Congratulations to ME!

Today I am congratulating myself!  I am the proud mom of an incredible 11 year old! 

11 years ago, I was given the honor of raising my third daughter. 

As she was placed in my arms, my heart was overwhelmed with pride and joy. 

And today, that pride and joy has had 11 years to grow and I am truly the one who has been blessed by her life!

 My Livi,

even though you are growing up

you will always be my baby girl! 

I know you are getting to big for all those "little" girl things

But I will cherish those days and always remember dressing you in pink and ruffles

Now, I celebrate the way you dress in the clothes you choose

I used to make all of your choices for you

from how I would do your hair to the pretty shoes you would wear on your feet

Now, you can do all of that!  

I see you loving those around you that others reject

I have seen you giving up your last piece of gum just because you don't want somebody to go without

Your giggle brightens my day, it is contageous!

What a task being a big sister to 7 little boys! 

You try to keep them in line and someday, they will be thankful!  :)

Your big sisters are so blessed to have a little sister that they can share things and laugh with
What a treat to watch you interact with everyone!
Teaching your "buddy" to read and watching you take care of him, how precious that is!
The love for God's Word that you have and are learning daily to hide in your heart, is an inspiration to me!

Today, I congratulate myself for having such a sweet, incredible daughter
What a privilege to call you my daughter!

Today, I thank God for you!

God danced the day you were born and I continue to dance with my heart because of the joy you bring to my life!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY ADORABLE LIVI!

Muddled Monday

Lately my mind has been muddled with all kinds of thoughts.  Here are some of them:

::life is not always predictable

::the things you used to take for granted, can suddenly become things you appreciate so much when your heart has been broken

::kids can make you think of little things from a whole different perspective

::kids can make you cry and laugh all within 60 seconds or less

::teens can do the same thing! (maybe more crying)  :)

::some of my worst shortcomings, are revealed to me through my children

::children help me see daily what it means to have "child" like faith

::I long to have that kind of faith daily

::the 'share your heart' kind of friend is rare and precious

::God knows when you will need one

::when you have that kind of friend, hang on to them

::God does answer prayer

::sometimes he answers it in a different way than we pray, but HIS way is best

::for that I am thankful!

::sometimes the days are long

::but the years ALWAYS go by fast!

::being content is essential in a world that longs to feed 'self''

::feeding self, never satisfies

::when focused on self, it will always bring discontentment

::it is miserable to live always wanting more and more and more...

::unless it is wanting more of God!

::then and only then, will you find all that you truly need!

::there is freedom when you appreciate what you have

::I pray my kids see Jesus in me, and when they don't, I hope I have taught them to forgive and not judge others

::I hope I remember that when THEY fall short and they will know Jesus love and acceptance because of MY example

::I need God's grace and mercy on an hourly basis as I journey down this path of being a wife and mother

::I am so thankful I have been given this privilege

::God is good and good to me

Foto-Friday~Bird's eye view

One day, no more sink baths!
No more cute little chubby fingers and thighs!
I won't get to wash sweet little toes and soft silky hair!
Little ones won't be circling my legs wanting to do whatever it is I am doing!
They will have things to do of thier own.
And I will miss all the busyness and dependency that motherhood of many young children brings.
So for now,
I will enjoy my birds eye view of my little ones
I will savor the way they look up at me with those trusting eyes
Being a mother is so precious and may I always look to God for wisdom in training them.
I love being a mommy!

Home-educating~ Part 3

Theme teaching:

This is a great, stress-free way to teach children of all ages. The whole idea of theme teaching is to pick something your child is interested in and focus their entire "school" (still DO NOT like that word!) around it. It is great to ask the child what their favorite thing is so they can have a part in choosing what they want to learn about! The older they are, the more they will be expected to find information on their own! The younger they are, the more active you will have to be with them. But ALWAYS inquire aoften and be excited with what they are doing! Remember, the entire idea is to begin teaching them to teach themselves! The great thing about this way of teaching is they WANT to learn all they can because it is something they have great interest in! I will give three examples of how I have implemented theme teaching for my children.

1. At a young age, my oldest had a great interest in building things. So for an entire month, I casually based all his learning on building. I asked him to choose something he wanted to build, gave him a budget how much he had to spend (which I might add was VERY minimal!), how big he wanted to build it, what supplies he would need, where he could use this item, and if and how others could use what he was building. After all the information was gathered and written down on paper, (with my help, he was 7 at this time), we then began to gather the things he would need. He choose to build a toy car ramp and car track. With $10 to spend, we decided to take a trip to the lumber yard and hardware store with our list. He soon realized that we better go home and find out what we have at home that he could use that would not cost any money! Promblem solving skill, accomplished! After supplies were found, bought and gathered, the building began! (Paper towel rolls, tin foil, and other things around the home were some ideas he came up with to keep the cost down. ) That is where he was pretty much on his own! Dad did help a few times, but otherwise, he learned by trial and error. After it was completed, he of course got the chance to play with it and we then decided how he would try to offer something like this to others. That was giving him the chance to gather some marketing skills on a small scale. He designed a flyer describing his car track, and we figured out together how he could sell it and make a profit. (At this point, I did not have the intention of really selling the item, just wanted him to begin gaining the learning skills of marketing, making a profit, and business ethics.) To this day, anything he makes, he is always coming up with ways to market and sell things and now does have the ability to do that! After this first theme teaching lesson I did with him, he flourished like never before! He did math without even realizing it, practiced his reading and writing (which did not come easy for him before this idea), gathered information, problem solved, and used business and marketing skills! And it was all done hands on! Not sitting at a desk or table with a workbook! Since then, he has built to many things to count! Last year, at 15 he built an entire rabbit hutch by himself! He drew up the plans, measurements, budgeted, bought supplies (with HIS money I would like to add!) and went to work! His reward was he was able to get a rabbit when it was complete. We laid the ground work years ago so later on he had the ability to build whatever he set his mind too! He never has sat down at a desk or table for "school"! Hands-on has worked better than anything for him and he has learned everything required and much more!
2. At around 9, my oldest daughter LOVED horses. So I decided it was the prefect oppurtunity to use this as a theme teaching topic. We went to library and gathered all we could on horses. How to care for them, the different kinds, what countries they are from, and anything else she wanted. She then decided in order to have a horse, she had to figure out a way to keep them safe and care for them! So she made a sketch of a barn and fence and figured out the demensions and what she would need to build one. Now, we are in town, so actually doing this, was not an option but it was a great learning tool! (This is where lego's come in handy!) She also had to figure out what it would cost per month to keep a horse fed and well kept. The great thing was, that although we could not possibly have a horse, we found a lady near by that gave her the chance to care for one of her horses on a weekly basis and gave her horse riding lessons in excange! It was so perfect! Her younger sister, is now into horses and the information she learned is being passed down! Presently, my daughter, almost 15, is planning on being a missionary to Mexico someday and she is learning everything possible about the people , country and language. All on her own! It is so fun when she comes to me with excitement in her voice with something new she has learned.
3. Theme teaching for little ones is very easy! Pick a letter of the week and do an activity daily with them that includes that letter. Start out with letter recognition, then the sounds the letter makes. Have them go around the house and point to things that start with the sound that letter makes and put a post-it note on it to remind them of the letter. Make up a song with the letter to remind them of it. Then have a meal with one, two or more things that start with that letter or do an activity that starts with that letter. An example would be, for the letter of the day being 'P', wear 'p'jama's all day and then 'p'aint a 'p'icture and have 'p'ancakes for dinner! For really young children, do colors! Have a meal with only the color you are doing that day. Orange is easy! Macaroni and cheese, peaches, carrots and orange juice! Just a little creativity and their imagination will soar!  (yours also!)  :)

I have other examples of some things I have done. If you would like more ideas, feel free to contanct me on my comments page, and I can e-mail you. My 9 year old LOVES football and that is great for learning math, states and cities, geography, and art!

This idea makes it fun for kids to learn because they want to learn! Be a guide, but let them do as much as they can on their own! It takes away the need for curriculum, boring workbooks, and the greatest thing is, they are so excited that they work without being told over and over because it is something that excites them!

Home-educating~ Part 2

We have now been home-educating our children for 16 years.  I have learned many things and continue to learn!  The first thing that I knew we had to do is teach our children to read.  I always thought this would require a fancy, detailed curriculum and would take years to master.  Well, I do have a great phonics curriculum (Alphabet Island)  that we bought years ago, and use bits and pieces of it, but my children have for the most part, with guidance, taught themselves how to read.  I make sure I wait for signs and cues from them that they are ready.  I really struggled with this at the beginning!  I pushed way more than I should have with my oldest and to this day, reading is not one of his favorite pastimes.  Looking back, I can see I should have waited with him.  I fell into the trap or worrying about what other peoples opinions were of when my child should read.   At that time, I did not want to look like a failure and felt I had to 'prove' to others that we made the right decision to home-educate and that my children WOULD be smart!  Now, I have realized it is about what is best for our family, not what others think.  My oldest girl learned to read at 5, I have a child who learned to read at 4 years old, and my 9 year old right now, is just beginning to read 4-5 letter words and sentences.  Some say, that is really old to be only doing that, but the point I am trying to make, is that kids are all different and we cannot put them all in a box and label it with the same label. 

The things I look for when getting prepared to help my children learn to read are:

• a desire to sound out letters
• they start to notice the words on the page of a book and not just the picture the interest of what things "say"
• asking all the time how to spell things
• begin to spell things even if they don't make sense~ ex-"M-O-M I want to E-O-T." (or eat!)

I do go through the phonics of all the letters with them or have older children do it on a daily basis once I see these reading readiness signs.  I also read CONTANTLY to them.  I also make sure there are books in their beds so in their down time, they can have them available.  Writing and reading can go hand in hand, but I have found that is not always the case!  Especially with my boys!  With some I have taught them to write first, and others have read first, some have done both together, and one of my children can read but not write yet.  Once again, it depends on the child.  I don't get hung up anymore on ages and grades.  I really do not know what grades my kids are in.  I go by what they are learning. 

If your child can read and have good reading comprehension, (that is a MUST), they can now begin the path of being able to teach themselves anything!  My 14 year old daughter taught herself to speak and write fluently in spanish in 8 months! I have never known spanish.  How did she do it?  The answer is she WANTED to learn it so she did!  We just gave her the tools when she was younger how to teach herself.  Please don't misunderstand me!  I am not saying we just leave our kids to chance and we are not available to guide them!  We teach them much when they are young, and learn their "bend" and then let them lead their education.  Our oldest son is 16 and never has been the sitting kind!  So at a young age, we let him outside to build and bought him some wood, hammer and nails and let his creativity soar!  He did learn to read and write great but we realized very early on, he was going to require us to "educate" him differently than his sister!  That is what has been so essential for our success in home-educating our children!  Learning their different "bends" and going with it!

I was going to do theme teaching on this blog, but am going to wait until next week for that!  Stay-tuned!

Home-educating~ Part I

The first time I really considered home-schooling was when my first born was about a year old.  We had recently met a family at our church who home-schooled and their kids were just not like "other" kids.  To make a long story short, we were impressed!  They seemed to have a great relationship with each other and enjoyed all ages of people at our church.  Always serving others and making it a point to be self-less.  I decided to start looking into more in depth.  I also brought it up to my husband and with a very unassuring voice, he said, "We'll see. We have a few years to decide!"  As the next couple of years passed, we still continued to interact with the family from our church and eventually met another homeschooled family.  I was still in awe of difference of the children and their families.  I knew I wanted to be a "homeschooler"!  I began to pray more and more and brought it up once more to my husband and decided to leave the rest in God's hands.  (He was still not as convinced as I was that this was the way to go.)  A few months later, when my oldest was 3, we were asked to go to a homeschooling conference.  That was what made it all official in both my husband's eyes and my eyes!  We were convinced this was the only way for us to go.  God began speaking to our hearts more and more and eventually it was not a matter of choice but obedience.  The journey began.

At first, I had the idea that I was going to set my first born down at a desk every day for half a day during his preschool years and make sure he was SCHOOLED the only way I knew, the public school system way.  And eventually, he would sit for 6 hours a day with 5 or more different subjects and we would have our little school room at home.  I was then invited to a workshop/conference in our town given by the Moore Foundation.  My little bubble I had made burst right in front of my eyes!  The approach he had was totally different than anything I had ever heard.  But God began to gently bring a peace to my heart that this was the approach that would be best for our family.  I bought the book, 'Better Late Than Early' and my husband also read it.  It changed everything for us in the way we were going to "school" our children.  A new freedom!  We decided that we did not want to say that we "homeschooled" our children, we were "home-educating".  The idea the Moore's have is that everyday is a chance to educate our children.  We don't need them to sit for hours a day, with workbooks and all kinds of curriculum to make our children successful learners.  Theme teaching (I will expend on that in the next post), waiting until children are ready to learn reading and phonics, not just saying they turned 5 and are in "kindergarten" so it is time to read now.  Were some new thoughts for us.  But it was very freeing for us to see this new way!  Charolette Mason was also introduced to us.  God was opening doors for us and as always, helping us with things that we thought were impossible! 

That is a little testimony how our home-educating journey began.  I will be continuing to expand on more details in the coming days. Theme teaching, creative idea's for using errand day's as a chance to learn even away from home, when to know kids are ready to learn phonics, and some helpful idea's to get out of the stressful mentality of having a public school atmosphere in your home and moving towards a stress-free way to teach your children to learn anything they want to learn by themselves, and how to serve in your community and how we have made that  the most important part of our home-educating experience for us and our children.

  Any questions you would like for me to answer in my coming posts or idea's for a topic, please feel free to ask on my comment page.  I would love to answer anything I can! 

Foto Friday-Needing a rainbow

This has been a hard week,
Today, I am need of a reminder of God's promises!
He is good and faithful,
And His mercies are new every morning!

For that I am truly thankful!

Using your noodle...

Noodles and 2 year olds do not get along well.  (If you're the noodle anyway!)

First, you try with your fingers, (and your eyes closed)

then maybe a fork will work, (with your eyes open of course)

and now maybe if you have your lips prepared, it will work better!  (Then again, maybe not!)

HEY!  At least one made it to the mouth!  

 Maybe the dimple is the key!!
On second thought, Maybe no matter how much you use your "noodle",

2 year olds and NOODLES just can't get along!

How do you do it?!!

The amount of times I have been asked this question goes way beyond the numbers of the numerical system!  (Okay, maybe it just feels like that!)  Some of my anwers I give are:

• By the grace of God
• Lots of time on my knees
• I am married to the greastest man on earth and my kids have the greastest Dad on earth
• I am no different than you, just given a different set of circumstances.
• Do what?  This is my life and I don't know any different!
• I do it, because I love it!

I will be honest, when the question arises, sometimes I feel attacked and ridiculed because of the tone of voice many people use.  Many think I have lost my mind or look down on me.  But usually I am humbled and amazed that anyone thinks it is noble and not humanly possible to be a mother of many children!  Although I am so imperfect at it, it is just like any other "job".  You learn as you go and have a training process!  However, I am in training everyday and just when I get one thing mastered, another task provides more or new training.  That is when I realize if God has called me to do this, He will supply my needs!

Being a mother is a very beautiful plan of God for women!  Our hearts pour ALL that we have into it because He planted a deep love in us to love our children.  We would die for our children, give our last piece of food to feed them and ourselves go witout, lose sleep over thoughts of our child's well-being, lose sleep when they are sick and even go an entire night holding them just so they know we are there!  It is really an incredible thing!  Selfishness?  Not an option when you are a mom!  Just try to be selfish for a moment!  Your child will quickly remind you that it is not about you!   Motherhood is one of the least appreciated job in the world but God considers it of great importance and He is pleased at those who choose to put their whole being into bringing up little ones for His kingdom.   Jesus once said to His disciples, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all! ~ Mark 9:35 and also in verse 37 He says, "Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me."   God has actually given mothers the closest example of how Christ loves us!  He has also given us a chance to serve the "least of these" and show the world His love!  That is what it is all about!  

So the question is asked, "How do I do it?"  Just know that I am no different than anybody else!  I just have made the choice to follow Him not matter what!  Easy?  Not always!  Worth it?  Definately!

God, motherhood is so close to your heart!  It requires so much of us that that it hurts sometimes!   But nothing compared to the pain you went through for your children!   Please give me the courage to please you and give all that I have to this next generation so that they may know your love!  Their future depends on it!  Help me to listen and hear your voice and the wisdom and understanding to follow it!  Thank you for allowing me the honor of being called "mommy"!  What a privilege! 

Our hearts are good?

The question that has been really making me dig into the Word and think in a way I have never thought of with such intensity is, If we are saved, can our hearts really be good? 
I have never really thought there was even a question that my heart was bad!  I always believed that until we see Jesus face to face someday, I will battle with my heart to be good but until then it is evil.  I am beginning to think differently! 

Before we come to Christ, our hearts are not good.  BUT after we come to Him, He see's our hearts as good!  That has set me free!  Everyday I have things that I struggle with.  I am always thinking in the back of my mind, "I am going to fail!  God must be so disappointed in me!  I have let Him down."  It really is a miserable way to live!  But I never thought there was a chance that God feels differently!  And then I started reading: 

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your souland with all your strength.~  Deut 6:5

Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart~ 1 Sam 16:7

Where your treasure, is there your heart will be also.~ Luke 12:34

All of man's ways seem right to him, but the Lord weighs the heart.~ Proverbs 21:2

Is is possible that God does know my heart and it's desire to please Him even though I struggle with my flesh daily?  Well, look at David's life in the bible.  He had an affair with Bethsheba that cost him to lose his only son to death!  He fell into sin over and over and yet God said about David, "He is a man after my own heart!" 

Does that mean that I can just live how I want to live and do what I want to do because God knows I don't want to do those things, but He will forgive me anyway!  NO WAY!  But how beautiful to know that when I am continually picking up my cross daily and leaving my life in HIS hands, He see's me as good!  Evil and God cannot dwell together!  You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with you the wicked cannot dwell~ Psalms 5:4   So to continue to believe that after I come to Christ,  that I am just a sinner saved by grace, or that I need to ask for forgiveness over and over and even then, I am a filthy rag and I will never beable to live up to God's standards, is all a lie that has been planted to keep me closer from my first, true love, Jesus!  We CAN live in peace and victory IF we know that our hearts are good when He is living and dwelling in it!  That our God see's us as His children and He loves us and see's the good in us, not the yuck!  He continually pours out His love and mercy to show us His plan and He will renew's us daily if only we ask! 

The seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the work, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.~ Luke 8:15

And think of this awesome verse as you mull this over in your heart:

The lord thier God will save them on that day as the flock of his people.  They will sparkle in his land like jewels in a crown.  How attractive and beautiful they will be! ~ Zechariah 9:16-17

How sweet it is to know God sees me as a jewel on a crown not  a dirty old rag needing to be bleached many times, everyday!  :)


God, as I search for you daily, please remind me that I am yours and you are mine!  May I walk in your ways and seek your face so that I may have the great honor of letting others see you in me!  Thank you for seeing my heart in your way, and not how I FEEL!  I love you and praise you for all that you do and all that you are going to do!