Mama Sings

harvest

2012-01-23T13:43:00.001-06:00

Our Pastor posted this video earlier. He just got back from a trip where he was able to attend part of this revival. From the moment he began teaching last night, I knew his trip was life-changing. It poured over into our group.

As we sat around the table, he shared scripture God had given him. Several times, as he shared God's Word, he cried. As everyone shared what God was doing in their life, I noticed everyone was feeling the same thing. The Holy Spirit was moving. Through worship, communion and prayer, we were all ministered to in a powerful way. It felt like God was affirming and loving each and every one of us in a very personal way. It wasn't crazy or chaotic. It was worship.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Jeremy had his hands lifted high in worship. I lost it. I could not stop crying. My spiritual leader was worshipping and crying out to God. This is what I have prayed for. Then my Pastor's wife and friend, Allison, walks away and comes back with tissue for me. She is a Mother of five. Then I lost it again. It hit me. I prayed for her too. I wanted to shout in praise! My insides were shouting, "Look at what God has done! You are finally out of the desert!"

Last night felt like I breathed for the first time in a few years. I had no idea I was so hungry. I had no idea I was so empty, ready to be filled. The wait, the desert, it was all worth it. There will always be deserts, but there will always be a harvest.

This is my prayer in the harvest
When favor and providence flow
I know I'm filled to be emptied again
The seed I've received I will sow

-Hillsong United

I love this video of Code Orange Revival that our Pastor attended last week. Honestly, it made me cry like a baby. You see all kinds of Pastors with different doctrines and theology. I love that! From Ed Young to Matt Chandler! WOW! And TD Jakes! But over and over again you hear the message of JESUS CHRIST. It is ALL about JESUS! I am so excited to finally be a part of a church that is going to see things like this happen! I got a taste of it last night!

Code Orange Revival from Elevation Church on Vimeo.

Rick Warren says, God WONT ask "Were u a Calvinist?Arminian?Pentecostal?Catholic?Orthodox?Evangelical? He’ll ask “What’d you do with Jesus?"

AMEN!

The "Cool Skateboarder"!

2012-01-19T18:34:00.002-06:00

Baby Zeke is FIVE! What?

He asked for "Skateboarder" shoes for his 5th Birthday. He sleeps in them every single night!

He also asked for pads and a helmet. He would sleep in them if I let him!

He had this helmet on as we were getting ready to walk out the door to Bible Study the other night. I made him take it off. He agreed to let me fix his hair, ONLY if I made his hair look like a "cool skateboarder"!

Always contemplating his next jump!

a picture says 1,000 words

2012-01-19T16:31:00.002-06:00

Matthew 6:33

Lord, help me "focus" on you as my center. May everything else just be a part of the background. My relationship with you must remain THE focus. You are my everything Lord!

Psalm 19:7

It's a struggle sometimes to keep my focus "fresh". Everyone will always have an opinion. There will be naysayers in life no matter what. But your WORD provides a fresh perspective daily. Help me to seek your fresh Word DAILY, instead of things that only fill me temporarily. Fresh nourishment.

Matthew 11:28-30

I've had quite a few days lately of feeling "broken". How can I be a better wife, mother and homeschooler? So often I try to do it on my own without even realizing it. And I always feel broken in the end. That's where you want me. Broken. You always mend my pieces back together again, and make me whole.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

No matter what, I must remain "thankful". There will always be difficult days, hurtful people and disappointments, but I have more than I ever dreamed of. Being thankful brings constant joy to my life. Help me to remain thankful at all times. Thankfulness keeps me focused on you.

more sewing!

2012-01-19T16:08:00.000-06:00

"Disguised"

Happy Birthday 5 year old!

Happy Birthday 9 year old!

The beauty!

Zebra and hot pink necklace

Christians and Tattoos...oh my!

2012-01-18T18:38:00.003-06:00

Love what Craig Groeschel has to say about this subject!

gushing

2012-01-17T11:03:00.004-06:00

My personality tends to "gush" over great things God is doing in my life. I often fight it and think I should be more reserved about it. Then the Holy Spirit reminds me that my Father created me this way. He created my husband to be reserved, not me. So this morning I decided that I was going to fully embrace the woman God created me to be. I will be thirty-six years old in just a couple of months, it's time to quit trying to squelch the personality He gave me. That being said, I am going to GUSH!

Jeremy and I have always been an "Uncommon" couple. When we met, we instantly fell in love. We were engaged two months later, married four months after that. Even though our personalities are extreme opposite, we are very similar in how we hear God's voice. The criticism we received for getting married so soon was extremely hard and hurtful. Family members said horrible things that I still struggle with today (words can take a while to heal from). I remember when all of the naysayers were throwing punches our way, Jeremy kept telling me "Babe, this is about us. This is about what God has done. He did this. There is no denying, no explaining it. It is ALL God."

My husband is a deep thinker. He is reserved, quiet, but the most incredible listener and servant you will ever meet. He balances me out so well. People have accused me of wearing the pants in the family. Trust me, not true. But when you experience us together in social gatherings, I am the talker. That is our dance. That is what Jeremy loves. He will pipe in and say something dry and hilarious. He will roll his eyes at my jokes or my gregarious personality. He will sometimes tell me to "breathe" and let others talk. But...we are best friends. And we both know INSTANTLY when God is doing something! I recognize this in Jeremy best when he does not talk. I don't know if this makes sense, but if he talks and wants to have major conversation over something, he is not on board. When he goes about life and doesn't ask me any questions, I know He is feeling exactly what I am feeling. He's the quiet thinker I know him to be. He is resting in his thoughts. Not anxious.

Right now we are in the midst of a new season. A season I really had lost faith in. A season we both said we would NEVER DO AGAIN. No way, now how! There are times in life you really needed to pray before stepping forward. Then there are those times you have prayed for something so long that when it comes along, you JUMP and you don't think twice. You know it is the prayer being answered, so you walk through those doors and you trust. And I also realize that I am in a different place. I am dedicated wife and mother. I am satisfied and content in my home. I am not "looking" for my passion to be fulfilled outside of my home anymore. That changes everything!

Today...I gush. And I feel like the Lord has given me permission to do so! I am not walking around in fear. I am not asking God a bunch of "what ifs". I am just gushing because that is what he created AMANDA HAYES to do! I cannot wait to share the specific things I prayed for in my life, in my husband's life and in my children's. It reminds me of when I prayed for a spouse and God gave me Jeremy. There was no denying.

Thank you Lord for "planting" us in Austin. You blow my mind and answer prayers in your perfect timing. Always.

Don't you dare read this blog post and not listen to the song I have posted below. Yesterday morning, I woke up with this song in my head. I knew instantly that it was planted there by the Holy Spirit because I have not heard it in a few years. Every single lyric describes the exact moment our family is in. Moving forward is sometimes so hard to do because you live in the fear of what happened in the past. I know this is why God put this song in my spirit. I can't listen to this song without an abundant flow of tears!

Isaiah 43:19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.

Goodbye wasteland! Healing is a powerful thing!

"I am here to declare the past is over!"

Moving forward,

Amanda

Sola Scriptura!

2012-01-14T22:19:00.002-06:00

(Sola Scriptura is the doctrine that the Bible contains all knowledge necessary for salvation and holiness.)

Now this video should go viral. It is straight-up scripture. How about that? Way to go Focus on the Family! This is not someones interpretation on what they think Christianity is supposed to be about. This is not someone trying to get an "Amen!". This is nothing but the WORD. I wish my generation and the ones younger than me would focus on Christ and His word instead of culture Christianity. His Word is enough! It is all we need to understand Christ.

Tonight, during a football game on national television, the gospel was spread! This is all you need.

Does Jesus Hate Religion? Kinda, Sorta, Not Really

2012-01-14T10:18:00.004-06:00

Does Jesus Hate Religion? Kinda, Sorta, Not Really
(THE most popular video making its rounds on facebook)

Everyone will watch the video, few will read the article questioning it.

"The strengths in this poem are the strengths I see in many young Christians—a passionate faith, a focus on Jesus, a love for grace, and a hatred for anything phony or self-righteous. The weaknesses here can be the weaknesses of my generation (and younger)—not enough talk of repentance and sanctification, a tendency to underestimate the importance of obedience in the Christian life, a one-dimensional view of grace, little awareness that our heavenly Father might ever discipline his children or be grieved by their continued transgression, and a penchant for sloganeering instead of careful nuance." -Kevin DeYoung

Does God Care Whether Tim Tebow Wins on Saturday?

2012-01-13T23:55:00.000-06:00

Read link below! Read it twice! Great article!

Does God Care Whether Tim Tebow Wins on Saturday? - The Atlantic

Soooooo good! Great read! And knowing FIVE people with cancer right now, one being a two year old girl, the last part says it all.

"There is no greater reminder than this that God uses suffering in the lives of believers to accomplish his will. Whether, as with Joseph, he grants Christians incredible accomplishment and wealth, or whether, as with Job, he leads them steadily through the valley of the shadow of death, he loves them all the same. Sometimes, we remember, it is through tremendous hardship, suffering even to the point of death, that his people gain the greatest victories. "

recycled

2012-01-13T12:31:00.001-06:00

Trees for recycling

On New Year's Day we spent some time at the park. When we pulled into the parking lot, I instantly noticed the pile of Christmas trees. It was one of many designated spots the city of Cedar Park had chosen for tree disposal. Something about it made me sad. Of course I always feel sad when Christmas is over. I even feel sad the week of Christmas because I know it will soon ALL be over. But this is coming from the girl who begins listening to Christmas music the day after Halloween and the girl who begins decorating two weeks before Thanksgiving. I love Christmas! I love the to-do lists, a crowded Target, a busy mall. I am one of the few that actually finds joy in all the "fuss". For homeschooling, it is magical. We pull out our Advent stuff/Jesse Tree, read Christmas books daily, drink hot chocolate and construct craft after craft as we celebrate the season. Let's not forget the baking! Give me a reason to bake and I will strap on a vintage apron and go to town! And so will my daughter!

As I looked at these Christmas trees dropped off for recycling, I began to feel a kindred spirit with the dead trees. Just days earlier, the trees were the center of most family rooms. Decorated with lights and beautiful, treasured ornaments. Underneath was full of presents wrapped in beautiful paper, matching ribbon tied around the boxes. Gifts chosen with love!

Suddenly it's OVER! Done! All of the Christmas music, festivities, even the holiday flavors at Starbucks...GONE. I don't like the sudden halt! Not one bit!

Leaving a church, finding a church, joining a church, it is ALL exhausting. Jeremy and I have really struggled in this area. I have shared many times through my writings on this blog about our journey from Dallas (our hometown) to Austin. Moving to Austin to help plant a church, leaving that church, attending another one, leading worship, stepping down from that, only to sit out for TWO YEARS has been exhausting. It has caused more "wrestling" in our life as a married couple than ever. But it has been so stinkin' good. I am not ashamed of our journey. I am not ashamed of our non-committal season. Our relationship with Christ never suffered, only grew stronger. Wrestling purifies you. Wrestling refines you. It shows you who you really are! Our ministry story is LONG, but it is so precious. We have had so much joy serving in the church, yet we have experienced intense pain.

Those Christmas Trees SCREAMED at me as we played at the park on New Year's Day. I kept thinking about our family. Those trees were grown for something. They were grown on a farm to be beautiful Christmas Trees. Once they reached maturity, they were cut, tied to the roof of a mini-van, and taken home to be the highlight of the room. Unfortunately for the Christmas tree, it was only meant for a season. That's been our experience.

God prepares us, equips us, plants us, but relational issues, theology differences or GOD causes our branches to become dry. Time to go. The after effect sucks. Ezekiel would not approve of my word "sucks". "Mommy, stop cussing." But sucks" has to be the best word to describe it. One day you are in, the next day you are out. I do not blame the church for this. I used to. I know what it is like to be on staff at a church and have so many people on your radar screen that you have to let the ones who leave...GO. Most churches take it personal when you leave too. Another thing I understand now. But not having a church home feels a lot like being left out on the curb for recycling.

Suddenly it's OVER! Done! I don't like the sudden halt! Not one bit!

Over the Summer we had some amazing things happening in our family spiritually. God began to do a huge transformation! This has a lot to do with "growing" our family. It started with an intense struggle with what churches were offering. We could not do pentecostal. We could not do baptist, we could not do EMERGENT. The struggle became intense. We spent hours on the Internet reading Church beliefs, Pastor Bios, and so on and so on. I had led worship at churches that did not refer to themselves as emergent, but by all means were. We had a horrible taste in our mouth.

We had also been homeschooling for four years and struggled to find other homeschooling families. So we tried Family Integrated. It was not for us. We connected with the theology (mostly), but not the style of music or the fact that everyone homeschooled. We felt like we were cutting ourselves off from anyone and everyone not like us. We thought that was what we wanted... it was not. But we had to give it a try.

Suddenly it's OVER! Done! I don't like the sudden halt! Not one bit!

My friend and mentor explained it to me like this. With her precious Texas accent she said, "Listen, y'all are doing what most people DON'T do. Y'all are walking through it. You are searching for that place and you don't give up. Most people just stay where they are at and they don't even believe the way the church does." She probably explained much better than that, but you get it.

The Christmas trees have stuck with me. I told my best friend the other day. "I don't know what we are doing. We are camped out at a church right now that is nice. The teaching is Bible, the kids enjoy their classes, but we can't get on board with anything else. The core beliefs are not exactly what we believe. The service itself is a bit chaotic and it does not flow within the vein we are in. But, we don't know where else to go." I went on to tell her how I really felt like God wanted us anchored. Our family is anchored. We have those boundaries set. We are a strong family. But I believe there has to be a place for us. There has to be! There must be.

We are not the church's dream family. Oh sure when you see us walk in, you might say "What a pretty family. Wow! Look at all those kids." But we have questions. We have past hurt. We struggle to trust. We are skeptics. And we have built a WALL around our family. Don't you dare try to have us at your church every single night because we won't do it. We did that. We won't do it again. Family is first. We are weird. We homeschool. We use a midwife. And we don't do hype on Sundays! We want to be surrounded with families living out their faith every single day, not just for your services. And when you say that you preach from the Bible? Do you really? Or do you study the things of this world, looking for ways to attract us with your charm? We don't want culture Christianity.

I don't want to feel like that dead Christmas tree anymore. I don't want to be cut down. I want to STAY rooted in one place. I want our family to grow into mighty, strong trees, nourishing each other and those around us.

I believe there is a place for our recycled family. I know it! And HE will get all the glory!

Soli Deo gloria,

Amanda

Phoebe Lucille Fair

2012-01-12T15:04:00.042-06:00

My best friend from ninth grade, Amey Stevens Fair, just found out her two year old beautiful daughter has cancer. Last week they removed a baseball size brain tumor. Pathology came back yesterday. Phoebe is one of four kids and the only girl. Here is what Amey posted last night. Please join me in praying for Phoebe Lucille Fair. Please pray for Amey and Nathan and her three brothers.

"She has cancer. An aggressive cancerous tumor called AT/RT. It is very rare and there is a 50% survival rate with an 18 month long chemo regimen. They will do a minor surgery to put in a port for her to receive chemo treatments through before we leave the hospital and then she will have 12 very hard weeks of hard-hitting chemo. He warned us to be prepared. We just got this news tonight. The Oncology team will meet with us tomorrow to explain the details. We were not expecting this. At all. I will have more thoughts, and words to share with you all once this has sunk in. Right now I feel numb, and exhausted, and like I am living in a strange dream that is not my own life. Please pray for our sweet girl...and our dear boys as we look at what the next several months of our lives together will look like. One moment at a time..hanging on to Him. "

I've had to stop several times during school today to pray. My heart aches and my words feel so inadequate. Amey, Phoebe's Mama, is constantly on my heart. I think about the summer I spent at her house non-stop. The songs we would make up and sing together. The silly messages we would leave on her answering machine. I think about the life we both lived growing up and how we both grew up to be homeschooling Moms. She married a missionary! They have been on the mission field ever since. They are also Farmers! Full-blown farmers! Now they face this difficult season and everything else has stopped. I know their faith and I know that even in this painful trial, there is joy. They are finding joy when things are at life's worst. That is what faith is all about. If faith depended on things always being "well", it wouldn't be real. I love this family and I am praying for the Holy Spirit to comfort them as they meet with the oncology team this afternoon.

Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. (Romans 12:15 KJV)

25 weeks

2012-01-11T15:45:00.194-06:00

Today was the 25 week appointment! That blows my mind. I go back in three weeks and then I am every two weeks until 36 weeks. Then I am every week!

I love my midwives! They have brought so much joy to my life. One of them used to be on staff at a HUGE church I sang at back in my single days. We know all the same people. CRAZY! My midwives have truly become my friends. My children LOVE going to their office and they get so much attention! They hate leaving. Did I mention that BOTH of my midwives homeschool? I LOVE that.

Another great thing? I don't have to do the glucose test! They check my urine and I show no signs of needing to be tested. Also, this being my fifth baby and NEVER having any issue, it is not needed. I know the signs to look for so if something changes, I will get checked. But...doubtful.

Right now we are working on ridding my body of the strep B!! They will check me twice. I may not have to have the strep B antibiotic at all! Praise the Lord! Praying the all natural route works!

One of the things I am most amazed by is how great I feel. This has been the easiest pregnancy so far. I have 15 more weeks. I realize the easy part could change. But...usually by now... I am suffering. Currently, I still sleep at night, my feet are not swollen or aching and my back is not hurting. Even though I am only 25 weeks, I don't "feel" 25 weeks. I feel so good! I have never been due in the Spring, so maybe that is why I feel great! Maybe it is the care I am receiving! I don't know, but I can't complain. I am amazed! I LOVE being pregnant!! Maybe it is has something to do with not knowing how much I weigh! I gave them my starting weight and we have not talked weight since. LOVE THAT!!!!

Today was amazing and so refreshing to see my midwives/friends. Israel is measuring 25 weeks exactly and doing great! I love hearing his precious heartbeat. I pray that this pregnancy continues to be a healthy, normal pregnancy, and our little boy is healthy! I can't wait to meet him!

As we get closer and closer, the midwives continue to educate and prepare me for our home birth. We have chosen a water birth. Very excited about that! We thought about moving to a bigger home before the baby was born, but I think we are looking at moving in the Summer. We love this area so we are staying put around this part of Austin, unless we find a house on some acreage. That is our dream! We found one we considered moving into next month, but there was not a dish washer. I decided that was not something I wanted to give up.

We have had a crazy few weeks. A couple of ER visits with two of the boys and some sleepless nights. Today was just a reminder of all God is doing in the life of our family. I feel like the most blessed woman on earth! Jeremy is being blessed at work (a new boss he LOVES), we are loving the teaching at our church, and not taking one second for granted. We know so many hurting people right now who have sick children or a sick spouse. This week I felt so overwhelmed and even fearful because of the trials I am watching other people endure. The more I have interceded for them, the more heavy I have felt. Resting in the sovereignty of God is hard. I cannot watch all of these families hurt so much without understanding that HE has numbered our days. HE is in TOTAL control!

As I studied theology and doctrine over the Summer, I began to see God in a new way. I wrestled and experienced sorrow as my beliefs changed. It is so much easier to rebuke this and rebuke that. It is easy to pray for miracles and believe that only the BEST is in your future. Believing for prosperity is exciting! Or maybe it is more satisfying. It is HARD to rest in the sovereignty of God. It is hard to accept that PAIN is sometimes a part of the plan.

Right now I am watching families find joy in GOD and God alone. They are watching their children suffer in the ICU, watching a husband almost die. Some even lost a child. I can say with all certainty that these families have prayed for healing. So far, healing has not come exactly how they have wanted. Yet, they praise Him. Their faith requires a trust that I don't think I have seen in the majority of churches we have been in. I have not seen this faith in the Christians I have surrounded myself with. This is RADICAL faith in the midst of sickness and death.

Watching their stories unfold has brought me to a somber place. It has made me think about so many things I waste my time on. It has caused me to look at my children and husband differently. How would I live without one of them? We are ALL so close to the thin veil that separates us from Heaven.

This life growing inside of me is amazing. I am doing a Bible Study right now called "The Power of Motherhood" by Nancy Campbell. It is THE most radical study I have ever done. I am learning so many things I have never even considered. Studying the womb was a powerful thing! Yes, we studied the womb. I am even learning things about breastfeeding. I am blown away! I love what God is doing in my life as a wife and mother. It is holy ground! I feel so fulfilled in this role. There is NOTHING like it.

I have hard days (had some this week) with the kids. Homeschool has its tough moments and parenting can be very difficult. Life is far from perfect. But life is satisfying when we do what He created us to do. I spent so many days as a Mom trying to find satisfaction in ministry outside of my home. I did it with marathon running. I did with with friendships. When all of the searching stopped, peace and contentment fell upon me. I will never quit sharing this radical thing that happened in my life!

Over the last few weeks I have experienced intense loneliness. I have CRAVED friendship and not just any friendship, intimate friendship. As I prayed about the women to surround myself with, God began to open doors. I am AMAZED! To know someone like myself has been my cry. Someone who knows what it is like to load five or more kids in the car and go buy groceries. Someone who knows what it is like to have all ages at the school table while one is at the breast and one is crawling up your leg. God is answering those prayers. It has been a VERY slow process, but it is happening.

Thank you Lord for the growth you are doing in my life during this pregnancy. It is HOLY GROUND. Thank you for my best friend, Jeremy and everything he does for me and our children. He is an amazing man! Thank you for my precious babies. All five of them! They are my joy!

Valentine shirt for boys!

2012-01-11T11:01:00.001-06:00

Valentine shirt for boys! I like to call this one "Mom sets my heart on fire"! Perfect for my skateboarder!

Valentine Shirt orders!

2012-01-10T15:49:00.002-06:00

New Year's Day

2012-01-02T10:52:00.002-06:00

My Brother in law gave me a book at Christmas about "understanding exposure". I think that may even be the title of the book. My camera has so many things on it I need to learn. And you can bet any picture I am pictured in will be in the "automatic" setting! Jeremy does not care to learn (he actually hates taking pictures), and I am not sure Ava Beth and Josiah are ready. I did take the advice of a friend and taught the two oldest kids how to take pictures as long as that heavy thing is strapped around their neck.

The kids wanted to go to the park on New Year's Day and I wanted to play with my camera. I love shooting in the "aperture" (av) mode but I don't have it quite figured out. I am determined! Must keep playing and reading!

week 24 with baby #5

My Skateboarder!

2012-01-02T10:13:00.001-06:00

Ezekiel is obsessed with skateboarding! My parents got him this skateboard for Christmas (top of his list) and if he can't go outside to ride, he heads to the garage. His Birthday is next week and we are getting him more "skateboard stuff". He met a fellow skateboarder at the park who happen to be five years old and we screamed when he told us his name was also ZEKE!

I can't believe my baby Zeke is turning FIVE! NO WAY!

And I must add that he is REALLY good!

We saw this sign as we were leaving! It was there the whole time. There were lots of skateboarders breaking the law! Thankfully, we have a skate park down the street!

New Year's Eve

2012-01-02T10:01:00.001-06:00

I have decided that I will post pics all week long! I have TONS! Happy New Year everyone! Most of you will read this and then comment on facebook. I think that is funny. Blogging is losing it's popularity but it is a great way to keep a journal for my kids to enjoy later. I can't abandon my little blog of almost seven years!

New Year's Eve night was the best ever! We decided to spend it with "just us" and I believe it will be our tradition from now on. In the past we have done church services, parties and get-togethers, but we have so much fun as a family! This is how we do Birthdays too! May seem strange to some, but these are big occasions, big events and spending it with those you are closest to is a BIG deal to me.

We played Jenga, Twister and Wipeout on the wii! It was a BLAST! Jude had to get in on the action!

baby

2011-12-31T11:47:00.002-06:00

One more picture I found from Christmas that I am in. Someone took my camera!

This one needed to be taken without the flash, but I still love it! I love my baby Jude!

My favorite!

2011-12-30T11:32:00.000-06:00

Jude was a sick little baby during Christmas. This picture is my favorite from ALL of the pictures I took on Christmas at Mom's. It shows exactly how it was. Ava Beth carrying him around everywhere she went. She adores him. His brothers are crazy about him too, but Ava Beth is like another little "Mommy" to him.

Of course we have days when siblings argue over toys and other silly things, but we have MANY moments just like this. All four of them are best friends and I pray daily that it will always remain this way. I know baby Israel will fit in perfectly!

Lord, help me nurture these relationships every single day!

She is SEVEN!

2011-12-23T11:56:00.000-06:00

I had a big post planned for this day, but someone was up all night long with a sick baby. Jeremy spent the night in the ER with Jude and I stayed home worrying. He has croup. We are all fixed up though with some all-natural remedies. I have some midwifery concoctions and friends who have helped me find the best alternative meds for my baby. It is all viral, so I was not about to let him be filled with antibiotics!

Ava Beth had a great Birthday breakfast, got a new bike, boots, and necklace and earrings from her brothers. We also went to dinner tonight with Daddy and all the boys. It was a wonderful day! I was stressing about the cake she wanted but as long as it had strawberries, she was happy. I have not slept in 24hrs. I was worried I would not meet her cake expectations! Thankfully the strawberry cake mix and homemade icing with strawberries mixed in, made her day complete!

I love you my sweet Ava Beth. You are beautiful, smart and so confident. You are already a beautiful, Godly woman. WOW! You are everything a Mother dreams of having in a daughter. You are my friend. I love that we are friends! Best friends! I love how you always say that to me!

Your brothers are so blessed to have a sister like you. I am amazed at how nurturing and caring you are. You are the light of their world! Jude thinks you are his Mommy too! I love that! And Daddy is head-over-heels in love with his girl. I love the incredible relationship the two of you have.

You are growing into the most amazing woman! I love you so much and I am so proud to be your Mom. This morning was special. I loved telling you your birthday story all over again. Our yearly tradition!

Last but NOT least...

GIRLS RULE AND BOYS DROOL! Right? :)

Bow tie and suspenders!

2011-12-20T00:04:00.025-06:00

I wish I would have taken a picture of this with my new camera, but I will when Jude is wearing it! I am making one of these tomorrow for a "paid" order, so I had to practice first! Jeremy will not like, but I think it will be adorable on Jude! Now I am really excited about some boy stuff for baby Israel! I made a shirt for AB's birthday, but I need to do one final touch before I post a picture. It is one of my favorite shirts so far! Valentine orders are already coming in! I LOVE what the Lord has done with sewing!

I found a picture tonight of my 5th Christmas. My parents took a picture of all the toys Santa had brought before we got out of bed that morning in 1981. Guess what was under the tree? A sewing machine and a stroller with a baby doll! Thirty years later...not much has changed in this heart of mine. I feel so blessed to be the woman God has called me to be. He has always had big plans for my life!

camera bliss!

2011-12-19T16:30:00.000-06:00

My friend, Kim in VA, sent me a message via facebook with some things I could play with on my camera. Here are some pics without the flash! I was BLOWN away! And I found out how Pioneer Woman makes her food look so good! I am about to be a food picture takin' fool! Kim said this camera will quickly become my 6th child! I agree. Thanks Kim!

Baby love!

2011-12-19T12:32:00.000-06:00

Life is FULL of moments like this!

Christmas goodies for friends and neighbors!

2011-12-19T12:24:00.000-06:00

Whoopie pies!

Candy Cane blossoms!

Now add some fudge and sugar cookies with butter cream frosting!

Wednesday is my BIG baking day! This was just the start! EXCITED this week is here! I love Christmas! Can you tell how much I love my new camera too?!

social media and Christians

2011-12-18T19:07:00.000-06:00

I re-entered facebook a few months ago. I don't regret it. I am glad I did. There are friends and family I LOVE interacting with on a daily basis. Plus, it has become a great place for me to keep all of my photos organized. I love getting to see what everyone is doing, and I especially enjoy the encouragement and cheers by fellow homeschoolers. I have posted pictures of all of my sewing projects the last few weeks, and made $250 for Christmas money. It can be a great resource. But...there is a but. A big one! But...

...I do not enjoy the foul posts some feel okay posting. The political stuff, I can do without. The constant negativity or making fun of others, horrible. The links posted that are full of trash, disgusting. If you are a believer and you are not posting life-giving, encouraging stuff, why bother? Every single thing we do in this life should be THOUGHT about. Facebook is a nasty place because people post nasty stuff.

Titus 2:7-8
7And show your own self in all respects to be a pattern and a model of good deeds and works, teaching what is unadulterated, showing gravity [having the strictest regard for truth and purity of motive], with dignity and seriousness.

8And let your instruction be sound and fit and wise and wholesome, vigorous and irrefutable and above censure, so that the opponent may be put to shame, finding nothing discrediting or evil to say about us.

1 Peter 2:9 says that we are a ROYAL PRIESTHOOD. You wouldn't know it by some things posted by Christians on facebook and twitter. It is a serious matter. I continue my facebook journey. I don't care how many friends I have on there. I don't want to have everyone watching my journey. I love my life as a wife and mother and I will protect it! At all cost!!

Some may think they can post whatever they want and no one will see the "hidden" motive. But it comes through loud and clear! I thought of another scripture when it comes to the "motives" behind our posts or comments. The Bible says in Matthew 5:8 "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God." A commentary I read on this verse said this. "Blessed is the man whose motives are always entirely unmixed, for that man shall see God."

Lots to think about and chew on. Anything our Father wants to use in order to bring people closer to Him, the enemy will attack. If you are foolish enough to think you are not being USED on facebook to influence, you are not smart. The question is, who is using you to influence? God? The enemy? I tell my kids DAILY, "Do not join hands with the enemy. When you say those things, when you do those things, you invite him to use you for his nasty business!" Don't be a pawn!

I read the article I have posted below earlier this morning. It should be read by every Christian woman posting on social media. Whether you post once a week or five times a day, this should be taken seriously.

Social Media & Christians (this article can be found here)

Recently I have noticed a lot of bantering back and forth on many social media outlets between Christians – from facebook to twitter to blogs. I am not sure why people feel that it is okay to vent, hurt, discourage and intentionally offend in these environments. It is so not cool!

The Bible says, “And may the Lord make your love for one another and for all people grow and overflow, just as our love for you overflows.” (I Thess 4:12). Our love for each other must be up close and it must overflow into every other area of our lives – even social media. The Bible and Christian character must apply to social media – God is not absent from those outlets!!!

So let me give you a few rules of Christian etiquette:

It’s okay to share your opinion, but its not okay to offend. I learned this lesson a long time ago, “Hurting people hurt people.”
Don’t defriend when you disagree, unless they are just disagreeable. “A friend loves at all times.” Some people are antagonistic … they are there to divide.
Remember more people are seeing your posts than your ‘Christian’ friends. We have to be careful that our comments don’t hurt the cause of Jesus Christ.
Don’t go public with what was discussed in private. Too many tweet or facebook responses to private conversations. I hear about it all the time. In fact, I have experienced it. But private conversations should remain that private.
Respond in the opposite spirit. If someone comes at you with hate, bitterness or maliciousness simply respond in love! (for Joel VanBriggle – don’t respond to love with hate – only respond in opposites when attitude, word, text, blog is negative – hahahaha)
Social media should not be your personal soapbox. Social media was intended to build relational networks and not hurt them.
When someone is divisive don’t respond —- ignore. They are looking for attention. Don’t give it to them. “Mark those that cause division and ignore them” (Rom 16:17).

I truly believe that we will be judged by every deed and word … even those words shared on social media outlets.

Matthew 12:26: “And I tell you this, you must give an account on judgment day for every idle word you speak.”

Church, let’s be the bride of Christ and guards our tongues (and keyboards) for it reveals what is in our hearts.

1 Peter 3:10: “For the Scriptures say, “If you want to enjoy life and see manyhappy days, keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies.”

Jude love

2011-12-16T20:51:00.025-06:00

milk dud eyes!

he looks so much like Josiah did at this age!

he can melt anyone!

perfection!

I got my first REAL camera. It is one of those fancy ones! A Canon SLR and a lot of letters and numbers behind it. It does so much stuff that I don't even know what to do with it. I have no clue how to switch the lens or how to use any setting except the "green" (aka-automatic). A few years ago, when I ran the Chicago marathon, I borrowed a friend's camera that was similar to this one. I knew I would never be happy with any other camera after that. Finally, I got the one I have always wanted. Actually, I got the one I did not think I would ever get!

This next weekend we will be with family and my brother in law (an amazing photographer) is going to show me the ropes. He helped me buy this one!And I am so thankful for my Dad! He gave us Christmas money with strict instructions to NOT spend on kids or bills. I knew exactly what I wanted! Excited to have this camera for our home birth coming in April!

For now...here are some shots I took of Jude with the new camera! I love how I can take about fifty pictures in a row without stopping. He is on the Move!!

I need to read up on some Mom blogs who take pics with these cameras. I have heard there are tons of dummy guides for beginners like me. I hope!

Christmas sparkle

2011-12-16T00:08:00.002-06:00

Christmas orders!

2011-12-14T00:57:00.027-06:00

CHEETAH-Shirt and Hair bling

ZEBRA/VINTAGE- Shirt and hair bling (alligator clip)

ZEBRA/VINTAGE- Shirts

ZEBRA/VINTAGE-Shirts

back of shirts

All of this TODAY! I am done until Thursday! One more order to do and then I am going to work on something new! I already have some orders for the "something new"! Details coming soon!

I am beyond blessed! The Lord has brought me so much business that I can barely keep up. It is ALL Him and I am so thankful! My paypal account is buzzing and I am running back and forth to the post office. I never imagined this happening. I am loving it!

Merry Sewing!

2011-12-11T22:41:00.002-06:00

It has been a busy weekend! I have done six shirts in the last three days for orders I have to ship tomorrow. I have four more shirts to do for a shipment on Wednesday! God has truly blessed me. Indeed!

more shirts for sisters!

made two of these to match shirts for sisters!

My model

Merry Sewing!

sew, sew, sew!

2011-12-09T17:21:00.000-06:00

sisters

sisters and their big brother

Here are a couple of orders I did this week. Girls seem to dominate every family... EXCEPT this one! :) Designing shirts for girls are so much fun! I do have some ideas for the new boy arriving in April, but I am enjoying sewing for other people right now.

My next project? Ava Beth's 7th Birthday shirt! We do not do Birthday parties in this house, but Birthdays are a HUGE deal in our home! Excited to spoil my girl!

Israel

2011-12-04T20:33:00.004-06:00

Well, we had a sonogram this past Thursday to find out the gender. Everyone predicted a girl. Finally, Ava Beth would have a sister!! Instead, we got another BOY! I have spent the last few days trying to wrap my brain around what it will be like to have four boys. Homeschooling four boys! WOW! I am raising four sons, four brothers, four HUSBANDS, four FATHERS, four LEADERS. I feel a bit overwhelmed.

God's plan is perfect. In that...I rest. If the Lord blesses us with another after this one, I am sure it will be a boy too. :) And whatever God chooses for me, I LOVE.

His name? His name will be Israel. After Jacob wrestles with God (Genesis 32), God changes his name to Israel. The history and story behind this name is powerful. This year has been a year of non-stop "wrestling"in my life. Jeremy really "wrestled" with growing our family past four. I shared what God was showing me, appealed to Him with scripture, prayed, and let God work. God surrounded us with families who had four + kids. I have no doubt that God used those families during a season we really needed. What God has done in my husband's life has been radical!

Giving our family size to the Lord has been challenging. Today it has hit me HARD! In order to grow our family, financial sacrifices have to be made. It's in the little things that later become big things. My brand loyal obsession with laundry detergent, toilet paper and many other things need to come to an end. Or used more sparingly or SOMETHING. I grew up in a home that constantly ran out of toilet paper, paper towels, food, drinks, (rarely replenished) etc., so I tend to stock pile and/or overbuy. This probably won't make sense to everyone, but I know what the Father is asking me to do. Yes, changing laundry detergent is one of those things. I had a check in my spirit this past weekend when buying groceries. I still bought my Gain! Not anymore. I can save $5 if I buy an off-brand or store brand. Our clothes will still smell good!

This year, we have wrestled with theology beliefs, church beliefs, relational issues, family issues, financial issues, and much more. But...we "wrestled" and came out on the other side. As God humbled Jacob into total dependence upon God, it was then that God could trust Jacob with His blessing. Jacob finally trusted God to fight his battles! Wrestling does not scare me like it used to. I can be in friendships and wrestle. I can be at a church and wrestle. Wrestling does not always signify a "change". I used to think it did until this past year. Wrestling with God makes me strong! I get so excited about this story, and how it is so applicable to my own life. I am studying this passage in depth right now. I can't wait to come back and share more of what I am learning.

I love the name we have chosen for our son!

Israel
"Prince of God"
"God Wrestler"

(due in April)

My Christmas Wreath

2011-11-29T16:26:00.001-06:00

Here is the wreath I made for my front door. I LOVE Christmas! I could not decide what colors I wanted to use, so I went with off white and gold. Perfect Christmas colors. Makes me to decorate for a Wedding!

Celebrating Advent

2011-11-29T15:40:00.002-06:00

This year we are doing the Jesse Tree at night with Daddy for Family Worship. This is our third year to do the Jesse Tree. I think this year it is finally making sense to Josiah and Ava Beth. It is amazing how the traditions we have created as a family, get better and better as the kids get older. And the little ones follow along and get so much out of it too.

During Homeschool hours we are using "Truth In Tinsel" this year. Something brand new! It is perfect for Ezekiel's age! Josiah and Ava Beth are loving it too. "Truth In Tinsel" does not begin until December 1st. We started yesterday because I know we may have a few crazy days around here and get behind. Plus... I was too excited! Celebrating Advent has been one of my favorite traditions at Christmas! It has totally changed the way we celebrate Christmas. It will do the same for you! I did not grow up celebrating Advent so this has been a life-changing experience for me too.

Both of these require some prep before hand, but nothing difficult. I had to gather a few supplies I did not have for "Truth In Tinsel". Nothing major. This year I used a different Jesse Tree devotion set. I will post the link below. A few weeks ago I printed all the ornaments out, then pasted onto card stock. I enjoy doing stuff like that. If that doesn't sound fun to you, here is another option. The Jesse Tree we have used in the past required less work. I cut out a big tree and taped to the wall. Then the kids colored each paper ornament. Some people just put the ornaments on their family Christmas tree. Whatever you decide will work great! This year I am using branches for our Jesse Tree. I LOVE IT! All of the ornaments we are making for "Truth In Tinsel" (we make a new one each day), we place on our big Christmas tree in the living room.

Here are some links to help you out! At the end of the week, I will post pics from our "Truth In Tinsel' project. We do an ornament every single day so I thought I would save all those pics for one blog post!

Preparing for the second coming of Christ while celebrating the first coming of Christ at Christmas! That is what Advent (Christmas) is all about! Linus tried to explained this to Charlie Brown, remember?

As believers, we await the second advent!

-Amanda

Jesse Tree from Holy Experience (the one I printed for this year. I love!)
Jesse Tree ornament print-outs for kids to color RCA (The one I have used for last two years)
Jesse Tree Devotions from RCA

Truth In Tinsel

Snow for the schoolroom!

2011-11-28T20:03:00.001-06:00

More headbands to match!

2011-11-28T19:57:00.001-06:00

Blessed

2011-11-27T08:58:00.001-06:00

Matching headband

2011-11-26T12:08:00.001-06:00

Thankful Week 2011 in Pictures!

2011-11-22T10:45:00.001-06:00

Last night the kids performed a Thanksgiving Pageant for Daddy. Complete with their Thanksgiving worship song, "Thank You" by Dennis Jernigan. It was a great week with lots of memories!!

I cannot wait until our Christmas pageant!!!

Happy Thanksgiving from our Schoolhouse to yours!

Amanda

Does it matter at all?

2011-11-22T09:49:00.001-06:00

Jeremy came home last night and told me about a song he heard on the radio. A few minutes later he handed me the iPad and said, "I found it on youtube. Listen. It reminds me of you."

As soon as I heard the lyrics, tears began to flow. It was a song I really needed! Everyone will get something out of this song. EVERYONE!

When I first began Homeschooling, I chose a verse for our Homeschool. Every year it hangs in the center of the room for all eyes to see. The song below is centered around that verse. I love how God works!

Do EVERYTHING you do to the glory of the one who made you!

strong arrows

2011-11-21T11:59:00.001-06:00

If you know me, really know me, you know my testimony. You know all the things the Lord has helped me to overcome. CHAINS have been broken! I still have my days when I feel like that little girl in the midst of tragedy, but my husband and children continue to be the healing balm to a painful past.

I prayed for this amazing man, my husband. I also prayed for a mantle full of stockings. My prayers were very specific when I was a teenager. It feels good to be right smack dab in the middle of all those prayers being answered. And next Christmas...we add another stocking!

Jeremy, I love you. The fruit of our intimacy sure has been powerful! Look at that mantle!! I know we are constantly being refined and never do we pretend to have the perfect marriage, but it is perfect. We are perfectly matched and perfectly in the center of His will. The Lord is using us big time! Our arrows are strong!

Psalm 127

3 Children are a heritage from the LORD,

offspring a reward from him.

4 Like arrows in the hands of a warrior

are children born in one’s youth.

5 Blessed is the man

whose quiver is full of them.

They will not be put to shame

when they contend with their opponents in court.

Sewing Christmas

2011-11-21T11:42:00.001-06:00

Ava Beth's shirt

My design initial on bottom left of her shirt! Fun creation!

The Brothers!

Now the kids are set for their trip to see Santa! Can't wait!

"Thankful week" interrupted!

2011-11-18T11:29:00.000-06:00

I am behind in posting our "Thankful Week" crafts. We have a total of four. We are finishing last one today. Jude got really sick on Wednesday, so everything stopped! We are doing a Thanksgiving Pageant for Daddy too. The kids are going to share all of their crafts, the Thanksgiving story, their memory verses, and their worship song from this week. They also did some creative writing this week that we had a ton of fun with! I will come back this weekend and post it all!

Last night I played around with some scraps. I ended up making Ava Beth a Christmas shirt. I started drawing some appliques last night, and fell in LOVE with creating my own designs! Tonight I get a night out for some shopping. You better believe I will be at JoAnn and Hobby Lobby with my coupons! Tomorrow I will be doing some really FUN sewing! I love having this outlet. My sewing needs a lot of work!!! The more projects I do, the more I learn from my sewing mistakes.

Happy creating!

Jude turns 1! (11-3-11)

2011-11-15T18:28:00.000-06:00

The Pilgrims meet the Indians! (craft #2- Thankful Week)

2011-11-15T15:23:00.000-06:00

The Mayflower (craft #1-Thankful Week)

2011-11-14T16:52:00.001-06:00

Josiah studied The Mayflower in History last year. We even had to build one to sail in our pool. It was fun! We are reading about The Mayflower again this year with the other kids and I saw this cute craft on Pinterest. I don't have directions to post. It is pretty self explanatory!

Today we had a conversation that went something like this.

"Okay, we are getting ready to board The Mayflower and it is very crowded. There are 102 of us and 30 crew members. You can take ONE thing, besides your clothes, that is very important to you." Without hesitation, choices are revealed! Josiah answers, "My legos." Ava Beth answers, "My Bible and babies."

I love their answers! Even more, I love that I knew what their answers would be before they shared them!

Great day!

Thankful Week

2011-11-14T09:58:00.004-06:00

This is our "Thankful Week" for Homeschool. Next week we are off for the Holiday! If you need passages for circle time/Bible time this week, I have listed what we will be studying below.

We are also doing a craft everyday this week (excluding Friday). When we are finished today, I will try to come back and post the crafts. Each craft goes along with our reading for that particular day. Should be lots of fun!

Have a "Thankful Week"!

Monday-Psalm 100
Tuesday- 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, Ephesians 5:19-20, Colossians 3:17
Wednesday- Luke 17:11-19
(make a list of things to Thank God for)
Thursday-review passages

A Christmas Wreath

2011-11-11T09:53:00.000-06:00

This wreath was so much fun to make! I made this last week for a friend (I love you Jess!). Now I get to make mine!!

Wreath- $4.99 Hobby Lobby
Yarn- $3.99 Hobby Lobby
Christmas Balls- $1.00 Dollar Tree
Felt- 4 sheets for $1.00 (I bought 6 and had some left)
Red Beaded swag on side of wreath x 2-$1.00 each Hobby Lobby (They were 50% off)
Black and White fabric- I already had in my scrap container from sewing projects

I LOVE gorgeous projects that cost nothing to make! Oh and everything on the wreath is attached with hot glue! EASY STUFF! I watch the Hobby Lobby and JoAnn ads like crazy! I get them emailed to me weekly and usually there are coupons. Hobby Lobby has ALL Christmas stuff 50% off right now! This makes crafting so much better!

I LOVE Christmas even better!!

updates

2011-11-10T09:03:00.000-06:00

It has been a crazy few days! We had an unexpected death in the family, sickness, birthday party, etc.! We are finally getting back to normal TODAY. I hope to share some pictures soon. I am also working on a new blog format/design, and in the midst of Christmas decorating! Jeremy put up my tree and did the lights while I was at the midwife yesterday (awesome man!), but I have Christmas boxes everywhere!!! All things are "under construction" this week.

I have also changed our reading list for the next several weeks. All of our read alouds and free reading will be about Thanksgiving and Christmas! I am working on that list today. I promise to share the books with you! So excited about this!

And I am working on our Jesse Tree ornaments! REALLY EXCITED about this!

Yesterday was my 16 week check-up with the midwives. Yes, I get two! Two are always present at appointments and two will be there for the home birth. Midwives are usually accompanied by a doula or a doula in training to become a midwife, but I get TWO experienced midwives! The appointment went great and the baby's heartbeat was strong and made me cry when I heard it. It never gets old! I love being pregnant! I could write an entire blog post on my midwife (my main one). She told me about how excited they get when I am in labor and how their family prepares for the birth. The whole family will know exactly who "Amanda" is and will all be excited about "the call"! She shared with me how she gets butterflies of excitement as I get closer. I LOVE THAT!!!!!!!!! It actually made me cry when she shared that with me. I love the care I am receiving.

As far as BOY or GIRL? We will find out soon enough. I could find out next week, but midwives do not require sonograms like Doctors do. This means we will have to pay for a sonogram to find out the gender. With the Holidays and four kids having birthdays back to back, I am not sure when we will have an extra $200! Jeremy says there is no way we will let this be a surprise because we have to prepare Ava Beth if it is another boy. I agree. When we do find out, I have a fun event planned to reveal to the kids! We have decided on a girl name. It took a four hour car ride the other day to finally nail it down! I am not sharing the name with ANYONE. I want to keep it a surprise and IF we find out it is a "sister", I will share. We do not have a boy name yet. This means we are probably having another boy! :) We do know that it will come from the Bible because all three boys are named from the Bible. Can't break tradition!! Here is one little hint on the girl name. Ava Beth played a HUGE part in the name.

Okay, I think I just heard the school bell. Homeschool in session! Be back later to post some pictures of lots of fun stuff!

Happy 1st Birthday Jude Witten!

2011-11-03T13:44:00.008-05:00

Today is my little Jude's first birthday!! I will have to post a Birthday post next week after his party. Today I am working on Birthday stuff! One year ago today...I was in labor!!

Thank you, so much, Lord for the blessing of Jude. You love me daily through my children. Thank you for the gift of our little Jude bug!

I love you Jude! Happy First Birthday!! You are the light of our home and everyone adores you!!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-01T11:01:00.000-05:00

It was the best Halloween so far! The kids thought so too! We went to Church Fall Festival, a trunk or treat and then strolled the neighborhood!

Today we are schooling, taking down Fall decorations, listening to Christmas music and getting the house ready for Christmas decorations! I decorate every room! November 1st has always been the day we break out the Christmas music and I begin decorating! Last November 1st I was in labor so that did not happen! My Tree will be up by the end of the week too. It is seven foot and takes a long time! Did I mention I also have a one year birthday party for Jude this weekend?? Crazy but fun week!

So excited!!

Welcome November! I am so glad you are finally here!

BOO pictures!

2011-10-31T11:28:00.001-05:00

Let's Go Rangers!

2011-10-28T15:45:00.000-05:00

We were supposed to make pumpkin cookies, but the kids asked me to make these for our World Series party tonight! Go Rangers!! I grew up watching the Rangers and it would be as big as the Mavericks winning the NBA championship last Summer. We are Dallas sports addicts...hard core...in this family!

Go Rangers! Kick some Cardinal butt!!

Sewing machine fun!

2011-10-28T11:40:00.000-05:00

A shirt for Jude and a wand for Ava Beth's costume! Next up? Jude's first birthday shirt and Thanksgiving shirts for all four kids!

I'm addicted to sewing! :) I need a friend to sew with!

Happy Friday!

Forgiven and We Shine!

2011-10-24T15:12:00.001-05:00

We had a couple of situations over the weekend where the two older kids struggled with some feelings of rejection. Jeremy and I both sat down with both of them at different times to talk and pray. It SUCKS when our kids are hurting, but I had two incredible moments with each of them. I was amazed at how the Lord used it to work in my life too. We have made scripture memorization such an important part of our school day and it is paying off. The Holy Spirit is working in our home in some incredible, life-changing ways. The WORD is the only thing that will set our kids free! Forget church, denomination and legalism! IT IS THE WORD. Life changing! And of course this starts in our homes! ALWAYS!

This morning as I was preparing for our Circle time (Bible Study), I prayed the Holy Spirit would give me a new worship song to teach them this week. After a few minutes, I thought about the lyrics to one song in particular. The Holy Spirit reminded me of a lot of the key things we talked about this weekend with Josiah and Ava Beth when they were hurting. This song went off in my head instantly! Thank you, so much, Lord for always giving me creative ways to teach my children about you! YOU gave me that song! No doubt!

So here is the song we learned this morning! The kids LOVED it. They have heard it many times since I own the cd, but talking about the lyrics really made them feel connected.

Oh and here is one more song I played this morning! When we finish up circle time, everyone has five minutes to grab a bottle of water, go to the bathroom or whatever else. Then it is straight to the school table. I have been playing a song during this time. Sometimes they dance and get all their wiggles out or they do what I listed above. Bathroom, water, etc.. This week I am using this song! Another one of my favorites! (This one is for Kelly Ann!) Homeschool is worship, so I guess you could call it a "Call to Worship" like the Baptists do! :)

Ava Beth's Halloween costume

2011-10-24T14:49:00.000-05:00

This is just the tutu part of the costume that I made this weekend. Sooooooo easy! Google it and you will find EASY instructions! Tme consuming but easiest thing to make! You can make a tutu too!!

I have to finish up some sewing and work on one other thing, then her costume will be compete! I can't tell you what it is yet! You must see it all together! :)

And you better believe if baby #5 is a girl, I will jump on the tutu making train fast!

Fall is for fun!

2011-10-20T20:22:00.000-05:00

I love my sewing machine! I am learning so much! The way to learn is to use that machine! Ava Beth wanted a blanket after I made Jude one. She chose beautiful fabric!

I love these birdies!!

Of course she wanted a blanket for her Bitty Baby-American Girl Doll! She has asked me to sew clothes. HA! That is way too ambitious for me at this point. Someday!

Here is a head band to match her shirt. I just made it out of the same material we used for shirt and sewed beads in the middle of the spiders! SUPER EASY!

I looked all over town for small pumpkins to paint. We did this last year and finding pumpkins was an easy task. Not this year! The Dollar Tree pumpkins worked great! CHEAP FALL FUN!

Since Jude could not make one...I made the fourth pumpkin. I could not resist!

My kids LOVE Blueberry muffins! I love FALL! I collect cupcake wrappers/holders/papers/decor. Basically...all things cupcake! Kelly Ann often buys them for me when she sees them. She gave these to me last year and I got so excited using them this morning! Thank you Kelly Ann!! I love you my friend.

I love Fall fun!

2011-10-19T10:16:00.001-05:00

I taught the kids this song last week and they loved it. They even sang it for MiMi when she was here. This is one of our worship songs this week. Before I played it, I explained that the song was all about how much God loves us. I have heard them quoting the lyrics a lot to one another! This makes my heart leap!

Love my little worshipers!!!

My Mom was here!

2011-10-18T16:32:00.000-05:00

I finally got my hair done! My Mom rocks the short hair cuts! This is why I don't allow ANYONE to cut my hair. This sometimes means I have to go several months before I get a cut! I miss living by her!

MiMi and the babies!

I hope I look this good when I am 53! She's so pretty!

Thank you Mom for everything! Lunch, bag of new clothes for the kids, gift card, bath and body works stuff for me, starbucks coffee cups, a haircut, etc.! You spoil us and we love you so much!!

Pent-up

2011-10-17T10:59:00.000-05:00

For the last few weeks Jeremy and I have prayed and prayed and prayed about a church home. Where would our family thrive? Where could He use our Family for His kingdom? WHERE? As we spent weeks praying, and listening to the kids pray about this during our prayer time, I kept hearing the Holy Spirit speaking something to my heart. "Return to your first love." I KNEW what this meant. I knew the passage these words came from and I KNEW it was from the Lord because it was straight-up WORD! (Revelation 2:1-7) I studied the passage in Revelation and the Holy Spirit began to speak to me in some amazing ways.

I shared everything with Jeremy. I asked questions. "How did you feel when you first accepted Christ? Did you experience emotion? What happened?" All of my questions had to do with what I felt like the Lord was speaking. Then we talked a lot about what it was like when we first met, became engaged and married. All in six months! We talked about this for a few weeks until we finally began to get on the same page. Jeremy began to share what he DID NOT want in a church. I shared what I DID WANT. My list and his list came together. We agreed that no church would be perfect. There would be things that bothered us. There would be scripture interpretation we did not agree with. But there were things we could not budge on. Non-negotiables!

And guess what? You can find a spirit-filled church that IS NOT emergent, that DOES NOT put on a "show" and will let you keep your kids in the service with you IF you want. Our kids went to their age appropriate classes and I was soooooooo nervous. They are with me ALL the time. They are with each other ALL the time. They ALL four did amazing and came out excited!

I cry thinking about this. God knew how much we needed this. We have been praying the Lord would take us to the perfect place for our family. Will this be where we end up? Well, we prayed our guts out and so did some of you in hopes of NOT having to visit several churches. This was the same method I used in finding a midwife. :) God knows where we will end up, but I feel like for the first time in three years, we are both on the SAME page when it comes to finding a church home. One Sunday at a time.

God knows us so well. He knows exactly what we need and when we need it. Worship yesterday was MEDICINE to my soul. The message was on Ephesians 5. The Pastor talked about painted lines and guardrails. It was an analogy that I think God gave to the Pastor for us to hear. "Our culture gives us painted lives. God's Word gives us guardrails." Jeremy and I talked a lot about a couple of areas in our family and our individual lives that need guardrails. Some areas that need extra protection! Paul tells the Church of Ephesus they are living in the days of evil so they have to make sure they live a spirit filled life. I personally needed clarification on some things in that passage and got it! It struck a chord with me on some sin in my life.

At the end of the message the pastor asked "What is God speaking to you today?". Simple question but it really hit home with me. I can think of two specific areas in my life where I am hitting some guardrails and those guardrails were not meant to be hit. Relationships and my words. It was pretty cut and dry. When God speaks, there is no denying. It was confirmation.

I've made so many mistakes in my life, but He constantly gives me beauty for my ashes. Thank you, so much, my Lord. I am nothing without you.

We sang this song yesterday during worship. The kids and I worship to Hillsong in the car constantly. I have sang this song many, many times. But yesterday was different. This time I felt something being released that had been pent-up for a long time. I feel like some repressed emotion is finally being let loose!

Art and Music

2011-10-15T17:33:00.000-05:00

When I created our composer list back in the Summer, I found these notebooking pages here. I have added some composers that were not on this list and taken a few off. John Rutter and Aaron Copland are my two favorite composers. They were a MUST!

One of the things we do is listen to a famous piece by that week's composer. Then we talk about how it makes us feel. Happy? Sad? Do we think about people? Animals? Nature? Then we listen again and draw. No one is aloud to talk during this time, just listen. They take it very seriously. Ava Beth shows signs of serious thinking when her tongue sticks out. Just like her Daddy! I watched her thread a needle the other day and that tongue stuck out the whole time! When we finish these pictures, everyone gets a turn to explain what they illustrated during the song. Then it goes into the binder you see above. How fun is that?!! Come on Homeschool Moms, you can do this with your students! They will love it!

I plan our art projects six weeks at a time. Most everything we do in the Fall has to do with the season. It is a great way to celebrate a new season, especially if you are Texan. We are all sick of heat at this point! Bring on the cool air! I find our art projects in some books I have, pinterest, craft sites and by googling! Every once in a while my brain comes up with an original. I am a craft supply buying fool. I have craft supplies coming out my ears. I learned a long time ago with baking that stocking up on supplies is key. Anytime I want to bake a cake, cookies, pie or anything else, I almost ALWAYS have everything I need on hand. Cake mixes, pudding mixes, sugar, flour, sprinkles, etc.. Then I don't have to buy a ton of stuff when I try a new recipe. Same goes for arts and crafts with your kids. Stock up your homeschool!! When you see chenille sticks, buy them! When you see craft paint, stick it in your basket! Paper plates, coffee filters, buy them for your craft closet!

If you have stuff on hand and if you take a little time to plan ahead, you will fall head over heels in love with arts and crafts. The best part? Your kids will remember these projects for the rest of their lives! You will feel like a rock star!

Oh and we paint a lot! It is messy, so I keep a stack of newspapers in my pantry. Or sometimes we paint on the back porch. Even better!

I leave you with this week's composer...Vivaldi. Art and Music formed the perfect marriage this week for Fall! Enjoy!

Halloween shirts-tutorial

2011-10-15T17:07:00.000-05:00

Several people have asked how I did these shirts, so here is a little picture tutorial. Happy shirt making! These were so much fun and I LOVE how they turned out. I know many "crafters" have been making these for years, but I finally got the urge. Pregnancy tends to bring out the hidden "crafter" in me! My best friend is the queen of these shirts and has made my kids many over the last few years. I finished these on Wednesday night and posted all the pictures, then saved to my drafts. Finally had a chance today to post instructions. Hope it all makes sense!

Finished!

Oh and the bow on Ava Beth's shirt is sewn. That sucker isn't going anywhere!

Cheap stuff you can buy at Walmart!

You MUST have an xacto knife for letters! MUST!

This material happens to be bandannas so I did not need to iron on the "wrong side out" side. Bandannas are same on both sides. If you use fabric from the fabric store, you must iron these on the wrong side and make sure your letters are turned backwards.

After you cut them, iron them on. My B should be turned the other way but this was for the picture.

It is so much easier to hand stitch if you have an embroidery hoop. I used an embroidery needle and embroidery thread from Hobby Lobby. Each pack of the thread is 40 cents. I used one pack per shirt. Maybe a little less. Buy more than enough! It is cheap.

You can stitch them on your sewing machine, but I opted for the hand stitch. It looks more "Boutique" to me.

I am already making shirts for Thanksgiving and Christmas! Oh and a Birthday onesie for Jude's first birthday!

Baby #5

2011-10-13T19:08:00.001-05:00

As soon as I saw the baby, he/she starting moving like crazy. At one point it looked like he/she was waving! Hands going crazy! I sobbed like a baby. This never gets old.

So this is my first time using a midwife and I cannot say enough about how much I LOVE her. She was the perfect fit for me! I cannot imagine having anyone else. She is a homeschooler too and has to be the smartest and healthiest woman I have ever met. For real! I already feel like she is my friend. WOW! God is so good! We are having a home birth this time and I can't tell you how excited I am to not have to fight the nurses on a natural delivery. I have a MIDWIFE! WOO HOO!

I am officially in my second trimester! Praying the morning sickness subsides ASAP!

BOO!

2011-10-11T19:26:00.017-05:00

Okay, I finished Ava Beth's shirt for the Pumpkin Patch! I have started the boys, but need to do the stitching. Their shirts are a little more "boyish"! Jeremy would not let me put his boys in "cute" shirts. They have a scarier fabric for their "BOO"!

And guess what?? This is my own creation! I promise I will post all the details so you can make your own! Ava Beth will also have a matching head band that I am making tonight after I fold clothes. I just had to take a minute to post a picture of her shirt. I love it! If I don't get my butt in gear with the chores around here, Jeremy may take my craft supplies, fabric and sewing machine away!

Have a BOO-tiful night!

The perfect Fall cookie!

2011-10-10T20:48:00.031-05:00

Posting from the iPad again, which means "linking" is a pain because blogger has yet to create an app for iPad! But...I have the ingredients memorized! This is from a blog I found and I think you will "Fall" head over heels for this cookie!

You will be shocked when you find out how amazing this cookie tastes and how easy it is to bake. When Jeremy and I first got married, I was a given a cook book that had recipes for cookies made from a cake mix. I can't find it anywhere! I made a chocolate chip cookie with a yellow cake mix that Jeremy LOVED! Finally, I have a cookie to redeem my misplaced recipe! Jeremy loved it too! Redemption!

1 spice cake mix
1 can of pumpkin (15 oz)
1 egg
1 tablespoon of cinnamon

Mix all together (I use my stand mixer)
Add 1 cup of chocolate chips

Bake at 350 for 12 minutes and enjoy!

Enjoy the perfect marriage of cake and cookie!

More projects complete!

2011-10-08T23:15:00.020-05:00

A wreath for my Mom, pin cushion for me, baby blanket for Jude, and a lovie for fun! The wreath idea came from pinterest. It took forever!!!!! Cutting one million circles of felt and using straight pins to stick them in the foam wreath was easy. No brainer! But it took 2 yards of felt and a TON of time!! My Mom is worth it!

And I love, love, love, love, love my sewing machine! I loved making this baby blanket for Jude. I was told that a beginner sewer using chenille was a gutsy sewer! I guess I needed to prove I had guts! I am so gutsy that I am making a bigger one for Ava Beth starting tomorrow afternoon. She picked out some pretty awesome fabric! I can't wait!

Mama bakes!

2011-10-05T19:25:00.002-05:00

It was a day of yuck, yuck, yuck. Thankfully, the kids were awesome and helped me focus on what's most important! Halloween cupcakes make everythng better! Baking tends to "calm the storm". Always. And God sure knew what He was doing when he gave me Jeremy. He is my rock!

Thank you Lord for the trials. And cupcakes too!

starry night

2011-10-05T10:22:00.002-05:00

The kids have been doing an awesome study on the life of Abraham. I LOVE our History! Add The Jesus Storybook Bible to that and it rocks! I have learned more about the Old Testament in the last six weeks with the kids than I have in my entire life. And I grew up in Sunday School!

"I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed," Genesis 26:4

This scripture has given us so much to talk about. Just yesterday while riding in the car, Josiah asked, "So, we are a part of Abraham's family? That's amazing!" Last week when we began talking about Abraham, the Lord brought this song to mind. This song makes me think of Abraham. It makes me think of ME. It makes me think of my children and the one growing inside my womb.

For the past four or five school days, during "Circle time", we have sang this song. I play it as loud as I can and all the kids sing. Jude rocks back and forth on his bottom and claps. Yesterday something pretty awesome happened! I opened my eyes and saw Josiah and Ava Beth singing this song with their hands lifted in praise and their eyes closed. All I could do was cry! I am so blessed.

Thank you Father for multiplying my family! For my descendants will be as numerous as the stars on a starry night!

Praise Him!!!

I'm a little preoccupied!

2011-10-05T00:48:00.002-05:00

Not only is it the last week of our first six weeks, but it is also my planning week for the next six weeks. I feel a little crazy right now. And the first trimester is going out with a bang! Worst week of morning sickness so far! I have cried a lot over what to eat. Nothing sounds good. 24/7 sickness! One more week and I will be in the 2nd trimester. That is nuts to me! When I am in the midst of planning, I usually go into a hole and cut myself off from the world. I have to. Add morning sickness to that and I lose all people skills! Trust me, this is when you don't want to talk to me.

In the midst of it all, Jeremy surprised me with the purchase of a sewing machine! I've begged for two things over the last several years. A Nikon camera (the $800 one) and a sewing machine! He went with the cheaper of the two. I am sooooooo excited!!! Tonight I learned how to thread it and all that other fancy stuff. This thing is amazing! It pretty much does all the work itself. I am a newbie, but thanks to the internet (pinterest is full of tutorials) and Minnie (my friend in Dallas who happens to be a sewing goddess), I made two burp cloths tonight for a baby gift. Need to make a couple more and gift complete! They are not perfect, but I will keep practicing!

Looking forward to a weekend of sewing!!!

Jeremy threaded the bobbin, etc., for me the first time. I decided I was going to stay up late until I could do it myself. I read the manual and got it!! Minnie, I know you are proud based on all the dumb questions I asked earlier! And it wasn't hard once I figured it out! To me, THAT is the hardest part of sewing!

It's 1:15 AM. Must sleep!!

WATCH THIS ASAP!

2011-09-29T15:48:00.001-05:00

Alf+Kelly | WakeBoard Church | Cambodia from Unblind Productions on Vimeo.

PLEASE take the time to watch this video. This is my BEST FRIEND in the whole world! I cannot watch it without SOBBING like a baby. Please be praying for her and her family. They leave February 1st for Cambodia.

Kelly knows everything about me. She knows about every malfunction in life that I've ever had. She knows every argument I have had with my husband. She knows all the details of my life. Good and bad. If you are my friend, she knows about you. She even remembers your names and has probably prayed for you at one point or another. There is nothing I don't share with her.

When we were teenagers we had some of the same boyfriends, spent days in the halls at school hating each other, went to the same church and youth group. We were together even when we didn't want to be! Regardless of the up and down relationship we had as teenage girls, today it is refined, strong and powerful! When I began leading worship in Austin, she would drive up from Grapevine to support me. She has always been there for me. She has taught me what friendship is all about. She has refined me. I love her like a sister and I think about her every single day. She is the kind of woman I try to be like. Godly to the core. Kind, quiet and one of the most caring people you will ever meet. And she loves my kids like no other friend ever has. It amazes me. I often feel like I don't deserve a friend like her.

I am so proud of her and Alf. They are about to do God's work in a way most people would never touch. I am honored and blessed to have her in my life. It was our plan for us to live in the same city again and homeschool together. We actually saw signs of that happening. But she is leaving in a few months for her new home in Cambodia. I am sad beyond belief, but excited about how God is going to use her. It is going to blow her mind!

I love your guts, Kelly Ann, so much! I am forever blessed by my 8th grade choir class at Bedford Junior High. Best friends forever!

Art with beans and Beethoven!

2011-09-28T13:22:00.023-05:00

Here is a fun and easy Fall craft I found on pinterest. I used an X-ACTO knife and cut our leaves out of a box. Card stock or cereal box didn't feel sturdy enough. The kids loved this! After we did the leaves, we decided to do their names and Ava Beth did a pumpkin. Cheap fun with a bag of 15 bean mix! I wish I would have cut a leaf out for me!

Click here for the leaf templates and have fun making these!

Our composer for the next two weeks is Beethoven and I must say that he is great listening while you create! The 5th Symphony will put you in a creative mood fast!

Happy Art and Composer day!

I forgot-resolved and sanctified!

2011-09-28T13:04:00.022-05:00

Regardless of all of my mistakes, nothing was wasted. I don't believe for one second that I was outside of God's will. He gave me the gift of Worship Leading and the calling. He gave me the desire and discipline to run marathons. He used all of it to bring joy and to bring brokenness.

If you are a Mother and you are not passionate about your role, something has to change. It has to be FIRST love! Your ministry outside of your home will NOT flourish if things are not in order. If you devote more passion to things outside of your home, you will never be fulfilled the way God intended you to be. If you wrestle with that, if that makes you mad, good! It is worth the wrestle!! I wrestled for several years. I justified everything I did because I "Homeschooled". I was with them all day. I baked, crafted, taught and everything else. But, they did not have my heart.

My friend and neighbor, Kim, is an incredible encourager in my life. She is intentional with it! Several months ago she told me, "Amanda, you are an amazing Mom. You do it with so much passion." Little did she know that the Lord was using her in a mighty way. I felt like the Lord was wrapping His arms around me, telling me how proud He was of me. Thank you, I don't share that to brag on myself. I share that to brag on GOD. He did that!

The day is coming when I believe I will re-engage in a ministry, calling or hobby,and be a Mom to five children. But, I had to go through a tough process first. My passions, talents, callings, ministry had to be sanctified. It is a requirement I believe for all of us! Especially Moms!

I am not a perfect Mom. I make mistakes. Daily. Just about every single night, I go to bed asking for their forgiveness about something. But, I LOVE being a Mother and Homeschool teacher. There isn't a stage or marathon finish line in this world that could possibly fulfill me the way being a wife and mother fulfills. This family is a dream come true. They are the most important audience I could ever "lead" or teach.

There is a prayer I pray almost daily. "Lord, give me fresh and new ideas in our home. Help me to be creative and passionate in my parenting and teaching. May they see LIFE in everything I do!" And you know what? He does! He answers my prayer daily and continues to ignite passion in our home.

I know who I am now. I have found resolve and complete JOY in my life at home. I am only 35, so I know I have a ton of changing still to come. More sanctification! But, I am not where I was. I am a wife and mother, and that is enough! It supersedes everything else.

The process of sanctification is at times ugly, but being on the Potter's wheel is the only place to be. When you give it all up and allow Him to work, everything is sanctified! And that's when it can be used to inspire and lead others. An "anointed" ministry has always been sanctified first.

I forgot

2011-09-27T15:07:00.004-05:00

(Not for the faint at heart! This is a LONG one. You have to really love me to read this.)

I forgot who I was. I didn't think that could ever happen, but it did. I questioned my faith, my gifts, my passion and everyone around me. I was angry, hurt and confused. For months I listened to Jeremy tell me that our family was enough. We did not need anyone or anything else. God moved and we finally reengaged.

When I was saved at five years old, it was the real deal. My life at home was complete turmoil. But I could feel the power of the Holy Spirit in my life at a very early age. I have so many examples of how I heard Him speaking to me when I was young. My Father in Heaven, pursued me, loved me and saved me. Hallelujah! That is an amazing thing to think about!

I quit talking about my past a few years ago because I truly felt the Holy Spirit COMMANDING me to let it go. I was well into my thirties before I was able to let it go, but when I stopped telling people about the past, I stopped reliving it and the devil stopped reminding me. But my past is what created this passionate, gregarious, sensitive and emotional woman. I am grateful! I am survivor and I live every single day with joy because of it! For those of you who know my testimony/my story, you know the obstacles I had to overcome. You also know the many mistakes I made in the process. Sanctification though, it's a beautiful thing.

Everything I do, I do out loud! That often gets me into trouble. I jump in head first for the world to see! This opens myself up to a lot of criticism, but God uses it to refine. And HE created me to live life this way. He is the one who knit me together in my beautiful Mother's womb. He gave me this passion that constantly brews inside of me. Why have I tried to hide that? Why have I tried to kill it?

The last few years I have focused on Motherhood completely. As most of you know, I am an ALL or NOTHING girl. Go big or go home! Marathon running is the perfect example of that. It was not enough to run a marathon under five hours in Austin. I had to run a marathon in Chicago with a goal of 4:30. I beat it! 4:22! It was one of the greatest days of my life. I miss it! There was nothing wrong with me running marathons. There was nothing wrong with me enjoying being healthy and fit. But it was covering up a place in me that needed to be, once again, sanctified. After beating my goal in Chicago, getting off the plane and coming home, my spirit was troubled. The Holy Spirit wanted my attention. Instead of stopping, I began to train for my third marathon in one year. My body was shot! My passion was "outside of my home" and I was literally "running" to the next big thing.

I heard someone describe me a few days after my big race. "She runs, she bakes, she homeschools, etc." What sounded like an amazing compliment ended up changing everything. There was something this person did not say. I was deeply saddened. They didn't say, "But most of all, she is an amazing Mother. That is her passion." I loved my children and husband more than anything. The days I spent alone in an apartment as a single adult PRAYING for a family was right in front of me. But, I couldn't connect.

Leading worship began when I was twenty-one years old. I was on the worship team at a mega church in Dallas. Troy Ailkman and many other Dallas Cowboys attended this church. It was kind of a big deal! Well, I thought it was. I was also blessed to be one of the soloists. When you sang at this church, your face was all over the big screens planking over the audience of 4,000. Anywhere I went in Dallas-Fort Worth, someone would recognize me as "that girl with short hair who sings at my church". It was crazy! It was the first time in my life I felt "popular". It fed my insecurities big time.

Not the best way to meet the longings deep inside of a young woman, but more sanctification was in the works. There were great things I learned during this time. I learned how to sing with "in ear" monitors, a professional band, teleprompters, a huge audience and I got to sing in a professional studio. It built my confidence as a young, single woman. Experience of a lifetime.

This church opened doors for me at another church. This church opened the doors for me to lead worship with someone else. This eventually led to me leading worship at small churches on my own. That lead to even more and eventually I knew how to lead a band, a team and the congregation. Once again, passion ignited.

When I led worship, I was all in. Emotionally, spiritually, relationally, everything. I took weeks to pray over song lists. I prayed over the order of songs. I prayed over interludes and what instrument to showcase. I prayed over every detail of the service. Regardless of any ego involved (something that always creeps in for anyone on stage), my heart was always ready and hungry for the Holy Spirit to move on Sunday morning. I remember training for marathons and listening to the "set list" on my ipod while I ran. Sometimes I would be running and have to stop because I had gone into full blown worship while running. Running and worship are two powerful things. Put them together and a lot happens!

Nothing was wrong with me leading worship. I have studied "Biblical womanhood" and I don't feel I was out of line or rebelling against my husband's leadership. A lot of people would disagree, but that's okay. The problem was order. My passion, my time, my energy, my HEART were all out of order. I longed to get out of the house and run. I longed to get out of the house and get to band practice. I longed to "get out" and have "me time". Mothers need time away, but the danger comes when you feel you deserve it or you are entitled to it. I felt I deserved it and if I missed a run or wasn't leading worship that week, I was not fun to live with. I was obsessed with feeding myself, my ego, my self esteem.

Many times in life, God has to sanctify our gifts and hobbies. I see a lot of people in my life who are not willing to experience sanctification. They are not willing to go through a season of confusion. So they keep on going and never quit. Their ministry, hobby or passion often becomes stagnant. Their lack of obedience stifles everything around them. I know. It happened to me. My relationships suffered, my marriage suffered, my children suffered, my BODY suffered. I have an injured hip to prove it. When I get up from this desk after typing this post, I will limp. But you know what? That limp is good. It reminds me of what the Lord has done!

This past weekend Jeremy and I were talking about some changes coming our way. We are excited, but we are on the tail end of the limbo phase. There has been some movement over the last couple of days and hopefully I will be able to share some things with you soon. As we talked, he shared some things I needed to hear. But this one stood out to me big time! "I have felt like you haven't been yourself in months. You are trying to adapt to some things that are not you. I don't know if you are trying to make me happy or others, but it's not you." He has teased me a lot over the last five or six months. "Are you going to grow your hair out to try to cover that tattoo now? Are you going to start wearing long skirts? That's not who you are and I like your tattoo." He has also said over the last few months, "I liked it when you ran. I loved that we had that in common. It was fun training together. I miss you singing. I loved hearing you lead worship. It connected me too." (If something offends you from this paragraph, you are not hearing my heart. This is about me, not you.)

Because I go ALL or NOTHING, I often go to the extreme. I am so glad God is teaching me these things. He has been sanctifying me, trying to show me that I was born to be ME. A few months ago I jumped in, head first. Once again, Jeremy went along for the ride. He didn't know the first thing about "reformed theology". I didn't either, but coming from so much hurt via "the church", I knew we had to find something different. Once again, I started steering the ship. Jeremy often tells me that he honestly doesn't care as long as I am happy. He married me because of my personality. He actually likes it! :) But...it sometimes... allows him to be lazy and not make the "big decisions".

He was scared about having a fifth child. I really feel like God surrounded us with people who had large families and believed in giving "birth control" up to trust the Lord for family size. I shared with him things I read in a book, and shared scripture. I DID NOT force the issue. I prayed, he prayed and one day he said "I'm going to trust God with this." I was pregnant eight weeks later. It was that simple. Now that he is on board with giving our family size to the Lord, I struggle. I really feel that five children is a perfect number. Regardless, I will continue to be obedient.

Reformed Theology has opened our eyes to some incredible things theologically. We went into it as a strong family. We had spent three years out of church, but did church as a family at home. People can say what they want, but we did not suffer because we were not a part of a church body. It was the exact opposite. We found out who we were! We grew stronger! We still had fellowship, but it wasn't what it looked like for the typical Christian. If your family has never "sat out" from church for extended period of time, you will not understand. You can't. It was the most beautiful time in the history of our family. We depended on each other. There were no distractions, commitments, expectations or drama. It was just us. From the moment Jeremy and I got married, we have been full throttle in ministry. We needed the break. Since re-enagaing with the church, it has been positive. We are surrounded by caring families, all homeschoolers and people who have their priorities straight. Family is everything to them. We love that!

Whether or not you believe God chose you or you chose Him, doesn't matter to me. I was so angry with the emergent church and charismatic church that I ended up hating ALL churches. Reformed theology was perfect because it was NOTHING like where we had been in the past. Jeremy kept saying, "I don't care where we go." And if you know my husband, you know that is honestly the way he TRULY feels. But once we get somewhere and settled, he does have an opinion. He is an easy to please man. If I am happy, if the kids are happy, he is happy. When it came to Family Integrated, we figured it would be all homeschoolers. We thought that was worth trying because we had never really been around homeschoolers. Jeremy was a little worried that we were cutting ourselves off from the world. Subculture. As much as we have bitched and moaned about the "emergent" church. It is also a part of our background. (My post several months ago about reformed theology was never meant to offend. Unfortunately... it did. Please forgive me. I needed to wait to write it. It needed to simmer.)

We have a heart for people NOT LIKE US. We love meeting non-homeschool families. People are always surprised when they find out we homeschool. In many cases, God has used us when these families have decided to homeschool their children. I have three women in my life now that I have helped through the process. It has been one of the biggest blessings of my life! Those relationships never would have happened if it were not for being a part of those churches. We don't want to separate ourselves from our culture. We want to make a difference in our culture. I truly believe our family is unique in many ways and He can use us in a mighty way.

When Jeremy heard me flip out about a book I got Josiah at the Library, he was bothered. It was a children's book about Dinosaurs filled with many facts. It also contained a theory I did not agree with. Jeremy watches a ton of Discovery channel programs. He is very familiar with the worldview on dinosaurs, the Bible and creation. I told Josiah we were not going to read it. Jeremy disagreed. Jeremy read it to Josiah. Then we had a talk. He feels should not separate our children from the worldview, but teach them the creation point of view (our point of view) along with it. We tell them which one is truth. We educate them, prepare them for what the world is going to say so they can influence those around them. We have to prepare them for what they will come against. It is a part of discipling them. But, I went a little too far and radical in many ways. I've done this in many areas over the last sevearl months.

Over the last few months, we have diminished our territory. Instead of broadening it, we made it smaller. My "all or nothing" personality did exactly the thing I was trying not to do. In the process, I forgot who I was. I haven't been myself. For someone like me who takes pride in being who God wants me to be, I did the opposite. I followed. I don't believe we were out of God's will. I believe in Romans 8:28. But, I do believe God used this to teach us some things.

Something I saw last year on twitter has really been on my heart lately. "It's not always about changing locations. It's about changing perspectives." The church was not the problem. The churches in the past were not perfect. In fact, one of them was so out of line biblically that the place could have easily been struck by lightening! It was that bad. But..if we are honest...our hearts were the problem. And God used those three years to heal us and give us rest. It worked! We are excited to be planted SOON where He wants us for good.

We need "the church", we love it. I have relationships in my life that are life long friendships because of the church. Knowing this, we have to be somewhere that fits who God has created us to be. He wants to place us where we can make this biggest impact for HIS kingdom. We have even struggled to tithe because we wanted to make sure we were PLANTED and sewing seed where He had placed us. We spent two years tithing at a church that was sending out emails weekly that the doors were about to close. We had so many financial problems during that time. We felt over and over again that God wanted us to leave, but we stayed. Commitments kept us stuck. I do believe we can be somewhere again and LOVE where we are at. I believe it is going to happen! And I believe we should be tithing where we are planted.

What does this mean for our immediate future? I don't know. I am letting Jeremy lead. Sometimes our personalities collide. He sits still, I move. He thinks and processes, I move. He takes time, I move. I have once again REPENTED from any "steering of the ship" I have done and given him the wheel. Sometimes I don't even realize I am doing it. He can't lead if I am. He won't feel the need to step up, if I am in the way.

This is not to prepare any of you for my next big marathon or worship leading gig. NONE of that is in the works. But, I am finally in the place where I am open to what God has for me. I feel like I've just come up for air! Feels good to breathe.

My purpose in writing this blog post was for those of you who have been on the front row cheering me on. You have prayed for us, cried with us and loved us. A friend this past weekend asked me something that has brought a lot of revelation over the last few days. "Do you have someone in your life you can trust? Do you have someone you can share these things with?" Yes! I do! I have incredible friends. For the first time in my life I am so secure in those friendships. You make me better! You have stood by me during my "extreme" times. You have been my rock. God uses each and everyone of you to love me.

We haven't left our church. We haven't had any major malfunction cause us to leave. We are just in the midst of major change and the Holy Spirit is bringing things to surface for us to consider. Yep, sanctification! We have been spectators for the last few months and we have been okay with that. God can handle our doubts. In fact, we embrace them now. Long term do we see ourselves in a family integrated church? Probably not. Reformed Theology? It depends. We are not stuck on theological issues. Pentecostal? Possible. Emergent? Don't see that happening! What? Where? No clue, but not worried.

If you made it to the end of this and did not skim (I know who skims), you heard my heart and you know God is moving in our family! Not only are we pregnant with our fifth child, but it seems we are pregnant with much more. Right now we are in labor! Looking forward to delivery! May life spring forth soon!

"I forgot" how much better life is when I am the woman He created me to be. It's peaceful.

DIY Fall Banner

2011-09-26T14:26:00.002-05:00

I like to hang a banner in the school room/dining room for every occasion. My husband and children now expect a new one for every event/season/Holiday. I plan on these banners becoming very famous! I have hopes of my "grown" children telling their children about these banners. This is where tradition starts! And for me, tradition is redemption! Breaking the chains of the past is an amazing experience. In fact, it's an act of worship! The Holy Spirit speaks to me through these little, simple things I do in our home. Healing always takes place!

If you want to make your own Fall banner or want to copy mine, go for it! I hope you will! I've posted a picture of everything you need. I found the letters I wanted in Word. Printed,traced and cut them out! Easy!!

Oh and Wednesday's craft I am doing with the kids is awesome!!! I am so excited! I promise I will post pictures and a link to instructions as soon as we are done.

Now go make a banner!!

Obsessed with Fall?

2011-09-26T14:24:00.006-05:00

Yeah, I think I am. Most of you reading don't live in my state and you are experiencing Fall weather! I am not! It is 102 today and I am MAD. So I tend to get a little crazy with Fall!

(Kelly Ann, we bought this wrought iron pumpkin on my table five years ago. Remember? I still love it and think of you every single year when I get it out of the attic. I love you!)

DIY spectacular!

2011-09-25T15:19:00.025-05:00

Almost everyone in this house has been sick. I can't remember a time we have battled sickness this much. I hate it! I have been cooped up in this house with sick people for way too long. I decided to make the most of it! Here are some pics of things I made this weekend. This is what a late night addiction to pinterest will do! Every single thing you see...I found on pinterest...and copied. Yep! Now that I know how to do these things, I can add my own creative spin. Easy to do with the headbands for sure!

It seems I am finally catching the "sickness", but now I have to go to grocery store with morning sickness in 103 degree weather. Ugh! I will try to get on computer tomorrow to share all the linkage. Takes too long to do that with the iPad! Next project on the list? A necklace I found a tutorial for! Excited! Oh and if you wonder how I have time to do this.I don't! You should see how my house suffered while I was "glued" to crafting! Laundry is now so out of control that I could cry, but at least I can wear a pretty headband or brooch while folding! I have done lots of thinking, praying and resolving while crafting. I needed this! I don't feel guilty.

Thank you Lord for answering my prayer. Passion reignited! Finally!

I love DIY projects!

Flower brooch

2011-09-22T21:54:00.023-05:00

I'm working on an awesome project for the house this weekend, but decided tonight that I would try some felt flowers for brooches!

Excited to start making Christmas gifts too!

And if you haven't hopped on the Pinterest train, hop on now! Beware!! It sucks you in and forces many Hobby Lobby trips. Whatever I can do to distract the morning sickness, I'm going to do!

Music and art day!

2011-09-21T14:42:00.032-05:00

Don't be fooled! This takes longer than it looks! The fine motor skills it takes to cut out handprints OBVIOUSLY takes all day. Ezekiel had no interest in the cutting part and the older ones chopped off a few fingers in the process (paper fingers)! Hopefully, no one will ever see the repairs I was forced to make. The back of these wreaths are covered in tape! Handel's Messiah (composer study) makes things a little more peaceful when you are surrounded by construction paper, glue, tape and have a baby hanging off your leg. These art projects take work, but the kids are so proud of their work when it's finally hanging on the wall!

I love Wednesdays!! I've been looking forward to this art day for the past four weeks. Fall is glorious! Christmas art will be even better!!

Happy Fall!

Happy Fall gifts

2011-09-20T16:17:00.045-05:00

I learned about the heavenly mix of candy corn and peanuts from Nonny! Who knew it would taste exactly like a payday candy bar?! I have a whole box of Mason jars in the garage and I've been trying to come up with a festive way to use them. And since I made hair bows for Ava Beth when she was little, I have a storage container FULL of ribbon! It's way too early to deliver our annual "Boo Bags". Although the kids are ready to assemble those bags now!! So...why not give these out?!

My friend and neighbor, Kimmy, helps us with the dogs when we go out of town. She brings medicine for the kids when I run out, crackers and sparkling water for me (morning sickness), and happens to be a person who cheers LOUDLY on my behalf at all times! A huge encourager! It's pretty amazing. She is not a Homeschooler, yet she is one of the biggest encouragers in my life when it comes to Homeschooling. Constantly affirming me! It is her gift!

Then our friends from church (they also live down the street) lost their favorite cat last night, "Hello Kitty". A few months ago they lost one of their chickens. Needless to say, their four little girls are a bit traumatized from losing pets! Plus Mommy is eight months pregnant and about to lose her Mom to cancer. This jar of candy corn and peanuts won't scratch the surface of all that, but I pray it will bring a smile.

Fall is my favorite season! I love how it makes me feel and how the Lord speaks to me. The power of a new season is pretty awesome! I'm embracing it.

Happy Fall!

Thankful Tree 2011

2011-09-20T09:22:00.041-05:00

Isaiah 43:16-21
The Message (MSG)
^16-21This is what God says,
   the God who builds a road right through the ocean,
   who carves a path through pounding waves,
The God who summons horses and chariots and armies—
   they lie down and then can't get up;
   they're snuffed out like so many candles:
"Forget about what's happened;
   don't keep going over old history.
Be alert, be present. I'm about to do something brand-new.
   It's bursting out! Don't you see it?
There it is! I'm making a road through the desert,
   rivers in the badlands.
Wild animals will say 'Thank you!'
   —the coyotes and the buzzards—
Because I provided water in the desert,
   rivers through the sun-baked earth,
Drinking water for the people I chose,
   the people I made especially for myself,
   a people custom-made to praise me.

(Wendy, you inspired the Thankful Tree years ago. Thank you for sharing!)

I love our tradition of The Thankful Tree. The kids look forward to it every year! It is a beautiful and reflective way to usher in the season of Fall. Everyone appreciates a new season! I always think of the passage in Isaiah when we do the Thankful Tree. Fall tends to remind me of how much Christ longs to do something "new" in my life. I am so thankful for that!

Today I am so thankful for the amazing women who took the time to help me find my way as a Homeschooler. You answered my questions over the phone and countless emails. You prayed for me! You supported me! You encouraged me! Thank you for taking the time to pour into my life. Everything I do in my Homeschool has YOUR prints. Thank you!

Kim and Wendy, you helped me find my way!! I love you both very much! Our friendship goes way beyond blogging. Wendy, we ran the Chicago marathon together! Kim, our husbands rode to Dairy Queen together so we could eat burgers! These friendships are treasures in my life and I thank God for you both. I will never understand why we can't be neighbors, but I know you are both a phone call away.

Thankful!

Amanda

It's that time!

2011-09-15T11:52:00.000-05:00

During our break this morning, I went into the garage for my storage containers full of "Fall" decor! I've got all my Fall coffee cups to wash and my Fall dish towels and pot holders to throw into the washer! I love when I find stuff in these containers that I bought last year and forgot about (Reagan, remember all the goodies we bought last year?!)!

I've got my wrought iron pumpkins (I bought years ago at HOb Lob with Kelly Ann), my floral swags for the mantel and my Fall picture frames of the kids at pumpkin patches through the years. Oh and my yard stuff! I love my Hobby Lobby "Fall" inspired yard art! And my favorite thing? My wreath I made for the door last year. I love making wreaths! I've got some hot glue work I need to do on this one, but I can't wait to hang it!

I love this time of year!! This is when I come ALIVE! I LOVE decorating!!! We are headed out for some errands this afternoon because Mama needs a few "Fall" candles. And today would not be complete without pumpkin cake with cream cheese icing! My house will smell amazing!

Lord, thank you for this NEW season.

(pictures coming soon)

Signs of Fall

2011-09-14T18:02:00.017-05:00

NO visible signs of Fall in Texas! Today was 104! So we decided to bring Fall to us. It was composer and art Wednesday, which happens to be my favorite Homeschool day of the week. While listening to Handel's Messiah, we finger painted trees. That's right, we painted our trees with our fingertips! And I love the look of "Fall" in my windows! Josiah and Ava Beth painted a couple of trees while Ezekiel painted one. But his tree was pretty awesome! I loved watching him create! Watching a four year old create with his little fingers is priceless. This was a precious, peaceful day. That means tomorrow will be crazy! :)

Happy Fall!

The Sumerian Cuneiform

2011-09-13T19:44:00.009-05:00

We are loving Mystery of History! I spent so much time researching History curriculums. Every project we do brings affirmation to my choice. Thank you Lord for helping me get it right! Daddy helped with this one! We had a blast! Ezekiel made one too. These projects are the things they will remember for the rest of their lives. I can't wait until the clay dries!

"Mandi, SING."

2011-09-13T15:46:00.001-05:00

I am in the midst of exciting times and lots of changes. In many ways, my heart is already there. I am still "in waiting", laboring the process of change, but I am excited at what my Father is doing on my family's behalf. The week before Jude was born, I listened to this song over and over again. I remember the day before I went into labor, the Holy Spirit prompted me to listen to this song. I was miserable, tired of being dilated to a five with nothing happening! The next morning I was in labor. As soon as I found RESOLVE in the Lord, He moved on my behalf. Life sprang forth!

When God speaks to me, it's always in ways that speak to who He created me to be. He knows how to reach me, He made me! His message this week has been simple. "Mandi, SING." And yes, I often hear God speaking in all caps! Today, Ava Beth and I sang this song at the top of our lungs. She knows every single word because she has heard me sing it many times. I've needed this song to get into my bones, my mind, my heart, and my spirit.

My heart has taken flight, but I will wait upon you Lord. I have resolve in YOU. Always!

(Thank you to Kelly Ann, my best friend back "home", for reminding me that I need to "get back" to who God created ME to be! I love you. Thank you for always celebrating who I am. I cry just thinking about it. Christs loves me through you constantly. Thanks for truly knowing me and loving me. I guess you kind of have to since you've been my friend for twenty-one years.)

Pre-k

2011-09-12T09:29:00.001-05:00

He gathered everything for his letter "A" scavenger hunt, and did a great job! He's creative!

Okay, gotta get back to school this morning! I've posted four posts full of first week of School pictures. I know friends and family will enjoy. Thanks for being a faithful reader at my little blog. Means so much to me!

My students

2011-09-12T09:25:00.001-05:00

Finally posting our first week of school pictures! Last week was crazy! Praying for a much better week and no FIRES!!

Science

2011-09-12T08:51:00.001-05:00

Art-Impressionism

2011-09-12T08:48:00.001-05:00

Homeschool Week 2- almost done!

2011-09-08T14:09:00.006-05:00

(I wish I could get my blogger template back to normal. The spacing is still off. It is starting sentences in weird places. I can't figure it out. I struggle to read blogs with formatting issues. Please excuse the mess. I don't know what to do!)

I made some book changes on the second day of school. I decided to spend a little more time choosing our Literature reading and Josiah's free reading. I am not a fan of reading comprehension guides because I hate "busy work". Those guides are nothing but "busy work"! After a little more research, I headed to the library and brought home a huge stack of books. Josiah and I went over each book.We talked about the subject, the theme and his interests. He had to choose one for Literature (which he reads with me), and one for "free reading" (alone time, bed time or any other time he chooses to read). I chose Ava Beth's Literature book (one we already owned) and she chose a ton of books from the library for "free reading" (her book basket). She is my avid reader and flies through books!She LOVES reading! Josiah takes a little more prodding. Once he's hooked to the story line, he's all in!

After we narrowed it down to a few books, I googled for "online" reading comprehension guides. Sure you can spend a lot of money buying these guides and having your child fill in all the answers, but I think it takes away the joy and leisure of reading. I used comp guides with Josiah last year for one month. I quickly realized it was creating unnecessary busy work, and he began to dread reading because of the guides. Many homeschool Moms post reading guides online and they are free! I have them saved on the iPad. When Josiah finishes his reading time, I pull up the guide and ask questions about the chapter. This takes less than five minutes. There are usually about five questions. We also discuss vocabulary from the book. I choose a few words to focus on. This is also our spelling. I LOVE this method. This is all oral work. I love the discussion it often creates. If your child is reading, there is no need for "busy work". We do not use a spelling curriculum either. After reading this book, I felt confident in putting the Spelling curriculum aside. If I begin to see Josiah struggling with Spelling, we can use it. We read more than we do anything else. No need for busy work!

I'm in the midst of morning sickness. This is making our days pretty long. I learned last week that a time allotted schedule was NOT for us. Instead, I focus on my lesson plans. I find I am more in tune with each child, instead of the CLOCK! The lesson plan is my checklist and we love mixing it up. Today we started with Math. Yesterday we started with History. Tomorrow we may start with Science. Another reason I had to ditch my time allotted schedule has a lot to do with having a baby, and being pregnant at the same time. Jude does not always sleep through the night, and I am exhausted.Getting up at 6am right now, even 7am, is not realistic for me right now. The goal is to start by 10am, but we usually make it by 9am.

We love our schedule this year. We love our Math, History, Science, and Latin! By the end of the second week I usually know if there is something I need to cut. I think everything we are doing is wonderful! I am thankful for the weeks of prayer I put into this school year. I can see God's hand in everything we are doing. I feel like all those weeks of prayer back in the Summer, prepared me for now. God knew I would be pregnant. He knew how sick and tired I would feel. He prepared me back then.He is so good!

Oh and we are memorizing a new verse each week this year. The kids LOVE this! We create hand motions for each verse (a trick I learned from The Duggar's newest book), and it has helped us all remember. I love starting our day with this! I have a ton of pictures from last week that I hope to share soon!

Hope all of you are off to a great start!

Evacuee

2011-09-06T11:38:00.001-05:00

We were evacuated last night. Austin has serious fires forcing many out of their homes. Including us! We spent the night in a hotel, but we were able to come home this morning. They also restored power. We are still on high alert. Praying we are not evacuated again. Ash falling on your house is extremely scary. Throwing things into the suburban as fast as we could was a nightmare! I grabbed our Homeschool stuff, photo albums, birth certificates, ss cards, etc.. Some people in our hotel lost their homes. It was the craziest thing I've ever been through. I'm still in shock. Here are some pictures I took in our neighborhood, and one picture was taken from a safe spot down the road.

Please continue to pray for TEXAS. We need rain!!! The smell of smoke in our house added to morning sickness is a rough combination. I think I need to throw up NOW!

I never thought our family would be called "evacuees". Crazy! The first picture was taken of our house with smoke behind it. Quite an experience!

1st day of Homeschool 2011-2012

2011-08-29T16:55:00.009-05:00

Josiah 3rd grade

Ava Beth 1st grade

Ezekiel PreK

The students

All of my babies!

Ready for 1st day of Homeschool!

2011-08-27T09:53:00.002-05:00

Right-Brained Wednesdays

2011-08-24T10:36:00.000-05:00

I am really looking forward to Wednesdays this year. Wednesdays are reserved for Literature, Music and Art! The right side of my brain tends to be the driving force in my life. Needless to say, I am most excited about this day of the week! (P.S. I am married to a hard core left-brainer. God knew I needed him and he needed me!)

Last week I finished making our "Composer Notebooking journals". Then I went to the library to check out everything I could find on BACH, including cd's. He is the first composer we study this year. I always play classical music during the day and the kids have grown to LOVE it. Bach has to grow on you a little. Not everything is soothing. One minute you feel as if you have walked into a haunted house! The next minute it feels like you may have stepped into giant cathedral. Bach is all about the POWER of the music. You can feel it in your bones!

I play the notes as they are written, but it is God who makes the music. - J.S. Bach

As far as Art goes, I have planned six weeks of crafts. My kids love crafts! Come on Moms, don't say "I'm just not into crafts and I don't like the mess!" I used to say the same thing. Your kids deserve a good craft...AT LEAST...twice a month. You can handle the mess! They will remember the craft you did with toilet paper rolls before they remember the chapter you taught on China and the Shang Dynasty (this is on our lesson plan for History. ha!)! Live a little! Be creative! Actually, just google the word "crafts" and you will be amazed at what you find. If you need help, let me know. I have a ton of craft websites I use and the supplies are cheap. Most supplies you probably have at home already.

If you are not quite ready to brave the "craft world", you can focus on Art. We are starting with this amazing book I purchased on Impressionism. You can find it here, along with many others to choose from. Joyce Raimondo is an award-winning author and artist. I plan on getting all of her books to add to our collection. I look at her books and instantly want to be creative! Next week we will paint with pencil erasers! How fun is that?!

So there you have it! Our right-brained Wednesdays should be a hit!

Homeschool reading list

2011-08-23T19:13:00.000-05:00

I have agonized over this list more than anything else for our school year. I've read excerpts from each book, read reviews, checked out the Simply Charlotte Mason site, the Ambleside online site, talked with Reagan (my homeschool friend with a style identical to mine), and PRAYED. My original list was too advanced. I had to really think and pray about each child's abilities and interests. Finally, I got it! I had to make a few purchases from Amazon and check out some from the library. Some of these I have been buying through out the Summer. I am so ready for Monday!

Happy reading!!

Read Aloud

Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling (read aloud- snack)

The Bad Beginning-A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 1 by Lemony Snicket (read aloud-lunch)

Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan (audio dramatization-afternoon)

Literature Reading

The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis (Josiah)

The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang (AB)

Poetry
A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson
William Blake (Ambleside online)

History
We have different books we will read along with Mystery of History each week. Some I own, some I have borrowed and some are from the library.

Free Reading

Redwall Series by Brian Jacques (Josiah)

Storybook Treasury of Dick and Jane (Ava Beth)

A growing family!

2011-08-22T14:22:00.000-05:00

We found out last week that we are expecting! Yes, Jude is only nine months (ten months in a few weeks). He is still nursing so I am pretty excited that I was able to get pregnant. That boy will not take a bottle, a sippy cup, nothin'! Just me! And you know what? I am glad! I will continue to nurse as long as I can.

I know many people keep pregnancy a secret until they have passed the twelve week mark, but I don't like that. If for some reason I was to experience a miscarriage (I have before), then I will have many people praying for me. Please begin to pray with me now for a healthy pregnancy and baby!

We are planning to use a midwife and have a home birth this time. In a few weeks we will begin the search for a midwife in this area. Praying that through the interview process and recommendations from several friends, we find the perfect one!

Thank you for your prayers!

by the God of your father who will help you, by the Almighty who will bless you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that crouches beneath, blessings of the breasts and of the womb. -Genesis 49:25

He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock, in the land that he swore to your fathers to give you. -Deuteronomy 7:13

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, -Ephesians 3:20

Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate. -Psalm 127:5

Happy 36th Birthday Daddy!

2011-08-21T20:01:00.002-05:00

Carmel Conversations: Readin', Writin', and 'Rithmatic...Another Year Ah...

2011-08-21T19:07:00.002-05:00

My Pastor's wife, my friend, my teacher, my inspiration from the moment I met her. I love her whole family! She rocks the "Homeschool"! She challenges my thinking A LOT. I like that. I need that! I need teachers in my life CHALLENGING me. Make me think! I need it!

Take a peek into her classroom!

Carmel Conversations: Readin', Writin', and 'Rithmatic...Another Year Ah...: Well, it's that time of year again. Summer wanes and autumn soon descends. Must be time to dust off the books and get ready for another glor...

Organization and planning ahead

2011-08-18T18:34:00.000-05:00

So, here's how I made our daily schedule. My friend loaned me a book she used to create her schedule. She also emailed me a sample of her schedule. She has four children too. That helped a lot! I went here, saved the schedule as a pdf and edited it to fit our family (deleted a few lines, etc.). Now I have it saved on my computer! As you can see in this picture, everything is in pencil. I decided to leave it in pencil for the first week. I want to see if there is anything I need to tweak. Then I can go back and type it all in and print. This schedule begins at 6AM for me and ends at the kids' bedtime. EVERYTHING is on the schedule. Breaks, snacks, serve chart, read aloud, and everything else. Obviously with a baby, things change. Actually, with a house full of people, anything can happen! A temper tantrum, sickness, distractions, and many other things. I am not stupid enough to think that just because this schedule says we are done by 1pm that we really will be done at 1pm! I can only hope and pray!

I also have a menu plan for breakfast, snacks, lunch and dinner. Nothing major! Lunch may say "macaroni and carrots" and snack may say "apples". I tried this over the Summer and it saved a ton of time and money. I love KNOWING what we are eating. I've always done this for dinner, but not the other meals. It has really been great for breakfasts too. Oatmeal with honey or waffles. Cereal with blueberries or wholewheat pancakes. Lots of options! It sounds crazy, but doing this over the last few weeks has been GREAT! The kids love looking at the menu for all meals!

DO NOT let this schedule I have posted make you think you MUST do the same thing. I failed miserably last year at a schedule. We got everything done and I always had a lesson plan, but I could have been much better at a daily schedule. And let me share this! I took TWO weeks praying over this schedule before I finally got it together. For days and days I would sit down to work on it, nothing came. The BOOK and my FRIEND totally helped me get there! God is good!

I have a friend at church that shares and obsession with me. Post-it notes! At the beginning of the Summer when I began to brain-storm the upcoming year, my white board had rows and rows of post-it notes. One by one they have been ripped off and thrown in the trash! Why? Because I completed the list! I love post-it notes because a big, giant list overwhelms me. These little sticky things do not! I use them for EVERYTHING!

This is a peak inside my calendar/lesson plan book. I plan six weeks at a time. The orange ones are library lists. I have a list of books I need for each week. I sit at the computer, figure out which library has what I need, then I write down their call numbers. When I go to the library I already know exactly where the book is. NO looking once I get there. I go straight to the shelf! The yellow is for Art. The green is for my supplies. I have been gathering art supplies for our projects for a while now. See! EASY! Nothing complicated or fancy about how I stay organized!

This is my lesson plan book. Actually, it is a calendar! I use post-it notes here too. I cut them to make them smaller. The green has the title of our read alouds for History and the page #'s. The yellow post-it has a list of craft supplies. Every Saturday or Sunday afternoon, I gather supplies and get everything ready for the week. Again, EASY! Nothing to it! Not too scary, right?

This is my little box of heaven! POST-IT notes!

Back to Homeschool!

2011-08-18T15:44:00.000-05:00

We don't start school until the 29th, but I am just too excited! This weekend we are celebrating Jeremy's 36th Birthday with friends at a Water park. Next weekend we will do our annual "Back to Homeschool" family breakfast! Then we can START!!! I can't wait for first day of school pictures by the tree on the side of our house. I love our little traditions!

Thank you Lord for redeeming my past through my husband and children. Homeschool is a GIFT!

Letter for the Week (Preschool)

2011-08-18T15:30:00.001-05:00

I got the idea to do these here. I sat at my table with the iPad and copied the letters! I hand drew each letter. It took FOREVER because I have a very clingy baby right now! Then I pulled out my laminating machine and laminated each one! SO FUN! I have them at the very top of the wall, bordering the school room. And guess what? I still have the rest of the alphabet to finish!

Josiah and Ava Beth helped Ezekiel make this box. This year he will be doing a "Letter for the week". Each week he has a scavenger hunt where he will find all things beginning with the letter we are learning. Those things will be placed in this box! Our homeschool schedule this year is really neat. Ezekiel has a scheduled day like the big kids. Josiah is assigned to 30 minutes with Zeke while I am reading with Ava Beth. Then Ava Beth has 30 minutes with Zeke while I do Grammar with Josiah. Of course he has one on one time with me too. The kids are looking forward to helping him with his scavenger hunt each week. I printed out six weeks worth of his work. I will begin working on the next six weeks in a few weeks.

(more on our homeschool schedule in the next post!)

Serve

2011-08-18T15:00:00.001-05:00

I first saw this chart here. I loved how it did not have the word CHORE on it. This morning I was praying for a word that would be special for our own chart. First, I looked up the word CHORE in the dictionary. There were a few definitions that all meant the same, but I saw one that affirmed my choice to not use the word CHORE.

Chore- An unpleasant or burdensome task.

No wonder no one wants to do chores! Then I thought about the verse we have posted in our School room. Instantly, I knew the Holy Spirit had given me our word for the chart!

²³ Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, ²⁴ since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. -Colossians 3:23-24

I laminated everything I could. I want things to last for ALL of our kids. However many that is! :) We do chores twice a day. There are a few that only need to be done in the afternoon. Those have a "PM" written on them. As you finish a "Serve" card, you move it into the slot on the right. Done!

Guess what we are talking about regarding character right now? Serving! Perfect! I love how the Lord works. The Holy Spirit always delivers and it always flows within the vein your already in!

(P.S. I got the library card pouches at Mardel's. They even had zebra print, but Josiah did not agree! Instead we used each child's favorite color.)