September ...already???

Time flies...when you are BUSY! I am overjoyed to be able to be at home with my three sweet angels and yet, I feel like I NEVER get done. In fact as I realized today at co-op that it had been a really long time since I blogged which is supposed to be my form of scrapbooking I thought now WHEN IN THE WORLD AM I GONNA HAVE TIME TO CATCH UP ON THAT...with the other million things on my plate??? I made a commitment that I would try to put something on here before I went to bed and here I am. Well, at least I keep commitments??? SO what has been going on at our house? Well let's see, everyone has done a fantastic job getting started this year and so far the grades have been really good and we have learned alot. Wesley and Shelby are becoming more and more responsible for their schedules and learning a great deal about 'doing what is right even-EVEN- when no one is watching. They are much better at using the time they have for studying wisely while I teach Bailey-Grace and that way when I am with them I can teach new material and help them understand where they may be struggling but at least they have attempted [usually very successfully] to do the work according to the planners. THIS makes ME very HAPPY~ so now I leave you with a few pics of our most recent adventures...

Wow, I can't believe that I have failed to write anything on our blog since we returned from Panama City. It has been extremely stressful around here this week so maybe that is why I have not even thought of doing a post. We have decided not to travel during the school year while Bill works because it truly is just too much to pack and go out for these short trips! We will still see him hopefully as much as two to three nights during the week and of course our weekends as usual. We need to have as much normalcy as possible to our schedule for school as we can so I don't throw in the towel [smiles, that is only a joke] It seems the added research materials that are necessary now are just too much added "stuff" to load and unload. This one is short but I must get some shut eye. We have company coming tomorrow evening and I need to start cooking before church in the morning.

We made it home all safe and sound! MANY MANY things we want to change for the next trip out which will not be this coming week. We had planned all along to try and go every other week and with this different style of curriculum we may just swap to the every other Thursday and Friday so that we have access to the library for research and so that we don't have to pack SO much! There are so many books that they use to go with the study other than the text books that we almost don't have room for anything else . It is a MUST to take all that we can in the way of cooking and preparing meals so that we don't have to resort to a RESTAURANT - that is just too costly! So stay tuned for changes in the plans...

Day 3- a little late~

SO FOR DAY THREE, I NEVER MADE IT TO MY BLOG BECAUSE ... IT WAS A CRAZY DAY! We started alright and made it until about 9:45 a.m. before I had this major and I mean MAJOR sense of failure fall on me. I absolutely KNOW this kind of attack only comes from the enemy! It is a battle that I fight almost daily to not feel defeated if we don't stay on schedule 100% and I know that is not even reasonable all the time. So what did I do so as not to pass this craziness to my children? I thought about a truth that may be very natural to some. I remembered that I needed to bring light to the dark lie of the enemy and we went to the sunshine where I sat and talked to Shelby about her interviews with the Godly women she is writing about and we looked over her emails that she had printed off. She smiled as she told me the neat stories of how God took a woman who did not really want children and opened her heart to receive a great blessing of not one or even two but SIX and how the impact of a grand mother in law spoke volumes about love and blessing into the heart of a young married woman. Then Wesley and I talked about the scriptures he looked up in the concordance that related to counsel and counselor [ 54 ] and how he sees Psalm 1 as a true guide for seeking counsel. We looked at the many places people look for advise...he still cracks me up talking about the palm reader folks and asking now WHY in the world would people actually buy into that? I am especially grateful that there are Godly influences in their lives that they can seek comfort and guidance but most grateful that they came to know the Lord early in their lives and know that what they have can always be a real relationship with the one true God who desires to help them through all life's decisions. And on that note we "only" "completed" three subjects and I have two books that Bailey Grace was "scheduled" to read yesterday that I let slide for her to have a last splash in the pool but you know if all they learned is that I love to hear from them and am interested in what God is doing in their lives then ... MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

Day 2 of this new school year was mostly good~ we are working out issues of schooling and traveling and hopefully the kinks will be worked out soon. We may very well have to change and do the traveling on Wednesday after church through Saturday night- every other week... I am not sure if it is the number of people still vacationing because most schools have not started back yet or perhaps the economy is just doing better and there is more travel period! [trying to think positive] We are being met with the challenge of not being able to spread out in the business office or lobby area because of the number of people. It may slow down after next week and we will go on about our business however we are not going to be able to school so much in the room. Too little room and voices are too loud for everyone to be able to really study once we break off for the older ones to work on their own. I am not able to post all of our pics because we left the usb cord at home so we will leave those here later in the week.

We made it through Day 1 now just 179 left!

We arrived in Panama City last night around 8:30 got checked in and unpacked and fell right off to sleep. Well, at least I did [so did Wesley & Shelby] but the night owls, Bill & Bailey-Grace rocked on till almost midnight. That did not bother me while I was sleeping however for the first day of school my little angel was let's say miserable! We got up at 6:45 as we had planned as to get our school day started by 7:30 and that is where it all started to go haywire... we did not start until closer to 10:00 and then that put us working until after 4:00. Oh well, that was day one and we won't let it get us down. All in all it went fairly well for the first day with all that we have to accomplish. We had been thinking that with out having to do household chores that we may be finished around 2:00 but with the late start and all~ it was a good day overall. We had dinner at Pineapple Willy's right out there on the pier. IT WAS BEAUTIFUL!!! Bailey-Grace stood and watched the birds and people for as long as she could before the food came. We had a BLAST playing in the pool after we got back to the hotel and now we are dreaming of sugarplums and school schedules for day 2...see you tomorrow!

on the road again, I just can't wait to get on the road again!

Leave today for Panama City to "get our feet wet"~ we are excited about starting school there though I am trying not to get worked in a frenzy because I know the first trip out with school books can be a little [LOT] tricky. We will have inevitably left off something in our packing that we need and I will have to just make note to add to the planning checklist for next time. That is just part of it and if I beat myself up over it then they will have this insane idea that I expect everything to go perfect and I have FINALLY realized that nothing is perfect this side of heaven! So I will not be moved...I will not let a few missed items doom us to failure. If this sounds like a pep talk to myself well, yeah I am the one with the issues about how it all should be. We have come along way baby!

On this day [August 1] THIRTEEN years ago I became "Mommy" to an adorable little girl. I am still in AWE of God's goodness and so thankful for this chance be a part of the life of this sweet girl. Shelby remember... I love you to heaven! Happy Birthday to my precious Shelby Lauren Johnson and remember who you are and whose you are because God has some mighty plans for you girl~

Thankful Thursday!!!

I am at home with my girls while Dad is meeting with Ben and Wesley is finishing up his summer leadership program with CHOM. Tonight is his awards ceremony and they say nice things about him that make me cry. This is something that embarrasses my family but I can NOT help it the tears flow like a river anytime my kiddos are being honored for anything!

So I am not gonna get all sappy now I will just have a great day enjoying the girls. This picture of them was taken at THE BUTTERFLY PALACE in Branson, Missouri when we were on vacation and don't they look sweet? I love it when they get along and have fun together. IT seems that the older they get the more divided they become which hurts but everyone tells me it is a phase and they will be close when they are adults but I don't care to wait I want it now! I am gonna beef up my prayers that they are close siblings and that they do more than tolerate -they CELEBRATE each other!

OK. so, now here we go to have some girl time. Maybe we will play SKIPBO or WII or maybe we can go and make something...let me see...we can pull out a recipe book and see what we have the ingredients for.

My wheels are turning...they need to slow down!

Alrighty now...it is 1:47 a.m. and I can not sleep. All I think of when I try is school next week! & one unspoken prayer request but I know God has heard my prayers. I am a little anxious about this new school year and honestly I think I do this to myself EVERY year. I am so worried that I have not thought of something that I need to have prepared. I have been over Wesley's transcript information and the graduation requirements a million times and we are on target yet somehow I still worry! O.k. Lord, I am asking ~ praying and standing on scripture here Philippians 4:6...Be anxious for nothing , but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God. So if there is anything I am leaving out Lord he is yours first...so to God be the glory for his education. Now, I think I can sleep. Wow, this blogging which is basically my journal is very therapeutic. So I will try to get here a little earlier tomorrow so I can post all of the fantastic things we have planned!

ready set go...

So...school starts in two weeks~ are we ready? Well I am for sure. I can hardly wait to get into a routine and see us accomplish our days goals. The children could probably wait for another 6 weeks or so [except Bailey-Grace who is very eager] She said today after working on Math for about a half hour that she just has this [speaking of Math] "filled up in her brain". Spoken like a true 7 year old Mathematician. We will begin something very new to us :a full Unit Study program for Wesley and Shelby-Lauren[Blessed is the Man & Far Above Rubies ]and FUNSCHOOLING UNIT STUDIES FOR Bailey-Grace... fun fun! The neat thing about our first day of school is that we will start in Panama City. We will be on the road with Bill and our first day [and week] will be in a hotel lobby. This may sound challenging and while it can be at first we thoroughly enjoy it. For one thing it frees us up from having to incorporate household chores into our already busy schedule, it also allows us to see the sights of the places where Bill is working and most of all it keeps our family together during the week so that we are able to have Bill involved in our lives & us in his. And when you add a walk on the beach to our P.E. time or a free continental breakfast to an already stretched budget ~ everyone is happy. We had to work out the kinks of traveling on a dime and we are probably going to continue to learn ways to save as we do it this year but we are well on our way. We just bring or shop for the groceries we need to make lunch and dinner in the hotel and this keeps us from going out to eat in restaurants. Bill has to eat on the road as he travels to see customers but we are together in the evening. It is neat to see the kids learn to make budget friendly choices that we are able to fix in the room.