Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Blogging through the bible and frugal living at its best

In this blog:



Song of Solomon
Gazelle Intense
Life as a home school family



Song of Solomon is nothing short of a love story.  I have to preface this with I don't like poetry.  This book reads like poetry.  I love...LOVE...did I mention LOOOOOOOVVVVEE to read.  But poetry has never really done it for me.  I believe this book was about the kind of man/husband Soloman wished he was.  He was not the greatest man when it came to being a husband, but here, he demonstrates virtuous qualities exhibiting an exemplary man.  I also noted that there was some hesitation from her.  I almost got the sense she was not sure she wanted only him, but it quickly turned to a sense of absolute love and commitment to form an unbreakable bond.  



Gazelle Intensity
We have completed Financial Peace University .  This is from Dave Ramsy who is a financial expert and debt expert.  We have turned our finances around over the last few years to work for us.  This has taken a lot.  It has taken sacrifice, time, practice, discipline, relentless saving, a multitude of mistakes, and most of all it has taken teamwork.  We have had to be on the same page all the time.  We have had to make all of our decisions as a couple.  This was not the hard part for us.  The hardest part has been limiting our "entertainment" at the expense of our social life.  Now we don't have one so it is getting easier!!  We watch as our friends go out to eat and go on vacations.  We sit back and enjoy our blockbuster membership and call it entertainment.  We do great accepting this most of the time, but it gets hard and we give in...sometimes a lot, but most times we remain firm in our position to build a future for us and our girls.  Part of Dave's plan starts off with building a $1,000 emergency fund as step 1.  Then you pay off all debt as step 2.  Then you build a 3-6 month savings as step 3.  We are moving slowly through these steps, but in one month's time we have gone through 2 emergency funds!!  UGH!  The setbacks can get frustrating!  But this is where Dave says to use "Gazelle Instensity".  We are continuing to work as hard as we can, save in every area we can (without totally depriving ourselves and kids though), and we analyze every expense.  We feel annoyed at our sacrifices, but we keep going as hard and fast as we can to making our money work for us!  We made the decision for me to home school and be our home's manager and this means sacrifice. 




Home School Adventures
We are full swing into our full-time school year.  I say full-time because during the summer we only do a few days a week and we don not attend specials at the elementary school.  Madison is doing an amazing job in her school work and really coming along well.  She goes to the school to take music, art, PE, Spanish and they even have a science class.  It is a great opportunity for her and I don't have to try to teach art!  Yay for me!  It is fun with Mackenzie now at an age to "play" with us.  She works on coloring and shape sorting as best she can.  It has been a great start to our year and I can see that by the end of this school year, Madi is going to be a pro.  Our schedule gets very hectic and getting all of our work done gets to be a challenge, but we stay flexible and that is perfect for us. 







MOMENTS
-Madi picking Mackenzie up off the floor when she fell and Mackenzie crying out for her big sissy!
-Our yard and its expansion as the suset can now be seen over the lake!
-The four of us playing on the swings.
-Madison reading a book to Mackenzie.
-Daddy and Mackenzie in the mornings as they "talk".


I don't always have control over things, in fact most times I don't.  But watching my little family grow and change is proving to me it isn't in my control anyway!!

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Washington D.C. trip, writing work and reading throught the bible: Ecclesiastes

Mount Vernon in October 2006Image via WikipediaIn this post:
Our trip to Washington D.C.
Plugging and chugging on writing
Ecclesiastes

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Our Trip to D.C 
We have officially concluded our summer.  In our home school, we continue part time through the summer.  Since the end of last school year, we have been working from Cantering the Country.  It is a curriculum based around all of the states.  Each state includes unit studies, (except math), that revolve around the state.  We worked most of the summer on Washington D.C. and concluded the summer with a little field trip!!  We took a train, where we got to spend a night in the sleeper car!  We were treated like royalty!  We had 3 meals and got to eat steaks and anything we wanted for breakfast.  We got amazing dessert!  It was quite a big part of our journey!  Upon arrival in Washington, we went right to our hotel, put down our bags and hit the ground running...as we would normally tend to do.  Mackenzie and Madison were troopers and kept up with little to no complaint even while potty training!!!!  
We immersed ourselves in the history of our country and soaked in the energy the surrounds this bustling city.  We walked everywhere we went, equaling about 25-30 total miles!!!  GO MADI!  Mount Vernon was about 15 miles outside of the city so we took a van there.  Talk about inspiring...Washington left a legacy for honor and respect that is difficult to match.  Our founding fathers truly had a grasp on things.  We met some amazing people...families old and young.  We even went out to dinner with a couple our age who shared the trip back from Mount Vernon with us.  A beautiful thing to have such an amazing conversation with such like-minded people.  Above all, we were together and that felt important to each one of us.  It was just perfect to be all together no matter what it was we did.  We visited Arlington on our last day there.  I found it hard to contain tears as I witnessed, even for the third time, the lives lost throughout our country's history, so many never even identified.  We watched the changing of the guard.  We had studied them a lot as well before going and the prestige this position holds is like few others in the military.  These volunteers, yes volunteers, take this position very, very seriously, and consider this the highest honor.  We left Washington on the train again, feeling a sense of pride and accomplishment in establishing the roots of our country within our children...
Writing 
As much as I would love to report that I am succeeding in this area, I am honestly just plugging along.  Sometimes I get frustrated and want to stop altogether and others, I want to push as hard as I can until I get noticed.  I feel my hands fall idle all too often as I am consumed with daily life.  I need to be writing every single day and I am absolutely not.  I have submitted my children's books to every agent that accepts this type of work at this time.  Now I wait.   In the meantime, I work at finding a more organized day to write MORE!!!!
Ecclesiastes
In finishing Ecclesiastes, I have discovered, I couldn't have come across this book at a better time.  I found several parts that struck me, yet the entire book applies to me.  Perhaps my second favorite part though is the root of a popular song... 
Ecclesiastes 3
I read this entire book feeling like a fool.  I speak too much,  I need to be more content with what I have,  I need to stop searching outward because God made mankind to be upright!  It cannot be made any more simple!  11:5 tells us you cannot understand the work of your maker! But topping the list is 10:20-
20 Do not revile the king even in your thoughts,
       or curse the rich in your bedroom,
       because a bird of the air may carry your words,
       and a bird on the wing may report what you say.
And THAT, my friends, is all I have to say about that!
 

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