Happy birthday to me!

Today is my 49th birthday!! While others might be sighing and feeling down about being almost 50, I'm jumping for joy! 10 years ago, I was diagnosed with a rare, but aggressive cancer. The prognosis was not good and we all faced the possibility that I would not be here to raise our children. Well, fast forward 10 years... Here I sit with two teens in the house, two of my daughters married and our 7th grandchild on the way.

So, 49 sounds wonderful to me!!!!!!! Bring on 59 I say. LOL

God gets all the glory today from me. He was merciful to someone who deserved no mercy.

Thank you dear Father for dying for me. Thank you dear Father for loving me and allowing me to live to raise my children. Thank you for a wonderful life!

When your education pays you back!

We all hear it from our children all the time, " When am I ever going to use this?" or, "Why do we have to learn grammar?"

Well, these past few months, I have started medical transcription at my home. Suddenly, all of those years of learning spelling, grammar and punctuation has started paying off in spades! I think it's hard enough at my age to learn so much of the medical terminology and drug information, but if I had to learn spelling, grammar and punctuation, I would not be able to do my job. I would have had to quit before I started.

I am so grateful for homeschooling which has taught me far more than my children learned!! It certainly is making my transition time easier.

Gratitude comes through the oddest things

Today I was in driving in Florida when I came upon an awful accident. I'm sure one person was dead....why are those tarps always blue?? They were trying to extract another person also. I whispered up prayers for the accident victim and the rescue workers who go through so much as they assist in these situations. I burst into tears as I drove on to my destination.

Tears of grief mixed with gratitude fell as I thanked God for sparing my two oldest daughters six years ago from a very similar accident. Grief welled up again as I remembered the blue tarp and my daughter's best friend being taken to the morgue rather than to surgery or to the ER.

I sometimes wonder why God spared my daughters. I wonder why He chose to take Dannon who was an only child while leaving me with all four of my daughters. I wonder why I sit here, the grandmother of seven children, none of whom would be here (two are still forming ) had God chosen to take their Mama's home. It boggles my mind yet fills me with the most amazing gratitude for the mercy that I certainly did not deserve and the precious lives that God has trusted me with.

I think about my son-in-law who pastors a small church in AL. I remember him sitting in the ICU waiting room praying for a miracle, yet accepting God's will. They told us she wouldn't live yet we prayed on. They told us she wouldn't walk or talk and yet we prayed on.

I remember looking at that young man with new eyes as I watched his faith in action. When other people were irritating me with their ceaseless questioning of God's perfect will, he was solid and unwavering in his faith.

I remember another young man who is also now my son-in-law standing by us day and night. I remember him leaning over to our daughter, looking past the blood, stitches and bruises...and telling her that she was beautiful. Now, he's the father of three of our grandchildren and loves our daughter so much!

I remember standing just inside the door at the funeral home. My oldest daughter was in a coma, with severe, life-threatening injuries. My second born was being held up in order to walk, and looked as if someone had beaten her with a base ball bat. I stood there, unable to move, barely able to breathe.......thinking that I was going to collapse. Our pastor and his wife walked up to me, each on one side of me and literally held me up as they gently led me into the room and up to the casket. They were grieving too as they loved my girl so much. (she is now their daughter-in-law and the mother of four of their grandchildren!) But they looked past their pain and helped me through a very difficult moment. I was feeling so guilty and I didn't want to see Dannon lying there dead when she had been so alive, happy and vibrant just three short days before. How could I face her mother who was now childless when there I stood still the mother of four.

God is good to remind me from time to time of His mercy and tender care. When I got home, I knew I needed to write down the memory and give God the glory for the lessons he has taught me and the way that he reminds me to thank Him and to not take life for granted.

homeschooling while sick

We started Tapestry of Grace before the holidays and are enjoying it very much. We're studying the 20th Century and are working through World War II right now. I like the way that once we start an area, the girls can just go with the subject on their own. They do their maps, timelines, lapbooks and notebook pages with a small amount of imput from me. This was a good thing since I spent the holidays very ill. In early Jan, I finally got a diagnosis and am getting better every day. I don't enjoy homeschooling while sick, but I'm amazed at what I learn when I am low and weak.

Now that I'm stronger, we've been organizing, cleaning and trying to get more done each day. What a blessing to see things become neater and cleaner each day. Sometimes I forget how much I like cleanliness!

I'm reading Created to be His Helpmeet again...whew...hard reading! I'm also reading some organization books and biographies from World War II.

Homemaking

Today we were cleaning some corners in our school room and moving book shelves before school. What a job! We have so many books that our school room gets quite dusty. All three of us had allergy attacks before school. Hubby will install adjustable shelves on every wall before we're done. Right now, we have shelving on three of the four walls.

Hubby and I are fixing up our school room while converting our huge walk in closet into a sewing/craft room! He cut a very large window out of the wall so that I won't feel as if I am in a dungeon. I will be able to look out and watch a movie or keep up with grandbabies. It is coming along very nicely and I was able to move my sewing desk into the new room today. I'm going to wait until it is finished and then post some pictures if I ever figure out how to add pictures here.

Week Three

We are in the midst of week three of Tapestry of Grace year 4. So far, we are enjoying this new curriculum very much. It is very thorough, well laid out and interesting. I've found that it is not difficult to use at all and much easier than our previous curriculum and much less "twaddle." The pace is very quick which is good since I'm the type of homeschool mom that has to beat a subject to death before moving on. We are working hard to keep on schedule which is actually a very comforting experience.

After all these years, a new method of homeschooling

After 15 years of using a very popular unit study curriculum, we changed to Tapestry of Grace. We finished week one today and so far are very impressed and happy with our choice. Tapestry of Grace is laid out very thoroughly, is interesting and can be used for all grades. I think that it has a good balance between activities and reading. I've always been a unit study user, but with an emphasis on reading rather than many activities. I use activities to enhance what we've been studying rather than stringing activities together.

Why, one might ask would I change curriculums after so many years of loyalty to the other? Well, I have three reasons.

1. The other curriculum publisher began to promote an "expert" mentality, i.e. you need an "expert" or "master teacher" to show you how to use their materials. Of course, for a small fee, this master teacher will take you by the hand and show you what to do. I began homeschooling in the 90s when the homeschooling market wasn't flooded with products. We had very few choices, so most of us, picked what we thought was the best and just started. We made mistakes, had successes and learned how to teach our children as we felt best. I believe that the best thing about homeschooling is that we shed the need for "experts" and seek God's help to teach our children.
2. Another reason I chose Tapestry of Grace is that it is finished for all four years of High School. I had to use a lot of texts for High School with my older daughters but wanted to use unit studies all the way through. With TOG, I can do this without having to reinvent the wheel.
3. I believe that the author of TOG believes fully in our ability to take the curriculum she has written and make it fit our unique talents, abilities and family situations. She offers many helful additions so that we can adapt easily.

I considered several other options before choosing TOG. I bought another popular curriculum used and attempted to use it for a while, but ended up changing. They have a lot of books, but little or no activity and seemed disjointed.

Hopefully I will be posting about our progress as we go along. My children are excited and so am I. I think this is a great fit for us.