I'm Back.....

Wow.......its been a long while!  It is now November 2011, months since my last blog post and here I find myself back in the saddle.  So much has happened over the summer and this fall.  I won't even begin to recap.  I'm just going to pick up in the here and now.  

We are in our 8th year of homeschooling and loving every minute of it.  This has been a tough school year as I have my first high-schooler and added a Kindergarten student.  I now have 4 students to teach everyday, along with all the other requirements of a wife and mother.  I wouldn't trade this life for any other one in the world!

We have had some rough roads in the past few months, but God is faithful and answering prayers. His word is living, breathing and alive in our midst! I see my children growing in the word, growing in faith and that is such a wonderful thing.  I am so blessed to see it, day in and day out.  I pray that you all are feeling the love of our Savior as well.

Come back and visit soon.  I hope to blog a few times a week.  I've missed you all!

Blessings!

Blessed Mommy

Where does the time go?

It seems that I can't keep up with this blog anymore.  While it serves as a wonderful outlet for me to connect and reach out, there isn't enough time in my day to allow for it.  What is keeping me so busy you ask?  It could be the potty training 3 yr old boy.....and he is doing well, thank you.  It could be the 15 week old puppy that we rescued several weeks ago that isn't potty trained like the boy! Or the 2 preschoolers that beg me everyday to play with "rice" or "do school."  It could also be those 3 big kids that need me to teach them the ways of our Lord, along with math, language, history, science, spelling, reading, writing, and home economics.  It might also be those long trips we make (an hour one way) to take 2 kids to soccer practices just 3 days a week.  Or the studying that I do for my own spiritual growth, currently studying 1&2 Thessalonians, Grace Based Parenting and also a book on Women's Leadership in the church.  And then there is that other thing called a house I have to keep clean, the laundry that has to be washed and folded, the meals that need cooking, the dishes washed, dogs fed and walked....you know all the joys of being a Wife and Mom!  All those things that I wouldn't trade for all the money in the world! 
I am finding joy in the small things, joy in the trials, and joy in the big things!  I am busy, yes, but busy doing the things that God has called me to do.  And for that I will not complain about lack of blogging time, but I will love those times sharing in studies with my husband, cherish those moments when my kids finally understand a concept, cheer for the goals reached in sports, relish those times playing with "rice," and just enjoy the JOYS that God has given me.......for He has given me much.  How will you spend your time? 
Where does your time go?

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer. Psalm 19:14

Dear Blog,

I haven't forgotten about you, dear blog.  Life has been a whirlwind, ok maybe a tornado in the night, through our house and lives these past 3 weeks.  After having such a great start to school it was inevitable that something would happen to stop that and so we ended up sick with strep throat in the house, again!  Now everyone is well, antibiotics are working well this time, kids are getting back into the swing of school and Mommy is still trying to figure out the schedule!  Between home schooling the 3 older girls, grading papers, home preschool with the 2 little ones, soccer, household chores, cooking, orthodontist appointments, soccer games, several church activities, teaching music to 2 of the older girls, and trying to study for home fellowships......I have NO TIME left over for blogging!  As soon as I get this schedule worked out I hope to be back in the saddle, but right now its too much.  I will only be blogging once a week or less until I can come up with a better plan.  SORRY!  Just remember, I haven't forgotten about you dear blog.  I just need some more time to figure out a better schedule.

In past 3 weeks, we have completed lots of good schoolwork, kids are doing GREAT!  Makenna and Edwin got sick with strep throat for a 3rd time in 2 months.  Magdalene got strep for the 2nd time in 2 months.  Ellianna's steel immune system finally let down and she got strep throat with an ear infection.  Mommy also came down with the sickness and had strep throat! Everyone healed from all the sickies!!  Praise God!  Our A/C unit went out AGAIN, but fall is just around the corner!  Oh, and let's not forget that Makenna got her top braces!!!  Very unexpected at this time, but she had to have it done now in order to make room for some important teeth.  YES, I have 2 kids in braces!!  Never thought I would see that day!  All in all it has been a WHIRLWIND 3 weeks, but it's also been a BLESSED 3 weeks.  I can see God's hand in everything, in every school day!  He has given me strength to get up in the mornings, He has given us health again, He has given us a spirit of peace and for all those things I am so grateful, just busy.  Busy for His kingdom!

Update on lots!

Induction is going well!  So far I'm down 9 pounds in 8 days!!  I only got crabby a few times last week, thanks to your prayers and I have had an incredible amount of energy to keep me going.  Again, thank you for your prayers, they helped.  I'm still trying to decide where to go when this induction phase is over.  It seems to help get me over a hump, so I just may continue with it a bit longer.

Today we started school.  We were all lined up and ready to start yesterday, but I awoke to a Crashed Computer.  Of course, the computer that is centered around all the school work and schedules.  Obviously we had to postpone starting by a day.  My dearest husband came home early yesterday to rebuild a computer, try and save my harddrive and change the central computer to another.  We are blessed to have more than one computer in our house, so he could make these changes easily.  It was a long night for him, but by this morning he had everything up and running again.  We were only 45 minutes behind our schedule this morning!!  Not bad for the first day, but I'm hoping for improvement.

The kids have a heavy load of subjects this year.  More than they've had in the past.  So this morning as we were going over the plans for the year their faces went from happy to sad, very quickly.  They got better as the day progressed.  They perseveered and did a great job on their first day.  I pray it continues.

So, there you go.  That's our update from last week.  Until next time!

It's Official....School's Out for Summer!!

Yes, SCHOOLS OUT for summer!!!!!!!!!!!!  Yay.....I don't know who's more excited, me or the kids!  Yesterday was our last day of school for the 2009-2010 year.  Yes we went a bit later than most schools.  We took awhile off to help some dear friends move out of state, took an early summer vacation and all because we can!  Its hard to believe we just finished our 6th year of homeschooling.  I wouldn't change a thing...I mean I love having my kids at home.  Sure I would do a better job teaching them more and improve upon myself, but I wouldn't change having my kids at home with me for anything.  They are my life and I love them!

Now that schools out we will be spending our days sleeping in, watching lots of "Little House" and going to the pool.  I do love the summer break, but it doesn't take long to yearn for the schedules again.  What do you do during your summer months off?  How do you pass the time?  I would love some ideas on fun things to do during the summer that are easy on the budget.  Thanks for sharing!

Friday's Here....

Ahh, finally Friday!  I made it through my first week.  I may have spent 3 days in bed, but on day 4 I got up and showered...that's progress!  Day 6 is here and I had lunch wtih my Mammaw, grocery shopped, washed and folded laundry, cooked dinner and did the dishes!  I have to say that I am very proud of me, for getting all that done today.  If you have never suffered depression you won't understand what an accomplishment this is for anyone, but trust me it is!

I can't say that things are getting easier, they aren't, but we are getting over the initial hurt and trying to look to bigger things.  We are going to try and plan a trip to the beach with my mom in the next few weeks and we have our annual homeschool conference to attend.  I have lots of things to keep me busy in the next few weeks.  We need to finish up our school year, finish testing, look at new curriculum for next year and start planning for next year also.  I'm hoping that we can get caught up with some schoolwork, as we are a few weeks behind right now.  I got spring fever a few weeks ago, then we helped our friends move and this week was a total bust, cause I didn't feel well.  Great thing about homeschool......it goes where we go and we can do it at OUR pace!  The kids are actually excited to know we will be continuing some subjects through the summer.  We will still take time off for fun, but I think they like knowing that there will be some consistency to their days...not just a free for all.

Tomorrow we have our LAST soccer game of the season!  It's the Big One....Championship Game!  I'm looking forward to it and to the end of the running around for awhile.  Fall will be here before I know it, summer will be over, a new school year beginning and soccer season right behind it, but for now I will embrace the spring and enjoy my kids!  Have a Great weekend yall!!

Focus....

It's time to focus on next years curriculum choices.  I have lots of changes in store for next year.  This year has been wonderful, so far.  The kids are always so enthusiastic to learn something new and they are getting older, so we need to change the way they study some things.  My oldest arrow will be going into 8th grade!!!  I can hardly believe she is that big....seems like just yesterday we started this homeschooling adventure and here we are about to start our 7th year.  WOW.....time flies.

As I am still reading my book on Homeschooling with a Meek and Quiet Spirit, I am trying to put into work some of the things I have already learned.  For example, they suggest bringing in your husband to help with the curriculum choosing.  This is an area that I have normally had full control.  My husband trusts my choices, although I often go to him first and ask what he thinks.  This year however, I will be seeking to do this as a joint praying and decision making process.

Having an almost highschooler in our midst really changes the way you look at curriculum.  You want to make sure that her transcripts will look good to whatever college she might applies and you seek to teach them as much as possible before they are "adults."  I have to say, I am getting a bit nervous over this one.  This is when I have to stop and pray, pray, pray. 

The younger children's curriculums won't change all that much other than a few things here and there.  I am seeking a new math curriculum for everyone.  I've loved using our Teaching Textbooks, but I have also heard recently that they miss quite a bit too.  I don't even know where to begin on this one!!  Any suggestions?  We really enjoy having it on the computer, as I am not great in math and the "new" way of math has me baffled!  I could probably get by with teaching it the "old" way, but I'd be doing my kids a disservice when they get older and into higher grades.  So, what do you do?

How do you go about choosing your curriculum?  Do you follow what your fellow moms are teaching, branch out and go your own path, or do you and your husband pray over and choose wisely?  I'm curious to know....so sit a spell and give me your insights.  I'm wondering if after 6 years, am I missing something wonderful???  Thanks for sharing!

I'm off to FOCUS, pray and focus on choosing the right curriculum for my uprising highschooler.

An Evening Out......

Ahhhh....a peaceful evening out for a few hours, but sadly not with my husband!  I met with some homeschooling girlfriends for dinner last night and it was so refreshing!  We really didn't talk much about our homeschools, but we did get a glimpse into the "real" women that we are apart from teaching.  You know sometimes its nice to know more about your friends and not just the things you have in common.  I was surprised by so many things that were shared, but more impressed with the way each lady handled themselves in each situation.  I have a much greater respect for each of them and now I know a little bit more about who they are and how God has used them.  It was a wonderfully enlightening evening!

Although my dear husband was at home watching our precious children (and a few extra), I did so enjoy the time away, but missed him dearly.  I wish there were ways to find time away with him.  It seems that we never make time to go anywhere just the 2 of us.  We are always too busy serving the other one that we forget to serve our marraige.  Surely someday we will see that we need to stop serving each other with restful times away from the children and chaos of our lives to realize we need some time together.

New school room........

A fresh new look for our schoolroom.

I realized today that I hadn't updated the blog in so long before that I forgot to include pictures of our newly painted and reorganized schoolroom.  The kids were so excited when we finished that they couldn't wait to start school!  So we started school on August 24th.

Here is a picture of all my little homeschoolers!!  Aren't they the cutest little bunch?  My oldest Arrow is in 7th grade, next arrow is in 4th grade, my middle arrow is in 3rd grade, my youngest girl arrow is in preschool and then my only son is just hanging out and learning how to be a real two year old boy-although he still has a few weeks until he is officially 2!!

HAPPY HOMESCHOOLING EVERYONE!!

Listen

Today was a day of concentration for the kids. They really had to work hard on their school work, as they do everyday, but today was a bit louder in the house. We had laundry beeping every 40 minutes or so, phone calls for mom, groceries to bring in and put away, along with 2 toddlers that were less than cooperative today.

Even in all the noise, they got their work done and did it well! It makes me think of all the noise that I hear during the day, and why I don't hear the Lord when He speaks to me. I don't hear Him because I am not listening for Him. How that makes my heart ache. I want to hear the Lord, I want to be obedient to His word, but time and time again I let myself get too busy in the day to day busyness that I don't listen. It is not that He doesn't hear my cry for help, but I don't wait and listen for His response. His word tells me the He hears me when I cry out....

The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. Psalm 34:17

His word also tells me that He hears....

I call on the LORD in my distress, and he answers me. Psalm 120:1

So, why, if He will do these things, do we not wait and listen for Him? We don't need more time in our day, we need to prioritize our time better.....give unto Him that has so freely given to us! The Lord delights in our time with Him and He will bless us all the more if we obey His commands. Have you listened for God today?

Refreshed.....

Well, we finally started back to school!! Yes!!! Maybe now I can get back to my regular blogging schedule. I have missed the steadiness of our "school schedule" and the order which it brings. This year will be a busy year for us, but a Great year no doubt. We have new classes outside the home this year and extra classes to be taken here and there along the way. I have also already scheduled all of our holidays into the year and I have a firm grip on things now rather than fumbling later.

We started Aug. 24th and had a wonderful first week of school....then that dreaded stomach flu hit the house and all of us got it at the same time! By Tuesday we got a slow start, but we did have fun with History to get everyone in a good mood. Wednesday was a better day for us all and a full day of school again. Now yesterday brought NEW joy to a couple of the girls. My 2 middle arrows had their first science class with nJoyscience and they LOVED IT! They both came home talking of catapults, simple machines, levers, inclined planes and the list goes on. The made a catapult and my middle arrow played with hers for hours yesterday, hurling anything and everything across the room.

It is so refreshing to see ones spirit revived, their love for something return. Don't you think? I see the sparkle return to their eyes, the questions start swirling. How does this work and why does it do that? Or when they have struggled with a new concept and then all of a sudden it clicks and they figure it out. I LOVE to be here and see that and I am so grateful to have the opportunity to teach them myself, so I don't miss those moments.

When I think about the beginning of the school year and that refreshing of their spirits, I think of the Holy Spirit within me. He refreshes me everyday, not just school days. He sustains me through my comings and goings, He intercedes for me....what a comfort He is at all times.

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 2 Corinthians 3:17 (ESV)

Do you have that freedom? Are you calling upon His Spirit to lead you and refresh you? I encourage you to spend time in prayer today and call upon the Holy Spirit, ask for that freedom and it will be given to you. Have a Blessed Day!!!!!

The Holy Spirit......

It's back to school for us next week and with the new school year comes a new schedule. For the first time ever, we will be taking classes outside of the home. I signed the oldest 3 arrows up for a Science class that meets every other Thursday....but that is not the case! The oldest is on one Thursday and the other 2 are on the opposite Thursday, so we will be going out every Thursday for class. I could be frustrated with the scheduling, but I'm not. I am so thankful that the kids can be with other home schooled children and having fun with science. Plus the curriculum is awesome! They will be using Apologia....this is the one curriculum that I have always wanted to do, but been too intimidated by it to try. This way I am not teaching it alone and they can do the experiments with peers their own age.

Not only do we have outside class this year, but we have our usual fall soccer schedule to include, practices and games. So far the middle arrow is the only one officially signed up for soccer. The oldest arrow was signed up for soccer, but it didn't work out so well. She is too old to play in the league we had originally signed with and had to pull her out, despite the reasoning of others that "everyone does it." Yes, they are referring to cheating and lying about kids ages. I was totally dumbfounded at the thought and can't believe that they would even consider it.

As homeschoolers, I realize that we all home school for different reasons, but this is my first encounter of this type. This situation goes against everything I am trying to teach my children, trying to live out in my daily life, and more importantly against God's commands. I can't and won't cheat just because everyone else is doing it! As a sinner I also realize that it's an easy trap to fall into, but for once my guard was up, my conscience alert, and I knew right away it was wrong. I could have just kept my mouth shut and not said anything, but something within me was unsettled....what you ask? I guess the Holy Spirit really is within me and I saw/felt evidence of it yesterday.

I often question whether or not God is pleased with me, does He know me? Will I be one that He never knew? But I am fully confident today, I am confident that I have Him in my heart, He lives within me, He has given me the Holy Spirit to help guide me and for once I was truly listening! I have often thought of Christ today and thought of how he was tempted by Satan, he could have chosen the "easy road", the other path, instead He did the Father's will to save us.......you and me. How I Thank Him today and everyday for going to the cross for me. May my life always shine forth the love of Christ and nothing else.

Am I ready?

Am I ready for school to start back? Am I ready to homeschool 7th, 4th, 3rd and preschool? Am I ready for my 12 year old to grow up now that she looks it with her braces? Am I ready for the fall schedule of soccer, science, school, practices and everything else? Am I ready for any of this?

NO....................the answer is plain and simple.....NOOOOOOOO......I am NOT ready! My head starts spinning just thinking about it. I can't sleep at night, thinking about it. When will I learn to trust in the Lord? When will I remember that He is in control, His timing is perfect, and through Christ all things work for the good of those who love Him? WHEN???? It is not right now. I feel overwhelmed, frazzled, scatterbrained, forgetful, stressed, ready to explode at any moment. I think I need a breather.....time to look at everything and relax. I need to trust in God for all my needs and I am having a harder time this year than ever, passing the torch to Him. I so want to be in charge....I want to be in the drivers seat, but I have to remember, if I am in the drivers seat.......where is God? Where are my priorities? GOD has to be my First Priority, to glorify Him in all I do.

Lord, hear my prayer that I will trust in you, that I will turn to you for all my needs. I know that you know my heart better than I know my own heart. Lord, please help me to cast my cares, worries, and concerns on you, for you will give me the rest that I need......you will sustain me. Thank you Lord, for loving a sinner like me and still saving me. Amen.

Where do butterflies go......

....when you release them from your children's captivity??

They flutter off your hand and into the butterfly bushes in the yard, of course. Then they flutter around some more so that you can admire what beautiful and spectacular creatures they are and how good God is and thank Him for your "science" experiment.

Arrow Number 4 was sooo proud of her butterfly. She stood there watching her eat nectar for the longest time.

We have enjoyed watching the caterpillars develop into chrysalis and then into beautiful butterflies.


We had 5.....3 males and 2 females. How do I know you ask? Females have larger abdomens then males. Almost immediately after emerging from their chrysalis they quickly find a mate!!! Then a few days later, the females laid their eggs allllllllll over the butterfly basket. (You may have to click on the image to see it in life size to see the turquoise looking eggs. They are tiny, but you can still see them without a magnifying glass.)


We are hoping to see the full circle of a butterflies life. We watched our butterflies for about 2 weeks before letting them go today. It was a sad, but beautiful thing. We still see them fluttering about in the yard.

It's been a while.....

Hello Bloggy Friends!
It's been almost a month since my last post! WOW! As you can probably figure, we have finished up our school year and summer has officially started for us! We have been enjoying strawberry picking, days by grandma's pool, boat rides with Mammaw n Pappaw and picnics with friends. It's been busy busy.

Here are some pictures to update you on our recent happenings. I promise to try and keep up better, but honestly, it's been nice having the computer break. I didn't realize how much time I waste on the computer!

Did we do enough school?

A friend of mine sent this to me today to encourage me. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to share it with you, my fellow homeschooling moms! Enjoy and I pray that God would use it to ease your minds and hearts.

Blessings,
Blessed Mommy


Did we do enough school?
C2006 By JulieBeth Lamb

It's the end of the school year. From this vantage point you are just happy to be nearing the summer break and the beginning of school seems so long ago. It is hard to remember the enthusiasm you had and all the plans, so many plans. Your children were going to be smarter, brighter, more Godly, well educated, and learn everything under the sun. It was all written out neatly on pages of lesson plans. Looking back it somehow feels like hardly anything got done all year, there were so many days spent cleaning the house, making Christmas cookies, helping Grandma in the yard, visiting a friend who was having a bad day, skiing, playing in the mud (there was alot of mud this year!), looking at old family photos, and. ah, yes, I do remember cracking the math book a few times.

Did we do enough school? How do I know? Who decides? If we really want to get technical we can look at the public school's approach to it. They use standardized tests to evaluate if a student is progressing. It doesn't tell if they are thriving, love learning, are really excited about a certain subject, all they really care about is a higher test score than last year. That tells us if they are better at taking tests than last year, if they are less nervous about test taking, if they have been taught to the test, and if they are having a good day today. It doesn't really tell us what we parents need to know.

As Christians there is only one way to measure how well we taught our students through the previous school year. Are they growing in God? Are they better prepared than they were before to be used by God now and as adults to live out His good plan for their lives? If we seek these things first, everything else will be added to their lives as needed by the perfecter of our faith. Did we do enough "school"? What are the things that are truly of value, did we make time for them? Were there times spent in the Word, singing His praises and memorizing scripture? Did we make time for family meals, great conversation, and breaking bread together?

Did we visit the Lord and His family at church regularly and fellowship with believers for our mutual edification? Was there time spent in service to others, training up the next generation in Christian service, the true proof of our belief? Did we have fun with our children, enjoy these quickly passing years together before they speed away? Hours of daydreaming, thinking, planning, pretending, should have been accounted for also, they are very important. You did enough school. If there were some of these areas that you need to improve on, you can do more school next year.

You know in your heart how the school year went. Maybe Johnny needs to work on his reading over the summer and Suzie has to practice her multiplication tables. There is always more time for book learning. But you also know in your heart how much you love your children, more than anyone else on this earth. You know you have prayed over them and worked to provide them the things that God ordained for them, even when it didn't make sense, was overwhelming, or difficult. When God showed you that narrow path you followed it, just as you did when you chose homeschooling in the first place.

That is all we can do, that is all we should do, that is all that is required of us-to obey God in the area of our children's education and trust that He has given us and them everything they need and those things He hasn't provided were not needed. It is such a blessing that we don't have to provide our children everything they need, only one can do that, our Lord God, who loves our children even more than we and is working out His good plan in their lives.

Next school year lies before us in glorious anticipation. With God's help our plans will come together for another home school season. They will all be written out neatly on pages of lesson plans and we will be once again full of enthusiasm. We will do some more math, English, reading, history and science, but more importantly we will make time for God's Word, service, family & friends, and mud and God will make up the rest.

Busy...Busy

Busy is the perfect way to describe our past week. We have been running here and there, visiting my grandmother, basketball and schooling at the same time. I am happy to report that my grandmother had back surgery and is home recovering now. She will have a few months of physical therapy ahead of her, but we are praying that the surgery was a success and she will have more movement in her back and a lot less pain. She had 4 screws put into her vertebrates to get them off one another and unpinch a nerve. She has suffered for years now and God knew to hold her off until now for the surgery....it was a new procedure, but one they have had great success with too. I just marvel at how God's timing is so much better than our timing. Please continue to pray for her.

Now, for our household. We have just been busy all around. Last week we were visiting my grandmother in the hospital alot so that took a good portion of the week. We had basketball games last weekend, our oldest arrow shot the winning shot for her team!! So, we had to celebrate with ice cream once we got home! The other 2 arrows had their games on Saturday afternoon and one team won and the other team lost....it was the first loss for that team, but I think it was good to teach them how to lose gracefully. I think it is important for kids to learn how to lose gracefully, God doesn't promise us a life of happiness everyday, no trials, but He does promise us......

For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself." Acts 2:39 ESV

God is with us during our trials, strengthening us, conditioning us, drawing us closer to Himself....for our good, for our sanctification. I am so grateful for such a loving Father. Aren't you?

After such a busy week last week, this week has been slower. It has been nice to relax, get back into the school swing, since last week it was school on the go. We got the school room cleaned up and organized again. The kids are still enjoying their curriculum on the computer...and I am so thankful for them! That was the hardest to teach on 3 different grade levels. Now we just do Science, History and Spelling together. Reading they do on their own, or we read a book aloud together, with discussion afterwards. Speaking of school....it's past time to get our started! Gotta run! Have a Blessed Day!

Old Salem Field Trip

Thankfully by Friday last week I was feeling better due to an antibiotic and much rest. We were able to keep our field trip plans to Old Salem in Winston Salem, NC. They were offering a "homeschool days" for homeschoolers at a discounted price, so took advantage of the opportunity. The kids had a wonderful time and we learned so many things while there. It was so fun to see, touch, hear and smell history! I was really amazed at all they had to offer and we didn't even get to do everything! I can't wait to go back and take the kids again. Here's a slide show of some of our fun! THANKS to my Mother In Love that went with me too!!! We had a WONDERFUL day, busy, lots of walking, tiring day, but it was FUN!

Chickadee Rescue

Yes, I said Chickadee rescue. Today after finishing up school and the youngest arrows waking from their nap, my oldest arrow found a beautiful little chickadee stuck inside the bird feeder. I didn't believe it at first. I thought it was just on the opposite side of the feeder and it only looked as if it were inside, but I quickly realized the bird needed help. My oldest arrow volunteered to release the bird and I said "Sure, but not before I get a picture!" I love taking pictures of our wildlife with my fairly new camera.
Here you can clearly see the bird is stuck inside the seed cylinder. She looks so peaceful, doesn't she?


The Chickadee Rescuer....


She tried to fly out a number of times, but she couldn't go anywhere. Poor Chickadee


Here you can barely see her flying out of the cylinder....I think she was very thankful to her rescuer.


After releasing her back to the wild, we filled the feeders back to maximum capacity as to ward off any other victims. Let me also add that the feeder she got into was filled just Monday afternoon and emptied yesterday. We have 4 bird feeders, 3 suet feeders and 3 thistle seed socks. All were filled on Monday, but gone by today. The poor birds just don't have any food around, so we have to feed them, plus we don't mind feeding them since they let us watch them so closely. 3 of the feeders hang on the window to our kitchen, so we watch the birds all day long. They don't seem to be frightened by the kids noise inside. They just eat and go on about their business with wide eyes looking on at them. We are sure to thank Lord Jesus for our birds, he made them so beautiful, so tiny, so strong and so different. The girls enjoy our hands on nature study.....right on our kitchen window sill.

Here are a few other pictures we got today after filling the feeders. I was sitting in the middle of the yard just waiting. As I waited, I said a prayer for the birds to not be frightened of the camera sound. Let me say that He answered me! The birds were afraid of nothing! They sat right in front of me, looking at me, eating away and even flew by me that I could feel the wind from their wings. They are such beautiful creatures! God is so good, all the time! Enjoy God's Creation! Blessings!

Lesson Plans....

I finally got some lesson plans done today! I have never made lesson plans. I have tried a few times, but I never get too far and never followed them. However, today I packed up my stuff and took it to basketball practice. As the kids had their practice I sat there working on my plans. I now have plans through March. Woohooo....yay for me. I am so excited about finally improving on an area of my life I have been praying about for a long time. I have friends that do their lesson plans in the summer, some do it every month, but I never could figure out just what or how to do my own.

I have been praying that God would help me be more accountable to the kids and with our lessons. We have made GREAT progress in the past 3 weeks, now that the kids are healthy again. The girls are just flying through their studies and loving every minute of it. We have a field trip coming up to Old Salem soon as a reward to all of us for our dedication. God has been so gracious to put people in my life that influence me in a good way. He has provided for my every need in more ways than you can imagine. I continue to pray for His strength each day, His guidance in teaching His children, His wisdom in the subjects to teach them and for His patience to pursue this path. I see everyday where God is sanctifying me and bringing me closer to himself. Thank you dear Jesus that you have given me the power and strength to get through another day. May tomorrow be another wonderful day of homeschooling and may you bless all the rest of our homeschooling days.