Seasons of Life

When my kids were babies and toddlers I had several people tell me that this was just a season of life and it would pass. I hated hearing those words! They did not have my kids or live in my house. They had no idea what my day to day life looked like. They had no idea how badly I needed someone anyone to reach out to me. I was in a very lonely place when my oldest was two. I had just had my second baby and quit my job to stay at home. On top of that we were seeing some disturbing behaviors and signs that something was not right with our two year old. When Our oldest was 3 we had a 1 year old and I was pregnant with our third. We went to see a psycologist who told us that he would be better off as an only child. I have never understood why he told us that, what exactly did he want us to do with him?

Some of you may not know this but my oldest son has Aspergers. To say he was a difficult toddler is well the truth. We did not do play dates or go to many fun places because he could not handle it and I did not know how to help him. I spent several years feeling very alone and very judged by people all around me. My mom and my sister were my only saving grace. It felt like people look at Kevin and I like we were terrible parents, that we could not control our child or that we did not do a good job of disciplining him. It was a very hard place to be, alone with a toddler and a new baby. I spent many years with him and two other kids in tow(because I was to afraid to ask anyone for help when my mom could not help)in doctors, counselors, and psychiatrists offices trying to get him help. He had an extremely difficult time at church because each week there were different teachers and some who either did not know him or could not handle him.

I remember being called out of Sunday school several times or they would find us in between services. At 18 months he was the kid banging his head on the floor the whole time till we came to get him. He was the kid that climbed under the table, who refused to color or make the craft they had planned. The kid who covered his ears when they played loud upbeat music to get the kids moving and my heart just broke. He loves to learn and always has/ He loves to read and he will read just about anything in front of him good or bad. I remember being in the check out lines at Walmart when he was in Kindergarten and him reading me the front of the magazines. We are the parents that turn the magazines backwards when we are standing in line! We knew he was a different sometimes difficult kid and it was confirmed when he was in first grade. It answered a lot of our question but we still had a whole bunch more that no one could seem to help us with.

He is the reason we started to homeschool our children. School was not a good fit for him, he could not conform to all the rules. I went to school to eat lunch with him at the end of the first six weeks of school. When we sat down I asked him were the rest of the class was because only about 8 kiddos came in with him. He looked at me with his baby blue little boy eyes and said that if you did not get your behavior chart signed all week you got to have a picnic lunch outside. He then said I will never get to do it, I can't go all week without getting my folder signed. I knew right then that the decision we had be wrestling with to homeschool was the right decision and it needed to happen now. To know that my child already felt like he could never live up to his teachers standards killed me. I love him to death but we still have our days when I just want to drop all three of them off at the front steps of the nearest school. Only because I know it would be easier for me in a way to not have to homeschool them. I also know that I would be called by the school a lot and we would have homework and on and on. I know this is were God wants me to be right now here with my kids. I have also discovered in the midst of my oldest needing my that my daughter needs me just as much to teach her math, it is the subject she struggles with. My youngest struggles with reading and we get to work on that every day one on one.

He is still the kid that does not get invited to birthday parties or to play at other peoples houses and it makes me very sad.He struggles to make friends because he is so different and his social skills are lacking. The one good thing he has going for him is that he loves Boyscouts and feels very comfortable there. He excells at learning the information and being able to teach it to others. His goal is to become and Eagle Scout as quickly as possible. He enjoys going on camp outs every month and Kevin and I love the fact that he has a great group of men who love him and are learning to understand him and all of his quirks! He went with his Troop this summer to Colorado for 9 days and we had no contact with him at all. They told us he did great, not a problem at all and he earned several merit badges while he was there.

Now that that my oldest is 11 he can tell me when he gets overwhelmed by the amount of people or noise. In fact he chooses to stay home when we go certain places with our other two kids because he is either not interested or can't handle the stimulation. I think that as he gets older and matures he is able to ahndle a lot more things than in the past. He is turning into a very handsome young man. can't wait to see what God has planned for him, I know he will do great things. I can hardly believe that he is in sixth grade this year. We still struggle with him and what to do at times but we have come a long way in 8 years.

Life is so Busy!

It has been a while since I have written much. You see we have been a bit stretched thin. My grandfather passed away October 9th and things just kind of got crazy for us from that moment on. We had my grandfathers viewing two days later followed by his funeral the following day. We had family come in from all over the Texas area. Then we packed our house up all weekend long. The following Wednesday we went to Galveston with my inlaws for four days. It was really nice to get away and leave all the stress of moving and my grandfather dieing behind us. We had a very nice time,the weather was great the whole time we were there.

We did several things while we were there. We took the kids to Moody Gardens twice, once to see the rainforest and then to the aquarium. We road a harbor boat and toured the Elisa museum. We rode the ferry and got to watch all the dolphins. We visited Seawolf park and watched the fishermen catch a huge fish. One of the guys even let my father in law reel on in.

We loved the getaway and we were not ready to come back to reality. We came home on Saturday tired and a little sunburned. Then we had to kick our packing into overdrive because we were scheduled to close on Friday. Are we the only people that thinks it is a good idea to go out of town the week before you move? On Tuesday we got a phone call from our realtor that they were moving the closing day to Thursday. So we closed on Thursday, painted all the bedrooms on Friday(my mom and dad helped so much) and we moved all of our stuff Saturday and Sunday. After we got most of the boxes emptied it was Thanksgiving. Before we could turn around it was Christmas time. I finally feel like things have settled down and we have a good routine going. We are loving our new house and the fact everyone has their own bedroom. My kids can't wait till summer because we have a pool!

Gloomy Days

Please keep my family in your prayers. My grandfather is in the hospital and has been for about three weeks now. He was gravely ill and on the verge of death. Only by a miracle(God's miracle) he started to get better and be on the mend. Less than a week later he had to be reintubated last night. He is back where he was a week ago, not doing well and things don't look so good.Pray that as we plan for our trip tomorrow that we would know whether or not to go. If we go I pray that he is stable while we are gone.

Answered Prayers

Well we have had a lot of things happening in the past few weeks. We received a contract on our house! Woo Hoo! We also found a house that we feel God totally put in our path and now we have a contract on. The funny thing is 3 years ago when we bought our current home we would have never considered looking at it. The elementary school that our kids would have to go to is not one we would choose to send our kids to. We did not even think twice about the schools because they is not in our future. We both agree that homeschooling our kids is where God is calling to minister right now. I have a overwhelming peace about the house and the whole situation. We have had an inspection on our house and had an inspection on the house we are buying. There was nothing shocking our concerning on either, which is always good news. We close at the end of October on both houses the same day. My grandfather was hospitalized two weeks ago with pneumonia and we started to make funeral arrangements because he was rapidly going down hill. I spent the morning with my parents last Sunday at the hospital and when I left it was not looking good. After a lot of prayer and discussion my moms family decided to have all the tubes removed from him and to sign a DNR. They all went in and had a chance to say their goodbyes. Once everything was removed, all his kids and his wife were gathered around his bed. Then suddenly he opened his eyes and growled at everyone, everyone jumped and hollered and the nurses came running. They asked him if he meant to do that and he said yes. Over the next couple of days he made great improvements and was moved out of ICU and into a private room. He still needs rehabilitation and will have to stay for 3 more weeks to help him regain his strength. Needless to say last week was an emotional roller coaster ride for my family. My sister and I took my two boys and her youngest son to a Cub Scout camp out this weekend. It was very chilly but they got to do a lot of fun things. My youngest got to shoot a bb gun and a bow and arrow. He was so excited to be big enough to do those things. They earned several belt loops while we were there to add to my oldest and start the younger ones collection. We are currently getting ready to go out of town this week with my in-laws for a much needed vacation. We are headed to Galveston Texas for 4 days. My kids are so excited to go to the beach and look for tide pools and other beach creatures. We are doing Apologia Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day and they are thrilled to gets so hands on time at the beach. Once we get back it will be full speed ahead trying to get everything packed up. Moving makes you realize how much stuff you really don't need! So I hope to be able to clean out and organize as I pack and unpack. Life at our house just seems to go so much smoother when we are organized and scheduled.

The U.S.

As we have been studying the United states my kids have enjoyed learning all the various facts. They love learning about the state animals the most. I try to incorporate fun activities to help them really memorize the facts as we go.

We use the Leapfrog Tag reader pen along with the map of the United States to practice finding the states. It also tells interesting facts that my kids really enjoy. We use the Leapfrog Tag National Geographic Kids cards to review and learn new facts about bird and sea animals as well as land animals.

We use both our globe and our small wall map to review locations of the states we are studying. My kids love getting up and moving while they are learning. It really helps to engage them in studying about the states. We have some puzzle both wooden and regular that we switch out that are The United States. I find the more hands on activities the more they retain the info.

Studying The Word

My husband and I joined our church in a bible study called 40 Days In The Word. We have only been doing it four days and it has already been just what we needed. I have always heard people say God shows you the versus you need to see at the right time, and boy does he. Day 1 Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6 Day 2 Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Philippians 1:27a This verse is very important to us right now. As my husband had to deal with a situation that we both really prayed about. That God would give him the right words that would be worthy. Day 3 For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. Philippians 2:13 I feel that God is really working in Both of us with our house situation. We have been called to let go of this house and move somewhere else. At his time we have no idea where we are going and that is usually a very scary thing for me but I have this peace that God is going to guide us were he wants our family to be. Day 4 I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Philippians 3:12b Day 5 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Philippians 4:6 We we got an offer on our house and lets just say it was not what we had in mind. So we ended up making a counter offer to the people. We are waiting to here back from them but instead of being anxious about it I have this deep sense of peace about the situation. I pray that God uses this bible study to bring us closer to him as a couple and individually. That we continue to have peace about selling our house and that we are listening to what God is telling us.

I thought I would share what we are using this year.
For Buddy who is 10 and in 5th grade
Math: Math U See Epsilon
Language Arts: Life Pac Language Arts

For Chicka who is 8 and in 3rd grade
Math: math u see alpha (she is way behind in math)
Launguage Arts: Life Pac Language Arts

For Bub who is 6 and in 1st grade
Math U See Alpha
All About Reading 1
All About Spelling 1

We are all doing
Bible: Kids Of Intgegrity (Focus On The Family)
Science: Apologia Swimming Creatures Of The Fifth Day
History: Road Trip USA (Confessions of a homeschooler)
P.E.: Swimming 2 days a week