Bushisms and other nonsense!

Many of you that know me know that I have one thing in common with George W. Bush...bushisms. Yes, it is true. It happens quite regularly around here and I am married to the grammar police, so it is very rare that these language blunders go unnoticed. Sometimes I genuinely get my words mixed up and sometimes it is an accident but usually people know what I am TRYING to say. I blame some of this on my mother who is worse with words than I am. (sorry mom, it's true!)
I just so happened to make one of these mistakes in my last blog post when I called my father-in-law's brisket "infamous"...which means having a reputation of the worst kind... now OBVIOUSLY I didn't mean to use that word and if I thought his brisket was infamous I surely wouldn't have said it for the whole world to see... what I meant to write was famous. My father-in-law's brisket is the best I have ever tasted. It is delicious, fabulous, wonderful and anything but infamous. Elijah says I am like the "BFG" (the big friendly giant- a character from a Roald Dahl book that always gets his words mixed up!) Here is a quote from the BFG "Words is oh such a twitch-tickling problem to me all my life. So you must simply try to be patient and stop squibbling. As I am telling you before, I know exactly what words I am wanting to say, but somehow or other they is always getting squiff-squiddled around"... maybe Elijah is right. I am kind of like the BFG (which, by the way, is an hilarious book to read aloud to children).
Onto the nonsense. The other day when we came home the entire family was standing at the door and I had the key. Everyone was waiting for me to open the door and in the meantime I am getting totally frustrated because I am pressing the unlock button on our keyless entry control for the car over and over again and I am not understanding why the door to our house isn't unlocking. Finally I realize what I am doing and I just started laughing at the absurdity of it all and Elijah is just staring at me like I'm crazy and Matt asks "Did you just try to unlock the door with the car keys?"...I look at him with a look that says
"are you really that surprised???" When I was pregnant I used the excuse of pregnancy brain and I the past several years I have used the excuse of being really tired from night nursing and back to back pregnancies...but Matt likes to remind me that I was this way before we even got married. Ok. fine. I admit it. It's true. Sometimes my brain leaves my body...but in the words of the BFG "I cannot be helping it if I is sometimes saying things (and in my case, doing things as well) a little squiggly. I is trying my very best all the time."

Embracing 30 and the Birthday Surprise (almost a month later!)

(after much late night laboring I am still unable to get this video to post correctly but if you want to see the full picture just click on the video twice...I can't try to figure it out anymore...my technological skills are very limited!)

Well, it is official. I am 30 years old. Last year when I turned 29 I started thinking about being 30 and I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about it...but now that it is here I have totally embraced this new decade in my life. I love my life and my sweet family. When I look back on my life before Matt and the children I just remember dreaming about getting married and having a family and I have been living out that dream for 8 adventurous years now! Life seems so full of meaning and purpose...and for the first time I feel like I am starting to be exactly who I want to be. I am no longer worried about living up to other people's standards and expectations. I am no longer offended by what others might say or think about our home birthing, home schooling, home churching life style. My heart and my vision is focused on this calling that God has placed within me of being the best wife I can be for Matt and raising these magnificent boys that we have been blessed us with.
All that being said, I must now sing praises to my amazing husband. He was so sneaky and really pulled of a big surprise for my birthday. I started to become suspicious when he insisted on cleaning the kitchen on a Friday night and he told me I was going to have a special guest come and visit me for my birthday. Well, around lunch time on Saturday my parents rolled into the driveway and I was really surprised. I wasn't expecting to see them because they visited the previous weekend for Elijah's birthday. They said they were going to take us out to this awesome restaurant that evening and I thought "ok-this is the surprise". So I actually had a nice dress on at this point because I didn't know who the special guest was going to be, but when I found out it was my parents I decided to put my PJ's back on and I was getting ready to ask Matt if I could take a little nap when all of a sudden the Mosher family walks into the house! This is one of our favorite families ever and were great friends of ours from when we lived in Boone. We hadn't seen them in well over a year and here I stand in my pajamas! So I was totally embarrassed and I ran back to our bedroom and slipped back into my dress just in time before all the other people started rolling in. My in-laws came with a bounty of food and my father-in-law made his famous smoked brisket...my friend Jenny showed up with her family from VA and she made my birthday cake (which, by the way, is the world's best pound cake ever). My brother from Raleigh came with the beautiful Marianne and all the other family members arrived with food and flowers and it ended up being the very best day ever! To top it all off Matt brought his projector home from school and hung a sheet on the wall to display a fabulous slide show (which is what you see above) that he created (along with his very talented brother Dan). The most unique part about the slide show is that he asked our friends and family members to share some thoughts and words about me and he took bits and pieces of what everyone said and put it in the slideshow. It is amazing how words can be so uplifting and encouraging. I don't think I have ever felt as special as I did that day! Matt Mosher said that my Matt earned the "husband of the year" award and he was right! He is a fantastic Mr. Fox.
So I want to say a big thank you to all of our friends and family who helped me welcome 30...it's looking pretty good so far.

The peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension

Life can be so very hectic at times. Some days it feels like I can hardly keep my head above the water...treading through the hours, minutes, gasping for air, for rest, for calm.
Last night as I was praying and pouring myself out before the Father I heard Him speak to me. It is not very often that I feel God speaking to me so strongly and He said clear as day "My peace surpasses all understanding". Be still. Hear the Words. I open my heart and bible to Philippians.
Chapter 4:4-9 "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!

Let your gentle spirit be known to all men, The Lord is near.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication
thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension,
will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever
is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of
good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise,
dwell on these things.

The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me,
practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you."

The peace of God is beyond our comprehension. It is not something that I can attain through more lists, more planning, more schedules. I sometimes think that if I can organize our lives enough then we will have peace. I just need to plan more activities so that the kids won't have time to argue with each other. I need to stick to our sleeping and eating schedule so they won't be so whiney. Peace is also not something I can find in a walk alone around the neighborhood or on a beach retreat or in a quiet nook in the library (though those things do provide temporary relief)...but the kind of peace that is beyond our comprehension comes only through the Father, our eternal King of Peace.
The word dwell really fell heavy on my heart. Dwell. Part of the definition is to fasten one's attention on or upon someone or something and to think or speak about something for a long time. I began to think about how much of my days and my life I spend dwelling on the negative things...how messy the house is, how I keep getting interrupted when I am trying to homeschool, how I need to lose weight, how we need to pay off debt and the list goes on. Dwelling on those things bring worry, anxiety, frustration etc. As I rolled the words over and over in my head the word dwell really started sinking in. The things that God tells us to dwell upon aren't just nice things to read about. He wants us to inhabit these words, to live them, to fasten our attention upon them and do not look away. He spells it out very clearly what we should dwell upon. His word assures us that when we dwell on these good things and practice them that His peace will be with us and that His peace will guard our hearts and minds.
I pray that in the moments and days to come when I might find myself gasping for air once again that I would turn toward the Father and fix the eyes of my heart upon Him, who says "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls" Matt. 11:28-29
"Thus says the Lord, 'Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; and you will find rest for your souls" Jeremiah 6:16

(In)Courage

I want to share an amazing group of women with you. They come from all different backgrounds and walks of life and they have come together to share their thoughts and words with other women on this fabulous site www.incourage.me On this site you can find links to each of the women's individual blogs or websites (featuring one of my all time favorite blogs, a holy experience). I want to encourage you to check it out if you are searching for inspiration (as I do from time to time). You will laugh and cry and find a wealth of encouragement as they share their lives and hearts with you.

FOR TODAY Thursday September 3, 2009...

Outside my window...is the quiet darkness of night.

I am thinking...about simplifying the house and eliminating the things we don't love or need.

I am thankful for...the glorious weather that we have been having and being able to be outside enjoying these days with the kids.

From the learning rooms...I just ordered the Prairie Primer (a very detailed unit study curriculum based on the Little House series)yesterday and we are looking forward to diving into that series once again. In our outside learning room we have been finding all sorts of awesome things. Elijah caught a toad and a skink. We discovered a massive group of caterpillars (the most I have ever seen in my life) devouring the leaves on an Oak sapling at the park and we watched what I think were LOTS of fireflies mating on the trunk of a different tree.

From the kitchen...the fragrant scent of curry (my favorite spice). We ate Mulligatawny (soup),which is always delicious.

I am wearing...a navy blue shirt and a lime green skirt.

I am creating...scriptures to hang throughout our house so I can constantly be reminded of God's goodness.

I am going...to hopefully go to bed soon. I am trying to get on an early sleep schedule...but I've been saying that for years now.

I am reading... Educating the Whole-Hearted Child and trying to find motivation and inspiration for this school year.

I am hoping...that tomorrow goes by fast so that I can spend more time with my sweet husband.

I am hearing...crickets chirruping outside my window, a dog barking off in the distance, the quietness of children sleeping.

Around the house...I see a lot of stuff that is getting ready to go to Goodwill! Good-bye clutter!

One of my favorite things...Ezra's funny little four-toothed grin.

A few plans for the rest of the week: Possibly going camping this weekend if the weather stays nice.

The G.R.A.I.N. of Your Homeschool

I am usually not a big fan of using acronyms in speeches, lectures, or sermons, but in this case I was pleasantly surprised. This was the title of one of the workshop sessions given by Misty Spinelli at the NCHE home school conference 2 years ago. I loved what she said so much that I ordered a CD of her lecture so that I could listen to it at the beginning of every new home school year. It is inspiring, encouraging, honest, practical advice on daily living and homeschooling, and a great reminder of all the real reasons that we home school. This is an analogy that compares homeschooling to making bread and I would like to share some of the goodness with you.

G. Goals. This is like the recipe for our bread- the list of ingredients; the reason and the vision for your home school. She says we should home school for the adults that our children will become some day. First she says to make a wish list of all the things we would want our kids to be when they grow up, which of course would include all the virtues and would look something like this: wise, discerning, patient, kind, humble, self-sufficient, forgiving, strong work ethic, academic success, good social/relationship skills, a good brother, sister, friend, husband, wife, mother, father...etc. Now imagine that you show your list to God and He says your list is great, but if you could have only one of those things on the list what would it be? So you pick the most important thing on the list and from there you start to prioritize the list in order of importance and what usually ends up happening is that academic success falls pretty low on the list. There is no doubt that we want our children to be successful and that might mean going to college, but the truth is that true education involves so much more than academics and true success is measured by so much more than a college degree and a scholarly mind. We are educating a WHOLE person, not just the brain. If we followed the priority list of the world it would be: getting a good college education, having a successful career, making a lot of money, buying lots of material things to show for your success and so on. But whose priorities are we following? As a homeschooling mom I know how easy it is to get caught up in choosing curriculum, focusing on the academic checklist and trying to cover all the subjects each and every day, but when I step back and evaluate the reasons why I home school I realize that it is not so much about academics as it is about walking out Duet. 6 with my children.

R. Relax. This is when we allow the bread to rise. What do you do to make bread rise? Nothing. Let it rest. We all need rest from the constant stimulation that we are exposed to everyday- the radio, TV, computer, cell phone, etc. We need a break from these things and so do our children- time to formulate our own thoughts, time to be still and quiet- to commune with God and hear His voice. It is critical that children have down time to process what they are learning. There is a great book called the Power of Play by David Elkind that talks about the importance of providing our children with unscheduled free time to play and use their imaginations or to just sit quietly and watch the birds or look at books. So, it is one thing to provide free time for our kids, but it is much more difficult to provide it for ourselves. Why is that? We have chores to tend to (the never ending pile of dishes and laundry), we need to pay bills, grocery shop, plan meals, prepare for the days ahead, balance the checkbook, work on the house- the list goes on. The truth is that homeschooling is not an easy job and it is critical and equally important that the parents find moments of peace, prayer and rejuvenation as well.

A. Answers. This goes along with relaxing. Go to God for all your answers. Get on your knees. Open dialogue with God and ask specific questions about individual children. It is not possible to home school in your own strength. You will fail and feel like a failure. No one can possibly know everything and we shouldn't try to teach our children everything. We get these "have to's" in our head that aren't "have to's". Ask yourself whose "to-do" list are you working from? the elementary school down the road, the world's, Abeka's, our own or God's? We need to seek His to-do list. Seek wise council with the Father, pray and ask for His guidance on this home school journey.

I. Instruct the will of your child. This is like the shaping of the bread. It is critical that we help our children form good habits before any formal instruction takes place. It is very difficult to teach a child that is lazy, disobedient, and has a poor attention span. A habit is something you do effortlessly. It is a gift when we give our children good habits. The key to breaking negative habits is to set up natural consequences that directly relate to the habit that you are trying to break and be 100% consistent in implementing the consequences. (I have found that consistency is the hardest part but it it definitely worth it in the end.) Consistency, encouragement, and repetition are the keys to building good habits. I cannot say that I have completely mastered this area, but I do know that there is a mutual benefit for both me and the kids when they get their work done quickly and with a good attitude.

N. Nourishment. How do the majority of Americans eat? Fast, fun, but not very nourishing. What does the world say about homeschooling? We need a teaching degree, we need a classroom in our home, we need to cram their heads full of useless facts so that they will appear to be learning something. It isn't healthy to eat junk food that provides our body with nothing but empty calories and in the same way we shouldn't waste our children's time by filling them up with facts that don't really mean much in the long run. Let's fill them with true nourishment- let's fill them up with things that will really help them grow; a WHOLE education, love and a loving environment, time spent together, and the wisdom of the Word.

Happy Birthday Jo-Jo!

I can't believe Jonas is already 2 years old! Jonas is our 3rd son and is special for so many reasons. He says so many funny things that sound a lot like cookie monster (me do it! or mine shoes on) and he already has the most hilarious sense of humor. He loves music; he is always singing and his favorite activity is playing the keyboard. He also loves balloons and the moon. If we are in the car at night he will talk to the moon and about the moon the entire time we are in the car- he calls it bella luna, but it sounds more like bella baloona! His favorite books are the I Spy books, My Goodnight Book by Eloise Wilkins and Goodnight Gorilla. He is a fruit monster and would live on fruit alone if I would let him. I gave him the indian name Skinny-Minny-Too-Tiny because he is such a bean pole. One very special fact about Jonas is that he has amazing self control for a 2 year old and he has the best manners of all the boys. He is also a very compassionate, sympathetic little guy- if one of the brothers get hurt he is always trying to comfort them. I just know that all of these wonderful qualities will carry into adulthood and he will be a very steady, kind, and gentle man- just like his father. Happy 2nd birthday Jo-Jo!