First Day of School (Tuesday)

I had planned a rolling start but the children were raring to go. This is fine. I did feel like I was trying to "catch up" with the children all week. ::snort::

When the children were younger we used to wrap all their school books up and open them the first day of school. We have far too many books to do that now.

I used to have the kids color coordinated...school supplies, plates, towels etc. (I have confessed to being slightly neurotic in my younger days). This practice ended as our family grew and we were no longer able to find enough colors! ::snort::

THIS year I decided to color cordinate the school supplies of the younger 4. We have crates of notebooks, pencils and such. I simply HAD to buy a FEW treats to begin the year.

Arielle's Loot

Nolan's LootZander's LootStacia's LootAttacking the school supplies!

Zander loved his file folder!

WHOA - combining my love of notebook rings wi th index cards....I haven't a clue what I'll use these for, but the possiblities are endless.

The older boys got new folders to store papers for their portfolios and journals to write in daily.

School is off and running and I'm still desperately trying to organize the year.

©2008 D.R.G.

Gentle Mourners

I realize I've not really "updated" the blog - as in real life things/photos - since Tuesday. That is a sure sign that life is busy and not going quite the way it is scheduled to go. I will not get a SSS out this week....I was determined to get a devotional posted to Support4HomeSchool.....and I shamelessly cross post those. ::snort:: My apologies beforehand that this is not flowery and is rather disjointed.

My heart is full. My spirit is quickened and I would like to leave you with a few short verses that I’ve been crying out, praying out, breathing out, and gasping out….over various situations.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth”. Matt 5:4, 5

Do you remember the definition of “gentleness/meekness” from last week? If not – quickly – it’s a balance between uncontrolled anger and passively ignoring sin. It’s meekly taking a stand, its power under control.

The main theme of the Sermon on the MT is righteousness. Jesus shows us what it looks like to live a righteous life and tells us to SEEK His kingdom and righteousness above all else (Matt 6:33).

There are times that we mourn the sin around us. There are times that we are forced to find the balance between doing nothing and overreacting or reacting in the flesh to the sin around us.

If you find yourself in one of those times, I believe Jesus is lovingly telling you, as He’s been whispering to me, that it’s OK to mourn and it’s OK to “gently” respond to the sin around us rather than ignoring it or blasting away in the flesh…..He longs to comfort us. We shall inherit the earth.

Sorry, my thoughts are disjointed, but that’s all I can write today. My heart is too full, my time is too short. {I must say that I really HATE SIN.... I hate the foothold the enemy of our souls takes in our lives....I hate the ravages of sin on families, on lives,on our society....I'm grieved this week...I'm also determined to spend more time doing battle on behalf of dear sisters who are fighting battles "alone".}

May God bless us as we settle into His presence and race after Him with all our energy.

©2008 D.R.G.

Pray for Our Governor...

Mike and I have felt like we need to be praying for all the candidates but especially for the Palin family. I know there is controversy about whether Gov. Sarah should be a candidate etc.

I know I prayed for a candidate that would be a social and fiscal conservative and would fear God. I believe God answered. We've also believed that because she IS a Christian there will be much spiritual warfare. I'm ashamed that I've not been praying for ALL the candidates (though I am now). I feel a special need to be praying for this Christian woman who is trying to follow God's path for her.....for the protection of her family, her marriage, her reputation...... I've told others that I sensed in interviews that Gov. Palin felt a destiny to be involved in politics and that God was leading her to these positions (mayor, governor).....I think that comes across in the following clip.

This link was sent to me. It is a 15 min clip which shows Gov. Palin addressing her home church - Wasilla Assembly of God. She's actually addressing the Master's Commission (which we thought cool because of the girls.) This is fairly recent (she mentions Trig's birth). In hindsight it's amazing to see what appears to be the hand of God moving on this one woman. Whether you agree with the Pentecostal movement or not - it's apparent to me that her faith in Jesus is real...and she's very capable of articulating it in a public forum.

BTW - after hearing how OLD 44 is it has been fun to hear all say how YOUNG it is this past week. ::snort::

©2008 D.R.G.

Blogoversary Giveaway

I have several copies of this golden oldie by Stormie Omartian to share. If you'd like a copy, leave a comment (contact info included).

©2008 D.R.G.

They've Driven Me.....

to Color Coded Charts again. ::snort:: I will eventually write about Tuesday and Wednesday.

I finally sat down last night and made a calendar with each family member (though I didn't input much of Mike's schedule) and all the outside activities that we are trying to do. Several things became obvious:

1. The old "one activity per person" rule is simply overwhelming this year.

2. There IS a reason I can't seem to fit a homeschool co-op in - I think we've created our own.

3. We are cutting WAY back - WAAAAAYYYY back!!!!

4. We're in danger of being so well socialized that we'll have no time for academics. (And to think that someone told my son, "homeschoolers have lots of time - they don't do anything." ::snort::)

Not to worry - this happens every year. There are so many WONDERFUL opportunities for homeschoolers to choose from these days that it is easy to bite off far more than I should. We end up sacrificing the style and tone of family LIFE (which includes school). This is our 19th or 20th year of homeschooling. I really need to figure that out because I think I'm close to earning some sort of tenure...and if this is our 20th year of schooling we really should do something amazing and out of the ordinary.....anyway....this is our 19th or 20th year of schooling, I've learned that our character, our tone, our time at HOME is far more important these days than running myself ragged to be at every "great opporunity". Great does not always equate to right or excellent for OUR family. ::snort:: Ohhhhh....I'm about to say it AGAIN! It's all about getting on my knees before God with Mike and figuring out what HE intends for us to do this year and saying NO to the rest of the activities.

I felt better after making the color coded calendar (after I figured out how to print it on ONE sheet instead of six). It helped me to see what could and could not be done. We'll have a family meeting and evalaute it further before the end of the weekend.

HEY - some of you may want a color coded family calendar so grab it and consider it another blogoversary freebie. LOL I found the spreadsheet idea in the files section of SHS....and added columns , activities, names and COLORS!!!

©2008 D.R.G.

Family Team Building (or Family Worship)

Monday night I asked Mike if I could hijack our evening. It was a golden opportunity with both Mike and Jamin at home.

I read the verse from Eph about "Bearing one another's burdens".

We laid out a blanket. I then began to put symbols of all our family responsibilities for the upcoming year on the blanket (Chapel, military, schooling, co-ops etc). Then, I began to load people on the blanket.

I tried to lug them around and we all discovered that Mom could NOT carry the load of family responsibilities alone.

Yes, we all took turns trying. Guess what? None of us could lug the blanket full of responsibilities very far by ourselves.....in fact we could all hear the blanket begin to rip under the strain of our effots. This provided an unintended object lesson. ::snort::







When we all got off the blanket and took a little spot of the load, it was easily doable.

We went on to discuss the upcoming year, challenges we see in the future.... and strengthened our resolve to work as a team.

We needed a "song" so introduced Father Abraham. I was sure the words were "he didn't eat and he didn't sleep" and was gustily singing my version. After a few verses someone remembered the correct words. ::snort::

We ended with a prayer cirlce. The rest of the evening we played games. Jared and Mike played a rousing game of "Acey Deucy". I honestly don't remember who won. The rest of us played, "Pick it Up". The point of this game seems to be to lie about how many cards you put down while others guess if you are lying or not. ::snort::

Yes, we DO have family worship more than once a year. However, lately, it's RARE to have all six children and two adults home at the same time. We look for those chances.

*Note I heard about the blanket thing at a Mom's Night Out when Kristi was speaking about chores and her family. I KNEW that eventually I would use the object lesson and it fit well with what Mike and I wanted to discuss on Monday.

Well, that's Monday. It's a decent hour to go to the gym....so I'll update on Tuesday later.

©2008 D.R.G.

Catching UP

Why am I up this early? One of the children had a problem. Enough said. ::snort:: I'm notorious for "being up once I'm up".

Sunday is Ice Cream Day in our home....oops


Mike deliberately shut the door to all the work that was calling his name on Labor Day. What fun! This has been a particularly "full" work schedule for the past 6 - 9 months. Mike typically works from 7:30 - 9:00 or 10:00 at night. This means the younger ones don't see him for extended lengths of time. The good news is that he should shortly take his last ACSC test and not have to spend so many after hours and weekends at the office studying. LOL

We chose to go geocaching on Monday.


Stacia shows off her new running shoes

Jared asks to borrow Arielle's glasses after we'd all spotted the cache - except him. LOL


This was our last hunt of the day - long grass, rocks, snake heaven.





We found the general area for two other caches but both were crawling with hunters. I haven't a clue as to what they were hunting but we opted not to share the brush with hunters.

Some of us fixed dinner. Jamin and Mike surprised us with THESE on the van....YES. They've been waiting for "time" to install them.

Left side

Right side


©2008 D.R.G.