New book for the nightstand

I finally finished "One Tuesday Morning" which was a great book. Karen Kingsbury is truly as good a writer as I've heard people make her out to be. The book gave me insight into how September 11 would've affected the families of those New York City firefighters. Sad but so heroic. Also in the book's narrative you see how someone who has no personal faith in God comes to know Him as her own Lord and Savior. Great reminder for a girl who grew up in church of how God really can work in a person's heart and change their life.

Anyhow, on the the new book. After a few weeks of struggles with the kids, I was happy to find, "Have A New Kid By Friday" by Kevin Leman as I was opening up the boxes labeled "Books". I bought it a year ago but never got around to reading it. Now seems to be a great time!

I just read the introduction and chapter one, simply titled "Monday". It lays the groundwork by saying if you believe you should have a healthy level of authority over your children, this book is for you. I agree with that statement and am excited to begin implementing Leman's plan of action after finishing the book. The first guidelines he gives is the reaction I should give when confronted by my child (i.e. a temper tantrum, asking for something I know they don't need, etc.):

1. Say it one time (i.e. You don't need that; You're not having candy before breakfast.).

2. Turn your back (makes the child realize they no longer have your attention which is what they are after).

3. Walk away (Leman says do this even in public places because then the child no longer cares about winning the arguement but getting back in the safety of being near mom.).

I am already looking forward to seeing the results and I still have the Tuesday - Friday chapters to read. Click on the image of the book in my sidebar to link to it on Amazon.com.

A lot to say, a lot to do

We've been very busy and so I've neglected to set aside time to post on the blog. We all feeled settled in emotionally at our new home. Unfortunately it's that "cluttered at-home" feeling which might be why it's feeling like home. I have to tell myself to take a deep breath and dig my heels in. With a lot of hard work, this home can get to an orderly, decorated state which we lived in while the last house was on the market. It doesn't have to be perfect like I kept that one but I would love to one day buy a nice dining room table and have a room to put it in. My parents helped me unload the last of the items we had stored in the storage unit. Almost all of it was deposited in our dining room to join the many other boxes sitting there until they are unpacked and contents find real homes. Pictures are soon to come as I think we've gotten a lot done in the four weeks we've been here.

In other news... Braewyn is daytime potty-trained!! After several weeks (ahem, months!) of giving it half-hearted attempts, a week ago she walked into the bonus room wearing a t-shirt and panties and I said, "We're going with panties from now on." I almost reversed back to diapers after she wet her pants standing on the front porch as we were leaving for Bible study last Thursday (a week ago). Matthew encouraged me to keep her in panties and stick with it. Thankfully we did and she had been doing great... when I remember to escort her to the bathroom every few hours. I think we had a great milestone today as we attended our church's Harvest Fest with her in panties and no accidents in her Pooh Bear suit! On the way driving there, she said, "Need to go pee pee." We asked her to stay dry and she did all the way there, walking across the street, around the building, getting a few pieces of candy, signing in at the registration table and then heading to the bathroom!! Yeah, Braewyn!! I think the key was buying super cute Disney princess panties which she loves.

Philip is doing so well with his school work. Yes, it still takes a lot of work to get him motivated to start (especially after a few tv shows; I know, those mornings I'm shooting myself in the foot!) and not play with toys which are still floating around the disorganized bonus room floor. I'm so excited to look for an old book case at Goodwill and buy canvas totes to store all the toys. He has not only gotten super at writing his letters but is now asking me how to spell words which he then writes. And his drawings! I need to take pictures of his drawings to post as any piece of paper he gets his hands on, he'll cover the back with adorable pics of trees, animals and even his own rendition of The Fantastic Four which are his newest favorite super heroes.

We did have a great Halloween with attending Harvest Fest as I mentioned (games, rides, chili cheese fries!!), resting at home for a few hours, and then Trick-or-Treating on our street. We met about half of our neighbors. I was so excited! They all seem very nice. There's even a family with three kids who are homeschooling too. We hope to go to the park together sometime. After finishing collecting candy, we left our light on to provide some for other trick-or-treaters. I smiled every time the doorbell would ring and Philip would cry out, "We have customers!" So precious.

Bittersweet

Today my dear sweet 95-year-old friend Mrs. Cordie Hawkins passed away. I was heartbroken the moment Matthew told me as I've not seen her in a month. But in the same moment I rejoiced! Mrs. Cordie has loved Jesus for most of her life and now she is in His presence. Also she is free from her earthly body and all it's ailments. And also she is now reunited with her husband, her parents and three of her children who passed away before her. I cherished my friendship with Mrs. Cordie as our conversations allowed me to see things from her perspective, one that did not involve the fast-paced, materialism-driven culture in which I live.

Mrs. Cordie was born in North Carolina and then moved to this area as a girl. She married and had nine children, six boys and three girls. They had a farm and built a house on that land in the 1960's. She lived in that same home until her death. I have been blessed to get to know all six of her still living children who all live nearby. I don't know how often I will see them from now on as it was at Mrs. Cordie's home I ran into them.

After telling Philip that Mrs. Cordie has died and now is in heaven, I asked him if he was sad. He said, "No, I'm not sad. Don't you remember that we're going to heaven too and we'll see her there!" It made my heart soar.

I do praise God for that hope. It's not a hope like "I hope it doesn't rain tomorrow." But instead a hope to come of what has already been promised to me.

"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful." Hebrews 10:23

"Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him." 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14

Here is Mrs. Cordie with Philip and Braewyn.







I love you, Mrs. Cordie. I'll see you soon!!

Moving from here to there

This last week has been hectic yet exciting. I thought moving would be a breeze but honestly after living with our old house "show ready" for almost 5 months, the transition of packing and bringing everything to the new house was a little unnerving for me. Thankfully we had several friends and family members help in the move (Thank you, Mom & Dad, Ruth Ann, Michael, and Jennifer & Gregg!) and then my Mom and Aunt Cindy a few days later. Elise, bless you for the yummy meal!

I praise God again for blessing us with this beautiful new home as it really meets all the criteria we were looking for. I pray it will be a house where our family and friends can come and feel the love of Christ through us. More pics to come as we get the kids' room finished and devise a plan to organize the bonus room.

Goodbye Old House, Hello New!

Tonight's the night... the last night in our old house. It makes me more sad than excited as I walk around this house, seeing everything boxed up and not sure how we'll ever get all of it out. I think it's just exhaustion and silly nostalagia creeping up. Everything this week has been, "Oh, this will be the last time we'll do such and such at our house." We've done a lot of stuff here over the last 9 1/2 years. Even so, I'm getting pretty sappy even to myself so it's about time to get this show on the road and MOVE ALREADY!!

We did have our first closing this afternoon in which we signed over ownership of the old house to a young guy moving out of his parents' home for the first time. Technically, tonight we're homeless as we legally do not own a residence. Thankfully, the guy was great enough to give us 72 hours to "evacuate the property". That will enable us to attend the closing for our new house tomorrow morning (Tuesday) at 10:00am and spend the rest of that day and all day Wednesday getting everything transported over.

The kids have been so excited for so long, I don't really think they get it. They will tomorrow night when they lay their little heads down on their pillows and close their eyes in their new rooms!!

Overwhelmed and Yet Not

This morning we had our first MOPS meeting of the year. I am the Discussion Group Team Leader. There are certain responsibilites involved and I've also asked our coordinators to let me speak at each meeting (i.e. give announcements, introduce the speaker, etc.) to shake my fear of public speaking. Bible Study Fellowship begins on Thursday which I'm greatly looking forward to for my own spiritual well-being but especially for Philip and Braewyn's understanding of who Jesus is. We're in our second week of homeschooling and it's going well with continuing up's and down's. Our house is steadily filling up with packed boxes as our move across town is now 14 days away. Exciting yet looming at the same time.

My mind keeps drifting to what next year will bring. Will we homeschool again? Will I say yes to coordinating MOPS as the idea has been suggested? Will I instead say yes to becoming a BSF discussion leader? Will I have had a third child and say no to both options above? I let myself occasionally get so frazzled.

And then I turn my mind back to the Lord. I praise my God who does not let me know the entire path of my life nor do I think He wants me to know right now. I find peace in His Word.

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6

"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path." Psalm 119:105

All Jesus wants from me is to trust and obey DAILY.

Our First Field Trip!

This first week of school was fun yet very trying at times. I've had no formal teaching training and never thought about how hard it might be to instruct someone on how to write. Philip and I made it through three sessions of handwriting lessons (we'll do handwriting on Monday, Wednesday and Friday) and he did get better with each one. All that hard work was rewarded when we headed out Friday morning for our first field: visiting our local non-commercial airport!! We'll be learning the alphabet in correct sequence. Therefore our first week focused on the letter "A" and "A is for Airplane"!

I have lived here in Spartanburg for 9 1/2 years and finally feel blessed to have visited this tiny piece of history. The Spartanburg Downtown Memorial Airport was built in 1927. Charles Lindburgh was at the dedication of the airport just months after completing his famous solo flight from New York to Paris!! Very cool! There are portraits of noteworthy pilots hanging in the main room of the airport. I also enjoyed reading the memorial stones to Philip which circle a flag post in a grass area. All the men memorialized were from Spartanburg; some died while flying in WWII and others died while enjoying their hobby of flying. I never thought we'd study history while on our field trip too!!

When we went inside, I told the man at the "check-in" desk that we had begun homeschooling and were learning about airplanes. I asked if we could watch any that were to take off or land and he said that a small private jet was about to leave!! He said to just stand on the inside of the white wall. What a blessing to arrive just as the jet was leaving. The pilot waved to the kids from his window while checking all the pre-flight stuff! After the jet taxied away, the airport man came outside and invited us to go to the top of the tower. This airport is no longer operated from a controlled tower. I asked him, "So is it basically, fly at your own risk?" and he said, "Pretty much." From the tower, we watched the personal jet take off, a smaller Cessna plane take off, and the local TV station traffic jet land and then take off. What a great time we had!!












Upon getting back in our car, I told Philip, "I'm not that good at teaching yet, and sometimes writing is hard for you, but guess what? We both LOVE field trips!" His face beamed.