Photo Journal of Vacation Part 1

This year we went to Florida for our family vacation. Since having children Matt and I have made it a priority to go on vacation once a year. We save and save to do this because we feel like it is so important for our family. However, up to this point we've always just taken extended weekend vacations. This year however, my nephew was graduating from High School down in Central Florida so we decided to take a whole week off. I felt rather irresponsible going when gas prices are so high, however, we had already booked the house when gas was $1 cheaper per gallon and just couldn't get out of it without losing money. Well, I'm happy to report we stayed within budget and had a great time! (no more guilt, yeah!)

We met my parents in GA on Sunday and then headed on down to FL on Monday morning. We had to stop on our way down at a farmers market for fresh produce and at a bookstore that priced all their books under $3!! We finally arrived at our rental house around 5pm on Monday and just relaxed and had a cook out with Carl's and Larry's families. The next morning we woke up early and went to Disney World. A man at Carl and Tamme's church works at Disney and gave us all park hopper passes for FREE!! Thanks Eugene! Here are some pictures of our day.

I love the Florida sky.

A nice lady offered to take a group picture for us.

The never ending lines!

Courtney shot this picture for us.


Micah on the Teacups. I had the boys wear hats to protect them from the sun, however, Micah kept turning his sideways with the string over his face. Go figure!


Steven talking with his "Little Buddy". Notice Josiah is sacked out in the stroller, Disney can be exhausting!

Chris watching his cousins play at Pooh Corner.

Micah refreshing himself at a "spring".


Checking out the Swiss Family Tree House.

We also went over to Epcot for a couple hours. The boys LOVED the aquarium there. The photo below is proof that there is such thing as having too much fun. :)

Well, I have more photos from our trip, but I'll stop with Disney for now, since I need to get a few things done before lunch. Check back later for more photos.

WERE BACK!

Hola my Blogging Amigas!

I sit here a bit nauseated from an all nighter trip home from Sunny Florida!(BTW, this was much easier to do 15 years ago) I've missed you all, but had a wonderful time. As always though, it's good to be home. We left Lakeland yesterday afternoon around 4:30pm and arrived home around 8am. We've just rested today, and plan to rest more tonight. Tomorrow we'll get back into the swing of our lives.

We had such a nice time and would definitely recommend renting a house while on vacation as opposed to hotels. We shared the house with my Dad and Mom and so it was actually cheaper to stay there than get a hotel. We had a private pool, full kitchen and laundry, so spent a very minimal amount on food. Not to mention having a big house with a private pool and game room was so nice when my brothers and their families came over to visit.

So tomorrow I will have energy and I'll post a photo journal of our week. This is the first week long vacation we have ever taken as a family and our favorite part of the trip was just getting to be together. Our lives are so busy, it is a real treat to just have a whole week with nearly every moment spent together. We kept singing periodically during the week, "We're on vacation!" (everything is a song with us)

Well, I need to at least put a few things away and maybe mow the lawn. Check back tomorrow.

Photo Journal

Mother's Day morning. I got hugs, breakfast in bed and a homemade card with an "Off Duty" badge to wear for the day. Matt answered all questions, cared for the boy's needs, and did Daddy/Mommy duty in general all day. It was WONDERFUL!
We found 2 box turtles this week. Josiah named his Rex and Micah named his Pregnant. I'm thinking he doesn't understand that pregnant is a state of being, not a name.

A couple of weeks ago Josiah had his last group recital. His wonderful teacher is semi-retiring(she is holding the retirement gift Joisah made her in this picture. She will still give private lessons, but will no longer give group lessons or recitals. It was a wonderful concert, I'll have to post a few video clips later.
Some of the kiddos from our church who take lessons from Dr. and Mrs. Mellado.

Our parenting class this month was held at Bryan and Shelli's and we brought our kiddos along. Our class represents 12 children, only 3 of those are girls. :) Here are some shots of the boys wrestling with Mr. Robb.



I had to share this with my girlfriends. I was invited to an Uppercase Living party. It's a new line of wall rub-ons(for lack of a better term). I got this small verse to see how I would like the effect on my wall. I love it, and plan to incorporate more verses throughout our home. They have plenty of great pre-made verses and images to choose from, but you can also customize your own. Such a neat way to add a personal touch to your home.

We've been studying the Romans the last couple of weeks. These are some Mosaics the boys made. Josiah's is of an Aqueduct and Micah's is of a checkerboard. The other day the boys piled chairs, blankets and such in a corner and I heard, "Micah we are two Romans and we are fighting one Carthaginian(I'm assuming that was me). Then Josiah runs to his room and comes out with his pool noodle and says, "And here is an Aquadot!" TOO FUNNY!

Hope you enjoyed this little Photo Journal of the last few weeks. Hope you have a blessed day.

Whew, what a week!

It's been one of those Mommy weeks. You know the kind that totally exhausts you and you haven't even done a lot of physical labor. It's my poor little brain that is so tired, well my brain and my heart. Not in a bad way, just in a very "worked out" sort of way. Am I making any sense? If not, just blame it on my "exercised" brain. We've had tons of rain and so the boys have been inside. It seems that once Spring comes and they are released from the confines of the house, if it rains and they are confined again they are like caged animals. Lord help the Zoo Keeper!

The very nature of how Matt and I parent lends itself to mental exhaustion. We understand that the first several years of a child's life they cannot really understand themselves and so we attempt to explain their hearts to them. This means we have to be very attentive to their motives etc.. so that we can "read" them properly. Lot's of issues are self-evident, but the energy of explaining it all is tiring. For example, if the boys are fighting over toys they know they are "breaking a house rule" but what they don't understand is that their hearts are acting out of greed and selfishness(greed on the part of the one taking the toy, selfishness on the part of the one insisting on keeping the toy). Sometimes I think, "Wouldn't it be easier to just tell them no, swat their tooshies and be done with it?" And yes it would, but I'm looking to get their hearts not just their actions. And so this has been a week of lots of training and explaining. It also has my mind thinking on what it is God, my heavenly father, wants from us.

On Monday we went to town, we got home right at nap time. I gave the boys instructions. I specifically told Josiah, "I need you to pick up the toys in the yard and then go in the house, because it's nap time." Several minutes later I was still outside and Josiah was nowhere to be found. I looked up at the house and he was sitting in the living room looking out the window. He had followed the letter of my law. I only specifically asked him to pick up the toys,and he had obeyed. I was not at all pleased with his legalistic approach to obedience. But I wasn't sure if he really had understood my intent so I asked him. "Josiah, what do you think Mommy wanted you to do after you picked up the toys?" He responded, "you probably wanted me to go potty and then go to bed." I affirmed this as true and explained that what will help me to really trust him and will in turn give him more freedom is if he will think about what Mommy would want him to do and then do it. Because there is no way I could ever give him enough instruction to cover every little detail in life and so I want him to learn to use his brain to do what he knows would be right.
That little scenario reminded me again of what I believe God wants from me. I'm not one bit interested in a relationship with my children that consists of them figuring out how much they have to do or how much they can get away with and still be following all my rules. I want their hearts. I don't think God is interested either in a relationship with his children that consists of us following the letter of the law and not reading his intent and thinking through what would be pleasing to him. He wants our hearts. If I am truly trusting him for my very salvation at the end of this life, if I am truly loving him with all my heart, mind, and soul it seems ridiculous to look at life through a lens which says, "Now what do I have to do or how much can I get away with?" It's as crazy as saying to my husband, "Now I know I can't commit adultery, but you never said anything about flirting."

So as you can see my brain has had it's work out this week. I'm looking forward to Friday night. Becca, Lora, and I are going to the Friday Night Crop at the local Scrapbooking store. It will be nice to have a few hours to relax and laugh with my girlfriends. My brain could use the break. :)

Mother's Day "Hints"

I had to laugh today. Let me share a couple conversations with you.

Josiah: Mommy, I can't tell you what we are making you for Mother's Day, cause it's a secret.

Me: OK, don't tell me Bub.

Josiah: I will give you a hint, but not a really good one cause you might be smart like Miss Jo and be able to figure out my hint.

Me: Maybe you shouldn't give me a hint.

Josiah: I won't give you a good hint. Ok, the Ferguson's used to have one and you put it in a tree.


Later today at supper the topic came up again.

Josiah: We can't tell you what we are making you for Mother's Day.

Me: Bub, your hint was pretty good earlier, you probably shouldn't say any more.

Micah: I can tell you after Mother's Day

Josiah: You won't need to tell her, we can show her.

Micah(in a whisper to me): Yes, I won't tell you that we are getting you a fern and making you a hammock.

Me: That's good not to tell me Micah.

I quickly exited the room to laugh.

So guess what I'll be getting for Mother's Day?

On a Lite Note

I was in the house yesterday trying to get a few things done while the boys were outside playing.....

Josiah: Mommy, Mommy come here.

Julia: Yes, Bub what do you need?

Josiah: Will you go get the video camera? Micah and I have the funniest thing ever for you to put on your blog.

Julia: What is it?

Josiah: Go get the camera and I'll show you.

Julia: Mmm? Well, I'll get the camera, but I'm not promising it will be on my blog.



OK, so it wasn't "the funniest thing ever" but it was a bit "thrilling" to watch.
Hope you have a happy day.

Please excuse me while I remind myself of something.

We are trying to make a decision right now. It's not life or death, but this decision has the potential to make life a bit more stressful. The right choice isn't terribly obvious and so we are praying and using every ounce of common sense God has given us to make the best choice possible. I'm not one to "hang out" in the valley of decision. I get annoyed by people who wishy wash around on decisions. Ya know, often times the seemingly most obvious sensible choice is staring them in the face and they say, "I don't know what to do, I pray and pray, but I just don't know what to do." Terribly unspiritual of me, but in all honesty it just drives me bonkers. I tend to look at my choices, pray for God's wisdom, and then unless I hear otherwise from God, I make the choice that seems most sensible (which does not always result in choosing the funnest things by the way). This is probably how most of us make our decisions. We just frame it up different ways. Some say they "felt" God wanted them to do such and such or even that he "told" them to do such and such and that's fine, I guess, but it's not necessarily verbiage I can completely understand. And it can have the potental of rendering the person unquestionable. After all God talks to them and tells them what to do, who am I to question? I do however, understand the sense of peace I have felt after making a decision that I thought was one with which God would be pleased. I trust that God will give wisdom to those who truly seek His will. However, I have never had God come out and tell me what to do. I'm not saying He doesn't do that, I'm just saying I've never had that happen. And I also know that people who love God and trust him sometimes make bad decisions. And I don't feel any obligation to come up with a reason for why God "let" this bad decision happen. It's part of the human experience. Sometimes a good Christian will buy a bad car, pastor a bad church, or even invest in bad stock. I believe that while God doesn't enjoy our suffering, neither is He as consumed with our happiness and comfort as modern Christianity has made Him out to be. He is concerned with out eternal destiny.

As I'm growing older I'm understanding better what it means to have an eternal perspective. That what is here and now isn't what we are living for anyway. The most important part of the here and now is that the choices we make and the things that we vaule can effect where we are when "real" life begins. This has changed my relationship with Jesus tremendously. I don't expect my relationship with Jesus to result in a "cofortable" life. Instead my serving Him means I will trust Him no matter what this life holds. I trust Him for joy, peace, and comfort in eternity and that gives me joy and peace right here and now. Sometimes I get tired thinking of working for the rest of my life. I start thinking like an American and wondering if there is any weight to the theory that if we handle our money well God will give us more. Or if I make good choices everybody will love, like and appreciate me. That if I ask God for any "reasonable" thing He will give it to me. Then I hear a news flash on Christians living in North Korea. How they are imprisoned, tortured and going without just BECAUSE they love Jesus. And then I wake up and realize that comfort, ease, and plenty are not guarantees of Christianity. And all our best efforts at making good choices may not result in ease, comfort, or plenty either.

And so while I'm not seeking out hardship, I'm not running from it in fear. I trust Jesus. I'll trust him to help me make my decision and then trust Him with the consequences that come with that decision. I'll trust Him with plenty or with nothing. I will trust Him with this life and the one to come. I will trust Him.

Tag Thingy and Pictures that are in no way connected.

I was tagged a hundred years ago and am just getting to this. See "bad habits" portion for explanation.

What I was doing 10 years ago: I was finishing up the album "The Highway" and traveling full-time with Vision. (I think Jani's wedding prep was going on too.)

Five things on my to-do list today:
1. Read/do school with the boys.
2. Laundry
3. Clean bathrooms/Straighten the house
4. Do my Denise Austin walk Video. (thanks Becca for the accountability)
5. Go to Pregnancy Center fund raising banquet.

Snacks that I enjoy:
MT.DEW!!,chocolate, cheese and crackers, chips and dip, pb&j,....I'm trying to think of something healthy.....I like grapes?


5 Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
1. Pay off all bills and then invest for the future.
2. Help friends and family in need.
3. Build a gym for our church.
4. Put more showers and flushable potties at our church camp.
5. Buy an ultrasound machine for our local pregnancy center.

Three of my bad habits:
1. Being late. (I really am trying to break this one)
2. Being impatient.(Jesus is helping me, but oh it's a tough one to break)
3. Not following through on good intentions.

Five Places I have Lived:
1. Lakeview,MI
2. Haines City, FL
3. Hobe Sound, FL
4. Odin, IL
5. Salem, IL



Five jobs that I have had:
1. Golden Corral (my first job)
2. Construction
3. Biotech paper shuffler. (one summer Tara and I worked for Southern Biotech, I was afraid when I was pregnant my babies would come out green from some strange illness that was dormant in my system after being in that bio-disease lab for a month.)
4. Trash Out Specialist (you go in a NASTY house and shovel out the filth people left behind. It's gross, but pays very well.)
5. Telemarketer (in college, please don't hate me)

Below are some totally unrelated pictures. They are of the Homeschool Convention I attended a few weeks ago. It was so fun to be with Tara, Derek, and Kelly as well as my girlfriends from home. (So sad we didn't get picture when Tara and Derek were with us.)

In the Vendor Hall


Talking with Jesse Wise a gracious, classy lady.


One of my heroines.


With Jim Weiss and his sweet wife. If you've never heard a book/story on CD by this man, you really must.

An Insanely Long Post for Those Who Have Asked.

This post will not interest many of you and that's OK. Please don't feel obligated to make a nice comment, I release you from that obligation. :) I've been asked by a few people how we educate our kiddos and after phone calls and long personal emails I've decided it may be easier to write one post on how/why we home educate as a reference for those who are interested. Also as a disclaimer. The following is in no way a reflection on those who choose to educate their children differently. We all obviously choose what we do because we think it best and it would be silly to be offended because someone lands in a different place than we do. I know home education is not for everyone and this is just my account of why we are where we are.

Matt and I decided we would home educate our children before they were even born. We observed children being home educated and were impressed with the contrast between their education and the ones we had experienced growing up. I was publicly educated for most of my years and then privately educated for a few years. While I learned the 3 R's I didn't learn to love learning, in fact most of the time I felt dumb. Compulsory education works well for children who tend to be visual learners. If memorization is easy for you chances are you were on the honor roll and graduated with gold chords. Matt was one of those visual kids. He was in the "challege classes and can still recall facts from 6th grade science class. However, he still didn't learn to love learning or to self-educate. We wanted our children to love learning, to self-educate and to be proficient statesment like Thomas Jefferson. We were also concerned with the influence teachers and fellow students would have on our children. While I know there are some wonderful godly teachers out there, we wanted to be the main influence in shaping how our children think, learn and what they value. Time equals influence and while our children's character is still being molded the thought of 6 hours a day away from our influence and under someone else's influence made us very uncomfortable. I came to believe that "socialization" is not really an issue. We are raising our children to be healthy adults and putting a bunch of 5 year olds together isn't exactly the means of achieving that goal. We do however teach them the value of people according to God and therefore expect them to speak to people and show kindness no matter what the persons age, race, or religion. In other words socialization is taught by parents not schools. I've met many "backward" & shy children and they are found both in compulsory schools and home schools. Now concerning friendships with peers, that 'issue" we address by developing friendships at church and in other outside the home activities. However these friendships are monitored by Daddy and Mommy and we are able to train healthy relationship skills in the moments that provide opportunities.

And so I started reading. I felt very inadequate to teach. After all I was "dumb", how could I ever dream of teaching a child? I figured the best place to start was to pick a philosophy of education then I could pick a packaged curriculum based on that philosophy. So I read about Charlotte Mason, Classical education, Traditional education, Un-schooling etc... After reading "A Thomas Jefferson Education", "For the Children's Sake", and "A Different Kind of Teacher" I was seriously leaning toward a literature based and example based education. But I was intimidated to step away from a packaged curriculum. When I picked up Jesse Wise's book "The Well Trained Mind" I was sold. She made Classical Education do-able. I was drawn to this form of education because it made sense to me. You study history chronologically, you cover a wide range of subjects, and you follow the Trivium(cram facts while in the grammar stage, learn the why of the facts in the logic stage,and then you learn to communicate those facts and apply them in the rhetoric stage). Reading is a must for all of life. I found myself thinking, "I wish I had been educated this way." While I knew it would be a lot of work, I wanted what I thought best for our children so by the time Josiah was 3 I was pretty committed to classically educating him. Of course we had been "educating" him from day one. We talked a lot to him, read aloud to him, not just children's books but whatever I was reading at the time, and once he started talking we answered his many questions with real answers not just, "because God made it that way" etc... We knew that he wasn't catching everything we said, but it was good practise for us and, if nothing more, it would increase his vocabulary. We obviously did the same with Micah. And so that brings me to the present.

"School" is not intense for us. Josiah just turned 5 and Micah just turned 3. So most of their day is spent playing. We work according to what I feel they are able to handle. There are many great choices out there for curriculum, but at some point you have to stop looking and just settle somewhere. Here is a list of curriculum we have used thus far for those who have asked.

Josiah
Reading/Phonics - Hooked on Phonics (I'm not sure I would have picked it from all the options out there, but my Aunt gave it to us and it works.)
We also use various readers to encourage the love of reading and not the work of it only.

History - Tapestry of Grace. As opposed to a textbook this is more of a chronological unit study of history, basically a guide to resources for parents. We love it. (www.tapestryofgrace.com)
We supplement with Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer as well.

Writing - Zaner-Bloser Handwriting (got it on Amazon)

Math - Math U See Primer (Good program for engaging eyes, ears and hands)
We supplement with Saxon's Scope and Sequence to make sure all topics are covered.


Science - Christian Liberty Nature Readers. (I read while they keep a "notebook" of drawings. It blew my mind how accurate their "reports" of the creatures were to Daddy at the end of the day.)

Language - This year we worked through Language Lessons for Little Ones by Sandy Queen. We really enjoyed that, but we had already covered some of the material in that book so skipped a lot of it. We are planning on using Language Lessons by Jesse Wise next year. (also purchased at Amazon)

Latin - I just purchased a Latin program at the Homeschool Convention I attended. I went to a really great seminar explaining all the reasons to teach Latin. I was pumped and so bought Song School Latin. It is specifically geared to K thru 3rd grade. However, Micah is totally into it too. We haven't touched the workbook yet, but listen to the CD. The boys actually request that CD often.

Micah
Reading/Phonics - Micah learned a ton from the Leap Frog Videos on reading. He knows most of his letter sounds thanks to Tad and his siblings. :) Currently we are working through "An Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading" by Jesse Wise. It only takes us about 10 mins each day and Micah LOVES getting his own time with Mommy "doing school".

He also sits in on History and Science with us as well.

Bible - Matt and I read a catechism(thanks Jenny) on a tape and sometimes the boys listen to that or we listen to the Bible on CD. A new wonderful NKJV audio version (with sound effects etc.) is available at WalMart. It is so captivating the boys listen very intently. Right now History includes a lot of Bible for us, so we get quite a bit of Bible during History as well.

I was inspired at the Homeschool Convention to incorporate more poetry memorization into our lives. I am planning to buy a poetry memorization CD set from Andrew Pudewa's Institute for Excellence in Writing. (www.excellenceinwriting.com) I was also very convicted at the convention by Mr. Pudewa to read aloud more to the boys. Since we started "doing" school officially I haven't been reading to them nearly as much as before. Now we start our day with at least 45 mins of me reading a book aloud to them. We just finished Hank the Cowdog this morning and Freddy the Detective Pig last week. They love it and always ask for more. I will say the first week or so of this much reading left me with a sore throat.

Because the boys are so young we do a lot of hands on projects. The pictures in this blog are of our projects from our month long study of Classical Greece. We made Archimedes Screw, a Trojan Horse, and Grecian war helmets. We did these projects during our Tuesday night family nights. So Daddy got in on them too. I have found we better remember the things we study when we incorporate hand-on projects. As I look and see all this written out, it looks like so much. But really we start reading time right after breakfast and getting dressed(around 9am) and we are always done by noon. This includes the hour or so of my reading while they play quietly on the floor, violin, and all the other subjects. Most of what we do except Phonics, Math and Penmanship is me reading while they draw, play with playdough or play quietly on the floor. So obviously it's not terribly intense. As they grow older that will change, but for now it's plenty and they seem to be learning a lot.

So that's about it. For those of you who have questions feel free to ask about anything I may not have been clear on. I will close with a short list of books that have helped me on my journey of home education.

The Well Trained Mind by Jesse Wise and Susan Wise Bauer
For the Children's Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay (Francis Schaeffer's daughter)
The Homeschool Journey by Susan Card (Michael Card's wife)
A Thomas Jefferson Education by Oliver Van DeMille
A Different Kind of Teacher by John Taylor Gatto (NY state teacher of the year)
The Basic Steps to Successful Homeschooling by Vicki A. Brady
100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum: Choosing the Right Curriculum and Approach for Your Child's Learning Style by Cathy Duffy

Happy Birthday Micah!

We celebrated Micah's 3rd Birthday yesterday. It's funny, with Josiah I can't believe he's already 5 years old, but with Micah it's hard to believe he's only 3. Strange I know, but I think it's because he is so verbal, he just doesn't seem that young. He brings so much joy to our lives. Micah has a wonderful sense of humor and is forever making us laugh. He loves animals and is as compassionate as he is funny. We are so blessed to have this little bit of sunshine in our home.

I gave Micah a couple options for his birthday celebration, and he chose to go to Build-a-Bear. Uncle Dennis and Aunt Cathy were home from Florida so we had the pleasure of having them join us. Matt took off of work early and we headed to St. Louis to eat Pizza (Micah's requested birthday meal) and to build-a-bear. In spite of the name of the store, Micah actually built a dinosaur and upon it's completion he promptly named it Yikes. While his choice in names surprised us, we felt it was a rather appropriate name for a Triceratops. Really, if one ever ran into a Triceratops it's highly probable that the first words out of one's mouth would be, "YIKES!" Micah and Siah were then treated by Aunt Cathy to a ride on a train in the mall. On the way home we stopped by Cold Stone for yummy ice cream to finish off the night of fun. Below you will find a photo journal of our evening. Enjoy!

Pizza first!

Then Build-A-Bear.

Picking out Yikes

Picking Yike's "sound" (a fierce roar)

Filling Yikes with stuffing

Yikes is done and ready for a hug.

Yikes gets his first bath.


With Uncle Dennis and Aunt Cathy