Getting Them to Read

When we began homeschooling in 2001, I knew I wanted to instill in each of my children the love of learning.  I began simply by telling them after each meal, "Go find your favorite book, get in to a comfy position (I don't care if you sit on your head) and read for half an hour!"  This is simply how we began.  We had electronics back then, but just a couple super old desk top computers that were 8GB and maybe 16GB on their hard drives.  We had educational computer games, lots of wonderful educational posters on the walls in the dining room, watched educational shows on TV and DVDs and used our Bibles to learn how to read aloud.

You see, reading is essential to learn anything in life.  Unfortunately, electronics are taking over books, but this Momma is steering her young folks to find information in good books and literature first.  There is something that happens to a person, no matter the age, when you hold a book in your hands.  You can adjust, get comfortable, and let your mind get involved in the book.  When my children were younger, we did "Read Aloud" time where after lunch was cleaned up, they curled up whichever way they were comfy and listened to me read.  They would always say, "Momma please read another chapter!"  And I would happily oblige.  These were the times that I knew would form them for later in life and they would be precious memories for me, so I obliged.

As they grew and read everything on their own, our "Read Aloud" times became Bible races.  They would race to the scripture verse and whoever got there first read the verse.  

As with everything, reading comes with writing and speaking.  In order to communicate well with others they had to learn how to spell.

They also had to learn to find out information for themselves.  It is bittersweet, but had to be done.

They had to learn to read to know how to do things like read patters and follow directions.

And read their own Bible on their own.

And study Biology 2.

They've each learned at their own rates, with their own sets of challenges from ADHD, kinesthetic learner, Dyslexia & Dysgraphia.  I have researched until my eyes hurt in how to help my kids learn how to read and they each read very well now with very little issues.  If they do have any issues, they know how to self correct.  This is what reading is all about.  Gaining the skills to learn, research, understand, communicate in writing and speaking, as well as how to correct themselves when they know something didn't sound right.

And it all began with telling them to find their favorite book and get comfortable even if it meant sitting on their head! (Seriously!  I used those words! And they laughed!  LOL)

My job was to find out what they were interested in and supply them with TONS of quality literature.  Going to the library wasn't always convenient for us, so I scoured Amazon for good books very cheap based on their interests and reading levels.  I remember buying 3 different books on General Custer, all on 3 different interest and reading levels.  Over the years we've resold many many books, but they were all worth it.

Where do you begin? 

If I had to begin again in 2001, I would begin with this book.  I read this book after our first year of homeschooling.  I would have loved to read it before we began, but I didn't know about it.  So, as a result, I encourage all new homeschoolers to read this book IMMEDIATELY.  It will change your homeschool for the better!  It will help you understand your own learning style in order to learn your child(ren)'s learning styles.  Once you do that, you'll better understand where they need to be and how they need to study.

As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask!  There is no such thing as a stupid question.

God Bless,

Knee Surgery

As timing would have it, my knee surgery came along while our family was going through a bout with bronchitis and strep.  As a general rule over the years, we have stayed home from all activities if there is vomiting, pink eye, or fevers.  In order for those activities to resume, the feeling of being hit by a MAK truck and sleeping 20 out of 24 hours of the day needs to pass too.

For pretty much the entire month of July my family and I have not gone to church.  I knew I was a carrier of this "ick", so I stayed home on Sundays and Wednesdays.  I only had a head ache to go with this, so I didn't get the full blown bronchial problems or strep, by the grace of God!  But, if I brought something home, it would spread through the house making my family sick again with something else due to their compromised immune systems.  So we stayed home.

Today, my Mr. G and I stayed home because I just had surgery on my right knee on Tuesday, the 26th of July.  I am finding myself missing worship and feeling very empty and "spent".  With all of this comes feeling "weepy" for me.  I know many people wouldn't understand, so if you see me shedding a tear, that's why.  I miss worshiping with my church family.  Worshiping is the highlight of my week, and to sing the praises of the Lord God Almighty is how I get filled back up, even though I may weep all the way through my singing.

So pray for me, if you would, please.  That my knee will be well enough to attend Wednesday night choir practice so I can get filled up.  I know there are other ways to get filled up, but this is specific for me.

God Bless,

For the Love of Home

When the whole house is affected by sickness, things are run differently.  When the ones who are in charge of taking care of the majority of the clean up are sick, that means Mom has lots more to do.  When one who carries most of the pet responsibilities is out of town for 2 weeks, while the other 2 are sick, Mom has lots more to do, and a very busy time!

I must confess, I have delegated much of the household chores to my kids.  Let me rephrase that, "I have delegated most of the household chores to the young adults in the household."  It is something they are responsible to do regardless because "that's what adults do".  If they lived on their own, they'd be responsible for doing things regardless anyway.  When they were sick, they took Motrin, Acetaminophin, Naproxen, (Not all at the same time) or whatever else they could find to help feel better.  When they started feeling better, they took care of their basic responsibilities.  When they started not feeling well again and dogs needed let out, walked, fed/watered, or the cat cared for, I took care of that along with my own responsibilities.  The walking of the dog was when whomever felt well enough to do so since I'm under Dr's orders not to walk "for now."

I have slathered myself with Essential Oils to keep the sickness away from me because I don't like being sick and I'm going to have surgery on my knee this Tuesday.  (Since I've written this on Sunday and scheduled this to be posted on Tuesday, you'll probably read this after I've been through surgery and home already.)  I would love to be able to make sure it gets done Tuesday.  If it doesn't get done, it gets pushed off until I am better.  I'm tired of not being able to walk around the block, for exercise or for pleasure.  I love to walk, be out in God's creation and pray as I walk.  This is where I use to walk in Pennsylvania~

This lovely road curved to the right and went on and on.  I poured out my heart to the Lord on this road.  It felt good to walk, pray, and let the tears fall as I gave everything over to God.  I always came home feeling much better about whatever was bothering me.  The kids and I loved to take bikes down, walk, roller blade or canoe along this road.  My Mr. G and I use to walk meandering down this road just holding hands.  Occasionally, he took the kids inner tubing or canoeing down the river that runs by this road.  If we could find a lovely country road much like this one that runs along a lovely river here in Georgia to replace this, or something similar, I would love it!  

I've always loved being outside in God's creation.  I've had dreams of going back to South Dakota, Wyoming, and the Rocky Mountains to hike and maybe ride horses again.  I find myself longing for the west.  I do have family out west, so I know I can go see them any time.  I just yearn for the open fields, wide open skies, trees, and wild flowers.  Horseback riding cannot happen right now until I loose more weight (hence the reason this surgery is so important--so I can get to walking again and loosing more weight!).  I need to get the disc in my back checked before I do that type of activity anyway (it ruptured in 2002).  The kneeling in the garden or flower bed has ceased, for now.  The kneeling by my bed has ceased for now too.  It has been replaced with being seated, for now while I talk with my Lord numerous times in a 24 hour period.  

I'm just trying to keep myself well.

Additionally, a week and a half after my surgery, we're going to be blessed with a new puppy.  For 15 years I've prayed for a Golden Retriever puppy.  I've wanted one even longer, at least since I was a young girl.   I remember many friends who have had dogs and I love the breed.  I remember just simply starting to pray about the time my kids were little just to have a good friendly breed for my kids.  In the mean time, we trained the dogs we did have to be good friendly dogs.

I absolutely love God's timing with all of this.  My Dr tells me that after the surgery, the only physical therapy I'll need is to just walk.  Go figure!  So, after I get through surgery, I'll begin simply by just walking around my house for the first 2 days.  I'll try outside in the driveway first, then venture around on the road, building up to being able to walk more, a few feet/steps at a time.  Then when we have our new puppy, she'll walk with me as a type of therapy.  I'll need to walk, she'll need to walk, so it's a win-win situation.  God is awesome!  He's worked all this out wonderfully! 

While I am recovering, much of my daily responsibilities will be tweaked a little.  I know that my kids will pick up much of what I do, with a couple exceptions.  My hubby will pick up the other stuff with things specifically just for me to do.  I know I'll be doing more knitting and crocheting with a wee bit of sewing thrown in as well.  But, that's all good.  I love my home, taking care of everyone in it, loving on everyone and all the furry family too, no matter if I'm laid up or not.  When I am forced to sit more, it helps me to be able to be available to talk with my young folks.  They are around the living room more and they're talking with each other more.

Home...what a blessing! 

Tough Cookies

Within the past couple of weeks, a friend of ours used this phrase to describe us.  I often wonder what has caused us to be seen as "tough cookies" in retrospect.  I remember so many events in our lives, individually and in our married life that has formed us to the people we are today--for better or worse.
I know that many, countless times we've had seemingly insurmountable occurrences in our life that had caused us to immediately hit the floor on our knees in a puddle of tears because in our own strength, we could not do "this", whatever "this" was.  Miraculously, as if by only the strength of the Holy Spirit, we stood to dry our tears and put one foot in front of the other.  There were times that many times EACH DAY we were in a puddle of tears, surrendering everything to the Lord, telling Him that we can't do "this" alone, that He's going to have to do "this" for us because in our own power, we're nothing.

With each step we've taken, we often times get to see a few steps ahead.  Other times, we can only see the step we're on currently.  These lessons have been "hard learned" and wrought with heartache, pain, and rivers and rivers of tears.  So, to use the term "tough cookie" to describe us is not as accurate as perhaps someone with the strength of a piece of jello or as sturdy as a river of tears.

That said, the Lord Himself has etched Himself in and through every aspect of our lives, from our finances, to our home and everything in it, our vehicles, our pets, my Mr. G's retirement from corrections and on to his current job, as well as homeschooling, and moving on in to our lives very soon as post homeschooling parents.  Our lives have been filled with trials and triumphs, but only by God's grace.

So, it is only by the strength of the Lord that we rely on daily that we can be remotely compared to "tough cookies."

"Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought,

but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 

And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, 

because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good,

 for those who are called according to his purpose." 

(Romans 8:26-28)

This verse has become our very own in the past 3 years through the trials we've faced.  We've clung to it tightly when the winds blew so hard and things we thought were "ok" suddenly disintegrated.

We were helped by many folks posting different scripture at just the right time, praying for us and loving on us just to let us "talk it out" and vent.  There have been priceless friendships formed that had those occurrences not happened, we would have missed those friendships.  God brings about things in our lives to bring people together who wouldn't have normally crossed paths.  What a blessing these folks have been to our lives!  They don't even know the true depth and breadth of how much they honestly helped us just by being there for us when we needed them most.  We feel the Lord Himself put them in our lives and we are truly grateful for their friendship.  

Many times, it was only through the gift of music that was able to sooth our aching hearts.  Many times I leaned on these two songs.

The Lord has blessed us, and given us peace so many times through so many ways. 

Praise His Holy Name!

God Bless,

Covenant Marriage By Gary Chapman

If you look along the left side bar, under the topic of "Marriage" you will find the book Covenant Marriage by Gary Chapman.  A few years ago I purposed to read a couple books a year in each category you see on the left for a couple reasons.  Firstly, admittedly, I don't know everything.  I am one of the biggest sinners on the face of the earth who is in need of the saving grace of Jesus Christ my Lord.  I need Him daily.  I can't do for myself what only He can do for me, so why not accept it and rest in that knowledge.



I had grown up in a traditional worldview mentality of marriage where if it is broke, just throw it away and try again.  People were looking out for themselves and not communicating with one another.  There were lots of hurt feelings, selfish accusations, and willingness to throw love away and move on to the next one.  Although it wasn't spoken, many of my relatives--grandparents during WW2, to my aunt who had many children-each with different fathers, to my own parents who between the 2 of them have been married 5 times.  Myself, I've been married twice.  With all the hurt and manipulation of my first marriage, I knew when I got married again that I wanted it to be for life.

I wanted marriage to last, but how when I didn't have the examples of what that looked like?  Where do I look?  There was only one problem--Where do I start and what is it called?  When I started looking around, in the past 17+ years, I'd found all kinds of books on 5 Love Languages, Venus and Mars, being a Powerful Praying Wife, Courtship, Respect and Love and the list continued.  While I had read all of those books, I just did not know or understand what it was that I had been seeking.  I was looking for something that was higher and greater than the traditional worldview of marriage--something more connecting, and spiritual.

When I started reading Covenant Marriage, I figured I would read a little bit each night and be done with it in a couple of weeks.  That was not the case.  There were times when I was just upset with my husband, not fully wanting to read, in a bad mood, had a stressful day and the excuses continued.  It wasn't until the past couple of weeks that life pretty much forced me to take a book with me to these appointments that I had to wait for an incredible amount of time for them to be completed, so I brought my books and my knitting.  I knitted until my carpal tunnel issues bothered me and stopped to read.  I found myself needing more with every chapter I read.  I was soaking up not just communication, but how I have not been so aware about myself before trying to communicate how I was feeling or what my own needs were.  This caused quite a few misunderstandings which could have been circumvented if I had just taken the time to read that book sooner.  Regardless, it was time to get moving on it.

Now I am on chapter 10 and I fully anticipate being completely through it by the end of this month, if not sooner.  I will update when I finish.  I promise.

Have you read this book?  Please share your thoughts on it!

God Bless,

Humbled and Content

Tonight as I read blogs of my friends, I read things about contentment, emergency surgery, gardening, essential oils, Proverbs 31 women, and the list continues.  There are many many people on my subscription list from all over the world, all walks of life, and all stages of life.  I am so very thankful.

As I read about everyone's flower gardens, I allow myself to dream.  I dream of all the beautiful arrangements, flower and vegetable beds, and yard sale finds I hope to find in the future.  It truly is a blessing to visit everyone's blog to get such wonderful ideas of how I can redo the blank slate in our front yard, side yard with overgrown weeds, bushes, and trees, the enclosed back yard with the pool and deck.  I dream....

I want to start with my mail box.  I know this seems rather silly, but my mailbox in PA looked like this:

My mailbox here will resemble this with the Black-Eyed Susans, but a little different due to life circumstances.  We had to throw up a quick mail box, so we bought the materials locally, nothing decorative, but simple.  It filled the need.  So now, I'm looking at it as a blessing.  It is a basic box with wood to hold it up.  I've seen mailbox wraps to make it pretty with the changing seasons, so I'll consider those when I see them again.  I like Mary Englebrett designs, so we'll see if I can find something along that line. ;)  It will probably be a while before I do anything along that line because I wait until I can find it at the lowest price possible. :D

Along the front of our house is a lovely railing.  In some places it needs to be replaced, but it is simple and I love it.  

(The railing in the above picture along the front porch.)  

The railing pictured here shows what I mean.  It also shows the blank slate of the front yard.  We're going to have fun planting and watching things grow.  :0)

We'll replace the bad parts with new, repaint it and put up some window baskets.   The ones pictured below are the ones I'd like to put on the railing.

These are the ones from our PA house that we planted about 4 years ago.  

I'm excited to gradually get my flowers back and add to my collection.  For now, I look back at pictures from my flower beds in Pennsylvania.

For now, I am choosing to be content with empty whiskey barrels, no veggie garden, and the blank slate.  We are still getting doctors testing done, establishing ourselves in practices in the area and getting to know the seasons.  We're researching many things about the area too, with regard to flowers and growing, pest control and things like that.

I am humbled that so many folks have taken an interest in our daughter's story in God of Wonders Beyond Anything and Everything I Ever Knew or Understood and Resting on the Promises, in His Wings of Love.   We are currently in the midst of neurological testing, EEG, Neuro-Psychological testing, MRI/MRA and getting appointments for all those, as well as establishing ourselves with a new dentist.  Why all this testing?  Why now?  Well, in Pennsylvania we were told that once something came up, to pursue testing then.  We've had rudimentary testing done on her, but nothing extensive, giving us a picture of her brain.  So the Dr's down here in Georgia are using this opportunity to get all that done.  I'm thankful for that too.  Now we can see what's going on and if there is further treatment needed for her. There is no need to worry.  Nothing is "wrong" with her, we're just taking this opportunity to get all the testing done that we can so that we can get a better picture of her brain.

As for me, I had an MRI of my right knee done and found I have a complex tear in my miniscus, degraded cartilage (bone-on-bone), and arthritis.  The Dr plans to "clean house" addressing all the issues in one surgery.  The therapy is to just walk.  Wonder of all wonders, it's amazing!  The very thing I've been wanting to do for such a very long time, but can't due to this hurt knee, I can now do after my surgery.  Hooray!  Remind me of that when I am trying to get out of bed or a chair after my surgery and it hurts.  ;)

God has lessons for each one of us, on our own levels, adjusted to each of our own needs.  I am so very thankful He loves me to prune and grow me more for Him.  

God is Good!  

Blessings,

The Glimmer of God's Creation

Living here in southern Georgia, we've been able to see such incredible weather and cloud formations.  We love the glory of God in His creation.

The beautiful works and glories of God shines forth.

Although there are multiple snaps of the same area, with each frame it is different in it's nuances.  The wonder and awe are glorious.

(Psa 72:19)  "And blessed be his glorious name for ever: and let the whole earth be filled

with his glory; Amen, and Amen."

Summer Before Summer Time and Open Invitation

The past few weeks we have been enjoying temperatures in the upper 80's to mid/upper 90's.  I'm told this continues well in to September.

I know this sounds very difficult to many, but for us these temperatures are lovely.  Some days when we walk outside it is humid, but not so oppressively humid as we had experienced in Pennsylvania.  Even on the hottest, most humid days here, it doesn't last long.

Everyone's gardens are well established; their yards are manicured; they are adjusting their schedules to get their yard work done super early in the mornings.  Then there are those of us from Pennsylvania who, although we've adjusted our schedules too, continue to struggle getting the young folks to understand getting their yard work done early is the best thing they can do for themselves.  I have to laugh though.  In Pennsylvania we always did yard work after 10AM due to allergies.  Here it done long before 10AM because the temperatures could be 85+ degrees by then.  They are learning and they are understanding more of the "why" now after a couple days of needing to finish a project.

This is our house last August, before we moved.  It looks a little different now with things trimmed and the grass mowed.

The swimming pool has been open and (giving us fits) being used daily.  The previous owners were not able to care for the pool and after getting the water tested we've found that it has Mustard Algae in it.  We are having a difficult time getting it cleaned off the side walls due to the toughness of this particular algae.  We've done everything suggested and continue to do everything suggested,but the algae doesn't go away.  I'm not sure what the solution is, but I'm not going to worry about it because that's my husband's department.  I don't know much about pools.  I go out and skim every other day for half an hour before I swim.  I'll do whatever is asked of me other than that, but I have no experience or understanding of pool care.  My Mr. G has worked in this area about 23 years ago, so this is his arena.  My area is inside the house.  

You can't see it in this picture, but the deep end has a lot of mustard algae.

Looking to the south on historic state route 41

My husband is a shutter bug.  He loves taking pictures of clouds and weather formations as they come across the land.  He's done this for years.  When he hears of some awesome storms rolling in, he heads out with the camera as you can see in the above picture.  :)  Now he has me doing it!  LOL

I walked out of a W*lmart neighborhood store and found this!

The Lord met me at the door with this beautiful sky when I walked out of the store.  I stopped and took the picture while everyone around me looked at me funny.  It's ok.  I enjoy stopping and taking pictures of the beauty God blesses me with.

As we continue our new lives here in Georgia, the learning curve is still there, still steep at times, but still there.  We are adjusting, adapting, improvising, overcoming obstacles and making changes as needed.  The Lord has been so very good to us.  We've had some obstacles that has caused us to question whether or not we're supposed to be here, but the Lord has brought us reminders many times over that "Yes!" we're supposed to be here, right where He's brought us.  We greatly miss our Pennsylvania friends, church family, work friends and the area and life we knew.  We are working currently to make a place for guests to stay when they come this direction, even just for over night.  We're only a mile off the interstate, so it's very easy to get to our house.  Those of you who are traveling south are more than welcome to stop by for dinner, over night, or just stop and stretch your legs and visit for a bit.  We have lots of room!

God Bless,

Rights of passage

My daughter with her new Georgia friend.

All the graduates from this year's 2016 graduating class for our new homeschool group here in Georgia.

As the flags are being brought in.

I alluded to this happening in my last post.  Since our homeschool group holds the graduation ceremony earlier than our school year is finished, we have graduation before all the school work is completed.  Yes, we are still doing school, until it is finished.  Then they will attend youth camp (instead of staffing Encampment for Civil Air Patrol), at their own request (more about that later).

My daughter has decided to attend a local technical school in January.  We moved too late to get the in state tuition, by 1.5 weeks, so she's going to wait.  In the mean time, she's going to look for work, take entrance exams and save money for a car and school.  The last she mentioned, she'd like to get a certificate (or 2) in Cosmetology and Child Development, and possibly her Associate Degree.  From that point she isn't sure where she'll go or what she'll do.  Maybe she'll get a job cutting hair and going on with her education.  I don't know.

We'll see where God leads her in her future.

What an exciting time for her!

God Bless,

Almost a Month and Lots Happening

As I showed in my previous post, we had concrete floors.  Now, we are pretty close to having them done, minus the threshold pieces.  It looks so much nicer than bare concrete!

The living room floor after flooring installed.  It's lovely!  

From the other side of the room.

Photo Bombed by Biscuit

Getting Gus acclimated to the pool...or just having fun putting him on the inner tube.  LOL

Biscuit's turn! 

A graduation celebration dinner at church.

Visiting with Grandparents and one special uncle.

"And these alligators are found in the Flint River?  I guess we shouldn't swim in there!"

Beautiful daughter with her sewing machine.

The living room window that needs a treatment of some sort.  I'm not sure what, but since this window is so huge, it will probably be something simple.  We have new pillows that I found at the local W*lmart on a 2 for $12 deal, so I couldn't resist adding more color to the room.

I just love my drive home!  This area is so beautiful!  (Sorry for the bug splat on the windshield!!)

The view out my front door.  This is such a quiet neighborhood, it is almost like living in the country!

The morning this picture was taken, I was on my way to get my blood work done and to talk with my Dr about the Trim Healthy Mama Plan (THM) life changes I've been making, as well my right knee.  I found out that my right knee is "bone-on-bone" and it gets worse when I ride/drive for long periods of time.  The verdict?  Less riding/driving, less walking, more THM cooking, and more swimming.  With my blood test results back, I know that I can rest assured that THM is working!  I've lost 35 pounds, my Triglycerides decreased by half, my A1C is 6.1 and my fasting is 105.  I've not seen those wonderful numbers in YEARS!  You betcha I'm sticking with it! 

Strong young men hard at work, replacing worn out steps and putting in new concrete.

One side of my office is going to be a sitting area and I think I have a pretty good start with these wonderful pieces I found at a yard sale and an online facebook flea market group.  The wing back chair is a reclining chair.  The side table is an antique from the 60's or 70's, the lamp I just loved, so I bought it for a good price....and.

...the magnolia swag that I thought was so pretty.

In the next couple of weeks, I'll finally be able to get some curtains up on the dining room window, my oldest son's window, the office, and hopefully our bedroom.  With everything being so busy, I'll be able to sit down long enough to get my sewing machine out to work on some stuff.  I also plan to keep my eyes peeled for more furniture for the sitting area.  I love decorating "on the cheap."  

Have a Great Day!

God Bless,