Thursday, March 27, 2008

A beka

Ok so of all my conservative friends out there, especially of the home schooling and private Christian school type, could I get some views on the A beka curriculum. A friend of mine is looking into sending her kids to a school that uses it and I am also considering some private elementary schools that use it in VA later on for my own kids. I grew up hearing it was very good, but didn't use it first hand. Anyone with closer ties, I'd appreciate the feedback. Thanks.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Friday, March 21, 2008

simple Easter and family update

I can't believe it's been almost two weeks since I posted (minus earlier this morning). I feel like Will and I have been overwhelmed in thought and activities. Thoughts about our move, money and possibly buying another house in the Norfolk area, and activities such as volleyball, voice/piano lessons, church activities, school tests (for Will) and the general stress that accompanies all of this.

We're studying a book in our women's Bible study called "Calm My Anxious Heart" and while I don't think I feel anxious or worried about any of this, I do feel excited and I also feel the partial weight of a decision that will affect our future. Just to combat any potential for worry (and hopefully stress) I decided to finally set aside some time to specifically pray for awhile about all these decisions. I tend to take the "pray as you go" approach throughout my day since I rarely find myself with an hour or so of time (that I'm actually awake and lucid enough to think), but thankfully, this time (and God) found me a couple of days ago in the afternoon when everyone in the house was napping. I admit, my mind wandered some, but I managed to keep coming back to the "house/money" topic. This time, though, I tried to focus on the "praise" part of prayer because I feel like I too often assume the "Lord please help me with this and that" posture. So even though I wasn't praying about what I needed help with during the entirety of my prayer time, I felt that by trying to praise and glorify God (basically tell Him how awesome He is) I was communicating that because He's so great, I want to seek Him in everything and I want His guidance in every area of my life (hence, covering the house issue) :)

I didn't feel any major decisions were magically solved by this prayer time, however, I did have a peace of mind that at least I had sought God, and no, I don't think this one time absolves me of any others, I just felt that it helped me know and recenter myself with the knowledge that, "yes, I actually did pray to God about this, yes I am continually seeking Him in my prayers throughout the day, and yes, I can expect His direction and guidance and peace as we continue to walk in the path of these major decisions."

Anyway, other major news, we finally have a confirmed move date: April 26 & 27 (Ben's 2nd birthday) Will and I will drive the family down to Norfolk to live in the house we already own down there. Will will return to RI to finish his last week of school and move the household goods out when the movers arrive April 28-30. Then I will receive our stuff whenever they get down here, hopefully that Friday, so any VA friends reading this, please help me find babysitters for the boys or consider taking one for the day. :) Then, after Will finishes school that week, he will drive down and join us that Friday or Saturday, May 2, 3. He starts a 5-day school on May 5, then has a week off to help us get moved in. During this week, we'll work on the house and hopefully get it rental ready, as well as keep searching for another house. We'll only move some of our things in, but if we don't find a house we like, we'll just move everything in and look for something next year.

It's so relieving to finally have a date. For those of you who have kept up with the saga, we thought we were moving last year, but neither the orders nor an explanation ever came through. This time, we're really moving. Finally.

Because of all that has been going on, we will not be having the large Easter meal that we usually have, including lamb. We'll be going simple this year, although I'm still not sure what that will look like. I think all I hope to do is make it to church, have an Easter egg hunt with the boys, and most importantly, tell them about why we celebrate Easter, about Jesus dying on the cross to be the ultimate sacrifice for our sins, and rising again to conquer death forever and bring us new life eternally with Him. I asked Will if we could have communion as a family, but he thought the boys were a little young for that. I mean, obviously they wouldn't get it, but I thought it might be special to start as a tradition that they would understand later. Maybe next year. :)

Well, may you all have a blessed and Happy Easter! He is Risen, He is Risen indeed! :)

Good Friday

Blessings on this Good Friday. May we all feel the enormity of God's love for us on this day as we celebrate Christ's defeat of death by giving up His own life on the cross so that we could live with Him for eternity. Thank you Lord for providing a way for us in this, and in life everyday. Your mercies are new every morning. Great is Your faithfulness!

Saturday, March 08, 2008

some of my favorite Charley quotes

Three of these are from this morning! :)

Mommy: "Do you hear the birds singing?"
C: "Yes, they're having a Thanksgiving party, they're playing some Thanksgiving games."

C: "Mommy I'm growing. My body is trying to push me up." :)

C: "Mommy are you so proud of me?"
Mommy: "Yes, Charley, I'm so proud of you."
C: "Do you love me so much?"
Mommy: "Yes, I love you so so so much."
C: "I love you so so so so so so so so so so much much much much much . . . that's a lot of muches"

C: "Mommy, I'm hiding my thoughts from you. " hmmm

Charley brought me a tower of legos he built this morning and asked, "Could you sell this for $40 bucks?"

Thursday, March 06, 2008

ON sale Correction

Ok, they do have some things on sale for 50% off, but after looking at my receipt, I realized I may have been mistaken about the double discount. I think it's just 50% off the original price, which for some things is still a pretty good deal, but for things like t-shirts, is still higher than I like to pay. :)

Anyway, if you decide to check it out, please let me know. Now I'm a little confused because there was definitely a 50% off sign near the clothes, and I thought it said 50% off clearance. Maybe it was mislabeled and I should have said something, or maybe I just read it wrong. Now I wish I could go back and look. Sorry for the confusion. Still, 50% off is a decent discount.

shout out to the lady who's bored in her cubicle

HIII! :) I know you posted at 10:45 and that was a few hours ago so I hope your day has picked up by now, but if not (and assuming my blog is on your google reader, which maybe I shouldn't assume so maybe I'll shoot you an e-mail just to let you know this post is for you), here's something for you to read, albeit not very inspiring or interesting, but something. It's times like these that I'd get sucked into adding things to my Facebook profile. Oh the time I could spend. Anyway, only 4 more hours 'til quittin' time!! (yay)

ummm, here are some jokes I looked up just for you ....

"Well, congratulations to Barack Obama, the big winner of the Democratic caucus. Stunning victory. He got 57% of the youth vote, 35% of the female vote, and 100% of Iowa's black vote, a guy named Larry." --Jay Leno

"Obama and Hillary argued last night over which candidate the Republicans are most afraid of. Interesting. I don't want to take sides here, but I think it's pretty obvious which candidate Republicans are most afraid of, John McCain." --Jay Leno

Hillary's Deal With the Devil

Hillary was finishing up a day as Senator for New York when the Devil suddenly appeared in her office and made her an offer...

"I am here to offer you a deal," the Devil said. "I will give you unlimited wealth, even more power, and a media that will pander to your every whim. In return, all I ask for is your soul, the souls of every member of your family, and the souls of all your constituents."

Hillary pondered for a moment and then asked, "Unlimited wealth and power?"

"Absolutely unlimited," the Devil asserted.

"A pandering media?" she asked.

"They'll fall over themselves to support you, no matter what you say or do," the Devil assured.

"And you want my soul, my family's souls, and the souls of my constituents?" she asked.

"Yes. All of them," the Devil answered.

Hillary was deep in thought for a moment, then finally spoke:

"So...what's the catch?"


if you want more you can go to this website. Hope that brightened your day a little. :)
Blessings

ON sale

I just wanted to let those mom's of young children out there, know that Old Navy is having a 50% off clearance SALE right now at the Newport store up here in RI. From talking to other moms in the past, I've learned that sometimes these sales are nationwide, so I just thought I'd mention it like I promised Dana I would when I saw it again.

For those of you who don't know, it's not 50% normal priced items and then put on the clearance rack, it's 50% off items already ON the clearance rack! This is the cheapest way I've found to buy decent clothes for future seasons for the kids. It's definitely cheaper than Wal-Mart and when you consider that they'll probably last longer, it's a steal.

Anyway, just wanted to pass that along in our network. :)

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

second "super" Tuesday

this is my reluctant election post ... I admit, some of my election year excitement has faded considering my options; however, I vow that this will not diminish my general enthusiasm for one of the biggest competitions in the world and for the hope of winning, even if I'm not that excited about what I'm winning.

on a side note, I thought it was fun that TX (my home state) and RI (my temporary state of residence) both held their primaries on the same day, and both had the same outcome: Hillary and McCain.

I'm not depressed that Huckabee/McCain wasn't more of a contest, or that Hillary actually won something. I'm simply nearly uninterested because of the lack of a candidate to get excited about.

In fact, to be brutally honest (if you could imagine the picture that goes with what I'm about to say looks something like me shielding my eyes as I type, however that's done) I must be a Hillary fan for a short while and hope she clinches the Democratic nomination because I think McCain has an easier chance of beating her.

Yes, I do believe I'm falling into that camp.

Even with no decent Republican options, I find that I must still support McCain (even though he's an unbalanced moderate), not because he's a Republican, but because the Democrat options are so violently liberal, that I can't fathom supporting them.

Yes, I can support some of the general "ideas" that Obama has suggested, but his suggestions seem to lack the details that make me comfortable with how he would carry out his plans (yes, I've read his positions on the website) and knowing he's liberal, I can only wonder that they would include too much of a socialist bent. His lack of experience gives me concern that he would actually know how to protect our country not only with military force, but also economically. His position on certain moral issues makes me cringe and I don't want a president to decide to spend my taxpayer dollars on things (embryonic stem cell research is one, his support for abortion is another) that could involve killing more unborn babies. (besides, research and implementation has shown better results with adult stem cells).

But enough about him, how about Hillary. I certainly don't want her "village" taking over the public schools (not that I would let my children near if she were president). Her record is no better as far as abortion and other moral issues. One of the biggest things that concerns me about her, besides the fact that I believe she's completely two-faced, dishonest and basically a crook, is her lauded health care plan. It's similar to the one our Canadian neighbors loathe right now and it would be a nightmare. I actually spent a month and a half in Canada a few years ago and it's amazing how many people I heard complain about health care there, and I didn't even have to ask.

Anyway, even though McCain is not a conservative, I don't believe he'd do anything too radical too tick off his base (I hope) and I can only hope, as I've said before, that he would surround himself with a good cabinet and battalion of advisers that would help him make good decisions. Trust me, if he is elected come November, THESE are the people I'm going to be praying for. That, and a prayer that McCain would listen to them.

Whatever happens, I will "give to Caesar, what is Caesar's". I will try to respect our president no matter who that ends up being, and I will send my ardent prayers, to accompany my money, into D.C. in hopes that whomever is elected president will not hurt this country too much in their 4-8 years in office.

Hmm, it seems that whichever candidate we end up with could spark a prayer revolution because they're all scary enough to send us to our knees (where we should be for every president anyway). Maybe that's why we don't have better options this year. :) that's an interesting thought.

doc in training

Tonight Charley and Ben enjoyed playing with a new kids doc kit. While we imagined various emergency scenarios and illnesses, I mentioned to Charley that he was a good doctor to which he very quickly replied, "I'm an excellent doctor!" nuff said.

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

good morning

this morning, i got to break my early morning groggery by snuggling with my husband and watching my youngest son pretend to be a frog on our bed, complete with, "ribbit, ribbit" or his two year old version of it. so adorable. thank you Lord for moments like these.

Sunday, March 02, 2008

little boy Ben

he's at such a cute age right now. not quite 2, learning new words everyday, discovering his will, playing with his brother, deciding he has an opinion :) but one of the cutest things he's doing right now is answering "shoo" for "sure" as a yes answer to many things we ask him. it's soooooo stinkin' cute!

when he sees a picture of himself, he points to himself and says, "me!"

when the baby I watch is over at the house, he circles her saying, "hi baby, hi baby" over and over and over again getting really excited and then gently petting her on the head, ooh so cute

he dances and skips everywhere he goes and lately has started standing on one leg with the other extended behind him as if he's doing an ice skating move

he loves music and bobs his head or dances to anything even slightly rhythmic he hears

he gets confused when he's supposed to say "thank you" and says, "welcome" instead :)

he can't say his brother's name, but says the vowels so it comes out as "ah ee" for 'Charley' and I think he says, "min" for his own 'Benjamin' and of course 'please' comes out "pees" (with his "receiving hands" held out together in front) receiving hands are my way of trying to teach them not to grab at what they want, so they end of doing it when they're saying please for something

he think to give a kiss means to gently put your cheek up against another persons cheek

his sweet eyes and adorable smile melt my heart and make it very difficult for me to say 'no' to him, until he starts throwing a fit, then it's easy :)

he's still small enough to hold in a bundle, but he's getting so big, I find myself in denial that he's not my baby anymore and this makes me yearn for another one

even when he's sick, or in pain, or coughing his head off, he is able to find something to smile about, he's definitely a happy boy