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moving to Colorado and putting our homeschool on hold for a few weeks…

Written by Joy
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moving to Colorado and putting our homeschool on hold for a few weeks…

If you haven’t heard yet, our family is moving.  Moving across country.  1500 miles away from were we are at now.  We will be moving to Golden, CO and this will be happening in two (very short) weeks.

My life right now is boxes and a lot of them.

When we first found out my husband had the job, the first thing I packed up was our school books.  I knew there wouldn’t be any dedicated time for book learning until after the move would be complete.  There is so much to learn that can’t come from a  book.  You just have to experience it.  My kids will be going through a lot emotionally,  and I know that what we would have covered from the books, would not be retained in their minds.

kids playing with play-dough during their sleepover.

All my kids can think about at this time is spending as much time as they can with the friends they will be leaving behind. Besides all of the purging of things that we do not need nor want, I am playing chauffeur to my children and letting them be kids and have a short summer with their friends.

Sarah and a friend from church.

I have had people ask why we decided to move if we were happy where we are at now.  Well, sometimes God opens a door and you just have to go through it.  You have to go where God needs you to go.  I think you can sometimes get too comfortable in a place.

Jeremiah 29:11

11  For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

God knows where we need to be when we need to be there.  We just have to be able to listen and obey when He calls us to move on.  God will also take care of His children when we listen.  He knew that we were open to relocating, if necessary.  God provided the job and now it is time for us to obey and move on.

Is it going to be hard?  Yes!  Have I  already shed tears about leaving so many friends and our church family?  You betcha!!  God never promised us a life of ease.

James 1:2-4

2  Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

While I don’t really feel like this is a trial as in a bad thing happening, I do know that I have to have faith in God and know that if we listen and obey, He will take care of us no matter where we are at.  He will provide us with a new church to help and serve in.  He will provide us with like-minded folks to fellowship with.  Yes, He will even find my children friends to help ease the the hurt of missing old friends.

So while our homeschool is on hold for a few more weeks, I am hoping to be posting about our journey west to Golden, CO.  I am hoping to be able to write and tell about our fears of moving and even our excitement of a new journey that God has in store for us.

Once we are settled, I will then be changing the name of my blog to “A Journey of Joy”.  No, not all journey’s are full of joy, but it will be my journey and I will be writing about our life and our life of homeschooling and us doing our best to have joy in all we do.

Please keep us in your prayers on our new journey.

2012, family, homeschooling, , ,

berry picking during the summer months..

Written by Joy
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berry picking during the summer months..

I have really enjoyed this Summer Bucket Series I have been a part of this week.  I am very thankful to Honey for inviting me to be a part of it and have enjoyed getting ideas and being inspired by the other bloggers that joined in on the fun.  If you missed my first 4 posts, you can check them out here: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 and Day 4.


One of our favorite things to do as a family every year is to go berry picking.  We love to go to a local farm to get our strawberries.  They have a strawberry festival every year.  My husband has helped them before with their music part of the festival.  We have missed going this year to pick strawberries, and I am hoping once we move that we will be able to find another farm out in Colorado.

Another place we love going to pick berries, is the Blue Ridge Parkway.  They have blueberry bushes along the side of the roads in an area close to us.  Every year, towards the end of July – beginning of August we pack up a lunch and head to the mountains.  We have our favorite spots that is very safe to pull off the road and to pick the fresh wild blueberries.  You do have to be careful, because you aren’t the only ones who are picking berries.  We have been told that some people have come across bears and other wild animals eating berries while they were picking as well.  I am thankful that we have never shared an area with a bear picking while picking blueberries!

Blackberries is another berry that our family loves to eat.  There seems nothing better than a freshly baked blackberry cobbler with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side.  We have a lot of blackberry bushes along the side of our road that we live on.  The kids and I have taken buckets and just walked down the road and have come home with enough berries for several cobblers.

We are blessed to have a lot of local farms in our areas that do allow you to come and pick your own berries.  While I do love going to a local farm, I still think it is great to be able to step out your back door and to pick berries from the mountains.

As we are packing up to move across the country, these are memories that I am thankful I have of this area.  My children and I have grown and learned so much about living in the mountains and respecting the mountains and the wild animals that live here.  We are also looking forward to the new adventures that await us when we move out to the Rockies in Colorado.

Do you have local farms that you are able to go and pick fresh berries, fruits and vegetables?  I would love to hear about your adventures that you have had!

Be sure to stop by the others who are participating in the Summer Bucket List series to see what fun they have been up to!

Honey @ Sunflower Schoolhouse

Tonya @ The Traveling Praters

Jeniffer & Melissa @ Sisters ‘N Cloth

Lisa @ Creativlei

Nancy @ Proverbs 31 Jewels

Jennifer @ Teaching Boys

Kelli @ Adventurez In Child’rearing

2012, family,

trips to National or State parks…

Written by Joy
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trips to National or State parks…



I am truly enjoying sharing fun ideas from our Summer Bucket List.  I have also been enjoying seeing what others have been doing as well.  I hope that we have been able to give you some ideas and inspiration to start a bucket list or even add on to your bucket list you already have made!

Something else our family loves doing together is going to state or national parks.  We are blessed to live in a state that has several in our area.  Our family is just minutes from The Great Smoky National Park and The Blue Ridge Parkway.

One of our favorite places to go is the Mountain Farm Museum in Cherokee, at the Oconoluftee Visitor Center.  A couple of times a year, they have this wonderful Mountain Farm Life festival.  They have volunteers dress in period clothing and they give examples of how folks lived in the late 1800’s.  You will see women standing over open flames with a huge kettle on top making lye soap.  You will also see women making apple butter, too!

There are always men and women showing the the guests how to make brooms from corn talks and tassels.

They have the house open so you can see the simple life that people had.  The kitchen is usually warm with women baking cornbread and beans in the fireplace.  They also bake cookies as treats for everyone who comes by.

One of my kids’ favorite areas to visit is the games area.  A gentleman brings his toys that he has collected and made over the years for every to give a try.  It is so hard to get the kids to look at other things when they see this area!

I love seeing the area set up at the Apple barn.  They have a tent set up where they are making molasses the old way.  The mule is walking around in circles at the grinder, pressing the juice from the cane.  They then take it to an area that has a huge shallow pan where they pour the juice from the cane.  Under it is a fire that keeps the juice boiling to burn the water off.  What is left is the syrup from the sugar cane.

Next to the molasses tent is the apple press.  They take the apples and slice them up in a big bucket.  They then have this press that they use to mash all of the juice out.  What you get is fresh apple cider!  It is so delicious!

We were able to attend the Mountain Life festival this past September, but missed it this past Spring.  I am hoping to at least get one more trip to this beautiful area before we move in a few weeks.

Do you have any National or State parks in your area?  There is usually a small entrance fee to the parks, but it is well worth the money.  I know I always enjoy a trip back in time to these beautiful places!

Be sure to stop by the others who are participating in the Summer Bucket List series to see what fun they have been up to!

Honey @ Sunflower Schoolhouse

Tonya @ The Traveling Praters

Jeniffer & Melissa @ Sisters ‘N Cloth

Lisa @ Creativlei

Nancy @ Proverbs 31 Jewels

Jennifer @ Teaching Boys

Kelli @ Adventurez In Child’rearing

2012, family, homeschooling, , , , , , ,

Birds of Prey program at our library

Written by Joy
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Birds of Prey program at our library



As we continue on with our activities from our Summer Bucket List, I have to mention about our awesome library that we have. When we move, our library will be one thing that we will miss a lot. Our library, just celebrated its first anniversary at its new building. Along with the new building has come more books and also more programs being offered for the kids by the library. We missed the programs on the Wolves and Snakes, and it was by chance that we happened to stop by and noticed the Birds of Prey program about to begin. The kids were so excited when they found out that they didn’t miss this show! Even better that their grandparents could be there with them!

The local Nature Center had my kids’ attention from the start.   They had several different owls, a Red Tail Hawk, a Harris Hawk and a Bald Eagle named Freedom.  I love how they explained to the kids why these animals were called birds of prey and how they ended up in captivity and why they can never be out back out into the wild.

The bald eagle’s name is Freedom.  He talked about how the bald eagles used to be considered endangered species many years ago.  There are now over 10,000 pairs of bald eagles in the U.S.  Freedom is a bald eagle that is visiting the Nature Center from Dollywood.

My oldest daughter has been to this Nature Center several times and has fallen in love with the birds that they take care of.  I am very thankful that we were able to be at the program, so that I could get a picture of her holding the Harris Hawk.

We are blessed to have a library that is able to have programs that are so fun and educational.  Does your library have  any programs during the summertime?

Be sure to stop by the others who are participating in the Summer Bucket List series to see what fun they have been up to!

Honey @ Sunflower Schoolhouse

Tonya @ The Traveling Praters

Jeniffer & Melissa @ Sisters ‘N Cloth

Lisa @ Creativlei

Nancy @ Proverbs 31 Jewels

Jennifer @ Teaching Boys

Kelli @ Adventurez In Child’rearing

2012, family, homeschooling, , , , ,

swimming with friends at the local pool..

Written by Joy
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swimming with friends at the local pool..


 

In keeping with our theme of spending as much time as we can with our friends before we head west, the kids chose swimming with friends at the local pool.  Not only did we get to do this once, but we have gotten to do it twice!  We are working on meeting up with some friends again for a third time before we pull out the last week of July.

The first pool time came with our church friends.  It just so happened that they had scheduled a cookout and pool party to celebrate the end of the school year for all the kids, plus a celebration of those who have graduated from their school.  We even got to play a game of softball with  kids and adults.  Everyone had a wonderful time!

Our next pool party was a going away party for the kids, put on by our homeschool support group.  They have been a part of our family for the last 7 years and it was a pool party we just couldn’t miss.  The kids and I truly had a wonderful time and will definitely remember that evening for a very long time.  One of the moms even thought to buy the kids each a notebook and had all the kids there sign each book for each of the kids.  Some of the comments had me in tears.  Yes, we will truly miss our 2nd family, the homeschool group.

We do plan on getting together again with some of the homeschoolers for another pool party.  I do hope I remember to bring my camera this time!

Do you have a local pool you can meet up with friends at?  I am thankful that there will be a local pool near us when we move west to make more memories!

Be sure to stop by the others who are participating in the Summer Bucket List series to see what fun they have been up to!

Honey @ Sunflower Schoolhouse

Tonya @ The Traveling Praters

Jeniffer & Melissa @ Sisters ‘N Cloth

Lisa @ Creativlei

Nancy @ Proverbs 31 Jewels

Jennifer @ Teaching Boys

Kelli @ Adventurez In Child’rearing

2012, family, , ,