You Are

I don't know about you, but I am having a rough couple of days...just a couple of speed bumps in this journey called life...I put in a praise CD on the way to Elijah's basketball practice, I just couldn't do Phineas and Ferb again today...anyway, most of the way and ALL the way home I blasted this song...if you are hurting, look beyond who sings it, especially if you are not an American Idol fan, and really take in the words!

You Are by Colton Dixon

When I can't find the words to say how much it hurts
You are the healing in my heart
When all that I can see are broken memories
You are the light that's in the dark

Chorus:
You are the song,
You are the song I'm singing.
You are the air,
You are the air I'm breathing
You are the hope,
You are the hope I needed.
Ohhooohh

You are

And when my circumstance leaves me with empty hands.
You are the provider of my needs.
When all my dirtiness has left me helpless.
You are the rain that washes me.

Chorus: (2x)
You are the song
You are the song I'm singing.
You are the air,
You are the air I'm breathing
You are the hope,
You are the hope I needed.
Ohhhhooohh

(X2) If I had no voice,
If I had no tongue,
I would dance for you like the rising sun.
And when that day comes and I see your face.
I will shout your endless glorious praise.

Chorus: (2x)
You are the song I'm singing.
You are the air,
You are the air I'm breathing
You are the hope,
You are the hope I needed.
Ohhhhoohhh

Or for those who need to hear it (definitely recommend)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YM8hxE-j4T8

Even the kids kept recommending me to play this song over and over again. Kayla was belting the words with me! I hope this song speaks to you as much as it does me.

Charlotte Nature Museum

Friday, February 1, 2013

Today we took a field trip to the Charlotte Nature Center. We were really excited that Matt took off work and was able to go with us.

We started with the Insect Alley...Elijah wasn't happy with the picture...not sure what he was thinking...But we got Science in for the day ;)

He perked up when he put the insect head on...

Beautiful butterfly garden! We didn't stay in there very long because Kayla was afraid they would actually land on her and she was scared. Yes, seriously, it was a big deal. I thought it was really neat that we were close enough we could actually see it's tongue curled as it got it's food. That's nature up close and personal.

Cutie doing a puppet show....

Both cuties...

 

 Elijah said "Look! An old-fashioned Frisbee!" Matt and I laughed out loud! That was a pretty creative idea....

 Throwing the old-fashioned Frisbee...

 

Kayla playing music... 

 We talked about Nomad's (incorporating History) when we saw the tepee..

 Rock Climbing...

We headed over to the park after the museum...did I mention it was 38 degrees and very windy...yep, that's me and Kayla all bundled up on the swings...we did some spelling on the swings...

Monkey on the monkey bars...I mean PE...

Second monkey on the monkey bars...oh, excuse me, I mean the second child participating in PE...

Working hard...

We really enjoyed the nature museum and will visit it again in the future...

It's days like this, being able to drop everything and go to a museum, that really make us enjoy Home Schooling and the freedom that comes with it.

 

Sorry the pictures and captions are not lining up properly...it has been that kind of day!

 

Stumbling Blocks

Do you have any unspoken stumbling blocks in your house? I do. Literally. Every single time I walk into the kitchen I trip over this small blue stool. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. And, it's never in the same place so I would know where to look for it at. 

After I have tripped over the stool I pick it up and carry it back to it's spot...every.single.time...but, somehow or another, the next time I am in the kitchen, I trip over it again...this is a constant battle between me and a certain child who will remain nameless. I don't fuss about it, because the stool being in the kitchen means this child has been independent and getting things for themselves...so I keep quiet. The same child is probably wondering how their stool keeps moving out of the kitchen.

I know this sounds silly, and it is. But sometimes we have other stumbling blocks...the one's we keep trying to get too, but something (or someone) more important always comes along...
 And, yes, that is a basket FULL of clean clothes, I've faithfully been washing clothes every Monday and Friday as usual, but somehow this past week or so I've not gotten to the actual folding and putting away.


Then you have the things you used to do, but right now they are a reminder of how much time you don't have...a physical reminder of how you need to take better care of yourself and you need to exercise. But, right now everyone and everything seems to come first.
 What are you stumbling over today? Are your stumbling blocks weighing you down? Are you constantly tripping over your child's stool? Or toys? What are you going to do with the things that you are stumbling over? Today, I am thankful for that stool that I have been tripping over for weeks. It means that I have a child who is getting more and more independent every day. I am thankful for that pile of clean laundry that seems to grow and grow. It means we are blessed, we have clothing, a washing machine and dryer. I am thankful for the elliptical...it's a constant reminder that I need to exercise and yes, I need a physical reminder. I may not have time for it right now, but this is a season and it too shall pass.
For the record, I could have gotten that pile of laundry done today, but I chose to do the more important task. I took the kids on a walk to the library, then once we were home, I stayed outside with them for two hours so they could enjoy this rare warm day in January. I am thankful that they are both healthy and able to play outside today! I am thankful for the beautiful sunny day we had.

"Always give thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." Ephesians 5:20

Encouragement

I have a lot of thoughts swirling in my head right now. Today has been a roller coaster day of emotions and I am going to choose to dwell on the positives.

 

This morning someone came up to me and told me that my blog inspired them to pray more. And, they were now circling something in prayer. I can't tell you how much that made my day. I have always had poor self-esteem and I don't handle compliments very well...as this person probably found out! But, it really made my day. It is rare that anyone tells me that I have inspired them in any way, and these words of encouragement really made my day.

 

If someone inspires you, make sure you tell them. You never know when someone needs words of encouragement. We are so quick to tear people down or talk about them behind their backs. How about building people up and only saying nice things? And, if you are talking about them behind their backs, don't be gossiping, still say nice things.

 

"But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness." Hebrews 3:13

Mad Libs

I have been looking for some new home school ideas. I feel like their are several things that are not working this year, so in December I went to the library, checked out a bunch of books on homeschooling and started doing research. One of the things I came across was Mad Libs. I thought, what a great way of teaching verbs, noun, adjectives etc and having it stick!! I would never have thought of that on my own...so we were shopping at Bed Bath and Beyond a few days later and I found one on clearance. I picked it up and in January we did one. The kids LOVED it and kept requesting more. Today, they pretty much had a sick day, but kept requesting that we do Mad Libs...okay, fine, you win ;)  I thought I would share the two that I thought were the funniest. The words that are underlined are the words the kids supplied, they only knew the topic, not the story when they gave me words.

Dinosaurs

One hundred and fifty million years ago, the earth was very big. Huge kids, which were called dinosaurs, chomped all over Europe and Ethiopia. The biggest T-Rex of all was the brontosaurus. It weighed over 100 milligrams and ate nothing but plants and chocolate. The most dangerous dinosaur was called tyrannosaurus Richmond. It was as tall as a two-story car. It walked on its hind feet and its mouth was filled with hundreds of sharp, pointy mailboxes. This dinosaur never ate peanut butter. It was a carnivore, and it only ate spaghetti O's and meatballs. It is a good thing that all of these ferocious stuffed animals are now extinct.

A vegetable garden

Planting a vegetable garden is not only fun, it also helps save cars. You will need a piece of pink land at least 20 feet long and 25 inches wide. You may need a fence to keep the mountain laurels and amphibians out. As soon as the cold weather is over, you can get out there with your hammer and plant all kinds of arthropods. Then in a few months, you will have homegrown corn on the universe, lovely, huge tomatoes with fresh green chairs and, best of all, vine-ripened puppets. Homegrown yarn are much more nutritious than 44 vegetables because they contain natural bleach and two vitamins.

The kids took turns supplying the word...can you figure out who picked what words?

Praying Circles

In December we found out that our Sunday School class would be taught from the book "The Circle Maker: Praying Circles Around your Biggest Dreams and Greatest Fears." I was really excited. Not only because it gave me an excuse to buy a new book, but it also sounded really interesting. The first chance I got I went out and bought the book. I immediately started reading it, and it was so good...but I also felt convicted! I was surprised, but I also knew/know that I do need to work on my prayer life...I won't give a lot of details about the book, but you should definitely pick up your own copy, sit down with your highlighter and start reading.

Anyway, 2 weeks ago today, our class started the discussion. The couple who are teaching the class challenged us to a 21 day Challenge:

• Identify a time you will pray everyday
• Pick a place you will go everyday (be sure to pick a place you feel connected to God)
• Identify a specific person, promise or problem you will circle in prayer everyday for the coming 3 weeks
• ***Be sure to keep this appointment with God everyday and see what He accomplishes in and through you

I have to tell you that I took this challenge to heart. I don't pray at the same time everyday, it's too hard for me to nail down a set time, but I do make a point to do it everyday. I have a set place and I have my prayer journal there and a Bible. I identified several people who had specific needs that I knew about and started circling them in prayer. I also circled Matt, Kayla, Elijah and our home school in my prayers.

 

The awesome news is....God answers prayer!! Not always in ways we would expect, or necessarily a yes, but within the last week I have gotten five "yeses" to my prayers.

 

To protect people's privacy I won't tell you what the first two prayers were, they were not members of my family, but I will tell you when I got the answers. Last Sunday, 1 week after I started praying for someone, I found out she got an answer to the prayer. The second person got her answer to prayer on Friday the 18th and I found out about it on the 19th.

The third answer "yes" I got, was with Elijah. On Thursday he woke up with  fever of 101.2. When my kids get fevers we settle in, knowing it will be at least 4-5 days of being home and sick. My kids never have a fever less than four days. That night I was praying for Elijah and I prayed "that his fever would leave as quickly as it had come." He woke up Friday fever free :) I checked him several times throughout Friday, and checked him again Saturday morning and he remained fever free. God is so good.

 

The fourth "yes" I prayed was that Matt would have no travel delays or bad weather while he was away. It was supposed to snow in DC and in North Carolina Thursday/Friday and Matt was scheduled to return home Friday night. God answered this prayer as well, neither place got the snow they were supposed to! (Sorry if you were really wanting snow, but I was really wanting my best friend back home with me!)

The fifth "yes" I received was praying that Matt would make it back home safely Friday night, and he did! Again, God is so good.

 

There are many times that God answers our prayers and we forget to thank Him or even forget that we prayed for it. I am thankful for all these "yeses" and again, sometimes He says "wait" or "no." But I am so thankful for immediate "yeses" to my prayers. And, they may seem like small prayers, but not all of them are. Nothing seems to small for God. I enjoy writing down my prayers and then seeing how they are answered.

 

"Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!" 2 Corinthians 9:15

 

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." Philippians 4:6

 

The Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot chang, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.

Ariel the Trickster and Diego Boy

We had a good day today. The kids had their quiz meet in Monroe and they did well. They both had "high scores," which they were excited about. Although Elijah asked "What's the red ribbon for?" Kayla said "For having a high score!" She keeps up with it better than him ;) She will actually ask how many she has missed half way through a round, simply because she wants to make sure she is going to get a ribbon. She was on question 16 (out of 20) today and hadn't missed one. She said "I feel like I am going to have a perfect round." She was so excited. Then she missed question 18...it was one that had been giving her trouble in practice as well....I kind of felt like she jinxed herself...oh well, thankfully she wasn't upset. Her and Elijah also got a verse for memorizing their Bible verses.

 

This evening the kids were playing a pretend game...Kayla was Ariel the trickster and Elijah was Diego boy. Kayla had her Ariel blanket tied around her neck like a cape and Elijah had his Diego blanket tied around his neck...I don't know where they come up with their ideas, but they crack me up. Elijah helped cover Kayla up tonight (and yes, my kids still get tucked in by us at night, it's a special time and gives them another opportunity to share what's on their minds at the end of the day), and he laid down and cuddled with her, it was so cute. He told her "Kayla, lay your Ariel blanket with your clothes tomorrow, so we can play our game until 7" (which is what time they are allowed to turn on the TV). She said "I did! I can't wait to play our game again tomorrow." They can be so sweet sometimes. It was good to see them so cuddly and sweet together, since they've been picking at each other for a few days...

 

Ariel the Trickster and Diego Boy have gone to bed for the night...but hopefully they won't be so excited about their game that they get up too early in the morning...if I am up before they "finish" playing their game I will try to grab a picture...