Hearing His voice when I least expect it

 

Shattered.  Broken.  That is what became of my glass patio table.  We had left the big umbrella up and weren't expecting the wind.  All I heard was a whoosh of the wind, a thud from the umbrella hitting the ground and the crash of the table top shattering.  I didn't want to believe it really happened.  I went outside to look and saw the pieces all over the ground.  What a mess! 

 

I began the tedious and careful process of sweeping, scooping and throwing away the pieces.  All I kept think about was "How am I ever going to pick up all of the pieces?" 

 

That is when I heard Him.  "You can't.  You can only pick up one at a time."  I no longer saw glass, but I saw broken hearts, broken lives, and lost souls.  I saw the brokenness of the world. 

 

It was overwhelming.  Compassion flooded me and I began to pray.  It was all I could do.  I knew God made that table break for a reason.  He wanted me to see, with my own eyes, what He sees when He gazes upon us.

 

As I started to vacuum up pieces embedded in the grass, I knew it would be impossible for me to get all the pieces.  So many pieces had fallen down, lost in the thick grass.  I would have to trust with faith.  Blind faith that my children won't cut their feet playing in the backyard.  Blind faith that He will protect us and pick us up when we need Him.



 

 

 

I can only go so far on my own. 

 

But with Christ, I can do anything.  I can start with one person.  Show one person the love of Christ.  No judgment.  No hatred.  Just love.  That's how I can begin to mend the brokenness.

 

And you can too.

 

Blessings,

 



 

 

Our Classroom has a New Member!

Now before you go getting any crazy ideas, let me just say that our "newest member" has been needed for a long time and was store bought.  (That should curb any wild imaginations running away!)

We have been plugging away this year at kindergarten and preschool.  It has been going really well.  Don't get me wrong, we usually fight over who is going to go first (seriously, it hasn't changed since we started), for many months I heard "I don't want to do reading!", and my kids have so many wiggles, it's a miracle the chairs haven't broken yet.  Despite these normal occurances, we have fun and I can see improvements in my boys that keep me encouraged.  Well, we had been conducting our business on a little table from IKEA, about 18" x 24".  In reality, we had school time on the floor.  It was not very convenient, but we made it work.

School used to be all over the place and you can see the little table in this picture.

So now can you guess who our new member is?  Yep, a table!  (It's the little things in life.)  I just set it up this past week, and it is SO much better.  I can honestly say that the boys are able to concentrate better and can see and complete workbook pages much easier.  There is less fighting over who is taking up too much room on the table and cleaning up is a lot easier.  The crayons, markers and paper are mostly on the table, rather than sprawled all over the carpet.  If I would have known a table would make the day go this much smoother, it would have been a necessity from day 1! 

 

Doesn't it look awesome?!?  I'm super excited!!  (It is only a 6' plastic folding table we bought at Walmart, but still.)  No more fighting over who gets to use the table.  Now it's fighting over who gets to sit in which seat...there is always something.

 

Also, I have rearranged and reorganized my school shelves.  I tried to put as much in fabric bins and plastic totes as I could.  I needed things to look and be organized or I wouldn't be able to function.  (I'll just say that this day of rearranging and organizing was amazing.  My type A side was on cloud 9!) 

 

What does your classroom look like?  Have any must-haves you want to share??

 

Blessings,

March Snuck Up and Raced By!

Oh boy, has it really been this long??  A lot has happened since I last posted in February...Yikes! 

The quilting class I taught is over and it was a lot of fun!  It was great to get out of the house and just sew for a couple of hours.  I actually got Nate's quilt completed in a reasonable amount of time!  (It helped having a deadline.) 


Nate's T-shirt quilt

We have stayed busy with homeschooling as well.  I am still teaching with Heart of Dakota curriculum and my boys are enjoying it.  I'm glad we made the change.  Lulu likes to sit with us and listen sometimes too, which is much easier than trying to keep her out of "adventures."  (I'm going to be posting some more about homeschooling in the near future.)

In March, we celebrated Jman's 6th birthday.  We had a pirate party and played pin the tail on the Tick-Tock croc and had a treasure hunt that lead to a pinata!  Our house was full of friends and laughter and we loved every minute of it!  Now, BG keeps asking when he gets to have his birthday party!  It's going to be a long three months if he keeps asking! :)


Birthday Friends!

We also went up to North Dakota for spring break.  Usually people go south, so we should have gone farther south, right?  Not this year.  We decided to fly, which turned into a fiasco.  We were supposed to fly out on Friday the 8th at noon.  We arrived at the airport at 9:30 a.m., with all 3 kids and carry-on bags in tow.  First, our flight got delayed until 2:45 p.m.  We passed the time by riding the Skylink (the train that connects the 5 terminals in Dallas), playing on "the boys'" (really Nate's) new tablets, and working on some school worksheets.  At 2:15, when we were getting ready to board, our flight was cancelled!  While I tried to find us a new flight to Fargo, Nate kept 3 crabby and tired kids busy and out of trouble.  We ended up getting a flight the next morning, Saturday, at 6:20 am to Chicago, then from Chicago to Fargo.  Thankfully, Nate's great aunt and cousins live in Frisco, and graciously let us come back to their house Friday night.  What a blessing!  They also drove us back to the airport at 4:20 the next morning.  Just when we thought we were in the clear, 5 minutes before boarding at 5:50, our flight switched gates and terminals!  Back to the Skylink!  By this time, our kids knew what was going on.  The boys pulled their backpacks (on wheels) and headed up the escalator to the train.  They got lots of looks and chuckles.  After making it to our gate in Dallas, landing a little late in Chicago and running through the Chicago airport, we finally made it to Fargo!  I am glad to report that the flight home went much smoother.  We had a great time in Fargo, but were very glad to get home.  When we left, it was -7 degrees in Fargo.  Upon arriving in Dallas, it was 85 degrees.  Much better!!  The picture below is at the Snocross races in Glyndon, MN.  Cold and fun with Auntie Ash and Uncle Nicky!!

The weekend we flew back to Dallas, we ended up being able to go to the MLS game in Frisco.  We got to watch FC Dallas beat the Houston Dynamo in the stadium where the Bison won 2 football championships.  Lots of fun! 

We are finally home and back in the groove of school, work and church.  Our weeks are a lot busier, now that Jman is in T-ball and soccer.  He has T-ball practice twice a week and soccer practice twice a week.  We are gone every night of the week either at practices or church.  He has only had one soccer game so far and was awesome!  He scored 1 goal and did a great job playing defense.  Nate was proud, especially since he is the coach of his team!  T-ball games don't start for a couple of weeks, but they will be played on Saturdays, just like soccer.  We will really be racing then! 

Our BEST news is that BG gave his heart to the Lord this past week!  He decided he wanted Jesus in his heart forever.  His prayer was precious and sweet, just like him.  A very special day!!!

As we come into this Easter season, I am so thankful for all the blessings we have received since moving to Texas.  God has a plan for us and we continue to walk in faith, knowing we are where we are supposed to be.  When the time comes for us to move on, in God's direction, we will do just that. 

I pray you all have a very blessed Easter and are showered with blessings and reach out for the hope and assurance of salvation through Christ's death and ressurection.  What an amazing gift He has given to us!!

Blessings and Love~

For My T-Shirt Quilting Friends

I wanted to put a few pictures of the squares on Nick's quilt that had smaller squares making up the larger square.  You can see how it looks!

The 2 squares on the upper left and lower right are 6-1/2" squares. The upper right and lower left are 4-1/2" squares with strips sewed onto the side and top to make it a 6-1/2" square.  

Hope this gives you a better idea of the smaller squares making a larger one!

Blessings,

Gone Long, but Not Long Gone

It has been so long since I've been on my blog, I forgot what it looked like!  I bet you're wondering where in the world have I been?  All I can say is busy and enjoying the everyday tasks of life.

After my last post in November, Nate got a promotion at work, so he's been a little busier than usual.  Not too much though, since he was already really in that position without the title and compensation for two months.  We continued to homeschool and I signed up to teach a quilting class at the college in February.  The week of Thanksgiving, we traveled to San Antonio for 5 days and visited Sea World, The Alamo, the River Walk, and the old World Fair site, which included the Towers of America.

At the Alamo

A waterfall along the River Walk

The kids absolutely loved Sea World.  When we pulled into the parking lot the first day, Jman exclaimed from the back seat, "Shamu!! We are here!!"  His excitement reflected all of our attitudes.  And to make it even better, Sea World was celebrating Christmas.  It was decorated in Christmas trees, lights, "snow", costumes, carolers, a Mariachi band dressed in Santa suits, lights set to music, and a Santa Shamu!

BG feeding a dolphin

Jman was the only one not afraid of the characters

December brought more school and preparations for our trek up north.  We celebrated Christmas and New Years in Fargo and then spent our last couple of days in Minneapolis.  It was lots of fun getting to see family and friends.  The weather wasn't as much fun.  It was cold, windy and icy.  But we weren't expecting anything different from North Dakota or Minnesota.  It was great to get home and have temperatures in the 50s.  We didn't NEED our coats on!  As wonderful as it was to see everyone, we were grateful to be home after our 16 day vacation and not living out of suitcases anymore.  It's a long time to be away.

At the farm

North Dakota winter 

Now, as we are getting to the end of January, we are back in the swing of things.  The only new adventure in our horizon is that I start teaching my quilting class in less than 2 weeks.  It's only one night a week for 4 weeks, so it should be a nice, fun break for me!  

It doesn't seem like a lot, but it sure kept me busy.  We continue to walk in Christ's footsteps and grow as a family and as Christians.  God has provided for us and blessed us immensely.  We are so thankful.

How have you been staying busy??

Blessings,

Why We Chose to Homeschool

My homeschool book bins for Jman and BG

When I tell someone we homeschool our children, there is usually a list of questions to follow.  I've had a few people ask me why we chose to homeschool, and I'm going to share that answer with you.

First off, I'll start with my husband's and my education background.  I grew up going to public schools my entire life.  I enjoyed school, in fact, I loved high school and college.  I had a great experience.  My husband went to public schools as well, except for Seminary and his other graduate classes, in which he attended a private Christian school.  He would say he enjoyed his schooling.  

We first started talking about homeschooling after hearing stories from friends that were teachers, and other people that were still in high school.  They would talk about kids doing drugs in class, having alcohol in water bottles, the lack of motivation and respect in classrooms, as well as the lack of knowledge one would think kids would know in high school.  We do realize that these could be one time incidents, but the fact that they even happened in public and private schools raised flags on our radar.  

I was still not convinced about homeschooling; my husband was more for the idea than me, until I did some volunteer time at an elementary school in a Title I classroom in north Minneapolis.  North Minneapolis is not one of the nicer neighborhoods in Minneapolis.  The school was in a low-income neighborhood and would be considered a rough neighborhood.  The children I helped were way behind in their reading.  It was a daunting job.  The regular classrooms had over 30 kids in them, and the teachers were not able to spend quality time teaching each subject to each child.  This caused many problems for kids that couldn't keep up or learned in a different way than what was being taught.  The kids were also sent home with massive amounts of homework.  I couldn't believe the size of the 1st and 2nd graders backpacks!  I don't remember having a lot of homework that required taking textbooks home.  After finishing up my volunteer time at that school, I felt more called to homeschooling than ever before.  I do believe God placed me there to feel compassion for those children, pray for them and work on guiding my heart towards homeschooling.

The main reason for our family deciding to homeschool is our values.  Nate and I both decided that we want our children to be filled with Christian values as their hearts and characters are being developed.  I am always amazed at how much they pick up from listening to others speak and watching others interact.  They are little sponges and I want them soaking up Godly virtues.  There was a first grade teacher in Minneapolis that was openly conversing with his students about his homosexual relationship. After hearing this, I knew that I didn't want someone else responsible for my children's education.

We also want our children to get the attention and help they need, when they need it.  I am able to pick up right away when they are having difficulties or getting frustrated.  This will help in the long run, making school enjoyable now and nurturing a love for learning.

As an added bonus, we like having the flexibility to take family vacations when we want to, and use them as specific learning experiences.  There is always a time to learn.

We feel so blessed to have the opportunity and freedom to school our children from home.  It is so awesome to watch the "light bulb" go on as it clicks in their minds, a privilege really.  It is an adventure, with ups and downs, excitements and disappointments, but always with an atmosphere of love.

Blessings,

My Own T-Shirt Quilt

I finally finished my own t-shirt quilt and I am very pleased with how it turned out.  This is my first ever quilting project done for myself.  I have lots of ideas planned for myself, they just aren't in the works yet.

 

It took me longer than I thought to hand stitch the binding, but it is my own fault for letting it just sit on my sewing table!

I machine quilted in the ditch, down each column and along each row.  Then, I free sewed a little flower close to each corner, following the pattern on the orange material from the front. 

 

 

Now that I've finished my quilt, there is little time to enjoy it.  I need to get back to my sister's t-shirt quilt and finish it up, before her birthday in December.  One would think I'd get it done by then, with ample time to spare, but I can be the first to assure you that life happens!

 

Blessings,