I guess I'm a Porcupine wife...

This week I've actually had a few minutes to catch up on some blogs I jump around. Of course they are doing a blog hop so I decided to see what 10 days of a Godly Marriage looked like. Made me do some thinking...

Great point from the post “A porcupine has a lot of good points, but nobody wants to be around it.”


Just by the looks of that sucker you wouldnt want to be around it. And then it made me think. "Oh wait... didn't Randy say the other day "When you act like that NO ONE wants to be around you...""


Ain't that a kicker. When I act not so nice (and those weren't the words he used) no one wants to be around. When I use negative words and snap at the kids and my husband because I must be right, no one wants to be around me.

Negativity brings negativity so I have made it my pledge for the rest of the year to focus on being more pleasant and less... well you know.
Focusing on the joys and the happiness around me to bring my family up and show them the light in life.

Doesn't that sound like a great Christmas gift?


Original post
Porcupine Wife

Thankful Thursday- My Hubby

I thought this week's thankful Thursday would be appropriate for 2 reasons. Two days ago we celebrated our 1 year of marriage. One whole year of not killing each other while going through some major life changes (3 new jobs total, moving twice and custody battles to start). Life here has been pretty rough but I do have to say
I have a pretty awesome husband. The other reason it was great is Farmers is sending me to Michigan. For a week. And I have 5 kids...

Talk about a moms nightmare.

Most moms that is...

I have a great hubby. He is the Mr. Mom of our home. I come home and a full real dinner is made. Homework is done, showers are taken and there are still 5 kids. Not beaten or anything.

Yes, I have my fears about leaving home but its not for the fact that he can not take care of it. Its mostly because I have never been away from all of them that long. Ever. Especially my baby girl, Nalani.

At this point it all comes back to me. Can I trust my husband to take care of this home? Can I trust God to guide his choices? I am a massive control freak and I struggle with this quite often. However I know I need to put my faith in God and let him show me all that my Hubby can do. I know God gave me this awesome husband for a reason and that he can do ANYTHING he sets his mind to. Even remember to take the kids to AWANA on Wednesday.

Thank you God for sending me Randy and showing me I don't have to do everything alone on this earth.

Thankful Thursday- I got my cookies!!!

So. As you probably dont know I am on a gluten free diet. Not too bad for the most part. Makes quick lunches kind of difficult and have to be a little more creative. However if you want something sweet do not bother going to the store. You can not have any cookies or cakes. Unless you make them yourself.... So I found an awesome sugar cookie recipe online and tried it out. Pretty good I have to say. Plus if your kids prefer the gluten free stuff to their packaged stuff I think I found a winner.

 Ignore my messy kitchen.

 Some were a bit more crumbly than most but still edible.

 The new jar/pot thing I found at Salvation Army for $2. It was a steal and I could not turn it down.

Nasty inside of it (not washed yet) but I love all the compartments.

Recipe

3 cups Rice Flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup butter aka 2 sticks
2 eggs beaten
1 cup sugar

Mix it all up.
put in the fridge for half hour if you want shapes if not just ball
bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 Min.

Yum!

1 Corinthians for Homeschool Moms

I saw this post on Heart of the Matter online and thought it was great. 1st Corinthians 13 for homeschool moms

If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and teach my children Latin conjugations, Chinese and Portuguese, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal, and no matter what I say, they will not hear me.
If I have the gift of prophecy, and know my children’s bents and God’s plan for their lives, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and am the keeper of the teacher’s editions and solutions manuals, and if I have all faith, so as to move mountains, and even keep up with my giant piles of laundry and dishes, but do not have love, I am nothing, even if all the people at church think I’m Supermom.
And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and my formal dining room gets turned into a schoolroom and our family vacations look more like educational fieldtrips, and if I surrender my body to be burned, never having time to get my nails done, put makeup on or even take a bath, but do not have love, it profits me nothing, because all my family cares about is the expression on my face, anyway.

Love is patient with the child who still can’t get double-digit subtraction with borrowing, and kind to the one who hasn’t turned in his research paper. It is not jealous of moms with more, fewer, neater, more self-directed, better-behaved or smarter children. Love does not brag about homemade bread, book lists, or scholarships and is not arrogant about her lifestyle or curriculum choices. It does not act unbecomingly or correct the children in front of their friends. It does not seek its own, trying to squeeze in alone time when someone still needs help; it is not provoked when interrupted for the nineteenth time by a child, the phone, the doorbell or the dog; does not take into account a wrong suffered, even when no one compliments the dinner that took hours to make or the house that took so long to clean.
Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness or pointing out everyone else’s flaws, but rejoices with the truth and with every small step her children take in becoming more like Jesus, knowing it’s only by the grace of God when that occurs.
Love bears all things even while running on no sleep; believes all things, especially God’s promise to indwell and empower her; hopes all things, such as that she’ll actually complete the English curriculum this year and the kids will eventually graduate; endures all things, even questioning from strangers, worried relatives, and most of all, herself.
Love never fails. And neither will she. As long as she never, never, never gives up.

_____________________________________________________________________
Thank you Misty!


Check out her blog-

Thankful Thursday- I finally made it!

So today marks the day I officially signed my career contract with Farmers Insurance. It is a big accomplishment allowing me to finally own my own business and gives me a the freedom to do what I need to do with my family. I even got a fancy pen to go with it! I am very happy and cant wait for this new step in our life!


The pen says Team Illinois and has Farmers logo on it.

This week in our school.

We had a pretty eventful week. We finished up the solar system with the older kids. Unfortunately we did not go into as much detail as I would have liked but their "real" school starts next week and I wanted to give them a break. Kirky started cross country this week and Kota started swimming for the highschool team. They both seem to be struggling a little bit but I feel they will be fine. They are both nervous but seem to want to learn and improve. The Boone county fair is also this week and I have been trapped in the booth this week for work. Tomorrow we are going to the fair to take advantage of all of the free activities. Its timing is great with Nanners Farm unit. Nanners is doing great and is picking up the animals. I have a feeling she will really enjoy the petting zoo. We also got a rabbit yesterday. He was offered for free on Craigslist so we went and picked him up. His name is Brownie as he is a soft short hair thing. Nanners adores him to bits but has tried to feed him everything under the sun and give him hugs. I think it will be a beautiful friendship. Tomorrow there will be a blast of pictures of our new family member and of the fair.

outer space and started the farm

 So this past week we have been working on outer space with the older ones and have been doing the farm with Nanners. Nanner's preschool is strictly all unit studies and has the farm for the next 2 months. She loves all of those animals so I think it will go well. We made a mobile of different farm animals and she has a sensory box that she LOVES.

Beanie and Nanners playing in the bin. They were sorting the beans by color and size.

 Close up of the bin before they started digging and destroying!

 We had corn, kidney beans, black beans, and red beans mixed in.

 We also put in dry grass, yarn "hay" and cookie cutters, plastic ducks and horses.


Our outer space we have been studying the sun and we did an activity to see how far the planets were from each other. We used yarn, beads and a simple ratio and had a beautiful project hanging in our kitchen.

 We also made up mnemonics to help us remember the order of the planets. The kids had a real creative time thinking of words that made sense together.

This week we will be doing the moon, zodiac.

Here is also just a group picture taken when we went to the Murpheys going away party.