SETHSA Conference in Texas

I am just wondering if anyone out there is going to the SETHSA Conference here in Texas on June 4th and 5th. I will be there working some as a volunteer and I look forward to seeing some of you there.... hopefully, I will get a chance to meet some of that I have never met before! I will be leaving my family behind for the FIRST TIME EVER.... well, with exception to the times I have gone into the hospital to bring home a new baby. ;) Funny thing is that when I told Savannah the time frame I would be gone that is exactly what she compared it to, also. I really had not planned to go to this conference at all this year, but I got a chance to volunteer and attend the conference for free. You just can't bet that! And did I mention that they are providing the lodging for our group of ladies, also. It is a wonderful OPPORTUNITY... an opportunity to be of help and to gain some more insight through the workshops and a chance to put my hands on some materials and physically look through them. Another amazing thing for me as that I can leave my husband here with my kids to take care of them because he will have just finished up his teaching job for the year. He is officially off for Summer after this coming Friday. He is the one person that I trust my kids with. Without him looking after them I would not leave them. Another wonderful thing is that I am getting to take a team of ladies with me. It is an opportunity to share this blessing with them. I don't know alll their situations, but I know that going to conference can sometimes put a strain on the budget and I am just thrilled to get to offer this opportunity to this team of ladies. I can't hardly wait! Now I just have to go and get all my ducks in a row and get prepared.....

A great resource for studying butterflies is the Stokes Butterfly Book (pictured below).

Last week we were supposed to be doing our Fox week for MFW K. We have stopped the Adventures, again for a while. The kids like it, but I find it difficult to do it all and cuddle my babies. Adventures is supposed to be and "Optional" year, anyway. At least, we have done some of it. It has given me a chance to see how the MFW curriculum is. I do like it, but we have had a lot of adjustments in a short period of time. I am satisfied with doing what we can. We might do some of the Adventures this week and try to get back on track for a while. Like I said, we were SUPPOSED to be doing our Fox week for MFW K and we did get started on it, but I will repeat it next week and through in some extra stuff. Maybe we will do some more phonics and reading. We had lots of company... lots of the sleepies... and BUTTERFLIES! Our butterflies were "by the book". I looked at the calendar on Wednesday and told the girls that the butterflies MIGHT hatch as early as the next day. Guess we awoke to? Two butterflies had just emerged from the chrysalids! I called the kids to see and one more emerged as we watched the whole thing. Well, technically I watched and saw it all... they had drifting attention spans and missed the first few moments. We went outside to experience the beautiful day and came back in to the fourth one being hatched out. It was so amazing to watch their wings get larger and harden up and see the fur on their backs. If you look really close they have golden hairs on their back and their "tongues" (sure there is a real word for it) curl down like a little party blower. So strange! Sierra was the first to want to hold the butterflies, so after a while... and lots of begging... I let her put her hand inside and the butterflies would crawl on her fingers. The next day Sierra actually let one go in the house and I had to recapture the poor little guy. Savannah did hold them, also. The following day the last one emerged and we waited until Daddy was home that evening to release them. And as a bonus for the kids their Daddy and uncle were there to watch them release the butterflies.

It was a great week... very laid back... probably too much so in many ways, but we had a busy weekend before that with a church Musical on Sunday night. Cody and Savannah were both in that, so they had practices and such. We also had some friends over throughout the week and let me just say to those that struggle with this.... Stop school for playmates. Our kids are home with us all the time. They need to play with friends when they can. I have learned that it is wise to put playtime with friends high up on the priority list. We had some visitors on Wednesday for about an hour and on Thursday we had some more visitors (my neighbor teaches piano lessons and gets a lot of homeschoolers that we meet). Wednesday night was Wet-N-Wild at our church for and end of year celebration for all the kids. They had waterguns and water jumprope, relay races and some other stuff. Also, on Thursday my dear friend Michelle brought six of her seven children to the house for a backyard picnic. To finish off the week Cody ended it with walking in Relay for Life with his twin brother as a tag-a-long. They got back in around 11:30 PM and stayed up all night playing some crazy video game. Weird... I do not get it, but it is there thing. His brother moved back to the area recently and they have done the video game thing twice now. I totally don't get it, but whatever floats their boat! I did stay up with them until after 1:00 AM (reading a book and munching on popcorn). Saturday was company all day. The brother stayed the night, so he was there and then, my daddy came up for a visit for the day. Shortly after my daddy left, my sis-in-law and family showed up. What a week!

This weekend I spent some time planting some container gardens... I don't know how it will work out, but it is just nice to watch things grow and play in the dirt! To mark my plants I wanted something that would last. I had stuck the seed packets in the side of the pots, but we all know that will not last long. I tried to find some wooden popsicle sticks, but I could not find those. Instead, I got the idea to use old margarine bowl lids. I cute the lids in half and cut out a flaglike shape and wrote the name of the plant with a marker, then stuck it in the dirt. I was also thinking that using old empty margarine bowls would work great, too. You could just cut strips down the bowl the width you want and probably get 15+ that way.

Off to bed with me...

Faux Pumpkin Pie and Healthier Eating

Sierra just ate HALF A PIE !!! And I let her because it was healthier than dinner. My Faux Pumpkin Pie is getting better and healthier everytime I make it. I am cutting back on sugar and trying to eliminate high fructose corn syrup. Major changes. Pie details for those wondering....

Due to the pumpkin shortage I have been trying a few different things to substitute. I have done sweet potatoe. Today was acorn squash. I roasted the acorn squash in the oven, spooned out the seeds (trash) and the "meat", added 4 eggs, 1/2 cup evaporated milk, 1/4 cup honey, 1/4 sugar, 1/4 tsp salt, 1 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1 tsp allspice, 1 tsp cinnamon, poured it in a greased pie PLATE (no shell), baked at 425 degrees for 15 minutes, reduced heat to 350 degrees for 25 minutes, and we ate it ALL up for dinner!!

How to make it dessert healthier than dinner.... my kids don't eat the pie crust, so I decided to try a crustless pie and it works well. We can still lift it out with a pie lift like a slice of pie. That seriously cuts out the worst part of the pie since most crusts are made with shortening which is sooooo bad for your arteries. Also, I add more eggs than the original recipe just to add more protein, etc. The recipe would normally call for 1/2 cup of sugar, but honey is much healthier and I decided to use some real sugar this time. I did not want to go completely experimental today. Next time I am trying some other varieties of sqaush and my kids only care that I, at least, call it Pumpkin Pie. They know that there is no pumpkin in the store, so if they want pumpkin pie they have to be brave.

Pondedering Thoughts About My Blog

I have a lot of posts in my "Drafts" and for some reason they never make it out of there. Some are long. Some are short. Some just need a photo added to it. Some have a photo, but need some detail added. Some chronicle our homeschool weeks or days. Some are about my flowers or thoughts that run through my head. One thing is the same throughout all of them. They feel incomplete. And I think God is trying to tell me something through this and I am just not getting it, yet. I know part of is that I need to limit my computer time and I have done that. I still need to do that some more, but I am getting much, much, much better. I do not feel that God is wanting me to stop blogging altogether. A lot has changed for me in the time that I started blogging. I began blogging for two reasons. The first was to reach other homeschoolers. The other was to make money. The first I have pursued. The latter I have not.... and do not care to anymore unless that just happens. When I look back it is amazing the changes that have happened in my life since my bloggy beginning. I had been homeschooling for mere weeks. I was homeschooling for totally different reasons than I am now (I just wanted to be with my kids and have quality time.... now it is a God thing. It is a conviction!). I was just homeschooling and not really loving it, but trying to. Now we are getting into a groove and I am starting to love it. Still we have struggles, but we are getting there. In the beginning I was all academically driven and trying to do the drudgery of school at home. Now my desire is to have our way of life become our way of school and our focus be on honoring God with it. I began this blog thinking that our school time could be totally seperate from our God time (prayer/church/etc.) and it was not necessary to teach about God as part of school. BUT when God puts you in a trial where do you turn?! Yes, when you have exhausted all other options (sadly) you will then, turn to God... ahem... yes, the place you should start with to begin with.... yes, God! And I have to say that for a while I was turning to blogging and my bloggy pals instead of turning to God for the answers I was searching for.

BUT GUESS WHAT?

GOD USED THAT!!!

... and He used all of you that I have come in contact with to help me sort through this time in my life. He used MY WEAKNESS to do a work in me.

I just had an epiphany moment for real!! ... and I am going to share that moment with you right now while it is fresh in my mind. Just last week, the day after Mother's Day, we had two ladies come to our church and speak for a women's event called Legacy of Love. These ladies are a mother and daughter team that formed a family ministry after a traumatic event in their lives only a few years ago. Knowing Jesus Ministries is the ministry that formed out of their trajedy. They were hit by a drunk driver on their way home from church one night... head on... all four were sent to seperate hospitals with severe injuries and the daughter, Jen Barrick (15 at the time), was not expected to live through the night. She did, but she had severe brain damage. Amazingly, she did not know who she was or that she even had a brother, but she woke up from a comma praising God and singing praise songs and qouting scripture. There were many things they shared with our group at the Legacy of Love event, but the thing that stuck in my mind was this:

God wants to use our weaknesses!

The following day I was asked how God spoke to me at the banquet and this is the reply I wrote back:

"He wants to use our "weaknesses". I fall into the trap of thinking that myweaknesses are a waste, instead of letting God use those weaknesses.

I confirmed that we need to raise up a better generation... seeking
Godliness as our way to measure their/our success. And we have to model that.
.... I got way more out of this experience than I can put into words..."

Okay, so I am sharing this at this moment because God is speaking it to me at this moment. What an amazing thing that is when that happens and our ears are open and we catch it happening!! That is new for me, also. It is more clear after I took a Bible Study class called "Discerning the Voice of God" that is taught using the DVDs and study guide by Priscilla Shirer. I highly recommend reading this book and doing the Bible Study even if you can NOT attend it somewhere and see the DVDs. It is wonderful! Anyway, I am recommending to all of you do the Bible Study ... and also order the DVD or CD that the Barrick family has to hear their story.

... But back to what I was saying before I started "chasing these [wonderful] rabbit trails".... I do not think that God is wanting me to stop blogging. God has used it too much to grow my Christian walk for it to be something He would have me eliminate completely. As with all things I have to learn self-control and I have to set limits. And when I spend 40 minutes typing up a post and hear His voice gently saying that I am spending too much time and that is not what He wants me to do with this blog I have to learn to listen ... and OBEY.... and leave those posts in the Drafts stage. And maybe He will guide me in finishing those posts when the time is right and it is not taking away from my life. For now.... they will sit their as long as they need to until I am clear with God that it is time to finish them. In the meantime I am once again going to try something new here. Something quick.. less time consuming.... I will do a bit of journaling here... It will be very random and just whatever is on my mind at the time. That might be some of our MFW studies or thoughts about my day, pictures, whatever.... unless God puts the brakes on that. We'll see. ALL OF THAT being said I think I will share some thoughts.....
WARNING: It's gonna get very RANDOM!


That beautiful baby at the top of that page is getting so big now. Just a few days ago she was mothering her FOUR babies and telling them, "No, no, no... ooooh baby... wait" and rocking them and cuddling them and disciplining them. That tiny little thing is turning into a big girl! And on that note... Sahara has been my largest baby at birth weighing in at 8 pounds 6 ounces, but now she is the tiniest of my children! It amazes me. Seriously, she had a well check-up this week adn my mouth dropped open when they weighed her. Only 23 pounds! Seriously! She is 21 months old! Two of my other children weighed that much by the time they were six months old and the other probably by nine months. It occurred to me that she could still meet the weight restrictions for an infant carrier car seat.... HELLO! She is my runt and I love every ounce of that spunky little thing. And on that note... she is spunky and tempermental and I am just saying that I think... no, I know that dynamite comes in small packages (from my own experience). Yes, I was the tiny one. I was always the smallest child in my class at school, but I thought I could take on the world. I was bossy and was usually the one in control amongst my playmates. I think Sahara is going to be that way... poor child. There is going to be a lot of personality molding with that one. For now cute takes her a long way, though. ;) I wish I had a picture of her face covered in black berries yesterday, too. That should be my new blog header! So cute in all her messiness.

I have had a long day, so off I go to bed for preparation for another busy day tomorrow.