Off To A Great Start

The Brooks Academy (the name I game our homeschool) is under way with a month of schooling under our belts.  Philip is in 2nd grade, Braewyn is in Kindergarten, and Juliet is in the "What can I get into today?" grade.  Our daily schedule is closing in daily on where I want it with just a few tweaks still to work out.  I will say the last two years (being pregnant and having a newborn/infant) were a lot easier than this year with our new and improved fully mobile Juliet.  I'm gaining wisdom and building character.  I'm also praying that Juliet's toddler years will be the hardest part of homeschooling which we'll pass through in this year and the next.  I'm thinking so as a seasoned homeschool dad asked me recently, with a smirk, "So how's homeschooling with a toddler?"  He knows and I replied that I would be asking his wife for suggestions on getting through this season.

All that said, Philip and Braewyn are really the ones doing the school work and doing it pretty well.  We are using My Father's World for our main curriculum (Bible, History, and Reading).  It's a little tough to tie together the components from the MFW Kindergarten curriculum (titled "MFW from A to Z") and the 2nd grade curriculum (titled "Adventures in MFW"), but for the most part it blends well.  Really, I'm teaching Braewyn to read (letter sounds and blends) and a bit of the Kindergarten Bible parts, but she is listening to Philip's 2nd grade history lesson and coloring while he writes summary paragraphs of our lesson.  He knows how to read so I just assign him library books on our history topic for the week. 

For math, we're continuing with Math-U-See.  It's a great program with a short video to introduce each week's lesson so the kids have their own math teacher other than Mom!  Science this year is again from Answers in Genesis and titled God's Design for Life.  Last year we learned all about aminals and now we're learning about plants.  I like this curriculum because it's part text book (I'm learning along with the kids!) and part activities (we made models of plant and animal cells this week).  The best part is that each lesson reminds us of how amazingly God created all things to function exactly according to His plan. 

Philip is also doing spelling and grammar lessons as well as playing Upward Flag Football and participating in our church's Children's Choir.  Braewyn is taking gymnastics lessons (so exciting to start those just following the summer Olympics) and on the Upward cheerleading squad for Philip's football league.  Our days are busy, but I believe it's a good balance.  I just really can't believe how fast they are growing up.  Praise the Lord for healthy children!!

Sayonora Kidney Stone!

So my last post found me in pain from a kidney stone.  We left off at 12:39am early Monday morning.  The Loritab helped me sleep for a few hours but then around 3:00am, I woke up again in a good deal of pain and so I took a Toradol pill.  I was able to sleep until the alarm sounded at 6:30am and was not in any pain.  The plan was for me to call the urologist, make an appointment, my dad watch the kids and I would go see my urologist.  Things didn't go as planned.

I did call the doc and left a message about wanting to come in as I had been to the ER the morning before.  My dad did come over around 9:00am and I kept waiting to get a call back to come to the doc.  Hours passed and I was hungry.  Matthew had suggested that I not eat because if my 5mm stone were lodged in a position to be blasted, they would only do it today if I had no food in my stomach.  Well, around 11:00am I decided to eat regardless of the chance to blast the stone.  My doc's office had yet to call back anyway.  A little later I called them only to find out my doctor and her nurse were not even in the office today.  Argh!  Why didn't they tell me that earlier?!

Now the day was half over and I still didn't know if I would see my urologist so I declared a teacher work day.  Philip was happy to play with his friends and Braewyn was content waiting to begin Kindergarten for one more day.  The day continued on as normal until I had gone to the bathroom and then suddenly felt I had to go again.  I was trying to consistently use the strainer to catch that 5mm stone if it should appear.  Well, something finally appeared in the strainer but it was no larger than a grain of sand!!  Was that what caused me all this pain? I had heard that small of stone could bring a grown man to his knees.  I was glad to see something but sad it wasn't 5mm!  So now I wondered if the pain would hit again as the rest of the stone had to still be in there, right?

Around 5:15pm, my urologist's office called asking if I still needed an appointment.  I said I was feeling better but would like to know for sure where my stone was.  I would see the urologist on Friday and told to just take my pain meds until then unless I developed a fever which would grant me a fast pass to the office!

Fast forward to Friday morning (following four pain-free days!) at which time I dropped the kids off at their respective sitters (the best grandparents in the world!!), and headed to the urologist's office with a bagful of things to do (teacher's manuals, sudoko puzzles, a notebook to work on my book... that's for another post!) as I anticipated a lengthy stay.  It was 8:52am when I arrived at the office.

It was actually 9:55am and I was walking out to my car.  Done!  Miraculous event in itself but let me not skip the best part.  So I was seen almost immediately for my x-ray.  From there, I waited 5 minutes, gave a urine sample, had my blood pressure checked and was in the room waiting for the doctore under 15 minutes later.  I've been at this office for HOURS before!  I was shocked.  There was a slight snag as the nurse could not locate my chart and asked if this was the day my appointment was originally booked.  I said yes, and waited for my urologist to arrive. 

After reading about 6 pages of "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan (a must-read book which I need to post about as well!), my doctor entered (I'd love to recommend her to you if you need a urologist in this area; she's awesome!) and first thing to come out of her mouth was, "I'm confused!"  I thought she meant about my chart being lost but then she snapped my x-ray from last May on the screen and pointed out my 5mm stone snuggly in my kidney.  Next she put up my x-ray from that day and said, "There's no stone and you said you didn't pass it. I don't know where it is!"   The first thing to come out of my mouth was, "Thank you, Jesus!  He took that stone away."  We discussed my drinking a lot of lemon juice recently but she said that doesn't shrink stones, just keeps new ones from developing.  I knew God could zap my stone away if He wanted to and I am so thankful He did!! 

There's no doubt in my mind that the Lord worked a miracle in my life.  I am very excited to see what He has in store for my family and me next!  He is a great God and wants so much for you to let Him work in and through your life too.  His plans will just blow you away!!  They do that for me.

The Kidney Stone Strikes Back

Some of you remember that I was attacked by a kidney stone last summer and knew that a second one was present but just laying low, literally in my kidney.  Well funny thing is that second one has now decided to pass just about a month after Matthew suffered his first kidney stone.  People now wonder if there's something in our water!

I woke up yesterday (Sunday) at about 5am with some pretty severe stomach cramps.  I thought it was gas pains so took a Gas-X.  After 30 minutes and not much relief, I woke Matthew to say maybe it was that second kidney stone kicking into gear or maybe something else. I did take a pregnancy test because the fear of an ectopic pregnancy did worry me.  The test was negative.  At 6:30am, I called my Dad to ask if he would come over to watch the kids while Matthew took me to the ER.  Once he arrived at our house, Matthew and I did head to the ER with me breathing like I was in labor.  Not a good feeling, but I wasn't as scared as last time as I had a pretty good feeling it was the kidney stone.

After being admitted to the ER, I was given an IV to administer pain killer and nausea medicines.  The doctor said the blood in my urine sample and the pain site together indicated that I was trying to pass a kidney stone.  Released with a prescription for more pain pills and orders to see my urologist a.s.a.p., we headed home. 

Now it is 12:39am and I'm getting drowsy after taking a Loritab 30 minutes ago.  I went to bed at 9pm but woke up a little bit ago hungry and thinking my last pain pill would be wearing off soon.  I pray to be able to see my urologist in the morning and find out from the x-ray where exactly this stinker kidney stone is. 

The Brooks Academy was scheduled to have it's first day of school today; Braewyn is thrilled to be officially in Kindergarten while Philip would rather have more days of summer vacation.  Looks like Philip will get his wish.  I hope we'll be able to begin on Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest.  I really am excited to jump into our third year of homeschooling and teach my two favorite students!  That said I also am glad that the kidney stone is now moving. 

Around Juliet's 1st birthday, Matthew and  I talked and we decided to no longer take birth control and let the Lord decide to bring us another baby or not (they are all gifts from Him anyway).  It has been a test of my  faith knowing that it while left in His timing, the idea of being pregnant and then the kidney stone beginning to move and medicine choices not being as wide as when not pregnant is a scary thing. I'll be thankful when this stone is gone whether by passing it or blasting it if too large too pass.  We will see as the days pass if another Brooks baby is in God's plan or not.  I do trust that my God knows what is best for us.  I just wonder if Philip will be 16, Braewyn 14 and Juliet 10, when that little pregnancy test shows us two pink lines!  That would be an adventure!

Who's That Kid?!

 Can you believe the change a simple haircut makes?  Look at Braewyn in my header picture with her beautiful flowing hair and now here with her new short do!  The day of her haircut I kept thinking she was someone other than my precious Braewyn.  Honestly though, she's been asking for a haircut for a while but Daddy loved it long!  She and I finally convinced him that her "get ready time" would be cut in half if we cut the hair.  He really likes being on time so that helped with the decision.  Also, it seems to have liberated her, just the chance the get the hairstyle she's wanted.  She seems more helpful and easy going.  A huge blessing to my heart!!

July 4th in Chattanooga

Last week, the five of us plus Grandma Ruth Ann traveled to Chattanooga, TN for a mini-vacation.  We arrived on Saturday, June 30th and returned home on Wednesday, July 4th.  I had been to this fun city years ago (before marrying Matthew) but remembered enough about it to want to go back.  With the temperature over 100 degrees that weekend, a few underground excursions sounded like a good idea.  Matthew researched the area on the web and found a great kids' museum and aquarium which would also provide inside fun.  Here are the best photos from our trip.  To see them all, you can check out my Facebook page. 

The Lost Sea Adventure

Tennesse Aquarium

Rock City

Ruby Falls

Creative Discovery Museum

And at the end of each day, we used up any left over energy at the hotel pool.  It was a great trip!

Country Kiddos

We traveled to the country and back in time this past Saturday for a reunion with Matthew's side of the family.  The reunion has been at this location a few times and it's always fun to leave technology behind (wait, I took this photo with my phone!) and enjoy life at a slower pace for a few hours.

BBFF goes green!

If you are a long time reader of this blog, you may remember the Brooks Baby Food Factory.  Those days are behind us (at least for now), but yet Matthew is back in the kitchen and this time slicing, measuring, and boiling to transform our homegrown cucumbers (I told him we should pray over our garden this year and the Lord really has blessed!) into yummy varieties of pickles!  We are a pickle-eatin' family but we each have our favorites.  I like Bread and Butter, the kids like Dill, and Matthew has made himself some Spicy Garlic.  I really admire Matthew's follow through mentality.  He googled pickle recipes and "how to can".  I told him at the beginning of spring that I would love to learn to can so we needed to grow things I could can.  Well, I've not canned once and he's ready to make his fourth batch of pickles on Thursday night.  Thanks, sweetie.  I enjoy reaping the benefits of your labor.  I think it balances out because he likes playing with our kids (reaping the benefits of MY labor!).

 Farmer Matthew

 Newly bought and washed canning jars

 Water's just a' boilin'

 Great looking cukes!

 The pickle master at work

 Yummy finished product! We have enough now to store up for winter.  It's like we're pioneers!

A to Z and now we're done!

When Philip was in K-4, I helped him put together an alphabet book of pictures from magazines.  With Braewyn being in K-4 this year, I decided to make her a photo book of places we've been and things she's made which start with each letter of the alphabet.  Our visit to a nearby zoo provided the pictures I needed to wrap up the book!  Z is for Zoo!

Not only did this outting provide the Z pictures, it was also a milestone in our homeschool journey.   Our new children's pastor, George, who's awesome btw, organized Fantastic Friday outtings throughout the summer and the zoo was the first!  This means Philip rode an actual school bus for the first time with about 50 kids and adults from our church to the zoo while I followed in our car with the girls.  It was fun for him and a little anxiety-filled for me.  It's the feeling I guess I would have had had I sent him off to public kindergarten two years ago. 

Upon arriving at the zoo, we all ate our box lunches (well, my family ate grapes and graham crackers as I was banking on buying hot dogs but didn't realized large groups eat BEFORE entering the zoo!).  Then George split the groups up into smaller groups each with an assigned chaperone.  He said that I could just tag-along a group since I had Braewyn and Juliet.  I told him I could be a group stalker.  I did stay with the main group (including Philip who was in George's group; was it that obvious that I was holding the apron strings tight why George took Philip under his care?) for a while until Braewyn and I did stop for hot dogs.  For the next two hours, I didn't see Philip.  It was gratifying that I could let go and let him gain some independence.  Later that afternoon when I picked up Philip from our church gym (the bus full of kids headed back home while I let Braewyn play on a super cool playground near the zoo), George said Philip had been great.  Makes a momma proud and thankful!

Here's the recap in photos. Click on the first photo and you will be able to see all photos enlarged.

 Juliet was squealing with delight at seeing the giraffes and orangutans and lasted the four hot hours at the zoo better than I had expected.  And Braewyn no longer runs from my camera but has in fact turned into a little starlet always ready to give a smile and say cheese!