My pride and joy part 1

I am so thankful to the good Lord for my children.They truly are an amazing blessing and a joy in my life. There are days when they try my patience. There are days when I want to just loan them to someone for the day too! I think every mother has those days. The time of havin young children in the home is definitely a "giving season" in a womens life and I'll be darned if somedays I feel like I have nothing left to give!
That all said I wanted to just tell in four post about each of my four children.Because they really are such wonderful people and I am really truly blessed to have each one.
My oldest is Isaiah. He turned eight this year and I can hardly believe it. He will always be special to me because he was my first. He helped me to grow up and to think of someone other than myself.
Isaiah has the sweetest spirit.He loves to help other people. Sometimes when he offers to do something for me and I tell him no he says "but mom I just like to help." I see myself in him a lot. I have always been someone who didnt want to do something in front of people unless I was good at it and if I failed at an attempt I wanted to stop trying right then and there! Isaiah is much like that himself. As he grows he is learning to keep trying and to never be ashamed of his failures because that is how we learn and grow.
In our faith our children are able to be baptized at eight years old. We believe that is the age when they can be held accountable, they can understand right and wrong and choose it for themselves. Isaiah has always expressed his desire to be baptized.Which is such a joy to me to see him at such a young age have a desire to please the Lord. It just so happened that when Isaiah was to turn eight this year my husband would be deployed. Isaiah was so disappointed that he would not be able to be baptized right away!He wants to wait for his dad to be here for his baptism but he also really wants to be baptized and the waiting is hard =-}
Isaiah is starting to grow up on me and some days it makes me sad. Like when he tells me not to call my husband "daddy" but to call him "Dad" because "daddy" is for little kids.
Other days it makes me right proud.Like today when he told me that he had said a prayer that God would help him not to yell and lose his temper when he gets angry and that it had helped alot and he knew God had answered his prayer.
I still get to see his tender young boy heart peak out at times when he tells me that although he wants to serve a mission for the Lord he doesnt want to be away from me and the rest of his family that long =-}
I love my first born more than I could ever say and I am enjoying watching him grow into a kind hearted boy who loves God and loves his family. Isaiah truly is my pride and joy.

Ephesians 5: 22-33

Something that has been on my heart lately is this scripture. In Ephesians we are taught how we as wives aught to be toward our husbands and our husbands are taught how they aught to be towards their wives. I used to think that the Scriptures that told us to be submissive to our husbands were just old fashioned.That a husband being the head of the wife and the family was just so..dated. How silly and naive I was! At times I also felt the need to be "the head" of the house. That I was in charge.That I wore the pants in the family. Again I must say how silly of me!
I didn't realize that Gods word is never dated or old fashioned!The Lords word is as relevant to today as it ever was and it will continue to be so for every generation after mine.
I've learned that to be submissive to my husband isn't about being down cast or beaten down. Its not about having no opinion of my own either. Its about trusting that the Lord placed him as a shield and a protector for our family. To lovingly lead and guide.
In Ephesians the Lord tells husbands to "Love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;"Husbands are also counseled to " Let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself." I think of how Christ loves us. How He gave his life for each and every one of us. To think that my husband is to love me like that =-}
Ephesians council for women is this "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord." and "Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing." I think of how the church is subject to Christ. Christ is the loving shepherd. He guides and directs His sheep with a watchful care. Being subject to my husband is like being Christs sheep. I can rest assured in the protection and love of my husband as I follow his lead.
My favorite part of this scripture says "Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband." This scripture speaks of courtesy and respect. I cant count the number of times I have seen spouses, particularly wives put their husbands down in public and to other people. Or seen a wife speak negatively to her husband in front of their children. I know just how hurtful this is and the terrible effect it can have in our homes.Especially with our children. In the earlier years of our marriage I was just such a women. If I became angry at my husband I would openly say things in front of our children. I never thought a thing about it until I started hearing these same terrible things coming out of my sons mouths to their Father. I realized that I was showing my sons by my actions that being disrespectful to there father was OK.
I am glad to say this is something my husband and I have worked at very hard in our marriage. Loving and respecting each other.
As a couple we have been praying recently about career decisions my husband has to make in the next several months. I have felt very unsure about the tentative plans my husband has been sharing and so I took it to the Lord in prayer. Asking him to help me feel assured of what was right for our family at this time. The answer I have receive over and over again has been "Trust that I will tell your husband, who is the head of your family, what he is to do."
I can not explain the peace and even joy I have felt about this. I know that I don't have to fret, worry or stress over this any more. My husband is a good man who loves the Lord and the Lord will guide him in the right way. It was so nice to be able to tell my husband in conversation that I knew whatever the decision he made I would be behind him 100% because I knew he would lead our family in the right way. I could here in his voice how good that made him feel, to know that I trusted in him to take care of us.
I would challenge all of you wives out there to make it a matter of prayer to be a more trusting and submissive wife and to reverence your husband daily. It is something I am not perfect at but am working on daily and I know with the Lords help I can succeed and you can too.

Weekly Weigh In

I am so excited about this weeks weigh in! I lost 2 pounds! I went from 169 to 167. I think the thing that excited me the most about that two pounds is the fact that I was anticipating a gain. I tell you I struggle with food! My eating was not so good this week to say the least.
I am an emotional eater. If I am sad I want to eat. If I am happy I want to eat. If I am celebrating I want to eat. The thing thats been on my mind this week is now that I understand why I eat the way I do how do I fix it?? How do I overcome the emotional eating?? I know the best way to look at food is as fuel for my body to keep it going. But I must confess that the thought of sitting don with a package of oreos and an ice cold glass of milk makes me want to giggle with glee! LoL
My hubby and I were discussing my recent weight loss and he said the cutest thing.He told me not to get to skinny or he would have to fatten me up! Hehehe! He has always liked a woman with a curvy figure! I told him only half jokingly that that I was in no danger of getting "skinny" because I like food way too much! Whats a girl to do!?

Whose Side Are You On?

We made the decision to homeschool several years ago. As I began to talk to people about this choice I realized that when you tell someone you homeschool they often think you are "Anti" public school. Especially when I talk about all the things I love about homeschool or all the reasons why public school isn't a good fit for us.

So whose side are you on?

Even in the the homeschool community we have issues like this. There is much debate about who is a "true" homeschooler. There are the "purists" who feel any use of public schools or government programs is not acceptable. There are those who happily use some public school programs as well as some at home things. Still others use online private schools. Lets not even get into the debate over that!! I have heard a good friend told that she absolutely "Can Not"call herself a homeschooler because she uses one such online program!

Again I say whose side are you on??

I will tell you exactly where I stand, exactly whose side I am on.

I am on the side of GOOD EDUCATION. No matter what form it takes. Be it public school, homeschool or somewhere in between. I am on the side of involved parents who know what there kids are being taught, whether its by themselves or a teacher at school. That is where I stand.

Baby steps

I had a good laugh at myself today and I thought I would share! I made the goal to learn to sew this year. I was sitting here today getting kinda down on myself for not having made any progress toward that goal. Then I realized that today is only the 12th of January!Hahahaha I only made this goal 12 days ago =-} I have lots of time to work on this goal. After having a bit of a laugh I realized though that I hadn't really figured out how I would get to my goal. So I thought about it and have come up with a few smaller "goals" to get me to my end result.
First is reading a book about sewing every month. I absolutely LOVE to read but it is definitely not the way I learn best. I prefer to be shown physically. Hence I do not put together anything that I have to read the directions for! But I think reading some books about sewing will if nothing else help me become more familiar with sewing terms and hopefully help me do better with reading directions as well!
Second I am going to steal.. uh I mean borrow my moms sewing machine and have her come over for a little teaching session to show me how to use it. I really should call her and ask her about that =-}
Thirdly to stock up on the sewing basics and essential and lastly to try to complete one sewing project a month.
I think those are all good steps towards my goal and also very doable steps. I'll try to post each month to update on how well I am doing at achieving these goals!
What are your goals for the year??

A book I recommend

I wanted to write a fast post to recommend a book I am reading. I really enjoy the classics and after my sisters recommendation I decided to pick up an unabridged version of The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann Wyss. I wanted to read it aloud with my kids and thought that the whole ship wrecked theme would be a hit!
Now I must be honest, we are only eleven pages into the book! Hahahah! How can I possibly be recommending a book that I am only on page eleven of, you may wonder! Well let me tell you!
On the first page of the book you have a father teaching his children about Faith in God and excepting Gods will.

"My children, said I to my four boys who clung to me in terrible alarm, God can save us, for nothing is impossible to Him;but if He sees fit that we should not be saved, we must not murmur at His decree, but rely that what He does is most for our good."

On the fourth page of the book patience in the Lord is spoken of as well as brotherly love and respect.

"Papa, cried my youngest boy, six years old, will not God assist us soon?
Hold your tongue, replied his eldest brother. Do you not know that it is our duty not to prescribe to God, but to wait for his assistance with patience and humility?
Well spoken, my boy, said I; but you should not have reproved your brother so sharply. The eldest instantly ran and kissed the innocent little creature."

By page ten a wonderful education/parenting philosophy.

" One of the points of my system of education was to awaken the curiosity of my sons by interesting observations, to leave time for the activity of there imagination, and then to correct any error they might fall into. I contented myself now, however, with this general remark, That God sufficiently compensated for the natural weakness of man by the gifts of reason, invention and the adroitness of the hand"

I don't think I have ever read a "modern" or "current day" book with so much to offer in the whole of the book. Let alone in the first eleven pages! =-}
Now this isn't to say that there aren't any good books today. There are many. It also is not to say that all "classics" are a good or worthy read because they aren't. I just had to marvel at this book. Its sad how surprising it was to find so many wonderful principals in this book. If a novel today has this kind of content it is labeled a Christian novel because of course any "main stream" novels wouldn't have such content!
I'll post after finishing the book and tell you what I thought =-}

Weekly Weigh In

Well this week was not as good as I would like! Last week I weighed in at 170 and today I weighed in at 169. One pound lost. Honestly I would have loved to see a two or three pound loss BUT I am till moving in the right direction and am thankful for that for sure!

NSV Saturday

Kris over at Eclipsed has a great post she does every Saturday about "NSV's" or Non Scale Victories. Weight loss is a journey. Some of the victories we experience are on the scale. Seeing that number go down each month. Some of the victories though have very little to do with the numbers.
This week I had a NSV that I am really excited about. Having low self esteem has always been a struggle for me. I am not really sure why but it has been. Earlier this week I was sitting on the couch watching my screen saver. No joke! I like to sit and watch it because it flashes up on the screen the pictures that are stored on my computer. All of a sudden a picture of myself popped up, one that was taken maybe two months ago. The first thought that came to mind as I looked at myself in the picture was "Hey I look pretty."
It took me a minute to realize that my first thought about that picture wasn't something negative like usual =-} It was very exciting to realize that my goal of loving myself and of looking at the positive is being realized!

Setting aside our feelings

I have been reading an absolutely fabulous homeschool book lately. Something that is addressed in the book really stood out to me.
Sometimes we don't want to do what the Lord wants of us. Sometimes our emotions are not going along with the Lords plan for us. when I have felt this in my life I have just assumed that I wasn't as good or as spiritual or as Christian as the next woman. But the author of this book took a different view and I think I agree it her.
If I am willing to do what the Lord asks of me even when my heart is not on board(at first) and I am willing to try to get my feelings in check along the way, that's whats important!
I mean its easy to follow the Lords plan if its something we are honestly happy about. Not so much so when we are thinking to ourselves "Really Lord? You want me to do THAT? I don't know about this! I really don't want to!"
I think when we follow the Lord, even if it is with a whiny countenance at first that we are on the right path and that usually our feelings and emotions will fall in line with what our Heavenly Father wants. Because lets be honest He knows me better than I know myself and He knows what will bring me happiness and peace in my life.

Weekly weigh in

Well This past week was a good week for me and I honestly wasnt sure if it would be! LoL Food was a struggle for me this past week. My weight last weigh in was 173 and today was 170. A three pound loss! I am SO excited to almost be in the 160's! I don't know if I have ever specified a goal weight. I think the 150's would be great, of course I havent seen that weight since High school and after four babies I am not sure if thats an attainable goal! For now I am thrilled to be making progress and not to worried about setting an official goal weight.
I think its time to bump up my workouts too. I have been doing this great workout video called "walk away the pounds". Its a really great cardio workout. I plan on looking around for a new workout dvd that uses weights and strength training. Toning is definitely a goal of mine =-}
I hope everyone has a great and HEALTHY week this week!

The plan for January

I am so excited about the beginning of the new year! Although we are actually in the middle of our current school year it feels like a new beginning for me. We just had our fourth little one in November. The first few months of this school year were very low key. We not only had a baby but also moved cross country.
This month we are doing a unit study about the civil war. It is one I am really excited about because I enjoy history and that is also a period in history I like to learn more about.
We have two boys that are what you would consider school age. With our five year old I take more the philosophy better late than early. I do not use any curriculum with him for spelling, math, or anything else of the sort. He is included in our unit studies and we practice learning the letters and there sounds and numbers and counting. Just in general giving him plenty of time to be little so that when we do start to add in more schooling he is really ready for it.
Our eight year old we consider a second grader. Honestly I don't care too much for the whole grade thing. He may read at a "first grade" level, be doing "third grade" math and "fourth grade" science work! But since everyone always asks and for reporting reasons we consider him second grade.
Apart from our unit studies we use All about spelling and daily grammar lessons. for math we are using saxon math grade 2. Of course scripture study is a big part of our learning as well.
This year we are not doing any outside lessons like swimming or taekwondo or an instrument. With a new baby, daddy deployed and TWO cross country moves in 10 months we know we need to have a more basic year.
At some points this first 5 months of our homeschool year I have felt guilty about that.I think as homeschoolers especially we can feel the pressure to do MORE. My sister, who is a fellow homeschooler and I had a very interesting conversation the other day that made me feel much better. The conclusion I came to by the end of this conversation was that if the only things I could teach my kids were the "basics". Reading, writing, math and gospel(I consider gospel an absolute essential). Then that would be enough. Because if they know how to do those things then they will be able to teach them selves ANYTHING else they could need or want to know.