~The best laid schemes of mice and men often go askew~

Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails.
Proverbs 19:21

My well laid plans have been put to rest. We moved into our new home with the help of our new friends and set up rather quickly. Unfortunately, immediately following move-in, on Sunday, August 29th, a flare up began.

I don't talk about it often, as I allow myself to forget about it when I am not constantly physically reminded, so for any who may not know, I was diagnosed with MS 3 years ago. May 10th of 2007.

It was our 12th wedding anniversary this day last weekend, and it began with numbness on part of my left foot. Now, a week later I am experiencing almost total body numbness/tingling. The only places not affected are my upper arms, collarbone area, neck and face/head. Thankfully it's mild enough and not total numbness so that I can still do the everyday things. It's just that things like typing is more cumbersome, washing dishes gets tiring, as well as stairs and that type of thing. The crazy part is not "looking" sick and people not realizing you are having an issue.

I thought long and hard, and was already struggling last year with the fatigue and lack of energy I can deal with at times, and decided last minute to sign the kids up for school. On Friday I grabbed my very organized binder with all of our documentation (birth certs, SS cards, immunization and physical sheets etc,..) and ran down to our district (which I've been hearing is very good) and signed the 3 littles up for K, 2nd and 4th grade. They get a bus which comes to our door and may start tomorrow. I have to call and make sure this afternoon, since it was last minute, they may have to wait an extra day.

I am coming to the realization that there are different ways of doing things, and that which cannot be accomplished one way can still be accomplished another. Instead of tormenting myself I am being compassionate to myself finally, and allowing God to do HIS work no matter where we find ourselves, we will bloom where we are planted, and I will be as mightily involved as God wills me to be.

Robert Burns said it best when he spoke To a Mouse so poetically, "The best laid schemes of mice and men often go askew."

First Day of School Time Capsule

Last week I found a paper amongst my photos that was unprotected, unthinkably. It had a tear in the side and was quite old. It was a finger paint handprint with a poem about leaving handprints on the walls and growing up when my daughter was about five-ish.....she is now EIGHTEEN!!! My heart ached so bad for a minute, then I quickly snatched up this treasure and put it in an album. What an unbelievable gift to have this now, and how sad I am that I do not know if I have them for every child or not. If I have even one from my 15 y.o. or 12 y.o. and I cannot be sure, I may not. Then I came upon a very very SWEET sheet that Monica posted on her blog, First day of school time capsule!! I am so glad she shared this find with her readers. How sweet this will be in years to come, for them as well as myself!

Nature Study

Today we ventured out to gaze at the geese again. I learned from my field guide on our first visit, they are Canadian geese. This time we stayed atop the hill, rather than intrude on their turf. I could have watched them for hours I am convinced. I think I have mentioned, I am not even a huge bird person, they kind of creep me out. That said, there is something about sitting in the comfortable outdoors with a constant breeze on a sunshiny day, isn't there? Sitting to observe with sketchbook and pencil in hand, I find myself a very relaxing time.





I happened upon some little flowers, springing up from on the edge of a tall bush. Looking for it in my New England Field Guide put out by the National Audubon Society, I found it:

Calico Aster
Aster Lateriflorus





Next thing that caught my interest was this beauty. Looking close up, there are the most delightful and peculiar berries I've ever seen! I am not positive, but after researching on google images, I believe it may be the Kousa Dogwood. What do you think?



here is a shot of my very messy, preliminary not finished sketch

First Day of Co-op!!

Thursday was the first day of our preschool-3rd grade homeschool co-op for the new school year. Aiden, Danny, Ryan and I headed out to the store to buy our picnic lunch (since we had run out of most everything being almost the end of the week and all). Being sufficiently supplied, we then made our way to beautiful Stanley Park to meet up with all of our friends. Incidentally, we hadn't seen any of them ALL summer! It was such a fun time, and a pretty day. At first we were a bit chilly, but an hour later when the sun shone stronger it was perfect!

The children played on the gigantic play structure while the moms caught up and chatted. An hour and a half later we rounded the troops to the nearby pavilion to enjoy lunch together. We each brought our own main lunch, as well as something to share with the group. I brought 2 bags of chips and a huge bag of grapes. There was also juice and cups, smores cookies, cupcakes and cheese and crackers for all.



It was wonderful to see my two eldest boys make a friend right away. These two boys of mine are new to co-op this year, only Aiden had gone last year. Ryan and his new friend, Cole, even found a humungous white round mushroom in the park and it was the size of a softball!


Another thing I learned about from another mom, Christina, was the Ginko leaves. These trees are often found in cities, and their leaves have the finest ridges all over them which feels really neat to run your fingers over. Soon, they will turn a brilliant gold color, and she mentioned how they look really pretty in a vase. So the next time you see a tree with these type of leaves you know it is Ginko Biloba!


Some other boys made a fort in the middle of a huge bush...haha This day made me realize how much I had missed all of these acquaintances we had met in the last few months of last school year. I am much looking forward to our coming year together!!

I took the opportunity to take a "school picture" of two of my boys while at the park since the moment seemed right. My 6 year old seemed to evade me, so I will have to get a nice shot of him at another time. I like these better than the first I took on the porch. Prettier surroundings at the park to be sure!


This weekend I shot pics of the next 3, and included a proof of my eldest child's senior picture last:



I will have to reshoot Dan because the poor kid couldn't open his eyes, too sunny...LOL

Nature Study Mishap...

After lunch today, I took the boys to a local park, where we saw a little hill with a pond at the bottom along with some geese. I figure that would be something interesting to observe and draw into our sketchbooks. Before we decended the hill, I warned the boys to stay RIGHT with me and it proved to be a good thing! As soon as we get to the bottom we see three HUGE birds flying right at us! They looked HUGE...I couldn't even tell they were geese at first, though logic would stand to reason. I mustered up a deep loud voice and said, "Go. Go." but I am sorry to say these birds were not impressed with me. I was so SCARED I said "run back up as fast as you can". I ran dragging Aiden and boy was that SCARY!!!! When we got to the top of the hill and withdrew backward a little, they left us alone thank goodness! I'm not the hugest bird person anyhow, though I have come to like them a little more in the last few years. WOW! We sat atop the hill and drew, but when they edged toward us a little too close we backed up a little again. I SHOULD have taken a picture but I wasn't worried about that at the time I guess. I did take a few shots after all of this uproar though of our very unfinished sketches. Sorry to say I can see that the detail is not showing too well, will have to draw darker next time ;-)

Time for school once again....

Today is our first day of school. My eldest daughter started back for her senior year of high school last week. My middle schoolers begin this morning, Michael in 6th grade and Felicia in 8th. Ryan (gr 3), Daniel (gr 1), and Aiden (pre-K) begin today at home with momma. We are using Ambleside Online using the Charlotte Mason method. For math we are using Math-U-See.

For breakfast we enjoyed some banana bread, and this sudden cool Fall-like weather made it the perfect morning to do so. Next we have bible study and prayer and onto the books we go....










I took some of these pics on our enclosed front porch, and a few at breakfast. I hope you have a wonderful, enriching, freeing and blessed school year, where ever you are...
We just had lunch and are headed to a park for our first Nature Study ;-)

Busy Weekend!

Friday Aiden and I went on a field trip to Essex steam train and river boat with our co-op. We spent 3 hours there for a train ride to the boat, at our take-along lunch on the boat ride, saw Gillette castle among other sites, and then enjoyed the train ride back while hearing some history from the conductor. Steven Spielberg shot an Indiana Jones film there, and the Big Y commercial in our area was filmed there as well. After the ride back, we rushed out of there and got home around 2:45. That left me two hours to prepare for the cookout I hosted at 5pm for a few friends and their families whom I haven't seen in quite some time. Such a whirlwind day!!




Gillette Castle


the car we rode in
On Saturday, we celebrated Ryan's 8th birthday. It was the smallest birthday party we've had in quite some time, just ourselves, my dad, and Mike's brother with his son. Ryan opened his gifts and got things like science kits for making geysers with mentos and diet coke. There is even a rocket that can be shot up with the soda geyser....so fun! He got quite a few different kits for making boats etc,...The kids played games like crazy. Things like Green light, Red light. Then the customary cake and ice cream followed. Cousin Tyler slept over that night with the boys and came to church with us Sunday and spent the afternoon playing Wii. I was feeling restless on Sunday like I wanted to go out and do something but we couldn't, so that was a not so nice feeling.











On Monday, we went to a friend's house for a small cookout; we had not seen them for awhile either. We stayed a few hours and caught up before returning home to putter around our yard, read, and yes cookout again! for dinner. HA!! I so love not messing up my kitchen. ;-) It sure was a busy weekend, a lot of times we don't do much just hang around the house together, so it was quite nice. Hope you enjoyed the long Memorial Day weekend as well. I so appreciate all those who fought, fight, and laid down their lives for our freedom. I also keep in mind all those around the world who are not afforded those same freedoms.

~Good Day~

Today we went to that preschooler homeschooling co-op as guests, and it was nice to get Aiden together with other children to do some fun learning together, while still having the security of momma. He seemed to like it once he warmed up! It was on the property of a Lutheran church, in a really nice preschool/daycare type room, BIG too! It seemed to be a good fit, and we were allowed entry to join. It's once a week for 3 hours, with an hour in the middle for lunch and free play. :)

Yesterday Mike really showed how fired up he is about these boys getting homeschooled. It's still a bit surprising how strongly he is feeling and how quickly/suddenly. If that's not a clear direction, I don't know what WOULD be. I am looking at the curricula out the there, and I am liking how Bob Jones looks, yet I haven't actually seen it in person. We're going to our local convention at the end of April, giving us the opportunity to thumb thru the curriculum choices we are thinking over, which alone is priceless enabling us to make a decision we will be happy with. Alpha Omega is also offerning 20% off at the convention, though we won't be able to take advantage of that since we need to save our pennies.

I am so glad that I am able to get established in a routine with Aiden now, so that when the boys begin after this current year it will be that much easier. A friend I met recently online that goes to another local church gave me some other info to look into and I feel so much better not being alone in this. I am feeling strong, and also determined that this is the right choice this time, and no matter what happens I will not allow it to deter us this time.

“Failure is not final; it is merely the opportunity to start over again wiser than before.” --unknown author

Our family is in need of reformation, we only have so much time left as our eldest son turns 11 soon, and our 7 year old is picking up on some of the attitudes/behavior eldest son has displayed over the years, even as we tried to prevent that from happening; and let's not forget our 4 and 6 year olds. We need our childrens' hearts first and foremost. I will obey God's leading and trust Him to bring that about in our family, perhaps this is the avenue it will take in our case. Fear has no place in my heart, God did not intend for us to walk around in Fear, allowing it to rule us. His perfect love inside of us will drive that fear out!
I have seen God's power firsthand, and nothing short of miracles as our marriage has been transformed from chaos and hopelessness to beauty and joy in the last four years. I know He can and wills to do that for our children as well. We have to be faithful to do our part.