Clarification

I should have been a little clearer in the last post.
I posted a banner for my old school mate's myspace music page.
If you look to the right sidebar there is a banner for The Colorful Quiet. If you click on it you can hear some of his music.
Thanks Chattyhousewife for bringing that up. :)

Look To The Right

I posted a banner for a guy I went to school with. I met him my sophomore year of highschool. We had English together. One of the assignments the teacher gave us was to bring in something that told about who we were. He brought his guitar and sang a song he wrote about being a Christian. He's a wonderfully talented guy. I sort of lost track of him after highschool. I saw him last year sometime when he came to our church to fill in for the music leader who was out of town. He was still the same nice down to earth boy I remembered from highschool. He shared some of his story with me of life after school and I heard it in the songs I listened to on his myspace page.
Just take a listen and if you like it pass it along. Thanks.

Can I take a moment?

I just would like to take a moment and vent. *Sigh* Yes, I know that I have not been around for ages and now I post with a vent. Sorry. I will post again in the next few days to tell you about an amazing book Im reading.

God says children are a blessing, right? Psalm 127
So....why are good Christian people bragging about fixing the problem of having more children? Bragging? If you choose to stop the process by surgical methods or whatever...ok I wont argue with you. I will pity you but I wont argue with you... unless you ask for my opinion. :) But goodness should it be a joke? Should we laugh about it or brag about it? Lets see how it really sounds.
"Ha, Ha, yeah no more blessings from the Lord. We could not afford them so we just cut them off."
"Yeah, we snipped those blessings."
"I cant handle the 1.5 blessings I have now. I sure dont want any more blessings!"
"I have a boy and a girl blessing. Why would I want more?"

I get physically ill when Im in a room and this joke starts.

Um... no offense folks but I am going to ask God to pour out His blessings on me.

Further more I dont think that Christians should criticize other Christians for having too many blessings.
If I hear another Christian call the Duggar family irresponsible I go in swinging. Just which blessing should they have stopped at?
My wonderful friend -who never gets mad at me when I ignore her for weeks at a time- has three of the best boys. Her third just arrived and I have made it over to hold him and oogle him.....ONCE.... I do stink! Anyways, she is already hearing all the, "Are you done yet?!" rants. She actually had a few before and after her second baby. If she had stopped at two I would not have gotten to hold her snuggly baby boy a few weeks ago. Her second boy would not know the joy (and aggravation) of being an older brother. Her first boy would have missed out on an amazing playmate. I love that she is my kindred spirit and that she thinks motherhood is just as blessed as I do. She is a much better mommy than me (and she will leave a comment saying that she is not, but trust me she is! :) ). I love getting ideas from her. I love that she will spend as much time praying and researching what is best for her boys as I do. I love her, period. I love her boys. I even like (just kidding love) her old stinky husband. He's not really stinky, he's my friend and I love him. I love how he fathers his blessings. I love how my husband fathers our blessings.
Children are a blessing and we are blessed to have them.
Its not a topic I want to debate. Just as how many children I want and have is my business, how many you want and have is your business. Dont ask me my opinion. Dont get in my face and laugh and joke about it though. Dont be surprised at my look of pity.
Father God, I want more blessings. Pour them out on our home and make me the mother that they need. Help me to be a better mom. To pass on to others what a blessing and joy having children and being a mom can be. Amen.

Be Blessed!

Home Learning

I came to a startling realization the other day...school around here is fun for no one! Well Tamara and Adrian enjoy their little preschool hour, but the rest of school is pure drudgery. Now, as a momma with a vision of raising my children to homeschool their children I figure something has to change. The first thing changing...the name. We are now home learners. You see school has many negative conotations. Learning though, well learning can be one adventure after another! When we learn we can do almost anything. The second thing that needs to change is an overacheiving momma. Who could that be? Oh yeah, me.

I love The Well Trained Mind. I will continue to follow the outline, but we are going to change some things. Im keeping the stages. Im keeping the memorization. We are going to be memory fools next year. Dates, times, facts, poems, rules, verses.... we will sing them, we will act them out, we will reward for stuff memorized! Im keeping the narrations. I have a few fun creative ideas here to, but Im still pounding them out. Im keeping our Saxon math program. I love Saxon! Im switching our grammer up. I want to try either Learning Language Arts through Literature OR Literature based unit studies. I plan to take some time this Saturday maybe to check out both options at our local homeschool store. Im also changing our spelling program. I like Spelling Workout but its not meeting my kids needs. Kelsie does ok with it, but Karly is really struggling. Im considering Spell to Write and Read or Spelling Power. Im going to look at the selections at the homeschool store on Saturday as well.

Im reading through the Charlotte Mason companion. Checking out Ambleside online. Drooling over Sonlight. And having heart spasms from unit studies. The excitement is back.

I am making sure to add more reading for next year as well. I'm looking into the comprehension guides from Veritas Press, because thats a huge thing we need to work on around here.

We probably won't start back until the second week in January. It's been nice having time to research everything and get materials together.

Be Blessed!

Passionate Housewives Desperate for God

I received my copy of this book as a gift from Mrs. Chancey. (Click on the picture of the book to order) I help moderate a message board that she started and she sent all of the moderators complimentary copies. I was thrilled! I knew I wanted this book the moment I saw the advertisements for it. I also knew it would be awhile after Christmas before I could order anything for myself. So this was a true blessing!

This book truly has helped put me back in the place God called me to almost 4 years ago. Four years ago this month I quit my job to be a housewife. It was not until May of the next year that we were blessed with any children. In the five months I had to myself I began to really learn about being a wife and keeper at home. A lot of it I credit to Lady Lydia and the Ladies Against Feminism site. They pointed me to Bible passages that touched my heart and showed me what I was missing. They pointed me to practical application of these passages. While I am still, 4 years later, living in a home that is chaotic at best, my attitude is different. My heart is different. I know that what I'm doing is not the best for my family. I know that I am not being the example God called me to be. No, Im not comparing myself to others. I am comparing myself to where God wants me.

This book was a refresher to me. It opened my eyes to the dream and vision I had when I first started on this road. I had a vision of tackling each day with a purpose. Building up a family to love and serve God. Building up a home that would show God's glory. Helping my husband to complete the mission God has for him on this earth. Raising future godly wives and mothers and godly husbands and fathers. Men and women not afraid to turn against the tide and swim upstream.

Confession time. I was starting to swim with the others downstream. I would take it to heart when others told me I should let my kids do this or this, even though I knew it would not be the best for them. People telling me I could function outside of my role as wife and mother.

I know I still need peace and time to myself. But not to "get away" from my family, but to strengthen myself and serve them. When Jesus went away it was time of prayer and strengthening himself. Not time to "escape" his day to day responsibility. Sometimes that time will not be available. At those times we learn the true meaning of leaning on the Father.

We are having family reformation around here. As a keeper of the home I am responsible for the heart of the home. My husband is the head, but he has delegated to me the responsiblity of the heart. I am the real living example of Jesus Christ that my children will see. I am the bride that should reflect what my husband is doing for God's glory. I am the one who prepares my children for the future. Not just with knowledge but with life skills and skills that will take them into spiritual maturity.

My ministry is my family and home. If they are out of control or failing I need to reevaluate what I am putting ahead of them.

Thank you Jesus for opening my eyes again that I may see the truth. Amen.

Be Blessed!

I want to share...

I want to share with everyone about a book I read. Most of the people who read this blog have heard of it already and probably already read it, but I want to share my thoughts! :)

Checking in..

Not that I think anyone is reading anymore..LOL

I miss blogging and hope to come back soon. I cant waite to talk about the changes in our lives.

We are revamping our homeschool to be a little more fun. I'm keeping the classical education flavor while stepping out into some unit studies. I am also upping our memorization. We will spend time every morning memorizing all sorts of stuff.

I found an awesome history and science study from Christian Cottage that I love. We will be using it along with some other resources. I also want to do some studies on hymns and their writers.

Another focus area will be reading and reading comprehension. I need to get them all reading better and Im going to use the VP guides for comprehension.

I have lots of ideas and will share them all in a later post.

Right now I need to go pick up hubby from work.

Be Blessed!