M.I.A.

This week I have been very busy. Not that my life is not normally busy, it just seems really packed right now.  

I started a new bible study this week (I'm leading, so more prep then just showing up), planning for next school year for the homeschool group, a conference at church that was 3 of my days.  Now I am preparing for a simulcast this next week which, again, will be 3 of my days. During this time I have been digging deeper, fasting and praying.

God amazes me daily, hour by hour, minute by minute. He is so good and is always faithful with answers to any questions that you may bring to him.

1 John 5:14-15 ¹⁴ This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. ¹⁵ And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

So for right now, I have been in a state of contemplation, laying down things, getting free from some things, and preparing.

I leave you with the song that has been playing in my mind over and over the last week.  Enjoy!

Nasty, Ugly, No Good Kitchen.

This is my kitchen.

 In this picture, do you notice I do not have a pretty window to look out while I wash my dishes?  Do you notice the lovely missing drawer?  Maybe you are jealous because I have loads of counter space? Did you know that God says to not covet?  Do you notice the ugly small shop light that laces it's beautiful plug through the most gorgeous, oak, bathroom, towel holder? Yeah, that one attached to the side of the cabinet.

This is the other side.  I have a very small galley kitchen.  That wall oven doesn't even work and we have since removed it from the wall and put my microwave and toaster oven in that spot.  We lived in the house for about 7 months with no oven.  I used the bar-b-que for everything.  I can make you a mean chocolate chip cookie if you want one.  I was blessed with a free oven off of freecycle just in time for Thanksgiving.  It is big, old and ugly and the oven temp is off so it resides in the garage.  Yes, we are those people.  I believe that this is all to get me prepared for a kitchen makeover that will, I'm sure, be a long process.  But, hey, I'm ready know.

This is the dining area.  We have since removed the air conditioner out of the wall and removed the microwave to the oven area.

So I have been scouring the web for ideas.  I have been looking for something that will address the original footprint.  This is not my dream home and we are attempting to make it a nice home, on a very tight budget.

Well I found it!! I am sooooo excited.  She said I can share with you......

Isn't it just dreamy? It is beautiful and almost exactly the same layout as my kitchen.  She has many more before and after pictures at her site along with her dining room. Please visit her. www.fleamarkettrixie.com

I love the way she decorates and I thank her for inspiration!  I so needed it! Now, I need to go pray because I am coveting :)

The Love of My Life!

I met my husband about 18 years ago.  He was a high school friends cousin.  I was not won over the first time we met.  I actually thought he was much to cocky and arrogant for my liking.  He didn't think a girl could drive his truck. So, of course, I had to prove him wrong.  He told me then that he would make me his wife.  Whatever buddy. :)

Christmas of 1994 he presented me with a cutting board, some silverware, and an engagement ring.  I remember him telling me that I should think about it for awhile because it would be forever.  Have to admit, that scared me.  Forever and marriage is not something I was raised with.  I had never seen a healthy marriage and didn't know anyone who had stayed married.  I was so in love though and I couldn't imagine being with anyone else.  I said yes.

We were married in August of 1995. We will celebrate 16 years this year.  He still makes my heart melt when he says my name.  I miss him terribly when he is away and always look forward to him coming home. It is him I think of when I hear love songs and it is him that I want to grow old with.  He is the first person I want to see in the morning and the last one I want to hold at night.

Has it always been easy? No, marriage never is. Life is messy and it takes work and sometimes it is really hard. What I have learned is that you must be willing to fight.  To fight for your marriage, to fight for your man, to fight for your family.  That means forgiveness, mercy, and grace extended when you don't always feel like it.  That means taking date nights seriously and following through.  Celebrating the big and small things in life. That means striving to put the others needs before your own and not striving to always have it your way.  That means taking care of yourself (mind, body, and soul), don't always greet him at the door in sweats :) Be his biggest cheerleader and tell him often! It also helps to marry a man who thinks he's a comedian.  :)

These are just a few of the things that I have learned so far.  I pray in another 16 years I will have learned even more :)

Homeschooling

I was the one who always thought homeschooling was NUTS!!  I was the one who said, "Never, would I do that!"

God has a sense of humor! When you tell him your plans, I can imagine him laughing with one of those full on belly laughs and thinking "stubborn child".  Jeremiah 29:11 states that 'He knows the plans He has made for me....."  No where in there does it state, the plans I have made for myself.  Which is ok, because His plans are always so much better!

Well when we moved to California (another thing that we said we would NEVER do) my middle child begged to be home schooled.  I couldn't understand why she would want to do that.  She is my most social child out of the bunch.  She is a leader. She is also the one we butt heads with the most often. :)  Who was she going to have to boss around if she stayed home with me all day? If she was thinking it was going to be me or her little brother, she had another think coming :)

Of  course the questions flooded my mind.  Am I going to ruin my child? What we would do all day? Can I even do that? What legally can I do? How would she make friends?

Once we signed our 1 year rental agreement we found out that they were planning on selling the home at the end of our agreement.  We would not have the $425,000 to purchase that home so we would be moving.  Which meant a new school, again, in one more year.  So....I said yes to homeschooling for 1 year only.

I knew one person who had home schooled all 4 of her children.  Someone who I respected and who's children I loved.  I remember calling her and asking for advice.  You know the one thing she said not to do? "Do not say you will do it for just 1 year" Great, I already messed up.  I understood what she was saying though.  That first year really is all about learning for you. How do you teach? How do your children learn? Curriculum choices can cause your head to spin, there are so many.  Picking through all of that takes time.

Needless to say we are on our 7th year of homeschooling.  Little brother has never gone to public school.  This next year for high school my middle daughter will go off to the same charter high school that her sister graduated from.  I will miss having her home with me.  The growth we have had through this experience has been wonderful and I am so blessed for not just doing it for 1 year.

What did I do??

As I sit here, drinking my cup of peppermint tea (my favorite), I ponder what I accomplished today.
My house is still a mess.  My laundry still undone.
Then I'm reminded of my day.  It didn't go to waste, I didn't procrastinate the day away.  I spent time with God, schooled my children, made 3 meals, took lunch to my husband, cleaned a kitchen, made a Walmart run, returned library books and picked up a new bunch, paid the bills, started my menu, got the AWANA cars cut (with the help of a friend), spoke with a new homeschooling mom with lots of questions, cleaned out the car (which was so in need, I made my hubby haul us around in the truck this weekend) and am currently writing my first blog entry.

As I read Sally Clarkson's book, "Mission of Motherhood" I came across this:

Proverbs 31 woman's activities all revolve around her home.
The preparation of food (vs.14)
Clothing (vs.13,21)
Ministering to others (vs.17-20)
Teaching her children & others (vs.26)
Spiritual life (vs.30)
business (vs.16)
future and well being (vs.25)
productivity (vs.27)
meeting her husbands needs (vs.11)


At second glance, it looks like it was a successful day.