Thanksgiving





 

Thanksgiving!  I love Thanksgiving.  I have so much to be thankful for.  We all do.  This year we are traveling "home" to my parent's house for Thanksgiving.  It has been 5 months since we have been there, they have traveled here though.  It is about a 9 hour drive and although we will not cross any ocean, it seems almost like a "Mayflower" voyage.  We pack and prepare, we anticipate, we check the weather, and the excitement is building as we get closer!

I remember when I was in elementary school and we would make paper turkeys and study pilgrims, the mayflower and Squanto.  I loved everything about it!  So I have always tried to instill a thankful attitude with my children. 

Sometimes, I wonder if  one can really grasp "thankfulness" until they have been without or until they have seen others go through tough times.  I seem to realize the meaning more as I am older.  Our family has been through some changes in the last couple of years and I believe my children can understand  "thankful" more now.

These are a few of the many things I am thankful for, not in any order:

I am so looking forward to visiting with family this Thanksgiving. 
It will be so nice to travel "back home" to familiar roads and sites!
We have a nice, warm and dry house.
We have plenty of food to eat.  I am thankful for this, even though sometimes I complain about the increase in pricing, God still provides for us.
My husband is my best friend and is so supportive to me and our family.
My children are healthy, smart and kind.
We are able to homeschool.
We have great friends.
We live in the United States.  It is not perfect, but we have many freedoms that others do not.
I am thankful for Facebook and the Internet which allows me to stay in touch with family and friends and make new friends!
I am thankful for the laughter of my children!

I am thankful that Emily loves to cook!

I enjoy seeing SarahAnne being crafty and how she is improving in the details.

I love seeing Samuel get so excited building Lego's and doing "science experiments" with his dad.

I am so thankful for our extended family and the joyous times we share together.

I am thankful that I came through surgery fine and had a good report.

I am thankful for my parents and all of their help and support of my family.

This Thanksgiving, I pray that you and your family enjoy each other and have a wonderful time of fellowship and create many happy memories.   Let's all remember to thank the Lord for His abundant blessings.





Our moving experience

Moving.....we all dread the thought of it.  We have moved many many times in our life.  Someone told us once, that our furniture should have wheels! 

We were married in January of 1994.  We have moved at least 11 times!  No, my husband is not in the military.  We didn't move each time for a new job, but sometimes.  It was easier to do when the kids were younger, because they had less STUFF.  We had less STUFF. 

We have moved from smaller to bigger homes and from bigger to smaller ones.  We have moved to be closer to family.  We have moved to be closer to work.  We have moved because of work. 

Last October, we moved from Kentucky to North Carolina.  It was the longest, hardest , most expensive move ever!    Matt had lost his job in Kentucky in May and was provided one in North Carolina.  We sold our KY house (Thank you, Lord!) at the beginning of July.
We packed things into storage until a job offer... not knowing where we would go.  We took our most precious things to our parents' home until we moved.  We stayed there, too. 

Matt had two job interviews.  One in Kansas and one in North Carolina.  At the end of July, he was offered a job in North Carolina.  He took it and started a new job in August.  We stayed in Ohio with my parents.  We took a couple of trips down to look for housing and found one in September.

It has been the hardest move we have ever made.  We knew no one here.  We were far away from the people we loved and the places we knew.  The culture is different than were we came from.

Through all of this, God has blessed us.  We found a house that had been foreclosed.  It provides us with a school room, in addition to everything else we need.  We are 3 hours from the Outer Banks of North Carolina!  We have a great neighbor, who right away introduced our kids to her grandkids.  (They are now friends.)  We have grown closer as a family.  We have learned so much by this experience.

I believe that one day we will be moving, yet again.  I don't have any plans right now, but I know that God is in control and His plan will work for me even when I don't understand it.

Preparing and counting down.....

This coming week I will spend preparing.  We will be doubling up on some subjects and trying to get ahead on some house chores.  Why?  Because I am scheduled to have a total hysterectomy on Oct. 15th.  There are a couple of reasons why this should be done.  I have had this recommendation from more than one doctor.  I have put it off for a while already.  I am not looking forward to it, but feel like it must be done.  I hope I will feel better.  I really have no idea how long recovery will take.  I ask for your prayers
that things will go well.

This weekend, we took some time to get a few things done, do some leaf raking/sweeping, and cooking ahead.  We did take some time out to watch a little football too!

We are at week 10 this week!  Wow.  It is hard to believe we are that far already.  Eight weeks till Thanksgiving and 12 weeks till Christmas! SarahAnne and I have worked on few little crafts.  I have also searched the Internet for new Christmas ideas.  I love looking at Christmas things.  I love all the ideas.  We are planning to make candles this year.  (I'll let you know how that goes.) We planned to do it last year, but we had just moved in our house on October 31st, so we decided not to be so ambitious. 

I pray that you all have a good week.  Enjoy all of autumn's bounty of blessings. 

Friday wrap-up

Here it is Friday and I've finally gotten around to blogging.  It has been a pretty usual week around here, except that we have had so much RAIN. (We really needed rain, but not so much at once.)  School has gone pretty well.  My son and daughter are doing so good at multiplication and spelling this week that I have been less concerned about getting everything else finished.  Those are the focus this school year. 

We have started our study of Brazil and we are all enjoying studying all the different animals, fruits and spices of the rain forest.  The kids are really getting into the geography game, also.  This weekend I hope to do some fall baking and talk more about spices.

We made some Kool-aid Playdough.  I've had the recipe for a few months and finally decided to get it out and make some.  It was so easy.  It only took around 10 minutes, total!  It turned out really nice and the kids played for 2 hours after we made it, so it was definitely worth it!

Kool-aid Playdough

1/4 cup salt

1 cup all purpose flour

2 tbsp cream of tartar

1 envelope Kool-aid

1 cup water

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1.  Mix flour, salt, tartar, Kool-aid and water in medium saucepan.  Stir in oil.

2.  Mix over medium heat 3-5 minutes until mixture forms a ball in center of pan.

3.  Remove from pan.  It will be hot, knead until soft.

4.  Store in a Ziploc bag or airtight container.

It is suppose to smell like the flavor, ours must have been old.  There was hardly any smell.  We also added some food coloring to ours, before kneading.

We may make some more this weekend, but first I need to buy some cream of tartar.  We used it all in the last batch.  Quick and easy.   Hope you and your little ones enjoy!

Our path of Frugality

In May 2009 my husband lost his job.  (Like so many others.)  He was layed off from a job that he loved.  A job that he was very good at and one that looked to be promising; career-wise.  It was a real blow to us.  So unexpected.

We immediately put our house up for sale.  (We had moved there specifically for the job.)  We started purging and had a yard sale.  We started scouring the Internet for jobs.  It was a tight market and a difficult time.  

God blessed us with our house selling within a little over 3 months.  It was truly God.  We lived  in the middle of rural Kentucky with about 7 houses for sale in a two mile stretch.  We also got a fair price!

We had no job to go to at this time.  We put most things in storage and some stuff  with our parents.  Meanwhile my husband continued to look for a job.  He had an interview in Kansas and one in North Carolina.  He was blessed with the job in North Carolina.  That is the short, very condensed story of how we ended up here.

We are living on less money and still recovering from moving expenses among other things.  Needless to say, we try to cut corners on things and live more frugally than ever before.  I have always used coupons and tried to be frugal but now it is more necessary.  

We have learned so much during this time.  We've grown closer as a family.  We better appreciate the things we have.  We've tried to teach our kids to be thankful for what we have and the blessings that God has given us. 

I play the coupon game at CVS, Walgreens and Target.  I love Aldi and it is only 2 miles from my house! I have stocked up on some nice little surprises for my kids and saved us quite a bit of money.  It does take time and sometimes I don't do all that great and other times I hit a home run!  It all helps though.  I am learning daily to be a better steward of the things God has blessed my family with.

Below are some of my favorite saving money sites:

http://www.couponingtodisney.com/

http://www.savingwithamy.com/

http://www.5dollardinners.com/

http://kingdomfirstmom.com/

http://southernsavers.com/


Hope you enjoy these.  Do you have any money saving sites to share?

A full weekend

This past weekend was full!  On Saturday, we attended the Oceania Naval Air Show in Virginia Beach.  It was awesome.  The power of the jets, the knowledge and skill of the pilots, and the history of planes made it a great outing.  We were surrounded by military and military history.  It was good exposure for us and our kids.

I kept thinking throughout the day of a friend of ours that gave his life for our country just 2 short months ago.  He was just a couple of weeks shy of turning 24.  He was killed in Afghanistan.  I hope I never take for granted the freedom we have in this country and all of the blessings God gives us daily.

Sunday was Emily's birthday.  She had spent the weekend with her aunt and uncle and Matt picked her up late Sunday morning.  We had a birthday celebration Sunday afternoon.  We were all tired from the road trips, so we enjoyed some football on TV.

Today we had a slow start, and some whiny attitudes.  We all have those days.  Our day did get much better.  We finished school with a celery experiment and crafts and reading!

My Sweet Emily

Today, I am blessed to celebrate 15 years of knowing, loving and caring for my daughter Emily!

I truly have one of the most mature and sweetest girls whom I am very proud to call mine.  These are some of the things I love about her:

1.  She loves Greek and Latin. 
2.  She enjoys cooking!  (Which I must say, I enjoy!) 
3. She makes coffee almost every morning. 
4. She listens to a wide variety of music from classical to bluegrass and including rap and contemporary Christian. 
5.  She would love to travel to Europe.  She especially would love a trip to Greece. 
6.  She is a huge C.S. Lewis fan.
7.   Emily has for years been in love with sea turtles.  We have enjoyed watching her light up at aquariums when she would spot a turtle! 
8. She helps me in so many ways:  with her brother and sister, with cooking, and with chores.
9. Emily has a talent for beading.  She has made quite a number of bracelets, earrings and necklaces that are very nice.
10. She LOVES the beach.  She is happy just to sit and watch the waves roll in or to play in them.
11. Emily is organized.  She plans her lessons for school.  She is keeping track of most everything this year!  (YEAH, for me!)  She has calendars, planners and she has it all together!  (She does a great job of this!)
12. She plays the violin. (and a little piano.)
13. She is a good friend to her friends.

She is my sweet Emily, she is my daughter and she is my friend too!   I know, I've read those books and articles that say we are not to try to be friends with our children.  I will say to them, that I am the parent, but at some point that starts to change when our children talk with us and laugh with us and share with us.  We have long talks and share laughs and that to me is friendship! 

All of these things make up who my daughter Emily is, but the list is not complete. She does have some faults, we all do, but I am focusing on the good things today! She is still growing and changing.  She is still experiencing life.  My dream for her is that she is grounded in her beliefs and that she always knows that her mom and dad love and support her!   I want her to travel and to see the world that God has made.  I want her to have great strong friendships.  I pray that she has a wonderful and loving family of her own one day. I want her to be all that God wants her to be.
My prayer is that God will lead her and guide her as she grows.  I  pray that He protects her.  I believe that He has great plans for her!  Matthew 6:33

Our week

This week was planned.  I had everything ready!  My workboxes were planned, all of our group work ready, our calendar was filled, but then a little stomach bug came to visit on Tuesday night and I have just felt awful.

Monday and Tuesday went pretty well.  We started our journey to Canada.  We visited the library on Tuesday after the girls had homeschool group Bible study.  At the library we attended a presentation from the North Carolina Museum of Science on Reptiles and Amphibians.

On Wednesday, however it was slow going for me.  Thankfully,  the workboxes were easily ready.  The kids did them and had a pretty relaxed afternoon.  Matt took them to Awanas that night.

Thursday morning was a little better.  I felt so much better.  We accomplished a little more school  (although, not everything), ran errands and had a pretty good day.  The kids played with friends in the afternoon. 

Friday (today), I had an early morning Dr. appointment.  We had a light day of school only getting the basics. Although we did not accomplish everything I had planned, it wasn't a total loss.  The kids stayed pretty busy this week. I must say that the workboxes helped and having the plan finished to work from. 

Sunday, is Emily's 15th birthday (I can not believe it!).  She is going to visit my brother and his wife for the weekend.  They are taking her to a concert Saturday.  She will have an awesome time.  We will pick her up Sunday.

The rest of us are going to Virginia Beach to the Oceania Naval Air Show on Saturday. It is a big air show that Matt has been wanting to go to forever.  We are only about 3 hours away, so this year we are going.  He and Samuel are so excited.  I am looking forward to it also.  When we first were married we went to a couple of smaller air shows and I really enjoyed them.  SarahAnne is not so excited.  She just can't imagine how it will be fun.  I think she will be surprised.  We will see.

We've had a slow school week, so far.  I really haven't stuck to the program at all.  We had no school on Monday because my parents were visiting.  They ended up staying until @ 10:00 am Tuesday.  The kids and I did our Bible and handwriting, had lunch and then read some.  We had some chores to do and that was pretty much Tuesday.

Today, ( Wednesday) we concentrated on Bible, geography and science.  This is supposed to be our first week of Mexico (ECC) and we are having delays with our passports and airline tickets!  LOL  I think we will take off tomorrow! 

We did get caught up on chores today.  That always makes me feel better.  Even when we have a week that things don't go as planned, it's ok.  I used to (sometimes, I still can) get stressed out about it, but things will work out.

I am planning to work on a few things this weekend around the house and on the blog.  I know I need to post pictures and I will, I promise!  My husband is going to help me.  He can do those things so much faster than I can!

By the way, have you checked out his blog? He started a blog for homeschooling dads.   He has really surprised me with it!  He also, would love to have some other homeschooling Dads follow him!  Spread the word!
His blog is  http://dadshomeschoolgarage.blogspot.com/

Tonight is the kick-off and sign -up for Awanas.  The kids are excited.  They are happy to start at the beginning of the year.  So, I need to get going and get them and myself ready!  Until later....

Tuesday, August 31st, will be SarahAnne's 9th birthday!  Since we live hours away from all of our family and still have few friends here, we celebrated her birthday Saturday.  She decided she wanted a LUAU.  She is growing up and is getting away from all those character birthdays!   YEAH, for getting away from the character birthday themes, not for growing up so fast! 

She is our feisty, stubborn, artistic, original girl!  We had Emily and had tried for a few years to have another baby, when  we surprisingly got pregnant with SarahAnne.  We were thrilled and scared.  At that time I was on several blood-pressure medications and was apprehensive about that.  About 4 months into my pregnancy  my placenta pulled away from the uterus which caused bleeding and I was put on bed rest for a few weeks.  After this I was scheduled an ultrasound which brought up questions about down syndrome.  Matt and I decided that no matter, this is our baby and we loved her.

SarahAnne was born healthy and with attitude from the beginning!  She was and still is very vocal!  She loves to read and draw.  She adores animals, especially horses.  Little House on the Prairie is her favorite show to watch on DVD.  She is a blessing.

We had a great Luau with my parents and sister, my brother and sister-in-law, Matt's cousin and wife, and neighbors from next door.  We ate pineapple and chicken kabobs, chicken salad and crackers, fruit salad, punch and cake.  We all had a good day, but SarahAnne especially enjoyed having people there to celebrate her day!

Starting School and Loosing a Tooth

Emily started the new school year today!  She was so cute!  She worked very hard at getting everything layed out, loaded on her computer, and getting her notebooks set up. She has everything so neat and organized.   She also started reading, "Mere Christianity" by C.S.  Lewis.  She is loving that!  Really, she loves C.S. Lewis and had to tell me all about the 1st chapter.  She had a great 1st day!

I also started with Samuel, but we just did a couple of hours today.  I had errands to run this morning and other household things that had to get done.  Tomorrow we will do more.  He really seemed to like the workboxes.   I also took him to the library while returning books this morning.  We came out with a bag full!

SarahAnne is visiting with my parents this week and will start Monday, August 2, 2010.   By then, I will have already finished the first week with Samuel and that should make it smooth for her.   Plus, he will spend next week with the grandparents.  We don't normally start like this, but time got  away from us this summer and we promised them they could each have a week with momaw and papaw.

For two weeks or so, Samuel has been bothered by a loose tooth.  It is his first!  Finally, he had enough and tonight right before bed he wanted me to pull it.  He was a real trooper.  He was so tickled to have it out!  We took pictures and he called momaw and papaw.  Now he is in bed awaiting the tooth fairy!  A great ending to his first day in 2nd grade!

The most precious things....

Yesterday, we received news that a young man from our hometown had been killed in Afghanastan. He was on his 4th tour and engaged to be married this fall. This shocked us and broke our hearts. Some of the most precious things that God give to us are our families, friends and our memories. We thank God for the memories that he gives us when we no longer can hold the hand of our loved ones.
I hope that we can all show love to those we hold dear and strive each day to take more time with them.