Strength Will Rise

My grandma is very sick. She went in last week for a routine, outpatient surgery. Because of her pain, she was kept overnight. And then again another night. On the third night she was transferred to the hospital. Her kidney function was shutting down because her body was unable to metabolize the pain medication. Yesterday, she seemed to be improving. 

I arrived at the hospital early this morning, hoping for a positive update from the doctor. Instead, I found my aunt crying at my grandma's bedside. She had taken a turn for the worse in the night, and was saying her goodbyes. The doctor let us know that they were trying strike a balance in treating her different organ systems. He was cautiously hopeful---he believed they could get the situation under control, but gently reminded us that she is 85. 

Throughout the morning, my grandma kept telling us all that she knew it was her time, that she had lived a good life, and that she was ready to be with Jesus. We were scared, because we felt like she was giving up. At one point, I was encouraging her to "think positively..." She looked at me, a bit surprised, and said, "I am! I'm going to Heaven! That's good, right?" 

This evening before we left the hospital we were given good news from the doctors that they are seeing slight improvements. Grandma is no longer talking as if she is going to pass on immediately, but that she has been given more time---possibly a week or two at least. I know that she has a long recovery ahead of her, but I definitely feel more optimistic than I did this morning.


As difficult as this day has been, I have been reminded of the good things in life too. My grandmother's peace of mind is a true testament to her faith in our Lord. I can only pray that when I reach that point in my own life that my faith will bring me peace that passes understanding. I was also reminded of the blessings of family. God gave us these people in our lives to be comfort, our guide posts in this world, and our companions through the ups and downs of life. No matter how far apart you live, or how long it's been since you've seen one another, when one is in need, the family will rally. Early this morning, when my aunt and I were the only two at the hospital, there was a desperate sense of loneliness and fear around us. But, little by little, as the rest of the family trickled in one by one, that fear began to dissipate. Hugs were shared, tears were shed, fond memories were enjoyed. There was a comfort in knowing that even if the worst happened, we would all be there to walk through it together. The Lord has created us to be His hands and feet. We open our arms for hugs and dry tears and offer comfort --- reminders that He is always with us, and will always provide for our needs. 

As I reflect on this day, and watching my grandma wait for the Lord to take her home, and seeing our family rally around her and her condition improve, I can't help but be reminded of Lincoln Brewster's song, Everlasting God. It is one of my all time favorites. The chorus, "Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord, wait upon the Lord, we will wait upon Lord....." just seems to fit this day so well. My favorite part of this song is, of course, the last verse spoken by Lincoln's young son:

The Lord is the everlasting God,
The creator of all the Earth,
He never grows weak or weary,
No one can measure the depths of His understanding,
He gives power to the weak, and strength to the powerless,
Even youth will become weak and tired,
And young men will fall in exhaustion,
But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength,
They will soar high on wings like eagles,
They will run and not grow weary,
They will walk and not faint.

The words of this song were taken from Isaiah 40:28, and it just truly speaks to my heart tonight. God is always there. Even when we feel tired and helpless, He is there.

The End Justifies the Means

Or, so I'm told. 

Day 5. I broke our "no electronics during the school day" rule. I know, my willpower and ability to stick to a plan are absolutely astounding. 

This summer, we received an invitation through our local home school group to join a FIRST Lego League Team. These teams are open to kids ages 9-14. Punky is 9, and obsessed with Legos. There was no doubt that he would want to join. We were recently notified that he was accepted to the team, and yesterday was the first meeting. We had to be there by 1:00. This means leaving our house in Green Meadows (aka the middle of nowhere) by 11:30. So, my choices were to try to get school done in a short amount of time, or have Saturday school. 

Our curriculum is planned out five days per unit. In my brain, Day 1 is Monday, Day 5 is Friday. It makes my brain itch to think of doing, for example, Day 1 on Thursday. That's just so wrong. Yes, I know. I have issues. At any rate, I really wanted to complete the lesson plans for Day 5 on Friday. 


So. I caved. The boys and I started school at about 7:45 with the Littles happily plugged in to Playhouse Disney. And guess what. We were completely finished with an entire day of school before 10:00! I love Playhouse Disney.
I even had time to bake a batch of gluten free black bean brownies to take to Punky's meeting. You can call me SuperMom. Oh...except for the part where the Littles watched tv for 2 and 1/2 hours, and my kids ate McDonald's for both lunch and supper. Yeah. Maybe not so much SuperMom as much as Doing - Whatever - it - Takes Mom. I can live with that.

Curious George: Kidnap Victim, Prison Escapee, Smoker

School started before 8 today, and somehow we still managed to not be done until about 2:30. Our daily calendar and weather discussion took longer than normal because, of course, this is the first of the month. Fall is in the air! I'm so excited, because I absolutely LOVE fall. It is definitely my favorite season. I had the kids change all the numbers on the calendar, and used it as a bit of a math lesson by handing them the numbers in random order and having them calculate where the dates would land. 

Our History Activity today was actually more about geography. The boys had to create their own globe, using labels for the continents and oceans, and a large ball. The boys had a great time with the challenge, and I am so glad to see the emphasis on hands on activities involving geography. 

Here they are building their own globe:

And checking their work against the "real" globe.

 Don't they look studious? Don't be fooled. Immediately after this project was completed they hurled the ball across the playroom and erupted into giggles at the sight of all their labels flying off the ball and scattering all over. There's no doubt that was their favorite part of the morning. *sigh*

Okay. Moving on. Remember the huge supply of free books we got? One of the books happened to be an old copy of Curious George. I used to love Curious George when I was younger, so at nap time today I was excited to read it to the Littles. Imagine my shock to find that this is not the nicest book. The copyright was 1940-something. The story starts with a sweet little monkey being kidnapped from the jungle. He's then taken to the city and given a pipe to smoke. Then, he's left alone, free to roam about an apartment and accidentally dials the fire department---apparently a criminal act that lands him in jail. He then breaks out of jail, steals a huge bunch of balloons, causes a major traffic jam and finally ends up in the zoo, which is pictured to be much better than his home in the jungle. So, maybe I'm overreacting, (although I never do that, so I don't know why I would start now!) but really? Who thought this was an appropriate story for small children?! 

Alright. That's all. I'm hoping I'll be able to sleep all night without being awakened by crying children having bad dreams about a man in a yellow hat.  Good Night!

Be Careful What You Wish For.......

Remember when I said I was so prepared that I should have been a Boy Scout? Uh, yeah. Tonight I let myself be talked into becoming the Den Leader for Buggy's Wolf Den. I always think that God giggled to himself when he blessed me with three little boys. I have no brothers, and raising boys is always a learning experience for me. So, I guess this will be another opportunity to learn. And, hopefully, so will the boys. Pray for them. And me. Thanks.

So, moving on. Today was our second day of school, and our first day without Keil. I have to admit, I had a small large amount of anxiety about how things were going to go, trying to entertain the littles and still manage to provide some semblance of an education to the older boys. This year I am bound and determined to stick to a "no electronics" rule during school time---for everyone. I know that this rule will get broken at some point....probably approximately mid-December when the snow is 3 feet deep and everyone is stir crazy. At that point I will have absolutely no guilt about popping in Leapfrog Letter Factory. But, this is only Day 2, and it seemed a bit early to already be resorting to the television to occupy the Littles.

Turns out, I had nothing to worry about (at least not today). Louie and Sugar Biscuit spent at least an hour playing with Playdough. 

When it was time for the older boys to do a painting art project, the Littles sat up to the table with their washable watercolors and created a huge wet mess beautiful masterpieces. 

I also pulled out a busy bag of color sorting beads for them. I was part of a swap organized by another homeschooling mommy blogger and now have 30 different activities at the ready (SEE! I told you I was prepared!) And while I was helping them get started with the sorting, Punky and Buggy were doing this:

Punky was reading their history out loud to Buggy, and they were discussing what they were reading. I was tempted to leave them all to it and go take a nap......or at least go hide in the kitchen and eat some chocolate. Oh please, don't tell me you've never done it!!

This afternoon, we made use of some of the file folder games we got for free. The Littles spent about 20 minutes sorting shapes and sizes. Oh, and if you are paying attention, you'll notice that Sugar Biscuit has changed her clothes in this picture. This is a common occurrence around here. Generally it is normal for her to be wearing a different outfit every time I glance in her direction.

Okay, now I'm about to admit something. Last year, we never did any art projects. Just the thought of organizing an art project, setting it up, supervising, and cleaning up was totally overwhelming to me. But, our new curriculum is so awesome. The art projects are built right in, and are so easy. Oh, we did have a heck of a mess to clean up by the time it was over, but the set up and process were so easy, that cleaning up the mess didn't seem so bad. And look at these awesome pictures of the ocean my boys created!

 I'm fairly certain these will one day be very valuable. But, there's a small possibility I'm biased. 

And now, the absolute best part of the day. First thing this morning, I gathered all four children around the school table and played our Hymn for this week. We are learning the first verse of 'Holy, Holy, Holy!' The boys were able to sing along without looking at the words, but what was really amazing was that the Littles were also beginning to sing along. Even Sugar Biscuit was singing her little heart out---she's not even 3 yet! A little while later, in the middle of the play dough adventure, Louie spontaneously burst into a chorus of "Holy! Holy! Holy!!" My heart smiled.

One Down.........

Day one, done!

Of course, we began the morning with the traditional First-Day-of-School Pictures: 
Here's Buggy with his awesome mohawk:

And Punky, also with a mohawk:

They talked me into the mohawks about a month ago, and I have informed them several times that this is a benefit of home schooling. If they were headed out the door to a school room with a teacher and other children that I would have never let them sport that style!

Beginning our morning. Don't they look thrilled?!

After Keil led us in a prayer, we called all 4 of the kiddos to the school table to talk about the date, the weather, and to listen to our hymn.

 We had a great morning, and the boys really loved our new curriculum. They are both working together in Bigger Hearts for His Glory.  Punky is a 4th grader, and Buggy is in 2nd, so they will be doing English (Rod & Staff) and Math (Singapore) separately. I also ordered an extension package for History and Science for Punky. The one thing the boys were a bit hesitant about was the Poetry lesson, but once we got into it they admitted it really wasn't so bad. 

Here they are doing the copywork from the poem. 

See, no looks of horror and torture! Win!

And finally, just to prove yesterday's post about being prepared, I took a couple of pictures of our classroom. Our basement is totally unfinished, but I'm making the best of it!

The library:

Our bulletin board. Isn't it fancy?!

And, our classroom:

Oh, and, no, I didn't buy all those bulletin board decorations and banners. When prioritizing the budget (as I'm sure is true with most home school families) curriculum is first and usually last on the list. We were so blessed to receive a local FreeCycle (check out Yahoo groups to find yours!) offer from a former teacher who was giving away a barn full of books, bulletin boards, file folder games, and tons of other educational games and tools! Over half the books on our shelves are from her, and many of them were on our curriculum reading lists!


Okay, that was day one. Day two was supposed to start 3 minutes ago, and I'm still blogging. Have a great day!!

I Should Have Been a Boy Scout. Or, not.

You know, because of that whole "Always Be Prepared!" thing. Because, I am. Prepared. 

Tomorrow (well, okay, today seeing as how I am up after midnight - again.) is the first day of our new home school  year. We I am excited! I can't speak for the boys, I think they're excited, or at least a tiny bit anticipatory (see, I use big words; I'm totally qualified for this home schooling thing!) but, of course they won't admit it. 

I have been working for weeks now to get things ready. This year is going to be different. Oh yes, it will. We started home schooling last November, and I was kind of thrown into the whole gig rather suddenly when we decided to take our kids out of their private school. The choice had come down to one of two options: a) continue to pay for a private education, or b) be able to afford to feed the four children. I think we made the right choice. Anyhow, last year I just used the curriculum from the private school, as we had already purchased most of it anyhow. I didn't feel as if I was truly teaching so much as I was just passing out 'homework.' As I grew to better know the boys' learning styles I realized that the curriculum we were using just wasn't a good fit. So, I went on the hunt for a true home schooling curriculum, and thanks to the advice of an amazing friend, I think we are in for a great year of learning, joy, and shared family moments. 

Last year we "did school" around the dining room table. That alone added to our my stress. The mess of school stuff all over when we were sitting down to eat and the lack of organization nearly drove me crazy. My motto for year last year was "Survive With a Smile." This year, I have set up a complete classroom at one end of the playroom in our basement. We have book shelves, an organized cupboard, daily lesson plans, a supply list for the entire year, and tons of extra activities ready for down time when kids are waiting for me to finish up with another child. This year, I'm planning to do more than just survive. I'm planning for everyone to thrive! (I know, it rhymes. I can own my dorkiness.)

Here we go!