Come On, Follow Me, This Way

I have a devotion book that is geared toward homeschool moms. I admit that I don't get to read it every morning, or let me rephrase that. I don't make time for it every morning. Funny because my devotion this morning was about time.

Now while that was relevant & I needed to read that, what stuck out to me was several verses before this one.

Ephesians 5:1-2 says "Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us..."

I just could not get past this. I started dwelling on following God & how kids will gladly follow you anywhere. Most of the time, they follow with a merry heart. 

But then, I started thinking about Logan.

He will follow along behind us, but so often, he has his own agenda. He gets distracted by something on the ground. He turns around when he hears a sound. He trips & we have to go to him & help him up. He never really gets in a hurry or understands when I want him where I am 5 minutes ago. When I don't feel like waiting, I pick him up & carry him. Sometimes he is content to be held in my arms but many times, he wiggles & squirms hollering "woose" or "I walk". Then it depends on what I'm doing & where I need to be as to whether I continue to fight him or whether I set him down.

How much does this sound like us?!

I want to follow God. I try to follow God. I know that He is headed in the direction I need to go. But I get distracted so easily. It looks more fun going this way. This path has pretty flowers. Oh, what was that sound? Let's go find out. Oh, ugh, I fell down. HELP! 

God is up ahead of me saying "Come on child." "Come this way." "Will you hurry up?" "What's taking you so long?" "Please come to me." "No, not that way." "I'm up here, remember?" "Don't worry, I'm coming to help you."

Sometimes He gets tired of waiting for me to follow Him & He picks me up. I'm pretty content being in His arms for a little while, but then I want to explore on my own again. Sometimes, He holds me a little tighter so I can't get loose. But then, sometimes, He sets me down & watches cautiously, knowing that I will eventually get to where He wants me, but wondering just how long it will take me.

Does this sound like you?

Hmmm, something so simple. I love when God shines a flashlight on something little & explains it to me in a way that I can understand!

I'm so thankful that God is up ahead of me watching & waiting on me to join Him!!

Power is a Good Thing

As I pulled up my blog to start this post, I noticed the date on the last post & realized that title, although mostly about vacation, was also about a storm. This post, while not as much fun or nearly profound, is also about a storm.

We experienced quite a storm on Thursday June 13. I can honestly say that I never & I do mean NEVER have encountered anything quite like this. I have made it through many kinds of weather in my (uh hum) few, short years on this earth.

I don't remember much about Hurricane Hugo back in the late 80's except we were without power for a whole week & it knocked over my apple tree. REALLY? We had 2 & it knocked mine over! I was only 11 at the time.

I completely remember the Blizzard of '93. I didn't realize it was considered a "storm of the century" until I just googled it! I was a freshman in high school & broke my ankle sliding into 2nd base just a few days before the storm hit. I was getting ready to turn 15. My ankle was in a cast & I REFUSED to allow anyone to cut my blue jeans & I was too cool to wear jogging pants to school. So, guess what I did? I wore shorts! Yep, many, MANY inches of wet, fluffy snow. My daddy thought it would be fun to throw me off the porch in my shorts & cast into that snow. That's one of the few times I have ever had snow on my birthday (late March).

The summer of 2004 saw a very active season for Hurricanes. It seemed like storm after storm continued to batter us. NC, along with many others experienced flooding like we haven't seen in years. The Elkin park was completely under water for days.

We have seen record highs, record lows, rain, sleet, hail, snow, wind, thunder, & lightening, but Thursday honestly caught me by surprise. We were without power for almost 24 hours. Many others suffered much longer than we did. This is taken from my Facebook status shortly after the power finally came back on....

"Its comforting looking out at the beautiful blue sky & feeling the light breeze today. Yesterday was a different story. I know many people suffered from the storms. I was getting ready to walk & the door headed to town when it started pouring rain. I looked out the back door & I have NEVER seen that much debris flying through the air (except on TV). The sky was filled with limbs, leaves & stuff. We watched several trees snap just over the hill & it looked like the others (very tall skinny trees) were almost touching the ground. These are the same trees that blocked Austin Traphill Rd & our firemen spent all night & part of the morning cutting out of the road. As we went to the front door for a different view, pieces of tin from our building sailed by. The door was almost impossible to open due to the wind. My father in law saw "something" & heard it - call it a small twister, whirling dervish, whatever - spinning over our house. It all happened too fast for me to have processed the fear that probably should have come. I was just in awe as the power. After driving around surveying the path & the damage, I am thankful for those trees down on Austin Traphill Rd. I believe they put up enough block to save my house. My heart goes out to those who lost loved ones & suffered more damage than we did. Trees can be replaced, lives cannot."

Sun, Surf, & Storms

 

Our family just got back from vacation. I can't tell you how excited this made me. Not only did we go on vacation, but we went to the BEACH for a whole WEEK! Do you know how long it has been since we have been on vacation as a family? (Camping does NOT count!) It has been 4 years since we have been anywhere & 5 LONG years since we have been to the beach!

I am such a beach girl. I could move there & not think twice about it! (Ok, maybe I would think twice, but not long.) My husband, on the other hand, loves the mountains.

Austin has been to the beach 3 times - 2, 3.5, & 6. His first reaction to the ocean was "Big O Big O Water". Makenzie has only been once, when she was 2 years old. I really don't remember how she reacted, but I know she had fun. 

Aren't they adorable?

We drove down to North Myrtle Beach, SC Sunday afternoon after church. Immediately after unpacking & eating supper, everyone headed down to the beach with flashlights. They had a blast hunting for crabs!

As soon as Logan's feet touched the sand, he said "Huwts. Hold You." & held out his hands for me to pick him up. He was not a fan of the sand or the ocean. Thankfully, he did start to like it before we left.

Austin almost mastered "surfing" on a skim board by week's end. Justin probably would have had it down pat too if we had a bigger board. 

We spent our days on the beach soaking up the rays & our nights out & about in town. The weather forecast called for scattered thunderstorms all week with a tropical storm rolling in on Friday. Yep, you heard me right, Tropical Storm Andrea decided to join our party!

Hey did you know that sting rays & other critters come in close to shore to feed right before a storm? Well, I had never really thought about it until Justin & Austin came charging out of the water, excitedly talking about the rays that just swam by them!

I can finally check that item off my bucket list! I rode out a tropical storm/hurricane. We even ventured out onto the beach on Friday at the height of the storm! Oh, we only stayed about 10 minutes. The blowing sand STUNG & Logan could barely stand up. It was certainly an experience!!

Austin & Makenzie rode their first roller coaster at the Ocean Drive Pavilion. Justin rode the Alien Abduction (otherwise known as the Gravitron) with them & felt sick the rest of the night! I tried to convince Austin to ride this thing with me that flipped upside down, but he wouldn't take me up on it. They did talk me into riding the Tilt a Whirl & the Scrambler. Oh, I paid dearly for a while after that! I just can't go round & round the way I used to could. I'm still ok with flipping upside down, but not doing circles.

We walked out on the pier. Unfortunately, we didn't manage to make time for fishing ourselves but we watched plenty of other people catching fish. Some guys caught little sharks & some Toad Fish while we were out there. I've never heard of a Toad Fish, but they claim that they are very poisonous. We also saw several Sting Rays swimming by.

Putt putt is a MUST on vacation! It always has been! Captain Hook didn't let us down. 

On Wednesday, we headed to Wet, Wild, & Wheels for all the swimming & racing we could stand! I watched the sky with dread as it turned black & the clouds began to build. Thankfully, it blew on over & we had a beautiful overcast, day that was not too hot! I even managed to get Logan to sleep smack dab in the middle of all the fun. But, it was hard to make him understand that he was too little to ride the go carts. Yep, I have mad skillz, but some things are just out of my control! LOL

Since it was raining again most of Thursday, we took a trip to Ripley's Aquarium. {See, I got school in! We are studying Swimming Creatures with Apologia next year.} Sharks are always a favorite, but touching the horseshoe crabs was an experience as well. We even had our pictures taken with mermaids!

The ONE thing that I REALLY wanted to do (other than take pictures on the beach) we didn't get the opportunity to do. Mother Nature & Andrea had other plans! When I told the kids we were doing school while at the beach, they were not too thrilled.....until they found out what I had planned. Myrtle Beach State Park had a bunch of really cool things planned for the kids all summer. I was especially interested in hunting for sea turtles! The problem with this little adventure - we had to be on the beach 30 minutes away at 6am! Well, it was calling for pouring down rain most of Friday morning so we didn't even bother setting the alarm.

....SIGH....

But wait, there's more! 

We saw several turtles throughout the week. Then, as we were looking off the balcony Thursday afternoon not 1, but 2 turtles lumbered by. One of them even dug her nest in full view of our room!

After tempting fate through the storm early Friday, the weather cleared & we were able to spend the rest of the beach digging in the sand!

Saturday greeted us with the dread of cleaning, packing up, & heading home. Farewell ocean, until we meet again...........hopefully sooner than later!

Oh yeah, while we were living it up in paradise, we kept getting reports from home. Apparently home had A LOT more water than we did! Our driveway greeted us with deep gullies in the gravel. Our road (& several others) were impassible for some time due to flooding. And I now need a new roof!

Well, at least my good ole Suburban made it down & back, almost 800 miles & tripping the big 200K mark, in one piece .....

..... or did it?

Tales of a Homeschool Nothing ~ Reach for the Stars

I just love using Apologia for science. I never have to worry about the idea of evolution finding its way into our creationist beliefs. Oh, I have explained to my kids that many people believe differently than we do & that scientists think we came from monkeys (Hey moms, how often would that tail come in handy now?!). But we don't believe the stars weren't poofed into existence billions of years ago. My kids know that God created this world we live in in 6 days.

We studied Astronomy this year. I just love looking at the stars on a cool crisp evening. It has always fascinated me.

Unfortunately, I have fallen behind so we are not quite finished with every lesson, but rest assured we will be wrapping up soon after vacation. I WILL make it to an observatory before the summer is over!

It was eye opening to learn a possible reason as to why God created the universe the way He did. We attempted making a telescope out of a box, but failed miserably at it. The description of Mercury reminded me of Pitch Black from The Chronicles of Riddick.

Venus was one of their favorite lessons. Maybe it was because we played in melted butter!

In celebration of planet Earth, we went to the park and played with a compass.

Volcanoes are ALWAYS fun!!!

Click HERE & HERE for more science fun!

Stay tuned through June as we look at the far end of the solar system & find out if Pluto is really a planet or not!

Oh, & make sure to come back next year as we dive underwater with Swimming Creatures of the 5th Day. Maybe I can find something educational on our beach trip!

Tales of a Homeschool Nothing ~ History is HISTORY

I have a real problem with commitment. LOL It seems that no matter how hard I try, I just can't "commit" to following a schedule. Yes, I love the flexibility I have to do this, but it also stresses me out because I fall victim to the "Am I doing enough?" "Are my kids learning as much as their public school peers?" "Am I REALLY qualified for this?" questions & self doubt.

But, I am HAPPY to say that we are actually done with history! Yeah!! Now granted, I stuffed A LOT of info in this week, but we got through it.

I haven't stressed before when we didn't complete history before summer, because I would just pick up where we left off. That would be difficult this time because we were in year 4 of Tapestry of Grace. In August, we start all over again with the beginning of time, so discussing Obama one week followed by ancient civilizations the next could be a little confusing.

We still have a few lessons in Science. *sigh* I REALLY need to take a trip to an observatory!

I had a great time at the NCHE Homeschool Conference on Friday. I decided to only go to the book fair this year. Since I was in Winston anyway, I also swung by Ollies & Gullions. I love love love looking at books!!

I also stopped by Barnes & Noble to drop off the kids' summer reading lists & picked up a few FREEBIES!! *Your kid only has to log down 8 books, take to your local B&N, & pick out a FREE book!* FREE is GOOD!!

I found a book from Buzz Aldrin about his trip to space, a few books on our summer list, and several missionary stories from YWAM. I picked up several different titles relevant to Tapestry of Grace next year. Finally decided on Makenzie's math (Horizons 2), & finished buying Austin's LA.

Oh yeah & I was blessed to be able to buy All About Reading Level 1 thanks to a used curriculum email that I receive!

Austin has been attending football camp for most of this week so that has worn him out. The summer kids movies also started this week. Fun Fun.

I am calling an end to our post card project as well. Even though, we did not get a post card from everyone who originally signed up, we still received enough to call it a success. 

SHHHH - Don't look for me next week. I will have my toes buried in the sand!! Its been 5 long years since we have been to the beach as a family!

Its Summer Time & The Livin's Easy

Fall is my absolute favorite time of year. But I must admit, I LOVE the lazy crazy days of summer.

The days get longer. The nights are brighter. The birds start singing earlier. The frogs croak louder. The flowers smell sweeter. 

I love sitting outside as it starts to get dark, watching the lightening bugs come out one by one. I love splashing in a mountain stream until my teeth start to chatter & my lips turn blue. I love laying by a swimming pool with the heat of the sun on my back. 

But mostly, what I love about summer is the fact that we don't HAVE to be anywhere at a certain time. Yes, there are activities that we participate in that have start times, but we don't HAVE to do them. I love that! I love the freedom of summer.

Freedom to stay up late, freedom to wake up late. Freedom to be lazy, freedom to stay busy. Freedom to be creative, freedom to do pretty much anything we want.

Unfortunately, sometimes all that freedom can lead to a different kind of dom. Boredom. How many times do we hear "I'm bored, I don't have anything to do"?

So in an attempt to curb some of that boredom, I have created our summer bucket list. Many of the things on this year's list are activities that we usually participate in every year. But some of them are brand new ideas.

I have also created our summer reading list. Most of these books I found on "most wanted" lists for children. Unfortunately, many of them, I have never read or, at least, don't remember reading anyway. Instead of a simple list to check off, I decided to make it a little more fun. I created 2 different BINGO charts with the same books on them. This gives my kids a little extra incentive to bug me to read more to them. ;)

I don't have a clue how to upload a printable document or convert excel to an image.    :(  I actually scanned that ^^^ one and saved as a picture. But I did figure out how to covert excel to a PDF & upload it.  :)

Tales of a Homeschool Nothing ~ Bees, Summer, & Blessings

May is such a strange month for us. We are trying to finish up school, while trying to keep from being too excited because summer is right around the corner. Concentration is somewhat harder once the heat cranks up! LOL

So, that being said, I guess that the Grace of God Christian Academy is officially on a lightened summer schedule! 

We will continue to read literary classics all summer. Makenzie will work mainly on reading, while Austin does math & writes a few times a week. We have too many "plans" (ie, fun activities) to fulfill a strenuous academic schedule during the hot days of summer.

We do still have several decades of history to complete before we jump back to the beginning of time next year. We also have a couple of lessons in science to finish. I don't stress too much about any other book not being completed. I know that the beginning of a new year always reviews so it balances out.

Now, back to this past week.

We finished reading The Outsiders & are planning to watch the movie tonight. YEAH! Of course, I got all teary towards the end. It happens to the best of us. ;)

We discussed Nixon's Watergate, Ford's forgettable term & Betty's desire to help women struggling with addiction. We learned that Jimmy Carter battled through an energy crisis and Reagan's plan to reduce debt & help the economy failed miserably. Hey, did you know Ronald Reagan was a movie star? Me neither!

We celebrated the last day of public school with popsicles outside! Then we enjoyed friends at the park and a homemade waterslide. Oh and a particularly proud momma moment - Austin & a friend were playing with a little boy's ball at the park & accidentally lost it. After looking in the bushes for a long time, he asked me if we could give him one of the balls in our car to replace it. (*sigh* sometimes I guess I am doing the right thing with these kids)

Poor Logan got the short end of the stick after Austin tortured a "bumble bee". I was brought a screaming youngin, then I was brought the dead bee. What they thought was a bumble bee because it was furry turned out to be a Japanese Hornet! His poor fingered swelled up twice its normal size!

Tomorrow I get to go to the NCHE Conference in Winston Salem! YEAH! I'm not actually sitting in on any of the speakers this year, but I get to stroll around the book fair BY MYSELF ALL DAY LONG!! Then I get to go on a DATE with my hubby!

Stay tuned to see what kind of awesome deals I pick up!

As I look back on this week, even through my troubles & trials, I can't help but be reminded that I am blessed far more than I deserve! Far too many people woke up this morning after losing everything they own. Far too many people woke up this morning in hospitals. Far too many people woke up this morning with broken hearts because someone they love can no longer wake up.

Why God continues to bless me, I'm not sure, but I'm thankful He does!