New Year, New Home

Amazing! That is all I can say. God is amazing!

It wasn't easy, but we were able to get our house cleaned up, packed up, and staged. We didn't make our Mid-October deadline, or the November one. Its funny how we set a time or date for somthing as if we really can control what is going on. Oh how I worried about being sick and not gettting things done. How I fretted over the magnitude of the "to do" list. God's timing is always perfect. Here I am once again looking back on what God has done and I know His hand is in it all.

We started showing the house on December 5th, not the best time of year to put a house on the market. Folks should be shopping for Christmas, and the weather is unpredictable. That first day we had 6 appointments! Six people came to see our house in the rain and snow. Sunday the 6th was our open house, it was a beautful sunny day and there was a dusting of snow on the grass. Our kitchen has a picture window that overlooks the yard and the golf course of a country club. The snow made a beautiful scenic view from every window, especially the kitchen. Our realtor was overwhelmed with the amount of people who came through to see the house! When we returned, she informed us that not only were people loving the house, some had returned as many as four times in the course of the two days to see the house! She was postive that we would have mulitiple offers, something she hadn't seen in two years! She was right, by our Tuesday deadline, we had three offers and one late offer on Wednesday!

If we had made our deadline of October or November, would we have waited for this time to sell? Would we have sat for weeks of showings waiting for these people to be ready? I believe the answer is "yes". Some may say we had the right type of house for a first-time buyer, that we are the only house on the market in our neighborhood, that we are conviently located as far as transit into NYC, that our house shows well...all these may be true, but we know that it was God who lead us to move, and He has been faithful in making that happen in His way and His timing.

Now the real trial begins. We will not be moving into a new, better, or bigger house. We will be moving into a smaller space, smaller yard, and we will be living with family. My in-laws will trade their quiet life for a house full of grandchildren. God will continue to grow us and teach us as we take the next step of faith.

Moving

Sometimes life is very quiet around here, as quiet as a small house with 5 children can be, and sometimes thing are chaotic.

When you are walking with the Lord, life can change quickly and unexpectedly. We have had a lot of change lately. This summer we found ourselves joyfully expecting baby #6 and then sorrowfully having to say goodbye to that little one after 8 weeks of pregnancy. Only a few weeks after that loss, we decided to sell our house and move in with my in-laws. In two short weeks I will open my home to strangers in hopes that the like my home enough to make it their own. God's peace is an amazing thing! I don't like change and I like to be in control. Somehow, these changes have not been my undoing. God has given me peace, strength, and faith. When I think of myself, when I let my thought get to me, yes, I stumble. When I keep my eyes on Him, it all works out, and I have the peace that passes all understanding.

I don't have all of the answers, I no longer need them...I just trust and obey.
Pray I continue walking in Him.

Aprons

I love aprons, I just love them! For me there is something meaningful, purposeful, and completely feminine that happens when I put on an apron and get to work. I feel a connection to all the women who have come before me. For them an apron was ordinary, but it showed who they were and what they did.

Raising Olives and Sasha sews have gotten a giveaway for some fabulous aprons
check it out here.

http://raisingolives.com/2009/11/sasha-sews-apron-giveaway-and-review/comment-page-3/#comment-5692

Blogging, writing, and thinking

Time has flown and blogging has not been a priority. Funny, I love to read blogs, but writing or should I say typing is very different. I like writing, you know that old fashioned thing people used to do with paper and pen or pencil. I love the feel of a very sharp pencil on paper. A dull or squeaky pencil will never do. It reminds me of Anne Shirley, in one of her letters to Gilbert she tells him that she must have the perfect pen to write love letters. If the pen was not perfect, the letter full of the details of her life, but the romance was saved for another day. I understand this as I feel at a loss sometimes listening to the click clack of the keyboard. It is like texting...some of the romance is just missing.

Maybe I am showing my age. I am slowly being passed by, technology is just getting a little to creepy for me. Privacy has a whole different meaning these days. I wonder if any information is really confidential anymore. Could it be that the only privacy we have anymore is in our own minds? It seems to be that even freedom of original thought may be at risk these days as well.

Spring Dayz

I have neglected this blog terribly, but life had gotten in the way. I have had little time to ponder things. We have been fininshing up our school year and co-op. We have had a recital a week for the last 3 weeks. Since my wonderful husband has given his time as a audio engineer to these groups, we have not only perfomed in the recitals, but have set up and broken down the sound systems as well.

We have put the books away and I am desperately trying to catch up with the laundry and the housework. We finished planting the garden last night. We have neglected our yard these last few years. It is hard to keep up with the outside when the inside is in chaos. So it is wonderful to see all those little plants growing, this is the biggest garden we have ever planted. I am hoping that we will be able to freeze a lot this year.

My mother-in-law gave me a wonderful birthday gift this year, two garden consultations with a master organic gardener. She also raises chickens in her suburban yard. She came over for our first consultation and had some great suggestions and encouragement since we seem to have a lot of sunshine in yard. So, we are trying a three sister's garden this year. http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/teach/2003045238014436.html . We are growing pumpkins and some watermelon instead of traditional squash since we like it better. Grace (that is her name) also offered to give us some composted chicken bedding from her chicken run. So last night we piled into the vehicles and loaded up on manure. Dad had the fun of driving the manure home in his van.

5 year old son: " Dad can I ride home with you?"

Dad: "Sure son, but the manure is in it."

Son: " Ok. YEAH!! I get to ride in the VAN!!"

Son: (one block from Grace's house) " Dad, WHAT IS THAT SMELL?!!"

Sigh, maybe we will never have that farm.

Spring Fever pt.2

What changed in our homeschool is that I stopped chasing after the perfect program for each subject. I looked at the homeschool methods that I was drawn to. I knew that the classical (or neo-classical as some would prefer) model laid out in Well-Trained Mind. The stages of the Trivium seemed to make perfect sense to me. Why teach a child by what grade or age he is? Why not teach to the stage of the child's development. Reading Well-Trained Mind was the first time I knew that I could possible homeschool through high school, Lord willing.

Charlotte Mason's methods also appealed to me. I liked a lot of her ideas and the meshed will with the classical model that I liked. The idea of living books that tell the story of people and places instead of dry, boring text seemed like a breath of fresh air.

All I needed now was a plan. I was pregnant with baby #5 and I felt the need for some hand holding.

Spring Fever

It is that time of year for homeschoolers....spring fever. Not just the wiggly, giggly I cannot stand to be inside another second I just have to be outside fever. It is the time to evaluate, to determine what works and what need tweeking (or is it tweaking?) Curriculum fever, the endless searching, researching, combing message boards ...looking for that perfect curriculum. Worrying that we didn't get xyz done this year, we are behind in math, or writing, or spelling or...EVERYTHING!!!


I have been there, I have spent hours, days, years in search of the perfect curriculum. I spent so much time every spring and summer researching that I lost something. I lost sight of the teaching. I filled my bookshelves with the latest, greatest, most wonderful and forgot that one day I would have to get myself up from the computer chair and actually teach my children this stuff. Researching became a passion, but getting the work done was secondary.


One day I realized that if I put some of my computer time into my children in teaching them and less on researching maybe the curriculum wouldn't matter so much. My focus changed, and so did our homeschool.