December 5, 2008 
Today in our Bible time we came to the story about Jacob playing favorites with his beloved (second) wife’s son, Joseph. Our verse centered around the love chaper in I Corinthians 13.
“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.”
It was so exciting for me to see light bulbs come on for my oldest (9) as we talked about demanding our own way. Realizing that that is not love. In our culture, that’s all we see is demanding our own way. In restaurants, if we don’t get what we ordered… in the parking lot at the mall during Christmas… and so on. It just is an immediate reaction most of us have and today was just good for me and the boys to focus on that especially at this time of year.
We want our boys (and us) to exude love. We want our neighbors to know we love them. Each night while the boys are tucked in, Brian reminds them of the two greatest commandments… they know them by heart. 1) Love the Lord with all your heart, soul and strength 2) Love your neighbor as yourself. But we also realized that we can be hearers of the Word and not doers. So it all ties in. Knowing and doing are two different things. How will we exhibit love to those around us?
Its just a matter of seeking out and asking. Don’t wait for those opportunities to lay in your lap. Go next door and see how your neighbors are doing. We kind of have it easy because we live in a neighborhood that’s primarily elderly couples. They love our boys and we love them. So sometimes, we have to travel a little further up the street and see what’s going on there. Most people are very receptive.
At our mission’s conference in November, the guest speaker talked about what kind of neighbor are you. If you moved away… how would your neighbors react? Happy or sad? They recently moved from Korea to the states and said that their neighbors cried. That struck me terribly hard. Would my neighbors actually cry? Would yours?
May God’s love swell within you this season.
Random Pics
Pavlova ~ An Australian Fav
Noah giving a report on Australia at the Homeschool Hour at the library.
First Day of Inschool at Dayton Christian
Celebrating my birthday at Cosi at Easton (notice the Apple store behind Brian).
It's Fall Y'all!
Enjoying some coffee at Fulton Farms.
You know you've got a good husband when he gets you a table from Pottery Barn for your birthday.
How Do You Know??
Dichotomy… my new favorite word. You’ll hear it if you’re around me long enough. If you don’t know what it means… look it up, I’m not going to give it to you today. I’m a homeschool mom so that’s you’re homework.
So the dichotomy going on in my head is should we have another baby??? This is such a personal question… why am I writing it on my blog?? Not real sure, but I have talked to so many friends about it, I just feel this blog is just another friend. You ask, why aren’t you discussing this with your hubby… well, we have discussed it in detail several hundred times and we still haven’t decided. One day we’re ready for another, the next we couldn’t fathom the thought of another child (probably boy) tearing through our home. Well, that’s the dichotomy. Part of the struggle too is we would love to have a girl. We would love another little guy, but if we had a girl in the mix already, we would probably be done.
Well, I have had the baby bug for quite sometime now. But am I really remembering the sleepless nights, costly baby items, doctor appointments, plus managing three other active, loud, messy boys?? Yesterday I thoroughly enjoyed doing laundry, cleaning the garage, mowing the grass and pulling weeds. I would miss my “freedom” I have now with older kids… even though some people wouldn’t say I have freedom as a homeschooler, but trust me, I do.
I think homeschooling helps you appreciate and enjoy the time you have with your children. I am not one of those moms who can’t wait for her kids to start back at school. I like being around them. Even though some days I’m ready to pull my hair out, I still enjoy the time we have together (another dichotomy). Our pastor has said many times, children spell love, t-i-m-e… and I believe that to be true.
So the question remains… should we or shouldn’t we??? Maybe God says we’re done. Who knows. But time will tell, and let me tell you, time is running out… I just turned 35 four days ago… I know my clock is slowing down. You know you’re old when a girl in the youth group ask how old you are, you tell her and her jaw drops and she is speechless… yikes, I know. I’m old.
So stay tuned… who knows what God has in store for us. Maybe it’ll just be more of the same. Until then, I’ll just hear the sound of the clock go, tick-tock.
Doing My Part… the Goodwill Way
Week two down. Tired. Drained, but overall happy. This year I can tell is going to be a doozy… academically speaking. Its just a heavier load with a first and a fourth grader. I am covering all the bases that I might’ve let go a little the last two years. But not this year. The one thing (ie: curriculum) I have fallen in love with is Math-U-See. Ahhh, love that man, whoever he is that entrances my children into learning. They love it and want to do it first thing in the morning. Anyways, so far so good.
Ok… so now onto the Goodwill part. I am now officially a teacher… yikes for those students in my class. I am a teacher for the Dayton Christian Homeschool group or as they say, “Inschool”. We had our first teacher meeting this morning in Dayton and I am thrilled to be a part of it. Especially because my kids get to go there for FREE! A savings of $3,000! Plus I get a paycheck too which isn’t bad either. I have a home room class, a box of supplies and a list of all my students. I will have 61 students divided over 4 periods. Scary, I know…
Ok, Goodwill, I forgot. So after my meeting I headed to the local Goodwill store not expecting or wanting to buy a thing. But the treasures were awaiting and oh so tempting. Here’s list of what I found…
The Visible Man with every part, organ, eye, etc in the box!
Several homeschooling books in perfect condition (including this must-have and this classic).
A pair of Columbia snow boots similar to these ~ never worn
4 of my dessert plates that needed to be replaced from 4 broken ones.
This Lands End vest for Sam. Its so cute because he called it his “Jeep” vest because its the color of the Jeep he’s gonna buy when “he’s big”.
I want to hear about your treasures from thrift stores… Please share!!!
Something Neue
I mentioned in an earlier post that my husband has a new job… although he is still an associate pastor, he is now also Managing Editor at Relevant Magazine for Neue, their “new” resource for ministry leaders. Its a little complicated to describe the whole concept, but he’s in charge of the web content and their new journal that goes out quarterly.
So far it looks pretty cool. I’ve very proud of the work he has done both for the website content, quarterly, magazine AND church combined over the last three weeks. Although Brian’s family jokes and calls his other job his “mistress” because he is constantly on his iphone and ibook dealing with his “other life”… its all good though. He has an amazing way of still being the great husband and father he always was!
So here’s the plug… have those you know involved in ministry to hop on over to Neue and check it out. If they’re talented enough, they can even write for the website.
Pictures from Camp All-Joy
Breakfast Line Up
Craft Time
All the Grand kids... Sam, Caitlyn, Ethan, Caroline, Andrew, Allison, Noah
Calm Before the Storm
I posted a little bit ago of my kids going to my parent’s for a camp… well, guess what??? I’m kidless!! I love my kids more than anything, but let me tell you how quiet my home is and how low my pulse and BP are right now. I am really looking forward to this week to get ready for school for next year. I have scoped out every Half Price Books in the vicinity… Dayton, Indianapolis, and today, Cincinnati… I heart that place! The clearance section especially… Brian was laughing at me today because I was determined to make it to, yet another HPB store and I did. Today’s coupon was 50% off one item… I think the gas $$ to get there was probably tripled that of the book I got, but hey, it was a book on my list to get!!! Yay!
Today was Brian’s day off so we did a little indulging… ummm, Panera for breakfast, trip to Cincy which included the following: shopping at the Kenwood Mall, HPB, an iphone for hubby (“needed” for work), and dinner at Cheesecake Factory. We do not indulge like this all in one day, but today was special.
Special??? Why you ask??? Well, Brian just became an editor for Relevant Magazine. A huge deal to us. Its something he’s been dreaming of for a long time. He just found out on Friday and it was a day to celebrate. He will still be a pastor here in West Milton, but will be working remotely as “managing editor” hence the iphone. Life will be crazy for awhile til he figures out a balance, but he definitely is up for the challenge.
So school will start soon after we pick up the boys from “camp”. I’m getting excited and nervous, but am looking forward to another year with my guys. We’re finally get the hang of this crazy ride after two years under our belt. I’ll post our curriculum choices later.
Golf
Noah just completed his second golf camp of the summer. It was a wonderful experience and he learned a lot. On Sunday they ended the camp with a tournament and cook-out. We had a blast. Brian had the privilege of being Noah’s caddy which made him very proud. Brian use to caddy here when we first started out our new lives together out in AZ. So he was quite ready for the challenge. Noah did very well. His greatest hole was number 4. Perfect shot and perfect putt. I will get a video up soon, but for now you’ll have to settle for this pic 🙂
A Plea or Post, You Decide.
Not sure if this is more of a plea than a post.
So as many of you know, we’ve had our house up for sale since early spring. I really don’t remember exactly… its just been long. I know for some, that’s not super long in this market that we’re seeing these days, but to us… with three boys… sleeping in one room… its been long. We used the third bedroom as our school room this year and it worked out great. But Noah is getting huge and every night before Brian and I go to bed, we have to check in on them because they have a pyramid bed… Ethan on top and then Sam and Noah on the full on the bottom. The dude is all over and Sam is falling out most of the time. The last time we checked Sam was lying normal on his back and Noah’s head was on Sam’s belly… Noah is 2 1/2 times heavier than Sam, if that tells you anything. Sooo, even though we love our little home, we are so ready for a larger one to house these fun and crazy guys. And hopefully one that will see them through friend’s sleepovers, girlfriends, graduations and so on… we don’t intend on doing this again anytime soon, needless to say.
So here’s the plea part… we have a second showing on Tuesday night. Its a younger woman interested who is taking her parents through to get their approval. But the clencher is her dad builds houses… yikes! So we would really like his approval since the daughter is in love with our house already. Please pray it passes the parent’s “fine-tooth comb” test and we can get some things rolling. I would love to start school in our new home. I know God has everything planned out best for us, but this way would be great.
If it doesn’t happen this way, I am fine with that too. I know God is molding us to be flexible and to test our kids patience as well. We have our dream home picked out and its just sitting there waiting for us. Even though that’s how we see it, God could have other things in store for us. So who knows what will happen. It reminds me of the verse about being content in all things. Here’s the message version of Hebrews 13:5…
“Be relaxed with what you have. Since God assured us, “I’ll never let you down, never walk off and leave you,” we can boldly quote,
God is there, ready to help;
I’m fearless no matter what.
Who or what can get to me?”
Summer
Hi, sweet readers of OCC, not to be confused with OCD although I’m guilty of that too! Summer is whizzing by and blogging isn’t on the “to-do list” found on my kitchen counter… sorry! Here’s a super quick look into our life this summer.
– Noah enjoyed a week long beginner golf camp… his instructor secretly told us he was the most advanced in the class… watch out, Tiger!
– Annual Orme Hilton Head vacation… beautiful, restful, playful, joyful… what more can I say??
– Many visits with my sweet friends… Becky, Rebecca, Ruth. Thank you for your hospitality!
– Continual updating our “for sale” home… more paint, more landscaping, more decluttering, more trips to Lowes…
– Brian did two weddings, one that I was able to go (kid-less) and enjoy the rehearsal dinner, wedding and reception… although I was husband-less… since he was running the show!
– Yes, we’re still homeschooling -loosely- this summer… just some hands-on, impromptu lessons with craw fish, snakes, butterflies, hermit crabs, frogs, weather, horticulture, and much reading.
Now here’s what’s still to come!
– Big fishing trip to TN for Noah, Dad, and Papa…
– Church camp for Noah
– Newport Aquarium for Sam & Ethan
– Birthday parties for friends and family
– VBS with our dear friends in Dayton
– and drumroll…drrrrrrrrrrrrr….. my parents are contemplating holding a week long camp for all their grandchildren (7) the second week in August called Camp Al-Joy… (Allan + Joyce) at their home in Indianapolis. They are planning relay races, crafts, fishing, special snacks, Bible stories, Indy Zoo and bonfires. What would I do all week without my children??? Suggestions are welcomed… I would be clueless, honest!
Hope you are finding God and his touch through this summertime.
Our Classical Chaos 