PEACE

Early on when my husband left I was so concerned about the children, looking back – overly concerned. I had several people tell me they could see the peace in my children and I was sure they were “just saying that.” I remember thinking, “How could they have peace?” The bible says, “For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.” James 3:16 There was almost an immediate sense of peace when the strife was gone, but I still didn't believe it for my kids. I was interjecting and confusing my struggles as a child of divorce and was afraid for them (which meant I was NOT trusting God). It is a blessing for me as I realize that as I diligently seek the Lord I am overcoming and so are they, because of HIM they do not have to live out my generational iniquities.

As I was reading the bible the other day I read this again in Isaiah 54 verse 13, “And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children.” I immediately thanked God for giving me confirmation about my children's peace. He is teaching them and GREAT is their peace. I had to hear it from Him before I would believe it, which is the way it I should be in every area of my life.

Who or what are you believing?

THE TRUTH ALWAYS COMES OUT

photo credit

Three months ago after clear confirmation from the Lord I moved my children and myself to a new town. My husband had left home almost two months prior and we needed a smaller home with more support nearby. We are in a wonderful place of peace, support and love, but I’m still struggling. How is that possible you ask? Yea, I ask too? With little signs of change in me I wondered, “What am I doing here?” All this love around me and I feel unchanged! Well, that was until we made lemon bars.

It was a Saturday afternoon and my oldest daughter and I were making lemon bars from a boxed mix and seemingly out of the blue she said, “You are getting so excited about things mommy. As God is helping us and people are supporting us you are getting more and more excited.” I stopped for a moment and pondered her words. She was RIGHT! I am getting excited about things, again. It’s been a long time. After thinking about it for awhile, I said to her, “As I stop agreeing with the enemy about who I am mommy is becoming the woman God created me to be from the beginning of time.” That’s EXCITING!

Even in this the enemy had the blinders on me, so I could not see that indeed I was changing (being set free). He would love for me to think that I’m going to remain the same, regardless and eventually would love for me to give up and accuse God. But God, out of the mouths of babes…stilled the enemy and avenger (once again). (Psalm 8:2)

As I am seeking God with my whole heart, He is leading me into ALL TRUTH!

The next day at church the whole service was a time of sharing what God is doing in your heart and my daughter and I were able to share this. She even spoke in the microphone through tears and told everyone what she had told me and I talked about what God showed me through that. It was a precious experience! I also shared that I don't even know who that woman is yet, I'm just at the beginning of this revelation, but am excited to learn more and more!

Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

PHONE ETIQUETTE

Our home phone seldom rings, so my kids have very little opportunity to practice phone etiquette. Today my oldest answered and said to her daddy, "Daddy, it's a lady for you, are you giving ladies your phone number?" I'm sure the lady was laughing, I WAS! The lady, from Best Buy, called back and she said to her daddy, "Daddy, it's another lady for you!" This time the lady WAS laughing and asked my husband if he got a lot of phone calls from "ladies"? He said, "No, that is why it is SO FUNNY."

Maybe I should unplug the phone and have them practice answering or maybe I won't and use this as one of the many ways I get my entertainment.

THE TRUTH ABOUT HOMESCHOOLING

This post is strictly my opinion and my experience.

The truth is I never wanted to homeschool. It was never something I thought about, not even once. When people would ask me if I was going to homeschool I would ALWAYS say I don’t plan to, but if God calls me to I will. Did I realize what I was saying at the time? No! Maybe I NEVER really thought He would call me, that is until He told me I was already called.

I’ve shared my story here

We are wrapping up our fourth year of homeschool. I don’t have a long-term plan for this and MANY people ask how long I plan to do this? This? Like it is some sort of phase I’m going through. Some in the homeschool world say you HAVE TO be committed to this for the long haul and I’m not there yet. I still take this year by year and honestly lately I want to put my kids in school EVERYDAY. Why, you ask? It is hard. Not the homeschooling part, but everything else.

Judah has been sick with ear infections for six months and wants and needs more from me than I have to give in any given day. Kaira is dealing with some issues right now, that I do not feel equipped to deal with. The atmosphere in the house because of marital issues is less than pleasant and that affects everyone. Sometimes I feel I do not have anything left to give to the two I'm supposed to be teaching. We are working on getting along with siblings, but my husband and I don't get along...I feel a little hypocritical.

I am with my kids 24 hours a day seven days a week. My house is used as a primary residence, it houses a small business and triples as a one room schoolhouse, so you can imagine the activity here. Sometimes ALL the activity becomes overwhelming and I just want a break, but there is no where to run (so to speak) and no where to hide. This is my life. I’m not unhappy with it, just overwhelmed. There are no mornings to clean the house or grocery shop. I wipe a counter while I wait for toast to pop-up or throw a load of laundry in when everyone is sitting at the table for lunch. Then my husband will ask days later how long ago did you start the washer and the answer is always the same, “I don’t know.” When my husband gets home it’s dinner time and then I usually work if I don’t pass out before I hit the computer.

Homeschooling is hard! It is not hard to teach the kids they WANT to learn and LOVE to learn. It is not hard to teach different ages at the same time. It is hard because it stretches me in ways I never imagined. It brings my character flaws, imperfections, personality idiosyncrasies and all that other stuff to light EVERY SINGLE DAY. Even writing this I want to cry and probably will before I’m done.

I am aware how much easier I have it than the homeschool moms before me and I am not minimizing their sacrifice in any way. I am just being honest. These are MY struggles right now. With four kids eight and under I am in a constant state of motion and sometimes I just want to be still. Even when I can get away for the occasional few hours by myself I am still doing something for my family or working. It is like being on a merry-go-round and not being able to stop.

My husband does not understand my inner struggle. He either thinks I’m double minded or just plain crazy. He thinks homeschooling is the best for the kids, but that is where his involvement ends. My kids thrive on being at home and have excelled in ways at early ages I never thought possible. I do not run a rigid homeschool and we are not work, work, work - they have a natural love for learning and an environment in which to do so. I have also been able to see so many milestones reached that I would have missed if they were not here.

The TRUTH is I love it, not every minute of it, but for the most part. I love to teach, I get to use my creativity and be productive. Just last week we made corn syrup paintings, they were AWESOME until Kaira put hers upside down on the carpet and stepped on them, on purpose. The fun was OVER at that point and I unraveled quickly.

I’m considering preschool in the fall for the two littlest ones (I hear the gasps from the homeschool community), good thing I’m not out to win a homeschool mom of the year award. Right now I basically just want to make it through another homeschool day. If Mother’s Morning Out helps me do that with a little less stress than so be it.

I do not know what next year holds for us, let alone tomorrow. We have less than a month and a half before we finish this year and I am counting the days. I’m praying God will give me insight and wisdom on how to proceed with this High and Holy calling.

SOMETIMES...

words aren't necessary!

MAMA AND THE CHEESE DOMES

You know you're popular when someone writes a story about you, but you know your FAMOUS when your daughter does. Here is a story by my guest blogger Isabella:

MAMA AND THE CHEESE DOMES

My mom LOVES cheese domes. Just one time she didn’t get one, but other than that, she can’t resist! She spray paints them and puts birds that we paint and glaze under them. Blaaah! Cheese domes! Ding-dong! Cheese domes! Everywhere! I just have to make up with them and well, I’ll live. She just got another one! Sometimes she goes to Goodwill and gets stands for them. She just got another one! She just got finished painting it. I have to admit, they are pretty. I guess that’s why she likes them. Before they are made pretty, the cheese domes sit in our garage till she gets an idea. She just just got one and put a tea cup under it. She is going to sell it at One of a Kind. That place is an antique shop. She runs a business called Tea and Traditions. As you can see, it is a tea business.

The End

Everything she says in the story is true. I'm starting to feel withdrawals (it looks like it is spelled wrong, but it is not...I checked) because I only have two cheese domes left after these go to One of a Kind. It's an addiction! Is that possible? To cheese domes? Seriously? I guess it can happen. I love them because they make pretty things look even more beautiful. The robin's eggs are painted Easter eggs speckled with brown paint and the brown eggs in the cream colored bowl are Easter eggs covered in jute (my new favorite embellishment). One thing I love about the birds is that Isabella and I do those together, I paint and she glazes. As she is getting older she can help me more and we are having fun! The little ones do what they can too, after all it is a family business. Most customers have met or heard my children on at least one occasion.

The cheese dome with the white stand was an old cheese dome with wooden plate. I attached a wooden candlestick, painted it and distressed it. The glass stand is a glass candlestick attached to a glass plate with a cheese dome on top.

I'm moving to a new space at One of a Kind, so I'll post pictures soon.

Joining Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

AWESOME MOTHER'S DAY

On Saturday before Mother's Day, the girls and I attended a Mother/Daughter tea at the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History in Kennesaw. It was a wonderful event with 100 people in attendance, wonderful tea and lots of fun. They had treasure boxes for the girls to decoupage, hats to decorate and supplies to make tussy mussies. It was a great time for everyone!


On Mother's Day I woke up to spray roses, my favorite, a letter from Isabella and handmade cards from my husband and oldest son. I also received a love letter from my husband and a handmade book about chimpanzees from Isabella. She also wrote letters like mine for all the mothers in our culdesac, which I thought was very sweet.

As I mentioned before we went to two different worship services, which were both awesome. We came home after lunch and I fell asleep in the screened porch until 6:30 pm when Isabella announced the home made pizzas were ready.

It was a blessed day!

FIRST BIRTHDAY - DECORATIONS AND FAVORS

I found this bulletin board at Goodwill for $4.64 a week before the party, with no intention of using it for the party, well, that is until I had this brainstorm. I used fancy fibers and yarn to cover the board and printed Happy Birthday on cardstock. I cut out the letters using a circle cutter and matted them. I attached them to the fancy fibers with binder clips. I printed baby pictures of Judah and did the same. I had an extra smaller palm tree that I cut up and stapled behind the pictures for added color and texture. I love the way it turned out!

This was on the front door, I used one of the napkins and attached it with brads to a piece of cork I had and placed it in the center of the wreath.

These are the beach balls we gave away as favors, they were in the shape of jungle animals and there were glasses to match. The kids had a ball with these.

This guy is from Judah's shower, isn't he cute sitting on the palm tree?

This was the table in the foyer. It has a palm tree with another lion, the glasses, a photo frame with Judah's birth announcement in it and a digital frame with a slideshow of his birth picture.

These are Annais' monkeys that he let us borrow for the occassion.

FIRST BIRTHDAY - FOOD

Grandmother's Punch - A wonderful punch that I have made for all my kid's first birthday parties. Click on the picture for the recipe.

Roasted Olives, YUMMO! I got this recipe off the Lindsey Olive site and have made it twice. It is always a hit. Three kinds of olives, garlic and cherry tomatoes served on the new Toppers crackers. Click on picture for recipe.

Loaded baked potato dip, just like it sounds. Served on potato chips! People always ask if there are potatoes in it and the answer is NO! Here is the recipe:

LOADED BAKED POTATO DIP

8 oz. cream cheese
8 oz. sour cream with chives (or plain, add chives)
Shredded cheddar cheese
Small bag of real bacon bits
Chives

Mix softened cream cheese, sour cream, shredded cheddar cheese (about ½ to cup – personal preference), about ¼ cup bacon bits and add chives if not included in sour cream, bacon bits. Stir well and put in a 18 oz. baking dish and top with cheddar to cover, remaining bacon bits and chives. Bake at 350 degrees until cheese melts completely. Serve with ridged plain potato chips. Tastes just like a loaded baked potato.

The dish in the middle of the three layer stand is Artichoke Salsa, a Pampered Chef favorite that I have made at all their first birthday parties too! Serve with tortilla chips. Click the three tiered picture for recipe.

A picture of Isabella and Kaira in front of the punch and cupcakes. I got the punch bowl as a special treat for me for Judah's birthday. I LOVE it! It's the Arthur Court 14" acrylic bunny bowl. I got it here for a great price.

I've had these at all the kids first birthday parties too. Little Hershey's nuggets covered with their names printed on address labels (Avery 5160).

The HIT of the party - 7 layer dip, but not what you are thinking... it's a delicious blend of peanut butter, nutella, marshmellow fluff, shredded coconut, peanuts, chocolate chips and gummy bears. Can you say d-e-n-t-i-s-t? Served on FLIPZ, Judah's absolute FAVORITE crackers. Click either picture for recipe. Way to go Evite!

Had to get some fruit in there, served with a cool lime dip in the middle, click picture for recipe.

And of course, J-E-L-L-O, it was as big a hit as anything and I served it with those tiny samples spoons that me LOVES!!!

The cupcakes were made by the World's GREATEST babysitter, Sarah Lynn. She made 48 cupacakes for the party. Some were covered in sprinkles and others were covered in crushed Reese's Pieces, can you say DELICIOUS!!!

Just a good shot of more of the table. See all the candy we had? $14 of jellybeans...I about fainted when the lady gave me the total...well, it was for a good cause.

FIRST BIRTHDAY - FAMILY AND FRIENDS

(Top) Kevin and his oldest (Bottom) Erika, Kevin's wife and their youngest

(Top) Mary Margaret and her son (Bottom) Bo and Ruth Allen and their youngest

Kaira and her friends

(Top) Me and Judah (Bottom) Me, Daddy and Judah (can you believe I forgot to get a family picture?)

The three of us!

(Top) Kaira chewing on her hand for some reason (Bottom) The girls

(L) Isabella admiring a weed, we have MANY to admire (R) Annais and Isabella outside

(Top) My brother David and my sister in law Kassy (Bottom) David with Kassy and Brooke Lynn

(Top) Daddy and Judah (Bottom) Brooke Lynn and Judah having a serious discussion about "baby things"

(Top) More of the three of us (Bottom) During worship

(Top) Introducing Judah to Ann's son (Bottom) Isabella having fun outside

Come back tomorrow for food and recipes!