Thankful Thursdays

Today I want to do a post about "Thankful Thursdays".  This week I want to discuss 5 things I am thankful for. 

1)  My husband and children:  I have been truly blessed since my husband came into my life.  He is my best friend and the love of my life.  He is a wonderful head of our house.  He is a spiritual leader for us.  He is strong and consistent in his faith.  Our children are also such a blessing.  They bring such joy and excitement to our lives.  My sons have taken us on quite the adventure.  And our daughter just adds to that adventure in only the way a baby sister can.  There is never a dull moment in our home


2)  My Faith:  I am thankful to know that I have a personal Lord and Savior.  I am glad to know that He died on the cross for our sins.  

3) Homeschooling:  I am thankful I am able to homeschool our children.  The relationships between my children and us as well as between them is fantastic to watch.  It is nice having them around the house and getting to actively participate in their learning instead of simply battling to get homework completed.

4) I am thankful for our friends:  Even though we have moved twice in the past 6 years, we have made some really good friends (some of whom I consider to be family.  

5)  I am thankful that our family has spent almost the past six years living places that have 4 seasons.  It can be so peaceful to watch the snow fall on a quiet evening surrounded by our family.  Then in the spring, everything comes to life and becomes green.  That is followed by summer - even though there may be hot days, there are also cooler days mixed in as well.  Finally in fall the see the trees change to all different magnificent colors is such a wonderful experience.

So what are you thankful for today?

MY FAVORITE THINGS

I have quite a few favorite things in my life.  One of my most favorite things is my family.  My husband, three sons and one daughter bring a lot of blessings, love, joy and fun into my life.  I can not say growing up I expected to have four children.  Nor can I say I pictured my life looking as it does.  But I can not imagine any other life that would suit.  

My husband is truly the love of my life.  He is such a blessing to me and the answers to my prayers.   We have been married for 22 years and while they haven't always been perfect, we are still together and more in love than ever.  I can't imagine spending my life with any other.  When your parents separate when you are in your last year of college and then wind up divorcing the following year, it can't help but color your perspective.  However, having a personal Savior, Jesus Christ, sustained me.

We have four children - three sons ages 18, 16, and 14 plus a 12 year old daughter.  They are a blessing.  They are enthusiastic, active, funny and amazing.  God truly blessed my husband and I when He allowed us to be their parents.  These children mean my house is never quiet, dull or unimaginative.  Homeschooling them means I get to see these amazing children grow in their faith and in their interests.  I am truly thankful for them.

My second favorite thing is my collections of Bibles and Christian resources.  I love being able to spend time in God's Word and in prayer.  The resources help me to develop as a Christian.

Another favorite thing in my life is my teddy bear that I recently blogged about.  This bear was a wonderful gift from my husband for our anniversary.

Another favorite thing is reading.  There is nothing like a good book on a rainy or cold or snowy day.  Books can take me wherever I could imagine.  They also mean I am never bored.  I love discussing books with family and friends.  In the last several years, I became part of an Online Bible Study ministry through Proverbs 31 Ministries and I love the way the books challenge and touch my soul.

I love snow.  I love watching it fall softly and quietly.  I enjoy watching my children play in it.  I love seeing their snow creations including snowmen and snow forts.

Another favorite thing is attending homeschool conventions.  These conventions allow my family to connect and have fun while learning so many things.  Plus we get to see neat places and acquire more books.

These are just a few of my favorite things.  What are some of your favorite things?

Our Lovely Daughter

So today we are celebrating our first birthday of the month.  Twelve years ago today, we welcomed our first daughter into our family.  She was my easiest labor and delivery.  I basically rocked her into the world in a rocking chair.  She has been the joy of my life.  

She came into this world following her three brothers.  Following those brothers is exactly what she has not been satisfied to do.  Early on she decided that anything her brothers did, She could do better.  With homeschooling, she was constantly striving to move ahead.  She approached school with a thirst for learning.  

Her brothers got involved in Scouts, which meant she spent lots and lots of time around boys.  Considering both her dad and I were leaders for our pack and then troop, she attended numerous scout meetings.  She could hold her own around boys.  Nothing really scared her.  

She has an tremendous amount of determination.  At the same time, she shows her love for her family.  She thinks the world of her brothers.  Yet she also does not take anything from them.  

She is the joy of my world.  She is my little princess.  I love her dearly.  We were truly blessed the day she joined our family.

How we entered the world of Homeschooling

So as I said before, I was going to share how we got into the world of homeschooling.  Once again, God has a sense of humor.  You see my husband, prior to us beginning homeschooling, was totally against the idea.  He felt like children needed to be in classrooms in public schools.  I often hear people express that same opinion.  Moreover, I hear people say that children can become socialized while being homeschooled.  But I beg to differ.  I caution people to never say, "I could/would not ever do something/"  Because immediately that sets someone up to have to have their words thrown back in their face.  

Our son went to two different public schools for grades kindergarten thru 5th.  The first one he attended kindergarten through 2nd.  Then we moved from one home to a home on a military installation.  So he did 3rd and 4th there and began 5th.  However, he was placed in a classroom with a teacher that was completely the wrong person to be teaching him.  Because it was a small school on an air station., we did not have a lot of options.  This teacher made it impossible for us to leave him in the school.  The school had a full-time nurse who was at the school full-time.  On the morning in question, she was there.  My son had health issues that it would take us until 2013 to get diagnosed  (took that long for symptoms to get bad enough for us to want to put our son through endoscopies).  We knew he had heath concerns and this particular day, I knew he did not feel good.  But I asked him to try to hold out until lunch.  However, the teacher took it upon herself to determine that my son was faking as a result of forgetting to bring the spelling words he was forced to select on the second week of school instead of the teacher providing the list of words to the students.  She ended up yelling at me, not a good start for a conversation about my son.  She told me I could do what I wanted to with my son - so I took him home.  I knew my son was sick so what other choice would I make.  

Based on the conversation with the teacher, I went home with my son and called my husband.  I said something needed to change.  Our other 3 children all attended this school and had wonderful teachers, wonderful classrooms and had all their needs being met.  We had three choices - change all the children to a different school, change just Jacob to a different school (which didn't work because we would have to provide transportation and I could not be two places at one time).  Or we could just homeschool our oldest.  Mentally I had gone through all the possible decisions and  investigated homeschooling before I talked to my husband.  I knew I was up for the challenge - after all I had been a teacher in a classroom and taken the teacher certification courses.  So that part didn't scare me.  So I went into the conversation knowing what my decision was going to be.  Surprisingly enough he agreed with my choice.  Of course we had family members who were skeptical.  But in the long run, the majority came around.  Less than a month after bringing our son home we saw tremendous changes for the good in him.  He started to enjoy being around his family.  He started to do better with his schoolwork.  Within that first year, my husband became a really staunch advocate of homeschooling.  

We became part of a homeschool group, so that plus scouts gave him opportunities to be with others his own age.  The next year we brought all the children home and I have to say it has been a tremendous blessing for our family.

Life of a Mom of 4 - Day 2 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge

So I am participating in the Ultimate Blog Challenge and today I want to talk about life for me as the mom of 4.  I am a wife and a mother.  I also homeschool our 4 children.  Obviously I have held the title of wife longer than mother or homeschooler.  Life is never dull being the wife of a military service member, nor is it dull with 4 children in the house.

Our oldest turned 18 back in June.  He has been our interesting child.  Since the day he was born, he has never let us have a dull moment.  From breaking our crib to driving our van into a fence at 4 years old (although our 2nd son was his cohort in crime for that little excursion).  He keeps life exciting.  He is the protector of his little sister and achieved the rank of Eagle Scout.  He is the reason we got into homeschooling in the first place.  At 18 he still gives me tons of hugs and kisses along with saying he loves me.  He even does this in front of his friends (much to the friends' dismay and the friends' mothers disappointment that their sons don't).

Then along came number 2.  He's my one that arrived in the world before nurses or doctor were ready - or even the aunt who was my coach.  He  has a smile that lights up a room.  Although he quietly goes around stirring up trouble and leaving excitement in his wake.  I quickly learned to find him when things happened at our house.  This was also the child that at 2 years old assisted in the great minivan fence fiasco.  He is also an Eagle Scout and was the youngest scout in our troop at that time to have earned the rank.  He sets goals and achieves them!  He and his older brother earned their ranks of Eagle Scout on the same day and we had one fantastic Eagle ceremony, where their younger brother served as Master of Ceremonies.

Then came number 3 who took anything we might have thought we learned from 1 and 2 and made us throw it out the window.  This child had no fear - I repeat no fear!  He would jump into pools even if mom and dad were on the other side of the pool.  Because he knew we would race to the other side to get him.  At Busch Gardens Williamsburg, he went up and down the ropes area for kids and race down the slides only to jump up and race back to the top - sure that Daddy would catch back up with him before he reached the point where the attendants might make him stop.  And this was all because Mom couldn't keep up seeing how she was about 7 months pregnant at the time.  He's had the most stitches of our children- approximately 7 sets with the majority being in his head within a one year period.  We quickly discovered the only thing wrong was motor skill issues.  Fortunately we were able to take him to an amazing physical therapy office in NC. He was the only one to fracture a bone and other adventures as well.

Then along came his cohort in crime.  They are the dynamic duo and the Bobbsey Twins and quite a few other things rolled in one.  Our little girl quietly entered the scene and took everything in.  She moved with stealthiness that is hard to come by.  She is defended by her three big brothers.  She grew up with three brothers plus being surrounded by loads of boys thanks to Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts.  She has no fear either.  Anything the boys can do, I assure you she will say she can do better.  She is my little doll.  She is my sunshine.  

So needless to say, my life is never boring they keep me on my toes and I love every minute of it.  Often people tell me, "Oh I couldn't homeschool my children".  Well I say don't say you will never do something, because God has an amazing sense of humor.  So you might be surprised what you find yourself doing.  And #blogboost - 2 days down and 29 days to go!