We are back

We came back from my Fil and Mil's house on Saturday. We had a great time, despite some sicknesses going around. Andrew didn't handle being somewhere else very well but he made it through. Summer vomited Christmas night and my Fil didn't feel well either. BUT, God is good and he blessed the time we had with them. I respect them so much, such Godly wisdom comes from that house. I am so grateful. I had not wanted to go away for Christmas because I thought it was my right to stay home but I changed my mind when I talked to a lady from my church. She said she has traveled on Christmas(traveled far too) all her married life and it is not a big deal. She said her children always loved going over to her in laws and never wanted to stay home. So, that changed my min, and my heart. On a down side, my camera isn't working so I need to get out our camcorder and use it to take pictures. My in law's computer wasn't working so I couldn't copy the pictures they took over christmas. I am hoping to get those soon. :) Today we are going over a friends house(I hope) if everyone is feeling better. I am really looking foward to it. She is so nice. She doesn't mind kids running everywhere! LOL

My new love

I got a bike for Christmas(yes I received it early) and I have fallen in love! I have had it since November. I have been riding a little in the morning-in the cold weather! If you know me, you know that I don't do well in cold weather but I love riding so much that it doesn't matter. I can't ride far yet. I am trying to build up distance little by little. And I mean little by little! LOL I want to get strong enough to pull the kids in a trailor behind the bike. We got a trailer but I don't think I could pull them up some of the hills that we have in our neighborhood so I need to work on that. I used to ride my bike all the time when I was little. I forgot how much I loved it!

Christmas with family

My Christmas with my Mom and sister went well. We had a good time opening presents and letting all the kids play. My sister had her boyfriend over with his 2 kids along with her own 3(her 4th is living with my Dad right now). We had a house full! I cooked dinner. We had a roast, salad, bread, a raw pecan pie, a raw Waldorf salad, and sweet potatoes.I *think* they enjoyed most everything. The raw dishes were a hit with the kids and most of the adults so I was happy. We will be leaving tomorrow to go to my Mil's house for Christmas with them. It should turn out well. Off to go pack some more...

Weekend before Christmas

Here we are, the beginning of the weekend before Christmas. We are going to be having Christmas with my Mom and sister this coming Sunday. I am praying that they enjoy their time here. I pray that Christ will reveal himself to us as we come together to celebrate HIS birthday. I have already felt the stress that comes along with Christmas. It seems so odd to me, that one of the most joyful days of the year should bring about dread in the hearts of those that believe in Him. Do you dread your own birthday? No way(ok, maybe if you are getting really old..LOL)! When he was born, it fulfilled God's promise to us that he would send a Savior. Not only that, but that we have a faithful God who will ALSO fulfill all that Jesus has promised. Praise God! I am so grateful that the Word of God is not something that is true in some places and questionable in others. It is THE Truth, the thing that sets the standard.

Great article on the foundation of your homeschool

http://www.generationswithvision.com/resources.aspx?p=3Gods-theory-of-education

Pics from the party

Most of the kids waiting for the cake..


The cake she has been waiting for, forever it seems.. LOL!









Close ups of my Mil and Sil's masterpiece









My Mil went to the car to get something and came back with this. It's my birthday on the 15th and she wanted to celebrate it a little. It's a teacup cake. Isn't it beautiful?












Some extra pics..









My wonderful Mil and daughter.

Charlotte

Today we are celebrating Charlottes birthday. Her birthday is Christmas day so we wanted to celebrate early. I am so thankful for her. She is so funny! This past year has been very interesting with her. She gave her heart to the Lord and has continued to grow spiritually. She memorizes bible verses without me asking/telling her to and she frequently talks to me about God. She still struggles with many things(like we all do) but I think she has the closest idea of what forgiveness is than any of the other children. She knows that she is weak and that she is a sinner in need of the Savior. I thank God for choosing to call her to him. It brings tears to my eyes that our merciful Lord has already called two of our children. I am excited to see how the coming year will unfold. May he preserve his chosen ones as he says he will. I will upload some pics of the party AND the cake! My Mil and Sil are supposed to be making a pooh bear cake-yummy!

Having fun

Despite siblings arguing and fussy children sometimes, we have a lot of fun! I am so blessed to say that I love playing with our children. They really crack me up. From playing cards and shooter with the older ones to chasing the younger ones through the house, they are so fun! I love their giggles and smiles. I love to hear them speaking to one another about God. Sure they argue and fight a lot, but they also love one another very much. Joy is not the same if you can't share it with a sibling. We have had a lot of issues with one of our children lately. They want to grow up so badly and so they make the other person miserable because that person is growing up before them. We have talked about so many different things(spending 2-3 hours a day) talking about selfishness, God, self, etc... After a really hard day with this child I walked upstairs to find that they had folded the clothes that were on my bed(I was going to have to fold them before I went to bed). They said "I was thinking about what would make your day better and I thought I would help you fold clothes". I know that some of their willingness to do this stemmed from feeling guilty about the day but it didn't matter. They had chosen to stop thinking about themselves for a moment(something we were telling them all day) and start thinking about others. I was so touched. Thank you God! It's so hard to die to self, isn't it?

Kaitlyn's 9th birthday

What can I say? My little girl celebrated her birthday today(her real birthday is Dec. 23 so she wanted to celebrate it to make it special. She got her ears pierced and was able to have a friend over this year. I also curled her hair(something she really wanted) It has been a big year for her. She had a blast and I am so thankful. She also got to go with a friend to a party for their relative's 16th b-day. The parents had made it really special(with roses, a dj, and dressing up in pretty dresses) I am so proud of her, of who she is becoming.I am so grateful to God that he is working in her life.










Everyone is waiting on the cake.






Here's her gorgeous cake that my Mil and Sil made. They are so wonderful!!!

She didn't want to look at it until it was ready. She was so excited.










And here she is...

Here is most of our stockings. I have to get some more hangers. The mailboxes at the top are something that we started this year. Everyday of Dec. they get a little something and then at christmas they will get a handmade gift from me.











Here are some pics from Thanksgiving.

Holidays with sickness

It seems that the end of the year is turning out just like the previous 2 years. We are under a continual round of sickness. This never happened until we moved here. Then again, we have added a few children :) This Thanksgiving we are having my in laws over(as long as we are all better) to celebrate. It should be fun! Oh, I forgot to mention that we had our first keepers meeting a couple of weeks ago. It was so much fun. The kids really enjoyed it. We decorated our bags at home and brought them to show off. We then made cards with loads of scrapbooking supplies. We will meet again mid December to learn a little about cake/cookie decorating.

Playing in the leaves

Kaitlyn took some pictures of these three playing in the leaves. She raked a pile up and they all had a blast jumping in.

Learning about Rocks

This is a week long study but you could shorten or lengthen it. We have their presentations recorded. I have thought about uploading them to youtube.

1. Watch a video about the different types of rocks
2. Read 2 articles on rocks
3. Collect different rocks locally. Weigh, measure, and classify them
4. Prepare for video presentation
5. Record video presentation
   

If Obama wins...

All I am going to say is, I serve the King of Kings. If said King decides to give power to an unholy ruler, I will STILL serve the King of Kings. I will STILL trust that his will is good and perfect. Why is what I will ask after I am out of this unholy world. By then, I probably won't even need or care to ask it. :)

Toby's 5th birthday!

Toby's Cake-made by my Mil and Sil










Summer and Toby waiting to eat some cake!

We just kept refilling his bottle and he was STILL hungry. We decided to get rid of the middle man and just give it to him straight from the source. He was happy.

Some Cakes

These are cakes made by my Mil and Sil. Gorgeous!!! They are working on getting a website up right now.

Painted Faces

I didn't have a really good pic of Charlotte, it was too blurry.

Fireplace ready!

Well, the fireplace didn't need cleaning after all. Evidently, the people who rented the house for 2 years didn't use it. Yay! We are going to start one this evening. It's supposed to get down to freezing tonight-perfect.

Still sick

We have been sick since last Wed. I was hoping that this would be gone by now but it seems it has spread a little more to the other little ones. I am still sick as well! yuk Jason has been getting better due to his love for echinacea tea. He took yesterday and today off from work. Unfortunately, his glasses broke so he is getting a eye exam today. On the positive side, we are getting our fireplace looked at today! Hopefully we can start using it. I LOVE the smell of wood burning. It's so calming. I love those scents that resemble the outdoors or christmas. Speaking of, I think I will go light one now...

Andrew's Birthday Pics

This was in Sept. but I wanted to upload them for the family. :)

Coming back

Well, after messing around with my new blog, I hate it. I never seem motivated to blog for some reason. I think I am just going to continue here. I can't seem to get my website up the way I want it either. I feel like this is just not the season for that. So, here I am again, with blogger. My poor Mom keeps emailing me telling me to write more so here I am, attempting to recover from my weak attempt at independence from blogger.

Blog address change..

So I switched my blog to wordpress. The address is http://newbiehomemaking.com/wordpress/
I haven't set it up really cool yet so be patient!

Switching to Wordpress

Yes, I am converting over to wordpress. I will have the link soon!

Renewed Determination

Well, after visiting family we have renewed determination to work toward moving back upstate. It was so hard to visit those we love knowing that it will be a while before we see them again. The kids had a blast even though they were extremely exhausted. I will upload some photos later today. I saw my Grandma at the hospital. She isn't doing so great. I kept thinking, life is so short. Before I know it, my Mom will be in this spot. Here I am, living far away, not using the time God has given me to minister to my parents. Truly it was his desire that the family stick together. To be there in time's of need, joy, and heartache. I also saw my sister, which was very difficult as well. We have a great relationship and it broke my heart that I can't be there to help her. She is a single mom to 4 kids(2 of which have special needs). I wish I could be there to help her, to smother those children with love! They are wonderful! In time...

Learning without retaining

I don't know if I have ever blogged about this topic before but it has recently started really bothering me. As I teach the kids(I'm talking mostly about history) it feels like there just isn't any glue to make it stick, you know? Why do we do this? Why do we read story after story about our history without laying the glue down first? It doesn't make since. There is a solution, I will find it! I am thinking about coming up with a new way of teaching history-one with glue.LOL

This week was so much better than the last month or so! Dh didn't have to work as much. We are supposed to go upstate to see my nephew(it's his birthday) and check on my G-ma. She isn't doing so great. I am looking forward to seeing everyone but it always comes at a price. After visiting I always get homesick, wishing we could move closer to family. It lasts for a good week at least. I will try to take some pics while we are away. Today I have to pack for a family of 8..and school! I feel like I am sitting on the start line of a race.Ready, Set, Go!


On another note, I can't seem to find time to work on my website. I know this will change with the aging of my children but it's frustrating! I thought I had the design that I liked but something's funky in IE so I have to fix it. On top of that, I am going snail's pace with sewing my dress. I work on it about 5 min a day and it is taking forever! I might just use blogger to upload all my newbie projects. Then I wouldn't have to worry about a website etc... That's a thought.

Hazardous Coconut

Well, I thought that opening the coconut would be hard. It wasn't! All I did was put the knife on the coconut(after sticking a screw through one of the openings to get the juice out) and hammer it in. It split with ease. Even getting the meat out of it was easy, until the knife slipped. I cut a huge gash in my finger. I pealed back the skin to see if I could see bone(cause that's pretty cool you know) and low and behold, my body didn't like that. I started getting queasy and thought for sure that I was going to pass out. I quickly told my daughter to get my phone and call Dh. I started to go black and so I sat down on the floor. Thankfully, I didn't pass out. I am not usually queasy at all so this whole incident really surprised me. Next time I will be a little more careful....

New website

I have my new site up. I still have tons to upload to it but that will take time. Shoot on over to newbiehomemaking.com

Tuesdays are trash days

Tuesdays are trash days. We take all the yucky truck loads bags of trash accumulated through the week and get rid of them! YAY. As I was thinking about this, I just praise God that he can take all that sticking trash that accumulates within me and throw it out.

Zoo pics

Here are the kids petting a giant turtle. I couldn't believe we were able to pet him. He was looking right at us.










Here are me and the kids inside the penguin building. LOVE the penguins!









Here are the kids in front of the elephants. It was a good thing I snapped it when I did because right after that one of the elephants relieved himself and it stank soo bad that we practically ran away.









Here are me and Andrew. So cute.












A very kind lady offered to snap the whole family! What a blessing that was.

I can't find my plug to download the pictures so it's going to take me a little longer.I will look around today. This past weekend was great. Jason didn't work-yay! It was very refreshing. We did some rearranging in the house(which I love) and worked on some other projects but it just seemed relaxing. This week I think I am going to do something different with the kids for school. I am going to teach them how to teach. We are going to learn about something(Mayans, Math, etc.. I haven't decided) and then they are going to have to teach it to me at the end of the week. I think they will enjoy it. Maybe they will learn better! After all, I still remember how to make a PB&J from elementary..LOL This week I am also going to work on a website I am trying to put together, more details later.

Pics coming soon...

We went to the zoo today and got some great pics! I can't wait to upload them. I will update later...

RawFu challenge

Well, there is a raw food challenge about to begin and I am going to do it. It's 100 days in length and you can make your own personal goals. I am still thinking about my goals. I have alot of things to work on outside of diet too! Exercise, spiritual growth, homeschooling, etc... This feels like New Years resolution time..LOL I even have goals I want my kids to tackle. So, over the next several days I am going to be tossing many things out and keeping with the ones that won't overload me to the point of failure. This challenge is really just about raw foods but I thought it was the perfect opportunity to plow through some other things as well. Hope I'll see some of you over there!

Who/What do you worship?

This is going to be a bit of a rant. I eat mostly raw foods and so I am constantly watching the rawfood forums for new recipes and such. One of the things that drives me crazy is this whole mentality of food worship because it is living. Raw foodist will say that these foods heal cancer, diabetes, and yada...yada.. They will say how great natures food is and it really sounds as if they are worshiping the food and nature. STOP!!! Who made these things?? The creator of the universe, the Alpha and Omega. He is the one that we should bow down and go "Thank you God that your medicine is infinitely better than man's medicine!" He is Jehovah Jireh, not mother nature. I am so thankful that I have a God that provides me with everything I need. He alone makes the food living and he alone heals.

Here are some pics from the park yesterday.