something old...something new...something borrowed.... something blue

Reading up about hands on homeschooling....

found a great article about unschooling here

but very much love the amazing person and the blog she has that this friend of mine shares about the Charlotte Mason Approach

I will reluctantly call it unschooling... but CM isnt really and truly unschooling.

It is teaching your children to love learning through parent directed learning.

so for now we are soaking up the mound of library books we came home with today, reading our Bibles, playing board games, and learning new stuff, gearing up for Kids Camp  as well as remembering how to just enjoy learning again.

Lord,

I dont know exactly what I am doing. But I know You are leading our family in a new direction for the upcoming school year. Help me to be faithful to prayer and reading Your Word as you guide and direct our path. I thank you for revealing where we were lacking... and making us teachable. I thank you for the resources to research this change but more importantly the how to actually do this change. Forgive us for getting so distracted. Help up to rediscover the love for learning we once had.
in Jesus Name.

Amen

We need to talk....

not exactly words I long to hear at 10:39 at night.

usually that means I have spent too much money on something
or not finished something that should have been completed days ago...
or I shrunk something I shouldnt have
or didnt get around to washing his socks

rarely are those words something I long for.

but tonight ....

I am still reeling after those words.

the past few years have been wrought with changes...
leaving the simplicity of the desert
dealing with my parents
deployments
not seeming to fit in

and homeschooling has had its ups and downs.

people telling me I am doing it all wrong...
trying to make everyone happy....
struggling to do it the way other people
(to include my husband)
think I should

but in that mess.
the Joy of it has been gone for a while

and he has noticed.

while dinner is on the table and the carpet gets vaccuumed.

something has been missing.

so tonight.... he said
"I dont know where to start, but I want to help you... I dont think we are headed in the right direction"
I almost didnt breathe.
what could he say next...
put the kids in public school?
I was feeling sick to my stomach.

"I think we need to reexamine how we are teaching the kids and find our joy again"
"we need to do some praying. and come back with the love of learning we used to have"

yes.
i totally agree.
now...
to figure out how.

We are STILL praying baby Zeke!

Your mama is a brave woman. Braver than I think I could be. She told me today you are having a rough few days. That healing isn't coming as fast as she wishes it would. Friends... his platelet counts are very low, his blood pressure too low and even his oxygen saturation is too low. He is on a vent and still those O2 sats remain low..electrolytes are low too.....He has even has a blood transfusion. Tomorrow an EKG and echo are scheduled to check his heart function. They have started antibiotics for a possible bacterial infection. Pray!!!! God Knows the exact circumstances.

also pray for their other sweet boy (#6) baby Sam, He needs another surgery as this 11 month old 11 lb little guy has started to lose weight once again.

Pray for their 5 other blessings as they are bounced around and cared for by church friends as Shelly and Donald cope with the challenges with 2 hospitalized children. Pray for those trying to minister to the children and care for them in their parents abscence. And pray for Shelly & Donald... as they face this storm that they remember that God is in control.

PLEASE PRAY!!!!

if not me... who? if not now...when?

please listen to the whole message. but if you are short on time at least the last 12 minutes.

great stuff!

Take time to remember

Freedom isn't free.

Bringing baby starfish home

I have a new friend at church. A special lady named Mary  She and her husband have created an amazing blog as they adopt a baby from Uganda. Can you help them out?

... Please "like" or leave a comment on our posts on Earth Monkey Mom's page today. Whoever gets the most action gets free advertising on their blog for a week! We could REALLY use this since we had almost no fundraising action for quite a while now... Thank you! ♥

Or you can check out her fundraising site here

Help them bring baby starfish to his new home.

Read their blog. and share their story!

A mama's heart

*****update 5/27/2011*****
Baby zeke made it through phase 1 of surgery today.
 He was in surgery for over 8 hours, He has a ton of recovery left to do!
 He will be sedated for the next two weeks which will hopefully give his little body time to recover and grow. KEEP PRAYING!
***************************

Meet my dear friends.

In this photo there are 7 baby blessings... but one you cant see.

During the pregnancy Shelly learned that baby "zeke" had a heart defect.

But she has trusted God and remains faithful.

On May 24 2011

little Ezekiel Caleb

*God strengthen's the heart*

was born.

His Aunt said, "He's tiny but feisty"

and at 3lbs 14 ozs

he arrived

7 weeks ahead of schedule.

so far he is stable.

but he has a long way to go.

And on Friday he will be having heart surgery.

His mama trusts God.

But her heart hurts.

She has barely even held this tiny blessing.

She earnestly wants to pray that the Lord's will is done

but

that is so very hard.



"Unless plans change, Ezekiel's surgery will be this Friday.  We will move to PICU tomorrow, recover there then most likely return to NICU due to being early and his size. His heart defect is slightly different than they thought ...in laymens terms they have to reconstruct his broken heart. IN semi medical jargon--congenitally corrected transportation of the great arteries-aorta connected to r ventricle, pulmonary artery connected to the L ventricle. his L ventricle is connected to his R atrium &; his R ventricle (which is hypoplastic-too small) is connceted to his L atrium (this is backwards!). His mitral valve &; tricuspid valves are reversed. His tricuspid valve is stenotic (blocked, non functional) &; some word that meant misplaced, flaps the wrong way or something like that (sorry a bit overwhelmed). his aorta is hypoplastic (too small ascending &; descending) &; he has coarctation of the aorta (the way the aorta arches is wrong) he has a VSD (ventral septal defect)-a hole bw/ the lower chambers of his heart. he has patent foramen ovale (but that is due meds &; a good thing bcuz it keeps the blood flowing freely til surgery) he has experienced some hypertension &; apnea due meds -so he is on additional meds. he had some metabolic acidosis episodes as well. tpn (total parenteral nutrition--IV nutrition) may be started today. It is a total blessing that my ob was wise enough to administer betamethasone (steroid to mature lungs in utero). Zeke is still breathing on his own. (w/ heart kids the Oxygen/intubation can do harm as well as good). had kidney U/S, will have head U/S. results of those later"

As you can see she is a bit overwhelmed. So I am asking you all to join me in prayer. Her 11 month old is still itty bitty (Samuel 11 months old and 11lbs) missing chromosomes and has had a year filled with his very own medical issues. Pray for her husband Donald as he cares for him and the other 5 children. Pray for dear friends as they watch the older 5 children while their daddy travels back and forth to the hospital over 3 hours away from *home* (which is relative as they have no immediate family nearby because they are active duty military)  AND takes care of baby Sammy.

                                                          baby Sammy Above                                                           
She has been unable to hold Ezekiel except for the moments right after he was first born.

She has asked us to pray that her children get to see Ezekiel before he goes to PICU before he goes to preop prep tomorrow. Pray for his heart surgery. That Jesus is the great physician and carefully uses the surgeons hands to knit his heart back together. Pray for the stress on the mama and the entire family. That they come together and remain faithful during this time of the storm. To remember that "God is in control in all things" (her words exactly) and that his "big" brother sammy continues to thrive and grow while she is away.
she sings this song to baby ezekiel. would you listen to it. pray for her and commit his little life to the Father... that he live to glorify God. That Shelly and Donald can rest in the Father's arms in an embrace filled with comfort, love and peace.