May
20

Today, Landon and Chloe legally became our forever children.  Praise the Lord for His goodness and grace towards our family!  My sincerest prayer is that we will be faithful stewards towards the precious blessings He has given us!

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Our family!

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Landon Blake

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Chloe Bella~Grace

Adoption has blessed our family beyond what we could have ever imagined.  I am in awe at how the Lord worked so magnificently and in such perfect timing to build our family through adoption.  John Piper has a wonderful video that I think does a fabulous job of explaining the miracle of adoption.  Enjoy!

by admin | Posted in Adoption, Family | 2 Comments | RSS
May
19

Five years ago today, I gave birth to this long awaited blessing.  Today our little Stephen Christopher turns five!  What a precious gift from Jesus!  Happy Birthday dear Stephen!!!  We love you!!!

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by admin | Posted in Family | 1 Comment | RSS
May
4

We have just about graduated three of our children from high school now it is time to start all over again.  Most of you know we have eight children.  Three of our kids either have or will soon graduate from high school.  The other five children are ages five and under.  Two of those little ones will be starting kindergarten this summer.

We’ve been out of the primary school scene for quite some time, so some revamping and planning was definitely in order.  I’m very excited to see Hannah and Stephen begin kindergarten.  My primary goal at this time is to build a good foundation to foster a love of learning within them.  I prefer the Charlotte Mason educational philosophy and will try to follow her methods fairly closely.  After much consideration here is the basic plan I have come up with.

Starting each day by nurturing Hannah and Stephen’s (as well at the rest of the littles) understanding of the Lord and His Word is the top priority.  Hannah and Stephen love to memorize Scripture and we’ll continue to work on that.  I’ll share more details about that in a later post!  For quite some time I have read daily to them from Leading Little Ones To God and Egermeir’s Bible Story Book and will continue that routine.  We also enjoy reading short stories from a variety of books that encourage good character traits.  This is where our morning starts!

We will definitely use Ambleside Online Year 0 for kindergarten.  Basically, Ambleside Online Year 0 is a booklist of recommended literature that the advisory committee has chosen from a Charlotte Mason perspective.  Exposure to good literature in many different genres is another top priority.  For quite some time we have read the best “living books” we could get our hands on and we’ll continue to do so.  It has been wonderful to see Hannah and Stephen develop a taste for good literature and I look forward to seeing that grow over the next year.  During our reading times Hannah and Stephen will be given opportunities to develop their narration skills as well.

Ambleside Online also has a yearly rotation that is used to aide children in the study of classical composers, art study, hymns and folksongs.  We will use this rotation loosely.  In other words, Hannah and Stephen will be exposed to these various areas in a very natural way, but due to their age and attention span the depth of that “study” will be limited.  As a side note, they love folk music and enjoy skipping and dancing around the house to various folksongs.  We will also seek opportunities to expose them to the local symphony and theatre performances as well as visits to various musuems that are suitable for their age.

Another top priority is to instill a love of God’s creation within our children.  We will allow them to be outside enjoying nature and exploring their natural surroundings as much as possible.  We will use Anna Botsford Comstock’s Handbook of Nature Study to guide us in our study of nature.

At this point in time for phonics and reading we will use Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons and Happy Phonics.  We will also begin working through First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind.

For their handwriting skills we will use the Getty-Dubay Italic Handwriting Series.  Book A is recommended for kindergarten.

After a great deal of researching different math curriculums and making a final decision between Saxon Math and Singapore Math we decided on Saxon Math 1.  At a later time (perhaps in 1st grade I will add in Miquon Math.

That’s it!  Our plan for kindergarten.  I should note that even though this may sound time consuming, the actual amount of time spent specifically on formal instruction will be limited.

A Book by Edgar Guest

“Now” - said a good book unto me -
“Open my pages and you shall see
Jewels of wisdom and treasures fine,
Gold and silver in every line,
And you may claim them if you but will
Open my pages and take your fill.

“Open my pages and run them o’er,
Take what you choose of my golden store.
Be you greedy, I shall not care -
All that you seize I shall gladly spare;
There is never a lock on my treasure doors,
Come - here are my jewels, make them yours!

“I am just a book on your mantel shelf,
But I can be part of your living self;
If only you’ll travel my pages through,
Then I will travel the world with you.
As two wines blended make better wine,
Blend your mind with these truths of mine.

“I’ll make you fitter to talk with men,
I’ll touch with silver the lines you pen,
I’ll lead you nearer the truth you seek,
I’ll strengthen you when your faith grows weak -
This place on your shelf is a prison cell,
Let me come into your mind to dwell!”


by admin | Posted in Homeschooling | No Comments | RSS
Apr
11

Each day I find it very easy to recount all the amazing blessings my Lord has bestowed upon me.  They surround me…everywhere.  I am grateful.  However, I would be quite remiss if I failed to point out that all the incredible, wonderful things my Saviour has blessed me with pale in comparison to the unmerited gift He gave me when He went to Calvary for my reprehensible sin.  Candidly, without His sacrificial gift of salvation…nothing else matters.

Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Have a blessed Resurrection Sunday!

by admin | Posted in Faith | No Comments | RSS
Mar
25

A nasty virus has hit our home that has targeted myself and the three older kids.  Fortunately, all the littles and Don are feeling pretty good.  Those of us who have been afflicted with this nasty cold have pretty much taken shifts watching the little ones and making sure they don’t take advantage of our down time.

I don’t really like being “down.”  There is so much to be done around here to keep the household running smoothly and when so many of us are sick it doesn’t take long to get behind.   When I woke up this morning I was still feeling pretty miserable, but decided to get up and try to get some fresh air.  A few weeks ago I bought some herbs that I have wanted to plant with the kids, but because things have been so busy around here they just sat on the patio table…waiting!

Today was beautiful out, so Stephen, Hannah and I decided to plant them.  The fresh air did me good and the herbs are finally potted.

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by admin | Posted in Family | 2 Comments | RSS
Mar
14

Yesterday, we celebrated Cameron and Delaine’s birthday and today we celebrate Jenna’s.  My beloved friend Katie informed me that I must be old given the fact that my daughter just turned 19!   Well, I don’t really feel old, but I do find myself wondering where the time has gone.  Jenna, you have become such a beautiful young woman and I thank the Lord for you everyday!  I love you!  Happy Birthday!!!

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by admin | Posted in Family | 1 Comment | RSS
Mar
14

Our wonderful twins were born and have been a tremendous blessing every since!!!  Last night we had a very enjoyable dinner out to celebrate their birthday.  Happy Birthday Cameron and Delaine!    I love you both and am looking forward to seeing the Lord continue to work in your lives!

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by admin | Posted in Family | No Comments | RSS
Mar
5

While spending time in the backyard earlier this week, the kids discoverd several lady bugs.  They had so much fun playing with the little bugs!  Stephen thought it was pretty cool letting the bug crawl around on his arm…until it started climbing up his sleeve!

Hannah just wanted to “mother” the poor bug.  The bug needed to eat (a salad of torn up ficus leaves), it needed to swim, it needed to sleep, etc.  When the bug wouldn’t cooperate Hannah became very distressed!

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I love to see my kids playing, discovering and enjoying nature.  Sometimes, I feel their opportunities are a bit limited due to our location, but we still encourage them to enjoy nature and discover all they can about their surroundings.

by admin | Posted in Homeschooling | No Comments | RSS
Feb
27

Compliments of Hannah!  Earlier today Jenna and Delaine heard a blood curdling scream come from Hannah.  When they ran around the corner to see why Hannah was so upset they saw her sprinting up the stairs as she continued to scream.  By the time they caught up to her in our room, she was buried under the covers in my bed.  When asked what she was so upset about she replied,  “I’m not going downstairs again.  The bug is following me!”  What is the culprit you might ask…

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An little, bitty gnat!

She did eventually emerge from her safe haven once the door to the room was securely shut and she was safe from all harm!

Drama delivered in true Hannah fashion!

by admin | Posted in Family | No Comments | RSS
Feb
27

And today was the first time Chloe could wear her hair in pigtails!  Serious cuteness here!

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Although Chloe took her first steps a couple of weeks ago, this is her first time running all around the backyard too!

by admin | Posted in Family | No Comments | RSS