (We don’t often talk of China here at home so Mike and I find that a bit interesting) He is “all boy and a mile wide” and I wouldn’t have him any other way.  Today on his third birthday we pray blessings and protection over him. I adapted a bit of the evening compline for him.

 The peace of God
be over Hudson to shelter him,

 under Hudson to uphold him,

 about Hudson to protect him,

 behind Hudson to direct him,

 ever with Hudson to save him.

We don’t get to see the leaves change, but we are going to North Carolina for a dear friends wedding and hope to catch the change. To celebrate I made sweet potato pancakes.  We are also off to Sea World for a week of fun and education.  I will be posting pictures of our time there throughout the week.

 So part of my whole process is letting my artistic side get back into the game.  Like I have said before I have been a little out of whack these past few years, so I am getting back into painting, experimenting with photography and learning how to build this dang word press website if it kills me. (Trust me it is a creative process too!)  So I am participating in a weekly photo hunt.  I have wanted to learn how to work with digital photography and I  am the type of person who does well with a tangible thing to shoot for.   All you Northerners, go run through the leaves for us!

Peace to all!