It's been a long time...

It's been a long time, folks!

These days it's all I can do just to get school finished and feed the kids.

So, let me fill you all in on what has happened this year.

In April, we finished up our school year. Clark and Katy (Katya's new nickname) finished 1st grade and Brody and Callie finished kindergarten. I was humbled and amazed at the progress I saw in each of them that school year. I mess up so much as their mother and teacher but somehow they actually learned something. I remember when I struggled with the decision to homeschool years ago. I went back and forth with the pros and cons. But in the end, Jason and I made the decision to homeschool. Although it has been a very difficult task, I have never regretted our decision. With all the mistakes I make and struggles that we go through, I know that it was and still is the best decision for our family.

Since we finished school so early, I was able to devote a lot of time to our summer garden. We did do a little bit of summer school. I was going to wait until August to start our new school year, but Clark begged me to start school back sooner. It was such an encouragement to know that he loved school that much. So in July, we started the new school year.

This school year Clark and Katy are in 2nd grade and Brody and Callie are in 1st grade. At first, it was hard to get in a good routine, but now we have found a groove and we are thoroughly enjoying this school year. For 2nd grade we are doing My Father's World Adventures in U.S. History. It has been amazing. Not only are the kids learning but I'm learning also. For 1st grade we are doing My Father's World Learning God's Story

We did the same thing for the older two last school year. The thing I love the most about this 1st grade curriculum is that the kids learn to read by reading Bible stories from Creation to Revelation. It is such a wonderful foundation for them. I am so glad we found My Father's World!

Learning about the Vikings

Writing about Christopher Columbus

Science experiment

School in a box, whatever works.

Since this new school year started, we have had two surgeries. Brody had tubes put in his ears and Katy had an abdominal surgery. Both of them recovered very fast and easily. Brody's surgery was suppose to help improve his hearing but unfortunately it didn't help. Katy's surgery however, was a huge success. If I knew what I know now, we would have done it much sooner. It has improved the quality of her life tremendously! With all this medical stuff, we did have to take time off from school. It was a blessing that we got a head start by following Clark's urging to start early. Next year, we may start a year round school pattern instead of following the public school's schedule. It will work better with our many interruptions.

Early this year, we made the very difficult decision to change our church home. This was such a hard decision. We love everyone at Eaglepoint and we loved it there. It was so exciting to see the wonderful growth and exciting changes at Eaglepoint. But, we kept feeling God leading us to our new church home Iron City. We fought it hard, going back in forth in our minds about what to do. After months of uneasiness, we finally decided to join Iron City. We have been steadily getting more involved there, and we are loving our new church home.

In July, Jason and I were at a breaking point in regards to our weight. We decided that this time we had to do something. So, we told ourselves that if we got to our goal weight that we could splurge on anything of our choosing (Dave Ramsey would not be happy). We were all in. By the first month, we were both down by 15-20 pounds. Then I fell off the wagon and have been struggling to get back on. But I am still determined that I will lose the weight. Jason, on the other hand, has done AMAZING!! He is currently down 52 pounds. He is smaller than his heaviest in high school and he is having wonderful non-scale victories. If I don't watch out, he will soon be smaller than me. That should be motivation for me to lose.

Before

52 pounds down!

A few months ago, Jason said that he really wanted the kids to see some real snow this winter. So, we decided to take a vacation this year to the Rockies. We are busy making plans for that. I think the kids are going to have a blast.

I'll try to do better about updating here.

Until next time.