WORK WORK

Things to do today

• House Work
• School Work

Today we have to get the house in order, tomorrow is garbage day and my housekeeping is sorely lacking but its getting better, today I am tackling our Master Bedroom and it will also be becoming the school room (yes, my poor master bedroom is going to be multitasking, but its way more space than we need for JUST sleeping.

One thing, my desk is moving in there so I can start going to bed at a decent hour When DH goes to bed, if I go to bed too, then I am not tired all day...at the very least the puter wont be the temptation to stay up. The AC is also going in there because it directs the air better and will share with the livingroom just fine)

For School Work, We are working on setting up our homeschool for this fall. When I was a child, we planned for school that stared in September, now, the supplies are sold mid July, we are pretty well stocked though, we have 24 notebooks, Chisel Tip erasers, 10 boxes of crayons, and more writing paper than you can imagine, oh and 4 binders (which will be enough for this year) All we still need are Pocket folders, pencils, and Glue. I think the best part of all we have purchased for this year is that the grand total was only about $10. My local homeschool store has a sale going on that will help with all but the pocket folders coming up on August 3rd.

We are homeschooling Kindergarten/first Grade this year with Bug.

For Curriculum our bases are Horizons K Math and Horizons 1st Phonics. We are also using Free Printables from KidZone and Donna Young for handwriting. The Daily work will be the 3Rs and we will do a hodge Podge of Unit Studies, Games, and just fun for History, Geography, and Science. For Bible, we use Keys for Kids as the devotions and will be aiming for bug to memorize one verse per week.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Day.

Destiny and Ministry

Church is amazing. Service was about Joseph today, specifically his destiny, his dreams and his future and our destiny.
This made so much sense to me because I have seen so many people be prolific worriers, Paranoia is so common among those I know, probably because I have an interest in preparedness. I am not an extremest though, and today I finally, for the first time, realize why I am not an extreme preparedness person. Our pastor was talking about the pit, where Joseph was thrown in by his brothers and how we react to being in the pit.

There were a few ways he cited that we handle the pit.

1. The Pit? What Pit? I do NOT claim this pit
2. The pit and I are one.
3. I am in this pit and Its my destiny.
4. I am in this pit and its my ministry.

Well, he showed examples of all of them, the one that got my goat the best was this is my ministry, Yes, our trials do play a part in our ministry, but goodness, make sure that pit isn't the one in control, make sure you are coming OUT of the pit. Just as Joseph didn't stay in that pit, don't make it your ministry of misery. You are not helping anyone by being down all the time, when you are engulfed in a fury of worry, you become very lonely and afraid to be out. You are miserable, and make those around you miserable as well. Last time I checked, I serve a God this is Greater than my problems.

Telling Satan to leave you alone eggs him on to keep attacking more, instead verbalize that GOD will bring you through this trial as he has others, and you will be victorious through Jesus Christ. He is the ONLY one that has that kind of power. And he alone controls our destiny.

Why I don't plan on Working from Home

Ok, I don't get it, is there something wrong with being a stay at home mom? I have a full time Job, I am a Teacher, a Maid, a Cook, a Nurse, a Nanny....oh I could go on and on, but I wont. My job works me nearly 18 hours a day on a good day, heaven forbid BUG or DH get really sick, which then nets me LOTS of overtime. I don't have time to GO to work, nor do I have time to look for other work.
Money? You say, what about the money? Well God has always provided for our needs, even when I couldn't see how, he was still there providing exactly what we needed and then some. See, we live a luxurious life, we have two and a half vehicles (one is dead waiting to be donated to charity) We own a home, although its not paid off yet, it is ours, We have lovely Christian Satellite TV all of our bills are paid, we may not have extras left over, but we are definitely not poor.
I have thought about doing a home business before, but that would take away from my other responsibilities. My take, if your needs are met, you don't need a work from home job just as you don't need a work away from home job. If you do need it, chances are, you just may be spending more than you need to, so take the time, when finances are tight and evaluate needs versus wants...make sure you are totally honest with yourself, and re prioritize.

Peace at Last

What is Peace?
According to Merriam Webster
Main Entry: peace
Function:
noun: a state of tranquillity or quiet: as a : a state of security or order within a community provided for by law or custom b : freedom from civil disturbance.

So Peace is basically quiet security. I haven't had a lot of peace in my life lately, it seems that challenges are magnetically attracted to me, for what reason, I would love to comprehend, but that is not for me to understand at this time.
Currently I am seeking Peace, there are many decisions that I need the security in knowing that I am making the right choice.
So while limiting my time with distractions, I have been focusing more on being a better Wife and Mother...the two callings that are most important to me at this time. The phone has been turned off while I spend time focusing on being a parent during the day, the messengers as well as they hold me captive to my computer, keeping me from enjoying the job that God gave me.

Bug has really enjoyed the peace in our home the last few days as well, Today she even put an ENTIRE US puzzle together, matching names and locations to the box, ok, so she is 5, she doesn't know where all the states go on her own, but this is a great way for her to learn. We both are enjoying the time together and having fewer and fewer battles in the home.
DH, the darling is also enjoying me not being so distracted all the time. We have missed each other due to an avalanche of complaints coming from both of us about life in general.

Matthew 12:34b says....out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.
What is your overflow saying? As for this house, we are watching what comes out of our mouth so that it will please Christ, and no more be edifying the devil.

Proverbs 3:5-6

Today's Theme Verse:
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways, acknowledge him and he will direct your paths.

Many many times today have I repeated those two verses. So full of meaning, but do we really trust that God is ultimately the one in control of our lives, or do we try to hold on to control of what happens.
Day in and Day out, I pray that He has control in my life, sometimes I try to grab that control back, but thankfully, he always reminds me who is in control and who is boss.
I try to pass this lesson on to Bug because she has that incredible need to be in control right now, so often when I remind her that its Mom's job to remain the head of whats going on at home, God gently (or not so gently when I need that good hard Thump on the forehead) reminds me that just as I am to be in control in her day to day that he is in control of my day to day.
Thank God that he is a Father figure, and he is as gentle as he can be to get the point across.

Organizing Day

Last night I worked on Bugs toys, I love when you compact things and wind up with unused space.
Its amazing how no matter what the size of your home and family you always tend to fill it to near bursting.

We are in the process of Purging our excesses just because we have way too much stuff. I have been getting rid of stuff that we haven't used since we moved in here back in 2005, I am amazed at what we have that we Do not Use.

What a Wonderful Day

Bug is being pretty good, has been most of the second half of last week, now that she is back to sleeping up in her room everything is falling back into normal.

Church was awesome, I Love the songs we started with, God moved in such an amazing way during the Praise and Worship that the actual surmon seemed to fly by. I'll Fly Away followed by This is How we Overcome by Hillsong
Your light broke through my night
Restored exceeding joy
Your grace fell like the rain
And made this desert live
Chorus:
You have turned my mourning into dancing
You have turned my sorrow into joy
Your hand lifted me up
I stand on higher ground
Your praise rose in my heart
And made this valley sing
(Chorus)
This is how we overcome
This is how we overcome
(Chorus)

First Day of Homeschool

Covering a lot of ground today, whew... We took the month of June and half of July off of school for birthdays and daddy's somewhat vacation...in Michigan, almost every industry revolves around the auto industry so for the last two weeks work was sparse and daddy got lots of short days, we were happy to have him home, but are also glad to have things back to normal for school to resume.

We school almost year round so that we have time to take time off if we need it at any point.
Today, Bug is reviewing writing her numbers, she will read a book to me this afternoon and do a phonics lesson from Alpha Omega, We are using Horizons 1st Grade this year.
She is also learning the basic facts about states this year thanks to a Crayola Coloring book we got from Office Depot this weekend. We are doing them in the order they joined the union so this week is Delaware, its flag, state tree, state bird, state flower and capitol.

Well its breakfast time before the long day ahead. Have a blessed day.

A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned

Ok, so that was by Ben Franklin, but I am more inclined to say a refrigerator saved is a refrigerator earned. After the bar on the fridge that came with the house broke (the kinds that hold the door stuff ON the door) and the temps have to be to MAX cold just to keep the milk at normal cold temps, I gave up.
Hubby helped me get the fridge in from the shed, I am SO glad that when we moved we didn't sell the old one...a new one would have costs us a grand since I really would rather a side by side, but since I had this one, I decided that it would do til either we get rich, or it dies, which ever comes first.
Two hours after I started making room for it, it is chilling. Tomorrow after FIL's retirement party, I will be transferring the contents of fridge dead into the newer one, and Monday dead fridge will go to the curb.

Bug spent most of the day just playing outside, she loves her new swing set, and I love that the temps are cool enough here to let her stay out and play.

Getting Started

Hello, This blog is mostly so I can stay accountable on whats going on in our house. In about a month our homeschool will resume, I need to get back on a tighter than a shoe string budget. Menu Planning is a must and I just need to get it together and fast.