Skip to main content

a little trip (part 1)…

Written by Joy
4 Comments
a little trip (part 1)…

The last week of May, my husband and I were blessed to have been able to go on a little trip.  Just the 2 of us.  In the 20 years (Oct.3rd), that we have been married, we have never taken a trip with just the two of us.  We have always had the kids with us.  Our youngest two have never even stayed away with others, without one of us always being their with them.  So when this opportunity arrived, we took it and said this would be our anniversary trip.  It was also the first time that I had ever flown.  I have always been afraid of heights, but I truly loved flying in a plane and look forward to doing it again.   We were blessed to have been able to take a trip west to Golden, CO.  This is a beautiful little town at the foot of the Rockies.  We stayed in a beautiful hotel called The Golden Hotel.  The view from the room was amazing.  I couldn’t wait to get to exploring around the area. One of the first places we went was to the Buffalo Bill’s Museum and Grave.  I love history, especially that of the Old West.  So to be able to go see where Buffalo Bill and his family were buried and to see a place dedicated to his life, was awesome!

Once we left Buffalo Bill’s Museum, we just rode around looking at the different views.  It is so amazing how the Rocky mountains are so different than the Appalachian Mountains. We rode to the Red Rocks Amphitheater.   While we didn’t get to go into the amphitheater seating area (they were having a graduation), we did get to see the visitor center and walk around the outside of it.  It is gorgeous there!  I would LOVE to go back and walk the trails around the area, as well as see a concert in the amphitheater.  The pictures I took with my phone does not do this place any justice.

Another cool place that my husband and I went to was The Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge.  It is one of the largest urban refuges in the United States.  It has over 330 different species of mammals, reptiles, birds, fish and amphibians.  The story about how this refuge came about is truly amazing.  The U.S. Army had built this area as a chemical weapons manufacturing facility after japan bombed Pearl Harbor, to support the war effort.  After the war was over, the land was then leased to the Shell Chemical Company for agricultural chemicals. Then the Arsenal was then used for Cold War weapons production and demilitarization.  For the rest of the story of who started cleaning up and how they did it, go to the Arsenal’s site.

While we were at the visitor center at the Arsenal Wildlife Refuge, we saw prairie dogs!  I had never seen one before and we saw close to 100 or more running across the plains.  God’s creations are amazing!  I wish we could have gotten a good picture of live ones close up, but they were too quick for us.

This picture was taken at their museum they have set up.  One day, I am hoping to go back so I can take my kids.  They have tours of the who area and you can see the mule deer and bison roaming on the prairie.  I know they will love seeing this!

I thought I had better split this up into two posts.  It was like we were on a field trip.  I took around 700 pictures and can’t wait to tell you about the trip to Mt. Evans and show you the views from 14,000 ft.

Until then… 🙂

 

2012, family, homeschooling, , ,

a season for everything..

Written by Joy
1 Comment
a season for everything..

Even though I am not writing for Seeds of Faith anymore, I will plan on taking part of their iFellowship day.  In the past, for iFellowship, I have always shared scripture that has spoken to me during the previous week.  I would love to continue to do that.

What scripture is on my heart now?

Ecclesiastes 3

1 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

2 a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
3 a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7 a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8 a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.

Yes, there is a season for everything.  Lately, God has been telling me it is time for me to move on from a few things.  For example, I will no longer be writing for Seeds of Faith.  It was a hard decision, but I must obey.  Another position I am moving on from is being the leader of a local homeschool support group.  I helped start the group and have been the leader for 5 years.  Again, this is a hard thing that I am doing, but it is time for me to move on.

God has been speaking to my heart and I must obey and keep glorifying God with all my might, even if I don’t like what He is saying.  I know that if I obey God, He will open other doors for me. The key is to listen and obey.  There will always be seasons and changes.  The good thing about that?  God will always be there with us as well.  I am learning to embrace and enjoy each and every season that God is allowing us to experience.

Are you leaving one season and entering another?  I would be more than happy to pray and even encourage you on your new season of life!

2012, God, iFellowship, , ,

tips for shopping used curriculum sales…

Written by Joy
2 Comments
tips for shopping used curriculum sales…

The homeschool group I am leader of, has been hosting a used curriculum sale for the last several years.  I always enjoy helping out during this sale.   I love talking with new and veteran homeschoolers.  Most of all though, I love SHOPPING at the used curriculum sale.  I love books of all kinds and to have so many to browse through, I truly get giddy!  I do try to be careful with what I purchase.  I always try to purchase what we will use for the upcoming year.  However, I have gotten carried away and have bought books that we didn’t use.  Not only did we not use them, but it was a loss of money.

With saying that, I thought I would give you a few tips to help you out when you attend a used curriculum sale.

First thing you need to do is make a list of the books that you will be needing for the upcoming year.  Look over what you have been using to see if you can still use any of the books from the previous school year.  There have been occasions that I have been able to use readers and textbooks for a couple of years.  Also, check your bookshelves.  You could have possibly purchased a book the year or two before not even knowing that you would be needing it in the future.  It could have been one of those impulse buys! {grin}

When you have checked your bookshelves, and still do not see what you need, ask around!  We have a wonderful homeschool support group that will let others borrow books if they are not using them.  Ask your homeschooling friends on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or any other social media.  This past year, I made a comment that I was looking for books for Tapestry of Grace, Year 1 and had a friend send me all she had for that year!   She saved me a lot of money just by me making a passing comment!

Now that you have checked your bookshelves and with your friends, double check your list and then make a budget.  Yes, I said a budget.  Even though you are going to a used book sale, you can still spend more money than what you need to.  I often will go online and check out prices on used curriculum websites, just to get an idea how much money the books will cost that I am looking for.  On my list, I will write the price of the book next to the name.

Once I have my budget, I take that amount of cash with me on the day of the used curriculum sale, along with my list.  I also try to get to the sale when it first starts.  Early bird gets the book, I mean worm. {smile}  You are more than likely to get what you need if you do show up when the sale begins.  I will walk around the sale doing a quick glance just to see if I can spot any book on my list and a price.  There have been a couple of times I was looking for a certain curriculum and noticed that two different moms had it.  One was cheaper than the other!  Never hesitate to ask if the mom will be willing to drop the price if you feel like it is too high.  More times than not, the mom will be willing to help you out.

Since I have been homeschooling for 10 years now,  I buy a lot of my books used.  By using these few tips I have been able to save us some money over the years.

Have you bought used curriculum and books for your homeschooling?  Do you have any tips that you could add to the ones above?  I would love for you to share them with us!

2012, homeschooling, , ,

so thankful and blessed… #876-900

Written by Joy
4 Comments
so thankful and blessed… #876-900

We have had a busy couple of weeks.  While we sometimes may be too busy for God, he is never too busy for us.  He keeps showering us with blessings over and over. I love taking the time to remember our blessings.  My list continues with me being blessed by being able to stay home with our children homeschooling them.

876. being able to homeschool my kids. (I can’t say this enough, we are so blessed to be able to do this.)

877. the homeschool group I am part of.

878. used book sale hosted by our homeschool group.

879.  the homeschool moms who took time out of their day to come help with the sale.

880. The great bargains I picked up for our homeschool journey at the book sale.

881. all the homeschool blogging friends I have come in contact with.

882. our church that fully supports us homeschooling our children.

883. a church who wants to spread the gospel.

884. people who are volunteering and who are helping with VBS preparations.

885. those who can’t help, donating money to help with VBS.

886. being able to take the kids to a local VBS in town.

887. the kids coming home excited from learning about Jesus.

888. the kids asking if they can go back to VBS.

889. seeing the kids sing and praise God!

890. park time with friends.

891. a much needed lazy Saturday.

892. rain for our garden.

893. our homeschool end of year picnic.

894. seeing all the kids having fun together at the picnic.

895. good food prepared, cooked and shared by one another.

896. new friends that were made at the cookout.

897. calls from family.

898. brothers who are taking care of my mom.

899. my daughter being asked to attend a citizenship conference by her 4-H leader.

900. a husband who works hard so that I can stay at home with our children.

I would love for you to join me and the others linking up at A Holy Experience. We would love to see how God has blessed you and your family.

 

2012, multitude Mondays,

over at Seeds of Faith today..

Written by Joy
over at Seeds of Faith today..

Photobucket

I am over at Seeds of Faith today.  This will also be my last post for Seeds of Faith.  I have enjoyed writing for them for over a year now.  I am writing about changes and how God is always there for you.

Thank you for taking the time and reading what I have written for Seeds of Faith.  I encourage you to continue coming back to read what the wonderful ladies of Seeds share.  Seeds of Faith has always been an encouraging blog for me to read.  I definitely will continue to read and support the ladies there.

2012