Learning to love where I am

The Last few months in our new place we've been busy...

Biking. Hiking. Exploring. Meeting. Seeing. Sitting. Reading. Talking. Waiting. Growing. Learning. Helping. Loving. Watching. Going. Doing. Resting. Sleeping. Crying. Laughing. Kayaking. Swimming. Eating. Fighting. Watching. Slowing. Growing. Worrying. Trusting. Playing. Volunteering. Cooking. Missing.

Nothing ever stays the same

Everything changes. Sometimes for good. Sometimes not. But just when you get cozy with the way life is...it changes. I guess that's a good thing. It helps us grow. It helps us change. Would we change or grow if life didn't change around us? I'm not sure I would. I might get too comfortable with the way things are. But change can be a good thing. It's a time to start anew. It's a time to clean out. It's a time to change attitudes. It's a time to meet new people. It's a time to rely on the Lord. Things are about to change big time in the life of me and my family. I am praying more. Reading God's Word more. Cleaning out so much junk.. physically and spiritually. I don't like change too much. But God knows me best and I'm glad He doesn't let me stay the same.

A life in tune

Here's something you may not know about me... I used to play the violin. For about 4 years back a long long time ago. Like 25 years ago! It's something I wish I would have continued. (Note to all you kids out there whose parents make you practice an instrument--keep it up! It's something you will always have with you! and music is beautiful!) Anyway, I had a thought the other day and got a wild hair. I thought I should get a cheapie violin and try to play again! Thank goodness for ebay!

Well, in my mind I knew I couldn't just pick it up and play it again. I knew it would take a lot of practice. But one thing I didn't think about. Tuning the thing! When it came in the mail it came untuned of course. I bought a tuner and began to mess with it. Up..down..sharp..flat..wrong note..too high..too low.. UGHH! I had to go out a buy a tuner to help me get the pitch right. It has a needle that points if the note is too high or too low, and it has a big letter that flashes what the note is. Also..you have to understand how a violin works. It's got big pegs on the neck where you can adjust the strings. This is for changing the note drastically. But it also has small tuners down at the base for fine tuning. When you just need to tweak the string a little bit up or down.

Well I kept messing with each string. And just when I'd get to the last string ..I'd go back and listen to the first one..and it was out of tune! How'd that happen? I just fixed it! So I'd start all over again and tune each string. Then I noticed that the pegs were slipping. Every time I got the string tuned..the peg turned and it was out of whack again! So I had to buy some peg compound to give the pegs more grip so they wouldn't slip.

As I was in the middle of this very frustrating process..I thought.. hey..there is a spiritual lesson in here. A few actually..

• You can't tune your instrument without a tuner. My life is my instrument. The tuner is the Lord.
• Sometimes my life is so out of whack I can't tell what the tune is supposed to be. I need to tune with the pegs. Make some big changes. Tune things in my life up or down in a big way to make a noticeable sound to others.
• Sometimes the string sounds pretty good to others. But there's some fine tuning that needs to be done. My life may look good to others. It may sound ok. But it would sound better if I did a little fine tuning. Just tweaked stuff a bit.
• You can't not play for 25 years and pick it up and sound wonderful. You need practice. If I had been practicing all these years imagine the songs I could play now! My life needs to be in continual practice to Jesus. I can't take a break for a while and come back to Him later. My life would sound terrible. I need daily practice. Practice in reading His word. Practice in praying. Practice in serving others. Practice in good thoughts and actions. The more I practice the more my life will sound better.
• Just when I think I've gotten all tuned up..I need to start over and retune. Each time I pick up my instrument to play I need to check and see if it's in tune. My life will slip in and out. I'll never be perfect. But I need to constantly check the tuner (the Lord) and see if my life sounds good.

This new year I hope to learn to play my violin again. Maybe I'll start practicing Christmas songs now so I'll be able to play some at the end of the year!

But I want to work more on my relationship with the Lord. Lord, show me where I need to tune my life with the pegs. Put the peg compound on so I won't keep slipping out of tune. Lord, show me where my instrument needs to be fine tuned. Help me in my thoughts, speech, actions toward others. Help me be a beautiful instrument for you!

2010 is over already??!

Wow! It is true..the older you get the faster time speeds up. I don't know if it's a law of physics or not..but it sure seems to be true. Remember when you were a kid in school and time went sooooo slowwwww. Summer break was about to start and you sat in class looking at the clock..just waiting for summer to begin. Tick, tick, tick.. it. just. seemed. to. go. so. slow. But now that I'm older I feel like I just blink and time passes so quickly! How are my kids so big now? How am I almost 40?? How have Larry and I been married 21 years?? Timejustgoessofastnow.

Well.. the end of the year is a good time to review and reflect. Here's some highlights of our year:

• Larry spent the first half of the year working in Pennsylvania. It was sad but we were thankful for the job!
• Scott started Community College in January and took classes through the summer. He learned alot..mostly that he doesn't like college.
• Renee quit her job at Sonic and started a new job at the mall. It's a much better atmosphere and she loves it!
• Sam spent part of the summer up in Pennsylvania with Larry.
• The whole family got to go on a Cruise to Mexico! Lots of fun!
• Val continues to work at Arlington Resale! She loves it!
• Renee turned 18!!
• Scott went to Youth with a Mission classes for 5 months!
• Sam lost his ipod and then worked and earned enough money to buy another one!
• We had a deck built out in the backyard. It's so nice to sit out there now!
• Renee & I took a short trip down to Surfside beach.
• Val memorized Romans 12!

The Lord is good. His mercies are new every morning! Thankfully! I have seen many answered prayers this year. He continues to bless. If I keep my eyes on Him I can see more clearly. I don't know how people do life without the Lord! He is amazing!

I read the entire Bible through this year. It is always such a blessing. I want to again next year.

That's what life is all about!

I pray next year will be a blessing as we continue to make Him widely known!

Luke 2:17 "Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. ^"

Homeschooling Journey

It's hard to believe we aren't homeschooling any kids any more. We homeschooled for over 15 years! I still get people asking me questions about it and I'm always happy to share our experience! God has taught me so much about myself through the journey of homeschooling! So if you are just starting out homeschooling or have homeschooled a while and need a fresh perspective..here's what I would say to you.

First of all let me say that there are as many ways to homeschool as there are people that are homeschooling! Everyone does it differently. There is not "one" way to do it. Every child is different and every learning style is different.

I would also advise not to spend a lot of money at first. Try several things. See which things work and which things don't. If it isn't working then don't use it. There is no use in banging your head against the wall every day just to finish some books! Use the library as much as possible! You also don't have to do "school" at home.

You can do it however you want to during the day. Some days it's playing at the park and going to the zoo. Other days it's writing stories together and baking cookies. Some days it's playing monopoly and learning to make change. Some days it's teaching them to drive and letting them figure out how to read a map. Some days it's building a computer out of other broken computers. Those are the good days. The bad days are not so fun to report.. It's yelling and screaming to "finish your work". It's crying that the house looks like trash and nobody cares. It's disciplining the whole day because we need to work on character and listening. The bad days are yucky but it's part of learning and growing for both the kids and myself.

It's also not about cramming their heads full of knowledge. I liked to teach my kids to love learning. I still love to learn myself to this day! Just because you finish school doesn't mean you stop learning. I liked to teach my kids to learn how to learn. How to find out the things they were interested in.

The other great part about homeschooling is you can teach them Eternal things. Things that really matter-- Bible verses, Bible stories, stories of great heroes in the Faith, stories of great missionaries!

The thing I learned most the 15+ years of homeschooling my kids was this... 
I learned who I was. I learned how I taught, what I expected, how much patience I had or didn't have, I learned that I could change and grow and learn too.

So all that being said... here's some links of several different "schools" of thought.

First of all a good network of people is a must!

Sacc Home School Co-op  This is the homeschool co-op that we belonged to for many years. Lots of great knowledge in this group. Call early..there is usually a waiting list to get in!

The Texas law on homeschooling

http://www.hslda.org/laws/analysis/Texas.pdf

It's pretty easy to homeschool in Texas!

Curriculums:

Several friends I have use http://www.sonlight.com/ especially first starting out

Abeka is a big one..it can be expensive http://www.abeka.com/?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1

Lots of people I know use this for math http://www.mathusee.com/

We used the Switched on Schoolhouse for a while (computer based) They have other books too http://www.aophomeschooling.com/

With the internet there may not even be a need to buy a curriculum! There's lots of sites available for printing worksheets, lessons etc. Just google free homeschool stuff. Here's a great site we used for a while.. http://www.everythinghomeschooling.com/

Different thoughts on homeschooling:

http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/methods/Methods.htm

Unschooling:

http://www.unschooling.com/

What is Unschooling?

There's tons of info here:

http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/

Arlington Homeschool book fair in the spring

But don't let all this overwhelm you!  

You don't have to know everything at once!  Just pray and ask God for guidance and peace, then get in the boat and enjoy this wonderful ride!

Hopefully this will get you started on your journey! 

 There's lots to take in! 

Pray about everything and God will direct you!

Proverbs 3:5-6 

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;

 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. "

Yummies!

It's not cold outside yet...and it's almost Thanksgiving! But I'm getting in the cooking and baking mood anyway!

I love baking and cooking lots of goodies when I have the time. I was recently inspired by a friend of mine. She has a house full of blessings (kiddos) and I don't know how she does it really but she cooks alot. I recently read on her blog about baking and freezing. Wow! Why hadn't I thought of that before. Bake a whole bunch of goodies and put them in the freezer for later use. I know, it seems obvious.. but I hadn't really thought of it before. I tried the once a month cooking thing...way back before I had kids. I haven't tried it since.

But this made sense to me because my son doesn't like to "fix" anything. Not even a sandwich. He likes to pull stuff out of the freezer and microwave it. So it's easy to buy him those cheap frozen burritos, frozen dinners etc. But I never have liked all the junk that comes along with them. They aren't the most healthy choice! So I spent my day off yesterday baking and baking.

I made about 4 batches of muffins..and put them in freezer bags and stuck them in the freezer! All he has to do in the morning before school is pull one out and microwave it for 20 seconds. Voila! Homemade convenience foods! I also cooked up a batch of taco meat and beans and made about 2 dozen burritos. He loves them! I'm in the process now of making a few loaves of bread in the bread machine to freeze for Thanksgiving. This is so easy! I'm so thankful for friends that show me things and train me in ways I'd never thought of before. Even if they never knew how much they influence those around them. Recipe links below!

Titus 2:4-5 "These older women must train the younger women to love their husbands and their children, to live wisely and be pure, to work in their homes, to do good, and to be submissive to their husbands. Then they will not bring shame on the word of God."

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip muffins

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pumpkin-Chocolate-Chip-Muffins/Detail.aspx

Chocolate Chocolate Chip muffins

http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/chocolate-chocolate-chip-muffins

Oat applesauce Muffins

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Oat-Applesauce-Muffins/Detail.aspx

Applesauce Bread

http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/healthy-treat-for-today-applesauce-bread

Applesauce in the Crockpot!

http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/09/crockpot-applesauce-recipe.html

Granola

http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/stovetop-granola/Detail.aspx

Mind blowing

Sometimes as we get older we get in a rut. We get up every morning, shower, go to work, take care of the kids, clean the kitchen, fold the laundry, watch a little tv, read, do some more laundry, water the yard..and go to bed and wake up the next morning and do it all over again. Life can get boring and repetitive sometimes. Is this all we were meant for? Is this why we are here on earth for such a short time? Do I want to get to the end of my life and think "Wow..I'm glad I did all that laundry!". Not really.

So back in April I went to a women's retreat with church. The speaker said something in passing and it really resonated with my soul. She talked about memorizing big chunks of scripture. Whole chapters! Not just a few verses here and there..but big ol' chunks of God's Word! Wow! People can do that?? I knew then and there that that's what I was going to do. Something eternal. Something that will affect my spirit and those around me. Something that will change my attitude and help me grow as a person. God's Word is like that. The Bible says "For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Hebrews 4:12.

So with the encouragement of some other women from church (it helps to have others to encourage and nag you!) I started on my journey. Romans 12. 21 verses. At first my brain couldn't do it. I couldn't remember it word for word. But slowly and with a lot of repetition..I began to remember it!

As I started memorizing these 21 verses..I noticed something. Instead of turning the radio on as soon as I got in the car to hear some boring talk radio blah blah..I was saying my verses. One verse at a time and one week at a time. In the shower, as I swept the kitchen floor, as I talked to my husband I was saying my verses. They began to fill my heart and mind. And as situations and life began to happen around me..these verses came to life! They could apply directly to my situations! They are constantly on the tip of my tongue and in the forefront of my mind.

I admit..I'm a little goal oriented..so having this as a goal is challenging and I like to be challenged. But this is a good kind of challenge. I like the way God's word is shaping my life and heart. I'm almost done with Romans 12.. I'm on verse 17. But it will always be with me. I can't wait to see where I will memorize next!

Isaiah 40:8 "The grass withers, the flower fades,

But the word of our God stands forever.”

So think about doing something that will last for eternity! If I can do it..so can you!

Here's the website of the speaker. She has great tips and ideas of scripture to memorize. http://www.establishedfootsteps.com/memorize.html