Homeschool Memoirs: All About You

This week my assignment is to tell all about me!

I am first and foremost a daughter of the most high King! I have been saved by the blood of Jesus and baptized for the forgiveness of my sins! Because of this, I have the confidence to do what God has called me to do on this earth.

I have been married to my best friend, E for 25 years! We spent the first 8 years of marriage in the Navy, at least he was, I went along for the ride! The last year E was in the Navy he was home only 12 weeks of that years and they were not consecutive so we decided that was enough! E and I both went to work for Wally World, climbing the corporate ladder. God shook our world at 14 years of marriage when He blessed us with our son, B. That was the completion of our family!!

We always knew if we had children we would homeschool them. I would like to say it was a vision from God, but it was more that I didn't want to play the games of the system of public school. I had done that myself while in public school and didn't want to go there with our child. As the years passed by and getting ready to homeschool, God sent a wonderful friend into my life that showed me how much God wanted me to homeschool also!

I came home to be a full time mom when B turned 3 and haven't looked back since! I am blessed with a husband who totally supports homeschooling! Just last night he shared how he heard on the radio about one of the DJ's entrusted his children to a new teacher. E said he couldn't imagine entrusting one of the most precious gifts God had given him to a total stranger for a longer period of the day that he personally gets! What a testimony!

We start today our 6th year of homeschooling! When we started we were pretty much unschoolers, we just had a lot of fun! That evolved into unit studies for the next few years. Now, we use Tapestry of Grace and are very excited about the coming year. I have to tell you that my teaching style and B's learning style is totally opposite! That has led to some challenges over the years! TOG is the best of both our styles! It gives B the structure he craves while still giving me enough freedom to express the history!

This last year has been a year of change for me. I have learned to depend on God so much more. Our immediate family now includes my dad because of health issues. We have become "sandwich" parents. Having a preteen, growing up and a dad, coming down. It is a challenge I know we will get through with God help, strength and love! Also, this year, was the first time I turned down ministries of my own at church. I find myself no longer having to be identified by what I do for the Lord. I am content working with my husband in the ministries God has lead him to do.

I look forward to this new year! I look forward to the blessings that God has in store for us!

May God bless your homeschool journey!

Blogger Class Mates

Well, I decided to go back to school myself! Here's the scoop from the HSBA team:

We’d like to invite, mainly but not limited to, Homeschooling Mothers to join the HSBA Team as start off the new school year with the Blogger Class Mates writing assignments. This is a great way to get to know other homeschooling mothers around the blog-world in a fun and friendly way. Each Wednesday we’ll post a new writing assignment and you get to participate by answering it on your own blog. These will be assignments you’ll be interested in doing and have fun checking out how your Class Mates answered!

So go on over and get registered and let's learn together!

Be blessed!

God's Kisses # 2

I wanted to update on my last post of God's Kisses! We were able to talk with the doctor and pharmacist and Dad's medicines for the rest of August will cost us less that $20.00. What a tremendous blessing this was from God!

Also, my dad had planned to take a trip to see my aunt that I hadn't really be comfortable with because my dad cannot read and the roads would be new for him. He told us this morning that he wasn't going because he had a dream telling him not to go! Praise God for speaking to us in our dreams!

Be blessed today! Look for God's kisses!

God's Kisses

A friend at church is fighting Stage 4 lung cancer this year and she has taught me and a lot of other people to become aware of the kisses God gives you everyday! Yesterday, God blessed me with so many kisses my face was wet! I wanted to share those kisses with you because it is such a testimony to God's love, wisdom and power! I challenge you to become aware of the kisses God is giving you. Sometimes they are feathery light and sometimes they are great big smooches!

Three of the kisses my family received yesterday came from a situation I thought was terrible! My dad's prescription drug plan had been canceled without us being aware of it. Somehow our change of address had not gotten to them so we didn't know about a new premium that needed to be paid. Now, to us this seemed disastrous! Dad has some pretty expensive medicines to be filled this month. We were able to get a representative of the company to come out to our home yesterday and here's Kiss #1: we found out dad qualified for a program that will pay the extra 20% that Medicare doesn't pay! You see this was awesome news because Dad is scheduled to have a knee replacement soon and the out- of-pocket expenses were going to be tremendous. Kiss # 2 came when I was able to get the doctor's office on the phone and they were more than willing to change the date to after September in order for the policy to kick in! Kiss # 3 was that when we called the lab to cancel (did I mention the surgery was supposed to happen in a week) even though we didn't give 24 hours notice they were great and also understood why we were waiting! They would be glad to not charge us the fee for cancelling so late because of the circumstances. I have to say we still don't know how Dad is going to get his presciptions this month but I look forward to seeing God take care of this also!

The next kiss came to my husband at work. Kiss # 4 was a bonus he didn't even know he qualified for! Both of our cars need maintenance done on them and we will now be able to do that! Also we will be able to catch up on one bill we have and then be able to pay off another! Kiss # 5 was the recognition that getting the bonus gave to my husband. God knew E needed a little pat on the back!

Kiss # 6 was one I hadn't even thought of until my friend C reminded me. On August 30th, my friend C and I are speaking at our first seminar for new homeschool families. This is a vision God had given to both C and I and we are excited about the program. I had been struggling with guilt because I felt I was leaving all the last minute details to C because of dad's surgery. Now, my mind is clear and my heart is light! God cares about my emotional feelings also!

Kiss # 7 came in the form of a heart change! I have been convicted that I play way too many games on the computer and could be using that time in God's Word. On Sunday, I made a vow to God that I would give up my computer games for 30 days and spend that time reading my Bible. But, I had done it grudgingly. I knew it need to be done but I didn't want to do it! After yesterday's kisses my heart was so full of joy that I realized that the only way I could even begin to thank God for all the blessings was to come to His word with a change of heart. I look forward to my time with God now and can't wait to see what He is going to reveal to me in His Word!

Even after all my time being a Christian, I am still amazed at what God does out of love for His children. He is never late taking care of us and supplying a need. He is always there to listen and He is always there to comfort. He is also there to say "wait on me!" Thank you God for all your kisses!

Be blessed and look for those kisses!