Athena in a Minivan

Our Classroom

I thought I would include some pictures of our classroom. Here is Butch and Sundance hard at work on some color word pages from Handwriting Without Tears prewriting book. This is our classroom/playroom. When Honey and I built this house we knew we wanted a place for our children to play together. Since we were planning a wedding at the same time, it is amazing how this space is so perfect. God knew what we would need.

It feels so great to be back to teaching. I have always loved writing lesson plans and then checking them off as we accomplished them. What is so great about homeschooling is that the lessons can be done at anytime and in anyplace. Today we had to take the van to be worked on and I loaded up the books into a bag and we worked on them in the waiting room. Last Thursday, we did school work in the park and then played for an hour. It just seems so natural to be teaching this way. I always worked to make my school classrooms have a homey place and now pur homey place is the classroom.

Butch and Sundance, I am so proud to be your mother and your teacher. You make me smile. You bring me such joy. May God bless you as you begin your schooling journey.

VBS........again

This week I am leading Vacation Bible School..... again. Our new church has VBS at the end of the summer where our old one has VBS at the beginning. I don't  mind doing it and I love teaching children about Jesus. It is just interesting the difference between the two.

My large church ran around 1100 in VBS. The small one is celebrating 55 children. When you put it in perspective though the large church had 20% of the total members at VBS and the small church has 37% of the total members at VBS. The total offering taken for the large church was about $1.36 per child. This is only Tuesday and the children at the small church have already collected $1.00 per child. I'll update on Friday and let you know how we did. We are raising money to buy a water system for a village in Africa.

Our new church is such a family. Betty the grandmother is the director, her husband is driving the van, their two daughters are teaching, her four grandchildren (teenagers) are also helping. Nelda is the director of the preschool, her daughter and niece are teaching, two grandchildren are helping teenagers and 2 great nephews are attending. I could go on but it would just get confusing. Families who serve the Lord together, stay together.

I'll update on Friday about how many children we have total the whole week. Pray for my 4 and 5 year olds that they will know that Jesus loves them. Many of them come from families who are struggling to get by. Pray that the older children will learn to know and love Jesus and that some of them will make a decision to accept Jesus in their hearts.

Can Laundry cause depression?

A Resounding YES!!! (along with sadness, and a feeling of being out of control)This is what my couch looked like on Friday. It is now Monday and I have only 5 loads left to wash and dry and fold. I see the end in sight. Maybe I should try this laundry system that the military uses.

Last week was spent in a food induced coma. If it didn't eat me first, I ate it. CONFESSION: I ordered a slab of ribs and a loaded baked sweet potato (plus green beans, but they had bacon on them) and ate every bite and even licked the bones. Now, I'd like to see that on Desperate Housewives. I drank an half gallon on milk with Ovaltine.

Sunday night my friend Lisa called. She too had a bad week and we could tell in that neither of us called to walk. Well, tonight we are getting back to walking. We decided we could not do this alone. We needed each other's support. We even have a goal. We are going to walk in November a half marathon in support of the Leukemia/Lymphoma Society.

God never intended us to live our lives in isolation. He gave Adam a gift of Eve, He gave Jesus his disciples, He gave Abraham Lot, He gave David Jonathan, He gave Paul Timothy and he give us friends. I am grateful for my friend this week.

We have decided to Homeschool

How wrong I was!!! I taught special education and had a classroom full of medicated children. I am now a parent of three beautiful boys and God has shown me how wrong I was. Each of these children are uniquely designed by God to bring glory to Him. One of my sons would almost definitely be labeled "hyper" but with lots of love, training of habits and constant reminders he is a blessing to live with. We have decided to homeschool all of our sons so that the person who is training and teaching them can be the person who loves them the most in this world. Is this the easiest path? Goodness no. It would be much easier to send them away for seven hours a day while I shopped, rest, cleaned house uninterupted but this is not what God has called me to. When He gave me these three gifts, He called me to care for them in the best way I know how. God calls them to Him and here at home is the best place to hear that call.

What do we do with a mud puddle?

Shove your baby brother's head in it. This is how Butch and Sundance spent the time after a rain storm. They were all three so muddy I had to hose them off in the front yard. What a fun afternoon!!!

Laundry Day Again

Yes, it is laundry day again. They boy are engaged in an epic Star Wars battle of good over evil. I guess it is the modern boys way of playing knights and dragons. Instead of swords and dragons we have lightsabres and stormtroopers. Sometimes Baby ends up getting killed but he always comes back as another character. Butch is up to his old ways today. See how mad he can make his brother.

The laundry from our camping trip is outrageous. There are dirty towels, blankets, clothes and undies. All I can do is take it one load at a time. I am cooking ribs and beans for dinner so that is something to look forward to.

Baby is in need of a nap so it is off to take care of him.

Oh by the way, laundry does seem a bit less drudgery when you sing hymns as you fold. Right now I am listening to Festival Hymns from Broadway Baptist Church. It is hard to be sad when you are singing," Crown Him, Crown Him and Crown Him Lord of All".

Life and whatnot

Lately is seems like life gets in the way of my posts. We have been so busy with church, basketball, laundry, housework, etc, etc,etc. This weekend we are going on a family camping trip. I can't wait. I love to be outdoors. We are going to hike, eat, hike, eat, sleep, hike and eat some more. This will be Baby's first camping trip. I took the twins on a camping trip when they were 14 months old too. THis was just before my mom started to get sicker and she was able to go with us. It was a wonderful time of being in the Hill Country and seeing all the beautiful bluebonnets.

We are fast approaching the 3 year mark since my mom died. I am sad. I hope this weekend will distract me enough to not think about it too much. I would love to have an hour to spend with her and ask her advise about school for the twins, church, and life in general. I have always been one who processes best when thinking outloud. Writing just does not quite do it for me. I need that person who is listening. I know GOd is listening but I really need some feedback and right now there is no one in my life who can give me this type of feedback.

I need to get on with packing for our trip. I just hope I don't forget anything.

Blessed Easter - CHRIST HAS RISEN

What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul, what wondrous love is this, O my soul!What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss to bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul, to bear the dreadful curse for my soul!

When I was sinking down, sinking down, sinking down, when I was sinking down, sinking down; when I was sinking down beneath God's righteous frown, Christ laid aside his crown for my soul, for my soul, Christ laid aside his crown for my soul!

To God and to the Lamb I will sing, I will sing, to God and to the Lamb I will sing! To God and to the Lamb, who is the great "I AM", while millions join the theme, I will sing, I will sing, while millions join the theme, I will sing.

And when from death I'm free, I'll sing on, I'll sing on, and when from death I'm free, I'll sing on! And when from death I'm free, I'll sing and joyful be, and trough eternity I'll sing on, I'll sing on, and through eternity I'll sing on! (traditional Appalachian hymn)

Blessed and Happy Easter.  Christ has risen, Christ has RISEN, CHRIST HAS RISEN, CHRIST HAS RISEN INDEED.

Tokens and Sleep

Each night my neighbor and I walk. Our husbands think we are getting some exercise. We call it our therapy. It is great to have a friend who is like minded that is willing to listen to my wild ideas and thoughts. We trade off each night. Some nights she has something on her mind, other nights it is my junk.

I have been having MAJOR problems getting Butch and Sundance to bed each night. It is like they turn into these crazy wild boys at 8:00 pm. They bounce off the bed, fight, talk, laugh, and generally do ANYTHING to keep from going to sleep. It makes the evenings around here quite unpleasant.

My walking buddy and I came up with a new token system. You would think I would have thought of this seeing as I studied behavior management from so many years but alas when it is close to home sometimes you forget.

The boys each get 5 tokens each night. For each infraction of the bedtime rules they get one taken away. If either one gets down to two tokens the night light gets turned off. Any tokens they have left can be turned in for either 20 minutes of computer or PlayStation or 25 cents.

Last night was the first night and Butch lost 4 if his tokens. Sundance lost only one. I was kinda of suspicious that Butch was the culprit in keeping everyone awake and now I am more sure. Today, Sundance has decide to use 2 tokens for PlayStation and save two. Butch is going to use his only token on computer.

I'll keep you posted on if it makes bedtime any easier.

What a month

I am going to learn to save a post before I try to do anything else with it. I had a wonderful description of our month which I lost to Neverland. It has been a tough month. Here are some of the events that have occurred:

• We got a new minivan, another Odyssey. This time it is silver and had more features. I am not going to describe them in case the same someone who took the other one gets more Odyssey envy and tries to take this one too. If you want to see it, I will give you a ride in her.
• Butch and Sundance turned 5. It was quite emotional. They were so happy since you can now play with Transformers when you are 5. I was sad since my little boys are growing up. I am making all attempts to slow down the process. (more on that later).
• Baby turned 1. Can I still call him Baby? Maybe I need to call him Toddler now since he had his first tantrum. I took a knife away that he got out of the dishwasher. What a mean mommy I am. I could call him Doodle Bear. A doodle bear is a toy that you can draw on and then toss in the washer and it comes out clean. Sounds alot like my Baby except I put him in the tub not the washer.
• One of my best friends lost her father to a hard battle with cancer. He was 70 and his last days paralleled my mother's last days. I have been trying to be a support to her since I know how it is to loose a parent. It has brought back so many sad feelings.

I have been a bit sad and sick this last month. With the birthdays, lost van, a slight cold, and Bill's sickness I just haven't been up to my full potential. Maybe spring and Easter can renew my heart and my spirit. Isn't that the way it should be? The cold, dreary days of winter give way to the beauty and sunshine of spring. A cold sad heart is renewed by the love of Christ and the reminder of His resurrection and triumph over the grave.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!!!