Azure & the Missing Post!

Where did my post go? I had a very nice little post thanking my good friend, Azure, for letting my kids stay the night at her house on Monday, August 1st. It has DISAPPEARED! I reloaded my blog after changing the settings to allow all my posts (up to 999) to appear on the main page at once. When I rechecked my blog, the most recent post was gone! I can't remember exactly what I had written, so I will try to post the main points here.

1. Azure is my hairdresser and friend.

2. She has two cuties, Zack and Adyson.

3. She's from Odessa, TX like in the football movie "Friday Night Lights".

4. She is in my Sunday school class and her daughter is the same age as Danya.

5. She has the gift of hospitality and is always there for me and my family.

Betsy's Birthday!

For Betsy's birthday she and I went out to Chili's restaurant for dinner. We had a blast! Our waiter was very good considering he said it was only his 7th day on the job. Betsy and I became friends when she and her husband, Mike, visited our Sunday school class. We found out that we are close to the same age, both have 2 daughters close to the same ages, and both will be homeschooling a Kindergartner this year! Betsy is so much fun to know! She has a great sense of humor. I love hearing her tell stories because, like me, she gets really animated. She's also got a lot of skills I envy! She's a wonderful gardener, home decorator, and chef. These are all skills I seriously lack, lol! We are alot alike in other ways. We both will attack a new subject by researching it until we fully understand it. We both like routines and schedules. We both, although in different ways, enjoy scrapbooking, too. I'm so glad that I have a friend to talk about homeschooling with who is starting out just like me. I think "this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship!"

Rick's Grandson, Rowan!

Rick and I (Daniel) have been working together for over 3 years and during that time we've become good friends. We work the night shift at MCI which consists of a total of 16 people on the busiest night. He is a proud father and now a new Grandpa as well (or "Papa" to Rowan). We decided to have lunch at Golden Corral so that Rick could show off his grandson, Rowan. He's a cute little boy and was very good during lunch. Rick and Amy are wonderful grandparents and enjoy having a baby in the house. Hopefully we can continue our friendship outside of work.

Lying Defined by Preschoolers

Definition of lying from my 4 yr old: It's when you say something that didn't really happen. Or you're not telling the truth cuz you didn't want to get in trouble so you want to tell something else that isn't true and that's lying. And when you know the answer, but you don't want to tell, cuz it's bad. So you tell the wrong thing, even though you know it's not that answer.

Definition of lying from my 3 yr old: When you be bad. You don't know the truth. And when we don't be nice to the babies.

This was an exact quote from February of this year copied and pasted from a message board I frequent. Just thought I'd share!

Jarod and Logan's Birthday Party!

Danya's friend from Sunday school, Jarod, turned 5 last weekend! Since his little brother, Logan was turning 2 at about the same time, they had a joint birthday party. Their parents are in my and Daniel's adult Sunday school class, too! Jarod is such a sweet little boy. He's in the 4 year old class (Danya's class) that we teach. He's always ready to help in class and will sometimes be the only boy who's willing to sit at a table full of girls. I think it's cute since he doesn't have any sisters. The party went really well. All the parents there were from our church, so we enjoyed the opportunity to socialize. The kids were all very good and played well together. Jarod's house is a kid paradise! He has all kinds of fun toys and a humongous backyard! His swingset was enormous, too! I think there were about 6 different toys on it! The men in the group got bored and started a kickball game, but that was short lived. The kids were all a bit young to fully grasp the concept of running the bases. We gave the boys glow-in-the-dark dinosaurs and some other things. The girls' gave them homemade cards, but, being boys, I don't think they noticed, lol. Jarod's mom has a couple more months before her fourth child comes along, but she looks ready to pop at any minute. She showed me a pic of her last pregnancy and it was amazing how far out her belly extended on such a tiny framed woman! I think Jarod is going to really enjoy having a little sister finally!

Girlfriends Road Trip!

Just one more week until I leave on a road trip to Florida with my girl friends! One whole week without kids or husbands! We've been planning this for months and it is finally almost here. We'll be heading out on Sunday August 7th (except Claire who is flying down the day before). We'll be back the following Saturday night. We are all going to visit my sister-in-law, Jennie, who lives in Florida. These are my oldest friends. We've known each other since high school.

Here is us NOW:

Glenda___Jennie_____ME_____Claire____Christina

And THEN:
I met all but one of them in a church youth group where they took me in and overlooked my wildness. We've stayed in touch over the years, seeing each other on holidays and planning vacations to include visits with each other. Glenda is my best friend who I talk to at least once a week by phone. I don't know anyone else that I can talk about nothing with for hours on a regular basis. Jennie is the unique one, the fashion plate, the one who can still look adorable in pig-tails at the age of 27. She's also the one who remembers everyone's birthdays and anniversaries. I wish I had that talent. Claire is the career woman, the outdoor adventure enthusiast, and the one of us who will probably retain her petite figure even after she has kids. She has a sense of style that I envy. She is just naturally cool. Christina, I think, could easily step into any management roll. She is this amazing homemaker who manages to handle finances, constant family road trips, diabetes, and keeping a "tight ship" in her home despite the fact that she is frequently on her own due to her husband's job in the Navy. On top of all that she decorates her home beautifully, frequently entertains guests, and raises her two active small children. She is also godmother to my children. These are the amazing women that I am proud to be able to claim as friends! I can't WAIT for this trip to start! We are going to have a blast!

Harry Potter - Okay for Christians?

The Harry Potter issue seems to be in debate everywhere I look lately, so I thought I'd comment on it. First and foremost whether to read, or allow your children to read, any book should be a personal decision made by each person and/or parent. So, no matter what you personally decide, you don't have the right or the obligation to tell someone else what is right for them. If you're not sure, search your conscience, pray about it, and then make a decision and stand by it. Just don't expect others to abide by the dictates of YOUR conscience.

I've read the first Harry Potter book and watched the first two movies. They weren't bad, but they also didn't make me desperate to read/see the rest. I think that they are not appropriate for my young children because they are very scary. However, if my girls want to read or watch them when they are a little older I'll decide whether to allow them based on my assessment of their emotional maturity. As for my opinion on the "witchcraft" in these stories I will refer you to this link: http://alienman.blogspot.com/2005/07/magic-in-harry-potter.html The author, Brad Williams, sums it up very well and I completely agree with his opinion.

Advice to a Mom about to homeschool

You're going to like teaching a preschooler. I know I do. I'm homeschooling my girls for pre-K and Kindergarten this year. We're new to it too. Don't hold your child back from trying anything just because someone tells you that 3 yr olds "can't do that". My 3 yr old is surprising me every day. I thought she disliked workbooks. I had bought a workbook for my 5 yr old and she let me know that it was full of "baby work" so we got her a 1st/2nd grade workbook. My 3 yr old decided that the Kindergarten work book is hers now. So each day she has been tracing letters and numbers, and doing all the work in it just fine. I have to tell her "enough worksheets for today!" or she'd never stop.Then, I decided to teach my 5 yr old dd from a 3rd grade history book, since she is very intelligent and was interested in history. So I spent a week teaching her about Christopher Columbus. We were all in the van the following weekend with their grandparents. I had my 5 yr old tell her Grandma everything she remembered about Chris. Columbus, and she'd really learned alot. Then my dh told me that our 3 yr old had been telling the same info to her Grandpa in the back of the van! She had learned just as much from listening to a story that I thought she wasn't old enough to understand! So, I guess my point is, that your child is unique. Offer all kinds of info, anything that he seems interested in, and let him show you what he's ready for. And don't withold info for fear of making him "too smart". Several people have acted like I was doing something wrong by teaching my young children from books that were "too advanced" for them. I want to know who made the rules about what information you can teach at each age? My kid didn't come off an assembly line!Some activities we've done: Drawing shapes, letters, and numbers with chalk in our driveway, then playing "who can find?". For example, Who can find the triangle? Then the kids run and jump on it. Also, hopscotch is good, having them count each number as they land on it. We also draw chalk arrows on the sidewalks and streets leaving a trail for the kids to follow. This teaches directions.We play "slug bug" in the car to learn colors, Reader Rabbit computer games, most board games help them with counting skills (moving the game pieces), "Simon Says" touch your __body part___ to learn all the parts of the body including unusual ones like instep, arm pit, eyelash, earlobe, we tape paper shapes/numbers/letters we are learning all over the house and let the kids race to find them all yelling out the name of the thing each time they find one, the kids have a dry erase board that they practice letters/numbers/shapes on. My 3 yr old has really good handwriting, better than some 9 yr olds I know, so I know that she has fine motor control, it's just a matter of practice. She also colors in the lines well. For cutting, we let the girls cut the pictures of children out of the weekly flyers we get in the mail. Those clothing ads are great. My girls cut out the clothes and put them on the kids like paper dolls.We got our workbooks from Wal-Mart. They are called the "Ultimate Skill Builder" workbooks from Learning Horizons. I also really really like the "What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know" series. There is one for each grade. It's more of a textbook, but written like it's speaking to the kids. The info is short and includes easy activities. We usually spend 2 hours or less on specifically homeschool activities each day.

Movie Review: War of the Worlds

Daniel and I dropped the kids off at the local drop-in childcare center and went out for a spur of the moment date. We haven't been on a real date for over a month and it was TIME. We saw War of the World's last night. It was amazing! Beginning to end I was on the edge of my seat, absolutely absorbed in the story. Luckily we had the theatre to ourselves because I actually yelled at the screen "Get her! Get Rachel!" before I remembered to just breathe deep and calm down. Several times I had to get control of myself so that I wouldn't burst into tears. I think it was because this little girl could very easily have been MY little girl, Danya. This movie was scary and overwhelming, not a kids' movie, but I was happy to see that it didn't get gory and overly graphic. I'd even consider buying this when it comes out on DVD! Another happy surprise was that the kids' mom was played by Miranda Otto (http://www.lordoftherings.net/film/cast/ca_motto.html). I loved her as Eowyn in The Lord of the Rings! She is just beautiful and is a very good actress, even in a small role like this one. I would recommend this movie completely, but not for young children.

Special Time with Daddy

Each of our girls get one "special day" a week. Right now Danya has Wednesdays. They have to be good all week to earn it. So when they are pushing their limits all we have to do is remind them that they are risking their special day and they straighten up. On their day they get to stay up about an hour after bedtime and do anything they choose (within reason). This is our chance to have one on one time with the girls. Their usual bedtime is 8pm. So tonight Danya chose to go for a bike ride with Daddy, play Barbies, and play on the computer. She asked to play Buster Bunny's U.S. geography game with Daddy tonight. Here's a link to the game: http://pbskids.org/buster/ Danya did really well with it, but it is a bit advanced for her. We also learned tonight that our neighbor's house had been robbed last Monday! Our neighbor is moving out tonight. When she learned that Danya is saving up for a bigger bike she gave Danya a dollar to add to her savings! Danya was excited, to say the least. She now has about $28 towards her goal. A large chunk of that came from birthday money, but she is also doing chores to earn money. She gets 50 cents for helping with the laundry and for cleaning her room. She also makes her bed, clears and washes the table, and picks up any toys in the living room.

P.E. or Pool Entertainment!

I LOVE the fact that I can have a fun day with my kids at the pool and call it homeschooling! We went to a local Recreation Center today. We played on the basketball courts for about 20 minutes, teaching the girls to bounce pass and dribble. Gloria has quite a jump shot! She jumps high, throwing the ball into the air towards Daddy, and then lands in a crouch, slapping the floor with both hands. She invented this move. She calls it "the frog throw". Then we spent about an hour in the pool. Danya loves "swimming" on her own since she is fearless in her life jacket. Gloria still wants to be held, but is getting braver. They love playing motorboat, pretending to flee from sharks, and splashing Daniel and me. Gloria had fun trying to cover up the sprinkler spouts. Danya tried to imitate the ladies who were doing laps using the butterfly stroke. She also figured out how to spin in circles. When it was time to leave we learned that Gloria had taken her clothes out of the bag I'd packed. So the girls had no "undies" and Gloria had no shirt. So she got to wear Daddy's instead. She looked so cute I had to take a picture! It was his Big Brothers Big Sisters t-shirt. Gloria decided on her own to be adorable and put her arm around her big sis. I absolutely love this photo!! Danya, with her hands held like a little lady, is wearing her shirt that she picked out to match her jeans because they both had sparkly sequins. Glory is wearing the flip flops that she laid claim to this summer when Danya decided 5 minutes after I bought them for her that she doesn't like flip flops after all. Glory would wear them non-stop if we let her! This was such a great day!

Kennedy and Ridley come to visit

We got an unexpected surprise today when Kennedy and Ridley's mom called and asked if Kennedy could come play for a while! Gloria was ecstatic! She is finally old enough to have play dates, but it can be hard to find time to schedule them. Kennedy and her family go to our church. The girls raced around the house on plastic cars and had a great time playing together. When Kennedy's mom returned we all got to play with baby Ridley. He is so cute! The girls all took turns holding him, playing peek-a-boo, and 'this little piggie' with him. He is just 4 months old! Holding him made me want a baby boy of my own sooo much. We tried hard to make him smile, but the best I could get out of him was some sweet cooing. Gloria and Danya will be such good big sisters some day! They just loved tickling him and talking to him.

Shopping Shopping Shopping!

We went shopping at Target today for the first time in a long time! The girls got these new dresses and they each got their first belt. They are at that inbetween stage on pants sizes, so they really needed them. Daniel also bought me two new nightgowns, since I don't have any that fit anymore, and a xyron refill. When we got there we had lunch in their little cafe. I'm a sucker for soft pretzels. We had pretzels and popcorn dipped in cheese. They have the good kind of cheese, not that super spicey nacho cheese. I'm sure it wasn't the healthiest meal ever, but it sure tasted good! We were in Tulsa because he had to fill out paperwork for the new job he's hoping to start in mid August. We all got to go up to the top of this beautiful all-glass building. We got to walk around the outer walls on the 14th floor. The view of Tulsa was just gorgeous! Daniel is excited and nervous, I think. This will be his first new job (other than delivering pizzas for a few months) in over 10 years!

Go, Danya, Go!

Danya read the entire book "Go, Dog, Go" today all by herself! Then she read it to Gloria! We are so proud of her! She is reading better every day. Today we worked again on some vowel clusters. We talked about the letters "ou" saying OW! Gloria will "read" by saying the story as she remembers it and pointing at the words. Danya gets mad and says that's just "copying" what she heard Danya read to her and not really reading. I keep telling her that she used to do the same thing when she was learning to read. It's all about understanding that the words have meaning, learning that we read left to right, and getting excited about the story.
Danya has also learned about different kinds of punctuation. So when she read this book she would excitedly say the lines that ended in an exclamation point. I also taught her today that if the words are in quotations that usually means that someone in the story is saying the words. So she's started looking to see whose mouth is open in the picture. I'm so excited that Danya is reading better. That means that soon she'll be able to take a book and go off and read it on her own. There is a special joy in reading alone, curled up in some quiet out of the way place. I hope she shares my passion for reading. I look forward to discussing books we've read the way I did with my mom when I was a kid.

Digital vs. Traditional

Two layouts I recently completed. The one on the left was made digitally on my computer. The one on the right was made by hand at my scrapbooking table. I still don't know which style I prefer. Honestly, digital is easier and cheaper. The paper, embellishments, and even photos are free. I can even have it printed at Office Depot for a buck if I want to have something to put in a real album. I can change the size and color of every component until it's just the way I want. If I mess it up, I can delete it and try again with no real loss. But there is just something about looking at beautiful patterned paper and little embellishments like the sheer pink ribbon on the page on the right that makes me happy. There is something soothing about cutting and pasting(taping, in my case) all the pieces just like we all used to do in grade school. You can feel the textures and see the little imperfections that cry "hand made!" to the viewer. So, to my friends that fear I will go all digital, don't worry. There is room for both in my scrapbooks!

A Gift from the Heart

Daniel is such a sweetie! In fact, that is my nickname for him! He knew that I was feeling really down about the miscarriage and in a lot of pain from the process. So he brought me little gifts. He bought me 3 new books by my current favorite author Sharon Shinn (here's a link to her "unofficial" website http://www.cs.rose-hulman.edu/~thomass/shinn/ . He also surprised me with this cute little balloon. He knows I like Care Bears, I even sleep with a giant TenderHeart every night, and thought it would cheer me up. It sure did! Daniel is so thoughtful in little ways. I don't know what I'd do without him. He even took the time to homeschool the girls this week! He has a 6th sense that tells him just when I need a hug and when I need time alone. I don't think I could have dealt with all this if it weren't for him. Our girls' future husbands sure are going to have alot to live up to! I hope they both find someone as wonderful as their Daddy.

Our brother, the Missionary

Ben and Diana are going to be missionaries to the interior of Mexico. They'll be in Zacatecas within the next year. Above is a map of Mexico with a red box marking the state of Zacatecas. They plan to start a Christian church there, teach English, and create a destination for churches who feel led to missions work in Mexico. They'll bring in groups for evangelism, medical clinics, construction projects, pastoral conferences, and marriage conferences. Ben and Diana's ministry needs are:
1. Monthly support
2. Digital camera to document work
3. Computer and printer
4. Bunk beds for visiting mission groups
5. Sound system and instruments
6. Van to transport groups through Mexico
7. Prayer

Here's a link to learn more about Zacatecas. http://www.mexconnect.com/mex_/zacatecas/zacindex.html

Here's a picture of Zacatecas on the right. Ben is currently serving in Acuna, Mexico just over the border from Del Rio, TX where he and his family live. Ben has been traveling as a preacher and translator to churches around the U.S. and his wife Diana is from Mexico. They are in their mid 20's and both feel called to help the people and especially children of Mexico.

Mi Sobrina!

We have a new "sobrina"! That means "niece" in Spanish. Monday we went to Daniel's parents' house to see her. Her name is Darla Shalom, but they call her Shalom, pronounced 'shu-lome' with the long 'o' sound. She is absolutely beautiful! We also got to visit with her daddy, Daniel's younger brother, Ben and his wife Diana. Diana is from Mexico so I got to practice my Spanish, which I found out is sorely lacking. This is their first child and they are already wonderful parents. I really loved holding Shalom, even though it made me ache to hold a baby of my own. She was so good, never crying and letting us all pass her around, not minding all the kids touching her and crowding around. Daniel's mom is watching 5 of her Maxwell grandkids while their parents and their new twin brothers are on a trip to Europe! I hope we can get all the cousins together to take one giant group photo when Shalom and the twins are a little bit bigger. Ben and Diana have decided to become full time missionaries to the interior of Mexico in Zacatecas!! I'll post a link when they get their web site up and running. We are proud of them and will be praying for their family.

Birthday Party

Danya's best friend, Emma, turned 5 last Sunday! Danya and Gloria went to the birthday pool party. They had a pinata and a trampoline too. Here's a pic of Emma, Gloria (background), and Danya (sitting) on the trampoline. Danya got to try out her new goggles in the pool. Her friend, Emma, swims like a fish and taught Danya to go underwater. Daniel took the girls since I wasn't feeling well. The pinata was unique. Instead of hitting it, everyone grabs a string and pulls until it breaks. The kids loved it! Both of our girls came home with a TON of candy. Emma is in our Sunday school class that we teach. She is simply amazing. She runs like a speeding bullet, has no fear, and can climb across the monkey bars in the blink of an eye. AND she'll do it all with a skirt and sandles on! She is also polite, gentle mannered, and well behaved. I couldn't ask for a better "best friend" for Danya.

Guys Night Out

Who: Five guys
What: Video games and pizza, we hoped there would be a bigger turnout, but it was fun and a very fast four hours!
When: last Saturday night
Where: In the "media room" at our church, First Baptist Church Owasso http://fbcowasso.org/
We played Gauntlet (shown in photo above) and a boxing game on the N64. We played Tony Hawk and Crazy Taxi on Playstation 2. We played a few others, the boxing game being the most popular as we had different "champions" for a while. It was nice to be able to include our "little", Kenny, from Big Brothers and Sisters. Video games are one thing we really have in common! We hope to plan another video game night in the future!

Going Home

This Saturday I had a miscarriage. I'm still dealing with this so it's very difficult to write this. Today I heard a song written by my brother in law, Matt Maxwell. He wrote it for some friends of his who recently lost their 16 year old son to cancer. It was from the child's point of view. He was saying that if you knew what he knew now you wouldn't cry for him. He's standing at the throne of God and there is "no crying here." Also, he will be there to welcome his parents some day. There was more to it, but that, most of all, touched me. It made me cry, but it also reminded me that my babies are not gone, but rather in the arms of their Father in a place that is pure joy. I'm grieving because I will not get to hold them here and now, but rejoicing because I will get to hold them some day.

Drive-In Movie Night

On the spur of the moment we decided to go to the Admiral Twin Drive-In in Tulsa on Tuesday night! The movies showing were all PG-13 so the girls couldn't watch them. Instead we removed the third seat in the van and put their blow up Disney princess beds back there. Then we hooked up the DVD player so they could watch "The Incredibles" with headphones on. We let them bring some of their own money they've earned from doing work around the house. They bought drinks and candy. We walked around as a family and explored the drive-in movie. We used to go here when they were babies in their car seats. This Tuesday, just like when they were little, they fell asleep as the first movie started. Daniel and I reclined the front seats back and watched "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" and "Batman Begins". I felt like the first movie could have used a different scene to show Angelina Jolie as an assassin in the beginning and it would have made the movie okay for teens. As it was, I think the movie should have gotten an R rating just for that scene. "Batman Begins" was surprisingly good. I'm not a big Batman fan in general, but I figured Daniel would enjoy it. Those icky masks seemed like a rehash of the old "Halloween" movies to me. I was glad that the movie didn't really have anything too "racey" in it. It's nice to see an action movie that doesn't need the hero to sleep around. Mostly, though, it's just nice to go on a date with Daniel...even if we did have to bring the kids!

Library Story Time

Today was library day. On Tuesdays our local library has story hour for kids age 5 and under. I put a 'D' and a 'G' on Danya and Gloria in the first photo. The girls get totally absorbed in this. The lady who reads the stories is very good at it. She does voices, makes them really dramatic and exciting, and keeps the kids' attention. She also uses a felt board to play games like shape recognition and for visual aids for songs. Today they sang "If your happy and you know it" and "Five Little Monkeys". Danya liked the story "Lisa the Pig Goes to the Circus" about a little girl who had to take over the whole circus because everyone who worked there had an ear infection.

These story times are a good group classroom experience for the girls and a good reminder for me why I homeschool. My girls pay attention, listen well, and participate. Some of those other kids are just wild. They were banging their little carpet squares on the floor, rolling around, talking while the lady was trying to read, and generally being disruptive. I think if parents can't get their kids to calm down they should just take them out so the others can hear the stories. That goes for mothers of talkative or crying babies too. But then I think that's common courtesy for any event including movie theaters, performances on stage, and at church.

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Last Friday our ceiling fan caught fire! Gloria was standing underneath it in the middle of the living room. I heard a bunch of pops, looked up, and saw sparks and then blue flame shooting out of the glass around one of the lights on the fan. Quickly switching into Homeschooling Mom mode, I used this ideal "teachable moment" to explain to Gloria my thoughts on electrical fires. I screamed like a little girl and yelled, "Run! Get in the kitchen, NOW!!" ...Seriously, though, I and the girls panicked a bit. Daniel calmly switched off the power to the light. Gloria was in the kitchen by that point, understandably hysterical. Daniel got her calmed down. The next day we went ceiling fan shopping. Dan borrowed a ladder and took down the ruined fan. There was a hole burned right through the metal casing of the fan! He attempted to install the new fan, but in the end we hired a repairman.

Daniel and Gloria have been working together now to repair our vacuum cleaner. They were having vacuum cleaner races (Gloria has a play one) when they discovered that our vacuum has lost its ability to suck. They disassembled it, removed a ton of old hair and dirt that was clogging it up, and it worked a bit better. Today they tried to use the hose attachment and found even MORE hair and gook in the hose. So they are working on it again. Daniel thinks that the actual problem is that the motor is going out. I hope not. We've had this vacuum for less than a year and don't have the funds to replace it. Gloria is definitely learning a lot at least!

Young Reader Books

We got a few "new" books to add to our growing collection today while we were out hunting through yard sales! Today we picked up "Pioneer Children of America", "My City", and "Frontiers Old and New". Two of them are full of stories about American history. The books we've collected so far range in age from 1956 to 1966. The older ones are great because they were written before Christianity became outlawed in schools. I can't help thinking how much safer public schools today would be if kids today were still reading from textbooks that teach basic human decency and morals. Some of the stories I looked at tonight were about generosity, being thankful for what you have whether it's little or plenty, courage, determination, compassion. I could go on and on. I also like knowing that these books are not going to have topics I find objectionable in them like so much of what is classified nowadays as appropriate "children's literature". I think that part of being a parent is not just keeping my kids physically safe, but also guarding their hearts and minds. The bible says that we "speak from the overflow of the heart" so I want to make sure that what is filling my kids hearts is worthwhile.

NEWS FLASH!

Today we went out to the big new park in our city. Fox 23 News was broadcasting live there this evening. Our church set up a booth and gave away hotdogs, chips, and water bottles. We got to see the Owasso Highschool cheerleaders perform and Danya got autographs from the newscasters and took a picture with the weatherman, Jon Slater!! I don't know if the girls got on t.v. or not, but the camera was pointed at them a few times. The folks from Fox 23 News were really nice. They asked Danya a few questions, but she was being shy. We also bought icecream from a very smart lady who parked her ice cream truck at the park during the event. Gloria got a Kim Possible icecream on a stick and the sun promptly turned it into mush. She was head to toe orange!! Her face, shirt, hands, arms, and even legs were covered with sticky goo. Danya did better with hers. I think that watching a live broadcast and seeing how they film the news can be considered a fun little homeschool field trip, so that's what I'm calling today. They had a t.v. hooked up so that we could watch it while they filmed, which was neat. Our church had a pretty good turn out. I saw a couple of boys from the Sunday school class I teach. This event is going to make one fun scrapbook page, that's for sure!

Homeschool Struggles

This has been a crazy week in our homeschool! I think taking a holiday from school on the 4th of July threw us off. I didn't get the lesson plan made until Tuesday afternoon. So we took their workbooks with us to a restaurant for dinner and they did their math and reading at the table while we waited for our food to arrive. I had planned a little bit more stuff, but we ran out of time. Math and reading are my requirements to complete every day, but I really like doing the extras. Wednesday we got everything done except for reading a story about Pocahontas. I tried to teach Danya to count by 2's, but she wasn't really getting it. I've been feeling so nauseous and tired lately from being newly pregnant that it's making things a little more difficult to accomplish.

I'm going to call today Thursday because the clock just ticked over to Friday. Today I worked on counting "pairs" with Danya and writing the letter "i" with Gloria. I gave Danya a pile of pencils to use as a visual aide to understanding the word problems about pairs. That seemed to really help. Gloria did really well with hearing the short "i" sound like in "igloo".

We also read the story of Pocahontas and how even though she was only 10 yrs old she bravely saved Captain John Smith's life. We colored pictures about community heroes. Danya chose a veterinarian and Gloria picked a nurse again. Then we made and colored Indian headbands with feathers in them. The girls invented Indian names for themselves. Danya was "Morning Rainbow" and Gloria was "Dancing Flower". I let the girls wear their headbands to the zoo.

Today was the MIT mom's group zoo day. We looked for animal "tracks" in the concrete (a neat thing the zoo has) and compared the girls feet and hands to the pawprints we found. I explained to them that the Siberian Tiger is very heavy, that's why their paw prints are deeper, and the Cheetah barely touches the ground at all when it runs, so it's tracks are not as deep.

When we got home Gloria took a nap and Danya read to herself from an easy reader book! After naps Danya read one of the stories to me. She is doing so good! This has been such an up and down week. But I still have to say I am loving homeschool!

4th of July Cook Out!

This is my family. Left to right is my little sis, Toni, big brother, Shane, ME, and my little brother, Richard who will always be "Ricky" to me. They all live about 2 hours away from me, so getting to spend the 4th of July with them was really nice. Toni will be 23 in September. She is a part time college student and full time hard workin' woman! She is the center of her little universe at work where she keeps customers returning with her light hearted personality, energy, and humor. Shane is what you'd call an extroverted introvert. He's actually very private and introspective, but you might not expect it if you only saw him at a social event. He likes to draw a crowd with his quick wit and entertaining stories. He likes to race motorcycles, or "crotch rockets" as he calls them. He gave me a ride on one once. Let's just say it's not an experience I want to EVER repeat! Ricky is my "long lost brother" of a sort. A couple of years ago he contacted me out of the blue and told me that he was living in my state. I hadn't seen him since he was 5 years old! From the moment we met I felt like we'd been close forever. He's taller than me, so I think he treats me like a little sister sometimes, but that's okay. He is married and has a little girl the same age as Danya with another one on the way. He is my only sibling that can relate with the whole "parenting" experience with me. I was so excited when he told me not long ago that he had excepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. I've prayed for all of my family for about 10 years now, and I literally wanted to shout for joy when he told me the good news! God has blessed Ricky tremendously recently with the startup of his own power washing business. I am so proud of him and happy for him. Not shown in the picture is my youngest brother, Patrick, who couldn't be there that day. He re-entered my life around the same time as Ricky did. He works really hard and we hardly get to see each other. I really wish that he'd come visit for a weekend so that we could spend some time getting to know each other. I still tend to picture him as my 3 yr old baby brother and barely know him as an adult. It's hard to imagine that 20 years has passed since then! I hope my family plans more events like this. If they do, I'll be sure to add more pictures of them to this website! (See, Toni, I added this right after you called!)

RV at the Lake

We joined Daniel's parents on a trip to Lake McMurtry in their RV. We went swimming, cooked out, went for a small hike...all the typical things you do on a camping trip. This was our first ever family camping trip!!

It was perfect! The sun was so warm our suits dried within minutes of getting out of the water! Then we got to enjoy the air conditioning in the RV. This is the life! The water was typical muddy Oklahoma lake water and it was a steep drop off to get into the swimming area. Daniel slipped and fell in face first! The girls excitedly gathered sticks to throw on the fire for toasting marshmallows. Daniel's mom, Nancy, was talking and sitting at the table holding a wire hanger with marshmallows on the end of it. Suddenly Daniel yelled, "Mom! They're still on fire!" They had been burning the whole time since she pulled them out of the fire when she thought she blew them out.

We got to enjoy working on homeschool work with the girls outside at a picnic table. Danya learned how to count by 5's that day! The girls also went on a nature walk with us and discovered empty Cicada shells (which gross me out) and spider webs. When we woke up the second morning we discovered perfect little muddy raccoon paw prints on my folding chair outside!! We learned alot and fell in love with the lake on this trip.

Fireworks and Family

We celebrated our nation's independance on June 26th at Daniel's parents' home. His folks were going out of town for a few weeks so we celebrated early. Here are some pics!

Daniel and his dad launched roman candles together (picture A). I think they look like light sabers! His dad even used one for target practice! He shot flaming balls across the road at the burned out fountains and things that we'd already used. The girls played with sparklers and all the girls, grandma and I included, made silly shadows on the wall of the house as Daniel lit the strobe light fireworks.

My favorite has always been the smoke bombs. At one point, I threw a green smoke bomb. Daniel's dad, Wayne, jumped into the green cloud it created and started to fake choking on the smoke. I just laughed and told him to exuse himself next time! All in all, we had a BLAST!

PREGNANT!!

We found out we were PREGNANT on Wednesday July 29th, so I'm inserting this post here. Daniel and I have been trying for about a year now. We got pregnant and almost immediately miscarried two months ago, so we asked for help from our obstetrician who is also a friend of ours from our church. On June 15th she did an interior ultrasound to see if and when I was ovulating so that we could plan accordingly instead of the hit and miss fashion we'd been trying. She not only saw that I was about to release one egg...but two!! One from each ovary was about to be ready to go in two days time. Since we knew exactly when, she said that our odds of conceiving were excellent and we have a pretty good chance of having fraternal twins! Well, sure enough, it worked.

We've taken two pregnancy tests a couple of days apart just to be sure. I've also been taking it easy and trying not to overdo things, because even though the doctor said I didn't cause the miscarriage, I still feel like it was a mistake doing such an incredible amount of physical activity the week that I found out I was pregnant last time. So this time Daniel telling me to avoid picking up the kids. Do you know how impossible that is when you have a 3 and 5 year old? The kids seem worried, too. They understand that we had a baby in my tummy a couple of months ago, and then it went away. Gloria has been asking me every morning now if I still have a baby in there. We are praying for their health and protection constantly. I'm hoping that at my first appointment at the end of this month (July), the doctor will be able to either see how many I have with an ultrasound or hear how many heart beats there are. I really want twins, always have, but I will still be thanking God like crazy no matter what! Now I'm even MORE glad that we decided to get an early start on homeschooling. If I have twins next March I sure would like to be done with the required number of school days by then.

Poison Ivy

This week has been full of ups and downs! Daniel's parents took the girls for Sunday and Monday nights. While they were gone Daniel and I went for a bike ride, played tennis, rented video games (Shrek 2 and Demolition Derby), watched movies, looked at homeschool materials at a book store in Tulsa, and went out to eat a few times. I can't even describe how great it was to just have some quiet time to focus on each other. We also got caught up on a few things. Daniel mowed, I wrote out a lesson plan for this week, and we did the grocery shopping.

When we picked the girls up on Tuesday afternoon we found out that their Grandma had been doing quite a bit of homeschooling while she had them. She played math board games with them, read them stories, taught them to play dominoes with their great-grandparents, and took them swimming. They even stopped on the Keystone Dam and watched the water being let out! I was happy as a clam to realize that I could count those days towards my homeschooling total! They certainly showed me that grandparents can take an active hand in their grandkids education.

Wednesday night Daniel and I taught Danya's 4 yr old class at church. They are having a summer of missions. This week we taught them about missionaries our church supports in Hawaii, Bobby and June Duffer. Near the end of class, while waiting for parents to pick up their kids, I played London Bridge with them. It got a little wild and I managed to strain the muscles in my back. I also realized the next day that I had picked up poison ivy on my foot at Daniel's parents house. So I've been laid up, hardly able to move for two days. Daniel really amazed me. He jumped right in and took care of everything. He even followed my lesson plan and taught the kids before and after his sleep time. I can't thank God enough for giving me Daniel!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!

Today is all about Daniel! When he came home from work at around 8am the girls jumped out and yelled, "Surprise! I mean Happy Father's Day!" Then they gave him big hugs and showed him how they cleaned the house nice and pretty for him. We gave him some new clothes and a DVD of the first season of The Dukes of Hazzard. Here he is getting some love from his girls!

Then we went out to Braum's for breakfast! After church, Daniel's mom and dad met us and we went to McAlister's for lunch. Tonight the guys will get to play video games at Daniel's friend, Mike's, house. The women will take the kids outside to play. Daniel is so excited about tonight! THEN, his parents have offered the best Father's Day gift ever! Daniel's mom and dad are taking our girls to stay at their house tonight through Tuesday! I think I officially have the best in-laws in the world! This has been a great Father's Day and it's not even over yet!

Gloria's First Bike!

Today we bought Gloria a bike! We got her a 16 inch bike. It's just the right size, she can reach the pedals, but there is room to grow. We set the seat and handle bars at their lowest settings. She is very excited that her bike is bigger than her big sister's bike. Danya has a 12 inch bike that she got for her 3rd birthday from Aunt Toni (my lil sis). We will have to upgrade hers by next year. Danya's bike is about 2 years old, but this is the first year that she has really had the confidence to ride it very far. Daniel and I wanted to be able to take a family bike ride now that both girls know how to ride. Here is a picture of the girls with their bikes:

Danya and I assembled the new bike while Gloria was sleeping at naptime. When she woke up she immediately rushed outside with it. Gloria was racing up and down the street! She and Danya took a ride around the block with me walking beside them to help if needed. But about 2 feet after we took this picture, the pedals fell off of Gloria's bike. I hadn't tightened them enough. Also, the training wheels were loose. So after a pit stop back at our house to tighten the bolts we were off racing around the neighborhood! I can't wait for our first family bike ride when Daniel can go with us!!

Homeschool Pool Party!

We were invited to a homeschool pool party this week! They held it at the Baptist Children's Home. We got to meet several homeschooling families. The swimming was great, but it was funny that the adults with older kids didn't swim. We enjoyed swimming with our new friends, the Millers. Our girls and their oldest daughter played "train" trailing behind Daniel around the pool. Here's a pic of the three of them:

I really appreciated the opportunity to ask the mom's who've been homeschooling for a long time all my "newbie" questions. One woman there had a 20 year old daughter that she had homeschooled all the way through highschool graduation! Her daughter will graduate college with a bachelor's degree next year! Another woman was pregnant with her 7th child and was homeschooling them all! They told me about the homeschooling group in our area that 15 families in our church are a part of. I think I bombarded them with questions. I'm really glad we went!

Pirates!!

Today was day 3 of our homeschooling adventure. We read about Christopher Columbus getting attacked by pirates off the coast of Portugal when he was younger on his way to England. The girls had a BLAST on the bed pretending that they were being attacked by pirates! I got to be the pirate! Danya was Columbus. Gloria started out as a sailor on his ship, then she went overboard and became a pirate. Then, when Columbus (Danya's) ship had been "destroyed" and she was the only survivor, floating in the ocean (blue carpet) clinging to an oar (long pillow), Gloria and I became the Portugese people helping pull Columbus onto land. Now they are watching Peter Pan since it has pirates in it!

We also read about our community and community helpers. They each got to draw a picture of their favorite community helper. Gloria drew Aunt Jennie and Danya drew Tanti Glenda (both nurses). Then we learned about graphs. We made a graph of 3 different kinds of canned food in our cupboard. Then we made a "Good Job" graph that they can mark each time they help around the house. Finally we practiced identifying the numbers 1-5 in English and Spanish.

There were a few other little things, but those were the highlights. It's still hard to believe how much we get accomplished in just 2 hours. We're going swimming this afternoon for Danya's friend, Lillian's birthday party. It's great how much time we get to spend as a family and STILL get our school time done. And the girls keep showing me how much they are really remembering! They remembered learning two days ago that sailors in Columbus' time called the unknown part of the ocean the "sea of darkness". Gloria remembered that they thought it was full of sea monsters and Danya remembered they thought it had "boiling spots". So far, I am loving the homeschool experience!

Homeschooling Day 2

Day 2 of homeschooling. We took a family walk, had bible study, read alot and worked on more/less & greater/fewer in math today. For science the girls made a "plant" out of yarn and construction paper today, then labeled the parts (roots, stem, leaves, petals..etc). They also pulled weeds outside with Daniel and looked at the parts with a magnifying glass. We had a great time playing with blocks for math. I gave Danya 4 blocks and Gloria 6 blocks and had them figure out who had more and how to fix it so they had an equal amount. I also gave them 9 blocks and had Gloria divide them equally among herself, Danya, and Daniel. We did lots more block problems like those. They both did great with all the different challenges we gave them! It's amazing how well young kids understand math if you present it in a way that makes sense instead of just throwing numbers out there. When Danya did a math worksheet it had two columns of double digit numbers (she knows her numbers up to 100). She had to circle the number that was less. I had her read the numbers (for example 46 and 82), then I would ask her "Would you rather have 46 bonks on the head or 82?" She had no problem circling the smaller number!! Then I let her think of her own. She said, "Would I rather have to sleep with out my doll 25 times or 54 times?" She completely understood the game! She is so much fun to work with! Also, on our walk today, we went to the convenience store and let them figure out how much of the little candy they could get for a quarter. Danya got 5 pieces of gum. Gloria got one giant piece of taffy candy, but then she sweet talked Danya into sharing a piece of her gum. So I'm not sure who got the better deal!

Berry Pickin!

We went berry picking this morning and had a great time! The girls loved finding the "good ones" that were nice and black so we knew they were ripe. Danya filled her bucket first, but Gloria wasn't far behind.

Then our friends, the Millers, arrived and our girls helped their girls find the best bushes that were heavy with dark blackberries. They ate quite a few until they decided that they didn't like the seeds. It was so sweet watching Gloria help little Meagan! Gloria is only a year older, but she looked like a GIANT towering over petite little 2 year old Meagan. Danya was constantly tripping over the long limbs that had extended over the pathway here and there. She was afraid of the tiny little thorns that scratched her at first, but she quickly got more courageous. A nice stranger offered to take our picture as we were heading out, so here is all of us:

By a little after 10am it was just too hot, so we went home, made Blackberry Zingers in our ancient blender, and then got started with our homeschool lessons. But first we washed off all the red juice on our girls' hands and faces!

Our First Day of Homeschooling!

We began our homeschooling year today! We learned about North America, Christopher Columbus when he was a boy, read chapter 1 of a Magic Treehouse book, practiced letter sounds, and played games and did workbook sheets about "more and less" for math. Then Danya read outloud to us from a children's book. Here is a pick of Gloria and Daddy doing math pages together. He is soo patient with her and she picked it right up!

The girls really enjoyed sitting in a circle, hiding our hands behind our back, then yelling GO! and showing everyone how many fingers we were holding up. Then we counted to see who had more and who had less and who had the same. We substituted berry picking for our morning walk. We learned how blackberries grow and then did a little "Home Ec." by making a recipe from the list we got at the farm. Before heading out this morning, Daniel led us in a bible study time. We talked about how everyone has someone in authority over them. Then we read 1 Timothy 2:1 to learn how we should treat those in authority. "Pray for all people!", and even kings, it says. On the way to the berry farm we made up songs about berry picking! This was a great first day! I did learn that I need to make the history & geography lessons a bit more exciting, but otherwise it went really well.

Games We Play

We are constantly playing games with our kids. I think it's possible that my dh and I may reach a point where my kids are embarrassed by all the silliness, but I'm gonna live it up while they're little!! We make little "footballs" out of our straw wrappers at restaurants and use our hands to make "goals". Then we take turns flipping the paper into the other team's goal. This is great for keeping them entertained while we wait for the food to arrive! We also play "Who Can Find?" This is simple. I say "Who can find.." and then look around the room and name something. Ex: Who can find something that is square? made of wood? pink? etc. Then the kids race to be the first one to find something that fits the description. I usually find something that each kid is wearing also. In the car my dh and I play word games to keep alert on long car rides. My kids have started joining in too. We play "Find the ABC's" on signs and license plates. We assign each person a color and count the passing cars. We play who can think of the most cliches and proverbs. Or finish the cliche. Ex: I'll say "no use crying over..." and he'll have to answer "spilt milk." Then it's his turn. We also play hide and seek, playground tag, and Betcha - which is a game based on the old Shari Lewis song, where we say "I betcha you can't do this!" and then we do silly things like crossing our eyes or hopping on one foot with a beanbag balanced on it. We play ring around the rosies and london bridge. I think getting to play kid games is part of the fun of having kids in the first place! I taught my 3 yr old to wink today as a Betcha. She was so excited!

Summer Madness

Today is our last day of summer vacation. We start homeschooling tomorrow. Tonight we have a couple coming over to eat with us that we met a few weeks ago in Sunday school. They are going to start homeschooling their Kindergarten age daughter this fall. Right now Danya is at her best friend Emma's house. Emma lives right next door to a neighborhood pool! So the girls are going swimming, Danya in her new tweety bird swimsuit. Here is a recent pic of Danya in our front yard.

She wants to get her hair cut short like her sister's, but we just can't let her. Her long blonde hair is just too cute! We are cleaning house and getting last minute things ready for company tonight and starting homeschooling tomorrow. I woke up this morning feeling like a walking zombie. I'm wondering how well we'll do at trying to get ready and take an early morning walk tomorrow. Our new friends who are coming to dinner mentioned that they are going blackberry picking tomorrow morning. I've always wanted to try that, so maybe we'll go after our walk.

Now to figure out how I can claim blackberry picking as a homeschool field trip on our first day! Daniel says that if we cook with them it's "Home Ec." and science because we'll be learning "Botany". Sounds good to me!

Danya's Pre-K Graduation

Danya graduated from the Owasso 4 year old Program in May. At first they said she couldn't attend the graduation because we hadn't bought the $10 hat. The day before the event I had a talk with her teacher and she said that Danya could borrow a cap so that she could participate. Danya did great! She sang "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" with her friends. She wasn't a bit shy this time! She sang loud and did all the motions. We were so proud of her!! Here are two shots of her merged together that were taken during the performance.

It was so dark in the Owasso high school auditorium that most of our pictures came out blurry. These were two of the not so bad ones. She has been very excitedly telling her friends and classmates that she gets to start Kindergarten in June. They don't really believe her because they don't understand that homeschool Kindergarten is still Kindergarten. I just found out today that one of the little girls in her Sunday school class, Lillian, is also a homeschooler!! I got her mom's phone number so hopefully we will be able to schedule fun stuff to do together. Danya is happy and I am relieved that she will have a friend that is also available for activities and trips during "school hours" when all the rest of her friends will be in public school. This makes two little girls her age that we know now who homeschool!

Congratulations Danya on graduating Pre-K and starting homeschool Kindergarten!

Best Wife and Mother

From: Daniel (age 28)

Jessica is the best wife I could hope for and a great mom to our Girls. Jessica is very capable at managing just about anything. I have crazy hours and work most weekends. She helps manage our time and activities. Jessica is an amazing Woman. She takes care of all of us. She helps to make sure we see family and friends. I would be lost with out her. She has done a great job on the scrapbooks for our family and won some prizes on some of the layouts. I do not seem to tell her enough how much she means to me. I have great confidence that she can do any thing she sets her mind to. She has taught her self a few hobbies and is great with languages. Jessica loves to read and always seems to be learning, even when it is just reading a book for fun. I wish I could read as well as she can.

From: Danya (5 years old)

She is the best mom ever. She likes to help us tie are shoes and play with us while getting us ready. We love our mom and love to play with her. She loves doing our hair. She loves how we play together. She likes to sing our lullabies. She likes to see us when she has not seen us in a long time. She likes to help us with making stuff and with writing and stuff. Whenever we need help she will help us. Whenever I am sick she takes care of me and does not leave me alone and she helps me. She loves to play... she loves our dances. She loves the color purple. She love the way we are good to each other and can be nice to her, and love each other. We are just so happy when she is with us. She helps us learn.

From: Gloria (3.5 years old)

She is the best mom ever, and we love her so much and she likes to play with us. We like to love her. We like to play games with Her. We love you Mom. She loves us and likes to sing songs with us. She loves are shoes. She likes our songs; we like to sing with her. She likes the cards we make. We like to bonk heads together. We like to play games on the computer. She likes to hug us.

My Hero, My Husband

Daniel is the ideal husband in some respects. He completely supports my desire to homeschool. He has been right there with me throughout the exploration and preparation process. He snuggles with me on the couch and listens while I read out loud from the various homeschooling how-to books we borrowed from the library. He took me to our first used book fair for homeschoolers about a week ago. He has gotten me motivated to hunt garage sales for educational books and items, and then gone along and searched through boxes of books with me. He even takes the kids out of the house and does the cooking while I am in the back room surrounded by books and trying to figure out what to teach first, in what order, and on what days. Most importantly, he has encouraged me repeatedly when I worry that I will mess up our children for life, lol.

He informed me this week that I didn't need to worry about science. He is going to take charge of this subject! Also, he announced that we are going to start every morning with a family walk to the park and a short bible study. He works nights, so we will head out when he gets home right after breakfast. Can you believe it? This incredible man works a 10 hour shift and then wants to come straight home for a 20 minute walk with two small children and lead his family in a bible study!

All I can say is, thank God. Thank you, Lord, for this amazing gift I get to call my husband!

A letter to my daughters

I wrote this for a scrapbook page last year. Now that we've decided to homeschool, I think it is even more relavent. This is excerpted from a mini album I am making for my daughters called "Advice from Mom". It has important messages to my daughters in case I'm not around to deliver them in person some day.

SCHOOL- Never settle for less than your best. But also avoid the pride and, frankly, delusion that you are the best. I went between two extremes in school. I started out believing that I was super smart and always at the head of my class. That’s okay as long as it doesn’t lead to the idea that you are somehow better than others. Remember that intelligence is like a beautiful plant given to you by God. You didn’t make it. It is a gift. Yours is not necessarily better than someone else’s, just different. And if you do not nourish it, be certain that it will wither. As I grew up, through a series of uncaring people in my life, I began to believe that I was not as smart as I thought I was and that no one really cared if I had excellent grades. I felt like I only needed to be mediocre to pass and no one would notice. This was one of the biggest mistakes I’ve ever made. Do not let people or the enemy or your own negative thoughts and feelings cause you to falter. Good grades and good learning/study habits will help you in every area of your life. Set a goal for yourself as young as you can. You don’t absolutely have to be certain of what you want do for a living, but it helps. If nothing else, decide where your interests lay, then study hard and take extra classes that will give you a strong foundation toward that future. Don’t let anyone tell you that you are not “college material” and don’t wait for someone else to hand you applications for grants, special classes, or colleges. Never let someone else do your work for you. I don’t mean not to ask for help. I mean don’t cheat. Don’t expect someone else to take the lion’s share of a joint project. Don’t wait for the school councilor to hold your hand and show you what you should do with your life. Don’t say I can’t do something because no one will teach me how. Teach yourself. Or go find a teacher and convince them to teach you. Your future will not be handed to you. You will either go out and boldly reach for the one you want, or live with whatever you stumble into later. Finally, remember that you are not alone. Your Dad and I and many other family and friends are all here for you. We want to help you in any way possible. So if you have questions, come to us. No matter what you are or do, you will always have the love and support of your family. But if you feel lost and directionless your best source for guidance is always your heavenly Father. God has the absolute best plan for you. Feel free to ask Him and expect an answer. Trust me, He’s just waiting for you to ask. But don’t be surprised by the answer you get. You may find that it’s not
what you expected. But you can be certain that His plan is the one that will make you the happiest and the most fulfilled. -March 24, 2004

The Digital World of Scrapping

So I'm very new to digital scrapbooking. I like it, but there is something to be said for having something you can hold in your hand as tangible proof of the work you did. So I will probably always also be a "paper scrapper". That being said, I really enjoy the freedom of making pages digitally. I can play with several sizes of photos and accents and find the perfect fit without having to constantly remake an item. It's also alot cheaper. I take pictures of everyday things like crayons, fences, walls, carpet, tile, grass, rocks, and use them as backgrounds for my pages. This saves alot of expense on paper and the like. Here's a page I did fairly recently on my PC:

I like being able to use multiple fonts without having to print them out on my computer. Most of the elements on this page were purchased or freebies from various digital scrapbooking sites like http://www.3scrapateers.com/ . What I would really like to learn is how to make those elements look that real and that good. I think that this is something that I would do well once I understand how. In the meantime, I will continue to practice and fiddle with my software. I'm really enjoying being able to make pages easily and then instantly submit them via email to my friends and family. The photo editing/digital scrapbooking software I use is from http://www.novadevelopment.com/Products/productinfo.aspx?productCode=pdw and I really like it. It cost only $50, and I got my rebate check two days ago for $20. Most other good software I've found like Adobe cost around $100. I'd eventually like to try one of those, but we can't afford it right now.

Scrapbooking Current Event

Currently I'm waiting anxiously to find out whether or not I will make it onto the design team at http://storytellersclub.com/ . The news will be announced on Wednesday, June 15th. They are looking for 4 new team members. I think the wait may possibly kill me, lol!

So the pages I submitted are some of my personal best, in my opinion. It's funny, a few years ago I submitted to the Creating Keepsakes hall of fame http://www.creatingkeepsakes.com/ and had a very difficult time with one of their requirements. They wanted my pages to be unified by having a common style. I had to figure out what my personal scrapbooking style is. This may sound simple, but to me that's like asking me to define my reading style. Yes, I have a preference of science fiction and fantasy, but I also enjoy a very wide range of other reading material. How can I possibly narrow it down?? But when I submitted for this contest last week, I looked at my pages and realized that, yes, I do finally see clearly what my scrapbooking style is. Clean, symetrical, elegant pages.

This made me think. Is this the only subject I've become more focused in? Now I'm looking over the last few years of my life and seeing it in a whole new light. I think that maybe I've finally figured out a few more things; my parenting style, my "style" if you will, of Christianity, my style of dress, and even my style of friends. I'll be 28 this year. I guess I'm finally hitting that point of no return on maturity and have become comfortable with who I am.

What do you know? Scrapbooking as a guide to understanding life!

Curriculum Choices

Through reading so many different books on homeschooling, I was able to get a good idea of what was out there, curriculum-wise. I decided that most curriculum's that you could buy were just way too expensive and too much of a risk. The risk factor is that you could buy it, find out within a few weeks that it totally doesn't fit your family lifestyle or your kids' learning styles, and then only have the option of hopefully reselling it for part of your money back. To me that is like buying a vehicle sight-unseen.

So we decided to shop around and pick and choose whatever looked good. So I went to my State Department of Education web site http://www.sde.state.ok.us/home/defaultie.html and found out what exactly they expect a child to learn in Kindergarten. Then I went shopping! I found some good workbooks appropriate for each of my girls' ages at my local grocery store! The workbooks are the "Ultimate Skill Builder" books from Learning Horizons http://learninghorizons.com/ and they are very easy to use. Then I hunted garage sales. We found beginning reader books, a world book encyclopedia, and an entire "Growing Up with Science" encyclopedia set for about $3 each! We also got some amazing kids' books on all kinds of other topics and some neat National Geographic videos. Then we looked online and found out about a used book fair for homeschoolers in our area. We attended that and found some second hand history and geography books published by "A Beka" which is a Christian curriculum publisher. We also found a store for teachers in the city near us. They were happy to see homeschoolers! They gave us free stuff and discount coupons! We purchased a book about the human body for young kids. I'd say all told we probably spent $100 to $150 on all of this school stuff. But you have to consider that some of those items will be for more than just this year.

That's it except for some paper and pens!

Why we chose to homeschool

We decided to start homeschooling this year for a few reasons. The first is that we let Danya try out public pre-K last year and were less than thrilled. She had fun, granted, but she didn't really learn anything except how to spell colors. Also, she is very smart and sensitive. She can already read beginning reader books and do simple math. This week she wanted to study Benjamin Franklin! She actually begs to do workbook pages! A little girl like her would be bored in regular school because she'd spend all her time waiting for the other kids to catch up! I decided that I could do a much better job of challenging her at home. Another factor was that she is so very sensitive. She will tell you when you've hurt her feelings and she gets upset if anyone else's feelings are hurt. I think that she wouldn't handle being teased because of her giftedness and sensitivity very well.

Then there is Gloria. Our 3 and a half year old tornado. She will listen to a story only if she can bounce on your lap at the same time. She learned her phone number last week by yelling it out as she stomped her feet down one beat at a time onto the sidewalk. She likes to take things apart and figure out how to put them back together again. We call her our "little engineer". I've read that she is what is called a "kinesthetic" learner. This means that she is very hands on and, as we've seen for ourselves, she dislikes sitting down and doing book work. A kid like her would be labeled ADD or ADHD and permanently tracked in the slower group in public school. That would be an awful mistake since she is so obviously intelligent and quick to grasp ideas. Public school is designed to promote only one type of learner, and the rest get labeled and shuffled aside.

We definitely think that homeschooling is the only way to provide the best education possible for each of our girls. So, we're starting our first day of homeschool next Tuesday. Wish us luck!

Why I'm blogging

Welcome to my blog! I've been reading about these things forever, and I finally got up the nerve to try it! Here is where I found out how to make one: http://www.howstuffworks.com/

So I plan to talk about my daily and/or weekly foray into the world of homeschooling and maybe a little bit about my scrapbooking addiction as well in this blog. I've been researching homeschooling by reading everything my public library has on the subject, which is actually quite alot. One of the best books I read was by Mary Pride. Here's a link to it on her website: http://www.home-school.com/catalog/pages/mpguide.php3
After reading her book I felt like an expert on the subject! What I really wanted though, was to read someone's personal story of how homeschooling went in the beginning for them. For example: their first decisions on curriculum, how they made a lesson plan, where they found materials, what the costs and difficulties were, and more along those lines. So since I didn't find anything like that, I might as well create one for other folks considering the idea!

Feel free to follow along with me as I plunge into this new chapter of our family's life!