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busy couple of weeks..

Written by Joy
1 Comment
busy couple of weeks..

While reading other blogs, I just realized I haven’t posted anything in 2 weeks! Not even a Monday Multitude or iFellowship. I had told myself I was going to start writing more and here time has just slipped by me.

The day after I last posted, we left for Florida to visit with family. While it was a good trip, it just passed way to quickly. It doesn’t seem like we ever have enough time to visit with everyone that we want to. We couldn’t stay as long as we usually do, because my oldest had to get back to his job. He had already missed a week, a couple of weeks back due to being at a missions camp. So his job was being generous letting him miss the week we were in Florida. We were able to visit with my mom, my husband’s parents, his great grandma and great great grandma who will be 98 in August. Can you believe that I didn’t take any pictures? First trip back that I didn’t even bring out the camera to get pictures of the kids with grandparents. I am hoping we can make it back during the holidays. We normally have a few extra days we can spend at Christmas time. So I am looking forward to heading back to visit more with family and will definitely take pictures then! Until then, here are pictures that I took of family 2 years ago.


The one above is of us with my husband’s great great grandma, great grandma and dad. There are 5 generations pictured here. The picture below is of my mom and the 5 grandkids. They sure do love their Meme!

As I mentioned before, we have been having Vacation Bible School at our church this week. It started on Sunday night. Our theme this year? God Always Wins! Yes, He always wins and will definitely win in the end! My kids have been having such a wonderful time. We have had some awesome conversations about Jesus and how we want to spend eternity with Him. When my youngest son said he wanted to spend eternal life with Jesus, it brought tears to my eyes. God is so amazing! You see, my youngest son has not always enjoyed going to church like my other children. I honestly don’t know what had happened, but when we attended a previous church, he did not want to go to class. He would cry until it made him sick. He ended up staying with my husband and I for a while, until my husband decided to start taking him to class and staying with him. Even with Buddy doing that, he still did not like church and did not want to go to class. We eventually left that church to the one we are attending now. Finally, after a year of Buddy and I taking turns being with him in class, he will now go on his own. He will run to class now and wave goodbye to us. I just talked with his 2 teachers and they say he is participating in class and will talk with them and the other kids in class. It truly is an answer to prayer. So as you can tell, when this momma heard him say he wanted to spend eternal life with Jesus, I was ecstatic!! Tonight is the last night of VBS and my youngest daughter and I are missing it. She woke up sick and is still not feeling well. We are truly bummed that we are missing it. I am praying that this is just a 24 bug and she will be better on Sunday morning to take part in the VBS commencement program we will be holding.

My oldest daughter has had Ballet camp this week. She has been having an awesome time learning from a wonderful ballet teacher who has been dancing for 80 years. Her teacher, Mrs. Marilyn Cloutier is in her 80’s and has danced with some of the best ballet dancers in the world. This has truly been a treat for our daughter and I am just hoping that she will continue to take ballet in the fall.

I have also been going through my homeschool bookshelves. I am preparing for our 8th year of homeschooling. While I have the books I will be using for my youngest 2 children, I am still looking for curriculum for my oldest daughter. She is wanting to learn about Ancient History and I am wanting to cover American History. I am praying about this decision and even talking with my husband about it. Since my oldest daughter will be in the 8th grade, I would like for her to have some say in what she learns. However, with the United States going like it is in this day and time, I am really wanting us to study the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. I want us to go over and study what this country was founded on and what those who founded this wonderful country went through to make it the greatest place to live. When I do decide on what we are going to use for my oldest daughter, I plan on writing a post about our homeschool curriculum for the upcoming year.

Oh, I am also writing once a month for Seeds of Faith and The Homeschool Village. So as you can tell, it has been a busy summer around here and it doesn’t look like it will be slowing down any time soon! I am going to do my best to try and start posting more. I do enjoy writing and sharing with others. I appreciate you all being so patient with me!

Now that I have you caught up on what we have been doing, what about you? How has your summer been?

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family, homeschooling

busy couple of weeks..

Written by Joy
1 Comment
busy couple of weeks..

While reading other blogs, I just realized I haven’t posted anything in 2 weeks! Not even a Monday Multitude or iFellowship. I had told myself I was going to start writing more and here time has just slipped by me.

The day after I last posted, we left for Florida to visit with family. While it was a good trip, it just passed way to quickly. It doesn’t seem like we ever have enough time to visit with everyone that we want to. We couldn’t stay as long as we usually do, because my oldest had to get back to his job. He had already missed a week, a couple of weeks back due to being at a missions camp. So his job was being generous letting him miss the week we were in Florida. We were able to visit with my mom, my husband’s parents, his great grandma and great great grandma who will be 98 in August. Can you believe that I didn’t take any pictures? First trip back that I didn’t even bring out the camera to get pictures of the kids with grandparents. I am hoping we can make it back during the holidays. We normally have a few extra days we can spend at Christmas time. So I am looking forward to heading back to visit more with family and will definitely take pictures then! Until then, here are pictures that I took of family 2 years ago.


The one above is of us with my husband’s great great grandma, great grandma and dad. There are 5 generations pictured here. The picture below is of my mom and the 5 grandkids. They sure do love their Meme!

As I mentioned before, we have been having Vacation Bible School at our church this week. It started on Sunday night. Our theme this year? God Always Wins! Yes, He always wins and will definitely win in the end! My kids have been having such a wonderful time. We have had some awesome conversations about Jesus and how we want to spend eternity with Him. When my youngest son said he wanted to spend eternal life with Jesus, it brought tears to my eyes. God is so amazing! You see, my youngest son has not always enjoyed going to church like my other children. I honestly don’t know what had happened, but when we attended a previous church, he did not want to go to class. He would cry until it made him sick. He ended up staying with my husband and I for a while, until my husband decided to start taking him to class and staying with him. Even with Buddy doing that, he still did not like church and did not want to go to class. We eventually left that church to the one we are attending now. Finally, after a year of Buddy and I taking turns being with him in class, he will now go on his own. He will run to class now and wave goodbye to us. I just talked with his 2 teachers and they say he is participating in class and will talk with them and the other kids in class. It truly is an answer to prayer. So as you can tell, when this momma heard him say he wanted to spend eternal life with Jesus, I was ecstatic!! Tonight is the last night of VBS and my youngest daughter and I are missing it. She woke up sick and is still not feeling well. We are truly bummed that we are missing it. I am praying that this is just a 24 bug and she will be better on Sunday morning to take part in the VBS commencement program we will be holding.

My oldest daughter has had Ballet camp this week. She has been having an awesome time learning from a wonderful ballet teacher who has been dancing for 80 years. Her teacher, Mrs. Marilyn Cloutier is in her 80’s and has danced with some of the best ballet dancers in the world. This has truly been a treat for our daughter and I am just hoping that she will continue to take ballet in the fall.

I have also been going through my homeschool bookshelves. I am preparing for our 8th year of homeschooling. While I have the books I will be using for my youngest 2 children, I am still looking for curriculum for my oldest daughter. She is wanting to learn about Ancient History and I am wanting to cover American History. I am praying about this decision and even talking with my husband about it. Since my oldest daughter will be in the 8th grade, I would like for her to have some say in what she learns. However, with the United States going like it is in this day and time, I am really wanting us to study the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. I want us to go over and study what this country was founded on and what those who founded this wonderful country went through to make it the greatest place to live. When I do decide on what we are going to use for my oldest daughter, I plan on writing a post about our homeschool curriculum for the upcoming year.

Oh, I am also writing once a month for Seeds of Faith and The Homeschool Village. So as you can tell, it has been a busy summer around here and it doesn’t look like it will be slowing down any time soon! I am going to do my best to try and start posting more. I do enjoy writing and sharing with others. I appreciate you all being so patient with me!

Now that I have you caught up on what we have been doing, what about you? How has your summer been?

Photobucket

family, homeschooling

Homeschool Village Garden Challenge #4

Written by Joy
3 Comments
Homeschool Village Garden Challenge #4

I seem to always be running a day late on link-ups lately. It is time for the final link-up for 

Our sunflowers really took off this year.  This is one of the smaller ones that bloomed.
As you can tell in this poorly taken picture (with my cell phone), this one really took off and grew towards the sun!  While we didn’t have an accurate measurement, we think it was close to 14-15ft high.  
Next up is my bell peppers.  I planted 5 different colors/kind this year.  I am excited and can’t wait to see the different colors in a stir fry!  I believe the one below is the orange petite kind.
This is our planter full of tomato plants.  There are 4 different kinds of tomato plants in just this one spot.  We have several more kids growing in our neighbors garden.  She graciously allowed us a small section of it, since we had so many seedlings to take off.
If I am not mistaken, this is the Brandywine tomato.  
My Green bell pepper plant has many little ones like this on it.
The onions we planted have a gorgeous white ball bloom on top.  By the way, does anyone know when the onion is ready to be picked?  I guess we need to google this question! 
This is my favorite tomato that we planted.  It is a German Queen tomato.  They can get up to 2lbs in size if not bigger!
The yellow blurb in this picture is a squash and another squash bloom.  I am so excited about my squash plants.  This is the first year I have planted them and I have had some success!  I am also looking forward to throwing squash in a stir fry!
Another, slightly better picture of my second squash plant.  I think the birds have been enjoying the blooms off of this plant.  They keep disappearing and falling off.  I am sure it has nothing to do with the 2 bird nests on our front porch!

I did not get any pictures of our thyme, oregano, basil, parsley, sage, cucumbers, strawberries, okra, candy roaster or eggplant plants. However, they are all growing wonderfully and we are so excited for when we will be able to eat a little bit of everything from our garden this year.

The kids have also enjoyed helping take care of the garden.  From the beginning, they helped plant seeds, watered, transplanted and have even cultivated some of their hard earned fruits.  It is so wonderful to be able to teach the kids how they can live off the land by taking time each day caring for a garden.

Thanks so much to The Homeschool Village for have this awesome link-up.  Please stop by and check out all the others who have linked up.
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2011, homeschooling

Homeschool Village Garden Challenge #4

Written by Joy
3 Comments
Homeschool Village Garden Challenge #4

I seem to always be running a day late on link-ups lately. It is time for the final link-up for 

Our sunflowers really took off this year.  This is one of the smaller ones that bloomed.
As you can tell in this poorly taken picture (with my cell phone), this one really took off and grew towards the sun!  While we didn’t have an accurate measurement, we think it was close to 14-15ft high.  
Next up is my bell peppers.  I planted 5 different colors/kind this year.  I am excited and can’t wait to see the different colors in a stir fry!  I believe the one below is the orange petite kind.
This is our planter full of tomato plants.  There are 4 different kinds of tomato plants in just this one spot.  We have several more kids growing in our neighbors garden.  She graciously allowed us a small section of it, since we had so many seedlings to take off.
If I am not mistaken, this is the Brandywine tomato.  
My Green bell pepper plant has many little ones like this on it.
The onions we planted have a gorgeous white ball bloom on top.  By the way, does anyone know when the onion is ready to be picked?  I guess we need to google this question! 
This is my favorite tomato that we planted.  It is a German Queen tomato.  They can get up to 2lbs in size if not bigger!
The yellow blurb in this picture is a squash and another squash bloom.  I am so excited about my squash plants.  This is the first year I have planted them and I have had some success!  I am also looking forward to throwing squash in a stir fry!
Another, slightly better picture of my second squash plant.  I think the birds have been enjoying the blooms off of this plant.  They keep disappearing and falling off.  I am sure it has nothing to do with the 2 bird nests on our front porch!

I did not get any pictures of our thyme, oregano, basil, parsley, sage, cucumbers, strawberries, okra, candy roaster or eggplant plants. However, they are all growing wonderfully and we are so excited for when we will be able to eat a little bit of everything from our garden this year.

The kids have also enjoyed helping take care of the garden.  From the beginning, they helped plant seeds, watered, transplanted and have even cultivated some of their hard earned fruits.  It is so wonderful to be able to teach the kids how they can live off the land by taking time each day caring for a garden.

Thanks so much to The Homeschool Village for have this awesome link-up.  Please stop by and check out all the others who have linked up.
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2011, homeschooling

This Is What We Have Been Up To!

Written by Joy
2 Comments
This Is What We Have Been Up To!

What a week it has been! Oh heck, who am I kidding, what a month it has been! Just when you think things are going to slow down and you would get more time to relax a little, that is when things always pick up.

I haven’t been able to post as regularly as I have wanted to. Making time for writing has really been hard. I have been doing my best to put my family and our household first. I have been sitting here trying to think of the last time I have given an update. Low and behold, it was back at the beginning of May, right before Mother’s Day. A lot has happened since then, so let’s see if I can’t catch you all up.

The day after Mother’s Day, I got sick. Went to the doctor and they thought I had the flu. Again. I was so thankful when the flu test came back negative. We had already had 2 different types of flu come through the house and go through all 6 of us. At 2 different times! I didn’t want to go through that again. However, the strep test came up positive. Strep?? Where did THAT come from? Thankfully, once again we were blessed. I was the only one to get it.

That following weekend, I was able to get away for a weekend with the ladies from church. What an awesome time of fellowship we had. It was truly amazing! We studied about the Woman at the Well. God is so amazing!

We continued with school and made a lot of progress. My younger 2 are moving right along in their Bob Jones math workbooks. The Hooked on Phonics program has been a lifesaver as well. It is so wonderful to see the kids wake up and eager, yes, EAGER to do their school work. They are loving school now! My oldest daughter has also moved right along in math and is reading everything she can get her hands on. I am so thankful that our new library has finally opened. We are still working through the summer with Reading, Phonics and Math. Those subjects usually only take us about an hour or so of the morning and then we have the rest of the day to have some summer fun.

As for extra curricular activity, our oldest has finished with dance until camp in July. She had her dance recital at the end of May and they did an awesome job. Our daughter was awarded a medal for Tap. We are very proud of her. I missed sign-ups for the younger 2 for t-ball. So I am keeping them busy at the park and playing outside at the house.

Our oldest son has graduated from high school.(I will write a separate post for this) He is also taking a break from college classes over the summer. He is working his part time job at McDonald’s for the summer to earn a little extra money. We are so proud of what he has been able to accomplish since we started homeschooling him. It is so amazing that we have actually graduated our first homeschool graduate of the family. He has a very bright future ahead of him once he finishes his college education.

My husband and I are busy staying in the Word and doing our best to raise our children by the bible. We feel strongly that it is meant for me to stay at home with the kids and continue to homeschool them. We are in the process of choosing our curriculum for next year. I just love looking at all that is available for us. At the moment, we will be using Bob Jones (Math, English, Science, History and Reading) for our younger 2 children. It seems to be working just for for them now. We will also keep using Hooked on Phonics as a reinforcement to reading. For our oldest daughter, we will continue using Teaching Textbooks for math. For science, we will continue with Apologia’s Physical Science course. We are still looking for a History, English and Bible curriculum. I have narrowed it down to 3 different ones; Tapestry of Grace, Veritas Press and Konos. She has asked to start with Ancient History and 2 of these seem to have a great study on that.

I am also trying to get some book reviews finished. I have several I need to get written up. I just need to make the time to do so. It is challenging to find some quiet time to write. This is also my last year of being the leader of the homeschool group in our area. It has been a wonderful 4 years, but I do think it is time to pass the torch on to someone else. It will also free me up a few minutes of the day and I am hoping to use that time for writing. How do make time for writing?

So as you can tell, it has been a busy summer in our household. However, I am still doing my best to keep this blog going. I love being able to share my love of Jesus (I contribute over at Seeds of Faith), our journey on homeschooling (I contribute at The Homeschool Village) and our love for the mountains. Thank you to those who have stuck around and not given up on me!

How are you all doing? How is your summer going? I would love to hear what is going on in your life! Can I pray for you any? Please let me know if I can lift your name up to our awesome God!

Blessings!

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2011, family, homeschooling