The Project Cycle

I can't seem to climb out from under all of the projects!

I saw a show on dust mites and had to take action! I ripped all of the sheets off of all of our beds, vac'd the mattress, washed the sheets, scrubbed walls...along the way to the laundry room I stopped for a drink and see the grime in the fridge, had to Lysol that. On the way to get the Lysol saw crumbs on the floor, had to attack that. Went to the garage to get a screwdriver to fix a closet handle, saw the dust all over the rug and shoes thrown everywhere, had to stop and tackle that project. Walked into the mudroom saw chipped paint on the wall, note to self, "Touch up the paint"......went to get a pad of paper to start a list of notes to self, saw the junk drawer was junky, had to de-clutter......threw away 10 million lifeless pens, 52 erasers, 120 lose staples in the bottom of the drawer that stabbed me every time my fingers ran across them.Went to grab the garbage can for quicker disposal of junk, saw the garbage can was filthy, had to stop and Lysol out the garbage can.....went to grab the Lysol...and well you can see my crisis.....

The projects never end! NEVER! Is there such a thing as project A.D.D. ? I can't stay on task.......

For now, my dust mites are dead and the Lysol company can pass on the bail out, I keep them in business.

Happy Spring Cleaning!

Stay off the roads!!!

We saw a SCARY SCARY thing last night. We were driving home from Bible study (Bible Study Fellowship) (The kids and I) at 9:45 p.m. and we passed a semi- and the driver was READING a book while he drove.

NOW THAT IS SCARY! Enough said!

Did any of you see the Hallmark Hall of Fame movie on Sunday night about Irena Sendler? She was a Polish Social worker who saved about 2,500 Jewish children by smuggling them out of the Warsaw Ghetto and put them in willing Polish families who pretended they were their own children. She was so young when she did this and went through GREAT RISK to smuggle them out. Several of the other women in her group who were helping got caught and went before the firing squad.

People who show these kind of unselfish, brave acts amaze me. To go through such danger and risk -but to be determined to do what is right, they are such heroes. I really love hearing stories about brave people who helped save Jewish people. I love The Hiding Place-Cori Ten Boom, I love Anne Frank, I love Shindler's List. These people are amazing to me.

God blessed Irena for her courage, she lived to be 98 years old. The other heroes are the families who took in the Polish children as their own. It was very dangerous to do that, yet they did it, and the show said they loved the children so very much and if the children were reunited with their real parents after the war, the adopted families cried and were distraught.

Irena's story was unknown in America for a long time. A group of Kansas students were doing a project on The Holocaust and found the story and brought it to light. They were able to meet Irena in person when they raised enough money to fly her to America and speak to their school. The students made several trips to Poland to see and interview Irena, and later they made a play, "Life in a Jar" to honor her. (Irena placed every child's name she smuggled out in a jar along with the name of the family she placed that child with so she could track them down later to be reunited with their families, then she hid the jar.)

Amazing stupidity -The semi driver reading a book (risking the life of others because of his selfish behavior)

Amazing courage - Irena Sendler (saving the life of others because of her unselfish behavior)

What a contrast!

Good Bye Vacation-Hello Life

The vacation is over (stay at home vacation)- back to life.

It is a rainy and cold Monday to start off our week. Sometimes that is better, the sun and nice weather doesn't distract us from all we need to get done in a day.

We had to get up at the crack o' dawn and take our pet bunny to get "fixed". We adopted her from the Humane Society and that is their rule. We got her when she was only a few months old so we had to wait until she was full grown and 6 months old.

Back to homeschooling today. It is VERY HARD to get focused after a long break. 5 weeks left until SUMMER BREAK. We are trying hard to finish strong and we are on a good pace to finish out all of our 5th grade curriculum.

My brain is on over-load with planning. I'm in charge of organizing a big going away party for our Sunday School teacher and the details are keeping me up at night. I wish my brain had an off/on switch, so I could turn it on during "business hours" and then turn it off at night and on weekends. I'm a hyper-organizer...to the point of OCD...I have to think through every detail and idea, and plan things down to every small detail. It usually serves me well to be that organized- it is also my curse.

Finally, my husband and I went to an AWESOME parenting conference at church Friday night and Saturday morning. We learned hands on skills and tools to train up our children's HEARTS..not just raise robots but work on hearts, so they will respond to their conscience not just wait for mom and dad to prompt them. It was really inspiring. Now the trick is to try and remember it all and not respond to my default attitude of frustration, but to breathe, step back and do the skills they taught us.

Sometimes I just want to say, "Just do it, because I'm the mom" I get tired of explaining and going the extra mile to teach a good value or characteristic. It pays off in the end-but takes perseverance and hard work. We learned great ways to teach your kids to honor others (honor is doing more than is expected). How to have honesty under pressure, how to teach kids to deal with the wrong choices they make, and how to teach kids to make choices based on CONVICTIONS not emotions.

Honor is doing what I asked you to do (obedience) and then.....look for something to do extra (honor). For example- You tell your child to please set the table (obedience) and then tell her when she is done, find one thing she can to to honor the family.....and let her come up with a way. An example would be to make little cards for each family member or set flowers on the table. They gave us the idea to tell your kids to "Do an honor check" when leaving a room they have been asked to clean up. They are to clean it all up the correct way and then give it one last look and do something extra to honor the family. It gives kids the idea to do MORE than what is expected. Can you imagine having an employee for example, who did MORE than what was expected of them? What a great trait! We can't wait to teach this to our kids.

To get great info. on parenting you can go to http://www.biblicalparenting.org/ They have a weekly email they send out with GREAT tips. I usually shy away from email stuff, who needs more STUFF IN YOUR EMAIL BOX...but this is worth it. They also have great resources on the website. We bought several books at the conference. I've already read one and it was very helpful with hands on, actual skills and tools you can put into practice NOW.

Happy Monday!

Stay-Cation

We are on a Stay-Cation! Usually we go away during this time each year, it is our last fun filled week before my husband's crazy work schedule picks up for his busy season May-Oct.

This year, to be prudent with our finances, we decided to stay at home and enjoy a Stay-Cation instead. It has good points and bad points. I still have to cook, clean, and do laundry during the stay-cation...that stinks. But I love sleeping in our own beds and having a slower pace than vacations usually bring. Last year we went to Florida and did the whole Disney crazy for 10 days. That was A BLAST, but not at all relaxing. We were on the go constantly and stayed up really really late to watch fireworks and electric light parades and then got up early to hit all of the parks. You know, the whole "hurry up and wait" thing that comes with vacations.

This stay-cation has been actually nice. We went mountain biking on Saturday for two hours and then enjoyed dinner together. Today my husband took our son to his work to work on a boat they have at work that everyone can use this summer. My daughter and I went to PetSmart to look at all of the animals they have there. Simple, cheap fun! It is rainy and icky out today but it is supposed to be 60 Wed.-Fri. so we will hit the trails again and put more miles on out mountain bikes. We've been playing games, watching movies, and just enjoying some quality family time.

Not a bad deal at all. Saving money can be fun!
P.S. I've been logging my workout miles since Jan. 1 and yesterday I hit 150 miles walked/ran since Jan. Hooray!

Encouraging Words

Today after church as we were driving home, my 10 year old son told us that a man at church, who goes to our Sunday School and we've been to his home before to have a Sunday School Christmas party and to go Christmas Caroling around his neighborhood said some really nice words to him. They must have really stuck with our son, because this was quite awhile after it happened.

He told us with a big smile on his face that Mr. Wagoner always says hi to him and shakes his hand and today he told our son that he enjoys seeing him each week, that he is a nice boy who is very clean cut, and he is going to be a great man someday. Such simple words but they left a huge impact on our son. Our son said, "Mom, he told me I'm going to be a great man someday" I'll just never forget the smile on his face as he retold the conversation.

It means the world to me that people invest in our kids. Just simple things. Simple words that are spoken, that encourage and inspire. It inspires me to speak LIFE into the kids I'm around. To take the time to SEE them and then speak words of encouragement into their lives. You never know how it can inspire them. I'm going to call Mr. Wagoner right now and tell him what his words did for our son and thank him for taking the time to notice a 10 year old boy each week. He probably doesn't even realize how much my son recognizes that every week Mr. Wagoner notices him and goes out of his way to say hello.

I hope we can all be a Mr. Wagoner this week!

Spring Break News

Well so far there isn't much "break" in the Spring Break..... but we are only just beginning, so there is plenty of time to "break". Yesterday we met a great friend and her daughter for coffee and then I took the kids to the Family Film Festival showing of The Tale of Despereaux (Thanks Traci for the heads up.) (Traci is one of my 4 readers :) ) It was cute. Not as cute as the book but still worthy of our time. Today I had Bible study (every Saturday at 6:45 a.m. today was the last one until after Spring Break) and then I went to the Y for a long workout. I love when I get to go on Saturdays because my husband is home with the kids and I can take my time and not feel so rushed. When I got home from the Y, my family was already hard at work doing yard work. I jumped in when I got home and we got so much done. We trimmed all of our bushes and shrubs and cleaned up leaves in the flower beds. FEELS GREAT to get that done.

There also isn't much "spring" in Spring Break....it is decent out, 50 ish and sunny. Not nearly as bad as all of my family and friends in Wyoming who are having their 5th blizzard in the last 4 weeks. I can't believe how much snow they are getting. We are supposed to get snow tomorrow night. NICE!!!!

Later we are hanging out in front of the big screen as we watch MSU in the Final Four! Go STATE! ( I don't normally watch a bunch of basketball, but when it gets down to the finals, it gets exciting, so I'll tune in.)

Happy Saturday.

3 Cheers for Spring Break!

Today officially begins Spring Break.......why........

BECAUSE I SAID SO.

I'm the mom/teacher and I woke up this morning and decided, "We are on Spring Break"

I can't take it another minute....I need a break, the kids need a break. We've been working non stop since Jan. plugging away at the homeschool curriculum, making great progress. But the days go so fast, the weeks go so fast. I just need the time warp to stop.

So, we are reading The Tale of Despereaux together and enjoying life for the next week and a half. (That is a REALLY cute and exciting book by the way, I highly recommend it.) We have a week or so off alone, and then my husband has a week off. We plan to go mountain biking a lot while he is off, play, and REST. We want to enjoy the family time and slower schedule.

I don't want to answer the phone for fear it is someone who needs me to do something. I have a few offers to meet friends for coffee or at the park, but I just need to be careful to not suddenly have a full schedule again-even though it is all fun stuff. I want the break to go SLOW..........and to rest and refresh my mind, spirit, body. Our Bible study is off for a week and we have no piano lessons for two weeks. I have a stack of books to read and a new exercise video to try out. We have bikes to ride, parks to visit. Staying up late, sleeping in.

Ahhhhhh I feel myself relaxing already.