Let the School Bell Ring

This will be an adventure for me. Olivia started her homeschool curriculum yesterday. I had to work yesterday, so I sent her work and the lesson plans to Mammaw's house for Day 1. I was surprised at how well today went. We had a really good morning with Carson and Logan both participating as well. Carson does lots of coloring until he is bored then he plays with the toys that we have in the schoolroom. Leia is somewhat of a distraction, as she crawls up under desks and tickles little feet. But, overall she was good this morning. We are using the Alpha Omega Horizons curriculum and then I have added more things to go along with it, so that she gets to do some of the same activities that they do in public school. We did school for a couple hours then they went outside for recess. While they were playing on their playground I was able to complete a small project to sale. Soon they were back in and we did about another hour of school work. By this time Carson was done and went upstairs to play by himself. Logan hung in there for the long haul. Nana came and we breaked for lunch. After lunch the younger three napped while Nana did reading and phonics with Olivia. They worked for about an hour an half. Then off we went to get groceries...the worst part of the day. I despise doing this with children; and an even bigger nightmare if you do coupons and take 4 children with you. It takes forever. But, at least we now have food for tomorrow and milk to drink. Yay!
We have a busy rest of the week ahead. Between school, working Thursday, getting clothes ready to take to Rhea Lana's next week, and Lisa and Aaron coming this weekend, we will be super busy. I love summer, but I am ready for the slowness that fall brings. I love warm enough temps to still wear flip flops but cool enough for jeans and long sleeves or a t-shirt....ahh, that sounds refreshing. I think I will dream about this tonight.

Staurday Chores and Lazy Mornings

Click on image to enlarge

I love Saturdays. Wake up late, little feet pitter pattering down the hallway way to early, cooked breakfast together, kids playing, and snuggle time. Summers usually consist of mowing on Friday afternoons or Saturday morning, and the boys love to go out with Daddy. They love to follow him and pretend they are working just as hard, And when the work is all done, Logan always says, "I worked so hard. Man, I am so tired. I want to go to bed." Not sure if I posted this earlier or not, but a couple of weeks ago David offered to take Logan to work with him on a Friday morning because I had a lot of errands and appointments that morning. Well, he offered to take both boys, but I only sent Logan. That night after he had been to work, Logan said, "Daddy, I worked so hard today. I worked all day. I am tired. Let's go to bed when we get home." He is such a homebody for his bed. Poor guy, what will he do when he really has to work. Carson thinks he has to do what everyone else is doing. We are having to work on him being his own person. For example, yesterday we were eating lunch and Logan accidentally got his elbow in his ketchup; Carson saw and immediately rubbed his arm all in his food on purpose....sigh.

They have their moments. It usually consists of everyone whining that someone wronged them or looked at them off in some way. But, then there are these moments when they are all snuggled in bed together laughing and loving each other. Beautiful, even if it only for 5 minute intervals.

Olivia is in love with her little sister. Like I have said so many times before, she adores her and sees to her every need. She dresses her up like a princess, holds her up, and dances away to music (just so happens it was "Cinderella" by Steven Curtis Chapman). Leia loves her big sister and brothers. She scoots all over the house to wherever they are at. So cute.

We are still waiting for our house to sell. The market is nonexistent I think. I remind myself daily to have the faith that God is my realtor and will sell it to the right person when he sees fit. We sold the Yukon, and yes, I am now a Honda minivan owner and I love it. It was CHEAP!!! And I love it even more for that. Christmas can't come fast enough....No MORE car payments. I will strive to never have another car payment. They are unnecessary. We are so anxious to move to Costa Rica. We look at the pictures from our trip often and the memories flood back just like if we were there. We are wanting to return for a visit after the first of the year sometime so we can remain a consistent relationship with the contacts we met on our first trip. We do not have any idea when exactly this will occur, as none of us have the means at this time to book flights. I have been brainstorming for some ideas to raise some extra money. I have come up with a few and hopefully in the next couple 2-3 weeks will be able to post some things that maybe some of my readers and friends would like to purchase. This next trip will be more costly, as we want to take Logan and Olivia so their little hearts can experience a portion of what we did on our last trip. David and I feel they need to see where we might be moving if it is the Lord's will. They are really excited about it. All Logan can talk about is flying on a plane and going to see the crocodiles.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend filled with family time that will pull at your heart in wonderful ways when you think back and remember these memories in the future.

One of my favorite verses ever:

"This is the DAY that the Lord has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it." Psalms 118:24

Every Child

Every child should have a father and mother.
Every child should have food to fill their tummies.
Every child should live, laugh, love, and be loved.
Every child should have the knowledge of the Gospel and the opportunity to obey The Word.
Every child should have clean drinking water.
Every child should have someone to hold them when they cry.
Every child should not live in fear all day everyday.

My Family enjoying an Arkansas sunset.
Princess Leia, one less orphan, loving and laughing.
Our children enjoying PLAYING in the WATER, that so many around the world are dying to drink.

I could go on and on. I think of these things daily. My heart breaks for all the children in the world that will never know anything but the opposite to what I have listed above. I cry thinking about how today, 30,000 children will have died before the strike of midnight as I lay in my bed. These children have walked all day by themselves to find contaminated drinking water for their families. They will haul this water; water that harbors all kinds of diseases, feces, and so many other unthinkable contaminates. They do not get to enjoy the day with family. So many will never see their 5th birthday because they drink this water and have no food. What can you do to help?
This child will drink this water.
They have no choice. This is their life they know.
James 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

I believe that the words of this song is what so many children around the world cry out in their hearts daily. They have no voice. WE are their VOICE.

Yummy Smiles

"Please Mommy, Please Mommy!" "Peazze Mommy, Peazze Mommy!" "Oh, Momma, I am going to want more. Don't cook it all." These are the frantic cries I hear from my children when I am mixing cookie dough. And I am a softie for the cry of a child wanting to savor the deliciousness of homemade cookie dough. My mom always gave us a spoonful, and my Granny would always give us a bowl with like 1/3 cup of dough. I am in between, not too much, but we don't scrimp either. But you have to save enough room for the warm ones out of the oven.




A funny tale on the side: (Sorry Justin, but it was too funny not to share)
So, we were at Justin and Brittany's a couple weeks ago. I was sitting in the house in the living room snuggling with Kaden. I caught a glimpse of something very bright flash before my eyes from the french door in the kitchen. I jerked my head up to look out the window and all I could see were flames. I jumped up thinking, "Oh my, we have a grass fire. Everything is so dry. It is going to spread like a wildfire." I get to the door to see my brother watching this massive fire that HE started. I ran and got Brittany and told her that I was pretty sure most of the state was under a burn ban and she better check really fast, because if someone turns him in they will receive a massive fine. Not to mention that everything is so dry when you walk the grass crunches. One wrong turn of the wind and it's out of control. She checked, and sure enough, Burn ban in place. We went outside and informed him of that little fact, he gives us his half-cocked smile and says, "Oops." Brittany called the fire department to let them know what happened, and they graciously said, "Put it out now." Then Justin informs us, "I don't have a hose long enough to reach."
Solution= David and Justin carrying buckets and trash cans of water to the brush pile at 3:00 in the afternoon, the hottest part of the day with added heat from a fire.

Mr. Kaden Jeremiah McGrew

Our handsome little nephew was born July 29 at 1:49am. He weighed 7lbs, 2oz and 22.25". His little cousins love him. Logan has had some confusion with calling him a "her," and constantly has to be reminded the he is a little boy. Olivia, Carson, and Logan have all had sweet snuggle time with their new little cousin and had huge smiles to prove it. They don't quite understand why he has to eat and sleep so much. Logan says he sleeps too much and needs to stay awake...lol.
This past weekend we went and stayey the night with Justin and Brittany. Saturday evening we took the kids to Horsehead Lake. Daddy and the kids played in the water while I took some quick shots of the new "little family." Here are a few that I have worked on. Wish I knew how to really do some editing to these pictures, but this is what I can do for now. Hope you enjoy the sneak peek Justin and Brittany.

My Raboins from June 2010