Sunday, April 27, 2014

Thoughts from the deck

You could hear the thunder rolling in. The sky was beginning to turn a light gray. The smell of rain was near. Spring showers call for a time of relflection for me these days. I love to sit on our deck, with a cup of coffee and listen and smell the air as the rain rolls in. Watching the first few drops tip and tap on the deck floor. Then just like my morning shower, the sprinkles start falling harder.

The view from my deck is full of green and lots of Gods handy work. It has become my thinking spot over the last four months.
Starting over our life has been one of the hardest yet rewarding decisions We have made in 8 years of being married. As most of you have read-2011,2012,2013 all were years of hard, hard lessons. Times where I thought-how are we going to make it through this. Have you ever felt that way? 

The last four months have given me time to find out who I am and what I can do.

Saying yes to Gods plan was so, so hard. Letting go of the life we have built in Mississippi still makes me sad today. But seeing just a small provision of what God has planned for us here-is worth it.

Today at church our pastor started a new series-"Starting over so next time won't be like last time"...he said "people that have undergone trials will come out saying-I am so thankful I went through that." 

{{to listen to the series go to www.startingoverseries.org}}

Just like the spring shower comes in and washes away the pollen that covers my deck-God came in and washed away the trials we were facing. Just by stopping our plan and following His. We are seeing a whole new view of what he has called us to be. 

Thankful for these times to sit and listen to the rain.  

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

The homeschool post.

So. I have been avoiding writing this post for 4 months. But we are ending the semester-so I thought now is as good of time as any to share.

Why we homeschool.

In Mississippi, both Madyson and Aubrie Kate were enrolled in Public Schools. Our schools were AMAZING. Each student was issued their own iPad, the teachers were creative, inventive, and fun. The kids worked hard-but they were rewarded for their hard work. I was in PTO and loved helping raise money for our administration to use to spoil our kids. Our district was the best.



Madyson was the first kindergarten class to start with Common core-she loved school. She did SO well-she was placed in our districts gifted program. She loves to learn. 

Aubrie Kate is social-and a kinetic learner. She was slower to catch on to the new way because she would rather be on the playground.

When we moved-we looked at all the school options we have here in Georgia. And although there were great options...none seemed to fit this new lifestyle we were embracing. A lifestyle of family importance, God led, and full of adventure. 

Let me say this. I never wanted to homeschool. I even thought my friends in Mississippi were crazy. {{honest}} I thought-why when you have awesome school district would you want to homeschool?!?!?

When we accepted Gods plan for our family-we knew we would be doing things out of our comfort zone. Homeschooling was one of them. 

Our first month was rough. It was A LOT of work-and I was having a hard time adjusting.

Month two was better-I was in a routine-we were traveling and it was busy.


Month three-we started at a local homeschool school house-we were in or groove and the girls...were loving school. 


Month four-has been amazing. I am seeing such HUGE changes in the girls. Chores are life skills and they do them with a smile. They play so well together now-helping each other and really learning the importance of working together. Madyson has surpassed milestones that we had set. She is trucking along and loving working at her speed.

Aubrie-aubrie was struggling at first. Like I said-she was social. She has winced bloomed since going to the school house. She is finally reading and writing-something 4 months ago she was not doing. She is loving crafting and learning and has grown to also enjoy "quiet time" with her dolls and colors.


We all are calmer. School is suppose to last 4.5 hours a day. Most days we do 2.5 hours in the morning then 2 hours in the evening.  The girls enjoy the break and I have found they work harder when they are allowed to split up their day.

We are still learning. I am so thankful that I have friends that love me and help me (even though I thought they were crazy a year ago) homeschooling for us was not a way to escape the system-it wasn't because we were unhappy-it simple was because we wanted to adjust to a new place with each other and build our family back together. I never would have imagined in January that we would be considering doing homeschool again  in the fall. But as of now, we are.

For me-as a newbie-it is a lot of work. Planning and preparing and making sure the girls learn. Luckily-our school house is awesome with helping pick out curriculum-come up with ideas and such. I am hoping having the summer to prepare will allow me to not be so tense next year. But to be with the girls all day-and to watch them grow and learn as people-is worth the anxiety of "am I doing this right?"  

So here's my finale. If for any reason you are thinking about homeschooling-try it for a semester. You might surprise yourself! But for sure you will see the blessings it brings. 


Sunday, April 20, 2014

Easter

Love that today was Easter. Easter has slowly become my favorite holiday. As an adult it has taken on so much more of a meaning than bunnies and eggs. Learning the resurrection story-the history of the time-the dark then light. I have grown to desire God more than than before and so ever grateful for the sacrifice Christ made for me. 

We spent Easter in Georgia. My parents came for a visit. We did things differently this year. We went to church on Saturday night. It was amazing. 

The bunny came.

Mia ate around 10,000 jelly beans.

We spent Easter Day at Todd's stepmoms. With family and friends and tons of food.
It was a great day! (And super hot!! Praise The Lord!) 

He Is Risen! Happy Easter! 

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Take me out to the ball game

In school the last week we have been studying the life of Jackie Robinson. Madyson had to do a book report and aubrie has enjoyed sight word bAseball.


We finished our study up with a family field trip to the opening game of the Atlanta Braves!

This was my 2nd MLB game and the girls first! In Mississippi-we had the Mississippi braves and the girls assumed it was the same thing-but they were SO surprised!

We arrived 4 hours before the game!

We looked around, toured the museum
We ate dinner 

And had a great time seeing Hank Aaron celebrated! It was the 40th anniversary of his 715th homerun!

It was a great kick off to spring and some awesome family time! 

Sunday, April 6, 2014

Ketchup

I am not a huge condiments lover. I eat mustard only on my hamburger & hotdog. Ketchup only with fries or hash browns...and occasionally-when I can remember to ask Chickfila sauce with my #1. But for the most part-I am pretty boring! 

Life lately hasn't been boring-but I am sworn to secrecy so blogging has not come easy. But let's try....

I've been busy working in our basement. It was previously painted a swirly maroon-and it was so dark-and not me. So now it's beige...until I figure out what I want to do with the space. We use this area for movie watching/family time...plus playing. So it's got a lot of rolls.


I took a nap-in Mia's crib one day. She was needing lots of snuggles on this particular day-so I obliged. Todd kept the big kids entertained :)


Then we all got the stomach bug. Joyous. I fought it off with some Berry Punch from smoothie king!

I had a really "special meeting"-(more on that another day)

Mia has decided to enter the terrible 2s at 13 months. She pitches fits, bites, hits and then laughs when you tell her no-no.

I bought a super cute chair at the goodwill for $10!
My parents came for a visit!


We had a picnic-went to target and had fajitas for dinner :) it was a short visit but a good one!


So yea-I may not like my burgers loaded, but I like my life full of love. And I have been super thankful the past few weeks for some time to just soak it in.