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!