Soldier On... Princess Warrior

Well I can say that once again I have felt the change of season of our lives. I welcome the feeling, excited to see all that God has in store for us in this leg of our journey. I am in the resting and regrouping phase of this change, a much needed Refreshing. This is the first time in many, many years that I am not working outside the home (not even by selling anything), not in any group, club, PTA, extra activities, etc. And not preparing for anything upcoming, party or anything. With school recently letting out we are spending our summer cleaning, purging, reorganizing, and repriortizing. And spend lots of time hanging out in our back yard playing, enjoying the lazy days of summer. Refocusing on what's important to us as a family, me as a mother, as a woman, as a wife. One really big change in our lives is the decision that my husband and I made (after many years of thought, discussion, and prayer), our three younger daughters will no longer attend public school. I will start ho

This is a test....with more to come. I haven't posted in very long time. I guess still on the fence on some of modern journally, tech adv ances. Partly thinking," hey this is awesome, this something for me, don't care if anyone sees it". If anyone likes what I have to say, what if I make someone mad. I always thought that journally was supposed to be private. And I don't know how to do this blogging thing... But I'm going to go for it and see what happens....I once was pretty good writer so hopefully that will come back, it's been a very long time.

Recently a young man (teenage boy) that Natasha sees almost everyday came to her and made a very heart felt apology to her. He was apologizing to her for the way he had treated her almost 2 1/2 years ago when they were "going out". There courtship didn't last but, a few weeks but, did leave my daughter confused and in tears. She just didn't understand why he had treated her the way that he did. But, in their recent conversation it was obvious that he didn't have an alterior motive but, a change in heart. You see this young had shared with Natasha that while going to church with his now girlfriend he had recently been saved. And now all of his behavior and atitude changes had made sense to Natasha. And she was thrilled for him! And it got me thinking.....Wow God gave this young man a change of heart to repent to my daughter but, even more he gave him the courage to do!! I think back on my own life and past and Oh who wouldn't love to push the do-over button....

Routine charts are great help for kids and parents. Well I put a little different spin on them. We took construction paper and using medium size letter stickers we did the child's name and bedtime or morning. e.i. Sydney's Bedtime. Then we listed things that needed to be done like brush teeth and glued clipart next to it. Continued with the list. Then I laminated them leaving a little extra room at the bottom (I used two pieces of laminate paper so I would have the extra room). Then we used little wooden stars that we let the girls paint and velcro dots from the fabric dept. We put one side of the Velcro next to the clipart and the other on the back of the stars. Then I put another row of velcro at the bottom to hold the stars when they weren't next to task and the task was complete. The girls love them, the velcro makes a sound. There are no stickers or markers to keep up with. And they learn to take responsibility for themselves without me nagging a thousand times to get

Don't get me wrong, I'm not totally against the public school system. We still have two of our four Princesses attending. And I know that there are a lot of really great christian people who work and teacher in public schools. But, for Malaina for right now I think that we are doing the right thing. I'm sure that we will take this one year at a time We chose to go with the ACE (Accelerated Christian Education) curriculum. And so far I love it!! And so does Malaina! She has excelled. Taking on this new responsibility of Malaina's primary educator has also helped me in many ways. It's helping me be a better teacher at church with the little ones. It's helped me realize that as a mother I was already a "teacher" in ways more than what I had previously thought. I questioned my own abilities to even do it. But, as God walks me through this everyday, I've realized that it is already in my toolbox as a mother

My darling husband Steve and I have tossed the idea of homeschooling back and forth ever since our Princess Natasha (now a freshman at North Intermediate High School) was in kindergarten. And now through much thought, prayer, and research we have decided to take that "new trail" with Princess Malaina. Malaina is our 6 year old daughter. She is a very sensitive and sweet spirited little Princess. Malaina went to pre-k last year and did fine, this year seemed be alot more difficult. Malaina was having some trouble with stomach spasms or cramps almost constantly. She visited the school nurse almost two to three times a day. Many, many Dr. visits and we were told that she had IBS. The Dr. said it could be "what she is eating or what's eating her". Not sure in my spirit if IBS is right or not. But, Malaina was in a very stressful class room constant choas, yelling, and uncontrollable children. And the teacher and the school were limited as to what they could do other