On Joy

"What brings you the most joy these days?"

It's a beautiful question, I think.

Perhaps you've heard or read about people who keep Gratitude lists - lists of all the things, people, and moments for which they are thankful.  Thankfulness and gratefulness are good things, but more often than not, they need words.  It's hard to be thankful for something without consciously naming it.  On the other hand, for me at least, joy needs no words.  

Joy is that heart-full feeling when rays of sunshine streak through the clouds; it's that gladness when I witness a sweet self-sacrifice from one of my children for another's benefit.  Joy is that wordless praise that fills my heart when no words are possible.  Joy is the ability to sing at the top of my lungs the words of the song "Glory to God" along with Handel's Young Messiah...while tears are streaming down my face and I'm choking on sobs.

"What brings you the most joy these days?"

It was a question asked in a not-very-joyful situation, from a father in rapidly failing health to his daughter shortly before he died.  Although her blog post about his rapid decline and death is four years old, I read the story again a few days ago with new eyes and a new understanding, and that question has been with me ever since.

"What brings you the most joy these days?"

Two Saturdays before Christmas, my dad was admitted to the hospital.  He was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma (a cancer of the bones' plasma cells) in August 2010, and the most recent round of aggressive chemotherapy has been harder on his body than any of us expected.  He's still in the hospital, and the end of his stay is not yet in sight.

We are thankful that he's being cared for by the professionals.

We are grateful that it's not worse than it is.

But there's nothing that can top the joy of knowing that God is in control.

No matter what.

***

...Once we give ourselves up to God, shall we attempt to get hold

of what can never belong to us -- tomorrow? Our lives are His,

our times in His hand, He is Lord over what will happen,

never mind what may happen...

Today is mine. Tomorrow is none of my business.

-- Elisabeth Elliot, Keep A Quiet Heart

Nut2012shell

(I crack myself up...Nut2012shell = 2012 in a nutshell...Get it?!?  Alright.  Moving on.)

There are at least 476 reasons why I have fallen off the blogging wagon, posting pictures infrequently and writing thoughtful posts...um, even more infrequently.  I won't bother listing all my reasons for you because they'll bore you and exhaust me; I'll just give you a quick peek into the last year and pretend I've stayed caught up all along.

In January, we survived a 3 1/2 day power outage. 

In February, we visited both sets of grandparents.

March saw a major increase in our "pet count" when we got chickens!  We started with 15, and we're down to 13...and holding steady.

In April we started work on the chicken coop and run.  That was back-breaking work, and I'm tired all over again just thinking about it.  Sometime in April (or was it earlier?), all three girls started riding horses once a week through a program at our local Christian Camp.

Projects outside around the property kept us busy for most of May, along with a memorable trip to the dentist. 

With the girls' Horse Encounters taking a break over the summer, June and July were packed full of flag football practices and games for Isaak.  (HE can't wait until football season comes around again this year.  ME, not so much.)  And all four kids are looking forward to a repeat next July of a week of Day Camp, also at our local Christian Camp. 

Also in July, we started the monstrous project that was (and is) refinishing, resealing, and cleaning up the outside of the log house.  THAT only kept us busy for part of July, all of August and September, and most of October.

We started our new school year in August...my first year of (formally) teaching all four kids, and in October all three girls started piano lessons weekly and Horse Encounters again every other week.

November was full of visits to and from family and friends, and December flew by.  I'm not even really sure where it went!

And now I'll do my best to crawl back onto the blogging wagon...

The World is Not Enough

Anya got a globe Puzzleball for her birthday.

(We ignored the "for ages 12-99" label on the box.)

She worked on it a little Saturday night...

a little bit more early Sunday morning...

more on Sunday afternoon...

and after her schoolwork was done on Monday...

she finished it!

***

And now she wants the moon...

Home Tour - Part 3

As requested, here is the final installment of our home tour!

(If you'd like to see the first two parts click here and here.)

The Master Bathroom:

The Office/Music Room/Guest Room:

The Laundry Room:

And that's the end of the home tour!

(Want to come visit?)

Home Tour - Part 2

Welcome to Part 2 of the Home Tour.

Log stairs:

Upstairs landing:

The boy's bedroom:

The girls' bedroom:

Master bedroom:

The Attic:

(to be continued...)

(maybe...)

Home Tour - Part 1

When we moved into this house in June, I had every intention of doing a photo tour...

just as soon as I had every room set up the way I want it.

Now that September is almost gone, I have accepted that

the room-set-up-thing's not going to happen any time soon.

So here's a partial tour of our new house as it looks right now, and maybe someday (if and when things ever get arranged like we want them) I'll do another "official" tour.

To the right of the front door:

The Living Room

(looking left from the front door)

The Dining Room:

The Kitchen:

(to be continued...)

A.W.O.L.

I have been AWOL, I know. Wanna hear all of my excuses? Nah. That would take too long. Let's just say things have been crazy around here. (So, what else is new, right?)

Mike's current schedule is somewhat unpredictable, which really messes with my own schedule! He's working nights, coming home usually sometime between 2 and 6 (yes, those are both a.m.) and going back to work around 11 (also a.m.). The kids are really good about staying quiet while he sleeps, but there have been some interesting adjustments to our daily schedule, to say the least!

We are moving right along with school, in spite of all the "extra" stuff I've been working on around the house. Unfortunately, we didn't quite finish painting the entire house before Mike started his crazy/busy schedule, so guess who is getting to finish the job! I am itching to get to the sorting/packing up part of getting ready to put the house on the market and move, so to keep myself honest, I had to promise Mike that I would finish the painting before I started packing. Because just promising myself wouldn't work.

I really like sorting and packing.

Painting...not so much.

The Short Answer

I have been asked by quite a few people lately why I haven't blogged in a while. Therefore, I am going to assume that ALL of you would like to know the answer!

Normal life has been no busier than usual. I am averaging two loads of laundry per day (plus some extra spring cleaning loads), and two loads of dishes per day. The house still doesn't clean itself, and the bathrooms have needed extra attention lately. (Isaak is out of diapers!) The grocery stores refuse to come to me, and these growing kids still insist on eating regularly. Our school workload has increased because we've had some catching up to do, and we've added in weekly art study and some extra reading (at their request!).

But that's just my normal life.

Some of you may have heard that we have another move looming large in our future, and that is one of the biggest things that has contributed to fewer blog posts. (I have another blog post brewing in my head about another contributing factor, but you'll have to be patient on that one!)

Even though the move is not for many months (if at all, this being the Army!), it has consumed my time. I spend almost every spare minute of quiet that I can find planning for 3-year-old preschool, 2nd grade, and 3rd grade - lesson plans, schedule, booklists - with the intent of starting our next school year on the Monday after this school year ends. That way, when the move actually does appear on our calendar, I won't have to try to juggle school as well as packing, moving, and unpacking. We'll be able to take some time off without falling behind.

We're also starting to prepare the house to put on the market. For now, that means I pack up books and anything else that can be easily stored so we don't have to try to paint around it all. Once we've got a room or two cleared of extra stuff, I get to start painting. Thrillsville.

On top of all that, the neighborhood garage sale I've been planning to participate in has been scheduled. Oh, no, not for sometime sensible and convenient, like May or June, but for April! So, I have about 4 weeks in which to finish sorting through the house, move stuff to the garage, and price everything. In my spare time.

In spite of all that, I really do plan to post more frequently...soon! Don't give up on me! :)

Stretching Our Math Horizons

After we finish the Pledge of Allegiance and our daily review, we do Math.  We started Horizons Math this year, and so far, I'm planning to stick with it for next year too.  

All of the reviews that I read before I bought it said that Horizons Math is an advanced curriculum.  When it arrived and I compared their Kindergarten program side by side with the Calvert Kindergarten curriculum that I had used for Jaela and Macey, I discovered that the reviewers were telling the truth!  I started Jaela and Macey in Horizons 1 at the beginning of the year, and quickly discovered that in NO way whatsoever had that Kindergarten Math curriculum prepared them for Horizons 1st Grade Math.  (OK, to be fair, they DID learn shapes, patterns,  how to count to 30, and that there are different kinds of coins, but that was about it.)  So, I bought the workbooks for the second half of Kindergarten for them.  They have done fine, and once they realized that they are doing "Kindergarten Math -- the same as Anya!", they have worked even harder and done two lessons a day so they can get to the 1st grade stuff.  :)

I'll admit it though, even though this program is user-friendly, none of us like Math.  Anya says she does, until it is actually time to do it.  :)  I haven't let on to the kids how I feel about Math, but we do it in the beginning of our day so that we can get it over with and get on to the stuff we really enjoy.  But they don't need to know that.  :)

Repetition, Repetition

We begin every school day (except for Tuesdays, since we leave the house between 7:30 and 8:00 for CHET) with the Pledge of Allegiance.  Our address and phone numbers, how to dial 911, and all the memory verses we've worked on as well as the current one are all posted on the bulletin board above our school-table for easy reference.  After the Pledge of Allegiance, we review our address and phone numbers, and our memory verse for the week.  About once a week, we also review how and when to dial 911.

Our memory verses (in the NIV) this year are ABC verses.  Each week's verse starts with the next letter of the alphabet.  (A:  All Scripture is God-breathed...  B:  Blessed are the...  C:  Children, obey your parents...  and so on.)  Most of the verses were chosen for their, um, instructive nature, and as I have mentioned in an earlier post, they're not only instructive for the kids;  I need them too!  :)