camp

I have been a naughty blogger. I am going to try to catch up with life here just a little bit. BUT there are likely to be large gaps. First of all, this blog is really more of a random picture and writing blog and here I am sharing kid pictures. Sneaky though.

We attended our first cub scout camp this year and it was all they said it would be and SO much more.

Shooting Archery!

Shooting BB guns!

Fishing!

Fun campfires!

We took our Boy and one of his fellow cub scouts with us and had such a fun time. Every day there we would rotate through six different stations, which we hiked to around the camp. So, everyday we did BB guns, Archery, Fishing, Crafts (like making a worm home), Science (like making a bug catcher, with wood burning included!), and Games (like Tug of War). On the last day the boys in our group did a fun song together with our other scouts and we had such a fun time. Our boys were filthy and completely worn out everyday. I have tons of pictures and you should probably keep an eye out for them on our family blog page.

This was how we spent just a portion of our summer...

reminder... sometimes i need these

****Updated to add that I just found that this is not quite correct. This is actually
by Dr. Kent M. Keith (often falsely attributed to Mother Teresa)
The last line is not one from Dr. Keith's original Paradoxical Commandments
it seems to have been added by.... anonymous. HOWEVER... I still like it. A lot. Enough to swipe it from a favorite blog of mine Quiet Life... and when she fixed who she attributed it to, then I had to do the same.

"People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.

If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway.

If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.

The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway.

For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway."

such a bright light shining

There are some people in this world that my spirit rushes when I see them. It is as if my spirit yearns for what they have. Their stories and their light shine so bright that I want to bask in it one moment and then another moment I am convicted to go and preach at every street corner.

I am trying to make sense here but I have a feeling that I need to start with something more concrete.

This is Cott and Shus. Those aren't their real names really but that is what everyone knows them by. This is a couple that have poured out their lives for God.



I first met Cott and Shus around 8 years ago when my son was just a baby. I can't believe it has been that long.

The first time I met them I did my best to pay them great respect because my parents taught me well and I was trained to honor and respect and love those older then me. The aged in my world are some of the most amazing people ever. Their experiences and what makes people who they are today fascinate me. I would love to sit at the feet of the older generation and soak up all the stories and tales and remembrances that they could find to tell me.

Cott did most of the talking on that first day and I remember exactly what he talked about. He talked about sharing the Gospel. He talked about how he shared the Gospel and how he talked to people. He showed me the tracts that he would sometimes use. He showed me the scriptures and he asked me about my salvation. He asked me who I had shared the Gospel with recently.

His light was so very bright.

He was a country preacher. I can identify with that in a powerful way cause I grew up tagging along after my country preacher Daddy. I grew up listening to country preachers preach the Gospel over old oak pulpits with lightening bugs flittering in and out of the open country church windows.

Cott didn't stop at the old oak pulpits. I had the sense that he never stopped. He told me about the people he would see at diners and the people he would talk to at gas stations and those that he would share with everywhere he went everyday. He was so earnest in his zeal for God.

He didn't grow up in the church. He was not a Christian until he was married and busy working his farm but once God came into his life it was never the same.

Now Cott and Shus are retired. It was a long time in coming. I do think that they were technically retired before this but that they never really stopped. They kept right on doing God's work. They consistently filled in at small country churches all over the state. They consistently shared the story of Jesus.

Finally though, it was time. Shus was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and he quickly realized that he needed to be there with her constantly and that it was time to pass on the torch of the hospital visits and all the other work to others.

They are living in an apartment in a community for retired ministers. Recently, we talked and he sat there telling me in amazement what an incredible wife Shus had been for him all these years. How she took care of all the finances and took care of all the things in the home as well as taught elementary school until her own retirement. He impressed upon me that he never understood all that she did, all that she was to him fully. That only recently had he completely realized what all she had done. Cott told me that now he would gladly care for Shus. It was his turn to do this work. To care for his beloved in so many ways.

His work for the Lord continues on in ways he never imagined.

His inspiration will go on in ways he may never imagine in this known world.

triple school points!

I have been meaning to get this posted FOREVER.... actually I have many posts like that. This post just happened to be the lucky one today.

I try to do the kids spelling words all different ways and cheap ways and fun ways and this is one of those ways.

We have this neat little portable desk thing that Discovery Toys once carried. I used to sorta sell Discovery Toys once. The key word is sorta. Mainly I bought Discovery Toys. It was an issue. Anyways, this came with neat story magnets which we still use. I was tempted to get rid of this little desk thing since we really weren't using it much, but then I found this use for it. One of the sides of the top which slides in and out is magnetic. The other side of the desk is all flat with a spot for a cup, but... goodness... I digress. Yet again. So, I found someone just giving away these scrabble tiles.

I put magnets on the back, and store them in the desk and use them with this for spelling. The kids love it. They look more like the real letters as opposed to those plastic colored letters and it just works well. They all store in the desk and we can even do spelling easy in the car.

The other fun thing... well sorta fun. Relative fun, is using the 100 pocket chart. One of the lessons in the Alpha book in Math U See is to write from one to one hundred each day for the lesson. Both of kids totally fell apart when they got to this. They feel that this is torture... SO much writing!!! Well, I know the point of the lesson and so I just did it a slightly different way. I was able to do this since I knew that both of them could actually write all the numbers that it was much more about making sure they KNOW all the numbers and how they go together to 100. So, I snag the pocket chart and pretend that a "number pirate" was caught at our house.

I do the voice when I tell them the story and the whole nine yards. The number pirate was caught but not before he had removed EVERY number from the number chart in an attempt to steal them. The kids them have to put all the numbers back in the chart. In order.

The love it. They have always been able to prove to me that they do know the order of the numbers and how they go together. It works great!!!

So those are things that work for us in school!

Can I have my triple word score now? :)

this and that

So, it is VBS week at my church which equals craziness for me and mine. My problem is that I can't leave the curriculum well enough alone. I decide to take it to a whole new level. I complicate things for myself. It works well on the drive to crazyville.

The kids are finally playing some baseball games, but we still have quite a few to make up with sporadic rain constantly coming as well.

Can I let you in on a little secret? I LOVE watching my kids play ANY sport. I am learning tons of things watching them and I find such joy in watching them have so much fun.

I have been busy with life during the summer which means that I run with kids here and there and there and here.

I have lots to do and not enough time to do it all in but it will all happen at some point.

I have temporarily set up shop outside fixing the neighborhood kids bikes. It is hard being a single mom in the military. I am so glad I am not one, but at least I can fix a few bikes and help them out.

I have been reading... big shock there.

I also found the most interesting video for crazy bibliophiles.

forgiveness and baseball

Today I have felt the need to beg for forgiveness like I haven't felt in a long time. I had really let someone down in my life and I felt horrible.

This little person that I really let down was my son.

The boy of mine is an amazing kid... well he is to me and really that is what matters.

He loves sports and one of his favorite sports is baseball and we are well into that season, but because of the amazing amount of rain that we have had here five of his games have been canceled. He has only been able to play one game. ONE.

Everyday that he has had a game scheduled it has rained that day, or it has rained hard the night before and the field is flooded. He sits disappointed day after day knowing that with each pitter-patter of rain drops the season for one of his all time favorite sports is quickly flying away.

Yesterday and today were glorious, gorgeous days. The sun was bright, the sky was clear. We even checked the weather radar and we were in the safe zone. The games would happen today! The weather had finally smiled down on the little boy and he would get to swing that bat and throw that ball around with his friends.

The Girl had her game first at 10am and we went to that and had such fun, then the boy's game was at 1pm.

John wasn't sure that his game was at 1pm. During the girl's game he had overheard someone from the Boy's team commenting that they had to be back in just a half hour... at 11:30. So I double checked the schedule and checked it against the large white board that I use for all of our activities on the fridge. It said One O'clock in that nifty little square that I studied once more.

I made some lunch... fixed water bottles... did some gardening.

Finally I made sure the Boy was ready and we headed out. He ran across the field ahead of me with his batting helmet and bat and glove. He was SO excited that he was finally going to be able to play a game again. He had honestly waited weeks to be able to play a game.

On my way over, as I lugged the water and the camera and the snacks, I noticed that his team members were on their way to the parking lot.

All of them.

I stopped one family and confirmed that yes, his game WAS OVER. I am sure my eyes about fell out of my head... and my heart dropped.

What really did me in though was seeing my little boy, just moments ago so excited, now running towards me with his face crumpled with tears.

He ran towards me and I hugged him tight. I was a bit indignant. How could this have happened?! I was SO careful. Was my schedule paper a misprint?! I started looking for his coach, a good friend of mine, to figure out what had happened.

I found her and she smiled and waved to me. I met up with her and told her that I had double checked the schedule and all of that... she was puzzled and sorry and she pulled out the schedule and I pointed to the neat square where it said 1pm on Saturday the 13th. The problem that she quickly pointed out was that today was the 6th.

THE SIXTH!!!

That was when I just looked at my son and he looked at me and I apologized about 100 times. I am not exaggerating. He had been waiting for weeks. I was looking at the wrong square everywhere. All day.

I brought him home and I apologized again and again and again. He seemed fine with it and really bounced back, but I felt horrible.

I offered to camp out and read as many books as he wanted. I offered to bake him cookies to take to his Sunday School class. I offered to paint him a picture of a Tiger for his room. I needed to do something for him to "earn" his forgiveness... which is silly, but I just felt so BLASTED GUILTY!

Finally I tossed them in swim suits and they played in water at the house, then I took them to the pool over on base where the water was freezing and they complained. It was not the best day here people... but we muddled through.

The good thing is that even when I mess things up that he has been yearning for, and I do mean yearning for, for this long... he was so quick and willing to forgive me.

There are many things that I would like to "fix" in my child's behavior, but frankly, I was proud of him today. I really missed the mark big time, but he got over it quickly and moved on quickly. Frankly, he moved on faster then I was able to move on.

He has four games this coming week. I told him that I would make sure that nothing else interfered with his games. I will hold back the clouds blast it!

i want to learn... please?

My Mother's Day gifts this year spoke volumes to me. I was floored and delighted and almost in tears.

John took the kids out to shop and after he convinced the Girl that her present did not have to be the very best and most amazing gift in the entire world they were able to move on. They purchased their gifts and wrapped them for me and presented them to me during the afternoon.

I opened my Mother's Day gifts with absolutely no idea of what I would get. They each bought me one item and then they bought me one thing together.


My boy bought me a sweet hummingbird feeder. He has shared my love of attracting birds to our yard and this is something that he has wanted for sometime. He also knew that I would LOVE it. I do love it! It is currently hanging in our tree in the back yard and we are awaiting our little humming friends.My daughter gave me a very nice gardening book and this is ALWAYS a welcome sight in my home especially since I am a bit of a gardening addict. I have already read through much of the book and have learned quite a bit. I am excited about what else I will learn from my book.

The gift from both of them was large and rectangular and heavy. It felt obviously like a book and since I lurve books I opened it eagerly!

When I pulled back the paper I saw this massive history book.


This book is very large and is filled with maps and articles of what has happened in our world in the past.

I opened it up and my husband said, "Now you need to hear why they wanted to get this particular book for you." He had this funny grin on his face.

BOTH of my children were sitting on the floor at my feet and at this moment they both chimed in together, "We bought it for you so that you can use it to teach us more history!" They looked up at me with beaming faces, full of anticipation. My eyes grew wide and I realized that I was just given one of the biggest compliments of my entire life.

I have a great love of learning and I love learning more about history. I homeschool our children and I love bringing history alive for them. We use Sonlight history and they think that the history portion of our day is one of the best parts of each day. They often talk me into doing more then one day of history at a time.

I have succeeded in one of my goals in homeschooling. I have instilled in my children a love of learning. I know that I do not do everything right. There are many times when I question myself and what we are doing here in our little corner of the great homeschooling world, but on Mother's Day I got one of the best gifts. I got a great progress report as a homeschool teacher. Now... let's see if we can work on my progress report for organizing a house...