He's Still Working on Me

I have an old VBS t-shirt that says He's still working on me. I like to drag it out every now & then as a reminder that "it took Him just a week to make the moon & the stars, the sun & the earth, Jupiter & Mars. How loving & patient He must be because He's still working on me."

On any given day that you swing by my house, I can assure you that you might find cookies & cereal crushed up on the floor, toys recklessly abandoned, the contents of a drawer haphazardly emptied, books scattered all over the table & most likely the couch as well, dirty dishes in the sink, the trash can over flowing, last nights pot still on the stove with the remains of supper still in it, the kitchen floor in desperate need of mopping,  several loads of laundry covering my bed, several more loads hiding my bathroom floor waiting to be washed, 4 pairs (or more) of shoes just begging to be tripped over on the front porch, Logan in his pajama shirt & diaper, Austin without his shirt on, Makenzie with her hair in knots, & me with my hair falling out of the half attempted pony tail. And most of the time, you will notice many of these things, if not all of them, at the same time.

I love company and I welcome you to stop by, but if you want to save your sanity & enjoy a peaceful environment, you might want to call first. Um, 2 weeks before you want to come over should be sufficient. At least then, we can all be dressed & presentable & I can have a pathway cleared to the couch. I might even find room for both of us to sit down on it. But, if you are brave of heart & don't scare too easily, then, by all means, live dangerously & come on over!

God has a lot of work left to do with me. I want to spend more time in prayer, studying my Bible, playing with my kids, & teaching them life lessons. I want time alone with my husband & time alone by myself. I want to squeeze in those 3 miles again during the baby's nap. I want to enjoy the beauty in simplicity & lose myself in a book. I want a vacation & a bigger house. I have a business that needs tending, hairbows that need creating, tutus that need making, & a blog that needs writing. I have meals to cook, everything to dust, laundry to wash, shirts to iron, coupons to clip,  & groceries to buy. I have animals that need feeding, a yard that needs flowers, a pond that needs filling, & ants that need killing. I have football games to attend & cheerleaders to coach. I have diapers that must be changed, a 7th birthday party to plan, & a 10 year old attitude that needs adjusting. I have a new congregation of people looking for support from their pastor's wife. I have lessons to plan, devotions to read, & Contenders to lead. I have bills to be paid & not nearly enough money to cover our needs & our wants. I have friends to see & memories to make. I have burdens to bear & encouragement to give.

As you can see, I have a lot on my plate & no where near enough room for it. God has a purpose for my insanity. He is working a miracle in my life. I can't see the final picture now, but I know, one day, I will finally become all that He wants me to be. Until then, don't expect perfection because you won't find it here. Love me for who I am, with all of my faults & failures.

Tales of a Homeschool Nothing ~ Amo Amas Amat

We have successfully made it through week 2 of our 3rd year in homeschool land! Woo Hoo!

It was a relatively "normal" week - whatever normal may be. Nothing really special, nothing too traumatic. That's ok, I'll take ordinary anyday over drama!

We welcomed Hurricane Isaac by having a hurricane cleaning party. And since we live in NC, there's no real threat from Isaac anyway. BUT, Hurricane Logan is another story all together. He has WRECKED my house. As we speak, he is in the kitchen flooring, getting jacked up gaining strength on froot loops. WOW! Who would have believed that such a little bitty critter could make such a mess.

Anywho, we added Latin this week. {Hey, don't look at me that way! I already know I'm nuts.} WHY Latin you may ask? Well, I asked the same question. But, logically, its the best choice for my kids at this age. It helps with understanding English, grammar, and will make learning another foreign language easier later on.

I didn't expect to see immediate results, but guess what? They LOVE it! No, really! They have actually asked "Can we do it again?" {Who are these kids & where did mine go?} I must admit that the chants are very catchy. I find myself singing "amo amas amat amamus amatis amant" in my head at the strangest times. By the way, just in case you were wondering - amo means "love".

We also made our very own solar system in science. We are studying astronomy with Apologia this year. I have always wondered why God created all the stars & planets if He didn't plan to put life on them. Yeah sure, He could have just given us something else beautiful to look at & study, but was there any other reason? I never thought about everything having an equal pull on each other & keeping us in our rightful place. I also didn't even consider the time, days, or seasons.

Our God is awesome! I can't wait to get outside at night & have an excuse to watch the stars.

Devotions ~ Noah's Ark

Justin & I try, we really do try, to make time for devotions as a family. Unfortunately, time is not something in great abundance around our house. Yes, I know that I have the same 24 hours in my day that you do, but somehow, the majority of those 24 hours slips away from us.

So, with that being said, I'm going to try, really try, to post when we do make time for devotions. I am NOT doing this to brag. I am hoping that broadcasting to the world will make us a little more accountable. Hopefully it will remind us when we slack off.

Tonight, we studied Noah's Ark. We have studied it before & I'm sure we will study it again. The kids could tell us everything about the story. But this time, after reading from the Bible, we turned on the audio book of "the True Story of Noah's Ark". I believe they really enjoyed seeing the real perspective of the design, shape, & size of the ark.

Hey, do me a favor. If I go too long & you haven't noticed any devotions posted, please remind me. I won't get mad. I can use the encouragement & it might motivate you to read the Bible more in your home as well.

How Do You Use your Training Manual

"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6

Do you realize just how much promise is in this one verse? There are so many verses in the Bible that I LOVE. This is one of them. I love being reminded of God's promises, of the fact that He loves & cares for us, of knowing that there is more than the here & now.

After working on my training manual all summer (obviously I didn't work too hard or it wouldn't have taken me that long), I am finally done.

Some friends & I got together & decided to make our own Child Training Bible. We wanted to start  actively seeking God's face in what His Word said about certain behaviors. We all want good moral children, but do we know how to help them become that way? We can tell our kids all day long how they should act, but until we show them God's Word & He speaks to their hearts, they will continue to act in their old sinful nature. 

So to make that "job" a little easier, God impressed the idea of a "Child Training Bible" onto a lady by the name of Mindy's heart. There are 20 negative character traits addressed in the CTB that we all need to work on. Everything from anger to laziness, disobedience to wrong friendships, and then a section of Gospel as well. Thank you Mindy for minding the Lord! 

To make your CTB, all you need are a Bible of your choice (you KNOW that I am KJV, but any Bible will work), the character traits, lists of verses, colored sticky notes, & colored pens, pencils, or crayons (I personally like the Twistables Colored Pencils).

We haven't started using our CTB yet, but the kids have seen me working on it & are very interested in it. Makenzie has even asked me a few times when I was going to "train" them.

I can't wait to see how this helps our daily struggles.

Maybe you should start one too!

A Higher Calling

We reached another milestone today. Justin became an ordained preacher.

Even though ordination is mostly a man made notion, we still seek after this service as an additional approval while serving God & our fellow man.

When Justin accepted his call to preach a little over 4 years ago, we knew that one day we would have to leave our comfort zone to follow God.

We have always talked about all the options out there, but never felt lead anywhere in particular.

When our pastor's health began to decline, Justin knew he needed to look into getting ordained. He wanted Fellman to be a big part of his ordination. At the time, we didn't really have any other motive than to have the memories of Fellman being there.

Surprisingly (to us, at least), as soon as the process was begun, God started working all around us. There was talk of a possible position at another church. This idea had been bounced around for a while, but no one really took it serious. But maybe we should.....

God had other ideas. He knew of a little church that needed something. He knew of a country preacher & his family that needed something. God knew that by bringing these two groups together, bigger & better things could occur if only we would let it.

I know that Justin is nervous as we start a new chapter. He is not "used" to preaching 3 times a week. I know that I am nervous. I have NO IDEA how to be a "pastor's wife". I believe that the kids are nervous. They are leaving a church they love for one where they don't really know the people.

Pray for Unity Baptist Church as Justin serves as their interim pastor for as long as they will have us & as long as God sees fit. Pray for us all as we try to follow God.

Do You Kiss Your Momma with That Mouth

As kids growing up, most of us have went through a phase where we thought we were cooler, tougher, better, smarter, & stronger than other people. Believing that we were so smart & so cool made us do things that we knew better than to do. We longed for respect & acceptance from others that made us act in ways that were not truly reflective of the people we were on the inside.

We have all said things that we shouldn't say. We have all acted in ways that we would later regret. We usually try to apologize for our wrong doings. Sometimes, its enough, but unfortunately, sometimes, the scars run too deep for a mere apology to repair them.

Society today has brought cussing, sex, & drinking into the main stream so much that we are barely affected by it anymore. Pre-teens are having sex, teens are drinking, people use cuss words without any thought, everyone thinks they are entitled to anything they want, no one takes responsibility for their actions.

I witnessed an exchange between a parent & child today that was very disturbing. A question was asked, a response was given. Cuss words were said. And a staring match lasted until tears welled up. The really sad part was that the child was the innocent party in this. The anger & hostility was evident to me from over 10 feet away. The smell of beer was too.

I also happen to know that this is no where near a first time offense. I couldn't help but wonder just what this child went through at home. Knowing that the parent had so little concern for the child & its well being.

But its not just this child's well being in jeopardy, its also the parent's, mine, my children, & anyone else who just happens to be close enough to this person to witness this abuse. Its also an extremely dangerous game they are playing by getting behind the wheel. Its only a matter of time before something horrible & irreversible happens.

I just pray that this child learns from the example set before them & chooses a different path. But, more than likely, history will only repeat itself.

Once words or actions are said or done, we can't take them back. Please think about how your actions affect everyone around you.

Tales of a Homeschool Nothing ~ The End of Week 1

Well, we did it. Somehow, someway - we have managed to make it through our 1st week of our 3rd year of homeschooling. And everyone is relatively ok, undamaged, & somewhat sane.

The week started out good. Most of the week went surprisingly well. We have been finished by lunchtime everyday except today, but we haven't set our schedule yet & we haven't added Latin.

Today, the dreaded monster reared its ugly head. I'm sure you are familiar with this monster. It speaks in a strange language that constantly says "But...", "Why...", "Ugh...", & "Wait a minute...". It moves about by shrugging its shoulders, rolling its eyes, whining, & huffing...a lot.

I'm talking about the attitude monster. Oh, how I loath this creature. When it appears, I turn into a monster myself. To say that we don't get along would be an understatement.

Please explain to me when the "teenage attitude" trickled down to preteens. Seriously, he's 10! Why does he act like he has a chip on his shoulder part of the time?!

Oh, Heaven help me for the true teenage years.