Maitland Art Center
Thought I would share some of the pictures I took of the actual place we went today. It was really interesting looking at all of the statues and carvings. I would like to go back and take more pictures.
Children's Art Festival
We went down to Maitland for the Children's Art Festival today. The boys had a wonderful time. Of course there was art to be made but the most impressive thing was seeing the Birds of Prey from the local Audubon Birds of Prey Sanctuary. We went down there a few years ago and remembered Picasso the red tail hawk and Trouble the bald eagle. The boys are begging to go back and visit the Sanctuary again (Micah would like to go tomorrow, lol). Both Micah and Xavier enjoyed trying out a few instruments. Xavier now wants to learn to play the violin or the trombone. Micah is looking at me like ?do I have to?. Although, he did have fun with the clarinet, violin and the drums thanks to the Orlando Philharmonic. After visiting the different exhibits and seeing different animals, reptiles and bugs we decided to grab something to eat and head back to the house. Now everyone is relaxing and playing on the computer.
Let me out!
Freedom!
Let's Make Music!
Let me out!
Freedom!
Let's Make Music!
This Week's Events
It is amazing how time can sometimes fly by you without you realizing it. The past week or two have been like that for us. In some ways it is good but in others I still haven't accomplished all that I had planned. I will have to post some photos over the weekend of things we have been up to :-)
The boys are taking a spelling class and a poetry class now. The first week they were not to thrilled with poetry at all! By the second week - they love it! Which is really neat and as for the spelling they are doing quite well. I am very proud of them. They have not quite found their place among the other students but they are getting there. Sometimes it is hard being the new kids ;-)
Tuesday I came down with the beginning of a sinus infection and by Wed. morning I was dying from pain. Some pain pills took care of it long enough for the boys and I to hit the farmer's market that morning. We bought all kinds of veggies: kohlrabi, tomatoes, onions, green beans, red potatoes, and other things. Yummy! We ate some of the kohlrabi that night with the chicken noodle soup Granny made. Granny has a cold and between her cold and my sinus issue she figured it would be good for us. I came home from the market and slept off and on, you know the dozing of a mother who is totally crashed but can hear the instant the little one is into trouble. Big brothers did help out some and even did some school work on their own (I think they are becoming ill, lol).
Thursday - I am dying from pain still and lying on the floor. My dear little peanut decided to throw a fit and head butt me in the face. I now have a black eye. It is amazing how people look at you when you walk around the store with a black eye. You know they are thinking some horrible things but I forgot it was black until people started looking at me. See how much I pay attention to my own face. Note to self - buy makeup for emergency reasons.
Friday - Arbor Day! We headed down to city hall to join in on the festivities. Micah answered the question "Who started Arbor Day?" correctly and got to pick out a plant to take home (he picked a Canna). I got some hedge plant and we all got long leaf pine trees to plant. After visiting booths, planting wildflowers in a pot to take home and eating free popcorn, the boys joined some other homeschool students on stage to play djembe drums. They had fun and helped other kids who were with a daycare play. Afterwards we took our new plants/trees home and then headed over to doggy sit at my Momma's house. Not sure what is on our agenda for the weekend yet, I am sure we will find something fun to do...
The boys are taking a spelling class and a poetry class now. The first week they were not to thrilled with poetry at all! By the second week - they love it! Which is really neat and as for the spelling they are doing quite well. I am very proud of them. They have not quite found their place among the other students but they are getting there. Sometimes it is hard being the new kids ;-)
Tuesday I came down with the beginning of a sinus infection and by Wed. morning I was dying from pain. Some pain pills took care of it long enough for the boys and I to hit the farmer's market that morning. We bought all kinds of veggies: kohlrabi, tomatoes, onions, green beans, red potatoes, and other things. Yummy! We ate some of the kohlrabi that night with the chicken noodle soup Granny made. Granny has a cold and between her cold and my sinus issue she figured it would be good for us. I came home from the market and slept off and on, you know the dozing of a mother who is totally crashed but can hear the instant the little one is into trouble. Big brothers did help out some and even did some school work on their own (I think they are becoming ill, lol).
Thursday - I am dying from pain still and lying on the floor. My dear little peanut decided to throw a fit and head butt me in the face. I now have a black eye. It is amazing how people look at you when you walk around the store with a black eye. You know they are thinking some horrible things but I forgot it was black until people started looking at me. See how much I pay attention to my own face. Note to self - buy makeup for emergency reasons.
Friday - Arbor Day! We headed down to city hall to join in on the festivities. Micah answered the question "Who started Arbor Day?" correctly and got to pick out a plant to take home (he picked a Canna). I got some hedge plant and we all got long leaf pine trees to plant. After visiting booths, planting wildflowers in a pot to take home and eating free popcorn, the boys joined some other homeschool students on stage to play djembe drums. They had fun and helped other kids who were with a daycare play. Afterwards we took our new plants/trees home and then headed over to doggy sit at my Momma's house. Not sure what is on our agenda for the weekend yet, I am sure we will find something fun to do...
Sermons on Modesty
I am in love with sermonaudio.com, pick a subject, person and you can listen to sermons to your heart's content. My latest listening pleasure has been Pastor Jeff Pollard and his sermons on Christian Modesty. You can listen to them here, if interested. It does not replace his book "Christian Modesty and the Public Undressing of America" but it has been very helpful in studying about modesty.
Friday Fun
Isaac asks "hear airplane?"
Xavier slaying a dragon with his little cousin
Micah introduced me to "Bob & Jill"
Xavier slaying a dragon with his little cousin
Micah introduced me to "Bob & Jill"
Thrifty Thursday
Isaiah 55:2 Why do you spend money for what is not bread,
And your wages for what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,
And let your soul delight itself in abundance.
How much money do we waste each day, week, month on things that we think will make us happy? No matter what we buy it will never satisfy our soul. The one thing that will fill us up we can not buy - Jesus Christ.
I spent the week re-examining what we waste our money on and how much we throw out the window each day. We are fountain drink junkies! So this week we cut down our daily fountain drink from the gas station down to only once this week. It was not as hard as I thought it would be. To make it even better we have not had fast food this week either (which we normally eat once or twice a week). We will continue our fountain drink and fast food ban for the rest of the month.
On another note... I read Dave Ramsey's book and am totally psyched about putting it in action. Joel and I talked about starting a budget and have been figuring out how much $$ is needed. So I should have it all worked out this weekend. As for "Baby Step 1" - we are $100 dollars away from our emergency fund being full and will be able to start on "Baby Step 2" - Snowball our Debt real soon! Oh to be free... We have even gotten the boys on board and we will be having a no more credit card ceremony this weekend. I will be honest it is kind of hard to imagine not having them to "fall back on" but then I also know that if they are there, there is a good chance they will be used. So tomorrow we will celebrate a new way of life!
And your wages for what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,
And let your soul delight itself in abundance.
How much money do we waste each day, week, month on things that we think will make us happy? No matter what we buy it will never satisfy our soul. The one thing that will fill us up we can not buy - Jesus Christ.
I spent the week re-examining what we waste our money on and how much we throw out the window each day. We are fountain drink junkies! So this week we cut down our daily fountain drink from the gas station down to only once this week. It was not as hard as I thought it would be. To make it even better we have not had fast food this week either (which we normally eat once or twice a week). We will continue our fountain drink and fast food ban for the rest of the month.
On another note... I read Dave Ramsey's book and am totally psyched about putting it in action. Joel and I talked about starting a budget and have been figuring out how much $$ is needed. So I should have it all worked out this weekend. As for "Baby Step 1" - we are $100 dollars away from our emergency fund being full and will be able to start on "Baby Step 2" - Snowball our Debt real soon! Oh to be free... We have even gotten the boys on board and we will be having a no more credit card ceremony this weekend. I will be honest it is kind of hard to imagine not having them to "fall back on" but then I also know that if they are there, there is a good chance they will be used. So tomorrow we will celebrate a new way of life!
Tuesday's Miracles
First thing I saw this morning when I opened my eyes was a naked butt. I looked up and yep, the diaper has been discarded in the middle of the bedroom floor and Isaac is sound asleep beside me. As cute as he looked, I know better than to leave him like that, lol. The boys had let me sleep in so it was already 8:20 when I woke up. Before I even left the bedroom I could hear the vacuum running. They had already had breakfast and were doing their chores! The first miracle of the day! I grabbed up the school books and started setting up the table with supplies they would need today. The second miracle of the day - they did not argue or even make a face and they quickly set to work! It was a glorious day for chores and school.
This afternoon we played around outside for a little bit. Micah decided he would "keep an eye" on Isaac (as you can see he got away).
Seems he was to busy reading the new "Home Science Tools" magazine that came in the mail today.
Meanwhile Xavier was examining a leaf bug they caught.
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This afternoon we played around outside for a little bit. Micah decided he would "keep an eye" on Isaac (as you can see he got away).
Seems he was to busy reading the new "Home Science Tools" magazine that came in the mail today.
Meanwhile Xavier was examining a leaf bug they caught.
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A Little Fun & Sick Kids
I dropped the boys off Saturday at Aunt K & Uncle M, then headed to the mall. After trying on a bunch of clothes I figured out what size I wear but that was all I accomplished. Most of the clothes I like are to big and the ones that fit I won't wear. So armed with the knowledge of size I will start looking online. Isaac played with his cousin in the pool and had a great time. While Micah and Xavier went with their Uncle over to a friend's house to see his animals. He runs some kind of sanctuary for lizards, alligators, turtles, snakes and has lots of rats. They had a blast! Later they tried to go out on the river to fish but by the time they got to the boat dock it was storming pretty bad so they had to turn around and head back home.
Last night I awoke to Isaac coughing, which lasted off and on almost all night. As soon as I got him back to sleep and dozed off Xavier woke up with a toothache. Ughh. After dousing him with Anbesol I dozed off again, then Isaac was back awake. This went on all night. In the end Xavier had to take some medicine and Isaac had a breathing treatment which did not do any good. So we were up most of the night. I did manage to take a nap this afternoon with Isaac for a couple of hours. I just pray that tonight goes well and we are all able to get some sleep. Unfortunately, Xavier is coughing in his sleep...
Last night I awoke to Isaac coughing, which lasted off and on almost all night. As soon as I got him back to sleep and dozed off Xavier woke up with a toothache. Ughh. After dousing him with Anbesol I dozed off again, then Isaac was back awake. This went on all night. In the end Xavier had to take some medicine and Isaac had a breathing treatment which did not do any good. So we were up most of the night. I did manage to take a nap this afternoon with Isaac for a couple of hours. I just pray that tonight goes well and we are all able to get some sleep. Unfortunately, Xavier is coughing in his sleep...
Time Alone?
Time alone is a foreign concept to me. Normally if I am without kids it is because I have a dentist appointment or ran up to the store for some bread or milk. I do not consider either of those as having time to myself though. Although I do tend to doze in the dentist chair while waiting for the Novocaine to kick in and pray during the entire procedure, lol. So when my sis-in-law said she would take the kids for a couple of hours so I can do some shopping that I have been wanting to do I jumped on it. Clothes shopping with my 3 boys is trying at times. The 2 older ones become quickly bored out of their skull and Peanut is screaming to get out of the stroller before I even get to the dressing room. The longest we normally last is 2-3 stores so I am quickly developing a system of speed shopping. Which consists of scanning an area for something I would wear, noticing if they even have close to my size and trying on only the absolutely necessary.
Oh yeah back to time alone... sis is taking all 3 boys for a couple of hours. I have planned my attack and am actually looking forward to shopping. I just pray that I can find some skirts in my size. Just so you know... being small has disadvantages, most places do not carry a 2 petite and having to buy clothes in the junior section tends to be difficult when looking for modest skirts and clothing. Regardless of what I find I am looking forward to being able to spend a couple hours by myself.
Oh yeah back to time alone... sis is taking all 3 boys for a couple of hours. I have planned my attack and am actually looking forward to shopping. I just pray that I can find some skirts in my size. Just so you know... being small has disadvantages, most places do not carry a 2 petite and having to buy clothes in the junior section tends to be difficult when looking for modest skirts and clothing. Regardless of what I find I am looking forward to being able to spend a couple hours by myself.
Make 'm Smile - June 7th!
Click on picture above for pdf of event.
Come as a VIP and be our honored guest! Come as a Buddy and be a friend!
What is Make ‘m Smile?
Make ‘m Smile is a community festival that celebrates kids with special needs (VIP kids) and their families and features a Buddy Stroll where VIP families are "buddied up" with people from around the community for a stroll around Lake Eola. Enjoy free food, entertainment, prizes, and a chance to visit exhibitors that service the special needs community.
This event is FREE of charge and happens RAIN OR SHINE!
(Based on last year’s experience of having to reschedule due to the threat of Tropical Storm Barry, we’re aware that the promise of “Rain or Shine” may be have to amended. :) Rest assured we will always act in the safest manner possible for our VIP kids and families. If there is a threat of dangerous weather, we will communicate our “Plan B” to you. If it is drizzling, we will enjoy the day as planned!)
Last year we had a blast being a buddy to a special boy we were paired up with. I have already registered the boys and I to be a buddy again this year and we are all looking forward to it. If you are in the Orlando area please check it out! You can learn more about "Make 'm Smile" or other events and services provided @ Nathaniel's Hope.
Heart of Prayer
Oh Lord, help me have a heart of prayer. I try so hard to pray and Satan is waiting for me, I fall asleep, my mind wonders, my thoughts are side tracked. Lord, help me speak to you, help me hear your voice.
Lord how do I pray when it seems I have a laundry list to ask for.
- my child who is sick
- those who are not saved
- my friends who are ill
- people who are hurting
- my children
- my husband
- things you have laid upon my heart
- guidance and understanding
I do not want to bring a laundry list to your Lord. Yet, this is what I do. Oh to Praise your Name. Praise You for opening my eyes. Praise You for working in my life. Praise You for all that You have done for me.
Help me Praise You and teach me to pray.
In Jesus Name
Lord how do I pray when it seems I have a laundry list to ask for.
- my child who is sick
- those who are not saved
- my friends who are ill
- people who are hurting
- my children
- my husband
- things you have laid upon my heart
- guidance and understanding
I do not want to bring a laundry list to your Lord. Yet, this is what I do. Oh to Praise your Name. Praise You for opening my eyes. Praise You for working in my life. Praise You for all that You have done for me.
Help me Praise You and teach me to pray.
In Jesus Name
Thrifty Thursday
THRIFT'Y, a. Frugal; sparing; using economy and good management of property.(from Webster's 1828 Dictionary)
Thrifty is not something I normally am but the Lord has placed it on our heart to fix our finances. More specifically to get out of debt. In a society that promotes "buy now, pay later" and hands out credit cards to anyone who qualifies it should not surprise us that so many families are in debt. According to the Federal Reserve Statistics released in January 2008 Consumer Credit was at 2524.5 Billion dollars (click here for report). Now once we pay off all our debt it will not even put a dent in the report they release each month but it will make a huge difference in our lives. The Bible tells us in Proverbs 22:7 The rich rules over the poor, And the borrower is servant to the lender. Which in all honesty is exactly how I feel when I think about bills. It is like a dark cloud hanging over my head but slowly with the Lord's help it will begin to disappear.
I recently read Larry Burkett's book "Debt-Free Living". For anyone who has not read it and is in debt I highly recommend it. The book explains why we are in debt and what to do about it by using "real" people and circumstances to explain debt. This makes it not only an easy read but interesting to read as well. I do not know if there is an updated version, the one I read I found at a local used bookstore. If you are in debt or want to know more it is an engaging read and well worth the money. The next book on my reading list is Dave Ramsey's "Total Money Makeover". I am really excited about this one since I have heard some rave reviews about him.
In the end it is by changing our attitude towards money and looking at what the Bible says about money that will allow us to become good stewards over all the Lord has blessed us with. For... “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” - Luke 16:13
My goal for this month is to become more thrifty and to start a budget. We have tried budgeting a few times before but they never lasted because we did not take into account the little things that pop up unexpectedly nor did we truly look at the amount of money we owe compared to our intake. This week I have pulled our credit report (you can get yours free once a year at annualcreditreport.com and am making a list of $$ owed. Once that is complete I will have a better understanding of where we are financially and how long it will take to be out of debt. Out of debt - means owing NO money at all to anyone.
Next Thursday I will let you know how it is going and whether I have been able to stick to being thrifty this past week :-)
Wordless Wednesday
Peanut is so proud of his newest accomplishment! He uses the "Sit & Spin" as a stool
Watch him go...
Today's Bible Reading: Malachi 1:6-14 (I got through the rest of the chapter, lol)
Watch him go...
Today's Bible Reading: Malachi 1:6-14 (I got through the rest of the chapter, lol)
Bible Challenge - Day 1
For the Bible Challenge I decided to read the Book of Malachi. I think it is one of those books I have skimmed over and never really looked into. So I will probably go see if the local Christian bookstore has a study guide to help me out. There are only 4 chapters in Malachi and today I managed to read 5 verses from the first one!
Malachi 1:2 “ I have loved you,” says the LORD. “ Yet you say, ‘In what way have You loved us?’ Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” Says the LORD. “ Yet Jacob I have loved;
This verse amazes me, the Lord tells Israel, his chosen people that He loves them and they ask for proof! It sounds funny but how often do we want proof of His love? We know that He loves us but our flesh takes over and wants more. We want answers, we want to see what it is He has planned for us, we want this or that. It is not about what "we want", we can rest assured that He loves us because For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16. Our head may know He loves us but has that knowledge penetrated your heart and into your life? Has your heart changed and accepted that no matter you can rest assured that he loves you and that you have eternal life? What amazes me even more though is that God gives them the proof they ask for. He tells them basically didn't I choose you? The Lord has chosen us! Oh that we can rest assured knowing that we are chosen by the Lord. We do not have to ask for proof of His love, it was freely given to us we just have to accept it and remember that He loves us!
Malachi 1:2 “ I have loved you,” says the LORD. “ Yet you say, ‘In what way have You loved us?’ Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” Says the LORD. “ Yet Jacob I have loved;
This verse amazes me, the Lord tells Israel, his chosen people that He loves them and they ask for proof! It sounds funny but how often do we want proof of His love? We know that He loves us but our flesh takes over and wants more. We want answers, we want to see what it is He has planned for us, we want this or that. It is not about what "we want", we can rest assured that He loves us because For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16. Our head may know He loves us but has that knowledge penetrated your heart and into your life? Has your heart changed and accepted that no matter you can rest assured that he loves you and that you have eternal life? What amazes me even more though is that God gives them the proof they ask for. He tells them basically didn't I choose you? The Lord has chosen us! Oh that we can rest assured knowing that we are chosen by the Lord. We do not have to ask for proof of His love, it was freely given to us we just have to accept it and remember that He loves us!
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