School's Out!

My first year of homeschooling is over! Hurray! I am seriously so excited! I can't express how happy I am on here b/c I'm not that good of a writer. Just picture me smiling very big on Friday when Josiah finished his last class! Wow...it was a hard year. I'm thankful that we made it threw, Josiah learned and I learned too. This is what I learned from teaching my 7 year old:

1. I'm not as patient as I thought I was
2. Homeschooling is hard
3. Homeschooling may not be for everyone
4. How patient my 7 year old is with me
5. Relearned long and short vowels, I guess I learned that in 1st grade and just forgot it all! (Yes I know how to read, I just forgot all the rules)
6. How thankful I am for a forgiving child
7. How hard a teacher's job is
8. How frustrated I can get
9. How much I love watching Josiah learn something new and really getting it
10. How much I love summer break! :c)

I'm not saying homeschooling is not for me, its just not for me for a while. I am so excited about sending the boys back to school this year...not excited about the cost though. I think in the future, if I homeschool, I will try a different curriculum. The videos just didn't work for Josiah. I think our days would have went a lot smoother with out them. Many days I found myself reteaching what he just learned on the videos b/c he couldn't keep his attention on the t.v. I don't blame him either! Its hard for a 7 year old to do school on videos when he has a 4 year old brother running around and a baby sister banging toys and squealing! Those weren't his only distrations though, just having the blinds open and a tree in view was a distration for him! I told Jeff I think Josiah has ADD. lol He really doesn't!!
We'll see what the years to come brings!

So summer is here and the kids and I are looking forward to the pools and beaches! I can't wait to spend time with the kiddos...just playing with them and enjoying them!

Monday

Yesterday was Monday, usually not a fun day, but it was Memorial day so it ended up being a great day! We had a picnic at Chibana Park with all the people from our church and it turned out great! The weather was warm, we had beautiful skies, it wasn't to humid and there was a slight breeze! Sounds great huh! The food was good too, especially the homemade corn dogs, my boys loved them, and the icees which we all loved! I also ate a couple donut holes, I couldn't resist them! :c) Josiah and Gaber enjoyed the bouncy houses and park, Jeff played a game of basketball and football. I hung out with Tara who did wonderful. She was passed around from person to person, amazingly she only fussed a little, and then she took a nap in her stroller until the fighter planes flew over the park and scared her. :c) I got to chat with a lot of friends from church and enjoyed the singing and those who played on their guitars.
It was a wonderful day, I am so thankful to all those who have served our country and died for our freedom.

Gaber...our tenderhearted child

Gabriel really is so sweet and thoughtful of others. He is always the first to compliment me on my clothes, jewelry, new toenail art and my hair. He worries about others when they are hurt and wants to help them out in whatever way a 4 year old can. Well, 2 days ago I was reading the blog about Jonah, I have his picture posted on my blog, and I was looking at some pictures of him. Gaber came by and noticed the blisters on this baby's face. He asked me what was wrong with him and so I explained that he was born with a skin condition and that he gets owies all over his body and I told him they have to keep him all bandaged up. I looked at Gaber and he had so much concern all over his face. I told him that we need to pray for Jonah so that he won't be in pain and that maybe one day he will be cured.
Later that night Jeff came downstairs after putting the boys to bed and told me that Gaber announced that they needed to pray for Jonah! Jeff was confused at first, he thought Gaber was talking about Jonah and the Whale. :) Gaber explained to daddy that they needed to pray for the baby that has owies all over him. Wow! I really wouldn't have thought that he would remeber to pray for little Jonah after a long day! I'm so thankful for him being so tenderhearted and eager to pray for others. He really cares about this baby he doesn't even know and believes in prayer at the age of 4! What a blessing!

An 8 Letter Word

Exercise...need I say more?

I'm not against it...I just don't have time for it right now. I know I need it and I plan on starting soon, hopefully after I finish up the school year. I was reading in Timothy the other day and I came across this verse that made me feel so much better about that 8 letter word...
1 Timothy 4:8 "For bodily exercise profiteth little..."
Woohooo!!! I got a big ole smile on my face and showed Jeff this verse, he just laughed at me. I know that God wants us to keep our bodies healthy and He is not saying don't exercise...I just thought it was funny that there was a verse that could (sort of) support me when I don't exercise. lol
Here is the full verse, "For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come."
Yes, I did get more out of this verse than just the part that made me feel better about not exercising. Godliness is much more important than how our bodies are, it will profit us now and in the future. Us and our families...how we are raising our children and how we handle our marriage.
So thought you other women out there may like this verse too!

Anxiety

Anxiety...

Who has it? Not me, Josiah, or Gaber...definitely not Jeff...you guessed it...

Tara! Stranger anxiety that is. She most definitely has it and its kinda frustrating! Don't get me wrong, I love that she loves us and loves her little world here at home but I wish she didn't freak out when someone new comes by. Freaks out...yes...CRIES! I had her in the church office Wednesday night, she was laying on the floor playing, or trying to play with mommy sitting over her reassuring her every couple minutes with a smile...yes even in a new place she wasn't happy even with mommy right there...when someone comes in and says, "Hi Tara!" and she starts bawling! I just shake my head. I finally go find Jeff so he can hold her while I get my work done. Later Jeff hands her off to one of our friends and again Tara starts crying. I wonder when this will end? Or will it? I think I had "stranger anxiety" for a long time as a little girl. I got over it at some point in my life...I guess...I'm still shy but I don't hide behind my mommy's skirt any more!
I think she is very happy and content with her home and family and would be happy to never leave again. Well, that's not possible so we will try to keep introducing her to new people and places and hopefully she will grow out of this soon. Other than that she is a wonderful little girl. So much fun at home! She smiles so big, talks, rolls around, is trying to push up higher...almost to her knees now, and is making her way to the boys' toys. She played with a hot wheel car the other day. :c) And her newest accomplishment is sitting up...she can do it almost with no help. She loves...no, she adores her big brothers. They are wonderful at entertaining her! I can tell she already wants to be on the go with them.
When we come home in October I'm afraid she will wail when family members try to hold her...but I know that won't stop grandparents from holding their granddaughter! She'll just have to get used to them! :c) (And I'm glad to know they won't give up on her!!!)

"Change of Command"

Yesterday, Sunday, we had our "change of command" as our Pastor...or old Pastor, likes to say. Last night was Pastor Nutt's last time to preach, I'm so happy that I was there to witness it all b/c I know so many have come threw our church and been under his preaching and have loved him. Our new Pastor, Pastor Monteith has been here for about a month and was voted in 1 or 2 weeks ago but last night I guess was the official change of command. :c) It was an emotional night, listening to Pastor preach his last time at Maranatha and listening to Mrs. Frankie talk. We will miss them! Afterward we had a dinner upstairs, which was so nice! I wasn't expecting the beautiful decorations and the chocolate fountain! Yum! There was a lot of good food, photos, music, and testimonies. We had to leave a little early b/c Tara wasn't making it all night but I was able to get in one last hug to Mrs. Frankie and say bye to them both.
Here are some pictures:






our new pastor is a Texan's fan I guess :c)

Yesterday was also Mother's Day, here is a picture of me with my 3 kiddos, on my 7th Mother's Day!


Its hard work getting all 3 to smile at once. You think that the baby would be the hardest one to get to smile, nope, she was the easiest. The two older ones...they just wouldn't cooperate!

Hope all you mothers out there had a wonderful day!
Love you mom and mom Rose!

Finally Found Out

We found out today that we will be moving to Georgia in October. We will be at Robins AFB. Not one of our picks, we had hoped for Scott AFB or somewhere a little closer to home. I'm not upset or happy about going to Georgia, just excited to know where we are going finally. It is about a 12 hour drive to our home in Missouri. I was hoping for a quick trip like 2-3 hours, not a big 12 hour road trip. So, probably not as many visits home as I was hoping for but at least we will be stateside soon! We will be close to Jeff's sister and her family and so maybe we can see them more often which is nice!

Lots of Stuff

In April we had our Awana Grand Prix at church, Tara's dedication, then we had our mother daughter banquet the first Saturday in May. I actually didn't want to take Tara with me...bad I know, I wanted to just sit back and relax, selfish of me I know. So the day before the banquet I tried giving her a bottle but she wouldn't take it so I had no other choice but to take her. Well, she ended up being so good...such a joy and I'm so thankful that I did take my little girl with me! She napped well, nursed great and talked loudly threw the prayer and devotion time, it was funny to everyone. :c) Then Sunday we fed cereal to Tara for her first time! Everything has been a lot of fun and firsts! Here are some pictures...




Gaber's hot wheel that he raced for Cubbies


Josiah didn't win 1st, I think he came in last every time but he still had fun!


Tara's baby dedication...she did great...cheezin' threw most of it!


Tara's first time having baby cereal


Cereal going in...


...cereal coming out.

We also went to Pizza & Sky in April with some friends from church. It is a Japanese place up on the northern part of Okinawa. It was actually really good! I really didn't think that Japanese pizza would be that good to be honest, but it was! Not only was the pizza good but the view was awesome! Here are some pictures from that...






Tara with Ms. Frankie and Pastor Nutt












Ms. Frankie, me, Mrs. Gray, Mrs. Richards and Ms. Antonio.

So April was a great month...who knew it would turn out to be so good when I thought it would be depressing since we missed out on going to the states. I guess God is showing me that even the valleys in our lives are beautiful...not just the mountain tops!