I'm not lost.... anymore

Well, it's been a very long time since I last wrote a blog. Too long I'm sure, because I've probably lost the few followers I had! ;) But, here I am!

It's been a rough couple of months. I wanted to write so many times, but I just didn't know what to write, and didn't know what to share. Or what not to share. So, I didn't write. Looking back, this was probably a very good thing. I was in a dark place for a little while, and I don't think I had anything worth sharing.

I've been sick for a while now. I've suffered with chronic pain for a few years, but starting back in November the pain began to intensify. By December the pain was accompanied by a slew of other symptoms, and by Christmas I felt like I could no longer function. My world seemed to come to a complete halt, and to say I handled it well would be a gross overstatement. I did not handle it well.

You see, I'm a bit of a control freak, and patience is NOT my forte. I'm a 'RIGHT NOW' kinda gal, so when I began seeing the doctor and wasn't getting any answers as to what was happening in my body I just couldn't take it.

My symptoms were worsening all the time. And to feel like I had no control over my own body was terrifying to say the least. The pain and fatigue took over, and it wasn't a pretty sight.

Being a homemaker, wife, and mother is a tough job on the best of days. But with my "new" body it was more then tough. It felt impossible to do any of my jobs, and doing them well was, well it wasn't happening.

I truly began to loose who I am. I was in such a deep pit. And although I wanted desperately to pull myself out, I couldn't. I would wake up in the morning and tell myself that it was going to be a good day, and I would pray for God's strength to help me through. But come 11:00am my body would start to deteriorate. My pain would become unmanageable, the tremors that plague me would start to roll through my body, my speech would become a bit of a slur, and the headaches and eye pain would set in. How can I manage my home, take care of my 3 beautiful boys, and homeschool like this? By 2:00pm I would have all the kids in my room with me, school work in tow, or a movie so that I could be in bed in attempt to rest my body. By 6:00pm I could no longer function, the house and the kids were turned over to hubby, and I settled in knowing I was going to have at least 2-3 hours of muscle spasms before I would fall asleep. Of course only to be woken through the night in pain. And then it was time to get out of bed and start all over again in the morning. Too much, right? Well it was too much for me, thus the big, dark pit I was living in.

It's not easy to loose control, especially over your body. I couldn't do anything the way I used to. No more driving, no more taking the kids out of the house for a walk or play date, and no more enjoying life because it felt like the life was sucked out of me.

And then one day, I hit rock bottom. I could not take another second of this. Too many symptoms, too many appointments, and too little answers. I phoned hubby at work and broke down. I told him I couldn't go on, couldn't have all of this going on, and still be a wife and mother. I felt like I couldn't take care of myself, let alone our sweet, precious children. Hubby didn't know what to say. He didn't know how to help. He was already picking up the slack at home when he was here, and already missing so much work to help with appointments, he was at a loss of what to do or say. I could tell he was just as frustrated and sad as I was. Watching his wife suffer through illness was hard enough, watching me loose my mind was beyond what he knew how to handle.
Shortly after getting off the phone with him I heard my cell phone beep with a text message. It was my husband. My un-Saved hubby. The message said "I will pray for you". That message hit me like a ton of bricks. My un-saved hubby, who doesn't pray wants to pray for me. There was so much impact to those words - "I will pray for you" coming from him, that I just fell to my knees. God is SO good, and so much bigger then us all, and for some reason I forgot this. I mean, I knew these things, but while being in my dark pit I forgot to practice those things. Sure I was praying everyday, but I wasn't surrendering myself completely over to God. I was trying to control it all. And, as we all know life just doesn't work that way. I'm not in control. I've never been in control. There is only One who is in perfect control of all things.

So, my husband began to pray for me. And through him I saw that it was time to give myself back over to the Lord, the only one who could take me out of my dark pit. Back to His embrace, instead of the enemy's. I didn't even know I had fallen from my place with Him, thats how tricky this dark pit is.

My health problems haven't gone away. I'm still coping day by day. But I'm on the right track with specialists now, who have narrowed it down to a few conditions, and after some tests I have coming up I should have a diagnosis.

But in the meantime, things are easier. No, I'm still not back to my healthy self, and yes everyday is still a challenge. But the difference is now I have the power of a praying husband! And honestly I would go through every horrible, painful day all over again if it meant that it was bringing my husband one step closer to the Lord. Our Lord is all mighty, all powerful, holy holy holy! And prayer is so powerful, there is no denying that since hubby began to pray that I have improved. And it feels SOOO good to be back in the arms of my Father, I don't have to go through this alone. Thank you, Jesus!

So... I'm back! And spiritually feeling better then I have in a long time!

Does anyone relate? If any of you are suffering from a health condition and have any advice on how to successfully homeschool on the bad days, or tips on home management when the bad days hit leave me a comment! I could use all the advice I can get!

By His grace alone,

Corrine


I've linked up at

How is your marriage?

How is your marriage?

I feel like I have a wonderful marriage. Perfect? Goodness NO! Yet, it’s still wonderful.
Just this morning I read a great post at The Better Mom about feeling like the grass is greener on the other side of other marriages. and I wonder how often people compare their own marriages to others?

I’m ashamed to admit that I have. But not because I think that THEIR grass is greener, but I felt like OUR grass was greener...

Okay, I know that it’s not right to compare our marriage to others, and it’s especially not right to think that my marriage is better then everyone’s around me but in the last 3 years I have seen too many marriages around me end, or if they are together still they are hanging by a sliver and I don’t know how to help. We have lived in our house for 3 years now, and have seen 3 marriages end. That seems crazy to me! And the few just barely holding on scare me, I don’t want to see any more marriages end. Especially those close to us.

But here’s the thing. My husband and I aren’t in a great marriage by accident. It didn’t just happen over night, and it isn’t always easy. We work very hard at having what we have. We water our “grass”. Actually we water, fertilize, mow, and pull weeds. Even when stubborn me would rather not. Do we still have fights? Yes. The work on our marriage is far from over. Actually, it will NEVER end. Just like you have to do your laundry or wash your dishes everyday or the tasks become out of control, you have to work on your marriage everyday so it doesn’t become out of control.

Marriage is no easy task. And even when we care for our marriage it won’t always be great. Life happens, and when the tough stuff comes up you might have to re-evaluate your approach on HOW you care for your marriage. We are always growing. So are our marriages, so we need to assume that the way we care for our marriage needs to grow and adapt too. What works today might not work tomorrow. Continue to evaluate the needs of your spouse and marriage. And talk to your spouse about how they feel about how your marriage is. Make sure you’re both on the same page. Communication is huge!
Courtney from Women Living well has a “10 days to a Godly Marriage” series starting, along with other posts and vlogs on marriage. And Darlene over at Time Warp Wife has a “31 days of love” challenge, posts from both her and contributing bloggers. I have found wonderful, encouraging advice from both!

Take the time to nurture and care for your marriage. Take the time to soak in the importance of keeping that relationship strong. Think of the vows you have taken. Husband & Wife. It’s a beautiful relationship, don’t ever forget that.

I don’t want to be the only house with “green grass”. :)

Have any advice on keeping your marriage strong, share in the comments!

Smiles, Blessing, and HAPPY MARRIAGES :)

Precious or a Pain?

Life has been very busy lately. I mean life is always busy, but more so in the last few weeks.
I am still learning how to be a home schooling mama, how to lesson plan and teach the kids. How to keep them focused and happy throughout our school day. And then of course there is the daily chores to keep up with. Oh, and not to mention my Autumn indoor/outdoor clean-up list that we've barely begun! And now of course it's hockey season. And with 2 of the 3 boys playing this year we are at the rink Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, every other Friday, Saturday & Sunday. WHOA! And this doesn't even scratch the surface. There's still appointments, commitments of mine or my husbands, errands to run, ect. There's a lot going on, and I am starting to feel the drain and stress from it all. Me, and so many other parents who have so much on their plate feel the drain and stress from it all. So where does this leave us? For myself it's left me tired, disorganized, and quite frankly - grumpy. This is not how I like to feel, and certainly not how I want my family to see me.

So how do I deal with this type of stress? Not well apparently.

On Friday evening, after a very long day Jaxon had hockey. Mike was still at work which meant it was up to me to get everyone ready and out the door. The kids were tired, I was tired. Tyson didn't even want to leave the house, BUT we have the commitment of hockey and we follow through. Once we're at the arena I feel frustrated. Jaxon only being 5 still needs me to put his equipment on, but Tyson wanted to be held. And Ryan was complaining of being hungry, even though we just ate supper. I can't hold Tyson while I do Jaxon's equipment, so Tyson sat on the bench crying. And Ryan sat there complaining. It's then that I really noticed my tone of voice. It was that "mommy's not in the mood, and you're driving me mental" voice. And it didn't sound nice. It's also then that I noticed my 8 year old using that same tone of voice when addressing his brothers. Eeck, definitely not the way I want to treat my kids. I took a deep breath, reminding myself that a 2 year old has every right to be over tired and want to be held, and 8 year old boys complain of hunger in hopes to get a snack from the concession. That's life. DEEP BREATH! DEEP BREATH! DEEP BREATH!

After a few minutes of Jaxon being on the ice, Mike was able to meet us at the rink, and I took a very tired Tyson home and let Mike finish up with the practice.
Once I was home I could not stop thinking of this tone of voice that I tend to use in frustrating or stressful situations. I felt sick to my stomach thinking about how often that mean mommy voice creeps out. I know I'm not the only parent who does this, I could hear other parents all around me acting in the same manner. In fact, at one point I actually heard 3 moms comparing whose children were worse (in front of said children) . Yes, you read that right. WORSE. Is this how parents behave? Our children have become an obnoxious pain, and not the precious jewels they are intended to be?
I don't have the right to let my frustration or stress rule situations with my children. It doesn't build positive character or confidence in a person to have someone speak with a harsh tone every time they are annoyed. And it doesn't teach my precious little ones how to positively handle their own stresses.
So my goal is to make sure that my own stress and frustration don't change the way I interact with my kids. When things are normal and everyone is in a good mood we all talk nicely and positively towards each other. This doesn't need to change just because I'm tired. I will ask myself "Is this the way I would want to be spoken to?" If my answer is NO, then it's time to take a DEEP BREATH and start again. I want my kids to always know, they are PRECIOUS. And NOT a pain!

Stop. Breathe. Pray.

What a week... And it's only Monday! It's days like today that I think if there were a reset button, I just might push it. Not to reset my life or anything, just the day. Or maybe the week... ;)

Things started getting tough when Saturday through the night I started getting sick. Like stomach flu sick. Yuck! I was up most of the night not feeling well, but was comforted knowing that my hubby would take over the kiddos in the morning while I tried to recoup. (He's awesome like that!) But around 7:00am Sunday (after maybe 2 hours of broken sleep) I heard my little ones wake up. Jaxon came into our room and informed me that Tyson didn't feel good. Uh-oh, this can't be good. Tyson couldn't even make it to my room to tell me himself like he usually would. My first thought was that he had the same stomach flu I was experiencing. But once I saw him I knew it was worse then that. Our poor little Ty was white as a ghost, struggling to breathe normally, and his heart rate was increased past what his "safe range" is, and he couldn't hold up his own head. So, off to the hospital we went. After tests we found out that he has a pretty severe lung infection, which was causing some issues to his heart. And for some reason his body wasn't responding in the typical way a body does when it senses there's an infection. He had no fever so the doctor couldn't figure out why he couldn't stay awake. He didn't even flinch with the many needles he had gotten. Blood results showed his potassium was extremely low, which apparently was the cause of him being lethargic. So after hours, and some treatment we were able to bring him home with the instructions that on top of the IV antibiotics he received at the hospital he would need to take more at home and to please keep him indoors and resting (away from the germs of others) to keep his heart and lungs happy. Okay- no problem! We went home, and cared for our sweet boy and he was improving! I was still exhausted, but I think all us moms find the energy to keep going, even when we're sick!
So needless to say I didn't sleep well last night, it's hard to fall into a nice deep sleep when you know you have a sick kiddo, and I knew I had to check on his breathing through the night so I sort of just tossed and turned. Thankfully Tyson ended up having a good night so YAY!
My plan for today was to do a little bit of school with the kids, but we were all feeling mentally drained so I was keeping everything relaxed and easy. All of a sudden there was loud knocking on the door, as well as the doorbell ringing. Scared the wits out of all of us! Scared me even more when I opened the door to the fire Chief of our town with a mask on yelling for us to evacuate our home immediately due to a dangerous gas leak outside only a few doors down from us. He gave me enough time to get the kids a coat and grab the dog, and get in the van. He told us the complex and the road will be closed until the problem is fixed. The kids were terrified, and I was terrified. In the rush of having to leave so quick I didn't have any Tyson's meds, and with the cool Fall air and no inhalers I was worried. The police blocking the road told me there was no estimated time to how long it would take to gain control of the problem, but that our entire neighborhood was evacuated and to make arrangements of where to go in case we were not able to get back in for the day and/or night. So, there I sat in our van at a nearby lake. Kids terrified, and me a bunch of nerves. I don't have a ton of friends in our town yet, and it just so happens that one of them had the flu in their house, and another has a new baby. Either way I couldn't walk into either with a sick kid, not only would we not want to pass our germs, we can't risk Ty picking up more. Hubby works in the city, about an hour commute but I was worried about going there too for the same reasons. So I sat there in the van and just prayed that the leak wasn't so severe that they couldn't get it sorted out. And you know what? It all worked out. We were able to get back into our house less then 2 hours later, and just in time because Tyson was really needing his meds by then. Our gas still hasn't been turned back on yet but that's OK we're back in our home where we have everything we need.

what a crazy few days! Here's hoping that little man gets better, and that mama can catch up on some rest.

Smiles & Blessings,

Corrine

Tyson ~The Fighter~

This post is going to be another long one... Sorry again ;)
Also, I will be including a few pictures from Tyson's hospital time that may make a few people squeamish. I've kept out some of the more gruesome pictures, but this is what our sweet boy looked like and I wanted to share that.

January 8, 2009 started out with a very early morning. I was 35 weeks pregnant and had a regular obstetric appointment later in the afternoon, but for some reason I was up when there was still a 5 on the clock! ;)
I felt enticed to pack my hospital bags. I was trying to save it for another few weeks just because it would give me something to do closer to “the time”, but God got me up out of bed way to early with my mission. So, I packed my bags. After my bags were packed I was feeling very unsettled. I woke up feeling that way but I thought after I was done packing I would feel better. No such luck. I felt so anxious, I couldn’t relax.
Finally around 12:30 hubby came home from work because he wanted to be there for the appointment. The kids and I made our way to the van while hubby lugged the hospital bags out. We were backing out of the driveway when he said “Did you think to pack for the boys?” No, I hadn’t. Well that’s not true, I did think about it, but again I wanted to have something to do closer to “the time”. Mike thought it would be best if we quickly grabbed a few things for the boys even though we were already running behind, so I grabbed the necessities and we were off!

Once we got to the doctors office I was still feeling really anxious. I remember when I went to the washroom to do the always lovely urine test, I was praying. “Lord, something doesn’t feel right. I feel anxious and off today. Please, if something is wrong with me or the baby let the doctor pick up on it.” The first clue came when the nurse weighed me. I was down 15 pounds in two weeks – over the Christmas season where there was no shortage of delicious foods and treats. Hmm… weird. Then the doctor joined us. It was our family’s favorite time of the appointment; we were going to hear the heart beat! But as soon as the Doppler was on my stomach I knew something was wrong. In 3 pregnancies I had never heard a baby’s heart beat THAT fast. I could see the concern on the doctor’s face. She said the heart rate was too fast to count. She asked me to lie down and relax a few minutes and that she would try again. Maybe he had just done a big movement in me that increased his heart rate? But in a few minutes when she checked, the results were the same. It was time to head to the hospital for a non-stress test.
Thankfully my parents live nearby and my mom was able to leave work and meet us at her house to take our older boys. Hmm, that overnight bag is sure going to come in handy now!

We made our way up to the labor/delivery floor of the hospital where the nurse hooked me up to the monitor. Immediately the alarms were going off. She explained that the monitors trace as high as 250bpm (beats per minute) and his was too high for the machine to trace. Within seconds there was a team of at least 5 doctors in the room with an ultra-sound machine. They wanted to make sure it was in fact the baby’s heart and not that the machine was picking up a combination of both of our heart rates. It was the baby’s. I was taken in immediately for an emergency c-section. It all happened so fast. Our original doctor’s appointment was at 1:30, I don’t remember what time we got to the hospital, but Tyson was born by 3:15pm.

A very quick look at our sweet new boy, before he was taken to the NICU (neo-natal intensive care unit).

The doctors had no idea what was wrong with Tyson. His little heart was still racing. Sitting between 200-300bpm. I was still stuck in my postpartum room recovering from the c-section and couldn't see him, so Mike and the doctor would go back and forth to try and fill me in one how he was doing. I remember that finally at almost midnight the nurse could finally take me over to the NICU in my wheelchair to see Tyson. This was the first time I could actually LOOK at him. I just sat there and stared. I don't know for how long. He looked so perfect. How could his body not be working?

Through the night Tyson didn't do so well. By morning it was obvious to the doctors that he needed to be transferred to a hospital with a higher level intensive care where there were cardiologists around 24/7. So the Neo-Natal transfer team came and took him to another hospital in the city. Hubby went with Tyson, I filled out the forms to release myself. No way was I staying in the hospital with my baby leaving.

-First time I was allowed to hold Tyson, 5 days old!

Days went by without any doctor being able to figure out what was going on. They were calling the problem Atrial Flutter, but there were no meds that would work for him. He was having to be cardio-verted daily (the panels on your chest to re-start your heart) and one day had it done multiple times. Nothing was working for our sweet boy, and during the night on January 19 Tyson went into heart failure. We were called into the hospital (parents can not stay over night on this unit) and it was the longest 1 hour drive EVER! The neo-natologist that was caring for Tyson met us outside of the unit before we could see him to let us know what was going on. Because his heart could no longer pump blood properly and was racing so fast his lower organs and limbs were suffering. He was having internal bleeding, his lungs were full of water and they STILL had no idea why this was happening. By this point in our journey they doctors and specialists were already consulting with other cardiologists from all over north America. Nobody had heard of this happening this way. Usually these symptoms were given a diagnosis pretty quickly. Finally Dr.Patton (Ty's cardiologist and just an amazing man)came to preform an ECHO (heart ultrasound) himself. Ty had at least 1 a day since being born, mostly by the techs. It was at this point he could finally see what was happening. Tyson had a Corarctation of the aorta, this means his aorta (your main artery) was narrowing. Typically a newborns aorta measures around 6-7mm wide. Tyson's was less then 2mm, and closing. And because each baby is born with a hole in their heart that naturally closes after a few weeks called a 'ductus' they couldn't see the problem. Tyson's ductus still being open was actually what was keeping him alive. But, it had now closed. Hence the heart failure. The artery was now too narrowed to supply blood to his entire lower body. Tyson would need heart surgery ASAP, but in a different city. But because he was so unstable, they couldn't fly him. There was one choice left. There is a drug that if administered soon after the ductus closes, it can re-open it. The doctor explained that this was our last hope. If this drug couldn't work, Tyson would not make it through another night. It was a long shot, because generally the babies that they use this on are premature and when their ductus begins closing too early, they can use the meds. On a almost full term baby who's ductus was already closed, they couldn't predict an out come. The drug was administered into a main artery with the ultrasound machine on his heart. If this was going to work it would be within 15 minutes, and they would see the change happen. With my husband and I beside Tyson's bassinet, and about 15 doctors and nurses surrounding us we waited. I have never in my life prayed as hard as I did in that time waiting. And I will never, ever forget the sounds of the doctors sighs of relief when they all watched Tyson's ductus re-open in front of their eyes. It was a miracle! Tyson was far from safe still, but at least now there was hope to make the trip to the Stollery Children's hospital in Edmonton, Alberta where they preform the serious pediatric heart surgeries.

Tyson, about 15 minutes after having his ductus re-opened!

We finally made our way to Edmonton a few days later when Tyson was stable enough to fly. We had an amazing surgeon explain what needed done, and also explained that there were a few other "small" issues with Tyson's heart. Nothing that is effecting him at the moment, but later in life can become a problem. They were going to attempt to go in through Tyson's back, between ribs to preform his surgery. It would mean a better recovery, but also makes it easier for future open heart surgeries to not have to go through scar tissue. He assured us that he would do everything he could possibly do to fix the problem at hand. And, he did! Tyson made it through his first surgery at 22 days old, and everything went beautifully! He still had a long road to recovery, and still would need time in the NICU, but our beautiful baby boy was no longer struggling to hold on to life.

First cuddle a few days after surgery!

Tyson had a few more weeks of time in the NICU where he healed and gained a bit of weight. And then, finally after 6 long weeks we got to bring him home!

Our beautiful boy, and his beautiful scar.

God has big plans for Tyson. I can just feel it. His rough times, and his medical problems are far from over, we still are dealing with new issues all the time. But I can see God working in this little boy, who is now over 2 and a half! He has surpassed every single doctors expectations. He has someone much "bigger" working on him!

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Really lovin' this home schoolin'!

I must apologize in advance; this is a long one... :)

So for those of you who don't already know, my husband and I decided that we would start home schooling this year. And so the craziness ensued!;)

It's really weird how life works sometimes. A year ago I couldn't have imagined that I would have what it takes to be a teacher. I never could have believed I was capable. Fast forward a few months and we found out that more then likely, because of Tyson's health issues he would HAVE to be homeschooled. The minute the doctor said this I felt sick to my stomach! Honestly so many thoughts came pouring into my head, not one of them positive. All I could think about was my own failures when I was in school. How could I possibly teach my child/ren what I once lacked or struggled in? So, I started doing research on home schooling in my province. Turns out we live in a great home schooling province. Lot's of choices in school boards and resources. And lots of families near where we live who home school. Some for 20+ years!
Then I took a BIG step back. We have 3 wonderful children. We don't know if it makes sense to send 2 to public school, and keep one home? And while I started thinking about the public school my children were going to attend (our oldest already attending) I started realizing some startling facts about our school. Between larger class sizes and lay offs, things were going to be changing. Boy oh boy did it get me thinking about the type of education I want my children to receive. And more importantly, what type of character we want our children to have.
In 2009 when Tyson was born, our oldest, Ryan was in grade one. After Tyson joined the world he had many health issues and spent a long time in the hospital. He also was air lifted to another city for surgery, so as you can imagine our family life was upside down to say the least. During this time Ryan began to have problems in school. He would disrupt the class and the teacher, and had very little patience for the repetitive lessons. This earned him a pretty quick diagnosis to having ADHD. And because of everything going on, I will be honest I just listened to what the school said and trust that they would know better then we would. I was very vulnerable because of so many things being out of my control.
Ryan ended up being labeled at the school he was in, and was being bullied everyday. So at the schools recommendation we sent Ryan to a different school in town that offered a program for kids with a variety of mental and/or emotional needs, where they could focus on those and not just the educational stuff. As well as a regular public program that they intergrade back into whenever the time is right. This was a great program, and the teachers were amazing in this program. I can't say enough good about them. However, looking back Ryan did not need this program. What he needed was the attention and focus to help him get through the rough family time that had initially started the new behavior. Unfortunately due to oversized classrooms, and his class being a grade 1/2 split the teacher didn't have the time to understand WHY Ryan was acting up. And because we were consumed in what Tyson was going through and in a different city, while the other boys stayed with grandparents we didn't take the time to realize what the truth beneath the surface was. It started to become apparent in the last few months of grade 3 that Ryan doesn't seem to have ADHD. He can focus on a task for a long period of time. He can focus on more then one thing at a time. And his outbursts seemed to be no different then other frustrated 8 year old boys. The only other thing that hasn't seemed to change is that he hates to sit down, but in looking at my own dad and brother they are no different and tend to prefer standing to sitting and might pace every now and again.
During Ryan's time in his program he learned it was sort of an easy way out of doing school. If a student was having a bad day they were encouraged to express themselves through an art project, or to go sit in the "quiet room" that boast a big comfortable chair, books, and Lego. Well, Ryan learned very quickly that if he could pretend his day wasn't so great he wouldn't have to go to his math class with the rest of the grade 3's, he could have a hot chocolate in the quiet room instead. Needless to say, educationally speaking he didn't progress at all in grade 3. This was very frustrating for us because Ryan is very smart. In fact he scored "superior level" on most of his IQ test, and was reading over 3 grade levels higher then his own. We realized something had to change. Over the summer my husband and I had many long talks about what is right for our children’s education. And we had many long talks about their character development and who their peers are. After many, many long conversations, and a whole lot of praying it became very obvious that it was time (past due even) for us to take control over our children’s education.
I contacted wonderful women who is a local home-schooler and is also our area's home school support person and she really helped me see home schooling in a whole new light. I never had a problem with home schooling before, just a problem with the confidence of being able to home school my kids. I really began to dive in after that. After lots of research, and prayer, about how and what I want to teach our kids. How it will affect our household, and how will we achieve our goals. I'm still a newbie and learning new ideas and techniques everyday, but so far - I LOVE HOME SCHOOLING!! We're around 3 weeks in, and it's going so much better then I imagined it could. I fully anticipate rough times ahead, and know that it won’t always run so smooth... But in the meantime, WOW! This is great! And what I felt was already a wonderfully strong bond between my boys and I, has seemed to double! What a blessing! OH- and by the way. All those negative thoughts that bombarded me with the initial suggestion of home school have been replaced with whispers from God telling me how capable I am of teaching and training my children to become everything they are supposed to be!
So THANK YOU to everybody who has supported our decision to home school our kids. Most everyone has been wonderfully understanding and we are so greatful!
And another big THANK YOU to all the awesome bloggers who take the time to blog everything from their day-to-day routines, ideas, blunders, and awesome printables! You have all been a great resource and have kept me inspired by how awesome you all are doing! I appreciate YOU!

"Listen, my son, to your father's instruction and do not forsake your mother's teaching. They are a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck." -Proverbs 1:8-9