Nuggets of time.

I'm still working on developing a set time where I sit down and read my Bible uninterrupted.  With 3 young girls keeping me busy, a house to look after and a husband to love I don't see that happening any time soon.

I am finally getting some good sleep, minus the crazy dreams that keep waking me up.  The energy that I am gaining from good sleep habits is amazing.  I am back to exercising on a regular basis and have such a renewed spirit.  

While I have energy to play with the girls and finally keep up with the housework, there are times during the day the girls just want me to sit with them while they are watching toons.  I feel so happy that they are just happy sitting and cuddling with me.  They just want me next to them.  I have found this cuddle time to be a great time to get some reading in.  

So I grab my phone.

 Isn't my phone pretty?  My husband let me pick it out for my 30th birthday this year.

I found a nice Bible app that I downloaded for free.

 

 It has all sorts of options that I haven't even checked out yet.

Right now I am reading in the book of James.

 

 I really like the highlight feature.  It makes it so much easier to come back and find the verse that stuck out at me.  And I can highlight in all the colors of the rainbow if I want to.

I know that in this season of my life I may not be able to sit down with God's word for an hour at a time, or even a half hour at a time.  I do know that I can get in little nuggets of time to read through a chapter or two. 

I always have my phone with me.  Now I can always have my Bible with me too.

I was not paid or compensated in anyway for this post.

Utilize the "31st day".

Back in March I was able to go on a great trip to Illinois with one of my best friends.  We spent the day in Normal, Illinois at the Hearts at Home Moms Conference.  You can read about my experience here.  Before the trip Katrina and I had a good plan to each read the same books and then talk about them on the way down there.  Well, as you know life gets in the way and neither one of us finished either book before the trip.

I just recently started reading The Mother LOAD by Mary M Byers.  (One of the books we were suppose to read together.)   Early on in the book she talks about meeting our need for balance.  Since the start of the year I have been taking a day of rest, a day off from the usual housecleaning and homemaking that I do.  But was introduced to a new concept that I want to try out.  To Utilize the "31st day" of the month.  To take this day in January, March, May, July, August, October and December, set aside some time and ponder the following questions:

• How is the overall pace of my family's life right now?
• How long has it been since we've enjoyed a family night together?
• Does our schedule allow us to eat dinner together at least four nights a week (or however many you're comfortable with)?
• When was the last time my husband and I had a chance to be alone (and awake!) together?
• Is everyone in my family (including me) getting an adequate amount of sleep?
• Is there something that should be taken off my family's "to do" list at this time?

A few questions I want to add are: 

• How are the girls behaving?  Is there something I need to change or get back to?
• Is there something in the house that needs my immediate attention?
• How are we eating?  Are we eating on time?  Are we eating healthy?
• How are Scott and I relating?  When was our last date?  Are we on the same page?

I think I would really like to make this a regular part of making sure the house is running smoothly.  To assess and see if there are changes to be made to the way things are going and come up with a plan if needed.

The 31st of May is coming up soon.  I have already written on that day as Reflection Day.

ABC Scripture cards

My friend Katrina came across this amazing website called I Can Teach My Child.  With having come to the conclusion that we are going to homeschool our 2 youngest children, a post coming on that soon, I am always on the lookout for websites and blogs to help me along. 

On the site I found a link for ABC Scripture cards.  What I love about these cards are that we can work on recognizing the letters of the alphabet while learning a scripture that is easy for the girls to understand.   I have also had Mackenzie, age 7, and Kennedy, age 4, draw a picture of what they believe the verse to mean.

 First I printed out the cards and laminated them.

Then I cut the cards apart, used my corner cutter to round out the corners of the sharp laminate, punched a hole in the corner and put them on a ring that used to hold hair ties.

Checking them out.

Showing them off.

She likes them.

What are your ideas for getting God's word into the hearts and minds of your kids?

We choose ..Homeschooling.

When I was little and dreamed of being a mom and running a home that vision included our children going to a regular school when they reached the appropriate age.   In the past year or so my eyes have been opened to the other possibilities that are out there regarding schooling our children. 

Our oldest daughter attends a public elementary school not far from here.  Due to circumstances out of my control at the moment she is going to continue to attend that same school.   Mackenzie is almost finished with 1st grade.  I can tell that she is not happy and thriving.  She is a very smart girl just not excited about learning anymore.

There are so many negative influences that kids come across these days and when they go out into the public school system the influences are 10 times worse.  As a mom I hate sending our daughter, Mackenzie, to school each day knowing that I can't control what is going to happen to her.  Worse yet, I can't be there to teach her how to process the day to day happenings.

Scott and I have decided that our 2 youngest girls will be homeschooled.  I know it may seem a little early to be thinking about these things.  Kennedy is only 4 and Lexi is 2 1/2.  However, I am the type of person who likes to have a plan. I have been a stay-at-home mom for 4+ years now.  I can't even imagine sending them off to school and being apart from them for hours at a time every single day.

Kennedy has started what she likes to call pretty-school.  I am taking a very relaxed approach at this time.  Our main focus is how she interacts with the people around her.  I feel that it is important for our children to know how to conduct themselves first before they know their ABC's and 123's.  I want to know how our daughters operate before we try and teach them the things that are going to take them far in life.

That doesn't mean we don't do any learning of the basics.  We do. Just not on a regular constructive basis.  We are working on letter recognition, learning the more complex shapes (diamonds, hexagon etc.) and numbers.

Homemade letter signs.

Drawing line.  We hang any finished worksheets and pictures from scripture learning.

Our learning materials.  Kennedy got the preschool book from Grandma for her birthday.  And the dry erase board from Grandpa for Christmas.  I did find some write and erase books at a garage sale for 50 cents a piece.

I have also ordered a book called Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons by Siegfried Engelmann.

This book comes highly recommended by my dear friend Cherie who has homeschooled her 5 children who are all now teenagers and reading just fine.

 

We are easing into homeschooling.  One thing at a time.  Please let me know if there are some good homeschooling websites you enjoy.

Morning rain

 We only have cell phones in our house, no land lines.  So I always put my phone on the nightstand by the bed, just in case someone would need us in the middle of the night.  No one has ever needed us then but you never know.  My phone also acts as our alarm clock when we need to be up at a certain time.  I was awoken at 1:55 a.m. this morning to the sound of receiving not one, not two but three text messages.  All from one person.  If you are reading this you know who you are.  =)  Don't worry, I still love you.  She was letting me know that she wasn't going to be making it to our morning run.

The only reason she was up at that time was because a thunderstorm was rolling through her town.  Which only meant one thing.  The storm was headed to us next.  We live about 35 east of her.   I checked the radar quick and sure enough we were in for a storm.

We love thunderstorms here at our little place in Wisconsin.  For the next 5 hours I was awakened off and on by the thunder and lighting.

image from wsau.com

It was such a soothing storm.  Knowing we were getting some much needed rain brought me a strange sense of peace.  I knew that I was missing out on the sleep I was longing for to be in good shape for a 3 mile run later in the morning.  But I didn't mind.

The rest of the day has been dry but cloudy.  I'm hoping we will get another round of thunderstorms today.  I just love the bright lightening and big cracks of thunder.

How is the weather by you today?

5 years of marriage

Growing up I knew that there just had to be that one person out there that God made just for me.  Then as the years went by I started to doubt that.  I made choices that I knew God was not happy with and was certain He had given up on me.  I was going to be alone for the rest of my life.  I had little faith that God was still on my side.

Then I met Scott while selling cars.  Long story short I fought for a long time with God.  I thought I knew better.  Really?  I thought I knew better than the almighty Creator.  How arrogant am I?  Once I finally gave in I realized that God knows what He is doing.  When Scott finally asked me to married him I was so excited I could barely contain myself.  As soon as we got back in the truck I sent a text to everyone I knew announcing the news.

The day we got married, May 19, 2007, was the best day of my life.  I know I may get some flak for saying this but yes the day I got married trumps the day my kids were born.  But don't worry the day they were born is 2nd.  =)

 Getting my hair done.  I wanted to make sure I looked 

my best for my soon to be amazing husband.

 Me with Mackenzie.  She walked me down the aisle.  A great moment during the ceremony was hearing her yell "That's my mommy and daddy up there."

 Reading our vows.

 

Lighting the unity candle

 

 We both love the picture.

We had Kennedy less than a year after we were married.  She entered our lives in January of 2008.

  
 Holding Kennedy before taking her home from the hospital.

 Our first date after Kennedy was born.  Scott knew I would love the winery.

 Lexi joined us in October of 2009.

 Another date night for my birthday.

 Us this past Mother's Day.  Picture taken by our oldest daughter Mackenzie, now 7 years old.

I have learned so much these past 5 years.

I love Scott more than the day we got married.

I love more deeply than I thought was possible.

I know that God is the one that brought us together.

I would do anything to make my husband happy.

I am still in love with my husband.

Scott is an amazing father.  He loves his kids so very much.

I love doing the little things for Scott.

It takes work to keep a marriage going.

Dates nights are still a lot of fun.

I am going to be with my husband forever.

Happy belated 5th anniversary Sparky.  I love you!!

Brainstorming with God

The other day I had so many thoughts and ideas going through my head I couldn't think straight.  So I made the decision to find some time to sort everything out. Sitting in complete silence around here is next to impossible.  With 3 girls running around there is always something making noise, whether it's them, the dishwasher or the washing machine.  I had to settle for the "semi-quiet".  

I grabbed my homemaker binder, purple notepad, pen and water bottle.  With pen in hand I started scribbling notes fast and furious.  I wrote what was floating around in my head.  Then I did something I don't normally do.  I paused and asked God to put into my head anything I forgot.  Remembering Psalm 5:8 "Lead me in the right path O Lord...Make your way plain for me to follow."  I wanted God to point me to what He needs me to get done first.

It's not always easy to hear from God as to what He needs and wants us to do.  I recently heard a sermon about this at Hidden Valley Community Church (HVCC), I love this church.  You can watch it here.  Watch the April 22, 2012 video.

Knowing what God wants you to do means making ourselves available and it needs to be quiet enough to actually focus.  Is your house quiet enough today to hear what God has to say to you?