Au Revoir'

This will be my last post for a while. I have spent the last week, for the most part, away from the computer. Trying to finish construction on the guest bathroom (I grouted it myself, super proud there!!), getting the house cleaned up, trying to get photography orders printed up and shipped out, not to mention all the normal day to day activities such as cooking and cleaning and teaching... And it was actually quite nice!

I realized, at some point, that here I am, trying to simplify my life, make things less stressful, a bit easier, less hectic and yet I am on the computer at least 3 hours a day, searching for things, reading emails, blogs, facebook, etc...

I have LOVED reading what all my new bloggy friends are doing. I love getting inspired from you all. I get a kick in the tush at times, reading what all you are doing and realizing I was falling behind (ie: bible stories and praying together...) I have LOVED, most, every minute. There have been times, though, not gonna lie, that I felt that I was not being the best I could be. I would read what all you are doing, and wonder - "Why cant I be like that?" or "What special 'mom gene' did I miss out on where I can't get all this accomplished, too?"

You all wear Super Mom capes, in my eyes, and I hope to be as great as you all. At this time, though, I feel that my time, attention, energy is best spent here, in my home not in my computer and dream world. I need to realize what all I can be and not what all I wish I could be. I need to spend more time focusing on what I can teach Lily and what all we can do and not what I am unable to do because of location, finances or relationships...

I want to say THANK YOU to all you wonderful women. You have lifted me up when I need it, you have made me laugh when I though none would come that day. You have shared with me, allowed me to visit in your world and home. You have prayed for me and allowed me to pray for you. You have ministered to me in many ways during a tough time. And I thank you all for that!! God gives you what you need in your time of need... and you all were exactly what I needed!

Dont get me wrong, I hope to be back. :) I hope to be able to still stop by and read what all you are working on now and then. I hope to get back to blogging what all is going on at the farm and what new book I am reading... but for now I just wanted to say-

Thank you!!

Seek first his Kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:33

Remembering

November 13, 2001 I enlisted in the Army Reserves as a Photojournalist.  I shipped out for Basic Combat Training, BCT, in Missouri on February 15, 2002.  Graduating at the end of May, I then headed to Maryland for my Advanced Individual Training, AIT.  I graduated from AIT August 6, 2002 and headed home, a soldier in the United States Army Reserves.

I was never deployed overseas, however I did cover some AWESOME events and went on some amazing Annual Trainings.  I spent a few weeks in Washington DC, shortly after the WWII Memorial was opened.  I spent nearly a month in Germany.  I have covered Change of Command ceremonies, Deployment and Re-Deployment Ceremonies.  I have had stories and photographs published many times in various magazines and papers.

I was given an early discharge in September 2008.  I was suppose to be in until November of 2009.  I received a knee and ankle injury during BCT, then reinjured it during AIT.  At some point I injured my wrist.  I was unable to pass the Physical Fitness test.

In June of 2006 I delivered Lily, via C-Section.  Recovery from the surgery was not at all pleasant and I had a lot of pain from the scar preventing me from doing sit-ups…

I turned down promotion for over 2 years because of my being unable to complete the PT test.  I felt it was not right for me to be in charge of lower enlisted soldiers when I was not a “complete” soldier.  I did not want to be in the position of expecting them to do something when I was unable.

I have spent this week going through both my and my husbands duffel bags.  He was in the Marine Corps for over 11 years before receiving a medical discharge.  (We make a good couple, huh… both broken)  :) 

Plastic totes now cover my kitchen floor.  Contained in them are memories from what seems like a lifetime ago.  Memories that make up who I am now, memories that have changed my life so drastically that some would not be able to understand unless they have walked in my shoes.  My life changed from a scatterbrained college girl to a “dress-right-dress” adult.  I like things in a row, organized, clean cut. 

I made so many friends from so many different walks of life while in.  I was Reserves, so one weekend a month I reported to my unit.  This unit took care of me.  I knew if I were to be deployed I would not need to worry, they had gone before me, they knew the ropes and they would keep me safe.  Even after getting married and being offered the chance to change units to one closer by, I stayed with my unit, 6 hours away.

I miss being a soldier.  I miss the camaraderie that comes with being in the unit, being part of the gang…. I miss the traveling, the different assignments.  I would LOOOOVE to go back to Germany.

Anyway, these thoughts have been going through my mind while I go through our uniforms, while I get them ready to pack away.  3 large boxes will now occupy a space in our basement, filled with BDU’s, Utilities, PT uniforms, class A’s and B’s, Covers, shoes, belts, rank, ribbons, plus much more.  Not to mention all the memories that go along with it…

 

A Hunger for the Holy

We are doing this book study on Wednesday nights at church.  Our pastor is leading the study, and BOY was last night GOOOOD!!  I just had to share my notes (took 3 pages worth!!)

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A Hunger for the Holy   by Calvin Martin

Session 2- Nurturing Intimacy with Christ

Psalm 107: 8-9

vs.8 Let them praise the Lord for his great love, and for all his wonderful deeds to them

vs.9  For he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.

- Christ is the ONLY one that can satisfy the hunger of our hearts-

Psalm 51 ( whole thing)

vs.10 Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me.

**Barriers that keep us from being hungry for the Holy**

1) EMPTYNESS-  God wants to fill us with his Holy Spirit.

~  We must spend quiet time with God to be filled with the Holy

* just because we go to Sunday school, put money in the tithe plate or carry a Bible does not mean you are filled!

We can have all the newest gadgets, all the latest and greatest of everything, but if we don’t have God filling us, daily, with his word, his love, then we have nothing.

2) SHALLOWNESS- Its about how much can we be consumed by God!!

We have the mindset of ‘What can God to do for me’ rather than ‘How can we be filled with the Holy…’  We act as though we are entitled to what he can do for us.

How often do we think about what we can do for others?  How often do we wonder if there is something that someone else needs…  We need to be so consumed by God that people around us can feel His love radiating from us.

3)  SIN- 

       Psalm 51:10  Create in me a clean heart…  acknowledge that we are sinners, that we have a dirty heart.

In verse 3 of chapter 107 David recognizes his sin.  He admits them to God and asks Gods forgiveness and to ‘clean his heart’.  We should recognize and ask to be forgiven for specific sins, ask Him to clean your heart and help you to not repeat the sins.

  “God, create in me a clean heart.  Forgive me of ________ sin.  Help me to be rid of this habit.”

4) POWER- Power can be a sin because it is connected to the ego.  The thought or idea that something or someone belongs to us.

  “Drunk with power”

5)  BUSYNESS-   

Psalm 51:17  The sacrifice you want is a broken spirit. A broken and repentant heart, O God, you will not despise.        

             Someone willing to slow down and spend time in the presence of God.  We are too busy to enjoy the intimacy of time spend with Him.  We have cell phones to do everything for us, talk, email, schedule, directions, etc…  We rush from one thing to another, not taking time to enjoy what he has made.  We rush through Sunday service to get home to lunch and the game, we rush from school to get to practice to get to friends, only to neglect spending time with Him.

vs.15 Unseal my lips, O Lord, that I may praise you.

   Only when we are filled by God will we be truly satisfied.

“Dear God, Show me the obstacles that are in the way of me wanting to be filled with the Holy!”

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This is so totally what I want.  I want more than the high school ‘Jesus high’ I would get, after going to youth camp.  I want to be FILLED with the HOLY SPIRIT!!!  I want an intimate relationship with HIM!!!   Jono (pastor) said that people can sit for 4 hours watching a game on TV, but get mad if he goes over 5 minutes with his sermon.  He suggested having a 2 hour worship service… I just about whooped for joy, I would LOVE that!  He is the type of speaker that really draws you in, he is easy to listen to, he makes the Bible come to life…   of course, there will not be a 2 hour service :(   Maybe one day he will, maybe one day people will get all fired up for Jesus, they will yearn to learn more about the only one that can fill us with joy, love, happiness, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and self control…  How awesome would that day be!!!

    Anyway, like I said, last night got me all riled up.  I just wanted to share my notes.

2nd week of school

This week is letter 'B'... We are painting a bird house, we are reading books that begin with 'B', talking about butterflies (We might go visit the Butteryfly House at Callaway Gardens), making Blueberry muffins... So much to do...

This week started off, however, finishing up from last week and letter 'A'. We finally did our Acorn art. I will post photos later, but pretty fun stuff!!

Just an FYI-

The next few weeks are going to be crazy, its WEDDING time. My youngest sister is getting married next Saturday. So lots of cleaning, guests, photos and much more will be happening over the next few weeks...
So, after all is said and done- I will do a debriefing, of sorts... post lots of photos and such...

Have a great week!!

Not what I expected

The end of my first week homeschooling... it didn’t go like I was expecting. 

      Tuesday went like I thought it would.  We did some work book pages, read books, played outside, practiced writing... 

      Then Wednesday came along- Library half the day, then 2 1/2 hour naps for both of us, an afternoon of laundry then church in the evening.  No work was accomplished. 

     Thursday was suppose to be school in the morning then to the lake to swim with the home school group.  First time meeting up with them...  then finish up work in the afternoon... well, we didn't do any work in the morning, late to get to the lake, stayed longer than I wanted, met a few moms but not much interaction, home to get supper started then off to bed. 

      Today we went to Columbus to pick up Kasey’s wedding dress.  Poor girl!  This is the second time she has gone to get her dress and both times it isn’t ready, needing a little more of this, a little more of that... 

So all this to say-  We didn’t do half of what I wanted to get done this week.  The acorn art supplies are still sitting on the shelf waiting to be used...  I may do it next week, just because...

     I am fairly flexible.  I like some structure, and being able to change up our routine is what I am looking forward to most about teaching Lily at home.  Are you still able to teach amidst all the running around?  How??  I know there are ways to incorporate everyday activities into learning… But is it normal to have weeks like this, where not much gets done?? 

How do you ladies do this??  I haven’t done any house work, I need to vacuum horribly!!  The dished need to be put away, laundry finished, folded and put away... 

     How to you find balance between being a teacher/mom/wife/homemaker???  How do you find the time to do it all???  Is there a secret schedule I need to find?  A book I need to buy?? 

     Hopefully next week will go better.  Nothing planned, as far as outing (other than our Wednesday trip to the Library), so maybe all our "B" activities will get done.

Have a great weekend.  We are off to the Circus... (even though right now I feel like I  am the circus!!)

First Day of School

We had our first day of school today.   First thing this morning, after breakfast, we went to the Institute to “exercise”.  I enjoy running (and am really out of shape right now), so we took Lily’s tricycle and I ran a few laps while she biked… 

      We are studying the letter A this week. So we did an Ant Study…  5 different types of food on a plate

1) peppermint

2) lettuce

3) gum

4) Apple

5) crackers

Lily thought the ants would be healthy ants, so we decided to see what they would like to eat. 

We placed the plate under a tree where there was a HUGE ant hill.  We waited a little while, Lily wanted to see them eat.  I convinced her to go inside and we would come back out in about 30 minutes to see what was eaten… well, when we got back out side the cats or dogs, not sure which one, had eaten everything… go figure!!  :)

This is her first Letter A work sheet. I have some that are like this that will help her with writing and some that are just the block letters.  I hope to use those for art projects.  I also have a “make your own book” out of dinosaurs, each letter has a dinosaur.  She is really into them right now.  She loves to watch Dinosaur Train on PBS.

Our next project/assignment was to color a picture frame for her school photo.  $2.00 from Hobby Lobby, not a bad deal, so she colored it, then we went outside for her photo.  It only took 20+ frames to get her to smile pretty.     

I have a lot of goofy looking faces, but I just LOVE this smile!!!

She wanted this photo in the frame…  still a pretty good smile!

This is a photo of our September schedule.  It looks BUSY, but it really isn’t.  I have 3-4 things a day to work on, reading, art, music, cooking, science, play… lots of fun things I hope she will enjoy doing as well as learn from while doing them…

 

And these are the two books that I am using mostly right now.  I am LOVING the Backyard Discoveries book.  It has hundreds of games, art, science, math, you name it, it has it all in our back yard!!!  Awesome!!  Then the Complete Early Childhood Curriculum Resource has suggestions for each subject, charts and forms for “monitoring” their progress, for documenting what all they need to learn, are learning and have learned.  It goes month by month giving holiday suggestions and such, more structured but full of great information… 

So this is our first day of school.  I think it went smoothly.  Tomorrow we have Story Time at the Library, always fun, and more of the letter A!!  Hope you all are doing well!!

~ Kristina

Windows

50's during the night
70's during the day

Lots of time spent outside playing and exploring.

The feeling of FALL is on the way!

I am LOVING this weather. Projects are getting done around the house (It has been too hot to work on some of them) A play house is in the works for Lily, make out of scrap wood laying around the house and yard. Our windows have been open for 3 days now, letting in the fresh air. Oh how I love the smell if a crisp morning in the house!!!

I feel like I can do EVERYTHING when the weather cools down! I just love the fall!!!