I am a bloggy failure, but I am going to try again. I am going to make a fresh start and not try to "play catchup" here. I've gotten sucked into FaceBook and keeping up with old and new friends, church stuff, and playing FarmTown and Fish Wrangler. Sad...but true!
So here is where I am now...today...this moment!
Four out of five Jordons are recuperating from a nasty case of strep throat. Praise the Lord for antibiotics.
We are about 1 week away from finishing 4th grade and 1st grade. God is so AWESOME! We will still be counting some hours into July to complete our logbook, but things are looking great. I am pleased with how all 3 of our boys have done this year.
T minus 10 days and counting until our camping trip! We are extremely excited about taking out our "new to us" tent camper. Next week, we will clean and stock it and get our fishing licenses. Missouri State Parks, here we come! :o)
Today...this moment...now...I am so grateful for the many blessings that the Lord has given our family. Don't get me wrong, things are not always a bed of roses here, but my heart is truly full of joy and I know that no matter what we will face tomorrow, that God is God and I am not; and that gives me peace that I cannot even explain.
“But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children- with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.” Psalm 103:17-18
The past 3 weeks have been an absolute blur! I think I have just kicked into survival mode and am glad to be on the other side. I will try to hit the highlights here:
We celebrated International Night with our homeschool group. That was a lot of fun! We chose to represent South Korea so we made Yaki Mandu, a Korean-style fried wonton stuffed with hamburger, bean sprouts, soy sauce, and garlic (yummy!), Korean spinich, kimchi, and oi (oh-ee) kimchi. Joey made a powerpoint presentation on Korean culture, Jacob shared that the capital of South Korea is Soeal, and Jesse pointed to South Korea on the map. We also visited France, Greece, Germany, Japan, Canada, Spain, and Russia and had our passports stamped. It was a great night!
Dare 2 Share Student Conference in St. Louis was the last weekend in March. We had an awesome time with our 22 teens! Lives were changed, decisions were made to follow Christ, teens boldly shared their faith and I was blown away by how awesome every one of these teens were! I know the Lord will use each one of them in a mighty way.
My father-in-law had surgery for cancer on April 2. The surgeon felt he got excellent margins and that the cancer has been completely removed. Thank you, Lord! He has since had a few setbacks and had a second hospital stay which was longer than the original stay, but he came home today, and there is no sign of infection. Again, praise the Lord!
Joseph turned 10(!!!) on April 10. I cannot believe that my son is in double digits! He had a friend spend the night and we had a nice family party since Papa was back in the hospital and things were a little crazy.
Easter Sunday was wonderful! I am so thankful for the gift of redemption from my heavenly Father! What a special day to celebrate as His child. It is always very humbling to think about the unbelievable sacrifce He made for me and you. Glory be to God. May my life truly show the grace I have been given.
Somewhere in there, I turned another year older! :o) Life just keeps moving on. I feel so blessed. Through everything that has happened, Jason and I have stayed connected as a team and we know that the Lord has brought us even closer as a couple. Intimacy is such a beautiful and miraculous gift from the Lord.
So even when I have felt that I cannot go on one more day, the Lord has strengthened me and has made me soar as an eagle! (Isaiah 40:28-31) He has been here every step of the way and I cannot imagine my life without Him. I love You, Lord!!!
Today I am a part of a blog tour that I hope encourages and inspires you as a mother. I have personally heard Jill Savage speak, have chatted with her through e-mails, and have even had a a story published in a book she was the general editor of called I'm Glad I'm a Mom. If this post encourages you in any way, please check out Hearts at Home. They have so much to offer! Also, please post a reply so I know you dropped by. You can make a comment anonymously if you'd like.
Today I’d like to welcome author and speaker, Jill Savage. Jill’s recent book Real Moms…Real Jesus, just released, and I wanted to ask her about her real mom moments..
Jill, tell us a little bit about yourself and your family. Mark and I have been married 25 years and we have five children. Anne is 24 and married to our wonderful son-in-love, Matt. Evan is 21 and married to our beautiful daughter-in-love, Julie. Erica is 18 and a college student at Heartland Community College. Kolya is 15 and in the 8th grade. We adopted Kolya at the age of 9 from Russia---the God story about his adoption is included in the Real Moms…Real Jesus book. And Austin is 12 and in the 7th grade. Tell us about your newest book Real Moms...Real Jesus? Real Moms…Real Jesus is a book designed to help moms understand that when Jesus lived on this earth he was fully God, yet fully man. We don’t often think about the fact that he was a human being and he lived the full human experience: pain, hunger, fatigue, frustration, betrayal, disappointment. He experienced it all!
There’s one verse in the Bible about Jesus that simply says “large crowds followed him everywhere he went.” Well, isn’t that the life of a mom? Large crowds follow her to the bathroom. They follow her to the kitchen. To the grocery store. She’s in high demand! And when Jesus lived on this earth, He was in high demand, too.
Why did you want to write this book? Most of us long for a friend who understands. Yes, we need girlfriends who understand what our life is like. But we also need to understand that we have a friend who understands in Jesus. Too many of us think of God as being distant and unable to relate to our daily struggles. But nothing could be further from the truth! He understands and he wants us to build our friendship with Him. He wants to not only be our Savior, but also our Friend.
What do you hope your readers will gain from this book? I hope that readers will gain a new perspective about their relationship with Jesus. I also hope to weave God’s truth into the daily life of a mom.
What unique elements will the reader find in Real Moms…Real Jesus? Each chapter looks at some character trait in Jesus’ life that can help us in our life as a mom. In between the chapters are interactive vignettes that provide brief, refreshing glimpses into our real, messy, busy lives.
There are also questions at the end of the chapter for further consideration and suggested Bible reading in the book of Matthew. If the reader chooses to pursue the suggested reading, she will have read the book of Matthew completely by the end of the book!
There is also a leader’s guide in the back of the book so it can be used in a group setting.
This is a Hearts at Home book. What is Hearts at Home? Hearts at Home is an organization that encourages, educates, and equips women in the profession of motherhood. Hearts at Home encourages moms through annual conferences, our extensive website (www.hearts-at-home.org), a free bi-weekly electronic newsletter, a radio program, and an entire line of books designed to meet the needs of moms all over the world!
Any closing thoughts? I am very excited about this book! I believe that if a mom can strengthen her relationship with Jesus Christ, she will feel more equipped to be the mom she wants to be. I’m also offering an online book discussion on my blog beginning Tuesday, April 7. If you’d like to join us, you can subscribe to my blog at www.jillsavage.org.
I’d love to hear a reader’s thoughts after they read the book, too! You can connect to me through my blog at www.jillsavage.org.
Thanks, Jill, for taking time out of your busy schedule to share your real mom, real Jesus moments with us.
You can purchase your own copy of Real Moms…Real Jesus by clicking here.
And be sure to check out Hearts at Home, their conferences for moms, and all their online resources here.
I have been attending our Monday night ladies Bible study and we have one week left of our Beth Moore Esther: It's Tough Being a Woman study. I have been very encouraged and convicted every week through this study and I am going to really miss it when it is over. *sniff*
At the end of February, I was perusing Beth's site Living Proof Ministries and navigated over to Beth's blog and began reading current and past blog entries. What encouraging words! I was challenged by an entry about Bible verse memory. So I decided right then to join her Bible verse memory challenge and I just wanted to share my verse for March 15-31. We are to choose a verse that the Lord has laid on our hearts. Well, Monday was not a bad day, but as I was preparing to leave for Bible study, Jason asked me to do something and all of a sudden I got defensive and angry because of the way he asked. I attacked him verbally. So after I did what he asked, I was in the bathroom straightening my hair when the words "be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry" ran through my mind. Ugh! I knew at that moment that James 1:19, 20 were the verses for me this session.
"My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires."
*sigh* Nothing like a 2x4 from God, huh? So that is what I am memorizing and I know that I desperately need the Word of God in my life! I am excited by this challenge.
I first saw this awesome video at a Dare 2 Share event two years ago. I laughed so hard that I cried. I cried because it was hilarious, but I also cried because I knew I was one of the fearful ones. Here...watch it and see if you see yourself in it anywhere.
So we are getting ready to take another group of teens to Dare 2 Share in about 2 weeks and Jason showed this video on Sunday at church to get some sponsors for some teens who need financial help and for people to help supply snacks and drinks. Everyone laughed really hard.
Dare 2 Share is a student weekend conference that features drama, powerful worship, Biblical sessions, hands-on evangelism training, games and an afternoon outreach experience. Students learn to share their faith with friends and strangers using the acrostic G.O.S.P.E.L.
G - God created us to be with Him. (Genesis 1-2) O - Our sin separated us from God. (Genesis 3) S - Sins cannot be removed by good deeds. (Genesis 3 - Malachi) P - Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again. (Matthew - Luke) E - Everyone who trusts in Him alone has eternal life. (John - Jude) L - Life that's eternal means we will be with Jesus forever. (Revelation 22:5)
My 3 boys get such a kick out of this video too! After Jacob finished his schoolwork, he came upstairs and found a football jersey and started running through the house yelling, "Woooooo! I'm gonna BLOW YOU UP! Git off da flo and go do to do!" I was laughing all over again! I wish I had gotten a picture with him in his eye-black. Too funny!
Through this, I was exhorted to pray for my boys to receive the spirit of boldness to share the Good News with everyone they know. And I am excited for them to experience the unique experience of Dare 2 Share for themselves when they enter high school. If you are ever given the opportunity to help chaperon a group of teens attending this conference, it will challenge, bless, and electrify you too! Do it!
It has been a couple weeks since I have made a blog entry. I have wandered over to my dashboard and stared at the page for a while trying to come up with something significant to blog about. Each time I would get a nagging feeling that I didn't have anything important enough to blog about. So I would move on and blog nothing.
So today I decided to ignore the nagging feeling and just BLOG! Who cares if it's not as cool as other blogs out there. Who am I competing with? I really only do this to keep family and friends informed of what is going on in our lives and if I don't blog, then how will they know that kind of stuff? So here I am choosing to blog about WHATEVER without the promise of a significant point to all my jabbering. Enjoy...or not.
Jesse's cast is off, and physical therapy has begun. He is doing really great and we are really proud of him! He is now at a 60 degree open bend so he is cruising right along.
Jake will turn 7 next Saturday. Wow! Hard to believe for sure. He is all about drawing books (still learning to write lots of words!) and he has BIG PLANS for his future which include making movies. What an imagination he has! He draws picture constantly and I have seen such amazing perspective through his drawings. It is wild because I am so not artistic and his thinking is already beyond me! We are considering buying him a case of paper for his birthday.
Seriously though...how do you encourage this artistic side, yet temper this with his tendency to waste paper without concern for the many trees he is exploiting?
Joe continues to g...r...O...W! He will be passing me up very soon. Ack! He is definitely becoming a young man and I am excited but also a bit sad about it. My first baby. It sure made my day when we finished reading his history today that he came up and voluntarily gave me a hug and said, "Thanks for being my mom and for teaching me." *sniff* Those tender moments are so very precious as you watch them grow up.
I guess that is about it for now. And now that I look back over all of it, it IS significant. Every moment of it is significant.
It has been a crazy week, but today is Saturday and I have survived! Praise the Lord! Tomorrow I will start a new week in His house and I am so thankful.
So Thursday we went to Kansas City to have Jesse's cast removed and to see Dr. Kevin Latz, our surgeon. Everything went great. Jesse knee looks good and they fitted him for a ROM (range of motion) post-op brace with dial that can be adjusted by his physical therapist as his quadriceps become stronger. He will see a PT one to two times a week for four to six weeks. He is already bending his knee a little tiny bit, but you can tell he is afraid of the pain. Right now it is locked to immobilize his knee so he does not do any other damage due to his weak muscles.
Dr. Latz also mentioned that he, Dr. Paccica, and Dr. Anderson were all so annoyed in surgery at how long it took them to thread the sutures through the tools they were using, that they spent a day and a half in the cadaver lab perfecting the technique just in case they need to do it again. We thought that was pretty cool. We told Jesse how he helped the doctors learn to do something new and better. We will recheck with Dr. Latz in 6 more weeks and I am hoping to be able to find a creative way to say "thank you" at that time.
After 3 hours at Children's Mercy Hospital, we were all happy to arrive at Aunt Robin and Uncle Bob's home. We were wiped out. Jesse had done great. Jacob was a great big brother and we were excited to have him with us. We missed Joey, though! He stayed with Nana and Papa to help them with a community dinner our church was sponsoring. They said he was a great helper serving pie. :o)
So here we are in mid-February and we will be finishing up week 18 of school this week. *deep breath* Seems like it's been a long school year already, but I am so thankful that we have made it to the half-way point. God has certainly been faithful. At this rate, we will finish up before the end of June and I am really pleased with that. Considering all the things that have surprised us this school year, I think we are doing great!
And just like the past 4 years, I am getting the new curriculum itch. So I wandered over to the Sonlight website to do a little "window shopping" and drooling over our new core for next year. Very exciting! We will be doing our 2nd year of American history and I know Joe and I will really have a good time with it. We have been really enjoying the Revolutionary War and both of us loved Johnny Tremain.
This week Joseph has been writing the rough draft for his report on Koalas. I think he's doing a very good job.
Jacob is spelling very well and continues to work hard on his reading.
Jesse is...well...Jesse is just Jesse these days. He was watching a video this morning while Jacob and I were reading in his Bible storybook about Elijah and King Ahab. We discussed the famine that was occurring and I asked Jacob if he could imagine what it would be like without rain for 3 years! Imagine turning on the faucet and not getting any water? Where would you get water? ***building to a dramatic climax*** Jesse promptly hollered from the living room, "From the well! Get water from the well!"
Ha! And I thought he wasn't listening at all. I just had to smile. Just one of those homeschooling moments.
We are heading to Children's Mercy Hospital on Thursday to see Jesse's surgeon and have his cast removed. We are praying that everything is looking good and that he will be able to go into a brace and begin some physical therapy. Since this was a first for them as well as us, I understand that we are all taking it one step at a time and one day at a time. Needless to say, we have been so pleased and so thankful for everyone at Children's Mercy. What a wonderful blessing they all have been. Thank you, Jesus!
We are doing well. We finished week 16 this week. I feel so far behind, but I know that we are moving at a good pace considering some of our interruptions this school year. I am so proud of both Joe and Jake for working so hard. So we go until the end of June...we're homeschooled! We can do that if we want to. Praise the Lord!
Joe and I will finish Johnny Tremain this next week. I will be so sad when it is over. We have truly enjoyed this read-aloud together. Everyday as I get to the end of our assigned reading, Joe always says, "More...don't stop, Mom!" Makes my heart happy. I know I will be glad to go back through this one again with Jake and Jesse.
Jake is doing so well with his reading! It is definitely a challenge for him, but I am proud of how he has stepped up to the challenge and worked hard to sound out each of the harder words. He gets big hugs for his reading!
Jesse moves all over the house now with his walker...often times without his walker! He does not let his cast slow him down at all. The heel pain had subsided for a time, but it appears to be back again this week. It has woken him up about four mornings this week. Poor baby! I know it is just a charlie horse type cramp, but I can imagine that it is very painful. The ibuprofen seems to be helping. I think I will try to increase his calcium and potassium intake this week (think bananas and yogurt) and see if that helps. I think we are down to "20 more sleeps" before he gets his cast off. And the ITCHINESS has begun!!! Tonight before bed, he was sitting in the living room with a long knitting needle down his cast scratching the back of his leg. It's so pathetic to watch. He wiggles and whines and shakes that cast everywhere! We gave him a dose of benedryl syrup tonight to help him sleep. We are certainly are counting down the days!
So that is our update for now. I can't believe that January is over. There it went. Here comes February.
I have been married to my high school sweetheart, Jason, for almost 18 years and we have three wonderfully amazing sons who are 13, 10, and 8. Every day truly is part of my great adventure with my Lord and Savior and above all, I desire to please and glorify Him!
"I'm Glad I'm a Mom because no one else claps when I come home; no one else pushes me to the edge of sanity; no one else creates a stirring so deep within my soul; no one else has given me the greatest name, the greatest calling, the greatest reason to become all that God intended." -Jill Delk
Our Favorite Curriculum
Sonlight Curriculum - Your complete home school curriculum program resource.
