This week has been a busy one around here.  Next week will probably be the same.  Its that time of year when we are all really tired of school work, so i decided to take the whole week off next week.  We would have only have had school Monday and Tuesday anyway.  Ive wanted to set down and re think our scheduling and add a few things, so this will give me the opportunity to do just that.

   Monday, our homeschool group met for a fall party.  This year we really focused on Thanksgiving and had a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.  All the kids told something they were thankful for and then they put on a short skit of the first thanksgiving.  I thot they all did very well considering it was all put together in 10 min. LOL  We have a large group of homeschoolers in our area. Its always great to get together with them.

   Wednesday, was my hubby's birthday.  He only had school that day and no work so he was able to come home by 2:30.  We went out to eat and then he went to his favorite store (Game Stop, imagine that lol) where I had gotten a gift certificate.  I had made him his fav. cake earlier (German chocolate) and we ate that later in the evening.  Earlier that morning I had to take one of my boys to the dentist. While I was out my other children made cards for their daddy.  It was a great day.

   This week I tried a pumkin bread recipe I found at the Family Homestead.  It was really good.  For me it made 2 loaves and we ate it for breakfast most of the week.  It was nice to have an easy morning of no cooking.  I think I may try to bake some things to have for breakfast some after noon every week. 

   For a few weeks now, I had become quiet complacent in my housekeeping.  Ive really focused this week on getting things back together.  So, now I have a really clean house again.  Today, I have to pick up and then finish up laundry.  If it warms up enough, I plan on doing some raking in the yard.  Right now its 34 degrees, so we will see.  

   With the cold weather, Im having to get use to the boys being back in the house for long periods of time.  Last winter they were still taking naps, but they no longer do this  .   Coming up with constructive things for them to do is a real challenge.  So far here is what we do.  (the ones to occupy are 4, 5, 6,)  ......... Playdough, legos and building blocks, coloring and crafts, board games........... if anyone has any other ideas pleasssssse enlighten me.  LOL !

  The weather has seemed to have turned a bit cool overnight.  Very windy today.  With the cooler temps in August we have had a great fall and it seems to be coming to an end.  But we live in Arkansas and it could be in the 70 tomorrow so who knows. 

  This week has been a bit unorganized.  I just couldnt seem to get it together all week.  Dont ya just hate times like that !  Well, hopefully my mind will be in better shape this coming week.

  Today, I plan to clean a bit around the house.  I hope to get the laundry fully caught up too.  We will see.  Later I am going to the church to help clean up.  It is still going through a remodeling process so it needs a bit extra TLC on Saturday's to have it looking nice for Sunday.

  Well, this is all for our Saturday plans.

Tonight's dinner was a big hit.  I tried homemade sloppy joes for the first time.  I dont think I'll ever buy it in the can ever again.  The best part is it's super easy and great for a when you are going to have a busy evening.  I started it in the crockpot right after lunch and it was ready by dinner.  I found the recipe at Crystal's blog at the family homestead.  So here is the link.....

http://thefamilyhomestead.com/crockpotsloppyjoes.htm 

The only difference is the cooking time.  Mine probably only cooked in the Crockpot for 3 hours on hight but came out great.

This week's Menu    

Monday:  Crock pot sloppy joes (first time trying this)

Tuesday:  Grilled Pork Chops, Roasted potaoes, Salad

Wednesday: Crock pot enchiladas, tortilla chips and salsa, salad

Thursday:  Homemade Chicken noodle soup (also a first timer)

Friday:  Crockpot Rotisserie Chicken, Sweet potatoes, Salad (yet again a first timer)

Saturday:  Mexican Beef Stew and cornbread

Today has been a beautiful day of rest.  We went to church this morning.  Today was our day to be in the nursery.  This is one of the ministries my hubby and I do at our church.  I know for myself, its nice to be able to really get into the service without worrying about your babies.  I know some have the argument that children need to be in the service, and I can see that also, but as a stay at home mom, or a working mom, its nice to have a few interupted hours to really pour yourself out to God. 

After church services, we decided to go to the park for the afternoon.  So off to Wal-Mart we went to grab hotdogs to grill and drinks.  It was such a lovely day out.  A bit cool when the wind blew but really nice.  It was great to have this time as a family.  With hubby in school and working long hours we really have to make family time happen.

When we returned home hubby put our three youngest for a nap.  Sunday is the only day they nap now. And I also took a two hour nap.  Another thing we do due to hubby's late hours or work and studying is stay up a bit too late most nights. Its the only we get alone time.  So most Sunday's we take a nap and seem to catch up on all our lost rest. 

Tomorrow is the night my bible study group meets.  Its also a great refreshing for me.  The ladies of our group are a very diverse group of stay at home/homeschooling mom, working moms, single women, women with no kids, and of course my pastor's wife.  I always leave blessed.  Because its on Mondays it makes the start of my week even busier trying to get everything done, yet it a great way to start the week to.  This week we will be meeting at a coffee shop who lets us have bible study their often so i will make dinner simple.  The coffee shop has the greatest soups and sandwhiches.

Hope everyone has a very blessed week !

I believe this election has shown that we no longer live in a God fearing Christian nation.  Its even more clear how the church has lost a generation of youth that are now celebrating the election to the president they helped elect.  Ive been reading some forums on politics and one paticular that interest me was one titled " Why born again Christians vote for Obama ".

I was very interested in knowing what would entice them to vote for Obama.  Most answers were just that they didnt trust republicans anymore.  The discussion turned to one asking how could a born again Christian justify voting for him when its apparent how he feels about abortion.  Some were very torn on this issue.  Yet one paticular commit just saddened me to no end.  She said that it was not a thought that she had when deciding.  She stated that it was irrelevant and tired of hearing that it was still being talked about.

How can killing innocent babies be irrelevant ?  This is the state of mind of many in our nation.  Although I did not vote for Obama, I know God will let happen what he wants when it is time.  And after hearing these kinds of comments He may be saying its time. 

I believe instead of being fearful of this we should prepare our hearts.  All around the world Christians are persucuted yet we have remained free here.  It will come weather its Obama or not .  I remember the same fears when Clinton was elected. Yet how we respond will determine how we win this generation.  They are untouched by last generations church methods.  This is what Ive been thinking about alot.  Im not saying toss away God's Word but we should take a look at our methods.  God used numerous ways to reach people with the same message.  I have a friend in my neighborhood who is a non-christian.  I never felt comfortable witnessing to her.  I always felt something holding me back.  Yet we visit almost everyday letting our children plaay together.  She asked me not too long ago about why I go to church and proceeded to tell me what she has always thot of the church.  After she finished I didnt tell her why I went to church.... I told her why I was a Christian.  I could tell she was very touched.  A few days later she asked for me to help her recieve what we had discussed.  I was floating on cloud nine.  We've talked everyday and Ive givin her a Bible to read and we discuss her questions quiet alot.  Yesterday, I asked her what made her decide to accept Christ now.... and her answer blew me away..... she said it was my family..... we were so different than the people she saw at church..... non judgemental yet I stood on what I believed.  I never once told her what she did in her life was wrong and treated her no different. She said in her words that I just loved her as she was.  This has really made me think. 

Now Im not saying Christians shouldnt tell others about Jesus but maybe our approach is not being reached by this generation.  Are we trying too much and leaving God out in our zealous.  Is this what is turning people off to our savior.... the church ? Its irrelevant .  Is this what the world sees?

Maybe this election is a wake up call for the church as well.  I do sometimes myself thing the religious right pushes too hard.  Yet , I also think how do you balance it ?  It is alot to ponder.  One lesson I have learned is how I need to let God work more in the lives of the lost and I follow his lead.  Weather it is inviting someone to church, or being still and just loving someone until he does the work.

Thanks for letting me indulge in my ramblings this morning.

Today promises to be a another great fall day.   A bit of a chill in the air, but the temps should reach 75 today.  We've really been enjoying the outside as much as possible.  I havent blogged in a while because I took a computer break.  Alot of things were going on around here and we all know how the computer can manipulate are time if we let it.  And I was letting it. 

As a result, Ive been spending alot of time in prayer and studying God's Word.  I could tell I had been slipping a bit in this area.  God has really been doing a work in my life about legalism.  Sometimes as Christians we can get quiet legalistic in the name of holy living.  Also in our everyday living.  Take for instance keeping our home.  Yes, its important to keep a clean home, but we must not get so caught up in this we miss the time we have with our kiddos.  I think the main thing Ive been learning is balance.  So, Ive been taking more time just to go out with the kiddos and enjoy the time with them.  We have usually been staying out till nearly dark, then coming in for a light dinner, bath and sometimes a little movie.  Before, bed we do a 30 minute tidy up and the house is good to go for the next day.

We've also been doing the same in the morning right after breakfast.  Either my daughter or son does morning dishes, and the other tackles the bedroom.  And I make and tidy our bedroom.  (this usually takes a little over 5 min for me)  Then I by this time a load of laundry, which I put on right before I started breakfast is ready to be folded.  After this I do a quick wipe of the bathroom and sweep all the floors.  We are usually completely done in 20 min. 

Now we are ready for school.  We've been doing alot of this outside. I think everyone has enjoyed it very much.  Sometimes we pause to watch a squirrel collecting his winter supply of acorns, or listen to a song of a bird that catches our attention.  Having school outside also helps with the little ones.  They dont seem to have to have your attention as much.

After school, I do about 30 minutes more of housework.  Its usually folding up another load of laundry, mopping the floors, and doing the daily zone cleaning I find on flylady.  And then I quit and go enjoy the rest of the day. 

Its awesome the work God does in our lives.  Learning to balance and let go has really helped out home.  I'm cleaning less but getting more done and having more time for my family.

I would love to hear from you all the things you have been learning from God.

Have a very blessed weekend.........

This past spring I embarked on a journey.  An organization journey.  My hubby and I have always been pack rats.  But since moving into a very small two bedroom and having 5 kids I was beginning to go insane. LOL.  So since I couldnt knock down walls, or reduce the number of people living in our home (just a joke )  I started purging our home of all things that we really didnt need or use.  Well, as summer started I had made my way through the house and stopped with our bedroom.  Summer activities came and I think trying to keep the other rooms neat and tidy my bedroom began getting piled up. So, this week I had enough.  Ive spent the whole week making my bedroom a place I want to go into again.  And wow its so nice now.  Hubby and I went through our clothing and I had a van load of clothes i took to good will.  We didnt realize there was so much just piled up.  Now the only thing left is my closet.  But that will be saved for another day.  Today I am done and do not want to tackle another pile.

I had to take my son, Ethan back to the doctor Thursday.  It had only been 2 weeks since he had pnemonia and he wakes up Thurs. morn. sounding congested.  Ugg.  The doc. did chest xrays and his lungs were clear.  His ears looked good and so did his throat.  hmmmmm.   So, he went ahead and gave him more antibiotics and said if this did not work he would treat him for alergies.  More ugggg.  Hes doing a bit better but his eyes are starting to be runny.  So I as well suspect allergies.

Today, I plan to do a bit of house work and laundry. After that hopefully just enjoy the nice autumn day.

Today I am taking Ethan my younges to the doctor.  He is scheduled for a check up after finding out he had pnemonia last week.  He's done real well since we came home. He's only had to use his inhaler a few times, mainly when have a coughing spell.  Im praying all will go well.  With the pharmacy of medicine we came home with he should be getting very well lol. 

We probably wont get much school work done today if any.  Its a 45 min drive to the docs.  Today a friend of mine is watching my other kiddos.  Its always much easier to go to the doctor without taking everyone.

Hopefully I will get more fall cleaning done.  I plan to finish up the winter clothing today.  I want to make a list of what everyone has and what they need and then check out the secondhand store and catch the fall sales.  One good thing about homeschooling, you only have to have a few really good outfits.

Today I will have ribs in the crockpot for dinner.  I plan to bbq them and serve with ranch beans and corn on cob.  This morning for breakfast is waffles.... who knows what lunch will be lol.

Now its off for a shower and then wake everyone up.

Today is a beautiful autumn day.  Just a slight chill to the air.  I set up our fold up table and have been doing school outside today.  I always love to do this. My younger ones can play contentedly while I help the older ones.  And once in awhile we pause as we see a bird or notice the beautiful blue sky. 

As the weather is turning I am still working on getting all the winter clothing washed and put away.   Last weeks sicknesses put me behind on this. 

Later tonight is women's bible study which Im so looking forward to.  I havent gotten to go for a few weeks now.  Tonight we are doing some work on our church.  Our old building is in need of renovations and our church has been blessed with some extra donations just for this reason.  We now have new ac/heating units, new kitchen appliances and some other cosmetic work.  I havent seen all the changes and not sure what we will do tonight, but I look forward to being able to help in this.  Sometimes staying at home with my kiddos Im not able to help out as I wish.  But Id rather my kids be home with me learning than being able to volunteer for everything out there anyday.

Well, lunch is over and its time to hit the books again.

Hope everyone has a very blessed day.

Ive really been terrible lately about planning meals.  But here is what Ive come up so far for this week.

Monday:  Lasagna, garlic bread, salad

Tuesday:  Crockpot Enchilada

Wednesday:  BBQ Ribs, ranch beans , corn on cob

Thursday:  Chicken Soup

Friday:  Creamy Pork Chops, Mashed potatoes

This is definitely one week I am glad to see gone.  All but one of my kiddos have been sick this week.  Thursday, Ethan my 4 year old, woke up all congested.  He had a bit of a runny nose during the week but other than that was fine.  Around 11am I noticed he was breathing really hard.  He sounded as if he had been running and out of breath and all he was doing was sitting in my lap.  I called my hubby and he came home and we decided I should take him to the ER.  ( Of course it happened to be our doctors half day)  Well, it was a good thing we took him.  After a  chest xray the doc said he had pnemonia.  We stayed in the hospital over night.  He's doing better but I noticed he is still breathing pretty hard at times.  His doctor sent us home with an inhaler, and said he also wanted to keep a look out in case he has asthma.  He goes back Tuesday to have an xray and hopefully will be lots better.

Time to go for now.... hubby is  needing to take a test online.  He's also gotten a bit behind over this week.

Today was one of those days where a daily routine was just not going to happen.  We did have school as usual but that was about it.  Hubby came home yesterday about 10:30 am sick with a stomach virus of sorts.  He had to leave in the middle of one of his classes and then came home.  Except for running to the bathroom, he stayed in bed the rest of the day.  He was a bit better today but still stayed home just incase.  He decided to work on our computer this morning because it was running sooo very slow.  ITs been like that for awhile but getting steadily worse.  He thot inspite of virus protection a virus had gotten through and decided to restore it back to when it was new.    I wasnt aware he was going to do this so I lost some things.  I spent the rest of the day downloading what we needed.  But, it is running very fast now and like a new pc.  I guess it was worth the trade off.  Hubby said he was afraid to keep anything not knowing what could have been infected.  After school and working on the pc to get it back up and running I decided that was enough for today.   Yesterday, we had chili for dinner and had alot left so tonight it was chili dogs.   Hubby mostly ate jello today.  Hopefully his is just an isolated case and everyone else will stay well.  We all know how a stomach virus affects a fairly large family.

Tomorrow, I plan to work some more on washing winter clothes and sorting them.  This always takes awhile.  We were also given some clothes during the year so there is quiet a bit to go through. 

I think for most the changing of the seasons also brings a sense of getting ready.  Especially for the winter months.  We have very mild winters normally here but there are still things I try to do to prepare for the cooler months.  I normally dont start till late September, but this year we have had an abnormally cool August.  In southern Arkansas, August you normally see temps well over 100, but this year its been low 80's - high 70's.  And since Gustav its been low 70's.  Very nice indeed.  Not knowing if this is going to be a sign of an early winter Ive decided to start my fall preparations early.  We dont live in the country ( although I would luuuvvvv to) , have a farm or animals (other than one cat and one dog ), but there is still plenty to do.

Here are my usual preparations:

1)  I start by reducing the summer clothing I keep out.  Normally we have about another month of being able to wear shorts and short sleeves, but I add a few pair of pants, long sleeve shirts and light jackets to the closet for just in case.

2)  Having four boys I always keep the clothes from the year before, so I start washing these and sorting through who can wear what and what is no longer good to wear.  Then I catch sales and visit our good will store for bargains.  We always buy each a new pair of shoes.  I hate wearing shoes that someone else has worn so this is the one thing I do buy new.

3)  I clean out my pantry of out of date items and rearrange making more room for fall and winter cooking items.  I think everyone cooks different according to the seasons.  I also make a pantry list of what I need for fall baking.  This is also a good time to replace spices you havent used in a while to assure fresh ness.  Alot of times stores start having sales on baking items.  Its also a good idea to check your baking pans to see if any need replacing.

4)  Of course there are yard preparations.  For me that includes mowing one more time, ( hopefully its only one more time  )  and cutting back shrubs.  I also wash down my kiddos toys that they play with outside. 

5) Once cooler weather is upon us prepare my dog's dog house.  I buy hay to line his dog house to help keep him warm.  I do replace it during the winter once or twice.  First I wash the dog house out.  Its usually yucky and smelling by the time summer is over.

6)  And of course who can forget Christmas preparations.  September is when I start to buy gifts.  I love to give gifts !   I have the kids to make a list of what they most want.  And I make a list of who I plan to give to and decide how much Im willing to spend for the year.  We never go in debt over Christmas.  We use what we have.  Some years we do more than others according to our finances.  This is also a great time to buy Christmas cards.   Most of the time company's such as Christian Book Distributor has sale this time of year on last years stock. 

7) And who can forget fall cleaning.  Washing those stored blankets, cleaning the things that summer fun has forgotten, and flipping the mattress.  This is a good time to weed out in your closet and take stock on your summer clothing.  I give away those things I never seemed to wear.  Check out the sales.  Most stores are reducing the prices dramatically on summer wear.  A great time to prepare for next summer.  I take stock on the winter clothing also.  What do we need? 

    Think about others that you know while going through the closet.  I dont usually do yard sales, I much perfer to find someone who might need the clothing.

So, this is what I will be working on the next few weeks.  Today I will be mowing our lawn... so much rain lately that I now have a jungle in my back yard.   Yesterday I started washing up the winter clothes and going through the summer clothing. 

On the subject of homeschooling, we love to have school outside this time of year.  I have a fold up table we use under the carport and its quiet soothing reading under the trees. This also helps with younger children.  They seem to stay occupied longer playing outside.

I would love to hear of how others prepare for the change in the seasons.  I think for most, this is everyone's favorite time of the year.  I know its mine.  Isnt amazing how much more energy fall brings.

How busy its been here !  Last week was a very full week and so far this week is also.  School is going quite well.  Most days we complete the day I had planned.  We've had one nature day.  I just love to study nature and all my kiddos love it too.  We have a small state park down the road with lots of nature trails.  A friend who also homeschools went with my family one day last week and we walked several trails.  There was a lot to see this day.  Lots of lizards, little toads, and varies insects.  At one point the kiddos sketched their surroundings.  Nature Study is a great way to learn hands on and a break from the daily grind.  We were planning this week one last trip to the lake but Im not sure if we will make it.  My younger ones are studying the beach, rivers, and oceans.   This paticular lake we were to go to has a great beach area so it was as close as we can get to studying this up close.  But we probably wont be able to make it due to Gustav.

I live in southern arkansas and gustav has lingered now for the second day.  Of course it is now a tropical depression, but we've had high winds and lots of rain.  Nonstop rain.  Today as I look out its still raining but the winds have calmed.  Thankfully Gustav wasnt as bad as it could have been.

Today there is lots to do.  Im doing a bit of fall cleaning.  Doing Things that get pushed aside in the busyness of summer. Last week I focused on the bathroom.  This week I plan on reorganizing my cabinets and pantry and taking stock of what I have on hand.  We have been using what is onhand for meals the last few weeks so Im going to need to start stocking back up on things.  In the next few weeks I plan to start making broth and stock for soups.  Ive never done this, but love soup in the winter. I have a few new soup recipes to try out and cant wait. 

Today I need to make laundry soap and do lots of laundry.  Im going to try to wash bed covers today.  I probably wont get too much extra done because hubby comes home early.  Later we take our dog to the vet.

Hope everyone has a very blessed day ! !

  I had a comment from my last entry that I thot I needed to address.  This was the comment:

           " She is 13 and you treat her like 6.  Why such an early bedtime and who cares if she couldn't find her book?  Don't you think you over reacted taking her home that day.  Isnt homeschooling suppose to be lazy laid back teaching.

             Waking her up early in the morning to be like public school is a waster.  If you cant commit to your family time why bother her at all?  Your Pastor should stay out of your life.  Your the parents not some guy."

                                            - from Anonymous

  1.  Yes, she is 13 and we do not treat her like 6.  Her normal bedtime during school days is 9pm.  Yet in the morning when I wake her at 8 she complains about  being too tired and wants to lay around, then when asked to do something complains and mumbles about it.  This is not acceptable.  So if she cant handle going to bed at 9 she needs to go to bed earlier to be rested.  The earlier bedtime of 8 is only a month to make her realize about her complaining.  Kids, even at 13 cannot be left to their own whims.  Letting her stay up late is only hurting her by not getting enough rest.  Then she truly will be tired and wont be able to concentrate on her school work.  Giving her a bedtime so she can get adequate rest is called good parenting.  In a month she will go back to her regular bedtime. 

  2.  " Who cares if she couldn't find her book"  and  " Don't you think you over reacted by taking her home that day"

    First of all it wasn't that she couldn't find her book.  Read what I wrote.  She hid her book, so we couldn't complete her work for the day.  Same as an assignment in school uncompleted.  Its called consequences.  And no I did not over react.  We were at a friend of mine across the street when we were in the discussion and my daughter came in and heard the conversation and said the book wasn't lost she hid it and laughed that it was funny watching me look for it.  This was not good behavior.  She was proud that she tricked me and got out of her school work.  At that point I decided that I shouldnt wait to address this and we do this in private. Not with an audience of other children and adults.  So, we walked across the street to our home. As Gods Word says you should chastise your children quickly.

3.  " Isnt homeschooling suppose to be lazy laid back teaching. "

  Laid back yes.  Lazy never.  Yes I am a bit laid back on my teaching.  This is why we don't start till 9 am.  We are usually done by 2 including a lunch time.  Lazy is what her behavior is.  This is also unacceptable.  You cannot encourage laziness in children.  If so, you will have an lazy adult.  Once again its called good parenting.  I want my children to be educated.  At age 13 she should be able to handle a regular academic day. 

4. " Waking her up early in the morning to be like the public school is a waster"

  Why?  She needs to realize that you cant go through life doing as little as possible.  If she sees what it would be like not to be homeschooled and what she would be doing if she was at a public school then she will realize Mom is not so unbearable and Im not making her work too hard.  Once again its a lesson in reality.  Appreciation of what her parents are giving her. 

5.  If you cant commit to your family time why bother her at all.

  What?  Not sure I understand this one.  We are committed to family time.  This is what we are doing.  We just realize that with my husband in school and working late hours there is less of it during the school terms.  We are trying to preserve our family time and make sure we have enough time with them.  You obviously have not read what I have written.  We are trying to make sure are children are not neglected because of life commitments.

6.  " Your pastor should stay out of your life.  Your the parent not some guy"

  Once again read what I wrote.  We went to him.  We had been discussing our free time situation, come up with a solution and went to him so he would know why we weren't in Sunday Night Service.  He then said he absolutely agreed.  And said it was the best thing we could do to put our family above church traditions as long as our relationship with God stayed firm by doing what everyone should do and not just let "church services" be our time with God. In other words, our relationship with God has to be worked on during the week as well. 

  He was not trying to run our life or tell us what we should do with our children.  We went to him.

  While training your children you cant let disrespect, laziness and other behavior like this go.  No this is not the first instance.  Yes, I believe my daughter is going through the regular teenage phase but it is our duty to show her why this is wrong.  Its the parent that don't address these issue early that end up with full blown rebellion.  And Im sure we as parents will make mistakes.  She is our oldest, so that is bound to happen.

  Its easy to set back and be judgemental writing such comments anonymously.  Its harder being the parent trying to do the right thing.

  This isnt the kind of entry I normally have but it really hit a nerve and I had to address it.

At certain times in ones life you feel as if everything is going so good.  Everything is under control and you can conquer anything.  Well, that is not what I have been feeling lately.  There are some things I have really been battleing with my daughter.  She is 13.  Maybe that is enough said. LOL.  This year she has changed so much and its really been hard dealing with this.  She was always such a compliant, sweet child and now.  UGG !  Well, some things came to a head yesterday.  She had been complaining about getting up in the mornings ( I dont wake her till 8 or 8:30).  But at the same time she wants to stay up later. ( Her bedtime is at 9)  Also she complains about school work and has an awful attitude in doing anything asked.  Ive been warning her that she needs to straighten things out or I would have too.  LOL.  Yesterday, I had to do it myself.  During school time I couldnt find her science book, well, guess what, she hid it.  I looked everywhere, probably searched the house about an hour for it.  I didnt know she hid it.  We finished everything else still not knowing wher the book was.  Later in the day I was at a friends house and we were talking about things and mentioned how things could just disappear from your house ( we were talking about shoes and socks ). I told her about the science book.  Then my daughter started laughing and said the book wasnt missing she hid it and thot it was funny watching me look for it.  O BOY !  I couldnt believe this.  So, after a few minutes I politely told my friend we needed to go home so I could deal with this.  I sat down and talked with her about how disappointing this was for her to do this.  It wasnt just the act but the attitude she had.  I felt she was totally being disrespectful of how hard I worked to teach her and her brothers and did not appreciate what she had.  I could tell by the time I had talked to her she was really feeling bad about what she had done, but I knew I couldnt just let it go.  So, I told her I was going to discipline her for this and I needed to think on it for awhile.  After I had prayed asking for wisdom I decided that I needed to address the getting up and bedtime as well.  For a month she must go to bed at 8 with her lil bros.  I explained she couldnt sit up and then be hard to get up and mope around saying she was tired.  Also for a month she will go no where except with us, and no contact with her friends.  When hubby came home he was really upset and said that she doesnt realize how easy she has it being homeschooled and he wanted to show her what it would be like to be in a public school schedule.  So, for two weeks ( he wanted a month but I told him I didnt think I could hold up to it with all my other things to do)  she will be on  a public school schedule.  She will get up at 6:30, and by 8 be completely dressed and have breakfast ate and chores done.  She has to do school work till 3pm, take an hour break and then do the equilivant to 3 hours homework.  She is not happy.  But so far today the attitude has been much better.

In some ways Im not sure if this isnt too harsh, but we want her to learn now respect.  Plus, she cant go through life mumbling and complaining when she thinks things are hard. 

We've also decided that with hubby starting school back tomorrow we are going to work harder this year taking up what time he is home focusing on the kids.  It was very hard the last 2 years, with his only off day being Sunday, to have alot of family time.  So we talked with our pastor and he agreed our plan would be the best thing.  We will still take Sunday morning for church, but Sunday evening we will skip the service and spend it in family time.  ( or sometimes mommy and daddy time )  Like our pastor said its not about being in church 2 times that day but our walk with God.  Sundays are given to man as a day of rest and honoring him.  If we focus solely on going to church because thats the way its done and not our family and let things go we wont be anybetter than Eli the priest.  OOOO that really made sense.  Sometimes we get so caught up on doing God's work or what we feel is our christian obligation we forget the heart of what God wants.  My husband is the shepherd of our home and he is to keep his life spiritually in check as well as doing what is right for his flock (family )  This was so liberating.  We had thot of this last year to skip Sunday night but didnt know if this would be putting our family before God.  But after talking with our pastor and praying we really feel that this is what we need to do.  As pastor pointed out, in the New Testament, the church did not have appointed times you are ' suppose ' to meet to worship him. 

So, hopefully as we begin our new year of schooling, for children and hubby, we can stay prayerful listening to the Lord and lean on his strength and wisdom.  We know that when hubby is done with school in 2 - 2 1/2 years it will be worth it, but we must also maintain the things at home or it will be all for nothing.

Well, now that Ive vented a bit, and lunch break is over..... back to school work.

This week has definitely been very busy.  Teaching 4 instead of two is continuously challenging.  Just when I think we are starting to get into a routine, we have a bad whiny day with my younger three.    Well, we are moving forward regardless. 

My baby also had a birthday this week.  Ethan turned 4 on Tuesday.  We let him choose a place to go out and eat and he chose Mc D's.  He had received BD money from grandparents  so he got to go pick out what he wanted.  He sooo shopped like a man.  He knew what he wanted.  Walked down the toy aisle and didnt even look at anything till he came to the tractor section.   He loves tractors.  Bulldozers , dumptrucks you name it he wants it.  Even if he has one that looks just like it.  So he settled on a box of 10 John Deere tractors.  He very thoroughly looked over these and then said he wanted this one and jumped in the shopping cart and he was done. 

This was my hubbie's last week to have a day off for a while.  He starts the new school term the 27th.  So on his day off from work  he will be in school.  He will have Sundays off but that will be all.  We are starting to really look forward to him being done with school.  I think he has two years left and maybe one semester after that.

Well, thats about all from here.  I am going to catch up on this weeks house work this evening so hopefully my Saturday can be mostly free.  I have kept laundry up this week, so that's one accomplishment.

Hope everyone has a very blessed weekend.

Menu For The Week

Sunday:  BBQ roast sandwhiches

Monday:  Chicken Speghetti

Tuesday:  Tacos

Wednesday:  Roast w/gravy,  potatoes and carrots

Thursday:  Meat Loaf, mashed potatoes, ranch beans

Friday:  Speghetti