Yep, I did it!

And I'm sorry it's taken me this long to tell you about it. But...

We decided to cancel our land line phone service. It was always staticy (is that a word), we were never home, the long distance was crazy, it was expensive, we all have cell phones anyway, etc. Anyway...

But that was also our access to the internet! Doh! LOL I'm going to get cable or a wireless card, just haven't decided which yet. But until I do, my web access is limited to the email I can check via my phone or the days I make it to the library. So...

Forgive this poor quality of picture but here is what I did:




Yep! I got my hair ALL CUT OFF!!!

I have been wanting to do it for a long time but Jeff HATES me with short hair. Well, too bad. I hate when he shaves his head too but he never consults me. So...it's much easier, I feel better and I'm loving it. It takes me all of 5 minutes to get ready now. Okay, it only took me 5 minutes before but that was because all I ever did was pull my hair in a ponytail and put a hat on. Now, it's actually in a style!

More news to come another day...this library computer is about to bump me off!

I think I'm going to do it...

I've waited long enough. I've put it off long enough. I've made excuses long enough. I've hee-hawed, dilly-dallied, and tooty-footed around back and forth long enough.

I have decided....









I'm going to do it...







It just has to wait a few more days...






And Jeff is not very happy about it...






But I am going to do it!






Can you guess what it is I'm going to do? Huh, huh, can ya, can ya?






Betcha can't!






But maybe you can.






You'll find out soon, I promise!

Blah day

Yesterday was SO incredibly busy that I guess it's only fitting for today to be a down day. But it was a blah day, too. Nothing exciting, nothing to do, really (except clean house AGAIN and who wants to do that?!) and I woke up with an incredible headache. It's starting to subside but I'm still not in the mood to do much, except blog!

Yesterday, in addition to Co-op and Kayti's social dance class, Brooke had her first play practice. She got a part in the homeschool group's upcoming production based on a few of Max Lucado's books. We are really excited about it. We always have so much fun doing the plays.

Then I had to go teach my first preschool dance class for Leeds. It was so much fun and I'm so excited about this year. I've got a great little group! All the kids at Leeds are great kids. And I so love teaching. But I have not done tap and ballet in years!!! So I'm sort relearning everything as they learn. I am so incredibly grateful to Shalita for allowing me to do this--combine two things I love and have such a passion for.

When I got there, though, my boss told me they'd had a rough day at the center. One of the little two year-olds had a seizure and then several more on the way to the hospital. Please pray for this precious baby.

Then, Shalita called to tell me about a lady in our Community Bible Study group whose 1 year old son pulled a tv down on top of him and he had to be air-lifted to the hospital. He's now out of surgery and the doctors are hopeful but he's not out of the woods yet. So please pray for him also.

Our football game last night was not as much fun as our other game. It was muggy and being near the lake--buggy! It seemed to drag on forever and the girls were not as into it as they were a few weeks ago. Probably my fault because we haven't practiced so we'll be remedying that this week.

The fridge is still working and Jeff picked up the other yesterday but it needs seriously cleaning before I even attempt to plug it in so I'll have to update you on that later. I haven't had time to even think about it. Plus I'm out of bleach and I'm trying to make my last few dollars last until I get paid on Monday.

I'm about to retreat to my bedroom with my ballgame nachos (even though I'm not watching or even listening to the game) and continue to rest up for church tomorrow.

Have a blessed weekend and a good week!

Sad news...

My little girl...





is officially and physically a woman!



Yep! She got her first period today!

But please don't congratulate her! She would die if she knew I was telling anyone! But I'm proud of the way she handled it. Of course she's been prepared for years.

I told her I was hoping this would happen on a day we could do something special to celebrate (we had too much going on today) and she said, "Why would you want to celebrate this?" LOL How true that is most of the time! But I told her there will be days she'll want to celebrate getting it! LOL

Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord!!!!

(and a small tag!)

First, I have to say that my sweet friend, Donna, offered me the use of her extra fridge until we figured out what we were going to do about our fridge situation. But I hated to take her up on her offer because I know she uses it. So Monday, my "down" day, I decided to try some of the advice I'd found on the internet to try and "fix" my fridge. I'd already moved it and made sure it had at least three inches on each side--didn't work. So I pulled it out, unplugged it, took the back off and cleaned out all the dust, etc. (can we say "nasty"? I don't recommend buying a used fridge from someone you don't know unless you absolutely have to like we did. I'm doing good to hold my cookies as I type this and I am not one to usually have a weak stomach) Then I moved it back and plugged it back in.

Well, THEN it started leaking. I just about lost it. I called Jeff at work (and it took me several tries to reach him so I was SUPER frustrated by the time he answered) and started ranting and raving about how he needed to take care of this. I want a turn at being the laid back relaxed one in our relationship for a change--he needs to start worrying and take care of something once in a while. Not that he never does, but he just doesn't get riled like I do. I told him he needed to call the place we bought it from and tell them about it and if they didn't want to do anything about it, he needed to cuss them out for being crooks! (yeah, I know, not the best way to handle it and I'm glad he didn't listen to me but I let my frustration get the better of me for the moment. I have since repented!)

I turned my attention to other things, knowing that somehow, someway, we would get it worked out. Tuesday morning, Jeff woke me up and said, "Baby, the fridge is working. It's VERY cold." I just said, yeah, uh huh--I was half asleep but sure enough, when I got up, it WAS working. I just thought to myself--no way this could be a God thing, could it? I am ashamed to admit I had doubts but it's a fridge, you know, not a person. The skeptical side of me was saying, it has to be a fluke. I'll get home today and it'll be warm again.

On the way home from CORE and work, my friend, Tere, called and said she'd found someone with a fridge they wanted to get rid of--all we have to do is pick it up. Well, now what do I do? Do I dare pass it up in case this one quits again? No way. So I called the gentlemen last night and Jeff and my dad are going to get it. It was an extra one he had that still worked that he was going to have goodwill pick up sometime. So I'm going to get it and put it in the garage just in case...I know, I can't help my skeptical side sometimes. But since both are used, you never know. And I'm not the kind of person that can afford to lose a week's worth (or more sometimes) of groceries when something like this happens.

Well then, yesterday afternoon, the lady from the place we bought the other fridge called and she was SO SWEET!!! I didn't know Jeff had actually called them and thank God he didn't act ugly like I so would have! But she told me that if we needed to bring it back, we could and they would look at it and figure something out (even though when we bought it they had made a big deal about telling us there was no warranty) I explained to her what all I had done and that for now, it seemed to be working okay and I am going to give God the credit because I had been frustrated and prayed so hard and had friends praying so hard. She agreed--it had to be God and she said she would keep praying, too! I was completely humbled. What a sweet lady!

So friends, I have gone from having no working fridge to now two (in a few days anyway) working fridges and an offer of repair should we ever need it! Praise God! He has His hands so full of taking care of so many things in this world--sicknesses, deaths, poverty, suffering, persecution, broken hearted but he still cares about the seemingly "little" things like refrigerators! How awesome is that?! I just love our God!

Okay, so now for some silliness...

Got this tag via email from my baby sister (the newlywed) and I can never resist these things! So please play along!

1) Four places that I go to over and over:

Clearview Baptist Church (my church)
Community Presbyterian Church (that's where the homeschool group meets)
First Baptist Christian Academy Leeds (the church I work for)
Clay-Chalkville High School (should be obvious) and now that we've started Community Bible Study, Northpark Baptist church also. But wait, that's 5 :D)


2) Four people who e-mail me (regularly): Debbie Landry, Kayti's teachers, Misty Wallace and Allrecipes!

3) Four of my favorite places to eat: Joe's Crab Shack, Fronterra, Milo's and...don't eat out much, can't give ya four on that one.

4) Four places I would rather be right now: In the presence of my Lord (sorry, I'm just feeling full of the spirit today!), at the beach, in the bed, traveling somewhere I've never been.

5) Four people I think will respond: Hmmm, Laine if she has time, Donna maybe, Yvie maybe, don't think I can come up with four here, either.

6) Four TV shows I watch: Cold Case, Law & Order, Raising the Bar, the Duggars.

Tag--you're it!

We just had our second day of Community Bible study and I am LOVING it this time! We tried to do this a few years ago but just couldn't do it. I don't know if it was the fact that it was our first year to homeschool and I was completely overwhelmed or if I just didn't gel with my core group but anyway...I wanted to try it again and I am just loving it. I have an awesome CORE leader--just the sweetest girl you would ever want to meet and I love studying Paul. This week's listen really touched me in so many ways and that's what I needed right now!

Kayti is having some difficulty with one of her CORE classes (and it's not Math, go figure!) so please pray that we get all that worked out.

I start teaching my preschool dance class this week so please be in prayer for me there--I'm so excited about it! I've been wanting to get back into this for a long time!

Yesterday at work, we did Teddy Bear Day and I told them the story of Teddy Roosevelt being our president a long, long time ago and how he liked to hunt but wouldn't shoot a bear. We talked about who our president is now and who might be our president soon. Some of them actually knew the names of George W. Bush, John McCain and Barack Obama--I was impressed. But when we talked about how our mommies and daddies would have to go vote, one little girl started crying--"I don't want my mommy to go anywhere!"

They are so cute and so funny and you never know what's going through their little heads! It just blesses me each week to be around such purity and innocence and reminds me how we all need to have the faith of a child.

I'm off now to finish the housework I didn't get finished with on Monday. Blessings for a great week to everyone!

Monday, Monday...

ba ba ba ba ba ba...

or however that Mamas & Papas song goes!

I am actually thankful for this Monday. I got cheated out of it last week and it threw me way off my game. Even though it was a holiday and I am thankful for those also, I really thrive on my routine! I need my "down" day.

Well, I call it that anyway. Today is mostly going to be spent cleaning this house and working on various things with the girls.

I updated their homeschooling blog also so be sure and check that out. I also have added a section to this blog that includes stories. Right now, I've only included my salvation testimony and birth stories but I will be adding more soon. Check them out if you're interested. If you have a testimony you'd like to share with my readers, email it to me and I'll include it.

Blogging is not only therapeutic for the writer, it blesses the reader as well. I love reading blogs of my friends. Some of their stories are so amazing and it constantly reminds me of what an awesome God God is!

Confession time...

In my devotion this morning, I was reminded about my continuing need to tame my tongue. This is a lifelong struggle for me. I'm not sure if I come by it honestly or if it's something I picked up along the way but even when I'm not letting the curse word fly from my mouth, my words can still be sharp. Believe me when I say that I don't mean them to be. Really, I don't. Yes, I get easily irritated and sometimes (especially in traffic) I have dark thoughts! But in my heart of hearts, I would never want to hurt anyone physically or emotionally and yet, even when I'm attempting to be lighthearted and humorous I still have that "gift" of offending people.

Case in point...our high school has an alumni website and someone had asked a question about our 20 year reunion. Well, silly me, I answered that our ten year seemed to be thrown together at the last minute and wasn't that much fun and so I skipped the 15 year and didn't have much interest in the 20 year either, though I love to keep up with people, etc. it's a lot of money to spend and a lot of trouble to juggle calendars, etc. I didn't realize when I wrote that how insensitive it was to the people who planned those events. Apparently, they did put a lot of time into planning it (okay...) and what I said seemed to upset people. Go me! Told ya, I have a knack for that sort of thing. I really, really didn't mean to, I was trying to give folks an excuse! LOL I mean, I had a blast in high school but I guess I just don't understand why those things are important to some people. It's like they're trying to relive glory days or get something they missed or something. I do believe in valuing fellowship and old friendships (as someone accused me of not doing!) but you can do those things without a big hoopla. Anyway, I honestly didn't mean to hurt anyone's feelings. Funny how some people can share their opinion and it's okay but when others do it, it comes off as offensive.

Which sort of reminds me of what Pastor Ernie spoke about last night. Why are Christians not persecuted in the U.S.? Because we're not a threat. We are constantly reminded that we have to be "tolerant" and politically correct so as not to offend anyone else but when we're offended, we're just too sensitive! Gotcha.

Nonetheless, I DO understand that it's important to choose our words carefully (otherwise scripture about the tongue wouldn't be so prevalent throughout God's word) and that we need to have a gentle spirit when dealing with others. That's another one of those things I'm just going to have to pray about daily.

Goodness! After listing individually all the sins I'm sorry for, thanking God individually for all the things I'm thankful for and asking Him to help me with all the things I need help with, I don't guess I'll ever get off my knees!

Maybe I better get started now...

Blessings,

What we're learning this week...

I got way way ahead of myself this summer and had several weeks worth of planning for Brooke done. And then the end of it snuck up on me this weekend as I realized, "time to do more!" So I got the next three weeks done and of course, made some adjustments. I am always adjusting, it seems.

Spelling Words:

quilt
mystery
glimpse
igloo
myth
limit
built
blizzard
whistle
imitate
system
width
simple
visit
thrift
instinct
typical
biscuit
gymnast
mischief

In vocabulary, we are working on antonyms this week (the words that are the opposite--I had to remind myself of the definition before I could teach it to her! LOL) and in grammar we are learning pronoun agreement and regular present and past tense verbs.

Her reading unit this week is on poetry (something I am not too great at but I guess I will learn also) and in Math we are continuing to refine our multiplication and division skills.

We have two more units of Science before our Chapter test next week. One is one safety and the other is on atmosphere. So far this year, we have studied weather tracking, the history of the discovery of genetics, weathering & erosion, , temperature and flight as part of "Science as Inquiry". Mrs. Tere has had them making crystals, slime and ice cream in materials science at co-op.

For History, we are studying Kaya, An American Girl. She is the Native American of the Nimmipuu tribe (currently known as the Nez Perce tribe) from 1764. We are beginning the second book of the series this week and have learned how important names were to the Native Americans as well as how they lived and worked.

I've started something new with Brooke this week also called the "green folder". Although I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Spectrum series of books (that's what I use for Reading, Science, Language Arts, Vocabulary and Spelling) we were not making much progress with their Writing curriculum. So we are simply going to journal. I've already prepared several journaling topics and they are waiting on her in the "green folder". Also in the "green folder" are sheets for handwriting practice and various fun sheets like map labeling, mall math, historical worksheets, holiday-related sheets, etc.

She was busted last night doing her "news report". She wrote several pages of "news" and pretended to be an anchorwoman for me and when she was finished I asked her how come she claims she can never think of anything to write when I ask her to write but she can come up with all that off the top of her head! Ha! She proved she can do it when she wants to so I just have to get her to want to. Hmmm...

I will be checking up on Kayti today with her CORE classes. I know she has a project due on Colonial life tomorrow and was having trouble thinking of things to say for 3-5 minutes! Apparently this speech class hasn't kicked in yet! LOL

I want to try and squeeze in some time for music practice today. Since we aren't taking formal lessons right now, we really need to make that a priority so we don't forget what we've learned.

And dance starts back this afternoon! We are SO excited!

Have a great week!

Pictures!

Sorry, I am slow at getting pictures uploaded these days. I'm placing the blame squarely on the shoulders of my ancient computer. Should God provide the opporunity to replace it someday soon, I would be very appreciative! But I digress...

We've had quite a bit of rain lately. So one day, when it was ONLY rain and no thundering or lightning, the girls decided they would love to play in it...







It's hard to get good rain pictures when little girls are running and screaming. Be still!



There we go!

Posing for pictures during half-time of the Alabama/Clemson game.





Brooke loves to look silly in pictures! But ROLL TIDE!!!


Our field trip to Rickwood Caverns--just look at all those beautiful girls!



And here are three of the sweetest big sisters ever!




And we can't forget those Ferrill boys! (where was Quan when I was taking this anyway?) Look at Clay trying to be taller than his older brother!





Isn't adoption beautiful? I am so envious!

A new school year...

Once again, God has blessed us with the privelege to continue homeschooling. We are extremely thankful. Already we are very busy. Kayti is taking CORE (Curriculum Options Requiring Excellence) classes through our awesome homeschool group, Crossroads Christian. Both are taking Co-op enrichment classes and I have the honor of teaching three classes for the co-op this year as well as teaching Discovery and Music & Movement for First Baptist Christian Academy in Leeds. Brooke gets to go with me on Tuesdays and get some hands on experience in mentoring (and plenty of time to study on her own as well) and both girls tag along Thursday mornings. We are also participating in Birmingham-Northeast Community Bible Study this year! So many exciting opportunities for learning keep presenting themselves to us and we are so grateful. Regretfully, we aren't able to do them all. But we are happy to let the Lord choose our paths and make them straight as we pursue His calling on our lives.

We'll share more soon!

The saga of the fridge continues...

At least now we know why it was such a "good deal"! Stupid thing doesn't work! Well, the freezer part does. But I really didn't need a freezer! Why couldn't it have been the other way around? I'd laugh if it weren't so pitiful. But...

even now, I will praise you, Lord. That's what I'm supposed to do, right? After shouting a bit and shedding a few tears, we've determined that maybe...just maybe, it can be fixed. I mean, Jeff's dad DOES specialize in refrigeration. Wonder what it would take to get him to come look at it? That's a whole 'nother story sometime. But perhaps. In the meantime, I just won't buy anything that has to be refrigerated unless it can also be frozen and thawed quickly! LOL So I'm spending tonight googling what kinds of foods have a long shelf life! So much for being Mrs. Suzy homemaker and storing up lots of leftovers.

On a more positive note, we started Community Bible study this week and I think we are going to like it much better this time around. I have a very sweet core leader that I already just love.

We also went on a field trip yesterday to Rickwood Caverns with some sweet friends and other new friends from our homeschool group.

Today, we had another awesome day at co-op. My preschoolers LOVED LOVED LOVED Dr. Jean, we painted faces in American Girls and the home ec class did a lot of baking! I am going to have to remember to take my camera with me next week.

Kayti started her ballroom dancing class this afternoon and seems to like it. She, Brooke & Hannah are going to do a trio of a clogging number next month for the nursing home at Cook Springs and Hannah and Brooke are choreographing it themselves!

Tonight is the big Clay/Hewitt game but Dylan is not going. He is just like his dad. I was Ms. High School--I wouldn't dream of missing a thing during those four years but Jeff and Dylan, ahh they can take it or leave it. Most of the time, leave it. They are preparing for the opening day of dove season tomorrow!

I found out today that I do indeed have enough preschoolers signed up for the dance class at FBCA Leeds! Now I gotta go buy me some dance shoes! LOL But I couldn't be more thrilled!

Dylan is getting a work permit so he can start putting in a few hours at the daycare and saving for that car he thinks he's getting in a few months! LOL

I cleaned out another closet two days ago. (I know, I'm a sicko!)

And that's about it! Good thing, too. I don't know that I could handle too much more excitement!

:)

MELTDOWN!!!

Almost literally, actually! LOL

Indeed the fridge has died and so Jeff and I went fridge shopping on Saturday. That was loads of fun! (not) We found a good deal on a replacement and though it's a bit smaller than our old one (narrower, not shorter), it seems to be in decent shape and working fine. So most of our food was salvaged thanks to the deep freezer (thank you, Mommy! She gave us that as a Christmas present a few years ago) and the ice chest.

We went to church Sunday morning and Ernie preached another AWESOME message on Matthew 18--my biggest pet peeve! The only problem I have with the "go and show" is sometimes you don't know who to "go and show" to! Cowardly tattletales generally like to remain anonymous and their identities are protected by pastors who like to sweep everything under the rug and pretend there are no problems. So I guess I'm stuck with letting love "cover" it. Just when I think I have let it go and have forgiven, something will remind me that instead it is something I have to make a conscious choice to do daily. So I'm working on it. But I'm so glad it appears that our new pastor will not be the type to pat people on the back, just telling them what they want to hear while "handling" it himself. Praise God for him! Now if I could only get Jeff to feel the same way. He's a revenge seeker by nature (as am I) and he isn't to the point where he can make that choice to let go and let God.

We spent most of Sunday afternoon cleaning out the garage and making a place to put our old fridge. If it can be fixed or miraculously begins to work again, I'll use it to store bottled water, etc. Actually, I'm already using it for that, even though it's not working! I just move a few bottles at a time to the "new" fridge.

Cleaning out the garage, even though I do this every few months, was a major undertaking. Dylan and Kayti helped. We got rid of a few things, rearranged everything else and managed to make everything fit pretty well.

The "new" fridge being narrower gives us a few more inches in the kitchen. And I moved my sewing table and cabinet into my bedroom to give us even more space in there.

I must have been in one of my organizing/decluttering moods because then I hit the living room and decided to get rid of my couch. And no, I don't have another yet and no plan to get one anytime soon. (way, WAY down on the Quick Family Wish List). I have a love seat, a queen anne chair and my glider rocker in the living room which is plenty for us to sit on and it makes for more space in that room as well.

I'm trying to reconcile myself to the fact that I am stuck here (probably) for another three years until Dylan graduates. I don't want to buy a house here. We want to move on out to Argo/Springville/Margaret or possibly even Moody/Odenville but we can't do that until Mr. Clay-Chalkville agrees to homeschool or graduates. And we certainly couldn't find anything else to rent around here for what we pay and have as great of a landlord as we've been blessed with so, looks like we'll be calling this place home for awhile longer. That's fine. If it's going to be home, may as well work on making it feel more that way as much as possible.

Anyway, enough of the reorganizing chatter.

I was thankful that for once we happened to have a little in savings to take care of the fridge problem when it happened. Normally, we are always flat busted broke when something major happens. Well, now we are wiped out again! LOL So we're into major penny-pinching mode, eating leftovers and cutting dryer sheets in half! That's okay, too. We'll continue the climb.

Yesterday, Brooke had to dance at a Labor Day festival and then I had to work it. We had a good time but were exhausted when we left so we went home and took a nap. We didn't bother to try and go swimming because of the overcast and threat of rain (in addition to being tired) and now our "neighborhood" pool is closed for the season. :(

Today was CORE and I've been checking on Kayti's grades. She's doing pretty well and the only things that are bringing her grades down a bit are the things that she "forgets". So I attempted a talk about remembering to do what we are responsible for. Yes, we all forget from time to time but we can't keep using excuses when we do. We have to eventually figure out a way to NOT forget. *sigh* that only led to a major meltdown. I swear that child is wound so tight! Of course, now it's MY fault because I signed her up for CORE in the first place. Forget about the last two weeks and how she's gone on and on about how much she likes it! LOL So I'll be playing the role of "mean mommy" for the rest of the evening, I'm sure and who knows how long after that.

Work went well today. We did an experiment/activity on sugar and salt and it was a hoot to hear the things those little ones had to say. I'm sure the parents will get a kick out of it when they see the posters.

We did decide not to do Camp Fire this year. That was very hard to do. We have really really enjoyed the last four years and have had some amazing experiences. But we just can't do everything.

See!? I DO say no sometimes! (actually a lot!)

As much as I hate to see summer come to a close, I'm looking forward to Fall. That is probably my favorite season (except that it reminds me Christmas is around the corner and although I love Christmas, I HATE Christmas shopping and being reminded that I need to get it done soon! aaaaaggghhh!!!) I love the cooler weather, the smells of warm apple cider and pumpkin spice and of pine and burning campfires. I love Halloween and Halloween candy and treats you only see around this time. I love football!!!! Roll Tide Roll!! That was the most awesome game! And you Auburn and UAB fans need to get over yourselves. If your team is so great, why don't you talk about that instead of whining because we are happy with our team and our coach?!

And we did get to see the inlaws new house, which is quite nice, even if it's not my taste. I'm glad they're happy.
I'm off to cook chicken casserole for dinner that no one else really likes but me. But hey, if it's my night to cook, I get to choose, right?


Blessings,