Day 2

begins slowly and with the first cup of coffee. This isn't a "couch to 5k" and I'm not necessarily speaking about Creation either.

Yesterday, I pulled the contents of about 4 shelves to the floor, dusted the shelves, reorganized the books, and put them back. I went through craft supplies and purged a few things into a trash can. The floor was left with a few piles of stuff (some of last years school work that needs to be filed) and a few things for the boys to deal with.

Today, more shelves and boxes to organizes and Vacation Bible School (VBS) to work on. Looks like I won't be leaving the fireplace room much today.

Sunday Afternoons

This has been a Sunday afternoon that I truly like. I've spent the better part of the afternoon working on a couple quilt squares. Over at "Five in a Row", when there is a lose of a friend from the boards (or a member of their family), the ladies pull together several quilt squares to make a larger quilt. Our friend, Fran, lost her battle with breast cancer almost two weeks ago, so I've been working on a square for her husband's quilt and one for one of her daughters.

My picture taking is a bit off today, but this is
the panel for one of Fran's daughters.

This panel will be going into the
quilt for Ed, her husband.

Also enjoyable today, has been cooking and baking. Granted there isn't much special about grilled cheese for lunch, but no one seemed to complain about having lunch fixed for them. It was also the easiest thing to fix given that I wanted to roast a chicken for dinner. HHHmmm the house has smelled wonderful this afternoon. Who cares that it feels horribly hot outside.


Other odd things that have made today day enjoyable (pictures below the statements now):

~ being able to maintain a newly sodded front lawn
~ a quick trip to the library to pick up a new book for the boys (sssshhhhhhhhhhh, don't tell the homeschool police that I only picked up one book!!) and their summer reading packages
~ a quick trip to Starbucks for their iced tea (only $0.53 when bringing in one of their cups to reuse)
~ finishing up a baby blanket; I like how the edges turned out looking a bit like lace!
Off now, to enjoy the family!

Words of summer . . .

What words or short phrases define summer for you? Here's a list I've been contemplating:

1. flip flops
2. sun screen
3. pool
4. long days
5. pool
6. sleeping in late
7. fireflies
8. thunderstorms
9. sunburns
10. shorts
11. grill
12. umbrella
13. tomato plant
14. basil
15. heat
16. humidity
17. swimming
18. tan lines
19. fun nail polish
20. reading
21. vacation
22. traffic
23. "How much longer?"
24. no school
25. lingering over coffee
26. corn on the cob
27. bleach
28. comet (as in the cleaner stuff)
29. fresh fruit
30. sound of ice cream truck
31. libraries' summer reading program
    

Journey into the land of patience . . .

Kevin and I had our last interviews with our social worker two weeks ago. In theory, we should be receiving a rough draft any time now in the next 7 days to review. It's almost like the last few weeks of being pregnant in that, the "due date" is only an estimate, it could happen anytime around that date.

In the mean time, we've been mulling over which agency to go with for the actual adoption, how much do with think we can afford, how to pay for it, how to rearrange the bedrooms, and on goes the list.

Prayer requests, for now:

1. Wisdom for the financial aspect the adoption. We don't want to be over our heads in debt.
2. Clear disernment regarding which agency to go through.
3. Endurance for the organizing of our house.
4. Patience and peace for walking in God's timing.

Thank you friends,

Playing in the dirt.

Sometimes I wonder why I am the one that plays in the dirt the most. Yesterday, for example, after 10 bags of dirt was put into the whole that was our tree out front and leveled some, I wet it down to help it settle. It was basically a big mud pie. Really surprised that Thing One and Thing Two didn't even ask if they could play in it.

Today, (after a second trip to Wal-Mart last night for 15 more bags of dirt) I put in 13 of the bags and leveled it out again. Will probably use the remaining two later and wish I had more. After 23 bags of dirt this is our front yard, morning sun light and all.

Did you notice how much sunlight hits the living room
window? Curtains are closed a whole lot more now.

Out back, our vegetables are growing. Here are
our pumpkin vines. No actual pumpkins yet, but the
fact that the vines are growing like crazy and we have a
lot of blooms bods well fro having pumpkins.

Corn was planted as well earlier in the Spring.
We have a couple ears growing. Hope they'll taste
good later.

Legacy

what does the word legacy mean to you? Possibly something you leave to the ones that come after. According to Yourdictionary.com it means:

noun pl. legacies -·cies

1. money or property left to someone by a will; bequest
2. anything handed down from, or as from, an ancestor
3. ☆ a student applying or admitted to a college or university who is a relative of an alumnus

adjective

being or having to do with something, esp. something outdated or otherwise undesirable, that is carried over from a previous system, business operation, etc.

In a word search within the Bible, much of the usage is geared toward the adjective legacy and the undesirable outcome of certain behavior. One positive usage, within the Message Bible, states in Psalm 127:3

Don't you see that children are God's best gift? the fruit of the womb his generous legacy? Like a warrior's fistful of arrows are the children of a vigorous youth. Oh, how blessed are you parents, with your quivers full of children! Your enemies don't stand a chance against you; you'll sweep them right off your doorstep.

The thing about a legacy though, we need to be aware of our motives. Why are we handing something down? Does the item have value to the recipient? Are we just handing over a problem to the next generation?

The word has been on my heart a lot in the the last few days. I wonder what will be remembered after our time on earth is over. Will the legacy we leave our children be an honorable one, a God inspired, God breathed legacy? Will we have breathed a love for God into our children lives like God breathed life into Adam. Will they know how much we love them and that our Savior loves them way more than Dad or Mom can ever show them? I pray for these things and that, with each moment I spend with them, there will be a memory built that can be called upon when they feel low.

I'm realizing, all to quickly, that life on the earth is just a blip in time, to be overly legalistic about so many things. As a parents, Kevin and I need to decide what is ultimately important and impress this upon our children and love on them like crazy.

Tears of sadness! Tears of joy!

There times in ones life that we just need to have trust in God, for His wisdom, and for His timing. A sister in Christ, from Five in a Row, has been battling a second round of cancer in the last few months. Her husband posted, on her blog, that she is not doing well and does not have much time left before going to Heaven.

Though I have tears of joy for her perfect healing, there are tears of sadness for her husband and family. There will be such a void in the family, that only God can fill. I pray for the family that His presence be felt and apparent.

Next Years Curriculum

We're on the home stretch of having all the things we want for next school year. So far, we have the following, which includes some things we haven't finished up from last year:

• Math-U-See - we'll wrap up Alpha and Delta, then move onto Beta and Epsilon
• Five in a Row and Beyond Five in a Row
• Chronicles of Narnia Bible Study and will add in other things from Home School Share
• The Testimony of Charlie Coulson - a unit study for Civil War times which we'll due prior to going to Battle Cedar Creek Reenactment
• Language Lessons for the Elementary Child 2
• Language Lessons for Little Ones 3
• An Honorable Boy - A Bible Study for Elementary Aged Boys (one for each boy)
• Thanksgiving Unit Study from Amanda Bennett
• My Nature Journal
• Sequential Spelling
• Mystery of History
  

The following things came from Queens Homeschool Supply, should you be interested: both of the Language Lesson books, The Testimony of Charlie Coulson, and An Honorable Boy. We're also working on creating some copy work for the boys. Still being considered is Excellence in Writing.

As an aside, copy work can be a great thing for a few reasons, following are a few:

1. kids are reading things that demonstrate good grammar
2. when copy work is chosen that is a level or two above where the child is currently reading, they slow down their work to focus on spacing, punctuation, spelling
3. it also helps them with penmanship
4. they are introduced to wonderful poems, prose, quotes, etc.
5. it can be used as a "warm-up" so to speak for a writing assignment, a way to get the mind working when trying to create a paragraph, essay, or outline
6. we'll also be using copy work as a way to reinforce math facts and the direction of numbers, both items the boys need a bit of help on

So, our days will be busy with school, bible study, being outside, and hopefully a bit more fun.