What a Day!

 First Day Of School! 

I have a 1st grader, a 3rd grader, and a 5th grader!!!  We technically started in July so right now we have 4 weeks behind us... but, just like public schools around here, we decided to start again officially today!

My baby Natalie is now in 1st grade.  She is actually about 3/4 of the way through her 1st grade curriculum but we are still counting her as a first grader, especially since she doesn't turn 6 until this Thursday (August 29th).  I love her and am so excited to see her learn this year.  As I am sitting here typing this she is on the other computer learning (speaking) Spanish!

My Samara is now in 3rd Grade!  She turned 8 on August 15th.  She is so motivated to do her very best in everything that she does.  I love her and am so excited to see her learn this year.  As I'm sitting her she's doing a word search of, what I think, are pretty hard words for a 3rd grader.

My Alyssa is now in 5th grade!  Her laugh is so contagious!  I love her and am excited to see her learn this year.  As I'm sitting her she's logging her book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix which has 870 pages in it!  She is an avid reader!!

My goofy girls!  They are such goof balls!  I love that they can have fun but they are serious and focused when they need to be... well, a lot of the time.  I am honored to be their mother and teacher!

For school this year we are using the Core Curriculum from My Father's World called Creation to the Greeks.  This includes our Bible/History/Geography, Science, Vocabulary, Art and Music.  For English we are doing Bob Jones workbooks and for Writing we are using Writing Strands.  Then comes Math, we will be using Math U See and Rapid Recall for memorization.  They girls will also be learning Spanish from the Rosetta Stone series.  (I have been informed by Samara that she would rather take French so I may have to invest in that next year.  It will be good for our Haitian girls to learn French as well.)  For Spelling we will be using Spelling Power.  We have added another more in depth Science to our line up called Apologia:  Exploring Creation with Zoology 1:  Flying Creatures.  For phonics we will continue to use Explode the Code.  We will have a full schedule but not much outside of the home since we will hopefully be adding to more members to our family sometime in the near future.  (If you didn't know we are in the process of adopting the two beautiful girls to the right (Guerline, age 12 and Fafane, age 13) from Haiti.)

So it kind of goes like this:

Bible/History/Geography, Science, Vocabulary, Art and Music:  My Father's World, Creation to the Greeks

 English:  Bob Jones workbooks

Writing:  Writing Strands

Math:  Math U See and Rapid Recall

Spanish:  Rosetta Stone

Spelling:  Spelling Power

Science:  Apologia:  Exploring Creation with Zoology 1:  Flying Creatures.

Phonics:  Explode the Code

For Bible/History/Geography we will be learning about some of the Jewish feasts, learn some Old Testament stories in depth, and study history of other civilizations such as Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, and Greece.  

For Science we will be learning about the six days of creation, science related to pyramids, and ancient Greek science.

For Art we will be doing some art lessons that include Egyptian and Greek themes, and the Music includes the baroque (and I don't mean broke, well, actually I can't say that for certain) composers Vivaldi, Bach, and Handel. 

Well, there you have it.  Maybe someday I'll post my schedule so you all can see it.  As for now I'm going to go make sure my girls are getting their chores done!  Yep, first day of school and home ec is an essential!

Gratituesday... Adoption Process

Here I am again... it is Gratituesday!  Technically this week we are on a media fast.  It's like when you do a fast from food only we are giving up media for this week.  That includes TV, PS3 games, Wii games, Games on our phones, zune, Nintendo DSi, etc.  Pretty much anything electronic.  BUT I decided that I wouldn't give up the opportunity to type a Gratituesday response here since really a fast is supposed to bring you closer to God and what better way to do that than to share with others what you are thankful for.  So here I am and here I go!

I am so thankful for the process of adoption!  If you don't know our family's story, we have been in the process of adopting two sisters from Haiti ages 11 and 12, about to turn 12 and 13.  We started this process March 2010.  We had a lot of doubts, a lot of fears, a lot of anxiety about the whole thing but every time we needed something to do with these adoptions God provided.  He provided peace, finances, wisdom, time off of work... the list goes on and on. 

Here is a picture of my husband and I and Guerline (girl ene) on the right and Fafane (faw fawn) on the middle of us.  They are such precious little getting older, girls.  

 

 Even though we've been in the process of adoption for 3 frustrating trying years, it has been an awesome growing experience for our whole family.  We have gotten to know the heart of God so much more.  We know that all we can do is PRAY!  There is nothing more that we can do, so we've had to really rely on God for everything!  I am thankful for the PROCESS because the process tells me that these girls, and some others in the orphanage are going to be able to have a chance at a much different life than they would ever dream of.  As time goes on every second, every minute, every hour, every day, every week, every month, every year is one more closer to the time GOD has decided that these girls will be with us!  I am PRAYING and VERY HOPEFUL that they will be coming home this year.  Please if you get a chance pray with me!  There is so much POWER in prayer especially "where two or more are gathered"!! 

Here is Fafane.  She is more serious than Guerline, she's the older one.  I just love that sweet face.  I have trouble typing this even now... missing them both!  I have been to Haiti 3 times and my husband has been twice so we know these girls.  I feel like I know them more than I should for someone who is in America and they are in Haiti!  God is good like that.

This is our Guerline.  She is super outgoing!  She loves getting her picture taken and loves to make faces for said pictures.  Here is a great example of that!

Guerline is the one two in from the right.  She's wearing the same outfit that she's wearing in the picture above.

 

 

One thing that we get asked a lot is "why are you adopting from Haiti when we have so many kids in America that also need homes?".  The answer is simple, God asked us too.  But other than that we don't know.  Never in a million years would I have thought that we would be adopting from Haiti!  I have thought about adopting but kind of as "it would be really cool to adopt" not "Hey, let's adopt from Haiti, spend a bunch of money, and wait 3 years for some kids".  We are just trying to be obedient to what God has for us. 

I don't believe that everyone is called to adopt but we are all called to help orphans (and widows) in their time of need.  (James)  So ask God what you should do for orphans, whether in America, Africa, China, etc... 

I am so thankful for this process!!!

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

Being Grateful

I read a blog that I've mentioned quite a bit in my posts.  Heavenly Homemakers  Every Tuesday she writes a post about things she's thankful for.  I LOVE this idea.  I am not very structured in life let alone my blog but I want to try and do this every Tuesday.  It's not a commitment or anything just a goal.  Maybe if I set an alarm on my phone I will remember.  I think writing these posts will do a couple of things.

1. Remind me to count my blessings instead of staring at the hard times.
2. Remind me that God is ultimately in control and that He is caring for me in the big things and in the little things.
3. My girls ask me what I'm typing when I'm on the computer, so what an awesome witness to them to remind them to be grateful.
4. Hopefully others will be inspired to also write about what they are grateful for and be lifted by it.

I believe so much that praising and worshiping the Lord will lift me.  When we praise Him despite our circumstances our focus changes to be all about HIM instead of about our situation.  There are some really tough things we go through as humans and they aren't to be discounted, they are hard!  But in the midst of all of this remember that GOD is ALWAYS GOOD!  We should praise Him.

Today, I am so grateful for my family.  I love being able to be a stay at home, homeschooling mom to my girls.  I am ever so grateful that I have that choice. I love their hugs and loves all throughout the day.  I am so grateful that I get to spend that special time with them.

So often I think of the things that they've done wrong throughout the day.  But I know that they are amazing girls!  They have issues like any other flawed human being but I am truly grateful for all the love that they have in them.  They have an understanding of the Lord and want to please Him.  I love that!

I was reading a blog, Confessions of a Homeschooler, and she wrote about a Christmas idea that she does every year.  I am excited about making this an annual Christmas event for our family.  If you'd like to read about what she does you can click the link, but here's what we did.  We told our girls to get ready for bed while Daddy went to their beds and put papers on their bed that said "Get up, get your shoes on, grab a blanket and a pillow and get in the car".  Mommy got hot chocolate ready in their water bottles.  Then we went and looked at Christmas lights.  You can use this same idea for a lot of different things.  You could go to a movie or to go out to eat or to o to ice cream... if you live in a warm area.  I want to print out the tickets to the mini van express next year like the blog Confessions has on her site.  I'm already excited to do this next year!

What are you grateful for?

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

Cardboard Dollhouse

I think it was for Christmas that Meemo and Old Grandpa got the girls this cardboard dollhouse. We decided to finally build it two days ago and finished it up yesterday. We had a jammie day yesterday too so the girls had a lot of fun.

The girls worked so hard on it. They had to tell Nattie multiple times not to scribble on everything. She loves to help and be a big girl but doesn't have the patience to sit and color in the lines.
The front of the finished dollhouse. The front and back yards are the box that everything came in. The whole thing is made out of cardboard. It's actually really cute, and such a good idea.

The back of the house.

A closer look at the inside of the house. The little furniture pieces are also made of paper. It even came with paper to put on the floor as carpet. They have had a lot of fun playing with it already but have to be reminded quite a bit that it is just paper so they have to be careful... hopefully nothing gets put into anybodys mouth!

Cow Day At Chick-Fil-A

Every year Chick-Fil-A has Cow Appreciation Day. If you dress like a cow you get free food. If you dress like a cow from head to toe you get a free meal and if you dress up a little bit you get a free chicken sandwich. We got 4 free meals today. Here are the cute pictures of the day.

Making their cow costumes.
I printed off the tails and the ears from Chick-Fil-A's website.

Yes, even I dressed up... free food!! We had a blast!

Our free lunch.

This is such a blast every year. If you have a Chick-Fil-A near you, mark your calendar for next year.... or go tonight!

School's Out For Summer... well sorta

I was debating on whether or not I wanted to post this on my family blog or on my homeschool blog and I decided that this was the place for it to go since it's not homeschooling and I'll have a TON of homeschooling pictures coming soon since Alyssa's already ready to tackle 3rd grade. I'm not going to be teaching them hard core during the summer but bits and pieces to see where they are and get them to where they need to be if they aren't there yet, which they probably are ready to go.

Here are some of the pictures we took at their "celebrations" at their school on the last day. Enjoy!

Samara and her best friend Isaiah.
Samara and her teacher. We are so proud of Samara!! And her teacher did a wonderful job this year!

Nattie thinks she should be able to join her sister in whatever she's doing since she is "big" enough. She says, "I know what to do and I will be a big girl!" Haha. Usually she's right but this time there was no way she was going to be allowed to go stand by Samara while Samara was doing her songs, etc at her celebration. Sorry Nattie Grace, maybe next year!

Samara holding her certificate! So excited!!

Alyssa's teacher did a slide-show presentation for the families and then let each of us take a DVD of it home. She is so thoughtful. I'm so proud of Alyssa, she did an excellent job this year. There were so many obstacles that she had to face, some of which she didn't know how to handle, but when it was said and done I think she showed 2nd grade who was boss! Hehe.

Nattie and Alyssa waiting for the presentation to start. So cool.

Alyssa giving her teacher one last hug before hitting the door.

Alyssa and one of her good friends since last year, A.J.

Alyssa, Samara, and Natalie, we are so proud of all three of you girls. You are such sweet girls and love to learn. I am so glad that Daddy and I get the opportunity to help you through life. I hope and pray that you will learn and grow all that you need to know and I have no doubt that you will do great things with your lives! Thanks for being AWESOME!!!

Oh and I put School's Out For Summer... well sorta as the title because technically school's out but it's only been 2 days and I've already gotten asked about a million times if I could teach each of the girls. Yes, they really do LOVE to learn.

The Thankless Job...

I have been thinking lately about what moms say (and even I've said many times up until maybe 3 or 4 days ago).  "Being a mom is a thankless job".  I understand what is meant by this statement but I think I am a little off when I say this.  We, as moms, don't get the kind of thanks that we would like to get from people, our spouses, or our children, but more important we get the approval, and I believe as I've been feeling the last couple of days, we get thanks from God!  WOW!!!  Isn't that amazing!  The only approval that I want is from the Lord!  I don't want anybody else's approval more than His. 

He has entrusted me with 5 special, precious, unique girls!  He has great plans for them and for myself; part of that is to rear these girls to the fullness that GOD has for them... not the fullness I have for them!  I praise the Lord for this because on my own I don't have much to offer except a lot of faults, but God has ALL things and He only gives good and perfect gifts to us! 

In my almost 8 years of mothering I've had some kind and encouraging words spoken to me as well as some mean and hateful things spoken to me.  Some things that built me up and some things that tore me down.  When people speak kind and encouraging words to me I try and see them as people sent by God to be a comfort to me especially when my girls seem to have LOST THEIR MINDS!  (If you're a mom you'll know what I'm talking about!)  But when someone comes along and says something that's not so nice or very discouraging with their words, actions, and sometimes even their looks, I have to know and be secure in the way God sees me and not the way that man sees me.

In the Bible it talks about how we, as Christ followers, are aliens in this world.  We should act differently, talk differently, be different.  I believe that this ultimately comes from knowing who we are in Christ and not allowing anybody to persuade us differently.  And in this I know I need to watch my tongue and what I say to others so I'm not one to say hurtful things but be an uplifter instead.

I knew this before but I'm understaning at a greater level that my children are not my own.  They are a gift from God for God!  I need to pray daily... hourly... for wisdom, which He grants (Godly wisdom is far greater than human wisdom) so that my girls will be exactly what God wants them to be, not what I want them to be because I don't necessarily have a full picture of what their greatness is.  I get a picture of their greatness but I'm definitely NOT all-knowing. 

Motherhood is not a thankless job.  If you don't feel appreciated for what you are doing with your children that will effect eternity then I encourage you to examine your heart and ask yourself "who am I looking to for appreciation".  I know I need this advice more than most that's why I believe I've had this on my heart so much lately.  God is the one I would like the appreciation and encouragement from more than any other!  And remember we are just borrowing our children for this life.  They are ultimately God's children not ours!  Thanks for letting me share my heart today.  Go and make great disciples out of your children.

School Days

The kids were getting ready for school yesterday and it was just too cute. They pick out their own clothes every morning and get ready all by themselves. They really do a great job. I thought I'd take some pictures of them because they were being so darn cute!

This is Natalie. She gets up just as we are ready to go to school. Yesterday morning she was really groggy but I already had my camera out so I had to take a picture or two of my littlest princess. She was really sleepy.

Samara's become a little fashion diva. She says she knows what she wants to wear and that everything she picks out is cute. I think she's right too! She was super energetic and ready to go.
Alyssa loves to pose now so here's one of her new ones. She said it was Friday so she wanted to be comfortable. She says when she wears this shirt it's like she's a librarian and since she wants to be a teacher someday... she really likes looking like a teacher now.

The three beautiful princesses! Nattie didn't even want to look at the camera but I finally convinced her for this ONE picture. Thank you Nattie Grace!

Alyssa was getting ready to leave but when she looked out the window she was in awe of the sky. Who wouldn't be!?! It was beautiful. She kept saying "take a picture, take a picture!" I had to take a couple pictures for her. I told them that God had painted the sky and that he was an artist so the whole way to school they kept saying that God was so good at art and that they just loved the way God painted the sky. Even on the ride back home Nattie couldn't stop talking about the way God was such a great artist. It was too cute.

Then I went into the girl's room and found them still in bed. Well, not really but their life-sized dolls were in the girl's beds. It was too cute! Thanks Mama Jay and Papa Oz for their dolls that are HUGE! They are enjoying them for sure. The picture above is Alyssa's bed.

This is Samara's bed.

The girls being back in school has been going well this week, except that Mara came home the other day bawling again that she missed me so much. What do you say to that?!? I love my little girl and I miss her so much while she's at school too. We talked about it and she's okay now. Bless her heart.

Teeter Totter

Mama Jay and Papa Oz (Micah's parents) got the girls a teeter totter airplane for Christmas. It's AWESOME! After literally 5 hours of labor later we finally got this thing up and going. They play outside a ton more now. Since we don't have a nearby community park it's nice to have some outdoor toys. We may need to plant some more trees to get some shade going though. Maybe someday... I've got lots that I would like to do around our yard and house.

Working together is so much fun... most of the time!

The girls couldn't wait to get it done. They got their cameras and started taking pictures. They thought we'd get it done quickly but instead we took forever, in their eyes.

We had one screw that took us an hour to figure out. I'd try to explain it to you but it would probably take me an hour to explain!

Trying to put these pieces together.

The FINISHED PRODUCT! The girls love it and we LOVE it too! This picture is taken the next day because it was too dark by the time we got it done. The girls still teeter tottered the night we got it done for a bit though. (How could we say no?)

Oh and Micah and I have tried out this teeter totter... it's pretty awesome!

Christmas Dresses Thanks Grandma Sue!

Grandma Sue always sends Christmas dresses to our girls every year, and they are always super cute.  I remember when I was little and my mom would always make me a Christmas and Easter dress.  This was one of my favorite things.  She even made my wedding dress... I would say that my mom is an amazing seamstress.  Because she has so many grandkids, I'm one out of 9 of her children, she buys them their Christmas dresses.  Here are some pictures of the girls unwrapping their dresses and pictures of the dresses themselves.  This year their dresses were as cute as ever! 



Alyssa getting ready to open her dress.

There it is!

Alyssa's Dress

Mara getting ready to open her dress.

Such Anticipation!

 

Mara with her brand new dress!



Nattie getting ready!



Opening it up!

Nattie's new dress.

The three girls after church today.