An announcement..

I am excited to announce that our new growing little one appears to be....a GIRL! Yes, for frivolous reasons, I suppose, we had our ultrasound and the gender of the baby was revealed. The kids were very excited!! She appears to be healthy, complete with all her parts, so thank the Lord for that! Now, I'm wanting September to hurry up, but I have so much to do from now until then. Lots. to. do.
I'm planning on starting some Spring Cleaning today. I thought if I just spent 15 minutes a day on it, it would be better than nothing. So, today, as soon as I finish my internet time, I will start at my front door, cleaning it and then moving to the right of the room. I'm looking forward to it. My kitchen is in desperate need of a spring cleaning. Oh my, I glimpsed under the stove top the other day and was disgusted out of my wits! :o) I'm working on a special project in my laundry room that I hope to post some before and after pictures before long. :o)
Busy, busy, busy...that's us!!

Don't you love a bargain?

I teach a few students piano and I really enjoy spending the extra money I get from that on things like clothing for the kids or home decor. Occasionally I will spend it on going out to eat with my kids or something that we don't allow much for in our budget. Anyway, I'm thankful for my side 'job' and for the extra income it provides (I enjoy it as well). We have a couple of stores *sort of* nearby that get burn-out type things or overstocks, etc. I love, love to shop there. One really needs a couple of hours or more to really have a good time. I think my idea of a good Mother's Day gift or Birthday would be to be given a few hours to go and dig around (that's what you have to do sometimes...:o) for some bargains (sans the kids..:o). Last night, I rushed in for a few minutes (30...wow, did time fly) while my sweetheart sat out with the kids (I had my daughter) and I snatched up some great clothing buys for her. I used to borrow my sister's girls' clothes, but now my little girl is the same size or past the youngest of hers, so I can no longer do that. She is in desperate need of some modest skirts, so that's what I was mainly looking for. I didn't really find skirts, well, one, but I'm not sure it will *really* be as long as I would like it to be. I did find some really cute tops and a jumper. Just the denim jumper alone (Guess? brand) had an original tag of $34.50. The tops, both Carters (the short-sleeved didn't have an original price on it) had an original tag of $15.00 each. I paid just a little bit over $20 for everything (and I had a few kids song CDs in the bag too). The tea pitcher is from Walmart and it was $3. It has SIX cups with it as well!! I also decided to try the Purex powdered laundy detergent because I can get a huge box for $2.58. I think it may even be cheaper than my homemade recipe (maybe not as healthy...hmmm)! So, here is a peek at my bargains. I love to see bargains, so if you ever come across some, post a pic and let me look! :o) Happy Friday!

Castle Tours....

If you have a nosy, er..curious, tendency like I do, then you will enjoy viewing the homes that are posted by other homemakers on Candy's website, www.keepingthehome.com. It was great fun to tour these homes and see how others decorate or organize their castles. I've decided to join in and participate, posting pictures of my castle. I love my home with its many imperfections. We have our work cut out for us for awhile, but it will be great fun fixing it up to be the castle we desire. As for now, the Lord has blessed us both with contentment and we truly love it here. We inherited our house and some land and are so thankful for that. We have partly remodeled our home and I do so wish I had some 'before' and 'after' pictures to post (of the inside...the outside looks mostly the same).
Okay, before we go inside, I will take you on a tour of the land around which our house sits. We absolutely love the vegetation and the fields of green we have around here. The kids get to romp and play and it is great.


This is what you see as you are leaving my house, so just imagine coming up the drive instead of leaving. :o)

When you park and get out of your vehicle, if you look to the right, you will see this flower bed that's in need of some color. :o)

This is the view across the road from our house.This is the front of our home. We need some landscaping done (the cedar tree you can't see prevents much from growing on the right side of the front), but we will do it as we go along.


We love our front screened-in porch. We hope to paint the floor and repaint the furniture, but anyway, my son says, "Come on in!"What you see when you walk in the front door.

Looking to the left, you will see our main living area. Our two recliners were given to us and the red table I painted in our computer table. It was my husband's grandmother's table she 'started out' using.
To the right of the door, you will see our seating area by the fireplace. We do not have central heat/air, so this is our main source of heat during the winter. This house can get pretty drafty at times, but it is manageable. We enjoy the fireplace.
This is our dining area, straight ahead to the right. I hope to get a bigger table one day, maybe with a bench on one side, but it works and it was given to us when we first got married. The children have their own state/capitals placemats, so that is why there is only 3 of them. :) The highchair was one we used to sit in when we were babies and I confiscated it from my mom's house before she could send it to the Goodwill (it was at my grandmother's house).

We both play the piano, but rarely this one (too busy..ha). This is the area before you go into the kitchen. I see it looks pretty cluttered from here. I didn't do any special cleaning or decluttering before this photo session. :o) Now let's go through the door on the left and see what we find...

This is the room where Son, age 6 and Daughter, age 4 sleep. I loved their rooms. We work together to clean it up, but rarely are the floors this neat. :o) They love to play in here. If this new baby is a girl, I will most likely make this into the girls' room and repaint it...hot pink? I love bright colors. This current wall color is soo serene and refreshing. We worked hard on this room...on the ceiling are white boards just like around the sides. It makes for a cozy cottage feel. Come back out into the hall and let's go down to the master bedroom...

Our bedroom, which I really love. We recently 'inherited' this King Size bed from my husband's grandparents and we love it. We had dreamed about having a king sized bed and the Lord helped fulfill our desires. I just picked out this colorful, pink, floral (very feminine) comforter and I love it. I realize my wall color doesn't match, but I already have the paint for the walls--it will be a summer project. My son, age 1.5 sleeps on the toddler bed in the corner (most of the time, he sleeps with us).
Purposefully took a picture of the ceiling in our bedroom. I love it. My husband (and FIL) worked hard in this room...really hard. We have a beautiful ceiling in here and in the dining room. I would love to have it in our entire house...:o)


As you walk out of the bedroom, immediately to the left there is a master bathroom. It is currently in the throes of the remodeling process, so I didn't take a picture of it. There is also a linen closet directly in front of our bedroom door. Come back down the hall (this hall was very dank and dark before we moved in), let's go back into the dining room and into the kitchen....

The room I use the most. It has not been extensively remodeled by no means (notice the missing knobs on the cabinets)..just a paint job and a cheap, temporary rug put down, but I do love my kitchen. I could use more counter space, with my water distiller and my bread machine taking up lots of room. My stove is wonderful, too. It heats things so fast, you have to stand right there and not leave anything!
The view from my kitchen window....pear trees, fig trees, more vegetation and woods...
Come into the foyer...this part of the house was added on later (way before we got it of course) but has not been remodeled at all....

The foyer..the door really needs painting, doesn't it? The door on the left is another bedroom, but it is currently storage right now. I hope to convert it to a workable bedroom this summer. The curtain you see is hiding a book shelf and also my towels and extra toiletries are on the bottom shelf. The bathroom is on the right...come on in....My old-fashioned bathroom we currently use. It is a long walk to the bathroom from my bedroom (and those night trips are getting more frequent), but I do love this bathroom. My inlaws repainted it for me during my last pregnancy and I love the green. They also put in a new linoleum floor. I do look forward to a shower.... :o) Now, come through that door that needs painting....

I should've turned on the light for this picture. This is my large laundry area, or back porch. It is in a bad need of cleaning up and fixing up. I do have my deep freeze in this area and an extra refrigerator. This room is one of those rooms that everytime I walk in (which is wayy frequent because of the amt of laundry I do), I say, "I've got to get in here and do something besides stand over the washer"! Now to the right of this room, there is another very small bedroom that we use as a media room, I guess you could say. It has an old moniter in it where a VCR and a Nintendo can be hooked up. We rarely go into it, tho, maybe once a week, the kids will watch Barney. We have no TV in the house and hope to keep it that way! Now, you see that screen door on the far right? Let's go out it and I will show you where the kids play....
The kids' play area. Way back there is our garden that my FIL shares with us. We currently have corn coming up and potatoes. Garlic (beside the tree there) is everywhere in this yard! :)
Immediately to the right side of this view is....

The scuppernong (?) arbor and more play areas....Now to one of my favorite places....

My clothesline...yesterday was the childrens' laundry day, so it was full all day long!

Well, I had one more picture to share of the old barn on the left side of the house, but my little one is awake. I'm afraid he will mash something on the computer to erase my hard work! :) I hope you enjoyed my lowly castle. It's home to us!

Going for 5 at 5....

Getting up early and getting my day started with prayer and Bible reading is soo important to me as you probably know. However, it is SO easy to fall off of the wagon, so to speak, and I have done that more times than I care to confess. Every day, though, (some days more than others) I'm reminded how much I need the Lord, need His wisdom to raise these children in the right way, need His guidance on what to say to them and how to discipline, train, and disciple them. Sometimes, I just lean on the kitchen counter and tell the Lord just how much I need Him to help me. I can't do it alone. I know the Lord has convicted me to get up early and I know it works. I know it is what I must do.
I love a challenge and I love numbers. Everything I do, I do in numbers, it seems. I'm sure they have support groups for me. :o) So, my challenge to myself has been to go for 5 days in a row, getting up at 5am. Last night was a pretty restless one. I started out going to bed before 10 and someone had a wreck out on the highway in front of our house (we live on a dirt road, but you can see the highway) which caused the power to go off (guess they hit a pole or something?) so I finally drifted off to sleep (after constantly looking out the window checking on things, etc.). Got up at 3 something for the bathroom, got up before that because little son had soaked through his clothes, then it seemed I didn't get back to sleep before the alarm went off. But, here I am.
So, do you feel up to a challenge? Maybe you want to go for 6 at 6am? :o)
Well, I'm off to catch a few more minutes of computer time before I get busy with the children's laundry...the biggest laundry day of the week!
PS I haven't abandoned my homeschooling part 2 post...hope to finish this week....

Homeschooling Part 1

It seems as if Tuesday has become my blog day and although I'd prefer it to be more frequent, I'm doing what I can, I guess. It's been a little while since I've written a blog on homeschooling and since I'm as passionate about it as ever, I thought it was time.
Homeschooling has become a conviction for me. This means if I didn't do it, I would be disobeying God and missing out on that part of His will for me and my children. I feel all the benefits that one feels when they are being obedient to God in their convictions--benefits that cause one to wish everyone had the same conviction as you do, yk? I believe a lot of the time, God may have in mind the same convictions for most of His people, He's just waiting for a willing and obedient heart to listen and hear what He wants them to do. Some people may say, "Well I'm going to send my children to school and that's that", and never stop to listen for what God wants to happen in the education of that child. Others may think, "Well, I never could be adequate enough to teach my child", and never stop to think that GOD could empower them with wisdom and confidence to do this great job. Another feeling may be, "Well, I'm sending my children to school because I KNOW God would have them be a witness to other children," without stopping to think that God may indeed have other plans, or may see a child becoming ensnared by the world instead of the child being a witness. The last thing people may say is, "Well, if my child was going to so and so school, then I would, but our school is a really good one", without stopping to ask God--"what is really going on there?" The key here is to be prayerful about the education of your child just like you are prayerful about anything (if not moreso) and then LISTEN to what God has to say...be WILLING to be obedient if He has other options.
I did not decide to homeschool because I am a teacher by occupation. I felt God urging me (not nudging, but urging) to do so even before I took my first class as a 'certified' teacher. I do think that my being a teacher really helped me be obedient to God a little more than I might have been had I not been 'out there' as a teacher. If we are saved and are following Christ, then I believe His hand rests upon us. If we allow Him, he will turn His hand and lead us where He wants us to go (if we LET him). I have felt His hand direct us to homeschooling and make it clear to us why we are doing so.
The ultimate reason that was impressed strongly upon me was this statement. Why would I let my little lamb get out of my car every day and send him into a den of wolves? Sure, there are other little lambs there, but there are some wolves there too. A wolf waiting to tell your lamb that mom's and dad's ideas don't matter. A wolf waiting to tell your lamb about sex, but not in the way you would explain it to him. A wolf waiting to make fun of your child and to lower his self confidence (which many kids have ZERO by the time they graduate). A wolf wanting to grab your child in an unappropriate way (your child may never tell you....I didn't...and I went to one of those 'good' schools), a wolf wanting to slip your child a prescription pain pill that he got from his mom's purse or out of the medicine cabinet. These are just a few things that happen daily in schools. Why would I take a chance?!?!? This is MY lamb that God gave me. I am the shepherd over my lamb with God being my ultimate shepherd. I will not let a pack of wolves bite and tear on my child all in the name of a decent education. An education where He may be distracted constantly or may be pushed 'under the rug' because He can't achieve as fast as others and 'hey we are on a time schedule'.
Part 2 later.......