Spring Cleaning

I am starting my Spring cleaning! I am not sure that it should be called spring cleaning or not....as it will take me until the beginning of summer to finish every room in my house! LOL....life gets in the way, huh? :) I am going to try to do one room a week...I know this does not sound like much...but for me, it is! LOL...I still have to be mom, teacher, wife, foster parent, and babysitter...so I am already busy! My plan is to go through EVERYTHING in each room....get rid of unwanted or broken items and deep clean. I am also hoping to make any repairs or decorating changes during this time too. I have not done this since we moved here 9 years ago! I have cleaned each room, but not all at one time like this...so it will be nice at the end to have an entire house clean and organized! YEAH! We shall see how it goes. I hope I don't tucker out and quit...lol...
Have a blessed day!

It's been a while!

Well, it has been a long while since I posted last. It seems that I have nothing to say! LOL...I know that seems hard to believe and my husband would fall over if he ever heard me say such a thing! LOL... There has not been anything eventful happening around here as of late. I can't complain about that! We have delt with sickness and some good weather. We are now back to our normal good health and cold weather :) I guess we are trying to catch up on missed school and think about starting to Spring clean. I can't really do that until we are done burning coal as the coal dust is everywhere. LOL. I guess that is all for now...maybe I will think of something to "talk" about soon...lol...Have a blessed day!

Newest Student

This is my DD working hard at her Math lesson.
This is my DS working at his counting book.

and this....this is my newest student! Can a baby really do third grade language arts?? We shall see!!

Have a blessed day!

simplify

This was interesting....about a month ago we moved all the toys into one room (all the downstairs toys)...and when we did that we cut our toys in half...(we have 5 little ones who play with them)...not one child noticed that there were less toys! So, Monday we went through and cut the toys in half again..still not one child noticed! That is telling me that I wasted hundreds of dollars on toys that nobody cares about! It made me sick, but also encouraged me at the same time. I realized that we don't need much to be happy or "entertained". I have always felt bad if I could not get my kids a lot of toys for Christmas and Birthdays...but obviously they are not feeling bad! If they don't play with most of the toys they have that shows me that they don't need them and I NEED to quit buying so much! I feel even more refreshed and can't wait to go through the house with my walmart bag and get rid of more "stuff" that is not needed. I bet I could really cut my cleaning time in half! I have already done this and decluttered a lot...and I keep doing it. But this time it is a bit different, I am seeing the difference between what I want and what I need and how long will I care about getting something that I just "want" compared to something really useful?? I don't know if that makes a bit of sense or not..lol...but that is what is running through my simple mind today :) Have a blessed day!

Shh....do you hear that??

Oh yes, the sweet sound of SILENCE! I have an exciting day ahead of me! DD and DS got a call from the grandparents, they were inviting them to come play for the day...foster children #1 & #2 have a visit with their family, and foster child #3 is in public school...so all that leaves is my 2 yr old babysitting kid :) It will be a quiet afternoon....as she will nap! I will be enjoying a cup of coffee and a good book...with the ringer turned off! It will be short lived as DH will be home about an hour after I get my "alone" time, but that's OK...I'll enjoy his company :)
Have a blessed day!

Monday's Activities

They are logging across the road..so some of the littles are eagerly watching truck load after truck load of logs and sawdust being hauled away! too cute!

Other than that we are going to slow things down a bit and really enjoy life a bit more. We are going to relax a bit more about housework and school...we will get it all done, but maybe not all done by the time we are used to getting done. There's no rule we have to have a day's work done by lunch, right?? So, we are really enjoying this slower pace and we are talking to each other more..and just spending time. That's my Monday in a nutshell. Well, I am off to watch Little House with DD :) Have a blessed day!

Blast From the Past!

Well, at Walmart today I had a blast from the past! I ran into an old high school friend! It was very nice to see her and I truly enjoyed talking to her. This is someone who I kept in distant contact with over the years, I have witnessed to her, she didn't want to hear it, so we kinda drifted. Anyways, she lost a bunch of weight and looks great, but to hear about the life she lives and the lives of all the other people whom I used to "hang out" with was SO sad! Most are childless, unmarried, or divorced, unsettled and still thinking life is a party. It brought to my attention how very grateful I am that the Lord saved me from that life....or that would be me...kinda...I got married at 18 and had DD at 19...so I would have been married and with a child, but still no different. This also brought to my attention that I REALLY need to pray for these "old friends"...they need Christ! I need to live a life that honors Him, so I can be a light...I don't have a clue where to find these "old friends"...I might run into them every few years or so...but if my life is a reflection of God's love, maybe they will see the light!
Have a blessed day!

Laura Ingalls Wilder's Birthday

I just wanted to pop in and let you all know that Saturday (the 7th) is Laura Ingalls Wilder's Birthday. She was born in 1867. We are using this for school. I found a map of her travels, and interactive time line...and of course we will watch Little House and read a biography...and probably eat something from the Little house cookbook...and look up lots of pictures about the REAL Ingalls family, I want the kids to see the real people and not just the pretty tv people...lol...

Have a blessed day!

A fun weekend ahead!

Well, things have been really SLOW here as of late! I can't seem to get moving...my head is in a fog! And one of my children in particular is seeming to give me a hard time! But...that's OK, because we have FUN weekend ahead :)
Today we are having school and house blessing. We usually do our house blessings on Monday and Friday...but we are getting overnight company!! YEAH! My sister in law and her kids are coming to stay tonight and play tomorrow...so NO SCHOOL...then from our house my sister in law and her crew are going to my father in law's...so we might just tag along and have some extra playtime! Saturday we are supposed to have warmer weather...like 40, so we will take FULL advantage of that! And maybe have a friend over for DD...not sure. We are so excited! Hope you all have a blessed day!

The heart of a Mother

Well, as many of you may know, DH and I are foster parents. We take our job (calling) very seriously and love each child that comes through our home. A few years ago (5) we met and took care of a young teenage girl. We loved her as our own...she lived with us for about 3 years, then she had some personal issues and it was not a good thing for my own kids to be around, so she moved out. We have always kept in close contact with her after she moved out....until the last few months. She had been living with her boyfriend and his parents, had finally graduated school, and had a good job at a Walmart...she was thinking of doing an online college too...since we didn't agree with her life choices and she would not stop lying and doing things that would endanger the welfare of my kids...we couldn't let her live here...tough love, they call it. Well, I'm not so sure that was right now. she took off a few months ago, and didn't tell us where she was going, or that she was going at all! She broke up with her longtime boyfriend and took and got married to some guy we have never met and moved to a different state! My heart is so broken...for me...for my husband...for my kids...but mostly for her...it is so sad that she didn't feel enough of a connection with us, as her "parents"...as she didn't have any of her own...to involve us. Did she think I would yell at her or disapprove? Or was she just being selfish and not caring about anyone else, her youth getting in her way...love blinding her? I am so saddened by my actions...I was not nearly as supportive as I should have been...I can see that God is teaching me through this to not give up on pepole...EVER...yes, I did pray for this girl...but did I DO anything? Not really. SHE needed ME and hubby to be her family...and we didn't do as we should have because it was "too hard"... I am being brutally honest with myself, I never saw it this way before. I honestly thought we did what was right in God's eyes...He just wasn't ready to show me how wrong I was until now. I am so thankful for God's rebuking and teaching. I know this is not easy, but I am really going to try to look past the hurt and anger about being left out of her life and persevere....I WILL be a mom to her... I will support her even when it's hard and try to guide and train her in the ways of the Lord. She claims to be saved, she got baptized and was in church 2c a week while she lived here...did she learn anything? Did she really accept the Lord? Only He knows. But I KNOW we are to spread the Good News...and I will. I will try to reach out to her and her new husband, and love her even when it's "too hard". What an excuse, right? I am so ashamed of myself...there are not even words to tell you how much.

When to lay off....and chit chat

Well, we are going through a very hard time with tow of our foster children's grandparents. The boys are very well settled with us, call us mom and dad...they are happy. BUT...the one set of grandparents want the kids. There are 4 of them, the other 2 are older than mine, but the grands are only trying to get my two because they are upset that the kids have bonded so closely with my family. I know doing foster care that you have to give the kids up...we have been doing this for years, we know the routine.... but these grandparents just sat back and watched these kids be neglected day after day, year after year, and did nothing to stop it and now they want the kids!!! NO WAY!! the kids' quality of life would be so poor living with them that I actually think they would be better off back with the parents! (and no, that would not be a good thing! )....we are willing to adopt them, and the family who has the other 2 are willing to adopt them ( we are related to the other family,so the kids would even have the same last names! )...but we are waiting to see what happens with these grandparents. When the grandparents have the kids...they come back smelling of smoke (very smelly), only have eaten junk, the baby always has wet through at least 2 outfits, and they are exhausted! The case workers know all of this, but still the judge can do what he wants! Now, to my point...I am trying o hand this over to the Lord...it is SO hard, And I am feeling very torn. Where do I lay off?? Am I to sit back and just wait, or do I keep voicing my opinion, emailing and calling those in charge?? I DO NOT want to take this into my own hands as I KNOW I will fall short...only God can take care of this. It is incredibly hard to wait and do nothing. I wish my flesh was stronger. Please pray for these boys and their little lives, as they are so worth saving!

Ok...so my chit chat :) Today is Monday! Back to the grind! I am excited to get back to it...it always refreshes me when Monday rolls around..the kids are too, believe it or not! We have a lot to do today! I am going to clean house...do school...and I am getting back with my diet and exercise routine. I am also back to making a list each morning! you would be shocked if you knew all that I forgot to do while I was not making a list each day! I was disgusted with myslef...lol...So, I feel re-newed and refreshed today! It's only morning, the kiddos just walked down the steps, so I hope I can carry out this feeling throughout the day!

Today's frugal doing I am going to talk about it my long distance....we use Grand Central...it is free long distance offered through google....we don't have cells anymore as we didn't really like them, so we can get by with just a land line..much cheaper! My sister, sister in law, and brother, brother in law, and a few friends are all long distance, so this really helps out!

Have a blessed Monday! I must go...the baby is up!