Life's Trials/New Year

I am helping to coach C's home school basketball team. As I am enjoying this opportunity very much it is also very time consuming. That is one of the reasons for me not posting in such a long time. Anyway, C was voted one of three team captains for his JV team this year. One of the responsibilities of a team captain is to prepare a short bible lesson/devotion for each practice. This week C chose a devotion about the trials in life and how just because we are Christians it does not mean that we will not have difficulties in life.
As we prepare for a new year and have a time for reflection and even try to make a "resolution" to improve something in our lives for the new year I am thinking of those trials that we go through.
What do we do during the times of great difficulty in our lives? Do we seek and listen to God only when things are going good in our lives? Are we more "faithful" during the good times or the bad?
C's head coach tells the boys on the team that she is not looking for their mistakes (because she knows they will make them) she is looking for what they do for the first 3 seconds after they make a mistake. I know that until we are home with Jesus, walking side by side with our Heavenly Father, we will continue to face trials. But I wonder if God is looking to see what we do the first 3 seconds after we are faced with those trials. Do we immediately go to Him for guidance, or do we rush off to try to figure things out on our own? Do we seek guidance from those around us instead of the only who can truly solve our problems?
During the years that Kurt and I have been married we have had our share of trials. I think it is hard to just wait, wait for the Lord to speak. I so often want to solve my own problems as quickly and easily as possible, only to sometimes make the situation even worse. Sometimes I let my emotions lead me, or my sense of what is the right thing to do instead of listening for the Lord to tell me what I should do.
If I was to make a "resolution" for this new year, I think it would be to truly seek God first in all I do. Not just when I make a mess of something and need Him to fix it. He is always there for me, all I have to do is go to Him and let him carry me through life's trials.

Christians are like pumpkins!!

I read this many years ago and wanted to share it again.

Being a Christian is just like a pumpkin!

Let me try to explain, I brought this pumpkin here to help me illustrate what I mean. (Proceed to carve the pumpkin.)

First, God picks you from the pumpkin patch and brings you in from the field. The Bible says He selects us out of the world. We are in the world, but no longer of the world.

He then washes all the "dirt" off the outside that we received from being around all the other pumpkins. All the outside influences of our former life must be cleaned up. Old things are passed away and all things are become new.

Then, He carefully removes all the "yucky stuff" called "sin" out from the inside. Look at this! Yuk! Sin will not have such internal power. He then changes us from the inside out by the Power of His Word. That's why it is important to go the church and learn about God's Word.

He carefully removes all those seeds of doubt, hate, greed, and fear. He replaces them with the seeds of faith, hope and love. After Jesus is invited inside, you begin to experience the changing power of God's love in your life.

Then He carves a new smiling face. Our countenance is changed by the power of His presence in our life. We then become so grateful. It can even show on our face!

Now we are going to light this candle inside. Look! This pumpkin now reflects the light from inside out. So too, when Jesus, who is called the Son of Light, lives inside of us, He shines through our life for all to see. We can let His light reflect through us to reveal His presence. "Let your light so shine before men that they may be able to see your good works and glorify your Father, who is in heaven."So you see, we Christians are really like this pumpkin! We will never be the same with Jesus inside of us. We can say like this jack-o-lantern, "Thy presence, my light!"

Our Trip to Duffie's Exotic Bird Ranch

Last week our home school group took a field trip to Duffie's Exotic Bird Ranch in Dunn. There was an article in our local paper about the ranch so a trip was planned.
There were many different varieties of birds and it was quite an enjoyable trip. It was a beautiful day for the trip not too hot with just a bit of a breeze. The ranch was definitely bigger than it looked from the front of the property. We walked a good distance and the guided tour took just about 2 hours.
One big difference about this trip is that it was the first field trip of the year without the girls. Since they are now in public school they will have their own trips. It was nice to spend some time with just the boys for a change, but more than once I found myself wishing that my girls would have been with us.

My 1 Year Blogaversary Giveaway Winners!!!!

Congratulations to my winners!! And thank you to all who entered. I don't have pictures to show how I did the drawing, but I assure you I was fair. I put all the entries in a bowl and my sons picked the lucky winners!!

The Grand Prize Winner of a $50.00 gift card to your favorite restuarant was. . . Terrye at Shirley's Adventure to Grace Elyse!!!

The Second Place Winner of a $20 gift card to your choice of Target or Starbuck's was . . . Marla at Lego's and Tutu's!!

Our Trip to the Durham Life and Science Musuem

Last Monday was our first day off school since the girls are in public school and get all the holidays/teacher workdays off and I decided that it would be much easier to keep the boys on the same schedule.
So, for our first "Holiday" off school we decided to go somewhere and do something instead of just wasting the day. We went to the Life and Science Museum in Durham. It wasn't too far of a drive and we had a great time.
It was amazing to see all the different kinds of butterflies and moths. They are so pretty. K was thrilled when one of the butterflies landed on her finger.

The kids had a ton of fun in the Dinosaur area where they could dig for sharks teeth. I am not sure what one has to do with the other, but it was fun for them and sometimes that is all that counts. Kurt even got in there and helped them dig.
We also saw some animals and lots of bugs. Bugs are definitely NOT my favorite, but they can be kind of cool to look at as long as they are in cages and not on me. LOL
I really liked the Lemurs. They look so cute you just wish you could hold them. The playground area was also a hit. They could just run off some energy. Of course the boys thought that it would be a great place for a paint ball fight. That is what my teenage boys would think about.
Overall it was a great day, I just wish we could have stayed a little longer.

Wordless Wednesday

Are You Her Mommy? A conversation with a Kindergarten student.

I posted the conversation that I had this morning with one of A's classmates on my family blog. If you would like to read it. . . please click here, No Greater Joys.

Thoughts about the 1st week of school.

Reasons I miss homeschooling the girls. . .
1. The only cranky person on a power trip my girls had to deal with was me and I could actually talk to my child at breakfast.
I walked with K to the cafeteria on Wednesday so she could eat breakfast at school. While we were standing in line we were talking quietly as were many of the other students. The lady monitoring the line announced that there was no talking allowed in the cafeteria line. K and I exchanged a look like "Oops, we're in trouble now!" but did not say a word. Well the lady must have seen us exchange the look because she decided to assert her power and walk over to K and very firmly say, "Little girl, there is no talking in the breakfast line even if your mother is with you." I was speechless. I couldn't believe that this lady had said that to K. It was only my daughters 2nd day at this school and and her first day of going through the breakfast line and she was not the only child talking.
2. I know what my child is learning.
I asked K after the first day of school what she learned that day. She told me that she learned the rules for the classroom and they took a tour of the school and learned more rules. This is understandable, after all she is a new student to this school and she needs to learn the rules. Day 2 K had Art class. I asked her what she did in Art, she said that all they did was learn the rules for Art. Again the same thing for PE on day 3. So she has had three whole days of school and has learned nothing but rules, rules, rules. Where are the Math, Science, History, and English??? My boys have had three days of full lessons in every subject, but then again they already know the "rules" for our school. LOL
On a positive note, I do know that quite a bit of time this week has been spent by the students getting to know each other. They have done many activities where they share about themselves. This is a great way for the students to get to know each other. The social aspect of school was one of the things we considered when making the decision to put K in school. She needs that interaction with other children her age. She has made a few friends and seems to be happy.
A's thoughts on school. . ."I like school a lot, but I don't like getting woke up in the morning."

Homescooling the Boys
We have only had a few minor issues with the computer curriculum that the boys are using and I was able to get those worked out pretty quickly so all I have to say is, "So far, so good."

1st Day of School!!

WOW!! What a day!!
I took the girls to school this morning. I walked them to class, first K, then A. I waited around for a while and walked with A's class to the cafeteria for breakfast. Took some pictures (OF COURSE!!). Then I left.
I went home and got the boys up for school. I baked brownies for our after school snack (I wanted them to have a special treat on the first day.) I took the boys to lunch (they requested Burger King, so they could have Icees) to celebrate the first day of school. I checked the boys work. Went back to the school to pick up the girls. We came home, had our snack and relaxed after a long day.
Both the girls teachers said that they had a great first day.
One day down--179 more to go.

School Starts Tomorrow!!

Wow!! Where did the summer go?
We had a pretty busy summer. We hosted an exchange student for one month this summer. This is something that we have done for two summers now and very much enjoy it. Last summer we hosted Miguel from Spain and this year we hosted Andrew from Hungary. We had very good experiences with both boys. While Andrew was here we took two day trips to the beach, which we hardly ever do so that was a big deal for us. We also took a trip to the Fort Fisher Aquarium and took the ferry to Southport for some shopping. So we were quite busy while Andrew was here.
We then made a trip to South Dakota. We were late in planning this trip because it was not just a vacation. We had to move Kurt's brother back up there to be closer the rest of Kurt's family. So instead of just Kurt taking Daniel, we decided we would all go and make a family vacation out of it. It was a very long trip. But it was great to see family that we have not see in over 2 years.
Then we brought my dad down for a visit. It was an extra special visit because he had never been to any of my homes before. My parents divorced when I was in 2nd grade and then I married an Army man and moved away. So it had never worked out for him to come to visit.
Now the summer is over and school is about to begin. I am looking forward to starting the new school year and getting back into a routine. This year will be different than any other school year because I will have two children in public school and two that I am home schooling.
The girls will start attending the local public school. I am thankful that they will have this year together at the same school. We attended open house last week and met with their teachers. Both girls seem to have great teachers and I don't anticipate any problems. We have purchased all their school supplies and are ready for them to head off in the morning.
The boys will stay home and work on their studies. I am excited about the curriculum I have for them for this year. I am sure that they will do fine with it.

Cute Video for Those Homeschool Moms Out There

Our trip to Reptile Gardens

During our recent trip to South Dakota we were blessed with free tickets to Reptile Gardens. My sister-in-law gave the tickets to J for a belated birthday gift. It was the perfect gift for J with his love of animals and it was a fun day. We went to the Alligator Show, Bird Show and Snake Show. J even got to participate in the Bird Show. We spent the entire afternoon there and had a great time. Thank you Beth for thinking of such a great gift!!

Blogoversary Giveaway!!!

I can't believe my 1 year Blogoversary is almost here!!! I want to have a giveaway to celebrate. This will be my first giveaway so I want to make it exciting!!!
Here it goes. . .
2 Prizes!!!!
1st Prize is a $50.00 gift certificate to a local restaurant!! The winner will have to let me know what is close by them.
2nd Prize is a $20.00 gift certificate to Target or Starbuck's your choice!!


The winner will be drawn on my 1 year Blogoversary, so remember to check back and see if you have won.

3 ways to enter!!!
1. Leave me a comment. Let me know your favorite restaurant in case you win 1st prize. Make sure that there is a link back to you so I can let you know if you have won or leave me a separate comment with your email (I will not post this comment). Make sure that you sign your first name and last initial. Thanks!!
2. Make a post on your blog about my giveaway and let me know that you have done so. We all love to win free stuff so tell your friends!!
3. Tell me how you found my blog. Have you been following, did a friend refer you, etc. I would love to know how you found me.
BONUS good for an extra entry!!!
Because I am a home school mom I am always looking for great Field Trips ideas. Tell me about the best field trip you have been on with your kids.

I am really excited about my first giveaway. I can't wait to see who wins!!!

Trip to Fort Fisher Aquarium

Tuesday we decided to take a day trip with some friends to Fort Fisher and visit the aquarium. After the aquarium we had a picnic lunch by the beach and the kids took a walk along the beach. Then we took a ferry over to Southport for some ice cream and shopping. We had a great day.

I finally scanned this picture from our trip to Hershey. We had a lot of fun together on this trip. Maybe we will get to go back again soon.

Common Whitetail Dragonfly

J noticed this dragonfly on our back step the other day. I thought that it was very strange looking. It didn't even look like a dragonfly, but I looked it up and sure enough it is a common whitetail dragonfly.

Summer Camp

I did it!! I actually dropped K off at Summer Camp. I hope I survive the week without her. She is 2 1/2 hours away from home for an entire week. The boys are very glad to have a week with only one sister. LOL
Thank goodness she went with three friends from church, so she will have tons of fun!!

Last Day of School

Well today is our official last day of school!!!
The children finished up some of their subjects early, but today they are done with everything. Another year down.
I am really looking forward to next year. We have decided to put the girls into school. The school is very close to the house and both girls could go there for one year until K goes on to middle school. There were many considerations that went into this decision. I won't list them all, but we feel that it is the right decision for our family at this time. That is not to say that we can't pull them out and home school at any given point if we are not happy with their education.
The boys will continue to home school and I am excited about their curriculum for next year. I always feel like that when I start ordering curriculum. They will be using the following curriculum next year.
Math--Teaching Textbooks
Grammar & Composition--Abeka
Reading & Comprehension--Total Language Plus
Science, History, Bible, Spanish, Health--Switched On Schoolhouse

Funny

A little girl had just finished her first week of school. When her mom asked her what she thought about school, she replied, "I'm just wasting my time. I can't read, I can't write, and they won't let me talk!"

Remember

Please take time today to remember the sacrifice of others. I would like to say "Thank You" to all soldiers who have willingly given so much to protect this county.

Kindergarten Beginners Day

With much prayer we have decided to put the girls in public school next year. A will be in Kindergarten and K will be in 5th grade.
Yesterday was Beginners Day at the local school and K and I took A in to the school and stayed for an informational meeting while A went to the classroom for Kindergarten. There was an envelope with some work in it for A to take to the classroom with her. She asked me if it was her lessons. When I told her yes she said, "Ah man, I didn't know that I would have to do lessons!" I chuckled and asked her what she thought that she would be doing in Kindergarten. She said, "Read, play outside, and color." That sounds about right to me. LOL

Testing

We completed our end of grade standardized testing last week and I mailed them off to be scored yesterday. I always breath a sigh of relief after we are done testing. Then I get anxious about how the children did on their tests. We should have the results in a couple of weeks.
I am sure that they did well. They always seem to do fine on these tests, but I always get nervous anyway. I try not to hold to much stock in these tests because some children just do not test well. But on the other hand when this is a homeschooling requirement for our state I want them to do well. I guess I will just have to wait to see how they did.

Lions and Tigers and Bears, OH MY!!

Today we went to the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro. Kurt was able to get off work to go with us. It was so nice to have the whole family together for a "field trip". It was not overly crowded and the weather was great. The children all picked their favorite animals.
The zoo was very nice. They had lots of animals to see. I really liked the gorilla. He looked as though he really enjoyed posing for the cameras. It was a fun family day.

The Discovery Museum in Cleveland, OH

After we visited family in Pennsylvania recently, the children and I went to Ohio to visit my Dad and step-Mom. While we were visiting they took us to the Discovery Science Museum in Cleveland. The children had lots of fun and we finished the day with an IMAX movie. That was the first time I had been to an IMAX theater. It was pretty neat and I think the children enjoyed it too.

Our trip to Hershey!!

We recently had the opportunity to take a trip to Pennsylvania to visit family. During this trip we decided to go over to Hershey and tour Chocolate World. It was such a nice trip and we really enjoyed the Trolley Tour of Hershey. It was fascinating to hear about Milton Hershey. His story is truly an inspiring one. He failed so many times before he succeeded, but he didn't give up. He was a very giving man and the company that he set up continues to do great things. And of course the chocolate was great!!!

Coloring Eggs

We colored eggs tonight. It is so much fun to see the children being creative with their eggs.

Questions about Field Trips!!!!

I am trying to think of some fun, educational field trips for my family. Have any of you been on any memorable field trips? Where did you go? What made it memorable? Was it memorable in a good or bad way? Please leave me a comment about all your fun field trips!!!

Website Spotlight Thursday

Today I would like to Spotlight :
This is a really neat website with lots of great things that you can do with your children. There are craft ideas, pages to print, games and recipes. Just go check it out!!!

Blog Spotlight Monday

Today I want to take some time to shine the spotlight on Sandra at Full Bellies, Happy Kids. Sandra is a Christian SAHM and wife to her Air Force Husband. They have 2 children.

I love her blog because she has her menus planned out two weeks ahead of time and she has the recipes listed for all the great dishes she makes.

Like this one: Mexican Lasagna.

If you want to find out how to make this yummy looking dish, just visit Sandra's blog!!!!

Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow, winter to continue

Being that I was raised in Punxsutawney, I try to follow along with whether or not the groundhog saw his shadow. It is fun to see if what really happens is remotely close to his predictions.

AP--PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. – The world's most famous groundhog saw his shadow Monday morning, predicting this already long winter will last for six more weeks.

Punxsutawney Phil emerged just after dawn in front of an estimated 13,000 witnesses, many dressed in black-and-gold to celebrate the Pittsburgh Steelers' Super Bowl victory the night before.

"There's significant buzz from the Steelers win and quite a few Terrible Towels floating from the crowd," said Mickey Rowley, deputy secretary for tourism in Pennsylvania.

The annual ritual takes place on Gobbler's Knob, a tiny hill in Punxsutawney, a borough of about 6,100 residents some 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.

The Punxsutawney Groundhog Club announced the forecast in a short proclamation, in which Phil acknowledged the Steelers' 27-23 win over the Arizona Cardinals.

According to German superstition, if a hibernating animal casts a shadow on Feb. 2 — the Christian holiday of Candlemas — winter will last another six weeks. If no shadow was seen, legend said spring would come early.

Since 1887, Phil has seen his shadow 97 times, hasn't seen it 15 times, and there are no records for nine years, according to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club.

Rowley said the Groundhog Day festivities is Pennsylvania's largest tourist gathering in the winter. And if Phil's forecast proves correct it should bring even more tourists to the state.

"It's six more weeks of skiing," Rowley said.