School, School and more school

This year is proving to be a challenge- for so many years i have been able to teach most of the subjects for the kids at the same time and just change a few things to challenge the older kids- this year i am finding that most of the time i have no idea what comes next. We are part of a two day a week school- which is great- the kids get tons of time with kids there age- all including the twins are getting to do hands on projects that are wonderful just for their age- the problem is on the days that we are home. The other day we were up and ready to begin school and before I knew it it was 11:30- so far we had accomplished bible study, spelling and math. That's not bad for a day when we start at 10 but we we had started at 8:45. So back to the drawing board i went. I realized that I am trying to do to many things at once and really need to give the older kids a chance to teach the younger ones. Samuel was teaching Amelia about telling time today and as she became frustrated he told her how hard it was for him- Thank you God that those lessons are useful!! So tonight we had three projects that had to be done for class tomorrow and while I usually dread projects that have a deadling ( i like my own projects::)) I loved seeing what the kids did for their classes. Walter made awards for characters in Genesis and Exodus- he gave one to the isrealites for most miles covered in a year without a gps- that kid cracks me up! Samuel had to do a personal time line- his included lots of pictures as he told me "I think the pictures will tell them all they need to know about me". Let's just say he doesn's share his brothers enthusiasm for public speaking. Amelia is supposed to bring something in from early man- she was really hoping to bring some kind of food in so that history class could double as snack time- really Amelia:) she settled for a teepee that Samuel has from a playmobil set- we'll see how that goes::)) So as I learn to be flexible and enjoy the little things life becomes much more joyful. I took the older two boys to the library today and for a moment thought that i was in heaven- i got to be first of all in a very quiet place and then got to just look and look at books- eventually i had to come back to reality and get the books needed for an art history class I am teaching. The biggest surprise was when Darcy woke me up at 4:30 this morning. He has been leaving for work at 5:00 and I have been getting up and having coffee with him and then feeling no guilt crawling back into bed as he leaves for work. He has had this schedule for about 4 weeks. So this morning he was going to be at home for a few extra hours- however he awoke at 4:30 asked me is i wanted to have coffee with him- i asked if he wasnt going in later- he said yes but since he woke up did i want to have coffee??? Really Really- no i did not want coffee- and i also suggested he go on in to work since he was that wide awake as i did not need little people up at 5 or 6. The only problem with being married to a person that requires 5 hours of sleep is that sometimes they forget that you need 9 or 10- hahah.

Always True

It has been way too long since i have sat down and blogged about anything. The past year was one of those times in life where you lean soley on God and pray that things come into the light soon. I must admit that there has never been a time that I have prayed so intently for God's direction and felt that he was silent. When May rolled around I decided that it was time for a little R &R and headed to south georgia. My parents were gracious to have me and the kids come and stay while I soaked up the wonderful country air and the kids roamed free-- where is Darcy you ask--work-- I felt horrible that we were able to skip town for a while and relax while he endured all the long hours that have become typical with his job. Of course I did have the kids with me so it was not a total vacation. While at home I felt as though God wove a tapestry for people who came along side me and ministered to my soul in only a way that old friends can. I felt very blessed that my children got to spend so much time with their grandparents and learn amazing things- amelia is now a pro at dishes, walter and samuel have learned amazing skills at leather work and the twins learned to swim. Quite a bit of learning going on. We returned home at the end of july with a new attitude and relationship with Christ. I felt as though all the things that I know to be true in my heart are now being lived out in my life. I knew that God has a plan and that it would be shown to me in his time- but it was so hard to live that out this spring. it was impossible to be patient. I am a doer and I like to have a plan, a project and waiting is not an easy task. I joined a new coop this summer for homeschooling and took on leading a bible study- i was doing research to find just the right book for the group this summer when i came across the book Always True by James Macdonald. All I can say is it is an amazing book. It is about the promises of God and how those are to look lived out in our lives. Let me just say that from the first page on it is packed with tons of scripture and writings that will minister to your heart. My favorite statement is "that a promise is only as good as the one making the promise". It just spoke to my heart that I can trust that God wants what is best for me- he wants me to trust him- to love him- to understand that growth is sometimes a long, hard process. It is not as if my life situation has changed- we are still in a rental house, still in transition, still wanting to put down roots while God tells us to wait- to focus on what we are doing with the precious time that he has given us.

what will you choose to do with your chains???

growing up in the south is a wonderful for many reason but my favorite is the story tellers. i have several friends and a brother who i could listen tell their stories fover. it is an amazing gift for someone to be able to weave together humor, true and false events, random people and events into a fascinating story. this sunday at church i was most excited to hear that a fellow individual from the deep south would be speaking-- hoping that he was a good story teller and that he would make the bible come alive. well to say the least i was not dissapointed. i left with a new perspective of things ad challenged in my faith-- not bad not bad at all:). he spoke about the trying times in life and that we all have them and how they serve a purpose. why is it that it always makes the hair on the back of hour neck stand u when you are having a difficult time and someone says there is a reasonc. there are times i would like to believe that i can grow closer to God and what he desires me to be without trials-- hahaha is all i have to say to that- we all fall into those bad habits of self dependence when given the easy road. anyway ths sermon was about paul being in chains i prision- in fact at this time he was chained to the roman guard set to watch him. it states that the news of the Lord spread throughout the roman guard. interesting choices- he spoke about the choice paul had to praise God and speak of his amazing characteristics- he did not vent about the wrong that was done to him, the way the law was not such that he should be free, he was not onsu ed by his anger. the question the nice southern gentleman propsed was "what do ou do with your chains". what do you do with the things that seem unfair, difficult and nit going anything like you planned? do you trust that your creator has a plan? are you o bediant when it costs something? i always tell my kids it is easy to be obediant in the right enviornment, as adults it is easy to be thankful when things go you r way. so the quesstion is what will you do when you have chains n you- use this time to show what you believe in, what is most dear and what gives you hope?? i was telling a friend the other night that when you take a second to step away from whatever the big problem is, the big thing that is hard to let go off,, do you see that you have a creator, you have a purpose, you have a plan that is being worked out. we long for the comfort of life and yet i am not sure where we have gotten that idea. our desire should be to grow more like Christ and be willing to sacrifice the things to get there. we want to see our childrens salvation but do not want to go through difficult things were they see our faith lived out---quick fast answers, quick fast solutions, somehow we stand and stamp our feet like a spoiled child when we do not get our way instead of saying praise God that he sees the result of this and how it plays out for generations to come. praise God that his focus is not our comfor for today but our spiritual growth for a lifetime. praise God that he disciplines me, loves me and forgives me when i insist on my own way!!!

Bad Parent Award

Ok so I must nominate myself and vote multiple times for myself if I am being honest. First of all I am a hater of sleep overs. I am one of those people that gives all I have during the day and find no need to have extra kids at my house overnight or hear kids up way past bedtime. Call me a rotten mom and I might agree with you but I am not likely to change my mind. I have given into the sleep overs because my children beg and my precious husband says "Oh they'll have a great time, not like they are going to stay up that late" hahahhahah anyway today my children have built forts all over the house in an effort to entertain them while I took care of the twin who have a stomach bug, anyway of course they think sleeping in them would be great fun and what better then all five of them to sleep in the forts. I am sick of being the party pooper so told them they would have to ask dad and then beat them to dad and asked him t please say no. Horrible I know- but we settled with the twins happily sleeping in a bunk bed with old quilts draped on it like a fort and the big kids building a ridiculous fort in the boys room. So far all are happy and Amelia wins the award for most enthusiastic she is on cloud nine that she is now included in the big kid stuff and that the boys actually asked her to come and spend the night in the fort-- very cool when you are used to being shoved in a category with the "babies". So we are hoping that the kids all sleep well- wake up in perfect form so that we can get about the business of enjoying the weekend. We thought that we would be looking at a house- but it seems our favorite from last weekend is not working quite like we planned- doesn't appear the older gentleman is really anxious to sell his home- ok ok i can understand he lived there for 54 years- all his memories are there and he thinks it is worth a ton--- we continue to pray holding fast to the promises that God knows far better then us what is good for us and what grows us closer to him!!

Spring is here

Ok Ok so you guys have heard me complain about our little yellow house and how it drives me crazy- and all that but let me say today that things are turning around:) Not with the house so to speak as I really think that 1400 sq. ft is not enough room for a family of 7 but we are learning a lot about each other! We were out in the yard yesterday and it does have a wonderful yard- big trees, lots of woods to play in etc. but we are so excited to find all the wonderful flowers that are sprouting up in a yard- a whole bed of tulips- very nice! The kids are excited as it seems spring comes at the end of February in the south:) Not sure how i forgot this information. Me and the boys are going to start doing the couch to 5k in the mornings because it is my belief that if spring cannot motivate you to get out and walk/run there is little that is going too!

All Grown Up

Okay I am sure that every mom feels the same way when there littlest one all the sudden is not quite so small anymore- but I am finding myself in tears over the littlest things with the twins. I am not sure if it is tears that some of the things that required so much work are over or tears realizing that there are a few short days/weeks left when they are going to want to be treated in any way like a little one. Today we had coop and the twins laid out their clothes, had their bags by the door and shoes-- crazy but where did my little people go. I have been trying to read to the three youngest at night- something I do with the boys but somehow have let go with the little ones. Amelia takes her turn reading to the twins and tonight they wanted to pretend to read-- really, really reading- i thought that we would never be here and now that we are I must admit it is hard to know that there is not going to be another baby in the house- i know i know I have five kids you would think that there have been enough baby years- i think it is more than that I think it is the change that comes with older kids- yes you get to have those great conversations and see the gifts God has blessed then with but you also have to share them. Not a lot of people want to share your potty training two year old or the snotty nosed three year old- but the older kids get the more people they have in their life. I know this is good and in the long run I will be so excited for them and all that they get to experience but for now I would love to slow down the clock-- not of course the part of the day where I am cooking or cleaning just the great quiet moments spent reading with them, dancing, painting, laughing you know the stuff that kids do really well. There have been many times the past two years that we have had heart breaking things happen and I lately was getting very blue about what God's plan was and how all this fits and struggling with the struggle and then i had to stop and realize all the blessing in the middle of the struggle. God does not say that he takes away the struggle of living in a sinful world but he has so provided a shelter from the storm- a reason to laugh in the middle of the very hard times. I think there are so many people that miss out on the joys of parenting because of all the hard work- i guess i am old fashioned but really does anything good come from things that come too easy- isn't marriage hard- isn't loving your friends when they disappoint you hard, isn't giving someone grace hard- i think that we are constantly buying the lie the world is selling that things should be easy and if they are hard you are doing them wrong- sometimes life is just hard!!! So this week when my 11 year old son wanted to talk about marriage- guess who was the one that got to imprint some great ideas about God's plan for marriage on that little brain "me" when the boys are fighting and both wanting their way- who got to talk with them about thinking of others first "me" when Amelia wanted me to explain how exactly God lives in her heart I was there- and when the twins wanted to sing Jesus loves me for the 100th time - we sang. So in the midst of the struggles I have been praying that God would calm my anxious spirit, a spirit that is wanting things to be how i see fit-- but realizing I need to constantly surrender to what God sees as best---so for now- we are going to laugh more- dance more-- read more great books--play cards at night at the kitchen table---pray for wisdom and trust that our heavenly father who loves us more then we can comprehend has a plan------

Welcome Back

Hello agian! I have no blogged in a long time due to many of the life circumstances that have been going on. We have had a rough couple of months and just decided that there are times in your life when it is better to be silent then to grumble. Of course Darcy has been the one that has heard my grumbling but luckily he forgives easily. We had a wonderful Christmas with family and got to spend Christmas eve with my dear grandmother. She is an amazing woman and I love to hear the stories that she tells about her childhood. She was a little girl during the depression and it is amazing to hear her tell of how they as a family made it through difficult times. My children love her and try to get as close as possible when she is around. Benjamin calls her "ranny" instead of the regular granny. The sunday after seeing her he saw an older woman at church that looked like her and ran up and hugged her and said "hi ranny" i think he confused the woman and was quite confused why ranny was not picking him up or hugging him real tight! We continue on with school and have finally made it to modern history- that meaning after the civil war-- much a relief to this tired mom as i love teaching this time period. We had some ups and downs schooling and are glad the holidays and breaks are behind us so that we can move on with our studies. I am teaching a human body class and also an art history class for our coo- ok I feel very old as these kids have a ton of questions and are so curious!! My science class wants to know all about what happens if your body doesn't work right diesases etc. I am afraid i am creating a monster for some of these parents::)) We are praying praying and praying some more about a house-- trusting that God is leading even when things are not working on our time frame. I did nave a little ray of sunshine this week when a house that we love was reduced by 20,000 dollars!I am excited as it is now lower then the offer we made in the spring---- we will see my parents have restored an old house and are going to look at it this weekend! Kids- well my kids are crazy- right now the boys are setting up booby traps for their friends- nothing like a little love to go around. I think i win parent of the year award last week- Walt had been riding his ripstick (if you dont know what they are check them out) and feel and said his wrist was hurting. I told him "i hope it is not broken as you have used up all your medical money this year with the appendicitis and the broken shoulder" haha thankfully his wrist was fine. It has been two years since we found out we were moving. It has been a difficult 2 years to say the least- tons of changes, tons of stress and hopefully an end to it soon! We are ready to be settled. There are times that I have wanted to be back in my old like but then I realized last week that it is not what I want at all-i just want this life to settle down a little- we have grown as a family and also realize that my hcildren have learned some important lessons about enduring through trials as well as learning that things change and you must adapt!! Praying we are soon posting pics of a house::))