Skip to main content

dreams coming true

Written by Joy
6 Comments
dreams coming true

Vegas and Ben

For my oldest daughter, moving here has made a little girl’s dream come true.  Since she begin to talk, she had this love for horses.  Horse was one of her very first words.  She has quite a few stuff animal horses and has drawn many pictures of horses throughout the years.  So when we moved to Colorado, the lady we are renting the vacation rental from, has two horses.  She asked Sarah if she would be willing to help take care of the horses for her.  Of course she said yes!  Not only does she have a job helping to take care of horses and being paid for it, she is also getting riding lessons in return.  Yes, dreams do come true to hose who wait.

Sarah riding Ben.

Sarah wakes up every morning and will go straight to the horses.  She will let them out into the field and clean the stable.

Sarah taking Ben around the stable at a walk.

Every afternoon she will go out to give the horses fresh water and food.

Sarah and Ben are trotting now.

While I haven’t been able to provide this dream for my daughter, God has.  It is amazing what happens when you do your best to follow God and be in His will.  Even something as simple as making a girl’s dream come true of having horses around, He does care for you and will provide.

I am glad my daughter is able to have this experience.  It is teaching her responsibility.  It is teaching her how to properly care for animals.  It is teaching her hard work.  It is teaching her that dreams come true if you work hard and most of all, trust in God.  Even after we move, Sarah will still have a job taking care of Ben and Vegas several times a week.  She will also continue taking riding lessons.  Yes, good things come to those who wait.  Thank you God for giving my daughter this dream.

 

2012, family, , ,

14 days ago we celebrated a birthday

Written by Joy
2 Comments
14 days ago we celebrated a birthday

Yes, that is right. I said 14 days ago we celebrated a birthday. Our youngest son, Samuel, turned 8.  Before we left North Carolina, we held a birthday party for him with his friends.   So when his actual birthday came around, it was just going to be a small family affair.  We tried to make it as memorable as we could being so far from family and friends.

It did end up being a fun day.  We got to go on a field trip to a mine with a homeschool group.  He had a lot of fun.  Especially when it came time to pan for gold!

He chose what kind of cake he wanted, white cake with a lemon filling.  However, I surprised him with a football theme on top.  He loved it!

Samuel’s Denver Bronco’s birthday cake.

Overall, I think he had a great day.  I know we enjoyed celebrating this life of this precious child.  We thank God for him every day.  I am looking forward to seeing him grow over this next year and then into a young man.  I know God has great plans for him.

Samuel blowing out the candles.

2012, family, , ,

settling in and catching up

Written by Joy
2 Comments
settling in and catching up

View of Golden, CO from Lookout Mountain.

We have been in Golden, Colorado for 3 weeks now.  It finally feels like we are getting used to the area and the climate.  I think everyone is adjusting well and seems to be liking living here, so far.  Even though we are in a vacation rental for another couple of weeks and will be moving to an apartment in 2 weeks, I feel like we are settling in with our new life here.

We have been taking a more hands on approach with our homeschooling by doing field trips and a study of the state of Colorado.  We are just taking it one day at a time until we can get into the more permanent rental and I can get the rest of our books here.

Our oldest son has started the local community college, Red Rocks and has already gotten a part time job at a local grocery store.  Our girls will be starting dance soon and our youngest son is considering taking dance as well.  We are also checking into the local recreation centers for sports they can play.

My husband is enjoying his job a lot at the Colorado School of Mines.  He will also begin to take classes at this college next semester to further his education in his field.  One of the perks of working for this college, is the classes are free for him.

As for me, I am hanging in there and doing alright.  I feel like I am behind in everything.  While I know we will be settling soon in our new apartment, it just can’t get here soon enough.  I know what we will be doing for school, I just have to get it written down and get everything scheduled.

As for the blog, you can see I am still writing on “My Home In The Smokies”.  I am working on my new blog and hopefully it will be ready soon.  I am excited about the new name and the new design.  Honey and Jonah of Honeycomb Design Studio are working hard, helping me get everything ready.  I have several reviews coming up for different curriculum’s that we are using this year.  I am also still writing for The Homeschool Village once a month.

I have a lot of wonderful plans for the new blog.  I want to focus more on our homeschooling, as well as our photography.  I feel like God is leading me to help and encourage homeschoolers more than ever.  I just have to figure out how He wants me to do this.  I still feel like I have a lot to learn when it comes to blogging.

There are couple of conferences that I want to go to this next year.  One is the BEECH Retreat.  It is being held in Captiva Island, Florida.  I feel like this time with the wonderful speakers would definitely benefit me tremendously.  They actually plan to have classes where the speakers actually help you focus on your goal.  The second conference I would like to attend is the 2:1 Conference.  I was blessed to be sponsored by See The Light Art, to attend the conference back in April.  I learned a lot from this conference and can’t wait to go back.

I am looking forward to see what God has planned for our family.  I am also looking forward to see what God has planned for me and this blog.  I feel like I am heading into unknown territory, but know that God will be there with me every step of the way.  I hope  you will come along on the ride with me.  It is going to be another adventurous ride letting go and letting God.

 

 

2012, family, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

the trip to Colorado (part 3)

Written by Joy
2 Comments
the trip to Colorado (part 3)

If you missed the first two parts on Monday and Wednesday, you can read them here at part one and part two.

After we made it to Russell, KS and got us a good nights sleep, we were up and on the road, ready for the trip to be over with.  We still had quite a few hours left to drive, but I knew God was on our side and we would make it to Colorado.  At this point in the trip, Buddy was quite miserable with the poison ivy.  His arm looked really bad and he was just not well at all.   No matter what we did, or what we put on it, it continued to spread.  I knew we needed to get to Colorado soon so we could get him to a doctor.

I have to be honest, this part of the trip was the least eventful of all the days we were on the road.  The girls had started to feel better and the van was running smoothly.  It was just us and the open road.  With an occasional car or two.

We kept right on rolling along, until we stopped for a quick lunch (which was to-go).  Back on the road for more driving while looking at nothing but farm fields.  Having nothing but open space around really give you time to think and time to pray.  I know this trip I did my fair share of both.  I was thinking about all that we had to do once we got to Colorado.  Setting up a new house, making sure we get all the proper paperwork taken care of address changes, switching vehicle tags over and the dreaded driver license test and picture.  Most importantly for us though, finding a new church.  It is important to our family to find a group of fellow believers, to worship with.  I prayed constantly, too.  It seemed like from the day we left, that something bad had happened.  However, God has been with us every step of the way.  Through the good and yes, even through the bad.  He always provided for us when something went wrong.  Oh, don’t get me wrong.  I did my fair share of what now?  Why this? What is going to happen next?  Every time I did though, He always came through.  God never let us down.  Even through all of my whining and complaining, He was always there.  Yes, all those thoughts crossed my mind as I drove across this beautiful land.

Just when I thought we would keep driving and never get to Colorado, we saw the Welcome to Colorado sign (I was driving and was unable to get a picture of it).  The kids were thankful that not far after this sign, was the welcome center.  Since we had drove straight and didn’t even get out for lunch, we stopped for a few minutes to stretch our legs.  They had this cute visitor center that showed a lot of historical buildings and antiques.  We enjoyed ourselves for a few minutes.

Then it was back on the road.  We were all excited by now, since we were in Colorado.  It would only be a couple of more hours before we would be in Golden, CO.  When we started getting towards the city of Denver, I started pointing out little things that I had noticed on our trip back in May.  The kids really started getting excited.  Then, when I turned off the exit and started heading down town, this is what welcomed us.  This beautiful sign.  “Howdy Folks! Welcome to Golden, Where the West Lives!”.  Yes, we finally made it to our new home.

Like I said, the rest of the trip was not as eventful has the first few days.  I was really thankful for that.  Once we got into town and into our hotel room (we wouldn’t be in our rental for another 3 more days), Buddy did go to the Urgent Care Clinic.  They gave him a shot of an antibiotic, cleaned his arm really well, wrapped it and sent him on his way with a prescription for the antibiotic and steroids.  They were quite concerned and told him to come back the following day.  With the medicine in him, you could tell he was feeling better and the rash was starting to dry up.  He started work that Monday and hasn’t looked back since.

I also want to say thank you all for the many prayers.  It means a lot to know that you are cared for.  I have a few more stories to share of some things we have done since we have been in Colorado.  Hopefully, I will be able to start blogging more regular now that we are getting settled.  Continue to pray for our family as we find our place here in Golden, CO.  Blessings.

2012, family, , ,

trip to Colorado {part 2}

Written by Joy
trip to Colorado {part 2}

I told about the first part of our trip on Monday. You can read part one here.

I had mentioned earlier that my husband had come in contact with poison ivy, as he was attempting to fix our water before we left.  Most people would be able to wash off and be okay after a brief contact with a poison ivy plant.  Not my husband.  He is highly allergic to that plant.  So much, that he normally needs to go to a doctor to get a steroid and antibiotic for it.  This would be a problem since we were moving cross country and needed to get on the road.  By the first night, his one arm was covered.  It was pretty nasty looking and caused him great discomfort.  By the next day, he was absolutely miserable.  We were putting over the counter itch medicine and several other ointments on it.  It didn’t get any better, just kept spreading and getting worse.

As this point, we were entering St. Louis, MO.  We had already traveled through parts of Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois.  It was nearing lunch time as we passed The Arch of St. Louis.  We stopped at a wonderful BBQ joint that had been on The Food Network.  Since we had 2 sick kids and my husband was not feeling well, we decided to head on to get as many miles as we could, towards our destination.  When you are traveling with 2 sick kids (in my van) and a husband/dad (in my son’s vehicle), it makes for a very long drive.

We finally made it to our destination for that evening in Independence, MO.  We were all tired and worn out from the drive.  We did take the kids to the pool to swim for about an hour, but then it was back to the room, baths and a little t.v. before bedtime.  Other than those who were sick, this was actually our less adventuress day.  I was very thankful for that.  We were able to eat breakfast at the hotel and then get on the road knowing that we would be leaving MO and entering Kansas.  We were leaving the city and was heading to the open road.

Things were going pretty well as we were driving along through the farm fields of Kansas.  We had just left a stop where we got gas and some goodies for the road trip.  We had to make a slight detour to an auto parts store for a gas cap.  My son’s was lost at the previous stop.  About 30 minutes or so had passed and a couple of my kids had to take a potty break.  Thankfully, there was a rest stop just ahead.  I had gotten out to take the two younger kids to the bathroom when my oldest daughter came running over.  Apparently the van had lost all of the water from its radiator.  Just when we thought things couldn’t get any worse.  Then it happens.  A fan on our van broke and in the process poked a hole in the radiator.  So we are sitting at a rest area in the middle of Kansas with it 90+ degrees, 2 sick kids, a hubby covered in poison ivy with a vehicle that won’t work.   Yeah, just when I think things couldn’t get any worse.  I sent out another prayer request plea to some friends and immediately pray myself and this is what comes to my mind:

Deuteronomy 31:6

6  Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”

God knew what was going to happen and had everything under control.  You see, my husband can fix near about anything.  He has always worked on all of our vehicles.  In fact, he had replaced that radiator a couple of months ago.  We had also just left a town where there was an auto parts store, that just happened to of had a radiator to fit our van.  We were also at a rest area that had snack/drink machines and we had bottled water and snacks in the van.  This rest area also had picnic tables with covered shelters, underneath trees.  God had even blessed us with a nice breeze.

While the kids, our dog and I waited at one of the covered picnic tables, my husband and oldest son headed back to the auto parts store.  Which meant they had to go to the next exit, turn around and head back.  This took about an hour to do.  They finally made it back and within just a few minutes, had the new radiator on and we were once again on our way to Colorado.  With all the excitement that we had, we decided to find a hotel in Russell, KS and just get some rest.  It had been a long day, we still had sick kids and my husband was still not feeling well with the poison ivy spreading.

Thankfully we were 2/3 of the way to Colorado and there was an end in sight.  God was with us the whole way.  Stop by on Friday and see the ending of our cross country move.

 

2012, family, , , ,