Homeschool Diva

Please change your links and follow along…  Previous content will stay here, as I slowly work on transferring to the new diggs.  See you there!

http://www.amberbishop.com/blog

as you can tell, I am still having major issues with this space.  My dear sweet husband is working away at it.  Stay tuned as we sort it all out.

We are on a first name basis with our librarians. Whether you homeschool or use traditional school, I highly recommend working your local library like a TOOL!  I unfortunately pay a consistent amount of fines as we are always keeping something a little longer then a week. No matter what, I am always leaving one book at home that should of been turned in.   Oh well, that bursts your bubble doesn’t it.  This week we scored a few fun finds at our library. I take one canvas bag with me, and we fill it until we can’t fit any more in.  That is when they have to stop. I also find tons of educational movies at the library.  Some are great and some are a bust.

I also use some great educational websites to spice up our day.  The kids have really learned how to get around on the computer so I am working that too.  Here are two great sites that our family uses often.  Hope your family enjoys them as much as we do.  Now if I could just find a fun Latin website for kids.

• the happy scientist
• national geographic for kids

Have a wonder filled week everyone~

My dear and amazing husband, gave me a day off yesterday.  I got to go do what I wanted, come and go as I pleased and not worry about anything at home, or the kids, or cleaning and getting ready for church or doing anything but play. I finished work on some photo edits on Sat. and turned the computer off. I didn’t even look at my “to do” list yesterday.  I went for a dive, I went and saw a movie by myself. I turned the phone off, I went “dark” as my brother says, which is a navy term meaning you can’t be found. It was crazy.  I feel re-energized.

I don’t do that enough.   I need to go back to the way we lived our life 5 years ago.  We scheduled out silent retreats, and alone time, and date nights and weekends away.  Shoot, Dallas Willard schedules that stuff out for 5 years in advance so NOTHING ever comes in the way of it.  Having a hour break during the day where the kids and I all have alone time, and set standard bedtimes are good at keeping you sane day to day, but they don’t do what they need in terms of deeper soul care.  God is all over me about that right now.

I did start to do the blog redesign and as I stated  I love/hate css.  When you crack it you love it, when you inadvertently erase some bracket or essential word like <center> and don’t know where it is at or how the heck to get it back, then you have a jacked up tool bar like you see to the right, or should I say the very bottom of this screen, you HATE it. Note to self, copy all the code on a note-page before you begin fiddling with the original so if you mess up you can fix it quickly.  Oh well, I will figure it out…one of these days.   I also started to upload new WP software, and design some new headers.  FYI - I am so NOT feeling the one above, but it will have to do for now.

Grace and Peace to all wanna be web designers today.  Seriously, if I could just get over the need to conquer this, I would hire this mess out, because the fun of it was lost on me about 36 hours ago.  Don’t worry, I will move through that eventually and will most likely say in the next post at how enriching the whole dang experience was after all.

I’m out! Paz all!

Firstly here is something pretty to look at.  Why you ask?  Because, I feel the urge deep within my being to change some things around.  I think it is the right of every woman to want to redecorate, and the cheapest and fastest way to do that, is by moving a few pixels around online. Namely, a blog redesign.  I know, I know I can’t help myself.

So, I will be back to the drawing board, with my blog design and basic CSS.  Trust me I have a love hate relationship with that but I will not let it conquer me.  The problem is, I wait too long between redesigns that I can’t remember what I did last time, and have to learn it all over again.  Nice. I also need to update my linky love because it is terribly out of date and sparse, so I will work on that too.

I think I am finally laying to rest my thoughts on moving this blog to a different domain name. It’s gonna stay right here. Other then that, my kids are doing some art at the table, my son is reading through Robinson Crusoe and I am packaging stuff to send out from an ending eBay auction.

Have a great weekend everyone…..look for some changes coming shortly.

First a few disclaimers.  #1 none of these pictures have anything to do with money but I thought they were so RAD I went for it anyway, and #2 This is a subject every family has to come to on their own before the Lord. Hopefully a few of these words will inspire you to do what God leads you all to in your own family life:-) #3 I have to get a mountain of laundry done today, but that really doesn’t have anything to do with this either so we will just carry on.

The 2 BIGGEST enemies of the gospel of Jesus are consumerism and individuality. Well, I must say we have that in SPADES here in south Florida. I think money, and the topic of money really deceptively weaves those two enemies of the message of Jesus and the gospel right into it.  Save for you, you, you so you can spend, spend, spend and then play, play, play and where the heck did the whole gospel of “prosperity come into play in western culture”?  I say this politely when I say that that crap is from the PIT for sure.  I mean when God told his people He wanted to see them prosper, he didn’t mean with monetary wealth, he meant with his Presence so that they could be a blessing to a broken world so that ultimately HE would be glorified.  That whole thing has gone awry in our culture don’t ya think?  Jesus wasn’t kidding when he said the LOVE of money is the root of all evil.  Man, that junk will come in and mess you up on so many levels.  I will just hint at saying that even saving, 401k’s, college funds, etc. etc. could be a tiny bit out of balance in our hearts and minds as Christians. AND I only say that because I have fallen head long into that trap in my life.  Thankfully I am blissfully free of it, and have never been more content with much less stuff in my whole life. I love Burkett, and financial responsibility but ummmm, how do you “teach” that stuff to those in other cultures who are making do with day to day?  Just asking the question is all.   I think the message is the same across cultures and circumstances.  “Don’t worry about tomorrow, seek His kingdom and all of the other details work out”, or something like that. Sorry.  Am I being too simplistic?  I do that some times, anyway moving on.

I also think Jesus wasn’t kidding when he said “Don’t worry about what you will eat or drink, or your kids college or what you are going to do when you get old, just worry about today it has enough crap of its own to think about.”Okay that was my paraphrase, but you get what He was saying right?  So how do we responsibly teach our kids about money and saving and giving and so forth without letting those two enemies we talked about in the beginning creep in?  Good question…glad you asked.  Like I said yesterday, we don’t give our kids a weekly allowance for a few basic reasons.  #1 our budget. Even a small weekly allowance X 3 X 4 weeks a month adds up to a lot, and really how much money do little kids need to learn how to be responsible with it? #2 I think it devalues me as the Mom who does all this junk around here all the time, with no thanks and no money.  I mean what the heck?  Do you think these clothes just magically wash/fold themselves and put themselves away.  Okay, they don’t always get put away right on time, but lets not split hairs. Nope, we work as a team, and we get it done together.  I think it helps build character AND life skills all at once which are JUST as important as learning how to rightly manage money.

Here are a few practical things you can do for your kids to help them get prepared for God to move on their hearts in regard to money.  Because ultimately we sow the seed but God will make it grow right?!

• Open a bank account.  $5 bucks will get you going.  It was a big “Ahha” moment for our kids when the realized you don’t get money out of the bank without putting money into it. Plus if it is harder to get to, it will be harder to just get spent on Bubble gum if you get my drift.
• Ask some family members to give them a few dollars at Christmas and birthdays.  Think about it.  Say they get 10 bucks for Christmas and their Birthday, that is $20 a year for a 5, 6 and 8 year old. I mean come on, how much do they need to really learn how to use money rightly? The last thing I want is them day dreaming about how much money they are amassing so they can go buy whatever the heck they desire.  Remember consumerism and individuality?  It can creep right in, right there, and I well tell you right now I am going to guard the heck out of it here in our own home.  That is also the reason we stopped playing monopoly right now.  I saw a little greedy seed crop up, when they all were reveling in owning the world.  Oops, I saw that and in my heart, I was hearing, “ABORT, ABORT like fast.”  I quietly put it away and will take it out maybe later.  Hey better yet, maybe I will invent one based on giving instead of amassing wealth.
• We offer a small monetary fee for jobs above and beyond their normal chores, if they are really wanting to work towards getting something that we have said isn’t in our budget.  It isn’t an every week thing, just here and there.  I think it is good to makes kids work towards what they want.  I don’t buy them every new thing that comes down the pike.  I mean I really don’t buy them much at all. Would you be shocked to know we didn’t buy or kids a single thing for Christmas last year? Really, not one single thing and you know what, they still got more then they could ever use.
• Once they have an account, take a day, where you sit down together and talk about what money is.  Nothing more then a tool.  We spend it, we give it, we save it, we don’t hoard it.  That’s it.  Jackson realized the other day, that at one point in history money had no value, you traded what you had.  Hey I will give you a bushel of apples if you will give me a slab of meat, and it all came together.
• Then pray with them about how much they should give and where they should give it.  I think that helping your kids begin to hear what God is saying in their heart about the poor and marginalized will give them deeper joy in giving then in just making them do it.  I did this with our crew a few months ago, and it was crazy what they felt lead to give to.  Jackson was lead to a local migrant community, Chloe’s was sent to Africa and Hudson wanted his to go to Old people. I also don’t make them do a certain percent at this point.  I tell them, it is all God’s and He gives it us so we can steward it correctly.  Listen he will tell you how much to give.
• A little business isn’t a bad idea either.  Our kids have a lemonade stand.  They pull it out from time to time to make a few bucks.  It is cute and another real world math example that REALLY sticks in their minds let me tell you what.  They have also made some cash by dog sitting and walking while friends are away.  Hey, win/win in my book.  They get to see what it is like to have a dog without out us actually having to,you know, buy one.
• This year for the first time, we gave them all a clothing budget.  Here they sat, at this computer, and shopped at old navy for some new clothes for this school year.  They had to put whatever they wanted in their bag, with the right size and color without regard to cost. Kind of gave me an idea of what they like in regards to style.  I said you must put in 2 shirts, 1 short, 1 pant, 1 dress etc.  They had to follow the task.  Then we saw how much it all cost and how FAR it was outside of their budget.  Then they had to think it through and figure out what they really needed and what they really wanted, and what to put back.  It was fascinating to watch them.  Our youngest who is 4.75 GOT this with no problem.  Now this year, they will have to take care of the things they budgeted and spent for. We also said, you can’t get this until the tax free week, so they are having to WAIT. Did I say waiting was a good thing.
• Well it is, teach them to wait…..and that will flow over into every area of their life. Delayed gratification is a very, very good thing for little guys and Mommy’s and Daddy’s too.

So there are a few of my thoughts on money and kids and apparently laundry too.  Be blessed all of you out there counting the cost even when it comes to a silly little piggy bank.  It is a bigger deal then we think.

From time to time, I like to pull back, and review why we are homeschooling, and what we want to nurture in this whole thing.  I like to have my husband go over stuff with me, so that he can give me a birds eye view of what he sees, calm me down in some of my myopic meanderings, and encourage me on in some of the things we need to work on as a team.

I have re-read our homeschool philosophy, and it still inspires me to keep moving forward, so here we go moving into our third year of education at home.  This year our oldest will be working year 3, our middle will be working year 1 and our youngest will be working his way through pre-k at a local preschool.   One of the things we will be doing this year, is waking the kids with an alarm.  That and they will be given their chore list on small dry erase board, that they can keep in their rooms and check off each morning. It will have this written at the top. ” Have these tasks done and be ready for school at a ___________am.” I have got to ween them off of me constantly reminding them to do their chores.  This puts the responsibility in their hands as part of their work.  On an added note, this is not something I pay them for.  I don’t get paid to do the laundry, we are a family and work as a team.  I understand wanting to teach kids the value of working to earn money and how to manage that wisely, but doing standard family chores is not how our kids are going to get that.  I will write about what we are doing in another post.  This one is already long enough. Geesh.

• brush teeth
• use fluoride
• put away tooth brushes etc.
• wash face and hands
• get dressed in clothes OTHER THEN WHAT YOU WORE YESTERDAY.  Think color, you know mix it up for Pete sake!
• make bed
• straiten room and put away pj’s (strip beds and wash linens on Mondays)
• wipe down counter and mirror in the bathroom. (Chloe)
• Take out bathroom trash (Hudson)
• CAREFULLY open bedroom and bathroom window blinds to let in the morning light. (Jackson)

I am creating a spiral bound copy work book for the older two, that they can do directly in the book.  That way I don’t have to store tons of loose leaf paper, and our oldest will take over reading 50% of his course work and be working towards fully reading it all by  the end of the year.  This is the year that parents traditionally transition their child into reading a portion of their own course work in AO even though it will be a bit of a challenge,  I need to free my time up to focus on our middle.

One of the new things that we have been blessed with this year is a co-op in our local area. Our oldest will be taking a few classes there, and getting a “school vibe” complete with lunch and study hall.  He is very excited. They will continue with their Saints PE co-op and swim team has been added in to the mix too, along with children’s choir and a few other things. With all of this, we will be more then busy in the afternoons.  Which brings me back to point one, setting alarm to start our day.  I have to get all core work in by lunch time, or we won’t get it in.  I hear it all the time.  Homeshooled children are not socially competent.  Don’t they get bored?  Do they interact with kids their age at all? etc. etc.  Let me tell you people, there are so many things for these kids to do, that if I am not careful, I will never get the core work in.

So, here we go again, for another fun, at times frustrating, and grueling yet rewarding, always challenging yet gentle and nurturing, relationship building year of educating our kids at home.  I had a major boost when a dear friend who has three grown kids tell me that if she had to do it over again, she would of homeschooled.

Grace and Peace to all those Mama’s getting it done, whatever way they can.

I am home and getting ready to wade through the massive amounts of digital images I have recorded.  Editing will begin at a slow and steady pace, and by goodness, I will know CS4 inside and out on the back side of this.  I am approaching it like the tortoise, and am giving myself a number I need to hit everyday to stay on target and get this art out the door before August.  In other news, 4 hours of alone time in the car with no noise, is a must for every busy stay at home/homeschool Mom.  Wow can you get some thinking and praying and surrendering done. Absence makes the heart grow fonder.  I miss my family like crazy. Now that I am home, I can’t find them anywhere. They must be out having fun with Grandma, so I thought I would say hi to you.

See you soon~

I am heading out today for a 3 day photo shooting frenzy.  I have a friend who booked me  like crazy a few clients who are donating money to our Costa Rica trip. Pray for me, as I have back to back to back to back, well you get what I mean,  shoots on Monday and Tuesday.  Our children will be with their grands. So, to make a long story short, I wont be around for about a week.  I will be shooting, and editing and creating until my little eyes pop out of my head.  Then I will be back next Monday.

So until then,  pretend you are at the beach watching your kids play.

Grace and Peace to all~

You have to feed your kids good stuff. Not just good food, but good life experiences too. Bottom line. That takes plugging in, prayer and really observing where your kids are at, and what they need  at any stage of development.  Whether you home school or do private or public, you as the parent need to make sure you are tending your little garden. Ever hear the saying “No one can do your push ups for ya?”  Well the same is true in parenting. Lately I have been getting emails of admiration from non homeschooling Moms who want a little help on how to supplement their child’s education.  I love it.

First I would recommend taking stock of were your child is, physically, mentally, relationally, emotionally, spiritually and academically.  Make a list if you have to. Maybe we get things turned around when we hyper focus on academics and leave other very important formational stuff out?  Let the Lord lead you, on things that you see that your  child needs.  Do they need a good dose of habit training, how to do chores or how to take care of their hygiene?  Do they need to read some deep literature, other then fast food type stuff that is typically marketing to early elementary readers?  You get the idea.  I don’t know, only you will now that for each of your children.  Hey, and if you don’t know, maybe you are just too  busy and you need to slow down a bit so you can take stock or where you and your littles are at.

I would recommend you intentionally add a few things into your family rhythm to help give you some well balanced nutrition for you growing brood, weather home educated or not.  Pick a family read aloud.  Stretch and pick a classic or even, shock….. some Shakespeare.   This is also a great resource for those wanting to steer their children into some really good literature.  Living literature will take you and your child into deeper things like geography and history and science.  These books are simply outstanding and every family would do well to read through them together. We have gone through seasons of this on and off in our family and are right now back in this season.  Make your children earn video game or TV time by reading  2 for 1.   For every 2 minutes they read, they can earn one minute of TV or video game time.  It works for us.  Instead of filling your house with the sound of a TV on, play some music quietly in the background.  There are tons of online math helps out there or even some interesting math books that will help your kids.

Think through some practical things you can do with your kids.  Take them to the post office and have them do the whole deal, buy the stamp, address, and mail the letter, use the automated kiosk etc. Go to the hardware story and but the supplies for a family project and involved them in actually checking out and paying for the items.  Involve them in your whole life.  Even the simple things can be a learning moment.  You don’t have to be teacher or a school to schedule a field trip.  You can make a few phone calls in your local area and set up some family things for you all to do together.

Life is short, and there are so many things you can do and accomplish when your kids are big and have flown the coop.  Take a little time, in whatever way you can, to add a little richness to your child’s education.

Hope this helps some of you out there.   I am going to go take some of my own advice and do some phonics games with the kids.

Grace and Peace to everyone out there

Does anyone else get sick and tired of thinking up new titles for their stinking posts?  I hope everyone had a safe and Happy 4th of July.  We had a fun, family weekend together.  My dear husband had to deal with two flat tires and a car that wouldn’t start but that is another story.  For the most part our day was wonderful.

I wonder at how the summer seems so  frantic.  It is always so much busier then the rest of the year.  Is is that way for you all too? The kids and I are steadily working our way through school very gently this summer so as not to loose any of their competency in any area.  I took a large break last year and realized it wasn’t a good plan for us.  They get plenty of breaks through out the year, and it is so hot here mid-summer that our time is better spent schooling then playing.

I’ve had several emails and facebook comments lately about how I homeschool  etc. that I thought I would write a little post tomorrow at how you can implement these methods with your family whether homeschooling fully or just supplementing your child’s traditional school schedule.   I think life is learning and “we” as parents are responsible for making sure our kids get what they need to be ready for life. Anyway you slice it, that doesn’t just deal with making sure they can read, and write and do their arithmetic. It is a whole lot more then that.

As far as where I am at right now…..what I said the other day, still holds for me today.

Grace and Peace to all those testing the waters and learning something new! See you all tomorrow.

It is fun isn’t it people? Dealing with yourself before the Lord.  Good and hard stuff.  Taking each thought captive is one battle of wills I tell you what.

Read my post on this flickr stream.  Click each picture in sequence to see what is up with me.

Grace and Peace to all those who are punching their flesh in the eye, and telling it to sit down and junk because the King is in charge around here!

I’ve spoken before about this little collective of artists and musicians.  Maybe you remember about a year ago I made a call for artists.  Funny thing is, I thought I needed to network with them around the world.  Turns out they are right in my own back yard.  Sat. night we had a few friends over.  Actually people I hadn’t even know yet walked through our doors.  Young and old, conservative to liberal backgrounds, church staff, para church staff, different ethnicity, different backgrounds, different churches all represented.  A beautiful collection of God’s people. I am still ticked I didn’t get to sit and talk with every person I didn’t know there.  So sorry.  I want to know their story, their song, their dreams.  Really I deeply do.

So many people worked to pull it off.  We all just pushed a little.  No on person pulled the wagon, we just played and prayed along and before you  knew it, our home looked like a tea lounge.  Actually it still does.  We finished so late, no one wanted to break down, and because we didn’t have to , we said, oh just grab it next time you are over. Our kids were HOT because they missed the celebration. We sent them to sleep over at Grams and G’pas house as we knew it would get a bit loud.  Somehow they have it in there little minds that they get to play and participate in this whole expression of faith too.  I have no idea where they got that wacky idea? I laugh, because even in my wildest dreams or best plans to pull something like this off, it never would of happened as beautifully.

We did have one surprising and unfortunate casualty in the whole thing.  We killed our fish.  Yeap we “rocked” him to death.  It was so sad, the rhythm and sound just shook him right out of his mind.  The kids still do not know.  I am breaking it to them gently tomorrow.

Grace and Peace to everyone seeing their dreams unfold before them~

PS - pix taken by our friend Shawn who is handy with a camera too.  Thanks man!

Song to listen to while reading this post.

I am working on a post right now about discipleship to Jesus. I have been reading some of NT Wright’s work and it is, as always, ROCKING my world in a good and deep and holy way.  I am also mulling over a few things that will take some thought in research in regards to presenting a lesson on the kingdom of God to our oldest. I actually think I will you tube it so anyone else out there can use it too. Photography is moving along at God’s perfect pace, so life is generally good.

Our kids have been in VBS this week, and I have been like a fish out of water without them around.  God is leading me into some deeper seasons of things, that I wont share on this blog right now, as they are just for me in him. We are hosting a worship night this weekend, so I am cleaning and worshiping all morning. (A little side not about Hill song.  I have had my nose up in the air about them for awhile because they are so freakin’ mainstream, I almost can’t take it. I wouldn’t even go there, because I get so hacked off when I see organizations making money and fame and all other types of crap that come with that off of worshiping the KING. Really it makes my skin crawl and I get all nauseous. It is a bad scene…….and then… a friend asked if we would learn this song to sing with him.  I politely didn’t roll my eyes and said “okay” feebly.  I heard this song and it was like I hit the deck weeping all by myself.  Just asking for forgiveness because I was so snooty about them being co-opted by the marketing machine.  I love when God breaks your boxes, even your non-traditional ones.) Pray for us on Sat. night.  I am sure I will have some pics to show you all:-)

Guess I just dropped by to  say, I am here, just processing, and thinking, and worshiping.  I am at a place right now were I am almost out of my skin in adoration to the KING of Kings.  Won’t you worship with me?  Really, like right now, stop what you are doing and just do it!  In whatever way you can.  Really I am not kidding.

Blessings to all you thinkers, dreamers, worshipers…

Another rainy day, which in my book are good days to think. I’ve been reflecting the last few days on how essential certain things are in life. It is so important to have a small group of deep friends that you can be truly honest with, that challenge you to dig deeper with Jesus, that hold you accountable in an appropriate and Godly way, and that sharpen you.  I am blessed to have this in my life.

Today Mike and I have officially been married 14 years.   I can’t even remember what is was like not being married or with him.  It is fun to watch how he has grown and changed over the years. I love you honey.  Thank you for a beautiful weekend away, just the two of us. It was raining just like this, 14 years ago, as I was trying to run around and do all the things a bride is doing before her wedding.  Mike and I were laughing at how we know each other so much better now.  It is so good to laugh with your spouse.  He still makes me laugh, and blush, and feel safe.  He is a good, deep, thoughtful caring man and a wonderful Father to our children. I love him so.

I’ve also been thinking about how parenting is full time job.  People occasionally say to me, “Are you just a stay at home Mom?”  and I quietly chuckle inside. I do a little photography on the side, just to keep a small non-Mommy part of me active but on the whole, I’ve been called to tend this little garden, and trust me it will shake you to your core, if you let it.  The older our kids get, the more fun this is, to walk with them, and model to them, and train them and be with them as they walk through hard things.   We are constantly adjusting, readjusting, checking in with the Father in regards to our sweeties. What a gift this all is.  I am still perplexed when I hear Mom’s say they need a break.  Trust me, I know what it is like to have lots of kids close together, and never know where you stop and they begin.  I struggled with that in the early days.  I think it is funny, friends who see me out without my kids don’t even recognize me without the three in tow.   Now, I embrace it. Life just moves too fast, and you just don’t EVER, EVER, EVER get these days back.  I just want to keep working on relationship with these little guys who are fast moving into big guys. I can do other things when they have flown the coup.

Wont it be fun to see where the next 14 years takes us babe? The world is our oyster.  I love you!

~a

We are leaving for a blissful stay-cation while Mike’s parents tend the young ones…

We will be going to my FAVORITE local place for a little R&R married 14 years style.  I will kill the pictures and leave a tiny peek….

Grace and Peace to all those who know that life just keeps getting better and better!

See you next week.

We had a fun weekend.  Our oldest had his first swim meet.

I did a little diving. I took some pictures but they are not nearly as good as my Dad’s.

Now, I am off to upload some pics to flickr and finish up some school work.   This week, we are celebrating our wedding anniversary, with half of the rest of the married world:-)  So, between, school and play  I may be spotty on posting here.

Grace and Peace to all those celebrating life with those they love.

Why use a flash if you can work the camera manually to where you get enough light to pull off the shot?  Well, simply because good photographers need to know how to hit all elements, and knowing how light works, will give you great images all the time.  Not only that, but if you want to work on your craft while the kids are in bed, you will need to work at night, therefore you need to work with a flash.

That being said, I hardly ever use a flash, even though I have one.  Now that I am pushing farther to learn a few new things….I super heart my flash especially right at dusk.  It gives you crazy definition and color, that a low f stop and high ISO alone will not give you. It will allow you to have your shutter speed set so that you don’t get that blur that happens when hand holding your camera to capture an image. Everything I have learned with photography has been self taught.  I am in good company. Some of the best photographers in the world are self taught.  I read, I study, I experiment, I read, I study, I experiment…..it is one of my favorite things to do.  So, I have been reading and studying about off camera lighting and strobe work.  Wow what a cool look you can pull off with all of that info.

if you only have an on board flash, one of the things you can do to diminish that hot spot glare, is to put a piece of wax paper, tracing paper, parchment paper or a coffee filter over your flash to diffuse the light.   So go play around with your flash and show me what you got!

Grace and Peace to all those who love learning~

We plan to spend a ton of time outside this summer.  I will reverse our days, so that we can be out and play in the cooler, morning weather.  I will move them through literature and history first thing in the am….head out to explore around 10 for a few hours, come back for lunch and choirs and then we can finish up with math and copy work when the day is the hottest and the rain is rolling through.  Last year I took a large break in the summer and it was a train wreck, so this year we just steadily will work our way through.

I didn’t set this shot up, they all just hung out there for a split second before they were off again.  I am not 100% happy with this shot, as it isn’t a sharp as I would of liked but it will do. I love our nature study.I get to follow them around as they explore, silently watching them work and discover together.  That is how this whole photography thing started ya know.  There is so much in the way I school them, that is silent.  I just set up an environment for them to explore in, and then shut my mouth and let them get to “playing”.  Because of the literature we are reading, they naturally make connections all over the place.

I made a decision early on in our homeschool journey to enjoy all our time together, not looking to rush through it and move on to what I want to do, but to be present at all times, and learn with them.

Life is learning, and we are all enjoying our days together.  I will upload the rest of our days discoveries later today.  For now we need to sketch in our nature journals and then on to Math and Mr. Steve.  Oh how we love Mr. Steve around here….he makes my life so easy.

Blessings to all those keeping their mouths shut so their little ones can make connections on their own~

I for one play around with my light-box.  I made this little guy out of junk in the recycle bin and some kid’s painting paper.

I love to sit and click to just relax.  It is one of my few non physical ways of relaxing.    I have been dreaming about upgrading my camera equipment but have been struggling with that for a few reasons.  Firstly, I feel like God is drawing us into a place of being content, resting in him.  I have everything I need.  We have all the money we need.  We are able to give generously and save.  I sit in the place of justifying is this a want or a need etc. etc.

The other factor is this.  If you think you need crazy expensive equipment to be a good photographer, a great photographer even, well good luck with that one.   You need to shoot more, learn more, and stay in the mode of being a student.   I have fallen head long into the flickr community and all of its amazingness.  You want to learn how to shoot better….poke around there and see what there is to see.  Right now I am fascinated with light in all its forms.  I hope to work on some HDR stuff this month and kick the strobe into high gear. This stream will make you want to work with strobes ALL THE STINKIN’ time.

The longer I pray about it, the more I feel like I am to just park it.  I felt like I had a certain number in my mind that had to be saved and given before God gave the green light for a new body.   So, I am back in the “Danielson” position again…..thankfully.  I am “waxing on and off” with the best of them.  It is all about working with what you have. Amazing artists in their day, painted over old canvases and just kept working away.  They didn’t let resources get in their way, they just kept creating and improving and having fun. So, I thought it would be a good idea if I just followed their lead.

Here is my light box set. I am sure it will grow steadily as the days and months progress…. follow my learning adventure.

Grace and peace to all those out there counting the cost~

Okay, I had a week full of shooting and editing and all sorts of new things to show you.  Yesterday, I went to the park with my prego girlfriend.  She had her4 nieces and nephews and I had our 3 children, and one trusty camera.  She wanted a park setting for her shoot, which I thought was cool and different not to mention having 7 children running and playing in between clicks was  a fun time. With this image you would never know we were at a park.

My last 2 shoots, my gear has been a bit squirrely.  I am not quite sure why, but with the amount of clicks I have been given this bad boy, I believe it needs a good cleaning.  I am always trying to stretch my skills, learn new things, and push myself.   Good photography is more then composition, or shooting something pretty, it is good lighting, good technical skills behind the lens and editing that takes it all to the next level.  What I love about this, is that there are always things you can be learning and improving with. You never arrive in photography…you only get better.

So what are you playing around with today in your photography? What do you want to get better at?

Grace and Peace to everyone out there doing their thing~

Last year a girlfriend asked me to paint a picture for her house.  I said “No”.  I know I am a great friend.  What I actually said was, “No, why don’t you come over and paint it yourself.”  she said “I don’t know how to paint.”  Well, sistah neither did I until I picked up a brush and started playing around. I told her I would teach her.  Then another girlfriend came over, and another and another and every week we gathered to love and laugh and create together all immersed within the presence of the Creator.  Then I guess the guys got kind of ticked and started asking if they could come or if it was only for the ladies.  Well, you know me, I hate exclusion including gender exclusion so we said, heck ya, come on along and join our song.

We started kicking around the idea with a few friends about creating an artist collective and the Proskyneo Collective was born.  Initially we felt like we should do 4 ecumenical worship gatherings this year and see what God was doing with it.  Now it seems weekly, we have like minded kingdom peeps showing up at our house to eat and sing and create.  A community of God’s people that would create beauty in the world.  A space where everyone gets to play regardless of what church you go to on Sunday morning. Where worship and creativity are blessed.  Where people are encouraged to think about their life and express themselves through art. A place where dreams are sparked and mission developed.

Now a days we are praying about producing a cd of all original worship songs and a possible gallery showing of  original photography and paintings. I hear rumblings that a pottery wheel will be showing up soon.  Wow isn’t that cool. I would love to see how art and the poor intersect.  Can we bring beauty inspired by the CREATOR into the poorest in our community and by doing so usher in a deeper level of God’s kingdom among them?  I for one would like to see what God could do with something like that.

We have taught many people how to play the guitar and now they are debuting leading worship in their own small groups as I type. Those who have never picked up a brush before in their life, are playing around with color. People are starting to pick up cameras and shoot the beauty that the see, and others are literally having dreams of art installations that are sparking all of our imaginations.

I guess this doesn’t even  tip the scale in any church growth demographics.  We are just a bunch of friends who want more of Jesus and each other and want to create beautiful things as we do it.  Actually I think it says somewhere in the bible that the Church is made of God’s people and when 2 or more are gathered together in his name, He is there.  Kind of blows the pews right out of the water doesn’t it.

One of the things that will fry you faster then anything is living a hurried life.  It doesn’t matter in what way you live it….full time ministry with no time to stop and think, or a stay at home Mom who is always going and never sitting still to just be.   Being hurried will tear you up and spit you out faster then you can wink.

One of the things Mike and I have learned and have struggeled worked on keeping in our family life is a rhythm of inward and outward. A time of loving, and living and giving and serving and laughing and being with those we have been blessed to have in our life, and a time of being still and quiet without a ton of running and going, and talking and moving.  Just still and quiet.  We are making sure to give that gift to our kids as well.  I will be the first to say, it isn’t easy, but it can be done.  You can be busy without being hurried.  You can have lots to do and be at peace doing it if you keep a few VERY important things at the front of your mind at all times.  It is all about an inward/outward rhythm.  I am writing this whole post as a bit of a reminder for myself.  I thought if I need reminding, maybe some one else does too.

Our family has moved into a season full of fecundity. I use that word in honor of Heather Spring, a dear friend in Gainesville, who really ushered us into a season of understanding spiritual disciplines in a deeper way when we were starting to feel pulled to that.  We found some resources and then she just solidified everything the Holy Spirit was leading us into with a 12 week class on spiritual disciplines right before we left to move here and plant. If you don’t know what it means look it up:-)  I say that in a deeply grateful way. We absolutely love all that God is moving us into but I also know that in times like these it would be very easy to just go, go, go and never stop, stop, stop which would be bad, bad, bad. Yo, I sound like Henny Penny.

Jesus is a very good teacher.  He had a beautiful rhythm of being with people and then alone with the Father and the two never ever seemed to get out of balance.   Always one and then the other.  He was never stressed.  Sad yes, but stressed no.  He slept through storms, he taught when there was no food. He was never hurried by other people and their problems.  Dead people didn’t even rattle him.  He even walked past sick people and didn’t stop to heal them.  It wasn’t part of what he was supposed to be doing at the given moment. He just did what the Father was doing.  Imagine telling a pastor to not go and help someone who was in their path with some issue.  Sounds kind of counter intuitive doesn’t it. But Jesus only did what the Father was doing and I think that is a good life lesson to hold onto. He was present with the people he was with and always modeled through his actions.  To me, that sounds like the most peaceful way of living that could ever be had.

He didn’t care a hill of beans what other people thought of him.   None of the things that rattle us, ever seemed to rattle him.  The more I study his life and ask that he would reveal more of himself to me, the more I am in awe of what a great teacher he is.  I mean really, really great.  As I think about how he really lived his life, I am compelled to follow suit to the best of my ability.  So, I am instating a few disciplines into my own life just to make sure I guard the “inward” part of my formation and not let the outward part run me into the ground.

Here are a few things I am moving into.  I leave them here for 3 reasons, firstly maybe some of you may need to add these into your life and secondly, any of my local friends or family who happen to read this little blog will have a heads up and not be hurt or ticked that I am seemingly not responding and thirdly, Mike reads this here little space and it saves me 20 minutes of talking when he gets home.  I can just say…did you read the blog….and we go from there. I lived a season of 18 months of running like a chicken with my head cut off, responding to everyone elses needs in a crazy business I had that ran out of control.  God literally stepped in and rescued me from that mess and ever since then, I have promised to never go back to that kind of slavery every again.  So here are my few little things.

• First, I wont text until after school hours…or answer the phone or emails, or comments, or flickr mails or tweets etc.  Ever. Period. Wow that sounds harsh…and extreme. I stayed home to homeschool and be with my kids…and if I am answering calls and texts all morning, I am not present with them and they need me.  The only person who will ever get through is my hubby.  Trust me he is busy enough that he rarely calls during those hours anyway, so when he does it is for a darn good reason.  The point is for me to be quiet enough to hear what the Father is saying as I work with our young brood.  So you can text or call or email or comment etc. etc.  but I wont’ respond until after 3pm Eastern time.  Good gravy I know that sounds pretentious, I am not trying to be, I just seem to have a lot of people all over the place touching base.  I am honored and love connecting with all of you local and abroad.  I will connect with you it just won’t be between 6am and 3pm eastern time.:-)
• Second, I will give our family a day of rest in between days of non rest.  Today for instance, we quietly worked, played, cleaned and ran a few errands.  Yesterday, we were moving all day, so today we just parked it.    It has been refreshing day.
• I have been vary consistent from the outset of our homeschooling journey to make sure we all get some time to ourselves most every day.  We all get crazy if we don’t.  I think we do children a disservice, if we constantly cater to their needs, telling them what to think and how to act, making sure they are not bored. All this activity forms their little minds in such a way that they have never ever had time to be still and think.  I think we deal with a whole culture of people who honestly can’t do it.  It is a crying shame.  People have looked at me like I am a lunatic when I say we need our quiet time.   I don’t mean super spiritual quiet time either like we are all off reading our Bibles or something.  I mean QUIET.  Think, pray, create, organize your space…whatever. I believe God will show up in that space, and it must be guarded for myself and our children at all costs. Give your mind time to stop racing and just see what comes up.  It also models to our children that Mommies are people too and we respect ourselves enough to be away from them and work on ourselves.  Maybe just maybe they will keep up the practice when they move on from our home.
•  Lastly, I will kiss my husband every day like I mean it.  Okay that one was just for me, and like I said before Mike reads this here blog and I just want to make sure he knows what to expect when he walks in the door tonight.

Grace and Peace to all those guarding their inward time…and those who are gonna kiss their spouse like they mean it.

I know I am in a good place when I have the space and time to think.  I also know I am in a good place when I have the space in time to create.  Overall, everything about this season in our life is good.  Space to breath, think, create, and be with those God has put in our lives.  I have so much rolling around in my head about so many things.  Here are just a few.

• Creating an environment where deep and authentic Christian community can grow is a slow process. Slow growth is good growth.
• Thinking about how brilliant Jesus is to use agriculture as a symbol in so many of his teachings. Really just thinking about how brilliant Jesus is in general.
• Thinking about how long things take to bear fruit, but once they do, there is fruit all over the place.
• Big picture concepts direct my day to day “doings”.  When I lose the big picture I fall flat in my day to day.
• I am so inspired by Luke 10 and Psalm 24. All day long I am just thinking and praying through both of them.
• This is the year I will learn Spanish fluently and not just piece meal.
• Being content with what you have and where you are is a good, good discipline.  It heals a weary soul.
• The more I let go, the more I see God move.
• It is true, worrying about anything will not add one hour to your day.
• My top all time 5 favorite theologians that influence the way I think and live out my faith are all old men. I am in search of a woman’s voice to add to my mix. Any thoughts other than Phylis Tickle?

It is so beautiful this am, we are taking school to the beach.  We will run and play and gather and read and do all sorts of life learning.  Show me what you are learning today! I need a heck of a lot of drift wood for an idea I have…so I am putting “los ninos” to work.

Grace and Peace to all thinkers today~

I was asked awhile ago to review a new product from the folks over at SpellQuizzer. It was prvodential to say the least, because what I had been doing before wasn’t very effecient.   As a busy homeschooling Mom with three sweet peas at three levels, ANYTHING that makes my life a bit simpler is deeply appreciated.  I have steadily been working our children through their phonics and doing spelling tests through dictation….focusing on the use of the phonics rules they have been learning, as well as those pesky sight words in the English language that do not conform to the standard phonics rules.   The Bottom line is, there are some words you just have to memorize and this little computer software, is making my life so much easier.

SpellQuizzer is a spelling program that helps children learn their spelling words. I can create the lists straight from our curriculum and record my voice to aid them. The best part is, I only have to do it once for each level, and walk the kids through it as they progress.  You can download pre-made spelling lists for SpellQuizzer from their web site and share them with co-op friends etc. They see computer time as a special privilege, so getting to do some school work on the computer is a great delight to them. Not to mention they are working on forming beginning typing skills.  If you want a paperless way of getting those dang spelling words undercontrol, while you work with another child on another topic,  you should check them out.  I for one, am working it like a tool!

Things on the list to do for today:

• Start a family book Huckleberry Finn
• Build a Lego city as a family
• take a bike ride at River Bend Park 
• do some cooking and then eating together
• Read, discuss and pray through this as a family. (HT: Sarah)
• and finally the crowning achievement….a family clean bathrooms, mop, vacuum time before bed.  (All my chore training is paying off, now that they all can really clean, and I don’t have to go back and redo it.) Life is grand.

Enjoy your day everyone, be blessed so that you may be a blessing to the world~

a

I LOVE what I do .  I really find it such an honor to capture peoples memories for them.  This weekend I had the chance to document new and growing life. We had a providental break in all the rain, and we were able to get some great images. 

Arn’t they the cutest young Mama and Papa you all have ever seen?  I knew her when she was 12.  Kind of trippy to photograph her married with child.  These two will make great parents and are full of all the joy and expectation that envelopes this season in life.

These are just a few of the MANY gourgous images I grabbed of these three. Thanks Kyle and Bethany for giving me the honor of capturing this very special season.  Enjoy every messy minute as life moves on.  Look back at these images fondly remembering all the love and joy that kicked this whole thing off. 

Many blessings to you three~

a

My baby girl is 6 today.  Life is moving along and I always have a bitter sweet day on their birthdays.  Happy for all the time we have had to grow together.  I am excited to watch her grow and mature and learn new things yet sad at the little pudgy hands that I don’t get to kiss anymore.  Enjoy every single minute. Even the sleepless, messy ones.

She is reading and writing and working her math facts like a stellar little six year old. She is growing into quite the little artist.   I am so blessed to have her as our child.  She is a tough little scraper who has such a sweet tender heart.  I am off to take her on a special birthday outing…as we give experiences over just a flat gift.  So it is a mini-pedicure and a new dress at target.  Gotta nurture her feminine side. As you recall, she broke her arm wrestling with 4 boys all bigger, stronger and heavier than her.  She needs a little girl time.

Happy Birthday Chloe,
child of love,
[God bless you].
And blessed you are, beyond telling,
to be born to parents
who love you
and love each other
servants of the
great King Jesus.

Grow gently, Chloe in love of God.

We bless you,
and pray
Christ be near you,
now and each hour
of your life.

As you grow
may faith grow with you.
May you find the presence
of Christ your clothing
and protection.
And year by year may the
knowledge of His presence
be greater for you,
that daily you may put on Christ
and walk as His own in the world.

Chloe, May God make clear to you each road;
may He make safe to you each step;
should you stumble, hold you;
if you fall, lift you up;
when you are hard pressed with evil,
deliver you -
and bring you at last to His glory.
Amen.

I let her eat cake fore her breakfast too.  Isn’t that fun, she was tickled silly with that. Later today we are off to Gainesville. I have a few shoots booked, a family get together and some quiet time in the car with my honey.  We always have such good talks in the car.  4 hours of driving help to foster deep conversations.Here is praying you have a deep talk today with someone you love.

Grace and Peace to all those twirling like a six year old today,

Lord willing we will be heading down as a family in Feb of 2010.  Pray for us and our community as we begin to make our plans and allow God to direct our steps.

Blessings to all world travelers~

Now that we are all settled in, and I am all back on track, I thought I would throw a foto friday up with a twist.  Play along and show me your best shot from the last 2 months.  I will start with “Show me something green.”  The next person will show me something green and then pick the next thing…curvy, blue, pink…..whatever and post it in the comments.  It will be fun to see what people come up with. If you don’t take photos of your own and want to play, just find something fun  on flickr and link it in the comments.   So whoever comments next should show me show me something green and leave directions on what you want them to find for the next one coming along.

Have fun hunting…..

So Pulled Pork Tacos are as easy as a food network recipe.  I gave it a try and MOMMY they are good.   I pulled together this spread for about 15 bucks and fed about 10 peeps and had leftovers.

The secret to the cost saving factor in this recipe is using pork shoulder.   I am experimenting with different ways of cooking more for less and using unexpected things to keep it all fun and healthy and different. We feed a lot of people a lot of food a lot of times every week, so I have to put my thinking cap on.  I mean you can only do spaghetti or beans and rice so many times.  I did leave the cilantro out and added it for garnish on the side as I knew someone eating it doesn’t like the taste of it. I also used shredded cabbage instead of pickled onions.  Other than that, it was easy, tasty, cheap and quick to clean up.  I always have a empty dishwasher ready to go, and instruct everyone to rinse and load as they finish…..that way the mess is done even after having a house full of guests.  I know I am rude, I make my guests clean but hey……I am building community and not my cleaning resume;-) Give it a try and let me know what you think.  Here is the original link to the food network video that gives you all the details.

Grace and Peace to all those stretching a buck~

Yes, I just found a banana leashed to my cabinet door in our kitchen.  Earlier, it was a stuffed puppy that had been chained to the door so it wouldn’t run away.  I come back to find fruit chained to the door and I am wondering, did she do it, or did the boys do it as a joke?  You never know with this crew. I half expect to see a dish of water and some food setting there for it next.  Not only this, but I have rescued a toy off the roof-with a fractured hip I might add, picked up unending “things” left at odd places all over the place, swept up 4 different times,  closed a million cabinet doors, and yelled  said at least 10 times….”We shut off what we turn on, and we close what we OOPPEEENNNNNNNNNNN!”  I am not sure they are getting that….. yet.

After schooling, we watched The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe today as a family (with a few fast forwarded sequences for the littles…don’t worry honey:-)).  I love the scene where Lucy pulls the sheet off of the wardrobe.  The entire sequence is breathtaking.  It encapsulates childlike wonder like no other.   I can just watch it over and over and every time I get goosebumps.  I will tell you a secret.  Our homeschool is like my own little wardrobe.  I get transported to a secret world where I get to be a little kid every day with these guys.  I am learning all over again, and it is crazy fun.  What a special gift to do this with them.  I know this isn’t for everyone, but I am sure thankful it is for me.

In other news, I am doing a little research and really stretching my cooking expertise at finding new and creative ways to cook healthy meals for many people for little money.   Trust me, it can be done if you are willing to do a little research on the food network.  Yo Peeps… I made a crazy good meal last night for a crew for only 15 bucks.   I am a “delivered” organic snob.  I was delivered from buying organic food when I realized that is was not a good fit for our budget.  I figured that we are a “Missional family” living in a suburban context, why not do what I do when we are in any other country.  PRAY! You can’t eat like a foodie in other places in the world, so we don’t do it here.  Kind of a solidarity thing with God’s people who are thankful for a plate of beans in other places on the globe.  I just pray over it, and realize that God will cover the rest.  Please, the kids drink milk and water, we watch the sugar in take, I don’t do homogenized oils or corn syrup if I can help it…..I think we will survive if we don’t by organic apples at 6 bucks a bag.  My kids eat 3 bags of apples a week, you do the math.  Even with all of this my grocery bill is WHACK!  These boys are eating machines and they are not even close to being teenagers.  Oh Mommy!So tomorrow I will give you the recipe for my pulled pork tacos that will feed 8-10 for only 15 bucks.

Grace and peace to all those praying over it, whatever it is,  and trusting God~

Well, Hi there neighbor.  Maybe you havn’t noticed  but our whole lives have been in an upheaval the last 2 months.   I know you all have been losing sleep at  night due to our families displacement. You will be happy to know we are settled nicely into the new space that God has so graciously provided for us. I’ve kind of missed you but my computer has  a deadly virus and I am about to throw it away and say they heck with it so my online time is nill to say the list

My stress fracture is healing away, and is barely painful except when I do too much and our homeschool is back on track and flourishing in our new conditions. I will say that, I could not of even thought of how perfectly this house fits our families needs.  It is always mind blowing how God does what he does when you throw you hands up in the air.   There is too much to this deliverance story for me to type here in this one small space, but rest assured that I wake up daily, and go to sleep nightly with a song of thanksgiving on my heart.  I actually cried when I heard we would get this house.

I have NEVER been unloaded and unpacked as quickly in all our 11 moves as I have in this house.  Maybe something about being on one level and having storage space has something to do with it.  I do have curtians and a few more pictures to hang but other then that, I can put my finger on everything I need.  Isn’t that amazing? In one week.  God is so good and I have had so many dear friends pitch in to help me out.  Maybe it is because they couldn’t stand my whining any longer, or maybe they just love me.  This whole move has solidified to me my love language as “acts of service”.  Tell me you love me by helping me out.  I have some people who REALLY love me. 

Here is our family room and the piano is finally tuned and ready for some lessons with a much better curriculum solution.  The one  I started with we all hated, so we stopped.  Now that it is tuned and I like the new curriculum, we are starting again.  I leave The Art of God book open to different pages every day.  My kids just sit and stare at the beautiful images contained within that book.  They typically play a little tune as they do.  Isn’t that sweet?  Our family room is cozy and bright and looks out onto a lake.  A LAKE…What the HECK!  I would of been fine…FINE I TELL YOU with a yard but a yard and a view it just overwhelming. I would of been more then fine but this house has a living room too. I don’t even know what to do with a living room.  We have lived in tiny town-homes with one space for eating and living for the past 8 years.  I am kind of lost with this place.

We don’t even have enough furniture to fill it.  It is like a big bowling alley that the kids run their cars on.   I am sure there will be more pics to come, as our life grows into this new space.  We just have the space to invite more and more people into our lives. That is what a house is for you know…..letting people in.  So, now I will sign off a little embarrassed at the house we have been given.  I almost hide my eyes when friends walk in and gasp.  I tell them it was God.  I swear I didn’t’ have ANYTHING to do with this one and I must say I kind of like it that way. Thanks to all our dear family and friends who helped us arrive here.  We did not do this alone.  This is your house too.  Our doors are always open, stop on by, I will have a nice refreshing drink waiting for you!

 Grace and Peace to all of you waiting…rest assured He will deliver you in His good and complete ways!

I love homeschooling, but know there are some pitfalls with it, as with anything.  My oldest would tend to be an introvert, so we are making sure he has PLENTY of chances to be with his peers, work with other constructive, authority figures and do something that requires a little discipline.  Our middle needs something were she isn’t lumped in with her brothers all the time.  She also needs to be around other girls and strong female role models that are not me.  Our youngest is super physical and needs something to keep him moving.  The more he can get out and move, the more he can sit down and focus… so what do you do that doesn’t have me at 3 different place and 3 different time? Trust me I have been pulling my hair out with it.

We do a homeschool PE co-op once a week, so they are getting all the traditional team sports, soccer, flag football, tennis etc.  They all love it. I wanted to give them an individual sport to help them build their confidence and discipline WITHOUT me running all over kingdom come so they could do it.  I know…. tall order but I am a firm believer if you keep asking, you will find the right thing.  We did dance, and karate and gymnastics and they were enjoyed by all, but it wasn’t like they were dying  to go and do it again.  With all of my swimming etc, they have been picking up stokes, and the town Olympic pool is  a 5 minute bike ride from our new home. Our kids have been water bugs since birth. I taught them all to swim before they were 2 and we have lived in the water ever since. Funny side note, that was the first thing I taught them myself that actually gave me the confidence to homeschool.   I have been looking for an individual sport for them to try.  Maybe you remember my post about how my daughter didn’t really like the traditional dance thing for little girls and I was looking for something for her.  I think we have found it.  One day it hit me like a brick, swimming!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Presto, we can ride our bikes there, it isn’t crazy expensive, they are around constructive authority figures and kids their age.  It is a physically challenging sport without being super hard on their little growing bodies and did I say THEY LOVE IT? My daughter is seeing older girls who are strong and feminine at the same time without trying to be Barbie, and my boys are getting their niche fit.  I almost gasped when I realized it hit all of my hopes and desires for what our kids needed in the way of  extracurricular activities at this point in their development. Not to mention, I can swim a few laps during their workouts.  Isnt’ that crazy?

So for now, we are a swim family…..my daughter is begging to do diving and can already do a beautiful back dive off the low board, so we will see if that may fit in down the road. Right now, I am tickled silly and wanted to share it with you all here. We are prepping to move into our new home this weekend, so I would guess the next slew of pictures will give you a glimpse of our new space.

Grace and Peace to all who are finding just what they have been looking for~

I am experimenting in the kitchen and made this recipe for a protein shake this morning.  It is super yummy and my new favorite and quick breakfast before I hit the road running.  If you need a little foodie inspiration get the clean eating magazine.  There are tons of great ideas that are lite and healthy.

Chocolate Mint Protein Shake

8 oz fat free milk

2 Tbs. dark cocoa powder

1 scoop chocolate protein powder

crushed ice

a handful of fresh mint leaves

blend until smooth and frothy

Enjoy!

Grace and Peace to all those who need a little pick me up!

that is what I call it when Mike and I  sit down and hash through all of the “things” going on in our life.  I remember when we were first married and an older married couple made a mention that they hadn’t talked about some given event that happened a week earlier.  They just had not had the time.  I thought it was strange then, now I understand completely.

So, I thought I would give you all a SOU on my life so you are in the loop.  I will do this via bullet points as I don’t have a ton of time this am before our day starts with a BANG! Rest assured, I am thinking of you, as this little blog space keeps me energized most of the time.

• I have a stress fracture in my hip and it is hurts like mad.  A common sports injury and will only heal with time and rest and that is it.
• I am not doing any training, I can only swim with a pull stoke and no kick which is a serious bummer.  I had to postpone my races reluctantly.
• I am learning how to rest and be still. (I am always learning that one!)
• We are still bunking with my parents for another week before we move yet again in to our own home.
• My Mom has had knee replacement surgery while we are here. Wow is that one wicked painful thing to recover from.
• All of my techie stuff is in pieces sitting on my parents dining room table, which doesn’t really call me to be creative with it. My camera is forlorn, my ipod is rarely charged, my computer has some dang virus and we can’t find the cables for my disc drive and can not burn discs without a lot of maneuvering, which has been a serious thorn in my side.
• I haven’t uploaded to flickr in about a month and my blogging is spotty at best.
• I realize I miss them, they help me keep my mental life sorted so to speak and my creative life on track.
• Our children are doing well without their own space and their own things although I am seeing signs of weariness around their little edges.
• I had to spend a junk load of money for dental cleanings and then a cavity filling on our kids teeth.  Dang make sure you floss your kids people, heck floss yourself too while you are at it.  I have been a bit tardy on that for various reasons….I will leave you to guess what.
• Then I had to spend a junk load of money on figuring out my hip.  Here is a tip, never get attached to money or things….they never last only Jesus does.
• Homeschooling schedule has been crazy but  thankfully we are getting it done.
• Our older 2 are joining a local swim team and my  youngest is learning the strokes so he can do the same.
• I have been praying about what to do with our oldest as he needs some new things in his growing life, so I am signing him up for a local co-op next year for 2 classes.  Latin, possibly Art Appreciation and definitly Learning with Legos.
• I am moving into the season of parenting that causes me to be in my van non stop.
• I want to travel overseas again…….like mad.  I am itching for us to go on a little “walk about”.
• Mike and I are seriously overhauling our schedule in the new house….to carve out room for dormant things.
• I am in need of a silence and solitude retreat, like yesterday.  I understand why Dallas Willard plans his out for 5 years that way NOTHING gets in the way of him getting away to be alone and silent with the Lord.
• I still love photography and am starting to clear the decks enough to start some photography  projects I have been wanting to work on.  Maybe June will be the month?
• I believe I will do this tomorrow with my dear sweet kiddies. Today I will prepare supplies and make them guess at what we are doing.  I love making them guess and be held in suspense.  It is the right of every mother, no?

So there you have it.  Now you know why I have not been very good at blogging lately.  As a matter of fact, I haven’t read another blog in I don’t know how long….hope to get to that one day soon. Thanks to all you who still stop by even in my tardiness. I’ll try to show up a little more often;-)

Grace and Peace to all those muddling through~

Yesterday we had the rare opportunity to tour some historical replicas of the ships Columbus found the new world in.  Our first thought upon seeing these ships; handcrafted using 15th century techniques in Brazil was, “Wow they are small!”.  I meen really, really small.

Go to thenina.com and check out all of the cool educational info there.  We are studying Columbus this term so it will be fun to have such a memorable reference to draw on while we read through his life. I thought it was a little peculiar that you could actually charter one of these for a wedding reception or company party.  Hey, I guess everyone even needs to make a buck.

It was even more fun to think of the books we have read this year like Swiss Family Robinson, Treasure Island and Seabird.  These are ships similar to ones that we followed many adventures on.  I would stop to point things out and say, “This is where they kept all their livestock in Swiss Family Robinson.”, and “Can you believe Ezra climbed all the way up there to scout out for icebergs?”.  Each time I was met with an, “I know!” Like Mom, I have already put all of this together in my mind, you do not need to call it out for me.  I stopped after the third exasperated “I KNOW”.

If you are near one of their next stops you should take a tour and if you are anything like our family you might just say, “I can’t believe how small they are!”.

For this foto Friday I thought I would show you some of my recent work. I had a wonderful spring photo shoot yesterday.  All the flowers were blooming and the children did beautifully.  The light was gorgeous, the colors were intense and the kids had fun.  I couldn’t ask for more! If you are interested in booking a spring session for your family, drop me a line a here.

 Show me some of your most recent work.  Spring is in the air and everything is fresh and new.  Go outside and get inspired.

Blessings,

a

Yesterday we went with another homeschooling family to a wonderful local spot with all sorts of nature and history.

We took a boat ride, saw a local legend’s homestead, worked with microscopes

and made new friends. The day was glorious, the children had their imaginations sparked and I shot my camera like a maniac.

My friend has a very thorough post here and here so instead of rewriting it, I will direct you to her to read all about it.  I am working on a shutterfly book of our adventures.  (Between the two of us we have enough photos for a small novella;-)

As we slowly made our way down the river observing osprey, alligators, Spanish moss, air plants and other natural inhabitants of our local area, I said a quiet prayer at how thankful I am that we live here.  Get out there and see the world people…and please take a little one along with you…they will thank you one day 20 years from now.  Trust me it is an entire practice in delayed gratification.

Grace and Peace to all those “wondering” at the world around them~

Be prepared, I am going to tell a story on myself.

One of the best disciplines is one you don’t hear thrown around in most Christian circles. The uber spiritual will use words like “quiet time” and “prayer closet” and “I get up early to be in the word” or if you are a woman they will say things like “Beth Moore and inductive Bible study” to tip you off that they are super spiritual.  If you did a poll of most western evangelicals and asked them what are the primary ways they interact with God I am willing to bet they would say, prayer and reading their Bible. Those are good, great even…..but I submit that for a time you try something new.

I read a little book about ten years ago that radically changed my view of Christan spirituality. Its author is now one of my modern day heroes. The Celebration of Disciplines by Richard Foster.    This book walks you through various disciplines that you NEED to achieve spiritual depth and I will tell you there are a heck of a lot more then just reading your bible and praying.  Many of them you may of never heard before as they have been dead in western civilization. You know little things like silence, solitude and fasting.  What a great thing for pastors to teach on for some time.  Silence, solitude and fasting.  Ha, what if one Sunday, in a traditional Sunday service you had to be quiet the whole time and actually practice how to still your mind and focus only on the Lord and the pastor would actually lead you through how to do that!  I giggle just thinking about it, or what if you had to bring your day planner in on a Sunday morning and everyone mark off a weekend that they would go away by themselves for the express purposes of being with the Lord by yourself? What if you did a fasting experiment as a church family? Everyone committing to fast something fairly challenging, not as a means to pray for some building program or something like that but as a means to crack up all the hard places in your hearts collectively so that as a community you might see a deeper move of God on every level individually and corporately. Well it is something fun to think about.

Over the years I have fasted many things for different reasons for different lengths of time.  Recently, I had been hearing a little knock about laying something down for lent.  Mike and I decided we would lay down refined sugar for lent. No desserts or sugar in coffee or tea. Seems like no big deal right.  Read on!  I wanted to do something that I would have to look in the face everyday several times a day. And every day, several times a day, I asked that God would be God in my life and that I would not be in charge or in control.  Here is a little story.

So first let me tell you about my sinfulness.  During the move, with all the stress, I WILLFULLY took a sweet treat, went into a corner and turned my back like a 2 year old and ate it and in my heart I said, “I DON’T GIVE A DAMN!”. Yeap, sorry….. that is what I said in my heart.  I told you I was telling on myself.  Then I justified to myself about it all day. I am stressed, this move is ridiculously out of control, I need to relax. I think I said every thing in the book. And then I did it the next day and the next day, until on the third day, I was so convicted by the Holy Spirit that I confessed to Mike and we prayed, and I got real honest before the Lord. The reality was, I wanted to be comfortable more then I wanted the presence of God in my life and I got sick to my stomach.  I cried and I cried and I cried. I talked to a dear sweet friend who always speaks deep truth to me as I was right in the midst of the guilt stage and she told me rejoice.  It kind of threw me on my  butt for a second.  What rejoice?  You have the presence of God so deeply right now that you feel so deeply convicted, be thankful that he is here and calling you to him.  It is a horrible feeling to know in the depths of who you are, in the midst of challenging circumstances that you could choose comfort over God. Oh how I need Jesus.  In a flash, I  felt Peter’s pain. Oh I know you say it is only sugar…. relax, calm down.  But I will say to you I denied God in my heart just like Peter did  and you know what He came and rescued me, pursued me anyway in my willfulness. Isn’t’ that what this whole resection thing is about?

Now I will say there were 2 occasions we specifically  ate dessert in a relational situation that we felt we were supposed to, but other than that we told our ourselves “no” over and over again for 40 days.  Mike seemingly sailed right through.  I crawled through on my hands and knees begging for grace every day. I will say last night, we had a piece of birthday cake to celebrate my birthday and it was a bit sad for me.  Sad because I knew that our fast was ending.  Isn’t that interesting!  It was such a struggle for me in such a good way over and over again over the last 40 days and then it was over. I will say I am going to miss the constant awareness of how much I need God on every level of who I am. Fasting takes you out of the center of the universe real quick and squarely places Jesus on the throne in such a deeply tangible way. Well it did for me and maybe it will for you too.

Which brings me to think that I am moving into a season of learning through fasting.  Every Christian really goes through seasons of learning at different levels with different disciplines.  I thought I would throw out a few new ones and see how they may bring you into a deeper place with the Lord.  Now I am waiting to see if God tells me anything else I need to lay down so I can pick up more of him.

Let me know what he is whispering to you.

The tomb is empty people!  Let’s throw a party……

my blogging mojo that is.  I am not sure if and when I will get it back. It makes me kind of sad as I have so enjoyed all you dear friends I have met along the way through this blog.  I sure would hate to not hear from you any more.  I think, I am on overload from my whole life right now, and I just don’t have it in me to be thoughtful or interesting.  I have just enough to be “with” my dear kids and husband in a helpful way….and then a bit left over to get some training in and be with my local faith community.  Above and beyond that, I am toast.

Don’t take it personally.  I am sure I will get  it back sooner or later, as blogging has been so good for me on so many levels.  Maybe you could just pray me through it.  I bet I will be out there swimming or running or biking and have something run across my brain that I want to tell you all about but not today.  Maybe I will come back and have a whole new look?  or a new something?

I will miss you while I am gone, but will think of you often and fondly.  Any wagers on how long I am gone?  a day, a week, a month…gulp…for good?

Wow, now when I say that I have something very interesting I want to think through by way of writing.  Actually, I could write about it and it would actually be refreshing to me.  It will help be grab hold of something deep in my discipleship to Jesus.  I am inspired to think of a way I can photograph it.  Isn’t that funny?  Maybe I am not done.  Maybe I am just beginning.  Maybe I am one Hot MESS! Excuse the incoherence….blame it on dehydration….carry on everyone!

Blessings to you all!  May you know the kindness of God even when you are tapped on every level~

Wow my blogging has been spotty, so if any of my 2 readers are still left…we are on a little family vacation.  We have rested, relaxed, played, did the touristy thing (minus the Disney theme parks) and just enjoyed a break from the normal schedule.  It is good to relax and detox especially after our super busy season of preparing a house to sell, then actually having to move out of it.

In the spirit of family vacation’s show me something fun today.  Here is a twist, show me something of your own, because you know I love to see you shoot your own stuff.  But if you do not like to take photography, but like to look at it, go to flickr, find something you really love and link it here. I love to find new photographers all over the world.  It is always good for inspiration.  So join the fun I know that some of you dear readers don’t shoot like I do but you can still play.

I will start.  Here is my fun shot. I grabbed it with our point and shoot and edited it online in picnic through flickr. So you don’t need a big girl camera to do some great things.  Just start shooting!!!

and here is one I found from a contact on flickr that I LOVE:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/heleens/379162902/in/set-72157607732950662/

Grace and Peace to all~

I am “on fire” so to speak.  Man, moving can really put a crimp in your life routine. I am finally getting back into a “normal” swing. Just dropping by to say a quick hello.  I do now have a computer put together, and am making some cash on eBay by selling some junk I actually packed and moved because I did not have time to do it prior to moving.  I am saving for another lens, so de-cluttering on eBay will help my little lens fund!   I am running a Spring promo until the end of April.  I will post  a bit more about that a bit after vacay.

Now, I am off to pack, wake my dear sweet chickadees, drop off our taxes (I know no matter how hard we try, we never get them in before April 1st), leave my bike at the bike shop to get tuned while I am away, post some photos to flickr(finally) and last but not least stop by the hospital to visit my Mom before we head out. She had a partial knee replacement yesterday and is doing splendidly, do to all the prayer.  I bet she is up and walking in half the time the Doctors are predicting.  Oh and guess what? On Sunday a friend and I got prayer from our church family for  some physical stuff.  My pulled hamstring and his water on the knee.  Well, my hamstring is doing splendidly and his knee is totally healed.  Isn’t God cool! I love how when we ask God to come into the midst of our brokenness either mental, physical, spiritual or relational….He heals.

Grace and Peace to all those who need a little healing today~

I’ve been gone for a week, recovering from moving.  We are now settled into my parents home waiting to move (again) into our new home.  Can I be honest without you thinking I have a bad attitude?  I HATE moving, but it is good for weeding out and reorganizing. I schooled this week, and organized our room here, so blogging wasn’t even close to happening.  My computer is still in pieces, my camera has seen little use, and I pulled a hamstring that the move really “jacked” up.  Thanks to Epsom salt soaks, deep tissue massage, no running and cross training with the swim and the bike, I am almost back to normal.

So for today, show me something pretty.  These are pretty to me, but I am a bit funny.  My new bike shoes.

My tri training is going well, other than the hamstring thing.   I ran after not being able to sleep early one morning.  I was kind of stressed from the move, and hit it hard and wasn’t as warmed up as I thought.  I strained it then.  Then, I babied it during the move but obviously tweaked it more, and now I am paying for it.  Take it from me….don’t do that.

I am working out with my brother who has done iron mans in the past and is now training for one in May.  He is a foot taller than me, and an ex Navy guy so you can imagine what that is like.  I guess I kicked him around when I was little being the “big sister” and he is now kicking me around as adults.

I will be away on family vacation next week, so I don’t think I will be posting anything.  I will microblog through twitter via my phone so if you are not already, follow me on twitter.  See you back here in a week or so. I am limping along, physically, mentally, well in most ways.

Grace and peace to all those walking with a limp~

I got this idea over at shutter sisters.  Walk 100 steps in any direction and snap whatever artful thing you see.  If you are in a rut and need a little kick in the pants….this will be the thing for you and me.

I walked 100 steps in the SE direction.  When I got there I realized a silhouette shot would be fab.  When shooting a silhouette, place your point meter right on the light source and your object in the foreground will be in silhouette.  Have fun and show me what you got!

I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel with all of this packing and sorting and pitching and cleaning.  We have gone much slower this time, paced ourselves and tried to not get overwhelmed. All the other 10 moves in our 14 year marriage have been fast a furious, so this has been nice and leisurely and relaxed.  I feel like it is going on forever in fact.  Oh well it is one or the other.

In other news, I am seeing the value of micro blogging via twitter.  Now that I have that sucker synced to my facebook and blog via my phone my online life is much easier.  Ha that is funny isn’t it? Not only that but I get the news headlines texted right to my phone so I am in the loop as much as anyone ever needs be.

We are fasting sugar for lent. That is good.   I pray for God to change me and mold me and form me into his image about 700 times each day.  I really love the practice of fasting from things.  I am getting that back into my overall rhythm as it is soooo good for me.  Keeps me in touch with the reality of my life and my deepest need for God and His changing work in my life.  I love how the process of telling yourself no to something over and over again, opens you up to hearing God in a way that nothing else really does.

I am LOVING my tri training.  Just waiting for my bike to be put together by my dear bro.  I did an early morning swim this am instead of a run in the rain. Nothing says hardcore like training in the rain. The reality is, it was fun and relaxing and invigorating all at once.  Schooling is moving along, as we finish up the last few things in term 2 and get prepared for term 3.  We get to study Joan of Arc.  I let the kids watch a nest video on her yesterday.  It was ok.  Chloe said, “Mom that girl was a knight?”  I said, “Yes”.  She said, “Wow she is brave.”  I said “Yes” and then she giggled like she never thought of being brave like that before.  I think it gave her a new imagination for what women can do and how God can use us in very powerful ways.  Hey it isn’t all about running the children’s church people! Wow that is another post for another time.

So that is it for today.  Just a general “state of the union” for all my dear readers.  Life is good.  I am embracing change, and mess and not being in control and accepting help and all of those good things that are good for your character.  I hope you are embracing them too!

Grace and Peace to all those who see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I have little to say today that is inspiring or encouraging our even interesting.  All I have to say is that the Tortoise was right…”Slow and steady wins the race.”  This whole thing is such a great  exercise in my overall formation.  Hold things loosely, die to your own plan, keep everything in perspective, and most of all hold on to tightly the only thing that never changes….Jesus.

So, here are a few inspiring things to look at and read today. If you are wanting to get really radical then watch this.   Come back tomorrow, maybe I will have an inspiring wordless Wednesday image up.  Maybe…we can all hope right?! See you then.

Grace and Peace to all those who need a little power today~

I have missed our kids, but have gotten a ton of packing done.  Our garage is full of boxes waiting for a POD, Mike and I had a date without having to pay for a babysitter, and I had the opportunity to do this.

Such sweet friends.  It is always a wondrous moment seeing a new Mom with her first pregnant belly.  I got to shoot her downtown, which is one of my favorite environments for a photo shoot.  With all of this moving hustle, I haven’t played with my camera for a a few days, and my training has been sidetracked due to sickness.  This weekend, I finally felt back to my old self.  I am embracing the next few weeks, of homeschooling.  I can’t wait to have the kids back, and start Huckleberry Finn.  They have been asking for weeks. I just haven’t wanted to start something new until we tie up all of our other loose ends, and got this move in the can, or POD so to speak.

This week, is full of joyous adventure, wondering moments, love of learning, and embracing change in all its forms.  I will specifically learning how to pack a POD.  One of the little aha moments I had yesterday was this. I am with my kids for 90% if their day to day lives.  I see daily how fast they are growing and how big they are.  BUT, yesterday I spoke with them on the phone, after being away from them for 3 days, and they all sounded so  little, innocent and joyful.  I realized I have such a sweet gift of being able to be with them, and learn with them.

Grace and Peace to all those thankful for every season, even the ones full of change~

So in case you are just tuning in…..we are moving.  I have 6 boxes down and about 60 to go before the PODS arrive in one week.  The kids are with the Grands and we are working our fingers to the bone.  I had to at least give you a little taste of the mayhem around here. I am actually trying to figure out what homeschool stuff to pack and what to keep out as we will be bunking with my parents for a few weeks until our new place is ready to go. I have had so many ask, and just not enough time to respond to everyone….so YES we are staying local and moving about 5 minutes away to a house with a yard for our kids. When you are home all day with your ninos, you need space for them to get grubby.

What one thing in this image do you see, that you think I will miss the most about this house?  Take a guess, and I will let you know if you are right. I converted to black and white.  I think you get a better feel of what is going on because the color and clutter in the image don’t distract you from the subject matter. So show me what you are up to today.  Relaxing, cleaning, playing with your dear sweet children, folding clothes.  Anything.  Surprise me.

Grace and Peace to all who are up to their ears in work~

My girlfriend had her four year old answer some questions about her. I thought it was so cute that I had all 3 of mine do the same thing and it was a hoot listening to all of them tell me their answers.  Now, remember I did this separately, so I think it is interesting on what they came up with and how common some of their answers were. The first response is our 4.5 year old, the second response is our 5.75 year old and the last is our 7.5 year old.

1. What is something mom always says to you?

• Go to bed at the right time.
• I love you.
• “No’ and “Can you please help me unload the dishwasher” which are both horrifying to me and then you also say you love me a lot too.

2. What makes mom happy?

• snuggling
• kissing her
• When I do what she asks me to and load and empty the dishwasher.

3. What makes mom sad?

• not hugging her
• not hugging and kissing her
• not doing what she says

4. What makes your mom laugh?

• being silly
• tickling her
• silliness

5. What was your mom like as a child?

• she liked inspector gadget
• she liked to read books
• she liked to climb trees

6. How old is your mom?

• I don’t know
• 15
• 35 ( not yet bud, slow down)

7. How tall is your mom?

• 15?????
• 22″
• I don’t know I am about 4′ so 11′.

8. What is her favorite thing to do?

• be with her girlfriends at night after we are asleep or be on the boat.
• hang out with me
• be a mama

9. What does your mom do when you’re not around?

• be with her girlfriends
• work
• watch TV

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?

• her pictures (well thanks bud)
• collecting money???(Maybe she means saving money?)
• painting pictures (ahh they are not that good bud but thanks for the vote of confidence. )

11. What is your mom really good at?

• painting
• reading - I love when you read to me Mommy.
• taking pictures

12. What is your mom not very good at?

• driving boats
• I can’t think of anything
• you are not very good at letting us do what we want.  You have a good reason for that, you don’t want us to grow up and be rotten right Mama? (Umm, yes I think you are getting it.)

13. What does your mom do for her job?

• She goes to the art store to get pictures (I think they are getting the art thing don’t you?)
• computer work
• photography and sending emails

14. What’s your mom’s favorite food?

• salad or sushi
• sushi
• sushi and seafood and any of Daddy’s grilled food. (I think they know I like sushi)

15. What makes you proud of your mom?

• taking out the trash
• that she loves me
• taking care of me and giving us a good house.  Actually God gave us the house so I guess I should say I am thankful to God.

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?

•   What is a cartoon character?
• a ballerina (is there a ballerina cartoon character?)
• Jerry from Tom and Jerry (yes I liked them too as a kid)

17. What do you and your mom do together?

• go on special dates
• talk and hang out  and have special dates
• we play monopoly together

18. How are you and your mom the same?

• we both take the trash out
• we both have short hair
• we both have the same chin

19. How are you and your mom different?

• we do not talk the same
• our eyes are not the same
• are ages are different

20. How do you know your mom loves you?

• because she gives me kisses and hugs
• because she gives me hugs and kisses
• because she gives me hugs

21. Where is your mom’s favorite place to go to?

• Pollo Tropical
• The Sushi Place
• I don’t think you really have a favorite place to go.

Well, so far they know I love art, sushi and them passionately.   I guess we are doing pretty well so far.

Grace and Peace to all~

Here is another fun addition of real world math.  Firstly, we use and adore Math-U-See consistently throughout the year in our homeschool.  There are days however, that I like to mix it up and do something a little playful to get them thinking about math in the real world.

This morning we played a game of monopoly.  We received the newest version of Monopoly: Here and Now the real World Edition for Christmas.  It is a fun version that incorporates geography, world facts on the chance and community chest cards, and interesting games pieces that take the kids literally around the world in every game.

Our youngest got to work on basic counting by moving the pieces and rolling the dice.  Our middle worked on basic addition by  adding everyone’s dice together and telling them how far they had to move the pieces and our oldest had to read out all of the chance and community chest cards for each player.  We had a ton of fun.  This particular edition, does not have money, but cards and a banker machine that you add and subtract money for each transaction made.  By the end of the first game, they were working through place values in the millions, Large number addition and subtraction and how to work the key pad which is similar to a calculator and a keypad on the computer.  I wont even get into the idea of money management and budgeting as more abstract ideas they begin to absorb through this game.

All in all, I think I hid a little real world math by way of a game today. Give it a try it is easy and fun to do. Tomorrow, we will do a little more real world math, when they get to spend a few real dollars at the zoo to purchase a drink and choose a few animals they would like to feed.  I will hand them each a zip lock bag of coins and they will have to count their way out of it.  That should be a barrel full of monkeys…excuse the pun.

Grace and Peace to all budding mathematicians in the real world!

Here are 2 images for this week. I love looking for unusual images that are perfectly symmetrical.  I have a few of them laying around, and I thought I would leave these here for all my dear foto Friday friends.

Life  has been crazy around here.  My flickr isn’t uploading and I can’t figure it out.  My phone isn’t working and I can’t figure that out. The cable man came to “fix the cable” and everything else that worked before he came now does not work including the phone and the stereo. Thank goodness for a cell phone. I think I may die without music this weekend, so if you don’t hear from me, send help.   I still need to fit my training in today, and my husband is away.  Not only that, but we are MOVING in 21 days and I have to pack up my entire home and put it in a POD for one month before our new residence will be ready for us.

I say all that to say, my posting will be possibly incoherent due to all of the changes around here for the next little bit.   I will keep training though.  People think I am soooo amazing to work out like that.  Trust me I am not. What they don’t realize is it is my key to stress relief.  If I don’t get outside and move everyday, I start to get a little crazy and not very nice to my family and the people I love.

NEVER a dull moment around here.  Please leave me some pretty little picture here for me today, as it will brighten my technically frustrated day….and it is only 8am.

I will sign off before I begin to babble….

Grace and Peace to all those trying to work it out today~

Excuse the poor snaps.  I had little time for composition or artful lighting, or even to wait for the kids to relax.  We were on a mission and were a bit late as it was. Last year we spent 6 weeks in Peru.  It was a beautiful family experience that we hope to do over and over again as the years go on.  I really wanted to stay connected with the Spanish speaking community after we returned home.  I have been praying about how we can be with the poor in our local area and I have had a few ideas, but none of them seemed to be very practical or easy to do.  So I kept praying, and then God showed me what to do through our dear sweet kids.  Isn’t that always the way?  Now they have lead me into all sorts of ideas.

You may remember the story I told you last week.  So this week, we just went for it.  I called a few Moms who stay home with their kids, and we all made up our minds to do it.  We actually let the little children lead us.  There is a local community center that reaches out to the migrant workers in our area.  They are poor and literally hungry and open.  In reality they need a church planted right in the midst of them.  They will not go into a “gringo church” building but that is another story for another time. We bought a few dozen bananas and passed them out to about 200 men waiting around for any odd job that may come their way.  They were grateful for the banana.  We were blessed by being able to give something small away.

When we walked out, the children were giggling saying, “That was so much fun. We want to do that again!”.   So I think we will.  Somehow I remember Jesus saying something about it being better to give than receive, so we are just going to go work that out in the real world and take him at his word.  I asked the kids what else we can do for those people.  Jackson said we should buy a couple of Bibles and bring them there and tell them about God.  I think he is on to something. I will let you know what we come up with.

Grace and Peace to those who are having fun “doing the stuff” of Jesus~

Yesterday, I started officially “training” for an all female triathlon at the end of May.  I wanted to add a triathlon to my race mix so that I would work on cross training. I think this about covers it.  Here is an example of the training schedule I will do this week. This triathlon is a cross between a sprint tri and an olympic tri.  My brother does Iron-mans so he is giving me some tips as I progress along. (Don’t forget to remind me to tell you the other crazy thing he invited me to do with him this year.  Yo, I think I am a little off my rocker.   Something about a 172 mile bike ride of 2 days to raise money for MS.)

Funny where life takes you.  If you would of asked me 5 years ago if I would be homeschooling, training for a triathlon and in love with all things photography…I would of laughed out loud.  Don’t be so presumptive that you think you know where you are headed in this life.  Make your plans and let God direct your steps.

Mon:  45 min run keep same pace /

20 min stretching exercises al home

Tue:  Day OFF

Wed: run total 40 min,

10 min war up, 10 x 35sec faster pace,

W/25sec slow pace between, 10 min cool down

20 min stretching exercises al home or yoga

Thurs: 800ters swim total, (25 meters is one lap)

         100meter warm-up freestyle concentrates on reach

8 x25 w/30 sec rest (freestyle)

10×25 w/30 sec rest (kick with fins) alternate the 25 meters of kicking one fast other slow

8 x 25 w/10 sec rest (freestyle)

50 easy cool down

Fri:   45 min bike at gym, or spinning class / 20 min run on treadmill

SAT:  40 minute swim /

30 min Gym

Sun : 45 min bike ride followed by 15 to 20 min transition run(this should be done right after bike. just change your shoes and go)

To get ready for this race, you need to put 6-9 hours of training in a week.  If you get up before the kiddos, you can get it done.  That is what I keep telling myself anyway;-)

Peace to all those who are keeping their eyes on the prize~

Today, I want you to shoot into the sun, and see what you find.  For some inspiration, go to flickr, and search flare under everyone’s uploads.

My husband actually snapped this.  He is pretty handy with a camera too.  I decided I liked his so much I would use it today.  I will post the one I had for today next week. You know the drill.  Post a comment and then we will swing by for a visit.

Now I am off to a field trip to a local art meusem.  See you soon!

We all sat at the red light waiting to turn.  We were heading to a dinner play date with friends at our local family friendly food stop.   As we waited, first in line to turn, we saw a man standing to our left holding a sign like this.

This is how the rest of our evening proceeded:

J:  “Mom that man says he is hungry and needs help.”

me:  silent

J: “Do you think he has a home?”

me: listening

J: “He is old and scruffy and he looks like he hasn’t had a bath for a very long time.”

me: acknowledging the situation to the best of my ability

Some time passes and we are now entering into the restaurant.

J: “Mom can we help him?”

me: “What do you think we should do?”

J: “Can we bring him some food?”

Me.  “Sure, when we leave remind me and we will buy him a sandwich to give to him.”

The kids play and eat and we are getting ready to leave.

J: “Mom don’t forget, we need to buy that man some food.”

me: went to purchase some food and then loaded the kids back in the car to take them to their next desitnation.

C: “That man needs help, we should pray for him.”

J: “Yes, God can help him.”

Me: “We can pray that God will give exactly what he needs.”

C: “Like a home, and some food and a family.”

Stuck at a red light.

J: “Oh I wish this light would go faster, we have to hurry to get to him. Mom what do we do if he is gone?”

Me: “We will pray for him.  God loves your heart to help.” as we get closer I can see that the man is gone.

C: “Mom we have to go find him.  We have to search for him. God goes to find lost things.”

Me: Speechless. What does a rational adult say to a passionate child in such matters? It is dark, we are in a very busy congested area. We can’t get out of the car and go look for this man, and I am left having to explain this dichotomy to a 5 year old who knows that God goes out to find lost things.

After this whole experience, I am reminded how much our children want to help those in need and how we rarely have opportunities as tangible as that one.  So, this week, I am praying through ways that we can be intentional about helping the truly poor in our area. Even if we just buy a bag of apples and some bottled water and go and pass them out at our local immigrant worker area.  Just a simple act.  A small way to say that you are loved and valuable.

Blessing to all those who want to be like a little child today~

The kids are off to their PE co-op class today.  I have laundry to fold, a gallery to put up for a photography client, a kitchen to clean, a floor to mop, a bookshelf to put back in order and some stones to move out of the courtyard. Don’t ask, but they are driving me nuts.

So while I am off working away, you all can stare at this lovely little flower.  Don’t feel a bit guilty that you are here, looking at this, and I am on my hands and knees scrubbing junk off our floor and moving little pebbles, one by one, off of our courtyard.  Just say a little prayer for me and we will call it square.

Grace and peace to all those trying to get it done while their kids are out of the house for 3 hours~

Jesus took on the principalities and powers. He lived, and taught, a way of being Israel, a way of being human, which challenged the powers at every point.  The powers said you should live for money. Jesus said you can not serve God and Mammon. The powers said that Israel’s path to liberation would come through the sword. Jesus said that those who take the sword will perish by the sword. The powers said that Caesar was the Lord of the world. Jesus proclaimed the kingdom of God.

Following Jesus:  Biblical Reflections on Discipleship by N.T. Wright

May you proclaim the kingdom of God today!

Do you see anything new on my page?  I wont tell you, you have to see if you can find it yourself. Stay tuned, as I add fun tips and facts on everything from homeschooling, marathon/triathlon training and of course photography.  Life long learning is our hope, prayer  and dream for our kids, so what better way to instill that, then to model it day in and day out for them and, of course,  leave a digital trail on this blog for you.  Come on learn something new with me.  It is so much fun!

Grace and Peace to all~

So the original idea I had for today didn’t pan out in the images I wanted to shoot yesterday.  So instead, give me a macro image today. You know the deal, link in the comments section and we all will go visit and take a peek at your goods.

I thought that I would hand out free money, as it seems so popular these days.

Have a good weekend everyone!

One of the things I enjoy about being home with the kids is giving them a holistic vision of what is means to be the people of God. Isnt’ raising our children in the faith, primarily, our job…not Awana, children’s church, Sunday School, Keepers of the Faith or any other program you could send your child to?

Mike and I have been very intentional about how we have immersed our kids into discipleship to Jesus.  Everything has centered on the person of Jesus and then spirals out from there. If you have not done so, check out COGS or Godly Play. Both fabulous methods in their own right. I was trained in COGS and it is amazing but very hard for most people to get the training and the resources to pull it off.  Godly Play is very accessible to everyone, and most Moms or small churches can enter into that without any problem  so check them both out and ask the Lord to lead you in the best way for your brood.

Our hope and prayer has always been that our faith would be alive for them, and not just something they consume, go to once a week or color cute pictures about.  We have also always prayed that the Holy Spirit would teach them and reveal to them supernaturally the deeper mysteries of our faith.  I am here to tell you, He WILL.  Trust in the bigness of God, and you feebly fill in the blanks with them as God leads you to. Have a plan for how you will train them up  in the kingdom, but realize your plan is only a small God breathed part of it, the rest of it, He will accomplish in the most beautiful ways.  Let me tell you what happened the other day with our youngest…who is 4.

I had an art piece cross in our home from a worship and art night we just had.  I was returning it to our friend who lent it to us.  Our youngest kept asking to hold it.  In fact, he just couldn’t move on to any other thing.  So, I reminded him to be careful because it was not ours and I gently handed him the cross. He then held on to it for the next 45 minutes just jabbering away to himself, our so it seems.  I believe he and the Holy Spirit were having a little heart to heart convo, and I just got to listen in.

Hudson, while holding the cross:

• This cross is powerful. 
• This cross is the power of the kingdom. 
• This cross held the King. 
• The power of the King was on this cross, and then he died and “comed” back alive again.
• He has the power.
• This cross is the most powerful thing in the whole universe. 

Over and over he repeated these phrases, on the couch, in his car seat, out loud in the sweetest way.  I kept thinking, “Where is He getting this language from?”.  I remained silent.  I listened.  I prayed and the Holy Spirit kept reminding me that He is calling and leading and keeping up His end of the bargain and reminding me that our kids are really His kids first.  We just get to steward them  for awhile.

Grace and Peace to All faithful Stewards out there~

I’ve been tagged by Kyla.

Wow….. thanks to Word Girl I am blogging 2x today.  I think this is  a personal record.

The Rules:

1. Go to the 4th folder where you keep your pictures on your computer.
2. Post the 4th picture in the folder.
3. Explain the photo.
4. Tag 4 fellow bloggers to join in the fun!

The funny thing, at random, following these rules above, I found my foto Friday image for this week.  Now, back to the drawing board on that one.  This is the valet board that held our keys for our Valentines Day dinner.  Mike and I tried a new place.  As we walked in, we were seated and within 5 minutes realized we were the youngest in the restaurant by 30+ years. I said to my dear sweet Valentine, “I feel like I am at the resort dinning hall in the film Dirty Dancing.”  We both laughed out loud.  We realized later that this is a seasonal restaurant that is almost like a club for snowbirds who dine there ever night with a whole line up of activities. We ate within 20 minutes paid WAY TOO much money, had the valet pull our 1999 Ford Ranger truck around and went off to our Proskyneo evening and had a blast.  I will tell you all about Proskyneo tomorrow.

Well now, who to tag???? How about this… I will tag the last few commenters on this blog.

Karyn , Melissa,

Anne Marie , Sarah

Anyone else who wants to play, leave me a comment and I will direct some linky love your way!

Until then, grace and peace to all who have ever over paid for something and feel totally gypped because of it~

Here is another silly installment of 5 little things about me.  Today I am taking our kids to their homeschool PE co-op in the morning, shooting a newborn session and then brainstorming with a friend for a bit and finally trying to squeeze a run in.  So quickly before we head out the door for a day of organized play…

1. I have worn that toe ring for about 16 years.  Isn’t that interesting? The other night, someone said to me, “That toe ring is so cute.” I said, “Oh thanks, I have had that for a long time.” and then I counted the number of years I have had it and I realized time is moving much faster then my mind and body realize.

2. I have moved 10 times in almost 15 years of marriage.  Yikes that is about every 1.5 years.  The longest we have ever lived in the same home is 4 years, so I don’t know why I think I will be in any one home for more then that.

3.  I drive a minivan - but trust me, I AM still cool.  It is paid for and we will drive it until it is dust. Then I secretly want to get an old school open top land rover like our friends in Peru.  Only I want mine to be red and beat up.  Sand from the beach will rinse right out of that one.  Hey it isn’t eco friendly but I don’t drive a ton, and I recycle, use cloth napkins, never use paper plates and eat organic as much as possible so give me a break.

4. I hate doing puzzles, because I get addicted and can’t stop trying to figure it out.  We have a 550 piece one right now under the couch and I am the only one doing it? Nice.

5.  Last night I laughed so hard, I feel off the couch and starting rolling on the floor with tears in my eyes.  I just couldn’t take it.  I was truly one of the best and funny moments I have had in a while. Laughing is good medicine, it keeps you young, and clearly rolling on the floor makes you look young.

Grace and Peace to all comedians today.  Go have a good laugh!

My closets were that is!

Cleanliness is next to Godliness.  Did Benjamin Franklin say that too?  Goodness that man coined a ton of terms that we use all the time. My Parents-in-law arrived late Thursday for the long weekend.  Every time they come, I get a heap of work done in our home.  Granddaddy takes the boys to play and Chloe, Grandmama and myself  get to work on all things that need arranging and organizing and general de-cluttering in our home.

All told I cleaned out and rearranged:

• the pantry
• the upstairs bathroom cabinets (2 sets)
• both kids closets ( 2 whole closets)
• the linen closet
• organized the upstairs children’s library
• and last but not least cleaned out our closet

I trashed 5 bags of junk, donated 8 bags of toys and clothes that we have grown out of and one box of books that were hand me downs and not a good fit for our family.

It feels good to have it done.  In  a busy homeschooling family of 5, you need to schedule this type of weed out every 4-5 months or so.  It was embarrassing to say the least, to show my mother in law my horrifying hidden closets.  People always come over and say, your house is so clean.  I laugh and say, you haven’t opened any closet doors.

So, now closets are clean, laundry is done and put away, book shelves are organized and I am ready for a great week.

Peace to all those who need to weed out this week.  Just do it you will feel soooo gooooood!~

 P.S. - photo taken in Arequipa Peru.  Props to all our South American People. We love you guys.

I love triptychs.  I paint them, I shoot them, I am always drawn to them when I am looking through others portfolios.  I love how they really show many facets of one moment.

The other day, I took the kids to the park with a dear girlfriend and her kids.  We had cupcakes galore.  You can see all the other photos of the day on my flickr.  I thought these three made a sweet triptych that captured this little guys first cupcake experience.  It was so sweet, I couldn’t stop shooting.

You do need a photo editing program to do this, but if you are starting to get the shutter bug I highly recommend getting one.  Paint Shop Pro or Adobe Elements are great and inexpensive  programs to get  started with.  Check ebay first my friends, you can get some great deals.

So, show me your story in a triptych.  If you don’t know how to edit it like this, just post three images in a row on your blog or flicker.

Blessings to all artisits today~

1). Go to the park - your house will be too messy for you to relax anyway, so get out in the fresh air. You might start feeling better. Better to feel the fresh breeze than get overwhelmed with all the mess that has grown up around you, in your demise.

2) Read a book, it may just take your mind of how your head is throbbing.  I suggest Outliers.  It is a fascinating read.  I wonder how homeschoolers fit into all that junk?

3) Give your kids tons of responsibility.  They will really enjoy being the boss for the day.  You shouldn’t be surprised at how well they all work together. You may, however, vacillate between being disturbed and proud at how well your oldest can do your job as teacher, how your middle can do the job of  a Mommy and how well your youngest listens and narrates to his siblings…..Really mind blowing stuff.

4) In risk of milking it….take a day where you don’t speak..at all….to the kids. Heck I would be sick again just to do this once a week.  It was fascinating and so calming at the same time.  Only motion, do a ton of hand clapping to get their attention, write cryptic notes on scrap paper and make your oldest be your runner. It is amazing how quiet you will find your children, when they have no verbal cues to go on.  Little tip, 7 year olds can not read short hand….so write the whole thing out neatly, or you will have to write it 2 times.  Do the job right the first time and it will save yourself time in the long run. Isn’t that what we tell the kids about a bagillion times a week?

5) DON’T…I repeat DON’T get overwhelmed with what you have fallen behind in in regards to your homeschool schedule.  Take a deep breath, take another Tylenol, drink tons of water, and then right when you are feeling about back up to speed, just do the basics, reading, writing, math…then put it all away. Take your book “Treasure Island” to the beach. Read a chapter and then “play” like you are on the real treasure island and you just found Ben Gunn.  Tomorrow will be another day, and you are waiting on the next level of math to arrive in the mail anyway.  Relax…life is short…and even real teachers get sick too.

Grace and Peace to all who were sick, are sick or will be sick in the next 24 hours the way this bug is running around~

I now have the soar throat thanks to my dear children.  This is not the week I wanted or needed to be sick.  Maybe I will find somthing inspiring to say once I feel better.  Until then I am taking a break all the way around.

Grace and Peace to All~

Wow, I should get some weird hits form that heading…..

Anyhoo, we are making our glittery and gooey Valentines to send out to friends near and far.  I have seem to hit a nice homeschooling rhythm lately, it just takes longer than it used to.  I figured it out.  My youngest wants to sit and participate a lot more then ever before.  It is tons of fun for all of us, but it is taking me much longer to get through a typical day of school. And three times as long to paint, color, glue, glitter and anything else you may do in a typical day.  With homeschooling you are always adjusting here and there.  Heck,come to think of it, you are  doing that with parenting as well so I am adjusting to slowing everything down and taking a deep breath and enjoying this.  The big kids seem to love helping our littlest make connections.  They nurture him well.

So a little disclaimer about the above Valentines. These little glittery bad boys cost 42 cents a piece to mail and took 3 days in a row to make, so if you get one in the mail…you better keep it until you are old and gray.  Frame it, put it on the mantle, pin it to a cork board…I don’t care, just DON’T throw it away. If you don’t get one in the mail, don’t be offended.  We realized mid stream that these were way labor intensive and stopped when the glitter was gone.  Know we love you anyway, we just couldn’t do the glitter thing one more time. Correction..I COULDN’T do the glitter thing one more time, the kids could of done it well into summer time. Okay, disclaimer over!

Happy love day to all~

Anything ordinary can become artful.  It is all in how you look at it.  Back end editing is what will take your images to the next level.   Today I couldn’t decide. I like the color mix on the first one but like the smokiness of the second one so I put them both up. Show me something artfully ordinary today.

Friday’s has become pancake morning.  The kids, make a full breakfast with eggs, pancakes, bacon and fruit.  We all work together to make it and then we all work together to clean it up.  I don’t know why we started doing this, it kind of just happened. After we cleaned up our mess, I swept the floor and asked the kids to go make their beds.  I joined them upstairs to find hair on the floor from a 4 year old hair cutting experiment.  Then after cleaning that up, I was asked to come back upstairs to see something.  As I followed our 4 year old upstairs he said, “Mom is isn’t exactly safe but it is fun.”

Holy Cow people it is going to be one of those days~

We have lived in good old sunny south Florida for 7.5 years.  Guess what,  It took me 7 years to actually enjoy it.  There are so many factors involved as to why I was not really feelin’ it.   If you read this blog at all  you may know a little of our church planting story and all that we have had to unpack. So many things you need to process through when you have a dream of planting a missional community of people. If you want to know a bit more about us and our story or what the heck a missional community is, give my husbands book a read. It will fill in a few blanks for you.

Just a little FYI, it takes a long time to break in down here. I guess for us, it took us a little longer than most.  But now, I am here to say, we LOVE IT!.  I am thanking God everyday, that he lead us here and is planting us deeply and firmly into what he is doing. Thankful that He has connected us with some seriously kingdom minded people who want to see deep things break out in this area and seriously thankful that we don’t have to deal with snow.  Okay, that was a cheap shot but I really am thankful for that.  It is a serious good time.

Grace and Peace to all those who are waiting for it to be worth it~

We have had a little virus running through our house.  Our daughter is feeling better but weak and our youngest is starting into it so I have been a little preoccupied.

Because this space has always been a place that I can record ideas and insights along my journey of life, I wanted to leave a few thoughts about why I am in love with the space that God has us in in regards to homeschooling our kiddos.

Firstly, you have space.  Space to work on habits consistently over a long period of time. Space to be still as a family and really watch your children move along in their own formation.  Space to stay clear of the “parenting rat race” that is oh so common.  Space, to pick up hobbies and customs that would not be possible if we did not live our lives this way.

Secondly, you have time to really see what each child needs, and meet them there.  Learn really who they are, and pray that God would show you exactly what they need at any given time in their overall development. Like any parent, there are days you feel like you are not doing enough, your kids are not getting something of what they may need etc. etc.  When those days hit I re-read my homeschooling philosophy, and re-read the scope and sequence provided by AO and relax all over again.  Whenever I get stuck in the details, I pull back and remind myself of the big picture. Speaking of big picture look at these two jokers.  You will have to go to my flickr  and read the whole story.  I was laughing so hard I could hardly focus my camera.

I say this over and over but honestly it is sooo true.  If you can read a recipe and bake a cake, you can homeschool.  You have to learn to be disciplined, but hey if you are not, I would say that is a good life skill to work on anyway, so why not give it a go.  If you are on the fence, this is what I would say. Try it, you may like  it.  Hey you may love it, and then tell all your friends and they do it with you and before you know it, you have a regular homeschool party kickin’.  If you do want to give it a go.  Check out what we use.   It is awesome on so many levels.   Every time I read the FAQ’s I get so tickled that God lead us to this and I can give this level of education at home without me having to spend GOBS of money and without me having to do hours and hours of work to put something of this caliber together. MAJOR props to those homeschool Moms out there who can pull it together on their own.  I know a few and my hats off to them.  I just need some traintracks to run on, and I am good to go. Ambleside gives me that.  I know the “why” before the “how”, and even then when I don’t understand the “why” I trust the method and in time see the amazing fruit in it.

So, today I really had it on my heart to say GO FOR IT!  You have nothing to loose and only buckets of insight to gain.   It isn’t a cake walk for sure, but what is? Great Googly Moogly I could go on and on, but I will stop now.

Grace and Peace to all those who love learning~

Thanks Sarah for the idea this week.  Here it is a bit of whimsy.  Song to listen to while viewing.  Crank it up Peeps!

Show me your whimsy~  Have a great Friday~

Oh another fun installment of the funniest things kids say. One letter can make all the difference.

Today I took our 4 year old for a check up.  Afterward, we went to the grocery store.  As we moved along, we came to the cheese aisle.  Hudson picked up a round of cheese and asked what it was.  I said “Gouda” and Chloe said, “Mom that is what some people worship instead of Jesus?” with the most perplexed look on her face.

I said “No honey Gouda, not Buddha.”

And I tried not to laugh as we set it back down and put the eggs in the cart.

Really people this is the most fun ever!

Awwwww, nothing like some free balloons to get a kid to really be a kid.  Of course there are tons of adorable images on my flickr.

I am also switching some things up around here for a few reasons.  Firstly, I love the process that Blogging moves me through.  It has been a blessing over the years to see that my little meanderings have been helpful for a few.  But as helpful as my words have been, I am hoping that my lack of words will help as well, in a round about way.  Now I am going to practice a little virtual silence.  Relax, let me explain.

I will keep blogging regularly, but want to throw a “Wordless Wednesday” component in.  I will just post a pic of something I shot in the previous days or weeks that is NOT on my flickr.  I will not say a word.  I will let the image speak for itself.  Maybe it will be deep or whimsical, maybe I will just like it just because, I don’t know. Kind of mysterious isn’t it?  If you want, you can say a word, comment, laugh whatever, but I will practice the discipline of silence, at least in the post.  I still have not decided if I will respond to comments.  I am kind of thinking of Wednesday as fasting from words day, so I need to feel that out.  I am steadily working at weaving this space together into one seamless expression of who I am and where I am at, and being silent is one of those things.

Shocking I know, but silence is really a good thing. Maybe this will inspire you to carve out some time where you can just be silent and listen to the Father instead of always asking, asking, asking….moving, talking, fidgeting and filling your life and mind with noise, noise, noise that never lets you hear, hear, hear and be still, still still.  Ummm, sorry that was just for me. So I will see you tomorrow, silently!

Blessings~

catches the worm….Didn’t Benjamin Franklin say that?

Somehow, with all of the running, I have learned to enjoy waking early.  IF it is of my own volition, I enjoy it. When I am forcefully dragged from my bed against my will, I am grumpy nearly the whole day.  It is a character flaw I know.

This  year, I am beginning to think towards finishing a local mini triatholon.  I have started running alongside the kids as they ride their bikes and instead of sitting on the side of the pool while they splash and play, I decided I would swim a few laps.  Throw in some intentional bike riding in and there you have it….triathlon training.

It is a great way for all of us to get out and enjoy the great weather, and for me to be with them while I am getting my run in and they are getting some exercise.  Serious multitasking for sure, but it is working for us.  I am having so much fun now that all of our children are at the stage that we all can get up and go together.  Hang on all you Moms with those still crawling at you feet.  It 0.2 seconds they will be riding their bike right next to you. I realized the other day that  swimming, running and biking is what makes up 90% of a child’s life so maybe me training for this is in a way helping me be like a little kid again, getting to play.

Heaven knows that grown ups need to play a bit more and stress a lot less!  So that is my prayer this week, that I will play every chance I get, enjoy the kids right where they are at, and let God handle all the rest.

Join me wont you?

So, I almost forgot that it is Friday.   Our lives have been moving at lightening fast speed these last few weeks.  I haven’t even taken any images just for fun in about a week.  YO! that is not like me, and my flickr is having withdrawals.  I am going to go out this afternoon with my camera just for principles sake for Pete sake, ohh or maybe afternoon tablescapes at my dining room table.  Oh well, we will see, check the flickr later and see what I came up with.

Here is one from my archives.  Selfies are fun.  I shot this one while our dear kids were splashing away at the pool and if you don’t know this about me yet, I am addicted to modern black and white images. One day I will do a 365 experiment of selfies.  Basically one a day.  But right now, I can’t add one more thing to my plate. I am too busy planning a worship night with some friends and painting like CRAZY!  So show me your selfie, and let me see a little glimpse of you.

It is funny how life takes you full circle.  I am enjoying so many new things lately that are really old things for me, just reborn in a new way.   Speaking of old as new, I have to run, the kids and I have recently found the retro channel and are watching Leave it to Beaver.  (Ha I left a link in case some oh you have no idea what in the heck this show is) It is still just as silly for my kids as it was for me as a kid and I think my parents when they were kids.  Every well adjusted American child needs to have an understanding of slow paced, black and white classics mixed in with all this high-def, high tech madness.  Keeps em grounded.

Latah peeps~

I am beginning to work my children into “work plans”.  They wear a watch and I list for them the things we need to accomplish in a day.  Chores, school work etc.  Then I tell them, you need to have x and y done by such and such time. They love it and so do I.  The younger two are still a bit lost, but my oldest is tracking right along.

It is a marvelous method of making them responsible for their life and their work.  In time, I hope to be organized enough to have a book that I hand them, kind of like a day planner that has their “plans” for the day, and then they work through it and bring it to me to sign off on.  In my artistic imaginations, it would almost be  a small art book that I make for them, that they can explore throughout the year with notes of love and inspiration from me, pictures, etc.  I guess I can start to work on that in my free time;-)

A goal for next year. Peace to all managing their time well today.

 and the pool is heated!

I think one of the hardest things for young Moms to reconcile, is the passing of their old life and the demands of their new Mommy life.   Little break, little sleep, lots of thankless unseen work. I remember thinking “What in the heck have I gotten myself into?” when I had a 2 year old, a 9 month old and was pregnant again, throwing up constantly.

I did a ton before I had kids, and then I had our children one right after the other, with little rest in between. We planned it that way for various reasons.  I love our children, I LOVE being with them and homeschooling them. But, I will be honest in saying that I have often wondered if my pre-Mommy life and my amazing post Mommy life would ever synthesize or would one give way to the other.

Then an amazing thing happened about a year ago.  I started to breath again because our youngest was then 3 and the infancy/pregnancy years were subsiding.   Now we all move along splendidly.  Like today, I took the boys on their bikes with me to the beach, I ran and they road along side for 3.5 miles like we had done it our whole lives. I am here to say to all you younger Moms out there, your old life will come back in time but better and more robust.  Actually right on time, if you are open to letting it.  Don’t make your children an idol in your life.  Love them, nurture them, care for them, learn for them, don’t get your identity from them, or from being a Mom. You know why?  Because one day they will toddle right on off and your role will be shifting and morphing and if you haven’t sewn into yourself along the way, you will be in bad shape.

One of the things that is re-emerging in our family life is music above and beyond just kids music.  But a 4 piece team, with 3 part harmonies and thick rhythms, working out transitions type of music that was so much a part of Mike and I pre South Florida.  It is so strange, because about 6 months ago, I was talking to a long distance friend about music/worship and saying how fun it was to play in that way I just described, and how that wasn’t a part of our life anymore.  And as I said that, deep in my spirit I heard God whisper, “I am going to give that to you again.”  I kind of laughed and thought “whatever?”.  And now 6 months later, Mike and I turned around, and here it is, in our living room, just growing up, right in step as if it has always been there, without us going out and looking for it.

Kind of like a flower blooming right in our own little garden.  I have often felt strange here, like the real me hasn’t yet come out.  That so many of my friends here, don’t really know me. Isn’t that strange?  So much of us went into hibernation upon moving and birthing our three marvelous offspring.   The new improved synthesized us, is waking up and saying hello.  It is kind of like hugging long lost friends that you have not seen in a few years, but can just pick right back up with as if no time has passed. I remember talking to a friend who had raised his children when we were just starting down that road, saying how lonely it was, and he said, It won’t always be like that, it moves quick.  He was right.

Grace and Peace to all those reconnecting and praying that reconnection will one day happen~

The other night I went out with a friend for coffee, and the light glancing off of her shiny nails just caught my eye.  Finding something pretty in the smallest of details.

We had fun doing some low light work downtown.  It is always good to practice in challenging situations.  I am hoping to upload the rest of the images from that night on my flikcr.  The day is just flying away…but I hope to get it up there soon.

What tiny little thing have you found beauty in lately?

Peace to all~

Yesterday we spent the entire drizzly afternoon at the beach.  The wind was blowing, the tide was low and we were able to go out and observe a reef that was partially exposed just a few yards off the beach.

We had fun looking at all the life that grows on a coral reef. Snails, barnacles, sea fronds and other fun discoveries. Did you know that live coral feels funny on your feet? Not at all like mountain rocks.  Kind of crinkly and squishy. We hunted for driftwood and seed pods, we dug holes, built castles, and strung necklaces out of shells and sea grass.  We even ended our time with a treasure hunt.  The hunt started with the children having to work as a team to find several natural items and building activities to do together.

Today we go about the task of drawing what we encountered on the reef yesterday. It will be fun to see what we can remember.  All of this goes along nicely with our Pagoo reading. Flickr has pictures from our day.

Its going to be a great day.

So, right now, I want you to pretend that I am a girl scout selling cookies and you want to support me even though you don’t really want any cookies right now, it is for a good cause in all.  I talked months ago about starting an artist collective.  After much time, and some artist friends artistic donations, I have an etsy store up and going.

So take a few bucks and buy some art for a good cause. It costs less then a dinner out and looks a heck of a lot better. While you are at it, tell a friend to buy some art too. If you want to donate something, just send me a note.

Thanks to Beth and Pat for your donations.

Okay, now the ball is in your court.  Peace to you all!

Ever met someone that just got your mind to thinking?  Engaged you in a way that made you want to be better and when you left being with them, you felt empowered to go out and do something amazing?  Ya, me too.  That is just how I felt when I got to document this super woman’s blooming form.  Her first 3 children are GAW-JUS and I have no doubt the 4th will follow suit.  You can’t imagine how special it is for photographic artists to capture natural beauty.

Women go through many seasons and I see strength in so many ways peek through my lens.  Pregnancy is just one of those seasons but not the only one. Think about what season you are in today, and how you are able to be strong in it.

Give me your best super woman shot today. Come on… you know you want to play.

This particular connection  has been inspired by worship. We received a Seeds Family Worship CD for a gift this Christmas.  If you don’t have one, I would say you should grab one or all of them.  You know me and worship. I am always working on ways to expose our kids to great worship.  There is nothing more tender, then hearing and seeing your children sing the words to deeply powerful songs to our King.  These are all scripture verses set to music so we are all memorizing away as we listen.

They may just like the beat, or are absently saying the words.  But, most days, there is a word or two, that they ask me about, like Mom what does sacrifice mean? or Mom why is it saying “fear God”?  We are not scared of Him?

Kids put it together if you feed them enough good stuff in order for them to do so. I was telling you yesterday how I am seeing all types of fruit in regards to connections with the kids. Remind me to tell you Chloe’s response to her Dad about government a few days ago.  A few months ago, Jackson heard the word sacrifice in a worship song and asked about it.  I explained what it was and related it back to some things we had been learning about pagan peoples in world history.  Then about a month later we read a story in Trial and Triumph about a “craazeee monk” who went “postal” during the crusades inciting zealous crusaders to start killing Jews in Germany on their way to the Holy land, because they killed Jesus.   Jackson stopped the story with a frank statement,”Mom these crusades were not a good idea.  You can’t make people follow Jesus?” I agreed and continued on with the story until he stopped me again with an incredulous, exasperated statement, “Mom, this makes no sense. They killed Jews because they killed Jesus? Didn’t they know that  Jesus had to die, to be the final sacrifice?  If he didn’t die, then none of this would of worked.” I said you are right buddy, people do funny things sometimes, our history is a strange thing. Then a few weeks later, during our advent celebrations and reading he set a small lamb on my desk.

It is a little, wooden lamb I made 4 years ago when he was  3 in order to help him meditate on the Good Shepherd Parable.  He had taken a red marker and colored a huge red mark on the lamb. I was just about to “pop off” because he had colored on this work when he said….”Look Mom, the blood of the lamb.” and walked away. I bit my tongue, guess he was thinking about sacrifice and many other things that the Holy Spirit was whispering deeply in him.  This was all over several months time, but I could clearly see the thread working away.  The connections happening one by one. I am passionate about exposing our kids to great things, not just things they like.  How will they know if they like it or I know if they like it, if I don’t expose them to lots and lots of varied things both historically and culturally.  Jackson loves Shakespeare and poetry particularly Shel Silverstein, I wouldn’t of known that if I just gave him things to look at and read about having to do with legos and karate.  Chloe loves painting and Monet (she loves his flowers), and Hudson is mad for U2 and Handel…who knew.

All of these things, are tools that point right back to God and relate to our life in Jesus.  It is amazing for me to go through this with them as an adult.  I have a deeper understanding, and connectedness to our whole story through me working through it with them. So after school, I crank the tunes and let them play and clean and work with an environment soaked in worship.  Not to mention it keeps me right in tune with the one who called me and the one who is calling them. So go look for a few connections in your home today.  They are so fun to find.

Grace and Peace to All~

One of my heroes retires.

Thank you Gordon for blazing a trail.

The children are all moving along with the basics: reading, writing, math.  We are moving into deeper science exploration, not just the Burgess Books and they are loving that. What I am most pleased with is how they are moving along with ideas.  One of the MAIN things I wanted to do was make sure our kids got the “connections” between things.  When you feed them rich and noble things to think about, they do that…you know…make connections.  I will tell you a connections story tomorrow, I just need to figure out a picture to go with it, which is a fun stretch for me. I am seeing tons of little fruit in that area, and they are getting it in relationship to our faith in Jesus and how it all works with the world.  It is amazing and fascinating to see all at once.  Really, if you are at all thinking about homeschooling, look into it, check out what we use. (We love it and it is awesome) Pray and ask God to show you what is best for you kids.  I promise you, you can do it.  You can take being home with them all day.  It isn’t as hard as you believe it will be. Okay let’s be honest, there are hard days, but let’s be real, there are hard days with whatever you choose to do. I just wanted to send a little cyber encouragment out there because I know so many Moms think about it and then think they NEVER could pull it off.  In fact if I had a dollar for every time I heard that, I would be rich.

So I have to tell you a story.  This morning at 6:30 I walked in the door from my run and our youngest (4) walked downstairs and sat on the couch and said, “Mom, I don’t know how to read yet, you need to teach me.” I said, “Sure bud, I am happy to teach you.”  (All I can think is give me a minute bud, I am hot and sweaty, and it is still dark out, do we have to do school right away, the whole house is asleep. This goes along with him wanting to know everything right now, phonics, writing, math.  He really wants to start to sit and learn with the big kids, and do it NOW.)  “Will you read me  Jax’s Christmas book?”  Sure…and I am still thinking it is the Christmas I Spy book we got at the library. As I sit down he takes out the beautiful leather bound copy of “Treasure Island” that Jackson got as a Christmas present.  I started reading it out loud to Jackson last night as the “littles” sat on the floor and played checkers with their Daddy.  I thought they were not listening.  NEVER assume they are not listening. I didn’t really believe he wanted another chapter in that book until he narrated perfectly, and in precise detail the chapter I had read the evening before. I was a little stunned, and then chuckled out loud and started reading. Well cuz that is just how wez roll around he-ah!

So, you see, it is working.  It is fun, they are well adjusted and socially in touch with other kids their age and hungry for deeper things of God and life. This is sooooo fun. Truly fun on so many levels.    I am not nuts.  I heard right when God said stay home. I swallowed my fear and said “Yes Lord!”. I  think I can….I think I can….. Just like the little engine that could.

Blessings to all those being obedient today~