Growing up

Our baby girl is growing up. I still can't believe she is 5 and entering Kindergarten in the Fall. Where has the time gone? I really don't know. Annagrace seems to be growing taller, and looking more and more like a school aged girl. It makes me sad in a way that the baby days are behind us but it also makes me excited to see her continue to grow into a beautiful young lady. Anna has really matured socially lately and friends are very important to her. She loves making new friends and even tries to set up playdates on her own. It doesn't always work out the way she plans it, but at least she tries. She has always been our responsible child, getting her chores done and at times doing them before mom and dad are even out of bed in the morning. I can always count on her for lending me a hand or helping me with dinner. She is even known to ask me how she can help me. I love that! Melts this mommy heart of mine. And then this week was VBS. Last year I helped in her class and this year I decided I wasn't going to help. She insisted that she would much rather do it by herself anyways and on VBS night #1 she marched right into her class, gave me a quick kiss goodbye and off she went. Just like that. She had a fabulous week at VBS and is very proud of everything she learned and everything she made. Her crafts are neatly displayed in her room and her Bible verse she memorized is on the fridge for all to see. So in a few short weeks, we will dive into homeschooling and Anna will be officially a Kindergartener. I look forward to buying her curriculum at the homeschool convention this next weekend. I know she will really enjoy what we have picked out for her. And because Annagrace LOVES to learn, read, and study, I don't think I will have a problem getting her to do her work. With all that said, here are some cute pictures I took of her today.

My plan B

Do you ever have those moments while sitting in church where you just feel your heart strings being tugged so strongly and you know God had prepared that message just for you? Do you ever have those times when you are overcome with emotions and you can't hold back the tears anymore? Do you ever have those times when God speaks to you so tenderly and with so much love that you just have to share it? Do you ever have a light bulb moment where all of a sudden things make so much sense? I can answer yes to all four of those questions and they all happened at church yesterday morning all at the same time. I didn't show up at church thinking any of that would happen, maybe that's wrong of me. After all, what better place to have God show up in a big way and speak to your heart. Our preacher was talking about Samuel and it was packed full of great truths but what really caught my attention was when he kept referencing a book called "Plan B: What Do You Do When God Doesn't Show Up the Way You Thought He Would?" He showed a video clip which you can click on right here. If you don't watch it, then this blog post probably won't make much sense so please take the time to watch it, it will only take 4 minutes then finish reading this post when you are done.

After watching this video clip, I immediately knew what my Plan B was and it sort of hit me like a ton of bricks all in a matter of seconds. Now this may sound kind of trivial to some, maybe it wasn't necessarily a shattered dream per say but whatever you want to call it my plan B is that I have been called to homeschool our children. Even though I know this is exactly where God wants me to be right now, part of me wishes that my Plan A would have worked out. When I was growing up, I was so excited about becoming a mom. Three kids later, I LOVE being a mom and I find so much joy in raising these three amazing kids along with my husband. As our boys entered the school age, I was excited to send them off to school and see them have a great experience like I did when I was in school. But with two boys who are all boy, very active, not as focused as they should be at times, and both with ADHD tendancies, the public school didn't end up being what I dreamed it would be. We had challenges from day 1 but we worked through each one and then during the 2008-2009 school year when the boys were in 1st and 3rd grade, it became very apparent that our boys were struggling and a change needed to take place with their education. Despite our constant prayers where we would ask God to please help our boys find success at their school, and to make learning easier for our child who struggles with academics, and to help our other child be able to be attentive and focused, God chose to lead us in a direction that I NEVER thought in a million years I would consider. He showed us that homeschooling was the answer to our prayers. Even though this was not MY plan, it was God's plan. Plan B was where He was leading us.

As I sat there in church something triggered a ton of emotion from deep inside of me and I sat there praying to God telling Him how I wished that our kids could have found success in the public school system so that we didn't have to homeschool our children. I told Him how I so desperately wished that learning came easy for my child who has challenges. I told God how I wished that focusing and being attentive would come easy for our boys. And then I asked Him why I couldn't just be mommy because there are days when being their teacher too is so very challenging. I told God how there are days when I wish I could kiss my kids goodbye and send them out the door for school like everyone else in the neighborhood and then welcome them back home 7 hours later. I laid it all out before Jesus. I told Him I was angry and sad and I shared with Him my "this is so not fair" feelings, my "I wish I had more time to myself" selfishness, my "I wish I had boys who found learning easy", and "I wish I didn't have to deal with a child who has academic challenges", and then there was the guilt for feeling all the above, and the burden and stress I feel at times for having to be our children's primary educator when part of me at times just wants to be mommy period. Believe me, I laid it all out to God and didn't leave any of it out.

That's a whole lot of feelings all at the same time! So as I sat at church yesterday I felt like all of a sudden a light bulb went off and everything I was feeling seemed to fit together like a puzzle. An amazing thing happened after I cried out to God and told him all of this, I immediately felt lighter, I felt like a burden was lifted, and I felt as if God was saying, "thank you so much my daughter for sharing with me how you are feeling, I've known it for some time and I am glad you finally cried out to me, remember your burden doesn't have to be your burden, let me take it and remember I LOVE YOU so much daughter and I love your children who I made in my image and I will give you the strength you need to be a homeschooling mom because this is right where I want you." The tears started flowing at this point as I realized that plan B is right where God has chosen to plant me for a season. I don't know how long this season will be, I get overwhelmed even thinking about it and that's why I just have to take it one school year at a time and then go beyond that and take it one school day at a time. Sometimes there is so much to be said with just telling it like it is, getting it out, and speaking the truth. And that's exactly what happened to me yesterday!

Well, that's my plan B, what's yours? How is God working in you through your Plan B? Can you see God in it? What emotions come with it? Please share, it sure feels good to get things out!

remembering, celebrating, and remodeling

Celebrating:
July 9th, 2010. It was July 9th, 2005 when we met our beautiful daughter for the first time. Here we are 5 years later and we are feeling so very blessed. Each year on July 9th, we celebrate Annagrace's Gothca Day. We celebrated by going to a movie of Anna's choice, she chose Despicable Me. And she also got to pick where we ate dinner and she chose Applebees. We had a great time celebrating family. She got a new comforter for her bed. She calls it a "comfortable" and that is very fitting because it is nice and cozy. She is really in to sea horses lately so I couldn't pass up this clearance find when I saw it for $15 and it was marked down from $60.



Remembering:
July 9th was a busy day for our family, not only did we celebrate Anna's Gotcha day but we also remembered the life my Grandma lived for 98 years. We had some of my Grandma's favorite things set up, so this added a nice and personal touch to her memorial service.





Remodeling:
I don't know if you would really call this remodeling but I liked the way it sounded in the blog title so I stuck with it. I decided to let my creative juices flow and re-do our front porch area using what we have laying around our yard. We have tons of river rock, pavers, and pots so I went with that and this is what I came up with. I am really happy with it and can't wait for some cool evenings to sit out on the front porch.

4th of July!

Happy 4th of July! We had a great holiday as you can see from these pictures.

sit down, kick back, and get ready.....

for a really long post. My poor blog has been neglected a bit lately. Here is why:

1. It is summer break and my kids are draining the life out of me. OK, not really but they have wanted to play and it usually involves me. At least they think I'm cool, I'm sure it won't be long and they wont be asking me to play with them so I will take advantage of these pre-teen years while I can.

2. My Grandma had us all on an emotional roller coaster for quite some time. It took her quite some time to take her final breath and go be with the Lord. We anticipated it happening about every day for a couple weeks and she finally went home to be with Jesus on Saturday evening June 26th around 5:30 p.m. We are joyful knowing she is with the Lord!

3. I've been working on some household projects like organizing the kids rooms and cleaning out closets. I don't know why I waited until the HOT summer, but at least the house is air conditioned.

4. And this probably goes along with #1, but we have been doing a lot of swimming. The kids go about two or three times a day and I join them quite a bit, or I put the misters on and sit in the shade while watching them cool off. I am so thankful for our pool. It is a lifesaver from the heat.

5. I didn't want to end with an even number so I have to think of a 5th reason why I have been neglecting my blog. Hmmmm, well I guess that because I'm worn out by the end of the day because of #1, 2, 3, and 4, I have been getting hooked on HGTV along with my husband. Let's just say we have watched our share of House Hunters lately. In fact, we are addicted to this show and as soon as the kids go to bed, HGTV comes on.

And that is why I have been neglecting my blog. But there is still a lot going on to update about, so here we go.

Today the temps reached 115 degrees. As you can imagine, this is SO HOT. I can't even put into words how HOT it was. But we had a beautiful sunset. It was gorgeous and I had to take some pics of it. Even though it was 7:30 at night, I was still sweating like crazy. Even my leg pits got sweaty. Is that what you call the behind your knee area? I'm not sure what the correct technical term is for it, but I was moist by the time I came in.



The kids and I made a slip and slide the other morning. We used some large black trash bags, duct tape, one sprinkler, and some dish soap. It made for some slippery fun although our grass wasn't too happy about being poisoned with soap. It's a little yellow at the moment where the slip and slide was. And the cost for a few hours of fun, $0. We bought the trash bags probablly two or three years ago and we always have an ample supply of duct tape for Phineas and Ferb, I mean Jadon and Camden.






And then there was this ugly, hairy, creepy crawly thingy. We think it was a wolf spider or a brown recluse. Not sure, but it was ugly and made me scream. The boys caught it, killed it, and then had me do a photo shoot with it. GROSS and the ugliest client I have ever had.


This picture was taken by my dad a few hours before my Grandma passed away. I LOVE this picture and hold it dear to my heart.


And the chickens, I have to mention these sweet things. Who knew this mom could fall in love with 8 chickens, well it happened and I am in love with them. Their coop is finished and they are pretty darn happy girls. I've lost track of their age but I think they are about two months now. They are so fun and we are so happy to have them as a part of our family. Now we can't wait until they start laying their eggs! All our hard work will pay off and it will be their turn to work for us.







The kids have been keeping busy with Karate, they are doing great! They had Karate in the park the other night and had a blast. Their karate class ended with a snowball fight. It felt great cause it was pretty hot out there. Fun times!






Just cause it's summer doesn't mean we are not doing any school. I decided to do a war study with the kids this summer. And we just completed our first war, The Revolutionary war. It was a fascinating study and the kids really enjoyed it. We even discovered that there was a battle of Camden that took place in the Revolutionary war. Camden thought that was pretty cool. Here is some of the books we read and DVD's we watched to help with our study.