Moriah was so sweet yesterday. She was helping me and calling herself " mamacita" . An enduring name we call her often. She is definitely two and she most definitely gets into many, many things. Yesterday, I just woke up with the idea to have her be with me everywhere and constantly helping me. So, she helped me put on my make up....and then put on her own mascara which strangely enough came out to be quite good on her little lashes of hers :) We then washed it off as I wasn't ready to see her all dolled up yet.

She helped me with the laundry, with Hannah, setting the table. I asked her to count out 5 forks and she did! Then, she decided we need spoons to so she counted out spoons :) I prayed yesterday in the car, just asking for Godly insight and I felt that this is a little bit of what I felt God told me,

" Do you not think that I see and feel your frustration that I know your tears by name. I have called Moriah to greatness, I have called her to fruition. She is my daughter and I love her. The plans I have for her our mighty. Stay faithful to my calling to you, oh daughter. Do not measure success based upon how the world views success. You will never measure up. Your fulfillment will be kingdom fulfillment. Stay faithful and do not lose heart. I am in this with you. "

How the gentle voice of the Holy Spirit is always the best encouragement to affirm and encourage. Thank you Jesus for my Moriah, her spirit, joy, her bounce everywhere she goes. Her sweet, tender kisses, her strong willful voice. Thank you, thank you for my precious Moriah with beautiful blue eyes and long, blonde wavy hair.

Fall Jar

I love Autumn. The smell of crisp, fallen leaves crunchy under your shoe, apples, apple cider, cinnamon, brisk winds and watching the geese fly south for the winter. I love racing in the yard and jumping in a freshly made pile of leaves. Unfortunately, since moving to our current location....we need to travel about 1.5 hours to enjoy the fall air....but the weather still is changing and I am not about to let a season go by without celebrating it!

Last fall, I made a list of a different fall activities for the kids and I to do together.....This year, I transferred that idea to small pieces of paper and a fun little jar. The idea is that throughout the fall season the kids will randomly select a different activity and we will do it.

Yesterday, Jay picked " make apple crisp". It was perfect timing since I needed to make a meal for a new mom anyways. He did a great job measuring out the topping, all by himself, and Moriah helped as well as eating a little butter :) Don't grimace, you know you always wanted to know what spoonful of that creamy stuff tasted like :)

I am looking forward to pulling out the other fun activities this season. I had a lot of fun thinking of the ideas and letting Moriah fold them with me.

I am working on a fall/Thanksgiving mini unit study to begin in November and run about 2-3 weeks, depending on how it is going...I will post my ideas soon as I am super excited by it.

Back To The Basics

This past weekend as we were swimming, Ben was quizzing Jay and Austen on the months of the year...sadly, they were not passing. They knew a few sporadically but overall, not so much. I then started thinking over what basic concepts my kids were not sure of and came to the realization that there were just a few we needed to review. No problem, thanks to the Internet and fun resources...we will be focusing this week on the basics!

Yesterday, we read A House For Hermit Crab. What a fun story! It talked about different ocean animals, the shell cycle of a hermit crab, which we used to own and now may he rest in peace, as well as the months of the year. Everything I was looking for all in one!

Also, at homeschoolshare.com I found a lap book that went along with the story and reiterated the months of the year, home address, etc. The kids had a lot of fun putting it together! We will be reviewing the lap book this week as well as the story for fun and to make sure that two of our basics, address and months of the year are covered. Phew, got that take care of :) Onto shoe tying :)

Trusting

Have you ever noticed when you outwardly express that you will trust God that things start happening? Umm, well I have. We are trying to sell our home and have had no offers and our home is quite small for the amount of people in it and home schooling. Also, this week between both of our cars, we have put in about $1K in repairs and are not done yet. Ben and I feel strongly about having one parent, me, stay how with our kids. We feel strongly about honoring God with our finances and living within our means. We also feel strongly about living on one income.....so, we truly trust God and pray for wisdom in many of our decisions as it requires wisdom and creativity.

Pulling from my previous post.....trusting God can somewhat be like swimming in the water as a young child. My boys are pretty confident in pool water; yet, what would they be like in the ocean or the lake where there is a current, darkness and waves? They would drown...I guarantee it without the guidance, help and complete supervision of myself or Ben. Why? Because they are not familiar with it. However, what if Ben and I were right next to them, guiding them, holding them, and a wave starts building and the excitment of it crashing over us is rising. Would I release my young four year old, with no life preserver to the strength and force of the wave? Never! I would cling to him, hug him close and allow him to feel my heart beating with excitment over this "change" in the placid water while his beats from fear of what might happen, and when the wave subsides I will still be holding him and another one will come, but he'll learn....Daddy isn't going to let me go, Momma isn't going to let me go. I may not like the water coming in my mouth or the feeling of not knowing when the wave will be done rushing over me, but I'll be ok.

God will never let you go, nor will He allow circumstances to overtake you. Deuteronomy 31:6
Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.

That verse does not say He'll watch from afar, it says "the One who goes with you...." Thank you Jesus that you always walk before us and with us.

Exodus 14:¹³ Moses answered the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. ¹⁴ The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still."

Staying at home as taught me a lot about how much of what we do is necessary versus material. Do I hate the material? No! If that was true I wouldn't care about fashion, getting my hair colored, etc. However, I just am really able to separate myself from what a need and a want is. I do have a huge suspicion of the constant barrage of capitalistic influence on all of our minds and tend to buck the system when I being made to "have to " do something. But for the most part, I appreciate technology, etc. My biggest prayer is that we sell our home. It is 1100 sq feet and although I'm sure 60 years ago, people had 15 people living in the area....it isn't 60 years ago and we can afford more...so therefore, we need to sell....please be in prayer with us about selling...I can't wait to post a praise report that it has happened and I finally have a school room- even though I"m sure we will always gravitate to the comfort of our couch.

What kind of faith walks has God put you on? God is faithful so his word does not fail. I would love to be encouraged!

swimming

Yesterday we went swimming as a family. It's funny how you can go swimming at many different times of the year, depending on where you live. I didn't necessarily swim as Hannah happened to be hungry ; however, I did enjoy watching the kids play and hang on Benjamin. When I arrived at the pool, after a very frustrating day with vehicles( mine died and need a $400 fix), I was very happy to hear the boys and Ben playing a game that only daddies could think of. The object was to throw a ball that sunk, across the pool and race with either Austen and Daddy , Austen or Jayden, etc. The would throw it and yell " On your mark, get set , go!" and then the two of them would swim as hard as they could to the other side and dive down to retrieve the lost ball. I could not BELIEVE how great my boys swim. Even from the beginning of swim season out here to now, they are so amazing! They kick, dive, hold their breath and are even starting to use one arm to do the front stroke. Even Moriah can swim temporarily without her swim jacket, and if she gets tired she switches to her back! It was so much fun watching them.

After I finished feeding Hanns, we sat on the pool steps and enjoyed the coolness of the water. Hannah loves, LOVES water! She just sat their with a completely relaxed look on her face like, " ahh, this is the life". Her little humored eyes peering about with her little chubby cheeks! Love that girl! Then Moriah swims over, sits on the stairs and holds Hannah between her legs singing " I love you so much, I love you so much, I can't even tell you how much I love you....."

Toddler Tip #1

What do you do with those vibrant, running around, pulling eggs and breaking them on the floor, fun loving toddlers while you are trying to teach your other children???? Great question! Here, I will be sharing different ideas I have learned, heard of or come up with in those desperate moments where you just wish life was as tranquil as the storybook you imagined. So, here is my idea for the day:

Have a snack, prepared ahead of time, sippy cup filled with water and an activity that does not require a ton of help, cutting or mess , ie; painting. I found , with Moriah, my two year old, that having those magnetic dress up dolls, ours if by Melissa and Doug, she will snuggle next to me where I can still help the boys but if she needs help dressing the doll it's something I can do quite easily without having to get up and get something, find something, etc...

So there you have it, my word of wisdom for the day!

Bible Geography

The kids are still sleeping so I thought I would reflect on yesterday's school activities. We accomplished a lot! Can I say again how much I am loving the Trail Guide to Bible Geography. For $10, this book provides me 3 different levels of work . Right now, we are obviously on the first level as Jay is only 6 but I could use this every year if I wanted until we reached the top level and get more than my money's worth out of it! I love it when I find something like this. The book has note booking activities, mapping where we have a huge Ancient Civilization map and Jayden, and sometimes Austen, take out their Student Bible Atlas and find the locations that we read about in the Bible! I love how it just makes Abraham's journey from Ur to Canaan come alive, how you see God's hand on him and his descendants and the unfolding of God's plan in a way that I never noticed before. Have I mentioned how much I'm learning from this home school experience???! It's amazing! Not only that but Jayden is learning how to look up locations, label, map, use an atlas, reference the bible and put things in chronological order all from just this little book alone AND from the comfort of our "Bedouin tents"! I highly recommend it. It's through the same people who put out Galloping the Globe and Cantering the Country ....which we don't use, at least not yet :)

We are also working our way through the different systems of the body. We are starting the circulatory system today! We have moved from the skeletal, muscular and digestive systems all using KONOS Volumes 3 and , again, I love it! It is so challenging, hands on, and interactive....perfect for my kids and myself who cannot STAND tons of bookwork and sitting for long periods of time :)

Finally, I have found some great books at the library which I have to share because again, it takes us out of bookwork and provides great opportunities for learning concepts without even feeling like we are learning. Games for Reading, Games for Writing and Games for Math all by Peggy Kaye, I think. I am still working through these books and renewing them as I have found so many fun ideas on how to teach place values, fractions, creative writing, etc. You can also purchase, these, which I think I might from Amazon.... they just seem like something I will use for quite some time!